I'm Doing This For Them

by Rowanjpr

Summary:

Izuku always wanted to be a hero, but without a quirk almost everyone he met said that was impossible. But Izuku is stubborn and doesn't like taking no for an answer. So he decides to take his dream into his own hands and do the impossible. Even if he can't legally become a hero what's to stop him from doing it illegally?

A lie-detecting detective, a purple-haired kid, and an insomniac pro hero, that's who.

or

Izuku decides to try his luck at becoming a vigilante and subsequently annoys the shit out of everyone he meets.

Notes:

11/13/22 Hello! To preface, the first part of this fic was written quite a while back and the writing isn't the greatest. I'm currently in the process of editing to make it more clear! If its been edited the date it was edited will be posted in the beginning note (please help me I hate editing I am dying)

Chapter 1: Everyone dies at the end

Notes:

Edited 11/19/22

Izuku often wondered if he’d done something to personally offend the universe.

 

“LET ME GO!” He yelled as he attempted to twist out of the police officer's grasp. His heart was pounding in his throat. This couldn’t be happening, no fucking way. Izuku jerked his head around to stare at the bright orange flames that had engulfed his apartment building.

 

“You can’t go in there, kid. You’ll get hurt. The rescue heroes will be here soon and they’ll be able to help.”

 

Izuku stared up at her with wide eyes. “Please ma’am… I can’t-” His voice broke as his eyes strayed back to the apartment building. “M-My parents…”

 

The officer squeezed his shoulder in a futile attempt to reassure him. “Let’s go sit down, okay? We can get some water, are you thirsty?” She said softly as she tried to guide Izuku away from the building. But Izuku wasn’t budging.

 

His mom… his dad… they were still in there. And they meant everything to him. Tears blurred his eyes and his thoughts snapped back to all the memories he had of them. They’d protected him and helped him through everything. They couldn’t die like this, he wasn’t even thirteen yet! Izuku wouldn’t let that happen!

 

With a grunt he broke out of the unprepared officer’s grasp and made a mad dash for the apartment building. He was going to save them! He ignored the panicked yelling of the police officers behind him and skidded into the smoldering building. The smoke was suffocating. Izuku coughed hoarsely and held up his jacket over his nose. The fire surrounding him crackled threateningly as he raced towards the stairs. They lived on the second floor, once he got there he could… Izuku wasn’t actually sure but that didn’t stop his rush towards the stairwell.

 

However the burning piece of ceiling crashing down did.

 

Izuku barely had time to dive out of the way of the flaming rubble and he gasped loudly. His head was spinning and it was getting hard to move. The fire was only growing around him. He pushed himself off the floor and staggered a few steps to the left. The smoke was even worse now and he couldn’t even tell what direction he needed to go. The only thing in his vision was swirling clouds of grey and flames that were getting closer and closer. His instincts were screaming at him to run, but he pushed on.

 

Realistically Izuku knew he would never be able to save them but… but he had to try right? Tears pricked his eyes as it got harder to move. He had to save them… but he couldn’t.

 

He collapsed to the ground with a gasping breath, he couldn’t move his body and he could only watch the flames lick closer with a defeated expression. The last thought that ran through his mind was something his parents had always said didn’t matter, but…

 

If only he’d had a quirk… maybe he could’ve saved them. And maybe he could’ve saved himself. But instead Izuku was quirkless. He was quirkless and he couldn’t save the people that meant the most to him.

 

A pitiful end for a pitiful person.

 

══════════════════

 

Izuku had only been to a hospital once before. It was Katsuki’s fault, he’d pushed him down a flight of stairs and Izuku had landed on his wrist. It hurt like hell and left Izuku sniffling on the ground as Katsuki walked away victoriously. It had been a hairline fracture. It would heal well according to the ER nurse, so he didn’t have to stay there for longer than a few hours.

 

But he remembered the stale smell of antiseptic from his short trip. And now, as he roused into consciousness he recognized it again.

 

He opened his eyes and squinted at the afternoon sun filtering through the window. He was… alive. He let out a soft groan and blinked a couple of times. His eyes were dry as hell and his throat was burning for water. A heart monitor beeped steadily from beside him and when he looked down at his wrist he saw he had an IV as well.

 

The memories of the apartment fire and his parents hit him like a truck and he sat up a little too quickly with a loud gasp. A bolt of pain crashed into his chest but he ignored it. Were his parents okay too? They had to be if he was fine… right? His heart shot into his throat and he sat up even more. He tried to stagger out of bed, ignoring the throbbing pain he was causing himself.

 

Except apparently he somehow alerted the nurses he was awake because one came rushing into his room.

 

“Midoriya! You’re awake.” She said, sounding relieved. She gently guided Izuku back to the bed and spoke in a soothing voice. “You can’t move around a lot yet, your injuries are still healing. Lay back down for me okay? Would you like for me to get you some water?”

 

Izuku quickly shook his head and stared at her with wide eyes. “My p-parents! Wh-Where…” he trailed off as he took in her expression. It was pitying, it reminded Izuku of the looks people would give his parents after they learned he was quirkless. His heart dropped and tears started to well up in his eyes.

 

“M-Miss?” He breathed out pleadingly. “They’re okay r-right?” he asked desperately.

 

The nurse's shoulders slumped in response and she grabbed his hand lightly. “I’m so sorry Midoriya…” He whispered quietly. “But the heroes… it was too late.”

 

Izuku stared at her with wide, horrified eyes. His mouth felt even drier and everything around him came crashing to a stop. His parents… they couldn’t be dead. Tears welled up in his eyes and he jerked himself up.

 

“NO!” He yelled and tried to thrash out of the bed. “No… NO! THEY CAN’T BE DEAD!” His voice was desperate and hoarse. His parents wouldn’t die like that… they were strong. Way stronger than him. They were the reason why Izuku was able to accomplish everything he had.

 

The nurse leaned over him and tried to stop him from thrashing around. He didn’t process her telling him to calm down. The only thing he could focus on was the fact his parents were dead . They were dead and there was nothing he could do about it.

 

All because he was too weak .

 

Izuku didn’t notice the other hospital staff that came into his room, all he could focus on was the fact his mom and dad were dead and he’d never ever be able to see them again. It hurt. Even as he got drowsier, that was only a temporary relief. Because everything would start hurting again once he woke up. This wasn’t something that could be fixed with a bandage, and Izuku couldn’t help but wonder if it was even able to be fixed at all.

 

══════════════════

 

The weeks leading up to Izuku’s eventual release from the hospital were honestly a blur. He was barely functioning, nothing felt real and everything felt too overwhelming at the same time. But finally he was discharged.

 

Even in his state, getting away from the hospital's plain white walls and fluorescent lights was relieving. Although he didn’t have much time to feel relieved because of the social worker dragging him around.

 

“Hi Midoriya, they found a picture at your apartment and ah… I figured you might want it.”

 

Izuku glanced up at the social worker with a frown. A picture huh? He nodded tentatively

 

“Here you go, kiddo.” She smiled at him and left him alone in the room with the picture.

 

Izuku bit his lip and rubbed his thumb over the picture. His parents bright smiles stared back at him and Izuku felt like he’d been stabbed. His parents were gone. He’d never be able to take pictures with them again… He set the picture on a side table a little too aggressively and stared at his hands with watery eyes.

 

God… he missed them.

 

This sucked. Along with the fact his parents were dead he had to worry about whatever was going to happen to him. He didn’t have any relatives to take him in or anywhere to stay. He was alone.

 

He was alone and was probably going to be tossed into foster care and never be looked at again because he was quirkless. Who knew where he would end up? After all, who would want some quirkless kid?

 

Izuku wasn’t stupid. Even though his parents always insisted being quirkless didn’t make him lesser or weaker than anyone else, society thought differently. Izuku had seen all the morbid statistics on quirkless people online. He knew about all the dirty and pitying glances people would give him once they found out about his quirklessness. Izuku could count on one hand the amount of people who hadn’t treated him differently after finding out he was quirkless.

 

Foster care would definitely be hell. Izuku slumped over defeatedly and for the millionth time he screwed his eyes shut and pretended he was back with his parents.

 

══════════════════

 

Izuku pulled the hood farther over his head and glanced around. He’d ditched the foster family he’d been stuck with the first moment he could. Now he was out looking for his dad’s workshop. His dad had taken him there plenty of times but Izuku had never actually paid attention to how to get there. Hisashi had always said just to never let go of his hand and to stay close.

 

But here Izuku was, wandering around alone.

 

He looked at another identical alleyway and sighed. Was he even going to be able to find the workshop? He was slowly giving up hope until an old sign with red letters caught his eye. He recognized that sign!

 

Izuku spun around and his eyes landed on an old warehouse. There!

 

He walked over to the door and thoughtfully surveyed the street one more time. There wasn’t anyone in sight so he pulled at the door. Locked. Well, Izuku had planned for this. He’d watched about twenty videos on how to pick locks.

 

After more attempts than Izuku cared to admit, the door clicked and he yanked the door open. It was the same as he remembered. There were random boxes scattered around everywhere and a bunch of dust. Izuku locked the door behind him and walked forwards, this wasn’t the main part of the warehouse though. 

 

He walked over to the back and kicked a piece of fabric to the side. He crouched down with a sigh. One more lock to go.

 

Hisashi had never told Izuku why exactly his workshop was hidden under a secret trap door but Izuku thought it was cool so he never really questioned it. He was questioning it now though and he had a suspicion that the engineering projects his dad did down here might not be exactly… legal.

 

The trapdoor lock was significantly harder to pick and Izuku made a mental note to change out the lock at some point if he wanted to keep coming back here. He got it open eventually though and yanked the door open. Stairs leading down into inky blackness stared back at him and with a deep breath he stepped down.

 

Izuku pulled the trapdoor shut over his head, cutting off the small amount of light he had. Luckily Izuku knew this place by heart and exactly where the light switch was. He brushed his hands against the lightswitch and the room was illuminated.

 

Everything was the same.

 

The pile of blankets Izuku had collected and put on the old couch was there. The small kitchen, the area his dad had set up as a gym for him. Izuku’s heart clenched at the memories and he walked forwards. He brushed his hand against a door and slowly opened it.

 

The workshop. It was in its normal state of disarray, parts and tools were scattered everywhere. Izuku took a step inside and looked around. Nothing seemed out of place.

 

An unfinished project lay on the table and Izuku looked down at it sadly. Everything looked the same here… but it was completely different now.

 

He stepped out of the workshop and his eyes strayed to the final room in the complex, his dad’s office. Izuku had never been in there before, his dad had said all it had was boring adult stuff. But now… Izuku wondered what he’d find in there.

 

Izuku stepped into the office.

 

The office was really messy, stray pieces of paper were scattered about. Izuku wasn’t surprised though, his dad had never been the most organized person.

 

Izuku picked up one of the stray pieces of paper from the top of the desk. It had a bunch of numbers, a financial report or something. A lot of the other papers Izuku could see had similar content. With a sigh he set the paper back down and glanced around the room. He’d have to sort through everything in here and see what he could find. But he’d do that later… Thinking of his parents still made him feel sick. So he walked back outside and shut the office door carefully.

 

He’d avenge them. He wouldn’t let Endeavor get away with this.

Chapter 2: Izuku is not having an enjoyable time

Notes:

Edited 11/19/22

If Izuku could choose to go back and do everything in his life differently, he probably wouldn’t be stealing ramen from a convenience store at 4am at age thirteen.

 

He took a careful look at the half-asleep store clerk as he stuffed his backpack with assorted packages of food. That should be enough, he concluded after adding some protein bars on top. He zipped up the bag quietly and was about to make a beeline out of the store. But… oh no.

 

The packages of soda were stacked innocently against the wall. Izuku stopped to stare at them. He shook his head, nope. Izuku did not need to steal an entire package of soda along with a backpack full of food. He didn’t need soda to live, he’d be fine.

 

He marched towards the door but… oh fuck it. He deserved a treat for all the shit he had to put up with. Izuku crouched down and yanked a package off the ground. Time to go.

 

Izuku slid the backpack over his shoulders and held the box of soda under arm. Except apparently the soda box was a little longer than he’d anticipated. The resounding sound of an entire row of bottles smashing to the ground woke the store clerk up immediately. His eyes landed on Izuku and he quickly jumped to his feet.

 

“HEY!”

 

Fuck. Izuku needed to get the hell out. 

 

He skidded towards the door but the store clerk was trying to beat him there. Actually… the store clerk was going to beat him there. It was quite hard to run with the bulky soda package under his arm but Izuku was going to be damned if he abandoned it after all this trouble.

 

Luckily for Izuku he had experience with this kind of thing. Evading people was his speciality after all. It came with the territory of being a victim of bullying, and more recently, a vigilante.

 

Right in front of the exit was a huge stack of boxes. Izuku had seen them when he’d entered and he was now getting close to them. It just so happened the store clerk was behind said boxes.

 

Izuku did feel slightly bad about what he was about to do but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do to survive. He kicked the pyramid of boxes and the entire stack came crashing down… right onto the store clerk.

 

He didn’t spend any time admiring his handiwork though and sprinted out of the door. Not even looking behind himself as he heard the store clerk cursing him out loudly in the distance. At least Izuku knew he was fine?

 

Luckily the hike home wasn’t as eventful and somehow Izuku made it back to his base in one piece with all of his stolen goods secured. 

 

“I’m back.” Izuku said to himself when he entered his base and he collapsed on the couch with a groan. 

 

It wasn’t like he wanted to steal. But Kurou Tahara (his current foster guardian) didn’t feed him. It was kind of sad, but Tahara wasn’t even that bad compared to some of the families Izuku had to put up with over the past year. Yeah, Tahara might not feed him, but Tahara also didn’t care what Izuku did or where he went. Big points for that because he could just spend all his time at his base and run around being Surge without getting interrogated about why he was never at the apartment.

 

But he was fine. He was fine and he’d continue to be fine. He had things he needed to do, parents to avenge.

 

══════════════════

 

Izuku’s dad had taught him to fight when he was a kid. It probably had something to do with the fact he came home with bruises and his teachers denied any kind of bullying was going on no matter how hard his parents pushed.

 

So Hisashi clapped him on the shoulder and told him that he’d teach Izuku some self-defense. Izuku never did use his self-defense skills on his bullies, but they did come in handy when he’d taken to the streets a couple weeks after his parents’ deaths in an attempt to burn off the restless guilt that had been gnawing at him.

 

That had devolved into him becoming a full-fledged vigilante over with support gear he’d made himself. He called himself Surge because of his signature electric staff. He actually helped people as Surge. He was doing something. He wouldn’t let someone die again. Never again.

 

He was definitely some degree of malnourished and sleep deprived so maybe it wasn’t so great an idea to go out and be Surge almost every night like he was currently doing. He could feel the toll it was taking on his body.

 

But despite that Izuku pushed through, being Surge was the only thing that kept him going at the moment and he couldn’t afford to give it up. He could push through another day of the bullying at school and go to sleep hungry if he could help people. He could at least still hold onto his dream of being a hero, even if he knew he was just a vigilante. 

 

Speaking of Surge, Izuku was currently crouched on top of a building looking down at a pro hero who was fighting… Izuku wasn’t actually sure. The men were all wearing bright white robes, but one of them had some sort of quirk that turned him into a monster and his robes were in shreds, it was an interesting sight to say the least. 

 

Izuku drummed his fingers on his leg. He was trying to remember if he had ever encountered the hero before. He had a really long scarf which he was using against the villains but Izuku didn’t think he’d seen him use his quirk yet.

 

It was then the hero's hair started floating and the man with the monster quirk suddenly shifted back to normal size.

 

“Ah!” 

 

Izuku finally realized who the man was, his name was Eraserhead and he was able to erase quirks. Izuku had read about him on a forum a few months back and had tried to do some research on his quirk since it sounded pretty interesting but his search didn’t yield any results so he eventually lost interest and moved on to other projects.

 

“Eraserhead huh? You elusive bastard. Your quirk is so cool…” 

 

That set Izuku off on a mutter tirade about strengths and weaknesses of the quirk as he watched. Izuku leaned his face on a hand and tried to decide whether he wanted to swing down to see the man and his quirk close up or not. It was probably better to stay out of the way, Eraserhead was a hero after all. 

 

But he really, really wanted to see the quirk in action up close. His impulses won out and Izuku hopped up to his feet. He adjusted the grappling hook around his wrist and shot it over to the building in front of him. He heard it snap in place and Izuku leaped off the edge. He grabbed the rope with his spare hand and leaned back to get his feet in front of him so he could bowl over the two men in his path. One of which was the previously monster man who Eraserhead was struggling to keep his quirk activated on. 

 

Izuku heard a satisfying smack as his feet landed on the man’s side, which pushed him into his friend who was beside him. Both of them crashed into the pavement in a heap and were knocked unconscious from the impact.

 

“Double kill!” Look at him go. 

 

Apparently that caught Eraserhead’s attention because he caught the hero’s gaze. Izuku grinned under his mask and offered him a mock salute before scaling the side of a building with the help of his grappling hook. Once Izuku reached the roof he leapt away from the scene, leaving a very confused Eraserhead behind him.

 

══════════════════

 

Shouta frowned at his computer, he had been searching for information about the person who had helped him with his fight two nights ago. He was fairly certain it was a vigilante who called himself Surge who’d popped up out of nowhere around a year ago. As for information about the vigilante, that was literally it.

 

Whoever Surge was, was pretty damn good at covering their tracks because the police had next to nothing on them. They didn’t even have any pictures. 

 

Shouta drummed his fingers on the desk. Surge seemed interesting enough but he was still a vigilante. He wasn’t entirely anti-vigilante, but they were classed as criminals and Shouta had a public duty he needed to fulfill. He wanted to track down this Surge person and talk to him. Bring him into the station for questioning.

 

“Hey Shouta!” Shouta groaned in response which made Hizashi laugh. “What are you up to?”

 

“That vigilante that helped me the other night. I’m trying to find more information about them but it’s really hard to find information that doesn’t exist.”

 

Hizashi patted him on the shoulder. “You’ll find something! And if you can’t just ask them in person next time you see them!”

 

“Right. Let me just strike up a casual conversation with my friendly next door vigilante next time I pass them on the street,” Shouta said sarcastically. 

 

Hizashi rolled his eyes with a fond smile. “Whatever! We’re meeting Hitoshi for dinner at that soba place you like. So stop obsessing over mysterious vigilantes!” 

 

Shouta sighed and stood up. “Yeah, yeah. C’mon, let's get out of here. My class has been driving me crazy lately.”

 

══════════════════

 

Izuku had a long day. It had started off with his backpack being thrown in a pond outside. Which had the unfortunate effect of ruining everything inside with water damage. This included homework. When he failed to turn his homework in, his teacher announced he had to stay after school to do it all again. Delightful. 

 

During lunch a bully Izuku didn’t care to learn the name of ‘accidentally’ pushed him and made Izuku spill the majority of his lunch, which was unfortunate because Izuku had no food in his base and he doubted Tahara had anything either. 

 

When he finally got out of school Izuku was starving and made a rash decision to snatch something from a food stand. Which resulted in him being chased down the street by a police officer for a good five minutes until he used some on hand Surge gear to grapple up a building. At least he’d gotten to eat the food.

 

At least nothing bad happened after that. The trek to his base had gone well and now he was curled on his couch with his laptop doing some research.

 

“Eraserhead… Eraserhead… Era- aha!” The hero department really needed better security for their database. Izuku clicked on Eraserhead’s hero name which brought him to a page full of information.

 

“Hero license number… don’t care. Real name… Shouta Aizawa huh? I’ll look into that,
he muttered. 

 

After scanning over the page for a few more seconds he didn’t find much else interesting and was about to click off the page when something caught his eye. 

 

“So he’s a teacher at UA too?” He mused to himself. “That’s neat. He seems like a good hero though. Unlike some of them.” Izuku glared at Endeavor’s file.

 

His hatred for the man had only grown over the past few months as Izuku looked more and more into all the problems he caused. But high ranking pro heroes aren’t bound by the laws like everyone else and despite his rampant property damage and casualty rates, he continued to hold the number two spot.

 

Izuku sighed and dropped his laptop on the ground. He covered his eyes with an arm.

 

“Fuck all this…”

 

Izuku decided to work on some additions and tune ups to his Surge costume. He needed something to take his mind off life because he really didn’t want to think about how shitty it was. So Izuku slowly eased off the couch and headed off to his workshop.

 

His project of the day was an almost finished prototype of something he’d been working on for a while. He’d gotten a new pair of red boots to go with his costume and was working on perfecting the air jets. They also allowed him to quickly change his direction in a fight, do some minor hovering, and have all around increased mobility. 

 

So far they were working better than Izuku had imagined! He was zooming around the room with a huge grin on his face and by the time he saw the wall in front of him it was too late and Izuku smashed head first into the plaster. 

 

“AGH.” Izuku stumbled back and rubbed his head, that hurt . When he finally recovered enough to look back up, he snorted. There was now an Izuku shaped dent in the wall.

 

“Well, that was unfortunate.”

 

That was enough engineering for the day. He padded back out into the lounge to settle down with the TV playing in the background and drifted off to sleep. At least he didn’t have school the next day.

Notes:

Thanks for reading the chapter! :) As of right now I'll be updating every Thursday, but I could try to update twice a week if you guys want (I have 6 chapters written atm)! Drop me a comment about how often I should update if you want and any other constructive feedback. Also sorry this chapter is a bit short, it's definitely one of the shorter ones I've written so far!

The story picks up more in a few chapters, sorry if it's been slow so far!

Chapter 3: It's only illegal if you get caught

Notes:

Edited 11/19/22

“Don’t talk to him! He might brainwash you.” 

 

“Psh, I heard he wants to become a hero. What kind of hero has that kind of villainous quirk?”

 

Hitoshi scowled at his desk. He hated everyone here. They always talked about him (but never to him) about how his quirk was so scary and like something a villain would have, not a hero. Hitoshi wanted to punch them but if he even wanted a chance of getting into a hero school he couldn’t have anything like that on his record. But goddammit, Hitoshi really wished he could.

 

He guessed not all of his class was that bad. Mostly they just ignored him, occasionally he might get a wave or off-handed hello but that was about it. 

 

Hitoshi didn’t care though. He didn’t need any friends. He volunteered at an animal shelter once a week and the animals there were always better friends than people could ever be. People were always just pretentious assholes who only cared about themselves… well, besides his dads.

 

Finally the bell rang and released Hitoshi from class, thank god because Hitoshi was about to the point of banging his head on his desk. He immediately jumped up from his chair and stalked out of the classroom. 

 

The walk home was relatively short and only took around ten minutes. Soon Hitoshi was standing in front of his apartment and fumbled with the key to unlock the door. Hitoshi stepped in the apartment and back to the only two people who he cared about.

 

“I’m home!” He called.

 

His first visitor was a kitten who came bounding over to Hitoshi and started meowing and weaving around his legs. Hitoshi crouched down. “Hey Mitsu,” he said fondly.

 

“Hi Toshi!” 

 

Hitoshi looked up and waved at one of his adoptive parents. “Hey Yamadad, don’t you teach today?” 

 

Hizashi shrugged. “I had some hero stuff I got called out on. Everything’s all good now, though.” 

 

Hitoshi nodded. “Oh, okay.”

 

Hizashi smiled back at him. “Hey, since I’m home early, how about we go out and go to that cat cafe you like? We could look in some stores and stuff too if you want!” 

 

Hitoshi’s eyes lit up. He could go for some coffee and cats right now. “Sure!”

 

So Hitoshi dropped his school stuff off in his room, said bye to all the cats, and followed Hizashi out the door. 

 

He adored Hizashi and Shouta, even though he would never tell that to their faces, and he was so lucky to have met them. Hitoshi had been in the system almost his whole life, with a lot of people being scared to talk to him due to his quirk. 

 

Hizashi and Shouta were never like that. They always talked to him, and did stuff for him, and actually cared about him. It had taken him a while to warm up to them because of all the other homes he’d been in, but the two never pushed him to talk. 

 

When they announced they’d be adopting him, Hitoshi was thrilled. Two amazing pro heroes wanted to adopt him? It was definitely one of the best days the eleven year old had.

 

He was broken out of his thoughts by a commotion in the cafe after they arrived.

 

“Listen kid, I'm not running a charity. If you wanna sit in here you actually have to buy something. If you’re not interested the door is over there.”

 

Hitoshi glanced over to the angry woman, the manager of the cafe, he remembered passively. She was yelling at a green haired kid who was looking very sheepish.

 

“Well, ma’am, I was planning on buying something but I forgot my money at home… maybe you could let me off just this once?”

 

That just made the manager scowl more. “No money, no cafe. Now scram before I call the cops. You’re disturbing our paying customers.”

 

“Hey Toshi, what do you want?” Hizashi’s voice distracted him from the kid and the manager. 

 

“Oh! Can I get a chocolate croissant and a black coffee...?” He said before turning back to look at the kid again. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets now and was angrily shuffling out the door. Hitoshi almost felt bad for him.

 

“Let’s find a table!” Hizashi broke him out of his trance and Hitoshi shook his head to clear it of the argument.

 

 “Alright.”

 

══════════════════

 

Izuku was mad. He had just been peacefully sitting at a table petting a cat when the manager had come storming over, demanding that he leave. It was stupid, Izuku hadn’t been hurting anyone by sitting at the table. It was her who was disturbing everyone! 

 

He was still seething when he finally got outside of Tahara’s apartment building but his anger was replaced with confusion when he opened the door. A few cops were riling through Tahara’s things. His eyes widened marginally and he took a step here. They weren’t here for him right? They couldn’t be, he was always careful as Surge. No way someone could’ve figured out who he was.

 

“Are you Izuku Midoriya?” One of the cops asked once he’d been noticed. He didn’t call for Izuku to be arrested, which was a good sign.

 

 “Uh yeah, what’s happening?”

 

The cop approached him. “He was arrested earlier today for illegal drug usage. Due to that his guardianship over you has been redacted and you’re going to be sent to another foster home.”

 

“Oh,” was all Izuku was able to come up with, “can I get my stuff or…?” 

 

The cop nodded and Izuku darted inside to grab the small backpack he kept stashed here. All of his important possessions were in the warehouse. They were much safer there. 

 

Once he got back into the living room, the cop carted him off to social services, who questioned him about Tahara and told him they’d find another foster home as soon as possible. Hopefully the next one would be bearable. He didn’t like Tahara or anything, but at least he left Izuku alone.

 

══════════════════

 

The woman they placed him with was named Michiko Matsuda. Surprisingly, she was actually better than Tahara. She actually made sure Izuku was fed and left him stuff in the fridge. Izuku really didn’t see too much of her since she was always with her boyfriend but he honestly counted that as a win. Food and vigilante time? What could be better? 

 

He was staking a building out right now. He’d gotten wind of some kind of shady deal involving human trafficking going down here and Izuku wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he didn’t interfere.

 

Izuku licked his lips nervously. So far there was no sign of any life in the building he’d been tipped about. Maybe the information was fake. Maybe Izuku was too late. 

 

Then his patience paid off and a white van pulled beside the building. He stilled as much and he could and watched a man step out with an unconscious woman and child in tow. Izuku felt sick watching the scene. This was the place alright. 

 

Izuku had to bite his lip to prevent him from immediately jumping the villain. He needed to wait, he needed to see if there were more people coming so he could take them out as well. His plan for the night was to call the police, barge in the warehouse, hopefully immobilize the criminals by the time the police arrived and then get the hell out of there. 

 

A few more minutes passed and another car pulled up. A man stepped out. From what Izuku knew, that should be all the people who were involved, at least in Japan. 

 

He pulled out his phone and dialed the police. “There’s a human trafficking deal going on, two men comfirmed.” Izuku listed the location and ended the call before the dispatcher could respond. Hanging up on the police was a classic Surge move. 

 

After that, he slowly crept over to the warehouse and once in the open he made a beeline for the broken window he had scouted out earlier. He vaulted in and drew one of his electric staffs at the same time. It was game time.

 

Both men jumped up and whirled around the see Izuku running towards them. The bulkier one drew his gun and shot it off in Izuku’s general direction. It was off by like twenty feet. Dude needed practice.

 

 “Getting a little excited huh?” He chirped before swinging his staff and hitting the bulky man directly in the knees. They gave out and he crashed onto the warehouse floor.

 

The other man had recovered from the shock of Izuku’s surprise entrance and was running at him with a knife. Izuku spun around and deflected the knife with his staff. He stabbed the staff at the man’s chest and switched on the voltage. The man yelped at the sudden shock and dropped his knife. What kind of amatuer drops his knife?

 

Well, all the better for Izuku. The bulky man was shakily getting up now, so Izuku drew his other staff and swung point blank into the side of his head. He crashed into the warehouse floor again, out cold. Izuku made sure to kick his gun away from both villains though. Just in case.

 

He turned just in time to see the second man making a beeline for the door.

 

“Oh god dammit.” Bastard couldn’t even stick around to face the consequences of his own actions?

 

 He could hear sirens now. He was about to start sprinting after the villain when the door was kicked open directly into the villain’s face. He was restrained with some kind of cloth material. Eraserhead. 

 

Izuku blinked in surprise at his sudden appearance. He wasn’t aware the man was in the area, that was a surprise. The sirens drew closer. 

 

Well… Eraserhead looked like he had this handled. Izuku should probably leave before someone arrested him. He started running backwards.

 

“Hey Eraserhead! Thanks for the backup, that’s a slippery one there!” Izuku didn’t get him any time to respond before he jumped out a back window and grappled away from the scene. That marked another successful night for Izuku!

 

══════════════════

 

The next two weeks Izuku saw more and more of Eraserhead. Which annoyed him to no end. How was this man finding him? Didn’t he have more important criminals he could be taking down instead of Izuku who was actually helping people? But it seemed like no matter what Izuku did to alter his patrol route, the man dropped down from a building in the middle of a fight or just even while Izuku was peacefully patrolling. 

 

Izuku always managed to slip away from his bandage scarf and made some kind of witty comeback while he escaped but he was still annoyed by the whole situation. It was making his work a lot less productive because now he needed to watch out for bloodthirsty criminals and annoying pro heroes. What a drag. 

 

Izuku was facing the same problem now. Eraserhead had somehow managed to track him down again and was staring at him.

 

“Why the hell do you keep following me? Leave me alone, I’m just trying to help people!” Izuku had one of his staffs out and his grappling hook at the ready for a quick getaway. 

 

“You’re a vigilante. That’s illegal, which makes you a criminal.” He answered in a deadpan voice. 

 

Izuku scowled from under his mask. “Well sorry but this is my way of proving myself and I’m not giving it up because of you stalking me. Give up!” With that Izuku shot his grappling hook up at one of the buildings and managed to evade Eraserhead once again. 

 

══════════════════

 

Shouta groaned, this whole vigilante thing was becoming a lot more complicated than he had originally anticipated. His plan was to follow the guy around for a while, until he finally managed to arrest him and then he’d be done with the whole situation. Turns out things could never be that simple for Shouta. Fate just loved to make his life harder. 

 

The vigilante had finally stood still for long enough for Shouta to finally notice something. The vigilante was small . And the way he held himself and talked, even though he did have a voice changer, reminded Shouta of a kid. Shouta taught teenagers, he knew what they were like and Shouta would be damned if Surge wasn’t a kid.

 

Most people except Hizashi didn’t know this, but Shouta had a soft spot for kids. That’s why he taught them and that’s why he adopted Hitoshi. It didn’t rub Shouta the right way to try to forcibly apprehend some teenager, even if said teenager was a vigilante. He wanted to help the kid, who seemed to have some stuff going on since apparently he was ‘proving himself’ or whatever. 

 

So Shouta decided to shift his goal. He’d try to find out more about Surge and gain his trust. Maybe he could help him that way and maybe he’d eventually be willing to come to the police station with Shouta. 

 

“I need a coffee.” Shouta mumbled.

Notes:

Everyone is definitely ooc because I don't know what the fuck I'm doing kgkjlfddfdkj

Also! I drew a quick drawing of Izuku's Surge costume if anyone wants to see it :) (that is if I can figure out how to add pictures AHA)

Chapter 4: Bullies are waiting around every corner

Notes:

Thank you guys for all the support and comments on this story! It means a ton :)

Edited 11/19/22

Izuku took a sharp turn to avoid the two bullies who were waiting for him in front of the cafeteria. Fuck that, he wasn’t dealing with them today. Except, apparently, the bullies wanted to deal with him. The two bullies stalked towards him. Great.

 

“Midoriya-channn!” One called out in a sing-songy voice. 

 

“Don’t call me that,” Izuku muttered. 

 

“What was that?” Bully-Number-Two was behind Izuku now. 

 

Izuku frowned at the floor. “Just leave me alone. Go bother someone else.” 

 

Bully-Number-One smirked. “Oh? What are you gonna do about it you quirkless fucker?”

 

Izuku sighed, he had to use all of his self control not to punch these idiots in the face. Even though they very obviously instigated the fight, Izuku didn’t want anything to go on his record. He had to be careful. After all he was quirkless, who would believe him?

 

“Just fuck off…” Izuku hissed.

 

Bully-Number-Two shoved Izuku in the back which made him stagger into the other one. Bully-Number-Two grabbed his shirt collar with a sneer. “Did you just-”

 

“Stop blocking the damn hall, you extras!” It was Katsuki. The bully immediately let go of Izuku and they both turned to Katsuki. 

 

“B-B-Bakugou! Sorry I was just giving this quirkess loser w-”

 

“SHUT THE HELL UP AND GO AWAY.” Steam rose from Katsuki’s palms and the two bullies' eyes widened. They didn’t need to be told twice.

 

“Sorry Bakugou!” They scampered into the cafeteria and away from Bakugou’s glare. 

 

“Kacchan…” 

 

Katsuki turned to face Izuku and he narrowed his eyes. “You too Deku!” 

 

Izuku sighed, “sorry Kacchan.” Izuku headed towards the cafeteria too. 

 

Katsuki huffed behind him. “Fucking Deku…”

 

After Izuku’s parents had died Katsuki had stopped bullying him and left him alone for the most part. To Izuku it seemed like he felt bad, and this was him making up for it in his own way. Even if Katsuki’s way of sticking up for Izuku wasn’t the… nicest. He still managed to scare off Izuku’s bullies if he saw them. 

 

Izuku definitely would’ve snapped and attacked someone already if Katsuki wasn’t looking out for him in his own, unfriendly way.

 

Izuku quickly got his food from the line and went to sit at his normal seat which was right beside the teachers. They couldn’t just sit there and watch Izuku be bullied so it was the safest spot for him. 

 

Izuku had a peaceful lunch.

 

══════════════════

 

Izuku was in trouble.

 

Turns out the guy who was mugging the kid in the alleyway was a part of a gang. Also turns out he had backup, lots of backup. Luckily the kid had managed to run away while Izuku was distracting the men because Izuku was kind of fucked. 

 

Around eight more men had emerged from the shadows when Izuku declared he was there to help and it had gone quickly downhill. Izuku blamed himself for letting it get this bad, if he had just been more careful he would’ve noticed the men in the shadows. But no . Of course Izuku had to be an idiot and jump in because he thought it was a simple mugging. 

 

A dumpster flew at Izuku’s head and he barely managed to dodge it. He jumped to his feet and surveyed the remaining men. He had managed to knock out four of the ten but Izuku’s chances of victory were looking slim. The remaining six were all very good fighters. At least if he died no one would miss him…

 

One of the men extended his arm so it looked like a lance and tried to impale Izuku with it. Izuku jumped up and hovered in the air for a few seconds, then he landed as hard as he could on the man's arm and he heard a yelp of pain. Footsteps echoed down the narrow alleyway and Izuku barely managed to duck a knife that was being swung at his throat. Izuku blasted out of the way only to get a bunch of paint cans slammed into his side which made him crash into the ground. When he landed he felt his foot got lodged in the rubble the man had been throwing at him earlier. He held one of his electric rods in front of him while trying to get it unstuck. Izuku felt the man crush the rubble around his foot and he winced in pain. All six were now advancing towards him. 

 

“You can’t run away now, huh Surge? I’ve heard all about how annoying you are. It’ll be a pleasure to kill you.” 

 

Izuku bit his lip. “Please! Like any of you losers could take me out, what a joke.” 

 

That made the leader mad and Izuku saw the earth under his feet crack. “Hill him Eto.” He directed Spear-Hand. 

 

Spear-Hand grinned and activated his quirk. This was it, Izuku was going to die. It had been a terrible run.

 

But, right as the spear was about to impale him, someone jumped in front of him. Suddenly the hand disappeared. The rubble loosened around Izuku’s foot as his captor focused his energy on this new threat and Izuku leaped back into action. 

 

His savior was none other than Eraserhead. He had already knocked out Spear-Hand and was in the process of fighting off the other five. Izuku snuck up on the man who had the telekinesis quirk and bashed him in the head, which effectively knocked him out. Four to go. Him and Eraserhead managed to quickly take out the remaining four pretty quickly. It was a lot easier to fight when you had someone else to cover for you. 

 

Izuku was trying to sneak away while Eraserhead was securing the villains. “Hey kid! Wait.” 

 

Izuku sighed, of course he figured out he was a kid. He debated running away from the man, but decided not to. He kind of owed Eraser for saving his ass back there.

 

So Izuku turned around and kicked his heel on the ground. “Uh, thanks. For saving me back there… Also my name isn’t kid , it’s Surge. Surely you know that by now!”

 

Eraserhead rolled his eyes. “Right.” Then he pulled something out of his pocket and Izuku tensed back, ready to run. “Relax, it’s food,” he said soothingly. Eraserhead tossed a package of candy and a soda over to him and Izuku stared at the items in his hands in confusion. Why did the hero give him these?

 

“You look like you could use a snack. You need to eat more.” Eraserhead stated.

 

Izuku blinked back at him in confusion. “Oh.” 

 

Eraserhead sighed. “Hey listen kid. I’m not gonna try to arrest you or anything alright? I’m just trying to look out for you so you don’t accidently get yourself killed… like that.”

 

Izuku narrowed his eyes. “For some strange reason I don’t trust that.”

 

“Why are you a vigilante anyways?”

 

Izuku stuck out his tongue (even if the hero couldn’t see it). “I’m not at the police station, you can’t question me.” And with that he grappled up to the top of a building and scampered off. 

 

Eraserhead groaned. “Problem child…”

 

══════════════════

 

“Hey Shouta!” Hizashi gave him a warm smile from the couch. “How was your patrol?” He patted the spot beside him. Shouta flopped down.

 

“Remember that vigilante I was chasing, the one that I’m pretty sure is a kid?”

 

“Surge right?”.

 

“Yeah,” Shouta responded flatly, “well I ran into him today. He had somehow gotten himself into a fight with a gang and had his foot stuck so he was about to be killed.”

 

Hizashi’s eyes widened. “Is he alright?” 

 

“Sadly…” Shouta huffed half-heartedly. “I talked to him afterwards. I tried to find out why he was a vigilante but he didn’t answer my question and ran away after it. He also didn’t deny being a kid… so I think I was right.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “This kid is already giving me a headache.” 

 

Hizashi put his arm around Shouta’s shoulder. “You’re worried about him huh? I’m sure everything will work out, Shouta!” 

 

Shouta sighed and closed his eyes. “I hope so…”

 

Shouta hated how that problem child had woven himself into his life so quickly. He hated how helpless he was when it came to the vigilante. Shouta was pretty sure he couldn’t be more than a few years older than Hitoshi, and just thinking about Hitoshi leading the life that kid was… Shouta knew, even though he was sure he’d want to strangle the kid by the end of all of this, he had to help Surge and get him back on the right path.

 

He heard Hizashi’s voice from beside him. “Lets get some sleep.” It was quiet, soft. Shouta smiled.

 

“Yeah, I could use some right now.” 

 

══════════════════

 

When Izuku got home from school he knew something had happened. Matsuda was actually home for once and was packing all of her stuff in boxes. She frowned when Izuku stepped through the door.

 

“Hey.”

 

Izuku grunted in response, “what happened?”

 

She stopped her work and sighed. “Listen Midoriya, I can’t keep you here anymore. I’m moving in with Daichi.”

 

Izuku paused. “Alright.” His voice was even and he held a neutral expression on his face. He wouldn’t admit it but he was kind of sad to leave, he got food, Matsuda left him alone, and he never came home to her drunk on the couch. You never knew with some people.

 

“I’ll get my stuff.” He turned into the hall and packed up his personal backpack. His eyes landed on a picture that was tucked in the pocket of the bag, it was the picture he’d gotten of his family from his social worker all those months ago. He wanted to cry. Izuku had managed to avoid thinking about all the shit that had been happening over the last few months, but each time he really thought about it everything seemed even more hopeless. He zipped the pocket up and sealed the picture away from his sight.

 

“I’m ready to go when you are.” Izuku was really tired.

 

══════════════════

 

Izuku messed with the straps on his backpack. He was really uncomfortable and avoided everyone else’s curious looks. The system had ‘temporarily’ thrown him into an orphanage. He was currently seated on a ragged couch in what looked to be the living room of the house and was told to wait there while the caretakers got his papers together.

 

A dark haired kid sauntered up to him. He vaguely reminded Izuku of Katsuki because of his self-assured smirk. “So what’s your quirk?”

 

Of course that was the first question he was asked. Not what his name was or anything else. Izuku frowned and looked across the room.

 

“I’m quirkless.” He said. The kid scoffed.

 

“Oh you’re quirkless ? No wonder your parents didn’t want you.” Izuku sucked in a sharp breath and his head shot up.

 

“Shut up.” 

 

The kid grinned knowing he’d struck a nerve. “Oh yeah? You don’t have mommy and daddy to-”

 

Izuku jumped up and punched him in the face. He knew he shouldn’t have, he could stand being bullied for being quirkless, he could stand being called useless and weak, but anything about his parents? Hell no. Izuku was pissed.

 

The kid staggered back and held a hand to his face where Izuku’s fist had connected. His eyes were wide with shock and Izuku was glaring at him and clenching his fists. “Piss off. Don’t talk about them.”

 

The kid snarled like a wild animal, Izuku could see faint traces of fur and other animalistic features sprouting on his body. Izuku probably would’ve been really interested in his quirk if he didn’t currently want to kill the kid. The kid jumped forwards with a yell and tried to tackle Izuku. But Izuku easily sidestepped his attack and kicked him in the side right as one of the caretakers came into the room. She scowled.

 

“Midoriya! Kobayashi! Stop fighting this instant.” Kobayashi straightened up and his quirk dispersed.

 

“M-Ms. Hamada-” Kobayashi started.

 

“Stop. Midoriya, it’s your first day here and you’re already picking fights? If you continue this behavior I won’t let you stay here. And Kobayashi, don’t attack people with that quirk! No dinner for either of you tonight.” 

 

Kobayashi glared at Izuku. “Yes ma’am.” He replied shortly. 

 

Izuku stuck his hands in his pockets and nodded mutely. Hamada left the room, and so did most of the other kids. Kobayashi was the last to leave, he glared at Izuku from over his shoulder.

 

“This is your fault…” He hissed.

Izuku ignored him and sat back down in the chair he was in before the whole ordeal. Finally the room was clear. Izuku deflated. He grabbed his head in his hands and tried to rub away the tears quickly forming in his eyes. He missed his mom and his dad and his apartment and everything . He didn’t have anyone left… He curled into himself, he just wanted someone to give a fuck about him again. He wanted somewhere where he could be happy… but of course that was too much to ask. Why would he ever deserve to be happy?

Notes:

Here's that drawing of Surge that I said I might post here last time. Also he normally doesn't have his hair showing he just looked bald without it so I went with it jidjkfdk

Chapter 5: Lonely days, friendly nights

Notes:

Edited 11/19/22

Izuku had already spent two days in the orphanage and it was shaping up to be one of the worst experiences of his life. It was like the bullies at school followed him home and got to harass him twenty-four-seven. Taking out his anger on villains was very refreshing. 

 

Izuku was standing on top of a building right now, surveying the streets below him, when someone cleared their throat from behind him. Izuku almost jumped out of his skin and whirled around to be met with a familiar face.

 

Izuku cleared his throat awkwardly. “Oh, uh, hey Eraser. You gonna try to arrest me today?”

 

“Relax, I just want to talk.”

 

“Hm…” Izuku made a show of looking around, “well I don’t think there’s any cops stalking around. What do you want?”

 

Eraser ignored him and walked towards a vending machine. “You want something from the vending machine?” Izuku stared at him suspiciously and trailed him from a safe distance.

 

“Wow, you actually pay for that stuff? What a loser.” Izuku snickered from behind Eraser when he pulled some money out. That earned him a glare. 

 

“Do you want anything or not?” Eraser growled. 

 

Izuku shrugged. “Oh… ah, anything’s fine.” He kicked his toe into the ground. “Why are you being so nice to me? Aren’t I a criminal? Shouldn’t you be… y’know, arresting me?” 

 

Eraserhead had two drinks and a bag of chips in his hands. “You’re a kid right? I’m not sure why you’re doing all this but I don’t think throwing you in jail is the right solution. Here.” Eraser tossed him the energy drink and bag of chips, which Izuku caught with ease.

 

“Oh.” Izuku eyed Eraserhead as he sat down on one of the benches. Izuku nervously sat on the ground a fair distance away and he broke open the bag of chips and drink. He reluctantly pulled down his voice changer to eat.

 

“You never answered my question from a few days ago.” 

 

Eraserhead’s intense eyes bore into his and Izuku recovered his usual wit. “Well Eraser, I don’t happen to remember whatever dumb question you asked. Give me a refresher?”

 

“Why are you a vigilante? That isn’t the kind of thing kids should be doing in their free time.”

 

Izuku chuckled sadly and leaned his head back to stare at the stars. “That’s a bit personal, don’t you think…?” He sighed. “I have something to prove and a mistake I’m making up for… Why are you a hero, huh?” Izuku attempted to change the subject and relieve the tension in the air but Eraserhead shook his head. 

 

“C’mon kid, you shouldn’t be doing this, it’s dangerous. Couldn’t you just wait a few years and become a hero? You’d definitely be able to get into a hero school with your skillset right now.”

 

Izuku almost broke out laughing but he held back most of it and just snorted dryly. “Believe me Eraser, that wouldn’t work out.” He was quirkless after all, no hero school would want someone as weak as he was. 

 

Izuku, now finished with his snack, hopped to his feet. He held up his wrist in front of his face. He didn’t have a watch. “Look at the time! I really need to get going! Got a meeting with the prime minister in ten minutes, you know how it is. Thanks for the snack Eraser!” He moved to leave.

 

“Wait.” Eraserhead’s deadpan voice caused Izuku to pause and look his way, hopefully he wasn’t trying to catch him… 

 

“How about we meet here every week around this time? I-” He gave Izuku an exasperated sigh. “I want to make sure you aren’t dead or anything. I can’t just let a kid die.” Izuku tilted his head, not exactly sure how to respond to his concern, it had been a while since someone had given half a fuck about him. 

 

“Only if you buy me snacks!” Izuku chirped out and leaped off the building. As he was swinging away he yelled, “see you next week Eraser!”

 

Eraserhead looked really tired.

 

══════════════════

 

Izuku hated Hamada with a burning passion and she hated him just as much. The woman had it out for him ever since the first day when he’d had that fight with Kobayashi. Although, to be fair, Hamada didn’t seem to like many people at all. Along with Hamada’s hatred for him came lots of hungry nights. She always told him how he needed to behave better (even if he hadn’t actually done anything) and blah blah blah. Then sent him to his shared bedroom without any dinner. Speaking of that shared bedroom, Izuku hated it too. It was quite hard to sneak out of a room that had three other kids piled in it. So the inevitable happened and one of the kids discovered his nightly outings.

 

His name was Itsuki Miyamoto. He was a small kid and probably around a few years younger than Izuku.

 

“Uh, Midoriya…” He furrowed his eyebrows and stared at the ground. “I-I-I know you’ve… you’ve been sneaking out at night and-and I-” 

 

Izuku cut him off with a frown, “Your name’s Miyamoto right?” The kid nodded shakily.

 

“How about you don’t tell anyone Miyamoto? Just let me do my own thing and you can do your own thing.”

 

“B-But-”

 

Izuku cut him off. “ Okay? ” He made sure to add a threatening edge to his voice. He felt bad scaring the kid and it wasn’t like he was actually going to do anything but… you had to do what you had to do.

 

He squeaked. “S-S-S-Sorry! I just… I won’t, uh, s-say anything…”

 

“That sounds great, thank you.” Well, hopefully he meant that. Being Surge was important to him and he couldn’t let some insignificant kid ruin it for him. He shouldered his backpack and swung by the kitchen to steal a protein bar. Time to go to school and have a terrible time there too.

 

“Hey, watch it!” Kobayashi growled at him after he bumped into Izuku on his way out the door. Izuku bit back a snide remark and paused for a moment to let Kobayashi get in front of him. He wasn’t in the mood.

 

It was 9pm by the time Izuku made it home to the orphanage. He’d decided to hang out at the warehouse and eat some of the food he had managed to stock up on there for dinner. Why even bother asking Hamada for food if she was probably in a bad mood and would just come up with some dumb excuse not to feed him anyway? The moment he stepped through the door he was met with two of the older kids coming to greet him with very threatening smiles. Izuku froze and tried to inch away from them, but the bigger one, whose name was Katsurou Takahashi, grabbed his shoulder.

 

“How about we go outside and talk, huh?” Takahashi growled out and Izuku laughed nervously. Why was he feeling threatened by two highschool students when he’d taken down countless villains as Surge? 

 

“Ah, alright…”

 

Izuku tensely walked back out the door, but this time with Takahashi’s hand cemented to his shoulder. They led him to an alleyway beside the orphanage, this couldn’t be good. Takahashi finally let go and crossed his arms in an attempt to look threatening. Izuku could hear his friend, Nori Aikawa, growl like a wild animal behind him. Izuku curled his fist up, he was Surge, he wasn’t scared.

 

Takahashi broke the silence. “So, we heard you threatened Itsuki this morning.” 

 

“I never threatened him! I was just trying to make sure he didn’t tell anyone something. I, uh, wasn’t aware you guys were such good friends with him.”

 

Aikawa growled. “Around here we stick up for each other, not threaten them…” No one here had ever stuck up for Izuku in his life. “So a little bit of advice, don’t mess with the kids here twerp. You’re not cool for scaring them. Next time I won’t be so nice if I hear that you do this again.”

 

Izuku shifted on his feet nervously. “Right, sorry. I didn’t mean to start anything!” He tried to walk around the two. “Well you two have a delightful night, I-”

 

“I’m not done.” It was Takahashi this time. 

 

Izuku sighed. “ Yes? ” Takahashi ignored his sarcastic tone.

 

“So why exactly are you sneaking out at night?”

 

Izuku narrowed his eyes. “That’s none of your concern. I’m not hurting anyone by sneaking out, so just leave it.”

 

“It is if you get the rest of us in trouble for sneaking out. We have a curfew and you’re expected to keep it. I should tell Hamada about this right now, but I’ll ask you again. Why are you sneaking out?” Takahashi’s tone was hard and Izuku knew he wasn’t lying about telling Hamada. He wasn’t ready to get in even more trouble with her.

 

Izuku stared at the ground. “Don’t tell Hamada, she already hates me enough.”

 

“Well answer my damn question Midoriya! The only things you could be doing that late are illegal.” Izuku opened his mouth to defend himself, although to be fair Takahashi was right, he was doing something illegal. But Takahashi continued talking, “this happened before, one kid here got involved with some shady guys to make some cash and he got busted for selling drugs. The rest of us got questioned to no end and someone about got falsely charged. I sure as hell don’t want that to happen again.”

 

Izuku shoved his hands in his sweatshirt pocket with a groan “Listen I’m not dealing drugs or anything alright? If you haven’t noticed Hamada has it out for me and refuses to feed me. I’m just making sure I don’t starve to death because of her! Report me or whatever the hell you want to do, it’ll just make it worse,” he said sourly.

 

That made Takahashi pause, he obviously wasn’t expecting that answer.

 

“So unless you want me to starve to death, leave it alone.” Izuku muttered and shoved past the silent boy. It was cold and Izuku wanted to go inside. Maybe he could steal some leftovers from dinner or something.

 

══════════════════

 

Izuku sat on the edge of the building and swung his legs while he waited for Eraserhead to arrive. They had been meeting for a few weeks now and although Izuku would never admit it, he was enjoying talking to him. 

 

He kinda hoped Eraserhead would get here already though. It was too quiet tonight, it left too much space for him to think. Lately, Izuku hated thinking because it always ended up in the same place. He glanced down at the dark street below him and hunched his shoulders. It was so dark… What if he just…

 

“Hey kid.” 

 

Izuku turned his head to look at Eraserhead and gave him a half-hearted humph. “My name’s Surge… we’ve been over this,” he said without his usual bite.

 

Eraserhead’s eyes narrowed in concern. “Are you alright?”

 

Izuku groaned and flopped on his back, with his legs still hanging over the edge. “Terrific Eraserhead, absolutely terrific,” he said out sarcastically, then his eyes caught on something in Eraserhead’s arms and he shot to his feet. All traces of his mopey mood from earlier were gone. “Is that soba! Oh my god, it is . I haven’t had soba in like… forever.” 

 

Izuku was drooling over the box of soba Eraser set down on a bench in front of him. He paused. “Are you gonna wrap me up in that scarf or yours if I go over there? Is this a trap? There’s no way you would’ve just gotten a vigilante soba for no reason.” Izuku frowned at Eraser who glared right on back.

 

“If I wanted to capture you, I would’ve done it before you noticed me. Just take the soba.” He stalked off to sit at a bench a few meters away. Izuku eyed him suspiciously as he slowly edged up to the soba. That seemed to annoy Eraserhead, but honestly, the man was kind of hard for Izuku to read. 

 

Izuku finally made it to the soba and began to inhale it. “This is really good!” He said through a mouthful of food. “I haven’t had this much to-” Izuku cut himself off. “I haven’t had such good food in a while!” 

