Archive of Our Own

“They’re playing it again.”  

“Huh?” Bakugo shoved Todoroki away from the store window display to see the tv for himself. It was indeed playing the final moments from the war again. Videos of that war were posted all over the internet and had gotten so many views from around the world.  

“It’s not surprising. It is the anniversary of the war ending.” Midoriya said.  

Bakugo smirked as he saw himself blast Kurogiri before he turned to his friend to see him watching the traffic instead of the tv. It wasn’t too surprising. Midoriya didn’t spend much time looking at videos from the war.  

“It’s not a day you want to celebrate, is it?” Todoroki asked.  

“That war happened because heroes, civilians, society in general couldn’t handle the villains. Society rejected them so in turn they rejected every one else to have their ideal world. One of chaos and destruction and fear to make everyone feel the way they had so no, I don’t want to celebrate the anniversary of a war that could have been avoided if society wasn’t so cruel.” Midoriya said.  

Bakugo bumped his shoulder into Midoriya’s in a sign of companionship. “Then how about celebrating how society is improving since that day?” He looked down at the severely scarred hands of his friend. Hands that were once free of damage when they first reached out to Bakugo when they were children. Back then, Bakugo failed to take his hand or even understand what it means to reach out to someone. “Everyone is beginning to learn to reach out to others.”  

“And it thanks to you.” Todoroki came up to Midoriya’s other shoulder. “You started with our class and then moved on to inspiring everyone you met.”  

Midoriya couldn’t handle this. Something like this was normal from Todoroki, but he still wasn’t used to it from Bakugo. He brought his hands up around the back of his head to grab his hair which also helped in shielding his face with his elbows to hide his blushing face.  

“Hawks called it the crystallization of people’s hearts through One For All. It led to connecting all of us and the civilians, but we don’t need it now. You've connected us all. We just have to keep following the path you created.” Todoroki said.  

Midoriya took a couple steps back so Todoroki and Bakugo could be in front of him. His red face couldn’t be hidden like this so he lowered his arms. “You guys will do great at that. You could be pro-heroes right now if it wasn’t for the fact that you had to wait for graduation.”  

Before Midoriya could take another step back, Todoroki and Bakugo’s hands flung out to grab his wrists and yanked him forward, back to them.  

“Guys.” Midoriya sighed, tugging at his wrists to try to pull them back.  

Bakugo responded by tightening his grip on Midoriya’s wrist, not willing to let his friend leave him again. The difference was that when Midoriya left last time, it was so he could save people from escaped convicts. He was going ahead of them by basically acting as a pro-hero. This time, it was Bakugo and the rest of Class 3-A that were starting to go ahead of him while Midoriya had to step back.  

However, Class 3-A learned a lot from their first year at UA and from the war. They wouldn’t let their friend leave them again.  

A buzzing alert interrupted their conversation. Todoroki and Bakugo tightened their grips on Midoriya’s wrists as they tensed as their phones buzzed for their attention.  

“You should answer those.” Midoriya said.  

They knew he was right. This wasn’t something they could ignore, though neither let go of Midoriya’s wrists as they pulled their phones out with their free hands.  

With them looking at the alerts on their phones, Midoriya yanked his hands away viciously and stepped away. “Be careful.” He said.  

Todoroki’s tightened his grip on his phone as he read the alert. “Will you be alright getting back to campus?” He asked, glancing up at his friend with a worried frown.   

Midoriya rolled his eyes fondly at Todoroki’s concern. “I’m not a child, Todoroki.”  

“You have a history of getting into trouble.”  

“Psh,” Midoriya grinned. “I’ve been fine avoiding trouble since I lost One For All.”  

Todoroki looked ready to protest that statement, but his phone buzzed again with the emergency request for backup. There wasn’t time to be talking with Midoriya. He pat Bakugo on the shoulder twice as he turned to leave.  

Bakugo snapped his teeth at him for touching him, reminding Midoriya of a snapping turtle. He turned to chase after Todoroki down the road so they could head to the heroes that needed help. He only made it a few steps away before his steps slowed to a stop so he could glance over his shoulder at Midoriya.  

Midoriya blinks for a moment when all Bakugo did was stare at him before he found himself smiling at his friend. “You can’t keep looking back, Kacchan. You have to look forward.”  

For a brief moment, Bakugo’s face softened in something akin to sadness before it quickly shifted to a scowl. “Don’t tell me what to do, Izuku!” 

“Dynamight, let’s go!” Todoroki shouted, already halfway down the road. 

“That’s Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight to you!” Bakugo shouted as he blasted off after Todoroki with his quirk. 

“I’m not saying that.” Todoroki called over his shoulder. With Bakugo now catching up, Todoroki activated his ice to send himself propelling down the street faster.  

As his friends rounded the corner, Midoriya sighed and scratched the back of his head. Well, it seemed their day out was over since it wasn’t likely Todoroki and Bakugo would be available for a while. He didn’t really feel like going to lunch alone so it was back to UA for him. He turned back to head down the sidewalk in the opposite direction that the heroes went.  

Midoriya tilted his head back to look up at the sky, watching the clouds lazily drifting by. He supposed he could have followed after Todoroki and Bakugo to watch the fight happening and get more notes on his friends’ quirks, but they were moving so fast and he didn’t know where the battle was. It would probably be over by the time he got there. He didn’t want to interfere with them cleaning up from the battle afterwards.  

“Hmm,” Midoriya hummed to himself. What should he do today since their day off got ruined? He supposed he could study, but that would defeat the purpose of a day off. He could lift weights, but that was the same thing. It wouldn’t be a day off. Since he didn’t have One For All, he didn’t have to train as hard to get himself stronger quickly, but he did keep up with training simply because he spent two years training his body for One For All. It was ingrained in his body to train at this point. He wouldn’t stop, but he cut back a little bit on how much he did just so he could spend more time with his friends and studying. Since being a pro-hero wasn’t an option, he needed to get ready to take college entrance exams.  

Maybe he could watch a movie then. Or maybe look up any interesting hero news.  

There was a thought. He pulled his phone out and began to look up anything that was going on. Maybe he could find that incident that Todoroki and Bakugo had to run off towards.  

But before that, he needed to eat something.  

As soon as he entered the dorms, he made a beeline for the kitchen, dropping his phone on the counter as he reached it.  

Aizawa leaned forward, rubbing the aching stump on his leg. He had gotten used to his prosthetic leg, but having a replacement leg wouldn’t get rid of phantom pain. He kneaded his knuckles into the muscle above his prosthetic. As he was doing this, he watched Midoriya run into the dorms and straight to the kitchen. 

“Weren’t you out with Bakugo and Todoroki?” Aizawa asked.  

Even though it seemed Midoriya wasn’t paying attention when he came in, the training he received from Aizawa since he entered UA was ingrained in him by this point. He had seen his teacher. He simply chose not to acknowledge him as he went to the kitchen to get ice cream from the freezer.  

“Mm-hmm,” Midoriya said, dropping the container on the counter and pulling a bowl out from the cabinet. “They got a call from heroes needing back up so they had to run off.”  

Aizawa stared at Midoriya’s back as he scooped some ice cream into a bowl. Running back to the dorms and immediately going for ice cream. That was a strange choice for Midoriya. “Does it make you lonely?” 

“Huh?” Midoriya tilted the left side of his head towards the couches to stare at his teacher. “What does?” 

Aizawa frowned deeply. “You know what I’m talking about, Midoriya. Do not play this game with me.” 

Midoriya sighed, then shrugged. “Nope. I'm fine, Sensei.” He put the ice cream tub back in the freezer and ruffled through the drawers to get himself a spoon, trying to ignore his teacher’s gaze burning into his back. How many times was Aizawa going to ask him this question? 

“You would have made an amazing pro-hero.” Aizawa said.  

“Would have?” Midoriya echoed. “I was an amazing hero, Sensei. Maybe I never got the title of a pro-hero, but I got to spend an amazing year acting as a hero and I saved so many people in that year. I did so many amazing things. Hero killer: Stain, I-Island, defeating Muscular and saving Kota, saving Eri, Gentle Criminal, stopping Nine, preventing Humarise from detonating their bombs, saving Nagant’s heart, protecting people from the jail breakers, stopping Dark Might, stopping Shigaraki from destroying the country.” He grimaced as he said the last one. He would never forget Shigaraki, but along with that, he would always remember how he failed to properly save Shigaraki like he wanted to do.  

Midoriya looked down at his bowl of ice cream, tapping his spoon gently on the rim of the bowl. Honestly, he thought he had a pretty amazing resume. Most pro-heroes didn’t get involved in as many high stake situations like that. Those that did were typically at the top of the hero charts and that was for a reason.  

“Sure, I had to give up my dream of being a pro-hero at sixteen, but I don’t need a quirk to help people.” Midoriya grabbed his bowl of ice cream and headed for the elevator. “If I regretted the choices I made back then, that would mean turning my back on Tenko,” Midoriya fully turned to his teacher on the sofa, proudly showing off the scar on the right side of his face. “And I will not do that. I will not forget that child or who he could have been or what he became.”  

There was fire in Midoriya’s eyes. Aizawa met those bright, powerful eyes head on. His student may have lost his quirk, but he had a strong, determined heart. He wouldn’t let losing his quirk stop him from having the heart of a hero. Aizawa could say he was quite proud of Midoriya. A quirk didn’t make someone a hero. It gave them power to fight and protect, but it was someone’s heart that made them great.  

Midoriya scooped some ice cream into his mouth as he broke eye contact first since it seemed Aizawa had nothing else to say.  

Clapping got Midoriya to choke on the ice cream he just spooned into his mouth. He twisted around to see Hawks entering the room.  

“That was a nice speech.”  

“Hawks! Eh, Takami, I mean.” Midoriya corrected around his spoon in his mouth. “What are you doing here?” 

“You can still call me Hawks. After all, you still use your hero name even though you retired too.” Hawks said, approaching Midoriya.  

“Eh, I was never a pro-hero so I couldn’t call it retiring. More like having to give up.” Midoriya replied before he ate more of his ice cream.  

“Hmm,” Hawks eyed Midoriya’s ice cream. “Is that your lunch? This won’t do. Here, how about I take you to get a five star meal.”  

“Uh, you never answered why you are here.” Midoriya said, going to take a step away from Hawks to get some personal space back.  

“Now, it’s a bit far away, but I’m sure you’ll love it.” Hawks said as he grabbed Midoriya’s wrist and began to drag him to the door. 

Midoriya stared at the hand on his wrist. Why did people keep grabbing him? 

“Don’t worry though. I have a car here. I even got a personal driver. Isn't that cool?” Hawks continued excitedly.  

“Uh, sensei!” Midoriya looked frantically over his shoulder, but Aizawa was back to massaging his aching leg. He did wave at Midoriya without looking over at him.  

“Hawks came by to speak with you. Do try to stay out of trouble, Problem child.” Aizawa said.  

Midoriya gaped at the traitorous action. “I haven’t gotten into trouble in a long time.”  

“Didn’t you run out into traffic two weeks ago to save a child from getting hit by a car?” Hawks asked.  

Midoriya whipped his head back around to Hawks. “Why do you know that?” 

Hawks grinned at him. “I’m the president of the Hero Public Safety Commission. I have eyes everywhere.”  

“Why are they on me?!? It was Tokoyami, wasn’t it?” Midoriya knew his friend still met up with his former mentor occasionally for lunch. He knew they were friends, but Midoriya wondered if Tokoyami was also taking the time to ask Hawks for advice on how to improve as a hero. Hawks may be retired as a pro-hero, but he had a wealth of knowledge and experience he could pass on. 

Hawks ignored him in favor of dragging the kid out of the dorms.  

Aizawa watched the door slam shut behind them and wondered if Hawks realized he let Midoriya bring his bowl of ice cream with him, but not his shoes. When the door didn’t open back up for Midoriya to get his shoes, Aizawa just decided the bright red shoes offended Hawks somehow and he would rather Midoriya went barefoot. Quite mean, honestly.  

“You can let go of me.” Midoriya said as he was continued to be dragged across campus by Hawks. It seemed that Hawks didn’t hear him or was just ignoring him as Midoriya’s wrist was still trapped in an iron grip. What did people think he was going to do if they let go of his wrist? 

“Can’t have you wandering off again.” Hawks said.  

“When did I ever wander off?” Midoriya asked.  

Hawks looked over his shoulder to give the seventeen-year-old a look of disbelief.  

“What?” 

Hawks shook his head and drag the kid to the waiting vehicle. He knocked on the passenger side window when he neared it. The black tinted window rolled down and Midoriya blinked in surprise before a wide smile took over his face.  

“Nagant!” Midoriya said excitedly. He ran forward, getting pulled back a little as Hawks still had a hold of his wrist. “What are you doing here? I thought you were still in prison.”  

Nagant raised a slender brow as she took in Midoriya’s bowl of ice cream that was starting to melt, but chose to ignore it in favor of taking in the smile on the boy’s face that made him actually look his age. It was a better look for someone his age over the boy she met last year. “I spent some time in prison, but Hawks wanted my help.”  

Midoriya's brows furrowed in confusion. He didn’t think Nagant could go back to being a pro-hero after what she did, even if she still had the heart of a hero. It was certain that Hawks could find something for her. “But I thought you wanted nothing more to do with the Hero Public Safety Commission after what they put you through.”  

“You guys are putting a change into society. I've seen the dark side so I know what needs to be brought into light, right?” Nagant said, repeating the words of Deku that helped her so much. “I don’t think I have the right to help after what I did. I will leave that to the next generation, but I will help Hawks.” Nagant smiled at the boy who inspired her. “And you. I know you both lost your quirks.”  

Midoriya jerked back in surprise and twisted around to look at Hawks, who looked away, whistling innocently. They weren’t hiding the fact that Midoriya was quirkless, but they also weren’t announcing it publicly since that would be dangerous for Midoriya. It would probably be obvious when Midoriya didn’t enter the stage as a pro-hero after he graduated, but that would be a later problem.  

“I’m here to be Hawks’s bodyguard.” Nagant said.  

“Is that what you want?” Midoriya asked, turning back to her.  

“Hawks and I agree that a change needs to come. The Hero Public Safety Commission will not take in any more children to train them to be pro-heroes in the public eye and assassin in the shadows. Society needs to see the truth of the world and I trust Hawks will take us down that path.” Nagant leaned back in her seat to see past Midoriya to look at Hawks. “Because I won’t accept anything less.”  

Midoriya chuckled nervously. Was that a threat or was Nagant just stating facts? 

“Anyway,” Nagant exited the car and took Midoriya’s bowl of ice cream. She approached the nearby trashcan and threw the bowl in it, ignoring Midoriya’s squawk of protest. Returning to the car, she opened the back door.  

Hawks finally let go of Midoriya’s hand and ushered for him to get in the car. With Midoriya in the car, Hawks planted a hand on top of the car door as he turned his attention to Nagant. “You seem fond of him. I didn’t think you would tell him that much.”  

“I suppose I am.” Nagant answered truthfully. She had been lost in darkness, hatred and anger engulfing her heart until that day she fought Midoriya. It had been so long since she had seen light that she latched onto Deku’s when he opened her eyes. It was why she chose to help him in the war. She only wished she had been able to do more to help him back then. “Where am I taking you two? And why isn’t Midoriya wearing shoes?” 

Hawks blinked and ducked his head in the car where he was met with Midoriya’s bright green eyes and red face. He ignored the embarrassment in favor of looking at Midoriya’s feet. “Where are your shoes?” 

“You dragged me out of the dorms before I could get them back on, Hawks.” Midoriya pointed out.  

“Ah, whoops.” Hawks said before he ducked back out of the car to relay his orders to Nagant. When he was finished with that, he climbed into the back with Midoriya while Nagant moved to the driver’s seat.  

“She’s your bodyguard and driver?” Midoriya asked with a raised brow.  

“I’d rather only keep people I really trust close to me.” Hawks replied. “Is it weird for you? Or make you uneasy? She did try to kidnap you last year.”  

Midoriya shook his head without an ounce of hesitation. “I know she’s not a bad person. She proved that when she helped me out in my fight with Shigaraki.”  

“I’m sorry I couldn’t do more to help you.” Nagant said as she started the car and pulled out onto the road.  

“You did more than you had to, Nagant. In the condition you were in, I didn’t even expect any help.” Midoriya leaned forward to speak to Nagant. “It came as a huge surprise when you shot Shigaraki’s hands. I'm glad to see you recovered from your injuries. And that I didn’t damage your rifle too badly.”  

Hawks yanked Midoriya’s shoulder to pull him back to his seat properly and pointed at the seatbelt with a pointed look.  

Midoriya grinned sheepishly and buckled himself in.  

Nagant chuckled softly. “I never had someone break my rifle, Deku. I never knew it would hurt that badly.”  

“Sorry about that.” Midoriya said softly.  

Nagant shook her head. “What are you apologizing for? I attacked you and tried to kidnap you for All For One. I would be disappointed if you didn’t give your all in that fight. And don’t let Hawks fool you. He has a personal driver. I am just his guard. We just decided to leave him behind for today.” 

Midoriya found himself frowning at that. What was the point of a personal driver if Hawks chose to leave him behind? By doing that, Nagant had to do double duty be being Hawks’s driver and body guard.  

“Nagant is excellent at her job. I thought she might be a bit rusty after all that time in prison, but it seems fighting a One For All wielder was a great way to test her reflexes.” Hawks said cheerfully.  

“Hmm,” Midoriya leaned against the door and stared out the window at the passing scenery. “As interesting as this is and as happy as I am to see Nagant, why am I here, Hawks?” 

“Let’s save that conversation for lunch.”  

Midoriya’s eyes narrowed. “This is starting to feel like a kidnapping. Nagant didn’t come to finish the job, did she? I know assassins have their pride about finishing the job.”  

“Of course she isn’t! I wouldn’t put you in danger. Midoriya, speaking of, do you want a bodyguard?” 

Midoriya’s head snapped off the window as he twisted his whole body to stare at Hawks in complete bewilderment. “What possible reason could there be for me needing a bodyguard?” 

