Work Text:
[-11:44 pm
-U.A. High School
-Carter's dormitory]
"A truth quirk?" The gruff voice spoke from the other side of the small radio device.
"...Yes?"
"...I expected better. You are the best spy I am in charge of. I would hate for you to be eliminated over this minor... inconvenience. Your mission still stands. Do what you must to make sure your status as a spy doesn't get revealed. I trust you won't fuck this up?" My handler asked. His voice could cut cleanly through metal.
"Yes, sir."
There was a moment before the radio disconnected, and I was left in silence. My life completely fell off its rails within hours.
I just had to avoid any and all questions about my personal life or feelings for a month. How hard could that be?
Pretty fucking hard.
I'll be confined to the dorms with EXTREMELY curious classmates for god's sake!
Right now, all we know about this quirk is that it creates a surplus amount of Thiopental in the brain, sending a message to your brain for your body to provide serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and oxytocin that amplifies this, causing a positive feedback loop that would take a month for my body to intercept it. (mini bio lesson for ya)
For your sake, I'm dealing with a mix of a truth and oversharing quirk for a month, but if I can figure out a way to cause negative feedback to stop the effects of this stupid quirk, I could properly protect my secret. My body already felt weird.
Ever since this truth quirk stuff started, my body treated sleep like it was optional. I thought about how I barely understood what was happening in ELA, how much I hated loud noises, and worst of all... How much I liked Sero's smile. It was so stupid, but sweet at the same time. My chest felt like it was being filled like a glass of water. I hated how much I was feeling right now. I hated how I couldn't control. Most of all, I hated myself for even having these feelings.
_______________________
[The next day]
During homeroom, Izuku had accidentally revealed something called One For All? Of course, everyone was curious about it, but refrained from asking until we were back in the dorms.
A bit after classes, we were all sitting on the couch listening to Izuku talk about All For One. I pressed the tiny record button on my mini recorder and sat back. I was bored with the ranting, but I tried to pay attention. While I was glancing around the room, I caught Sero's gaze. He looked almost as bored as me, then he snorted and looked away. I smiled and tried to re-focus on the conversation at hand, but he made it kind of difficult.
__________________________________________
With this truth quirk going on in our class, Sero revealed to me that he's terrible at math. So, I decided to help him. I knew pursuing relationships of any kind wasn't allowed, but the quirk revealed my true feelings. Now, we were sitting in my room at my desk as I tried to explain how to divide polynomials.
"No, that's wrong. You forgot to subtract your exponents." I pointed out in his paper. He looked back down at it for a moment, then sighed
"I'm so bad at this. How is this even going to help me in my future of becoming a hero?" He leaned back in the chair. I chuckled at his annoyed look.
"Maybe because it's a school requirement?"
"Don't be a smartass," He lightly pushed my shoulder.
Eventually, we both got tired of math and ended up just laughing at silly TikToks on Sero's phone for about an hour. Then, we were rudely interrupted by Bakugo coming to collect us for movie night. I sat next to him, sharing a blanket as the movie went on. As the movie kept progressing, I felt more comfortable asking Sero questions about it. I've never even seen a movie that didn't have something to do with war.
__________________________________________________
The next couple of days were simple; some people accidentally dropped secrets, but not huge ones.
"My favorite color isn't yellow, it's actually brown." Blurted by Kaminari once.
"I actually hate cake and icing because of how the textures mix," said by Mina the other day. This one did get a giggle out of me. That was the first time I ever felt myself genuinely laugh. It felt like my loyalty was cracking piece by piece and I hated how much I didn't mind it.
"I have notebooks about every single one of your quirks because of how cool they are!" Izuku said. I take my previous statement back; this one is kinda weird. Though it made me wonder, how much does Izuku know about me? How much does he actually pay attention behind that oblivious mask? Was he already onto me? Was he just waiting for the perfect moment to rat me out? No way he knows... Ive been super sneaky. But the thought still haunted me at night. I also felt this weird, overwhelming feeling to always be around Sero. I felt so hyper aware of his every movement and conversation. I even started to feel subconscious of my own actions. I second-guessed every word I said, and it was starting to get on my nerves. I mean-- I've always taken a liken to Sero, but this is too much. I brushed it off as just the rush of hormones.