 

Eraserhead stared at him suspiciously. “What were you going to say before that?”

 

Izuku shoveled another bite of soba in his mouth before Eraser finished his question but the man was still looking at him expectantly after he swallowed. “Oh, uh, it’s not important.” 

 

Eraserhead didn’t seem to believe Izuku, but he dropped the question anyway, which Izuku was thankful for. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes until Eraserhead broke it.

 

“You know, if you come to the police with me willingly you won’t get in that much trouble for all this.” Eraserhead offered. Which was stupid. No way in hell Izuku would ever do that.

 

Izuku scoffed, “if you’re gonna try to get me to hand myself over every time we meet, I won’t keep doing this! The main reason why you keep meeting me is to try to get information to capture me anyways, right?”

 

Eraserhead sighed. “That’s not the main reason, despite what you think I care about you and really don’t want you to get yourself killed.”

 

Izuku chuckled and gave him a shit-eating grin. “Aw how cute, I didn’t know you were such a softy! But yunno, that’s basically the same thing, you want to capture me to keep me ‘safe’ right?”

 

“Problem child.” Was all Eraserhead muttered in response, which made Izuku laugh. 

 

Izuku, now finished with the soba, threw the empty container at Eraserhead’s head and stuck out his tongue when he caught it. “I was trying to hit you.” 

 

Eraserhead shook his head. “How’ve you been lately kid? You seemed like you were in a bad mood earlier, did something happen?”

 

Izuku waved his hand. “Nah I’m good! I was just annoyed about something that happened earlier today.” Izuku frowned as he thought about the confrontation with the two boys in the alleyway. He really hoped they didn’t tell Hamada or anyone else about his nighttime outings because he was screwed if they did. 

 

“And what was that?” Eraser questioned further.

 

“I have a personal life too! I’m not just gonna go around telling pro heroes, who I think want to arrest me even though they don’t for some reason, my life story,” Izuku complained, “but if you don’t see me for a while, I might be dead.”

 

Eraser raised an eyebrow. “So what happened earlier has something to do with you dying?”

 

Izuku groaned. “Have you never heard of a joke, Eraser?” 

 

Eraserhead made a humming sound and he looked like he was deep in thought about something, Izuku wasn’t really sure if he should be concerned about whatever he was thinking about.

 

“So anyways, I don’t know much about you Eraser! Do you have a family or anything?” Izuku was actually curious about that, he didn’t know much about him since there was next to nothing about him on the public web. Hell, even the hero database didn’t have much on him. Did the man even have a personal life?

 

Eraserhead paused and seemed to be thinking over his answer. “Yes I do.”

 

“That’s not very informative, I’m not gonna stalk or anything.”

 

“Why should I answer your questions if you won’t answer anything about yourself?”

 

Izuku hummed. “That is a very fair point Eraser! How about this, you tell me about your family and I’ll tell you about myself! Deal?” Izuku smirked to himself. He knew Eraser wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to get information out of him.

 

Eraser sighed tiredly. “Fine.”

 

Izuku’s eyes lit up, “yay! You go first.”

 

Eraser grumbled something under his breath and then started talking. “I’m married and we have an adopted kid, he’s probably around your age… He’s a problem child like you, you’d both probably get along,” he murmured, “we also have three cats-”

 

Izuku cut him off. “I LOVE CATS! I never got the chance to have one, my apartment never allowed cats and now…” He definitely couldn’t have a cat in a fucking orphanage. “Do you have any pictures of them?” 

 

Surge’s enthusiastic response to Shouta’s cats made a faint smile play on his lips, but it also made him sad. It reminded him that this vigilante in front of him was just a kid, a kid who Shouta was getting continuously more worried about. He wasn’t sure what was going on in the kid’s life besides being Surge, but from some of the things he had almost said it couldn't be good.

 

“Yes, but you’ll actually have to get within ten feet of me to see them.”

 

“Please don’t scarf me! I just want to see your cats.”

 

“Scarf you…? I wasn’t planning on it.”

 

Izuku got up from his seat and meandered closer to Eraser, who had his phone out and was pulling up a picture. “Here.” He held up his phone for Izuku to see and Izuku’s eyes lit up when he saw the picture. It was of all three of the cats curled up around a sleeping Eraserhead who was out of costume and had on a black sweater.

 

“Oh my god I love them, what are their names?”

 

“Kaito’s the white one, Rin is brown, and Mitsu’s orange.”

 

Izuku had a small smile on his face while looking at the picture. “Aw, they all look so cute! Except you Eraser, you look like some homeless dude that broke into someone’s house and crashed on their couch.” Eraser slid the phone back in his pocket after that comment and gave him a disapproving glare, but it was worth it.

 

“Now you have to tell me some stuff about yourself, problem child.”

 

“Oookay…” Izuku wasn’t really sure what to share about himself that wouldn’t give himself away. Hopefully Eraser wouldn’t pry too much if he didn’t share very much. He headed back to his spot on the floor and crossed his legs. He held his hand up to his chin.

 

“Well… my favorite color is red and I’ve always wanted to be a hero when I’m older!”

 

Eraser raised an eyebrow. “Well you’re not doing a very good job at being a hero right now, becoming an illegal vigilante isn’t really the same thing.”

 

Izuku chuckled. “Well it’s the only option I have at the moment so it can’t be helped.” He shrugged and ignored the fact that Eraserhead was about to lecture him for being a vigilante again. He interrupted the man before he could start though. “Hm, well you already know I like cats. I also really like learning about quirks! I think they’re super interesting and fun to research. It’s so cool to see how they work, and the weaknesses and strengths! They’re all so different, it’s really amazing.”

 

Eraserhead nodded at that and then asked him a question. “How old are you, kid?”

 

“Woah there buddy, that’s getting into the ‘that’s a personal question that would definitely give you too much information about me’ zone.” 

 

Eraser sighed at that. “Of course it is. Anyways kid, I need to be getting home, unless you’ve decided to turn yourself into the police. Then you can meet my cats.”

 

“Oh, that’s a really tempting offer, Eraser, but I’ll have to pass. Maybe another day!” Izuku said. “Anyways bye! Thanks for the soba, it was super good.”

 

Eraserhead nodded at him and then leaped into the darkness to get home, leaving Izuku on the roof alone. Once Eraserhead was completely gone Izuku hugged his knees to his chest and stared out into the inky blackness. Why did Izuku keep meeting up with the hero anyways? He’d eventually turn on Izuku once he realized that being nice to him and trying to gain his trust wasn’t going to make Izuku turn himself in. But for now, it was nice having a friend, even if Izuku was paranoid that friend might try to arrest him at any second. 

 

“I don’t want to go back.” Izuku murmured to himself as some tears began to drip down his face. He buried his head in his knee. “Goddammit, mom, dad… I just- I wish you guys were here… I can’t do this- I- I’m so sorry.” Izuku tried to choke back his thick sobs but it didn’t work.

 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you guys… I-I… I’m doing this for you…”

Notes:

Thank you guys for reading! <3

Chapter 6: Decisions for the future

Notes:

Edited 11/19/22

When Hitoshi got home from the animal shelter he almost tripped over a yellow mass in front of their apartment door.

 

“Er…” 

 

The yellow mass grunted and flipped over. Shouta stared back at him.

 

“Are you… okay?”

 

All Hitoshi got was a mutter he couldn’t understand. Hizashi emerged from the hallway and spotted him. “Oh Toshi! Welcome home, me and Shouta wanted to know if you wanted to watch a movie tonight!” Hitoshi stepped over half-dead Shouta and fully in the apartment, and closed the door behind him.

 

“Uh, speaking of Dadzawa, is he okay?”

 

Hizashi just smiled at him. “Oh! He’s just been having some hero-”

 

“Is it about Surge?” Hitoshi smirked at Hizashi’s surprised reaction. “You’re not very quiet Yamadad, I can hear you talking about him with Dadzawa.” Hizashi nodded reluctantly.

 

“So a vigilante huh? I did some research on him but nothing came up. What's so annoying about him?”

 

Shouta finally stood up and unzipped himself from the sleeping bag. “He’s gonna get himself killed… just don’t worry about it Hitoshi.” Shouta muttered. 

 

Hizashi clapped his hands together to try to get them off the topic of Surge. “Anyways! How about we watch that movie?”

 

Shouta reluctantly agreed and they all settled down on the couch to watch the movie Hitoshi picked out, which happened to be a terrible horror movie. Hitoshi thought they were absolutely hilarious, especially since Hizashi screamed at all the dumbest things. While they watched, they ate some leftover rice for dinner, which Hizashi managed to spill all over Shouta. It was a nice night and Hitoshi had a ton of fun, but of course all good things had to come to an end and the mood was ruined when Shouta and Hizashi decided to ask him about something once the movie ended.

 

“So Toshi… me and Shouta have been talking about possibly fostering again, but we know you might not be that comfortable with it so we wanted to ask you about it first! We want to make sure you’re comfortable with any decisions we make since you’re a big part of this family!”

 

Hitoshi’s head whipped around to stare at Shouta and Hizashi. Hizashi had a comforting smile on his face and Shouta was as unreadable as ever. “What?” Hitoshi said, trying to keep his emotions in check. Was he not good enough? “Wh-Why…?” Hitoshi hated the stutter in his voice.

 

“Well, we just want you to be happy Toshi! We were thinking that it would be good for you to have some company your age to hang out with! Also, I think it would be good for Shouta…” Hizashi glanced over at Shouta who frowned back at him. 

 

Shouta was the one who spoke this time. “If you’re not comfortable with this then just tell us. We’re not going to force you to do something that would make you unhappy.”

 

Hitoshi looked at the ground. “Right. Well, I’m going to my room, I’ll think about it.” He muttered and headed off to his bedroom with Mitsu trailing after him. 

 

Once Hitoshi was gone Shouta turned to look at Hizashi.

 

“I told you he wouldn’t take it well.”

 

Hizashi sighed. “I know… I’m just worried about him, he doesn’t have any friends at school.” Hizashi paused and looked towards Shouta. “I’m worried about you too you know. You need to focus on helping someone other than Surge.” 

 

Shouta scoffed. “I’m fine.” 

 

Hizashi didn’t look convinced. “Shouta…” 

 

Shouta sighed and got up from the couch, “I’m gonna make myself a coffee.”

 

“You’re helping him by just talking to him, Shouta. He’ll start to trust you more eventually.”

 

Shouta frowned. “I really don’t know Zashi. The kid’s really stubborn. I don’t think he’d ever consider telling me who he is. It’s already been months since we started meeting and I’m nowhere closer to figuring that kid out.”

 

Hizashi took a deep breath, he had to be optimistic for both Hitoshi and Shouta.

 

“He’ll come around eventually Shou.” Shouta just hummed in response.

 

══════════════════

 

After Hitoshi closed the door to his room, he flopped down on his bed with a groan. Fostering again? Hitoshi couldn’t say he was a fan. He didn’t like people and he was sure that whoever they ended up fostering would just act like everyone else does and be an asshole towards him because of his quirk. Hitoshi logically knew that Shouta and Hizashi wouldn’t knowingly let anyone do that to him but still, it bothered Hitoshi. Because even if the kid didn’t say anything mean about Hitoshi’s quirk he probably was thinking something bad about it. 

 

Hitoshi knew why Hizashi had brought up fostering now though, he knew that both of his parents were worried about his lack of friends at school and the fact he never really talked with anyone other than them. But he wanted to become an underground hero, not some kind of celebrity, and underground heroes don’t need friends. Aside from that, it was probably also for Shouta. He wasn’t able to help Surge, but he could help a foster kid.

 

Hitoshi sighed, he was being selfish by not agreeing to let his parents foster again wasn’t he? The foster kid needed a place to stay and Shouta needed someone who he could actually help. Hitoshi knew that he should say yes but… he just couldn’t bring himself to let go of his mistrust for other people. Hitoshi hated it. 

 

Finally, Hitoshi’s bad mood was broken when he felt Mitsu jump on the bed beside him and start purring. Mitsu always made him feel better. He loved cats, they were so much better than people and never judged you based on your quirk. Cats didn’t care what your quirk was, as long as you took good care of them they loved you. 

 

Hitoshi sighed, thinking back to the whole fostering situation. Maybe he should agree… it would probably make Shouta and Hizashi happy and Hitoshi wanted them to be happy. He smiled again looking back at Mitsu who was curled up beside him. He’d decide in the morning, he didn’t want to worry about that right now. 

 

══════════════════

 

“What do you want, Deku?” Katsuki growled.

 

“Oh I, uh, just wanted to say good luck on finals Kacchan. You’ll do great!”

 

Katsuki glared at him. “Tch, I hope you fail.”

 

Izuku gave him a nervous smile, “thanks?”

 

“That wasn’t a compliment you idiot.” Katsuki snarled and promptly stalked out of the empty classroom. 

 

Izuku sighed, the school year was quickly coming to a close. Finals were right around the corner which meant Izuku had less and less time to be Surge and more and more time he needed to study. Which he always did in the warehouse. 

 

The kids at the orphanage were getting curious about where Izuku was spending most of his afternoons, to which Izuku told them he was just studying and it was none of their business where. His dad’s old base was his saving grace and he really didn’t need anyone finding out about it. He felt bad for the kids who didn’t have any quiet place to hang out at because that place was always hectic. 

 

Izuku shouldered his backpack and headed to the door. The school was normally cleared out by this time, so he shouldn’t run into anyone, except maybe teachers. He saw Katsuki messing with something in his locker on his way out, but Izuku ignored him. 

 

He just wanted to get to the warehouse and study. He couldn’t wait for all of this finals stuff to be done with and for break to finally arrive. He could be Surge a hell of a lot more when it finally came around. At least he had s omething to look forward to, right?

 

Izuku’s school was around a twenty-minute walk to the warehouse, which he always enjoyed. It was nice to have some fresh air and peace and quiet. But on this particular day, his peace was disturbed when he heard a shriek from nearby. That didn’t sound good. 

 

Izuku was about to run straight to whatever was happening but decided to quickly drop his bag and put the hood, mask, collapsible voice changer, and other small gear he always carried on him in case of emergencies. He yanked off his uniform jacker, so he just had his white undershirt on and ran out of the alley. 

 

Hopefully he wasn’t too late… He bolted towards where he had first heard the sound. He skidded to a stop at the entrance of an alleyway seeing someone cowering away from a dark shape at the end. 

 

“Hey! Leave them alone.” Izuku growled and brandished his retractable staff. 

 

The dark figure turned to him. “Fuck… who the hell are you-?” 

 

Izuku started sprinting towards them and swung the pole at their side. They managed to stumble to the side of it and started to run out of the alleyway and away from Izuku. Izuku hissed in annoyance.. After a quick glance behind him and seeing that the girl was uninjured he ran after him in pursuit. 

 

Izuku was in a lot better shape than the criminal and quickly caught up with him. He rammed the end of the rod into the man’s back which made him faceplant on the cement right before the exit to the alley. Izuku slammed his foot on the dude’s back which caused a pained, “upmh.” 

 

Izuku frowned, he didn’t really have anything to restrain the man with… should he knock him out?

 

Turned out he didn’t have to make that decision as he heard police sirens quickly approaching. The girl must’ve called the police. Speaking of the girl, Izuku heard her light footsteps coming towards him now.

 

“Uh, um! Thank you…” She said softly. 

 

He glanced back at her with a nod. “Are you alright?” She nodded.

 

The police sirens drew closer and Izuku felt the man under him trying to shift out from under his foot. Izuku crouched down beside him. “Hey pal, if you keep trying to get away I'll knock you out.” He whispered menacingly. That caused the man to freeze. 

 

A few more seconds passed and Izuku saw some cop cars coming into view. That was his cue to leave. Two cars pulled in front of the alleyway, blocking off the man from escaping and Izuku finally lifted his foot up and pulled his grappling hook out. That man might be trapped but he sure wasn’t. 

 

He offered the girl one last wave and told her to stay safe. And then shot the grappling hook towards the top of the building looming over them. He zipped upwards and the last thing he saw was a police officer trying to get him to come down. He just gave her some finger guns and ran out of sight. 

 

Izuku zipped back to the alley where he had left his stuff and stuffed all the gear back into the hidden pocket in his bag. He pulled back on his jacket and continued his walk back to the warehouse. He passed the two police cars a few seconds later. They were loading the man into the back of one of the cars and the girl seemed to be okay. Izuku smiled, he was glad that he could help. 

 

He blinked when he saw a cop coming over to him. “Hello! What’s going on?” Izuku greeted him with a confused smile.

 

“Oh it’s nothing to worry about kid, I just wanted to ask if you saw someone…” The cop seemed to realize how ridiculous his question sounded because he paused for a moment. “If you saw someone ziplining between buildings? They were wearing a white shirt, black pants, and had on a hood?” 

 

The cop didn’t seem very sure of their description and Izuku furrowed his eyebrows. “Uh, no, sorry.” Izuku lied. “Why are you looking for them…? Are they dangerous?” 

 

The officer sighed. “Don’t worry about it kid! But if you do see someone who looks like that please contact the police okay?” Izuku nodded and then started back down the road. Hopefully that was the last time he stopped before he got to the warehouse, he really needed to study.

 

══════════════════

 

Hitoshi leaned his head against his pillow with a groan. Was he really going to do this? He knew he’d regret it and it would probably make his life hell, but it would make Hizashi and Shouta happy. 

 

Hitoshi wasn’t normally the one who would sacrifice his own happiness for someone else, but the two had done so much for him. So before he could talk himself out of it, he pried himself out of bed and into the kitchen where Shouta and Hizashi were drinking coffee.

 

“Hey.” Hitoshi murmured. 

 

Both of them turned to look at him. “Good morning Toshi! Did you sleep well?” Hizashi greeted enthusiastically and Hitoshi just grunted in response.  

 

“I thought about it last night, fostering. I think you should do it…” Hitoshi trailed off, unsure of what else to say. 

 

Shouta was the first to speak up. “Are you sure kid? Would you really be alright or are you just saying that?”

 

Hitoshi almost winced but just shook his head, “if I’m ever uncomfortable with it I’ll just tell you guys.” Shouta eyed him suspiciously, he obviously didn’t believe he was actually okay with it. 

 

Hizashi gave him a reassuring smile. “Talk to us okay? We want you to be happy.” Shouta nodded in agreement and Hitoshi gave them a weak smile. He’d be alright, even if whoever they fostered was an asshole, he was used to it. 

 

But Hitoshi still hated it. Why had he agreed to this again?

 

══════════════════

 

Izuku was currently practicing on the dark rooftop with a new weapon he’d developed while he waited for Eraserhead to arrive. He was pretty proud of it actually. He was excited to take it on a test run and fuck up a few villains with it. 

 

The item itself looked similar to a handgun, but the barrel had no hole for a bullet to come out of. Instead it had a small, flat disc that was attached to the end. The purpose of the ‘gun’ was that it shot out a small disc which attached itself to whatever it landed on and, sticking with the electric theme Izuku had going on, sent out an electric charge of varying voltage (which he could adjust) once Izuku pressed a button on the side of the gun. He could also call the disc back in a certain range with a strong magnetic pulse that it emitted. 

 

Izuku had been calling it an electric gun and had yet to come up with a better name. Sue him, he was uncreative. Naming things had never been his strong suit, he’d gotten the name Surge from an infomercial.

 

There was a thunk on the roof beside him and Izuku smirked. Over the past few months they’d been meeting, he was getting really good at being able to detect the near-silent man. Izuku was quite proud of himself for it.

 

Without turning around he called out a greeting for Eraserhead. “Hey Eraser! Watch this!” He shot off the disc and it landed on the vending machine control panel, he clicked the button for the electricity. The vending machine suddenly went dark and the control panel looked to be smoking under the disc. 

 

“Well… I didn’t mean for that to happen but at least I know it works?” Izuku turned to look at Eraserhead finally with a small smile forming on his lips. Eraserhead did not seem amused.

 

“The first thing you do when I get here is break a vending machine? That counts as property damage, you need to pay for that.” 

 

Izuku pulled down his voice changer just so Eraserhead could see him stick out his tongue. “They should make the vending machines better quality. It obviously wasn’t Surge-proof enough so it’s their fault.” He shrugged at Eraserhead and all he got was a disapproving stare. 

 

“I brought you food and I’m seriously considering throwing it off this building.” He replied dryly. 

 

That made Izuku laugh, “you say that like I wouldn’t still eat it.” 

 

Eraser sighed and held out a takeout box to him, he had another one in his hands, presumably for himself. Izuku gladly took the box (albeit he was still cautious as the man was a pro hero and Izuku was a vigilante).

 

“Thanks!” He chirped as he tore the box open and wolfed down the contents.

 

They ate in silence for a few minutes before Izuku spoke up. “So, we’ve been doing this meeting on the roof thing for a while now and I was wondering… uh-” Izuku fidgeted nervously. “When exactly are you going to try to arrest me? I know you’re doing this to gain my trust so you can take me into custody.”

 

Eraserhead glanced at him. “I would like for you to willingly come with me to the police station, but I doubt that’s going to happen. You’ve also managed to get away from authorities on numerous occasions-” 

 

Izuku snorted. “They really thought they had me that time they were about to drive away with me in the cop car. They really need better windows. I even managed to get away with all my support items they stole from me too!”

 

Eraserhead groaned. “I heard about that… My point is you’re a problem child and taking you in by force has done no good. I’ll be blunt with you, I don’t want to break your trust over some operation that won’t even work.” 

 

Izuku grinned at him. “You know it! I’m impossible to arrest. But… are you just planning on… somehow convincing me to willingly come to the station with you? Or maybe figure out who I am?” 

 

“I’m trying to help you, but for whatever reason, you won’t let me.”

 

Izuku leaned back and put his hands behind his head. “Well as much as I’d enjoy you helping me into jail, I think I’ll take a pass. Prison sounds fun and all, but it’s not my style, you know?” 

 

Izuku saw Eraser shaking his head. “I won’t let you go to jail kid, I’ve told you this. We can work something out.” 

 

“Right.” He sighed. “I mean who knows, maybe I’ll tell you one day. But I still have stuff to do. I’ll stop one day… maybe.” He looked over to Eraserhead with a small smile and the man just frowned at him in response.

 

“You’re going to get yourself killed.”

 

“Who cares,” he said bitterly.

 

“ I do.”

 

“Well, that makes one of us.” Izuku sensed that he had already said too much about the subject and leaped up from his seat, leaving the empty box of food there. “Anyways I have stuff to do. G’night Eraser.” 

 

He gave Eraserhead a mock salute and then ran away before the man could say anything about his earlier comment. Izuku frowned as he grappled away though. Why did Eraserhead care so much about him anyway?

Notes:

Thank you guys for all the support, all the comments always make me happy when I see people are enjoying this fic! I hope you guys continue to stick with me because I'm really excited to share the next few chapters aH

Chapter 7: First aid

Shouta was worried about Surge. But what was new? That kid always had him in a state of worry recently. It was always something running through his head. Was Surge okay? What was his home life like? Did he get himself injured or killed? Shouta absolutely despised being so caught up in the whole situation but he just couldn’t help it. The kid couldn’t be that much older than Toshi and it hurt to think that someone who was the same age as his son would be doing something like that.

That worry had only increased after his last interaction with Surge. Shouta had mentioned the fact that the kid was going to get himself killed and his response was definitely one that made Shouta’s heart drop. The kid obviously didn’t value his own life and was under the impression that no one else did either. Shouta sighed, he felt like he’s been doing a lot of that lately, as he stared at the police file on Surge. There wasn’t anything remotely useful in there and he already knew all of the information, after all, he was the only one who could get more than the basic “his name is Surge and his costume is green” type of stuff. But that wasn’t even very much, hell he didn’t even know the kid’s hair color. He had on a headband to presumably keep his hair out of his face which you couldn’t see his hair because of. Shouta had only seen it a few times since his hood usually covered it. Honestly, Shouta was kind of impressed with the kid, somehow, no matter what kind of situation the kid stumbled himself into, that hood was always over his head. Shouta had seriously wondered if he glued the hood on himself or something.

“HEY!”

Shouta almost jumped out of his skin at the loud greeting.

“Hizashi we’re inside, don’t yell.” He lectured half-heartedly, he knew his husband wouldn’t listen though. He was just naturally enthusiastic, unlike Shouta who preferred to keep his emotions to himself.

“Finals are soon!” Hizashi’s next sentence was ever so slightly quieter than his first, “how do you think your class will do?”

Shouta shrugged, “we’ll see. I’ll be glad to have them out of my hair, they’re all getting so restless and it’s infuriating how noisy they’ve been lately.” He tried to sound annoyed, but he just ended up coming across as tired. Even if his class was loud and enthusiastic he was proud of how much they’d grown in the past year. They weren’t the (main) reason Shouta was so tired and he knew that Hizashi knew that too.

“Shouta… you need to stop focusing on Surge so much.”

No one else noticed how exhausted the whole Surge case had been making him, he was good at hiding that kind of stuff from most people, but Hizashi wasn’t most people and he knew the small signs Shouta gave when he was upset. Shouta knew he was right, he knew that and he knew he was being unreasonable with how distracted he’d been with the vigilante recently. It wasn’t like Shouta to get this emotional over things and he hated it.

“I know you’re worried, but you’re doing all you can for him right now. And Toshi agreed to the fostering idea if you feel comfortable doing that, you’ll be able to help them more.”

Shouta frowned slightly, “Toshi only agreed because it would make us happy. He’s not actually comfortable with it.”

Hizashi nodded sadly, “I know… but we’ll find someone he can get along with, it’ll be good for him! And if they aren’t happy together we can always help them get to another nice home.”

Hizashi did have a point, they were both worried about Hitoshi’s lack of socialization (and they had their speculations about bullies, even though Hitoshi refused to directly mention it). It would be really good for Toshi if the foster kid turned out to be someone he could get along with and become friends with. There was also the fact that fostering would distract Shouta, at least a little from his current predicament. Although he did hate thinking that because he felt bad using a kid like that…

“If Hitoshi is uncomfortable at any point we can help the kid find somewhere else good to stay.”

It wasn’t a yes directly, but Hizashi knew that’s what he meant so he smiled. “Of course!” That’s when Hizashi pulled out a bunch of papers from… somewhere, and presented them to Shouta.

“I got a little excited and might’ve done some slight research myself! They’re all the same age as Toshi and in our general area! We can read through them with Toshi later and see what his thoughts are.” Hizashi sent him a beaming smile and Shouta felt a small smile forming on his lips involuntarily, he hoped this would work out.

══════════════════

When Hitoshi saw the small pile of papers sitting on the kitchen table he knew that couldn’t be good.

“Hey.” He muttered out which caused his parents to look towards him, “Hi Toshi!” Hizashi replied enthusiastically, Shouta just grunted before closing his eyes again.

“We’re looking at foster kids!” Hizashi patted the chair beside him, “come sit down!”

Hitoshi reluctantly agreed and padded over to Hizashi and Shouta. “They’re all your age! Me and Shouta were looking at them earlier and we found some we thought you might get along with!” Hizashi shoved a few papers in his hands.

“Oh… it doesn’t matter to me.” Hitoshi responded emotionlessly, he could feel Shouta glaring at him after he said that so he just sighed, “fine I’ll look…”

He flipped through the pages, barely skimming each one, he was just going to put a random one down on the table and say he liked that one until someone caught his eye. The picture of the kid was rather plain-looking, he had curly green hair and freckles with a weak smile on his face, but Hitoshi couldn’t shake the feeling he’d seen him somewhere before. He read the information on the boy. His name was apparently Izuku Midoriya and he was… quirkless.

Hitoshi eyed the page thoughtfully, maybe… maybe he would be alright. He set the paper down in front of him, “he looks nice…” he murmured out softly.

He saw Hizashi nodding excitedly at him, “GREAT!” Hitoshi winced at the use of his quirk, “anyways Hitoshi, me and Shouta were talking about going out to dinner tonight! Any particular place you want to go?”

Hitoshi shrugged, “anywhere’s fine, I’m not picky.” And so the three of them set off for dinner with the whole foster kid thing forgotten for the moment.

══════════════════

Izuku was out early tonight, it was only 8pm and Izuku had already managed to take down a purse snatcher, a small-time gang, and a prospective bank robber. He hadn’t been around much lately (which was going to change very soon since his last day of school was tomorrow) and he wanted to make up for his absence by working extra hard and giving Tuskauchi an excessive amount of paperwork.

Izuku was just finishing up with taking down some lunatic who had attacked a passerby. He pulled out some rope and knotted his wrists together and to a dumpster so he couldn’t get away just in case he woke up. Then as a finishing touch, he taped a note to the man’s forehead that read, “to Tuskauchi!” with a little smiley face on it. His work here was done! The police would probably be arriving soon since Izuku heard the victim call them a few minutes ago, Izuku could see he was still in the general area but was standing a very fair distance away from the vigilante. Izuku turned towards the still shocked boy and shot him some finger guns before disappearing off into the night. Izuku couldn’t wait until break when he could do this thing all night. Hanata didn’t care enough about him to notice he was ever missing unless someone told her, that was the only thing good about that place.

Izuku stopped on a nearby rooftop to survey the city below him. He could see a more mainstream part of the city below him, there was some kind of live music going on and a bunch of people were still out and walking about. He decided to sit down in a shadowy corner and watch all the happy people milling about downtown. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do but Izuku couldn’t bring himself to care. He pulled one of his legs up to his chest and rested his chin on it. This was nice, just listening to the live music and relaxing made Izuku really happy. If he just closed his eyes he could pretend he was walking downtown with both of his parents. He could see his mom’s sweet smile and his dad’s never failing support of him. A small smile flashed across his face for a moment but it faded once his eyes opened and he faced reality again.

The shitty reality without his parents and a quirk of his own. A reality where he could never ever become a hero…

Lots of yelling broke him out of his thoughts and made Izuku quickly survey the city below him. A villain had appeared and was smashing cars and anything else he could get his hands on. Izuku about jumped off the roof once he realized the cause of the yells but hesitated. This wasn’t some dark alleyway like he normally worked in, this was a busy part of the city with lots of people who would see him. Izuku, although he didn’t hate the media like Eraser did, would still rather stay out of the spotlight. Izuku wanted to wait for a hero to arrive, he really did, he hated exposing himself. But when he saw that monster about to hurl a car at someone and probably kill them, Izuku knew he couldn’t let that happen. He felt his legs moving on their own as he leaped down from his spot on the roof and tackled the person out of the way. He felt the misshapen car slice into his leg, but the teenager was safe…

Izuku quickly jumped to his feet, ready to take down the villain (even though his leg was gushing out blood at the moment). However, he realized a hero was already dealing with the villain and a very familiar face was rushing towards him.

“Hitoshi! Are you alright?” The purple-haired kid gave a slight nod towards the man and Izuku’s eyes widened in recognition, it was fucking Eraserhead.

The man seemed to recognize him too, “Surge…” He saw the man’s eyes rest on his bleeding leg. The purple-haired kid glanced back at him too.

“Uh, I gotta be going! Be more careful with your kid Eraser!” He darted off into a dark alleyway behind him and quickly grappled away from the scene, hoping that none of the general public had noticed him and was just watching Present Mic. He got a block away before his leg started hurting like hell and he collapsed in the back on an alleyway with a small groan. He sat up to get a good look at his leg, which looked horrible. All of the fabric covering his left calf was in pieces and the wound was gushing blood.

Izuku’s eyes widened at the deep cut, “shit…” He started to rummage around in his utility belt for the emergency bandages he kept on hand while hoping he wouldn’t pass out from blood loss. He set a roll of bandages on the ground in front of him, that was good enough for now. Izuku barely managed to wrap the bandage around his leg because of how woosy he was getting, which was definitely a bad sign. He needed to get to the warehouse and not pass out on the way. He luckily managed to arrive there in one piece and staggered into the basement, he had more medical supplies there.

He washed the cut off with some soap and water and put some antibiotics on it, hopefully that was good enough… He rewrapped the painful wound, which was still bleeding, but considerably less, and made his way over to his couch. Once he sat down Izuku saw his vision getting blurry and he unwillingly passed out from exhaustion.

══════════════════

The string of events that happened after Hitoshi left the restaurant he and his parents were eating at left him in a bit of shock. He remembered exiting the restaurant and being a few steps ahead of Shouta and Hizashi, and then people started screaming and he was almost hit by a car that was thrown between him and Shouta and Hizashi. He heard them start to yell and footsteps started racing towards him, he turned towards where the car came from only to see another misshapen car coming straight at him. Hitoshi tried to turn away from the car and run but it was so close…

But then he felt something slam into his back and he heard the car crash into the wall behind him. He felt whoever had pushed him out of the way get up from on top of him and he laid on the ground, dazed, for a few seconds before he saw Shouta running towards him.

“Hitoshi! Are you alright?” Hitoshi managed to nod but when he heard the next words out of Shouta’s mouth it made him look behind him at his savior, “Surge…” Hitoshi blinked in surprise. Surge? Surge as in the vigilante Shouta had been worrying about for months? He was the one who saved him? Hitoshi’s eyes were drawn to the vigilantes bleeding leg and about said something before Surge beat him to it.

“Uh, I gotta be going! Be more careful with your kids Eraser!” And with that, he stumbled away into a small alleyway. Shouta looked like he was about to run after the vigilante too, but instead he crouched down in front of Hitoshi and held out his hand.

Hitoshi grabbed his hand and got to his feet, “Surge?” He questioned, “that vigilante Surge?”

Shouta groaned, “yes. That’s him.” He muttered, Shouta looked over to where Hizashi had restrained the villain and was talking to the police about the incident and then back to Hitoshi.

“You sure you’re alright? Did you get injured?”

“No… Surge- I think he pushed me out of the way of that car. It about hit me…” Hitoshi trailed off, “do you think he’ll be okay? That gash looked pretty bad.” Shouta sighed in response, “that kid’s pretty resilient…” Hitoshi nodded and rubbed his arm, it hurt from skidding across the pavement, there was a small scrape forming on his elbow which Shouta noticed.

“We can clean that when we get home.” Hitoshi nodded in response, he was still in shock from all the shit that had happened in the past few minutes. Shouta rubbed his shoulder comfortingly, “we can go home right after Hizashi finishes up with the police.”

Speaking of Hizashi he was approaching them now, “Shou! Toshi! Are you both okay?”

“Surge saved me. I’m not sure where the hell he came from but he pushed me out of the way of a car.” Hizahi’s eyes widened, “is he okay?” Even though he had never personally met the vigilante he knew Shouta was fond of him and he didn’t want a kid hurt either.

Shouta spoke up this time, “he got a gash on his leg… then the idiot ran off before I could offer to help him. He’ll probably be fine though, I hope.” He muttered out, yet again annoyed at the elusive vigilante.

Hizashi patted his shoulder and smiled at him and Hitoshi, “well I’m glad both of you are okay! Tell him thanks for saving Toshi when you see him!” Hitoshi nodded at that too.

Shouta groaned, “I’m going to kill him for running off like that first.”

And with that the group of three set off to the bus stop, they were all slightly shaken up by the night's events and couldn’t wait to get back to their apartment.

══════════════════

“You aren’t dead huh.”

Izuku grinned at the angry face of Eraserhead, “I’m perfectly fine! I can take care of myself, that wasn’t the first time I’ve gotten hurt!”

Eraserhead just shook his head at that and studied the kid across from him. “Thanks.”

Izuku tilted his head in confusion at Eraserhead and he continued, “for saving Hitoshi a few days ago. Even though you’re a problem child and had a terrible gash on your leg which you ran off with.”

Izuku laughed, “aw, of course Eraser, anything for youuu. I won’t let anyone die on my watch… never again…” Eraserhead frowned at him after he heard the last part of his sentence.

“Never again?” He questioned softly. Izuku froze, he didn’t realize he had accidentally said that, “uh, yeah, you know… Surge and stuff. I won’t let anyone die…” Izuku fumbled with his words trying to come up with a suitable excuse. That just made Eraserhead look worried, “what’s wrong kid?”

“Nothing!” He growled out defensively which just made Eraserhead seem more worried.

“Kid-”

Shouta could just feel Surge’s glare from under his mask, “drop it…” He hissed out, “please.”

Eraserhead sighed and frowned at him, “alright. But please kid, talk to me if there’s something wrong.” Izuku just grunted in response and slumped down on a bench behind him.

“Sorry for worrying you.” Surge sounded regretful and Shouta tilted his head at that. He was acting really strange. First he got mad at Shouta and now he was apologizing for worrying him? From what Shouta had seen from Surge, the kid never apologized. “I wouldn’t be worried if you weren’t such a problem child.”

Izuku gave him a tight laugh at that and Shouta sighed, he could still feel the worry building up in his chest but he pushed it back down. He didn’t want to have an argument with Surge right now.

“I wasn’t able to bring you anything to eat tonight, sorry kid.”

“Ah, that’s alright. I don’t really need anything anyway…”

The two of them settled in what was something of a comfortable silence looking out on the dark city. Eraserhead eventually broke the silence, “I need to be getting back to patrolling. Try to stay out of trouble, please.”

He heard a soft hum from the kid, who was now resting his chin on his knees.

“Goodnight kid.”

“G’night Eraser.”

Eraserhead left the small vigilante on the roof with that. He could feel regret filling up his throat as he leaped away, he was going to figure out something to help that kid. He had to.

══════════════════

Despite Izuku’s slight bad mood last night, he woke up absolutely ecstatic! School went on break today and he couldn’t be happier. No more dumb bullies (the shelter kids tended to avoid him now, except for Kobayashi but he normally just made snide remarks), no more school taking up all of his time, and most importantly much more time he was able to save people. Even Kobayashi’s, “why the hell are you so happy?” didn’t ruin his mood.

Once he was at school and class had started he drummed his fingers on his desk impatiently, could this be taking any longer?

“Midoriya! You’re distracting your classmates, stop drumming your fingers.” His teacher called out and Izuku had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes at him, why did he care if he was drumming his fingers on his desk? Eventually class let out for lunch and per usual, some assholes found him on his way there.

“Midoriya! Where do you think you’re going?” Izuku bit back a scoff, these idiots again? They hadn’t actually been bothering him much lately but Izuku was still tempted to deck them in their ugly faces if it wasn’t for his currently perfect record.

“To lunch. Like a normal person.” Izuku continued walking to the cafeteria when he felt himself get dragged back by his collar. Delightful. The bully smirked at him, “come with us, we need to teach you a lesson on how to respect your elders and this time that fucking Bakugou bitch isn’t here to save you.”

Izuku had to stop himself from making a snarky comment in response and instead quickly glanced around for a way to escape this situation. No one seemed to care about the small quirkless boy who was being yanked back by his collar, but they normally didn’t, nothing new. Midoriya let himself have a short sigh.

“Alright. Let's go.” Izuku could feel the two bullies hesitate at the steel in his voice.

“O-okay. C’mon Ichiro.” The first bully had a slight stutter to his voice, but ‘Ichiro’ didn’t seem to be threatened by Izuku’s hard tone of voice. Izuku was honestly wondering what to do in this situation, a bad mark on his record would prevent him from getting into any good highschools but he’d been wanting to punch these fuckers for so long. Eventually, the two bullies led Izuku to a dark alleyway between the gym and the school. This felt very familiar to Izuku. The bullies stopped once they reached the alleyway, they had been bullying Izuku for bit but had never actually dared to do any physical damage to him.

Izuku got tired of waiting for whatever the bullies were planning to do, “so, are you guys gonna beat me up or…?” That snapped them out of their thoughts, “I can’t believe quirkless losers like you can just walk around this school. You’re polluting the school just by being here! You’re the reason fucking Bakugou is on our asses now!” Ichiro declared. Izuku couldn’t hold himself back any longer.

“This school was already shit to begin with, I don’t think it’s me doing the polluting.” Izuku said with a shrug. “Now if you’d excuse me-”

Izuku got cut off by a punch flying to his face, which he caught. He shoved Ichiro’s arm back towards his body which made him stumble backward.

“I really want to eat lunch, this is taking too long.” Izuku drawled out boredly, Ichiro and his friend (who Izuku still didn’t know the name of) were staring at him in shock. He tried to edge out of the alley, “I won’t do anything to both of you! I don’t want to hurt my record you know?”

Ichiro’s friend recovered first, “what the fuck?” Izuku just shrugged at him, “I’ll be going now.”

That seemed to really piss off Ichiro who went in for another punch, Izuku just leaned to the side. These two were weak compared to what he normally dealt with. He recovered and started to run at Izuku with a loud yell. Izuku easily sidestepped his messy attack and held his foot out to trip him, “oops.” There wasn’t a morsel of regret in his voice.

“Ichiro, maybe we should just leave it. You don’t want anything on your record either…” Ichiro leaped up to his feet and glared at his friend, “this brat thinks he’s better than us! I want to teach him a lesson.” Izuku took the distraction to make a run for it, although beating the two of them up would’ve felt nice, it wasn’t the smartest course of action.

He heard a faint, “hey!” from behind him, but he outran whoever was trying to pursue him and finally was able to get to the cafeteria and get his lunch. He smirked to himself when he saw the two bullies enter the cafeteria looking pretty pissed. Izuku was looking forward to when school let out today because he wouldn’t have to deal with them for a bit.

Eventually, after a long day of school where they did absolutely nothing, school finally got out and Izuku was thrilled. Break here he came! He rushed out of the classroom first, not wanting to deal with those two idiots again and accidentally ran right into Bakugou. He turned around and glared at Izuku.

“Deku…”

Izuku just grinned at him, “have a good break Kacchan!”

Bakugou seemed confused and just shook his head. “You too idiot…” He growled out, which made Izuku’s smile widen. And then he was off, racing away from the school excited to see where this break would bring him!

Notes:

I have a love-hate relationship with every chapter I write

Chapter 8: The plot thickens

Izuku stared at the social worker in front of him blankly, “could you, uh, repeat that?

“There’s a family interested in fostering you so we’re going to meet them!”

Izuku was honestly surprised. He wasn’t expecting this at all, not many people actually wanted to foster a quirkless kid. Izuku was betting this would just be some other shitty family who didn’t care about him and just used him for the child support money. What decent family would want someone quirkless anyways?

“Oh, okay.” Izuku frowned nervously and the excitable social worker told him to get his things. Izuku complied, it wasn’t like he had much to get, at least the stuff that was in the shelter. On his way out of the communal room, he ran into Kobayashi.

“I heard that foster bitch was here for you…” he muttered, “good luck.”

“You make it sound like I’m going off to die.”

Kobayashi rolled his eyes, “you might as well be, you never know with some of those places.” Izuku couldn’t help but agree with the boy. After that small conversation Kobayashi decided he couldn’t be civil any longer and pushed Izuku down the stairs. Izuku glared at the smirking kid once he managed to regain his balance.

“You thought I’d actually be nice to you! Well think twice!” He cackled hysterically and headed off into one of the upstairs rooms. Izuku rolled his eyes, at least he wouldn’t have to deal with that idiot anymore.

He hopped down the last couple of stairs he hadn’t fallen down yet and headed back into the room where the social worker was waiting for him.

“Let’s go Midoriya!” She shouted enthusiastically, Izuku winced, “yeah…”

On the car ride over Izuku was lost in thought, so far he’d been lucky enough that all of his foster homes were decently close to his warehouse, but since this was a new one Izuku wasn’t sure what to expect. He really hoped it would be close though, he wasn’t exactly sure what he’d do if it wasn’t.

Eventually, the black SUV came to a halt and the social worker smiled back at him, “we’re here!” She called out in that annoying sing-songy voice, Izuku frowned. “Good to know.” It was obviously sarcastic but either Ms. Social Worker didn’t notice or just ignored it. Izuku hopped out of the door and trailed the social worker into the office building. She led him to what he presumed to be some kind of waiting room and directed him to take a seat in one of the comfy black chairs. Izuku complied and hopped into one, he pulled out one of his hero notebooks to keep himself occupied while he waited.

“I’ll be right back Midoriya, I’m getting your papers together. You should be able to meet your foster family soon!”

“Okay.” Izuku murmured quietly, he could feel anxiety worming its way into his stomach. What would they be like? Were they nice? What would his living conditions be like there? Izuku pushed down his worries and busied himself with correcting and jotting down new notes about all kinds of heroes and quirks. The hero journals were a hobby he had kept since his childhood, but sadly most of those journals were lost in the apartment fire that had- Izuku didn’t want to think about that right now. But now he only had the journals he had created in the past year, which was around four at the moment. The hobby served him well as Surge since it helped him analyze villains quirk’s quickly and formulate the best strategy to take them down.

Izuku wondered if that foster family was here yet, was he going to meet them soon? Turned out he got that answer a few minutes later when his social worker poked her face through the doorway, “hey Midoriya! Grab your stuff and come with me, you can meet them now.” She had a warm smile on her face, Izuku bit back a sarcastic remark and instead wordlessly gathered his things. Time to meet whoever the fuck he’d be living with for the next few months or whatever. He followed the social worker wordlessly to her office, and when she opened the door Izuku almost had a heart attack.

Eraserhead. Fucking Eraserhead was staring back at him with his classic deadpan expression. Izuku covered up a surprised yelp with a coughing fit and the blond man beside the familiar hero spoke up, “are you okay!” Izuku quickly nodded and cleared his throat, “uh, yeah, sorry. Just got some… air in my throat.” The purple-haired kid who was sitting in a chair gave him a really questioning look after he said that and he smiled awkwardly.

So many questions were running through Izuku’s brain. What the actual fuck was going on? Did Eraser finally figure out his identity? Was he here to arrest him? No, he wouldn’t have brought his family if he was going to do that… actually wait was that Present Mic? That’s totally Present Mic. Eraser was married to Present Mic? Damn Izuku felt betrayed, Eraserhead never told him that. Also there was that purple-haired kid, Izuku totally recognized him from a few nights ago when he saved him. So he was their kid? Izuku winced, the gash! Eraser would definitely question him about that if he saw it wouldn’t he? Actually did Eraser recognize him? It didn’t seem like it so far but maybe he was just covering it up? Was this some sort of trap? Or just some giant coincidence?

Izuku finally snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the social worker asking him something, Izuku just looked at her blankly, “oh! Sorry I spaced out there for a second.”

“I was just asking if you needed anything! Or if anything is wrong?” Izuku glanced towards Eraserhead, who was eyeing him suspiciously. Fuck. Izuku needed to get his act together.

“Nope!” He chirped out, in what he hoped wasn’t a nervous voice. But then again being nervous while going to a new foster family was normal right? Maybe he should be nervous… what if- Izuku about slapped himself, he was overthinking this. He just needed to act normal and if Eraser recognized him… he’d deal with it later.

“Well, I’ll step out of here and let you guys meet each other privately!”

Izuku shuffled his feet nervously, he wasn’t sure what to say, but Present Mic helped him out.

“Hey there! I’m Hizashi Yamada, but you can just call me Hizashi! The grumpy looking man over there is Shouta Aizawa!” Izuku nodded, he’d have to get used to calling Eraser his real name. That might be difficult.

“You can call me Shouta.” Eraser supplied, he was still studying Izuku with a strange look on his face and then Hizashi continued and pointed at the purple-haired kid.

“And that’s our son, Hitoshi Shinsou!” Hitoshi didn’t say anything and just frowned at Izuku.

Izuku tried to manage a small smile, “u-uh it’s nice to meet you guys! I’m Izuku Midoriya… but I’m sure you already know that. Uh, you can just call me Izuku if you want, or not, whatever is fine, er-” Izuku tended to ramble when he got nervous so he cut himself off, “sorry I was rambling!”

Hizashi grinned at him, “it’s alright! I’m sure you’re nervous meeting all these new people!” Izuku nodded mutely. Yeah, that's why he was nervous. Not because he was standing in the same room as a pro hero he’d been meeting with as a vigilante for the past few months. Definitely not that. Izuku was about ready to jump out a window at this point.

Eventually, the four of them headed out to their car, Eraser-no Shouta, was quiet for the most part while Hizashi was enthusiastically telling Izuku about his room and how he’d be able to decorate it how he’d like and lots of other information that Izuku was having trouble processing at the moment. Right before Izuku was about to get into the car Shouta turned to look at him with a small frown, “you seem really familiar kid.” Izuku about leapt out of his skin at that, he knew what Shouta was insinuating. He needed to keep calm.

Izuku tilted his head innocently, “I don’t think I’ve ever met you… maybe we ran into each other around town or something? We might’ve lived in the same area at some point!” That seemed to appease Shouta for the moment, although he didn’t sound convinced in the slightest, “probably.”

Izuku needed to convince Shouta he was in no way, shape, or form someone suspicious. But how was he supposed to do that?

Izuku tried to clear his thoughts and stepped into the car, that would be a problem for later. He just needed to stay calm for now. He got in the car to see Hitoshi frowning at him again. Izuku avoided looking at him, what was his problem anyway? This was how he repaid Izuku for saving his ass? Well… technically he didn’t know Izuku was the one who saved him but… Izuku was jolted from his thoughts as the car started and Hizashi looked back at him and Hitoshi.

“We were thinking we could go to the apartment and then go out for dinner after you get all your stuff settled in! Or we don’t have to if you don’t feel comfortable doing that yet!”

Despite Izuku’s initial panic over the whole Eraserhead situation the two of them were nice. A lot nicer than the previous people he had experienced. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad!

“Y-yeah! That sounds good.” Izuku was finally beginning to recover from his shock and was gaining back his composure. He heard Hitoshi mumble something from beside him, “hopefully this time there isn’t a rampaging villain.” Izuku pretended he didn’t hear him and debated whether to ask Hizashi if he was Present Mic or not. It was normal to recognize a well-known pro like him right? Especially since he had his own radio show. He wasn’t about to say he recognized Shouta as Eraserhead or anything though, that would definitely be a huge red flag for the scruffy man.

“Hey Hizashi? I’m actually a huge fan of heroes,” That wasn’t exactly true, Izuku liked some heroes but a lot of them were just incompetent idiots in it for fame, he just enjoyed analyzing them. He did actually like Present Mic though! “and I thought I recognized you from somewhere when I saw you, are you Present Mic? Hizashi grinned back at him, “that’s right little listener!”

“I told you he’d recognize you,” Hitoshi called out to Hizashi from beside him.

“I’ve never met a pro hero before!” Which was a blatant lie, he’d met pros before, mainly Eraserhead but he’d run into a few others as well. Most of them weren’t exactly pleasant experiences though.

The rest of the car ride consisted of Izuku and Hizashi talking about heroes, Shouta and Hitoshi remained mainly silent but Izuku could swear he saw that scruffy hero smiling a little bit.

“Oh! Do you have a phone Izuku?” Izuku shook his head, he did have a phone, but it was an untraceable one he used strictly for Surge business. Untraceable phones weren’t something that teenagers normally had.

“We’ll get one for you then! We need to be able to contact you somehow!” Izuku’s eyes widened slightly at the kind offer.

“You really don’t have too! That costs money and-”

Shouta spoke this time, “it’s alright kid, we need to be able to contact you in case of emergencies.”

Izuku offered them a small smile, “well thank you!”

Eventually, they arrived at their apartment and the four of them got out of the car. Shouta glanced at him, “I hope you like cats.”

He grinned back, “Cats are super cool! Do you have some?”

“Three actually, their names are Kaito, Mitsu, and Rin.” Izuku felt a feeling of deja vu wash over him, it reminded him of one of the conversations he had with Eraserhead as Surge.

“I can’t wait to meet them!”

Hizashi fumbled with the key to the apartment and unlocked it, “we’re home cats!” He announced happily, “and we have someone new with us!” Izuku felt himself quietly giggle at Hizashi’s announcement when all the cats came scampering to the door. The ginger one, which, if Izuku remembered correctly was called Mitsu, tried to dart out the door but Hitoshi closed it before she could get there.

“Sorry Mitsu.” He scooped her up in his arms and she started to purr. Izuku smiled at the sight, despite how much Hitoshi had frowned at him on the way here he seemed so cute with that cat.

“Alright! Welcome to our apartment!” Izuku turned back to look at Hizashi, “it looks really nice!”

Hizashi took him on a short tour of the three-bedroom apartment and then directed him to the room that was going to be his. It was pretty big, bigger than what Izuku had in the past year, and had a connected bathroom with Hitoshi’s room, which was a little bit down the hallway. It was pretty drab looking, but Hizashi promised that they would go shopping tomorrow to make it more homely which made Izuku smile. They were doing all that for him? After a little Hizashi went to join Shouta and Hitoshi who were talking about something in the living room. He told Izuku that he could unpack and if he needed any help to just call him or Shouta. He also said once he was done he could join them in the living room, or if he needed some time to himself he could just hang out in the room and someone would get him when it was time to go to dinner. Izuku nodded and once Hizashi was gone he flopped over on the bed, which was quite comfortable.

What exactly was he about to get himself into?

He eventually forced himself to get off of the bed and started pulling out the contents of his bulky red backpack, he got out the few pairs of clothes he had, his hero notebooks, and his school backpack (which he had hidden his take-home vigilante gear in). He frowned, he really didn’t have much stuff that he brought with him huh? It was kind of sad. Then he remembered the burnt picture of his family and yanked that out too, he smiled sadly at it. “Hi mom, hi dad.” He whispered, he glanced around the room for a place to stick it and finally decided just to put it on the empty desk until he could find a picture frame or something for it. He glanced towards the backpack which contained his vigilante stuff, but Izuku decided he’d find a secret place for it later, he didn’t think Shouta or Hizashi would go through his stuff. After sticking all of his clothes in the closet and stacking his hero books in one of the desk drawers he briefly considered joining Shouta, Hizashi, and Hitoshi but decided against it. He really needed some time alone and wasn’t ready to face Eraserhead again just yet. So instead he laid down on the bed and closed his eyes, he really needed a nap after all this…

══════════════════

Hizashi walked into the living room and smiled at the two of them, “Izuku’s getting settled in! He’s so sweet!” Then he looked over at Toshi, “how are you feeling?”

