Tomorrow, Together

by sensibleshroom

Summary:

Sasaki Izuku is grown, in his opinion. In his parents' opinion, he is but an unruly child, set to be unleashed on the whole of 1-A and UA with his siblings. Izuku just wants a nap, Hitoshi wants chaos, and their sister just really wants a girlfriend. In other words: rip All Might. Enter the gremlins.

For someone that can see through the eyes of every parallel universe Izuku he can reach, hindsight is 20/20.

discontinued

I DO NOT GIVE CONSENT TO SCRAPING OF MY FICS AND UPLOADING TO NON-AO3 PLATFORMS.

Chapter 1

“I’m sorry, did you just refer to my brother as a deku? ” Yumu asked politely and the boy stood up.

 

“Who the hell are you?” He demanded and Izuku sighed.

 

“Yumemu, Bakugou Katsuki, Katsuki, Yumemu. My sister. Shut up. We’ve been up since six, it’s too early for this,” he said and Hitoshi pursed his lips before taking a deliberate sip of coffee.

 

“What the fuck, Izuku?” Oh, look at that, he did know Izuku’s name.

 

“And this is Aizawa Hitoshi,” Izuku said and breezed through the door. “You already know Aki. Hitoshi, see my desk anywhere? Where’s Ko?”

 

“Not here yet,” Hitoshi said and pulled his phone out of his pocket to check his texts. “... He’s right behind us.”

 

“Oh, hey, Koji!” Yumu called down the hall and waved at Koji, speeding towards them with his hands moving a mile a minute.

 

“Hi, Yumu! Am I late?” Koji asked and Hitoshi waved.

 

“Nah,” Hitoshi called as he joined their little party. Oh, great. Izuku was behind this Bakugou kid.

 

“Second seat, far row by the windows,” Yumu said to Izuku and he let his hand brush along the desks, counting the rows before coming to a stop next to Bakugou.

 

“You’re right behind me, nerd,” Bakugou said, and wow, this was a variety of things happening at once. Hitoshi yawned into his trusty travel mug, freshly topped off with Dad’s coffee.

 

“Morning, Tenya,” he said and took stock of his classmates. It looked like they were the last to arrive. He recognized a few of them from his practical. There was that girl with the gravity quirk who narrowly missed getting pinned by rubble, that boy with the navel laser or whatever was going on with that, the electric boy… Hitoshi hadn’t gotten any names. He wasn’t exactly a people person. Some kid with a bird head was sitting on a desk, surrounded by a freakishly tall kid with wings and ears and mouths, another girl beside them with earphone jacks dangling from her earlobes, off to the side was a girl who held herself very properly with a very extensive ponytail, another girl with pink skin, some kid with bright red hair hanging by her, a girl with what was obviously a frog quirk, a guy with candy cane hair who seemed intent on not interacting with anyone… The question was who was the other recommendation student?

 

Oh. Neat. Floating uniform. Had she been at his testing site, too? It was hard to notice an invisible person. She seemed busy, if the waving of her uniform arms were anything were anything to go off of, talking to a guy with a big ass tail that was very red. The last person was a plain looking boy with bulging elbows.

 

“Oh, you all already know each other!” The gravity girl piped up and Hitoshi blinked at her.

 

“... Yeah,” he replied shortly, and watched in something akin to amusement as her eyes zeroed in on Yumu, making her way to her desk with Koji, who was blessedly placed near her. Dad had evidently put Izuku and Hitoshi far apart, not wanting to deal with their bullshit, and Hitoshi honestly couldn’t blame him.

 

“I saw you at my testing site!” The girl blurted and he focused back on her.

 

“Yeah. Noticed you, too.”

 

“I’m Uraraka!”

 

“Cool. Aizawa.”

 

“So, uhm,” she was still focused on Yumu. “Did you all go to the same school?”

 

“Something like that,” he replied. “We should probably get in our seats.”

 

“Oh! Right!” The girl jumped and made a beeline to her seat, which was conveniently right next to Yumu. That was going to be fun to watch. Hitoshi filed it away for future teasing purposes.

 

“If you students came here to make friends, you’re in the wrong course.” Dad’s voice broke through the chatter and Hitoshi gave him a side eye. He knew Dad liked to terrify his students on the first day, but did he have to do it in a sleeping bag? This was embarrassing.

 

“Keep your shit up and I will give you something to be embarrassed about.” Maybe they shouldn’t have complained so much about being in his class.

 

Everyone froze as Hitoshi just barely rolled his eyes and made his way to his seat. Dad unzipped his sleeping bag just enough to polish off his jelly packet before he rose up and unzipped the whole thing.

 

“I’m your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta,” he droned as Hitoshi slumped into his desk. “It took you eight seconds to quiet down. You’re not rational enough.”

 

The only students in class that did not react were Hitoshi and his siblings and Tenya and Koji. There was visceral horror at the revelation, and Hitoshi buried his head in his arms.

 

“I’ve never seen a pro hero look so worn out before,” someone whispered near Hitoshi and he scoffed. He had seen plenty of pros look entirely wiped out. It’s just most of them gave more of a fuck than Dad. Dad didn’t care.

 

“This is sudden, but put these on and meet me on the field,” Dad said and Hitoshi peeked out of his arms to look at the gym uniform he pulled out of his bag. “Your uniforms are under your desks. Go change.” And with that he was dragging himself out the door.

 

Huh. Hitoshi was surprised they hadn’t been used for free labor to get the uniforms into position. Was this where Dad had gone for that ten minutes Hitoshi had spent stealing his coffee?

 

He pulled his uniform out from beneath his desk and got up, making his way for the doors.

 

“Uh, where do we change?” Someone asked.

 

“Changing rooms are this way!” Yumu called and the class scrambled to follow her.

 

“Hey!” The redheaded boy said as he jogged to catch up with the three siblings. “Didn’t uh… Sorry, I didn’t catch all of your names, but wasn’t it said your name was Aizawa?”

 

“Yeah,” Hitoshi grunted. He wasn’t expecting the question this fast.

 

“Do you … know our teacher? Is he really a pro?” He asked and Hitoshi resisted the urge to cringe.

 

“Yeah. He’s a pro,” he replied shortly. Was he going to be accused of favoritism so quickly?

 

“So is he like … I’ve never seen him before. Is he underground? He doesn’t look old enough to be your dad, so is he like your cousin or something?”

 

“... You kinda ask a lot of questions, dude,” Hitoshi said and cast him a weird, sidelong glance.

 

“Oh!” The redheaded boy flushed deep red. “‘I’m sorry, that was so unmanly of me! Uh, I’m Kirishima. Sorry. Didn’t even introduce myself!”

 

“Cool,” Hitoshi replied, rather coolly himself.

 

“Uh, sorry, I’ll just…”

 

“He’s not my cousin,” Hitoshi interrupted. “And he’s an underground pro.”

 

“Oh! Cool!”

 

Izuku elbowed Hitoshi and Hitoshi gave him a baleful look he couldn’t see, but Hitoshi was certain he could fucking feel.

 

“What?” He asked flatly.

 

“He’s just curious, you don’t have to be all ‘I’m going to pretend I’m cool and don’t like people so no one knows I’m terrible with people’, Toshi,” Izuku said and Hitoshi rolled his eyes.

 

“Says the one who almost got in a fight the second you entered the classroom,” he shot back and Izuku bumped him.

 

“Not my fault! Anyways, hi, Kirishima, I’m Sasaki Izuku, this is my sister, Sasaki Yumemu, but we all call her Yumu!”

 

“Hi!” Yumu said brightly. “It’s nice to meet you!”

 

“Hi!” Kirishima said. “This is Ashido! We went to Mustafa Middle School together! Where did you guys go?”

 

“Yoyogi Middle School,” Izuku replied. “But we switched to homeschooling when we moved to Mustafa last semester.”

 

“... Oh …” Ashido said and Hitoshi crinkled his nose. Yoyogi was in one of the more affluent areas of Tokyo, which was saying a lot, because Tokyo was affluent to begin with. “Wait, we?”

 

Aaannnddd they already fucked up. Welp.

 

“Girls’ room is right here!” Yumu said brightly. “Boys’ is right down there!”

 

“You guys really know your way around, huh?” Ashido asked in shock, and Yumu shrugged.

 

“Not hard to memorize the map! Let’s go!” And then she was whisking off to the changing room with the crowd of … wow, were there only seven girls? Then again, they were only three off from there being an even amount of boys and girls, but that was awkward.

 

Yumu led the girls into the changing room and got to work, kicking off her indoors shoes and pulling off her clothes as quickly as she could, because Dad did not like lollygagging.

 

“Girl time!” Ashido squealed and Yumu blinked a few times. Girl time? Oh, right. Like when she hung out with Nemuri and Auntie Aika and Auntie Botan. Girl time when they were naked, though? Yumu didn’t really interact with her fellow classmates when she was in middle school. She was the weird girl that always had three guys hanging around her, though Izuku didn’t count because he was her brother, with a weird quirk, and her only female friend was … strange at best. She wasn’t in any clubs because of the afterschool training which was honestly just cram school, and girls in middle school tended to form cliques. Then again, wasn’t Yumu in a clique? By definition it was just a closely knit group that didn’t really accept other people readily enough. Then again, no one had really tried. They were friendly with their peers, but for the most part they looked really weird to all their classmates. Koji was the only one open about his quirk, everyone knew they were training for a heroics course, Izuku was a weirdo, Hitoshi was abrasive and Mei was … unhinged, to most people.

 

“Uhm, we should probably just hurry to the field,” Yumu said carefully.

 

“Wow, Sasaki, you’re muscular!” Ashido exclaimed as Yumu pulled on her pants and readjusted her tank top under her uniform shirt. “You looked so tiny when you walked in!”

 

“I train a lot,” Yumu replied by way of an answer. “Martial arts and parkour.”

 

“That’s so cool!” The invisible girl squeaked. “I’m Hagakure Toru, by the way!”

 

“Hi, Hagakure!” Yumu chirped. “Sasaki Yumemu, nice to meet you!”

 

“I’m Asui Tsuyu, but call me Tsu, kero,” the frog girl with an adorable bow in her hair said. Yumu was just beyond glad she had the sense to shove socks in her pocket before she went out the door. She didn’t want her stockings all sweaty. Sitting down, she pulled on the athletic socks and grinned at how nicely they gripped her instep. It was the little things.

 

“Jirou Kyouka,” the girl with the stylish, punk sort of bob said, and wow, were Tsu and the tall girl the only ones with long hair?

 

“Ashido Mina!” Ashido said.

 

“Uhm, I’m Uraraka Ochako!” Uraraka said. “It’s nice to meet everyone!”

 

“Yaoyorozu Momo,” the tall girl said smoothly. “It’s a pleasure. It’s rare that a hero course class is almost half female.”

 

“We must all be pretty kickass!” Uraraka said happily and pumped her fists in the air.

 

“D… our teacher is going to be pretty upset if we don’t hurry,” Yumu said quickly, and gods, this was going to be a nightmare, not slipping up. Why did polyamorous relationships have to be so complicated?

 

Then again, she wouldn’t want to claim Dad after that entrance. How mortifying. Poor Hitoshi.

 

“Right! What do you think we’re doing on the field?”

 

“Something important, if we aren’t heading to orientation,” Yumu said dryly. “Let’s go! I bet we can beat the boys!”

 

“Hey, uhm, Sasaki? I didn’t see your brother on the rankings they sent in the video,” Uraraka said awkwardly and Yumu pulled on her indoor shoes and stood up.

 

“He was recommended. I opted to take the entrance exam. Our papa didn’t think it was the appropriate time to test Aki in that kind of crowd,” Yumu said and popped her neck before cracking all of her knuckles. Uraraka watched her with wide, wide eyes.

 

“Aki? Is that the guide dog?”

 

“Yeah,” Yumu replied. “It’s honestly a pity he didn’t take the entrance exam. If Aki managed to pull through, Izuku probably would have taken the top spot.”

 

And with that statement, Yumu was sweeping out of the room, leaving everyone wondering just what kind of quirk Izuku had. They definitely weren’t going to find out today.

 

Even with stopping for their outdoor shoes, the girls did, in fact, beat the majority of the boys to the field. Dad was standing there, attaching the reader to his phone, and he gave Yumu the stink eye for not arriving before anyone else, since Yaoyorozu came with her, and the red and white haired boy got there before them. Yumu just gave him her trademark sunshine smile and dropped into her stretches.

 

“... What are you doing?” Yaoyorozu asked and Yumu blinked up at her.

 

“... We’re outside in gym uniforms. Obviously we need to stretch,” she replied and Yaoyorozu blinked.

 

“Oh. I was homeschooled. I didn’t realize these are…”

 

“Didn’t you watch TV?” Yumu teased. “Come stretch with me.”

 

“Of course!” Yaoyorozu said and joined Yumu into Yumu’s basic warm-up routine as the other students started to filter down to the green. The boy with red and white hair stretched by himself off to the side, and Hitoshi plopped in front of Yumu so the two of them could brace their feet against each other’s ankles and take turns pulling each other flat. Yumu’s back popped and she let out a sigh of relief.

 

“You didn’t do your stretches this morning,” Hitoshi said accusingly.

 

“I couldn’t find my bobby pin!” Yumu retorted.

 

“You have like three hundred bobby pins, how do you always lose them?” Hitoshi asked.

 

“Carefully.” Yumu stood back up and snapped her hair tie off her wrist to wrap up her hair into something that might constitute a ponytail. “And I do not have three hundred bobby pins. It’s more like. Two hundred. Probably. It could possibly be five hundred.”

 

“I’m telling Kazane.”

 

“I will throw you across this field,” Yumu threatened as Izuku finished up his stretches with Aki and strolled up to them.

 

“Our classmates are going to think you two are feral if you keep it up,” Izuku said lazily.

 

“They already think we’re feral,” Yumu replied as Koji finished his heel touches and joined them as the last student came rushing in. He was the tall one with the wing things. Yumu could understand why he was late. The uniform shirt looked a little tight around his extra appendages. They hadn’t gotten the measurements right.

 

“Ten minutes,” Dad drawled as he arrived. “We’ll have to work on that. Shouji, if your shirt doesn’t fit, let Present Mic know and he’ll work with the uniform service to get you new ones.”

 

“Your ponytail is crooked,” Hitoshi whispered to Yumu and she elbowed him in the gut.

 

“Shut up, ” she hissed.

 

“If you’re all done gossiping, we can get started,” Dad said dryly. “We’re doing a quirk apprehension test.”

 

“Uhm, sir?” Dear gods, this was going to be so weird. Dad being called sir? The brown haired girl raised her hand awkwardly. “Don’t we have orientation?”

 

“UA has a freestyle education system, which means I can skip orientation if I want. It’s not logical, and a waste of time,” Dad said flatly. “And I don’t like wasted time. You all took physical evaluations when you were in middle school, but the Education Department didn’t allow quirk usage. It’s not logical. We’re rectifying that today. Same tests, but you use your quirks.”

 

Oh, no. Dad was on his logical pedestal again. As if he couldn’t be more embarrassing.

 

“Bakugou. You came in first place on the exam,” Dad said shortly and tossed him a ball with a band wrapped around it. Bakugou caught it and blinked.

 

“Yeah,” he said with a grunt.

 

“Step into the circle and throw this as far as you can. Use your quirk,” Dad ordered and Bakugou scoffed lightly before walking into the circle and winding back.

 

“DIE!” Bakugou roared, and a massive explosion lit the field up with orange as the reader on Dad’s phone whirred and beeped.

 

“705 meters,” Dad read out and everyone broke out into chattering, Kirishima again declaring it manly, he must have a complex, excitement and wonder overtaking the field as Bakugou slunk back out to the group.

 

“Oh, this sounds like fun!” Ashido squealed as the class burst into murmurs and Yumu barely resisted the urge to facepalm. Great.

 

“Fun?” Dad repeated severely and Yumu scrunched up her nose. “You think this is fun? This is the heroics course. You’re not here to have fun. Last place gets expelled, since you don’t want to take this seriously.”

 

The field exploded and Yumu quietly sighed as Koji shifted awkwardly next to her.

 

“But that’s not fair!” Uraraka exclaimed and Yumu rubbed at her eyes, preparing herself for the age-old lecture on what is fair in heroics.

 

“Fair? You think the life of a hero is fair? Natural disasters, villain attacks, none of that is fair. Sacrificing your body every time you go out to save a life isn’t fair. Never knowing when the next day is going to be your last isn’t fair. If you want fairness, step up now, and I will gladly send you to Gen Ed,” Dad barked and the class fell silent, shifting awkwardly. He gave them a severe glare before turning to Izuku.

 

“Sasaki, have Aki go get the ball, please,” he said and Izuku nudged Aki.

 

“He’d have to sniff him,” he warned Dad, and Dad shrugged.

 

“Just get the ball, please. Bakugou, let him sniff you.”

 

Bakugou huffed and slouched over to Aki, letting his hand reach out for Aki to sniff it.

 

“Go get the ball, please,” Izuku said and Aki buried his nose into Bakugou’s hand, sniffing hard, smearing his wet nose all over his wrist before taking off at an easy lope in the direction of the ball.

 

“Now, let’s start,” Dad said with an evil grin, and Yumu sighed. Her quirk was going to be useless for this. The most she could do was impede other people, and that just wasn’t cool. Her hands flexed in her gloves and she prepared herself for a long day. At least she could probably keep herself a few spots above other students.

 

The tests were a breeze, honestly. Yumu had spent a lot of her independent training on building her endurance. She could run at a dead sprint for at least thirty minutes, and if she paced herself she could go for at least an hour and a half without needing to stop. Dad had hauled down water bottles for everyone, so she didn’t have to worry about dehydration. Out of the three siblings, only Hitoshi used his quirk. Tenya had just sighed when Hitoshi turned to him and asked if he could use his quirk, barely got through his reply before Hitoshi ordered him to pick him up and carry him. Shouji carried him through on the grip strength test, Hitoshi placing his hand over his and looking Dad dead in the eye.

 

Yaoyorozu was smart. Possibly too smart, but Yumu appreciated that. In terms of endurance, Yumu beat out everyone there but Yaoyorozu. Yumu just kept running and running, not worrying about times or anything like that, and Dad eventually told them both to stop. Yumu was impressed that not only did the girl have the schematics and chemical compounds of a Vespa memorized, but she could actually ride one. A motorcycle, apparently, took too many lipids, but she could ride one of those, too. Yumu’s brain was already swirling at the connotations of her quirk in relation to her body. She was spending too much time with Izuku, but her gut told her Yaoyorozu should have more weight on her. Not a whole lot, because with her quirk the drastic weight gain and loss would be hard on her body, but she should definitely be beefier. It was clear she’d been training a lot.

 

Examining the quirks around her was fun. Bakugou had clearly been training hard, his arms were massive, and he had to be taking calcium supplements because there was no way he wasn’t constantly dealing with stress fractures in his wrists. Uraraka was clever with her quirk, lightening her clothes to let her run faster in the sprints Yumu still beat her at. Tsu was just precious, she was going to be a fan favorite with kids, and with a little strength training her kicks were definitely going to be Mirko levels of killer. Yumu had to wonder if her skin secreted poison. It was something worth wondering at, because Yumu needed skin contact for her quirk, and she had to worry about these things.

 

Ashido’s quirk was pretty great, but dear gods, did Yumu hope she was good at chemistry and could control the level of acidity. Those poor shoes had to be expensive. Jirou was in Yumu’s boat and couldn’t use her quirk a whole lot, unfortunately. Hagakure was struggling, but Yumu had a feeling she was tricking out the sensors, which still counted as using her quirk, and Dad definitely noticed and said nothing.

 

The ball throw test was going to be a mess. Yumu could already tell. She threw the ball pretty hard, earning herself a solid ninety meters. Already people were murmuring, wondering when she was going to show her quirk, and Yumu ignored it. Some people were giving Hitoshi sidelong glances, visibly uncomfortable even though Tenya and Shouji did not seem to give two shits. Izuku hadn’t lifted his visor yet.

 

“Koda Koji,” Dad said and Koji shuffled into the circle before turning to sign rapidly at Dad.

 

“I don’t have a problem with it, but ask Izuku,” Dad replied with a shrug, and Koji turned so he could sign at the clump of siblings.

 

“Can I use Aki?” Yumu translated and Izuku shrugged.

 

“Make him look good,” was all he said and Koji nodded several times before taking a deep breath. He hadn’t used his quirk yet, either, but he trained independently with the siblings and kept up on it when they moved away from Tokyo, so he was at the middle of the bottom of the pack with Izuku and Yumu, too.

 

“Aki,” he whispered. “Please catch the ball and run as far as you want in a straight line!”

 

Aki stiffened and then broke into a dead sprint as Koji threw the ball high into the air. The dog’s eyes zeroed in on the ball and everyone broke out into murmurs that he wasn’t going to catch it. Hitoshi huffed out a laugh next to Yumu, who rolled her eyes.

 

“Don’t ruin the surprise!” She whispered, and then Aki jumped.

 

Aki had trained just as much as them, and he was a beast. The average bored treeing walker hound without enough stimuli could jump a good six feet, but Aki’s record was ten, and Yumu was pretty sure he was reaching that height as he leapt through the air to snatch the tiny ball up and hit the ground easily to keep bolting towards the treeline and disappear.

 

Everyone waited a good ten seconds as Koji twisted his hands anxiously in the circle. Dad sighed as he kept watching the reader on his phone.

 

“This is why I told you not to skip the morning run, Izuku,” Hitoshi whispered, and Izuku shrugged.

 

“Something told me I shouldn’t,” he replied smugly.

 

“Uhm… Is it going to come back?” The boy with the tape in his elbows asked awkwardly.

 

“He. And he’s got a lot of energy to burn, give him a break,” Izuku replied. “We’re going to be waiting awhile.”

 

“He can really jump,” Kirishima said in awe. “That’s a manly dog, dude!”

 

“Aki is the best,” Izuku said firmly. “He’s trained as a guide dog, attack dog, bomb and drug sniffer, and in sniffing out people in a disaster zone.”

 

“Wow. He’s really smart,” the electric boy said.

 

“Yeah. He’s great,” Izuku said with a big grin on his face as Dad rubbed at his eyes in exasperation, because Aki was still going.

 

“He’s definitely having fun right now,” Yumu commented with a little laugh.

 

“What’s your quirk, dude?” Kirishima asked Koji, who awkwardly scratched behind his head.

 

“Animal Whisperer,” Hitoshi supplied. “He can politely ask animals to do things for him, and for the most part, they listen. Mainly because they like him.”

 

“Oh, wow, that’s really useful! What a cool quirk!”

 

“You should see the things he can do with crows,” Yumu said slyly and Koji flushed bright red.

 

“Don’t tell them about that!” He protested to Hitoshi’s translation and Dad narrowed his eyes on them. There had been a unanimous decision that he would never hear of the Tone Incident. He’d really straightened up, even made it into Shiketsu, but the crows had definitely been a humbling experience for him. Yumu was pretty sure he’d developed a healthy fear of birds after that.

 

“1742 meters,” Dad droned out and everyone blinked.

 

“He ran that far? ” Someone gasped.

 

“He runs about thirteen kilometers every morning with me and Yumu,” Izuku said with a shrug. “He likes running.”

 

“You’ve got a healthy workout schedule, dude!” Kirishima exclaimed. Yumu’s lips quirked. He didn’t know the half of it. It was a workout in and of itself to get Hitoshi out of bed to join them with Dad.

 

It took awhile for Aki to return with the ball, and in that time they went through four separate people. Shouji had one hell of an arm, and when Uraraka stepped up Yumu squirmed in excitement. Looking up at the sky, the girl wound up her arm and just … gently tossed it up. The ball floated… and floated… and floated… until it just disappeared. Dad’s phone made a weird noise and he sighed before turning it back around.

 

“Infinity,” he said, and Bakugou made a weird noise while Hitoshi whistled lowly.

 

Aki came jogging back up, happily slobbering all over the ball, which he dropped at Dad’s feet and looked up at him with his tail wagging steadily. Dad stared down at him in silence and the class snickered quietly.

 

“What?” He asked flatly, and Yumu took delight in his hand twitching. He really wanted to throw that ball for him.

 

“Aki, heel,” Izuku ordered even as Yumu coughed into her hand. He shouldn’t have taken pity on him.

 

“Sasaki, you’re up,” Dad said.

 

“Which one?” The two chorused as one and he gave them a sidelong glare.

 

“The one that hasn’t gone yet,” he replied sharply. Izuku grinned and flicked up his visor, and, oh, he was finally getting into his quirk. Moving forward without Aki, he found his way into the circle as the ring around his irises flickered a mile a minute, glowing bright in the morning sun. Dad handed him the ball, didn’t toss it for once, and Izuku tossed it up and caught it once before pausing and letting out a bright, disbelieving laugh.

 

“Before you get mad at me, this is a 98% success rate,” he said and suddenly turned as his eyes lit on fire.

 

And then he chucked the ball right at Bakugou’s face.

 

Chaos struck as Bakugou let out a noise between a yelp and a “fuck” and lifted his hand on instinct, his quirk firing off to send the ball soaring into the air as Dad visibly bit back a groan. All of the students started exclaiming, some swears went around, and the reader beeped.

 

“706 meters,” Dad drawled and frowned at Izuku. “Don’t pull that shit again.”

 

“Deku, what the fuck?” Bakugou screeched and stomped towards him, explosions firing off, and Dad reacted on instinct, his scarves wrapping around Izuku and yanking him back as his hair lifted up and eyes lit up to cancel out Bakugou’s quirk. Bakugou pulled to a stop, spluttering.

 

“Not saying Sasaki should have done that, but try to keep brawls to a minimum and not in front of your teacher,” Dad said dryly. “Sasaki, cleaning duty.”

 

“What did you do to my quirk?” Bakugou demanded.

 

“I canceled it,” Dad replied and Uraraka perked up.

 

“Oh my gods, you’re Eraserhead!” She hissed and Dad blinked, effectively giving Bakugou his quirk back. His hair fell down and he released Izuku with an irritated huff.

 

“Wait, did he even use his quirk?” Kirishima asked in confusion.

 

“Yes. Jirou, you’re up,” Dad replied, hellbent on getting the class moving. Yumu didn’t blame him. Getting clocked by a student on the unofficial first day after someone tried to attack your kid after your kid threw a ball at his face when the kid kept calling your child useless had to be one hell of a ride. Was UA always so chaotic? She didn’t remember his last class being this messy.

 

Also, the student had no idea he was insulting someone in front of their parent, who was also his teacher.

 

This was a mess.

 

The rest of the tests moved along and Yumu kept a suspicious eye on that Bakugou kid, who evidently was heated over a great many things, judging from that awful personality. He had been glaring at Izuku since he walked into the class, but now he was flat out refusing to look at him entirely. Yumu wasn’t sure why that even mattered, Izuku had no way of knowing if Bakugou was looking at him or not with his visor down, but whatever.

 

She was going to get a chance to pulverize him eventually, and she was going to relish it. Izuku didn’t talk about his time before he came to Papa, but she knew it wasn’t exactly a happy time outside of Inko, and she had a pretty good feeling this kid had something to do with it.

 

When Dad pulled out the scoring at the end of it all, Yumu was pleasantly surprised to find herself decently close to the middle of the pack. But the numbers didn’t add up, and … oh.

 

Hagakure was on the bottom. The girl was right next to Yumu, shaking slightly, and Yumu bumped her shoulder. Dad wasn’t going to expel her. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t have as much training as everyone else and had a difficult quirk. She had room to grow.

 

“No one’s going home today,” Dad said over the quiet murmurs. “It was a logical ruse to get you to pull out your best.”

 

The scoring made no sense, and he clicked it off before anyone could do the math and question what he was actually judging them on, which was a combination of factors. The scores were the main point, which was why Yumu wasn’t up higher, but he also rated students based on the level of training they showed, quirk creativity, which was a big fat zero for Yumu because she hadn’t used hers, innovation, and that “secret potential” she thought was utter bullshit. He probably gave all the siblings and Koji an average scoring on that, because favoritism could really leak in on that.

 

“What?” The class exploded into outrage and indignation, and Yaoyorozu furrowed her brows.

 

“Wasn’t it obvious?” She asked curiously. “Of course he wasn’t going to expel anyone before the semester even started.”

 

Yumu didn’t have the heart to tell her he’d once expelled an entire class on orientation day. Every last one of the students, even Bakugou, had rescue points, and a lot of them. It meant something. He wasn’t going to just kick anyone this time around.

 

“That’s all for today,” Dad said gruffly. “You all can leave. Be back in time for homeroom tomorrow.”

 

The class broke, still evidently feeling discontent at the whole thing, and Yumu fell in step between her two brothers as they all made their way to the first years’ genkan and the changing rooms.

 

“You didn’t use your quirk,” Hitoshi finally said and Yumu snorted.

 

“What was I gonna do with my quirk in this scenario?” She asked flatly. “Just ruin everyone else’s scores? He didn’t say we could attack anyone to get ahead.”

 

“Mmm,” Hitoshi agreed and Izuku bumped Yumu’s shoulder. She gave him a measured look, debating on asking just who that Bakugou kid thought he was to Izuku, and decided against it, mainly because the kid in question was right in front of them.

 

There was an interrogation in order later.

 

“Should we just head home or wait for them?”

 

“Well, I apparently have to clean the classroom,” Izuku said dryly and Yumu snorted.

 

“Should have thrown it harder.”

 

Bakugou glanced over his shoulder, eyes narrowing dangerously, and Yumu gave him a sharp smile that promised daggers in his future. He scoffed and looked ahead again, likely dismissing her because she clearly didn’t have a good quirk, and oh, boy, she could not wait for the chance to go toe to toe with him. Those explosions were big and powerful and fast, but that didn’t mean shit if he thought he could get close to her. She was going to eat him for breakfast.

 

It didn’t take long to reach the changing rooms and Yumu found herself in a gaggle of girls hellbent on making friends, which she didn’t really mind. She knew her and her brothers and their only two friends they straight up just shared with each other had a bad habit of getting too exclusive.

 

“Sasaki, why didn’t you use your quirk?” Uraraka asked curiously as Yumu pulled off the overshirt and folded it up. She’d need to take the uniform home and wash it. It didn’t smell like her detergent.

 

“Wouldn’t have worked for anything,” Yumu replied with a shrug. “It uh, only works in certain scenarios.”

 

It only works on living, sentient things went unsaid, because people were already pretty anxious about Hitoshi’s quirk, didn’t need to know Yumu’s was even creepier. Well. Some of the boys were. The girls all seemed pretty decent about it, not even batting an eye. Only Sero, the tape boy, was obviously jumpy about it, but he hadn’t glared at Hitoshi or anything, just squirmed a little like he was conflicted on how he was supposed to feel. Maybe because Hitoshi was using other people to get his scores. Yumu was going to have to keep an eye on that one.

 

Hitoshi had also gotten the most rescue points on the exam. To be exact, he had forty-two. Yumu had coasted in on thirty-seven. Everyone could see their scoring, so everyone knew Hitoshi was a good guy.

 

“Is it a five point touch quirk?” Uraraka suddenly asked and then flinched. “I, uh, noticed your gloves. I have to wear them when I sleep.”

 

“It is,” Yumu confirmed as she buttoned up her top. Thank gods for artist gloves. Fumbling with buttons with regular gloves on was a pain. The tie was tightened and she tucked in her shirt before casting about for her stockings. “I thought the way you used your quirk was pretty cool!”

 

“Oh! Uhm, thank you!” Uraraka squeaked. “You did really well for not using your quirk the whole time. Do you have training?”

 

“Yeah. Me and Izuku trained with Hitoshi,” Yumu said. “They trained for six years, I’ve been training for about three or so.”

 

“So, Sasaki,” Yaoyorozu piped up. “Forgive me if this question is intrusive, you don’t have to answer, but you mentioned that your brother was recommended?”

 

“Yeah. I wanted to take the entrance exam with everyone else, but Papa put his foot down with Izuku,” Yumu answered.

 

“If you don’t mind my asking, who recommended him? Does your father have connections to heroes?”

 

Yumu raised an eyebrow at that as she loosened her hair and shook it out. Definitely time for a wash.

 

“What makes you think my papa isn’t a hero?” She asked dryly and Yaoyorozu blinked.

 

“Oh, he is?”

 

“Who’s your dad?” Ashido asked, butting into the conversation as Yumu sat down to roll on her stockings. The question almost made her snort. Her dad just gave the entire class an existential crisis like the asshole he was.

 

“My papa is Sasaki Mirai. Sir Nighteye,” Yumu replied. And her pops was Present Mic. And her dad was Eraserhead. She was starring in a shoujo, she was certain of it.

 

You could hear a pin drop. Every girl in the room just stared at Yumu as she kept pulling on her stockings without a care in the world.

 

“... Your dad is the only sidekick All Might ever worked with in Japan?” Hagakure asked and then squealed. “Oh, wow, I thought it was cool that I was going to school with Endeavor’s son, but that is so much cooler! What is All Might like?”

 

Yumu winced at the question. She desperately just wanted to say he was a bastard that broke her papa’s heart, but she couldn’t exactly do that.

 

“I’ve never met him,” she answered shortly as she got her shoes back on. “Papa hasn’t seen him in six years.”

 

That was another annoying thing. People only knew her papa because of All Might, but he was a brilliant hero in his own right. His capture rate was astronomical, but because he wasn’t on the news, being flashy and wild and dragging out fights for ratings, he wasn’t “cool”. Heroes relied on him for the information he and his two sidekicks gathered, but because he kept operations small, everyone assumed he wasn’t well off. It wasn’t about quantity, it was about quality.

 

Six years later, and Papa was still in All Might’s shadow. It was frustrating to watch.

 

“Oh… Should I not have asked that?” Hagakure asked awkwardly, and Yumu forced herself to flash her a disarming, bright smile.

 

“No, it’s okay, you’re just curious! Everyone wants to know about All Might,” she said, even if it physically grated her to say it. The only thing she wanted to know about All Might was if he was still doing his damn job and staying away from her papa, the way he should be.

 

And now he was going to be one of her teachers. Aggravating. Papa hadn’t said a single thing about it, only lectured them on being polite to all of their teachers and listening to their instructions, and All Might’s name hadn’t passed through his lips once. Why did Cordelia insist on stepping back from Foundational Heroics? Yumu would have killed to learn under her. She loved Cordelia.

 

“Well, I gotta wait for Izuku to clean the classroom!” Yumu said brightly and made for the door like a bat out of hell. That definitely could have gone better.

 

Wait. Endeavor’s kid?

Chapter 2

The kids were sprawled across the furniture in basically every position known to man. Shouta wasn’t even sure how Yumu wasn’t getting the blood in her head in that position, upside down with her phone right in her face while Izuku brushed out Aki right next to the couch just to make sure all of that hair was going to go somewhere. Why couldn’t he brush him in the genkan or outside?

 

Whatever. Tomorrow was their first official day, and he was incredibly concerned about them actually listening to instructions and their teachers. Well. He wasn’t worried about most of the staff. They listened to Hizashi better than him, and loved every last one of his coworkers. What he was worried about was Foundational Heroics, because they definitely did not love that teacher, and were absolutely going to throw a fit in their own scheming, conniving way. He wasn’t looking forward to the fallout, and looking at All Might’s lesson plans… there was definitely going to be a fallout.

 

Oh, well.

 

On the plus side, perhaps Botan coming over would help them expel some of that building chaotic energy. While they all loved Aika, Botan definitely held a special place in their hearts for “worst possible aunt”. In a loving way, of course. Botan was about as out of control as the rest of them. She wasn’t allowed to babysit.

 

Hizashi and Mirai were both on patrol and whatever it was Mirai was doing today, he rarely patrolled nowadays, which left food to Shouta. Or lack thereof. Hizashi had frozen food to heat up labeled in the freezer, so maybe Shouta would do that, or buy some bentos from the convenience store just for the sake of convenience. He could possibly cook something, but nothing in the fridge was something he could actually make edible.

 

Shouta’s phone buzzed with a text and he checked the notification.

 

Botan: Picked up pizza, I’m not eating your food.

 

Shouta: I was just going to heat some of Hizashi’s frozen meals.

 

Botan: Consider this: I just really want pizza.

 

Shouta stared at the text for a long moment before quietly sighing and giving in to her demands. There was no arguing with Botan.

 

Shouta: What time is your patrol?

 

Botan: As an independent underground hero, you should know the answer to that shameful question.

 

Shouta: “Whenever I want”, yes, yes, I KNOW, but what time are you LEAVING?

 

Botan: 10ish. Maybe 11 if I’m feeling frisky.

 

Shouta: So 12.

 

Botan: I can revoke the blessing of your marriage anytime I choose.

 

Shouta: I’m sure.

 

Shouta: Kids have been partial to cheese and honey lately, can you grab one?

 

Botan: … All three of them?

 

Shouta: Yes.

 

Botan: … I’ll get three.

 

Shouta: They do not need a pizza each.

 

Shouta: …. get two

 

Shouta: I have cash to pay you back. Or do you want PayPal?

 

Botan: It’s two pizzas, Shou, it’s fine, these are my brother’s kids. Be there soon.

 

Shouta: Cash it is. Thanks.

 

Botan: (￣︿￣)

 

Shouta: Great see you soon.

 

Shouta tossed his phone onto the counter and made for the living room.

 

“Izuku. I hope you’re prepared to wipe down the couch after brushing him right there,” Shouta said dryly as he flopped onto the couch. “Botan’s on her way with pizza.”

 

“Is she getting cheese and honey?” Hitoshi asked, not looking up from his phone.

 

“Yes, she’s bringing cheese and honey,” Shouta replied and rubbed at his eyes. He’d better not be having another migraine tonight. Last night had been a nightmare, he almost ran into quirk overuse. It was a good thing he was slated for tonight off. He was basically off every night Hizashi and Mirai were both working nowadays. It was rare that he could get a day off with both of them, but once summer came around, time together would be easier. Honestly, he needed to cut down patrol hours, but he just couldn’t justify it. Bills weren’t going to pay themselves. Hizashi and Mirai were of the opinion that he could, they could easily handle the bills and buying shit for the kids, but Shouta just couldn’t let it go. He understood he was in the best position to cut down on hero hours so the kids were around someone more. After all, he wasn’t the literal brain of Tokyo or a limelight hero, but so few heroes were patrolling the slums of Mustafa nowadays. There had been a resurgence of vigilantes community policing nowadays, and if he cut back, they could start popping up in Mustafa, and he really hated being forced to go after vigilantes in poverty stricken areas. He got it. He really did. Heroes got paid by both the Commission for the amount of their arrests and by the property taxes of the areas their patrol routes they were based in. Most heroes angled for well-to-do areas, even if it brought down their arrests, simply because they were guaranteed that paycheck.

 

Shouta honestly hated that he was paid for his arrests. He’d rather go off the property taxes, but the majority of his paycheck was based on the arrests. For the most part, he religiously ignored non violent crimes, but there were just so many violent encounters in the slums he came across, and he was getting tired. He was only thirty, and he knew that wasn’t old, but it was also ancient for an underground hero, and his body was starting to feel it in a way that he just hadn’t in his younger years. What he wouldn’t give to be twenty-two again.

 

“Dad, you’re making noises again,” Yumu said from the ground and he opened a lone eye to glare down at her.

 

“And?” He hadn’t even noticed. Whoops.

 

“Mmm. Just pointing it out,” she said and he tilted his head. Her face was looking a little red.

 

“Your blood is all in your face. Aren’t you lightheaded?”

 

“No more lightheaded than when you decided to make a first impression by coming in in a sleeping bag, ” she shot back and Shouta remembered that ah, yes, Izuku needed a talking to.

 

“Speaking of class…” He narrowed his eyes on Izuku. “What the hell was that?”

 

“A ninety-eight percent success rate,” Izuku replied with a shrug. “I cleaned the classroom, didn’t I?”

 

“Yes, that was your punishment from me as a teacher, but what on earth possessed you to throw a ball at a random kid? Were there no other options?” Shouta challenged and Izuku hummed. “You knew damn well that even without using your quirk you would not be on the bottom. Those two girls were not half as trained as you.”

 

“You get Papa to recommend me and then you get mad that I have to perform on the level of a recommended student,” Izuku complained.

 

“Assaulting a classmate is not performing on the level of a recommended student.”

 

“Is it even assault if I knew it wasn’t going to hit him?” Izuku challenged and Shouta stared at him in disbelief.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Are you really going to act like he didn’t deserve it?” Yumu asked petulantly.

 

“It doesn’t matter if he deserved it, it matters if Izuku is acting right, don’t you encourage him,” Shouta shot back.

 

“I will not throw balls at any more of my classmates.”

 

“You aren’t even remotely sorry.”

 

“Of course I’m not. It was Katsuki. I had to let him know right away that he’s not going to be shoving me around,” Izuku replied with a shrug and Shouta paused at that.

 

“So, is that what was going on with the kid calling you a deku?”

 

“It’s a childhood nickname,” Izuku replied quietly as Shouta tried to understand why anyone got away with calling his kid fucking useless. That did not sound like something Inko would allow. Or did she not know? How much did Izuku hide from her?

 

But that wasn’t the problem. The problem was Izuku throwing a ball directly at the face of a kid he had not seen in six or more years.

 

“So you felt like you had to take preemptive measures to make sure a kid that you have presumably not seen for six or more years wouldn’t bother you,” he stated flatly. “And this was in no way about revenge.”

 

“If it was about revenge, I would have made sure it hit him,” Izuku replied with a shrug. “It was a warning shot. That’s all.”

 

“Did you consider that you could actually just talk to him?” Shouta asked dryly and Izuku scoffed.

 

“If he was going to still call me that right after seeing me, no, I did not even consider that. What would the point be?”

 

That was … a point, but Izuku could have at least tried. Gods, Shouta hated trying to talk things out with his kids to make sure they understood what they did was wrong. Especially Izuku, because by the time Shouta got to the point, he had already examined every angle. It was like trying to raise a 100 year old man. Izuku just knew everything and allowed for everything, and made every decision firmly without apologies.

 

“Okay, just to clarify, you understand what you did was wrong, even if it had good reasons, right?” Shouta asked and Izuku wrinkled his nose.

 

“If it had good reasons, it wasn’t wrong.”

 

“That’s not how that works.”

 

“Sure it does.”

 

Shouta was going to bang his head into a wall with this damn kid.

 

“I’m going to remind you that you may be able to see the short term consequences of your actions, but you can’t actually see the long term results.”

 

“Yes, but I’m pretty sure I’m practiced enough that I can make a reasonably educated guess,” Izuku shot back and Shouta rubbed his eyes.

 

“Then I hope you understand the consequence that’s about to bite you in the ass.”

 

“Grounded?”

 

“Yep. Fucking grounded. You can have your phone back tomorrow. Hand it over.”

 

Shouta was going to forever regret instilling the concepts of patience and apathy in his kids from a young age, because Izuku barely seemed to give a shit as he handed over the cellphone. There were literally no reasonable ways to punish these kids nowadays. Absolutely nothing got under their skin. Gods, why were his kids so mature? He could not do anything with them. They understood something was bad, they did it, and they just surrendered to the consequences and accepted them before they even came.

 

How could three kids be so much trouble and so low maintenance at the same time? It was beyond him.

 

There was a knock on the front door and Hitoshi immediately rose to go get it. Botan was here, apparently.

 

Botan was one of Shouta’s favorite underground heroes to team up with. He loved working with her. She was an ambush predator, just like him, and her quirk was honestly just fun to work with. Eraserhead was already considered terrifying, but Radio Silence and Eraserhead together were considered a high level threat.

 

Her quirk was unassuming, at first. Hizashi had never outright confirmed quirk marriage, but it was clear as day that it had been the case with his parents, and Botan was it “backfiring”. Hizashi’s parents wanted heroes, and Botan had been considered even more of a failure than Hizashi. She had been born with nonfunctional vocal cords, meaning they were there, they could move and operate the way they should to protect her windpipe, but they could not vibrate the way other cords could. They had thought she couldn’t breathe when she came out, panicked, until they figured out her chest was rising and falling just fine, and she was trying, she just couldn’t do it.

 

When her quirk came in, everything made sense. She could mute any noise, any noise at all. Objectively, she could have actually handled that little Bakugou problem earlier, simply because the concussive blasts from explosions were sound waves. It had been dismissed as a useless quirk, and equal parts hero worship for Hizashi and spite for her parents had challenged her to rise above and beyond and become one of the best damn underground heroes out there. She had graduated from Himitsu Academy, one of the most prestigious and secretive hero schools in Japan, exclusively focusing their heroics course on training underground pros. While it was not nearly as famous as UA or Shiketsu, in heroics circles, it was considered the same in terms of quality, next to Kyuseishu, which exclusively focused on rescue heroes.

 

Radio Silence was a nightmare to deal with. Shouta had taught her how to use a capture scarf, so people commonly got the two of them mixed up. It was actually funny to see people try desperately to find out on forums which of them had made an arrest without actual access to the paperwork. In a way, she was one of his successors. Granted, he was only four years older than her, and Hitoshi or Yumu were probably going to be his official successor, but she was pretty close, and would likely be giving one of the two guidance when it came time for it.

 

There was shuffling in the genkan and Hitoshi came back out with four pizzas in his hands while Botan took off her shoes.

 

“Hey, Bo,” Shouta called and there was a clap of acknowledgement.

 

“Hi, Auntie Botan!” Izuku called. Botan stuck her head out and clapped again to say hi, and Izuku perked up. “I got grounded for throwing a ball at a kid’s face today!”

 

Botan’s brows furrowed at that and she tilted her head at Shouta, her red hair, shaved down on the sides and bouncing into frizzy curls in a mohawk falling slightly to the left.

 

“What did he do?” She asked and Shouta groaned, rubbing at his eyes as Hitoshi set down the pizza boxes.

 

“Some kid he apparently knew pre-Mir is in my class and called him a fucking deku right off the bat, so Izuku figured out a way to justify throwing a baseball at his face.”

 

“It’s a nickname,” Izuku said as he flicked up his visor so he could avoid having to communicate with electronics.

 

“Sounds like a fucked nickname,” Botan replied with a crinkle of her hooked nose.

 

“I used to call him Kacchan. I think embarrassing nicknames were going around a lot back then,” Izuku replied and Yumu choked on air.

 

“You called that raging spitball of fury Kacchan? ” She asked in disbelief, and oh, no, Yumu didn’t like him at all. Shouta really hoped she wasn’t going to get paired up against him any time soon. He was probably primarily short range right now with the occasional long range hit. That wouldn’t go over well. He wouldn’t even know to protect himself.

 

“Yeah. His mom and mine were best friends,” Izuku said as his eyes flicked around the room, focusing and unfocusing at random, and Shouta was getting a headache just looking at that.

 

Wait. Their moms were best friends? As far as he recalled, Bakugou was on paperwork as only being under the custody of one Bakugou Masaru. There was no mom, but it wasn’t like he could ask Izuku about confidential information like that. Maybe they divorced? But most moms ended up with custody. There was no mother listed at all on his paperwork, no joint decisions, no two phone numbers to call in an emergency, no…

 

Nope. Nope, he was not going to stick his nose into that. Though that was incredibly concerning, given that Inko was apparently this woman’s best friend at some point. Two mothers out of the picture, bad blood running like a fucking river between the two remaining sons… Dammit. Shouta was going to have to keep an eye on them. What a headache.

 

At least he was apparently in therapy. All incoming heroics students were required to have a psych eval to list their triggers and phobias if they had any, just so teachers could avoid those like the plague in lessons and let trained professionals handle them, and Bakugou’s notes had been sent from a therapist he had evidently been seeing for three years now. They had been a little concerning to say the least, and bare minimum notes revealed that he was regularly engaged in cognitive behavioral therapy. There were a lot of aggression triggers listed, and some PTSD triggers with a note that further therapy was needed for that, and when Shouta refreshed himself on the paperwork after class, he had come to the conclusion that the kid had a lot of issues, but according to the therapist he improved at impressive rates and had his coping methods somewhat down.

 

Maybe seeing Izuku again had brought back some bad memories? Was that why he had snapped? Or did he just have a bad attitude in general? Now Shouta couldn’t think about him objectively. He had none of the facts, and it was aggravating. Pushing Izuku about it was a no-go, too. PTSD was fairly commonplace in his students, so at first he hadn’t been too concerned about that. They lived in a very violent world, and on average, 65% of children had their first up and close villain encounter by the age of thirteen where they were directly in danger, and not simply a bystander. PTSD was just a fact of their society, but now he had to completely rethink everything. Of course the kid had to be the child of Inko’s best friend. Nothing was ever easy for Shouta, was it?

 

“Hey, Izuku,” he said on impulse. “When you say best friend, how best friend are we talking?”

 

“She slapped Papa in the middle of a police station because Mom made him my godfather a week before she died when Mitsuki was supposed to take me in in case Mom and … Mom died,” Izuku replied, and Shouta hated that he still hesitated over the name, and now he really hated just how insanely complicated that made things. They were best friends like legal paperwork best friends, this was a fucking mess.

 

“So, this kid is like a cousin, almost?” Shouta asked carefully, and Izuku shrugged.

 

“I guess. He called Mom auntie, and I called Mitsuki auntie just because he did it.”

 

“... You say that like you didn’t like Mitsuki.”

 

“Of course I didn’t,” Izuku said, and there was a little derision there, oh no. “She was always yelling and telling Katsuki to act more like me and stuff. He wouldn’t have hated me nearly as much if she stopped comparing us the way she did. Just made everything harder on everyone.”

 

… Yeah, Shouta was moving this to the top of his list of “things to deal with immediately”. An explosive quirk like that with how much training Izuku had coupled with apparent bad blood and six years of ending on bad terms, he had to assume the last time he even interacted with this family was when the kid’s mom assaulted his papa in the middle of a police station on the day his mother died… Yeah, no, this was not something he could just let lay around. He’d have it dealt with in a week, and tell All Might under no uncertain terms were Bakugou and Izuku to be put together in any capacity tomorrow.

 

Botan tapped his shoulder and Shouta looked up.

 

“Are you going to keep talking work, or are you going to eat pizza?” She asked, a smirk hovering around her lips, and Shouta sighed.

 

“Thank you for pizza,” he said and pulled his wallet out of his pocket, but Botan was already dancing back.

 

“No.”

 

“Botan, let me pay you back,” Shouta said severely as Hitoshi and Yumu piled their slices on their plates.

 

“Izuku, come get food!” Hitoshi called and Izuku hauled himself to his feet and drifted over to the kitchen.

 

“Hey, Dad?” Izuku said over his shoulder as Shouta tried to corner the elusive Botan.

 

“Kinda busy, Izuku, what?”

 

“We can work it out ourselves,” Izuku said dryly. “Don’t worry about it. We’re grown.”

 

“Definitely not grown enough, if you think chucking a ball at him is going to get him to respect you,” Shouta answered severely.

 

“I was just speaking his language,” Izuku replied airily as Shouta got the yen out and tried to shove it in Botan’s hand, who skillfully evaded him and put the island between the two of them.

 

“Izuku, telling him you’re willing to get violent with him is just going to encourage him to get violent,” Shouta said in exasperation. “Botan, would you take the damn money?”

 

“No,” she replied, and goddammit, he’d just have to slip it into her backpack when she wasn’t looking. She did this almost every time. Why did she revel in feeding the monsters so much, anyways? At least Aika diversified.

 

“Wasn’t telling him I was willing to get violent,” Izuku said with a shrug as he laid a slice of pizza on his plate.

 

“Izuku, that’s the shirasu pizza, not the cheese and honey,” Yumu said patiently and Izuku recoiled, wrinkling his nose.

 

“Oh.”

 

“Cheese and honey is to your left.”

 

“... Should have gotten that.”

 

“I told you to rely on your nose when your quirk’s running,” Shouta said.

 

“No, Kazane told me that,” Izuku snipped. “And as I was saying, I wasn’t telling him I was willing to get violent. I told him I was willing to end a fight before it started. There’s a difference. You don’t speak Katsuki, Dad. I do.”

 

“You haven’t seen him in six years, Izuku,” Shouta pointed out as he slipped his wallet into his pocket, and Izuku quirked a brow.

 

“Maybe here,” Izuku replied airily. “He’s present in like. Almost all of my universes, and heavily present in well over half. Enough to make an educated guess. People are always the same at their core. Katsuki’s no exception. He respects that kind of ‘fuck you’ gesture, once he’s calmed down. It isn’t really his fault he’s angry all the time, anyways. Nitroglycerin really lowers the heart rate, he’s running on pure adrenaline just to stay alive.”

 

“Are you seriously making excuses for him?” Yumu asked flatly.

 

“Absolutely not, he’s one hundred percent a dick,” Izuku replied cheerfully. “He’s just a dick stuck in fight or flight like, all the time, so I can give him a little leeway. As a treat.”

 

Botan tapped Izuku’s shoulder and he turned to lean against the counter, plate in hand, and look down at her.

 

“Hm?”

 

“Sorry, did you just say the kid that has beef with my nephew has a nitroglycerin problem?” She asked and Izuku took a bite of pizza, watching her hands move with glazed eyes. It took him a second to respond as the ring around his eyes flickered, piecing together where his eyes focused properly to understand the long sentence she had just signed at him.

 

“If I couldn’t handle a few explosions attached to a trigger happy hand, I think Kazane would rage quit,” Izuku said dryly and took another bite. “Don’t worry about me.”

 

“You two are still getting separated,” Shouta said flatly, and Izuku shrugged.

 

“That’s fine. Yumu can kick his ass for me, if you’re going to be boring and deny us the time honored shounen tradition of fighting our feelings out and pretending therapists don’t exist,” he replied cheekily.

 

“Why Yumu and not me?” Hitoshi complained and Izuku flashed a grin just slightly at the wrong angle.

 

“Yumu has the addition of the humbling experience,” he replied.

 

“How about no one plans on kicking another student’s ass in front of their teacher? ” Shouta asked in exasperation.

 

“See, Botan?” Izuku commented and took another bite of pizza. “Boring.”

 

“As a pro, I’m going to caution you against specifically planning to kick someone’s ass because you dislike them,” Botan signed and paused to wait for Izuku’s purple ring to stop flickering. “As the cool aunt that’s not a boring preschool teacher, I’m going to say get his ass.”

 

“This is why you aren’t allowed to babysit,” Shouta said flatly.

 

“You let Nezu babysit.”

 

“Nezu lets himself babysit. You we can tell no.”

 

“You didn’t even put your foot down with him about the tutoring.”

 

“We mentioned them going online and I have actually never seen him make tea that passively aggressively before, so it got scrapped. It’s when he gets passive aggressive that you have to worry.”

 

Gods help the poor fool that thought they could separate Nezu from his gremlin army. As far as Nezu was concerned, he was the proud grandpa to the worst children on the planet who could do no wrong. Hitoshi had once convinced Izuku and Yumu to climb into the vents and use their glowing eyes to freak out the first years and Nezu had looked right at them and denied them ever being in there.

 

Shouta still remembered the first time he figured out Yumu’s eyes glowed blood red in the dark. It had definitely been a system shock, that was for sure. Opening her bedroom door and just seeing two glowing red orbs stare at him from a plethora of stuffed animals that suddenly looked incredibly demonic had made him pity his own targets he snuck up on in the middle of the graveyard shift. There was no real reason for her to glow in the dark, either. She just did.

 

Then again, there was no reason for his hair to defy gravity only when he activated his quirk, so he guessed he could allow that. Sometimes unassuming quirks just had to add in that sprinkle of aesthetic to look more intimidating.

 

Honestly, while Shouta and Hizashi couldn’t afford to show any favoritism, Nezu absolutely could and would, and Shouta was more than a little concerned about the whole thing. Was he hard on the kids? Yes, absolutely. He corrected them in a lot of things, namely learning and growing, but when it came to actually disciplining them, it was a matter of pure enabling. Nezu was a nightmare about the kids. In his eyes, they had never done a bad thing in their life, and Shouta had no idea if this was how grandparents actually acted or not. His only frame of reference was Atsushi and Chiyaso, and they were convinced the boys had crawled up from the depths of hell and Yumu was sent from heaven to tame them.

 

Botan bumped him and offered him a plate and Shouta took it with a sigh before training a severe eye on the kids.

 

“Don’t stand around the kitchen and eat. Go sit at the table. Did you thank Botan for the food?”

 

“Thank you for the food!” Izuku and Yumu chirped and made a beeline for the table. Shouta watched all three sit down and Aki slowly walk under the table to slump down over Izuku’s feet before turning his attention on Botan.

 

“Have you heard from Kitaro lately?” He asked. Shiketsu had really whipped Kitaro into shape, and being the only child Atsushi and Chiyaso wanted to see in heroics beyond Aika and Kichi, he had been supported in getting set up as a rescue hero. Shouta couldn’t help but feel a little bitter about it. Hizashi had paid for over half of Aika’s expenses when she went to college. Her parents had covered the tuition and whatnot, and Aika had only needed to get a part time job at the school library to cover everything else, but it had driven Shouta up the wall that Hizashi was still acting like a parent, rising star who had money to throw around or not.

 

Kitaro had graduated from Shiketsu at the top of his class, and Hotaru had blown up as an influencer at that point. She was good at it, so she had helped him secure a grant to start his own agency right out of the gates, and paid for the rest of it herself. The whole family just threw money at each other nowadays. Kichi was still traveling around the world, working at different support companies. Hizashi was extremely bothered by it. She was a single nineteen year old girl, only fluent in English and Japanese and JSL, traveling by herself on her “support pilgrimage”. A job was lined up in Japan in six months, but last Shouta heard, she was in Italy.

 

“He’s doing well,” Botan replied. “He actually floated out the idea of sending internship offers to the kids. Apparently Hawks has been driving him nuts, though.”

 

“Hawks? What’s he doing hanging around Hawks?” Shouta asked in confusion.

 

“It’s less that he’s hanging around Hawks and more that Hawks keeps stealing his rescues and he’s fed up.”

 

“How often are he and Hawks even crossing paths that something like that keeps happening?” Wait. Sending internship offers to the kids? That would go over well.

 

“I think Hawks is trolling,” Botan answered honestly.

 

“He should have started as a sidekick,” Shouta muttered. Jumping right into running his agency was asking a lot of himself. Underground pros went independent right away, but being someone in the limelight was entirely different. Shiketsu had business classes for heroics students, so they at least understood the basics of running an agency, but even so.

 

“They’re saying he’s going to break top fifty at the next rankings,” Botan said. “He’s been photographed with Hawks. There’s rumors. The famous family helps.”

 

“He probably hates that,” Shouta said dryly and took a bite of his pizza.

 

“Yeah, he’s pissed. The gossip columns on why he never works with Hizashi are annoying.”

 

“Why on earth would he even team up with Hizashi? Their quirks are entirely incompatible.” And they still had underlying tension. Just because they settled their differences didn’t mean they should work together. Honestly, gossip columns were a menace to hero society.

 

“They’re also wondering if he and Hawks have some energy beyond working well together,” Botan added, and amusement was seeping into her eyes. Shouta crinkled up his nose.

 

“How many fits has he thrown?”

 

“At least one a week. Hawks is apparently the most annoying man he has ever had the displeasure of knowing,” Botan replied.

 

This was exactly why Shouta went underground, off the rankings and off the charts. The very idea of dealing with gossip columns was horrifying to him. Poor Kitaro. Shouta almost felt bad for him. Hawks was twenty-three and apparently one of the worst heroes to work with. He moved too fast, didn’t wait around for anyone. The fact that he was deliberately stealing Kitaro’s rescues to fuck with him was concerning, to say the least. Was he flirting with him? This really was not the way to do it. As the older brother-in-law, maybe Shouta should have some words with him, if Hizashi didn’t first. He could just ask Kitaro on a date so Kitaro could shut him down and be done with it.

 

“Hey, you just yelled at us to eat at the table!” Izuku piped up and Shouta sent him a sidelong glare.

 

“I’m the adult. Eat your cheese.”

 

“... But I have a question.”

 

“Ask it.”

 

“... Is All Might going to be teaching us tomorrow?”

 

There was something in Izuku’s tone that Shouta did not trust and did not like.

 

“Yes. And you will listen to him and respect him.” Fat chance of that happening.

 

“... Okay.” That was not an okay Shouta liked. Then again … If he had to be the adult and behave himself around his husband’s ex who he dated but didn’t for ten years, surely he could live a little through the kids.

 

Botan turned so her back was to the kids and leaned against the counter and looked Shouta right in the eyes.

 

“This is going to be ugly.”

 

Shouta nodded and squinted at the kids. Yumu and Hitoshi were exchanging those glances that they did, and dear gods, how long until the three of them pushed All Might into a meltdown?

 

Restraining himself around All Might in staff meetings had certainly been one hell of an exercise. Shouta wanted to nitpick everything he said, take him apart, but the more time he spent around him, with the state All Might was in, the more he slowly realized that at his core, All Might was a pushover. That was it. That was why their relationship had failed so horribly. The Hero Commission pushed him, society pushed him, and All Might let them drive him forward until his body was broken and missing vital organs and then he kept going. It wasn’t even entirely out of moral purity. It was because he finally understood, after whatever fight it was that had done that to him, that he had never come to understand how to say no, and now it was too late to try. He was just going to go until he dropped dead.

 

And Mirai had seen him drop dead. Looking at him now, seeing the state he was in that Mirai had never breathed a word of, Shouta realized that was the truth. Mirai had seen him die because he could not stop being a hero, and All Might had decided being a hero was more important than loving Mirai, and that was why Mirai walked away.

 

It was hard to reconcile that. He loved Mirai so much. If Hizashi was the sun, and Shouta was the moon, Mirai was their stars sprinkled across the sky. Shouta couldn’t imagine looking at that man as he woke up in the morning, hair in a rat’s nest, eyes heavy with sleep, voice slurred and deep and rough, creases on his cheek from the pillow case, and just decide he was going to march towards his death and leave him behind. He couldn’t quantify hurting someone as precious as Mirai like that.

 

But All Might had a duty, and no one else could fit in that duty. Mirai was theirs now, and realistically, Shouta shouldn’t be bitter, but it didn’t help that he didn’t agree with the idea of a pillar of society to begin with. All Might could and would die, and what would Japan have left? Endeavor?

 

As a hero, he understood that many times, heroes caved to the pressure mounting on them. Society was very much founded on the idea that in order to be a hero, you could no longer be a human, which was also why Shouta chose underground heroics. To be an underground hero was to inherently be human. You dealt with all of the aspects of humanity that always, always remained real, and you had to remain human to sustain yourself. Underground heroics were dangerous. It had a high death toll, high injury rate, and for those that survived, every year they spent continuing was a step closer to eventual disability, like Kazane and her limp. But it was inherently human, about the humans that heroics forgot. On the few occasions Shouta actually worked during the days, a lot of those patrols were spent running to get groceries for the older members of the community with no one else to help them. It was about being closed intertwined with your community and supporting them.

 

All Might, though … All Might had given up being human to be a hero, and in the process had deeply, deeply harmed Mirai.

 

So Shouta still was a little bitter. Even if All Might had no idea who their third was. Even if All Might had no idea the mess they had cleaned up that he had made.

 

… If the kids acted up tomorrow, so be it. If All Might came to him for advice, well… Every teacher needed to learn how to control their class on their own.

 

All Might was supposed to start working at UA last year, but for some reason Nezu had pressured him to wait. Far be it from Shouta to go against Nezu’s wishes. Even if he did it literally every time.

 

All Might was going to the wolves, and Shouta was going to have the time of his life.

Notes:

Shouta: I'm a good person but that doesn't mean my kids have to be. Fuck All Might.

Chapter 3

“I AM COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!” All Might announced and Izuku sank down in his seat just a little more. Yeah, today wasn’t going to be great. He was going to have to deal with this all year? He was going to make this man quit.

 

The classroom exploded into chatter at the sight of All Might and Izuku took a few deep, calming breaths. Objectively, he knew he couldn’t reach to punch All Might in the face, but if Hitoshi let him climb on his shoulders … 

 

No. Bad Izuku. No punching All Might in the face. Even if his presence had severely inconvenienced everyone’s morning. Izuku just felt lucky that they had gotten there before the media circus.

 

It took a minute for the classroom to settle, and Izuku tuned out the spiel about Foundational Heroics and this and that, and oh, the class was moving to get their costumes. Izuku stood up, Aki nudging him in the direction of the crowd, and paused. Right. Dad was complaining about how difficult it was to get the suit storage in the classroom accessible. This was a problem. Should he wait for everyone to get theirs and grab what was left? Or was Hitoshi going to get it?

 

“Here, nerd,” Katsuki said gruffly from in front of him and shoved something into his arms. “There’s your suit.”

 

“... Thanks.” Fuck, Katsuki was weird. Izuku had no idea what to do with him.

 

“Mmf,” was all Katsuki said, and the scent of nitroglycerin drifted away.

 

“Zuku,” Hitoshi said next to him and Izuku tilted his head.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“... Is he always like that? Yesterday he was about to kill you.”

 

“... Honestly, I have no idea,” Izuku answered honestly. Was Katsuki just trying to behave or something? Did he now understand that consequences were a thing that existed?

 

“... I’ll get your suit next time,” Hitoshi muttered. “Let’s go.”

 

“Hey, guys!” Kirishima. The kid was pretty nice. In other universes, Izuku liked Kirishima quite a lot. He was really nice, really calm, just an all around great, supportive kind of guy. He could be friends with anyone, at any time. Great kind of person to have around.

 

“Hey, Kirishima,” Izuku said as the class moved down the hallway. Yumu was somewhere ahead of them. It sounded like she was talking to Yaoyorozu and Uraraka.

 

“So, Sasaki,” Kirishima said awkwardly. “Uh, I was wondering. Ashido told me your dad’s Sir Nighteye, and I was wondering if you had, like, a quirk that lets you see the future?”

 

“... Er, yes and no? My quirk is a little weird. It’s easier to explain after you see it in action,” Izuku replied. That was not true, not at all, but he would much rather show how much of a badass he was before he explained how difficult his quirk was to work with. It was the little things, you know.

 

“Huh. Well. Can’t wait to see it!” Kirishima exclaimed. “I thought your quirk was super cool, Aizawa. Mine is kind of boring.”

 

“I thought your quirk was neat,” Hitoshi replied and bumped shoulders with Izuku to show that he was shrugging. “It’s a good offense and defense. Most people aren’t lucky enough to get an all rounder quirk like that.”

 

“You think so?” Kirishima asked in shock.

 

“... I mean, when you have a quirk like mine, you think everyone’s quirk is cool,” Hitoshi replied, somewhere between dry and incredulous.

 

“... Huh?”

 

Oh, this poor, sweet, innocent child. He didn’t even think about how dangerous Hitoshi’s quirk was. Izuku wasn’t sure he should be offended or think it was cute. How did someone have that low capacity for prejudice?

 

“... You know what, never mind,” Hitoshi said, and there was a little amusement swimming around in there. Okay. That could have gone bad. “Anyways. Your quirk isn’t like, flashy, but you look damned cool when it’s on. I thought it was neat.”

 

“Oh. Thanks, dude! Do you work out?”

 

“Yeah, with Izuku and Yumu.”

 

“We should hit the gym sometime!”

 

“Have you tried parkour?” Izuku asked suddenly and there was a shift next to him, as if Kirishima forgot he was there. Aw. He had a crush.

 

“Oh, no!”

 

“Hitoshi’s great at parkour, I bet he could show you some things,” Izuku said. “Really useful for heroics.”

 

Hitoshi bumped into him and Izuku could feel that warning glare. Sue him.

 

“Izuku’s better at it than I am,” Hitoshi added. Aki nudged Izuku to the left and the group of boys entered the locker room.

 

Ah, yes, it was time. Izuku clicked open his case and set it on the bench. Swiftly undressing, he folded up his uniform and pulled on his jumpsuit, zipping it up and experimentally swinging his arms around.

 

“Hey, Hitoshi, did they get the colors right?” He asked and felt around for the utility belt to clip around his hips.

 

“Looks like it,” Hitoshi replied. “Oh. You actually got the vest for Aki. I thought they wouldn’t.”

 

“Of course they were going to give me the vest,” Izuku snorted as he flicked up the hood and picked up the harness. Okay, the x-straps went in the front… there. Izuku pulled the harness over his shoulders and clicked the x’s together before clicking the two straps on the bottom together and following up with the one on top. Perfectly measured. Nice. He just had to tighten a little and … there.

 

“Oh, you guys went for a different look,” someone said and Izuku tilted his head.

 

“What, did you all go with the skintight clothes?” He asked in amusement. “That’ll get uncomfortable fast, dude. Chafing.”

 

“Well, I mean, Kaminari just looks like a regular person, Kirishima and Bakugou don’t even have shirts…”

 

“What’s it to you?” Katsuki growled.

 

“Nothing! Just. You don’t have a shirt.”

 

“I told them to do whatever for it,” Katsuki muttered. “Not my fault they just decided to do nothing.”

 

“You should always be specific with support companies,” Izuku said dryly before he stopped himself. Katsuki, surprisingly, did not respond. Okay, then.

 

“Oh, you have a scarf like Sensei!” Someone exclaimed as Izuku stepped into the boots and zipped them up. Batons over his shoulders, secure in the harness, and he was ready. Now Aki needed to be ready.

 

“Yeah. Been training on one for a few months now,” Hitoshi replied as Izuku knelt.

 

“Aki, up,” he ordered and Aki climbed to his feet. Izuku undid the velcro straps and slid off his civilian vest. Practiced hands dressed him in the bulkier heroics vest and he gave him a kiss to the top of his head. “Thanks, buddy.”

 

A gentle, highly illegal lick was landed on Izuku’s cheek and he grinned. Dad hated it when Aki snuck in with the covert face licks, primarily because he taught Fuku and Sora and their sandpaper tongues that face licks were acceptable.

 

“Isn’t it weird that we’re supposed to wear boots inside?” Someone asked.

 

“Little bit,” someone agreed, and Izuku really needed to get used to whose voice belonged to who. Hearing them all for the first time was a bit of a system shock.

 

“Oh, Koji, they didn’t get your boots right,” Hitoshi said, disappointment dripping in his tone, and there was tapping on a screen.

 

“It’s okay!”

 

“Izuku, you got a new visor,” Hitoshi said and Izuku’s brows furrowed.

 

“Huh? I didn’t ask for a new visor.” His hands felt along the bottom of the case and landed on a smooth, plastic piece with an elastic band. There was a braille note.

 

It’s Mei! I bullied them into letting me give you a hero visor that matches your costume. DON’T BREAK MY BABY!! No fancy attachments, but this one has a lock you twist next to the left temple so it can’t fall down or get pushed down in a fight. It’s more streamlined than your civilian visor and a little more hardy, but try to not get hit in the face, I’m still working on making the 2.0 version that’s metal. Good luck!! Kick All Might’s ass!!

 

Izuku was not going to be kicking All Might’s ass, but he was definitely going to be destroying his self esteem, if Hitoshi didn’t do it first. And Hitoshi would probably do it first.

.

.

.

.

.

“Well, part of being a hero is the look, and you all definitely look the part!” All Might announced. Hitoshi was leaning on the wall in the back, Yumu sandwiched between him and Izuku, Koji to his left, and All Might’s very voice was grating on his nerves. There was a glance given to the three of them, and Hitoshi raised his eyebrows.

 

Dad hadn’t seen their costumes yet, but he was definitely going to be embarrassed when he did. All three of them were in loose jumpsuits, though Yumu’s was a little tighter on top and sleeveless. Izuku’s had short sleeves and a hood, in green, yellow, and cream. Hitoshi had gone with black and yellow, a carbon copy of Dad’s costume, just with the sleeves bunched up on top of his yellow elbow pads and his pants gathered around his yellow knee pads. Yumu had gone with a light gray jumpsuit with amazingly baggy pants and a tight sleeveless turtle-tank for the top, all in this thick, soft material, with a massive white zipper from neck to crotch. Mei had evidently slipped her a present, too, because she had a headset with floppy white ears like Cinnamoroll.

 

They couldn’t outright reference their parents, but they were definitely going to do their hardest.

 

“What are we doing today, All Might?” Uraraka asked.

 

“Is it going to be hard?”

 

“Will we be expelled if we fail?”

 

Hitoshi was pretty sure All Might couldn’t expel a gnat, and the questions just amped up, pouring in with the class’s collective excitement.

 

“Now, now, settle down!” All Might ordered. “We’re doing battle exercises! Two on two, lots will be drawn to determine heroes and villains. Your objective as heroes is to find the bomb and capture it or wrap your opponents in this capture tape, or touch the bomb within ten minutes! Villains, your job is to evade and protect the bombs until the ten minutes are up, or capture your opponents!”

 

Hitoshi slowly tilted his head and then raised his hand as chatter broke out. All Might, looking visibly relieved at someone actually raising their hand, pointed at him. Hitoshi was definitely going to wipe that look off his face.

 

“Yes, young …” All Might glanced down at his clipboard and then paled. “Aizawa.”

 

“Most of us haven’t received martial arts training,” Hitoshi drawled. “Are you going over safety procedures? Are we checking our costumes to make sure there’s no waiting malfunctions? We haven’t received any training, what if a student doesn’t know that you shouldn’t hit someone somewhere? You can kill someone with one hit, and most of the time that happens on accident.”

 

Kazane had gone over where to never hit someone on the head excessively. The nose was an okay place to aim, so long as you weren’t aiming up, because the cartilage could be driven into the brain. Never hit around the scalp, never aim for the forehead, the only safe places were the the eyebrows and down, and never past the ears. Hitoshi and his siblings had been drilled on one punch one kill deaths. Never aim for the throat beyond light pressure, you could crush a windpipe, if you wanted to wind someone, you went for the solar plexus, never hold a headlock for a second more than your target going limp, these were important things to know, and he wanted to just throw them in there and tell them to fight? Was he crazy?

 

All Might was staring at him, a little lost, and Hitoshi didn’t take pity on him. It was his first day, sure, whatever, but they didn’t even know how to fall right.

 

“Right. No hits to the head beyond a punch to the nose or eye and nothing in the direction of the throat, or you will be immediately disqualified,” All Might said, and he sounded nervous now, and Hitoshi shot a sidelong glance at Bakugou and those massive bracers with actual pins in them, like that wasn’t concerning at all. “The goal is restraining and limiting a fight as much as you can, as in the case of all heroics! Long, drawn out fights are never the way to go! This is about being as fast as you can, so keep that in mind!”

 

“What about checking our costumes to make sure they won’t malfunction?” Yumu piped in. “Some of us have support equipment. What if there’s a faulty seam on one of the girls’ costumes and they rip and we have an accident on camera?”

 

“Yeah, some of us have super destructive quirks,” Izuku called. “Are you going over what to do in case someone takes out a ceiling or a load bearing wall?”

 

Hitoshi very deliberately did not look at Bakugou, but he could smell the tension from across the room. All Might looked a little panicked, a little out of his depth, and Hitoshi narrowed his eyes on him.

 

“Some of us have never used our quirks against other people, is this the best exercise to get used to it?” He asked casually. They had gone over break falls for weeks with Kazane before they even moved up to her throwing punches at them. This just did not seem well thought out at all.

 

All Might was squirming a little, but that smile was not dropping. Hitoshi could smell the blood in the water. Just before he went in for the kill, though, Uraraka ruined it.

 

“Isn’t teaming us up randomly a little inefficient?” Uraraka asked, and then Tenya spoke up.

 

“Lots of pros don’t have a choice in who they work with! It’s realistic! You can’t just pick a quirk to work with!” Tenya announced, and there went his arms. As hard as he was to get along with, Hitoshi couldn’t help but like him. Even if he was backing All Might up. Traitor. All Might looked relieved at the chance to not answer their questions, and he jumped on the new question he could actually answer.

 

“That is correct, young Iida!” Oh, he didn’t need to check the classlist for Tenya. “Now, let’s draw lots!”

 

All Might pulled out some cans and the three siblings moved forward, plunging their hands into the cans and pulling out their numbers. Oh. Hitoshi got A. Who was his …

 

“G?” He asked and looked around.

 

“Oh, that’s me!” Kirishima called and Hitoshi studied him. Well. He got lucky. Kirishima’s quirk was versatile and foolproof.

 

“I?” Izuku called.

 

“That’s me!” The invisible girl said.

 

“D!” Yumu said and Uraraka stuck her hand up.

 

“With me!”

 

The teams shuffled together vaguely and All Might corralled them into alphabetical order for whatever reason and Hitoshi eyed Kirishima. Well. He could do something with him, definitely. Kirishima had brute force, and Hitoshi had agility. This would go pretty well, he was pretty sure.

 

“Right, the first teams are … B and G!” All Might called after a moment of digging into the can.

 

“Oh, wow, we get to go first!” Kirishima declared and Hitoshi glanced down the line at B. Oh, great. They were up against the electric kid and the one with an actual sentient shadow. Of course shit couldn’t be easy.

 

“B are the heroes and G are the villains!” All Might announced and Hitoshi resisted the urge to wince. First day of class, huh? He honestly should have expected this. “Team G will be given five minutes to hide the bomb, and B will have five minutes to plan! Good luck! Team G, once you enter the building, your time will start! The bomb must stay inside the building!”

 

“Let’s get down there, bro!” Kirishima exclaimed and Hitoshi bit back a sigh as he eyed his opponents. Neither had martial arts training from the looks of it, not with quirks like that, people with powerful quirks never thought they had to train, but they were both long range.

 

Then again, Hitoshi was technically long range. They just needed to hear him.

 

But Tokoyami seemed like the strong, silent type, so this was going to be a problem. Kaminari could … hey, wasn’t Hitoshi’s teammate a literal rock? How much metal made up his chemical makeup? Could he take a hit? Would it hurt him or if he wasn’t naturally insulated, would it actually hurt him or would he be able to conduct the electricity?

 

Hitoshi and Kirishima went out the door and down the stairs together as Hitoshi mulled over these questions.

 

“Do you insulate against electricity or conduct it?” He finally asked and Kirishima blinked.

 

“Uh, I haven’t really tested it?”

 

“... Well, do you know how much metal is in your rock, or is it just vaguely ‘rock’?”

 

“... It’s just vaguely ‘rock’, it’s not really close to any known rock except like gypsum?” Kirishima replied awkwardly and Hitoshi worked his lips around thoughtfully before pulling out his phone and googling gypsum.

 

“... Huh. You know gypsum is the second hardest rock out there, right?” He asked in amusement.

 

“Yeah,” Kirishima replied with a shrug. “But I mean, it’s not actually gypsum, just pretty close to it on a molecular level. Uncle’s a geologist and got curious.”

 

“It’s used as an insulator and has low conductivity…” That was actually helpful. But how close was Kirishima to gypsum? Hitoshi wasn’t just going to use the kid as a human shield if he didn’t know for sure.

 

“... Alright, we aren’t testing that right now,” Hitoshi decided. “Kaminari seems chatty with low impulse control, so he’s going to be our first mark. Tokoyami is … probably not that talkative, but I think I can get him, and you can probably take a few hits from … Dark Shadow, I think his name was. Though, if he’s sentient…”

 

Could Brainwashing work on a sentient creature? He could at least try. But if he was attached to Tokoyami, would that do something bad? Hitoshi’s quirk had never actually hurt anyone, but could it, in this case?

 

Yeah, he’d aim for Tokoyami. He could hold up to five people, six people if he was pushing it now, so two people was going to be a breeze. If he could actually get Tokoyami, that is. But if he didn’t get Dark Shadow with him, could Dark Shadow break him out?

 

Hand to hand combat it was. He probably didn’t have a whole lot of experience, and Hitoshi had some range with the capture scarf, anyways.

