Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Izuku Midoriya discovered his quirk at 14 years old. It turned out that he wasn't a late bloomer. He always had this ability, but the conditions for it to work were never met.

So what could this mysterious quirk be? What conditions were so hard to stumble upon that it took 14 years for Izuku to finally discover it? The answer is quite simple: death. Not his, though.

He didn't know if he felt lucky or the opposite. On the one hand, now he had a quirk! He wasn’t just a quirkless loser! On the other... he just saw his best friend die. The bad side of this situation heavily outweighed his excitement about the new discovery. But at first he didn’t even realize what was happening. 

He was going back home, devastated after his dreams were crushed by his favorite hero. Then, on his way back, he saw another villain incident that quickly turned out to be much more personal to brush it off as one of many.

Because right there was Katsuki Bakugou, suffocating in the same way that Izuku was just some time ago. Before he even realized, he ran towards the villain, his body moving on its own to help the person he cared about the most. Maybe second after his mom. 

The next few minutes were a blur. He knew he had no chances of winning, he wasn’t stupid. But he thought that maybe, just maybe, if he put up some more struggle, if he could get some time for the heroes to get to the scene, he could save Kacchan. And sure, the heroes arrived at the scene. There was even All Might! And he changed the weather with his strength! So why was no one cheering? Why did heroes avoid his eyes, why did the ambulance that got onto the place not on the signal? 

“I’m sorry, kid. Can you tell us the name of your friend? We need to inform his family about.. this incident.”

Why don’t they ask Kacchan this? He is right there, standing in the alley and looking down on.. another Kacchan? Why were there two Kacchans’? That’s not possible. 

“Kacchan- I mean- Katsuki. Bakugou Katsuki.” he answered, his voice trembling. He got up, ignoring the police officer as he made his way towards his friend. He needed to ask if he’s okay and what was happening. But as soon as he got a better look at what Katsuki was looking at, he turned away and threw up whatever he had for lunch today. 

“What..? Kacchan?” 

Because if this is Katsuki’s body, then who is standing right next to it? Once Izuku could focus again, he now realized that he could see right through the standing Katsuki. That has to be hallucinations, right? There’s no way..

“Fuck you looking at, Deku?” No way. No. There was no way this was happening. It was just his mind playing tricks at him. He knew he wasn’t the most mentally stable person out there, but to the point of hallucinations? Not only was he seeing things, but now he was also hearing voices. Maybe if he ignored him he’ll go away.

“Oi. I’m talking to you. I know you can see me, you damn nerd. Don’t ignore me. Where are you going! Deku, get back here!” It seemed that this hallucination of his was pretty accurate. And fast too, since it didn’t even take a second before Katsuki appeared once again before Izuku’s eyes.

“For someone so damn obsessed with me, you sure ain’t as thrilled as you should be.”

“Go away.”

“Ha, good one! You never listened when I told you that, why should I? Don’t you dare to run away now. You sure weren’t doing that when you should’ve! I never asked you to save me, you got that? As if you could!” Katsuki yelled, his whole body just radiating anger from him. 

Bakugou was right. Midoriya couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t change anything. “I.. I’m sor-”

“Don’t fucking apologize! Who do you think you are!? Trying to win me over, mocking me.. Pitying me, a quirkless failure like you!” Bakugou paused, suddenly realizing something. He scoffed. “I guess not quirkless anymore.”

☆

"It seems that even after death I just can't get away from you, stupid nerd.” Katsuki sighed, having trouble accepting what his fate will be like from now on. Stuck as a stupid ghost with stupid Deku till.. Till when exactly?

"Ironic, isn’t it?” Izuku laughed, taking a notebook out of his desk. They were in Midoriya’s room now, wanting to avoid any possible trouble. One judging look from a passerby was enough for them both to realize that no one else sees Bakugou and Izuku just looks like he was crazy and talking with himself. There was only so much embarrassment that Izuku was able to take.

“Shut up. You’re lucky I can’t touch you. Yet. I’m gonna do my fucking best to be able to beat the shit out of you, even as a ghost. How does your quirk even work? It’s so stupid. Seeing ghosts.” He rolled his eyes, smirking. Of course he was still happy with something as simple as Izuku having a ‘lame’ quirk. Whatever keeps him happy. 