____________________________________________________
Lately, I've noticed an increase in side quests I've been on. Passing out papers, delivering notes for Mr. Aizawa, and helping Denki understand Math. Like right now, I'm walking down the hall to class 2-C to deliver some test scores, and they looked ROUGH. I finally arrived at the class and knocked on the door. The teacher came and opened the door and let me in. Suddenly, I felt the whole class just staring at me. I avoided their eyes and looked at the teacher. She was the prettiest lady I've ever laid my eyes on. Luscious hair, lovely eyes, soft lips... She just smiled at me and asked for the papers. I swallowed down any idea of voicing my attraction and handed her the papers with a strained "Here, Miss..." I quickly got out of that class before pushing my luck anymore. I tried to think of cold things while walking down the hall to my class. I hated the way my body betrayed me.
Later that day, I was studying with Kaminari.
"Okay, so now, would would you do now?" I asked
"Oh! I would add the exponents!"
"No, we're dividing. What do we do with exponents when we divide?"
"...subtract?"
"Yeah"
I scribbled down an answer, and I looked at it
"That's wrong," I sighed, "13-7 is not 5." He looked down at his paper in confusion, erased it, the wrote down something new. I looked at it again.
"That's right."
"Oh really?! Thanks, dude you're the best!" He cheered and ran off to tell his friends, leaving all his stuff.
"Yeah, no problem," I said, but he was already gone. I closed his notebook and left his pencil on top of it neatly for whenever he decided to come get it.
________________________________________________________
Bakugo and Kiri got together
Midoriya and Todoroki also got together
Jirou and Momo got together
Apparently, Bakugo used to bully Midoriya, but they made up??
Mina has nightmares
Kirishimas is depressed and insecure
Shinso is a foster kid and is being adopted by Mr. Aizawa
Midoriya and Todoroki have a plan to put Endeavor in jail.
Kaminari is depressed too-- and also has ADHD and dyslexia
Bakugo was being abused and also being adopted by Mr. Aizawa
And the scariest of all, the truth quirk is still active after a month
I think the funniest secret revealed was that Bakugo pretends to go to bed at 8 to read romance novels in peace.
With the increase of dopamine in my brain, I've been able to kinda enjoy our movie nights—even though they usually turned into vent sessions, which I recorded.
I don't want to be a spy anymore.
Everyone has shared a secret this past month; it didn't matter if it was big or small, except for me. Hopefully, I haven't raised any eyebrows. I like to think I've kept the character of a normal life, and I'd like to keep it that way. For your information, there's a chip inside my brain that tracks my location, vitals, and conversations. If I were to spill that I was a spy, the commission would drop me within seconds. My records and IDs would be nulled, I'd be kicked out of UA for fraud, and I'd go back to being completely worthless. As of right now, though, my handler is probably having a field day with this drama, and I recorded it all.
___________________________________________
The next day at training might've been the WORST
It started normally when I noticed something I've NEVER thought of before.
Sero is hot.
like
REALLY HOT
Why haven't I noticed this before?! His hero suit was so tight-- it perfectly highlighted his abs, chest, and arms. Woah. I felt really hot and clammy.
disgusting
I really hoped no one would notice, but leave it up to Ururaka to question me. Like she does. everyone. else.
I hate heroes
After showering, getting changed, I was just sitting in the common room, pretending to be on my phone, but I was really thinking of my sudden attraction to Sero.
"Hey, Carter, is something wrong? Your face is redder than normal," She pointed out.
"I just realised how hot Sero is," I replied against my will. Kill me now.
No, seriously, kill me.
Her eyes were so wide I thought they'd pop out of her eye sockets. I quickly got back to my dorm room before she could further question me.
As if on cue, my radio went off..
"Agent 07. What the fuck was that?" My handler questioned.
"I kinda just noticed how hot this guy is-- which is weird because I've NEVER felt this way about anyone and it's kinda freaking me out." My words were coming out faster than I could catch them. Curse this quirk.
"What the fuck, agent 07!?"
"And the truth quirk hasn't been deactivated."
"FUCK" I could hear the anger and edge in his voice, "Useless fucking heroes! They never get anything done."
"You listen to me now, Agent 07. I don't care about whatever the hell is going on in that school; you should be able to handle a couple of feelings, and you are. Aren't you?"
His icy tone sent shivers down my spine. "Y-yes, sir.."
"Good. I would hate for your elimination to be the first time you're in the field." The radio disconnected.
My life was definitely falling apart.
I sat on my bed, then Iied down and didn't get up. I stared up at the ceiling like it held all the solutions to my problems. I felt so cold but hot at the same time, my hair was too frizzy and it was bothering my neck, my sweater was suffocating me, and my socks were rolling off.
What the fuck.
