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Chapter Text

Izuku walked down the road with Jiro by his side. She hummed a tune, looking carefree. Her eyes were constantly moving though, scanning the area for any dangers. Izuku Midoriya and Kyoka Jiro were in a training area, practicing going on patrol. Their fake mission was to find civilians (Mina, Todoroki, and Sato) trapped under a building. Currently, they were waiting for the fake building to 'fall' and 'injure' their classmates.

It wasn't the first time Midoriya had done this sort of training. He was, after all, training to be hero. Of course every now and then the hero course used classmates as sacrifices. According to Mirio, training drills like such are carried out all the way into third year. 

It also served as a way for students to learn how to deal with being the one in danger. In a real scenario, they would have skills and knowledge on how to stay calm during emergencies as both the injured and the saviour.

"So, who are you grabbing first?" Jiro asked.

"Hm, we'll see when the building falls, I guess." Midoriya replied easily.

It really did depend on which one of the three 'injured civilians' was the most hurt and/or trapped. If Sato was the one the most injured, they might have a little more trouble with getting him to safety compared to a much smaller Todoroki or Mina. "I was thinking you could use vibrations to break any debris that someone might be stuck underneath."

The girl nodded, smiling. "You're so good at strategizing." she praised.

Izuku flushed. After all this time, he still wasn't good at receiving compliments. Sometimes he got more embarrassed at his own stupid reactions to people praising him rather than the praise itself. "W-well, I don't think I'm as good as your girlfriend just yet. Yaoyorozu really is something else."

Jiro snorted into her hand, "You're so bad at taking compliments, Deku! Stop putting the spotlight on other people just so you get out of it!" she joked, nudging his shoulder. Not that she would ever tell him, but a lot of the time Class A came together to compliment him a bunch of times in a row just to see his funny reactions.

Just as they were about to turn the corner, Midoriya heard a crackling sound.

Sizzle...pop!

He paled, whipping around. "Earphone Jack!" he screeched, turning to face Jiro. Was that the sound of a quirk, or something else?

The girl had heard it as well. She immediately shot her jacks into the walls, trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. "They didn't tell us this was part of the training!" Jiro yelled, furious at the scare.

Izuku simply nodded, already scaling a wall to try and find where the crackling sound was coming from visually. "Let me know if you figure something out!" he yelled behind him.

Midoriya really needed to suggest to Aizawa Sensei that the heroes in these types of drills should be allowed walkie talkies.

Typically, the students playing victim were the ones with intercoms so that the people in the observation room had a better idea of how the heroes were going with helping the injured civilians.

The heroes weren't allowed the same privilege just in case they were to ask their teacher for clues and whatnot in the middle of their training.

Izuku climbed onto the roof of the building, kneeling at the edge. 

Suddenly, an alarm blared. Midoriya covered his ears as the sound pierced his eardrums viscously. He hadn't been told anything about an alarm. Could it be a break in? No, the last time there was a break in, there was an AI calling out what level it was and to evacuate. This one was just... an alarm.

His foot slipped as he jolted, and he yelped as he tipped over the edge clumsily. The building was only two stories high, so Izuku wasn't too worried when he realised he was falling. That was, until a hand smashed the window he was falling past and grabbed at his collar. 

There was no time to react.

The pop, sizzle... pop sounds from earlier were now right by Midoriya's face.

It almost sounded like Bakugo's quirk when he had small explosions going off in his palms, but more like the sound of bacon cooking rather than firecrackers going off. A blue light exploded from the palm of the hand holding his collar, the quirk from whoever, or whatever, it was going off violently.

Midoriya felt his body be overcome by a terrifyingly cold sensation as the brightness of the quirk died down. He felt the chill in his bones, freezing them still. His collar was released, and he was sent flying into the building across the road.

Jiro was screaming out, trying to climb up the wall to get to the villain.

She wasn't sure if this was a part of the training, but she had a strong, dreadful feeling it wasn't. She had never seen a quirk like that from anyone in the school. Jiro had seen the way Midoriya froze just as the quirk went off in his face, like he had been doused in ice.

She didn't know what the person had done to him, whether it was simply a paralysis quirk or not, but she did know that they sent him flying into a building and had definitely injured him regardless.

"What did you do to Deku?!" Jiro shouted, finally managing to reach the window the villain's hand had shot out from. She climbed in furiously. 

A man stood in the room she had climbed into, laughing loudly. "Your friend is going to go on a holiday. A nice, long one." he announced as he cackled, his arms around his stomach. "Izuku Midoriya, was it? He will be no longer! The big boss demanded it so." 

"Who?! Are you working with the League of Villains?!" Jiro demanded, looking for some way she could get him on the ground. She didn't know what the hell this guy could do, but she knew by instinct it was horrible. Her gut churned. Who was this freak?

The man looked to be in his early twenties, so if he were a hero, he'd have to be a freshly debuted one. But that couldn't be the case, because Jiro had never seen him in her life.

Midoriya liked to show everyone new heroes every chance he got, so much to the point everyone in class A had at least some idea of every hero launching.

The man let out a few more laughs, "Me? Working for those stupid fuckers? No, of course not, dear." He made eye contact with her. His eyes were glowing gold, so bright Jiro wanted to squint. "I work for someone higher than that. But I'm not allowed to tell you who, of course. That would ruin the whole undercover thing." He flipped his hand around as he spoke, waving her away.

There it was, then. This maniac was some pathetic villain who had broken into the school. The only other questions left were: who did he work for if not the league? How did he get in? And how did he get in undetected?

Jiro clicked her earjacks into her boots, sending pulse waves towards the man. "The heroes are on their way! They know you're here!" she screeched, the lie coming out of her mouth easily. Jiro had no idea whether or not the alarm that went off was a signal to evacuate or some new edition to the training they were supposed to be doing.

The man grinned wildly, stepping back just before her attack managed to land. He fell through the floor; into some hole Jiro hadn't noticed.

Or... no, there was some sort of portal.

A blue one of the likes the girl had never seen before. "I'm sure they are, deary! Do be sure to tell your friend he has my deepest apologies! He has about one minute before he's in for the ride of his life!" was the last thing the villain said before the portal closed up.

Jiro ran up to it, but she was too late. It had closed completely, and not even a speck of blue light was left behind.

She swore, flinging her body around so fast she almost stumbled. She sprinted out of the building, jumping out of the window and landing with a roll. "Midoriya!" Jiro yelled desperately. Her earjacks went into the building he had landed in, trying to hear for his heartbeat.

It was faint, most likely because of the distance between them considering it was already hard enough for her to hear hearts, but it was there and just loud enough to give her some idea of where Midoriya was.

She set off, the hairs standing up on her neck. What had the villain meant, one minute before he's in for the ride of his life? Whatever it was, Jiro didn't like it. She ran up multiple flights of stairs, turning sharp corners and scanning every nook and cranny for Midoriya. 

One minute before he's in for the ride of his life.

"Jiro," a weak shout from behind her.

The girl turned on her heel and ran to Izuku, scanning for a mass of green. Instead, she found him in a foetal position, his hair and entire body covered in white dust and debris from when he smashed into the building.

One minute before he's in for the ride of his life. That sentence replayed in her head over and over again. She clenched her jaw tight.

The room they were in looked like some sort of meeting area, with chairs and a long desk in the middle. She pushed them away to give herself and Midoriya as much space as she could, shoving it all into the far wall of the room.

She helped him sit up, biting on her lip when he let out a groan in pain. Midoriya's breathing was bad. He stuttered through every inhale, like it pained him to do so. He cradled his right arm to his chest, quietly mumbling about the villain. 

"I'm sorry, Midoriya," Jiro whispered, placing a warm hand on his too cold knee. "I'm so sorry. The villain got away. I don't know what he did, but his quirk, it—"

"I feel so empty, Jiro." Midoriya mumbled pathetically. "I feel like I'm slowly draining away. That—that villain is bad, you have to find him. He's gonna hurt other people." Even as tears rolled down his cheeks, he had that look of determination. 

"Hey, no, don't say that. The heroes are on their way, remember? That loud alarm was to warn them. They'll get the villain." Jiro promised. The boy in front of her didn't look convinced in the slightest, even as he continued to groan in pain. Fuck, has it already been one minute? 

What was happening to Midoriya?

A blue light, not unsimilar to the one Jiro had witnessed take the villain away, seemed to form around Midoriya's body. He huffed, cried and wept in pain as Jiro could do nothing but watch.

She had started to doubt the heroes were coming after all. Tears fell down her cheeks as well as she witnessed her classmate try to thrash around, but fail. He was kicking his legs so slowly it was like they were frozen.

Izuku turned his head to the side and emptied out the contents of his stomach, cursing. "Oh my god," he shouted out, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. "Damn it, everything hurts." His head was spinning, and his vision was playing up.

He could see Jiro was crying as well, which confused him. Another wave of pain travelled through his body and he screamed, his previous thoughts gone.

Jiro grunted, looking around for some way to help him out. It had been well over a minute, she realised. Was this what the villain's quirk did? Send people into pain? But then what the hell was the blue light all over his body?

She found an emergency flare gun in the hallway and grabbed it. She stuck her hand out of the hole in the wall Midoriya had created with his body and shot it into the air, red smoke flowing out of it rapidly. She sobbed and prayed someone would notice and arrive on time.

On time for what, she didn't know. She just hoped whatever was coming to Midoriya wouldn't be as painful as the villain made it sound. One minute before he's in for the ride of his life couldn't possibly mean something good when it spews out of a villain's mouth, after all.

--

Aizawa sighed as another minute went by. In the observation room, there was the rest of class 1-A, everyone just as confused and disappointed as he was. Midoriya and Jiro were supposed to reach the falling building ages ago, but there was no sign of them. 

"Iida? Any sign of them yet?" The man spoke into the walkie talkie in his hand.

"Um, no. Not yet, Sensei. There hasn't been any sign of the two of them at all, actually." Iida's reluctant voice came through the other line.

Uraraka tugged on Aizawa's sleeve. "I'm starting to get worried, Sensei. The alarm went off nearly two minutes ago." she said, looking down at the fake city beneath their feet. It seemed normal, like everything was okay. They could see the building that had collapsed a few minutes ago, but there wasn't even the slightest hint of anything else happening.

Yaoyorozu put a hand on the glass frowning, "Shouldn't we at the very least be seeing one of them? It's like they're nowhere near the fallen building. But that wouldn't make sense; the building should only be about a thirty second walk from where they started."

"Sensei!" Todoroki's voice suddenly sparked to life in the intercom. His tone was urgent.

"Todoroki, what happened?" Aizawa demanded, already making his way out of the observation room.

"It's Midoriya and Jiro! There's been an emergency flare set off!"

The man froze where he was, mid step. He slowly turned around, his heart thumping against his chest. "What?" he murmured, confused. There wasn't any smoke in the air from what he could see.

Tokoyami looked at him, worried. "Sensei, what—"

Aizawa ignored his student, staring out at the city. The next second, the glass of the observation room seemed to ripple and reshape itself. The quirk that had been activated on it, and that no one had noticed, disappeared. It revealed that there was, indeed, red smoke in the air not too far from the fallen building.

Aizawa ran out of the room, jumping flights of stairs at a time. "Todoroki, what's going on?!" he shouted into the walkie talkie. 

There was no reply for a few seconds. "We...don't know. Iida ran into the building, he said he would let us know if something's wrong." Todoroki replied, sounding worried. "Oh, wait, I can see him. Oh shit, he's crying."

"Crying?!" The man demanded, picking up his pace.

"We're heading inside as fast as we can!" Mina's voice was distant. "I think he's on the fourth floor! It's hard to tell with all the smoke!"

Aizawa shoved the walkie talkie into his pocket, bolting as fast as he could to the building with the red smoke surrounding it. He kept it secured tightly on him, just in case he needed to send out any emergency messages to Nezu.

He had a dreadful feeling that something had gone really, really wrong.

--

Jiro was crying. Why was that?

Izuku didn't know. He did know, though, that something was wrong. He could feel vomit dribbling down his chin, but his right arm was broken, and his left arm was busy cradling it. He couldn't wipe it away, which he supposed should be embarrassing.

But Midoriya just couldn't bring himself to care. 

Blue light covered his body from his neck down. It was a pretty shade, much like Todoroki's eye. Izuku wasn't sure why it was there, or what it was. At least he wasn't in pain anymore. It was like he'd gone completely numb to the dizziness and the aching and the feeling of his body been torn from the inside.

Whatever that dude's quirk was, it had made Midoriya's limbs go heavy. Just holding his arm to his chest hurt and strained.

Now, all he felt was tired. Cold, but mostly just tired. He wanted to go to sleep.

Just as Izuku closed his eyes, someone slapped his cheek, hard. It rocked his head back, but it didn't hurt. "Wha'?" he slurred. He couldn't see much other than the distinct blur of colours around him.

Red and white, pink, black, blue and some other ones in the back. "Mmph, I r'lly don't feel good." he mumbled. He wasn't sure if he got the words out or not. He could only hear the sound of white noise. He hoped they got out, though. It would be weird if the people around him saw his lips move but didn't hear anything,

Someone was crying, he knew. Their tears were dripping onto his leg. Probably still Jiro. There was a hand on his shoulder, or something on it at the very least. It felt uncomfortable, but he couldn't find it in him to shrug it off.

"—Girl is on her way. Can you last that long, Midoriya?" 

Izuku's head snapped upwards, to where the voice had been. He couldn't hear anything just a second ago, could he? "Not long," he whispered, feeling tears build up. It didn't matter who was on their way, he knew. He knew instinctually he didn't have long to say what he wanted to say.

"Not long until Recovery Girl is here. That's right," Aizawa assured. Midoriya realised it was Aizawa's hand on his shoulder.

He shook his dirty curls, "I've gotta go." he sniffled. He could feel himself starting to pass out. His head felt lighter, like it was detached from the rest of his body.

"No, you're staying right here with me, kid."

"You—you gotta tell m' mum I love her. And tell Kacchan to keep going. He's been havin' some trouble recently, ya know? I noticed, but I was too nervous to tell him I wanted to help."

"You can tell them yourself." Aizawa insisted, his grip on Midoriya's shoulder growing tighter.

Izuku sighed. His eyes were closed again. He wasn't sure when that had happened, but he knew they weren't going to open again even if he tried to. "No, I can't. 'm leaving soon. Tell everyone else I love 'em, too."

--

And then, he was gone.

He just vanished with a small flash of blue light. Uraraka screamed, and Jiro sobbed harder. Someone was blowing something up, and someone else was clinging to Aizawa's arm. Said man stared at the spot his injured student had just been in with utter shock. 

"Midoriya," He mumbled. He had been applying pressure on Midoriya's wound, and now his hand was covered in his student's blood. Aizawa stood up straight as he clenched said hand. What the fuck had just happened?

Chapter Text

Three days.

It took three whole days before the police were able to figure out who the infiltrators were. Seventy-two hours of no one knowing who had taken Midoriya or where. Seventy-two hours of Shouta receiving heartbroken voice messages and emails from a mourning mother.

Seventy-two excruciating hours of Shouta being spammed by his students for updates, information, and begs to let them help join the official forming search party.

Three days of no sleep for many, many people.

And what was revealed? There had been a total of three villains that broke into UA.

Renzo Ito. Quirk: Hollow Hologram. He could broadcast whatever he wanted for up to ten minutes at a time, including still frames and screenshots or even just memories he had, as a hologram, reflecting off of glass surfaces.

Kimora Fuji, who had an uncommon teleportation quirk. She was able to teleport whoever she wanted, as well as herself, to wherever she wanted as long as it was in within a sixteen-kilometre range.

Kage Hori, the bastard who had gotten his grubby paws on Izuku Midoriya had a, so to say, 'universal' quirk. It was officially called: Turn Back. He had the ability to send people to alternate realities. He sent a sixteen-year-old boy to another reality. Alone, injured, and possibly permanently.

Learning this information, Aizawa decided it was time for him to step the fuck in and capture the villain himself, regardless of whether or not his agency approved him of doing so. He didn't care who told him not to do it, all he knew was that he needed answers as to what Midoriya was going through.

"Not so fast," Tsukauchi stood up from where he was seated. He held a hand up, the other brushing through his short hair. "Just because we know who the villains are, doesn't mean we know enough, Eraserhead." he said calmly, taking a step towards Aizawa.

Aizawa settled a glare on his face, clenching his hands at his sides. "You expect me to sit here as uselessly as a flat spoon after learning what Kage Hori has done to my student?" he demanded, a red tint forming behind his eyes. His jaw set firmly, "I'm afraid that's just not possible."

Aizawa recalled the way his student had been taken just three days beforehand. He remembered the way Jiro screamed an onslaught of anguished apologies at him for not being able to save Midoriya from the grasps of the villain in time for ten minutes straight once she realised that the villain's quirk had done something horrible.

Iida had fallen to his knees, absent tears streaming down his face when Midoriya vanished. Aizawa didn't think he had ever seen Iida look so defeated yet simultaneously enraged at once. Not to mention Todoroki and Uraraka's reactions. The man swore he could hear their hearts cracking a little more at each apology Jiro spewed.

Aizawa's own heart sunk a little each time his thoughts wondered back to the devastating reaction the rest of his class gave when he had to personally sit them down and explain what had happened.

There had been an entire school lock down once Aizawa managed to send out an emergency signal to Nezu, and shortly after there were seven full police cars, well over ten police dogs, every student evacuated and locked inside their dorms, and an entire crowd of reporters in front of the school.

How the public managed to find out about the emergency lock down so quickly, the man would never know.

His students, of course, realised something went awfully wrong when Aizawa had initially raced out of the observation room.

There were a few of them that followed him out of the room instinctively, but the rest stayed inside, watching from a distance as their teacher and classmates ran over to the building with an emergency flare smoke flowing out of it. When the alarm signalling a break in went off, the damage was already done.

The villains were gone, as well as Midoriya. 

Aizawa had to be the one to tell his students what had occurred.

His expression soured, "Midoriya could be dead by now in whatever god-awful place that villain threw him into!" He stood in the middle of Tsukauchi's office, right in front of the door leading into the main lobby.

He itched to slam it open and race out. If he tried hard enough, he was certain he could find where the villain Kage Hori lived and hunt him down in a matter of minutes.

Toshinori seemed to sense what the man was thinking, "Aizawa," he said, warning clear in his voice. "You cannot seriously believe going out on your own would be wise. I know how you feel, I really, truly do. But rushing into things will likely only make the matter at hands so much worse." All Might's eyes gleamed brightly under the harsh ceiling lights, his slim frame strangely illuminated and making him look far more sickly than he usually did.

Or maybe that was from the stress he was experiencing. Who knows, really.

Aizawa took a long, deep inhale, trying to settle his rickety breaths and the dread swirling dangerously at the bottom of his stomach. "Then, when will we be going out to arrest this group?" He pressed his palm to his temple, frowning.

He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten in the past couple of days, let alone slept. His exhaustion was beginning to take over, and it only added fuel to his burning flame of anxiety.

Tsukauchi picked up a portfolio from his desk, flipping it open. He took out two pages carefully, then placed the folder back down. "Based on what your student said in her report and the answers she gave to my questions a few days ago, these villains must be at the very least C rank. They claimed they were not a part of the League, but rather someone of a higher stance."

"Someone higher than All For One and his minions?" Toshinori questioned, coughing red spots into his handkerchief. He quickly wiped any blood that had landed on his chin away as well. 

"They're a part of an old group of villains. One from your Prime, All Might. However, they remain unnamed, unnoticed, and disregarded in society." The detective handed one of the sheets to the sickly man, pointing at one of the paragraphs. "We did some digging, and apparently, they call themselves 'The Light'. They were known for a bit back in the day, but eventually were forgotten when their leader was arrested. We had assumed the group disbanded because they stopped being active."

"We should know by now not to assume things without evidence." Aizawa crossed his arms over his chest, becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of answers he was getting. Seriously, how much prodding did it take for someone to get to the point around here? He was getting tired of being thrown nothing but bones to chew on.

Tsukauchi flashed him a strange look before straightening up and handing him the second piece of paper. 

"Like I said," he drawled, moving back towards his desk. "We assumed they disbanded because they stopped being active. Though, I wasn't exactly involved with the case. I was still a rookie, after all." He added that last bit in subtle self-defence, and Aizawa didn't miss the second look thrown his way.

"That sheet of paper tells you everyone that has been seen either claiming to be in the group, known to be in the group, or seen making contact with them over the past twelve months." The detective said slowly. 

Aizawa glanced down at the sheet of paper. It had a list of about twenty people, stating their age and their quirks. "This is it? This pathetic group is the reason Midoriya was taken?" he wondered out loud, appalled. The youngest person on the list was pushing forty. 

"Not all of them, of course. The main people within The Light each have their own pages worth of information, including the three people that managed to sneak into UA." Tsukauchi answered, despite knowing Aizawa hadn't directed the question at him. "We're working on the locations of their current 'boss'. He's a retired old man whose barely able to get out of bed, but clearly well enough to bark orders. The only reason he's the leader now is because their previous one, his grandson, was arrested."

"How much of an influence does this group have?" All Might questioned. He hadn't ever heard of this group, which meant they couldn't have had that much influence or publicity back in his prime. He was certain he would remember such a thing.

Tsukauchi sighed deeply as he sunk into his desk chair. "Not much, I admit. We've had undercover officers ask around and do some prodding, but not many knew much. No one under the age of thirty had any idea there was even such a group. That's not to say they haven't been growing recently, considering they're cocky enough to kidnap a UA student."

He'll have to send a thank you card to one of his friends who was one of the people that was sent out to find information. Apparently, a few older neither illegal nor legal members of an underground ring got aggressive at the mention of The Light. Only a few of them cracked under the pressure and gave them the information they had now.

"We have two press conferences to attend before we can make any major moves. The public needs to know that we aren't just sitting around on our asses waiting for Hori to hand himself in and tell us where Midoriya is." The detective said, pulling up his meeting schedule for the next week.

It was packed, only two days without any gatherings.

Aizawa could already feel a headache beginning to form.

"We do not condone the actions of these disgusting villains," The detective swore, a hand over his chest. "Our team has worked phenomenally on this case, and we have excellent results so far. We already have the names of the men and women that dared to hurt children, and we plan on cracking them down at the first chance we get."

A reporter stood abruptly from their chair in the crowd, their face cloudy. "This is not the first, nor the second time something like this has happened. Do you people have any idea how much faith we put in heroes and the teachers at UA? It seems to me that UA just isn't as good as people make it out to be, considering how it has failed its students time and time again!" They yelled, a vein popping from their neck. They heaved, out of breath from their rant as their strong eyes glanced between the men at the front.

Shouta Aizawa bowed deeply, "It is under my surveillance this has happened. In fact, every single time a villain has broken into UA high school, my students were viscously targeted. I'm not sure what it is with grown adults wanting to hurt my children, but I do know I have done a poor job at protecting them as I have sworn. To every parent watching, every guardian, every other teacher, and every child, I apologise." He stood up straight again, his jaw set firmly.

"I swear to you, and to my students as well as their guardians, that I will not stand to let this happen again. There are precautions being made, new arrangements within the school and within my duties as a teacher to help protect the children under my care." He stared into the crowd fiercely, unblinking. His face was grave, like a mourning man.

Camera flashes went off violently, and yet he did not blink. He did not sway in his body language, and he did not show the slightest bit of hesitance when swearing to do better.

But that wasn't enough.

"And how are we supposed to know how good you'll do on your promise?!" Someone else shouted. "You said the same thing last time and look where we are now!"

Aizawa glanced over to where the voice came from. "I understand better than anyone how greatly I have failed. I eat, sleep, and breathe with a heavy heart knowing my student is out there somewhere, but not anywhere I know. But I do know Izuku Midoriya. And I know that when he sets his heart on something, he will succeed. I know for a fact that he will make it through this, and that he will return safely. All I ask is that you give him the time he needs, and give us the time we need, to prepare."

The chief of police stood then, his arms behind his back neatly. "That's right. I once had the honour of meeting young Izuku Midoriya, and I can say with certainty he will not faulter under the villain's claws. My team is the best there is, and you can bet that they have been working as hard as they can to pinpoint the child. He will make it out of this, I swear on my title as the Head Chief of the Police Force."

"How true is your word?!"

"What measures are being made to make sure—"

"Why is it always class 1-A of UA being targeted?!"

"—say about the fact Izuku Midoriya is only a child having to—"

Click.

The television flicked out. Ito glanced over at his friends, a smirk on his face. Their plan had succeeded.

"The people are antsy," Fuji said. "They just can't believe class 1-A was targeted again, and that yet another student was kidnapped." She crossed one of her legs over the other, tilting her head to the side as she grinned. "Give yourselves a round of applause, men. This is the exact outcome we had been hoping for."

Cheers erupted around them, members of The Light screaming out victorious roars. 

Hori hummed a cheerful tune on his stool, engraving silly pictures into the bar's countertop. "I believe it's time for me to go, then." he sung, picking off a golden button from his coat. "Kimora Fuji, it's been an honour serving you," he said, standing up and walking towards the couch Fuji was seated on.

He carefully held the button out, and she took it gratefully.

"It's been an honour working with you, Kage Hori. Carry out your last task as a member of The Light faithfully and fruitfully, as you've done so many times in the past." Fuji inspected the button in her palm, flipping it over a few times, before placing it in the pocket of her jacket.

She leaned upwards at the same time Hori leaned down.

Her lips made contact with his cheek for a brief moment, before the both of them pulled away. "I wish you luck," she said, a clear dismissal.

Hori grinned at the almost sad and guilty look in her eyes, "Don't you worry your pretty little head off. After all, this is necessary to our cause." He helpfully reminded.

Fuji shooed him off, her guilt faded into irritation at his words. She knew he did that on purpose, so she wouldn't feel responsible for sending him away even though she was the one to order it, but it made her feel a little lighter regardless.

Renzo Ito was next to wish Hori goodbye. He placed a closed fist on his friend's chest, a cheeky yet regretful smile on his face. "You've always been one for dramatics, haven't you?" he joked.

Hori snorted, "Oh, yes, I'm sacrificing myself just because I want to go out dramatically." 

"See what I mean? You make it sound like you're dying, mate."

"I might actually be put on death row, though." 

Ito's smile faded completely at that, and he retracted his hand. "Well, that's one way to ruin the mood." he commented sourly.

Hori just laughed, bringing him in for a tight hug. Their first and last embrace. Funny how things like that work out. 

Ito returned the hug easily, despite never being one for useless gestures like that. He sniffled, looking away to hide his ridiculous and embarrassing tears, as the embrace was broken. He refused to watch his best friend leave.

Kage didn't mind. He gave Ito's shoulder one last squeeze, then walked away for good. The crowd of people in front of the exit parted in satisfying unison and he couldn't help but chuckle easily at the sight. He walked through the given pathway, saying his goodbyes and letting members shove him playfully as they always did.

It really was bittersweet knowing it was the last time he would be able to experience that.

But when life gives you lemons, you gotta make the most delicious lemonade as you possibly can out of 'em, right?

"The press conference was aired two hours ago successfully," Sansa commented around his food.

Tsukauchi nodded, "I know. There was just as much backlash as expected from the public. We'll have to find a way to calm them down and bring back their trust in UA and heroes." he tipped his head back, the last few drops of his black coffee falling into his mouth.

He crushed the paper cup in his hand and threw it into the nearest trashcan he could find. He didn't have the energy to be surprised or proud of himself when the cup landed in the trash perfectly even though he stood about ten metres away from the can.

Sansa cheered for him. "You're getting good at that, detective." he said.

Tsukauchi looked at him funny, "Something's off with you today." he remarked, narrowing his eyes at the catman.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Sansa replied, shoving the last bit of his bagel into his mouth.

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about."

"I'm offended, Tsukauchi. And I don't even know what you're accusing me of this time around."

"Are you hiding something again?" The detective demanded, leaning forward in his chair.

"I knew I shouldn't have sat at the same lunch table as you," Sansa complained. He moved to get up from his own chair, but Tsukauchi beat him to it.

He stood up abruptly and walked to the other side of the table, glaring down at the officer. "What are you hiding?" he repeated.

"Nothing, sir."

"Oh yeah? You realise you only ever call me sir when you're in trouble, right? I'm going to ask one more time," The man placed a hand on the table, using that as a brace so he could lean down further without struggle. "What are you hiding."

Sansa looked at him, looked at his hand, then turned his face away completely. "I've had a feeling today," he mumbled.

"A feeling? What kind of feeling this time?" The detective questioned, perplexed. 

"I mean I've got a feeling something good and bad is going to happen. Like, really soon."

"Good and bad?"

"I don't know how to explain it!" Sansa waved his hands around frantically. "It's—it's just a hunch, but I think someone important, crucial to us important, is going to show up at our doorstep."

Tsukauchi moved away from Sansa just a fraction as the gears in his head turned rapidly.

If there was one thing Sansa Tamakawa was known for within the police force, it was always having hunches that turned out to be true.

Like that one time the feline had a hunch about there being a new drug trafficking group arising three years ago. They ended up arresting a total of thirty men from the raid Sansa led, five of them landing in Tartarus for their previous criminal record.

Or that other time Sansa had a feeling about the new recruit being up to no good. Two weeks later, that same rookie was taken into custody for attempting to steal government files.

"Someone crucial to us, whose both good and bad? Or is it someone whose appearance here would be both good and bad for our cause." he wondered out loud, standing up straight and choosing to ignore the offensive sigh of relief that came from the officer still seated. "Perhaps the Chief is going to return," he suggested, nodding to himself.

"U—um, about that." Sansa interrupted, looking a little guilty. "I meant good and bad because it will be beneficial for us that the person shows up, but their actions will also have consequences." The man stood up, brushing off his vest and getting rid of the crumbs that sat on it.

"Right," Tsukauchi said, the cogs momentarily pausing inside of his mind. "And when exactly is this going to happen again?" he asked, taking out a notepad and pen from the pocket of his coat. 

The officer took a second to gather his thoughts, "Soon. Very soon."

"Y'know, sometimes I think your real quirk is something similar to what Night Eye's was." Tsukauchi joked, jotting down dot points about the information he was given.

"I told you, it's just a hunch. It might not even be true." Sansa retorted. If it weren't for the fur covering his face, there would be a pink hue shown across his cheeks. 

However, much to the feline's embarrassment, just like the last time Sansa had a hunch, and the time before that, and the time before that, so on and so forth, his managed to predict future events.

Tsukauchi had made a report about Sansa's hunch earlier that day, which was then posted onto the board and available for everyone to read.

But that didn't make Kage Hori, the maniac who kidnapped a child, walking into the station like he owned the place, any less of a surprise.

He had five men on him in an instant. Though from where Tsukauchi was standing, he could tell the villain had expected as much. He was put in cuffs—unfortunately, they didn't have quirk suppressing cuffs on hand—and led into the interrogation room, where Aizawa and Yagi had the honours of meeting the man.

--

Hori sat on a metal chair, chained to the table which was bolted to the floor. Aizawa and Tsukauchi sat across from him, and Toshinori stood in the corner. 

Hori grinned brightly, "Wow, to think I get to be up close and personal with the All Might. It's amazing how well things are going for me these days!" he laughed. It disgusted Aizawa how the man was so carefree after doing something despicable to a highschooler.

Tsukauchi coughed into his hand, slamming down the portfolio he had onto the table. "Kage Hori. Age: two months away from twenty-eight. Quirk: Turn Back. You have the ability to send people to other worlds, defying the laws of nature. Drawbacks include headaches, heartburn, and vivid dreams of what the person you sent away is going through."

The man closed his eyes as he listened, humming in confirmation at each point stated. "Well, that's most of it. However, it's been a while since I updated my government profile, ya know? There are a few... hm, let's just call them minor details left out about my quirk, since it's evolved quite splendidly over the last decade."

The detective narrowed his eyes, flicking through he paper, "I'm sure you've heard of me but just in case you haven't, I'm detective Tsukauchi. I have a truth detecting quirk, and I will be reporting and picking up the smallest lie. Any detail would be of help. This could also be an opportunity for you to lighten your sentence, Hori. Every last bit of information you give us counts."

"Ah, so I am going to jail? You folks have been treating me so nicely I'd assumed I'll be let off the hook!"

"Did you seriously believe you weren't going be incarcerated after sending an injured child to god knows where?" Aizawa demanded, seconds away from activating erasure.

Kage caught onto this and smirked, tilting his head. "Your eyes look a little tired, Eraserhead. You should let them rest."

"It almost sounds like you want me to use my quirk. What sick game are you playing at?" The hero clenched his fist, setting his jaw tightly. Just looking at the smug face the villain had painted on was enough to piss him off.

But with the way the man was hinting at him not to use his quirk, trying to get him to activate it through reverse phycology, had him thinking.

What ways had his quirk evolved? What would eliminating Hori's quirk temporarily do to Midoriya?

"Game? This isn't a game, hero." The villain chuckled, leaning back in his chair. "Back when I was still a teen, I had no connection to the people I sent away. They would be brought back a day later, but apart from being stuck inside of my quirk, we weren't associated. To put it nicely, they were completely sent away from our world and into some random one." Hori sat back up, fiddling with the cuff binding him to the table.

"But now?" he smiled brightly. "Now I know exactly what's going on with our green friend."

A hand slammed onto the table. "Spill or be locked up for good! We don't have time for your ridiculous shenanigans and stalling!" Aizawa yelled, glaring at the villain.

All Might walked forward, choosing to stand to the right of the villain. "I'm afraid we might be forced to resort to... nasty tactics to get you to talk if you don't want to do it voluntarily." he said, so calmly Tsukauchi had to do a double take.

"Hey, now," he called out, frowning. "It hasn't even been twenty minutes. Let's all just take a—"

"Are you serious, detective?!" All Might demanded. "This man is obviously hinting he knows where young Midoriya is, and he thinks he's going to get away with playing mind games rather than opening his mouth and telling us the truth!"

Tsukauchi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "All Might, I'm well aware of what the man is trying to do. Believe it or not, I actually have a license for this. If you're just going to sit here and threaten the man, go take a walk. Get a cup of cold water and come back when you're done."

Honestly, did Tsukauchi feel bad for embarrassing Toshinori in front of the interviewee, who looked ready to explode with laughter? 

Not at all.

Was it wise? Nope. But oh well.

Toshinori stormed out, blushing a fierce red from his neck up.

Aizawa still hadn't backed down, glaring unfalteringly at the villain.

The criminal sobered up once All Might left, and suddenly his smiles and smug look were gone. "Listen, Eraser. I saw the conferences; I know how much you care for your student." He shrugged, "But there's not much you can do but wait. My quirk has grown a lot. Rather than sending someone out for one day, they're gone for a week. Seven whole days, no more, no less."

Tsukauchi paled, his quirk not detecting a single lie. "Seven days?"

Hori hummed, taking a moment to think. He glanced over at the hostile pro and shook his head, "Using erasure would be the worst possible thing for you lot." he mumbled, deflating.

This whole thing was a lot more anticlimactic than he thought it was going to be. Jeez, if he ever got out of jail, he wouldn't have much of a story to tell his buddies back at The Light.

"Like I said, Midoriya and I have a connection. Rather than seeing what he's doin' through a dream, I can just tap into my mind palace and take a peek in birds-eye-view. Taking away my quirk and breaking the thin thread binding us together would sever the effects of Turn Back overall. I won't be able to see what Midoriya is doing, nor will he be pulled out." Hori tapped the side of his head in a rhythm as he spoke.

Aizawa choked, plopping down onto his chair. "You're saying if I use my quirk, Midoriya will be lost in that world for good?" he whispered. Holy shit, and he was so tempted earlier to use it for intimidation points, too. He almost made a fatal mistake.

Tsukauchi took notes on the paper inside of the portfolio, biting his bottom lip. Again, not a single lie detected. Midoriya was clearly at a big risk here, more so than anyone thought. "Why did you hand yourself in?" he questioned, antsy.

Hori shrugged, "Couldn't risk heroes busting down our hideout, could we? I'm sure you all have tabs on The Light, but our location shifts often. Me staying there would risk having all of our shit taken and all of our members arrested, so we decided it would be better for me to just hand myself in and distract you guys long enough for them to prepare. Don't get ya knickers in a twist, though. I don't plan on using my quirk again if that's what's got you all riled up."

"For your next move? To where?"

"Hell if I know. I wasn't told anything in case I was forced into talking using, what did that old fart say? Nasty tactics." Kage flapped his free hand around carelessly, sticking his tongue out. "Anywho, I agreed with the plan because I wanted to tell you guys what your bud has been up to these past couple of days myself. Figured it would be a lot more enjoyable if I'm sober enough to see your reactions than if I was drugged out of my mind."

Aizawa felt his stomach swoop uncomfortably at that last comment. "What do you mean, our reactions? What aren't you telling us?"

Hori hummed, leaning forward. "My quirk is called Turn Back for a reason, sirs. It turns back someone's body into a certain point in their life and rewires their mind into something completely different using different ways. Turn Back selects a world personally that is deemed fit for breaking the victims very sense of self apart and forming a new one."

Eraserhead inhaled sharply, standing up again from his chair to walk around.

Nausea overcame him like a tidal wave, and he had to force himself to swallow back his bile multiple times.

Break one's sense of self? The requirements for something so horrific were just that; horrific. Something awful had to happen for anything of the sorts to occur. 

"And you thought," he drawled, turning back to the villain. Hori didn't look ashamed in the slightest. In fact, Aizawa swore he could see amusement in his otherwise blank eyes. "That it was a good idea to break a sixteen-year-old boy?" he questioned.

"It was orders from the boss," he replied easily. 

Tsukauchi snapped, "And that makes it okay? What the hell did you do to that boy?!"

Hori snorted at that, "Relax, detective. He's not completely broken. His old self, the one you knew, just doesn't exist any longer. Time in the world he was sent to flies by a lot faster than in this world. By the time the week is up, Izuku Midoriya will have spent a year and a half in his world from his point of view." He cleared his throat, gesturing for Aizawa to sit down again.

The man did not oblige, much to the villain's disappointment. "Well, ya can't win them all." he mumbled. "Anyhow, right now it's only been just over half a year. He still remembers bits and pieces of his previous life, but not much. He won't even remember his name by tomorrow."

"Holy shit," Aizawa swore, placing his hands on the back of his head as he took that all in. Midoriya's entire sense of self, including his literal identity, would be gone. What a massive fucking pill.

Hori continued, a small smile on his face as he watched from a few metres away as the pro struggled to come to terms, choosing to ignore the fuming detective in front of him. "When he arrived at the new world, he was in his fourteen-year-old body. The person who took him in made sure to revert his mind to a similar age. The way he did it wasn't very nice, I admit, but I couldn't do much to stop it. When he returns, he'll be fifteen."

"That's enough for today." Tsukauchi suddenly said, slamming the folder closed. "You're going to be held in a cell overnight, we'll be back tomorrow for more questioning." As he stood up, he couldn't help but be grateful All Might was still out sulking rather than being inside of the room.

Small mercies, being able to be the one to tell him what was going on rather than listening to the old man spout nonsense about frowned upon interrogation methods without thinking.

Hori was kept in a cell down on the far end of the station. It had a bed with a loud, screeching metal frame and an uncomfortable mattress, as well as his own toilet (which probably hadn't been cleaned in a good while). 

He went to sleep with a light heart and an aching back.

Admittedly, stale crackers and bread he was given in the morning wasn't the worst meal considering his crime, so Hori couldn't be too mad when he spent about half an hour chewing one half of a cracker. He chewed and chewed in silence, his throat parching further with every crumb he swallowed.

Every now and then he'd check up on Midoriya, just to see how the little green fella was goin'. 

It was quite interesting when five minutes in his world was a couple of days in Midoriya's. Every time he looked, the kid would be doing something completely different than whatever he was doing the last time Hori checked.

As it turned out, detective Tsukauchi and his hero buddies were, in fact, not back the next day. Or the day after. Or the day after that, either.

About three days after his arrival, some woman came into his cell rather than the two of them meeting in the interrogation room.

She didn't introduce herself, and merely stated her association with the Hero Public Safety Commission, her quirk—some weak analysis one—and he was warned that their conversation would be recorded by some device he couldn't see for further analysis before his trial.

The questions she asked were...tough to answer, to say the least. Harsh things he didn't think someone from the HPSC was even allowed to ask.

Seriously, did he really seem like the type of guy to hang around high schools for any reason other than to send them into different realities and crumple their souls? Please, as if. He wasn't that far gone.

By the end of their session, Hori was left wondering if he had done some other terrible crime.

The lady left and returned again half an hour later.

This time, she brought a clipboard with her. The HPSC worker leaned against the far wall, staring down at Hori condescendingly. The man stared back blankly, crossing one of his legs over the other.

"I'm going to move onto a different topic now," was all she said in greeting. Hori nodded, waving his hand in a rude gesture and signalling for her to go on. The woman rolled her eyes slightly and continued. "How much do you know of The Light?"

And there it is, Hori thought. He had been wondering when his group was going to be mentioned.

"Probably as much as you guys."

"And what is your position within the group?"

"Oh, little ol' me? Jeez, I'm flattered you think I'm bright enough to have a high position, but I'm really just an average goon."

Scritch. Scritch. The sound of a pen aggressively scraping against paper aggravated the villain, but the worker either didn't notice his look of discomfort or just didn't care. Probably the latter, Hori reasoned.

"What's your wage?" she questioned, barely glancing at him to see his reaction.

From there, the questions were all boring as hell. Typical 'where is your hideout' and 'how many other victims of your quirk are there' blah blah, tomatoes tomatoes. When could he get to the good part already?

Hori was only there to see someone's reaction to what the quirk had done, and he had spilt half of his secrets to get what he wanted. But it really wasn't satisfactory considering all it did was get him thrown into a cell.

"Where's the detective?" If he was going to have to answer such lame questions, he might as well have a bigger audience.

"None of your concern." The lady replied easily, clicking her tongue.

"Ah, well in that case I don't believe I'll be answering any more questions until he's in here. I'm sure you want answers to my quirk and that kid, but that Tsukauchi fellow has to be in here if you want 'em."

"Oh, for goodness' sake."

--

Tsukauchi glanced at his calendar uneasily. Tomorrow was supposed to be the day Izuku Midoriya returned back from that villain's grip. He had some time to really think about everything he had learnt during his time talking with Kage Hori, and decided it would be best to allow the Hero Public Safety Commission handle the rest.

Apparently, that was the wrong choice considering he found himself standing face-to-face with the villain again in his cell a few minutes later.

Standing so close to him wasn't exactly ideal, but Hori had claimed he didn't plan on using Turn Back again. Tsukauchi replayed those words in his head over and over again to calm himself down.

"You called, Lady Jane?" he mumbled, bowing his head in greeting.

The woman hummed, nodding her head to the villain grumbling on the bed. "He claims he won't be answering any questions anymore unless you're here, detective. I couldn't risk aggravating him and having him use his quirk on me, so I had no choice but to call you down."

Tsukauchi smiled warily, "Did I not mention he said he wasn't going to use Turn Back?" he questioned, uncertain of himself. 

"I have no reason to trust his motives haven't changed over the past couple of days."

Fair enough, Tsukauchi thought, turning to Hori.

The villain was already looking at him, as unsettling as finding a murder of crows surrounding an old building. "I missed that gruff expression of yours," the man cooed, batting his eyelashes. 

The detective took a careful step back, causing Hori to let out a bark of laughter. "Oh, man. I knew I made the right choice askin' for you! Okay, shoot your questions, Lady Jane!" he shouted gleefully.

Jane made a face at the use of her name, but shook her head and moved on. "Tomorrow is supposed to be the date of the arrival of Izuku Midoriya, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"What is going to happen upon his resummoning? I can't imagine being brought into another world again would be easy on his body." She mercifully tucked her pen into her pocket and shoved her clipboard underneath her arm, instead choosing to listen to Hori's answers fully, rather than writing down notes.

It was a lot easier to use her analysis quirk when she wasn't multitasking. Having Tsukauchi beside her wasn't so bad either, especially considering his quirk could help her piece together everything she needed later for court.

"He'll be plopped onto the ground. Bringing someone out of my quirk is a lot easier than taking someone in, considering my quirk works by selecting a world deemed good enough to break them. It's so harsh, in fact, it rewound his body to when he was fourteen. But my quirk already knows where the person is going when they are brought out, so there aren't any repercussions afterwards." Hori grinned at Tsukauchi, daring him to say otherwise.

Lady Jane also glanced over to him, which made the detective sigh. "He isn't lying. Izuku Midoriya will be fifteen when he is brought back."

"I see," she replied, looking uncomfortable. "And you also mentioned before, Mr Hori, that you can see what Midoriya is doing if you take a look."

The man nodded, "Yes, ma'am!"

Jane swallowed, "The last question for today is; what is Izuku Midoriya like now? Would you say he's still fit to be enrolled in UA?"

The villain's eyes light up. Finally! Even though the woman had said 'last question' and then proceeded to ask two, he was still excited. He'd been waiting for that question.

"Well since I was bored in my cell for three days, I watched him every couple of minutes. Izuku Midoriya is no longer his name, from now on it's Kenshiro Tadashi. He isn't a hero any longer. He's been broken down and built back up as a member of an underground group." Hori clapped his hands together.

"He doesn't take bullshit, he's snappy, and he isn't alone. He probably could still be a hero, but he won't have the potential he used to." Hori laughed, proud of himself.

He had executed his boss's orders to a tee.

Tsukauchi took a deep inhale, clenching his jaw.

Kenshiro Tadashi, huh? How on earth did Midoriya end up with that name?

Not to mention whatever the hell that villain meant by 'isn't a hero' and 'member of an underground group'. How underground? Perhaps Midoriya was some sort of goon now.

"Isn't alone?" Lady Jane questioned, narrowing her eyes. Her question snapped Tsukauchi back into the present.

Hori's eyes were locked on him, an amused expression giving away the reason he had asked for Tsukauchi. He thought it was funny to watch the detective take in all of that bull. "Turn Back builds a new person, as I've said many a time. It brings back everything on them. Their clothes, accessories, etcetera."

Hori paused dramatically, taking a deep breath before continuing. "But it also brings back things they have attached themselves to. Maybe a purse, or a book, or perhaps even a person. Something that is etched so deep into them it's a part of their soul." 

He grinned as he set out an example in the highest, most aggravating voice he could manage, "Hi nice to meet you, I'm Lady Jane. And this here is my favourite painting. Something like that, you get the idea. They can't go without letting everyone know how important it is to them." He flapped his hand around, ignoring the offended expression on Lady Jane's face at being used in the example.

"And so Midoriya... has attached himself to a person? And they're going to come back with him?" Tsukauchi mumbled, shocked at this new information. One glance at the Commission's worker had him knowing she was struggling to take this in just as much as him.

"Ding ding ding! Jeez, you're so smart, detective." Hori winked at the man.

"Tadashi has found himself a buddy he's very close with. They're always laughing, always arguing, always throwing punches at each other. Doesn't matter what they're doing, they're just together. Tadashi wouldn't know what to do without his best friend." The villain held one index finger up, then brought his other one next to it as if to further explain his point.

If he was holding out on the fact Kenshiro Tadashi was a member of a mafia organisation and that he had a kill count of over fifty, who would know? Certainly not the bozos with their jaws dropped like fish.

Besides, it would be more fun for them if they find out later about that greeny's new skills and personality in person rather than from a criminal. Gosh, he wished he could be there when they realised Midoriya was a villain! Too bad he'll end up in jail for life and won't be able to see it play out.

"His best friend is known as Osamu Dazai. Or if you prefer, The Demon Prodigy."

Chapter Text

Izuku Midoriya Kenshiro Tadashi and his best buddy Shuuji Tsushima Osamu Dazai.

They were an interesting pair, to say the least.

They went around terrorising little kids by making faces at them, drinking on the street and behind the wheel, spray painting on private property, and giving piercings to minors for a helluva lot more money than professionals would charge.

They also beat up anyone who looked like they could put up a fight, just to see how strong they were against regular thugs.

Of course, they knew when to take things seriously. When the boss gave an order, it was to be carried out swifty and carefully, with no mistakes. 

They both knew the consequences of taking a single misstep.

Tadashi with his strange super strength ability and Dazai with his nullification were a match made in a witch's cauldron.

They knew how to work together and how to uphold the titles of the Demon Prodigy and the Verde Reaper, but they also enjoyed letting loose and causing harmless chaos (that wasn't always harmless).

How Tadashi ended up with verde, an Italian word, in his nickname was beyond him. Dazai seemed to adore it for whatever reason and that made it more bearable, Tadashi supposed.

Somehow, the two were always together.

Missions, cafés, bars, car dealerships (that they definitely did not rob), abandoned buildings (they definitely did not squat in every few nights), rooftops, the Port, any building of the Port Mafia, and pretty much every other place there is to think of in Yokohama. Tadashi and Dazai seemed to constantly run into each other by some luck.

Other times, it wasn't by chance. They'd follow each other from a few metres away, testing to see how long the other can last without realising they have a tail. Or they'd sneak into each other's missions just to piss off the boss.

Mori liked to comment on it a lot, but the pair had grown so used to his complaining about them being attached to the hip they just pretended to go along with it. Eventually after about a hundred and fifty-seven times of 'yes boss' and 'we'll try to do better' being repeated almost daily, the old fart finally gave up and just let them be.

Just like right now.

Dazai was supposed to be on a mission with Hirotsu to investigate some kid that's been causing ruckus in the slums with his group.

Tadashi didn't like that.

He did some of his own digging, and he found out about this Chuuya Nakahara guy. He had been a lab rat and was now seriously dangerous. That was all Tadashi needed to know to decide he was going along on that mission.

So, he tracked down Hirotsu, batted his eyelashes a few times, swore on his stance in the Port Mafia that Mori allowed him to come along and what do you know, the man was giving in barely five minutes into their conversation!

Whoopty doo, bitches.

So, Kenshiro followed the two of them out into the slums. He walked with his arms folded neatly behind him, humming a tune he knew Dazai enjoyed listening to. About one and half minutes into his song, he got tired of walking around. 

"So where is this fella s'pposed to be?" he questioned, leaning forward to make eye contact with Hirotsu.

The man shrugged, "We have two days to look around for him, Kenshiro. All boss told me is that he's somewhere in this area."

Dazai clicked his tongue, "We don't need two whole days. Like hell I'm sleeping here for tonight. I'd rather go to my shipping container, thank you!" he pouted, eyeing the rusty makeshift shelters all around him.

Kenshiro nodded, "I second that. Even Dazai's crappy sleeping quarters are cleaner than down here." he shook his green curls in displeasure. 

"Why, thank you!"

"I didn't say it as a compliment, but I'm glad you think I would be kind enough to."

Hirotsu coughed into his hand, "Come on, boys. We've just barely covered any area down here. Split up, search high and low."

"Yes, sir!" Dazai cheered. 

"Finally," Kenshiro rolled his head to the side, feeling his ability come to life. A warm sensation flooded his legs, like they were dipped in lukewarm water. One For All activated and green flashed across his skin, dancing all around him.

His ability was different from everyone else's.

Rather than having kanji spring to life all around him like other people when their ability forms, all he got was lightning.

Not that lightning wasn't cool or that he was ungrateful, but why must he be the odd one out when there are so many other people the stars could have chosen to make a freak of the freaks?

Really, the world mustn't like him very much considering the shitty deals it kept handing him over and over again.

Tadashi learned fairly early into his days with Mori that his ability was unique and that that was the reason the doctor took such an interest into him. His blood was collected every week by the doctor ever since the man found something interesting within it.

At first, he cursed his stupid lightning and stupid super strength that came with it.

Now, he loves showing it off. 

It's his own way of telling the stars to shove it, and that he wouldn't be folding any time soon no matter how many bad cards he got. 

--

From behind Tadashi, Dazai stared at the lightning covering his friend's body in awe. He didn't think he would ever get used to the sight of green flashing all over Kenshiro.

It was so peculiar and utterly beautiful that he couldn't help but eagerly await seeing the mesmerising colour every time he met up with his friend. 

He often found himself sitting in bright green fields (that may or may not be on private property he didn't own), letting himself revel in how much it looked like his favourite ability. God, was there ever something as pretty? No, there couldn't possibly be anything to measure against One For All, as Kenshiro called it. 

Tadashi didn't have the boring kanji that told him what the name of his ability was like everyone else did, but he said there was no way he would ever call it anything else. He said he could feel it in his bones that it was to be called One For All, and nothing else. 

Dazai watched with a grin as Kenshiro took off, the wind tussling his brown hair. In a second, his friend was gone, and all that was left was the green trail of light left behind from how fast he was moving.

Yeah, he thought to himself. There's no way Shida will need two days to spot that silly looking ginger boy.

Eventually, Kenshiro slowed down and circled back to walk with Dazai. Hirotsu was off somewhere else looking for the loose cannon known as Chuuya, blissfully unaware of the two defying his orders of splitting up.

Kenshiro had his hands resting on the back of his head, elbows out, with his fingers intertwined. The other teen had his hand placed on Tadashi's right bicep, resting there easily. It was such a familiar position neither of them consciously placed themselves into it. Sometimes Dazai doesn't realise his hand is there at all until Kenshiro shrugs him off.

"This Chuuya guy has a kick ass ability." said Kenshiro. "The ability to manipulate gravity. I think I used to know someone with a similar ability, but..." he trailed off, frowning.

"I haven't heard of anyone like that. You sure it's not just your memories playing up again?" Dazai teased, snickering. 

Kenshiro clicked his tongue, "I know that I definitely did, thank you very much. Just because I don't remember much of my life before the Mafia, doesn't mean I can't remember anything." he retorted. He had half a mind to shrug Dazai off of his arm just for that snarky comment.

"Hey Shida?" Dazai called, his voice wary.

Tadashi immediately paused, recognising the tone. "What happened?" he questioned, letting his arms rest beside him. The hand on his bicep remained there, however. 

"What colour is your lightning again?"

Kenshiro blanked, confused. "Are you serious? You know—" he froze when he followed Dazai's gaze to his legs. There was blue light shining on them, wrapping around his feet and shins entirely. "What the hell?" he mumbled. 

"Izuku Midoriya! My apologies, I mean Kenshiro Tadashi." A man called.

Dazai didn't recognise the voice. He pulled the gun out from his holster, turning around and pointing it at the intruder.

He had an ugly jacket on that most definitely wasn't Mafia attire, which meant he wasn't one of Mori's men. That was about the only thing unique about the bastard; he had an easily forgotten face.

"Ah, and Osamu Dazai!"

That was it. Dazai didn't know who the fuck this dude was, but he didn't like him one bit.

Bang!

A bullet went through his head and into the sheet of copper behind him. The man stayed standing however, and his skin healed itself, stitching back together like nothing had just happened. There were no brains or blood splattered on the wall behind him. There was no way to tell he had just been shot in the head.

"Oh! Sorry about that. You can't actually damage me in this world, kid." the man grinned, placing his hands on his hips.

"What the hell have you done?" Kenshiro yelled furiously, watching as the blue light continued to wrap further up his body. 

"I'm just here to let you guys know that you'll be leaving this world soon."

Dazai scoffed, shifting closer to Tadashi. "You can't kill us, you coot. And once Mori finds out you've tried to attack us, your head will be rolling on the dirt." he barked out, scowling.

The mystery person just laughed in his face, "You're simply leaving this world to go to another. No one's killing anyone." he said simply. 

"Dazai," Tadashi called, freaking out.

Osamu glanced over at him and paused at his look pure terror. That was out of character for him.

"Shida? What—" It was then that Dazai realised he too, had a blue light beginning to make its way up his body. He subconsciously squeezed Kenshiro's bicep as his own panic began to take place.

Well fuck.

He looked back at the attacker, ready to shoot again, but the man was gone. A feeling of dread pooled in his stomach.

"Dazai, what do we do? What the hell is this—" Kenshiro cut himself off, suddenly hit by a wave of nausea. He groaned, bracing himself on a nearby wall as he forced air into his lungs. "Holy fuck," he swore, seeing stars dance across his vision.

He slid down the wall after a few seconds, his legs becoming too unstable to keep him up any longer.

The other teen, however, was in a similar state and unable to offer any advice. He plopped onto the ground next to Kenshiro, sighing deeply at the discomfort he was experiencing. "This is so not how I imagined the sweet release of death to be like. It's not sweet at all! Suicide would be so much better than being dizzy and swallowed by a mysterious blue light."

"Dazai, your ability. That man shouldn't have been able to touch you." Tadashi barked out, infuriated.

"I guess this is how my fate is, Shida!" Dazai laughed. It was cold and empty, not at all comforting. "A painful, miserable death without No Longer Human. What more could a guy want."

"God, you're insufferable."

Dazai glanced over at Kenshiro, his face solemn. Tadashi hated that expression. He hated how he could see it even with darkness clouding over most of his vision. "I'm sorry," he whispered. 

Kenshiro's jaw slacked, and he stared at his friend for a few moments, unsure of what to say. The blue light was covering his entire body from his chin down now, and he willed himself to keep his vomit down as he swallowed bile not for the first time that minute.

"Dazai," he started, attempting to sit up but regretting doing so when pain shot up his spine. "This—ugh, this isn't your fault. Neither of us realised that piece of shit was behind us." He couldn't see anything at all anymore, everything simply covered in a blanket of nothing. 

Dazai slowly reached his hand out again (when had he let go?), and his touch was a cool contrast to Kenshiro's warm arm.

He had wondered for a second whether or not he could even touch Shida with whatever was covering the both of them, but he was glad he could. Shida's warmness was a grounding point against Osamu's dizziness. 

The last thing the brunette remembered doing before he collapsed was throwing himself away from Tadashi to save the boy from being hit by his last meal. Puking wasn't the last thing Dazai wanted to do before he died, or... whatever was going on, but nothing ever goes his way anyway.

At least the last thing he saw was Kenshiro.

That counted for something.

Aizawa didn't like the fact that some fifteen-year-old was called the 'demon prodigy'. It just didn't sit right with him that a boy Midoriya had grown attached to in some underground group was labelled as some demonic wonder.

He couldn't imagine anyone the kid would ever want to hang out with would have such a reputation. 

When Tsukauchi had explained to him what Kage Hori said was going on with Midoriya, he almost didn't want to believe him. He knew that was improbable, however, because the detective would be able to tell if the villain was lying or not.

"So... Midoriya will be back, and we'll be getting a new student?" Kirishima questioned, grinning. "Man, I hope he's cool! Oh wait, is it a dude?"

Aizawa sighed, "I believe so, yes."

The redhead whooped loudly, fist bumping with Kaminari. "Gosh, that's so manly!" he shouted.

Bakugo sat on the couch beside them with his arms folded and his eyes narrowed to slits. "You're hiding something." he stated coldly. He could tell there was something the man was holding back from them. Knowing how blunt his teacher was, it was suspicious at how hesitant he was to spill whatever else was going on.

Todoroki seemed to also realise that, as he stared unblinkingly at Aizawa as he slowly sipped his tea.

Kirishima paused, his lips turning down at the edges, suddenly sober again. "Uh oh, I don't like that tone."

Kaminari nodded, glancing between Bakugo and Aizawa. "Bakubro is never so serious." he whispered, earning a slap from said Bakubro.

"I need all of your cooperation. Settle down, or we'll be here longer than we have to be." Aizawa stared pointedly at Mineta and Mina, who were arguing in the corner. 

Once everyone was quiet and for the love of god, not trying to strangle each other for stupid comments, the man was able to speak seriously. "As I said, the villain's quirk was a dangerous one. It sent Midoriya to another 'world', and it's supposed to be bringing back the person he's closest to."

Yaoyorozu raised her hand hesitantly, "Closest to? He's only been gone a week, Sensei."

Ojiro's jaw popped open, "He replaced Bakugo?" he questioned, like it just couldn't be possible.

The explosive teen snapped his head over furiously, "Shut the hell up, Tail! I'd rather die than be the closest person to Deku!"

"Well you two have known each other for like—"

Aizawa could already feel a headache beginning to bloom in the back of his head. "Enough," he demanded. "This is exactly why I asked you all to settle down. What I'm about to tell you will be a hard pill to swallow, and I won't be speaking over anyone. If you want to have a go at each other, go outside. But I'm warning you, there will be repercussions."

Ojiro looked down, ashamed. "Sorry, Sensei." he muttered, fiddling with his tail.

Bakugo just huffed, looking away.

The man sighed, thinking of the easiest way to explain what had happened without breaking their hearts. "In the world Midoriya was sent to, time moved a lot faster. Three days here was over six months there."

Todoroki choked on his tea, almost spitting it all out. Hagakure immediately latched herself onto Ojiro, already sniffling. Bakugo slowly turned his head back, his red eyes wider than Aizawa had ever seen them.

The man swallowed dry, "He's been living in another world for a year and a half."

Someone gagged.

"He's seventeen now?"

"—enough time for a whole ass baby—"

"I'm not going to be able to go to sleep tonight!"

"—fucking forever—"

"—think he will remember us?!"

Aizawa activated his quirk, shouting. "Quiet!"

Silence followed. A few students glanced at each other, tense and uncertain of what was to come. Aizawa could relate to that feeling, but he pushed it aside. He needed to be there for his students.

The man took that as his opportunity to continue on. "Midoriya isn't seventeen. The villain's quirk causes such a harsh reaction to the body that it regresses, and so he'll be fifteen when he returns." 

Bakugo didn't like that wording. Not at all. "Fifteen, as in he'll look like a middle schooler again. Big deal, he can just buff himself up." he stated, waiting for Aizawa's reaction. The man could see the kid's analysing expression.

Aizawa stiffened, pausing for a few moments before deflating. "Midoriya... he hasn't had a good time. He was taken into an underground group, where he wasn't treated well. I'm not sure what happened exactly, no one is, but Midoriya has regressed in body as well as mind as a result."

Jiro quickly turned on her heel and headed for the kitchen. Yaoyorozu ran after her, rubbing her back as she began to heave into the sink, sobbing violently.

"It's not your fault, Kyoka." Yaoyorozu whispered comfortingly. "No one blames you, alright? The only one responsible is that cruel man who used his quirk on Midoriya."

Jiro only cried harder, clinging to her girlfriend in a desperation for all the warmth she could get.

"I'm sorry, kids. I really, truly am. But he won't remember any of you. He doesn't remember anything from his time here." Aizawa scratched the back of his neck, setting his jaw. He glanced around the room, feeling his stomach drop at the miserable state of his kids.

Uraraka let out a sob, hiding her face in her hands. Tsu was hugging said brunette, silent tears streaming down her face.

Todoroki, who was seated next to them, carefully put down his half empty cup. He crossed one leg of the other, digging his fingernails into his palm with a furious face. 

Bakugo stared at Aizawa with his eyes blazing, "Don't lie to me! That's bullshit!" he yelled, standing up. Kaminari shrieked and latched himself onto Bakugo, trying to get him to calm down. "Don't sit there with that fucking depressed face and tell me Deku doesn't remember anything about UA!"

The teacher stayed seated on the coffee table, wincing but staying silent otherwise.

Tokoyami stepped forward, dark shadow crying into his shoulder. "How far back is his memory loss?" he asked.

Bakugo snapped at him, "Are you deaf, birdbrain?! He's fifteen again, idiot!"

Tokoyami had to stop himself from making an equally rude remark back, instead choosing to elaborate further. "Yes, but what does that entail? Does he simply have the mindset of a fifteen-year-old? Does he remember going to middle school?"

"I suppose we'll have to find out when Midoriya gets here." Iida said, wiping his eyes from behind his glasses. 

Dark Shadow snapped up from where she was hiding behind her host's shoulder. "Fumikage asked Aizawa Sensei!" she huffed.

Aizawa held his hand up to prevent any further argument, "Those are valid questions, Tokoyami. Yes, he has the mind of a fifteen-year-old. Not that that will make much of a difference, considering you're all only sixteen. And... no, he won't have any recollection of his life here in this world."

"No fucking way I'm falling for that," Bakugo said through clenched teeth. He fought hard against Kaminari, who was still trying to get him to sit back down. "You're trying to tell me Deku won't remember me? Or Auntie Inko? Or, fuck, his own goddamn name?!"

Aizawa was glad to have such a quick student. He didn't think he would be able to explain all of that while keeping down his lunch. "I'm sorry, Bakugo." was all the man could say.

From a few metres away, Jiro began gagging again.

The blonde managed to shrug Kaminari off, whose eyes were blown wide at the thought of Midoriya not remembering his own mother.

That was just cruel, damn it.

He wasn't the only one in a daze, as his friends were also struggling to take the news. Even Todoroki looked a few seconds away from crying, which no one in class A had ever seen. 

Bakugo's hands sparked, but Aizawa wrapped the cloth from his neck around the boy before he could do any damage to himself or his peers.

"Midoriya believes his name to be Kenshiro Tadashi. We don't know anything else. Not what he looks like, talks like, or even sounds like. Cementoss will be here shortly to create rooms for your new classmates; they'll be staying here on the ground floor for surveillance."

"W-won't you also be living in the dorms, Sensei? Since there's been ano-another break in..." Koda suggested, not looking up from his pet bunny, who was resting in his lap.

"That's right, Koda. UA is striving to do better, and as am I. Teachers will now also be living in student dorms for the most part. My room will be across from Midoriya and Dazai's, on the other side of the ground floor." Aizawa confirmed, releasing Bakugo from his capture weapon.

The blonde stalked off the moment he regained his freedom, with Sero and Kirishima running after him. 

Hagakure sniffled, her hold on Ojiro's arm loosening just a bit. "Isn't it a little weird for a man to be living with us?" she mumbled, unsure if she was allowed to ask such a question.

"I understand there's concern among students, especially the girls, about having teachers in the building. But rest assured, we aren't permitted to enter student dorms unless there's an emergency." The man watched as multiple of his students relaxed at that. 

Tomorrow was going to be a long, long day. He could already feel exhaustion seeping into his bones.

Chapter Text

Early the next morning, Hori was placed inside of a padded room. There was one sided glass on the far wall, and it wasn't hard to figure out he was being observed. The entire room was white, and Hori felt like he was inside of an asylum.

The thought made him giddy and he hummed so he had something to fixate his adrenaline on.

Eventually he got bored of just humming lullabies, so he began to paint invisible pictures in the air with his fingertips, snickering quietly to himself knowing the people watching him would probably be calling him a freak on the other side of the glass. 

A voice ringing through the room cut through the middle of his song, interrupting the criminal. "Mr. Hori, you are to tell us when Izuku Midoriya is about to arrive." a gruff man said, sounding completely over this whole thing.

Hori could relate to that. "Yes, sir!" he replied, grinning at where he thought the intercom was. It was hard to tell when he was being blinded by white everywhere in his vision except for the glass. There was no way the speaker wasn't also painted white, considering how he couldn't see one.

Hori felt his spin tingle, and he snorted at the shiver his body gave in response.

As he had been instructed, he informed the mysterious people observing him that Midoriya and his pal were a few seconds away from arriving.

The same voice answered him, though it had a lot more emotion this time. It sounded panicked and rushed.

The man behind the speaker berated him for not giving more warning, but Hori could do nothing more than shrug with small laughter. 

Soon after the villain laughed, blue light formed in front of him. Two whole blobs of it, in fact. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realise the two blobs of blue were actually Midoriya—sorry, Tadashi and Dazai.

As soon as the clumps began to reshape themselves into something that actually looked like bodies, Hori stood up and stretched.

"Alrighty, then! I've done my part." He yawned as he walked over to the door, barely reacting when it slammed open with enough force to tussle his hair.

Did he look forward to jail? No, not really.

But as soon as a guard slapped quirk suppressant handcuffs around his wrists, he knew there was nothing that could be done.

Hori was escorted out of the padded room without another word.

--

The two boys formed not a metre away from each other. They laid perfectly straight on the padding of the room in an almost unsettling way.

For the past couple of hours, Aizawa had been worried they were going to fall out of the sky and injure themselves landing, which was why he had suggested getting the villain to sit in a safe area.

The first thing the man noticed about Midoriya and his friend was their formal attire.

Apparently, All Might did as well. "Had they been on their way to some sort of event?" he wondered out loud, wiping the sweat that seemed to be never ending from his forehead.

Toshinori had been incredibly nervous for his successor ever since he had been kidnapped, but even more so when he was about to be returned. He had no idea what he was supposed to expect.

The second thing Aizawa noticed were their matching bandages. They didn't look new, but it was still cause for concern. "Are they injured?" he asked. Hori hadn't told them anything about injuries and such. 

Tsukauchi shrugged, a dark look on his face. "Possibly. But that's exactly why we ordered an ambulance to be at the ready." Almost as if they had heard him, medical staff began pouring into the room on the other side of the glass.

Sansa spoke up from the back of the room, his whiskers twitching. "I don't think they're injured. Those bandages sure don't look fresh by any means, after all."

Aizawa was inclined to agree with the feline. "Could you ask the staff not to touch the bandages unless we have permission from the kids?" he questioned.

"I could, I suppose." Tsukauchi answered, slightly sceptical.

He could see that the nurses were already preparing to scan the two for injuries, as protocol. The man was quick to run over to the speaker and instruct them not to touch anything on their bodies until the boys were awake.

The staff froze from where they were for a split moment, then continued on like nothing had happened at all. Tsukauchi was unsure if they had even understood what he had asked until they made no move to remove the bandages, instead skipping that step and loading the boys onto stretchers.

Aizawa squinted, leaning forward to closer inspect what he had spotted before the two were carried out. He wasn't entirely confident if he was seeing things correctly, but it looked like Midoriya's hair was glittery. The overhead lights in the room he was in seemed to catch on it easily.

But it could've easily been a trick of his eyes or the glass, so Aizawa ignored the feeling of dread pooling in his stomach and forced himself to relax since Midoriya was back, and for the love of god, alive.

Okay, so maybe ignoring one's gut is a bad idea. 

Aizawa sat on a chair with itchy material over the cushion scratching at his legs through his trousers annoyingly. But it was easy to push that feeling aside when he sat in front of his student again, really taking time to scan the boy.

He hadn't imagined it; the light was catching on Midoriya's green locs because it wasn't entirely green anymore.

It shouldn't have bothered him as much as it did, because at least the kid was in front of him after a week of nonstop worry, nail biting, no sleep and hundreds of calls and texts from people crying and begging.

Obviously, Aizawa was aware Midoriya had spent, allegedly, a year and a half in an unground group where his mind regressed to fifteen again. But it hadn't hit him just how terrible that was until he spotted white hairs mixed in with Midoriya's green curls.

There weren't many, only a few white strands in contrast to his well over a thousand green ones.

However, there were still enough that it was obvious he had undergone something horrible.

His heart burned painfully in his chest with bubbling anger.

Aizawa couldn't possibly imagine what it would take for Midoriya to grow grey. Never in a million years would he imagine he could have student that sprouted white before he did, which was saying something. Something big, horrific, and utterly disgusting.

Midoriya's friend, Dazai was it? He didn't have grey hairs. From what Aizawa could see around the bandage covering a third of his hair, Dazai had rich brown locs growing normally across his scalp.

But that kid also had more bandages than Midoriya. He had them around his eye, neck, arms, and Aizawa was willing to bet there were some underneath his clothing as well.

His student, however, only had bandages on his forearms.

Both children looked underweight, which didn't help with the man's growing frustration at not being able to help, as well as concern.

Dazai was  much slimmer than the average fifteen-year-old boy.

Midoriya on the other hand had not only lost a couple inches in his height, but he was also now lean rather than bulky. His cheeks were more sunken in as well, though it was obvious that wasn't because he didn't have any baby fat.

For fuck's sake, they looked starved.

And that wasn't even brushing the surface.

They both had brutal eyebags, as bad as Aizawa's if not worse, dirt covered skin that the nurses tried their best to clean, oily hair that was also covered in dirt, cracked and dull fingernails, as well as callouses all over their hands.

All of that lead to one question that rang in Aizawa's head louder than the rest: when was the last time they had been treated like the children they were?

God knows why they looked like they had been working in some hard labour factory for weeks on end. Actually, scratch that.

Kage Hori knew why, but the man had pointedly missed a few details when letting Tsukauchi know what had happened to Midoriya. Probably on purpose for the sake of it, the sick bastard.

A nurse popped his head into the room, informing Aizawa there was paperwork he needed to fill out in the lobby.

The man grumbled something under his breath in reply, standing up from the scratchy chair he was on and walking out of the room. He closed the door behind him, not wanting any guests who happen to catch wind of the fact the missing kid from UA was in there storming in.

He met All Might down the hallway, who apologised for not being able to visit Midoriya sooner. Aizawa waved him off, grabbing the clipboard from the nurse that had the paperwork in it. 

The lobby was a lot louder than he would have expected considering they were inside of a private hospital. The loudness of machines, yelling, and ambulance sirens would be enough to cancel out even the sound of glass shattering.

The two talked as he answered various questions about Midoriya and what he knew about what had happened to him, as well as questions about who Osamu Dazai was and if he had any medical history the hospital staff needed to know.

He answered the questions about Dazai with N/A. Every single one.

As soon as Aizawa completed the paperwork, he handed it to a nearby nurse and immediately stalked off back to Midoriya's room with All Might close behind.

However, he knew the moment he put his hand on the handle something was off. He swung open the door and had to physically stop himself from shouting out. All that stared back at him were empty hospital beds, a broken window, and the chair he had been sitting on near the glass.

Goddamn it, he knew the lobby was loud enough to cover up the sound of glass breaking.

When Kenshiro came to, he was extremely annoyed. He had thought he would have never woken up again, but apparently the stars had a different path for him to waddle across.

The rancid smell of disinfectant had him wrinkling his nose, the unpleasant realisation that he was in a hospital hitting him unfairly. He opened his eyes, squinting them at the bright ceiling lights blaring down on him.

God, he hated everything to do with hospitals.

Especially because they always seemed to have stained ceilings even though they're supposed to be one of the cleanest spots on Earth.

Tadashi felt sluggish and his head was aching, which was a brilliant start to whatever was going on.

He forced his head to turn to the right and spotted a familiar clump of brown hair. He felt his body relax knowing he wasn't the only one kidnapped. Which was such a silly thought, really.

He distantly remembered Dazai also being submerged in a blue light, but his mind had been in panic mode and mostly fuzzy back then. All that mattered now was the present.

They needed to get the hell out of this hospital so they could finish their mission of catching that ginger boy.

Looking down at his left arm, he noticed an IV drip in the crook of his elbow, just before his bandages started. He ripped it out without a second thought.

He stood up from his hospital bed and walked as quickly as he could with his sluggish mind over to Dazai and slapped him awake.

The brunette's eyes snapped open, and he lurched forward to grab at Tadashi.

The freckled boy rolled his eyes and evaded, snatching Dazai's hand to flip over his arm and take his IV drip out as well.

The teen looked confused for a second, before he glanced around.

Kenshiro stopped himself from smiling when he saw the moment Dazai realised what was going on and shot out of his bed.

"The ginger boy," he whispered aggressively. "We needa go find him before Mori gets frustrated."

Tadashi rolled his eyes. Stating the obvious, much? "Good job, Sherlock. Now go find our shoes and your jacket while I look around for weapons we can use. Who knows when whoever brought us here is going to come back."

Dazai glanced down at his feet, groaning when he saw they were both only wearing socks. He opened a door on the other side of the room to what he presumed was the bathroom. It turned out to be a closet of some sort, but it held what they needed anyway.

In the middle of the room, surrounded by a bunch of medical equipment that Dazai wanted to gag at the sight of, laid their clothing.

Meanwhile, Kenshiro looked high and low for anything they could use as a weapon.

Before he could find anything useful, Dazai reemerged from the room he was in with his shoes and jacket on, and another pair of shoes in his hands. Tadashi also noticed the brunette now had on his empty holster, which might come in handy if they find a gun somewhere somehow.

"Whatever drugs they have me on," Dazai mumbled, shoving the shoes into Tadashi's hands with a pout. "have me acting slow. I wonder if I'll die if there's enough injected into me." he thought aloud.

He walked over to the chair that was next to Kenshiro's (or what he assumed had been Shida's, based on how ruffled the bedding was) bed and picked it up with both hands, raising it above his head.

Kenshiro caught onto what he was doing and grinned in excitement, shoving his shoes on as fast as he could.

Though, just because he was happy Dazai was going to smash open the window, didn't mean he could miss a chance of correcting Dazai. "Anything could kill you if you inject enough of it into you." he said, not flinching when the chair finally made contact with the glass, shattering it completely.

"That's true," Dazai agreed, picking up two of the sharpest shards he could find. "We're lucky they were stupid enough to place us onto the ground floor, Shida." he said, snorting.

Kenshiro snatched one from the teen, flipping it over a couple times to inspect it. "They were also stupid enough to kidnap some of the Port Mafia's best members."

They ran out onto the street the next moment, not looking behind them.

It went unsaid, but they were also lucky that whoever kidnapped them left their clothes mostly intact, including their bandages. It wouldn't look good if people saw a couple of teens wrapped in bandages and in hospital gowns running around. He wondered if the hospital they just escaped from was even actually a hospital.

The two of them didn't get far before Dazai told Kenshiro they had a tail. They looked at each other, and one nod from the brunette had Tadashi lifting up the first opening to a sewage system they found. 

They climbed down without another thought, continuing on without being bothered by the smell. The area Dazai's shipping container of a house was in smelt similar, unfortunately. They were unfazed by it at that point.

Behind them, yelling and banging raged like a forest fire. It wasn't hard to tell they were being followed by more than one person. Whom apparently, didn't get along very well. 

The boys ran for about five minutes before Tadashi came across another opening and used it. Only to be wrapped up in a tight piece of cloth from above the moment they got out of the sewage system. 

"Damn," Tadashi swore, struggling against his binding. He twisted his arms around, trying to loosen it to no avail. He got frustrated in a matter of five seconds and instead rooted for sawing through the cloth with the piece of glass he had in his hands, pretending like he was still just trying to push his way out.

Dazai gazed up and found a homeless looking man with glowing red eyes above them. Huh. You didn't see that every day, that was for sure. "Oh, Mr. Demon!" he hollered. "Do be nice and let us go, hm?"

Kenshiro gave him a look that kinda seemed like 'what are you doing, you absolute moron, stop engaging with the enemy' but Dazai decided to take it as something more along the lines of 'keep aggravating our kidnappers, you're doing a great job'.

So, with Shida's permission, he continued on.

"Your fancy weapon is quite tight, and I would also like to leave!" There was a slim chance Dazai was going to be able to get out of the mysterious cloth, and he knew the man was aware of that as well.

Dazai could tell the man didn't care for empty threats, so he didn't say anything like that as he normally did to his kidnappers. He and his partner were often held for ransom.

Not to mention the last time Mori actually paid the money was... well, never. They boys were always left to their own devices.

The man stared down at them for a few silent moments, the only sound being cars honking in the near distant and the grunts of Tadashi trying to manoeuvre his wrists in a stupid looking manner in order to cover up the glass in his hand.

It looked like he was simply just trying to loosen his binding, which was exactly what he wanted.

Then the demon spoke with a grave voice that sounded exactly like how Dazai would have imagined it to. "Where on earth were you boys going?" he asked, jumping down from the roof he'd been perched on like a knock off spider-man.

Tadashi paused for a moment. The mysterious man sounded so disappointed, like an upset father. Well, that was how Kenshiro imagined an upset father would sound. He wouldn't exactly know since he couldn't remember his.

But for whatever reason, that homeless bum looking fellow being disappointed in him made his chest hurt in an ugly, unfamiliar way. He shoved down whatever strange feelings were beginning to bubble to the surface, glaring at the adult. 

When neither of them replied to his question, the man sighed deeply, tightening his grip on the two. "Get back to the hospital. I'll tell them to take you two off pain meds, seeing how you're clearly not in any pain bad enough to prevent you from running from a hospital."

Kenshiro wanted to ask why they had them on pain killers in the first place, but bit his tongue. He wanted to summon One For All, but he supposed the man's glowing eyes were preventing that from happening.

They had no choice but to comply when they were dragged around and forced to walk in front of him through alleyways like dogs being taken on a walk.

Both teens despised dogs. And despised being treated like one almost just as much.

As they were so kindly escorted back to the hospital, Kenshiro refused to have his face flush from the people staring at them from inside their cars.

He marched forward like it didn't hurt his pride, just as Dazai did beside him. Although, Kenshiro had a feeling the brunette couldn't care less and wasn't just acting.

Neither of them had to look behind them to realise the other people who had been chasing them were there, following from a reasonable distance away. But that didn't mean they didn't look at all.

Dazai couldn't help himself; he was a curious being. It was in his nature, alright?

There were four adults, three male and one female (who had on a very suggesting outfit in public, since when was that legal?)

One of the men had fire all over him, even as his beard.

Another had ugly looking goggles, ankles so small they made him look like he had chicken legs, and vibrantly red wings.

And the last man had speakers on his shoulders, a shit moustache, and a pathetic excuse for a hairdo.

The brunette regretted turning around.

As soon as they got to the entrance of the hospital Dazai shuffled over to the right, and Tadashi could see in the corner of his eye that he had successfully sawed through the fabric with his shard of glass. He was keeping it around himself with his other hand so that no one watching realised.

Kenshiro got the message, taking as deep of a breath as he could manage before letting out a scream.

The man holding them captive with his ugly weapon whipped around to in front of them so fast Kenshiro had to school his surprised expression.

"Mido—kid," he corrected himself, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. "What happened? Are you okay?"

 Kenshiro spat at him, only feeling a little bad when the adult shrieked, horrified, and tried to wipe it off his cheek.

Dazai saw the opportunity Tadashi was giving him and ran with it, letting the cloth fall from around him and placing the shard of glass against the man's throat, who went completely still.

Everyone else froze as well. 

"Let's take this party inside, huh?" Dazai mumbled into the man's ear, tugging him backwards into the hospital lobby. The reaction was immediate.

Screams raised from every corner, just as the boys had wanted. The circus crew ran in as well, trying their best to get everyone on the first floor out.

It was mostly empty judging by how the silly looking adults ran about trying to get the staff out without entering any rooms to evacuate patients. Staff members ran out crying, abandoning the building altogether.

Tadashi and Dazai stayed put in the middle of the area, pointedly standing out of view from the man they were holding hostage so he couldn't take their abilities again.

Once everyone was gone and all that was left were the five adults and two teenagers, Tadashi's voice echoed. "It's in your best interest to let us go," he said.

The man with a fire beard had a booming voice, "It's in your best interest to let Eraserhead go." he retorted, looking disgusted by the sight of Tadashi. Yeesh, it was almost like the hulk of a man had some sort of grudge against him or something.

"Ah ah," Dazai cooed. "Mr. Chicken, you better put those razorblade feathers away before blood is spilt." The shard pressed against Eraserhead's neck glimmered in the harsh lighting of the hospital. 

The winged man looked hesitant but retracted the feathers floating around him anyway without shedding his uncertain expression. 

"I haven't got a clue who you freaks are or what your business is," The brunette stated, an unsettling expression present on his face. He analysed each of the people present, and he was certain by the funny looks on their faces that Shida was doing the exact same thing. "But I'm afraid the fun is over. Letting us go without a fight would be the easiest thing for all of us."

No one moved, so Kenshiro spoke up. "You think we're afraid to use force because we're kids," he commented, feeling a familiar anger invade his mind. "Unfortunately, that was a mistake."

Dazai smiled, plastered on and entirely fake as he pressed the glass in deeper. A sick feeling of satisfaction settled in his bones at the collective sharp inhale from all adults.

"Now, listener." The blonde freak spoke up, raising his hands in surrender. "No one wants to hurt you, alright? You're completely safe here with us." 

His words fell on deaf ears.

Kenshiro gave him an unimpressed look, "I've heard better lies than that. Try again, entertain us for a bit. It might stall for time and allow the police to inevitably arrive." He placed a hand on his hip, looking the man with the wings up and down one last time. "You look like a good liar. Why don't you give it a go?" He smirked when he saw the look on Mr. Chicken Leg's face fall into fury.

He must have hit a sore spot, then. He stored that bit of information in his mind palace for later.

"Kiddo, take a breather." The woman spoke, looking a bit pale. "I know what you're wanting to do, but hold yourself back. Can you do that for me?" 

Oh, Tadashi didn't like that. He hated being talked to like he was ten years old. Mori did it all the time as well.

He also didn't approve of how the people who looked like they just came out of a circus were ignoring Dazai, who was the one with the glass against Eraserhead's neck.

It was like Dazai didn't exist to them.

"You have no idea what I'm wanting to do," Tadashi walked up behind Dazai, wrapping his hand around a shoulder. "You have no idea who we are, do you?" he asked, unsurprised at the lack of response he got in return.

Everyone looked like they wanted to speak, but his confidence was off-putting.

"Dazai, what do you have to say about that?"

The brunette hummed for a moment, "I don't like that at all, Shida." The homeless, sorry, Eraserhead, stiffened a little at the nickname for whatever reason. The first reaction they had gotten this entire time.

"I think we should show them who we are, no?" Dazai suggested, a grin he had learned from non-other than his boss forming on his face, stretching the skin of his cheeks. 

"The Demon Prodigy, and his best pal the Verde Reaper. The two of them are known for their antics across the city, and for their brutality against foes." Kenshiro purred, his hand moving down Dazai's arm and landing on his hand, pushing the glass in deeper.

Blood was spilt. It dripped down steadily, slightly covering the tips of Dazai and Kenshiro's fingers.

"We don't want to use force!" Blondie pleaded, looking desperate.

God, what was with these weirdos and not wanting to hurt kids?

The boys weren't stupid; they knew their age was exactly the reason Eraserhead was complying and not fighting back, even with a destroyed ugly scarf. They were more than aware of the hesitant body language and expressions on the adults across from them. 

Tadashi knew the police couldn't be far away now. He kept his hand over Dazai's, and he watched with a distant fascination and switched off ears as the others tried to convince them to let go because 'we don't want anyone getting hurt'.

Meanwhile, the one actively being hurt remained completely still and silent, as if he were a mannequin. 

A few seconds go by, and Tadashi finally released his hold on Dazai's hand, who kept his own right where it was. The freckled teen moved over to the other side of Eraserhead, placing his own shard of glass against the man.

Finally, the woman snapped. 

She ripped the sleaves of her definitely not legal outfit off, and smoke poured from her arm. No kanji formed however, and that alone distracted Kenshiro to the point he didn't have time to even think about what the smoke could even do. 

He dropped like a fly not a moment later.

Dazai swore, knowing that he couldn't just leave his best friend there while he bolted. No Longer Human activated, it's bright light and kanji surrounding him in a matter of split seconds. Red feathers snuck up behind him, hidden by the dense purple fog surrounding his vision.

They hit their target, and No Longer Human couldn't save Dazai from the momentum of the feathers.

He coughed, overcome with nausea as the pressure point that was hit ached, before collapsing.

--

Now, why didn't the pro heroes just suck it up and take down the kids? After all, they were just that: kids. Well, the answer was not because of their age, contrary to popular believe. But more because of Aizawa's compliance.

If the man didn't react in anyway, or even look the slightest bit worried, then all the pro heroes could do was test the waters. See how far the teenagers would go, how much they were willing to do to be freed. It was the perfect opportunity, after all.

Not to brag, but they even managed to get a little bit more detail on the two. They apparently liked to cause trouble where they were from, and they were known for being 'brutal' against their enemies, whatever that could entail.

Dazai's nickname was something they were already aware of, considering it was the first thing Kage Hori had informed them about when it came to the boy.

But Midoriya's? The Verde Reaper didn't exactly scream 'grunt' or 'goon' to anyone who had heard it.

It was clear they had been highly regarded and intrusted with important things within underground group they'd been a part of.

The next time Tadashi awoke, he was back inside of the hospital. In the same room, judging by the stains on the white ceiling. However, there were voices on the other side of the blue curtains. He picked up on the tail end of a conversation. 

"—was only gone for ten minutes, I swear!"

"I know, All Might. No one is blaming you." Mr Demon-sorry, Eraserhead was in his hospital room, talking to some other fellow Tadashi didn't recognise the voice of. His head was a lot clearer than it had been before, meaning they had stopped giving him the pain medication he didn't need this time around.

He could feel an IV in the crook of his elbow, meaning they were pumping something into his body, but at least he could finally think properly. He also had a heartrate monitor loudly reading and recording his BPM beside him.

"I know, but I feel terrible I wasn't there when, you know..."

Oh, Kenshiro knew.

He almost snorted outright as remembered the ridiculous outfits of his kidnappers. His curtains were mostly closed, meaning that he wouldn't be able to see Dazai even if he bothered turning his head. There was no way to know whether or not their capturers had put them in the same room again.

"Mrs. Midoriya is feeling the same way. She seems to think that Midoriya will somehow be fixed and have his memories restored at the sight of her." Eraserhead sounded utterly sympathetic and simultaneously exhausted. He sounded like a nice guy, really. 

Too bad Tadashi didn't have any cares left in his pocket, they fell out when he was running through the sewage system.

He silently tried to make plans to escape, but there was no way to know if any of them would work without knowing if Dazai was with him. He needed a way to communicate to his partner so they could—

Beep, beep, beep, beepbeepbeepbeep.

A second heart monitor Tadashi hadn't even heard went off in the bed next to him, suddenly skyrocketing.

God was Dazai a genius.

Kenshiro shot up on his bed, using the distraction of his favourite brunette making his heart rate dangerously fast as the opportunity it was meant to be.

He tore out his IV needle and disconnected the monitor from the band they had around his chest, tearing that off as well. He straightened his vest as he stood up, a few joints popping.

He snuck out of his small, private area, gently pushing the curtains out of the way. He didn't have time to put his shoes on, which had been rudely taken off again while he was unconscious, because he needed to bolt while everyone fussed over his favourite person.

He could relate to that feeling, wanting to get a glimpse of him even as people crowded over him. Except usually Dazai was being crowded by enemies, not nurses and dirty looking people.

Tadashi also got a glimpse at the unfamiliar voice, All Might was what Eraserhead referred to him as, he had heard earlier.

It was some sick looking man who was spewing blood over his nice suit. Holy shit, and they were more concerned about Dazai's heart than that dude?

Well sure, if Dazai raised his BPM anymore he would have a heart attack, but the point remained.

The door leading to the room was already open and Tadashi easily slipped out of it, closing it behind him to stall for time. He hoped no one would notice his disappearance for at least another minute.

The hallway outside of his room was empty save for a few guards, six in total. It seemed like most of the staff had been sent to other floors, leaving the few that were now checking on Dazai behind. He understood their caution, but seriously? Leaving only four medically trained people for two people? Mori would never make such a mistake.

Every guard was armed and had a full bodysuit as well as a helmet each. For any other person, that would be intimidating.

Not for Kenshiro.

The guard that had been outside of his door regarded him suspiciously. "Shouldn't you be in bed?" he asked, sounding unamused.

He definitely didn't sound like someone who was supposed to be making sure Tadashi and his partner didn't escape. Had he not been informed about what had happened, or did he just not take Tadashi seriously?

Kenshiro smiled sweetly, "The nurses treating my friend right now want me to collect some paper from the front desk. Could you tell me where that would be?" He made sure not to show any malice in his face, something he had been thoroughly trained on.

The guard, clearly an idiot along with his idiot friends who also didn't do a thing about Tadashi being out of the room, pointed to the left.

Tadashi's face brightened in understanding, "Thank you," he said, pretending to be glad for the assistance. He continued smiling as his hand reached out.

Tadashi didn't give the man any time to react before he was snapping the finger pointing into the lobby. The guard screamed out, alerting his useless buddies. They came running, all five of them at once with their guns pointed. 

Tadashi felt the warmth of One For All spreading across his legs.

He twisted the arm attached to the now broken finger, forcing the man to turn around. He pressed their backs together and Tadashi used that as a support when he kicked his legs out and smashed them into the stomach of the closest guard.

It was one of his favourite moves, one that Dazai liked to call his 'Kangaroo stance'.

The person went flying, colliding with the wall behind them and leaving a trail of blood from the back of their head as they slid down. Tadashi almost felt bad for breaking the no doubt expensive helmet.

He turned his attention to the next closest guard before he really had the chance to feel any remorse to the innocent helmet. 

Kenshiro rolled off the first guard's back, releasing the man's twisted arm only to smash him on the back of the neck with his elbow. The guard went to the floor almost too easily and the teenager knew he wasn't going to get back up for a long while.

"Stay where you are and put your hands in the air!" the third guard shouted.

Tadashi took a step towards her with his arms raised high to show he was complying, then reached forward and clicked his fingers next to the woman's head. She sputtered, confused by the action.

The boy took that spit moment of perplexion to take her gun and use the handle to hit her once in the gut and then harshly on the back of her head when she keeled over. She went down, leaving three guards remaining.

He cocked the safety lock on the gun back, his focus trained on the three men in front of them. Why it was on when she'd been actively pursuing him, he had no idea.

Tadashi watched the one in the middle faulter with eager eyes. The poor man looked as if he was unsure whether or not to really be cautious of a kid.

He wasn't a priority, then. The other two men, however, looked ready to shoot. But so was Kenshiro. 

He was about to fire, his finger caressing the trigger, when the door to his room slammed open. The boy immediately turned his focus, his eye as sharp as a hawk's. 

Eraserhead looked pale, his eyes blown wide as he scanned Tadashi, his chest heaving through his heavy breaths.

Said Tadashi trained his gun on the man, snarling. "You better stay in that goddamn room." he said, raising his voice to be loud but not quite to a shout. 

"And you better stand down!" The guard on the right screamed, daring to take a step closer and moving a leg over his coworker's crumpled body on the ground.

Tadashi pulled the trigger the moment the man moved without even blinking.

The sound rang through the hallway and echoed just as loudly through the lobby. The bullet landed on the doorframe Eraserhead was standing in. He immediately raised his hands, looking utterly defeated.

Kenshiro also spotted a look of pain behind the man's eyes, which were now a gleaming red. His hair lifted from his shoulders, and it didn't take much thought for Kenshiro to realise OFA had been erased again.

There was nothing he could do about that now.

"If a single one of you move, I'll put a bullet through your forehead next. I don't have any qualms about making your brain spew all over the ground if I have to." The boy kept his tone flat and his face neutral. This seemed to offput Eraserhead, who had his jaw visibly clenched.

None of the guards moved again.

Kenshiro, pleased at successfully frightening them, returned his undivided attention to the homeless man. "Put that fancy scarf of yours on the ground or I'll shoot your arms and make sure you can't ever take it off again." he threatened with his eyes burning into Eraserhead's, who complied easily.

The man carefully unravelled his weapon and placed it on the ground in a neat coil without looking away from Tadashi or even blinking. The boy was quick to realise that the man didn't have a choice but not to blink unless he wanted his ability to cease.

This Eraserhead guy wasn't good at hiding his weaknesses at all, just like how he had poorly tried to hide the bandaging around the wounds he and Dazai had given him on his neck. They had split skin on one side and Kenshiro was sure he had bruised the other side with his own piece of glass.

Mr. Demon lingered near the scarf so he could grab it at a moment's notice. Kenshiro shot the tiles near his feet to get the adult to step away, back underneath the doorframe. He kept his breathing even and his aim true, confident the guards (whose uniform had H.P.S.C on the back from what the boy could see based on guard number one's clothing) were not a threat as he had originally thought.

They were clearly waiting for orders, not wanting to risk being shot by the teenager unless they were told to make an advancement. 

A couple tense seconds went by before Tadashi's ears pricked. He could hear sirens, though they were still a fair distance away.

God, at the rate things were headed Mori was going to punish them harshly, more so than the greenette would ever like to go through.

He knew the only reason Eraserhead was complying were the police cars on their way; the All Might fellow must have called reinforcements while Tadashi was busy handling the others. 

Dazai's heartrate monitor had settled by now, which meant the brunette was now waiting for his opportunity to slither away and join Kenshiro. The freckled teen was going to have to wait for the distraction of the police rocking up to create the opportunity Dazai needed to slip his way through the cracks of All Might and Eraserhead. 

The nurses weren't a threat, for they would no doubt be scared out of their minds from just a single one-eyed glare out of the Demon Prodigy.

Tadashi's mind wandered to the Mrs. Midoriya that had been mentioned. He wondered if she had been evacuated or taken to another floor for safely as well. The second he realised he was hoping she was safe, he shoved those thoughts deep down, mildly ruffled by them. 

The moment police cars began to swarm outside of the entryway to the hospital, Tadashi took a deep breath and dared to move his face towards the officers rather than Eraserhead. His gun stayed pointed at the man, but visibly lowered a considerable amount.