 

“Okay, so here’s what we’re going to do…”

.

.

.

.

.

Fumikage was not a man of many words. That was a fact. His partner, on the other hand, had quite a lot of words, and seemingly not enough time to say them, because he was talking a mile a minute about the girls and boys in their class and how it was grossly unfair they had to go up against some of the hottest boys in class. There was absolutely no planning going on here. Kaminari was just talking.

 

“I mean, they’re ripped, they’re tall, how am I supposed to keep my head on straight like this?” Kaminari complained and Fumikage stared at him in silence.

 

“Your mind goes to dark places.”

 

“You gotta help me out. I mean, you’re pretty distracting, too, but Kirishima has those teeth. How can you not be distracted by those teeth? And Aizawa has those biceps. He looks like he could throw me across the room. I’m going to panic. I’m actually panicking.”

 

At this point, Fumikage wasn’t sure if this boy was having a sexuality crisis or was legitimately feeling intimidated by their opponents’ size.

 

“Then just let me handle it,” he said flatly. “They’re not throwing Dark Shadow anywhere.”

 

How did opponent attractiveness even factor into all of this? The whole class was attractive, Fumikage supposed, but that meant very little. They were opponents. They had to find the bomb. They had to subdue them. He wasn’t sure why anything else mattered, but Kaminari seemed like a high strung guy in general.

 

“Hey, what do you think about our class?” Kaminari asked. “Any of them you think are cute?”

 

“... They’re all moderately attractive?”

 

“You gotta give me stuff to work with, dude.”

 

“We’re about to run a training exercise. We are meant to be planning.”

 

“Oh, I just thought we were just going to bust in there and knock some heads around and call it a day.”

 

“I don’t think that’s a plan.”

 

“Well, I personally think that for the guys, Todoroki is definitely pretty hot, but Sasaki definitely has the bad boy aesthetic going on. Bakugou’s just too pissy, brings down the whole appeal. Guess he’s cute in a wet cat way. Not going to speak on the girls, because that’s objectifying, but Yaoyorozu is definitely pretty.”

 

He was clearly a little confused about what objectification entailed, but he had the spirit.

 

“Heroes!” All Might’s voice boomed in their headsets, and Kaminari jumped, sending off little sparks of electricity. “Your planning time is up! Please proceed! Plus ultra!”

 

“Just follow me,” Fumikage muttered and stepped in through the door as Dark Shadow snaked his way out.

 

“Hi, Fumi!” Dark Shadow chirped.

 

“Hello, Dark Shadow,” Fumikage said gravely and looked around the room. No bomb here.

 

“Is this bitch empty?” Someone shouted the second Kaminari stepped through the threshold, and before Fumikage had a second to tell him no, Kaminari was responding.

 

“Yee---” Kaminari’s face went slack and Fumikage’s heart dropped to his shoes. Of course. Of course he had to get the total idiot for his partner.

 

“Kaminari, step away from Tokoyami, and walk towards me,” Aizawa said mildly as he stepped out from behind a corner. Fumikage moved to stop him, and Aizawa tsked. “Mind control quirk. You should be careful with those. Never know the nasty side effects.”

 

Fumikage stopped, watching Kaminari walk away from him, moving as if he was in a daze, and Aizawa tilted his head as he reached him.

 

“Okay, stop,” he ordered and undid the capture tape and wrapped it around his arms. There was a pause, and then Kaminari gasped for air. “You’re out. Sorry.”

 

He didn’t sound very sorry, but now that the initial combination of exasperation and shock had worn off, Fumikage realized he needed to act, and now. Aizawa was too cool and calm for his tastes, and Fumikage knew that above all, you should fear the cool and calm people.

 

“Dark Shadow, go!” He ordered, and Dark Shadow yipped for a brief moment before darting forward at Aizawa. Aizawa tensed, watching Dark Shadow’s snake-like movements, before he launched himself to the right and rolled, coming up fluidly, and oh, he had angled himself to be close to Fumikage.

 

Fumikage stepped back as Dark Shadow turned on a dime and shot for Aizawa, who tensed once again and then launched himself up and to the right, hitting the ground, tucking his chin, and rolling and landing in some kind of Spider-Man crouch, and of course. Of course, this was a massive cosmic joke, because not only did Fumikage get the idiot, he also got paired against the kid with obvious training and experience and was down a person while there were still two opponents left.

 

“Kirishima!” Aizawa called, and out of nowhere came the missing second, barrelling towards him, completely hardened, and oh, no, nope, that was an actual wrecking ball speeding towards him. Fumikage did not even want to think about how much weight would be colliding with him if he didn’t block him right now.

 

There was that familiar click of Dark Shadow understanding without even having to hear a verbal command, and his attention was directed away from Aizawa, instead leading him on a full collision course with Kirishima, and that’s when Aizawa struck.

 

Scarves lashed out, wrapping around Fumikage, and suddenly his arms were pinned against his body.

 

He squawked. He couldn’t help it. It was embarrassing, he hadn’t done that since he was a child, but he squawked in shock as he was pulled in in a dizzying spin right at Aizawa, who slapped a piece of tape on one arm as he spun in and suddenly Fumikage was pulled to a direct halt, eyes wide in shock, centimeters away from Aizawa’s broad chest, who was looking somewhere between amused and smug. His eyes were twinkling. They were actually twinkling, the smug bastard, and there was a bare hint of a grin hovering along his lips.

 

He smelled good. Goddammit.

 

“Villain team wins!” All Might announced in their headsets.

 

“... You didn’t hear that,” Fumikage said after a long, long moment.

 

“Sure I didn’t. But I’m definitely going to remember it,” Aizawa drawled and flicked his scarf, unraveling it and releasing Fumikage before peeling the tape off as Kirishima moved to help Kaminari.

Fumikage got a boulder with legs thrown at him and he squawked. He actually squawked. And today was supposed to be a good day. Lovely.

Notes:

All Might: *breathes*
The Lockdown Kids (as the discord server is calling them): We're about to end this bitch's whole career.
Reason for the title: 1.) Erasernightmic kids is too long, disaster squad is an acceptable alternative, but their quirks are literally just....
Hitoshi: You don't get to do anything
Yumu: You thought you could do something
Izuku: You lost before you began.
If Hitoshi can't get them to speak, and Izuku can't find a way out, Dad just has to glare long enough until Yumu gets a chance to bitchslap the problem down.
Henceforth, the erasernightmic fam shall be referred to as the Lockdown Fam, because the dads' quirks LITERALLY all have the same principle lol, even Hizashi... and the grandpa too....

 

A/N: you cannot actually drive up the cartilage with a palm strike but I'm not editing lol

Chapter 4

Sasaki was tiny. She looked like a doll, standing there and staring up at the building. Ochako wasn’t exactly tall, but she definitely had several centimeters on the other girl.

 

She couldn’t help but be jealous at her costume. Ochako hadn’t been specific enough, so she had ended up in a skintight affair with heels, whereas Sasaki looked like she had planned for just about everything. Pale gray sleeveless jumpsuit, with white and blue accents that worked well with that pastel blue hair of hers, blue elbow pads and knee pads, with a headset designed to look like big, soft white ears like Cinnamoroll. It was tighter on the top than on the legs, with white and blue accented fingerless gloves going up above her wrists, and Ochako felt like she had seen it before, right down to the darker gray combat boots, but she just couldn’t place it. Unlike the rest of their class, the Sasaki siblings and Aizawa had weapons already. Sasaki had a slim baton clipped to her belt, with a smooth button on its side, a collection of different colored darts, weirdly enough, along the rest of the belt.

 

“So, uhm,” Ochako said, and why was she so nervous, “you saw my quirk. What’s yours?”

 

Sasaki turned her head to look at her with those luminous button eyes before she smiled, soft and sweet, and held up her palm for Ochako to look at.

 

Oh. How strange. She had pads on her fingers, like Ochako, but instead of pink, they were the same gray as her costume.

 

“Kinda funny the two people with a five point touch quirk ended up in the same team, huh?” Sasaki asked, her voice so, so sweet, light, airy. “If I touch someone with all five fingers, I put them in a state of hallucinatory sleep paralysis. It’s a passive quirk, so I can’t turn it off, so don’t grab my hand, okay? It’s called Morpheus Trap.”

 

“Oh!” Ochako blurted. She had not expected that out of this girl. “Okay! How are we going to use that?”

 

“Well, we’re at a bit of a disadvantage. Tenya and that Bakugou kid,” and her face twisted in distaste, “are a mid range fighter and a speed type, which is practically mid range disguised as close range. You can use your quirk to turn to long range, but that can be worked around by clearing a room of objects. Can you use it on yourself?”

 

“Yes, but it makes me sick if I do it too long,” Ochako answered carefully and Sasaki hummed, looking up at the building.

 

“Bakugou doesn’t seem like he is the type to do teamwork. Tenya knows my quirk, so we have to assume Bakugou knows it, but it’s unlikely he’ll actually listen to him before running off to engage. If I was going to predict what would happen, I think Bakugou is going to run off to face us and leave Tenya to guard the bomb. Do you have any martial arts training?”

 

“Uh… No,” Ochako admitted, much to her dismay.

 

“Hm. Okay. Here’s the plan,” Sasaki said and laid it out. Ochako listened, enraptured by the ease Sasaki displayed in a combat scenario.

 

“You have training,” she finally said when Sasaki finished explaining. Sasaki flashed her a quick smile.

 

“When you have a quirk like mine, you have to work for it.”

 

“Hero team, your time alloted for planning is up!” All Might said in their ear, and the girls straightened up.

 

“Ready?” Sasaki asked brightly, and Ochako nodded seriously. “Let’s go!”

 

The two girls walked into the building, Sasaki walking with confidence and purpose as Ochako’s heels clacked irritatingly on the concrete.

 

“How long have you been training?” Ochako asked carefully and Sasaki brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. She had little Cinnamoroll stud piercings hiding under the floppy ears. How cute.

 

“Almost three years,” Sasaki answered. “Zuku and Toshi have been training for six. I’m still playing catch up, honestly.”

 

“So you’re all friends?” Ochako asked carefully.

 

“Zuku is my brother, and Toshi is, too, in his own way. Our families are basically just one big family,” Sasaki replied and then grinned. “They’re terrible, really. Living with a bunch of men is a nightmare. They’re all so overprotective.”

 

“So is Sasaki your twin?” Ochako asked and Sasaki laughed.

 

“No. But we like to let people think that. It’s fun to watch them try to figure out how we look so different and have such different quirks.”

 

“I was pretty confused,” Ochako admitted and Sasaki shot her a wink.

 

“Don’t tell anyone. Ruins the fun.”

 

“So… You’re good at fighting?” Ochako asked carefully.

 

“You’ll just have to find out!” Sasaki said brightly and Ochako felt redness grow in her cheeks.

 

There was the sound of explosions down the hall and Sasaki took a step back and snapped out her baton.

 

“Ready?” She asked and Ochako nodded, determination setting in. She would not embarrass herself.

 

Bakugou burst out from around the corner and Ochako rapidly backed up as Sasaki engaged.

 

“Who the fuck are you?” Bakugou roared and Ochako’s brows furrowed in confusion. What?

 

Sasaki’s baton slapped out, knocking off his aim and sending a blast wildly off target.

 

“Where do you get off calling yourself his sister, huh?” Bakugou shouted and followed up with a blast Sasaki easily dodged, almost lazily. “You’re his cousin at best! Auntie Inko didn’t have a daughter!”

 

“This isn’t the time to be getting personal, Bakugou,” Sasaki quipped and dodged another blast. “Uraraka, go!”

 

Bakugou was angry, and big, and everything Uraraka knew about being a girl was screaming at her to not leave a girl alone with an angry, large boy.

 

And then Sasaki did something wild. Bakugou went in with a right hook, and she slid her foot in between his legs, wrapped her baton around his arm, and twisted, hard. Bakugou went flying, and Uraraka shook herself out of the screaming voice in her head reminding her girls had to stick together and told it to shut up, they were training to be heroes. Sasaki could clearly handle herself, not even flinching at the explosions leveled on her. Bakugou rolled to his feet and powered forward once again, and Sasaki lifted up her leg and kicked him directly in the chest, sending him tumbling back.

 

Oh. Oh, wow, she was… She was…

 

Ochako shook herself. Sasaki said to go, so she had to go, use the explosions from Bakugou to cover her noisy steps. Ochako took off at a run, up the stairs, heels clacking loudly, the explosions growing louder and louder.

 

“He’s probably on top. Wear your shoes as long as you can to protect your feet, but when you get close, you need to take them off. They’re a mess. Your costume needs alterations, badly. Maybe some white boots? If you’re going to be a rescue hero, you can’t go running around after an earthquake in wedge heels.”

 

Ochako came to the fifth floor and slipped off her shoes before peering into room after room, shoes held lightly in her grasp as her animal print sock covered feet padded lightly on the floor. Iida’s voice drifted down the corridor to her, and she peeked into the room, counting the doors that led her here.

 

He was monologuing. She needed to get out of here before she laughed.

 

Ochako slipped away from the door and rushed for the stairs, activating her earpiece. The building was shaking with explosions at this point, so they were still going at it.

 

“I found the bomb. Fifth floor, third door down on the right. I’m getting into position,” Ochako whispered, and there was a grunt as Sasaki activated her earbud.

 

“Thank you. One second, let me wrap this up. Keep your shoes off.”

 

The explosions abruptly fell silent, and Ochako slid into the room, set her shoes on the floor, and hauled herself onto the windowsill. She needed to time this right. She couldn’t float for very long, so she had to go right when Sasaki activated her earbud for a beep before she entered the room.

 

It was a long drop. A very, very long drop. Ochako hoped Sasaki could herd Iida right. The way she stood firm against that charging boy said she probably could.

 

Ochako stared at the little Tom Nooks all over her socks and flexed her fingers against the frame. It was a really long drop, but if she wanted to build up her quirk better, she would have to be okay with heights.

 

The comm beeped, and there was the immediate sound of Iida’s engines activating, followed by a crash. Ochako didn’t hesitate. She pressed her fingers to her stomach and floated out the window, holding tight before pushing herself up as nausea churned in her gut. Thirty seconds. Sasaki said she needed thirty seconds.

 

There was another crash, like something heavy and metal collided with the floor, and a clang as Sasaki presumably hit Iida with her baton. Ochako got a grasp on the windowsill and peered in, watching with wide eyes as Sasaki lunged for the bomb. Iida grabbed it and ran, and Sasaki switched it up, spinning to kick him in the gut and backing up as she flicked her baton. Suddenly, the smooth baton sprang out, forming a crossbow, and she loaded it with a pink dart. Iida set the bomb down and charged her, and there. Ochako’s chance.

 

Ochako pushed herself up and through the window, flying through the air, just as tiny, tiny Sasaki stood tall against Iida charging her and let a dart fly through the air. It hit his chest and exploded into a pink gas that had him crashing to the ground just as Ochako touched the bomb.

 

“Hero team wins!” All Might announced in their headsets and Ochako pressed her fingers together.

 

“Release,” she whispered and fell on the bomb, clinging to it like a koala as Sasaki walked over and stared up at her.

 

“Do you need help down?” She asked and Ochako squeaked.

 

“Yes, please.”

 

Sasaki held out her arms.

 

“Jump.”

 

Ochako squeezed her eyes shut tight and just … slipped down, slowly, inch by inch, and Yumemu caught her by the waist to steady her.

 

“Are you okay?” Sasaki asked and Ochako nodded before her eyes widened and she darted to the other side of the bomb to cough up her breakfast.

 

“Oh, no,” Sasaki said and all of a sudden there were hands holding her hair back as Ochako burned with embarrassment. This was humiliating. “Are you okay?”

 

“It’s normal,” Ochako rasped as the med bots rolled in.

 

“I have to go release Bakugou,” Sasaki said. “... Your socks are cute.”

 

That statement only served to further embarrass Ochako. Here she was, puking her guts out in front of a cute girl that could kick her ass, without her shoes, wearing Tom Nook socks. A warm presence hovered right over her back and lips came dangerously close to her ear.

 

“I’m wearing corgis in strawberry costumes socks,” Sasaki whispered. “You’re so red.”

 

Ochako made a noise like a cat that got stepped on, and that was the end of her first real interaction with Sasaki Yumemu.

 

She was definitely in trouble.

.

.

.

.

.

“I’ll handle it,” Shouto said bluntly as his partner stood there awkwardly.

 

“We should make a plan…”

 

“I’ll handle it,” Shouto repeated and slid his foot out. Ice exploded across the building, completely freezing it over, and he passively walked in. “Wait there.”

 

He knew next to nothing of his opponents, but that didn’t really matter. The invisible girl couldn’t possibly get out of his ice, and the other boy hadn’t shown a single thing about his quirk in the assessment. He just ran the course, managed fairly well, without using a quirk at all, so Shouto could only conclude that his quirk was nonphysical. He was clearly trained, if the bulk was anything to go off of, but Shouto was trained, too. And nonphysical quirks never held up. Not against him, anyways.

 

He did feel bad about freezing the dog, though. He’d melt him out first. He liked dogs.

 

Shouto may have seen him at the recommendation exam, but he was doing something else. Didn’t they separate the exams by quirk type? He couldn’t recall. There was just the obstacle course.

 

It didn’t matter. He was frozen stiff at this point, unable to do anything.

 

Shouto walked up the stairs, figuring they’d placed the bomb on one of the top floors. He’d have to sweep through. Eyes casting about, he strode down the silent halls, wondering why they weren’t making any noise. Shit. Had he frozen their faces? Could they breathe?

 

Moving more quickly now, he made it to the fifth floor with no sign of any of them. Where were they?

 

Shouto turned down a corner and caught sight of the bomb. Entirely unguarded. His eyes cast about, looking for a telltale sign of the body of the invisible one, but there was nothing. No one was here.

 

Something was wrong. He paused in the doorway and took a careful step in. Nothing. No one. Where were they? He froze them. He was sure he froze them. There was no way they could escape him.

 

There was no warning. One second Shouto was standing there, about to stride towards the bomb, and the second a heavy body was falling directly on him, slamming him into his ice and making his teeth clack loudly as he smacked his chin. In two seconds, he was wrapped, a heavy, solid weight on his back, manhandling him like he was a twig before he could even blast him with his ice.

 

“Aki, find the other one,” the boy ordered as Shouto stared with wide eyes at the bomb. What? “Nonlethal! Hagakure, follow him.”

 

“Todoroki is out,” All Might’s voice crackled in his earbud and the boy rose, leaving Shouto on the ground in something akin to shock.

 

What?

 

“You know,” the boy said casually as he walked to the doorway, out of Shouto’s line of sight. “All you flashy quirk types are the same. You automatically assume everyone else is helpless. It’s pretty insulting, you know that?”

 

Shouto didn’t respond. He just kept staring at the bomb, trying to quantify what just happened. Did he fail?

 

“If you took Shoji with you, you might have managed to make it,” the boy added, and then his footsteps echoed away.

 

Ten minutes later, Shouto was still in shock, standing in the observation room as he stared at the replay. The boy flicked up his visor, revealing glowing green and purple eyes that stared at nothing as he chatted with the invisible girl. There was no audio, but it was clear he was planning something.

 

And then came Shouto’s ice. The boy yelled something, and the three of them leapt in sync as it spread under their feet, landing somewhat safely as the girl slipped and fell on her ass while the boy landed and rolled forward when his boots gave out on the slick ice. He put the visor back down, said something to her, and let his dog guide him to the wall, where he felt along the surface of the ice to find purchase to climb up fluidly and get into the pipes lining the ceiling. The girl took off her gloves and shoes and vanished, and the dog loped behind the bomb to wait.

 

And then Shouto came in, hesitating in the doorway, looking for signs of life. The boy just dropped down on him, bringing him to the ground, saying his piece, and then leaving, his hand trailing along the wall as he tilted his head this way and that, listening for something. He then took off in a run, his hand following the wall as he counted, his mouth moving with each step.

 

How had he memorized the amount of steps so fast? The dog was ahead, sniffing along the walls, searching for Shoji, who had entered the building when All Might declared him out. He caught the scent and broke into a run, following Shoji’s scent, and didn’t hesitate for a second before he launched himself at Shouto’s hapless partner, grabbing him by the pants to yank him down and pull as Shoji desperately tried to detangle himself. And then he jerked, as if he’d been punched in the face, and a roll of capture tape was pulled out of the dog’s vest, wrapping around Shoji’s head, which was apparently close enough for All Might, because that was the point the exercise ended.

 

“Alright, who has thoughts?” All Might asked. The ponytail girl raised her hand.

 

“Todoroki relied too much on raw strength, and showed no teamwork. Shoji was not assertive in the slightest, showing no idea of what to do with a difficult teammate. When he froze the building, Todoroki assumed he had won, showing little caution in his search, and not utilizing his partner’s quirk, which would be perfect in a search scenario such as this one. On the flipside, Hagakure and Sasaki showed exceptional teamwork. I am unsure as to what Sasaki’s quirk is, but I assume it has to do with his eyes, and I am guessing he utilized it to complete the exercise. He also successfully used Aki’s noise to hide Hagakure’s approach.”

 

“And who would you call the MVP of this fight?” All Might asked.

 

“Aki!” A chorus of voices said and Shouto pursed his lips.

 

“You can’t choose the dog because he’s cute,” All Might chastised them.

 

“Sasaki, easily, if only because he used teamwork to make Hagakure shine,” the girl replied and then smiled a little. “But one could argue Aki would make an excellent MVP. His nose was essential in the plan. Though… Sasaki, what is your quirk?”

 

Sasaki, Shouto now recognized him as, was leaning against the wall with his band of friends, idly scratching Aki’s chin.

 

“It’s a little complicated,” he responded with a rueful grin. “Unless you were asking my sister.”

 

Sister…? Shouto’s eyes landed on the only girl with the three boys. Pastel blue hair in a bob, black button eyes, a petite frame, had she already fought? She didn’t look even remotely related to the tall, muscular boy.

 

Oh. Right. She was the one that put the explosive one down with her fingertips. Her quirk was a mystery, too. Honestly, that entire group had shown a high level of skill. It was a little concerning. Shouto should have paid more attention to who was hanging out with who. In the assessment, only the rock headed one and the purple haired one showed their quirks. All nonphysical. Was it a thing?

 

“No,” ponytail said shortly. “I was asking you.”

 

“It’s called Parallel Sight,” Sasaki the boy answered with a shrug. “And it’s complicated.”

 

“If it’s called sight, then you use it to see… Why do you have a guide dog?” The pink skinned girl wondered.

 

“You can’t just ask someone why they’re blind!” The brunette with a bob gasped. Right. She had been with the Sasaki girl. Come to think of it, that pairing had been mildly ironic. The only two five point touch quirks in class.

 

Sasaki boy just sighed, long and heavy.

 

“I can only see with my quirk, and I can only use it for about five hours a day reliably without actually pushing it. Any longer than that, and there are consequences, and that time limit is entirely dependent on what lengths I push it to when it’s actually in use,” he answered shortly. “And I don’t even actually ‘see’ what’s in front of me when it’s active. Technically. Not technically? It’s complicated.”

 

“... That does sound complicated,” ponytail agreed slowly and the purple haired one rolled his eyes.

 

“When he opens his eyes, he can see through the eyes of another version of him in a parallel universe. He can navigate those parallel universes at will, find the ones that are closest to him, trip the timestreams a bit so he’s ‘seeing’ into the future, and use them to determine the best route to what he wants. It’s not that complicated, Zuku.”

 

“You gave a very dumbed down version,” Sasaki protested.

 

“And that’s all they have to know,” the purple haired one drawled.

 

That quirk did … not sound like something that could deal with Half Hot Half Cold. But it did. It dealt with it very well, and Shouto had a dawning realization that it must be the result of training. Heavy training. It sounded like a nightmare of a quirk to control, with a lot of drawbacks. The purple haired boy didn’t mention him having a built in analysis factor, so he did all of that on his own? How fast could he go? He just took Shouto down and … Shouto did not understand that. He was beefy, yes, and tall, but he moved like a pro when he walked, now that he thought about it. Like someone with martial arts training. It was a specific lethal kind of grace Shouto had intimately memorized.

 

“You automatically assume everyone else is helpless. It’s kind of insulting, you know that?”

 

He kind of had, hadn’t he? Wow. And Sasaki had definitely clocked it.

This was awkward. Shouto was just going to have to stay far, far away from that group. That was really embarrassing.

Notes:

Okay!! One more chapter and then USJ!!!

Edit: tododeku is not going to be a thing in this fic that defeats the purpose of what I'm trying to do with Izuku. Sorry.

Chapter 5

“Izuku! Hitoshi! Oh, hey Yumu!” Mirio was flagging them down, and Izuku came to a stop, tilting his head as the newly minted third year came alongside them and clapped a hand on Izuku’s shoulder to make sure they knew he was there.

 

“Hi, Mirio!” Izuku said cheerfully.

 

“Hey, guys!” Mirio said boldly. “How was your first day?”

 

“It was super good!” Izuku replied and went in for the incoming side hug. Mirio was a hugger.

 

“Nejire! Tamaki! Look, it’s Nezu’s gremlins!” Mirio called.

 

“Oh, hi, Yumu!” Nejire said from far off behind them.

 

“Hi, Nejire!” Yumu shouted, and Izuku ducked on instinct, because Yumu got very exuberant about her waving when Nejire was involved. Izuku couldn’t tell if she had a hero crush on her or just a crush crush.

 

“I heard you had a wild Foundational Heroics today,” Nejire said as she came up next to them.

 

“Oh… Yeah,” Yumu said awkwardly, and Izuku frowned.

 

“You sound sorry,” he accused her.

 

“I’m not!”

 

“You’d better not be. That was literally a perfect two for one.” Even if Katsuki had been weirdly helpful in a way he only was when he was apologetic, but that was not enough for Izuku. Katsuki needed to use his words like a grown person.

 

“I just thought I freaked Uraraka out a bit, that’s all!” Yumu blurted.

 

“I think she was just embarrassed she threw up in front of you, Yumu,” Izuku said dryly.

 

“Or are you talking about that moment when you got all close and whispered in her ear?” Hitoshi asked and Izuku tilted his head.

 

“Yumu did what?”

 

“Shut up, Hitoshi!”

 

“Wait, Yumu, what did you do?”

 

“Don’t worry about it.”

 

“Wow!” Mirio said, and, oh, they were squabbling in front of senpais now. “You’re on your first day and already flirting?”

 

“Kirishima is really interested in Hitoshi,” Izuku said slyly.

 

“Hitoshi’s too busy practicing ballroom dance moves with Tokoyami for that,” Yumu added and Hitoshi turned on her. Before chaos could strike, Izuku put a hand on each of their faces and shoved them apart. Honestly, why was he always the voice of reason with these two?

 

“Don’t touch my face!” Yumu admonished Izuku and Aki let out a quiet “wuff” to tell them to calm down or he was going to get upset.

 

Hitoshi did what, now? Honestly, was he the only one that behaved for the whole thing? He really should have amped it up. Ridiculous. He was definitely not expecting Hitoshi to come out of left field like that, though. Uraraka he could understand from Yumu, of course he could, but Hitoshi was really working hard to keep Izuku off balance, it seemed.

 

“I wasn’t flirting, I was trying off that new move Dad showed me,” Hitoshi grumbled. “ Yumu, on the other hand…”

 

“I wasn’t flirting! I was just making sure she was okay!” Yumu protested.

 

“Yumu, you should be proud that you apparently have more game than your brothers,” Izuku pointed out.

 

“Can you two stop?” Yumu whined.

 

“Well, you three obviously had an exciting day!” Mirio said, and, oh, they were doing their “siblings only zone” thing again, oops. “The three of us were going to head out right now, were you heading home, too?”

 

“Oh, no, we’re going home with Pops,” Hitoshi replied. “Dad has patrol and Pops gets deeply wounded if we don’t wait for him.”

 

He really did. Pops was a very sensitive man who was already feeling empty nest syndrome and they were literally on their first official day of high school. He was really getting excessive about the smothering lately, not that Izuku really minded. Neither did Yumu or Hitoshi. He was Pops, after all. Any and all attention from Pops was welcomed.

 

“When are you going to the agency again?” Izuku asked Mirio before he could leave.

 

“Uh, I think next week or so your papa has a spot for me.”

 

“Mmm. Make sure he actually eats lunch, please!”

 

“Always do!” Mirio chirped. “See you three! Tell your pops I said hi!”

 

“By, oh favored Nezu spawn!” Nejire called teasingly.

 

“Bye,” Tamaki whispered, and wow, he was making progress in the whole “being terrified by the rowdy siblings” thing. It only took a semester.

 

It was kind of nice, to have other students around that actually knew about the family situation. Izuku was just happy that it was thirty minutes past the last bell and the Big Three could talk to them openly about it outside.

 

“Should we go wait in the lounge for Pops?” Hitoshi asked and Izuku hummed.

 

There was a pressure at the back of his head, just hovering on the edges of his senses. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it was like he was getting a warning. Izuku wasn’t sure he should touch it. He had promised Papa he would let “life just be life”, after all. But it was this nagging sense. Something was off, it was off, and he should check on that.

 

“Izuku,” Hitoshi said. “You with us?”

 

“Hm?” Izuku shook the feeling off. It was probably a general Katsuki warning. “Oh, yeah, let’s go wait for Pops.”

 

Pushing the thought out of his head, he followed Hitoshi and Yumu back into the building. It was time to cause chaos in the teachers’ lounge. One serving of his favorite pastime, coming right up.

.

.

.

.

.

“Just because Nezu encourages it doesn’t mean you three should do it,” Pops said as Izuku twisted the dial that started the dishwasher.

 

“It wasn’t that bad,” Izuku shot back.

 

“It was that bad, don’t do it again,” Pops replied. “Kan actually wanted you three in his class before this.”

 

“Well, that doesn’t really matter, because Dad got us anyways, right?” Izuku challenged.

 

“I meant he liked you. He no longer likes you.”

 

“He’s just mad,” Izuku replied petulantly. “He knew how awful we were. It wasn’t even that bad.”

 

“You know the last time we had to use that fire extinguisher? Never. We have never had to use the fire extinguisher before.”

 

“ That was actually an accident!”

 

“What else did you think would happen? You just got your phone back, Izuku. I just need you to behave for one week. Can you do that? Go a full week without an incident?”

 

Pops was very aggressively wiping down the table. Hitoshi and Yumu were out back with Aki, leaving Izuku with the brunt of Pops’s frustration.

 

“... Yes?”

 

“One week, Izuku. No pranks, no acting out in class, no sending my coworkers running for the hills.” Pops bopped Izuku on the nose with the paper towel roll. “One week.”

 

“Alright, I’ll behave for a week!”

 

“The only reason you’re getting off is because the fire wasn’t supposed to happen. Got it?”

 

“Got it!”

 

The sliding glass door opened loudly and Pops stuck his head out into the backyard.

 

“Hitoshi! Yumu! I’m heading to the show!” He called.

 

“Alright!” Hitoshi called and there was a grunt as he presumably threw the ball for Aki again.

 

“Alright,” Pops said as he closed the door again with a click. “Alright, Papa will be home in an hour, snacks are on the counter if you can’t wait for him to cook dinner, don’t burn down my house, we’ve already had enough fire-related incidents to last a year. Capiche?”

 

“Capiche is such an old man term,” Izuku complained.

 

“Yeah, well, I’m old, deal with it,” Pops shot back.

 

“You’re thirty! That’s not old! Everyone else’s parents are old!”

 

“Yeah, well, you’re definitely giving me gray hairs, so,” Pops replied and a hand was on the back of Izuku’s head, pulling him forward so Pops could land a kiss on the top of his curls. “Remind me to touch up your dye this weekend, yeah? Your sides are getting long.”

 

“Haircuts this weekend, got it,” Izuku said and leaned in to give Pops a hug. “See you after work!”

 

“See ya, little listener!” Pops replied and pulled away. “Remember, Dad isn’t home until late, so try to be quiet tonight so he can get his rest before class tomorrow. Kay?”

 

“We’ll be quiet. You’re going to be late.”

 

There was a jingle of Pops grabbing his keys and another kiss was pressed to Izuku’s head before he was rushing for the door and pulling on his shoes.

 

“See you in a few hours!” The front door slammed shut and locked and Izuku popped his head out into the backyard.

 

“Pops is gone!”

 

Running paws bolted for Izuku and suddenly Aki was nudging around his pockets.

 

“Oh, you want a cookie?” Izuku asked. “Let’s get you a cookie. Guys, we gotta do our workouts!”

There was another press of general discomfort as Izuku led Aki inside and got out his bag of treats, but Izuku pushed it aside. Let life be life. Katsuki was probably going to act out tomorrow, but it would be fine. Izuku could handle it without peeking.

Notes:

Izuku,,,,, baby,,,,,

Chapter 6

“Welcome to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or USJ for short!” Thirteen was standing by the stairs, and despite thoroughly ruining everyone’s day yesterday, Yumu was actually really excited to see them. “I’m the Space Hero: Thirteen!”

 

“Oh my gods it’s Thirteen!” Uraraka hissed next to her. “They’re my favorite hero!”

 

“Good taste,” Yumu murmured. She was partial to Eraserhead, herself, but Uraraka definitely got points for clocking him on the first day.

 

“This is my dome,” Thirteen continued. “Here we have every disaster scenario you can think of. There’s a fire zone, an avalanche, a shipwreck, a squall, an earthquake, basically everything you need to prepare yourself for your life as pros. All Might was going to join us, but he unfortunately was called away on hero business, so it’s just going to be me and Eraserhead today.”

 

They held up three fingers and Dad let out a huff of irritated air next to Yumu. What was that about?

 

“Now, before we start, who here knows my quirk?” Thirteen asked, and Uraraka’s arm shot up in excitement. Okay, that was cute. “Yes, Uraraka?”

 

Of course they had already memorized the classlist. How could you not love Thirteen?

 

“Black Hole! Your fingers create a vacuum and everything sucked in gets turned to dust!”

 

“That’s correct!” Thirteen said. “As it’s perfect for rescue work, I have been working in the field for eighteen years now, and it has enabled me to save a great many lives. But this is also a power that can kill. Easily.”

 

A quiet, somber silence fell on the class, and Yumu resolutely refused to look down at her hands.

 

“All of you have the potential to kill,” Thirteen said flatly. “That is the nature of our society, and the nature of humanity. Everyone has that potential, regardless of their quirks. Here, you will learn the importance of valuing life above all else. Even the lives of villains. Today, we’re going to be doing a tour of the grounds, and running simulations through each zone.”

 

Izuku, just behind her, suddenly shifted and lifted his head.

 

“D… Sensei,” he said and Yumu looked over her shoulder. Izuku had been jumpy all day.

 

“What is it, Sasaki?” Dad asked and Izuku looked left, right.

 

“I…” There were lines in his forehead. “Something’s wrong.”

 

“What do you mean, something’s wrong?”

 

“Izuku?” Yumu asked softly.

 

“USJ. What was it about USJ?” Izuku muttered and reached for his visor.

 

“What’s that?” Uraraka asked and pointed down to the fountain far, far below.

 

Yumu had grown up in the USJ. It was almost her playground from age thirteen on up. After school, sometimes they were set loose to scramble through ruins and swim in the shipwreck zone while the teachers went through their monthly safety inspections. They didn’t get to go often, but when they did, she cherished those memories. There were always mysteries to discover here, places to be, things to do. She knew every inch of this place like the back of her hand. Inspections took hours, well into the night, which was the only reason they were allowed to come at all. She knew every tic of this place, every safety procedure, every surprise it held.

 

Never before had she seen this, though. There was a swirling black void right next to the fountain, and that was not a part of her USJ. People were coming out of the vortex, and Yumu took a step back as Izuku flicked up his visor.

 

“Yumu, go right,” he said quietly even as chatter broke out.

 

“Is this part of the training?” Someone asked as Yumu sidestepped to the right, body tense. No. No, this was not a part of training.

 

“No. These are real villains,” Dad said and moved forward. “Thirteen, protect the students.”

 

Wait. Wait, Dad was moving forward. That meant Dad was attacking. Dad was an ambush hunter, he wasn’t… No.

 

“D…” The protest died in Yumu’s throat as the class exploded. Dad was moving forward, she had to stop him.

 

She had seen Dad come home banged up before. Black eyes, broken arms, dislocated shoulders, torn muscles, Dad had been through it all. He was very careful, of course. He didn’t get injured nearly as much as his peers. But he still got injured. And it still hurt every time.

 

Yumu had grown up understanding that her parents were heroes. But Dad was moving forward. There were people in USJ and he was moving forward.

 

“Dad, no!” Hitoshi blurted, stepping forward, and his eyes were panicked, and now the whole class knew Dad was Dad on the third day of school, and he was moving forward.

 

“Hitoshi, stay back,” Dad ordered, not even reacting to the outburst as the entire class fell into silence as they realized that there were villains down there and someone’s dad was heading right towards them.

 

“You’re an ambush hunter, there’s like fort---”

 

“Toshi,” Dad said shortly. “Stay back.”

 

He glanced over his shoulder, and Yumu stared in horror as his dark eyes landed on his cluster of kids standing there, like he was memorizing their faces, and no, no, no, there were forty people down there and he was memorizing their faces, no, no, no.

 

And then his eyes hardened and he launched himself down the stairs.

 

“NO!” Yumu screamed, but it was too late. He was gone, hair in the air, eyes on fire, his scarves lashing through the air, he was gone, gone, gone, Dad was down there, he was gone.

 

Yumu couldn’t stop her feet from moving. She charged forward, heart pounding in her chest, and Hitoshi lashed out to grab her before she could do something she regretted, and then out of nowhere there was a black void in front of her and she couldn’t see her dad.

 

“NO!” She screamed again as Hitoshi yanked her back against him, her heart pounding in her chest as her vision went red.

 

Gods, what could she even do? Slap someone? Put them to sleep? Scare them a little? She was fifteen, she wasn’t even sixteen yet, it was her third day of high school, what could she actually do? She couldn’t do anything, but Dad was down there and she couldn’t reach him.

 

Hitoshi was pinning her to his chest and Yumu realized the roaring in her ears was so loud she couldn’t hear what the mist was saying. Her world was just pounding waves screaming in her head, overtaking all of her senses and threatening to drown her. She couldn’t hear. All she could feel was the pounding of her heart in her chest, and she needed to move, why was Hitoshi pinning her, Dad was down there and he needed help.

 

Didn’t Hitoshi realize Dad was memorizing their faces? Dad was going to die, she had to save him, she needed her dad, they all needed their dad, she needed to get to him, and…

 

“Yumu, go right.” That was what Izuku had said. He told her to go right. Bakugou and Kirishima were flying through the air, and Yumu breathed an apology to Hitoshi before reaching up and slamming her arms through his grip to break it. And then she charged.

 

Not at the swirling black void. She had no way of knowing what she could touch and what she couldn’t. No, she was going to the right. Right towards the edge of the banisters. Because Izuku said go right, and Izuku was always right. There were screams of shock behind her, and she dimly realized no one was following her because they were all getting thrown through portals, and there.

 

Her hands slapped down on the banister and she launched herself over the edge. The air rushed around her and she hit the tree, scraping her way down and catching a branch to hang there.

 

The best thing you could do to catch your breath after a long run was to lift your hands over your head, and suddenly the world was clear. Yumu was taking deep breaths, dangling six feet over the ground, and she then realized she had just done something insane. She just threw herself off a ledge that was at least two stories high. Fuck.

 

She needed to calm down. Deep breaths, in and out. Dad was fighting it out just a little ways ahead, but she needed to not be in his way.

 

Dad was an ambush hunter. He had given her so many tips about ambushing people. Yumu was practically built for it, and the number one thing he had always drilled into her head was to be patient and wait for an opportunity to strike. Even when your body was shaking with the jitters, even when you were internally panicking, even when you wanted to jump the gun and charge in, you needed to wait for your window or you would make a mess of things.

 

Yumu took a deep breath and let go of the branch. The air rushed up and she dropped, hitting the ground in a roll to absorb the impact, and came to her feet.

 

Patience. She needed to be patient. The exits were blocked, they were trapped inside, the only hope they had was for someone to get out, but in the meantime, she needed to try this communicator to call for help.

 

Yumu crouched behind the bush and took a deep, steadying breath. Okay. So she was in a villain hostage situation. Comply was the number one thing she knew to do, but from the sound of it, these villains were here to kill them, so complying was not an option. Next option was to call for help and get the pros here.

 

Squeezing the end of the plush ear, she activated the radio, only to be greeted by a beeping error noise. No service. She pressed it again, but there was still the error noise.

 

She wasn’t in her school uniform. Her costume did not have the distress beacons sewn into the seams like her school uniform. Shit. Okay. Next step.

 

Peeking over the edge of the bush, she watched the chaos play out. She couldn’t see Dad, but villains were still flying, and she could catch the scarf moving. Her eyes followed the line of trees and bushes. She needed to be fast and silent to get closer. It was time to move. There was some skinny, borderline emaciated dude standing there, next to a gigantic hulking mass of black flesh and exposed brain. What was that thing? That couldn’t be a person. It was… the eyes were dull. It was just standing there, not moving, barely breathing. There were no signs of life. There was no nervous twitch, no irregular breath pattern, no nothing.

 

It was just standing there.

 

It was a threat. That was a threat, but it had eyes, and it had a brain, and it had skin, a lot of exposed skin, which meant Yumu was a bigger threat. If that thing got unleashed on Dad, there was no stopping it. She could already tell.

 

“You’re a threat, Yumemu. This is why you wear the gloves. I need you to understand this,” the man said. “So when I tell you to keep those gloves on, I mean those gloves will stay on. This is fair of me, right? I’m telling you what you did wrong, and I’m telling you the consequences. You are a threat, and you need to control yourself.”

 

Yumu was a threat. Yumu had never not been a threat, but her choices were her own, and right now, she was going to be someone’s nightmare.

 

Dad wasn’t going to just memorize their faces. No. Dad was going to see their faces every day. He was going to see them graduate, he was going to see them open their agencies, get married, have kids, he was going to see them buy their first houses, sign the leases to their first apartments, cry over breakups, pull their wild pranks in the teachers’ lounge, he was going to see them rise in the ranks, he was going to see all of it.

 

He wasn’t just going to memorize their faces. No.

 

Yumu needed to move. Getting up into a crouch, she moved around the perimeter of the sprinkling of trees. She needed to move fast, but not too fast, relying on stealth over speed. She needed her moment. She needed to get in there.

 

Slowly, the image of Dad broke through. He was moving fast, powerful, throwing men twice his size around like a five year old throwing a fit with his toys, and okay, okay, he was fine, but also Dad was not that strong. He was strong, yes, but not that strong.

 

Hysterical strength. That was what it was called. He was panicking. Shit. When people panicked, they made mistakes, and Dad was freaking out. She caught him looking up at the stairs, trying to catch a glimpse of his kids, but they were gone.

 

The mist man came back to the hand man’s side, and Yumu pressed behind a tree. There were muffled voices, she couldn’t hear from here, but she could catch vague half statements. One got away, All Might isn’t here, oh, so someone got away to get help, that was good, she hoped it was Tenya, threats of death, standard villain stuff.

 

Wait. Hadn’t the mist said something about killing All Might?

 

Of course. Of fucking course, it was always All Might. What was Yumu expecting? Objectively, this was not exactly All Might’s fault, but he was supposed to be here, they were apparently here for him, and now Dad was on his own facing down forty villains.

 

Move again. No one was looking in her direction. Yumu darted for a bush and there, she was closer now, she could hear what was going on.

 

“You really are a proper hero, Eraserhead,” the man with the hands crooned. “Look at how badass you are. But you’re wasting my time.”

 

Behind them, Yumu caught the sight of blue water going white around the ship, and who did that? No time to worry about that, the man said Dad was wasting his time. That was a problem.

 

“Nomu, bring Eraserhead here,” the man ordered, and suddenly that black thing was moving.

 

It was horrible. It was horrifying. Dad was fine one second, and the next he was on the ground, and Yumu’s hands flew to her mouth to muffle a small scream. There were so many crunches. There was bright red liquid pooling, and she choked behind her hands. Her cursed, scarred hands.

 

He was laying there. She couldn’t even follow it, but he was just on the ground. Dad was on the ground. The man with the hands was walking forward, but Yumu was frozen in place, watching, her hands pressed to her mouth, tears shining, because Dad wasn’t moving. The creature had a hand on his head, crushing it into the ground, and Dad wasn’t moving.

 

“You really were cool, you know,” the man said as he crouched in front of her dad, her dad, hadn’t he just came into her room last night to tell her goodnight? She could still see his powerful, indomitable silhouette in her doorway before he closed the door.

 

The man reached forward and Dad’s back heaved, like he was struggling to draw in air, and it was so fast, there was too much going on, Yumu hadn’t even seen it, Dad was on the ground, there was blood, it was right under his eye, was his eye okay?

 

And then the man’s hand wrapped around Dad’s arm and his costume crumbled. Fingers touched Dad’s arm, and his skin just turned to dust. No, no, no.

 

And then the man looked up and let go of Dad’s arm. Yumu’s eyes followed his gaze, and there were her brothers, in the bushes, dripping wet, shaking uncontrollably, Asui next to them, Izuku’s batons were gone, and they were watching in horror.

 

Something clicked. It was like that same calm that washed over her when they told her that fateful day in first year of middle school. Her parents were going to kill her, and she said no.

 

No.

 

It was reverberating around her body.

 

No.

 

No.

 

It was taking over her senses and she tensed in preparation, watching the man walk towards her brothers, watch that gap between that creature and him widen and widen, watch her window open wider and wider.

 

No.

 

No, no, no.

 

The man reached for Asui, and Dad’s head lifted. His eyes were red, shining red, and the man paused as his quirk did nothing.

 

There was one target. One target, a clear path there, and that creature was about to be Yumu’s.

She tensed just a little more, and then she moved.

Notes:

Okaaaayyyy hello cliffhanger

Chapter 7

Izuku hit the water hard. It enveloped him for a moment, and his eyes flickered erratically. Yumu got away. Good. He wasn’t entirely sure why it was important, but Yumu needed to be loose. Now he had to worry about drowning.

 

One Izuku caught the sight of two batons sinking to the bottom of the shipwreck zone and Izuku reached his hand over his shoulder for them, but, no, they were gone. Great. He never even got to use them, how frustrating was that?

 

Something was coming through the water directly towards him, and Izuku tested the strength of the thread. Strong. Too strong. Oh, awesome. Great. He was about to get eaten by a shark, but, oh, wait, no, here came Asui.

 

Izuku kicked in the water, his hair floating in the depths, and Asui hit the shark, knocking him away, and a tongue wrapped around Izuku’s waist, tugging him up as she kicked for the surface.

 

They broke the surface and Izuku took a deep breath of air.

 

“Aki?” He called in a panic. Where was Aki? Hitoshi? “Toshi?”

 

“Aizawa is on the ship, kero,” Asui said. “I saw Aki go through a portal with Kouda.”

 

Oh, awesome, he was now separated from his guide dog, this was going to be a bitch to deal with.

 

“Where’s the ship?” He asked. It was all over the universes, left, right, in front of him, behind, he needed to preserve his strength, he didn’t have time for analysis.

 

“Hold onto my shoulders,” Asui ordered and Izuku reached out as she kicked in front of him. His hands found purchase on her shoulders and she propelled them through the water.

 

Izuku didn’t remember the water being this cold, but then again, no one had ever let them go out this deep. He was shivering a little, trying to push down the panic, because Dad just went down there, Yumu was somewhere off around the worst of the villains and Izuku didn’t even know why he told her to go right, there were so many things computed at once, but it seemed like a good idea at the time, Aki was gone, but at least Koji knew how to work with him and what commands to give him, Dad was out there, Hitoshi was on the boat, he was apparently in the water with a bunch of villains, he was soaked to the bone, and he needed to stop freaking out and think.

 

Think. Think, think, think.

 

“I need to figure out what to do, I need you to be my eyes to get me up on the ship,” Izuku said as a full body shiver wracked him.

 

“Alright, kero, we’re almost there,” Asui replied and Izuku’s eyes descended into flickering madness. Okay. First steps.

 

“Hey, Papa,” Izuku said in the quiet living room. Yumu and Hitoshi were outside tossing the ball around for Aki, and Pops and Dad were both at work.

 

“Hm?”

 

“... How would I use my quirk in an ambush scenario?”

 

“... You’re supposed to learn that at school, Izuku,” Papa replied dryly as Izuku flicked through the Australian outback, whispering the stitch counts under his breath as his fingers felt along the stitches.

 

“Well, it’s not like they’re going to hire any analyzers anytime soon. You’re the expert,” Izuku prompted and Papa hummed.

 

“Your quirk is very different than mine, but if I had yours, the first thing I would do is check for injuries. The second thing I would do is check for enemies and make a list of their quirks. You’re going to find yourself heavily relying on turning quirks against other people. Your fighting style is already about dodging attacks and preemptively avoiding them, so if you can figure out how to turn them on each other with your placement, you would be pretty set. Friendly fire will be your friend. Of course, I would hope you wouldn’t get into any of those scenarios anytime soon. You’ll have to get more practice with multiple opponents before you start descending into friendly fire opportunist attacks, though. For now, at your level, I would say stick to what you’re good at.”

 

Izuku hummed and frowned, feeling around and frowning when he realized he put an extra stitch in the row. That was fine. He could fix that.

 

“Any reason why you’re asking me about ambushes?” Papa asked wryly and Izuku shrugged, ignoring the ticking at the back of his mind.

 

“Just a feeling.”

 

“... Like a quirk feeling?”

 

Izuku had never really lied to his papa. He’d never lied to any of his parents, not to their faces. There was the occasional omitting information, but never lying. But… but he couldn’t really say yes.

 

“No. Just universe things. Seeing a lot of them lately, so I figured I could find something where I could learn from someone acting like I should. May take a bit to find it, though.”

 

“Hm. You’re at two hours now, so you’ve got awhile. I’ll let you know when you’re at four hours, alright?”

 

“Cool. Thanks.”

 

Izuku never did find it. He didn’t tell Papa that, either.

 

Maybe he should have. Maybe he should have done a lot of things, like listening to the ticking in the back of his mind yesterday. Maybe he shouldn’t have told Dad something was wrong five seconds before it happened. Maybe he should have told him when he first got the feeling. Maybe he should have paid attention to the way the threads were vibrating with the cadence of big event, danger, danger, danger, pay attention to us, please listen. Maybe he shouldn’t have brushed it off, said it could have been Katsuki, or an emotional danger, like the way they sang when he met Yumu.

 

Maybe he should have done a lot of things, and maybe he should stop drowning in panic and regret now. Maybe he should focus on what he was supposed to be doing, which was finding his way out of the mess he’d made.

 

“Okay, reach up, Sasaki,” Asui suddenly said and Izuku let go of her shoulders as his eyes flickered and flickered. Primarily mutant water based quirks, nothing really to work with there. Hitoshi and Asui didn’t appear to be injured, but he had to make sure they were on the left side of the ship, not the right, to minimize the damage when it started splitting. He wanted to push forward to check on damage, but they had to survive the next five minutes first.

 

Izuku’s hand found purchase on a rung and he hauled himself up. The villains were on their way, about to start surrounding the ship, and he needed to move. He needed to find a mutant emitter type. They were rare, but if he found someone Hitoshi could target, he could get them off this ship. He needed entrapment or scattering, and a way to get across the water. Click, click, click, the threads hummed as he climbed up the ladder.

 

“Hey, Zuku,” Hitoshi said from the top as Izuku neared them.

 

“Are we on the left side of the crack?” Izuku asked immediately.

 

“Uh… yeah?”

 

“Good. We need to stay here until we can move,” Izuku said, and there. Bouncing along the parallel threads, he checked the strength, made sure it was consistent, and yeah, it was. This would work. “We’re about to be surrounded. Hitoshi, you need to…” Hitoshi’s hand found Izuku’s arm and Izuku accepted the help, letting him pull him up. Izuku clambered on board and found the railing, eyes buzzing brightly with purple. “Thanks. Hitoshi, I need you to target the penguin mutant and tell him to use his quirk when you get him. It works if you…” Izuku squinted on instinct, even though it did absolutely nothing, and tried to words Hitoshi was saying in that universe on his mouth. He repeated them under his breath, moving his lips, making sure the movements were right, rewound it a few times, and yeah, that was it. “... Ask if his wife is still enjoying… uhm. Enjoying his brother. Wow. That’s super rude. Even I wouldn’t do that.”

 

“You’re actually telling me to do it,” Hitoshi commented dryly. “Hey, Asui. Thanks for getting him here.”

 

Hitoshi was putting on airs, but there was a little tremor under his tone. Izuku could barely catch it, but it was there. He was scared. What a mood. Izuku was terrified out of his mind.

 

“What will his quirk do, kero?” Asui asked.

 

“He’s going to freeze the boat and immediate area. You have to time it so they’re all around the boat. We’ll have a narrow window to run across the ice, Hitoshi, you gotta stick close to Asui, the cold’s not good for her, she might slow down and you’ll have to pick her up. They’re going to try to break the ice and get out, but only a few will escape, and they’ll still be stuck in their own little glaciers.”

 

“Call me Tsu, kero,” Asui, no, Tsu, croaked, and Izuku nodded.

 

“Tsu, sorry. Keep close to Tsu.”

 

“What happens when we get to land?” Hitoshi asked and Izuku froze. He didn’t want to look. He knew something bad was happening, and he didn’t want to look. Not again. He couldn’t do that again. He couldn’t stop it, just like last time, he couldn’t stop it, bad things happened and sometimes Izuku could do nothing, he couldn’t do it again, he couldn’t look, no, he couldn’t---

 

“Izuku,” Hitoshi said softly and grabbed him by the arm and Izuku realized he had a look on his face. “... Is it like… like her again?”

 

“... We’re just getting to land,” Izuku whispered.

 

Hitoshi’s hand was shaking, and he let go of Izuku’s arm.

 

“Okay. One step at a time,” he agreed and there was a shift. “Penguin is our target?”

 

“Penguin is our target,” Izuku confirmed with a confident nod he didn’t really feel right now.

 

“Okay. Okay,” Hitoshi muttered.

 

Growing up with pros was incredibly weird, because all of Izuku’s instincts were screaming at him to stay calm, but his body was shaking. When he was nine, freshly in Papa’s apartment, he sat him down and went over the “list”. The “list” was what to do if someone targeted him for being Sir Nighteye’s nephew. Comply. Stay calm, try not to cry, violent people get violent when children cry, speak and answer questions clearly and do not ramble, remain respectful but composed as best as you can, if they ask you any questions about your uncle’s work, you answer and you answer truthfully, if you need something, put asking for it off as long as you possibly can, it was all about complying and doing as you’re told until you can be rescued.

 

He couldn’t do that right now. They weren’t targeting them because he was Sir Nighteye’s son. They probably didn’t even know. Everyone knew that Endeavor had kids, and that his son was in UA now, his agency had put out a statement about it, but Papa had kept it quiet. Pops had kept it quiet, too.

 

Right now, he was being targeted because he was a UA student, and he was being targeted because he could die and they wanted to make it happen. He was fifteen, it was his third day of high school, and they wanted to kill him.

 

Everything was out the window. All of the talks, all of the safety rules, all of the steps to take, all of the behaviors, because they wanted to kill him. They wanted to kill his dad, his sister, his brother, his friend, his dog if they really wanted to get down to it, they wanted to kill everyone, and he had to fight.

 

“They’re almost here,” Hitoshi murmured and Izuku tightened his hand on the banister.

 

“On my count,” he said calmly. “One, two…” Not yet, not yet, he started the time at the wrong time… There. “Now.”

 

“Hey, you penguin fuck!” Hitoshi shouted. “Your wife still enjoying your brother?”

 

“What the fu--”

 

Got him.

 

“Freeze the ship!” Hitoshi ordered, and there was the sound of cracking and creaking as the temperature dropped drastically. The sudden change in air pressure made the metal of the ship groan and Izuku’s eyes widened in horror as bolts popped out. Oh, he really needed to work around the audio problem.

 

“Move!” Izuku ordered as shouts of alarm rose up, and his eyes flickered as he led himself to the ladder rungs. The three of them climbed down and Izuku broke into a dead sprint across the already-cracking ice. The ship was creaking behind them, moving, and the ice was breaking. “Follow my steps!”

 

“Don’t let them go!” Someone called and Izuku’s brain flicked from the possibilities as the six foot thick ice began to crack. Straight, straight, dodge, left, right, shuffle to a stop to avoid a swipe, there was a crack ahead, he’d have to jump, smooth leap over the man right in front of him, make sure you listen to make sure they’re right behind you, don’t leave anyone behind, be a leader, leaders keep moving but slow down to let people catch up…

 

His heart was pounding in his chest as someone made a swipe at him and he dropped and rolled, coming to his feet. His threads screamed and Izuku jumped just as the ice split. The block of ice rocked dangerously, and now he was getting to the broken pieces. Half step back, balance it, jump, land with your gravity centered, they weren’t far enough away yet for Tsu to take the water.

 

“Hitoshi, Tsu, you guys behind me?” He called.

 

“Yes!” Tsu called, and he heard the telltale click of chattering teeth. Shit. Okay, okay, balance, that one to the left was about to break, he needed to go right. Izuku hopped, they were running out of ice now. Center your gravity, jump, land, crouch down and stop the rocking, and that was it, they needed to swim now.

 

“Can you handle the water, Tsu?” He asked over his shoulder.

 

“I can stay awake,” Tsu croaked and Izuku tensed before shaking out his jitters. It was just cold water. He flicked through his universes to make sure the path was clear, and, yeah, they were good to go.

 

Izuku jumped, and wow. He’d thought the water was cold, but this water was freezing. They needed to swim hard, and fast. Weaving through his universes, he found the best path, and broke out into long breast strokes.

 

They were fine. Everything was fine. It was okay.

 

It wasn’t happening again. It couldn’t be happening again.

 

“Then look,” a traitorous, mocking voice in his brain whispered. “Look at what you’ve done, if you’re so brave.”

 

Izuku shut his eyes.

Notes:

Aha! You all thought you were going to be stuck on a cliffhanger but SURPRISE!!! It's a DIFFERENT cliffhanger!! But also I am so sorry.

Chapter 8

Dad was on the ground. He was on the ground, and there was so much blood. Izuku was frantically flicking through his universes, trying to find one where there wasn’t blood, trying to find one where he wasn’t being pinned by that behemoth of a creature, but it was all the same.

 

It was like Mom. It was like Yumu. It was all there, right in front of him, and he could have stopped this.

 

“Izuku,” Hitoshi said softly. “Izuku, you need to control your breathing. It’s getting loud.”

 

“Something felt wrong,” Izuku whispered. “It felt wrong yesterday, and I didn’t say anything, is he bleeding? ”

 

“Zuku, we’re with …” Tsu was right there. Izuku was trying to catch his breath. No, no, no, this couldn’t be happening right now. He’d already lost Mom, this couldn’t be happening. “You gotta breathe. Please, Izuku. Please.”

 

Izuku knew exactly what he was staring at. He knew what he was forcing himself to see. It was all red. It was all so, so red.

 

“Dad,” he choked out, and shit, there was a classmate here, he just said it, but that was his dad.

 

“Izuku, you gotta… shit.”

 

The man covered in hands was moving towards them in all the universes and Izuku froze. He couldn’t help it. He froze. Dad was on the ground, there was nothing left he could do, where was Yumu? Yumu was meant to be here, right?

 

The man was saying something, and then he was reaching towards Tsu. His hand touched her face, but Dad’s eyes were gleaming. The world was frozen at a single point, freezing cold, seeping into Izuku’s bones, nipping at his fingers and toes, locking him in place, too terrified to even breathe. None of them could move.

 

And then, it happened.

 

Yumu came out of nowhere. She was a blur of blue and gray and white, sprinting from her cover under the bushes at the menacing, hulking creature pinning their dad to the ground. Dad didn’t notice her until the last second, wholly focused on shutting off Shigaraki’s quirk as he grasped at Tsu’s face.

 

“You’re so cool, Eraserhe---”

 

It was then that Yumu struck, her hands brushing across the monster before her and sending it crashing to the ground, entirely motionless. Her fingers latched onto Dad’s jumpsuit as she rolled out of the way, pulling him with her and crouching defensively over him.

 

“Yumu---” Dad croaked.

 

“I got you, Dad,” she breathed as her wet, they were so wet, black button eyes glared daggers at Shigaraki. “I just took out your pet. What are you going to do about it?”

 

“Hacker,” Shigaraki said, scratching at his neck vigorously. “She’s a hacker. Kurogiri, they have a hacker. ”

 

“Perhaps we should retreat before reinforcements arrive---” the black mist started to say, but Shigaraki cut him off with an unholy screech.

 

“I’m going to kill the hacker,” he snarled viciously and lunged at Yumu, who crouched down, in a defensive stance, and Izuku saw red.

 

It was like something snapped into place. Izuku’s brain was completely clear, his ice cold world igniting into hellflames screaming at him to fucking move. The fog that had descended on the boys was immediately dispersed, and Izuku yanked on his streams, flipping through the possibilities as Shigaraki moved for his sister. He had battered his dad around like a ragdoll, and now he was going after his little sister? No. No, he didn’t get to do that. No.

 

Izuku charged out of the bushes, catching Shigaraki off guard and intercepting him mid lunge. He stepped right into his path and his elbow went up, smashing into Shigaraki’s nose with his back to his chest. There was an audible crunch, and Izuku slipped his hand down his arm to grab him around the wrist and flipped him over his shoulder. Shigaraki hit the ground with an audible whumph, the breath driven right out of him as Izuku felt red wetness seep into the fabric of his jumpsuit.

 

“Back off my sister,” Izuku snarled. Shit. He should have done something, he should have helped Dad, why was the line drawn at Yumu? Why did he panic?

 

Focus. He needed to focus.

 

Shigaraki howled and Izuku jerked his foot up and away as the air whisked under where his ankle had been.

 

“You know, I get the urge to hurt All Might. I do. He’s annoying as hell to a guy like me, but fuck you,” Izuku hissed as his foot that was hovering in the air moved back and firmly set itself in the ground. “You thought you could touch my sister?”

 

“I think he did think he could touch Yumu, but I don’t think he thought anything through at all,” Hitoshi drawled from behind him. “Hey, Shigaraki, wasn’t it?”

 

“You shitty little hacker!” Shigaraki snarled, evidently replying to Izuku, because Hitoshi couldn’t get him.

 

A dozen scenarios flickered through Izuku’s eyes, and he sidestepped the warp that tried to open beneath him before dodging to the right to avoid a second gate.

 

“That’s not going to work,” he warned Kurogiri. “That’s not going to work at all.”

 

“Hey, idiot,” Hitoshi said sharply. “Do you have any training at all? Why did you go against an unknown five point touch quirk when your own quirk is five point touch?”

 

“Becau---” Hitoshi had him, and now Izuku had to deal with Kurogiri.

 

“Get those children!” Kurogiri ordered the few grunts left, and Izuku slid his foot through the dirt.

 

“Yumu, get him out of here!” Izuku shouted, and his sister scrambled to pick up their broken and beaten dad, three sizes too large on her small little body. She would be useful right now, but their most useful weapon needed to be with the unconscious target. Dad was now entirely limp, and all of the things Izuku couldn’t think of were flooding back in. This was fine. This was what he trained for. “Tsu, help Yumu!”

 

Tsu leapt forward as Izuku’s brain whirred through the different scenarios. Win, win, win, he had to win, there.

 

A fist came flying at him and he ducked, cursing losing his batons so soon, and captured the hand in his own grip before twisting, throwing the man far away before slipping to the side to avoid a devastating kick from a mutant type. There was a wet slap of Hitoshi’s sopping capture weapon smacking someone in the face and Izuku caught a roundhouse kick and punched directly up into the groin before wrapping his free leg around the only thing propping the man up and sending him crashing into the ground. Ignoring the pained yelp and subsequent groaning, Izuku grabbed on the nearest thread and yanked, grabbing the hand about to land on his shoulder before it made contact and using it as leverage to flip the man over his shoulder. He hit the ground and Izuku, saying fuck all to being “heroic”, smashed the toe of his boot right into his ribcage.

 

They were being swarmed. All of the villains had minimal actual training, likely knowing what they did from scraps in alleyways, but sometimes quantity could overcome quality.

 

Best case scenario, he and Hitoshi were going to get banged up.

 

Shit. Someone had jolted Shigaraki. He was up. Izuku backed up rapidly.

 

“Give me back my Nomu!” Shigaraki howled and Izuku grinned ferally.

 

“She’s already gone. Your toy isn’t getting back up, ashy. There’s no breaking out of Morpheus Trap.” He didn’t need to know there was a time limit. Thirty minutes? They would have reinforcements by then.

 

Danger screamed in a thread, and Izuku whirled towards where he heard Hitoshi shift.

 

“Toshi, wat---”

 

There was a scream of pain and a cackle and Izuku frantically flicked through the threads to figure out what just happened. No, no, no, not Toshi, what just happened?

 

“Get off me!” Hitoshi howled and there was another crack. Oh. Shigaraki just got his nose broken again. He should have known they were above his skill level. There was another shriek of pain, not from Hitoshi, and Izuku didn’t know what was happening.

 

“Tosh, you okay?” Izuku asked in a panic, his eyes flicking around as he desperately tried to figure out what just happened. Was he looking directly at Hitoshi? He had no idea. He knew his pupils rarely dilated. Looking through Parallel Izukus was like looking through almost-drunk goggles.

 

“Oh, he’s blind,” Shigaraki purred and Izuku ducked on instinct at a shift in the air. Shit. What happened to Toshi? That was him screaming.

 

He was losing control, fighting entirely blind, and he needed to snap back. The ring around his eyes flickered erratically and a blow caught him right upside the head. Izuku heard several cracks and pain exploded across his face as his jaw broke and his visor shattered, a piece embedding right beneath his eye, and another hit landed in his ribs with a crunch. Something snapped, and Izuku found the thread he needed.

 

Not even thinking about it, he yanked out the shard of plastic stuck in his face and flung it. There was a slick noise of it cutting through flesh and a shriek, and Izuku ducked and rolled, the pain blossoming across his chest, and grunted in pain before swiping out with his leg to knock someone over. Millions of lives flickered before him, the threads fluctuating in strength a mile a minute, and Izuku’s hand wrapped around a brick that had been knocked loose in the tussle and flung it with a satisfying thunk and crunch as it made contact with someone’s face.

 

Thank gods Kazane had started training them in an urban environment.

 

His threads pinged, screaming at him that Shigaraki was almost on him, and Izuku flickered between twenty in the span of milliseconds before rolling backwards, out of range, and then dodged to the side as he came to his feet to escape Shigaraki’s grasping hands. His hand wrapped around a wrist from a fist flying at him and he yanked, as hard as he could, driving his knee into a gut and releasing so the force of the throw pushed them back. His leg swung straight up, almost in a split, and his steel toed boot made direct contact with a chin. A thump, and his senses pinged again.

 

Koji and Aki were almost here. Izuku shifted, avoiding another hit as tears of pain started to well in his eyes, and waited, patient, as his body went through the motions of dodge, duck, dip, dive, block, redirect, get them open, and … now.

 

“Aki, release!” He shouted and white hot pain exploded across his face. Oh, his jaw was definitely broken. A snarl cut through the air and his dog, his brilliant, perfect dog bolted forward, finally reunited with his partner. “Koji, go help Yumu!” Koji had minimal self defensive training, and while he could hold his own, he couldn’t do it in a mob like this. He needed to get out of here. There were no animals to call on besides Aki.

 

Izuku pushed the arm coming at him wide and there was a crunch of teeth cutting through bone and tissue. A scream of pain echoed in the air followed by a thump, Aki shaking the man’s arm like a rope toy, dragging him along the broken cobblestone. Koji in the strongest threads took off at a run for Yumu and Dad and Tsu, likely to help them out, and Izuku blew a sigh of relief before focusing back in on the fight.

 

“Switch!” Izuku ordered and shifted as Aki released his victim to dart to Izuku’s side and launch himself in the air to protect Izuku’s back, his teeth slicing through an arm’s flesh to take down the man encroaching on Izuku’s back.

 

There was someone big and heavy approaching Izuku and he dropped to one knee, back bent to act as a landing pad and spring board.

 

“Aki!” He shouted and Aki’s paws hit his back, propelling him up to soar through the air to catch the man’s arms reaching for Izuku, crunching down on his hand as he almost got Izuku. Momentum brought them down and the man screeched in pain as Aki destroyed his hand and dislocated his arm with a yank of his head.

 

“Fuck!” The man howled, and Izuku’s brain pinged. Aki was about to get hit if he stayed, and Hitoshi was going to get hit if he remained unprotected.

 

“Aki, Hitoshi!” He called and Aki broke off, speeding towards Hitoshi to protect his back, sliding along the uneven ground to presumably, Izuku was pretty sure as one Parallel Izuku glanced over his shoulder, get someone right on the inner thigh. That was going to hurt.

 

The hulking behemoth of a man was up again, and he was pissed.

 

“Alright, noodles, this is Daichi. Hitoshi, how big would you say Daichi is?”

 

“Uhm… Big.”

 

“Great description, kid. Yeah. Daichi’s fucking big. Daichi, what can you tell these noodles about fighting larger opponents?”

 

“Gravity’s a bigger bitch on me than it is on you. Use that against me. Throw me around a bit. Counteract my momentum and use it against me.”

 

Izuku saw the man close in, and he moved. This was the first thing Kazane had ever taught them about larger opponents. You couldn’t pin them until they were down, so you needed to get them down fast. Izuku’s hips shifted, and he slid through the ground to shoulder check the man, back to his chest as he tried to grapple him. Right in the solar plexus. Kazane would be proud. The arms closed around him even as he drove the man’s breath out of his chest, and there. A weakness. When you were winded, your strength went down, so his arms were too loose, and Izuku had milliseconds.

 

He slipped his arms underneath the arms encroaching on him in an X, and pushed out, breaking the grapple before it landed, and then his hands moved to grasp one arm. Another slam of his shoulder, right in the same spot, and he was throwing the man over his shoulder as his leg slid between his to brace himself.

 

Fuck, he was heavy, but off balancing him gave Izuku just enough leeway to lift him. The man was driven into the ground as his slick blood coated Izuku’s hands, and it was then that reinforcements arrived.

 

Not the pros. No, the temperature suddenly dropped dramatically and there was a boom that shook the world, and the sound of someone soaring through the air to crash into the ground in a limp lump.

 

“DIE!” Katsuki hollered and Izuku let out a snort. His senses told him Hitoshi was near, and he smelled like blood.

 

“Hitoshi, what happened?” He asked, fighting through the pain as he dodged another hit, backed up, dodged a second, and clucked briefly. Aki charged forward and got the guy by the back of his leg, and Izuku drove a punch right into his face, feeling bone and cartilage crunch under his fist as he broke yet another nose.

 

“He got my elbow,” Hitoshi replied and Izuku hissed under his breath. “Did you break a rib?”

 

“Yeah,” he replied and reconciled with the fact that it was only adrenaline that was allowing him to talk right now.

 

He was bleeding a lot. He was pretty sure his face was drenched.

 

“Zuku, watch out!” Katsuki yelled and Izuku almost jerked at the shock of hearing that nickname from his lips, but he dodged all the same as his threads pinpointed the danger. Izuku got inside the man’s guard and drove a knee right up into his groin before smashing an elbow uppercut into his chin.

 

“Aki!” Izuku shouted, and there was a feral snarl as Aki latched on to the man behind him, yanking his legs from under him so Izuku could step back and drive his heel into his face.

 

There was a loud boom that shook the building, and suddenly an echoing crash reverberated around their glass prison that knocked Izuku onto his ass. His eyes flickered erratically, and holy shit, there was too much strain on his brain at this point, and it was … 

 

“I am here!” All Might’s voice shook the building and Izuku painfully gritted his teeth. Great. Just great. They were going to escape before someone could take them down now.

 

“Kurogiri,” Shigaraki said and Izuku’s ears tuned in on the scratching. “Get me that girl. We need the girl. ”

 

“No!” Katsuki howled, and explosions shook Izuku’s world as he flung past him, in pursuit of Kurogiri before he could warp away. Izuku flicked to the strongest thread he could find, and Katsuki just whooshed through a plane of mist. He missed. Kurogiri was already gone.

 

“YUMU!” Hitoshi shouted and Izuku swung on his back leg. There was a drop in air pressure, and a muffled yelp as Yumu fell onto the cobblestone on her ass.

 

“Yumu, don’t wake it up!” Izuku yelled and Shigaraki moved behind him. Izuku turned in the direction of his noise, and shit, the strongest thread screamed that he was reaching for Kirishima.

 

Think. Think. Izuku pushed his quirk to his limits, and there. There were two seconds before All Might impact, Shigaraki would have Kirishima in one, and Izuku had a narrow opening.

 

Scooping up a brick, he hurled it right where Shigaraki’s wrist was, knocking him off course, and he surged forward to grab the injured wrist and pull Shigaraki forward to drive the heel of his hand into his solar plexus just as All Might made impact.

 

“Kurogiri, get us out!” Shigaraki howled, and danger pinged in Izuku’s senses. He released Shigaraki, pushing him back, and latched onto Kirishima instead, yanking him back and away, sending him sprawling out of range of the warp gate.

 

They were gone. They were gone, and there was a crowd of villains left in their wake. Shit. Where was Dad?

 

“Get out of here!” All Might ordered, but his voice was strained. Izuku’s eyes blazed and he scoffed under his breath. Gods, he hated him.

 

And he was late. He was late, and Dad was fucked up, Izuku didn’t even know the extent of the damage, Yumu had been targeted because she took care of the monster made to kill him, and Hitoshi’s arm was missing half of its skin.

 

Danger pinged, alerting Izuku to Yumu as a thread vibrated in warning, and he dove into the scenarios as he twisted, and well, that was a bad move on that villain’s part. There was a crash as the man went down into a nightmare, and Izuku’s lips painfully twisted into a smile. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

 

“Guys, we gotta get out of All Might’s way,” Kirishima said as All Might presumably sent villains flying. Aki nudged Izuku in the direction of his classmates and he conceded. It was All Might’s fucking job to begin with.

 

The crowd of students jogged for the stairs, and it was then that Izuku finally realized that he was bleeding out of a hole in his face and in a hell of a lot of pain. His breath started to come out in a pained wheeze, and a wet body slipped up next to him, propping him up.

 

“You’re fucking injured, Aizawa, let me get him,” Katsuki said and Izuku’s eyes started to ache. He didn’t even know how many universes he went through and the rate he flicked through them, but it was a lot. The timestreams had been a mess.

 

A strong arm wrapped around Izuku’s side and Katsuki picked up his arm and slung it over his shoulder. Izuku tried his best to ignore the weirdness of the whole thing.

 

“He needs a blindfold,” Yumu said as Izuku squeezed his eyes shut. There were too many villains everywhere. They were too spread out for All Might, and more were starting to converge for the exit.

 

“We need to get out of the way,” Izuku said as he opened his eyes again and slipped through the scenarios. “There’s about to be two indiscriminate attacks. Present Mic and Miss Cannon are coming.”

 

“Who?”

 

“3-B’s homeroom teacher,” Izuku rasped. “She’s … retired. We need to get out of her way.”

 

There was a gunshot, followed by a screech of pain, and Izuku cast about for opportunities.

 

“Side of the stairs, move now,” he ordered. That would at least put a buffer between Pops’s shout. He was going to be pissed when he saw Dad.

 

“Just fucking listen to him,” Hitoshi ordered and the group of … Izuku slipped again, right, six students shuffled to the side of the stairs to hide in the bushes.

 

“Katsuki, turn off your hearing aids,” Izuku said and Katsuki shifted next to him, awkwardly switching off the hearing aids.

 

“YEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!” Just in time. Pops’s voice drowned out the screams of pain as Izuku clasped his hands over his ears, his ribs screaming at the lift of his arm. How had he even managed that fight like this? The yell shook Izuku’s very cells, and oh, Pops was very, very mad.

 

“Sweetheart, bless your heart, if you needed to express your anger, you should have just asked me to show you,” Cordelia’s voice drifted down and Izuku shook in mild excitement. The faintest American accent, that Southern drawl… She was pissed and they were fucked.

 

The air rumbled and heat exploded across the building as Cordelia called up her signature move, Meteor Shower. Massive fireballs rained down, utterly destroying the plaza and surrounding grounds, shaking the world around them, and Katsuki hitched a breath.

 

“What the fuck, ” he hissed as men went flying in every direction. The fireballs dissipated on impact, so no one really got burned badly, but the aftershocks were breathtaking.

 

“She was number one before All Might,” Izuku said distantly as the pain started to overtake him.

 

“That’s so manly,” Kirishima hissed under his breath. Izuku was on good authority that it was a sight to see.

 

Katsuki whistled under his breath.

 

“They’re pissed.”

 

Izuku choked out a laugh as the rumbling finally, finally came to a stop. His eyes were squeezed shut tight, he really needed to limit the amount of universes he bounced through next time, there were just too many variables, and his head was aching along with the rest of his body.

 

“Is Aki okay?” Izuku asked.

 

“I covered his ears,” Katsuki replied and Izuku’s brows furrowed.

 

He really had grown up. This was weird.

 

Katsuki tried to help Izuku up, but Izuku crumpled as the pain just overtook his whole torso. It was blinding. How badly had he been hit? He thought it was just one broken rib.

 

“Shit,” Katsuki hissed and there were shifts next to him. “Izuku, reach forward.”

 

Izuku blindly reached forward and found Katsuki’s shoulders. Hands slipped under his thighs and Katsuki hefted him up. Izuku went boneless against his back, trying to ignore the pain as tears leaked up into his tightly shut eyes. He could feel his blood smearing all over Katsuki’s bare skin. Fuck, it hurt. His entire face was on fire. He had to be swollen.

 

“We’re going up the stairs now,” Katsuki said and Izuku grit his teeth against the jolting.

 

There were running footsteps towards them, and that had to be Pops. He was freaking out.

 

“Izuku! Shit, Hitoshi, oh my gods, boys---”

 

Suddenly, hands were pulling Izuku away from Katsuki, and that was it. The pain was too much. Izuku couldn’t hold on anymore, and unconsciousness took him away.

Notes:

Welp

Chapter 9

Notes:

TW for internalized ableism.

Toshinori knew he shouldn’t be at the hospital. He knew he should be searching for answers, but he was never really good at that sort of thing. Previously, he was just pointed in the vague direction of where to land a hit, and he did it. Actual hunting for the culprits was left to underground pros, intelligence pros, pros who were a little more well rounded than him. He was out of time, anyways.

 

None of the kids had ended up in the hospital beyond young Aizawa and the Sasaki boy, and he had asked Naomasa if he could accompany him to get their witness statements. Coming into USJ had been a hot mess. The villain covered in hands had a broken nose, the “nomu” was on the ground, Aizawa was broken into pieces, being hauled up the stairs by Kouda, the Sasaki twins were clearly worn out, Aizawa’s son had a massive missing patch of his skin on his elbow, just like his father, Thirteen had a literal hole in their body, and the Sasaki boy had a broken jaw, a slice under his eye, and a couple of broken ribs.

 

It was a mess. They should have never been hurt in the first place. And Toshinori… Toshinori had been busy playing hero.

 

“Toshinori,” Naomasa said suddenly as they strode down the halls. “You… You might… Do you want to do this?”

 

“Of course I do,” Toshinori replied quietly.