"I think I figured out the basics of it. Since I can see you, and there wasn't any quirk used on me, at least not that I'm aware of, it seems that my quirk is seeing, well, ghosts. But I've never seen one before, meaning that there are conditions to be met for it to work. From my guess, I need to be in a place of death and see it first-hand. I’ve seen a few movies in which there were real deaths, but I’ve - Don’t give me that look, Kacchan - I didn’t see any ghosts. The other options are: 1. I need to touch the person before, during or after death. 2. I need to be in a close distance. 3. I need to be connected to that person in some way. But I think the first-hand experience is the most possible one. I don’t really have any way to test it, it’s not like I can just go and watch people die. They wouldn’t let me, not really. But also-”

"Do you ever shut up?" 

"..sorry" Izuku sighed, but the excitement didn't die down. He has a quirk! He looked down on his notebook and started to write down every piece of information and speculation that he had about it. It’s not going to be easy to know more about it, that’s for sure. As said before, he can’t kill people. And with a quirk like this? He may as well be quirkless, because it won’t help him with becoming a hero. It’s not like he even wants to become one at this point.

"Fuck you mean you don’t want to be a hero, shitty Deku? Weren’t you yapping about going to Yuei just a few hours ago?" He must’ve said the last part out loud. 

"Oh that's.. Well, you see, I've met All Might today. I mean, we both did, but I mean before that. The sludge villain got me earlier and All Might was there to rescue me. I took my chances to talk with him, because wow, it’s not always you get to meet him, right? And I just.. needed to get his opinion. I thought that if All Might himself told me that even a quirkless loser like me can become a hero I would have some chances. But I was foolish. Don’t laugh, I know , okay? But he said I can’t become a hero without power. He was right, but Kacchan, I’m only 14, I have time to gain power, to be stronger. To learn. He shouldn’t have made me feel so helpless, so discouraged. He crushed my dreams so easily. He could’ve lied, shouldn’t he try to be nice to a kid? Who already had an awful life by the way, being quirkless isn’t easy. And not only that! He told me about his weakness, Kacchan. I shouldn’t really tell you this, but well, you’re Kacchan , and it’s not like you can tell anyone, huh?” Izuku asked, but didn’t even give his friend time to answer, instantly going back to his rant.

"It was so irresponsible of him! What if I sold that information to villains? What if I was a villain? His respiratory system was nearly destroyed, he lost his stomach and now he can only do hero work 3 hours a day. Three, Kacchan! And he had the guts to tell me I should be realistic? While he should retire! I get the whole “I’m the symbol of peace” thing, but he’s not only risking his life, but also others! What if his condition suddenly worsens because of his age and he gets weak mid battle? In his weakened state he would be so easy to defeat. That’s why it’s so irresponsible of him to spill all that to a random kid! Not even that, but the whole time limit thing? I think that’s why he didn’t get to you in time. Okay, maybe it was partially my fault, for slowing him.. down... God, it was my fault, wasn’t it?” The realization hit him, his whole irritation at All Might suddenly disappearing, now replaced with guilt.

“I am so sorry, Kacchan, if not me.. You.. You would’ve lived, oh my god, what have I done, I’m sorry, I am so so sorr-” he had trouble breathing now, his vision blurred with tears that seemed to appear instantly.

“Shut up!” Katsuki spoke for the first time in a while, looking at Izuku with anger.  “Just.. Shut the fuck up.” He repeated, his hands shaking, but this time not with usual rage, but something different, something that Izuku couldn’t quite put the word on.

“Maybe we should talk tomorrow. I need to rest, and we can always talk tomorrow, right?” Izuku tried, fluent in ‘Kacchan’s language’. He knew that if he said that Katsuki was the one who needed to rest, he’d be met with utter rage and denial, then Bakugou pushing them both to stay awake for hours, just to prove himself. Though.. “Do ghosts even need sleep? I have so many questions.. How do you feel? Oh, will you feel hunger? Or will you need to pee? If so, then how will it work? Can I-”

“You were supposed to sleep, Deku!” 

“..Sorry.”

☆

Being dead wasn’t what Katsuki expected it to be. It’s not like he thought a lot about how being dead will be, but whatever it is right now is worse than any scenario that he could’ve come up with.

The whole situation didn’t hit him fully till Midoriya was asleep and he got some time for himself. To think. To visit his house. He wanted to see how his old man was doing, he was always such a cry baby. And sure enough, once he got home, he saw him crying. What he didn’t expect was the fact that his mother was crying as well.

“Huh. Never knew you could do that, old hag. You look awful, by the way, never do it again.” he commented, getting closer to both of them to.. to what exactly? It’s not like he was able to do anything aside from watching. But that was creepy. So he went to his room and laid down on bed. Could he even sleep as a ghost? Well, even if he could, there’s no way in hell that he’ll be able to.