Tadashi felt tears prick in the corner of his eyes as policemen stormed in with their guns blazing. He let one, two, and three tears fall before someone noticed. It just so happened to be a man who was not wearing a cop outfit, and he wasn't armed. 

So he was the leader the H.P.S.C. guards had been waiting for. Though he didn't have the dress code for it, seeing as he was wearing all black and an ugly beige trench coat. Perhaps he was just filling in for someone.

Whatever, all that mattered was that his crew of police stopped their advancement at his command when he spotted Tadashi's tears.

The man looked at the lowered gun in the boy's hand, the bullet holes in the doorframe and tiles, back to the tears and then rudely sighed as if he were offended.

The teenager sniffled as he batted his eyelashes a few times, then looked away in shame. He felt his gaze narrowed to the floor, admiring his striped socks that he had picked out a few days beforehand.

"He's overwhelmed at the moment. Give him a second to breath." The out-of-uniform leader said.

Man, Kenshiro was close to rolling his eyes, but he managed kept his composure and continued to keep his eyes downcast and teary.

"Kid," Eraserhead said, his gruff voice similar to a dying piano in the boy's ears. "Put the gun down, and we will do everything we can to help you." As if to further prove he wasn't trying to be hostile, Mr. Demon blinked and turned off his ability. 

No Kanji yet again. These people were just like Tadashi, freaks among the freaks.

The freckled teen raised his head, his eyes trained on the guard he had kicked into the wall. Agonisingly slowly, he put the safety lock back on and moved his hands in a way that showed everyone in sight exactly what he was doing.

He took a careful step towards the dude with his head smashed in and the guard closest demanded him to raise his hands in the air.

Tadashi let out a single harsh, throat itching sob that echoed. The tension in the air was so thick one could swim in it, just how Tadashi liked it. "I'm—god, I'm so sorry everyone. Is he okay? Please, I don't think he is." He kept his voice high and vulnerable as he spoke.

It was his favourite thing to pretend he was worried about someone. The pitying looks on everyone else's face at a kid crying out for another was always so priceless.

All Might, the skinny man who had ratted Tadashi out to the police, popped out of the room Dazai was in with an utterly destroyed expression. "My boy, he'll be perfectly fine. Come now, put down the weapon." he coaxed. The idea of shooting him in the throat was a very sweet and tempting one indeed. Alas, Tadashi had to resist once again.

"I want—I have to make sure he's breathing. Please let me, I swear I won't hurt anyone." The tears continued rolling and Tadashi was starting to get a headache from them. 

The leader eyed him suspiciously but eventually gave in after a few strained seconds with a stiff nod.

Kenshiro let the gun hang almost too loosely from his hand to show he had no intention of using it and he made his way over to the man against the wall.

He resisted the urge to grin at the guards staring him down furiously behind him. He knew everyone wanted him to put the gun down, but he also knew they were currently testing the waters—seeing what he would do.

The bandaged boy could tell even before he kneeled down the man had a serious head injury and was unconscious, but he made a show of checking for a pulse with his free hand and gently tapping the vizors on the helmet.

"He's injured," Tadashi sniffled. "He needs help, I think he's got a bad head injury."

He leaned forward and let his head hang, faking a dizzy spell.

He swapped his gun to his left hand and put it against the wall as a brace, hiding what he was doing with his now free hand from anyone else's view.

The leader spoke up again, "We can get him the help he needs as soon as you put the gun down, Mi—Tadashi." 

It would seem these people had done research of some kind after Kenshiro had revealed he and Dazai were the Demon Prodigy and the Verde Reaper. They knew their government names, which wasn't a good sign. How much else did they know?

"I've never even used a gun before, sir. It's hardly any danger in my hands." he settled on saying, furrowing his eyebrows as he thought of ways to get out once Dazai made his appearance.

He pointedly made no move to properly hold the weapon, but stubbornly refused to let go of it. In fact, he held it against the wall with only two fingers to spite the leader.

Said man sounded exhausted when he replied. "One could argue it's even more dangerous in the hands of an amateur who cannot aim."

Tadashi dared to glance at Eraserhead, who stared back knowingly with a sad expression. Mr. D knew he was lying through his teeth, and yet he stayed silent. How peculiar.

Almost as peculiar as the sight of Dazai, who was standing behind the oblivious adult creepily.

"How is my friend?" Kenshiro questioned, egging Eraserhead on. He internally laughed when the man followed his gaze and almost jumped out of his skin when he saw Dazai there, his dead eye looking into his very soul.

All Might pretty much did jump out of his skin, blood spewing all over his nice suit once again.

No one seemed to care about that, which lead Tadashi to believe this was a common scene and not something to be worried about.

"You should be in bed, Dazai." Eraserhead said, looking disappointed.

Dazai didn't show any emotion on his face, leaving it impossible for anyone to tell what he was thinking. "You know my name." he stated in a monotone.

"Go lie down—"

But Dazai had already locked eyes on Tadashi, already spotted his tears.

His eyes became bright in understanding, but it was gone the next second.

That was all the warning anyone (who had been paying very close attention) received before the brunette darted under Eraserhead's arm, manoeuvring out of his reach and marching over to Tadashi.

Multiple guns followed him on his short journey.

"Oh dear," he cooed, his voice the slightest bit lighter. "Did you do this, Shida?" There was no use in using another alias since Dazai had already revealed his silly nickname back when they had Eraserhead as their hostage, however long ago that was.

Kenshiro sniffled loudly and turned his head back to the guard he was leaning over as he nodded curtly. Dazai tsked softly, though loud enough for everyone to hear, and kneeled down next Tadashi to rub his back.

"You have your shoes on, bastard. Is that what took you so long?" Tadashi whispered, furious.

The one-eyed teen merely shrugged, patting his back a little too harshly. "I didn't want to walk around in just socks, unlike someone else here who shall not be named. I also grabbed my holster and jacket, give me some credit, will you?"

"You—"

The leader broke their whispering up, sounding more alarmed than anything else. "Kid, I'm going to need you to drop the gun before we use force. Please don't make me do that, I don't want to be that guy." 

Dazai turned his glare onto the man, his eyes blank yet somehow able to express his anger. "Can't you see he's struggling to come to terms with what he did to this innocent man? How cruel could you be?" 

For a moment the leader was stunned and even looked a little guilty as if he really did do something wrong, before putting up thick walls and putting on an icy facade. "He's handling a stolen firearm recklessly. I don't want him in any more trouble than he is."

Dazai rolled his eye aggressively before turning his back to the man, ignoring the offended sputter.

Tadashi had his arm braced against the wall, which hid his free arm handing his partner the weapon that belonged to the guard he was 'crying' over.

Dazai took it and swiftly placed it into his holster, looking glad to finally have the familiar weight back on his hip. 

He covered it with his baggy jacket as he stood up. He held both of his hands out for Tadashi, who took them and stood up with the practised grace of a mafioso. 

The leader took a single step forward, and Kenshiro immediately pointed his gun again. He cocked it back, the clicking noise intruding everyone's ears.

The man froze mid step, his face somber. "We don't want to use force." he said plainly. 

"So you've mentioned. But that was ruined the moment you kidnapped us, no?" Dazai walked around Tadashi, placing their backs together.

They were almost the same height if not for the two inches Tadashi had against his partner, much to the latter's dismay.

All Might looked just about ready to run forward and give the both of them a big squeeze, yet he somehow also looked terrified. It was interesting to see, to say the least. "You boys weren't kidnapped by us." he insisted. 

"Then what would you call being taken against your will, old man?"

The blonde adult looked shocked to his core, like he couldn't believe his eyes. If Dazai squinted, he could almost see the question: why you? in the man's expression. The boy hated how it hurt his chest in an ugly way.

"I would call it getting two seemingly injured boys the help they need." All Might retorted, ruffled. He gestured to the bandages covering Dazai head to toe with a flick of his piercing blue eyes. 

"Well excuse you," Tadashi cut in, having had enough of listening to the sick dude's talking. "It's a fashion choice, if you must know. Nobody said anything about anyone being injured. Well, except for guards one, two, and three over there." he said, nodding his head down the hallway where the unconscious bodies of the guards he had taken down earlier laid in front of the three remaining.

The freckled teen took in a deep breath and finally stopped his tears, not bothering to wipe away the tracks they left on his cheeks.

He saw it the moment the leader realised his concern and cries were fake, the man's expression completely fell as if he were looking at an entirely different person than a few moments before. The leader's eyes then flicked over to the second guard.

His head whipped back around with his eyes bulging, "They're both armed! Everybody, raise your guard!" The leader looked pale and shaken, and Tadashi knew it was because he couldn't believe he'd been played for a fool.

He must have seen that guard number two was missing his gun.

The question was: just how long was it going to take before someone actually shot one of the boys rather than threatening to?

Dazai snickered, flipping his jacket out of the way so he could grab his stolen weapon out of his holster. He cocked back the hammer and hummed pleasantly at the clicking noise that rung throughout the area. He loved that sound, almost as much as he loved the intro to his favourite song. 

He aimed it at Eraserhead's hand, who had his ability active and was stopping Kenshiro's ability from forming.

It wouldn't do much to Dazai either way, but the brunette knew his partner was itching to use One for All. "Pick that filthy thing up and I'll shoot you through your palm." was all he said, referring to Eraserhead's weapon on the floor.

He didn't allow any of his thoughts slip through his expression.

All Might blanched, "You wouldn't actually—" He was cut off as Eraserhead kicked him in the shin harshly.

"I understand how this must look to you. Being brought from where you were and waking up in a hospital surrounded by strangers can't be easy. However, pointing guns and making threats isn't going to do you any good. It's best if you just cooperate, kids." the hobo said.

Tadashi hummed, loud and long, as if he were actually thinking about it. "I'm afraid you're wrong." he said, not making any further explanation. 

"On what, Mid—Tadashi?"

"We aren't making threats, Eraserhead. We're giving all of you fair warnings. Best believe if a single one of you makes a wrong move, I'll put a bullet through your head. Not to mention you can bet your left pinkie toe Dazai won't take a moment to think before shooting your hand." They needed the tides to shift because from the way things were headed, it was going to take too damn long to get back to Mori.

But if they fired before someone else did, then things might take a turn for the worst.

"Don't attempt to sweet talk us into surrendering. You're the reason that man with the ugly coat brought us out of the slums with that ability of his." Dazai watched as both All Might and Eraserhead frowned deeply at the mention of slums.

They clearly had absolutely no idea who the boys were then, no matter how many names they knew. Anyone who did even the lightest bit of research would find the Demon Prodigy and the Verde Reaper belonged to the Port Mafia, not the slums.

"That man isn't working for us. He's about to go on trial for many charges, including child endangerment and gross negligence." Eraserhead said, his voice wavering the tinniest bit.

Tadashi caught onto it, "That proves nothing. How do we know you didn't just rat him out, huh?"

The leader shifted on his feet, getting nervous. Tadashi had a distinct feeling it wasn't because of the gun pointed at his head. "Threatening police force, Commission workers and heroes isn't going to look good for you boys. You're already in trouble, and I don't want to let you keep digging down in the hole you're in."

Holy fuck, did that guy just call All Might and Eraserhead heroes?

Kenshiro looked over his shoulder and gave Dazai the most unimpressed look he could conjure up, who had a very amused look of his own. How much more cliché could these guys get?

"And what happens if I shoot a hero," He drawled the word out, making it obvious he found it funny. "in the head and coat the wall with his brains?" He waved his gun around lazily before aiming it at the blondie's head.

"I—um, I think we all know the consequences for that, young man." All Might had a trail of blood falling from his lips. Seriously, when was someone going to help the guy out? 

"Oh, please. What could I possibly know? I'm just a confused adolescent terrified by the big bad world."

Kenshiro could feel a pool of unease beginning to take form in the bottom of his stomach the longer they were at a standoff with the police. "The doctor's going to be pissed."

Dazai replied with a sarcastic, unpleased voice. "I'm well aware of that, thank you."

They both knew the clock was ticking.

Tadashi rolled his head, popping his neck as he did. "What happens if we comply?" he asked, keeping his voice even.

All Might, who Tadashi was beginning to build resentment for already, was the one to answer. "You're going to have to comply first, my boy."

"You don't get to call him that." Dazai said. Neither of them made any move to put their weapons on the ground. In fact, their guards raised higher the more time passed.

Tadashi kept his watch on the policemen in front of him and down the hallway all at once, his eyes constantly flicking back and forth.

"You'll be pardoned for everything that has gone down tonight. No one but the higher ups will know." The leader said, trying his best to sound confident in himself. He wasn't good at it, that was certain.

The brunette watched both Eraserhead and All Might looked shocked by this knew information, which meant such a thing hadn't been discussed. It also meant it was most likely a lie.

Kenshiro scoffed, appalled. "What good will the public not knowing do? In case you haven't noticed, no one here gives a shit about publicity."

Like come on, they stormed this placed what? A few hours ago, in broad daylight. Clearly these heroes weren't much more than their titles.

The leader looked conflicted but carried on regardless, "I'll make sure all that happens to you is a short interview with someone from the Commission. You won't be thrown into juvenile detention."

The greenette frowned. He had no idea who or what the Commission was, not to mention that not being thrown into juvie didn't mean no consequences at all. He wondered for a moment if they had punishments anything like Mori's. Any dogs, perhaps?

Yeah, no thank you.

Just as Dazai was going to let out a snarky reply, another officer pulled up. Kenshiro subtly tapped his ankle into his partners to let the brunette know they had more company. He watched as only one man walked out of the car, and in his hand was a piece of paper.

He walked into the building and handed the leader the parchment, whispering to him to ensure the boys didn't hear what was going on.

Dazai sighed loudly, "I'm getting a major case of FOMO right now, Shida." he whined. 

"I'm going to deck you so hard right in the nose the moment we get out of here, Dazai. Can't you stay serious for five minutes?"

"Well, excuse you. I'm being super serious. I'm being completely left out from their love letters!"

Tadashi rolled his eyes playfully even though he knew the brunette couldn't see him do it. It was implied in his silence, anyway.

"You better stay right where you're standing, Mr. newbie." he said, aiming at the new arrival now instead of the Leader, who was scanning the piece of paper like his life depended on it.

Maybe it did, who knows?

Said man cleared his throat and adjusted his trench coat before reading aloud, "The Gloved Man is formally inviting D.P. and V.R. to annihilate a newfound pest circulating the area. A group of rats with fur tinged blue and misty have been found hiding under the citizens of this country's noses. Listen to the sound of their paws carefully, for they sneak past you if you aren't careful enough." he looked back up expectantly.

Tadashi looked back at him with his eyebrows raised. "Who is it signed off by?" He demanded, his voice rasping.

The leader glanced down, "No one. There's just three straight lines across the bottom."

The boy let in a sharp inhale, momentarily stunned. 

The Gloved Man, A.K.A., Mori.

A group of rats, A.K.A., a group of people to get rid of. Their members had blue hair and something about them was directly related to mist.

The entire country was in danger, and the Demon Prodigy and Verde Reaper were to listen to the people around them or else they would fail the mission without a doubt.

The paper had the Port Mafia's official signature at the bottom.

Fuck, that whole goddamn thing had been planned, kidnapping and all! Why hadn't Mori informed them their mission was going to change in the middle of finding Nakahara? Was this just another test to see how well they could do while left in the dark?

The people they were supposed to listen to had no idea who they were or what they could do, and Tadashi doubted they even knew of the Port Mafia. Which meant this was going to be an undercover mission.

It also meant they weren't going to be punished for being kidnapped by their boss. 

"Well, at least we won't be eaten alive." Dazai said as he threw his gun down the hallway. He had been thinking the same thing as Tadashi.

Kenshiro also abandoned his weapon. The sound of the gun hitting the tile and skidding a few meters away harassed his eardrums.

The police were quick to surge forward and put them in handcuffs, ones that supressed their abilities, now that they weren't as much of a danger.

Eraserhead's eyes stopped glowing, and his hair returned to his shoulder. "You've made a smart choice, boys." Dazai could tell the man didn't have a clue what was going on and was simply putting on a good face, which made his words all the more amusing.

The teenagers were escorted out of the hospital and put into police cars rather than being put back into bed since they had confirmed they weren't hiding injuries underneath their bandages.

Tadashi, who was in a separate car from his partner, observed the city around him as they drove to presumably the police station.

There were men and women dressed just as ridiculously as the circus crew from when the mafiosos had first entered the hospital walking around on the streets, some of them even taking autographs. It all seemed like a waste of time Tadashi, really.

Who would want an autograph from someone with the body of a literal tree?

Chapter Text

Tadashi and Dazai were escorted into the police station in ability suppressant handcuffs.

It was something they had dealt with before; they were both able to kick ass even without their abilities. Not that Dazai’s was combat related, but the point stood strong.

Whoever these people were, they were clearly overconfident in their fancy cuffs considering how they had the Demon Prodigy and Verde Reaper being escorted through the station by only one officer each.

As they walked through the building, several people froze in their places to stare. One lady even had a sandwich halfway to her open mouth and she stood in place as if she had been hit with an ability that forced her to stand still.

There were also a few men Dazai recognised. One of them being Mr. Chicken Legs from when the boys had first attempted to flee from the hospital.

The brunette didn't like him, though he couldn't place his finger on why that was. Something about the man (or bird, he couldn't tell which he was supposed to use) pissed him off.

Dazai stuck his tongue out at Mr. C as he walked past him, earning him a hand placed on hip and an unamused stare back.

He decided to count that as a win.

Shida was taken into a room towards the back of the station and when the door shut behind him, an armed man moved to stand in front of it.

Dazai rolled his eye as he walked past him.

He was fairly certain he hadn't imagined Tadashi kicking the guard standing outside their hospital room’s ass, as well as two of his buddies. He wondered if they just stationed him there for show, or if they really thought placing yet another man wielding a firearm would discourage either of them from running.

Dazai was taken down the hallway, away from the room Shida was in.

He had realised quickly that he and Tadashi were now in an undercover mission. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. 

If Mori decided the mission was so down low that not even the people they were supposed to be working with could know what they were doing, but thought it was unimportant enough not to give them rules (be stealthy, be swift, draw attention, don't stand out, look for this man, etcetera),  then how seriously was Dazai supposed to be taking his undecided role?

Mori was letting them figure out how to carry out their job by themselves.

He had no idea who these people were, why so many of them looked like they were cosplaying fantasy characters, who the Commission was, or even where he was.

He was in utter darkness about everything except for the fact he and Shida were to take out some other group while playing nice with a bunch of, what did they call themselves? Heroes.

He knew he was still in Japan, since everything in the area—billboards, cafés, shops—were in Japanese, and the people all around him were speaking it as well. Though not that it mattered much to him whether someone spoke to him in Japanese or English, since he was fluent in both.

It was a requirement to be promoted to executive; one had to speak at least two languages before they would be appointed their new position within the Port Mafia. That way you could be trusted to deal with groups from overseas who couldn't speak Japanese.

Dazai remembered when he and Tadashi first begun to learn English. Shida had struggled a lot more than he had, and often went to Dazai for help with pronunciation and letter writing.

Kenshiro had claimed that he didn't want to be punished for falling behind when Mori expected him to be at the same level as Dazai, but the brunette liked to imagine Shida also just liked hanging out with him. 

Where the two of them were now seemed like a-whole-nother society altogether. That would also explain why when these people used their abilities, no Kanji and (in most cases) no light appeared around them. Just like Tadashi.

It didn't make Shida any less special, of course, but it was almost as fascinating to see a variety of powers while able to actually see the person wielding them rather than being blinded by words and colours.

A man was waiting for Dazai in the room the mafioso was led to. He sat in the middle of the room on one side of a cold looking metal table, and across from him was a plastic chair that the boy took upon himself to claim. 

The door behind him shut tightly as he did so, but he didn't spare it a glance. 

He sighed as he sat down on the seat, flicking his wrists in boredom to hear the clinking of the handcuffs around them.

The man sitting in front of him introduced himself as Kai with a pleasant smile, pointedly choosing not to tell Dazai his given name. The man's vibrant yellow eyes scanned the teen up and down repeatedly, taking in every detail of him. 

Dazai returned the favour, ignoring how similar Kai's stare was to Mori's and how it sent a chill down his back. He watched every movement, from the way the man's leg bounced beneath the table (a habit, or a nervous tic?) to the way his hands were intertwined and clenched on the metal surface between them.

Kai's smile would have been disarming to anyone else. But to Dazai, it was a mask Kai had put on to hide his disgust and disdain for the boy. But his eyes gave away his true feelings.

So, Dazai pointedly gave Kai his worst grin in return as he introduced himself, also leaving out his given name, as he lifted one of his legs up onto the chair to show how unbothered he was by the man's stare.

The room they were in was plan and empty save for the two chairs being in use, the table in-between them, and a camera in the left-hand corner. It likely could pick up audio, since it would seem they were in an interrogation room.

There weren't any windows or one-sided glass to show if someone else was watching, but one could never be too sure in a foreign environment.

"You're not going to tell me your given name, Mr. Dazai?" Kai asked, his smile tightening. They both knew Kai was well aware of Dazai's full name.

The boy shrugged, silently asking why he would in the first place.

The man gave him a half-assed laugh, "I see. How are you feeling, son?"

Dazai didn't like that nickname one bit. "You know, Kai. People who give out fake pleasantries and pretend to be happy-go-lucky tend to bore me. Why don't we hurry this along, since I know neither of us want to be here." He gave the man a small yawn to further enunciate his point.

Kai didn't show it, but he had definitely been taken aback at Dazai bluntly telling him he didn't want him acting like he gave a damn about the integration. "Well, boring you could be the worst outcome of this ordeal, wouldn't it?" his sarcasm made Dazai want to roll his eye, but he continued staring blankly with his grin plastered on.

"Sure," he replied, drawling the word.

Kai had a few similarities to Mori, which was a shame.

Dazai wanted to entertain the man, but he just couldn't help but zone out as he talked. He imagined Kai was actually Mori, and he could finally get away with being completely flippant rather than only being allowed to pout.

He answered questions absently with one or two worded responses.

Quickly enough, Kai stopped asking questions and instead begun to inform Dazai how his life was going to be like from now on. He said that UA high school was ‘graciously’ accepting him and his partner as students, despite their serious crimes pulled earlier that day.

Apparently it was a school where kids trained to become 'heroes', which could be interesting to see, he supposed.

Just before Dazai zoned out again, he caught onto Kai telling him Eraserhead's name; Shouta Aizawa. It suited the homeless man quite a bit. 

Eventually, a whole eternity later, Kai excused Dazai from the room. "I've just about explained everything you need to know, Dazai." he said, leaned back in his chair.

The boy hummed, then slowly stood up from his chair.

He turned his back on the man without a second thought, contemplating whether he should just break out of his handcuffs or wait for someone to come and take them off of him.

Dazai opened the door and moved past the guard standing outside of it easily, ignoring the stares he had directed at him. 

Aizawa was waiting out in the corridor and beckoned the brunette over when he spotted him.

Dazai complied begrudgingly. He hated missions like this, when he had to act easy and act like he practically fell to other people's feet.

He much preferred breaking them and their stupid faces.

However, he knew playing the part of a complying hostage would be a better alternative to what Mori had planned should their mission—which was still mostly unknown—fail for whatever reason, so he played to Eraserhead's beat.

"How did it go, Dazai? They didn't ask any questions that made you uncomfortable, did they?" Aizawa asked, checking his phone for the time.

Dazai had left his phone with Hirotsu (who took it away every time they went on a mission together because he said it was too distracting) and Tadashi never took his phone into the slums since the people there had a habit of pickpocketing.

Which meant they had no way to contact anyone.

"He only asked a few interesting questions, sir." Dazai replied, putting his arms behind his back and swaying from the balls of his feet to his heels, acting bored.

His eye was constantly moving, however. He took in every last detail of where he was; how dark it was outside, how many cameras he could see, how many officers were near him. 

Aizawa frowned and put his phone back in his pocket, gesturing for a more detailed explanation. 

"Well, first the man asked how I was, so I told him to skip that part. You know, the whole 'pretending to be concerned with dissidents' wellbeing' shebang. Anyhow, then he asked me where I learned to shoot a gun, so obviously I told him it was target practice." Dazai moved his arms around as much as he could with them bound, not taking his eye away from Eraserhead's.

He could tell the man was off-put by the boy's stare and was also confused on why he felt that way.

Dazai continued on, buying time for when Shida would hurry up and finish being interrogated.

He grinned as he spoke, drawing as much of Aizawa's attention as he possibly could with his plastered expression. "Then the stupid fart asked me what the targets were—which is totally implying I shot people to learn to aim, by the way. I told him I used tress."

He did use traitors and enemies to learn how not to hesitate when shooting a human, but his aim had already been perfected by then.

"Then he asked what my relationship with Shida is, but why would a grown man need to know that? Amiright or amiright? So I told him as much, and he moved on like I hadn't ever opened my mouth. Which I took great offence to, if you must know." He kept his tone neutral, not allowing his growing anticipation for when Tadashi was going to show face to appear on his own.

Aizawa sighed and told Dazai he didn't need the entire thing from start to finish, which was good because that was around when Dazai stopped listening to Kai.

"I just wanted to know if he asked or said anything that he shouldn't have or that made you uncomfortable." the man grumbled.

The brunette just shook his head as if Kai's entire existence hadn't given him chills.

Just as Aizawa was about to reply, Shida's door slammed open.

Dazai had to stop himself sighing in relief. He was beginning to think he had been murdered in there! Then Dazai would have been left alone with no other choice but to kill himself to see his best bud again.

It would be pretty noble to end yourself for a loved one, wouldn't it?

The moment emerald green eyes met dull brown, Tadashi's entire demeanour melted. He slumped from where he was standing, and his face seemed more relaxed. He brushed past the guard standing outside his door, not even sparring the man a look.

Tadashi dragged his feet—which were still only covered by socks—and sighed deeply as he made his way over to Dazai, who recognised the movements all too well. His grin stretched further across his face as Tadashi got closer and he could see the hidden smugness in his eyes.

It would seem he had chosen what roles they were going to play for the mission, and it just so happened to be one that Dazai enjoyed quite a bit.

Whenever they went on undercover missions together, they were assigned roles either by Mori or by Shida (who usually chose one of his best friend's favourites). They were to carry out their mission while acting a certain way.

Cocky, which meant being arrogant and pissing off the people around them by acting like they owned the place.

Clueless, which meant they were to act ditzy and ask lots of questions, pretending they didn't understand what was going on (which happened to get old quite fast. It was their least favourite, but the most common one they used.)

Meek meant they weren't standing out, they were just observing.

The list went on and on, and most of them were only a one-person-at-a-time act so that no one would put two and two together and realise the Demon Prodigy and Verde Reaper were hiding in their ranks.

However, the role Kenshiro had selected this time was a two-person job and required both boys to act in sync. 

They liked to call it ‘over exaggerate’. All it meant was they got to act how they usually did around each other, but with an exaggeration.

They were to always stick by each other’s side and when they weren’t together, they had to act distraught and out of place. The Mafiosos had to make it seem like even a few minutes apartwas difficult.

Personally, it was Dazai’s favourite. But no one else had to know that except for Shida, who caught onto everything about the brunette. Nothing ever got past him.

Tadashi glued himself to Dazai's right side the moment he was in reach. He trusted the bandaged boy to understand what he was doing.

If Aizawa noticed Dazai's giddiness at Tadashi's actions, he didn't say anything. "Mi—Tadashi." he said in greeting.

It wasn't the first time the man had tried to call Kenshiro something other than Tadashi. It was strange how much he struggled to remember his name.

"How was your interview? Nothing too uncomfortable?" he shoved his hands in his pockets, eyeing Tadashi, who huffed.

"It was lame. She kept asking me the same dumb questions until I gave her a proper answer." Shida raised his voice comically to mimic the lady that had interrogated him. "Why do you have bandages if you aren't injured, what's your relationship with Osamu Dazai, what's with the eyebags, what's with the white hair? It was all about my appearance! She's lucky I'm not insecure."

"Hey, I heard my name in there!" Dazai accused.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Shida bit back, giving him a look.

"Okay, you know what—" The boy reached out to pull at Tadashi, but Aizawa stopped him.

"Right, that's enough. I'm assuming you were made aware of what's to come?" The man for whatever reason was staring at Tadashi with a disgruntled expression.

He kinda looked like he was constipated.

Dazai snorted at his own thoughts but played it off with a wave of his hand. "Of course, of course! We're going to high school." Aizawa nodded his head in confirmation. 

"Do you also mean living with, whatcha m'call it? Hero kids?" Tadashi questioned. "We're being sent to a boarding school." He inched the slightest bit closer to Dazai, who wasn't aware of that part.

He must have missed it when Kai was explaining, too busy ignoring him and pouring all of his energy forcing his eye to look conjuring and intimidating while grinning all the while.

He so desperately hoped his effort paid off and Kai tells his boss how much of a freak Osamu Dazai was.

Eraserhead saw the slight movement, and his cheek twitched but he didn't comment. "Have you both given your consent? Are you aware how life changing this decision could be?" 

Dazai couldn't see the boy since he was standing on his right side, but he imagined Tadashi was probably getting pissed off by the man's nagging. Not to mention no consent was involved; they were simply told what was gonna happen.

Not that they had a choice either way.

Dazai knew that if Mori wanted them to take down the 'rats', the stupid man had also seen this coming. 

"Just make sure they stay five feet away, Sensei!" He did at least remember Kai telling him about Eraserhead being their homeroom teacher, which was going to be great. He could already tell.

Dazai silently wondered if there was any rope nearby sturdy enough to hang himself from. 

Aizawa sighed through his nose, looking like he'd been run over a few times. "I know how overwhelming all of this would be, but I'm afraid you're going to the dorms tonight since we don't have any other place for you two to sleep in. Your classmates are excited to meet you, so there's that at least."

Dazai cringed. Surely if this man knew how 'overwhelming' this all was for the boys, he wouldn't be shoving them into a place infected with righteous hero kids, would he? "Yeesh, I don't think you really do understand if you're throwing us to the wolves already."

Tadashi took a single step forward, just enough so the brunette could finally see him. 

"If you two would like, I can postpone you meeting them to tomorrow. But it's getting late, and you will need to sleep in the dorms just like everyone else." To his credit, Eraserhead did look a little sympathetic. 

The freckled teen hummed disappointedly. "I'm pretty sure I saw a few cells down the other side of the hallway." he said in a hopeful tone.

The look on Aizawa's face at Tadashi suggesting he would rather sleep in a cell then a dorm room was the funniest thing Dazai had seen in days, and he gave a little huff of amusement at it.

This didn't impress the man, whose eyes snapped to him. "You think wanting to sleep where criminals are held is funny, Dazai?" he questioned in disbelief.

Dazai shrugged, "A little." he admitted. 

"You aren't sleeping in a cell." Aizawa looked so distraught that anyone else witnessing would think the boys had just confessed to torturing his family. 

Tadashi yawned, "Then what are we still doing here in handcuffs? Let's go." He was obviously unbothered by the man's bewilderment. 

Eraserhead made a noise in the back of his throat and whipped his head around. "Tsukauchi? Where's the keys to their cuffs?" He walked over to the Leader, who was apparently said Tsukauchi.

Dazai leaned over to Shida, "He totally forgot we're in handcuffs." he whispered, smirking.

Tadashi punched him in the shoulder, a violent way for the freckled mafioso to tell Dazai he wanted his partner to be quiet if he wasn't talking to Eraserhead.

Dazai quietly grunted and rubbed his shoulder awkwardly with his bound hands. "Shida! How could you hurt your best friend like that?" he demanded, his grin changing nature.

Tadashi eyed his mouth and glared at him when he saw the switch from smug to playful. Dazai spotted the humour hidden in his anger and only grinned wider.

"I apologise, boys. I completely forgot you were still cuffed." The leader—Tsukauchi, Dazai's brain corrected itself, walked over with a key in hand and a hobo trailing behind him.

Both boys could easily break out of them, ability or not, but for the sake of the mission they concealed that bit of handy knowledge. The iron around their wrists fell a moment later, and Tadashi immediately started to rub his.

The brunette knew of his partner's habit—he liked to scrape the skin off his wrists whenever he was bound. It didn't matter what held him, whether it was rope, metal, or even another pair of hands. He twisted his hands around until he was left with angry, red skin staring back at him.

Dazai had come to his own conclusions about why Tadashi did that but he hadn't ever asked for confirmation before, nor had Shida ever brought it up himself.

Tadashi hummed as he glanced up at Eraserhead, "Can you tell the students not to come up to us?" he asked, further enunciating Dazai's earlier statement about everyone staying five feet away.

Aizawa expression softened as he nodded, "I'll tell them. I apologise in advance for their behaviour, since your classmates can get pretty rowdy when they're excited."

Tsukauchi gave them both a warm smile—too warm for someone who had a gun aimed at his head an hour beforehand. "Good luck, boys. I hope you enjoy your stay at UA high." He said, as if Dazai and Tadashi were only going for a short trip.

Neither of them knew how long they were going to be...well, wherever they were.

The campus of UA high school was ridiculously huge. As in, 'big enough to fit multiple towns and then some' huge. Tadashi couldn't think of any reason for any school grounds to be that damn big, but it was.

He mentally cringed at the thought of just how much money was poured into it. Billions of Yen, no doubt.

Kenshiro and his partner had been placed in the same car on the drive to UA, though they kept their mouths shut the entire time. Every time Tadashi glanced up at the rearview mirror, Aizawa was already looking at him. It was annoying, and frankly, the man was starting to drive him up the wall. 

He looked so concerned, angry, and upset all at once. It was a strange and frustrating sight, though Tadashi wasn't sure on why he felt the latter. Whatever, that wasn't what mattered at the moment.

There were many buildings in the area, probably a hundred or so if Tadashi had to estimate based on what he could see in the dark, but only one stood out the most. Right in front of the trio was a building with just under twenty floors and four wings. Not a single solid wall was in sight; it was all made of glass.

It was such an obvious design flaw he just stared at it for a short while as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

This was supposed to be the main building for aspiring heroes, and yet its walls were glass? It didn't matter how bullet proof they were, if they were at all, it would be for naught if someone with enough bullets shot at it.

Not to mention the building was so damn tall that it towered over the front gates, which was another design flaw.

Again, it wouldn't take much for someone with a good enough firearm to do some serious damage.

"This way," Aizawa spoke, interrupting Tadashi's train of thought. The man pointed to their left, and the boys were left with no choice but to get moving again.

Eraserhead walked behind them a few paces away. He was far enough that he would be able to hear them talk, but not their whispers.

"Shida, this place is like really big." Dazai said, moving a step closer to Kenshiro, who nudged him teasingly.

"Yeah, good job sherlock." he whispered back, a hint of a smile on his face.

The brunette moved his hands frantically to get his point further across, "No, you don't understand. If I killed myself in one of the mostly unused buildings on the edge of campus, it would take hours for them to find me because this place is so massive."

"It might even take a day, actually." Tadashi replied. "But if we were to kill someone else, like a janitor or a mole, it might take up to a week. Everyone's going to be constantly looking at us; we're covered in bandages, out of uniform, and there's no doubt already news of us rocking up in a police car driven by a teacher circulating around. No way we aren't being watched from the buildings around us as we speak."

On the edge of the long pathway they were walking on were smaller and cozier looking buildings to the main one they had left.

Each one was identical; medium sized with two wings and 'ALLIENCE' on the front sign hung on the middle part connecting the wings together. The only thing setting the buildings apart were the letters and numbers at the front.

1-3, A-K.

Continuing with what he was saying, the freckled teen also took a step closer to his partner. "If we were to get rid of someone who wasn't the centre of attention, someone who wouldn't be noticed as missing for nearly twice as long as us, then the search for them wouldn't nearly be as frantic or fast as it would be for us."

Their hands brushed every few meters, and Tadashi's twitched each time. He made it look like he was itching to hold Dazai's hand on purpose to put on a show for Aizawa, who was no doubt watching the interaction closely like a weirdo. He hoped the man would be too distracted by their actions to even try and hear what they were whispering about.

"What a smart veggie." Dazai hummed happily, pleased by the idea.

Tadashi slapped his arm with a half-hearted glare, "I'm not a vegetable, stop calling me that."

"Hmm, I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you have every idea what I'm talking about."

"You have a very strange way of thinking, for a veggie."

When their hands brushed again, it was Dazai's turn to twitch. Tadashi wasn't sure whether it was intentional or not, but Aizawa instructed them to enter the building on their right before he could ponder too deeply about it.

Kenshiro eyed the place; it had 1-A written in white above the 'ALLIENCE' sign that was only just visible in the darkness.

No lights were on from what he could see, but that didn't mean they weren't being watched. He could feel eyes on him from every direction, and while he wasn't completely certain any of his 'peers' (not that he ever planned to consider them as such) were watching, it was highly likely.

The three of them walked up the stairs, and Aizawa cut in front of them. "The lights are off, but I'll do a quick round and make sure no one's hiding in the dark." 

Dazai gave him two thumbs up, and Tadashi nodded his head in silent gratitude.

The man turned around and opened one of the sets of double doors, not looking behind him. It was almost amusing to see the 'hero' Dazai had pointed a gun at blindly turn his back to said boy like it hadn't happened.

The show of trust was strange for sure, but it made Tadashi's mind wonder. 

He wanted to know who Eraserhead really was. He wanted to get to know his new 'teacher', which was a thought he would never admit aloud or even bother to entertain. He would be leaving this place once they got rid of the people that were a danger to Japan and going back to the Mafia, anyway.

Connections were useless if they weren't political.

"We're staying in the same room," Dazai declared, crossing his arms over his chest as he took a moment to really have a look at where they were doomed to stay for god knows how long. At least it was better looking than the places the two of them usually squatted at. "It's not up for debate."

He turned his back to the door as they waited for Aizawa to return, observing their surroundings one last time.

There were cameras on almost every light pole that was in sight, as well as one on the veranda pointed at the door on every building. There was a very slim chance the two of them could sneak out easily.

Tadashi gave him a look, then stepped in front of the brunette so he could see his face. "Who do you think you're talking to, Brownie? I'm well aware we're staying in the same room, it was never going to be negotiated."

Dazai gave him a wonky smile at the nickname, and Tadashi felt his face flush. Kenshiro only ever used that nickname every once and a while, and only on occasions when he was feeling sappy or emotional.

At first, he called his partner 'brownie' to get back at him for calling him a vegetable, then it was because the teen liked to eat pot brownies with his crab, but after that?

It was something adjacent to a term of endearment. Neither of them every admitted how silly yet assuring it felt to be able to call each other stupid things after doing something inhumane. 

"Ah, Freckles knows me so well!" The brunette chirped, breaking Tadashi's train of thought.

God could his nicknames be annoying, though. 

Tadashi knew his partner was dreading having to play nice with a bunch of teenagers just as much as he was, but they both refused to show it even as Aizawa returned and led them inside.

The man turned on the light as the boys entered, and they squinted at the sudden contrast to the darkness they had just been standing in. The interior was just as spacious as Tadashi had been expecting it to be. 

There were two kitchens, two dining areas, and two lounge areas. There were also doors leading to other rooms around, though it was impossible to know what laid behind them.

Each wing had its own set, and Tadashi could tell which wing belonged to what sex by looking at the communal bathrooms on the far wall. Males were on the left and females were on the right.

Aizawa coughed into his palm, and the teens looked at him. "Each dorm building is designed to hold about thirty students, so there are many spare rooms. The first floor is a common area with couches, dining spaces, kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry rooms. Males are on the left wing and females are on the right." Tadashi mentally high fived himself. "Obviously, us three are the exception. We’ll all be on the first floor, though on opposite sides."

The man pointed to a singular door near the lounge area on the right wing. "I'll be in that room, you two will be in these." He then pointed to two doors near the lounge area on the left wing. "Each room has air conditioning, beds, mini refrigerators, closets, and a balcony. We don't have balconies since we're on the first floor, but we have our own bathrooms rather than just a toilet. We won't use the communal bathrooms like everyone else."

Dazai raced over and threw open the doors to both rooms without so much as a word. "Come check this out, Shida! We get double beds!"

Tadashi knew what he was saying. There were beds big enough for the two of them to sleep in comfortably, so sleeping arrangements wouldn't be a problem as long as no one else had one with them sharing a room.

The green haired boy peered over his partner's shoulder, inspecting the rooms. They were identical down to how open the curtains on the windows were, the only noticeable difference being what side of the room the bathrooms were on.

On the bed in the left room was a folder, which Tadashi was so very tempted to snatch up. "I want this one," he declared, already walking inside of it. 

Dazai whined loudly, "But Shida! That's the good room; the other one is so boring!" He waltzed in the room after his partner, flopping himself across the greenette's shoulders. "Surely you'll let me bunk with you, hm?"

Kenshiro glanced at Aizawa, who shrugged his shoulders as if to say, 'what can I do about it?'.

Tadashi took that as a win and shoved Dazai off of him, "Just don't snore, bandages."

"You're also covered in bandages, stupid veggie. Do I need to steam you so you can think properly?"

Kenshiro clenched his jaw and yanked on the back of Dazai's head, earning him a yelp from the latter. He grinned, ducking when the brunette retaliated with a swipe of his own.

Tadashi turned around to Aizawa, who was staring at the two of them like he was just realising something. "Sensei," he drawled the word sarcastically. "You're sure he's allowed to stay? I wouldn't want to get penalised."

The man looked all too tired as he replied. "They're your rooms. You can do whatever you want in them."

Dazai raised an eyebrow at his teacher (at least that's what Tadashi thought he was doing, it was hard to tell when half his face was covered), "Really now? Whatever we want?" he made his words sound ominous on purpose, riling up Aizawa and implying he was scheming something already.

Knowing him, he probably was

Aizawa, to his credit, was entirely unaffected and raised one of his eyebrows in turn, "Sleeping in separate rooms is not a requirement, but refraining from any illegal activities most certainly is." He gave Dazai a pointed look, who shrugged with an arrogant smile like he hadn't said all that just to stir the pot.

Pissing people off was the mafioso's version of barking at a dog, he found it entertaining to see their reactions.

Tadashi was much the same, but he preferred different tactics that had Dazai laughing. The freckled teen had once hidden behind a door as Mori walked in and slammed it behind the man just to watch him jump.

They both still cracked up just thinking about the horror on Mori’s face when he realised he got snuck up on by a kid.

"Lay off it, Dazai. Let's just go check how clean the room is." Tadashi walked away from the door, huffing when Dazai slammed it shut. "You're such a dumbass, we're supposed the be gaining their trust, not making them suspicious."

His partner whined as he opened the door to the bathroom, "Come on, Shida! You're such a party pooper! Besides, how much more suspicious could I possibly make them? We already messed up with the whole hospital thing."

"As if I don't know that." Kenshiro grumbled, throwing open the closet door. He just hoped Mori wouldn't be in a bad mood when they returned because of their mistake in assuming they had been kidnapped (even though they technically had).

The closet was filled with hero merch, shirts with stupid quotes, and plain shorts. It wasn't anything Tadashi would normally wear by choice. He ran his hand across the clothes hanging up, shivering as he did so.

Every piece felt familiar to him, and he wasn't sure why.

He bit the inside of his cheek, ignoring the sinking feeling in his gut, and moved onto the flimsy-looking wooden desk that was paired with an even flimsier looking office chair.

Tadashi swiped his hand across the surface and underneath it, looking for anywhere that a camera or microphone could be hidden. They always checked wherever they were staying for bugs, since they wouldn't ever stay in a room where they could be watched or listened to.

The mafioso closed his eyes as he moved his hand, checking for any bumps, ridges, dents or holes that anything could be hiding in. 

By the time he had finally made his way to the bed, Dazai had finished his inspection of the bathroom. "Anything, Shida?" he asked, leaning over Tadashi's shoulder.

"Not yet," the freckled teen replied with a frown. "I almost don't want to believe it."

Dazai nodded his head, "Yeah, me neither. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary in the bathroom other than how fancy everything was. It's hard to believe they would put us in dorms to keep an eye on us, only to leave us completely by ourselves." He chuckled in amusement.

To anyone else, it would sound real. Not to his partner, though.

Of course every now and then the boy chuckled seriously, but nine times out of ten, he’s just doing it to fill the silence.

There was only a slight difference in pitch between his genuine laugh and his feigned one, but Shida caught onto it easily enough after being around him for an entire year. In his opinion, the real one had a much better ring to it.

It also left a better affect, since Dazai always seemed to be a lot lighter after even a single good huff of laughter, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulder. Not that Tadashi paid that close attention all the time or anything.

He finished up what he was doing, placing the mattress back onto the bed frame properly. Dazai picked up the folder Tadashi had moved onto the desk, flipping it open. His eyes widened, "Have you looked in here yet?" he asked. 

Green curls bounced as Kenshiro shook his head, "I was waiting for you to come. Why, what's in it?" He peeked over Dazai's shoulder. "Oh, shit. Are those the profiles of the staff?" he questioned, taking the folder from his partner to see for himself.

"And our new classmates." Dazai replied, peeking into the closet as Tadashi made himself busy pulling out the papers. 

There were two separate stacks of paper stappled, one contained the profiles of the staff at UA, and the other contained profiles of the students they were supposed to be mingling with for god knows how long. It was crucial information to their mission. 

He picked up one of the piles.

On the front, it had Yuuga Aoyama’s profile. It stated his name, ‘quirk’, date of birth, ‘hero name’ and seat number, whatever that referenced to.

On the next page was Mina Ashido (Pinky, quirk: acid), seat No.2.

Then Tsuyu Asui (Froppy, quirk: frog) seat No.3, and so on.

On the second stack of paper, Hisashi Yamada (Present Mic, quirk: voice), English teacher. He was the fellow with the shitty hair from earlier in the hospital.

Nemuri Kayama (Midnight, quirk: somnambulist), she was the woman with the sleeping mist, and also a modern hero history art teacher. It seemed like a long title, but hero history piqued Tadashi's interest.

She would know more backstory on this place Mori had thrown them into.

"I'm showering first!" Dazai declared, reminding Tadashi how late it was.

He really needed a warm cleanse as well, but he knew arguing with Dazai would be for nought. "Go get some clothes from the other room, nothing in that closet will fit you. Bring a pair of slippers for yourself if there's one there, as well."

The bandaged brunette waved him off, already leaving the room to go next door. "Mmmhmm," he hummed lazily. 

Tadashi rolled his eyes and called out after him, "And let me wash your hair! You never do it right; there's always dirt left!"

"Jeez, fine! Do whatever you want, dad!"

"Oh my stars, don't call me that you stupid emo!"

Laughter was all he got in reply.

Chapter Text

The bathroom the school had graciously provided was definitely a lot nicer than what Tadashi and Dazai were used to.

Tile covered two walls, and the other two were a light grey. The shower also had a tub as the floor, which was something that Tadashi was surprised to see, but it wasn’t as unfamiliar to him as it was to Dazai, who was ranting about how he had never seen anything like it. It was a western-styled bathroom.

Kenshiro had seen pictures and movies of bathrooms with similar layouts.

On the edge of the tub was a ledge that was perfect to sit on, and underneath it was a cabinet full of towels and bathmats, all of which were pastel colours.

Tadashi grabbed out two towels, one blue and one green, and placed them on the empty towel rack. He also grabbed out two bathmats, placing one in front of the shower and one in front of the sink.

Dazai had snagged some clothes from the other room—a pair of plain grey shorts and a baggy black t-shirt. There had also been fresh underwear waiting, which was a relief. "I'm telling you, Shida. Yokohama only has fancy bathrooms like this in hotels for government people!" he insisted, already shrugging off his jacket.

"We live in the same city, remember? I know how rare good bathrooms are for people like us." Tadashi replied, checking out the cabinet underneath the sink.

There were two bottles of body wash, four bottles of shampoo and conditioner, loofahs, washcloths, and face wash.

There was also a first aid kit that would definitely have gauze. The cabinet was stocked with everything they would need for at least a few months.

When he stood up again, Dazai was only in his trousers and was taking off his bandages. The freckled mafioso felt his heart flip at how his partner didn't hesitate to undress almost completely nude in front of him and trusted him a great deal with parts of himself no one else saw—his eye, his stomach, his back, his arms, his neck, and his legs were covered up in front of other people for a reason.

Tadashi walked out of the bathroom the next second so that the brunette could fully undress himself.

It still shocked Tadashi, despite them knowing each other for a year, at how comfortable Dazai was around him.

He sat down on the bed, staring out of the window behind the headboard.

There really wasn’t much to see, but there was a curiosity that came with new areas to explore that Tadashi always had the urge to satisfy.

He wanted to go out into the common area and look around for any hidey-holes, or even just see how many cameras he could find in a couple of minutes outside of the building.

The room he was in had no furniture other than the bed, the desk, and the crappy desk chair. He wanted to do something to it, just to spice things up. He didn't have any idea how long he was going to be in here for, but he wanted to at least make it comfortable for the time he was there.

A few minutes went by, and Dazai called Tadashi into bathroom in an aggravating tone. 

"Shiiiiidaaaaaa!"

Tadashi sighed, bringing his legs up onto the bed so he could take his dirty socks off and roll his pants up.

"Shi-i-i-ida!"

He rolled his eyes at Dazai's childness. "I'm coming! Just wait a second!" There wasn't a reply back, which meant he was probably pretending to be offended and sulking. Tadashi clicked his tongue and finally made his way into the bathroom.

He walked in and was hit by a wave of hot air. Kenshiro made a surprised sound before laughing, "Taking advantage of the hot water?" he questioned.

"You know it," The brunette replied smugly. He was sitting on the bottom of the bathtub with a washcloth tied around his waist. His left arm was dangling out of the tub lazily.

"I would have thought you were going to have a bubble bath," Tadashi teased, taking off his tie and the bandages he hadn't had the time nor energy to replace for a week or so.

Dazai hummed, "I thought I'd be generous and let you have the first bath, freckles."

"It wouldn't have made a difference, but that's nice of you." Tadashi replied, ignoring the jab. He placed the tie on the towel rack and old bandages in the sink, opting to just throw them out later. He opened the cabinet and pulled out two bottles, one shampoo and one conditioner.

"Why didn't you grab these out when you got the body soap, Dazai?" he asked. When he got no reply, he exhaled through his nose and grabbed the green towel, placing it on the closed toilet lid for him to grab later. "You're so lazy sometimes, you know that? Like a sloth."

"It's part of my charm." the idiot replied, his amusement flowing through his voice.

Tadashi laughed, "You wish. Turn the water on whatever temperature you want it to be and pass me the detachable shower head."

As Dazai did what he asked, his partner made himself comfortable on the ledge connected to the tub. His legs settled on either side of the brunette, who handed the shower head to him.

The boy immediately got to work, rubbing his free hand through Dazai's hair as the water poured down it. The locks were on the brink of having whole chunks of dirt in it; neither of them had had the time to properly cleanse their hair in nearly two months due to missions and punishments.

Tadashi scrubbed Dazai's scalp with his dull fingernails as best as he could.

It was only at times like this that Tadashi really got the reassurance that his partner trusted him. Dazai never took his eye bandages off in front of other people, apart from Mori, but he was comfortable with showing Kenshiro all of his usually wrapped limbs.

His milky skin was littered with scars. Some were a dull brown, some were a lighter pink, and some had faded to white. Some scars were a lot bigger than others, some had textures, while others simply made his skin sink in on certain areas.

They covered his back, his arms, his neck, and his legs.

There were so many stories, so many past injuries that Dazai felt comfortable enough to show Tadashi, and the thought made the boy's heart go funny.

He knew that the marks on Dazai's neck, and most of the ones on his arms, were from Dazai himself.

The other ones were from missions and punishments that were sensitive topics.

His spine showed noticeably on his back from malnutrition, and his eyebags were brutal.

Kenshiro resisted the urge to run his hand over Dazai's skin and feel the flaws, pouring all of his attention into applying conditioner. 

Tadashi poured some soap into his hand before proceeding to run them through the fine hair repeatedly until Dazai's hair was completely covered in foam. Even then, the freckled mafioso continued to scrub until he was sure no dirt would be left.

He rinsed the soap out carefully with his right hand, his other steering the shower head. 

He wasn't sure when, but eventually, he lost focus and stared blankly at his own arms as he moved them.

There were scars all along his forearms, though not for the same reason as Dazai’s arms.

Dazai got his marks on his arms and neck from personal battles, while Tadashi got his from a scalpel.

There were white lines, some popping out more than others, running across his forearms without a rhythm.

They were just always there. They didn't hurt anymore, but he still hated looking at them. It was as if they were trying to taunt him of his mistakes while being with Mori, even though Tadashi knew that was impossible.

He shivered just thinking about the cold tool biting his skin, the sound of his own sobs, and whatever special video Mori had an interest in at the time playing in the background.

Soon enough, he was biting his bottom lip harshly and forcing himself to hum his brunette's favourite song to distract himself from his own mind. He continued to gently work his way through the dirt on Dazai's head.

The water that fell away when he rinsed was a pale brown, which should have been gross. It wasn't though, because Tadashi knew why it was that colour. He knew exactly why his partner's hair was dirty, because his own was in the same condition.

"Shida?" Dazai mumbled, his voice startling Kenshiro. 

"Uh, yeah? What's up?" Tadashi coughed awkwardly, mentally berating himself. What the hell was going on with him?

"Can you dry my hair as well?" the boy asked, leaning further into the ledge and looking up at Tadashi, who stared back for a few long moments. It wasn't often he had two brown eyes looking at him, after all.

Tadashi gave him a tired grin, "Sure, emo." Usually, he would huff and deny the prince his maid, but he knew the only reason Dazai asked this time is because he wanted to help out Kenshiro.

Purposefully extending their time together was his way of saying 'I see you'. He was a sap at heart, as much as he tried to hide it behind his cruel words, expressions, and actions.

He didn't even think himself as capable of being kind, but it made it all the more special because he didn't realise how good his deeds were; he simply thought every move of his were going to benefit himself in the long run. His partner knew better; he was the best at sensing a person's intentions.

He finished washing and rinsing Dazai’s hair, then grabbed the green towel and began to gently rub the fabric against his partner’s head. He moved his hands in a rhythm that was soothing for both of them, using that to keep himself focused on what he was doing.

If Dazai had picked up on his bad thoughts, then he must have had some sort of physical telltale. Had he been too rough applying the conditioner? Or did he do something strange with his hands?

Once he finished off towelling Dazai's hair, he left the bathroom so that the brunette could get changed. Tadashi sat on the chair with one leg up, his arms wrapped around his torso.

When the other teen returned wearing the spare clothing and fresh bandages, he walked over to his partner and ruffled his hair. 

The freckled mafioso took that as his sign to go into the bathroom. He grabbed a random t-shirt with an ugly dude's face on it, some blue shorts, and underwear he hoped to Kami was fresh and unused.

He ran a bath for himself, sitting on the edge of the tub with his right hand in the water as it poured in.

It had been ages since he had a bath that wasn’t a communal one. He couldn’t remember how long ago it was, or even remember it, but he knew deep inside him that he had definitely had one before. The closest he had gotten in a long time was a cold lake in the dead of night.

He grabbed the bubble solution he found in the cabinet under the ledge and poured it into the warm liquid. He settled himself in the water after undressing, sighing as his muscles automatically relaxed.

He sunk deep enough that the bubbles tickled his chin, and he let himself soak up the feeling of warmth before grabbing a clean washcloth and scrubbing his skin.

He scrubbed and scrubbed, then scrubbed some more. He moved his arms rapidly, getting rid of the dirt that had been collecting on his body for almost a week.

He did so until his skin was red, and he was feeling raw, and finally right in his body. He hated the off feeling that came with being covered in reminders of what he had gone through the previous couple of days.

Cleaning himself harshly was Tadashi's way of starting anew.

He contemplated calling for Dazai to return the favour of washing his hair, since his arms were now feeling sluggish from the strain he had put on them to rid himself of dirt. He knew Dazai also enjoyed playing with his hair just to see the white strands in the light, sometimes even trying (and failing) to count them. It didn’t bother Tadashi.

In fact, hands in his hair soothed him much more than it should have.

Eventually, he relented and called out for Dazai. Tadashi was now shoulder-deep in the soapy water, anyway. The brunette wouldn't be able to see anything with his one eye if he tried.

Dazai came into the bathroom with a goofy grin not a second after Kenshiro had called for him. Stupid bastard had been outside the door, completely free of the bandages he had put on mere minutes ago, waiting for Tadashi to ask him to come in.

Dazai really liked Shida's hair, everything about it was addictive to him.

He liked how fluffy it was all of the time, even when it was dirty or oily. He also enjoyed trying to count how many white strands Tadashi had.

It seemed to increase every couple of weeks or so. The colour of the rest of his head was stunning—it was as green as fern, which was what Dazai's nickname: 'Shida' meant.

It was a mix of his partners given and family name-Ken-sh-iro Ta-da-shi, and it also happened to mean fern. Dazai thought it was the most fitting thing for his freckled buddy.

On missions when the two of them were required to sleep in rough conditions, which wasn't uncommon, Dazai playing with Shida's hair was often the only way for the teenagers to fall into a light doze. The sense of familiarity was comforting. 

Tadashi's green hair was what had gotten Dazai so infatuated with his now best friend in the first place. He wanted to stick around near the teen long enough to find out whether or not the green was natural.

By only their fourth mission together, the two had become rather close.

Dazai waited outside of the bathroom door without a gram of shame for Tadashi to call him into the bathroom. He passed the time by removing the bandages he had only just put on, which he had only done because he didn't want Shida to suspect anything.

In his very professional opinion, wet gauze was one of the most uncomfortable things to deal with. He tried to avoid it as often as he could. That was also why drowning was one of his least favourite ways to try and kill himself.

Dazai often gaslit himself into thinking 'I'm not going to be alive to feel it', but he knew by now that he would somehow be saved every goddamn time.

Which didn't stop him from trying, especially when he was desperate. The feeling of water invading his throat was so familiar to him by now that he found himself seeking for it every time he felt down. Which was more often than not.

The only time he didn't mind being saved was when Shida personally came to his rescue—it wasn't so bad when he woke up to stupidly green eyes staring down at him with that stupidly concerned expression present on the face they were attached to.

The moment Kenshiro called for Dazai to go into the bathroom, as hesitant as it was, the brunette pushed the bathroom door open with a grin. He shoved his hands into his pockets as he strolled inside, his grin growing at the annoyed look on Shida's face.

"What's that look for, hm?" he set out the bait.

"Why were you waiting out there, Dazai?" Shida set out one of his own with a raised brow.

Dazai didn't bite it, instead choosing to change the subject. "I knew you'd have an extra bubbly bath." he said, pointing to the soapy water.

Tadashi shrugged, "What can I say? I'm a man of good taste. Nothing a sloth like you would know about." He closed his eyes and flopped his hand around with a smile.

The water level was up to his shoulders, and the bubbles covered the entire surface of it. Dazai whistled his favourite tune as he plopped himself onto the ledge, criss-crossing his legs. 

Shida glanced at him over his shoulder a little sheepishly, "Sorry, Dazai. I forgot you would have to take off your bandages even though you just—"

Dazai interrupted him with a few tuts, using the detachable shower head to wet his partner's hair. "None of that now, stupid veggie. You worry far too much." He rubbed the soap in his hands, watching the translucent liquid fall from them onto Tadashi's head. "When have you ever known me to do anything I don't want to?"

"Still—"

"Nuh uh, I'll have none of your nagging. Hush now, Shida." The brunette ran his hands through Shida's hair. When there was enough soap in it, he scooped the curls up into funny-looking hairstyles. Tadashi whined and told him to cut it out, but Dazai knew better than to listen.

They both knew the entire reason he was even doing Shida such a favour was not to pay him back, nor was it because he liked to play with Shida’s hair—not to say he wasn't enjoying giving his partner ridiculous hairdos.

When the roles had been reversed a few minutes beforehand, with Tadashi washing Dazai's hair, he had felt a shift in Tadashi's movements towards the end of applying conditioner. He felt it when Shida got distracted by his thoughts. Shida started to rub his hands further at the front of his head longer than he had to.

Dazai knew why the moment he had felt it happen as well; Shida was staring at his scarred arms as they worked through his messy hair. His thoughts had taken a dark turn. There was no doubt he had been thinking about slimy Mori and his scalpel.

He knew what it was like to want to shut your brain off to stop thinking about things you hated, and how difficult it was to leave such state of mind. He understood the desperation in trying to distract yourself to try and move yourself away from a dangerous headspace.

Fortunately, he also knew that physically distracting Tadashi from himself could do just that.

He couldn't have Shida in a bad headspace when they had a big day tomorrow, it would throw off his whole mood as well. A pleased Shida was one that followed along to his beat without questioning anything.

"What are we going to do tomorrow?" Shida asked, bringing Dazai's attention back. 

Dazai sighed, "Pretty sure we're getting a tour of the school. I heard someone mention it while we were waiting for your interview to finish." That someone being Mr. Chicken, who had been about three metres away from them.

"There's no way we're going to be able to get a tour of the entire campus, it's too big." Shida leaned back until his neck was nearly touching Dazai's legs, who huffed. "Everything about this place is annoying."

Tadashi nodded in agreement, "I know. It almost seems like an entirely different society itse..." he trailed off, coming to a realisation.

He spun around the in the tub, not caring for the water that poured over the edge and onto the bathmat. "That must be what it is. An entirely different society. Everyone's abilities are different, everyone has coloured hair and there are tree people for god's sake! People with branches for limbs! Dazai, how did we not think of this?"

In truth, Dazai had figured out they were in some kind of secret society while he was being driven to the police station. Then he also realised that it was a secret society in Japan while ignoring Kai during the pathetic excuse for an interrogation. He wasn't all that surprised that Shida took longer than him to come to the same realisation.

"In the profiles on the desk, it had 'quirk's listed with their names and seat number. I'm assuming that's what these people call abilities." The brunette grabbed Tadashi by the shoulder and spun him back around to he could finish rinsing out the soap.

Shida sighed heavily as hands began to scrub his scalp once more. "I guess so. We'll have to find some sort of device to research on so we can fit in." 

Dazai snorted, "We aren't ever going to fit in, silly freckles. There is no way the rest of the staff haven't heard about what we did to Eraserhead; we're going to be ostracised from the start."

"Guess we'll have to build up our reputation, then." Tadashi teased. The brunette chuckled, "Tomorrow, we'll keep an eye out for hidey-holes. Then we'll start bringing chaos."

If these people wanted good behaving students, then they would have to find some other kids to kidnap. Sure, they would have to dial down most of what they usually did so they didn't get expelled, but other than that? They were about to have a blast terrorising students.

--

Once Dazai finished up with Tadashi's hair, the boy shooed him out. Dazai laughed as he walked out, teasing his partner about manners.

He paused at the door, his hand on the handle. "Shida?" he called, turning around one last time. Tadashi hummed, silently telling him to continue. "Do you need me to dry your hair?" he asked, keeping his tone light.

Are you okay now?

Tadashi's expression changed as soon as Dazai finished his question. He went from looking bored to smiling.

It wasn't big or bright by any means, but neither of them smiled with much meaning very often. It was still genuine, which made any of Dazai's lasting thoughts on Shida's mindset fade away. "Just get out so I can get changed, stupid."

"Yes, sir!" The brunette saluted, closing the bathroom door. He hummed as he plopped down onto the desk chair, wrapping himself up in the gauze he had abandoned a few minutes ago. He eyed the folder in front of him as he did, wanting to open it again and read as much as he could.

As much as Dazai wanted to stick out as much as possible to create as most chaos as he could, they had to seem like they at least had some idea of what was going on.

He decided to memorise the kids they were supposed to be mingling with since they would have to at least know their names, as well as their quirks just in case something were to go wrong.

By the time Tadashi came out of the bathroom again, Dazai was halfway through memorising his new 'classmates's identities and 'quirks'.

His hair was restored to its natural beauty, which was something that Dazai didn’t have the privilege of seeing very often. Usually, it just so happened to get dirty the day after his wash day, so sue Dazai if he wasn’t allowed to be transfixed by the rare sight.

Shida had given up washing it often and stuck to once every couple of weeks since it just got dirty again too fast and he didn't have the energy to keep up with it. It wasn't the most hygienic in the least, but it was how they lived.

"Memorising everyone?" Tadashi teased, smirking at him.

Dazai grinned back, "Sure am. You see Shida, at least one of us has to be a good peer to the twenty or so kids we're going to be friends with."

"Friends, my ass. As if we're going to get close to any of them, especially that blonde kid."

"There are more than one of those, freckles."

"The explosive one. I saw his picture and got a bad vibe from him. He has red eyes, Dazai. Do I need to say more?" Tadashi leaned over Dazai's shoulder to grab the stack in his hands, flipping the page to the student he was referring to.

The scent of citrus and honey wafted into the brunette's nose, and he turned his face away. His nose tickled from the smell, which was unpleasant. "I used the other soap for your hair. I like mine better." Dazai now had lavender-scented hair, which was definitely better than honey.

" 'Course you do, I chose it. Here, have a look at this dude." Shida placed the paper back down, pointed at a teen boy with blood red eyes and spikey blonde hair. "Doesn't he look like he terrorises kids with ugly faces for fun?" He said, scoffing in mock disappointment. 

"Scandalous! Who would ever do such a thing!" Dazai placed his hand on his chest like he really couldn't handle such a suggestion. 

The boys both gave a huff of amusement at their stupid joke, and Tadashi pushed the back of Dazai's head playfully. "Give me the paper for the staff. I'll memorise them while you keep going with the grots. We can swap when we're done."

"Yes, sir." Dazai went back to looking at his new housemates, trying to get the smell of honey and citrus out of his mind,

For the rest of the night, the two of them were mostly silent. There were times when one of them spoke, giving random facts or suggestions...

"Sloth, you know that dude from the hospital? With the ugly hair?"

"And the shitty moustache?"

"Yeah, him."

"What about him?"

"He's an English teacher."

"Does that mean we can insult him to his face and pretend we don't know he knows what we're saying? Shida, you're a genius!"

"I didn't even say anything, how the hell—"

"We used telepathy, duh."

"..."

"....."

"Get back to work, stupid emo."

Other that those few conversations, they worked silently until they heard birds chirping rather than crickets.

Aizawa watched as Midoriya and Dazai bickered while closing the door to their new room. Heavy on the 'their', since it was baffling to the man.

He knew they would have to be close, considering how Midoriya literally considered Dazai as a part of himself, and them sharing a room wouldn't have normally bothered him. He wasn't their parent, what they did wasn't his problem as long as it was legal.

It wasn't like he was against the idea of them sleeping in the same dorm room, if anything it was easier to keep an eye on them if he knew were they both were. And it definitely didn't bother him in the sense he found it gross, he was more curious to know why they wanted to share a room in the first place.

Aizawa had assumed they were best friends, brotherly even. But he had seen all too well the way their hands brushed every couple of steps on their way to the dorm building, and the way one of their hands twitched every time. It was as if they were only refraining from holding each other's hands was because Aizawa was there, even though they really wanted to.

Had they done that on purpose? Surely not. Was he wrong to assume they were like brothers? Perhaps they were an item, or something close to the matter. The idea didn't seem too farfetched.

But they didn't seem like just an item. Their every move was synchronised perfectly.

Aizawa had also seen the way Midoriya preferred to stand on Dazai's right side, where the latter's bandages were covering his eye. They must have been partners in the underground group they were in. There was no other explanation for their familiarity with each other. Not even he and Mic were that in sync; it was almost impressive.

The man had had his suspicions when the Midoriya mentioned the Demon Prodigy and Verde Reaper causing chaos or whatnot since he was implying the teens came as a two in one deal to their 'foes'.

Dazai seemed the type to goof off and rely on Midoriya to do all the work, but Aizawa knew better. The former also had a nickname for the latter, one that was almost cute.

Shida, a combination of Kenshiro and Tadashi, but it also meant fern. In Japanese, anyway. Aizawa was never one for other languages, so he had no idea if it meant something other than that as well.

The two boys were a puzzle he wasn’t so certain whether it was a good idea to solve or not. Especially regarding wherever they had spent the past year and a half.

Aizawa stared at his computer, unsure of what to make of the words beaming back at him.

At the time, he didn't know anything about or even what to think about the paper Tsukauchi had miraculously been handed by an officer, the one that made the two boys cave in and drop their weapons.

The Gloved Man is formally inviting D.P. and V.R. to annihilate a newfound pest circulating the area. A group of rats with fur tinged blue and misty have been found hiding under the citizens of this country's noses. Listen to the sound of their paws carefully, for they sneak past you if you aren't careful enough.

He wasn’t sure what most of it meant, but he could figure out the ‘Gloved Man’ was addressing the Demon Prodigy, D.P., and the Verde Reaper, V.R., pretty easily.

He was uneasy about the wording, especially the way ‘annihilate’ sounded. What did that entail? Murder, or capture? Neither of them sounded promising, but Aizawa hoped it would be the latter for everyone’s sake, including his own sanity.

He had been too busy to really think about what had happened at the hospital, his mind was constantly racing about what to do and how to get Dazai to stop pointing a gun at him.

But now, with his mind mostly settled and his body relaxed in bed, his thoughts wondered back to how Midoriya hadn’t even thought twice before firing at him, even if they were just warning shots.

Nor did he seem bothered by breaking a man’s finger or smashing someone into a wall. Though he had seemed remorseful while crying, it had been faux and a rouse for Dazai to slip in and take the weapon of said someone.

Tsukauchi had emailed him, letting Aizawa know that the piece of paper was from Hori, not the 'Gloved Man'. Apparently, the criminal had decided to help out the heroes one last time before going on trial in hopes of lightening his sentence. Tsukauchi attached a photo of the paper in his email, expressing his worries about it.

At the top of the paper, it read:

‘Dear detective, or whomever is reading this. I spent enough time watching Midoriya and his partner in crime to know that the two of them will not be complying with you just because you ask nicely. Or even if you don’t ask at all. So, I advise you to read the following message to the kiddos if you find yourselves in a sticky situation.’

Aizawa supposed that was why Tsukauchi didn't hesitate to read out the message.

At the bottom of the page, it said: ‘They'll ask who signed off. If you don’t reply how they want, you’re screwed. Say there are three straight lines at the bottom of the paper, and the boys will follow your every order. You're welcome, by the way. Yours truly, Kage Hori.’

The villain had given them the only solution to Dazai and Midoriya's defiance and aggression, but honestly, the entire thing seemed like a threat.

Tsukauchi said that the paper had been given to Nezu for him to analyse personally, since the animal had asked it so. The Chief of Police had apparently been more than happy to lend the responsibility of his men over to Nezu for whatever reason.

Still, Aizawa couldn’t help but feel like something was missing. He felt like Hori had failed to mention something specific, perhaps what to do after getting the boys to comply? How to get them to warm up to their new lives? The criminal definitely knew a lot more than he let on.

Clearly, Hori liked to give just the required amount, no more no less. He liked to leave people wanting for more information. Just like a broker.

With a long sigh, Aizawa shut his computer and put it on his bedside.

Tomorrow, Dazai and Midoriya would be shown around main parts of the school by some other teacher, which meant Aizawa was going to have to explain to his other students the situation with their friend and his partner.

Chapter Text

Aizawa woke feeling refreshed, more so than he had in the past couple of days.

Having Midoriya back was no short of a blessing and helped his mind relax at night, but Aizawa knew it also meant that he was going to have to get on the kid's good side once again. He caught onto the suspicious glances the boy threw at him at almost every word he said.

His friend on the other hand was much more subtle with his hate, if he had any disdain at all. It was impossible to tell what was going through his head, which was something Aizawa was usually good at finding in people's expressions.

The man also knew that Dazai’s chuckles and arrogant smirks were as faux as they were off-putting, which Aizawa had a sneaking suspicion that was exactly the point.

Aizawa walked out of his room about an hour before he was expected to be at school, into the common area.

He wasn’t sure how to feel when he found almost all of his students in the common area, mostly in their pyjamas. He was exhausted enough seeing them a few classes a day, he really wasn't prepared to see them almost all day every day, including days off and weekends from now on.

"Holy crap, I forgot Aizawa Sensei lives here too now. Dude, that's terrifying." he heard someone whisper. He threw a glance their way, and Mineta immediately hid behind Shoji's leg with his eyes wide.

"I wouldn't," Aizawa said, choosing to ignore Mineta's comment. He walked over to Uraraka, Sero, and Kaminari, who were standing outside of Midoriya's room. They startled, too deep in conversation to have realised their teacher was right there.

"I—uh, wouldn't what, Sensei?" Uraraka placed her hands on her cheeks in an attempt to hide her embarrassment. A red hue formed over her face and down her neck, giving away her emotion. 

"Try and sneak a first glance at Midoriya and his friend," Aizawa answered. "I doubt they would appreciate being treated like zoo animals." The three of them had planted themselves right outside of the bedrooms of their new peers, waiting for one of them to come out.

Last night Aizawa had to shoo about a third of his class from the common area, who had been hiding in the dark. They were too busy being excited to meet Midoriya and Dazai to see them walking up to the building, so no one had seen them yet.

The disappointed looks and pleads they gave him weren’t enough to crack his resolve. He had to threaten to give Hagakure detention for two weeks if she disobeyed, and when she visibly deflated, he knew it was a good call.

As much as he liked his students for their stubbornness, he knew they would overwhelm they boys too much considering their entire worlds had just shifted, even if they hadn't realised it yet.

Kaminari now sputtered at his accusation, "What?! Sensei, we aren't treating them like zoo animals!" he defended, looking like he actually did something terribly wrong. 

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, not feeling guilty about it in the slightest. "Then what do you call lining up to get a glance at someone, Kaminari?"

"Curiosity!"

"Killed the cat. Don't stick your nose in places it doesn't belong, kid. They're already antsy about being here." The man gave all three of them the same look. They looked ashamed, but none of them looked like they regretted it in the slightest.

Aizawa huffed and walked away, making his way to the dining area.

Inside his room he had a kitchenette that met most of his needs, so he wouldn't be joining his students at any point of the day to eat with them. He couldn't be more grateful for that, since he had initially been dreading having to sit down and eat with his students daily. 

Iida walked up to him with a bright smile, "Good morning, Sensei! I admit, it feels a little strange to see you so early in the day."

The feeling was mutual, but the man couldn't bring himself to say so. He didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings for no reason so early (heavy on 'no reason'. He would gladly make fun of someone right then and there if it was necessary).

"Morning, Iida." was all he said in reply, too unfamiliar with the circumstances to do anything else.

"Sensei, will Midoriya and his friend be joining us in class today?" Todoroki asked. The boy was already in uniform, which really wasn't all that surprising. In fact, he had expected to see Iida in his uniform already as well, but he was still in his pyjamas and night cap.

Aizawa nodded his head, leaning back on one of the dining tables. "They'll be given a tour of the main parts of campus, and then they'll be joining us. I have you kids for the entire day to help them settle down after lunch, and first period will be a study period since I'll be introducing them to their teachers."

Yaoyorozu, who was also already in her uniform, stepped forward with a pale look. "Sensei, are they okay with… joining us? You said they were a part of an underground organisation, I can’t imagine they want to spend their time with us in a hero course." She fiddled with her hands, nervousness radiating off her.

A few murmurs of agreement went around the area, and Aizawa gave her a slight smile. "I appreciate your compassion, Yaoyorozu. But I really can't tell you the answer to that." The man was lying through his teeth.

He knew damn well the boys were only here because they believed they had been instructed to by someone from where they were from. "All I know is that they've agreed to live with you all and go to school like normal kids." He glanced away.

Bakugo clicked his tongue at him, looking calmer than he had been in a while. His entire self had been going through ups and downs, and his moods changed faster than they ever had. Which was saying something. "You say that like they aren't normal. Just what kind of underground group was Deku thrown into?" he questioned, narrowing his eyes.

God, question of the fucking year. Aizawa had no idea what 'underground group' entailed, but he knew it wasn't anything good considering how it turned his student, who was brought to tears by stepping on a beetle a week ago, into a merciless combat weapon who would pull the trigger without a second thought.

"We don't know, Bakugo." Aizawa reminded him, suddenly feeling like he didn't get much sleep after all. "But as I said, Midoriya is no longer Midoriya. Kenshiro Tadashi is an entirely different person. The only thing that remains of Izuku Midoriya is his DNA." Saying it out loud made it all feel so much worse. It was true, after all.

Not even the kid's face was the same; it was sunken and had bruise-like eyebags.

Jiro's grip on her cup of water tightened to the point her fingers were white. "Surely there's some part of him left, right? It's Midoriya, the guy is the most stubborn person I know!" she insisted, her voice wobbly and tight.

Yaoyorozu rubbed her back soothingly as she spoke, trying to calm her down even with a worried look of her own.

"Tadashi is his own person. I’m not sure what he believes his past is like, or if he even remembers having one at all." Eraserhead saw multiple students nod their head in understanding, but he seriously doubted any of them were really going to be able to process the fact Midoriya was completely amnesic until they met Tadashi.

It was the same for him, after all.

He didn't know what he had been expecting, but it definitely wasn't glass digging into his neck five minutes into seeing him awake again. The boys had left marks; Dazai left a wound that wasn't fully healed yet, and Midoriya gave him a nasty bruise that Recovery Girl had been able to fix for him.

Aizawa now had a bandage over the mark Dazai had left him to avoid any irritation, and he avoided any questions his students gave him about it.

"Are we meeting them this morning, then?" Sato questioned, wincing at his own words. He must have found it strange to refer to Midoriya like he had never met him, as well as the whole concept of their new classmate.

Aizawa himself only now had a better idea on Midoriya's new persona because the whole hospital shebang had really put reality into perspective on the fact Midoriya wasn't exactly there anymore.

Then again, a night when a vulnerable boy thinks he's kidnapped and a day the same kid attends school are two completely different things. He might act completely different, for all he knew. There were so many questions Aizawa felt almost guilty for not having to answer to.

"It's up to them whether they want to meet you now, during lunch, or after lunch." He answered Sato, who looked a little upset at the vague answer. He wasn't the only one dejected.

As soon as Aizawa finished his sentence, he had three people yell at him to go over and ask Tadashi and Dazai what they wanted to do.

He clicked his tongue, "They might not even be awake right now. They arrived late at night and were tired, they need their rest. I'll check on them in ten minutes and make sure they're up, and if they are I'll ask them what they want to do." He wasn't looking forward to it.

The door closest to the entrance loudly slammed open the next second, startling everyone. "There's no need for that, Sensei!" Dazai strolled out of the room lazily, closing the door behind him. He was still in his Pyjamas, and Aizawa's heart dropped at the sight. 

It was just as he had feared; the kid had more bandages around his legs and possibly in other areas that were still concealed. "Morning, Dazai." He didn't know what else to say. What could he say? "Did you rest well?" probably something better than that. 

"I sure did," Dazai's grin widened when he saw the way everyone was staring at him, taking in his form with wide eyes. He made a show of stretching as if he had just woken up. "You must be my new classmates! So honoured to meet you all." His one eye gleamed under the light as it moved rapidly, analysing each student in front of him in record time. 

Aizawa could see the hidden intelligence behind the dull drown, which could either be a very good thing, or a terribly bad thing.

If Aizawa could see his potential, Nezu would definitely be able to. He wondered if when the two of them met, if they were going to be partners or arch enemies. He wasn't sure which was worse.

Iida stepped forward and bowed at the waist, extending a hand out to Dazai when he straightened. "Welcome to class 1-A, Dazai! As class president, it's my duty to make sure you feel at home. I'm sure you'll fit right in, though."

Yeesh, even a toddler could tell Iida was just saying words of encouragement. He sounded more confused than anything.

Dazai stared at the hand being offered to him for a moment with a straight face. He then pushed it away gently with his index finger, a dark look in his eye but a polite smile on his face. A child had no right to be able to pull such an expression. "Uh huh, thanks a lot, class Prez. I just wanted to grab my uniform, and I figured I'd let you all boggle as I do." his eye snapped to Aizawa. "Also, Shida's uniform is too loose for him."

Iida retracted his hand with an offput smile and awkwardly glanced at Aizawa, who shrugged at him.

He turned his attention to Dazai, who had yet to cease staring at him. "We can get Tadashi's uniform refit this afternoon. Be respectful to your classmates, Dazai. I won't remind you again. Iida went out of his way to greet and welcome you, and you blew him off."

Dazai rolled his eye, "Puh-lease. Shida's the one you'll have to worry about when it comes to disrespect. Trust me, you'll be copping it if he doesn't like you. I, on the other hand, am the politest person you'll ever meet."

"Go get your uniform, kid. Make sure it fits."

"Jeez, I'm getting the sense you don't like me very much, Aizawa Sensei."

When the man raised a brow at him in reply, unamused, Dazai threw his hands up dramatically and slammed open the door to the room adjacent to the one he had slept in. As soon as the door closed, shouts raised from every corner of the room. 

"Who the hell is Shida—"

"Is he injured?"

"—his uniform from a different room to the one he came out—"

"That was the funniest thing, holy shit—"

"—was just trying to be nice, but he—"

Aizawa inhaled deeply before yelling at them all to be quiet, erasure blaring. He had a feeling it wouldn't be the last time today. "It seems each and every one of you has forgotten what situation Dazai and Midoriya are in. He isn't from here, or anywhere technically."

Multiple students shrunk at that, but a few remained glaring at the door Dazai had disappeared behind. "You're all so quick to judge over a few words and a rejected handshake, pull yourselves together! That's your classmate, for god's sake. Don't treat him any differently than you would treat your friend."

From there, everyone apart from Bakugo and Ojiro, looked ashamed. The two blondes, however, remained offended.

"Sensei, how can we just sit by and let him treat Iida like that without any shame?" Ojiro questioned, stepping forward with a determined look on his face.

Aizawa didn't answer, waiting for Bakugo to say his piece. "That fucker is cocky already. He needs to be set down a few pegs, and I volunteer!" Bakugo screamed, slamming a closed fist into an open palm. How did he have the energy to beat people up so early in the morning?

"Put yourself in Midoriya and Dazai's shoes. Could you imagine being plucked from UA and forced into Shiketsu, where their teaching styles are completely different from here at UA? It would be a big change for you, having to adjust to their school layout and different classmates, etcetera. Now replace Shiketsu with an entirely different world."

Dazai slammed the door to the room he was in before anyone could argue, whistling a tune Aizawa had never heard before. He had his uniform in his hand, which was swinging by his side. He turned around and faced everyone, blinked (winked?) one time, then continued on his way into the room he had been in earlier.

Midoriya's croaky voice was heard from the door as soon as it was opened. "You're back already, Dazai? That was fast."

Aizawa saw his students tear up at finally hearing their friend's voice again, even if Dazai was blocking their view of seeing him, who snorted loudly. "Why Shida, you sound disappointed—" 

The door closed once again.

Todoroki's shoulders slumped, the tension leaving his body. He was no longer anxious looking, but rather confused. "They slept in the same room. Is that allowed, Sensei?" he questioned, simply curious.

Aizawa was so exhausted already. "You want me to deny them sleeping in the same room when Dazai is a part of Midoriya's being? I'm pretty sure I told you kids Dazai was the closet to Midoriya." At the shocked stares he received, he realised he hadn't gone into detail about Kage Hori's quirk. "The way the villains quirk worked, was that the victim of it returned back to this world with everything that was a part of them."

Bakugo sputtered, "What the hell does that mean? Stop beating around the bush!" he demanded, scowling. 

The man held a hand up, signalling to the boy that he needed to cool down before speaking again. "Midoriya returned with Dazai because he relies on him so much to the point he wouldn't be whole without him." It was a vague explanation, but it was the best one Aizawa could come up with so that his students could understand better. 

Iida nodded to himself, deep in thought. "So... they're co-dependent on each other?" he asked as he looked at his teacher for confirmation, who nodded curtly. "I see. That explains a lot."

"But, Sensei," Asui called out, her brows dipped in concern. "Isn't that super unhealthy? For both of them?" 

Aizawa's expression darkened. "That's right. I believe they'll be working on their relationship in therapy as well." Co-dependency was often as dangerous as it was exhausting for both parties experiencing it, which was why UA needed to help them break that toxicity to turn their friendship, or whatever their relation was, into something healthy. 

"Therapy? As well?" Ojiro questioned, his tail twitching at his side. "Is... is what they went through that serious, Sensei?" He pushed his tail down, scowling at it like it had a conscience and twitched by choice. 

"Anyone can go to therapy for any reason, even the small ones. In fact, I believe everyone here is due for at least one session with Hound Dog. But it's a choice for you lot. For Midoriya, or Tadashi, and Dazai it's mandatory. You can't experience what they're going through without having internal issues about it." Aizawa new there was more to it than just being thrown into a hero school as members of an underground group, since they were covered in bandages and whatnot, but he kept that to himself.

Tadashi closed the door behind Dazai, watching him as he threw his uniform onto the bed. Neither of them had slept at all last night, which wasn't surprising. He doubted either of them were going to get more than a few hours while staying at this boarding school. Not that he minded, they didn't ever get much more rest than that anyway.

"Did you meet them?" he asked.

Dazai nodded, rolling his neck around until it popped. "They're just as you expected them to be, Shida. You should have seen their faces when I denied their class Prez a handshake." he snickered, taking off his shirt.

Tadashi crossed his arms in disapproval, "Are you serious, Dazai? You stirred them up already? We're supposed to be getting along with them, dumbass." he scolded, barely blinking at the bandages around Dazai's stomach that were now showing.

The brunette rolled his eyes, making a mocking sound. "So serious, veggie. Judging by the look on Eraserhead's face, I have no doubt they'll open their stupid little hero hearts to us under his guidance." He put his button up on, which fit perfectly. It was unfair how everything in the room next door fit Dazai, while nothing in the room they were in fit Tadashi.

"Just go put your uniform on, emo." Kenshiro said lamely, frowning a little. He had to roll his sleeves up, since they were too baggy for his liking.

He usually rolled his sleeves up anyway, but he didn't like the fact he was forced to because the stupid school couldn't predict how big his body was.

Even though they seemed to know Dazai's just fine. God, it was so unfair.

Dazai laughed in his face, collecting the rest of his clothing for the day. "Okay, dork."

Tadashi was tempted to slap him in the face, but just clenched his hands at his side instead. He couldn't help the fact his partner had a really punchable face at times, which was almost all day every day. "I don't look like a dork in uniform." he retorted, speaking through clenched teeth.

Dazai just chuckled again, walking into the bathroom to change completely.

Tadashi took the opportunity to go over the profiles of everyone they had information on one last time while waiting, just to make sure they hadn't missed any details or anything. He doubted it—both of them had spent all night going over them and discussing them vaguely.

It wasn't like one more night of no sleep was going to affect either of their eyebags, anyhow.

For Tadashi, about four hours of restless slumber a night was his regular dose of rest. Five on a good day without any violent nightmares, which was still almost half the amount he was supposed to be getting at his age.

Dazai could go for two days without any sleep, but when he did drift off he could sleep almost twenty-four hours. Though he only ever slept lightly—even the slightest bit of noise or movement would rouse him awake. Not to mention he struggled to even fall asleep in the first place.

When said boy got out of the bathroom again in full uniform, including his shoes and his tie (which he had somehow made into a bow around his neck). He sat on the desk and watched as Tadashi flipped through the pages. "They all looked pretty much the same in real life, if not goofier. Even the bird."

"You mean Tokoyami? Did you see his 'quirk'?"

Even though last night they had discovered that these people called their abilities quirks, they weren't too sure if the two things were different altogether or if quirk really was just another word for ability.

If Tadashi had a device, he would be able to see heroes in action and analyse their powers, but both he and Dazai had left their phones behind, since the latter had given his to Hirotsu and the former had left his in Mori's office before they left for the slums.

"Yeah," Dazai replied, sounding a little confuzzled. "It was freaky as hell to see a shadow with a face looming over his shoulder mysteriously. Oh wait, is it even a him? Or do I call it something else because it's a bird?"

Kenshiro sighed, "It is a heteromorph. He’s human but with a physical mutation. I have the feeling we’re going to be seeing a lot of that. One of the teachers is a literal block of cement, and I also saw a tree on our way to the station."

Dazai clicked his tongue, "Yeah, you've only said that a million times."

"Close your mouth if there isn't anything useful coming out of it."

The brunette huffed a laugh, "Well, if you must know," Oh boy, here we go. "We also have this cute classmate. She's an alien, but man, she's adorable."

Tadashi shot him a look of mock disgust, "You think all girls are cute. Also, Ashido isn't an alien. Her acid makes her skin pink and the whites of her eyes black. If you were to touch her, she would look like a normal kid."

"But No Longer Human wouldn't affect her pink hair and horns?" Dazai questioned, a little surprised at his partner's knowledge, who was also surprised.

The freckled mafioso had no idea how he knew any of this, but he was confident he was correct. "That's right," he answered. "We went through everyone's information last night, stupid emo. Weren't you paying attention?"

Dazai just grinned at him. 

"..."

"....."

"Are you serious."

"Very!"

Tadashi groaned, standing up from the desk chair. "How the hell did you not memorise everyone? You got a head start!" 

Dazai scoffed in offence, "I got a little lost in thought, okay? You're so bossy, Shida."

"Idiot." The green haired boy shoved the stack of paper in his partner's hand. "Well, you can restart."

Dazai groaned loudly and shoved the paper back into Tadashi's hand, complaining about how cruel Shida was.

The brunette picked up Tadashi's tie and held it out, silently suggesting that he could just do Tadashi's tie for him as an apology rather than doing all that.

Kenshiro frowned, taking offence despite knowing how much he struggled with his ties.

It wasn't like he couldn't do them or anything, it just took him embarrassingly long to make it sit right and look normal. His fingers just didn't cooperate, alright? It wasn't his fault.

Sighing deeply, Tadashi let Dazai do his tie up. He threatened to strangle him if he even tried to put him in a bow like Dazai had done to himself, which earned him a chuckle. Dazai estimated another twenty minutes before they would have to leave for school by the time he was done with Tadashi's red tie.

He claimed he wanted to get one last peak at circus crew number two before leaving. Tadashi offered to go with him, but was turned down.

"I have a feeling it will pay off if we wait." he said, shrugging.

His partner raised his eyebrow, "And why's that, sloth?" 

Dazai shrugged once again. "Dunno. Just trust me, Shida!" He gave the glaring green-eyed boy a firm pat on the shoulder. "Be a good boy and stay here, hm?"

"I hate you," Tadashi slapped him on the arm as hard as he could, earning him a yelp from Dazai and the teen running out of the room while rubbing where Tadashi had hit.

Everyone that had been in the common area the last time Dazai came out was still there. Their heads snapped the moment he opened the door, and he froze for a moment.

The first time he went out, he had been eavesdropping for a few seconds just so that he knew what they were talking about. This time he hadn't thought to do so, and so he had no idea what he just walked into. 

Aizawa was sitting on one of the couches with a coffee mug in his hand and his laptop on his lap, while almost everyone else was in the dining area eating breakfast. Dazai could smell a variety of foods, but the sweetness of waffles hit him the hardest. He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"Dazai?" Aizawa questioned, looking up at him. 

"Sensei, how long until we leave?"

"About half an hour."

Dazai inwardly groaned. He wanted to get the hell out of the building already. He hated being in new spaces, especially when they were enclosed. He'd rather lay with the bugs and beetles outside. 

The man looked him up and down. "Is everything alright, Dazai? What's the matter." He didn't seem impressed by his student in the slightest, which probably would have offended anyone else.

The boy grinned at his teacher, crossing one leg in front of the other and moving his hands behind his back. "You see, Sensei." he drawled, enjoying the look of suspension on their audience's faces. "Shida is just dying to get out, and he wants to leave. Like, right now."

There was a bang from inside the room behind him, which was Shida calling him out for blaming him. Dazai's lips continued to stretch as he realised Tadashi was eavesdropping. 

Aizawa pretended he hadn't heard anything. "Tadashi can wait like everyone else to go." he said in his usual monotone.

"But poor Shida wants to go right now."

The man ignored Dazai, taking a sip of his coffee.

The mafioso's hand twitched. He was used to be yelled at, pleaded at, and thrown around. He wasn't used to be ignored, especially by adults.

A boy with bright red hair stepped forward, his sharp teeth showing through his smile. Dazai distantly recognised him to be the kid with a hardening ability. "Is Mi-Tadashi pumped to get started or what?" he chuckled, looking like he was just as nervous as he was eager to talk to his new housemate.

The brunette usually had that effect on people, he found it amusing. "You could say so," he replied.

In reality, it was hard for Dazai to tell how Tadashi was feeling. He seemed better after having Dazai dry his hair, but you never know with him. He was good at hiding how he felt, just like Dazai. They were programmed to have a mask on at all times.

The redhead—Kirishima, his brain finally supplied, looked amazed at the fact Dazai had even acknowledged him.

So, he kept going. "Do forgive me if I’m not what you expected. I’m afraid I’m not used to this whole student and classmate thing." He was supposed to be getting along with these teenagers, after all.

The not-alien girl Dazai and his partner had been talking about earlier stepped forward. "Did you not go to school, Dazai?" Ashido asked, looking like she'd just discovered something revolutionary. 

"I was home schooled."

The lie came easily to his tongue. In truth, the bandaged boy had been halfway through middle school when he dropped out. Or really, when he first met Mori. He wasn’t sure whether or not Shida went to middle school. He hated talking about his past.

Shida had told Dazai he remembered snippets of his life before he met Mori, but nothing good. He said he longed for something so incredibly bad, but he couldn’t remember what he was missing so much, and it made him miserable to wonder about.

A dude that was as tall as the Eiffel tower spoke to him from the kitchen, "Are you guys hungry? There's plenty of food left if you want any." he offered.

Dazai shook his head, which earned him a suspicious glare from Aizawa. 

"You both need to eat. You have a big day ahead of you." he reprimanded.

The boy just shrugged, as if to say what do you want me to do about it? 

Aizawa just sighed and closed his laptop, standing up from the couch. "I can already tell how much of a pain you boys are going to be."

Dazai looked pointedly at the man’s bandaged neck and Aizawa replied by raising an eyebrow, daring him to say something.

Dazai quickly realised the students surrounding him had no idea what had gone down at the hospital. He grinned knowingly at Aizawa, who just shook his head and knocked on the door behind him.

"Tadashi?" he called out. The door opened immediately. "We're going to head out now." he said.

Tadashi stared at the teacher with his tired eyes. "Dazai's lying. I can wait the half an hour, Eraserhead." he said plainly, clearly over everything going on. 

Aizawa shook his head, "First of all, you call me Aizawa Sensei here. Second of all, I don't want you to feel out of place, Tadashi. I want you to feel free to come out whenever you feel like it." He cocked his head back, gesturing to the area behind him as doing so would somehow convince Shida to leave the room. 

Tadashi waved him off and Dazai moved forward, just to make sure no one else in the area saw him. From the corner of his eye, he could see multiple tearing up. This place was full of cuckoos as well as clowns, it seemed.

The moment the brunette moved in range of Shida, he opened his mouth to explain. "Okay, so perhaps I lied and put Shida in the spotlight. And perchance I'm the one who wants to leave."

The only reason he was confessing was, surprisingly not out of the mountain of good nature in his heart, but because Shida was pinching his hand in silent warning behind his back and out of sight. Which didn't hurt at all, obviously.

"I don't want you to feel out of place either, kid." Aizawa said, turning his attention back to Dazai. He looked like he was concerned, for whatever reason. 

"Aww, are you worried about lil ol' me?" Dazai teased, laughing. 

Shida grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him into the room before the man could reply. "Shut up and get in here." he said, closing the door with his free hand. Shida crossed his arms over his chest, questioning what the hell Dazai was doing, who hummed cheerfully.

"Didn't you see the looks on our classmate's faces, Shida! I can't help wanting to tease." he joked, nudging his unresolving partner with his elbow.

Tadashi just clicked his tongue and walked away, over to the closet. "You're such a shit stirrer. I thought you didn't want anyone to see me, why would you tell Eraserhead that I wanted to leave."

Because it's funny. Dazai watched Shida moved around the small space in the wall frantically, like he was searching for some ancient treasure. Eventually, the freckled by gave up and stormed back to Dazai, who hadn't moved from his spot. 

He grinned and leaned forward on the balls of his feet, "I can't help it. It's in my nature." The bandaged mafioso settled on saying. He found the unimpressed stare he received hilarious. He chuckled as he reached forward to poke a freckled cheek despite knowing he would get swatted for it.

Dazai glanced down and realised with a pause that Shida didn't have shoes on. "Do they not have shoes here?" he asked, pointing at the black socks on Tadashi's feet. 

