Chapter Text
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Katsuki puttered around his room, swiping shirts at random out of drawers and stuffing them into a worn duffle bag plopped on his bed. Explodocat watched nonplussed from the open doorway, his ever present scowl on his face. Katsuki rummaged through the bag. Socks? Check. Underwear? Check. Enough pants to have a spare in case something happened once or twice? Check. Katsuki pondered what else he would need. Probably toiletries would be helpful.
He was packing up, getting ready for his internship. In a lot of ways, this felt like a new beginning. More than going to UA. More than moving to this house. This was his first step into true independence since Before …. And yet he was doing it with Papa Mic’s name on his permission slips.
They’d signed the papers yesterday, giving sensei and Mic in loco parentis rights. His mother had been surprisingly civil. Not entirely friendly, but not aggressive either, which Bakugo took as a win. His father had been smiling, even, and shaken hands with sensei after all was said and done. Then, his parents had gone home, and Mic had taken him and Aizawa to a nice restaurant after making a quick stop at the house to pick up Shitstain and IcyHot. Shitstain, being a Shitstain, told the waiter it was Katsuki’s birthday when the rest of them weren’t looking, surprising them all when a group of the staff came out with a cupcake with a candle, singing the birthday song with customer service cheer.
Mic had, of course, played along with it, while Aizawa slinked down into his seat as though trying to slide out of sight. Though, Halfy had looked entirely confused the whole time. “I thought your birthday was in April?” He asked, bewildered.
“It is,” Kastuki grunted. This didn’t seem to make things any clearer for Halfy.
It was a good day. They had gotten home late, put on a movie, and then woken up magically in their own beds. As annoying as the two interloping fuckers were, Katsuki couldn’t help but think that he could get used to this.
He grabbed his toothbrush and snagged one of the spare toothpaste from the bathroom, rummaging around in the cabinets for travel-sized soap and shampoo. “Kitty? You already packing?”
“Obviously.”
“You still got a few days.” Mic leaned against the doorframe.
“Like I’m gonna fucking rush around panicing like a dweeb the day of,” Katsuki scoffed. “I’m not Shitstain.” Mic laughed.
“Fair enough.”
Deku had, like last time, decided to go with All Might’s mysterious suggestion. When Katsuki had drug him to Aunty Inko’s place, Yagi had waved Izuku into the hall. Apparently, Yagi wasn’t sure it was still on.
“...I understand if you’ve reconsidered, my boy…” Katsuki had been lingering outside the hallway with Not-Mom right next to him, blatantly eavesdropping. “But I do believe that Gran Torino would be able to help refine your quirk.”
“N-no! I haven’t reconsidered! I already talked about it w-with Dadzawa and everything!”
There was a long pause, and when Whatsit next spoke, there was a thick air of hesitation. “...and what did he say?”
“...he was mad. So was Kacchan.”
“O-oh. Well…”
Most of the rest of the class were going with the same mentors as last time, with the exception, of course, of Halfy and Shitstain. Shitstain was going with Dadzawa, learning how to vault across rooftops unseen, mostly, seeing as how he would most likely end up being an underground hero. As for Halfy, he’d stared overwhelmed at the list he’d been given, before asking Katsuki where he was going.
“Best Jeanist,” Katsuki had told him. “Number Three. He’s good if you want to work on your presentation.”
“Presentation?” Halfy had asked, blankly.
“Like PR and shit. How to be likeable, or, at least, how to get the media to work for you.”
“Oh.”
And so, Todoroki would be going to the Number Three agency along with Katsuki, which he wasn’t at all pleased about, no siree.
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Tenya was just putting the finishing touches on his packing list when the shouting started. Tenya frowned, putting down his pencil and notebook next to his empty suitcase and slowly walked over to his bedroom door, opening it just a crack.
“You were supposed to encourage him to go to a higher quality agency!” His father’s voice was raised.