His whole life just.. ended. Because of some d-tier villain, on top of that. That was embarrassing. Not only that, but the only person that tried to help him out was fucking Deku. 

“Disgusting.” he muttered, hiding his eyes behind arm. What was he supposed to do now? Either stuck alone for fuck-knows-how-long, or stuck with Deku. Was it karma for everything he did to him? Some sick joke that the universe was pulling on him? ‘You told him to kill himself just a few hours ago, but now you’re the dead one and because of that he discovered his quirk.’ Not funny. Not even a bit.

☆

“So what’s your plan now, nerd? You’re not going to be a hero, I won’t let you. If I can’t become one, then you can’t either.”

“Kacchan-”

“What?! It’s your fault!”

“Kacchan!”

“Shut up. I’m fucking dead, I’m allowed to use that card. Focus, I asked you something.” Katsuki clicked his tongue, looking around Midoriya’s room. Sue him, deciding that sticking to the nerd may be a better option than endless loneliness. It’s not like he didn’t try to ignore Izuku. It’s just that he got bored after a few days. He couldn’t touch anything, so there wasn’t much he could do aside from stalking people. And that was Izuku’s thing, not his. 

That didn’t mean that he liked Midoriya any better. He still had a lot of issues to work through before he will be able to confront Izuku and ever admit his wrongs, or, god forbid, apologize. Good thing Katsuki has a lot of time for it.

“I.. don’t know. Not really. I want to get to know more about my quirk, but I don’t have any means for that. And being a hero.. in this society, I don’t think I want to be one anymore, you know? Not officially. Not without you. It’s silly of me, but it won’t be the same without you next to me.” Izuku always had this ability to say the most sappy thing unprompted and annoy the shit out of Bakugou by it.

“So what? You’re just going to be a loser now?”

“No, that’s not- That’s not what I mean! I just need some time to think about it. I want to still analyze quirks, I’m good at it, so it’s a good start. And I still want to save people. But what needs the most saving right now is the whole system. And I want to fix it. I want to make people stop being so dependent on heroes. I don’t want to repeat a sludge villain accident again. You know how many people were there? I’m sure someone had a quirk just perfect to at least slow the villain down. Maybe then..” Midoriya trailed off, looking at Katsuki with a puzzled look.

“And you complain when I pull my damn dead card, when you’re the one who brings it up all the time! Fuck you feel guilty for? It’s not like someone as useless as you could’ve done anything. These extras too.” And maybe Midoriya was looking too much into it, but what he heard is Katsuki saying that he wasn’t at fault.

“Thank you.”

“Huh?!! Are you deaf, I was insulting you! ”

“Right, sorry!”

☆

“You’re not gonna tell Auntie that you have a quirk now?” 

“No, not yet, I don’t think so. It’s too.. out of place. Why would I get a quirk like this? It’s nothing like her or dad’s. Not even close.”

“Maybe she lied to you about your sick excuse of a father-”

“She wouldn’t!”

“God, you’re so naive, Deku.”

“Shut up, Kacchan.” 

“Oh, so now you have the balls to talk back to me! Just you wait, you stupid-” Bakugou made a move to punch Izuku on the shoulder, fully expecting it to just pass through him, so imagine his surprise once Midoriya winced in pain.

…

“You can touch me?! / I can touch you?!”  they both yelled at the same time, Midoriya’s eyes widening in horror and Bakugou’s with excitement.

“Oh you’re so going to regret everything you did yesterday.”

“I’m sorry Kacchan! I’m sorry, don’t come near, Kacchan, don’t-”

☆

“So.”

“So…”

“Are you gonna tell me what we are doing here?”

“..You won’t like the answer, so I’m going to now pretend you’re not here.”

“Deku.”

“I may or may not have arranged a meeting with a leader of the League of Villains!” Midoriya said quickly, hiding his face with hands. He was met with silence, and it freaked him out even more than yelling. 

“Midoriya Izuku.” He was dead. He was so dead. Kacchan’s going to kill him and he didn’t even get to say goodbye to his mom! He can’t believe that this is how his life is going to end, by the hands of the ghost of his best friends.

“You have 5 seconds to explain it what the fuck do you think, and even then I will strangle you to death.” 

“Kacchan, please-”

“5.”

“It’s not what you think it is!”

“4.”

Midoriya took a deep breath, feeling much more stressed out by Bakugou’s wrath than the villains that were in the building right next to them.