Hawks returned the look with one of disbelief. “I know you’re smart, Midoriya. This didn’t work on Eraser so why would you think it would work on me?” 

Midoriya slouched back in his seat and crossed his arms. He went back to leaning his head against the window to look outside which let him catch sight of Uraraka and Tsuyu teaming up with Hado. “You all think some remaining villains from the liberation will come after me for killing Shigaraki.”  

“There’s precedent.” Hawks said, dragging Midoriya’s attention back to him. “Spinner attacked you at the hospital.”  

Midoriya scowled at the reminder and that Hawks knew he went to see Spinner. “I provoked him.”  

“By killing his friend or speaking to him?” Hawks waved off whatever response Midoriya opened his mouth to say. “I’m not judging you. What right do I have to when I killed Twice?” 

Though Hawks said it in a neutral tone, Midoriya could see the pain in his eyes. It was similar to how Midoriya felt. Neither one of them wanted to kill the villains they were up against, but in the end, their hands were forced. “In the end, they had too much anger and hatred towards the world for rejecting them for the words of one person to sway their hearts. Their conviction was too strong to stop.”  

Hawks’s expression softened into understanding. “One person is enough. You were able to reach Nagant’s heart, weren’t you? All you can do is keep reaching out, Deku. The person you’re reaching for also has to want to stop and when they do, they’ll grab your hand.”  

“I’m a crying brat, like you said.” Shigaraki said. “I wasn’t able to crush your hand.”  

Midoriya looked down at his hand, opening and closing it a few times, watching as the scars constricted at the movement. The Shigaraki he met at the USJ wouldn’t have hesitated to decay his hands at the end. He would have done it with that malicious glee he had when he strangled Midoriya at the mall.  

All Might said he saved Shigaraki’s heart at the end, and that helped Midoriya a bit but it didn’t fully take away the ache that he failed in saving Shigaraki – Tenko – from the manipulation All For One put him through. He didn’t think that regret from failing his goal would ever fully go away, but he could take that feeling and use it to push himself forward to continue helping others so something like this never happened again.  

Midoriya blinked out of his thoughts when he noticed they were driving out of the city. “Uh, Hawks, where are we going?’ 

“I told you. To lunch.”  

Midoriya twisted around in his seat to look out the back window to watch the city get smaller and smaller as they drove away. “And where is that place?” He stressed.  

“Ah, that is at the Hero Public Safety Commission’s headquarters.” Hawks answered.  

Midoriya's mouth dropped open in disbelief. Hawks was lucky he didn’t still have One For All. If he did, he would have kicked the door open and flown away.  

“Maybe this is a kidnapping.” Nagant mumbled.  

“It is not a kidnapping!” Hawks promised fervently.  

Nagant caught Midoriya’s eyes in the rearview mirror as he righted himself in his seat. “Say the word, Midoriya, and we revolt against Hawks together.”  

Midoriya chuckled softly. When he caught sight of Hawks’s offended look, he had to cover his mouth to prevent himself from laughing out loud.  

“I’m starting to get the feeling she likes you more than me.” Hawks grumbled good naturedly.  

“Hawks, the Hero Public Safety Commission is in a different city. That is too far for lunch.” Midoriya protested, getting them back on track.  

“Hmm,” Hawks looked up at the roof of the car in thought as he rolled what Midoriya said over in his head. “Good point.”  

Midoriya sighed in relief.  

“How about we call it dinner then?” Hawks suggested cheerfully.  

Midoriya slouched down in his seat. He was beginning to understand why Endeavor looked annoyed when Hawks would show up during their work study back in his first year at UA. Back then, Hawks had been more focused on Endeavor so he didn’t have to deal with Hawks’s very blunt, very easy-going personality. When he did work closely with Hawks, he got the very serious pro-hero Hawks that supported and protected him during the war.  

“I would never get back to UA in time.”  

“I can put you up in a hotel for the night.”  

“I have school in the morning.”  

“You’ll be fine missing one day.”  

Midoriya buried his face in his hands and just leaned forward. How could Aizawa just let Hawks drag him away like this? “This is a kidnapping.”  

“Have you ever been kidnapped before?” Hawks asked. “Cause, I can promise you, kidnappings are worse than this. You even still have your phone on you.”  

Midoriya’s head popped up at that and he went to grab his phone only to not find it in the pocket he normally had it in. That was weird, but whatever. He went to his other pocket and nothing. He began to frantically pat down his pockets before his hands froze as he suddenly recalled tossing his phone on the counter to get his ice cream. And then Aizawa was talking to him and he never picked his phone back up.  

“No phone?” Hawks asked.  

Midoriya groaned again and went back to burying his face in his hands.  

“Huh.” Hawks scratched his cheek.  

“Hawks, please,” Midoriya begged. “If Tokoyami calls, pick up the phone.”  

“Where is that coming from all of a sudden?” Hawks asked.  

Midoriya spread his fingers apart to pick out from them to look up at Hawks. “They were upset we ghosted them when I dropped out of UA back during the war. I don’t want them to think anything is going on and they need to come hunt me down again.”  

“Oh,” Hawks dropped a fist into his open palm. “I got it. You don’t need a bodyguard because you already have nineteen.”  

If it wasn’t for his seat belt keeping him in his seat, Midoriya would have slid to the floor and just stayed there. Hawks wasn’t right, but he wasn’t fully wrong either. His friends weren’t crazy over-protective, but they did show him more concern if they were out and about and there was a villain attack very close to them. Weirdly enough, to the point that it unnerved him, Bakugo was the most protective in the class. Midoriya did not know how to handle that.  

It wasn’t a protective stance in that he didn’t think Midoriya would be fine on his own. It was more like, Bakugo was seeking out his presence a lot more to hang out whether it be to study, to just hang out, or even go sparring at the gym. Midoriya wasn’t sure what Bakugo was looking for, but there seemed to be some type of longing in his friend’s eyes.  

Longing and regret.  

It reminded Midoriya of that day in the hospital when Bakugo heard about Midoriya only having the embers of One For All left. Honestly, it was hard for Midoriya to lose his quirk, but he accepted it as the consequences of his actions for focusing more on saving Shigaraki then trying to kill him for the majority of their fight. However, it felt like Bakugo took it way harder since he said he wanted to compete with Midoriya as pro-heroes as they fought to rise through the ranks. He could still compete with Todoroki, but it seemed that wasn’t good enough for Bakugo. It wasn’t too much of a surprise to Midoriya though. With One For All, Midoriya was one of the strongest heroes around and he knew how Bakugo liked to compete with the best of the best. By taking himself out of the running before they even made it as pro-heroes, Midoriya was sure Bakugo felt the same kind of frustration he did against Todoroki in their first sport festival when Todoroki didn’t go all out against him.  

It was okay though. One For All didn’t exist anymore so there was no being the best of the best anymore. One For All and All For One were simply too powerful. Even in this super powered world, those quirks were too strong. They got too strong for being around for so long. The world didn’t need that kind of power. Power like that was dangerous because power corrupted. It was best to get rid of them at the same time which is why Midoriya understood and accepted it when he destroyed All For One and One For All. It set the balance of power at an equal level now.  

Bakugo could find people to compete with in this world that have power to equal to his. One For All was too unfair of an advantage in this world. It was a power that society didn’t need any more.  

“Or is it twenty if we count Eraser?” Hawks continued, seemingly unaware of the torment he was putting Midoriya through.  

“Hawks, please, there is no danger to me.”  

“Except yourself.” Hawks said cheerfully. “Like that time you tackled a villain who was about to take a civilian hostage.”  

“Tokoyami,” Midoriya growled lowly. He knew Tokoyami spoke with Hawks often and they met up so Hawks could continue to mentor Tokoyami with advice to help him be a stronger hero. That said, he didn’t realize Tokoyami was telling Hawks about his classmates. There wasn’t anything wrong with that. He was allowed to talk about his friends, but it seemed he was telling Hawks all about Midoriya’s reckless actions.  

“Hmm?” Hawks leaned forward to try to see Midoriya’s hidden face. “Tokoyami is actually quite proud and inspired by your actions. He said it’s amazing how you don’t let the lack of a quirk stop you from running in to protect people.”  

“Did he also tell you how they constantly fret over me after something like that to make sure I'm okay?” Midoriya mumbled. He didn’t hate having his friends being concerned over him. It was actually very heartwarming to have their concern. It was just that sometimes he wondered if their fretting was just normal concern after a villain attack or if subconsciously they saw him as weaker without a quirk and he needed more concern and to be checked over. He always had to remind himself that his friends didn’t look down on him like that and that he was overthinking things.  

Hawks blinked. “What’s wrong with that? They did that when you had a quirk. Hell, we did it when you were hunting down the escaped convicts.”  

Midoriya peeked out from his hands at that. A day so long ago, but one still so fresh in his mind because it was the day where his rage snapped.  

“We captured Lady Nagant and Kai Chisaki. Contact the police. Nagant needs medical attention.” Endeavor said.   

“Midoriya’s been roughed up pretty bad as well. You too by the looks of it.” Hawks added.  

All Might reached Midoriya’s side and immediately reached out to the boy, but his hands hesitated when he saw all the blood and burns covering his protege. He didn’t want to touch him and cause him more pain by touching the injuries.   

“I’m fine.” Midoriya said, turning away from All Might to look down at Nagant’s body. He was fine. The wounds were superficial compared to Nagant’s. “I don’t need help.”   

Hawks looked up from Nagant’s body and caught Midoriya’s eyes, hoping to convey how much he didn’t believe the kid’s words. “Are you certified in first aid?”   

Midoriya scowled.   

“Getting treatment is not negotiable.”   

“I’m not going to the hospital.” Midoriya retorted. Hospital meant being around people. Being around people meant putting everyone in danger. He couldn’t stay still.   

Hawks’s eyes scanned over Deku’s body, taking in every gaze and burn on his body and how he seemed to lean most of his weight on one side of his body. He understood Deku’s hesitation to go to the hospital. It was the whole reason why he chose to leave UA. Villains coming after him meant everyone around him was in danger. “How about this? You come with us to a safe house and let Best Jeanist treat your injuries. If he declares them more severe than you’re letting on, you’re going to the hospital.”   

Midoriya bristled at that, but he bit his tongue. He knew he couldn’t keep running around with blood seeping out of his body. He was just so frustrated with what happened with Nagant. No, not Nagant. All For One. This was All For One’s fault.   

“That’s a good idea. It will give you a chance to get some rest as well.” All Might added.   

“I don’t need rest. I’m fine.”   

All Might felt pain in his heart as he listened to his protege. It felt like he was looking in a mirror. Having to stand here and watch Deku take on the burden of being destined to fight All For One was so painful. Is this how it felt for Nighteye and Gran Torino to watch him destroy himself under the legacy of One For All?  

“Come on, young man.” All Might gingerly planted a hand on Deku’s arm, eyes catching sight of the blood trailing down his mid-gauntlets. He turned the young hero away from Nagant and Hawks to push him towards the car. “We’ll meet you at the safe house. Do you have a particular one in mind?”  

Midoriya trailed slowly towards the car as All Might spoke quietly to Hawks. He caught Endeavor’s eye and grimaced at the look in his eyes. One mixed with pain and worry. And it was directed at Deku. That wasn’t right. Midoriya was fine. He didn’t need anyone looking at him like that.   

Midoriya picked up speed to get to All Might’s car faster and got himself in the back seat quickly and slammed the door shut, finally finding himself free from the rain for the first time in a long time. He collapsed against the door and just let himself breath as he finally realized how hard his heart was beating. Everything was fine. He was fine. He couldn’t be anything but fine because he needed to be the strong hero, the strong successor.   

He shifted uncomfortably against the leather seats as he felt water and blood dripping off of him onto the new car. He was going to destroy it.   

He would have....  

It wasn’t until he was being moved that any sense began to return to Midoriya. He was shifted and then lifted.   

Midoriya’s eyes snapped open with the sudden spark of fear that a villain had found him, but when he saw the familiar scarred face of Endeavor above him, his heart began to calm down. He shifted a bit in the arms holding him, but found himself groaning as he felt how stiff and painful his muscles felt.   

“Thought you weren’t tired.” Endeavor said.   

Midoriya didn’t reply. His clothes had dried during the drive to the safe house that he slept through. They were stiff now and that made him even more uncomfortable. What did bring him a form of comfort, and he would never admit it aloud, was Endeavor. He gave off a natural heat because of his quirk. A natural heat that reminded him of Todoroki. A heat that reminded him of the cold winter days at UA when Todoroki would heat up his fire side and massage Midoriya’s aching hands while they watched All Might movies.   

Midoriya's eyes slid shut as he felt tears well up. No, he couldn’t let himself remember those days. He left UA and all his friends behind to protect everyone. He had to be strong right now and so he couldn’t cry. The responsibility of One For All didn’t leave space for any weakness so he forced the tears away.   

“Jeanist will be here shortly.” Endeavor said. “He stayed with Hawks to ensure the prompt arrest of Chisaki and Nagant’s transport to the hospital.”   

“Surprised you didn’t take that role.” Midoriya mumbled without opening his eyes.   

“Someone had to guard you while you slept.” Endeavor replied.   

“Don’t need it. Danger sense would have alerted me if something was wrong.” Midoriya said. Danger sense didn’t allow him to sleep. If danger was near, he would wake up with a blinding pain in his head. It kept him safe during this hellish time.   

Midoriya heard a sigh above him. Was he wrong with what he said?  

Endeavor didn’t say anything though. Instead, he set Midoriya down on the couch and as he pulled away, Midoriya found himself missing the warmth that his body was craving, but he bit his tongue. He didn’t need it. He was fine.   

Midoriya didn’t get long to be miserable though as All Might entered the room with a blanket that he quickly wrapped around his protege’s shoulders.   

“I’m sorry I didn’t arrive sooner, Young Midoriya.” All Might said as he crouched by the couch to examine his student.   

“Don’t apologize.” Midoriya mumbled. “I didn’t want you guys to arrive.”   

All Might’s eyes snapped up to Midoriya’s in surprise.   

“You would have rushed in to help me and that would have put you in Nagant’s line of fire.” Midoriya explained.   

“It’s a risk worth taking.” All Might said while planting a hand on Midoriya’s knee and gripping it tightly in a comforting manner. “This mission is using you as bait, but we aren’t going to sacrifice you. It's still our job to protect you.”   

Midoriya hummed in reply, but formed no words as he looked off to the side to avoid looking at the two pro heroes in front of him. All he could see in his mind right now was Nagant’s smile right before she exploded. His hands curled tightly into the blanket around him. Nagant wasn’t even a friend or ally to him and All For One blew her up in his face. She was right in front of him and he could do nothing to save her.   

“Hope you weren’t waiting long.” Hawks greeted as he entered the safe house with Best Jeanist following a couple steps behind him.   

“Not too long.” Endeavor replied, stepping back from the couch to give Best Jeanist the space as he approached with a bag that he dropped on the couch next to Midoriya.   

“Can you take your gear off?” Jeanist requested.   

Midoriya deactivated his broken mid-gauntlets first before undoing the zipper to his costume and shrugging his stiff arms out of the sleeves so he could push down the top of costume to have it bunch down at his hips. His yellow cape and respirator were removed and set next to him. He paused at this point as the skin tight black shirt he wore beneath his costume.   

Jeanist’s eyes scanned the various cuts in Midoriya’s shirt and the dried blood along those tears. “Shirt too.” He ordered as he opened the bag next to Midoriya to pull out some supplies.   

Midoriya pulled lightly at this shirt as he looked down at the material that was sticking more to him because of the blood and water making the shirt wet.   

Jeanist eyed Midoriya out of the corner of his eyes and wondered why he was hesitating to remove the shirt. He surely wanted to get out of the uncomfortably wet clothes.   

Midoriya sighed and went to pull the shirt over his head, wincing as the movement pulled at his chest. He couldn’t even fully get the shirt off before he felt the tension in the air thicken.   

“Were you ever going to mention that?” Hawks demanded.   

Midoriya ripped the shirt off and looked down at his chest to see the black and blue skin at the lower side of his ribcage. He went to cover it with his hand, but Jeanist’s hands got there first and began to run over the area to check for the damage, not even hesitating in his examination when Midoriya winced in pain.   

“Doesn’t feel like a broken rib, but it’s probably fractured. He'll need an x-ray to know–”  

“No,” Midoriya pushed Jeanist’s hands away. “It’s fine. Even if they are fractured, they can’t do anything for it.”   

The disappointment shined brightly in Jeanist’s eyes, but Midoriya just scowled back, unable to be moved in his decision to avoid getting near people.   

“Had I known your ribs were damaged, I would have gotten some ice from the hospital.” Jeanist scolded.   

Midoriya shrugged, grimacing at the pain from his ribs.   

Jeanist sighed and grabbed Midoriya’s hand to turn it over to pour some pain medication in his hand. After encouraging Midoriya to take the pills, he went to work on stitching up the various gazes and applying burn ointment to the burns on his face and arms.   

“How did things go at the hospital?” Endeavor asked Hawks.  

“Nagant was taken into surgery. I informed the heroes guarding the hospital of her danger status and to keep a close guard on her room, but considering her injuries, I doubt she’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.” Hawks explained.   

“I’m surprised you didn’t stay there longer.” All Might said.   

“My feelings on the matter aren’t important right now. The mission comes first.” Hawks shifted his attention towards the couch where Jeanist was using his quirk to stitch up Midoriya’s wounds. “The issues with Nagant can come after we stop All For One and Shigaraki.”   

“Haibori Woods.” Endeavor said. “That’s what Nagant said, right?”  

Hawks nodded. “Supposedly All For One is hiding there.”   

“By the way,” Midoriya said, twisting away from Jeanist who was trying to stitch the cuts on his face. “Did you see Aizawa-sensei at the hospital?”  

“Midoriya,” Jeanist said with a scolding tone as he gently grasped the boy’s face to turn it back.  

“I did.” Hawks replied, walking towards the couch. “And I have to ask, Midoriya. Did you see him before you left for this mission?”  

Midoriya would have cast a confused look at Hawks if Jeanist didn’t anticipate him trying to move again and grabbed the back of his head to keep it from moving while using his other hand to stitch the cuts up with his threads.   