Tadashi groaned like he had just finished two stacks of paperwork. "The only shoes in there are the ugliest things I've ever laid my eyes on." he bit out, looking at the plain wall beside him. 

Dazai raised his hidden eyebrow. He found it incredibly hard to believe a pair of sneakers could be uglier than Mori, but his interest was piqued. He bounced over to the closet to investigate what Tadashi was talking about.

He found the shoes easily, considering they were an obnoxious bright red. Luckily, they had black laces to ease the eye sore, but it was still pretty daunting.

Neither Dazai nor Shida would ever voluntarily wear such monstrosities.

"Yeesh," The brunette said. "You should ask Aizawa Sensei for your shoes back. I wonder if they're at the station or still in the hospital."

Shida was lost in his own train of thought. "I wonder if I can get away with going without shoes for the day." he pondered out loud, his eyes distant. 

Dazai looked away. "They may have sharp things on the ground though. We wouldn’t want your precious feet to get sliced, would we?" In truth, he wanted to see if the veggie could look even dorkier with bright red shoes to match his tie.

Said vegetable caught onto this and glared, which Dazai could feel on the back of his head. "Stop being a pest." he spat, sounding angry.

Dazai knew better than to fall for it. The only time the demon prodigy had truly seen his partner furious, the former got his face punched in. Honestly, the sight had been too stunning for him to care his nose was broken and blood was flowing out of it.

Seeing Kenshiro’s green eyes alight with pure fury for the first, and only time since, was something that had left Dazai hazy for a few days.

Tadashi had looked like an entirely different person.

Mori hadn't even punished either of them. In fact, he congratulated Shida. They still didn't know what he had applauded the mafioso for.

Tadashi now scrubbed a hand across his tired face.

Dazai felt a twinge of guilt, since he was the second biggest contributor as to why his partner was always so exhausted. But it was part of his charm, he couldn’t help the need to annoy people. It meant they didn’t want to be around him, which was exactly what he wanted for most people.

Except for Shida.

He liked having his green guard dog on his right side all the time.

Chapter Text

Tadashi ended up giving in and putting on the stupid shoes he had found in the closet, which was the only goddamn thing that fit him. His partner had a good laugh when he'd finished putting them on, and Tadashi had just stood there with his arms crossed and a flat stare.

There was an insistent knock on the door about twenty minutes later. Tadashi grumbled quietly as he opened it, and found Aizawa on the other side.

The man nodded in greeting at him, "Tadashi. There's ten minutes until the second bell, so I'll take you boys up now. Everyone else left a few minutes ago." he said, already walking away.

The green-eyed boy ushered Dazai out the door, and they left the dorm building with eight minutes left until first period. 

On their walk up to the main building, Tadashi observed their surroundings and noted every detail they had missed in the dark while Dazai bombarded Aizawa with questions. The teacher answered each of them calmy, not caring for how insistent the mafioso was being with his investigating.

According to Aizawa, they were going to spend first period getting to know their teachers in the staff room (Tadashi had his own question regarding that, but decided to keep his mouth shut for the time being), and then they would be getting a tour of every part of the school they would need to know.

Which included the main building, gymnasiums, and training grounds. 

Dazai's interest had clearly been piqued at the mention of gyms, but Aizawa shook his head and told him to ask the person who would be giving them the tour questions about it, not him. Tadashi had a sneaking suspicion Aizawa just didn't feel like wasting his breath explaining something when someone else could.

By the time they had finally made their way to the stupidly massive main building, there were only two minutes left. There were students all around them, running as fast as they could to make it to their classes on time.

Tadashi doubted many of them would succeed, especially if they were meant to be in a classroom any higher than the second floor considering they had already missed almost all of homeroom. 

"Are you staying with us?" The teen asked, looking at Aizawa. He was referring to the man staying with them all of first period, when they were supposed to be meeting with their teachers.

Aizawa nodded, "I will. From second period until lunch, I'll be doing my actual job while you and Dazai go around the school or whatever. I have class A for the rest of the day to help you two settle in properly, if you were worried about that."

Or whatever? Kenshiro wasn't impressed by Eraserhead in the slightest. The hobo seemed a little too nonchalant about his students and what they were doing for someone who was supposed to be teaching them how to be heroic. 

"The rest of the day, hm?" Dazai questioned, throwing an arm around Tadashi. He grinned at him, before turning his face back to Aizawa. "You can teach more than one subject? I thought you were a boring homeroom teacher, Sensei." Every time the brunette said the word 'sensei', it was with a level or sarcasm that Tadashi wasn't sure he could ever match.

Aizawa didn't seem to care in the slightest, and he barely gave Dazai a glance. "It's a requirement for UA teachers to be able to teach at least four subjects in case of emergency, such as multiple teachers getting sick at once and being unable to come in." he answered flatly.

Just like how becoming an executive required someone to know at least two languages, in case of a client or opponent who couldn't speak or understand Japanese.

The three of them walked through the front doors to the building, and immediately had eyes all over them. Outside, everyone was too busy running around to care about them or their strange appearance. But in here? There were students who had classes on the first floor, meaning they could watch every person walking in.

Tadashi had been right. They were going to be ostracised from the start, regardless of what the teachers thought of them. He supposed that despite how many students in the school looked like lab rats, two kids covered in bandages was just too grand of a sight to miss.

--

Aizawa warned them as they were walking up the first flight of stairs that there were about to go up nearly ten more. By then there were only two or three students out and about, since the bell for first period had long gone.

Dazai had initially stayed quiet, but by the fifth flight of stairs he'd drooped himself across Tadashi, complaining and whining as loudly as he could. "Freckles! My legs aren't built for this!"

Which was a lie. Tadashi knew better than anyone how far Dazai could walk without getting tired, which was a whole lot longer than a couple of stairs. "Deal with it, Dazai. No one wants to hear your crying." he replied in a monotone. 

Dazai pouted while putting the rest of his weight onto his partner, who grunted at the sudden increase around his shoulders. "So mean, Shida!" he whined, sniffling at the end of his sentence.

The green-eyed boy quietly scoffed, not bothering to respond verbally.

Dazai continued to yell and complain as they walked, and Aizawa stayed quiet the entire time. It was almost funny how much energy he was wasting trying to piece together the Demon Prodigy and the Verde Reaper.

The most the man said to them were instructions on whether they were to keep going up once they reached another floor or not.

"Sensei, surely we're almost there?" The brunette questioned, not looking behind him at the adult he was addressing. 

Tadashi rolled his eyes so hard it hurt a little. "Oh my god, shut up." he practically pleaded, elbowing Dazai in the stomach.

Said teenager bellowed dramatically before screaming out, "Shida's the meanest person I know, and he hates me so much even though I try my best!"

Kenshiro took a deep breath before putting a hand over Dazai's mouth. "Hush." he said simply, feeling a headache beginning to take place from all the screaming going on right beside his face.

Finally, Aizawa instructs them to step out into a hallway, where he leads them down until they're almost at the end.

Dazai spotted an elevator and questioned Aizawa about it, who shrugged with a smirk and informed them that he firmly believed "Exercise is good for you in the morning."

And Tadashi had foolishly thought he couldn't hate the man anymore.

They entered a room that had a door that looked identical to every other classroom door, but it had 'STAFF' written in bold red down the side rather than a class combination. "This is the main staff room for the hero course teachers," Aizawa informed as they walked in.

The room was full of people. There were desks upon desks upon desk lined up, it was a massive room. There were four rows of cubicles, and there were staff members scattered in them. There were two kitchens, at the top left and right corners of the room, with dirty dishes and cutlery splayd about.

"Why are there so many teachers here?" Tadashi questioned suspiciously. "Don't they have anything better to do than stare blankly at their computer screens?" He looked over at Dazai. He also had his eye narrowed, carefully observing their surroundings as best he could.

Aizawa gave them a glance before answering, "It's a study period for most their students. Ectoplasm is watching over all of them." Which was the most ridiculous thing Tadashi had ever heard. 

"Don't tell me you have an entire cohort a free period just for us," Dazai was struggling to believe it as well. C'mon, can you blame them? Some random man was so obviously doing the absolute most for nothing in return.

"I won't, then. And just for the record, there are only two classes in the hero course; A and B." Aizawa beckoned someone over with his left hand as he spoke. "1 A and B, 2-B, and 3 A and B all have a free studying period first up so that you two have a chance to meet your teachers for the rest of your time here."

Tadashi came to the undeniable conclusion that Eraserhead was a major pushover.

"Oh my, look who it is!" A cheerful voice called out.

Midnight came bouncing over, a bright beam on her face. She looked like she wanted to give them a big squeeze in greeting, but knew better than to do that. The freckled mafioso found her amusing. "Heyya, boys! How have you been, hm? Settling in nicely?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

Tadashi still wasn't sure if it was legal for her to be outside in an outfit like that. She literally had some pretty suggestive cuffs around her wrists, after all. "Define nicely," he said, not letting any of his thoughts show on his face.

Dazai snorted loudly, slapping a hand over his mouth and giving his partner his signature cheeky look. Oh, boy. "Didn't you have a bubble bath last night, freckles?" he teased, snorting again. 

Kenshiro slapped his arm, earning a yelp. "Shuddup, Dazai. That doesn't have anything to do with what I just said." he scolded, tempted to hit Dazai one last time just to make sure the stupid bandaged teenager didn't say anything embarrassing like that again.

Midnight cooed at him, which, gross. "Aww, I'm sure you two will do fine here." she said encouragingly, clapping her hands together.

Tadashi seriously doubted that, they were already the centre of attention. Literally every staff member had their eyes glued on them, which definitely wasn’t off putting in the slightest or anything.

They were half-glaring at Dazai and giving Tadashi amazed stares, which frankly, just wasn’t something the freckled mafioso was going to stand for for very long. If they were going to hate Dazai, they were going to have to hate him as well.

They were a two in one deal, after all.

"Go sit down over there," Aizawa instructed, breaking the freckled teen's train of thought. "There's a lounge area on the far right wall. I'll be with you in a second."

"Why, I thought you'd never ask, Sensei!" Tadashi knew Dazai was being sarcastic every time he addressed their teacher as 'sensei', but it still bugged him that they had to act like they actually respected the man enough to call him that.

They walked over to the lounge area and Tadashi took a seat in the middle of a sofa, and Dazai plopped down next to him. He swerved around on the cushion until his back was to his partner and laid down the rest of the way. His feet hung over the edge of the couch and his head rested in Tadashi’s lap, who acted like he hadn't noticed what Dazai was doing.

Such a position usually meant that they were on high alert. Dazai closed his eye and pretended to be asleep while using the loss of his sight to enhance his hearing sense, while Tadashi blocked out any noise and observed their surroundings as carefully as he could.

They kept it for when they were surrounded by people they didn’t trust, and it was also only ever carried out while preforming ‘over-exaggerate’.

They looked like they were cuddling up and relaxed, but it was the opposite.

While the brunette could see perfectly fine, he couldn't analyse their surroundings as much as Tadashi could without whipping his head around due one of his eyes being covered. And while Tadashi was perfectly capable of multitasking, it made his load lighter when he knew his partner was doing the listening for him.

There were people that neither of them had seen in the profiles they'd been given, who must have been the teachers of other grades. Eraserhead wondered off to somewhere else in the room, out of sight.

For some reason, it made Tadashi restless.

Tadashi looked around for anyone that looked like potential allies, or like potential threats. A gorilla-sized man was glaring at them from the corner of his eye, who Tadashi recognised as Vlad King.

There had been a note at the bottom of the man's picture, which had said that he was not ever going to be their teacher, but that class 1-A and class 1-B often trained together, so the boys needed to recognise his face.

He was definitely going to be a pain in the ass, Tadashi could already tell.

Once Eraserhead returned, he wasn't alone. All Might and Present Mic were flanking him, both men looking nervous. It was a ridiculous sight to see, especially since All Might towered over them, even if he was a stick. 

Tadashi subtly tapped Dazai's shoulder as soon as he spotted the adults to let him know they had incoming company, who quietly sniffed in acknowledgement.

All Might was the first to speak up, "Good morning, Young Tadashi!" he said, his booming voice a stark contrast to his facial expression. "Ah, is young Dazai asleep? Was he not able to get much rest last night?" The man kept his blue eyes trained on Dazai, his nervousness all but disappearing to be replaced with concern. 

When Dazai continued to pretend he was sleeping, Tadashi realised the lazy fucker had decided to leave his partner to the wolves. Tadashi wasn't going to deal with these concerned people alone. 

He shoved Dazai off of his lap. Not hard enough that he was sent flying off of the couch, but hard enough that he landed on the floor with a soft thunk. 

Tadashi grinned down at him as he answered All Might, who had his mouth wide open. "He's awake." he declared, grinning wider as Dazai slowly sat up with his legs out straight like some sort of cartoon zombie.

"He lives!" he shouted stupidly, earning a muffled chortle from Mic. Aizawa slapped the man for endorsing him, and the blonde looked away with a smirk.

The brunette rose from the floor and plopped down onto the couch next to Tadashi. "All Might, right? Morning, sir!" Dazai’s faux chirpiness was something his partner had yet to accomplish, so Tadashi stayed quiet. All Might beamed at the way Dazai greeted him, his vibrant blue eyes twinkling.

Present Mic moved forward as well, smiling brightly. "Goooood morning, listeners!" he sung, way too energetic for so early in the day. Especially towards the kids who shoved glass into his coworker's neck. "I'm sure our good friend Aizawa Sensei over here has already let you know, but I'm Present Mic! You can call me either Mic Sensei or Yamada Sensei; it doesn't matter to me."

"Look what the cat brought in," Tadashi said in English unenthusiastically, scanning the man up and down with an unimpressed stare.

The one-eyed teen nodded in agreement, "I know, right?" he questioned, also in English.

Mic kept a straight face, but the executives both knew he was just as surprised as All Might and Aizawa, who had their eyebrows disappearing into their hairline at the fact they knew another language. It wasn't that surprising, was it? Surely not surprising enough to warrant such a reaction.

"He looks like he paid a kid to style it like that." The greenette said with complete seriousness, purposely ignoring the shocked expressions on the adults in front of him.

Dazai chuckled, initiating eye contact between him and Tadashi. "His hair? Jeez, I know. I've seen poodles with better hairdos." he said. Tadashi laughed into his palm, and Dazai glanced back over to the heroes. 

"Have I not mentioned that I'm going to be your English teacher?" Mic asked, sounding a lot more amused than he should have been.

All Might chimed in, "I should add that I'm also fluent in English, boys." he said, like that would stop them from insulting him in the language as well. At least the old man had given them the reaction they had been looking for. Otherwise, it would have been a waste of breath.

All Might looked like he was shaken to his core, but Tadashi had a feeling it was more of the fact he knew another language rather than what he said with it.

Dazai ignored the frail man, choosing to only respond to Mic's words. "No, you didn't mention that." He crossed his arms over his chest, poking his chin up. He sighed before he spoke, "But, I suppose I can forgive you this once, Mic Sensei." He worded his sentence like he was actually doing Present Mic a favour.

"I'm fairly certain I'm the one that need to be doing the forgiving after what you said about my fabulous hair, little listener."

"It's so fab I wanna shave it all off and take it to a dump site so my rat friends can admire it as well." Tadashi said, keeping his monotone voice level.

Dazai snorted and Mic just rolled his eyes playfully, not even the tiniest bit offended by the comment or the fact the teenager said it in English again just to rile him up.

Once the initial shock passed, Aizawa had looked unamused by the whole thing. Tadashi had a feeling the man wasn't all too good with other languages and felt out of place at the moment.

"I'll be the one givin' you listeners a tour 'round the school! I'll make sure you're back before lunch." Mic gave the boys a flashy grin and two finger guns, and Tadashi had to stop himself from grimacing on the outside.

Eraserhead finally spoke again, "Speaking of lunch, where would you two like to eat? In here, or the cafeteria?" he asked, shoving his loud coworker out of the way so that he could see the kids he was talking to properly. "This will be the only time you're allowed to eat in the staff room," The man cut himself off.

Tadashi was sure he wanted to say more, but chose not to for whatever reason.

"Well," the freckled boy said dramatically. "We can't possibly pass up such a chance, can we?" he questioned with complete seriousness, throwing an arm around his partner, who shook his head in agreement.

"No, sirree!" Dazai said with much enthusiasm. 

"Shall we dine in here, emo?"

"Yes, sirree!"

"It is decided, then. The two of us will be filling our bellies right here in this very spot."

Aizawa squinted at them. "Okay, then. I'll bring around Ectoplasm and Cementoss, since they're also your teachers. You would've met Snipe as well, but he wasn't able to step away from his students this morning."

Right, that guy. Judging by his hero name, the man should be good at guns. Tadashi wanted to go against him and see who had the most accurate aim.

Dazai shrugged sadly, "That's his loss." he sighed.

Kenshiro nodded his head, "Couldn't agree more."

Ectoplasm was way cooler looking in person than he was on paper, unlike everyone else. Tadashi wondered what he looked like without the robot impersonation costume.

Probably freaky as hell, considering he didn’t have lips to cover his teeth.

Cementoss was… well, cement. The way he smiled in greeting was an odd sight to see, and the freckled mafioso had to stop himself from cracking up at the stupidity of all of it.

Tadashi was interested to hear a bit more detail on Cementoss’ quirk. He could create anything he wanted in a matter of seconds as long as it wasn’t too big. He had finished off creating all of the dorm buildings in just three days, which was more than impressive in Tadashi’s opinion.

Seriously, the amount of money that man could make just building mini models of buildings for construction companies around the world would be insane.

Dazai shook hands with Cementoss, and Tadashi didn't miss the way the former's fingers turned white from how tight his grip was. If the man (cement? Tadashi still wasn't sure how that kind of thing worked here) noticed Dazai was squeezing his hand and trying to break it, he didn't say anything.

Mic spoke again once the brunette relented and released the hero, "Alrighty, boys. Let me know when you're ready to roll, and we will. It's your call." He clicked his tongue and pointed those stupid finger guns again.

"Let's just go now," The greenette suggested, already standing from the couch he was on.

The man's smile turned hesitant. "You sure, listener? I'm not pressuring you into saying that or—"

Tadashi waited for Dazai to stand up as well before continuing. "I'm sick of everyone in this room staring at me like I've just been resurrected." And sick of the same people giving his partner strange looks. "I'd rather be stared at in an open hallway." he finished, taking half a step closer to Dazai, who didn't spare him a glance and continued to analyse to adults in front of them with his keen eye. 

All Might looked a little flustered at this and waved his hands around, "They're just happy to see you, my boy!" 

But not Dazai. "Why?" Was Tadashi's simple response.

"Why wouldn't they be?" The man countered, seeming genuinely confused. "You're a part of this community now, after all. Same as you, young Dazai."

Said bandaged teen nodded his head unenthusiastically, "Oh yes, I'm very honoured to be here right now." he paused. "Can we go now, Mic Sensei? I want to stretch my legs. Hanging them off the side of the couch was a lot more uncomfortable than I thought."

All Might didn’t look offended at being blown off, and just nodded.

Present Mic whooped loudly and led them out of the room.

Tadashi looked at Aizawa one last time before they stepped out the door, who was already looking at him. What a weirdo.

The tour around the school was just as boring as the greenette thought it would be. At first, Tadashi had thought they were going to spend all day touring the entire campus. Luckily, Eraserhead said they were just going to be shown around the main building and the places they would need to know the location of by foot for the rest of the school year.

Mic led them around the school building for a bit, going on and on about how brilliant UA students were, and how UA was the top hero school in the country.

Honestly, Kenshiro didn’t think it was that big of an achievement. Sure, being top in anything was somewhat impressive, but why not aim to be top in the world? Why settle for less when you could have more?

Then again, he couldn’t be talking considering he squatted in shitty abandoned buildings with Dazai all the time rather than living in the mediocre apartment Mori had assigned to him as an executive. Which was something the slimy man had done on purpose.

Seriously, if Tadashi was old enough to earn the same amount of money as adult executives, he could probably build his own goddamn apartment block.

About halfway through second period, Tadashi got super bored listening to Mic talk his ear off about random shit. He laced his hands together behind his head, and Dazai’s hand easily slid onto his bicep.

They had only seen two or three students pass by, which had been overall more disappointing than surprising. Why weren’t there kids skipping, like in movies? He wanted to see the way students hid from their teachers in real life, but they were all too prestigious and stuck up to have the balls to skip. 

That would change once Dazai and Tadashi began to attend classes, for sure.

Mic finally said something that caught the freckled boy's attention, "This is about as far as first years need to go. I won’t show you listeners any further up, we’ll start heading down now so I can show you other areas."

Dazai's interest had been piqued by some part of what the man had said, and he gave his partner's arm a squeeze. It was the only warning Tadashi got before he was being dragged over to the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Mic watched their actions silently with his hands in his pockets, observing their every move from afar.

"Check out the view, Shida." The brunette said, almost a little excitedly.

Tadashi sighed as he looked down, then raised his eyebrows a little. "Oh wow," he said with fake interest. "Look, a pathway. Holy shit, and trees? Who would've guessed they would be there."

He glanced over at Dazai and froze.

Really, he should have seen it coming with how ominous his partner was being. But he hadn’t, and his stomach dropped at the face Dazai was pulling. There were times when the boy joked about suicide, which weren’t ever actually jokes, but there were times when he didn’t even have to say anything for his feelings to be noticed. This was one of those times.

The reason he dragged Tadashi over to the window was because he wanted to see the ground from there. They were halfway up the building, and they were high enough that falling from the windows would almost certainly result in death. 

It wasn't hard to see his thought process; there was always a chance to be saved from this high up. But double the height above the ground that they were at? There wouldn't be much of a body to find. It would be a long plumet down, and a gruesome result left behind.

Tadashi took in Dazai’s dark expression, his longing eyes.

Then slapped him as hard as he could.

The sound of his hand coming into contact with the back of the bandaged brunette's head echoed for a brief moment. Dazai’s shocked gaze snapped to him, his mouth dropped wide open. "What the hell?!" he demanded, his hand slipping away from Tadashi as he moved away. 

Mic had jolted where he was standing, "Woah! Hey, that wasn't necessary, Tadashi!" he scolded, his brows dipped in a mix of emotions. 

"We're wasting our time here," the freckled teen bit out. "Let's just go." he shoved his hands into his pockets. He was sure that if what he was doing ever got animated, steam would be flowing from his ears.

His partner scoffed, "No! You just slapped me, Freckles!" Tadashi knew from the nickname calling that Dazai hadn't actually been hurt or offended, or even clueless on what had happened. He was just complaining for the sake of it, as usual.

"Sensei, are you just letting him get away with it?!" Dazai questioned with sadness as Tadashi walked off.

"He's right, Tadashi." Present Mic's voice wasn't unkind, but it wasn't soft either. "You can't just go hitting people."

"He deserved it," Said teen retorted, not bothering to elaborate. He didn't owe the stupid microphone anything.

Mic seemed confused at the sudden switch up and frowned at him deeply, creases forming on his forehead. "What's wrong, little listener? What just happened?" It was from the way he didn't immediately dish out a punishment that both teenagers realised he wouldn't at all.

Tadashi scowled at the man, turning around on his heels. "Don't act familiar with me." he spat. 

Present Mic raised his hands up in surrender, but his expression remained unchanging. From the corner of his eye as he turned around, Kenshiro spotted Dazai's cheeky smirk, and oh boy that meant he was about to stir the pot again.

Dazai raced up to his partner as fast as he could and slapped him on the back, hard. The sound echoed through the hallway a lot longer than Tadashi's hit had, and Mic let out a small gasp from behind them.

Green eyes were wide as Tadashi turned around, "Did you just hit me, you stupid Emo?"

"You hit me first, stupid Veggie."

Tadashi cracked a knuckle. "Okay. Okay, you know what? Damn you, Dazai—" He lunged, his hand finding its way around Dazai’s throat. Dazai retaliated by yanking on the back of his green locs, which made him yelp.

Mic was yelling at them to stop, running forward. He grabbed the back of their collars as soon as they were in reach, his left hand pulling Dazai away and his right pulled on the other teen. "What the hell was that?! What were you thinking, the both of you?!" he yelled, sweat running down his forehead. The man seemed a lot more stressed over what happened than he should've been.

"He started it!" Dazai fake pouted, looking away with his arms crossed. 

Tadashi continued to scowl, "Let me go." he mumbled, shoving Present Mic's hand off of his collar and walking off even as the man called out after him.

He hated it whenever Dazai made that stupid dark expression.

Because every time he did, Tadashi knew he was seriously considering killing himself. He was seriously considering leaving Shida, and that just wasn’t acceptable. He knew how much Tadashi relied on him to stay sane, but he was just so selfish when it came to his own goddamn wishes.

...

.....

Stupid Dazai and his stupid suicidal habits.

After about ten seconds of walking by himself, the green boy stopped where he stood and turned around, marching right back to Mic and the bastard at fault.

Once he was in hearing distance of the two of them, he insulted Dazai as loudly he could, calling him a soggy piece of bread that never thinks of others.

This time, Dazai took it all without a word, without so much as a twitch. Then, he grinned. "Since when does bread have a mind of its own, hm? How can I think of others if I’m bread, Shida?" he teased. 

Tadashi rolled his eyes fiercely, "Oh buzz off, you stupid Sloth."

Mic stared at them for a few moments, thrown off by their personalities. "Tadashi," he said carefully. "If you pull something like that again, I'll give you a detention. You'll be writing lines in my office."

Blah, don't care. The green teenager huffed, not looking at the man.

Said adult clicked his tongue, "You're lucky I don't care for disrespect like Aizawa does. He would've had you in detention three times over by now, Tadashi." he mumbled, placing his hands on his hips.

"I'm just so grateful, Hizashi." Tadashi grumbled, half teasing Mic, who paused and narrowed his eyes. "I never told you my given name." he said slowly, his hands twitching where they were on his hips. 

Dazai spoke up, intertwining his hands together behind his back and blinking innocently at the man. "That's because we were given the profiles of everyone we would need to know, like teachers and classmates." he spoke quickly, like he would get in trouble but couldn't wait any longer to let it out.

Again, Mic just stared at them for a few seconds.

Then his face contorted into offence, which was something Tadashi had been thinking the hero was incapable of. "I know Tadashi insulted me to my face on purpose, and you didn't show any remorse, Dazai." he started ominously. "But you're telling me you knew I was an English teacher from the start? And did all of that just to tick me off?" he questioned, his eyes wondering for a moment.

"Perhaps." Dazai said, clearly not at all guilty at being caught. 

There was a pregnant pause, before Present Mic started laughing. He laughed so hard that he was holding his stomach with one arm and wiping his tears with the other. "Man, you two are good! You listeners should try acting sometime!" he joked.

Tadashi and his brunette glanced at each other, both silently asking the same questions. Was Present Mic losing the plot?

They should probably leave.

Just as the both of them started to walk away, Mic gave a final snort and sighed happily through his nose. "Holy, I haven't laughed like that in a hot minute. Alrighty, shall we get movin' and groovin'? I'll show ya the gyms next, then it'll be the training grounds. They're massive, I'm telling you—" and he went on another rant.

Kenshiro wished there was a mute button in real life.

By the time Mic was taking them back up to the staff room, Tadashi was sick and tired of the man. Every gym had been in use, and Mic had made them hide behind the wall and watch silently like they were toddlers hiding from their parents.

Apparently, there were about three minutes left to the bell—which meant they had three minutes to get to the staff room before students came rushing out to eat like hungry hyenas charging to a vulnerable zebra.

"Shida, we're going to be the zebra." Dazai insisted fiercely, waving his hands about like a maniac.

Tadashi shook his head in exasperation. "No, the cafeteria will be."

"Haven't you seen the way they look at us, Freckles? We're like zoo animals to them!"

"Who knows, maybe they're just attracted."

"Maybe to me, but not to you. Who would ever be attracted to a smelly Shida?"

"Piss off, like you're any better."

Mic spoke up from behind them, "Language," he sung in a high tone.

Tadashi rolled his eyes, internally scoffing. "My bad, Sensei. I meant piss off." he said the last two words in English, snickering with Dazai.

The hero sighed, "Not what I meant, and you know it. Don't get smart with me." he scolded. There was a rustle of clothing. He probably crossed his arms to add to his dramatics.

"I'm not getting smart with anyone." The green mafioso retorted.

"Just get your butt upstairs, M—Tadashi."

He snapped, pausing where he was mid-step. "You know what? I'm sick of everyone here calling me something that starts with 'muh' and then suddenly remembering my name doesn't have any sounds like that. Knock it off." he glanced over his shoulder with a scowl, huffing through his nose.

Mic sobered up at that, "I’m sorry, Tadashi. You just look a lot like a student I used to have, that’s all." he explained, like it addressed the issue at all. In fact, all it did was just tick off the boy more.

"Oh yeah? Well, that wasn't me." Kenshiro spat, turning back around completely. He didn't even want to know what the kid's name was.

"I know, I'm sorry." The man apologised again. The mafioso rolled his eyes, not bothering to reply to that. He just raised his arms once again with his hands resting behind his head, and Dazai complied with what he was doing while humming.

Tadashi rolled his eyes at him, too. He didn't understand the appeal of gripping someone's bicep, but since it clearly made Dazai pleased for whatever reason he let him do it anyway.

Chapter Text

Tadashi found that Aizawa was as strange as he was annoying.

When he and Dazai finally arrived back to the staff room, they had been immediately ushered into one of the kitchens by Midnight.

She had flicked her hand forward a few times, silently telling them to come with her, then walked to the kitchen, trusting that the boys would follow. They did, and she made them stand in the middle of the area awkwardly. Then, "Just wait here for your Sensei to come back, alright?" she instructed, turning to leave.

"Aren't you also our teacher?" Dazai had mocked, placing his hands on his hips like he owned the place. Tadashi felt the opposite; he felt like he was intruding despite the fact that they were basically forced to attend the school. Also, who the hell was Midnight to force them into a kitchen then dip a second later?

The woman just eyed the brunette with a smirk, "You talking back, kiddo?" she had questioned plainly, obviously playing along with Dazai.

They then stood in silence for a short while, before Dazai blinked innocently at her with his doe eye. "My deepest apologies, Midnight Sensei. I had assumed we were having a conversation." He shrugged. "Those usually work by someone saying something, and then someone else saying something back..." He trailed off his words dramatically with a few flops of a hand.

Midnight had simply just huffed a laugh, reaching out to ruffle Dazai's brown locs.

Tadashi winced, his partner froze, and Midnight frowned. "Sorry, sorry. I won't touch you." She then raised her hands up like that could prove she was going to stay honest to her words.

Before Osamu could make the situation more awkward than it was, Aizawa mercifully showed up at the door. By the time Tadashi had remembered they still had company, Midnight was walking away without a word. Again, who the hell did she think she was?

The man found the boys in the kitchen and had assumed immediately they wanted to be there. He walked up to them with a soft expression. "You boys hungry? What would you like?" he asked, placing the empty mug in his hands into the sink to be cleaned. 

"No thank you," said Tadashi, as simply as he could. He didn't want Eraserhead to go prying, so he had to make sure to dumb it down. A plain and simple refusal. Except, nothing ever was simple when it came to anything revolving the teenager.

"Neither of you had dinner or breakfast. You need to eat." Aizawa's tone left no room for discussion, but Tadashi knew there was always a crack for his partner to squeeze through. And he wasn't left disappointed.

"Teenagers have smaller stomachs, sir. We don't need as much food as you people." By 'you people', Dazai was definitely referring to adults in general like they were an alien species. 

Their teacher didn't seem to find the boy's words funny, and crossed his arms. "Adolescents require more food, actually." And if Tadashi wasn't mistaken, there was some sass in that reply, as well as a hint of amusement in Aizawa's expression. So he did have a personality hidden under his grumpiness. "Go through the fridge; anything unlabelled are your options."

Dazai turned to Kenshiro, "We said the same thing like, multiple times in multiple ways. What doesn't he get about 'we don't want food'?" His eye, dark and dull, showed none of the exaggeration Tadashi was hearing come out of his mouth.

"I dunno, emo." was his reply, as stupid as it sounded. He felt the need to say something else, but he couldn't for the life of him figure it out.

Eraserhead, the aggravating man, coughed into his palm from beside them. "I can hear your whispering. Get your asses over there and choose something to eat before I give you detention and force you to write lines." he threatened, which was less of a threat and more of a joke to the boys.

"Oh no!" Dazai gasped, looking rattled. "Shida, he wants us to pick up a pen and... write with it?" He said sarcastically, a hand over his heart. He complied anyway, walking over to the fridge with his hand still in place and his expression unchanging. "Do you have canned crab, by chance?" he asked, opening the door to the refrigerator.

Was he stupid or was he being an idiot on purpose? "Canned crab is canned, Dazai." Tadashi said with an unimpressed tone. "It's not going to be in the fridge." Times like these made the greenette wonder if the Demon Prodigy really was a prodigy. 

Osamu paused. "Oh yeah." he said lamely. The two swapped positions without another word, with Tadashi glancing around the fridge while Dazai looked through cabinets.

Aizawa watched them move around silently. He wasn’t the only one; everyone else in the room did, too. Honestly, they would probably have less malic-laced eyes on them in the cafeteria.

Eventually, Dazai came to the conclusion that there was no canned crab, and pouted over Tadashi’s shoulder as he contemplated what to eat. There wasn’t much, but there were a bunch of microwavable meals that he wouldn’t be able to finish, nor did he want to eat.

Aizawa got fed up waiting and spoke up, "Just—here, let me grab something for you." He very rudely pushed his way past the boys and grabbed out two pouches of protein-filled jelly pouches. "Someone take the strawberry, someone take the blueberry." he instructed, holding his hands out expectedly.

Tadashi snatched the blueberry right up, grinning at the disappointed expression on Dazai’s face. The idiot hated sweet things, and everyone knew strawberry flavoured things were sweeter than blueberry flavoured things. "Sucks to suck." he teased Dazai, who begrudgingly took the strawberry pouch from Aizawa’s hand.

Aizawa sighed in relief at the two of them finally leaving the kitchen and herded them over to the lounge area again with his arms moving like those people with glowing sticks did for planes.

All Might and Present Mic where there, the two of them on a loveseat each. "Ah, hello boys. How was the tour?" All Might regarded them with his stupidly blue eyes, intertwining his hands together and resting them on his lap.

Dazai sighed loudly as he plopped onto the three-seater in between the men. "Oh, you know." he said, almost dismissively. "It was just walking around. Pretty boring if you asked me." Tadashi joined him on the couch, sitting on the cushion next to him as close to Dazai's as he could without them sharing one. 

"I beg to differ, little listener." Mic stood up from his chair, walking over to Aizawa. Eraserhead was standing still with his arms crossed, refusing to acknowledge his coworker.

"Care to elaborate?" he asked the boys, giving them an exhausted stare. How could someone possibly convey that they were tired by blinking? Because this guy was certainly good at it.

When neither of them replied, the man turned to Mic. "What's your report?"

The English teacher didn't even look pleased at finally being noticed. "They got into a fight. I had to pull them off each other."

Eraserhead's eyebrows rose, "A... fight?" he mumbled, his arms falling to his side. If Tadashi was reading into it correctly, Aizawa's expression said something like 'oh my god not again'. The boy found that very offensive, for whatever reason.

Mic nodded, "Slapped each other and stuff. I think Dazai actually ripped some of Tadashi's hair out." The men shared a look. Mic's gaze then snapped to All Might, who looked very deep in thought. Wasn't he coughing blood up? Were sick people allowed to go that deep into their mind? Surely so much brain power usage wasn't good for his old man heart.

Dazai made a sound from beside Tadashi, something both mock shocked and violated, "I did not!" he defended himself. "Shida's the one who almost gave me a concussion, then tried to strangle me! I'm telling you I almost saw the light at the end of the tunnel!" He slapped his hands on his knees repeatedly, as if that would somehow prove his words true.

Tadashi wanted to pinch him, but he knew that he was already on thin ice. As exciting as the punishment sounded, the freckled mafioso really didn't want to spend almost an hour writing random stuff. So he just silently sucked on his jelly pouch, resisting the urge to glare at his partner as hard as he could.

"And what started this?" Aizawa asked the blonde next to him, completely shutting out the student screaming. 

Mic groaned into his palm. "Shit, I don't even know." He sucked at whispering. Or whatever he was attempting to do with his voice.

"I...see." All Might seemed a little confused on how to respond with the new information gathered. "Did you two get into a disagreement?" he asked, cocking his head slightly to show he would pay attention to their response.

"Something like that," Kenshiro flapped his hand around dismissively, not wanting to go on about the topic any longer. Dazai chuckled at him, and Tadashi had to remind himself he was treading on cracked ice.

Mic went on, "They were silent, and Mi-Tadashi slapped Dazai out of nowhere. Then Dazai slapped his back in return, and it echoed in the hallway. And well, I think you know what happened after that." Holy, did this guy even know the difference between speaking lowly and whispering?

Because surely everyone knew that deepening your voice was not the same as speaking quietly. Also, Tadashi was fairly sure he had told the man to stop mistaking him for someone else. It was starting to really grind his gears.

"I see. Are you two ready to meet your new classmates today?" All Might asked, bringing the green boy's attention back to him.

"Well, sure I am." He was most certainly not. He was dreading it, really. But instead, he just smiled at the man, who beamed back.

God, everyone here was so weird.

All Might had been worried about what to expect from young Midoriya and his new friend.

He stuck by his boy’s side from the moment he was admitted to the hospital until... well. Unfortunately, the moment he left the building to go get some food, Midoriya and Dazai woke up. From what he heard, they smashed through a window with a chair and ran out without a second thought.

They had even held Aizawa, the underground pro hero Eraserhead, hostage for a few minutes.

Midnight spoke to All Might when he had returned and claimed that Dazai had a quirk similar to Aizawa’s, but it was touch activated. He wasn’t affected by her mist at all, and Hawks lost control of his feather the moment it came into contact with the boy.

Even after Dazai was knocked unconscious, he had to be carried back to his room because Hawk’s’ feathers continued to drop. His quirk stayed activated even without him controlling it. He was a strange one, indeed. All Might wasn’t sure what to make of him, or his dangerous habit of picking up weapons and pointing them.

But young Midoriya on the other hand, the man barely recognised him. He could manipulate his own emotions in the blink of an eye, which was something he would have felt too guilty to even think about doing only a week ago.

The man felt so utterly useless at the fact he couldn’t do anything to help his successor, so he just acted polite. Even as his brain screamed at him to hug him, scold him, tell him everything was going to be alright. He was sure Aizawa was much the same.

Everything about the duo seemed to say ‘stay away or we’ll kill you’. As much as he hated to think such a thing, All Might was too sure that it was true.

Maybe twenty or so years ago, if he ever suspected one of his pupils would give in to their urges and murder, he would have distanced himself as far away from them as possible. But not this time.

The dead look in their eyes, their empty smiles and false words. All Might had seen the same actions and looks before. He once knew a kid with the same eyes. The same body language. The same attitude.

He had become a villain, without All Might's knowledge. He robbed stores, dealt drugs, and destroyed public property just because he could. Or, that was what the man had thought when he found out what the boy had been doing under his nose.

Toshinori had been naïve and blamed it on a faze, since he had gone through one when he was a teenager as well. But he failed to realise how different depression was to insecurity.

He was only seventeen when he was given a sentence of five years and slit his wrists in jail with a pocketknife.

To this day, All Might felt responsible. If only he had seen the signs, listened to the exhaustion behind every word, or paid head to his lack of genuine smiles. If he had realised that teenagers don't just do shit like that because they're feeling a little reckless or hormonal. Or at least, not multiple times a week for two years straight.

Closing himself off emotionally and expressing himself with crimes wasn’t him being ashamed or nervous to talk to someone or acknowledge his feelings, it was him being unable to come out of his shell in any other way. He had lost himself, and All Might didn't even realise until it was far too late.

He saw the same signs in both young Midoriya and young Dazai, and All Might swore to Nana Shimura that he would save them from the grips of depression to the best of his ability.

Bakugo was mad.

No, scratch that.

He was fucking livid.

He couldn’t understand why all of his teachers were being so goddamn secretive about Deku and his ‘best friend’. Aizawa wasn’t the only one that refused to talk; Ectoplasm ignored every plead for a bit of information. So did All Might, even if the man looked ready to spill every bean. He stubbornly changed the topic every time.

They all had the same stupid excuse. You’ll be able to have your questions answered when you meet Tadashi and Dazai. Which was bullshit, because who the hell said his questions were even about those two losers?

He wanted to know why they weren’t allowed to ask questions, why Aizawa had his neck bandaged, why he was acting so funky about the topic, or why everyone was acting like Deku and Bandages were some sort of entity above them that deserved their patience and respect.

The blonde had looked around for either of them at lunch but failed to spot them. He saw his group of losers, as well as Deku’s, also looking around.

Either they were in the walls or were avoiding him on purpose like pieces of shit. What a great first impression they were making, indeed.

They only just fucking got here, and they were already acting like they were better than everyone else. Like they were too good to eat with the peasants in the cafeteria.

--

"So, what do you think Midoriya is like now? Or whatever is name is now. Tadashi or something, right?" Kaminari was picking at his food with his chopsticks with one of his hands absentmindedly, looking like someone had given him pink eye.

"Probably the same loser he's been for the past however many years of his life." Bakugo replied in a bored tone, shoving a piece of meat into his mouth aggressively.

Mina's jaw dropped, and she snapped it shut again before yelling. "Wha- hey! Don’t be a dick, Bakugo." Her eyes were puffy as a result from her breaking down at the sound of her friend's voice early that day.

"Yeah, man. He’s just come back from something seriously traumatic." Sero scolded. He hadn't even touched his food, which had inevitably gone cold by now. He didn't admit it, but he had also teared up hearing Midoriya's voice again after knowing what had happened. Or at least, knowing that he had gone through something horrible and came back.

Bakugo rolled his eyes, pushing his rice around his bowl with his chopsticks as he refused to meet any of his friend's' eyes. "I was kidnapped, too. And I’m fucking fine, aren’t I? He isn’t special."

"No offence, man." Kirishima didn’t want to downplay Bakugo’s experience, but he felt the need to defend Midoriya from his harsh words. "You were kidnapped for, what? Two days? Mid—Tadashi was technically gone for a year and a half."

"You actually believe that bullshit? They just want you to pity him."

Kirishima frowned and glanced over at Kaminari, who wore the same expression he imagined he himself was pulling. A mix of confusion, worry, and a little bit of anger. Questioning Midoriya’s trauma response was one thing, but not even acknowledging what happened to him was a-whole-nother.

Clearly, Bakugo was taking it the hardest out of all of them. He refused to believe Midoriya, or Tadashi, wouldn’t remember him, which Kirishima supposed he could understand.

But again, calling what he went through a lie? It was as stupid as it was cruel.

Kirishima knew he wasn’t the only one concerned about his friend's ideas; the rest of their group was as well. Ever since Bakugo found out about Midoriya’s amnesia and stormed off, he’d been even more moody than usual.

Which was saying something. But he seemed genuinely angry all the time now, rather than just yelling and threatening because he could. In fact, Kirishima hadn’t heard him yell in almost four days. 

When he was angry, angrier than angry, he was quiet. Which was scarier than him yelling, in the red head’s opinion. He bit out harsh remarks in complete seriousness, and didn’t scream the word idiot across the room at someone even when they messed up in class. Instead, he just glared at them so hard that they didn't even have to face him to know he was doing it.

Sometimes he would seem calm, when in reality he was just silently seething with a blank look and would lash out when asked anything at all. Other times he would seem genuinely chill, with a soft voice and everything. 

Gosh, Bakugo was so complicated.

The class chattered excitedly after lunch in their classroom.

Mina, Sero, and Yaoyorozu were in the corner gossiping about who they thought would do what when Midoriya—Tadashi, and Dazai came into the room.

Eventually, Iida ruined everyone’s fun and made them all sit down.

They waited until it had been about five minutes since the bell until Aizawa finally rocked up.

He looked even more exhausted than he had this morning, which was confusing. What had he been doing? "Sorry I’m late, everyone. I was busy dealing with a few pests." The man said, not bothering to have a normal excuse that teachers usually had.

Kirishima wondered what-or who, he was referring to when he said pests.

"I told you all this morning that Tadashi and Dazai would choose when they wanted to meet you, and Tadashi chose after lunch. A.K.A, now." Aizawa stood behind the podium at the front, his eyes regarding everyone sitting in front of him.

They also snapped towards the empty desk between Tsu and Iida a few times, which had been placed there by someone, probably a janitor, at lunch. Pour Uraraka's desk now sat in its own row at the back of the class because it was pushed back to make room for the new one.

A few people cheered, while others teared up in excitedness.

Aizawa grinned at their enthusiasm, one of his hands moving forward to grip the edge of the podium.

Kirishima sunk into his seat the moment he saw the smirk. That was never a good sign when it came to Aizawa Sensei. The man always said he had something sadistic planned for them whenever he made that face.

"I advise you to keep the cheering until after you survive this lesson." Aizawa said plainly, his voice even as it always of. After six months of being in his class, Kirishima was finally able to hear the amusement just barely there.

Everyone, even the birds outside, went silent.

"Whaddya mean, Sensei?" Mina asked, leaning forward in her seat slightly.

"I mean that just because Tadashi and Dazai will be joining us, does not mean that you get another period being unproductive. You’ll be doing your work, as usual."

The room erupted in groans, which Kirishima added to. He had hoped they would do the thing teachers made you do in elementary and middle school. A get-to-know-your-new-peers class where they just did games and stuff learning about each other.

He should have known better—Aizawa had literally forced them all to miss the orientation at the start of the school year, after all.

"Do they know that, Sensei?" Iida asked, which was something Kirishima hadn't thought about. Jeez, he couldn't imagine moving to a whole new place and having to do schoolwork right off the bat. Aren't they being a little harsh?

"No, but they’ll be fine. I’m sure you’ve all noticed the extra desk in between Asui and Iida. That will be wear Dazai sits for the rest of his time with us. Iida, I’m counting on you to put Dazai in his place when needed." Aizawa briefly gestured to the empty desk between the two he mentioned. It was obvious, since Midoriya's desk was the only other one empty.

"Yes, Sensei." Iida's response sounded like a question, his pitch rising at the end. He was just as wary as Kirishima in their teacher’s wording.

"Alright, then. I’ll go get your new classmates." Aizawa left the room without another word, but it stayed silent. No one said anything, the suspension too high for anyone to think of anything to say.

When the door opened again, and Kirishima swore his heart fell down to his stomach. "Holy fucking shit." He whispered to himself. The sight of Midoriya made him recoil in his seat.

No, it was so obvious now that this wasn't Midoriya any longer.

There wasn't any room for doubt that the two kids at the front of the room were Kenshiro Tadashi and Dazai, and that Izuku Midoriya wasn't there.

Aizawa wasn’t sure what he was expecting to happen, but it wasn’t whatever had just occurred. As Dazai and Tadashi walked in, there were horrified gasps and a few curses. The boys, to their credit, didn’t seem surprised.

In fact, Dazai looked like he had anticipated such a reaction and was enjoying himself immensely. "Good after noon, everyone!" He shouted, twirling his fingers together.

Aizawa just handed them each a piece of chalk with a straight expression on his face, "Write your names on the board, introduce yourselves. I’ll be in the corner." He backed away silently.

He watched with hawk eyes as Tadashi fidgeted with the piece of chalk for a second, before turning his back to the class and scribbling his name on the board. "Kenshiro Tadashi," he said plainly, turning around and bowing at the neck. "I’m glad to be here with you all today." If Aizawa wasn’t trained to read tones, he would have missed the hidden bitterness in Midoriya's monotone.

Dazai on the other hand, hummed lightly as he wrote his name beside his partner’s. "Osamu Dazai," He sang, skidding around on the ball of his foot. "But I’m sure you already know that." He said, his eye glimmering underneath the harsh lighting of the room. "Please treat us kindly." He drawled out the last word intentionally in a sing-song voice, grinning.

Iida stood up at once, and Yaoyorozu stood up right after. "It’s an honour to have you two with us today and from here on out!" The boy’s voice cracked, revealing his sadness at the sight of his friend. But he kept his head held high like it hadn’t happened, refusing to show any weakness. "I’m the class president, Tenya Iida." He introduced himself, putting on the best smile he had to offer.

Aizawa was proud of him for continuing forth, despite the whirl of emotions he must have been feeling.

Yaoyorozu spoke next, bowing at her hips politely. "I’m the vice class president, Momo Yaoyorozu. Please, don’t hesitate to come up to either of us if you need any help with anything at all." Her voice didn’t crack, but it was soft. The girl was naturally soft-spoken, so to hear it somehow softer than usual made Aizawa take a deep breath from the corner he was in.

These kids were not going to be able to handle the change in their classmate.

And he knew that most of them would be crying themselves to sleep, as harsh as it sounded. Hell, he was ready to do the same. But they all put on as brave of a face as they could—which really wasn’t all that brave looking if he were honest, but they tried.

For Tadashi.

For who should have been Izuku Midoriya standing before them.

"Thank you for the welcome. We’ll be sure to come to either of you if need be." He bowed slightly with his hands overlapped above his waist. Absolute perfect form.

Midoriya glanced over at Dazai, who immediately backed him up in the statement. "How lucky am I to have such welcoming classmates." He praised. "I look forward to working with you all." He was looking Iida dead in the eye as he said that, and the boy receiving his stare shivered.

Aizawa paused at that. He was sure Dazai wasn’t looking at him unkindly, so what—

"Where are we sitting?" Tadashi cut off Aizawa’s train of thought.

The teacher frowned, "The only desks that are empty. Dazai, you’ll be sitting in between Iida and Asui." They both raised their hands to indicate which spot he was going to be sitting in. "Tadashi, you’ll be sitting between Bakugo and Mineta." Mineta raised his hand, Bakugo did not.

He was seething in his seat, glaring so fiercely that Aizawa was tempted to go over there and slam his hand on Bakugo’s desk.

"Oh great, I’m with grape head over there." Tadashi mumbled, not taking his eyes off of Mineta.

Aizawa blinked. "Excuse me?"

Midoriya rolled his eyes, already walking away.

Aizawa just sighed. He supposed he could let it slide just that once, since he was too tired to deal out detentions. Normally the kid would have one three times over, but whatever.

The man watched him sit down, and he observed the way Bakugo clenched his hands so tightly that his fingers were paper white. "Bakugo, if you explode another desk, I’ll make you pay for the replacement." he warned, his stare flat.

The boy glared at him but released his fists, instead just pulling on the edge of his blazer to release his tension.

"Right. Now that everyone is seated," Aizawa walked behind his desk and pulled out a stack of paper. "For the next two periods, you’ll be doing an exam." That seemed to wake everyone up. They stopped staring at Tadashi, and now stared at him with their mouths dropped like fish.

He shrugged, "It’s some new policy that Nezu has brought in. In the middle of the year, there will be exams across the school to make sure everyone is on track. These don’t go towards your grade, so stop crying Kaminari and Ashido. They are also replacing mid and end of term exams. So, there will only be three major exams throughout the year. The start of year, middle of year, and end of year."

The teens both visibly slumped in their chairs, and their sighs of relief were so loud that the man was sure the people downstairs could hear.

Iida's hand flew into the air frantically. "Sensei, we haven’t studied."

"Exactly."

"Pardon me?"

Aizawa turned around and begun to write on the board the time stamps for the exam. "There will be questions from every subject on it. You have two hours and thirty minutes to complete it, starting from the moment I hand it to you. If you don’t have a pen, raise your hand and I’ll provide one for you." He purposely didn’t elaborate Iida’s question.

In reality, the only reason Nezu created this rule was to see how good Tadashi and Dazai’s education was.

The rat was crazy, which wasn't news to anyone who had ever spent three minutes near him, and decided to give the entire school the same written exam for many years to come just because he wanted to see how well two new students would do.

And while it would indeed be beneficial to know how his students were going, it was still insane to him what his boss was doing. Surely a pop quiz would be of the same effect, no?

By the end of the exam, Mineta, Kaminari (again), Sero, Hagakure and Aoyama were on the verge of tears. "What the hell was that? There was stuff we’ve never even learned!" Sero demanded, running a hand through his sweaty hair.

"I told you it’s not graded, Sero. Stop freaking out." Aizawa reminded, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

Tadashi regarded him from his place behind a still-seething-Bakugo, "Jeez, sensei. You make students cry?" He questioned, raising a green eyebrow with his face in the palm of his hand. The entire class went silent at that. Even Kaminari stopped sniffling. 

Dazai smirked. "Is that how UA became the best in the country? Giving kids such harsh exams that they're brought to tears?" He sounded like he was genuinely asking a question, but Aizawa new better than that.

"If you have a problem, go talk to the principal." Aizawa stared down Tadashi, who stared back with his tired eyes.

The boy blinked lazily. "You reckon? Where’s he at?" His chair scrapped loudly as he moved to get up from his seat.

The man knew that letting them actually go could result in one of two things. One, the Rat lectures him on letting students question his ability to keep their peers happy. Or two. Number two consisted of world domination with Dazai and the Rat teamed up. 

"Stay seated; don’t start getting up when I haven’t given you permission." Aizawa lectured, cutting off his own thought. Better not to find out.

Tadashi plopped back down onto his chair with a quiet huff, "You just told us to go?" He worded it like a question, but Aizawa could tell he wasn’t actually confused and was purposely pushing his buttons.

"Sit down properly, Dazai. The both of you are on thin ice here." In the end, he decided to ignore Tadashi's backchat. 

Dazai, who had his legs out from under the seat and stretched out into the walkway beside him, gave him a cheeky smile before complying. "My apologies, I’m not used to this kind of setting, Sensei."

Aizawa narrowed his eyes, "It’s basic classroom manners. And table manners, really." He turned back to the rest of the class, but as he began to speak, he was interrupted.

"I’m just not used to being in school, you know." Dazai’s voice was quiet, but Aizawa picked up on it with his trained ears.

His face softened as he looked at the boy, "I know. That’s why I’m just reminding you, Dazai." The boy didn’t give him eye contact, or even a reply. He rested his face on his palm and fiddled with his pencil on the other hand, refusing to look anywhere else.

Aizawa sighed and turned around. "Today has been a long day for everyone. Perhaps longer for some than others. When the bell rings, you can go rest up early." Everyone’s mouth dropped open, but Aizawa kept his face straight. He knew everyone here was dying for some shut eye, including him. Lord knows his new students were going to be a lot of work.

Seriously, one of them didn't even go to school and was unaware that sitting at his desk with his legs in front of him was basic manners.

"We’re getting last period off? We can head back early?" The colour returned to Jiro's face at how shocked she was. She had a silent reaction to the sight of Midoriya, and had looked pale from the moment the boys had walked in. Ready to throw up at any moment.

Aizawa nodded, "That’s right. I was informed this morning in an email by Nezu, but I refrained from telling you because I didn’t want you to get too excited to do your work."

Kaminari was vibrating with excitedness, "Oh my god, you’re literally the best." he praised, clapping cheerfully with a goofy grin on his face. The blonde glanced over at Kirishima, who was looking much the same.

Aizawa shrugged and reminded the boy that it was Nezu's decision, not his. He definitely hadn't requested it for the sake of Tadashi and Dazai's health or anything earlier in the morning, predicting everyone would need it. And on a completely unrelated note, Nezu definitely hadn't needed three emails worth of convincing from Aizawa for the stupid Rat to accept a suggestion of his (which was never really a suggestion).

Aizawa told his class as the bell rang they would still be doing heroics tomorrow afternoon with 1-B. Almost everyone deflated from their excitedness.

Except for Dazai and Tadashi, who looked… almost pleased? What were they up to now?

Chapter Text

"So," Dazai prompted. "Opinions on our classmates so far, Shida?" he asked, blinking with his eye in interest.

Tadashi shrugged, his lips sticking out as he thought of how to reply. "Everyone here definitely has the whole 'hero' spirit. I have a feeling it'll be hard to get them to keep their distance so that when we leave, we leave without a mark." 

Dazai could agree with that. Just based on what he had seen that day alone, he could tell that their housemates were desperate to help them. He wasn't stupid, he knew that they looked like they had crawled out of a dumpster after living in it for three years.

Apparently that, and the fact Dazai had lied and said he had never gone to school, was enough for them to pity and want to reach out.

He watched as Shida took his blazer off, smiling a bit when the freckled mafioso looked at it like it had personally offended him. They managed to get the uniform refit while promptly ignoring multiple people calling out to them, offering to come with.

Shida still looked like a dork, even with his less-baggy uniform on.

"I sense something else in your voice, Shida." Osamu said, leaning back a bit. He sat on the bed with his legs crossed and his hands wrapped around his right shin. He could feel his bandages underneath his clothing.

Tadashi looked up at him, his green eyes burning. "I want to beat class B. I want to show them what Yin and Yang can do."

The brunette's eyebrows rose.

Yin and Yang. It was their duo name. The one they had been given by underground groups who had come to know them as fierce mafioso's who did not care for mercy.

The Demon Prodigy and Verde Reaper were known by the general public. Some knew them as delinquents who destroyed public property with spray paint, scared children away, and drank on the street without a care. Others knew them as the dirty scum who went around punching people for fun.

Yin and Yang were the two Port Mafia Executives who didn't blink at the sight of murder. They fought brutally, uncaring for the mess of blood and carcass they left behind.

Dazai was referred to as 'Yang'. He was essentially the opposite of Shida. His dull eye stared down anyone and anything, and his attention was enough to make a man freeze in place. He looked like he ate hearts for fun (which was something he had been told just before shooting the woman's brains out). But during fights he stayed behind and his gun showing mercy compared to what his partner did.

Shida was referred to as 'Yin'. He looked sweet with his big, green (and terribly tired) eyes that could make any young woman swoon. But his face and actions were polar opposites. He had a side to him that no one would be able to guess was there without witnessing it firsthand. He would make their deaths slow and painful, opting to use his ability rather than a weapon.

He was a beautifully terrifying human killing machine.

Yin and Yang had yet to be overtaken. Except for once, but Osamu decided that one time didn't count since they weren't referred to as Yin and Yang, or even the Demon Prodigy and Verde Reaper just yet.

They had just been Tadashi and Dazai during the incident. Therefore, Yin and Yang remained undefeated.

"Well," Dazai hummed for a moment, taking in Tadashi's expression of determination and want. "It was always the plan to leave a good first impression. But I would appreciate some context on why you're so fierce about this, Shida." He grinned, removing his hands from his legs and lying down.

His torso was on the bed, and his legs continued to dangle off it.

Shida gave him a sideways glace as he chucked off his monstrosities, sorry, shoes, across the floor. "Their teacher, Vlad King. I don't like the guy." Well, wasn't that a boring answer.

The brunette sighed heavily, closing his eye. "I know Shida is a man of few words, but some more than that would be nice." he half teased, smirking.

"He was giving us a foul look the entire time we were in the staff room." The green boy ripped off his red tie, shoving it onto the desk. "I can already tell he hates the fact we're here." His annoyance was clear, and Dazai couldn't help the silent chuckle that came from him.

He wanted the conversation to keep going, so he gave his partner another nudge. "Everyone was giving us dirty looks," Said Dazai, flopping one of his hands around in obvious uninterest.

Shida huffed through his nose, "No, I mean he was looking at us like he had a very personal grudge that he had been harbouring for years." That was... oddly specific. "As if we're planning to kill everyone here." 

The one-eyed boy saw his opportunity to keep their train of conversation running and grabbed onto it. "Maybe we will," he said mysteriously, wiggling his fingers around like one would while telling a spooky story.

The human Veggie didn't seem to find this very amusing and he walked into the bathroom without another word. Dazai watched him go silently, his eye tracking his partner’s movements.

Vlad king, hm?

The man was the size of a building, and he was giving attitude to a couple kids? Didn’t seem very heroic to Osamu. Meanwhile, every other adult seemed to have it out for him alone.

Except for maybe Eraserhead, Present Mic, Midnight and All Might. But they were the only adults who seemed to care about the boys beyond their actions.

Everyone else kept giving him rude stares and snarls from across the room, and Dazai had definitely seen Cementoss throw a subtle glare at him before the brunette had even tried to break his hand!

Not to mention everyone else was staring at Shida like he had just preformed some miracle.

Talk about favourites! How unfair.

Dazai's partner returned from the bathroom before he had time to analyse what he had heard further. Damn, had he zoned out at some point? There was no way Shida could've showered otherwise, since the brunette could have sworn it had only been a few minutes.

"Get up and grab some clothes from the other room." Tadashi instructed, sitting down on the edge of the bed with a long sigh. "We should have brought in the clothes from next door today. Guess I'll have to do it tomorrow, so I don't have to keep sending him out."

Dazai tried to make himself small so that the greenette forgot that he was there while he talked to himself. Unfortunately, his wishes did not come true. Shida had somehow remembered he was there and pushed Dazai into the room next door to collect clothing, then into the bathroom.

The taller teen tried to lean backward to flop on top of the greenette the entire way there while screaming out protests, attempting to stop Tadashi in his tracks.

It didn't work, and Osamu pouted as the bathroom door was slammed in his face.

He knew that he was now locked in until Shida said otherwise. Dazai had a feeling that if he changed his clothes and turned on the water in an attempt to pretend he had showered, Tadashi would somehow know and send him back in.

Begrudgingly, Osamu shed off his clothes and bandages while skilfully avoiding the mirror, throwing his uniform onto the ground. Tadashi would come in like a mother hen and throw his clothing into the washer later, so he didn't bother attempting to leave it organised. 

He turned the temperature of the water to hot. It burned the skin down his back delightfully, and he was feeling content with the idea of just standing there for the rest of eternity. But of course, he wasn't given the option to stay under long.

Not even a few second after Dazai stepped into the shower, Kenshiro called out to him in a very impolite way. "If you come out here and don't smell like soap, I'll throw you under the water and scrub you myself." Now, to anyone else such a thing might sound like a reward.

However, Shida was just no good at all when it came to washing anything other than hair.

He liked to scrape with washcloths so aggressively that the victim is left red and raw. It was a terrible thing that Dazai wouldn't wish on anyone. So, he responded to the instructions with a groan loud enough that the people upstairs would hear it.

Stupid Freckles and his bossiness. What did it matter to him whether or not Osamu skipped a day of washing with soap or not? It was probably expensive, too. Dazai despised using up expensive things just because there wasn't a reason not to.

Tadashi nodded to himself, pleased, when he heard his partner groan miserably on the other side of the bathroom door. It was a signal that Dazai was going to do what was asked of him, though he wasn't happy about it. Tadashi couldn't care less about that last part.

The mafioso waddled across the room with heavy legs, plopping down onto the bed and bringing his knees under his chin. The warmth of Autumn surrounded him, which must have been the cause for the utter exhaustion he was feeling.

If Tadashi were to be honest with himself, which he definitely usually was, he was still slightly ruffled from when he had lost himself in his own mind the night before.

Every now and then he would catch a whiff of Dazai's lavender scented hair and get thrown back in his mind to when he had been applying it. Back to when he had reverted into the chair with the leather straps that Mori forced him in, the scalpel digging agonisingly—well, his point was clear.

He would never allow it to show on his face when he was thinking of such a thing, but it came to the front of his mind more often than he would like, causing him to zone out from a few seconds to a few minutes.

They were in potential future enemy territory, in a society Tadashi didn't recognise or know of. Zoning out, no matter how little the amount of time spent, could result in a fatal mistake if he wasn't very careful. 

He and Dazai trusted a generous maximum of four teachers out of, what, the ten they now knew by name? It was a pathetic ratio.

A few of them gave Tadashi dirty looks, but most of the staff just looked almost astonished by his being. Which was worse, in his opinion. He hated the attention, and would much prefer it to be the regular hatred he had grown familiar with.

All that was left for the executives for the time being was to find some sort of access to the internet and find out who the rats they were to eliminate were.

Perhaps Kenshiro could get Dazai to bat his eyelashes at Eraserhead and convince the man to give them a laptop to catch up on all the schoolwork the rest of the cohort had been doing. Based on what the hero had said before the exam, it was the middle of the school year. Which meant that they had a lot to catch up on, anyway.

The green-eyed boy knew from the look Eraserhead had given Dazai when he had acted sad and pitiful about never being in school that Eraserhead already had a soft spot for his partner.

The Demon Prodigy was usually good at convicting people to give him what he wanted, whether he was asking nicely with puppy eyes or asking while breaking their fingers.

--

Once Dazai finally made it out of the shower with his towel around his neck, he turned the ceiling lights off and joined Tadashi on the bed, crossing his legs. He asked the freckled boy what they were going to discuss first now that they had the time, and Tadashi had replied with their classmates again.

Brownie nodded his head in acknowledgement and his eye glazed over for a moment, which meant that he was mentally going through everything that had happened in the past day. Then, "They're complete and total wimps." 

"Agreed," Tadashi crossed his arms. He wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting from a bunch of teenagers training to be heroes, but it definitely wasn't anything even near multiple of them looking sick and bursting into tears at not only at the sight of him, but also at an exam that really wasn't too difficult.

"We clearly already have their trust and sympathy," For reasons still unknown to Kenshiro. "So there really isn't much to do when it comes to them. I suppose we should just keep going as we have. Be polite at the least but not nice." 

Dazai nodded, "Indeed, it would appear so. The same applies to Eraserhead, Present Mic, Midnight and All Might."

"Right. They all see us as delicate porcelain dolls."

All Might was the one Tadashi was the wariest about. The boy prided himself in his ability to be able to read people exceptionally well. The sickly man had a certain intimidating desperation, yet determination set about him. Tadashi wanted to stay teen feet away at all times, but he knew that wouldn't be possible.

Eraserhead would be good for providing them with whatever they needed if they acted sad and depressed enough, but it did nothing to change the fact that the stupid teacher drove Tadashi constantly up the wall.   

Mic was a bit of a wild card, but Tadashi was leaning towards dislike just because he made the headache Tadashi had earlier that day—from Dazai screaming in his ear—ten times worse with his nonstop chatter.

Midnight was fun, the greenette supposed. She was definitely good with kids and enjoyed her job, so there was that. He wasn’t ever going to get used to her outfit, but there was no changing that. 

Overall, Tadashi could tell they were all good people. Unfortunately for them and their greatest efforts to get the boys to open up, the fact they were morally good didn't want to make the teenagers get along with any of them outside of what was necessary. It was all for the mission, nothing more, nothing less.

"We're going to keep our distance from everyone. It'll be hard judging by how they already want to hang out and get all up in our business, but we'll have to manage." It would seem Dazai was in agreement with him.

Kenshiro nodded, wrapping his arms around his legs and resting his chin on one of his cold knees. "We already have their trust, so there isn't any reason to let them get close. All that's left for us is to get rid of the group Mori wants gone and we will be, too. From here, I mean."

The boy beside him nodded in acknowledgement. A moment of silence followed, before Dazai spoke again. "So, plans for tomorrow?" he asked, pushing himself away from the wall so that he could face Tadashi.

"We attend class," he replied in a sarcastic tone. "We continue to observe everyone around us to see if any precautions need to be made. And then..." he trailed off.

Dazai bit the bait. "And then?" He grinned, his eye glittering for a second before returning to its usual dullness. It was gone as fast as it came.

The green boy gave a tired smile back, "Then we impress Vlad King, obviously."

"So, harass his kids to the point they're screaming, crying, and possibly throwing up?"

"Exactly," As they spoke, Tadashi mentally went over the things they would have to do tomorrow. Laundry (they each had two uniforms, so he didn't have to worry about his uniform not being dry in the morning), bringing in Dazai's clothing, getting Dazai to beg Aizawa for a device and possibly better shoes, and lastly... school. 

Osamu sighed fondly at his partners response. "Shida just gets me like nobody else!" he declared loudly, grinning with his stupid smug face.

The next second, a red-faced freckled teenager found himself pinned underneath the laughing brunette. 

Dazai had shoved his arms around Tadashi's shoulders so suddenly with so much force that they were both pushed forward. Tadashi was shoved onto his stomach with Dazai drooped over his back, his arms stretched out.

A soft groan. "Get off me, Sloth." The boy mumbled, feeling too exhausted to try and remove his partner. After a few seconds, he abandoned that idea and gathered what little strength he had left to reach behind him and push Dazai off, but he was a lot heavier than he looked. Or maybe Tadashi was just used to shoving him with One For All.

Dazai clicked his tongue a few times at his attempt. "Ah, ah. You see, Shida, I'm very comfortable where I am right now."

One of Kenshiro's eyes twitched. Why should he care whether or not a lazy ass was comfortable when he was at expense for it? "Well, I'm not. So get off, Dazai." he let out another groan as he tried to shove Dazai off again.

Dazai hummed for a short moment, as if he was seriously considering listening to what was being asked of him. Then he plopped his head down onto Tadashi's back in clear denial. "Nah," his word was mostly muffled by Tadashi's shirt.

Still red faced, though considerably less, the greenette could feel Dazai's warm breath through the fabric on his back. It made him slightly flinch, and he felt goosebumps spread across his skin like a disease. What was that idiot up to? "Get off, you stupid weirdo!" Tadashi's voice raised a bit, just like his panic.

Dazai seemed to notice that his pleading wasn't coming from a stem of unease, so he continued to put on his show. He whined and kicked one of his legs, and suddenly Tadashi wasn't embarrassed. He was now annoyed, plain and simple.

"What are you, five? Do I need to place a pacifier in your mouth to shut you up?" He teased, forcing his irritation down manually as he spoke.

"Shida's the meanest person alive!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just the big bad wolf, aren't I? And since I'm just so evil, I'm giving you first watch tonight." 

Neither boy slept for very long whenever they did somehow manage to drift off, but while in an unfamiliar or untrustworthy place, one of them was always awake while the other executive got shut eye for a few hours.

Tadashi was feeling so very tired, more so than he had in a few weeks. His eyelids burned with the need to stay closed, and he was rather looking forward to falling asleep. Even if he knew that it was more than likely that he would wake up from another nightmare.

Dazai seemed to notice this with his super sense and didn't bother complaining about letting his partner sleep first. He didn't move from where he was, either. 

So, the freckled mafioso would have to fall asleep with Dazai's weight on top of him. It was better than sleeping alone though, so he didn't whine about it any further.

Osamu waited until he knew that Shida had fallen into a deep sleep. The green boy's light snores, even breaths, and occasional cute snort, were an indicator that he wasn't going to be woken up from a bit of noise.

The brunette slowly lifted himself off Shida's back as carefully as he could, then shuffled off the bed silently. The window behind their bed had the curtains pulled back slightly, letting just enough moonlight in to dimly illuminate the room.

Something was going on with his fellow executive, and Dazai wasn't fond of that idea. He had realised by Tadashi's zoning out that Dazai would catch him in every now and then that his partner hadn't completely recovered from when his mind had wondered too deeply into the idea of slimy Mori and his medical tools.

But that wasn't what was up.

Something else was going on. Ever since they had been brought to... wherever they were, Shida had looked ready to drop. Which wasn't unusual, but there were too many instances in one day where Dazai had seriously thought his precious partner was going to embarrass himself and fall to the ground right then and there.

Shida didn't let it show of course, he never did, but Osamu caught onto it anyway. Something about where they were was damaging Shida, and Dazai couldn't help but recognise the feeling of dread beginning to pile in his mind from it.

His hunches were somehow always correct, a gift he had been blessed by from the stars since he was little. He hoped that this time it was just his mind being cautious and antsy due to the unfamiliar surroundings.

Was he deluding himself with false daydreaming? Perhaps.

But it was better than thinking about how much worse being stuck in this society was going to make Shida if they stayed at U.A. for much longer, considering it was technically still their first day there and he was already dead on his feet.

Dazai shuffled over to the cupboard and opened it up silently. He stood on his tippee toes to search on the shelf at the top for a thin blanket, which he pulled down once he found it. It had a picture of a man's face who had strikingly similar hair to All Might and gently lay it on Tadashi. The green boy sighed contently at the weight.

They could always just fall asleep underneath the covers of the bed, but they both found that far too constricting. A thin blanket was much more comfortable and airier. 

The teen slipped on the pair of slippers he had taken from next door and waddled to the bedroom door, opening it to walk out and closing it behind himself as quietly as he could manage.

As much as it rubbed him the wrong way, leaving Shida alone for a few minutes was a lot better than leaving him in a room full of untrustworthy people. He was glad they were even allowed in the same room to begin with.

Dazai walked across the common room, uncaring for how silent the air around him was. Once he reached the other side of the area, he was standing in front of Eraserhead's door. He brought his knuckles to it, knocking in a rhythm. It opened the next second.

"Dazai, what do you want?"

Well damn, it would seem Aizawa Sensei wasn't in a very good mood. Which was fine; Dazai didn't plan on acting pleased, either. He slipped past the man and walked into his room, not bothering to wait for an invitation.

Eraserhead just sighed and closed the door, remembering Dazai would be the last person to knock on his door for fun. He leaned back on the doorframe and crossed his arms. "You shouldn't be up this late."

The boy didn't raise his voice as he usually would, instead choosing to stick to his natural monotone. "Neither should you." he retorted.

Aizawa's jaw set, and Dazai could tell he was doing calculations in his head. "I'm an adult," he said slowly. Carefully. "I'm allowed to be." The man was clearly trying to get a read on the teenager in front of him and was failing.

After all, Dazai's mask was something he had carefully curated and perfected all his life. Getting past it was something only two people, his boss and partner, had done. "Whatever," he replied.

He stood in the middle of the room, which was also being slightly illuminated by moonlight. Eraserhead's dorm was pretty much an exact replica of his and Shida's, but it had a kitchenette, television with a couch in front of it, and cat decor everywhere.

Seriously, cat mugs, cat rugs, cat pictures, cat slippers, and even cat pillows. And they were all of an orange cat.

Dazai wondered for a moment why the man had so much stuff surrounding orange cats, but not a cat. "I have questions, and I'm here for answers." But he didn't have the privilege of pondering about useless things. He had to get this over with and return to Tadashi before he woke up from his inevitable nightmare and screamed at Dazai for leaving him unannounced. 

Eraserhead didn't look surprised at his declaration in the slightest. He moved across the room and sat on the edge of bed. He cleared his throat. "I'm all ears, kid." he somehow managed to keep his voice on the soft side, which Osamu was sure anyone else would have missed without extensive training on tones and pitches.

"Where are we?"

"Musutafu, in Japan."

In the middle of the Shizuoka prefecture, hm? It was an hour away from Yokohama by train, an hour and a half by bus, and four hours by car. How the hell had they made it so far and not realised it? Also, since when did Musutafu have a secret hero society with abilities being the majority?

Dazai took a deep breath. "Why are we here? There is no doubt you want us here to keep an eye on us, especially after the hospital stunts we pulled. But why would you give us free range?" It just didn't make sense that he and his partner were essentially under watch twenty-four/seven, and yet it felt like they weren't under surveillance at all.

Aizawa's brow dipped. "You and Tadashi aren't prisoners, kid. Of course we want to keep an eye on you, we keep an eye on all of our students. That is the entire reason Nezu has turned U.A. into a boarding school." 

The man said all of that like it was the most obvious thing in the world, but all it did was add to the boy's suspicion. 

Dazai scoffed and narrowed his eye, his defences raising by ten. "You think I don't know that? Why else would a hero school be a boarding school if it’s in the middle of a relatively normal suburb close to homes?" He dug his dull nails into the palms of his hands.

He was keenly aware of how much time he was spending with Aizawa, and he knew he would have to wrap this up soon.

But he wasn't going to leave unsatisfied.

"We aren't talking about other students, sir. We're talking about me and Shida. You know, the two kids who held you hostage and shoved the glass they stole from the window they broke into your neck?" Dazai couldn't be any clearer. 

Eraserhead sat there silently, his eyes never leaving the kid. The brunette had his sole attention. "I'm not stupid enough to believe people just forgive and forget." he said lowly. "At least, not over something like that. People don't do that."

"Well, I do." Aizawa had the nerve to shrug.

Dazai laughed in his face, the force of his fake amusement rattling his chest. "That's bullshit. Give me answers, Eraserhead. Why have us here at all if not to place cameras in our room? Microphones in our clothes or mattress?"

The man's face contorted into shock for a moment before it fell to utter disbelieve. "Dazai, you realise something like that is illegal." 

Obviously. Dazai knew the law up and down, left and right. "Only if you get caught. Last time I checked, holding people hostage, breaking government property, and injuring other people is also illegal. But I got away with it, didn't I?"

Aizawa looked like his world had just been ripped up, chewed on, and spat back out. "Kid," he said, breathless. "Is this what goes on at home? Do you have bugs planted around your room?" 

Osamu was seriously starting to dislike this man as much as Shida did. "Stop deflecting, Eraserhead." he bit out, his cheeks stretching on reflex. He grinned in a sick, cruel way, as he usually did when he was annoyed. "We aren't talking about home. We're talking about here."

Not like Dazai really even had a home. 'Home' was something often defined as the place where one felt the most relaxed and safe. Such a place didn't exist for someone like Osamu Dazai, the most inhumane human you could ever meet.

The only thing that came close to that was Shida. Osamu supposed he was fine with wherever he was as long as Shida was with him. And god, wasn't that selfish?

"Dazai, what you're suggesting is a very serious offense. If U.A. ever even tried to do something like that, the school would be shut down the next day." The man's voice was grave, and his fingers had turned white from where they were gripping his pant legs. His expression was a strange mix of horror, anger, and pity.

The brunette groaned softly, tugging on his bandages. "Just—just tell me what you want from us." He hated the way his voice broke. The way he sounded desperate, like a child.

He was anything but.

"Keeping us on the same floor as you, making sure the teachers knew which students to keep an eye on, putting us on opposite sides of the classroom. These are all things that point to suspicion towards us. What could you possibly want from kids with nothing put a pile of clothing on them?" He bit the inside of his cheek.

By the end of his rant, Aizawa looked ready to tie him up and start his own onslaught of questions.

But all the man did was take a deep breath. "You're absolutely right, we do want to keep an eye on you kids. You ran from a hospital of all places, after all. Not many people even think of running from one of the safest places on earth."

There was no way Eraserhead was being serious. Cleanest? Sure. But one if the safest places on earth? Absolutely not. Dazai could name more species of rats than hospitals he could trust.

Spoiler alert, he wasn't sure if rats even had other species. The kid hated everything to do with the stupid rodents.

"There are so many more proficient ways to keep an eye on you boys than bugging your private spaces, like your mattress." The man seemed genuinely baffled at the mere suggestion of it. "We're worried about you two. And not just your physical health." He gestured to the bandages covering Dazai.

Fuck. Dazai didn't like where this was heading. 

"But also your mental wellbeing." 

There it was. Dazai had been waiting for someone to bring up some form of help. These 'heroes' were pitying him too much for him not to have seen it coming. However, Dazai hadn't left Shida alone to be lectured on his mindset.

Aizawa seemed to completely miss this and continued on. "Which is why starting next week once you've settled down, you'll be attending therapy with Hound Dog."

Dazai's entire body froze over. 

What?

What bastard went and told Eraserhead that he and Shida needed therapy? Who was 'hound dog'? Was it an actual dog, or was it some weird choice of a hero name? The brunette went to Aizawa for answers, and by the looks of it was going to leave more confused.

He forced himself into manual breathing. "No, we aren't." he spat, feeling a chill run down his spine.

The man sighed. "I know you don't want to. But Nezu has requested it himself."

"The hell does that mean?"

"It means that you don't have a choice."

To think that just five minutes ago, Dazai didn't mind the idea of staying in U.A. for a little while. His opinion had changed drastically since then.

Aizawa didn't say anything more. He leaned back on his bed and sat there silently for a few, long moments to allow his student the time to take in the information. 

"You think something is wrong with us? After, what, fifty-six hours of knowing us?" Dazai questioned, his heart in his throat. He hated how vulnerable he was feeling; how he felt like the walls were going to close in on him.

Eraserhead shot straight up, his eyes bulging. "Of course not! Nothing is wrong with either of you!" He raised his hands, palms out, as if that would prove anything he was saying. "It won’t be anything major. Hound Dog will have about three sessions with you each, and he’ll just see if you two require anything fur-"

Dazai cut him off harshly, his eye wide as it could be. "Is that supposed to be a metaphor?" He levelled his entire face except for his eye, making sure his mouth barely moved as he spoke.

Aizawa paused, but he didn’t look intimidated by the boy's haunted expression. "Is what a metaphor?" he asked.

"Hound Dog." The one-eyed teenager's detest for the word showed through the way he spat it out.

An eyebrow raised. "It’s his hero name, yes. But he does have some dog-like characteristics." Aizawa was giving Dazai the very least, and the boy couldn't tell whether or not he was doing it on purpose.

Either way, he would have to ask more questions. "Does he bark? Have fur? A snout?"

Aizawa was clearly taken aback at his insistent interest in the counsellor, but he did his best to hide it. "Yes, he does." he confirmed all three.

There was his answer. Eraserhead was trying to get him to go to therapy with a dog. Dazai would rather kill himself in the most painful way possible than do such a thing. "You can try and drag us kicking and screaming, but we won't be going anywhere near a fucking mutt." His throat scratched with the intensity of his own words.

The man seemed to realise that he was panicking. He shot off the bed and moved towards the kid, who took ten steps back in return. "Dazai, what's wrong? What's happened?" He was confused and worried, but he also knew to stay away and respect Dazai's boundaries.

Osamu realised from his teacher's questions that he was trembling. He bit his lip, drawing blood, and tried to make himself smaller. His heart pounded loudly against his chest, and he wished he knew how to rip it out.

If Eraserhead and Nezu were anything at all like Mori, then Dazai and Tadashi would have no choice but to go near the mutt.

He didn't want to. He shouldn't have to. Nothing had happened, nothing had gone wrong. He didn't deserve to be thrown to the dogs again. He wasn't going near the whining, the barking, the snarling, the drool—

Dazai gasped, his hand clawing at his chest where his loud heart was. He couldn't go back yet. It had only been a week since his last punishment.

He grunted as he felt a sudden weight on his arms. Dazai realised with a blink that he had been stuck in his head again. 

"—zai! What's wrong with you, bastard?! What the hell did you do?!" Ah, that was Shida's voice. The weight on Osamu's arm doubled for a second, the hands holding him firmly giving him a squeeze. Shida had come to save him.

"Dazai, what happened? What did he do to you?" Freckles looked ready to bash someone's skull in. As much as Dazai appreciated the thought, it wasn't what they needed. 

He shook his head. "Silly Shida," he grinned despite still feeling cold and trembling. "We were just talking. And speaking of speaking, why don't we take our leave to do the same? Aizawa Sensei is a very busy man, as he's been telling me."

Dazai pressed his hands to Tadashi's back, gently but insistently guiding him out of the room and into the common area. The green boy kept his head turned the entire way, making sure that Aizawa could see his disapproval on his face.

Once the door was shut behind them, Dazai removed his hands from his partner. He took a step back and looked anywhere but at the concerned eyes in front of him. "Shida, I—" what was there to say? He had abandoned him. He had left him alone without telling him anything.

He deserved whatever was coming. He deserved—

"Goddamn it," Tadashi's voice was wobbly, like he was fighting back tears. 

Dazai's eye widened and his head snapped towards Shida in surprise. Before he could turn around all the way, Tadashi was crashing into him. Dazai's arms wrapped around him on instinct, and he grunted at the force of the hug as he was pushed back a step.

He took a deep breath. "That bad, hm?"

He felt Shida nod against him. "You stupid piece of crap." he mumbled, his hand crumpling the back of Dazai's shirt.

Inwardly, the brunette sighed. He knew he had to wrap things up with Mr. Demon quickly, yet he let it go on for long enough that Shida was clinging to him. It wasn't unusual for the green boy to wake up screaming or throwing up, but he only ever sought out physical comfort like such when his nightmares really shake him.

Dazai should apologise. He knew that. But, like every other time, he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud. Did he even feel sorry? He wasn't sure. He probably should. He was displeased with himself, but he didn't think that counted.

Tadashi looked up from where his face was planted in Dazai's collarbone. He looked ruffled and on the verge of tears, but they didn't spill. His breathing was uneven, but he wasn't trembling. 

Osamu took another deep breath to settle himself down further. If he continued to think about dogs, then he wouldn't be able to help Shida stop panicking. A panicking mafioso was a useless one, and so Dazai had to help his partner regain his status.

"C'mon, Shida. Let's go into our room." He and Tadashi both let go at the same time. Shida kept a firm grip on one of Dazai's bandaged arms as they walked. Once they made it inside the room, the boy's shoulders slumped as the tension in them faded away.

"Do you wish to talk about it?" Dazai asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed. He rested his elbows on his knees, interlocking his fingers together. 

Shida sat down next to him, his right leg slightly touching Dazai's left. "I—I didn't make it in time. The attack was too fa—fast, and One For All wasn't awakened."

Ah. 

The brunette knew exactly what his partner was talking about. The mission they had failed. He let Kenshiro grab onto his arm again as he continued to explain his nightmare.

"You got stabbed. Right in the chest. In the hea—heart." Shida's voice broke slightly, and Dazai grabbed the hand that was in a fist. He gently turned it palm up, staring at the indents Shida's nail had created.

"Silly Veggie," he tsked. "Of course you made it!" he forced himself to sound teasing, guiding Tadashi's hand with his own to the panicked boy's sweat covered shirt. He traced the scar he knew laid beneath the fabric. "You have proof of it. I wasn't the one who was stabbed; you quite literally jumped in and saved the day." he reminded.

Shida huffed a small laugh at his wording. "I—I know. But, shit, your body went cold in my arms." His eyes glossed over as he recalled his dream. "You bled out everywhere on me, and no matter how much I screamed, no one came to help."

Dazai listened silently, the image of such an event maddingly clear for something that didn't happen. For a moment, he wondered how Shida would react if it wasn't his fault that he bled out. If he did it to himself and help didn't reach him in time. 

He felt himself frown at the thought. He really couldn't even listen to his best friend struggling to overcome a nightmare without being selfish?

"I woke up screaming, covered in my own sweat, and alone. So obviously, I ran out of the room. When I heard your voice through Eraserhead's door, I very nearly kicked it down." Shida's eyes snapped to his, and the brunette saw they were no longer watery. "And I saw you boarder lining an anxiety attack."

What? Dazai didn't think it had been that bad, had it? Because if it was, then he was so far gone he hadn't even realised his own state.

Tadashi squeezed the brunette's hand. "That motherf—hero. That hero had triggered you. I was still panicking, and then I saw you panicking, so I kinda blew up and screamed in his face." he looked a little embarrassed, but not regretful. 

"Shida came to my rescue once again!" Dazai praised.

Freckles scoffed lightly. "Don't start with me. We both need to shower again to cool down a bit."

Dazai groaned loudly as Tadashi released his hand to stand up and walk over to the cupboard. "C'mon, Shidaaa! I only just showered!" he pleaded, jumping off the bed to slouch himself across his partner's shoulders.

"You're covered in sweat. Go,"

The brunette sighed sadly, singing his entire way to the bathroom about how unfair Shida was being. "He doesn't care for me, he only cares of my sweating! He pushes and shoves, pretends he loves, when really, he's a meanie in disguise! Oh, yes! Haven't you heard? Shida's a meanie in disguise!"

Tadashi was entirely unaffected by Dazai's song, digging through the clothing in front of him. He found some comfortable looking clothes and set them on the desk for later, then left the room to go bring over Dazai's clothing from next door.

Once he was finished with that, he shoved his own selection of clothing to one side of the closet. He neatly placed his partner's on the now free side (which was all plain clothing, why was Tadashi the one stuck with random heroes on his clothes?) and sighed contently once he was done.

He would have to do the laundry once he was done with his own shower so he could wash all of their dirty clothes in one go. 

Soon enough, Dazai returned from the bathroom and grinned as he kept the door open for the greenette. "Thank you," Tadashi said, not hiding his suspicion at the action.

"Of course! Every pretty lady needs her gentleman, after all!" the brunette beamed. As always, his eye remained empty even as he smiled brightly.

Tadashi just rolled own his eyes as he closed the door on him.

--

It wasn't often that Dazai made mistakes, but it did happen from time to time when he was off his game for whatever reason.

Which the boy clearly was, judging by Osamu's still slightly trembling hands and the half washed away blood left in the sink.

There weren't any blades in the bathroom from what Tadashi could see, which could have meant that Dazai took his chosen weapon with him out of the room, or he hid it very well. It was obvious the executive wasn't holding up well, but cutting himself wasn't exactly out of the ordinary so there was no surprise there.

The freckled teen wanted to rush out of the room to make sure that Dazai hadn't cut too deep, but he knew that his partner would need his space for a few minutes. So, he carefully washed the rest of the crimson liquid down the bathroom sink and resumed with what he went in there to do.

It was a strange feeling to stand under hot water while feeling upset. It felt like he was also washing away his feelings, like he was suddenly able to let go of everything and think with a clear mind.

He scrubbed his skin until it was raw, watching the water flow down the drain with half hazy eyes. He stood there like that for five minutes before it became too much and the heat was making him lightheaded.

He rewrapped the bandages around his arms after towelling off, his arms moving mechanically. 

Meanwhile, he mentally went through what to do next.

He would have to check Dazai's arms and make sure he didn't need stitching, and he would have to force Dazai to fall asleep. There was no way he was going to be able to operate properly the next day if he didn't get at least a few hours of rest. 

Tadashi scooped up the pile of clothes on the bathroom floor, including their mafia attire, and walked out of the bathroom. The brunette was sitting on the bed, looking outside of the window longingly. He must've been feeling gross by having to stay in their room.

Normally they're out running around every night.

Kenshiro sighed, "Come with me," he asked. Though it wasn't really a question; he would drag Dazai out with him if he had to.

Dazai turned his head, looking at the bunch of clothing in Tadashi's hand. He stood from the bed without a word, following behind the green boy silently.

They walked out of the room and into the laundry room a few paces down. The one-eyed teen sat himself on top of the washing machine adjacent to the one Tadashi was using. He swung his legs as he waited for Tadashi to finish, grinning at him once he did.

"Shida's such a sap," he teased.

"Shida needs to check what his partner has done to himself." Tadashi replied, holding a hand out. Dazai kissed his teeth in faux annoyance but placed his hand in Kenshiro's anyway.

Tadashi slowly unravelled Dazai's bandages, careful not to irritate anything that lay beneath them. The sound of the machine next to them filled the air, but there was no tension. They were both used to this routine, even if Dazai claimed that Shida had no need to be so paranoid all the time.

Angry, red lines were scattered across his wrists with no pattern to it. The freckled mafioso slightly poked his tongue out in concentration as he assessed the damage, trying to be as careful as he could. He gently stretched the skin with his thumb, aware of how much pain Dazai must have been in as he did so.

The bleeding had stopped, and no stitches would be required this time.

He worked quickly, rewrapping the arm once he was done. "You haven't cut deep," he gave Osamu a small smile. "You did a good job, Emo."

Tadashi knew that Dazai would feel lighter knowing that someone was acknowledging that he held himself back. That he didn't hurt himself seriously, like he was no doubt wanting to. The greenette knew how alone moments of vulnerability could make you feel, even if you're surrounded by people.

He didn't want anyone to ever feel like that if he could help it, unless they deserved it. Which Dazai did not.

A tsk, "See? Shida is always such a sap! My teeth are gonna start rotting soon!"

Tadashi laughed at his antics, pretending he didn't see the way half of the tension left Dazai's body.

If Dazai fell asleep with his hands still in his partner's hair, then who was anyone to judge? Besides, he counted nearly twenty strands of white hair before he fell asleep! That was pretty good considering he usually was only able to spot ten to sixteen.

Or maybe Shida's hair was just getting more grey, like an old man.

Tadashi laid as still as he possibly could, trying to ignore his loudly beating heart. Any bit of movement would rouse the sleeping beast lightly breathing behind him, so he tried his best to stay still.

So what if Dazai fell asleep with his hands still in his hair? That just meant that he was exhausted, and Tadashi was in no place to judge.

Chapter Text

Dazai was awake before Tadashi was. He sat up, ignoring the strange twirl his stomach did when he realised his hands had stayed in Shida's hair all night as he listened to the birds sing outside.

They had stayed up rather late, talking about useless stuff while they waited for their clothes to finish washing. They also found out that the washing machine wasn't a washing machine. It also dried their clothing, which was why it took so long.

Tadashi was ecstatic, ranting about how he'd never seen anything like it while Dazai played with his hair and slowly drifted to sleep. He now put his back to the wall, contemplating what to tell his partner when he woke up.

Obviously, he would have to say something about Hound Dog and how Aizawa was forcing them to go to therapy. Dazai knew Tadashi wouldn't be very happy about that, and neither was he. He often let his anger out by drinking as hard as he could or punching someone, but none of that was available. 

His throbbing arms were a painful reminder of that. 

When the sleeping beauty finally awoke, he shifted around so that he was facing Dazai. "Shit," He blinked. "Did I fall asleep? Sorry, Dazai. I was supposed to keep watch." 

Dazai flapped his hand around. "Shida's clearly just being a lazy bum. I'm not surprised I have to pick up the slack around here!" He knew why Tadashi fell asleep; the stupid Veggie was being affected by Musutafu and his energy was draining. So Dazai couldn't be upset with him this time. 

Then, he frowned. Shida's wary smile was gone in an instant. "What? What happened, Emo?" He braced himself on his hands, stretching like a seal. 

"I suppose I should tell you why I had reacted the way I did while I was with Mr. Demon, since you told me about your nightmare. An eye for an eye, or whatever." Osamu fiddled with his bandages.

Tadashi's mouth dropped open like a fish, and he started to flail his arms around frantically. "No, of course not! I told you by choice, you don't have to—"

The brunette laughed, his lungs losing air as he did. "I was just teasing, Shida." he pretended to wipe a tear away. Shida's face fell and Dazai cracked up again at it. 

Shida sat up properly, crossing his arms over his chest with embarrassed, reddened cheeks. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Tell me when you're done so I can zone in and listen to what you have to say." his words were light-hearted, but they got Dazai to freeze.

He had two options. Dance around the subject and hope to stop Tadashi from almost having an anxiety attack like he did, or just give it to him bluntly. Half a heartbeat later, he decided to just go with the flow. "Aizawa Sensei informed me last night that starting from next week, we'll be going through therapy."

Shida gave him a flat look, and Dazai could only respond with a shrug. "I dunno, either. Apparently, it's principles orders or something." He would normally crack a joke and try to lessen the tension he was causing by his monotone, but he couldn't find it in him. He sighed, smooshing his face between his hands. "That's not the worst part, either." he grinned.

Judging by the look Shida gave him when he did, Dazai could tell that his smirk wasn't looking too good. "Our 'therapist' is supposed to be a heteromorph." The word rolled off his tongue easily, despite it only being the first time he had used it.

"So?"

"So, he's a fucking mutt." Dazai bit out, letting the slightest bit of anger peep out from behind his wall of nonchalance. The temperature in the room seemed to drop by thirty degrees.

Tadashi stared at him and his eyes were blown wide. "A...dog? We're being taught how to fix ourselves by a dog?" His hands snapped out, grabbing onto Dazai's and shaking them in disbelief. "And it's mandatory. We don't get a choice." his voice cracked.

Dazai squeezed his hands to bring him back, but Shida's eyes had already glossed over. The brunette didn't have to ponder hard to know what he was thinking about.

Blood, everywhere. Loud barks and snarls. Sharp teeth. Hot drool pooling at his feet.

Horrible.

Terrifying.

Dogs.

Then, Kenshiro looked up with a new determination. One that told Dazai that he had just come up with something good and the brunette grinned at the sight of it. That was all Shida needed to get talking.

"Dazai, let's show them who needs therapy. Let's scare the shit out of Vlad's kids so bad that the mutt's schedule will be too packed to fit us in. Actually, you know what? Let's just terrorise everyone. Teachers and students." Tadashi started to frantically shake Dazai's hands again, but with excitement rather than disbelief. 

It was a stupid plan. They both knew that they would need something that rhymed with 'curder' if they wanted to get away from Hound Dog's sessions, but terrorising people while feeling justified was a rare event that neither boy would ever pass up.

"Of course, Shida! Anything for my Veggie!"

Whack!

Dazai pouted as he rubbed his now sore head. He saw that one coming.

The two mafia executives got ready for school.

Dazai had his stupid red bow on, and Tadashi unfortunately had to go another day with the red monstrosities on his feet. He rolled the sleeves of his blouse and blazer up, content he was now able to do it because he wanted to, not just because he had to keep them from dangling down his arms awkwardly.