“I know that it sounds bad, but I promise it’s not that! I just realized that if I want to change society, I need someone strong on my side, I can’t do everything alone! And I can’t just go to heroes for help if they’re the problem, you know? And Giran said that LoV will be able to help me if I help them, and that’s what I want to do. If we start from the bottom, then we can slowly make our way to the top! And if I succeed, then maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to achieve what I want!” Midoriya quickly explained, not wanting Katsuki to misunderstand anything. He was met with Katsuki’s annoyed stare.

“From a quirkless loser to a rising villain, I can’t fucking believe it.” Bakugou sighed, still angry at the current situation. He was able to admit that maybe, just maybe, Izuku had every single right to become a villain, but refused to do so. Midoriya was better than this. Or was he not? 

“Kacchan, do you trust me?” The silence that Izuku was met with was enough of an answer for him. He knew that it was a yes. “Then just go along with it. It can’t be that bad, right?”

☆

It was that bad. 

What Izuku expected was a mastermind, someone with big ambitions, someone who will be able to take out All Might with his smarts and strength. But what he was met with was a young adult who was obsessed with games and destruction. But his quirk was powerful, just like the resources he had, so Midoriya sat there and listened. Maybe he will be able to change Shigaraki’s mind if he tries hard enough. He definitely looked like someone who had an awful childhood and lots of issues, but maybe he can help him. 

He needed to help him.

☆

The more time Izuku spent with Shigaraki, the more he understood how badly he got treated by life. How in some way Midoriya could relate to him, how if only he met bad people he could’ve turned out just like him. He was desperate to help him no matter what.

So with that he started to plan. Shigaraki wanted to act quick, and just as desperate Izuku was to save, Shigaraki was desperate to destroy . But his plan had so many holes, Izuku was sure that with that he wouldn't be able to take down All Might. And yeah. Maybe he was supposed to be the better person, to not become a real villain. But even Midoriya wasn’t able to turn down all negative emotions, his grudge towards hero society, how they let a 14 year old boy get killed because of someone overlooking safety of the villain he just caught. 

So yeah. All Might had it coming. He shouldn’t have told a stranger about his weakness. 

☆

Planning the perfect murder took a lot of Izuku’s time. It was starting to get hard with being a student and part-time villain without raising any suspicions. He needed more people to help, League of Villains was too small for them to really do anything more. So he started to search for people that were similar to them, that wanted to change the hero society in any way by any means.

That’s how he met Dabi. 

It wasn’t that it was planned, not really. He was in the middle of researching the top 10 heroes when he stumbled upon the article about the death of Endeavors oldest son. But the details didn’t match up, it was clear that they hid some data. So then he started to look deeper into it, even going as far as asking Katsuki to search his house. It wasn’t an easy mission, but after some promises Bakugou agreed and then they found out something they weren’t ready for.

Because what do you mean the number two hero in Japan abuses his children? Why did no one stop him, why did they let him have kids in the first place, it was long overdue to take them away from him. Izuku wouldn’t be surprised if Touya’s death was the best thing that happened in his life, if only it meant being free from his father. 

The more he learnt about Endeavor, the more respect Izuku lost for him. For other heroes too, for letting it happen. It wasn’t possible that no one saw anything. Someone had to know. Why wasn’t anyone doing anything?

Izuku searched the internet for anything, to see if anyone tried to see the truth, connect all of the dots that were right in front of them. But he found nothing. Aside from one account that seemed to hate Endeavor for their living. Sure, Endeavor had a lot of haters, he wasn’t a hero that a lot of people looked up to, but this one person seemed to hold a personal grudge towards him. So Izuku reached out. 

He didn’t expect an answer, so imagine his surprise when a month after his discovery he was now meeting with this mysterious Dabi person. He couldn’t find anything about him, it was like he didn’t exist. He was perfect.

And when he saw him in person, Izuku’s excitement reached the roof.

“You’re Todoroki Touya, aren’t you?” he asked, unable to just keep quiet. But maybe he should’ve, because soon enough there was a hand on his neck, and the other one on his shoulder, burning through his clothes. It felt familiar.

“Who are you? Did Endeavor send you? You can tell him to go fuck himself-”

“No! I’m not with him, I promise. But I can help you. You want to kill him, don’t you? I had the means to do so, if only you will help me.”

“ I’m not teaming up, I do things alone. What possibly you can have that I don’t?”