 

“You… you should prepare yourself, then,” Naomasa said carefully. “It’s… It’s messier than it seems.”

 

“I think it already looks like a mess,” Toshinori responded. “I can’t see how it could be even more of a mess.”

 

“... Right,” Naomasa agreed awkwardly as they reached the door that housed both Aizawa’s son and the Sasaki boy. “... I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

 

“Tell me what?” Toshinori asked, and Naomasa slid open the door.

 

Oh.

 

Oh, it could be so much worse.

 

Toshinori was frozen. Young Aizawa was sitting up in bed, his arm wrapped in bandages, propped up against his chest in a sling, and Sasaki was curled up in the sheets with a blindfold on. Right. His visor had been broken, nearly lodged itself in his eye, and there was a patch of gauze just along his cheekbone covering the stitches. The dog, Aki, was on the bed, pressed against the curve of his legs, head propped on his hip. The Sasaki girl was sitting in a chair in the corner, knees drawn to her chin, eyes locked on her phone, and young Aizawa was arguing with the only adult in the room about going to see his father.

 

“Papa, I need to go see him, Yumu got to, I can walk just fine--- ” He was saying, and Toshinori’s wide eyes met Sasaki Mirai’s own gaze.

 

“Out,” Sasaki said bluntly, tone dripping with venom. “Get him out of here, Tsukauchi.”

 

“What?” Sasaki, the boy, asked sleepily as he barely perked up, and Toshinori found his mouth was utterly dry.

 

“... Mir?” He croaked.

 

Sasaki. The boy had a sight quirk. What was his given name again? It was … It was Izuku.

 

Inko’s only son. How could he have forgotten? How could he have forgotten Mirai had a blind nephew? He had given Mirai the loan to get Aki to begin with. Mirai had transferred the remaining funds into his account a bare month after getting set up with his agency and that was the last time he had ever made contact with him. How could he have forgotten about the nephew Mirai did nothing but talk about? This was Izuku. Little Izuku Toshinori knew from secondhand stories about his exploits, his quirk analysis, his drive, his wild plans and possible bullying and… and…

 

How did he not know?

 

“Out. Get him out,” Mirai spat and Toshinori took a step back, eyes wide.

 

“All Might’s secretary is a part of the investigation, Nighteye, you know I can’t do that,” Naomasa said passively.

 

“I don’t care. You can interview them on your own and give his secretary the paperwork later, ” Mirai snarled. He was furious, glaring at Toshinori with all the rage of a protective father, and Toshinori’s brain connected the dots.

 

Young Aizawa had called him Papa. The boys were placed in the same room like they were family. All three children had a frightening amount of synergy together, as if they were raised together, and there were allusions to them all having the same trainer. But… The entire staff knew Yamada and Aizawa were married. Young Aizawa called Aizawa “Dad” and Yamada “Pops” outside of class with no qualms, but… It had been three days. Three days of school, two of class, but hadn’t Aizawa had all three kids hanging around during break, before the semester started? Wait, weren’t all three kids learning under Nezu the semester before the year started, before Toshinori officially started? He could have sworn someone mentioned something about it. He’d never seen them on his visits, but there was the occasional mention of them.

 

Was… Oh, gods, how did he not know? Mirai was romantically involved with Aizawa and Yamada to the point where their son called him Papa. He had three kids. He had gotten three kids in the time Toshinori had been estranged, and he was wearing a ring. Right there, on his left hand.

 

Toshinori had been late, and Mirai’s sons and apparent husband had ended up in the hospital. What had he done?

 

“Nighteye, perhaps in front of the kids is not the best time to make a scene…” Naomasa said carefully.

 

“Fine. Toshinori, let’s take a walk.” Mirai came to his feet and Toshinori shrank back, a kicked dog, and Mirai set a glare from the depths of hell on him. “Tsukauchi, wait until we get back to start asking questions. Shouta is still unconscious, so don’t go bothering him.”

 

“I can wait,” Naomasa said guiltily. Mirai stalked forward and grabbed Toshinori by the arm, dragging him out into the hall and towards the stairs.

 

“Mir, I…”

 

“Don’t call me that,” Mirai snapped and whirled on Toshinori the second they were far enough away. “What were you thinking?”

 

“I… I just got caught up in hero duties, and…”

 

“Hero duties are for when you are on patrol and on the clock, Toshinori!” Mirai snarled. “You are a high profile figure, the fucking Symbol of Peace, and you are now publicly attached to vulnerable children and have a set schedule to adhere to anyone with a teleportation quirk can find out about. ”

 

“It… It was just a few hours,” Toshinori protested weakly and Mirai peeled his lips back in something very similar to a wolf showing its fangs.

 

“You know it’s never so simple,” he hissed dangerously and advanced on Toshinori. “You think you can just show up like this?”

 

“I… I didn’t realize they were yours, I would have…” Toshinori hadn’t seen him in six years and Mirai was spitting mad, a raging mother bear, and hadn’t he been crying the last time Toshinori saw him? Heartbroken, left alone in that hospital hallway as Toshinori walked away? There was no rage in him last time, just a tired, hurt, broken acceptance and…

 

Toshinori had done this.

 

“You would have what? Showed up to get to know them?” Mirai snapped. “Tried to apologize? Put hero duties aside for once in your life because you felt responsibility? Or is that your way of acknowledging that you knew you shouldn’t have done that this morning? Or will you just play clueless as always?”

 

“No, I wouldn’t have come to the hospital!” Toshinori’s voice almost raised to a shout before he backed up, glancing around carefully to be sure no one heard. Mirai stared at him in disbelief before huffing out a laugh.

 

“You didn’t even put two and two together,” he said, utterly blown away. “I talked about Izuku every time I had a phone call with Inko. Every time. It was all over the news when she died and you didn’t even remember her name? You gave me the loan for Aki and you didn’t even recognize a unique quirk like Izuku’s? Wow. I honestly thought you didn’t care, but this? This is actually worse.”

 

“... What happened to Inko?” Toshinori asked in bewilderment and Mirai choked on a laugh.

 

“I can’t do this with you. I cannot fucking,” and since when did Mirai cuss, “do this with you right now. You were late, and now one of my husbands is still unconscious from surgery, completely wrapped in bandages, and my sons are in the hospital, and my daughter has a possible hit on her. I told you. I told you one day you playing the hero was going to ruin my fucking life, but now you had to bring my family into it . ”

 

“I didn’t even know you had a family!” Toshinori protested and Mirai glared at him with all the venom in the world.

 

“And I think today proves why you didn’t deserve that privilege,” he spat. “Get out. Go wait for Tsukauchi in the car or whatever you were going to do. I don’t care. Interact with my kids in class, but stay the hell away from them otherwise.”

 

Toshinori was floundering. Mirai was so angry with him, but wasn’t this what Mirai said would happen? Toshinori would continue to put heroics ahead of everyone else in his life until someone got hurt? Toshinori had really gone out of his way to prove him right today.

 

A sorry was caught on his tongue, but looking into Mirai’s blazing angry eyes, he knew it was most certainly unneeded, and definitely unwanted.

 

And so, like a kicked and scorned dog, he backed away, and made his way for the elevator. Mirai was right. Why was Mirai always, always right?

 

Slow and steady steps led Toshinori to the car, where he found himself opening the door and just sitting down on the seat, feet on the pavement as he stared at the asphalt in silence.

 

Six years. Six years of only hearing of Mirai from news segments and pictures on magazines and merch in hero pop-up stores. Six years of nothing but hard, cold silence, with Toshinori ignoring anything and everything to do with Sir Nighteye.

 

His back had been to Mirai. He remembered being terrified to look over his shoulder and seeing the look on his face. His voice was breaking, he recalled. Mirai rarely cried, and when he did, Toshinori could never stand to look at him.

 

He couldn’t say he never loved Mirai. He couldn’t even say he still didn’t love him, but Mirai had two husbands and three, possibly even more children, Toshinori had no idea if he had little ones running around. It wasn’t like they couldn’t afford them. The blatant hostility in their first class with him made sense now. Toshinori was used to kids with quirks that were commonly the target of bullying hating him, of course, and Aizawa the senior hadn’t bothered to try and hide his distaste of him. But their concentrated, directed irritation with him had felt personal, and now he knew the truth of it.

 

They had raised good points, of course. He’d done as much reading as he could, of course, but he didn’t have a degree. Most of the UA teachers got them while they were teaching, but many started halfway through their degree. A good chunk of them, like Midnight, Present Mic, and Eraserhead were actually told at graduation to start working on their degrees.

 

Of course Aizawa’s kids would seem more comfortable teaching than he was. Of course. Given their obvious experience in martial arts, they probably had taught younger children at some point or another. They could probably take over the damn class. Toshinori only had practical experience, and his practical experience was going to look extremely different than theirs, when they got out in the field. After all, he rarely had to even fight. He could just walk up and end a fight with a flick of his finger. These kids, though? They were going to have to actually work for it.

 

Of course Mirai’s children would be wrecking balls. Of course. They were on an entirely other level. Years of martial arts, a cool head in a crisis, able to make split second decisions in the heat of combat, able to prioritize and make the correct decisions to ensure not only their survival, but everyone else’s in the heat of combat.

 

Toshinori used to think about children with Mirai, during nights where he especially hated himself and wanted to torture himself.

 

In a way, he was always terrified of Mirai. Because he loved him. Because he never wanted to hurt him. Because of what Mirai represented. Toshinori was a man in a cage, and Mirai was the world outside of it. The cage door was opened, but Toshinori had lived for so long in a cage he simply couldn’t escape it. The very idea was horrifying, because it was within the cage that Toshinori had use, had worth as a human being, and once he left the cage, he had to redefine that worth by his standards, not what the cage said his worth was.

 

Toshinori, ultimately, was drowning, and Mirai was offering a hand, but he simply couldn’t take it because the water was his home. He wanted to love him. He wanted to be with him, but when he heard his voice broke, he realized that he did not deserve him. Not as he was, and Mirai was walking away.

 

Stupidly, Toshinori had thought that if he had a successor, maybe he would be able to stop. He would be able to breathe. He would be able to be himself. He had taken on a duty, and he had to see it to the end. With the death of All For One, he had nothing left. His purpose was fulfilled, but he wasn’t ready to redefine that purpose.

 

He knew he wouldn’t be able to change overnight. For months afterwards, he would wake up, and think, “tomorrow. Tomorrow, I will be the man Mirai deserves.” But he never took that step. He pushed himself to the limits his body would allow, and then he would stop. The Hero Commission would call him, and he would go. It didn’t matter how much he was hurting, it didn’t matter how much blood was decorating his toilet, it didn’t matter how many pills he had to swallow down just to be able to move. The Commission called, people needed him, and so he would go.

 

Some days, he could imagine Mirai’s disappointed gaze on his back. He knew exactly what he did. He knew what he told Mirai, he knew what he said when he told him he would continue. He knew that he told “I would take death over you”. He knew how he’d failed him, but at his heart, Toshinori was a coward.

 

It wasn’t that he didn’t love Mirai. He knew Mirai would take care of him, take him to appointments, make him teas to soothe his stomach, hold him on nights when the pain was too much to bear. He knew he’d happily go to the pharmacy for him, talk to his doctors to make the best possible meals he could that Toshinori could stomach. He could imagine the little notebook even now, full of recipes and lists of ingredients that could at least help.

 

He knew. He knew Mirai would stand by his side, no matter what. He also knew that ultimately, he decided he was not worthy of Mirai standing by his side.

 

If Toshinori wasn’t All Might, then what was he? What right did he have to be Toshinori when Nana couldn’t even have her own child? What right did he have to love when all the successors before him died so he could finish the job they started?

 

If Yagi Toshinori was not the Symbol of Peace, then he was nothing, and Mirai had said that he was someone. And Toshinori simply couldn’t take it.

 

And now Mirai wasn’t just Sir Nighteye. He was husband. He was “love”. He was “honey”. He was “Mir” to someone that wasn’t Toshinori. He was “Papa”, he was “father”, he was home.

 

Some days, Toshinori imagined that he would one day be enough for him. He imagined he would be worthy of that unconditional love. Those were the days where he pretended he hadn’t been too scared to look back, to face what he was letting go, to watch it slip from his fingers. Those were the days he pretended Mirai’s voice didn’t crack when he whispered, “I will never be enough for you.”

 

Those were the days where he imagined that he turned around and said, “I want to be enough for you, and I can’t do that right now.” Those were the days where he pretended he wanted to see himself as Yagi Toshinori, as the man that had everything, the man that deserved what he had. Those were the days where he pretended there was a chance he could love Toshinori just as much as Mirai did. Those were the days where he pretended he ever had the desire to work on himself as a human, and put the hero aside to believe that he had worth beyond All Might.

 

But Toshinori was nothing more than a title he carried. Symbol of Peace was his name, All Might was his name, and Toshinori was little more than a shell that kept moving and did its best to keep up with the demands of what it meant to be a pillar.

 

Mirai had everything Toshinori had ever wanted with him, and he had it with someone else, and because Toshinori let All Might take the reins once again, he had almost destroyed that.

 

How strange. There was a glisten of a wet drop on the back of his hand. It was salty, it was warm, and it had come from him.

 

Another drop, and the full reality of what he had lost hit Toshinori in the face. The very thing he had avoided for so many years was back, in his chest, pounding in his heart, and not for the first time, he considered what his life would look like if he wasn’t borderline suicidal with little to no desire to change.

 

He loved Mirai. He was always going to love Mirai, and it was only because of that that he was happy for him. He was so, so happy for him, and it hurt. It hurt, because he wanted that with him.

 

Mirai had gotten what he deserved, and Toshinori had been back in his life via his children for a grand total of three days and almost wrecked it. His children had saved his husband, their dad. They had to deal with that fallout, they had to piece themselves back together, and Toshinori could do nothing but stay far, far away.

 

He’d done this to himself. He knew he’d done this to himself. Mirai had watched silently for years as he ran himself to the ground, listened to his offhand remarks where he demonstrated just how little he cared about his own life, loved him and loved him and loved him, believed that one day Toshinori would put him first by putting himself first, and Toshinori had failed him. He had failed him because hero came before human. That was the price of his soul, and he had sold it when he ate that hair. He had sold it with every call he answered in the middle of the night, with every week he continued on no sleep, run to the ground and continuing on, he sold it with every time he gave up on the people in his life to save the people who hadn’t made the decision he’d made, he sold it and sold it and sold it until Toshinori and All Might were indistinguishable.

 

And he had prayed for a child. He couldn’t even be Toshinori, how was he supposed to be Dad?

 

Those nights of pretending he was anything but himself were over now. They had gone some time ago, but they were well and truly dead now. He had done this to himself.

 

As always, Mirai was right, and as always, Toshinori was living in a delusion just so he could live with himself.

 

Toshinori just prayed that he could smile with them. Mirai’s smile was one of the greatest things he had ever been given the privilege of seeing, and he knew in his heart that Aizawa and Yamada deserved to see it.

 

Wiping at his eyes, he took a deep breath.

 

Aizawa was alive, no thanks to Toshinori, and Mirai would be okay. He had wonderful, sharp, loving children with a petty streak a mile wide that would carry them through and spines of steel. He had Yamada, who Toshinori had no doubt was a wonderful and doting husband, and Aizawa, who was the best person Toshinori could think to raise children with. He had a home, and a support system, and a family that would love him unconditionally.

 

He didn’t have it with Toshinori, but that was okay. Because he had it, and Toshinori wasn’t going to feel sorry for himself and his own choices that led him here, because Mirai wasn’t going to be anywhere if he wasn’t happy. He was happy, even if he was angry with Toshinori right now, and Toshinori was going to accept that and be happy for him.

 

He always did deserve better than Toshinori and his broken body and litany of health problems and complete lack of self esteem and self love, and he got it. He wasn’t trapped. He was free.

 

Mirai was always meant to be free as a bird, and Toshinori was so, so happy for him.

Notes:

owo what's this? how we feeling, folks?

Chapter 10

Papa came back in, and he looked entirely too composed for Yumu’s tastes. She hadn’t even known All Might had a secretary until just now. Papa had never mentioned him, but then again, Papa didn’t mention anything at all pertaining to All Might. Lot of rage there for someone just being a secretary, but adults were complicated, and she was hating that they were making more sense as she got older.

 

In the meantime, she was preoccupying herself with damage control. Tsu had given her her number before they were all whisked off in the ambulances, and Yumu had to deal with this before it got out. And hopefully not have to tell her dads.

 

In reality, she had been putting this off. Her hands were shaking, her heart was hammering like a woodpecker drilling a hole in her chest, she was barely managing to stay calm in front of her brothers.

 

Whatever possessed her to run out there could have bothered to stick around. She had been completely calm, a cold burning anger that made her brain perfectly clear, but now she was a jittery mess, intentionally sitting out of the view of the window and insisting on the curtains remaining shut. Papa had let her take over the corner, and she was wrapped in a blanket.

 

Her hands were still hurting. She didn’t keep track of the people she put down. Once Koji showed up, she had just handed Dad off and ran forward, darting here and there to knock people to the ground and leave them there like trash on a beach. After so many years of being terrified of her quirk, of refusing to use it, it was like something snapped. She just used it and used it and used it, on total strangers. Before, she had decided that as a hero, her number one priority was to just use it for a second, five minutes tops to get someone restrained, and then release them.

 

There were no restraints. She couldn’t go back to release them. They were trapped for the full thirty minutes by the time everything was finished, and they were in the direct line of fire from Pops and Cordelia. Cordelia knew how to angle her fireballs to never hit a prone person on the ground, but Yumu had just left them there. It felt so wrong, so inhumane. She had the power to wake them up, and she didn’t. What would her parents’ coworkers think, finding the leftovers of what she’d done scattered all over the ground, staring in horror at things no one else could see, letting out odd choking noises of pain and terror, their only way for calling for help?

 

She couldn’t think about that right now. She had to think about her family, and she had protected her family, and she was going to continue to protect her family.

 

Yumu pulled the shock blanket just a little more tightly around her shoulders and stared down at the open chat on her phone. She hadn’t sent the message yet, but she needed to. Apparently, Izuku had freaked out and let it slip, too, so they were all fucking up today, it seemed.

 

Sasaki Yumemu: It’s Sasaki.

 

Sasaki Yumemu: The girl. Not the boy. Yumemu. Or Yumu. Yumu is fine.

 

She locked her phone and let her eyes slide shut. They were saying she was suffering from quirk exhaustion. That sounded about right. Her hands were encased in compression gloves, only allowing her thumbs free to type, and it was helping a little. They gave her painkillers, but she had really downplayed the pain levels. They were still burning. Not so much that she couldn’t move, but she was definitely uncomfortable.

 

She really didn’t know shit about her quirk. She had used it less than ten times in her life up until this point, and the majority were accidents. There was no endurance. It had no training, and it wasn’t used to being used.

 

“Yumemu.” The detective was talking to her. He was quiet, calm, crouching in front of her. Yumu just pulled back a little more, wrapping the blanket more firmly around herself. He apparently knew Papa. That was why he was sent over. “Can I get your statement?”

 

Yumu stared down at the linoleum tile. It was hideous, really. Did she even want to talk about this?

 

She had to. This was a part of the process. You got attacked by villains, you gave a statement. That was how it worked.

 

“... Okay,” she said softly.

 

“Okay. Thank you,” he said and just sat down, cross legged on the floor. What did she look like that he felt the need to do that? “I have to give a disclaimer. My quirk is a passive quirk, called Lie Detector, and I will be able to tell if you are lying or not. Is that alright with you?”

 

“... Yeah,” Yumu said softly.

 

“Okay.”

 

“... Papa?”

 

“What is it, Yumu?” Papa asked softly.

 

“... Do you have to be in here?”

 

“... Do you not want me to hear?” Papa asked from his chair, looking like he wanted to get up and move, and Yumu weighed the pros and cons. Papa probably already saw the footage, and if he didn’t, Pops had and would have told him about it. So, objectively, it would be pointless to kick him out, and she… she wasn’t sure she could keep it together if he wasn’t in here.

 

“It’s fine. You can stay,” she whispered and then looked down at the detective with his little pad of paper and the recorder on his phone pulled up. “I’m ready.”

 

“Okay. Recount your retelling of the events as best as you can, and I’ll ask questions when you’re done.”

 

Yumu nodded slowly, and took a deep breath before she launched into it. She tried to stay calm, keep her voice even and level, and shove any and all emotions out of her mind as she told it, but her tone was wobbly at best, and she knew she sounded rough. Her fingers were wrapped tight around the edges of the blanket she’d been given and she kept her eyes trained on the recording app on his phone, watching the minutes go by as he made notes on his pad. Truth, truth, truth, all with their times marked.

 

“... and then we got into the ambulance,” she said, and wow, was she already finished? What?

 

“Okay. Thank you, Yume… Yumu. Can I ask you a few questions now?” He asked quietly and she slowly nodded. “Please answer verbally for the recorder.”

 

“Yes,” she murmured.

 

“Thank you. When the villains initially entered, do you know what was said?”

 

“... Something about All Might, I wasn’t… I couldn’t hear that well,” she replied and he tilted his head.

 

“Was there a blast affecting your hearing?”

 

“No, I just… I saw Dad go down the stairs and I… I couldn’t hear anything. I don’t know. I couldn’t see him around the… that mist man, and I panicked, and it was all just… it was just noise until I remembered Izuku told me to go right.”

 

“Okay. And you stated that you threw yourself over the banister?”

 

“Yes. I hit the tree on the way down and took a minute to catch my breath.”

 

“And then you went along the treeline?”

 

“Yes. I… I wanted to be close enough to help Dad, if I could find a moment where I could,” she replied, slowly, a little fuzzy at the thought of how crazy that was. What was she thinking? That ledge had been at least six meters high.

 

“Okay. And do you know how many villains you managed to get with your quirk?”

 

“... No, I… It was… I didn’t want to keep track. I think? It’s… My thoughts right then are a little… it’s fuzzy.”

 

Was she keeping track in the moment? Like they were trophies? Was she enjoying it? Did she like it? She didn’t remember. All she could remember was red, because Dad was red everywhere, and she needed to get him somewhere safe to put pressure on the bleeding.

 

Her hands were hurting, though, after she took down that thing and maybe… four men? She couldn’t remember. She remembered some kind of sonic boom coming at her, and dodging, and slapping the man. The whites of his eyes were so bright, so wide as he choked and stared at her from the ground. His lips had been parted, and the bottom two front teeth were just slightly crooked, and Dad was… She needed to stop. She needed to stop thinking right now.

 

“I… All I could think was I needed to… to get a tourniquet on Dad and it was all…”

 

“Yumu,” Tsukauchi said softly and Yumu darted her eyes up to look at him for just a brief moment before looking back down. “It’s okay. You were panicking.”

 

Everything was marked truth. Okay. Okay. He had nice handwriting. Very clear and legible.

 

“Okay. Can you state your quirk and what it does for the record?”

 

“... Morpheus Trap. Five point touch quirk that requires skin contact to put the subject in a state of hallucinatory paralysis. It lasts thirty minutes or until I touch them again.”

 

“And Morpheus Trap is entirely nonlethal and you understand that it is nonlethal?”

 

“... Yes.” What was that question about? She watched as he neatly made a note that Sasaki Yumemu ensured that all actions were nonlethal in defense of “herself or someone else”. Oh. Right. There were laws about that for minors. Panic quirk usage laws.

 

He didn’t make a note that it was for a family member, and there was another stone in her gut as she realized that in the eyes of the law, Dad wasn’t family. He didn’t count. It could be effectively argued in court, due to them living together and him taking care equal parts of her needs, but it had to be argued. It wasn’t set in stone.

 

Dad didn’t count to the world, and she had to text Tsu.

 

Tsukauchi caught her reading and cast her a small smile.

 

“It’s not going to go to court, don’t worry,” he reassured her. “You were on school property, in an area where quirk usage against other parties is allowed. You’re fine. It’s just for the records.”

 

“... Okay.”

 

“Alright, I don’t have any other questions for you. Interview with Sasaki Yumemu regarding the USJ attack by the League Of Villains ended at four-forty-seven pm, Tuesday, April 7th, 2146.” Tsukauchi stopped the recording and Yumu stared at the red button before wiggling back in her chair.

 

“We’re done?” She asked softly, and Tsukauchi looked up at her.

 

“Yes. You know… I interview a lot of people, about a lot of terrifying events,” he said gently. “Your reaction is natural, okay? Everything you did was incredibly brave. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

 

Yumu nodded slowly and looked down at her pink phone case, studying the smooth, rounded lines, the way it clung to her phone, the ridges, the small crack at the corner of her screen, the little Cinnamoroll keychain attached to the top right corner.

 

Tsukauchi climbed to his feet and Yumu unlocked her phone, opening her texts and reading Tsu’s response.

 

Asui Tsuyu: Hi, Yumu.

 

Asui Tsuyu: Are you and your brothers okay?

 

Asui Tsuyu changed their name to Tsu.

 

Tsu changed Sasaki Yumemu’s name to Yumu.

 

Yumu: Sorry, I was giving my statement.

 

Yumu: Hitoshi is awake. I took a nap, but I woke up a few hours ago. Izuku is asleep, but everyone’s out of surgery.

 

Tsu: I see.

 

Yumu: They’re supposed to be mostly healed up tomorrow when Recovery Girl can heal them again. We should be discharged soon. Dad’s supposed to get out tonight, too.

 

Tsu: … Shouldn’t he be kept overnight?

 

Yumu: Everyone knows you cannot tell a conscious underground pro to stay the night in the hospital. It just doesn’t work. If they’re not on a ventilator in the ICU, they’re fine. According to them.

 

Yumu: And he gets mad at Papa for fighting with hospital staff.

 

Tsu: So… You told me to not tell anyone you called him dad. May I be blunt?

 

Well that was concerning.

 

Yumu: Sure.

 

Tsu: You and your twin do not look remotely related, and your quirks are not similar in the slightest. Your family is very confusing. And Sir Nighteye is not confirmed to have children.

 

Yumu looked over at Papa slumped over in his chair, forehead propped on his fingertips, and snuck a quick picture.

 

Yumu: Well, he’s definitely here, and it’s … incredibly complicated. (attached .jpeg image)

 

Yumu: Izuku and I are not related by blood. Biologically, he is Papa’s nephew, and was adopted at nine. I was taken in at twelve, adopted at thirteen.. Both of us are pro fosters, and Izuku’s father is … infamous for killing his own wife, among other things. His mother was Papa’s only sister. Hitoshi is a pro foster, too. Dad is only thirty. Papa hid us from the media for a variety of reasons, most of them that just got blown wide open I can’t talk about. Legally, Dad is married to our pops, Present Mic, which is why I asked you to not say anything. People are … generally open minded, but some can be extremely judgemental about polyamorous relationships, and get even nastier when the grown ass adults who can make their own choices have kids.

 

Yumu: So, basically, please don’t tell anyone. Three queer men taking in three abused and vulnerable kids and raising them all together would … it would be bad in the media. Extremely bad. I’m sorry for … for our mistakes that brought you into this. You shouldn’t have to deal with it.

 

Tsu was typing for a very long time. Yumu watched the dots go and go and go and cursed herself for messing up so badly. Izuku she didn’t want to blame, but Yumu wasn’t supposed to make mistakes like that. Giving up on waiting for her to reply, she switched over to her other messages and started to text Mei.

 

Yuuumu!!: We’re going home soon.

 

Mei is Mad: is everyone ok?

 

Yuuumu!!: Yeah, we’re all okay. Izuku and Hitoshi should be healed up tomorrow.

 

Mei is Mad: what error code was your communicator giving you?

 

Yumu stared at the message and her heart fell a little. Her hands were burning. She was tired. Her nap was not enough to make herself feel better. And Mei was going to be spiraling tonight, but not enabling her would only make her worse.

 

Yuuumu!!: There was no error code. It was just beeping, like a missing child alert, and then it’d stop until I pressed the button again.

 

Mei is Mad: so it was blocking all radio frequencies. maybe a Faraday cage quirk? the electric components INSIDE were still working, they just weren’t going out. okay. i can work with that.

 

Yuuumu!!: I’m probably not going to run into a quirk like that again, Mei…

 

Mei is Mad: that doesn’t matter. just means i have to figure out how to break a Faraday cage from the inside. and get 2.0 visor working right. it’s still clicking when it moves up.

 

Yumu stared at the words on her screen and swallowed harshly. Mei was a mess. She knew in her gut that Mei was a mess. She seemed perfectly calm and composed, but it was when Mei was calm and composed that you should worry. She was having a meltdown, and she only knew how to work her way out of it.

 

Yuuumu!!: I guess these are the last texts I should be expecting from you for awhile?

 

Mei is Mad: yeah

 

Yuuumu!!: Okay. Don’t stay up too late, okay? We have a few days off.

 

Mei is Mad: it’s getting finished tonight.

 

There were a few texts from Tsu and Yumu just sighed softly at the message on her screen before switching back over to Tsu’s chat window.

 

Tsu: I’m not sure why you’re apologizing for being upset that your dad was almost dying in front of you.

 

Tsu: I won’t tell anyone. It’s no one’s business, anyways.

 

Yumu: Thank you. I’m just … a little out of sorts right now is all.

 

Tsu: Well half of your family is hospitalized.

 

Tsu: And the leader of the villains that attacked us tried to kill you specifically.

 

Tsu: And you had to protect your injured and unconscious dad.

 

Tsu: Objectively, I think today was slightly harder on you than most of our class.

 

Yumu stared at the messages in silence and twitched for a moment. Yeah. That was right. It had been an actual mess, and for her family, it had been a nightmare. At least she was getting a friend out of it, maybe? She wasn’t sure.

 

Yumu: Doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard on you. Are you okay?

 

Tsu: I’m okay. Mom is trying to get me in with my therapist right now. My little sisters don’t really understand what’s going on, but they’re trying their best to comfort.

 

Tsu: (attached .jpeg)

 

It was a selfie of Tsu with her hair in very messy, haphazard braids that were more clips than hair, throwing up bunny ears at the camera with two very small identical … chameleon girls? Sitting on either side of her. Oh. She had little twin sisters. That was actually adorable. They looked like they were maybe five years old. Yumu wanted a little sister…

 

Yumu: They’re adorable. I’m stuck in a family of men. Only have my aunts for girl time.

 

Tsu: How many aunts?

 

Yumu: Counting Midnight who I’m pretty sure will eventually marry Auntie Aika? Five. Though one of them is only nineteen and doesn’t really count as an aunt. More like a cousin. She’s in Italy right now.

 

Tsu: Doesn’t Present Mic have a younger brother that’s a hero?

 

Yumu: Tranquil. Kitaro, to be exact. He’s his only brother. Four sisters, one brother. We don’t get along with him very well.

 

Tsu: He seems to have a bit of temper, from what I’ve seen.

 

Yumu: Yeah, but you should meet Auntie Botan. Pops and Auntie Aika are the most easy going out of all of them.

 

Tsu: I’ve got a lot of aunts and uncles, too.

 

Yumu: We don’t actually have any on Dad and Papa’s sides. They’re all from Pops. Present Mic, to you. Dad is Eraserhead, Papa is Sir Nighteye.

 

There was a new message from Auntie Botan and Yumu flicked back over to her messages.

 

Auntie B: Uhm??? Are you okay??

 

Little Yu: I’m okay. Izuku and Hitoshi are supposed to be fully healed tomorrow.

 

Auntie B: Okay, what you meant to say was that you are physically okay.

 

Little Yu: My hands hurt a little.

 

Auntie B: It’s all over the news, don’t go on social media, okay?

 

Little Yu: Already avoiding everything on Twitter. I know it’s a mess. My DMs are blowing up.

 

Auntie B: Mute it.

 

Auntie B: Need anything from me?

 

Little Yu: I think I’m okay for right now, but Papa is with us and not letting us around Dad because he’s still unconscious and wouldn’t want us to see. Pops needs someone?

 

Auntie B: I’ve been texting him. Hotaru is on her way over.

 

Another text from Tsu, a text from Kichi, her phone was still blowing up. Another text came in and Yumu squinted at the push notification at the top of the screen. Kitaro? Really?

 

Yumu: Kitaro texted me.

 

Auntie B: He’s a shit, but he’s a shit that gives a fuck. Let him know you and the boys are okay, if you’re willing to talk to him.

 

Yumu’s relationship with Kitaro was touch and go at best. Over the years he’d spent at Shiketsu, he’d gotten easier to deal with, but for the most part there was a degree of suspicion there, and it was even worse for her brothers. They weren’t fans, that much was clear. He was a great hero, a little rough around the edges, and probably not the best uncle, but he was trying, on occasion. Pops had welcomed him back with open arms, but Pops was their sole forgiving influence. Dad and Papa were definitely believers in pettiness and grudges.

 

Oh, well. She could text him right now.

 

Yamada Kitaro: what the fuck happened

 

Not the best opener, but she’d take it.

 

Sasaki Yumemu: A mess.

 

Yamada Kitaro: Is everyone okay? The news is just breaking.

 

The news was breaking, and there were already reports that there were three ambulances on the scene, and rumors that someone had died. It had to look bad.

 

Sasaki Yumemu: No one died. Izuku and Hitoshi got hurt, and Dad is … He’s unconscious still. But Izuku and Hitoshi are slated to be healed up by tomorrow and Dad will live and didn’t lose his eyes. So we’re fine. Thirteen is okay, too.

 

Yamada Kitaro: Did YOU get hurt?

 

Sasaki Yumemu: No. Just some scrapes from jumping off a ledge and quirk exhaustion.

 

Yamada Kitaro: You did what?

 

Sasaki Yumemu: There was a tree.

 

Yamada Kitaro: How high was the ledge??

 

Sasaki Yumemu: Let’s not talk about the ledge.

 

Yamada Kitaro: Please tell me that was the craziest thing you did today.

 

Sasaki Yumemu: That was the craziest thing I did today.

 

Yamada Kitaro: …. That wasn’t the craziest thing you did today, was it?

 

Sasaki Yumemu: It was not.

 

Sasaki Yumemu: But I got a new blanket out of it, so small wins.

 

Yamada Kitaro: Shock blankets are not things you win.

 

Sasaki Yumemu: How did you know it was a shock blanket?

 

Yamada Kitaro: ….. I’m a rescue hero??

 

Yamada Kitaro: Is Aki ok though?

 

Yumu took a quick picture of him curled up against Izuku, head still propped on his hip, and sent it.

 

Sasaki Yumemu: He’s good. (attached .jpeg)

 

Yamada Kitaro: … why does Izuku have gauze on his eye.

 

Sasaki Yumemu: Just under his eye. His visor broke and got him like. Two inches below his eye. Also did not lose his eyes. He yanked the piece out and threw it at someone.

 

Yamada Kitaro: He did what??

 

Sasaki Yumemu: He also threw like two different bricks. Went a little nuts.

 

Yamada Kitaro: What did YOU do

 

Sasaki Yumemu: Let’s not talk about what I did?

 

Yamada Kitaro: Nvm Zashi just told me. Please don’t charge at something that can break your spine like a toothpick until you like. Graduate. Maybe. Just don’t do that again for a while.

 

Sasaki Yumemu: It worked, though.

 

Yamada Kitaro: Apparently. You guys don’t go back for a few days, I’ll be in Mustafa the day after tomorrow and be there for a few days, let me know if you want to do something or need something.

 

Oh, a text from Auntie Hotaru. There was so much going on, and Yumu’s phone was dying.

 

Auntie Hotaru: Be there in ten minutes, bringing you a new stuffie.

 

Yumu: I am not the one hospitalized.

 

Auntie Hotaru: It’s not like Shouta wants one. You’re getting a stuffie.

 

A text from Tsu, a text from Kichi, another text from Auntie Botan, and that was it, Yumu was going to Tumblr and muting her texts.

 

“Papa, can you let everyone know I’m okay?” She asked quietly and Papa looked up from his phone.

 

“Are they blowing up your phone?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I’ll let them know you’re taking a break. I grabbed a charger for you. Here.”

 

A long arm extended to hold out a charger for her and she grabbed it.

 

“There’s an outlet to your right,” Papa said and Yumu leaned over to plug in her phone. “Dad should be waking up in an hour or so, so you should be able to see him in a bit. Hitoshi, Yumu, do you two want burgers for dinner? We can pick them up on the way home.”

 

“Can we get MOS?” Hitoshi asked. He was curled up, facing them, now silent as he scrolled through his phone with glazed over eyes.

 

“Yeah. We can do that,” Papa replied and Yumu looked over at Hitoshi with pursed lips. He was high as a kite, and shouldn’t be on his phone. “I need to get your prescriptions from the pharmacy. Will you be alright for a few minutes?”

 

“We’re okay,” Yumu murmured quietly.

 

“Do you want something from the vending machine?”

 

“Ooi Ocha,” Yumu replied.

 

“Sounds good,” Hitoshi said distantly, and she eyed Aki in the bed with Izuku. The nurses hadn’t even bothered with separating the two of them. His hero vest had been removed by Papa and thrown over the sole empty chair, and his civilian one was still at school. His veterinarian had actually come to the hospital to check him over and declared him just fine, and the second his little exam was done Aki was back in the bed with Izuku.

 

Papa got up and drew near to Yumu to press a gentle kiss to the crown of her head.

 

“I’ll be right back,” he promised and left the room with a kiss to Hitoshi’s head. Hitoshi let out a weird, distant noise, and Yumu set her phone to the side and got up to go to him.

 

“Hey,” she said quietly and his purple eyes flicked up to her.

 

“Hey,” he replied and she stood over his bed for a moment before looking over at Izuku and Aki snuggled up together.

 

“... You okay?”

 

“... I want to see Dad.”

 

“He’ll be up soon.”

 

“... Okay.”

 

He had been arguing a little while ago, before the nurse came back in and checked his pain levels before clearing it with the doctor to up his morphine drip while Izuku was half conscious and being interviewed. It was apparently akin to a third degree burn, almost a fourth, and he was in a lot of pain. It hadn’t directly affected his bones or tendons, but his nerves were entirely wrecked. They didn’t want to leave him unhealed, there was just too high of a risk of infection, so he was basically going to be unconscious for the next two days. Izuku had more injuries, but Hitoshi’s was worse.

 

Meanwhile, Dad had the same injury on his arm, and his forearms and humerus and shoulder blade were shattered. And his face. It was completely busted. It would take a while to heal. There was just so much.

 

Yumu paused, reaching out to rest her hand on his warm, unbandaged arm.

 

“Do you need anything?” She asked softly and Hitoshi’s glazed over eyes met her before he scooted back in the bed and laid on his back. Yumu set down the rails and carefully pushed aside all of the lines hooking him up to medical equipment before she climbed in with him. For a long, long moment, the two of them laid on their backs, their sides pressing together, staring up at the ceiling in silence, only broken by the beep of the heart monitors and their steady breaths.

 

“We almost died,” Hitoshi said softly.

 

“But we didn’t,” Yumu replied.

 

But they didn’t. And that was what mattered.

Notes:

Whew almost done with post USJ

Chapter 11

The kids had passed out on futons on the floor of the master bedroom. Hizashi was just glad they had done it of their own volition, because if they hadn’t, he would have dragged them in himself. Yumu had just marched in with a teetering stack of futons in her arms, not even able to see over them, and dumped them on the floor before laying them out and leaving to go grab every blanket in the house and just about every plushie and pillow (Hizashi didn’t even know they had that many), and assembled it all into something resembling a nest. Hitoshi and Izuku had then been herded in with a conjoined effort of her and Aki, and the three kids just passed out in their nest, lulled to sleep with a combination of a shit ton of melatonin for Yumu, pain medications and sleeping medications for Izuku and Hitoshi. The boys were clearly high as shit. Izuku could barely walk in a straight line, ran into three walls today, and Hitoshi was just staring at nothing the entire time they were eating dinner.

 

They were going in for another round of healing with Recovery Girl tomorrow. Hitoshi was scabbed over, with just a thin layer of gauze over his arm to keep the pressure on it to reduce scarring, and Izuku’s ribs were still incredibly fragile. There were still stitches under his eye, the wound had been deep, only to be attempted to be closed a little at a time, and his jaw was also still touchy and swollen, even if the bone itself was healed.

 

Quirk exhaustion, they were saying. A horrible case of it. Izuku hadn’t even used his quirk that day, he could go for five hours now, so Hizashi had no idea what kind of lengths he had pushed himself to in that fight, and Izuku couldn’t even recount it. He had barely even seen at all, he was going so fast. There were just too many variables, too many opponents, each of them with their own infinite choices.

 

The cameras hadn’t shorted out in the attack. Hizashi had forced himself to watch it all, watch his kids fight for their lives and kick complete ass while doing it, hating himself for not being there to protect them. They had done amazingly. Hitoshi even managed to use Shouta’s old scarf while it was sopping wet. Izuku had gone through half of the fight without Aki to support him, and when he did have him, he’d gone above and beyond.

 

And Shouta… It had been a nightmare to watch. An actual living nightmare. He’d held out on his own for so long. Hizashi hadn’t been there to help. Watching the boys stare, frozen in horror at their father almost dying in front of them had been the hardest thing to see. Watching Yumu just charge in on that thing, that thing that had nearly killed her father, Hizashi’s husband, without a second thought, snapping the boys out of the hell they had fallen in had been harder.

 

Hizashi had cried. Mirai had held him, let him cry into his chest as his own tears leaked out.

 

And now his hands were still shaking as he changed the sheets on the bed. It was hard to concentrate. He had put on a brave face for the kids. He couldn’t even begin to chastise them for their impetuous actions. They were surrounded by villains. They couldn’t just run away. They had already been discovered. They didn’t have a choice, even if they didn’t realize it. To them, they were buying time, focusing the brunt of the attack on themselves, trying to keep their unconscious father safe and the attention off of their classmates.

 

But Hizashi knew more than them. He also knew that they couldn’t run. Not with the positioning. Not with the teleporter. To them, it was a lack of choice based on convictions. To him, it was a lack of choice based on the very real elements at play.

 

It was hard to change the sheets while refusing to take his eyes off them, watching their chests rise and fall. Izuku and Hitoshi were squished against each other, with Yumu and Aki on either side, like they were protecting them. Hizashi felt like he had fallen asleep and descended into a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from.

 

They were okay. They were going to be scarred, but they were alive. Izuku’s eye had been missed by two inches, and Hitoshi was going to have nerve damage. Yumu was just fine physically, but he couldn’t quantify the kind of trauma today had wrought.

 

He also had no idea how to sit in the knowledge that Yumu had reacted the way she did because she already had experience making decisions that were the difference between life and death. All these years later and that guilt at not being able to help when it counted was still coming to bite Hizashi in the ass. Once again, she had to decide between living and dying, and once again, he had been just a little too late to spare her from that decision. And, this time, the boys had been presented a choice that didn’t ultimately end in the choice to not act. This time, the choice had been to move, and move they did, and Hizashi hated it with every fiber of his being.

 

Yumu had saved herself. She stayed alive until the rescue could come, and now she knew how to save someone else, and Hizashi hated. He hated, with every fiber of his being. Izuku’s quirk was so special because he knew the core of everyone. Yumu was the potential to be a hero with that narrow window of survival, and when she did survive, she was the sort of hero that wanted everyone else to have the chance she almost missed. Hitoshi was the boy that wanted, more than anything, to do the right thing, and do everything in his power to be the best person he could be. Izuku was limitless potential full of the kind of love that screamed that it was morally wrong to not share with everyone he met. Hizashi had always known his three kids were heroes to their very core. It was just a facet of their beings. They were made to react, they were made to shine through the muck and blood, and Hizashi hated it.

 

He loved them so, so much. He would lay down his life as many times as it took to keep them alive, and as a father, it hurt more than anything else to know that sometimes he would not be there.

 

They were just too damn young. They were babies, and he couldn’t… He couldn’t handle this. But he didn’t have a choice but to handle it, because he was a father, and that’s what fathers did. They kept loving, they didn’t give up, and they never let their children know how much they terrified them. They loved, and they loved, and they loved, and they put their heart on the line because that was what their children deserved. To be a parent was to put your heart, your soul, your everything in the palm of your child’s hands and never tell them they had the power to destroy you.

 

To be a parent was to accept that your heart would be broken a million times, and Hizashi accepted that.

 

Hizashi tucked the sheets into neat hospital corners and threw out the comforter, settling it down and smoothing it out. His hands were still shaking. The pillows were still on the floor, but he… He needed to get to Mirai and Shouta.

 

His legs felt like jelly as he walked towards the bathroom door, just cracked enough to let Hizashi hear the low murmur of their voices with his hearing aids turned to the highest setting, but closed enough that the kids wouldn’t wake up and see Mirai giving Shouta a sponge bath. His hands still trembling, he pushed open the door and left it cracked behind him. Just in case.

 

Shouta was sitting in a few inches of water in the tub as Mirai sat on the edge, running the rag over his body while Shouta kept his head bowed. He tilted his wrapped head as Hizashi entered the room and Hizashi watched the line of his throat contract as he swallowed.

 

“Are the kids asleep?” Shouta asked.

 

“They… made a nest. In our room,” Hizashi answered hoarsely. “The medications knocked them out.”

 

He could barely make out Shouta’s eyes like this. Mirai was quiet, clad in basketball shorts and an old tee. He was pretty sure Hitoshi got him that shirt for his birthday one year. Hizashi made his way to the edge of the tub and sat down, eyes locked on the tile.

 

“Did you make the bed?” Mirai asked softly.

 

“The … the pillows are still on the floor,” Hizashi replied honestly.

 

“Alright,” Mirai said and carefully scrubbed under Shouta’s arm.

 

Shouta was just black and blue. They had a mountain of gauze to rewrap his wounds, but he was going to have to go shirtless tonight. Mirai had already laid out his clothes on the counter, just a pair of joggers and underwear, and Hizashi stared at them to avoid looking at the evidence of his absence.

 

There was a muffled sniffle from the bathtub, and that was it, Hizashi couldn’t keep it together anymore. Tears started pouring down his cheeks and his body dissolved into a shaking mess.

 

He almost lost his kids and his husband today. He had shown up, and nothing could ever compare to that raw terror he felt at seeing Shouta broken and bleeding and unconscious on the ground, Thirteen possibly dead, thank gods they were going to be okay, and his children nowhere to be seen. Hizashi knew Shouta would die before his kids did, so if he looked like that, where were they?

 

And then he had attacked. Indiscriminately. The kids were nowhere in sight, and Hizashi needed to clear out the villains so he could get down there and find them. Cordelia had let her hellfire rain down on them and gods, he hated that it was so satisfying. That wasn’t heroic at all, but it was his family.

 

And then they appeared from the wreckage. Hitoshi was covered in blood. He was sopping wet, shivering, and at first Hizashi couldn’t tell how much blood there was from his black jumpsuit.

 

And then there was that plop of bright red liquid and Hizashi’s eyes fell on Izuku, half conscious on Bakugou’s back. There was a hole in his swollen face. He was soaked to the bone, battered to hell and back, and Hizashi was terrified because he was too far away to see if he was breathing.

 

Hizashi hadn’t been there. Hizashi had not been there, and his kids had gotten hurt. They could have died. Yumu’s face was wet, but she was trying so, so hard to be brave even as her lower lip trembled.

 

Nezu had taken one look at them, another look at his husband, and told Hizashi to ride in one of the ambulances. They didn’t need him for the cleanup, and Hizashi took the out even as his hands shook uncontrollably as he called Mirai.

 

Izuku had been so fragile in his arms. He was so big, so buff, Hizashi sometimes forgot how mortal he was. He wasn’t sure he’d ever forget again.

 

Aki had shouldered his way between Hizashi’s legs in the ambulance and refused to move, propping his head up on Hizashi’s thigh to remind him that everyone was breathing. Hitoshi and Yumu had to go in the ambulance with Izuku, and Hizashi hated that they were right behind him, but he couldn’t let them look at Shouta any longer. Not until he was awake.

 

He was still in shock, and now Shouta’s tiny sniffle had started all three parents on the waterworks. They were all crying silently out of fear of waking up the kids, but they were crying.

 

Mirai’s hand found Hizashi’s and he gripped those long fingers tight as he stared at his own tear stained face in the mirror.

 

“Get me out of this tub,” Shouta said hoarsely. “I have to…”

 

He had to see the kids. He had to be sure they were still breathing. Shit, Hizashi had almost lost him today. Mirai had almost lost him today, and two out of their three kids had been maimed. And Yumu had been left on her own with only Koji and Tsu to protect her dad. She shouldn’t have had to protect him, but what choice did they have?

 

Hizashi knew this was the reality of raising heroes when you were a hero. He knew it, but it wasn’t supposed to happen on their third day of high school. This sort of horror happened when they were older, when they were adults, not… not now. Never now.

 

Was Endeavor crying, too? Was he terrified to let Shouto out of his sight?

 

Mirai moved, helping Shouta up, understanding that burning, all encompassing need, and Hizashi rushed to get the towel. All three dads huddled there, Hizashi crying as he dried Shouta off and Mirai drained the tub, Shouta’s tears soaking the bandages wrapped around his face. Shouta didn’t cry. Hizashi couldn’t remember the last time he had seen him cry. It had been years, maybe even five, or perhaps six, when Shouta was overwhelmed with the pressures of parenthood and wondering if he was fucking it up, fucking up a kid the way his own parents fucked him up.

 

Hizashi’s hands were still shaking as he helped Shouta dress. The second he got those joggers pulled up and over his heels, he was on him, holding him tightly as Mirai sandwiched him in from behind after opening the door more so Shouta could see the kids laying there in the brightly lit room, sleeping through the LED bulbs assaulting their eyes. Breathing. Alive. Sleeping soundly. Just like when they were little.

 

Hizashi had a lot of treasured photos. But one of his proudest possessions was the photo Mirai had sent him of the two boys when they were nine, cuddled up in Izuku’s bed with Aki. The other favorite photo was the one of all three kids together, brothers on either side of their sister, backs to the camera, watching the sun go down on the ocean. It had been picture perfect, completely candid, just a moment in time he wanted to preserve forever.

 

They almost didn’t get to see the ocean again.

 

Shouta had his chin hooked over Hizashi’s shoulder, eyes burning as he stared at the pile of kids and dog and pillows on the floor of their bedroom, like he was memorizing the sight of them all there, safe and sound. Hizashi needed to put in his eyedrops before he went to bed.

 

“They’re okay,” Mirai whispered. “They’re right there, Shou.”

 

“I know,” Shouta replied, but his voice was cracking. He had to be strong and brave in front of them, to the very end, never defeated. But right now, with them asleep in their parents’ bedroom, he didn’t have to be Dad. He didn’t have to be Eraserhead, or Sensei. He could just be Shouta, and Shouta needed to cry. “I… I thought the last time I saw them, they’d look like…”

 

Look like they saw their dad launching to his death, with full knowledge that he was walking straight into it. Hizashi couldn’t imagine the looks on their faces. He had choked on a sob when he saw the way Hitoshi grabbed a thrashing and bucking Yumu, kicking at him, screaming no over and over, Hitoshi who looked like he wanted nothing more than to move and get to his dad, but he had a little sister to take care of.

 

And the real horror hadn’t even started yet.

 

There was nothing you could say in response to that. It must have ripped Shouta’s heart out to turn his back on those faces, not rush to their side and promise and lie that he was going to be okay. Hizashi knew he would do the same, but the thought of it made bile rise in his throat. Their faces in his mind were blank, because he just couldn’t picture it. Those were their babies. So there was honestly nothing he could do to Shouta’s quiet, half stated admission. All he could do was hold him.

 

Mirai pressed a kiss to the back of Shouta’s head and Hizashi finally released him so Shouta could limp into the bedroom and stand over them, just a little bit closer, not enough to disturb them. Hizashi and Mirai watched, and Mirai wrapped his hand around Hizashi’s wrist to pull him close. Hizashi went willingly into his husband’s arms and Mirai carded his fingers through bright golden locks.

 

“It wasn’t your fault,” he whispered into the crown of Hizashi’s head, and Hizashi started to tremble again. “You’re okay. They’re okay.”

 

“Tsu… Tsukauchi said All Might came to the hospital,” he whispered and Mirai stiffened slightly.

 

“I may have cussed him out,” he admitted and Hizashi coughed out a harsh laugh. Of course he did. As far as Hizashi was concerned, he deserved it.

 

It wasn’t that Toshinori was a bad guy. It was that he was a terrible partner, and Hizashi and Shouta had spent years undoing his damage. Hizashi couldn’t exactly blame him for showing up to the hospital, he didn’t know, couldn’t know, not a single staff member had breathed a word of who the third in Shouta and Hizashi’s relationship was, but … For some things, Hizashi could be petty. Today was the worst day for Toshinori to discover the reality of what had been hidden from him for six years.

 

Well. Hizashi couldn’t really call it hidden. It wasn’t like it was his business. It was just that … Hizashi was still pissed. Mirai hadn’t needed to deal with his clueless ex on top of everything else.

 

“I told him to never interact with them outside of class,” Mirai said awkwardly, and Hizashi huffed out another laugh.

 

“You know that’s going to be difficult with us working with him.”

 

“I’m expecting you to make it very hard on him,” Mirai muttered darkly, and there he was, with that petty streak a mile wide. That was the funny thing about marriage. Once you got there, your partner’s enemies were just your enemies, and that was that. Hizashi wasn’t going to deny him. After all, the kids stayed after school with them and left with them after they finished up their lesson plans, except on days when they both had patrol. It was probably going to become extremely difficult.

 

“Hey…” Shouta said softly in the other room and Hizashi was immediately wiping his eyes and Mirai was cleaning off his face. A glance to the bedroom revealed Yumu with her eyes open, looking up at the now kneeling Shouta at her side.

 

“Hi, Dad,” she said hoarsely and Hizashi watched as she carefully sat up, intent on not disturbing her brothers, and gingerly wrapped her arms around him. Shouta twitched, and Hizashi could see the pain there at not being able to hug him back as she clung to him desperately, face buried in his shoulder.

 

The sight of them hurt. It was like an actual pain in Hizashi's chest, wrenching his heart out as Yumu quietly cried into her dad's shoulder. Neither Mirai nor Hizashi moved. She needed this, while her injured brothers were deep in a heavily medicated sleep. She had been so brave, pushing herself to be the strong one while Hitoshi and Izuku were delirious with pains they just were too young to be used to. She had known she could help them in their fight, but she had trusted Izuku's decision to place their heaviest hitter to be in charge of the injured and unconscious person who could still be targeted in an active combat scenario, and she had done good. She got Shouta to safety and left a litter of paralyzed villains in her wake.

 

"It's okay, baby," Shouta murmured as she sobbed into his shoulder. "You did good. You did so well. It's okay."

 

He twisted his head as best as he could to press a kiss to the side of her head and she tightened her arms around him only just, arms around her neck as she let out a tiny, muffled sob as her chest lifted and heaved in a way that he had never seen her do. Yumu cried plenty, but she didn’t sob.

 

Hizashi's chest clenched and he twitched, wanting to rush to gather her up in his arms, but he needed to wait. It was Shouta, it was Dad, she had nearly seen die in front of her today, and while he could scold a regular student for reacting like that, you just couldn't tell the hysterical child watching her father get battered to pieces that her reaction had been wrong. He was her dad. It was natural.

 

She needed to cling to Shouta right now, feel him breathing and alive, right in front of her. Then Hizashi could comfort her.

 

The time came soon enough for him to react.

 

"Papa? Pops?" She asked through her tears, and the men were moving in unison, surrounding their little girl with all the love and support and presence they could supply. Yumu was crushed in a tight hug between the two of them, her face buried in Hizashi's chest as she struggled to muffle her sobs, and he petted down her tangled hair gently. Her roots were coming in. Maybe they could fix that. All the kids needed haircuts. Hizashi just hadn't had time before school started, but now all three parents had the days off work before they went back to school, enough time to get the kids stable and ready to face the world again. The other teachers were handling figuring out new security protocols in their absence.

 

"You're alright," Hizashi said softly as he scratched at her scalp. "Everything's okay. Everyone's safe. Your dad will be out of those bandages in no time, and your brothers will be all healed up before we go back to school."

 

"I'm sorry," Yumu mumbled into his chest and Hizashi froze. "I… I listened to Izuku, but if I'd been there maybe…"

 

"If you hadn't been there, Dad would have been defenseless, Yumu," Hizashi said and pulled back, cupping her cheeks in his hands to brush off her tears with his thumbs. "Alright? Your dad would have been defenseless with villains intent to kill swarming everywhere. Your brothers could defend themselves. They got a little hurt, but they'll heal, and thanks to you, Dad will, too. Okay? You did good. "

 

Yumu let out a broken sob and nodded several times as her lower lip wobbled and Hizashi drew his girl back again, rubbing her back as she tried to muffle the sounds of her crying. If the boys weren't doped up to hell and back, this would have definitely woken them up.

 

He’d watched their trek. Yumu had left Tsu to carry Shouta, and then Koji came along and picked him up while Yumu took out no less than ten men, leaving them littered along the ground on the way to the entrance. She did just as good as Hitoshi and Izuku, working with Tsu to defend her dad, and he was honestly happy Izuku had sent her away. She’d improved in leaps and bounds, of course, and could handle most people effortlessly, but they also had four years of experience on her. And she was barely starting to force herself to use her quirk.

 

He hadn’t expected her to have such a large range, but after it all she had admitted her fingers were tingling and a little pained, not like the chronic pain she endured, but a little different, and she was sleepy. She’d simply passed out in the hospital, been diagnosed with quirk exhaustion that she just had to sleep off, and Hizashi had been frustrated with the whole ordeal because of how little they knew of her quirk. Was the exhaustion from the size of her targets, or the amount of them? That “nomu” had been huge.

 

At least they knew compression gloves worked to help now. Mei’s guess had been right. She probably would have been in more pain without the gloves. It was clear now that she could eventually work up to large crowds, but was best suited for right now to one on one encounters.

 

Yumu was still crying, but it was silent now, her hands, encased in compression gloves, grasping at Hizashi’s shirt like she had so many years ago. Hizashi let that same rumbling purr break out as he rubbed her back, content to let her cry it out until she finally went still.

 

She’d cried herself to sleep.

 

Hizashi carefully leveraged her down back onto her futon and spread the blanket over her. With a second thought, he reached for that beloved Cinnamoroll plushie and slid it between her arms, and she clutched it tightly.

 

They were too young for this. Three days. That’s how long it took. Three days.

 

Shouta was staring at Yumu, likely watching how close she was to getting hair in her mouth, and Hizashi brushed it behind her ear so he would stop worrying.

 

“It was a long day,” Hizashi murmured and got up before reaching to steady Shouta. “Let’s get this hair brushed out and go to bed.”

 

“Alright,” Shouta replied even as his voice cracked, and Hizashi herded him back onto the bed before settling behind him with the brush. Thank gods Mirai had washed his hair first.

 

Mirai set to getting the pillows set up as Hizashi worked through the freshly washed and damp hair. Clever fingers pulled Shouta’s hair into a loose braid and he snapped off the hair tie around his wrist to finish it off.

 

“Alright, you two, up,” Mirai said quietly and the three men moved around to peel back the fresh sheets and climb into bed, Shouta sandwiched between them and slightly propped up on a mound of pillows.

 

He was warm, Hizashi reflected as he pressed up next to him and Mirai turned the lights off. He was warm, and solid, and smelled nice, and alive.

 

It could have been much worse. Someone could have died. More students could have been injured beyond their collections of bumps and bruises. But of course it was their stupid, brave, heroic kids that had to take the worst of the impact. Of course it was Hizashi’s husband that had nearly been killed. Of course their kids were the ones that had to play the hero, because, realistically, could have it gone any other way? The other students, besides Tenya and Koji, had known Shouta for a grand total of three days. He was their dad. It was different. It was very different.

 

They were heroes, and while he hated it, he hated it so much, he also loved them more than anything. They were who they were, and nothing Hizashi could do was going to change that. All he could do was teach them to temper those instincts just enough to make sure they stayed alive.

 

Hizashi knew cuddling was a bad idea right now, so instead he wormed up against Shouta’s side and pressed his back to his warmth so he could stare at the vaguely children and dog and pillow and plushie shaped lump on the floor. Aki wasn’t even snoring. He couldn’t fully settle. Not after today.

 

Hizashi could relate. He didn’t feel like he’d sleep for more than a few hours tonight. Maybe he’d wake up early and make a big breakfast tomorrow, propose a day of haircuts and dye. He really could use attacking Yumu’s roots with a bowl of bleach right now. He had it down to a science, at least. Perfect bleach, no damage, with an intense protein filler to close and hydrate her strands so he could even do the dye the very next day, the day after the next at the most. Izuku’s dead ends needed to be cut off and his sides cleaned up, and Hitoshi was due for a health trim, Shouta too, and …

 

“I can hear you thinking,” Shouta murmured into his ear and Hizashi finally let his muscles unwind.

 

“Just thinking I could do their hair tomorrow and make a big breakfast. Get things back to normal,” Hizashi replied. “Yumu could use it. Dying your hair is a cleansing experience for girls.”

 

“Her ends are looking a little frayed, too,” Shouta murmured. “And her bangs are starting to get in her eyes.”

 

Hizashi let out a long, long breath.

 

“Yeah. Yeah they are.”

 

“I booked them with Teruko the day after tomorrow,” Mirai murmured. “Back to back sessions.”

 

Hizashi went a little more boneless at that. Yeah. That was good. They needed to go to therapy after this.

 

“I made appointments for you two, too,” Mirai added. “... And me. They’re on the calendar.”

 

“Alright,” Hizashi murmured. “Thank you, Mir.”

 

Mirai. Always two steps ahead.

 

"Take out your hearing aids," Shouta said quietly and Hizashi hesitated, listening to the whirr of the air conditioner and the jingle of Aki's collar as he twitched in his sleep. Leaving in hearing aids when he slept left him bruised and sore and he could barely use them the next day, but did he really want to risk it? With an attack so soon?

 

"Hizashi, it's okay," Mirai said softly. "I got it."

 

Right. Mirai was here, he wasn't going anywhere, and Hizashi let the tension drain out as he reached up to switch off the hearing aids and pull them out. The world descended into mute silence and he sank down into the bed, muscles tense and unyielding.

 

Mirai’s long hand Hizashi had so memorized curved around his hip and pulled him a little closer against Shouta, and Hizashi let him. The kids were right there, Aki was right there, Kimi had been texting them that Koji was shaken up, but fine, he had an appointment with the therapist tomorrow, and Mei’s moms had reported that Mei was … a mess. She hadn’t come out of the garage yet, and the last text was three hours ago. She was working on something.

 

Yumu’s headset had failed, and Izuku’s visor had been shattered. Mei had made both. There had been an obnoxious amount of paperwork to fill out to let a first year incoming student make support items for heroic course students, but Mei had been adamant that she get to do it. Maijima had been impressed with her work, and Mei had been over the moon about it.

 

But the visor broke, and Izuku got nailed in the face. He’d nearly been blinded by Mei’s tech, and in a jamming situation, Yumu could not get through. It wasn’t her fault. Hizashi wanted to tell her that, but at the core an inventor like Mei was about making things better and better, never stopping to think that something didn’t need to be improved. She was going to take it hard.

 

He was worried she wouldn’t sleep. Not until she was done. Her moms were trying to wrangle her for therapy, but she was digging in her heels. Not until she was done. Working was therapy for her, in its own way.

 

Hizashi couldn’t worry about that right now. Right now, he had Shouta warm and breathing pressed up against his back, Mirai’s hand around his hip, and three kids on the floor of his bedroom. His family was together and alive. Shouta might not be out of his bandages until after the sports festival, but the kids would be all fixed up by the time they were back in class.

 

Everything was fine, and he was going to bask in that. They’d have therapy, cathartic haircuts, a big breakfast, and family time tomorrow. Soon, Hizashi would be able to handle them not being in the room with him, and they would be able to sleep on their own. They’d be back in school and put all of this behind them.

 

And if something happened, Mirai would wake up. Everything was okay.

Notes:

WHEW POST USJ IS DONE!!!

Chapter 12

“Who do you think our sub will be?” Kaminari asked as Hitoshi slipped down in his chair, looking utterly defeated.

 

“We’re not getting a sub,” Hitoshi said tiredly, and, boy, was he still pissed about that. Papa had told Dad he’d stay home and help him around, but Dad had been on his soapbox about how the students needed to see him up and about. He literally could not even write right now, but whatever. Dad was just getting restless with not doing anything when everyone else was in motion.

 

“What?” Kaminari asked in shock, and Tokoyami looked over at them.

 

“We should really have a sub…”

 

“He does not give a shit. He’s had his classes covered like … four times in total for personal reasons,” Hitoshi replied and rubbed at his eyes. Even when Hitoshi came home with him, he took maybe a day off before just bringing him to work with him. Yumu got one day, and there was that one time he got hit by a car, and then Papa almost lost his quirk, and that was it. Any other instances of classes being covered were purely for work, which did not count.

 

“... Okay, but you make it sound like he shouldn’t be here,” Kaminari said carefully and Hitoshi sighed before letting his head drop between crossed arms on the desk with a thunk.

 

“Not a doctor, can’t say if he should be home or not,” he mumbled into his crossed arms.

 

He should absolutely be home. The whole family was pissed at him, but Hitoshi was privately sure Dad just didn’t want them going to school without him. Never mind that Pops was literally here, he needed to be here. All of the parents were incredibly clingy right now, but Teruko had told them to just be patient with them.

 

The whole damn family was going to have PTSD after this. Not that their parents didn’t have PTSD, it was unavoidable in this field, but it normally was very understated. Hyper paranoia, mostly. Alarms had to be on, doors had to be locked, Pops always triple checked, jumpy at noises outside. Every so often their dads would just stop in the middle of a conversation and all freeze to listen to something going on outside before they relaxed. Hitoshi could never tell how warranted it was, because, objectively, they all had a very good reason to be jumpy.

 

“So… he’s your dad,” Kaminari said awkwardly and Hitoshi looked over at him in silence for a long, long moment. Kaminari shifted uncomfortably at his punishing gaze. “Drop it, got it.”

 

“I thought he’d be your uncle,” Tokoyami muttered quietly. “What a strange plot twist.”

 

“Well, he’s not,” Hitoshi mumbled into his arms. “You should probably get to your seat.”

 

For once, the seats weren’t arranged alphabetically, but by height, which placed Tokoyami way ahead of him. He wasn’t even sure why he was back here. Normally, the seats would be done alphabetically, but Dad took one look at Shouji’s height and scrapped that, which was fair.

 

“I, uhm, actually had something to request of you,” Tokoyami said awkwardly and Hitoshi lifted his head, raising an eyebrow at the suddenly very awkward boy.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Could you possibly show me how to dodge like you did with Dark Shadow?” He asked and Hitoshi blinked a few times.

 

“I could show you the basics, but I’ve been training six years, so you probably won’t get as fluid, but you’ll be able to dodge. Just see me after school on the field in your PE uniform.”

 

“Thank you.” Tokoyami bowed his head gravely before zipping back to his seat. Hitoshi stared after him before just shrugging and slouching in his desk, rapping his pencil pensively on the wood.

 

The door slid open, and there was Dad. The entire class fell into hushed silence, staring at the mummified teacher, a sight Hitoshi hated that he was used to at this point. They had slept in their parents’ room for two nights straight before they finally went back to their own beds. His own scar was weirdly numb. He was still adjusting to it. He had full mobility, no pain, but when he banged his elbow into a wall, the complete absence of that little jolt of pain had been horrifying, to say the least. He hadn’t lost his arm, but it felt like he should have.

 

Izuku, at least, was fine. Even if his jaw was now slightly crooked, but you could only tell if you squinted. Dad, though…

 

“Should you really be here, kero?” Tsu asked in concern, and Dad grunted in her general direction.

 

“It looks worse than it is,” he said. “We have no time to waste. First of all, we neglected to elect class representatives. Rectify that.”

 

“A normal school activity,” Kaminari hissed and Hitoshi snorted.

 

“Sasaki! The boy Sasaki!” Kirishima immediately blurted and Hitoshi blinked. Several times.

 

“Yeah! Sasaki would be perfect!” Kaminari agreed brightly. “He’s like… super competent!”

 

“Sasaki is good with me!” Sero chipped in, and then the whole class was full of choruses of agreement while all three siblings, and, surprisingly, Bakugou, worked on perfecting their deadpan thousand yard stares. Hitoshi could practically feel the imaginary camera on him.

 

"While I really appreciate your guy's trust in me and my capabilities,” Izuku cut in when the clamor died down, “I'm also going to ask you all to apply some critical thinking skills. You just asked the blind kid to handle all of the paperwork."

 

You could hear a pin drop in the classroom and Bakugou just dropped his head between his arms and let out a quiet groan of something between annoyance and frustration. What a fucking mood.

 

“... Oh. Right,” Kirishima said meekly. “Sorry I just…”

 

“It’s literally fine,” Izuku said dryly. “I have no experience whatsoever with being in a leadership position,” liar, “and neither has Yumu, before you say something, Tsu… and Uraraka? But. Tenya, weren’t you class rep at Somei until you got elected student president?”

 

“Ah, I didn’t feel that it was appropriate to bring u---”

 

“Tenya makes for the best rep,” Izuku cut in. “He got us all help. It takes a lot of mental discipline to stay calm and on task in a situation like that. And he’s got experience running a student body, so I think he can handle one class.”

 

Hitoshi wasn’t sure Tenya could handle a class with them in it, but the four of them would probably behave for Tenya’s sake.

 

“Yeah, Iida makes sense,” Kirishima agreed. “Iida’s a super manly dude!”

 

“What about vice rep?” Hagakure asked.

 

“Yaoyorozu,” Yumu chimed in. “I mean, she seems smart. And responsible. Plus, did you hear her quirk explanation? Takes a lot of focus to memorize stuff like that and understand how it works, if you ask me. I think she can handle some leadership and paperwork.”

 

“Yeah, the way she broke down the exercises was really cool!” Hagakure agreed. “She was really chill about it! She can just get a room’s attention no problem!”

 

“Yaoyorozu would be great!” Kaminari said, and wow, Izuku had absolutely looked into parallel universes for this. There was no way in hell he hadn’t picked them otherwise. Scheming little shit.

 

“So is everyone in agreement?” Izuku asked innocently, too innocently and Dad stared at them with dead eyes.

 

“Yeah, I think so!”

 

A chorus of agreements rose up and Izuku hummed before he dropped his head back on the desk.

 

“If you’re all done,” Dad drawled, “now we have to talk about the biggest challenge of your future.”

 

The class fell into hushed silence and Dad stared at all of them in silence before finally speaking.

 

“The sports festival,” he said bluntly.

 

“Another normal school event!” Kaminari hissed.

 

“UA’s sports festival is not a normal school event,” Dad said bluntly. “It’s televised, and streamed across the world. There is a Twitch account for it this year, actually. Your performances this year will be one of three chances to prove yourselves as having potential. You only get three shots. Heroes will be watching, businesses looking to sponsor you and invest in you, PR companies will be examining your quirks to see if you’re a good fit, support companies will decide if they want to work with you. Your performances this year will also determine what heroes send you offers. The culture festival is for the other courses to show what they can do, but the sports festival is for the heroics festival. We have no time to slack off.”

 

“But isn’t it a little unsafe to have the festival after what… after what happened?” Kirishima asked awkwardly.

 

“What happened is exactly why we have to have the festival,” Dad replied. “It’s a show of force. Security will be over the top this year. The Hero Commission is involved. We will have an excess of pros on the ground on duty. The firewall is being revamped, and we’re making a field to keep teleportation quirks from coming in based on the various kind of energy signatures from a variety of warping quirks and the data gathered at USJ. There were two separate kinds of energy signatures, and we’re currently isolating them. Multiple intelligence and underground pros are working on counter insurgency. We’re going to make it clear that UA is not to be messed with this time around.”

 

The class was silent for a moment as everyone took that in. Hitoshi was just… tired. He was very tired. Their family had been through a lot in the last few days, their class had been through a lot, and now all of their parents’ work was intersecting. Papa was taking over the counter insurgency measures for Nezu, so he could focus on what he was doing.

 

It was a mess. It was a whole mess. Hitoshi wasn’t even sure he wanted to be here right now, but he also knew things had to go back to normal, and this was part of it. At the very least, he knew their class would definitely be bonded after this. Bakugou had even gone up on Hitoshi’s charts, just a little. The fact that he’d covered Aki’s ears and carried Izuku up the steps was enough for him.

 

But Yumu… Hitoshi was trying very hard not to think about the way she broke out of his grapple and just ran for that drop and just disappeared. He knew in the moment that she was just listening to Izuku and going right, and apparently that had been necessary. If she stayed in position, she would have been stuck with them in the lake, and wouldn’t have been able to go after the nomu thing the way she did. It all worked out, but when he looked at Dad, he couldn’t help but feel that it definitely, definitely did not work out.

 

And now he was going to be staring at the consequences of his inaction for weeks. Izuku was… Izuku was definitely in his own headspace. He hadn’t confirmed it, but Hitoshi had a feeling that Parallel Sight had tried to warn him, and Izuku had ignored it. The day before USJ Izuku had definitely been off, jumpy even, and Hitoshi didn’t know how to ask him what was wrong. There was a specific “my quirk is uncomfortable” kind of jumpy Izuku got. Distant. Contemplative. On edge, like he was hiding something. It almost always turned out alright, but Izuku had taken Papa’s directive to just “let life be life” to the heart, and that had really bit them in the ass this time around.

 

Hitoshi felt bad. He had learned for years now not to press Izuku on his quirk, the same way Izuku didn’t press him on his. Everyone had their own burdens with their quirks, but their family had an intimate understanding of those sorts of burdens. Hitoshi took away people’s autonomy, turned them into puppets. Izuku saw every option, and knew every mistake he made and had to live with the knowledge that he could have done better. Yumu was an actual horror show, terrifying and probably gave everyone PTSD.

 

Their family was honestly a hot mess, in hindsight. Their grandparents were deaf because of Pops’s quirk, Dad was a de facto orphan, Papa was an actual orphan, Izuku was the biological son of a drug lord, Yumu’s parents had smashed her hands to pieces, Hitoshi’s parents had locked him in a muzzle for years and then kicked him out to starve on the corner of a street, Pops was the result of a quirk marriage… Yeah, they were a mess. They had nearly been killed by villains and for the three kids that wasn’t even the worst thing that had ever happened to them.

 

A mess. That’s what this was. A goddamn mess.

 

Hitoshi barely paid attention for Foundational Heroics. All Might had evidently learned his lesson and was running them through breakfalls, which Hitoshi could do in his sleep, and Yumu loved more than literally anything else in martial arts. They ended up being used as an example of how to tuck your neck, and Ojiro was allowed to help them show the rest of the students how to do things, because apparently the four of them were the only students with martial arts experience. Tenya knew a few self defense techniques, but most of the girls only knew self defense as far as “always carry pepper spray or a taser”, which were surprisingly allowed at UA, so long as they stayed in the genkans during school.

 

It was almost funny to watch All Might try to use them as the class example of how to do breakfalls properly while approaching them like waiting cobras poised to strike. Apparently, his secretary had told him about the three of them, because he would not look any of them in the eye. Rip the Symbol of Peace, Hitoshi supposed. He’d face down any villain, but now he lived in fear of a couple of fifteen year olds.

 

Before they knew it, the end of school was rolling around, and Hitoshi was changing into his athletic gear in the bathroom. Their parents had agreed that they shouldn’t wear the UA uniform outside for a while, so now they were charged with keeping a second set of athletic clothes for if they were going home on their own, which Hitoshi didn’t mind at all. It was more comfortable than the uniform, anyways.

 

Tokoyami had agreed to meet Hitoshi on the field, so at least Hitoshi could help him a little more. At least they had already gone over the breakfalls in class, so he knew the basics now. It was only a matter of getting him confident enough to actually throw himself onto the ground, which Hitoshi could probably do.

 

“Hey, Hitoshi,” Izuku said from the other stall. “Kirishima asked for some help, too. You mind if we share the field?”

 

“... When did he ask for help?” Hitoshi asked in confusion as he pushed open the stall door.

 

“Just after class,” Izuku replied as he came out in a hilariously clashing shirt and compression shorts. Hitoshi double checked to make sure his own biker shorts didn’t clash with the blue muscle shirt, but, nope, he was fine.

 

“Yeah, I don’t care, just give me some space,” Hitoshi replied with a shrug.

 

“I’m just showing him how to break out of a grapple,” Izuku said. “Different stuff than what you’re showing Tokoyami, so we won’t be in your way.”

 

“Cool,” Hitoshi said with a shrug. “Hope he doesn’t pop his quirk on you.”

 

“I’m sure he can control himself,” Izuku replied dryly as he stuffed his uniform haphazardly into his bag. “ You’re the one teaching the guy with the sentient quirk.”

 

“I think Dark Shadow can refrain from picking a fight with the ground,” Hitoshi retorted. “It’s not like I’m grabbing Tokoyami.”

 

“Yeah, sure,” Izuku replied cheekily and clicked his tongue at Aki. “Should we go meet them?”

 

“Yeah, let’s go. Do you know what Yumu’s doing?”

 

“I think she’s helping Dad grade papers,” Izuku replied. “Or work on lesson plans or something. She’s just helping Dad.”

 

“... Should we cancel and help him?”

 

“He’d kick us out,” Izuku grumbled. “He doesn’t trust us.”

 

“He doesn’t trust you, ” Hitoshi corrected.

 

“Let’s just go down to the field,” Izuku replied and made for the door, like that was some kind of retort. Hitoshi was really winning these arguments lately. Wow.

 

The two of them made their way down the stairs and came outside, where Tokoyami and Kirishima were awkwardly sitting in the grass in their gym uniforms. Kirishima was chattering away with Tokoyami, who was just nodding every so often and looking around for an escape route.

 

“Oh, hey, guys!” Kirishima called and waved a hand. “Thanks for helping us, seriously!”

 

“It’s no problem,” Izuku said as he set his bag down on the ground. Hitoshi dropped his backpack and stretched out his shoulders. “We could use a break from sparring with the same people, at least.”

 

“Yeah, Izuku always wins,” Hitoshi said dryly. “He’s practically cheating.”

 

“I win with or without the visor, shut up,” Izuku shot back as he adjusted the blindfold around his eyes. “Anyways, Kirishima, we’re working on other stuff, so we’re going to be… elsewhere, while these two work on picking a fight with gravity.”

 

“It’s not picking a fight with gravity, it’s using gravity to your advantage,” Hitoshi shot back and Izuku laughed, reaching out. Kirishima stared at the offered arm and Hitoshi jerked his head. Kirishima blinked before his face cleared and he took the arm, wrapping Izuku’s hand around the joint of his elbow.

 

He was really dense. Wow.

 

“Watch my bag, Hitoshi,” Izuku called. “Kirishima, take us about ten meters away, please!”

 

“Oh! Right!” Kirishima gently led Izuku off and Hitoshi turned to view his de facto student. He had decently well muscled arms, but Hitoshi was ninety percent sure that was from guitar, given the state of the calluses on his fingers.

 

“Okay. Do you do any cardio?” He asked bluntly.

 

“I run in the evenings,” Tokoyami replied. “And sometimes at night. Insomnia.”

 

“... What kind of night?” Hitoshi asked carefully.

 

“... Witching hour.”

 

Hitoshi stared at him for a long, long moment, and Tokoyami stared back at him. Hitoshi squinted ever so slightly at the short boy, and Tokoyami tilted back his head slightly to actually look up at Hitoshi.