Just before they left their room, Tadashi grabbed Dazai's arm before remembering the lines that lay beneath the bandages and immediately letting go with a quiet apology. "Thank you, Dazai. For telling me your reasons." he then said sincerely.

He stared at Osamu meaningfully, hoping he was successfully conveying that he was being serious and not pretending like he did with other people.

Dazai rolled his eye like he had been told to do paperwork. "Stupid Freckles," he mumbled. "Jeez, does Shida think so lowly of me? Of course I told you, you're directly involved as well!" his faux irritation didn't work on his partner.

"You know what I mean. I'm being serious, Emo." Tadashi gave a small smile; one that was genuine for once. "Thanks,"

The brunette huffed, unsurprisingly complaining about Tadashi being a sap again as he pushed their door open.

He immediately began to preform 'over-exaggerate', slamming one of his arms around Tadashi's shoulders and half leaning on him like the greenette was a walking stick. "Gooood morning!" he sang in a loud tone. As if they needed any more attention on them than what they had just leaving their room.

"Oh, good morning you two!" Iida walked over with a tired smile. Kenshiro could relate to that greatly. "I don't believe either of you had dinner, am I right? Come join us for breakfast! Sato is making the most delicious grilled fish." he insisted, gesturing to the Hulk in the kitchen, who grinned at them.

"We're fine." Dazai didn't even try to pretend like he gave it some thought. God, what happened to playing nice?

The freckled bandaged teen stepped forward, "We aren't hungry at the moment, is all." he said politely, declining the offer. He didn't smile or use manners, but judging by Iida's look, the boy much preferred Tadashi's response to Osamu's bland one. Apparently, it still wasn't enough, though.

"Nonsense!" Iida chuckled. "As future heroes, having nutritious and plentiful meals is crucial!" he gestured to Sato again. By now, pretty much every set of eyes was on the three of them. 

Even if Tadashi had wanted to eat with them and fit in or whatever, he doubted he would be able to eat much more than a few pieces of toast. He knew his partner, who remained silent and observing from beside him, was much the same (if not worse).

"We're all good, Iida." The use of names felt familiar in a way Tadashi didn't like. He would avoid doing so from then on.

Iida's bushy brows dipped in confusion, like the concept of someone not wanting a full meal cooked by Sato was foreign to him. "Do you not like fish?"

Jesus, could this guy get any denser? Not only that, but he also looked incredibly disappointed at the suggestion.

Tadashi gave him a levelled stare. "We just aren't hungry." If Mori hadn't drilled into him the art of masks, he was sure his annoyance would have slipped through his voice. But Mori had drilled the skill into him, and the green boy used it without flaw. "You guys got bread? We'll just have some toast if you're so worried."

Dazai, making his presence known once more, groaned loudly. He slipped his other arm around his partner's shoulders as he complained. "I don't wanna! Don't be cruel, Shida!"

Kenshiro didn't bother turning his head and giving him the satisfaction of eye contact. "If you pass out today," he drawled. "I'll kick your ass."

Multiple people gasped and Tadashi's mind went blank for a second. Surely these heroes weren't so stuck up that a single bad work rattled them. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Are-is that kind of language not allowed?" he let his disbelief show this time, and Dazai snorted from where his head was on his shoulder.

Iida sputtered, "Well, no, but— I—"

"What he means to say," Yaoyorozu spoke up, placing her mug onto the table in front of her. Tadashi had the suspicion it was because her hands were shaking too much. "Is that it's just a little surprising. It's not often someone in the hero course has that kind of... vocabulary. I'm sure you understand." She was one hell of a liar, that was evident.

Just not good enough to throw off Tadashi or Dazai into thinking she was telling the truth.

"Okay, then." the greenette decided to move past it, ignoring the strange pang in his chest. "Are we allowed in the kitchen?"

"Of course!" Iida recovered himself, practically screeching at the same time Sato said: "There's always room for some chefs here!" Sato looked like he ate children for fun, and yet the mafioso had the feeling he got sad stepping on ants.

He and Dazai went into the kitchen and Tadashi made them two pieces of toast each. Dazai grumbled the entire time, pouting but shutting up when Tadashi threatened to shove the toast down his throat.

The entire time they had been in the common room, there were at least five to seven people staring at them at all times.

One person in particular clearly had a hard time looking away, that being Bakugo. He hadn't just stared; he had been viscously communicating his (laughable) murderous intent through his eyeballs and snarl. The green boy greatly looked forward to punching his face in while training.

They finished, then left the dorm building while pointedly ignoring the offers to walk with them. 

Class was… something.

Aizawa was boring, he just took the roll and went to sleep in his cocoon. Midnight had been half-flirting with the class, boys and girls, sending her pitying look over at Kenshiro and Dazai unprovoked occasionally. Present Mic had been enthusiastic, but his class was arguably the least exciting considering they were both already fluent in the language he was teaching.

Then lunch came around. It would be the second biggest challenge of the day.

Tadashi and his hip attachment walked into the cafeteria together.

For the students who couldn't take their eyes off of them yesterday, they sure had a lack of interest now.

There were only about thirty something kids staring at them, unable to take their eyes away. Half of 1-A (Tadashi spied the rest of them too busy shovelling food into their mouths and chattering away with partially grim faces), and a few other groups of tables that Dazai had claimed were the infamous 1-B. 

Tadashi knew better than to blow off Dazai's hunch.

Class 1-B had a lot of hate, envy (where the living hell did that even stem from?), and curiosity showing on their faces.

They were all annoying, but hate was the easiest to ignore. After all, when a freshly fifteen-year-old gets promoted before hundreds of twenty to forty something year olds, hatred tends to become the norm.

The freckled boy didn’t care as long as they all showed respect and followed orders when given, and the brunette only cared for results rather than being liked or admired.

They were just about to take their seats at an empty table, when someone called out to them. Asui jogged over, slightly out of breath. "Hello," she ribbited. She actually ribbited. "I'm Tsuyu Asui, in case you weren't aware! But just call me Tsu."

"Alright, Tsu." Dazai smiled, his fake pleasantries going right over 'Tsu's head. "What can we do for you this fine lunch hour?"

She fiddled with the hem of her skirt. "Sorry, but would you two mind sitting with me and my friends for today? Aizawa Sensei had some stuff for you, but you ran out of the class too quickly, so he gave it to us instead."

Ignoring the way she easily could have just brought the stuff over rather than inviting the executives to her friend group, Dazai smirked at Tadashi. "Why, here I thought me and Shida were going to be all alone! C'mon, let's go make some friends!"

Wow, that sounded absolutely dreadful.

Tadashi didn't need or want friends; he already had the only one he would ever need. But the mummified brunette tugged on his arm for a second, forcing him to go along with it.

Kenshiro sighed, letting Dazai rest his arm on his bicep. He didn't have the energy in him to lift his arms, which meant Dazai was just going to have to suck it up and look like a child clinging to its mother (even if he was the taller one) or let go. And of course, Dazai didn't even pout and seemed perfectly content with the first option.

Asui led them to her group of friends. The class Prez, Shoto Todoroki, and Ochaco Uraraka stared up at them with bright eyes. There was enough room that the four of them could sit on one side of the table, while the two mafia executives sat on the other side alone. At least none of them offered to sit beside them.

"You said Era—Aizawa Sensei had something to give us?" Tadashi prompted.

Iida nodded eagerly, pulling two packets of something and sliding them across the table. They both stared at them for a moment. They were the same nutrition-filled jelly pouches Aizawa had practically force-fed them the day before. A blackberry and watermelon flavour.

"He wants us to have jelly for lunch?" he already knew the answer but wanted further explanation.

Todoroki cleared his throat. "Aizawa Sensei let us know you two may not have the biggest appetite and to just let you have some of these." The kid kept his voice mostly flat, but a bit of hurt showed through it. 

...what the hell did that even mean? Did Eraserhead tell them that they have an eating disorder or something? 

"Why, how thoughtful of him!" Dazai snatched the blackberry flavour up, which left the watermelon to Tadashi.

"Have you two talked to Lunch Rush yet?" Todoroki asked, shovelling a mouthful of his soba into his mouth. His mismatched eyes bore into Kenshiro's. They were intense, but not unkind.

"Who?" Tadashi questioned. Judging by the name, it was obviously some kind of hero.

The freckled adolescent had long realised Eraserhead had only given them the profiles of staff they would be directly related to, which meant they were in the dark with almost everything else.

"He's the one that makes the lunch we're eating." Todoroki tilted the plate on his tray upward to show off his noodles like the two in front of him couldn't already so it. 

"He makes lunch for everyone? Seems a little much to me." Osamu said, fiddling with the plastic in his hands.

Uraraka smiled like he had told a joke. "No, he only makes the food for this wing. The other departments have their own chefs, but Lunch Rush was hired because he’s especially good with requests for students that need a different diet for training or injuries. He works close with Recovery Girl and helps her out when she has students bedridden."

Was this some kind of guessing game?

"Right... and who is Recovery Girl?" the brunette asked, smiling.

Tadashi had to look away. The sight of his partner's fake happiness made him slightly nauseous when he didn't have much energy left. It was like his brain couldn't handle it.

"Recovery Girl is the school nurse." Asui answered, stealing a fly with her stretchy tongue. "Just make sure not to visit her too many times or she'll threaten you to hit you with her cane."

Uraraka laughed, then her smile turned bittersweet. "She means good on her promise, too. I once knew a boy who got hit all the time because he kept breaking his arms." She stared meaningfully at Tadashi, who ignored her suspiciously shiny eyes.

"She punished him for breaking his arms? Jeez, I don't think we should ever go near her, Shida!" Dazai scooched his chair closer to the green boy as if he was scared Recovery Girl would pop out of nowhere from behind them. He cracked his jelly pouch open at the same time as Tadashi, and they shared a brief humorous glance.

Tadashi took half a sip of his, testing out the flavour by smacking his lips. It wasn’t bad, but the watermelon was definitely strong. It tasted like actual watermelon, not the artificial kind.

Dazai tasted his own in a similar manner, then handed it to the boy beside for him to taste.

Tadashi complied, taking a sip of it. The blackberry flavour wasn’t really evident, and there was a noticeable lesser amount of sugar in it than his own. Kenshiro preferred that one.

The one-eyed emo snatched his watermelon flavoured pouch out of his hands and tried it at the same time. His lips twitched in disgust, which meant it was too sweet for him.

Tadashi was about to laugh, but then Dazai went in for another sip. His face dropped. "What the hell are you doing?" he demanded.

Uraraka looked nervously between the two of them, and he realised she probably thought that he was mad at Dazai for stealing his jelly pouch. Reality was the opposite. Why would he keep eating something he didn’t like? 

The brunette sighed like he was trying to explain to a toddler why they couldn't have chocolate for every meal. "Clearly, Shida got attached to the blackberry. He needs to eat up for later today, and I was simply being generous and giving it to him!" he smirked. "Why? Does it make Shida nervous?"

Tadashi scoffed, decided not to comment on that last bit. "Dazai, sweet food is on your list of top things you hate. Why—"

A half-bandaged hand was shoved into his face, effectively hushing him. "I'm afraid Dazai isn't able to answer the phone right now. Please call again later." The shit eating grin on his face didn't annoy the green boy like it normally did. He didn't have the energy to be frustrated.

Tadashi pushed the hand off of his face. He opened his mouth to say something, but Dazai shook his head slightly. He didn't want to talk about it. Why? Tadashi wanted to know why he would keep eating something he didn't like when he usually liked watching Tadashi make faces at food, even while they were performing over-exaggerate.

Asui looked overjoyed at their interaction. "You two must be close, huh?" She teased. "How'd you meet?"

Osamu let out a breath. "Oh, you wouldn't believe me." He leaned forward in his seat and glanced over at his partner.

"Don't."

His brown eye glinted, and that was the only warning Tadashi got before Dazai went on a rant of bullshit. "Poor thing was floating in a river, you see. I had to fish him out with my bare hands and scavenge around for something to feed him with! He even bit me while I was trying to feed him!"

The greenette sputtered for a moment. "That's—you're just telling my story about the half dead cat I found!"

Osamu clicked his tongue in annoyance, taking another sip of his watermelon jelly before answering. "Hush now, my dear. Don't you know veggies don't talk?" he questioned, blinking mockingly. How the hell did he even do that? How could someone blink with emotion?

"People don't call vegetables 'dear', either." Tadashi retorted, half glaring.

For the rest of lunch, the executives were forced to put up with the four kids in front of them and their curiosity. Sometimes they would have to make a lie up on the spot, other times they could just tell the truth.

"If you don’t mind my asking, when did you two meet?" Uraraka asked, her already pink cheeks gaining colour.

"A year ago now. Shida’s been glued to my hip ever since!"

Tadashi would argue it went both ways, but he kept his mouth shut.

The lunch bell went again to signal the end of the hour, but they clearly all wanted to keep asking questions. Todoroki was the one with the most, surprisingly. He looked like he was a quiet kid, but clearly his curiosity got him talking if you let it.

Even more surprisingly, no one asked anything about their bandages the entire time.

They all walked to class together, and Kenshiro found the energy to put his hands behind his head so Dazai could hold onto him without looking like a lost toddler. Tadashi also had to drive him away from the floor to ceiling windows a few times on their way there, but it wasn’t so bad.

There was another set of classes to go through, which Dazai sat through silently, before they were finally led as a class to the training grounds.

The rest of the school was already in their dorms, and Dazai could tell that Shida wished he were the same. He looked worse than he had last night, and Dazai pushed down the strange, unfamiliar feeling of genuine concern down as far as he could.

All he needed was for Shida to be at the top of his game, he didn't need to be seriously worried about his wellbeing. He didn't need any weaknesses right now.

Eraserhead led them to ground Gamma, pushing all of Class A to the changing rooms at the front. The man pulled aside Dazai just as he was about to go into the boy's locker room. "You don't need to change with everyone else, Dazai. You and Tadashi can both stay behind if you need to." He then shoved two pairs of training uniforms into his bandaged arms.

The brunette stopped himself from wincing as his bandages were ruffled, causing his still mostly fresh arms to sting. He grinned, "Of course, Sensei." He turned away without waiting for a response, walking into the changing room with a silent sigh. 

The rest of the boys were already half-way dressed in their ridiculous-looking costumes, which made them their own official circus crew, rather than just circus crew number two.

Dazai decided to call them the Kiddie Crew, since the heroes were already claimed as the Circus Crew.

Shida was waiting for him in the corner of the room, sitting down on one of the benches. He handed the smaller training uniform to the freckled boy, who frowned at them. "These look ugly." he said flatly.

Dazai nodded in agreement, "Yet another thing to make Shida look like a dork! Now he'll have bright green hair, bright red shoes, and bright blue clothing to match! He's got the full set." he teased, evading the slap to the shoulder Tadashi tried to give him.

Shida, unlike his partner, was completely immodest! He took off his uniform without a second thought, paying no mind to the boys around them who tried to sneak subtle glances at him as he did, which was such a weird thing to do in Dazai's opinion. Towards both parties, he decided.

Tadashi took off his blouse, throwing it on top of the pile of clothing now sitting on the bench beside him. His upper body was exposed, showing off the scars along his torso. The jagged line that ran across the left side of his chest down to his belly button and the permanent teeth marks that lay on his right hip.

He threw on the blue U.A. shirt before anyone would have been able to really have a look. He swapped out his trousers but had to leave on his shoes, which he grumbled about. 

Once everyone else was out of the room as well, Dazai repeated the actions. He shivered as he took off his blouse, the cold air hitting his skin. He glanced down at the matching scar of teeth marks he had with Shida that lay beneath his right ribs before shoving on the shirt he had been handed. 

No use crying over spilt milk now.

The one-eyed teen was glad that no one had attempted to talk to them while they were changing, but it was almost suspicious how much space they had given them. He asked Shida about it as they walked out, and he got a shrug in reply. 

"Eraserhead probably told them to knock off being all up in our business." Tadashi gave him a knowing look. "Most likely because I almost decked Mina for trying to grab your arms." Another shrug. 

Dazai chuckled. "Ah, what a protective Veggie I have!" he boasted. He shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked up to the crowd of students grouped together. 

Tadashi elbowed him, "My apologies, next time I'll just let her put you in pain." he raised one of his eyebrows.

Osamu gave him a simple, self-satisfied smirk in response. Then, "Shida was just jealous a girl wanted to touch me and not him."

Whack! 

"Ouch! Aw, man.."

"Don't act like you didn't expect that."

--

The group was led further through the training grounds with the two executives at the back of the class A's side of the group. More than a few of them claimed they were dreading having to go up against class B, while others were visibly excited to start up. It would seem to two classes had a history of rivalry, though that was to be expected since they were the only two classes in the hero course and it was full of immature teenagers. Dazai had the feeling it was the same in the other grades, as well.

Tadashi watched this silently and the brunette could tell that despite the initial excitement they had also experienced the night before, Shida was feeling exhausted again and was already completely over it. They walked up some stairs onto a purple platform that had a large screen in front of it, which would presumably show the whatever training was going to happen as it went on.

Eraserhead and Vlad King stood at the front as everyone else sat down. "I know everyone is excited today, but let me remind you that if anyone acts out, they'll be excluded from the training." Vlad King said, crossing his arms over his chest. 

"That being said," Aizawa started, his eyes skimming over the group of kids in front of him. "The training exercise for today will be heroes and villains."

A series of whoops and cheers go around the area, indicating that 'heroes and villains' was a crowd favourite.

The tired man raised a hand to shut everyone up. He continued on once it was silent. "As we all know, there are two heroes and two villains. However, for today, there will be two heroes and three villains. The villain’s goal is to destroy as much property as you possibly can within ten minutes. The hero's goal is to catch all three villains before the timer runs out. Whichever hero team can catch the villains with the least amount of damage caused wins."

That seemed easy enough. All they had to do was capture some evil villains.

"Everyone gets a hundred-by-hundred metre area to destroy; your area will be marked with cones the robots put out." Vlad King further explained, looking stupidly proud.

Dazai raised his hand, waving his arm in the air until he was called on by his homeroom teacher. "How are the villains caught?" Nearly twenty pairs of eyes snap to him, but by now the mafioso was used to teenagers staring at him for the littlest things. 

Vlad King rolled his eyes because clearly answering such a question like a normal person was just too inconvenient for him. "Usually, you have to wrap a bit of tape around their wrists or throw them in jail. However, today there is a third option." he grinned, throwing a thumbs up and a wink at his students promisingly.

Bakugo chuckled stupidly, "We get to beat the stupid villains to death!" He smashed a closed fist into an open palm.

Eraserhead rolled his eyes. "The new rule added is that if you render someone unconscious, it counts as an automatic elimination. You don't have to take them to jail or put tape on them." He grabbed a remote out of his pocket and flicked the television screen behind him on. It flashed with three different pictures of stick figures demonstrating how to be eliminated.

"If anyone leaves here with more than two broken bones, you'll all have detention with me for a week." Aizawa threatened, his eyes glimmering red for a moment as he widened them. 

Dazai squinted at him, noticing how the man's blinking rate increased afterwards. It would seem one of his weaknesses was having dry eyes.

A lot of students looked overjoyed by this new rule, while the rest of them were either uninterested or clearly paled in horror. More specifically, the dude with grapes for hair looked just about ready to defecate himself.

Osamu's eye twinkled with mischief as he turned to Shida to try and tell him what he was seeing so they could use it later, when—

"You motherfuckers better pray you aren't villains when I'm the hero." Bakugo stormed over to them, leaning over the sitting executives. "I'll kill you both. Especially you, Deku!" he pointed at gloved finger at Shida, who smacked it out of his face. 

"What's a 'deku'?" he mumbled, a crease forming between his eyebrows as they dipped.

Bakugo made a noise hilariously similar to a growl in frustration. "You, you useless waste of space!" he snapped.

Dazai was seriously beginning to enjoy this guy's company! He was a funny fellow, indeed. Although, he could also see how the blonde might be a problem in the future and Dazai kept Tadashi's initial thoughts on Bakugo's vibe from their first night here in mind at all times.

"The explosive one. I saw his picture and got a bad vibe from him."

"Deku, hm? That's definitely a new one." Shida said, tapping a freckled cheek in thought for a moment. "Never heard an insult like that before." 

The bandaged brunette sighed through his nose, slightly shaking his head from his thoughts. "To be fair, most people are usually too scared and are too busy running away to call you anything original." He spotted a few people cringe at his wording from his peripheral vision, which got him to grin.

Tadashi nodded almost disappointedly. "You're right. It's always the same 'devil!' and 'you monster!' " He matched his partner's expression, giving him a high five.

Bakugo fumed at this, a vein slowly beginning to show on his forehead. "You think you're fucking special?" he said lowly. Menacingly.

Good thing the two mafioso's had experienced a lot more scarier things than a teenager with anger issues and an explosion ability! Otherwise, who knows what their reaction to an angry, spiky chihuahua would be?

"You think you get to ignore me, Deku?" His palms were glowing red, and Dazai had half the mind to trip him over before was able to use his ability. "No one here is scared of a twerp like you!" Bakugo screeched furiously.

When all Shida did in reply was stare at him blankly, his red eyes began to shine with just barely there tears. 

...Mood swing much?

"I don't know what reaction you're hoping to get from me," Shida stood up slowly, bracing his hands on his knees as he did. Dazai hopped up as well with a lot more chirpiness. "But you're clearly not getting it, Bakugo. So unless you have something constructive to say, get out of my face."

Tadashi's eye twitched as he said the blonde's name and Osamu played it off as part of his exhaustion. He ignored the little voice in his mind begging him to dig deeper.

Bakugo looked all too ready to blow.

So Dazai, the best partner to ever exist, shoved the veggie behind him to face Mr. Anger issues himself. He tilted his head mockingly. "You said you were going to kill us, Bakugo." he said, all too aware of the freckled hand hovering above his own and ready to yank him backwards at any moment. "So you better make good on that promise, hm?"

Dazai blinked slowly and he saw the way the boy in front of him leaned backward involuntarily, obviously intimidated by Dazai's expression whether he was aware of it or not but too prideful to back down. "Based on your temper, I'd even say you're perfect for this exercise; you'd make a great villain. Do good out there are destroy lots of stuff, okay?"

Kirishima took a step forward, ready to defend Bakugo, but then said blonde lunged and the redhead slapped his forehead in disappointment. 

Shida pulled his partner backwards, his hand gripping onto Dazai's tightly. Brown met green, and the mafioso could tell Tadashi was pissed off just by the brightness in his eyes. 

Eraserhead's weapon wrapped around Bakugo's waist, and he was pulled back at the same time as Osamu. "If you can't be civil, get away from each other. Bakugo, stop threatening your classmates. Dazai, stop riling him up when you know it works."

The one-eyed teen pouted, shoving his head onto Tadashi's shoulder. "But Senseiiii!" he whined. "He started it; he said he was going to kill me!" Aizawa's face twitched, and Dazai knew that he was being thrown off by the boy's eyes as he spoke of death. "I was just making sure he would fulfill his promise, no?"

Tadashi clicked his tongue. "Cut it out, Sloth. We're supposed to be getting along with everyone and you're freaking them out." he lectured with a bored tone. 

Well, duh. How can Dazai not scare the audience of teenagers surrounding them? If the Kiddie Crew wanted a show, he was going to give them one!

Shida seemed to sense what he was thinking with his stupidly good intuition when it came to his partner and he kissed his teeth in annoyance. "Stop it,"

"Boo! Shida's acting like I'm ruining everything."

"Shida wants to get out of the spotlight," Tadashi retorted, attempting to pull Dazai away from the crowd before realised he was still holding onto the brunette's hand and quickly dropped it.

Dazai was aware of Shida’s distaste for having a bunch of people staring at him, but he knew it stemmed from a point of annoyance, not anxiety. So, he shrugged his shoulders. "Sometimes, Shida, living a little can be good for you!"

Kenshiro rolled his eyes aggressively and walked away. Dazai squawked in offence and chased after him until they were in the furthest part a corner on the platform. There were still people staring at them, but less since Eraserhead now held a piece of paper in his hands, presumably the teams for the training session.

This didn't interest the mafioso, so he zoned out and instead began to memorise the faces of class 1-B for later.

There was a particular blonde boy who was giving Shida a cocky smirk, though judging by the ginger girl sitting beside him glaring at him, such an occurrence happened often. Booooring! How unoriginal.

There was a rather interesting heteromorph in the class, though. He was a gorilla with sunglasses on, which was something Dazai would have never expected to see.

Shida nudged him and he nodded to show he was paying attention.

"We're the heroes. We're versing Shishida, Tetsutetsu, and Monoma." When Freckles spotted Osamu's look of 'I have no idea what you just said', he explained who those were. "The gorilla, Kirishima's grey copy, and the magician." 

That explained why the blonde dude was looking at Shida like he was a king looking down on a servant. Jeez, did Shida have on some sort of Blonde Repellent or what? They all seemed to have it out for him.

Bakugo, unsurprisingly, was a shitty teammate. Tadashi watched with boredom as he completely ignored the attempts Yaoyorozu made to make a plan with him, waving her off aggressively. She looked defeated but unsurprised.

The match was just as boring and the only thing interesting was seeing some dude make the concrete mud and watching Bakugo scream furiously as he tried to get out of it. Yaoyorozu managed to get one villain in jail, but the ten-minute timer went off before anything else could be done. Bakugo had visibly fumed the entire way back to the observation area.

Vlad King had given Aizawa a smug smirk, bragging about his kids winning. Tadashi hated him already. It was a waste to be so cocky after only one round.

His point was proven when in the next round, Kirishima, Mina, and Sero hid in the shadows as Vlad’s kids ran around looking for them. Kirishima was able to knock a few towers down and Mina dissolved a lot of metal. Sero made a few spider web contraptions that blocked off certain areas so that the two other members could destroy everything that lay behind the spider webs undisturbed for a few extra seconds at a time. 

The two class B kids got no one in jail, though one of them did manage to deck Sero in the face (which had been hilarious).

Tadashi and Dazai watched the rest of the matches with half-interest, only paying attention to everyone’s quirks. They would need to know how they worked and what the capabilities were just in case they were to ever go against them.

Then, it was the two executive's turn to go against the villains.

They walked calmly to their selected area, taking in their surroundings. There were metal poles everywhere they could hide inside of or behind, and perhaps even throw. But there were also random buildings and lone brick walls here and there that could be used to conceal them, but Tadashi doubted they would need to.

Dazai place his hands on his hips, his eyes flickering in every direction. "Based on the skill level of everyone we've seen so far, they all have a certain level of cockiness to them. It certainly won't be hard to trick them."

"But they're also tough nuts to crack," Tadashi didn't have to say what he was thinking as he said that; he knew Dazai knew he was referring to the brunette's physical strength compared to class 1-B.

A mafia member compared to students with physically enhancing abilities; the outcome was predictable. Which meant Dazai was going to be forced to rely on the element of surprise and hit them mentally rather than physically.

He hummed. "Monoma has some sort of copy ability. I heard him mumbling about wanting to copy mine so that they have some sort of idea of what it was before the match got too far in. He won't be a problem, so ignore him." Dazai let his voice trail, looking at Tadashi expectantly.

He was giving the reigns to his partner, letting him decide what to do next.

Kenshiro felt a bit of pride as he explained what he had planned. "Tetsutetsu will be easy to take out. I saw the way he was cheering, and I have no doubt he'll want to prove himself just as good as his peers and seek us out himself." He made a gesture with his hand, unsure himself of what he was doing but going with the flow anyway. 

"And the plan?" Dazai prompted, looking bored thus far.

"I suppose what we always do," Tadashi answered sarcastically.

He got a flat look in response. "We can't kill anyone just yet, Shida."

He rolled his eyes for the nth time in just that hour alone. "No, Dazai. I mean you erase their abilities so that I can beat the shit out of them."

"Oh," Dazai said stupidly. "Shucks. Anyhow, are we using weapons?"

Deciding to ignore that first part, Tadashi titled his head side to side with his face scrunched, thinking about it for a moment. "I might pick up a pole or two here and there."

Dazai stretched his arms over his head dramatically, "If you say so, Shida! Just remember, we have to book out the therapy sessions, okay?" His eye glinted and the freckled teen knew that his partner was feeling genuinely eager to bully those hero students.

He was feeling much the same.

Tadashi rest amongst a maze of metal pipes, concealing himself in the shadows they created. He was about ten metres above the ground, having climbed his way up easily with the help of One For All.

Dazai stood next to him, who had climbed up almost as easily as Tadashi had since he was inhumanly light on his feet. He hummed contently as they waited for the bell to signal the start of their match.

There was no way for them to be able to tell where any of the ‘villains’ were, but the green mafioso knew for a fact that Tetsutetsu would be seeking them out to try and take them out before they had the opportunity to take his team out first.

Vlad King's voice rung throughout the area; "Let the match between Tadashi and Dazai verses Shishida, Tetsutetsu, and Monoma... begin!" A loud alarm went off, and immediately two towers in the near distance went crashing down.

Shishida was a whole gorilla, which meant if they didn't take him out soon, he would cause enough damage that their team would automatically lose no matter how many 'villain's they eliminated.

A few more towers went down, but they were actively getting closer to thee boys. Someone was running towards them while simultaneously knocking down as much as they could.

"Oh? One of the villains has abandoned his teammates, searching for the heroes himself! Will he make it? Probably!" It was a lot worse hearing Vlad King's bias commentary in the field than it was just watching him cackle in delight in the observation area.

Tadashi activated One For All, ready to jump on top of Shishida as soon as he ran around the corner, when—

"Not yet," Dazai mumbled into his ear, placing a hand on his shoulder and No Longer Human deactivated One For All. "It's not the gorilla," he warned, his eyes trained in the direction where the person was no doubt in.

Tetsutetsu was the one to come flying around the corner, his body now a pale silver. His ability was turning himself into solid steel, it would seem. 

"He's a mix of Kirishima and the cement block hero." The brunette said, his voice humorous. 

Tadashi snorted, "Pretty much." He lifted one of his legs, shrugging off Dazai's hand so that he could activate One For All, then brought it down. The crash of his foot going through the metal pipe echoed loudly, quickly gaining the attention of Tetsutetsu. 

The boy's head snapped towards him, and his focus zoomed in on Tadashi. "What a stupid decision, Mid—Tadashi!" he cackled with a toothy grin, already running over. He reached the beginning of the maze of pipes, climbing up them rapidly by digging his solid fingers into the pipes to propel himself forward.

"Tetsutetsu has made contact with the heroes! Meanwhile, Shishida is still ravaging his surroundings! Will the two heroes be able to do anything about it?" the man was clearly suggesting he didn't believe so, falsely underestimating the two fifteen-year-olds.

Tadashi shook his head in mock disbelief, "What a cocky teacher, am I right?" he peered down at Tetsutetsu, who was only three metres away from reaching him.

"As he should be!" the student boasted, finally reaching the pipe the green boy was standing on. "After all, class B is already winning."

"By a measly single point," The executive retorted, skilfully dodging the first punch Tetsutetsu made.

He took another step back for every kick and swing the steel boy threw at him, forcing him to take a step forward each time in turn.

"Doesn't seem very fair to me that Vlad King is so bias when it comes to supporting students." he said, aware that they were now about three steps in front of Dazai's hiding spot. "The way he discourages class A could seriously hurt their confidence, you know. It's quite pathetic to see a hero teacher unheroically bullying students."

Tetsutetsu screamed out at him in a fit, swinging both a fist and foot at the same time. 

Tadashi leapt backwards, and Dazai lunged forwards. "Oh, wow!" The brunette exclaimed. "I can't believe you didn't see me, Tetsu!" He seemed ecstatic, and the boy behind him smiled at his enthusiasm.

After all, it had been about two months since they had been able to do things the way they wanted to when it came to beating people up. Mori couldn't stop them or order them around this time.

Brownie grabbed the back of Tetsutetsu’s head and the boy's steel form vanished as blue light sprung to life. He gagged violently at the sensation of No Longer Human consuming his body, his knees almost crumbling.

Dazai’s grip on his hair tightened as he moved to in front of him. He then grabbed the other side of Tetsutetsu’s head and brought it down fiercely, lifting his knee to meet his opponent's stomach.

Tetsutetsu cried out, his hands flying to the hands digging into his scalp and he attempted to peel them off his head. All he managed to do was leave a few deep scratches.

The longer he fought to activate his ability, the more No Longer Human took its toll, and the boy vomited all over himself. Dazai narrowly missed the splash near his feet and he wrinkled his face in disgust. Tadashi laughed loudly at it, not used to such a distinct expression on his partner's face.

Dazai clicked his tongue in distaste and threw Tetsutetsu over the edge of the pipe like he was discarding a used paper plate. He fell ten metres down and only just managed to activate his ability again, saving himself a concussion.

Tadashi jumped down after him, landing with grace beside the wheezing boy who was laying down and squeezing his probably bruised stomach. "What," he coughed gratingly. "What the hell was that?" His voice was strained, and Tadashi knew just breathing was hurting him.

The greenette crouched down in front of him, gently lifting his cold, steel chin with attentive care. He put on one of his best concerned faces, tutting quietly. "Oh, you poor thing. You look so tired, so ready to fall asleep..."

Dazai's footsteps came from up from behind him. The brunette had the ability to walk completely silently, as did Tadashi. He was purposely scaring Tetsutetsu.

Said student's wheezing breaths increased and he managed to pale, even through his tough silver skin.

"What do you think, Dazai? Shall I put Tetsutetsu out of his misery just yet?" Kenshiro asked as Dazai crouched beside him.

His dull eye bore into Tetsutetsu's and he titled his head in thought. "Perhaps just this once, Freckles." he suggested. He grabbed onto his partner’s bicep as they both stood and then he poked Tetsutetsu with his shoe, erasing his ability so he was in human form once more.

Tetsutetsu retched again, a single tear falling from his eyes.

Tadashi raised an eyebrow and Dazai grinned cruelly at him. "Wouldn't want Shida to break a precious toe, would we?" he said.

"No, we wouldn't." He slowly brought his leg back, then flung it forward towards the fake villain's face. The satisfying crunch of Tetsutetsu's nose breaking under the pressure of his foot was a lot louder than Tadashi remembered it being. Then again, it had been a while since he's broken someone's nose.

The student cried out for a single moment, then his body went completely limp.

"A-absolute brutality shown from the heroes. Is that—should heroes ever be allowed to treat villains like that?" Vlad King was substituting 'Tadashi and Dazai' with heroes and 'my student' with villains. He was obviously appalled and probably very angry, but, well, neither boy could bring himself to care.

Dazai even went as far as finding the nearest camera and blowing a kiss at it.

Tadashi huffed a quiet laugh at his antics, listening out for anything else. The crashes in the distance had stopped; Shishida was clearly worrying about what his teacher had said into the speaker.

The green adolescent's suspicions were confirmed when said gorilla came charging around the corner, breathing heavily through his nose. "What the hell have you done to Tetsutetsu?!" he demanded, his eyes frantic behind his sunglasses.

Monoma was clinging to the fur on his back, his wary smirk disappearing the moment he spotted his classmate, who was lying in a pool of his own blood at Tadashi's feet with his nose still gushing. "Are you two real villains?!" He leapt off his partner's back, taking a step towards the three boys across from him. His eyes were a little crazed. "You monsters! Now I know why your classmates look at you with hate!"

Tadashi shrugged, grinning. "Guess so." he chirped. He wasn't even close to Dazai's skill level of faux happiness, but he was still better than average. 

Shishida let out a cry of rage at this, which meant it worked even if the chuckling brunette beside him could have done it better.

Dazai paused for a moment, coming up with something. The mischief in his eyes, which was becoming more and more frequent as the hours passed, told Tadashi that he had come up with yet another thing to piss off the two in front of them.

He knelt down, mumbling something about not wanting Tetsutetsu to drown in his own blood, and moved the boy's head to the side so he wasn't face down on the concrete. "There we go!" he hollered proudly. He patted Tetsutetsu's head a few times, just barely flicking his wrists up and down to do so. "All better!"

He stood upright, snorting at the disbelief and anger on Shishida and Monoma's faces. "Who's next, hm?"

Chapter Text

Freckles had agreed to Dazai's suggestion when he said that they would make Vlad king's student scream, cry, and possibly throw up. The brunette had spotted Tetsutetsu shed a single tear, but he decided that didn't count and that Shida had meant he wanted hysterical sobs (because that's what he wanted, too).

That meant that they had only really ticked off one of three things, seeing as Tetsutetsu threw up all over himself, but it was the optional one. Again, there had been many pleasant screams thus far, but they were more out of rage or pain rather than terror.

Did Dazai particularly enjoy scaring teenagers until they were unable to breathe through their heaves and sobs?

No, not really.

But it was simply fascinating to him to be able to watch humans let out different sounds and make different expressions depending on how they were feeling, and being the cause of such drastic changes of mood was satisfying to Dazai. Watching humans react to a variety of scenarios, including his own expressions and words, was his version of bird watching. 

It was a hobby of such.

It was hard to tell precisely how much time they had left since Vlad King had been uncharacteristically silent since his last comment, probably watching with horror, but that didn't matter.

Osamu estimated that they still had another eight minutes left until their timer was up, which was plenty. It was more than they needed, considering all that was required was to slap a bit of tape around them or knock them out. Throwing them in jail wasn't an option, since that would require moving from the spot they were in and neither boy wanted to do that.

On a usual mission, Yin and Yang would kill their opponents and move on the next minute (of course, after washing the blood off their skin and bandages in the nearby river), but that option was unavailable. They were aiming to plant a seed of unease in the people around them, and they would force it to grow with their shenanigans until a tree of fear surrounded the very thought of the two fifteen-year-olds. 

So, they had eight minutes to get the two U.A. students in front of them to defecate in their pants. Seemed easy enough.

Monoma's nostrils were flaring. "What the hell is wrong with you two? How can we be sure you're not the villains with this display of brutality?!" he demanded, pointing a grubby finger at them. 

"Ah, what a guess! I really don't think you'd be surprised with what is 'wrong with us', Monoma!" Dazai smirked and it grew wider when Monoma shivered at the use of his name coming from the brunette.

Shishida also seemed to take it personally, as he bent forward until his palms were on the ground and he was in the stance of an actual gorilla. He huffed and puffed through his nose aggressively, obviously furious.

The Veggie wrinkled his nose, brushing his shoulder a few times as if Shishida's breathing had left a mark on his uniform. "Is he seriously on all fours right now? Is this normal, or should we be calling animal control?" he suggested, putting his hand on his hip as he regarded Shishida with a look of disgust. 

Dazai laughed, then ran forward with little effort as Shishida ran towards them with all of his speed. He wound his arm back at the last second before colliding with the teen, then surged it forward with a reasonable amount of force towards the hairy jaw. He clenched his teeth as his hand met bone, a wave of pain roaring up his arm.

...Gorilla jaws were pretty (stupidly) tough.

It did make Dazai feel a little better when Shishida returned back to his human size, gasping and out of breath at the effects of No Longer Human. He groaned, clenching his stomach rather than his face, which had just been decked. He was the second person to act like No Longer Human sucked his soul out.

Osamu would have to do some more research later, but he was piecing together evidence piece by piece to proof his theory that abilities and quirk were different, after all. 

The gorilla righted himself, shaking his arms around to pump himself up, before returning to his biggest form and charging at Dazai once again. He dove into the brunette, sending them both flying into one of the small buildings behind them. The wall broke at the pressure and collapsed on top of them with bricks falling at every angle. 

Dazai forced himself to take a few deep breaths at the pain forming over his back. Pain was just above one sweet food on his list of things he hated, and he just wasn't in the mood to deal with it. Yet he had no other choice.

Blue light exploded around him and Dazai could feel the weight on top of him decreasing as No Longer Human forced Shishida to return to his normal form. 

Creeeeak! Snap! Creeeeak... Crack!

Dazai frowned, and not just at the pain he was feeling. Creak snap creak crack? He lifted his head a bit and spotted some green sparks through the ball of blue light and Kanji still wearing off around him.

Shishida also heard the noise and promptly shot up. Dazai saw stars at the boy using him as leverage to boost himself up quicker.

They both groaned at the same time, one in pain and the other nauseous, and the gorilla turned his face away with a palm on the half-broken wall, letting the contents of his stomach out onto the floor. Then he ran away, off supposedly to wherever Shida was.

Two out of three have vomited at this point and we're still only about seven minutes in. Will we get three for three? Dazai thought as he also began to sit up, forcing himself to not focus on the hurt. He chuckled at the sight he laid his eye upon.

Monoma was suspended in the air, being held up by two metal beams that Freckles had bent with his ability over his stomach and legs. He was squirming and trying to push himself out of the hold of the beams to no avail, calling Shida cringe insults as he did while also insulting class A (and doing a terribly unoriginal job at doing so).

The gorilla was exchanging some pathetic punches with Dazai's partner, who looked ready to collapse. Not out of exhaustion, though the brunette would have to continue monitoring Shida's tiredness, but rather out of boredom. Clearly, he was finding a boy twice his size less interesting than the mafia rookies and thugs they would come across on the street in Yokohama.

Dazai crossed his arms and leaned back on the half-crumbled wall, watching with amusement. So what if Shishida had a physically enhancing ability? His level still wasn't matching with Shida’s One For All and both mafioso's had both faced enemies with greater combat skill than the student could ever dream of.

The green boy yawned loudly, whether it was fake or real was a mystery, and he ranted to Shishida about how watching fish open and close their mouths repeatedly was more interesting than his current opponent's predictable moves. The green sparks of lightning then expanded, growing brighter as he increased the intensity of his ability with practised ease.

Ah, Dazai did quite enjoy seeing his partner become riled up. 

Although his impatience and boredom were to blame for his sudden interest in no longer playing to Shishida's beat, it didn't make the Veggie's ability, or his expression, any less fascinating. 

Shida's eyes were glowing brightly, not just because of One For All, but because of the fierce determination burning inside them. Cleary, he wasn't going to waste much more time with the furry teenager and he was willing to do whatever in order to make his fight end. With him as the winner, of course.

He gets up close to Shishida, wrapping his arms tightly around the boy's neck and using that as leverage to haul himself onto his back. Tadashi wasted little effort bringing his opponent down from there, using his full body weight and his ability to make the beast topple over face first from imbalance.

Shida then crawled over his back and stood up, all in the span of a few quick moments that weren't long enough for the student to react, and brought his leg up in the air. He stomped down on Shishida's head, the resounding crack in result enough to make even Dazai blink in sympathy.

"Uh oh," he called out teasingly. "Did you kill him, Shida?" He slowly stood up, having to brace himself on the wall from the pain shooting up his back as he did, before letting out a huff of a laugh at the sight he looked upon. Or, more specifically, Monoma.

The blonde was now shaking in fear, staring down at his peer in horror. It was an amusing expression to see on the usually cocky boy's face.

Tadashi shook his head in mock disappointment, "No, Emo. He's just passed out. Which means," he turned his face to Monoma, who visibly flinched. "One to go." he finished, rolling his neck like he had a crick in it.

Dazai slowly walked up to him, laying his head on Shida’s shoulder. He pouted with a sympathetic expression, "Poor thing looks ready to explode with nervousness."

Shida nodded in agreement, his expression remaining neutral. "Mmmhm," he said with a sarcastic undertone. "I don’t blame him considering what your quirk did to his buddies. I wouldn’t like the anticipation of having that towards me, either." he gave Dazai a look.

The one-eyed teen shrugged his shoulder in response, whispering lowly so that the blonde in front of them didn't hear what he was saying. "We'll talk about that later," he promised without bothering to elaborate. Tadashi nodded, moving away from him. He gave the brunette's shoulder a quick squeeze for whatever reason, then walked a few paces away. 

Monoma was shaking harder at that point, his face paper white. "D-don't come any closer, you monster! Freak!" He spat out the insults hurriedly, making his terribly crafted, thought out, and pursued plan become apparent to Dazai. It was almost pitiful how badly he wanted to stall Dazai. Too bad the mafioso didn't do pity.

He placed a bandaged hand over his hard, blinking up at the blonde slightly above eye level from him. "How cruel," he cried out. "You really think that of me?"

"You foul, evil cockroaches have no right to be here at U.A. alongside me! Look at what you did to Real Steel and Gevaudan!" 

Those are the stupidest names I've ever heard so far, Dazai thought to himself. Tetsutetsu had any name he could have gone with, and he chose real steel? It wasn't a bitter thought by any means, simply an observation. Why would they ever let teenagers choose the names they would have and be known for, for the rest of their lives?

Osamu chuckled, his eye going wide. "Don't look so scared, Monoma," he drawled. "Didn't you say you were to copy my quirk, hm? Did you go back on that plan just for lil ol' me?" he teased, his signature cruel smirk forming across his face. It was the one he liked to pull just as he blows someone's brains out.

The magician wannabe tried to give him one back, but he really just looked constipated. "So you torture and eavesdrop?! What else do you do, huh?!" he screamed out, leaning forward in his binding in a laughable attempt at being threatening. 

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to." Dazai replied menacingly while keeping his eye solely trained on Monoma, who was squirming under the attention like a worm under the watchful eye of its predator bird. He wished he had his gun on him; it would be so much more interesting to have an actual weapon he knew how to handle other than his ability to scare the student.

He slowly walked up to said student, carefully placing one foot ahead of the other, with his arms linked behind his back. "You're boring me, Monoma. My friend. Put on a show for Shida, hm?" He then flicked one of his arms out, one of his fingers brushing against Monoma for a split second.

Monoma’s eyes roll for a moment and his cheeks puff out, then he visibly swallows and bares his teeth like a wild dog. "What the hell are you, Osamu Dazai?" he mumbled, far too out of it to yell like he had been.

Dazai pointed at himself in mock surprise at the question. "Me? Just your average fifteen-year-old. I’m simply in the mood to impress my moody guard dog, you know? After that show he just put on for me, I feel the need to repay the favour." When he smiled, Monoma shivered.

"Don't," he managed to huff out, already on the verge of hyperventilating. He thrashed around violently, keeping his eyes locked on Dazai’s. Said executive didn’t even have to do anything; the kid was pretty much doing everything but pissing his pants at the sight of his empty, close-mouthed grin.

Dazai doubted his ability did much but make these people sick, but Monoma didn’t know that. Just the slightest graze of Dazai’s finger almost had him throwing up. That, on top of seeing his classmate’s reaction to No Longer Human, the kid was scared out of his mind of what he thought being exposed to Dazai’s ability for longer than a second could do to him.

The brunette was successfully manipulating him into being terrified of nothing more than a bit of dizziness.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Shida’s tired, yet satisfied, expression and felt something adjacent to pride just barely graze the surface of his emotions. Not that he had much to begin with, but it threw him off for a moment. Whatever, it didn't matter anyway.

If Mori were to ever find out I'm being distracted from a target by my own emotions, he would send me to the kennels the next second.

Now that Monoma believed Dazai’s ability was tortuous, he was going to act like so. His brain would automatically scream: ‘holy fuck this is super bad’, rather than the rational: ‘damn, I’ve just been on one of the worst rollercoasters ever’, therefore blocking out what he was really experiencing and writing it as something worse.

If they woke Tetsutetsu up, the boy would probably challenge Osamu to another round without a second thought about it. 

The Yang part of the duo continued to smile as he reached out to Monoma again, who squealed like a toddler and lifted his legs up higher so that the brunette couldn't touch him. The action made Dazai pause, and the resounding silence was all too much.

Especially for Shida, who let out a surprised laugh.

A real one, which wasn't his usual snort or huff of genuine joy or amusement. He let out a full belly laugh, his shoulders rising and falling with the strength of it. Dazai hadn't heard him do that in nearly four months. Shida's eyes blew wide as he registered what he had just done, surprised at himself. He coughed into his palm, unable to help the small smile that stayed on his face.

Dazai eyed the small dimple on his right cheek and looked back at Monoma with newfound motivation. 

Shida only ever got a dimple when he was smiling seriously, which meant Dazai was doing well with his show by making fun of Monoma, who began squawking again loudly. "I'll—I'll copy your quirk and give you a taste of your own medicine!" he weakly threatened, closing his eyes tightly as he continued to try and move out of Dazai's reach. "Bet you wouldn't like that, weaking!"

The bandaged brunette gave him a flat look. "You're in no position to be calling me weak," he retorted. Then we switched to a lighter tone, "Besides, magicians really just aren't all that appealing to me." he said with a shrug of his shoulders. 

Monoma responded by spitting on his cheek. The ball of saliva hit its target, and it rolled down Dazai's uncovered cheek, down his jaw and onto his neck where he aggressively shoved it off in disgust.

"How's that, huh, hero?! You like being treated like dirt, monster?!" the blonde cackled loudly. 

"Well," Dazai decided to play along with the student's acting. "You're hardly the hardest villain I've ever faced off against, let alone the most terrifying. I'm afraid I've met way worse villains than you, Monoma." He reached up, his grin stretching as the hero in training began to screech and flail around again.

It gave him a sick satisfaction, watching people squirm because of him.

It was like picking up a bug by one of its legs, watching it panic as it realises it’s being preyed upon by something it could never hope to overcome. Dazai touched Monoma, and the boy didn’t go a second before his lunch ended up all over the ground. Dazai’s nose twitched in distaste, and he stepped away from the puddle, unnerved by it.

Bodily fluids, other than blood of course, were something Dazai didn’t think he was ever going to get over.

It was filthy.

He was careful to keep his hold on Monoma, though. He pushed passed the disgust, more content on the fact the blonde looked ready to die already. He found it delightful that No Longer Human had this kind of effect on people in Musutafu. The boy groaned and cried out the longer he underwent the effects of Dazai's ability. He was on the verge of hysterically sobbing about ten seconds later.

Shida, who had had enough of watching, slowly walked over to them with blank face.

Dazai let go of Monoma for a second, his hand still hovering. He watched silently as the blonde recovered himself enough to glare at Shida, who didn’t react to it in the slightest. "You're lucky you know," he started. "I could have bashed your skull in, or plucked your eyeballs out, but I didn't."

This didn’t seem to do any favours for Monoma’s already weak stomach, and he retched. Nothing but saliva came out this time, flowing in disgusting strings from his mouth.

Dazai narrowed his eye and gave Monoma a fierce look at his gross habits when it came to his fluids.

Tadashi didn't so much as blink. "I usually opt for the slow route," he continued. "I know how to use guns, of course, but using my quirk is a lot more fulfilling. I like to stand back once I’m done and admire my work. After all, I’m the one who trained myself how to use it. No one else built my quirk like people build weapons."

Monoma swiped at Shida, who was just out of reach from him. He let out a noise adjacent to a growl. "Have you gone mad and turned into a villain?!" he demanded. He spoke like he had known Tadashi longer than the six minutes they had been fighting, which was interesting. "I wouldn't be surprised, considering you're besties with a monster like him!" he gave Dazai a pointed look with crazed hatred in his eyes.

The brunette gave the student a cheeky grin accompanied with a wave back.

Tadashi gave said student a dark look, which was all the warning Monoma got before Shida reached up and slammed his hand around his throat. "What did you just say?" he asked slowly. "Why are you talking like you knew me before this? Did you?" His eyes scanned Monoma's.

"Wh—what?"

The grip around Monoma's throat tightened. "I'm asking if you knew me before I went to Yokohama." Shida elaborated. His tone was his natural one, one that wasn't made or forced. He only ever used it when he was completely over whatever bullshit was surrounding him.

The boy didn't respond. He looked away half guiltily, and that was all Tadashi needed to give up. He snatched his hand back and wiped it on his uniform like touching Monoma had made it dirty. "What a waste of my time." he mumbled, his tired eyes turning neutral again. 

How boring, Dazai thought. He had hoped the exchange would last a little longer than fifteen seconds.

Monoma heaved heavy breathes through his nose. He slammed his hands down on the metal beam around his stomach in a rage, the threat he had been put under mere moments ago already forgotten. "What the hell is wrong with you, huh?! What are you even doing in U.A. if you’re a disgusting villain? You’re shaming the entire community!"

He was being quite persistent for someone who was still shaking worse than a leaf. Clearly, someone had put him up to whatever the hell he was trying to accomplish.

"Our goal, you ask," Tadashi walked over to Dazai and he slowly slithered one of his hands around Dazai’s neck until it rested on his outmost shoulder. He cocked his head a little to the side, "We can't just tell you that, can we?"

Osamu shook his head in mock sadness, "No, of course not! It would simply ruin all our evil plans!" The plans that were still almost completely undecided.

They had a lot to talk about once they got back to their dorm room. They would have to get a way to find information on the group they were supposed to deal with, they needed to talk about Dazai’s suspicions on the society they were in, and of course, they needed to plan the future of chaos they were to bring.

Monoma didn’t find this very amusing and managed to slip down in his binding just enough that his legs reached Shida, and he promptly kicked him in the face. Hard. Shida’s head snapped back, though he managed to stay quiet. The hand on Dazai’s shoulder did squeeze quite harshly, but otherwise there was no way for anyone to tell that the kick had even hurt.

Tadashi slowly moved his eyes to look back at Monoma, without moving his head, who had a shit eating grin, with an utterly unimpressed expression. "I'm going to punch him in the face. Really, really fucking hard." he warned, speaking in a low tone so only Dazai could hear.

That was about as much warning, though all the warning he needed, that Dazai got before the emerald haired boy was leaping onto his back so he was at eye level with Monoma.

He wasn’t able to activate One For All with Dazai touching him, but that didn’t matter. Shida was offended enough to not need it. He wound his arm back, his face remaining impassive as he did, then brought it to the still-cocky expression Monoma had on.

There was no crack his time; he clearly hadn’t hit hard enough to break a nose, but the sound of his fist hitting Monoma’s cheek was all Dazai needed to tell the boy would have trouble eating for at least a week if he wasn’t healed.

Said student them promptly passed out, ruining all the fun Dazai wanted to have. Dazai pouted as Shida jumped off his back. "What a waste!" he whined loudly, poking Monoma's pale cheek with an impatient finger. "I wanted to keep playing with him!"

"You can find someone else to toy with," Tadashi said with a very rude roll of his eyes. "I’m tired. Let’s just get outta here."

Osamu scoffed loudly, "Jeez, what a bossy Veggie." he grumbled.

While there was no doubt Shida was indeed exhausted, the brunette was aware that his partner wanted to leave early because Dazai was injured. His hand and his back were aching terribly, and quite frankly he would rather die a quick and easy death by suicide than be put through what he was experiencing for much longer. 

He also knew that there was no way Shida hadn't caught onto his pain, because Freckles had something akin to spidey-senses when it came to reading Dazai. If he was exceptional at reading other people, he was (and in no way exaggerated) a literal genius when it came to reading Dazai since he was around him so often.

The robot-servant-things had come and carried all three 'villains' away on stretchers once Shida got Monoma out of his binding of beams, and the two walked back to the observation area with nothing better to do.

Aizawa watched the screen with something akin to horror. He watched as his student, who used to tear up at stepping on a cat’s tail, stomped on his peer’s head without a second thought. He didn’t look disturbed or unused to the action, which was probably the most horrifying part of all.

Vlad King stood silently behind the man, his clenched fists shaking in rage. He was angered that Nezu was allowing the match to go on even with his students clearly being seriously hurt by Aizawa’s.

Said rat had shown up out of the blue earlier in the match between the five boys. He had watched Midoriya and Dazai for about thirty seconds before requesting (though Aizawa knew he wasn’t really asking) for the rest of the student body to return to their dorms. Midnight, who had arrived with Nezu, took them away without question. She had a nervous look as she did.

The rat watched with an unreadable smile the entire match, his eye gleaming dangerously. If you had ever met Nezu, then you would know that simply wasn't a good sign. Ever.

Aizawa on the other hand watched as Dazai’s quirk caused every one of Vlad’s kids to throw up. It didn’t make much sense to him. After all, he had seen Hawks touch the boy, carry him all the way to his hospital bed, and he hadn’t looked affected at all. Did it just not work on adults, or did whatever Dazai’s quirk was doing have some other trigger? Was it not just an erasing quirk, like Aizawa's?

"Why is the match still on, Principal?" Despite his frustration, Vlad still found it in him to manage to be polite to his boss. Though the way he spoke through clenched teeth was amusing.

Nezu didn't respond for several seconds. "I think the better question is," he turned his head to his employee slowly, "Why is Monoma continuing to rile up Tadashi and Dazai, despite very clearly being terrified?" His smile didn't leave his furry lips, like it was plastered on. 

Vlad King looked away with something like guilt in his eyes. Red flags raised for Aizawa, and he took a step towards his colleague with narrowed eyes. "Why is he suggesting what I think he's suggesting? What did you do?" the words came out of him with a lot more heat than he had intended, but it seemed to do the job anyway.

"I didn't do anything," The guiltiness didn't leave Vlad's face, the only thing changing was his defensive levels. 

"Ah, I think it's better suited to ask what you didn't do, Kan." Nezu continued staring into Vlad's face, his tail slightly flicking in irritation behind him. "I sent away the rest of the students because I could tell something was bothering you. Something you regret letting happen, no?" His smile then went away, and he took a few steps back so he could scale Aizawa and rest in his capture weapon. 

Vlad sighed, crossing his arms tightly around his chest. "Monoma came up to me before the match started. He said he could 'tell that the class A weaklings were never going to get to the bottom on Midoriya and his buddy', and so he declared he would in their stead." His eyes were glued to the screen with fierce hatred. "I thought he was going to ask if Midoriya remembered what happened to him. Not... whatever the hell he's trying to do now."

Nezu hummed slightly. "He's insisting on calling Dazai a monster," he said simply. It didn't necessarily surprise Aizawa, but the fact the rat knew what was going on despite not being able to hear and never looking away from Vlad still gave him a slight chill. "Clearly, it's not working out well for him. And now you regret not stopping him."

"Clearly, those boys aren’t fit to be here at U.A.! Look at them, for god’s sake!"

They all watched as Midoriya slammed his hand around Monoma’s throat with a look Aizawa could have never imagined on his student’s face. Nezu didn't look surprised. "I implore you to look deeper, men. Tadashi's eyes are more expressive than they have been in the past three days he's been here."

...How the hell did he know that?

"Which is telling me that Monoma has made a mistake. Maybe mentioned their past, or something of the like." Nezu finished, his tone blank. It was infuriatingly impossible to tell how the rat was feeling, but Aizawa had been around him for so long he couldn't be bothered to care any longer.

Monoma kicked Midoriya in the face, who then looked greatly offended. He whispered something to Dazai, then jumped onto his back just so that he could punch Monoma in the face so hard the kid passed out.

"So much for doubting me when I said they need therapy. All of their behaviours are concerning, Nezu." Aizawa frowned deeply, a pang of hurt stabbing his chest. All of this, and the stupid fucker at fault was still in trial. 

Nezu chuckled. "I never doubted you, Aizawa."

"That's your concern right now?! Therapy, and not getting them out of here? If it were any other student, their actions would be ground for suspension!" Vlad King raised his voice. He was not only wrong, but so confident about it as well. A couple of kids winning against his own in a harsher way than expected wasn't grounds for anything. 

It was their expressions that worried Aizawa.

Nezu continued on like he hadn't heard Vlad. "I disagree with your methods, is all. Let’s just say that I have a feeling those two boys won’t do well under Hound Dog’s guidance."

Aizawa felt a chill go down his back as he remembered the look of pure anger and terror Midoriya had given him when he barged into his room. He remembered the way Dazai’s eye had only slightly widened, but his chest heaved with force and his face had drained of blood the moment he mentioned Hound Dog and the way Midoriya had looked ready to kill.

"I need to talk to you about Dazai and Hound Dog—"

"I'm sure you do," Nezu interrupted, holding up a paw. If that wasn't a dismissal of topic, Aizawa didn't know what was.

Without a distraction to help him, the man had no choice but to stand in the silence and think about what he had witnessed.

He didn’t want to imagine what hell either boy had gone through to fight like that. Judging by the way neither of them were even close to being worn out, they held themselves back by a lot.

When Aizawa had first heard of Dazai’s nickname, he had been sceptical as to why Midoriya would ever be around someone with a demonic nickname. Then the whole hospital thing had happened, and suddenly it didn’t seem too farfetched.

But now?

Now, there was no reason for Aizawa to question why the two of them were each other’s closest beings. They watched as Vlad King’s students were carried off by U.A.'s robots on stretchers, and the way Dazai clung to Midoriya’s bicep once again on their way back. And as always, he was on Midoriya’s left side.

--

Once the boys arrived at the observation area, Aizawa noticed Dazai’s sour mood. Of course, it was always hard to get a read on him (even though he hadn’t known the boy long enough to really say that), but he could tell by the way Dazai didn’t even try to rile up Vlad King and the subtle glances Midoriya gave his friend every couple of steps they took together.

"Dazai, Tadashi, meet your principal, Nezu." Aizawa said, gesturing to the rat on his shoulder.

God, he had hoped he would have been able to stall their meeting for a few more days.

Dazai nodded his head in a polite way to Nezu, who nodded his head back. Which was a lot less… overwhelming than Aizawa had thought it would have been, but the lack of words and expressions would have him lying awake at night tossing and turning in discomfort and unease, he could already tell.

Nezu hummed for a moment, hopping off Aizawa's shoulder. "Would you like to go visit the school nurse, Dazai?" he asked. Midoriya's eyes widened and he immediately took half a step closer to his friend. "Ah, no need to look so defensive, Tadashi." The rat chuckled. "It's merely protocol."

"Injured?" Aizawa parroted, his stomach doing a flip. "Dazai, where—"

"Why, Aizawa. I’m surprised you didn’t notice." Nezu said, his tail twitching.

Aizawa didn’t know how to defend himself. What kind of a teacher doesn’t realise when one of his students was hurt? He had watched the whole match; Dazai had been flung into a building! Of course he was hurt, damn it.

Dazai's mouth curled into a smile, but his eyes gave away his indifferent feelings. "Now now, gentlemen! I'm so honoured everyone here is so concerned over Dazai, but he's fine. I can assure you." He was talking about himself in third person. He also had a habit of talking to people in third person to their face rather than second person, so it wasn't surprising.

Midoriya gave him a sideways glance before he seemingly came to a conclusion of sorts and stepped in front of Dazai. "Medical attention isn't necessary, Sirs." he said politely, though not at all kindly. His posture was stiff and his face looked off. He looked pensive, like he was struggling to balance the weight of his thoughts.

Vlad scoffed. "You're going to defy principal orders?" The rest of his sentence went unsaid but not unheard: after he let you in here? 

"You can cut that out, Kan." Aizawa snapped. He wasn't going to stand for a grown man undermining and belittling his students.

"This doesn't involve you, Eraserhead."

"This directly involves me,"

Nezu didn’t even acknowledge his staff's words, keeping his attention wholly on the teenagers who were watching the two men's interaction with calculating eyes.

"Of course not," Dazai eventually said. "We would hate to get on Principal Nezu’s bad side, wouldn’t we?" Dazai’s gaze was settled firmly on the back of Midoriya’s head, like he could enter it and transfer his thoughts to his friend.

Aizawa watched his freckled student’s expression, the way his eyebrow twitched ever so slightly as if Dazai really did telepathically come up with a plan of sorts. The man would tell he wanted to say 'no', but something was stopping him from doing so. Respect? Or, could it be something else?

"Fine," Midoriya bit out, taking a deep breath. "We'll go to Recovery Girl."

Nezu clapped his paws, pleased, and Aizawa was suddenly hit with such a forceful feeling of apprehension he was forced to swallow bile. He could already tell something was going to go wrong.  

Chapter Text

The nurse's office was fairly large compared to Mori's, with four beds on each wall (six of which were occupied).

There was also a desk on the far end of the left wall, and sitting on the chair paired with it was a small elderly woman. She swivelled around in her chair, her eyebrows shooting up at the three people who just walked in. "My, I hadn't expected anymore visitors!" she sung, hopping off the chair.

Aizawa bowed his head in apology to her for the sudden visit. "Apologies, Chiyo. Osamu Dazai was injured during his training session today." His gestured to the general direction said Osamu Dazai was in, who gave a half-hearted wave at the frail lady to signal it was him the man was talking about.

The woman's eyebrows somehow went up even further as she looked at both Shida and Dazai. She had a look of utter despair for a moment, but it was gone the next second. She was clearly well versed in controlling her emotions. She hopped off her chair and hobbled over to them with her cane, which was in the shape of a syringe. How funny was that? "How lovely to finally meet you boys! I've heard lots of things!"

"Good things, I should hope." Shida said jokingly.

Dazai just nodded in acknowledgement, but didn't bother verbally like Tadashi had. The scent of disinfectant was enough to put him in a bad mood, let alone seeing medical instruments on different trays scattered around the room.

He shifted on his feet with a slight frown. He didn't like being in there at all. Tadashi gently nudged him, his tired eyes somehow drooping even more than usual. Dazai could tell he was just as uncomfortable being in a doctor’s office but was putting on a mask, as usual. "She asked you a question, Dazai." he said patiently.

Osamu blinked. He looked forward again, seeing the small smile on Recovery Girl's face, and the deep frown on Aizawa's crusty one. "Hm?" He hadn't heard anyone ask anything. It definitely didn't help that everyone conscious was staring at them, either. 

Shida placed a hand on his shoulder, "Where does it hurt?" He said, parroting what must have been what the little old lady had asked. His voice was gentle, and his eyes scanned over the rest of Dazai’s body. "Is it just your back?" he mumbled, though it was clearly more to himself than to Osamu. 

He grabbed the brunette's hand and flipped it over a few times. "There's bruising. Is your wrist okay?"

Dazai slightly rolled his eye. "Yes, sappy Veggie." Why was Shida being so mother hen-like?

Shida caught onto the questioning look on his face, raising a green eyebrow and gesturing to the two adults in front of them. This time, Dazai didn't hold back with his eye roll. Obviously he knew it was just for the sake of over-exaggerate, but even then Tadashi was being suspiciously kind.

The freckled mafioso turned to the stumpy woman with an honest expression. Or, more specifically, a liar's expression. He put on a concerned face, dipping his eyebrows and slightly puffing his cheeks. "Sorry, but would—do u mind if I check out his injuries somewhere else? I don’t really want to here." He flicked his emerald eyes to the curious onlookers in point.

One of which had a pair of yellow horns and a very pink, familiar face.

Ashido stared at them with wide eyes and cheeky looking smile.

Aizawa nodded his head. "I don’t ever want you boys to force yourself to do anything you don’t want to. There’s a bathroom in the corner, you’re free to use it."

Dazai looked at the door to the room he was talking about with mild interest. He wondered if he could steal some bandages from there. There was bound to be quite a few rolls.

Shida started walking and Dazai immediately squawked in offense at being abandoned and raced after him.

Tadashi gently unwrapped the bandages around Dazai’s wrists to inspect it further, just in case his partner had lied in front of their audience and really was injured.

Dazai was leaning against the sink, humming his favourite song loudly. "You know, you don't have to be so gentle with no one watching."

Tadashi paused, giving the brunette an unimpressed stare. "When have I ever treated you roughly?" Other than on missions when he was saving the reckless idiot's life, that was. And of course, also excluding when he accidentally breaks a few ribs doing CPR on said idiot whenever he tried to drown himself and got close to succeeding.

Raspberries were blown. "Well," Dazao started dramatically, using the hand Tadashi wasn't inspecting to clutch his P.E. uniform like a string of pearls was there. "I seem to remember you hitting me at least once or twice and hour since our third mission together when you dove in front of me like a wrecking ball!" He accused loudly, closing his eye for more of a dramatized scene.

"That's me scolding you."

"With violence," Dazai deadpanned in fake disbelief.

"Exactly," Tadashi looked over the wrist in his hand, checking for both any signs on strain while also silently inspecting the still-fresh marks from Dazai’s cutting habit. The red lines were still bright, but they didn’t look like they were healing badly by any means, so Tadashi took that as the win it was. "Turn around." he instructed.

His partner complied, but not before he shifted around until the freckled boy was the one standing in front of the sink and Dazai had his back to it again. Tadashi didn’t argue about it, since he knew how much Dazai despised his own reflection.

He gently began lifting the brunette’s top to get a look at the damage done to his back, before Dazai screamed out and shoved it back down forcefully.

Kenshiro blinked in confusion. "You alright? What happened?"

Or, was he hiding something underneath his shirt? The emerald haired boy had only checked his arms, but there was always the possibility Dazai had hurt himself on his stomach, too. After all, he was too busy looking for cameras to pay attention to Dazai changing into his training uniform...

His partner put on a scandalised expression.

Okay, guess he was just being stupid.

Served Tadashi right for being concerned about something like that from the Osamu Dazai, the known trickster. He placed his hands on his hips and waited for the accusations to come flooding out.

"You uncivilised, uncouth, lewd man! How dare you!" 

Kenshiro gave a small smirk, deciding to play along. "How dare I what?" he questioned, blinking innocently despite not knowing what he did that time.

Dazai's lips also curved. "How dare you try to undress me so early on! Take a girl out to dinner first!" He slightly opened his eye, then quickly shut it again. "I'm completely baffled at your forwardness, good sir!"

It was pretty funny how Dazai made himself the woman in the scenario. "Well maybe you should stop complaining so much and I'll take you out before rushing things ahead." The freckled executive said, raising an eyebrow.

An eye roll, "Even then! It's simply impolite to try and undress me when you've yet to lock lips with me before?" Dazai frowned at him disapprovingly, his tone raising loud enough that there was no way their conversation wasn't being heard outside the bathroom.

"Why, you want me to?" The words came out of Tadashi's mouth before he even thought about it, let alone stop them from forming. 

Silence hung in the air for a few long seconds, which was a few seconds longer than Tadashi would have ever liked. His face felt hot, and he pressed his cool palms to his cheeks to help cool them down. 

Dazai's small smirk turned into a shit eating grin, "Shida's turned half broccoli, half tomato." he teased, poking one of Tadashi's covered cheeks. "I didn't know vegetables could shapeshift! Shall I dismember you to have a look and see if you're just as tomato-like on the inside?" He sniggered.

"Oh, hush and just take off your shirt!" He ripped it off Dazai’s body, who squealed and kept accusing him of taking things too fast for his liking.

There was a knock on the door, causing them both to pause. "Is everything alright in there?" A gruff voice from outside the bathroom asked, sounding more exhausted than actually concerned.

God, Mr. Demon needed to learn when to mind his own business.

Tadashi rolled his eyes, "We're fine, Dazai's just being a pr—"

"No, I’m not alright!" Said bandaged executive shouted out, cutting off Tadashi with his stupid games. 

"Can you, like, not do that?" Kenshiro mumbled, pulling his partner's shirt off the rest of the way from around his neck.

There was a sharp inhale from outside. "Do I need to come in?" Aizawa questioned, his voice taking a serious turn. Jeez, what a party pooper. Making things out to be way more than they were all the time.

"We're fine," Tadashi repeated, forcing annoyance to float through his tone. "Don't come in."

"Dazai? Are you okay?"

Said Dazai poked his tongue out even though their teacher couldn't see it. "If Shida wishes for us to have some privacy, then privacy we shall have!"

"Alright. Don’t make recovery girl wait too long." The sound of someone walking away was heard.

It was the younger of the two's turn to blow raspberries. He then turned to Dazai with an unimpressed expression, "Can you turn around now? Let me see what you've done to yourself this time." He made a turning motion with an index finger to enunciate his instruction.

Dazai complied this time, grumbling about how it wasn’t his fault he got shoved through a wall (it was).

Tadashi could see bruising under his chest bandages, but there wasn’t much to go off, so he removed the gauze. From there, he assessed the purple and green blotches with careful and thorough eyes, poking the skin here and there to see if it hurt in certain areas more than others.

Once he was done, he redressed Dazai in the bandages then left the room so the brunette could sort himself out (a.k.a., steal bandages).

He walked over to Recovery Girl and leaned on one of the only two free beds in front of her. "How are you going to heal Dazai if he'll just erase your quirk?" Tadashi asked the woman, certain she was aware of his partner's ability.

It didn't matter how good of a healer she was since not only would she be unable to heal Dazai with her ability, whatever it was, but he also wouldn't ever let her near him considering she was a doctor and all.

Dazai hated doctors more than he hated himself, which was saying something.

Recovery Girl didn't react in any way other than giving him what was supposed to be a reassuring smile (they didn't work on Tadashi anymore, unfortunately for her. He wasn't disarmed by a twitch of her lips like he might have once been). "I trust your judgement, Tadashi. Whatever you say he needs I will provide without question."

That was... awfully nice of her. Tadashi considered this for a moment. "Do you guys have bruising cream?" he asked simply. It was a reach in the dark and not as specific as Dazai probably would have made it if their roles were reversed, but he wanted to see if she really would just hand it to him.

"We have quite a bit of that, considering when a student is too exhausted for my quirk to take full effect, bruising is often what is left." She answered, nodding her head.

This piqued his interest, and the woman caught onto it.

She gestured to Ashido, who was beaming at him and waving enthusiastically. Tadashi gave a small wave back, watching infatuatedly as Recovery Girl kissed her on the cheek with a stretched mouth, and the nasty scrapes she had along her arm completely disappeared. 

"My quirk essentially speeds up the bodies process of healing, which takes energy from it." The doctor clarified, smiling proudly. "Therefore, if someone is unconscious or seriously injured, there isn’t much I can do but heal small parts at a time, otherwise they’ll fall into a coma." She flapped a hand around, waving the suggestion of that ever happening under her watch away.

Dazai then came out of the bathroom with his arms in noticeably more bandages, which meant his technique in stealing them was to double up on the ones he already had.

Ashido waved to him as well with a bright smile, and he gave her an enthusiastic wave back with an empty one.

Then he plopped himself on top of Tadashi chest to back, with his arms around Tadashi’s neck and his head on his partner’s shoulder. The added weight didn’t bother the jade boy, and he was relieved to know that Dazai was in a better mood than he had been a few minutes ago.

"Is everything sorted out?" Aizawa asked, speaking up for the first time since Tadashi had left the bathroom. 

Kenshiro nodded, patting one of Dazai’s arm gently "He’s fine. He’s got some bruising on his knuckles and quite a bit on his back, but nothing that won’t heal in a few weeks." Dazai nodded on his shoulder in agreement like he had any idea how bad the bruising on his body looked like.

Recovery Girl hopped onto her swivel chair at her desk, and she gestured to Dazai’s hand, which he held out for her to see but not for her to touch. She realised this and didn’t attempt to bring it any closer, nodding to herself after a few moments.

She wrote something down on a sticky note and set it aside before Tadashi got the chance to see what it was, placing it on the far corner of her desk. "I'll give you boys some basic bruising cream to start with, and if it takes longer than a day to heal then come back to me and I'll give you a stronger one."

Dazai nodded and took the tube she offered to him silently. They both knew they wouldn't ever be coming back unless they absolutely had to.

"Do you need me to escort you back to your dorms?" Aizawa suggested, running a hand through his hair tiredly. 

Ashido clapped her hands. "I can, Sensei!" She offered, proud of herself. Tadashi had wondered why she was sticking around when Recovery Girl had already healed her. Guess he had his answer.

"Thank you, Ashido. If there are any problems, remember to go to one of your Class Presidents or me." The man addressed all three of his students with complete seriousness. Gross.

Tadashi frowned at him. Why was he treating them like toddlers who were about to a playground for the first time? They didn’t need a reminder of who was available if they needed help, nor were they even going to reach out for help.

Dazai nodded for his partner as if he actually cared, then turned his head to Ashido with a polite smile. "Shall we go, Mina?" He used her given name in the flirty tone he had learned to use by being around Kouyou's girls.

Ashido flushed and gave him a bashful smile. "Sorry to disappoint, but I’ve got my eye on someone else."

Damn.

"Ah, Kirishima, right? Such a shame a pretty lady like yourself already has her heart set on another!"

She slapped her hands on both her cheeks to hide her blush at Dazai's teasing.

"It wasn’t obvious, in case you were worried." Tadashi assured her, referring to her crush on Kirishima. "Dazai’s just good at picking up things like that." He didn't say anything about how that meant Dazai knew she liked someone else and still tried to flirt.

She fanned her face to cool it down, grinning sheepishly at him. "Alright, then! Let's go!"

She turned to the door, but it opened before she could do it herself.

Tadashi felt his body freeze over in place.

Lips pulled back as a snarl, fur covering the entire body, and big huffs for breaths.

They were all utterly, terrifyingly, familiar.

There was a dog standing at the door, and holy fuck Tadashi was suddenly dizzy. He couldn't see properly; it was all fuzzy. Oh, god he didn't want to see a dog. He didn't like dogs. He hated them.

He was slightly aware of hands holding onto him, and he shoved them off.

His chest felt tight. Why was that?

Wait, was he breathing?

Maybe. Probably.

It didn't matter. Not with a dog at the door. He didn't know if it was still there, but why wouldn't it be? Mori never took the dogs away so fast.

"I'm so—sorry," he sobbed. Or, he thought that's what he said. "I haven't— I didn't me—ean to!" 

The hands were back, and Tadashi screamed something, but he couldn’t hear himself anymore. He could only feel the rawness of his throat as the words spilled out. He clamped his hands down on his wrists, trying to peel off the chains that bound him to the cold concrete floor.

What had he done? Why was he being punished? He must have failed a mission. But Tadashi didn't remember that. He was still on his mission, wasn't he?

He was being dragged. Well, he thought he was. It was hard to see.

Why couldn’t he see? Or hear, for that matter? 

He just wanted the chains off of him. He wanted to get out of the cage.

Was that too much to ask? He was probably going to have to beg Mori to free him again. He tried to, but it was hard to tell whether or not he was successful with the ringing in his ears.

He didn’t know where he was being taken, he just knew he didn’t want to go. He couldn't. He fought back against whatever was pulling him, feeling his throat continue to vibrate with the force of sounds he wasn’t sure were.

His ears were ringing, but he could still hear the barking and growling coming from the new dogs Mori had gotten after the last ones went rouge.

Tadashi had forgotten what they looked like.

He tried to focus his eyes, but all he could see were wide, brown ones staring back at him. They were like blackholes. They were sucking in all of Tadashi’s attention until he couldn’t focus on anything else.

He knew those eyes, he saw them all the time. Or at least one of them, he thought. Maybe? Why couldn’t he think of who they belonged to? Fuck, it was all too confusing.

"You alive yet, Freckles?"

The sudden voice scared Tadashi and he jumped back, except he couldn’t. Dazai’s hands were firmly set on his shoulders, stopping him from moving. There was sweat covering his face, which was paler than it usually was. Dazai. It was just Dazai. Not Mori, or any dogs.

"Oh," he said stupidly.

He let out a sob. "Dazai, there was a dog," he slurred. No tears were forming as they once might have. He was crying, but his eyes were dry. Wasn't that strange? "I do—on't know what I did th—this time, I swear!"

Tadashi's hands grabbed the front of the brunette's shirt, pulling him with desperation. "You need to tell him. Tell Mori I didn't mean it!" he pleaded, despite not knowing what he was denying.

He just knew he didn't want to have to go back into the cage later for not saying sorry sincerely enough.

Dazai's hands let go of Tadashi's shoulders and moved to cover his hands, fisted in his partner's shirt. "Mori isn't here," he said. It wasn't gentle by anyone else's standards, but Dazai also just wasn't capable of the same 'gentle' normal people were. "We're at U.A., remember? Silly Shida, we're students here now."

"Oh," Kenshiro mumbled, blinking a few times. That's right, he was safe from the dogs Mori kept, as well as said Doctor and his stupid punishments.

The boy took a few deep breaths, calming his nerves.

He was safe, and he was with Dazai. He was fine.

Tadashi blinked again. "Woah!" He hadn’t realised how close Dazai’s face was to his, and he pushed it away with a hand. Then, he frowned. "Where's your eye bandage?" He hiccupped at the end of his sentence and immediately slapped a hand over his mouth in embarrassment.

Dazai grinned at him rather than replying verbally, but it was strained. Nothing like his usual flawless, practised one. He must have had a similar reaction to the mutt, then. No wonder he was so sweaty. 

Tadashi looked at the hand still attached to Dazai’s face and let go, moving it to gently brush away the hair half covering Dazai’s usually hidden eye.

It was rare he took off his facial bandages for anything other than bathing or swapping out said gauze for a new roll, and so Kenshiro rarely got the chance to get a look at Dazai’s full face.

Dazai let him, a small sigh leaving his nose. His chest was no longer so tight, but he was hiccupping almost painfully every five seconds instead.

"That was pretty bad, Shida."

What was bad?

Tadashi suddenly became fully aware of himself from that simple sentence and attached to his body again. His eyes landed on the throbbing scratches on his wrists and then flickered around the room.

The bathroom, which is where he had been dragged to. He distantly remembered being pulled quite harshly, which would have been when Dazai brought him here.

There had been a dog at the door in Recovery Girl's and Tadashi had just… blanked. Wait, that wasn't quite right. Tadashi had completely succumbed to his terror, and from there everything kinda just mushed together.

"What do we do?"

There was no way they were getting out of therapy after that.

"Well, I was thinking we could just," Osamu paused, and the dark look Tadashi hated clouded his eyes.

Run away, was what he clearly wished to say.

But he didn’t, "Pretend it never happened." was how he finished anticlimactically. He slowly unwrapped the extra bandages around his arms, then wrapped them around the green boy’s to hide the scratches on his wrists.

"Then what do we say we were doing in here?" Tadashi asked, watching his partner's hands work. "We both just completely freaked out in front of so many people, Dazai." It was highly likely that they all saw him scratch his wrists, trying to take off invisible restraints.

Dazai’s cheeky grin was almost sad looking, but it was there. "We tell them what no one wants to hear." He said ominously. 

Kenshiro opened his mouth to complain, but then closed it again. That had been code for 'making things awkward enough that no one questioned', which was code for 'pretending they had just had a... touching moment together'. Mouth to mouth.

What other method did they have to stop the questioning other than gaslighting everyone into thinking they weren’t just scared for their lives and had indeed just been in dire need to start making out? A lot. 

They could either go out and literally just pretend they hadn't done anything at all, they could ignore the questions anyone gave them, or... they could do Dazai's option. Which Tadashi hated doing.

But pretending they had just kissed, which Dazai had been screaming about earlier anyways, was a more efficient way to get everyone to back off.

Assuming these people were modest and didn't question their 'make-out session' and left it alone. But Tadashi really hated this method.

"How long have we been in here?"

"Five minutes and a half."

Right, okay then. Shit, they were actually going to have to do this.

It wasn’t so bad, nor was it abnormal. After all, people within the port mafia are often taught how to use their bodies to their complete advantage, from being flexible enough to dodge six oncoming bullets to strengthening your sex appeal.

It was especially common with the women, despite how unfortunate it was.

Mori hadn’t forced them to lay down with anyone, but he had taught them how to pretend they had. Or rather, he got Kouyou to teach them for him.

He said it was for targets within brothels, for when the boys would have to pretend to book a room to sleep with a prostitute, only to kill him or her before they did anything. Then they would rough themselves up a little to make it look like they had just had the ‘night of their lives’.

The doctor was definitely way creepier than he should have been, and he was the one to judge whether or not his two most prized executives were performing well enough.

In Tadashi’s opinion, they could have waited a few more years before learning to fake being… well, post-you know what. But it did come in handy for times like these when they had to stall for time for whatever reason.

It required specific conditions to work, which just so happened to be completely checked off.

For one, the Demon Prodigy and his partner the Verde Reaper needed an audience that saw them enter the room together. 

Second, said audience needed to be people that were awkward around the topic of affection (both boys had seen the looks class A and Eraserhead gave them at their physical touch).

Third, they needed to be completely alone in the room together for more than a few minutes.

And fourth, they needed to be in a good enough mindset to see the play out till the end and successfully convince everyone watching that they had been getting hot.

"Let me see if there’s something in here to make our lips look bruised and swollen. Otherwise, we’ll just have to bite our own lips until it looks realistic enough." Tadashi said, the exhaustion from the day catching up to him once again.

Dazai smirked at him, a little more Dazai-like than moments before, which was more of a relief than Tadashi would ever admit. "Can't we just do it for real?" He teased, sniggering.

"Enough joking, start messing up your hair." The freckled mafioso went through the cabinet behind the mirror above the sink, but didn’t find anything other than pills and bandages and some more pills… basically, nothing useful. He rolled his eyes in annoyance and closed the cabinet, staring at his reflection. "Nothing in there," he mumbled.

He knew Dazai would figure out he was saying to make his lips bruised as well.

He roughly bit down on his own bottom lip, pinching his top one with his dull fingernails. About two minutes later, Tadashi’s lips were swollen enough that Mori would approve. He shoved his hands through his hair a couple times, tugging here and there. For a strange moment, he wondered what he was actually look like after kissing someone.

He turned to Dazai with a raised eyebrow. Said brunette was making his face bandages loose enough that they were dangling but not showing his eye. "Do you know what you're doing?" Tadashi asked, already knowing the answer.

Dazai kissed his teeth. "Who do you think you're talking to?"

"Just act like you've had an entire batch of your pot brownies with your canned crab."

Osamu licked his swollen lips slightly. "Stupid Shida. Now you’ve made me hungry for my special brownies!" he complained, sighing.

Tadashi couldn't care less. "Let's go."

They left the bathroom and walked into the mostly empty room.

--

Almost all of the patients, save for a few unconscious ones, were gone. So was the dog Tadashi had freaked out over. Aizawa was sitting on a chair next to the bed the boy had been resting near with such an intense expression Tadashi almost felt bad for disturbing him.

His heart rate picked up a little at the thought of talking to him after he would have witnessed whatever embarrassment he made of himself. The moment the door opened, heads snapped toward the executives.

Ashido, who was one of the few still there, squealed loudly. She pointed between the two of them, her mouth opened widely.

Kenshiro made a show of looking Dazai up and down, reaching out to comb down his messy hair with a disapproving frown, as if he were trying to disguise what they had been doing. 

"Tadashi, Dazai," Aizawa said. "I'll visit you later, okay? We'll have a talk." His eyes drooped more than usual, a key telltale to how exhausted he was and possibly angry. 

Great, now Tadashi had that to look forward to, as well. "Uh huh," he said with displeasure, not bothering to give the man a glance. He even made the effort of making the bandages on Dazai's face tighter.

His partner just stood there and let him do it, clearly in a much worse mood being out in the open again. He didn’t even tease Tadashi or Aizawa, his face perfectly blank.

Ashido was stomping her feet from how excited she was, but was clearly having some trouble forming words. They kept coming out in strange, surprised sounds.

"Is the offer of being escorted by you still standing?" he asked the girl.

Ashido nodded, opening the door for them with a slightly trembling hand. Jeez, this girl was a lot more excited than she should have been.

They both walked out, Dazai clinging to Tadashi’s bicep as always, completely aware of the sad looks the two adults were giving them from behind them.

The moment his students walked out of the room, Aizawa let out a long sigh. "What am I supposed to do, Chiyo?" he mumbled.

Shuzenji gave him a pitying look. "I'm hardly the one to be asking, dear." She replied gently, letting out a sigh of her own. Midoriya was a bright kid, or at least he had been. Her heart ached at the thought of what terrible things he must have gone through to get to the point the sight of Hound Dog made him, and his friend, switch to panic mode.

"I know," The man said a little defensively. "I know. I'm just..." He cut himself off, perhaps to find the right wording. When he didn't find it, he slumped further.

The doctor couldn't blame him. She wasn't sure what to say, either. Shuzenji hadn't ever seen such an intense reaction unfold so quickly. One moment the two teenage boys were on their way out of her office, the next Osamu Dazai was dragging Midoriya into the bathroom.

He had on the face of a child who hadn't cried in a long time as he did, despite his brown eye brimming with tears.

She reached up with her cane to give Aizawa a comforting tap on the shoulder with it (since she was too short to do it with a hand). "If it makes your heart lighter, I believe those boys will do just fine."

The man shot her a look of disbelief. "I just saw my two students hyperventilate at the sight of a man, Chiyo. One of them dragged the other kicking and screaming into the bathroom." He bit down on his bottom look, and Shuzenji could tell he was mentally berating himself quite harshly.

She gave him a soft, knowing smile. "I guess you didn't have a good look at their faces as they left, then." She let out a small chuckle. 

Aizawa frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, for starters Dazai’s bandages were loose and Midoriya had to fix them up. They both had ruffled hair, which again Midoriya fixed for Dazai, and they also both had matching swollen lips." She let out a good laugh with a shake of her head. "If that's not telling, I'm not sure what is."

Aizawa just stared at her for a few seconds, completely unamused. Before it clicked and his mouth popped open. He looked like he had just realised something, and if the woman had to guess, he was regretting letting the two boys stay in the same room. 

She rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, stop it. Midoriya may have been ‘broken down’ and ‘rebuilt’ or whatever the villain has done, but he’s still Midoriya. Even if it’s not obvious. There’s no way they would be doing much."

Aizawa grumbled and scrubbed a hand over his face.

Mina said goodbye to Midoriya and Dazai, then raced up the stairs onto her floor. She bolted into her room and immediately started to text her group chat. She sent out an emergency text with three exclamation marks at the end of it, telling everyone to meet her in her room.

A few minutes later, all of the girls in class A except for Uraraka and Hagakure (who was in Ojiro's room) were sitting across from her. Mina pulled her lap table forward, slamming her hands on it. "I'm glad you could all make it."

Jiro gave her a strange look. "What's up, Mina? You made it sound like you were dying."

The pink girl scoffed in offence. "Well, if you must know, it did feel a little like that, yes!" she defended, pouting.

Yaomomo put a hand on her girlfriend's arm to stop her from saying anything back. "You're not about to spill someone's secret again, are you?" she asked seriously, though the smile on her face said otherwise.

Well, it wasn't really a secret if the two boys had been obvious about it, right? The pink girl was a little in disbelief, but more so excited. They hadn't had a topic like this to talk about in, well, ever!

"You guys know how I got a lil scraped in my fight, and how I wanted to see the rest of the matches before going to Recovery Girl?" Mina was already feeling giddy just remembering what she had witnessed.

"What about it?" Tsu asked, tilting her head in the way she does.

"As soon as I saw Dazai being thrown through that wall, I knew I had to go with him to Recovery Girl. And it worked out well, since we got kicked out almost right after that, and I even managed to convince Recovery Girl to heal me after taking care of the kids passed out." Ashido buzzed excitedly. 

Jiro sighed. "The point, Mina?" her tone was light and she had a matching smile with her girlfriend.

Mina coughed into her fist, "Well, Mido and Dazai came into the office soon enough, right? Midoriya didn’t look happy at all, but then when Dazai zoned out, he gently, very gently gave him a lil nudge. Like, with his elbow." she used Yaomomo to demonstrate what she meant, playfully knocking her with her elbow.

The room was completely silent for a few seconds. "Um, not to be rude," Yaomomo laughed awkwardly. "But your point is?"

Ashido sighed dreamily. "You guys just don't get it! If you had been there, you would know what I mean. Gosh, you should have seen the looks on their faces. The way Dazai’s shoulders untensed when he looked into Midoriya’s tired eyes, the way Midoriya knew how to reassure him without words. It was straight out of a romance movie!" she squealed.

The three girls choked, especially Tsu. Mina rolled her eyes, "Oh, c'mon! Don't act like you haven't seen them being super lovey-dovey all the time!" she accused, slightly pouting.

There was a knock on the door, and Aoyama slowly poked his head in. "Don't tell me je suis lent!" he said with guilt radiating off of him.

Mina gave him a beaming grin. "You're not late, Aoyama! Come sit, we're talking about the very sacred topic of romance." She whispered the word romance as if she was scared anyone else would hear from outside.

Aoyama’s eyes glittered and he plopped down next to Mina, tipping his nightcap’s pompom to the right side. "And who is le sujet?" he questioned. 

"Who the subjects are, hm?" The girl snickered. "Midoriya and Dazai!"

The boy clapped with delight. "Why, of course! The tension between them can be cut with a knife!"

"That's what I'm saying!" Mina yelled, relieved she no longer looked crazy for thinking there was something between their classmates. 

Aoyama leaned forward in the small circle they had created with their bodies. "Why, just this morning I witnessed Midoriya giving Dazai a playful slap for pinching his cheeks and calling him an adorable vegetable!"

Tsu nodded, looking a little upset. "That was quite cute, I admit."

Mina scoffed, "Tsu! You saw this and didn't tell me?!"

Asui gave her a half shrug paired with a grin. "We'll see if I should have by the rest of your story, no? Ribbit."

Mina coughed into her hand for a moment, considering what to say next. The reaction she had seen from her classmates at Hound Dog clearly indicated some sort of trauma regarding… something to do with the counsellor.

If she was in their shoes, the last thing she would want after having an anxiety attack in front of lots of people was for said people to go around telling everyone. So, she skipped over that part completely. "Well, you know how Dazai’s covered in bandages. Like, head to toe. It's like he's hiding something."

Tadashi was covered as well, but not nearly as much.

Everyone nodded, their full attention on her.

She leaned in like she was telling a horror story to her roommates at camp. "Midoriya asked to use the bathroom to check the extent of his bruises on his back." She cut off with a giggle. "And when they came out, pfft, they both had bedroom hair and swollen lips! Midoriya even had to tighten Dazai's face bandages and brush down his hair!"

There was a heavy pause. Then everyone else screamed out words of disbelief.

"No way..."

"Amour is in the air! Love fills their hearts!"

"Wait, Midoriya pulled that crazy looking dude?"

"This—this is scandalous!"

Mina laughed harder than she had in a long while, especially at Yaomomo, the taken girl, acting like smooching was criminal. "I’m being serious! Go down to their room right now and you’ll see what I’m talking about."

Aoyama groaned, "I'm simply far too curious for my own good!"

"Let's go down and ask them to join us for dinner. Please?" Mina was not about to go down with no one believing her.

Tadashi rubbed finished applying the bruising cream onto Dazai's bare back, finishing with a sigh. "God, you did a good one on yourself." he muttered, not liking the way he was still able to see the coloured blotches even with the cream smothered all over it. "Will you be sleeping tonight?" he asked.

They had so many things to talk about, but fuck, he was so tired.

Whenever Dazai was injured, his sleeping habits worsened by nearly four times. He already struggled falling asleep, and it got so much worse when he was in any kind of discomfort.

"Probably not. Shida can sleep like a baby tonight, if he wishes. I can just stay up all night long, daydreaming about my eventual, beautiful suicide!" The brunette grinned. He turned around, plopping onto the bed with his arms straight out. 

"You're not bothering with bandages? Or a shirt?" Tadashi asked. It didn't bother him, but Dazai rarely went to bed without anything covering his torso. He went without a shirt or without his bandages time to time, but Tadashi had only seen both happen at the same time a handful of occasions. 

The Emo blew raspberries at the question. "No way I'm risking rubbing this cream off! Stupid Veggie, hasn't anyone told you how much I hate pain? This is my saviour!"

Kenshiro nodded in understanding. "Just wake me up if u get tired, okay?" They didn’t say anything about the fact he would wake himself up with nightmares, anyway.

There was an impatient knock on the door, and they shared a quick glance before Tadashi walked over to it. He opened the door just enough to slip out and was greeted by a grinning face. "Ashido?" he questioned. He had seen enough of this girl in one day for a whole month.

Ashido managed smiled brighten her smile further. Tadashi was very aware of everyone else’s eyes on him as well, which was almost all of class A. "Will you and Dazai be joining us for dinner tonight?" she asked, looking hopeful. Her eyes shifted from his eyes to his lips to his hair every couple of moments. 

Tadashi ran a self-conscious hand through his green curls. "We'll think about it, Ashido." He forced his tone to be polite.

She clapped her hands in delight. "I can't wait!" she said. Kenshiro frowned at that since he was fairly certain he didn't say yes. "Say, how is Dazai? Is he feeling any better?" She then asked.

The sudden change of topic confused the boy, but he didn't say anything about it. "He's perfectly fine. You were there when I told Recovery Gilr his injuries." he responded, letting his eyebrows slightly raise to show her he knew what she was trying to do. That is, make him confess in front of her friends that Tadashi and Dazai had kissed. 

Ashido's voice then took a lighter turn. "And how are you both after... you know." She looked a little guilty, and if Tadashi had to guess why, he'd say it's because she hadn't asked until just then despite being with them for the entire five-minute walk back to the dormitory building.

He wasn't in the mood to talk about his anxiety attack, and he brushed it off with a quick; "We're both fine." in hopes she would leave it at that.

It worked, and Ashido's expression then changed to mischievous. She glanced behind her for a moment before continuing. "Did you comfort each other?" She sucked at whispering just as much as Present Mic did.