“Information and connections. Strength. And a free living space that will be much better than streets.” He offered, trying to get away from Dabi’s touch.

“I don’t trust you.”

“And I don’t trust you, so we have something in common! I can introduce you to the boss, but don’t worry, you don’t need to like him in order to work with us.”

“..Sure.”

☆

The meeting between Shigaraki and Dabi was.. something. Dabi showed absolutely no respect towards the leader of the league, and by that Shigaraki also refused to act civil. Izuku felt as if he watched two kids bicker and try to best one another, when in reality in front of him stood a 20 and 23 year old men. But boy, was it entertaining. He and Bakugou already had a bet on who will come out first out of the bar, so they both watched in impatience, waiting to see whose emotions will get the best out of them first.

Just as Izuku thought that they were finally calming down, both of them started throwing hands and if not Kurogiri, there would be an interesting fight going on now. Shame.

“Tsk. And here I thought things gonna get interesting. But of course purple guy had to ruin this.” Bakugou complained and even though Izuku agreed with him in some way, he knew that it was better if the two didn’t kill each other.

“Guys, you act like little kids now, calm down. Shigaraki, you know we need more members if you want to pull down Sensei’s plans. And Dabi, please, aren’t you too old for that?” Izuku tried, both of the men now looking at him like they were about to kill him. That’s definitely not good.

“Don’t you dare tell me what to do, stupid rabbit. I told you I’ll cooperate if this league of yours was committed to the cause. And the leader here is just a brat who can’t shut up-” 

“It’s not like you know any manners! Coming here and insulting me?! The audacity-”

“Here here, stop! You’re both grown adults, can you just talk? ”

“They’re gonna kill each other soon, hahaha-”

“Ugh! Shut up!” Shigaraki stood up, quickly making his way towards the exit. Seems like Izuku won the bet.

“Uh, that went well.”

☆

“So what are the plans now, nerd? Heard you try to kill fucking All Might . Care to explain?”

“Waaah- cchan!!” Izuku turned around to see his best friend looking through his notebooks, and as soon as he saw that he pulled them away. Lately they discovered that Katsuki even in his ghost form is able to touch some of Izuku’s things. After a lot of tests, they both came to the conclusion that the stronger the connection between Izuku and his things, the more easily Katsuki could hold them. For example, Katsuki didn’t have any trouble taking Izuku’s notebooks and personal things, but had trouble picking up Izuku’s clothes and wasn’t even able to touch anything that didn’t belong to Izuku.

“Explain.” 

“It’s more complicated than you think, Kacchan. I just.. I just still can’t accept what happened. I thought ‘ maybe it will pass over time, it wasn’t his fault. ’ but whose fault was it then? I tried to justify everything, but the more I thought, the more anger I felt. And.. And I think you feel it too. Don’t you, Kacchan? Aren’t you mad that he didn’t save you? He always won, so why didn’t he this time-”

“Stop.”

“No Kacchan! I can’t just stop and accept everything, you deserved better, you deserved to live. And.. I’ve never felt more angry , you know? I think I know how you feel now, or I guess I can understand you better. It’s hard to live with so much anger inside me. And you felt this way all your life, didn’t you? And now.. Now you’re dead, and I’m the one holding all of the anger inside of me, because it shouldn’t have been you. I.. I should’ve done more, try harder, I-”

“Don’t you dare make it about yourself, you shitty nerd! As if you could’ve done anything. I.. Fuck. I’m going to say it only once, you get that?!” Katsuki looked down, not wanting to meet Izuku’s gaze.

“I always looked down on you. You were supposed to be beneath me, a quirkless loser like you had no right to be better than me. But I kept feeling like you were above me. I hated it. I hated you, or.. nah, i hated myself. I tried to make myself better by bullying you. And that day I told you to kill yourself. Pray to get a quirk in next life. Ironic, isn’t it? I died soon after and because of that you discovered your quirk. Karma’s a bitch.” Katsuki laughed as he rubbed his neck.

“ When this slime motherfucker caught me, I was so mad. I couldn’t fight him off, I was too fucking weak. And then I saw you, running towards me like a freak. Everyone yelled at you to get back, but you still ran. And I couldn’t help but admire your courage. Or stupidity, I don’t fucking know. But you, a quirkless loser, were the only one who tried to help me. You looked pathetic, hitting him with a fucking backpack. What did you think while doing that? Not much, that’s for sure. But you were.. awesome. And I hated myself even more for thinking that. Because I’m the awesome one, I’m the one who’s better than everyone else. And you? You were not awesome at all. It was stupid.” 