Hitoshi shrugged, “he’s alright… he seems nice.” Hitoshi muttered out, avoiding eye contact with his parents. He could feel Shouta’s concerned glare on his back.

“Kid…” Hitoshi glanced back at him and gave him a weak smile, “I’m fine.”

Shouta sighed, “right… please tell us if he’s making you uncomfortable or anything. He does seem nice, but if he’s ever bothering you don’t just keep it to yourself to make us happy.” Hitoshi sighed and gave him a small nod. He knew he probably wouldn’t keep his word, if Izuku did bother him he was used to it, just another day. Hizashi suddenly gasped, “oh no! I forgot to ask him if he had any preferences for dinner!!”

Shouta rolled his eyes, “just ask him later.”

Hizashi frowned at him, “well yeah but-!”

“Actually Hizashi can I talk to you about something real quick…? We’ll be right back Toshi.”

Hizashi blinked in confusion, “uh, sure! See you in a second Toshi!” Hitoshi offered them a confused wave, what did Shouta want to ask Hizashi that was so secretive anyways? Hitoshi pushed down the anxiety that it was something about him and decided not to worry about it. If it concerned him he’d find out sooner or later.

Shouta had pulled Hizashi into their bedroom. “So what’s up Shou! Is something wrong?” Shouta groaned, “no. Not really… it’s just that Izuku kid…” Hizashi tilted his head, “what about him?”

Shouta frowned at him, “he reminds me of Surge. A lot. They both have similar physiques and voices, and they both have an obnoxious amount of freckles.” Shouta could see Hizashi’s face melt into one of concern, “Shou… I know you’re worried about him but not every kid you meet is Surge. Are you sure you’re not just overanalyzing this?”

Shouta rubbed his eyes, “I don’t know! I probably am being illogical, that kid has been driving me up the damn wall.” Hizashi patted his shoulder comfortingly, “don’t worry Shou! Just don’t think about him for tonight! Just get to know Izuku and try to drop the conspiracy theories about him being Surge for now!” Shouta sighed, “you’re probably right. What would the chances be that we actually fostered the vigilante I’ve been talking with for months?” He snorted, “thanks Zashi.” Hizashi smiled warmly at him, “no problem! Let’s get back to Toshi!” Shouta nodded and they exited their bedroom, Surge theories forgotten for then.

══════════════════

Izuku heard a door open…

He jolted upright on the bed ready to defend himself and stared nervously at the person who had just entered his room… his room? The memories came running back into Izuku’s head and he about groaned, right, Eraserhead and all that. His intruder was Hizashi who was smiling brightly at him, “Hey! Sorry I woke you up! We’re about to start getting ready to go out to dinner if you still want to go!”

Izuku blinked, “oh yeah! I’ll be out in a sec.” Hizashi nodded and closed the door to his room, leaving Izuku to gather his thoughts for a few seconds. Then Izuku jumped out of the bed and almost turned to grab his vigilante gear, but he thought better of it, he’d be with Eraserhead and he really didn’t want to explain why he just casually had a mini-zipline with him. That wouldn’t be a fun conversation. Anyways Izuku still smiled to himself, despite the unfortunate fact that one of his foster parents was Eraserhead and he was terrified he would find out about his identity and force him to stop his vigilante-ing, they both seemed really nice and loads better than what he was used to. He trotted over to the door and pulled it open, time to go.

He walked out in the hallway and saw Shouta, Hizashi, and Hitoshi talking about something.

“Hi!” He called out, Hizashi waved at him enthusiastically and yelled out a greeting, Era-Shouta smiled at him and Hitoshi just nodded at him. It was an improvement from frowns at least. “Where are we going?”

Hizashi smiled at him, “we’re still deciding! Do you like anything in particular?” Izuku shrugged, “uh, I’m not really picky, whatever’s fine.” They eventually decided (Hitoshi got exasperated with Izuku and Hizashi’s indecisiveness and just pointed at a random place) and they were off. Izuku tried his very best not to act too nervous around Shouta, which was becoming easier and easier to pull off. They eventually arrived at the restaurant and when they ordered their food Izuku had a realization.

“Could I also have the same thing I’m getting but in a to-go box?” Izuku narrowed his eyes at Shouta. That liar, he always told Izuku what he brought him were just leftovers, not that he was ordering him a whole ass extra meal. At least that’s what he figured the extra meal was for… Actually that reminded Izuku, he was supposed to meet Eraserhead tonight wasn’t he? Fuck. He shook his head, back to the meal thing. He decided to question Shouta about the extra meal, “u-um if you don’t mind me asking why did you order another meal in a to-go box…?” Izuku hoped he wasn’t being suspicious by asking that.

Shouta glanced at him, “it’s for someone I’m helping,” Izuku would’ve yelled at the man for going out of his way to buy his vigilante alter-ego extra food if he wasn’t currently trying to hide that fact, so he just nodded. Suddenly he had the urge to annoy Shouta about the subject, being curious about who he was helping wasn’t a suspicious thing, right?

“Oh okay… who are you helping? Can I meet them? Oh! Sorry, I’m probably being too nosy…” Izuku trailed off and smothered a small grin at Shouta’s slightly annoyed face. “It’s a… friend.” Izuku heard Hitoshi snort from beside him about Shouta’s half-assed response. Izuku dropped the subject after that, he didn’t want to push his luck too much. Soon their food (and the food Shouta had gone out of his way to order for Surge) came to the table. Izuku thanked the two for the food. Eating with people like this as a family was nice… although it reminded Izuku of how much he’d missed it, and how much he missed his family…

══════════════════

When Izuku showed up to the roof Shouta was already waiting for him, “long time no see Eraser! How’ve you been?” Izuku chirped out, Shouta glared at him, “it’s only been a week. And I’m fine, how about yourself?”

“Just fine? Damn Eraser, cheer up!” Shouta just rolled his eyes, “and I’ve been pretty good myself!” Izuku eyed the to-go box in Shouta’s hands, “and you brought food!” Despite having a great dinner earlier, Izuku could definitely go for seconds, even if he was still mad at Shouta for ordering the food specifically for him and not telling him he did…

Shouta handed him the box of food from dinner and Izuku snatched it out of his hands, “this smells good! What is it?” Shouta muttered out a response, which Izuku already knew, and Izuku dug into the food.

“How’s your leg?” Izuku glanced over at him, “it’s good! It wasn’t as deep as I thought originally, it’s almost gone.” That was a slight lie, it wasn’t almost gone, but maybe it would throw Shouta off if he happened to see Izuku’s leg when he wasn’t Surge.

“That’s good.”

“How’s your purple kid? Is he alright?” Shouta nodded, “yes, he only got a scrape on his elbow since you helped him.” Izuku would’ve winked at him if he could see it, “it’s all in a day's work Eraser!” They talked for a bit longer, Izuku complained about how stupid exams were and some other dumb stuff. Shouta asked him if he was getting enough sleep to which Iuzku replied, “I’m probably getting more sleep than you, I don’t look like a hobo.” That made Shouta sigh exasperatedly and Izuku broke out laughing at his annoyed expression.

“I’m not sorry.”

“Problem child…”

The two eventually parted ways and Izuku went to do some wound care for the, now smaller, gash on his leg. He bandaged it up again and prayed that Shouta wouldn’t find out about it. He made sure to be back to the apartment before Shouta got back from patrol, and just like he’d expected the man opened his door to find Izuku (pretending that he was) sleeping soundly. Izuku smirked when the light faded as Shouta closed his door again.

Notes:

I've had this written since like October 1st and I'm excited to finally post it!

On another note, this fic will have been posted for a month this Saturday! I wasn't expecting so many people to like this little project and I'm so happy that you guys are enjoying it :) ALSO, I changed the story description up a bit and I think it's a lot better than what I had there originally.

Chapter 9: Evading the law with Izuku

Izuku and his new family went shopping the next day and Izuku was excited. He hadn’t been actually shopping for such a long time! The four of them were currently driving to the mall (Shouta came unwillingly) and Izuku had a wide grin on his face, he was trying to decide whether to buy a bunch of obnoxious hero merch and throw it everywhere in his room or to actually make a semi-decent living space for himself. Once in the mall, Shouta dragged Hizashi off to get coffee and before they left Shouta told him and Hitoshi they could go wherever, but they needed to use the money they had responsibly and to be back at the food court by 11. Izuku shot him a quick grin and a thumbs up before he ran off into the depths of the mall… Maybe he’d be able to talk with Hitoshi!

“Any places you wanted to look at?”

Hitoshi shrugged, “wherever you want.”

Izuku pouted at him, “aw c’mon! There has to be somewhere you want to go!”

Hitoshi still didn’t give him a conclusive answer so Izuku just smiled at him, “well just tell me if you see anywhere!”

Izuku’s first stop was the giant hero store this mall had, he was going to find any and all Eraserhead merch and nothing would stop him, even the threat of Eraserhead being suspicious. Because going up to the man with Eraserhead merch and seeing his face would be priceless, he hated merch, and the media, and really everything but cats honestly. He halted outside the hero store, “perfect!”

Hitoshi glanced at him, “perfect for what exactly?” He grinned at Hitoshi, “finding hero merch! There’s so much… there has to be merch of him in here somewhere…”

“Him?”

Izuku waved his hand, “oh just my favorite hero! He’s not really well-known so I dunno if you’ve heard of him.” Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at how he said favorite, “ah.” He trailed Izuku into the store, who was rapidly looking around the store for Eraserhead merch. He couldn’t find any and he realized he had lost Hitoshi so he was about to look for him when he heard mocking voices from around the corner.

“Oh my god, why is that villain here?”

Izuku perked up at that and went to investigate when he saw a few students huddled together, sending fugitive glances over at Hitoshi. Izuku narrowed his eyes, he could see what was going on here.

“Could you guys move please? I’m trying to get to my friend.” Izuku said, his voice dripping with fake sweetness. Someone shuffled over, letting Izuku walk over to Hitoshi when he heard a surprised call from behind him. “Oh that’s your friend?”

Izuku glanced behind himself, “yeah, what’s the problem?”

The main bully smirked, “he probably didn’t tell you, but he’s a freak. He can brainwash you if you talk to him, honestly he probably brainwashed you to be his friend! I would stay away from him.”

Izuku turned back to the group a threatening smile on his face, “is that so? Well how about you kindly go fuck yourself.” The bully looked surprised for a moment before glaring at Hitoshi who was behind Izuku, “you’re forcing him to say that aren’t you!” That pissed Izuku off and he had to hold himself back from punching the idiot in the face. He cut Hitoshi off before he could respond.

“No he isn’t, you’re just an idiot. Now if you’d excuse us, me and Shinsou are leaving and you can go stick your head up your ass elsewhere. Goodbye.” Izuku glared at the bully again, who was in a stunned silence and dragged Hitoshi out of the store. Hitoshi finally spoke up, “why did you do that?”

Izuku glanced back at him in confusion, “uh, because they’re assholes and you don’t deserve that? Quirk discrimination is bullshit.”

Hitoshi looked surprised, “oh, thanks… I’ve never really had anyone help me like that…” Izuku grinned at him, “no problem!” Then he tilted his head, “what is your quirk anyways? If you don’t mind me asking! I think all quirks are super cool, I’m quirkless, I don’t know if you already knew that, so I’ve never gotten to experience one of my own but I love learning about other peoples!”

Hitoshi looked slightly nervous, “yeah, I saw that in your file. It’s brainwashing, if someone responds to something I say I can control them.” Izuku’s eyes lit up, “seriously! That’s so cool! That would be so useful as a hero… you could minimize property damage and safely get victims out of situations without all the destruction flashy quirks cause!”

“Really? Thanks… actually, sorry about glaring at you so much yesterday. I just didn’t want you to be some kind of asshole and I was hoping to maybe scare you off. Thanks for helping me even after all that.”

Izuku chuckled, “oh believe me, it’d take much more than that to scare me off!”

After the brief encounter with those bullies Izuku and Hitoshi went off to other stores. Izuku enthusiastically asked Hitoshi what kind of decorations he liked more and what billboard he should get. Hitoshi felt himself start to smile at the friendly boy involuntarily, he didn’t seem so bad… Maybe this was going to be better than he expected.

Eventually Izuku stumbled upon another hero store, which was smaller than the other one, but it had a lot more non-mainstream heroes in it. Hitoshi finally questioned Izuku about what hero he was looking for exactly.

“Oh, he’s an underground hero, I think he’s super cool! Eraserhead, have you heard of him?” Hitoshi felt his eyes widen, his favorite hero was Shouta? Hitoshi felt a small grin form on his face, Izuku’s favorite hero was one of his foster parents and he didn’t even know it? Hitoshi couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he found out. Little did Hitoshi know, Izuku wasn’t going to be the one getting surprised.

“Oh I’ve heard of him, he seems pretty cool. I’ve always wanted to be a hero and I think becoming an underground one like him would be pretty cool.” Izuku nodded, “I’ve always wanted to be a hero too… it’s just since I’m quirkless I can’t really get into any hero schools or anything and it sucks.” Hitoshi felt himself sympathising with the smaller boy, he knew what that kind of hopelessness felt like.

Izuku looked around in the store, but yet no Eraserhead merch was to be found. “Still haven’t found any Eraserhead merch…” He groaned out.

Hitoshi shrugged, “I heard he doesn’t like the media that much, he probably wouldn’t have anything.” Izuku smirked, Eraserhead didn’t just not like the media. He hated it with a burning passion and would probably rather throw himself off a roof than be on the news. Izuku thought it was hilarious. “You’re probably right… that’s sad! I guess I’ll just settle for Present Mic stuff for Hizashi!

Izuku rounded up some Present Mic merch (which was much more plentiful that Eraserhead merch), he was seriously tempted to buy a Present Mic wig and add it to his Surge costume, a terrific addition if Izuku said so himself (he didn’t in the end). He also got a working Present Mic speaker out and started screaming into it. Hitoshi laughed at all the dumb hero merch Izuku was trying out and eventually had to drag him out of the store because he was being too disruptive. In the end Izuku ended up buying a lot of obnoxious hero merch, a billboard (which Hitoshi said he couldn’t drag around and they’d come back for it before they left), and some desk supplies. Izuku said he didn’t want to waste too much of Shouta and Hizashi’s money.

Hitoshi also had to drag Izuku away from the escalator because he wanted to see if he could ride it all the way down while balancing on the handrail, that idiot was going to get them both kicked out of this mall. Hitoshi eventually managed to get them both back to the food court, five minutes late because Izuku gotten them lost in a mall, and Hitoshi was laughing quietly over all of Izuku’s dumb comments. It was fun just hanging out with someone like this.

“You guys are five minutes late.” Shouta sounded completely dead.

“We got a little… lost.” Izuku supplied with a grin.

“Lost? In a mall?” Shouta raised an eyebrow.

Izuku shrugged, “I got a little distracted and somehow we ended up on the opposite end of the mall… but it’s okay! We’re here now.”

Shouta shook his head at his two problem children and Hizashi spoke up, “we got you a phone Izuku!” Izuku’s eyes widened, “really! You didn’t have to spend that on me, I’m already wast-”

Shouta spoke up, “you’re not wasting our money kid, we want to make sure you’re comfortable and safe. You can text us if you ever need something.” Hizashi nodded enthusiastically and Izuku almost snorted. He was anything but ‘safe.’ He accepted the phone anyways though, he was so grateful for how welcome the trio had already made him feel.

══════════════════

Izuku had been woken up by a nightmare he couldn’t remember, but the dread and panic that was filling up his chest was making his eyes tear up. He rolled over on his bed to check the time, 4:07. He stared at the clock for a couple minutes, willing himself to calm down and go back to sleep, but that didn’t work out and Izuku slapped an arm over his face with a groan. This wasn’t working. He briefly considered going out as Surge for a bit but decided against it, it was too late for that now and he might not get back in time. He glanced at the clock again which now read 4:13. His throat felt dry so he sat up with a small sigh and wrapped a blanket over his head to go to the kitchen. He quietly snuck out of his room and his heart jumped into his throat when he saw someone was on the living room couch with the lights turned off, the only light illuminating them was a laptop. It was Shouta, he really needed to get more sleep, Izuku thought quickly. Izuku debated going back into the room, but the man had already spotted him.

“Kid, what are you doing up?” Izuku pulled the blanket tighter over his head, “nightmare. Couldn’t sleep.” He muttered out briefly, “sorry for bothering you… I’ll just go-” Izuku turned to enter his room again but Shouta had other plans. “Were you going to get something from the kitchen?” Izuku glanced behind him and gave Shouta a hesitant nod, “yeah, to drink… sorry.” He whispered. Shouta sighed, “don’t apologize for that.” He stood up and nodded towards the kitchen, “what do you want?”

Izuku blinked at him and started slowly walking towards him, “oh… just water is alright.” Shouta nodded and pointed to the couch, “I’ll get it, go sit.”

“A-are you sure…?”

Shouta sighed, “yes.” The finality in his tone was unarguable so Izuku slid onto the couch. One of the cats was sitting on it, so he scratched their head while he waited for Shouta. He watched Shouta get a glass and put some water in it and then he padded back with the water in hand. He handed it to Izuku who faintly smiled at him.

“Thanks…” He took a sip of the water and set it on the coffee table in front of him.

Shouta frowned worriedly at him, “are you okay?” Izuku curled into himself, he could feel the worries of Shouta finding out that he was Surge bubbling to the surface. He must’ve looked slightly panicked because he felt Shouta’s hand on his shoulder, “hey, it’s okay kid.” Izuku sighed and rubbed his eyes, “sorry… I’m fine.” Shouta wasn’t fooled.

“You said you had a nightmare earlier? Do you want to talk about it?” Izuku looked at his hands, “I don’t really remember it… I just woke up and I felt really… nervous, and I couldn’t get back to sleep. Sorry for bothering you, were you working on something?”

Shouta shook his head, “don’t be sorry kid. Honestly I shouldn’t still be up, if Zashi knew he’d kill me.” Izuku laughed quietly, “yeah it’s like four in the morning, I don’t blame him. I think you need to get more sleep Shouta.” Izuku felt really strange calling him Shouta, damn.

“I take naps.” He replied simply and Izuku hummed and closed his eyes. “I think you’re nocturnal…” He slurred out, “or maybe you’re a vampire.” Shouta grunted from beside him and Izuku cracked a small smile. Izuku could feel the cat purring against his leg and Shouta had his arm on the couch behind him. He honestly didn’t mean too, but it just felt so calming in the moment Izuku felt himself drifting back off to sleep. This time he didn’t have any nightmares.

══════════════════

Izuku woke up to the smell of breakfast being made. He stiffened for a moment, remembering the events of last night and why he was on the couch. How could he let his guard down around Eraserhead like that! What if… Izuku shook the thoughts from his head a second later, Eraser was nice, he wouldn't do anything to Izuku. Plus, he didn’t have proof Izuku was Surge even if he thought they might be the same person. Izuku finally decided to wake all the way up with a loud groan and stared behind him upside down.

“Good morning!” Hizashi chirped out, he looked kind of smug… suspicious. “Hi.” Izuku yawned out. Hizashi smiled mischievously at him, “I got a really cute picture of you and Shouta this morning!” The tone of his voice was innocent but Izuku’s eyes widened. He glanced over at Shouta who was scowling at the table, “taking pictures of people without their permission is illegal.”

Hizashi just laughed at him, “it’s mine now! It’ll forever be saved in our family photo albums!” Izuku felt a small smile creep onto his face, family photo albums? Did that mean they thought Izuku…? He heard footsteps coming down the hall and looked up to see Hitoshi’s ever tired face. “Good morning Toshi! I have something to-”

Shouta cut him off with a glare, “no.” Hizashi smirked back, “to show you!” Hitoshi looked very interested at the conversation and padded over, “please, tell me more.” Hizashi whipped out his phone, despite the threats from Shouta and proudly showed Hitoshi a picture.

“Aren’t they cute!?” Hitoshi chuckled and Izuku craned his neck to try and get a good look at the picture. It was of him nestled up into Shouta’s side, and he had his arm around Izuku. Izuku wasn’t sure if he thought it was cute or if he felt exposed. Probably a bit of both. Shouta mumbled something incoherent and Izuku shot him a smile, “we can get back at him somehow Shouta!” He chirped out, a little too happily. Hizashi looked faintly scared and Hitoshi had a wide smile on his face.

“I feel slightly threatened!”

Izuku just smiled at Hizashi and he saw Shouta with a faint grin playing on his lips out of the corner of his eye. Hitoshi snorted, “I can’t wait to see this shit.”

“Language.” Shouta muttered half-heartedly. Hitoshi smirked at him and Izuku laughed.

“Breakfast is ready!” That made Izuku jump to his feet and dart over to the kitchen.

══════════════════

Izuku’s plan to get back at Hizashi was pretty genius if he said so himself. The man was super easy to scare, which was strange with him being a pro hero, but then again Izuku was terrified of ghost movies so he couldn’t talk. Anyways, Izuku’s plan was pretty simple: get a severed foot and put it in Hizashi’s shoe. Acquiring a real severed foot wasn’t something Izuku wanted to do, so he just settled for a fake one. Hitoshi and Izuku had been hanging out in the living room, making fun of reality TV shows when Hizashi screamed. Hitoshi jumped slightly but Izuku was too busy cackling. Shouta came racing out of his room, a worried look on his face, but paused when he saw Hizashi trying to yank the fake, bloody foot out of his shoe. Izuku glanced at Hizashi, “told you I’d get back at you! Couldn’t pass up the opportunity!” Hitoshi was snickering from beside him and Shouta shook his head.

“It sounded like someone was being murdered.”

“I thought someone had been!!”

“And it ended up in your shoe somehow?”

“YES!”

══════════════════

Izuku’s warehouse was ten minutes away from Shouta and Hizashi’s apartment if he ziplined there and twenty minutes on foot. It was an easy distance and Izuku was so thankful, because he wasn’t sure what he would’ve done if it had taken an hour to get there. Somehow move all his equipment and training supplies? Anyways, Izuku hadn’t been hanging out in the warehouse as much in the past week, he also hadn’t gotten to be Surge as much as originally planned due to trying to evade Shouta.

Izuku was exercising at the moment and he kicked the punching bag and did a small flip off it, he landed with a grin on his face, that made him feel like a ninja. He wiped some sweat off his forehead and went over to the bench to get some water. He clicked on the phone Shouta and Hizashi had gotten for him to see that Hitoshi had texted him.

Hitoshi Shinsou: hizashi wants to do school shopping soon, are you and your friend almost done?

Izuku Midoriya: Yeah, I’m coming home now! Be there in like 20 mins

Izuku used a rag to wipe some sweat off himself and quickly changed out of his workout clothes (which desperately needed to be washed, but today was not the day) and ran out of the warehouse. He didn’t use his zipline (broad daylight wasn’t the most secretive time of day) so he walked through the mildly sketchy side of town where his warehouse was located, hoping he wouldn’t get mugged. Luckily for him, he got home without incident and arrived at the apartment, “I’m back!”

“Finally!” Hitoshi yelped out, Izuku kicked the back of the couch and stuck his tongue out at him, “I didn’t take that long!”

The trio set off to go shopping, Shouta was sorting through paperwork and acceptance letters of new UA students apparently, so he couldn’t come. Izuku picked out an obnoxious neon yellow pencil pouch and chucked it at Hitoshi’s face, “I think that one fits you.”

Hitoshi scoffed, “this burns my eyes just looking at it.”

Eventually they managed to get some semi-decent looking supplies and were on their way home when Hizashi got a call from Shouta.

“Hey Shouta! What’s up?”

“Really? I’m on my way back with Izuku and Toshi, should I swing by aft-”

“It’s urgent?” Hizashi sighed, and looked back at Izuku and Hitoshi in the backseat, “change of plans, I need to stop by UA.”

“UA?” Izuku questioned excitedly, “like the UA? You and Shouta teach there right?”

Hitoshi intervened, “it’s not as cool as it's made up to be.” But Izuku was excited nevertheless, this could be interesting!

Izuku bounced out of the car when they arrived at UA and stared around, obviously impressed, “it’s huge! I’ve always wanted to come to UA! I just… can’t.” The last part was muttered bitterly, Hitoshi heard it but he was pretty sure Hizashi didn’t.

“It is huge isn’t it! I can give you a tour sometime!” The two followed Hizashi into the building to be promptly greeted by Shouta who dragged him towards the staff room. Izuku and Hitoshi waited in the hallway and Izuku offered that they look around the school. Hitoshi told him he already had and he didn’t want to get yelled at so Izuku stuck his tongue out at him. Midnight, who insisted Izuku call her Nemuri, eventually came out of the staff room to lead Izuku and Hitoshi to a classroom for them to wait in, only to run back to the staff room.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Izuku was laying across several desks like a couch and Hitoshi was sitting cross legged on the teachers desk.

“Dunno, probably something to do with entrance exams. This normally happens.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, they start looking at transcripts and stuff and then someone has some kind of mark on their record they didn’t notice before, and then they have to tweak the classes, and all this other shit. It’s pretty boring, Hizashi told me one time. They’ll probably be done soon.” Hitoshi shrugged and Izuku looked at the classroom door, “it wouldn’t hurt just to walk around a little bit…” Izuku gave him some puppy dog eyes and Hitoshi groaned, “no. We’re not snooping around UA alone.”

“We got lost on our way to the bathroom Shinsou! We’re not gonna snoop around.” Hitoshi rolled his eyes, “if you wanna get in trouble, be my guest.” Izuku smirked at him and tried to gracefully get down from his desk-couch, but ended up crashing into the ground.

“Nice.”

“Shut up…” Izuku groaned. “Anyways, I’ll see you later Shinsou!” Izuku smirked at him and opened the door, “bye!” Hitoshi groaned and slowly stood up, “I hate you.” So the two of them set off into the halls of UA with Hitoshi muttering about how looking around wasn’t worth it.

Izuku was tempted to try to break into the principal's office, but given that UA most likely had cameras and Izuku didn’t currently have a way to disable them, that probably wasn’t a good idea. Instead he wandered around and tried to find some of the training arenas or the support course classrooms.

“It is pretty normal looking in here… where’s all the cool stuff?” Izuku tilted his head at Hitoshi. “Probably outside of the main building, this part’s just used for school and stuff mostly.” Izuku was disappointed at that and was about to reply when someone cleared their throat from behind the pair. Izuku spun around quickly, ready to defend himself, but instead he felt a nervous smile slide onto his face.

“Why are you two wandering around? Problem children.” Shouta growled. Izuku laughed nervously, “sorry! I just wanted to look around and I managed to rope Shinsou into coming with me!”

Shouta gave him a disapproving stare, “don’t do this again.” Izuku shot him a thumbs up, “okay Er-Shouta!” Fuck, Izuku had messed up, maybe the man hadn’t noticed? He just gave Izuku a calculating look before turning away, “we’re done, lets go.” The two nodded silently and followed Shouta out, Izuku’s UA adventure was over, for now.

══════════════════

Being a vigilante was difficult when both of your foster parents were pro heroes, especially if one of them personally knew you as a vigilante. But despite that fact Izuku definitely was not giving up on being Surge because of some small problem like that. So he did his very best to cover up his outings. One of the ways he did this was he managed to buy a green, curly wig that looked exactly like Izuku’s own hair, he stuck some blankets under the covers of his bed and the wig on top, in hopes it looked like he was sleeping.

Izuku was out as Surge for one of the last times until school started and he was loving the freedom he felt. Not that he didn’t feel free with his foster family or anything, it was just as Surge a lot more things felt possible than when he was Izuku.

Suddenly a loud “boom!” erupted in the silent city and Izuku could hear screaming. That was all it took for him to shoot himself towards the noise. He landed on a building which looked down on the street where a villain had appeared, he was currently holding someone hostage and the two heroes who were on the scene appeared at a loss of what to do. Izuku sighed, couldn’t they at least do their job every once and awhile? Izuku always ran into incompentent pros. He leaped down from the building quietly and snuck up behind the villain, the two heroes were trying to reason with him.

“Let him go!”

“Get me the fucking money then!” He growled out in response.

“I-I can’t, it’s a bank, that’s illegal… just let him go and-”

“Guess he’s dead then, you worth-” Izuku smashed him over the head with one of his rods, which caused him to drop the hostage who ran over to the two pros. Izuku smirked at the angry villain who turned towards him with a roar.

“Hey there buddy! What’s up?” Objects from around the street came rushing towards Izuku and the villain and he glanced around.

“Woah! Fancy quirk, how does it work?” Izuku casually questioned while dodging all the obstacles, that seemed to really piss the villain off.

“Who the fuck are you?”

Izuku giggled, “the name’s Surge!” With that he pulled out his electrical gun and shot it towards the criminal. His eyes widened but once he felt no bullet he smirked, “you missed.”

Izuku laughed back at him, “did I?” And then he shocked the criminal to his knees, he pulled some handcuffs off of his belt and snapped them onto the stunned villain. “These are quirk suppressants by the way, I needed to return them to the police anyways, I accidentally borrowed them.” Izuku glanced over at the two shocked pros and tossed them the key, “I think you’re competent enough to at least keep the key safe and that guy here until the police come right? Or do you need my help?” Izuku’s tone held a slight mocking tone which made the two bristle, “we had it all under control! And you can’t leave, y-”

Izuku scoffed, “watch me.” And he shot over his heads and swung onto the roof behind them, “Surge saves the day again!” He announced proudly before running off into the darkness.

Izuku loved being Surge.

Notes:

Writing block SUCKS

Chapter 10: Izuku gains a sidekick

Once Izuku started school with Hitoshi he quickly realized why the poor kid didn’t trust Izuku at all at first: everyone was a fucking asshole to him. Izuku could stand being bullied himself, but seeing Hitoshi get talked about behind his back made Izuku pissed. So pissed, in fact, that Izuku almost ignored his ‘no fighting because of his record’ rule. Instead, he just gave death glares at anyone who dared to mention Hitoshi’s name badly.

He was following Hitoshi to the cafeteria, and not looking where he was going when he crashed into someone. He scrambled to his knees and tried to collect all of his fallen things while apologizing.

“I’m so sorry!”

The girl waved her hand, “oh, no problem!” The girl started looking at his hero analysis journal in his hands. “Oh! You like heroes too?” She asked excitedly and Izuku smiled nervously, “uh, something like that.”

“Oh my god, you should totally sit with me and my friend at lunch! We really like heroes too- well at least I do- and…!” The girl started talking excitedly with him and Izuku made eye-contact with Hitoshi and mouthed, ‘help me.’ Hitoshi just smirked at him.

Izuku eventually intervened in the girl’s excited chatter, “well I was actually going to sit with my friend Shinsou over there…” That made the girl look behind her and she smiled at Hitoshi, “oh hi! He can sit with us too!” Izuku wasn’t exactly sure how to respond so he just let her drag him off to the cafeteria with Hitoshi snickering from behind him. They got in line for lunch and the girl continued talking about heroes and all sorts of other stuff.

“Oh my god, I never told you guys my name! I’m so sorry! I’m Kotori Kurihara, but you can just call me Kuri! Nice to meet you, uh…”

“Izuku Midoriya.” He supplied with a small smile.

“Shinsou and Midoriya!”

They eventually made their way over to Kurihara’s table where a guy was looking through some notes, he looked up when they saw Kurihara.

“Hey Kuri!” The boy greeted and then looked over at Hitoshi and Izuku, “oh hi! I’m so sorry did Kuri drag you both over here?” Kurihara glared at the boy, “Ayano!”

Izuku spoke up, “oh it’s okay! She didn’t force us to come over here, right Shinsou?” Hitoshi muttered something under his breath so Izuku kicked his shin, “right Shinsou?”

“Yeah…”

They both sat down across from Kurihara and her friend.

“I’m Kaoru Ayano by the way!” Izuku smiled back and Hitoshi frowned at the table. Kurihara interjected, “Midoriya likes heroes too! And maybe Shinsou does too? He never told me.”

Ayano frowned, “oh god, not another one.” That made Kurihara laugh. Kurihara turned towards Izuku and Hitoshi, “Ayano’s boring and doesn’t like heroes. He thinks they’re all just in it for the fame-”

“Most of them, not all of them.”

“Same thing!”

Ayano frowned at her, “no, not really. I like underground heroes and stuff.” They bickered back and forth for a bit and Izuku smiled at the friendly duo.

Eventually the two stopped arguing and Kurihara smiled at both Izuku and Hitoshi, “actually what are you guys’ quirks?” She asked enthusiastically which made both Hitoshi and Izuku wince. She didn’t seem to notice their discomfort but Ayano did, “sorry she’s being nosy, you guys don’t have to answer that.” Kurihara glanced over at the two, “oh yeah! Sorry if that’s personal.”

Izuku and Hitoshi stayed mostly quiet for the rest of lunch and just listened to the three friends talk. Then Kurihara whipped her phone out of her backpack and slammed it on the table, “oh before I forget! We should exchange numbers!”

Right before lunch ended Izuku noticed some people had walked up and were talking with their new friends while he and Hitoshi threw their trash away. He and Hitoshi walked up to the table just in time to hear, “I’d stay away from Shinsou, his quirk is… villainous.” That seemed to piss Ayano off, “Quirks are just quirks, they can’t be villainous you dumbass. I think the villainous one here is you.” Izuku cleared his throat, “hey you’re blocking our seats, can you move?”

The bully just glared at the table before stalking off, Ayano muttered something about assholes under his breath. Him and Hitoshi sat down at the table and Hitoshi spoke up, “sorry about that, some people have a vendetta against me.” Ayano shrugged, “don’t worry about it.” Kurihara nodded, “yeah! Just ignore them, I’m sure your quirk is super cool!” Kurihara added. Izuku saw Hitoshi smile from beside him, and he smiled too.

══════════════════

Hitoshi liked Izuku, he had been really nice to him from the start and they both got along really well, but he did have to say he felt something was… off about him. Like in the sense that he was trying to cover something up, namely from Shouta. The two had such a strange relationship. They seemed like they got along, but Hitoshi always noticed Shouta narrowing his eyes at Izuku and Izuku fiddling nervously with whatever was in his hands. Whatever was going on, Hitoshi was getting to the bottom of it.

He edged up to Shouta one night while he was watching the nightly news with Hizashi.

“So Dadzawa, what’s up with you and Midoriya?”

Shouta coughed at the question and Hitoshi saw Hizashi glaring at him.

“I’m sorry about Shouta Hitoshi, there’s nothing wrong, he’s just a conspiracy theorist!”

That made Hitoshi raise his eyebrow and Shouta frowned, “he just reminds me of someone.”

“Who?”

Hizashi butted in, “it doesn’t matter because Shou is going to stop assuming things.” Shouta just grunted in response and Hitoshi backed off, obviously there was some kind of ongoing argument about Izuku and he didn’t want to get involved in it. But the argument made him even more curious about the two so he decided to confront Izuku about it. Izuku was copying something from his phone to one of his journals and was sprawled out over his bed.

“Hey Midoriya.” Izuku glanced over at Hitoshi and smiled, “hey Shinsou! Oh! Also I’ve been meaning to tell you but I don’t mind if you call me Izuku!” He grinned at Hitoshi who paused, “o-oh, in that case you can call me Hitoshi.” Izuku nodded happily and sat up on his bed, “what’s up?” Hitoshi walked further into the room and shut Izuku’s door behind him.

“I have a question.”

“Shoot.”

“What’s up with you and Dadzawa? He mentioned something about possibly knowing you from somewhere when I asked him, but Hizashi said he didn’t…?”

Izuku shrugged at him, “I dunno either! Maybe I remind him of a student of his or something?” Hitoshi frowned and glanced around Izuku’s room, “maybe, it is kind of weird though.”

Izuku nodded, “it’s probably nothing, don’t worry about it.” Hitoshi narrowed his eyes at the green-headed boy, “yeah…” Hitoshi wanted to figure this thing out, he was going to become a conspiracy theorist too he guessed. He said bye to Izuku and walked over to his bedroom, still trying to figure out what was going on between Shouta and Izuku…

Once Hitoshi left Izuku frowned, “why can’t you guys just not be suspicious of me? This is annoying.” He growled to himself, at least Hizashi didn’t think Izuku had anything strange going on with him.

After trying to figure out why Shouta was so suspicious of Izuku for a few weeks Hitoshi was ready to give up. Izuku was very, very normal. He was friendly towards basically everyone (except if they insulted Hitoshi), he loved stupid reality TV shows, and was terrified of paranormal horror movies. That was until Hitoshi saw Izuku climbing up the wall of their apartment building to get to his window.

It was around 4am and Hitoshi couldn’t sleep. He was watching some YouTube videos on his phone when he got a tugging feeling in his gut to go look out his window. When he glanced out he saw someone wearing an all-black outfit faceplant into their apartment building wall and climb into Izuku’s bedroom. Needless to say, Hitoshi was terrified that someone had just broken into their apartment and he crept through the bathroom connecting him and Izuku’s room… he saw Izuku sleeping in his bed and the trespasser was closing the window. Hitoshi got closer to the man, planning to use his quirk or something to immobilize him, when the man pinned him to the ground and slapped a hand over his mouth.

“Fuck, Hitoshi?” Wait, that was Izuku’s voice… Izuku sat up and pulled the hood off of his head, “you scared me, I thought someone broke in” Hitoshi glared at him, “you thought someone had broken in? I just saw you climb into your fucking window.” Izuku winced and gave Hitoshi a nervous smile, “o-oh, did you? Are you sure you just didn’t imagine it?” Hitoshi glanced over at Izuku’s bed again and saw that what he had previously thought Izuku was just a green wig.

“Yeah. What the fuck Izuku?”

Izuku stood up and groaned, “I- nothing! Just a… walk.” Hitoshi eyed him looking unconvinced.

Izuku pursed his lips, “I’m an idiot. Listen don’t tell anyone about this Hitoshi.” Hitoshi pushed himself off the floor, “oh? Why not?” Izuku frowned, “just…” He sighed in annoyance, “listen I’ll explain what’s going on if you promise you don’t tell anyone. Okay?” Hitoshi didn’t miss the slightly threatening tone in Izuku’s voice, that kid could be scary. “Fine, explain.”

Izuku rolled his eyes, “let me change into my pajamas first, I’m hella tired. Scoot.” Izuku shooed Hitoshi out of his dark room for the moment and then slapped a hand over his face.

“I need to be more goddamn careful, fuck.” Izuku pulled at his hair anxiously while he changed, he hadn’t meant for this to happen. How could he be so reckless and let Hitoshi see him climb into his window? This was not good. Eventually, Izuku hesitantly motioned for Hitoshi to come back in, he had put away his zipline and wig and patted his bed for Hitoshi to sit on.

“Okay, so what do you want to know?” He whispered, being careful not to wake Hizashi and Shouta up.

“Well one, why the fuck were you climbing into your bedroom window which is five stories off the ground. Two, what the fuck?” He hissed and Izuku laughed nervously.

“Well,” he put a hand on the back of his neck, “you asked me about why Shouta always acts weird around me a couple of weeks ago, right? It has something to do with that…” Hitoshi nodded. Izuku frowned, “I’m guessing you want more information.” Hitoshi shrugged, “if you saw someone climbing up a building at 4am you’d do the same.”

Izuku groaned quietly and flopped over on his bed, “fine. You ever heard of Surge?” He started talking again before Hitoshi could answer, “of course you have, he saved your ass like a month ago.” Izuku then jabbed a thumb at himself, “he’s yours truly!” Hitoshi opened his mouth to say something but couldn’t form a sentence. Izuku laughed bitterly, “I was trying to keep everyone from finding out, mostly good ‘ol Eraser, but I guess I fucked that up huh?”

Hitoshi eyed Izuku, “so, you’re the vigilante Dadzawa’s been after for like half a year?” Izuku shot some finger guns at him, “yep! That’s why you can’t tell anyone Hitoshi. This is a secret, and if it gets out… I don’t really know what I’ll do.” He muttered, “I don’t want Eraser to stop me from doing my vigilante work, I have my reasons for it and it’s really important to me.” Izuku sat back up and squeezed Hitoshi’s shoulder, “please.”

Hitoshi felt himself smirking, “I’ll play along, I dunno why it’s so important to you but you seem to care a lot about it…”

Izuku looked at him with wide eyes, “oh thank god.” He leaned forward to hug Hitoshi and laughed into his shoulder, “y'know, maybe this is a good thing. I have a partner in crime who can cover up for me now!”

Hitoshi scoffed and pushed the boy off with a small smile, “I need to process all this, I’ll talk to you in the morning Izuku.”

Izuku waved at him, “g’night Hitoshi… Sorry about slamming you into the wall earlier!” Hitoshi shook his head and padded off into his room leaving Izuku alone with his thoughts. Izuku felt his eyes trailing over to his billboard over his bed, even though he couldn’t really see the picture well he still smiled.

“Goodnight mom and dad… I love you guys. I’m sorry I couldn’t save both of you, but I’m trying to make up for it… even if I can’t become a hero I can still save people…” Izuku tried to rub away the tears welling up in his eyes.

“I’m sorry. I’ll do better.”

══════════════════

Izuku got up before everyone in the apartment. He scooped some food out for the cats, made himself a cup of coffee, and turned on the morning news while he waited for everyone to start filing out of their rooms. He was only half watching the news though, most of his thoughts were filled with the events of last night.

He’d gone out as Surge, about got shot by a yakuza, got five people arrested for assault, and stopped a hostage situation. Needless to say Izuku was tired by the time he got home and really just wanted to flop over and go to sleep. But the universe hated Izuku and wanted him to suffer so of course Hitoshi just had to see him sneaking into his window at four in the morning which led to Izuku admitting something he was not planning on doing period. And to top it all off Izuku hadn’t been able to fall asleep. On the bright side, at least it was Hitoshi that caught him instead of Shouta or Hizashi. He groaned and focused on the news, most of it was just insignificant shit. There was a section about someone's dog’s birthday, some irrelevant heroes did an interview, and the weather. Izuku stared boredly at the TV and checked his phone for the time: 6:19, they should be getting up soon. The first one out was uncharacteristically Shouta.

“You’re up early.” Izuku called out.

“You are too, it’s only 6:25.” He muttered back, Izuku shrugged, “I woke up early and couldn’t fall back asleep.” That was a lie, but it was fine. Izuku was used to getting a less than stellar amount of sleep, he had matching eyebags with Shouta and Hitoshi to prove it. Izuku took a sip of his coffee and waved to Hitoshi when he walked out, Hitoshi nodded at him, he obviously still had the events of last night on his mind too. Hizashi was the last one out into the common room, which was uncommon, because normally he got up way before the three insomniacs he lived with.

It was on Hitoshi and Izuku’s walk to school when Hitoshi questioned him about being Surge again.

“I’m still surprised you’re Surge honestly. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t that.” Izuku laughed, “well at least you weren’t expecting it, if only it stayed that way…” He smirked at Hitoshi, “on the bright side I have an accomplice now.” Hitoshi rolled his eyes, “who said I’d do that?”

Izuku’s smirk widened, “me.” That earned a chuckle out of Hitoshi and the two walked in a comfortable silence the rest of the way to school… well until they met up with Kurihara. Turned out the girl lived right on their way to school, so she often waited for the two and walked with them to school.

“Hey Kurihara.” Izuku called out with a wave, “how’s it going?”

Kurihara smiled at the two, “I’m ready for the day!”

Hitoshi looked over at her incrediously, “I don’t get how the fuck you’re so chipper this early.” Kurihara grinned at him, “I’m always chipper!”

Hitoshi rolled his eyes, “I am very much aware.”

Izuku snorted at that and let Kurihara lead the conversation as they made their way to school. She parted ways with the duo once they got to school since she wasn’t in the same class as Hitoshi and Izuku. The day passed rather uneventfully, besides the fact Izuku keep falling asleep in class. That led Hitoshi to wonder if he had actually gotten any sleep last night. Eventually, the day ended and Izuku was debating whether he wanted to introduce Hitoshi to his warehouse.

“Wait, I want to show you something!” Izuku chirped out mysteriously when Hitoshi was about to start walking their normal way home. Hitoshi glanced back at Izuku, “oh?”

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, “well since you’re my partner in crime now I should probably show you my base of operations!” Quite honestly Izuku was just itching for an excuse to spend more time in the warehouse, he hadn’t been able to spend as much time developing his support gear prototypes as he’d like ever since Shouta and Hizashi had begun to foster him. Hitoshi eyed him suspiciously, “I’m interested.” So Izuku led the two of them through the sketchy side of town. Izuku laughed at Hitoshi’s hesitant expression as they got deeper and deeper into the crisscrossing alleys.

“Are you sure we aren’t gonna get stabbed?

Izuku shrugged, “I haven’t yet! Plus if someone does I can just beat them up!” He grinned at Hitoshi who frowned back at him. Somehow the two made it without incident to what Izuku had dubbed “The Warehouse!” To Hitoshi it just looked like some abandoned building, the windows were boarded up and everything. Izuku fumbled with getting a key out of his bag and unlocked the door, “come in, come in.” He gestured, Hitoshi slowly padded into the cobweb filled space. This was where Izuku liked to hang out? Izuku stepped in behind Hitoshi and locked the door back, he glanced around the room for any sign of life, but finding none he motioned for Hitoshi to come over to a box filled corner. He pulled up a corner of a nasty looking mat to reveal a cellar door.

“Tada!” Izuku announced while unlocking the basement door. He held it open for Hitoshi and after locking it back he led them both down a dark set of stairs. Hitoshi wasn’t really sure what to expect from this outing but Izuku kept surprising him. Like what the fuck? How did he even find this place? Hitoshi found himself even more surprised when Izuku flipped on a light switch and revealed a well maintained and, honestly, normal-looking room. He blurted out the first question that came to mind.

“How does this place have electricity?”

Izuku seemed to consider this for a moment before answering, “uh, it’s probably illegal however it does.” Hitoshi accepted that as an answer and glanced around the tidy room. There was a small kitchen, a couch with a mound of blankets on it in front of a TV, and a hallway that had two doors in it and an opening to some kind of workout room.

“What is this place?”

“My base of operations I told you! I think my dad used it before I came, I found some of his stuff in the office.” Hitoshi nodded and went to investigate the gym-like room. There was some nice equipment in there. The whole place also left Hitoshi wondering what Izuku’s dad did, and if it would be insensitive to ask.

“So your dad…?” Izuku frowned slightly, “I’m guessing you wanna know what he did? I’m not too sure myself, but I know he dabbled in engineering.” That seemed to be as much of an answer that Izuku would give so Hitoshi just accepted it. Izuku motioned down the hall, “the office and my workshop are down there! Make yourself at home, I can make… uh.” Izuku padded over to the kitchen and rifled around in it. “Actually I’m out, I haven’t needed to eat here in a while so.” He gave Hitoshi an apologetic glance.

“That’s fine.”

Izuku then said he could turn on the TV and watch whatever (Hitoshi wasn’t about to question how the TV worked either) and he said he’d be in his workshop or the office if he needed him. After watching some bits of a dumb horror movie that was on Hitoshi decided to further investigate what exactly Izuku was doing in his “workshop.” He walked over to the door and peaked in, Izuku noticed him almost immediately.

“Hey Hitoshi! Come here for a second.” Hitoshi warily stepped into the room and paused at the sight of Izuku’s wide smile. He waved something in the air, “help me test this out!” Hitoshi walked over to him all the way and he couldn’t help noticing the human-shaped imprint behind Izuku, “what is that?”

“Just something I’ve been messing around with, it shoots out glitter!” That made Hitoshi give him a very confused stare, “why the hell do you need that?” Izuku smirked, “it’s fun! I can shoot people with it when they try to arrest me.” Hitoshi found himself laughing at Izuku’s ridiculous invention.

“That’s possibly the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.” Hitoshi just finished his sentence when he saw Izuku aim the glitter gun at him and pull the trigger, Hitoshi instantly got drenched in the sparkly bits and glared at Izuku.

“I hate you so much.” Izuku smiled innocently, “a little glitter never hurt anyone!”

Hitoshi tried to shake the glitter off of himself, but eventually decided it would be better just to commandeer the gun from Izuku and shoot him too. Turned out Izuku was really good at evading attacks, but at least he got covered in glitter too, even if Hitoshi never managed to steal the gun.

Notes:

Thanks for sticking with this fic, even if it may be slightly shitty at times. This is actually the first multichapter fic I’ve ever written and it’s been a super great experience, thank you everyone for being so supportive! <3

Also, I won't be able to post a new chapter this Sunday because of writers block and school :(

Chapter 11: That time Izuku accidentally got famous

“Hey Eraser!” Izuku hopped onto the roof and shot some finger guns at the tired-looking man.

“Surge.” Izuku saw Shouta looking him over, “why do you have blood on you?”

Izuku looked down at his arm and inspected it, “it’s not mine, this guy tried to stab someone and then he accidentally stabbed himself instead when I surprised him.” Izuku winced, “not a fun experience. I’m so tired, shit.”

Shouta raised an eyebrow, “then get more sleep.” Izuku glared at him, “I’m busy being a vigilante Eraser, no time.”

The man groaned, “right.”

“Anyways kid,” Shouta’s eyes bore into Izuku’s and he had to force himself not to shrink back, “you can stop pretending I don’t know who you are.”

Izuku snorted, “oh? I doubt that, how would you have even figured that out?” He carefully watched Shouta’s face as he frowned. The man seemed to give up on the topic and Izuku was thankful. After that small confrontation, Shouta got Izuku some stuff from the vending machine and they sat in a comfortable silence.

“Y’know, I wish you could see more stars in the city.” Izuku smiled softly for a moment, “I’ve always wanted to go out to the middle of nowhere just to look at the stars…” Izuku wasn’t really sure what possessed him to say that, it was something he had always brought up to his mom he’d wanted to do. His mom always told him that they definitely would someday, but that never happened. Izuku hated these kinds of bittersweet memories, he hated them because his parents were gone and whatever kind of promises they made to Izuku they would never be able to keep. Izuku didn’t notice Shouta looking at him because he was too lost in his own thoughts.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to one day.” He replied simply and Izuku glanced over at him and then looked up at the stars again, “yeah…”

The two parted ways a little while later but before Shouta left he looked back at Izuku, “you’re driving me crazy kid, I hope you know that.”

Izuku grinned and finger-gunned at him, “if I wasn’t I wouldn’t be able to call myself Surge!”

══════════════════

It was a terrible idea in hindsight.

Izuku was walking home from school, per usual. Hitoshi wasn’t with him since he was volunteering at the animal shelter. Izuku sometimes went with him, but he really needed to write a paper he’d been procrastinating all week so he needed to get home. Things were never that simple.

The moment Izuku heard the screaming he took off towards it. A crowd of people were huddled a fair distance away from the green mass. The heroes were keeping them from entering the scene any further, but yet weren’t doing anything to help the kid that was trapped… Izuku felt his eyes widen slightly as he recognized the familiar blond hair and explosions going off, Bakugou. He clenched his fist, you couldn’t trust heroes to get anything done huh? At this rate, Bakugou was going to drown in the slime or some shit. Izuku shot off into a nearby alleyway and tore off his jacket and slapped on his support gear. With the voice changer secured and his retractable rod in hand, Izuku shot his zipline upwards and got ready for a fight. He swung down from the building with a small shout and grinned out at the heroes.

“Y’know, here I was, hoping I wouldn’t have to do your work for you guys again but I guess you heroes just love to be useless?” After his small monologue, he leaped up at the surprised sludge villain who laughed at Izuku.

“How are you planning on-” Izuku cut him off by releasing his rod to full length right into his eye. The villain howled in pain, and let go of Bakugou in the process, who blasted away from the villain the first chance he got. Izuku landed on the ground and quickly went back on the attack before the villain could recover, now that Bakugou was out of the slime Izuku could electrocute the villain. Izuku stabbed the rod into the mass of slime and flicked on the voltage, it worked better than expected and the villain yelped and was quickly immobilized by the strong shock.

“They don’t call me Surge for nothing!” He chirped out cheerily and then he finally took a moment to look around his surroundings. His eyes were met with a bunch of different live news reporters, a crowd of people who were now cheering Surge, and some angry pros who were straight running at him. Izuku decided leaving would probably be the best idea.

“Do your job next time!” Izuku yelled out and then promptly ziplined in the opposite direction of where he had come from right before a hero was able to grab him. Izuku frowned once he was safely crouched on the roof of the building while trying to process what had just gone down. He grimaced as he realized he had just managed to expose Surge to the general public on live television. So much for being a secret, sneaky vigilante, now he’d be all over the news. After a minute Izuku made his way back to his school supplies, put everything back into his bag, and walked out of the alley like nothing had happened. No one gave the frowning green-haired boy a second glance.

A few seconds after Izuku made it out of the alley his phone started to buzz, Izuku pulled it out of his pocket and picked up the call.

“Are you aware that Surge is blowing up on the internet at the moment?” Hitoshi’s voice rang out the second he picked up.

Izuku sighed, “that was unintentional. Do you think there’s any way the public forgets about this tomorrow?”

Hitoshi snorted, “not a chance.”

 

Izuku felt like slapping himself, but for some reason, he didn’t regret it. Despite the massive trainwreck that would probably follow, Izuku was glad he saved Bakugou. Who else would’ve done it?

Izuku then frowned, he still needed to write that paper. Dammit.

══════════════════

Shouta was scowling when he got home and Izuku smiled nervously at him and Hizashi.

“Bad day at work?”

Shouta sighed, “I have too many problem children to deal with.” The television started playing a clip of him taking down the sludge villain again as if on cue, which made Shouta glare at the television. Hizashi patted Shouta’s back calmingly.

The clip showed Izuku deftly swinging down from a building, his little monologue about the heroes, and his swift takedown of the villain. After the clip ended the reporter popped up on the screen again.

“Many people are starting to question these heroes after a vigilante who referred to himself as Surge single-handedly saved a student while pro heroes were just standing by and watching. We have interviewed several people at the scene of this event about Surge. Here’s what they had to say…”

“I thought Surge was super cool! He was totally right about the heroes, like they weren’t even doing anything to try and help that kid.”