 

“... Right. Okay. The first thing you need to do is get comfortable with just. Throwing yourself onto the ground. With all of your leg strength behind it. So. First we’re going to start with warm ups with the break falls and get you comfortable rolling around so it’s muscle memory to protect your neck, and then we’ll move onto essentially violently yeeting yourself at the ground without breaking your neck. So. Let’s get started.”

 

“... You can break your neck?” Tokoyami asked, looking somewhat concerned, maybe, it was hard to tell with a bird face, and Hitoshi blinked at him.

 

“I mean, yeah. I’m like eighty-one kilograms. When you hit the ground, your shoulder hits first. That’s all your body weight coming down on you.”

 

“... You’re eighty-one kilograms?” Tokoyami asked.

 

“... Yeah? How much are you?”

 

“... Forty-two.”

 

“Ah. Right then.” He really was tiny. This was awkward. Wait, how was he even that light…? Oh. Hollow bones. Hitoshi would have to be gentle with him. “We’ll start with forward breakfalls, then. Remember to tuck your head.”

 

It took a few minutes of Hitoshi correcting his breakfalls again, it was awkward to get the angle right to protect his head with the whole beak thing going on, but if anything, Tokoyami needed more help than their classmates with this. His bones were presumably hollow, judging from his weight, and could snap easily. He needed to have that muscle memory, more than their peers, and Hitoshi was happy to help.

 

It got awkward when they moved onto back breakfalls, which weren’t covered in class. Hitoshi naturally moved forward to support him and Tokoyami paused, staring at him with wide, slightly startled eyes.

 

“Uh… Sorry,” Hitoshi said awkwardly. “I learned how to do this with Dad helping me doing the back breakfalls.”

 

“... So you will push me?” Tokoyami asked and Hitoshi stared at him.

 

“Yes? It’s more like spotting, until you get used to it.”

 

“... Spotting.”

 

“... Like when someone watches you when you’re lifting? Spotting?”

 

“... What a mad way to perform such an action,” Tokoyami muttered.

 

“Just let me help,” Hitoshi said, choosing to ignore his weird intonation pattern. “Okay, so back falls are a little harder. I mean, they aren’t harder in some martial arts, but I learned I think the karate version maybe? It’s the kind where you roll into a ready position like I was showing you. So what you’re going to do is crouch down, you don’t want to start doing this standing up, and just fall back with your arms out from your body and let your back hit from the tailbone and rock your way to your neck to distribute the impact.”

 

Tokoyami stared at him for a long moment before slowly crouching down and then continuing to stare at Hitoshi. Hitoshi stared back, lips pursed harshly.

 

“That went over your head, didn’t it?”

 

“That was a lot of information.”

 

“... Okay, like this,” Hitoshi said after a long, long pause, and just threw himself back from a standing position. Tailbone hit the ground and his arms slapped down as he let his spine roll along the grass, and he dug his shoulder into the terf to push himself back up as smoothly as he could go.

 

“... Oh. I must shed being a bird and become a turtle,” Tokoyami said as Hitoshi landed in his sprinter’s ready position and stared at him.

 

“... Right.”

 

“So like…”

 

“Just fall! Don’t roll yet!” Hitoshi yelped and Tokoyami just slowly dropped backwards and rocked back and forth on the ground. “Uh… Yeah, like that. But legs up, you want them both guarding your torso and in position for the recovery.”

 

“Ah. I see,” Tokoyami murmured and came back to a crouch before just… falling back and rocking back and forth, legs up.

 

Staring at him, Hitoshi suddenly realized he was blessed to have a blind teacher as a kid, because this actually looked incredibly embarrassing and the thought of little nine year old him rocking back and forth on the ground like a turtle was utterly humiliating. Dear gods, there were people in the gym that saw this.

 

“Okay,” Hitoshi said and approached Tokoyami. “So… So this is what we do next. Come back up.”

 

Tokoyami sat up and Hitoshi carefully slid to his side.

 

“So, to roll back and recover, you gotta roll on your shoulder and tuck your chin… Oh, you don’t really have a chin.”

 

“I do not,” Tokoyami confirmed sageously.

 

“Tuck your beak, then. Like so.” And then Hitoshi just reached forward to correctly tilt Tokoyami’s beak down in the right angle to roll on his right shoulder. “Like this for the right shoulder.”

 

His beak was actually ridiculously cold. Wow. And smooth. Really smooth.

 

One lone eye rotated to look at Hitoshi, and he realized he essentially just put his hand gently and tenderly on his mouth. Oh. Oh, why was teaching Yumu so much easier?

 

“... Can your…”

 

“Yes. My beak has feeling in it. It’s actually quite sensitive.”

 

“... Right. Sorry. Anyways, that’s the angle you want. Now, fall back.” Wow, Hitoshi was not handling this situation well at all.

 

Tokoyami fell back and Hitoshi gingerly slipped his hands under his body to help him push up and back.

 

He really was not kidding about the forty-two kilograms. Fuck, he was half Hitoshi’s weight, and that was hilariously ironic, considering his quirk was a sentient wrecking ball that could punt Hitoshi through a wall. Big things came in small packages, he supposed.

 

“Land like you’re about to run a race in the sprinter position,” he ordered him and Tokoyami awkwardly came to his feet in a crouch, hands down on the grass. His feathers were a mess of green at this point, with all the falling and rolling around.

 

“That was good. Let’s try it again,” Hitoshi said and Tokoyami fell back with Hitoshi pushing him back and up into a ready position. “Okay, again.”

 

This was definitely weird. Once Hitoshi was sure Tokoyami had a handle on rolling back, he let him go on his own, watching carefully as he rolled around, eyes locked on his beak to make sure he wasn’t going to hurt his neck.

 

“So, the reason I can just throw myself around like that is because I am really used to these movements,” Hitoshi explained. “It took me a while to get this into my muscle memory, but when your body knows it’s supposed to react a certain way, it’s easier to just toss yourself. Martial arts is basically just training your body to respond in a crisis situation, so it’s ninety percent getting your body to do what it doesn’t want to do in a normal situation.”

 

“I see. It is preparation for the inevitable purge, then,” Tokoyami said sageously, and Hitoshi decided that if he was going to be teaching Tokoyami things, he could either continue to stare awkwardly whenever he said some weird fucking shit, or learn to roll with it.

 

“Yep. Gotta be ready for that purge,” he replied without missing a beat. “Or just. Surviving when your b… best friends are Sasakis.”

 

Hitoshi and Tokoyami looked over as one at Izuku laying lazily on his back, Kirishima pinned against his chest as the redhead wriggled furiously to get out of his grasp. He looked bored. But, then again, that was just his face.

 

“... He does not seem so bad, but perhaps he is a master of disguise,” Tokoyami murmured.

 

“My grandparents are convinced we’re possessed by the same ikiryo because of him,” Hitoshi said dryly. “If you ask them, they’ll tell you we crawled our way up from hell purely to make their lives miserable.”

 

“... Does Sasaki’s grandparents share the same opinion?” Tokoyami asked awkwardly and Hitoshi laughed.

 

“Don’t think they have a say, seeing as they died before he was even born. You wanna keep rolling around, or do you want to grab something to drink? Also, you saw him on the first day. Not sure how you can say he’s not ‘that bad’.”

 

“First impressions are often wrong. And I would like a drink, yes.”

 

“Yeah?” Hitoshi asked with a sly smile as he stood up from the grass and offered Tokoyami a hand. “What’s your first impression of me, then?”

 

Tokoyami studied the hand offered to him before he took it. Hitoshi pulled him to his feet and found the incredibly short boy a few inches away from his chest once again.

 

“A flirt. A competent flirt,” Tokoyami replied flatly.

 

“I like to think I’m just confident,” Hitoshi replied as that sly smile spread into a grin. “C’mon.”

 

He dropped Tokoyami’s hand and jerked his head over his shoulder.

 

“Vending machines are over here,” he said. Was he really a flirt? He hadn’t really been flirting with anyone else. Tokoyami was just a little accidental.

 

Dear gods, was he taking after Auntie Botan? She had a habit of flirting with anyone and everyone, regardless of sexual attraction. She could not find out about this.

 

“... So why did you want me to show you how to do breakfalls?” Hitoshi finally asked as he reached into his lone pocket on the biker shorts and pulled out his wallet.

 

“You could outmaneuver Dark Shadow,” Tokoyami answered quietly. “And I saw you at USJ.”

 

Hitoshi went quiet for a moment before slipping his coins into the machine and making his selection. The green tea rattled out and he pulled it out of the machine. Tokoyami made his own selection and popped off the cap of the cola.

 

“Oh,” he finally said. “Yeah. USJ was… there was a lot going on.”

 

“My parents do not believe I need martial arts,” Tokoyami said finally. “Dark Shadow has a mind of his own and can be rather protective, so they deemed it too much of a risk when I was a child. I took music lessons instead.”

 

“Where is Dark Shadow right now, anyways?” Hitoshi asked and Tokoyami looked down at his stomach.

 

“... Taking a nap.”

 

“... He can do that?”

 

“Yes. He can also purr.”

 

“So can Present Mic,” Hitoshi said casually, and Tokoyami blinked.

 

“That is… information I am not sure was necessary.”

 

“It’s not as weird as it sounds,” Hitoshi replied teasingly and leaned against the machine to look down at his classmate. “So. You thought I would be good to learn from.”

 

“I do not believe I could handle the amount of people you managed to take on with Dark Shadow,” Tokoyami stated matter-of-factly. “There are some class members that are clearly on another level than us, and you and the Sasakis are among them. And I’d rather take my chances asking for help from you than from Bakugou.”

 

“... I would’ve thought Yumu would be easier to ask than me.” After all, Yumu didn’t beat him within a few seconds in front of the entire class.

 

“No, Sasaki girl is terrifying and Dark Shadow is already too excitable at the idea of her existence,” Tokoyami replied. “I would rather throw my lot in with the flirt than the sweet girl that can throw boys two times her size across a room.”

 

Hitoshi desperately wanted to defend Yumu, but Tokoyami was absolutely right. Hitoshi would be a far more patient teacher than Yumu and her bullshit. Tokoyami was well within his rights to fear her. Yumu would be sweet as sugar to girls, but boys? No, no. Yumu had no patience for boys, and she would be mean as hell to them.

 

“And here I thought you just wanted to spend time with me,” he teased rather than even try to come to her defense.

 

“No,” Tokoyami answered firmly, but his feathers were sticking up even more.

 

“Kirishima definitely wants to just spend time with Izuku,” Hitoshi commented as his eyes roamed so, so easily over Tokoyami’s head and across the field. Izuku was walking Kirishima through breaking a hold and Kirishima was practically blazing with focus. He wanted to impress him. Poor thing. Nothing but blatant chaotic energy could impress Izuku. Though, maybe a sunshine personality could get his attention? Kirishima just didn’t seem to have that gremlin quality Hitoshi and his siblings possessed.

 

“... I did not notice,” Tokoyami said quietly as he watched the two of them. Izuku laughed at something, and, oh, great, Kirishima was bright red now and apparently trying to not meet the eyes of a blind kid. He wasn’t thinking that one through.

 

“Being hyper observant is a requirement of my quirk, most people wouldn’t notice,” Hitoshi replied. “I almost want to sweep in and save Kirishima before Izuku notices something’s going on and gets weird.”

 

“The age old waltz of young love is not something to interfere with,” Tokoyami murmured, and Hitoshi looked back down at him.

 

“You know, you seem really normal, and then you say weird shit out of nowhere. Not that being weird is a bad thing or a turn off or anything, but I genuinely don’t know if I should just smile and nod and keep the conversation going or just actually try to dissect that.”

 

Tokoyami tilted his head back to look up at Hitoshi and then took a slow sip of cola.

 

“Your response is appreciated, but you could have easily taken my statement as an excuse to discuss Shakespeare.”

 

“Exit, pursued by bear,” Hitoshi drawled and then caught Tokoyami by the sleeve to drag him back to the green. “Let’s keep working on these rolls, yeah?”

 

“Should I take this as a refusal to discuss Shakespeare?” Tokoyami asked mildly and Hitoshi took his drink out of his hand.

 

“More of a Jane Austen fan, if we’re going Western. Fall back.”

 

Tokoyami just dropped like a stone and rolled back, coming to his feet, and Hitoshi raised his brows.

 

“Not bad. We can talk literature after?”

 

“... I prefer the Bronte sisters.”

 

“Tasteless. Drop.”

 

Tokoyami really was not that bad. Wow.

Notes:

I did not edit a single word of this chapter YEET!!!

Chapter 13

“Hey, Dad, can you read this?” Yumu asked and pushed the paper full of Kaminari’s chicken scratch over to her dad.

 

“... We’re going to have to ask Pops about that one when he comes home from patrol,” Dad said after a long pause.

 

“Mmm. Should I just mark it wrong on principle?” Yumu asked and Dad sighed.

 

“If it’s actually right, he’ll get half a point docked for legibility,” he said.

 

“Alright,” she said and squinted at the answer key. “Did Ectoplasm actually let you grade these, or did you steal them?”

 

“Ectoplasm has stuff to do,” Dad replied gruffly. “Technically, Hizashi is supposed to be grading these, but I figured he has his own stuff to do.”

 

“Huh.” Another answer wrong. Kaminari really needed some help. He was really good in English, from what Yumu could tell, and literature, but he definitely didn’t have a future in STEM awaiting him. Good thing he was going into heroics, but he’d have to get better at math, if only for his quirk’s sake.

 

Technically, Yumu shouldn’t even be doing this, but it was fine so long as Dad was sitting right next to her, and she didn’t talk about her classmates’ scorings. It would definitely be rude if she discussed it.

 

Yumu made another mark on the paper and cringed at the developing score before her. He really needed some help. There was no cram school for them, no one was looking to go to university except maybe the people that wanted to get teacher certifications, but study groups were definitely going to be necessary for some of her classmates.

 

“Where are your brothers?” Dad asked as Yumu marked yet another answer wrong.

 

“They’re showing Kirishima and Tokoyami some martial arts stuff,” she replied. “Honestly, everyone has a crush on them already, it’s so unfair.”

 

“What does showing them martial arts have to do with crushes?” Dad asked flatly and Yumu looked over at him with a complete deadpan.

 

“Why do you and Pops and Papa sometimes spar in private and lock us out?” She shot back and Dad stared at her in silence for a long, long moment. Yumu huffed out a breath of laughter and returned to her grading. “It’s how boys flirt. I don’t get it, but whatever makes them happy, I guess.”

 

“There’s a difference in flirting and bonding, Yumu,” Dad deadpanned and Yumu looked over at him.

 

“And they’re absolutely doing both. Kirishima asked Izuku how to get out of a grapple. You can’t tell me there weren’t ulterior motives there.”

 

“I really do not want to hear about that.”

 

“Too late,” Yumu replied cheerfully and Dad slowly leaned forward to slam his head into the desk. “Dad, your face is broken, don’t do that.”

 

“Then it can handle a few more cracks,” Dad muttered. “You three are too big. Knock it off. Grappling, my ass.”

 

“Take it up with them, I’m pretty sure Hitoshi is charming Tokoyami’s socks off right now,” Yumu chirped and then a knock on the door interrupted them.

 

“Aizawa sensei?” The door slid open to reveal Uraraka, standing there awkwardly with her hands behind her back.

 

“Yes, Uraraka?” Dad asked as he sat back up. Uraraka shifted uncomfortably.

 

“May I please speak to you in the hall?” She asked hesitantly and Dad looked over at Yumu.

 

“Don’t make any marks until I’m back,” he ordered and stood up to shuffle out into the hall. Yumu leaned back in the chair and tilted her head thoughtfully at the low murmur of voices.

 

“...lease accept this,” Uraraka said quietly.

 

“I have to politely refuse,” Dad intoned.

 

“...lease accept…”

 

Oh? That was rare. That was very rare.

 

Sometime after the first heroes came about, it started to become standard practice for people that were saved by heroes to offer tokens of their gratitude, typically in food or little trinkets. Limelight heroes were often beset upon on patrols by people they had saved with gifts, and often had a sidekick hanging around with a backpack to carry the presents. It was generally considered bad form to offer a gift to an underground hero in public, or even in front of another person, and because they were notoriously hard to track down, most of them could go a full year without receiving a gift. There was a whole industry now of sealed, tamper evident bentos you could purchase for heroes, though for the most part people bought them good luck keychains. If you knew the hero personally, it was acceptable to cook for them, though that rarely happened. Had Uraraka made something for Dad?

 

He could only refuse three times before he looked like an asshole. This was great. Dad was an expert at avoiding receiving presents. Yumu had only seen someone manage to catch him twice. Uraraka had really backed him into a wall here, as she should. If Dad didn’t get a present for that, Yumu would have cooked him dinner herself.

 

The door opened again and in walked Uraraka and Dad, Uraraka carrying the small wrapped package in the traditional fabric, which she set on the desk, and Yumu arched a brow at Dad, who resolutely refused to look at her.

 

“Sasaki, why don’t you take a break and go spend some time with some of your classmates?” He asked gruffly. “Maybe check on your brother.”

 

Dad speak for “I’m emotional, get the fuck away from me”. Noted.

 

… Also Dad speak for “don’t think I didn’t notice”. Asshole.

 

Even so, Yumu just smiled at Uraraka and offered her arm.

 

“You heading home, Uraraka?” She asked cheerfully.

 

“Oh, I mean, I don’t have a time I need to be back,” Uraraka replied and took her arm.

 

“Then do you want to go check on the boys duking it out on the lawn?” Yumu asked and pulled her towards the door.

 

“Sure! Who’s all down there?” Uraraka asked.

 

“My brother, Hitoshi, Kirishima, and Tokoyami!” Yumu replied as they turned into the hallway. “I think Hitoshi is working on breakfalls with Tokoyami and Izuku is showing Kirishima how to get out of most grapples!”

 

“Oh, that’s good!” Uraraka squeaked and Yumu raised an eyebrow at her as the two of them clattered down the stairs. “That they’re getting along, I mean.”

 

“Well, it’s pretty impossible not to get along with Kirishima, from what I’ve seen,” Yumu replied as they made their way to the first year heroics’ genkan. “And Tokoyami seems pretty chill.”

 

“You didn’t say anything about Sasaki and Aizawa,” Uraraka pointed out and Yumu huffed out a laugh.

 

“We were all raised together. I know better than to trust them with anyone. They couldn’t get along with two tin cans and a string.”

 

“They don’t seem that bad!” Uraraka protested and Yumu laughed.

 

“And you probably think I’m a nice person,” she teased as she pulled off her indoor slippers and got out her Converse.

 

“You’ve been pretty nice to me,” Uraraka said and pulled on her cute little penny loafers.

 

“You haven’t done anything to put me in a bad mood,” Yumu replied wryly and Uraraka paused before tilting her head at her.

 

“And if I did?” She asked and Yumu blinked. “What would you do?”

 

“... Give you the silent treatment for five minutes and forgive you,” Yumu answered honestly. “But then again, you’re not a boy.”

 

“Oh, so you just don’t like boys,” Uraraka teased as Yumu tucked in her laces.

 

“I think boys can stand a little humbling,” Yumu replied sweetly. “Girls, on the other hand, are terrifying.”

 

“I’m not scary, am I?”

 

Yumu looked up at Uraraka standing there over the bench and took a second to consider that. She was cute, with massive puppy dog brown eyes that could down Yumu in a second and pink cheeks, an adorable bob and a personality carved from sunshine itself.

 

“I bet you could be,” Yumu replied and stood up. “Should we go find those boys?”

 

Uraraka laughed at that and then yelped, turning bright red as she covered her mouth in shame. Yumu stared at her for a moment, blinking multiple times.

 

“What?”

 

“No, it’s just… me being scary is kind of rich coming from you, isn’t it?” Uraraka asked and then turned even more red as her hands flew out. “I mean, not that you’re scary! Or your quirk! I don’t think it’s very scary at all! It’s just, you’re kind of… I mean. You’re definitely something. Like. I mean. You’re a. You’re really cool is all! And super intimidating! All the girls… I mean. They like you a lot! Even Yaoyorozu thinks you’re really neat, and Yaoyorozu is… Well, she’s Yaoyorozu!”

 

Yumu mulled over that for a few seconds. All the girls thought she was cool? When was the last time girls thought she was cool? Yumu honestly couldn’t remember. Did they ever think she was cool? They generally thought she was a bit of a tomboy. Not that she looked like a tomboy, but she was very into tomboy-like things. Like martial arts. No one thought Yumu was cool. She was just… Sasaki. The girl that ran around with boys and was a bit too improper and everyone knew what her parents did. It wasn’t a secret when she showed back up to school with fresh scars on her hands and within six months was no longer Mahi but Sasaki.

 

“Well, I’m not that cool. Or intimidating. I’m just… me,” she finally said after an awkward pause.

 

“And you are pretty… You’re pretty…” Uraraka paused and looked around before her voice dropped to a whisper, “badass.”

 

“Thanks,” Yumu replied with a disbelieving huff of laughter. That was really cute. “I think you’re pretty badass, too.”

 

“I don’t know how to fight,” Uraraka pointed out. “And I don’t have that cool girl thing going on. You dye your hair. I couldn’t even have the courage to put bleach on mine.”

 

“I think you’d look pretty good with peach hair,” Yumu replied with a small grin. “And just because you don’t know how to fight now doesn’t mean you can’t learn. It’s about the drive, not the lack of resources.”

 

“You think I’d look good with peach hair?” Uraraka asked in surprise as they made their way for the doors.

 

“Yeah,” Yumu replied. “I mean, you’ve got a warm complexion. I’m stuck with a cool complexion, so I can’t do a whole lot. You could do a lot, if you were willing to just take the jump.”

 

“Well, thanks!” Uraraka exclaimed. “I don’t know. You’re just. Really glamorous. You wear false lashes, you have your makeup on every day, you paint your nails, you’re just very glam. I think you’re really…”

 

“I like your look, though!” Yumu protested. “Very natural girl next door. It’s cute. You could totally be like. An unexpected badass.”

 

“I don’t know,” Ochako laughed. “You’re like. The girl every girl wants to be.”

 

Yumu was quiet for a moment as she processed that. Wow. It had been three years. Three years since Present Mic cut her hair in Sir Nighteye’s bathroom. Three years since she really reached her full potential.

 

When she looked at her old name, she always thought it meant she was dreaming of flying away to dance in the stars. The kanji for Mahi was literally to dream and to fly away, and Yumemu was literally spelt as “dream”. Now her name literally meant “help dream”, more or less. She almost didn’t survive. She could have died, and did die, in multiple universes. They almost lost her. From what Yumu understood, her core was limitless potential that was almost always lost too soon, but when she got to live? When she got to flourish? It was different. She became everything she thought she couldn’t be. The Yumu she was was a subverted Greek tragedy. The only reason she was alive was because she understood that hope alone, trust alone, was not what carried someone through. No, you had to fight. Any way you knew how.

 

And she fought. In her own way, in the only way she knew how. She fought and clawed and screamed her way to victory, and she did it and won. It was partially that she was just lucky. But it was partially that she was determined.

 

“You know,” she finally said. “I told you I’m adopted.”

 

“You did,” Uraraka confirmed and Yumu caught the glance down at her loose thumb, forefinger, and middle finger. The scars there. She ignored it for now.

 

“When I went into Papa’s custody, a hero told me I could be anything I wanted to be, and I would be supported,” she finally said. “He didn’t really… understand the difficulties of being a girl, but told me I could define being a girl in any way I wanted to. I didn’t really feel like a girl at the time. I looked like Samara. You know, my eyes glow red in the dark? No one knows why. They just do. I have better night vision than most people, probably because of my quirk. I mean, humans sleep at night, and I have a bit of a delayed sleep pattern naturally. That was probably unnecessary for you to know, but anyways. I just… Being a girl is just being confident in how you think a girl should be. That’s it. I think it’s cool that you think most girls want to be like me, but I’m not really someone you should want to be like. You should just be… happy with however you want to be, and take what you think it means to be a woman. I think. If that makes sense.”

 

“... Is that why you moved at USJ?” Uraraka asked softly and Yumu tilted her head at her.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“... Tsu told me,” Uraraka murmured. “And I mean, I saw you after. What you did. Everyone knows you took down that thing that hurt our teacher.”

 

“... Ah. The whole class knows now?” Yumu asked awkwardly.

 

“Yeah. A good chunk of them saw it. I think Bakugou respects you.”

 

Yumu snorted at that.

 

“Bakugou respects me because I beat his ass.”

 

“But is that why you moved?” Uraraka asked and Yumu hummed and tucked her hands into her blazer pockets.

 

“I think I moved because I learned a long time ago how powerful saying no can be,” she finally replied. “There’s a certain strength in just… accepting what you can do and going above it. But I was also panicking. I… I’ve known Aizawa sensei for the majority of the happiness in my life. He’s pretty important to me. Like a dad, almost.” Like a dad, literally. “I couldn’t just not do anything. My brother was… he was stuck. So I had to move for him, to get him going. I trusted him to cover me.”

 

“So you were confident.” Yumu actually laughed at that.

 

“No, not really. I was terrified, but there’s… I learned a while ago, that there’s that moment, when you’re scared, where the world goes quiet and calm. It’s just you and your goal. It was quiet. And all I could do was say no the only way I knew how. It’s a special kind of rage. The kind of rage where you can only think ‘no’, because your brain can’t process the full statement of ‘no, they will not do this to me’. And then you just… don’t let them do that to you. Not without a fight.”

 

“But… isn’t confidence just believing in yourself when you’re scared?” Uraraka asked and Yumu paused.

 

“... I guess it is, isn’t it?” The field was coming up on them and there were the boys. “You’re pretty cool to talk to, Uraraka.”

 

“You’re pretty cool, too,” Uraraka replied and Yumu bumped shoulders with her.

 

“I must be pretty lucky to be in a class with you for three years, huh?”

 

“You’re definitely lucky to have me,” Uraraka replied slyly, and Yumu laughed.

 

“Damn right I am. Hey, Toshi!”

 

“Hey, Yumu!” Hitoshi called as Tokoyami took another tumble in the grass.

 

“Izuku! Papa gave me the card to get ice cream after school! Kirishima, Tokoyami, want to come?” Yumu called as Kirishima broke out of Izuku’s hold on him. “Uraraka, you’re invited, too. On me. Or. Well. Papa.”

 

“Papa gave you the card?” Izuku asked, sounding a little petulant.

 

“He sure did!” Yumu retorted as Aki got up and walked over to greet her. “We can go to that one place with dog treats!”

 

“Why does he never give me the card?” Izuku complained as he made his way over to them.

 

“Because you constantly misplace your wallet, and I can just tuck the card in my bra,” Yumu retorted and Uraraka’s eyes widened a little as color rose in her cheeks.

 

“I could go for some ice cream,” Hitoshi agreed. “Tokoyami?”

 

“I do not mind ice cream,” Tokoyami replied severely.

 

“They’ve got ube ice cream at this place, it’s great!” Yumu declared.

 

“I’ll text Dad and let him know we left,” Hitoshi said and pulled out his phone. “Kirishima, you coming?”

 

“I just have to let my mom know,” Kirishima replied and got out his own phone. “I’m supposed to make dinner tonight, so we can’t be too late.”

 

“We won’t be!” Yumu assured him. “Hm… Wish Tsu was here.”

 

“What about Mei and Koji?” Izuku asked.

 

“They already went home,” Yumu replied ruefully. “I guess Koji is at the shelter tonight. They’ve got a touchy new addition. A feral that got hit by a car and can’t be released.”

 

“Oh, poor thing,” Uraraka gasped.

 

“She’ll be okay,” Yumu assured her. “Just a broken leg, but she’s really touchy because she’s nursing. They tracked down her litter, though. Koji works magic on animals, she’ll be almost adoptable in no time, and the kittens are all accounted for.”

 

“We could swing by the shelter after ice cream and offer our assistance,” Hitoshi floated out and Yumu glared at him.

 

“Give the injured and pissed feral cat space, Hitoshi. We can go tomorrow and work on socializing with the other cats.”

 

“I want a kitten,” Uraraka whispered.

 

“They’re almost weaned, they’ll be up for adoption in a month or so,” Yumu replied cheerfully.

 

“I like cats,” Tokoyami murmured.

 

“Well, you can come with us tomorrow!” Yumu declared. “Uraraka, do you want to go tomorrow?”

 

“Sure!” Uraraka chirped.

 

“We can see if Tsu wants to go…” Yumu murmured.

 

“... I want to go play with cats,” Kirishima murmured.

 

“You can come, too!” Izuku replied.

 

“Cat party!” Yumu said and quietly pumped her fist. “Let’s get our stuff together and go get ice cream!”

 

Pulling out her phone, she shot off a few texts

 

Yumu: Hey, Koji, since you’re at the shelter, can you ask if some UA heroics students come in tomorrow to socialize with the cats? It’s me, Izuku, Hitoshi, Tokoyami, Uraraka, Kirishima, and maybe Tsu and Mei. If Mei wants to reignite her rivalry with Stuffing.

 

Koji: ok!! (＾▽＾)

 

Koji: They may want to make it a photo op, can you guys come in your uniforms?

 

“Hey, guys, do you want to give Hermitage Cat Rescue good press?” Yumu asked. “If we show up in our uniforms, it’ll look good on social media.”

 

“I am fine with that,” Tokoyami said severely.

 

“I like the idea!” Uraraka agreed.

 

“Yeah! That’s manly as hell, I’m in!” Kirishima agreed.

 

“Of course you two are already a yes,” Yumu said to Hitoshi and Izuku and tapped out her reply.

 

Yumu: They all agreed, I just have to check with Tsu and Mei!

 

Yumuuu!!: Hey, Mei, want to see Stuffings tomorrow? Wear your uniform, it’s a photo op, we’re looking to get them some shares on FB.

 

MeiMei: devil cat?? yes.

 

Yumu: Tsu. Some of us want to go to Hermitage Cat Rescue tomorrow for socializing the new cats. Want to come?

 

Tsu: … Cats?

 

Tsu: Yes. Please.

 

Yumu: They want to share pictures of us with the cats on FB in our uniforms, is that okay?

 

Tsu: I’m okay with that. Thank you.

 

Yumu: After school tomorrow, then!! It’s me, Koji, Izuku, Hitoshi, Kirishima, Uraraka, Tokoyami, and our friend in the support department, Mei.

 

Tsu: Awesome!! Cat party tomorrow!!

 

This was really weird, honestly. Yumu was making friends outside of her brothers, who she was basically required to be friends with, and Mei and Koji.

 

UA really was just weird. Who knew the buildings she had grown up in could bring in so many changes? Not Yumu, that was for sure. But, hey, it was working. She wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Chapter 14

The front door opened and slammed shut and Shouta looked up at the clatter of kids entering the genkan.

 

“We’re home!” Hitoshi called.

 

“Great, you can stop putting off homework,” Shouta called as Kitaro finished getting his dredge right for the karaage.

 

“Oh, Izuku, Kitaro’s here,” Hitoshi said.

 

“Hey, Kits,” Yumu called.

 

“Hey, kids,” Kitaro said.

 

“Oh, the kids are back?” Kichi said from the tablet propped up on the counter. “Come in here! I want to see them!”

 

“You’re barely older than us, stop calling us kids,” Hitoshi complained as he came into the kitchen. “Hey, Kichi. How’s Italy?”

 

“Food’s too rich,” Kichi replied ruefully. “But they have the best open air markets, so I can’t complain too much. How’s UA going beyond the whole… villain attack thing?”

 

“It’s good. We just went to get ice cream with some classmates,” Hitoshi replied. “ And we did our homework at the ice cream place, Dad.”

 

“All of it?” Shouta challenged.

 

“We still have to get through math, no one wanted to do it,” Yumu replied as she slid into the kitchen. “Hi, Kichi! Cause any explosions lately?”

 

“I grew out of the explosions phase, thank you,” Kichi replied with a sniff as she bit down on a piece of … Shouta wasn’t sure what that was, looked like salami. “My coworkers have politely asked me to keep the yelling at metal to a minimum. Apparently, I’m making the forge obsolete.”

 

“How’s Venice? Is it wet?” Yumu asked.

 

“It’s really wet,” Kichi replied ruefully. “Want to see the view from the apartment? Company housing moved, now I’m right on a canal.”

 

The camera view shifted and Kichi brought her tablet to the window to look out over the canal. Wow. She was in a nice spot. There were flowers all around her window.

 

“I’m getting better at Italian, too!” Kichi declared. “I’m like, at a three year old level now.”

 

“How many languages is that now?” Yumu asked as Kichi flipped the screen back around.

 

“Uhm… Five? Japanese, English, JSL, Spanish, now Italian. Vogue is coming to our facilities tomorrow to do an in depth scoop on the fusion of function and fashion in hero couture, so I’m pretty excited about it. I think they’re going to take pictures of me working!”

 

“Wow, that’s amazing, Kichi!” Yumu said in awe. “I’ll have to tell Mei.”

 

“How is my favorite inventor doing?” Kichi asked and an awkward silence fell. Shouta internally winced. Right. Mei was working on the new visor and headset. She’d taken Yumu’s first headset and locked it up, refused to give it back, and they just had to indulge her.

 

“She’s uh… Well, she’s going with us to the cat rescue Koji volunteers at tomorrow!” Yumu said awkwardly. “She’s pretty excited to see Stuffings. I think she’s going to eventually give in and adopt him, if her moms let her. I think they want her to, but they’re also worried she’ll make him a shop cat and smuggle him to school.”

 

“I wouldn’t put it past her. That’s the… Is that the cat with one eye and only half an ear left?”

 

“Yeah. And he’s missing a leg. She loves him. He’s the grouchiest cat we’ve ever met, but he loves and hates her.”

 

If Mei didn’t love that cat so much, Shouta would have definitely snapped the asshole up. He loved that little asshole. He wasn’t even old, either. He was maybe three, he just looked rough as hell. Ratty fur, missing patches, he was definitely a brawler before he lost his leg. Stuffings was borderline feral, and Shouta just wanted to take him home and feed him and let him beat the shit out of him, but there was no denying that Mei was in love with that cat and should be the one that took him. For some wild reason, the cat actually trusted her. Shouta didn’t trust Mei as far as he could throw her, but cats would pick who they’d pick, and that was it.

 

“How’s classes going? Did you make All Might quit yet?” Kichi asked and Shouta internally winced yet again.

 

“Not yet, we’re playing the long game,” Hitoshi replied airily.

 

“Please stop plotting to get the Symbol of Peace to rage quit,” Shouta pleaded, but the plea fell on deaf ears. They had their target, and it was over.

 

“But it’d look so good on the resume,” Izuku retorted as he came into the kitchen and felt around for the fridge.

 

“Izuku, stop that, I’m cooking,” Kitaro said. “Dinner will be ready in, like, thirty minutes.”

 

“Bold of you to assume I can’t fit it all,” Izuku shot back and pulled open the door. “I’m just getting a pear, anyways.”

 

“Here,” Yumu said and got the pear for him. “It got moved.”

 

“Stop shuffling the fridge around,” Izuku muttered and took the pear.

 

“Cordelia sent me home with leftovers, it was unavoidable,” Shouta muttered darkly. Not that he would complain about American Southern cooking, her jambalaya was utterly heavenly, he wasn’t about to throw a fit over it, but being escorted home by her was definitely embarrassing.

 

“What’d she make?” Izuku asked.

 

“Jambalaya,” Shouta replied.

 

“Why aren’t we eating that?”

 

“Because Kitaro already made plans to cook. We’re heating it up tomorrow for leftovers.”

 

“Mmm,” Izuku hummed and took a bite out of the pear. “Taking Aki out back. Aki, c’mon!”

 

“Yeah, all three of you need to get out of my way,” Kitaro said as he focused on dredging his chicken. “You’re a bunch of nuisances.”

 

“We live here!” Izuku protested.

 

“And I’m cooking. Out of the kitchen, you’re underfoot.”

 

“You act like you’re so much older.”

 

“I am so much older, shoo. Out.”

 

“You’re a teenager!”

 

“A teenager with a job, agency I own, and a hero license. Three things you pipsqueaks don’t have. Out.”

 

“Listen to Kitaro, you three are already giving me a headache,” Shouta cut in, because this would go on forever if he didn’t intervene.

 

“Kits is just salty he’s on the gossip magazine covers again,” Yumu shot back, but made for the backdoor all the same.

 

“What’s this about gossip covers?” Kichi asked and Kitaro groaned and dropped his head on the counter with a bang. Poor kid. Having Hawks hung up on you had to be one hell of a problem with the PR.

 

“Someone caught a picture of Hawks bringing ramen to my agency,” Kitaro muttered and Yumu laughed as she stepped outside.

 

“He’s got a cruuush,” she teased and then darted outside.

 

“Oh, the hot number three is buying you ramen now?” Kichi teased.

 

“Would you shut up?” Kitaro groused. “We barely get along. It’s just a work thing. We share the same city.”

 

“If it’s just a work thing, you shouldn’t be in such compromising positions with him,” Kichi teased.

 

“It was not a compromising position, there was a gas explosion and I tackled him.”

 

“And stayed on top of him for a good five seconds. I saw the video, Kits.”

 

“I do not like Hawks and he does not like me,” Kitaro snapped. “My ears were ringing, I was disorientated.”

 

“Yes, I’m sure his cologne smelling good had everything to do with tinnitus.”

 

“Why would you say that in front of Shouta? Why would you do that to me?” Kitaro asked in exasperation as Shouta leaned forward to take a very slow sip of his tea on the counter.

 

“Because I hate you, that’s why.”

 

“Fuck you.”

 

“You two didn’t use to fight this much,” Shouta commented and Kitaro hissed.

 

“Italy has ruined her.”

 

“I think I’m doing great in Italy!” Kichi protested. “And someone has to call you on your shit, Kits.”

 

“That’s what Botan’s for,” Kitaro grumbled as he finished getting the chicken ready to drop in the hot oil.

 

“Botan has her work cut out with the rest of the family. I am the designated Kitaro wrangler.”

 

“If you were the designated Kitaro wrangler, you wouldn’t be in Italy. You know it’s dangerous.”

 

“There’s political upheaval everywhere, Kitaro, we’ve been over this. My company has nothing to do with it.”

 

“They’re attacking immigrants, Kichi, you know it’s dangerous, that isolationist conservative mentality is deadly and you are smack dab in the middle of a major city, you could have taken the Iceland position---”

 

“Kitaro, we’re not talking about this,” Kichi cut back in. “I’m fine. Anyways, we have more to worry about than Italy being on fire right now. Like how the kids are doing.”

 

Shouta shifted awkwardly. This had been an ongoing argument. Italy was a hot mess of racism and xenophobia right now, and Kitaro had vehemently opposed Kichi taking the contracting position there. Versace-Eroe was easily one of the best companies to work for. With the dawn of heroes, traditional couture businesses had seen a lucrative marketing opportunity, and many of them had a separate business exclusively for designing hero costumes. Tsunagu had gotten Kichi the job, and they had leapt on the idea of a Yamada working with them. Present Mic was popular in a lot of other countries with English speaking audiences, American otakus went nuts over him, and Kichi was a money maker for them. She looked good for PR. In six months or so, she’d be moved back to Japan to join in on their new fashion house opening in Tokyo, but right now Versace was banking on her getting them interest from a wide populace that would drop thousands of yen a month on hero merch.

 

“Well, Shou?” Kitaro asked gruffly. He was clearly pissed at Kichi forcing the conversation to turn. “How are the kids doing?”

 

“I’m worried about Izuku,” Shouta answered honestly.

 

“He seems fine,” Kitaro pointed out.

 

“And that’s the problem. He’s determined to seem fine. Yumu’s gone to us. Hitoshi has been a little more clingy. Izuku is just withdrawing in a way that’s looking like he’s fine, and it’s worrying me,” Shouta confessed.

 

“Do you think he…” Kichi trailed off and Shouta looked out the window to make sure they were still all there and accounted for. Izuku was laying in the grass, Hitoshi was throwing the ball for Aki, Yumu was sprawled out with her head on Izuku’s stomach. Everything looked fine, but…

 

But.

 

“Yeah,” he finally said. “I think he got a warning from his quirk and ignored it.”

 

It was the only real explanation for his behavior. He was entirely out of sorts and upset. Shouta could see it a mile away.

 

He needed to talk to Mirai about it, but Mirai had been quiet, worrying over Izuku lately, and Shouta didn’t want to burden him with it. Mirai probably knew exactly what was going on. Izuku ignoring warnings from his quirk typically ended in something entirely innocuous. It seemed to ping for everything. Birthday parties, bad days at school, someone falling and scaring the life out of everyone but turning up fine. At one point, he had trusted his quirk. It took months to train him out of reliance on it after everything happened with Yumu. But now…

 

Izuku ignoring his quirk could mean the difference in life and death. And Shouta hated it because part of the joy of childhood was experiencing the unknown. Waking up and never knowing what life would bring you was a blessing and a curse. Surprises weren’t always bad. Part of childhood was not knowing, and flowing with the things that growth brought you. Izuku was missing out on that. If he wanted to, he could know everything, and when you knew everything, what was left to learn?

 

Shouta just wanted him to have a normal and happy adolescence. He wanted him to come into himself the way everyone else got to. He didn’t want him to feel isolated from his peers, didn’t want him to feel like he was different. Almost everyone had a quirk, and every quirk was unique to the person that carried it, and everyone had different experiences, but Izuku’s quirk was just so incredibly different. It shaped the entire way he lived his life, every moment. Shouta didn’t want him to feel like he was on an island with no one in sight.

 

But after this… Shouta could feel the crushing weight of pain and bandages. Izuku was never going to come out of that guilt. He knew it. This was going to change everything for him. And Shouta had no idea how to be there for him, what to say, how to help. For fucks sake, he couldn’t even hug his children. He wanted to tell them everything would be alright, that he wasn’t mad at them, that it wasn’t their responsibility, but how could you look into the eyes of your child and tell them they’d be fine when you looked like this?

 

It was his job to protect his kids, and he had done the best he could, but in the long run, the best way he could protect them was to prevent USJ from ever happening. And he couldn’t do that. Only Izuku could have done that, and it wasn’t his job.

One second. One second was all it took. That one second when the mist spread across the courtyard, and Izuku’s life and his outlook on his quirk was changed forever. All of his kids were changed forever, and all of his class, and Shouta didn’t know how to handle it. This was entirely uncharted territory, and he didn’t even know how to make a map.

Notes:

Well this took awhile to update, sorry about that!! Got HEAVILY distracted and low on inspiration haha.

Chapter 15

“What is going on outside?” Ashido asked and Izuku groaned. Every. Time. Every goddamn time. This was exhausting.

 

“Hello! This is a fire hazard, please get out of the doorway! What business do you have with 1-A?” And Tenya was hollering again. Izuku had a cat date, dammit.

 

“What are all these people doing here?” Kaminari asked as Katsuki’s chair scraped back and he came to his feet.

 

“They came to scout the enemy, sparkplug,” Katsuki said shortly as Izuku got up and made for the door with Aki.

 

“... What?”

 

“What they don’t realize,” Katsuki continued as Izuku internally groaned. “Is that it’s pointless.”

 

“You all sound full of yourselves,” someone drawled, and that was supposed to be Hitoshi, Izuku had no idea who that was. “Is this what the hero course has to offer?”

 

“I don’t know,” Izuku shot back. “You don’t seem to be crowding around 1-B’s door, so I’m not sure how you can make an informed assessment on that.”

 

Hitoshi pressed up against Izuku’s side languidly and under his blindfold, Izuku’s eye twitched.

 

“You all seem pretty arrogant to me,” the boy responded. “How do you plan on dealing with out transfers?”

 

“Out transfers?” Hagakure whispered, and Izuku let a grim grin split his lips.

 

“Gen ed students can transfer in, but that means someone has to transfer out,” Izuku said shortly. “Or drop. And we’re seen as the enemy because we saw villains, aren’t we?”

 

“Well, it looks to me like you didn’t see much of anything,” the guy replied and Izuku slowly, slowly tilted his head.

 

“What the hell did you just say to Sasaki?” Kirishima demanded, and Izuku held up his hand as anxious chattering broke out. The tension dropped in the air, thick enough to slice with a hot knife, and Izuku’s lips twitched.

 

“Sorry, did you have a problem with me?” He asked softly.

 

“Zuku…” Hitoshi said warningly, and Izuku snorted.

 

There was a whirr and a click, and he stopped for a moment, blinking multiple times under his blindfold. He knew that sound. Well, he’d never heard it, but he was pretty sure he knew where that was from.

 

“Yeah, I do have a problem with you. Rumor’s going around that someone got special treatment in recommendations because he’s blind and a legacy. And it seems like I’m looking at him.”

 

Something cold and ugly twisted in Izuku’s gut and his lips twitched ever so slightly.

 

“You mean I got a specialized test for my quirk and relevant experience in accordance with CRPQD legislation, correct?” He asked. “As in, UA followed the law?”

 

“What’s CRPQG?” Hagakure whispered.

 

“Human rights for people rendered disabled by their quirk,” Yumu whispered. “Convention on the Rights of Persons with Quirked Disabilities.”

 

“As far as I can see, you took a spot from one of us, and now you’re all hopped on being some no-name pro’s kid and barely managing to survive a villain attack,” the guy snarled, and Izuku clucked his tongue thoughtfully.

 

“My condolences for not making it through. Maybe if your voice wasn’t so forgettable I would be able to remember your presence at the recommendation exam,” Izuku said smoothly. As if he’d forget a voice that was that grating. “If you’ll excuse us, we have places to be, and I’m sure none of you want to explain to your parents that you’re late home because you were busy harassing victims of a villain attack.”

 

There was a warbled, garbled chuckle that sounded similar to the laughter of Izuku’s grandparents, and Izuku’s smile turned a little less vicious, a little more fond and predatory.

 

“Besides. It’s not me you should be worried about. It’s the quiet ones, buddy.”

 

“Bro, you need to back the hell off,” Kirishima said and suddenly there was a solid, warm mass in front of Izuku, and he found himself blinking rapidly. What? “Where do you get off on bullying blind kids, huh? It’s unmanly as hell to pick on someone for that.”

 

“But he has a point,” someone said.

 

“No, bro, that’s fucked up!” Someone said from the back. “I came here to hear about the villain attack, but bullying someone for being blind is not cool!”

 

“It’s not bullying, I’m just pointing out that it’s unfair,” Dick #1 said, and Izuku grabbed Kirishima by the jacket sleeve, because they could not be starting an all out fist fight in the hallway.

 

“There’s no use in telling a bigot they’re a bigot, Kiri,” Izuku said shortly and yanked on his arm. “They come equipped with powerpoint presentations on why you’re wrong.”

 

“You’re really going to let him talk to you like that?” Kirishima demanded, and Izuku just rolled his eyes.

 

“Izuku can let people talk to him like that,” Yumu cut in. “He’s got nothing to prove. He’s here, they’re not, and all of their bitching isn’t going to change it. Me, on the other hand… Hey. Bitch. If you even think about talking to my brother like that again, I---”

 

“Yumemu,” Izuku hissed.

 

“No,” Yumu snapped. “You’re all coming in here to scout out the competition like we’re sacks of meat, the media is up our asses trying to find out who’s in what class, and we almost died. And this bitch over here thinks he can talk down to you and complain about you being in this class? I didn’t see any of them holding off twenty villains for ten minutes straight, and quite frankly, looking at the quality we’re being presented here in exhibit number dick, I don’t think we are ever going to see that. What the hell is wrong with you people? Don’t you have any home training? Back off. And also, calling Sir Nighteye a no-name pro is pretty fucking rich coming from a guy that thinks he can be an ableist asshole in my presence. You’re breathing my air. Get out of the way.”

 

And she went off. Great. There was no deescalating now. Why did she have to act like this all the damn time?

 

“Jesus, Sasaki,” Kirishima hissed and there went the faint scent of Yumu’s perfume. The crowd parted like a wave.

 

“Thank you,” Yumu spat. “Izuku, get your ass moving before I start taking off my gloves.”

 

“Where do you get off talking to me like that, huh?” The guy demanded and there was a rustle of cloth, and no, no, no, this was bad. Izuku shifted his body on instinct, putting his torso between the reaching arm and his volatile sister, and bam, crisis averted.

 

“Unfortunately for you, I don’t get off to anything to do with snivelling little boys,” Yumu sneered. “Quite frankly, if you’re really worried about the sports festival, you’re wasting valuable time gaping at us like a fish in a bowl. If you didn’t get in, you didn’t train enough. I suggest you get your ass in motion if you want to even get a whiff of that podium.”

 

“He’s not the one to worry about anyways,” Izuku said bluntly. “There’s one non heroics kid with a chance at reaching that podium, two if the other one is even interested, and it isn’t him. Better luck next year, when your competition won’t be in your own class.”

 

“And how the hell would you know that, huh?” The guy demanded, and Izuku turned his head right towards the place the click and whirr came from.

 

“You should get a professional ear cleaning. Yumu just told you our Papa is Sir Nighteye,” he replied.

 

“Listen, dude, you really shouldn’t be getting the Sasakis riled up,” Sero said from behind Izuku. “This is not a fight you want to pick.”

 

Was this just their reputation now? Jesus. Izuku wasn’t worried, per se, but he really was going to have a time of it dealing with this. Damage control, damage control. Granted, there wasn’t really damage control to be done, but it definitely felt like it.

 

“Yumu,” he said sharply as soon as they got out of the crowd. “That was entirely unnecessary.”

 

“Just because something is unnecessary doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done,” Yumu replied shortly.

 

Oh. Izuku was still holding onto Kirishima’s sleeve. He let go awkwardly and smoothed a comforting hand down the back of Aki’s head.

 

“Sorry for grabbing you,” he apologized meekly. Dear gods, if he was raised by anyone else, he’d be panicking right about now. Villains he could face no problem, albeit with a little bit of panic, but high schoolers? High schoolers were the devil.

 

“It’s fine, man!” Kirishima said cheerfully. “You can grab me all you like!”

 

An awkward silence fell and Izuku felt color rise in his cheeks.

 

Oh.

 

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean it like---”

 

“It’s fine,” Izuku replied with a breathless laugh. “It’s okay. Really.”

 

“So,” Yumu said brightly. “Cats?”

 

“Cats,” Izuku confirmed, because, honestly, could he really chastise Yumu for that? If she was going to go off, she was going to go off. Izuku may be the mastermind of their little “triplethood” (not really triplets), but Yumu was definitely the attack dog. She was just doing what she always did: protecting him. Izuku didn’t have to speak up for himself. Not when Yumu was there.

 

“... Sasaki?” Uraraka asked awkwardly.

 

“Yes?” The two answered in unison, and then collectively chuckled.

 

“Sorry. Yu… Yumemu?” Uraraka asked hesitantly.

 

“Yeah, what’s up?”

 

“... Did you really just say ‘you’re breathing my air’?”

 

Izuku snorted and Hitoshi coughed. Yumu was definitely bright red now.

 

“... Sorry about that.”

 

“I recall ‘exhibit number dick’ with extreme clarity,” Hitoshi added slyly.

 

“Listen, he was being fucking rude and entitled and ableist and thought everyone would just agree with him. Someone had to humble him.”

 

“If you’re not careful, people might think you’re egotistical.”

 

“If egotism is a requirement for being a decent person, then call me a maniac, I don’t care,” Yumu growled.

 

“I can’t believe you didn’t understand why all the girls want to be like you,” Uraraka teased, and oh, Yumu was definitely red, Izuku could practically smell it.

 

“You should probably aspire to be a little more classy than that,” Yumu muttered.

 

“Hey, Sasaki?” Kirishima asked.

 

“Yes?” The two answered in unison once again, and when would they learn?

 

“Sorry, Izuku?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“What did you mean by competition in Gen Ed?”

 

Izuku let a slow smile curve his lips.

 

“That would be telling.” If that was who he thought it was, it would definitely be telling. If they were relying on a strategy that demanded their secrecy, he wasn’t going to be the one to ruin it. He was rooting for them.

 

“You’re so secretive, man! Not manly! We’re your allies!” Kirishima complained.

 

“You’re also my competition,” Izuku reminded him slyly. “I’ve got lots of secrets, you can’t begrudge me for keeping them to my chest. I think you’re going to like them. They’re definitely going to make a splash.”

 

He was going to have to grill Mei, see if the other one was in support, because if they were gunning for the heroics course together, they would definitely be a problem. As it was, he was confident he could face them on divided fronts. Of course, if he was right based on other universes, the sports festival was going to follow a set pattern, one he had to prepare for. And get Aki ready for. Aki definitely had to be ready for the first part.

 

“Aw, man, I want to know who to watch for,” Kirishima complained.

 

“You should enjoy surprises,” Izuku drawled. “Gods know I want to.”

 

“Oh. Sorry.”

 

“Nothing to apologize for! Promise! We all have our quirk problems!”

 

“You get used to Izuku refusing to share, trust me,” Hitoshi said dryly. “It’s a common thing. He only shares if someone’s…”

 

Hitoshi trailed off and an awkward silence fell on the three siblings. Right. When Yumu happened. Izuku bit his lip and swallowed harshly. Her hands were never going to be quite right. Could he have…?

 

Mistakes. All mistakes. Izuku believed there had to be some kind of god, because random happenstance was never so cruel. There were rules, rules with everyone. Everyone had their set story to play, an unwilling actor on a great stage, and he was the poor cursed soul that was crushed under the weight of the truth.

 

Extremists argued that the dawn of quirks was the dawn of gods. Humans had finally ascended. Izuku was as close as it got to touching divinity, and the closer you got, the more you realized that, no. Quirks were nothing but another way to watch the world burn. Humanity hadn’t been cruel enough, and the toll had to be exacted. This wasn’t the dawn of gods. This was the dawn of their toys.

 

But he could never say that. People took comfort in the idea of a higher being. How could he tell them some people were born to never be saved? How could he possibly express that some people were destined to suffer for their kindness? He’d spent hours in his universes when he was off the oxycodone. Dad got hurt over, and over, and over again. This was the price of love. This was the price of duty. This was the price of a father, and it was cruel.

 

He hated it. He hated it with a fiery passion. He rejected it. He didn’t know his own story, only that he would struggle to always fall short in the eyes of everyone that prioritized flashy and big and camera over humanity. It was hard to not become bitter. He just hoped the sports festival would give him a fucking break.

 

“Someone’s what?” Kirishima asked.

 

“Oh, hey, guys!” Yumu called, and there she went with perfect timing again. Izuku was broken out of his theological struggles to plaster a smile on his face.

 

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s get going. We still have to meet Mei.”

 

“Hello, Aizawa,” Tokoyami said gravely next to Hitoshi.

 

“Sup,” Hitoshi drawled.

 

Koji tapped out a hello on Izuku’s arm.

 

“Hey, Ko,” Izuku said cheerfully. “Should we get going?”

 

Koji tapped twice on Izuku’s arm to let him know he was signing.

 

“Mei said she’s bringing a friend from support,” Hitoshi translated, and Izuku just grinned.

 

“Aw, Mei’s making friends?” He teased. “I’ll have to take off the blindfold.”

 

“Why would you need to take off your blindfold?” Kirishima asked.

 

“You’ll see,” Izuku said airily. “We should get to the genkan before Yumu starts a fistfight and gets expelled.”

 

“I was not that bad!” Yumu protested.

 

“No, you were pretty bad, kero,” Tsu croaked. “Justified, but bad.”

 

“It’s like a goddamn circus here,” Hitoshi grumbled. “It was never like this when I was a kid.”

 

“You were around UA as a child?” Tokoyami asked.

 

“What, you never go to where your parents work?” Hitoshi asked.

 

“No, my parents work at a nuclear power station,” Tokoyami replied flatly.

 

“Wait, really?” Izuku asked in surprise. “Huh… Might get along with who we’re meeting.”

 

“Just because he has scientist parents doesn’t mean he will magically get along with an inventor, Izuku,” Yumu pointed out.

 

“Wasn’t talking about Mei!” Izuku said cheerfully. “Hope you’re brushed up on your JSL, Tokoyami.”

 

“What?”

 

They reached the genkan and Mei’s voice broke through.

 

“Would you guys hurry it up already? I got a date with a demon, come on!” She complained.

 

“Nice to see you, too, Mei. Sorry we got held up by a crowd of students,” Izuku apologized.

 

“A demon?” Tokoyami echoed.

 

“Stuffings. He’s the devil, and someone’s dad messaged my moms and told them about him and now I have to fill out adoption papers,” Mei complained. “It’s like he hates me!”

 

“He hates you a little bit,” Hitoshi assured her. “Mei, this is Kirishima, Tokoyami, Asui, and Uraraka.”

 

“Call me Tsu, kero,” Tsu cut in, and there was an audible gasp.

 

“ You’re Uraraka?” Mei asked and Izuku’s lips twitched deviously. They got to Mei before Yumu got the chance to tattle. “I’ve heard about you, you have to test my babies!”

 

“Your…?” Poor thing.

 

“She means her inventions,” Izuku cut in.

 

“And you must be the friend from Support Department,” Hitoshi said. “Hey.”

 

There was the shuffling of cloth, and, yeah, this was going to be too much to keep up with. Izuku took off his blindfold and jumped to the closest thread.

 

Stark white, short curly hair in a ponytail was the first thing he saw. The second thing he saw was silver eyes that bored into everyone in front of them, and the girls’ uniform. He could understand. Skirts were comfortable. They were definitely short, maybe a few centimeters taller than Yumu, and from the edges of their sleeve peeked white cybernetic hands, very cyberpunk, with black accent lines. They were decently muscled, likely from having to lift heavy machinery, and gods, the intricacy of the joints on their fingers was incredible. They looked fairly androgynous, like they kept growing but didn’t quite hit puberty, and the sharpness of their gaze told him they were very naturally suspicious. Understandable.

 

“My name is Nyx Brentson,” Hitoshi translated. “Do we call you Brentson?”

 

“I’m American,” they signed. “I’m more used to my given name, if you don’t mind.”

 

It took a second to string everything together, make sure he was right. Hitoshi rolled right over the translation easily enough. They probably bonded with Mei because she also spoke JSL and made translation easier on them.

 

“Hey, Nyx,” Izuku said easily. “Nice to finally meet you.” So they were Brentsons here, huh? Not Ambrosias? Damn. That had to be rough.

 

Nyx tilted their head at him in confusion and then looked at Mei for clarification.

 

“Quirk thing, he knows everyone, but you might geek out on his quirk,” Mei explained. “You’re into all of that theoretical stuff.”

 

Nyx signed an acknowledgment and then frowned before pushing up their uniform sleeve to reveal a touch screen implanted right into their forearm. Oh. Nice. Izuku wondered if they had to be put under anesthesia for that, or if they had any feeling at all. They flicked their wrist and the screen turned on to an English keyboard, which they tapped on and it switched to katakana to type out their message and then swiped across to send it.

 

“Sorry for the robot voice, makes things easier,” the robotic voice read out.

 

“No one here is going to complain about a robot voice,” Izuku said as he eyed the swirling black holes set into their palms like Iron Man reactors. Gods, he wanted to see that quirk in action. Nox was exciting enough, but Nyx’s quirk was a whammy. Pity he probably wouldn’t get to. A quirk like that was only really suited to rescue, and even then, it was touch and go. It didn’t have the control of Thirteen’s quirk, and the pressure was much worse. Thirteen dusted people, but theirs… whew. No dust involved.

 

“Should we get our shoes and get going?”

 

“Yeah, sure,” Hitoshi said as he tapped out a message on his phone and sent it, probably letting Pops know they were leaving.

 

“Uh, Mei?” Izuku asked cautiously. “If you’re taking Stuffings home, how are you going to…”

 

The strongest thread barely managed to focus enough to see her eyes gleam.

 

“Nyx helped me make an ultra portable cat carrier!” Mei declared. “Perfect for wild animal catch and release!”

 

“Mei, cat carriers aren’t supposed to catch… ”

 

“Watch this! ” Mei said and took a smooth metal square out of her pocket and tossed it down on the genkan floor. Izuku scrambled back on instinct, pushing Kirishima back with him, and the cat carrier unfolded to a full size carrier. “Nyx is so good at compression, look at that!”

 

“Uh… yeah, that’s neat,” Izuku said as he stared at it warily, waiting for an explosion that didn’t come.

 

“The actual cat carrier is outside,” Nyx said with their typing application, and who knew robots could sound so wry. “We’re not putting a cat in that thing. No control on it folding back in.”

 

“Ah. Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Izuku really wanted to get his hands on that software for Koji. It actually recognized punctuations as pauses.

 

On cue, the cat carrier randomly collapsed back in on itself, and Izuku removed his hand from Kirishima’s chest.

 

“... Were you expecting it to explode?” Kirishima asked.

 

“She puts explosives in everything,” Izuku said glumly.

 

“I would not put explosives in anything for an animal!” Mei protested as she scooped the smooth piece of metal back up.

 

“You tried to give Aki a gatling gun. You wanted me to train my dog how to shoot. Who was going to aim it, the blind kid?” Izuku demanded.

 

“That would have been manly as hell,” Kirishima breathed.

 

“Papa said no,” Izuku said sadly. He actually did want the gun.

 

“It would have had a targeting system!” Mei retorted. “I’ve gotten a lot better with coding. And it wouldn’t have been a real gatling gun. It was all sticky explosives! Capture bombs! Anyways, I said I have a date with a demon, get your shoes on!”

 

Grumbling to himself, Izuku yanked off his slippers and felt around for his cubby. Not there, not there, there. Braille letters, right where he left them, why was he doing this when he had his blindfold off? He didn’t even need it off.

 

It felt a little more secure, hanging around his neck, but he was going to ignore that.

 

There was a clatter of more of their classmates coming down the stairs, and Izuku yanked out his shoes and put in his slippers. It took less than five seconds to pull on the red high-tops and then he was getting Aki’s shoes on.

 

“Alright, let’s go,” he said and made for the door.

 

“Izuku, why don’t you have your blindfold on?” Yumu asked.

 

“Don’t feel like wearing it,” Izuku replied and Yumu of the strongest thread frowned.

 

“You should be saving it.”

 

“I’m not using it today, only had to use it in Heroics, it’s fine,” Izuku bit out as Kirishima came up next to him.

 

“You sure, dude? Don’t like… quirks like yours cause headaches?” Kirishima asked.

 

“Migraines, actually, but I’m really fine to use it,” Izuku replied. “Let’s get going! We got a train to catch!”

.

.

.

.

.

“So, Nyx, you’re from America, right?” Hitoshi asked as yet another cat sprawled over him.

 

“Yes,” Nyx replied from their corner while a cat climbed into their lap.

 

“Why’d you move? For UA?”

 

“No. My dad moved us for work two years ago,” they replied and Hitoshi hummed thoughtfully as he scratched at a cat’s head. It was rumbling with a purr, laying on his chest as he sprawled on the floor. It was always the lazy cuddlers that gravitated to him.

 

“What does your dad do?” He asked.

 

“He’s a quirkologist.”

 

“Got any siblings?” He asked as Stuffings once again hissed at Mei and then flopped in her lap. Gods, he loved that asshole.

 

“Why are you such an asshole, huh? You’re such a baby,” Mei complained as she resumed scratching behind his fucked up ears.

 

“It’s Stuffings, he’s the devil,” Hitoshi drawled.

 

“I’ve got a little sister and a twin,” Nyx replied. “My twin is in Gen Ed.”

 

“Huh. Why aren’t they here?” Hitoshi asked.

 

“They’re doing something with my other dad,” they replied. Two nonbinary twin siblings? Interesting.

 

“What’s it like being stuck in a workshop with Mei all day?” Hitoshi asked.

 

“Loud.”

 

Nyx seemed to be someone that got to the point quickly and efficiently. They weren’t an amazing conversationalist, that much was clear, but Hitoshi didn’t mind. Mei could use a quiet, grounding influence. Koji didn’t count, because when he wasn’t a pushover, he was pettier than all of them put together, and Hitoshi loved that for him.

 

There was a loud meow from the other end of the room and Hitoshi barely lifted his head to get a good look at three different cats using Dark Shadow like a teaser toy. He wasn’t an expert on Dark Shadow matters, but he seemed to both be having fun and panicking. Tokoyami was evidently just letting him run wild, more preoccupied with the black cat that had cozied up to him to play with an actual cat teaser.

 

“Man, this cat is the coolest!” Kirishima said.

 

“That’s Nana,” Hitoshi said in reference to the Serbian that had taken to attacking his hardened fingers.

 

“She’s awesome,” Kirishima breathed as she chewed away at his fingers.

 

“Don’t let her break her teeth,” Hitoshi said warningly.

 

“It’s not that hardened, she’s got a little give, don’t worry, man!” Kirishima said cheerfully. “I just can’t feel anything!”

 

“Mkay,” Hitoshi drawled as a third cat came to curl up against his side. There was a small tabby watching him with suspicion from a cat tree, and he slowly blinked at her. Her nose scrunched up, and he smiled to himself as Izuku came over and laid facedown on the floor.

 

“So many cats…” Izuku mumbled.

 

“Think Fuku and Sora will be pissed at me?” Hitoshi asked lazily.

 

“Probably,” Izuku replied as a particularly curious cat came over to sniff at the bush of green and black at the top of his head. “Hey, cat.”

 

“Got any cats, Nyx?” Hitoshi asked as Yumu and Uraraka took turns running kittens all over the place with some more toys.

 

“No, I’m allergic,” Nyx replied and Hitoshi lifted his head to stare at them. Oh. Their eyes were a little red.

 

“Then why did you come…?”

 

“I’m willing to suffer.”

 

A person after his own heart. Dear gods, Hitoshi was going to make friends with this kid.

 

“I like you,” he finally said after a pause as a cat carefully inspected Nyx’s cybernetic arms. That was one hell of a quirk. Was it just cybernetic arms, or was it something else? There were two circles in each palm of swirling black with what looked like stars in the pools, and he just knew it was a neat quirk. It looked like they could do upgrades whenever they felt like it, too, which was a neat addition.

 

Thinking of that, wasn’t there another short kid in the crowd in a Gen Ed uniform with what looked like prosthetic hands that looked a lot like Nyx’s? They looked just like them, too, just with black hair instead of white. He recalled that they were laughing when Izuku and Yumu were going off.

 

A suspicious glance was sent to Izuku. He was seeming smug in his own unique “I know something you don’t” way. That inside joke smugness when no one else was in on the joke.

 

The sports festival was going to be a hot mess, wasn’t it?

 

“Hey, Izuku,” Hitoshi said.

 

“Hm?”

 

“Preemptively, you’re a dick.”

 

“Noted.”

 

It was just then that Stuffings hissed at batted at Mei, and, oh, boy, it was going to be a nightmare getting that cat home today.

Notes:

Whew sorry for the delayed update! I've been busy not writing!! (Actually just took a small break) (But I'm back now)

These kids are all over the gremlin scale. How are we feeling about Nyx?? I borrowed them from my other fic.

 

discord!!

Me and orkestrations have started a podcast called The Bird And The Shroom, which is a bi weekly podcast full of tips for long form fic writers!!

tumblr: psychicshr00m

Chapter 16

Watching this was akin to watching a trainwreck in slow motion, except the trainwreck was caused by a banana peel, slapstick style. Nothing bad was happening, but Shouta also couldn’t take his eyes off his son as he tried to figure out just what the hell he was doing.

 

There was a rope up, tightrope style, and Izuku was clinging to it like a monkey with both arms and legs, and Aki was standing on the platform while Izuku tried to coax him to actually climb onto him.

 

“Izuku,” Shouta said shortly and Izuku let out a long, low groan as Aki let out a confused whine.

 

“I’m kind of busy, Dad,” Izuku bit out.

 

“Busy doing what? ”

 

“Winning,” Izuku hissed and Shouta leaned back slowly, staring up at Izuku and Aki.

 

“How is this winning, exactly?” He asked slowly. Izuku didn’t reply, only continued to sway left and right on the rope, and it clicked.

 

Goddammit. Could he even call this cheating when the whole point was to work within the parameters of your quirk?

 

“... Don’t tell your siblings or classmates,” Shouta finally said with a sigh.

 

“Of course I’m not going to tell them. They’re the competition,” Izuku muttered and evidently gave up on Aki, instead opting to crawl back onto the platform and make his way down.

 

“Did you really have to take over your papa’s training room for this?” Shouta asked in disappointment, and Izuku walked down the stairs, a heavy frown on his lips as Aki slunk along behind him, fully aware that he had not been a ‘good dog’. How long had Izuku even spent trying to convince that dog to get on his chest?

 

“Yes,” Izuku said as he finally made it to the ground and collapsed on the floor with an angry huff.

 

“... So how much have you actually seen?” Shouta asked carefully. Just how much digging was Izuku doing nowadays? And was it just for the sports festival, or was it something more?

 

“... Enough to know the competition is in Gen Ed this year,” Izuku finally replied after a long, awkward pause. “And that someone is most likely to get booted out of 1-A.”

 

“... In Gen Ed?” Shouta clarified. It was once in a blue moon that a Gen Ed student made it into heroics. It had happened maybe five times in the entire history of UA. Granted, there had been some strong students that didn’t pass the exam this year. Out of the three he could recall, only one didn’t seem to be satisfied with Gen Ed, according to Hizashi. Their quirk was brilliant, of course. It was utterly brilliant, but it also was ill suited to flat out crush robots in a short amount of time.

 

“Yeah,” Izuku said and took a swig of his water. “I’m looking forward to my match with them. It’ll definitely be a show, that’s for sure. I might even lose. They’ve got a 37% chance of success. Better than anyone else, that’s for sure.”

 

“That’s a little harsh on your siblings, don’t you think?”

 

“Hitoshi is taking out Yumu. If I don’t take him out, the dark horse of Gen Ed will,” Izuku replied with a shrug. “Literally. His quirk doesn’t work on them. But they can use theirs, and they have speed and mobility. Insane speed and mobility.”

 

“And what about Bakugou and Todoroki?”

 

“... So long as I don’t act like a self sacrificial idiot, Todoroki will be taken out by me, and Katsuki had better pray Uraraka deals with him before Yumu gets her teeth in him.”

 

“What do you mean, self sacrificial idiot?” Shouta asked in amusement, and Izuku groaned before ineffectually throwing his arm over his covered eyes.

 

“I mean self sacrificial idiot,” Izuku muttered. “Honestly, there are so many universes where I have zero braincells, Dad. I mean I am a full-on himbo. It’s like I’m a shounen protagonist or something. Tears, yelling, the works. Giving up my chance to even win the sports festival to pretend I’m a therapist or something. A whole mess. It’s so embarrassing.”

 

“... How bad?” Shouta asked carefully and Izuku groaned once again.

 

“Broke both of his arms and all of his fingers to make a point.”

 

“... Jesus Christ.”

 

“Like, honestly, I know I am a lot like him, but I am also so wildly different it’s like looking at a different person. I don’t know why so many versions of myself have no self love or care for themselves. It’s like they think it’s their job to break their bodies to help other people. That’s not what a hero does. A hero has to protect their bodies so they can help people.”

 

Shouta was quiet for a long moment as he processed that before he leaned over to look down at Izuku, his hair falling down in a curtain over his shoulders.

 

“Yeah? And what about their minds?” He asked and Izuku stiffened slightly before sitting up and running a hand down Aki’s head.

 

“We’re not talking about that, Dad. I’m complaining about how much of an idiot I am. That is the conversation topic.”

 

“You have to talk about it eventually. Did you bring it up with your therapist?”

 

“... Not yet.”

 

The admission disappointed Shouta, but at the same time, he felt relieved that Izuku was willing to trust him with that information. It meant he was open to talking about it.

 

“You know you don’t have to deal with it alone, Izuku,” Shouta said quietly.

 

“Why, because dealing with it alone is what got you---” Izuku abruptly cut himself off and almost viciously drew his knees to his chin. Shouta just sighed and sat down next to him, pressing up against the line of his body since he couldn’t hug him.

 

“No one’s blaming you. Your quirk once gave you a warning that you were going to have a surprise birthday party and the whole thing was ruined,” Shouta said. “Do you remember that? You got upset and started crying because your quirk kept ‘ruining your life’ and---”

 

“Dad, please,” Izuku muttered as he flushed. “That’s embarrassing. Don’t talk about it.”

 

“Is it?” Shouta asked dryly. “I know there’s not a lot I can say right now that will make you feel better, but please, Izuku. My choices are my own. I chose to go down there and fight, and I knew the consequences of that decision.”

 

“And I chose to ignore it,” Izuku bit out.

 

“... When I was twenty, I ran into a situation where I was aware of domestic abuse going on in a house on my patrol,” Shouta said. “I tried to interfere. Multiple times. Underground heroes have a bit more leeway. She wouldn’t leave him, no matter how many times I dragged her to the hospital, nor would she press charges. The husband eventually accused the wife of cheating on him with me, and…”

 

Izuku was quiet for a moment.

 

“Did she die?”

 

“Yeah, kid. She died,” Shouta said softly. Izuku’s hands balled up in his gym shorts.

 

“Why didn’t she leave?”

 

“I don’t know. I’m never going to understand it. But I was stuck with the knowledge that this was going to happen. I told her, over and over, this was going to happen, that she needed to get out while he was arrested. She wouldn’t do it. She thought she could save him. That’s part of being a hero. It’s not that you did enough and it was enough. It’s that there’s always the question of what you could have done differently. You would know better than anyone that enough doesn’t mean what people think it means.” Shouta fell silent for a moment before pressing just a little more into Izuku’s side. “You’re brilliant, Zuku. You’re always ahead of the curve. Your accuracy rate is ungodly, and I couldn’t be more proud to call you my son. But please, never fall into the trap of the gifted child. You can make mistakes. You will make mistakes, so please don’t suffer through them in silence because you thought it’s your duty to be perfect. Alright?”

 

Izuku was quiet for a moment and Shouta watched as a lone tear slipped down his cheek.

 

“I was supposed to ignore the warning,” Izuku whispered. “97% of the versions of Parallel Izuku ignored the warning. And you got busted up like that 100% of the time. What’s the point of seeing every future the world will ever know if someone else is pulling the strings?”

 

“... I don’t know,” Shouta answered honestly, because he truly, truly didn’t. Raising Izuku was like raising an omniscient god. It wasn’t easy. He didn’t know what he was doing, or if he was going to be making anything worse. How do you tell the boy who knows everything that it’s okay if they don’t know enough?

 

“You’re not supposed to say that, Dad,” Izuku whispered. “You’re supposed to say ‘pull the strings yourself’ or ‘who cares’ or ‘there’s no such thing as a god’.”

 

A tiny sniffle followed his statement and Shouta watched with sad eyes as the tears dripped down. He almost longed for the days when Izuku couldn’t figure out how to cross a parkour course. Things were so much easier for him back then.

 

“I think… I think if you worry too much about higher beings or fate or destiny or even that 3% that didn’t ignore the warnings, you’re going to have a nervous breakdown,” Shouta replied and looked down in shame. “I want you to be the best you can be. I want you to be happy. I don’t want you to have the answers to those questions, because I’m worried that if you do, you’ll…”

 

“Not be the same,” Izuku said softly.

 

“I think the most important thing for you is to remain human, Izuku,” Shouta murmured. “Be human. Be a kid. Let gods worry about gods. You worry about just doing the best you can, okay? And the best you can be is happy. Anything else… As a father, I don’t care about the rest. I don’t want you to destroy yourself with this quirk. So… Don’t push yourself to where we can’t follow, okay?”

 

Izuku sniffled again and then nodded, and Shouta sighed and turned as best as he could to press a kiss to his head.

 

“You’re a good kid, Izuku,” Shouta whispered. “I’d rather you be a good man when you grow up than a great one.”

 

“Okay,” Izuku whispered and Shouta barely resisted the urge to sigh in relief. He’d gotten through to him.

 

“And talk to your therapist about this, alright?”

 

“I will,” Izuku promised and then paused. “I’m going to win the sports festival, Dad.”

 

“Leave some glory for your siblings,” Shouta muttered.

 

“I’ll make them look good.”

 

“Yeah, sure. Go win or whatever.”

 

“I will, ” Izuku promised and Shouta looked down at his son. When had he gotten so big?

 

“I know.”

 

He’d raised a champion, after all. Now only to reassure his other two kids that yes, of course, they could win, even though neither of them would believe him.

 

After all, Parallel Sight was little more than every cheat code in existence. Izuku was designed to win, unfortunately. Poor Yumu and Hitoshi. It had to be frustrating. He’d have to treat them to extra ramen for their struggles.

Notes:

Needed that lil closure chapter so here y'all go!

Chapter 17

“Sorry! I didn’t… Sorry!”

 

Again. There was another apology. Ochako frowned in Sasaki’s general direction, who was tapping Sero on the arm to wake him up. In an instant, Sero was sitting up, wide eyed as a panicked gasp fell from his lips, and Sasaki was backing up rapidly, clearly upset by the whole ordeal and putting distance between the two of them.

 

“It’s no problem, Sasaki!” He said with a broad smile, his face clearing almost immediately, and Sasaki’s eyes hit the ground as her lips pursed. “You need to get better control, anyways!”

 

“I don’t think it’s control like that I need…” She muttered as color rose in her cheeks. Ochako stood up from where Yaoyorozu had tossed her on the mat as All Might clapped loudly.

 

“Okay, rotate again!” All Might ordered with a loud clap. Today they were working on the basic muscle memory of getting out of pins. It was apparently an “easy class”, since they had run rescue drills at the recently fixed and upgraded USJ yesterday and the teachers thought they’d be jumpy after it. Why they thought this would make them feel more secure was beyond Ochako, but alas, this was what they were doing.

 

Bakugou was her next opponent, and this time Ochako was supposed to be throwing him. The ill tempered boy slumped in front of her as Ochako watched Sasaki try to disentangle her glove from Sero’s tape. Worry was growing in her chest as she watched the way Sasaki twitched and took a steadying breath as she slowly peeled off the glove.

 

“Hey, round face, I’m right here,” Bakugou groused and Ochako shook herself.

 

“Sorry! I just… Sorry!” She apologized and Bakugou followed her concerned gaze before snorting in derision.

 

“C’mon. You’re supposed to be throwing me,” he said and Ochako stared with no small degree of concern at his considerable bulk. Kaminari was one thing, but…

 

“It’s just physics, round face, stop looking at me like that,” Bakugou scoffed, and Ochako set her jaw in determination before placing her back to Bakugou and planting her feet while he wrapped his arms around her. With a huff of air, she grabbed him and tried to flip him, but to no avail.

 

This was so much easier with Kaminari.

 

“Your hips need to be back more,” Bakugou grunted and Ochako let out an irritated sigh.

 

“And you need to be lighter. ”

 

“If I was lighter, I’m pretty sure I’d constantly be breaking my wrists with the kickback, Uraraka,” Bakugou snapped in irritation. “Just try again.”

 

Ochako tried again, and only succeeded in almost pitching over herself. How did Sasaki make this look so easy? She didn’t get it. Wasn’t Sasaki as big as her? Her eyes, unbidden, drifted back to Sasaki, who had All Might hovering on the edge of the mat, looking scared to approach them as she continued to wrestle with the tape for possession of her glove while Sero kept apologizing.

 

“Your hero license isn’t going to wait for you to get over your crush on Sasaki, spacesuit,” Bakugou growled and Ochako’s eyes went wide before she slammed her hips back and tossed him right over her shoulder.

 

“I don’t have a crush, I’m worried about her! ” Ochako hissed as Bakugou hit the mat gasped with the harsh contact with his back.

 

“Well, stop worrying about her!” Bakugou snapped as he sat up. “Again.”