“And what’s that supposed to mean,” returned Tensei’s ever calm tone.
“Dear,” came the placating voice of his mother. “You know your father is just worried about Tenya’s prospects. He needs to meet people.”
“I already talked to him about that,” Tensei told them. Tenya nodded to himself with a smile. His brother had sat him down last night and asked him all sorts of questions about what kind of hero he wanted to be, the kind of agency he eventually wanted to either join or create, and what he struggled most with in class. Together, they’d compiled a list of heroes to interview and work with during his internship. Tenya had been quite happy with the results.
That is, until he heard his father say “He didn’t get any higher offers, did he.” A scoff. His father had scoffed. Tenya furrowed his brow, very tempted to leave his room and confront his parents himself. But he didn’t dare. He didn’t know how his father would react. While he had heard his father take this tone with Tensei before, it was rarely - if ever - directed towards him. “I knew acting like that during the sports festival would hurt his prospects.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Dear…” his mother sounded reproving. “I know you’re disappointed but-”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Tensei’s voice was cold. “Tenya did incredible during the sports festival and you know it.”
“He didn’t stand out at all.”
“He made it to the third round!”
“By pure luck, it sounds like,” his father shot back. “And then in the second tier he completely failed. He didn’t hold his own at all. What kind of representation of our family is that?”
“It was a bad quirk match up-”
“That villain kid wouldn’t have stood a chance if Tenya had-”
Tenya burst out of his room. “Shinsou Hitoshi is my friend!” He declared, gesturing bolding at his father. “And he won his round fair and square using tactics that will serve him well in the field-” He narrows his eyes and stands taller than he ever has, speaking back to his father in a rebellious flame he’d never felt before. “-when he’s a hero.”
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Tensei was often proud of his baby brother, from the moment his parents had brought him home as a tiny, serious-even-then, bundle. Tenya was often at or near the top of his classes, putting the full force of his stubborn mind (and he was stubborn, no matter what Tenya liked to think about himself) towards anything and everything he did, whether it was cleaning his plates during meals or sparring with his quirk.
But seeing little Tenya stand up to their admittedly very intimidating father made Tensei just burn in pride. Especially since Tenya hadn’t even been standing up for himself. He only appeared, though Tensei was aware he’d been listening from his bedroom the whole time, to reprimand their father for speaking ill of a friend.
Tensei thought back to those rough days in the hospital when they weren’t sure whether or not Mic would pull through. He thought back to the way all of those kids huddled together, leaning shoulder to shoulder, offering comfort when the adults around them weren’t sure how. Tenya was a team player. Tenya was a good friend. Tenya had a strong and dedicated support system made of budding future heroes with more potential than he was used to seeing from kids that age. Tenya was in a good spot.
He didn’t know why his father couldn’t see that.
Hell, Tensei wouldn’t be surprised if the lot of them started their own agency in the future after they all graduated.
But thinking about the discussion with his parents brought to mind the conversation he’d had with his brother a few days ago about Midnight, before all the crap with Stain went down. Midnight was his dear friend, had been since school. But he couldn’t help but remember the sick feeling in his stomach when he saw Eraser’s kid chained up to a pole like an animal, and the betrayal he felt when he realised that Midnight had helped put him there. Sure, she wasn’t solely responsible, but she didn’t help the little guy either.
(But then, a small sneering voice in his head reminded Tensei that he hadn’t helped either.)
He had no right to condemn her. Tensei looked at his phone at where her contact information stared up at him almost accusingly. He pressed dial, and held it up to his ear.
It rang twice before it picked up.
“Iidaaaa,” Midnight slurred on the other end, sounding slightly muffled like she was holding the phone in an awkward position. “Heyyy buddy, howsit kickin’?”
“Are you drunk?”
There was an answering hiccup on the other end.
“I’m fuckin’ failing at getting my teacher’s liscense back that what.” Midnight growled. “The instructors got it out for me, I’m tellin’ ya.”