“He seemed quite irate with me. What did you tell him?” Hawks added.   

“Just the same thing I put in everyone else’s letters.” Midoriya said.   

“Hold still.” Jeanist scolded, shooting a glare towards Hawks for continuing the conversation with Midoriya. If they could just hold out for a few seconds longer, he would be done stitching the cuts on Midoriya’s face.   

“Letter?” Hawks echoed.   

“Yeah, I told the nurses to deliver the letter with his breakfast the day after I left.” Midoriya said.   

“You didn’t speak to him in person?”   

Jeanist quickly tied off the last stitch on Midoriya’s cheek before he could start speaking and interrupt his stitching again.   

“Hmm, I went to his room after I woke up and was allowed to move again but I didn’t tell him my plans. He would have just lectured me and told me how reckless it was.” Midoriya replied as he let Jeanist take his arm to apply some burn cream and gauze to his burns. “I was worried that with him being in such close proximity to where I was going to start the mission that he would try to stop me. Even with only one leg, I’m sure he would have been quite persistent.”   

All Might chuckled. “Your homeroom teacher is quite protective of his students.”   

“Ex-homeroom teacher.” Midoriya mumbled. “Dropped out, remember?”  

“You know Aizawa will not accept your withdrawal. Once this war is over, he’ll drag you back to class. He wants to see everyone in your class graduate.”  

Midoriya looked up at All Might through dark green locks that were starting to get too long. He brought up a hand to his face to brush the bangs out of his eyes, but paused with his hand gripping the bangs to stare at the scars decorating his hand and arm.   

Graduating with his class?  

Or even just spending two more years with his friends before they finished high school?  

Ever since he entered UA, Midoriya never once thought he would think spending time with his friends and graduating from his dream school would go back to being a dream. It seemed like an impossible dream to attend UA when he was in middle school, but then he got in and every day with his friends was an amazing experience. Now it felt like a faraway memory that he couldn’t have back.   

And sure, All Might was right in saying that Aizawa would very likely allow Midoriya back in his class, but a deep fear made Midoriya’s blood run cold. He had to take care of All For One and Shigaraki. What if he failed? What if he was killed? What if because he was killed and One For All died with him, there was no one to stop All For One and society completely collapsed? What if all his friends and family got killed?  

He couldn’t go back.   

He had to stay away.   

As Jeanist wrapped up the last of his injuries, Midoriya immediately moved to get his gear back on, but only managed to pick up his shirt before the threads of Jeanist’s costume were catching Midoriya’s wrists and pulling him to a stop.   

“And where do you think you’re going?” Jeanist asked, earning a scowl from Midoriya as Jeanist was very well aware of what Midoriya planned to do. It seemed that while Bakugo was a loud, angry type who didn’t understand proper etiquette, Midoriya was seemingly the good one when in actuality, he would be the first of the two to run off. “You have one, possible two, fractured ribs. Those take weeks to heal. However, I am aware I cannot stop you from moving for weeks in the desperate situation we’re in, but I will insist you rest here until tomorrow.”   

“Recovery girl could help with the healing.” Hawks suggested and got a cold glare from Midoriya in return. Yeah, he figured that would be the response. They could only meet up with Recovery Girl at Central hospital or UA. Both places that Midoriya refused to go near anymore.  

“I’m fine.” Midoriya yanked at his wrists to try to pull the threads apart, but Jeanist just wrapped more around his wrist. “I need to get back to work.”   

“You need to rest.” Jeanist planted his hands on Midoriya’s shoulders and pushed him down into the cushions.   

“There are too many villains roaming the country. I can’t afford to stay here and rest.” Midoriya argued. “People are in danger.”   

“And other heroes will take care of it. You can’t do everything.” Jeanist said.   

“What heroes?” Midoriya spit back angrily. “The ones that ran? The ones that retired?”  

“The ones that are still willing to fight.” Jeanist replied. “I won’t lie. A lot of heroes are leaving the position, but there are those still willing to fight. You're not alone in this. You can put some trust in us.”   

Midoriya’s jaw locked up. It wasn’t about not trusting the pro heroes. It was about not being able to relax while knowing villains were roaming all across Japan and destroying society. It was about knowing the civilians were terrified and losing the way of life that they always knew. He had to fix this quickly.   

“Is it Danger Sense?” All Might asked.   

Midoriya’s eyes flickered to him. He brought a hand up to his temple to rub at it.   

“There’s so much danger in the country right now that it goes off constantly, doesn’t it?” All Might clarified.   

Midoriya didn’t reply. Since All Might had been watching him since he left the hospital, he knew just how little time Midoriya spent standing still. Often times, Midoriya would return to All Might’s side only to leave after a few minutes since danger sense would alert him of danger again. He didn’t have time to stand still.   

“That all?” Hawks said. “Easy enough, Midoriya. We’ll take care of the villains in the city while you sleep.”   

Midoriya didn’t say anything. Anything more would just be an argument. An argument with him against four pros. They could take care of this city and he could move on to the next city. Though, Jeanist’s stubbornness didn’t seem to be willing to let him leave the safehouse tonight.   

Within a few minutes, Midoriya was lying on the couch with a blanket thrown over him that he pulled up to his head to hide his face.   

“Didn’t expect you to be so harsh.” Hawks said softly to try not to disturb Midoriya’s rest. “Is that called tough love?”  

“Bakugo has been calling and texting me relentlessly. I haven’t picked up or replied, but I have a pretty good idea of what he wants.” Jeanist admitted. “I can’t tell him what is going on, but I can at least do what I can to protect his friend.”   

Hawks hummed in agreement. “I imagine that is why Tokoyami has been hounding my phone too.”   

“Shoto, as well.” Endeavor said, staring down at his phone to look at the list of text messages from his son that he hadn’t replied to. “Deku didn’t tell them he was working with us, but it seems they have figured it out.”   

“That’s hardly surprising. They are smart kids.” Jeanist said.   

“They sure are persistent. Think they are blowing up Midoriya’s phone the same way?” Hawks asked.   

“Young Midoriya had me return his phone to his dorm room when I took the letters to his classmates.” All Might admitted. “And speaking of phones, he’s going to need a new one.”   

“I’ll get one, but tell him to be more careful. Those gps phones aren’t easy to get right now.” Hawks replied as he pulled out his phone. “Considering we want him to rest and recover from Nagant’s attack, we should stay here to guard him so he can at least get one night of good sleep. To prevent danger sense from disrupting that, I’ll get Edgeshot and his team to take care of the villains in the city.”  

“I was a brat back then.” Midoriya said softly.  

Hawks blinked in surprise at the admission. “Is that what you think?” He smiled softly, ruffling the teenager’s hair. “None of us held anything against you for your actions or words back then. We understand how stressed and scared you were.” His smile turned cheeky. “Though I was a bit surprised because I thought the dangerous one in your class would be Bakugo with his explosive attitude. I guess that shows why you can’t judge a book by its cover.”  

Midoriya blushed and groaned at the same time as he went back to burying his face in his hands. He didn’t regret leaving UA back then because it allowed him to save so many people and stop so many villains. With how many heroes were quitting back then, he needed to be out on the streets to help. As the successor of One For All, it was his job. He couldn’t hide out in UA while villains were rampaging. He did, however, regret how he lost himself in his anger and fear and frustration. Mostly because of how his friends would not let that version of Deku go whether it be from jokes since the stress of the situation is over or in some cases – Bakugo – making sure he never forgot how bad he got back then so he would never do something so reckless and stupid again.  

“Even so, sorry for my actions and words back then.” Midoriya said. Endeavor, Hawks, and Jeanist didn’t get the worse of his attitude since All Might got it, but he still felt bad about burdening them with concern over his wellbeing. “And thank you for all the help you gave me and continue to give me. I know I'm not your protege like Tokoyami, but I do appreciate the advice you can give me.”  

Hawks gave a small laugh. “You’ve been racking up the top rank pro-heroes as mentors, haven’t you?” 

Midoriya chuckled. First, All Might, and then Endeavor. And on the occasion since they worked together during their villain hunt, Hawks and Jeanist gave him advice. Back when he was a small child, he never imagined he could know the top ranked heroes personally or that they would help him on his hero journey. Or, well, he was no longer on the path to being a pro-hero, but that hasn’t stopped them from offering him advice as he worked on deciding what to do now. They had no need to since he was no longer going to be a pro-hero and that’s where their expertise was, but it seemed he earned the right to have them reach a hand to help guide him. It felt nice to know that these pro-heroes who were guiding his friends into being pro-heroes still looked at him too even if his path was different.  

************

Bakugo cracked his neck as he approached the dorms. He brought up a hand to massage at his stiff shoulder.  

Todoroki trailed alongside next to him, eyeing him out of the corner of his eye. “How’s the arm?” 

“It’s fine.” Bakugo said snippily.  

Todoroki’s eyes shifted to the trembling hand, trying to decide if it was worth it to bring up it up or not. Bakugo was well aware of the problems with his arm and he had been working his butt off for a year in his rehabilitation to get his arm functioning again. It might never go back to the way it was before Shigaraki crushed it, but he could make it stronger. While his arm was getting stronger, it couldn’t handle being used as much as his other hand just yet so Bakugo tended to overuse his uninjured arm so now both of his arms were strained after battle.  

“Do you want a massage later?” Todoroki asked.  

“Huuuh?” Bakugo snarled.  

“Midoriya says I give an amazing massage.” Todoroki raised his left hand, giving off a small flame in his palm to make his point.  

“What are you massaging Izuku for?” Bakugo asked.  

Todoroki gave him a puzzled look for a moment. He was surprised Midoriya hadn’t told him about the massages. He thought Bakugo and Midoriya shared everything with each other ever since Bakugo learned of One For All back in their first year. “He damaged his body a lot with One For All. All those scars flare up sometimes. When it gets real bad, I give him a massage.” 

Bakugo dug his thumb into the palm of his hand to massage it to get the blood flowing properly again. “I know he injured himself horribly.” He scoffed and looked up at the dorm as they neared it. “Probably the only positive to come out of him losing One For All.”  

Todoroki looked at him with surprise. He knew Bakugo took it hard with Midoriya losing his quirk so he didn’t think he saw anything good about the current situation.  

“It doesn’t matter how much we beat it into his head, Izuku is still a sacrificial idiot. If it meant saving someone, he would destroy his body. If he still had One For All, I could see him running himself into an early retirement.” Bakugo said.  

“Couldn’t be any earlier of a retirement then he already got.” Todoroki pointed out and got a heated glare in return. He got it. He truly did. Like Bakugo, Todoroki thought he would be spending his career fighting tooth and nail against Bakugo and Midoriya to reach the number one spot. It truly was a bittersweet feeling to lose one of his rivals before they even graduated.  

“I don’t accept it.” Bakugo said.  

“Hmm?” 

Bakugo didn’t elaborate as he pushed open the dorm door. “Oi! Izuku, what did you–” His question froze on his tongue as he noticed the empty kitchen. His eyes trailed over the common room, taking note of his classmates and their teacher.  

“What’s wrong?” Todoroki asked, closing the door behind him and slipping his shoes off.  

“There’s no dinner.” Bakugo said blankly. It's not like they expected Midoriya to make dinner for the class, but when they were all at their work studies, Midoriya would have dinner made for them by the time the first person returned from patrol.  

“What is this?” Bakugo demanded, staring down at the multiple dishes of food being presented to him.  

“What? It’s dinner.” Midoriya asked, seemingly offended that Bakugo couldn’t already tell what it was.   

“I can see that, dumbass.” Bakugo retorted. “You cooked?”  

Midoriya sniffed in an offended manner. “I know how to cook, Kacchan!”  

“But why did you?” Bakugo demanded.   

“You guys are going to all be exhausted from your patrols by the time you got back and it’s not like I have anything better to do so the least I can do is make sure you guys have a warm meal waiting for you.” Midoriya explained.   

“That’s a very sweet thought, Midoriya, but you don’t have to go out of your way.” Iida said. “Cooking for this many people alone isn’t easy.”   

Midoriya just smiled at his classmates. “I know, but I want to do this for everyone.”   

No matter how many times they told Midoriya he didn’t have to spend his free time making them a giant dinner by himself while they were all busy with hero work, he never stopped. Bakugo supposed it was his way of making himself feel useful.  

So, it was a surprise to see not a single dish in the kitchen or to have Midoriya in sight as he waited for them to return.  

Bakugo scanned the room one more time, eyes trying to find that spark of green that could stand out anywhere. When he couldn’t see it in the crowd of his classmates, he turned his attention to the one person who would have been on campus all day. “Where’s Izuku?” Bakugo demanded before the slightest spark of fear hit him. “He got back to campus, right? Don't tell me that idiot got in trouble on his walk back here! I knew I shouldn’t have left him alone.”  

“Midoriya made it back hours ago.” Aizawa said.  

“You’re so protective ever since he lost his quirk.” Todoroki said.  

“I don’t want to hear that from you. ” Bakugo snarled. He was not the one who asked Midoriya if he could make it back safely. To be fair, their concern was valid considering the amount of times Midoriya ran into villains, ran off to help someone, or those vultures from the news would jump on him for an interview. “Is he in his room?” 

“He wasn’t here for long before Hawks took him.” Aizawa said before Bakugo could head upstairs to check on Midoriya.  

“What?!” Half the class twisted around to face their teacher, horror on their faces.  

Aizawa stared back at them with a blank face. “What now?” 

Bakugo snapped back around to face his teacher once more, fury lighting up his eyes. “You don’t remember what happened the last time you let pro-heroes take Izuku away?”  

Aizawa sighed at the reminder of first year. He was frustrated about what happened back then as well, but his students really took Midoriya leaving them behind personally. He would wager a guess that it was because they were offended that Midoriya didn’t trust them enough to tell them in person what was going on or let them help him without them having to force it on him. Midoriya was the first to offer help to those who were struggling with a personal issue, but when it was something personal he needed help with, it was like pulling teeth to get him to offer anything up or to ask for help. And quite honestly, even now, he still never asked for help. They had to realize there was a problem and force the help on him. However, despite that, “Firstly, Hawks retired as a pro-hero. And secondly, there were extreme circumstances the last time All Might, Endeavor, Hawks, and Best Jeanist took him away.”  

“Sensei!” Mina got into Aizawa’s face. “Dark hero–”  

Kaminari shoved her out of the way to lean in close to their teacher who was slowly becoming annoyed. “Vigilante–” 

“Deku mode!” Kirishima finished, shoving Kaminari out of the way.  

“I still have nightmares about it.” Mineta said, shivering at the reminder of their friend at his lowest point. He looked so terrifying by the time they found him.  

“And those damn pro-heroes completely failed at keeping him safe last time.” Bakugo griped.  

“To be fair to them, Midoriya did push them all away to do everything on his own.” Momo pointed out.  

“Yeah, because they don’t know a damn thing about how to deal with Izuku!” Bakugo rounded on their teacher. “And now you’re saying damn Feather Head took him away again?!” 

“They went to lunch.” Aizawa said dryly.  

Todoroki pointedly looked at the clock which now said five thirty in the evening.  

Aizawa followed his gaze and found himself sighing. “Hawks and Midoriya are both quirkless now. Neither one of them is about to run off on a secret mission.”  

“Screw this.” Bakugo yanked his phone out of his pocket. “If he thinks he can just run off without telling us.” He grumbled as he found Izuku’s contact and called him.  

A familiar ringtone started to sound in the room and the students looked in the direction of the noise to see a phone vibrating on the kitchen counter.  

“Oh, god, no.” Mina said, burying her face in her hands. “It’s happening again.” Only this time, they had no leads to go on. This came completely out of nowhere. Yes, Midoriya running off in first year came out of nowhere too, but at least there was a war going and secrets being unraveled back then. Right now, there was none of that happening.  

“He really ran away again!” Hagakure shouted.  

Aizawa closed his eyes in defeat and massaged the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache coming on. Why? Just why did these brats have to be in his class for three years? Why couldn’t he have pawned them off on someone else for their third year? 

“Midoriya did not run away. He is with Hawks. He will be back.” Aizawa insisted.  

“Back when?” Uraraka demanded. She didn’t wait for a response as she twisted away from their teacher. “Tokoyami, you still have Hawks’s contact, right? Call him right now.”  

Aizawa threw his hands in the air in surrender. Were his students always this insane? 

“Consider it done.” Tokoyami said as he pulled out his phone to complete Uraraka’s order.  

The class waited with baited breathes as Tokoyami dialed Hawks’s number. He even put the call on speaker so his friends could hear what was happening.  

Bakugo angrily put his phone away and snatched Midoriya’s off the counter and stuffed that in his pocket with his. Stupid nerd can’t even keep track of his phone. He didn’t know why he was surprised considering the number of times Midoriya broke his phone in the last two years. It was amazing his mother didn’t stop buying him phones to replace all his broken ones.  

Bakugo returned to the common room just in time to hear Tokoyami’s phone stop ringing and for Hawks’s voicemail message to play.  

The class stared at the phone.  

If any of them had laser vision, the phone would have been decimated with their angry disbelief. 

“We should have installed a tracker under Midoriya’s skin when we brought him back the first time.” Todoroki said in dismay.  

“Hatsume could have created it.” Iida said. Even after all this time, Midoriya still hadn’t learned what ICE was. Inform. Communicate. Explain! Why was that so hard for him?!? 

“She still can.” Uraraka said. “We get her to make it now and the moment he is back in this dorm, we inject it under his skin. And we make it so we all have access to the gps information.”  

Shinso blinked as he watched the class. He inched closer to where Aizawa was looking like he wished for an early death. “Are they always like this?” He whispered.  

“Midoriya’s dark hero days are a blight on his reputation.” Aizawa said miserably. “Don’t ever go rogue. This class doesn’t accept that kind of behavior.”  

“Yeah, okay. I don’t really want a gps locator in my arm.” Shinso said. He didn’t know what he was expecting when joined class A in their second year, but this was not it. He was planning to be a hero, not make friends, but the students in class A were a very close knit of friends. They didn’t accept his attitude. He didn’t really get it, but he knew they went through a lot of villain attacks in their first year. Perhaps that kind of them made them all grow closer. He did feel like he was missing something sometimes when they would talk of first year, but they were always quick to pull him in and explain what they were discussing. They never made him feel left out for missing spending a whole year with them. Considering how they treated him at the joint training in first year, the behavior wasn’t surprising to him.  