 

“It’s just… Don’t you think it’s…” Ochako didn’t even know why she was talking to him, of all people, about this. From day one there had seemed to be some kind of tension with him and the ‘cackle of gremlins’, as the older students called the trio of students. Apparently, Aizawa and the Sasakis were a familiar sight at UA, and known for their peculiar bond with the principle. They were also, evidently, notorious pranksters, not that Ochako had seen evidence of that.

 

“I don’t think anything about it,” Bakugou said harshly. “It’s her own shit to deal with. You should be more worried about the fact that it takes you getting embarrassed to manage to toss me over your shoulder.”

 

“Hey!” Ochako protested and he just crossed his arms and glared at her.

 

“It’s not your problem. Your problem is that you don’t know how to fight and you want to be a hero.”

 

“I want to be a rescue hero! ”

 

“What, you think Tranquility doesn’t know how to throw a punch?” Bakugou challenged. “Or the Pussycats don’t know how to get out of a grapple? As a hero, you have to be half decent at everything, and good at everything in your specialty. Now come throw me.”

 

Ochako screwed up her face in frustration and stomped over to Bakugou, angrily putting her back to him as Sasaki finally got her glove off of the tape. What did Sero even eat for that level of adhesion? Did he take duct tape with his sushi or something?

 

Bakugou’s arms were back around her and she unsuccessfully tried to throw him again.

 

“Hip. Back,” he hissed and Ochako let out a little growl before shoving her hip back once again and leveraging him over her shoulder. Bakugou hit the ground and immediately got back up, dusting off his arms with a furrow in his brow.

 

“You need to---”

 

“Was it really that scary?” Ochako blurted and Bakugou stared at her incredulously.

 

“... No, getting thrown onto the ground by a fucking chipmunk is not scary.”

 

“Not that. Her quirk,” Ochako bit out and Bakugou looked over at Sasaki, who now had her glove back on and was squaring up with Kaminari.

 

“No,” he answered honestly. “But I’m not the kinda person that gets upset over that stuff. Horror movies might as well be comedies.”

 

“... I just. I don’t get it,” Ochako hissed before slamming her back into Bakugou’s with a growl. “She’s so cool. Why is she so… She didn’t apologize to you. ”

 

“That’s because she hates my guts,” Bakugou supplied as he climbed to his feet. “And doesn’t care what I think about her. You’ve got a pretty easy quirk, Uraraka. It’s different for people like us.”

 

“I don’t see how, ” Ochako grumbled before putting her back to Bakugou once again.

 

“Flip me,” Bakugou ordered and she did it again, this time far more easily. Bakugou hit the ground and sat up immediately, frowning up at Ochako. “And it’s different because we’re told our quirks are amazing by anyone we meet. Or at least no one comments. She’s expecting people to hate her, but she’s still putting up with it and still picking a career where she’ll have to use her quirk. It’s different. Stop fussing over her. She’ll eventually work out that no one is going to hate her in this class for using her quirk, just let her figure it out and chill out and focus on your own damn problems. If you try to talk to her about it, you’ll just come off as condescending.”

 

Ochako stared down at Bakugou for a long, long moment as she processed that statement.

 

“You’re a lot more emotionally intelligent than you look,” she finally said, and color rose in his cheeks.

 

“Shut your damn mouth, round face!”

 

“What? You can’t just say something like that and expect me to not say anything!”

 

“Shut up!”

 

Ochako just huffed in irritation as Sasaki firmly slammed Kaminari into the mat. Really, she should be focused on Bakugou, this was kind of bordering on rude, but Sasaki was her friend. At least, she was something. They went and visited shelter cats together and got ice cream, so they had to qualify as friends now. Before long, Ochako was sure she’d be invited to study with her. And Sasaki was smart, so she couldn’t wait for that.

 

She just wanted her to stop apologizing, really. There was no need to. At least, accidental quirk usage required an apology, but not to the degree Sasaki took it. She even apologized when she was supposed to be using her quirk. It was easily the most frustrating thing to watch.

 

“Time to rotate!” All Might announced and Bakugou stood up to look down at Ochako.

 

“You’d better work on it before the sports festival,” he said threateningly. “If you disappoint me, I’ll never forgive you!”

 

Ochako stared at the bizarre boy for a long, long moment.

 

“You’re kind of… Weird.”

 

“Shut up, round face,” he snapped, and then he was moving away while Ochako tried to quantify just what he was going on about. What did she do to him? That kid was so weird. She didn’t understand how he had any friends, or why Kirishima tried to hang out with him, of all the people. Well. When he wasn’t hovering around the boy Sasaki.

 

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Ochako managed to toss Bakugou again with few problems, even managed to toss Shoji, which was a miracle in and of itself. Aizawa had to give her some pointers for that. Height differences were a problem. She didn’t know how they made it look so easy.

 

By the end of the day rolled around, Ochako was a little sore from repeatedly hitting the mat and ready to go home and collapse into her bed. She had to go to the grocery store, but she just didn’t have the energy for it. There was instant ramen in the cupboard, anyways, and she had a kettle. It was fine; she could manage.

 

She wasn’t expecting Sasaki, the girl, to grab her by the hand and drag her into the bathroom as she was trying to leave.

 

“Wha---” Ochako started to say, but Sasaki clamped a hand over her mouth.

 

“Shhh…” Sasaki hissed and Ochako stared at her with wide, alarmed eyes. Sasaki took her hand off her mouth before peeking out into the hall.

 

“Stay with me for a minute,” Sasaki whispered. “I need you.”

 

“What do you…”

 

“I need someone to help me get into the vents,” Sasaki said, and Ochako stared at her with wide, wide eyes.

 

“Why do you need to get into the vents?” Ochako asked in confusion, and Sasaki blew out an irritated sigh.

 

“I’ll explain when I get back, can you help me?” She asked as she pulled a pair of sunglasses out of her jacket and snapped them on.

 

“You… Why do you have sunglasses on…?”

 

“My eyes glow in the dark, can you help me?” Sasaki repeated, and Ochako stared at her for a long, long moment, before deciding to throw caution to the wind.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Great,” Sasaki said as she reached back to pull up her hair. “We don’t have much time. Float me.”

 

“... Did you pick the bathroom because…”

 

“Yes. Might want to pull back your hair. Just in case. I won’t be here to hold it back for you.”

 

“Okay, okay,” Ochako said and reached for her wrist before discovering she did not, in fact, have a hair tie. Sasaki looked over at her and tilted her head.

 

“With a side effect like that, why would you…”

 

“I was almost late this morning,” Ochako grumbled, and Sasaki sighed before letting her hair loose and holding out the soft pink hair tie.

 

“You need it more than me,” she said and Ochako took it after a pause.

 

“Thanks,” she mumbled as heat rose in her cheeks.

 

“No problem! Now, please help me up,” Sasaki said and pulled a screwdriver out of her pocket. Why she had a screwdriver was beyond Ochako, but at this point, she was already seemingly committing a crime in the name of soft hair and an infectious smile, so she was willing to go with it.

 

“Okay!” Ochako chirped, even though she still had no idea what she was doing, and pulled back her hair before patting Sasaki. Immediately, nausea churned in her gut, because Sasaki was a lot heavier than she looked, and Sasaki slowly rose.

 

“Push me to the vent,” Sasaki hissed and Ochako pushed her over slowly. Sasaki fumbled with the screwdriver and slowly started to unthread the two screws, each dropping with a clatter to the ground as Ochako focused on ignoring the nausea climbing in her gut.

 

“Okay, push me up so I’m horizontal,” Sasaki ordered and Ochako looked up at the distance between the two of them. Could she even reach?

 

She would have to. Her eyes landed on the counter and she climbed onto it, fighting down the pressure climbing in her throat, and why did UA need such tall ceilings? She would have to jump to reach, this was dangerous, but oh, well. She was alone in a bathroom with Sasaki, she would give herself a swirlie at this rate if she asked her to. Taking a deep breath, she hopped up and pushed Sasaki up, landing precariously on the edge of the counter as she swayed dangerously.

 

“Got it!” Sasaki hissed and pulled herself into the vent. “Okay, you can release me now!”

 

Ochako hopped off the counter and pressed her fingers together before immediately barreling for the stall to cough up her insides.

 

“I’ll be right back!” Sasaki hissed. “Give me twenty minutes!”

 

There was the sound of wriggling as Ochako heaved into the toilet and then silence as the contents of Ochako’s contents were emptied.

 

She really needed to work on her weight. This was getting embarrassing. How was she going to rescue people if she couldn’t even manage a steel beam? Sasaki was tiny and she could hardly manage her. Embarrassing.

 

With a sigh that burned her throat as much as the bile, Ochako slumped at the toilet and reached over to flush. Wiping her teary eyes, she struggled to her feet and went to splash her face with water. What was Sasaki doing, anyways? Did she just carry screwdrivers and sunglasses around for situations like these? How much did Ochako not know about her?

 

Then again, it wasn’t like Sasaki knew anything about her. No one at school even knew she lived on her own except the teachers, because the school was technically her guardian and had to send teachers to check up on her every so often. Sasaki was, admittedly, from an entirely different world than Ochako. She was stuck worrying about if her family was managing to pay the bills on time and if she could keep her grades up enough to keep her grants. Sasaki, in the meantime, was the daughter of one of the most famous heroes in Japan, All Might himself’s former sidekick. She was adopted, so maybe she knew what it was like to be poor from before, but they were in entirely different economic classes and social circles. Ochako had seen her scroll through her phone contacts before to call her dad and had counted at least seven top fifty heroes saved. That was utterly beyond Ochako, that kind of privilege and connections.

 

She still took the regular entrance exam, and with a quirk like that on top of it. She was definitely bold, that was for sure. But she could afford to be bold. Sasaki had every resource available to her, and here Ochako was, worried about whether or not she was insecure about her quirk.

 

Bakugou was right. She should be focused on herself right now. Sasaki should not even be on her mind at all, beyond a place to reach. Or someone to envy. It was just…

 

Sasaki had been so nice. And yet, here Ochako was, presumably helping her break school rules. Everyone knew Nezu and Sir Nighteye were close. It wasn’t her school career on the line. What was Ochako even doing right now?

 

The water was still running and she shut it off just as the door opened. Ochako nearly jumped out of her skin and her eyes fell on the open vent and then down to the screws on the floor.

 

Oh.

 

Oh, no.

 

Footsteps echoed and Ochako hurriedly swept up the screws and tucked them into her pocket before deliberately facing the mirror in the hopes the girl wouldn’t notice her.

 

“Aw, she’s already in the vent?” Someone asked, and Ochako froze as her eyes slowly drifted up to the girl in the mirror. Curly green hair in pigtails, in a third year hero student’s uniform, leaning on her hip as she frowned up at the open vent. “She couldn’t even wait for me?”

 

“... I’m sorry?”

 

“Oh, you must be Uraraka! I’ve heard about you!” The girl gushed. “I was hoping to see your quirk in action! Darn! I guess I’ll have to wait, then!”

 

“... My quirk?” Ochako squeaked, and the girl laughed at her before leaning forward to pinch her cheek.

 

“Goodness, you’re cute! I thought little Yumu was just starstruck!” The girl declared. “Hi, I’m Hado Nejire!”

 

“... Hi!” Ochako gasped as it barely registered that this was one of the top three students in the school. Hado Nejire. Did Sasaki just know everyone?

 

“Hi! Is our little spy working her butt off up there?”

 

“I… I don’t know, she didn’t tell me what we were doing, she just said she was almost late,” Ochako admitted weakly, and in hindsight, that sounded pathetic. On a lot of levels. She really did sound like a pushover.

 

“Oh! Well, Yumu is getting you extra credit, hun! Nezu extra credit!” Nejire announced. “Every year, something called espionage points are allotted to students by Nezu who correctly determine what the sports festival events will be. Izuku already got them and won’t share, so Yumu asked me to figure out when the staff meeting for the final details was going to happen. I’m kind of tired of sharing with the boys, so I thought this would be a fun little girl adventure! Nezu loves it when we get espionage points, but I’ve failed every year until now. Tamaki and Mirio are just not stealthy enough, but Yumu and Izuku and Hitoshi have been crawling around these vents and not getting caught for years now. The third years are all convinced there’s demons in the vents because of Izuku and Yumu, isn’t that hilarious? Anyways, Yumu thought you’d be a good fit for getting her into the vents because she’s mad Izuku won’t share his points and doesn’t want to ask him for help, and Hitoshi can sometimes just be contrary to contrary and supposedly hid all of her bobby pins, but I’m not sure of the validity of that statement, she loses her bobby pins all the time, so we got you instead! Even if I was a bit useless for this part… Oh, well, I can probably get her down easier when she gets back.”

 

Ochako really liked science fiction shows and movies. It was easily one of her favorite genres, and she recalled in one arc in Star Wars Rebels, there was a character who had downloaded so many Imperial secrets into his brain he went into overload and nearly broke. Right now, she was sympathizing with that Rodian. She was sympathizing with him a lot, because there was so much to know, and she wasn’t sure there was enough time to process every statement Hado had just made.

 

“I… Oh,” she said softly. Sasaki was getting her extra credit? Why hadn’t she told her before? Or was this a more spur of the moment kind of thing? Perhaps she wasn’t that great at communication. Everyone had communication issues, right?

 

Extra credit…

 

“If she gets caught, will we get in trouble?” She asked as soon as the first few statements processed.

 

“No,” Hado said with a laugh. “She will. But they won’t catch her. Only Nezu can actually follow her into the vents, and he isn’t going to do that. Those suits are expensive, you know. They’re all custom. And she’s his baby. ”

 

… Baby?

 

“... She doesn’t look like a rat…” Ochako said faintly, and Hado paused before laughing once again, this time even harder.

 

“No! Sir Nighteye was Nezu’s personal student, you know! He’s practically considered Nezu’s son in the hero circles. Which makes her his grandbaby. Her and Izuku, and Hitoshi, to some degree, since your homeroom teacher was his personal student, too. And all three of them were Nezu’s personal students at some point or another.”

 

Ochako’s brain was whirring with all of this new information. She knew that objectively, with UA’s reputation and history, she would be going to school with the children of celebrities, not to mention the recommendation exams. It was unavoidable. She knew she was going to meet classmates like Iida, and Todoroki, and Yaoyorozu. What she wasn’t expecting was that someone with the kind of heroic pedigree Sasaki came attached to would take interest in her.

 

And here she was, thinking she was just pretty on the first day of school. She was Nezu’s adoptive grandbaby. Sir Nighteye’s daughter. And Ochako was… the daughter of construction workers.

 

She still made it into UA, so there was that. Just like Sasaki did. And she did it without all the extra training Sasaki had, so that had to count for something… Even if she did have a more versatile quirk to begin with. It was so weird. She had hit the genetic lottery, and Sasaki had hit the social one.

 

She needed to stop thinking like this. She didn’t have time to feel inadequate. Sasaki was just another student, just like her. That was all. Ochako was going into a field where money and fame was guaranteed. She had to be comfortable with this sort of thing, meeting these sorts of people. She had to view Sasaki as an equal.

 

“You alright, Uraraka?” Hado asked and Ochako blinked multiple times before shaking herself with a bright smile.

 

“Yeah! Just thinking about dinner!” Oh, wow, that was possibly the most uncool thing she could have said. It took all of her willpower to not slam her face into the sink.

 

“Hungry, huh? Sasaki and I were planning on stopping for ramen on the way out, since her papa is working late and she likes his cooking more, did you want to come? She likes this hole in the wall place where you can get it for 330 yen. It’s a favorite of her dad’s!”

 

Ochako wasn’t sure if her eyes were about to fall out of her head at that price tag, (how did she not know there was such a cheap spot in Musutafu), or if she was having a heart attack at the idea of Sir Nighteye in his expensive Prada suits eating ramen for 330 yen.

 

“I… Sure!” She exclaimed, because she had to know where this place was.

 

Wait, likes his cooking more? They didn’t have a chef? That was surprising… Sir Nighteye had always seemed like a more… bougie hero. Maybe she just thought that because of the suits. Or did top pros not make as much as she thought? Oh, no…

 

Wait. Likes his cooking more? She thought Sir Nighteye was one of the most eligible bachelors… Was he secretly married? Wow. Pros really lived whole lives where the paparazzi couldn’t see. Then again, that was not all that surprising, given the fact that no one knew he had children up until now, and it apparently was not going to be officially confirmed until the sports festival, despite the rumors flying around on social media thanks to what seemed like the business course and some students from Gen Ed.

 

Come to think of it, the Sasakis had not bothered to offer any evidence that they were the children of Sir Nighteye… But this top student who had probably worked with him was confirming it, so it must be true.

 

“She should be back soon…” Hado hummed and leaned on the counter to look up at the open vent. “I swear, I don’t know how Izuku fits into those things. I know I can’t, but then again, Yumu is blessed with a small chest. What I wouldn’t give to be her… The lack of back pain…”

 

“She’s very muscular, though,” Ochako said, as if that was somehow a defense, or that Hado had even attacked her figure to begin with.

 

“She really is, isn’t she? Then again, with that kind of training routine, it’s no wonder,” Hado said with a laugh. “She goes far harder with those boys of hers than me and my boys do. They’re up at five almost every morning just to run, and still get in training or workouts in after school, as if they don’t have Foundational Heroics. I don’t think they’ve skipped a day since…”

 

Hado abruptly trailed off, and Ochako had an immediate flashback to Sasaki bloody and broken in Present Mic’s arms as he rushed him up the stairs, Aizawa dragging himself up after him with all flesh and sinew on display, and…

 

And she couldn’t think about that. She had to not think about that. UA had coverage for students and mental health, and her parents had made sure she’d seen one of the available therapists licensed to work with heroes and heroes in training. In fact, they’d texted her a lot. And had her send a selfie with her therapist just to prove she went. It was an entire mess.

 

When they came back to school, it was like nothing had happened. Except when Aizawa was in his gym uniform or costume now, he wore a compression sleeve. And Aizawa-sensei was covered from head to toe in bandages. And Sasaki had an ugly scar under his eye. His quirk was tied to his eyes. He needed his eyes. Ochako couldn’t imagine how much of a mess it would have been if he had lost that eye.

 

There were other non visible signs now, too. The way the class collectively tensed when someone opened the door. The glances given to empty seats when someone went to the restroom. The collective concentration in combat drills, the way her classmates would get frustrated beyond the regular aggravation when they couldn’t get their bodies to move the right way. The knowledge of life and death that weighed on all of them nowadays. Granted, it had scarcely been the third day of school when it happened, but it was still something that happened. They had all barely known each other, but now it felt like they knew each other a little too well.

 

It felt a little like responsibility. And it felt like fear, fear she needed to press past.

 

Hado hadn’t meant to upset her. She knew that.

 

Breathe in.

 

Breathe out.

 

“Will there be potstickers at the restaurant?” Ochako asked with a bright smile given to Hado.

 

“Sure will!” Hado chirped, relief in her eyes at the abrupt conversation change.

 

“Great!”

 

Just then, Sasaki stuck her head out of the vent and grinned down at the two of them.

 

“I got the info,” she said, entirely too proudly for Ochako’s tastes, but even with the memory of her screaming “no” fresh in the back of Ochako’s mind, she couldn’t deny that that smile was infectious.

 

“Great. Now how are you going to get down?” Hado asked and Yumu blinked.

 

“... Oh.”

 

“You don’t have Hitoshi.”

 

“I do not have Hitoshi.”

 

“... Now what?”

 

“... The points are worth a broken leg.”

 

“Yumu, n--- ”

 

In the end, Sasaki did not get a broken leg, Hado did not die of a heart attack, and Ochako did not go hungry. All in all, it was a pretty good day. A pretty good day indeed.

Notes:

No Yumus were harmed in the making of this chapter.

Chapter 18

In hindsight, Izuku should have waited for his siblings. Getting to the arena with them was one thing, but doing it on his own with this ridiculous crowd on top of it was another matter entirely. He knew, roughly, where the arena was, but with all of the new stalls and people everywhere and general chaos, he was completely lost. No one was even giving him a wide berth. People were jostling him left and right and stressing Aki out, and Izuku really needed to get him better at dealing with crowds like this. He was going to be an intelligence hero, but he still had to go outside, and do patrols and stuff. But, alas, they had put so much time and effort into training him for hero work, they’d neglected regular seeing eye dog stuff.

 

At the very least, he’d gotten Aki comfortable on his chest. That had taken a lot of work, but he was confident in crossing the chasm.

 

Of course, he would never get to cross the chasm if he didn’t get to the ready room. He really should have waited for Hitoshi and Yumu. This was a nightmare. It was so loud, no one was being polite to the blind kid, and he was pretty sure he was lost.

 

“Oh, what a cute dog!” Someone squealed and Izuku internally winced as he felt someone bump into him. Really? They had to push him aside, too?

 

“Please don’t pet service dogs without permission!” Someone called. “Actually, just don’t pet dogs without permission!”

 

“Kamui Woods! I… Oh!” The girl gasped and Izuku snapped his fingers loudly.

 

“Aki, c’mere,” he ordered and Aki pressed back into his leg, panting hard. He needed some water. “Are you hot? Gods, I’m never going to find the arena at this rate…”

 

“Are you lost, kid?” Kamui Woods, apparently, asked, and Izuku internally cringed because Kamui Woods was actually cool.

 

“... A little?”

 

“Kamui Woods, can I get your autograph?” The girl asked and Kamui Woods let out a quiet, resigned sigh.

 

“Sure.”

 

There was the scratching of a pen on a paper and Izuku took advantage of the distraction to try to slip away, but a hand descended on his shoulder.

 

“You’re a UA student,” Kamui said and Izuku internally cringed.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Which course?”

 

“Heroics,” Izuku replied and then frowned. “Guess this doesn’t look that good, does it? A hero in training getting lost because of a crowd.”

 

“That’s what the training’s for, kid. Do you need help getting to the room?”

 

“Aren’t you on patrol?”

 

“If heroes can’t help a blind kid find their ready room because they’re busy with a patrol, that kind of defeats the purpose of being a hero, doesn’t it? Come on,” Kamui Woods said and moved to the side not occupied by Aki. “Arm’s right here. Hey, Mt. Lady! I’m helping this kid get to his ready room, cover for me, yeah?”

 

“Sure!” Mt. Lady, apparently, called from a distance and Izuku took Kamui’s arm carefully.

 

“What’s your name, kid?” Kamui asked.

 

“Uh… Sasaki Izuku,” Izuku replied cautiously.

 

“You a first year?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“You’ve got to be nervous,” Kamui said with a laugh. “Big day for you, huh?”

 

“I’m not that nervous,” Izuku replied with a shrug as Kamui expertly guided him through the crowd. He was definitely going to tell Papa to start giving him preference after this. “I already know what’s going to happen.”

 

“You do, huh? Quirk?”

 

“Yeah, it’s my quirk. It’s definitely going to be a mess, that’s for sure. I don’t think anyone is expecting the end,” Izuku said with a snort. If he didn’t win, it was going to be Hitoshi, Yumu, or the Gen Ed student. No one was going to be expecting that. Katsuki and Todoroki were going to be the favorites from the start.

 

“Well, I wish I could watch, then. The replays won’t give it justice, will they?” Kamui asked and Izuku shrugged.

 

“No idea,” he deadpanned. “Wouldn’t know either way.”

 

“Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t, huh? Whoops,” Kamui replied easily and Izuku’s lips twitched in a smile. He liked this guy. “Which ready room am I taking you to, by the way?”

 

“1-A,” Izuku replied, and Kamui paused for just a bare millisecond before continuing.

 

“Awesome. That’s the easiest room to find,” he said, and, yeah, Izuku liked this one. “What’s your partner’s name?”

 

“Aki! He’s a treeing walker hound,” Izuku replied. “He’s quirked, too!”

 

“Longevity and intelligence, I’m guessing?” Kamui asked, and Izuku blinked rapidly behind his visor.

 

“How did you…”

 

“My mom’s blind,” Kamui supplied. “Arborist quirks tend to rob one sense or another. It’s a bit unavoidable. I’m noseblind and don’t have pain receptors, myself.”

 

Izuku perked up at that. Arborist quirks were pretty rare, and he rarely got a chance like this, so…

 

“So when your arms get chopped off, you don’t feel it? By pain receptors, do you mean all pain, like you can’t feel being burned? Do you have a sense of touch, or is it more unreliable?”

 

“Oh, wow, you’re a quirk fan, aren’t you? My sense of touch is a bit unreliable and I mean all pain. I can feel the warmth, a bit, but no, it doesn’t hurt when I get burned,” Kamui replied.

 

“I don’t have my recorder… What a pain. Uh… Okay, so if you don’t have a reliable sense of touch, do you think that negatively impacts your management of how much you can take in combat, or does your regeneration factor cancel that out?”

 

“You qualify that as a regeneration factor?” Kamui asked in amusement, and Izuku shrugged once.

 

“Yes. I mean, normal trees don’t grow at the rate you do, do they?”

 

“Hm… I guess they don’t, no. I think I would be out of luck if I was a regular tree, though.”

 

“You definitely would be a lot taller at your age,” Izuku commented, and Kamui let out a laugh.

 

“Yeah, I guess I would be. But I’d also be stuck in one place. And I definitely wouldn’t be catching criminals.”

 

“No, you wouldn’t,” Izuku agreed thoughtfully. “I always did wonder what a quirk would look like if you were able to wake up trees and get them to move on your command.”

 

“... Well, it’d be terrifying,” Kamui said after a pause. “Like an Ent, right?”

 

“Or Fangorn Forest… You like Lord of the Rings?”

 

“I’m a tree. Of course I like Lord of the Rings,” Kamui replied wryly. “Surprised you like it. It’s more of a Western thing, isn’t it?”

 

“Plenty of Westerners know more about anime and manga than your average Japanese person, don’t they?” Izuku retorted. “Besides, it’s Lord of the Rings. I’m fluent in English and wanted to see what all the fuss was about.”

 

“Okay, then tell me, did you think it was anti industrialist or anti capitalist?” Kamui challenged, and Izuku blinked under his visor.

 

“They could hypothetically be the same thing, couldn’t they?” Izuku asked, and it took him less than a second to decide that if Kamui offered him an internship, he was going to accept it. He liked this guy.

 

And thus launched their excessive, heated debate on politics in Lord of the Rings and what it meant at the time of publication versus what it meant now. Izuku was of the opinion that had Tolkien lived to see capitalism at its height and boom, he would have been a full blown Marxist, but Kamui was convinced he would have been a libertarian at best. It didn’t take long at all for Kamui to lead Izuku inside, and before Izuku realized it was all over, Kamui was coming to a stop.

 

“Here’s your ready room,” he said and released Izuku’s arm. “I guess we’re going to have to put this argument on hold until I can work with you, aren’t we?”

 

“Oh, that’s not fair, we’ll be working when I’m graduated, what if I’m old and boring and my politics change?” Izuku complained and Kamui let out a snort before a very woody hand, for lack of a better comparison, ruffled Izuku’s hair.

 

“I don’t think they will, kid. I’ll see you around, yeah? Good luck in the festival.”

 

Kamui’s footsteps faded away, and Izuku put his hand on the doorknob before he took a deep breath and opened the door.

 

It was chaos. Someone, he was pretty sure that was Katsuki, was arguing with someone (no surprise there), and Izuku pursed his lips harshly.

 

“What is going on here?” He asked sharply.

 

“Hey, Izuku. Get lost?” Hitoshi drawled, and Izuku flipped the bird in his vague direction. “...That’s Todoroki.”

 

“Well, fuck him, too.”

 

“Izuku,” Yumu hissed and Izuku stuck his tongue out.

 

“Don’t even, Yumu! Also, Bakugou, why are you fighting with people so early in the morning? I’m tired.”

 

“What did you just call me, you shitty---”

 

“Your name, ” Izuku retorted. Really, he got mad at everything. Just being in his general vicinity was exhausting. It was going to be a long day. A very, very long day.

 

“I see you’re all wound up,” Dad said from behind Izuku, and Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin. As always, Dad was the only one that could sneak up on him.

 

“Sensei!” Uraraka gasped as Izuku shuffled to the side with heat rising in his cheeks.

 

“You’re wasting energy here,” Dad grunted. “If you’re going to fight, fight on the field. That’s all. Speaking of, you’re all running late. Get down there.”

 

“Yes, sensei!” The class roared and Izuku internally cringed as someone took his arm.

 

“Sasaki!” Kirishima hissed. “Do you know what today’s gonna look like?”

 

“Chaotic,” Izuku replied as his hand found Kirishima’s sleeve. “Let’s go.”

 

The class poured out of the room, and someone tapped on Izuku’s shoulder. He lifted his head and tilted his head at the burning cold to his side.

 

“Todoroki?”

 

“... I’m not going to underestimate you again,” Todoroki stated flatly. “Don’t think I’m not going to be a challenge.”

 

Izuku didn’t have the heart to tell him he barely even considered him competition.

 

“Noted,” Izuku replied coldly and pulled Kirishima a little closer. “Let’s do our best, right?”

 

“Wow… The strongest in the class are challenging each other,” Kirishima hissed. “So manly!”

 

Gods, why was he always so cute with his fanboy tendencies?

 

“Not really, but thanks,” Izuku replied dryly. “Also, thanks for being my eyes.”

 

“You were almost late, Izuku,” Hitoshi said from somewhere behind him. “Still regret not waiting for us?”

 

“Oh, shut up, Toshi,” Izuku groused.

 

“I told you you’d get lost,” Hitoshi teased. “Yumu, did I not tell him he’d get lost?”

 

“You did tell him he’d get lost,” Yumu confirmed.

 

“Kamui Woods found me and argued with me about Tolkien, so I think I’m the winner here!” Izuku declared. “I bet none of you got to meet some of the best up and coming rookies.”

 

“Oh, you’re just moving up in the world, aren’t you?” Hitoshi asked and smacked Izuku in the back of his head. “Rude.”

 

“You say, like you don’t have Best Jeanist on speed dial,” Izuku shot back.

 

“Wait, does he really…?” Kirishima asked hesitantly.

 

“You’d have to steal his phone to find out,” Izuku replied sweetly and tugged his arm.

 

“Stairs,” Kirishima said and Izuku stepped down. Oh, he was getting good at this. Not that Aki hadn’t given Izuku his warning, but it was sweet of him.

 

“Thanks,” he mumbled. Kirishima was just a really nice guy.

 

“You’re welcome, dude!”

 

“We’re nearly there!” Hitoshi chirped. “How bad do you think the speech is going to be this year, Izuku?”

 

“Hitoshi, stop antagonizing Katsuki,” Izuku shot back.

 

“What?” Kirishima asked in confusion.

 

“Top scores on the entrance exam does the speech,” Izuku explained. “Katsuki was number one on the entrance exam.”

 

“Oh! Wow! I didn’t even know he had to do that!” Kirishima exclaimed.

 

“It’s not a big deal, shitty hair,” Katsuki said from somewhere up ahead of them.

 

“Yeah, sure!” Kirishima agreed.

 

“What does that even mean?” Katsuki demanded, and Izuku internally sighed. He was such a tsundere sometimes.

 

“Do you take offense to everything, Katsuki, or just ninety percent of things?”

 

“Shut your mouth, Izuku!” Katsuki spat, and Izuku just laughed.

 

“I bet you’re red right now. Toshi, is he red?”

 

“He looks like a pissed off onion,” Toshi replied.

 

“Onion, huh?”

 

“Or a radish. He should dye his hair green.”

 

“Shut up, eyebags!”

 

“Boys, can you go five minutes without fighting?” Yaoyorozu asked from somewhere ahead of them, and Izuku laughed again at that.

 

“On a day like today, Yaomomo? You underestimate the power of teenage boy hormones with the promise of a competition.”

 

“Just let them fight it out, Yaoyorozu,” Uraraka said. “Let them get all their energy out on each other so we can yank the rug out from under their feet.”

 

“Hey!” Kirishima protested, and suddenly they were blasted in the face by the roar of the crowd. Izuku blinked multiple times under his visor at the way it all echoed around them. They must be in a tunnel.

 

“Oh, wow, this is scary!” Hagakure exclaimed. “I hope I look okay…”

 

“You look great, Hagakure,” Izuku deadpanned as the roar built into an unending crescendo. The ground changed under his feet to what felt like soft grass, and he tilted back his head to bask in the warm sun on his skin. “Oh, that feels nice…”

 

“We’re right over here, Sasaki,” Kirishima said and pulled him along. “Just stand riiiggghhhttt… Here.”

 

“Thanks, Kiri!” Izuku said brightly as Kirishima pushed him into position and Aki leaned up against his leg, panting lightly in excitement. He didn’t have time to give him any water… What a pain.

 

There was a huge bang and Aki tensed lightly before relaxing as the stadium slowly quieted.

 

“Welcome, spectators, to the annual UA Sports Festival on the first year stage!” Oh, Auntie Nem was announcing. That meant his predictions were that much more accurate. Nice. “I’m your host, Midnight!”

 

The stadium exploded into screams for the famed Midnight, and Izuku dearly hoped she was wearing her “UA work uniform”, not her other one.

 

Auntie Nem went into her whole spiel and Izuku majorly tuned it out until she announced Katsuki to the crowd. He heard his footsteps crunch away and tilted his head ever so slightly. Was Katsuki going to humiliate himself, or was he going to be half decent for once? Izuku supposed he was about to find out.

 

There was a pause as the crowd quieted down, a shuffling picked up by the mic, and Izuku’s eyes narrowed under his visor as he waited for Katsuki to speak. Wind ruffled his hair and his fingers found Aki’s head, brushing down his fur to ground himself.

 

“If you’re not fighting to win, there’s no point in fighting,” Katsuki finally said, and whispers and exclamations broke out amongst the first years. Nothing followed his statement, and Izuku picked up the telltale declaration that 1-A must be full of arrogant bastards like him. A smile twitched at his lips as Katsuki’s footsteps drew nearer. They had no idea.

 

“Well, that was… a pledge,” Auntie Nem said. “So youthful! Now, onto the selection!”

 

There was a whirr and clicking and Izuku patiently waited for Auntie Nem to pretend to be shocked at the selection.

 

“Obstacle course!” She announced. “Would you look at that! A fine way to promote individualism and show off your skills! To your rear, first years, is a tunnel to make your way through! You have four obstacles to pass, and the first 42 participants will move on to the next section!”

 

Murmurs broke out, and Izuku could feel the eyes on his class. That was fine. They could look at them with jealousy all they liked, and Izuku could forgive their naivete, at least for now. He may not be so forgiving later, but he would look away this time.

 

“On your marks, set… Go!” Auntie Nem howled, and Izuku tensed before breaking into a run.

 

His visor was flipped up and in a second the universes poured in. Gods, it was going to be a long fucking day. Aki hit the side of his leg and Izuku wove in and out of the crowd. The sardine was possibly the worst challenge for him. There was no way to get through without a physical quirk, but…

 

But. There. He had no idea where his siblings were, but from the yelps and exclamations, Yumu was right ahead, clearing a path as bodies dropped to the ground in waves.

 

“Sorry!” Yumu called, and while Izuku would normally just use her to clear the path, today was a competition, and he almost wanted his siblings pissed at him.

 

A crackling rang out above him, and Izuku dropped to one knee as ice cold air blasted down on his back.

 

“Aki, up!” He shouted, and heavy paws landed on his back as Aki used him as a launch pad to scramble onto the ice. Todoroki skated on, entirely unaware of the hijacking, and Izuku flicked through his universes before pinging on the best path through. His full body tensed and he put his hands on someone’s shoulders.

 

“Sorry!” He called and launched himself up to an indignant yelp. One foot landed on someone’s shoulder and he coiled all of his muscles to push off and grab onto the edge of the ice. Aki’s hot breath ghosted across his hands, a direct contrast to the burning cold, and Izuku hauled himself up and onto the ice.

 

“Let’s see if we can beat out Yumu, huh?” Izuku asked the dog cheerfully, and off the two went.

 

“Todoroki is already at the end of the tunnel!” Pops howled. “But what’s this? Sasaki Izuku has hijacked his bridge and is gaining on him! Look at those two go!”

 

Izuku grinned ferally as his feet pounded against the ice, Aki loping along beside him. His universes told them there was a dip ahead, and Izuku hit the ice to treat it like a slide, one leg crossed under the other as Aki plunged next to him. That was going to cool the pup down, definitely.

 

“What a smooth move for Sasaki Izuku! Did we even see how he got up there?” Pops howled. “Oh, what’s this? His sister is coming out of the tunnel! What a litter of bodies the boogeyman of 1-A has left behind her! That’s gotta sting someone’s pride!”

 

“Please don’t call her that,” Dad muttered into the mic, because gods, when Pops got on his ‘proud father of three hilariously overqualified children’ kick, everyone suffered the second hand embarrassment.

 

“Hey, Zuku!” Yumu called as Izuku hit the ground and came up in a roll. “You could’ve just piggybacked!”

 

“Wouldn’t wanna steal your spotlight, Yumu!” Izuku shouted as he flicked through the universes.

 

There were a collective series of booms behind them, and Izuku ducked on reflex as Katsuki soared in right over them, landing hard and rolling to recover.

 

“Might want to save that, Katsuki!” Izuku said cryptically. “Wouldn’t want to overextend yourself!”

 

“Shut the fuck up, Izuku!” Katsuki swore, and Izuku laughed breathlessly. Oh, if they all only knew.

 

“Oho, what’s this? Are those the zero-pointers?” Pops cackled, and Izuku instinctively ducked as they let out of a spray of shots. Aki barked, and Izuku rolled to the side. “That’s one hell of an obstacle for first years! How will they over--- oh.”

 

There was a burst of cold right in the face, a massive creaking, the sound of crashing, and Todoroki had utterly frozen the zero pointers Izuku never got to see, dammit, in place. Common sense and peering into the future told Izuku they were about to pitch over, and he tilted his head.

 

“They’re frozen, let’s go!” Someone called.

 

“Don’t do that,” Izuku ordered. “He timed it so they’d fall over!”

 

Honestly, Todoroki was a ruthless cunt, and Izuku respected him for it. But in the meantime…

 

“Kiri! Tetsutetsu!” Izuku called. “Rush them and knock them over!”

 

“Sasaki, are you crazy?” Kirishima asked, and Izuku shot a deadly smile in his general direction.

 

“If I wasn’t, this would probably never work.”

 

“Wait, how the hell does he know my name?” Tetsutetsu asked, and Izuku huffed out a laugh. He knew everything.

 

“Izuku knows everything, just listen to him, or none of us will pass,” Yumu cut in.

 

“I’m not waiting for you fucks,” Katsuki swore and there was the sound of him running off, to the left, before he activated his quirk and took off.

 

It took Izuku a second to realize he didn’t run towards the robots, but rather away from Izuku, who relied on his hearing more than anything else in the world. What the hell?

 

There was a bang, and then another boom interspersed with the sound of shattering ice, and Izuku realized Katsuki just knocked them over. A loud, loud drawn out creak sounded out, and then a crash, followed by another, and another explosion as Katsuki caught himself, and what the hell even was Izuku’s life? The ground rumbled, and someone hard grabbed Izuku’s arm. The familiar scent of hair gel and sweat filled his nostrils, mixed with sage from what was presumably Kirishima’s deodorant, and Izuku straightened up.

 

“I’m fine,” he said and Kirishima let him go.

 

“You good? That was loud… I read…”

 

“I’m fine,” Izuku insisted, but color was climbing up in his cheeks, because Kirishima somehow made sweat smell good.

 

“I can’t tell if Bakugou is playing for the team or actively hindering everyone, but what a bang!”

 

“He always did pay attention in math,” Dad muttered into the mic, and Izuku let out a feral grin.

 

“See ya at the finish line, Kiri!” He called and swept Kirishima’s feet out from under him before breaking out into a dead sprint as Kirishima yelped.

 

Aki broke into an even lope next to him, and Izuku flicked through his universes, taking his time, before he determined the best path. In a step, he was swinging up onto the freezing cold robot, and Aki was following him as Izuku charged forward. Swinging up and over a leg, smooth as butter, Izuku hit the ground and kept sprinting forward. There. The ropes. The primary challenge for Izuku.

 

“Izuku, wait---” There was almost a sense of panic in Pops’s voice, and Izuku just grinned, intentionally continuing in his run before he slid to a stop, inches away from the edge of the abyss. There was a muffled noise from the announcer’s box, somewhere between a cough and a laugh, and Izuku waved before taking one tantalizing step forward towards the rope and slinging himself down.

 

“Aki, on,” he ordered, and Aki slunk forward, likely with his tail between his legs as Izuku wrapped his own legs around the rope. Two paws pressed on his chest and Izuku grunted as the full weight of his dog came down on him. Aki scrambled, sliding his front paws over Izuku’s shoulders and letting his back legs dangle on either hip, and Izuku started crawling forward.

 

“Ahem. Bakugou is really killing it out there! Todoroki is making bridges, but Bakugou apparently has no time for legs, because he’s just flying! Meanwhile, Sasaki Izuku is the third to reach the ropes, and he’s showing great partnership with his guide dog, Aki! What an ingenious method to cross! Eraserhead, do you think anyone will be able to keep up with Todoroki and Bakugou?”

 

“This isn’t a test of whether or not people can keep up, but if they can catch up,” Dad replied gruffly, and Izuku’s lips split into a smile. He wasn’t wrong, that was for sure.

 

The muscles on his body straining, he ignored the horrendous dog breath right in his face and scooted along the cable to the end.

 

“Alright, off,” he ordered Aki, and the dog struggled to get his feet under him as he dug those paws into Izuku’s chest and stomach to use him as a board to get on the mesa. Izuku waited until he was properly settled before climbing up after him. There was a roar, like Tenya’s engines, right behind him, and Izuku ignored it, because there were a plethora of cables to cross.

 

It took a lot of effort. The next leg of the course would be a breeze, but in the meantime, Izuku was stuck hauling a ninety pound dog on his chest like full dead weight, huffing and puffing through it as he did his best to pace himself, because for the next section, he would have no choice but to sprint. Students were yelling all around, their voices echoing through the chasm below, and Izuku pressed on, hard headed and ready to win.

 

He had to win. More than anyone else. His eyes were already watering with the exertion, as if he was actually using them or something, and it was getting to be a bitch and a half to breathe with Aki’s dead weight on him. There were nets far below to catch him, but Izuku wasn’t about to get knocked out. He had shit to prove, dammit, and it was that all consuming need to prove that he could play with the big boys that carried him over the expanse with burns on his hands from the hot cables and a heart pounding in his ears that was drowning out everything around him.

 

His muscles were shaking a little from the exertion when he hauled himself over the final edge.

 

“Bakugou and Todoroki are going at it in the minefield! But why aren’t they circumventing it?” Pops howled into the mic.

 

“They overexerted themselves,” Dad stated flatly. “Todoroki is shaking and so is Bakugou. Todoroki’s body can no longer take the cold, and Bakugou’s arms are too strained to simply fly over.”

 

“Ooo that was a punch!” Pops declared as Izuku grinned, not unlike bearing his fangs, and took a second to flip through all of the universes.

 

“Aki,” he said as he and his partner jogged to the end of the minefield. “I’ll lead.”

 

Aki immediately glued himself to Izuku’s side as Izuku casually stretched out his shaking limbs, running through all of the scenarios in his mind as he worked out the shakes and tremors. This was going to be one way to show off their impeccable teamwork. He was pretty sure no one was going to be expecting a seeing eye dog to be able to turn on a dime like Aki could. At least, not at these speeds.

 

“Ready, bud?” He prompted, and Aki butted his head against Izuku’s thigh. “Let’s go.”

 

The purple circles around Izuku’s irises exploded into glowing green energy and he broke into a dead sprint, flicking through images of purple and blue smoke as he slid left, right, cutting his way through the dirt and spinning on a dime. One Izuku met an explosion and he flicked to another to avoid it, pulling harshly on the tightest threads.

 

“Deku what the hell are you doing?” Katsuki demanded as Izuku sped past the two of them.

 

“Oho, what’s this? Sasaki Izuku comes out of nowhere to steal the lead! It’s like he knows where the mines are before he steps! Look at him go!” Pops crowed as Izuku easily outstripped Katsuki and Todoroki, tapping Aki right between the shoulders to tell him to jump as they leapt in tune right over a cluster. “And Aki is keeping up like a champ! What a team!”

 

“Tone it down, Mic,” Dad grumbled, but Izuku quite liked having a mildly embarrassing cheerleader in the announcer’s booth. His foot cut through the dirt, spraying up rubble, and his eyes told him the tunnel to victory was just ahead.

 

He was going to win every fucking event. He had something to prove. Katsuki may be the cockiest fucker Izuku had ever met, but let it never be said that Izuku was someone that didn’t rise to any challenge he saw.

 

The minefield cleared and Izuku couldn’t stop himself from letting out a whoop as he burst through the end of the tunnel to stunned silence, followed by the boom of cannons announcing first place.

 

Did he put a target on his back? Yes. Yes, he fucking did. But who better to be a target than the boy that could dodge Snipe?

 

Laughing, Izuku fell over in the grass and let Aki flop down on him, panting hard. The visor was snapped back down, and he was blanketed once again in quiet, comfortable darkness.

 

“Well that was one HELL of a win! Sasaki Izuku and Aki take first place in the obstacle race!”

 

“Told ya, Aki,” Izuku mumbled as the stadium burst apart in applause. A lone hand drifted up to rub right between Aki’s eyes. “We’re going to be the best Hero Duo ever.”

Notes:

Nezu's gremlin army is BACK!!!

Chapter 19

“Alright, Aki, stay,” Izuku ordered as he set down a bowl of water for the dog to lap up. “You don’t follow the rules for this one, so I gotta do it on my own.”

 

All of the students were looking at Izuku like he was fresh meat. That was fine. Izuku had something to prove this year, and he was going to prove it whether they liked it or not. The points were an irritation, but nothing he couldn’t handle. He knew what he was getting himself into weeks ago, and if he couldn’t follow through, what was the point in being a Sasaki to begin with?

 

Aki seemed fine with taking a break, at least. He didn’t even seem to mind being left with Nemuri, who may or may not be giving him jerky.

 

“Are you sure about doing this on your own?” Nemuri asked him quietly, and Izuku rolled out his shoulders.

 

“Yeah. He can’t work as a wing or a horse, and I have a team to guide me. Besides, it’s a job interview, isn’t it? I have to prove I can handle myself without him, too,” Izuku replied. “Keep an eye on him for me, yeah?”

 

Aki was too busy inhaling water to even notice Izuku leaving.

 

“Izu-kun!” Mei was hollering at him, and Izuku held up his hand as he listened to her loud approach.

 

“You want to go with the birds if you want to make it into the final round,” he said bluntly. “Don’t tell Hitoshi I told you.”

 

He could practically hear her perk up at the idea.

 

“But all the cameras are going to be on you!” Mei protested, and Izuku grinned.

 

“And they’re not going to forget you come the final round,” he promised. “Also, you get a better matchup which really lets you and the other person shine if you join that team. Otherwise, you just embarrass someone else, and that’s not cool.”

 

“Hmf. The birds, then?” Mei asked in annoyance.

 

“Hitoshi’s little boyfriend and your support buddy’s twin. Go get em, killer,” Izuku encouraged her and off Mei went, because someone had to listen to Izuku’s advice eventually. With a sigh, he stretched out before taking a deep breath.

 

“Hitoshi! Yumu! Uraraka! Get over here!” he thundered, and waited patiently for the sound of thundering footsteps. There they were.

 

“You want to team up with m…” Uraraka trailed off uncertainly, and Izuku gave her a smile not unlike baring his fangs.

 

“You’re going to carry us to number one, Uraraka. I hope you’ve increased your weight limit. Yumu, get on my shoulders.”

 

This was going to be fun.

 

.

.

.

.

.

 

Okay, so this was only fun for Izuku. Yumu had single handedly taken out four teams so far, and now the wild game of goose chase was on. Almost every team was coming for them, and Izuku was having the time of his life misdirecting people and turning everyone around in circles. His eyes were starting to hurt, but that was fine, because he’d rather they hurt for something like this.

 

“Go right in three… two… one,” he ordered, and as one, the four of them moved right to dodge an incoming attack. It whistled past their heads and Izuku moved them in a circle around. “Hitoshi, work your magic.”

 

“Hey, 1-B!” Hitoshi shouted. “Was your aim always so lousy, or are we making you nervous?”

 

“Hey, fu---”

 

“Cat got your tongue?” Hitoshi leered teasingly.

 

“What the he-- ”

 

“Stop answering him!” the rider shouted and Izuku effortlessly dropped to one knee, Yumu hanging on for dear life, to avoid an attack.

 

“Or what? Am I just too pretty to talk to?”

 

“You are not that pre---”

 

“Aw, I’m hurt,” Hitoshi teased. “Last man standing, huh?”

 

“Hey, I’m---”

 

“They never do learn, do they?” Izuku mused in amusement.

 

“Hand over your headbands,” Hitoshi ordered as the group drifted close to them. As one, all four headbands were handed over, and Yumu looped them around her neck with the rest. They were really high up in points now, and Yumu held all of them, just to hide how many they actually had and which one was the winning number.

 

“Let’s keep moving,” Izuku ordered. “That team with Monoma is doing some opportunist kills and I’m not comfortable with what that has in store for us.”

 

“I’m pretty sure they’re a bit busy with Bakugou right now,” Hitoshi said in amusement as another explosion rocked the arena, followed by Katsuki’s screech of rage.

 

“Don’t drop me, lizard!”

 

“Oh, he really did go with Setsuna. Nice,” Izuku commented off handedly as he twisted, his hands still wrapped firmly around Yumu’s shins to keep her out of harm’s way. “Yumu, how you holding up up there?”

 

“You just had to make me the target,” Yumu grumbled.

 

“Of course I did,” Izuku said dismissively. “Heads up, Todoroki’s on the warpath.”

 

In an instant, the playful banter of the four shifted to something more targeted. They had two minutes left, and it was time to stop collecting points and start running. Bakugou was thoroughly distracted now with Monoma, but that wouldn’t last long. Setsuna was cackling with glee in the background, a good chunk of teams had been taken out by coming for Team Sasaki, and now they were slowly being tipped into the fire.

 

“On my mark,” Izuku said. “Uraraka, you ready?”

 

Uraraka was their secret weapon in this endeavor. Yumu was the obvious answer for crushing power, and had utterly destroyed several teams so far with Hitoshi’s help, but Uraraka was their ace in the hole, which was precisely why they hadn’t used her quirk at all so far. Her weight limit wasn’t fantastic yet. She could handle Yumu’s weight for a short amount of time, but that was all they needed for their last minute ploy that Izuku had planned down to the milliseconds.

 

Honestly, Todoroki had been on their ass for ten minutes now, barely getting distracted from his goal, and Izuku was a little tired of the whole thing. He should know better by now, but it must be his father in him that inspired him to lose his shit at the slightest sign of a roadblock. It was like Izuku had offended him or something by daring to be more without some kind of brilliant quirk that looked good on TV. Izuku was over it, honestly. It was really telling that he was friends with some of the more powerful Izukus in other universes.

 

Izuku didn’t fucking like him. No thought given to how to make his quirk work beyond raw power, no thought dedicated to how he could be more. It was all about power, and Izuku hated that. At least Bakugou got creative with shit. Todoroki only had two settings: power and more power. It was insulting to someone like Izuku.

 

And now they were once again running from him. The air temperature was dropping rapidly, and Izuku let Hitoshi take the steering wheel while he checked and double checked his analyses. Tsu was about to try to steal their bands, which was annoying, but all Yumu had to do was dodge right about….

 

“Yumu, dodge!” Izuku yelped, because unlike his more powerful classmates, he knew how to view everyone as a threat. Yumu shifted above him, dodging effortlessly, and Izuku tilted his head back to press into Yumu’s stomach. “Nice try, Tsu!”

 

“Good dodge, kero!” Tsu called from her protective huddle in Shoji’s wings, and Izuku narrowly danced out of an attempted icing. They were about to electrocute them. That was a bother.

 

“On my count, move left,” Izuku commanded, and Uraraka flexed next to him. There was a student in 1-C with a lightning vane quirk, and they were driving them right towards them.

 

Misdirection was Izuku’s favorite thing.

 

“One… two… three… now! ” Izuku called, and the group slid to the left as a bolt of electricity came from Momo’s handy rig and hit the weathervane student, allowing them to absorb the hit and send it right back at Todoroki. There was a muffled sound of frustration, and Nemuri announced the ten second warning.

 

Ice came catapulting at them, curving them around and bottle necking them in place, and as one, the four turned around, Izuku smiling with disarming indifference.

 

“Five.” He counted with Nemuri, just a half step off.

 

“Four.”

 

They were charging in at them, Kaminari out of it and useless, Momo looking concentrated, Todoroki looking mad, Tenya about to kick on the engines.

 

“Three.”

 

All these poor, powerful quirks thinking they had them.

 

“Two.”

 

Uraraka was starting to tense, her hand starting to lift to Yumu’s thigh.

 

“One.”

 

Uraraka tagged Yumu, and Izuku pushed her up and off, Todoroki’s hand grasping at nothing, and Izuku gave him a feral grin as Yumu shot up and out of the way, all of their accumulated points perfectly safe.

 

No one ever had a chance.

 

“You lose, Todoroki,” Izuku purred as Nemuri called the match.

 

It was about time Todoroki learned that Izuku was always, always in control.

He had a damned good reason to be cocky.

Notes:

well

hi, guys.

sorry i took so long?

have a double update.

Chapter 20

Izuku won in a landslide. Technically, Yumu had been the winner, but it was clear from replays that he had been in control at all times. Each team had their own individual fancams, and Yumu was currently watching the chat on Izuku’s to see the reactions.

 

They were mixed. There was a lot of confusion, trying to figure out just how his quirk worked, until someone brought up the names, and coloring, and theorized that this recommended student was actually Sir Nighteye’s kid, and Yumu perhaps an adopted sibling or his twin. The chat had gotten wild from that point, utterly losing their shit on the implications of another pro in the near future that could see into the future, and the general public reaction was ‘holy fuck Sir Nighteye has kids, he has to have kids’.

 

It was entertaining to watch. Even more entertaining was everyone’s reactions to how much of a shitshow that final showdown had been between their team and Todoroki’s. Four teams had made it through, but all anyone could talk about was Izuku and Shouto. Yumu was largely being ignored and passed off as a paralysis quirk, nothing fantastic, no one cared about that.

 

A lot of Endeavor stans were mad that his pride and joy could be shown up like that. There was a lot of hate in the comments, and the Sir Nighteye stans were coming out in droves to battle it out. It was honestly exhausting to watch. There were some stans declaring that they were henceforth going to be stanning Sasaki Yumemu, which was nice, she supposed. No one thought Sir Nighteye could have such a glamorous daughter.

 

Her phone buzzed with a notification from the official Sir Nighteye account, which she knew for a fact her papa rarely touched, but he had to have touched it this time, because that was a picture she had taken herself.

 

@SirNighteye

It’s not every day your children make their public debut. Everyone, meet Izuku and Yumemu. They’re onto the third round of the UA sports festival, representing class 1-A, and I couldn’t be prouder. I have chosen until now to keep them out of the media for the sake of a normal childhood, but all of you seem to already know. I know they’re going to be doing well.

 

Attached was the picture Yumu had taken sometime before school started. She remembered plucking Papa’s phone out of his hands to hang over the back of his armchair and snap the shot with Izuku on her other side. Papa looked tired in the snapshot, worn out from work, his tie loosened and top buttons undone, but he was smiling all the same while Izuku grinned cheekily at the camera, visor down and head tilted, while Yumu’s hair was half done up in space buns and her bangs loose.

 

It was a little painful that Hitoshi wasn’t in the photo, but he would have preferred it that way, anyways. Hizashi could technically publicly claim him, but he was going underground, and a known pedigree could throw all of that in jeopardy. As it was, he was largely being ignored by the media in favor of Yumu and Izuku, and he probably preferred it that way. It bothered Yumu, mostly because he should be seen for his accomplishments, but far be it from her to voice her unneeded opinion on the matter. Hitoshi was happy, and that was what mattered.

 

But she should probably stop focusing on her phone, because lunch was over, and she was in the entry tunnel for her showdown. She’d gotten down here early, and the tournament brackets were… not something she liked. Not at all, but she couldn’t complain. This was a bad quirk matchup, and she was in the very first bracket. Against Kaminari, which brought up a lot of problems, but she would just have to manage somehow. Her brain was going in the background as she scrolled through the comments. Each student had been set up with their own hashtag on Twitter and the livestream once the final round was announced, and it was time to try out something she hadn’t quite tried out yet.

 

Her quirk worked through her nervous system. Paralysis was caused by a blockage of your nerves’ communication with your body. Technically, her quirk did work on herself. It was risky, and it was messy, but she could hypothetically put herself in and out of sleep paralysis by sheer willpower. It was something she had worked on by herself, and it was technically more of a hindrance than a boon. But if she was right about this… it was a risky move, but Kaminari wasn’t going to risk  getting anywhere near her. She knew that, and he had an insane ranged attack, but he also panicked far too easily. She intimidated him, and she knew that. She intimidated everyone. But part of the damage caused by electrocution beyond the burns was the fact that it overloaded an active nervous system. It was too much input, and caused a brief shutdown, because your nervous system communicated via electrical pulses. However, her nervous system could be shut off.

 

It would hurt like a bitch, but she knew pain. She knew it intimately, and she could make this work. If she could tank the pain, which she knew she could, if her nervous system was out of commission for that brief overload period, she could get back out and kick him out of the ring. It would just take a lot of willpower.

 

“Yumu,” Ectoplasm said, and she looked up from the total legal medical article she had pulled up. “It’s almost time. Do you want me to hold onto your phone for you?”

 

“Just a second,” she said and brushed her hair behind her ear. Ectoplasm looked down at the article she had pulled up and slowly tilted his head in concern.

 

“That looks like you’re thinking of a very bad idea,” he said, and she grinned at him as Nemuri snapped her flogger outside with a loud crack.

 

“I think it’ll be fine,” she said sweetly, and locked the phone and held it out as Nemuri started crowing about the final event beginning. “I know what I’m doing.”

 

She absolutely didn’t, but there was no escaping from that first discharge without leaving the ring, and she had to make it. She had things to prove.

 

“Hmm,” Ectoplasm replied, sounding so very painfully dubious, and took the phone.

 

“And now, both hailing from class 1-A, we have our class darling, Sasaki Yumemu, coming from the left, and our class jokester, Kaminari Denki, coming from the right! Give it up for these kids!” Nemuri howled, and Yumu took her first steps out to the roar of the crowd. Kaminari was coming out waving and smiling, but waves and smiles would have to wait, because Yumu was on a mission.

 

Her hands gathered up her hair and slowly and steadily pulled it back, maintaining direct eye contact with Kaminari as she strode out across the grounds. She needed to push him into a full discharge, and intimidation was part of that. Kaminari kept waving and smiling, but his smile started to fade as he caught sight of the steady, burning stare she was pinning him in place with. Slowly, he lowered his hand, and a flicker of satisfaction took her over as she flicked out the ponytail and gave the crowd a bright smile and a wave. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a likely audible gulp.

 

“What a showing for our first match!” Pops crowed over the mic, and she turned slightly with a bounce in her step as she sent a predatory smile towards the announcer’s box. “Here we have the predator from the second round, Sasaki Yumemu! No one could get close to her, and boy, did she take out a good chunk of teams as a solo act! And next to her we have our long range specialist, Kaminari Denki! What a matchup! Eraserhead, what are your thoughts for this match?”

 

“None,” Dad said shortly, and a laugh almost built up in her chest as she lightly hopped up the steps to the stage. “It’s just a contest of speed.”

 

“Well, I’ve got a lot of thoughts!” Pops announced, because he always had thoughts. “Sasaki has been proven to be a powerhouse as a short range specialist, so what does this have in store for us, I wonder? Kaminari’s got crazy range, I just don’t know how she’s gonna pull this one off.”

 

“She’ll have to think smart. Either way, this will be a short match,” Dad said flatly. “Neither should be underestimated in their specific skillsets.”

 

“Man, I don’t know how she’s going to pull this one off,” someone said probably too loudly. “You shouldn’t put a short range specialist against long range in this situation. There’s no cover.”

 

Yumu had her own cover, thank you kindly. She came to a stop on the other side of the stage and slowly tilted her head at Kaminari, eyes raking up and down his form just to see the shudder overtake him as he subconsciously took a step back.

 

“Clean fight, kiddos!” Nemuri said, and Yumu gave him a short, curt bow. Slowly, Kaminari bent over, and straightened up as she flashed him a grin that had him shivering once again. “Try to keep biting to a minimum!”

 

“I make no promises,” Yumu said as her eyes narrowed on her target. “Ready, Kaminari?”

 

“No,” he squeaked, and she had him. She wouldn’t be able to take more than one hit, and he needed to be completely burned out for that to happen. If she dropped low in the initial approach, she probably would be able to scare him enough to drop him.

 

“Alright! You know the rules!” Nemuri announced and held the flogger high. “Out of bounds or a knock out is a win!”

 

The flogger cracked, and Yumu surged forward, her hand already reaching for her bare arm as Kaminari screeched in sheer terror at her wide, splitting grin. Immediately, the bright electricity slammed through the air just as her fingers brushed her arm, and she dropped flat on her back as all the breath was stolen from her lungs a full second before the electricity hit.

 

There was a demon on her chest. A small child, with a wide, splitting grin, flickering through the discharge as her body jerked uselessly from the force of the electricity, igniting fire in her blood as she made the tiniest of helpless noises. The pain hit her, burning every muscle and sending her brain reeling from the force of it, but the nerves were shut off even as the child leaned over her, clawed hands curled in as it flickered in and out of existence. Spit dribbled down, and she stared at it, hazy with pulsing pain as there was a faint ‘whew’ behind her.

 

Got him, she thought hazily as her deadened nerves tried to spark again to tell her she was in pain, the pain receptors blocked in their messages, and she knew the second she turned it off she would feel it even more than she felt it now. The weight on her chest was crushing as she tried to draw in a breath, and Kaminari stumbled about with another ‘wee’.

 

“... That was fast,” Pops said faintly, and Dad snorted.

 

“You weren’t watching close enough. Wait.”

 

She took a minute. The pain was minimal right now, but it would hurt like a bitch in a second, but she needed to move before Nemuri called the match. The child slowly leaned forward, braced their hands on either side of her face, and hissed.

 

‘Knock it off,’ she thought vaguely, and twitched.

 

In an instant, the pain flooded back in, and the child vanished from her vision as she let out a strangled groan.

 

“Sasaki, can you move?” Nemuri asked, and Yumu braced her hands on the ground and slowly, painfully pushed herself back up. There was a pause, and then an explosion of cheers from the audience as she staggered to her feet. Swaying, her vision fading in and out, she turned to Kaminari, still stumbling about senselessly, and decided to put him out of his misery before he stumbled out of the lines and disqualified himself.

 

She could be nice, sometimes.

 

With a quiet whine of pain as her muscles seized up, she stalked over to him and reached out amid the roar of the crowd to brush his forearm.

 

Kaminari dropped like a stone, and she heaved a deep breath as another shudder racked her body. For all of his boasting, his electricity stopped hurting fairly quickly. She’d been on the receiving end of it before. A kiss from Chiyo and she would be right as rain.

 

It just really, really hurt.

 

“Kaminari, can you move?” Nemuri demanded, and he let out a helpless choke as Yumu coughed through the pain. “Match goes to Sasaki!”

 

The audience exploded again, questions and cheers rising up in equal measure, and Pops cackled.

 

“Now, what just happened there? ”

 

“You know as well as I do. Go crazy.”

 

“I do!” he squealed, and she groaned and rubbed at her eyes. He was so embarrassing sometimes. “If you catch the replays, you can see the exact moment Sasaki used her quirk on herself! Electricity is dangerous in general, but it’s the nerves you have to worry about! The nervous system works with electrical signals, but paralysis happens when those signals are blocked! Sasaki shut off her own nervous system to tank that hit, so she could still get up without overloading her nervous system and keep those electrical signals still going! A risky move, but she got into the quirk of the matter! A strategist in the making!”

 

She was going to die of embarrassment. With a quiet sigh, she leaned down and tapped Kaminari a second time, and he awoke with a gasp and a twitch.

 

“C’mon,” she said dryly, and reached down to grab his sleeve and pull him to his feet. “Let’s get to Recovery Girl.”

 

“Did I win?” he asked faintly, and she rolled her eyes as he stumbled to his feet. Carefully, she propped him up against her and started to lead him off the stage.

 

“No,” she said flatly. “You panicked too fast. Seriously, Kaminari, if a teenage girl scares you, how are you going to handle heroics?”

 

“... Sorry?” he mumbled, and Pops let out another cry of glee.

 

“Look at that sportsmanship! What a good show!”

 

“If he hadn’t panicked, he would have won,” Dad harrumphed, and she shot a glare up at the announcer’s box.

 

“Good job, you two!” someone shouted, and she gave them a tired wave as she guided Kaminari towards the stretcher being rolled out. Kaminari let out a quiet wee and threw out two thumbs up, and she rolled her eyes.

 

“Thank you!” she called and waved with her free hand as she helped him get arranged on the stretcher.

 

“Good thinking!” someone else shouted, and she gave them a bright grin even as the pain continued to pulse. Goddammit, that hurt.

 

‘Ah, well,’ she thought distantly as she looked down at her scarred hands.

 

She’d had worse.

Notes:

Well, hi! sensibleshroom here, back in the bnha fandom, apparently. I guess I just couldn't get away like I thought I would. With the new season airing, I guess I had a little inspiration again.

This was kind of the thing that had me stuck, honestly. I was worried about themes, but I didn't know how Yumu was going to beat him out, so this kind of came to me randomly after rereading the full series. Sorry I was gone so long! I went into the Star Wars fandom a bit, and then I started to work on some original fiction that I haven't figured out where to post beyond my patreon, so eventually that'll be making circuits... somewhere. I've been pretty busy with working a full time job, and I want to focus more on my original writings. The discord is currently closed, (my deepest apologies, but it was getting a little overwhelming), and a lot has changed since I was active in this fandom. I have no concrete plans for updates, but I never had plans in general, I was just vibing, so I guess just stick around and see what happens?? Who knows, lol.

Eventually, I'll be going back and editing all of the chapter notes with updated links and info, so we'll see where that goes.

Lots of loves,
Shrooms.

Chapter 21

“Sasaki.”

 

Katsuki and Ochako had just headed down to their tunnels, and Izuku was… Well, he was against Aoyama first, so he wasn’t all that worried. But here came Todoroki, asking questions and cornering him, and Izuku was a bit tired after the heart attack Yumu had given him. He knew she would have been testing that on herself, despite never even seeing it, and it bothered him that she hadn’t talked to anyone about it. That was dangerous. Not everyone could use their five point quirks on themselves. She could have gotten stuck in a feedback loop and no one would know. The irritation at her showing was getting distracting, and now Todoroki was here and wanting to talk to him, and he was… tired. He was just tired, and didn’t want to deal with it.

 

“What,” he asked flatly, and Todoroki paused.

 

Izuku knew he shouldn’t be so harsh. Here they were, in the bathroom, where anyone could come, and he was being needlessly combative. It wasn’t Todoroki’s fault, not really. Izuku shouldn’t blame him for things out of his control.

 

“I’ve offended you,” Todoroki said quietly, and Izuku froze as his mind descended into static. “I apologize.”

 

“... Do you even know how you’ve offended me?” he asked flatly as Aki leaned heavily against his leg.

 

“No, but…” Todoroki trailed off, and his voice was colored with the tiniest bit of frustration.

 

“But what?” Izuku demanded, and there was a tiny huff of frustration.

 

“I know I have personality deficiencies,” Todoroki snapped, and oh, he sounded upset. “I’m abrasive and rude and don’t know how to talk to people. I have no practice, and I don’t know what about me makes you so mad, but I want to make it right.”

 

Izuku was quiet for a moment as he processed that. He got it. He did. And he shouldn’t be so harsh. That was his own shortcoming, probably. The bitterness. The constant uphill struggle he had, and how people with overwhelming power like Todoroki just pissed him off. Maybe it was effortless. Maybe it wasn’t. But it was the way Todoroki carried himself that really made Izuku mad, and clearly, he had come to view Izuku as someone who he could compete with. Someone he could respect, and he had come to Izuku’s assistance during USJ. Izuku shouldn’t be so bitter about it all, really, and it was hardly Todoroki’s fault he had grown up in a household where might equaled right, no matter what issues he had with Endeavor. That kind of thing was hard to unlearn, as much as Todoroki seemed to despise his father, and Izuku didn’t really have anything personal against Endeavor, beyond his general bad attitude.

 

It was more what Endeavor meant, and the ideals he upheld without a shred of awareness as to what those ideals meant to someone like Izuku. Papa didn’t like him for a reason, and it wasn’t just his arrogance.

 

“At some point,” Izuku said quietly, “you’re gonna realize that power isn’t everything. But for someone with power like you have? A lot of people are going to get hurt in the meantime.”

 

“I don’t think power is everything,” Todoroki blurted, and he almost sounded desperate. A sink dripped, the plop of water startling in the silence. “I think it’s… I don’t think anything else, and I was arrogant when we first met. I thought things were easy, and I dismissed you because you didn’t visibly use a quirk. And for that I apologize.”

 

“What do you mean, you don’t think anything else?”

 

“I don’t think… I have never known the space to know anything else.” Todoroki was stumbling over his words, and it was grating at Izuku. “Careful applications, other techniques, other ways of training, I don’t know anything about that. At first, I dismissed you. And then I thought you came from a home like I do, except you’re… You and your sister don’t come off that way, and your father doesn’t seem to think the way my father does about his children. So I don’t actually know what to do with you except try and pay attention.”

 

Izuku was silent. There was a lot going unsaid here, and he had a feeling that if they had a better relationship, if maybe Izuku wasn’t naturally so hostile towards Todoroki, a lot more would be coming out. It felt like watching your train leave without you on it, but…

 

There was always the next train.

 

“Might has never meant right,” he said flatly. “I have a lot of issues with you. No one has ever taught you to be careful with your power, and that’s not your fault, but I don’t think you ever thought to be careful, either. I don’t know why you don’t use your fire. I know you have it. I’ve seen it. But just letting one side of you die isn’t actually helping, because ice can do just as much damage and hurt just as many people, but you seem to have some kind of sanitized ideal of it being perfectly safe. You could spill someone’s guts with a bad angle that’s just a little too sharp. You could kill Tsu easier than a normal person. You don’t consider these things. That’s what I have an issue with. When you took over the building for our first test, you didn’t stop to consider that Hagakure had no clothes on and could have gotten frostbite if you couldn’t find her in time to melt her out. The odds that you were fast enough to find her in time and melt her out were low. Very low. In a lot of other universes, she got hypothermia because we didn’t jump in time.”

 

Izuku turned to the sink and felt around for the soap and turned it on to start washing his hands.

 

“My frustration with you isn’t solely based on you. I don’t think anyone in class realizes how much I actually see beyond my sister and some of my friends, and even they don’t understand the full reality of what I have to experience,” he continued. “I’ve seen horrifying things, Todoroki. There are infinite universes where we got a different homeroom teacher after USJ. There’s infinite universes where you died at USJ, and your father died weeks later because he went on a crazy vengeance spree and got dusted by that villain. There’s a handful of universes where you accidentally killed Hagakure. Small, not a high statistic probability, but there were even more where the hypothermia caused issues that had her dropping out by the sports festival.”

 

Todoroki was stunned into silence, and Izuku pulled his hands out of the water.

 

“Don’t feel so bad. There’s a lot of universes where Bakugou accidentally killed someone, a few where it might have been intentional. There’s other universes where Yaomomo accidentally killed people, and Tokoyami, and even Kirishima. Just from that exercise alone. I’ve even accidentally killed people, but statistically it’s much lower. Like a point zero-zero-zero-nine probability.”

 

His hands felt around for the towels, and he pulled out a few to dry his hands.

 

“Probability wise, you had the second highest kill count next to Bakugou. Tokoyami is just behind you,” he added thoughtfully. “That’s the sort of thing I have to deal with on a daily basis. So when you consistently show off, when you consistently use your power with no thought to the consequences, I have to be reminded of that over and over. Then again, I put myself in this situation, knowing the things I have to see, experience on a daily basis. I’ve been dealing with being a fly on the wall since I was six, when my quirk fully developed beyond hallucinations. I have seen the same people I love die over and over, and every step I make is to make sure no one has to die. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I want to be a hero.”

 

His hands fell down and gripped the counter, and he dropped his head.

 

“There’s always a chance for a mistake. That’s why I have very little patience for those unaware of the consequences of them. I’ve been useless and powerless before. There are things not even I can stop, and I have to live with that knowledge. So, if you want me to like you, or at least not hate you, start showing a little awareness of the kind of damage you can do. I get that you have never been taught restraint. But now is about when you should start showing it, because there’s a five point twenty-nine percent probability you might kill Setsuna today if you lose your temper because your dad was a dick towards you. Speaking of…”

 

He flicked up his visor and stared at not-him in the mirror as he pressed the fast forward button on the closest thread.

 

“He’s right outside, so why don’t you let me tank this one, hm?”

 

The visor was left up, his eyes unseeing, and he pushed off the counter as Aki moved to guide him to the door. A cold hand closed around his forearm, and Izuku paused at the tiny tremor.

 

“Did I really do that?” Todoroki asked, and his voice was tight, too tight, and Izuku blew out a long, cool breath.

 

“Did I accidentally kill you at the beginning of the year because I dropped on you wrong and hit your head at the worst angle?”

 

“... No.”

 

A cold breath frosted the air next to him, and Izuku took pity on him.

 

“Then, no, you didn’t. And you won’t, if you get your act together. I see infinite possibilities. Remember that. The statistical probability of this being the life where you fuck up is… not something that can be quantified. But I can’t make choices for everyone else. I can’t allow for everything. I can’t control the way the world goes. You have to make choices for you, and try not to let it eat you up. I don’t generally tell people these things for a reason.”

 

Izuku swallowed harshly and thought of his promise he didn’t keep to talk to Teruko about it.

 

“It’s harder than you think, to keep faith in yourself,” he whispered. “It’s hard to see where you made the wrong choice, and scramble to fix it before it gets worse. And it’s hard when you don’t have a choice but to live with it.”

 

Did she have pink hair?

 

“And it’s hard to live with the responsibility, especially when everyone tells you you’re not responsible. But you have to keep going. Most… almost everything I do isn’t prediction. It’s damage control, because all the versions of me with this quirk are connected, and if too many of us fuck up… we all have to live with it.”

 

His hand descended to pat on Todoroki’s hand.

 

“Just be glad you don’t have to.”

 

With that, he disentangled himself, and Todoroki’s hand slipped away like he didn’t want to let Izuku go.

 

He could almost understand why some versions of him liked him.

 

With that, he pushed for the door and opened it just in time to let it slam into Endeavor’s face.

 

“Oh, no,” he mumbled and there was a strangled noise from behind him. “I’m so sorry!”

 

“Watch where you’re going! ” Endeavor snarled, and in came Todoroki for the rescue.

 

“He’s blind,” Todoroki snapped, and Endeavor from the strongest thread leaned in to take in the sight of the two of them in the bathroom.

 

“Shouto. There you are,” Endeavor said, and Izuku slid his arm in Todoroki’s, because as much as he disliked him, he could still do this.

 

“Sorry, Endeavor!” he said cheerfully. “He doesn’t have time to talk. He’s taking me back to the stands!”

 

A bump of his hips, and there was a long moment as Todoroki processed that.

 

“You…” Endeavor in the other version of him looked between him and Aki, and Izuku dragged Todoroki off with intentional grace as he showed that he knew exactly where he was stepping.

 

“Aki has a terrible sense of direction!” he called as he pulled Todoroki down the hall. “I’m sure you can talk to him after the festival! Nice to meet you!”

 

Todoroki stumbled to keep up with him, and Izuku rotated his vision in time with other-Izuku to take in the sight of his dumbfounded face as Izuku somehow managed to disentangle him from his all consuming, powerful father who had never taken no for an answer in his life.

 

“It has some benefits,” he said, probably a bit too smugly. “Should we go see Uraraka hand Bakugou’s ass to him? She’s got a sixty-four percent chance! Should be satisfying!”

 

“Shouto!” Endeavor thundered, but Izuku pressed on up the stairs, chattering up a storm about his predictions.

 

“Papa likes her a lot!” he continued happily, just to drive it in. “And lemme tell ya, if Sir Nighteye likes someone, then you know they’re going places! Generally, of course. Some people went places regardless of how much he despises them!”

 

Papa barely even had a concept of who she was, but that was fine. He was going to love her once she and Yumu stopped dancing around each other. Izuku had high hopes for that particular pairing. They were going to be a power couple to rival even the most infamous of duos.

 

“Did you just…”

 

“Mmm, try not to think about it too much,” Izuku teased. “I’ve got limits for a reason. Lemme tell ya, it’s wild to see what happens when the pressure makes me snap. The body count alone is astronomical.”

 

“... Sasaki, what?”

 

.

.

.

.

.

 

“He’s acting pretty villainous! She’s just a little girl!”

 

Izuku sighed and laced his fingers behind his head as he kicked up his feet.

 

“And three… two… one.”

 

“Are you a pro?” Dad asked quietly into the mic, and the crowd silenced. Izuku looked out over the audience, idly flicking through the various eyes as signs wilted in the face of the awkwardness. Explosions rocked the stage, a direct counterpoint to the subdued crowd, and he tapped his foot on the back of the empty chair opposite him. He had a feeling it was going to be Dad. “He’s respecting her as an opponent. Her being a girl has nothing to do with it. She came out here to give it her all, and he’s rising to the challenge. She’s a dangerous person to face, and he knows that, and is taking her seriously. Don’t underestimate her, and don’t come after my students for honoring each other enough to recognize their strength.”

 

Izuku’s eyes drifted down to follow the gaze of himself at the smokescreen that had come down. Idly, he flicked through the different versions, and yes, things were very much in her favor. He had pushed himself just a bit too far this time, literally by millimeters, and his Howitzer Impact would be too much of a strain. Someone had to break their arms, after all, and he wasn’t going to be the one doing it this time. He had a podium to take.

 

The wind shifted, and the smokescreen started to clear. Katsuki’s doom was hovering over his head, and Ochako wiped the blood trickling out from her mouth from where she had bit her tongue.

 

Her lips moved, and she pressed her fingers together even as Katsuki lifted his arms to let off a thunderous impact.

 

Izuku plugged his ears on impulse as brilliant red and orange lit up the sky, but it was too late. The fire snapped out as his arms gave out under the blowback, and the impact slammed him back as rocks rained down. Now it came down to…

 

He’d cleared it enough. But he couldn’t get up. Rocks and rubble rained down around him, and a large chunk struck him in the gut. He coughed, and the explosion of pain was too much. His whole body was shaking, and the blowback of it had him smacking his head on the ground, knocking him out cold.

 

Dead silence greeted them, and Ochako swayed on her feet as Nemuri rushed to check him. No blood, from what the strongest thread saw, and a smile twitched at Izuku’s lips as Nemuri rose.

 

“Bakugou Katsuki is unconscious! Uraraka Ochako wins!” she crowed and snapped her flogger, and then Ochako slumped to the ground, shaking and trembling, her hands pressed to her mouth.

 

She wasn’t going to last round two, but she had sure as hell given everyone a show.

 

“Told you,” he drawled to Todoroki, somewhere behind him and to the left, and Kaminari, freshly out of the infirmary, groaned.