Tensei pinched the bridge of his nose. “Eraser’s never gonna let you near his kids with you acting like this.”
“You don’t know how I’ve been acting,” Nemuri snapped, suddenly sounding a bit more sober. “It’s just today, bitch. It’s Saturday. I got nothin’ going on.” There was silence on the other end for a long moment as Tensei searched for something to say. Nemuri beat him to it, softly admitting. “It’s not like I’m a hero right now.”
Tensei swallowed dryly. “Keep at it. That’ll change.”
Nemuri snorted. “Will it? Man. Man, I fucked up. I don’t even know if I should have my licence back.”
“Your teaching licence or your hero licence?” Tensei asked.
There was no answer.
“Nem,” he said softly, gentling his voice. “One fuck up shouldn’t dictate the rest of your life. We’re still young. You’ve got plenty of time to make up for your mistake.”
“Still young,” Midnight scoffed. “I’m in my thirties. I was already falling out of favor with the public. No one wants to see a forty-year old pretending to still be sexy.” Tensei had no answer to that. “Teaching was my only future. We all know women can’t be heroes for as long as men. They get pushed out. I was already feeling it before I lost everything.”
“Nem,” Tensei trailed off. He didn’t know what to say.
“I just…” Nemuri’s voice broke. “Forget the license. I just… I just want to apologise to the kid. Even if he doesn’t want me to be his Aunty” there was a noise on the other end that sounded like a sniffling, quiet sob. “Even if, I still want to be Shouta’s friend. I still wanna get drinks with Hizashi. I still wanna be in their lives. Tensei, I haven’t talked to them in a month.”
Tensei sighed, casting a glance backwards at Tenya’s room where his little brother was no doubt repacking for the third time. “I understand,” he said. “But I also understand Eraser and Mic. You hurt their kid. Honestly, Nem, I don’t know if I could have ever forgiven you if you hurt Tenya like that. That kind of hurt doesn’t go away like a burn or a cut. Public humiliation like that lingers. It’s a kind of trauma on its own.”
“I know,” Nemuri wailed. “I wasn’t thinking. I just wasn’t. I got caught up in the moment, everyone thought it was funny. I thought it was funny. I didn’t think that the kid wouldn’t be laughing with us. I didn’t… I didn’t think. I just didn’t think. I’m a horrible person.”
Tensei bit his lip because he half agreed with her. It was a horrible thing to do. But “Just because you did something horrible doesn’t make you horrible. It makes you human, maybe a dumb one, but human nevertheless.” Tensei mulled a thought over in his head for a moment before speaking it. “If you want, Tenya and I can go with you? They leave for their internships on Monday. We can visit tomorrow before they go.”
Midnight sniffled on the other end. “You’d do that?” she asked quietly.
“I would,” Tensei confirmed firmly. “But let me call them first. Make sure they’re cool with it.”
“Of course,” Nemuri instantly agreed. Then, after a beat. “Thank you, Tensei. I know I don’t deserve it.”
“Sometimes it’s not about deserving,” Tensei told her. “Sometimes it's just enough that you’re sorry.”
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The Friday before they left for internships, Shouto had gotten an idea. After Applied Science Class, when the teacher filed out and it was just the students, Shouto cleared his throat and stood up. “I would like to ask for permission to post something to the blog.”
“Of course, man,” Kirishima instantly replied. “It belongs to all of us equally, and I’ve been posting pictures all week of us.”
“Same,” Sero agreed. “As long as it's not, like, something weird,” he leveled a look at Kaminari.
“I took it down,” he protested.
“What did you have in mind, Todoroki?” Yaoyorozu asked him. Shouto cast a glance towards the door and then to the clock. They had a fifteen minute break before their next teacher would come in for Math.
“I want to tell the public something,” Shouto said. “But I don’t want to go to a typical interview. I feel like this would be… more comfortable. Easier.”