Tadashi gave her a wary smile. "Something like that," he neither confirmed what she was suggestion, nor denied it. A perfectly thought out Dazai-style reply. He wasn't technically lying since his panicking had encouraged Dazai to get a hold of himself, and he then helped Tadashi out of his dangerous mindset.

Jiro slumped against the couch in disbelief at his words, and the mafia executive took that as his cue to slip back into his room as Ashido began to laugh at her friends.

--

Dazai barely looked up at his partner returning, clearly keen on watching two birds outside fight over a worm. 

Tadashi sighed as he sat on the edge of the bed, next to Dazai's face. "They've finally invited us to dinner," he said, staring at the bruises that were more visible since the cream had soaked into Osamu's skin. "I'm also sure the probability of Ashido already starting a rumour about us is highly likely."

The brunette hummed. "If they ask, just deny it." he replied simply.

The emerald haired boy frowned at that. "Why? Wouldn’t that help with 'over-exaggerate'?" Having everyone believe they were a couple seemed for efficient than just pretending to be super close. At least then people would stop giving them weird looks when Dazai got touchy.

Dazai flapped his hand around. "I don't expect a Veggie like you to understand my master plans." he teased, not elaborating further.

"Whatever, Sloth." Tadashi mumbled, lying down next to his partner executive. The moment his head hit his pillow, his eyes gave out. He could already feel the pull of sleep despite the sun still shining through their window. 

He trusted Dazai and his stupidly well thought out ideas. If he didn't want anyone thinking they were dating, they would just have to stick to their original 'over-exaggerate' plans and deny every accusation.

Shida ended up falling asleep before sunset. Dazai carded his hands through the green and white curls, fascinated at how the white hairs seemed to have doubled in just three days.

Dazai absently played with the hair, trying to resist the urge to find something sharp and bring it down to his skin. That wasn’t what he needed, nor really craved at that moment. He would much rather alcohol, and he knew Shida did, too (even if he didn't like admitting it).

About an hour after Freckles fell asleep, there was a knock at the door. Dazai didn’t answer in hopes of the person leaving, but instead they opened the door uninvited. It was nothing short of a miracle that Tadashi didn’t wake up as a short dude with purple lumps for hair peaked into the room.

"Shida is sleeping," Dazai said, letting annoyance through his tone. "Come back later." He could feel Minoru Mineta's eyes scan his body, eying the scars and bruises that he would be able to see from the door. The brunette couldn't bring himself to care. So what if everyone found out? As long as it didn't interfere with the mission, it didn't matter.

"S-sorry, man," The boy muttered. Dazai could sense his trembling from across the room. "I just wanted to check if you guys were still cool for dinner, you know?"

"We may come down later if Shida wakes up."

Mineta left the very next second, and Dazai rolled his eye. What an annoyance, all of them. He didn’t want to play nice, he was sick of socialising, and he would much rather be out running around all night creating the chaos he so desperately loved or planning a lovely, painless suicide.

He also didn’t like Shida’s suggestion of fake dating at all. What was the point of wasting so many moments and effort for something so fake? Dazai would much rather it be real.

Surely that wouldn’t be as tiring, would it?

Chapter Text

The moment Aizawa returned, he was swarmed by nearly half of his class. They crowded him in a circle, shouting questions in his face as if he could hear them and answer them at the same time. Ashido was looking rather smug at the back of the group, and Aoyama was sprinkling pink glitter everywhere while ignoring Iida's demands to stop. "What's going on?" he demanded.

He felt like he was being questioned by reporters.

"Sensei, were you aware of Midoriya and Dazai?" Yaoyorozu asked politely, looking a little flustered. Aizawa went a little pale. Had Ashido gone and told everyone about their anxiety and issues with dogs?

The man was in no mood for playing guessing games. "Aware of what?"

Mineta, who had been running around screaming, clung to his leg with a desperate expression. "That they're super gay!" he shouted. He was trembling with emotion, and Aizawa pushed him off his pant leg.

Aizawa had his suspicions ever since he had witnessed Midoriya and Dazai half attempting to hold hands while he escorted them to the dorm building for the first time but he really couldn't care less now he knew they really were an item.

He was greatly relieved that all Ashido did was tell everyone they were... together, even if it wasn't anyone's business and he would be punishing her for it. At least no one seemed to know about Hound Dog. Aizawa raised both of his hands and gestured for everyone to take a step back from his personal space. "Their relationship is none of my business, nor is it anyone else's."

"You're letting them stay in the same room even though you know?" Iida questioned, terribly confused. Aizawa just stared at him, not at all surprised that the stickler for rules would be upset that two kids dating were staying in the same dorm.

At first, he did have half a mind to force Midoriya and Dazai to sleep in separate rooms. After all, he had once been a teenager as well. And while he didn’t get laid, his classmates did. They used to be loud and proud about sneaking around with their partners all the time, and Aizawa didn't ever want to walk in on his students.

But then he thought about it. Really thought about it, and everything he had witnessed.

The inseparability, the stupid nicknames, the bickering. They all pointed towards romance. However, their inseparability is really just co-dependency. Just being across the classroom from each other had put them both in sour moods and Dazai seemed to rely on physical touch throughout the day.

Aizawa had known he was in for an unhealthy ride considering Midoriya was returning as an age regressed kid, but it was almost too much.

That’s not even brushing the surface. The matching eyebags, fake smile, empty eyes, bandages, mannerisms, the zero hesitance to shove glass into their hostage's neck and fire a gun at someone. It all lead back to one explanation. Abuse and/or serious neglect. Aizawa didn't want to jump to conclusions, and he knew better than most that assuming never got anyone anywhere.

He was afraid that there were no other words for it.

He had come to the conclusion once he had witnessed the anxiety they both had shown at the sight of the school counsellor. Something like that didn’t happen from hate or fear. A reaction like that is only ever seen in people experiencing PTSD.

Who the hell was Aizawa to break them apart after seeing that? When clearly, whatever they had done in the bathroom worked? It didn’t matter for now if their methods weren’t healthy, that could be worked on in the future. Aizawa should be grateful they have methods at all.

If they were being abused in the underground organisation, then it was no wonder they were so dependent on each other. They just needed to be taught on how to cope with their trauma in healthier ways, not separated. 

In fact, forcing them away from each other was one of the worst possible solutions. 

"Iida, I've told you all before that their co-dependency is something that will be worked on in therapy. For now, letting them be is all we can do until we sort it out." Aizawa responded. The class president looked a little ashamed for forgetting, and his cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

Mineta walked closer to the man again, having calmed down. "Sensei," he began, refusing to look anyone in the eye. "If I tell you something I saw, will I still be punished for snooping?"

Well, that was never a good sign.

A sigh, "Mineta, you'll be punished regardless for snooping." It didn't take a genius to figure the boy had seen something he wasn't supposed to in his new classmate's room. "But if you saw something you believe I should know," the teacher knelt down so he was at eye level with Mineta. "I'll hear you out. You can tell me here, or we can move to my room."

Mineta nodded, fiddling with the edge of his Mirio shirt. "I just wanted to know if they had photos of naked girls or something on their wall!" he swore, shifting from foot to foot.

Aizawa could have lived without hearing that, but okay. No matter how much Midoriya changed, the man doubted he would ever do something like that. 

"Not everyone is a sick pervert like you!" Jiro snapped, scowling fiercely.

Mineta sputtered, "God, I can't even be curious without someone yelling at me!" he accused, pointing a finger at the girl.

"Mineta."

"Sorry, Sensei." Mineta sniffed, shifting his eyes back to the floor. "Um, I went in there and Midoriya was asleep, and Dazai was sitting up beside him. Just—just wait for me to get to the point, okay?!" He glared at Kaminari, who had only just begun to open his mouth to complain. "Jesus! This isn't easy, man!"

Aizawa was beginning to get impatient. If Mineta of all people was struggling to say something bluntly, then just what had happened? It seemed with every step he took forward, the world forced him to take three back.

"I saw Dazai without a shirt. Like, completely naked from his waist up." Mineta rambled, trying to hurry along while struggling to find his wording.

Iida began yelling at him to cease telling everyone about the nudity he had seen, and the teacher raised a hand to effectively silence him. He could tell that whatever his student was trying to say, regardless of how he said it, was important.

"Dazai has some pretty fucked up bruising on his back, and that distracted me for a moment, but then I realised he didn’t have any bandages on." The small boy finally found the courage to look his teacher in the eye, and Aizawa spotted the tears beginning to brim.

From somewhere in the back, Ashido added her piece. "Midoriya did tell Recovery Girl that Dazai has a lot of bruising."

Mineta nodded in agreement. He took a deep breath and pushed his shoulders back. "I—I tried to ignore what I saw, but I just couldn’t. Especially since Midoriya also has bandages, you know? And if Midoriya is hiding the same things as Dazai, then I don’t know what to do! That's why I had to tell you!" He was on the verge of sobbing, his breaths uneven and choppy.

"If you don’t want to continue," Aizawa gently said, "You don’t have do. Just take a breather and come back."

"N-no! It's just," Mineta groaned in frustration, likely at himself. "Dazai had scars. Visible, terrible looking scars. All over him." He looked almost haunted as he recalled what he had seen. "They were the kind I could tell were from serious injuries. I-I swear I'm not lying!"

Aizawa nodded, "I believe you, okay? Thank you—"

"Gunshot scars. And—and long slashes, and dog bites! I think I almost threw up just looking at it all. So much for finding naked girls! All I saw was a fucked-up body of a guy!"

His heart skipped a beat, and Ashido chocked. "Dog bites?" Aizawa asked, his voice taking a deep edge. And gunshot wounds, too. What could he even say to that?

Mineta nodded frantically. "I'm sure. I recognised the pattern."

"I’m surprised you know what dog marks look like," Sero teased, though it wasn't as light as his sarcasm usually was.

"Shut the hell up! Just because you think I'm stupid doesn't mean I am, and I have hobbies other than staring at female pro heroes! Why would I be here if I wasn't smart enough to be?!" Mineta yelled, bristled. 

Sero raised his hands in surrender, looking a little off put at the random confession added in the middle of the retort. "My bad, bro."

"Enough," Aizawa declared. "Mineta, you’ll have a few days’ worth of detention with me for sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong." He placed a hand on his student's shoulder. "But I appreciate you telling me, especially since it was worrying you. I'll handle this."

Mineta gave a shaky nod of acknowledgement, and Aizawa stood up with a huff. "Since we’re at it, if anyone else has anything they would like to share with me regarding any concerns you may have, either say it now or come to me later. I’ll be in my room for the rest of the evening."

Shida awoke covered in sweat and out of breath nearly two hours into his nap, about half an hour after the sun dipped completely. He didn't say anything to Dazai in greeting, looking miserable as he waddled to the bathroom to wash his face.

"We have quite a few things to discuss, including some of my theories." Dazai said once he was finished.

Shida flopped onto the bed, "I'm listening."

"First of all, I don’t want to pretend any longer in front of these children." Dazai spoke of them as if he were older than class A, when it was the other way around. He was emotionally older than them, and that counted. "I mean that in the sense of pretending to be good students. Over-exaggerate with resume as it has been."

Tadashi nodded in understanding. "So, we'll just be our usual selves from Yokohama, minus the blood."

"That’s right." Dazai already had quite a few plans to make. He wasn’t sure, nor did he care, whether or not they were allowed to be decorating their room however much they wanted, but he wanted to paint the walls with some sort of ugly mural. Perhaps of a cockroach.

He also wanted to just get out. Being cooped up wasn’t doing any good for his suicidalness, and he knew Shida wouldn’t appreciate him trying to slit his wrists in the middle of a mission. More specifically, so early in their job. Not to say he wasn’t thinking about it every minute. "We’ll be annoying in class, run around in the halls," Dazai had seen Iida get mad at quite a few students for doing that, "Steal a few things. Including alcohol and some shot glasses."

Judging by the top-notch security they have at the front of the school, it’s likely they’ll need permission to leave campus, and they’ll also probably have an escort. But that’s fine; Dazai was perfectly capable of slipping into the shadows at any moment in time if need be.

"I have been feeling too sober for my own good." Tadashi mumbled. "Maybe I'll just show up to school drunk out of my mind. That'll stop me from falling asleep in class, right?"

"I couldn't have said it better," Dazai praised. "I’ll also begin my typical love for suicide out in public again!" He'll finally be free to express his devotion to death.

Shida gave him a wary smirk. "Oh yeah? And how's that going to help get us out of therapy, Sloth?"

The brunette rolled his eye, "I'll obviously just threaten to kill myself."

"Sounds like a typical Dazai move," Shida laughed. "And your next big idea?"

"Ah," Dazai thought about how to tell his partner what he was thinking without being thrown around. 

Tadashi frowned at the response. "Is it something I'm not going to be happy with?" he asked, positioning himself like a seal. Osamu gave a half shrug, knowing that Shida interpreted that as confirmation. His dull, green eyes narrowed. "Go on," he said slowly.

A grin formed on Dazai's face to try and ease the tension. "I have a little bit of a hunch," he said just as slowly. "That we may be here for longer than we originally thought, is all." He leaned further back into the wall so he was out of range from Shida's swipes. Just in case.

Shida sighed, "So, what? We'll be here for a year? I can do that." he said accusingly.

"A year, until graduation... pick your favourite answer from those."

A heavy pause ensued. 

"..."

"...."

"You think we're going to be here for the next two years?" Tadashi mumbled, a wrinkle forming between his eyebrows. Dazai watched as the gears turned in his partner's head, taking in the information and calculations of that. "Two years?!" he yelled, slamming his hands onto the bed.

Dazai raised his hands and blinked innocently. "It's just a hunch, silly Veggie! Don't take is so seriously!"

Shida glared, "I hate it here. You're sure we can't just stay here until we have our information and then complete the mission outside of a goddamn boarding school?" He sat up, crossing his arms over his chest with puffed cheeks.

"This place offers us the greatest protection we can get. It’ll be better than hiding at that shitty apartment Mori gave you."

Kenshiro rolled his eyes quite aggressively, "Ever since we were brought here, I've felt like shit every minute of the day, and now you're saying we're stuck here for more than three hundred and sixty-four days? Excuse me for getting upset!" 

Dazai scoffed, offended. "The sass coming from Freckles right now is quite unnecessary!" he said. How rude of Shida to get mad at him for politely letting him know what he was thinking! "I might as well jump off a cliff and die. It would serve me better than this attitude."

The Veggie just stared at him.

Osamu pouted when he got no response. "Fine, then! Leave me here with the Kiddie Crew and return to Mori! Leave me all by myself!"

He knew Tadashi was more exhausted than ever for whatever reason in Musutafu, but he would much rather deal with a tired Shida than an angry Mori at them returning without a reason why other than feeling off.

"Oh, come on now. You know I'd never do that, Emo."

"You mean it?" The brunette asked, batting his eyelashes a few times.

He was amazed at how Shida never got tired of rolling his eyes. "Yes, Dazai. Now continue before I fall asleep again." 

Dazai knew the threat wasn't empty since his partner had turned into sleepy beauty over the past couple days. "Didn't I promise to talk to you about No Longer Human, bossy Veggie?"

Shida's eyes lit up a bit at that. "You did say that. Why did your ability make them react like that?" He leaned forward, his interest beaming off him. It wasn't often that Tadashi showed so much interest in something.

"Well," Osamu began. "No Longer Human wouldn't have even been discovered if not for other people with supernatural abilities, since it erases them." He made an explosion gesture with his hands. "But if quirks are, say, the cousins of abilities, then that would in theory explain why it had such a different reaction to my ability, but still a reaction, and why there's no kanji."

Tadashi's mouth opened in an 'o' shape. "Then this society was hidden because it's literally full of people with different versions of abilities, including body-changing ones."

It was a plausible theory, and it was one Dazai was going to have to do more research on. If quirks were more powerful than abilities, then it would be no wonder why the government kept it a secret in Musutafu. "We’ll be needing some sort of base to research on. Mr. Demon should have something to give us for that."

"I've been thinking of getting you to bat your eyelashes at him for a device for a while now."

"Ah, Shida just knows me so well! Oh yeah, you know that blonde kid?"

"Bakugo?" Tadashi's cheeks puffed out again at the mention of him. 

Dazai snickered. "I find him funny. I think I might keep poking the bear for now."

There was a soft and insistent knock at the door. Aizawa sighed as he closed his laptop, shifting off his bed. He had been working on an email to Hound Dog, asking to discuss what had happened regarding his students in Chiyo's office. He could always work on that later. He knew it was someone coming to talk about something important because from the first day he had moved in, he had put up strict rules regarding coming to talk to him.

The man slowly opened the door and was met by a sweating Koda. Aizawa didn't know much about the boy other than how much he loved mammals, hated insects and bugs, and how quietly he talked if at all. "Is everything alright, Koda?" he asked, stepping to the side to let Koda in.

Koda quickly walked in, letting out a sigh of relief once his teacher closed the door. He was still nervous and showed it by continuing to sweat and avoid eye contact. "I, um, I wanted to talk to you about Midoriya. S-sorry, I meant Tadashi. Earlier you said to come to you if anyone had anything to say...?" he trailed off with uncertainty, looking guilty. That might have just been his default face, since he often wore it for seemingly no reason at all.

"Of course, Koda. Come have a seat and you can tell me what's bothering you." Aizawa led his student to the couch he had in front of his television. He gently sat beside the slightly trembling boy, keeping his expression plain despite the pit of anxiety beginning to pool at the bottom of his stomach.

Koda clenched his hands into a ball in his lap. "Um, in the locker rooms, I-I was standing pretty close to Dazai and Tadashi. Dazai was standing in front of Tadashi to stop people from l-looking, but I could still see." A slight blush formed on his beige cheeks, but he didn't faulter. "I almost didn't want to say anything, but Mineta inspired me to speak out." He finally looked into Aizawa's eyes.

Eraserhead nodded to show he was listening.

"Uhm, I sa-saw Tadashi take his shirt off." Koda looked away again, his determination becoming slightly overcome by guilt once again.

Aizawa had to stop himself from frowning. Was this because the poor kid felt guilty for peaking? Aizawa didn't put it past the kind soul. But then again, he had looked ready to collapse while waiting outside the room, his eyes darting around anxiously, like he didn't want anyone to see him go in. Something deeper was going on, and Aizawa just had to be patient.

The animal speaker swallowed audibly. "Mineta mentioned D-Dazai having a-a bite mark? I saw one on Tadashi, too. It looked like an old s-scar." His voice got so much quieter at the end of his sentence, and he shuffled slightly away from his teacher.

Like he was scared how the man was going to react.

"T-the face you pu-pulled when Mineta told you w-was all I needed to know that something else is going on. Tadashi also had a long, de-deep looking scar going down his t-torso. I'm sorry for n-not telling you sooner." His stuttering increased the longer Aizawa remained silent.

All that could be heard was their breathing for a few moments.

Aizawa quietly coughed into his palm, indicating that he wished for eye contact. When he received it, he gave his thought-out answer to the confession. "Thank you for coming to tell me this, Koda. I don't want you to worry about anything for now. Like I said to Mineta, I'm working on handling some things regarding those two boys."

Koda nodded.

The man could tell that he still wasn't feeling better. A sigh, "Learning that Dazai and Tadashi both have dog bite scars is helpful. We want to know everything we can about them and their past in the underground group they were in so we can help them heal. You understand what you've told me is a good thing, right?"

"I-I just," The boy sniffled, tears filling the corners of his eyes. "I just feel bad for invading their pr-privacy and not respecting it by telling you. They wear bandages to c-cover themselves, and here I am telling you what's beneath them." He furiously wiped his tears.

Aizawa laid a hand on his shoulder. "Truth be told, I don't think they would appreciate anyone making a big deal of their past injuries." He was just saying what he guessed based off what he had seen so far. "But I also don't believe keeping this information would have done them any good, either. It's important to know these kinds of things, even if it's an invasion of privacy. It's concerning their health and mental well-being."

Koda sighed heavily. "I don't thi-think I can do this again, Sensei."

"You don't have to, Koda. You also don't have to keep these feelings in. If you need someone to talk to, anyone in class A, including me, is will to listen."

"Yes, Sensei."

--

Once Koda left his room, Aizawa sank on the edge of his mattress. He didn't want to learn anything else about Midoriya or Dazai unless they spoke up about it themselves. Having that conversation with his student and realising how shitty it must be to have twenty-something people learn of a part of your past without even asking for permission made him wanna open a bottle of whiskey.

While it was pointing to concerning telltales of abuse, it still didn't make discussing anything a part of their bodies, their sanctuaries, okay. 

He would have to apologise to those boys before even trying to discuss boundaries regarding their future under his care at U.A. high school. They didn't deserve the hand they were being dealt.

But Aizawa wasn’t sure just where the line was. It had been hard enough dealing with the Midoriya who would throw himself into traffic for a bunny, but to deal with a traumatised, empty Midoriya paired with a just as traumatised and empty Dazai? He wasn’t sure where to start.

None of it was clear, and Aizawa knew that they did that on purpose. They had been at U.A. for three days, and yet their presence was already filling the minds of everyone. Yet they didn’t do anything in particular. They were doing a fantastic job at keeping everyone on their toes and at a distance.

God, Shouta wasn't confident he was cut out for teaching, after all. 

Although, to be fair on himself, he doubts many teachers are cut out for dealing with two traumatised children from an underground group who are master manipulators and can control their emotions with a flick of their face muscles. There isn't exactly a class for that.

Tadashi set down the blow dryer on the bed, turning it off as he admired the work he had done with Dazai's hair.

Dazai apparently dried his hair with his towel in the most infuriating way (Shida's words) that Shida wanted to kick him out of the room (also Shida's words). It often resulted in petty arguments, which led to Dazai getting his hair personally dried by Tadashi, who grumbled about his partner being useless in everything but murder the entire time.

Said green eyed boy sighed, smoothing down the brown locs so they were less messy. "Hey, Emo?"

"Hi, Shida."

"Why do you think Monoma said that? About me turning into a villain, I mean."

Dazai shrugged his bony shoulders. "How should I know? Maybe he's just as delusional as everyone else and keeps mistaking you for the look-alike Yamada Sensei mentioned." He stood up from the spot on the floor he had been in in-between Tadashi's legs, stretching his arms wide above his head. 

Kenshiro clicked his tongue. "You're telling me you, Osamu Dazai, don't think it's strange that not only some random dude acted like he once knew me, but everyone including his classmates has been mistaking me for someone else?" He said it in such a disbelieving tone that Dazai gasped in offense.

It was strange indeed. Shida didn’t remember his past like Dazai remembered his own. He didn’t even remember his real name, only the one Mori assigned him.

If fact, Freckles had told Dazai that while he remembered just-barely-there pieces to the puzzle of his past life, it was mostly a blur and it made him miserable to think about it.

Dazai could remember distinctly the day Shida gave up on remembering who he used to be. He had come to Dazai's shipping container in the pouring rain after a few harsh slaps from Mori for failing to carry out a task the way the Doctor had wanted.

"Dazai, I'm giving up." He had said, with a dramatic roll of thunder accompanying his words. Osamu wrongly assumed that he meant on his life and was about to say something sarcastic, but then Shida had continued. "I don't care who I used to be, or who I once used to know and care for any longer. Mori wins." He said it so brokenly Dazai couldn't bring himself to say anything back.

That had been the first time the brunette ever saw his partner shed tears, and even now, six months later, he could count on one hand how many times he had seen it since. Although Shida insisted that he hadn't cried, blaming the rain for his puffy eyes and sniffles a few minutes later.

Tadashi sighed loudly, causing Dazai's train of thought to fall off rails. "Maybe... I used to live here." he mumbled. It was obviously more of an inside thought that slipped out. He looked like he hadn't even realised he said it.

Dazai flopped back onto the bed. "That would mean Shida has a quirk." he said once the green eyes he adored found curious snapped to him.

Shida gave a miserable shrug. "I have always been a freak of the freaks with my non-kanji ability, right? This would explain it."

"It would also debunk my theory of No Longer Human making quirk users sick," Dazai quickly retorted. It did make sense that he was born in Musutafu though, considering Shida also had bright green hair, eyes, and even eyebrows. 

"Not necessarily."

The one-eyed teen groaned loudly, tired of the guessing games. "Enlighten me, Shida, because not even someone with a deducting ability would be able to understand your word vomit." 

Tadashi gave him a glare, slapping him for that comment. "You were there when I manifested my ability. You were literally the first thing I threw myself into when One For All came alive." Ah, yes, Dazai did remember the first time he saw his favourite lightning quite well. "No Longer Human immediately came into contact with One For All. Maybe that’s why I’m immune to the whole… throwing up thing. Our superpowers adapted to each other, I guess."

It made.... some sense. Frustratingly so. Stupid Shida with his stupid veggie brains. "That's probably why you're a green veggie, you know." he said plainly.

"It's probably also why everyone's been looking at me like I'm a miracle. Maybe I was kidnapped or something."

Dazai sighed dramatically like he had just finished doing paperwork. "Stupid Freckles. Why didn't you think of that earlier?"

Shida scoffed loudly, "Oh, whatever. Like you did." He attempted to shove Dazai, who evaded it easily.

He stuck out his tongue and flopped back onto the bed. This time, Shida did not miss. Dazai cried out the moment the punch came in contact with his skin. "Oh, the pain! You've killed me, Shida! You've taken away my dream of a suicide for good! How could you lay your hand on my delicate skin like that, you monster?!"

Tadashi chuckled loudly and scooted onto his stomach as well. 

The brunette scoffed, "I have less than no desire to lay beside a man who would lay his hands on a woman."

A bushy, green eyebrow raised. "I think it's pretty hilarious you keep calling yourself the woman."

It's because you think it's funny. What? No, it wasn't. He didn't know why his brain said something so idiotic. It was because Dazai was accusing him of being a woman hitter, not because he wanted to humour stupid Freckles! He was the one being humoured! "Why, you don't think I'm delicate enough, Shida?" Dazai questioned, completely playing off his internal argument and blinking prettily. 

"You're asking me why I don't think a fifteen-year-old mass murderer is delicate? Besides, there are plenty non-delicate women out there."

"Psh, whatever. You're just a jealous Veggie!"

Shida clicked his tongue.

Dazai stuck his out. "Are we joining the Kiddie Crew for dinner or what?" he questioned. He really didn't feel like eating, let alone in front of a crowd of people. He'd rather let himself rot.

"You said we should stop pretending. Plus, you’re the master mind, aren’t you? Be a good prodigy and figure it out on your own."

That was the shittiest answer Shida could have chosen. How on earth was Dazai supposed to figure out what Shida wanted when he was falling back asleep right before his very eyes? "I feel like hanging myself."

Tadashi laughed. Then he slapped a hand over his mouth with a disappointed look. "I should never endorse your suicide jokes," he said with a dark look. "The change of topic caught off guard. If you try and hang yourself, I'll leave you in Recovery Girl's care for the entire time you're bedridden."

As silly as it sounded, it was a decent threat. One Dazai would not be taking lightly, thank you!

Tokoyami sat wedged between Shoji and Ojiro, perfectly content with where he sat. He was facing the front of the building, with Midoriya and Dazai’s room in perfect view. No one else was paying much attention to anything but their meals and conversations, but Tokoyami did spot Bakugo and Todoroki staring at the door quite a few times.

Bakugo’s look was filled with rage, while Todoroki looked almost sad. Tokoyami could understand why. Bakugo struggled with showing emotion as anything but anger, and so even when he was riddled with anxiety or sadness, it projected as anger.

Just that afternoon, Tokoyami had spotted tears in Bakugo’s eyes, and his dark feelings threatened to bubble over even as he yelled at Midoriya.

The boy wished there was a way for him to help his classmates, but he was feeling the darkness beginning to fill his heart as well. Dark Shadow often offered him comfort, but her efforts in cheering him up were mostly in vain. He just wished that everything could go back to normal. Everything had changed in just a week.

Iida sat straight up in his chair with a determined look, and Tokoyami immediately knew they were all about to cop a lecture. He raised the back of his spoon to his glass of water with a serious expression. "Attention, everyone. Since everyone is now down here, I’d like to set a few boundaries we are all required to follow from here on out." he said, his eyes scanning everyone else's.

If it were anyone else, Tokoyami probably wouldn't be so sceptical. However, Iida had a habit of going a bit too far and too strict when it came to rules and regulations. He hoped he wouldn't have to change anything around in his room since it was all filled with darkness.

Bakugo predicably wasn't happy with the sudden announcement. "Why the hell should I listen to any more of your stupid rules, huh Four-eyes?!" he demanded with his signature scowl.

Iida pushed up his glasses with a narrowed-eye glance at the blonde. "Because they aren't rules, Bakugo! I am setting boundaries in favour of our classmates that we are all required to follow and respect from here on out!" 

"Why the crap would I give a damn about—"

The class president silenced him by slamming his glass onto the table. "You’ll sit down and listen, house arrest!" he yelled, matching Bakugo's volume.

Bakugo just stared at him, his red eyes so incredibly wide Tokoyami hoped they wouldn't pop out. "Did you just interrupt me?" he questioned menacingly, slowly rising out of his chair.

Kirishima threw an arm around Bakugo. When Kirishima was shoved off, Kaminari grabbed onto one of his arms to get him to sit back down. "C'mon, man! Just hear him about with this!" The red-head pleaded, looking nervous. Tokoyami didn't blame him. Bakugo had been a ticking time bomb for the past few days.

"For fuck's sake," said Bakugo grumbled, plopping back onto his chair with a huff.

Iida took a deep breath, making a rapid chopping motion with his arm. "As we all know, some things have been said around the topic of Tadashi and Dazai! At first, I was quite flustered and taken aback!"

Tokoyami could tell he still was flustered by the pink dusting his cheeks.

"But," Iida shouted. "Upon further reflecting, I’ve come to the rational decision of discussing this. No one can bombard either of them with questions, no one can give them disgusted looks and make them feel unwelcome, and most of all, everyone gives them space!" His arms were moving so fast Tokoyami couldn't even see them.

The bird boy had the feeling Iida was just saying all that for himself to remember and follow. A few people cheered and raised their glasses of water, and a few others just stared guiltily at the floor.

Uraraka in the corner of Tokoyami's eyes was tearing up while trying to cover it up with laughter as Tsu rubbed her back comfortingly. …Strange. Before Tokoyami even got the chance to try and send Dark Shadow over, he spotted Midoriya’s door slowly opening. With a quick glance around him, he could tell no one else had noticed. Oh, boy.

"Oh, just get out already, Shida!" Dazai's scream was heard, and everyone's head snapped toward the door. So much for poor Midoriya trying to quietly enter the room. 

Said poor Midoriya came tumbling out of the room the very next moment. He collapsed with such force that he was sent rolling halfway across the lounge area. He just laid there even after he stopped rolling, and a laughing Dazai emerged from the room.

When Midoriya still didn’t move by the time the brunette reached him, Dazai huffed, actually huffed as if checking his friend was alright was a chore, and he knelt down next to Midoriya. He poked his cheek a few times like a kid poking at a worm with a stick.

Midoriya’s hands then snapped forward with lightning speed and yanked at Dazai’s collar, sending him flying above Midoriya and onto the floor with a loud thud. "Fuck!" Dazai cursed loudly. "You know I'm bruised!" he snapped, groaning miserably. Tokoyami cringed in sympathy and Dark Shadow flinched.

"And you know I have zero tolerance for your bullshit when I'm tired." Midoriya retorted. Which was fair, considering he had been shoved out of his own room.

Dazai slowly sat upright, "You're always tired!" he accused.

"You got a problem with that, Sloth?"

Apparently, that was all Dazai needed to leap at Midoriya, going for his throat. The emerald haired boy retaliated by grabbing a handful of Dazai's hair and yanking quite roughly, resulting in his friend being forced to move back by a few centimetres.

Iida was the first to break out of the trance of surprise, running over with his arms chopping rapidly while screaming about dorm regulations. So much for minding his own business when it came to those two. Although Tokoyami could confidently say he never would have thought he’d see the day Midoriya have a petty, rough fight with someone other than Bakugo.

Aizawa Sensei slammed open his door with his quirk already activated the next second, and even Tokoyami leaned back in his seat despite how far away he was. "Are you two serious?" he demanded with anger. "You can't get along for more than a day? I already warned you about this!"

Midoriya shoved Dazai further away with his cheeks puffed, "He started it! He was the one who pushed me to the ground!"

"How is it my fault you and your stupid Veggie legs crumble at the slightest nudge? You were blocking the door, slow poke!" Dazai stuck his tongue out at the greenette, crossing his arms above his chest.

Aizawa Sensei wrapped his capture weapon around Midoriya before he could lunge. "I don't give a damn who started it, you're both in trouble!" He sighed, pinching his nose bridge with his free hands. He then settled on a disappointed look at the two students in front of him.

Midoriya stared at Aizawa Sensei with hatred burning in his eyes, and Dark Shadow audibly gasped at it. Midoriya had so much respect for Sensei just a week ago, and now he hated him? Goodness, what a dark change. Although almost everything about him had undergone a dark transition, apart from his hair, which now had noticeable white streaks in it.

The teacher didn't look surprised at the disdain at all. "Tadashi, you of all people should know better than to let Dazai rile you up." His red gaze turned to the other teen. "Dazai, this is the second time I've told you to stop stirring the pot. One more time and you'll have an hour-long detention. You hear me?"

Dazai visibly did not. He flapped his hand around dismissively. "Doooon't careeee!" he sang.

Someone choked on their water.

"Excuse me?" Sensei questioned.

"You aren’t the boss of me. That role has already been filled, so stop trying to act like it."

The man shook his head in disbelief. "You may have a boss somewhere else, but in my class, I’m the one with authority, not some jackass with an attitude problem." he raised an eyebrow and turned off his quirk, blinking a few times afterward.

Dazai micked Aizawa Sensei words in a high-pitched tone, and Midoriya snorted at it.

It was the most bizarre thing to watch, especially since Aizawa Sensei didn’t even look affected. He looked conflicted, but not angry. At least, not anymore. With a long sigh, he pulled two packets out of his pocket and chucked them at the boys, giving them one each. "Eat. We’ll talk later, somewhere private. I don’t care if it’s not today, because it’ll just be tomorrow. Your choice."

Midoriya sighed and Dazai drooped himself over his boyfriend (Tokoyami was still a bit sceptical of that. He would prefer to hear the confirmation from their mouths before thinking of them as an item). "I don't want old man lectures! Hirotsu already gave me enough for a lifetime!"

"Every old man lecture you've received has been entirely your fault." Midoriya retorted quickly, sending an annoyed look at Dazai. The brunette rolled his eye and put more weight on his friend, who grunted in offense.

"If you two have one more fight, you'll be answering to me." Aizawa Sensei threatened. 

He received an exasperated look from both of them. "Is that not what we're doing?" Midoriya grumbled sarcastically. 

"You wanna find out what answering to me looks like?"

Tokoyami really didn’t. He could quite peacefully live without ever knowing. And yet, he was also dying to see where this ended up. Dark Shadow was mimicking eating popcorn from above his shoulder, equally invested.

"I don't know," Midoriya raised his eyebrow. "Do I?"

Dazai scrunched his face. "That was really cringe, Shida."

"Get the hell off me."

Dazai began whining loudly, slowly pushing Midoriya down so they were just laying there. A grumpy Midoriya and an upset Dazai.

Iida was sputtering. "Sensei, you're just letting this go?" he questioned, his eyes blown wide. Tokoyami was just as confused, wondering why Aizawa hadn't already handed out at least a month worth of detention. 

Aizawa Sensei smirked sadistically. " 'course not." was all he said, and all that was needed.

The class president shivered and bowed his head. "Yes, Sensei! Have a good rest of your evening!" He was so formal all the time. There was no way that wasn't exhausting.

The man just hummed in acknowledgement, shoving his hands into his pockets and walking back into his room without another word.

Mineta blew raspberries, rolling his eyes. "If I did that, I would get punted into next year." he mumbled, annoyed as if he was the one who just got lectured by Aizawa.

Sero gave him a look. "That's because you would try and grope the person you would be fighting." he accused.

"It's called multi-tasking, Sero! Get off my case!"

Tokoyami shook his head at his classmate’s antics and resumed eating.

--

Kaminari walked over to the two lying in the lounge room with a relaxed smirk and a bounce in his step. "Will you two be joining us for dinner?" he asked, even if almost everyone was mostly done with their meal.

Midoriya and Dazai shared a glance, as if they were having a conversation with their eyes.

It was pretty cool to watch. It was like those twins you see on TV with telepathy.

Dazai ended up rolling his eye and flapping a bandaged hand, which apparently gave Midoriya his answer. "We'll sit there, but Aizawa has given us our food, so we won't be eating whatever's served." Dazai grumbled about that for a moment but was quickly silenced by Mido’s sharp elbow.

Kaminari cheered excitedly. He felt like it had been years since he last shared a meal with his bro, even if they weren’t that close. "Come on, then! You can sit wherever you like!" He turned around and gave his bros a proud thumbs up, and Kiri gave him a sharp grin while Sero silently clapped for him. 

Midoriya and Dazai followed silently as Kaminari went back to the dining area. They ended up sitting alone at the end of a mostly empty table with a few seats between them and Todoroki and Iida. Dazai shoved his packet of whatever Aizawa Sensei had given them into Midoriya’s chest and freely walked into the kitchen with curious eyes.

Kaminari found it fun to watch their interactions. It was like watching two much chiller and coordinated versions of Bakubro hang out. The half fight they had just had scared Kaminari a little, but it was pretty hilarious to see Midoriya get riled up and immediately become sated the moment they stopped.

Dazai opened the fridge and Midoriya clicked his fingers to get his attention. Like something akin to a puppy dog, Dazai’s ears perked and he whipped around with an annoyed expression. The green boy raised an eyebrow and pointed to the cabinets beside the fridge, and Dazai audibly made a sound of realisation.

Midoriya just shook his head, cracking open the pouch in his hands. When Dazai returned to his seat beside him, he kicked his legs up and laid them across Midoriya’s lap with a strong pout. "They don't have any canned crab."

Kaminari almost felt like he was intruding. He had seen his fair share of couples at school, but these two… there was something different about them. Everything they did together felt so intimate and private that Kaminari always felt bad for even daring to look. Yet he found it hard to take his eyes away.

Midoriya patted one of Dazai’s legs in a somewhat comforting way. "This is probably the stars punishing you for being stupid."

Dazai squawked in offense, "I forgot! It's not my fault, Shida!"

"How many times have I told you to stop looking for canned food in the refrigerator?"

"I have more important things to remember, Freckles."

"Oh, yeah?" Midoriya teased. "Like how to tie a tie properly?"

Kaminari had seen the bow Dazai made with his school tie. It looked fine, but it would be much cuter on a girl.

The brunette scoffed. "I don't appreciate this slander coming from the one who takes ten years to tie his own tie without my help."

Midoriya rolled his eyes and shoved Dazai’s pouch into his hands, and they scowled at each other yet made no move to stop touching.

Kaminari realised with a snort and a shove from Kirishima that they were like an old married couple.

Everyone else went back to what they were doing, although more than most of them stayed at a low volume.

Not Kaminari and his friends. They were happy Midoriya was finally eating with them again, but they couldn’t care less about the conversations he had with his boyfriend, let alone stop theirs just to listen.

Kaminari did also see Uraraka running up the stairs to the girl’s side of the dormitory with Tsu following after her, but Kaminari decided to leave them be with their silly girl problems.

He found it funny how Iida had enough of their PDA and attempted to politely ask them to use proper table manners.

Dazai ended up completely ignoring him.

This led to Iida going on a whole rant about how a lot of people can be uncomfortable with people using PDA and why breaking the dining area rules set by him was extremely disrespectful, especially after that display of violence.

Dazai and Midoriya listened to the whole thing silently, staring at each other while having another silent conversation. Midoriya looked astoundingly unimpressed, and Dazai looked like he was experiencing a mix of amusement and annoyance at the same time, which was a very strange combo in Kaminari's opinion.

Once Iida was done yelling about manners and respect, Dazai finally looked him in the eye.

He flipped his legs around so they were under the table, scooted his chair closer to Midoriya’s so that their chairs were touching, then kicked his legs back over his boyfriend’s. He sat on the edge of his seat so that he was practically sitting on Midoriya’s lap.

Iida looked thoroughly scandalised, and Kaminari was laughing so hard by that point his stomach ached.

"Oh! Sorry, I thought you said to get closer to Shida because it made your heart do happy jumps in your chest. Should I get closer? Is your heart skipping a few beats, class prez?" Dazai went on and on. He grinned at Iida, who clenched his fist so hard that he was trembling.

Kirishima was crying laughing at that point, and Kaminari was pretty sure he even saw Bakugo’s shoulders move with laughter from in the kitchen before he remembered he was being petty at Dazai and hating him for taking away his childhood bestie boo.

Ah, good fun.

Chapter Text

Aizawa sat on his couch, staring at nothing and hearing nothing but his thoughts coming and going. Different ideas, evaluations, conclusions, and flashbacks. Dazai had outright disrespected him a few moments earlier, claiming the man had no right to boss him around, and that he already had a boss.

If any of Aizawa's other students even dared to question his authority, he would give them detentions for weeks. But Dazai had done so much more, had held him hostage at one point, and Aizawa hadn't done anything. He knew his students would be questioning why he was letting it go, why he wasn't even angry at the boy for his attitude, and he wasn't sure either.

Osamu Dazai was currently a cunning flaw in the system. He wasn't from anywhere, really. He spawned from a fake world or whatever Kage Hori's quirk did. He wasn't registered as anything by the government, therefore wasn't legally considered a person. 

He was a non-existent being.

Nezu was working on contacting the Commission and Aizawa wasn't sure what that meant. He wasn't sure if Dazai was even going to be allowed to stay in U.A., or if he was going to be taken away. There was no way the Commission and Government wouldn't want their grubby, blood-stained hands on him.

His quirk was also undeniably strong, with the power to erase other quirks from physical contact. Based off the kid's match in the training session, he could also make people sick with his quirk. And got a satisfaction from it.

Someone like that would be the perfect tool for the Hero Public Safety Commission. 

Aizawa would give the kid repercussions for what he did, and he would in the future, but it was far too early for that. He was thrown into a different world, Midoriya as well technically, taken from his home and everything he knew and loved. The pain would still be fresh, no doubt. And while the boy was under the assumption he had been instructed to stay at U.A. by someone with authority over him from his place of birth, it wouldn't make being taken any easier.

He was good at hiding it. Exceptionally good at it. There wasn't a single crack in his mask, but Aizawa could still see that it was there. His eyes gave it away, the fact he didn't actually mean any of his clown-like expressions and words. They were empty.

So was Midoriya's.

Their eyebags weren't getting any better. In fact, Aizawa was pretty sure Dazai's had gotten deeper in the past few days. He didn't want either of the kids to spiral out of control. He didn't want them to feel unsafe around him. It was clear neither of them liked him much, especially Midoriya, but Aizawa would rather he was hated than feared. 

Tadashi wasn't anything at all like Midoriya. The only similarities would be his green-ness and facial structure. Everything else had changed. He had a different physique, different hair, different intensity in his eyes, different expressions, different attitude, different walking, and even a different smile. It had all changed. 

Tadashi was fierce and didn't care for people's opinions. He snapped and lashed out without any thoughts regarding the consequences of his actions. He glared, he cussed, he snarled, he fought. He was almost the opposite of Midoriya, and yet they were technically the same person.

Such a drastic change in less than two years was the end result of extreme conditioning to destroy a person's being, just as Hori had said his quirk did. And those bandages.... Aizawa almost didn't want to know what laid beneath them. 

Dazai had gunshot scars, Tadashi had a deep scar going down his chest, and they had matching dog bite scars. It was clear that they weren't just grunts or runner boys of the underground organisation they were thrown into. If anything, them being used as shields would be more believable.

Aizawa slowly rose from his couch, walking over to his kitchenette to pour himself a few shots of his Japanese rice wine. Nezu had advised him not to drink if he planned on going near students, but he needed more confidence than what he had stored for the talk he was going to have with Tadashi and Dazai.

--

Aizawa lifted his knuckles to the door across from his, waiting a few seconds before it was opened with such force it was nearly ripped from the hinges. He almost took a step back, but he kept his feet planted. "Tadashi," he began. "I do believe I told you I was going to have a talk with you boys?"

He wasn't expecting a warm welcome by any means, and he wouldn't blame the kids if they just slammed the door on his face. After all, from their point of view he was being a pushy weirdo who didn't know how to keep his nose out of their business. 

Tadashi stared up at him with unimpressed eyes, slowly blinking. He sighed loudly and sucked his cheeks in for a moment. "Oh, alright. Get in, let's get this over with." He turned around and left the door open for Aizawa, who stepped through it and closed it behind him. 

He mentally made a list of everything he was going to have to talk to them about, and he estimated their talk to being at least half an hour long. So many things to talk about, and Aizawa was almost dreading their reaction and responses. 

Dazai was sitting crossed legged on the bed, his doe eye brown and dull as always. It was calculating as well, something Aizawa had realised from the moment the kid had met him in the alleyway. His childish nicknames and attitude didn't mask his eyes from Aizawa. That didn't mean it was easy to get a read on him at all, and the man confused himself trying to.

"Sensei," Dazai greeted, mocking and sarcastic as always. 

Aizawa nodded, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. "Dazai, Tadashi." Said Tadashi was crawling on the bed to sit next to his boyfriend. "I told you two many times we would be having a talk. Now's when it's happening." He didn't want either of them thinking he was investigating them, so he wanted to start it slow.

"If I say anything that makes either of you uncomfortable, tell me and I'll stop talking. Your words are as valued as anyone else's, you hear?" He kept his voice a deadpan, but his hands were clenched in his pockets. He watched their expressions, the way their eyes connected, and they seemed to have a silent conversation every couple of sentences. 

Dazai pouted and shoved his cheek onto his palm, his elbow resting on his thigh. "No offense or anything, Sensei. But just spit out whatever you're stalling. I have very important things to attend to you know." his voice was ominous, and Aizawa knew he was just saying that to put his teacher off.

It wouldn't work on him. "I won't be doing that, Dazai. I'm aware you two don't care much for speeches and protocol, but this is different. I'm not just saying what I've been trained to say, I'm saying what I need to." Aizawa glanced around the room, feeling a sudden pang of guilt at how plain it all was. Not a single thing of decoration in sight.

Dazai rolled his eye, which got Tadashi to chuckle. 

The man was tempted to take their desk chair to sit on, but he knew that would be intruding far too much. "I want to apologise." he stated, steeling his resolve and letting the buzz of alcohol influence his confidence. 

That got the two teenagers to pause, and Tadashi's eyes narrowed. "Apologise?" he questioned, looking the man up and down. "Is this the saké talking, or your pity? Actually, what do you think, Emo?"

"Ah, it's definitely his sappy feelings."

"Alcohol induced sappy feelings?"

"No, silly Shida. Just his regular, icky sappy feelings."

Aizawa took a deep breath. He probably did smell like the saké he took a few shots of, but it would be faint. They had an enhanced sense of smell, it seemed. "I'm not here to talk about alcohol with you two. I want to apologise for the way you've been treated at your time here. For the negligence I've shown you."

Tadashi squinted at him, a frown forming on his lips. Aizawa was quiet for a few moments after that, letting the kid have his turn to speak. When he didn't, he continued. "Your privacy is, for lack of better words, yours. It isn't my place to force you to talk, or anyone else to. I apologise for not respecting your boundaries, and for not laying into your classmates about it as well. I promise I will strive to do better."

Dazai blew raspberries and got slapped for it. Aizawa didn't say anything about it. "Sensei, it doesn't matter. You're boring me with all this apologetic nonsense. I might just die before I get to commit suicide! How tragic for poor ol' me."

Aizawa's mind went blank, his face going cold as he completely sobered up. "I—Dazai, what?" His heart was already doing marathons, too fast and too loud. Dazai just stared at him blankly and Tadashi watched his face with immense curiosity. Was this a bit? Were they stirring him up, or, fuck, was Dazai actually suicidal? "Kid, I—I don't even..." 

"What a boring reaction. Where's the tears? Shida, I'm serious! I might just die of boredom!"

Tadashi rolled his eyes. "You aren't going to die from boredom."

"Uhm, why do you sound so nonchalant about that? Where's the love in your heart gone?!"

"It got sucked away by a scalpel."

Dazai nodded like that made any sense. "Of course, of course. Boss's scalpel does do that."

Aizawa felt like throwing up. If he didn't want to know what was under the bandages before, he did now. He—oh, god.

Were there self-harm scars? Surely not.

But Tadashi had look ready to bash Ashido earlier for reaching out to touch Dazai arms. He hadn't cared when Dazai was bumped into, he had even laughed.

Aizawa swallowed bile, took a deep breath, and forced himself to speak. "Dazai," he choked. "Dazai, if you ever feel the need to—to end your life, or harm yourself, I want you to tell someone."

The kid looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "Why on earth would I do that? It's no one else's business when I decided to die but mine!" he said it playfully, and Aizawa's eyes snapped to Tadashi.

Tadashi shrugged, but he had a dark look in his eyes. One that looked like both a warning and a tiredness different from the one he normally had. He looked... exhausted by Dazai's suicide remarks. "No offense, Eraserhead. But you can't fix me or Dazai by telling us to go to therapy. That's not how it works. You don't have our respect, or our trust, and you're never going to get it. Leave it be."

"I won't let either of you go thinking you are alone."

"Oh, for fu—we don't need your help, Eraserhead." Tadashi glared at him, slightly leaning toward Dazai. The brunette immediately yanked Tadashi forward, throwing his hands into his green hair. Tadashi slumped slightly before straightening again. "We get it, you'll keep a distance from now on. Anything else?" he snapped.

Yeah, that was a lot 'else'. But Aizawa just couldn't. He needed to get on the phone with Nezu, All Might, Hound Dog, and possibly Yamada and Kayama. He needed to re-evaluate what to do from there and how to help these kids.

Not to mention Mrs. Midoriya was ready to storm into the school any minute to see her son. 

"No, not for now." The man went to leave.

Dazai clicked his tongue when Tadashi moved his hand to pinch him. "Sensei, I'm getting bored if you haven't noticed. I want a device to play games on." He blinked pleadingly at Aizawa, which was a strange thing. The man didn't know people couldn't blink with meaning.

"I'll... see what I can do. Goodnight, boys."

He didn't get a goodnight back.

Class the next day was just as boring as everything else in the damn school. Dazai didn't participate in class, nor did Shida. Neither of them were called on, but they did get quite a few looks of sadness throughout the day by the teachers. 

Which meant Aizawa had been a tattletale and now all of the staff knew he was suicidal. It was annoying, but it didn't matter. Dazai didn't actually care, and all it meant was that he could seriously be free and open about his suicidalness. 

So, he was.

Class A didn't seem to think it was really funny at first. Kaminari had even tried to politely tell him to knock it off, but by the middle of the day, everyone had grown used to his jokes. So quick! Which, again, how boring.

He wanted to get out. He wanted to fight someone with Shida. He wanted to drink, and to leave. God, he wanted wanted wanted wantedwantedwantedwanted— 

But he kept quiet about it.

Mori would be disappointed to find out that he was being distracted by wants on a mission. Dazai convinced Mr. Demon to give them a device of some sort so they could move the mission along faster and find out who the rats they were to eliminate were. After all, Mori had said in his note that the entire country was in danger! 

How tragic is that.

The Gloved Man is formally inviting D.P. and V.R. to annihilate a newfound pest circulating the area. A group of rats with fur tinged blue and misty have been found hiding under the citizens of this country's noses. Listen to the sound of their paws carefully, for they sneak past you if you aren't careful enough.

The Demon Prodigy and Verde Reaper, the two fifteen-year-old port mafia executives, were on a mission to save the entire goddamn country, and they were being forced to listen to the weird ass adults around them. If they don't, they'll fail the mission. Save the country or be locked up for a few days. 

Dazai listened to the people around him while he kept his head on the desk. No one thinks the sleeping kid is paying any attention. However, Dazai couldn't even remember the last time he fell asleep in front of strangers. He doubted he ever had. He wasn't ever actually sleeping in class, his body wouldn't ever betray him like that.

Asui and Uraraka had been... distant, he supposed, ever since Ashido had spread the rumour about him and Shida dating. Based on how Asui was the one comforting Uraraka, it was easy to tell that the rosy-cheeked girl had a bit of a crush on one of them. The girl stubbornly refused to look either of them in the eye since yesterday, so it wasn't easy to tell who she liked. 

But Dazai, being the Demon Prodigy and all, was good at that kind of thing. Unfortunately, he had come to the devastating conclusion that Uraraka had a big, fat crush on Kenshiro Tadashi! How gross would that be? Shida dating someone?

Psh, as if.

Osamu had caught onto the tail end of their conversations quite a few times with his head on the desk, considering Asui was in the seat in front of him and Uraraka's seat was only two behind him.

Something something something, I'll get over him, blah blah, I just need some time to sort it out, pish posh yadda yadda. 

She kept saying the same things over and over again, and Dazai doubted much of it was true. On the other hand, he had heard the Class President and Sato organising the food for the weekend, which was apparently tomorrow. 

Dazai decided that they wouldn't try and leave campus just yet, that could be saved for a few weeks later when they had effectively pissed off every student and teacher at the school. Instead, he planned to start pulling the strings.

Aoyama loved to throw glitter and cheese around randomly, so Dazai would politely ask to have some pink glitter.

Eraserhead always came into class with either one of those stupid protein jelly pouches, or a coffee in hand. For the occasions he had a coffee, Dazai and Shida would put a few specs of glitter into it. Not much at first, but enough that their teacher would see. Over time, they would begin to put more and more in until it covered the entire surface of the mug.

With the students... Dazai enjoyed bugs and beetles more than he enjoyed pulling pranks and tricks. He also enjoyed picking up spiders for the sake of it. Hirotsu did not. He hated spiders. When Dazai discovered that, he grabbed a wolf spider and put it on the Hirotsu's lighter.

The old man's girly shrieks that day still got Dazai and Tadashi to crack up.

Why not do the same thing with their new housemates? Nothing like a morning gift with a Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle in the milk. Or perhaps a common house spider on their chopsticks to wake them up!

The bell rang to signal the end of third period, which meant that Dazai had ten minutes to do whatever he wanted while he waited for the next teacher to show up.

He pushed back his chair, and the sound was loud. Dazai cringed for a moment before he schooled his expression and grinned at a frowning Iida.

"Dazai, I must ask you to remain seated—"

The brunette waved his hand in dismissal. "Has anyone ever told you how much of a party pooper you are, Class Prez? It's annoying." He shot Iida a look, who visibly swallowed. Dazai grinned again with his eye closed and skipped over to Shida's desk.

He didn't have to open his eye to know Tadashi was giving him a blank stare.

Dazai shoved the paper and pencil on Shida's desk onto the freckled boy's lap, then sat on the desk with his back to the windows, facing the rest of the class. Shida poked his side a few times. "Ugh- that's not very nice of you, Shida. My sides are sensitive!"

"Nothing about you is sensitive." Tadashi retorted, half scowling at him. "Why are you over here?" he questioned. His sharp eyes were narrowed as he glanced around the room, finding quite a few of their classmates smiling and giggling at them. 

Dazai shrugged. "I'm so lonely over there, Shida! Plus, you were looking extra sleepy over here all of third period. I thought I'd come over and offer my lap for you to rest your head on!" he tapped his thigh a few times to make his point, laughing at the unimpressed look on Shida's face.

"My knight," Shida deadpanned. His expression slightly changed to a questioning one, his right eyebrow raising an inch.

Dazai could tell he wanted to know why he was milking the dating rumour Ashido created when he had said he didn't want to pretend to date. The brunette flapped his hand around, rolling his eye. "I'm having fun, Shida. Stop being nit-picky!"

"If you two don't stop your goddamn flirting, I'll blow you sky high!" Bakugo yelled, half turning in his seat as his palm crackled with sparks. "No one wants to hear your bullshit!" he yelled, a vein popping out in his neck.

Dazai had a feeling Bakugo was jealous he had no game.

Osamu grinned widely at him, patting Shida's cheek without looking at his partner. "Now, now. No one wants to get hurt!" he chirped, his grin widening when the blonde looked ready to tear his hair out.

"You shut the fuck up before I kill you!"

Dazai slapped a hand over his mouth, jaw dropped. "Oh, dear! How violent. Is this how hero students behave, hm? I had much higher expectations." He then turned to stare at his dull and broken fingernails, enjoying the loud silence in the room from him insulting the class bomb.

Bakugo made a disgusting sound something akin to a growl. "You wanna see how this hero student behaves?! I'll send you crying to your mother, cocky waste of bandages!"

Shida inhaled through clenched teeth, and Dazai glanced over to give him a relaxed smirk.

His parents were both dead.

In truth, he didn't remember much of them. He had that condition when traumatised people forget their childhood or whatever. It was either dissociative amnesia or repressed trauma, or maybe both. He didn't care to check. He remembered his mother's hugs, his father's smell of alcohol, and their screaming matches.

Dazai didn't remember how they died.

They might have been murdered right in front of him for all he knew. He just couldn't remember, nor did he want to. He had no feelings regarding his parents. What was the point in grieving someone you couldn't remember? They probably had something to do with his suicide attempt at fourteen, which led to slimy Mori's discovery of him.

However, Dazai's parent's death was also a great way to toy with Bakugo and possibly tug on class 1-A's poor little heroic hearts. He swapped his playful grin with a small, sad smile. "Ah, I'm afraid that's just not possible."

Hook.

Bakugo's red eyes twitched with rage, "Are you underestimating me, fucker? I'll kick your ass!" He stomped on his chair and leaned forward, his crackling palm facing the ceiling.

Line.

Somewhere in the distance, Iida was yelling about not disrespecting school property. He was ignored by both of them.

Dazai gave a quiet sniffle, which got the angry blonde to pause. "My apologies, Bakugo. I'm afraid my mother is too deep in her grave for me to go crying to her. You'll have to try again." He glanced over at Shida.

And sinker.

Bakugo slumped and multiple people sucked in harsh breaths and muttered curses. 

"I knew he would end up saying the wrong thing to the wrong person at—"

"Holy fuck."

"Awe, that's a terrible—"

"—and the darkness continues to spread throughout—"

"...You don't think Bakugo—"

"Hurry up and apologise, bro!"

Dazai listened to everyone's two cents like it was music.

He continued to stare at Tadashi, who was working on his expression, deciding which one to use. The changes were subtle, only a few twitches in his cheeks and eyebrows, but it was enough for Dazai to be able to tell what he was doing.

Shida went through anger, sadness, even guilt, until he settled on a disgusted face. 

He didn't rise out of his seat, but he did lean forward so that Bakugo's shocked eyes snapped to his. "You're a real piece of work, Bakugo. You know that? Bet you didn't realise your words can seriously affect people." His lips pulled back in a snarl.

Bakugo's arm and eyebrows twitched at the use of his name. 

How strange.

"Don't fucking call me that." The blonde said menacingly. 

"Oho?" Tadashi raised a green brow, a condescending grin forming. That time he did rise from his seat, bracing his hands on his desk with his fingers just barely brushing against Dazai's swinging legs. "What would you prefer then, Bakugo? Your highness? You're acting like one, you know. A cocky prince. You think you can get away with whatever you want, don't you?"

Bakugo's hands, now braced on the edge of his blue chair, sizzled loudly. "Shut the fuck up, Deku. You and your boy—friend can go fuck yourselves all the way to hell!" He sounded out boyfriend like an insult.

"You need someone to smack some goddamn sense into you, Bakugo." Shida was almost as good as Dazai when it came to riling people up. "Where's your apology for talking about Dazai's mum, huh? You just gonna ignore your mistakes like an asshole? He's not my boyfriend, doofus. You can't even get that right." His fingertips curled so he was no longer touching Osamu's legs. One For All flashed in his eyes, his hair and skin glistening with a green tinge. 

Iida ran over, screaming at them to stop while stepping in the space between Tadashi and Bakugo's desk. 

Dazai blocked him out, slowly sliding from on top of the desk onto the floor in front of it. He then scooted over so that he was sitting beside Shida's desk. He rested his head on the backrest as Shida sat back down.

Tadashi gave Dazai another questioning look. It pretty much asked, 'why the hell are you being clingy if we aren't fake dating?', to which the brunette responded with a shrug. It was fun to see people's reactions, especially Uraraka and Iida's. The girl looked ready to cry but was trying to hide it, while Iida was visibly flushed looking at Dazai being so close to Shida.

Dazai sniffled again and Shida—very rudely!—rolled his eyes before doing his job in over-exaggerate and reaching out to gently ruffle his brown locs. 

"I miss them, Shida." he mumbled just loud enough for people in close range to hear. 

"...I know, Dazai." Stupid Veggie didn't even try to lower his voice. 

Iida looked down at him with slightly less-red cheeks and a whole lot of sadness in his eyes. Pathetic, really. Dazai wouldn't ever understand how anyone felt bad for other people. "Bakugo, apologise to Dazai for bringing up a sensitive topic." he said, his voice taking more of a dark turn.

That was interesting. Perhaps Mr. Class President had someone he missed? It was fun to find out things about people through their body language and telltales. 

Bakugo glared at Iida, refusing to say anything else. 

Eventually, Iida gave up and apologised to Dazai on the cranky blonde's behalf, bowing with perfect form at the waist. Dazai nodded in acceptance without eye contact, not bothering to verbally, which got Iida even more upset, and he then went on to bow nearly ten more times while screaming about respect or whatever.

Osamu couldn't have cared less. Still, it was always good to have people sucking up to him. 

Yamada Sensei walked in then, screaming a good morning. Iida ran off to his seat and Bakugo gave Shida one last petty glare before shoving himself onto his sizzled chair. Yaoyorozu slowly stood up, a tense expression on her face, and walked up to Present Mic.

She spoke too low for Dazai to pick up on, even with his eye closed. Based on the cringe Present Mic wore, it was easy to tell she was asking Yamada Sensei to excuse him being out of his seat and telling him why that was. 

The man's green eyes snapped to Dazai's, who kept his sad act on. Mic walked to the front of the room and began introducing the topic—the difference between verbs and adverbs. He wrote down a few examples on the black board, then handed out sheets of work to do.

It reminded Dazai of his limited time in middle school. 

Present Mic started from the left, which gave Dazai a bit of time to think of how he could guilt trip the kind man into letting him stay next to Shida every English lesson for the rest of the school year.

He settled on asking the man if he could drag his chair over so that they could be close together because he was feeling 'off' being at school for the first time in a few years.

He would further prove his point by acting woozy when he was right next to his rumoured boyfie, and acting normal when he was. Yamada was a smart man, he would realise Dazai would be implying he felt like killing himself.

Of course, the boy who cried wolf was something he would be careful of. If he acted suicidal too often, the teachers would catch on. That would be far too tragic.

His solution?

Acting perfectly normal during the day, then by the time lunch was nearing, he would begin to slowly hide away, like a turtle retreating into her shell.

By fourth or fifth period, he would be a walking zombie.

By the time Dazai came up with his brilliant idea, Present Mic was at Shida's row. He passed Freckles the worksheet with a meaningful look, a silent promise to return to talk to them. Shida gave Dazai a mean stare at that, who decided to take it as 'good job,' rather than the intended, 'this is your fault'.

When the teacher circled back, Dazai stared blankly at him, like he had just finished crying and was instead silently sulking.

Present Mic crouched down and, amazingly, figured out how to whisper! "If you need a moment, you're free to go outside." he said, taking his yellow tinged glasses off so he could make full eye contact with Dazai.

Gross.

"No, I wanna stay in here." He tilted his head further onto Shida's cold chair to make his point clear.

Mic nodded like he knew exactly what was going on.

The understanding in his eyes was so sickening that Osamu wanted to throw a beetle in his stupid caring eyes. Yamada's compassion was almost threatening. "That's okay, listener. If you have any problems, just let me know, okay? I'll be right over!" he stopped whispering, grinning widely as he attempted to look cool putting his sunglasses back on.

Shida did the sheet of work and finished it in under five minutes, passing the piece of paper and his pencil down to Dazai so he could do the second side of the page.

If they were going to get away with breaking classroom etiquette, they would have to at least prove they should be allowed to by participating in class. When they were there, that was. They planned to just stop showing up most periods in a few weeks.

They knew all of the material in math, English, and science thanks to Mori, anyway.

Dazai stuck his chin out the entire time he filled the answers out, making his opinion on doing schoolwork known by drawing multiple penises with frowny faces on each testicle where his name was supposed to be put. He debated putting hair but decided that would be too much for his first bit of shenanigans when it came to schoolwork. 

Shida gave him a pointed look as he wrote 'DAZAI DID THIS' next to one of the penises so that he wouldn't be blamed. He didn't cross the drawings out though, and Dazai took that as a victory. 

No one did anything but glance over during the class, keeping their conversations too quiet for anyone on the other side of the room to pick up on.

Since the two mafioso's finished their work early, Shida almost fell asleep three times. His exhaustion was getting concerning. They were in the middle of a mission and Freckles was too busy practising for the role of Sleeping Beauty to do much. Dazai would have to get him to read up on some books in the school library to make up for it!

And out of the same kindness of his heart, let him actually sleep during class.

Every time Tadashi nearly fell asleep, he sent a half-apologetic look over at Dazai. It was quickly getting old.

He slapped Shida on the shin, resulting in a muffled yelp. "What was that for?" he demanded, glaring down at the brunette.

Dazai narrowed his eye, "You're falling asleep again." he stated.

"I don't know what you want me to do about that. I'm not doing it on purpose."

He rolled his eye. "Stupid Veggie." He snatched the paper off the desk and drew a sleeping broccoli in the corner on Shida's side of the worksheet. "Just do it." That meant he would get to sleep tonight while Shida do work. He was on a few hours of sleep, and he didn't even get any the night before. His body was beginning to melt down.

Tadashi gave him a suspecting look. "Right here? In front of all these people?" he questioned, not even trying to hide his disbelief. 

Osamu groaned. "Is that not what I just said? I don't care if you do or not, it's a suggestion." He stuck his tongue out and slapped the paper onto Shida's desk. "This is for my benefit." he said, aware Shida didn't know how.

In the end, they had a staring contest for thirty seconds before Shida gave in with a scoff and shoved his head onto his desk. Dazai wanted to poke him to annoy him, but graciously decided not to.

Shida woke up a few minutes before the bell, his eyes blood shot as he blinked and looked around.

He squinted at Dazai, yawned, then wacked him on the back of the head.

Obviously, it was for successfully convincing him to do one of the worst possible things in front of twenty kids. Become unconscious and vulnerable.

Did it hurt? No.

Was it loud? No.

Did Dazai decide to scream and flop on his back on the ground with his hands bracing the back of his head?

...

Perhaps.

He groaned loudly once he was done flopping like a fish out of water. Mic was staring down at him with wide eyes, and multiple people had jumped out of their seats to get a look at him. He would have said he felt like a zoo animal, but it was pretty funny to see them looking at Shida like he had broken an ancient artifact.

"Tadashi," the teacher said after realising Dazai was fine. "I told you if you pulled something like this again, you'd be writing lines in my office." He placed his hands on his hips, a tense smirk twitching on his lips. 

Before Shida could respond, Dazai took his chance to retaliate and lifted the right side of his chair, effectively tipping the whole thing over. Tadashi went down with a crash and a thump. 

"Are you alright, listener? Yeah? Alrighty. Why would you do that, Dazai?" Yamada Sensei asked, confusion and tiredness seeping from his tone. He was definitely over Shida and Osamu being shitheads in his presence, but oh well. "Two wrongs doesn't make a right."

Dazai shrugged, grinning as Tadashi slowly sat up with his eyes bright and wide. "It doesn't make it right, but I feel better." he responded simply.

"I'll choke you," Shida stated, unmoving on the spot.

Somewhere behind the brunette, Mineta went on about how he 'wasn't allowed to express his kinks, but other people were'. Dazai decided to ignore that, grinning widely. "As if you could!" he yelled, bracing himself to make a run for it.

"Don't—! Oh, goddamn it. Sho's gonna kill me."

Dazai pushed himself off the ground the moment he saw Shida lean forward by an inch. He hated any kind of physical activity, but if they wanted to get Shida out of his detention so they could borrow some books from the library, they would have to make a run for it.

The bell went just as they ran out of the classroom, ignoring Iida's cries for them not to run in the hall (seriously, what a buzz kill) and heading straight to the library.

About halfway there Dazai gave up and started to walk. "I hope you know where we're going, by the way. I've been lost for like... since now."

Shida gave him another mean stare, "You don't remember the way to the library from here?" he questioned, slowing down to match his partner's pace. They both knew they wouldn't be running the whole way; Dazai hated moving around too much for that.

"Well, pardon me Mr. Know It All." Osamu stuck his tongue out with a narrowed eye.

--

UA's library was just as big as Dazai remembered it being the first time. Well obviously, but it still amazed him that one school campus was big enough to fit a town of well over a thousand people. In fact, just field Gamma could house over ten families.

As soon as they stepped into the library, Dazai sent Shida off to go find history books about quirks and the 'hero' society they had been thrown in. Meanwhile, the brunette found an empty plastic water bottle. He snagged it and went on his own mission to find as many insects as he could and throw them in there.

Was it animal cruelty? No, it'll be fine. He'll release them back into the wild after having his fun making class 1-A scream.

There were quite a few spiders and dust bunnies in the 'how to' section, which made Dazai realise these people couldn't give a damn about anything other than their schoolwork. He knew that already though, just by how few students were out of their classrooms during their tour. There were less spiders and dust in the cooking book section, which made him half take back his earlier thought.

Still, who wouldn't want to know how to play chess? Dazai had picked up that book and shoved it into his jacket. It was one of those books that had a built-in chess board and holes for the chess pieces to go into.

He was getting far too bored in his and Shida's dorm room. He might as well teach the poor child how to play chess.

He got three small, probably male, spiders, a few grasshoppers and even a cricket. Dazai decided that would do for the time being, going on a small hunt for a wild Shida. The vegetable was spotted in the history isle, with three large books in hand. 

He looked over at Dazai, "You're going to make me stay up and read these, aren't you? That's why you got me to fall asleep in class." he accused. Did it still count as an accusation if both parties knew it was true? 

Oh well.

"Cat's outta the bag, hm? It's only fair, Shida! I'm running low on steam over here." The brunette pointed to the eyebags on his face that had darkened over the course of four days. 

Shida sighed at that, taking his three books up to the front desk in the library. The man behind the counter barely looked up at him, scanning the books into the system and shooing him away. 

Dazai knew he should probably also 'borrow' his library book, but that was such a boring thing to do. Stealing was more interesting, if at all. Not as thrilling as robbing a liquor store, but it was all he had to work with. 

Todoroki wasn't sure what to think about Midoriya. Well, he did know that it wasn't fair to still think of Midoriya as Midoriya after his drastic change into Kenshiro Tadashi, but to know his first friend wasn't the same person?

That Midoriya had forgotten him entirely?

It... it hurt. More than he would have ever imagined. But worse than that, it was the look in Tadashi's eyes that hurt Todoroki the most.

He recognised it, the hidden pain and masked sadness. 

He recognised it because just a few months ago he wore the same look, he saw it in his reflection every time he looked in the mirror.

Midoriya was the one to bring him out of his darkness, to show him there was more to life than proving he didn't need Endeavor. Todoroki wanted to do the same for him in return, but—

That would be difficult when Tadashi was constantly shutting everyone out. It was the fourth day since his return, and his hostility only seemed to grow. The only person he seemed truly comfortable with was, unsurprisingly, Dazai.

Osamu Dazai was a bit of a wild card himself. 

Todoroki quite enjoyed his humour when it wasn't suicide related (which was a whole nother thing), he knew how to get everyone to laugh. Other than Iida and Aizawa Sensei, that was. 

He was also quite threatening when he wanted to be. Todoroki had also spotted the smug smirk Dazai wore when he had seen Aizawa Sensei's bandaged neck. Did he injure the man, or was he just happy to see him injured?

The split boy was almost surprised when Dazai and Tadashi joined them at their table in the cafeteria halfway through lunch. They ran out the moment the bell went, chasing after each other while screaming threats and goads.

Todoroki wasn't blind; he knew they ran to get Tadashi out of detention with Mic Sensei. 

"Did you two borrow some books from the library?" Iida asked as they sat down. 

Tadashi nodded, keeping an eye out for any teachers. "I would have gone later, but Dazai said—"

"Now, now, no need to bring me down with you!" Dazai cut him off, slapping a hand over his friend's mouth. Speaking of friends, Tadashi had confirmed the two of them weren't in any kind of relationship.

Which meant Mina's whole rant about them coming out of the bathroom with swollen lips and 'bedroom hair' (Todoroki didn't know what that meant exactly, but he had some idea based on the name) was either her seeing what she wanted to, or it meant they were just... very comfortable and familiar with each other, to put it nicely. 

Iida coughed into his palm, "Running in the hallways, let alone from a detention, was quite alarming, if I may say. I'm disappointed the two of you view consequences so lightly! Violence isn't tolerated—"

Dazai groaned loudly, rolling his eye so aggressively Todoroki was sure it must have hurt. He slammed his head onto the desk and groaned at that as well. "You're the most boring person I've ever met! Lighten up a bit, class prez. I'm starting to think you're a robot programmed to yell at people breaking rules."

The class president sputtered, "I- there is less than nothing wrong with getting fellow peers to follow rules and regulations!" His words made Todoroki wonder back to the declaration he had at supper the night before. What happened to not making them feel unwelcomed?

"No one said there was anything wrong with it, Iida. It's just boring. More than boring!" Dazai raised his head again just to point at Iida accusingly with a wriggling finger.

Tadashi opened one of his books, which were quite large and about politics and world history, his hand on the table and ready to slap Dazai at any moment. Dazai was well aware of the hand being in close range, his eye flickering back to it every few moments to make sure it hadn't moved. 

Uraraka was restless in her seat and she was constantly moving her gaze back and forth between Tadashi and Asui. Todoroki thought she might be having some sort of stroke with her eyes, but then she slumped as Asui asked a question.

"Tadashi," she began, titling her head. "Earlier you said you weren't dating Dazai. Is that true?" Her tongue flickered out and caught a fly, which Dazai clapped for. 

The green student didn't even look up from his book, flipping back and forth from the contents page to whatever chapter he was on. "Yeah, we aren't together." he said it with such casually, without a hint of surprise, and it made Todoroki wonder if he got such accusations regularly.

Dazai and Tadashi were just so interesting.

Asui nodded. "Are you uncomfortable with the rumours? I can ask everyone to stop talking about it, if you want."

The brunette made a forced neutral face, flopping his hand around. "It's pretty fun to tease Shida about it." he said, ducking his head out of the way when Tadashi's hand made a swipe at it. 

"Is that why you were flirting with him in class?" Todoroki asked through a mouthful of cold soba, his mismatched eyes slightly narrowing. He didn't think what he saw was anything like teasing.

That was the first time they had been so forward with each other, with Dazai offering his lap for Tadashi to sleep on, and yet Tadashi hadn't even looked surprised. It was clearly something that happened behind closed doors, too.

Dazai narrowed his eye back at him. "Puh, that was hardly flirting. If you think that's trying to get someone's attention romantically, I feel bad for your admirers."

Todoroki blinked. "I don't have admirers." he stated, confused.

Tadashi raised a questioning eyebrow, pointing to the group of girls lining up to get food. Todoroki looked over and they all went bright red and giggling as they slapped each other around. He frowned. That didn't seem like something admirers did.

Uraraka shrugged one of her shoulders, which were a lot more relaxed than a few moments ago. "It did seem like flirting to me. You even called him your knight in shining armour." she laughed, but it sounded off.

The sound of Tadashi flipping back and forth between pages of his book nearly blocked out his mumbles. "I didn't call him my knight in shining armour, and it was sarcasm." He then held his hand out towards Dazai, who took it and led it towards his mouth.

"My lady," he joked, kissing the back of Tadashi's hand with a chuckle.

The greenette didn't find that amusing. He tried to hide his flustered face behind disgust, but he couldn't hide the colour in his cheeks. "What's wrong with you? I was asking for the tape you stole from Blondie." He snatched his hand back and wiped it on his rolled-up sleeve, his lips downturned.

Dazai made a short sound of realisation. "Oopsie! Here ya go, Shida!" He fished around in his pockets and pulled out two rolls of washi tape. One was pink and the other was blue and sparkly. 

Tadashi took them with a roll of his eyes.

The brunette pouted. "I just grabbed the ones in reach! Don't be mad, Veggie." He blinked innocently. 

Todoroki's eyebrows rose. He didn't know people could blink with meaning. It was pretty amazing to watch, in his opinion. He would have to ask later how to do that.

He also wondered how on earth the two of them seemed to communicate without speaking. It was strange to only hear one half of a conversation, the rest of it being said through eye contact and body language Todoroki couldn't read.

"No, you didn't. You chose stupid ones on purpose to make fun of me."

"...Nuh uh."

Iida was staring bug eyed at Tadashi, who was breaking off pieces of the washi tape and putting it on the edge of the table for later with one hand, still flipping back and forth with the book in the other. 

Todoroki frowned at him. "Are you okay?" he asked. When Iida didn't acknowledge him, he shuffled some of his soba to the side of his plate. "Would you like some? People sharing food cheers them up."

The class president still didn't answer him, but Todoroki knew better than to take it personally. Clearly, watching Tadashi multitask was more interesting.

"You look like you've seen a ghost class prez," Dazai teased, resting his chin on his open palm. "Everything alright?"

Iida's eyes got wider when Tadashi began to place the pieces of tape onto random pages of the book, not bothering to even read where he was placing them. "Did—have you memorised the pages of the book you'll need later?" he asked, rising out of his seat to lean across the table almost all the way. 

"Yeah," Kenshiro responded, frowning at him in a way that questioned his questioning. 

"But—but you barely even glanced at the pages! You were constantly flipping back and forth! How on earth—" 

Iida was cut off by Dazai, "You missed a page."

Tadashi stopped all movement. "Which one?"

"Hundred and forty-eight."

The green boy's frown deepened as he flipped back to presumably page one hundred and forty-eight. He made an 'o' with his mouth and ripped off another piece of pink washi tape to put on the page. 

Todoroki had some idea of why Iida was so shocked. Just based on that interaction, Todoroki would guess that Tadashi was rapidly going back and forth between pages he would need for later, skimming them in no more than ten seconds, and memorising the page number to mark later. He was able to find all the material he would need in one book in two minutes.

Not to mention Dazai was apparently doing the same over his shoulder, which Todoroki hadn't even caught onto.

...Wait.

"Did you steal Mic Sensei's tape off his desk as you ran?" he asked, weirdly excited for the answer.

Dazai blinked at him. "Well, sure I did. You didn't think I ran out of there just to get away from a detention, did you?" He blew raspberries and scoffed. "I would never waste my energy for something like that when Shida is perfectly capable of outrunning Present Mic."

Iida stood up straight, pushing his chair further out. "It's absolutely unacceptable the way you two have treated your teachers! While your studying skills are more than impressive and ideal, I can't let this stand as class president!"

The two bandaged students blocked him out. Tadashi continued to mark down pages with the tape while Dazai picked his ear with his pinkie finger, rolling his eye.

Uraraka laughed, "You're pretty good at that, Tadashi. Where'd you learn how to read and pinpoint notes like that?" she asked, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. She was acting nervous, for some reason.

Green eyes snapped up and he had an awkward expression. "Uhm, I've always been good at note taking, but I picked up on this skill by doing Dazai's work for him when he was too out of it. We were usually on a time limit, so I now have a habit of scanning everything and marking important parts for later when I have the time to analyse it."

Asui frowned, sipping on her Miso soup. "Too out of it? When he's sick, you mean?"

"Sure."

Dazai snorted. "Shida still doesn't know how to talk to girls." he teased, poking Kenshiro on the cheek.

Todoroki felt himself pale when he saw how there was barely any movement in Tadashi's cheek when it was touched. How was it that if he was in a fifteen-year-old body, younger than when he had been taken, that his cheeks were less fatty? There was no baby fat at all. In fact, they looked almost sunken in.

Maybe he really did have an eating disorder, like the half and half boy had thought when Aizawa first started giving them jelly pouches.

"Get your asses to detention." A gruff voice spoke from behind Todoroki, who stopped himself from yelping in surprise. Aizawa Sensei stood with his arms crossed, glaring at Dazai and Tadashi. Speak of the man and he shall appear.

The brunette stuck his tongue out. "We're busy studying." he said, mocking Aizawa Sensei by crossing his arms as well.

The man's eyes glowed red, "You think I give a damn? Get up and walk before I drag you there myself." he threatened, already unwinding his capture weapon.

Tadashi placed the last piece of tape onto his book before slamming it shut and standing up in his chair. He grabbed the back of Dazai's collar as he did, scowling at Aizawa Sensei as he left the cafeteria. 

Iida bowed at his teacher from the waist. "My apologies, Sensei. I would have tried to get them to go, but they kept cutting me off before I could get there!"

Aizawa hummed in acknowledgment. "Those two are difficult. Just give them some more time, I'm sure once they're comfortable they'll be fine."

Todoroki nodded but doubted that Aizawa Sensei was right just from the grin Dazai wore as he was dragged out of the cafeteria.

Dazai hadn't planned on using his bugs so early on. But he couldn't help himself when Present Mic decided he, too, would be writing lines for borrowing some of his tape. Gosh, it was two rolls of tiny, ugly tape! It wasn't that serious.

After three lines of 'I will not run away from responsibility, nor will I steal' (seriously, that was so cliche) Dazai opened the bottle of insects from his blazer. He placed it on the ground and waited until most of them were out before picking it back up. None of the spiders came out, but that was fine.

Crickets and grasshoppers would do.

Dazai slumped in his chair, groaning loudly. "Yamada Sensei, my hand hurts!" he complained. The man hummed but didn't say anything else, continuing to scroll on his phone. How rude was that! "Shida, I'd rather die than keep going! Sweet death, here I come!" He threw his arms out like he was going to embrace someone and got smacked for it.

"Stop playing around. I wanna get out of here."

Dazai pouted. "Shida's so mean to m—" he cut himself off with an inhale, forcing his eyes wide to the point it hurt.

Mic, who had been giving him a sad look from the suicide talk, was on alert immediately. "What's up, listener? Something the matter?" His grin was tight on his face as he walked over, like he could sense Dazai was pulling the strings.

"Sensei, are you scared of bugs?" Tadashi asked, which, woah! Since when did he ever participate in pranks without being asked?!

The man visibly swallowed. "Hm? I-I don't see how this is relevant, Tadashi." He looked around nervously, which Dazai wished he could snort at, but that would give away his fun. A grown man, shaking in his boots over the thought of bugs? "Now, listener, passing the mic back to you," he looked at the brunette. "What's up?"

Dazai interlocked his fingers together on the desk where his teacher could see them. "Sensei, I'm scared of insects." he glanced up for a brief moment, then shyly looked away.

Yamada's face melted and he knelt down so that they were face to face. "That's okay, listener! So am I!" He gave him his finger guns, and Dazai could see Freckles roll his eyes in his peripheral vision. Mic's face then melted for a different reason when he realised that Dazai was clammy because of his 'fear'. Blech. "Are-are you saying there are bugs near us?" he mumbled.

Osamu nodded, letting out a shaky exhale. "I can't— Sensei, I don't think I can concentrate with insects near me."

"Wh-Where are they, listener?" Mic shot up, jumpy on his feet.

Dazai nervously glanced up again, and he found it amusing how hard Mic was trying to keep his cool in front of his students. "Right here," he said, grinning as he picked up the surprisingly chill cricket and flung it at the teacher.

The man shrieked so loudly that Dazai was sure anyone outside his office would have heard. The boy jumped out of his seat while Present Mic was still screaming and trying to get the cricket off of him. "Oh, dear. I swear I didn't mean for it to hit you, I was just trying to get it off myself!"

Tadashi grabbed him by his scruff and dragged him to the corner of the room, pretending he was calming him down. He was gently moving his hand up and down Dazai's arm, his touch feather light. "I thought you were saving those for class A," he mumbled. "You probably just gave us another detention."

Dazai complied with the act he was putting on, leaning into his hand. "I got bored of writing. Just trust me, Shida. When have I ever failed us, hm?"

"You want a list, Sloth?"

"Uh, rude."

Mic finally got the insect off of him, out of breath from the dance he had done as he walked over to the boys. "Dazai, are you alright, listener? I imagine you had quite the scare!"

Not as badly as you, old man, Dazai kept that line to himself, though. "Oh, I'm alright now. Shida's good at helping me with this kind of thing, since he's no good at anything else." he gestured to the hand that had paused on his shoulder.

The man sighed, "Let's— you know what? Why don't we move to Eraser's office. I'm sure he won't mind some company for the rest of lunch! There's ten minutes left anyway." He was only suggesting moving rooms, and yet he spoke for about six seconds longer than he had to. A simple 'let's go to Eraser' would have been sufficient.

--

Mr. Demon had, predicably, not been happy with the last minute arrangement. Tadashi smirked at the annoyance clear on his face when Present Mic gave his shitty explanation of his office being infected with bugs.

"You're a grown man, Mic. Sort it out yourself and stop bringing your problems to me." Eraserhead sighed, continuing on with his paperwork and ignoring the offended sputter his colleague gave at his words.

The blonde huffed. "They're your students, too, you know! It wouldn't hurt to look after them!"

Eraserhead looked at the two teens like he had only just realised they were there. Tadashi then came to the conclusion he probably did only just realise. "Why didn't you say the problem children were the students, Mic?" he questioned, rising out of his seat.

Tadashi pinched Dazai before he could make a comment on the stupid nickname. "Does it matter? You shouldn't treat us any differently from any other student, Eraserhead." he said, scowling at the man. 

Aizawa rolled his eyes and walked to the corner of the room, where bags were hanging off the back of two chairs. "Don't call me Eraserhead at school, Tadashi. I don't treat you differently; I have things for the two of you to collect."

He was lying and everyone in the room knew it. Especially since he gave Kaminari detention for talking in class when just the night before he had let his new students get away with having a petty fight. 

He handed a worn-down yellow backpack to Tadashi, and a new blue one to Dazai, who immediately started laughing and making fun of him. 

The freckled mafioso scoffed, letting the bag dangle from two fingers like it was infected with a disease. "Why the hell does he get a new bag if I'm stuck with this ancient one?" he demanded. Guess he knew who Eraserhead's favourite was then.

Present Mic gave Aizawa a nervous look. "Ah, he did eeny, meeny, miny, moe! Don't be too down in the dumps, Tadashi!" He attempted to pat Tadashi on the shoulder and was swatted away. He was a terrible liar.

"Yeah Freckles, don't be too down in the dumps!" Dazai laughed again, poking his cheek repeatedly.

Tadashi glared at him, "You wanna be punted that badly?" he questioned. 

Eraserhead coughed into his fist and pointed to the bags. "Don't argue over them, just use them. Your school materials are in there, you'll be using them for the rest of the year. I am sorry for how long it took to provide you with these, boys."

Tadashi decided he didn't like it when Aizawa apologised. He rolled his eyes, zipping the bag open to shove the stolen tape and books into it without seeing what other contents were inside of it. "Whatever. There's like three minutes—"

"Two," Dazai corrected cockily, pointing at the clock on the wall. 

"Two minutes to the bell," he specified with a glare. "And we have to walk across the entire floor to get to the classroom, so if you'll excuse us." He walked away from his teachers without being excused first.

Midnight Sensei wasn't all that bad. She clearly liked her job and was passionate about teaching 'you little cuties' (questionable word choice, if you were to ask Tadashi) the art in learning about the history of their society. 

Tadashi wouldn't mind seeking her out to ask questions, if need be.

He was almost disappointed when the bell signalling the end of fifth period wailed, but watching Dazai try to convince Cementoss to have an arm-wrestling match the whole of sixth period was pretty funny.

If anyone had told Tadashi a week ago that he would be seeing cement he was being 'taught' by making an awkward expression, he would have laughed in their face and Dazai would have shot them dead for trying to pull a fast one on them.

Speaking of Dazai being an idiot, Tadashi wanted to ask him when they were planning to raid an alcohol store. He was starting to get restless. Hell, he was tempted to steal Eraserhead's shitty saké that he'd smelt on the man earlier. 

Kenshiro was also feeling slightly refreshed from the nap he'd taken in class. It was a stupid thing to do, but he was still feeling in a slightly better mood (even if he knew the price to pay for it was starting Dazai's part of the research as well as his own and pulling an all-nighter).

Sixth period came and went, and Tadashi had managed to fill nearly three A4 pages with questions and notes he remembered from the book of quirks that he wanted to look into further when he had the time.

He didn't actually give a damn about Cementoss' lesson on literature, but he pretended he was paying attention and writing notes of his useless teaching anyway. 

The end of sixth period came, and Tadashi let Dazai grab onto his bicep as they walked behind class A to gym gamma.

They didn't walk into the changing rooms with their classmates. Instead, they managed to convince Ectoplasm and Eraserhead that Dazai was too sore to participate, and Kenshiro outright refused to do anything without him.

They watched from the side of the gymnasium as everyone paired up with their friends, doing basic (pathetically easy looking) drills of combat on each other.

Tadashi pulled out the books again, starting to flip back and forth through the pages to tab anything of interest to refer back to later. The pink tape was for anything he knew he would need (priorities), and the blue glittery tape was for anything he wanted to look into with less importance (curiosity).

Dazai feigned interest in the sparring matches, but he was really more interested in the laptop Eraserhead had hidden in his new (the lucky bastard) bag. He would glance up and give a half assed cheer whenever someone landed on the floor, but other than that he was scoping the device for bugs.

What could he say? Tadashi and his partner were very busy people, even while slacking off to the side as everyone else worked up a sweat. The green boy was determined to prove Dazai's hunch of them staying for two years wrong. He wanted to get this mission over with.

It wasn't all that bad, and Dazai's humming did help him not to lose his mind by looking at nothing but pages for so long. If the brunette declared the device safe, then he should be able to get all of his research about the hero society they were stuck in completed by dawn.

"You didn't eat lunch today," Eraserhead stated as he shoved two protein jelly packets in each of their hands.

Tadashi glared fiercely at him. First of all, how the hell did he know that? Creep.

Second of all, it was none of his goddamn business, and he needed to stop pretending it was. Preferably right that second. 

Dazai was also clearly not having it, not even bothering to pretend. "Sensei, you need to sort out your priorities. Kaminari is about three seconds away from frying everyone around him until they're as crispy as his hair, and you're bugging us about jelly."

"My hair isn't crispy!" Kaminari defended himself, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. 

The teacher wasn't fazed nor surprised by Dazai's attempt in distracting him, shoving the pouches more insistently into their hands until they both grasped onto them. "Kaminari is perfectly capable of handling himself, as are the students around him." he said, narrowing his eyes.

The blonde in the back was shouting about how that was the closest he had ever gotten to receiving a complement from his homeroom teacher and how blessed he felt.

"Are you still applying the bruising cream?" Eraserhead questioned, his eyes trained on Dazai. "If it's still too sore for you to participate in practicals by Monday, I'll need to send you to Recovery Girl."

Were they still applying the bruising cream, he asked.

Obviously they were still applying the cream; they only got it yesterday.

"No need, I already feel lots better!" Dazai said, giving two thumbs up and sticking his tongue out. He just ruined his chances of getting out of training, the idiot.

Then again, Dazai hated doctors more than he hated physical activities. Also known as, a lot.

"It's okay if you aren't, kid."

Tadashi rolled his eyes. "You have some serious trust issues, sir. Maybe you should be the one in therapy." Aizawa gave him a look that said, 'look who's talking'. Tadashi took offense to that and scoffed at the man. "Excuse you?" he asked, perfectly capable of looking threatening even when he was being towered over. 

Dazai kissed his teeth, "Shida, don't be a problem child!" he sent a cheeky look at Eraserhead, who huffed. "We came out here for glitter, so let's get the glitter. I'm not in the mood hang around this hobo any longer."

"You want a detention added onto the one you already have with Mic?"

"Uh, are you going senile? We did that detention."

"You cut it short by putting bugs—"

Dazai squawked loudly, sounding similar to the birds Koda had been talking to. "I did not! Shida, tell him it wasn't me!"

Tadashi pinched him, "Don't bring me into this." He couldn't care less about Aizawa catching onto Dazai's shenanigans, he just wanted to go back to the room. But he couldn't do that if his partner didn't hurry up and get the stupid glitter he wanted.

The man seemed to finally realise arguing with Dazai of all people wasn't ever going to get him anywhere, sighing as he walked back to his room. He was such a drama queen, and he wasn't even trying to. It would be funny, but all it came across as to the green boy was sad. Pathetic as well, but everything Eraserhead did was pathetic in his eyes.

Aoyama poked his head up from behind the couch. "You said glitter, mon ami?" he questioned, grinning ear to ear at them.

"I sure did," Dazai confirmed, bracing himself with one knee on the couch to look over the edge, "You don't happen to have any hot pink glitter on you, do you? Shida and I will be needing some. By some, I mean a lot."

The blonde looked overjoyed. "My, it's been ages since someone asked me for glitter!" he cheered, jumping up so he could bounce on the front of his feet. "I shall be right back! Stay right there!" He was gone the next moment, racing up the stairs to go grab the glitter.

Tadashi hummed. "That was a lot easier of a transaction than I thought it would be." he said. He had thought there would be at least one or two questions, not immediate agreement and compliance. 

"The boy likes glitter, Shida. Don't shame him." Dazai put his hands on his hips. For some reason he liked to act like they were older than any of their classmates, who had a whole year on them both. It would be strange, but he had also seen the Sloth do the same to Hirotsu, so it really wasn't.

Tadashi shrugged a shoulder. "I'm not shaming anyone."

Aoyama came flying down the stairs the next second, a small gift back the size of Tadashi's fist in his hands. He passed it to Dazai, then cupped the bandaged hands with a look of complete seriousness and honestly. "Don't ever be afraid to ask for more glitter. Or cheese." he added with a wink.

The greenette was too caught up in the gift bag to care about Aoyama touching Dazai, who would no doubt lock himself in the bathroom to scrub his hands the moment they returned to their room.

Dazai looked at Shida through half lidded eyes. He always looked green, but his eyes somehow got greener whenever he was concentrating. It was no wonder his mafia nickname was Verde Reaper, he really was made out of emerald.

The yellow lighting from the lamp on the nightstand didn't do anything to mask the vibrant shade. Dazai doubted he would ever get tired of looking at it. 

It was hard for him to go to sleep without the familiar routine of running his hands through Shida's curls, so Shida had moved over to the bed and began his research there. He wasn't using the (bug free) laptop since the keys would be too loud, instead using one of the books that had been provided to take notes of everything he had tabbed and was looking into.

He fell asleep to the sound of Tadashi's pencil scratching the paper beneath it, Shida's free hand in his brown hair for a change.

Stupid Freckles even made Dazai take off his eye gauze so that his precious fingernails (which he barely had) didn't get caught. He was awfully picky for someone doing someone else a favour.

Osamu didn't mind not playing with Shida's hair just that one time, he decided.

Having the roles reversed, with Shida's hand in his hair, was an unfamiliar thing but not unwelcome. The sensation had sent goosebumps down his spine up until he drifted off.

Chapter Text

Aizawa sat across from Mrs Midoriya on one of her comfortable couches. He sat on the end, All Might sat on the other end, while Nezu took his spot in the middle.

Mrs Midoriya's expression was a mix of heavy anxiety and anger. "You're saying I can't see my son for another month after he was kidnapped? Taken from me?" She demanded, clenching her fists in her skirt. Even while she was rightfully pissed off, she did her best to remain proper.

"He's finally back and you're keeping him from me?" Her voice cracked with sorrow.

Aizawa winced.

Nezu raised his paws, his tail flicking on the couch audibly. "I understand how you must be feeling, Mrs Midoriya. But this is for your son's sake. We just want to be sure he—"

Aizawa was no mother, but even he knew that was one of the worst things to say in their situation.

Mrs Midoriya cut him off fiercely. "Respectfully, I don't think you could ever understand how I feel right now. You have no right to make that claim. How could keeping my baby from me help Izuku?" Her voice raised to a near shout, and she glared through her tears at Nezu.

The Hero Commission had decided to leave the boys’ mental health in UA’s care and after Nezu talked with Hound Dog, they decided to let Tadashi fully relax and settle with his new conditioning before introducing him to anything major from his life before being kidnapped.