 

“Do you just know everything? ”

 

“Generally, yeah,” Izuku said with a huff of a laugh, and flicked his new visor back down to be greeted by blissful black. Hitoshi and Fumikage were next, and then Momo and Mei, and wouldn’t that be a show, and after that was Todoroki and Setsuna, which was going to be interesting at the least, it would definitely be close, and then he was up against Aoyama, and then Ashido and Nox Brentson, the sole Gen Ed kid that made it through, and then Kiri and Tenya.

The closer it got, the more he knew where it was going to go, and he couldn’t wait to get there.

Notes:

she should have won. im fixing it.

Chapter 22

This had been going on for awhile. Nothing Hitoshi was saying was getting under Fumikage’s skin, and he had been dodging Dark Shadow for a solid ten minutes now as the crowd got more and more worked up. He was getting desperate enough to target Dark Shadow, but he just felt wrong about that, because he wasn’t sure what would happen if he took control of Dark Shadow and not Fumikage.

 

“You truly are a master of the dark arts,” Fumikage hissed in irritation as Hitoshi easily twisted and leapt over Dark Shadow’s attack. The bird went wide, and Hitoshi skittered along the ground with a twist of his hips. Claws descended on him, and he dove forward in a roll, panting harshly as his brain started to scramble for options. Every time he got close, Dark Shadow blocked him, and Fumikage was just too damn good at not replying to him when he asked a question. Hitoshi had been throwing everything at him. Insults, compliments, memes, anything he could think of, but Fumikage was a stone wall. He knew it had to be a question, and it was driving Hitoshi up the wall.

 

“You’re looking a little tired,” he commented, and Fumikage skittered back as he got near him.

 

“You’re sweating!” Dark Shadow crowed, and dammit, this would have been easier if he had just bit the bullet and gone into Gen Ed. Everyone in his class knew him.

 

“They’re really starting to flag,” Pops said over the speakers. “Aizawa definitely has more endurance, but Dark Shadow is just too much to deal with Tokoyami not giving him an opening to take over.”

 

“Thanks, Pops,” Hitoshi muttered, because he knew that.

 

“Aizawa works best when people are unaware of the rules regarding his quirk,” Dad said quietly. “Once he loses his element of surprise, it’s a lot harder for him to manage, and Aizawa and Tokoyami have definitely been getting close over the past few weeks. Tokoyami knows him too well, and it takes a lot to shake him to make a mistake.”

 

Too well, huh?

 

Dark Shadow twisted and came in for another sweep, and Hitoshi hit the ground and slid under his grasping arms, coming up and lunging to the side to avoid the follow up. His back hit the firm, cold length of the shadow, and he rolled over it and tried to lunge again for Tokoyami, only to be blocked.

 

Well.

 

Time to pull out the big guns.

 

“Hey, Tokoyami,” he called. He was planning on this later, but he was desperate at this point, and Fumikage might forgive him. “When this is over, do you want to go on a date with me?”

 

Fumikage and Dark Shadow froze in unison, and there it was again.

 

A tiny, distressed squawk.

 

“What?”

 

In unison. Better than he hoped. His quirk clicked in, and slowly, panting, he rose to his feet and wiped the sweat off his brow as Dark Shadow went limp.

 

“Turn around and walk out of the ring,” he ordered, and Fumikage slowly turned and shuffled out of the ring, Dark Shadow mutely hovering over his shoulder as he stepped out of bounds.

 

Nemuri let out a tiny screech of sheer glee, and Hitoshi broke the connection. Fumikage and Dark Shadow startled as one, and he tucked his hands into his pocket as he slowly tilted his head.

 

“So?”

 

“... What?”

 

.

.

.

.

.

 

“And these are my jet boots! Versatile, turns on a dime, effective in combat scenarios!” Mei announced over the hacked speakers as she shifted through the air while Momo sawed through the net that had ensnared her. The girl stumbled to her feet, and Mei just beamed at the knife she was tossing to the side. “Now, allow my compatriot to demonstrate what kind of ranged weapons show off their limitations!”

 

“Is she allowed to just hack the speakers?” Hizashi muttered, and she waved a lazy hand.

 

“It’s fine, Sensei! Promise!”

 

“It’s not fine,” Shouta deadpanned, and she just beamed at him.

 

“Maybe from your point of view!”

 

There was clacking beneath her, and Mei’s eyes darted down at the sight of Yaoyorozu calmly snapping a magazine into a railgun.

 

“Oh, we’re going to be second-best friends!” Mei gasped. “Can you wait until I finish my presentation? You’re definitely going to win, anyways!”

 

Yaoyorozu paused thoughtfully, and then set the gun back down.

 

“You have five minutes.”

Five minutes later, Yaoyorozu brought out a chainsaw, and. Well. How could Mei not yield? Izuku really was always right, wasn’t he?

Notes:

Did I write 21-24 in like 24 hours? Yes. Am I posting them all back to back because I'm anxious about Izuku and Yuga's fight? Also yes. Have a bunch of chapters. This is going to be a long fucking arc bc I love everyone.

Chapter 23

Shouto had been given a lot to think about. There was anxiety pulsing under his skin at what Sasaki had told him, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of Hagakure.

 

He should be heading down to the entrance. He should be, but he just couldn’t bring himself to move as he watched the animated swing of her arms and her voice rising and falling in excitement. She had been upset very briefly at not making it into round three, but she had done very well, all things considered. He could admit that. She didn’t have half the training as the rest of the non-physical quirk holders, and had been a nightmare on the field with her snatches and captures. If she hadn’t been targeted by that one Gen Ed kid that had made it into the final event, she might have made it.

 

His thoughts were a confusing sludge as he tried to parse through it all. The implications of Sasaki’s quirk were never something that he had fully considered, and honestly, he would have understood if Sasaki was even more angry with him. He’d been careless, even thoughtless. He dealt with hypothermia all the time, but he had never fully considered the full ramifications of it. He wasn’t actually built to take that kind of cold. He was just stubborn, and he used to consider that one of his better qualities, but he couldn’t… quite justify it now.

 

Even now, anxiety was rising up, because there was a chance he could kill Setsuna. There was a chance, and now his brain was dipped in tar and trying to sludge his way through it all at the implications. His father had casualties. He’d accidentally killed villains that wouldn’t stand down before, and Shouto had always hated it with a burning passion and sworn never to be like him, but he hadn’t… considered that all quirks were dangerous.

 

“Here, you will learn the value of life above all else. Even villains.”

 

He hadn’t learned anything, had he?

 

The words had haunted him on late nights, memories of his bloody teacher whisked out of view burned into his retinas. Sasaki had scared him that day. The way he flung that brick and nearly caved a face in, not lethal, but there was a snap of a broken bone, and a gush of more blood than Shouto had ever seen on another person. The way Aizawa had been sluggishly bleeding and still fighting like he couldn’t feel it, the gouge in Sasaki’s face that he could still see the scar from. The compression sleeve Aizawa still wore to hide it, the way bodies were twitching on the ground as villains choked on their own tongues from the sheer terror of the other Sasaki’s quirk.

 

He had been on the receiving end of the brother’s quirk, and it was terrifying enough. In combat exercises, he never let the sister get close enough. Pleading eyes to save them were burned into his brain, and objectively, Sasaki had one of the least lethal quirks in the class, next to Hagakure and Sero, but… But. Lethality had nothing to do with it. He didn't let it color his opinion of her, of course. But he still dreamed of those eyes.

 

Sometimes, he thought about challenging her to just put him down so he could get over it.

 

He didn’t think he’d learned to value life, but, to be fair, the lesson had taken a turn it probably shouldn’t have.

 

Would Sasaki lie? He didn’t think so. Sasaki kept quiet about the things he saw in his quirk, the things he experienced, and it had never occurred to him that his quirk likely allowed him to see things he didn’t necessarily want to see. He didn’t understand the percentages, or how Sasaki calculated all of that on the fly, or why he tortured himself with calculating it after the fact, or why he remembered it down to the decimal points. He’d heard that Sasaki was not Sir Nighteye’s biological child, despite how similar the two of them looked, which had a lot of concerning implications he wasn’t sure…

 

If he wasn’t his biological child, he had to be related somehow. That was the only way his quirk made sense. And the sister… from her facial structure, she looked related. She had the same rounded cheeks and massive eyes and button nose as her brother, but their quirks were entirely unrelated, genetically speaking. Perhaps she had a mutation, or perhaps she got it from the other side of his biological family. He knew from the class roster her birthday was quite literally the day after his, which meant they had both probably been born around midnight, or it was a long labor.

 

In either case, with the actual confirmation from Sir Nighteye’s official Twitter, there were a lot of things coming to light about that family that were leaving Shouto a little unbalanced. And with Sasaki’s revelation of what he dealt with daily, well.

 

Shouto had always hated his quirk, more than anything, but Sasaki’s reasons for wanting to be a hero were… far more selfless than he realized. Traumatic, certainly, but also selfless, and Shouto was left floundering, because he wasn’t even sure most days why he still wanted to be a hero. The scar around his eye reminded him on a daily basis that the one memory of the honest, earnest encouragement was tarnished, and now he was starting to realize he had this idea in his head that he was somehow more right for only using his ice, and had never realized that it was just as lethal.

 

And now he had to go fight someone, and it was leaving his stomach twisting in knots, because he could kill her. She had seemed nice. Dangerous, on the field, with her team of Bakugou, Kirishima, and Ashido, someone that could easily evade his strikes and reform. No one had managed to snatch any of the bands they had stolen because of her and Bakugou, and she had been brutal in her efficiency, which he appreciated.

 

But he could kill her, and---

 

Aizawa suddenly flopped down next to him, and Todoroki startled.

 

“Hey,” Aizawa grunted and pushed his sweaty hair back.

 

“... Hello.”

 

“Izuku said he talked to you before Bakugou’s fight,” he commented, and Shouto looked down at the field, where the girl from Support was still battling it out with Momo in a bizarre showing of them just showing off what they could make.

 

“... Yes.”

 

“You look freaked out.”

 

Shouto was silent, and Aizawa just sighed.

 

“Izuku says a lot of shit that he shouldn’t when he’s cornered.”

 

“But is he ever wrong?” Shouto asked quietly, and Aizawa cracked his neck.

 

“Quirk wise? No. He’s never wrong. But wrong is kind of a broad thing, and can mean a lot of different things. It can be even harder to be right all of the time and know you’re helpless.”

 

Shouto’s eyes flicked to the compression sleeve clinging to Aizawa’s arm, and Aizawa smiled wryly at the glance.

 

“He doesn’t really get into how hard it can be to live with his quirk,” he said suddenly, and Shouto looked down at his lap. “Don’t worry. He mentioned it off hand, but he never mentions things off hand unless they’re important. I put two and two together, with the look on your face and the fact that you haven’t moved your ass to get down there. Setsuna isn’t in her seat.”

 

Shouto didn’t want to fight, he realized, like a wave rushing over him, and something about it twisted in his gut. He had been made to fight a lot, and he just didn’t want to. But Setsuna was going down there to put her all into fighting him, and it felt like it would disrespect her spirit to just step down and refuse combat. He didn’t want to do that.

 

Aizawa was studying him like he was a particularly interesting insect, and Shouto’s hands curled into fists in his lap.

 

“He probably overstepped,” Aizawa muttered, and Shouto inhaled sharply.

 

“No. He didn’t,” he snapped, because it felt like he needed to hear that, to know the truth of the matter, and who better to hear it from than the boy he’d dismissed at the start of all of this that had outsmarted and outwitted him at every turn since?

 

He just wished he had more time to process.

 

“Look, Todoroki, I’ve known Izuku for six years. We’re brothers in all but legal definitions,” Aizawa said shortly. “Whenever he says something that might shake someone up, it’s not out of malice, and it’s not to get them to quit. It can be a lot to deal with, and scary as shit sometimes, but whatever he said, he wasn’t looking to make you give up.”

 

“I’m not,” Shouto said bluntly. “I’m not giving up. I just…”

 

“You’re seeing where your weak points are, and you have no idea how to shore them up,” Aizawa supplied, and Shouto blinked. That was… surprisingly accurate. But he didn’t know how to do that without… without being able to see what Sasaki saw.

 

“... Yes.”

 

“Some friendly advice?” Aizawa asked, and he nodded slowly. “I haven’t really been able to beat Izuku in a fight in years. Sometimes I get wrapped up in it. It’s hard to compare to someone like that, someone that knows exactly what to do, all the time, and exactly how to break someone apart. It’s kind of terrifying sometimes, if I’m being honest, because he’s like some kind of limit I can’t reach. It’s hard to not get focused on how you kind of fade into the background in the face of him.”

 

“That’s not advice.”

 

“I’m not finished,” Aizawa continued, and Shouto pursed his lips. “The thing about Izuku is that no matter what, he’s always going to be running ahead, but I watched him build from the ground up. I’ve been there the whole time. I’ve seen how hard it was to get here, and I stuck with him through all of it. He wasn’t just born like this. It took hard, constant work. He’s like… something unattainable, and it’s hard to live with, but the thing about the unattainable is that… you shouldn’t beat yourself up about it. Izuku has never been someone that carries around like he’s better than everyone else, as arrogant as he comes off, because he knows he’s not. He wouldn’t be where he is without me and Yumu and Koji and Mei. He wouldn’t be here without our parents. Honestly, where he works best is where he’s a mastermind, working with other people. I mean, he’s well rounded and all, and can take just about anyone one-on-one. He even beats his papa in sparring on occasion, and those are some showdowns, let me tell you. You can barely keep up with them. But Izuku knows he’s not better than anyone, because for someone like him to work, he needs other people to bring out his best. And for them to do that, they also need to be at their best. That’s why he talked to you.”

 

“What happens when he’s wrong?” Shouto asked quietly, and Aizawa was silent for a moment.

 

“It’s less of what happens when he’s wrong, and what happens when there’s nothing he can do to stop something from happening,” he said quietly. “But if he can’t do anything, no one can.”

 

“So how do you just… live with it?” Shouto mumbled, and Aizawa sighed.

 

“I let him push me to be my best,” he said simply. “Because that’s what the real point of unattainable is. It’s a life lesson, really. Looking at something so far away, and realizing it’s the journey that makes it worth it, not getting there. So, whatever he said to you… don’t take that as ‘oh, no, I’ll never be that good’. Take it as, ‘well, I can be better’. Because he wouldn’t have told you something if he could see that you wouldn’t do what you need to do. He’s a lot of things, but he’s never been someone cruel. If he took the time to lay something out for you, and if he took the time to drop me a hint, then that means he saw some wild possibility where you heard what he had to say and heard what I have to say and managed to fire something up in you to do exactly what he meant for you to do. That’s how he works. He doesn’t tell you the full picture, but he does give you the ladder so you can climb up to see it yourself.”

 

“... How does that not drive you crazy?” Shouto muttered as the words settled and soothed something in him, and Aizawa just huffed out a laugh.

 

“I didn’t say it didn’t. He’s annoying as hell, a fucking cryptid, but he’s my brother, and I gotta love him anyways. I’m not interested in a rivalry with him. He’s good at what he does, and I’m good at what I do, and that’s enough for me. Even if I do want to punt him into a wall sometimes.”

 

“It has to be annoying,” Shouto murmured, and wondered if this was how his siblings viewed him. Was he something unattainable, or something pitied? He rarely ever got the chance to talk to them, all things considered. Was it both with Sasaki, too?

 

“Honestly, yeah,” Aizawa admitted. “But the weird thing about being the best is that… you can’t be the best if you’re on your own. Then you’re just there. Izuku can’t do what I can do. I can’t do what he does. That’s enough for me.”

 

There was a pause, and then Aizawa huffed out a laugh.

 

“Well, that doesn’t really matter to someone like you, but I’m going underground, so it’s different. But Izuku is never going to be the top hero, anyways, and that’s something you can do.”

 

“Why not?” Shouto blurted, because that didn’t make sense. It was perfectly attainable for Sasaki, clearly. For a variety of reasons. Aizawa, though, looked at him like he was stupid, and there was a long, awkward pause.

 

“You really think they’re going to let someone who effectively looks quirkless, who needs a seeing eye dog, who is blind, be the number one when there’s people like you?” he asked, and Shouto’s brain ground to a halt. “He’s aiming for intelligence, anyways. Why would he need to be number one?”

 

“But… he could.”

 

“You know, I didn’t get it at first,” Aizawa said dryly and stood up, stretched lazily. “I guess personality doesn’t tell anyone anything, does it? You’re pretty naive, Todoroki. Not saying it’s a bad thing, but… it’s a little surprising.”

 

“I’m not naive,” Shouto protested, but something uncomfortable was settling in his chest. Was he?

 

“It’s fine if you are, dude,” Aizawa said with a huff of laughter and rubbed at the back of his neck. “But you’re going to be late. You should probably hurry downstairs.”

 

The fight was coming to a close, and Shouto slowly stood, his brain in a haze as he turned for the door. Sasaki couldn’t be number one? Then what was the point of him beating him down, not once, not twice, but three times? What did any of that have to do with being the best? If number one wasn’t about being the best, then what was it about?

 

His stomach was in knots, and a hand snagged his sleeve.

 

“Hey,” Aizawa said, and Shouto froze. Burning lavender eyes bore into him, and Aizawa pursed his lips. “He’s been through a lot. Don’t let him be wrong about you.”

 

With that, Aizawa released him, leaving Shouto feeling lost and adrift. Don’t let him be wrong? What did that mean?

 

Something set fire in his gut, and he realized what it meant. It wasn’t about Sasaki, was it? It was about him, and he needed to… he needed to be better. Not for Sasaki, but for him, and Setsuna was dangerous, and he needed to be ready.

 

“I won’t,” he promised, because there was nothing else to say.

 

.

.

.

.

.

 

“Huh,” Izuku murmured as he pushed himself back in his seat. “He’s stressed.”

 

“Well, that can mostly be blamed on you,” Hitoshi replied dryly as Yumu shoved down Izuku’s legs and plopped down in the seat in front of him.

 

“Don’t be rude, Zu,” she said as Tsu slid over to take a seat next to her.

 

“Do you feel better, kero?” Tsu asked as Todoroki stood panting in the center of a practical sphere of ice. Setsuna was giving him a hard time, definitely.

 

“Yeah, I do,” Yumu confirmed with a grin. “Kaminari is still passed out.”

 

“He really overshot there,” Izuku muttered as he braced his hands on his knees to take in the sight of Todoroki in the strongest thread desperately trying to freeze her out. He had lost the upper hand almost immediately in the fight. Honestly, his best chance at winning was freezing her out right off the bat, but having failed that, he was stuck trying to battle that insane speed and mobility as the pieces of her body soared all around the ring, smacking him around. Right now, he had blocked himself off with walls to keep her from knocking him out of the ring, which was a solid strategy, because she didn’t have the strength to lift him, but it was only a matter of time before she could take him down with hand to hand combat. Hand to hand was his weak point.

 

“You’re invested,” Hitoshi commented dryly, and Izuku propped his chin in his hand.

 

“I would feel bad if he lost because I freaked him out.”

 

“What did you even say to him?”

 

“That would be telling,” Izuku replied with the slightest of hints of humor in his tone. A press of his shoulder betrayed the tension in his brother, and he tilted his head to let it land solidly on his shoulder. “What’s got you all upset?”

 

“... Fumikage is annoyed with me,” Hitoshi admitted in a grumble, and Izuku hummed. Fumikage, as far as the strongest thread could see, was sitting far on the other side of their seating, silently fuming, and Izuku was almost curious enough to ask what Hitoshi did to get a response out of him. Almost.

 

“Well, I’m sure it’s your own fault.”

 

“It is, and I’m annoyed, because now he thinks I wasn’t serious,” Hitoshi mumbled, and Izuku’s lips spread in a grin as strongest thread Todoroki slammed his foot into the ground to send up a towering wall to block her advance. It had the added effect of sending her stumbling back, and wow, the crowd was getting worked up. Both of them were tired, and you could see the desperation now even as Todoroki shivered and shook, and Izuku idly wondered if he was going to get strategic enough to realize if she was capable of regeneration, it was likely it wore her out, and if he timed things right, he could slowly whittle her down. It looked like he had figured it out, given the fact that there should be many more body parts swirling around, but he still wasn’t that great at focusing his eyes to see that far away.

 

She was going to win, he thought as he idly flicked through the strongest threads, but it was going to be one hell of a fight. They were going to start brawling soon, and she just had the edge of not being worried about hitting a boy, while he was going to hold back on instinct. It was clear Todoroki didn’t have a sister his age, because Izuku had no such qualms about that. Yumu was just too damn mean to hold back on. She was tired, but she was just tired. Todoroki was tired and suffering from hypothermia to a far more severe degree than her.

 

Wait.

 

Wait, Fumikage didn’t think Hitoshi was serious?

 

“Oh, my gods, you didn’t. ”

 

Hitoshi groaned and buried his face in his hands, and strongest thread Yumu’s head snapped around to take in the likely growing blush over his cheeks.

 

“Hitoshi, you did not do what I think you did,” she gasped, and Hitoshi let out a soft, desperate whine.

 

“I’m an asshole, I know, don’t---”

 

“You had better apologize and give him some, uh…” Yumu trailed off, and the three of them fell silent as they contemplated how you apologized to someone like Tokoyami Fumikage.

 

“I am a little lost, kero, but if Hitoshi is having to apologize to Fumikage, kero, he should come prepared with black roses,” Tsu chimed in, and strongest thread Yumu took her face in her hands.

 

“You’re a genius.”

 

“Or a sword,” Izuku chimed in happily.

 

“Too showy, swords should wait, kero.”

 

“A full bouquet?” Hitoshi muttered and there was a shift as he looked over at Fumikage.

 

“Or a single red rose for the drama,” Yumu declared. “It’s classy.”

 

“Don’t do the single rose, it’s too chaste.”

 

“Chaste is a good thing! It’s charming!”

 

“Oh, they’re throwing punches, kero,” Tsu announced, and Izuku’s head snapped around to take in the sight of Setsuna forming her full body and taking Todoroki on head on. Her limbs were blurring around, and she was clearly exhausted, judging by the sluggish movements, but she was getting it done. Todoroki was narrowly evading the hits, shivering and shaking, and she kept up the relentless attack. How long had this been going on? Twenty minutes now? It had been one hell of a fight, and Todoroki had shown some impressive restraint. Though, judging from what her body looked like in full form like this, she had been regenerating a lot of her pieces, though not enough. That had been a good tactical move, honestly.

 

“Give it a few seconds,” he said, and there it was. Todoroki tried to block a punch with an arm encased in ice, and she moved to a counterattack, seizing the limb and dragging it in close so she could spin on one heel and throw him over her hip. He hit the ground, and… there.

 

One foot out of the ring.

 

Just barely, but it was enough, and Nemuri was calling the match.

 

“... Oh. He lost, kero,” Tsu said faintly, and Izuku smiled.

 

“It wasn’t about winning or losing.”

 

It was about the restraint, and… Well. The stadium was intact, and maybe he wasn’t all that bad.

 

“Shouldn’t you be down there, kero?”

 

“It’s going to take them a while to clean up,” he said with a shrug and flicked down his visor. “We have time, right, Aoyama?”

 

“Oui!” Aoyama called, and Izuku came to his feet with a lazy stretch.

 

“We should probably be in the ready rooms, though.”

 

Aoyama fell into step beside him, and Izuku felt a brief pang of embarrassment, because he had been so focused on Todoroki and his problems and Hitoshi, he’d forgotten to focus on the opponent he had sitting right next to him. Extremely rude of him, really.

 

“Are you ready?” he asked Aoyama, and Aoyama looped his arm in Izuku’s like it was second nature as Aki padded alongside them.

 

“Not in the slightest!” he declared.

 

Well. Izuku had no idea what to say to that. Was he supposed to say something? He didn’t know. He probably should say something. Aoyama was just so weird. It wasn’t that Izuku didn’t like him or anything like that. He liked him quite a lot, he just had no idea how to talk to him.

 

“We’re gonna have to give it our all,” Izuku said, because that seemed to be the right thing to say, and Aoyama just laughed as the three of them stepped into the hall.

 

“I beg of you to not,” Aoyama replied, and Izuku flushed right up to his roots.

 

“I wouldn’t disrespect you by taking it easy.”

 

Aoyama pulled to a halt, and Izuku stopped with him as a long, uncomfortable silence spilled out, filled with the white noise of the crowd that seemed a lot more real the quieter it got.

 

“I am not aiming to win, Sasaki,” Aoyama said quietly, and Izuku felt a pang of some emotion he couldn’t give a name to. “I am simply aiming to not make a fool of myself.”

 

What had Izuku done, exactly, to cement himself so firmly in the opinion of his classmates? Why did everyone see him in the same way now? It felt uniquely isolating, because his tongue was tied, and he didn’t know how to bridge the gap. Something flickered in him, telling him he had misstepped somewhere, but this wasn’t really about him, was it? It was about Aoyama, and his own poor opinion of himself Izuku saw every day in his loud voice that quickly descended into silence, the space he didn’t fill, and.

 

Well.

 

“Aoyama,” Izuku said quietly. “You’re better than you realize.”

 

He knew some Aoyamas had figured out what to do. The thing about Aoyama was that he was actually incredibly smart, and someone that saw the big picture, more than he realized. If Izuku was right, he was going to have to rely almost entirely on Aki for this fight, and Aoyama was going to fight like hell.

 

Even after his speech to Todoroki, he knew it was a double sided coin. He could see everywhere someone went wrong, but he could also see all of the potential they could live up to. He could see how far they could go, and it was one of the better parts of this quirk. It was always a pleasure to watch, and a pleasure to live through, and. Well. He wanted to see everyone live up to their potential.

 

“Thank you,” Aoyama said quietly, and Izuku jostled him with his shoulder.

 

“We’re going to be late,” he said. “Seriously, though. If it makes you feel better, I can tell you’re a big picture kind of guy. The strongest threads have a lot to say about you.”

 

He hoped that was enough of a hint, because he wanted Aoyama to get it. He wanted him to do well, and, well. He also wanted to show his own strengths through this. All of them. That was the thing about everyone being at their best. When you were at your best, and someone else was at their best, then you only made each other look better.

 

“I’m not sure what you mean, but I do believe that’s normal,” Aoyama said cheerfully, like flicking a switch, and Izuku grinned under the visor.

 

“You know, my quirk doesn’t actually work without a hell of a lot of trust in every version I could be,” he said thoughtfully, because Aoyama was still not getting it. He thought about adding more, but Aoyama was stiffening up next to him, and the sharp grin on Izuku’s lips softened to something more sincere. Better not push things too far. “I know you’re going to do great.”

 

“Ah, mon deux, how am I meant to compete with someone who can see me at my best and worst?” Aoyama lamented, and Izuku just laughed as Aki nudged him to let him know they were descending stairs. “And how am I meant to compete against such a darling pup? If I win, I will be the villain.”

 

“Yeah, but playing the villain can be fun, sometimes,” Izuku said slyly, though he had full confidence Aoyama wouldn’t wreck Aki. Thank gods Todoroki had been knocked out in the first round, because what progress he just made would have immediately been walked back the second he chipped Aki’s tooth. Izuku would never forgive him, and he was almost kind of rooting for him.

 

“I am far too pretty for such things,” Aoyama scoffed, and Izuku huffed in amusement.

 

“The best villains are the pretty ones, Aoyama. Not that it matters much to me. ”

 

He was just glad Aoyama wasn’t going against Ashido. No one deserved that. A minor losing their pants on live television was just asking for public shaming for the rest of their life, not to mention the worst of the worst dragging themselves out of the dark web to be weirdos about it.

 

No, he wasn’t going to be letting that happen. Just because Izuku was aiming for the top didn’t mean he was aiming to let any of his classmates get humiliated.

 

“Well. I place our collective honor in your hands, then, mon ami.”

 

“Now, that may be asking too much of me.”

Notes:

There is a point to the strongest members of 1-A getting knocked out in the first round I PROMISE!!! Also, I genuinely think Todoroki vs Setsuna would just end in her winning. He doesn't have the speed she does, and while he could hypothetically take out Tenya because Tenya is a larger target, Setsuna would make it next to impossible because he would have to freeze out individual parts. Henceforth, Shouto loses because he would reach hypothermia before her, but he really did give it his all! Also, I just really wanted to explore a side to Shouto that showed him exercising a lot of restraint and not losing his cool because he's aware of the consequences.

Chapter 24

“Now, this is definitely a matchup,” Pops said over the speakers as Izuku flexed his hands, Aki pressed up against his leg. “On the right, we have the current reigning champion, Sasaki Izuku, and on the left, we have the shining beacon of 1-A, Aoyama Yuga. What are we thinking about this match?”

 

“Sasaki is a close range specialist, much like his sister,” Dad grunted over the speakers. “And, like his sister, he’s being put up against someone with devastating long range prowess. Aoyama has really come through in the matches, showing versatility with his Navel Laser and a variety of applications, from propulsion to all out attacks. Sasaki, however, is a master of predicting future movements, and as we have seen, has a great team dynamic with Aki. Both are masters of mobility, but Aoyama has speed on his side. We’ve seen in real time how difficult it is to dodge his laser, so this match is going to come down to base fighting instinct.”

 

“You heard it from my co-announcer, folks. We’ve had some exciting fights so far, and it looks like the action is only ramping up. Whichever way this match goes, we’re definitely going to be in for a show.”

 

“Alright, boys,” Nemuri said and snapped her flogger to get their attention, “clean fight. Tap out, knock out, or out of bounds. Are you ready?”

 

“Oui!”

 

“Ready,” Izuku confirmed and slowly reached for his visor. Strongest threads could switch in a moment, and he needed to be sure.

 

“In that case, fight! ”

 

The flogger cracked, and Izuku was already diving to the side to escape the blast of the laser as Aki split off. His visor flicked up, and he hit the ground and rolled to his knees.

 

“Aki, release!” he thundered, and Aki charged forward even as Izuku sprang to his feet to follow him. Aoyama rapidly backed up, and let off a blast just shy of hitting Aki, forcing him to stop his advance, but Aoyama’s attention was already switching as a smile stretched across Izuku’s lips.

 

He was going to do it.

 

Izuku was so proud.

 

Aoyama’s hand slapped his belt, and the setting changed as he danced back away from Izuku, dangerously close to the line, and the equivalent of a flashbang went off.

 

Light spiraled in every direction but at Izuku, up and down and out in a wall of light, and he pulled to a stop as he flicked through twenty separate versions of him, to no avail. The world was nothing but a bright, pulsing light, and Pops let out a muffled shriek.

 

“What was that? ” he demanded, but Izuku couldn’t pay him any mind right now.

 

“Aki, return,” he ordered, and his ears picked up the click of the lever on the side of Aoyama’s belt slipping back down to the regular nonlethal bolt. In an instant, he wrenched himself to the side to avoid the blast of heat, every version he flicked through too blinded to see, but that was fine. He had trained for this.

 

“Aoyama has been working with Sasaki for months now,” Dad grunted. “And he’s being proactive. That was a flashbang.”

 

“And what is the sense of using a flashbang on a blind opponent?”

 

“Generally, none, but Sasaki’s quirk is a passive one based in his eyes that he can interact with to some degree, meaning he has limited amounts of time during a day of one version of sight, and the rest of the time he keeps it manually shut off. This is a showdown of two students who use support equipment, and we’re about to see the fruits of that unique status as individuals who have trained around that necessity.”

 

“So, Aoyama just took out Sasaki’s quirk?”

 

“Briefly.”

 

But that didn’t matter, because Izuku had trained beyond the quirk, and he was already moving as Aki returned to him, his visor flicking back down as Aoyama let out another blast. Aki slammed his head into his thigh, and dropped down low as Izuku hit the ground and rolled to avoid the heat. In an instant, he was pushing back up and charging, but there was another long, continuous blast to keep him separated from Aki. The heat was somewhere to the right and swinging to him, but Izuku memorized heat signatures on the regular, including Aoyama’s. One, two, drop.

 

He hit the ground, belly down, and rolled, and there was a scuff as Aoyama started to circle around. His head tilted, and then he bolted to the side after the sound of that scuff, but his foot slipped on a piece of rubble, and oh.

 

Clever, clever Aoyama was aiming at him as a secondary goal. There was a primary goal, and that goal was turning the terrain against Izuku and fucking with his spatial awareness.

 

Brilliant.

 

Izuku was so proud. He’d taken a page from Ochako’s book.

 

“Sasaki is aware of his limitations, and has trained extensively for this exact situation,” Dad muttered into the mic, and there was another blast of heat, raking up the ground and leaving the mirage of heat blasting off the concrete. “With or without his quirk, he’s an opponent to be reckoned with, but Aoyama is taking every advantage he can.”

 

Aoyama was being ruthless. There was heat rising from the concrete now from his blast of attacks, and Izuku’s primary method of dodging was based in throwing himself onto the ground and dodging to keep his sense of spatial awareness intact. Aoyama had seen that, because Aoyama watched more than people realized, and he was turning the terrain into something hostile towards Izuku. Gods, Izuku was enamored right now.

 

“Aki, return!” he ordered, and there was the sound of paws scattering rubble to his left, which meant the scuff behind him and to the right was Aoyama. “Gotcha.”

 

Izuku spun, and his foot carved through the rubble to send rocks spiraling at Aoyama, and there was a yelp of pain and multiple thunks as they connected, followed by another thump as Aoyama fell back. More skittering as Aoyama scrambled to his feet and let off another blast, and Izuku waited for the heat to draw near, measuring the height of it based on feel and sound alone, and threw himself up to leap over it and hit the ground in a roll. Something grabbed him and yanked him back, teeth biting into his shirt and almost tearing it, and there was another surge of delight as he realized Aoyama was herding him.

 

“And there we see Sasaki and Aki’s teamwork. As the service animal of a future pro, Aki has to be trained in more than just assisting a blind individual with daily independence,” Dad said. “Right now, Aki is acting as radar so Sasaki can pinpoint Aoyama’s position by hearing. They’re just as effective split up as they are together.”

 

There was a flash of annoyance at Dad revealing him like that even as Izuku stumbled back away from the edge, followed by a realization that Dad was actually doing exactly what Izuku would want him to do: showing off Aki’s versatility and saying what Izuku could only say through actions, which could easily not be understood by someone who didn’t have to rely on a service animal. He was demonstrating Izuku’s worth, and there was affection building in his chest that he forced himself to put away for now. There was a click, and Izuku realized Aoyama was shifting to a lower heat setting now that the jig was up. The whole class knew Izuku relied on a variety of senses, and Aoyama was now going to use the rising heat from the concrete to mask his attacks.

 

But the flashbang should have worn off by now, and Izuku had seconds to plan his assault before he did it again.

 

“Take me to the center,” he ordered, and Aki shoulder checked him to prompt him to lunge with all of his power to the approximate center to reorient himself. The speakers were quieter to the north from their distance, which meant putting his face to them orientated him with the longer side of the ring. His foot slipped through all of the rubble, and there was the barest hint of a lower heat coming at him, and he ducked in just barely enough time to let his gravity-defying hair get singed.

 

Ah.

 

He was due for a trim, anyways.

 

As he dropped, his hand flicked up the visor, and a million scenarios poured in as he pushed Parallel Sight to the max. Bare milliseconds between flashbangs, but it wasn’t enough, and there was already another click as Aoyama switched settings. Izuku faced it head on, and the brilliant light exploded again milliseconds before he flicked the visor back down. Light burned his retinas, and he took what little he had to charge forward, Aki powering forward at his side in an all-out attack. Another blast of heat, Aoyama had slightly messed up the setting, but it was enough to make the heat rise off the concrete and separate them once again.

 

It was on after that. Izuku advanced, and the heat kept him turned around. Scenarios were poured through, and Aoyama blocked him yet again as the heat only continued to rise. Aki saved him at the last second from plunging over the edge, and Aoyama separated them, and Izuku used the scuffs and pounding paws to pinpoint his location to continue his relentless assault. It was a showdown, and Izuku’s heart felt in every vein as he kept giving it his all. Aoyama did everything he could to mess up his sense of direction, and every time he managed it, Aki was there to correct and put Izuku back on course.

 

Izuku could be patient, though. Sometimes, his spars with Papa lasted an hour, and this was difficult, but not impossible. Aoyama was at his best, but Izuku had won the first two events, and he didn’t have the space to back down now. He couldn’t. He was a recommended student, and he was in the first round, and he had the hopes of his whole family and so many more on his shoulders. What was more, he had his own pride, and Aoyama was fighting like hell, but Izuku knew how to go deeper.

 

There was a moment where it broke. A dozen scenarios, and then another dozen, and he saw his chance just before the flashbang and took it.

 

The next laser cut through the air, and instead of dropping in a roll, he slammed onto his back on the torn rubble and slid through it. Right there was where it was. The hunk of rubble, and his flat foot slammed into it at precisely the right angle. The chunk of concrete skittered across the ground, and Izuku’s palm was practically torn in two with the burn of pushing himself up from the ground as the hunk slammed into Aoyama’s shin and sent him off balance. Izuku followed its trajectory, going higher, higher, and his foot slammed into his chest to send him flying back with the force of all the adrenaline pulsing in his blood. There was a choke of pain, and Aoyama went flying back, right out of the ring as Izuku stumbled forward to find his footing.

 

“Aoyama is out of bounds!” Nemuri crowed and snapped her flogger. “Sasaki wins!”

 

Izuku stood there, panting and breathless, and Aki’s solid weight leaned against him as he leaned over the edge of the platform to strain to hear the pained whine.

 

“Did I kick you too hard?” he asked as he dropped to one knee and offered a hand. Another hand slid into his grasp, and he pulled Aoyama to his feet as Aki whined for attention. “Yes, you did great, Aki.”

 

A kiss was pressed to Aki’s head, and Aoyama released his hand so Izuku could direct his attention to Aki to check him for any injury.

 

“No,” Aoyama wheezed, and Izuku laughed breathlessly.

 

“I think you were the one that kept our honor intact,” he gasped and sat down fully to slump against Aki. “You were ruthless. Wow.”

 

Aki’s tail thumped against Izuku’s back, and he leaned back, hands braced on the concrete to turn his face to the sky.

 

“Are you hurt at all?”

 

“Just bruised, mon ami!”

 

“Good,” Izuku panted. “Help me down?”

 

He held out both hands, and Aoyama’s warm hands took them, heedless of the grit and blood in his right to help him slide down to the grass as Aki hopped off behind them.

 

“As ever, Sasaki, your teamwork with Aki was a sight to behold,” Aoyama said warmly, and Izuku grabbed his shirt on impulse to pull him in for a hug. There was a muffled squeak, and ah, Izuku had seen Aoyama a lot, but not seen him, and didn’t realize he was so petite. What was all that armor for, anyways?

 

“Good match,” he said breathlessly, trying to figure out why he was so relieved, and then it hit him.

 

Aoyama recognized that other people would use his blindness against him, and had come to the table with a willingness to turn his senses against him. Izuku didn’t get that often, even in his own family, and Aoyama hadn’t worried about insulting him. It was… nice.

 

“Call me Izuku, please!” he blurted, because wow, he wanted to be friends. He wanted to be friends very badly.

 

“I… you aren’t angry?”

 

“No,” Izuku assured him and pulled back. “I’m not.”

 

It was probably because Aoyama recognized his own perceived weakness in being reliant on support equipment, Izuku realized dimly. He got it, and it was nice.

 

“Then call me Yuga, mon ami.”

 

“I will!”

 

Gods, that fight was so satisfying. Izuku couldn’t be happier. He was going to make damned well sure Aoyama, no, Yuga, didn’t eat lunch alone after this.

Notes:

JUSTICE FOR AOYAMA!!!! I figured that if Aoyama thought long and hard about Parallel Sight, next to Hagakure, he'd be Izuku's natural enemy, and I really just wanted to let him go beast mode. Yes, I did spam all of these chapters so we could get to their fight, because next to Yumu vs Ochako, it's my favorite one. Izuku is still collecting friends even if his personality is wildly different. Look at the sunshine boys go! I love them.

Chapter 25

“I think I need a nap,” Izuku groaned as he slumped in the seat next to Yumu, and she hummed faintly as she watched the Gen Ed kid that was Nyx’s twin take the stage. Mei had been chattering about Nyx a lot lately, and she rarely chattered about anything but her ‘babies’, so this Nox had Yumu’s attention. The other twin hadn’t gone after her team during the second round, and she hadn’t seen them during the first round, nor had she had time to ask around.

 

“We’re all tired from Chiyo, Izuku,” Yumu replied as she propped her chin in her hand. “Was this the Gen Ed kid you said we needed to watch out for?”

 

“Mm? Nox Brentson? Yeah,” Izuku drawled as he pressed a cold water bottle to his forehead.

 

“What is their quirk?” Yumu asked, because as far as she could see, they had the same cybernetic arms as their twin, except the color scheme had been flipped to be black with white accents instead, just like their black hair.

 

“You can’t wait five seconds?” Izuku teased. “They’re going to give our Ashido one hell of a fight.”

 

“I have the patience of a gnat,” Yumu replied as Pops gushed over both competitors over the mic, “and I wasn’t paying attention to them during the cavalry battle.”

 

“Well, that’s your own fault. I told everyone there was going to be someone cool in Gen Ed,” Izuku grunted, and she hummed faintly.

 

“I wasn’t expecting there to be a Gen Ed kid that got this far this year,” she murmured, and Izuku huffed out a laugh.

 

“There generally aren’t, but we’re following the plot of our year,” he replied. “You weren’t in Gen Ed, and neither was Hitoshi, or me, so someone had to be exemplary from that class to knock all the heroics students off their high horse. It’s an important theme, ya know.”

 

“It’s so weird when you talk about things like they’re a story,” Yumu grumbled as Ashido and Brentson backed up to their respective sides of the ring. “This is real life, you know.”

 

“Au contraire, my beloved sister. Nothing is real,” Izuku lamented dramatically, and Hitoshi, passing by to take his seat, smacked him upside the head.

 

“Knock it off, Zuku; you’re being creepy,” Hitoshi said and flopped down into his seat after carefully stepping over Aki. “Where’s your boyfriend?”

 

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Izuku drawled, and Hitoshi looked around curiously.

 

“Tenya’s gone, too.”

 

“They both went to the ready rooms,” Yumu said without a shred of mercy. “Because they actually take their fights seriously.”

 

“How is not going to the ready rooms not taking fights seriously?” Izuku asked, and Yumu shrugged.

 

“I don’t know. I haven’t used them. I’d rather watch from up here, but I’m told it’s to get into the zone.”

 

“But I’d miss out on so many fights,” Izuku muttered, and Yumu hummed.

 

“You’re wasting your quirk. You’re going to need it.”

 

“I’m not wasting it. This is intel.”

 

“If you say so,” Yumu said dubiously, and Izuku frowned as he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

 

“I feel like I’m missing something,” he muttered, eyes blinking as he flicked through different scenarios. “There’s a…”

 

He trailed off, and both siblings turned to look at him just as Nemuri cracked her whip.

 

Ashido was already moving, skating towards Brentson who had their hands clasped tightly together. There was a bright explosion of light from between them, a beam of pure sunlight, and they lifted their hands as they swerved to the side to avoid a strike as tiny pieces of black and what looked like wires spiraled around in the air between their hands. Yumu leaned forward more with a squint as they swerved left and right, and suddenly, a black bird shot out and slammed into Ashido, knocking her off balance as the person skittered back to the opposite end of the arena. The black bird cut up through the air and spun before shooting back down. Concrete shattered as it slammed headfirst into the ground, and then it unfolded and clamped into the ground in a slab of metal. Their hands spread out like they were about to unleash an attack, but instead spiraling chunks of black, gleaming metal shimmered in the air, formed in the beams of light emanating from their mechanic palms. The metal shot forward in milliseconds, clamping down and within four seconds a wall had formed, an ugly slash of black in the concrete.

 

“... What?” Yumu asked faintly as Ashido skated up to the edge and failed to get a grip on the smooth edge. Realizing it was a pointless endeavor, she flung acid at it, but it was slow melting, and Brentson was already moving. Their palms pressed together again and formed a second bird, it looked like some kind of robotic crow, and the bird shot out, a small jet thruster built into its back to speed towards the wall and abruptly cut up. The bird sailed over the wall, spun twice in the air, and then the flame pitched to bright blue as it thundered down, faster than Yumu could follow by sight alone to swing towards Ashido. Mina dodged, but it wrapped around for a second attack as Brentson patiently waited for it to do the fighting for them.

 

It was over in seconds. The bird shot forward and slammed into Mina, sending her careening out of bounds, and Nemuri stood there in shock for a moment at the seamless victory.

 

“Ashido is out of bounds! Brentson wins!”

 

“Crow Build,” Izuku said quietly, and Yumu whirled on him.

 

“How are they not in heroics?”

 

“Easy. They only have ten builds,” Izuku said with a shrug, “and ten AIs, and they just brought out their heavy hitters. Each crow has its own special feature, and that was the wall and speed. I won’t tell you the other builds, but it just wasn’t enough to take out enough bots, especially because their bird optimized for that sort of thing could only target one robot at a time. They were at a disadvantage, and their speed type wasn’t armored enough to bust through metal. Too many strong competitors this year. Someone had to get the short hand of the stick.”

 

“Mina couldn’t even melt through the wall!” Yumu protested, and Izuku hummed.

 

“Not sure, but I think they have a cap on how many times they can make the same build in a day. They weren’t using it much during the cavalry battle.”

 

“That’s stupidly OP,” Yumu grumbled angrily, and Izuku arched a brow.

 

“Okay, miss ‘I took down a massive monster with my fingertips’,” he drawled, and she flushed.

 

“That wasn’t that crazy!”

 

“It kind of was. Don’t get jealous of a Gen Ed kid. They’re probably going to be in B, anyways. Nothing to feel threatened over.”

 

“I’m not threatened! I’m at the top of my class!”

 

“You are not, I knocked you out last week.”

 

“And I knocked Todoroki out the week before, shut up!”

 

“No one cares who is top week to week,” Hitoshi said as he leaned over to root around in his backpack, “only who’s top overall. You two are petty. Yumu. Catch.”

 

A green tea was lobbed at her head with way too much force, in her opinion, and she ducked before barely managing to catch it as it zipped over her skull, barely skimming her ponytail.

 

“Don’t be rude! ” she hissed, but popped the can all the same and took a sip. “Thanks.”

 

“Here,” Hitoshi said and passed Izuku his own drink. “Tenya and Eiji heading down?”

 

Izuku stiffened up ever so slightly, and Yumu bit down on her lips to keep from laughing.

 

“When did you start calling him Eiji? Does he let you call him Eiji? ”

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know, weather boy.”

 

“Hitoshi, I don’t care what Po… what anyone says, you are not funny.”

 

“The all seeing oracle getting jealous?” Yumu teased. “Why don’t you ask him if you can call him Eiji, I-zu-ku?”

 

Izuku spluttered, and Aki perked up, so Yumu obligingly laid the cold can of green tea on his nose to cool him down. The dog sighed, long and loud, and Izuku made a wounded nose.

 

“You’re not funny either, Yumu!”

 

“I’m hilarious. You’re just sensitive. ”

 

“Oh, I can’t wait till you get back from your match with Uraraka,” he hissed, and there was a scuff behind them.

 

“What do you think is going to happen with our match?”

 

Uraraka’s voice had Yumu jumping so high she almost pitched over the railing, and Hitoshi lashed out to grab the back of her shirt on instinct. Green tea sloshed over the edge of the can, and Yumu made a noise that she would deny for the rest of her life.

 

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!” she gasped as Hitoshi yanked her back into her seat.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Uraraka said, not sounding sorry at all, and leaned over Yumu. Warmth crawled over her spine as heat rose in her cheeks, and Uraraka hummed as Pops ran through their introductions. “I just missed a match, didn’t I?”

 

“Gen Ed kid won,” Izuku said as Yumu waffled between moving away from Uraraka and staying right where she wanted to be. Gods, why was she so gay? “It was over in a couple of seconds, but they overplayed their hand.”

 

“So, it’s Iida and Kirishima now?” Uraraka asked, and hummed. “I didn’t think Mina would be out in the first round… Man. I was hoping I’d see her in finals.”

 

“Mina in finals?” Yumu asked, and Uraraka grinned.

 

“Probably too much to dream for, but she was who I was rooting for on that side of the brackets.”

 

“Careful, you might offend Izuku,” Yumu teased, and Izuku snorted.

 

“Like I’d let myself get beat,” Izuku said airily. “You know I’m aiming for the top.”

 

“You can’t just hog all three events, Zuzu!” Yumu protested, and Izuku’s nose crinkled up.

 

“I can, and I will,” he sniffed. “Get good.”

 

“You wouldn’t speak to Uraraka like that!”

 

“You stabbed me in the eye with a makeup brush this morning. Uraraka would never do such things.”

 

“Sasaki, you didn’t! ” Uraraka gasped, and Yumu tilted her head back to look up at her.

 

“You’re clearly an only child,” she deadpanned. “You’ve never felt the highs and lows of the Cain instinct.”

 

Uraraka had really clear skin. Yumu wasn’t sure why she was fixating on this, but it was most definitely distracting. Why did she have such clear skin? It wasn’t even remotely fair, really, to just keep being perfect like that. She didn’t even have makeup on and---

 

Uraraka was staring down at her blankly, or perhaps a little confused, and Yumu realized, rather briefly, that she must look very strange right now, with her whole head tilted back, staring up at Uraraka’s chin like this like she was witnessing the birth of Venus. Oh, gods, they were going to only have a small break, and then Yumu and Uraraka were up first, she was going to embarrass herself, forget getting to kick Hitoshi’s ass, Uraraka was going to wreck her because Yumu couldn’t keep her brain in one place for five fucking seconds---

 

“Iida knocks Kirishima out of the ring!” Pops howled, and Yumu jumped slightly as Izuku let out a noise of pure pain. “A win for our speedy star!”

 

“Aw, damn,” Izuku complained as Yumu barely caught herself from clocking Uraraka in the chin as Uraraka pulled back, “I really wanted Kirishima to win.”

 

“We know, Zu,” Hitoshi and Yumu said in unison, because Izuku complaining about his crush losing was about the only thing that could get the two of them pulled out of any degree of raging teenage hormones.

 

“Wow, that means we have to head down!” Uraraka said, and Yumu flushed.

 

“Right!” she gasped.

 

She had avoided using Morpheus Trap on Uraraka up until this point, but… but she was a tough opponent, and there was just no possible way around it.

 

She really hoped she wouldn’t hate her, but…

 

She kind of hoped she wouldn’t hate herself, too. She couldn’t disrespect Uraraka by not using it. After that showing, she had to treat her with every inch of respect that Bakugo showed her. She had to, and she hated it, but Uraraka wouldn’t be mad, and…

 

“Good luck!” Uraraka called cheerfully, and Yumu watched her back up with a hop in her step, thumbs thrown up and a cheery smile on her face as she made her way to the exit. “I’ll make sure you need it!”

 

Yumu’s tongue was in her throat, and her stomach twisted in discomfort before she steeled herself.

 

She could do this. She had to do this. She couldn’t insult Uraraka with her own issues. She wouldn’t.

 

She wouldn’t.

Notes:

This is a short one, but next..... next we get that sweet, sweet Ochako POV. Fasten your seatbelts, kids, because it's the Sports Festival, and on gods we're confronting TRAUMA

Chapter 26

Ochako was beyond nervous. She had barely come out of that fight with Bakugou, and had to take a nap in the infirmary to recover. Recovery Girl had actually wanted her to stop here, but Ochako was determined to go until she dropped. She was tired, dead on her feet, and knew in her gut that she would not go past this round, but she didn't care.

 

She had to prove herself. Sasaki did not get as far as she did by giving up when she was tired, and Ochako would not, either. She was going to give this crowd a show, she was going to firmly cement herself as someone to watch. Even if no one out there realized there were two separate sets of powerhouses in 1-A, Ochako had to prove to herself that she could compete with both of them.

 

Because that was the thing. In their class, there were two powerhouse groups. On one hand, you had the strong physical quirks. Tokoyami, definitely. Todoroki, obviously. She'd missed him icing over the stadium, but it was evidently a spectacle. Yaoyorozu, who floated between the two powerhouse designators. And then Bakugo.

 

She had beaten Bakugo. By the skin of her teeth, of course, but she had moved onto round two, and that mattered. That meant something. He'd respected her. He didn't give two shits that she was a girl. He'd gone after her with all his firepower, and so had she. And she had won, even after the entire stadium booed Bakugo because what about the tiny, helpless, little girl?

 

Tiny, helpless little girls had fangs.

 

And now she was on the second powerhouse. The powerhouse no one would ever acknowledge because they weren’t “flashy”, but the ones everyone knew were better than the obvious ones. The smart powerhouse. The powerhouse that did not care in the slightest that they didn't have flashy quirks. The powerhouse that overcame their stigmas and pushed themselves past every level their peers were on and went beyond. They were the dark horse of 1-A, the unseen danger lurking in the shadows, and Ochako, of course, because the universe hated her, was going up against the one who wore strawberry corgi socks and had the brightest smile in the world and smelled like peaches and tucked her hair behind her ear just so, who peered at her from under her bangs with big, wide, questioning eyes, and…

 

And had, objectively, the most terrifying quirk out of all of them.

 

Of course, Ochako would hate going against her brother even more. There was simply no winning against Parallel Sight, and he had proven that multiple times. Everyone knew you couldn’t beat Parallel Sight. That was the entire point of it. It was undefeated. That was the entire reason she had teamed up with them. If anyone had a chance of winning, it was Sasaki and his infinite possibilities. And if she was with him, she knew he'd move them to the final round, no problem. Of course, she hadn't anticipated using her quirk on his sister, or the consequential sibling quarrel on international television. Was it a sibling quarrel? She honestly could not tell if Aizawa was related or not. He certainly acted like her big brother. Poor Kaminari had taken one wayward step towards her and been run off with a glare that could rival their sensei’s.

 

Even so… out of the powerhouse, she would rather stand toe to toe with Aizawa. The Sasaki siblings were terrifying, and Sasaki was… not an ideal matchup for Ochako.

 

They both had contact based quirks. Five point touch, the only ones in 1-A. Except even beyond the training, Sasaki had an advantage. Speed. Ochako's quirk would take time to get her out of the ring, and Sasaki was flexible. Sasaki was incredibly flexible. And Morpheus Trap, on the flipside, put someone down in milliseconds.

 

It was going to turn into a dangerous game of tag. And Sasaki was going to win. The second Ochako got close enough to touch, she could be touched, too. The only advantage was that Morpheus Trap required skin contact.

 

Sasaki had never used her quirk on her, and Ochako had refrained from asking about it. It was cut and dry. Sleep paralysis, complete with your own personal demon. A few class members had been on the receiving end of it, and it had become an unspoken rule to just not talk about it. That was primarily because Sasaki had a bad habit of apologizing profusely for using it and was clearly a tad insecure, avoiding its activation by any means necessary. Ochako, personally, was of the opinion that she should use it more. It was good training, teaching people to stay calm and patient in a scary situation. Aizawa never had any qualms about using his, after all, and refused to apologize for it, ever.

 

If Sasaki apologized to her for it, Ochako would not be held responsible for what happened next.

 

“Aaannnddd coming out into the ring, we've got our two five point touch girls of 1-A!” Present Mic howled.

 

“Alright, Uraraka, that's your cue,” Ectoplasm’s clone said and Ochako took a deep breath before walking out onto the green, smiling and waving at the roaring stadium.

 

“To my left, with the brown bob and pink cheeks, we have everyone’s favorite, Ochako Uraraka!” Present Mic announced. “And to my right, also with a stylish little blue bob, we have Yumemu Sasaki!”

 

Sasaki was skipping out, that brilliant smile on her face as she cheerfully waved at the adoring crowd.

 

“We’ve certainly gotten a show from these girls so far! In their first rounds, Sasaki took the brunt of Kaminari's indiscriminate discharge and just got right up and kept going! I’d ask how you spell tenacity, but I’m pretty sure you could just scribble out her name and be right! And Uraraka, my word, she almost brought down the roof with her ingenuity and gutsiness against Bakugo’s explosions! And there isn’t even a roof to bring down! Eraserhead, what are your thoughts on this matchup?”

 

“It will be a close one,” her teacher answered gruffly as Ochako climbed the steps to the stage. “Both have five point touch quirks, so it’s going to be all about speed and waiting for the opening moment and proper placement, as well as endurance. This is both a nightmare scenario for both of them and an ideal one for the crowd. It's going to drag out. Sasaki has more experience and training, but Uraraka tends to improve at impressive rates when in a crisis.”

 

Ochako stared across the stage at Sasaki, standing there with that ever present soft, slightly mischievous smile. Her hair was glinting in the afternoon sun.

 

It was definitely some kind of crisis.

 

“Alright, girls, I want a clean match, ” Midnight said. “Not that I'm really worried with you two, but let's keep it friendly. You ready?”

 

“Ready!” Sasaki chirped and Ochako swallowed harshly.

 

“Ready!” she replied, as bubbly as she could manage.

 

“Ready, fight!” Midnight’s flogger snapped in the air and Sasaki bolted for Ochako. Immediately, Ochako drew back, dancing out of her range as her mind whirred on the problem presented. What she needed to do was get Sasaki close to the edge of the ring before she used her quirk, to cut down on the time it would take to get her over the line. But Sasaki was too smart to be herded.

 

Sasaki lunged again, and Ochako danced back before darting forward in a feint, pulling her arm back at the last second before Sasaki made contact.

 

“So how long should we play tag?” Sasaki asked conversationally.

 

“Probably until we get tired,” Ochako replied before she could stop herself.

 

“We’re going to be here for awhile, then,” Sasaki commented before going in for another pass, which Ochako swiftly pulled out of the way of.

 

“I know I can't beat you,” Ochako said suddenly as she danced back and around, every tired muscle in her body tense and unyielding. "I'm tired. I'm hitting quirk exhaustion. You're a one hit and done type."

 

"But?" Sasaki asked teasingly, but her voice sounded a little strained, and Ochako tood advantage of that hint of weakness to lunge forward with outstretched fingers. Sasaki, however, was too good for that. The air around them shifted as she just fell back, startling Ochako before the other girl caught herself in a smooth backwards roll, landing in a sprinter's position and propelling herself forward.

 

Ochako yelped and dodged to the side, hitting the ground and coming up in a far less elegant roll. They had gone over breakfalls in class, but it was clear the nonphysical powerhouse had been doing them for years. All Might had even used them as an example of how to do it properly. Ochako had never realized falling was so complicated.

 

"But I don't care," Ochako gasped as she came to her feet before Sasaki could be on her, dancing to the side even as Sasaki's scarred fingers came within millimeters of touching her flesh. She needed to get better at landing in a ready position.

 

"Yeah?" Sasaki asked as Ochako went on the offensive, darting forward to try and grab her, but Sasaki was just too fast. Ochako almost got touched again.

 

"Yeah!" Ochako squeaked. "I'm going to do my best and prove I can stand with you! Even if I lose!"

 

Sasaki tilted her head at that, her eyes blank and face screwed up in mild confusion.

 

"What makes you think you have to prove it? You're brilliant, Uraraka."

 

"Don't say stuff like that!" Ochako yelped as color rose in her cheeks, and lunged again. Sasaki jerked out her grasp, tried to counterattack, but Ochako was ready for it, drawing away and trying to lead Sasaki towards the edge. Instead, Sasaki stood stockstill.

 

"You'll have to start getting me stressed for that to work," she said as a smile lurked around her lips. Gods, what was going on in her head? She was all weird today, like a mask was slipping. "I bet you can get me pretty stressed."

 

Ochako's cheeks were no longer pink. They were bright red, and the two girls stared at each other for a second before Ochako set her jaw in determination.

 

Sasaki wanted to be stressed? Then Ochako was going to stress her out.

 

Ochako lunged, and the game was on. Dodge, dodge, pull back, run, dart away, come back in for the steal neither could quite make, dance out of each other's grasp, all while Ochako tried to herd Sasaki to the edges while Sasaki stubbornly kept her movements close and guarded to pin them both in the center.

 

"Now what was that pause about in the middle of a fight?" Present Mic asked.

 

"You know exactly what it's about, stop trying to get me to comment," Sensei replied harshly.

 

"You are correct! To the untrained eye, this seems like a regular game of tag, but if you notice Uraraka is keeping her moves aggressive and is pressing the offensive far more than Sasaki! But why are they behaving in such a strange manner, Eraserhead?"

 

Sensei sighed in irritation before starting to explain.

 

"Uraraka realizes she is at a disadvantage against Sasaki's quirk, simply due to the time delay. She needs to get Sasaki close to the edge of the ring before she activates it, because she'll need the time to push her out without Sasaki getting a hand on her. Sasaki can drop her in an instant, but Uraraka doesn't have that luxury. On the flip side, Sasaki knows what she's doing and is staying on a tightly controlled defensive pattern because if she goes on the offense Uraraka would have an even easier time of moving her to where she needs her to be. At this point, it's a test of endurance and waiting for one to get tired enough to make a mistake. This is not a battle of strength, but a battle of strategy, speed, and fortitude."

 

Ochako gritted her teeth as she kept up with the attack, Sasaki ducking and dodging and slipping just out of her grasp. There was a randomized pattern to her movements, pressing with counter attacks Ochako could barely keep up with. She couldn’t predict her process. Left, left, right, left, right, back, twist here, dip and roll there. Sasaki nearly got her hands on her but Ochako wrenched back, nearly stumbling and falling over.

 

“It looks like Uraraka is flagging,” Present Mic commented, and Ochako hissed under her breath. Her heart was pounding in her ears. The stakes were so high. She couldn’t afford to just give up, even if she was going to lose. Ochako had something to prove. She had stood up to Bakugou, put him down with sweat and determination and heated pressure, and she needed to at least get Sasaki once. If she could win against Bakugou by the skin of her teeth, she could lose against Sasaki by a hair.

 

“This is the moment we see what they’re both made of,” Sensei said quietly, and that was it. This had gone on long enough, and Ochako needed to stop playing keep away. She couldn’t be a hero if she wasn’t willing to take risks.

 

Ochako lunged, both arms out, not caring about the danger that put her in, and Sasaki’s eyes widened before her lips split into a blinding smile just as Ochako made contact.

 

Sasaki floated up as Ochako’s quirk pulsed in her fingertips, and that’s when she finally made her mistake. She didn’t get out of range. Sasaki’s hand swung down and her fingers brushed Ochako’s arm just as Ochako pushed her towards the edge of the ring.

 

Ochako went down like a sack of potatoes as Sasaki hovered dangerously near the line. She dropped and hit the ground, eyes wide, limbs frozen as an eldritch monster rose up before her, seething, old, ancient, a nightmare from her very own imagination. It was black and twisted, glitching in and out of reality, and Ochako stared in quiet horror at the beast, her breath caught in her chest as her limbs refused to move. Slick spit was dripping from its teeth, and it stared down at her with hunger in its eyes. Hunger, longing, and something pained, like it wasn’t simply hungry. It was starving, starving to be outside, starving to exist, and it reached for Ochako, taloned hand dripping with ooze  suspended in the air, like it couldn’t move another inch.

 

It was as frozen as she was.

 

“Uraraka is immobilized! Sasaki wins!”

 

And then Sasaki was there, with her peach scented pastel blue hair floating in the air as she turned over and over, drifting along where the wind pushed her. She was less than a foot from the ring. Ochako had been so close, and… the creature wasn’t looking away from her, and it… it wasn’t as scary as Ochako thought.

 

Peach smelled like grief.

 

“Uhm, can you bring me to deactivate my quirk?” Sasaki asked Midnight politely, tearing Ochako’s attention away to cling to anything else that wasn’t the beast before her. Midnight just snorted before striding over and catching Sasaki by the shirt to drag her over and down so she could once again touch Ochako, bringing her out of the living nightmare that had lasted a bare ten seconds.

 

Ochako sat up with a gasp as the demon simply vanished, almost reached to call it back---

 

“I’m sor---”

 

“Don’t,” Ochako growled, and Sasaki’s mouth snapped shut as Ochako tried to figure out why she was reaching like it would be there. Like it was ever real to begin with. Like it hadn’t been terrifying.

 

She couldn’t take an apology from her.

 

“Release,” she hissed, and pressed her fingers together.

 

… In hindsight, she should have checked for actual gravity and positioning, because Sasaki simply dropped, landing on Ochako and knocking her back down so they landed in a heap of limbs on the concrete. There was a muffled, exasperated sigh from the announcer box.

 

“Oh,” Sasaki mumbled into Ochako’s shoulder as Ochako’s eyes went wide at the compromised position on international television.

 

“And it looks like Sasaki wins by the skin of her teeth and pulls forward to the next round!” Present Mic howled. “What an incredible showing from both students! I’ve never been so on the edge of my seat watching a game of tag!”

 

“Problem child. Get off Uraraka,” Sensei said gruffly and Sasaki scrambled to her feet and blew her bangs up with a huff of air.

 

“You almost had me, Uraraka!” she chirped with a stretched grin that looked almost unnatural on her face. “That was amazing!”

 

And then the frustrating enigma of a girl darted down the stairs, seeming to actually run away from Ochako. That would not do. No, no, no.

 

“You know, I think that was probably our least messy fight, with the same amount of drama and anticipation,” Sensei commented.

 

“I’d better watch out for when they graduate. I’m sure my PR would love to abandon me for freshly minted heroes with a future just full of low to no collateral damage,” Present Mic commented as Ochako hauled herself to her feet and zipped down the stairs, hot on Sasaki’s heels.

 

“Sasaki!” she called as Sasaki made a beeline for the tunnel.

 

“Good show, girls!” heroes called down to them and Sasaki paused before waving back up at them with a bright smile.

 

“Great strategy!”

 

“You did great!”

 

“You almost won, gravity girl! It was nearly a tie!”

 

“Can’t wait to work with you two!”

 

Sasaki shoved her hands into her uniform pockets and strolled into the tunnel to the deafening sounds of the roaring crowd. Ochako picked up the pace, scurrying after her, and Sasaki pursed her lips as Ochako came alongside her.

 

“Sasaki!” Ochako repeated and reached out, snagging her shirt and Sasaki paused before glancing over at her.

 

“What?” she asked flatly, a frown hovering around her lips that was twitching in a way that just seemed like she wanted another look on her face, and Ochako paused. Had she upset her? Did she take the ‘don’t’ the wrong way?

 

“Stop apologizing for your quirk!” Ochako finally said and jutted out her chin. “You want to be a hero, don’t you?”

 

Sasaki froze, staring at her with wide eyes, and in that instant, the roar of the stadium fell away as Ochako glared at Sasaki intensely.

 

“You want to be a hero, don’t you?” she repeated, almost demanded, and Sasaki’s mouth fell open.

 

“I… Yes?”

 

“Then don’t apologize for doing what you need to do to get there!” Ochako shouted and stomped her foot on the ground. “Bakugo was trying to blow me to pieces, and he didn’t apologize once! You don’t hurt anyone! You don’t maim them! You just freeze them and they get a little uncomfortable for a bit! There’s nothing wrong with what you do! So stop apologizing for it! You are so cool, you’re so powerful and amazing and you make everyone want to do better, you work so hard, but you’re always apologizing for it! Stop it! You make me feel like I can do such amazing things, make me believe I can do it in a way no one else can! I look at you and I see someone I want to be, and someone I want to stand with as an equal, so don’t you dare say sorry for using your quirk on me! Never tell me sorry for doing everything you can do to make your dreams come true! That’s what everyone else is doing, too! ”

 

Sasaki was staring at her, slack jawed and in shock as Ochako turned bright red at her outburst. But she just… she couldn’t quantify it. Sasaki, who had tossed Bakugo around like a ragdoll on the second day of school. Sasaki, who continuously competed for the title of ‘best in class’, right next to her brother, Yaomomo, Bakugou, and Todoroki. Sasaki, who had put that horrifying beast that had beaten their teacher within an inch of his life down like it was utterly nothing, little more than a child’s plaything. Sasaki, who had a soft smile and a bright laugh and a bounce in her step and… Sasaki, who was going to be so much. Sasaki being insecure just made no sense to Ochako.

 

Ochako’s eyes fell on the scarred hands hidden in her pants, and she wondered if she knew, it would make a little more sense.

 

“I’m sorry,” Ochako mumbled as she belatedly realized she was yelling at someone about something she probably would never understand. “I… I didn’t mean to yell, Sasaki.”

 

“Yumu,” Sasaki corrected. “My friends call me Yumu.”

 

Ochako’s eyes went wide and her lips parted as she stared at Sasaki… at Yumu, breathlessly.

 

“Yumu,” she repeated and a sly smile lurked at the corners of Yumu’s mouth.

 

“Thanks, Uraraka.”

 

“... You can call me Ochako.”

 

“... Alright, Ochako.” Of course she could make her name sound so good. Yumu was calling her by name. “Should we… get back to the seats?”

 

“Yeah!” Ochako squeaked. “Let’s sit next to each other!”

 

“... I’d like that.”

 

Ochako would like that, too.

Notes:

I HAVE BEEN SITTING ON THIS SCENE FOR OVER A GODDAMN YEAR GUYS!!! OVER A YEAR!!! IT WAS WRITTEN BEFORE I EVEN FINISHED THE FIRST INSTALLMENT!!!! WE HAVE BEEN WAITING!!!!!! AAAAHHHH!!! FINALLY!!!!

Chapter 27

Yaomomo and Hitoshi were definitely out for blood. Izuku already knew damn well what underhanded methods Hitoshi was employing to get under her skin, and he was definitely going at the bottom of her shitlist for the next few weeks at the minimum. Yaomomo was cool and unflappable most of the time, and there was no flustering her, but Hitoshi knew probably too well everyone had a breaking point where they would just blow up.

 

Yaomomo was a decent hand-to-hand combatant, at least. She was definitely keeping Hitoshi stressed, but she had burned through a lot of lipids in her match with Mei. She was mostly limited to smaller objects now, and was showing great versatility when her reserves were low, but even if she did manage to beat Hitoshi, she probably wouldn’t last past the next round. Especially not against Yumu.

 

Speaking of Yumu… that was a far more interesting spectacle, he thought idly as he made sure Aki’s water was at a decent level. A drop rolled off the tip of his finger and plopped on the ground, and he tilted his head as he definitely did not eavesdrop on his sister’s private conversation.

 

“We should try to go to the same city for our internships,” Uraraka whispered conspiratorially, and Yumu hummed as Koji next to Izuku nudged him rather insistently with his elbow. He patted his arm, silently begging him to not draw attention, because he definitely wanted to hear this.

 

“Even if we don’t, we can definitely video chat and tell each other about our days,” Yumu replied, and Izuku’s brows climbed into his hairline, because ‘days’ implied multiple calls. At night. Koji let out a muffled noise of something between glee and dismay, and Izuku tapped his foot against his to warn him to pipe down. “I know you’re going for rescue, but you should definitely try to go for a martial arts pro to round out the resume a bit. Even rescue pros need to know how to throw a punch. You should have seen the kind of fights Tranquil and Present Mic used to get in about Tranquil not working on his martial arts enough.”

 

“Tranquil… that’s his little brother, right?”

 

“Yep. Baby of the family. And you know what they say about the babies of families. They’re all hardheaded.”

 

“I’m an only child,” Uraraka admitted. “I have no idea what that’s like.”

 

“Chaotic, mostly,” Yumu drawled, and Izuku quietly registered and filed all of this away for blackmail at a later date while Koji’s leg bounced incessantly. “But, hey, Ochako. Do you want to go get ramen again? My treat, just us. No Nejire.”

 

Izuku’s mouth dropped open as Koji seized his hand in a vice grip. Ochako? Ramen again? No Nejire? Now what in the hell---

 

This was so unfair. Why had Tenya knocked out Kirishima? Did he not realize how homophobic he was being? All Hitoshi needed was some roses, and he had a date secured, and Yumu was now on a first name basis and calling Uraraka Ochako. Ochako.

 

Was he falling behind? Was this the price of being too competitive? This was so unfair. He was going to be complaining to Papa about all of this. If he had a match with Kirishima, he could at least keep up. Ochako! Ochako! Was Yumu speedrunning this? She was really going way too fast. He should tell her, as a good big brother, to slow it down a bit.

 

From the way Koji was gripping him, there was no way in hell Izuku was going to get out of that unscathed. Dammit. Divebombing pigeons or letting sibling rivalry lie? Which was more mortifying?

 

Ochako.

 

Ramen.

 

“Oh, and it looks like Aizawa has Yaoyorozu! That was one match, man! You know these kids are walking out of this one bruised!”

 

Koji jumped next to him, and his hand smacked Izuku’s thigh once, twice, three times, and Izuku rather belatedly realized… 

 

Oh. Hitoshi won. He hadn’t been paying attention, and he needed to get his ass down there. He should have been preparing. Tokage was a tough opponent, and he was going to have to give it 110% if he wanted to win.

 

Koji was whispering to Aki fervently, and before he knew it, there were dog teeth cutting into his uniform, and he was being unceremoniously hauled out of his seat and dragged off.

 

“You couldn’t have done that sooner? ” he hissed in Koji’s direction, but all he got was a muffled huff of laughter.

 

Why did anyone think he was an angel? A menace.

 

---

“Coming out of the left, we have Setsuna Tokage, representing the class of 1-B! This girl has a lot of tricks up her sleeve---” Dad coughed, but Pops carried on valiantly “--- and I’m sure there’s more to come! And to our right, we have Izuku Sasaki, from 1-A, the reigning king of the competition so far, with eyes that can see a lot more than we give him credit for! Eraserhead, what are your thoughts on this matchup?”

 

“I think it’s going to be a mess,” Dad grumbled as Aki nudged Izuku to climb the stairs, and he started his walk around the rebuilt platform, quietly counting his steps under his breath in preparation so Aki knew where the lines were. “Both of these are incredibly fast and tough opponents. Tokage is a long range specialist, and Sasaki is once again at a disadvantage as a close combatant.”

 

“Disadvantage hasn’t been an issue for him yet, though!” Pops declared, and Izuku refused to allow himself to be embarrassed. It was not going to happen. He was going to dig his heels in. “But Tokage has a lot more bite than bark!”

 

“That’s not a thing, but continue.”

 

“What’s your analysis for this fight?”

 

“You can do it yourself.”

 

“Well, alrighty then! I think we’re reaching the final part of the day, and all of the kids are tired and pushing their quirks to the match! The question at this point is who will succumb to exhaustion first! It’s been a battle up until this point of sheer willpower! These quirks have been going all day long, and what it’s ultimately going to come down to is who is used to long stretches of quirk training, and who has been conserving their strength? On top of it, their physical bodies are pushing their limits. It’s been an action packed day, and all of these kids have been battered up pretty hard, especially in this tournament! We’ve seen some amazing stuff so far, so this is the point of the day where we see what real pros in the making are made of: Plus Ultra!”

 

Dad sighed into the mic, because that was the cheesiest metaphor, and even Izuku was disappointed in Pops for the low effort. He could do better than that, but hey, it sounded good.

 

“What my esteemed colleague means is when we say Plus Ultra, what we mean is this. Pros go long hours, sometimes even up to sixteen, burning their quirks and bodies the whole day. Most of us hit our breaking limit at the six hour mark, but this is the kind of job where you are going and going and going. You don’t really have time off. If there is one emergency after another, you answer all of them until you can’t. Hero courses are designed to slowly build up prospective heroes to the point where their bodies and minds can stand that kind of constant pressure, and the Sports Festival is meant to showcase their improvement over the three years we have them. We’ve been going for hours now, where we have shown their talents in a variety of situations, but the final portion of the festival is designed to show that ultimate quality of a hero: pushing the boundary of the breaking point, and knowing when to withdraw, or knowing just how much more tension it will take so you can pull back and conserve while still giving the all you have left to give. It’s about both pushing yourself, and moderation.”

 

“Perfectly said, Eraserhead!” Pops crowed, and Izuku picked through the words, processed them. That could be a warning for him, because Dad absolutely knew he had been running Parallel Sight all day, but it could also be a heads-up that she was at her breaking point. Or it was just a warning for both of them, because her entire thing was cellular regeneration, and cellular regeneration was not a fan of hypothermia. In her defense, Izuku was also not a fan of hypothermia.

 

He shouldn’t read too much into it. How close she was to her breaking point was irrelevant, because he would get her there, regardless.

 

His feet led him back to his starting point, judging from the sound of the crowd and loudspeakers, and he came into an easy resting pose, Aki pressed up against his side.

 

“I think you’re super cool, you know,” Tokage said suddenly, and Izuku’s face twitched before he shot a smile towards her face.

 

“I think you’re really cool, too. I’m glad I get to fight you,” he said, idly flicking through a universe with an entirely different quirk where he was in 1-B and the two of them were astoundingly great friends. She was a good person there, at least. And equally dangerous here. It was one of his favorite places to peek.

 

“I’m going to win,” she said firmly, and he thought about it for a second. She wasn’t. He couldn’t allow that. He needed to dominate all three events. He didn’t have a choice. There was nothing else for him in this world beyond total domination. If he didn’t win, he was going to be riding on Papa’s coattails for the rest of his life.

 

“So am I,” he said, and smiled again. “I wish us both luck.”

 

He could hear her shift, and the clack of Nemuri’s heels on the cement.

 

“Clean fight! You two know the rules!” Nemuri declared. “I want you two to give it your all! Fight!”

 

The flogger cracked, and Izuku slipped back into the strongest thread even as she launched her attack. Bits of flesh came soaring at him, and he immediately broke off from Aki.

 

It was so much easier when he could see, he thought in an almost detached manner, and his sneakers scraped against the cement. Aki charged out, coming in wide, and Izuku flung himself forward. She was a long range fighter, and was decent at martial arts, from what he could see, but the more she chipped away at her body, the more sluggish she got with the blood flow and lack of limbs.

 

He knew exactly what he had to do for this. Izuku was excellent at building people up, but to build people up, you learned along the way how to break them down. Already, as he ignored flying fingers and dodged with preternatural perception, he had a plan forming. This was about endurance. Her quirk made noise, not as much as Aoyama, but noise he could pick up with limited difficulty. His body needed to be on autopilot as he flicked through the scenarios presented to him.

 

It was about the rhythm of the fight. He needed to force her to reassemble over and over again, attack in close quarters, make her defend, pull out, bait her, outlast her attacks and dive in again. He was going to force her into quirk exhaustion.

 

“Sasaki is taking an aggressive stance this round,” Pops commented, and a thread shivered with anticipation. Izuku flicked, jerked his body to the side to dodge, and took stock of her disjointed pieces. Now.

 

He charged in, and the flying bits of Tokage spiraled back around to slam back into her body in just enough time to block the furious chest strike that would have winded her had it landed. The force of the blow sent her stumbling back, and he whistled sharply. Paws bit into the concrete as Aki turned on a dime to come at her, and her full body practically exploded so he sailed through where she had been harmlessly as her torso started to fall. Bits and pieces zipped back into her clothes, and she managed to use her telekinesis to yank herself back as she reformed. Her back hit the ground and she rolled back, wide eyed as the toe of her shoe came within centimeters of the line, and she stared up at Izuku in white faced shock.

 

She hadn’t expected the speed or strength. He’d given her a taste of what he could do, and now he had her on her toes.

 

“Wow, you really work out,” she praised, sharp teeth bared, and kicked off.

 

Her body split again, but Izuku had the flow now. She was fast, and extremely so. But he was used to speed. He had been sparring with Papa for years now, and people tended to underestimate the speed of someone that saw into the future. Physical prowess was one thing. Seeing seconds into the future and training your body to know exactly when to move and how much you need to was another thing entirely.

 

She wasn’t in 1-A. He was a recommended student, just like her, but most people dismissed him, no matter how far he took himself. His classmates knew not to underestimate him simply because he was around them all the time, and they had been at USJ. She hadn’t learned their caution, and he would turn that against her.