Jiro leaned forward in her desk, giving Shouto her full attention. The other students all followed suit. “This sounds serious, Halfy.”
“A-are you sure, Shouto?” Izuku asked.
Shouto nodded. “I want to tell the world about my father. I want to post a video. I understand if you all don’t want something so serious and upsetting on the blog. But, considering the size of our audience on there, I felt it would be the better option than other avenues.”
“Whatever you need, Thermostat,” Bakugo told him. “Lets put that fucker in the ground.”
“Socially or literally?” asked Sato. “I mean, I’m down for both if you’re saying what I think you’re saying. And if you’re saying what I think you’re saying, fuck that guy.” There were nods all around.
“Preferably both,” Shouto said, feeling an awkward smile crook on his face despite the heavy atmosphere. Having their instant and unconditional support was a novel feeling, but one he thought he could get used to. He really liked having friends. “But for now, socially. I think it will help with getting… certain things moving.”
Yaoyorozu produced a video camera. “Whenever you’re ready, Todoroki.”
“I don’t want to be called that anymore,” Shouto told her. “Call me Shouto. Or Halfy.”
“Whenever you’re ready, Halfy.”
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Dabi slumped at the bar, sitting next to Himiko, who he considered to be the most tolerable person in the League of Villains. Cloudhead is polishing a glass behind the counter of the bar, scrubbing at a nonexistent smudge while two glasses filled with some unnamed drink sit in front of them sweating condensation, untouched. Himiko is watching something on her phone with a dreamy expression. The lizard was sharpening a knife, holding himself in an uncomfortable post that he probably thought made him look cool. Who knows where the other weirdos went. Not Dabi. Somedays, he heavily regretted joining them, but his anger towards his sperm donor overrules it every time.
Himiko suddenly giggles, “hey, got some good news for you Daaaabi ,” she croons. “You know that pro you hate?” Dabi narrows his eyes at her. Himiko being this gleeful usually leads to or stems from bloodshed and Dabi really isn’t in the mood right now. Right now, it’s one of those heavy days when he can’t get out of his own head. He both wants everyone to fuck off and leave him alone while at the same time he can’t stand being alone in a silent room.
(He remembers a time when he sat quietly next to Fuyumi. His sister would read or crochet silently next to him while he watched TV and nursed his wounds. Just existing together. He remembers laying next to his baby brother and watching him sleep, both protective and envious of him.)
“Endeavor?” Dabi asked, genuinely uninterested. He might hate the guy, perhaps to the point of obsession. But today was one of those days where he didn’t care about anything. Not even this. Not even revenge. One of those days when existing was a burden and he just wanted to curl up and sleep. Except he couldn’t do that. It would be too quiet in his room, for all that being in the living area was annoying him.
“Who else?” Himiko shot back, which, fair.
“What about him?” Dabi grunted, laying his head on the cool wood of the bar, watching a drop of water slide down the side of his glass.
“There’s a lawsuit being filed against him!”
“It’ll never stick,” Dabi sighed. “Unfortunately. They’ve tried before. Fucking corrupt Hero Commission will dig him out. Who leveled it this time?”
“All Might, apparently.”
Dabi shot up. “What?” He grabbed her phone out of her hands.
“Hey! I wasn’t done reading that blog post!”
“Blog?” Dabi says, dumbly.
He ignored Himiko’s protests, frantically scrolling up to the top of the post. Freezing when he saw a video that was frozen on his baby brother’s impassive face.
Shouto, who has the same blank-ass babyface he did when Dabi… left, is staring directly at the camera. It unpaused when he hovered over it. “I have something to say.”
(He’d grown up so well.)
(Dabi didn’t care at all. He didn’t .)
Dabi paused the video as he scanned the description. “Our very own Halfy has something important to say. Please take this seriously. No hate in the comments, please. Except towards Endeavor.”