Clothing and past possessions didn’t do anything to jog Tadashi's memory, but his mother would be a different story.

It would likely overwhelm him, but it was difficult to explain that to a frantic and mourning Inko.

"Young Tadashi has been very resilient as of so far, Inko," All Might said slowly. "We haven’t seen any signs as of late that introducing him to his old things, like his school bag, has had a negative effect. However, significant parts of his past, such as yourself, may overload his system." he looked on the verge of tears.

Nezu nodded. "That’s right. We want to slowly introduce you two. Maybe give him some of your things that remind him of you every couple of weeks. A meal, perhaps?" he suggested lightly.

That was the last straw, and Mrs Midoriya broke down into sobs. Her hands let go off her skirt in favour of hiding her face as her shoulders and chest shook with the force of her cries.

Aizawa sighed, his pulse in his ears. How did the rat always manage to say the wrong things?

All Might rushed over to comfort Mrs Midoriya, but the woman shoved him away. "I-I'll make him some katsudon." she whispered hoarsely, hiccupping at the end. "My poor baby always loved katsudon after a long day." She refused to look up at the men in front of her, sobbing harder.

Shouta felt a little more of his heart crack with every hiccup and cry she gave.

Friday nights were always pretty dull in the dorms since there wasn't much to do.

Kirishima and Kaminari always tried to brighten the mood with game and movie nights, but they knew something like that wouldn't help this time around.

Kirishima found himself on the floor, sitting in front of Aizawa Sensei's room on the girls' side of the common room.

Class 1-A sat in a circle, quite whispers moving around like a strange game of telephone.

Everyone had serious expressions, which was pretty unusual to see when usually there was at least one person trying to lighten the mood.

"So," Yaomomo said, fidgeting. "Now what?" she asked, glancing at everyone.

Kirishima had found himself asking the same question for the past few days. There wasn't an answer good enough to please him. His head hurt just thinking about it all.

Tsu sighed. "We have Midoriya back, but it doesn’t feel like a victory, ribbit."

Kirishima felt that in his soul.

Sure, he had initially been stoked to have a new classmate and his friend back, but... He just didn’t feel like it was a win. Midoriya returned looking so sick, he really looked like he belonged in a hospital.

Kirishima had been forced to swallow a lot of bile after looking at him for the first time after returning. Bandages, white hair, callouses worse than Kirishima had ever seen, sunken cheeks, eyebags.

Tadashi looked like a victim to a horror movie.

Not to mention his buddy, Dazai.

He was suicidal (whether he truly was or not remained a mystery, since he had a concerning habit of lying, but also making the truth seem like a joke), had matching sunken cheeks and eyebags with Midoriya, more bandages, and some seriously dark eyes.

Kirishima remembered reading books when he was little, and Dazai pretty much was the common expression; empty.

The redhead had never seen such a perfect embodiment of the word before he met Dazai. 

Sure, he looked amused and happy all the time. But it looked wrong and forced.

Tadashi was much the same (Kirishima doubted he would ever see Midoriya's buzzy, blinding grin again), but his fake smiles weren’t as common or nearly as off putting as Dazai’s.

They both looked… haunted.

Mineta had mentioned gunshot and dog bite scars, and really, Kirishima wasn’t surprised.

They had been in an underground group after all.

At first, he had thought that meant they were like undercover cops or whatever, like in movies. Something cool and worthy of telling at game nights. Now, he saw it meant they were forced in a villain organisation.

Yes, forced, because there was no way under any circumstances that Midoriya would ever join a villain’s group by choice, no matter how many memories were depleted.

Besides, whenever Midoriya and Dazai talked about their boss, it was said with such disgust that Kirishima no longer had any suspicions on the thought.

They were forced into an underground organisation by some bad people. People bad enough to make Midoriya genuinely, wholeheartedly believe he was fifteen.

People bad enough to wipe his memories, steal Izuku Midoriya from his mother and replace him with a haunted boy.

Uraraka made a strange sound. She was on the verge of tears. "I wanna help them so bad, but I don't know how. They don't eat enough, they don't ever seem happy," she sniffled. "They seem like they wouldn't care if they didn't wake up tomorrow, you know?" She hid her face behind her hands, sighing shakily.

"I would wager they are depressed, yes. I don't think Dazai's suicidalness is a joke, no matter how much he tries to make it out to be." Todoroki said, his knuckles white around his glass of grape juice. "Can we blame them? Their physical status doesn’t exactly scream cared for." The look on his face made Kirishima shiver.

The tension in their circle rose.

Mina gave a sudden shudder. "I know I was wrong about them dating," she seemed guilty and bummed out about it. "But, and I wasn't going to say this because frankly, it isn't anyone's business,"

People leaned forward at that. Mina was never the type to dance around the subject or hesitate to tell gossip.

"I think it's important for me to share if we wanna help them." She glanced at Kirishima, who threw his arms around her and gave her a comforting squeeze. She sniffled as she thought of what to say. "In Recovery Girl's office, the two of them didn't come out with swollen lips after Midoriya checked Dazai for bruises."

More than a few of their peers flushed at her silly wording.

"They came out looking normal. But then, Hound Dog came in and they both had a severe reaction."

"Are they allergic?" Todoroki asked with seriousness. "Is that why their lips were swollen?"

Mina gave a watery laugh at that. "No, Todoroki. I mean they both panicked. Really badly. And they ran into the bathroom." She winced at her wording, then leaned more heavily into Kirishima's arms, who focused on keeping his heart rate down.

"Which now makes sense since Mineta mentioned a bite scar on Dazai. But Midoriya freaked out just as bad, if not worse." Mina let out a sob, hiding her tear-stained face into Kirishima's shoulder.

Koda left the circle, running into the kitchen and reaching for a glass of water to cool himself down.

This time, Kirishima's heart skipped for a completely different reason. He understood what she was saying. "So, depression, co-dependency, and anxiety?" he mumbled. "They really have the full package."

No one laughed at his joke.

Kaminari sighed so deeply it sounded like it hurt his throat. "So, how do we help them? They clearly aren’t a fan of therapy, and they keep distancing themselves away from everyone. I mean, have you seen the way Dazai treats teachers and the way Midoriya treats Aizawa Sensei just for helping them eat?"

Oh, right.

They also had fucking eating disorders. Jesus, was there anything else they could possibly have?

"They do have very clear boundaries. I believe the best we can do for them is to make sure they feel included and know they have a place with us, but we can’t force them to take it." said Iida. He pushed his glasses up and tried to hide the fact he had teary eyes.

To Kirishima's surprise, Bakugo was the next to add his two cents. "They're fucking posers, that's what they are. Every word sounds like a lie, especially from the one-eyed fucker. If we push too many buttons, they’ll just become more deceitful."

The redhead could feel his anger from beside him.

Sero cooed. "Look at you being mature and caring!"

Kirishima chuckled. "You've come so far, my man!" he cheered, removing his arms from a laughing Mina so they could both throw an arm over a shoulder of Bakugo, grinning even as they were shoved off.

"Shut the fuck up, extras!" Bakugo yelled. "I’m only doing this because the old hag wants me to help Auntie Inko reconnect with shitty Deku." he grumbled, sticking his chin in the air.

Kirishima knew he cared, even if he didn't wanna admit it.

Kirishima swallowed bile as he remembered that Tadashi didn’t remember his own mum. "That's okay," he said, patting Bakugo on the back. The blonde didn't comment on it, looking gloomy.

"What the fuck," Tadashi questioned in a deadpan.

"I'm doing something," Dazai replied.

"Why is our desk on the bed? I left for ten minutes." he asked, utterly perplexed. It was far too early on a Saturday morning for Dazai's shenanigans.

"Because I'm doing something, Freckles."

Tadashi rolled his eyes.

He heard the first time and simply wished for some sort of explanation as to why not only their desk, flipped upside down so the legs were in the air, was on the bed, but the chair as well. Dazai stood on the desk, his fingers held up to form a frame like a photographer.

"Why is our furniture on the bed, Sloth?"

Dazai glared. "Because I'm doing something. Jesus, what aren't you hearing?" He then returned to looking through his imaginary picture frame, his tongue sticking out from his lips.

Tadashi placed a hand on his hip. "You look ridiculous, Dazai."

A laugh, "Says the broccoli. I think you're just jealous of me right now, Shida."

Far from it, Tadashi thought.

He watched as Dazai then began to move his index fingers around, like he was finger painting.

"Why?" Tadashi asked. One word asking a multitude of things.

"I'm gonna be painting, Shida! It'll be the most fabulous thing you'll ever see!" Dazai said, grinning wildly. He ran a hand through his hair then returned to finger painting.

Tadashi, for some unknown reason, felt his face flush at the action. "And where are you getting the supplies from, Emo?" he questioned, trying to follow Dazai's movement so see if he could recognise the shape.

He didn't bother asking why he was painting or what. He was sure it would turn out fine. Dazai had a talented hand, mostly from drawing blueprints and layout so detailed Kenshiro felt like he was staring at the real building.

Osamu clicked his tongue. "Obviously, I'll ask around for some. Also, we should start putting the glitter in Eraserhead's coffee on Monday."

"Sure," Tadashi agreed. He decided to leave his partner to it, slowly stepping back out of the room.

He ran back in when the first thing he heard were screams of terror coming from the kitchen. "What did you do?" he demanded.

Again, he had left for ten minutes. How had Dazai done so much?

The brunette grinned lazily at him. "I released all of the insects. I also found a couple spiders. I hid them in some food in the fridge." He resumed being schizophrenic with his hands.

Tadashi would have called it gross, but it was honestly impressive how much determination he had. "You're being awfully productive today," he said, more than a little suspicious. It was very rare for Dazai to do so much at once.

"Well, of course! I plan on stealing Eraserhead’s alcohol tomorrow, as well." He winked. While it was hard to tell the difference since he had one eye covered, Dazai titled his head slightly whenever he winked compared to blinking.

Tension leaked from Tadashi's shoulders just thinking about it. "Thank god. I feel like everything is just…" he trailed off, knowing Dazai would get what he was saying.

They’d gone too long without alcohol considering they usually had a couple (perhaps more) shots every two or three days to wind down.

"Yuh huh. Be a dear veggie and ask for Yaoyorozu, will you?"

Tadashi sighed and complied, not wanting to disrupt whatever strange thing was going on with Dazai.

He walked out, spotted Yaoyorozu trying to comfort a screaming Koda in the kitchen, and walked over. There were a few grasshoppers on the ground, and with every hop, Koda screamed again. 

He resisted laughing. "Sorry to interrupt the party, but could I borrow you, Yaoyorozu?" he asked politely. He grabbed the end of his shirt with one hand, forming a bucket in the fabric, then scooped up the grasshoppers and placed them there. He held the little air pocket he created closed tight.

The girl nodded, apologised to Koda, then walked beside Tadashi. "Is there something wrong?" she questioned. She looked nervous for some reason.

Tadashi shook his green and white curls. "Not at all. I believe Dazai has a favour to ask, is all." He opened their door and saw Dazai hadn't moved, still painting like a weirdo.

When he spotted Yaoyorozu, he grinned and jumped off the bed, skipping up to her with a bright expression. Too bright, really.

Tadashi walked over to their window, cracked it open, then dumped the handful of grasshoppers onto the ground outside. He turned his head and saw Dazai bouncing on his heels, something he had yet to do in front of anyone from class A. 

Kenshiro frowned and focused his attention on Dazai entirely.

He walked over so he was facing the brunette, and he distantly heard Dazai trying to convince Yaoyorozu to disturb the economy just that once and create paint supplies for him with her quirk.

His eyes were a little dilated compared to usual, and his neck was flushed. Dazai glanced over and spotted his suspicious look, then immediately looked away. Faster than he would have if he was innocent.

That confirmed it, then. Something was definitely up. "Dazai," Tadashi prompted.

"Not now, dearie. I'm in the middle of something!"

"Dazai, what did you do?"

An offended scoff. "All I'm asking is for paint and brushes so I can do my cockroach mural!" he said. Tadashi was confused on why he chose a cockroach of all things to paint, but that wasn't the issue.

Tadashi took a deep breath, then went into the bathroom.

There had to be something in there that would help him find out what was happening.

He glanced in the sink and saw a bit of blood on the side of the faucet. His heart sunk and he hoped he was just seeing things.

He pushed his finger through it, and found it was still fresh. He took a quick look around for anything sharp that Dazai could have hurt himself with, but the sneaky Sloth was good at hiding his weapons.

He walked back out and immediately embraced Dazai, throwing his arms around him and planting his chin on his shoulder. The brunette tried to shove him off while shouting about Yaoyorozu being in the room.

Tadashi didn’t care; all he cared about was finding out whether or not his suspicions were correct. He tucked his nose into Dazai neck and inhaled, he thought he heard Yaoyorozu make an awkward sound before running out of the room.

Tadashi didn't pay her heed. 

He could smell the cheap alcohol on Dazai's neck, which meant he had been right. 

"Fucking liar," he shouted. "Where is it? How could you hide it from me?" he shoved Dazai away and immediately went into their mini fridge.

He was so grateful UA gave each student their own. He threw open the small door, and lo and behold, six cans of beautiful, precious beer awaited. 

"This is exactly why I wanted to wait another day to tell you I stole some from Eraser's room last night while he was out." Dazai had a small pout. "You are far too reliant on alcohol, Freckles! Look at you, already salivating."

What a hypocrite.

Dazai was already at least tipsy, possibly drunk, Tadashi could tell just from the flush and smell on his neck. "I need this if I'm gonna deal with you." he grabbed out two cans and immediately cracked one open, taking three big gulps.

The burn of the alcohol and the coldness of the liquid down his throat made him giddy. 

Dazai blinked. "Say what now?" he questioned. He feigned innocence, his eye wide and his eyebrow lifted. 

Tadashi rolled his eyes. "I saw the blood on the sink, Dazai." he said, certain that was more than enough for his partner to realise what he was talking about.

"That’s none of your business." said Dazai, his eye narrowing. He looked defensive.

The freckled mafioso sighed and finished the rest of the can in one go, shoving it back into the fridge.

He would clean it up later; he couldn't risk anyone walking in and spotting cans of alcohol, let alone empty ones. He cracked open the second can, looking at the side to see what percent of alcohol the beer was.

He hummed in approval when he saw the seven looking back at him.

Two cans of seven percent were enough to get him talkative and pretty happy. Not quite tipsy, but in a better mood.

Dazai wasn't good at holding his alcohol, and just three cans of five percent got him two thirds of the way to drunk.

Tadashi grabbed onto Dazai’s hand and made him sit on the rug with him, taking a long sip from the can. He then scooted forward until their criss-crossed legs were touching at the knees, frowning. "I’m not mad. I just want to see what you’ve done. It’s not often you forget to get rid of the blood twice in a row, you know."

Dazai nodded and held his arms out, still looking a little wary and defensive.

Tadashi gave both hands a reassuring squeeze before slowly taking off the bandages.

His heart did a funny thing at how close his dangerous habits were getting.

Usually, Dazai at least waited until his arms were fully scabbed before going again, but the angry lines from a couple days ago stared at him, almost as red and angry as the ones from what must have been only a few minutes ago.

The bleeding had stopped, and the bandages were clean.

It didn’t look like a rushed job by any means, but it was a bit deeper than before. More desperate.

Dazai watched him work silently, not flinching when he gently caressed one of the new lines.

"Are you still angry enough to do this again any time soon?" Kenshiro asked.

Cutting himself and while drunk was his partner's version of being cross faded, and he only ever did it when something or someone pissed him off. The control he had made him giddy and relaxed, so Tadashi couldn't exactly get angry or upset.

Tadashi knew Dazai wouldn’t lie about his current mind set. He knew the boy too well to know Dazai didn’t bother with him.

Dazai knew he didn’t have to put up so many false pretences around Tadashi. The furthest he went were fake smiles, laughs, and insults. Anything important to Tadashi was always the truth.

"No."

Kenshiro gave a nod and didn't ask or prod further, rewrapping Dazai's arms. He gave Dazai's knee a firm pat once he was done. "Not too deep this time." he said.

Dazai rolled his eye and moved away the slightest bit. "I know that, stupid Veggie."

"Yeah, I know you know." Tadashi took another sip from his can, then paused. "Won't Eraserhead know you took his beer? More than six cans is a lot for him not to notice."

He had no idea where Dazai hid the cans that he had had, but if Tadashi had to estimate how many Dazai had drank, he would say more than three. 

No wonder the lightweight was drunk; he chugged a couple cans in less than ten minutes.

"No, he won't." Dazai said, standing up. "There were like fifty cans. He won't notice any time soon. Eraserhead's a real big drinker." He snorted.

Tadashi stood up as well, nodding. He chugged the rest of his drink and threw the can back into the mini fridge. "I'm gonna go exploring," he decided. He had been wanting to since they got to UA, and he was seriously in the mood to. "I'll be doing laps around the building, come get me if you need me."

Dazai grinned at him. "Looking for hidey-holes?" he asked.

Kenshiro nodded and left the room.

He ran into Yaoyorozu, who was standing outside their door and had paint supplies in her hands with a nervous expression. He frowned. "I thought you said you weren't gonna disrupt the economy?" he questioned.

Her face went red as she looked at him, probably remembering him throwing his face into Dazai’s neck. "Ah, Tokoyami had some spare paint in the colours Dazai wanted. He likes to paint and does it quite often, as well."

Tadashi hummed in approval. "I see. Dazai will be grateful, just go in and hand it to him."

He left a perplexed Yaoyorozu and began to do his laps around the building, fuelled by the beginning of the familiar and sorely missed buzz of alcohol. He'd go back and drink another couple of cans later. He felt more awake than he had been since he arrived in Musutafu.

--

Yaoyorozu walked into the room a few seconds after Shida left. Dazai gasped and beamed at her, his face feeling heavy. "You got the paint and brushes! Thank god."

The girl smiled a little warily at him. "Uhm, yeah. Tokoyami had some spares lying around." she handed him the supplies, which he took and held in his arms protectively.

He would be damned if anyone stopped his painting now. He was so close.

"Yes, yes, much appreciated. Feel free to stay or to leave, I don't care." he immediately grabbed a pencil from Shida's ugly school bag and began sketching the cockroach on the wall. It was going to take up all of the space that sat above the desk.

"Sorry, just before I leave," Yaoyorozu started, hesitant. 

Dazai rolled his eye before turning to face her. He hated people that acted meek around him. He wasn't going to bite!

"Is there a reason Tadashi is... you know, running around?" she asked, pointing to the window. 

Dazai blinked with a wide eye and turned. He gave an honest surprised laugh, then a few wheezes when he saw Shida running around outside their room, slapping his hands on the brick like he expected it to move or give way.

Shida was an idiot and would never admit it, but he acted silly when he was tipsy. 

When he was drunk, he was so serious and talked about boring things for ages. But when he was tipsy, he acted like a child.

He could also never tell when he was tipsy, which made it all the funnier when the alcohol kicked in. 

The beer he had drank were two kinds.

One was thirteen percent alcohol; the other was seven. The cans looked so similar Dazai doubted Shida had even realised the difference and thought he had only had two seven percent cans.

Dazai ripped open the window. "What are you doing, you stupid Veggie! You look ridiculous!" he laughed again, his head feeling lighter than it had in a while.

Tadashi clicked his tongue. "I'm looking for spaces I can hide stuff in, if you must know." He wore a smile that actually reached his eyes, crinkling the corners of them. He also had a dimple on his right cheek, which meant he really was smiling genuinely. 

Ah, perhaps Dazai should have stolen Eraserhead's beer earlier.

He turned around and saw Yaoyorozu had left, which made him laugh again. "You know you freaked her out earlier, shoving your nose into my neck, right?" he called, still snickering.

"It was either that, or me prying open your mouth to smell the alcohol on your breath!" Shida called back, snorting.

"You could have just asked like a normal person."

"Oh, yeah? And you would have told me the truth, Mr I-wanted-to-wait-another-day-to-tell-you?"

Well, that was fair. "I think Shida just wanted to be a pervert and smell me." he teased, regardless of whether or not Shida's assumptions were correct.

"You also seem to think I care what your thoughts and conclusions on the matter are."

Dazai let out a insult before picking up his pencil again and resuming his sketch of the cockroach.

Aizawa paced outside of Tadashi and Dazai's room, unsure of what to do or how to approach the situation he was in. The past couple of days had been relatively uneventful, which the man had been grateful for after the meeting he had with Mrs Midoriya on Friday.

But of course, something always happened. 

He should have known the peace wouldn't last long when it came to his problem children. A full week of no drama was apparently too much for him to ask.

The government and Hero Public Safety Commission had been working on doing something with Dazai regarding the fact he was a singularity in their system, only to find he wasn't.

They discovered his government ID, birth certificate that was completely filled out with his date of birth (no parents listed, they weren't brought into the world from Hori's quirk), ethnicity, nationality, and his quirk No Longer Human—a shuddering name.

He even had a provisional hero licence like the rest of Class 1-A, despite never stepping foot in the exam.

He also had a full history documented.

Doctor visits from when he was a baby up until the start of middle school—which he did not attend, according to the system. In fact, he went through primary and half of middle school homeschooled without problem, and only joined high school recently, of course.

There were even past assignments and tests that he would have done during the time he was homeschooled available.

The worst thing was that there were the exact same documents for Kenshiro Tadashi. His full name, his parents (also marked N/A), the hospital he was born in, a separate provisional licence from Izuku Midoriya's, and a full history that Aizawa knew was bullshit.

His quirk, which had previously been marked down as 'Superpower' on Midoriya's information, was now 'One for All' on Tadashi's.

Documents that hadn't existed until a few days ago now sat in the government's hands.

Kage Hori was questioned about it, but he claimed to have no idea what was going on.

According to him, Osamu Dazai was the first person to have been brought out by Turn Back, rather than an object. Whatever was happening was completely unpredictable. 

How did Aizawa address it? Could he even address it?

Recovery Girl wanted to take a few blood tests to be sure that the information on their DNA was correct, but how could he ask the boys to do that? They would have to collect Midoriya’s samples as well, otherwise he and Dazai would be suspicious as to why only Dazai's was being collected.

And from there, they decided they might as well do everything they can to find out everything about the two. X-rays, fingerprints, all of it to make sure everything still lines up.

Aizawa finally found some courage and lifted his knuckles to the door in front of him, gently knocking on the wood. He waited for the muffled permission for him to enter and slowly pushed the door open. 

He found Midoriya sitting on the desk chair, one knee tucked up to his chest while his other leg gently swayed the chair from side to side. He had multiple books open, as well as the laptop Aizawa had given them. 

"Doing research?" Aizawa questioned. Midoriya just nodded, not bothering to look up from the screen. The man hadn't expected a proper reply, anyway. Midoriya seemed very set on reminding Aizawa just how much he hated him.

Dazai, who was playing chess by himself on the bed, answered for him instead. "He owes it to me. Otherwise, I would be the one doing boring research." he said, knocking a white knight off the board with a black pawn.

Aizawa found his wording strange, "He owes it to you?"

"Ya, 'cause he was rude and bet that I wouldn't finish my mural in four hours. Something about the paint not drying in time, but Mina had a hair dryer for that." He knocked the same pawn off with a white bishop. "Obviously, I won, and now he's doing boring stuff while I play chess."

Aizawa blinked at him, then made a noise that was a mix of surprise and un-amusement.

On the wall above the desk was a massive painting of a cockroach. It was semi-realistic, like something you would see in a drawn book about insects. He even added their hair on the legs. It was a little disgusting since Aizawa hated the creatures, but overall, a very impressive drawing.

The man was confused on how Dazai got the paint, and also how on earth he missed it before Dazai pointed it out.

It was big, ugly, very well done, and a sharp contrast to the white walls.

"When did you do this?" he asked.

"Saturday." Dazai replied. He knocked a knight off with his black king, then knocked the same king off with a white bishop. 

A couple days ago, then. Aizawa silently sighed. "It looks good," he said truthfully. It just looked freaky. While Aizawa didn't mind spider and bugs, cockroaches were a no-go. They were grotty and as useless as mosquitoes.

The one-eyed boy laughed at him while he flicked a pawn off the board, picking up on his distaste for the picture. 

"I wanted to come in here to tell you guys what’s going on. Recently, the government and Commission discovered some files on you two and they want to confirm the information on there."

Midoriya froze, finally looking at him. "Are we going to be interrogated?" he questioned.

Aizawa could practically see his hackles raising. "No, nothing like that. They just want a few samples and x-rays of you two. From what I know, there will be one full body x-ray, one blood test, and fingerprint tests. All of this will be conducted at UA, so don't worry about leaving campus."

Both boys gave him the same look, silently saying, 'are you stupid? Why would we worry about that?'

"Why?" Dazai questioned.

"Just to make sure the government has the correct DNA information of you two."

"Why?" Midoriya narrowed his eyes further. 

Aizawa wasn't sure how to answer that. "Because the government has requested it. No one has any say or choice in the matter." he settled on saying, hiding a grimace.

Midoriya didn't like that at all, changing his expression instantly and openly glaring at him.

"OoOoh," breathed Dazai, mocking the sound of a ghost while wriggling his fingers at Midoriya. "Maybe they'll take our blood and create clones to destroy the earth!"

Midoriya cocked his head at him. "Maybe. Or maybe they'll punch your lights out."

"Jeez, Shida's so feisty when he's tense."

Aizawa felt himself relax watching them interact. His heart finally calmed down, and his worries slowly faded. They didn’t seem to mind what he warned them about, and that was a major relief.

Just before he left the room, Aizawa turned around and announced he would be giving them some more jelly pouches for breakfast and lunch the next day, and that he would be asking Lunch Rush to give them some sort of meat and veg at lunch.

Midoriya’s nostrils flared, while Dazai outright told him he would rather kill himself. 

Aizawa felt the blood fade from his face. Holy shit. "Dazai, don't say such things." he bit out, his heart acting up again. That was such an intense reaction to Aizawa giving him proper food.

"What, you gonna stop the words from coming out of my mouth?" Dazai asked, giving him a dark, smug smirk. "You can't do anything about it."

The man sucked a cold breath in, the air freezing as it went down his throat. He fled the room, holding a hand to his mouth as he swallowed his bile.

Oh, god.

Everything was so fucked.

Tadashi was initially bummed out because if they were getting blood tests done (of all things, for fuck’s sake), he couldn’t chug a beer before going to class in case they found any alcohol in his blood stream.

But then, early the next morning, he found out he would be missing out on heroics to do the tests, and his mood was lifted.

For the past couple days, they were able to get out of training because Dazai was still hurt and Tadashi refused to do anything without him, but if they made the same excuse one more time, then they would be sent to Recovery Girl to see what was wrong because the bruise cream was made to work in a couple days.

And it had.

Dazai's bruises faded completely by the time Tuesday rolled around.

Still, once in the nurse's office to take the stupid tests, Tadashi felt his hands begin to clam up and his hairs rise from the back of his neck. He tried to calm himself down by thinking back to when Aizawa found pink glitter in his coffee for the first time, but it didn't help.

Mori collected Tadashi's blood all the time, sometimes from a needle, sometimes as the blood dripped off his arm as the scalpel moved across it, the doctor would attach a capsule to the armchair to collect the warm liquid.

Either way, just thinking about it had Tadashi's throat closing.

He sat on a bed beside Dazai, who had a hand latched onto Tadashi’s blazer. There were a multitude of machines that hadn’t been in the office last time, probably transported so that they could conduct collection of products for the exams in UA.

The first couple of tests had been fine.

The mafiosos took turns lying on the hospital bed as the x-rays were conducted easily, and the fingerprint samples weren’t hard to give, either. They just pressed each of their fingers in a bit of ink and dabbed it onto a piece of paper for analysing.

But the blood withdrawals? Tadashi swallowed looking at the syringe in Recovery Girl's hand.

Mori wasn’t ever gentle. The man just didn't seem to have it in him when it came to medical practise. He didn’t care for winces or yelps, as long as he got the job done and collected the blood. His needles were also thick, thicker than any other needles from shots Tadashi had been given.

He now stared at the syringe in the old lady's gloved hand like it had personally offended him, not paying attention to Recovery Girl as she tried to reassure him that it wouldn’t hurt. Mori said the same thing the first couple of times. He was a liar.

There was a long sigh to his left. "I'll go first," Dazai offered. 

Tadashi's head snapped to him, and he saw Dazai's knuckles were white in his blazer from the corner of his eye. "You will?" He hated how desperate the whisper sounded.

Dazai clicked his tongue. "Shida's being a big baby over nothing. I suppose, just this once, I'll be the sacrifice and make sure the needle isn't poisoned." He gave Tadashi a smug grin. 

Tadashi knew he was supposed to, but he couldn't find it in him relax. He almost felt bad that Dazai reassuring him didn't work. His green eyes were wide as he watched his partner roll his sleeves up so Recovery Girl could take some blood. He analysed Dazai’s face, watching for even the slightest twitch.

When the syringe went in, Dazai’s eyebrow lifted a fraction. Surprise. He was surprised.

Tadashi’s body instantly relaxed, and he felt his exhaustion return since he was no longer on alert. If Dazai was surprised, that meant it didn’t hurt.

Recovery Girl thanked him and placed the medical tool in a plastic bag, then grabbed the second syringe and slowly walked up to Tadashi.

He slightly tensed and Dazai teased him, calling him a baby and placing his hand on his bicep.

Tadashi shivered at the feeling, frowned, then tensed again when he saw how close the needle was to his skin now. It was thin, much thinner than he had ever seen. Dazai squeezed his arm almost painfully, and Tadashi let out a little gasp when he saw the needle go in.

He saw it, but he didn't feel it. Not even a prick. It was like it wasn’t even intruding and piercing through his skin! He stared at it with amazement, watching the little compartment fill with crimson liquid. 

"Oh," he breathed, blinking tiredly. It was nothing like Mori.

Dazai chuckled, his grip relaxing a bit. "Yeah, oh. Ya big baby, I told you!" he grinned smugly.

Tadashi didn’t have the energy to glare at him. He felt so relieved it hadn’t hurt that his tiredness had doubled from when they first walked in. He slouched when Recovery Girl moved away, taking the medical tool with her.

"You're free to leave now, boys. Thank you for your time and patience."

The brunette leaped off the bed the next moment, "Of course." Dazai said, then he was dragging Tadashi out the door.

Aizawa left the training area, trusting All Might to be fine without him, and made his way up to the principal's office. 

He wasn't sure why he was called up, but he knew it couldn't be good. Nothing ever was anymore. Not even his coffee, which had been contaminated with glitter for the past three days.

He knocked and walked into the office, not bothering to wait for permission. Nezu was sitting on his too-large chair behind his too-large dark oak desk, as usual. "Aizawa! Come come, sit down. get comfy."

Aizawa did as he was told, his shoulders to his ears.

"Tea?"

"No, thanks."

"Ah, alright, then. I'm sure you have already predicted this, but I called you here to discuss Tadashi and Dazai."

--

Three and a half minutes later, Aizawa felt like Nezu's head had exploded and grown back as two. "Excuse me?" he mumbled, gripping the arms to his chair until his knuckles were white.

Nezu cocked his head. "You heard me correctly, Aizawa. The children are now under your care. Of course, they're under mine as well, but you are the more prominent figure. I'm just the deadbeat foster parent, I suppose." he chuckled lightly.

Aizawa didn't think any of that was laughing material. "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm going to have to ask you to repeat all of that. I think I misheard most of it." he said. 

"Ah," the rat nodded. "Because Kenshiro Tadashi and Osamu Dazai have no official legal guardian stated, you will be taking up that role. I would have gone with Inko Midoriya, of course, but the Commission said it would be best if they are placed under your care since you share a living space and can keep an eye on them."

"Has Mrs Midoriya been notified of this change?" questioned Aizawa, swallowing. 

Nezu sighed. "Yes, she has. I'm sure you can imagine how that phone call went. After all, we just told her she can’t see her son for another month after he was kidnapped for a week. Now she doesn’t even have rights to him."

"Phone call?" He didn't even have the decency to tell her to her face? "No, I won't accept this." Aizawa barked, slamming his hands on the desk. "This is cruel to Midoriya and his mother!"

"If you decline, I will become the primary carer and Kan will become the secondary carer, since his building is neighbouring with yours."

Vlad King being a legal guardian to Midoriya and Dazai? Absolutely not.

Even All Might was a better candidate. 

"Fine," Aizawa said through clenched teeth. "But know I'm not okay with this, and you better hope the flowers and chocolate you'll be sending to Mrs Midoriya is the best you can possibly find." he exclaimed.

"That is the least I can do." Nezu agreed, running a paw over his scar. 

Everything was so goddamn fucked.

Chapter Text

Toshinori looked from Chiyo, to the screens in front of him, back to Chiyo, and then returning to the screens. 

"Recovery Girl," Toshinori started, coughing red splatters into his handkerchief. "I deeply apologise, but I'm afraid I don't understand."

Chiyo would usually tut at him and tell him to grow up, but she knew better than to do so this time. She let out a shrill sigh as she started blankly at the screen, almost as confused as the man baby beside her. "This here is Tadashi's x-ray," she said, pointing to the left screen. "And this is Dazai's." she pointed to the right screen.

Toshinori nodded. "And the problem? They look like they have every bone they need." he sheepishly commented, an awkward smile on his skinny face.

"The problem is that some of their bones show signs of previous breakage that didn't heal well." exclaimed Chiyo. She knew she was going to have to explain this at least another ten times when Toshinori inevitably calls his detective friend to come and collect the radiographs as evidence against Kage Hori later. 

"Ah, they've broken a few bones before. Recovery Girl, I believe everyone has done that once or twice."

Jeez, Toshinori was going senile faster than Chiyo was, the old fool!

"Yes, but that isn't want concerns me. Because of the sudden documents the government has found on the two kids, they want to know everything they can from these scans, and they technology they sent to collect said scans highly detailed."

She tapped the right screen, Dazai's screen with her cane, frowning.

"Both arms have been broken at least once, his ribs have been damaged, his nose has been broken, and his right leg seems to have had multiple breaks in different parts." She pointed across Dazai's radiograph as she spoke. "If I had to guess, I would say there have been breaks in other places as well, but this is the most I can tell just from my eyes alone. Who knows what they'll find when an analyser takes a look."

Choyo slowly moved her cane over to the left screen, hovering it over Tadashi's x-ray results.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Toshinori shift from foot to foot. She understood he was nervous to find out about his successor's condition.

"Tadashi has had a serious shoulder injury, a couple broken ribs, and a shattered right ring finger." explained Chiyo, pointing as she went. "Whoever was in charge of healing them didn't do their job properly. The only way I can tell this just from a couple minutes of looking is because none of them healed well. It's likely they've had other injuries like this that were treated properly."

Toshinori groaned, running a hand through his vibrant hair. "And this is all from the time Young Tadashi spent in the other world?" he questioned.

Chiyo felt sympathy shoot through her body. The man was visibly distressed, but he also looked thoroughly determined to stay standing and not collapse until he was satisfied.

"Yes. We have Tadashi's previous radiographs from when he was fourteen in this world to compare, which is the age Turn Back regressed him to."

A shuddered intake of breath. "I see. And what of the other tests?" asked Toshinori. 

Chiyo felt herself hesitate as she swapped the tabs over both screens. Numbers and codes popped up on both screens, each one with a photo in the corner. 

"Ah, this is the blood test results? Everything is alright here?"

She wasn't sure how to respond. "For Dazai's, yes. Everything matches what was found in the mystery documents."

Tadashi was another story. Just looking at the two screens had her swallowing in discomfort. The left showed Izuku Midoriya's DNA information, and the right screen showed Kenshiro Tadashi's from the test that was done with their blood a few days ago.

Toshinori caught onto the fact she only mentioned one child. "And Young Tadashi? Everything is what it seems, yes?" he asked, a droplet of blood falling from the corner of his lips from stress.

Chiyo sighed heavily as she looked over the screens one last time, then swapped the left screen for Tadashi's x-ray. She zoomed in on one of his feet. "What do you see here on Tadashi's x-ray results, Toshinori? Anything out of place?"

"Well, I'm no radiographer, but everything seems fine? It doesn't look like he's had any breaks in his foot." Toshinori placed a hand on the desk so he could lean forward to get a better look. "Why? Is something amiss?"

The lady nodded, a confused expression finally slipping through her walls. She didn't know why she was seeing what she was, but something wasn't right. "His left pinkie toe only has one joint."

Toshinori's eyebrows shot up past his hairline. "What! How is that possible?" He leaned even closer to the screen, his blue eyes bulging.

Question of the decade.

Izuku Midoriya was a quirkless boy. He had no quirk factor; he had two pinkie toe joints. But Kenshiro Tadashi's left pinkie toe only had the evolved one pinkie toe joint, and his DNA had changed to fit the quirk factor he was given. 

"His blood type is still the same; he's still type O. But his DNA has changed. Mutated, I suppose. If we were to run a relations test with the given information we have on Midoriya's genetic code and Tadashi's, it would likely come up as first or even second cousins." Chiyo had a headache trying to process her own findings.

Toshinori made a small gasping sound. "He— he has a quirk factor. Oh, lord, what has that boy been through?" he mumbled more to himself, clutching the sides of his head like it was going to split in half.

"That's right." Chiyo said, swapping the tabs once again. This time, it showed Kenshiro Tadashi's profile. "Kage Hori's quirk has stated One for All as Tadashi's quirk on his government ID documents. It's now truly his to call his own. His is officially the last wielder of One for All."

"How could this possibly happen?" Toshinori failed at staying upright, practically falling onto one of Chiyo's patient beds. 

She didn't reprimand him or tell him to move. "If I had to guess, I would say it has something to do with the way Turn Back works. It rewound Midoriya's body back to when he was fourteen, and given the fact One for All was just floating around in his body at the time, it must have dragged it into his body during the process."

Toshinori nodded, then shook his head, before nodding again. "I see. So Young Tadashi didn't exactly evolve, it's more like he merged? And his body reacted accordingly."

Chiyo couldn't have said it better herself. She was glad Toshinori wasn't as incompetent as he liked to act most of the time. "I'll be sending my reports and finds to the Commission in a couple hours or so. In the meantime, go for a walk. Cool your head."

"Yes, Recovery Girl."

He knew better than to disobey.

Chiyo would have to do some digging. Perhaps it was time to let Aizawa know about One for All, especially given the man's upgrade to their legal guardian. He would understand; he would pay better attention to the changes in Tadashi when it came down to his quirk.

Aizawa was good at picking things up, even better at pushing down his own feelings (which Toshinori was not talented in, and his feelings often got in the way) if it is for the safety of one of his children. 

Ah, she thought amusedly to herself. Now he cannot deny they are his children, even if it's only two of them.

Chiyo knew the man thought of class 1-A as his responsibly the way any parental figure would. He often admitted it, referring to them as his problem children and rogue, talented brats, but he calls them his regardless.

It was quite endearing indeed.

Tadashi dreaded that they had to partake in hero training once again. 

Their excuse with Dazai's injuries had expired, since it was common knowledge that they had been using bruise cream that somehow managed to get rid of them in a couple days. They were given no choice. 

So, every evening after school for the past four days, they had changed into their training outfits along with their classmates (after everyone had left, since Dazai claimed it was uncouth to change with everyone else) and begrudgingly trudged along behind the group to a gymnasium.

Eraserhead, who somehow managed to make Tadashi's hate for him grow every day, had decided he was going to be 'lazy' (what a load of crap) and step back from the training for the next month and half, which was an oddly specific time frame.

He also somehow managed to bribe whoever was co-teaching with them for heroics each day to stand back as well.

Tadashi wasn't oblivious unlike his classmates, who seemed to honest to god think Eraserhead genuinely just wanted to sleep through the lesson in his obnoxiously yellow cocoon.

If that were the case, however, the co-teacher (depending on the day, the role shuffled between Cementoss, Midnight, Mic, All Might, and Ectoplasm) would just take over.

But they stood back as well, silently watching from the corner of the gym like the weirdos they were. 

Tadashi didn't understand why they had to be so decreet about assessing their student's capabilities when it came down to being independent. Just say they're testing their teamwork and problem solving! God, beating around the bush was so useless.

Dazai seemed to share the sentiment, sending disapproving looks to Eraserhead whenever he had the chance.

It meant that they were forced to play good classmate and pretend to care about what any of their peers wanted.

Which was annoying. They were both used to giving orders out to people older than them, not receiving them.

The Verde Reaper and Demon Prodigy bowed to no one but older executives and the boss.

Yet there they were, playing house with teenagers and pretending to give a crap about whatever arrangement they had going on.

Said arrangement included a hierarchy, which Tadashi was willing to get behind because at least it was something.

Dazai, while he did not openly express his dislike for the setup was not as keen, which he showed through his over enthusiastic, secretly mocking nods at every suggestion. 

In the end, class 1-A decided on a training program.

Everyone's names were put on a piece of paper that had been cut into strips and thrown on the floor, and someone would close their eyes and pick a random piece. Whoever's name was called would lead the heroics practical lesson for two days, and then another name was drawn and so on.

Basically, it was like a more complicated version of having a substitute for Eraserhead's 'laziness'. 

Of course, Dazai and Tadashi were put on a piece of paper together, because by then, everyone knew it was either a duo job or no job at all.

They didn't even have to say anything; Yaoyorozu, the brilliant girl, just wrote their names on the same piece of paper and placed it in the pile.

The first draw ended in Ojiro spending two hour-and-a-bit lessons teaching everyone basic martial arts drills for close range combat.

Tadashi and Dazai had no use of such lessons, and their drills usually just ended in them throwing punches and grabbing (perhaps ripping) hair and insults being thrown, but whatever.

If they weren't fighting (it was more like sparring to them, but no one else knew that since sparring in the hero society was something with safe words and rules), they were making rude jabs at each other about their standing positions and stances.

At least they weren't sitting down and not participating, because that was what Tadashi wanted to do. He was so utterly tired, but he pushed through it for appearances.

Every lecture Eraserhead gave them on keeping their hands off each other (which of course, Dazai had to giggle at) went straight over their heads, and they let him know by deliberately pinching each other and earning yelps from the other through the whole thing.

Sato spent his two days teaching everyone how to punch through walls without breaking their hand.

They had Cementoss make thin concrete walls/slabs (depending on what position was more comfortable; standing or leaning over the slab) that slowly thickened as their progress on the subject went along, which Tadashi and Dazai had, again, already learned ages ago. 

They both doubted there was anything any of the students could teach them, and they talked about it in their dorm nearly every night as Tadashi continued looking for information on the 'group of rats' with blue fur and significant parts of mist connected to them.

Class 1-A was essentially useless to them. They had nothing to gain by making alliances. 

So, during Sato's lessons, Dazai pretended to struggle breaking through his ultra-thin slab of concrete, then he would say he gave up and wanted to practice on something better, and promptly punch Tadashi in the face or his arm. Which, obviously, led to more fights and more lectures from recovery Girl etcetera. Tadashi didn't actually give a shit about any of it.

During the four days, teachers came and went. Some left in the middle of the lesson and were replaced with another co-teacher. 

All Might particularly, however, was becoming increasingly annoying with every appearance he made. He clearly had a lot of questions for Tadashi he was desperate to get out, but he wouldn't spit it out! Frankly, Tadashi was ready to slap it out of the man.

It pissed him off at how the grown ass man walked on eggshells around him.

Normally, it was a good thing. A very, very good thing. Because having adults scared of a child executive meant loyalty, whether the subject wanted to give it or not, they were scared to do otherwise.

But for some irritating reason, having All Might wary of him pissed Tadashi off. He ended up glaring at the hero with every desperately curious glance All Might threw his way. 

He woulda had a drink before every class, found a way to sneak it in, but they ran out of beers a couple days beforehand.

According to a certain brunette under the influence of said beer, Dazai had been a little shit and failed to inform him that he had drank a 13% and 7% a few days beforehand. No wonder he had been stupid and attempted to slap hidey-holes into existence; he'd been tipsy. 

Whenever he was tipsy, his brain mushed to a child’s.

Whenever he was drunk, he liked to have deep conversations (or, what seemed deep at the time. Why the number fourteen sounded higher than twenty wasn’t exactly deep when he was sober).

Worst of all, his brain liked to trick him into thinking he was perfectly rational and the desire to do childish things were sober thoughts.

It was kinda like tipsy and drunk swapped for him.

Dazai ended up trying to talk him into being drunk during a practical lesson, and he declined because he couldn’t handle the thought of being lightheaded as he worked a muscle around other people.

Then, once he had finally changed his mind, he realised they were out of beers and was left in a shitty mood for the rest of his exhausting day.

--

On the fifth day of the training program the class had come up with, Dazai and Tadashi's names were picked from the pile.

Tadashi blinked. He hadn't even thought about what he wanted to do. By the end of every day, he was so close to collapsing he didn't even try to conjure up a plan.

He glanced over to Dazai, who was already looking at him, his dark smirk slowly growing on his face. Clearly, he had thought about what to do for their two days of training the teenagers.

"Ah, we'll be back in a sec!" Dazai sang, grabbing Tadashi by the crook of his elbow and half dragging him away from the crowd. Once they were far enough that Dazai was satisfied, he released Tadashi. "So, what are we going to do?" he asked, even though he had the answer to that.

Tadashi did not.

He gave a half assed shrug of his shoulders.

That day had been harder than any other so far.

He had genuinely struggled to keep himself awake until that point. He was a little more awake since his name had been pulled, but not enough.

"Whatever you wish, Emo." he muttered.

Dazai's grin grew.

"Whatever I wish." he said, silently asking for more confirmation, like he hadn't heard correctly the first time. 

It wasn't wrong for Tadashi to wonder for a second if Dazai was going to pull the Professional Torturer of the Port Mafia card on those children. "Whatever you desire. I'm feeling tired; you can lead the exercise."

Dazai pouted like a child that's had his lollipop taken. "I wanted to make them soil their pants. It’s no fun if Shida is too busy being tired to watch." he groaned, throwing his head back in exaggerated annoyance.

Kenshiro, obviously, knew it was all for show for the twenty-something eyes on them.

Tadashi shrugged again, uncaring. He was practically falling asleep on his feet. He was more tired than he had been in a long while. He yawned. "Have them do a hundred laps or something."

"No," whispered Dazai. "I wanna train their senses, Shida." It kinda felt like he was telling a secret. It was childish. It was reassuring. It was fun.

It had Tadashi's attention. "Oh?" he prompted, aware of the impatient stares they were getting from how their conversation was dragging out. He didn't care for the impatient part; he didn't like having so many eyes on him. He pushed down a shiver, refusing to acknowledge it.

"Yes, Veggie. I’ll ask Yaomomo to make some blind folds." Somehow, Dazai had convinced Yaoyorozu to let him call her the name she was called by close friends. "We can jump scare them and have some watered-down executive fun, Shida!"

Tadashi let out a small chuckle, even if nothing he said was funny. Damn Mori and his stupid lessons on expressions. "Watered-down?"

"Yes! Let's do it, Freckles."

"Oh, alright." Tadashi sighed a little. "Let's do it."

Dazai made a show of cheering and dragging him by his elbow back to everyone else. "Line up! Line up! Doesn't matter what order, just line up!" He sang his words in the same rhythm as one of his favourite songs about suicide.

Bakugo looked ready to explode, but amazingly, complied without too many threats of murder he couldn't follow up on if he wanted to.

Tadashi had no idea what was going to happen, but it was fine. Dazai wouldn't do anything rash, and he definitely wouldn't do anything Tadashi couldn't catch onto and play along with. 

Said brunette was currently asking Yaoyorozu to make some blindfolds, who looked reluctant but gave into his puppy-eyed look. 

He shot Tadashi a smug grin that said, 'every time'. Tadashi nodded in agreement. There was little Dazai couldn't get when he played the pitiful act.

Tadashi looked at the line of teenagers and felt another wave of energy flood through him as he realised the set up was familiar. He felt like he was staring at his men back in Yokohama. He felt like he belonged where he was, standing in front of the line with importance.

Eventually, Dazai puts the stacks of blind folds (which were really just sleeping masks) on the ground for later, and beckons an unlucky Kaminari forward.

Eraserhead finally decided to stand up and emerge from his cocoon, and unsurprisingly, had not changed into a beauty like a butterfly would when it emerged from its cocoon. He looked ready to step in at any moment, which was a smart move on his part.

Judging on the way Dazai positioned Kaminari in front of Tadashi and stays behind the blonde to slide his hands over his eyes, the teacher had every right to be worried about his students.

Tadashi recognised the movements.

It was one they often used to start the training of newbies to their group of men, to test their reflexes.

The three of them were standing in a line horizontally, same as the students, so that everyone could see all three of them from the side. They stood in a line of their own, just facing the other direction to the rest of them.

Tadashi glanced to his left and saw Eraserhead grip his capture weapon from behind his class.

Good.

Kaminari, now blinded and obviously nervous, begins to question. "Uhm, not to be rude, but is Dazai covering my eyes really—"

Dazai leaned forward, his nose just barely touching Kaminari's neck as he not-so-quietly spoke softly so everyone would think he was trying to be secretive but failing. "Remember: real villains show less than no mercy."

The blonde boy shuddered, likely at both the words said and the feeling of Dazai's breath on his neck, and Tadashi did not care. He did not care, could not care, would not care, would not be jealous of a lemon head.

He had no reason to be.

Tadashi's hands then snapped forward and captured Kaminari's sweaty ones, wrapping them tight. Too tight.

Kaminari winced behind Dazai's hands. "Is this really nec—"

The freckled mafioso took every pleasure in cutting him off by tugging violently on his hands, forcing him to stumble and bend at the waist.

He brought his knee to Kaminari's stomach, and the satisfaction that came after the loud grunt and hiss of pain ran deeper than the noises of surprise and hurt he earned.

He's lucky it was only one hit, Tadashi thought, releasing the boy at the same time Dazai did, and he fell to the ground, keeled over with both arms bracing his stomach and coughing violently.

He was not jealous, and he was not taking it out on Kaminari of all people.

He was not.

Fucking hell.

"Go get an icepack from Aizawa Sensei," Tadashi muttered begrudgingly to the coughing hero-in-training. While they didn't need alliances, they didn't need enemies, either. "He always has a couple."

Multiple people had stepped forward, horrified looks on their faces. Eraserhead was stomping over, his quirk blaring a blinding red. 

The man stopped mid step when Kaminari raised shakily to his feet, slapping a hand on Tadashi shoulder. Tadashi wanted to stab it. "That was one good hit, man. You've got some serious strength in your knees!" he wheezed, in pain from the effort.

Clearly, the mafia member had been forgiven.

Too easy. Far too easy. Gaining these people's trust was like feeding an animal its favourite treat. Easy, easy, easy.

Tension Tadashi hadn't cared to acknowledge suddenly left the air when everyone realised Kaminari hadn't been too hurt or down spirited from the unprovoked attack.

Kenshiro barely nodded at him, and the blonde walked away with a small grin, groaning but laughing as he went.

"I think your kick made him insane," Dazai deadpanned, not at all joking. "That was one mighty blow, Shida! Care to explain why you were so angry?" he teased, throwing a long arm across Tadashi's shoulders.

The freckled teen shook his head violently, snapping his head towards the rest of the class to hide his flush. I will never tell him something so stupid, he swore to himself. "What are you going to do when a villain catches you by surprise like that?" he shouted, refusing to think about it anymore.

Because he was not feeling any kind of way about Dazai shoving his face in Kaminari's neck.

"Grovel on the ground, weak and vulnerable as you wait for the pain to subside enough that you can stand?" he demanded, ignoring the way Kaminari flushed with embarrassment as he took a seat with Aizawa in the corner of the gym, still nursing his stomach. 

It'll probably have a nasty bruise later, Tadashi didn't think gleefully.

It would seem Eraserhead was giving them permission to continue, since he realised they really were going to teach a lesson, not just punch and kick people the entire time.

Wrong choice.

Multiple people jumped to his defence, but Dazai raised a hand to shut them up. "You think a villain will care about your friendship for any reason other than to use it against you? They will not care about your thoughts on your classmates being weak."

Tadashi is the one to hand the blind folds out, then he orders everyone to spread out like he would order his men to raise their guards.

I have control here, he thought with relief. I am familiar with his; I can work with this.

Once everyone was relatively far enough apart, they were ordered to put their blind folds on over their nose so that they were left completely blind.

Shoji was told to swap his tentacle-arm things to anything but eyes, and he complied easily.

Man, that kid's quirk is so freaky, Tadashi couldn't help but think. I love it.

"What do you do when you are blind and facing off against a foe?" Dazai called out, also raising his voice to that cold tone used on underlings. It made Tadashi grin.

Iida, unsurprisingly, was the one to call out a nerdy answer. "We try our very best to utilise our other senses! In this case, it would be hearing! In other cases, it may be wise to use smell to recognise anything about where you and your opponent are!"

He would definitely be a know-it-all Ravenclaw or a stuck-up Gryffindor. Definitely a bossy Prefect and later Head Boy either way.

Tadashi wondered if any of these kids had ever heard of Harry Potter, or if that wasn't a thing in hero society.

Todoroki would also likely be in Ravenclaw, given his curious nature, even if he tended to hide it most of the time. He was also very calm but excellently strong when he wanted to be, which was seen in a lot of the relevant Ravenclaws in Harry Potter.

Yaoyorozu would be in the House, too, given her quick thinking and creative problem solving. And most of all, all three of them were very intelligent. 

Off track again, Tadashi berated himself. Keep the train on rails or don't run it at all, idiot.

"Right," Dazai was saying to Iida, sounding bored, as usual. Thought that might have just been a hidden jab at the class president. "Moving along!"

--

From there, the class is given the instruction to listen out for any telltale that either of them may be near.

Almost all of them shout of 'here' every time either of them is walking behind, in front, or beside them, but it was too easy for them to tell since all they had to do to know for sure someone was coming was follow the pattern of 'here's.

Tadashi sent a nod to Dazai, who gave him a wide grin.

It was an easy exercise on their part. They hadn't discussed it at all, and yet they had all of the same ideas. They were, as always, in perfect sync.

They started to tread silently at random times, then walk audibly at others so that their presence couldn't be traced. 

As predicted, once the two mafioso's made that adjustment, less people were able to guess when one of them was nearby.

About ten minutes or so of that later, Dazai gets bored and announces that the exercise was finished. "We're done here! This is getting far too repetitive and boring."

A few people start to or take their blind fold off, while others just questioned why it was over so quickly.

"Keep 'em on," Tadashi said, and they all immediately get excited again and put the blind folds back on. Tadashi didn't see the fun or appeal in any of it, but he didn't understand what normal teenagers found engaging. "We're changing it up this time around."

It was a shot in the dark, but he knew Dazai would play along either way.

Dazai claps his hands, nodding enthusiastically to put on a show for Eraserhead, Midnight Sensei, and Kaminari over in the corner. "Now, we're going to see what you would all do if you had nothing to look out for!" he announced cheerfully. 

There it was. His partner was on the same page, same clause as Tadashi. They were going to fuck with these kids and have them defecating their pants.

"Nothing? How could there be nothing?"

"Was that pun intended, Dazai?"

"This will be so easy."

"Give me a fucking challenge, damn it! A toddler could do this!"

"I'm getting so much anticipation!"

"It's kinda like hide and seek, right?"

While they chattered among themselves, none of them realised Tadashi and Dazai were moving around again.

From the corner of his eye, Tadashi saw Kaminari with his jaw dropped and phone out recording how none of his classmates were competent enough to realise what was going on.

They breathed shallowly, only taking deep breaths when they’re out of hearing range.

They tread as carefully as they were trained to by stepping through water until there was barely a ripple in the puddle as they walked.

Even now, Tadashi imagined the water pooling at his feet as he moved, remaining mostly undisturbed. 

About thirty seconds later, the kids began to realise that neither he nor Dazai had said a word in two minutes. They slowly realised that they must gave begun walking around again, whipping their heads around like lunatics.

Of course, if they were smart, they would have been able to pick up on the two's location.

A rustle of clothing near their left, a hint of lavender to the right. Things like that would have been able to give the Tadashi and Dazai away easily.

But the kids were distracted with the fact no footsteps were being heard; they were expressing their distress and distrust about it to each other quite openly. They were collectively thinking that there was no way they could be walking around.

Only fools exclaimed their thoughts and feelings while at a disadvantage in enemy territory.

Especially when the disadvantage was being blind.

Obviously, the two exceptions were Jiro and Shoji, who both picked up on both of the mafia executive's presence every time, given their enhanced hearing. But their 'here' s were a lot quieter, so only the few near them were sure the two were walking around.

Everyone else was calling bullshit.

Three minutes later, Dazai got bored again and sent Tadashi a meaningful look. He wanted to change strategies again, to spice things up.

Tadashi didn't see why not. He was ready to start messing with the class of idiots. He needed things to get more interesting if he didn't want to fall asleep standing up, anyway.

The green boy walks up to the front of the group, "Fine," he shouted, and everyone fell silent. "Since none of you realise your incompetence, we shall now commence proof." he said theatrically. 

Dazai grinned as he blew air into Aoyama's ear, who was standing in the middle of the spread-out class and shrieked loudly.

"As you can see, if you fail to sense our presence, we will announce it by murdering you." continued Tadashi, ignoring the standing of both teachers from a couple metres away. 

The brunette walked away from Aoyama and over to Sato, who was in the far-right corner. When Dazai poked his cheek, he let out a gasp loud enough for people to turn around. They were amazed he had moved without them realising it.

"By killing you, I mean doing something to tell you we’re there." He sent a glare at Eraserhead, who slumped back against the wall. So dramatic. "I want everyone to remember that if I were a villain, I would not be blowing air into your ear or poking you. I would slit your throat or blow your brains out."

A few people paled, others shouted, and a certain blonde threatened to murder them before they murdered him.

Tadashi grinned. 

"Good luck." he said, because he wanted to match everyone else's dramatics.

From there, they resume walking around silently. They stood either in front or behind someone for three seconds before either pinching, tapping, or making some sort of noise loud enough for them to jump when they went unnoticed.

Multiple people got scared just from the anticipation while listening to their friend’s scream, gasp, and yelp in surprise all around them in random order.

Shoji gets Dazai and Tadashi a couple times. Jiro gets both of them every time with confidence (which wasn’t surprising).

However, it would have been a lot more enjoyable if Tadashi wasn't so tired.

Once everyone was back at the dorms, in the common room, Kaminari (who got bruising cream from Recovery Girl) projected his phone onto the TV in the common room and showed everyone footage of Tadashi and Dazai he had taken before they started announcing their presence.

It showed how people were questioning even though one or both of them were right in front of them.

Tokoyami was talking about poetry the whole time as usual, and Tadashi was pretty sure they were compared to ninjas somewhere in it.

Dazai had pulled faces at almost all of his targets, even flipped a few of them off, silently cracking up on video when he got no response from the person he was mocking. 

Like a manic, Tadashi thought.

When the video ended, multiple students (the ones who didn't get embarrassed watching their obliviousness on screen) gushed at the two bandaged classmates, asking them how they learned to be so stealthy.

"It's our secret," Dazai replied easily, slipping his hand onto Tadashi's bicep, where it belonged. "No one else is allowed to know!" he said cheerfully. 

They receive a few significant looks of suggestion, which they both ignore.

"Clearly," Eraserhead drawled, feigning being nonchalant through his body language. "You all need to work on your senses. When I’m back in charge, that is the first thing we’ll be working on." The man was still pale.

Tadashi knew it was because he realised his kids wouldn’t survive an encounter with a villain if they were blind.

It was so easy to ignore the fact eyesight is detrimental to survival until you lose it.

Both he and Dazai knew the man had great confidence in his students' capabilities, especially after the many villain attacks they were known for surviving (which was stupidly easy to find out about on their computer, literally every article about UA mentions is at some point).

Now, Eraserhead was realising his students had such a long way to go before they had any chance in the real world.

--

The next day, the executives get handsy with class 1-A during the heroics lesson — Tadashi asked Aizawa for permission first because he didn’t wanna get in trouble (he wanted to be allowed to go out on the weekend with Dazai and he was teased relentlessly for it) and they got permission as long as they didn’t break anyone's bones.

Basically, they were allowed to kick, slap, punch, shove, and trip, but they weren't allowed to do too much damage.

It was almost surprising at how easy it was to manipulate Eraserhead into giving permission.

During the heroics lesson, Tadashi let out his frustration with Dazai from the beer percentage grudge and half-lies, cheering himself up by slapping for than a few kids.

Especially Bakugo, who got so pissed off every time he was slapped that Tadashi found great joy in doing it more than once every ten to thirty seconds while reminding him how merciful he was compared to real villains.

He wasn't going to think about the irony of that, since he was the villain in many, many people's stories.

Bakugo didn't know where he was aiming when he tried to get 'revenge', he was just throwing easily avoidable explosions around like a freak. Tadashi had great pleasure in nearly knocking him off his feet as well.

Tadashi was even more tired, struggling to keep his eyes open by the end of it.

Tadashi somehow ended up with one eye closed to accommodate his need for sleep during the walk back to the dormitory, yawning the entire time.

He made a beeline for and then slammed open the door to their room, breathing in the scent of bandages and their hair soap that mixed in the air. He practically salivated looking at the bed, and he didn't wait for Dazai or even bother closing the door before he jumped on it.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say he passed out as soon as he his head hit the bed.

Tadashi woke up from a nightmare, as usual, a couple hours later. He was sweaty and gulping air greedily, but the vivid picture of a dying woman's face as she pleaded for mercy wasn't enough to get him to throw up anymore. He had grown accustomed to nightmares like that to the point he wasn't sick.

He looked to his right and saw Dazai was sitting up beside him, keeping watch.

Then, Tadashi noticed a blanket was over him. His heart did a funny thing that wasn't actually funny and was verging terrifying when he saw the material, but he ignored his heart.

He didn't comment on it, gave his arms a weak stretch and slowly sat up, blinking a few times at Dazai, who was going on and on about responsibility and picking up slack.

They swapped roles without any issue, Tadashi keeping watch and Dazai sleeping without mentioning the blanket that had appeared over him while Tadashi was sleeping.

By the time the sun rose two hours later, he was falling asleep again.

Dazai made a comment about how he was going to start slapping him awake if he had to, and Tadashi was counting on it.

He genuinely had no idea how or why he was so tired; he slept over fifteen hours, and he was still exhausted.

It sent shivers down his spine, along with an odd feeling. His body felt light, yet heavy at the same time.

When he asked Dazai what his thoughts were on the matter, Dazai had just said Tadashi was turning into the real sleeping beauty, then started talking about how he gonna start sleeping twenty-four hours a day.

God, Tadashi hated how it seemed probable at the rate he was going.

He fell asleep through every lesson at least once and had teachers come and gently wake him up, and once Dazai successfully gaslit Mic into thinking he was suicidal to get him to let them sit together, he had Dazai pinching his leg every time his head dropped.

Which was a lot.

It was nearly terrifying, realising something was seriously wrong with him. The entire day, Tadashi had a chill and felt like he was being watched. He couldn't shake the feeling; something was off and something was going to happen to him.

Kirishima had been the next one to be picked up, which meant he would be starting on a Friday and leading their prac lesson on Monday after the weekend.

Aizawa admired his students for how quickly they had come up with a team-bonding situation solution to their teacher's no longer helping them.

Aizawa had heard that Vlad's students took two days to decide what to do since they were prone to arguments. In the end, their solution was to just let everyone do their own thing, which would be fine for one lesson or two, but without someone to guide them, there would be no improvement from class 1-B for the next month.

Aizawa was no petty man, but he did mention his own student's brilliant ideas more than once when he saw that Vlad King was within hearing range.

He did not mention Kaminari getting bruised ribs, which he was still nursing and sitting out for. Recovery Girl could only do so much.

Nor did he ever mention how Midoriya and Dazai didn't care one bit and would just fight each other the entire time, but no one else needed to know that. No one but whoever was supervising the lesson with him, who just so happened to be Ectoplasm that day.

He did, however, mention their co-operation with each other, the leading, the following, the technique building, and the stealth 'training' (which was pretty much Midoriya and Dazai having fun scaring the rest of his students and calling them weak).

Kirishima was busy attempting to get everyone to admit one thing they needed working on so that he could push them beyond their limits and go plus ultra. Aizawa wouldn't have dreamed of the boy picking anything else to teach his peers.

About halfway through the lesson, however, there was a slight interruption.

The doors to the gymnasium slowly creaked open, and Akiri from class 2-A walked in. Her snout lifted in the air as she used her dog quirk to smell how many people were occupying the space. Akiri had been one of the students Aizawa expelled and reinstated into UA the year before.

"Sorry, Sensei," and she had a habit of calling Aizawa just 'Sensei' rather than his name. "I was told to check if there was any room available for my class! I'll get going now!" she waved goodbye.

Aizawa made a shoo gesture with his hands, and she laughed as she left. 

Beside him, Ectoplasm had shot to his feet faster than Aizawa had seen him move without using his clones in a while.

Aizawa froze as he followed the man's eyesight looked over at his class.

Midoriya and Dazai were frozen, looking utterly terrified. They were standing at the back of the group, out of sight from anyone who didn't know to look.

Dazai’s eye was flickering everywhere, looking for somewhere to run, and Midoriya was staring at the door with his eyes so wide it looked like it hurt. They were both trembling.

The only people who had seemed to notice were Ashido, Kirishima (who told everyone to keep going with their drills), Ectoplasm, Koda, and Aizawa himself.

Shit, Aizawa thought. Akiri had a dog-mutation heteromorph quirk; she had fur and a snout, and she sometimes barked at the end of her sentence. She was everything those two boys were scared of. Fuck, how could he have forgotten?

He was in close enough range to hear Dazai muttering to himself. "It's fine, it's fine, it's fine," he sounded like a record being put on replay. A record that was broken and shattered. "It's fine, it's fine, everything is good, no punishments, it's fine."

Aizawa swallowed bile. He was halfway to his boys when he saw Midoriya give such a dramatic flinch he bumped into Dazai, who didn't seem to feel it. Sobs and pleads were then heard, and Aizawa felt his heart drop to his toes.

Fuck.

The next thing he knew, purple was all he could see. Some sort of lavender smoke had exploded and was in his face, blocking his sight.

Ashido had been running their way as well and while more than a few people had paused to look, Aizawa doubted many of them managed to see Midoriya and Dazai’s faces before the smoke hit. That didn't mean they couldn't hear it.

He didn’t know where it was coming from, but he could hear Midoriya’s scream-sobs moving around, likely taking Dazai with him to wherever they were going or the other way around. There was blue light flashing in one corner of his vision, which meant that Dazai's quirk had activated.

Aizawa tried to pinpoint it, his own quirk activated, but he failed.

God, how could he have been so stupid? He knew those two had PTSD, and he forgot. Ectoplasm noticed their condition before he did. He had failed them again.

The cries of pain and terror were suddenly cut off, paired with a loud slam.

The teacher still didn't know where the smoke had come from. Another break in? It was possible. None of his kids had any sort of quirk like that.

When the smoke began to fade a few minutes later, he realised his students were in fighting stances, also expecting it to be a break in.

Ectoplasm was standing outside of a door, and Aizawa approached him slowly. Was that where those two had gone into hiding? Inside of a storage room?

The two heroes nodded at each other solemnly. "They’re in here for sure. But smoke is pouring out." Ectoplasm pointed to the bottom of the door, and sure enough, in the crack of space between the bottom of the wood and the floor, purple mist was flowing out.

What was Dazai doing if not comforting Midoriya? Why wasn't No Longer Human activated?

Aizawa went in without a second thought. Something sharp pressed against his neck the moment the door closed behind him, and he realised he was in a similar position as the first time he met Dazai. "Boys, I'm not here to hurt you," he said calmly.

No Longer Human wasn't working which meant Dazai had to be purposely making no skin contact; they were relying on Erasure to stop the smoke while Dazai threatened Aizawa.

He kept his Erasure on, and eventually his eyes must have landed on someone because the smoke disappeared. Midoriya was the one he was staring at, he realised once the smoke completely faded.

He was still crying, but it was more whimpered sniffles than screaming and sobbing.

The sharp object was trembling with Dazai’s hand against his neck, which was no longer bruised but likely would be again after whatever was going on. "You're going to get out, leave us alone, and pretend this never happened."

His voice was the perfect picture of calm, but the shaking in his limbs suggested otherwise. He was putting on face.

"If anyone asks questions about Tadashi's crying or the smoke, you don't know anything," he hissed. 

Aizawa felt himself flinch at the use of Midoriya's name. He didn't think Dazai ever called him that. The boy sounded ready to commit murder, and the sharp tool against his throat suddenly felt too close.

"I just want to make sure you two are okay. No one else has to know." Except Nezu and the Commission, he thought bitterly.

Dazai makes a low sound in his throat. "You know nothing at all. You are as clueless as a bird with glass. You will give no answers."

"Get the fuck out, Eraserhead." Midoriya snapped, coughing. 

Aizawa finally blinked, and the moment his hair returned to his shoulders, he was thrown out of the room.

Ectoplasm was looking at him expectantly, and Aizawa could do nothing but shake his head. "Take the kids back to their dorms. I'll wait for them to come out."

His colleague eyed his neck for a moment, which meant it was definitely bruised, then nodded before walking away.

--

An hour later, Aizawa tried his luck with the door, worried and unable to continue waiting. There was no smoke, which meant he could only hope Midoriya had stopped with the strange mist on purpose, and he wasn't about to walk into his students doing anything unsanitary.

He found the door was locked, and he ended up kicking it down while shouting for them to stay calm.

He blinked once the door finally caved under his foot, then felt his stomach swoop violently.

The room was empty.

The air vent on the roof was swinging.

Oh, for fuck's sake. Those two would be the death of him.

Chapter Text

"Shida," Dazai said cautiously. He slowly turned on the spot, uncharacteristically pale. "Why didn't you tell me One for All isn't just super strength, idiot Veggie?"

Tadashi let out a rigid sigh, wrapping himself up in his arms. "Because I didn't know," he hissed. "You think I want purple smoke pouring out of me like I'm some kind of colourful cigar? No!" He squeezed himself tighter, trying to replace the unknown suffocating feeling he had with something he was familiar with.

He hadn't known what was happening in the moment and he still didn't! 

Why the hell would he know anything about gas pouring out of him? God, he felt so violated.

He felt intruded on, like someone was invading his mind. He shuddered, "If this was supposed to happen, don't you think Mori would have mentioned it at least once to you? You're his right-hand man, Dazai!" he snapped.

Dazai's brown eye narrowed at him. "Yes, well, I also wasn't aware there was a secret society a few hours away from home where people dress like clowns and parade around with self-importance because they have abilities." he said quietly. But it wasn't soft. "Turns out Mori doesn't trust me with much information, Shida."

Tadashi didn't let it show, but a bit of hurt shot through his chest. "You don't believe me. You think— oh, Dazai." he breathed, suddenly out of breath for a whole nother reason. "You think I would hide this from you?"

"Wouldn't you? Don't want the Demon Prodigy in on your secrets, huh? He might use it against you." Dazai had that dark look in his eye. The one Tadashi despised more than anything.

Tadashi shook his head, clenching his jaw and resisting the urge to punch Dazai in the face. "You idiot. You know more about me than I know about myself." he snapped. "I just had some unknown substance claw its way out of my body. I'm cold, and I want to talk about it with you. In private, if that's alright, your highness."

He felt like there was something floating through his bones. It was cold, it was off putting. It wasn't like blood; the feeling was light, and it made his limbs feel slightly lighter as well. He felt kinda high, but in a bad way. It didn't feel right.

"No," Dazai glanced around. The sun was dipping and an orange hue covered him, making his deep brown eyes stand out. "No one is near us. They're all in their dorms, curfew is in half an hour and the kids here are sticklers to rules." He turned his gaze to Tadashi again. "Talk." he demanded.

He would never let it show on his face, but Tadashi knew he was feeling at least a little betrayed. 

That hurt. It hurt more than it should have. More than the fact Dazai of all people didn't believe him.

Tadashi knew what it looked like, but he truly didn't know anything about what had just happened. He shivered. "You want us to discuss this out in the open? With so many cameras nearby?" he questioned quietly, refusing to choke on his words.

If Dazai was so desperate to know what happened that he would take such a risk, then he seriously didn't believe a word Tadashi was saying.

"Well, I don't see the problem, Shida. If you don't know what just happened, then talking in front of cameras shouldn't do anything." Dazai's eye narrowed. "Unless you have a secret to share? Hmm?"

Tadashi gave a shallow huff. He knew where this was going.

If he insisted on going into their private room, then he would look suspicious. If he had nothing to hide, which he didn't, then he wouldn't care of the cameras because there would be nothing to say that made him look guilty.

"Dazai, how am I supposed to prove it?" he asked. Was there a way to do so?

"Shida, I don't think you understand my point of view." Dazai took a step forward, looking every bit the Demon his title suggested.

He looked cruel.

He looked like he was ready to pull out unorthodox methods, like a port mafia member would. Like the pro-torturer who'd yet to not receive an answer to his questions would. 

He really was feeling betrayed, then. He wouldn't be playing his status card if he weren't.

"You know everything there is to know about quirks. You knew about heteromorphs before we even did research on this place when you're supposedly just as knew to this hero society as I am. You know what effect No Longer Human would have on Mina down to what would remain of her unique features. How did you know that her pink hair wouldn't turn a natural colour and her horns wouldn't disappear?"

He looked Tadashi up and down. "You also, clearly, possess more than one ability."

When he put it like that, Tadashi couldn't find it in him to blame Dazai for what he was doing. He looked guilty, but he didn't have a way to prove he wasn't. How does one prove they didn't do something when everyone saw them do it?!

"Dazai," Tadashi groaned. "I don't know what to tell you. What the hell happened to the whole theory of me being kidnapped from here? I thought we agreed that's what—"

"That doesn't explain the mist ability, Shida!" snapped Dazai, scowling. 

"Well, I don't fucking know what happened, either! How would you feel if I started accusing you of lying to you throughout our entire partnership about No Longer Human? It would make you feel pretty shit, wouldn't it?!"

"Aha, I see what you're doing. You're pinning the blame on me, are you? Trying to make me feel guilty? Except, stupid Shida, I wouldn't have a reason to lie about No Longer Human because actually I trust you!"

Tadashi didn't let the relief at the present tense wording get to him. "I understand you're confused, Dazai, but I am too. For god's sake, I just had mist shoot out of my body! I feel like a shitty version bath bomb! Except, instead of exploding underwater, I exploded from- from my fear." he winced at the stumble over his words.

He also felt like he was stuck in a freezer, shivering despite the warm air flowing past him. They still had another couple weeks or so until winter, he had no idea why he was so cold.

The talk of emotions seemed to snap Dazai out of whatever shitty trance he had been in. "So, One for All makes purple mist shoot out of you when you're about to piss your pants."

"I don't know." It was the complete, utter truth. "You've seen me scared countless times, Dazai. It's never happened before."

"Where does it come from?"

"I- I dunno. It just exploded out of me. It felt like every pore was being stretched to make room for it, you know?" Of course he doesn't, Tadashi thought bitterly. He was utterly alone in the experience. "It was really cold. Like a breeze passing through everywhere." He shivered, still feeling said coldness.

This time, thank fucking god, Dazai seemed to believe Tadashi. "Then lucky us, for I have a brain and not vegetables up here," he knocked Tadashi upside the head aggressively. "And used it to tell Eraserhead to keep quiet."

Tadashi gave him a small smile. "We don't know if he'll stick to his words." he retorted.

Dazai rolled his eye and threw his head back in exasperation. "He will, Freckles! He's a massive suck up, remember?"

Obviously Tadashi remembered how much of a kiss ass Eraserhead was. Still, Dazai acting like an immature child again made his heart hurt a little less. They were back to normal. For the short time they were on opposite sides, it felt like he was getting a separation.

But no one can blame me, he snapped in his own head, defending against no one. I can't do this without him.

He could pretend, of course, as he was trained to by Mori. His actions would be impeccable. There would be no slips, no mistakes. 

But without Dazai on his side, underneath his carefully curated masks whenever he was cut free from his puppeteer for even a moment, he felt like the one thing he managed to sink his teeth into was ripped away from him.

Without a Dazai that actually trusted and believed him, he felt like that pathetic weakling Mori met when he was fourteen.

He felt desperate for someone to look him in the eye and nod in approval without wanting anything for it. He returned to the mindset of the Kenshiro Tadashi that had a cell and an armed guard for company for days at a time, locked in a damp, blood smelling, rat infested basement.

He felt like he returned to his life before Dazai intruded it.

And he hated that feeling.

It would never show on his face, but it happened.

Every time Dazai doubted him, the one person Tadashi would sacrifice himself for and had sacrificed himself for, turned his back to him, he was nothing more than Mori's new shiny toy. He would run on nothing but instructions like a robot ran on nothing but batteries, and that was it.

Tadashi let out a heavy sigh, curling in on himself more the longer they stayed outside. "Can we go in now? I'm turning the heater on the moment I can."

Dazai clicked his tongue, mumbling something about sweaty bandages, but turned on his heal and began to walk back to their dormitory. He walked on the left side of the pathway, leaving space for Tadashi to walk on his right side.

That was the last assurance Tadashi needed to know he really was in the clear, and the relief felt like a breath of fresh air. He ran up to Dazai without a second thought.

Tadashi sat on the bed with a hot cocoa that Uraraka had given him when she heard him complaining about being cold.

It was packed with sugar and he was sure he could taste honey in it, but he drank it anyway because he was still shivering and the warm drink sent delightful heat through his cold bones.

Dazai had been caught glaring at the cup more than once, which Tadashi thought was funny but didn't comment on it since he was too busy questioning his entire existence and cursing the stars and their stupid paths of fate in his head.

He stared at the cockroach on the wall as he spoke. "What do you think the gas was, Mr Theorist?" he questioned, teasing his partner. 

Dazai blew loud raspberries at him, his legs criss-crossed on the chair, propelling it to spin by pushing off the desk with his hands. "Shida is probably some sort of lab experiment from Musutafu that Mori wants information on, so he sent us to UA to see if anyone is willing to spill."

Tadashi turned his gaze to the spinning figure in front of him, unable to guess whether or not that was actually his theory or some bullshit he made up on the spot. "While that sounds like something Mori would do, why would he send me along? He should be worried I'll run away."

"Because he knows Shida is built with loyalty and he knows when someone's loved one is kidnapped and their memory is wiped, they'd want to try and fix that." Dazai paused his twirling for a single moment, only just long enough for the green boy to read the 'obviously, idiot' on his face.

Dazai and his stupid habit of thinking everyone is as much as a theorist as him.

Then Tadashi was distracted by his own memories, flashing by like someone pushed them to the front of his mind. He tried to snatch them before they left, but they disappeared and were replaced with another memory before he could. He only had just enough time to comprehend each flash before it went away.

So many people teared up just looking at them their first day of class. Looking at him.

In the police station, everyone froze to watch them walk past. To watch him walk past.

All of the staff and all of class 1-A and 1-B was staring at Tadashi all of the time for no particular reason. Some had expressions of regret, others had curiosity, others had sadness, and a few even looked excited. 

Monoma, calling him out for 'turning into a villain', as if he had known him before. 

All Might, acting too familiar and calling him 'my boy'. 

The interviews at the police station, questions about him and Dazai, not the port mafia. They were asked questions on how rather than why they stole, aimed, and fired guns. His and Dazai's relationship and appearances were questioned, not their loyalty, not their place in society.

Mori, collecting his blood and saying it was special and that he needed to run tests on it every week. 

"I wasn't built by Mori," was Tadashi's weak reply. "And don't give me that look—it's true." he said when Dazai paused his spinning just to stare at him knowingly. He was his own person; Mori didn't make him to be the way he was. Sure, he knew how to act certain ways because of Mori, but that was for missions, not every hour of everyday.

He was still himself. He still owned parts of himself.

Dazai continued staring at him for a few more seconds before he resumed his spinning. Tadashi resisted slumping in relief. "The plan from here is to do more research on the villains that attacked class 1-A, and to get more information on who you were before you came to Yokohama." said Dazai.

"We will continue being 'friendly', but until it's decided otherwise, not friends." he paused again just to look pointedly at the cup in Tadashi's hands. It was a rude thing to do, but his point was made clear. That didn't mean that Tadashi would turn down hot cocoa if he ever got as cold as he was ever again.

The plan was already decided, then. Tadashi didn't ever bother trying to overrule his partner's decisions when it came to missions. "We could probably just ask one of the teenagers outside our door if they know anything about either the villains or me." he suggested, humming in approval as he took another sip of the cocoa.

He was finally starting to warm up again. He didn't mind the sugar as much when the rest of the drink was helping him.

"No, they'd snitch to Mr Demon. Last thing I need is Eraserhead on our tail trying to 'help' with our mission."

"Yeah, that sounds like something he'd do. Seems the type to do things no one asked for and ask for double in return." Tadashi agreed. "He's probably making a list of all the things he's done for us so we can repay him."

Eraserhead was for some reason overly protective of them to the point they couldn't so much as breath without him wanting to know what was happening.

It was obviously a ploy to get the executives to trust him and do his bidding. Why else would a man who didn't know either of them enough to care for them the way he effortlessly did?

While perhaps he may have known Tadashi at some point in his unknown past, it didn't excuse the jelly pouches, the false compliments, the caring, the supporting, or even the favours like getting Tadashi's uniform refit.

Tadashi was glad they managed to leave through the vent system rather than walking out the storage room and having to deal with him.

Dazai sighed through his nose, stopping his spinning altogether. He was deep in his mind, likely going through with calculations even Tadashi couldn't decipher. There were times when Tadashi doubted Dazai was actually a prodigy, but there were other times when he knew prodigy was an understatement.

A couple months ago, Dazai confessed (after Tadashi's fifth time asking) that when he came up with a plan, he went through every con and pro he could possibly think of.

He even gave a list of the basic things he thought about before going any further, like who the witnesses would be and who their known connections were and what their connections could possibly lead to, stuff like that, which didn't seem 'basic' at all.

Tadashi couldn't imagine the things the brunette would be able to accomplish if he wanted to.

Batshit crazy, stupidly dangerous, genius things for sure. That was just who Dazai was. A broken boy with a brilliant, cunning mind. A mind that was far too often destroyed and rebuilt by a certain doctor.

Tadashi didn't have much of an opinion on All Might. The man was tall, sickly skinny, and spewed blood everywhere all of the time. The fact he hadn't bled to death already was no short of a miracle. 

All Might had called Tadashi and Dazai into a small break room with a seating area, a file cabinet in the corner and a kitchenette on the far wall.

Now Tadashi and his partner sat on one of the green couches, while All Might sat on the couch in front. There were three hot cups of green tea on the coffee table that none of them bothered to grab.

Tadashi inwardly sighed as he watched All Might wipe his sweat off his forehead for the fifth time instead of opening his mouth and just saying what he wanted to. Dazai, as always, remained perfectly still and patient from his left.

"Now, I'm sure you boys must be wondering why I've called you here today and interrupted your lunch time." All Might finally said, looking a little sheepish.

Tadashi couldn't care less about wasted lunch time. He wanted to know what the old man wanted and why the air was so tense and awkward. "Don't worry about it. What did you want to tell us?" He tried his best to be polite, pushing down his impatience.

All Might took a deep breath. "Well, my boy," a nickname too familiar for someone he only met a week and a half ago, "I wanted to talk to you about you blood tests results."

Oh. They were about to get the 'safe choices' talk, weren't they? 

"I didn't have any alcohol or substances," Tadashi said casually. Dazai slapped a hand over his mouth and laughed. "If it says so then it's lying." Tadashi glared at Dazai, who grinned at him.

All Might's bright yellow eyebrows furrowed, and Tadashi was confused because that meant that they weren't called to talk about alcohol. "No, son," All Might slowly said. "That's not what I called you here for." He seemed a little dazed just from Tadashi's simple words.

It wasn't that unbelievable that Tadashi would deny it just in case they did find anything.

Dazai hummed in thought for a moment, putting on his careful facade even though he had likely already come to a conclusion and was just drawing it out. "In that case, you've brought us here to discuss the quirk incident from yesterday. You've found something in Shida's blood that may have caused it."

Tadashi's eyebrows shot up a bit. Did they actually find drugs in his blood? Is that why he had freezing smoke pouring from him?

He hadn't eaten anything that day other than the stupid jelly pouches. Did Eraserhead lace his goddamn jelly with some unknown quirk drug?

All Might must have caught the implied drug problem in their uncomfortable silence because he wasted no time correcting them. "Don't worry, boys, there was no known influences that caused it. It all happened from Young Tadashi's body." He wiped more sweat off his face.

Tadashi was certain he would know if he did that on purpose, let alone be capable of it. "You said something about my blood." he impolitely prompted, remembering the cold feeling he suffered from the day before. If he could find out the cause, he could prevent that from happening again.

"Yes, my boy. You see, we found changes in your DNA. Those changes support the theory that your quirk is—well, it's evolving." All Might flailed his hands, clearly getting increasingly flustered as he tried to explain.

Dazai shot a look at Tadashi. "What kind of changes? Is he stuck with the smoke quirk?"

"We believe so, yes." All Might sent a worried look to Tadashi, which he inwardly cringed at. "Have you felt a bit strange lately? Maybe feeling excessively tired, Young Tadashi? I do believe most of your teachers have said you're falling asleep during classes."

Tadashi made a low noise of confirmation. He hadn't even been close to falling asleep in his classes just yet, which was a massive improvement from the day before. He wasn't tired at all. 

"Yes, that is one of the symptoms to the change. It's nothing to worry about."

"So I'm just stuck with two quirks now?" Tadashi questioned, unimpressed. He didn't want any more quirks, he already had a kickass one he enjoyed very much. 

All Might nodded, looking a little guilty but also extremely hopeful.

God, he felt like he had just developed One for All again.

Back then, he hated his lightning and what he thought to be his faulty ability. Now, he was reliving that feeling. He hated the cold smoke quirk and changes and everything. Why was it always him being dragged through the mud?

He wasn't going to stand for it.

"You don't look concerned about this, but I know for a fact people didn't just gain more quirks." Dazai sent Tadashi a warning look but Tadashi didn't care. He kept going. "You knew me, didn't you. In my past, before I lost my memories."

All Might's blue eyes bulged and Tadashi knew he had hit the mark. "How- who told you, my boy?"

Dazai cocked his head. "So, it's true."

All Might went pale and coughed blood. "Oh, dear." he said, likely realising he had been set up.

"You know about my quirk because we used to be close. I can tell just by the way you address and look at me." Tadashi took a cup of green tea from the coffee table, dramatically taking a sip. "You aren't concerned because there's an explanation for this, isn't there? A real reason for the smoke."

The teacher shifted uncomfortably on his couch. "I don't believe I should be discussing the past, Young Tadashi. As I said, your quirk is evolving—"

"What exactly does 'evolving' entail, sir?" Dazai questioned, cutting All Might off. "I imagine One for All 'evolving' would mean him getting stronger super strength. How did he go from above average strength to smoke?" He reached over and stole Tadashi's tea, taking a long, loud, infuriating sip before handing it back. 

All Might almost visibly flinched just from Dazai saying One for All. He paused for a few seconds and Tadashi realised he had frozen up. Like a deer in headlights.

Tadashi leaned forward, putting the cup in his hands onto the coffee table and narrowing his eyes at All Might.

Dazai leaned over and pressed his right cheek to Tadashi's upper back between his shoulder blades and drooped one of his arms over his lower back, no doubt giving All Might the same suspicious look.

"All Might, funny name by the way," Tadashi started, giving a fake polite smile. "Whether or not you tell me isn't a problem. I have resources. I can find ways to find out who I was and what is happening. Perhaps Monoma from class 1-B would be willing to talk judging by how keen he was to remind me how much I've changed."

He just wanted to know what he changed from. He knew what he was now.

Tadashi could feel through his uniform that Dazai was slowly beginning to use his off-putting smirk. "We've been reading up on some articles, All Might. Class 1-A is famous for being continuously attacked by villains." All Might looked ready to collapse. Dazai laughed. "We could find out who Shida used to be in minutes. One search on the internet is all we need."

Tadashi knew from his clipped tone that Dazai wasn't just trying to guilt trip or gaslight All Might into telling them an answer. He was being serious.

Dazai's arm stretched further across his back and his hand tapped Tadashi's side a couple times in a way that would have looked playful from an outsider's perspective. The action told Tadashi that that was exactly what they would be doing later.

They were going to find out who he used to be before the Port Mafia. It didn't matter if All Might wouldn't tell him who he used to be; he was just a time saver. Not vital.

All Might abandoned his handkerchief altogether, throwing his head into his hands and sighing. "I believe I underestimated you boys. You're certainly more than I expected."

Tadashi had heard far more offensive and derogatory words before. He didn't care if some old man thought they were immature and incapable of putting together obvious clues. 

"Not to worry, sir! You aren't the first and you won't be the last." Dazai cheered, having changed his tone back to carelessness.

Kenshiro gave a shrug when he saw the man looking at him with analysing eyes. He looked pitiable. "You clearly have no idea how many people have almost called me an entirely different name. I can tell my name started with 'Mido' just from what people have accidently said."

He was also starting on the theory that him and Bakugo had some sort of past just from the strange nickname Bakugo used. He couldn't tell if 'Deku' was an insult or not, but Bakugo certainly struggled between using it like a curse word and using it as an angry term of endearment during classes.

All Might seemed to finally find a backbone. He sat up straight and put on a serious expression. "You boys are clever, indeed. As much as I would love to talk about this topic, goodness, I dream the day I'm able to, I don't think I should just hand the answers over."

Dazai shoved his face fully into Tadashi's blazer and groaned, his hot breath sending Tadashi into a shiver. "C'mon! No one will know if you slip up one more time." Dazai, ever the lazy asshole, did not want to do the research. He wanted All Might to tell them what they wanted.

All Might, however, was sticking to his word. "I'm sorry, Young Dazai and Young Tadashi. What I'm hoping for is that Young Tadashi will come to remember his past on his own terms."

Tadashi frowned. "These are my own terms." he retorted, feeling defensive.

The man gave him a sad smile. "You know what I mean, my boy. I want you to remember naturally, not through an old man's word."

Well, at least he was owning up to his age. Tadashi hadn't thought him capable. Speaking of capability, Tadashi knew for a fact he would not be able to recover his past on his own. He doubted he ever would. 

He told Dazai ages ago that he gave up, and that Mori had won. His mind shoved down his memories of the past. Buried them so deep in his mind he wasn't sure where they were anymore, or if they were even still available to be excavated. 

Tadashi remembered the painful feeling he got in his chest thinking back to even one thing about his past before he met Mori. He had tried so hard not to let the boss win. He clung to his past life even when his hands went purple around the rope.

But eventually, it hurt too much. So he let go, and ever since then, he only got small things about his past that he remembered. 

The day they were brought to Musutafu, Tadashi had been so sure he once knew someone with a gravity related quirk in his past. That had been the first memory he got in nearly a month.

If he thought about it, it was plausible that Uraraka was the person he almost remembered. She seemed really sad whenever he was around. So did everyone else, but she in particular looked like she was struggling with a different kind of pain.

"This conversation may as well have been useless, then." Tadashi said. "You know something about what's happening to my body, but you won't tell me. So, we'll take our leave now."

Dazai stopped drooping over his back, and he moved to stand but was stopped. "Wait, my boy." All Might called, looking guilty. "I want you to know about your quirk. And what to expect in the future."

Tadashi felt his face pale. "What do you mean in the future? Is my quirk not finished 'evolving'?" he questioned, trying his hardest not to let his panic show. 

All Might didn't seem to notice, but as always, Dazai did. He slowly linked his arm with Tadashi's, squeezing it tightly so that Tadashi was grounded enough not to slip into an anxiety attack.

The teacher pulled out a notebook from his left pocket and moved across the room for a pen. Once he had it, he scribbled down a few notes on the paper for a long moment. He ripped the page off and handed it to Tadashi, who folded it and shoved it into his pocket.

"Is that all?" Tadashi asked.

All Might looked sad as he nodded. Dazai whooped and dragged him out of the room the next second, taking him to the cafeteria where they were likely to get pestered into eating at least one thing each by Iida and Todoroki.

Toshinori sighed as he sunk onto the couch, his eyes going out of focus as he replayed what had happened in his head. Tadashi looked so terrified at the suggestion of something else happening to him, but it was gone the next second.

Toshinori was aware that Tadashi now had the ability to fake his emotions, but he had no idea how well the young man masked his own. 

For some reason, Toshinori made the mistake of underestimating Tadashi because he was fifteen again and never seemed to care or notice anything important. The man underestimated his and Dazai's abilities to find out what was going on. 

The worst part was that they were correct. All they needed to do was search up any article of UA to find out about the kidnapping incident since it gained more attention than Young Bakugo's kidnapping.

How could any of them have assumed Young Tadashi wouldn't find out? It seemed that without his memories, he was far more cunning and under the radar than they thought. Those two boys had clearly been thinking long and hard about everything that had happened around them for the past week and a half.

Luckily, Toshinori decided to inform Aizawa about One for All and the changes in DNA that they were worried about. Even if it started off a bit rocky.

"You gave a child desperate for a chance of being a hero a quirk that could have blown his limbs off?" Aizawa demanded. "You don't see the problem with that?"

Toshinori winced. He knew how bad it sounded. "I know it may seem irrational, or crazy—,"

"Damn right it's irrational and crazy! What were you thinking, putting such a thing in a fifteen year old's body?!" Aizawa shouted, his knuckles white around his cup of piping hot tea. "It's no wonder he kept breaking every bone, he had only gotten it a few days beforehand!"

"Well, he got One for All a few hours before the entrance exam—,"

"Toshinori Yagi you better hope I don't strangle you in your sleep." Aizawa barked, his eyes forming a red hue.

Toshinori sat back, sucking in a deep breath. "Right," he mumbled. "Aizawa, I don't think you understand—,"

"I don't understand you put a child in a phenomenal amount of danger?"

"—the quirk was born many generations back and has to be passed down—,"

"So pass it down to someone else! An older stu—,"

"One for All would have gone to Mirio Togata, but I chose Izuku Midoriya instead because he was the very essence of a hero!" Toshinori raised his voice, clenching his hands in his pant legs. "He ran into the villain's fight without thinking about it, and I knew it had to be him."

Aizawa slammed his cup onto the table, the liquid spilling over the thin edges of the glass. "I don't give a damn. All Might, you are a grown man capable of seeing the dangers of something like that. What did you say? It's a quirk the number one villain in the goddamn country is after? And you gave it to a middle schooler."

Toshinori sighed and rubbed a hand over his slack face. "Aizawa, Tadashi is a lot more resilient than you think. He knew what he was getting into—,"

Aizawa cut him off again. "Did he? Did he know that a man capable of stealing people's quirks and using them was going to target him for the rest of his time with the quirk?"

The silence that ensued was heavy and telling.

"You're a bastard," Aizawa said. "Taking advantage of a heartbroken child like that."

Toshinori felt his heart crumble, but he did not faulter. He knew he made the right choice, Young Midoriya was braver and fiercer than anyone he had ever known. Mirio was a good lad, but he could not live to the standards. "You can insult me all you want, but I did call you here to inform you of important things."

Aizawa raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "So the whole 'I gave my quirk, the thing a two hundred year old quirk stealing maniac is after, to a fifteen year old boy because he put himself in danger while I stayed back and nearly let his friend suffocate' wasn't the important thing?"

Toshinori grimaced and he knew that he would be copping Aizawa's wrath for the next two to three years over this. "Not the only important thing. I believe One for All is the cause for the smoke you said you saw coming from Tadashi."

That seemed to snap the hero out of his rage. "You know what that was?"

"We believe it's being caused by the past wielders of One for All." Toshinori thought of how to proceed and put his findings into words. "You see, my master's predecessor had a quirk exactly like the one you described. He was a user of One for all for a few years before he died prematurely."

He was captured by All for One, was what he was implying. 

Aizawa's eyes widened and he leaned forward. "You think Tadashi is using the past users of One for All's quirks?"

Toshinori nodded. "I did as much research as I could based on what I remembered from my master's stories about the generations of usage of One for All the moment you told me." He hesitated, not sure how much he was allowed to say.

"Spit it out. What's happening to my student?" Aizawa demanded, his jaw ticking.

"He merged with One for All, which means that he's experiencing unpredictable things. Even his DNA changed. Chiyo suspects that if we did a relations test on the DNA of Tadashi and Midoriya, it would say distantly related. It's evolving, fitting into its role as his true quirk."