“In his arm?” Bakugo exclaimed, having heard Shinso. “That shit is going in his fucking neck. He can lose an arm and with it, the damn chip. If he thinks he can get rid of us that easily, he has another fucking thing coming!” 

“You can’t chip your classmate.” Aizawa said dryly. Why was this a conversation he had to have with these brats? This felt like a very obvious thing that shouldn’t need to be said.  

“Why not? Endeavor did.” Todoroki said.  

“They gave him a gps phone. That is different.” Aizawa replied. He pinched his nose again and focused on breathing. In. Out. In. Out. This had to be a result of the stress and fear and trauma from the war. They were reacting this way out of fear of losing their friends after the war last year. For a few months after the war, they didn’t like having each other out of sight for too long. That was something he and Hound Dog helped them through because it wasn’t feasible for them to feel like that forever since they would soon be graduating UA. Maybe they needed some more therapy with Hound Dog if this was how they would react when a pro-hero took Midoriya away for the day. “I’m not entertaining this. Midoriya is with Hawks. He will be back.”  

Aizawa stood up from the couch and glared at his students. His students that were so close to becoming pro heroes but still just children with more trauma than anyone their age should have. “There will be no running off to find Midoriya. He is fine. If he isn’t back today, he will be back tomorrow. Hawks isn’t going to keep him long.” With his final words said, Aizawa gave his students one last warning glare to stay put and turned to leave. He would have to make sure they didn’t actually commission Hatsume to make a gps tracker. He would hope they only said that out of heated concern in the moment and would calm down later.  

“Why are Izuku’s damn shoes still here if he left with Hawks?!?” Bakugo screamed.  

Aizawa closed his eyes and dropped his forehead against the wall.  

“Why wouldn’t he put his shoes on?” Sero asked curiously.  

“What if he was dragged out of here against his will?” Sato suggested.  

“What if he left in his hero costume?” Tsuyu suggested.  

Aizawa lifted his head off the wall and dropped it back down on it with a dull thud that his students didn’t notice as the chaos came back tenfold. Damn it, Hawks.  

************

Midoriya looked down at his shorts, sock clad feet, and UA hoodie and then looked over at the suits Hawks was dressed in. Next, he looked at the staff they were passing, all dressed highly professional. He tugged subconsciously at the sleeves of his hoodie when he felt the eyes of the staff they passed fall on him. “I don’t think I’m dressed right to be in the Hero Public Safety Commission’s headquarters.”  

“Hmm?” Hawks glanced over his shoulder at the student trailing behind him. His eyes looked over Midoriya’s head to see the staff they pass stopped and turned to stare at the student’s back. “You’re fine, Midoriya. You're my guest after all.” He turned back around with a grin. Even after defeating Shigaraki, Midoriya was still a humble kid if he could misinterpret the looks he was getting as disapproval for how he was dressed. “I’m sure you’re starving after that long drive.”  

“You said we were getting lunch and we drove for half the day.” Midoriya grumbled, rubbing at his empty stomach that was grumbling at him. “And Nagant threw my ice cream in the trash. Along with the bowl that belonged in my dorms.”  

“Hawks will compensate UA for the missing bowl.” Nagant said dryly.  

“Me? You threw it away.” Hawks protested.  

“Because you had him bring it with him.” Nagant said. She looked down at Midoriya’s feet. “And not his shoes. His socks are probably destroyed too. You should compensate him for that.” 

“Are you trying to get me to waste my money or the HPSC’s money?” Hawks asked.  

“Don’t worry about my socks.” Midoriya interjected quickly. “I have plenty of socks and they are cheap to buy anyway.” His stomached growled loudly and he groaned, grabbing at his stomach. “Though if you could spare some of that five star food you promised....” 

“Of course.” Hawks laughed as he led Midoriya into his office. “Make yourself comfortable.”  

Midoriya took a moment to look around the spacey office. The only place to sit besides the chair at the desk at the head of the room were the couches. There were two of them facing each other with a coffee table in the middle of them so he chose one to throw himself onto. While he did that, Hawks went over to his desk and picked up his phone, likely to call to have food delivered. 

Nagant stood next to the couch, staring out at the windows that made up a full wall. A dangerous design choice for the HPSC building, particularly the president’s office. It was bullet proof glass at least, but it still made her job unnerving. She looked beyond the window to look at the sky. “It’s going to be too late to drive you back to UA after this.”  

“Why couldn’t we do this meeting at a restaurant near my school?” Midoriya asked.  

Nagant smiled sympathetically at the student before shifting her attention to Hawks leaning back in his chair with an amused smirk as he spoke on the phone. She was certain he was just teasing Midoriya at this point. A mix of a serious conversation and light hearted talk. He took his job seriously, but he still had a dream of a future where heroes had too much free time. A chance for more fun and relaxation.  

“Alright,” Hawks hung up his phone. “Food will be up shortly.” He rose to his feet, snatched a folder off his desk, and joined Midoriya by sitting on the couch opposite of him.  

“Have a kitchen here?” Midoriya asked.  

“Yep, and it has an amazing chef.” Hawks grinned. “Should blow your mind compared to Lunch Rush’s food.”  

“His food is amazing.” Midoriya argued.  

“Which goes to show how good the food is here.” Hawks retorted.  

Midoriya sniffed, offended. “Have you ever had Lunch Rush’s food?”  

“Nope,” Hawks said cheerfully.  

“Then you can’t compare!” Midoriya smacked a hand on the coffee table. “You have to try his food before you can say your food is better.”  

Hawks leaned forward, smacking his hand on the table to mirror Midoriya’s position. “Same to you.”  

“I’m here, aren’t I?” Midoriya said. “Which means you have to come to UA and eat Lunch Rush’s food at some point. I’m sure Tokoyami will be glad to see you.”  

Hawks smirked. “That will be quite a conversation to tell him I’ve been ordered to eat in a school’s cafeteria by his demanding classmate.”  

“That’s what happens when you make unjust claims without experiencing both sides.” Midoriya declared.  

Hawks laughed and leaned back to relax into the couch. He didn’t get to spend much time with Midoriya, but the time he did spend with him was always so serious because of the war or depressing as he recovered at the war. It was nice to see him smiling again and much more relaxed than Hawks had ever known him to be. The closest being would be when he met him during his work study.  

“Perhaps we should get onto why I brought you here.”  

“Kidnapped,” Midoriya corrected. “But go on.”  

Hawks rolled his eyes good naturedly. He had a feeling there would be a kidnapping retort any time he saw Midoriya after this for a few months.  

Hawks dropped his folder on the table and spun it to face Midoriya before he flipped it open to show some documents. He pulled a pen from his suit jacket and laid it on top of the papers.  

Midoriya squinted his eyes down at the forms. “Are you trying to get me to sell my soul to you?” 

Nagant snorted out a laugh. “No, Midoriya. We aren’t training assassins and spies in the Hero Public Safety Commission anymore.” 

“What am I selling to you then?” Midoriya picked up the document and pen so he could lean back to get comfortable as he read it.  

“Nothing. I don’t want anything from you except your permission.” Hawks replied.  

Midoriya hummed as he clicked the pen over and over again as he started to skim the document. 

“It’s a statue in your honor.”  

Midoriya clicked down hard on the pen and kept it pressed in as his eyes froze on the sentence he was reading. “...What?” 

“A statue. Similar to what we gave All Might after his fight with All For One in Kamino.” Hawks explained, smiling when he saw Midoriya’s eyes peak over the top of the paper he was reading.  

“A statue.” Midoriya repeated. He tossed the document down on the table and leaned forward once more. “I thought we wanted to stop idolizing heroes. Idolizing heroes is the reason we had too many heroes and the job became more of a popularity contest than a job to actually save people.” He grimaced at that line. That was essentially what Stain thought and why he went on a rampage to kill false heroes. He was basically warning them that they were on the wrong path.  

“I have no intention of getting rid of the current system.” Hawks replied. “No matter how much society improves, villains will still exist. We won’t be able to get rid of villains entirely after all. What I want to do is honor those who do heroic deeds. We only ever saw what the heroes did, but you brought the civilians into the mix by inspiring them.”  

Midoriya rubbed the back of his head. “That was Uraraka’s speech.”  

“Uravity’s speech only worked because of the actions you took to fight nonstop for a month to save as many people as possible.” Hawks smiled. He paused when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He slid it out to see Tokoyami’s contact flashing up at him. He promised Midoriya earlier to answer if he called, but since they were in the middle of a serious conversation, he wasn't going to rudely interrupt it. The call could be returned later when he was free. Rejecting the call and putting the phone away, Hawks looked back up at Midoriya.  

“Sorry about that.” Hawks continued. “As I was saying, in a way, it took both of your efforts to inspire the civilians to start taking action to look beyond themselves. I truly respect the work you put in back then and I want to honor that.” He paused a picked up another page from the folder to show it as a preliminarily sketch of the statue they had planned. “Statues aren’t just about glorifying someone. They are a way to remember what happened. We can’t let what happened in the war be forgotten. If we forget what happened, then history will only repeat itself. We have to teach the next generation the right direction society needs to move towards so people like Shigaraki, Dabi or Toga never happen again.”  

“Teach?” Midoriya murmured. Teach the future generation how to be better than them? He looked down at his scarred hands thoughtfully. Scars that were earned in his desperate attempts to save those in front of him. He couldn’t help people the same way he did back in first year, but there were still ways he could help people. It was like Fuwa said last year. He needed to figure out why he wanted to be a hero. He could still do something.  

“Hmm?” Hawks hummed thoughtfully.  

Midoriya shook his head. “This is the wrong option then.” He pushed the document back towards Hawks and dropped the pen on it without signing it. “If we want to teach the next generation and highlight everyone’s contribution, a statue of a single person isn’t the option.” He looked down at his hands, eyes tracing all the scars that signified how he reached out towards people. He closed his eyes and imagined the warmth of all of his friends grabbing his hand when he was lost. “I didn’t fight that war alone.” He opened his eyes and smiled brightly. “I was able to fight because I had everyone by my side. If you want people to remember something, it should be about how the heroes teamed up. All Might was a symbol of peace for decades by himself so when he retired, the peace we had fell apart so fast because there was no trust in Endeavor and the rest of you. Instead of a pillar of peace held up by one person that will collapse when that person leaves, we need it to be a pillar held up by everyone.”  

Midoriya grabbed the pen and leaned forward to scribble on the document. This would make it invalid, but it would get his point across. Hawks could get a new form made out later for him to sign properly. “I want this.” He twisted the paper around so it would face Hawks.  

“A statue of class 3-A.” Hawks read.  

“It was a mistake to go at it alone when I left UA.” Midoriya admitted. “For so long, pro heroes were lone wolves. They only teamed up when the mission was too big to do alone so when All For One and Shigaraki were coming for me, I ran from the people I knew I could trust with my life. That can’t happen again. We need to focus on heroes being more cooperative with each other so I want to showcase that with this if you really insist on a statue.”  

Hawks looked up from the paper to look at the student across from him. Midoriya met his stare head on, smiling confidentially because whether Midoriya got a statue or not didn’t bother him. He was content where he was so he had no reason to be nervous.  

Confidence.  

Power.  

Strength.  

Even though he was now quirkless, Midoriya felt like an imposing figure sitting across from him. It was like the air around him was similar to All Might’s.  

Perhaps it was a side effect of One For All.  

Or maybe it was just that strong, unwavering spirit that One For All wielders had. They needed to be strong to accept One For All knowing that those with the power were forced to accept the mission of having to one day fight All For One.  

The fact that the last two wielders of One For All survived All For One’s hunts for them was a miracle.  

A miracle that Hawks could use to comfort the civilians. All Might and Deku might be quirkless, but they fought so hard for the peace of this country. Deku’s mission against All For One even brought peace to the world that was feeling threatened by Shigaraki coming to destroy them after he finished with Japan.  

“Very true, Midoriya.” Hawks agreed. “I'll propose the idea of the statue of formerly class 1-a, now 3-A, to the designers.”  

“You dragged me all the way out here just for this.” Midoriya said as he played with the pen. This was a conversation that could have taken ten minutes back at UA. Instead, it became an all day affair because of having to drive all the way to HPSC headquarters.  

“But then I couldn’t introduce you to the food here.” Hawks pointed out.  

“Speaking of,” Nagant looked towards the door, seemingly hearing something as she tilted her head to listen. “Your food is here.” She made her way towards the office door before the knock even sounded on it.  

Hawks clapped his hands. “Perfect.” He flipped the folder shut and got up to move it to his desk. “I’ve made you suffer through starvation long enough, Midoriya. Let's chow down and we can finish our conversation as we eat.” He paused and looked over at the student. “Or afterwards. Serious conversation might ruin the taste of the food and that would affect your decision on who has got the best food.”  

“There’s more you wanted to discuss?” Midoriya asked.  

“You didn’t seriously think I only dragged you to a completely different city for talk about a statue, did you?” Hawks asked as he rejoined Midoriya at the couches.  

Midoriya raised a brow. “Considering how aggravated Endeavor got with you during my work study with him, I assumed you had a more easy-going attitude and messed with people that got on his nerves.”  

Nagant wheeled a cart of food over that was just delivered. When she stopped it by the coffee table, she began to move the dishes to the table. Hawks joined her to move the plates and glasses that came with the food to the coffee table. Midoriya immediately flew to his feet to help, but Nagant and Hawks both held up a hand towards him before he could even take a step to them.  

“We’re more than capable of moving dishes by ourselves.” Nagant said.  

“Yeah, but...” Midoriya wrung his hands together, but sat back down. He hated sitting by while others served him or cleaned up from a meal. It just seemed so rude to just sit here and watch.  

“Prepare to have your mind blown, Midoriya.” Hawks said as he placed a plate in front of him.  

“You keep saying that so if this food doesn’t live up to your hype, I’m going to be really disappointed.” Midoriya said as he leaned forward to grab the plate so he could start dishing out food to himself.  

Nagant poured all of them a glass of water before she grabbed a plate for herself. “If the food hasn’t changed since I worked here, then it will top notch in taste. The HPSC didn’t hold back in treating themselves right.”  

Midoriya hummed in reply. “Well, it looks very good. Almost as good as Fuyumi-san's food looked.”  

“Fuyumi?” Hawks parroted. “Endeavor’s daughter? You've had her cooking?” 

“Yeah, she invited Kacchan and I to their house during our work study.” Midoriya paused as he thought back to that night. It became a very tense night because of the family drama. “We went there a few times in the few months we spent working at Endeavor’s agency.” Those times weren’t nearly as bad as the first since Natsuo didn’t come after the first one so there weren’t any fights between him and Endeavor, but Fuyumi wanted to invite Midoriya and Bakugo over to give them a chance to have a nice home cooked meal as a treat during their work studies. Neither opposed as the food was delicious and it was good for Todoroki to get to see his sister who didn’t get to see much with UA being mandatory about having students live on campus back then.  

“That’s certainly nice of the Todoroki family to invite you in. It must have come as a shock and horror when you learned of the family problems because of Dabi.” Hawks said.  

Midoriya tapped his chopsticks on the edge of his plate. “I knew about the family issues long before Dabi revealed it.”  

Hawks looked at him in surprise. “Really?” 

“Todoroki wasn’t shy about telling me about it during the sports festival in first year.” Midoriya explained. He began to eat his food and as the first bit of food hit his tongue, he felt like he was in heaven. His eyes glistened in excitement at the delicious food and how he was given the chance to try it.  

Hawks grinned and waved his chopsticks at Midoriya. “I see that look in your eyes.”  

Nagant grabbed his arm and lowered it. “That’s rude.” She scolded.  

Midoriya swallowed his food. If he was anyone else, he would argue that Hawks saw nothing as he couldn’t admit he was wrong about Lunch Rush’s food. However, he would never insult the food someone painstakingly made, especially when one bite was enough to send him to heaven. “Definitely worth the drive here.”  

“See? Knew you would love it.” Hawks grinned. “Food always tastes better when you’re not the one slaving over the stove to cook it.”  

Midoriya froze with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. He sighed and lowed the food back onto his plate. “Tokoyami, again, I suppose?” 

Hawks froze with his chopsticks in his mouth. He gulped down his food and looked up to meet Midoriya’s stare. “Ah, put my foot in my mouth.”  

“I’m not mad.” Midoriya replied. “It’s just, why has he been telling you all that stuff about me?” 

“A conversation for after we eat.” Hawks said quickly.  

Nagant stared at her food silently, but she did sigh. It was already too late. Someone like Midoriya wasn’t going to just let it slide. At least she had no stakes in this conversation and could continue to enjoy her food.  

Midoriya put his plate down on the table and stubbornly refused to look away from Hawks.  

“Come on, Midoriya. I know you’re starving.” Hawks said.  

Midoriya leaned back into the couch and crossed his arms, never breaking eye contact.  

“Really? The silent treatment?” Hawks asked.  

Midoriya raised a brow.  

Somehow, Midoriya was giving off an air of disappointment. It had to be something he learned from his teacher. It was unnerving how well it was being done.  

“Alright, but please eat while we talk.” Hawks said while silently apologizing to Tokoyami. “He’s been worried.”  

“Tokoyami has?” Midoriya asked as he picked up his plate once more. He was glad Hawks wasn’t completely opposed to the conversation and caved really fast. This food was too good to let it go cold while he was being stubborn. “About what?” 

“About you.”  

“Why?” 

“They expected you to be more upset over losing your quirk.” Hawks admitted, watching carefully for any sign of distress from Midoriya. Tokoyami had told him that Midoriya always acted perfectly fine when the topic was discussed, but he and his classmates thought Midoriya was just hiding how he truly felt. Like, he was being strong for their sake so he wouldn’t put a dampen on their mood as they were all soon to reach their dream of being pro heroes while Midoriya got left behind. Hawks figured that even if Midoriya was hiding his true feelings, there should still be a flash of something to cross his features when the conversation was brought up abruptly, but there was nothing except a twist of confusion to his face at the mention of his friends being worried about how he felt about being quirkless again.  