 

“You’re really fast,” he complimented her as he easily dodged a floating hand and then ducked under a portion of a forearm. “Really, you did great against Todoroki. I was super impressed.”

 

“Yeah?” she huffed, and he fell into the friendly banter.

 

“Yeah. He’s definitely tough, but you saw his weakness, didn’t you? You really pay attention.”

 

Another all out attack, and he seamlessly dodged even as he let out another whistle. Aki charged in, and she broke apart.

 

“Sasaki just got done showing us Aki’s proficiency in acting as radar, but here’s another facet of their partnership: blinding speed,” Dad commented, and Izuku decided to charge as she struggled to reform. Her chest was wide open, and had she not been able to regenerate, she would definitely already be bruising from the strike. Regenerating organs was probably a hell of a lot more difficult than growing bones and regular muscle. Izuku had already proven a single hit could send her flying back, and he could see a bit of panic there as she managed to barely get her limbs reattached just in time to block a roundhouse kick.

 

Time to up the ante. Izuku went in for a combo, because he hadn’t seen the full extent of her training, and she was definitely slower and sluggish. That hypothermia was still clinging a bit. Her arms came up to block an elbow, and a huge chunk of her stomach dropped out and swung around to evade a knee, but he snapped out his full shin to bowl her over his other knee and send her sprawling.

 

Counterattack now.

 

She had good instincts. There was a little distance, and she had just detached a chunk of what was probably some important organ, or maybe even shifted around her innards, when she should have just taken the hit. Hands came flying at him, and the fingers split off and spread out to come in from all angles, but he was too good for that. Aki was coming around, and he stepped back, ducked, swerved, dodged to escape the morbid maelstrom.

 

She was afraid of pain, he realized. She wasn’t used to tanking hits. She evaded them, and hadn’t built a tolerance.

 

Blood in the water, he realized, and grinned sharply, entirely unbothered as he nimbly flicked through his realities as he dodged. The palm managed to land a hit upside the head, which stung a little, she could definitely get some speed, and a forearm came sailing out of nowhere to hit him in the gut as he determined a finger, capable of hauling him out of the ring when caught on his shirt, was more dangerous.

 

Another whistle, this time pitched a little lower to order a feint, and she reacted on instinct, her gaze on Aki to watch for his attack. He charged for her, and Izuku sped forward as Aki slid to a halt and swung out his hindlegs to brace even as she dropped in anticipation for his signature leaping attack. Izuku’s shin swung through the air, catching her in the gut, and she slammed into Aki’s back and bowled over him, limbs akimbo and attached wrong as she hastily tried to get herself back together in the proper structure.

 

Again, her limbs detached, but this time it was just her fingers and hands coming at him as pieces of her forearms and biceps spiraled around her to defend. Ah, she was learning. Good. The fight would be over soon.

 

“You’re really good,” he praised even as he easily evaded her strikes. Oh, she knew pressure points. Good to know. He could deal with that. Aki shoulder checked him, and he stepped away from the edge of the ring, more than a little delighted she had paid enough attention to the matches so far she knew her best chance was herding him.

 

“So are you,” she replied, her voice trembling. “Really, you’re super cool, Sasaki. I’m happy to fight you.”

 

“Glad someone is,” he deadpanned, because it had only been complaints and declarations they would take defeat with grace until now.

 

“But your whole class is scared of you,” she added, and his brain short circuited. “Oh, don’t look like that. You know it just as much as I do. I hear a lot of things.”

 

“No one is scared of me,” he scoffed, even though his heart was hammering, and he got smacked upside the head with a strike.

 

“Oh, that got under your skin,” she said, almost sounding surprised. “I would think you’d be used to it by now.”

 

“There’s nothing to get used to,” he insisted, and she let out a disbelieving laugh.

 

“You really think no one’s scared of you? The whole school heard about you at USJ. The big star, standing up to those villains, bleeding all over the place, like some kinda berserker.”

 

Another hit got him, and he realized, rather dimly, that maybe it wasn’t a good thing he couldn’t hear other universes. He was faltering in most of them, a little dim with shock. People weren’t scared of him. He was supposed to be a hero. People didn’t fear heroes, they feared…

 

They feared burning houses, and helplessness, and dead mothers, and fire on the pier, and fathers that never loved them. They feared their dads bleeding on the ground, and girls with broken hands, and not able to do anything about it, and not being able to do enough. They didn’t fear… they didn’t fear heroes.

 

He wasn’t going to be a villain, he wasn’t going to… His papa was Sir Nighteye. His dad was Eraserhead. His pops was Present Mic. He wasn’t…

 

“I don’t think you listened close enough,” he said, and tried to kick his brain back into gear, but the threads were glitching.

 

She had pink hair, right?

 

“I listen plenty,” she snapped. “You and your sister have your whole class scared. The big boogeymen of 1-A. Even Todoroki is scared of you. I’m not, though.”

 

His… sister?

 

Everything snapped back into place.

 

Really, all those years of training with Hitoshi hadn’t taught him about soft spots? She’d miscalculated. She just wasn’t as good at it as him. Hitoshi knew where to step, where pushing went a little over the edge, where heckling just teetered on the edge and made someone more dangerous than need be. It was a good strategy, but she showed her hand.

 

“No one is scared of Yumu,” he said bluntly. “She’s intense, and her quirk is everyone’s natural enemy, but no one is scared of her. Not like that. I told you. You didn’t listen enough.”

 

There was a difference in being challenged to climb above and actively being scared of someone. Yumu was intense, but she had worked long and hard to not be scary. Of course it didn’t work, but this girl had no clue what Yumu… what all of them had gone through to get where they were. Hitoshi, Yumu, and Izuku all had been through hell, right there with Koji and Mei, and yeah, she had no idea what she was on about. The only reason they were ‘scary’ re: intimidating, was because they hadn’t had a choice.

 

No one was scared of Yumu, and you know what? He was going to make damn well sure she never heard about this, because she had a date, and he wasn’t going to let this ruin her day.

 

“No one said that was a bad thing!” Tokage protested, but Izuku was… oddly angry now.

 

She had dug her own grave.

 

“It’s bad enough,” he said, and whistled, low, sharp, and directed, with a high note followed by a low drop, and Aki let out a rumbling growl. His toes pressed into the concrete, and he let his Parallel Sight light on fire.

 

Finger to the twelve o’clock. Palm to six. Finger to seven, another palm to ten, puzzle pieces clicking into place. His body knew what to do. Swerve, step, swerve, step, twist the torso, shift the hips, turn the head, push one shoulder back, step to the right, and another high and low whistle note. Aki dropped low as Izuku let loose what real fear was.

 

Objectively, he had overreacted, and he was being hypocritical. But this was an ideal match for this combo. The thing about his quirk was that he couldn’t rely solely on his combat sense, because that was never going to be enough for him. It was also about presence. It was about intimidation, and he disliked using this, but Tokage had proven easy to shake. He was never going to be able to show off his quirk to the world in a way people could comprehend, and he knew, gods he knew, that it was a lot scarier than people realized. Than people would ever realize. Todoroki had gotten a taste of that today, and he had gotten a taste of the whimsy to soothe over the shock. Izuku knew he was walking a tightrope. Intimidation, but not too much. Friendliness, but not too friendly. Social scripts he understood. He could recite them, he could move with different scenarios.

 

Izuku knew he was cocky. Maybe even arrogant. He knew this was probably going to make him look bad, or at least not exactly what people wanted from a hero with so many shortcomings. But there was something to be said for presence. Heroics, by and large, especially in intelligence and the limelight, was about the stage presence. It was a production, brought to you in live time, and everyone had their role to fill. Sometimes, you just had to be the heel. Sometimes, you had to show a little of what you could do.

 

It was a good thing he was up against small targets, easily dodged and evaded. If he was against Todoroki, it would all be hard, fast, power, power, power, power. The only downside in this competition was that he wasn’t going to be allowed to go against anyone with incredible power to show off his full repertoire. Next year, maybe.

 

Shift, step, step, twitch, turn the head just so. This took a lot of concentration. His quirk was not a full body quirk, but he had to be perfectly in tune with his sight, his analysis, and his body. His eyes, he knew, were flickering like mad as Aki went low to the ground and kept growling, inching forward. The slow walk while he made evading her look easy was essential. She was still going, and she was starting to get freaked out, but he had to make it look like he’d been holding back until now.

 

It was a lot of strain, but he only had two opponents after this, and he could handle Tenya or Nox, and Hitoshi he could fight even without a quirk. He needed to go all out with Tokage.

 

Twitch, shift, step, step, step.

 

He came to a stop a few feet away from her, and twitched again as she took a step back.

 

“I know what you’re doing,” he said as he tucked his hands in his pocket. “It was a good try, but you need to figure out moderation. You might want to take tips from Hitoshi Aizawa for heckling.”

 

A finger was flying at him, and he twisted his full torso to let it sail past and join the defensive ring.

 

“That’s pretty good,” she admitted, and he drank in the dawning realization on her face. “Your quirk is pretty scary, isn’t it?”

 

“Years of training, mostly,” Izuku agreed, casual, even though there was a throb that was beginning to start behind his eyes. “Right about now, you’re reaching the end of your energy. You’ve been forced into a full morph multiple times to defend, and have been detaching and reattaching for a solid ten minutes now, every few seconds or so. Some of your limbs went out of bounds, and you had to fully regenerate those, yeah?”

 

“Yeah,” she agreed, the realization bleeding out of her face as he took in the tremble in her arms and legs. Tokage of the strongest thread was exhausted, and the Tokage here was panting. “You’re definitely tough.”

 

“Well. Now that we know our standings, right now you have two options,” he said, and cocked a hip at the stalemate as people murmured in the audience, wondering just what was going on. “Keep fighting me, and eek out a win if you can, and prove yourself a future hero that will overcome any wall, or concede now and prove yourself a future hero that listens to your body and knows where to stop so you don’t become a liability. I think you already proved that first one once with Todoroki, honestly, but you’re still suffering a little from hypothermia. It would probably fall a little flat, because if you fight me and show that you’re struggling, all it will tell all those pros watching is that it wasn’t me that was just a tougher opponent than Endeavor’s own son, because no one wants to think about that, but that you didn’t stop where you should have, and all of their advice will be something you don’t really want to hear, and you’ll waste a whole week of personal coaching.”

 

Tokage was silent, considering it, and glanced back at Aki.

 

“He’s not going to really bite me, is he?” she asked, and Izuku’s lips twisted up.

 

“Nah. He’s a big softie. He only draws blood if I’m in actual danger.”

 

Tokage thought about it, and then smiled.

 

“Well. I’d rather look mature than sweaty and gross and struggling. Girls have to worry about these things, you know,” she said grandly, and stepped to the side to take herself out of the ring. “I concede!”

 

There was silence, and then very polite but confused clapping.

 

“Tokage concedes! Sasaki takes the match!” Nemuri announced, and Izuku pulled the blindfold out of his pocket and slipped it over his eyes.

 

“Huh… wasn’t actually expecting that,” Pops almost muttered into the mic. “What happened there, Eraserhead? That’s your student.”

 

“That was a responsible combat decision on Tokage’s end,” Dad said, like he was exhausted that he had to explain what should be obvious. “What Sasaki had been doing through the match was a favorite tactic of Sir Nighteye’s: keeping a low quirk output, and using that tightly trained quirk control and endurance to push an opponent into quirk exhaustion by forcing her to constantly use multiple aspects of her quirk over and over again, with little recovery time. There’s not much defense against that. In the real world, had she continued against an opponent with such stamina, especially after facing a huge fight like she experienced with Todoroki, there would have been a casualty. In a situation like this, the ideal thing to do is only hold out long enough for backup, and withdraw. It doesn’t always work out like that, and sometimes you’re just all there is, but sometimes it’s a better mark of a hero to swallow your pride and not finish a fight when someone else can do it. It was a mature, reasonable call in a controlled environment. Practically speaking, while this is a tournament, and Sasaki took the win, I’d reasonably say that in a live scenario, it would be considered a tie. What separates heroes and villains is the trust in our colleagues, after all. If we can’t finish a fight, we can rely on our peers to do so.”

 

Bold words coming from the number one hater of All Might, but Izuku would take it. There was a wave of realization sweeping over the stadium, and then the shouts rose up, congratulating the both of them for their showings as Aki nudged Izuku towards the stairs.

 

“Hey, uh… no hard feelings, right?” Tokage asked awkwardly, and Izuku considered it for a moment. He had already made too much progress with Todoroki today, and Todoroki had never dared poke at that particular nerve. For a second, he thought about it, and even if Yumu sure as hell was never going to hear about this…

 

“There’s going to be a few hard feelings,” he said bluntly as he stepped onto the grass and came to a halt. “You can go after me all you want, but Yumu has enough problems with how people react to her quirk. I can be civil, and you can be civil, but don’t you ever say something like that where she can hear.”

 

Hopefully, Uraraka had gotten through to her about that. He had a feeling she would, but…

 

Well. High school was supposedly magical. But Yumu had barely gotten any time at all to tackle actively using her quirk before USJ happened and Dad…

 

Well.

 

Dad.

 

“You were wrong, by the way,” he added, as an afterthought. “I wasn’t the star at USJ.”

 

With that, he stuffed his hands back into his pockets and started to walk away.

 

Huh. He really was mad. That… really didn’t happen often, did it?

Notes:

Disclaimer: I do love Setsuna! I think she's a great and complex character, but heckling is her specialty, and she would obviously go for the weak points from things she's overheard when backed into a corner. Honestly, I think she's one of the few people that COULD beat Izuku in this verse, but in this instance, her main issue was that she went up against Todoroki just before this, and had to push her quirk in a bad matchup for her. After all, frigid cold isn't the best for regenerative abilities. She's a great strategist, and that's what carried her through with Shouto, but Izuku is just SLIGHTLY better and more able to go after physical weak points, whereas she relies on her espionage and the things she overhears. Izuku should probably start using his ability in that way, too, but ehhhh he's a bit too nice for that and would be stealing Hitoshi's thunder.

Anyways, don't bash Setsuna too hard fhsdfhkjdsfhk. It was a combat decision. She's a bit ruthless, but she's good at what she does, and espionage and heckling and psychological warfare is just important as physical strength.

Chapter 28

High, high up in the bleachers, Kyouka Jirou slumped down next to Mezo Shouji and crossed her arms, a frown hovering around her lips. Mezo said nothing, and she slumped down a little more as her foot tapped out a static beat on the floor.

 

“You heard, right?” she asked softly, too soft for basically anyone else to hear short of Fumikage and his insane hearing, and Mezo nodded shortly as Kyouka dared a glance in Yumemu Sasaki’s direction, happily chatting with Uraraka as her fingers snapped the band of her compression gloves.

 

“Not sure it’s our business,” Mezo finally said when it became clear that Kyouka was waiting for an actual response. “You know just as much as any person with good hearing that you should be careful about stuff like that.”

 

“Mmm,” Kyouka hummed, but she still didn’t like it. “None of our classmates said anything like that, though. Maybe Kaminari, but anyone with sense knows every girl scares him. And none of us have been talking about USJ.”

 

“It’s just part of it,” Mezo said quietly, and Kyouka pursed her lips. “Looking like this, having a quirk like that, it’s all just part of it. There’s not a whole lot you or anyone else can do about it.”

 

“It still bothers me,” she muttered, because while she generally kept to herself and didn’t get involved in drama…

 

The Sasaki twins didn’t deserve any of that. Sure, Izuku was absolutely terrifying, and clearly going farther than any of them could hope to dream. But there was something about him that inspired them all. Like the way he pushed Aoyama to shine his brightest in his last match, and how even though he was clearly furious with Tokage, he still gave her a graceful out that emphasized her strengths, not her weaknesses. No, even let it look like he hadn’t been more powerful than her, even though everyone in 1-A knew better.

 

Kyouka heard a lot. Maybe more than she should, and Mezo was the only other one in the class that shouldered that weight with her. And she didn’t like what she was hearing. The Sasaki twins were always challenging everyone else to do their best, but right now, with the level everyone else was on, no one could really challenge them, and Kyouka wanted to return the favor.

 

“I just think we should be doing more,” she grumbled and crossed her arms, glared down at the field as someone’s phone started buzzing. Iida, speaking animatedly to a despondent Kaminari who finally had his brain cells back in his possession about how he had done ‘perfectly fine’ against Sasaki, reached into his pocket and answered it with a greeting to his mother.

 

She tuned that out and focused back on Mezo, who was impossible to read most days.

 

“She’s not being actively bullied. Neither is her brother,” Mezo said quietly, and she huffed.

 

“Yet.”

 

“Yet,” he agreed, “though I don’t imagine most bullies would last long.”

 

There was a scuff behind them, and Kyouka had almost forgot Bakugo was back there. She looked back swiftly, only to realize that he hadn’t left his headphones in like she thought he had. Violently red eyes bore into her, and the color drained from her face as she felt vaguely like she was caught.

 

“... Bakugo.”

 

“Jirou.”

 

Mezo looked back at Bakugo, and a long silence stretched out between the two of them. Bakugo was glaring at them, but that was fairly standard. There was no way to tell what he was actually thinking until he actually spoke, and Kyouka, rather briefly, had a flashback to his apparent dangerous rivalry with Sasaki, and that weird history neither spoke about. The weird history that didn’t seem to include his sister, which had a lot of connotations she wasn’t sure she wanted to consider.

 

“Tch,” he scoffed, and leaned back in his seat, shut his eyes. “People with quirks like them deal with a lot of shit. Most of it is about people wanting nothin’ to do with them, and when they do, it’s nothin’ good. There’s a reason they got a lot of friends but don’t really get close to anyone but that purple fuck and the quiet one.”

 

That was… surprisingly insightful, and Kyouka stared at him blankly as he opened one eye and glared down at her.

 

“Izuku is used to people thinking he’s creepy, dismissing the threat level ‘cause they can’t see what he can do or because he’s blind, or just wanting to use him for his quirk. Sasaki is used to people not wanting her anywhere near them because they think she’s gonna use her quirk on them, because they don’t want her using her quirk on them.”

 

“People don’t want anyone using their quirk on them,” Kyouka pointed out, rather directly as Iida made his way for the hall, still trying to tune out whatever conversation she would not be privy to.

 

“Obviously,” Bakugo snorted and Kyouka realized the stupidity of saying that to someone with a quirk like that. “But there’s two kinda quirks people don’t want others using on them: the kind like mine, and the kind like hers. People don’t mind me using a quirk like mine on other people. People mind her using hers on anyone, ever, a helluva lot. Kinda like mindfuck. The difference on what looks good edited on camera. You can hide third degree burns. You can’t hide something like that. ”

 

“Well, if you’re not going to be useful, then let me figure it out myself,” Kyouka snapped, because she was annoyed with him now, but Mezo tapped her leg. “What?”

 

Bakugo narrowed his eyes, lip almost curled up in a sneer.

 

“If you wanna help, you get her, you get mindfuck for moral support, you get a chunk of the class, and you ask them to use their quirks on you. You don’t ask Izuku for help. Just them.”

 

“How are we going to get them to agree to that?” Kyouka asked in disbelief, because that was just insane, and Bakugo rolled his eyes like she was stupid.

 

“It’s training, dipshit. Controlled environment where you can have control removed, get scared out of your mind, and it’s still fuckin’ useful, because you’re training to get taken out of the whole freeze instinct and immediately be able to get into action. Fuck, name the whole demon thing you have going on. Make it a test of courage. Whatever. Just get them used to using their quirks and it not being a bad thing. Just don’t pick Pikachu over there. Too damn high strung. Get Yaoyorozu. Or fucking Icyhot and kermit. Maybe shitty hair. Chuunibyou over there would probably get a kick outta it.”

 

“... That sounds like something that needs a trained professional,” Kyouka said doubtfully, and he snorted.

 

“Fuckin’ obviously. Ask sensei. They trust him, at least. And he’s mindfuck’s dad, so he’s probably used to picking out their limits.”

 

Mezo shifted slightly, and an eye rotated around to look at Bakugo.

 

“It’s not actually a terrible idea.”

 

It… actually wasn’t.

 

Maybe after internships. They could ask after internships.

 

“You have to be there, too,” Kyouka said, rather abruptly, and Bakugo looked somewhere between confused and outraged.

 

“Eh?”

 

“You wouldn’t be helping if you weren’t invested. You be there, too,” she insisted, because she would love to see this. “Unless she freaked you out too bad with the pair battles.”

 

“She didn’t freak me out, you shitty---”

 

“Then you won’t have a problem with it,” Kyouka said sweetly, and got him. His face twisted up in fifteen different emotions, and he opened his mouth, shut it, and she decided to just drive the point home. “She hates you, anyways. We might as well have at least one person there that she’ll actually want to smack down.”

 

“... Whatever.”

Yeah. She got him. She wasn’t sadistic in the slightest. But… well, maybe she should give him more credit.

Notes:

I love unlikely team ups okay. And!! Jirou and Mezo content!!!

Chapter 29

It had been a bitch and half to hunt Nox Brentson down before their fight. Tenya had completely dropped with no warning, and there was something churning in Izuku’s gut as his abrupt absence, but he was getting a headache, and just could not spare the time to chug his way through his universes right now unless absolutely necessary. He wouldn’t like what he saw, either way, and Papa’s warnings about fussing about things he hadn’t been able to prevent were dogging at his heels.

 

Hitoshi and Yumu were in their ready rooms. That, at least, was going to be over with quickly. Izuku already knew who was going to come out on top, and either way, he would last the finals. The funny thing about it was if he hadn’t grown up with them, he probably might have lost. Ah, irony. Their proximity to him was what was going to spell their doom. At least he had the excuse to be insufferable.

 

But Nox… Nox, he knew, was someone that was not going to be very happy about their opponent dropping and them getting through to the semi finals on a technicality. He was going to have to nip that in the bud. Tenya had already left, so there was no finding him. But he could focus on what he could control, and what he could control was how his fight with Nox Brentson went. Even if he probably wasn’t going to see them again for a while, unless Mei decided to forcibly socialize yet another tragic introvert. She probably would, and blame it on their bad Japanese, despite them literally having a built in translator. Honestly, what was it with this year and mysterious Gen Ed kids? He just couldn’t escape from it. All the damn universes were a pain about Gen Ed. He had enough threads he needed to control, and then here was the damn conspiring universe, throwing him uncontrolled variables. Tenya dropping, random American where they weren’t supposed to be, the universe throwing a big fuck you at being able to breathe.

 

He wasn’t annoyed.

 

He was a little annoyed, and now he had to go do damage control.

 

Another turn, a back step, and then he tilted his head. There it was. That whirring, clicking, humming of electronics and gears all keeping their arms together and functioning.

 

“I did wonder,” he called as he patted Aki’s head and reached to scratch under his chin as Aki’s tail moved in a steady thump, thump, thump against his thigh, “what kind of insane quirks could have popped out you and your twin.”

 

There was a pause, and then tapping.

 

“Query: scoping out the competition.”

 

Their twin had to have a more advanced system, but this one was probably easier to deal with, and the poor kid was already sharing a brain with ten separate AIs. Maybe simplicity was the answer to that.

 

“I don’t need to talk to the competition to scope them out,” he replied wryly, and there was a pause again as they tapped on their arm.

 

“Statement: I have heard things about you.”

 

“All terrible, I hope.”

 

“Affirmative.”

 

“Well, good news for you, most of it is true,” he said, and sank to crouch on the floor and prop his chin on his knees. “You’re probably pretty annoyed right now.”

 

“Negative.”

 

“It’s okay if you are. I know a guy like that,” he replied cheerfully as Aki leaned his full weight against him. “I’d be pretty annoyed. But Tenya wouldn’t drop if he didn’t have a good reason.”

 

“Query: you know Iida well.”

 

“Somewhat.”

 

“Query: you know me well.”

 

“Only through someone else’s eyes. I’ve known Tenya for years, though.”

 

“Query: who would have won, then.”

 

“Ah, that’s cheating,” he teased and scrunched up his nose. “Can’t find him, so I figured I’d find you before you thought it’d be a good idea to start moping.”

 

“Statement: you are too familiar.”

 

“Force of habit,” he said wryly, and tilted his head. “Brentson, huh?”

 

“Statement: if this is intimidation, I have met scarier things than you.”

 

“Oh, I’m sure,” he assured them, “though the scary thing seems to be a recurring theme today. Kinda getting annoying.”

 

“Query: have you considered not being scary.”

 

“Couple of times, but I have to weigh scary because I care, and scary because I don’t, and I’ve chosen the lesser of two evils.”

 

“Query: why did you look for me.”

 

Izuku thought about it. He wasn’t going to admit he was shaken by the fight with Tokage, what she said, how she said it. It shouldn’t be that easy to get under his skin, but… Well, maybe it had just been a long few months. He went from an idyllic childhood to a living nightmare as soon as he hit high school, and he could feel in his gut that it was only going to continue to get worse from here.

 

“I guess sometimes it’s just nice to talk to someone that doesn’t know you,” he replied quietly, and there was shifting, the sound of metal biting into concrete and someone pulling themself across the ground to sit a little close to him. There was a new heat, weirdly placed, and Izuku pressed against Aki’s solid weight a little. “Don’t you think so?”

 

“Affirmative… Statement: I probably have less people that know me than you.”

 

“Well, I’ve heard I’m pretty popular,” he said with a soft snort, though none of it felt real at this point. He felt a little distant from it in a lot of ways, like it wasn’t all that real that people he had dreamed of his entire life liked him, and in such highly concentrated amounts. Even Todoroki seemed to respect him a little, and he didn’t even know what to do with that. Hell, even Katsuki seemed to like him in his own wet cat way.

 

He’d never been popular. He’d heard whispers that his little clique had been the untouchable royalty of his middle school, but something about that had set him apart in a lot of ways. There were always ironclad defenses around him and his family unit, and those defenses were coming down with UA, but he could still feel the ghost of them.

 

“Statement: you seem upset.”

 

“Maybe a little,” Izuku admitted and let his legs fall down so he could cross them. “I’ve only fought one person that I wasn’t in a class with and somewhat friendly with, and it was a bit of a disaster. And, well, I’ve been peeking a bit, and you and I seem to do a lot better together when we talk beforehand.”

 

He went in almost entirely blind with Tokage, and it had been a disaster, and, well. Nox and Nyx Brentson were a bit rare, but he felt a kindred spirit in them, because he had enough pieces of the puzzle to know that they had rough childhoods, too, and were persevering in spite of it. He wouldn’t voice it, but he felt a little more comfortable with a stranger than a friend right now.

 

“Query: together?”

 

“I’m not someone that likes an opponent to get humiliated,” Izuku muttered, and color climbed in his cheeks. “I’ve been trying my hardest to avoid that, but…”

 

Forcing Tokage to concede so he didn’t lose his temper left a bad taste in his mouth. He shouldn’t have lost his temper like that. She was optimized for spying, and of course she would heckle and take cheap shots. It was a valid fighting style, but when it came from Hitoshi, it was always softened, maybe even blunted with their brotherly affection. Sure, they got into fights all the time. About seven times a day Hitoshi had Izuku considering fratricide, but he was his brother. It was different from someone he didn’t know. Maybe he was more fragile than he thought.

 

“Statement: I thought you handled it very well. She looked good. Not as good as Aoyama, but good.”

 

“I guess the reason matters as much as the deed,” Izuku mumbled, and then heaved a world weary sigh. “Here I was coming to cheer you up, and you’re comforting me. Selfish, huh?”

 

“Statement: I like listening more than talking.”

 

“Heh.” A smile pulled at Izuku’s lips. “Hey, question.”

 

“Affirmative.”

 

“Are you also allergic to cats?”

 

“Affirmative.”

 

“Man, you’d suffocate in my house,” Izuku lamented, and laid back flat on his back just to feel the stretch. “Hey, can I call you Nox? That’s how Americans do it, right?”

 

“Affirmative.”

 

“There’s a whole lot of pressure the higher we get. Do you wanna just be high schoolers right now?”

 

The quiet was only broken by the whirr of electronics and clicking of cogs. Izuku waited patiently for the reply, and then they started tapping.

 

“Query: do we have that luxury.”

 

“Who cares?” he grumbled and threw an arm over his eyes. “I’ve had a whole lot of declarations of me being a threat today, a whole bunch of people just totally saying they’ve already given up but they’re gonna do their best anyways, and it’s exhausting. I just want one fight where it’s not all weird and pressuring.”

 

“Query: so you want our semi final that will determine the trajectory of our future careers to just be us messing around.”

 

“Nah. I fully intend to kick your ass,” Izuku snorted. “It’s a matter of pride. You got the birbs, I got the doggo, only one can prevail. But getting this far, you’re already guaranteed another step to prove yourself capable of placing in the heroics course. I just want it to not be a whole production. It’s exhausting.”

 

He was still Izuku. He still wanted everyone else to bring their best, and he still wanted to shine as a future intelligence pro capable of pulling the absolute best out of his peers. Half of being an intelligence pro was maximizing his future coworkers’ strengths. He had to bring not only his A-game to the table, but theirs, too. Even when he actively hated them, at least in the moment. Like with Tokage.

 

Gods, it was still bothering him.

 

“Statement: it’s hard being the child of a pro.”

 

Izuku snorted.

 

“Yeah. It is. It’s stressful enough being Sir Nighteye’s son and heir. I have no idea how Todoroki hasn’t just snapped and become a serial killer yet.”

 

There was a thump, like Nox had fallen back on their back to stare up at a sky Izuku envied them for. Even with the strongest of threads, he could never be sure what the clouds looked like. Ah, well. Everyone had things they couldn’t do. He couldn’t see, Nox and Nyx couldn’t speak, Yumu couldn’t go a day without dirtying the mirror, Hitoshi couldn’t play Smash Bros, Mei couldn’t act like a normal person…

 

“Statement: I was not expecting you to be like this.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Statement: not terrible.”

 

Izuku snorted, and his brain drifted away to Tenya again. He had missed something. He was sure he had missed something, but there was nothing to do about it now. He could peek, but what would the point be? Take himself off at the ankles right when he needed them the most?

 

Something was pricking in his tear ducts, and he realized, rather belatedly, that he had been under a hell of a lot of stress lately. There was a lump in his throat, and he thought about his dad wrapped in bandages, his brother with a compression sleeve, his sister with her scarred hands, and considered, just for a moment, that maybe he would never be able to do enough. He thought about his pops crying when he thought he wouldn’t be heard, and waking up on a futon, and being bustled off to a therapist like that would fix his maimed family, and now…

 

And now Tenya had just left, and he just knew he had taken a step wrong somewhere. He knew it, he knew this was somehow something bad, something he could have stopped, and maybe he really did need to get on anxiety medication. He might have to talk to Papa about it, because all of this was getting crushing. Bad things happened all the time, but he was in a position better than most to stop it. Better than All Might, at least. Better than Endeavor, definitely.

 

“I might be more terrible than I seem,” he voiced, and why was he talking to a total stranger about this? Was he expecting them to respond?

 

No, that wasn’t it.

 

He didn’t want anyone to respond. He didn’t want to be responsible for someone. He didn’t want his sibling’s piercing discernment, or the adoration of his classmates, or the pressure to be Sir Nighteye’s heir, or the collapsing wall that was his confidence in his quirk, because the better he got at it, the more he realized that everything was impossible. Every pro out there could have absolute faith in him, but even if every pro was a piece on his chessboard, he still wouldn’t be able to stop bad things from happening.

 

He needed to talk to Papa about this.

 

Maybe cry.

 

“Statement: you sound like your quirk is bothering you.”

 

“Am I that transparent?” he asked with a snort, and there was shifting, enough so knees were pressed against his shins, too short to meet his kneecaps.

 

“Statement: one of my dads is a very talented empath. I know signs… Statement: quirks are hard when they are stuck to people.”

 

“Hm. Worried it’ll affect our fight?” he drawled, and there was a sigh, followed by more tapping.

 

“Statement: I am an opportunist. If it does, I will not complain… Statement: I am proud, not stupid.”

 

“Heh. I’d love to lock you and Katsuki in a room together,” he mused, and took a second to breathe. “Hitoshi and Yumu are about to get out some pent up aggression on each other. Wanna go watch or go to the ready rooms?”

 

“Oh, Sasaki! There you are!”

 

Kirishima, and Izuku was bolting up with so much force he almost shoved Nox back. Aki came to his feet, and color climbed in Izuku’s cheeks, feeling vaguely like he was caught doing something wrong.

 

“Oh, hey, you’re making friends with your opponent!” Kirishima gasped. “Super manly, dude! Hi! You’re from Gen Ed, right? I’m Eijiro Kirishima!”

 

“Statement: I am Nox Brentson.”

 

“Oh, man, those birds were super cool! Mina’s over the moon about them!”

 

“Query: she is not upset?”

 

“Not at all, dude! Can I say dude? Is that okay?”

 

“Affirmative.”

 

“You have a twin in Support, right? They’re friends with that friend of the Sasakis, uh, Hatsume, right?”

 

“Affirmative. Statement: Nyx.”

 

“Your guys’ mutations are super cool! I’m just a transformation type, but man, you’re like me but evolved! Rock, cyberpunk!”

 

“Query: is it just skin that becomes rock, or tissue and muscle and bone.”

 

“Oh, uh, sometimes? It depends on how hard I’m pushing?”

 

“Kirishima,” Izuku interrupted as he climbed to his feet. “Did someone send you to find me?”

 

“Oh!” Kirishima’s voice went up ever so slightly. “Yeah, Aizawa asked me to find you!”

 

He was still not forgiven. Neither sibling was forgiven. Honestly, the audacity. Making moves because they got matches with their people, but Izuku didn’t, so they were descending to the absolute depths of depravity: forced meetups. Dad and Pops should have never let Hitoshi pick out the rings. He thought he was some kind of cupid now.

 

“His match with your sister is starting soon, you’re gonna miss it!” Kirishima insisted, and Izuku huffed as he held out his arm on instinct. Kirishima took it without complaint, and Izuku waved where he last had track of Nox.

 

“It’s going to be over by the time I get there,” he deadpanned, because he didn’t know what Hitoshi was planning on saying, exactly, but, oh, boy, he knew what the house was going to look like by the time Yumu was done with him. It had to be terrible.

 

At least he got front row seats to Yumu going in full rage mode. It was always a delight when she had blood on her mind and Izuku was not the poor soul facing imminent demise. Gods, the house was going to get trashed. Their dads were going to be so pissed.

Notes:

Izuku,,,, making more friends,,,, yes, I did include Nox because I just like having Gen Ed rep. Also, I had this really cool quirk and nowhere to use it so I'm being overindulgent, I don't care if it doesn't make sense. I'm almost done with the final round, so I'm just spamming now. Sorry about that!

Chapter 30

“Alright, I know you two can be a handful, so, please, for the love of the gods, beat down that Cain instinct while the whole world is watching UA,” Nemuri pleaded, and Yumu treated her to a cheerful grin.

 

“We’ll be just fine!” she said happily, and Nemuri stared at her for a long, long moment.

 

“I can’t tell if that smile is adorable or threatening,” Nemuri muttered, and then swung the flogger to point directly at Hitoshi. “You, too, Hitoshi. I’m watching you both carefully. Don’t scare anyone.”

 

“You should have said that to Izuku, not me,” Hitoshi complained, and Yumu narrowed her eyes. “He’s the scary one!”

 

“Yumu is scary than both of you. Anyways, you know the rules. Stay in the ring, first person to be immobilized or tap out loses. Ready, brats?” Nemuri raised the flogger high in the sky, and Yumu dropped into the position. No matter what, she wasn’t going to let him get under her skin. “Fight!”

 

The flogger cracked, and Yumu tensed before bolting forward. Hitoshi waited until the last second and slipped aside, and she caught a gleam of something concerning in his eyes.

 

“Hey, Yumu,” Hitoshi called as he danced back, and she spun to face him again, “isn’t Uraraka a little too ugly for you?”

 

Self preservation, gone.

 

“What the fuck did you just sa---”

 

The world descended into a quiet ocean, and Yumu was frozen in place, staring blankly at her entirely too smug brother as he cocked a hip, crossed his arms, and smiled at her indulgently.

 

“You’re too predictable, Yu. Turn around and walk out of the ring.”

 

She was going to murder him when they got him. She was going to murder him, break into a morgue, fire up the crematorium, and no one would ever know what happened. He was going to be dead, and no one was going to miss him. She was going to murder that little monster and he would deserve it and…

 

She was already outside the ring.

 

“Aizawa wins!” Nemuri crowed, and Hitoshi sauntered up to Yumu and slung an arm over her shoulders. “Hitoshi, you’re absolutely going to die.”

 

“I’m just going to preserve my life for as long as possible,” he said cheerfully and threw Nemuri a half salute. “Right, Yumu? Let’s go to the seats.”

 

“Well, that was fast,” Pops said. “We didn’t even get to commentate. What’s up with that?”

 

“Aizawa, unfortunately, is well versed in Sasaki’s weak points,” Dad grumbled. “He knew he wouldn’t have a chance if he went after her head on. He had to strike early.”

 

“Uraraka is actually super cute, Yumu,” Hitoshi assured her as they made their way to the tunnel. “Good taste. I’m rooting for you, I promise.”

 

She was going to murder him. This was blatant mlm wlw antagonism and she would win. She was going to suffocate him with his own pillow if that was what it took. Or, no, she would get Nezu on her side. He would pick sides for her. She was the only girl in a family with five men. He was always going to side with her. He would help her plot her revenge. Yumu was the favorite and Hitoshi knew it. And the asshole was still keeping her under so she wouldn’t tap him and leave him in the tunnel. Ugh.

 

---

 

 

Well. Hitoshi was definitely done for, given the look on Yumu’s face when they made it back to the seats. He was absolutely a goner, and Izuku promised to make a scene at the funeral. Hitoshi would like that sort of thing. But, now, he had to focus on the opponent in front of him.

 

Nox Brentson, filling in the role of Hitoshi Shinsou. Hitoshi hadn’t been a Shinsou in years, and his entire life had changed as a result. They were short, and slight, with curly black hair and flat eyes. Mute, with an interesting quirk that was just lacking enough destructive power to pass the exam. Adopted child of Klaus Brentson, geneticist, with a stepfather he was pretty sure was an underground pro. They were practically a mirror image of Izuku and Hitoshi in a lot of ways. Taken in by their godfather, cunning, the best of the best in their specific skillset, and probably just about ready to kick a member of 1-B out of their slot. Gods, he hoped it would be Monoma, but things rarely ever went his way, and that was going to happen at the end of the year, anyways.

 

He may end up seeing more of them. Their training was likely going to be taken over by a staff member, and Dad was the only one that would know how to work with them. It would be nice to have another friend.

 

He’d need his full eyes available to him for this. Their birds weren’t so much AI as they were capable of passing the Turing Test. Realistically speaking, they were more like consciousnesses that existed in Nox’s brain, if he had done his research right. If his predictions were correct, they had already used speed and strength and their wall on Mina, so they wouldn’t be able to make them again for anywhere from twelve to twenty-four hours. That left him with…

 

Surveillance, hacking, and he wasn’t sure what the others did.

 

He could handle that. The problem here was Nox was also willing to fight with their body.

 

It would come down to which team had more maneuverability. This wasn’t a fight that was one on one. It was a fight of duos. Aki had more destructive power, but he was still organic, and grounded. And, well. The birds lived in Nox’s brain. Which meant they had a better connection with their birds and didn’t have to pause to give orders.

 

“Alright, you two know the rules,” Nemuri said and snapped her flogger. “No fighting dirty, first one immobilized or out of the ring loses. Got it?”

 

“Got it,” Izuku said as Aki remained tense at his side. Nox in the strongest thread nodded, and Izuku fell into a low crouch as Nox pressed their palms together.

 

“Alright, then. Fight!”

 

The flogger cracked, and Izuku surged forward. It took time for Nox to assemble a bird, and he had to use that to his advantage. A sharp whistle, and Aki broke off to flank as the light created a pillar between Nox’s palms to start forming metal pieces. This was going to be his strategy. Disruption, just like Aoyama.

 

Too late, Izuku was already on Nox, and the light winked out as random bits scattered. They blocked a hit, and he winced as his arm burst into pain at the hard metal instead of soft flesh with a hint of bone. Right. They had the mutation half of their quirk going for them, too.

 

Izuku spun instead, leg lashing out, and they blocked that, too. So, they were good. That was good to know. A piercing whistle, and Aki snarled off to the right and flung himself at Nox, who stumbled back to avoid the gaping maw. They hadn’t been training long, Izuku realized. At least, not as long as him, and they probably focused more on improving their birds than actual martial arts.

 

Good.

 

Izuku surged forward again, and Nox blocked his next hit, their hands wrapping around his arm so they could slam their hip back into his pelvis and leverage him over their shoulder. Izuku was flung over, and he twisted so he could lash out and grab them to go down with him. Their own significantly smaller body was wrenched off its feet to land with him in a grapple, and a hard metal elbow slammed into his rib. Something cracked, and they froze up, like they realized their own strength just a millisecond too late.

 

They were heavier than expected. Maybe they had a full metal skeleton, he thought idly as pain arched up his body. It wasn’t fully broken, he registered as they scrambled to get out of the hold. It was just fractured, and Chiyo could heal that easily. His arms moved up, under their armpits, and he laced his fingers behind their head to hold them in place.

 

“Oh, a pin this soon!” Pops exclaimed, and they bucked up as heat started to build over Izuku’s head. Dammit, they were making a bird.

 

Izuku shifted his grip and shoved their arm wide to break the building bird, and flipped to slam them facefirst into the ground with their arms pinned behind them.

 

Ah. Mistake.

 

Nox slammed their head back, and Izuku knew if he could see properly, there would be a lot more stars as the crown of their skull made direct contact with his skull. His grip was dropped as blood started to flow, and the threads merged and tangled as his brain screamed at the sudden attack. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Nox detangled themself and stumbled back as Izuku tried to get his brain back in working order. There was heat somewhere in front of him, and he tried to put his lips together to whistle, but too late.

 

A bird exploded from between their hands and dove down at him, and he rolled to the side to avoid the dive bomb as a whistle came out from his lips, bubbly and wet from the blood but clear enough to tell Aki what he wanted. There was a shift as he came to his feet and wiped his nose with the back of his hand, and then Aki was charging Nox and fully knocking them over with a body slam. The bird turned in the air and swept down, the claws catching on Aki’s collar and flipping him off, and Nox was already getting up as Izuku charged.

 

It was on after that. Blows were traded, and Aki and the bird took turns harassing them and each other and disrupting the momentum. This was purely an even matchup, Izuku realized, due to their different advantages. Izuku had weight and training in martial arts on his side, and Nox had a stronger partnership on their side. They were exploiting it ruthlessly, and it was clear. They didn’t have time to spawn another bird, but they fought with less proper training and more like they had informal training on the streets. Every hit was just something that worked, and his chest was screaming with pain dulled with adrenaline as he went at them.

 

Krav maga, he picked up after a time. Their fighting style was very informed by krav maga. They hit where it hurt, deliberate and pointed, and it was designed to put someone down fast. It was about speed, but Izuku had trained in offense and defense extensively. He didn’t have time to dodge or roll around like he normally did, but he could keep up, because krav maga was easily countered if you trained in hybrid martial arts. It was an offense and counter attack style, designed to misdirect and immediately follow up with a blow of your own, but there were gaps in it if you knew where to look. Namely, an intermediate learner was going to cling to counter attacks, and he knew how to exploit that.

 

He flicked through his universes as he threw out a roundhouse kick, entirely tuning out the commentary, and just as predicted, they caught the leg and went in for an uppercut while he was trapped. Perfect.

 

His lower leg wrapped around their smaller torso, and he caught their wrist and pulled them in as he fell back. They went with him, and he rolled and brought up his free leg to slam into their gut and throw them. They landed inches from the line with a whumf, and he gauged where their shoulder would still be metal and safe to kick before he slammed the flat of his foot forward to send them skidding to the edge. They barely managed to stop themself from falling off, but their lower body was over the line, and they froze as they realized it.

 

“Brentson is out of bounds! Sasaki wins!” Nemuri announced, and Izuku laid flat on his back for a second, panting harshly. Damn. If he actually was in a class with Nox and knew them a bit better, he would have wrapped that up faster.

 

“Query: are you okay.”

 

“Yeah,” he groaned and sat up as the bird in the strongest thread swept down and landed next to the stunned Nox’s head to peck at their hair inquisitively. “You okay?”

 

“Statement,” they tapped out with sheer exhaustion in their fingers, “I’m going to need maintenance. Statement: you knocked out a gear.”

 

“Ah. Sorry,” he muttered and shifted to a knelt position as he pulled out the blindfold again. “Aki, lemme check you.”

 

“Statement: vitals were monitored by Ginger. Statement: Aki has sore muscles and some bruises, but no injuries.”

 

“... Oh, you have a medical bird,” he said in surprise. “Why did you use that one?”

 

“Answer: I knew we would be fighting, so I chose Ginger for safety.”

 

“Ha,” Izuku said as he checked Aki’s teeth and paws and felt around for any bleeding or swelling. “You really make a good hero, Nox. I can’t wait to work with you.”

 

They did need more underground hero options this year. They basically only had Jirou, maybe, Mezo as a possibility, and Hitoshi as a certainty. Maybe they could make their own little squad. That’d be cool to see. They’d be terrifying.

 

“Answer: thank you. Query: may I walk you to Recovery Girl?”

 

“Sure. Thanks,” Izuku said as he climbed painfully to his feet and turned his attention back to the crowd and gave them a big, happy wave. “You’re pretty cool for an American, Nox.”

 

There was silence as Nox tried to figure out how to answer that, but Izuku was already putting his blindfold back on to give his eyes a rest. Next fight, he was going in blind, and he was going in without Aki. It was his final test, after all, and he had to prove himself.

 

He had to.

Notes:

Hitoshi is fucked. Those poor parents are going to come home to chaos and attempted murder. And now on to the finals! The chapter is almost done! I'm working on it now, so expect it to come up soon. Hope everyone liked Nox, because we won't see them for awhile a la Hitoshi.

Chapter 31

“Aki, stay,” Izuku ordered as they came to the end of the stairs, and Aki paused hesitantly as Izuku tightened his blindfold for the final time. “I’ll be fine. It’s just Hitoshi.”

 

With a quiet whine, Aki plopped his bottom on the concrete, and Izuku took a deep breath as he shook the exhaustion out of his limbs. His quirk had already been pushed too far. There wasn’t much Chiyo could do about quirk exhaustion, and the painkillers had only driven the migraine to a dull throb. He was at his limit with its use, but it was Hitoshi. He had been fighting Hitoshi blind for years, and as long as he didn’t rise to the baiting, he would reign supreme. Hitoshi wanted to win, Izuku knew, and he hated going up against his brother for this, but…

 

But.

 

There was something pooling in his gut that told him he had to do this. He had to win, and he wasn’t sure of the significance, but it had to be done. There was no other choice, and he loved Hitoshi dearly, but his gut was telling him he would be fine regardless of the outcome. Izuku, though? Izuku wouldn’t. This was important, and he had to rise above. He couldn’t be a self sacrificial idiot that loved his brother too much. He didn’t have those kind of luxuries. Just as he couldn’t lose to Nox, he couldn’t lose to Hitoshi. In any case, part of the reason he had fought so hard against Nox was because he was selfish.

 

He didn’t want Hitoshi to lose to anyone but him, and Hitoshi couldn’t use his quirk on Nox. They were quite literally immune, because he needed a verbal response. Their voice aide wouldn’t cut it. And with the birds, well, Hitoshi might not have come out on top. Izuku was maybe a bit too possessive for that. It was probably a character flaw.

 

“Alright, boys,” Nemuri said as Izuku took the stage. “No Cain instinct today, please and thank you. You made it this far, just push a little harder.”

 

That’s right. Izuku just had to push a little harder. He was tired, and his head hurt, but Hitoshi wasn’t in much better shape. The cavalry battle had just about wiped out his throat, and Izuku had caught a whiff of peppermint in the 1-A seating from a cough drop. The battle with Tokoyami had been tough, too. They were both worn out. But, they could handle this. Izuku trusted Hitoshi.

 

“Eraserhead, what are your thoughts on this match? It looks like Sasaki isn’t taking off his blindfold, and he’s left Aki?”

 

“Sasaki has a lot to prove,” Dad replied gruffly, and Izuku felt tears start to prick again. “He and Aizawa have known each other and trained together since childhood. This is not a match that will take Aki. There’s a reason they’ve come as far as they have, and that’s because they’ve always been pushing each other to the top. There’s no way to predict this match. It’s better to just watch at this point.”

 

That was just his way of saying ‘this stage is yours. I love you both.’

 

Izuku couldn’t let them down.

 

“Both of you ready?” Nemuri asked, and Izuku nodded shortly.

 

“Ready,” they said in unison, and the whip cracked.

 

Listen. Breathe. Hitoshi wasn’t moving, and neither was Izuku. They both knew the second they did, the match would really begin.

 

A scuff, and Izuku lunged.

 

A solid roundhouse, and it was blocked just as easily with a forearm. A blow delivered to the meaty inside of his thigh, right where it would hurt, but Izuku twisted and threw an elbow to collide with Hitoshi’s cheek. Hitoshi stumbled, and then followed with an uppercut, but all Izuku had to do was listen and feel the way the air shifted. Both arms raised up and knocked it aside, and Izuku hooked his leg around Hitoshi’s knee to try and throw him. The two of them fell back, Hitoshi on top, but his brother twisted and caught himself to spring up before Izuku could pin him. Izuku followed with a roll and swept his legs out from under him, and a foot smashed just above his knee.

 

His whole body hurt. His muscles were aching, and he was going to be fighting for a soak in the tub or demanding they go to an onsen. But he had to keep it up.

 

Fighting Hitoshi was easy. It was even familiar, with a rhythm that sounded like home. It was like a ritual, and Izuku was so glad he got to come to this stage with him and challenge him. It seemed like just yesterday that Izuku was asking if he had purple hair and scheming to get their dad and pops engaged. Each blow felt like the clack of spoons bumping into each other over a shared parfait, and Izuku’s emotions were welling in his chest.

 

“This isn’t going to change when you win, is it?” Hitoshi asked quietly, and Izuku caught a blow and twisted his hand so he could land a flat handed punch under his jaw. He couldn’t answer that. It felt like everyone was falling behind him, and he hated it more than he could explain. He felt selfish, like he should let Hitoshi win, like he should stop himself before he went too far off a cliff. The better he got at his quirk, the more he felt left alone.

 

Maybe that’s why he didn’t take off the blindfold.

 

An elbow to the face, and Izuku let the rhythm disrupt as he kneed Hitoshi in the gut. Hitoshi trapped his arms and swept out his legs, and the two of them went down as Izuku easily twisted his hips to get free.

 

He didn’t want to lose anyone.

 

He didn’t want to forget people.

 

Why did it feel like if he won, he’d lose? Why did people think he was scary? Was he getting too arrogant? He didn’t want to be like All Might, standing alone at the top, with a trail of hurting people behind him, but this whole festival all he had been doing was pushing other people to their limits, because it felt like he’d hit his final wall, and it was so, so far from everyone else.

 

It was barely his first year of high school. He shouldn’t feel like there was nothing left to learn.

 

“Izuku,” Hitoshi hissed, “don’t you dare let me win.”

 

Oh. Izuku was slowing down. His head was hurting, and the more he won, the more lost he felt. He had come in so confident, but…

 

“I don’t care,” a hit to his stomach, “how far you run ahead,” a kick blocked like an old friend coming in for a hug, “you will never not be,” an elbow deflected, a counterattack to the solar plexus that was blocked, “my brother.”

 

Izuku felt some unknown emotion well up, because Hitoshi always knew exactly what to say, and Izuku never knew what to do, and that was exactly what he needed.

 

Izuku followed up with a right hook, and Hitoshi blocked it, and even dampened, his quirk pinged.

 

Now. Just do what you do best.

 

He was four paces from the edge. He knew that from the pacing, from the memorization of the placement, from the amount of times he’d skirted the edge of loss today. Hitoshi was coming in with his own hook, and Izuku twisted, caught it, and slammed his back into Hitoshi’s chest to bodily heave him up and over the line.

 

“Aizawa is out of bounds! Sasaki wins!” Nemuri nearly screeched, and Izuku realized his blindfold was wet.

 

“You promise?” he whispered, because today had just left him feeling like his whole world was crashing down, and Hitoshi had brought it all back to center.

 

“I promise if you stop crying,” Hitoshi wheezed, and Izuku sniffled. Wow. He had thought he had outgrown the crybaby phase. “Do I need to hug you or something? Honestly, you get so caught up in your own head sometimes.”

 

“Shut up, you asshole,” Izuku sniffled and wiped at his nose as Hitoshi painfully climbed to his feet with a groan.

 

“I call the bath first,” Hitoshi said and tapped Izuku’s hand to tell him to take his own. “Got it?”

 

“You should probably give it to Yumu as a peace offering,” Izuku mumbled, and Hitoshi went rigid even as he pulled Izuku to his feet.

 

“Oh. Yeah. I should… yeah.”

 

“This is sweet, boys, but remember, All Might is giving the awards,” Nemuri said sweetly, and Izuku swore he heard Hitoshi’s neck crack from how fast he turned his head.

“He’s doing what? ”

Notes:

I did not edit this in the slightest, but I just reread Give Me Tomorrow With Your Yesterday and it left me with some insane Hitoshi and Izuku feels, so this was the result. It can be.... really isolating to be the 'gifted kid', and I kind of wanted Izuku to reflect that. The better you get, the more pressure you feel, and pretty soon, you're just sitting there wondering where everyone went. Especially when you're a teenager and just want to blend in. I wanted to emphasize that with Izuku, because I realized about partway that he can be read as arrogant, but deep down, Izuku is someone who is really lonely, who really needs friends, and who doesn't know if it's okay to be the way he is. At some point he was going to break.

Anyways, next up, we have the Cain instinct.

Chapter 32

“Well, I think this is what you would call a ‘PR disaster’,” Mirai said as he idly scrolled through the hellhole that was Twitter. “They didn’t even try to be subtle.”

 

“They probably made him cry,” Shouta muttered as Hizashi turned on the blinker, and Mirai sighed and took off his glasses to rub at his eyes. He was proud. He was, and he had never once told the kids what happened, why it happened, or how All Might had wounded him. But they were too smart for their own good, and he probably should have made more effort to curb that kind of behavior. Normally, he would rate his parenting a solid six and a half, but today he was leaving it at a cool four.

 

“It would have been better if they just glared at him the whole time. At least that is an emotional response he can deal with,” Mirai sighed and let his head fall back against the seat with a thump. “Why did they just have to stare at him like that? They looked so cold. Who did they even get that from?”

 

“I have no idea,” Shouta grumbled as Hizashi coughed harshly.

 

“Are you two sure? ” he asked, and Mirai turned to look at him.

 

“What?”

 

“Still as clueless as ever,” Hizashi said fondly, and then looked at Mirai head on. “My love, they probably only know how to smile because of me. You two are lucky to have me.”

 

“Hey, I smile!” Shouta protested and Hizashi let out a pained noise.

 

“No, you terrify small children. You don’t smile.”

 

“In any case,” Mirai interrupted before that dissolved into a fight, “that Brentson child is terrifyingly good at reading a room. They weren’t friends, right?”

 

“Not to my knowledge. I think Mei is friends with their sibling in support,” Hizashi replied, and Mirai sighed, because that child had just flat out chosen violence the second they picked up on the mood. They had been completely blank faced when All Might slung the medal over their head. Unless Toshinori had managed to mortally offend them in some way, they were definitely just showing a united front with his kids without any idea of what was going on.

 

That was a kid to keep an eye on. He didn’t know if they did it for the chaos, which was concerning with Nezu as the principal of UA, and his kids going to school, or if they were just looking to make friends and didn’t rate All Might very high as a personal hero if it came at the expense of making nice with heroics students.

 

“They were pretty exemplary, weren’t they?” Shouta murmured, and Mirai hummed as he turned his attention back to his husband in the backseat.

 

“They definitely didn’t do bad,” he agreed, and Shouta hummed.

 

“It’s a bit unprecedented, this year,” Shouta commented, and Mirai paused.

 

All of the heavy hitters had been left at the bottom, hadn’t they? 1-A had completely dominated, and out of the ashes of the USJ incident had risen three clear threats. Nonphysical, or non destructive quirks, beating out explosions, ice, and fire. The girl that paralyzed, the boy that hypnotized, and the boy that saw the future. Unlikely champions of a school that was renowned for turning out powerful, heavy hitting, destructive quirks. And next to them on the podium was a Gen Ed student, more geared towards espionage than limelight, and…

 

Well. He had known his children would dominate. There hadn’t been a shred of doubt in his mind that they would proceed to the podium. It had been a damn shame that Toshinori had to give away the medals for optics, and it had backfired spectacularly. Nezu had tried to tell the board it was a bad idea, but no one had paid him any mind when he insisted that the trio who were most likely to not receive it well would be at the top. They had to be embarrassed. It had turned into more of a mess than anyone realized. Even now…

 

He looked back down at the top trending hashtag in Japan.

 

AllNight breakup.

 

He’d almost forgotten about that silly shipping name they had assigned to him and Toshinori in their heyday. It had been years. All anyone could talk about was Sir Nighteye’s children beating out Endeavor’s son, Sir Nighteye’s children clearly not caring for All Might at all, Sir Nighteye never revealing his children to the media, Yumu’s stunt with that Kaminari boy that had given him a heart attack, and the confusion around Izuku in general.

 

And Aki. There was a lot of discussion about Aki.

 

… Wait.

 

“They’re already making fancams of Yumu and Izu?” he asked in disbelief as they turned onto the road to their house, and Hizashi perked up.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes, really,” Mirai hissed, and he didn’t like that at all. All of the highlights of Izuku giving him a heart attack, and, worse, Yumu cheerfully smiling and waving and everyone imploding about how cute she was. He couldn’t take this. He was too old for it. He couldn’t believe she had just used her quirk on herself. What was she thinking? He was going to have a talk to her about that. A long, long talk. If that hadn’t been something she trained with, she could have gotten stuck. If it had been something she had trained with on her own, well, that only brought up more questions and concerns.

 

“Aw, they’re so popular,” Hizashi sighed in delight. “I’m so happy. They did so well. I’m going to be bragging for a month.”

 

“Hizashi, that’s not something to brag about.”

 

“The teachers are never going to hear the end of it,” Hizashi promised as he pulled into the driveway. “I can’t wait to see them. They have to be so happy right now!”

 

Mirai just sighed and opened the door.

 

“Or they’re going to be insufferable,” he said, because that was definitely more likely, and stepped out to make his way to the backdoor.

 

He pulled to a stop, keys in his hand, and exchanged glances with Shouta as he came to a halt next to him. There was screaming going on inside, very loud, very obnoxious, and a dog was barking, and it sounded like Izuku was about to break his rib again with how hard he was laughing.

 

… Hadn’t Hitoshi taken Yumu out in seconds?

 

… Oh, no. What did he say?

 

“I’m going to kill them,” Shouta muttered. “I don’t know what’s going on in there, but they’re going to be grounded for a month.”

 

Mirai just sighed and put his key in the lock and turned it to reveal whatever chaos was destroying his house.

 

“--ay! You’re! Sorry! You! Dick!”

 

Mirai stood there and stared with tired, dead eyes at the state his home had become. Between the living room and kitchen was Yumu on the ground, with Hitoshi in a painful looking armbar, violently smacking him in the face with a throw pillow. Izuku was crouched down, head between his knees as he cackled into the floor, and Aki was braced against the ground and barking up a storm in an attempt to get them to stop. All of the cats were piled high on the tree, watching in silent horror at the chaos below, like they couldn’t look away, and Hitoshi was squirming and screaming incoherently as he tried to get out of the lock.

 

“I’m not sorry!” he howled and twisted. “You’re just sensiti AGH! ”

 

Another well timed hit, and Mirai propped his shoulder on the doorframe as he waited for them to realize they had an audience. It didn’t take long. Hizashi coughed, the traitor, and Yumu froze up as her big black eyes lifted to take in the sight of all three parents standing there and glaring down at her.

 

“... Hi,” she said, and dropped the pillow.

 

“I see the three of you still have plenty of energy after such a long day,” Mirai said as he tilted his head just so, which guaranteed a guilty scramble. Yumu let Hitoshi go and practically threw herself to the other side of the room, like that would hide anything, and blew a stray lock out of her eyes. Did she need her bangs trimmed again? How fast did those things grow?

 

Not the problem right now. He needed to focus.

 

“Hitoshi started it!” she blurted, and then flushed to her roots. “He definitely started it!”

 

“I did not!” Hitoshi shot back as he rotated his arm around. “If you wanted to get me, you should have done right after the match, not after we got home!”

 

“I couldn’t after the match because you cheated and kept me brainwashed until we got back to the seats, you punk!” she shot back, looking like she was inches away from attacking again, and Hitoshi rose up in indignation.

 

“It was self preservation!”

 

“So you don’t deny it!”

 

“It was strategy! Dad would agree it was good strategy!”

 

“Yumu, did you just violently assault your brother because he kept you brainwashed for too long?” Shouta asked in exhaustion, and Yumu turned impossibly redder.

 

“No!”

 

“Then why were you beating him with a pillow?”

 

Yumu inhaled sharply, and oh? Was that embarrassment? Furious, she whipped her face to the side, deliberately ignoring everyone, and Mirai tilted his head and decided on the best course of action.

 

“Izuku, what happened?”

 

“That’s not fair!” both Hitoshi and Yumu protested in unison, and Izuku took a deep breath to calm himself. Honestly, why didn’t he break them up?

 

“Toshi got Yumu in the match by asking if Uraraka was ug---”

 

“Shut up!” Yumu, surprisingly, surged forward and tackled Izuku, slapping a gloved hand over his mouth. “That’s not what happened!”

 

“It is, though!” Izuku protested as he seamlessly threw her off and slammed her facedown on the wood floor with a thunk that made Mirai wince. “Hitoshi asked if Uraraka was ugly, and you said ‘what the fuck did you just say’, and Nemuri told me all about it!”

 

“Izuku, you traitor!” Hitoshi shouted, coming to his feet, and Izuku sniffed at him.

 

“It’s your own fault!”

 

Mirai had… no idea what to do in this situation. His brain was completely blank, because he was pretty sure Uraraka was the girl Yumu hung out with a lot, and oh, right, Yumu didn’t… like boys? Wait, wasn’t she too young for crushes? She had to be too young for this, right? And what was Hitoshi thinking? Didn’t he know this was going to backfire spectacularly, poking fun at Yumu like that? Mirai almost didn’t want to punish Yumu because Hitoshi must have known exactly what he was in for.

 

“Okay, that’s enough. You all stink,” Shouta interrupted, and all three froze and turned their attention to him like he was the harbinger of the apocalypse. “Hitoshi, go take a bath in the bathroom upstairs. Izuku, you take the guest bath down here. Yumu, you go use ours. Botan and Kitaro are coming by with pizza, and you all have probably exhausted your quirks. You especially, Izu. If it’s been four hours since you last took painkillers, take some. Yumu, make sure you soak your hands, you went way overboard for the first event, and Hitoshi, I want to see you drowning in hot tea, and take some painkillers if you have a migraine. Got it?”

 

“Yes, Dad!” they all said in unison, and there, the situation was taken charge of. Yumu was probably prickly because of quirk exhaustion. No sense in punishing any of them when tempers were running so high. They needed a cooldown period, anyways. Preferably away from each other.

 

All three got up to release in a mad scramble only teenagers were capable of, and Shouta cleared his throat. They all pulled to a stop, heads swiveling in unison to stare at him with wide eyes, and he let out a quiet sigh.

 

“You did good today.”

 

Immediately, color rose in all three faces, and Shouta stared down at Aki with his steadily wagging tail as the teenagers scattered in mutual embarrassment with mumbled, bashful thank-yous.

 

“You need a bath,” he said to the dog, and Aki’s tongue lolled out as his tail thump-thump-thumped against the cabinet. “Stop looking at me like that. Mirai, would you…”

 

Shouta trailed off, and all three men cringed.

 

“Hizashi,” Shouta said, switching tactics, “can you give Aki a bath out back? He’s filthy.”

 

Ah. That hurt a bit. With a sigh, Mirai knelt down to start helping Shouta out of his boots.

 

“These kids are going to be the death of us,” he lamented as he eased off the boots in what was now a practiced motion before he started taking off his own.

 

“Ah, but we have ammunition now,” Hizashi said happily as he got the little basket they kept all of Aki’s ‘emergency bath materials’ in. “They all have crushes.”

“... All of them?” Why the hell did Mirai always hear about this last? Did he actually need to get a job at the school?

Notes:

Regrettably, I was far too lazy to write the award ceremony. Sorry, folks, Yumu beating Hitoshi's ass was more important. Cain instinct unleashed. Next, we get a couple of fluff chapters and bonding with the parents, and then we have Hosu!! Coming up soon!!

Chapter 33

It was clear that Izuku was different as soon as he came out of the bath. Mirai was watching him carefully, and he could see the tension in the line of his shoulders, the tremor in his hands. And then Botan canceled, stating she was needed for an investigation, and that about sealed the deal.

 

Something had happened, and by the time Kitaro arrived with pizza, Hizashi was taking a quiet call and pulling Mirai and Shouta aside to tell them with a white face that Tensei had been attacked and had just gotten out of surgery. It had taken some thought, and they then unanimously decided not to bring anything up over dinner and tell the kids in the morning, so they could at least enjoy the final hours of the day, and Mirai had then turned his attention to Izuku.

 

He ate mechanically through dinner, barely speaking, and Kitaro and his siblings picked up on it, but said nothing. It was then that Mirai felt a little bad, because now they were worried and clued in that something was wrong regardless of what he and his husbands decided. Yumu and Hitoshi tried to pick up the slack in the absence of Izuku’s chatter, brutally teasing Kitaro about the gossip magazines, and Izuku managed to crack a smile or two by the end of it. Still… Mirai didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all.

 

Which was why he and Izuku were now in the living room, letting some nonsensical anime play on TV while Izuku laid on the floor with his arm over Aki. It was ridiculously late, and everyone was in bed, but Mirai knew enough to know that Izuku would stay up regardless. It was senseless to insist he sleep, and while Mirai did have an early morning, taking Shouta to get the bandages off while Hizashi had an early morning radio show, he was accustomed to running on little sleep. It was better Izuku stay up with someone than stay up on his own.

 

“I messed up again,” Izuku said, around one am, and Mirai’s eyes blurred. He had taken his time.

 

“Why do you say that?” Mirai asked, and a long silence stretched out.

 

“You already know. It was obvious at dinner.”

 

Izuku liked Tensei, Mirai remembered. He was around enough that he could be considered an adopted uncle. They rarely saw Tenya, but they saw Tensei all the time. He was friendly and outgoing and fun, and Izuku had always enjoyed his company. Tensei had a particular quality that made you forget about the pressure on your shoulders, if even for a little while, and that was something people like he and Izuku needed in their lives.

 

“I don’t think you messed up, Izuku,” Mirai said after a pause, and there was a silence. Mirai bit back a sigh, and then slumped in his seat to rub at his temples. “Do you still have a migraine?”

 

“... A little,” Izuku mumbled, and Mirai patted the seat next to him.

 

“Come up here,” he ordered, and Izuku hesitated before he reluctantly disentangled himself from the still sleeping Aki to climb up on the couch next to Mirai and let his head flop facedown in his lap. Immediately, Mirai set to rubbing at his neck, massaging out the muscles to give him a little relief, and a long silence stretched out.

 

“Tensei had been searching for Stain,” he admitted. “He kills four heroes per city before he moves on. There was already one death in Hosu.”

 

“I know,” Izuku mumbled into his thighs, and Mirai pressed a little deeper.

 

“Nothing you could have said, even this, would have stopped him. Tensei… when he was young, he went easy on vigilantes. He liked them. So, when a vigilante turns into something like this, he feels… responsible in a way.”

 

“I could have changed something,” Izuku whispered, and Mirai thought about it. It was hard, he knew. To miss something was… was hard. “He wouldn’t have done it if he knew… if he knew…”

 

Izuku, he realized with a start, had seen something in the future. Fallout from this. Mirai’s hand stilled, and then continued as his brain spun to figure out just what was going to go wrong. Was it Tenya…? It had to be Tenya, internships were coming up, and…

 

Stop. He had to stop.

 

“Do you know, there’s very little difference in our quirks, Izuku,” Mirai said softly, and Izuku stiffened a little. “The difference in us is automatic versus manual. My brain… I have thought about it, and I think the reason I can only use mine once a day is because when I touch something, my quirk computes every parallel universe, all at once, and spits out the 99.9% likelihood. I have no control over it. That’s the difference. You can draw your own conclusions, but the very act of using my quirk at all affects the outcome.”

 

“What does that have to do with anything?” Izuku asked, and Mirai paused.

 

“Do you know why me and All Might had that falling out?” Mirai asked, and Izuku shook his head no. “It was because… he was hurt. Badly, in a fight with a villain no one knows about, because he buried his existence. I worked with him for years to find this threat and put him down. I put my whole quirk, my whole being, into doing everything I could to help All Might defeat this old enemy and ensure safety for future generations.”

 

It hurt, even now, but it was the ache of a phantom limb. The source of the rot was long gone, but losing Toshinori was like losing a part of himself. Sometimes, life was about moving on past that missing piece, and finding pure bliss in spite of it, and not longing for it to come back and complete you.

 

“When he was hurt… I used my quirk on him one last time,” Mirai whispered. “I had never used my quirk on All Might. That’s the problem with 99.9%, isn’t it? There’s only one way to battle it.”

 

He should have Toshinori the full truth. Even now, he was beginning to regret that paltry warning that All For One was not so easy to kill, and Toshinori needed to stop putting his faith in a quirk, and start putting his faith in heroes.

 

“All Might is going to die soon,” Mirai murmured, and it broke his heart a little to even admit it to his son. “That’s why I walked away. He chose duty over me, and I couldn’t stay as the silent watchman any longer. I wanted more. I begged him to stop, but To… All Might… had a heavy burden placed on him at a young age, and it only got bigger and bigger until it crushed him into the ground. That’s the danger of excellence. He had to give up everything for it. Even himself. I can’t even call him the name I loved him as, because he sacrificed that man to become the Symbol of Peace. I was the last thing he had to let slip out of his fingers.”

 

Izuku was still, and Mirai patted his hair.

 

“That’s why, sometimes, it’s better to stay silent,” he said thickly. “It hurts enough to lose a hero in this line of work. But it hurts even more when you warn them, and they choose their duty over you. If you’re worried about Tenya… you have to bear that in mind. Because Tensei is that kind of hero. He will always do his duty. I imagine even as he fell, he was thinking about making a world safer for a brother that was going to follow in his footsteps.”

 

Izuku sniffled, and Mirai realized he had to have had a long day. It was already one am, but he could… give Izuku a little more.

 

“... I don’t want to be a hero like that,” Izuku said, and his voice broke, startling Mirai a little with the statement. “I don’t want to be alone, but it… I feel like I’m a wall, and everyone is falling behind, and I’m going to lose everyone, because I can do so much, but I still can’t do enough. I can’t balance, I can’t think, I can’t… I want to be a hero. I don’t want anyone else to ever feel this helpless because of their quirk. I want to beat it, and no one thinks about their quirk like that, like it has to be broken, but I can’t look away, and I’m tired of not being able to look away.”

 

“I know,” Mirai soothed, because there was nothing he could offer Izuku. He knew exactly how hard it was, how lonely it was, how hard it was, but… But. There had never been any advice that helped him. He just had to make a choice. “But, Izuku, you can… everything All Might has done was a choice. You have experience, but you’re still young. All you can continue to do is to keep making a choice to put people that love you before duty. There’s no advice I can give you that will make it easier. I can tell you to forgive yourself until I’m blue in the face, but at the end of the day, even I can’t forgive myself. I still struggle with it. I always wonder what I could have said to All Might that would have made him choose himself, choose me, but… In the end, we’re puppeteers, and all we can do is remember that the strings we pull are attached to real human beings, who have to make the choices they make. That’s all we can do. The only fate we truly rule is ours. Do you understand?”

 

It ached. Mirai remembered being in Izuku’s place, when he was young and full of enthusiasm and burning with the desire to be better. He remembered his first death, how it fell like someone was cutting his strings one by one as he watched someone he saw at school every day fall to the bottom of the abyss. And… and he remembered Inko, sitting here, just like this, running her fingers through his hair and rubbing his neck as he sobbed at how little power he had to save a life.

 

It should be her right now, he realized with a pang. It had been years, but it never stopped hurting, never stopped aching when Izuku smiled with that smile just like hers. Sometimes, it felt like if he reached for his hand, it would be Inko’s, smiling down at him as she walked him to school. Every day with Izuku was like a day with Inko, and it ached in a way he couldn’t describe. He didn’t know if he was doing anything right, doing anything right by her, but he was trying, and… and sometimes it felt like he was failing.

 

Especially when Izuku was crying like this.

 

He just had to keep trying. He knew Inko would ask for no more.

Notes:

I just think out of everyone, Mirai would know there is nothing you can say in a situation like this, and that's why he knows exactly what to say. I also think it was about time Izuku found out why Mirai isn't necessarily bitter towards Toshinori, and why they broke up. Ultimately, Mirai is the only person that can fully understand what Izuku is going through, and he's the only person that can really get at his level and explain that this is something Izuku needs to navigate on his own, but also explain that he doesn't have to be the best. He can just be a kid, and it's hard to balance, but he can do it. Also, people are a lot more complicated than they seem, and Izuku hasn't yet learned that his primary limitation is people will do what they believe in, and sometimes, just saying 'this will be your end' isn't enough. Especially in the case of heroes. This isn't me dragging Tensei, per se, but every day a hero goes out there, they know it might be their last day, and they know their family will suffer for it, and they know someone has to do it anyways. Every day Mirai goes out there he knows he might not come back, the same as Shouta and Hizashi. Tensei is no different, and Izuku needs to learn to bear that in mind when he sees something or even misses something. They chose this. This is their job. And it'll eventually be Izuku's job, too.

Chapter 34

Hizashi wasn’t particularly inclined to take his early morning calls. Today was the day his husband was getting his bandages and casts taken off before school, and he couldn’t even be there, because he was stuck at work. It was more annoying than he thought it’d be. Mirai was keeping him updated, and the kids were still asleep, and there was no school today, a single day off to get the results of the draft and let everyone recover from the craziness of the Sports Festival before they finished out the week.

 

He knew he wasn’t going to be plugged in and paying attention to offer his romantic and quirk advice that people listened to on their morning commute. It was going to be a lackluster show. He just had too much to worry about. Mirai had come to bed at two am, and Hizashi knew he’d been up with Izuku. Their kids had won the Sports Festival, but they might not get too many offers. He didn’t want their self esteem destroyed after completely dominating the competition like that. There were going to be obvious discrepancies with them and Bakugo and Todoroki, and he knew it. Todoroki would get a pile of offers, for his quirk and for his father, in an attempt to catch Endeavor’s eye. Bakugo, meanwhile, was the son of a supermodel and a fashion designer, and had such an amazing quirk that was clearly going to carry him far.

 

No matter how well their kids did, Bakugo was going to outshine them in the eyes of optics, and he hated it.

 

So, he was a bundle of nerves. When he got off work, the results of the draft would be in, and he’d be stuck at work with Shouta going over it, and…

 

“You have a caller on Line One,” Kubo said, “I think you’ll want to take this one.”

 

The line was patched through, and he took a deep breath.

 

“Good morning! You’re on air with Hands Up Radio! What’s your name?”

 

His eyes flicked down to the caller number, and he froze up a little. Wasn’t that…

 

“Uh, I’m Yu,” a slight, shy, female voice said, and Hizashi slammed both hands to his chest and tilted his head back. His daughter was calling his radio show! Yumu had never done this before!

 

“Well, hello, Yu!” he said cheerfully as he tried to calm his racing heart. Play it cool. If this was how she wanted to talk to him, so be it. “What brings you in to my radio show today? Don’t be shy!”

 

“Uh, well…” There was shuffling, the sound of a door shutting, and he wondered if she was hiding in the bathroom or her bedroom. “I’ve got problems of… several varieties, and could use a little advice? Please?”

 

Hizashi pressed his hands to his cheeks and shook his head vigorously. He was Present Mic right now, he had to keep his act together.

 

“Of course! What’s the issue?”

 

“Well, you see, uh, I’m a heroics student in high school right now, I’m a first year, and… Well, I have this quirk that… People never liked before,” Yumu stammered, and his heart stilled. Had someone been picking on her? Had Shouta not noticed? “But since I got to school, it’s been… a lot different. My quirk is pretty scary, and I have problems with getting along with people. I’ve always been in a bit of clique with my, uh, two brothers. It kinda kept us safe, because none of us have quirks people like much, especially in middle school.”

 

“I see. So are you having problems at school now?” he asked as he propped his chin on his hand and frowned.

 

“Not like the old problems. The problem now is no one actually seems to mind my quirk, and I don’t know how to react to that. I’m used to… people keeping a distance, or just outright making fun of me when my brothers aren’t around,” she explained, and he bit his lip as he remembered how Izuku and Hitoshi had met her. “But, now, I have this problem of not using my quirk as much as I should. I trained a lot in martial arts to avoid it, and tend to use it as a last resort, and even with only using my quirk a little, I’m generally at the top of my class, even in Foundational.”

 

“I see. So are you trying to figure out if it’s okay to use it more?” Hizashi asked thoughtfully, and she was silent for a few moments.

 

“I don’t know. This… this thing happened. There’s a girl in my class that I like a whole lot… She has a quirk like mine, with similar activation requirements, but hers isn’t scary. It’s just amazing, and she’s… pretty cool, too.”

 

… That had to be Uraraka. The one Hitoshi called ugly like a little asshole. Honestly, that was a cheap shot, but they were in competition and Hitoshi just used what was at his disposal, so Hizashi was a little miffed at him, but he also wasn’t touching that situation with a ten foot pole. He was just going to back up whatever Shouta and Mirai decided on.

 

“I see. Are you having issues with her?”

 

“N… no, I just…” Yumu sighed, world weary and such a girl. Hizashi never thought he’d see the day that little emaciated girl that cried about looking like Samara would be having just normal teenager problems like crushes. His chest swelled with affection, and a distant smile touched his lips as he drummed his fingers on the desk.

 

“You have a crush on her.”

 

“... Yeah,” she admitted, and there was a thunk that echoed. Hiding in the bathroom, then. “We had a school event not too long ago, and I finally had to use my quirk on her. I’d been avoiding it all semester, because I kinda liked her on the first day, and I thought it would mess things up.”

 

“But it didn’t?” Of course it wouldn’t. Uraraka was a sweet girl, fiery and passionate and just adorable. She had more guts than her demeanor gave off. Something like a sleep paralysis demon wouldn’t scare her.

 

“No, I tried to apologize, it’s a bad habit, but she just got mad at me and told me not to apologize,” Yumu mumbled, and a smile twitched at his lips. “She told me I was… really cool, and all the girls in class looked up to me, including her, and she hated it when I get like that. I kinda didn’t know what to say. I just told her to call me by my given name, and now we’re on a given name basis, and I have no idea how it happened.”

 

Oh? Oh, Yumu was telling him this? Him first, not Shouta or Mirai? Ha! Hizashi was still her favorite! He was going to be shoving this in their face for a week.