Aizawa slumped, his mouth slightly opened. "Holy shit. Is this because of Turn Back? Did that villain do this?"

Toshinori hummed in confirmation. "We have a theory that because One for All was floating around in his body at the time, when he regressed, Turn Back sucked the quirk into his body permanently. We don't have any ways to confirm this since no one else has ever experienced this, but it's the only explanation we have."

"So you know who the last user of the 'smoke' quirk was?" Aizawa questioned. "You'll have to tell Tadashi this, you realise? He must be terrified at the moment, thinking something is wrong with him."

Toshinori grimaced. He wasn't sure how he was going to explain to Young Tadashi what was happening to him without revealing his past, but he would figure it out somehow. There was no way he was going to let the boy think he was a freak over something magnificent.

"En Tayutai was his name. He was a hero and went by the name 'Smoke Eater' during his occupation." Toshinori informed Aizawa, who nodded. Toshinori was sure that Aizawa was going to look him up on the internet the moment they parted.

Aizawa then paused, going frigid and frowning at him. "Will Tadashi be getting the other users' quirks?" he questioned.

Toshinori wasn't too sure himself. "I would say it's likely. You told me multiple of his teachers came to you concerned over how often he fell asleep in their classes. They thought it was borderline unhealthy. If I had to guess, I would say he was already starting to form some type of quirk similar to a past user's. But when he came into contact with something he was scared of, he wanted to hide. So, he did."

"You think he could have developed any of the past users' quirks and the only reason he developed Tayutai's is because he wanted to hide?"

"Yes. I think from now on, we should look out for similar symptoms. If he starts getting overly tired again, be prepared for the worst. I would also advise you to keep a closer eye on the rest of your students. Young Tadashi is likely overwhelmed after being vulnerable like that."

Aizawa gave him a displeased look. "Thank you for your concern, All Might, but my students are smart enough to know where the line is drawn, even if they get too close to it. Not a single one of them has brought the incident up near Tadashi or Dazai all weekend. I'm confident they'll wait until they open up."

Toshinori flushed, but pushed down his embarrassment. "No, no, that's not what I mean at all!" His hands flailed as he rushed to explain himself. "I just mean that even a few curious glances might cause a similar incident. I know how it feels to be under that pressure."

Aizawa was staring at him blankly. The silence continued for a few long moments, and it got to the point All Might was wondering if he spoke aloud or in his head. "I'll keep them on a tighter leash if that's what makes you happy." Aizawa stood up.

"Uhm, a leash?" Toshinori parroted, baffled. 

Aizawa gave him a sadistic grin. "You underestimate me and my teaching capabilities and you better start looking over your shoulder." Just before he walked out the door, Aizawa turned around. "You're a good man. Try not to mess this up."

Judging by the way both Tadashi and Dazai were relaxed for the most part of their conversation, Aizawa had kept his word and made sure that none of class 1-A made them uncomfortable in the slightest.

Toshinori was a bit worried about what they would find on the internet about Young Midoriya, though.

And the way Young Tadashi was so quick to defend himself about alcohol and drugs. Toshinori hoped that it was an innocent kind of defending and not a reflex because he had been caught with such things in his blood streams before.

Chapter Text

Tadashi and Dazai weren't able to get any research done when they returned to the dorms that night.

They showered and argued with Eraserhead over the stupid jelly and food afterward. The man had decided that they had to eat actual food with the jelly now, because apparently so much of it wasn't good enough and they needed something to digest as well.

He gave the students one half of an apple each and warned them thoroughly that next time, they would be eating a full fruit each.

Tadashi had rolled his eyes and waved him off, slamming their door in his face. He had turned around, and to his amazement, was met by the sight of Dazai halfway to falling asleep on the bed. Tadashi chuckled and moved him over to make room for himself.

The brunette mumbled complaints and threw himself on top of Tadashi, a pain in the neck even when he wasn't awake enough to be aware of it. 

Dazai had never fallen asleep so quickly in all the time that Tadashi had known him, and the green boy followed him not two seconds later.

Tadashi's eyes snapped open. He gasped, but felt no air expand his lungs. He pressed his hands to his chest, only to find that he didn't have one. Green clouds covered his body from his collarbone to his ankles. Only his neck, head, hands and feet were spared.

"What the hell?" he mumbled, pushing his hands through the mist. He felt a little nauseous from it. Who knew having clouds for a body would feel so strange? Except it wasn't clouds, it was more like dense smoke. If it were clouds, his hands would come away wet after touching it. But they didn't.

All around him was a mass of stars. Tadashi glared at them. He didn't like the stars at that moment; they screwed him over once again by forcing him onto his path of fucked up fate. He threw his middle finger up at them just to be petty.

He looked down at his feet again and realised he wasn't standing on anything. His mind instantly froze by the realisation.

He was floating, but he didn't feel like it. He felt like he was standing on solid ground. He took a step forward and found that it was the same as walking on concrete. 

It was tripping him out.

Was he high? Cross faded? What the hell was going on, and where was his body? He hoped he was dreaming and wasn't just fucked up over drugs Dazai snuck into his jelly or something, likely naked in the real world.

Not, that that had ever happened to him before. Never.

"Shida?"

Tadashi's head snapped to his right. Dazai was standing (floating?) next to him, equally as covered in smoke. Oh, man. He was definitely high. "Dazai, what did you do?"

Dazai glared at him. "I haven't done anything, Veggie-for-brains."

A green eyebrow rose. "Then why am I in outer space with no upper or lower body?" questioned Tadashi. "You didn't slip anything in my jelly, did you?" he asked, perfectly aware of the serious crime he was accusing Dazai of.

Dazai rolled his eyes (because he didn't have his face bandages on for some reason), "That happened one time and it was your fault. Maybe don't drink every glass of water you see, stupid Shida."

"I didn't. You offered me it and only told me it was laced after I took a sip."

"Same thing." Dazai's brown eyes scanned the area, and Tadashi realised he was seeing the exact same thing as him. 

Tadashi wrinkled his face, "You have some serious issues. There were like ten things wrong with everything you just said."

"Show me a teenager in a mafia organisation that isn't a junkie and/or alcoholic and I'll admit pigs can fly." Dazai said flatly.

Tadashi ignored that comment and took a careful step forward, still wary of the non-ground under his feet, "You're telling me I'm not drugged with something? That I'm actually seeing this right now?" He threw his non-arms out and gestured to the mass of emptiness and stars around him.

A huff of amusement came from Tadashi's left, and they both whipped their heads in the direction. "I wouldn't say you're seeing this right now, more like thinking it in your sleep." A man with a maroon coat stepped forward. His collar covered half his face, and his jet-black hair laid flat on his forehead.

"Who the hell are you?" Tadashi demanded, wishing he had a gun on him. He tried to summon One for All, but it wasn't working.

When Dazai shot him a glance, Tadashi shook his head. No matter how much he tried, it was like he didn't even have a quirk. 

The unnamed man stepped forward until he was face to face with Tadashi. They were about the same height. "I'm a bit late; I was supposed to do this in Friday evening, but I decided to let you enjoy your weekend. So, here I am on a Monday, coming to ruin your day.

"My name is En Tayutai. But just call me En." Neither of the younger boys offered introductions, which En seemed to find amusing. "You have some serious trust issues, Nine."

Tadashi frowned, realising he was referring to him. "Nine?" he questioned, looking at Dazai, who had his gaze locked on him. Dazai's expression said that he didn't understand, either.

"Ah, yes, that's what we call you. Except for Nana, but she's too sweet to call anyone anything but their name." En said. He closed his eyes and scratched the back of his head in a frustrated gesture. "Man, why am I up first?" he glared at Tadashi, who glared back. "Why'd you have to unlock Smokescreen?"

Dazai's eyes widened a fraction, but he otherwise showed no signs of understanding. "Is that the purple gas that Shida produced earlier?"

En nodded, looking at Dazai with calculating eyes. "Yeah, it was my quirk." He crossed his arms and his eyebrows dipped. "I don't know what you're doing here, Dazai. Very confusing, that."

Tadashi immediately stepped in front of Dazai, scowling at En. "Who are you? How do you know who he is?"

En reached out and Tadashi moved out of the way before he could touch him. "From up here," he moved his hand and tapped above Tadashi's ear with excessive force. "He's in your memories. In your mind. Almost every thought you have finds some way to include him."

Tadashi felt his face flush and pale at the same time. "What are you talking about? What are you?"

Dazai turned his gaze to Tadashi for a few moments, then turned to En and silently asked the same questions.

"I'm talking about how obsessed you are with him." En's voice suddenly raised in pitch. "Dazai will probably get me to do this later, if Dazai knew I was doing this, he'd start a fight." he mocked. "Things like that. All the time."

Dazai gave his fake chuckle, narrowing his eyes at the man. "And do pray tell, how do you know Shida's thoughts, En?" His tone was sweet, but his gaze was not.

Tadashi was wondering the same thing. "You my conscience or something? Are we in my mind?"

"No, and yes." En answered, stepping back and throwing his arms out. "I would find a way to kill myself if I were your conscience, but this is inside your mind. Which is why we're all very confused as to why," he cocked his head at Dazai, "he's here right now."

"Who's we?" demanded Tadashi, his mind whirling. "What do you mean we're in my mind?" he glanced at Dazai, knowing his questioning expression would be understood by him. Are we sharing a dream?

Dazai huffed through his nose. "How am I supposed to know, stupid Shida? This is apparently your mind."

En clicked his tongue, "We're running out of time. I just wanted Nine to know not to worry about the mysterious quirk. It's called Smokescreen, and it used to be my quirk." He closed his eyes again, looking bored. "I live in your head. I have to option to hear most of your thoughts, and I can see what you see."

Kenshiro called bullshit on every part of that. "I'm a hundred percent high right now." He looked at Dazai. "You are too. There's no way this is happening."

"Normally I would agree, Freckles, but that wouldn't explain why we're seeing and hearing the same man in real time." Dazai replied, groaning. "This is ridiculous. We're sharing a dream, for god's sake."

En had the nerve to laugh. "You're currently in a dream-like state, yes, but not strictly in a dream. We're in your mind, Nine, inside One for All."

Tadashi frowned. "How can we be in my mind and my quirk at the same time?"

"Because they are one in the same." En held up seven fingers and a half. "There are seven others, including me, and part of a person currently residing in One for All. What All Might meant by One for All evolving is that you're developing our quirks."

"And you see everything I do and think? All the time?" Tadashi shivered. Just thinking about it made him antsy.

En shook his head. "Only what you subconsciously let us see. For example, we don't see you dressing, undressing and relieving yourself. You put up strong walls to stop us from seeing that."

"Oh, great, you don't see me pissing but you see everything else? Including my thoughts on it?" Tadashi questioned, furious. What a goddamn invasion of privacy. 

En glared at him. "No, Nine. Just what you let us see. Your thought threads are included in that, and we can choose whether we want to hear it or not. Which we stopped doing ages ago because it gets very repetitive, and Nana threatened to flay us every time for invading your privacy."

Nana seemed like a cool person.

Dazai moved in a flash, ripping down the collar and wrapping his hands around En's throat. "I'll strangle you." he threatened. "You leave Shida the hell alone. You're a parasite disguised as a man, nothing more and nothing less."

En down up at him. "I'm aware that we're parasites to Nine's mind, but we can't leave. We only disappear when you touch him, thanks to your handy ability." He spat, and it landed on Dazai's cheek. Tadashi watched with laser point intensity. "You put a curtain over our vision; stop us from seeing."

"When he cancels out One for All, he cancels out you and your people." Tadashi said, suddenly more grateful for Dazai's ability than he ever had been. "You can't see what I see or hear what I think. He blocks you out."

En nods shakily, unable to move due to Dazai's grip. "That's right. The void goes quiet when he touches you, Nine."

The void. That must have been what they were calling the space-like area they were in. It seemed fitting. 

"Why are you only revealing yourself now?" Tadashi questioned, moving next to Dazai and placing his head on his shoulder.

En's nose flared. "Because until recently, we haven't had enough of a conscience to talk to you. We were just floating around in your mind, watching you and your partner go from murdering to stealing candy from kids."

Dazai gave a dark laugh. "Then you know we're capable of handling you if needed." His hands tightened, and En coughed but didn't seem to be out of air. Did he even need air if he was a parasite feeding off of One for All?

"You used to be a person. You had a body, and a quirk." Tadashi stated, looking the man up and down. 

"That's right," En snorted. "Now I'm stuck in some teenage boy's mind who somehow got my quirk before anyone else's."

"How?" Dazai dropped En, moving to wipe the saliva off his cheek. "How did you end up in Shida's mind? What other quirks are there?"

"Can't tell you that yet. We're just about out of time. Nine, if you want answers, you'll have to do as much research as you can on who you used to be and the names All Might gave you. Remember what One for All is, and everything will make sense." En stood up and brushed himself off.

They were going to do that, but they fell asleep before they could.

"Look out for changes. There's bound to be some. Bye, bye now. I hope I don't meet either of you face to face again for a while." He turned his gaze to Dazai. "Especially you."

Tadashi flipped him off for Dazai, who continued to scowl at En.

Tadashi gasped, sitting up and coughing. His clothes were damp with sweat and clinging to his skin. He felt nauseous, gulping in air greedily to try and settle his stomach. His rapid heart made him wonder if he was having a panic attack, but a few seconds later he was settled and all that was left was his flustered mess.

Dazai, who had fallen asleep half on top of him, now dug his face into his stomach, his arms looped around his torso. His fingers dug into Tadashi's lower back. 

Tadashi slowly reached out, pressing a hand on Dazai's back. It was moving up and down in quick, snapping movements. He was just as out of breath as Tadashi had been, and the grip he had on Tadashi's back told him that his partner was just as nauseous, as well.

Tadashi awkwardly lifted his hand and brought it back down a few times, giving what he hoped were comforting pats. He was exactly sure what to do to help with dizziness and an upset stomach.

He wasn't sure about much these days.

"Did I just imagine all of that?" he questioned. Going insane wasn't ever out of reach for him. But meeting some mind parasite who's quirk he stole was a whole nother level of crazy. He still wasn't exactly certain anything that happened wasn't a dream.

Dazai's annoyed huff bled through Tadashi's sweaty shirt, the warmth hitting his stomach. "No, idiot Shida. We both just met some maniac in the outer space of your mind with heads and hands but not bodies." It sounded sarcastic, but it wasn't. 

Tadashi's next pat was a tad aggressive. "I don't think the mass murderer gets to judge En. He didn't seem like he was in my mind by choice." If anything, he seemed rather pissed off about it. Tadashi felt the way Dazai's grip on his back tightened. "If you throw up on me, I'll kill you."

Dazai gave a breathy chuckle, then showed his regret by sucking in more air. He seemed to be feeling the effects a lot longer than Tadashi had. 

"The paper," the brunette bit out. "Where's the paper?"

Tadashi glanced over in the direction of the desk. "It's on the chair. I threw it there after getting mad at Eraserhead." The man had given him a headache with his insistence on them eating a half of an apple each.

They stayed like that for a few minutes while Dazai caught his breath and Tadashi got a hold of his thoughts. 

En said that Tadashi had unlocked Smokescreen, which meant that it was always available and he only just got a hold of it. The aching tiredness he had felt for the past week or so had been his body prepping for the change. Or at least, that was what All Might was suggesting.

All Might, who seemed to know all about One for All's mysterious properties. Tadashi wasn't sure why that old man knew more about his quirk than he did, but he would figure it out eventually whether he was told or if he found out himself.

Both the teacher and En had mentioned his memories. They both seemed sure that if he remembered One for All, he would understand what was going on. However, the issue was that he wasn't sure he was ever going to get his memories back.

It wasn't like they were stolen or hidden away from him, they just weren't there. Like an empty space in an otherwise full parking lot. He remembered everything Mori taught him, his men in the Mafia, and every memory he had with Dazai was safe and sound.

Everything else was a bit rocky. A clue here and there wasn't enough.

Mori arguing with him over his past, insisting what he believed was a lie. He remembered that, but not what he was trying to convince Mori of. Gaps in his mind that would likely remain there for the rest of his life, unless he pulled his shit together.

It was going to be hard, but as long as he had Dazai with him to annoy him and pick up on anything he didn't, it would be fine. 

Tadashi hoped.

Eventually, Dazai's breathing smoothed out enough that Tadashi didn't think twice before shoving him off, aware there were probably finger shaped bruises on his back. They strip their sweaty bandages and put the A/C on, both equally overheated.

"Am I using Smokescreen casually now?" Tadashi wondered, looking at the names on the piece of paper All Might had given him. He tried his damnedest to ignore the lines on his arms, the reminders of his past punishments with Mori.

When he first checked the paper out, he did a quick glance of it. It wasn't long enough of a look for him to memorise the names and so he hadn't recognised him, but looking at it after the 'dream' had him seeing the name En Tayutai with frustration. He told them so much, yet so little.

Dazai plopped his head on his shoulder, standing behind him. His chin was warm. It was felt through the thin fabric of Tadashi's shirt. "Do whatever you want. I'll very much enjoy watching you try to explain to the class why you're suddenly able to squirt purple shit everywhere."

Tadashi groaned, his entire face scrunching. "Don't say it like that you weirdo—," he turned around to smack Dazai upside the head, but Dazai grinned and caught his hand. 

The skin-to-skin contact sent a ripple through Tadashi's body, and he recoiled as if he had been burned. 

Dazai's eyes darkened and he snapped his hand forward again, latching onto Tadashi's like his death depended on it. His hands were almost shaking as he held on tighter.

The same strange ripple shot through Tadashi's body, and he could tell by the way Dazai stared at their hands that he felt it too. 

The effect didn't leave. It didn't change. It was a strangely welcoming feeling. Goosebumps formed on Tadashi's skin. It was the same warmth he usually got from Dazai's touch, but more intense. More satisfactory. 

He felt like he was taking a sip of hot cocoa, feeling the warm drink heat his cool body.

"Look out for changes. There's bound to be some."

"Is this the change En mentioned? Our body temperature rising?" Tadashi mumbled. His wording didn't fit quite right. It was the change they were feeling, but it also wasn't. It was making Tadashi's head hurt.

Dazai let go of Tadashi's hand to examine his own. "Shida, have you trapped us in your dream?" he monotoned.

Tadashi rolled his eyes. "If this were a dream, your ugly cockroach wouldn't be in my line of sight right now."

Dazai threw the first punch. Tadashi shoved him to the ground. 

Someone ripped hair, the other scratched skin (since theirs was exposed for the first time in the open in a while), they both spat insults.

Warm fizziness ensued at every skin-to-skin contact made.

--

Tadashi had his hands on either side of the sink in the bathroom, glaring at the reflection he was seeing in the mirror. His hair was far whiter than it had been a few hours before. Most of his roots were now bleached as well, which gave the effect of his hair looking dyed green. 

His shirt was crumpled on the ground near the tub.

He had been correct in assuming Dazai was gripping onto his abdomen while struggling to ground himself tight enough to leave bruises.

Tadashi sighed and ran a hand through his too-white hair. He threw open the cabinets under the sink and pulled out the bruise cream Recovery Girl had given them. He tried fiercely not to notice his ribs sticking out as he moved to twist so the bruises were in reach of his bruise-cream covered fingers.

It took three tries and a headache for Tadashi to give up and throw his face into his hands in annoyance. He stood there like that for five minutes before Dazai stormed in.

His eyes immediately landed on the marks he'd left on Tadashi's back, and for a moment his cheeks looked like they had a pink hue. "Ah, ah, ah! Silly Shida needs to learn he can't do everything by himself." Dazai sung, grabbing the bruise cream off the counter.

"Dazai, if you do anything other than apply—,"

"Oho, relax! Goodness me, where's your trust in your partner?" Dazai questioned. He put so much cream on his fingers that it dripped onto the floor. 

Tadashi stared at the globs by his feet with disdain, aware he was going to be the one to clean that up since Dazai was too much of a lazy sloth to do so himself. Because he was so focused on his future task, he failed to see Dazai winding his arm back. 

The slap he received was loud enough to echo through the tiled bathroom. It fucking echoed.

Dazai gave the area he had slapped a few rubs, then slapped the other side of Tadashi's lower back with just as much force. 

Tadashi yelped, the sting sudden and harsh. 

"There! All better!" Dazai cheered, looking like a smug asshole. 

Tadashi grunted, still feeling the sting of the slaps. "Holy fuck—ugh, you couldn't have done that any nicer, Dazai?" he bit out, hanging his head low and squeezing his eyes shut tight. God, how hard had he been hit that he was still feeling it?

Dazai hummed in thought, then smacked his lips. "What would be the fun in that, stupid Shida?" he innocently asked. 

Asshole.

In the end, Tadashi was left alone in the bathroom, glaring harshly at the bright red handprints that joined the finger-shaped bruises on his back.

He had never been more certain that Dazai was not only a sadist, but also completely incapable of being gentle. He just didn't have it in him.

IZUKU MIDORIYA: ANOTHER VICTIM OF UA'S INCOMPITENCE!

Previously, UA was involved in a scandal that included the teenaged boy, Katsuki Bakugo, being kidnapped during a camping trip with his classmates from UA.

In multiple press conferences following up the kidnapping, UA swore never to let such an incident happen again. They assured the people of Japan that UA was upgrading their enforcements and defences for the safety students, and yet!

Just a few days ago, it was leaked from the Musutafu Police Department that another student has been let down by UA and kidnapped! Not only that, but it was another student of the underground hero: Eraserhead! Izuku Midoriya was stolen off the premises of UA, quite literally from under their noses!

Last time, a UA student was kidnapped by the League of Villains. But now their leader has been detained and thrown in Tartarus for good!

So, who dared to steal another sixteen-year-old boy?

The leaked information from the police revealed it to be someone from a group that disbanded in All Might, the retired hero's prime!

Kage Hori. Quirk: Turn Back. His file was recently updated, and it says that his quirk has the ability to regress the victim's age and send them to another place for a week! However, time moves by quicker in the mystery place, moving so fast that five minutes here is nearly a day there!

How long did Izuku Midoriya spend in the other world? How much did his teacher's failing cost the poor, innocent boy? Will he ever be the same? These are the questions to be asking yourself!

Tadashi stopped reading there.

He leaned back in the chair, scrubbing a calloused hand over his face. It felt too easy. It felt unreal. After so much pain and suffering, trying to cling onto his true name, he ended up letting it be ripped from his heart.

Now here he was, finding it with one simple search of 'UA High School Scandals'. 

Izuku Midoriya. For fuck's sake, his last name used to be Midori! Green! God, Dazai will never let him live it down. 

Dazai, who was currently sitting on the bed in front of him, playing chess by himself with the board book he stole from the library. Tadashi had dragged the desk chair over to the edge of the bed with the laptop so that he didn't have to raise his voice for Dazai to hear him.

"Found out who you are yet, Veggie? Hopefully, your brain isn't actually just a big void and you're too incompetent—,"

"I think I'm seventeen years old." Tadashi bit out, rereading a certain clause on the article. It said he was sixteen when he was kidnapped. The villain that kidnapped him regressed his age. He was fourteen when he met Mori. He was fifteen now. 

Jesus christ, he might have actually been seventeen years old.

But did it count if his body was never seventeen? Or his mind? It was more like he was fifteen twice over.

"Don't be ridiculous, Shida. I was there when your squeaky fourteen year old voice cracked." Dazai said, pushing his chess away to snatch the laptop from him. "You sounded like a donkey half the time for months."

Tadashi felt his face heat up as he glared at Dazai. "I'm being serious. My body and mind regressed, but I was sixteen when I met Mori." Then with a lower voice, he added, "Not that I remember it. But it's right there."

Dazai read through the article while Tadashi played with the edges of his sleeves.

They handed replaced their bandages yet, but they did change out of their damp clothes that reeked of sweat. Tadashi had chosen a long-sleeved shirt to cover up his scars, just in case he slipped into the wrong mindset while they were doing something important.

"How would time be moving faster in Yokohama than here? Be serious, Shida." Dazai clicked his tongue and shoved the laptop back onto Tadashi's lap aggressively. 

"Then what about me being sixteen?" Tadashi pointed to the photo in the corner of the screen. It was definitely him from a couple years back, in middle school he assumed, unless he had a secret twin that looked exactly like him down to the number of freckles on his face.

"Fifteen going on sixteen." Dazai answered easily, almost mockingly.

"And me attending UA?"

"Well, am I not fifteen right now and enrolled? It's not a game changer, idiot Freckles."

He certainly had his ways of making Tadashi feel stupid. "Whatever. At least we know my name."

"Yeah, even your real family name knows you're green." Dazai snickered as he dragged the chess board he pushed away back in front of him. "Midori-ya. Hah! Stupid name for a stupid veggie."

Tadashi huffed as he rolled the chair back over to the desk to grab the paper All Might had given them. It was a list of names and a short disruption of a quirk. There were only a few names, which meant All Might either didn't know about the fact there were seven people intruding his mind, or he didn't know enough about them.

Dazai flicked one of the pawns off, and it landed on the laptop keyboard. Tadashi looked up. "The League of Villains kidnapped spiky blondie. Make sure to do find whatever you can on them, too." He hummed for a moment, returning to his board game. "Maybe that's why he's got such an aggressive personality."

"Yes boss, Mr 'I can't research because I'll lose my chess skills if I don't play right this second'."

"A very reasonable argument, stupid Veggie. If I don't brush up on my mind skills, we might be in a pickle!"

The green boy reread the article while ignoring Dazai and realised that he missed it saying the League of Villains kidnapped Bakugo the first time. He must have skimmed over it since it didn't have anything to do with him.

Tadashi snickered at the group's obvious attempt of making the League of Legends into their own name. Whoever came up with it completely missed the mark. "I'm doing En first." he said, wanting to confirm if he really had once been someone.

"How suggestive of Shida!" Dazai teased.

Tadashi refused to acknowledge his face heating up. "Don't be a freak, Dazai. Don't you want to know if the man you threatened to kill is really a man and not some demon in my head pretending to be one?"

"Well now you're just being rude and putting words in my mouth." remarked Dazai, his pout showing in his tone. 

Tadashi rolled his eyes and started to do as much digging as he possibly could on En Tayutai. 

In the end, he found a few lines about him on articles featuring the heroes of the past. His hero name was Smoke Eater, and his quirk had indeed been the exact one Tadashi had exploded with three days beforehand. His hero outfit was the one they had seen him in, which was boring but better than the ridiculous ones Tadashi had seen around.

He hadn't ever been very high in the charts, but he was still reasonably favoured by the public for his nonchalant demeanour. He was quite like Todoroki, except Todoroki seemed to be lacking context clues and emotional competence rather than just being bored with everyone and everything.

All it really confirmed was that he was a person. It didn't change the fact that him being inside Tadashi's quirk, ergo inside his goddamn mind, any less of a hard pill to swallow. Just thinking about having seven people (and a bit, apparently) seeing everything he saw made him want to gag.

The other names on the list were just as boring. Hikage Shinomori had a danger sensing quirk and died of 'old age'. He had an entire article about him because apparently he mysteriously disappeared from the public eye to live in the mountains.

Daigoro Banjo, the next name on the list, told his story for the news outlet nearly five decades ago.

He said that when Shinomori reached forty, he started to age so rapidly that he handed over one of his most prized possessions to Banjo despite never really liking him (Banjo claimed he was often called a weirdo by Shinomori) before passing away.

Banjo didn't have much on him other than the fact he was close to the mysterious Shinomori and his quirk was Blackwhip (which was what All Might called it) and from what Tadashi could tell in the bad quality photos provided it was black lassos coming from Banjo's hands.

Tadashi had no idea how they had photos nearly twelve decades ago, but he assumed it had to do with quirks. It also explained why the articles he was looking at were dating back nearly a hundred and twenty years.

Clearly, quirks had been relevant for far longer than abilities. It made him wonder why technology wasn't that different from Yokohama when surely it would be much more advanced with the millions of quirks out there for hundreds of years.

Banjo had one line about him personally on the article of Shinomori, which was all Tadashi could find, and it basically said he was an outgoing guy. 

Nana Shimura was the next name on the list

Tadashi recognised her name to be the one who En referred to threatening to flay him and the rest of his mind invaders. Tadashi was pleasantly surprised to see that she had once been a very favoured hero, and unbelievably toned. Seriously, her muscles looked ready to pop.

Back when she was alive, heroes still weren't that big of a deal. Of course they had popularity for doing good, but not as much as they did now. She was described to be a kind woman who smiled more often than not. Her quirk allowed her to float, which sounded like a pain.

That was it. There were no other names on the list. 

Dazai said that they must be a few of the seven fucking dead people that were hiding in his mind, and that All Might likely had something to do with it since he was so knowledgeable on them. Tadashi found himself agreeing.

Everything was blurring together; everything he thought was impossible was suddenly becoming his reality.

The only consistent thing he had now was Dazai, and as grateful as Tadashi was for the anchor, Dazai could be a real pain in the ass. Of course, the freckled boy knew that it was a defence mechanism Dazai had built to keep people away from him, but it still got annoying.

Osamu certainly had his ups and downs. A lot of them.

Dazai sat on his chair, which he had scooted closer to Shida's, in the cafeteria in front of the group of kids they usually ate with. Dazai picked his yoghurt (the one thing he agreed to eat with his jelly after much pestering from class prez) as he listened to the conversations flowing freely around him.

He was always grateful for his ability to pretend he hadn't a clue what was going on around him while secretly storing away information.

He rested his head on Shida's bony shoulder, still a little wary of the excessive warmth he could feel even though the layers of clothing. Skin-to-skin contact was worse; it felt so hot yet so... good, welcoming, that Dazai was almost hesitant to touch Shida as often.

He hadn't felt anything like it since the last time he hugged his mother. 

It was different to the usual feeling he got from touching Shida. He wasn't just holding onto something because he could. He felt genuinely secure and cared for. Dazai had come to the conclusion that the dream they'd shared was the cause of it, but it was still so foreign.

He continued to pick at his yoghurt while listening for anything of interest and feeling the warmth of Shida's shoulder on his cheek. 

After a few minutes without a bite, Shida pinched him until he took a spoonful. Shida looked smug, Dazai stuck his tongue out at him.

Osamu could feel Uraraka's gaze on them. She looked like she was trying to figure something out. She looked bummed out, but also massively relieved. A strange combination. Then again, Uraraka had always seemed strange to Dazai. Most people did.

Still, a crush on Shida? Such a strange thing indeed.

"So," Uraraka started, her calculating gaze gone and turning to something more worried. "We were told not to ask you guys, but it's been four days and I've been thinking nonstop about it." She laced her hands together and twiddled her thumb.

Dazai grinned at her. This was going to be fun, he could tell. "Do go on, madame."

The girl flushed a little, shrinking back at the warning glances the other occupants of the table were giving her. Oh, yes, this was going to be good. Even Shida had sat up a little. "On Friday, you— well, there was the mysterious quirk and all, but..." she looked at Shida with teary eyes. "You were also screaming."

Shida slumped a little. Dazai felt the same. He hadn't exactly wanted to talk about what happened on Friday for at least a hundred years. 

"I'm fairly sure Ashido would have told everyone about my fear of dogs. That lady that came in had a snout and fur, did she not?" Shida said, his tone icy cold. Dazai felt a flush of something akin to pride for his Veggie. So grown up!

Uraraka nodded, looking guilty. "Yeah, Mina told us. And we shouldn't have let her talk about your issues with dogs, but she seemed really concerned. And—and after what I heard, I don't exactly blame her, you know?" She failed at giving a warm smile. It was small and sad.

Shida pushed away his plate of fruit that he had also been picking at like the hypocrite he was, seemingly losing his appetite (that he never had). "I have a bad past with dogs. That's all there is to it." His tone was sharp and indicated he was over the topic.

"Yes, that's right. We shouldn't pry any further." Iida sent Uraraka a look, who glanced away. She looked upset but not remorseful. "My apologies, Tadashi. We all understand your privacy."

"Right." Shida replied, his disbelief as hilarious as it was clear.

Dazai snickered and got flicked for it. He rubbed the spot on his forehead while pouting. He wondered for a moment why no one had asked or even brought up Smokescreen, but he knew it was likely Eraserhead's doing. The same man who was still delivering his stupid jelly pouches like clockwork.

Chapter Text

Tadashi had brilliantly decided that he no longer cared for who he used to be. He reverted back to his old mindset on the matter. Yeah, it was kinda refreshing to know his true name after so long, but it didn't exactly feel as comforting as someone might suspect.

Mori had sent him on a mission without telling them to the secret society he had apparently grown-up in. The place Mori ripped from his mind so he could replace it with the Port Mafia, which he did. 

Obviously if the boss knowingly sent him on a mission in a place where everyone except him knew who he was then he wanted Tadashi to find out who he was. Mori wanted to undo his work now that Tadashi's loyalty was implanted in him permanently.

However, the note he sent to the police stated nothing about Tadashi's identity. Meaning it wasn't a priority or necessary and he didn't have to do anything about it unless he wanted to. Which he didn't. He was fine with just the knowledge of his name.

It also made him a bit giddy at being permitted to go against what everyone else he was forced to listen to and not try and remember his past life. 

'Listen to the sound of their paws carefully, for they sneak past you if you aren't careful enough.'

Damn that line, forcing them into pretending to listen to the staff of UA.

But now, Tadashi had an excuse to not follow All Might's advice and he wasn't going to try and remember anything unless his forgetting interfered with their mission on taking out the group they were still looking for.

Who they believed to be the League of Villains. Tadashi did a bit of looking, and they had a teleporter who was made of purple mist, and their new 'leader' was some wrinkly weirdo with blue hair. Not to mention the speculation on them being able to take over the country.

They fit into the description that Mori provided, and the teachers of UA obviously also know of them since there had been break-ins before. Which was likely why the two executives were instructed to follow their word. They knew things they didn't; gaining their trust was vital.

However, they were both sure they had succeeded in that department thanks to Dazai's suicidal acts in the middle of class.

--

Dazai had instructed Tadashi not to use Smokescreen, but they did attempt to practice it in their bathroom in the afternoon. It would be a great asset if they ever needed to escape somewhere without being seen.

Tadashi tried to remember the cold feeling he got when the smoke poured from his cells, but he couldn't get it to work. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to make Smokescreen come to him like One for All did without going into a panic attack like the first time he used it. 

Three days came and went which made it officially one week after the gym incident, and they had no progress on the Smokescreen, but they did begin to ask Eraserhead for permission to leave the campus to go explore the area. They even eased up a bit on the glitter in his coffee to really push it.

Friday night, they both carefully avoid being pressured into eating by pretending to be asleep when Eraserhead came in to pester them about it. The stupid man took one look at them lying down next to each other, Dazai's hands frozen in Tadashi's hair like he had fallen asleep in the middle of it, and left.

However, before Tadashi could even consider boasting about their successful attempt at getting Eraserhead off their backs, he began to feel the insistent and aggressive tug of sleep.

He was falling asleep before he could turn around, and he had the feeling just before he succumbed to it that Dazai had, too.

Tadashi awoke on a concrete platform. He glanced down and saw he actually had a body, and was in the clothing he fell asleep in but not his bandages. He frowned at the scars on his arm before looking back up.

He recognised the 'void' as En had called it around the platform, and also the man himself who was sitting on a throne in front of Tadashi.

There were six others sitting on thrones around the area as well.

Tadashi also recognised Nana Shimura, who was shifting excitedly on her throne, Hikage Shiromori, and Daigoro Banjo-who both looked exactly like the photos from a century ago. Tadashi didn't recognise the rest of them, but it was likely they were also dead.

Dazai was standing to his left and he also had a body and was also missing his bandages. Dazai narrowed his eyes at the people (Tadashi wasn't sure if they could be classified as that) in front of them, scrutinising each one.

A man with pale green eyes and shockingly white hair moved from his throne. His walking was so level he almost looked like he was floating. "Nine," he greeted with a small, serene smile. He glanced over at Dazai with a questioning glance. "And Dazai."

Oh, great. Another person who liked Tadashi but hated Dazai for no apparent reason. 

"En, would you like to come forward and share with the class what's going on?" Dazai asked, grinning darkly at the white-haired man. "I'm afraid I'm a little lost."

Tadashi's eyes landed on En, who looked like he was silently groaning as he stood up miserably from his fancy chair. "Don't freak out on Yoichi and try to strangle him. Trust me, it's not a good idea." En walked over and bowed in greeting to the two boys, who didn't acknowledge it.

Yoichi kept his small smile, but was getting increasingly wary of Dazai the longer he had his gaze on the man. "Indeed. I don't think Kudo would appreciate it very much, Dazai."

A red-headed man with a nasty scar on his face and looked a lot like Bakugo grunted in confirmation. That must have been Kudo. 

"Cool. Care to explain now?" Tadashi glared at En, who gave a shrug of his shoulders.

"I said there were seven and a bit of us. Here we are." En gestured behind him. Tadashi's eyes narrowed on the glowing yellow figure that happened to look like the outline of All Might's body. That must've been the 'a bit'. All Might wasn't dead, so he wasn't exactly there.

Tadashi glanced over at Dazai, who looked back at him. They raised their eyebrows at the same time: a signal that they had come to the same conclusion.

En crossed his arms and looked at Yoichi, who had yet to take his eyes off Dazai. Tadashi took a step closer to his partner, who gave him a grin and slid a hand onto his left bicep. Yoichi's smile grew. "My apologies if I made you boys uncomfortable. I'm just fascinated by your friend here, Nine."

"You can address him to his face. He won't bite." Tadashi stated, his tone flat. He wasn't in the mood to deal with playing carrier pigeon. 

Kudo rolled his eyes. "Like Yoichi needs your permission."

"Clearly, he did." Tadashi snapped back, scowling. "If he wants to talk to Dazai, he can talk to Dazai. I'm not here to relay messages when they're right in front of each other."

A scoff, "You don't even know what you're here for." Kudo remarked with a growly undertone. He was seriously a watered-down Bakugo.

Dazai tilted his head at Kudo. "No, we don't. Which is what we were hoping any of you could inform us of." His gaze turned to En, who sighed like it was the biggest inconvenience.

Banjo let out a loud cackle, "They would know if En had explained it well enough! They're probably thinkin' they're insane right now!" he snorted with laughter, close to doubling over. "I mean— could you imagine if you wake up somewhere that looks like outer space and some dude tells you you're inside your quirk?!"

En rubbed a hand over his face, and Tadashi got the feeling he'd been copping Banjo's antics for a while. "Yes, I did a bad job explaining." He turned around to face Banjo. "Except, when have I even been good at it? This is why I didn't want to be first, Banjo!"

Banjo was sent into another fit of laughter.

"I apologise for them," Yoichi said, looking at the two men with fondness. "They're getting used to seeing each other like this."

"Oh, right. Because they're dead." Dazai huffed in annoyance. "Go ahead and boast some more about it!"

The laughter instantly ceased, which was likely what Dazai was planning to do. "Your suicide jokes aren't helpful right now." Tadashi lectured half-heartedly. He was glad Dazai had stopped Banjo though because it was getting annoying. He knew that his partner would be able to tell.

"Hmph. Not my fault these old farts get to be laughing in their afterlife when I've been trying for years, and I'm still stuck with the living."

Tadashi cooled his nerves forcefully. He wasn't going to let Dazai's non-blatant jabs at insinuating that being stuck with Tadashi was worse than dying get to him. Not right then. "Whatever. Can we get back to the matter at hand? Could someone spit it out and tell us what we're doing here?"

Shimura slowly rose from her throne, wiping her hands nervously on her legs. "Ah, yes. Sorry about that. We've all been a bit antsy at getting to meet you both!" Shimura gave him a blinding smile. "Nana Shimura, at your service! You can just call me Nana, though."

Did dead people just not like to be referred to by their family names? It seemed to be an ongoing trait.

"Yeah, I know. You're a pretty dead lady, currently residing in my mind and watching my every move every day like the rest of the weirdos." Tadashi snapped, getting impatient. He felt like his nerves were on fire and Dazai's tight grip on him wasn't helping anymore.

"Kinda like Inside Out. Except instead of emotions, it's the souls of dead people watching you."

Tadashi blinked. He turned to Dazai, who met his confused gaze quizzically.

"What?"

"You've watched Inside Out? The kid's movie?"

Dazai rolled his eyes. "No, stupid Shida. I saw the trailer for it while walking past a cinema, if you must know."

Tadashi could not for the life of him imagine Dazai pausing on a sidewalk just to watch the trailer for a kid's movie. He could imagine Dazai stealing a lollipop from a kid and pretending to be interested in the trailer to avoid suspicion. Yeah, that made a lot more sense.

Nana sighed, and Tadashi looked over at her. She was staring at his hair angrily, which was a new reaction. He'd yet to see someone pissed off over him greying. They usually just gave him funny looks or pitying words of comfort about stressing so much at his age.

"You're far too poor looking, Izuku."

Tadashi's eyes widened at the use of his previous name. That was the first time he had heard it said out loud by anyone else. Hearing it didn't feel wrong, but it didn't feel like him, either. "Gee, thanks. Could you tell us why we're here now?"

Nana tutted and looked Dazai up and down. "You, too. You're both far too thin for your age! Not to mention these eyebags!" She pointed underneath Tadashi's eyes, her yellow gloves getting too close for comfort. They both took a step back. 

"That's enough, Nana." Yoichi placed a hand over her shoulder. "Would you like to tell them?" he offered.

Tadashi didn't give a damn who did it, he just wanted an explanation.

"Oh, yes!" Nana grinned excitedly. "Ever since Izuku developed One for All, we've been able to see most of what he sees! Like En mentioned, there are certain times when he blocks us out subconsciously, which just means that his instincts recognised our presence, but not him personally."

Tadashi had never felt so betrayed by his own mind. How could it hide the fact he was being spied on from him like that? 

Nana continued on, "Because of One for All evolving, our consciences have grown enough to be able to communicate to each other and to you. While we've been able to see what you have since you developed One for All, we've only been able to talk since you arrived in Musutafu."

Yoichi nodded, looking a little apologetic. "Which is why you were so tired. Your mind was making room for us and it drew out a lot of your energy, Nine."

Oh, great. Energy-sucking, dead people, mind parasites watching his entire life 24/7.

Banjo walked over and gave En a slap on the back. "See! That's how it's done, you wimp! Maybe if you hadn't been sulking the whole time, you could have explained it well, too!" he laughed, delighted to criticise En, who looked understandably over it.

Dazai squeezed Tadashi's arm tighter, nearly cutting off his circulation. There was no way his hands weren't tired. "Yes, we knew that." Tadashi hadn't, but he wasn't surprised to hear Dazai had. "Anything else or was this just a waste of time?"

Kudo glowered at Dazai, moving to stand but being pushed down by someone with blue hair. "You're a real cocky piece of work, Dazai." Kudo declared. 

Dazai let out a small snort of laughter. "Yeah, because you would act any differently if you were in our shoes. Now, the point, please?" Dazai looked at Nana with unimpressed expectant eyes.

Nana nodded, looking guilty. "Once your meeting with En was put to an end, we all discussed what it meant for Dazai to be there as well. After all, this is a space inside your quirk, Izuku." she gestured to the void. "None of this is real, but it's inside of you. So how could the one with a nullification ability be inside yours?"

That didn't make any sense, but at the same time Tadashi understood what she was saying. 

"Do you boys remember what happened the day you were taken to Musutafu from the slums in Yokohama?" Nana asked gently, intertwining her hands in a nervous gesture.

Tadashi didn't like how that meant she remembered something he didn't. "No. I remember some bum's ugly coat and feeling sick. That's it." he said, trying to hurry things along. Dazai nodded in agreement, clearly not in a rush but knowing of Tadashi's restlessness. 

"Ah, I see." Nana nodded, brushing back a few loose strands of hair. "The quirk of the man who took you seems to have set a kind of bond between you two. Essentially, you're bound together, which means you may find yourself drawn together without even realising it."

Tadashi distantly remembered first meeting Dazai and how after that first meeting, they seemed to always find each other whether it was intentional or not. 

"That would mean that that man had his quirk on us from before he met us in the slums." Dazai commented dryly, releasing some of the pressure in his grip on Tadashi. "How long was he watching us?"

Yoichi was the one to answer. "For as long as you two have known each other." Then, he tilted his head and looked regretful over his word choice. "No, it's more since Tadashi showed care over Dazai. So, your second mission together, I presume."

Oh, wonderful. They'd been stalked through someone's quirk for over a year. Did Mori know about that? Is that why he insisted he and Dazai paired up all the time before they became official partners?

En seemed to read Tadashi's thought process through his disgusted expression because he spoke up, "No, he wasn't able to see anything through the bond." A lie, Tadashi could tell. "You two were linked, not three. You still are." A half lie.

For someone who had supposedly been stalking Kenshiro as well through his own eyeballs, En seemed to fail to realise Tadashi knew how to pick up on lies.

"We want to be around each other all the time because of some freak from Musutafu using his quirk on us. Sounds delightful. Is that all?" Tadashi questioned, his voice slightly raising. 

Nana shook her head, a soft smile on her face. "No, Izuku. Your want for each other is of your own doing. All the quirk does is draw you together. Like a magnet. It doesn't manipulate emotions or thoughts."

Oh. Tadashi didn't like how she worded that.

"The bond between you two is expanding and growing along with One for All." she hesitated. She knew something else was at play but didn't want to say it. "You may be feeling some changes, but it's nothing to worry about."

Dazai stood up straight. "What else is it? You're keeping something to yourselves."

Kudo, who apparently just couldn't learn to keep his mouth shut, snapped. "She doesn't owe you anything! Stop demanding information—,"

"You're in my goddamn mind! Dazai can do whatever he wants, and we own the right to want to know what's happening to us! Just because you're upset you died looking like that," Tadashi gestured to his face, "Doesn't mean you get to be a dick the one giving you a conscience!"

Dazai hummed low in approval from beside him. 

Kudo's face went as red as his hair. "Excuse me?" he demanded, his voice raising to a shout.

"That's enough." Yoichi said to Kudo, who immediately backed down like a kicked puppy. Pathetic. "We're sorry, Nine. But there are things we can't tell you until you remember certain aspects of your past."

Tadashi rolled his eyes. "You're pulling an All Might on me. Just tell us what it is and get it over with."

"Unfortunately, kiddo," Banjo seemed greatly amused. "It doesn't work like that. We're not keeping this information from you to be petty; it's because your brain has blocked these things out for a reason. We can't tell you everything because it may damage your mind further."

Dazai had almost completely let go of Tadashi's bicep. "Fine, then. Tell us about Smokescreen. How do we get Shida to use it?"

En stuck his hand in the air and began to release the smoke from his palm. "I don't feel the coldness you do whenever I use it," he said, sounding the least bored Tadashi had ever heard him. "I reckon One for All is making the quirks stronger; more intense. All you have to do is keep control, Nine. Think about what you want and force it out."

Nana nodded. "Or think of it as a bull getting ready to run into the arena. Open the gate when the match begins; lock it up when the match is over. It doesn't matter how you do it as long as you stay calm, keep control over it, and get the job done."

"That's so much cooler than your stupid analogy, En." Banjo laughed greatly, clearly his own biggest fan when it came to joking around.

Tadashi thought it was a lot easier said than done. He wasn't familiar with Smokescreen like he was with One for All, he didn't know it well enough to be able to control it like that. "Okay, imagine a bull. Any advice on what to do about the bond?"

Said bond 'expanding' along with One for All was likely the reason for the warm fuzziness they kept feeling when they touched.

Banjo scratched his beard. "There isn't much to say other than keep an eye out for any change. I doubt you can do anyfin' about it."

Dazai addressed the man coldly. "Changes are already happening. Shida and I can't touch without getting a weird feeling from it." he stated, his dull eyes glancing around. 

Nana snorted into her palm and Yoichi looked greatly amused from beside her. Everyone else looked to be experiencing second hand embarrassment. "What kind of feeling?" she asked, struggling to keep her laughter down.

Tadashi frowned at her. "Warm and fuzzy. Kinda makes my skin burn."

She outright laughed at that, tears in the corner of her eyes. En's face wrinkled from behind her and Banjo seemed to have switched over to feeling amused as well. 

"No, it's not us being in love." Dazai said flatly, making Tadashi's head whip towards him. That was what they thought they were describing? "It's a physical thing. Even through clothing, contact feels excessively warm. Skin-to-skin feels more intense, hence the burning."

Tadashi was sure his face was red in the real world. "It's not an emotional thing. My skin actually gets hot wherever he touches, not my entire body. Like catching fire, but less dramatic."

Yoichi nodded in understanding but still looked amused. "I see. That could be a result of the bond expanding, but I'm afraid we wouldn't know anything about it since contact with Dazai shuts us out." Nana nodded from beside him.

Tadashi didn't like how everyone seemed to agree it was something to do with love. Not at all. 

Dazai grinned and turned full to Tadashi, who gave a grin back. Dazai had planned something. "Shida, have you ever wondered what it would be like to fall through space?" the brunette asked innocently, placing his arms behind his back and leaning forward.

Tadashi put a hand on his chin. "Well, now that I think about it, perhaps I have." He looked at Dazai, who's grin widened. 

Shinomori looked weirdly interested. "Leaving so soon? You've yet to be introduced to everyone." He gestured to Kudo and the blue haired man, who both looked greatly annoyed at being addressed.

Yoichi's smile lessened. "Please don't throw yourselves off the—,"

"Oh! Great idea!" Dazai grabbed Tadashi's left hand and his right hip, twirling him around until they reached the end of the concrete. "Shida," he said with a dramatic, sad tone.

Tadashi wanted to roll his eyes but played along. He placed his right hand on Dazai's shoulder and squeezed it, putting on his best desperate face. "Dazai, don't do anything irrational—,"

"I'm afraid I just can't handle it anymore!"

"Dazai, c'mon, let's just wait to wake up—,"

"My body feels like it's dying in the real world, I need to go see it! You understand, right Shida?"

Tadashi's hand slid down to Dazai's elbow. "You don't know if throwing us off the edge will work, Dazai. What if we just spawn right back in the middle of the platform? Hmm?" He gave a fake sniffle.

Someone groaned deeply from behind them, and a glance over Dazai's shoulder was all Tadashi needed to see almost everyone behind them laughing or smiling, except for Kudo and Banjo. Banjo looked ready to explode from embarrassment, while Kudo looked ready to throw himself off the platform, too.

Tadashi had never been prouder of himself for actually listening to Mori's stupid personality and performances classes.

Dazai gave a wet laugh, but Tadashi could see he wasn't even close to crying. "You'll have to forgive me, then." 

He leaned forward and Tadashi tipped backwards. They fell off the platform and heard an applaud as they went. Tadashi laughed as Dazai audibly fake wept as they dropped.

Tadashi startled awake, shooting up into a sitting position. He was breathing heavily, grossly aware of how riddled with sweat he was. His clothing felt stuck to him and his skin was itching beneath his bandages. He closed his eyes and slumped. They shot back open when Dazai groaned.

Tadashi chuckled when he saw Dazai sprawled out on the floor, out of breath from the 'dream' as well. "How did you end up down there?" he questioned, scrubbing his hair out of his face. His moist skin was acting as glue for the strands.

"I don't know, Veggie! You probably pushed me off, didn't you?" Dazai whinged, rolling onto his stomach to shove his face into the rug. 

Kenshiro kissed his teeth. "Don't blame me for your stupidity." He started to unravel the bandages around his arms as he stood up and walked over to the desk. Dazai's hand snapped out and grabbed his ankle, almost causing him to tip over.

"What the hell? Don't try and drag me down with you, Sloth." Tadashi shook the hand off and snatched one of his notebooks out of his bag, pushing the ugly monstrosity onto the floor so he could sit in the chair. 

He opened up the notebook and flicked until he found two clean pages beside each other. Tadashi grabbed a red and black pen from his bag and began to scribble down everything he remembered.

Dazai slowly rose from the floor like a zombie and once he was successfully on his feet, he dragged them over to the desk to see what Tadashi was up to. He leaned back on the desk, watching Tadashi's hand carefully.

"Jeez, Freckles. Writing again? You're always taking notes."

Tadashi shrugged. "It's the one thing I've always been good at, Emo. Why shouldn't I use it?" he asked rhetorically. He had his eyes locked on his paper, trying his hardest not to look at his bare arms.

Dazai hummed in acknowledgement and grinned. "You know, if I hadn't been there with you, I would be sending you to an asylum." he said. Then he gave a short chuckle. "I mean, who would ever believe you have dead people watching over you? Not me."

That was such a wonderful thing for him to say. Greatly motivating. "Good thing you were there, then. If you send me to an asylum, I get to drag you there with me and make sure they put you in suicide watch so you're stuck there for good."

Dazai dramatically gasped, slapping a hand over his mouth. "Shida! You would do me so dirty?" He smirked. "I would find a way to kill myself even under watch. You know that."

Tadashi felt anger bubble up and his pen threatened to tear through the page as he wrote. He did know that, and it was infuriating to think about. Dazai was so quick to abandon his life and abandon Tadashi.

They sat in silence after that comment.

Every time Tadashi zoned out to think over what had been said in the void, Dazai would sneak a penis drawing paired with a smiley face on his page. Tadashi scribbled it out each time.

Eventually, he wrote everything he thought to note.

All Might, the quirks, the bond, Dazai, the watching, One for All, and even a note to watch Inside Out and see if the Parasites thought it was accurate or not.

They also test and see how skin to skin contact feels, and it hadn't changed. Tadashi ignored the flush on his face as he remembered how the Parasites thought they were just describing their feelings for each other.

Dazai had graciously decided to begin to demand of Eraserhead the right to leave the campus on a Sunday afternoon. He wanted to have permission by the middle of the week to go exploring on the weekend.

He and Shida had plans to steal a couple things from a liquor store and they also wanted to scout for information on the location and allies of the League of Villains. 

Shida had thought they needed to ease up on the glitter for at least a few days, and Dazai went along with it like the good partner he was by putting one less pinch of hot pink glitter in Eraserhead's coffee every morning. The man did a ridiculously bad job at guarding it and somehow seemed annoyed every time as if he hadn't been expecting it.

On Monday, Eraserhead flat out said no. The results were the same on Tuesday and Wednesday, and so Dazai decided to take a different route on Thursday.

Shida made sure Eraserhead was in hearing range as they had a conversation about Dazai's bad thoughts in the classroom.

"Have you been feeling on edge?" Shida asked. This time, he was the one sitting on the floor during homeroom and Dazai was sitting sideways in his chair with his back to the wall, carding his hands through his hair. The touch was fuzzy, as usual.

They were used to it by then. Even welcomed it. 

Since the first dream in the void, almost every hair root Shida had had turned white. Not the full strands, just the beginning of them. He looked like he had dyed his hair green and was growing the colour out. It was pretty, Dazai thought. 

"I guess." Dazai replied, keeping his tone wavery but his voice loud enough that everyone within five feet, including Eraserhead who was pretending to be dead to the world in his obnoxious sleeping bag, could hear him loud and clear.

Shida thumped his head against one of Dazai's knees. Warmth bled through the brunette's school pants, sending goosebumps up his leg. "Wanna tell me about it?" he offered. His tone was gentle and kind but his voice sounded anticipate and nervous for his answer.

Ah, Shida had come so far with his acting skills!

Dazai sighed through his nose and he picked up a scoop of Shida's curly hair. "Right here? Freckles needs to learn time and place." He released the handful of green and white curls to place his hands on either side of Shida's head, moving it around to force him into noticing how almost everyone was sending them awkward glances.

Veggie hummed in acknowledgement and shoved Dazai's hands away from his head. Dazai returned to carding his hands through the hair instead. "Just give me an idea, then. Tell me the rest later."

"Ah, jeez," Dazai mumbled in annoyance. "What a persistent Shida."

"C'mon, Emo. Just three words and you can fill me in about them later."

Raspberries were blown, and then silence followed for a few moments. It gave the effect that Dazai was rummaging through his thoughts to find the words. 

Eventually, he spat out, "Cramped."

Shida hummed. "Yes, I know you want to leave. That's one." He was always good at picking up on Dazai's context clues. He was Dazai-smart just like he was book smart, the stupid Dork.

"..."

"....."

"Dazai."

Dazai groaned. "Annoyed." he gave a tug at Shida's hair. 

Shida gave him a glare for wasting a word just to jab at him. Dazai grinned at him. "That's two. Can you give me one more?" Shida still kept his voice nervous and gentle, despite his annoyed gaze. He turned his face back around.

"I'm not a kid. Don't patronise me like that."

"I'm not, Emo. There's one word left, and I would like it sometime today."

"Upset." Dazai finally provided.

Shida tensed in front of him, and Dazai saw from the corner of his eye that Iida had leaned forward in anticipation and Asui had leaned back. Such eavesdroppers, honestly! "Are you sad?"

A scoff. "Do I need to educate stupid Freckles on what the word 'upset' means?" Dazai questioned mockingly. 

"That's not what I meant." Shida's voice suddenly dropped to a mumble, and Iida leaned forward an inch. Goodness. "Are you planning something irrational, Dazai? Are you that kind of upset?"

He wasn't subtle in asking if Dazai was feeling suicidal, but that was exactly what they needed. They were master manipulators, after all. Mori had certainly educated them well enough in that aspect.

"I guess, if that's how Shida wants to put it." Dazai replied breezily. 

The bell signalling the end of homeroom rang loudly. Dazai retreated his hands, already feeling the cool air of the approaching winter as he stopped touching Shida. 

Freckles stood up slowly and turned around to face Dazai. "We'll talk about it later. Just come over and sit with me if it gets too bad."

"I always do, Freckles! Jeez, so bossy."

Shida nodded and returned to his seat just as Eraserhead left the room.

The man sent a meaningful look to Iida just before he left their line of sight, who nodded in return. Ah, it would seem the class president was working for Eraserhead. That could be useful.

Chapter Text

Iida must have told Eraserhead that Dazai and Shida were one hundred percent talking about him being suicidal and that being stuck in their room was making it worse, because the next time they asked to leave, Eraserhead miraculously gave in.

Eraserhead sighed deeply, "I will give you permission to leave campus tomorrow morning, but there are three conditions." he said, looking like he was already regretting it.

Dazai knew it had been too good to be true. "Can't we just do this without the conditions? God, such a party pooper!" Dazai whined, flopping on top of Shida who didn't acknowledge the extra weight.

"No. You either adhere to the conditions or you're not going." Eraserhead said, his tone final. He was so stuck up. When was he going to learn to relax? Dazai's favourite tactic to unwind was imagining his death, but he doubted Eraserhead would enjoy that knowledge.

Dazai clicked his tongue but gestured for him to go on with a flopping hand. "Fiiiine. But know we aren't happy about it!" He grabbed Shida's cheeks and pulled them downward so his mouth would follow and form a frown.

Eraserhead pulled out two devices from his pocket, holding them out. They were phones, one with a black phone case, the other with a red one. Stupid Shida snatched the black one before Dazai could, which left him with the ugly red one. "The first condition is that you give updates on your location when I ask for it."

The man pulled out his own phone and typed something in it. 

The phones buzzed in the boys' hands. Oh, great. The three of them were in a group chat named 'Problem Children 1 & 2'. He really couldn't have chosen a better name than that?

Dazai immediately changed it to 'Stinky Shida and Bossy Eraser'. He received two glares the moment he pressed finish changing name, which he grinned at. "Go on, Bossy Eraser. What's the other two conditions?" he questioned innocently, blinking up at his teacher.

Eraserhead pinched the bridge of his nose. "The second one is that you aren't going alone. You'll have four classmates of your choice accompanying you."

Dazai could work with that. The class president was easily going to be one of the four since he liked to tattle to Mr Demon, and Dazai thought adding Uraraka to the mix just to see how she was around Shida out in public would be fun. 

The other two could be up to Shida, since Dazai was a generous partner. 

"The last one?" Freckles prompted, sounding impatient. So tense. Shida needed to unwind with some fantasies of his death, too.

Eraserhead took a long inhale, which caught Dazai's interest. He was nervous. "You have to do one favour for me, Tadashi." he said, looking upset about it. What a child. Always so emotional. "You can do it alone or you can get Dazai to help."

Shida narrows his green eyes at Eraserhead, a true frown forming. "I wanna hear what it is first before I sign my soul away." he said, Dazai chuckled, Eraserhead rolled his eyes.

"I want you to eat a homecooked meal. At least a half of a bowl of katsudon, one half each if you want Dazai to eat with you." Eraserhead said. "You won't need a protein jelly pouch tonight if you do this."

Dazai's mind froze for a split second. That man could have asked for anything he wanted, and he chose to get them to eat something. It was starting to seem like the man really did want them to fatten up. 

Shida groaned so loudly that Dazai bit the inside of his cheek in a play of trying to not laugh. "C'mon, seriously? Why not just get us to clean or something."

Eraserhead raised an eyebrow. "Most kids would argue that this is mercy compared to cleaning." he nitpicked, sounding genuinely surprised they were complaining and preferring labour over eating. It was almost like he had had his ears shut off every time they whinged about eating his jelly pouches.

"I was under the impression we'd established that Dazai and I aren't 'most kids', sir." Veggie bit out. "Fine. We'll eat the katsudon."

"Shida, you traitor!" Dazai yelped loudly. "Why would you bring me down with you?" he questioned, mock hurt. Of course stupid Shida would make him suffer, too. 

He was given a smug grin. "Because you don't want to be punched, do you?"

"I would take that over eating any d—,"

"Enough." Aizawa barked. "I'll bring you the meal this afternoon. If I come in and see any of it in the garbage, outside, or in some box somewhere, you're not going out and I'll assign you two weeks of homework."

Stupid bossy Eraser. They had better ways to dispose of the meal than that.

--

Two hours later, Eraserhead returned to their room with the promised homecooked meal. It was so hot the steam continued to rise from the bowl.

Dazai had to admit that if he enjoyed eating, he likely would have salivated at the smell. But he didn't, and the thought of putting any of the delicious looking meal in his mouth sickened him. 

It was a relatively small bowl obviously meant for only one person to eat out of, which meant he and Shida were supposedly splitting one serving. 

Dazai glanced over at Shida, who looked at the food that had been placed on the desk like he didn't know what to do with it. He sighed, his grip on the provided chopsticks switching from firm to loose every couple seconds. 

The moment Eraserhead left the room, repeating his earlier warning about throwing out the food, Dazai teased Shida. "I'm starting to think this is the most nervous I've ever seen Shida. Scared of food, are we?"

Shida nodded. Hm.

Dazai's eye widened. "You think it's poisoned? Shall I sacrifice myself and see?" He plopped down on the desk chair without another thought and grabbed a piece of pork cutlet. He'd learnt what certain poisons and dangerous chemicals tasted like through his thorough experiments.

A.K.A, trying to kill himself. But that was pretty much the same thing.

The pork cutlet tasted just fine, free of any poisons Dazai was familiar with. His stomach didn't hurt just by thinking of eating another piece, which was very high praise from his body. He turned around on the swivel chair. "All safe for the princess!" he declared, grinning.

Shida looked pale. "Just throw it out. I don't care how."

Dazai's grin turned dark. "Ah, Freckles. You've made me curious as to why you're terrified of even trying." He picked up the hot bowl and placed it on the bed between him and Shida. He sat with his legs criss-crossed in front of it. "Go on."

A long, rigid sigh. "Dazai, c'mon. I know you weren't opposed to wasting it three seconds ago." Shida accused. 

"How rude of you! Dazai would never even think of such a thing!" The brunette titled his head innocently. "Dazai would, however, enjoy some context as to what this is about." He gestured in Shida's general space.

He was met with silence. Jeez, Shida was certainly moody over one tiny meal. 

Dazai understood not wanting to eat, but Shida looked genuinely distraught at the sight of it. It made Dazai wonder if it was the food or the meal that was making him uncomfortable. "Not a fan of katsudon?" he questioned.

"Not that one."

"Well, I'm sure you can handle one taste."

"No."

"C'moooooon! Don't be a party pooper!"

Shida inhaled deeply, running a hand through his white and green locs. "Dazai, it smells familiar."

Dazai blinked. "You're scared 'cause it smells familiar? Aren't you s'posed to be the big, bad Verde Reaper who preferers to bash in the brains of his foes than use a gun and put them out of their misery?"

Shida shrugged, putting down his chopsticks, glaring down at them to avoid eye contact. 

Dazai would much rather kill himself than put up with his curiosity. "If I eat my half, will you at least take a bite? Hmm, Shida Widaaa?"

Freckles' head snapped up. "You're willing to go that far just to see me eat the stupid katsudon?"

Dazai nodded, putting on an offended face. "You think I wouldn't!" He grasped his shirt. "My heart! You wound me deeply!"

"You'll make yourself sick, Emo."

"Psh, yeah right. I don't get sick." Dazai picked up the bowl and placed it in the middle of his lap. He laughed at Shida's open mouth as he ate another pork cutlet. It was strange how the food didn't make him sick. He didn't mind eating it.

He hadn't felt like that over any meal since he was thirteen.

Dazai got six bites in and had just started to feel his stomach tighten painfully when Shida groaned desperately and snatched the bowl from him. Dazai let him while grinning. "Jealous I was enjoying it?" he questioned.

Shida rolled his eyes, picking his chopsticks back up and walking over to the desk. "More like sick of watching you hurt yourself to prove a point." He mumbled. He sat on the swivel chair with his back to Dazai, who watched his arm rise and fall a few times.

Shida could be such a baby. All that crying over not wanting to eat it when he really just wanted to shovel it into his mouth.

The green teenager ate silently for nearly a minute and Dazai didn't bother thinking anything of it.

Instead, he picked up the laptop from their bedside table and looked up information brokers to go to when they left campus. Another half minute went by in silence, filled only by Dazai's typing and clicking. 

Then he heard the smallest sniffle.

Dazai's hands stopped mid-word in the search bar as he slowly turned his head to the desk. "Are you actually crying, Shida? Jeez, I didn't realise you really were a crybaby!" Dazai immediately slammed the laptop screen closed, jumping off the bed and moving over to Shida. 

Shida had his face turned away, but Dazai could tell he didn't have any food in his mouth by the stillness in his jaw.

He tapped Shida on the shoulder but got no acknowledgement. He did it again. And again. And once more with more force before he reached out and grabbed Shida's face, forcibly turning him.

Tears ran down his freckled cheeks, which were a red hue of embarrassment. He shoved away Dazai's hand, his face completely crumbling down. 

Dazai's hand drooped. He had only ever seen his partner cry four times in the whole year he'd known him.

The first time was when he admitted he lost his memories to Mori, the second time had been over the cat he saved, the third had been after a particularly bad nightmare, and his fourth time had been after a brutal panic attack.

This was the fifth. It was over a bowl of katsudon. Dazai had never been so confused. 

The longer Osamu stood there looking confused, the more Shida's freckled face crumbled. He hiccupped and gave a wet sob, throwing his hands into his eyes to try and stop the tears. "It hurts," he groaned quietly, one of his hands moving to clutch his shirt. "My chest hurts."

Dazai had never been a good comforter, but he needed to fix Shida somehow so that they could dispose of the stupid katsudon and plot their way through Saturday in advance. "Are you experiencing indigestion?" Dazai mumbled, eyeing the tight grip Shida had on his t-shirt.

Shida gave a couple huffs of laughter and another sob before he went flying out of his chair and into Dazai. 

Osamu didn't grunt but it was a near thing. Warmth exploded from every point of contact he was making with Shida, especially where the tears were leaking onto his shoulder. Had Dazai ever felt so warm yet hesitant and confused? He doubted so.

He also doubted he had ever been hugged so desperately in his life.

Shida's bear hugs only happened once every... never. It had never happened until right that very second. 

Shida didn't sob again, but he did silently weep and hiccup and sniffle and do the rest of the gross crying things right into Dazai's shoulder.

The brunette slowly raised his arms around Shida, unaware of what to do from there. His fingers moved across Shida's back with feather light pats and brushes.

Tadashi wasn't delicate, but he was also extremely tender when it came to certain things. 

One wrong move could end in the failure of their mission. Dazai needed Shida in top shape and so he couldn't mess up.

Sure, Shida did need Dazai's "perfect length" arms to cage him in after a bad nightmare, but Tadashi had never clawed at his back like a cat and shoved his snotty, grotty face into his shoulder.

Dazai planted his feet the best he could and tried to keep them standing as Shida leaned in more. They would not trip over so embarrassingly. "Shida's like a kitty." Dazai mumbled. "And I don't appreciate being his scratching post."

Tadashi slowly pulled his face away. It was puffy and covered in slime and tears. Dazai was willing to do anything to make his partner stop being a weepy baby. Except touch the bodily fluids. "I'm not a cat." he mumbled.

Dazai shrugged, smirking. "Then why are your claws currently glued to my back?"

Shida's hands retracted. "Shut up, Emo."

Osamu snickered as Shida took a step back. "Ah, what a crybaby. Look at his mess just from katsudon." He pointed to his shoulder, which had collected said bodily fluids. He itched to rip it off.

Shida's tongue clicked and his eyes rolled. "Don't be a dick just because you enjoy ruining my worksheets by drawing them." He commented, his lips slightly curved. "I told you I didn't wanna eat it."

"So you cried?" Dazai huffed. "Who knew the Verde Reaper was so weak."

Shida's hand raised and met Dazai's cheek with a crack. "I'm not weak." he said darkly, all amusement gone. "I recognised the scent, asshole. This is the cooking of the mother I believed to be dead because your goddamn boss took her from me. Stole her from my memories!"

Dazai glared at Shida as his cheek throbbed. "Our boss. I may be his right-hand man, but you are just as close. Everyone knows that we come as a package."

Shida was angry, but not truly pissed off. Dazai could see it in his bright eyes. "That's right. Because I was tortured into it. You know that." He pulled at his bandages, and Dazai knew that they were both thinking of the scars that lay beneath them.

"I do." He hadn't known that the scars were from Mori forcing him to join the Port Mafia, but he did know they were from Mori's torture with a scalpel. He also knew that Shida enjoyed murdering brutally, but he didn't say that.

"Then keep your mouth shut about it or I'll slap you insane."

Dazai chuckled. "Ah, a silly Veggie rebelling against me." he teased. He saw the way Shida's shoulders slumped with relief that topic was changed. "Who would've thought."

Tadashi huffed angrily and stomped off to the closet where he grabbed out two t-shirts. He pegged one at his partner. "Change into that. I'm gonna wash my face." he announced before locking himself in the bathroom.

Dazai caught the shirt and stared down at the bowl of food that was eaten a third of the way to completion. Mrs Midoriya's cooking, hmm? It wasn't bad at all.

He wondered what his mother's cooking tasted like and if he would burst into tears just tasting it again after so many years. 

He doubted it.

He didn't know how to cry anymore.

Uraraka, Iida, Kirishima and Yaoyorozu. Those were the four people Tadashi and Dazai had chosen to take along with them on their little trip off campus. 

Dazai said something about having fun riling up Iida and Uraraka. Tadashi thought Kirishima and Yaoyorozu were the safest choices. 

The two mafia executives had given their new numbers from the phones Eraserhead provided them to the four they chose, who then passed it along to everyone else in their class.

They were both added to nearly five group chats in a couple hours.

Kirishima was so excited he was bouncing foot to foot, the girls looked about the normal amount of excited as expected, while Iida kept yelling about rules and sticking together and whatnot. Tadashi didn't pay him any mind. 

He was wearing his Port Mafia blouse, glad to be able to after so long. He put on some black sweatpants that somehow looked nice paired with the high-quality blouse and black boots he stole from Eraserhead.

Tadashi had expected Dazai to at least wear the jacket Mori had given him, but no, he put on regular civilian clothing.

Dazai wore a Best Jeanist hoodie with a raised collar he grabbed from the closet and white shorts that showed his bandaged legs. When asked about the clothing choice, Dazai had given Tadashi a wink and told him to just trust the process. Reluctantly, he did. 

They walked along a busy road with the two executives at the back of the group, Dazai clinging to Tadashi's bicep as usual. The other four had already picked up a few pieces of street food and knickknacks from stalls and stands twenty minutes in. 

Iida asked if they were going to get anything, but they didn't have any money. Dazai really put the final nail in the coffin when he said, "I've never had much, you know? Just getting out of that loop of going from school to the dorms back and forth is enough." with a puppy dog expression.

The class president looked thoroughly scandalised and pulled out nearly eighty thousand yen for them to use. 

"Holy crap, Iida. You're just giving this away?" Tadashi questioned. He wondered for a moment if he was using it so easily because it was dirty money.

The boy nodded proudly. "Everyone deserves to get themselves a few treats every now and then! Besides, that's just three months of allowance! I've been saving up for two years!"

Uraraka's jaw was almost on the ground. She struggled to pick it back up. "Iida, you're filthy rich!" she shouted, flailing her hands around. Yaoyorozu chuckled at her eagerness.

Iida nodded, grinning ear to ear. "My parents own a very successful business and my brother was a pro hero for many years, you know! Of course my allowance is generous!" he boasted. 

Dazai and Tadashi earned that amount in just one month with their executive salary, but they didn't have any of that on them. Dazai snatched the money up and shoved it in the front pocket of his jacket. "Cool, thanks a bunch Class Prez!"

"Well, of course! I believe trusting others to be responsible—,"

Tadashi stopped listening to Iida there. He had a habit of ranting for longer than anyone could ever withstand. Instead, he passed the time as they walked and Iida blabbered by looking for anyone that looked like the brokers Dazai had found.

They were aware that most of them would just be sketchy looking men pretending, but Dazai had been trained by Hirotsu on how to pick up on legitimate dealers. There really wasn't much Dazai couldn't do.

Apparently the one he found worked closely with the broker of the League of Villains, who'd gone missing not too long ago.

--

The restaurant the six of them walked into was a western inspired one. 

They were lucky enough to have stumbled across a restaurant that accepted walk ins, let alone one that sat them down almost immediately. According to their server, they walked in just before the usual rush started and so there wasn't a wait.

Kirishima seemed to think it as a sign from the stars, immediately going on and on about how lucky they were to have gotten in just before it was too full. He even told Iida to buy a lottery ticket since they were so lucky, which resulted in yet another lecture.

"So," Dazai prompted. "Uraraka, do you happen to have your eye on anyone? Any lucky guys?" he asked. 

Tadashi resisted rolling his eyes. Of course the first thing he did was flirt with the single girl. 

Uraraka flushed red. "I- uhm, well, I did."

Dazai beamed. "But not anymore? So I can—," he yelped when Tadashi's hand met the back of his head. "Ouch, Shida. That hurt me and my heart!"

The girl chuckled awkwardly. "It's okay, Tadashi. I know he wouldn't actually do anything to me."

Not unless he was ordered to. No one's life was safe with them around.

Dazai stuck his tongue out at Kenshiro. "Yeah, stupid Freckles. I was just asking!" he rolled his eye playfully and made a 'get a load of this guy' gesture at Tadashi, which made everyone else laugh. "So then m'lady, what happened to your boyfie?"

"I guess I just lost interest." Uraraka said, brushing a strand behind her ear and looking like she'd rather be anywhere but there. "He changed quite a bit, you know? He isn't the guy I fell in love with." She glanced over at Tadashi for a second, who immediately understood what was going on.

She must have liked him when he knew her as Izuku Midoriya. Guess Kenshiro Tadashi wasn't good enough for her, and she'd lost interest.

That explained why she had suddenly stopped looking so worried whenever he and Dazai were close together and why Dazai was being a shit stirrer. 

Yaoyorozu reached over and pat her back, sending Tadashi a glance as well. She saw his thinking face and immediately looked away with a guilty expression. UA kids were too righteous for their own good.

They ordered their meals (Dazai and Tadashi were planning on sharing a kid's meal so that they didn't have to eat much while also looking like the couple Dazai said they weren't pretending to be) and it arrived ten minutes later.

Kirishima and Iida were very vocal with their thanks, and their server gave them a bright smile before dashing off to take some other table's order.

"I don't think I've ever seen a server be that happy at their job." Kirishima commented, shoving a piece of calamari in his mouth. 

Uraraka nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, I know right? It's a great change to see people enjoy their jobs!" Yaoyorozu adding in her agreement from beside them and they beamed at each other.

Dazai shook his head, putting a fry into his mouth. "You still haven't. I doubt you ever will find someone that works in a restaurant that likes their job." He shot down their wishful thinking without any remorse.

Kirishima seemed bummed out. "What are you talking about? She looks like she's never had a better day." he retorted, already halfway to sulking.

"Check out her flittering eyes and fidgeting hands that she wipes every couple of moments." Tadashi replied, pushing his chicken around on the plate. "She's also got really red cheeks."

Iida chimed in next, "You think she's nervous?" he suggested, looking mildly impressed at the observations they had made in the few seconds worth of interaction their table had had with their server.

Tadashi hummed in confirmation. "She could have hyperpigmentation, but the way she presses the back of her hands to her cheeks when she thinks no one is looking says otherwise. I'd bet this is just one of her first ever rush times working here."

"Oh," Uraraka sounded greatly disappointed. "But then why did she smile so genuinely at us? She seemed to happy."

Tadashi resisted the urge to act like Dazai and give her an 'are you serious?' look. "Again, nervousness. Or smiling on demand is part of her quirk."

"Shida's very good at reading people. He can always tell a person's intentions right away." Dazai praised, giving Tadashi a smirk. Tadashi narrowed his eyes at him. Dazai was just encouraging their classmates to open up to him and try and make friends.

They were supposed to be leaving with no loose ends.

Iida's nostrils flared with pride. "It's a very good trait to have, Tadashi! You should be proud!"

Tadashi nodded in thanks at the class president, pinching Dazai under the table. 

The two of them didn't even finish the kid's meal together. Tadashi found himself unable to even touch it after a couple mouthfuls because his mind kept returning to when he was eating the katsudon in their room.

His body ached every time, especially his chest. He had no idea he could miss someone so much without even remembering them, but he did. 

He missed his mum so fucking much.

Dazai stretched his arms above his head and then laid his right arm across Tadashi's shoulder, leaning in close to whisper something. He brought his left index finger to his smirking lips when Yaoyorozu's face went red by looking at them. "We're about to run into the horizon together." he muttered.

Tadashi knew that meant they were going to distract the group and departure by pretending to be lovey-dovey with one another. He gave Dazai his best excited smile, then glanced awkwardly at Yaoyorozu. She definitely believed they were a thing.

They had returned to walking around after having dinner, stepping back onto the busy street with people close enough that everyone's shoulders were brushing against a stranger's every few seconds.

Dazai hummed, pleased. He removed his arm from Tadashi's shoulder and slithered his hand into the crook of his elbow rather than his bicep. That was his warning that they were going to hold hands.

Tadashi swallowed down any thoughts of the warmth he was going to have blossoming from his hand in a moment, instead choosing to distract himself with the thought of the Parasites being unable to see what they were up to thanks to No Longer Human.

They were probably chattering away in One for All about him and Dazai, sticking their stupid noses where they didn't belong.

Dazai waited until Yaoyorozu had non-discreetly informed Uraraka about their closeness and the whispering. Kirishima overheard as well, and suddenly all three of them were sending terribly hidden giddy glances at the mafiosos. 

That was when Osamu chose to slide his hand down further, his fingertips running across Tadashi's palm before he grasped his hand fully. Tadashi repressed a shiver. The warmth spread up to the middle of his forearm, creating goosebumps as it travelled. 

Kenshiro wasn't sure how to feel about it. It felt nice and it calmed down the tense muscles in his body he hadn't realised were uptight, but it was also so foreign and caused his stomach to contract and do flips. 

Dazai didn't look to be affected in the slightest as he whistled one of his suicide songs, but he was also a master at hiding his emotions so deep whenever he wanted to that not even Tadashi could see them. He was left in the dark on whether or not he was the only one unable to choose whether he like it or not.

They walked holding hands for nearly ten minutes, sending each other the occasional shy glance and awkward smile when someone in their group was looking before Dazai decided they were in the right spot. 

He cleared his throat, shuffling an inch closer to Tadashi. The four others turned around. "Attention! Shida and I have just spotted the most amazing crêpe stand we simply cannot miss! You guys go without us, we'll catch up." He grinned at Kenshiro, who grinned back.

Yaoyorozu looked confused. How was it the girl with a whole relationship was the most innocent? "There aren't any crêpe stands nearby, though." she accused, looking around. Tadashi almost felt bad for Jiro.

Kirishima snickered and Uraraka looked embarrassed. "Yaomomo, I think we should just believe them." The girl suggested, her entire face slowly gaining a pink colour similar to her rosy cheeks. "I'll explain it to you later." she added quietly.

Iida cleared his throat and pushed up his glasses. "We should stick together in this outing! Aizawa Sensei has trusted me to keep order—,"

"Oh, c'mon, class prez! We'll only be fifteen minutes!" Dazai whined, slumping in mock disappointment. "Really, we won't do anything bad!" Tadashi raised an eyebrow. Dazai pushed it back down manually with his free hand. "Shh, Shida. Let me handle this." he whispered theatrically. 

They were definitely going to ruin up someone's day. Or life.

Yaoyorozu looked even more puzzled. "Fifteen minutes to eat crêpes?" she asked Uraraka, who sighed. 

"Still, it's unwise to separate in this busy area." Iida insisted, looking ridiculously serious over the whole thing. No wonder he was single.

Dazai blew loud raspberries. "We have our phones on us! We'll meet back right here in fifteen minutes. That's all we need!"

"You sure?" Tadashi questioned. They would have to not only find the broker Dazai mentioned earlier but also find a way to convince them to give away the information on the League of Villains. That could take up to an hour if they weren't planning on using force.

Kirishima's eyebrows shot up so high it looked painful. "Daaaamn, dudes." he drawled, looking spectacularly impressed.

"We aren't going to do that, Kirishima. Get your head out of the gutter." Kenshiro lectured.

Kirishima sputtered. "No, I know that! It's just, that's already a lot of time for y'know, doing other romantic things—," He definitely thought they were sneaking off to make out. Ashido must have been really convincing when she told everyone they kissed in Recovery Girl's bathroom.

Damn Mori and his stupid tactics that actually worked. 

"What?" Yaoyorozu shrieked.

Kenshiro rolled his eyes. "We aren't—,"

The redhead's suggestion only added fuel to Iida's annoying fire, and before Tadashi could finish denying the accusation, he was yelling again. "Please, let's all just stick together and return to UA before Sensei starts to get suspicious!" 

Tadashi watched with mild amusement as Dazai mimicked him, rolling his eye aggressively. Then his expression turned teasing. "You're more than welcome to join the fun, Iida!" he suggested, grinning ear to ear.

Iida's face went bright red.

Dazai tugged on their joined hands, and suddenly they were pushing through the sea of people as Iida called out after them.

Once the brunette was sure they were out of sight from their classmates, he moved his hand back to Tadashi's bicep. "There's some ugly dude down an alleyway back here. He's who we're looking for."

"Fifteen minutes isn't a lot of time, Dazai. Am I using One for All?" Kenshiro asked, looking for said alleyway.

Dazai shook his brown locs. "No. I have payment for him."

Tadashi made a sound of disbelief. "Brokers aren't cheap. A couple ten thousand yen won't be enough if he's the real deal."

A scoff. "You need to believe in me a little more, Shida. I'm starting to get seriously offended!"

They both knew that was a lie.

Dazai made a sharp right turn suddenly, pulling them into a corner. "Go find a liquor store, I'll be done with this in a minute." he mumbled, shoving Tadashi away. 

Tadashi knew better than to question whether or not the Demon Prodigy could handle it by himself. "You end up with a bullet in you and I'm leaving it in there."

Dazai chuckled. "Off you go now, Freckles."

Ten minutes later, Dazai rocked up to the address of the liquor store Tadashi texted him smelling like gunpowder and blood. 

Tadashi wrinkled his nose. "Are you serious?" he questioned. "You'll need to cover that up before we go back to school." he said, crossing his arms and scowling. 

Dazai rolled his eyes. "Relax, I'll wash it off in a moment." He walked off to the store in front of the one they were standing in front of. He grabbed a hoddie and hair clip from the front tables, then walked right back over. 

It was unbelievable how easy it was to take things when the owner wasn't paying attention. 

"Put on the hood." He shoved said item into Tadashi's hands, who sighed in annoyance but did it anyway. 

Dazai then reached out and brushed Tadashi hair back, using the pink, glittery hair clip to make it stay like that. He pulled the hood up and grinned. "Just so your green hair isn't showing, Freckles! Speaking of which," Dazai glanced around, "We need to hide 'em."

Chapter Text

Dazai ended up sending Shida to go collect masks to cover up his freckles and he came back with disposable ones that covered up the bottom half of their faces.

Dazai took his face bandages off and he put his mask on without another thought. He raised his hood.

"You talk, I'll turn off the lights." Dazai said, looking at the camera in the corner. He was discreetly telling Shida to go distract the man at the counter while he turned off the camera.

Shida had chosen a little hole in the wall so there weren't any other customers, and the camera was one not well protected. The cord was in sight and looked very accessible. It was likely that there was an alarm attached to it, but for some reason Dazai didn't think so. 

The place seemed too cheap for that,

"If you say so," Shida complied so easily to his plans. "Just know that Iida's going to call you in," he checked the time on his phone. "Two minutes asking where we are. I told you we'd take longer."

Dazai clicked his tongue. "No, you didn't. You questioned if fifteen minutes was enough time."

"Same thing."

"And I also chose too little time on purpose, stupid Veggie. When he calls, I'll be catching my breath and you'll be calling my name lovingly in the background!" He made a show of twirling on the spot. 

Tadashi narrowed his green eyes on him. "Dazai, are we fake dating or not. What's the point in making everyone think we're lovers if we're not going the whole way with the bit?" he demanded, looking like a very upset Veggie. 

Dazai shrugged. "If rumours start then rumours start!"

"We are quite literally fabricating the rumours. It's a yes or no question."

"Oh, fine! Jeez, so demanding!" he said.

Dazai stormed into the store, smirking at the annoyed huff he heard behind him from Shida. He made sure the camera wouldn't be able to even see his face mask, keeping his face down until he successfully unplugged it and the red dot vanished.

Shida was talking with the man behind the counter. 

"Look, kiddo. Yer obviously too young for me to sell this to ya." The worker was saying. "Ya may be covering yer face but yer innocent eyes are more than enough for me ta tell." He pointed at Shida's face.

Dazai would have snorted, but that would blow his silent facade. Shida was obviously faking it; his eyes were just as dark as Dazai's.

"All I'm asking for is one bottle. Is that too much to ask? Huh? You're denying a paying customer." Shida said, slamming the couple thousand yen Dazai had given him onto the counter. Iida's money came in handy after all.

The man pushed it toward him, shaking his head. "I'll lose me job. Get outta 'ere before I call the cops, kid." he looked at Shida like he was a puzzle he wanted to solve. Curious and interested, he wanted to find out what a kid was doing demanding alcohol.

Dazai stepped forward then, coming into view for both of them. He tugged on Shida's sleeve to signal he'd finished disabling the cameras, who nodded at him. 

"You and yer bud." The worker gestured to Dazai, who glared at him. The man took a half step back, easily intimidated by the glower of the Demon Prodigy.

They all were, like sheep being intimidated by the wolf.

Shida sighed and shoved the money back into his pocket, grabbing onto Dazai's arm and starting to walk out.

Dazai barely acknowledged the warmth from his touch anymore. It was something he easily got used to. Usually anything to do with change threw him off for a few hours at least. Not in any way that would impact his day to day life, but it made him feel w rong . More than the usual kind.

However, he'd accepted that touching Shida had changed into something more comfortable and almost cozy feeling like it was nothing at all. He'd readily welcomed it, if anything. Dazai knew Shida had, too. 

Freckles stopped and turned on his heel not even three steps later, storming back to the counter.

He released Dazai's arm and threw a punch at the unsuspecting worker, who slumped immediately with a grunt.

Tadashi hit a pressure point to make sure he wouldn't get up before they were done. He even went as far as propping the man up on his chair with his head in his arms so that when he awoke he would think for at least a few minutes that he had just fallen asleep.

They split up from there.

Dazai went behind the counter and grabbed a plastic bag to carry the items in, an expensive bottle of wine, vodka, two shot glasses and two wine glasses. 

Shida came back with two bottles of cheap saké. They would be set for about three months if they were reasonable with the beverages. 

They walked out of the store and threw away the disposable face masks two blocks away.

"Did you plug the camera back in once we were done?" Shida asked, taking off the hood when Dazai told him to. He threw it on the ground without much care, but he kept the hair pin in. 

Dazai sent him a raised eyebrow as he put his face bandages back on. Shida shrugged and said something about enjoying not having hair in his face.

Dazai took his own hoodie off, which still reeked of gunpowder and blood, passing it over to Shida with a wink. Shida rolled his eyes but put it on. "No, I didn't. He can find out it was unplugged by himself. Serves him right for leaving it so easy to access."

"Uh huh. Let's go get some limes as chasers." Shida said abruptly, already walking towards a mini food stall. Dazai smirked as he watched Shida pay for five of them. 

"Are we making a citrus drink or just using the limes?" Dazai questioned, leaning over Shida's shoulder. It was amusing how eager Shida was to start drinking. Dazai didn't have a clue why he even bothered pretending he didn't have a problem.

Tadashi put the fruits in the bag with the alcohol. "We'll just cut it into slices. Liquid chasers are for weaklings." He frowned at his own wording and glared at Dazai, no doubt thinking back to the day before when Dazai called him weak for crying. 

So quick to hold grudges.

Dazai gave him a smirk and walked into a small corner behind an empty stall, pulling his phone out and waiting for the class president's call. Shida stared at the screen with him, his eyebrows furrowed as he thought of what to say in the background. 

Osamu told him to call out to him lovingly, which was probably throwing him for a loop. Dazai thought it was funny how Tadashi got caught up on the smallest of details for something so unserious and insignificant. 

They didn't have to wait long for Iida's call, it came in exactly fifteen minutes after they had departed from the group. Dazai grinned at Shida, who nodded. They both had their mental scripts prepared, then. 

"Yellow?" Dazai asked when he pressed the answer button and put it on speakerphone. He swallowed, taking a few audible deep breaths through his nose. He was pretending to be out of breath, like he'd just had it stolen by a certain Veggie.

Iida's voice sounded irritated. "Dazai, where are you two? We're waiting at the spot, and we can't see either of you." Gosh, so uptight all the time. Surely it was exhausting to put up such a tiresome front.

Dazai chuckled, then sucked in another few harsh breaths. "Sorry, class prez. We're uh—we're gonna take a little longer than planned."

"What? Why, is something up?" Iida questioned. He sounded distant, which meant he also had speakerphone turned on. 

Shida put his acting skills to use. "Dazai," he sounded just as breathless as Dazai was pretending to be when he whispered near the phone to give the far-away effect. "What are you doing?" he asked. He looked to his partner, who smirked in amusement. 

"Ah, nothing. I'll just be a second, Shida." he mumbled, pulling a face at the phone.

Shida gave him a look that roughly translated to 'you look stupid'. Dazai decided to read it more as 'you're hilarious please be a comedian so I can be humoured for the rest of my life'. 

Kirishima spoke up next. He sounded like he was struggling not to laugh. "Whatcha guys doin'?" he snickered, giving into the laughter. There was a slap and a yelp, likely Uraraka's work. 

Dazai hummed blessedly into the speaker. "This and that. I've gotta go, we'll be another ten minutes." He spoke quickly, like he was in a hurry to return to what he was doing.

Tadashi frowned, pointing to the alcohol. He mouthed, 'Gotta cover it up. Change to fifteen.' Shida was lucky Dazai was good at reading lips. 

"Sensei expects us back at school soon—," Iida's voice carried on. 

'Ask for it then.' Dazai mouthed back, enjoying himself.

Shida's face went red and he looked like he was steeling himself up for the task. Dazai wanted to point and laugh. He would never show it if anyone else was around, but since it was just them his embarrassed expression was clear.

Although, he was never quite able to hide his blush even when they were around other people, which was quite amusing because Shida was perfectly aware he was flushing every time and tried to either hide it or act like it wasn't there.

It was the one thing he hadn't learned to mask.

Shida spoke softer, more provocatively just as Mori had taught them. "Dazai, come on. Can't you come now? Hang up the phone." he pleaded.

It would be cute if it were a woman begging.

But Shida was Shida... and it definitely was not working. Dazai was not a few more words from flushing.

"How could I resist you, hm?" Dazai muttered just loud enough that it sounded like he was whispering it close to Shida, when in reality the phone was only an inch away from his mouth. Then he spoke louder. "Deepest apologies class prez, we'll be a little longer than ten minutes."

There was laughing in the background, then Yaoyorozu's pitched voice came through. "How long will you two be then?" she squeaked, sounding humiliated. Gee, one would think she was the one pretending to be making out with her 'lover'.

He looked to his partner, who rolled his eyes but said it. "Fifteen." Shida croaked. He was seriously convincing. Dazai may have even been convinced if he were on the other line. 

On second thought, probably not. 

"Bye bye now!" Dazai hung up the phone and shoved it into his pocket. "Where to, Freckles?" he asked, placing his hands on his hips impatiently.

Shida looked unamused. "What's your deal with pretending to make out with me, anyway? There are other ways to make people think we're together—,"

"Hush now, Shida. Where's the fun in acting innocent? All I'm doing is spicing things up a little!" Dazai said, dragging Shida back out onto the street. "Besides, it's just 'over-exaggerate' ." he defended.

It was Shida's fault for going along with it, anyway. He could have just said 'no' and Dazai would've come up with something different. But no, Shida was too obedient to do that. Like a good guard dog.

"No, this is you over exaggerating 'over-exaggerate '. You're being a weirdo." Tadashi accused. He let himself be pulled. 

"That's not very nice of Veggie to say."

"It's not supposed to be, Sloth."

They walked around for the next fifteen minutes, picking up knick knacks for their room as they went. Shida was very picky about it and told Dazai 'no' to almost every item he picked up.

In the end, they got matching key rings, Shida got a broccoli, Dazai got a brownie with cartoon faces painted on them, gauze (Dazai also stole rope when Shida wasn't looking), and some room decorations that they chose.

A pencil holder, a framed picture of a cockroach and the stick-to-wall hooks to hang it up, and a fake plant so they could hide the shot glasses in the pot under the fake soil. They were gonna just stick the alcohol and wine glasses in a shoe box under the bed since they didn’t care if it was chilled.

It really didn't matter as long as the alcohol related items and beverages weren't in plain sight or in an obvious spot, like their mini refrigerator.

Dazai also picked up some more hair clips and two face masks because he wanted to take pictures of Shida in them to blackmail him with later. He wouldn't be putting them on himself, of course. 

Shida got a cologne to spray over the Best Jeanist jumper to cover up the smell of gunpowder and blood.

They did actually pay for all of the things they got because it would've been suspicious if they hadn't used any of the eighty thousand yen. 

Then they finally made their way back to the group.

--

To say Iida was unhappy was an understatement. Dazai laughed and teased him about being stuck up, which got him another lecture about why being nice is important.

"You're wearing Dazai's jacket." Uraraka noticed. "You guys are really cute!" She grinned at him knowingly.

It would seem she really had gotten over her feelings for Veggie. Good, then. That meant Dazai didn't have to gag every time he saw her looking at his partner longingly. It was getting quite ridiculous. Dazai didn't see the appeal in the slightest.

Shida nodded, doing the zipper on said jacket up and hiding his face in the raised collar like a turtle. "I was cold," he lied easily, seemingly just catching on to why Dazai had handed him the ugly thing earlier. "He gave it to me."

In reality, if Shida ever complained about being cold Dazai would probably... not probably, he would very much enjoy bragging about how warm he was in his jacket and not give it to him. Shida would get angry, and Dazai would laugh some more.

Yaoyorozu's eyes widened. "You aren't denying it anymore." she said, looking over the moon. She was a very compassionate girl, always happier for others than she was for herself when something good happened. It probably sucked to have such a personality.

Tadashi gave her a small sheepish smile that Dazai could see straight through and the girls squealed. 

"Oh, boy." Kirishima said, snickering. "You have no idea what you've just done. Mina's going to flip out over the fact she was right." He grinned approvingly at Dazai, who hummed but didn't grin back. No connections. 

Uraraka peered over Shida's shoulder, glancing into the bag in his hands. She wouldn't be able to spot the alcohol; they purposely got enough stuff so that not even a glimpse of it came through. "What did you guys get?" she asked.

Shida sniffed. "A couple things for our room." he paused, and his cheeks flushed. Dazai didn't think it was cute in the slightest. Nope. It was probably one of the ugliest things he'd ever seen! "And matching keychains."