“I told them I was fine with it.” Midoriya muttered, mostly to himself as he was confused that they were still concerned about that. “I was quirkless to begin with so it’s just me going back to my roots.”  

“You had seven quirks and were once the most powerful person in the world. To go from that to being powerless again has to be a shock to the system.” Hawks said. If anyone would understand, Hawks thought he would be the closest. He was never quirkless before, but like Midoriya, he did lose his powers in that war. “Everything changes. You have to learn to adjust without having the powers you had at your beck and call.”  

“For you maybe.” Midoriya replied, not trying to be mean about it at all. It was just a fact. “But for me, I was powerless for most of my life. I'm not going to lie and say I’m not a little sad at having lost One For All, but I accepted my choice. You heard me back at UA. I won’t regret what I chose to do because that would mean turning my back on Tenko.”  

Always such the hero. Hawks could see what All Might saw in Midoriya when he chose him to be his successor.  

“I don’t know why they thought I was secretly drowning in depression at being quirkless again.” Midoriya grumbled.  

“They said you were cooking them dinner constantly when they were busy with patrols and locking yourself in your room to study more and more while training significantly less. Change in behavior like that is usually an indicator of a shift in emotional stability.” Hawks explained. “They thought with all the cooking you’ve been doing that it was the only way you felt you could contribute to their work as heroes by making sure they were fed.”  

Midoriya closed his eyes in defeat and sighed. He waved his chopsticks in the air. “I have to shift directions in life since I can’t be a pro hero anymore. I’ve told them this. I need to study more than train now to get into a good college.” He did keep up with training, but he wasn’t as dedicated to it as he was in first year since he didn’t need to get as strong as possible as quickly as he could to master One For All.  

Midoriya shoved more food into his mouth. How could his friends still think he was depressed? He was trying so hard to be more open with them about what he felt and thought after they came to save him from himself back when he briefly dropped out of UA. He had nothing more to hide from them.  

“I didn’t need you to bring me here to give me a five star meal, Hawks.” Midoriya said. “I’m fine.”  

“Aren’t those words banned from your vocabulary?” Hawks asked.  

Midoriya choked on the food he just ate and he was left pounding at his chest. “Tokoyami!” 

Nagant blinked and finally looked up from her meal. “You’re banned from saying ‘I’m fine.’ Who bans someone from saying that?” 

“Kacchan.” Midoriya hissed in embarrassment, covering half of his face with his hand to hide his cheeks that turned red from embarrassment and his choking. He could not believe Tokoyami told Hawks that as well. Was Tokoyami really that worried about Midoriya? Did his friends need him to have a breakdown after losing One For All and then him recovering and growing past from the loss to accept that he really was fine after everything?  

“But why?” Nagant asked completely baffled.  

“I, apparently, am bad at sharing my true feelings as I “push them down” so I can focus on helping others. After my “vigilante” stunt during the war last year, I was banned from saying ‘I’m fine’ since I had to be clearer about my feelings.” Midoriya explained, though he sounded completely done with the whole thing. He understood his friends were worried after everything that happened during his time away from UA, but there truly were times where he was completely fine. He wasn’t ignoring his physical or mental health anymore.  

Nagant hummed in reply. “It’s good to have friends who you can be open like that with.”  

Midoriya glanced at her.  

“Perhaps if I had someone like that in my life,” Nagant looked down at her hand. A hand that was soaked in so much blood from her victims in the past. “Maybe things could have turned out differently for me.”  

“The fact that you think that shows that you are still a good person at heart.” Midoriya replied. “You committed crimes, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a villain forever.” He glanced at Hawks. “Which is why Hawks was willing to bring you in as a bodyguard. This is your second chance. I know you’ll do great at your job.” He grinned at Nagant. “And be sure to bring that darkness to light so society doesn’t remain brainwashed.”  

A night that felt so long ago flashed through Nagant’s mind. A storm raged as she and Midoriya battled in the air. What she saw a battle of ideals with Midoriya was truly Midoriya just listening to her and opening her heart back up after she had sealed it off so long ago.  

Nagant smiled faintly. “I’ll do what I can to help Hawks from the shadows, but it’s time for the next generation to take the spotlight. I want to see what kind of change you’ll bring, Midoriya.”  

Midoriya scratched the back of his head, still slightly embarrassed. He never imagined he could talk to Nagant like this after what happened between them last year. He was just glad that she managed to survive All For One’s attack against her.  

“Damn, such a serious topic.” Hawks moaned. “Really ruins the mood of dinner. No worries though.” He hopped to his feet, putting his plate down on the table. “I know how to make it better than this.”  

Midoriya tracked Hawks as he made his way around his desk while he kept munching on his delicious food. He watched as Hawks pulled open a drawer to pull something out that Midoriya couldn’t see.  

“I was going to save this for after dinner, but since you two made things too serious, I want to make it a bit more lighthearted.” Hawks returned to table and planted a box on the table which he then spun to face the front of it towards Midoriya. “Unlike the statue, this is non-negotiable.”  

Midoriya bit down on his chopsticks as he stared at the shiny new box staring at him. A hero action figure.  

A hero action figure of the hero Deku.  

“Hawks,” Midoriya flushed bright red as he set his plate down so he could pick up the box. He turned the sleek box over in his hand as he carefully examined it.  

“You can take it out.” Hawks said as he sat back down and picked his plate back up.  

Midoriya swallowed heavily in anticipation as he slid the box open and carefully removed the action figure. He ran his finger over the intricated design of his face and costume very carefully, taking note of how it wore an exact design of his costume from the war. Unlike the action figures of All Might he had as a kid, his had half of his face covered since his respirator was on and his yellow cape came up to his chin.  

“All royalties belong to you for any Deku merch sold.” Hawks said. “I know it’s not much, but since you can’t be a pro-hero without your quirk, I want to do at least this for you so you’re not hung out to dry.”  

“But I wouldn’t be. I can’t be a pro-hero, yeah, but I can get another job.” Midoriya replied.  

Hawks tapped the action figure on the head with his fork. “True, but I want to help you get ahead in life a bit. We wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for you so I want to do this much for you at least.” He smiled, but it seemed more poignant than reassuring like All Might’s was. “We couldn’t do much to help you after the battle in Jaku City. Heroes were quitting and retiring left and right and we put so much on your shoulders. We were using you as bait, yes, but we were also supposed to protect you, but we failed to see how much of a strain that put on your mental health to take on all that weight alone until it was too late.”   

Midoriya stared down at the green eyes of his action figure that housed an intense expression. He always wanted to be a hero who could reassure others with his fearless smile like All Might did for his generation. He never got there. The longer his first year at UA went on, the more scared Deku got because of Shigaraki and All For One. By the time the second war came, he didn’t have a fearless smile, but an intense one as he refused to back down from doing what he thought was right. He wasn’t All Might. He had become his own hero, Deku.  

“We were all under a lot of stress back then. Public scrutiny put a strain on everyone.” Midoriya said. “Considering the villains running rampant, I understand why you couldn’t protect me like you thought you needed to.” He placed the Deku figurine on its stand and set it on the table. “It all turned out well so it’s fine anyway. If you have any regrets from back then towards any action or nonaction you took with me, you should let them go. I don’t have any hard feelings, Hawks.” Midoriya leaned forward to continue to examine his figurine and put a finger on the spiky hair and wobbled it back and forth. “I didn’t think the HPSC handled hero merchandise.”  

“We typically don’t.” Hawks agreed, taking a bite of his dinner. “This is a special case though since not only are you stepping back from being a pro hero, you’re also still a student. Typically, only pro heroes who have been in the job for at least two years start getting merch once they start getting really popular.”  

Midoriya stared at his figurine. Typically, Hawks said. That meant it was rare for pro heroes to get figurines made of them in their first year as pro heroes. He felt a grin start to build. After the war when the new first years entered UA, they hounded Bakugo and Todoroki since they got really popular from the war from their fights with All For One and Dabi. He was sure that popularity would sky rocket soon and they would get deals for merchandise before their first year as pro heroes had finished. Neither of them were going to take their time climbing the rankings. They were going to race as fast as possible to reach the top of the charts.  

Midoriya's smile stiffened at the thought.  

He must have made a face because Hawks fell silent and lowered his chopsticks.  

“Do you not like it?” Hawks asked. “I thought they did an amazing job with it.” 

“No, no!” Midoriya said frantically. “It looks amazing, Hawks!” He looked down when Hawks raised a brow and looked at him in disbelief. Hawks knew something was wrong. “It’s really nothing. I was just thinking how Kacchan and Todoroki were going to rise in the hero charts really fast. Being a top ranked hero was never a goal of mine, but....” 

“I just thought...that we....would keep competing....and stuff...” Bakugo said through his tears.   

“I guess Kacchan isn’t the only one who is going to miss competing.” Midoriya said. “He was always the most competitive of the two of us, but I guess I started to get into it too and now I don’t get to do that with him anymore.” He smiled sadly, staring down at his plate of food that tasted so good before, but would probably taste like ash to him now. “I can’t keep up anymore.” His lips wobbled. No, this was stupid. He just got through with telling Hawks that he was fine with being quirkless. “And I guess that thought hurts more than being quirkless and having to give up being a pro hero.”  

“Midoriya...”  

“I don’t resent them for chasing their dreams of being a pro hero. I even put in all that work in Heroics to analyze their quirks and help them improve, but there are days where I miss being able to jump into training with them. I miss bouncing around the training gym and sparring with them.” Midoriya felt tears build up his eyes so he frantically shook his head and rubbed at his eyes. He wasn’t going to cry because crying would mean he regretted what he did and he didn’t regret destroying One For All. He did it for Tenko. Regret wasn’t allowed. “And yeah, they still spar with me on occasion, but they hold back. I know they do. How can I not when they don’t use their quirks in our spars?” 

Midoriya planted his hands on his knees and gripped them tightly so he could dig his nails into his knees. A little pain to distract him. He just needed to force the tears back.  

“I don’t regret my choice to destroy One For All.” Midoriya breathed in deeply and forced the lump back in his throat. “I don’t regret reaching my hand out to Shigaraki. I truly don’t, but I do miss being able to join my friends in training. I miss being able to take part in the training matches with each other or against class b. I love watching how everyone has gotten stronger, but sometimes when I’m sitting there watching everyone take their turn for a match, it does get a bit lonely.” He covered his eyes with one hand and leaned back to tilt his face towards the ceiling. “I’m sorry, Hawks. You wanted to cheer the mood up in the room with your surprise. I truly appreciate what you want to do for me. I shouldn’t have dropped all of that on you. This isn’t your problem.”  

“There’s nothing wrong with what you’re feeling.” Hawks said softly. “You’re allowed to not regret your actions in the war, but still be hurting from it. You're allowed to be sad and miss the act of flying through the sky and feeling the wind in your hair.”  

Midoriya shifted his hand a bit to allow one eye to peak out so he could look at Hawks, who was staring longingly out the window. At the sky that he could no longer fly through.  

“I felt restricted by my quirk because it tied me to the HPSC. I would forever be their spy that longed for days where heroes would have more free time. I'm in a position where I can help lead heroes to that path, but I get it, Midoriya. I miss the freedom of soaring through the sky without a worry.” Hawks said, looking back towards the student. “Birds of a feather should flock together, right?” He smiled woefully at him. “Tokoyami told me of his concerns about you, but he didn’t ask me to talk to you about it. I pulled you here today because I wanted to see for myself how you were doing because I thought we might be feeling the same way.”  

“Do we though?” Midoriya asked softly. “Your quirk was stolen. I threw mine away and destroyed it.”  

“I don’t think it matters how it happened.” Hawks replied. “In the end, we both lost our quirks in that war. We share a bond, don’t you think?” 

Midoriya snorted at Hawks’s jovial tone. He always tried to force something lighthearted in somewhere.  

“In all seriousness, Midoriya,” Hawks smile slipped into a more serious expression. “I know you think you’re fine with being quirkless, but that feeling of being left behind isn’t going to go away if you just keep trying to make yourself busy and saying you need to move on. Yes, you do need to choose a new path in life, but I think it will help free your heart if you open yourself up to your friends like you did with me. Tell them you’re scared of being lonely or scared of staring at their backs as they walk away from you as they head towards their dream. I think it will help.”  

Midoriya shook his head. “I already know what they will say. They would never leave my side.” 

“Knowing what they will say and hearing it are two different things.” Nagant butted in. “You can imagine their words, but actually having a memory of those words where they reassure you will be much stronger.”  

Midoriya glanced up at her through his bangs.  

Nagant was suddenly hit by the thought of how young he truly was. He just seemed so mature to her. When they first met with his skill and listening skills as she yelled at him and throughout all today with his responses. He seemed to take the whole losing quirk thing so maturely, but now, in this moment, he felt like his proper age.  

Nagant set her plate down and reached across the table to hold her hand out towards Midoriya, who looked at her hand in confusion, but he did take it lightly. She returned the light grasp by tightening her hold on his hand. “Give them the chance to reach their hand out to you. Like you did for me that night. Your words really helped me that day. It was those words that pushed me to help you against Shigaraki. Words hold a lot of power and they can and will help your heart heal.”  

Midoriya stared down at their clasped hands.  

“Holding a hand can be enough to soothe the pain.”   

That was what he told Uraraka last year. The comfort of a friend holding his hand or giving him a hug was enough to bring a smile to his face. Having his friends by his side like that gave him the strength to smile and made him happy to have peace brought back to the country. When he was with his friends, he never had time to think about his worries because they were there with smiles and laughs and hugs and shoulder pats and leaning into his side  

It was only when they had to run off because they got a call for heroes to mobilize that his heart would seize for a moment, but then he would smile and wish them good luck. He had to smile because he knew they would always come back. They would return to the dorms when they were done.  

And he would be there with a smile and dinner on the table because he wanted them to eat their fill after they had to put in a lot of work and were starving but too tired to cook. It was how he contributed since he couldn’t join them in the field anymore. It also was a way to keep himself busy.  

Busy.  

Midoriya needed to stay busy.  

That way, he didn’t need to think about it and he could convince himself and everyone around him that he was fine.  

He was fine.  

He didn’t regret his choices.  

It was just.... 

When everyone was out on patrol and he was the only one in the dorms, it was lonely. He spent so much of his childhood alone because he was quirkless. He didn’t think the sudden empty, quiet dorm would get to him because he was used to.  

He was wrong.  

So he kept busy.  

Midoriya took hold of Nagant’s hand with both of his hands and bowed his head to rest it on their hands. He was surprised when a manicured hand dropped into his hair, but he didn’t push away the comforting touch. “I’m going to find a different path. One that will let me continue helping others.” He declared.  

“That’s a good goal.” Hawks said softly. “Do what you want. And hey, if you want to work with heroes still, I could always use a quirk analyst here. My sources say you very good at that.”  

Midoriya smiled. Tokoyami, again. “Thanks for the offer, but I got a different idea in mind.”  

“Is that so?” Hawks said. “Well, if you ever want to help out, the offer will always stand.” 

************

Bakugo tapped his desk in an aggravated manner. His eyes kept moving to the empty desk behind him to the doorway. He had barged into Midoriya’s room this morning but found it empty. Hawks really kept him out all night. Damn feather head. If Midoriya didn’t return today, he didn’t care what Aizawa said. He was going to march over to the HPSC headquarters and read Hawks the riot act.  

The sound of a chair scraping behind him had Bakugo whipping around, only to glare at Todoroki sitting in Midoriya’s sit. He leaned his arms on the desk as he leaned forward towards Bakugo.  

“Think he would go dark hero Deku while being quirkless?” Todoroki asked.  

“What kind of dumbass question is that?” Bakugo hissed. “Of course Deku fucking would!” That was the whole problem. Midoriya chose to run into danger to help Bakugo in middle school despite being powerless. He now had training. Yeah, he had no quirk, but he still knew hand to hand combat. If he saw someone needing help, he would jump in without a thought. It terrified Bakugo because hand to hand combat training would only take Midoriya so far against someone with a powerful quirk.  

“I don’t think Hawks would actually send him on a mission.” Sero said. “I think Aizawa-sensei was right when he said they just left to talk.”  

“Talk about what though?” Jiro stressed. “If they need to talk fine, but it shouldn’t have taken all day and kept Midoriya from returning last night. And why didn’t Midoriya take his phone with him?” 

“Because we haven’t been diligent in beating it into Midoriya’s head that he needs to always take his phone when he goes somewhere.” Iida said with a passionate frustration born from Midoriya constantly forgetting his phone in the dorms for the two years they have lived together so far. Even after all this time, Midoriya still failed to inform them of where he was running off to and it left them constantly in states of worry.  

“Even when he takes his phone, it ends up destroyed quite a bit.” Kaminari pointed out, having been privileged to watch Midoriya staring despondently down on his phone in pieces multiple times in the common room.  

The class door slid open and the students whipped around to just watch Tokoyami walk in.  

Tokoyami was a bit offended when their facial expression dropped when they saw it was him, but he let it go since he knew they were thinking about Dark Hero Deku Mode. “Hawks got back to me last night.” He said as he scrolled through his phone. “Midoriya and him talked late last night so he got him a room at a hotel. He will get Midoriya on a train this morning and ship him back to us.”  

It was like a ballon had been popped as the tension eased out of the room. At least they now had confirmation that Midoriya hadn’t gone dark again.  

“I’m throwing his phone at his head the moment I see him.” Bakugo declared.  

“Don’t give him a concussion, Bakugo.” Iida scolded.  

“He’ll learn not to forget it if we beat him with it!” 

“Bakugo, no!” 

“That is literally what you just said!” 

“I was speaking figuratively!”  

“Was injecting Midoriya with a gps tracker also non serious?” Todoroki asked, innocently raising his hand. “Cause I already texted Hatsume about it.”  

The students all turned to look at Todoroki in disbelief.  

“Nice initiative.” Bakugo said.  

“Sensei is going to be so mad when he finds out.” Momo said.  