“Kacchan..”

“Yeah, so what, I did you wrong so many times and you still were the only one running to me. That was fucking stupid. But what I meant to say is.. Thank you. Or whatever. You tried or something. Don’t feel so fucking guilty, because even damn pros didn’t help me. But I guess I can let you be angry on my behalf. I always wanted to see you angry, instead of doing this pity party of yours. It’s about damn time you grew some balls.” Katsuki finished, looking up at Midoriya. 

“You’re so ugly.” He added, seeing that Izuku was a sobbing mess, unable to contain any of the tears that were falling down his face. 

“I- I never knew you felt like that, Kacchan! I feel like now I.. I can finally understand you better. I’m sorry for making you feel this way-”

“ ‘s not your fault, nerd.”

“..Yeah, I guess you’re right. But.. Thank you. For telling me all of this. It must’ve been hard, and I never made that easier, always chasing after you, huh? But now.. Now I think we can both look past this. I already forgave you for everything you did.”

“I never asked for your forgiveness, Deku!”

“And you didn’t have to.” Izuku smiled, feeling like a burden that he didn’t even know was there, was just taken off his shoulder. “It was a good talk. Even though we know each other our whole life, we never really talked about our feelings while we should have done so. Maybe it would be easier then. But we can’t turn back in time, so no need to beat ourselves over the past!”

“Yeah, right. What we should beat each other over is your damn plan about killing All Might.” 

“I thought we already got over it, Kacchan-”

“Yeah, no. You think you can defeat him like that ? He’s the number one hero, you need something better. You can’t kill him so easily. If you want to avenge me, the least you can do is doing with successfully and look cool while doing so-”

☆

“You think you can get me his autograph, ‘Zuku?” 

“I’m a little busy right now, Kacchan. Maybe some other time? For example, when I’m NOT running away from him??” 

“Fucking useless as always. One time I ask you for something and you can’t even do-”

“Stop right there!” Izuku sighed, realizing that All Might catched up to him. It’s not like he didn’t expect that, he was no match for Japan’s number one hero. Not yet. 

“The balls he has to interrupt me.. Get me his autograph, you damn nerd. That’s what you get for not listening to me, I told you to turn left, but you had to go right.”

“Can you shut up? I’m trying to think!”

“Wow, that’s the first for you! Should I clap?”

“I’m sorry, what?” Toshinori looked confused at the person in front of him, who looked more focused on whoever he was talking to than at All Might. Was he communicating with someone? If so, then who? There wasn’t anyone here but the two of them.

“Sorry, sorry, I wasn’t talking to you, All Might.” Midoriya smiled at the hero, while Kacchan sneered from right behind him, rolling his eyes. 

On the other side, All Might tried his best to get a better look at the person in front of him. He was short and, from the part of his face that was visible, Toshinori could swear that it was some baby fat. He looked like he was still in junior high school. What was he possibly doing here? He wasn’t a student here, that’s for sure, but how did he get here then? It was clear that he also didn’t want to get recognized, not with the bunny mask covering half of his face.

“How old are you, boy?” He asked, slowly making his way towards him, but with every step forward that Toshinori took, Izuku took two backwards.

“My mom told me that I shouldn’t give information to strangers.” Izuku tried to bluff, then looked at his friend, who was now very angrily pointing at the All Might card. How in the hell can Izuku get All Might to sign it? He was caught trespassing on Yuei grounds, there’s no way that All Might will be happy to give him an autograph. 

“I think you’re not in a situation that gives you a right to talk back like this, boy. Do you understand what is happening now? You’ve broken onto school ground, in the middle of the night, and now you refuse to cooperate. I believe it would be better if you just told me everything.”

“I’m 16. I was visiting a friend, or well, I wanted to surprise him before you interrupted me. He has a birthday today. Well, in 34 minutes to be accurate.” Izuku explained, lying coming to him much more freely now. He didn’t feel as guilty about it as he would’ve just a few months ago.

“Wow. Lying about your age like that? Aren’t you a bad boy!” Katsuki laughed, while Izuku tried his best to not blush at such a clear attempt at making fun of him.

“So you broke into Yuei to.. surprise a friend? Do I understand that correctly?” 

“That’s exactly what I said.”

“Young man, I don’t believe that. Our school’s security system is not something a 16 year old boy can just go through so freely just to meet with a friend.”

“Well, I think that this just says that your security system is not as good as you thought it is, if a 16 year old boy did just that. Now, if you’ll excuse me..”