Everything came crashing down on me at once: my past, future, and even present.
This had to be from the increase in hormones, but I couldn't stop it. My breathing became ragged, and I gripped onto my blanket.
Memories of my harsh training came up. The blood on the floor, broken bones, tears, shouted orders for me to get back up.
___________________________________________________
"Please don't hurt me, sir! I promise I'll do better-!"
I was pushed to the ground and slapped
"Shut up! This punishment is all your fault! If you weren't so weak, this wouldn't have happened!"
________________________________________________
I was in a sparring match with my best friend that who were also training. I was quickly beaten and tackled to the ground. My whole body was in pain.
"Finish the job"
"Huh?"
"Finish it."
"But I don't-"
"Finish it! Don't you want to teach him a lesson?"
He looked down at me on the ground with tears in his eyes. He grabbed my arm and held it straight.
"I'm sorry.."
"What are you doing?"
He kicked my arm inward, causing a clean break. I screamed in pain at the sound of my bone snapping.
"You see what happens when you lose a fight?"
_________________________________________________
This felt like a battle I couldn't win, and my end result probably wouldn't be another broken bone or a slap to the face. The weight of my responsibilities and growing feelings for Sero sat on my chest. He could never like a traitor like me, and yet I couldn't completely erase the hope in my heart. Tears trickled down my face, and I cried like a hopeless little kid.
__________________________________________________
Hey ya'll, writer here. This is the mandatory rest stop so uh. Get some water, a snack, have a tiktok break.
_______________________________________________________
The next month for me was filled with silence and anxiety. I couldn't risk letting something slip, not with my emotions running wild. Occasionally, I caught myself staring at the back of Sero's head in class and smiling. The warm feeling he put in my chest felt kinda of calming at times. Maybe only from a distance.
Movie nights barely happened because of the shit with Bakugo. I think that only made my anxiety worse. Eventually, though, they figured it out, and we were back to normal. Kinda. I was starting to feel guilty for not helping or providing any comforting words. What would I say, though?
"It's going to be alright."?
It isn't so; why give them the false hope?
I couldn't bring myself to study with Kaminari anymore.
I didn't ask Sero questions about the movie anymore. I just ignored his worried look. I didn't want to care, though; I could get him and myself killed.
After classes, I walked into the dorm, and I was about to go straight up to my room, but Uraraka stopped me.
"Hey Carter, how are you feeling these days?" She asked with a fake curious tone, as if she knew half of the storm in my brain.
"Extremely anxious," My body forced out my answer. I tried to go up to my dorm, but I was blocked by Iida and Izuku.
What the fuck is going on?
"Hey, let us help you," Izuku stepped forward. I moved away from him. I was completely cornered by almost half the class.
"Yeah, we're supposed to trust each other in these situations, man. You can't keep everything to yourself," Kirishima added.
No, you guys can't trust me.
Why are they so nice?
Can't they see I'm the enemy?
"Why do you feel so anxious?" Someone asked, but I couldn't remember who
"BECAUSE I'M A SPY!"
The whole class was silent. Some even took some steps away from me.
"What?"
"I work for HPSC, and I'm here to find a reason to have UA shut down.. I was never a real friend to any of you. Everything I said about myself was a lie."
"... The commission wants UA shut down?"
"Yes"
"Do you want UA shut down?"
"No, but does it matter? They already know of this conversation, and they'll be coming to kill me." I figured I'd leave to save them the trouble, but someone grabbed my wrist.
"No, you're not leaving."
"What?" I turned to look at Sero
"We're not letting you leave."
"Why not? Your dreams of becoming a hero are about to be destroyed! Just let me leave!"
"Because we're your friends! And we're not going to let you die out there to those weirdos that live in an office! We're going to tell Mr. Aizawa so he can figure this out!"
"Why? I don't deserve any of this.." My voice trembled, threatening to crack.
"Maybe not, but I can't lose you."
I was being moved to the couch FURTHEST away from the front door. I didn't even notice I was crying until someone handed me a tissue. I eventually stopped crying after about 30 minutes.. I'm not proud of how long that took.
"Carter? Are you okay with us asking questions?" Mina asked
I nodded, "It's the least I could do."
"Why do you work for HPSC?" Uraraka asked
"I was sold to them when I was 6 years old. They technically still own me since I'm not 21 yet." My voice was filled with built-up hatred for them over the years.
"How come you never tried to run away?"
"There's a tracking chip in my brain. It keeps track of my location, vitals, and conversations. Which is how they most likely know that you know I'm a traitor."