“I think he was more of a hero than the pros today.”

“I want to see more of Surge in the future!”

“If all heroes were like Surge th-”

Shouta turned off the television with a growl. “He’s an idiot.” Izuku laughed nervously in response, “Surge?” I thought he was pretty cool, saving that…” Izuku trailed off when Shouta turned his withering gaze to Izuku.

“An idiot. What’s he thinking just going out in broad daylight like that? And in front of all those reporters!” Shouta ranted.

Izuku looked over to Hizashi helplessly, “is he okay? Does he know Surge or something?” Hizashi shrugged, “ah, we knew we’d have to explain to you one day…” Hizashi glanced over to Shouta but he was angrily making a cup of coffee so he just continued himself.

“You already know we’re both pros since we teach at UA and all! Shouta’s very, uh, invested in Surge’s case.” Izuku nodded quickly.

Hizashi continued, “he gets worked up over Surge a lot, don’t worry about it! He’s just really passionate about the case!” Izuku almost laughed, passionate was one way to describe it.

The door handle clicked a few seconds later and Hitoshi walked into the apartment calmly. He glanced over to Shouta and smirked, “I guess you guys saw the whole Surge fiasco.”

Shouta groaned and took a long sip of his coffee, “I need a nap.”

“You always need a nap.” Hitoshi quipped back.

“It’s because this kid makes me so tired with all the shit he pulls.” Izuku snickered quietly from the couch. Even if he was now accidentally famous or something, he’d gotten to annoy Shouta in the process.

He wasn’t looking forward to talking to the man as Surge though, he couldn’t see that going well. At least Shouta had a few days to cool down before they met…

══════════════════

Kurihara skidded to the group’s table and grinned, “DID YOU GUYS SEE THE NEWS LAST NIGHT?”

Izuku winced at her yelling and Ayano frowned at her, “keep it down Kuri, what happened?”

Kurihara slammed her lunch tray on the table and made some dramatic hand gestures, “so this kid was trapped by this villain right? And then this vigilante who called himself Surge comes out of nowhere and takes down the villain alone! Everyone’s going crazy about who he is and what his quirk is!” She yanked out her phone and pulled up a video of the fiasco to show the table.

“I saw something about that,” Izuku said quickly, leaning over to get a better look at the video. He saw himself ranting about the heroes.

“He does have a point.” Ayano conceded after the video was over, “the heroes didn’t look like they were even trying to help. See Kuri! This is why I don’t like all those daytime heroes because they’re all just talk.”

Kurihara waved him off, “only a few of them are like that, right Izuku?”

Kurihara looked expectantly at Izuku, assuming he’d agree with her since he’d mentioned liking heroes and she’d seen that analysis journal of him when they first met, “uh, yeah.” Izuku said noncommittally which made Hitoshi snort from behind him, not believing him at all.

Ayano crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, “so Surge huh? You said he was a vigilante? Is this the first time he's done this?” Kurihara shook her head, “no! Some people in a forum I was reading said he saved them, he normally operates at night, I think. Going out in public doesn’t seem to be something he does often.”

Izuku fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat, everyone knowing about Surge was making him feel really uneasy. Hitoshi must’ve seen how nervous he looked because he bumped Izuku with his shoulder and offered him a small smile.

“What do you guys think about him?” Kurihara questioned.

Hitoshi shrugged, “we’ve only seen him once and we know nothing about him.”

Kurihara slammed her hand on the table, “well I think he’s super cool! He just came flying out of nowhere and BOOM! Villain defeated!” She made some wild hand gestures to accompany her story which made Izuku snort.

As it turned out, Kurihara wasn’t the only person going crazy over Surge. Izuku and Hitoshi had made the trek to Izuku’s warehouse and Izuku was now hanging over the couch upside down while reading something off his phone to Hitoshi, who was on the floor covered in blankets.

“Wait, no, listen to this one! ‘People are unsure of what exactly Surge’s quirk is, but it seems to have something to do with electricity as he shocked the villain in his recent debut. The most popular theory seems to be that he can channel electricity through certain objects, but some are going are far to claim he can summon invisible lightning to stun his targets.’”

Hitoshi laughed, “darn it Izu, you and your invisible lightning.” Izuku chuckled and frowned at his phone, “people are seriously going crazy about this thing. Was not expecting it to get this big.” He complained and slowly slid off the couch, “all I did was show those stupid heroes how to do their job and now everyone’s like ‘OMG WHO IS SURGE?!? CONSPIRACY THEORY!?!’”

Hitoshi glanced at him, “you were the one who ran out in front of all those cameras, you got yourself into the mess.”

Izuku pouted at him, “it’s bad for business! Now everyone knows who I am! And Eraser is going to personally strangle me!”

Hitoshi snorted, “I’ll have bandages for when you get back.”

“If I get back.” Izuku said darkly which made Hitoshi laugh.

══════════════════

Shouta was sitting in his sleeping bag in the teacher's lounge, scrolling through forum pages about Surge when Hizashi practically kicked the door down.

“SHOUTAAAA.”

Shouta glanced up at his husband with a deadpan face, “keep it down Zashi, we’re in a school.”

“Did you really expel the rest of your class?” Shouta groaned in annoyance at that statement, “they had no potential, I don't know why I bothered with them this long. It’s a shame.” Shouta had expelled most of his class on the first day, only keeping a few around he thought might have some kind of potential. But with recent events, Shouta had been very easy to annoy which had led to him snapping and expelling the rest of 1-A.

Hizashi frowned, “isn’t the whole class a little… extreme!”

Shouta stared at him unblinkingly, “no. I don’t expel students for fun, I always have a justified reason.”

And that was that, Hizashi knew better than to argue with Shouta about his teaching methods, so he left it alone.

“What are you doing? Since apparently you don’t have a class to teach now!” Hizashi pouted and Shouta rolled his eyes, “I still have other classes I teach besides homeroom Zashi. And I’m looking into forums to see if I can get any new information about Surge since he pulled that idiotic stunt and he’s all everyone is talking about.”

Hizashi nodded, “can confirm, my homeroom class kept talking about it this morning! But aren’t you like a Surge expert now? Since he’s basically your son!”

Shouta groaned, “no he isn’t. Surge is a stubborn problem child and has caused me so many headaches.”

“You love him! You’re always so worried about him!”

Shouta glared at him, “because he’s a kid and is going to get himself killed.” Hizashi was having none of that and just smirked at him knowingly, “anyways did you find anything?”

“Nothing useful, either it’s information we already know or some kind of unbased theory, especially concerning his quirk. Someone said his quirk was ‘invisible lightning.’”

Hizashi shrugged, “maybe that is his quirk and you can’t see it because it’s invisible!” Shouta ignored him and continued scrolling through the internet for anything he could find on Surge with a dark look on his face. Hizashi shuddered, he would hate to be Surge when he finally met with Shouta.

Once school let out Shouta told Hizashi he was going to be stopping by the police station to discuss some things with Detective Tsukauchi so Hizashi waved and they parted ways.

“Hello Aizawa!” Tsukauchi greeted with a small smile, “how’s your research been going?”

Shouta sighed, “I would’ve thought it would be easier to investigate the kid after he went public, but somehow it’s only left me with more questions.” Tsukauchi hummed thoughtfully and Shouta slumped into a chair.

“Have you talked with him lately?” Tsukauchi was one of the few people who was aware of Shouta’s relationship with Surge. After the multitude of failures the police had with arresting the vigilante, he concluded that it was a good option, especially since Shouta said Surge was just a kid. It didn’t sit right with Tsukauchi about throwing a kid in jail or forcibly apprehending him, he hoped that one day he’d either willingly reveal his identity or Shouta would be able to figure it out.

“If you mean since the sludge villain incident, no I have not.” Tsukauchi nodded and typed something on his computer and looked back up again, “any new ideas about his quirk?”

Shouta frowned, “some kind of electrical manipulation, like always. I’m still not sure of the parameters, but in all the times I’ve seen him fight he needs to use a physical object to transmit it.”

“I’ve been looking into kids with electrical quirks around the age range you gave me, but none of them match up exactly with what we know about the quirk so far.” Tsukauchi sighed, “this kid really knows how to hide his identity.”

Shouta found himself silently agreeing with the detective. “I’ll contact you if I find anything else out.”

Tsukauchi nodded and smiled at him, “don’t overwork yourself Aizawa, we’ll figure this out.” Shouta just sighed and nodded at the man before he turned to walk out of the station with nothing more figured out than he had originally known.

══════════════════

Izuku felt safe in the shadows of the buildings, it was much more familiar than his recent explosion of popularity. He was currently on the lookout for a gang rumored to be in the area, they were supposedly doing some kind of business here tonight and some of the more important members were going to appear. Footsteps alerted Izuku and he shrunk further into the shadows. Two men walked to the mouth of the alley Izuku was in and one pulled out a cigarette.

“When’s the boss and all them gonna show?” He took a long drag from the cigarette and glanced over to his buddy.

“The hell am I supposed to know? They’ll show when they want.”

A while passed of Izuku watching the two men pass a cigarette around, they seemed to be getting impatient at the lack of their boss until finally, a sleek black car pulled up. A window was rolled down and a bored-looking man glared at the pair.

“Put that damn thing out. You’ll get my car smelling like that shit.” One of the men tossed the cigarette on the ground and went to open the car down. Izuku smiled to himself, it was his time to strike. He leaped up and brandished a staff and ran in a jet-propelled rush towards the car, his first course of action was making sure the gang didn’t have a fast option of escape. The gang leader yelled in surprise as Izuku forced the hood of his car open, the first two men almost managed to get to Izuku but he just smashed one in the head and promptly fried the engine in a single swing. The gang leader and his friend were now out of the car since it obviously wouldn’t work without an engine. The leader had a gun and his friend now had claw-like hands.

“Hey now, you guys don’t need to use those. I’m just here to arrest you guys, no need for violence.” The leader narrowed his eyes, “you’re that vigilante aren’t you? We aren’t weak like that villain you defeated earlier. Don’t think you can take down real crime ju-”

Izuku just snorted and cut him off, “right, right, don’t shoot me please!” It was obviously sarcastic which made the boss mad. Izuku heard a gun go off but he was already halfway to the leader and was about to sweep his legs out.

“Do something you idiot!” The leader was looking at the conscious one of the first two men Izuku had encountered. He was trying to edge away from the scene and looked even more scared once the boss had called him out. Izuku swept the boss’s legs out and used his staff as a baseball bat to make the gun fly out of the man’s hand.

“Real crime huh? You guys are nothing important, don’t act so cocky.” Izuku scoffed out before shocking the man unconscious. When Izuku looked up he was met with the man with the claws grabbing for his neck. Izuku instinctively ducked down and then shoved his rod into the man’s crotch, which caused him to double over in pain. Izuku sighed and quickly knocked him unconscious as well. He stood up and scanned the area for the last man.

“Where’d you run off too? I figured being in a gang and all you’d be braver, but I guess my expectations were too high!” He chirped out cheerily and hopped up to his feet. He groaned once his eyes caught on the man sprinting away in the distance. Izuku glanced over to the three unconscious bodies around the car and debated if he should stay and keep watch or run after the escaping man.

He frowned and quickly dialed the police, “there’s three unconscious gang members, one of which is the boss of the whole thing. One escaped and I’m going after him once I’ve finished securing the three I’ve already taken out. Hurry on over!” He said his location and hung up the phone. He quickly finished tying the three gang members to the tire rim and shot off, using the boosters on his shoes, towards where the man had disappeared. Using a combination of his zipline and jet-shoes his managed to quickly gain on the escapee, who was just running on foot. Izuku laughed once he saw the panicked look on his face, “if you cooperate I won’t hurt you.” He offered, the man paused and put his hands up.

“Fine.”

Izuku stalked towards him carefully and chuckled when the man tried to kick him and make a break for it. All it resulted in was the gang member getting shot in the back with his electric gun, shocked, and then knocked unconscious after a hard hit on his head. Then Izuku tied his wrists together and ziplined back to a roof near the car where the police had already arrived. He noticed Tsukiauchi had also been called in, probably since Surge was the one who called the police. Izuku laughed quietly, this would be fun! He hopped down from his vantage point while dragging the body behind him and cleared his throat.

“I got him by the way!” He kicked the man towards the officers, who seemed more concerned with Izuku than the criminal and were staring down the vigilante . Tsukauchi sighed and walked over.

“Surge.”

Izuku grinned under his mask, “hey Detective Lie-Detector!” He waved at him happily, Tsukauchi just looked back at him very tiredly.

“I hope I didn’t wake you up, it’d be a real shame,” Izuku remarked sarcastically.

“I was already up, come with us Surge, I need to talk with you.”

Izuku laughed, “aren’t we talking here already?”

Tsukauchi sighed, “Surge, please.” Izuku acted like he was considering it for a moment.

“I might be more open to negotiation if it didn’t look like your guys are about to jump me, I’m not gonna hurt anyone.” Tsukauchi signaled the officers to put their weapons down and they reluctantly obliged, even though they were still looking at Izuku cautiously. Izuku smirked from under his mask and stuck his hands behind his head, “alright then, where’s my ride Detective?”

Tsukauchi looked rightfully suspicious at this and he and some other police officers started walking forwards to cuff him when Izuku’s hands shot down to his belt and he pulled out a gun. That made them freeze.

“Surge. Put the gun down.” Tsukauchi ordered and Izuku saw one of the officers reaching for their own weapon. Izuku stared straight at them, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you…” He trailed off ominously and the officer’s head snapped up. The rest of the officers were now alerted to the standoff with Surge and the available ones were running over. Izuku couldn’t help but laugh and put his finger on the trigger.

“Oops.”

A giant cloud of glitter came launching from the gun, effectively covering Tsukauchi, the police officers who were in front of him, and some of the ones who were running towards them. Everyone froze in shock while glittering in the old street lights. Finally, Izuku burst out laughing and readied his grappling hook.

“You guys looked worried! But I guess I wouldn’t like to be covered in glitter right now either.” With that Izuku shot his zip line to a neighboring building and flew over the police’s heads. He distantly heard Tsukauchi giving them orders and Izuku smiled to himself, he couldn’t wait to tell Hitoshi about this.

After a few minutes of grappling away, Izuku deemed it safe and landed on a building. He frowned, it was time for his nice night to be over. He was meeting Eraserhead and Izuku was not looking forward to that.

A long scarf suddenly wrapped around Izuku and jerked him towards a glaring Shouta. He smiled nervously, he was dead.

“Surge…” Shouta’s voice was a low growl and Izuku glanced at the angry man.

“Fancy seeing you here Eraser, would you mind, uh, possibly letting me go?”

Shouta released the scarf with a groan and Izuku stumbled back a few steps, but the man wasn’t done yet, “what exactly was going through your head when you decided to fight a villain on live television, publicly slander the heroes involved, and then go viral?”

Izuku laughed nervously, “well you see, I didn’t exactly think when the whole thing happened. I mean hell! I even gave the heroes a little while to react before I stepped in Eraser, but they didn’t do anything! That kid was going to fucking die if I didn’t do something… I couldn’t just do nothing!”

Shouta sighed and grabbed his head, “problem child…”

Izuku shifted on his feet, “I have it under control!”

That made Shouta glare at him, “do you now?” Izuku nodded enthusiastically which made the man frown, “don’t do anything stupid.”

“When am I not doing something stupid?” He replied back with a small laugh, “I didn’t want to blow up either Eraser. I wanted to be an underground… vigilante, but I just couldn’t stand there while the pros let someone die! I-I… I’ve... “ Izuku frowned as some tears welled up in his eyes but he blinked them away, “I’ve already had enough people die because I couldn’t save them Eraser. I won’t let it happen again, no matter what.”

Shouta turned towards Izuku, not letting the worry that had just jumped into his throat appear on his face. He recalled the kid making a comment like that before, and it made Shouta really concerned. What had Surge been through? And the way he had said no matter what made Shouta’s hairs stand on end. How far would this kid go to prevent people from getting hurt and dying? Was he just going to let himself get killed if that’s what the situation called for? That wasn’t a mentality a child should possess, Shouta felt sick.

“Kid…” Shouta said softly.

Izuku blinked, suddenly processing what he had just said, “I…” He glanced at his feet, “I’m doing this to save people, you can’t stop me.”

Shouta frowned, “kid, you need help… you’re going to get yourself killed.”

Izuku shrugged, “no I don’t.” He sounded unsure of himself though and his voice was shaking slightly.

Shouta sighed softly and looked towards the small vigilante who seemed like he was trying to hold back tears, “I don’t know what happened to you kid, and I’m not going to pry. But just try and talk to someone, are you in a good situation right now? Do you have people to trust to talk to?”

Izuku wrung his hands nervously and let out a small sniffle, “y-yeah, I do,” he muttered. Izuku didn’t like breaking down in front of Shouta like this. It made him feel weak and exposed and he couldn’t keep the images of his burning mother out of his head. Izuku squeezed his eyes shut and tried to will the images away, but they just kept coming.

“Surge.” His head snapped up at Shouta’s worried voice and he saw the hero crouched in front of him, “take deep breaths.” Izuku stumbled backward a few steps at how close he was but recovered and coughed.

“Sorry about that, I- uh.” Izuku struggled to come up with something to say but Shouta just sighed, “it’s fine kid. Does that happen regularly?” Izuku didn’t like how personal this conversation was getting.

“No. I don’t really want to talk about this any more…” Izuku frowned and kicked his heel on the ground, “I’m sorry about all that!”

Shouta frowned, “I’ll drop it, but just promise me you’ll talk to someone about this… I’m worried about you.” Shouta was reluctant to admit his worry about Surge to the small vigilante himself, but this needed to be addressed.

“Sure.” Izuku knew he probably wouldn’t, but as long as it got Shouta off his ass he’d say he would, “ANYWAYS, I covered the police in glitter today.” Shouta sighed at his quick change of subject, he didn’t want to grill Surge too much, the kid was a wild card and Shouta didn’t want to scare him off.

“How exactly did you manage that?”

Izuku laughed proudly and pulled out a gun from his belt, which made Shouta flinch back and instinctively pull out his scarf to defend himself.

“Like this!” Suddenly a shimmering substance shot out from the gun and covered Shouta’s capture weapon and entire body. He glared at the laughing kid in front of him, “problem child.”

Izuku shrugged, “you already told me that!”

Shouta and Izuku talked on the roof for a little bit more before Izuku announced he needed to get going.

“Before you go…” Shouta found a scrap piece of paper and tried to find a pen on him but he saw one being dangled in front of his face by Izuku and he sighed and took it. He copied down his number on the slip of paper and handed it and the pen to Izuku who glanced at it unsurely.

“That’s my phone number. If you ever need something just call me kid.” Izuku grinned at Shouta from under his mask.

“Oh wow, I’m getting the elusive Eraserhead’s number?”

Shouta rolled his eyes, “just keep it.”

Izuku pulled his Surge phone out of the pocket on his belt and inputted the number in his contacts list. Then he smirked and held his phone up to take a picture of the hero. The hero glared at him after the flash went off, “Sur-”

“I’ll send it to you!” Izuku announced cheerfully through his laughter and Shouta felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

Unknown Number: Sparkly_Eraserhead.png

Shouta frowned at the blurry picture of himself with all the glitter reflecting the flash and looked back up at Surge. “Don’t send me anything dumb.”

“Oh, you know I will. Also, don’t bother trying to track the number, it won’t work.”

He finger-gunned at Shouta, “bye Eraser! That glitter looks great on you by the way!” And Izuku shot off with a grin.

Notes:

Happy Halloween!

Chapter 12: Headache inducing problem children

Izuku hated paranormal horror movies.

He was currently seated on the couch between Hitoshi and Hizashi with Shouta on the ground in his sleeping bag about to watch one. He was glaring at Hitoshi as the spooky intro music played and the unassuming family moved into their new house. Hitoshi was laughing at his dark expression.

“It’s okay Izuku, Yamadad is terrified of them too!” He pointed out helpfully.

“I am not!” Hizashi shrieked and Shouta snorted from the floor.

The movie wore on and Izuku and Hizashi had unintentionally got closer to each other as the pressure built. The music was getting really loud and suddenly it stopped abruptly. Then the ghost suddenly popped out of the closet causing both Izuku and Hizashi to screech and hug each other. Hitoshi was choking from beside them and couldn’t form a coherent sentence.

Shouta spoke up, “Hizashi you’re a pro hero, why are you scared of horror movies?”

“I-I am not! I’m just a- AAAH!” The daughter was currently getting attacked by the ghosts and Izuku had buried his head in Hizashi’s shoulder.

“T-tell me when it’s done!” Izuku said in a high-pitched voice while covering his ears, which made Hitoshi continue dying and Shouta groaned fondly at the terrified pair. Eventually, the movie came to an end and the end credits started rolling, Izuku shakily glared at Hitoshi.

“Y-you’re a monster for m-making me watch that!” Hizashi nodded in agreement and Hitoshi smirked, “well you better get used to it, I love horror movies.”

“Next time don’t pick a ghost one then! The murderer ones are less scary!”

Shouta rolled over to face the three on the couch, “that’s illogical Izuku, ghosts aren’t real but murders are. You should be more scared of murders than ghosts.”

Izuku glared at him too, “you don’t know that Shouta! Ghosts could be haunting us an-” Izuku screamed at the appearance of a pair of hands on his shoulders and threw himself off the couch only to see Hitoshi cackling.

“I’m going to kill you Hitoshi!”

“Keep it down, problem children, we have neighbors.” Shouta muttered out tiredly, that didn’t stop Izuku from vaulting over the couch and trying to kick Hitoshi in the shins. It ended up in the two chasing each other around the kitchen table, Izuku eventually managed to trip the purple-haired boy and snickered in victory.

“Payback!” He yelped out as Hitoshi stumbled and landed on the ground.

“You both are going to wake the entire apartment up.”

Izuku stuck out his tongue childishly and then announced he was going to quietly murder Hitoshi in his room. Shouta felt a small smile curve onto his lips as he watched Izuku drag Hitoshi down the hallway while they were both bickering and laughing. Shouta eased himself up on the couch, still in his cocoon and flipped the channel to the news.

Hizashi grinned at Shouta, “they’re so cute together! Toshi seems so much happier now with Izuku around!” Shouta nodded in agreement and held a soft smile for a second. The two kids got along amazingly and Izuku had even managed to get Hitoshi to open up to a few more people at school. Despite Shouta’s original suspicion of Izuku being Surge (which he still partially held), it was mostly gone now. He was probably just being illogical and jumping to conclusions back then, after all neither Surge or Izuku had given any indications of being the same person so far besides the slight physical similarities (they also have similar personalities but Shouta wasn’t going to let himself go down that rabbit hole again).

Shouta’s phone dinged and he glanced at it briefly and about groaned when he saw who it was.

Unknown Number: Remember how I promised I was going to send you dumb stuff?

Unknown Number: Well that’s happening now Eraser!!

Eraserhead: No.

Unknown Number: five pictures sent

Shouta actually did groan this time when he saw the five pictures Surge had sent him. They were all of Shouta’s face pasted on top of various stupid images.

Eraserhead: Delete those.

Hizashi glanced over at Shouta concernedly after he’d groaned, “are you alright?” Hizashi glanced at Shouta’s phone to see ‘Unknown Number’ sending another meme, this one featured a kid who had a crudely drawn picture of Surge’s face pushing an adult with Shouta’s face into a puddle. Hizashi broke out laughing which made Shouta vehemently glare at him.

“W-who is that?” Hizashi managed out between sobs.

“What do you think?” Shouta replied as he angrily texted Surge to stop texting him this shit.

“Your favorite vigilante-son!” Hizashi piped up helpfully and Shouta glared at him again.

“No, he’s just a child who I’m trying to help not get himself killed. He’s not my son.”

Hizashi chuckled and Shouta frowned as he received a perfectly timed video saying, ‘you’re not my dad!’ with Shouta’s face overlaid on it. Shouta wanted to break his phone.

He didn’t hear the stifled laughs coming from Izuku’s room as Hitoshi and Izuku flooded Shouta’s phone with useless memes. “I’m deeply offended that I’m not Eraser’s favorite vigilante,” Izuku cried out sarcastically and dramatically splayed out himself over his bed, “my fragile vigilante heart is broken!”

Hitoshi scoffed at him, “maybe if you didn’t spam him with memes you would be.”

“Don’t say that like you’re not helping me make memes of him Toshi!” Hitoshi snorted at that and casually pulled up a video on HeroTube and pressed play.

“No Izuku, I’m watching HeroTube, you see? Whatever do you mean about this ‘meme’ thing.” Izuku laughed at him and then suddenly yanked Hitoshi’s phone out of his hand.

“Oh! Oh! I love this guy!” Izuku announced, his project of annoying Shouta finished for the moment. Hitoshi glared at him, “so you stole my phone out of my hand?”

Izuku nodded enthusiastically, “should’ve kept it safer, all’s fair with vigilantism!” He rolled over on his back and held the phone over his face. “He analyzes heroes and stuff, he does other hero related things too but the analyst videos are my favorite!” Izuku patted the bed beside him, “come watch!”

Hitoshi jumped on the bed beside Izuku and snatched the phone back out of Izuku’s hand, who looked at him in utter betrayal.

“‘All’s fair with vigilantism!’” Hitoshi mocked teasingly and Izuku stuck out his tongue, “you’re not even one! Only I can use that excuse!”

The two ended up on Izuku’s bed binge-watching ‘HeroStats,’ which was run by a mask-covered teenager who called himself R. Hitoshi muttered something about his age at one point and Izuku perked up.

“He’s a third-year in UA’s general studies course! His full name is Rei Tashiro, he already has a job lined up with a hero analyst business when he graduates.”

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at him, somehow not surprised, “how do you- actually, no. Why do you know that?”

Izuku shrugged with a small grin, “dunno, got curious one night and did some digging on him. He’s honestly pretty careful with his information on the internet, but the UA database gave him away.”

Hitoshi blinked at him, “you’re slightly terrifying sometimes Izu.” Izuku laughed and winked at him, “people really need better protection on their databases honestly. The amount of things I can hack into with no problem is way too high!”

They went back to watching R rattle on about Hawks’ quirk and Hitoshi smiled to himself. Even if Izuku terrified Hitoshi with all the shit he knew, Hitoshi was so happy to finally have a friend who had his back.

══════════════════

Shouta and Hizashi led Izuku and Hitoshi into the teacher’s lounge and handed them their UA access cards. It was pretty early, not too many students had arrived yet. The two of them were at UA because their middle school had been slightly flooded yesterday night by a busted pipe and it needed to be fixed, so they had an impromptu couple day break. Shouta turned back to his two problem children and affixed them with a glare, “don’t cause any trouble. You both came here of your own free will so I expect for you two to not bother any classes.”

Hitoshi smirked mysteriously, “oh don’t worry dad, they won’t even see us.” Shouta frowned at his response, he obviously knew what the purple-haired kid was insinuating.

“Don’t. Bother. Anyone.” He repeated and Izuku sent him two thumbs up and Hitoshi shrugged, “we’ll try our best.” Shouta sighed tiredly and Hizashi grinned at him.

“There’s lunch in the fridge for both of you when you get hungry!” Hizashi announced and the two adults exited the teacher’s lounge which left Hitoshi and Izuku alone in the room.

Izuku turned towards Hitoshi, “so what is the vague activity you’ve been mentioning all morning?”

Hitoshi laughed and walked over to a large vent in the wall, “the vents in this place are huge, it’s like an entire other school in there. I used to come here in the afternoons a lot when Yamadad and Dadzawa worked later because I didn’t like spending time in the apartment alone. And then I discovered vent travel!”

Izuku eagerly hopped on the idea and they unscrewed the vent cover and crawled in.

“How do you find your way around this place?”

Hitoshi grinned, “you’ll figure it out soon enough, they’re not too hard to navigate!” Hitoshi stopped and hopped down into a larger vent-room. He gestured towards the corner, “this is one of the biggest vent junctions in the system, it’s above an obscure location in the school so it’s pretty quiet. I hang out here a lot.” He gestured towards some blankets in the corner, “case in point I have a stock of blankets that I’ve smuggled in here over the years.”

Izuku’s face split into a wide grin, “oh hell yeah! This is great!”

The duo hung out in the vent junction for a while until the bell rung, signally the start of school. “Can we go lurking around in here and watch classes? Maybe we can even bother Eraser!” He chirped out cheerfully.

Hitoshi smirked back at him, “well Dadzawa expelled his entire homeroom class this year, but he does teach electives a little later in the day. We can stalk Yamadad’s English class if you want!”

Izuku laughed, “of course he did, I wouldn’t expect anything less, he hates people wanting to be heroes without potential almost as much as the media.” Izuku loudly hopped to his feet, “let's go see Hizashi then!”

Izuku quietly followed Hitoshi to the vents above Hizashi’s classroom and Hitoshi held a finger to his lips for Izuku to be quiet while they peered down at the class from the grate. Izuku gasped quietly and gestured to a black-haired boy leaned over an assignment.

“That’s R.” Izuku mouthed to Hitoshi and Hitoshi glanced down at the boy, “he looks really normal.” Hitoshi whispered back. Suddenly Hizashi’s loud voice rang out which caused Izuku to jump.

“AAALRIGHT! Does everyone have their answers written down? Who wants to try answering number one!”

A soft-spoken girl raised her hand, “u-uh I think I heard something in the vents?” Another kid nodded his head, “yeah! I heard a thump up there.” R looked up at the vent grate which made Izuku and Hitoshi slide away from the opening, “I think I saw something… move?”

Hitoshi rolled his eyes at Izuku, “this is your fault.” He whispered at Izuku who just gave him a thumbs down.

“Something in the vents you say? I’m sure it was nothing!” Hizashi said, knowing full well his two kids were the source of the noise, “anyways back to question one! Who has the answer?”

Izuku and Hitoshi quickly moved on after the slight commotion they caused and after a while of stalking classes, Izuku announced he wanted to see some of the hero classes that were going on in the gyms outside. The two exited in the teacher’s lounge to see a frail-looking man in a white shirt staring at them in confusion.

“Oh hey! I didn’t realize someone else was in here, sorry for intruding! We’ll be out of here in just a second!” Izuku called out friendlily.

“H-hold on, are you two supposed to be in here? Or in the vents? You aren’t wearing the UA uniform…” The man trailed off.

“Oh yeah! Shouta said as long as we didn’t bother any classes we’d be fine.” Izuku casually walked over to the fridge and got out two of Shouta’s juice boxes, “here Toshi!” He tossed one to Hitoshi.

“Oh! Are you two Yamada and Aizawa’s children?”

“I wouldn’t say we’re still children, but yeah.” Izuku said as he took a sip of his juice box, “anyways who’re you? I thought UA’s staff are all pro heroes, but I don’t recognize you.”

The blonde man cleared his throat, “oh excuse me! I should have introduced myself, I’m Yagi Toshinori, I work in the UA offices.”

Izuku narrowed his eyes slightly, “oh, do you? That’s interesting. You said your name was Yagi?”

Toshinori winced back at Izuku’s quick change in demeanor, “y-yes, it is.”

Izuku hummed thoughtfully, “ah, it’s nice to meet you, Toshinori.” Toshinori cleared his throat, “anyways! Are you two allowed to be crawling around in the vents? That’s dangerous. An-”

Izuku shrugged, “sure we are, we aren’t bothering class or anything in there.”

“I-”

“Anyways, me and Toshi were just on our way out! Bye!” Hitoshi and Izuku shot out the door quickly leaving Toshinori completely and utterly confused. He’d make sure to ask Aizawa or Yamada about the two later. Especially concerning the green-headed one’s strange behavior after he’s heard his name. Was there any way he knew who Toshinori was…? Toshinori snorted quietly, brushing off the idea quickly. What was he thinking? There was no way a middle school kid knew who Yagi Toshinori was, even if he was the child of two pro heroes.

Out in the hall, Izuku quickly dragged Hitoshi away from the teacher’s lounge and out a back exit of the school.

“What the fuck…” Izuku was muttering under his breath the whole way outside. Once they were out and a distance away from the school Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at Izuku.

“What was that?”

Izuku groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, “I didn’t want anyone hearing this, I don’t know if that school has audio on its cameras or what, but…” Izuku started to pace, “this is really fucking weird Toshi, Yagi Toshinori, that’s…” Hitoshi gestured for him to go on, “that’s what? Please enlighten me Izu.”

“That’s All Might’s name Toshi. Toshinori, he’s All Might… but he doesn’t look like All Might?”

Hitoshi’s eyes widened, understanding why Izuku was so confused over this subject, “coincidence?”

Izuku frowned and shook his head, “nah, can’t be. All Might’s been in the cities around UA recently. What are the chances of another Yagi Toshinori showing up at UA, a famous hero school which only employs pro heroes, and working in the ‘UA offices?’ UA doesn’t even have office workers Hitoshi!”

Hitoshi rubbed his head, “this is really weird.”

“Tell me about it…” Izuku drummed his fingers on his leg, “so All Might is possibly teaching at UA or some shit and has a weird deflated form?”

Hitoshi shrugged, “I haven’t heard anything about either of those, you know more top-secret information than I do Izuku.”

Izuku frowned, “I haven’t either. All Might’s done a surprisingly good job at keeping that hidden if that is him. Have to say, I didn’t give him enough credit for being sneaky. And the teaching thing… I’ll have to look into that, because it’s one of the most plausible reasons the man is here. Obviously, if he has some weird injury or whatever and looks all deflated he probably can’t do as much hero work anymore… Is he able to turn into muscley All Might or is this a recent thing? I think I saw some news about him being out this morning, so it’s probably not that recent… I wonder if there’s any information about this anywhere, I sho-”

“Uh, Izuku I hate to cut you off but you’re muttering obsessively about this.”

Izuku coughed embarrassedly, “sorry! Anyways, I’m definitely looking into this later, but for now, do you wanna go see if we can watch some hero training?” Hitoshi shrugged, “sure, and when you do look into this whole All Might thing would you update me? I’m just as curious as you.”

Izuku nodded, “ah, could you promise not to tell anyone about the whole ‘Toshinori’ thing? I’d hate to see what would happen if he is All Might and it gets out the Symbol of Peace looks like… that.” Hitoshi nodded in conformation and the two set off to go find a gym they could stalk. Of course, they ran into Shouta when trying to look into one. He emerged from seemingly nowhere and roped Izuku with his scarf who screamed before Shouta slapped his scarf over his mouth.

“Why are you two problem children sneaking around?”

Izuku tried to say something but he was still all wrapped up so it wasn’t understandable, Hitoshi helped him out.

“Izuku wanted to see the training gyms and what kind of training UA does… and stuff.”

Shouta let Izuku go and sighed, “this isn’t a public gym, I can’t just let you two wander in and distract them.”

Izuku frowned, “pleaseeeee, I wanna see their quirks, I even brought my journal!” Izuku cheerfully waved a notebook labeled, ‘Hero Analysis #5.’

“I’ll even show you the notes!” He called out with a grin, so far he hadn’t let anyone read the notes. He’d told Shouta some of the analysis points he made for Mt. Lady after her debut and a few other heroes, and from those Shouta had to say he was impressed with the kid’s skills. He sighed tiredly, “I’ll ask Vlad King, but don’t distract the class.” Izuku grinned in victory once Shouta appeared from in the gym and motioned them both in.

Izuku whistled when he walked into the large space, “damn, nice gym you got here.”

“Language problem child, we’re in school.”

Izuku stuck out his tongue childishly and trailed after Shouta who introduced Vlad King to Izuku.

“You already know Hitoshi, the one with the green hair is Izuku Midoriya.”

Izuku waved at Vlad, “hi! Thanks for letting me watch your class. I’ve always wanted to be a hero, so I think seeing what UA does for training would really help me and Toshi here.”

“Good luck with that! I heard Eraserhead say you offered to analyze them as well? I’d like to see that!” So Izuku and Hitoshi settled down beside the two first-year homeroom teachers (one of which didn’t actually have a homeroom) and Izuku started to avidly take notes. He noticed the hero kid course kids giving him and Hitoshi interested glances until one finally walked over to the group.

“U-uh, hi, who are you guys?” He asked curiously.

Izuku smirked, “I’m helping analyze you guys’ quirks!”

“Oh! Are you both students here or?”

Izuku shrugged, “nah, our school got flooded so we came here instead.”

The hero course kid nodded in confusion, “oh, okay. Have a nice day?”

Izuku grinned at him, “thanks!” Eventually, the class came to a close and Izuku proudly walked up to Shouta and Vlad King.

“If you want to keep the notes I can tear them out of the journal by the way!” Izuku handed the teachers the journal and Vlad King’s eyes widened in surprise.

“This is really in-depth… how’d you get so good at this?”

Izuku shrugged nonchalantly, “it’s just a hobby! I’ve always been fascinated with heroes and ever since I learned to write I’ve been making these about them.” Vlad King ended up tearing out the notes and running off to talk to his class about the assessment.

Shouta stayed behind and nodded at Izuku. “Good job kid.” He said simply which made Izuku beam, “Lunch is soon, you two should eat.” So the two problem children scampered off back to the main building with Shouta shaking his head from behind them.

══════════════════

“Hey pal, could you stop running? It’s really inconvenient to have you tearing up the roads like this, I don’t want to waste my taxpayer money on damage caused by dumb villains like you!” Izuku didn’t actually pay taxes, but that was beside the point. The villain he was chasing had some kind of quirk which allowed him to boost his stride at the expense of the ground under his feet. Izuku frowned as he noticed they were starting to get to a more populated area and finally decided he was done with playing cat and mouse. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt.

He pulled out the electric gun from his belt and aimed it at the man, it hit him straight in the back and Izuku promptly shocked him and nailed him in the back with his staff. He glanced around the street to see people starting to gather around him, Izuku groaned.

“It’s Surge!”

“Oh my god, that was so cool!”

“Isn’t he that vigilante that everyone’s been obsessing over?”

Izuku tied the man up to a bike rack in front of him and cleared his throat at the gathering crowd, “uh, could you guys please step away? I don’t want any civilians getting hurt!” He said cheerfully, the crowd receded a few steps and Izuku heard sirens.

“Well, that's my cue! Sorry to get you guys caught up in this!” Izuku waved at the crowd happily and bolted away when some police officers started sprinting towards him. Izuku quickly lost the officers in the winding alleyways and sighed. His new ‘famous vigilante’ status was quite annoying, but he was making the most of it. He normally didn’t do full out patrols like this in the daylight, but he figured why not try it out a couple times? Izuku did admit it was nice being able to see more in the daylight, but that did mean fewer shadows for him to blend into. He managed though.

Izuku wasn’t used to being so recognized. A lot of people he passed complimented him on the good work and thanked him for protecting the lesser income parts of town heroes normally didn’t come to. It was… strangely nice.

He wasn’t exactly a daytime vigilante or anything, he still mostly operated at night with most of the criminals he took down still unknown to the general public. But that was okay with Izuku, getting glory and fame from the whole vigilante gig wasn’t what he was after. His whole reason for this was to help people and get stronger. It was to help pay for his mistakes in the past.

Izuku was just about to head home from his mini-patrol when he heard police sirens and yelling. That was never a good sign so Izuku grappled over to survey what was going on. He quickly figured out it was a hostage situation by the hero and police trying to negotiate and he sighed. “I’ll finish up after this…” He muttered, then his eyes landed on two heroes who had just arrived at the scene, none other than Eraserhead and Present Mic.

Izuku knew Hizashi patrolled around this time, but apparently Shouta (who he’d heard was talking with the police about one of his cases earlier) had heard the news about the hostage and decided to join in. Maybe Izuku could relax after all! He watched Shouta scowling and telling the on-scene responders something and Hizashi was nodding in agreement. Eventually, Shouta snuck away from the crowd and Izuku decided to follow him. He jumped down in the alley behind him.

“Hiya Eraser!” Shouta spun around and glared at the vigilante, “Surge. What are you doing out?” Izuku shrugged and kicked some trash, “fighting crime, the usual! Anyways need any help with the whole hostage situation? Can’t help but notice you’re alone.”

Shouta sighed, “all of the heroes already at the scene were incompetent and Present Mic’s quirk isn’t good for sneaking into places. He’s the distraction anyway.” Izuku nodded dutifully, “well if you need any help…” He said pointedly and grinned and the man’s sigh, he had given in.

“Follow me, don’t do anything reckless and only attack on my signal. Okay?” Izuku saluted, “yessir!” That made Eraserhead roll his eyes and the pair continued on their roundabout way to the back of the hostage building. Eraserhead debriefed him on the situation quickly. According to a short police call the woman and her two children were being held hostage by her husband she had recently divorced. He’d come back to threaten her for money, but it obviously didn’t work out and got cornered by the police. They’d been at a standoff for a while and were scared to do anything.

Eraserhead carefully opened a window on the second floor and they climbed inside, the apartment building was only two stories high and the hostages were on floor two. He held up a hand for Izuku to stop and muttered something into a headset, and then Mic started yelling outside. Izuku winced at the sudden loud noise and the two crept towards the apartment the criminal was holed up in. Izuku could hear him yelling outside for Mic to shut up or he’ll kill the hostages.

“Grab the hostages and get them out, leave the fighting to me.” Eraserhead muttered and flung the door open before Izuku could protest. Eraserhead entered first and erased the man’s quirk. The criminal had his quirk active, which he tried to shoot towards the hostages, but Eraserhead had already erased it before he could do anything. Izuku shot forwards and started to untie the terrified victims while Eraserhead fought.

“A-are you g-guys heroes?” A small girl, who couldn’t be more than five whispered out shakily. Izuku wanted to give her a reassuring smile but instead just nodded since his mask covered his face.

“Don’t worry, the guy protecting us right now is a hero called Eraserhead, he’s really cool. He’ll make sure you’re all safe…” Izuku whispered once he had untied them all and he ushered them out of the room. The man saw them leaving and yelled angrily, he tried to run towards them and Izuku stepped in front of the civilians protectively, but Eraserhead yanked his scarf around his arm, effectively trapping him. Izuku stood protectively in front of the small group once he got them out of the room. He tensed, getting ready for a fight when he heard footsteps coming out of the room, but he sighed in relief when it was just Eraserhead with the tied up criminal.

Izuku smirked, “well I’ll be out of your hobo hair now, I can hear the police coming up the stairs and I don’t really fancy spending tonight in jail! Later!” Izuku chirped out and ran away from the three hostages, the villain, and a frowning Eraserhead.

══════════════════

“Wait!”

Izuku and Hitoshi turned to glance behind them, Kurihara was sprinting towards them with Ayano casually following her from a ways back.

“Oh hi Kuri, what’s up?” Izuku said, shooting the girl a grin.

“Me and Ayano are gonna hang out! Wanna come?” Izuku glanced at Hitoshi and shrugged at him. Hitoshi spoke up, “why not.”

Ayano caught up to the group and Kurihara pumped her fist in the air, “YAY!” Kurihara pranced off towards wherever she was planning to go and the three boys followed.

“Where are we going?” Izuku questioned Kurihara who grinned in response. “Me and Ayano get stuff from this bakery down here a lot! ALSO, I heard some heroes are going to be in the area so…” Ayano sighed, “Kuri I told you, there’s heroes everywhere. You just really only see them when there’s villain attacks, and you don’t want to get caught up in that.”

Kurihara rolled her eyes, “boo, Ayano! You’re too responsible, like a mom.”

“Someone needs to keep you from getting yourself killed.”

Kurihara glared at him jokingly and then slammed to a stop, “here we are!”

The bakery was a small, hole in the wall place. It didn’t look like much from the outside but when Izuku stepped in the building he was greeted with the mouthwatering scent of pastries. The group went over to the glass case to see what was available and someone emerged from the kitchen holding a sheet of cookies.

“Ah! Kurihara and Ayano, my two favorite customers! How are you two today?” The kind voice belonged to a nice looking woman who had flour stains all over her clothes and her hair up in a bun. Izuku about choked when he saw the cookies she was holding, they looked like they had the same pattern of Surge’s mask?

“Ms. Miyasaki! We’re good! We brought two of our friends from school!”

Miyasaki turned her gaze to Hitoshi and Izuku. Izuku was smiling nervously and Hitoshi had his usual blank face on. “Hello you two, what are your names? It’s always nice to see some new faces around here.”

Izuku smiled, “I’m Midoriya and that’s Shinsou. Your pastries look super good!”

Miyasaki smiled, “oh thank you!”

The four got to ordering and Izuku couldn’t resist asking about the cookies he’d seen earlier. “Those fresh cookies you had earlier, are they of, uh, Surge?” Miyasaki laughed, “sure are! I make special pastries every once in a while about heroes and he’s been so popular lately!”

“I’ll have one of those! They smell really good!” After the four got their food, they said goodbye to Miyasaki and crashed in the grass of a park across the road.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you two to hang out for a while, but you both always disappear so fast afterschool. Where do you guys rush off too?”

Izuku shrugged and swallowed a bite of his cookie, “oh… it’s top secret!” Izuku winked at Kurihara, “sorry Kuri!” Kurihara smiled at him, “aw c'monnn, I won’t tell anyone.” Izuku suddenly got a really serious face and leaned forward to whisper loudly in Kurihara’s ear, “we're hiding aliens from the government… don’t tell anyone okay?” Hitoshi scoffed and rolled his eyes jokingly. Kurihara and Ayano both snorted in laughter.

“Ooh, spooky Midoriya.” Izuku nodded at Ayano, “very spooky indeed.”

Hitoshi piped up, “you know what also spooky Izu? Ghosts.” Izuku glared at him, “no, we’re not talking about this again.” Hitoshi covered his face to muffle his laughter, “oh but you were so scared Izuku! It was hilarious.” Izuku hit him on the shoulder, “Shut up!” Hitoshi didn’t look at Izuku and instead flipped him off and Izuku gasped loudly.

“Rude! How could you!”

After fooling around in the park for a few hours the group finally decided to head home. Izuku and Hitoshi lived together, so they obviously walked back together, and Ayano and Kurihara lived close together so they split off to go their own way. When Hitoshi and Izuku got home Hizashi was laughing at something in the kitchen with Shouta shaking his head. They had a nice family dinner together and all hung out in the living room for a while before Izuku and Hitoshi scampered off into Hitoshi’s room.

Izuku gasped loudly at his phone, “oh my god… Toshi. R, that HeroTuber guy, he made a video about me.”

Hitoshi glanced at him, “and are you upset about it or…?”

Izuku frowned, “uh, well I’m not sure whether to be excited or scared.”

“Scared, definitely scared. Let’s watch this shit.” Hitoshi said helpfully and Izuku clicked on the video.

“Hey, I’m R, your host and welcome back to HeroStats! A little over a month ago now, a vigilante who goes by the name of Surge made his debut and saved a junior high school student from a villain. However, with more research a lot of people have come to realize Surge has been around for much longer than that. A quick look on hero forums shows many people telling stories about this mysterious vigilante saving them at night before and after he appeared on live TV. Judging off the clips I’ve seen of Surge, although I will admit there’s not too many floating around, he seems pretty experienced. And that gets us into my analysis of Surge!”

“People have gotten a couple of grainy videos of Surge fighting at night, and let me tell you if you’ve only seen the videos of him fighting in the daylight you’re missing out. The dude knows how to control a fight terrifyingly well and one of the videos showed him completely destroying what looked like a small gang even when he was outnumbered. I won’t show it here, as it is pretty violent, but I’ll leave the link in the description to the video if you guys want to see him in action for yourselves.”

“Now you’re all probably asking, ‘R! What do you think his quirk is?’ Quite honestly I’m not too sure. The most popular theory is that he can channel electricity through the staffs he uses to fight with, which you can really see when he defeated the slime villain as he stunned the villain with electricity…”

Izuku and Hitoshi listened to the rest of R’s video and Izuku frowned. “Damn, he really got a lot of stuff right… well besides the quirk bullshit.” He flopped over on the bed, “I hope this doesn’t negatively affect me or anything… like people figuring out more effective ways to fight me… Although it’s not like there’s many videos of me fighting for him to analyze, I have a lot more up my sleeve than the public thinks.”

Hitoshi nodded, “yeah like stalking famous HeroTubers and figuring out their home address.”

Izuku scoffed, “I didn’t look for his home address, I’m not that creepy.”

Hitoshi shrugged, “yeah, uh-huh… Honestly imagine how scared that kid would be if he knew how much of his personal information you know about him… I mean you watched him from the vents in UA without him knowing.”

That made Izuku bust out laughing, “when you put it like that it does sound pretty creepy, but you were in the vents too!”

Hitoshi smirked and stretched his arms, “I can’t wait for summer break in like, a month or whatever.”

Izuku pumped his fist in the air, “more time for vigilantism!”

“Hurray.”

Notes:

Hi! First of all, I really want to say thank you all so much for 10k hits and 1k kudos. Like WHAT?? It makes me so happy to see people actually enjoying my story! <3

Also, I apologize in advance if the next few chapters are terrible :( I've been hit with really bad writer's block recently and I'm not as happy with the next few as I normally am.

Anyways...
Countdown: 3

Chapter 13: Izuku crashes a party

Notes:

Edited 11/19/22

One year. 

 

It had been exactly one year to this day when Izuku found his apartment on fire and couldn’t save his parents. Izuku couldn’t sleep as he stared at the clock.

 

The clock changed to 3:38. He’d arrived at the burning apartment at 3:38 in the afternoon. Izuku curled up further into himself and dug his fingernails into his wrist. Smoke curling around the stairs, filling his lungs. He could feel his eyes blurring with tears and his body shaking with every breath he took. 

 

Somehow he managed to make it through the night, even though he didn’t get much sleep and he walked out of his room numbly. He had a short conversation with Hizashi which he couldn’t focus on.

 

Izuku rubbed his head and sucked in a deep breath. Shouta, Hizashi, and Hitoshi were aware of what happened today and he had already gotten permission to take the train and visit his parents’ grave. After Hizashi forced him to eat a small breakfast he muttered out a half-hearted goodbye and assurance he’d be alright by himself. Then he set off to the train station. After he got off the train he bought two bouquets of flowers from a small flower shop. A bunch of pink daylilies for his mother, those had always been her favorite, and white carnations for his dad.

 

Before Izuku knew it he was standing in front of the graves with a blank frown. He crouched down and placed the two bouquets on the respective graves and rubbed a hand over his eyes.

 

“Sorry I haven’t visited much lately. I really miss you, both of you guys. I-I… I might not be a hero, but I’m trying to save people. Is it selfish that one of the biggest reasons I’m doing it is because I wasn’t able to save you guys?” Izuku breathed out a sad laugh.

 

He stood up and glanced up at the sky. “I’m finally living somewhere decent. I dunno how much longer I’ll be there if Eraser finds out about me though…” Izuku trailed off and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Anyways, I’m sorry I couldn’t save you guys. I’m trying to move on, I know you’d want me to be happy… Both of you are probably yelling at me not to be upset, wherever you are.” Izuku smiled sadly. “I’m still kind of working on that but it’s getting better… I won’t forget about either of you though. I’ll become a hero you can be proud of mom, dad. Even if my way might be illegal.”

 

Izuku’s ears picked up on a group of footsteps walking down the gravel path towards him, he spared a glance behind him and saw the Bakugou’s walking towards them. Katsuki frowned at him. 

 

“Deku, I thought you fuckin’ died or some shit. You fuckin’ disappeared!” 

 

Mitsuki whacked him on the back of the head. “Katsuki,” she whispered pointedly, “behave.”

 

Izuku smiled weakly at them. “Hey Auntie Mitsuki, Uncle Marasu. Kacchan.”

 

Mitsuki smiled at him. “Hey Izuku. How’ve you been? Katsuki said you haven’t been to school recently.”

 

“I’ve been alright. I’m actually going to another school now, it’s closer to where the family I’m staying with lives.”

 

“How are they?”

 

Izuku blinked. “Oh, they’re pretty nice…” Besides the fact he was extremely paranoid about Shouta finding out his identity.

 

Mitsuki nodded and the group fell into a respectful silence. They stayed like that for a short while until the Bakugous had to leave. Izuku decided to leave with them and Katsuki hung back to walk with him.

 

“Hey Deku! Why didn’t you fuckin’ tell me you were switching schools?”

 

“Uh, sorry? I didn’t have any way to and I, uh, didn’t think you’d care.”

 

Katsuki frowned. “Whatever. I’m glad you’re not dead, I guess.”

 

Izuku couldn’t bite back a sarcastic comment. “Oh yeah? I’m glad you’re not dead too, I guess.” Katsuki glared at him which made Izuku breathe out a small laugh. “Are you still planning on going to UA?”

 

Katsuki puffed out his chest, “I am going to UA! Those fuckers’ll be grateful to have me!”

 

Izuku grinned. “Good luck then, Kacchan!” 

 

Katsuki gave him a sideways glance. “wWat about you, nerd? Didn’t you want to fuckin’ go there too or some shit? Do you still wanna be a hero?”

 

Izuku shrugged. “Ah, well, their hero course doesn’t let quirkless people apply. I was thinking about applying for general studies though.”

 

“Hmph. Well, whatever you do, stay out of my way. I’m gonna be the number one hero.”

 

“Of course you will,” Izuku said. 

 

Katsuki opened his mouth to respond but couldn’t seem to figure out what to say, so he just frowned. 

 

They reached the gates to the cemetery and Izuku shoved his hands in his pockets before looking at the two adults.

 

“I need to get to the station, it was nice seeing you guys.” Although the circumstances were much less than nice. 

 

Mitsuki smiled at him. “Bye Izuku! If you need anything please call me- actually, do you have my number?” Izuku shook his head and handed Mitsuki his phone so she could type her number in. Katsuki snatched the phone before she could give it back and aggressively typed in his number. He handed it back to Izuku with a scowl.

 

“Don’t text me unless you’re about to die or some shit.”