“No, I will not. I can’t let you go, the police are on their way here. You’ll now go with me to the police station and there we’ll get everything sorted out. You shouldn’t have broken the law if you’re not ready for the consequences of it. What you should’ve been doing is studying and being a good citizen!”

“And what you should’ve been doing is.. Oh no, I have an exam tomorrow!” Midoriya suddenly realized, checking the clock once again. He doesn’t have much time if he also wants to sleep. He really should’ve turned left. 

“Loser.” Katsuki laughed, so amused by this situation that it brought him to tears. 

“Yeah, sure, laugh at my misery. See if I get that autograph for you.” Midoriya muttered under his breath, this making Bakugou calm down and disappear for a second, then come back with news that Midoriya was dying to hear.

“He is gonna be here in a while. I used your phone to tell him about the police.” He rushed, in his own way trying to make up for the laughing and make Izuku get the autograph.

“Can you do something for me before we leave, All Might?” Izuku asked, happy with how quickly Katsuki changed his demeanor. Even if it will only last until he gets what he wants.

“That depends, boy. What do you want from me?” 

“An autograph. You see, I’m a big fan of yours!” Izuku barely stopped himself from cringing while saying that.  

“Oh! Yes, I can do that!” All Might flashed him a big smile, taking out a sharpie. Did he always have it with himself? 

“Here.” Midoriya handed the hero a card of him and Toshinori signed it with a sense of relief. It seems like it will be the end of it and Toshinori’ll be able to finally get it wrapped up and then go back to sleep. Being a teacher certainly didn’t serve him right.

“Thank you so much!” Izuku took back the card and put it in his pocket, and sure enough, a few minutes later there was a police car in front of the school gates. All Might led Izuku to the back seats, but once he wanted to get in as well, the policeman stopped him.

“I can take care of him, you should go back to bed, All Might. You’ve done enough for the day.” he suggested, and god, if that didn’t sound amazing to Toshinori. He hesitated for a minute, but finally agreed.

“Thank you for your service, I could really use some rest. I’ll get to the police station first thing in the morning for an update, officer.” All Might promised, and then left the scene. When Izuku was sure that they were alone, he finally let himself loose, looking at the driver with annoyance.

“You were supposed to be here 10 minutes ago. I got caught because of you!”

“See if I care. Got what you wanted?” Dabi started the car and soon enough they were speeding through the streets of Musutafu. He took off the mask and policeman’s cap, only then getting comfortable.

“Yeah. Maybe now Kacchan will show some gratitude. Won’t you, Kacchan?” he asked, taking out the signed card out of his pocket.

“You wish, damn nerd. Took you long enough to finally get it.” 

“Ah, it would be such a shame if I accidentally lost this card.. or gave it to Shigaraki..” 

“Don’t you dare, Deku! If you even try, I promise I’ll-”

“Fuck, it still creeps me out. You sure you’re not just schizophrenic, bunny?” Dabi readjusted the rear view mirror to see the back seats, but even then the only person that he saw was Izuku.

“Yuppp. Or maybe I am? Kacchan, are you just a result of my mental illness?” Midoriya once again turned towards the empty space on his right, making Dabi roll his eyes.

“There’s no way you would be able to imagine someone as amazing as me. But I wouldn’t say that you’re sane, there’s definitely something wrong with you.” Katsuki snickered, sitting more comfortably while looking at the finally signed card. “He asked you about the mission, nerd. You know, the data you were supposed to get-”

“Right! Sorry Dabi, yes, I have the documents, everything we need is here. The staff, students, current ones as well as future ones that submitted documents to take entrance exams, the whole arrangement of Yuei. Some information about the nature of the entrance exam as well.” Midoriya explained, his cheeks painted pink, embarrassed that he made such a stupid mistake. Dabi only nodded, not interested in any more of a small talk. It took only 3 minutes till Izuku was talking again.

“But can you believe this, Dabi? He didn’t even recognize me! I know it’s been some time, but come on, I shouldn’t be that forgettable. Right?”

“Bunny, I hate to break it to you, but half of your face is covered by a mask. Fuck you expected?”

“No need to be so mean, jeez..”

“I like that one so much. He may be an emo king, but god, does he have the spirit of the hater. He lives off his pure rage, I respect that.”

“Yeah, you probably relate a lot, right Kacchan?”

“I’m going to remember that tomorrow, when you’re begging me for help on your exam.”