There was tension in the air. No one knew what to say.
After a moment, Kaminari finally spoke up, "There's a what in your brain?! That's like-- a violation of human privacy!"
"Yeah, welcome to my world. Privacy doesn't exist to the commission."
Jirou's expression twisted with hatred and heartbreak. "If it's tracking your conversations.. then they know we know.. and it's tracking your vitals so--"
"They know if we try to remove it. Or if I try to run. Or if any of you try to help-- which is why I need to leave--"
"No."
A voice came from the doors to the dorms. Mr. Aizawa stood there, capture scarf in hand, looking at me like I was a wounded animal that still might bite.
"You're not going anywhere, Carter."
"Mr. Aizawa-- you don't understand--"
"Regardless of the fact that you were a spy, you're still my student I am responsible. And no one touches my students."
"T-they'll kill me if I stay"
"They can try," Mr. Aizawa crouched to my level in front of me. "We're going to fix this, together." His voice was softer.
______________________________________________
The next couple of days were boring but exciting in their own way.
I was removed from the dorms temporarily and put into the teacher dorms to make sure no one from the commission tried to kill me. There were a lot of questions asked and deals made. Eventually, they concluded that I was now under UA's custody until I turned 18. I could decide to finish as a hero or move to general studies.
I was welcomed back to the dorms with a group hug from the whole class.
"So, how did it go?" Mina asked excitedly
"Well, there's no longer a target on my back that's for sure. And I'm under the custody of UA, living with Mr. Aizawa."
The was a chorus of cheers and people congratulating me.
"What about the chip?" Sero asked, which was a pretty good question
"It's being removed next month," I unknowingly smiled. Maybe it felt good to be able to have a sense of privacy?
___________________________________________________
The next morning, I ended up waking up earlier than necessary. It was a Saturday, and I was up at 4:00 am. I decided to take the elevator down to the common room to get a small snack. And to my surprise, Sero had beaten me to it. I walked into the kitchen where he was eating pineapples from the container.
"You know we share that right?"
"OH-- shit-- Carter, you scared me!"
"I was bored and wanted a snack." This damn truth quirk made me sound so blunt.
"Want some pineapples?" He offered
"Yeah sure" I took one out of the container and ate it.
"Couldn't sleep?" he asked, leaning on the counter like it was casual. Like it wasn't four in the goddamn morning.
"My brain hates me," I answered automatically, because of course I did.
He laughed quietly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah. I feel that."
Silence settled between us—comfortable on his side, suffocating on mine. The kitchen lights were dim, the only sound the hum of the fridge and the tapping of Sero's fingers on the container lid.
I grabbed another pineapple.
He gently bumped his shoulder into mine. "You good? You've seemed kinda... I dunno. Avoid-y."
Shit.
Shit shit shit.
"I'm avoiding you because I want to kiss you," my mouth said without checking in with my brain first.
I froze.
Sero froze.
Even the fridge sounded like it held its breath.
"OH MY GOD," I whispered, grabbing my own face. "No. I didn't mean—I mean I DID mean it but I didn't want to SAY it—"
"Hey. Hey," Sero cut in, smiling in this soft, stupidly kind way. "It's okay."
"No, it's not—"
"You wanna kiss me?" he asked, a little teasing, a little breathless.
I wanted to melt into the floor. "Apparently."
Something shifted in the room—like the air flipped inside out.
Sero stepped a tiny bit closer. He smelled like pineapple and mint toothpaste. His eyes were warmer than any 4 AM deserved to be.
"...Can I kiss you?" he asked quietly.
My heart did a full Olympic routine in my chest.
"I—yeah," I whispered, because my body was done pretending otherwise. "Please."
He didn't rush.
He moved slow, giving me time to pull away.
His hand lifted, fingertips brushing my cheek, and I swear I short-circuited.
Then he leaned in and kissed me.
Woah..
It lasted a couple of seconds before he pulled away.
"That felt really nice and warm-" I blurted out by accident.
He softly chuckled, then kissed me again. This time felt more confident. I swore I felt my knees wobble under me, so I grabbed onto his hoodie to keep myself stable. Finally, I pulled away from the kiss, smiling like an idiot.
"So, does this mean we're dating?" He asked
"Only if you want it to."
"Then consider yourself my boyfriend."
"So, can we cuddle in your bed? I bet it's warm."
"Of course, cuddling is your first thought." He rolled his eyes, but later that morning, I woke up wrapped up in his arms under his blankets.