Slowly, Dabi unpaused the video again. He watched as his baby brother outlined years worth of abuse. His stomach clenched at some of the things that Shouto said. The things that the bastard did to his little brother. To his mom .
If it turns out he laid a finger on Fuyumi, he was dead.
Well, deader. Dabi already wanted him six feet under.
“All Might has taken my side,” Shouto concludes, his face as frustratingly impassive as ever. “And you should all hear about the lawsuit being filed against him, soon, with the main charge being domestic and child a-abuse.” Dabi flinched at the word in time with Shouto’s stutter. “And… and I’m going to testify against him, elaborating for the judge things that I feel are inappropriate to air here.”
If that bastard assaulted his baby brother, then death will be a mercy not afforded to him.
“Wait!” said a young voice behind the camera. “Did he **** you?!” The word was bleeped out, but Dabi knew what had been said.
The wind rushed out of him in a gush of relief when Shouto only looked confused.
“No?” he said. There was a long awkward pause, before he turned back to the camera. “I meant things about the rest of my family that are no one’s business but ours.”
Dabi sat back in his chair, heart still racing. He’d still kill the bastard, but thank fuck .
Just then, the front door burst open. And in his shock, Dabi accidentally throws Himiko’s phone. Luckily, she’s able to catch it, glaring at him and clutching it to her chest like a baby.
It was Shigaraki that had burst in. “Good news, everyone!” he crowed. Dabi braced himself, not sure if he could take anymore good news that day.
“I’ve just come back from visiting Sensei. I’ve received permission to use some more of his… special weapons… to rescue and recruit Stain the Hero Killer.”
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Class 1A Discord Server
#StayOutGeezers
ShittyHair: Guys im so super pumped for this you have no idea
PikaPikaChuuuu: same tho! Like this is going to be awesome
PikaPikaChuuuu: i feel like a real hero. We about to go on patrol today
TheMuffinMan: I was a little worried about interning w Lunch Rush but he’s actually super cool
PonyTail: Im uncertain about Uwabami sensei. Except she has a lot to say about women’s right. Especially when it comes to female heroes
Pinky: that sounds cool! I thought about her, but in the end im glad i went w cow lady
Pinky: she has a lot to say about using the physical parts of a quirk
Dekuzu: im not quite at my destination yet
Dekuzu: i dont know anything about him
SoySauceFace: bro why go to them then?
PikaPikaChuuu: whyd u choose them?
Dekuzu: it was recommend to me by my quirk trainer
Shitstain: well i have the best internship mentor
Gloves: oooooh did you manage to get ALl Might?
Shitstain: what no???
Shistain: I got the one and only Dadzawa
SweetCheeks: awwwww
Pinky: Jealous!!!!
ROBOCOP: I am also interning with family!
ROBOCOP: Im excited to spend the week with my brother!
Frogger: Bakugo are you interning with one of your fathers?
Kacchan: nah
Kacchan: best jeanist all the way
ShittyHair: Number Three??? No way!!!
LotsaJazzHands: I wasn’t aware you were a fan
ThatFuckingChicken: striving only for the light can often lead to deeper shadows
Kacchan: i aint going because hes number three
Kacchan: im fucking going bc hes good w people
Kacchan: and i suck ass at talking to people
SweetCheeks: Thats not true at all!!
PikaPikaChuuuu: Bakubro who told you that????
ShittyHair: NO ur grat!!
PikaPikaChuuuu: ima zap em for u!!!
PonyTail: I dont see a problem with the way you speak, Bakugo
ROBOCOP: after getting to know you, I agree that there is a certain charm to your behavior. For the most part.
Kacchan: shut the fuck up
Kacchan: maybe i just want to learn how to talk fancy so I can do the opposite huh
Dekuzu: that does sound like you
Shitstain: i know ur lying but if that were true that would be hilarious
Halfy: I also got an internship offer with best jeanist
Halfy: i am going because i also feel as though i am a bit awkward with people
Kacchan: the fuck you mean “also”