 

Izuku couldn’t help but chuckle. If he was dying Katsuki probably wouldn’t be his first to text. Maybe Shouta, if he was dying it would probably be Surge related. “An-Anyways, I’ll leave you guys alone now. Bye!”

 

Mitsuki and Marasu waved at him and Katsuki muttered out a half-hearted bye. Izuku turned away from the group and stuck his phone in his pocket. He still wasn’t feeling the greatest, but it was kind of nice to talk to the Bakugous. He missed Katsuki’s cursing self in a weird way, it was one of the things that was still the same in his life since his mom died.

 

Izuku glanced behind him at the cemetery with a sad smile. “Bye for now.” He clutched his hand in a fist and looked in front of him. “I’ll live on for you guys. I’ll save people. I don’t want anyone else to go through this… I don’t care what people call me, as long as I save them, that’s all that matters.”

 

He took a deep breath. “Fuck titles, fuck the laws. I’ll be a hero in my own way. I’ll be a son you both can be proud of. I promise.”

 

He smiled, maybe his motivation for being a vigilante wasn’t as selfish as he thought. 

 

══════════════════

 

The security guard eyed the metal staff thoughtfully. Izuku stuck his hands in his sweatshirt pocket with a nervous smile. “Uh, um, it’s for my Surge cosplay. You know how he has that staff thing? I got it online.”

 

The security guard sighed. “You do realize he’s a vigilante right? Cosplay as someone legal next time.” He offered Izuku his collapsible staff and Izuku quickly snatched it back. 

 

Izuku looked around at the people waiting in the security lines. “Well… tell that to everyone else.” There were a bunch of people wearing Surge merch and cosplays, Izuku’s sweatshirt had the word ‘Surge’ on it too (he’d made it himself).

 

The security guard just frowned and waved him on. He smirked to himself once he was past the guard. Hitoshi pushed himself off the pillar he was waiting on.

 

“That was easy,” Hitoshi said.

 

Izuku laughed. “Well, he probably wasn’t expecting a kid to have an actual weapon.” He waved the staff in the air. “Not like it’s illegal to bring a collapsible staff.”

 

“Everyone should be terrified.”

 

Izuku grinned. “Nah, only if you’re a villain. Anyways, let’s go do some stuff! If the info I got was true Mr. Murderer shouldn’t be around until the heroes are out.”

 

That was the reason Izuku and Hitoshi were at ‘HeroCon’ in the first place. Izuku had caught wind of some information that some guy was going to show up and try to kill the heroes the convention had gotten to come. 

 

That wasn’t something Izuku wanted happening and, frankly, he didn’t trust the police to actually do anything if he left a tip. They’d either think it was just someone lying or, if they did believe it, they’d probably just say the heroes could ‘handle it themselves.’ Izuku didn’t think the heroes could handle it themselves. So he decided to take matters into his own hands and attend HeroCon himself and keep an eye out for any suspicious activity.

 

Izuku pumped his fist in the air. “The search for Eraserhead merch begins!”

 

Hitoshi snorted. “I feel like you wanted to come here more because of that than that threat.”

 

“I run into people like that all the time, however, I can never find any Eraserhead merch. Like god Eraser, lighten up. Give me merch to bother you with.” 

 

The two went into the booths, they bought a couple of things (not Eraserhead related) and Izuku was slowly giving up hope. 

 

“There has to be someone here who made some kind of Eraserhead thing,” he complained. 

 

But then he saw it. It was a small poster of Eraserhead along with a few other lesser-known heroes and Izuku grinned. “Bingo.” 

 

He bolted over to the booth excitedly with Hitoshi trailing after him. Izuku halted in front of the booth with a wide smile. “Is that Eraserhead?” He pointed at the poster.

 

The girl running the booth smiled back. “Yeah! You like him?”

 

Izuku nodded. “He’s my favorite hero! I think it’s really cool how he doesn’t care about the media and stuff… the only thing I don’t like about that is that I can never find any merch.” He ended with a half-hearted huff and the girl laughed.

 

“Yeah, I totally get you. I didn’t even know he existed until he saved me around a year ago. He’d been one of my favorites ever since!”

 

Izuku nodded. “Oh! I just found out about him on forums and stuff.” And also being harassed as a vigilante by him. He glanced over to the Eraserhead posters. “How much are they?”

 

“9.000 for the big one, and 4.500 for the small one!” Izuku nodded and pulled some money out of his pocket. Hizashi had given both kids some before they left, or lunch and other things they wanted to buy, like Eraserhead merch.

 

After a slight deliberation, he decided to buy one of each, one for Eraser and one for himself! Hitoshi ended up getting one small one and then smirked when he saw something on the other end of the table. 

 

“Is this 9.000 too?” Izuku glanced over to see what he was referring to and made a strangled noise.

 

“Toshi no!” It was a poster of Surge. Izuku briefly wondered if it was even legal to sell that. Maybe he could get royalties.

 

The girl smiled, looking only slightly confused by Izuku’s weird reaction. “Yep!” 

 

Hitoshi laughed and bought the Surge poster for himself. They both stuck their posters in Izuku’s backpack with the rest of the things they’d already bought. After that, they’d attended a panel hosted by a professional support item engineer, which was super interesting. And then they went to lunch.

 

“This place is really filling up, huh?”

 

Izuku nodded. “The panels hosted by heroes are this afternoon, so everyone’s getting here now. But before that, they have a public signing event… that's like in half an hour. I think our friend will make his move then. I’m pretty sure he’s trying to make a public statement or something. I think he’s the same guy I met in costume, he spouted off some nonsense about how my methods weren’t ‘extreme’ enough. Like what the fuck, what methods?”

 

Hitoshi frowned. “Sounds like an idiot.”

 

“He must be if he wants to try something here.” Izuku glanced down at his phone, which he had the security feed pulled up on. “I’m gonna put my stuff on.” 

 

Hitoshi nodded and Izuku pulled up the hood of his sweatshirt and walked over to a small section of the venue where he was out of sight of any cameras. He casually slid his mask over his face and slid on his gloves and grappling hook which were both in his hoodie pocket. Then he clipped the staff to his belt and he was set! 

 

The staff he had brought was one of his collapsible ones that wasn’t electric. He could easily play it off as a prop. He slipped up the hood of his costume, clipped his hair back, and then tied his sweatshirt around his waist. He wandered back over to Hitoshi and shot some finger guns at him, Hitoshi gave him the same deadpan stare Eraser always used.

 

“Okay, off to work I go! Protect my Eraserhead merch!” He said cheerily and threw the sweatshirt on the table. He took off the pants he had over the Surge suit (that earned him a few weird looks). Hitoshi just sighed.

 

“Protect yourself. ”

 

Izuku smiled from under the mouthpiece. “I’ll try my very hardest!”

 

He pulled out his phone again and flipped through the security feed, no suspicious activity yet, but there was still half an hour before the heroes came out from backstage. The place the signing was being held was set up similar to a stage. It was connected to the staff only section of the venue and that would be where the heroes were walking out of. There were already a bunch of people lined up in front of signs which indicated which hero would be where.

 

“Hey! Nice cosplay man.” 

 

Izuku’s head shot up to see a guy grinning at him, Izuku rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Oh, thanks!” The man nodded before glancing behind himself.

 

“Kuro! Wait up you asshole!” He sprinted after his friend and Izuku snickered. He got a few more compliments on his ‘cosplay’ which Izuku found really fucking funny. He wondered how’d they react if they knew he was actually Surge and not just a random cosplayer. 

 

Anyway, he got to the staff doorway, which led to where the heroes were. He didn’t know where the assassination lunatic was going to show up at, so trailing the heroes would probably be his best bet for now. He edged up to a wall and kicked a vent out, the pros of being small, vents were a really good secretive method of travel. No one ever looks for people in vents.

 

Izuku quietly crawled through the vents until he was above the three pros the convention had gotten to come. Kamui Woods, Mt. Lady, and some sidekick Izuku didn’t know. He glanced around the room but didn’t see anything. So he pulled up the cameras on his phone and started watching the feed. He flipped through the cameras for a few minutes when his eyes caught on a shadowy figure moving through the hallway. Was that him? 

 

If Izuku remembered correctly, and if this was the same guy as before, his quirk had something to do with shadows. Izuku hadn’t fully figured it out, but he was pretty sure the guy could create some kind of tangible weapon out of shadows. He wasn’t sure if it did anything else though. The guy had gotten away from Izuku real quick after he’d messed up and let him escape. 

 

Izuku glanced back at the heroes, they were getting ready to go out, only a few more minutes until they left. Izuku could faintly hear the sound of an intercom. So Izuku shimmied his body around as quietly as possible and tracked down where the mystery man was. 

 

He almost missed him, but Izuku had found the dude. He was pretty close to the stage judging by the fact Izuku could hear Mt. Lady giving an opening speech or something. Izuku frowned as the guy got closer to the stage and Izuku stuffed his phone in his belt pocket. Showtime.

 

Izuku removed the vent cover quietly and leaped down onto the floor without a sound. Izuku could see the guy was crouched down right around the corner from backstage and just out of sight of the security guards there. Izuku unclipped his staff and cleared his throat.

 

“Hey pal, what’cha doing?”

 

The man leaped a few feet in the air and spun around with a growl. He was aiming a spear, which seemed to be made of shadows, at Izuku. “Who- Surge…?” The man looked skeptical if this was, in fact, the real Surge or just a cosplayer. 

 

Izuku decided to use that to his advantage, maybe he could get the guy to underestimate him and get careless. Izuku rubbed his arm nervously. “Uh… wait, no! Wh-What are you doing? Who are you? F-Fuck… I’m not Surge… don’t kill me!”

 

Izuku grinned sadistically from under his mask when he saw the man relax and then scoff. “Keep quiet or you’re dead.” He paced up a couple steps torwards Izuku and jabbed the spear at Izuku. “Turn around. You never saw me here. Okay ?”

 

Izuku flinched back as the spear jabbed at him and stammered out a yes. This guy really was an idiot wasn’t he? The best course of action would be to knock Izuku out. If Izuku left he could alert someone about the guy with the fucking shadow spear in the hallway. Also didn’t this place have cameras? Was no one seeing this? Izuku threw both his hands up and pretended to surrender. Except he didn’t.

 

He lashed out with his leg and threw himself at the man. The man’s eyes widened in surprise and he started flailing around.

 

“Hey! This guy has a weapon! Help!” Izuku yelled, hoping the security guards would hear. He smirked at the man’s angry face.

 

“NO! YOU RUINED IT! YOU’RE JUST LIKE ME, SURGE! YOU HATE THEM TOO SO WHY-” Izuku cut him off by slapping his hand over the idiot’s mouth.

 

“Shut up . I don’t hate heroes, I just want them to be more conscious of how important their job is and do better at it. I don’t wanna fucking kill them, you maniac.” 

 

The guy tried to punch Izuku in the face but he deftly dodged it and finally two yelling security guards came around the corner. They didn’t help. What was Izuku expecting?

 

They started running at the two of them and one kicked Surge off of the villain, like an idiot, while yelling, “hands in the air!” The criminal took the opportunity to sprint out to the heroes. Izuku groaned loudly and sprinted after him and ignored the security guard’s yells for him to stop. 

 

The villain was readying his spear and was about to run around the poster separating the heroes from backstage. Izuku shot his grappling hook out and hooked it on the ceiling above him. The grappling hook yanked Izuku forward and then he rammed his feet into the man’s back. A few things happened after that:

 

The villain went down on his face and slid forward a few feet. 

 

Izuku, who was still moving forward, unhooked the grappling hook and landed on the man’s back. That made him and Izuku crash into the poster, knock it over, and be revealed on the stage. 

 

Izuku quickly pinned the guy to the ground and rendered him unable to move.

 

Then he acknowledged the shocked pros and audience. The audience’s reaction to his accidental stunt were: screaming and running away from the stage, shouting “it’s Surge!” or just staring in shock. Some were doing a combination.

 

Izuku laughed nervously. Of course nothing ever worked out how he wanted it to. Of course this had to happen. 

 

The villain started to struggle under him and he started to shout curses at Surge and how he’d “messed everything up.” Izuku just hit him on the head with his staff until he was knocked unconscious. 

 

He hadn’t noticed the security guards racing towards him earlier but he did now. He growled in annoyance when he heard them shouting his name. 

 

“Get that guy! He’s the villain here!” 

 

He jumped to his feet and held his staff defensively in his hands, a couple of security guards grabbed the criminal's unconscious body and started dragging him away. The few that were left yelled at the pros to do something. 

 

Izuku noted the pros looking cautiously at the crowd which was now loudly cheering.

 

“SURGE! SURGE! SURGE!”

 

“DON’T ARREST HIM, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!”

 

Izuku smirked from under his mask. Public approval, huh? “Aw, too afraid of damaging your popularity to arrest me? Can’t let those rankings slip, right? Anyways, I’ll be taking my leave now!”

 

But before Izuku could leave Kamui Woods spoke up quietly, so the crowd couldn’t hear him. “I don’t want to arrest you because I don’t think you’re such a bad guy… You’re doing good things. I… you made me want to become a better hero. Thank you.”

 

“O-oh…” Izuku was taken aback and stared at him with wide eyes. He wasn’t expecting that at all. “I’m glad… Uh, you’re not so bad yourself, Treeman.” And then he ziplined over the crowd, cheering to himself that the venue had an open-air roof. 

 

“Sorry about all this! It got a little out of hand!” And then he exited the venue and disappeared into the city streets.

 

Kamui Woods blinked after the disappearing vigilante. He frowned. “Treeman?”

 

Mt. Lady snorted from beside him. “I mean, he’s not wrong.”

 

══════════════════

 

Hitoshi groaned as soon as Izuku had scampered off to execute his mastermind plan. He grabbed the clothes Izuku had left behind and tried to stuff them in his backpack, but the sweatshirt wouldn’t fit. Of course.

 

He’d just have to carry it then, dammit Izuku. He clicked on his phone to check the time and got up from his chair. Around fifteen minutes until the heroes were scheduled to show, he debated on heading over to the area but Izuku had warned him to be careful just in case something happened. 

 

Hitoshi eventually just gave in and hung out on the edge of the ever growing crowd. He was casually scrolling through his phone with Izuku’s sweatshirt draped over his arm when someone collided with Hitoshi’s back. The sweatshirt fell on the ground and Hitoshi stared at it tiredly.

 

“Oh shoot! I’m super sorry!” A girl with bright pink skin and fluffy hair picked up Izuku’s sweatshirt and was trying to brush the dirt off it. Suddenly she gasped. “You like Surge?”

 

“Uh…” This situation was giving Hitoshi flashbacks to when Kurihara had crashed into Izuku.

 

The girl grinned at him and handed back Izuku’s sweatshirt. “Here you go! I like Surge too,” she announced like he’d actually care. 

 

Then she started to wave her hands in the air excitedly, trying to flag someone over. Hitoshi stood there with a frown. Goddammit. This was all Izuku’s fault.

 

Two people came over to the excited pink girl, one had bright yellow hair and a grin to match the pink girl… the other had a bird head? Hitoshi just shrugged it off, he wasn’t one to judge.

 

“Oh sorry I never introduced myself! I’m Mina Ashido, and that’s Kaminari and Tokoyami! We’re in a Surge discord server together and we met here!” A Surge discord server? Hitoshi almost snorted as he imagined what Izuku’s reaction to that would be. He’d probably die, for multiple reasons. But he kept his bored frown and stared blankly at the group.

 

“Okay?” Hitoshi wasn’t really sure what they wanted with him and he really wished they would leave already.

 

Kaminari smiled at him after Ashido said that he was a fan of Surge too. Hitoshi had never, in fact, said that. The sweatshirt wasn’t even his, Izuku had spray painted Surge on it one night for the hell of it and then he’d started wearing it around. (Hitoshi suspected the main reason he had was because Shouta always sighed when he saw Izuku wearing it, but never actually said anything about it).

 

Ashido and Kaminari rambled on about some stuff, something about heroes maybe? Hitoshi wasn’t really listening, just constantly watching the stage and tensely waiting for the heroes to arrive. He glanced at Tokoyami from the corner of his eye a couple of times. He seemed much calmer than both Kaminari and Ashido. Maybe he wasn’t too bad. 

 

Tokoyami must’ve noticed his glances because he nodded. “Hello, I don’t believe I ever got your name.”

 

“Shinsou,” he said shortly and glanced back towards the stage. Tokoyami followed his gaze, he probably just thought he was excited about seeing the heroes. Or something like that.

 

A few minutes passed and Hitoshi was getting along pretty well with the Tokoyami guy. Neither of them were big talkers but they’d had a few nice conversations. Tokoyami offered to invite him to the discord server they were all in. Hitoshi sighed to himself as he accepted. Izuku would kill him if he didn’t get a chance to know what they talked about in this ‘Surge discord server.’ 

 

Just as Hitoshi accepted the invite the heroes came out and everyone started cheering. Hitoshi could feel nerves creeping up his spine and he twisted his hands. Hopefully everything would go alright and no one would get hurt. Hitoshi trusted Izuku, for the most part at least. He was kind of an idiot sometimes but he was an idiot that was good at fighting. Tokoyami noticed his shift in mood.

 

“Is something the matter?”

 

Hitoshi shook his head. “Nope, just… excited.” What complete bullshit. Hitoshi gave zero shits about the heroes on stage.

 

Tokoyami left it at that and Ashido nudged him on the shoulder. “Did Tokoyami invite you to the server?” She asked, pointing at Hitoshi’s name. Hitoshi nodded. Ashido grinned back. “Cool!”

 

Ashido and Kaminari started talking again and Hitoshi zoned out staring at the stage. Then he heard Kaminari say something about UA and Hitoshi glanced over at them.

 

“Are you guys applying for UA?”

 

Ashido lit up. “Oh yeah! Hero course here we come!” She pumped a fist in the air excitedly and was about to say something else but was cut off by a loud crash. 

 

Everyone turned towards the stage to see Surge crouched on top of a guy who had some kind of shadowy spear. The poster that had previously separated the stage from the backstage was gone and everyone could see security guards running towards the pair. Panic ensued.

 

Hitoshi wanted to slap himself… and Izuku. Mostly Izuku. He always talked about how inconvenient it was to be on TV, but here he was, being seen, and probably filmed, by hundreds of people.

 

“You idiot…” He hissed under his breath.

 

Then Izuku hit the guy with his staff and knocked him out. After that, he jumped to his feet and away from the incoming security guards. They were yelling something but Hitoshi couldn’t hear anything over the screams of the crowd.

 

Hitoshi focused back on the small group that had forcibly socialized with him. Ashido and Kaminari were both chanting Surge with the crowd and Tokoyami looking at the scene intently. He glanced back at the stage just in time to see Izuku holding out his arm, shooting his grappling hook to a wall, and then disappearing over it. Hitoshi was pretty sure he heard him shouting some kind of apology as he left. He immediately texted Izuku.

 

Hitoshi Shinsou: Real low profile

 

Ashido shrieked which caused Hitoshi to glare at her.

 

“Sorry! I just- do you think that was the real Surge? That was so cool!”

 

Kaminari butted in. “It was badass! He just took out that guy and then fucking ziplined over everyone!”

 

Hitoshi’s phone buzzed.

 

Unknown Number: Uh that was unintentional

 

Unknown Number: On a scale from bad to shitshow what happened after I left?

 

Unknown Number: HA I see the police looking for me but they aren’t looking up, idiots

 

Hitoshi rolled his eyes and texted him back.

 

Hitoshi Shinsou: Well murder guy is being arrested right now, he’s still out cold. The pros are trying to keep everyone away and I’m pretty sure they aren’t letting anyone leave yet. Everyones freaking out nice job 

 

Unknown Number: My specialty, anyways I need to go mess with the security footage because I know Eraser is gonna be watching us if he can get it and I don’t want to risk anything. Text me once you can get out and we can meet somewhere

 

Hitoshi Shinsou: Have fun, if you get arrested it’s your own fault

 

Hitoshi stuck around with Tokoyami and his friends while the police tried to calm everything down. The rest of the event was canceled for the day, which some people were mad about. But the con was still going on tomorrow and apparently they could use their tickets to get in free then because of all of this. 

 

He was eventually herded towards the exit, and finally, Hitoshi was out of the stuffy venue. He was still standing beside Tokoyami, Mina, and Kaminari. Hitoshi waved goodbye to them and then headed away. 

 

He pulled out his phone to text Izuku, but he heard pointed coughing in an alley beside him before he could. He looked up and sighed as he saw Izuku in Surge gear there. He was sitting on top of a dumpster and swinging his legs childishly.

 

“Please, come in.” He gestured dramatically and Hitoshi scoffed. He stepped in.

 

“I feel like I’m about to get murdered.”

 

Izuku shrugged and hopped down from the dumpster. They rounded a corner and went farther into the maze of alleys which Izuku seemed to know well.

 

“None of this area has any cameras and no one can see us from the street. Let’s stop here.” 

 

Hitoshi handed Izuku the sweatshirt which he took happily and slipped on. He also fished his pants out of the bag and put those on. Finally, he glanced around and took off the mask and stuffed it into his sweatshirt. He frowned at Hitoshi.

 

“Well, that didn’t go like I wanted it to.”

 

“Really? Didn’t notice.”

 

Izuku sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, “I corrupted all the footage of the venue for the afternoon. Well, except of me taking down that lunatic. Tsukauchi’ll be pissed.” Suddenly Izuku got a predatory grin on his face. “Anyways I saw you with some people on the cameras, are you making friends! Look at you!”

 

Hitoshi groaned. “That’s really fucking creepy.”

 

Izuku shrugged. “So…?”

 

Hitoshi sighed. “They just bumped into me and then they saw your shitty sweatshirt and thought I was a Surge fan and now I’m in a Surge discord server which… actually has a lot of members.”

 

“Okay, one, my sweatshirt isn’t shitty, you’re just mean. Two, THERE’S A DISCORD SERVER WHAT?”

 

Hitoshi shrugged. “You’re quite the popular celebrity these days, your little stunt back there probably didn’t help your secrecy.”

 

Izuku groaned. “Yeah… anyways, I’m really hot, it’s the middle of summer and I’m in layers. Let’s go back to the base! Tell me about your new friends on the way there!”

 

Hitoshi sighed. “They’re not my…” 

 

“Also, I wanna see this discord server!”

 

Hitoshi shrugged in defeat and they both walked out of the alleyways together.

Notes:

I kinda hate this chapter but it's okay :')

Countdown: 2

Chapter 14: A questionable encounter

Izuku had been lying low the past week after his… incident. He was currently swinging his legs over the side of a building while enjoying a nice soda in the rain. He looked thoughtfully over the city with a small sigh. The streets were slightly reflecting the dim streetlights due to the drizzling weather and not many people were out, at least that Izuku could see. He took another sip of the drink and finished it. He frowned at the can and hopped up to go throw it away with a sigh. That’s when he heard voices coming from the alley on the other side of the building, curious, Izuku glanced over the edge.

There was a black-haired teen pressed against a wall, he had a bag of groceries in one hand and the other was in front of him defensively. A scowling man with a black beanie was in front of him.

“Back off man! I don’t have anything else.” The kid obviously had a slight shake to his voice, he was scared.

“Tch. You have to have more than a hundred yen.” The man growled out and paced forwards slightly. The victim, who looked to be around eighteen, tried to shirk back but the wall blocked him. Izuku smirked and pulled his voice changer back up. He shot his zipline across the alley and swung down to be beside the pair.

“Ah, sorry to interrupt!” Izuku drew one of his staffs from his back with a chuckle, “but I couldn’t help but notice you’re an asshole.” He shot forward at the man and hit him in the knees with his staff, then once the man was unstable he kneed him in the side which caused him to fall over. Izuku then turned on the electricity and shocked the man unconscious.

Izuku grinned at how efficient he was getting with these street thugs and returned the rod to his back. He reached into a pocket in his belt and zip-tied the man’s wrists together and then he crouched down to empty the man’s pockets. Some change fell out of his pocket and Izuku finally looked at the shocked boy.

“Uh, that yours?”

The guy nodded and Izuku scooped it up, he also fished a wallet out of the criminal’s pocket and smirked when he opened it. He handed the teen his money back and took out the wad of cash the criminal had in there and put it in his belt.

“W-wait, you shouldn’t…”

Izuku glanced at the guy with a small laugh, “it’s my payment! He doesn’t need money in jail. Anyway, are you okay…?” Izuku trailed off as he processed who the teen was. It was R, the guy Hitoshi had pointed out he had accidentally stalked, “you’re R.”

R’s eyes widened in surprise and Izuku realized that probably wasn’t a smart thing to say. He coughed quietly, “uh, just… forget I said that. Hi, I’m Surge, what’s your name?” Izuku offered R his hand who was staring at him apprehensively.

“How did you know who I was?”

Izuku shrugged, “oh, I’ve just been a huge fan of your channel for a while… and uh, I… y’know.” He finished off with a nervous laugh and R edged away from him.

“Yeah…”

Izuku shook his head to clear it, “yeah, that probably wasn’t the best way to introduce myself huh? Anyways, I do have to say, nice analysis skills! It was fun watching that video on me.”

R smiled nervously, “oh… thanks? So you’re actually Surge…?”

Izuku snorted, “I mean who else would I be?”

“There’s just been a few imposters running around, especially after the HeroCon thing and I thought maybe…”

Izuku winced, “yeah, an unfortunate fact. I’m real though! At least I think I am…” Izuku chuckled and then reached in his belt, “anyways, I’m gonna get the police over here in just a sec. You’re not hurt or anything, right?”

R frowned, “wait! I’m not hurt… but uh, could you answer some questions for me…?”

Izuku raised an eyebrow, “what is this? A news interview?”

R coughed, “well not many people have the chance to talk to you… and I think you’re pretty cool… a bit scary though…” He muttered out the last part but Izuku heard it and snickered.

“Depends on the questions. Go for it though.” He glanced over at the criminal to make sure he was still out cold and R continued.

“Well, uh, what actually is your quirk?”

Izuku had a shit-eating grin under his mask, “hm… I don’t wanna say! I'll give you guys a hint though, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone actually guess it. It’s not anything like the top theories.”

R frowned, “really? I was so sure it was electrical manipulation…”

Izuku laughed and chirped out a response, “not in the slightest! No one’s been anywhere close so far.”

R seemed to be thinking about this and then glanced at Izuku with a thoughtful look on his face, “y’know… you’re not at all what I thought you’d be like… how old are you?”

“You sound like Eraser,” Izuku muttered out in annoyance. That made R tilt his head, “who?”

Izuku waved him off, “just forget about it! Anyways, I need to wrap up here! Ah… why were you out here so late? Probably not the best idea to run around alone at night around here.”

R snorted, “I was getting some spur of the moment groceries, probably not the best decision I’ve ever made. Also… Could I possibly get a picture with you?”

Izuku shrugged, “why not? What’s it for, like a video or something?” R nodded and Izuku laughed, “wow I feel like a real celebrity!”

R hesitantly stood behind him and took a selfie of them both together, Izuku held up a peace sign over his face. Then he pulled out his own phone and dialed the police.

“Hey guys! Surge here with another criminal report, he’s down in an alley near, uh, that twenty-four-hour convenience store… okay, that’s not specific. It’s the one kinda near UA, you guys are smart I’m sure you can figure it out. Anyways bye! Have a nice night!” Izuku hung up with a long sigh and checked the time.

“I’ll wait here until the police come, I don’t want asshole here waking up or something.” Izuku nudged him with his foot, “he’s still out cold though.”

R nodded and wrung his hands together, “oh… I don’t think I said thanks for saving me…”

Izuku nodded enthusiastically, “of course! That’s my job after all! Well, it’s technically not my job, but you know I mean.”

R laughed slightly and leaned against the wall, he was trying to seem discreet but Izuku could see him looking over Izuku, probably trying to figure out all the gear he had and how it might relate to a quirk. Izuku’s face scrunched up, he knew that no one would ever guess his quirk. Simply because of the fact he didn’t have one. No one expected, ‘Surge! The super cool vigilante!’ to be quirkless. He hated that fact too, he would try to make a statement about it and announce he was quirkless to try to get people to acknowledge that quirkless people could do amazing things too. But, one, no one would probably even believe him, and two, that would definitely tip-off Tsukauchi and Eraser to his identity. A definitive quirk, or lack of one, would make him easier to track down. Especially since Izuku was pretty sure Eraser already suspected him. Which, honestly, despite it being super annoying, kind of made him happy. Because Eraser suspected Izuku even though he knew he was quirkless… most people would write Izuku off solely because of that fact and the mindset that ‘quirkless people are always going to be weak and worthless’ or whatever kind of dumb nonsense society came up with.

Izuku was broken out of his thoughts as police sirens approached. Izuku thought it was kind of dumb to have the sirens on if they wanted to arrest him, wasn’t there more of a chance of them being able to catch him if they had the element of surprise? Either way, the sirens worked in Izuku’s favor so he wasn’t about to say anything. He waved at R and yelled, “tell the police how cool I was!” while he was leaving. Izuku was pretty sure he heard R laugh at that.

Once he got a fair distance away he stopped on a roof and took a deep breath. Had that really just happened? He met R. Izuku loved R. He was such a huge fanboy of his channel. He totally embarrassed himself though. Izuku let out a small screech as he remembered the interaction. He wasn’t sure if he was embarrassed, freaked out, or excited. Probably a mixture of all of them. Definitely a mixture of all of them.

Izuku had saved R… and R had said Izuku was cool! Izuku made another small screeching noise and buried his head in his hands. He had totally embarrassed himself though, oh god. R probably thought he was a creep now… in R’s defense though, that was pretty creepy, Izuku couldn’t blame him for being freaked out, Izuku would also be freaked out if some random ass vigilante knew who he was.

Izuku switched back and forth from fanboying about the whole encounter to being super embarrassed… and then he gasped, he needed to tell Hitoshi!

Izuku pulled out his phone… it read 1:23. Hitoshi would probably be up. But should he just tell him tomorrow? He eventually gave in and texted his friend.

Unknown Number: HTIOSHII

Unknown Number: HITORJHGJKKJSLDSKL

Unknown Number: AAASHSKDJKJ

Hitoshi Shinsou: What the fuck do you want? It’s like 1:30, are you dying???

Unknown Number: YESDKH

Unknown Number: So like I was doing stuff right? And then I heard voices, and I saved this kid. AND IT WAS FUCKIGN R

Hitoshi Shinsou: That HeroTuber?

Unknown Number: YES

Hitoshi Shinsou: What was he doing out in the middle of the night??

Unknown Number: Uhh, I dunno, he had groceries? Anyways I totally embarrassed myself though because I recognized him oops

Hitoshi Shinsou: Ha, that’s what you get for being a creep

Unknown Number: Rude. Anyways I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow!! Okay bye goodnight

Hitoshi Shinsou: Greattt.

Izuku shut off his phone with a small chuckle and then about accidentally fell off the edge of the building because someone cleared their throat from behind him. He whirled around and came face to face with a disapproving Eraserhead.

“You scared me! Don’t sneak up on people like that Eraser!”

Shouta didn’t look amused, “that’s my job. And the only reason I came up here was because it sounded like you were dying.”

Izuku laughed nervously, “oops?”

Shouta narrowed his eyes, “anyways, I heard about your little stunt at HeroCon… and most of the security footage mysteriously vanished.”

Izuku made a thoughtful humming noise, “well isn’t that strange?”

Shouta glared at him, “and you want to know something else strange Surge? I know for a fact that one of my main suspects was in attendance the day you made an appearance.”

“Ooh, you have suspects now? That’s fancy, Eraser.”

Shouta stepped towards him, “I know it’s you. Give it up Izuku, you’re going to get hurt.”

“You’re not a good detective, Eraser,” Izuku replied evenly which made the man frown. Izuku could see doubt briefly flash in his eyes but he covered it up well.

“Kid.”

Izuku shrugged but then he remembered something, “oh! Well, I guess you already know I was at HeroCon right? Well, guess what I found there? Honest to god Eraserhead merch,” he cackled out. He had pasted the big Eraserhead poster up in the warehouse, but he’d been carrying around the smaller one on his vigilante rounds to give it to the man himself.

Shouta growled slightly, “I am aware. My son bought one.”

“Your son has good taste.” Izuku yanked the poster out of his bag, “here’s one for you! I even wrote a little note on it for you!”

Shouta glared at the poster, “burn it.”

Izuku gasped in mock betrayal, “no! Read my letter Eraser, it’s very heartfelt.”

The man frowned and grabbed the poster from him, Izuku snickered as he read the note.

He’d written: ‘Hi Eraser! I found this super cool poster of you, look at you go. Anyways it’s a Father's Day gift from your favorite vigilante… SURGE!!! Happy really fucking late birthday/Father’s Day! (When even is your birthday?) Love you lots dad!’

Shouta groaned, “I’m not your father.”

Izuku rolled his eyes, “you sure act like it with all your, ‘that’s dangerous Surge’ and ‘I care about you Surge’ shit.”

The man just sighed and stuffed the poster into his pocket, Izuku grinned, he’d count the fact Shouta didn’t immediately throw it away as a win.

“How’d you find me up here anyway?”

Shouta gave him a withering look, “I already said this, you sounded like a dying cat, and why exactly was that?”

Izuku remembered him saying that and frowned, “oooh… well you see… I ran into this HeroTuber I like and he was like, super cool… even though he was getting mugged. He was still super cool though. But then I embarrassed myself. But still, I’M SO HAPPY.”

Shouta gave him a blank look, “great.”

Izuku huffed at him, “you were the one who asked! Anyways, great impromptu meeting, the accusations were super fun! I’ll see you in a couple of days Eraser. Be safe and don’t die!”

Shouta sighed, “I should be the one saying that. You’re the one who caused mass panic at a large convention.”

“Not my fault, I didn’t want that to happen. The security guards kicked me off the criminal and then they didn’t restrain him. I know that part of the security footage wasn’t corrupted.”

Shouta just grunted, “a terrible move on their part.” He muttered quietly which made Izuku grin.

“Anyways bye Eraser! Please keep the poster, it was really expensive…”

Shouta rolled his eyes and watched Izuku jump across buildings until he disappeared into the shadowy depths of the city.

══════════════════

Izuku cracked his knuckles with a smirk. He was seated on the couch in the warehouse basement with his laptop on his lap. Hitoshi was boredly flipping through TV channels.

“Aha! I got in!”

Hitoshi glanced at him, “wow. Good job.” Izuku stuck out his tongue at him and continued working.

He pulled up UA’s security feed, the hallways were empty, but it was summer break, so that was expected. He was finally getting around to looking into the whole All Might-Toshinori thing. He managed to pull up UA’s security records, he was hoping to find some evidence of Toshinori changing into All Might or vice versa on it. There had to be something.

He pulled up the tapes from May and hopped up from the couch.

“Alright! Let’s watch this shit.”

Hitoshi shrugged and turned off the TV, Izuku tilted the laptop so Hitoshi could see it and started the first tape… this was going to take a while, wasn’t it?

Izuku fast-forwarded through a lot of recordings before they finally found Toshinori. He was walking down the hallway with Nedzu, they seemed to be deep in conversation and turned into his office. He never turned into All Might, so they moved onto the next clip of Toshinori.

The next clip didn’t reveal anything suspicious.

Neither did the next… or the next. Or the next.

The pair was starting to give up hope when something interesting finally happened. All Might, in all his glory, came prancing down the halls of UA after school hours. He poked his head into the teacher’s lounge and then Shouta exited, looking very annoyed with the man. He said something to All Might while glaring at him, who seemed to deflate at the comment… literally deflate. Izuku slammed on the pause button.

“OH MY GOD. I was expecting that… but still. What the fuck.”

Hitoshi blinked at the recording, “this is crazy…”

Izuku played back the deflation and glared at Shouta through the screen, “he’s keeping secrets, huh?”

Hitoshi rolled his eyes, “obviously, this kind of thing can’t get out.”

Izuku shrugged, “fair point. Anyways, this is prime blackmail material, hell yeah!”

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow, “you’re planning on blackmailing the number one hero?”

“You never know when something might come up,” Izuku replied with a wink. Hitoshi shook his head and turned his attention back to the screen.

“Still… I wonder why he has two forms. This doesn’t make any sense.”

“It really doesn’t… a side effect of his quirk possibly?” Izuku muttered out thoughtfully. Izuku was itching to get to the bottom of this, but how could he do that? He couldn’t just walk up to the guy and announce he knew about this, because then he’d have to explain he’d hacked into the security cameras. Maybe he could just try and catch the man in the act instead?

Either way, Izuku was going to get to the bottom of this one way or another.

══════════════════

Izuku had learned a lot of things from being a vigilante, one of which was that most people out this late at night on this side of town weren’t good news. That’s why when Izuku saw a little girl, who couldn't have been older than six, walking timidly down a dark street he knew he had to intervene. He knew that there was a lot of crime around this area and the street kids knew to avoid it and he definitely didn’t want the kid to get caught up in it.

He hit the ground behind the kid with a small thud, “hey kid. What’re you doing out here?”

The kid turned around to look at him with wide, scared eyes. She made a small whimpering noise, “s-sorry, I-I-I… d-don’t hu-hurt me… g-g-go awa-ay.”

Izuku sighed softly, “hey, hey, don’t be scared. It’s alright. I’m not gonna hurt you. I just want to help, kids shouldn’t be wandering around here at night.”

The girl fidgeted with the bottom of her pajama shirt and stared at the ground, “u-uh… m-my mommy s-said not t-to tal-talk to st-strangers because th-they might t-try to hurt me…”

Izuku nodded, “well your mommy’s really smart, I promise I won’t hurt you but there are a lot of scary strangers around here. How about I call the police and they can help you get home?” He said comfortingly. The girl’s eyes widened at the suggestions and she tensed back.

“NO! I-I mean don’t…”

Izuku blinked in surprise, “o-okay, why not?”

The girl eyed him suspiciously, “m-my dad said that i-if I talked to the p-police he-he’d-” She cut herself off, but the part that she’d already said made Izuku scowl.

“Alright then kid, how about we sit down over there and I’ll get you a snack? And then maybe you can tell me more about why you’re out here all alone.”

The girl frowned slightly and she looked towards Izuku, “I-I… w-what’s your name?”

Izuku hummed, “Oh! I’m sorry for not introducing myself, I’m Surge.”

The girl perked up slightly at that and she seemed to be looking at him harder, “S-Surge? A-are you a hero? M-my mommy s-said that y-you were I th-think?”

Izuku blinked in surprise at the hero comment but smiled slightly, “I’m not exactly a hero, but that’s close enough. Come sit down with me okay? I promise I’ll help you.”

The girl nodded slightly and the pair started walking carefully towards a bench which had a half-broken vending machine beside it. Izuku glanced over to the kid, “what do you want?”

She looked at the vending machine and frowned in thought, “u-uh… that?” She pointed at some kind of pre-packed pink cake and Izuku nodded, he also got them both bottles of water. Then they sat down together at the bench. The girl went to tear open the packaging to the cake but glanced at Izuku nervously.

“It’s okay to eat it kid, I got it for you.”

That was all it took for her to rip open the packaging and scarf it down immediately. Izuku set her water down beside her and cracked his own open, he tugged his voice changer down to drink it and took a few big gulps. When he was done he looked over to see the kid shyly staring at her feet. He offered her a smile and put his water on the bench beside him.

“Anyways kid, what’s your name if you don’t mind me asking?”

She looked up in surprise at him and furrowed her eyebrows, “w-what happened t-to your voice… y-you sound different…”

Izuku then realized he’d never pulled his voice changer back up… he chuckled softly, “oh! Sorry, the silver thing is a voice changer, it makes my voice sound different.”

The girl seemed very confused about the purpose of the voice changer but she didn’t ask, “a-ah my name’s I-Itsumi…”

Izuku nodded at her with a smile, “well it’s nice to meet you Itsumi! Anyways, would you be alright with telling me why you’re out so late?”

Itsumi hesitated slightly and messed with her fingers, “w-well… my dad told m-me not to tell anyone…” In a smaller voice, she continued, “h-he said h-h-he’d hurt m-me…”

That made Izuku internally growl, that bastard. He held a comforting smile on his face though, “hey, hey, don’t worry about him, alright? I promise I won’t let him hurt you.”

She looked at him with wide eyes, “p-promise?”

Izuku nodded, he’d personally drag the man into jail if he had too, “I promise.”

Itsumi looked at the ground again and sighed, “w-well… dad got really mad a-at something… he gets mad a lot but… a-anyways I-I didn’t want to st-stay with him b-because he y-yells at me a lot and I c-can’t do anything, b-but he was r-really bad to-tonight… s-so I was gonna walk to m-my house but then I got l-lost…”

Izuku smiled comfortingly at her, “does your mom live at your house? Is she nice?”

Itsumi nodded enthusiastically, “y-yeah she does! Mommy’s really nice! She always makes me curry when I get home! T-that’s my favorite... a-and she gets me lots of toys! A-and she takes me to the park and I can play with friends!”

Izuku hummed, “she sounds really nice! How about this Itsumi, I know you said you didn’t want to talk to the police earlier but I promise they’re really nice and they won’t let your dad hurt you either, and they can help you get home with your mom.”

Itsumi frowned faintly and messed with her shirt again, “I-I don’t know…”

Izuku smiled at her, “think about it, I’ll wait here with you until you decide, okay? I’ll keep you safe.”

Itsumi nodded and subtly edged closer to Izuku, she pressed her shoulder up against his which made Izuku smile.

After a few minutes, she took a deep breath and looked up at Izuku, “o-okay… If y-you promise t-they’ll help…”

Izuku beamed at her, “I promise!” Then a thought struck him, he couldn’t go into the police station without getting arrested. What the hell was he supposed to do?

Itsumi seemed to pick up on his change in mood because she tilted her head, “what’s wrong?”

Izuku sighed, “ah… well, I can’t go into the police station right now… but I do know another super cool hero who can take you there!”

Itsumi frowned, “why not? A-aren’t they supposed to help people?”

Izuku smiled nervously, how was he supposed to explain the fact he was a vigilante and not really on the best terms with the police to a six-year-old? He tried anyway, “well, you see, the police are super cool, but they just have different ideas than me and we don’t get along too well.”

Itsumi looked thoughtful at that, “b-but…”

Izuku smiled at her and ruffled her hair, “don’t worry about that kid, the police are just doing what they’re supposed to. I promise they’ll help you.”

The girl gave Izuku a tiny smile, “okay…”

Izuku grinned back, “anyways! My friend is really cool! He’s a hero, he looks grumpy a lot but he’s really nice! I’m gonna call him and ask him to help you, is that okay?”

Itsumi nodded wordlessly and Izuku called Eraser’s contact. He picked up after a few seconds with a small sigh.

“Hey Eraser!”

“Surge. What did you do?”

Izuku snorted, “nothing I swear! I need your help though, I have a kid with me and I need you to take her to the police station for me. Uh, please?”

Izuku could feel Shouta’s frown over the phone, “a kid? Are they alright?”

“I think so… she needs help though. I’ll send you our location alright?”

Shouta hummed in response, “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Izuku ended the call and texted Shouta their location and then turned back to the kid, “he’s on his way, he should be here soon!”

Itsumi nodded and then yawned, “s-sorry… I’m r-really tired…”

Izuku smiled at her, “don’t be sorry, you can try and sleep if you want, I’ll wake you up when he gets here.”

Itsumi looked slightly suspicious for a second but after another yawn she gave in, “okay…” Her head dropped onto Izuku’s shoulder and within minutes she was out cold. Izuku sighed worriedly and wrapped an arm around her. He hoped the kid would be okay… Itsumi stayed curled into his side for around ten minutes, with Izuku alertly watching the street for any kind of threat. The first sign of movement he saw was just Eraserhead jumping down from a building and walking carefully towards the pair. Izuku smiled faintly at him and nudged the kid beside him.

“Hey Itsumi, he’s here…”

She jolted awake and winced away from Izuku, she looked scared. But soon she recovered and seemed to realize where she was, “s-sorry…”

He smiled, “don’t apologize! Anyways, this is my super cool friend Eraserhead! I promise he’s not actually a grumpy hobo!”

Shouta sighed, “please don’t say that Surge.” Izuku stuck out his tongue with a small giggle. Itsumi waved shyly at him. Shouta nodded at her and Izuku gave him a brief rundown of the situation, then after some introductions and small talk, Itsumi felt comfortable enough to walk to the station with the man. Izuku had to admit he felt slightly sad to see her go, but Eraser would definitely make sure she ended up in a better situation with her dad out of the picture. However, right before they left, Itsumi glanced back towards Izuku, who was now standing up and about to leave, and ran over to him to hug him.

“U-uh, thank you Mr. Surge…”

Izuku almost choked at the ‘Mr’ part, and he definitely heard Shouta mutter something about how he was just a kid too, “of course Itsumi! If you ever need me just ask Eraser, he can contact me!”

And then Itsumi walked back over to Shouta, but before the two set off he looked over his shoulder at Izuku, “let me help you too. Come with us kid…”

Izuku looked away with a sigh and shook his head, “goodnight Eraser…”

And with that, they parted ways, but for some reason Izuku felt regret settle in his stomach. But he was always fine. He didn’t need any help.

Right?

Notes:

Countdown: 1

Chapter 15: I guess you were right

Notes:

Countdown: ZERO :) (I'm sorry)
Also just a tw, there's some blood in this one, I tried not to make it too graphic though

“Hey! I’m R, your host, and welcome back to HeroStats. I’m sure you guys could tell by the title, but today’s video isn’t going to be like my normal ones.

So a few nights ago I was out getting groceries at around one in the morning. Yeah, not my brightest moment but I ran out of coffee and I was planning to stay up most of the night working on videos. Anyways, when I’m walking back home I get cornered by a mugger, and then out of nowhere Surge drops down beside us and knocks the guy unconscious.

Seeing him fight in real life was really cool since there’s not much content out there of him, he definitely looked talented! He took down the villain pretty quickly with his staff, so I couldn’t pick up on any kind of fighting patterns, but he really made it look effortless.

And then after all that happened, I had actually got to have a conversation with him and got a picture with him, I blurred my face out for my privacy but I promise that’s me! He was actually pretty cool, and intimidating but… He also answered a question for me that a lot of us have been speculating about, which is the main reason I made this into a video instead of just tweeting about it.

That question was about his quirk, and the answer really surprised me. Everyone knows that Surge has that staff with him he uses to fight with, which he can also use electricity with. He actually shocked the man who tried to mug me unconscious with it. Anyways, since he can seemingly manipulate electricity through the rod, the most popular theory of this quirk was being able to channel electricity through certain objects. However, when I asked him what his quirk was he told me that he didn’t want to share it, but he did give a hint.

He said that he didn’t think he’s ever seen anyone guess it yet and that it wasn’t anything like the top theories. I inquired further about this, and when I mentioned being sure it was electrical manipulation he just laughed and said, ‘not in the slightest’ and that no one has been anywhere close to guessing it yet.

I can’t confirm whether he was telling the truth or lying, because honestly, he might’ve said that just to confuse us all. But the fact still stands that he told me that no one had guessed his quirk yet, and if it doesn’t have anything to do with electricity what could it be? His quirk not being electrical also brings up the question of how his staff works. Is it just a support item that has some kind of mechanism to make it electrical? And finally, if he was telling the truth, I wonder if we’ve ever actually seen him use his quirk. But I guess, for now, that’ll remain a mystery. If you guys have any theories, leave them in the comments because I’m curious about what you guys think of all this.

Anyways! I already announced this, but I’m still taking questions for the Q&A video I’m holding next week, so drop those down below! Now, I have a few life and channel updates I need to share…”

══════════════════

Izuku had finally managed to get Hitoshi to invite him to that Surge discord server the friends Hitoshi had made at HeroCon had invited him to. It was a pretty private server, a lot of the people in it were junior high and high school students around the general area.

“I’m regretting this already.”

Izuku gasped, “I haven’t even said anything yet! Plus I just wanna talk to your friends!”

Hitoshi groaned, “they’re not… just people I talk to… sometimes.”

That made Izuku laugh, “right, yeah, totally.”

“Shut up…”

Izuku smirked and looked down at his phone, he texted a quick hello in the general chat and introduced himself as Hitoshi’s ‘best friend-brother’ which made Hitoshi roll his eyes. One of Hitoshi’s friends who was on at the moment enthusiastically greeted him, he was pretty sure Hitoshi said her name was Ashido.

Alien Queen: hi!!!!! welcome welcome

Egrus: Thank you!!

Hitoshi glanced at Izuku, “is your name Surge but spelled backward?”

“Uh, possibly?”

Catsomniac: He’s really dumb if you want to kick him out I won’t be offended

Egrus: HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT?

Alien Queen: dw i don’t think anyone can beat kami in being dumb @Kamemenari

Kamemenari: :(

Egrus: HAHA

Kamemenari: Wait is your name Surge backwards? @Egrus

Kamemenari: Surge egrus it totally is

Egrus: Uh

Egrus: Yeah OOPS

Hitoshi snickered and looked over at him, “look at that, they already noticed.”

Izuku stuck out his tongue, “it’s not like I was trying to keep it a secret or anything, it’s just a name anyways.”

Alien Queen: ooh are you secretly surge lol

Hitoshi snorted at her comment and Izuku groaned, “no, stop.”

Alien Queen: jkjk

Alien Queen: anyways @Catsomniac and @Egres me toko and kami were gonna hang out this saturday before school starts back next week, you guys wanna come?

Egrus: Yes absolutely Toshi you’re not allowed to say no

Hitoshi glared at him half-heartedly and Izuku huffed, “I’m doing you a favor, you need more friends, so we’re hanging out with more friends. End of story.”

Hitoshi muttered something under his breath but ended up just shrugging in acceptance, “alright, they’re not that bad, I guess…”

Izuku beamed at him and got the details from Ashido, which ended in him and Hitoshi being added in a group chat with Tokoyami, Kaminari, and Ashido. Izuku grinned evilly, “I can’t wait to mess with them, little do they know, I actually was Surge. Ha!”

“I wouldn’t think you’re Surge either. You act like an idiot. Then again, so does Surge.”

Izuku glared at him and grabbed his chest in mock pain, “You’re not wrong… but it still hurts.”

Hitoshi shook his head with a small grin.

══════════════════

Izuku caught wind of a drug bust mission Shouta was involved in a few days after HeroCon. It was now very early Friday morning, the mission was supposedly going down at three am. Normally Izuku didn’t get involved, he knew that it was probably better if he didn’t in big raids like this. After all, he was just another criminal to take down to most of the heroes.

He wasn’t originally going to check out the drug bust, he was just in the area and couldn’t resist… he knew of a few heroes that were going to be involved that he wanted to see in action, so that’s why he was quietly perched on a building opposite of the warehouse around thirty minutes before the action. He had a small notepad and pen resting beside him, ready for any quick notes he wanted to jot down. He was getting slightly bored, he couldn’t move much, just in case someone from the drug ring saw and he definitely couldn’t turn on his phone to check the time. But in the end, he was used to this, he did stakeouts like this occasionally (although they weren’t his favorite at all).

Around twenty minutes later though, the chaos started.

Izuku watched as the heroes raided the warehouse, he couldn’t see the fighting inside, but he did the fighting going on outside the warehouse of the criminals trying to escape. He jotted down some notes about the heroes fighting styles and leaned forward in anticipation when it looked like a hero was having trouble. It was fun, but he was itching to join the fight, just sitting on the roof doing nothing made him antsy. But he knew he couldn’t, it wouldn’t end well for him if he did, too many heroes.

Soon enough, the raid was mostly over, lots of police vehicles were arriving and a couple of ambulances. Nothing unusual, so Izuku was about to slip away when he spotted what looked like Eraserhead chasing some criminals out from behind the warehouse. It was three of them, nothing Eraser couldn’t handle, but Izuku frowned as he saw a fourth one sneaking behind the group at a much slower pace, through the shadows. No one seemed to notice him, so Izuku sighed and lowered himself to the ground. He stuck to the shadows and ziplined to the top of a building above the alley where Eraserhead has stopped and was taking down the three criminals, the one sneaking after them was nowhere in sight. Izuku frowned briefly and almost thought he had imagined the guy when he saw a faint glimmer out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look towards the head of the alley to find the man crouched around the corner, his hand seemed to be turned into some kind of sword. Izuku tensed himself and got ready to jump down and deal with the guy himself, when the criminal suddenly sprung forward, towards Eraserhead’s unprotected back. The hero didn’t notice him.

Izuku’s eyes widened and he shot his zipline down into the alley, while he was swinging down he yelled, “ERASER! Watch your back!”

The man’s eyes darted behind him, and Izuku saw them widen slightly. But the three criminals, actually, it was now down to two, were attacking even more than they previously were, so Eraser couldn’t take his eyes off them.

Time slowed down as Eraserhead tried to dodge the sword-armed man while not looking at him, but the notice Izuku had yelled had been too late, there was no time for him to prepare… But the sword never stabbed through Shouta’s back.

Instead, it hit Izuku, who had managed to turn mid-air and throw himself at the man. Izuku bit back a groan of pain as the sword impaled his stomach. The man jolted back in surprise, bringing the sword with him, Izuku clutched his stomach with one hand and with the other he swung out his staff and held it in front of him, he was swaying though and a pain-filled grimace was etched on his face.

“W-well shit.”

The man leaped forward again, this time aiming his sword-hand at Izuku’s neck. Izuku stumbled back a few steps and tried to hold his staff up defensively, but right as the man was about to reach him his quirk disappeared and his hand returned to normal. He froze for a split second, but that was enough for Izuku to yell as loud as he could and slam into him with all the strength he had left.

“Dammit kid!” Shouta seemed to have noticed his predicament.

The two toppled over and the man kneed Izuku in the stomach, right where he had just been impaled, Izuku couldn’t help the whimper of pain he made. But right after that, the man was flung out from under him with Shouta’s scarf and into a wall and knocked unconscious, he slumped over onto the ground.

Izuku felt Shouta carefully flip him onto his back and he blinked tiredly up at the worried hero.