Yaoyorozu gasped like he'd told her he'd just murdered her whole family. "Really? Kyoka and I haven't gotten matching keychains yet. Could you show me so I know what to get her?"

Freckles stuck his lips out but nodded. As he fished around in the surprisingly strong bag, he said, "Dazai and I's are based on nicknames, though. I'd just get her something that reminds you of her." He pulled out the two keychains and showed the girl. 

"A broccoli and brownie?" Uraraka asked. "They're super cute, but I don't get it."

Iida looked down at them like they were a difficult mathematics question. "I know Dazai calls Tadashi a vegetable all of the time, but I don't think I've heard Tadashi call Dazai anything other than a baby, an emo, and a sloth."

Dazai chuckled and walked up behind his now supposed boyfriend . He put the hood on his still-pinned back green and white hair and rested his arm on top of Shida's head. "That's because it's a sparsely used nickname."

Shida nodded. "I only use it on special occasions."

Kirishima looked like he didn't want to ask but was dying to know. "Are we allowed to find out?" he asked. For someone so innocent looking, he sure did have a dirty mind.

"Mm, I only call him brownie after we do something bad or if I'm seeing him again after a while." Freckles said, putting the keychains back into the bag. Then he added, "Or if I'm feeling like a sap." as an afterthought.

Shida only ever called Dazai 'brownie' after they'd either just done something completely inhumane together like slaughter an entire family, they were seeing each other after one of them was sent away on a mission, or if Shida was feeling extra emotional.

Shida claimed that it was originally just supposed to be a jab at his partner's hair colour in return for Dazai's teasing, and then he changed the reason to because Dazai enjoyed his specially crafted brownies with a sprinkle of cannabis, but then...

Shida started only using it once in a while.

Osamu hadn't been called brownie since their first night at UA.

"Something bad?" Iida prompted. "Like blowing up a toaster?"

"What—no. Have you been blowing up toasters, Iida?" Veggie questioned.

"Of course not." Ah, more blackmail for Dazai. Excellent.

"He totally has." Uraraka said, giggling. "We don't trust him in the kitchen anymore." She then laughed outright, clutching her stomach like it hurt.

Class Prez's face was bright red. "Can we return to my question please? What did you mean by bad?"

Shida shrugged. "Like breaking into private property for a good spot. Dazai's favourite fields are all private, but he likes going there because he says they remind him of his favourite thing."

The fields in Yokohama reminded him of how Shida looked when he used One for All. Shida didn't have to know that, and he never would. Dazai only liked it because it was familiar to him, it simply reminded him of the place he knew he could always return to.

Shida let him in, and Dazai was almost glad to be there. He wouldn't blame Tadashi if he one day realised Dazai was too fucked up even for him and leave, even with the stupid bond tying them together.

Uraraka sighed and collapsed into Yaoyorozu's arms. "When's it my turn?" Yaoyorozu laughed and pat her back comfortingly.

Iida sputtered. "That's your concern? They just admitted to breaking onto private property!"

Kirishima snorted, placing a hand on Iida's shoulder. "Yeah, but you gotta see the beauty in it! Tadashi is willing to go that far just to make Dazai happy!"

Dazai wouldn't go as far as 'happy'.

More like it gave him a serene feeling as opposed to the all-consuming emptiness that made even the thought of him being happy seem so distant that he gave up on experiencing the emotion long ago. Or something to that effect, anyway.

"Still, it's illegal and—,"

"No one said it was heroic or lawful. Just romantic!" Kirishima gave Dazai a knowing look. "Besides, I'm sure it only happened once or twice."

They went out to the fields all the time. Whenever they just couldn't bring themselves to return to Shida's apartment or wherever they'd been squatting, they laid out on the grass where no one knew where they were or even tried to bother them.

"Oh my goodness, I'm never getting through to any of you." Iida was only just realising, looking extremely exhausted. Yaoyorozu gave him an apologetic smile, while Dazai pointed and laughed.

Dazai poured Tadashi a shot of the vodka they had stolen a few hours earlier, handing it over. "I stole a man's expensive watch while we were walking around and gave it over as payment. That's how I got the broker to give me information." he said.

Tadashi shook his head. "No, you didn't. You tried that method, I'm sure. But something went wrong because you came back smelling like blood and gunpowder." he accused, taking the glass without thinking. 

Dazai grinned at him. "They led me to their little lair because the information I was looking for was 'too dangerous' to be spilled in public. The broker said he usually never handed out information—only collected it."

"Just tell me what you did and what you found out. Spare me the details." Tadashi said, knocking back the vodka. He grimaced and shoved the slice of lime into his mouth, sucking it dry. He chewed on the albedo for a few moments before discarding the slice onto the plate they'd taken from the kitchen. 

They also now had three knives under their pillows, one of them being the one they used to cut two limes up. 

Dazai blew raspberries. "Jeez, fine. I grabbed the gun from the guard at the door and shot him dead, then put it to the broker's neck. He told me that the League of Villains recently had a run in with the Metahuman Liberation Army."

Tadashi wasn’t surprised to hear Dazai had blown someone’s brains out. He was almost shocked he’d lasted so long without doing so. Not to mention they hadn’t hurt anyone but each other since their sparring with 1-B and when Tadashi kneed Kaminari in the stomach. "Which is?"

"Dunno. They were a secret organisation and almost no information is known. All the man knew is that they have over a hundred thousand people with them and now the leader of the League of Villains has taken over and renamed the company the 'Paranormal Liberation Front'." Dazai took a shot as well. 

"Their location?"

"Unknown. The broker reckons they'd have some hideout out in the mountains somewhere. Likely a mansion to house all of their people in the area, since the city they had been residing in collapsed during the run in."

"Great." Tadashi took another shot. He coughed a couple times. "So we'll have to track down a member likely to be living with the League of Villains."

Dazai nodded, filling up both of their glasses again. "So we will."

--

"Hey, hey. Shida, hey." Dazai poked Tadashi's cheek repeatedly. 

Tadashi swatted him away, groaning. "The hell do you want?" He was quite a few shots in, but he had lost count after number five. All he knew was that Dazai kept refilling his glass until they had drunk a third of the bottle.

"Do you think whales can fall in love?"

Tadashi narrowed his eyes on him. "Are you stupid? They're instinctive animals."

He pressed the back of his hands to his cheeks and his neck, feeling too hot in his own body. He was pretty sure the room was spinning, but that might have just been him.

Dazai whined irritatingly. "Did they tell you that? Huh, Shi-da?" He sounded out the nickname like it was an insult. It kinda was since it also meant 'fern', a jab once again at Tadashi hair colour. What did it matter if his hair was half green anyway? Better than red or blue.

Tadashi thought about his partner's words for a moment. Had someone ever told him that whales were instinctive? Probably. He didn't remember it, but it seemed likely enough. "I think so, ya." His words were slurring. It was pretty funny how his mouth lagged behind his thoughts.

"What are you laughing at? Shida's gone skitzofrenic." Dazai said the word wrong, but it also sounded corrected somehow. "Skitz—schots— schizophrenic. " He finally got there. "Also, how did they tell you they're instinctive? You a speaker or something?"

"Uhm, by telling me? You want me to explain how words work?" Tadashi questioned mockingly.

Dazai blinked at him. He'd taken off his face bandages after he complained they were too itchy. Tadashi could get lost in his eyes if he wasn't careful. "Whales don't speak. They whistle and make freaky calls to their friends. That's why I asked if you're a speaker. Of whales."

Tadashi's eyebrows dipped. He pushed them back up because it felt uncomfortable. "I didn't say they could speak." He grabbed the collar of his shirt and started to fan himself by pushing it away and close to him repeatedly. The air that was shoved to his face wasn't cold.

"Yes, you did. You said the whales told you they're instinctive." Dazai watched his hand move with slow interest.

"Wait, what? Are we— are we even talking about the same thing right now?" Tadashi asked, closing his eyes because they were heavy. They burned. He opened them back up and immediately got lost in Dazai's eyes. Oops. He was supposed to be careful.

Dazai wheezed, slapping a hand on Tadashi's knee. The touch was so warm. Tadashi laughed, too. He thought Dazai's laughing was contagious when it was genuine. "We're talking about whales being in love, stupid Shida." he mumbled, laughing again.

"Whale can't be in love, idiot. They're instinctive." Tadashi reached across Dazai and grabbed the A/C remote. He was getting too hot. Too uncomfortable.

He sighed blissfully as the cool air touched his skin.

Dazai's eyes widened. "Oh. Well, that's pretty sad. Imagine not being able to fall in love." he said, eyes widening further. It looked like it hurt. He gave a final pat to Tadashi knee before letting go.

"Why would that be sad?" Tadashi asked, reaching out to manually shut Osamu's eyes so that they would stop hurting. Dazai let him. "Oh, wait wait, is it because you fell in love with one?" he asked. It would be pretty sad to fall in love with a whale knowing it couldn't love you back.

"Did I fall in love?" Dazai parroted, looking very upset suddenly. He opened his eyes back up. "I think so. Maybe. I don't know, emotions are—are hard when they're real."

Tadashi hadn't ever thought of Dazai falling in love. To him, he was always a flirt but never seriously. "Yeah, I guess. That's why we don't tell anyone. It's our secret." he whispered, which got Dazai to chuckle. Tadashi grinned.

Dazai seemed to remember what they were talking about. He hiccupped. "I don't think he— she. I don't think she understands what I want. Maybe that's the problem." He looked sad again. Was it because he didn't know whether his lover whale was a boy or girl? That would be sad.

Tadashi reckoned he would like to know if he was gay or straight for a whale before making a move. Just to, you know, understand himself better. "Did you tell her what you want?" he asked. He took another shot and laughed at the burn.

Dazai huffed. "I think I remember doing that. Through, like, my body language and stuff." He bit into a slice of lime just for the sake of it. Such a weirdo. Tadashi thought it was kinda cute how he was sulking though. Only a kinda little.

That didn't make any sense.

"Maybe she's a lesbian." Tadashi said. "You can't change her if she's a lesbian, no matter how hard you try." For some reason, a lot of guys thought they could. It was embarrassing to hear something like that every time, from both the girl and the boy's perspective.

Dazai let out a belly laugh, which made Kenshiro giggle. "That isn't the problem. She's definitely into boys, too."

"A bisexual whale? That's cool. Wait, how'd y'know that?" Tadashi asked. He might have to do some research on whale sexuality.

Dazai smirked. "I see her checking out dudes all the time. She doesn't realise it herself, but I catch it."

"So... she's straight."

"Nuh uh, stupid. I see him lookin' at girls, too."

Tadashi was confused about the whale's gender.

Oh, maybe they were genderfluid, which was why Dazai kept switching from saying she and her to he and him. Could whales be genderfluid? Tadashi was starting to question all his knowledge on the creatures.

...Was that even how genderfluid-ness worked? He had no clue.

Tadashi hiccupped. It hurt his chest. "Just confess. They'll catch on eventually."

"I have. Sort of. And I only just realised I'm in love so I'm probably either going to try and kill myself in the morning or forget all of this."

"If you try to kill yourself, I'll kick your ass so hard you'll be stuck in Recovery Girl's office for so long you'll forget what the outside world looks like." Tadashi threatened, meaning every word. "How'd you only just realise you're in love if you've confessed, anyway?"

Dazai grumbled. "I don't know . I told you feelings are hard!"

Tadashi raised his hands in surrender. "Alright!" he said, then winced as his own volume hurt his head. "Just chill out. You probably won't remember this tomorrow anyway, you're wasted."

"I am?"

"Yes."

"Huh. That's nice."

"...M'kay. Don't hurt yourself thinking too much about it."

Tadashi sat with his laptop on the arm of the couch outside his room early Monday morning. He hadn't wanted to leave their dorm, but Dazai had insisted they really rub it in that they were 'together'. 

Dazai was lying on the couch with his arms wrapped around Tadashi's abdomen, his face shoved into his stomach. Why he would choose a position that was uncomfortable for both of them, Tadashi couldn't say.

Tadashi looked up from his laptop as Eraserhead walked up from behind him. He could tell who it was by the smell of coffee radiating off of him and the hesitance in his footsteps. 

"Tadashi, why are you looking up whether whales can fall in love or not?" Eraserhead questioned. What a wonderful opener. 

Dazai made a hum that sounded like he wanted to know, too.

On Sunday morning, it was revealed that Dazai didn't remember a single thing after his third shot. What a lightweight. Now Tadashi was stuck wondering whether or not all that talk happened for nothing by himself.

Tadashi closed the screen and put the device on the coffee table in front of him. "Research," he said. Apparently, whales could fall in love. Who would have thought? Not Tadashi. Seemed Dazai had a chance with his bisexual, genderfluid whale after all.

Eraserhead made a sound that likely translated to 'obviously', which flared up Tadashi's annoyance. "I want to talk to you boys about something," he said. Like that wasn't obvious, why else would he be addressing them?

"Oh, really?" Kenshiro mumbled sarcastically. Dazai laughed into his flesh, it was warm.

The man sighed. "Yes, really." Did he not understand sarcasm? God, Tadashi seemed to find more and more reasons not to like Eraserhead as the days passed. "We can talk here or in your room." he offered. How generous. 

Dazai huffed. The hot air almost made Tadashi shiver. "Just spit it out, Sensei." he said. His arms slightly loosened around Tadashi but the warm, fuzzy bliss didn't. 

Eraserhead walked around the couch so he could look them in the eyes like the creep he was. "There's been arrangements made regarding therapy for you two."

They both groaned. Way to ruin Tadashi's entire week. A few people around them chuckled.

"Seriously? I thought we got out of that!" Dazai whined loudly. 

"...I told you specifically that it's compulsory." 

"Boo! I'm not going."

Eraserhead ignored Dazai's complaints. "A professional worker will be coming in and visiting you two. The sessions will only be fifteen minutes long to start with and as you get to know her—,"

"Are we doing it together?" Tadashi questioned. 

The man shook his head. "No, you'll be going in one after the other. I'll talk to you more about it before you go in today." Oh god, it was happening already? They barely had any time to process it.

Dazai threw himself off the couch and muttered something about suicide that made Eraserhead pale.

The man was going to get not only extra glitter in his coffee, but some of the cheese Aoyama gave them with it. For at least three days in a row. Or weeks, depending on how nice the therapist was.

Bakugo, as usual, was being loud and annoying. Class had been just fine before he started screaming the most random shit ever.

It was always the same boring threats of murder. He wasn't creative in the least with his insults, he was almost as bad as Monoma. Another blonde Tadashi didn't like. 

So, as he was well within his rights to do so, Tadashi told him to shut it. "Bakugo, no one wants to hear your screaming. Who cares if Dazai is pulling faces? Be mature and ignore it." he said, glaring at Bakugo. 

The entire room went silent, as it always did whenever someone even dared to question Bakugo. They all acted wary of him as if he actually had the balls to do something. "Don't fucking call me that." Bakugo spat. He wasn't at all as scary as he thought he was.

Tadashi blinked at him. "What, your name? What's next, is my breathing pissing you off, too?" Tadashi questioned. Recently, the angry boy had been targeting his bandages, rolled up sleeves, eyebags, white hair, and even the way he walked. Now he couldn't even say his name. 

He wasn't in the mood to put up with Bakugo. His first therapy session had been during lunch, and it sucked. The lady was nice and all, but it got to the point he felt like he was melting from impatience. Then, she had him draw.

Fucking draw a picture. Like a kindergartener. 

"You wanna fucking go, Deku?!" Bakugo demanded, turning around in his seat. 

Tadashi moved to stand up, "You know what—,"

"I already have enough dealing with you and Dazai brawling like children. You and Bakugo can get along or you'll have detention." Midnight interrupted. Bakugo turned back around like the coward he was. Tadashi did not.

He kept his hands braced on the desk and sat at the edge of the seat. He looked over at Dazai, who was grinning at Tadashi in a flirty way. 'You wanna dip?' he mouthed.

Midnight was looking between the two of them with her mouth popped open. She had a thing for kids in relationships. She apparently loved the drama. 

Tadashi looked at her, then back to Dazai, and then around the room where everyone was looking at him. He nodded.

Dazai was out of his chair the very next moment, already sprinting out the door with his bag slung over his bag. The brownie keychain jingled as he left.

Kenshiro followed a second after, not bothering to put his notebook in his bag. He ran out with it in his hands.

Midnight yelled after them that they both had a detention with her the next day. Neither of them cared. It wouldn't be their first, anyway.

--

"Bakugo, you really needa learn how to reign in that temper." Kirishima said. "You almost had to join Tadashi and Dazai in detention."

They were all on their way back to the dorms, about four metres away from the steps leading to the doors. Kirishima, Bakugo, Dazai and Tadashi were the only ones out since everyone else had raced ahead before them.

"Why would I get detention when Deku was the one pissing me off?!" Bakugo shouted, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Kirishima sighed in defeat, Tadashi didn't blame him.

Tadashi stared at the back of Bakugo's head until he turned around. He had a thing for sensing stares and barking like a beast at anyone he caught. "Heyya, Bakugo." Tadashi took his hands to the back of his head so that Dazai could rest his hand on his bicep.

The blonde had a vein popping out of his neck. "Don't fucking call me that." he grumbled, looking as angry as usual.

Dazai cocked his head. "You seem to hate your own name quite a bit." he commented, smirking at the pissed off look he received. He was always a shit stirrer, no matter who it was he was riling up.

"No one was talking to you, Bandages." he spat, taking his hands out of his pockets just to show they were steaming. "Mind your own goddamn business."

His nicknames were just as bad as his threats. "Kirishima's right, you know. You coulda ended up in big trouble." Tadashi said, mock sympathetically. "Which would have been the end of the world, right? Can't have the big, bad Bakugo facing consequences."

Kirishima paled at being brought into the argument. "I—I didn't mean it like that! Wait please don't blow meupimsorry—" He raised his hands to cover his face just as Bakugo sent an explosion his way.

Dazai whistled. "My, what a temper!" he said, clapping in a sarcastically impressed motion. "Very heroic of you, Bakugo."

"Shut the hell up." Bakugo said. However, he didn't blow up at the use of his family name.

Tadashi raised an eyebrow. "You don't care when he calls you by your name, but you care when I do? You want me to call you princess to fit your needs?" he questioned. Dazai chuckled.

Kirishima stepped in, "C'mon, we're so close to homebase! Let's just go back to the dorms—,"

"You wanna fight you piece of shit? Fuck you, Deku!" Bakugo shouted. "And your stupid fucking boyfriend!"

"Bakugo, cut it out before Aizawa Sensei gets here and you actually end up in detention." The redhead was close to begging. Tadashi could see it on his face. "I get you're a bit emotional at the moment and that's totally understandable—,"

Bakugo scowled at him, effectively silencing him. "I'm not emotional." he growled. Like a wild beast in need of putting down. Tadashi was more than able to do it for him. 

Kaminari's head popped out from inside the dormitory. "Come on, Ka-cchan! We're playing games and you'll miss it!" he called, already disappearing into the building. The door was shut before anyone could reply.

Something clicked in Tadashi. "Kacchan." he mumbled. 

Their classmates tensed at the same time. 

Ah, but what would be the reason for Kirishima and Bakugo to be nervous over Tadashi using the silly nickname if it didn't have anything to do with his non-existent memories and the 'past' he had at UA?

That was it. The reason Bakugo was so pissy about being called by his own name. Kacchan must have been the nickname Tadashi had for Bakugo back before he was kidnapped and taken to Yokohama. 

Dazai stared down at Tadashi, realisation dawning at the same time. Tadashi could see it in his empty eyes that he'd come to the same conclusion.

"That's cute. It's the start of your given name with 'chan' at the end. Where'd he get that idea from?" Tadashi asked, playing the clueless card. He wanted to see how far he could get before someone spilled the beans. 

For a moment, tears welled in Bakugo's red eyes. It was gone the next. "If you don't know, then don't fucking call me that." he said, sounding calmer than Tadashi had ever heard him be.

Kirishima looked like his heart had just cracked. "Let's go inside now, guys. I don't wanna miss out on the games." he turned around and walked up the steps. Bakugo followed him, looking like a kicked puppy putting on a brave face.

Dazai watched them leave, Tadashi watched his face as he did. He wasn't bothering with his fake smiles and jokes; he hadn't even teased Bakugo. He was sulking like a child over a silly nickname.

"Deku and Kacchan, huh?" he looked down at Tadashi. "Must've been quite the pair."

Tadashi took a deep breath to stop himself from laughing. "Relax. I'm sure we were just close friends in middle school or something." He wouldn't laugh at Dazai being jealous of something so small. He was very tempted to, though.

Dazai rolled his eye. "Not like you would remember it, would you?" he muttered. 

"Exactly. Don't be a baby about something I don't even remember." Tadashi dragged him inside. He let himself laugh that time, unable to stop himself. 

Dazai went for his neck, hands wrapping around it tightly and lifting him to his toes. Tadashi leaned backwards so that they collapsed, both of them ignoring the shouts of surprise and concern around them.

Kenshiro smiled at his partner's annoyed expression and he wrapped his legs around Dazai's waist, throwing his weight to the side so he could flip them over. "My, what a temper." he teased, parroting Dazai's earlier words to Bakugo.

"Shida should be more original than that." Dazai said, moving his hands from Tadashi's neck to his hair, pulling on it aggressively. 

Tadashi yelped, grabbing Dazai's wrist and attempting to pry him off. "Who's the one pulling the oldest trick in the book? Rumours are going to start about how much you like to tug on hair."

Dazai chuckled. "So filthy." He threw Tadashi off him, and Tadashi managed to find an opening to kick him in the stomach. 

That was as far as they got before they were pulled off each other. 

The feeling of hands around his arms, keeping him pinned to the ground, made him sick in the stomach. It felt nothing like the blissful warmth he got from Dazai's touch. He shoved the hands off of him.

"Don't fucking touch me." he shouted, not caring who had done it or if he got in trouble for it. "Keep your goddamn hands to yourself." he said, keeping his gaze firmly on his door so that he didn't have to look at anyone. 

He ripped it open and slammed it shut behind him, inhaling deeply at the scent of lavender and honey he got from the room. Their hair wash scents mixed in the air and stayed, no matter how long they kept their window open. It was nice.

He heard Dazai raising his voice through the closed door, sounding like the Demon Prodigy commanding his troops as he told them to move away. There weren't any sounds of retching, so that meant Tadashi had been manhandled and Dazai had just been cornered. 

No Longer Human still made class 1-A sick at even the slightest brush of Dazai against them, whether it was a shove of the shoulder or an accidental brush of a hand.

"Feel better, Emo?" Tadashi asked once the brunette stepped into their room.

Tadashi caught the tail end of Mineta saying something about hate sex and he popped his head out the doorway to flip the twerp off before slamming the door closed. "What a freak." he mumbled. He was so obsessed with sex it made Tadashi want to gag.

Dazai huffed, flopping onto the bed with his arms and legs spread out in a starfish position. "Everything today sucked, Veggie! Therapy, class, Mr Demon, and the spikey TNT who doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut."

"Oh no. We'll have to have some saké to help you feel better."

Dazai snorted into his pillow. "Shida's the worst alcoholic out there. I only just recovered from my hang over from Saturday." he complained.

Tadashi rolled his eyes, already turning on the A/C. He got hot far too easily when he got drunk. "You'll live. We won't get absolutely shit faced this time." he half-promised. 

"I told the therapist lady you're the reason I drew a noose."

"Yeah, well I told her you're the reason I drew a corpse." Tadashi retorted, telling the truth. He knew Dazai was too, because it was a hundred percent something he would do. "Guess we're around each other too often. We accidently do the same tricks."

Dazai slowly sat up like a seal on a rock. "Not too often. I find it quite amusing when we don't even have to communicate to pull the same stunt."

Yeah, he would find something like that funny. Tadashi dove under the bed and pulled out the shoe box that stored the two glasses of Japanese Wine. "Which saké bottle do you want? There's a green and white one."

"Just give me one, Shida."

Tadashi huffed and complied. "You're lucky you're my 'boyfriend'. Otherwise, I would have kicked your ass out there." he said, just for good measure. 

Dazai mimicked his words as he cracked open his bottle.

Chapter Text

All Might walked into Aizawa's office unannounced, looking a little frazzled.

"...All Might," Aizawa greeted warily. "Do I dare question your presence?" he asked, putting down the paperwork he had in the hands. It was the documents and finding regarding Tadashi's x-ray results. 

All Might sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. "Aizawa, how is therapy going along for those two boys?" he asked, looking exhausted. Aizawa didn't need names to know he was speaking of Tadashi and Dazai.

Aizawa frowned at him. "They're going fine. They've only had one session."

"How'd it go?"

"Dazai drew a noose. Tadashi drew a dead body."

"Aha... I see."

Aizawa leaned back in his chair. "All Might, what is it?" he questioned. "Something tells me you have something more to say other than just small talk."

All Might looked affronted. "You consider asking how my students are doing in therapy small talk?" he asked.

"From you? Yes." Aizawa countered. "If that was all you wanted to talk about you'd've sent me a text asking the same thing. Yet here you are standing in front of me." All Might wasn't the type to go out of his way for simple questions like that. He preferred to talk face to face when he wanted to discuss something serious, otherwise he'd send a message.

Aizawa wasn't in the mood to deal with chasing.

All Might gave a wonky smile. "Ah, you got me." he said like he didn't know Aizawa was perfectly aware. "I just... I grow more concerned for them every day. Their mental health only seems to be declining."

Aizawa folded his hands on his desk, sitting up straight. Now that was something he was interested in. "Pray tell, All Might." he encouraged. "I've noticed some things myself, and I'd be pleased to cross reference with you."

There was just so much when it came to Dazai and Tadashi. So much.

"Oh! Yes yes, of course!" All Might sat on one of the loveseats in the room. "Wow, I'm very glad you're able to do this and you agreed so readily. I was worried you'd kick me out." he laughed nervously. His grin faltered and he took on a rather guilty look. "...Sorry about that."

Aizawa didn't give a damn what All Might's thoughts were on what he predicted or his opinions. He wanted to know what he knew.

"All Might, give me one thing you've noticed so far. Just one." he prompted, grabbing a notebook and pen just in case.

All Might cleared his throat. "Hem hem. Well, for starters they very obviously have serious depression, anxiety, PTSD, and even co-dependency. I pin pointed that the moment they woke up in the hospital. When I was there for it, that is." He added as an afterthought.

Aizawa nodded. "Has anyone told you of their findings regarding Dazai's body?" he asked. He hoped not. While he was sure Dazai didn't actually care if anyone knew what lay beneath his bandages and only wore them for himself, he was also sure he didn't want his scarring to be a regular topic of discussion.

The blonde man's eyes bugged. "Dazai's body?" he questioned, almost shooting out of his chair. "I- I know of past breakages and whatnot, if that's what you're referring to."

Ah, right. The results from the x-rays that came through. Dazai had had both arms broken, his nose, and his right leg. How his nose was in prefect condition after not healing properly, Aizawa would never know. 

Aizawa shook his head. brushing a hand through his black hair. "I hoped that was the case. No, I'm not talking about his x-ray. I'm talking about his scars. I'm not going into detail; this is Dazai's personal business. But there are past wounds on that boy's body that only confirm that they were in an underground group."

All Might paled. "You don't mean branding, do you?" he asked, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. 

Aizawa eyed it. "No. I mean literal scars from lethal weapons." he paused for a moment. "Tadashi has them, too." Although of a different variety. The only one they really had in common were the dog bites, no doubt the cause for their PTSD.

Kiara Kiyomi, the therapist hired for the two boys was aware of their undiagnosed conditions. She said that just from one session her quirk: Knowing, picked up on a lot of repressed emotions from Tadashi, and Dazai showed the same signs (but obviously her quirk didn't work on him).

While Aizawa did warn them about the quirk and said they were free to ask for another therapist with a different quirk or different skills, they declined rather flatly and claimed it would be as bad with her as it would be with anyone else.

Who was the man to say no to that? They knew what her quirk entailed, they just didn't care.

"Have they shown you?"

"No. And I would never ask them to." Aizawa replied without hesitance. Privacy was always respected as long as no one was in danger. "Mineta walked into Tadashi and Dazai's shared room, and Dazai was shirtless. Koda saw Tadashi's scarring in the changing rooms."

All Might nodded. "May I ask why they thought to tell you?" he said it without any underlining meaning. Aizawa took offense anyway.

"Because even if their methods seem out of touch and nosey, my students care deeply for their classmates. They told me because they thought I would have a way to help them, and the incident on Friday only added fuel to the flame. All of them have come to me asking questions, mostly in tears." He informed All Might, who looked like he'd expected that.

"I understand. Will this discussion be helping them?"

"Any information you find relevant, tell me. I am their legal guardian and I have direct contact with their therapist. I'm only telling you what I am because eventually, once Tadashi gains back his memories he'll see you as his mentor again. You need to be prepared for that moment."

All Might's smile was bittersweet. "You think so?"

What a stupid question. "I know so, All Might. Don't be ridiculous."

A long, exhausted sigh came from the blonde. "...Aizawa, what do you think those boys would have to say about us discussing them like this? Discussing their bodies, their health..." he trailed off, sputtering blood onto his palm. 

Aizawa inhaled. The air was cold. "Truthfully, I doubt they would say much." What they would be thinking was a whole nother story. Tadashi and Dazai managed to hide their thoughts and feelings perfectly well nearly all the time. Even with only a single person audience.

He didn't dare to think where they learned such skills. Or where Tadashi's knife scar came from. Or Dazai's bullet scars. Or their matching dog bite scarring. Let alone where they learned to fire a gun or why. He didn't dare send himself down that horrible road of thinking and pondering. 

Kiyomi was aware of their mental and physical conditions. Aizawa trusted her to step in where he wouldn't. Couldn't. Aizawa would not be able to handle thinking of what happened to his student. The guilt was already too much and kept him up. 

He could no longer go to sleep sober. At least one beer or glass of some type of alcohol a night. 

...He hadn't been in such bad shape since Oboro died. Well, he had been before. But it was after Oboro's orange cat died that he spiralled again, when he lost one of the only reminders of his friend. That felt like he'd lost Oboro for the second time. 

Aizawa put his hair up in a ponytail, suddenly far too hot in the cold room. Under and behind his eyes prickled with the very beginning warning signs of approaching tears. "Tadashi and Dazai are gradually beginning to gain not only a bit of weight, but some muscle."

All Might beamed at him, relief spreading through his body visibly. "That's wonderful! I was thinking Young Tadashi's cheeks look more grown into!"

Eraserhead shook his head, writing something down. Those two boys barely ate anything at all, and yet they were visibly gaining weight. "Yes, it's good their slowly on the path to recovery. However," Aizawa held the notebook up for All Might to see his large handwriting. "For the past couple of weeks, they've only had one full meal. The rest were pieces of fruit at a time with nutrition jellies."

"If anything, that should be making them sicker." All Might's realisation of the implications was showing on his skinny face.

He looked pale and afraid, and he was rightfully so.

Aizawa nodded. "By the looks of it, they were living on one or two meals every few days." If he had to guess he'd say it were cheap, unhealthy food too, but he didn't say that aloud. He had no way of confirming unless it came from one of the boys' mouths.

The two adults sat in uncomfortable and heavy atmosphere, each left to their own thoughts. 

For Aizawa, that meant mentally reviewing every word they'd just shared. Repeating his process of trying to avoid thinking of what happened to Izuku Midoriya while he was under the influence of Turn Back and actively failing completely. 

He was so lost in his thoughts, so lost in thinking about their eyebags and snappy personality. Tadashi was so far from the muscly, bubbly kid he once knew. Aizawa almost jolted when All Might spoke again. 

"What do we do when Young Dazai figures it out?" he asked suddenly. 

Aizawa exhaled aggressively through his nose, scratching it with his fingernails a little too hard. "You sound confident it'll be Dazai and not Tadashi."

"...They said they were going to do research. That Young Tadashi had already figured out his name had 'Mido' in it from what people have mistakenly called him. Monoma apparently made remarks about his changing as well." All Might fiddled with the fabric of the loveseat beneath him. "I fear they're a lot smarter than they look. What they seem."

How had he not known that? He pinpointed their mental illnesses the moment he laid eyes on them but couldn't see their intelligence?

"I have a terrible feeling that Dazai will figure it out sooner than anyone is ready for him to. He won't be ready, Tadashi certainly won't be, and neither will we."

Aizawa sat back in his chair. "All Might, this is a fifteen year old we're talking about. Yes, Dazai is a supposed prodigy." he didn't point out how he was claimed to be the devil's prodigy, "But he's still a kid. Do you have any idea how much he will deny deny deny what he'll come to learn?"

All Might frowned at him. "I'm afraid I'm a little lost." he admitted. 

"Osamu Dazai the suicidal, depressed, hormonal, suppressing-emotions teenager is going to find out his world was literally made up. Non-existent. That everyone he'd ever known or respected was never there in the first place." Aizawa waited for the look of realisation to return on All Might's face before continuing. 

"Even worse, the people who hurt him never existed. He's about to learn that essentially, his suffering didn't happen. What he survived didn't happen. No one in his world remembers him because there is no one to remember him. Except for Tadashi, who will also be forced to realise everything he went through never 'happened'. Not really."

All Might looked ready to barf. "I hadn't thought of it that way." he confessed, sounding horribly guilty. 

Aizawa could relate to that on a spiritual level. "To answer your question, Toshinori," the use of All Might's name felt foreign on his tongue, "When Dazai figures out what Turn Back is, he will no doubt deny it. Try everything in his power to find another explanation. Because while he is very good at pretending otherwise, he is still a child. An overwhelmed child."

A child that had survived through more than what most adults would be able to handle. Aizawa didn't know a single detail of what that kid went through, but he knew that both he and Tadashi were survivors. He didn't have a doubt about it. 

"Eventually, he will face the truth. Eventually, his world will come tumbling down. That's just the inevitable." Aizawa stood up and walked in front of All Might, who stared up at him with just as much determination on his face that Aizawa felt. "It's our job to help them through it. To make sure they are not alone."

All Might nodded. 

Shouta demanded verbal confirmation. 

"I understand. Thank you, Aizawa."

"Mmhm. Now get out of my office."

All Might gave a half-hearted chuckle as he complied.

Chapter Text

Tadashi grabbed onto Dazai's shoulder and turned him forcefully. "Dazai, what's wrong?" he asked.

He didn't understand why his partner was ignoring him. Had he done something wrong? He truly was in the dark. He wanted to fix the problem, but he wasn't sure how.

"Dazai, just look at me. Why are you being so stubborn?" he pleaded, his grip tightening. 

Dazai finally opened his eyes to stare at him. They were so empty, but they were so full. They were angry and betrayed. Tadashi's heart felt pierced. "You don't deserve me." he growled, backhanding Tadashi. 

Tadashi grabbed a fist of Dazai's shirt and pulled him until they were eye level. "What is your problem? What are you doing, trying to run away like this?" he demanded.

Was Dazai trying to run away? He didn't know. He just wanted to know what was going on.

The words were spilling out of him by themselves, before Tadashi could even think of them. 

Dazai scowled so forcefully that Tadashi was almost tempted to release him. "You're the problem, Tadashi." The use of his name made Kenshiro's heart drop and shatter. "You're always the problem, aren't you?" his voice raised to a shout.

Tadashi stared at him like he didn't know who was standing in front of him. This wasn't his Dazai, was it? Surely not. "What the hell did I do for you to be treating me like this?" he shouted back, anger flaring rapidly.

Dazai laughed coldly, his scowl deepening. "You killed me, Tadashi. I trusted you and you slaughtered me! Left me for dead!" he accused, pushing Tadashi's hand away from his shirt as blood pooled through it.

Tadashi stared at the crimson, abashed. "I—no, you're still alive. I fell asleep with your hands in my hair!" he screamed. "What are you talking about? Dazai, just spit it out!"

Dazai chuckled. It echoed through Tadashi's skull painfully. "I bet you wish that were true, huh? That I wanted to be your boyfriend, whether it was pretend or not." he mocked. "You're disgusting, fantasising about me after you murdered me."

Tadashi felt himself flush in spite of the situation. "Dazai, you're very much alive. You're standing right in front of me."

"Am I?" Dazai questioned. He slowly started to undo the buttons of his white blouse, showing off his bare torso that was usually covered with gauze. There was a wound going from the middle of his heart down to his belly button.

It matched the wound Tadashi had before it scarred over. He rubbed his own chest, seething. "Dazai, who did this? How are you still standing after losing so much blood?" he asked, gently reaching out to touch the gaping wound. 

Dazai slapped him away. "You did."

"What?"

"I was stabbed, and you stood there and did nothing. You watched it happen from not even five metres away, like a coward." Dazai spat, throwing his blood-stained shirt onto the ground. "It was our third mission together, and you left me for dead."

Tadashi's mind froze completely. No, this isn't how it went. Tadashi took the hit for Dazai on their third mission together, he saved his life and almost lost his own. 

"That's what you think." Dazai said, smirking cruelly at Tadashi. "That's the story you made up. In reality, I bled out in that warehouse and you couldn't do anything to stop it because you're that useless."

Tadashi felt something warm drip down his face. He slapped a hand to his nose and it came away with blood. Why was he having a nosebleed all of a sudden?

"You are responsible for my death, Tadashi. You could have saved me, but you didn't."

"No, I did! Dazai, I would never let you get hurt like that!" Tadashi continued staring at his hand with increasing panic. Why was that happening? 

"Then why am I dead?" Dazai asked sweetly, gently tilting Tadashi's chin up so he was forced to make eye contact. He was forced to see the hatred in them. "Why am I rotting in that warehouse, Tadashi dear?"

Tadashi swallowed thickly, tasting his blood on his lips from where it dripped. "You're not. You're still alive, you're in bed with me asleep—,"

Dazai's face dipped down, and he pressed his lips against Tadashi's. Kenshiro froze, heat shooting up his body as he realised what was going on.

The kiss was no more than a delicate peck.

Dazai's mouth was cold. Like a dead body.   He moved back a little the next moment.

"I am," he whispered, the movement in his lips making them just barely make contact again. 

Tadashi salivated thinking of what it would be like to have Dazai giving him more than a peck, but he didn't get to dwell on it long before Dazai was crumbling to the ground, blood spurting from his mouth and wound.

Kenshiro yelped and crashed to his knees, applying pressure to the gash. "Dazai, you're gonna be fine. We're gonna wake up and you'll be an annoying prick like always—,"

"I fucking hate your guts. How could you ever think otherwise, Tadashi?"

And then, Dazai went limp. His head lolled and his eyes reverted back to the blank Tadashi was so used to, but Tadashi had never been so terrified to see it.

"Dazai? Dazai, wake up!" He grabbed his partner by the shoulder, but no matter how much he shook, he remained cold and limp. "Are you fucking serious? All this time together and you actually just leave me?" he demanded, tears dripping down onto his hands as he began CPR.

He felt ribs crack beneath his hands, but he knew that sometimes happened. He kept going, and going, and going. Pushing and pushing. Even when it seemed like his arms were about to fall off.

Eternity passed, and Dazai remained dead. No pulse, no breathing. No hatred, no stupid jokes, no nothing. 

Tadashi let out a scream that came from so deep inside him it rattled his chest.

He sobbed over his dead partner's body, wishing he had done something to prevent it. Or at least, made his life a little better. Made him think at least once that maybe life was worth living.

But he hadn't even had the balls to acknowledge his feelings.

When he first realised he had fallen bad for Dazai, it was in Mori's office after he'd woken up on the gurney with bandages covering his itching chest. Dazai was there, sleeping on the visitor's chair and looking like he hadn't left once.

It made Tadashi's heart swell, but he refused to humour it.

All of Dazai's flirting was a joke and he hated the idea of ever being tied down, so Tadashi stuffed his feelings so far down it was only resurfacing because his love was fucking dead in his arms.

Was his heart breaking? It felt like it. It seemed impossible for anyone not to hear it crumbling violently behind his ribcage, the shards stabbing through his chest as he cried.

Tadashi startled awake so violently he threw himself off the bed. He clutched his hammering chest, digging his nails into skin as the pain of a broken heart returned. He gasped his breaths though, his head growing light. 

Warm hands were clutching his shoulders aggressively, shaking him back and forth. 

Tadashi shoved them away.

Dazai was fucking dead.

The hands returned, more insistently clawing at his shoulders.

Holy shit, what was Tadashi going to do without him? Dazai was the one thing in his life he tried to sink his teeth into and he was dead. 

Tadashi gagged as he ripped the hands off him.

How did it happen? Tadashi had saved Dazai on their third mission. How could he have died like that—

"Shida, this is why you don't have a girlfriend." A familiar voice said near his ear.

Tadashi jolted and his head snapped towards Dazai, who looked fine if not a little ruffled.

"Aha, is that all it took for you to regain your senses? Bringing up your lack of love life?" Dazai teased. He looked very much alive indeed. There was no hatred in his eye, just the usual bleakness. Tadashi had never been happier to get lost in it. 

Because Dazai was alive and he was teasing Tadashi, not telling him how much he hated him or blaming him for his death. Which clearly hadn't happened, but just to be sure...

Tadashi slowly reached out and brushed his fingertips against Dazai's jugular. 

Dazai blinked down at him. "Are you testing to see where my arteries are to make sure you don't miss when you kill me?" he questioned with complete seriousness. "I knew I shouldn't have let you steal the kitchen knives."

Kenshiro gave Dazai an almost-smile, the very corners of his lips turning. He pressed down harder and didn't bother trying to hide the slump of relief as he felt an unmistakable pulse. "Too late," he croaked. "I'm already plotting murder."

"Ha-ha," Dazai said sarcastically. He didn't question why Tadashi was checking his pulse further, since it wasn't the first time Tadashi had woken up thinking he'd died because of a nightmare. It had been the first in a while. "You look gross."

Tadashi was suddenly acutely aware of how sweat ridden he was.

He licked his lips as he thought of something to say and was reminded of how dream-Dazai had kissed him for a split moment. Then he paused when he tasted the coppery flavour on his tongue. 

He moved his hand from Dazai's neck to his own nose. He didn't let the surprise show on his face, but he was shocked to see it come away with blood. He hadn't just been dreaming of the nosebleed, then. What else hadn't he just dreamed of?

The line between reality and his nightmare blurred with panic as he remembered how angry Dazai was that Tadashi hadn't saved him.

He knew logically that that hadn't been Dazai, just a figment of his imagination coming to taunt him. But the thought was too much. 

"Take your shirt off." Tadashi blurted out, shoving his face into his hands.

He felt the flush crawling its way up his neck to his cheeks and the way it intensified as he thought of why it was there in the first place. But he wasn't going to allow himself to dwell on his feelings until he knew everything was alright.

Dazai gave a laugh of disbelief. "Shida wants me to take my shirt off for him? What a perv." he sniggered, making no move to comply with Tadashi's wishes.

Tadashi groaned. "Just take it off. I need to see the scars." he half pleaded.

What if there was one matching with Tadashi there and dream-Dazai hadn't been lying when he said that Tadashi hadn't saved him that day in the warehouse?

At that moment it seemed possible that his mind had mixed them up.

"No."

"I will rip it off your goddamn body, I do not care."

"Psh, yeah right. Shida doesn't have that much strength without One for All."

Tadashi raised an eyebrow and grabbed Dazai by his collar with both hands. "You gonna do it yourself or will you make me do the work?" he asked, not caring either way as long as he could see whether Dazai had the goddamn scar or not. 

Dazai tilted his head and stared at the hands with little interest. Tadashi had his answer, then. 

He ripped the clothing, using the desperation he had to find his answers to fuel his arms into having enough strength.

His arms were muscly but thin since he hadn't exactly had the diet he needed to build a healthy body. It was enough since Dazai's shirt gave way without much resistance. He then pushed the gauze there out of the way just enough so he could see the skin.

There were a few bullet scars, the dog bite, and a few knicks here and there from knife fights, but other than that he was clear. He didn't have a deep, ugly scar going from his heart to his belly button like Tadashi did. 

Dazai whistled as Tadashi breathed out in relief. "Shida can be so feisty to get what he wants." he said, smirking. It wasn't nearly as cold or cruel as the one dream-Dazai gave Tadashi. 

"I warned you." Tadashi slowly got off the floor, frowning as the room spun just as he gained his footing. "I'm gonna go wash m'face." he mumbled, words slurring. 

Dazai also rose from the floor, his expression unreadable. "If you get too dizzy and faceplant, I'm gonna take a photo and set it as my background." he threatened, hands on his hips like an upset parent. 

Tadashi rolled his eyes and waved him off with a 'shoo' motion of his hand. He was too disoriented to really process anything other than the fact Dazai was alive.

--

Tadashi had enough time in the silence of their bathroom to organise his thoughts properly. He sat on the toilet lid, his hands over his face as he remembered how desperately he wished for a second chance with Dazai after he collapsed to do things right. 

It was still early enough in the winter morning that the sun hadn't begun to rise, which only made his antsy feelings rise.

During their third mission, Dazai ran out of bullets and was almost taken out by a knife. That was the moment Tadashi developed One for All, and he threw himself in the way to save Dazai and so he got seriously injured.

He passed out a few minutes later due to blood loss, and when he awoke in Mori's office on a gurney with stitches across his chest, Dazai revealed he'd dragged Tadashi to Hirotsu, who then called Mori down to save him.

Tadashi had realised he was in love with that boy back then, but he looked into Dazai's empty eyes and realised he would never be loved back. So, he's shoved it all down. He forced himself to forget he'd ever faced his feelings and went on to become Dazai's partner in crime.

But he still had feelings. Feelings that were only growing as Dazai slowly but surely opened up to him like a flower blooming in spring. His colours, the one not even Dazai knew were there, were starting to show and Tadashi clung to them like he'd never clung to anything else.

He loved Dazai. He loved his stupid jokes, his goofy facade, his serious facade, his pout, his singing, his humming. Tadashi loved Dazai's scars, his flaws, his weaknesses. He loved it all so much it hurt to think about. 

Tadashi didn't have to look in the mirror and stare into his shitty reflection to know he was blushing. He always was whenever he was with Dazai, and now he knew why. 

He thought back to every obvious clue that he had feelings for Dazai. 

Back when Dazai had stolen Eraserhead's beer, Tadashi found out by shoving his face in Dazai's neck when he could have reasonably just checked the mini fridge first. 

He got so pissed off when Dazai whispered in Kaminari's ear that he kneed the blonde to the point he was left black and blue in the stomach. While his hits being harsh was nothing out of the ordinary, he'd done it out of jealousy. Of a fucking Pikachu. 

He'd never gotten jealous of the girls that Dazai flirted with since it was such a common occurrence and he knew that Dazai was incapable of loving anyone. Well, he thought he knew, but that was because he convinced himself of that fact before shutting out his feelings.

But he wasn't so sure anymore. 

Maybe now he was acknowledging his feelings, he was taking every action Dazai had ever taken too seriously. Every brush of skin in private, every time Dazai let Tadashi in and touch his scars, his hair, his right eye. 

But that could just be because they were partners. 

Fuck, Tadashi didn't know anything anymore.

He was in love with Dazai. It felt so amazing to finally understand why he acted the way did and know it wasn't just because Mori wanted them to be close.

But it was also terrifying since Tadashi now knew he truly couldn't live without him. Dazai was the one thing from the port mafia Tadashi couldn't bear to lose. Dazai was the only reason Tadashi hadn't gone insane in that shit hole.

What was Kenshiro to do when Dazai really did die? And fuck, what if he died by his own hand because Tadashi failed to reach out to him?

Did everyone in love feel so wonderful yet pathetic? It sucked. 

Everything was suddenly so confusing when just a few hours ago everything when it came to him and Dazai made sense. 

They were officially fake dating, and that was that.

But the flutters Tadashi'd gotten from dream-Dazai's lips, as cold as they were... he didn't want it to be fake dating. He couldn't. Not anymore. 

Over-exaggerate was fine and all, but the fake kisses behind closed doors and in alleyways over the phone and the flirting in class? 

Tadashi should have known better.

Of course he was pissed off Dazai kept making them 'kiss' for their audience, they didn't ever do it for real when apparently it's all Tadashi had ever wanted.

Dazai was just doing his best. He was following everything Mori had taught them about being stealthy during missions and playing certain roles, while Tadashi was questioning him because of his feelings. How could he have been so blind?

They were trained to throw people off with tactics like that. Even the women of the mafia were taught how to seduce men, status and age didn't matter. It was just what they did, and Kenshiro stupidly forgot.

He found himself readily accepting the fact he was desperately in love with his best friend and had been for over a year, but not easily. Nothing ever was.

He was also upset with himself over the fact dream-Dazai kissing him got him all hot and bothered even as said figure crumpled. His thoughts had still lingered on what it would be like to receive more than a peck until he saw the blood coming out of dream-Dazai's mouth.

Since he was no longer in the company of dream-Dazai, he was able to think about it. He rubbed the scar on his chest as it tingled. 

Naturally, Dazai would be a good kisser because for some reason he was good at everything except for killing himself. Although Tadashi did take some of the credit, since he'd saved the idiot more than thirty times.

And naturally, Tadashi would be shit at kissing because he was the awkward one.

It would be embarrassing but feel good. Everyone always said kissing felt good. Tadashi took their word for it. He hadn't exactly had much time to go forming romantic relationships as one of Mori's closest members. 

...He wondered how it would feel for them since the bond made everything warm and just- good beyond words.

"—e gonna hide?"

Tadashi flinched so violently at the sudden voice he flew onto the floor. He put a hand over his racing heart and looked around for where it came from. The voice had sounded so clear it was almost like it came from his head. 

He felt snot running down his nose and wiped it away, coughing a little. He stayed silent and still for about ten seconds before he started to second guess himself and wonder if he'd just imagined it.

He finally released his breath and opened the bathroom door, finishing his whirlwind of thinking for the moment. He kept his neutral mask on and was grateful his face didn't flush just looking at Dazai after that whole thing of imagining kissing him. 

Dazai stared at his face for a few moments. "Shida, you said you were gonna wash your face," he said. "You've still got blood all over you, idiot veggie."

Tadashi frowned at him, "I washed my face the moment I went in there." he claimed. Then he sat on the toilet for five minutes regretting every obvious in-love move he'd ever made towards Dazai. 

"Are you calling me blind?" Dazai accused. "Because you've clearly not even tried to wash it off."

"—or All evolving fur—,"

Tadashi flinched as another voice erupted from seemingly nowhere. He put his hands to his ears and looked around for anywhere it could have come from, but found nothing but Dazai looking at him increasingly oddly. 

He was probably going insane. It was only a matter of time. He laughed at his shitty situation, always doomed by the stars.

"—an hear us? Is that poss—,"

More snot leaked from his nose and his vision blurred. Was he crying? No, he wouldn't cry over something like going insane. He knew it was going to happen at some point. 

Warm hands enclosed over his, bringing them away from his ears. Dazai stared down at him blankly, his empty smirk as charming as ever. "Shida, I think you're going through a malfunction."

Tadashi did not groan in relief as No Longer Human took away the strange feeling. His vision returned and the snot stopped falling. "Dazai, do I look insane?" he blurted, glad his voice stayed even. "I think I've lost the plot."

He wasn't quite ready to see Dazai so close up after realising he was in love with the stupid face, but his voice showed nothing.

He looked over at his hand, the one he'd used to wipe away his snot in the bathroom and spotted the red moist. It hadn't been snot running down his face. It was blood. Of course it was, why wouldn't it be something normal and non-concerning?

Dazai continued staring at him, his eyebrow dipping the slightest bit. Then his grin widened. "Nope! Still a freckly veggie." Dazai kept his hand on Tadashi's but released one of them. He took him into the bathroom, used his free hand to shove Tadashi's face into the sink and turned the tap on. 

Dazai only got to splash Tadashi's apparently-still-bloody face before a knock on their door came through. Tadashi coughed as water went up his nose and called for them to come in, silently hoping whoever it was would prevent Dazai from slapping him in the face for another few moments.

"Dazai and Tadashi's what's this I hear about you—," Eraserhead's annoying voice came through as the door to their room creaked open. Tadashi was blowing water out of his nostrils but he didn't have to look up to see Eraserhead's hesitance. "Are you waterboarding Tadashi?" he questioned, sounding completely serious.

Dazai gasped and his hand slipped onto Tadashi's back, gently rubbing it. "Sensei! How could you even suggest such a thing! I would never do that to my dear Veggie!" he gave Tadashi's back a few firm pats. "He's just feeling under the weather."

What an understatement. If Dazai stopped touching him for even a moment he was sure he would have another nosebleed.

"Is he okay? Do you need Recovery Girl, Tadashi?" Eraserhead offered, sounding concerned. Tadashi rolled his eyes. "Is that blood?" the man asked. 

Tadashi looked over and saw Eraserhead had stepped inside the bathroom and was staring at the pink water running down the drain, water mixed with blood from Tadashi's nosebleed. 

Dazai sighed regretfully. "Silly Shida Wida slipped over and hurt his nose. It had been hilarious but alas, left its mark." he sniffled, playing the pity card on Eraserhead. "I was so worried." Dazai's voice croaked forcefully.

Tadashi was then forced to play the role of 'good boyfriend'. He half turned and reached out for Dazai's hand. To Eraserhead it likely looked like he was giving Dazai's hand a comforting squeeze.

Kenshiro was squashing it with his own hand as payback for getting so much water up his nose.

Dazai grinned at Tadashi, wiping his crocodile tears away with his free hand, squeezing Tadashi's back with just as much force. Tadashi didn't wince, but it was close. 

"Are you sure you won't be needing any assistance?" Eraserhead questioned. What an annoying prick. Why wasn't he taking the hint from their loving hand holding and locked gaze that he wasn't welcome?

Tadashi shook his head and put it back down near the sink so he wouldn't be tempted to punch the man. 

Dazai took that as his opportunity to splash more water on Tadashi's face, though with a lot more care now he had an audience. "We'll be fine, bossy Eraser." said Dazai, a clear dismissal.

Eraserhead didn't take it as one, because why on earth would he be sensible. "Midnight has informed me you both have detention for running out of her classroom. You also have one with Cementoss for the same reason, and you didn't even bother showing up to Present Mic's."

Tadashi dried his face off with a washcloth. "He gives us detention anyway because he hears us speaking in English and doesn't like it." he said. He frowned at the pink tinge his face left on the cloth. He didn't know what that was, but after Dazai touched him the strange feeling went away.

As well as the nosebleeds and voice.

He was pretty sure he also heard the mysterious voice say something about One for All and him being able to hear it. Was he starting to hear the mind Parasites as they talked in One for All?

"Mic gives you detentions because you insult your classmates in English and get offended when he calls you out for it." Eraserhead's tone read as 'I can't believe I have to talk about this so early in the morning'.

Dazai kissed his teeth in faux annoyance. "Does it matter what we're saying as long as we're practising? I'll have you know it took a lot of effort to learn 'he's a stupid asshole' in English."

Eraserhead pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. "You just admitted to the accusation." he muttered, like he couldn't believe it. Dazai always admitted to his wrong doings when it was funny to him. "I can double your detention for that."

Tadashi wasn't an expert on school by any means, but he was pretty sure that usually when you admit to your mistakes the detentions lowered. Or maybe that was just in the shows he saw on people's TV before he raided their house.

By people, he was referring to the traitors of the port mafia who thought they'd run away and were out of sight from the organisation. They were not. 

Dazai chuckled. It echoed through the bathroom, bouncing off the tiles and going around again. "Nuh uh, Eraserhead." Dazai's eyes widened comically, and he bowed insincerely to Eraserhead. "My bad, Sensei. See now, what proof do you have other than what you heard?"

Eraserhead narrowed his eyes at Dazai, who's serene and empty grin remained still. 

"I could also admit that we've been the reason your coffee has been littered with hot pink glitter and cheese over the last two weeks, but where's the proof?" Dazai cocked his head and blinked innocently. 

Eraserhead scowled. He looked as though he'd already had no doubt that was the case, but hearing Dazai admit it with a smug tone and innocent expression made him angry. 

Tadashi was starting to feel cramped and winded in the small space with the person he'd just had an entire burnout over because he was in love, of all things, and someone he hated. "Everyone out." he grumbled, putting his hands on Dazai's shoulder blades and shoving him. 

There was also no way he was risking another nosebleed with Eraserhead there because he'd drag them to Recovery Girl the next second. Or worse, just Tadashi and he'd leave Dazai by himself. So he kept one of his hands on Dazai at all times.

They all shuffled out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, where Dazai and Eraserhead continued in their back and forths while Tadashi thought of ways to get the teacher to piss off.

He saw the way Eraserhead's eyes flicked to where Tadashi's hand stayed on Dazai's back and decided to fuck with him. 

He slowly slid his hand down to Dazai's elbow, who glanced at him in acknowledgement. It was the signal they made for whenever hand holding was going to happen.

But Tadashi wanted to make Eraserhead regret barging in, even if Tadashi'd lost the plot for a moment and been grateful for the interruption. He wasn't going to just hold Dazai's hand. No, he had to make the adult as uncomfortable as he possibly could. 

For once, Tadashi was glad he was unable to control his blushing because it only added to the scene he was planning to create.

As Eraserhead and Dazai argued, Tadashi's hand slowly slid into Dazai's and he led the brunette by their conjoined limbs to their bed. He scooted up against the wall and had his lower back against the pillows. 

Dazai complied easily, slipping into 'over-exaggerate' with grace. He said nothing when Tadashi laid his head on Dazai's shoulder even though it was usually the other way round, but he did say something when Tadashi slowly started to draw circles on the back of his hand. 

"Then why'd Yamada Sensei tell me I could go—Shida, we have a guest." Dazai said accusingly, his eye bright as he caught onto what Tadashi was doing. 

As planned but not on purpose, Tadashi's face went hot at the look. Dazai was always pleased whenever Tadashi copied one of his tactics to get people away. Usually he was the one being clingy and touchy. "I'm not doing anything." Tadashi retorted, unable to keep looking in Dazai's eye.

He hung his head and stared at the cockroach mural through his eyebrows, glad when he felt Eraserhead's burning stare.

Look all you want and get uncomfortable, he thought. Then piss right off to your cat infested room.

Dazai cleared his throat cheekily and Tadashi felt Eraserhead's gaze leave him. "As I was saying, Yamada Sensei said if I got too down in the dumps, I was allowed to sit with Shida."

Eraserhead scoffed, "That doesn't mean you can use the opportunity to draw genitals all over Tadashi's work."

Kenshiro had no idea how the conversation turned to Eraserhead confronting Dazai's graffiti on his work. 

"Don't be embarrassed Sensei, it's just—," Dazai stopped talking when Tadashi fully released his hand so he could drag his fingernails across Dazai's hand where skin was showing. "Shida," he scolded lightly, gesturing pointedly at Eraserhead.

I should have had a shot in the bathroom, Tadashi thought to himself, suddenly far too sober. He no longer revelled in the feeling of Eraserhead's gaze and the way it kept returning. It was nothing like the heart-throbbing feeling he got whenever Dazai got distracted just from looking at him. 

It made his skin crawl. 

It made him think of Mori and his sick pats to Tadashi's head, his fingers running through his curls and his cold scalpel dragging across his skin as warm blood dripped—

Warm air blew in Tadashi's ear. He jumped and glared at Dazai, who had an odd expression. "Welcome back to the world of the living." he teased. "I'm Osamu Dazai, this is Mr Demon," he gestured at Eraserhead, who had an equally odd expression, "In case you forgot—,"

Tadashi bit his lower lip as he forced tears to well in his eyes. He wanted Eraserhead gone. He could tell he and Dazai just barely flirting had already made him uncomfortable, but he wanted to talk to Dazai about the voices and didn't want to bother with the fake flirts anymore.

Besides, he was pretty sure his heart was one more skip from stopping due to Dazai being so close and Tadashi being opening touchy. 

Tadashi sniffled and brought the heels of his palms to his eyes, warm tears slipping past them. "Fucking hell," he whispered miserably. He heard Eraserhead shift the weight on his feet and mentally celebrated how well crocodile tears worked with him. 

Dazai's warm arms slipped around his shoulders, and Dazai leaned in. He pretended he was whispering comforting words with what Tadashi was sure must have been a 'worried' expression (one of Dazai's best masks), when he was just making noises into his ear. "Psh, saha noot sling shlang popping tling—,"

Tadashi gave a forced laugh and removed his hands from his eyes, looking up at Dazai who was much closer than he'd realised. He leaned back a little with wide eyes and saw Dazai's narrow. "You're so stupid." he said.

Eraserhead coughed into his palm and said something about a lecture after their next therapy sessions (bleh) about Dazai's habits before leaving their room. 

Dazai's arms immediately left Tadashi's shoulders and Tadashi repressed a shiver as the winter air hit him. Because of the bond, which Tadashi still didn't know what that was all about, just touching his partner warmed him up. But letting go was like stepping out of a hot spring.

"I think my quirk is growing again," he said, shoving away the tears on his cheeks. He swivelled on the spot so he could sit face to face with Dazai, who did the same. "The nosebleeds." he started, then paused.

How much would Dazai be willing to believe? Being sucked into the void was one thing because Dazai knew exactly what was going on. But hearing voices? A whole nother thing. 

Dazai just stared at him. After a few seconds of Tadashi debating what to say while being silent, he groaned and fell onto his back, his arms and legs spread so he was in a starfish position. "I thought Shida was going to say something interesting after that whole display of affection, but no!" he whined.

Tadashi rolled his eyes. "I heard them."

More silence. 

"I'm not a mind reader, idiot. Spit it out." Dazai grumbled. Tadashi pinched his calf and smirked at the yelp he earned. "That was so mean! Shida just wants me to crawl into a cave and die."

"Your manipulations and guilt tripping won't work on me," Tadashi reminded his partner, perfectly aware he didn't need to. "I meant I heard the mind Parasites talking. The dead people. In my mind."

Dazai breathed out through his nose aggressively. "Shida went to the void without me? I'm devastatingly hurt that you would do that!"

Tadashi crawled on the bed so he could lie down next to Dazai. He didn't throw his arms and legs out, just laid there perfectly still staring at the ceiling. "There are so many things wrong with that. One, I don't choose when I go into the void. Two, I haven't been there without you, and three, no, I did not go to the void."

Dazai threw his arm so it slapped Tadashi in the face, who shoved it away aggressively. "Explanations, Shida. Not corrections."

"I mean I heard them here. In the bathroom I heard someone say something about One for All. It was so close it sounded like they were talking right into my ear." Tadashi fiddled with the hem of his shirt. He hoped he'd just been imagining things and the nosebleeds were a coincidence.

He knew he was lying to himself but what was he supposed to do? How often did people have ghosts living in their body and talking in their mind?

Dazai rolled onto his side, paused for a moment, then continued rolling onto his stomach. He was now laying shoulder to shoulder with Tadashi, who pointedly avoided eye contact. Dazai flicked his forehead and sniggered at the yelp. "Such a worrywart!"

"Excuse me?"

"Shida's freaking out over having voices in his head. Guess what, I have them too and I'm fine." Dazai said, like the suggestion of Tadashi being concerned over hearing people talking in his mind was offensive.

Tadashi blinked a little too forcefully. "Except your voices are just your thoughts and they tell you to hurt others and yourself." he said. 

Dazai nodded enthusiastically. "Exactly."

"So, not fine. All that did was make me feel worse."

A long, loud groan. "Oh my god, whatever! Same thing, always so caught up on the details."

Tadashi was going to take a deep breath, and he was not going to punch his partner in the face. Especially since he knew Dazai was riling him up on purpose. "Do you want me to keep going or do you want a black eye?"

He got no response.

Tadashi continued. "I get a nosebleed every time I hear a voice. Dazai, do you think I'm going insane? It's plausible, right?" Tadashi asked, rolling onto his side. He and Dazai were so close that Dazai's brown hair tickled his nose. "I can play it off, though. I'm good at that."

Dazai stared at him blankly, his fake smiles and laughter gone. "You're hysterical at the moment, Veggie. Give it a few hours to settle in and then explain."

Tadashi laughed. "I have dead people in my body, in my mind, in my quirk watching my every move except for when I'm touching you," he reached out and cupped one of Dazai's cheeks. "They're haunting me, Dazai. They can see my thoughts if they want to."

Dazai didn't comment on Tadashi holding his face. His cheek was so infectiously warm under Tadashi's hand he didn't ever want to let go. "What's life without a couple ghosts of the past trailing us, hm?"

"Normal."

"What universe has a normal Demon Prodigy and Verde Reaper?"

Tadashi brushed a loc of hair behind Dazai's ear, fiddling with the lobe once he was done. "None," he whispered, feeling himself come down from the high of panic he hadn't even realised he was in. He resisted sighing as his tight limbs slowly unwound, the tension bleeding out just from the warmth of Dazai.

He'd never seen the appeal in fiddling with someone else, unlike Dazai who loved to fiddle with Tadashi's hair.

He did now. He wanted to be playing around with Dazai's hands, his cheeks, his hair. All of it. He just wanted to feel the warmth of Dazai's skin on him at all times. 

He knew deep down that he'd always wanted to, even before the bond made skin contact blissful, but could never bring himself to as his sub-conscience was stopping him, preventing any lingering feelings he had for Dazai from popping up without him realising it. 

However, all of his feelings were out. He couldn't deny it anymore; even just having Dazai's undivided attention made his stomach churn for a few moments at first realisation. Not to mention Dazai was letting him fiddle with his ear of all things, keeping silent and attentive. 

Tadashi was aware that the likely reason for that was because he was panicking and Dazai wanted to know what happened.

"What's going on with you?" he asked anyway, because he wanted to know what Dazai's response would be. He had two answers already laid out in his mind. A: Dazai would change the subject, or B: he would make a joke of it. 

Dazai blinked in questioning. 

Even after all that time, Tadashi still had no idea how he did it. "You're letting me get away with stuff," Tadashi pointedly gave a small tug to Dazai's earlobe. "Without a single tease. You're calming me down with words and not violence."

Dazai blew raspberries and squeezed his eye closed in a frustrated manner. "Because a panicking Shida going through changes so harsh he has nosebleeds and his white hair expands more rapidly than it ever has, is one I can't risk losing."

Tadashi didn't understand what he was saying. Nor the fact he actually gave an answer. "Losing? I'm not going anywhere."

"Shida's changing. He's still a stupid annoying Freckle, but he's also emotional and constantly on the edge of hysteria. One wrong move and you'll go running off. You'll hide." Dazai didn't seem to realise how deep his words cut. And if he did, he didn't care.

"What?" Tadashi spat, pulling his hand away and shuffling back a little. Dazai watched him retreat like a turtle with a cold expression. "You think I'd ditch you if I panicked? Dazai, you're the only person I see when I'm tense , let alone on the verge of breaking down."

Dazai shook his head slightly and sat up. "I knew idiot Veggie wouldn't understand." he muttered distastefully. He made to move into the bathroom, but Tadashi shot up off the bed and grabbed his wrist so he couldn't.

"No," he said. "We aren't doing this. Dazai, I just had a nightmare of you dying in my arms. I'm not letting you walk into that bathroom so you can cut yourself because you won't fucking open up to me properly." Tadashi made his tone flat so Dazai would know he wasn't willing to argue about it.

Dazai scoffed. "How was I supposed to know you dreamt of me dying? Besides, I wasn't going to slit my wrists."

He was lying and they both knew it. It wasn't the first dream Tadashi had had of Dazai dying. 

Every time, he checked Dazai for his pulse and to make sure he didn't have whatever injury he died from in the nightmare. Every single time. 

"I don't believe you. You're upset with me and the first place you want to storm off to is the bathroom? If you weren't about to slit your wrists then you would have just pretended to fall asleep and flat out ignored me." Tadashi could hear their classmates finally starting to wake on the other side of the door.

He could hear their chatters distantly and knew they would be able to hear him if he raised his voice considering he could hear them even as they talked normally. 

"You think you know everything about me, don't you? You think you have me figured out." Dazai spat, his eye becoming increasingly dark. 

Tadashi bit his bottom lip in frustration, and he realised Dazai's expression was turning into the one he got as he contemplated suicide seriously.

The emerald eyed teen hadn't seen that look since Mic gave them a tour of UA. They ended up in a fight over it, then a literal brawl when Dazai decided to be a dick and get them in trouble. After, of course, Tadashi hit him in the back of the head. But that had been justified.

How ironic, Dazai wanted to talk about Tadashi running away when his first resource was making himself bleed and his second resource was death. 

Tadashi could get mad at him later, he just needed to dull Dazai's edge first. "Sit back down. Tell me what you meant." he said a little too harshly, tugging on Dazai's wrist until he complied and dragged his feet back over to the bed.

Dazai's weight sank the bed less than Tadashi's and because they were sitting side by side, Dazai was forced to lean. When he didn't speak even as Tadashi looked at him expectantly, his partner sighed. 

Tadashi moved so that he was facing Dazai, who stubbornly remained staring at his ugly cockroach. "Turn around, Emo." he asked in a gentle tone. Dazai didn't budge, so Tadashi shoved him. He did so twice, thrice, then four times before he gave up and tackled Dazai. 

He pushed with both hands and his full weight so that Dazai would fall with his head on the pillows and his shoulders flat. 

Tadashi moved so that one of his knees rested on the bed and the other rested on Dazai's stomach when he realised his tackle resulted in him straddling him. He ignored his flushed face and made it disappear by allowing his anger to grow.

"Spit it out. It's been so long since you've acted like this, I thought we'd keep the streak going longer." Tadashi joked lightly. Dazai was refusing to look at him. Tadashi had dealt with this attitude before, having been the closest being possible to Osamu Dazai for a whole year.

It took a lot of effort to get Dazai to let down his walls for him. They occasionally came back up, but Tadashi could always just climb over them. 

"If you look at me and keep your eye on me while I speak, I'll take two shots." Tadashi said. He didn't care about using himself as a sacrifice, Dazai enjoyed watching chaos unfold too much to not be at least curious.

As predicted and clearly to Dazai's dismay, the brunette looked at him suspiciously. 

Tadashi cracked a grin at him. "I'll be under the influence the whole day, if you not only listen but actually pay attention to what I have to say. If you don't, I'll paint over your cockroach."

"You wouldn't."

"You wanna test that theory?" Tadashi challenged. He took his knee off Dazai's stomach so that he could kneel on the bed next to his head. He slowly moved his hand over to Dazai's and tugged at the bandages there. Dazai watched but said nothing and didn't move away. Tadashi mentally applauded himself. 

He tugged a little more and the gauze slowly became loose. "Your arms are still healing, Dazai." he said conversationally. Dazai didn't stop him as he continued to unwrap. He had permission. He had Dazai's attention. 

It felt good. 

"I have no idea what the hell you're using to hurt yourself, but I need you to lay off." Dazai then tried to take his arm away, retreating and taking his words personally. Tadashi stopped him from moving away. "Not forever," he amended. "Just for another couple days."

Tadashi waited until Dazai processed his words and his arm went limp to continue taking off the bandaging. Once he was finished, he ran a finger across the skin. It had bumps and dips and different colours. It was so unique, and so much more interesting than Tadashi's scars on his arms.

There were scabs along it as well, but Tadashi thought they were pretty, too.

"So many stories, so many times you were upset or angry or verging on ending your life," he muttered. He looked up and saw that Dazai was watching his finger run across his arm with a bright eye. "So many scars. So much skin. So much."

Tadashi took a shuddering breath and began to unwrap one of his arms as well. He didn't care he was sacrificing his own wellbeing for Dazai. He didn't. "I have them too." he said. Dazai rolled his eye in a 'I know that' gesture. But at least he was expressing something. 

"But mine are from something else. Someone else." He pressed their arms together, showing the difference in the scars. Tadashi's were just long, white lines all along it. Some were diagonal, some were straight, some were vertical and some were horizontal. "Don't you think mine are ugly? They came from someone you hate, a tool you hate, in a place you hate."

"Where is this going, Shida?" Dazai's voice was hollow. 

Tadashi shook his head lightly. "Answer me. My scars came from someone we both hate, from a medical tool we both hate, in a place we both hate." He avoided Dazai's questioning and waited for an answer to his own. 

"No."

"No?" Tadashi prompted, smirking at the annoyed glance he got. 

"No , I don't think your scars are ugly." Dazai spoke so quietly yet so forcefully it got Tadashi to smile so hard his cheeks hurt. He saw Dazai's eye narrow on his right cheek, a dimple was more than likely there. 

Tadashi tilted his head, Dazai's eye followed. How the hell did a mass murderer find it in him to be cute? "Well, I do." Tadashi said. "I think they're ugly. All they are is a reminder of what happens if I fuck up a mission. My scars are Mori's brand."

"Shida, where is this conversation going?" Dazai asked outright, his eye flicking back down to their arms once Tadashi stopped smiling so wide. "This is pointless." he muttered.

Tadashi hummed, refusing to take offense from Dazai's goading. "You always tend to let those pesky walls down when I'm vulnerable." he replied easily. He was giving away his secrets, but he could see Dazai's lingering look of darkness that he hid. His edges were still too sharp.

Every threat of suicide from Dazai got him more desperate.

"Then what was the point of unwrapping my arm?" he demanded, starting to look distant. Tadashi was losing him. 

The answer was because he was showing Dazai that being vulnerable about certain insecurities alongside him wasn't as awful as he seemed to think, but it was also, "Because your scars are interesting. So many different textures and colours for me to see." he sighed. Tadashi picked up Dazai's bandages and began to rewrap him. "I think your scars are pretty, too."

Dazai scoffed. "I didn't say your scars are pretty."

"You forget who you're talking to," Tadashi's tone was light. "I'm the one who's been beside you for a whole year," the one who was in love with him, "Of course I know your tricks. If you didn't think my scars are pretty, you would have said you thought they were ugly. That's what you do."

"They're not pretty," Dazai insisted. "They're just there. I don't think anything of them."

"I wish I could say the same," Tadashi joked. He wrapped his own arm with haste, having enough of being vulnerable. He was willing to let down his guard regarding his arms for Dazai, but it got to a point. "My scars are my permanent tie to Mori and the Port Mafia."

Dazai didn't respond. He turned his head to their window, which was letting the rising sun's light through and illuminated their room with an orange hue. It was cold out. Winter was approaching rapidly, each day getting a little chillier. 

"Will you tell me what you meant?" Tadashi asked, leaning back a little. "What don't I get?"

"Veggie doesn't run away when he panics. He just hides." Dazai said, his tone completely flat. "Veggie's panic attacks may make him lose his mind, but when he truly is terrified, he becomes a shell of himself. He hides in his mind so no one can reach him, and he only comes out a few days later."

Oh. 

Tadashi did not flush at how Dazai had been observing him with keen eyes. "Just like you, no?" he teased, flicking Dazai on the shoulder. 

Dazai stuck his lips out. "Shida stole my mechanism like the thief he is."

"Uhm, excuse me? Who was the one who taught me all I know about stealing?"

Dazai grinned at him. It wasn't his usual fake one, he put less effort into it. "Freckles already knew how to be stealthy. All I did was show him the ropes and how to use that stealthiness to rob stores. Now, go get the shot glasses, Shida!"

Tadashi sighed but complied. He said he would take two shots and therefore would be mostly tipsy for at least a few hours during class, which was bound to go horribly. He would have to put on a lot of the cologne they bought from the markets and scrub his mouth with toothpaste to get rid of the stench. 

"Still self-sacrificing all the—"

And wash his face for the nth time as his nose began to bleed.

Chapter Text

Tadashi took the shots. He felt like he wanted to talk forever and was sort of lightheaded, but that was it. 

While in the shower, he almost slipped over and cracked his skull open. The warm water felt so good after being in a freezing room for so long that he almost fell asleep standing up. Dazai's hands in his hair kept his head warm, but during the night he was always cold.

Even after he almost sent himself to the hospital, he was still sleepy so he decided to get out of the water. 

As he dressed himself, his thoughts wandered to the mind Parasites. They claimed his subconscious put up a type of barrier whenever his brain thought it appropriate so they couldn't see what he could. 

Thank god for that, because it would have been very embarrassing for them to see him almost fall asleep standing up and in the shower. 

Tadashi sighed in relief, even though it hadn't been much of a scare. For all he hated his brain for a lot of things, it still had its perks. 

Tadashi dressed himself in his uniform. He rolled up his sleeves as usual but his obnoxious red tie took too long for him to put on so he gave up and threw it on the ground. His fingers always took a little long to cooperate whenever he did his tie, but he was just not in the mood to put up with it. 

He could get Dazai to do it for him anyway. 

Tadashi played with his hair as he stared at it through the mirror. He usually avoided the mirror, but he caught a glimpse of his mostly white hair and couldn't resist it. Every hair root was the whitest white, and his green hair was being outdone. He looked like he was growing out green dye. 

Dazai Dazai Dazai.

Tadashi's cheeks puffed out and reddened at the thought of him. He'd never put much thought into it but... he was hot when he did Tadashi's tie for him. Maybe that was why his fingers were so shit at listening. His subconscious was begging for Dazai to take pity and do it for him. 

Although Dazai hadn't done it for him since their first day at UA.

Why was Tadashi in love with him? There were many reasons, but his top one was because he was addicting. Like alcohol. 

Every little taste was enough to leave Tadashi wanting more.

Every glimpse of Dazai's true laugh and true grin had his chest aching in delight. He wanted to see it again. Whenever Dazai's expression turned flirty, it made Tadashi's chest ache for a different reason. He wanted to see that again, too. But only when it was turned towards him. 

Dazai's scars were so unique and it was so nice to run his hands over them. Tadashi wanted to know what it would be like to run his lips over them...

Tadashi's thoughts were so messy and unreliable. He wondered how the hell he was gonna survive class and therapy.

He stumbled out of the bathroom and cursed, scowling at Dazai when he laughed. "My body just hates me. Why —why when I'm tipsy I act like this and when I'm drunk I'm just talkative? Shouldn't it be the other way around."

Dazai snorted with laughter again. "Ah, silly Shida. Because what fun would it be if it were like that? I'm taking great pleasure in watching this."

Of course he was. Tadashi walked over and threw open the window, still too sleepy for his liking after that shower. The rush of cold air hitting him woke him up the rest of the way. He shivered and stood there for a couple more seconds. "I need you to do me a favour."

"Hmm," Dazai hummed with thought. "What do I get from it, Shida? I'm a very busy man, you know."

"I don't care what you want. Just do my tie."

Dazai stepped up beside him and threw his head in front of Tadashi's face, blocking his view of the outside. "How old is Veggie? He can't do it himself?"

Tadashi sucked his cheeks to his teeth, inhaling through his nose and breathing out through his mouth forcefully. He laughed as Dazai groaned and wiped his face. "You know my hands aren't friends with neckties." he replied, his tone still full of amusement. 

Dazai pouted and stomped into the bathroom. "Should I just strangle Freckles?" he loudly wandered from the room. 

Tadashi rolled his eyes. "Dazai, just do it or don't." He walked over to the desk and put the shot glass he used back into the fake plant pot. "Stupid junkie." he muttered, knowing damn well Dazai had left the bathroom and was in hearing range. 

He turned around and saw his partner smiling sadistically. "Maybe I should burn the tie and shove it into Shida's jelly pouch?" he tilted his head, his eye threatening and wide.

"I doubt Shida will care. He just won't eat the jelly." Tadashi paced the room and smirked at Dazai. "Your tactics are getting less creative by the day."

Dazai scoffed. "I'll have you know that they're still finding frozen spiders in the food in the fridge." he said, referring to when he hid the arachnids when he got drunk for the first time at UA with Eraserhead's beer.

Wait, Tadashi could just storm into Eraserhead's room and take some, right? He could cover it up by choosing his own flavour of nutrition jelly. 

It didn't matter what he did, Tadashi just wanted to be productive. 

He brushed a hand through his curls and it paused on his crown. He thought back to his reflection, the white roots. He wondered if his mum was the one who gave him green hair or his dad. "Should I dye my hair?" he wondered. 

He already looked like a freak with his eyebags and sunken cheeks, now he had multicoloured hair to top it off. Properly multicoloured; not just the occasional white strange anymore. His body was stressing too much. He was going grey faster than Eraserhead.

"No," was Dazai's immediate response. It was almost suspiciously immediate. 

Tadashi narrowed his eyes at him. "Why? I thought you only liked my white hair because you could count the strands. You can't anymore, in case you haven't realised." It was unlike Dazai to not realise something like that. 

Dazai clicked his tongue. "It looks better with two colours. Shida would never understand. The dorkiness is getting to him."

Tadashi clenched and unclenched his hands a couple times. "Stop calling me a dork."

Dazai reached out to do Tadashi's tie. God, he was stupidly attractive even with the sick look on his face. Actually, that was just his face. He had worse eyebags than Tadashi. "Here I am, putting a dorky red tie on Shida to match his dorky red shoes."

Tadashi meant to reply but forgot to when Dazai looked him in the eye. He reached out and poked his eyebag, grinning. "Maybe I should stay up first tonight." 

They were still keeping watch for each other, but the longer they stayed in the dorm, the more comfortable they got in their room and ended up falling asleep accidentally. By they, Tadashi meant himself. He felt so at home in their room he couldn't help himself. 

Dazai blew raspberries and walked away. "What use would that be? Veggie is terrible at staying up."

Tadashi couldn't deny that. He shrugged. "I like it here. Makes my guard come down," then he added as an afterthought. "And your warm hands usually don't help. They lull me to sleep."

"Is Veggie blaming me?" Disbelief in his tone. Tadashi grinned and poked his cheek, then the other one. They puffed out. 

"No, I'm telling you that's what happens." he replied simply. "Dazai, will you break into Eraserhead's room with me?" he asked suddenly because he'd decided it was a great idea. Hopefully he could snag a couple thirteen percent ones and make himself drunk so he wasn't acting like a dunce all day.

Tadashi could have sworn Dazai's eye flicked to his lips for a moment. "I knew I liked tipsy Shida for a reason. Let's go!" Dazai was marching out the room, Tadashi laughed and followed.

Then he remembered the mind Parasites and his nosebleeds, so he reached for Dazai's hand without thinking just in case. He couldn't play off his nosebleed and blame it on clumsiness if everyone saw it happen, or lack thereof. 

He supposed just slinging his arm across Dazai's shoulder would have worked but... who cared? Tadashi wanted to hold his hand and it would look normal to everyone else because they were 'dating'.

Dazai wouldn't risk shrugging him off in front of everyone now he'd agreed to do the whole dating act. 

It was a win for Tadashi.

Dazai had forgotten how clingy tipsy Shida could be. 

The first thing he did when they stepped outside was grab onto Dazai's hand. Warmth bloomed from the contact and travelled up to Dazai's elbow. Sober Shida would never be so bold. Not to mention tipsy Shida had a bubbly laugh that only came out by accident. 

Dazai was glad Shida was strange and his tipsy had swapped with his drunk. It was a lot easier for him to get just a little under the influence, so two shots were more than enough for tipsy Shida to appear. Drunk Shida took a fair few more.

"Shida?" Dazai called. 

Veggie was staring at their joined hands with amazement. His emerald eyes met his and they crinkled when he smiled. A ghost of a dimple popped up on his right cheek, Dazai wanted to wipe it away. He didn't like how many people would be able to see it. "Mmhm?" he asked. 

"Let's go. I'm not dragging you there."

Tadashi laughed. Dazai's heart hurt and he grimaced. It was always acting strange nowadays. "You don't wanna help me get there?" he asked, mischief alive and burning in his eyes so vividly Dazai couldn't help but smile back. 

He playfully scoffed. "If I drag Shida there, he'll trip and stumble and embarrass himself."

Dazai could, as always, feel Kiddie Crew's eyes on the two of them. It was like they were on display all the time in the mornings. Class 1-A had yet to accept the fact their room was there and occupied. And as always, Mineta was making a crude joke somewhere in the back. 

Dazai would gladly blow his brains out, but alas.

Shida gasped in offense. "I would not! Watch!" he then stomped off to Eraserhead's room. Dazai had the feeling he'd gotten his thoughts mixed up and confused himself, because he wasn't proving he wouldn't stumble if he was dragged. 

He was walking fine, though. That was one thing that stayed normal; only drunk Shida walked funny. 

Dazai let Shida take the lead. He pounded on Eraserhead's door and opened it without any invite. Dazai hoped the man wasn't naked in his room or something because then he would have to waste bleach to pour it on his eyes instead of drinking it.

"Eraserhead?" Shida called sweetly. Dazai could tell his bright gaze was locked somewhere in the kitchenette. "Where do you hide your jelly pouch stock?"

Dazai knew there was no way they were there for jelly, tipsy or not Shida wouldn't ever voluntarily get the jelly of doom. 

Eraserhead popped his head out of his bathroom, fully dressed (thankfully) and scowling. "What are you two doing in here?" he demanded, looking less pissed than he sounded. He was a terrible actor. 

Shida clicked his tongue and took Dazai over to the small kitchenette. "Jelly." he said simply, like that was an acceptable answer. 

Eraserhead crossed his arms over his chest and watched Shida open his fridge with disapproval. "You broke into my room for a nutrition jelly pouch?" he asked in disbelief. He didn't make a move to stop Shida and his curiosity was poorly masked.

He didn't think Shida in his fridge was a threat. His mistake. 

"You choose shitty flavours. Oh- found it!" Shida giggled and released Dazai's hand to reach into the fridge. "Oh, waitnevermind, aww man I thought it was there—," Shida's words fell out of his mouth rapidly. He glanced over at Dazai, who took the hint. 

He moved closer to Shida and rubbed his back, hiding whatever he was doing from Eraserhead. "Deep breaths, idiot Freckles. Chillout."

He looked behind him and saw the 'what's going on with him?' on Eraserhead's face. Dazai shrugged and mouthed, " He's feeling antsy today. Just leave him be and he'll manage ." 

Eraserhead's eyes widened in such a comical way, full of sympathy that Dazai had to turn around to hide his grin. 

What an idiot.

He glanced forward to see what Shida was doing—who was spouting nonsense about how close he'd gotten while he moved his hands around with such minimum movement and grace that from where Eraserhead was standing, he would look perfectly still.

The cheeky Veggie was looking at the cans of beer and checking the percentages. He was gonna steal their teacher's alcohol so he wasn't tipsy anymore! 

Dazai leaned down so he could whisper into Shida's ear, "Cheater."

Tadashi sucked in a harsh breath of surprise and whacked Dazai's face away, who groaned and whined about how much it hurt. "Stop distracting, I have to find the blackberry flavour."

Yeah right.

He saw stupid cheater Shida stuff three cans down one of his sleeves and immediately wrap that arm around Dazai's so he could hide it. Shida glanced up at him with a challenging expression. 

"Oh, for goodness sake. Shida needs to get a move on before I ditch him."

Shida beamed and immediately dove back into the fridge to grab two packets of what were likely blackberry flavoured jelly of dooms. "Found 'em. Okay, bye Eraserhead!" he dragged Dazai out of the room without another word, eager to leave.

The man called out something about hero names and respect for teachers, but neither of them were listening. 

As soon as they opened the door, every head snapped towards them. Geez, talk about nosy weirdos. "Goooood morning!" Dazai sang. He felt Shida's grip tighten to hide the cans further. 

Iida looked at them strangely, "Good morning Tadashi. Good morning Dazai." His lips pressed into a thin line, like he was dying to know something but wasn't sure if he was allowed to. "I apologise, have you just come from Aizawa Sensei's room?" he asked. 

Shida nodded enthusiastically. "Yep. We gotta go." he started to drag Dazai away but was interrupted with another question.

"How are you coming out in one piece? You didn't even wait for an answer after knocking before barging in!" Kaminari was hanging upside down off the couch, his face red from the blood rush. Dazai frowned at him. That would hurt.

Shida very rudely and suddenly ushered Dazai into their room. He passed him the jelly of doom and carefully also gave over the cans, careful to shield them from peeping eyes. "Take very good care of them. It took me ages to find." Then he added, "If I find them out the window I'll murder you." for good measure.

Dazai stared down at him, holding the items close just in case someone could still see. He smirked in a flirtatious way—which never ceased to make Shida flush even if he refused to acknowledge it. "I'll receive one kiss as payment please!"

Obviously they weren't actually going to kiss, Shida knew what he meant. He wanted to talk in their room but Shida was trying to get rid of him so he couldn't. Dazai wasn't going to let it slide. 

Many people groaned and looked away, good riddance. 

Bakugo screamed in frustration and said something about murdering couples. He was definitely jealous he didn't have a lover. 

Veggie narrowed his bright eyes at him, understanding what he was trying to do. "Why are you so demanding? Just put 'em in the fridge and be done with it." Which roughly translated to no. 

"Excuse you, I'm working very hard right now! I deserve some compensation for my efforts!" Which roughly translated to 'I know what you're doing and deserve an answer'. Shida was breaking their deal, after all. It was two shots, no more no less.

Shida rolled his eyes back and kept them like that and sucked his cheeks in frustration, then puffed them out. Dazai could see that the whites of his eyes had gone slightly pink already. "Fine. Get in."

As he shoved Dazai into the room, Kaminari and Sero gave them wolf whistles. Mineta was screeching about how unfair life was and Bakugo looked just about ready to blow their door up. 

Dazai thought it was the perfect excuse to rile him up. He could feel Shida's accusing eyes from inside the room, where he shuffled behind him and took the goods out of his arms. "I would advise you not to come in for about ten minutes for any reason," he stared right at a fuming Bakugo as he spoke.

"...Unless you plan on joining of course!" he said cheerfully. He burst out laughing when Bakugo went red in the face. For someone who seemed so tough, he was really just as innocent as anyone else in the room. 

Jiro gave him an approving thumbs up from behind the blonde, but Dazai had to go inside their room before he could do anything back because Shida was pinching him so hard he was nearing drawing blood. 

The door shut and laughter came through the other side. Dazai could hear Bakugo getting teased relentlessly. 

"Poor Ka— cchan ," Dazai said sarcastically. He looked to Shida, who had his hands on his hips in a mocking stance. "Why does Shida look ready to give me a lecture? He's the stupid cheater."

Shida huffed through his nose. "What do you think you're doing, riling up the crowd? We already have enough eyes on us."

"Because a certain Veggie was planning to break his promise and get drunk." Dazai retorted.

Shida's expression changed when Dazai's smirk left his face. "Doesn't it hurt to force yourself to laugh like that? You were nearly wheezing, yet it was fake... no! I'm mad at you. Everyone out there thinks we're making out right now."

Dazai blinked at Shida a couple times. Since when did he care whether or not Dazai's fake laughing hurt? "It wouldn't be the first time, idiot Dork. Recovery Girl's office and the alleyway phone call, remember? We pretended to make out then too."

"Not in front of a crowd!"

Dazai rolled his eye. "Oh, like it makes a difference. Shida's just getting angry because he doesn't want to tell me what he was doing, stealing alcohol and planning to break his promise." He pointed to the three cans on the bed. "How stupid of him to bring me alone when he knew he would get in trouble."

Shida stuck his lips out slightly like he wanted to pout but was refusing to. "Because I'm gonna drink before therapy. That's like three periods of me making a dunce of myself in front of everyone."

Another thing weird when it came to Shida and alcohol. His tipsiness lasted a lot longer than most people’s.

"Cheater."

"Whatever. I'm doing it and you can't stop me."

Shida could be so stubborn for all the wrong reasons sometimes.

Predictably, Shida found everything funny during class when he was under the influence of alcohol. He burst out laughing just at Cementoss's face, which had caused Dazai to snort into his hand. His bubbly giggles and wheezes were contagious. 

Dazai had never had the urge to laugh from someone else laughing before he met Shida. He really was such a wonder.

A few people were giving him suspicious glances, but most of them were laughing when he laughed, too. Dazai wondered if that was how he used to laugh all the time before his memory was wiped, which was why no one was getting angry at him. 

Not even Bakugo told him to be quiet. Well, through words anyway. He turned around the glare a few times, but Shida just laughed at that, too. He blurted out something about Bakugo's eyebrows and made himself double over. 

They were gonna get in so much trouble. 

Cementoss let most of it slide, only giving Shida a few warnings.

Eraserhead had asked Dazai about it during homeroom, Dazai made up some bullcrap about coping mechanisms and how laughter helped him get rid of nerves. The idiot took it hook, line and sinker. 

Ectoplasm got close to making Shida take a walk, but Dazai called him over and gave him the same excuse he gave Eraserhead. The man seemed rightfully sceptical but didn't even hand out a detention. The story wasn't that believable, yet everyone was taking it just fine.

They decided it wasn't worth going to Mic's class, so they ran out when Ectoplasm left the room, during the short minute that Mic usually took to arrive to third period. It was super easy to run out. No one even bothered trying to stop them anymore. 

Even class prez gave up, sighing in defeat every time they booked it out of there. They got lectured for it every time at lunch of course, but still. 

They ran down a couple hallways before Dazai gave up and slumped on top of Shida, who guffawed and shoved him off with a bright red face. "You're such a baby sometimes." he said, still slightly laughing. 

Dazai had crocodile tears streaming down his face the entire trip out of the building from that comment and every time Shida complained, he would say he was living up to what he'd said. He yelped and flopped onto the ground when Shida hit him upside the head for 'making things weird again'. 

Shida didn't know how to take jokes. He was boring.

The two of them went to their usual ditching spot in the UA gardens behind one of the sheds and Shida had his beer out before Dazai could even blink. "Shida has a problem," he sang, lying down on the grass.

Veggie blew air aggressively. "You try having dead people in your mind and a partner who wants to be dead, too." he muttered. The crrk snap chsss sound of him opening his can covered up his next mumble. 

Dazai stayed quiet after that, his hands behind his head and bracing it. He watched the clouds absently. He realised he wouldn't hesitate to kill himself if he found out that seven people, nonliving people at that, had been watching almost every move he made for over a year. 

He was a hypocrite trying to talk about how Shida ran away when he was terrified. He retreated into his mind if Dazai didn't catch him fast enough. 

Meanwhile all it took was a mistake on his part for Dazai to want to run away, too. For him to want to go into the bathroom and dig out his blade to—well. Shida was addicted to alcohol. Dazai dabbled in it, as well as drugs. They gave him a bit of satisfaction for a while. The high was fun. The low he got after wasn't. 

Shida was addicted to alcohol. 

Dazai was addicted to him and suicide . He had no right to talk about Shida having a problem when he was arguably worse.

Tadashi got about halfway through his second can before he spoke up. "Dazai," he started. Dazai hummed and gestured for him to go on. "You know how I recognised the katsudon. How I knew it was my mum."

Ugh, drunk Shida and his stupid obsession with serious topics. "Yes."

"It really hurt." Shida absentmindedly scratched his chest, over his heart. "Still does. How can I miss someone I don't know? Someone I don't remember?" He took another gulp. Dazai narrowed his eye and saw it was only seven percent. 

Dazai didn't know. He didn't have anyone to miss. " 'Cause Shida is experiencing big boy emotions." he teased, smirking. 

Shida rolled his eyes and slumped against the shed. "In the hospital, the second time I woke up there I heard Eraserhead talking about my mum." he confessed. His voice was grave, like he hated to talk about it but couldn't stop himself. "He said a 'Mrs Midoriya is hysterical and keeps trying to get in. She thinks if he looks at her he'll remember'. " he quoted Eraserhead with a forced deep voice.

"Will Veggie?"

It took Shida a few more minutes to answer. "...No. No, I won't. Even if my brain recognises her, I won't. It'll probably shut down considering how bad it hurt when I had her cooking alone. So many feelings."

It made Shida cry. Kenshiro Tadashi never cried. In the year Dazai had known him, he'd only cried a handful of times. It was silent, it was fickle. Or it was desperate sobs and snot and gross everywhere, no in between.

"There you go then. Just finish off your drinks, stupid alcoholic Dork."

...Dazai and his bad habits of pushing people away. He was lucky Shida hadn't abandoned him yet. He was the sole person Dazai wanted to cling to, the one Dazai wouldn't mind having around forever. But he was still pushed away just like everyone else.

Shida hummed in delightful agreement and chugged the rest of the can. He cracked open the third one the next moment. 

Dazai stared at the broccoli keychain on his yellow bag while Shida drank. It was so dorky and childish. He really liked it. His brownie one wasn't as fitting in his opinion, but it was fine. 

Ten minutes of blissful silence go by before an unexpected interruption pops up. 

"Ah, I thought I mind find you two here!" A white rat Dazai was fairly certain shouldn't be able to talk poked it's head around the corner of the shed. Oh, right. The principal. "I've been hearing a lot of complaints about you two."

Shida had put the empty cans back into his bag, but the smell was still on him. He hadn't sprayed the cologne or had a mint yet.