“Midoriya had two years to get used to carrying his phone all the time. He had his chance.” Todoroki said dryly.  

“Aizawa-sensei isn’t going to let you actually get it under his skin.” Tsuyu pointed out.  

“He’s not going to know.” Bakugo retorted, glaring at his classmates. “You’re not going to rat us out, are you?” 

“I can’t tell if they are serious about this or not.” Mineta moaned, dropping his head to his desk.  

“The same way we kept it under wrap how a certain group went to save you when you got kidnapped and Aizawa-sensei almost expelled them and everyone who knew about the plan?” Tsuyu retorted.  

Todoroki frowned. “This isn’t expel worthy.”  

“You want to track Midoriya!” Hagakure said in disbelief. “That’s like a total invasion of privacy.”  

Shinso groaned and dropped his forehead onto his desk. “This class is insane.” Maybe he should have asked to transfer to class B instead. He was certain they weren’t this crazy. He had originally been very happy to be in Aizawa’s class because it meant he could get more time with his mentor, but now he wasn’t so sure.  

The bell ringing ended the conversation as all the kids scrambled for their seats before Aizawa could open the door and scold them for wasting time.  

Aizawa snapped the door open and scanned the classroom, taking note of the one empty seat as he did so. At least it looked like his students were.....never mind. Bakugo was tapping the floor aggressively, a sign of his worry and aggravation that the seat behind him was empty. Todoroki’s eyes were drawn to the empty chair as well. The rest of the students were a mix of staring at Midoriya’s empty seat, looking between Todoroki and Bakugo, or just face planting their desks and giving off an air of despair.  

The way these kids could give him a headache without even saying anything.  

“Who did what?” Aizawa demanded as he reached his desk and laid his sleeping bag on the ground.  

If this was first year, there would have been a sign of who was at fault or who had the answer. In their third year though, every student kept their eyes locked on the front of the room as soon as Aizawa spoke. Damn loyal brats. These kids have never once betrayed each other by turning them in. That loyalty only grew stronger after the war.  

“Fine, don’t speak, but when I find out what it was, and I will find out, you will all go down together.” Aizawa paused and looked at Midoriya’s empty desk. “Except Midoriya since he is even less in the know than I am.”  

“Try us, teach.” Bakugo retorted. “We only got a few months left here. You won’t hold any power over us soon.”  

“Oh?” Aizawa said dangerously, one eye flashing red at the challenge.  

“Shut it.” Jiro hissed, jabbing Bakugo in the side with her one remaining earphone jack.  

Bakugo retaliated by kicking the leg of her chair.  

“Enough.” Aizawa ordered. “We’re starting.”  

************

Bakugo stomped at the ground as he walked. He mindlessly kicked a branch out of his way. That stupid nerd never came to school, and since he still had Midoriya’s phone, he couldn’t even text him during breaks to know when he was coming back. Tokoyami said Hawks would get him on a train this morning. If that was case, Midoriya should have made it back in time for afternoon classes.  

That stupid nerd taking his sweet ass time.  

“You need to calm down, man.” Kirishima said. “Midoriya is going to be back today. There was no dark hero Deku mission.”  

“That’s not why I'm annoyed.” Bakugo grunted. “What reason could Hawks have had to take Izuku away for the night?” 

“It is concerning why Hawks felt that was necessary.” Uraraka said from behind them. “He could just as easily talked to him here and not make him miss a day of school.”  

“Maybe he doesn’t realize how much Midoriya can miss in a day. Hawks was raised by the Hero Public Safety Commission. Trained and homeschooled there.” Tokoyami pointed out.  

“Argh, that’s depressing.” Kaminari said. “He missed out on making friends his age and having fun with them.”  

Todoroki could see that be the reason why he dreamed of a future where heroes had a lot of free time. He never got it while being trained into a spy and hero by the HPSC, so it was something he wanted for everyone. He wanted a world where they could live without worry.  

Bakugo practically kicked the dorm door open for them and paused in the doorway for a moment before he was charging forward, shoes basically flying off his feet as he ran into the room. “IZUKU!” 

Midoriya yelped at his name being shouted and twisted around on the couch, horror on his face to see the monster that was Bakugo charging at him. “What’d I....?!?” He didn’t get to finish his question as Bakugo launched over the couch to tackle him and they both tumbled to the ground in a wrestling match.  

“What is it this time?” Iida asked.  

“I think the count is Deku vs Kacchan round 73.” Momo said dryly as the rest of them took their time to remove their shoes. Normally they would take their bags up to their rooms and change into comfy clothes before returning to the common area, but right now, they all just set their bags down by the elevator and made their way over to the common room.  

Momo went to make them all tea while the others went to cheer on the wrestling match happening while Iida just sighed in despair in the background. He had long given up on Midoriya and Bakugo.  

“I haven’t done anything!” Midoriya shouted as he forced Bakugo’s hands away from his face and wedged a foot between them to kick his friend in the stomach to get him off of him. He twisted his body to get up and get away, but Bakugo grabbed his ankle and yanked him back down to the ground.  

Bakugo crawled on Midoriya’s back and shoved his face in the carpet while grabbing one of his arms to pin it to the ground. It did nothing to stop Midoriya from trying to buck him off though. “There is no way you were gone for over twenty-four hours and did not realize what you did wrong.”  

Midoriya lifted his head off the ground enough so he could turn it to the side. One, so he could breathe, but also so he could look at Bakugo out of the corner of his eye. “It’s not my fault! Hawks was a whirlwind when he came in here. I didn’t have time to think!” 

“At what point did you realize you didn’t have your phone?” Uraraka asked.  

“In the car when we had left the city.” Midoriya admitted, grimacing at the disappointed looks he received.  

“He couldn’t even be bothered to take his shoes either.” Todoroki reminded them, and the disappointment in the air only thickened.  

It made Midoriya want to choke with how thick it was. “Hawks didn’t give me time to grab my shoes.”  

“So what? You walked around barefoot all day?” Sato asked.  

“...I had socks on.” Midoriya said softly.  

Bakugo threw his hands in the air in disbelief. He kept his knee on Midoriya’s back to keep him pinned to the ground as he wasn’t done reading him the riot act and he wasn’t going to give him the chance to escape. “And what? He didn’t buy you some cheap shoes to walk around in? You’re both idiots.” He declared before Midoriya could try to form any type of protest.  

“It’s not like we were out in public!”  

“Didn’t you ride a train back here?” Tokoyami asked.  

Midoriya didn’t have a reply to that.  

“Attends a prestigious school and is known worldwide as a great hero and seen shoeless in public like some homeless beggar?” Bakugo growled.  

“No! Hawks got me a private compartment on the train so I wouldn’t be bothered!”  

Silence fell over his classmates at the admission.  

“A private compartment?” Kirishima repeated.  

“Yes!” 

Kaminari grinned and jumped on the couch to sit next to Kirishima. He leaned forward to look down at Midoriya still pinned to the ground. “Well, well, well. Weren’t you treated specially? When the president of the HPSC takes you away for a night, I bet you get treated to luxury.” 

“I don’t know.” Midoriya’s brows furrowed in confusion. “I guess? He wanted me to try to the food at the HPSC headquarters as he claimed it was five star quality food.”  

“Was it?” Mineta asked.  

“It was so delicious.” Midoriya said, eyes glazing over as he remembered the amazing food.  

“And where did you sleep last night? At the headquarters?” Ojiro asked.  

“Naw, Hawks got me a hotel room.” Midoriya said.  

“‘I didn’t go out in public.’” Bakugo mocked Midoriya’s earlier words.  

“Another five star?” Mineta asked, ignoring Bakugo’s mockery towards Midoriya.  

“Yeah....a penthouse.” Midoriya said slowly, wincing when all attention snapped to him. At least the disappointment had been erased. Though the shock was not much better.  

“Are you serious?!” Mina screamed. She shoved Bakugo out of the way, ignoring his snarl of annoyance. She pulled Midoriya up so she could grab his shoulders and shake him back and forth. “He brought you that expensive of a room for one night?” 

“I think he was trying to butter me up.” Midoriya said as he was swung back and forth by Mina.  

“Butter you up for what?” Momo asked curiously as she approached the group while she waited for the water to boil. 

Midoriya took a hold of Mina’s wrists to hold her still so she would stop shaking him. “A job. He wanted to hire me on as a quirk analyst. I said no, but I think he was trying to sweeten the deal.”  

Kaminari knocked Mina away to take a turn at shaking Midoriya. “Hawks wanted to hire you and you turned it down? Why would you do that? If you work for the HPSC, that would mean we would get to work with you as pro heroes.” 

Midoriya’s eyes snapped to Kaminari, seeing nothing but hope in those eyes. Hope to keep the class together in whatever way possible. Without giving himself a chance to think about it, Midoriya shoved Kaminari away from him, knocking him over. He scrambled to his feet.  

“Midoriya?” Kaminari asked surprised and a little hurt at Midoriya’s response.  

Bakugo lunged forward to grab Midoriya’s arm when it looked like he was about to run. “Not again.” He hissed and he threw Midoriya back into the couch.  

Midoriya glanced around the room, staring at each of his classmates for barely a second because he couldn’t stand to see the worried looks being thrown his way. He grimaced as he watched Jiro helped Kaminari to his feet and quickly looked away.  

“Tell them you’re scared of being lonely or scared of staring at their backs as they walk away from you as they head towards their dream. I think it will help.” Hawks said.   

Midoriya shook his head. “I already know what they will say. They would never leave my side.”  

“Knowing what they will say and hearing it are two different things.” Nagant butted in. “You can imagine their words, but actually having a memory of those words where they reassure you will be much stronger.”  

Midoriya bit his lip as he looked down at his lap. It was so much easier to say it to Nagant and Hawks because he didn’t have the same personal connection with them as he did with his friends. He wasn’t scared of what they would say. He was scared of admitting what he had convinced himself and everyone else he was fine with.  

“Midoriya,” Todoroki clasped his friend’s shoulder, gripping it tightly to apply some comfort that it looked like his friend needed. “Did something happen with Hawks last night?” 

Midoriya looked over his shoulder at Todoroki who was standing behind the couch, staring down at him with concern. It was a look that made his heart seize and any words that he had been trying to form into sentences in his head froze on his tongue.  

“You can imagine their words, but actually having a memory of those words where they reassure you will be much stronger.”  

But it wasn’t fair to them.  

They were so close to becoming pro heroes. What right did Midoriya have to bring down their mood because he suddenly realized he was lonely? 

“It’s nothing.” Midoriya pulled away from Todoroki’s touch and stood up. “I’m going to go–” 

Uraraka was suddenly in front of him, grabbing at his hand, with her pinky extended to keep from making him float. She pulled his hand closer to her and looked up at him with big, worried eyes.  

Midoriya stumbled back a step as he tried to pull his hand away, but she refused to let go of his hand.  

“You’re not acting like yourself.” Uraraka said, biting on her bottom lip in concern. “Everything was fine until now so something had to have happened with your talk with Hawks. Please, Deku, talk to us.”  

Midoriya shook his head and rip his hand away from her. He spun around to be met with more stares from his worried friends. The worst though was Bakugo. He was staring at him with something akin to understanding in his eyes. “Don’t look at me like that.” He snapped without meaning to.  

Bakugo took a step to him.  

Midoriya stepped back. “Stop it.”  

“Izuku.”  

Midoriya shoved his hands forward to force Bakugo away from him. That was a mistake though as putting his hands near Bakugo gave his friend the chance to trap his wrists in his hands. Midoriya growled and twisted his hands in the grip to grab Bakugo’s wrist in return. He yanked his friend forward as he took a step back to force him unbalanced and quickly brought up a knee to his gut.  

Bakugo coughed in surprise, but for once, didn’t retaliate. “I’m not going to fight you.”  

Midoriya's eyes flared in annoyance.  

The sound of a kettle whistling broke the stunned, worried silence that had fallen over the students when Midoriya was the one to hit first. He and Bakugo got into plenty of fights, but Bakugo was always the one to start them. Midoriya just followed him and wrestled back.  

He didn’t attack first.  

He never attacked first.  

The fact that he did meant he was trying to start a fight to distract them.  

“How about something like green tea to calm us down?” Momo said, running towards the kitchen to get her kettle.  

“I’m good.” It felt like there was a lump in Midoriya’s throat. “I’m going to my room.”  

“You’re not going anywhere!” Bakugo hissed.  

Midoriya glared at him. He went to headbutt Bakugo, but a cold hand suddenly appeared between them and caught his head before he could hit his friend. 

“Cool down.” Todoroki ordered, shifting his cool hand to Midoriya’s neck. Midoriya jerked his head to the side, but Todoroki’s hand just followed him as he worked on cooling down his suddenly annoyed friend.  He grabbed Midoriya’s arm with his other hand, which gave Bakugo the chance to drop his wrists and grab his other arm. Together they dragged Midoriya back to the couch and threw him down on it.  

Before Midoriya could get back up, Mina leaned down over the back of the couch and wrapped her arms around his shoulder. “Midoriya, what’s wrong? Talk to us.”  

“Here,” Momo leaned down, holding out a steaming cup of tea for him to take.  

Midoriya shook his head. “I’m good.”  

Bakugo snatched up Midoriya’s wrist and took the cup from Momo to place it in his hand, curling his fingers around the handle. He glared at Midoriya when he saw Midoriya glaring at him, seemingly asking with his eyes if Kacchan thought he couldn’t take a cup from Momo on his own. Bakugo scoffed at the look. Maybe if Midoriya had actually taken the offered drink, he wouldn’t have had to intervene.  

“Let’s all settle down.” Iida said before Midoriya or Bakugo could say something to set the other off again. “We can talk about this like the mature adults we will soon be.”  

“Nothing to–” Midoriya cut himself off with a yelp when Bakugo kicked his ankle. He retaliated with a kick of his own before Todoroki’s cold hand was shoving against his face and pressing his back into the couch. 

“I don’t want to hear it if it’s not you talking to us.” Todoroki warned.  

Midoriya pulled Todoroki’s hand off his face. He kind of wished he didn’t when he saw Todoroki’s bright eyes so close to his face, searching his face for something though Midoriya didn’t know what it was.  

“I thought you started to trust us more after we brought you back from your little vigilante stunt.” Todoroki added.  

That wasn’t fair.  

Todoroki was hitting Midoriya where he knew it would tear at his heart to get his resolve to get away to weaken. “Todoroki....”  

“He’s right!” Uraraka piped up. “You can tell us anything!”  

She looked so hurt by his silence, but at the same time, she was smiling. She was smiling so openly at him to reassure him that everything was fine.  

A fearless smile to reassure the public that everything would be fine.  

Those were the smiles his classmates were wearing. Those were the smiles they learned at UA to reassure the people they were saving that everything would work out. The heroes would protect them.  

When did Midoriya become one of the people that needed those smiles from heroes?  

He had already been left behind, hadn’t he? 

Midoriya gulped down his tea in a few big gulps.  

“Ah, wait, Midoriya. That's hot!” Momo said frantically.  

Midoriya ignored her concerns and finished swallowing the tea before shoving the cup back in her hand. “Thanks.” Instead of going forward this time, he hopped over the back of the couch to get around the majority of his classmates.  

“Midoriya, what did we do?” Iida asked softly.  

“Huh?” Midoriya spun around, forcing himself to meet the concerned stares of all of his friends. “You guys haven’t done anything!” 

“It certainly feels like we have.” Sero said.  

Midoriya started to reach out a hand towards them, but paused halfway. He looked down at his severely scarred hand. He closed his hand into a fist and pulled it back towards his chest. It truly wasn’t them. It was him being too scared to voice what he only just realized himself.  

He couldn’t keep it to himself now. He didn’t want his friends to believe they had done something to upset him. They would just worry and try to fix it, but there wasn’t anything to fix. 

“It’s not you guys.” Midoriya said.  

“You said that already.” Shinso said.  

Midoriya shook his head. “I...” He looked over his shoulder towards the door to the stairs. He could still get out of here. “I just...” All he had to do was say what he said to Hawks and Nagant. He said it all already, but now the words were stuck in his throat. “You’re...all going to be great heroes.” He smiled brightly at them, but considering how it felt strained to him, he was sure his friends noticed it as well. “Don’t worry about me.”  

He was a damn coward.  

Midoriya fled the room, hitting the stairs before his friends could process what his smile actually meant. He slammed through the door on the second floor and ran to his room where he slammed the door shut behind him and locked it. His back hit the door and he slid down to the ground, knocking his head back against the door.  

When did he become a coward? 

Feet pounded against the ground outside his door.  

Midoriya pressed his hands into his ears.  

“Izuku.”  

Spoken so softly, yet so powerfully at the same time.  

Kacchan really was amazing.  

He always was.  

“Go away.”  

“We have to talk about this.”  

“No, we don’t.”  

“Then I’ll talk. You just have to listen.”  

Midoriya lessened his grip on his ears so he could hear Bakugo through the door.  

“You’ve wanted to be a pro hero your whole life. Even when you found out you were quirkless, that dream of yours never stopped. It was all you ever wanted, no matter how impossible it seemed. Because that was what you really wanted, you never gave yourself a different dream, one that you could actually work towards.” Bakugo said. “You foolishly chased an impossible dream your whole life and then by a stroke of luck, you were given a chance to achieve it only to have it ripped away because of that war. You feel empty without your quirk, but you never acknowledged that feeling because you needed to show us all how strong you were, but now that wall is crumbling down.”  

No.  

That wasn’t right.  

Midoriya didn’t regret his actions in the war. He didn’t feel lost because he destroyed his quirk. He knew what it was to be quirkless. He was used to this feeling.  

“That’s not it.” Midoriya whispered. “That’s not it!”  

“Are you sure about that?” Bakugo asked. “You’re allowed to be upset, Izuku. No one will be mad at you for it.”  

“No. No. That's not it.” Midoriya said. “I’m scared.”  

“Scared of what?”  

Midoriya knocked his head against the door. Would they understand? None of his friends had ever been quirkless or had their dream ripped away from their grasp. None of them grew up quirkless and got pushed around for it. A few of them had faced prejudice for their quirks though, but they weren’t told to be realistic and that being a pro hero was impossible, that their dream was stupid because it would never come true.  