“F-fancy seeing you here E-Eraser.” He muttered out through his pain.

The man frowned, “problem child.” His voice was quiet though, softer than Izuku has ever heard it before. He gathered up his scarf and pressed it into Izuku’s stomach, he started to fumble with something in his ear so Izuku reached up and grabbed his arm weakly.

“D-don’t. I… n-no hospitals. I can’t let you…”

That made Shouta glare at him, “no. You need help.” He clicked on the earpiece, “hello? I need an ambulance. Can anyone hear me dammit?”

Izuku sighed, “it’s okay Eraser. D-don’t worry ‘bout me…”

The man grimaced and pressed his scarf down harder, he was still trying to contact someone through his earpiece, they were too far away to be heard if Shouta yelled, maybe too far out of range for the earpieces too. Shouta cursed and fumbled in his pocket for his phone.

“Why did you do that?” He growled out, his voice laced with worry.

“Couldn’t let you d-die… Toshi a-and Hizashi would m-miss you.” Izuku felt Shouta stiffen and he cursed softly.

“It was you, wasn’t it? This whole time…”

Izuku sighed softly and brought a hand up to his face. He pulled the voice changer down shakily and tried to pull his mask up too, but his hand was trembling too much. Shouta leaned forward, and with his other hand he pulled the mask up. Izuku smiled sadly at him.

“Izuku…” He breathed out.

Izuku’s eyes darted away from Shouta’s face, “‘m sorry… i-it’s not your fault.”

Shouta winced and he went back to trying to find his phone, he yanked it out and quickly pressed on a contact. He basically screamed into his phone when the person picked up, “I need an ambulance and paramedics. I’m in an alley north of the warehouse. As quickly as possible, shit, hurry.”

Izuku now had a splitting headache and was getting more groggy by the second, “it’s too late…” He slurred out quietly, Shouta turned towards him and took a deep breath.

“I won’t let you die Izuku. They’d miss you too. Don’t…”

Izuku smiled at him faintly, “sorry Era-Shouta… dad”

Shouta dropped his phone and tightened his grip on Izuku, the sound of an engine was getting louder and louder, but Izuku’s head was buzzing and he couldn’t focus on anything. His vision was getting fuzzy and he could feel his eyelids drooping.

“Dammit… kid, Izuku, stay awake. Stay awake.”

Izuku weakly moved his arm and rested it on top of Shouta’s hand that was holding the scarf to his stomach, “I-I guess you were right after all… I did end up g-getting killed.” The sentence was barely audible but Shouta still heard it.

“No, you aren’t going to die.” But the shake in his normally unshakable voice said otherwise… but Izuku still smiled at him and squeezed his hand with the last of his strength.

“Y-you’re my hero, th-thank you…” Izuku could feel some tears run down his cheek but it barely registered as his eyes drooped lower and lower. The panicked sounding voices echoing in his ears were the last thing he heard, and the last thing he felt was himself being lifted into the air.

Shouta never let go of his hand.

══════════════════

Shouta was always a rational thinker. It was part of what made him a good hero, he was able to calmly think through stressful situations and some to the best solution. But right now… he could feel his demeanor starting to crack. The paramedics buzzed around Izuku, they pressed a towel down on his stomach and grabbed him to carefully put him in the ambulance. Shouta didn’t let go of his hand until he felt it go completely limp. He swallowed quietly and took a deep breath to try to gather his thoughts. But somehow the paramedics seemed to know what he wanted to ask and nodded him into the ambulance.

“You can stay with him… just… he isn’t looking too good.”

Shouta nodded solemnly and quickly jumped in the back with the paramedics, the doors slammed and the ambulance roared to life. Shouta watched the paramedics take off Izuku’s gear and cut the upper half of his bodysuit off and stop the bleeding, luckily the sword has only gone in partially, at least that was good news.

The trip to the hospital was mostly a blur, Shouta was quietly watching with his hands balled up in fists. He couldn’t think properly… he hated it. He hated seeing how small Izuku looked. Once they pulled up to the hospital Izuku was quickly rushed out of the ambulance, his torso was wrapped in bandages and without any of his gear, the green jumpsuit that was left on his legs was nondescript. At least Shouta didn’t have to worry about any more people seeing Surge’s identity. One of the paramedics tapped Shouta’s arm.

“Uh, sir, what would you like to do with the… gear?”

Shouta blinked, his mind finally seemed to be catching up.

“Are there any lockers or somewhere private I can put them?” He asked, trying to keep his voice even.

The women nodded, “ah, follow me… also if you could answer some questions, you weren’t responding in the ambulance…” She trailed off and Shouta frowned.

“Sorry.” He replied shortly while he gathered up Izuku’s things, “what are they?”

“Do you know what the patient’s name is? And do you know anything else about him?”

“Izuku Midoriya. He’s fifteen, I’m his guardian, Aizawa Shouta.”

The woman blinked in surprise, but quickly covered it up, “I see… you’re a pro hero, correct?”

Shouta just nodded in confirmation and the woman continued, “and he… Midoriya, is he Surge…?”

Shouta frowned and stopped walking, the woman stopped too and glanced behind herself, “I would forget about that. Could you please not share that information? I also need to talk to all the paramedics that saw him.” The woman smiled nervously, “o-of course.”

The pair continued in silence until they got to a dark room, the medic opened the door and they stepped inside, it was filled with lockers.

“This is where we keep pros’ costumes when they come in. You can stick that stuff in one of the available lockers. The lockers set to whatever combination you type in.”

Shouta nodded and opened the nearest locker and shoved the stuff into it. Then he walked back towards the medic and frowned at her, “could you please get all the paramedics who were on the ambulance with us together, I need to talk with all of you.” Shouta needed to stress the importance of not spreading Surge’s identity around, especially since he was a minor. He needed to call Tsukauchi about it too, he could deal with the legal stuff. He also needed to call Hizashi…

The paramedic told him she’d try to get everyone in a side room, and then led him into the waiting room, she told him to wait there, and that she’d update him on Izuku’s condition if she heard anything, as well as get all of the medics.

As soon as Shouta sat down he felt the weight of the situation crash back down. He took a few minutes to calm himself down again and then shakily dialed Tsukauchi, he picked up almost immediately, did the man not sleep?

“Tsukauchi… Detective, can you come to the Musutafu General Hospital? I’ll explain more in person… just… it’s about Surge.” Shouta could hear the painfully obvious shake in his voice, and Tsukauchi obviously did too.

“I got a call about it earlier, I’ll be there as soon as possible. Are you alright Aizawa?”

Aizawa took a deep breath, “yeah.” He hung up before Tsukauchi could say anything else and leaned his face into his hands.

“Goddammit… I couldn’t…”

He should’ve done something. He could’ve tried harder to stop Izuku’s vigilante activities… hell, he even suspected the kid. But yet, here he was, Izuku half-dead because that idiot jumped in front of him. He took that sword for Shouta… he shouldn’t have done that.

Shouta’s next call would probably be harder… he dialed Hizashi.

“S-Shou? Are you okay?” Hizashi’s voice was bleary with sleep, but he was obviously concerned.

“Yeah.” He sighed, “listen Zashi, I… Izuku got hurt, badly. He’s in the hospital right now… I-I don’t know if he’s going to survive. It didn’t look good Zashi.”

A terrified, worried, response came a few seconds later, “w-what? H-how… but he couldn’t… why? It’s so late… why was he…?”

“He was Surge, Zashi… it was him this whole time… and I-” His voice broke.

That immediately woke Hizashi up, “I’ll get Toshi, we’re on our way out Shou. It’ll be okay. Are you at Musutafu General?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t blame yourself Shou… I don’t know what happened, but this isn’t your fault.”

Shouta sighed, “okay Zashi… I’ll see you soon.”

Shouta hung up the call and slumped back in the chair tiredly. This night turned into a mess. It was just supposed to be a simple drug bust, how had it turned into this? Sure, Shouta wanted to figure out Surge’s identity so he could help him. But not like this. Never like this. He raised his hand up to hold onto his forehead, he closed his eyes and stayed slumped over in the chair, only opening them again when he heard footsteps coming towards him. It was Tsukauchi, he must’ve been near the hospital then…

Shouta sighed softly and propped himself up again, “sorry to call you out here this late.”

Tsukauchi quickly shook his head and stared worriedly at Shouta, “don’t worry about it Aizawa. I heard that Surge got injured, is he…?”

Shouta frowned, “I don’t know… he’s in surgery right now.”

Tsukauchi nodded, “I got a call about it from one of the on-scene police officers before you called me…” He trailed off and glanced at Shouta, “are you alright? You look like a mess.”

Shouta closed his eyes for a second and then glanced around the waiting room, he lowered his voice so no one could hear what he was about to say, “yeah. Anyway, I know his identity now, it’s Izuku Midoriya… I mentioned him to you before, right?”

Tsukauchi was still concerned about Shouta, but shook it off for now and replied in a low voice, “yes, you said you were fostering him I believe. And that him and Surge shared a lot of similarities.”

Shouta hummed, he needed to think rationally now so he could help Izuku, no time for emotions, “the paramedics in the ambulance know who he is, no one else should though, they cut off the torso of his jumpsuit and removed all of his gear so he wasn’t recognizable to the emergency staff that grabbed him. I want to keep his identity from getting out, especially since he’s a minor. It could fuck the poor kid over for life if any news stations figure out who he really is and share it with the public. I asked one of the paramedics to get all of the people who were in the ambulance and saw Izuku with his Surge gear.”

Tsukauchi nodded along and processed the information, “yeah, I agree. I don’t want that getting out either… I can talk to all the paramedics about signing a non-disclosure agreement.”

Shouta nodded and then glanced behind the detective, “speaking of that paramedic, here she comes.” That made Tsukauchi look behind himself as well, the paramedic greeted both of them with a small smile.

“I got everyone, I can lead you guys to the room where they’re in.”

Tsukauchi smiled at her, “that’d be great. Aizawa will be staying here though.”

Shouta frowned at him, “I can-”

Tsukauchi sighed and cut the man off with a cross stare, “no, you’re obviously upset Aizawa. Stay here and call your family, I’ll handle all the legal issues alright? I’ll call you if I need anything and update you once I’m done. Tell me if you get any news about Midoriya.”

Shouta stared back at the man in annoyance, “fine.”

Tsukauchi smiled reassuringly at him, “he’s a stubborn kid Aizawa, he’ll be alright.”

Shouta shook his head sadly, “I hope so.”

Tsukauchi headed off with the paramedic, leaving Shouta alone again. Although it wasn’t for very long because Hizashi and Hitoshi came rushing through the door a few minutes later. Hizashi screeched when he saw Shouta.

“SHOUTA! How is he? Is he okay?”

Shouta sighed tiredly, “keep it down Zashi. And I don’t know, he’s in surgery right now.” He frowned at the ground and Hizashi smiled sadly at him.

“Sorry, I’m just worried…” He sat down beside Shouta and grabbed his hand comfortingly, “it’ll be okay Shou. Izuku’s super strong, he can make it through this.”

“Yeah…” He looked up to see Hitoshi scowling at the ground while clenching and unclenching his fist. He seemed really upset and Shouta briefly wondered if Hitoshi had known about Izuku all along. He leaned over closer to Hizashi to ask him something.

“Did you tell Hitoshi about Izuku being Surge?”

Hizashi frowned and shook his head, “no, I just said he’d been in an accident and he didn’t question it… I think he might already know though.”

Shouta looked at his husband questioningly so Hizashi continued, “when, uh, I woke him up and told him Izuku had been hurt he said something like, ‘I shouldn’t have… I should have said something.’ I didn’t ask him about it though, I don’t think now’s the right time for confronting him about that.”

Shouta nodded in agreement, “yeah…” He looked over at Hitoshi, who was still standing up and called over softly, “hey Toshi, come sit down.” Hitoshi’s head snapped up and his scowl disappeared.

“Oh… sure.” The purple-haired boy walked over to the other chair beside Shouta and sunk down tiredly in it, Shouta glanced at him worriedly and Hizashi piped up with some words of comfort, he was better at that than Shouta.

“He’ll be okay Toshi, it’ll be okay.”

Hitoshi stared back at him with wide eyes and then bit his lip, “I… sorry.” His voice broke and Shouta saw tears welling up in his eyes. Shouta sighed softly and rubbed his shoulder, “hey, don’t apologize Toshi. You’re okay.” Hitoshi nodded but didn’t look convinced at all.

The next hour was spent in a worried silence, they were all trying to comfort each other and praying that Izuku would be okay. No nurse has come out to tell them any news yet, so Shouta just assumed that was good and everything was going well. But after what seemed like forever, someone finally called for them.

“Is Shouta Aizawa here?”

Shouta just prayed that it was good news.

Notes:

UH so that happened. (Don’t hate me please, he’s not dead yet I promise)

On another note, I’ve been planning this chapter for a while, but I was having trouble putting it into words, so I hope I didn’t completely butcher the whole thing haha. Anyways, a small update on what I’m planning for this fic in the future: updates might not be as regular for a few weeks until I can get more organized with my planning and get some inspiration. I know where I want to go with this fic, but actually getting from point A to point B is the hard part!

ALSO, I’m super thankful for everyone’s kind comments, they mean the world to me and I’m always so happy to see that people are enjoying my writing! I hope you guys can continue to enjoy where I’m taking this fic, and I hope that I can write it well :) <3 (Izuku stays the same dumbass vigilante so don't worry AHA)

Chapter 16: He's just taking a nap

“Is Shouta Aizawa here?”

Shouta, Hizashi, and Hitoshi all shot out of their chairs and the nurse smiled reassuringly at them when she saw them worriedly coming over.

“Hello, are you all Midoriya’s family?”

Shouta nodded mutely and Hizashi blinked worriedly at her, “is he alright?”

The nurse hesitated and Shouta felt his heart stop for a moment, “he’s unconscious at the moment, but he’s out of surgery. He lost a lot of blood, so we had to do a blood transfusion because we don’t have any quirks that deal with blood loss employed right now. We did have some very good doctors heal him, but since it was such a large wound and the doctors had to heal a lot of it immediately to save him, he’s expected to be unconscious for a while while his body tries to catch up with the accelerated recovery rate. He shouldn’t need any more healing quirks on the injury though, it should be able to heal well on its own now.”

Shouta felt himself slump in relief, Izuku might be unconscious, but he was alive and that’s what really mattered.

“Can we see him?” Hizashi asked quickly, he was anxious to see Izuku and wanted to make sure he was alright himself.

The nurse smiled at him, “of course! He’s been transferred to a general room, follow me… he doesn’t really look too great at the moment though, but he’s all healed.”

Shouta knew he couldn’t look any worse than when he was bleeding out in an alleyway talking like he was going to die. At least the problem child was still alive.

The nurse led them up a couple of flights of stairs and they stopped in front of a nondescript hospital room, the room number was 307, which Shouta noted. The nurse swung the door open and smiled back at the group, “he’s in here.”

Hitoshi was the first one in, he pushed past the nurse and immediately rushed inside. Shouta and Hizashi hung back for a second to thank the nurse but quickly entered the room to see Izuku. Hitoshi was standing over the hospital bed, he had some blanket clenched in his fist and Shouta could see him staring down at Izuku’s unconscious body with a worried expression. Shouta couldn’t blame him, although the kid did look better than when Shouta had last seen him, he still wasn’t looking too great. He had a steadily beeping heart monitor hooked up to him as well as an IV. His hair was matted, but clean of blood, and his face was much paler than it normally was. It was uncanny seeing the normally lively kid looking like this… looking so vulnerable

Shouta heard Hizashi exhale softly from beside him and he walked over to beside Izuku as well, he reached out his hand to brush some strands of hair out of his face with a sad frown.

Shouta slumped down in a chair at the foot of the bed, making sure to watch Izuku carefully, he was worried as hell about him, but he needed to stay rational. “He looks a lot better than he did earlier.” He commented softly which made both Hizashi and Hitoshi glance towards him.

Hitoshi frowned and rubbed his forehead, “I… I could’ve done something…”

Hizashi looked towards him with a comforting smile and patted his shoulder, “hey, hey, don’t blame yourself Toshi. It was out of everyone’s hands.”

Hitoshi didn’t respond and just shook his head slowly, he turned back to look at Izuku and stumbled back a few steps into a chair beside the bed. Hizashi watched him worriedly and looked towards Shouta with a concerned frown. Shouta was about to say something to Hitoshi when the door clicked and a concerned looking Tsukauchi peaked through the door.

“Ah, hello Aizawa, Yamada… how is he?” Tsukauchi walked further into the room and Shouta shrugged, “he’s unconscious, but the surgery went well.”

Tsukauchi’s eyes landed at the small green-haired kid in the bed and Shouta saw him wince. He nodded and glanced at Shouta, “I’m glad he’s alright. Also, Aizawa, could I talk to you in private about the, uh…” He glanced towards Hitoshi who wasn’t paying attention to him in the slightest, “problem?”

Shouta sighed softly but nodded and stood up, he gave one last look at Izuku and then followed Tsukauchi out into the hallway. Shouta leaned against the wall outside of the room and looked at Tsukauchi expectantly, “how did it go?”

Tsukauchi replied in a low voice, “they should be keeping quiet about the incident. I also made sure that Surge being hauled off into an ambulance isn’t going to be plastered all over the news… I hope. Midoriya should be safe for now. But now the problem is what we’re going to do with him when he wakes up…”

Shouta felt himself bristle, “he’s not going to jail. I already made sure of that. I’ll keep looking after him.”

Tsukauchi shook his head, “yeah, I don’t want him going to jail either. Honestly, now that we know he’s quirkless it would probably be hard to charge him… there was no quirk use and he’s a minor. I meant more like how are we going to deal with him? Both you and I know he isn’t going to give up being a vigilante just because he’s been caught…”

Shouta sighed, “yeah… he won’t. Problem child.” He drummed his fingers against his leg, “I’ll try to figure something out to keep him out of trouble… thank you for your help so far.”

Tsukauchi hummed in response, “of course, I’ll see what else I can do to help, just give me a call if you need anything. Midoriya has a good heart…”

“He does, but he has no impulse control and some occasionally questionable morals…”

Tsukauchi chuckled and then frowned slightly, “say Aizawa, does Midoriya want to be a hero? Since he’s quirkless he can’t…”

Shouta made a small growl of disapproval, “he does. I think one of the reasons he became a vigilante was to prove that you don’t need a quirk to be a hero since all of the hero courses require a quirk to apply… it’s stupid.”

Tsukauchi nodded in agreement, “I was thinking maybe Nezu…?”

Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose, “I don’t even want to think about the headache they’d cause together. They’re both bad enough on their own. But I understand what you’re saying, Nezu would probably be interested in him.”

“Anyways, if you need any help with anything like I said before, give me a call. I’m going to head out and sleep. Tell me when he wakes up, I still need to question him about his vigilante activities to make a report.”

Shouta hummed in conformation and slipped back into the room, Hitoshi was still slumped over in the chair beside Izuku’s bed, while Hizashi had taken a chair beside where Shouta was sitting earlier, the latter smiled at him when he came in. Shouta padded over to the chair beside Hizashi and the man gave him a questioning glance. Shouta just shrugged and whispered out a short answer, “his identity should be safe. Now we just have to figure out how to keep him out of any more trouble.”

Hizashi laughed softly and looked back towards Izuku and Hitoshi, “I’ll help however I can.”

Shouta nodded and glanced at Hitoshi, “how’s Toshi?”

Hizashi’s eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head, “the same… he’s really upset Shou. I want to help him but I don’t know what to say to make him feel better.”

Shouta sighed softly, “yeah… I want to ask him more about it tomorrow since he’s really upset now and I don’t want to upset him more. Hopefully talking about whatever’s making him blame himself helps…”

Hizashi nodded and looked at his two kids with a slightly pained face, “yeah… I hope so.”

The stress of the night finally really came crashing back to Shouta once he was settled down in the chair beside Hizashi and he accidentally drifted off into a fitful sleep, filled with Izuku’s limp body and sad smile in that damn alleyway. Sleep had never been so painful before. But Izuku was safe now, and Shouta was going to make sure that kid wasn’t running around like a lunatic anymore and getting hurt. He’d make sure of it.

══════════════════

When Shouta woke up a bit later into the morning to see both Hizashi and Hitoshi had passed out. They were both slumped over in their chairs in very uncomfortable looking positions. Shouta yawned and then stood up to get a better look at Izuku. He looked the same as he did last night, pale and small. After looking at his kid he glanced around the room for a clock, there was one on the wall which read 8:15am. He obviously hadn’t gotten too much sleep, maybe an hour or two at most.

He needed a coffee so badly.

After a minute of debating he figured it would be alright if he left the room for a few minutes. The hospital would take care of Izuku if something happened and Hitoshi and Hizashi were still going to be in the room. So Shouta wandered down the hall to buy an extremely watery coffee, it was disgusting, but he didn’t really have any other choices. When he stepped back into the room Hitoshi was awake and looking back at the door that had just opened.

“Hey.”

Shouta nodded at him, “‘morning, how are you feeling?”

Hitoshi shrugged and glanced back at Izuku, “better. It’s just…” He sighed and glanced at his feet, “it’s just… I knew about him being Surge, but I didn’t say anything… I knew… I should’ve said something! But I didn’t and now…” He leaned his hand on his face with a small groan. Shouta sighed softly, so Hizashi was right, Hitoshi did know something about Izuku being Surge.

Shouta took a few steps towards Hitoshi and patted his shoulder, “it’s alright Toshi, this isn’t your fault.”

Hitoshi glanced back at him with a frown, “but-”

Shouta shook his head, “yes, you should’ve said something. But it was Izuku who got himself hurt, not you. He’s stubborn, he wouldn’t have given up on being Surge even if I knew who he was, so please stop blaming yourself.”

Hitoshi looked back towards Izuku, “I guess.”

“He’ll be okay.”

Hitoshi was silent for a moment, “he’s an idiot.”

Shouta sighed, “he is.”

All of their talking had apparently woken up Hizashi who was blinking blearily, “good morning!”

“I think good is an overstatement Zashi.”

Hizashi huffed softly, “both of you are always so negative! He’s alright, isn’t he?”

Shouta hummed noncommittal in response and took a sip of his watery coffee. He glared at the cup, “the coffee here is terrible. It’s just coffee-flavored water.”

Hizashi chuckled, “oh no! The horror!”

Hitoshi snickered quietly and Shouta turned his glare towards his husband, “I only got an hour of sleep last night, I need my coffee.”

“It’s terrible.” Hizashi tutted out with a small grin, “just terrible.”

Shouta just grunted and ignored him, taking another sip of the ‘coffee’ and looking towards Izuku. It was going to be a long few days just waiting for him to wake up, wasn’t it?

══════════════════

Hitoshi wasn’t having a nice time in the slightest. Ever since Hizashi had woken him up and told him Izuku had been hurt Hitoshi couldn’t shake the feeling that this was partially his fault. Sure, Shouta had said it wasn’t his fault and that Izuku would’ve still been reckless even if he had said something, but the fact remained that he could’ve done more.

Right now he was waiting in line with Hizashi to get shitty hospital food for breakfast. Hizashi had managed to corner him into coming with him, he’d said staying in the stuffy room for hours on end wasn’t good for him and that he could pick something out to eat. Quite honestly Hitoshi didn’t want anything for breakfast, he wasn’t hungry at all and just wanted to see Izuku awake and well.

While Hizashi was ordering food Hitoshi felt his phone buzz in his pocket and he pulled it out to hopefully get his mind off of Izuku. His home screen had a notification from Ashido and he almost groaned as he remembered that he and Izuku were supposed to hang out with them tomorrow afternoon.

Alien Queen: good morning!

Kamemenari: hii

Toko: Dark Shadow wants you both to stop texting because you’re interrupting his beauty sleep

Alien Queen: it’s 9am thats not even early

Toko: That is early.

Alien Queen: whatEVEr

Alien Queen: anyways is everyone still up to get together tmrw?

Kamemenari: Hell yeah!

Catsomniac: Can’t.

Alien Queen: aww :( why not??

Catsomniac: Personal stuff, Izu can’t either.

Toko: Well me and Dark Shadow hope everything is okay.

Kamemenari: yeah! You can guys can always come some other time

Alien Queen: we’ll miss you!! but yeah we can another time :)

Catsomniac: Yeah.

“Okay! Got the food!”

Hitoshi clicked off his phone and glanced up at Hizashi, “yay. It looks disgusting.”

Hizashi chuckled, “aw! It’s not too bad!

Hitoshi shrugged half-heartedly and they both found a table to sit down at. Since Hitoshi still wasn’t hungry he just stared blankly at his food which earned him a concerned smile from Hizashi.

“At least try to eat a little if you can, it’ll make you feel better.”

Hitoshi sighed in defeat and took a small bite of the under-toasted toast. It didn’t make him feel any better.

Luckily Hizashi didn’t force him to eat any more (yet), and instead just wrapped the piece of bread up in a napkin and told Hitoshi that if he got hungry he could eat the rest of it. He also had an apple for Shouta since the only thing the man had to eat so far was his cup of coffee.

The two trekked upstairs to see a nurse who had just exited Izuku’s room, they walked past her and into the room again. Shouta explained that the nurse was just checking on Izuku and they shouldn’t be worried and then they settled into the room together. After a slight debate Shouta and Hizashi agreed to rotate the nights spent with Izuku since only one parent was allowed to stay overnight. Shouta would spend the first night, Hizashi the second, and so on. The one that wasn’t at the hospital would just be at their apartment with Hitoshi (who was upset that he couldn’t spend the night with Izuku).

Eventually, the conversation shifted to something that Hitoshi wasn’t looking forward to explaining.

It was Shouta who brought it up. “Hitoshi, how did you find out about Izuku being Surge in the first place?”

Hitoshi winced, “ah, I saw him climbing into his window one night and thought someone was breaking in so I went into his room and yeah…”

Shouta narrowed his eyes, “you thought someone was breaking in, yet you went into the room they were in? Hitoshi, that's dangerous, you should’ve woken us up instead. What if it was actually someone dangerous?”

Hitoshi glanced away sheepishly, “I thought I could stop them with my quirk and stuff… plus I was worried about Izuku…”

Shouta sighed tiredly, “still not a good idea.”

“A-Anyways, what’s gonna happen to him now that you know who he is…”

Shouta shook his head, “don’t worry about that Toshi, he’ll be alright.”

Hizashi nodded in agreement, “yeah! We’ll make sure he’s safe.”

Hitoshi hummed quietly and leaned back in his chair, “yeah…”

He just really, really wanted him to wake up.

══════════════════

The next few days passed uneventfully with Izuku making no progress. The only thing that happened was school starting back, much to Hitoshi’s dismay.

Hizashi had gone back to UA to teach (Shouta was taking some days off to spend at the hospital and try to work out a plan of action with the situation, which Hitoshi hadn’t heard anything about). Unluckily, Hitoshi had to go back too. Hizashi said getting into a normal routine and doing something else to get his mind off Izuku would be good for him. Hitoshi thought differently, but he went back to school on Monday without a fight.

And then he was faced with his worst nightmare: socializing without Izuku being there to back him up (or maybe he just hated it because he was in a terrible mood).

He managed to avoid Ayano and Kurihara for the first half of the day, but come lunch they managed to track him down in his classroom.

He was picking at his lunch with a small scowl when the two entered the room, he noticed them immediately and groaned. He didn’t want to talk to them right now, he knew they’d ask him about where Izuku was and Hitoshi was in no mood to socialize.

“Hey Shinsou, you alright?” Ayano asked cautiously. Shinsou shrugged in response and went back to picking at his food.

“Uh, is Izuku okay? I didn’t see him today and he’s not with you…”

Hitoshi sighed and then glanced at the concerned pair, “he got hurt a few days ago. He’s resting right now.” More like unconscious, but they didn’t need to know that. Then they’d just ask more questions.

Apparently that was good enough for them and Kurihara spoke up, “well, tell him we hope he feels better! And I hope you feel better too.” She finished off with a small smile, Ayano nodded in agreement.

“Also if you don’t want us to ea-”

Hitoshi cut Ayano off, “just sit down, I could use some company anyways…” The last part was a quiet mutter, but both kids heard him and smiled slightly. They sat down at some empty desks and despite Hitoshi’s foul mood and terrible social skills, he felt just a little bit better.

══════════════════

An irritating, monotonous beeping noise was ringing in his ears and it wouldn’t stop. His body felt weak and sore, and sleeping sounded like a much better option right now, but that damn beeping wouldn’t stop. But eventually the steady beeping disappeared into the background and darkness washed over him yet again.

══════════════════

The next time he returned to semi-consciousness there was a conversation going on. He could hear what they were saying, but yet the words made no sense to him. He didn’t really care though, he just wanted to go back to sleep but for whatever reason his mind had chosen to stay hyper-focused on the incomprehensible conversation.

“That’s not going to work, he’s not going to stop.”

“But if Nezu agrees?”

“Still no. The best-case scenario is he just gives it up without a fight, but I know he won’t. He’d probably sooner run away than concede right now. I think we should just wait until he wakes up and talk to him about it.”

“That would probably be good…”

He wanted to tell the voices to shut up and that he was trying to sleep, but he couldn’t move his body and he couldn’t talk.

The voices moved farther away, “what do you think…?” Finally the voices faded into the background and he could fall back asleep…

══════════════════

Izuku’s body felt heavy, everything hurt… but he wanted to move so badly. He could feel physical sensations rushing back to him, and finally, he actually woke up.

Notes:

Okay hi, so originally this chap was gonna have more of Izu waking up at the end but I decided I wanted to dedicate a whole chapter to that so uh, I deeply apologize for another cliffhanger :') Anyways, sorry if this chapter was kind of boring, nothing much happened in it and it was kind of fillerish (and shortish), but next chapter will have more stuff going on! Hope everyone is having an awesome day/night and thank you for reading, you guys are all amazing <3

Chapter 17: Even after everything

The first thing Izuku processed when he woke up was a small argument going on.

“No! You’re not allowed to have that in the hospital.”

“I’ve had this with me all week.”

“You look like a giant caterpillar! Every time a nurse comes in here they look at you like you’re crazy!”

“I can do whatever I want…” The voice sounded slightly peeved and someone chuckled slightly from beside him.

“I draw the line! No sleeping bag in public, remember our agreement Shouta!”

“This isn’t a public space, it’s a hospital room.”

“Shouta! It’s still a public building.”

Shouta huffed in annoyance and another voice piped up, “why do you hate the caterpillar bag so much Yamadad?”

“It’s not a caterpillar bag…” Shouta muttered in annoyance.

“Yes it is! Get out of it!”

“No, I’m tired. Be quiet and let me sleep.”

“Not until you get out of the sleeping bag!”

“No.”

“Let him have his caterpillar bag, he’s just embracing his inner caterpillar.”

“It’s not a caterpillar bag, I just want to sleep.”

Izuku wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but it sounded interesting. He wanted to see what this caterpillar bag thing was. He opened his eyes to a really bright light which made him squint and the smell of antiseptic burned in his nose, but he ignored that for now. He was propped up in a bed, and through his slitted eyes, he saw the famous caterpillar bag.

Oh, he remembered that bag now. It was that yellow bag Shouta was always in that Hitoshi had deemed the caterpillar bag. Izuku thought that was a pretty accurate name for it, but Shouta never seemed to like it for whatever reason. Thinking of Shouta made some fuzzy memories dance at the edge of his mind but he shook them off, he’d deal with whatever they were later.

He focused back on the conversation to see that it was still about Shouta’s caterpillar bag.

Hizashi was starting to try to negotiate Shouta out of the bag now, “I’ll buy you a cup of coffee if you get out of that thing.”

“The coffee here is terrible,” Shouta muttered out.

“I’ll get good coffee then.”

“No.”

Izuku sniffed out a quiet laugh, “you like your budget caterpillar cosplay way too much.” His voice was slightly hoarse, but the sound of it made all three occupants in the room swivel their heads to Izuku.

“Izu!” Hitoshi yelped out and shot over to Izuku’s side.

Izuku smiled slightly and then grimaced. He hadn’t noticed it earlier, but he felt like he got hit by a bus, “I feel like shit.” He announced a moment after his revelation.

Both Shouta (who had his sleeping bag slung over his shoulder now) and Hizashi had also walked over to the bed and the former spoke up, “I’d imagine so, you were unconscious for a week… I’m glad you’re finally awake, we were worried about you, problem child.” Hizashi nodded in agreement.

“A… week? W-Why?”

Shouta glared at him, “because you have no self-preservation skills.” But then Izuku saw concern flash over his face, “do you remember anything kid?”

Izuku furrowed his eyebrows and frowned slightly. He glanced around the area which held the typical appearance of a hospital room and it just made his frown deepen. He was unconscious for a week and in a hospital, something must’ve gone terribly wrong and Izuku couldn’t shake the rising dread in his gut about it being something about Surge.

He strained himself for any memories, the last thing he could remember was him watching that drug bust… he felt himself stiffen as more hazy details filtered into his mind. Him following Shouta, leaping in front of that guy, getting stabbed. He shuddered briefly as he remembered how he thought he was going to die, how he talked to Shouta in that alley… And, oh hell, Shouta definitely knew who he was now. The gig was up and the man was probably so pissed at him. But Izuku would be damned if he let some hero stop his vigilante-ing, Izuku wouldn’t let that happen.

He glanced sheepishly at Shouta and he couldn’t find it in himself to form a sentence, “ah.”

Shouta raised an eyebrow at him, “I’d assume that means you remember?”

Izuku sighed defeatedly, “I think so. Uh… surprise?”

“Little late for that now problem child.”

“Yeah…” Izuku trailed off and frowned slightly, only to have his shoulder lightly hit and met eyes with Hitoshi.

“Izuku… you idiot.” He was obviously holding back tears and Izuku winced.

“Toshi I-”

Hitoshi cut him off by leaning down to hug him, which Izuku returned, “don’t apologize. I’m sure you don’t regret it.” It was just a quiet murmur, but he was right, Izuku didn’t regret it. He’d step in front of a bullet for a lot of people, especially people he cared about. And despite everything, Izuku did really care about Shouta. The only things he did regret were the hero finding out about Surge and him worrying everyone.

“I’m still sorry for making you guys worried…”

Hizashi smiled at him comfortingly, “well it turned out alright, everyone’s okay now!”

Izuku nodded and Hitoshi let go of him. The green-haired boy sighed softly and fidgeted with his hands, “I guess everyone here knows about Surge so what’s, uh, gonna happen to me?”

Shouta edged closer and patted him on the shoulder, “you’ll be fine, don’t worry about that right now.”

Izuku shrugged half-heartedly, “whatever you say. Also, shit, does the media know about me being Surge?”

Shouta shook his head, “I made sure that didn’t get out, you’re safe.”

Izuku heaved a sigh of relief but then he gasped dramatically, “my gear! My gear better be safe Eraser, if the police have it-”

“The police have it.” He replied in a flat voice which made Izuku slam a hand over his heart and he widened his eyes at the man, “Eraser, how could you! Now I’ll never get it back, the police’ll just keep it forever because they say it’s ‘dangerous!’”

“That’s because it is dangerous. Detective Tsukauchi looked at the voltage your rods can get up too and it was way above the regulated amount.”

Izuku scoffed, “hero’s costumes aren’t in regulations sometimes, why can’t my costume be the same?”

Shouta groaned, “because you’re a vigilante, end of conversation. Anyways, a nurse will probably be coming in here any second and unless you want to continue arguing with them in the room I advise you to stop.”

Izuku made a childish pout, “fine. Whatever. I wake up after being unconscious for a week and this is how I’m treated? I see how it is.”

Shouta sighed tiredly and ruffled Izuku’s hair, “problem child.”

Izuku ducked away from his hand and stuck his tongue out right as a nurse came walking through the door. As soon as she saw Izuku was awake she smiled brightly at him.

“Hello! It’s good to see you awake Midoriya, how are you feeling?”

Izuku shrugged, “uh, fine.”

Shouta raised an eyebrow, “you just said you felt bad.”

Izuku glared at him and sighed slightly, “okay, yeah, maybe a little sore.”

The nurse nodded dutifully and told him she could get some painkillers for him if he needed them after she finished checking him over. That earned a half-hearted shrug from Izuku but nothing more. A minute later a doctor came into the room and introduced himself as Dr. Sakamoto, he was nice and made sure Izuku was comfortable and all his vitals checked out (they did). Once he was done with that Izuku piped up with a question.

“So… when can I get out of here? Soon?”

Sakamoto chuckled and then smiled at him, “we need to monitor you for a couple of days to make sure you’re stable and healthy, but after that you’ll be free to go.”

Izuku nodded, two days? He could do that… maybe. The doctor rambled on about a few more things that made Izuku zone out because of all the medical terms. He was a vigilante, not a doctor, however both Shouta and Hizashi seemed to understand what the man was talking about and nodded along. Soon the man left and the family was left to their own devices again. Izuku just wanted to go home already.

══════════════════

It was the next morning, which happened to be Monday, so both Hizashi and Hitoshi were at school. Shouta had been in Izuku’s room when he’d woken up, but around ten minutes ago someone had called him and he’d left the hospital room saying he’d be right back.

That left Izuku curious (and slightly scared) about who had called him and why he’d been gone for so long. Sadly Izuku got his answer when Shouta and Detective Tsukauchi entered into the room, Izuku narrowed his eyes and made a small huffing noise.

“Hey Lie-Detector, what’s up?”

Tsukauchi shook his head slightly and offered a small smile to Izuku, “hello Midoriya, are you feeling alright?”

Izuku smirked, “well, I was until you came in here. I’m assuming you’re here to question me or something?”

Tsukauchi nodded slightly, “well, yes. But I have a few other things to discuss with you as well. If you could cooperate that would be terrific.”

Izuku sighed dramatically, “well, my secret identity has already been exposed, so I guess I can cooperate. Go for it Detective.”

Shouta stalked over to a chair to sit in while Tsukauchi cleared his throat, “you already seem to be aware that the authorities know you’re Surge, correct?”

Izuku hummed in conformation and gestured for Tsukauchi to continue.

“While I am aware of your identity, as well as some other higher-ups in the force, most of the police force and civilians are unaware that you are even in custody at the moment.”

“Am I in custody? Are you sure about that?”

Tsukauchi sighed but continued, “anyways, me and Shouta have managed to work out a solution for you where you don’t have to serve any kind of jail time or anything of the sort, since you’re a minor.”

Izuku cocked his head to the side questioningly, “yeah…?”

Shouta piped up, “but you’re not allowed to continue being a vigilante, that will get you arrested.”

Izuku’s head snapped around to him and he frowned, “yeah… I-” He stopped himself and glanced at his hands. He obviously knew that he wasn’t going to be able to prance around as publicly as he had been before, but he couldn’t just give up on it, he needed to make up for not being able to save his mom and he wanted to help people, “I just…”

Tsukauchi smiled at him, “well listen to our proposal first and then you can tell us what you think, okay?”

Izuku shrugged in response and turned back to look at Tsukauchi tiredly. The man continued, “despite everything I do think you’re a good kid Izuku. Did you ever want to become an actual hero?”

Izuku frowned slightly, “ah, yeah… that was my goal before. But, uh, I had to give up on that because of all the rules hero schools have about being quirkless. I still wanted to be able to help people though, so that’s why I started the whole Surge thing… among other reasons…” He trailed off with a humorless laugh, “why?”

“Shouta and I got together with Nezu, the principal of UA and he’s really interested in you and is willing to offer you a spot in the UA hero course, of course there will be an entrance exam you have to pass like everyone else, but we’ll sort out the minor details later if you accept.”

Izuku stared at the man blankly, “Nezu… rat-bear man? He… what? Doesn’t UA have a policy against quirkless people in their hero course or did I miss something?”

Tsukauchi shook his head, “no, you are correct Midoriya, however Nezu is trying to get rid of this rule and letting quirkless people apply. So, what do you say Midoriya?”

Izuku frowned and glanced at his hands, “um… I dunno. It’s just- what are my other options? Is everything else just a go to jail free card?”

“Not necessarily, if you promise never to engage in any type of vigilante activity, then you can just go to a normal high school and have a normal life once you graduate if you’d rather. If the police ever catch you being a vigilante again… I don’t think they’ll hesitate to arrest you. If you want to keep helping out people directly, I think your best option would be UA.”

Izuku let out a small sigh, “I… but- I’m not a hero, how can you offer me something like that? I’m not… I couldn’t-” He cut himself off sharply and bit his lip, “I wouldn’t be a good hero.”

Tsukauchi tilted his head, slightly concerned about Izuku’s strange behavior, Shouta was obviously concerned as well and stared at the fidgeting kid. His mind drifted to a conversation they’d had a few months ago, Izuku had mentioned letting someone die… Shouta also knew that both of his parents were dead, and they had died right around the same time reports of Surge had begun to appear. Maybe their death had something to do with Izuku’s hesitance. He made a note to himself to talk to the kid about it later, he obviously had some issues going on that really needed to be addressed.

Shouta piped up with a small frown, “why wouldn’t you? You’ve been doing fine as a vigilante, if you don’t want to be a mainstream hero you can just be an underground hero, you’d be good at that.”

Izuku vigorously shook his head, “no, no. Nevermind. Uh… could I think about it?”

Tsukauchi smiled gently at him and nodded, “of course, take your time. Just, could you please promise to stop being a vigilante, no one wants to see you in jail.”

Izuku chuckled, “oh believe me Lie-Detector, I can think of several people who’d want me in jail.”

“Midoriya, promise us.”

Izuku averted his eyes, “yeah. Whatever.”

Tsukauchi’s quirk picked up on his answer as false and he sighed tiredly but didn’t pursue the issue further. He and Shouta could deal with it later, it was obvious the kid wasn’t going to budge on his beliefs just because someone asked him not too. Shouta was right, he was stubborn as hell. But then again Tsukauchi had become well acquainted with the kid’s antics over the past year, so what was he expecting from him?

After a small bit of conversation with Izuku, Shouta and Tsukauchi left the hospital room and Tsukauchi groaned once they were outside, “I don’t think he plans on stopping being a vigilante… how the hell can we convince him not too?”

Shouta shrugged, “I told you… he’s stubborn. I’ll talk with him about UA and Surge, there’s something bothering him and I want to figure out what it is.”

Tsukauchi nodded and the two said their goodbyes and parted ways, with Tsukauchi leaving the hospital and Shouta going back into the hospital room. They had a huge problem child to deal with now, but yet both of them cared about the kid and just wanted him to have a good life. Hopefully Izuku wouldn’t manage to mess up his future by pulling any more vigilante stunts. But they’d just have to wait and see…

══════════════════

Izuku was shifting excitedly behind Shouta and Hizashi as they finally checked him out of that godforsaken place. Hitoshi was standing behind him and stifling small giggles at Izuku’s excitement, but Izuku didn’t care. He just wanted to go home, take a nice long shower, sleep in his bed, and just resume life like it normally was. Sadly, nothing ever happened to Izuku like he wanted it too and Shouta broke the terrible news to him when they were standing outside, waiting for Hizashi to drive the car around.

“By the way Izuku, you’re going to have to stay home under supervision for a little while some more legal issues get addressed. The police don’t want you running around unattended because they’re scared you’ll just run off. It shouldn’t be for too long though.”

Izuku stared at him incredulously, “what? No. I get out of the hospital just to be put under house arrest? Seriously?”

Shouta sighed tiredly, “I know it's not ideal, but you’ll have to deal with it for a few days. A lot of the police still don’t trust you and Detective Tsukauchi’s trying the best he can to convince them not to bring you to court. Just please cooperate Izuku. This is very important, but once it’s all settled everything can go back to normal, okay?”

Izuku curled his lip and glared at Shouta, “not ideal my ass. But whatever, fine, I’ll cooperate.”

Izuku definitely wasn’t a big fan of the whole house arrest thing, but he’d rather not go to court or anything, so he’d deal with it somehow. That didn’t mean he was happy about it though. Maybe he could convince Shouta to get him back his vigilante gear, he highly doubted that though. At least he had a few spares back at his warehouse, nothing as high quality as his original costume, but they’d do. Hizashi rolled up to the curb in front of them and the three of them hopped in the car. Izuku pointedly ignored Shouta the whole time and instead talked to only Hizashi and Hitoshi.

And finally, Izuku was home. He sprinted into the apartment as soon as Shouta opened the door and spun around while laughing, “oh nice, clean apartment, how I’ve missed you!” Hitoshi laughed from behind him while their three cats came galloping into the room. They meowed happily and rubbed against Izuku. Izuku smiled at them and scooped Rin up into his arms, he scratched the cat’s chin where he always loved it and the cat licked Izuku’s nose in return. Izuku giggled and set him down on the couch with one last pet.

Izuku turned around to smile at Hitoshi and Hizashi, and then stick his tongue out at Shouta, “despite everything, I’m so glad to be back here.” He smiled genuinely at the ground and averted his eyes from the group, “uh, thanks by the way. Thanks for sticking around… I wasn’t expecting you guys too after you found out about me.” The last sentence was muttered out quietly and very sheepishly, but everyone heard it.

Hizashi beamed at him, “aw! Of course we will, we’re your family Izuku!”

Shouta nodded slightly in agreement and walked past Izuku, patting his shoulder briefly, “even though you’re still a reckless problem child.”

And Izuku was happy. But yet… he felt bad, like he was betraying Inko and Hisashi by being happy without them. Did he even deserve to be happy after what he let happen to them? Izuku wasn’t so sure… but he didn’t say anything. He never would.

══════════════════

House arrest sucked.

Shouta had taken off more work (but Izuku figured since UA was a hero school, he got off of work pretty easily since this could be considered ‘hero work’) and Izuku was slowly going insane.

He woke up at 6:45 with everyone else. Watched sadly as Hitoshi left for school without him. Laid back in his bed for around half an hour watching HeroTube, and then he got up to his homebound work. Shouta had called the school and explained that Izuku had been in the hospital and wasn’t well enough to go to school yet, so the teachers emailed schoolwork and lessons to him for Izuku to complete at home.

It didn’t help that Kurihara and Ayano were concerned about him and wanted to come visit him, but Izuku had declined and told them, “I don’t feel well enough for visitors right now.” That was a lie but whatever, maybe he’d ask Shouta if they could come over sometime or something.

After finishing his schoolwork he’d get on Discord and talk to his friends on there about various things. Like up and coming heroes, school, and a bunch of other stuff. Izuku found out Ashido, Tokoyami, and Kaminari all wanted to apply to UA’s hero course and that made him think about his own predicament. Shouta hadn’t brought up the offer, or anything remotely vigilante related, in the past two days. Izuku figured he was letting him get re-adjusted and settle in before stressing him out with more of that mess. But the sooner he decided, the better.

But Izuku still wasn’t sure. It seemed like a dream come true, he’d always dreamed of being a hero, going to UA or some other top hero school, saving people for real… but why couldn’t he bring himself to agree? Logically he knew he should, he knew he couldn’t continue being Surge, but a large piece of his heart was longing for his life as a vigilante back. Vigilantes didn’t have to follow any laws, it made saving people and finding information so much easier. Vigilantes didn’t have to depend on popularity and how big the incidents they were resolving. Vigilantes could stick to the lower-income parts of town and save people who needed it there, places where most heroes would never go.

But those weren’t the only reasons he hesitated. He hesitated because, honestly, what could he do? He could never be some flashy hero without a quirk… and even if he did opt to be an underground hero like Eraserhead, was he even good enough to be a real hero? Could he save people when it really mattered? Because, so far, when it really mattered Izuku had done nothing but mess up. He couldn’t save his dad, he couldn’t save his mom, he couldn’t save Kosuke, and… He saved Eraserhead, but at what cost? A crippling injury? What if Eraser had just been a helpless civilian. What could they do after Izuku got himself killed? Izuku couldn’t protect someone if he was just bleeding out on the ground.

Was someone like him, someone quirkless even good enough to be a hero in the first place? Maybe everyone was right after all, how could he keep up without a quirk against dangerous criminals? So far most of the people who he’d taken down were just simple street thugs, but heroes had to deal with much more dangerous people. And Izuku couldn’t shake the feeling he’d never be good enough for that…

“Izuku?”

Izuku snapped out of his thoughts and his head swiveled towards Shouta, “yeah?”

Shouta frowned slightly at him, “are you alright kid?”

Izuku blinked a couple of times and then coughed sheepishly, “oh, yeah. I am. Just… restless.” He gestured around the apartment, “it just feels so small in here…”

Shouta hummed and then stood up, closing his laptop and sticking in down on the couch, “how about we go out shopping? You can get your mind off everything and get out of here.”

A chance to get out of the stuffy apartment? Hell yeah!

Izuku leaped to his feet, accidentally blowing a couple of papers off of the kitchen table he’d been working on earlier, “hell yeah Eraser! Best idea you’ve ever had, let’s do it!”

Shouta snorted quietly at his excitement and nodded, “let me look in the kitchen and see what we need and then we can head out.”

Izuku shot him a thumbs up and trotted into his room to grab his phone and shoes. He tried to run a brush through his ridiculously curly hair, but figured it looked fine enough and walked out to meet Shouta. The two left the apartment and walked out into the fresh air. Izuku sucked in a big breath of air and sighed contentedly. Had he already mentioned how much house arrest sucked?

The two had to walk the short distance into the shopping district since Hizashi had the car, but honestly, Izuku preferred it that way. It was a way to release his pent up energy he’d gathered over the past few weeks. Soon enough the pair arrived into town.

“How about we go eat lunch at a cafe and then run errands?”

Izuku nodded in agreement and they walked into a local cafe that always had good lunch food and coffee. They also had super good pastries and such which Izuku adored, Shouta and Hizashi always let Izuku and Hitoshi always pick out a pastry with lunch when they came here, and today was no different.

The two walked up to the counter and were greeted by the smiling face of one of the employees. They knew most of the employees at the cafe since they came here on weekends a lot.

“Ah! Hello you two! What can I get for you?”

The two greeted her and told her their orders, and despite seeming slightly concerned as to why it was only the two of them and Izuku was out of school, she didn’t question it thankfully. It was a nice lunch, the food was good as always and Izuku was just thankful to be out of the house. Soon enough the two exited the restaurant and started on their errands. Most of the errands just consisted of Shouta needing to go one place, but then Izuku got sidetracked at another place, and then Shouta had to drag him to the place he’d originally wanted to go. Izuku had just wanted that limited edition Present Mic figure that cost 4.500 yen, but for whatever reason Shouta had told him that was too expensive and he already had the real thing at home, why would he need another version? Izuku had snickered quietly at that and followed Shouta without protest.

Soon enough they were at their final location (sadly), the grocery store.

“Hey Izuku, could you go grab me some milk and eggs?”

Izuku dutifully agreed and walked across the store to the refrigerated aisle to find the two items in question. He did find the two things Shouta had needed, but he also found someone unwanted.

It was fucking All Might in a baggy white t-shirt wheeling around a half-full shopping cart and then Izuku accidentally made eye contact with the man. All Might tilted his head slightly and then his eyes lit up with recognition, “ah! Hello Young Midoriya, it’s funny seeing you here. Why aren’t you in school?”

Izuku stared blankly at the man, what was he supposed to say? “Um hi.” He managed to spit out lamely.

Toshinori blinked at him, “are you skipping school Young Midoriya, that is not behavior be-”

Izuku shook his head vigorously, “no, I’m just out sick. I got sick a few days ago and I’m still recovering?” It came out as more of a question but Toshinori didn’t seem to notice.

“Oh! I’m so sorry my boy, I shouldn’t have assumed something like that. Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah I‘m fine.”

Toshinori paused for a moment and then glanced around, “ah, Midoriya, are you here alone?”

Izuku wanted to scream, why did the man keep asking him questions? He just wanted to get his eggs and milk and go, not deal with this whole ordeal. He bit back a small groan as he replied, “I’m here with Shouta. I’m getting some stuff for him…”

Toshinori nodded at that, “in that case let me help you! If you’re still recovering I don’t want you to strain yourself.”

“No, no, it’s really okay. I’m-”

Toshinori smiled at him, “it’s no problem Young Midoriya! I insist.”

Izuku knew the man was just trying to help, but it was taking all that was in him not to tell the man he knew who he actually was. But then All Might would freak out and Izuku didn’t want to deal with that, so he stayed quiet and regretfully let the man help him.

So that’s how he ended up parading through the store with Small Might after he got eggs and milk and put him in his cart, trying to find Shouta. The awkward small talk the man was trying to make while they were walking together made it so much worse too. Izuku just wanted to find Shouta already. At least he didn’t make awkward small talk and always add young in front of his name.

“What do you want to do when you’re older Midoriya?”

Izuku just shrugged at his question, “dunno yet.”

Toshinori kept asking dumb questions like that with Izuku giving very vague answers. Obviously, the man wasn’t very good at picking up on Izuku’s discomfort.

And finally, thank god, the two found Shouta. He eyed the two of them in confusion and then groaned.

“Toshinori. What are you doing?”

That made Toshinori stiffen and look at him nervously, “oh! Hello Aizawa, I was just helping Young Midoriya here. He told me he was out sick and I didn’t want him to strain himself!” He ended with a nervous laugh and Shouta just sighed.

“Great.” He responded dryly. Izuku snorted quietly and grabbed his groceries from Toshinori’s cart, he placed them in Shouta’s cart before turning around to wave at Toshinori.

“Uh bye. Thanks for helping me?’

The man nodded happily, and finally the awkward experience was over. Once Toshinori was out of earshot Izuku sighed dramatically, “that was awkward as hell!”

Shouta chuckled at that, “yeah, Toshinori’s interesting… he is a good guy though.”

Izuku hummed in agreement and trailed after Shouta the rest of the trip. Sadly, they ran into Toshinori again at the checkout line, and they left the store at around the same time. That’s when a loud crash was heard and both Shouta and Toshinori exchanged glances.

Shouta handed him his grocery bags, “Izuku. Hold these, and stay here. Don’t interfere.” Izuku frowned at him but he was in no position to argue so he shrugged in agreement.