“God, the exam , Dabi, drive faster, I need to get home to study-”

☆

“Here.” Izuku threw a bag at Shigaraki, who was too caught up in his console to even try to catch it. Instead it hit him in the shoulder, but he didn’t even flinch. Midoriya took that as his cue to just sit down and wait until he finishes the game. 

“Good afternoon, Midoriya-kun. Do you want something to drink?” Kurogiri offered, nice as always. It was hard to believe that he was a villain sometimes. But the more time Izuku spent underground, the more he believed that a lot of villains didn’t look like them. Hell, a lot of them weren’t even that much of a bad person if you only paid more attention to their reasons. 

But it’s not like he can excuse every one of the League of Villains actions. Sure, they were mistreated in the past, but that wasn’t enough to say that their crimes were justified. Good thing that Izuku wasn’t here for that anymore. At least not now.

“Thank you, Kurogiri-san! I’ll have some tea.” Izuku smiled, then took out his notebooks to keep himself busy. Even if he was a part of League, unlike others, he still lived his life as a respectable citizen. He went to school, he helped his mom, he did some charity work here and there. He was what everyone would call a good kid, which only helped with not getting caught. Who would even think that someone like Midoriya was going to the villain's base right after school?

“Here you go. Young master is currently busy, excuse him for this, but from what he explained earlier he just got to some important part of his game.” Kurogiri explained as he handed Izuku tea.

“No problem, it’s not like I can judge him. I can wait.” He assured, taking a sip of tea as he went through the math problems. It took another fifteen minutes before Shigaraki finally looked up from his game and said anything.

“You try to hit me with your bag one more time-”

“Oh, you’re done! Perfect!” Midoriya flashed him a smile, trying to cover with it how he was so close to laughing. Just how entertaining was this game of Shigarakis that he overlooked everything and threatened him so long after the fact?

“Don’t interrupt me. You got caught yesterday, on some low level mission. You are better than that.” Shigaraki complained, carefully taking out the contents of the bag.

“Dabi was late, what was I supposed to do? But I got what we wanted, so it’s no problem. We need to start training Aoyama if we want him to get into the hero course, the exams are meant to be hard. And very much biased, but I didn’t expect anything better than that.” Izuku sighed, a slight distaste left in his mouth.

“Only Aoyama? You’re not gonna use that info to get yourself into hero course?”

“Kacchan!” Izuku jumped, taken by surprise once his friend appeared right behind him. Regardless of what everyone else thought, it’s not like Bakugou was attached to him 24/7. He was disappearing whenever he wanted to, wherever he only desired, to then mess with Izuku and appear out of nowhere. This was the least he could get out of this.

“What did he say?” Shigaraki asked, and even though Izuku couldn’t see his eyes, he was sure that the older one was scanning the bar in search of Katsuki. Unlike most people here, Shigaraki took him seriously whenever he realized that Midoriya was talking with Bakugou, not calling him creepy, but instead asking to be a part of the conversation. Maybe that was because he was scared of what information Izuku could get with the help of Katsuki. He should be.

“He asked about me getting into the hero course. And no, I still don’t intend to go there. It’s going to be easier if I watch them from the sidelines, less suspicious. I thought about the general course, I’ll be close but not too close. And one of the students there took my interest.” Izuku explained, opening another notebook in which he had written about the possible future students of Yuei.

“His name is Shinsou Hitoshi. He doesn’t have any way to get into the hero course, not with how biased the practical exam is towards people whose quirks are useful in combat. His quirk would be perfect to get a hold on, but I’m not sure if we can get him. He was called a villain his whole life, so now getting him to change sides to become a real one may be difficult. He is similar to Kacchan in this aspect, really stubborn.” He sighed, biting his pencil as he thought of a way to make Shinsou agree to help them. It won’t be possible, not until League changes in the way Midoriya wants it to.

“Huh.. Whatever, as long as we achieve what we want you’re free to do whatever.” Shigaraki declared, looking through documents. “And this Todoroki kid? He seems powerful, we need to get rid of him if we want to get onto the next level. ”

“I thought about getting him onto our side, actually. Kacchan got me some information about him that will be proven useful in future. I’ll need Dabi for that one, but he won’t be thrilled about it.”

“Endeavors kid under my roof? Interesting. No way.”

“Don’t say it like we already don’t have two here.”

“I told you already, Natsuo is not a- Wait, two?” 

“It’s time for me to go.” With that Midoriya got up, making his way towards the exit before he could hear Shigaraki’s curses. He closed the door just in time to not get hit with a cup.