“Izuku?” The doorknob jiggled as Bakugo tried to open the door. “Can you unlock the door?” 

“You’re all going to be amazing pro heroes.” Midoriya said, ignoring his friend’s request. “You’re going to rise through the ranks so fast and forget about quirkless Deku.”  

That got Bakugo to shut up completely. He didn’t answer. He didn’t try to wiggle the doorknob to get in. He was just silent.  

Whether in shock or because it was something he considered as well, Midoriya didn’t know.  

The silence didn’t last long.  

A pinpoint explosion blew his doorknob off. Midoriya jerked in surprise, and then was knocked forward into the ground when the door was kicked open by Bakugo. He was getting his hands under him to push himself up when a hand came around his shoulder to grab his shirt and yanked him to his feet while twisting him around to meet Bakugo’s furious glare.  

“What the hell did Hawks tell you last night?” Bakugo hissed.  

“It wasn’t Hawks! He didn’t say anything!” Midoriya protested.  

Bakugo scoffed and yanked on Midoriya’s shirt to get him to walk behind him. Midoriya stared forlornly at his destroyed door. He was going to have to explain that to Aizawa.  

When he saw Bakugo was dragging him to the elevator, Midoriya started to dig his feet into the floor as he didn’t want to go back downstairs, but Bakugo was having none of it. He just yanked harder on Midoriya’s shirt so Midoriya returned that with a jab to his side. Bakugo replied by pulling Midoriya closer to him so he could wrap his arm around his neck to get him in a headlock.  

“I know you want to fight to distract me.” Bakugo hissed.  

Midoriya stomped on Bakugo’s foot.  

Bakugo hissed in pain, but still slammed his elbow into the elevator call button. “You’re a real dumbass.”  

Midoriya elbowed Bakugo in the side and was met with Bakugo’s hand grabbing at his hair.  

The two tussled in the hall as they waited for the elevator to arrive. It didn’t take long, but since they were too busy roughhousing, they didn’t stop when the elevator doors opened. Instead, Bakugo dragged their wrestling bodies into the elevator where they slammed into the ground.  

Their limbs twisted around each other as they fought to pin the other to the ground, completely ignoring the elevator door closing and the fact that the elevator was just sitting there unmoving.  

Midoriya took advantage of Bakugo’s weaker arm by forcing most of his strength on that side of his body to let him push him back. It was dirty going for a weak point, but Midoriya learned to do what he had to so he could win and survive. That was what war taught him. And since he was at a point where he was far below everyone else, he didn’t have the luxury of fair.  

Bakugo's back hit the floor and the next thing he knew Midoriya was straddling him with his arm pressed against his neck and his other hand grabbing his stronger arm to twist it above his head and pinning it there.  

While his classmates had been mastering their quirks and making them stronger since the war, Midoriya, though he didn’t train an insane amount anymore, did focus on strength training and hand to hand combat. Improving his melee skills was his priority since he had no quirk to focus on training anymore.  

Though, in this moment, his eyes didn’t shine happily that he managed to pin his friend down and win their scuffle. Midoriya's hand tightened its grip on Bakugo’s wrist.  

“You won, Izuku. Now get off.” Bakugo said.  

Midoriya's hand on Bakugo’s neck curled into his shirt. “Make me.”  

Bakugo’s eyes flashed in confusion, frown digging at his lips. “What?” He didn’t understand. This wasn’t at all like Midoriya. He participated in the wrestling matches, but he didn’t start them. He also didn’t prolong things when he won.  

Midoriya’s eyes flickered to Bakugo’s weaker arm that he had purposefully left free. The free arm that Bakugo was doing nothing with. The free arm he could use to continue this fight, or even turn the tables on Midoriya.  

Never in his life did Midoriya think he would ever understand what Bakugo felt for years towards Midoriya.  

“You asshole.”  

Bakugo’s brows flew up in surprise. “Excuse me?” 

Midoriya's body trembled above Bakugo, but it wasn’t from crying.  

Anger.  

Frustration.  

“It didn’t matter when we were kids.” Midoriya said lowly. “I was quirkless until I was fifteen and you never hesitated to use your quirk on me then. What changed?” 

Bakugo's eyes widened in surprise. “Izu-”  

“You never held back!” Midoriya shouted, cutting his friend off. “You said you felt like I was constantly ahead of you so you bullied me to make yourself feel superior. You weren’t scared of hurting me. But now that I’m a quirkless again, you won’t ever let your explosions near my body!” He pulled Bakugo’s hand off the ground and planted it on his chest. “I wasn’t too weak for them when I was a kid, but now I am?” 

Bakugo stared at his hand on Midoriya’s chest. His hand being held there by his friend. His friend who was upset he wasn’t using his quirk against him? What? 

“You’re not weak, Izuku.”  

“Then stop holding back against me! Stop looking down on me!” 

Bakugo’s eyes flashed angrily. He bucked his hips up to off balance Midoriya enough that he could fly off the ground to reverse their positions. His hands grabbed Midoriya’s wrists, pinning them by his head. His hands gripped the wrists tightly. It would be so easy to cause an explosion, but he had absolutely no intention of ever doing that to his friend again.  

“I may be an asshole, but you’re a dumbass.” Bakugo hissed. “I was a stupid kid when I did that to you. I knew it hurt you, but I didn’t care because I wanted to push you away from me. Maybe that stupidly high pain tolerance of yours is my fault because no matter how much I tried to keep you away from me by hurting you, you were always there and a part of my life. You kept showing up so I kept upping the bullying. I caused you more and more pain, but despite the fact that it scared you, you kept coming back. I guess pain never scared you.”  

Bakugo closed his eyes as he thought of first year. All those times he watched Midoriya hurt himself and never back down. All those times he was injured, but he kept moving forward because they were still in danger and he wouldn’t sit back and let his friends deal with the villains alone.  

“I always knew how selfless you were. It makes you a danger to yourself.” Bakugo said.  

“Maybe I’m not as selfless as you think.” Midoriya whispered, twisting his head away from Bakugo to stare at the wall.  

“You’re scared of being left alone.” Bakugo said, remembering what Midoriya said that made him break into his room to drag him out.  

“I’m weak.” Midoriya admitted. In the back of his mind, he acknowledged the jerk of the elevator as it began to move, but that wasn’t important to him compared to this conversation. “I know it. You all know it. It's why you won’t use your quirks against me when we spar. This was just the start. Soon you will all be pro heroes and I will be left watching your backs move ahead without me. It's already like that when you all run off to do hero work and I’m in the dorms alone.” 

“Izuku.”  

“I tell you to keep looking forward because you have to. You can’t look back, Kacchan.” Midoriya closed his eyes as he felt the tears start to form. He didn’t want to cry. He knew he was weak, but he had been putting a strong front on for himself and everyone around him. Hawks broke these walls so easily because it was easy to say this to a person who he wasn’t close to. For his friends, who had been by his side for years, it was hard to say this because he didn’t want to bring the mood down when this was the time when they should be the most excited as they were close to achieving their dream. It wasn’t fair for them to have to deal with Midoriya’s fear and loneliness which was why he had convinced himself that he was fine with giving up his dream of being a pro hero. It was to make things easier for them.  

“Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?” 

Midoriya's head snapped around, eyes opening in shock to meet Bakugo’s ferocious red eyes staring down at him.  

“I can look wherever the hell I want.”  

There was a ding as the elevator doors opened.  

“What are you guys doing?” Iida demanded.  

Bakugo shoved himself off of Midoriya and marched out of the elevator. “Oi! Tokoyami! Your damn mentor is putting thoughts in Izuku’s head!” 

Todoroki and Iida rushed into the elevator to help Midoriya off the ground. One, because he was their friend. Two, because they didn’t want to give Midoriya the chance to hit an elevator button and escape back upstairs.  

“Sounds like something Hawks would do.” Tokoyami replied. “Though, they usually aren’t bad ideas he gives people so why are you so mad?” 

Before Bakugo could explain, Midoriya ripped himself free from Iida and Todoroki and did a flying tackle against Bakugo.  

Iida threw his hands into the air in disbelief, completely done with those two as they slammed into the back of a couch as they began to wrestle again. It had become pretty common to see Bakugo and Midoriya wrestling. It, however, did not happen every day and certainly never happened this many times in a single day.  

“Man, what did Hawks feed Midoriya?” Kirishima said in shock. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him so aggressive.” A long time being that the most aggressive Midoriya had ever been was during his month long villain hunt as a dark hero. A terrifying time to remember, honestly.  

Bakugo kicked Midoriya off of him. He got himself half up to tackle his friend to get him pinned this time. Midoriya grabbed his wrists and got a leg between them so he could use Bakugo’s momentum to roll them up and over to end with Bakugo being the one on the ground.  

“Do you think we should get Aizawa-sensei?” Momo asked.  

“We’re a few months away from being adults and pro heroes! What does it say if we go to Sensei for this?” Hagakure asked.  

“That we’re mature adults who realize when we’re out of our depths and need help?” Tsuyu suggested.  

Bakugo shoved a hand against Midoriya’s face to try to shove him back. “We don’t need Sensei!” He screamed. “I got this!” 

“I really don’t think you do.” Todoroki said, looking down at the childhood friends thoughtfully. These two always had a strange relationship, but he thought the violent part of their friendship would die down as they got older and matured. Perhaps, he was being too optimistic with that thought.  

“Izuku is scared–” Bakugo twisted his head away to avoid having Midoriya shove his hand on his face. “–Of being left alone!”  

All fight seemed to just melt away from Midoriya after Bakugo’s statement. He just went limp and fell on top of Bakugo, unmoving.  

“Huh?” 

Kaminari squinted his eyes, looking down at Midoriya and Bakugo as if trying to figure out a new species. “I don’t get it.”  

Bakugo shoved the limp Midoriya off of him. It seemed his friend really gave up as he went easily and just laid on the ground, face down, refusing to move in his despair. He hoped that meant Midoriya realized how idiotic he was being. He nudged Midoriya in the side. “Get up.”  

“Let me die on the floor.”  

Bakugo rolled his eyes. He reached down and grabbed him by the upper arm and yanked him up to his feet.  

“Perhaps more tea?” Momo suggested, looking unsure as she looked from Bakugo to Midoriya.  

“Or cocoa!” Mina suggested excitedly. “Some comfort drinks.”  

“Who drinks cocoa when it’s this hot outside?” Shinso asked.  

Mina huffed and pushed Shinso by his back towards the kitchen. “People who need comfort. It's not any hotter than tea. Besides, I’ve seen the amount of coffee you guzzle down in a day. That's worse than cocoa and tea combined.”  

“Ah, wait,” Midoriya twisted around to chase after them. “I don’t need–” 

He was yanked back by a hand on his hood.  

“Where do you think you’re going? We're not done here.” Bakugo growled.  

Midoriya glared at him out of the corner of his eye.  

“Let’s just all sit down and talk.” Iida interjected before they could try tackling each other again. 

And thus, Midoriya once again found himself sitting in the common room with a mug of cocoa shoved into his hands by a very insistent Mina. At the very least, the warmth from the mug soothed the aches in his hands. The pain wasn’t that bad today. Honestly, it was worse when it was cold outside. Right now the pain in his joints was so minimal it was easy for him to ignore.  

For something to do and to avoid the eyes staring at him, Midoriya looked down at his mug as he sipped at the cocoa. Mmm, so sweet. Mina was extra sweet as she added whip cream on top with some chocolate shavings. She really went for the ultimate comfort drink. This was more of something he would expect from Sato, but he knew the girls loved their sweets. He knew they sometimes baked with Sato to see how he made some of the sweets he made for the class cause they would complain about how complicated some of the desserts were and how they would never be able to do so when they graduated they would lose access to all the delicious sweets he made on the regular.  

A finger poked him roughly in the head.  

“What are you thinking about so hard over there?” Kaminari asked.  

Midoriya rubbed his forehead. “Nothing.” He muttered.  

“Then can you explain what Bakugo meant by what he said earlier?” Sero asked.  

Midoriya replied by sipping his cocoa again.  

Bakugo's brow twitched as he fought the urge to rip that drink away from him. Damn Mina and her coddling him with a drink. He was going to use it as a way to avoid speaking.  

“He said you were scared of being left alone.” Todoroki tried to ease into the conversation, but Midoriya just continued sipping at the cocoa.  

Bakugo's eye twitched. “We are not playing the guess Izuku’s feelings game.”  

“Sounds like a stupid game anyway.” Midoriya replied.  

“Oh,” Bakugo said mockingly. “You do have a voice.”  

Midoriya pointedly sipped his cocoa again.  

“I am going to take that mug and explode it so hard, it will be nothing but dust when I’m done!” Bakugo ranted.  

“You will do no such thing!” Hagakure shouted. “That is a limited edition, impossible to find Eraserhead mug!” 

Midoriya blinked and looked more closely at the mug he was holding. He had assumed it was just a black mug, but now that he was looking, he saw his teacher’s yellow goggles and peaking through the goggles were red eyes. The name Eraserhead was printed vertical on the mug.  

“Oh my–” Midoriya exclaimed. “Where did this come from? How did you find this? I thought merchandise of Eraserhead didn’t exist!” 

“I got it from Hawks.” Tokoyami admitted. “Turns out being the HPSC president gives him access to a lot of stuff like this.”  

“Yeah,” Midoriya nodded his head. “Makes sense. I mean he did show me my figurine yester–” 

The words froze on Midoriya’s tongue. His friends didn’t know about that. He didn’t want them to know, but he spoke without thinking and now he had nineteen pairs of eyes whipping around to stare into his soul.  

“Your figurine?” Uraraka repeated.  

“Uh...” 

“When did you get one?” Bakugo demanded.  

“Um...” 

“I bet Hawks let him keep it.” Tokoyami said.  

“Wa–” 

“Bet it’s in his bag.” Todoroki added.  

There was a mad scramble for the students to get up and to make it to Midoriya’s room.  

“Wait!”  

Midoriya got shoved back into his sit on the couch by Bakugo, who was now standing over him with crossed arms while other members of their class raced to get upstairs first.  

“Drink your damn cocoa.”  

“Oh, now it’s okay for me to drink it?”  

“Watch it, Izuku.”  

“I hope they don’t break anything in your room.” Iida said with a sigh.  

“Kacchan already broke my door. What's it matter now?” Midoriya said.  

“He broke–What?” Iida glared at Bakugo who raised his brow in a challenging manner.  

“I said I would get him back down here. I never said I did it in a nice way.” Bakugo retorted.  

“But now we have to explain a broken door to Aizawa-sensei!” Iida groaned.  

“He probably can’t wait for us to graduate.” Uraraka giggled from where she was sitting next to Midoriya. She nudged his side with a grin. “Especially his favorite problem child.”  

Midoriya scowled good naturedly back. “I haven’t even done anything in recent times to still be called that. I’ve been nothing but a good, law-abiding student.”  

Bakugo snorted in disbelief. “Didn’t you help Hatsume blow up the support lab last week?” 

Midoriya flushed red when Iida and Uraraka stared at him in shock.  

“Is that why you got detention last week?” Iida asked.  

“I don’t think Hatsume needs help blowing up the lab, Deku.” Uraraka said weakly.  

“She doesn’t blow up the lab all the time like she did in first year.” Midoriya protested.  

“What were you two doing?” Iida asked confused.  

Midoriya ducked his head, scratching the back of his neck. “Uh, well...She just...”  

“She just?” Uraraka prompted.  

“She was working on support gear.”  

“Obviously.” Bakugo rolled his eyes.  

Midoriya sighed. “She wanted me to try it out.” He admitted. “I don’t know why, but she seems to think I’m still aiming to be a pro hero and was trying to make support gear I could use to keep up with you guys. It's a sweet sentiment, but what she is trying just isn’t enough to help me keep up with everyone. She’s limited by what she can do after all.”  

“Limited?” Bakugo wondered. He had seen some of the support gear that girl whipped out so quickly for Midoriya back in first year. Perhaps that stuff was easier for her to build since she was providing support for someone who had a quirk that could protect them. Without a quirk, Midoriya would need so much more support so it was likely much harder for her to make something that would suit him.  

“Yeah,” Midoriya sighed. “She’s been bothering me about it. I think she sees it as a challenge to equip me with something so she badgers me to come to the lab constantly. Honestly, it’s sweet she wants to try, but...” 

“But,” Uraraka prompted, grabbing Midoriya’s hand and squeezing it gently. It had become their thing since the war to hold hands when they felt the other needed support. They would do this to give strength.  

“It hurts.” Midoriya admits. “She’s trying so hard, but everything fails. It's never going to be enough. I know this, but she doesn’t want to give up. I want to feel the same hope she does, but one of us has to face the reality that it’s not possible.” He squeezed Uraraka’s hand. “I don’t get why she won’t give up on me. We're leaving UA soon and she will be busy with her job as a support tech and you all will be busy as pro heroes. I don’t fit into any of that anymore.”  

Uraraka's heart broke. This was what Bakugo meant. Midoriya thought that they would all get busy living out their dream jobs and forget about him because he wouldn’t be a part of that world. “Deku, no.” She grasped his hand with both of hers and pulled it up to her chest. “We would never forget you. How could we?” She looked up when the elevator doors slid open and Kirishima fell out with the rest of their friends, but he held up his hand to protect his prize from hitting the ground. “Your face is plastered everywhere as the greatest hero that stopped the greatest villain from destroying the world.”  

Kirishima seemed to realize he walked into something. Even though he didn’t know the full context, he jumped right into it. “Yeah, dude. I mean this?” He planted the new figurine on the coffee table so everyone could look at it in awe. “Students don’t get merch of them before they graduate and become fully fledged pro heroes.” 

“This is amazing.” Ojiro said, dropping on his knees next to the table to admire it up close. “Is it going on the market?” 

Midoriya nodded. “I don’t know when though. Hawks wanted me to sign some documents and get an account set up so I could get the royalties from it.”  

“I bet they’re going to fly off the shelves.” Jiro said.  

“Be sure to tell us when you find out they hit the shelves.” Sato said. “We all have to get one before they sell out.”  