Shouta ran off towards the crash and All Might was already nowhere to be seen. That left Izuku boredly leaning against a wall and messing with his shirt.

A small growl sounded from behind him, “stupid cat! Get out here!”

Izuku frowned and glanced into the alley to see three teenage boys standing around a dumpster. One of them was kicking said dumpster and cursing. He was cradling his wrist in one hand with a very dark look on his face. Izuku narrowed his eyes and rounded the corner, he dropped the shopping bags beside him.

“Hey! What’re you doing?” He yelled at them. The three boys turned to look at him and the one who was cursing scoffed, “damn cat bit me! I’m just trying to teach him a lesson!”

Izuku’s lip curled and he glared at the trio, “you probably just scared him. Just leave him alone, who cares if he bit you. Just wash it out.”

The kid seemed offended by that and stalked towards Izuku, “well I fucking care, if some cat bites me then I need to teach him a lesson about messing with me.”

Izuku raised an eyebrow, “it’s a cat, genius. He’s not gonna learn anything, it’s just you being a little bitch.”

That was a wrong move on Izuku’s part.

The teenager grabbed Izuku’s shirt collar and glared him in the eyes, “listen, punk, how about you get out of here or I’ll teach you a lesson?”

Would getting into a street fight because some idiot was trying to hurt a cat count against him? Probably. Did Izuku care? Yeah, yeah he actually did. He’d rather not get arrested.

He threw up his hands, “woah man, chill out, how about you just leave the cat alone and then I’ll stop talking. Alright?”

The teen narrowed his eyes and scoffed in his face, “fucking kids these days.” With that he pushed Izuku backward and kneed him in the stomach, hard. Right where Izuku had gotten stabbed a week and a half earlier. That made Izuku yell in pain and double over clutching his stomach. The wound was healed, but it was still tender, and being kneed hurt enough normally. Izuku heard the teen saying something after that, but his ears were ringing. He did hear laughter afterward though, and someone kicked him in the shoulder on his way out. Oh how Izuku wanted to punch all those bastards in the face. But he refrained, he also couldn’t get up, so that helped.

Eventually his ears stopped ringing and he sat up slightly, he saw a small, black cat eyeing him nervously. That must’ve been the cat that had bitten that kid earlier. Izuku had to bet that the cat hadn’t been unprovoked in his attack, as that kid didn’t really seem like he was a good person in the slightest. He was probably trying to punch the cat or something stupid and then it had bitten him.

Izuku sat up so that he was sitting cross-legged and then he held his hand out for the cat to sniff.

“Hey buddy, don’t worry I’m not gonna hurt you. Those idiots are gone now, you’re safe…” He cooed softly. The cat seemed to be debating whether or not to come over to him, and he made a small mewing noise.

“Mhm… it’s okay buddy.”

The cat inched closer and sniffed his outstretched hand, and then he started to rub his face against it. Izuku smiled and murmured comfortingly to the cat. Soon enough the cat was circling him and purring, Izuku melted, he was so sweet. Then Izuku remembered the cat treats Shouta had bought. He slowly reached into the grocery bags beside him to find the treats, not to scare the cat. The kitty just eyed him curiously, and then Izuku finally found the item he was looking for and pulled it out of the bag. He tore it open and poured some into his palm to give to the cat. The cat scarfed them down excitedly, and that’s what Izuku was doing when Shouta came back from the incident.

“Izuku? Fucking…” It was Shouta, he couldn’t see Izuku from where he was standing and probably thought he’d run away or something. Maybe that would’ve been a good idea in hindsight.

“Nah, I’m here Eraser. You’re not getting fired today.” Izuku replied lazily and scratched his new friend's head.

Actually… oh no, would Shouta even let him keep the cat? Izuku sure hoped so.

The man rounded the corner, the cat was eyeing him suspiciously but Izuku murmured at him reassuringly.

“Is that a cat?”

“Yeah! I found him here, he’s really sweet.” Izuku conveniently left out the part about the bastard that had punched him.

Shouta nodded, “ah…”

Izuku turned to look at him and put both of his hands together, “can you please, please let me take him home? He’s so sweet and I don’t want to just leave him out here…”

Shouta sighed in exasperation, “but what if he’s sick or something and he gets our cats at home sick.”

Izuku frowned, “we can, uh, take him to the vet. And we can quarantine him in my room to keep him away from the other cats. Please Shouta?”

Shouta sighed softly and Izuku knew he’d won, “fine. I’ll make an appointment with the vet tomorrow and then we can also see if anyone owns him. If he is someone's cat we have to give him back, because I’m sure they’re missing him.”

“Of course!” Izuku smiled brightly at him and then they set about taking the cat home. They stuck him in an empty cardboard box for transport, which Izuku carried, and Shouta carried the groceries.

“What are you going to name him if you keep him?”

Izuku hummed, “uh, Kitty…?”

“Hitoshi’s going to make you pick a better name.” But then Shouta narrowed his eyes towards Izuku, “are you limping Izuku?”

Izuku stiffened, “no.”

Shouta raised an eyebrow, “you very obviously are… what happened? Are you okay?” He seemed concerned and Izuku about groaned.

“Yeah… just… some kids were harassing the cat before I came. And then one… kneed me in the stomach? I didn’t do anything though so-!”

Shouta turned towards him in concern, “what? Why didn’t you tell me this earlier Izuku!”

Izuku glanced at the ground, “I… I’m fine, so it’s okay.”

Shouta sighed and then frowned at him, “Izuku… please tell me if you get hurt. Also, you’re going to explain everything that happened when we get home, okay? You’re not alone, kid, we’re here to help you.”

Izuku looked at him in surprise and coughed awkwardly, “yeah… okay. Uh, thanks.”

Shouta shook his head and smiled slightly at his kid, this kid just attracted trouble, didn’t he? He couldn’t stop getting hurt. But he cared for the reckless problem child more than he’d care to admit, and he’d sooner die than see something bad happen to him or the rest of his family. Shouta would make sure he was safe, and he’d figure out whatever was bothering the kid so he could help him. Shouta promised himself he would.

Notes:

Hello! Sorry for not posting for a while, but this chapter is pretty long (6k words) so hopefully it was worth the wait! Izuku's gotten himself into a lot of trouble, huh? Also super sorry if the end seems kind of rushed :')
Anyways, seriously thank you all for reading and have a wonderful day/night! :)

(Sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes, I barely proofread this at all)

Chapter 18: Izuku's not creative

“I found an extra litter box and a bed for the cat.” Shouta came into the room balancing a full litter box in one hand and a bed in the other, “put both of them wherever you want and I’ll call the vet.”

Izuku shot him a thumbs up and hopped down from his bed where the cat was curled up beside him. At Izuku’s departure, the cat raised his head and meowed quietly. Izuku smiled at him, “hey kitty.”

The cat hopped down from the bed and looked curiously at what Izuku was doing. Once Izuku had set down the litter box he scratched the black cat’s head again and cracked the door to look for Shouta. He was still on the phone, so Izuku pulled out a cat toy he had snatched out of the living room and started dangling it above the cat’s head. The cat’s pupils got really huge and he started tearing around the room in pursuit of the toy, about knocking over a bunch of things in the process.

Izuku giggled at how happy the cat was and didn’t even notice Shouta come in the room until the man tapped him on the shoulder. Izuku had gotten careful over his years of being a vigilante, and he barely got snuck up on anymore so the surprise of someone tapping him on the shoulder made him yelp and throw himself forward. He held his arms in front of him defensively and then coughed awkwardly when he saw it was, in fact, just Shouta.

“Oh, hey Eraser.” He said sheepishly, “what’d the vet say?”

Shouta chose to ignore his jumpiness and replied, “she said just check him over and make sure he doesn’t have any open cuts or injuries, which we already did, so just keep an eye on him. I scheduled an appointment tomorrow morning.”

“Okay!” Izuku replied happily and swung the toy in the air again. The cat leaped after it and Izuku heard Shouta sigh quietly from behind him.

“Kid… are you okay?”

Izuku frowned and glanced behind himself, “yeah. I mean, I did get caught as Surge so that isn’t terrific but…” He trailed off and shrugged but Shouta didn’t seem to accept his answer and he narrowed his eyes.

“That’s not what I’m talking about. Ever since we mentioned UA you’ve been off.”

Izuku rolled his eyes, “no shit, that’s a big decision Eraser, you’re making a big deal out of nothing.”

Shouta just sighed, “alright kid. But you do need to decide about UA soon, we don’t have time to waste right now.”

Izuku frowned and glanced at the ground, “yeah… okay. I-I’ll think about it.”

“If you would just tell me why you’re being hesitant I could help you.”

“Just… I dunno. It’s just I’m quirkless and…” He trailed off.

“When has that ever stopped you before? You don’t need a quirk to be a hero, and you already have some experience.”

Izuku shrugged, “I guess.” He stared at the ground and muttered quietly, “but I’ve never been able to save anyone when it really mattered… I wouldn’t be a good hero.”

Shouta sighed and looked at Izuku seriously, “you saved me, kid. And you’ve helped and saved tons of other civilians. You’d be an amazing hero.”

Izuku glanced away from him, “but I got hurt while saving you and you had to help me. If you were just a civilian we would’ve both… died. A-and my parents…”

Shouta grabbed Izuku’s shoulder comfortingly, “that’s why you have to train to be a hero kid. You don’t have any formal training yet. And what happened to your parents wasn’t your fault, you’re just a kid, you shouldn’t take responsibility for something you couldn’t control. Okay Izuku?”

Izuku sighed softly and shrugged, “whatever you say… but, you actually think that I can be a hero, a real one?”

Shouta squeezed Izuku’s shoulder and smiled, “yeah kid, I do.”

Izuku closed his eyes and flopped onto his back, “okay, fine. I’ll try out UA and see. But I’m guessing you still won’t let me be Surge even if I do that, huh?”

Shouta groaned and fixed him with a stern stare, “you will not be going out as Surge, and that’s final. I don’t want you getting arrested.”

Izuku stuck out his tongue with a huff, “whatever.”

“Izuku.”

Izuku sat up slightly and raised his hands in surrender, “I get it, I get it. I won’t get arrested… or go out as Surge I guess.”

Shouta sighed tiredly, “good.” He pushed himself up and headed to open the door, “I’ll talk to Detective Tsukauchi about UA.”

Izuku shot him a thumbs up and resumed his interrupted play session with “Kitty.”

══════════════════

“You want to name him Kitty?”

“Uh, yes?”

“No way Izuku. You are not naming him that.”

Izuku frowned, “I’m not creative okay? I got the name Surge from an infomercial.”

Hitoshi choked at this new information and looked up at Izuku incredulously, “an infomercial?”

Izuku shrugged sheepishly, “yeah, I thought it sounded pretty cool so…”

Hitoshi sighed loudly and facepalmed, “okay, whatever. The cat still needs a better name than Kitty though.”

“Well what do you propose then Toshi since my name isn’t good enough for you!”

Hitoshi laughed, “hm, well he’s black so you could name him Kuro or something.” He started listing more names and putting up a finger with each one, “uh, Takeo, Mochi, Cappuccino-”

“Katsudon!”

Hitoshi shrugged, “I mean… you could name him after your favorite food, it’s better than kitty.”

Izuku hummed, “Katsu… wait no. That’s too close to Kacchan.”

“Kacchan?” Hitoshi questioned, “who’s that?”

“Ah…” Izuku waved his hand dismissively, “he’s a childhood friend, you’ll probably meet him at UA. He’s uh, interesting.”

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow but accepted his response, “okay well back to cat names. Milo? Uh, Kage, Ryu-”

Izuku perked up, “Ryu? That’s cute!”

“Ryu it is! I’m glad we could come up with a name that’s not kitty.”

Izuku sighed dramatically, “whatever, I think he liked it!”

“Mhm.”

Hizashi cracked the door to Izuku’s room open and nodded at the two kids, “dinner’s almost ready! Did you two decide on a name?”

Izuku grinned and pumped his arm enthusiastically, “yeah, Ryu!”

Hizashi grinned back, “Ryu? I like it!” He closed the door after that and retreated back to the kitchen. Ryu looked over at Izuku and Hitoshi who were sitting on the bed with him and made a small meow. Hitoshi chuckled and Izuku scratched Ryu’s head.

“I think he likes Ryu.”

Izuku smiled down fondly at the cat, “yeah, I think he does.”

══════════════════

Shouta and Izuku had gone to the vet earlier in the morning and Ryu had officially been announced with a clean bill of health. He was still being kept in Izuku’s room, but they were planning on slowly introducing him with the other cats to make sure they got along. Currently, Izuku was working on a dumb history assignment, but he was so so close to being done.

“SUCK IT MR. TANAKA, FUCKING FINALLY.” Izuku screeched loudly and slammed a couple of pieces of notebook paper onto the table. Shouta glared at him from the couch, “Izuku language, and don’t tell your teachers to ‘suck it.’”

Izuku rolled his eyes, “he isn’t here, he’ll never know.”

Shouta sighed tiredly and glanced at the time on his laptop, “anyways, I’m glad you’re done because we need to leave in ten minutes to meet with Detective Tsukauchi.”

That made Izuku groan loudly, “nooo, not more police stuff.”

“It shouldn’t take long, he just needs to get some official statements from you as well and discuss a couple of things about UA.”

Izuku scowled at him, “sounds fun, but I would prefer to do Mr. Tanaka’s essay a second time over that.”

“It isn’t optional.”

Izuku muttered a snarky reply, “unfortunately.”

So Izuku ended up in the car with Shouta, he had said he’d wanted to get out of the house more, but visiting Lie-Detector wasn’t really how he wanted to do it. The car hummed to a stop as Shouta pulled into a parking space outside the station Tsukauchi worked at and the two hopped out of the car. Izuku was still mumbling in annoyance under his breath but Shouta decided to ignore it and the two went inside.

With Izuku trailing behind him Shouta went up to the front desk and got the attention of the receptionist. “I need to talk to Detective Tsukauchi, he said he’d be free around this time.”

The receptionist hummed and glanced at her computer, “alright, who should I tell him is here?”

“Shouta Aizawa.”

Izuku wasn’t paying any attention to Shouta and the receptionist though, his eyes were glued on the front door where two officers were currently escorting an unmasked “Surge” into the building. Izuku held back a loud laugh and instead just grinned.

“Oh my god, it’s Surge!” Izuku yelled out obnoxiously, which made Shouta’s head do a complete 180.

 

One of the officers scowled at Izuku, “hey kid, could you not.”

Izuku opened his mouth to make some other remark about Surge, but Shouta clamped a hand around his shoulder and interrupted him. “Sorry about him, he doesn’t really have a filter sometimes. Come on Izuku.” He dragged Izuku behind him and down a hallway to Tsukauchi’s desk, but Izuku couldn’t leave without the last word.

“Bye Surge!”

He heard Shouta grind his teeth in annoyance, “Izuku. Don’t bother the police more than you already have.”

Izuku huffed, “I couldn’t just not say anything to Surge, Eraser!”

The man grunted and stopped in front of an office with a plaque outside designating it to be Tsukauchi’s. He opened the door and the pair went inside.

Tsukauchi glanced up from some paperwork and nodded at the two of them, “Aizawa, Midoriya. How are both of you?”

Izuku sighed dramatically, “much better before I ended up at the police station. I was hoping to never have to experience one. On the bright side, I did get to see Surge!”

Tsukauchi seemed confused at his last statement and Aizawa clarified, “some officers were bringing in a Surge imposter and Izuku decided it would be a great idea to yell about it and cause a scene.”

Izuku flopped over in one of the armchairs Tsukauchi had, “you’re no fun Eraser, no fun! Anyways, what’dya want me for Lie-Detector? You have more questions or something?”

Tsukauchi hummed and straightened the papers on his desk, “kind of, I wanted to get some official statements from you.”

Izuku muttered out a sarcastic response, “goodie.” That earned him a stern stare from Shouta but Tsukauchi seemed unbothered.

“Let me turn on my recorder and we’ll get started, Aizawa if you could stay quiet for this that would be great. Also Izuku, please try and stay professional”

Shouta nodded, and Izuku chuckled slightly and leaned back in the chair even farther, “you got it.”

Tsukauchi looked at him unsurely but started the recording and cleared his throat, “okay. First of all, what is your name?”

“Izuku Midoriya.”

“And you are, in fact, the vigilante Surge. Correct?”

“Sure am!”

“Have you ever used your quirk as Surge?”

“I’m quirkless so that would kind of be hard.”

“Have you ever attacked anyone unprovoked?”

“Not really, I only attack scumbags and normally it’s because they’re already doing shit to innocent people.”

“And have you ever killed anyone?”

That made Izuku pause and glance down at his hands, he frowned and clenched a fist together. “No. I would never kill anyone.”

“Alright, thank you Midoriya, that will be all.”

Tsukauchi turned off the recorder and nodded at Izuku, “good job. Anyways, I wanted to discuss a couple more things with you and clear up any more questions you might have.”
Izuku nodded, “I have a question, what the fuck did you do with my gear?”

“Your gear? It’s currently being held under lockdown.”

“Yeah great, is there any way I can get it back? It took forever to make…”

Tsukauchi sighed, “not possible.”

“Dammit…”

Shouta cut in, “you don’t need your gear anymore though because you aren’t going to be a vigilante.”

Izuku glared at him, “I could’ve used it as my hero costume!”

Shouta raised an eyebrow, “I don’t think that would be a great idea.”

Izuku flipped him off, “sure it is.”

Tsukauchi cleared his throat, “as I was saying, I need to discuss a couple more things with you. The first one is about UA, you’ll be meeting with Nezu to discuss the specifics soon and hopefully the police won’t try to pursue further action against you now. The other thing is about your house arrest.”

Izuku groaned loudly, “please tell me it’s over.”

Tsukauchi chucked, “not quite, I need to get a few more things sorted, but as it stands right now you should be able to go back to school on Monday. However, a lot of people don’t trust you on your own, so you won’t be able to go out without being actively monitored… Sorry.”

Izuku frowned, “but what if I wanted to hang out with friends or something!”

“You could invite them over to your house.”

Izuku narrowed his eyes and groaned dramatically, “fine!”

“Don’t worry, it won’t last forever, you’ll be able to go out by yourself soon.”

Shouta started talking after Tsukauchi, “honestly kid, even if the police didn’t want you under supervision I still wouldn’t let you go out alone… Sorry, but I don’t exactly trust you not to start your vigilantism up again when no one is watching.”

Izuku sent him a withering glare, “how dare you! I am perfectly trustworthy thank you very much.”

Izuku was in fact, not very trustworthy and earlier had been daydreaming about ways he could get out of the apartment unnoticed and do some patrolling, but he wasn’t about to tell Shouta that.

Shouta seemed unconvinced and just shook his head before turning to look at Tsukauchi, “do you have anything else you need to talk about?”

Tsukauchi drummed his fingers on his desk and shook his head, “I don’t believe so. You’re closer to Nezu than I am so I’m sure you can sort some time to meet with him yourself. Tell me how that goes though.”

Shouta nodded and then glanced at Izuku, “alright kid, come on. I’ll get you a pastry or something for not being completely terrible… although that Surge incident was not appreciated.”

That made Izuku chuckle and he grinned brightly at Shouta, “oh but Eraser, I appreciated it a lot.”

Shouta rolled his eyes and waved to Tsukauchi and the two left the station. Though the visit just made Izuku more restless and it made him miss being Surge more. Hopefully he could come up with some solution soon, because if he didn’t he’d go insane.

══════════════════

Egrus: HELLO

Egrus: I finally get to go back to school on Monday

Egrus: Why am I excited about that

Alien Queen: HAHA

Alien Queen: well youve been complaining about not being able to go anywhere for the past few days

Egrus: Yes stupid injury having me on bedrest :(

Alien Queen: aw poor mido

Egrus: :((

Catsomniac: Thank god you’re finally coming back

Egrus: Yes yes I know, the whole school probably missed me so much

Catsomniac: Literally only Ayano and Kurihara noticed

Egrus: GASP

Egrus: Oh yeah! I was wondering if you, toko, and, kami wanted to come hang at me and Toshi’s like this Saturday? Shouta still doesn’t want me to strain myself with going to school and going out somewhere with friends @Alien Queen @Toko @Kamemenari

A blatant lie, but they didn’t need to know that. Hitoshi spoke up from beside him, “Izu, did you even ask if anyone could come over?”

Izuku shrugged, “uh no, but if they’re still gonna keep me on lockdown here I can invite whoever I want over!”

“I don’t think that’s how it works but okay.”

Alien Queen: yessss im down, it sucks that you still cant go out thooo

Egrus: Yeah :( Sorry

Alien Queen: i’m excited to meet you irl thoo, you seem fun

Catsomniac: He’s too fun…

Egrus: AHA <3 @Catsomniac

Kamemenari: YEs hi I’m coming

Toko: Me and Dark Shadow can come as well

Egrus: YAY

Egrus: We can all unite and annoy the hell out of Shouta

Alien Queen: i cant wait to meet this shouta

Alien Queen: he seems overprotective

Egrus: Nah he’s just a hardass lol

Egrus: He is pretty cool though

Egrus: Don’t tell him I said that ksjd

Catsomniac: I’m telling him

Egrus: TOSHI NO

Notes:

HELLO! Firstly, sorry for not updating in forever! I've had a super busy past few months and writers block hit me like a truck :( ANyways also sorry this chapter is so so short and fillerish AH, next chapter should be more exciting because Izuku talks to the rat bear and they get to plot world domination.

Also, there's only two more chapters left in this arc (both are pretty fun ;)). I'll talk more about what'll happen after I finish up this arc! Honestly I can't believe I've written like a whole ass book?? How I got this motivation I have NO IDEA, but thank you everyone for all of your support and kind comments!! Even if I didn't respond to your comment I've read every single one and I love you and thank you for taking the time to comment, it means a bunch!

Okay bye hopefully I can update with the next chapter sooner this time! <3 Thank you for reading!

(Sorry for any mistakes this was not proofread in any way :'))

Chapter 19: It's a terrible idea really

“So Nezu, isn’t he like… a rat or something?” Izuku asked curiously.

Shouta shrugged. “Something like that. No one’s really sure what he is… we’re here now so you can ask him yourself.”

It was currently Friday after school and Aizawa was taking Izuku to discuss UA and his high school career with Nezu. Despite Izuku still not being completely sold on the idea he could actually become a real hero, he was excited to talk to Nezu. He’d heard a lot of stuff about him, he was the first known case of an animal with a quirk and was regarded as one of the smartest beings on earth. He seemed very interesting.

“Sweet!” Izuku jumped out of the car and trotted towards the entrance of UA behind Shouta. Nothing had changed since Izuku had last been there and he already knew exactly where they were going. He’d never actually been in Nezu’s office though, he’d been tempted to bust in via the vents a couple of times but was always dissuaded by Hitoshi. They reached the office relatively quickly and Shouta knocked on the door, earning a, “come in!”

The two entered to see Nezu typing something on his desktop but he finished and waved to them a second later

“Hello! It’s great to finally meet you Midoriya, I’ve heard quite a bit about you. Please, take a seat.”

“Oh really? Wonder why.” Izuku took a seat in one of the comfy-looking chairs in Nezu’s office with a large grin. Aizawa eyed him and gave him one of his signature ‘behave yourself’ looks. Izuku just smirked back and turned his attention back to Nezu.

“Okay, quick question before we start the boring stuff, are you a bear or a rat or what?”

Nezu chuckled brightly at that, “who knows!”

Izuku looked at him thoughtfully but just shrugged and accepted his answer. Nezu seemed cryptic and Izuku probably wouldn’t be able to get a straight answer out of him. Nezu broke him out of his thoughts by clapping his paws together.

“Alright, how about we start discussing your situation Midoriya. I have a few things I wanted to go over and you’re free to ask any more questions you might have about UA or something else.”

Izuku shot him a thumbs up, “will do Rat-Bear.” He felt Aizawa’s glare on his side but he pointedly ignored it and focused on Nezu, who seemed to care less about Izuku’s blatant disrespect of authority.

Nezu started, “you seem like such a promising pupil and I’m so glad you accepted my offer to attend UA! Now, you will still be required to take an entrance exam, albeit it will be slightly modified.”

“Slightly modified? I’m guessing I won’t have to take your stupid hero exam then?”

Nezu perked up slightly at his distaste for the hero exam, “nope! What’s your problem with the hero exam Midoriya?”

Izuku eyed him, “seriously? Robots aren't exactly the best way to test if you’d be suited for heroics. What about people with passive quirks, like Toshi, his quirk is great for heroics but it wouldn’t help him against robots. By using robots in the entrance exam you’re narrowing down your choices to only kids with physical quirks. Flashy quirks aren’t everything y’know, that shouldn’t be your main focus. You’re supposed to be a hero school, not some kind of program that only teaches mini-All Might’s… no offense to him or anything. He’s a great hero, but there are more types of heroes than him.”

Nezu hummed, “interesting observation Midoriya. I have, in fact, been trying to change the hero exam up a bit… but there is more to the exam than just beating robots.”

“I suppose there’s probably some kind of hidden point system then… maybe rescue points so you can see their initiative to help people? Still, the kids without physical quirks are at a disadvantage since that’s never stated clearly. As well as kids who have physical quirks having two stong methods of getting points while kids with more passive quirks only have one method to get points, which makes them not able to get as many points. Say I went in there, no gear, I would probably be able to take out a few robots with some focus, but not as effectively as someone with say… an explosion quirk would be able too. Also, it isn’t a very ‘practical’ exam since heroes don’t normally fight giant rampaging robots. They fight villains, real, living people. So yeah, not a fan.” Izuku finished his speech and looked at Nezu expectantly, who was grinning.

He clapped his paws together, “well done Midoriya, I’m impressed at your analysis. If I’m being honest, I agree with you and I know Aizawa does as well.”

That made Izuku frown slightly, “yeah? Well, then why haven’t you done anything about it yet?”

“I’ve been doing my best to try to make UA a better school, however with all the regulations placed on hero schools by the hero commission, it’s hard to try to change something as big as an entrance exam… or allowing quirkless people to attend.”

Izuku narrowed his eyes at that, “that’s stupid. It’s your school, you should be able to run it however you want.”

Nezu nodded, “they let me run it how I want for the most part. They know I’d make their life living hell if they didn’t. There’s just a few stupid things they refused to be compromised with. On the bright side, I actually managed to allow for quirkless people to apply for the hero course without being vigilantes beforehand just a few weeks before I got the news about your situation!”

That made Izuku sit up straighter, “seriously? That’s great!”

Aizawa frowned at Nezu, “you didn’t tell me about that.”

Nezu grinned back at him, “oh it must’ve slipped my mind, you’ve been busy these past couple of weeks after all.”

Aizawa made a small grunt in response, “well it’s about damn time the commision finally changed that rule.”

Nezu nodded seriously, “yes, it only took a few years of underhanded threats and blackmail. Hopefully I can come up with something to help with the exam.”

Izuku’s eyes lit up, “you blackmailed them? Oh my god, that’s great.” He started to laugh excitedly at this new information, Nezu seemed fun, Izuku was already starting to like him.

“This is why I didn’t want to introduce you both.” Shouta muttered quietly, hoping the chaos the two could cause together wouldn’t be absolutely terrible. Although knowing the sadistic rat and snarky vigilante, he wouldn’t bet on that.

Nezu cleared this throat, “alright, entrance exams aside, it’s still too early to tell you the specifics of what you’ll be doing but it will be basically the same as the hero course.”

Izuku tilted his head, “basically?”

Shouta butted in this time, “you’ll see later problem child.”

That made Izuku huff, “fine I’ll wait. If you’re involved in it though, it’ll probably be something terrible.”

Shouta sighed tiredly, “you’ve been a vigilante for over a year. You have to do something to make up for that.”

Izuku made some vague hand gestures, “isn’t that what this is for? And the house arrest?”

“No. The house arrest is because no one trusts you out on your own and UA is to help protect you from any kind of backlash.”

Izuku grunted in discontent but accepted this answer and looked back at Nezu, “okay then. Anything else I should know or?”

Nezu hummed, “unless you want to know anything.”

Ah, Izuku was waiting for this opportunity. He’d had his discovery of All Might on his mind for a while now and he figured now would be an alright time to get some information. “I do have one. So, I’ll be blunt. All Might, is he teaching here?”

Nezu seemed intrigued at his question, “oh? And why would you think that?”

“Well, he’s been around the area, which is strange since his agency is on the other side of Japan and there’s been no major crime here or anything. Plus, he’s been hanging around in UA.”

Shouta glanced over at him, “how do you know he’s been in UA kid?”

Izuku just shrugged cryptically and didn’t offer any kind of answer, “so is he teaching here or not?”

Nezu tilted his head, “you seem rather convinced, would me saying no change your mind?”

“Probably not…” Izuku grinned, “he totally is, isn’t he? Why’d he get a gig here?”

Nezu didn’t deny his statement and offered Izuku a smile, “if you could stay quiet about your theory for now that would be great! We’re trying to keep it out of the media until next year!”

Izuku nodded, “got it!”

Shouta was still looking at him with narrowed eyes but he didn’t ask about All Might any further, much to Izuku’s delight. If he couldn’t bother Shouta about Surge anymore he could at least bother him about this.

“I believe that’s all we needed to discuss, Aizawa do you need anything?”

Shouta shook his head silently and Nezu waved at the two of them, “well Aizawa, I’ll see you next week! And Midoriya, it was great meeting you!”

Izuku smirked, “oh yeah! You seem pretty interesting, we’ll have to talk again sometime!”

“Oh definitely!”

Izuku could just feel Shouta’s concerned frown from behind him.

══════════════════

Nezu clapped his paws together to begin the staff meeting, “well it looks like everyone’s here! Let’s get started.”

Nemuri raised an eyebrow, “what about Aizawa?”

“Don’t worry about Aizawa, he’s already informed about the situation.”

Toshinori frowned, “situation?”

Nezu grinned, “well, I’m sure you’re all familiar with the vigilante Surge correct?” Everyone nodded and Nezu continued on, “well, because of some recent events we have finally been able to discover his identity!”

Nemuri blinked at this, “what? I haven’t heard anything about this.”

Nezu nodded, “yes, that was purposeful. Now, before I continue on none of you are allowed to share this information with anyone outside of this room, alright?”

Everyone agreed and Nezu started talking about the main purpose of the staff meeting, “Surge is actually a minor-”

That made everyone’s (except Hizashi’s) eyes widen in surprise, no one was expecting that.

“-his name is Izuku Midoriya and is currently in custody of Aizawa and Yamada.”

Toshinori spoke up, “wait, Izuku Midoriya? He’s Surge?”

Hizashi said, “yeah, he’s Surge. It surprised me too!”

Toshinori frowned, “what happened to him that he got discovered? I ran into him and Aizawa at the store the other day and he told me he had gotten sick and was out of school.”

Nezu hummed, “he was injured saving Aizawa, but he’s all recovered now and that’s not the main purpose of this meeting. I wanted to let you all know that I have agreed to accept Midoriya into UA and train him to become a proper hero.”

Hizashi spoke up before anyone could protest, “Izuku is a great kid, please give him a chance. He’s wanted to be a hero but because he’s quirkless he knew he wouldn’t be able to get into a hero school.”

“Wait, Surge is quirkless?” Nemuri yelped in surprise, “h-how? I’ve seen videos of him fighting, he uses lightning and is super agile…”

Hizashi responded, “that’s all support gear he made for himself.”

The room was silent for a minute and Power Loader spoke up, “he made support items that well made by himself? That’s impressive… if he wasn’t wanting to be a hero I’d offer him a place in the support course.”

Ectoplasm frowned, “but are you sure it’s really alright to let him attend UA? He is a former vigilante after all.”

“I think that Midoriya will be a very good addition to UA’s hero course, he has the ideals and intentions of a hero and is already aware of how hard it will be. Like Yamada said, give him a chance, we can always change our plans if it doesn’t work out.” Nezu said with a tone of finality and Ectoplasm nodded.

“Well then, everyone is free to go now! I’ll see you all on Monday. Oh, but Toshinori, could you stay behind for a moment?”

Toshinori nodded and stayed seated while the rest of the heroes filed out, their thoughts filled with this new information they had just learned. Once Toshinori and Nezu were alone the man spoke up, “so what did you need Nezu?”

Nezu hummed, “well it seems that Midoriya is aware of your connection to UA and has already figured out you’ll be teaching here next year.”

Toshinori felt his eyes widen, “w-what? How?”

Nezu glanced around thoughtfully, “if I had to say it’s because he knows about your non-hero form.” He held up a paw to stop Toshinori from interjecting, “I’m not certain of anything and I doubt Midoriya will tell anyone about it though. Just be careful. That’s all.”

Toshinori nodded, despite Nezu’s reassurance he was still uneasy about the whole thing. A vigilante knowing about this form? He shook any bad thoughts out of his head, Nezu seemed to trust the kid and he had good intuition about people. It would be fine.

Hopefully.

══════════════════

Izuku’s phone buzzed in his hand and he clicked it on. It was a text from his Discord friends saying they were close to his house.

“Oh yeah! By the way Eraser, I invited some friends over. They’ll be here in like five minutes.”

Izuku grinned at Shouta who was in the kitchen glaring at him, “you what?”

Izuku shrugged nonchalantly, “hey, you weren’t letting me leave the house to hang out with people so I just brought them to me.”

Hitoshi spoke up, “I told him that this wouldn’t work out well but he didn’t listen.”

Shouta turned to glare at Hitoshi, “you were in on this too?”

Hitoshi just shrugged and turned away from Shouta.

“Aw lighten up Eraser! Plus it’s too late now, I can’t just tell them to go away.”

Shouta just groaned, “no, you could just tell them to go away, but next time I expect to be told about people coming over to our house before they’re five minutes away.”

Izuku sighed dramatically in response, “fine, fine Eraser!”

“So who exactly are these kids?” Shouta asked, “school friends?”

Izuku hummed, “nah, Toshi met them at HeroCon when I was, uh, preoccupied.”

“So they’re just random kids and you gave them our home address.”

“They’re not random! I’ve talked to them a bunch and Toshi’s met them.”

Shouta groaned again, “not only do I have to deal with you being a reckless vigilante, but also your lack of general safety knowledge… Just for the love of god talk to me next time you invite people over, Izuku and Hitoshi. Okay?”

Izuku sighed slightly but nodded and Hitoshi did the same.

A ring at the doorbell interrupted Shouta’s annoyed (and worried) lecture of safety and elicited a groan from him. “Just be quiet and don’t bother me, I’m working.”

“You got it Eraser!”

Izuku walked over to the door with Hitoshi trailing behind him. He excitedly opened the door, “hi! Welcome to my apartment, please, come in.” He said a dramatic hand wave.

Mina laughed at that, “thanks for letting us come over you both!”

“Yeah! Thanks dudes.” Kaminari said.

Tokoyami nodded, “yes, it’s good to see you again Shinsou and it’s nice to meet you finally Midoriya.”

The three kids outside stepped inside and Izuku gestured over to Shouta, “that’s Shouta Aizawa, he’s really grumpy right now so it’s probably best if we avoid him!”

Shouta glanced up from his laptop and sighed, “hello, if you guys need anything I’ll be here…” He sent a pointed glare at Izuku and Hitoshi. To which Izuku held his thumb up.

“Okay anyways, we have a PS4 if you guys wanna play something on there!”

“Oh yeah! Lets go, I’m totally gonna beat you all.” Mina said.

“Actually wait, I have a question Midoriya.” Kaminari asked as Izuku was turning the console on.

“Hm, yeah?”

“So Shinsou was at HeroCon but you weren’t around. Why weren’t you there?”

Izuku blinked, he probably should’ve seen this question coming. “Oh, I was sick that day so Toshi had to go alone. I’m super sad I missed it too because Surge was there!” Izuku heard Shouta quietly scoff at his excuse.

“Oh man, that sucks! Yeah you missed out, maybe next time!”

Izuku nodded, “oh yeah for sure, I’m definitely going next year!”

“Yeah! Maybe Surge’ll be there again, who knows.” Mina said with a grin.

The group ended up taking turns playing Overwatch and some other games. Izuku, Mina, and Kaminari got way too into it while Tokoyami and Hitoshi were more subtle about winning.

Eventually the group calmed down a bit and started to have a normal conversation.

“Are you or Izuku thinking about going into heroics?” Mina asked curiously, “I’m applying to UA, I think I already told you that!”

Hitoshi replied, “I’m planning on applying there too and Izuku uh…” Izuku’s situation was weird so Hitoshi wasn’t really sure what Izuku wanted to share. Luckily Izuku intervened and answered for him.

“Maybe! I’m, uh, not completely sure. Becoming a hero… I’m not sure how good I’d be at it.”

Kaminari shook his head. “I’m sure you’d be a great hero dude!”

Izuku smiled at him thankfully. “You think so? Thanks Kaminari!”

He quickly changed the subject after that. The topic of becoming a hero was still too fresh on Izuku’s mind and everytime it was brought up he couldn’t help but think he didn’t deserve the opportunity he was given. But he’d already been thinking about that too much lately so he tried not to dwell on it and instead get back into playing the game with his friends. But it was still lurking on the edge of his consciousness for the rest of the afternoon.

══════════════════

Izuku knew this was a terrible idea, but he didn’t hesitate as he slowly pulled open his window and vaulted out to balance on the narrow ledge outside his window. He adjusted the scarf covering his face and made sure his sweatshirt hood was in place. He crouched down and slowly closed the window onto a pencil he’d placed and then considered his options for getting down.

Their apartment was three stories up, above a little landscaped lot with some bushes underneath. There was a fire escape to Izuku’s right, but that might make too much noise and he didn’t want to risk it. He hummed and reached into his sweatshirt pocket to pull out his smaller grappling gun that he kept in the apartment. It wasn’t as heavy-duty as the other one, but it worked. Izuku was just glad it hadn’t dawned on Shouta that the stuff he was wearing when he got caught might not be the only vigilante stuff he had.

He crouched down and hooked the line over the windowsill and then started to repel down, something that had become really familiar to him during the past few months. Once his feet hit solid ground he unhooked it and stuffed the grappling hook back in his pocket. Due to the fact he didn’t want anyone to see him using his grappling hook and possibly altering the authorities he decided to go on foot to the warehouse. He was really glad the police hadn’t figured out about his warehouse. And even if they did somehow deduce Izuku had some kind of base of operations he sure as hell wasn’t about to tell them anything about it. Not only was it important for vigilante activities but it was also one of the last things he had to remember his dad by and he wasn’t about to give that up.

So he set off in the direction at a jog. He got hot really fast, he looked like he was prepared for winter weather with the scarf wrapped around his face and sweatshirt pulled tight around his head even though it was still late summer. He rolled up his sleeves but that honestly didn’t do much to cool him off.

Izuku knew going to his warehouse on foot at night was a risky move for him for multiple reasons. Although going to the warehouse right now was risky no matter how he did it. And despite what he kept telling himself he didn’t actually have a good reason to go. He just really wanted to get out of the house and fool around in his warehouse and pretend everything was back to what had become his normal.

Izuku was starting to get into the rough side of town. He slowed down a bit and tried to stick to the shadows. He was itching for a fight, but getting into one would be really risky. In the end he arrived at the warehouse with no issues but Izuku couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. Being cooped up in the apartment for so long had made him restless. He sighed to himself and locked the door behind him. Well, no matter, now wasn’t the time to get upset over that. He just needed to not get discovered now.

Once he was in his base he glanced at the clock, 2:36. He probably had about an hour left before he needed to head back. He would’ve been more worried about Shouta waking up in the middle of the night and checking on him, but he’d accidentally added the contents of one of Shouta’s prescribed sleeping pills to his food earlier and he knew those things made him sleep like a rock. Izuku just hoped he wouldn’t notice anything strange about his sleeping pattern in the morning, but even if he did he would have no proof that Izuku had anything to do with it.

Izuku let out a soft yawn and decided to make himself a quick cup of coffee to wake himself up before he got to work. While the machine was making it he headed over to the office to grab his laptop and bring it out to the lounge. He curled up onto the worn couch with his steaming cup of coffee and began to work on the main reason he was here.

Izuku had a phone he used specifically for vigilante things. He had made it so it was untraceable and almost impossible to hack into it. Izuku had wanted to kick himself when he remembered the police had it and he had so far not done anything to see if they had his data. If they did, it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it would be very inconvenient for Izuku. Especially if he managed to start his vigilante gig up again. However there was one specific thing about that phone which made it almost impossible to get into.

Izuku had programmed the phone to completely delete all the data on the phone if someone typed the password incorrectly twice or someone hooked up a hacking program to it. It was actually quite annoying, Izuku had accidentally deleted the data numerous times because he clicked on the wrong button and it infuriated him every time. Luckily the data on his phone was always backed up to his computer and Izuku had to reupload all the data when he deleted it. But now he was glad for that mechanic because it might’ve ruined the police’s plan.

Izuku pulled up the program that monitored his phone and smirked. The police did, in fact, get into his phone. But not before the entire contents were deleted from existence. Izuku knew they were probably having a hell of a time trying to get the data back, but they wouldn’t be able to. He quickly deleted any links the phone had to this laptop, he definitely didn’t want any chance of them discovering the laptop. He had a lot of important stuff on here he wasn’t willing to delete. Like access to multiple restricted databases and police reports. They didn’t need to know he had all this stuff.

Now finished with the boring stuff he glanced back at his workshop with a grin. He pushed himself to his feet, well, since he was here maybe he could start on designing some new support items! Just for fun of course… but if by chance he got to test them out on someone he wouldn’t complain.

══════════════════

Izuku’s earlier luck didn’t stay around for his trip back. A rough looking man with a black mask covering the bottom half of his face had Izuku backed up to a wall. Apparently Izuku looked like he’d be an easy target, but the man had badly miscalculated.

“Hey! Give me all your shit or else!” The assailant waved a knife in the air which Izuku figured was supposed to be threatening.

Izuku groaned, “hey listen pal, I don’t have time to stick around and do whatever this is. Could you move?” Izuku tried to step around him but the man’s knife shot out and nicked him on the arm. It didn’t cut any skin but there was now a small hole in the sweatshirt and Izuku looked at it sadly.

“Hey! I like this sweatshirt, excuse you.”

That just made the man even more pissed and he swung the knife at Izuku’s face which made the boy jump back. “Stop testing me.” He growled.

Izuku smirked from underneath the scarf he was wearing, “okay, fine. You win.” His tone was obviously sarcastic and the man narrowed his eyes at him. Izuku held one arm up in the air and with the other he reached into his sweatshirt pocket to take out the collapsible rod. He’d brought it just in case he got in a situation like this.

He pulled it out and the man looked at it questionly, “the hell is that?”

Izuku grinned, “here I’ll show you!” The rod shot out to full length which made the man leap back in surprise. Izuku ran forward and swung the rod at his head. The man ducked and ran forward to stab Izuku but Izuku shifted to the side and moved backwards. The man growled and whirled around.

“You little…”

Izuku laughed at that and then hopped to the side when the man tried to attack him again. The man turned and charged at Izuku, it was faster than Izuku had anticipated the man to move but he had no trouble avoiding the attack.

“You know when you’re fighting someone you're supposed to actually hit them.” Izuku snickered at the seething man. The man froze for a second and seemed to be thinking of what he should do. The logical choice probably would’ve been to run away but Izuku had really pissed him off so Izuku figured he’d keep trying to attack.

The man proved Izuku’s conclusion correct when he ran at Izuku with the knife again. Izuku went to dodge to the side but the man was prepared for that and turned his body towards where Izuku had stepped. Izuku’s eyes widened slightly as he saw the knife rushing towards his face and barely managed to duck. He felt the knife swish over his head. He sucked in a small breath, that was a little too close for comfort. Izuku hadn’t been able to actually fight for a while and was a bit out of practice now. He figured he should probably stop fooling around and finish this up before the man actually managed to get a hit on him.

Izuku was still crouched on the ground and held both of his hands in mock surrender, “okay, okay I actually give up this time!”

The man eyed him with very well earned suspicion. “Well that’s too damn bad, because now you’ve pissed me off.” The man took a threatening step towards him but before he could do anything Izuku lashed his legs out and kicked one of the man's legs out. He yelled in surprise and fell on one knee. Before he could recover any of his wits Izuku slammed his rod into his back, which made him fall forwards and start gasping for breath. Izuku hopped up and walked beside the winded man to grab his knife and point it at him.

“Sorry I lied again, I didn’t actually give up!” He said cheerfully. The man was still hunched over on the ground but turned his head to look at Izuku with wide eyes.

“I-I…” He stammered out, “p-please… don’t hurt me.”

Izuku scoffed, “oh wow that tough guy attitude went right out the window huh? Well lucky for you I have somewhere to be. But…” Izuku trailed off ominously and smirked at the criminal’s scared face, “but if I ever see you trying to rob someone again I swear you’ll regret it.”

The man nodded vigorously and Izuku made some shooing motions with his hand. “Okay you can leave now. Don’t mug anyone on your way out, or ever!”

The man stumbled to his feet and limped out of the alleyway, holding his back. Izuku watched him until he was out of sight. He didn’t look like he was in any shape to pull something now but Izuku didn’t want to be attacked from behind by him. With a yawn Izuku collapsed his rod and stuck it back in his pocket. He glanced at the knife in his hand and debated on what to do with it. He’d probably just throw it in some dumpster on his way back, he didn’t need to be bringing any strange knives home. Then Izuku turned around and began to hurry home before anyone noticed he was missing.

Luckily no one seemed to have noticed Izuku’s disappearance and when he got back home and he quickly stashed all of his gear away and laid down in his bed. But as he was trying to sleep he couldn’t help but wish that everything was back to the way it was before Shouta had found out who he was. Everything was so much simpler then. Now everything was a mess and Izuku was at the center of it.

Notes:

Wow whats this?? A chapter?? I've been working on this ever since feburary and I just now finished it HAHA But hopefully i'll finish the next chapter shorter ;) Speaking of the next chapter that's the offical end of this arc (?), but I'm planning on continuting this series! I'll talk more about my plans for the future of the book next chapter so look out for that!

Anyways I hate this chapter oops it was such a pain to write I'm sorry if it sucks :(

ALSO THANKS TO ANYONE WHOS STUCK AROUND SORRY I DIED FOR SIX MONTHS

Chapter 20: Towards the future

Notes:

I'M BACK BABY, like actually this time,, i swear

Edited 11/19/22

Izuku jumped away from Hitoshi’s kick and sprung up behind the purple haired boy. He smirked as the other boy spun around and tried to punch him. He dodged to the side and ran at Hitoshi. The other skidded out of the way and his foot quickly shot out in front of Izuku’s feet. He noticed it a second too late and stumbled over it, Hitoshi took the opportunity to try to tackle Izuku, but his instincts from his time as Surge kicked in and he twisted around to grab Hitoshi’s wrist and throw him off course. Hitoshi tried to twist out of Izuku’s grip but Izuku quickly pinned to the gym floor before he could make any more moves.

 

Hitoshi groaned. “I really thought I had you there!”

 

Izuku grinned in victory. “Sorry I’m just too good, no one can beat me. Not even Eraser.” He turned to glance at the tired man who was watching them spar. Shouta just sighed disappointedly.

 

“Whatever…” Shouta muttered under his breath. “Anyways, that was a good move trying to trip Izuku, Hitoshi. What went wrong?”

 

Hitoshi nodded along and hummed thoughtfully. “I jumped without thinking and left myself open for an attack. I should’ve been more aware of my openings.”

 

Shouta nodded. “Good. You should always be prepared for anything in a fight. Be conscious of your opponent and any weak points they might try to target. In that case it was your wrist.”

 

Hitoshi sighed. “I just got over excited because I actually managed to trip you Izuku.”

 

Izuku coughed in embarrassment. “Yeah, not my best moment.”

 

Shouta glanced at Izuku. “Yes, you also should’ve been more conscious of your opponent. When you fight you can get overconfident which isn’t good. Even when it looks like you’re winning, always be prepared for anything, both of you.” He paused. “Good work today though, let's finish for the day.”

 

Izuku grinned excitedly. “Yeah! A compliment! Let’s go Toshi!” He held his hand up for a high-five but Hitoshi just stared at his hand silently. Izuku frowned at him and smacked him on the forehead with his hand. “Yeah!”

 

Hitoshi snorted. “Did you just high-five my forehead?”

 

Izuku shrugged. “Hey, it worked.”

 

Hitoshi rolled his eyes. “No it did not. All you did was hit my forehead.”

Izuku waved his hand in the air dismissively. “Yeah, yeah whatever you say.”

 

Shouta glanced at the two of them. “You two go wait outside, I’ll tell the staff we’re leaving.”

 

The trio was in a private gym that Shouta liked because it was quiet and they had rooms that could be rented out. Apparently it was popular with the underground hero scene and Shouta came here a lot. Recently though he’d begun to bring Hitoshi and Izuku with him so they could practice for the UA exams. He and Hizashi had both been training the pair for the approaching exams. The two stepped outside into the chilly fall air and Izuku stretched his hands over his head.

 

“Whew Eraser sure knows how to tire me out.” He said with a smile.

 

Hitoshi breathed out a laugh. “He’s taking out all of the frustration you caused him as Surge on you now.”

 

Izuku snorted. “Probably. Oh wait! Did you ever find out if you’re taking the recommendation exam or the normal exam?”

 

Hitoshi shrugged. “Yamadad said the recommendation exam probably. Which is kind of scary since I’m sure everyone there will be so powerful and my quirk isn’t physical…”

 

Izuku bumped him with his shoulder. “Hey! You’ll do great! I’m sure you’ll figure out some great plan. The normal exam sucks ass though, like robots, seriously?”

 

“You’re not supposed to know it’s robots.” Hitoshi pointed out.

 

Izuku groaned. “And that’s even worse! Not letting people prepare.” He sighed. “Well at least Nezu said he was looking to change it.”

 

Hitoshi hummed and then glanced towards Izuku. “Oh yeah, did Shouta ever tell you about what your exam is?”

 

Izuku shrugged. “No. And I have no clue what it might be either. Shouta is supposedly telling me soon though…” He frowned at the ground. “Whatever it is it can’t be good… I’m slightly scared.”

 

Hitoshi snorted. “I'm sure it’ll be fine.”

 

══════════════════

 

 A book fell on the table in front of Izuku with a loud thump and he looked up at Shouta in confusion. 

 

“That’s, uh, a big book.”

 

It was around the size of a large textbook and Izuku leaned forwards to read the name.

 

“Pro-Heroes and Quirks: Laws and Regulations for Legal Heroism.” He read out loud slowly, he glanced up at Shouta with an eyebrow raised. “That seems like a boring read, why the hell do you have it?”

 

Shouta gave him one of his signature grins. “Oh it’s not for me. It’s for you.”

 

“Gonna be honest, Eraser, this isn’t really my type of book.”

 

Shouta put both of his hands down on the table. “It’s for your UA exam.”

 

That made Izuku blink. Hard. He glanced down at the thick book and back to Shouta. “What.”

 

Shouta leaned back. “This is the part of your exam specially made for you. You should have time to study. Obviously laws are a topic you need help with and you would be taking this class your third year anyways. So think of it as a head start.”

 

Izuku shook his head. “No, no, no. Of all the things I could’ve had an exam on, it's hero laws? I don’t even have a quirk.” He glared at Shouta and the man shrugged.

 

“You should’ve thought about that before you became a vigilante. And by the way you managed to not technically break any laws since you weren’t using a quirk, I expect you’re already somewhat familiar.”

 

Izuku groaned and laid face down on his math homework. “But Eraserrrrr.”

 

Shouta shook his head. “Izuku, unless you’d rather the HPSC hunt you down you need to study it. I made sure you’ll have enough time to study with everything else going on and I made a guide of what all is going on the exam. If you need any help you can always ask me or Hizashi, we’ll be happy to help.”

 

Izuku sighed and slumped down in his chair. “What if I do bad?”

 

Shouta hummed. “We’ll get to that if you do fail.” He patted Izuku on the shoulder. “Don’t worry I made sure it’s manageable, I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

 

Izuku scowled at the table. “Hero laws… why…?”

 

══════════════════

 

Hitoshi was doubled over in laughter when Izuku announced that he had to take an exam on how to legally be a hero.

 

“Oh my god! That’s hilarious.”

 

Izuku scowled at him. “You wouldn’t be laughing if you had to read a dry book about legal shit!”

 

Hitoshi breathed in a gasp of laughter and grinned at Izuku. “Well I wasn’t a vigilante.”

 

“You were my partner in crime!”

 

Hitoshi snorted. “Never agreed to that, didn’t happen.”

 

Izuku gasped. “And here I was thinking we were…” He held a hand over his heart. “Betrayal!”

 

══════════════════

 

Izuku should’ve known that Shouta and Hizashi would pull this on him.

 

“Izuku, we need to talk to you about something.”

 

Izuku looked at them suspiciously and slowly sat down at the kitchen table. “Oookay? What’s the event? Am I actually being arrested this time?”

 

Shouta shook his head and looked at Izuku seriously. “No. And if anyone ever tried I wouldn’t let them. This is about something else.”

 

Something else? Oh god, had they figured out Izuku was sneaking out at night? He looked at them nervously. “What’s with the serious atmosphere then…?”

 

“Me and Hizashi think therapy would be good for you-” Izuku was about to yell something about him being fine and not needing that but Hizashi cut him off. 

 

“Izuku, I know therapy can be a sensitive topic but it’s nothing to be ashamed of! Most pro heroes see a therapist because of all the stuff we see, even me and Shouta do. And it doesn’t have to be a permanent thing, we just want to make sure you’re alright.”

 

Izuku frowned at the and then stared at the floor. “I’m fine…” He muttered in annoyance.

 

Shouta stared at him seriously. “Even if you are, you’ve been through a lot of stuff, kid. Just give it a chance alright?”