Midoriya flushed and duck his head.  

“I can’t wait to tell everyone that I was in the same class as the Great Deku.” Mineta said.  

Midoriya wished he could duck his head even farther to hide the tears that were beginning to cloud his eyes.  

“Tch, I can’t believe you found another thing to beat me at.” Bakugo scoffed. He had to admit, never out loud, that the figurine looked amazing. Whoever made it really looked at Deku closely to get all the little details just right.  

“When we graduate, we’ll all going to get super busy with our lives as pro heroes.” Momo paused and looked at Midoriya. “Or whatever job we decide to do.” 

Iida nodded. “It won’t be easy to hang out as much for all of us, but I know I will never forget this class.”  

“Despite the rocky first year we had here, these were still the best three years of my life.” Hagakure added. “We went through a war together. That means no matter where we go, we’re bonded for life!”  

“Just because one of us doesn’t has a pro hero license doesn’t mean he’s not still a hero to us.” Todoroki’s hand dropped onto Midoriya’s shoulder from where he was standing behind the couch. When Midoriya looked over his shoulder at him, revealing the wet eyes, Todoroki smiled at him. “Your quirk didn’t make you a great hero. It was that insane drive and spirit that you threw at all of us that inspired us. Just you being here made us all better heroes. How could we leave you behind when we graduate? We might need you to remind us how to be better heroes after all.”  

Midoriya offered a weak, wet smile. “You guys proved you were better heroes than me when you came to save me.”  

Todoroki blinked in surprise. Midoriya didn’t tend to be the one to bring up his month on the run. If someone else did, he would join the conversation if needed, but he didn’t seem to like to be the one to bring it up in conversation.  

“If it seemed like that, it was because you made us better.” Uraraka said softly.  

“But...” 

“Moron.” Bakugo scoffed.  

“You were always a great hero, man.” Kirishima said. “Ever since you ran out to save Bakugo in middle school. You stumbled into your vigilante days out of fear and desperation, but that didn’t make you a bad hero. It made you a scared child with too heavy of a burden that it made you get lost.”  

“And that’s why we’ll never abandon you.” Shoji said.  

Mina added. “Cause who knows what crazy thing you would do next if we weren’t here to reign you in.”  

“If you ever need anything, you know it’s very easy to just text us.” Koda added.  

“There’s twenty of us in this class.” Sato said.  

“Twenty-one.” Iida corrected and the class smiled at the reminder of Aoyama who was forever stuck in their group chat despite him having left UA last year.  

Sato nodded. “No matter how busy we get, I'm sure one of us will always be available to help anyone of us when we need it.”  

“I don’t know what dumbass thought got in your head last night, but,” Bakugo knocked his fist against Midoriya’s head. “It’s wrong so stop overthinking it, you dumbass.”  

Midoriya shook his head. “I already know what they will say. They would never leave my side.”  

“Knowing what they will say and hearing it are two different things.” Nagant butted in. “You can imagine their words, but actually having a memory of those words where they reassure you will be much stronger.”   

Midoriya glanced up at her through his bangs.   

Nagant set her plate down and reached across the table to hold her hand out towards Midoriya, who looked at her hand in confusion, but he did take it lightly. She returned the light grasp by tightening her hold on his hand. “Give them the chance to reach their hand out to you. Like you did for me that night. Your words really helped me that day. It was those words that pushed me to help you against Shigaraki. Words hold a lot of power and they can and will help your heart heal.”  

Maybe it was the comforting drink.  

Maybe it was Uraraka holding his hand tightly against her chest which allowed him to feel her heartbeat.  

Maybe it was the smiles and words of his classmates who didn’t fully know why he was freaking out earlier, but still knew he just needed reassurance they would always be friends.  

Maybe it was fighting Bakugo multiple times to get his frustration and fears out through physical means.  

Who knows.  

But Midoriya’s heart, strangely, felt very light.  

Lighter than it had in a long time.  

Maybe the feeling wouldn’t last, but right now, surrounded by his friends, getting physical comfort that he didn’t know he needed, he truly felt like the luckiest person alive.  

************

“Hey, dreads!”  

If Hatsume didn’t know the name was her, the hand slamming down on the table next to her blueprints was a dead giveaway. “Explosion boy.” She returned.  

“Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight!” Bakugo corrected.  

“Not often I see you in here.” Hatsume said, ignoring Bakugo’s demand of his hero name. “You seem to always go directly to your costume creator when you need something. Have you finally come to realize my superiority in support gear?” 

Bakugo scoffed. “No, but Izuku seemed to always be fond of your work.” Without an invitation, he dragged a stool out from under the table and sat in it.  

“Izuku?” Hatsume’s brows furrowed in confusion as if she didn’t know that name.  

Bakugo went to snap, but took a moment to breathe instead. He was the same. He was the same with names. It took him a long time to put importance on learning people’s names. “Deku.”  

“Oh! Midoriya!” Hatsume said. “He always seems fond of breaking the gear I slave over for him. Even with him being quirkless now, he still found a way to break the gauntlets I created as a test project for him.”  

“Perfect.” Bakugo leaned forward. “You remember those. I want to talk about that.” 

Hatsume blinked. “What about them? They broke in the test run.”  

“Izuku said you’ve been working on support gear for him even though he’s not aiming to be a pro hero anymore.” Bakugo explained.  

Hatsume hummed and went back to her blueprints.  

Bakugo’s brow twitched. “Why are you wasting your time on something he didn’t ask for?” 

“He’s still in the hero course, isn’t he?” Hatsume asked.  

It was Bakugo’s turn to blink. From what he heard from his classmates, Hatsume was pretty oblivious to things that took place outside of the support course. He didn’t think she would realize that Aizawa never transferred Midoriya out of the hero course after the embers died down.  

“He’s been my client from the moment he came to me in first year for support gear the first time. It's the duty of a support tech to support their client through anything and to keep up on their gear. My support gear is designed to protect my client so I have to make sure it’s the best of the best gear for him.” Hatsume admitted.  

“You think he can still be a hero?” Bakugo asked.  

Hatsume knocked a fist against her chest. “My gear is the best gear there is. He can do anything you heroes with quirks can do.”  

“If that was the case, why isn’t he doing it?” Bakugo said.  

Hatsume deflated a bit. “It’s expensive and time consuming.” She pulled a blueprint out from under the one she was working on to show Bakugo. “The materials I need are expensive, and I would need a lot of them. It takes time to make something that can replicate quirks. You saw the footage of All Might’s fight against All For One in the war right?” 

Bakugo nodded.  

“His suit was made on a rush order and it was able to replicate quirks to give him an edge. I’ve been trying to do the same, but without the right materials or machines, the gear doesn’t hold up and breaks on the first couple uses.” Hatsume admitted.  

“All Might said he blew through his life savings to make that suit.” Bakugo said, making Hatsume grimace.  

“I didn’t say it was easy. The past year proved how hard it was without the right equipment and materials.” Hatsume said. “I’ve been trying to give Midoriya some hope that his dream didn’t have to die, but I hate to admit, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do it. I’ve been able to try at UA because the school supplies materials for the support course to work with, but when I graduate, I can’t waste materials on a project for someone who didn’t ask for it and isn’t paying for it. I can’t afford that.”  

Bakugo stared down at the blueprints that Hatsume had sketched out. They were just gauntlets right now. He couldn’t tell what their function was, just that she was designing them for Midoriya. His mind flashed back to yesterday, to hearing Midoriya admit he was scared of being abandoned. To seeing that longing in his friend’s eyes.  

Bakugo’s weaker hand rested on the table. He turned it over and opened and closed it a few times. His arm was getting stronger every day. It may never be the same as it was before the war, but it would be stronger. He was healing. He could still use it.  

What about Midoriya?  

He threw his dream away for the sake of everyone’s futures.  

So, what did that leave him with? 

“If you have the money and resources available to you, could you do it?” Bakugo asked.  

“Huh?” Hatsume looked back up from her work, seemingly having forgotten he was still there.  

“Could you make a suit like All Might’s that could replicate Deku’s former quirks?” Bakugo demanded.  

Hatsume laid her pen down and stared at Bakugo, at the desperation shining in his eyes. “Why are you asking?” 

Bakugo swallowed, clenching his fists on table. “Izuku has wanted to a be a hero his whole life. It's all he ever wanted, but because he was quirkless, I beat him down and told him he couldn’t do it. And yet, he ended up with the most powerful quirk to exist transferred to him by All Might. He excelled at being a hero. He was the best, but he had to give it all up to save the world. To save everyone else and to fix society, to give them all the chance to live their dreams, he had to give up his. How is that fair?” 

Hatsume didn’t know Bakugo well. In fact, she only really interacted with him at the sports festival, so she didn’t think this side of him existed.  

“He saved us all. Shouldn't he get something in return?” 

Hatsume pulled her tablet across the table and started typing at it. “The person who made All Might’s suit was Melissa Shield with help from her father. Did you know this?” 

“I heard it came from overseas, and seeing as how she made Izuku’s mid-gauntlets, I’m not surprised she was helping All Might as well.” Bakugo admitted.  

Hatsume nodded. “I’ve spoken to her about the design of the suit. The suit was made in a few months, and despite how impressive it was, it couldn’t hold up to All For One.”  

“Most people couldn’t stand up to him. The suit getting destroyed is hardly surprising.” Bakugo said.  

“The thing is, the suit was made in a rush.” Hatsume explained. “Given more time, the suit could be stronger. The suit could be more flexible to match Midoriya’s style of fighting. The suit could replicate his quirks to a certain degree. It could give him strength. However,” She planted her tablet on the table and spun it to face Bakugo. “Like you said. All Might blew through his life savings. I can’t make a suit like that for Midoriya without help or money. I can’t do it.”  

Bakugo stared down at the number staring up at him, making his heart plummet to his stomach. There was a reason All Might said life savings. Bakugo would be retiring by time he got this money.  

If he was alone.  

“I’ll get you the money.” Bakugo declared. “It will take time, but I will get it to you.”  

“Do you have a secret stash of money somewhere?” Hatsume asked.  

Bakugo slammed a hand on the tablet, hiding the number from view. “I have a class full of pro heroes who owe Izuku so much. I know so many pro heroes who owe him. I will get this money and when I do, I want you to make the best damn suit ever. Izuku will be the first quirkless pro hero to exist.” 

“Oh?” Hatsume sung softly. “It does sound appealing to be the support tech for the first quirkless pro hero who once saved the world. It would let me get more attention for my gear.” She tapped the tablet with her stylish. “If we’re going to do this, I need a contact and a downpayment before I can start just so I can be sure you are committed to this.”  

“Right.” Bakugo pushed himself off the stool. “And one more thing, don’t tell Izuku.”  

“Why?” Hatsume asked.  

“If it doesn’t work out, I don’t want to have gotten his hopes up for nothing.” Bakugo turned back, waving as he did. “Besides, if he knew the price of this, he would never agree to have us put our money to this. He would freak the hell out. If he doesn’t know until it’s already done, he can’t complain then.”  

Hatsume smirked. “You just want to see the expression on his face when he gets it.”  

Bakugo didn’t reply as he left the lab. He was going to do this. He was going to drag Izuku into the world of pro heroes. He would see the light enter his eyes when he was given the chance to return to the field.  

************

Bakugo had to wait for his moment. He needed to be sure that Midoriya would be nowhere around to walk in on this conversation. At some point, the students of 3-A would have a moment without Midoriya to talk about this. He needed everyone, except Midoriya, there.  

It actually came sooner than he expected when Midoriya got sick and Iida got on his case about staying in bed and missing a day of school. It was sight to behold as Midoriya tried to go against their class rep as he insisted he couldn’t afford to miss school right now because he had to prepare for college entrance exams. In the end, it ended with Midoriya being ambushed by Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sato with a blanket that they wrapped him up in tightly and then threw him on his bed.  

A sight to behold.  

Anyway, the point was, Bakugo stood at the front of the class and wrote a number on the board and stood there patiently as he waited for everyone to settle down from their morning chats. They would realize he was up here waiting for their attention eventually.  

“I hope that number is you brats realizing how much the school spends to fix the stuff you break.” Aizawa said when he entered the classroom. 

“Is this about Midoriya’s door last week?” Jiro asked. “Because that was all Bakugo.”  

Bakugo glared at her.  

“I don’t know. Is it?” Aizawa asked, intrigued enough by this unusual sight of Bakugo taking charge to let it play out.  

Bakugo slammed a hand on the board. “This number is our goal. We have to raise this much money.”  

His friends blinked as they looked at the number on the board. Before, it was just a number on the board, but now that they realized it was a money amount that Bakugo wanted raise, it was suddenly a frightening number.  

“Whatever you broke that was expensive, it’s your responsibility to pay for it!” Uraraka shouted. “I can’t afford to pay for your mess ups.”  

Bakugo’s brow twitched. “I didn’t break shit! And this isn’t for me anyway.” He slapped the board behind him again. “It’s for Izuku!” 

Midoriya’s name got the uneasy murmurs to die down as they refocused on Bakugo.  

“Midoriya wants to rob us now?” Sero asked.  

“Morons.” Bakugo scoffed. “Izuku doesn’t know about this.” He straightened up and met the stares of all of his classmates head on. “If anyone in this class deserves to be a pro hero, it’s Izuku. He selflessly threw away his chance of being a pro hero away to save the world from Shigaraki. I want to give his dream back to him, but,” He glanced at the amount he wrote on the board. “All Might used his life savings to get the armored suit he used in the war. I'll never make enough money before I retire to pay for a suit like that for Izuku on my own.”  

“You want us to fund an armored suit for Midoriya?” Todoroki asked shocked.  

“You got a problem with that?” Bakugo snapped, feeling himself blush. Instead of resistance from his friends, as soon as they realized what he was requesting, any uneasiness in the class shifted very quickly to smiles all around. “Life isn’t fair. Everyone is born with different powers. Some weaker, some stronger. Some unfortunate people are born with nothing. Izuku has, countless times, been shafted by the world. He finally gained the chance to be a hero when he met All Might, but even that got ripped away from him because he had to choose between saving the world or having a quirk. It’s not fair to him.”  

“He deserves to have something go his way.” Iida said.  

Bakugo nodded.  

The number on the board was frightening. It made their hearts drop just thinking about how much money that was.  

“He’s given so much.” Todoroki looked down at his left hand. His fire which he hated his whole life because of his father. The fire he started to use because Midoriya slammed through his defenses, damaging himself permanently, just to save him from himself. What Todoroki wouldn’t give to pay him back for pulling him into the light and making him a better here? “I’m in.”  

Momo looked over in shock at him agreeing so fast.  

“Of course. I owe Midoriya a lot.” Iida added. He and Todoroki caught each other’s eyes and he was sure they were both thinking of that night in Hosu that felt so long ago. How could he not want to help the person who saved his life? 

Kirishima punched a fist into his palm. “All we have to do is raise some money? The people building this thing are going to have it much harder than us.”  

Uraraka wanted to see smiles. She loved heroes because of how it made people around who smile when they saw heroes in action. “It’s the job of heroes to reach their hands out to others.” She declared. She grinned. “I can’t wait to see Deku’s smile when he gets this.”  

Momo raised a hand. “I’m not opposed as Midoriya does deserve this, but I think we all need to realize how long this is going to take. That is no small sum. It's going to take more than a couple years to raise that amount of money.”  

“I’m aware of that. Why do you think I’m asking for help?” Bakugo asked.  

“I’m saying that what if Midoriya doesn’t want this? In the amount of time it takes to raise the money, then get the suit made, what if he doesn’t want anything to do with being a pro hero?” Momo questioned.  

“Never going to happen.” Bakugo said. “Even when he found out he was quirkless and he couldn’t be a hero, being a pro hero was still Izuku’s only dream. He never wanted anything else. Right now, yes, he is looking for a different path, but that is because he is being forced to. If I could give him the suit in this very moment, he wouldn’t hesitate to join us being pro heroes when we graduate, but I can’t. I know Izuku would want this, but he is too selfless to ask for it. He is too selfless to ask for help funding this suit if he even knew these plans existed.”  

“He doesn’t know?” Tsuyu asked.  

“No, and he can’t know.” Bakugo said quickly. “You cannot tell him about this. He would freak out if he knew the kind of money we were planning to raise for him to have a chance at his dream again.”  

“I almost had a heart attack just seeing the number.” Kaminari said. “Midoriya would probably implode if he saw this and knew it was for him.”  

“Who would even make this?” Sato asked.  

“Hatsume and Melissa Shield.” Bakugo answered. “They’ve already agreed to a team up for this.”  

“Are you sure?” Uraraka asked. “Those two get competitive with their support gear, even more so when it comes to who can make Deku the best gear.”  

“Melissa made the armored suit for All Might so she already has experience with this and Hatsume worked closely with Izuku’s gear and quirks for a year so they are best people to team up for this project.” Bakugo explained.  

“It does seem like the perfect tag team for this since the Shields worked with All Might closely for years so they know a lot about One For All, even if they didn’t know what the power was back then.” Momo agreed. “And Hatsume’s experience with Midoriya’s ability added on top of that means we couldn’t ask for any better team. Other support companies just wouldn’t be able to match up to their knowledge of Midoriya and One For All.”  

Shinso stared at the number on the board, but his mind was else well.  

“You can’t help the things you long for.”  

That was what he told Midoriya back in first year when Midoriya asked why he wanted to be a hero. He was able to take a hold of the path to become a hero and his heart soared with excitement at actually being able to accomplish his dream. There had been a time when he didn’t think it would ever happen and he had been full of despair.  

Having lived with the despair for his whole life until Aizawa took him on as a student after the sports festival in first year, Shinso felt like he was the best in the class to understand Midoriya’s feelings. Even if Midoriya said he was fine and didn’t regret his choices in the war, that didn’t take away his longing to be a pro hero.  

Shinso only wanted to be a pro hero. He didn’t want to make friends, but the hero students didn’t hesitate to reach out to him and drag him into friendship. Despite having a supposedly ‘villain quirk,’ all the hero students had been excited to see him and have him join them.  

They welcomed him into their classes with opened arms.  

He wanted to return that support.  

“How do we start?”