 

Izuku conceded with a long sigh. “Fine, whatever. If it makes you feel better I guess…” He looked up at both of them. “But I really am fine.”

 

Neither one seemed very convinced and Izuku couldn’t really blame them… Yeah, okay maybe he wasn’t fine. But he didn’t need any help! He could handle everything by himself. He was used to fixing stuff alone. He’d just go to the therapist for however long Shouta and Hizashi wanted him so they felt better and would stop worrying about him. He could deal with his own problems on his own. He didn’t need to bother anyone about them. He’d be fine, he always was.

 

He started sessions with Hound Dog a few weeks later and everything was going perfectly. He even managed to get his sessions knocked down to once every other week. Sure, maybe he wasn’t being completely honest, but it was fine. He was fine… mostly.

 

══════════════════

 

The past few months had been weird, but… also strangely nice? Training with Shouta, Hizashi, and Hitoshi was fun, studying hero ethics and laws wasn’t fun but whatever. The mandatory therapy he’d been forced into wasn’t great either, but it seemed to make everyone feel more confident in his mental stability so he was putting up with it.

 

Izuku had also managed to tide over his vigilante urges by sneaking out at night every so often. It always gave him a rush of fear about getting caught, but so far no one had discovered anything… Izuku was impressed with his stealth skills, honestly.

 

And then the day of the long awaited exam came.

 

The first part of Izuku’s exam was annoying. It was the stupid hero laws part he’d had to study for the past few months, but he felt pretty confident. Even more confident after Shouta leafed through his answers and mumbled out a good job.

 

And after that Shouta gave him a protein bar for a snack and told him to head to the auditorium.

 

Izuku knew his way around UA with his eyes closed at this point so he’d set off through the school and took all the shortcuts he knew of. There wasn’t anyone outside the auditorium when he arrived so he quickly opened the door and slunk inside. Shouta had told him his seat was 156-J, where even was that?

 

But he didn’t manage to get to his seat before Hizashi started talking. “Hey Little Listeners!” Hizashi yelled with his quirk. “Welcome to UA! Can I get a YEAHHH?”

 

Izuku could never leave Hizashi hanging like that, so he cupped his hands around his mouth and screamed as loud as he possibly could. Izuku’s enthusiasm prompted a few other “yeahs!” and Hizashi looked pretty satisfied.

 

Izuku didn’t really pay attention to Hizashi’s speech about the entrance exam, he already knew everything anyway. One-pointer, two-pointer, whatever, the exam sucked. Izuku just wanted to find his seat. And finally he managed to spot his seat number and was creeping through the row when some loud kid with glasses started yelling.

 

“May I ask a question?”

 

Hizashi looked up at him and nodded. “Okay!”

 

“Oh the printout there are four types of villains! If this is a misprint then UA, the most prominent school in Japan, should be ashamed of this mistake! We examinees are here to become heroes!”

 

Izuku frowned at him, Hizashi probably just hadn’t reached the part about zero pointers yet. What was his problem?

 

But the boy wasn’t done.

 

“And you with the curly hair! You arrived late and you’re distracting the other examinees by walking around when everyone is already sitting. This isn’t befitting of a future hero and if you are not even going to bother being on time you should leave.”

 

In Izuku’s defense he wasn’t even planning on being a hero in the first place, he would’ve just stuck to vigilantism if Shouta hadn’t found out. At least he was kind of good at that. And also his exam was different from the rest of the students and he’d had to hike all the way over here!

 

Glasses wasn’t completely wrong, but still! It wasn’t like being late was Izuku’s fault. So he just frowned at him and sat down in his seat with an annoyed mutter.

 

“It’s okay! I was just getting there. That’s a zero pointer and…”

 

Izuku zoned out again and stared at the floor. He wondered if Katsuki was here. Who was Izuku kidding, of course he was. He was always much more suited to be a hero than Izuku was. Izuku had been avoiding the subject of him actually being a hero for months now because even with Shouta and Hizashi’s reassurances of him being a great hero, Izuku wasn’t convinced. He was quirkless after all, and even after everything he couldn’t shake the feeling of worthlessness and uselessness because of it.

 

Everyone standing up jolted Izuku out of his spiraling thoughts and he jumped to his feet. He’d just have to get through the exam and then he’d be able to go home and maybe even sneak out again tonight. At least he was good at that.

 

So Izuku followed the crowd out and funneled on to his bus, quietly staring out the window until they’d gotten to the exam grounds.

 

Izuku had never actually been out here, he realized right after stepping off the bus. He would’ve definitely remembered the giant city spanning in front of him. Honestly it made Izuku kind of excited, cities were his strong point. Maybe this would be fun!

 

He jumped off the bus and grabbed the short staff he’d gotten clearance to bring. He’d tried to get Shouta to let him use his Surge staff for the exam but he’d just glared at Izuku and said it was dangerous and the police had gotten rid of it, and even if they hadn’t he still couldn’t. Bastards.

 

But of course Glasses were there again. Staring him down. They guy was starting to annoy Izuku.

 

“Is that a weapon?”

 

Izuku gave him a tired look. “Yes. And why exactly do you care…?”

 

Glasses winced back because of his sharp voice but quickly recovered. “Did you even get clearance to bring that? UA doesn’t allow-”

 

Izuku cut him off. “Yes I did get clearance. Yes UA allowed it. Look, I’m just here to do the exam alright? Could you please stop bothering me?” Izuku spun around and walked towards the entrance where hopefully no more overzealous applicants would harass him.

 

Luckily Glasses didn’t follow him and no one else approached Izuku.

 

“Everyone ready?” Izuku glanced up towards Hizashi’s voice and prepared himself.

 

“GO!”

 

The gates opened and Izuku set off at a sprint, he needed to get as much of an advantage as he could.

 

“What are you guys waiting for? In a real villain attack you wouldn’t have time to just stand around!”

 

Izuku could hear the pounding steps of all the other applicants behind him after Hizashi said that. He quickly lunged at a one pointer and jabbed the weak point with his staff. The robot went down and Izuku glanced behind himself at the quickly approaching applicants. He didn’t want to get caught up in that.

 

So he darted to the side, towards an alleyway. He continued the strategy of dashing into alleyways, and back out to take down a robot or help some frozen kid. He also took some materials from the robots, it wasn’t like UA needed them, they had a bunch of other robots. He was interested in how they worked and the parts were pretty high quality! Izuku thought it was going pretty well honestly. But without his staff or prior knowledge…

 

Izuku had definitely seen some kids with mental quirks standing around helplessly and it pissed him off. How was this a fair exam again? The HPSC really needed to stop paying so much attention to flashy quirks when mental quirks were just as good, hell, even better a lot of the time!

 

But Izuku couldn’t do anything about that right now. So he focused on channeling all of his angry energy into destroying robots.

 

He dashed up to a three pointer who was about to crush a kid with black hair and vaulted himself up onto it’s back. He quickly raised the staff above his head and smashed it down on the robot. It caved into itself and Izuku jumped off and landed on the street.

 

This was already getting boring. The robots' attack patterns were so predictable and since he knew their weak points all he had to do was run up to them and whack them a few times with the staff.

 

He mentally counted the points he’d gotten in his head, maybe 40 now? Probably more with the rescue points added in. So fuck it. Izuku was exploring.

 

Izuku vaulted himself onto a window ledge and deftly scaled up the edge of the building and surveyed the chaos below him. Standing on the roof brought back memories… His mind drifted back to the times when he and Shouta would meet and Shouta would bring him snacks and stuff. When Izuku was Surge and he could help random people on the streets. When he actually felt… helpful.

 

Izuku sighed loudly and was about to start descending the building but a loud crash caught his attention and his eyes widened. The zero pointer was out, and it was even bigger than Izuku had expected. He was about to turn around and jump to another building away from it but… his eyes widened. Was that a girl stuck under the rubble?

 

He spun around in the direction of the zero pointed and jumped across the roofs. He knew UA wouldn’t let an examinee die, but still…

 

“HEY!” He yelled as loud as he could which caused the girl to look up at him panickedly.

 

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT?” Izuku glanced at the zero pointer that was approaching the girl and the spot on the ceiling he was perched on.

 

She nodded quickly. “I’M FINE!”

 

Izuku glanced back at the zero pointer, it was close. And then he did something kind of stupid.

 

He threw himself off the building, right towards the zero pointer. He landed in a roll and about rolled off the edge of the robot but quickly jumped back. He hit the robot on the head a few times, but it didn’t do anything. So he glared at the sky and yelled, “IF ONLY I HAD AN ELECTRIC STAFF!” He hoped Shouta heard him.

 

Well it was fine, Izuku had other methods. Other methods meaning making a bomb.

 

Izuku dumped the parts he’d collected from the robots earlier onto the ground. It just so happened that Izuku knew he could cause an explosion with everything he’d collected. He was planning on looking and messing around with them later but he supposed this was more important.

 

He deftly stuck all the parts together, he had to make a few unconventional adjustments but it would work… probably. He took a step back and admired his handiwork for a second before sparking the impromptu lighter and setting it beside the trigger of the bomb.

 

He spun around and sprinted off the robots head, he reached down to his side to grab his grappling- oh fuck. He didn’t have his grappling equipment. If he fell from here… his mind immediately started working overtime. He was still beside the zero pointer and if he could get his staff in the right place… He lodged his staff into a crevice in the zero pointer. He about let go of the staff because of the jerk from him stopping so fast, but he didn’t. Izuku was pretty sure he wouldn’t be blown apart here, and instead the explosion would just propel him towards the wall behind him.

 

Then the explosion went off, like Izuku expected, but it was a lot bigger than Izuku had prepared for. The zero pointer was flung backwards and Izuku twisted his body around to use the momentum to fly away from the robot. He shot backwards and Izuku barely managed to orient himself in time to lodge his staff in a crevice the zero pointer had created in a wall. This staff was really going through it.

 

But he was safe now… well mostly safe but climbing down a wall wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. He spared a glance towards the now destroyed zero pointer, there was a smoking crater in its head and was crumpled on the ground like a wet paper towel. Izuku’s impromptu bomb was much more effective than he’d thought before. Nice!

 

He quickly looked towards all the applicants who had stopped and were pointing at the zero pointer and Izuku with wide eyes. It made Izuku grin slightly, but he needed to get down! He had to make sure that girl was still okay. He scaled down the wall and sprinted back to where the girl was. She was still in the exact same place as before and as Izuku approached her, her eyes lit up.

 

“That was so cool! Was that your quirk? You took that out like it was nothing!” She made a few gestures with her hands and Izuku chuckled.

 

“No it wasn’t my quirk, but um, are you alright?” He glanced around the rock, maybe he could leverage it up with the staff?

 

The girl nodded, “thanks to you! I could use some help getting out though…” She smiled at him sheepishly.

 

Izuku nodded and crouched down to examine the rock. The girl piped up helpfully. “Um, my quirk is anti-gravity so if I can touch the cement with my hands…”

 

“Oh! You can lift it? That’s so cool! So it’s a contact quirk? Does it need all fingers? How do you-” Izuku cut himself off with an embarrassed cough. “S-Sorry! I’ll try to lift the rock up enough with my staff  so then you can touch it to get completely unstuck.”

 

She nodded determinedly and Izuku stuck his staff under the cement and slowly leveraged it up. Apparently his leveraging was successful because a few seconds later the rock started flying up… right into Izuku’s face.

 

“GAH-” The piece of cement collided with the bottom of his jaw and black specks flashed in his vision. Holy shit that hurt. He stumbled backwards and leaned against a large piece of rubble while holding his chin. Of course that was how he got injured. Not free falling through the air after setting off a bomb.

 

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” The girl sounded panicked and Izuku could vaguely make out her running towards him. “Are you okay? W-Wait of course you aren’t, um!”

 

“It’s ‘kay.” Izuku slurred out and rubbed his eyes. It really hurt to talk, was his jaw broken? He spat out a bunch of blood on the ground and groaned.

 

“The exam is now over! We’ll send someone around to deal with any injuries or trapped students, so if you’re hurt stay where you are right now! If not, start heading towards the entrance.”

 

Izuku had no plans of moving and slowly slid to the ground. The girl was still right beside him and she kept apologizing. Izuku finally held up a hand and tried to smile at her. “It’s fine, accidents happen.” His voice didn’t sound so clear but the girl seemed to understand and nodded.

 

“But still-! You saved me and… can I at least have your name? I’ll try to make it up to you somehow!”

 

“Ah… it’s Midoriya.”

 

She nodded determinedly and looked at Izuku. “My name’s Uraraka! I promise I’ll do something to make it up to you!”

 

Izuku shook his head as much as he could bear but before he could assure her it was alright again Recovery Girl was standing beside them both.

 

She raised an eyebrow at Izuku and sighed loudly before kissing his cheek. The pain receded pretty quickly and Izuku moved his hand to feel his jaw. It was healed, thank god.

 

She patted his arm and handed him a package of gummies to help him recover. Izuku just pocketed the gummies, maybe they’d be useful later!

 

Uraraka was looking at him still and he offered her a smile. “I’m completely fine now! Anyways we should probably start heading back to the entrance.” Izuku pushed himself off the ground. “Oh! And don’t worry about making anything up, it’s really alright!” He grinned at her and she nodded hesitantly.

 

“Okay… but I’m really glad you’re alright!” She sounded really relieved. “Hopefully we’ll see each other at UA! I’m sure you’re going to get in with such a strong quirk!”

 

Izuku blinked at her awkwardly. “Um… that wasn’t actually my quirk. I don’t-”

 

But he was too quiet to be heard over all the yelling applicants so he just sighed and accepted it. If Uraraka got into UA he could clear it up with her later.

 

Eventually he got back to the main campus and he rubbed his eyes. He was really tired. A side effect of Recovery Girl’s quirk maybe? His mind started to wander about how her quirk worked and he didn’t notice Shouta approaching him.

 

“What the hell were you thinking?”

 

Izuku jumped in surprise and then looked up at Shouta. He laughed sheepishly, knowing exactly what the man was referring to. “Everything worked out didn’t it…?” He trailed off when he saw Shouta glaring at him.

 

“Please tell me why you thought setting off an impromptu bomb when you didn’t have a safe escape route was a good idea?”

 

Izuku shrugged. “In my defense I forgot I didn’t have my grappling hook… I was gonna use that to get away but-” He narrowed his eyes at Shouta. “ Someone took mine.”

 

Shouta just groaned and ran his finger through his hair. “Problem child…” He sighed. “Besides that though, you did well. Good job kid.”

 

Izuku glanced at him and then at the ground in embarrassment. “Uh, yeah… th-thanks.”

 

Shouta sighed tiredly and patted his shoulder. “Just please try to be less reckless.”

 

Izuku grinned up at him. “No promises!” He chirped cheerfully.

 

Shouta sighed louder.

Notes:

Hi, long time no see huh?

Firstly I’m really sorry I haven’t updated in over a year, it’s been really hectic for me. I wasn’t intending to be gone for so long but between writer's block, school stuff, and some other shit, I didn’t have it in me to make an update. But now I finally (finally!) have a new chapter for you guys.

So what’s gonna happen now you might be wondering? One, I’ll be continuing to update new chapters! I have a plan figured out, I just have to write it :) Two, I’m hoping to do some editing of earlier chapters. I won’t be changing any plot points or anything, just making my writing more clear, less boring, and just better in general.

ANYWAYS, thank you to anyone who stuck around and is still interested in my fic, I’m so glad so many people enjoyed this fic and I’m hoping to make it even better in the future!!

On a side note I’m sorry if this chapter sucked. I'm still suffering through a bit of writer's block and wasn’t sure how I wanted to write this chapter, so hopefully it's not too all over the place?

Chapter 21: A new day

Notes:

Edited 11/19/22

Izuku had been waiting for this day. Hitoshi had already received his acceptance letter three days ago and Shouta and Hizashi wouldn’t tell him jack shit about how he did.

 

So when he saw the letter from UA he tore it out of Shouta’s hand with a smirk and waved it around. “This thing’s pretty heavy! Oh! Do I get a fancy acceptance projection too?”

 

Izuku had watched Hitoshi open his letter and a projection of All Might had sprung out and showed a highlight video of Hitoshi’s exam. Hitoshi had managed to get everyone who was competing against him in the obstacle course to respond to him. Then all he did was tell them to not move for ten minutes and he completed the obstacle course with ease. Izuku was impressed and he kept laughing at the other recommendation student’s surprised faces.

 

Izuku’s theory about the projection was right and no one was surprised when All Might sprung out with a loud. “I AM HERE!”

 

Shouta muttered. “He’s always so extra…” He glanced over at Hizashi. “Like another blonde I know.”

 

Hizashi gasped in mock offense. “I’m not extra!”

 

Izuku laughed and then turned his attention back to All Might who was now enthusiastically announcing how he’d done on the exam..

 

“On your, uh, modified written exam you got a 96%, and showed great understanding of the material you were tested on!” Izuku better have, he suffered through hero laws for like, five months. “And on the practical test you ended up with a total of 36 villain points! Your ingenuity and knowledge of how to take down the robots was very impressive. But that wasn’t the only part of the exam…”

 

Izuku really didn’t see the point in All Might making the rescue aspect of the exam suspenseful. Didn’t he already know Izuku knew about that?

 

“There was another portion of the exam you weren’t told about before! What would a heroics exam be without judging applicants for their heroic deeds? And you, Midoriya, got 72 rescue points!”

 

That actually surprised Izuku a little. 72 was a lot of rescue points. He hadn’t helped that many people, right? Izuku looked over at Shouta and Hizashi in confusion.

 

“Is that a mistake or…?”

 

Shouta raised an eyebrow and nodded back towards the screen. “Keep watching.”

 

So Izuku did.

 

“This is a high amount, but I assure you, this is no mistake. Take a look at this…”

 

All Might’s picture faded out, and in its place was a video of Izuku jumping onto the zero pointer.

 

“A lot of people might’ve been blinded by fear and ran away, but you showed the true qualities of a hero and ran towards danger to help someone in need. This is what the exam was truly about. And you, Midoriya, surpassed our expectations with your quick thinking and ingenuity! While your… escape was rather unconventional, you managed to escape unharmed along with the girl you saved!”

 

“Holy shit Izu, I know you said you blew up a robot but you weren’t specific with how big that thing was.” Hitoshi muttered.

 

Izuku grinned at him. “Glad you’re acknowledging my supremacy!”

 

Hitoshi scoffed at him and leaned back in his chair. “In your dreams.”

 

“So, Izuku Midoriya, that leaves you with an astounding one-hundred and eight on the entrance exam. And gives you the highest score out of every applicant. Welcome to your hero academia! Go beyond! Plus ultra!”

 

Izuku stared at the fading projection in shock. He vividly remembered how goddamn much he’d wanted to go to UA as a kid. And then… he was diagnosed quirkless. His dream felt farther and farther out of reach. After all, how could a quirkless kid become a hero? Let alone one graduated from the most prestigious hero school in Japan.

 

But he’d just gotten first place on the entrance exam. What the fuck?

 

He’d known he was going to UA for months now, yeah but… It never really hit him until now. It never hit him that he was actually going to be training as a hero. And now Izuku really didn’t know how to feel. His younger self would be ecstatic and he should be excited. But… was he really enough?

 

And… was this really what he wanted?

 

Being Surge and saving people felt comfortable. No one was expecting him to fit a certain standard, no was one jeering at him for being quirkless. Izuku could just quietly help people. But as a hero… as the first quirkless hero, what kind of treatment would he get? What kind of shit would he have to prove? Would he even be good enough? This was new and uncharted territory for Izuku.

 

“First place…” Izuku whispered.

 

He had no idea what he was doing.

 

══════════════════

 

“First day! Hell yeah!” Izuku cheered. “And, hey! Mina, Kaminari, and Tokoyami are in the same class as us!” 

 

They’d gotten together with the group a few times again before school started. Also, in the months after Izuku’s disappearance as Surge, they were really disappointed. The group thought up a bunch of different theories, like Surge dying or some other brutal thing happening. Their conversations had mostly drifted to other things though, with Surge being gone so long. But every now and again they’d bring it up again or send a blog post about a possible Surge spotting.

 

Hitoshi smiled slightly and nodded. “Yeah, it’ll be nice to know a few people… even if Mina and Kaminari are kinda loud.” Izuku chuckled and pushed the door open to 1-A, no one had arrived yet. They were just here extra early because they’d come with Shouta and Hizashi.

 

“I like them!” He declared and sat down on top of one of the desks. He glanced around the room and then started to smirk.

 

“Hey Toshi?”

 

Hitoshi’s head snapped over to Izuku and he raised an eyebrow. “Oh no, that’s your conspiring voice.”

 

Izuku chuckled and smiled at him. “I was gonna ask if you wanted to hang out in the vents until people start getting here? We have time to kill.”

 

Hitoshi seemed to be internally debating his question. “That actually… doesn’t sound like a bad idea. I won’t have to socialize as much then.”

 

Izuku grinned at him and then pointed to the vent on the wall dramatically. “To the vents we go!”

 

There was a bookcase right under the vent so the pair easily pulled themselves up and headed to the vent junction. Izuku jumped onto the pile of blankets they had collected and sighed loudly. “This is the life Toshi, living in vents with a bunch of blankets. What more could you want?”

 

Hitoshi sat down beside him and chuckled. “I dunno, maybe food?”

 

Izuku waved his hand dismissively and stared up at the ceiling.

 

“Hey Toshi?” He said softly.

 

Hitoshi glanced over at him. “Yeah?”

 

Izuku was quiet for a while and sighed slightly. “I…” He trailed off and tried to find the right words to say. “This is weird. Not like the vents but, UA… everything. I-” He shook his head slightly. “Yeah.”

 

Izuku wasn’t looking at Hitoshi but he knew he was probably looking at him concernedly. “Everything is weird?” Hitoshi asked.

 

He covered his eyes with his arms. “I miss it Toshi.” He breathed out. “Being Surge. I-I actually felt useful y’know? I felt like I was really doing something. But UA… being a hero…” He groaned. “Nevermind…”

 

Hitoshi frowned at him. “Izu I- Are you okay?”

 

Izuku smiled at Hitoshi. “Yeah I’m fine. Just getting used to stuff I guess. Don’t worry about it!”

 

Hitoshi didn’t seem very convinced but he dropped the subject with a sigh. “Alright. But still… you shouldn’t keep stuff bottled up, okay? I’m here for you and so is everyone else.”

 

Izuku shot him a thumbs up. “Okay, okay mom. I’m seriously fine, it’s just a big adjustment.”

 

And Izuku meant it! Mostly. He’d be fine eventually. Sure he wasn’t completely sold on the hero thing but he probably wouldn’t be a good one anyways. He didn’t need to bother anyone since he was good at dealing with problems alone! And plus, Shouta would probably just be pissed at him for wanting to do vigilante stuff again.

 

The two sat in a comfortable silence for the rest of their time in the vents, but eventually they both decided they should be getting back. Class would start soon.

 

So the two trekked back through the vents towards 1-A. The closer they got the louder the class sounded.

 

Hitoshi commented on it dryly. “Sounds exciting.”

 

Izuku just chuckled and glanced back at Hitoshi. “Y’know… now that I think about it, it would probably be weird for them to see two people climb out of a vent.”

 

Hitoshi just shrugged.

 

Izuku figured now was as good a time as any to emerge from a vent, so he shimmied forwards and landed on the bookshelf with a thump. That caught everyone's attention.

 

“Midoriya?” Mina grinned at him. “What the hell were you guys doing in there?”

 

Izuku jumped down from the shelf and heard Shinsou exit from behind him.

 

“We were just waiting for class to start!” He smiled at the class, who all seemed pretty confused as to what was going on.

 

“Should you really be wandering around in UA’s vents? I do not think that’s allowed.” Izuku turned his attention towards the new voice and he blinked in recognition. It was glasses from the exam!

 

Glasses seemed to recognize Izuku as well and he frowned. “You were the person who came late to the exam! Climbing around the vents is extremely disrespectful to UA. You should be ashamed of your behavior. UA is a very prestigious school and you should treat it with more respect!”

 

Izuku blinked at him. “Wait, hold on. I feel like we got off to a bad start… We, um, have permission to be in the vents.” Okay, maybe they technically didn’t, but all of the UA staff knew they hung out there and no one seemed to care.

 

Glasses looked at him skeptically but Izuku just smiled. “Uh anyways, I’m Izuku Midoriya! Nice to meet you?”

 

The boy sighed and seemed to give up on lecturing him for now. “I am Tenya Iida.”

 

Izuku was pretty sure Iida was going to say something else but Kaminari butted into the conversion. “Midoriya! Shinsou! It’s so cool we’re in the same class!” Mina nodded in agreement and Izuku was pretty sure Tokoyami did as well.

 

“Yeah I’m excited!” Izuku said with a smile.

 

Their conversation got cut off by someone else entering the classroom. Izuku glanced over towards the door. Oh! It was the person from the entrance exam. Uraraka he was pretty sure.

 

Uraraka glanced around the room and then her eyes landed on Izuku. “Oh! You’re the boy from the entrance exam! Um… Midoriya!” She smiled blindingly. “I saw you got first place, that’s so awesome! And we’re in the same class!” 

 

Everyone’s heads seemed to snap over to Izuku after Uraraka said that. Dammit, even more attention.

 

Izuku nodded and slid into his chair. “Yeah I did.” He smiled at Uraraka. “I’m glad you made it in too!”

 

Iida glanced at him. “First place?” He muttered under his breath. “That's right… Izuku Midoriya was first.”

 

Uraraka nodded excitedly. “Oh yeah! He was so cool! I got trapped under some rubble when that huge robot came out and he completely destroyed it like it was nothing!”

 

“Oh yeah! I saw that!” Another classmate yelled. “It was a huge explosion, is that your quirk?”

 

Everyone looked towards him expectantly and Izuku laughed nervously. “Um, actually… I-” Izuku had no idea how everyone would take him being quirkless. People could be unpredictable. Especially with this big of a group…

 

But before Izuku could say anything else the door was slammed open and everyone looked back towards it.

 

“Eh? What the hell are all you extras looking at?” Katsuki growled out and stalked forwards.

 

Izuku should’ve figured he’d be in Katsuki’s class. He honestly wasn’t sure how to feel. Last time he’d seen Katsuki, he’d actually been pretty civil. But then again he was also at Izuku’s family grave…

 

“Deku? What…” He frowned, “What the hell are you doing here?”

 

Izuku glanced up at Katsuki and sighed. “Hey Kacchan. How’ve you been?”

 

Katsuki marched up to him and slammed his hand down on Izuku’s desk. “Don’t ignore my damn question! How the hell are you here?”

 

Did Katsuki not read the rankings for the UA entrance exam or something? Izuku felt like Katsuki should’ve already known he was in the hero course.

 

“Well I… took the entrance exam and got in.”

 

His sarcastic answer just pissed Katsuki off and he set off an explosion in his hand. Izuku couldn’t stop himself from flinching slightly. 

 

“But you’re quirkless! You can’t even apply for the hero course!”

 

That caused Izuku’s classmates to start whispering among themselves and Izuku gritted his teeth. He knew everyone would find out about him being quirkless sooner or later, but he still didn’t like talking about it. A lot of people treated him differently after finding out.

 

“They changed that rule.” He muttered. “So I applied and got in. And now I’m here.”

 

Katsuki was silent for a moment and looked at Izuku with an unreadable expression. “Whatever! I’ll beat you anyways!” He sat down at his desk, which was right in front of Izuku, with a loud huff.

 

Honestly, that had gone better than Izuku expected. Maybe he’d try to talk with Katsuki about it later when he’d calmed down a bit. Or at least when he wasn’t surprised about Izuku being in the same class as him.

 

Izuku could still hear his classmates muttering, probably about him and Hitoshi leaned towards him.

 

“You alright? How do you know that explodey-blastard?” He said quietly.

 

Izuku glanced back at him and smiled. “Yeah. That’s Katsuki Bakugou, me and him used to be friends when we were kids but stuff happened and now… yeah..”

 

Hitoshi nodded and glanced around the room. “Everyone’s so loud… sorry I kind of abandoned you when everyone started talking but…”

 

Izuku waved his hand. “Hey don’t apologize. Everything’s fine!” He glanced behind himself at the rest of the class who were trying to act sneaky while gossiping about Izuku. Kaminari offered him a thumbs up, Mina waved, and Tokoyami nodded at him though. That was probably a good sign. He looked back at Hitoshi. “Well, it will be fine.”

 

A black haired kid piped up and interrupted their conversation. “Hey! Midoriya!” Izuku glanced towards him.

 

“Uh, yeah?”

 

He leaned towards Izuku. “Are you actually quirkless?”

 

Katsuki heard him and glared back at him. “Yeah Deku’s fucking quirkless!”

 

The kid glanced towards Bakugou. “Yeah but Uraraka said he caused an explosion or something and destroyed a zero pointer! Plus he got first on the entrance exam!”

 

Obviously that was news to Katsuki because he spun around. “You got first place? How the fuck did you beat me?” He sounded genuinely confused.

 

He narrowed his eyes and leaned even closer to Izuku. “How’d you do it!” Izuku eyed him apprehensively. Was Katsuki mad at him or genuinely asking that?

 

“Hey, explody-bastard.” Hitoshi sounded pissed. “Stop bothering him. You lost, that’s it. Stop whining. Being an asshole isn’t solving anything.”

 

A flurry of emotions flew over Katsuki’s face and Izuku thought he was about to attack Hitoshi for a second. But surprisingly he didn’t and he sat back in his chair with a huff. “I wasn’t-” He cut himself off with a growl. “Whatever! I’ll definitely beat you next time Deku! Okay?”

 

Izuku raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged. “Whatever you wanna think Kacchan.”

 

Katsuki seemed like he was going to say something else but he was interrupted by the door opening. And behind that door was Shouta in all his caterpillar glory.

 

Everyone’s conversation slowly stopped as they noticed Shouta. And their eyes were wide as Shouta unzipped his sleeping bag and stepped out. Well, except for Izuku and Hitoshi, they were used to it.

 

“It took eight seconds too long for you to quiet down and get to your seats. Rational students would already be ready.” He stood up and walked farther into the room.

 

“I’m Shouta Aizawa, your homeroom teacher.”

 

Izuku glanced at Mina, Kaminari, and Tokoyami and he saw them looking at him and Shinsou and back to Shouta. Izuku just grinned at them. Maybe he should’ve warned them about Shouta being their teacher. Oh well, too late now. He could talk to them later.

 

Iida’s hand shot up and Shouta sighed tiredly. “Yes?”

 

“I want to dispel the rumors that started about Midoriya.” That made Shouta’s head snap around and he looked at Izuku with a tired expression. Izuku just shrugged.

 

“Midoriya placed first in the entrance exam. However another student said that Midoriya was quirkless.”

 

Shouta frowned. “Yes, he placed first and he also happens to be quirkless. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. He got first on the entrance exam because of his own skills.”

 

Everyone’s eyes shifted over to him and Izuku sank lower into his chair.

 

“Well I think that’s super cool! He doesn’t even need a quirk to fight well!” Kaminari announced loudly. Izuku saw Tokoyami nod in the corner of his eye. It made Izuku smile a little bit.

 

“While I agree with you Kaminari, don’t randomly yell out things in class.” Shouta muttered.

 

After Shouta said that Kaminari looked sheepish and nodded enthusiastically.

 

“Are there any more questions?” Shouta said and glanced over the class. Everyone else seemed too scared to even say anything and he seemed satisfied.

 

“Good. Get your gym uniforms and go put them on. Meet me outside. We’re going to be doing a quirk apprehension test.”

 

That caused a wave of mumbles to erupt in the class.

 

“But sir! Don’t we have an assembly?”

 

Shouta didn’t look like he cared and just shrugged. “There’s no use to pointless things like assemblies. This is the hero course.” No one in the class wanted to dispute Shouta, so they just quickly grabbed their gym uniforms and headed out to change. The only people who stayed behind were Kaminari, Mina, and Tokoyami.

 

After everyone had left Mina jumped to her feet. “Shinsou, Midoriya!” She looked towards Shouta and back at them. “Your dad’s our homeroom teacher?”

 

Izuku snorted. “He’s not my dad, but yeah… It slipped my mind. I forgot you knew him.”

 

Mina looked back at Shouta with a small grin. “Well it’s nice to see you again, Aizawa-sensei!”

 

Shouta sighed tiredly from the front of the room. “Go get changed, you don’t want to be late.”

 

That caused the three kids to scamper out of the room. Izuku and Hitoshi were about to turn to follow their friends, when Shouta called out from behind them.

 

“Izuku.”

 

Izuku glanced back at Shouta and tilted his head. “Huh? What’s up?”

 

He looked at him seriously. “If anyone bothers you about being quirkless please tell me, alright? I don’t put up with quirk discrimination. That goes for you too Hitoshi.” He glanced between both of them.

 

Izuku blinked at him for a second and then nodded. “Uh, yeah! Thanks Eraser.”

 

The two headed out of the classroom after that and on the way over Hitoshi glanced at him with a frown. “Hey Izu?” Hitoshi muttered on the way over.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Explodey-bastard, Bakugou or whatever. Are you gonna tell Dadzawa about him?” Hitoshi looked serious and Izuku sighed.

 

Izuku frowned. “I… Not right now. I want to talk to him first.”

 

Hitoshi scoffed. “Oh yeah he seemed really willing to talk things out.”

 

Izuku snorted. “Yeah, he’s always been like that. It’s just… I dunno. I want to see what he’s thinking. He was pretty calm compared to how he was before.”

 

That didn’t seem like it reassured Hitoshi and he just gave Izuku a concerned look after his last statement. Izuku just smiled at him. “It’s alright Toshi! I can handle him.”

Notes:

Alternative title Izuku has multiple mental crisises

I don’t really like this chapter. I feel like I could've written it and introduced everyone better, but after staring at it for like two weeks I decided I didn't have any better ideas so here we are, so I apologize if this wasn’t the best :’)

Chapter 22: Angry man-child attacks armed teenager

When Hitoshi and Izuku stepped onto the field Mina immediately started waving her arms and yelling at them to come over.

Iuzku heard Hitoshi sigh from beside him and he snickered. “C’mon!”

The two headed over to a small group consisting of Kaminari, Mina, Tokoyami, as well as Uraraka.

“Hey guys!” Kaminari said, not noticing Shouta walking up behind him. “This is so exciting! Our first class at UA and we’re already using our quirks, it’s gonna be so fun!”

“You’re training to be heroes, not to have fun. If that’s what you think this is, you should leave.”

Kaminari yelped and whirled around to face Shouta. “Aizawa-sensei! I-I didn’t mean-”

Shouta sighed. “The rest of you should know that too. Being a hero isn’t fun, it isn’t pretty. It’s hard and dangerous and everyone here should be aware of what they’re getting themselves into. Take this seriously.”

“Yes sir!” Everyone choused

Shouta walked past them and turned to stand in front of the whole class. “Alright, we’re going to be doing a series of athletic tests like you’ve probably all done before. Use your quirks and wits to make the highest possible score on these. Whoever gets the lowest score will be expelled.”

That caused a few loud gasps of panic from the students declaring that wasn’t fair. Izuku just chuckled quietly.

“If you have no potential, you shouldn’t become a hero. It’s a dangerous job.” He looked around seriously before his gaze landed on Katsuki. “Bakugou, try throwing this ball as far as you can. Just don’t step out of the circle.”

Katsuki grunted in agreement, he sauntered forwards and snatched the ball out of Shouta's hand. He was preparing to throw the ball, but Izuku couldn’t help himself.

“Good luck Ka-cchan.” He called out sarcastically which caused Katsuki to whirl around and glare at him.

“Shut up Deku!”

Izuku laughed and shrugged innocently. “I was just encouraging you, geez Kacchan.”

“Midoriya, Bakugou.” It was Shouta, he was looking at him disapprovingly. Izuku sent him a bright smile but dutifully shut up.

Katsuki didn’t say anything either and instead turned around and gripped the ball as hard as he could. Izuku was pretty sure he could see it smoking. Katsuki flung his arm back and with a loud yell he launched the ball forwards.

“DIE!”

Izuku heard Mina and Kaminari stifling their laughter from behind him. Mina whispered, “that was really aggressive.”

Izuku grinned back at her. “Typical Kacchan. Get used to it.”

Shouta interrupted their conversation by holding up Katsuki’s score. “705.2 meters.” He announced which caused everyone to chatter.

“That’s so high!”

“Woah, Bakugou!”

Katsuki smirked in satisfaction at his score and Shouta continued. “Unlike in junior high you’re allowed to use your quirks freely to show their true strength. Let’s get started.”

And get started they did. Izuku watched everyone’s quirks carefully, they were all pretty impressive. In the first few tests he didn’t do terrifically, since someone almost always had a quirk that excelled in that scenario. But he always did above average so he was pretty satisfied.

Hitoshi was doing quite good as well, he was making use of his quirk by making other people help him with the tests which seemed to… confuse everyone at what was happening but Shouta said that it was fair game.

And then they got to the standing long jump, which Izuku personally considered his forte. All that parkour he did came in handy.

“Alright, Izuku. You’re up.”

Izuku grinned. “Great!” He crouched down and did a few squats in preparation before throwing himself forwards, he didn’t have anything to propel himself forwards like Katsuki and Aoyama, but he narrowly missed clearing the entire sandbox.

“Geez! Are you sure you’re quirkless? You don’t have like… an agility quirk or something?”

Izuku glanced behind himself to see Sero and he shook his head. “Nope! I just work out.”

Sero blinked at him. “Well you’re insane!”

Izuku smiled and hopped out of the sandbox. Shouta started to announce the last test, the ball throw. Izuku even had a plan for that one.

He watched everyone go, by far the most impressive was Uraraka, who got infinity. Then finally, it was his turn.

He stepped into the box with a smirk. “Just to clarify, we can do anything as long as we stay in the circle and throw it, right?”

Shouta nodded which made Izuku’s smirk widened.

“Well then! Uraraka?” He glanced back at the girl.

“Yeah?”

He turned around to face her. “At the entrance exam you said you wanted to repay me for saving you right?”

She nodded and smiled at him. “Oh yeah! I do, why are you bringing that up now though?”

He held out the ball. “If I throw this at you will you use your quirk on it?”

He saw Yaoyorozu frown out from the corner of his eye. “Is that allowed?”

Shouta shrugged. “He’s following the set rules, I see no problem with it. In fact, I think it’s a smart plan. Heroes' greatest assets can be other heroes, you need to be able to work with a team and know your strengths and weaknesses.”

Everyone seemed to consider that and nodded in agreement. The whole letting other people help you wasn’t exactly the moral Izuku was intending to show by asking Uraraka for a favor, but whatever, it worked.

So he tossed the ball at Uraraka who used her quirk on it, and away the ball went. He smiled at Uraraka. “Thanks!”

He was the last person to go, so once he stepped out of the circle Shouta displayed the results on the board and he slid over to Hitoshi. “Nice job!” Hitoshi had come in 10th and Izuku scoured the board for his name as well. “Oh I got 9th?” He was actually just a little surprised at the result, he hadn’t had any super high scores besides the ball throw, but he guessed he did do consistently well.

Hitoshi offered him a small smile. “Yeah that’s great! The whole Uraraka thing was really smart.”

Izuku winked at him. “Yeah I know! I’m so smart, wow.”

That made Hitoshi scoff. “Nevermind, I take back anything nice I’ve ever said about you.”

Izuku gasped. “Hey! Rude!”

He glanced back up at the board and looked at the lowest score. Someone called Hagakure? She was the invisible girl if he remembered correctly. While Izuku couldn’t exactly see her, she did seem distraught over the fact that Shouta had said he’d expel last place.

“A-Aizawa-sensei are you really going to…” She trailed off quietly.

That caused Shouta to crack his signature Shouta grin. “It was just a logical ruse. No one is getting expelled.”

The class erupted into relieved sighs and Izuku took another look at the results board. Momo Yaoyorozu had gotten first, Shoto Todoroki second, and Tenya Iida third. He glanced around, Todoroki… he recognized that name. But from where?

══════════════════

What better way to celebrate the new school year than sneaking out? Izuku was pretty proud of himself and his evasion skills, he didn’t go out as often as he used to, but whenever he got antsy he went out for a run around the city.

Unfortunately he couldn’t fight that many criminals nowadays because he didn’t want anyone catching onto the fact there was a new vigilante. One, becoming well-known as Surge was a fucking mess he didn’t need to repeat. Two, Shouta would be suspicious.

So Izuku just stuck to the shadows, saving people every once and a while. It was better than nothing though. That’s what he was doing when he was ambushed.

“Surge.”

Every hair on Izuku’s body stood up and he leaped away from the voice. What the hell? How had someone figured him out? Fuck! He crouched into a guarded position and examined the two people in front of him. Where had they even come from? Izuku hadn’t heard anything.

“God! Why are you so hard to track down?” The light haired one scratched his neck and Izuku watched as flakes of skin fell off.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not Surge, my name’s Mitsuba.” Complete bullshit, but maybe he’d fall for it.

The light haired one shook his head and stalked towards Izuku. “Don’t lie to me! We got reputable information that you are, brat.”

Brat…? Izuku took a step back and frowned at him. “Well it’s not as reputable as you thought then.”

He scoffed. “Whatever. I just wanted to discuss an opportunity with you. Obviously something happened since you’re lying so low now…”

Izuku just glared at him. “Nothing happened, I’m not Surge. He’s probably dead or something.”

That seemed to piss the man off and with a loud growl he jumped towards Izuku. Izuku dodged out of the way and leaped back a few paces. Was this going to turn into a fight?

“Shigaraki, Sensei said not to start a fight with him.”

Ah, that must be his name, Shigaraki. But who the hell was Sensei?

Shigaraki huffed in annoyance. “Whatever, just fucking listen Surge. It’s a good deal.” He smiled creepily at Izuku. “A chance to bring this damn hero society to its knees!”

Izuku gritted his teeth, what the hell was this guy saying? Bring hero society to its knees? Izuku wanted to fix hero society, not destroy it. What kind of villain bullshit was this?

Apparently Shigaraki took his lack of words as a sign to continue. “We want you to join us, Surge. You’ll be free to do whatever you want. You won’t have any kind of stupid laws or heroes breathing down your neck. The League of Villains will make sure of that.”

An incredulous laugh escaped Izuku’s lips. “What kind of fucking bullshit is that? League of Villains, are you serious? That’s the dumbest name I’ve ever heard. How uncreative are you?”

That really pissed Shigaraki off and he narrowed his eyes. “See Kurogiri! I told you he’d be uncooperative, let’s just kill him.”

Kurogiri didn’t seem to be too keen on that idea and shook his head. “Surge is still an asset. Let’s just leave.”

Shigaraki growled in frustration and stalked over to Izuku. “Fine, I won’t kill you… yet.” He held out his hand with a smirk. “But if you know what’s good for you, Surge, you’ll join us.”

Before Izuku could react Shigaraki had slapped his hand on Izuku’s ribcage. Izuku wasn’t prepared for the burning pain that followed.

“FUCK!” He yelled and kicked Shigaraki away before vaulting over a box, he clutched at his side. His side was on fire, it felt like it was falling apart. What the hell kind of quirk was this?

Shigaraki seemed satisfied with that and waved at Izuku with another creepy smile pasted on his face. “We’ll be seeing you again, Surge.”

Izuku watched motionlessly as Shigaraki and Kurogiri walked through a purple portal and it disappeared a moment later. He let out a shaky breath once they were gone and collapsed to the ground. What the fuck? Who the fuck were they? League of Villains? He’d never heard of any villain group going by that name, were they new?

Either way, they seemed dangerous, especially Shigarki’s quirk. His side was still burning and it was sticky with blood. He needed to take care of it. He quickly bandaged it up before heading back to his base to get better medical supplies.

The trip back was brutal and Izuku wasn’t looking forward to trying to climb in his window, or try to hide the injury from Shouta. Or really anything, He gritted his teeth to prevent him from hissing in pain. This was such a hassle.

If he ever saw that Shigaraki bastard he wouldn’t hold back, he and his little villain group deserved it anyways. League of Villains… he hummed to himself, he’d have to look into it. Hopefully they were just another group with aspirations too high for them to complete. Izuku really, really hoped they wouldn’t become a problem.

But… it was going to be a problem wasn’t it? They knew who he was, and god, Izuku was trying to ignore it, but the panic was making him feel nauseous. Because if they knew, what if Shouta found out? What if the HPSC found out? Izuku took a shaky breath in, he just needed to go to sleep and focus on getting through classes tomorrow, then he could figure out what the hell was going on and how badly he was fucked.

══════════════════

Izuku woke up feeling like shit. He stumbled into the bathroom, locked the door, and unwrapped the bandage wrapped around the torso. Which kind of hurt actually. Once it was off he inspected the wound again, a lot of it had scabbed over during the night luckily. It wasn’t that deep then. Shigaraki hadn’t had his hand on Izuku’s side for more than a second after all. He’d be fine… hopefully.

Izuku just prayed they wouldn’t be doing anything strenuous in school today.

“Hey! Izu, hurry up!” Hitoshi yelled from outside the door.

Izuku frowned and started to rummage around for a clean bandage… he’d have to hide the bloody one and get rid of it later. “You can’t rush perfection Toshi!”

Hitoshi groaned. “I don’t care, I need to piss.”

Izuku chuckled and started to wrap the new bandage around his torso as quickly as possible and stuffed the old one in his pants. “Rude! Fine, I’m leaving, I’m leaving.” He kicked the door open with a fake huff of annoyance.

Hitoshi snorted and lightly elbowed him to the side. “Get out of the doorway.” Except he chose the exact wrong spot and Izuku bit down a grunt of pain. That made Hitoshi stop and give him a weird look.

“Uh, you alright?”

Izuku grinned. “No, I’m appalled at your rudeness.”

That made Hitoshi snort and he shut the door behind him leaving Izuku alone in the hallway. Izuku grabbed his side with a grimace and walked into his room, he needed to sit down, being elbowed right there did not feel nice.

He shoved the bloody bandage in the back of his closet before flopping down on his bed with a groan. Of course some mystery villain group appears and starts trying to recruit him. And of course, they know he’s goddamn Surge for some reason. How did they even know that? Izuku obviously didn’t have enough problems going on as it was.

He flung an arm over his eyes. God, he was so stressed. Maybe he should talk to someone… He quickly dismissed the idea, it would be a terrible decision. He’d been fine on his own for all those years, so he’d be fine now. He just had to get through it and hopefully not get fucked over by villains. Wonderful. Izuku was doing great.

He felt something shift from beside him and he cracked a small smile. “G’morning Ryu.” Ryu let out a small meow and headbutted his shoulder. Izuku rolled over to face him and scratched under his chin, Ryu started purring in appreciation and curled up right beside Izuku.

“You alright in there?”

Izuku looked over at Hitoshi and rubbed his eyes a few times. “Yeah, just gimme a second. Did Eraser and Zashi already leave?”

“Mhm, they said they had something to do early last night.”

Izuku slowly sat up in an attempt to not disturb Ryu. “You ready to go?”

Hitoshi nodded. “Yeah whenever you are. I hope you don't need to continue standing around in the bathroom for ten minutes.”

Izuku grinned and jumped to his feet. “Maybe I do. What would you do then, huh?”

“Leave you.”

Izuku gasped. “Another rude comment! You have it out for me today.” He leaned down to grab his backpack but when he lifted it up he could feel his side start to burn and he let out a quiet hiss. He managed to get the bag on his shoulders and luckily the straps didn’t hit where Shigaraki had attacked him last night.

He looked up to see Hitoshi staring at him in concern. “Seriously, are you okay? You seem like you’re in pain.”

Izuku waved his hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah! I just slept wrong or something.”

Hitoshi sent him one last thoughtful look. “Okay well… if you are injured you should tell someone so you don’t injure yourself more.”

Izuku leaned against his door frame with a loud groan. “Toshi, I'm fine. C’mon, let’s go. I don’t wanna miss the train.”

“Whatever you say.”

══════════════════

Hitoshi was right. Izuku really should tell someone he was injured. But if he did that Shouta might find out he was sneaking out and would never let Izuku out of his sight again. That sounded like the worst possible outcome to Izuku so he decided to keep his mouth shut. He’d deal with his injury alone and figure out what was up with those weird villains.

Why the hell did they think Surge would join them anyways? And actually, how had they figured out Izuku was Surge in the first place? He had pointedly been trying to avoid that.

Izuku was worried but he was worried a lot nowadays. Just one more problem to add to his pile, just what he needed.

“Izuku?”

Izuku raised his head from his desk blearily. “Huh?”

“Class is staring back soon. Are you sure you’re alright? You seem… out of it.”

Izuku sighed. “I’m fine Toshi, really. I just didn’t sleep well last night.” He pushed himself off his desk and glanced around the classroom, everyone was eagerly waiting for class to start. They had their first actual hero class next. Izuku wished he could share the enthusiasm but his side was killing him.

“Right…” Hitoshi said, but before he could pry more, the door flew open.

“I AM HERE! Coming through the door like a normal person!”

Izuku cracked a small smile at All Might’s entrance while everyone else was in awe. Then the chatter started about how they didn’t know All Might was teaching at UA. Well, Izuku did, so obviously he was just better.

All Might looked over the classroom and his eyes hovered on Izuku for a little too long. Izuku grinned back at him and offered a small wave. The hero returned a nervous smile before clearing his throat.

“Welcome to your first official hero class!”

Izuku zoned out almost immediately. His attention span was not doing it for him today. The only thing that really mattered to him was that everyone got to try on their costumes for the first time! Izuku would be lying if he wasn’t looking forward to that. His Surge costume would always hold the number one place in his heart but he was curious what the standard for UA’s costumes would be.

But wait… his side was injured. If he changed in front of everyone else in the changing room, they’d all be able to see the bandage. And if Hitoshi saw the bandage he’d definitely kill Izuku for not telling anyone about it. Nothing ever worked out like Izuku wanted it to. He barely restrained himself from hitting his forehead on his desk.

“Get yourself suited up, then meet me at Training Ground Beta!”

Izuku took a steadying breath and pushed himself out of his seat. It’d be fine. Whatever they did in class today, he could handle it. And the changing problem…

Izuku and Hitoshi stepped into the locker room last and Izuku hummed quietly. The stalls in the back. That was perfect.

He gave Hitoshi a sideways glance. “Hey, uh… I don’t really feel comfortable changing in front of everyone with my scars and…” He nodded towards the stalls. “I’ll see you outside?”

Hitoshi assessed him for a moment before sighing and nudging him gently. “Alright, I’m excited to see your costume design, you’ve been very secretive about it.”

Izuku grinned at him. “Well guess you’re gonna have to wait and wait out, huh?”

He locked the stall behind him and shrugged off his shirt. He gave a quick one-over of the bandages. They hadn’t bled through, which was good, however… hero training 101 with All Might. What had he said they’d be doing? He hadn’t been paying attention, oops. Guess he’d find out how badly he was fucked once he got on the field.

Suiting up was also a hassle and a half because of the injury, but he managed. Now… time to go to the field he guessed.

He was the last one out and grinned when Hitoshi caught his eye.

“Very Eraserhead inspired,” Izuku said cheekily.

Hitoshi rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I don’t get the need for flashy hero costumes. Yours looks cool though.”

“Wow, my ego is boosted exponentially!” He pulled at his jacket, he’d kept the same red accents he had as Surge, but the main tones were blacks and greys instead of green. However, the most exciting part by far was…

He whipped out his staff and grinned. “Electric staff is back in town! My return will be glorious.”

Hitoshi scoffed and kicked him in the leg, Izuku glared at him. “Shut up, All Might’s talking.”

“Most of the villain fights you see on the news take place outside, however statistically, most run-ins with dastardly evildoers take place indoors! Backroom deals, home invasions, secret underground lairs…”

Izuku had a secret underground lair. He wondered if All Might would count him as a dastardly evildoer.

“For this exercise we’re gonna be splitting into teams of good-guys and bad-guys and fight two-on-two battles indoors. We’ll draw lots for the teams while I explain what you’ll need to do!”

All Might started talking about nuclear missiles and stuff and Izuku couldn’t help but wonder if this was a common scenario. Who just had a nuclear missile hanging out in a building? Izuku had never come across any nuclear missiles before.

He picked up his slip from the box and hummed. He peered over Hitoshi’s shoulder.

“Man, we’re on different teams, we totally would’ve kicked ass!”

Hitoshi snorted. “Whoever has you on their team has an unfair advantage because you have actual experience.”

That might be true, however Izuku was injured, so he wasn’t sure about the advantage part.

“DEKU!”

Izuku blinked and smiled at Katsuki. “Uh, Kacchan?”

Katsuki shoved his slip in Izuku’s face, he had to lean back to read it, but when he did he couldn’t help his smirk.

“Why the hell are we on the same team? This is bullshit! I wanted to kick your ass!” He snarled.

“I’m very sorry Kacchan but I had no control over the lots.”

Katsuki huffed loudly. “Well I’m gonna do better at training than you!” He whirled around.

Hitoshi frowned at Katsuki before patting Izuku’s shoulder. “This is gonna be interesting.”

Izuku sighed. “Yeah… it is. I should go after him so we can start planning, I’ll see after the match?”

Hitoshi grinned at him. “Kick their asses Izuku.”

Notes:

Babe wake up, the yearly update just dropped!

Anyways, some general updates: I was reading through this whole fic earlier and whilst doing this I discovered I had no idea how to separate dialogue and text in the first half (over half?) of this fic. For my own sanity I'm going to try to do some editing on that front, I'll try not to change much content wise and just clarify everything because trying to figure out which character is speaking got confusing for me very fast.

On another note, it's been over a year since I've posted an update and I would just like to say that this fic is still not and (hopefully) will not be abandoned! While it's not my best work (especially the beginning) it definitely holds a special place in my heart and while updates will be infrequent at best, I still want to continue writing this :) I hope you guys enjoyed the update and I'll see you next year HAHA (I am posting this at 6:29am I need sleep god help me)