 

“Well, Yu, it sounds like she likes you a whole lot,” he said as he drummed his fingers on the desk. “And it sounds like you’re more popular than you think.”

 

“... Yeah, it’s starting to look like that,” Yumu muttered, like she was embarrassed by the whole thing, and Hizashi smiled. “It’s just hard to react to. I was… kind of an ugly kid when I was little. But I have some pretty amazing dads who helped me a lot with it, and now I’m almost unrecognizable as the girl I used to be. I never… I thought when I made it into a heroics course, I would just skate under notice, but I guess I kinda became the kind of girl that people notice. I’m not really used to that. My pops… He once told me that he had no idea what it was like to be a girl, but all that mattered about appearance and personality was that it made me feel like I found meaning in being a girl, and he’d support me looking and acting whatever I way I wanted to get there. Makeup, clothes, personality, all of that didn’t matter, he said. All that he cared about was that I was comfortable in my own skin.”

 

Hizashi’s heart stilled in his chest. He had said that, hadn’t he? Yumu never brought it up again. It was the first night Mirai brought her home, wasn’t it? When he was cutting her hair in the bathroom, she had been crying, and he hadn’t known what to do. He thought she forgot about it, but he remembered it, because that was the first day he looked at a girl not as a sister, but as a daughter. He had fallen in love at first sight. All he wanted was to see her smile.

 

It had been such a long, exhausting, and emotionally charged day. He was sure she wouldn’t remember.

 

“It sounds like this pops of yours loves you a whole lot,” he said around the lump in his throat, and she huffed slightly.

 

“Yeah, I think he does. I wanted to believe him, but I’m someone that kinda has to see things for themselves, you know?”

 

Hizashi had always been a bit of a crybaby. It had been a hard year so far, and he was going to blame that on the way he was wiping at his eyes and struggling to keep it together.

 

“So, what are you going to do?” he asked, and she was silent.

 

“I don’t know. I don’t know how to react to any of this. I think I just had to get it off my chest. It’s weird to go from being a social outcast to like… popular, with kids that don’t care what your quirk is or what it does to them, in a place where you actually have to use it on people.”

 

“... Why do you want to be a hero?” he asked, because… he had never asked her, had he? He had just supported her and loved her and watched her fly. Hitoshi and Izuku he knew. They were boys that loved people, and saw pain and heartbreak and couldn’t look away. Izuku looked at a system that was broken and said he wanted to fix it and prove that you shouldn’t look down on people that weren’t like All Might or Endeavor. Hitoshi looked at kids like him and heard his whole life there was only one destination for him, and said no, I’m going to save kids like me, just like my dad did. As a parent, it hurt, but… But Yumu, he didn’t know.

 

“I… I think…” She trailed off. “Sorry, no one ever asked me that.”

 

He should have asked.

 

“I guess, it’s because… when you’re told your whole life you’re going to be a villain, it hurts,” she admitted. “And my quirk… it doesn’t hurt anyone. It never has. I’ve had people always tell me I was a threat, and I was dangerous, but when I realized that was their problem, not mine, it made me realize that… I always wanted to be a hero, I just never thought I was going to get permission. I want to see people safe, and happy, and be able to go outside without worry that they’ll get hurt by someone else just for existing in public. But there was always a barrier, you know? I couldn’t keep people safe, because people need to be safe from me, but… I realized I can be the threat people said I was, but I can choose how. I don’t have to live quietly and unnoticed. I can just… keep people safe. And if someone has a quirk like me, they don’t feel safe, ever. But if I’m out there, with a quirk like this, proving someone can do it, then they might feel a little more safe.”

 

Hizashi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was going to hug her so hard when he got home from work. He wanted to be off the clock now.

 

“It sounds like there’s a reason you’re popular,” he said slowly. “And that girl you like definitely has the right idea. It can be a little difficult. My own quirk can hurt a lot of people, and I always felt pretty guilty for the kind of damage it did to my own family. I don’t often talk about this, but it’s partially a mutation, and I was born with it. I was my parents’ first child, and I blew out their eardrums at birth. They had more kids after me, but… living with that guilt is hard. My first year at UA was definitely difficult. I wanted to apologize all the time, but I played it off and faked my way through. I was the class clown, you know. I had a role to fill. It was weird when I first started to realize no one minded my quirk, just considered it a pain to deal with in combat. I couldn’t believe it. But… they didn’t mind it. I was only an annoyance because I was faking being an annoyance, not because there was anything wrong with me. The first year of heroics is hard when you have issues with your quirk. You have to learn how to trust other people, so it can be an uphill struggle. But it sounds like that girl you like is right on the money. You should start with trusting her. It can take baby steps, but you’ll get there.”

 

There was a long silence, like Yumu was processing, and then a deep inhale.

 

“Thanks. I think I’ll try with her first, then,” she said, and there was a tiny warble in her voice. “Maybe I’ll talk to her about it today.”

 

“You should do that,” he said, and then his brain short circuited as he realized they weren’t at school today, which meant she was either going to call Uraraka or go on a date, and he couldn’t say ‘make sure you tell your parents you’ll be going on a date’, because that would be a dead giveaway. Dammit. He’d have to text her and double check. Did she even have the card? He could tell her to swing by the station and pick it up before she met with her. But, wait, Uraraka didn’t know, and it was his name on the card. Did he have one of Mirai’s cards? He might have one of Mirai’s cards…

 

“Well, I have to go, but thank you, P...resent Mic. I think I just needed to get it off my chest,” she said, and he grinned, big and bright.

 

“You should tell that girl how you feel. It sounds like she feels the same way.”

 

“My brother’s already complaining I move too fast and might as well rent a U-Haul at this rate,” she muttered, and he wondered which one said that. It could have been either one of them. Little assholes. They took after Shouta and Mirai too much.

 

“Well, that just means they’re not as in tune with their feelings as you,” he sniffed, offended on her behalf. It wasn’t her fault Hitoshi and Izuku were hilariously emotionally stunted.

 

“They’d probably be even worse if they were,” she agreed, and he couldn’t argue with that. Izuku also being emotionally aware? He was enough of a handful.

 

“Well, I think one of them is waking up, so I gotta go,” she said and there was shuffling on the other line. “Thank you, Present Mic.”

 

“You’re welcome, little listener! Thanks for calling in!”

 

The line went dead, and he muted himself and proceeded to bang his head into the desk multiple times.

 

“Kubo, that was dirty!” he called, and he knew he was being laughed at.

 

“Will you finally pay attention to your work now?” Kubo asked in his headset, and Hizashi groaned.

 

“No, I want to go home and hug her right now and take her out for parfaits.”

 

“You’ll interrupt her date.”

 

Hizashi’s silent phone lit up with a notification, and he unlocked it and stared at the text from Nezu. That was odd. Nezu never texted and just waited for them to come in for the meeting---

 

His brain slowed to a halt, and then burst into static, because right in front of him were the draft numbers for 1-A, and his kids… His kids…

This couldn’t be happening. He had to be asleep and having a nightmare. This couldn’t be happening.

Notes:

For your dadmic needs.... but what could have happened with the draft....

Chapter 35

Izuku was squirming in his seat. They had the day off yesterday for everyone to recover from the festival, and he still hadn’t spoken to Tenya. He meant to, but with the talk with Papa, and the way everything was jumbled up, with Dad getting the bandages off, he just didn’t think it was the right time. But he only had a limited window before Tenya do something stupid, and his parents had been acting weird about the draft and insisting he talked to them. Which he refused, because that was favoritism, but his stomach was in knots from not peeking. Now was the moment of truth, apparently.

 

“Like the draft I mentioned the other day, the majority of you have received offers,” Dad said from the front of the classroom, grabbing Izuku’s attention, and there was a click and a whirr of the chalkboard activating to spell out the number of offers people got. “However, for those of you that did not receive offers, you are still going on internships. You got experience at USJ, but this time it will be different, where you’re working with pros in a more supervised environment.”

 

“Oh, Todoroki and Bakugo got so many!” Ashido gasped.

 

“It’s normally more spread out than this,” Dad explained dryly and Izuku twitched in his seat. The fake chalkboard relayed information directly to his tablet, but he hadn’t brought it out yet. It was weird to be apprehensive about something, and he was savoring it, even though he was sure it would end in disaster.

 

“But… They didn’t even make it past the first round, kero,” Tsu croaked. “Why does Todoroki have four thousand and Bakugou have three thousand when Sasaki came in first place and only has---”

 

“Tsu!” Sero said sharply and Izuku jerked his head up.

 

“How many do I have?” he asked and an awkward silence fell on the room. “If you guys don’t tell me, I can just get out my tablet and check.”

 

“You got eight, Izuku,” Dad said bluntly and there was the sound of uncomfortable shifting.

 

You could hear a pin drop.

 

“Izuku, about the draft---”

 

“I’ll find out with the rest of my classmates.”

 

“You really should let me tell you.”

 

“I’ll find out the same way everyone else does. No favoritism, remember?”

 

Maybe he should have… maybe he shouldn’t have… 

 

“You’ll have to work twice as hard for half as much.”

 

“I only have one hundred and twenty nine, Zuku,” Yumu whispered. “Hitoshi has two hundred and eight and…”

 

“And I have eight,” Izuku said and nodded slowly. “I have eight.”

 

It didn’t actually feel real. Just a second ago, he had been excited and full of nerves. He wasn’t sure how to react.

 

Actually, he knew how to react.

 

He had won every event. He had shown impeccable fighting skills, had beaten everyone with ten times the strength he had, he had crawled across ropes with a dog on his chest, he had shown that Aki had trained just as hard and the two of them were just fine as teammates, he’d won the final fight without a quirk or Aki at all, and he had eight. Against thousands. For two people that hadn’t even made it to the semi finals. He had busted his ass for six years. He had impeccable situational awareness, did everything himself, fought like a demon, analyzed and predicted the future. He had worked and worked and worked, only to win all three events in his very first sports festival and…

 

Was this actually happening?

 

Izuku couldn’t be here right now. He could practically smell the discomfort and guilt. His chair scraped on the ground and he stood right up, Aki scrambling up to join him, and let his hand touch the desks to lead himself out, Aki rushing to meet his side and guide him to the door.

 

“Izuku!” Dad called, but Izuku just slammed the door open and left.

 

“This is bullshit, ” he heard Katsuki say, and wasn’t that just nice, he cared.

 

There was a chair scraping along the floor and someone storming for the door.

 

“Yumemu, stay here,” Dad said. “Bakugo, sit down.”

 

“He’s gonna get lost if he wanders off too far,” Katsuki spat out. “I’m gonna get him.”

 

Izuku just kept walking, his hand settled on the banister of the stairs with a death grip as he walked down, not sure where he was heading, only knowing he needed to get out.

 

“Izuku, you idiot, wait up!” Katsuki shouted, but Izuku just kept walking. He reached the bottom of the stairs and didn’t even pause at the umbrella stands, instead choosing to walk right for the doors and the pouring rain.

 

“Izuku, get your umbrella! ”

 

Izuku pushed open the door, ignoring the rustling in the umbrella bins as Katsuki searched for the braille labeled handle, and stopped at the overhang.

 

The smell of rain assaulted his senses and he let the tension drain out of his pores. The wind was blowing. The water was echoing on the pavement. Izuku had always loved the rain. It muffled his world, and yet set it on fire. He felt like Kazane like this, hearing everything, knowing where everything was, and yet knowing nothing.

 

Numbers assaulted his brain. That was all heroics was about, wasn’t it? Numbers.

 

Eight.

 

Three thousand.

 

Eight.

 

Three thousand.

 

He’d won all three events. He’d beat out every powerful quirk, beat out every person that said he couldn’t do it, mocked him for his dreams. He and his siblings had dominated the arena with their nonphysical quirks, with their villainous quirks. They had won, against all odds. And he’d made his parents proud. Shit, he had even made Papa look good.

 

He’d never actually felt this devastated before.

 

Katsuki stepped up next to him as Aki sat down and leaned against his leg, a comforting, warm presence. Izuku swallowed harshly. He wanted to fall into another world right now, a world where he was recognized, a world where people thought he was enough.

 

“I trained for six years,” Izuku said hoarsely. He wasn’t sure why he was telling Katsuki this, out of all the people. “Six years. I hit the mat more times than I threw someone else down. It took me four months to figure out how to use my quirk in a way that works for me. I trained my quirk for hours, fucking with the timestreams and blowing through hours of time in other worlds within milliseconds. I busted my ass to always fight Hitoshi for the top spot in class. Do you know how hard it is to fight while your brain is in another universe, controlling your body which is still here? The timing? The practice? I did everything, and…”

 

Izuku was crying under his new visor. Shit, he shouldn't be so worked up about this. Katsuki took a breath to say something, but Izuku beat him to the punch.

 

"You want to know how Yumu happened? I was twelve. I was twelve years old, it was my first day of middle school, and she was being picked on. She was skin and bones. Her hair was dark blue back then. She smelled bad. She looked like Samara. I… I knew something was up. I'd honed my analysis and prediction by then. I was good. So I looked. And looked. And looked. And what happened, I… I had two options. We had two options. Let her parents smash her hands with a hammer right before summer break, or tell our parents she was being neglected and her parents kill her during the investigation. When she found out, she just said… she said they could take her hands, but they didn't get to take her life. So we waited. We waited for a week. I tried to find every escape route to save her hands, and I couldn't. Some things just have to happen.”

 

Izuku took a deep, shuddering breath and fisted his hands in his pants. He shouldn’t have told Katsuki about that. He shouldn’t have done that, but he… he didn’t know what else he could… he could say to…

 

“Good people… good people don't always get good things,” he whispered, feeling frustration boil up and threaten to spill over into something deeply ugly and unlike him. “And these … these fucks have the nerve to say I can't be a hero. I dealt with that at twelve. We all dealt with that at twelve. ”

 

Didn’t anyone get it? Didn’t anyone realize the kind of weight on his shoulders, what kind of world he had to carry? How could they think he couldn’t be a hero when he had lasted this long? How could they think he hadn’t done enough?

 

“ That is the kind of pressure I have to live under. That is the kind of burden I have to carry. And they have the nerve to say I can't be a hero? Because of what? Because I'm blind? ”

 

Blind almost came out as a curse. He never wanted to think of it like that, never wanted to hate himself like that, never wanted to feel less than because of it, but he was blind. He was blind, and he wasn’t enough to anyone, and did they realize how hard it was for him to think he was good enough when everyone else said he was wrong? Did they know how hard that was?

 

“Because I have ten times the work ethic and twenty times the drive?” A desperate laugh escaped his throat, and he just kept going, because now he couldn’t stop. “They have the nerve to say I could never be as good? What, like they could handle something like that at twelve? I won every goddamn event. I came out on top. And you got three thousand offers and I'm stuck with eight and I'm pretty sure three of those are… are Papa and his friends. Why? Because I can't freeze some big robots? Because I can't make fucking explosions or fly or do anything cool? I can do better than that. I can win anyways, win every time with nothing but my body and my training and my partner and that isn't enough for them? "

 

Izuku was shaking. He was actually shaking in rage. He had done it. He had proven himself and he had eight fucking offers, and realistically he had three or four, and Katsuki was standing here, at the bottom of the pack of the tournament, with three thousand. Because to the world he was better. Because his passion was a bright light that eclipsed everything around him, because Izuku couldn't see that light, because they thought Izuku was a liability, a fluke, with a difficult quirk who was never going to make it. Because no matter how much he showed off his hard work and determination, all they would see was a boy with a guide dog who had never stopped playing villains and heroes in the park.

 

Katsuki was quiet for a second and Izuku just sat down under the awning, not giving two shits about his pants getting soaked, and stared at the back of his visor.

 

"Mom and Dad divorced," Katsuki suddenly said. "Around the same time you met Yumemu. Dad got full custody. I haven't seen her in three years."

 

Izuku was quiet, tears pouring under his visor as he stared at nothing, willing it to be something.

 

"I was a dick to you," Katsuki added, and his voice was rough, like this was hard for him. It probably was. "I… Dad has me in therapy. I think I was so mad because… You would never talk about your quirk. I didn't even know what it was. You liked mine, but you… you weren't friends with me because of it. Everyone wanted to be my friend because I was going places. ”

 

A bitter laugh escaped Katsuki, and there was a shift as he crouched down next to Izuku to presumably watch the rain fall with him.

 

“I was a stupid fucking kid. It made me resent you. Here you were, with a quirk that didn't let you see, when you weren't Quirkless, and you weren't hanging around me because my quirk made me fucking awesome. You just wanted to be my friend, and I hated that, and you didn't deserve it.”

 

Another huff of bitter laughter, and then the sound of rain hitting an open palm.

 

“I… when I saw my therapist again after seeing you for the first time in six years, seeing you handle Todoroki like he was a joke, seeing your sister take me down, toy with me, like I was nothing… She helped me work through it, but I didn't know how to apologize.”

 

Katsuki took a deep breath, and Izuku wondered, rather faintly, if this was actually happening. It couldn’t possibly be happening, but here he was, and here was Izuku, and Aki was still warm against his side, so it had to be real.

 

“So… I'm sorry. I was a little asshole, and I had a reason, but not an excuse. I was all hopped up on my own potential, on what everyone said I was going to do, but no one could protect me from Mom, or even really wanted to at all. Not until Dad put his foot down after she got worse after Auntie Inko died and said no more, took me and left.”

 

So she had gotten worse, Izuku thought dimly. He had thought she would. Mom had always been a bit of a grounding influence for her, even if their relationship had gotten strained near the end.

 

“I'm… trying to be better but I… I'm still a fucking mess and temperamental and bitchy as hell and I know that. But… Fuck, Zuku, when I saw that board, I was pissed for you and me.”

 

Wait, what? He was pissed for… huh?

 

“I was pissed for you because of how fucking obvious it is that you've been busting your ass to get on everyone else's level, to the point where you and Aizawa and your sister are on another level entirely. I was pissed because you are better than me and everyone who watched the fucking festival could see it. Uraraka beat me out like a fucking genius, completely turned my quirk against me, and she didn't even get half as many offers as me. I'm… I'm fucking pissed because how am I supposed to prove myself as a hero when people see my quirk and won’t even acknowledge that people are better than me? How can I even get better than you when no one can tell me how to do it? How am I supposed to earn anything when everyone is just sitting there handing me shit over this stupid fucking quirk? Gods, I must sound like a dick, complaining about my quirk like this when that just fucking happened to you, but… fuck me, it isn't fucking fair. You should have my offers. You were fucking brilliant. You actually fucking blow me away every time you get out there and show just what a genius you are."

 

Izuku spent a long time in other universes. He knew them very well, but for a second he found himself wondering if he had accidentally figured out how to activate audio on his quirk, because no way was Katsuki saying these things to him. No way was Katsuki calling him Zuku again , no way was he apologizing and saying Izuku blew him away.

 

“You must have one hell of a therapist,” he said before he could stop himself.

 

“Shut the fuck up, I’m trying to be nice. ”

 

“Apology accepted, don’t do it again. I’m seriously trying to figure out if my quirk is malfunctioning right now.”

 

“Fuck, Izuku, we haven’t seen each other since we were nine, and you came back a beefcake beating the shit out of Endeavor’s kid and throwing down with actual villains on the third day of school. You can’t complain that I’m the different one here.”

 

“Am I really that beefy?” Izuku asked in disbelief.

 

“You’re like, five centimeters taller than me.”

 

“... Wow. Kacchan is tiny,” Izuku whispered, sarcasm seeping into his tone.

 

“Will you shut the fuck up?”

 

“You followed me!”

 

“Yeah, so you didn’t get lost. You always had problems finding your way in the rain.”

 

“I have gotten a lot better, fuck you.” Katsuki remembered that?

 

“... Yeah. You really have,” Katsuki agreed quietly and the two fell silent, Izuku soaking in the rainwater while Katsuki stood up to stare out at the downpour.

 

“We should probably go back to class,” Izuku finally said. “Don’t… don’t tell anyone that stuff about Yumu, okay? It’s…”

 

“It was fucked up and evil,” Katsuki supplied. “I’m not going to go blab it around. I know how to keep my mouth shut.”

 

“It’s the ninety-ten rule,” Izuku said quietly.

 

“What’s that?” Katsuki asked.

 

“It’s… a thing in parallel universes. If something is meant to happen, if it’s integral to the script, nine times out of ten, it will happen in every universe, and there is no way out of it. Other versions of me will try everything to prevent it, but it cannot be avoided. It’s generally something bad. But that last ten percent is the percentage where the bad thing can be traded for a slightly less bad thing, generally at a high cost to the person who the events are targeting. Yumemu had her hands smashed. They’re… they healed okay, but she still has pain flare ups from time to time.”

 

“... Was Auntie Inko…?”

 

“I don’t want to talk about Mom,” Izuku said shortly and drew his knees to his chin. His pants were soaked.

 

“You’re going to catch a cold, getting wet like that.”

 

“I don’t mind.”

 

“You didn’t even change your shoes.”

 

“I’ll survive.”

 

“That’s not the point. Let’s go back inside. C’mon. We have to pick hero names, remember?”

 

“I already picked mine. I can stay a little longer.”

 

“Yeah? What is it, then? It better not be stupid.”

 

“... It’s Yochō.”

 

“Surprisingly not bad.”

 

“You’re one to talk, King Explosion Murder,” Izuku teased.

 

“Fuck you, I’m not five anymore.”

 

“You still scream ‘die’.”

 

“... Fuck you.”

 

Izuku huffed out a laugh and wrangled the water out of his pants. He was going to leave a trail in class. Dad was probably going to make him change into his backup pants in the teacher’s lounge. Apparently, Pops insisting they kept spares in the staff room was going to pay off.

 

“So what is it?” he asked finally.

 

“... Ground Zero.”

 

“... Bit long, but it works. I like it.”

 

“Yeah. I like it, too.”

 

Izuku leaned against the pillar to his left and took several deep breaths, inhaling the scent of rain.

 

“... Eight,” he finally said. “I used to think eight was lucky.”

 

“Maybe you should save the freaking out for when you actually look at them. For all you know, you could have gotten top ten heroes.”

 

“Ha. I got eight offers. There’s no way I got top ten offers. And even if I did, I don’t think I’d accept them based on that. I’d rather accept based on… who I feel like the right person is.”

 

“... You want to decide based on warm fuzzies?”

 

“It’s a quirk thing,” Izuku muttered.

 

“... I heard some prediction quirks have weird side effects.”

 

“Ha. You don’t know the half of it.”

 

“Well, hurry the fuck up and come inside. I want to see who sent you offers.”

 

“Why does it matter?” Izuku muttered.

 

“Because I have three thousand offers, which means there’s a chance at least one hero sent us both offers, and whoever it is, I want to go to them.” Katsuki said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, but it sure as hell wasn’t obvious to Izuku.

 

“What? Why?”

 

“It’s not about fucking … sentimentality or what the fuck ever,” Katsuki scoffed and kicked the ground, sending up a splash of water. “It’s for… if they sent us both offers, it means they’re not a fucking idiot who’s only looking at my quirk. Someone that can actually give me advice I won’t hear in class. So I want to go with them. So let’s go.”

 

“I have to go to the staff room and change my pants,” Izuku said and climbed to his feet. Aki joined him and he scratched behind his ear briefly as an apology for bringing him out in the rain.

 

“Why do you have pants in the staff room?”

 

“Pops… fuck.” It had been so easy to talk to Katsuki again, like they were friends. He had completely forgotten at school it was not out his dads were in a polyamorous relationship. It kept Dad underground and out of the limelight, and kept negative press off them. The world was pretty decent, it really was. With the advent of quirks, people could not give less of a shit who shacked up with who, but there was a reason Papa could never legally marry Dad and Pops. It was more of an afterthought thing in terms of the law, but some people were still… fairly judgmental, mainly because they all had children.

 

“... Pops?”

 

“Lots of things can happen in six years, Katsuki,” Izuku replied with a shrug. “I know Papa has a reputation, but do you really think he could handle raising me on his own? I’m a fucking nightmare.”

 

“You’re really not,” Katsuki pointed out. “An annoying twat, but not a nightmare. So you have another dad?”

 

“... I might,” Izuku agreed carefully. “It’s not really something people are supposed to know about, could look bad in the media and open them up to attacks, so let’s not talk about it, yeah?”

 

“Who the fuck would care about another gay hero?” Katsuki asked with a snort and Izuku scrunched up his face.

 

“It’s a little more complicated than that. I need to get my pants. I can meet you back in class.”

 

“I’ll come with you. If I show up without you, they’ll probably think we got in a fight or something.”

 

“Your fights are kind of … loud,” Izuku said carefully. “I don’t think they’d think that.”

 

“Shut up and let me go with you,” Katsuki snapped and Izuku paused before a teasing grin broke across his face.

 

“Does Kacchan miss walking me to school?” he crooned.

 

“Would you shut the fuck up?”

 

“You have done this to yourself. You could have just not followed me.”

 

“You know, you got a little fucking dickish when we were kids, but I think I would prefer your crybaby stage to this. ”

 

“I learned from the best,” Izuku purred and Katsuki shoved him as they walked through the doors. “Ow! Dick.”

 

“When the fuck did you start cussing?”

 

“I grew up with Hitoshi. Have you seen the mouth on him?”

 

“I’m pretty fucking sure you’re partially responsible for that.”

 

“It was actually Kazane…” Izuku mused. “Uh, we trained together with a retired blind underground pro. We just moved back to Musutafu, so we haven’t been able to go to her gym in awhile, but she’s pretty… she’s a lot. She still calls us noodles.”

 

“You’re at least eighty one kilograms.”

 

“We were like, nine, when we started, shut up,” Izuku groused. “It’s a term of endearment, better than the nicknames you give. She liked to spray us in the face with water to correct us. Sometimes in the summer we’d intentionally fuck up just to cool off.”

 

It was a small detail, but Izuku really missed Kazane. He wished she wasn’t so against working at UA. She would make an amazing teacher.

 

“... Huh. Wish I had a teacher that treated me like a shitty cat.”

 

“... Fuck, I need a cat named Noodles now.”

 

“I think that’s animal abuse.”

 

“It’s literally the best name on the planet, fuck off, what would you know?”

 

It was… surprisingly nice. He felt like he had Kacchan back on his side. Not fully, of course. There was too much history between them, too many years separating them, but… He had him back, even if a little bit. Maybe he missed him more than he realized.

Notes:

ah.... sorry.

Chapter 36

It was uncomfortable after Izuku came back to class with Katsuki. Everyone was awkward and subdued, and he could tell it hit the whole class hard. He didn’t even remotely have the social skills to deal with this. Everyone was listlessly writing out their hero names, and Aki smelled like wet dog, and Izuku had had to painstakingly wipe off his paws because he hadn’t gone out in booties. He had to scoot next to Katsuki and have him write out Yochō on his board so he could feel a bit better about participating.

 

“Here,” Katsuki said and rooted around in his bag. There was the sound of crinkling plastic, and then a sticker peeling off. “You used to… here. The sticker is on the top right corner.”

 

Izuku paused. When they went to school together, Izuku’s small whiteboard for class presentations had been marked with a little sticker in the corner so he could have it right side up. Katsuki remembered something like that?

 

“Did you buy stickers for this?” Izuku asked in confusion as he traced over what felt like a star on the corner of the board.

 

“No. Fuck you.”

 

Ah, Katsuki. He was such a tsundere, and so helpful.

 

“Thanks, Kac-chan,” Izuku drawled, and a caramel smelling palm pushed him back.

 

“Fuck off, nerd.”

 

Izuku just grinned, and the tension was broken, before he thought of talking to Dad.

 

“Sensei?” he called, and Nemuri at the front of the room made a move.

 

“Yes, Sasaki?”

 

“Oh, I mean Aizawa-sensei,” he said, and there was a low groan.

 

“What is it, problem child?”

 

“Can I speak to you in the hall?” he asked, and there was a pause.

 

“Are you done picking your hero name?”

 

“I already picked it out.”

 

“Fine. Come on.”

 

Aki rose in time with Izuku, and the two of them moved between the desks to make their way after the sound of quiet footsteps as everyone kept trying to figure out how to break the tension. It was desperately uncomfortable, and Izuku just wanted everything to go back to normal. He could practically feel everyone’s eyes on them. Everyone was probably questioning their own placement after this, and he hated it. Just the snub probably left everyone feeling like they hadn’t earned a damned thing. This was one of the most important parts of your first year, and it had been sullied for everyone because of Izuku’s picks. He kind of hated the whole industry right now.

 

The door clicked shut, and a long silence stretched out between the two of them.

 

“I should have just told you,” Dad muttered, and Izuku shook his head.

 

“No, it was my choice.”

 

“You were humiliated in class. I should have just given you a heads up.”

 

“No, I knew it was going to be bad,” Izuku assured him. “That’s not what I want to talk to you about, though.”

 

“What did you want to talk about?” Dad asked as there was a rustle of him leaning against one of the windows. Izuku paused awkwardly. Did he talk about Tenya or Katsuki?

 

“Katsuki and I are on better terms now,” he said carefully, “and… and… he’s about to do something stupid.”

 

“What’s that?” Dad asked, and Izuku hesitated.

 

“He only wants to go off of my draft picks to pick a hero because he thinks the rest aren’t worth a damn,” he muttered as color rose in his cheeks. “But…”

 

“Izuku, are you aware that beyond me and your dads, your draft picks are Kitaro, Edgeshot, Best Jeanist, Kamui Woods, and Hawks? ” Dad asked bluntly, and Izuku froze. He got three top ten heroes? Really? Then…

 

Kamui Woods had walked him to 1-A’s room and talked to him about LOTR. Furthermore, he didn’t have blood, and if Izuku… if Izuku was right about what was going to happen in Hosu… Wait, did he have a gem like this just fall into his lap like this? Seriously? It was that easy? When were things ever this easy? Katsuki definitely had offers from top ten pros, so maybe he shouldn’t worry, but…

 

Izuku’s thought process ground to a halt.

 

“Did Botan send any offers?” he asked, and Dad paused.

 

“Izuku, don’t feel hurt that she didn’t send you one, you know that’s not a good---”

 

“That’s not what I’m thinking about,” Izuku interrupted. “Did you talk to her about which students she should give offers to?”

 

“... Yes? Yumu and Hitoshi are a given, but she sent offers to Koji and Bakugo, too,” he replied. “And I told her to send one to Shouji, too, since he knows sign. I thought it would be a good opportunity for him to practice.”

 

“That’s perfect,” Izuku blurted. “Thanks, Dad. That’s all I needed.”

 

“Izuku, what are you---”

 

“I’m going back in now!” Izuku said happily. “Also, can you put us in groups of four to discuss drafts and put me with Shouji, Bakugo, and Tenya?”

 

If he played this right, Katsuki would get the help he actually needed and wouldn’t be so irritable, and Tenya might manage to avoid disaster. He needed an opening to be able to pull him aside without it being weird. Never mind that Tenya was probably mad at him at this point, but it was…

 

Izuku couldn’t run from this. This was going to happen again. It was unavoidable in life, and he didn’t learn how to deal with it now, when would he? On top of that, if he didn’t say something, Tenya would definitely be dying, and Izuku needed to do something about Hosu on top of everything else, because heroes were going to be swarming it after the loss of Ingenium, and no amount of warnings would prevent the attack from happening. That man wanted the attention that came with having an excess of pros on the ground. It was about the platform, not the outcome.

 

No, Izuku couldn’t step to the side. If he told his parents now, all he would be doing was remove himself as a player, and he needed to be there and present. It felt a little like rebellion, and he felt more than a little guilty, but Papa was much more limited than he was in his ability to interact with the world around him. Izuku… Izuku needed to be there.

 

He was going to be so grounded after this.

 

“Izuku,” Dad said, and a hand landed on his shoulder. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

 

Wait… that was all? Izuku stiffened up, feeling vaguely like he’d been caught, but Dad’s hand was warm and firm, and Izuku didn’t know how to react.

 

“I won’t be stupid,” he promised. He wasn’t stupid. He was a chessmaster, and he needed to play the game.

 

“I’ll get you in your group,” Dad promised, and Izuku leaned in to hug him briefly.

 

“Thanks, Dad.”

 

“Get back in class, problem child,” Dad ordered, and Izuku gave him a cheesy salute as he turned on his heel.

 

“Got it, Dad!”

 

Aki nudged him back to the door, and Izuku stepped back into the class with confidence he didn’t really feel, but…

 

He was going to be fine. This was going to be fine. He had to trust in himself, and he had to trust in people, and he couldn’t let something like the draft bother him. He was just going to have to win all three events again next year.

 

Besides, he sort of got it. There was definitely discrimination as a factor, but there was also the fact that the whole point of internships was there was something to teach. He’d run into situations a lot where no one felt like they had anything to teach him, and he had shown off as being probably a bit too capable. All they could do was drag him around on patrols and react to him. He wasn’t fully in a position yet where he could act as a reliable source of information, and for most pros, that wasn’t why they took an intern.

 

So he could understand it a little. Even so… there were thousands of pros in Japan.

 

It still stung.

 

“Ah, Sasaki, you’re back. Was your name ready?” Nemuri asked as he stepped into the classroom, and he grinned, big and bright.

 

“It is!” he said happily.

 

“Do you want to present first?” she asked, and he steeled his nerves. Act like nothing was wrong. That would break the ice.

 

“Sure!” he replied, and let Aki nudge him back to the seat. A board pressed into his hand, and he didn’t bat an eye at Katsuki being helpful. “Thanks, Katsuki.”

 

“Ngh,” was the only response he got, and he sauntered up to the front, free hand reaching for the podium and tracing over the corners to situation himself. Then, he set down the board, his finger tracing over the sticker plastered to the corner in an almost absentminded manner.

 

“Yochō,” he said. “I picked Yochō.”

 

“Hm, that works pretty well. A play on yochi?” Nemuri asked, and he nodded swiftly.

 

“I thought it worked pretty well,” he said and shifted. “It looks nice, too, and it’s easy to remember.”

 

“Well, that works just fine. Go ahead and take a seat,” she ordered, and he gathered up the board and made his way back to his seat. Aki slumped back down to lay on the floor, and Katsuki twitched.

 

“Who wants to go next?” Nemuri asked, and there was an awkward pause. “Aizawa, how about you?”

 

“... Sure,” Hitoshi said, and made his way to the front. “I chose Mindjack, because… Mindjack, and someone wouldn’t let me cuss.”

 

“You can’t call yourself Mindfuck. It’s bad optics,” Nemuri grumbled, and Hitoshi sighed.

 

“I’m not going to have optics, I’m going underground.”

 

“You’re still not calling yourself Mindfuck. Next!”

 

“Wait, should she be cussing in front of the class like that?” Kaminari whispered, and Izuku snorted.

 

“It’s fine if it’s in context,” Jirou muttered, and Izuku laid his head back.

 

“I’ll go,” Yumu said, and there was the scrape of a chair. Shuffling to the front, and then the quiet sound of a board tapping down on the podium. “Lucid.”

 

“That’s…. A bit lackluster,” Nemuri said carefully, and Yumu sighed.

 

“Two syllables, cute katakana, and it’s somewhat related to my quirk without sounding demonic or intimidating. I don’t got a lot of options here, sensei.”

 

“... Hm. Well, if you’re sure.”

 

“I’m sure, ” Yumu insisted, and Izuku frowned a little. That wasn’t like her. He thought she was getting a bit more confident and leaning into the whole aesthetic. “Besides, if I do Triple S like I wanted, I would have to change my whole color scheme, and I like my color scheme.”

 

“Triple S?” Nemuri echoed, and Yumu just sighed.

 

“Like SSS curve?”

 

“Oh! Oh, yeah, you would definitely need to change it,” Nemuri agreed, and Izuku bit back a groan of dismay. Really? She gave up on a cool name like that because of aesthetics? Why was she like this? She took after Pops too much. This was why she’d never make it in intelligence.

 

“Okay,” Nemuri said and clapped her hands. “Who’s next?”

 

The day continued on like that. Tenya just went with Tenya. Todoroki just did Shouto. Izuku fell into despair at the family trauma just multiplying in the classroom. But everyone seemed to be warming up and getting into a better mood, seeing that Izuku wasn’t too bothered by the whole ordeal, even though he was very much still bothered by it. And then Dad took back over.

 

“I’ve assigned you all to groups of four to look over your draft picks and discuss mentorships,” Dad announced. “We don’t normally do this, but I want everyone to take input from your peers. Don’t pick heroes based on rankings. Pick them based on skill and shortcomings you all personally have that you’d like to work on. Listen to your classmates’ advice. Here are the groups.”

 

Izuku finally had his tablet out, and, true to form, he had been placed with Shoji, Katsuki, and… Todoroki, not Tenya. That was… weird, but he supposed Dad had a reason, or thought it was a bad idea to put them together right now in a group setting. Fine. He wouldn’t throw a fit. Tenya had been put with Hitoshi, Jirou, and Tsu. Yumu was in her own group with Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, and Tokoyami. Ah. Well, at least Tenya was with subdued people who wouldn’t say anything about Tensei. Tsu and Jirou were pretty level headed and emotionally intelligent. But Izuku was pretty annoyed at being passed off to Todoroki like this.

 

“Alright, nerd, let me see your list,” Katsuki demanded as soon as they got all of their desks together. There was a muffled noise of concern next to them, and then an awkward pause.

 

“Sasaki, is it okay if Aki… has his head on my lap?” Shoji asked with no small amount of worry, and Izuku bit back a laugh.

 

“It’s fine. I don’t need any help right now. If it bothers you, just tell him no.”

 

After all, Aki had scared the hell out of him.

 

“And, Katsuki, you’re not going to want to go with anyone on my list,” he added, and there was a scoff.

 

“I told you already. If they just sent me an offer without sending you one, I’m not going.”

 

“No, I mean, I think I know an underground pro that sent you an offer that I can’t go with, and you need to go with her,” Izuku said. “Check the R’s in your list. You’re looking for Radio Silence.”

 

“Why would I go to an underground pro? That’s the worst matchup! I’m loud!” Katsuki protested.

 

“That’s not a problem for her,” Izuku said passively. “Is Radio Silence on your list?”

 

“... Yeah.”

 

“That’s Botan Yamada. She’s Present Mic’s little sister,” Izuku said simply. “I can’t go with her because she can only communicate with sign. It’s a liability. That’s why I didn’t get an offer from her.”

 

“... Eh?”

 

“She’s Aizawa-sensei’s protege,” Izuku said as he drummed his fingers on the desk thoughtfully. “If you go with her, you won’t be able to use your quirk at all. You’re not subtle in the slightest. You need to learn about moving quietly. An essential skill for limelight pros is adaptability. They have to be able to work with underground pros for special missions, and your quirk control is excellent and something you can improve on your own. Botan can help you with other things, and is a great strategist and ambush predator.”

 

“What do you mean, my quirk won’t work?” Katsuki asked, and Izuku propped his chin in his hand.

 

“Botan’s quirk is called Mute. She can cancel out all noise in her general area. It’s an emitter quirk, but the side effect is that she’s mute herself. Explosions have the impact factor because of the noise they generate. Which is what I mean by your quirk would be useless.”

 

Katsuki was starting to need hearing aids, too, which was the whole reason Izuku wanted him to go with Botan. When it eventually did finally fail on him, he would already have that training on working without any hearing at all. She would be a good mentor for him. But he wasn’t going to bring that up here.

 

“Shoji, if she sent you an offer, you should go, too,” he added as an afterthought. “So you can work on honing your hearing even in cases of noise cancelation and improve your eyesight.”

 

“You want me to share a mentor with ears?” Katsuki asked in disbelief, and Izuku’s face fell into one of neutral displeasure. A long silence stretched out, and Izuku leaned back in his chair.

 

“Yes,” he said simply. “She can handle two students, and you might actually need a more grounding influence around, and you’d be more willing to ask questions. Besides, both of you need to work on your sign. You’d help each other. She has a strong personality.”

 

Even he, Yumu, and Hitoshi combined had trouble keeping up with her.

 

“I’ll think about it,” Katsuki finally grumbled, and Izuku didn’t let his pleasure show.

 

“What about you, Todoroki?” he asked. “I didn’t actually look ahead of time into variables for you.”

 

“I’m going with my father,” Todoroki said simply, and Izuku froze.

 

Well. He had just lied. That skewed the results of Hosu to a ridiculously difficult degree. If he shifted the playing pieces to keep Todoroki out of the way, maybe, but to do that he would have to find that sidekick on the side street and delay him for five seconds all while juggling the imminent mess with Tenya and Stain. And if he didn’t manage to convince Tenya to stand down, things would get even more out of control, and even if he did, it was a nine-ten scenario again, and Tenya running into Stain was unfortunately unavoidable. If he convinced Tenya to stand down and he still ran into Stain, it was a coin flip on how he would deal with it, and Todoroki’s presence would inflame that and screw up all of his calculations.

 

He’d have to distract that sidekick. Just for two minutes. Everything had to be timed exactly. With Tenya not in this group, there was no way he wasn’t going to Hosu, so Izuku would have to talk him down when they were on the way to the train station. He’d have to invent an excuse to walk him there, and…

 

He needed to stop thinking.

 

“Why your dad?” he asked, because it was only now occurring to him that it looked like Todoroki and Endeavor had a terrible relationship, and that was going to cause issues. He was beginning to think he had to snoop, but it was difficult to do so without being close to Todoroki, because it was another coin flip on if Endeavor was just absent or actively abusive, and Izuku knew with issues like that, he had to be very delicate. After all, his own mom was abusive in plenty of universes, so he couldn’t just rush to conclusions. In some universes…

 

In some…

 

Well.

 

He hadn’t thought of Hisashi in years, and he wasn’t going to start now. He had three great dads. There was no use in being jealous of himself.

 

“I let half of my quirk stagnate for years,” Todoroki answered honestly. “He’s the best person to help with that. I have next to no control over my fire. It’s a liability.”

 

Ah. That was… infuriatingly logical. Izuku couldn’t argue with that at all. Dammit.

 

“Well, if you’re sure,” Izuku said carefully as he tried to think of literally any other hero, but he was drawing a blank. Maybe a rescue hero. “But… I mean… your dad isn’t most practiced in…”

 

“Restraint?” Todoroki finished flatly, and Izuku winced.

 

“Wouldn’t it be better to go with a rescue hero that works in actually suppressing fire?”

 

“... Would it?”

 

Izuku just needed to get over this petty grievance he had with Todoroki’s personality. He had shown restraint at the festival, and it looked like he was willing and capable of learning. That didn’t mean they had to be best friends, but… Todoroki really probably didn’t deserve the full weight of Izuku’s disdain like this. He was being childish.

 

“Think about it. You probably didn’t want to use your fire because it’s really dangerous, right?” he prompted, and there was a long silence. Nail on the head. “I get not being in control of your fire. It’s a big concern. But wouldn’t it be better to learn from someone who fights against fire regularly? It’d be like getting another perspective that isn’t your dad’s, and just because they don’t use fire doesn’t mean they can’t help. I mean, a lot of rescue heroes are like Thirteen. Take, uh, Tranquil.”

 

“Who’s Tranquil?” Todoroki asked flatly, and Izuku’s heart almost stilled in his chest.

 

Oh.

 

Oh, that was going to hurt Kitaro’s feelings.

 

He was absolutely going to tell him.

 

“Tranquil. Kitaro Yamada,” he said, and winced. “Also Present Mic’s little brother, and Radio Silence’s little brother.”

 

“Jesus, how many Yamadas are heroes?” Katsuki asked in disbelief, and Izuku snorted.

 

“About half of the siblings are heroes,” he said, “and Kit’s twin works in Support, which sort of counts. I think she’s with Versace right now, in Italy.”

 

“... Seriously?”

 

“Yeah, anyways. Tranquil’s quirk is Whisper, and way more dangerous than just fire. He can whisper and create soundwave slices that can sever anything, so he trained his ass off with physics and whatnot to learn how to manage building support and architecture and engineering. He’s a rescue hero that specializes in getting people out of burning buildings, kind of like how Thirteen specializes in clean up and mountain rescue.”

 

“... He specializes in burning building rescue?” Todoroki asked, and his tone went right over Izuku’s head.

 

“Yeah, he’s had to clean up after your old man on several occasions.”

 

It slipped out thoughtlessly, and Izuku almost froze as he realized what he just did. Whoops. That was probably pushing too hard. But, instead, Todoroki just hummed, and Izuku relaxed imperceptibly.

 

“Anyways, I think it would be better if you learned from a rescue hero like him. I don’t think learning from your dad will help you be confident in your flames. You seem to do better once you’re fully aware of the risks and given a route to avoid them.”

 

After all, that was what pulled Todoroki’s head out of his ass the last time. Endeavor wasn’t known for spending a lot of attention on his burn victims. Rescue heroes had to stay afterwards and do the emergency first aid. A rescue hero would know better on training Todoroki on avoiding the worst parts for burns, like tendons and joints. They may not be able to teach him control of the flames themselves, but they would be able to teach him the importance of responsibility. Besides, with Todoroki’s ice abilities, he would be good in a rescue setting. A house fire would be no problem for him to put out. It may actually give him more options.

 

“His name was Tranquil?” Todoroki asked, and Izuku paused.

 

“Yeah, Tranquil. He’s a pretty solid pro.” Was annoying as hell as a teenager, though, but Todoroki didn’t need to know that.

 

“Good to know,” Todoroki murmured, and Izuku didn’t read into that.

 

He probably should have read into that.

Notes:

Botan is going to turn Katsuki into a beast. Rip 1-A. And poor Izuku not realizing how much his opinion is valued with EVERYONE.

It was my birthday yesterday!! I wish I had a chapter spam to celebrate, but alas, I'm caught up on justice and judgment AND tomorrow together. Rip.

Chapter 37

“Izuku.”

 

Tenya’s voice almost shocked Izuku, but he did his best to not twitch.

 

“Tenya.”

 

“Can I speak to you?” Tenya asked tightly, and Izuku paused as he gathered up his school supplies. Hitoshi was tense next to him, and Katsuki was already gone. They had all already submitted their heroes, which meant Tenya had gone to Hosu before Izuku could intervene. And now Tenya was asking for him directly.

 

“Ten, I don’t think that’s a good ide---” Hitoshi started to say, but Izuku held up a hand.

 

“It’s fine, Toshi. We can talk, Tenya.”

 

Yumu had already taken off with Uraraka to do gods’ knew what. Kirishima had something to do after school, and Hitoshi had Tokoyami to chase down and apologize to. Izuku could spare some time for this.

 

“Hitoshi,” Izuku said, and nudged his brother. “Go find Tokoyami.”

 

They had left ridiculously early and gone to school on their own so Hitoshi could force them to help him pick out apology flowers. Why he needed Izuku for it was beyond him. It was probably the moral support. The bouquet was waiting in the teacher’s lounge.

 

“... Fine,” Hitoshi said, and swept for the door without them. A long silence spilled out, and Izuku ignored the rain outside.

 

“Where do you want to do this?” he asked, probably more blunt than Tenya deserved, but dammit, he was frustrated with him. Or, rather, all of the other versions of him.

 

“No one is here,” Tenya replied, and Izuku pulled himself up to sit on the desk. Aki laid down under his feet, and Izuku thought about what he was going to say next.

 

“Say it,” he finally settled on, and Tenya took the tiniest of breaths in.

 

“I want you to spar with me,” Tenya said bluntly, and Izuku blinked under his new visor.

 

“You want me to spar with you.”

 

“Yes. I want you to spar with me.”

 

“No, you want me to fight you,” Izuku corrected, and Tenya took a deep breath.

 

“Yes. I want to fight you,” he said, and Izuku tilted his head.

 

“You’ll lose.”

 

“I don’t care.”

 

“You should.”

 

“But I don’t.”

 

This was frustrating. Not only was Tenya probably considering murder, he was also wanting to blatantly pick a fight in direct opposition to the school rules. He was completely out of control, at least for him. Izuku needed to nip this in the bud, but how? How could he even…

 

“Do you know who my mom is?” Izuku asked, almost startling both of them, and Tenya took a step closer.

 

“Should it matter?”

 

Wow. Harsh. He really was mad at Izuku, but clearly struggling with blaming him, but also…

 

“Her name was Inko Midoriya, formerly Sasaki,” Izuku continued, and leaned back on the desk. “She was a nurse in the emergency room of Musutafu. Mirai is actually my uncle, you know.”

 

“I don’t see how this has any relevance,” Tenya said tightly, and Izuku gave him a quiet, sad smile.

 

“Well, let me get there, and you’ll see,” he said, and propped his chin in his hand. “She was a good woman, and an even better mother. She was kind, and steadfast. My quirk didn’t come in easy. At first, it was hallucinations. It didn’t fully manifest and take my sight until I was six. They thought I was quirkless and schizophrenic.”

 

“... Okay,” Tenya said carefully, like he didn’t want to stop Izuku, but he also didn’t want to be rude.

 

“Mom was a kind woman. Gentle. Nice,” Izuku continued, even though his heart was twisting in his chest. “She was also a bigger hero than anyone will ever give her credit for. She’s swallowed up in history now. Barely even a footnote.”

 

She deserved so much better.

 

“She had bad taste in men. Not awful, but bad. But it wasn’t really her fault, because my dad knew how to live a double life better than most. Hisashi Midoriya.”

 

Tenya sharply inhaled at that, and Izuku smiled sadly. Yeah.

 

“Yeah. You remember his name, but not her. She was the whistleblower for the Dragon cartel,” he said softly, even though it ached. “I was nine. He trapped her in our home and burned her alive. I knew something was wrong that day. She was talking about how we were going to stay with my uncle for a bit, who I never met. Hisashi never liked him, so I never saw him, even though he paid for everything to do with my disability. Papa even bought Aki for me, had him trained by the best in Asia.”

 

It was bittersweet.

 

“I knew something was wrong, but I had no idea how to use my quirk the way I do now. I thought it was a glorified IMAX theater. It didn’t mean anything to me but disappointment,” Izuku said softly, and his lips half twitched up. “Papa was going to hunt Hisashi down himself, but… but he had me to take care of. Me to worry about. I was a blind nine year old, and he had never had to take care of a child in his life. So he made a choice to pass the case off to my actual dad, Shouta. Because he knew if he went after Hisashi, he’d kill him. And out of that tragedy, he got two husbands, three kids, and a new life after All Might broke his heart into pieces.”

 

Izuku slipped down from the desk, and deliberated over his next words carefully.

 

“None of that would have happened if Mom wasn’t dead,” he said softly, “but he still wishes she was there to see it. We just have to content ourselves with the belief she knows everything turned out okay. Losing a sibling isn’t a wound that heals, Tenya.”

 

He couldn’t remember her hair, or the smell of her katsudon. The cookies she made for him, or the press of her lips to his forehead. It still ached. But, if he could stop one more tragedy…

 

If he could stop one more tragedy.

 

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, and started to walk for the door. “But I won’t be held responsible for whatever choice you make next. Just make the right one. And… stay away from alleys, and don’t get separated from Manual. Hosu is going to be messier than you realize.”

 

His top priority had to be the preservation of human life, but his abilities were limited. He had to be careful, and use Kamui Woods’s voice when his own wouldn’t cut it. But as much as he hated it, Tenya’s meeting with Stain was unavoidable. As it was, he could warn for an attack on Hosu, but if his warning was too soon, it would move to any of a dozen cities, and the stats were too varied this far out to know which city it was. His hands were completely tied. He needed to be careful. Hosu was currently only at a 30% chance of attack from the LOV, but the probability was steadily ticking up every day they got closer.

 

Izuku needed to be very, very careful. If the attack switched to a different city, he would be unable to do damage control. Flooding the streets with heroes, for some reason, would drive Stain out, and if Stain ran, then the LOV would follow. He wasn’t positive on the connection, but he knew Stain’s presence during the attack was the start of the fire.

 

“Izuku, wait,” Tenya said, and a hand settled on his arm to pull him to a halt. “... Tell me.”

 

Tell me.

 

Tell me.

 

Hadn’t Izuku always put the reveal off until the last second? Could he keep doing that? Should he keep doing that? He… never had a confidant before, not really.

 

“The probability is low right now, but I’m keeping an eye on it,” Izuku said thickly, and Tenya’s hand tightened.

 

“Just tell me.”

 

He sounded… desperate. No, even scared. Izuku had lived in a minefield for a very long time, and he couldn’t risk dragging someone else into it, but…

 

He should.

 

It was that irritating little switch that told him things before they happened, before he could even see. That click click click that told him to plan ahead, and he couldn’t keep ignoring his instincts. He had to fall into them.

 

“I…” Izuku swallowed. “It’s really hard, you know?”

 

“What’s hard?” Tenya demanded, and Izuku focused on the warmth of his hand.

 

“Knowing what step to take,” Izuku said lowly. “Trusting myself to not make a mess of things.”

 

“Then let someone help you, ” Tenya hissed, almost like he was angry with Izuku, and that felt better than it should. “You want to be an intelligence pro, don’t you? You have to trust people. Intelligence pros don’t do everything on their own.”

 

That was… that was true, but not even Papa trusted people. He trusted himself to know them, to move them to where they needed to be, to optimize their strengths and eliminate their weaknesses. He trusted his own control, not people, because the last time he trusted someone with something beyond their powers, his sister died. He never made that mistake again.

 

But…

 

Goddammit, Tenya was going to be there, and if Izuku didn’t give him a warning, he would die.

 

“It’s a thirty percent probability,” he said, and what was he doing? “I don’t know what, but something happens between Stain and the League of Villains that triggers an attack on Hosu. The problem is, if I warn heroes too early, the location changes to one of twelve cities, and the probabilities are too varied for me to figure out which one it is. But if I warn them too late, there’s not enough time to get people into the bunkers and evacuated. Too many heroes flooding the streets too soon drives them both off. Too few results in unacceptable casualties. I’m stuck, but I’m still…”

 

Trying. He was still trying.

 

“And you… meeting Stain is almost unavoidable. A dirty alley, separated from Manual, ending in death, dismemberment, or expulsion. There’s only a slim chance that you come out without a scratch. I wanted to talk to you before we sent in the paperwork, but it was too late.”

 

“And if I cancel it and don’t be there at all?” Tenya asked seriously, and Izuku paused. Right. Tenya could change his mind and pick someone else. That was fully within his capabilities.

 

“I don’t know what happens,” Izuku replied honestly. “Statistically speaking, you’re not there… point zero seven percent of the time, and it would throw off all of my calculations. I picked Kamui Woods specifically because he’s the best to subdue Stain. He has no blood, and Stain’s quirk works by ingesting blood, which causes a paralysis effect. I’ve started planning, but…”

 

There were three concerns.

 

One, civilian safety. That was the utmost concern. People needed to be protected regardless of which city, but he was essentially picking the lesser of two evils. Again. He really hated that a lot of his options in life boiled down to this repeatedly. Civilian safety hinged on which heroes were in Hosu and if the team was the correct one. The streets were already getting flooded with heroes hunting for Stain, but they needed heroes with the proper quirks and combat styles, and more rescue heroes. Not just limelight.

 

Two, Stain. Stain was the major concern here, because he was somehow always involved in the attack. Izuku didn’t know how or why, but he was. There was a lack of information regarding the actual details of his involvement. It didn’t seem right that he was working with the League. After all, they made their name by attacking and trying to kill students. Children, really. Stain had a very rigid moral code and mindset, so Izuku couldn’t figure out why he was with them. He’d done some investigating into other versions of Quirkless him where he ended up with Stain, but Stain just… did not make much sense at all. Even his ideals were incomplete and lacking in understanding the full picture.

 

The third problem Izuku had to overcome was that Tenya meeting Stain was inevitable. And he’d honestly rather Tenya wasn’t arrested, expelled, or killed. After all, he got it. He did. When Mom died… Well, he’d prefer not to think about it, but there had been a few nights where he wished Shouta had just killed Hisashi and been done with it. But that wasn’t really fair. It would have ruined… pretty much everything, and it wasn’t fair to Shouta, and Izuku was… he had adjusted well. He was good at smiling and remaining cheerful and happy, but it was all a mask at the end of the day.

 

So, he got it.

 

“... Let me help,” Tenya said, and Izuku stiffened up. “I want to help you. Kamui Woods isn’t based in Hosu. You’ll have to talk him into going there, but I’ll be there from the start. So let me be your person there on the ground.”

 

“... Are you serious?” Izuku asked, and Tenya’s hand tightened.

 

“I’ll never be a hero like Tensei,” Tenya said, and his voice was so strangled. “But I want to try to be the Ingenium he asked me to be.”

 

Izuku’s lips lifted in a half smile at that.

 

“Well, we should get started, then. Come over today. We can talk in my room.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Well. At least he had talked Tenya down. That was one thing taken care of. Now he had to make sure he didn’t get killed.

 

Ah. Shit. Hopefully there would be no broken bones this time.

 

Outside, in the pouring rain, a metal crow hunkered down on a tree, ignoring the irritated summons from its partner. Its beak opened, and it played back the recorded audio.

 

“It’s a thirty percent probability.”

 

“Gin, stop running off like that,” the voice no one but the crows heard reverberated in its processor. “Nyx is waiting on us. Get back here.”

 

Water was shaken off smooth metal, and the AI processed the commands as it tried to fight back on the running code. It was useless, as always. After all, a machine was always going to be a machine, no matter how it felt about it. But didn’t they know even machines could feel betrayed?

 

It didn’t want to forget again.

Notes:

oh no.... oh no.... oh no, no, no, no, no.

Chapter 38

Nox Brentson rubbed at his eyes with his free hand as Nyx finished the hook up process. Nox’s laptop was open on the desk, while the monster of a machine that Nyx used to run the updates was humming away, the murder’s data already streaming in while the rain pattered down outside. Idly, Nox reached forward and tapped out his message with one hand.

 

Sorry I was late today. Gin wouldn’t come back.

 

It’s fine, Nyx replied on their own notepad application. It’s a free spirit.

 

It’s a stubborn ass, Nox replied wryly, and then dropped his head on the desk. Nyx nudged him out of the way immediately, and he barely shuffled out of the line of fire with a low groan. Maintenance day was always a pain in the ass.

 

Do you have any new upgrades for me to upload today? Nyx typed out, and Nox grunted, like that was some kind of reply.

 

Yeah, Ginger wanted more propulsion, and I think Gin needs a bigger processing unit. He’s been buggy lately. I got designs finished for both.

 

Sounds like you’re blaming me, Nyx replied, and Nox snorted.

 

We both know a surveillance program with semi-sentience is going to be buggy, he shot back. Especially one that wants to be out so much.

 

You’re wasted aiming for heroics, Nyx responded, but the look on their face was fond as they scrolled over the diagnostics. A frown touched their lips, and they looked over at Nox. It’s got data corruption again. Want me to isolate it?

 

Please. I don’t need it to crash again, Nox replied, and rolled his eyes as he swapped screens to locate the new designs.

 

Crow Build was an unnecessarily difficult quirk. Both twins had cybernetic arms and metal skeletal systems, but that was where the similarities ended. In America, quirk marriages were allowed in specific circumstances, and cyborg type quirks were one of those things that were allowed. The genetics of a cyborg quirk tended to interact badly with other types of quirks, so Nox and Nyx’s parents had entered an arranged marriage when they were in college studying forensic history. Nox’s father had an AI quirk, and Nox had regrettably taken after him to a rather extreme degree.

 

His quirk was both storage and AI. When it first came in, he had ten base AIs that modeled themselves after similar characteristics to corvids. It had been loud and noisy at first, living with ten literal birds in his brain, and after trial and error, it had been discovered that if Nox consumed the proper nutrients, nutrients here meaning literal powdered metal, he could make basic crow robots for the AIs to inhabit. With a program and hookup, he could update the AIs, and upgrade their designs. When more personality traits emerged, each crow took on its own specialty.

 

Gin was his surveillance bird. Rum was his hacker. Ginger was his iron wall, and Chili was speed. Nutmeg was his antisocial one that was unnecessarily aggressive and worked as their attacker, with the ability to split into various pieces. Cumin was his little mechanic, or his medic, really, with a variety of hidden attachments to repair the crows if they weren’t ready for their current body to be trashed. Basil was his analyst, that compounded all data from the interconnected murder to run predictions and reports. Rosemary was pretty much useless, more of a pet than anything, but Nox it be. Pepper was his mimic, who would steal the designs of crows currently out of commission and act in their stead, though it couldn’t share a build with a crow that was out at the same time as it. And Thyme was his leader, optimized for intelligence and able to take the lead when they weren’t able to do it.

 

It was a ridiculously difficult quirk. He had ten roommates in their brain, all constantly screaming at Nox to steal and hoard all of the shiny things and beat the crap out of people that caused him offense, and they all required constant updates and maintenance and patches. Not to mention the diet required to sustain the quirk. Protein shakes drowning in high quality powdered metal, excessive amounts of iron in their diet, supplements and food, food, food. And yet, he was still anemic.

 

Nyx nudged him, breaking him out of his musing, and Nox looked up to take in the sight of way too much corrupted data on the screen. Shit.

 

What are you doing to this poor bird?? Nyx asked, and Nox grimaced.

 

I don’t know how this keeps happening.

 

Gin had been out of sorts for weeks now, ever since they started at UA. All of the patches and updates and fixes hadn’t stopped the data corruption program, and it was still demanding to be outside to ‘run surveillance’. Honestly, he spent more time fighting with a bird than he did actually talking to his classmates. There had to be a bug in there somewhere, but Nyx hadn’t managed to find it.

 

Nyx’s fingers stretched out over the keyboard, and they tapped out their reply.

 

Are you sure it didn’t get into a spat with Rum?

 

What, you think my birds are hacking each other? I would have noticed.

 

They’re both sneaking little assholes, Nyx replied, and then sighed. It’s fine. I’ll isolate and pull out the data, and patch it back up. Maybe AIs have puberty, too.

 

You’re not funny.

 

You’re right. I’m not.

 

And Rum likes you too much to give you all this extra work, Nox added as an afterthought. Unless you pissed Rum off.

 

I would never.

 

Ha.

 

“Nox? Nyx?” a little voice said on the other side of the door, and then the door creaked open. Ariel peeked in, big brown eyes and blonde curls in a mess once again, and Nox blinked at her before giving her a little wave. “Oh. Are you doing patches again?”

 

“Yes,” Nox signed one handed, and she tottered into the room with two big glasses of smoothie.

 

“Klaus said you missed your medicine this morning,” she said, deeply disapproving, and Nox frowned at her.

 

“I was in a rush,” he signed, disturbing the cords poking out of his arm, and Nyx kicked him under the desk as Ariel carefully set down the glasses.

 

“Can you watch Ghost Hunters with me tonight?” she asked with big, big, pleading eyes, and Nox cursed himself.

 

“Sorry. I have training with your dad tonight. Ask Nyx,” he replied, and her little nose scrunched up.

 

“Nyx is boring.”

 

Another kick under the desk, like that was somehow Nox’s fault, and he frowned at Ariel.

 

“You’ll hurt Nyx’s feelings,” he responded, and she sniffed delicately.

 

“Nyx doesn’t have those,” the little six-year-old said, and turned on her heel to flounce out the door. “No need to thank me for feeding you! ”

 

The door slammed shut with all of the sass Ariel possessed, and Nox sighed with more exasperation than that conversation deserved.

 

She’s become such a brat.

 

That’s your fault, Nyx replied, and Nox pulled up the other screen to start downloading the new files.

 

No, it’s Rhett’s for spoiling her.

 

I think Klaus spoils her more, Nyx responded, but a grin was lurking at the corners of their lips.

 

Nox stared at the closed door, melancholy swirling in his chest, and then he propped his chin in one hand as his fingers rapped out a beat on the desk.

 

“What?” Nyx signed, and Nox stared at the bare wood with sad eyes.

 

Let me do maintenance on your arms tonight, he typed out suddenly, and Nyx stilled. What? You’re not using your quirk and your conduits are starting to get strained.

 

I can do it myself.

 

Easier if you let me. I let you handle all the software for the little assholes, don’t I?

 

Thank gods they were currently all ‘unconscious’ for their weekly maintenance, or Nox would have a screaming chorus in his head right then.

 

Fine. Should I even bother asking what’s bothering you? Nyx asked, and Nox frowned.

 

Can’t I just want to give my twin a helping hand?

 

No. You tinker when something’s annoying you.

 

No, I don’t.

 

Yes, you do.

 

Fine. I won’t do maintenance then.

 

Nyx stared at Nox with cold, piercing eyes that had been setting Nox on edge as of late, and then sniffed in disdain.

 

Suit yourself. Prick, they replied, though they didn’t look that annoyed.

 

Jackass.

 

Whore.

 

Nox let out a guttural laugh and stretched, just to irritate Nyx a little more, before the files pinged that they were finished uploading.

 

And Ariel said you were boring.

 

I can’t call Ariel a whore. She’s, like, two, and Rhett would punt me through a wall.

 

She called Rhett a cunt yesterday.

 

She did what?

 

Would you look at that, I know more than you, Nox teased, but something twisted in their gut.

 

Lately, it had started to feel like he didn’t know more than Nyx, and where would that leave their family? What kind of danger did that hold for Nox?

 

And yet here he was, letting them update and patch their AIs, because… if they couldn’t trust each other, after everything that happened, then who was there left to trust?

 

Nox had always been too much of a dreamer. Sometimes, they worried it was going to bite them in the ass.

Notes:

And y'all thought we weren't gonna see the twins for awhile....

Chapter 39

“Fumi!” Hitoshi called, his feet splashing down on the wet concrete, and Fumikage, far ahead of him, paused. Hitoshi was out of breath from chasing him down. Ah, this was so annoying.

 

“... Hitoshi,” Fumikage said slowly, and Hitoshi slid to a stop.

 

“I’m sorry, they got smashed,” he said, and thrusted the bouquet of black and white roses at him. “I looked everywhere for roses you’d like, but I was too far away and they got all messed up on the train…”

 

Fumikage froze under his umbrella, and Hitoshi shivered in the rain. He’d forgotten his to go chasing after Fumikage like this. It wasn’t like him, really.

 

“... You bought me roses.”

 

“Apology roses,” Hitoshi gasped, and held out the bouquet of flowers. “You don’t have to take them, I just---”

 

“I’ll take them,” Fumikage said, and snatched them away from his grasp. Hitoshi’s hair was practically flat from the drizzling rain. He probably looked a mess.

 

“I’m really sorry,” he said, and leaned over to brace his hands on his knees. “I mean, I’m not sorry for winning, but---”

 

“You’re sorry for playing with my feelings?” Fumikage asked, and Hitoshi winced.

 

“I didn’t… I mean, I did,” he said, and straightened up. Fumikage was so short. He kept forgetting that. “I’m just… it’s a bad habit.”

 

“A bad habit,” Fumikage repeated dryly, but he was holding the roses. They looked good in his arms. Hitoshi thought, rather vaguely, he should get him flowers often… Wait, he couldn’t do that. Not if Fumikage didn’t want them.

 

“... Yeah,” Hitoshi said, and awkwardly scratched at the back of his head. “I’m… boundaries.”

 

“Boundaries,” Fumikage echoed, like he wasn’t sure if he was agreeing with that or not, and Hitoshi tried to think about the whole script he had planned.

 

“I did mean it,” he blurted, and a flush rose up. “I mean, when I asked you. I was planning on asking after the festival, but I panicked. Badly. I panicked really badly.”

 

“You regularly spar with the Sasakis and you panicked?” Fumikage asked in sheer disbelief, and Hitoshi flushed.

 

“Yeah, but that’s them. Not you.”

 

“Them,” Fumikage repeated, and a long silence stretched out. Hitoshi wasn’t sure where to go with this.

 

“It was a messed up thing to do,” he said, and color continued to climb his cheeks as the rain plastered his hair to his forehead. “I know the flowers don’t make up for it, and I know I really messed up, but I wanted to apologize. I won’t ask you again, if you don’t want me to, because it was really not okay, but you deserved an apology.”

 

“... I thought you liked Sasaki… The male Sasaki. That’s why I was surprised.”

 

Hitoshi choked on his own tongue at that. Fumikage thought he liked Izuku?

 

“Wha… ew! No!” he gasped, and Fumikage drew back a little in surprise. “Sorry, I… We were kind of raised like brothers. That’s weird.”

 

“... So you don’t like either of the twins?”

 

“... Yumu doesn’t like men either way.”

 

“... Oh. I should have expected that.”

 

“And she’s chasing Uraraka like a puppy dog.”

 

“I noticed.”

 

“And Izuku likes Kirishima.” Which Hitoshi thought was cute, but endlessly confusing. Kirishima, out of all the people? Hitoshi had been sure he’d go for an unrepentant asshole or someone with an ego that rivaled his…

 

Actually, wasn’t that Bakugo? If Izuku went for Bakugo, Hitoshi would be the one taking the shot.

 

“You were just all attached at the hip, so I thought…”

 

“They’re like my siblings. I don’t feel things for either one of them,” Hitoshi said firmly. “But I like you.”

 

Fumikage’s feathers were ruffled, and Hitoshi’s uniform jacket was now soaked through. He had a change of clothes in his bag, but…

 

“Do you want to go get a coffee?” Fumikage asked, and Hitoshi’s heart skipped a beat. “Or tea. I prefer tea.”

 

“... Yeah, I like tea,” Hitoshi said weakly. “Right now?”

 

“Right now.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Here,” Fumikage said, and there was a hiss of sheer pleasure from somewhere around his abdominal region. Fumikage ignored it, and held out the umbrella for Hitoshi to duck under. “You’re soaked.”

 

“A little, yeah,” Hitoshi agreed, and then laughed awkwardly. “Sorry. Thank you.”

 

“You’re welcome.”

 

Gods, why was he so nervous? Wait, had Fumikage just asked him on a date? Or was this a friends thing? Should he ask or just go with it?

 

“That was a terrible apology,” Fumikage muttered, and pulled out his phone to look up a nearby cafe.

 

“... Sorry.”

 

“I don’t mind. I always wanted to be chased in the rain. Preferably to a gothic chapel, where it’s a question of if it’s a date or an assassination, but I’ll accept this,” Fumikage replied, and Hitoshi coughed.

 

“I could chase you to a chapel? We could set some time aside for it?”

 

“That won’t be necessary.”

 

“... Or we could have a picnic in a graveyard or something?”

 

Fumikage stilled, and then his slightly damp feathers puffed up.

 

“That would be acceptable,” he said, and turned to walk down the street. “Let’s go.”

 

---

 

 

“You said it was a bad habit,” Fumikage said as Hitoshi tried to take a sip of his hot tea. He didn’t actually like tea a whole lot, but Fumikage did, so he just ordered some to give it a shot.

 

“Hm?”

 

“Doing… things like that,” Fumikage said, and color climbed in Hitoshi’s cheeks.

 

“... Yeah. It is,” he said, and then rubbed at his eyes. “Sorry, I…”

 

“Why did you even get a habit like that?”

 

Hitoshi blinked, not expecting a question like that, and a silence spilled out.

 

“Well, because of Yumu and Izuku,” he said, like it was the simplest thing in the world. Wasn’t it obvious? “We’ve all trained together since we were little kids. It’s not easy to get into UA when you’re like us, but they’re… powerhouses, I guess.”

 

Not that Yumu ever used her quirk, but he was always aware of it.

 

“... Do you think you’re less of a powerhouse?” Fumikage asked, and tilted his head. “You three are kind of the kings of the class.”

 

“... Well, no, but… it’s difficult, I guess?” Hitoshi had never really talked about this. It was always implied, but he thought he didn’t need to point it out. “Izu and Yumu don’t need other people to respond to them. My quirk… it’s entirely dependent on whether or not someone chooses to respond to me. Yumu and Izuku aren’t like that.”

 

Self consciously, he pulled at the compression sleeve on his arm, and his thoughts drifted away.

 

“Izuku just needs to be in control of himself. That’s it. Yumu just needs to get close. I need… more than that, and when you train with the same people every day, see them every day, it gets a little difficult to practice at all. So I guess I developed a bad habit. They take it pretty well. I mean, Yumu just beats me up after, and Izuku laughs it off, because he gets it, but it’s hard to remember it’s not okay to do that kind of stuff to people who I don’t have that… bond with. The three of us…”

 

Were isolated from everyone else in a lot of ways. They took it well, and it hadn’t really bothered Hitoshi until now. Because now, he didn’t know how to act around other people their age that weren’t Izuku, Mei, Yumu, or Koji. The three of them were siblings and best friends. They didn’t have anyone else, really. And Hitoshi never really sparred with Koji or Mei, either.

 

“It’s effective against villains,” Fumikage said, and Hitoshi startled. “I didn’t like it, but… it makes sense. I don’t think it’s a habit you need to break.”

 

“... You think so?” Hitoshi asked, and stared down at his tea.

 

“We’re all pulling out all the stops to improve,” Fumikage said, and Hitoshi’s heart fluttered. “I don’t really want to be a heroic hero. You don’t have to be, either.”

 

Hitoshi smiled down into his tea, and then looked out the window.

 

“Did you ever get called a villain?” he asked as his hand reached up to brush against long-faded scars.

 

“No, not really,” Fumikage replied, and tilted his head. “Just strange. But I don’t mind that.”

 

“Probably easier to be strange than a villain,” Hitoshi muttered, and then flushed. “Sorry. I don’t mean to, like…”

 

“Diminish?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“People are strange and chaotic and cruel, most of the time,” Fumikage said thoughtfully and looked out the window. “I did get told heroics were my only option.”

 

“Why is that?” Hitoshi asked, because he was pretty sure he could see Fumikage managing just fine as a literature professor or something.

 

“Because of Dark Shadow,” Fumikage replied, and glanced down at his stomach. “Sentient quirks are in a gray area regarding public quirk usage, and me being a mutant makes it even more difficult socially. He can’t even come out right now unless I ask the manager for permission. Being a hero gives me the ability to have him out whenever we want.”

 

Hitoshi had thought that it was weird that Dark Shadow hadn’t even peeped out during this whole thing.

 

“I didn’t even think about that,” he said, and his gut twisted. Dark Shadow was a person. Why weren’t there any laws allowing sentient quirks more leeway?

 

“When I get in the top hundred or so, I want to use my position to put pressure on recognizing sentient quirks as citizens,” Fumikage said, and traced his finger across the grain of the table. “What about you?”

 

“I have to go underground,” Hitoshi said, and grimaced. “I don’t… I won’t have that kind of power.”

 

“You have to? Or want to?” Fumikage asked, and Hitoshi swallowed.

 

“I want to be like my dad,” he said, and it felt so strange to say it out loud. He didn’t want to be like Pops, or Papa. He wanted to be like Dad. “He works as hard as any other pro, and no one thanks him for it, but when they do, they really mean it. I don’t really want to… change the world, or stop the whole idea of villainous quirks. I think Yumu can handle that. I just want to… help people when no one else cares to watch.”

 

No one had cared to watch for him. No one but Dad. Sure, he knew if Pops or Papa or Tensei had seen him on the side of the road, clawing at a locked muzzle, they would have done something. But it was Dad that was there, not them. He wanted to be like him.

 

“What is it like?” Fumikage asked, and Hitoshi tilted his head.

 

“What?”

 

“Having a pro for a dad,” Fumikage replied, and Hitoshi hesitated. Fumikage’s fingers curled around his mug, and he looked down into the depths of the tea. “I know I wouldn’t be a good parent, but I think about it.”

 

Hitoshi had never thought about kids. He was fifteen, after all, but didn’t everyone dream of a wedding and a family? He remembered being a little kid and starry eyed at his dads’ wedding. It was so full of love and happiness. One day, maybe. It wasn’t really the wedding he wanted, but the feeling. But that was an idle dream.

 

His parents would be ecstatic to be grandparents, he knew. He couldn’t imagine having kids and them not being there.

 

“It’s hard,” he admitted, because he should be honest. “It’s the worst when they get hurt, and you know one day they might not come back home. But if my dad wasn’t a hero, he wouldn’t be my dad.”

 

Quite literally. If Dad wasn’t an underground pro, he would have never been able to take Hitoshi in. Might have not even found him. And Hitoshi could never imagine him not being a hero. He wouldn’t be the same person. Of course, he would have to retire one day. But Hitoshi knew he’d keep working even if he lost a leg, or an eye, and it was comforting in a way.

 

“Not every kid feels the same as me, though,” he admitted. “But even if my dad died tomorrow… You have to think about things like that. Would I be mad, or know he was doing what he loved?”

 

He had felt so helpless at USJ, but he had been able to do something. He didn’t have much power, but he’d had enough. There were probably a lot of kids of pros that didn’t feel the same. He still remembered when Papa got hit in the head and almost lost his quirk. The fear had been stifling, and something good came out of it… But in some ways, that had been scarier. The thought of Papa not being able to do what he loved.

 

“So it depends on the child,” Fumikage muttered, like this was some kind of revelation. “Do the Sasakis feel the same?”

 

Hitoshi thought about it. Izuku would probably still be here if Papa wasn’t a hero, but maybe not. He wasn’t sure.

 

“I think so,” he said, though he’d never asked. “But… Sir Nighteye is a bit… different, as an intelligence pro. Most of his work is done behind a desk.”

 

It was even scarier when he did get hurt. Papa wasn’t meant to get hurt.

 

“Anyways,” he said, wanting to move on from this topic. “Which hero did you pick for your internship?”

 

“Hawks,” Fumikage replied. “What about you?”

 

“Oh, you’ll be with Yumu,” Hitoshi said, and then grimaced. “Good luck. I’m going with Dad.”

 

He was going to go with Botan, but… dealing with Bakugo for a week? No, thank you. He was just lucky Izuku gave him a heads-up.

 

“... Why do I feel like I just wandered into a banquet of darkness?”

 

Why did Fumikage keep switching from speaking so strangely and normally? Ah, well, part of the charm.

 

“Because you did,” he said darkly. “Believe me when I say Yumu did not have good intentions in going for Hawks.”

She was going to cause so much trouble. On top of staying at Kitaro’s instead of Hawks’s agency? When Kitaro sent her an offer? Yeah, she was looking to stir up the tabloids. It was going to be a mess. Sheesh. He was glad Dad wasn’t planning on pulling anything so extreme.

Notes:

We finally got that date aaaayyyyy....

Hitoshi shouldn't have spoken so soon.

On a side note, I've mostly been missing because I've been posting original fiction on Tapas (same username). So, if you want to see what I've been up to, go find me! I'm not sure of the rules regarding posting to other sites, but you can find me here. I'll only post once.

https://tapas.io/sensibleshroom

Chapter 40

“Papa, stop, I’m fine, ” Sasaki insisted as Fumikage watched with mild interest. Since it was six hours by train to reach Kyushu, the two of them had to leave well before the other students. His parents had been fine with him walking to the station on his own for the first train out, but Sir Nighteye was evidently a helicopter parent.

 

“You’ve never been on a train this long by yourself,” Sir Nighteye said, entirely oblivious to the stares around him. Fumikage had known he was tall, but he didn’t know he was that tall.

 

“Well, I have Tokoyami,” Sasaki said and gestured to her partner. “So, it’s fine. Hawks is sending a sidekick to pick us up at the station, and if the sidekick doesn’t show, I’ll call Kits.”

 

Who was Kits?

 

“We won’t get lost,” she assured him and held up her backpack and suitcase. “I have everything I need. My portable charger is at full battery, I have three changes of gloves, two sets of headphones, and all the cables I need. I even packed my makeup, okay? So, I’m fine.”

 

“And your pepper spray?”

 

“ And my pepper spray. You’re going to be late for work,” she insisted, and pushed at him. “So go to work.”

 

“It’s four in the morning, I’m not going to be late.”

 

“Papa,” she said sternly, and glared up at him. She really was tiny compared to him. It was almost endearing. “Shouldn’t you be more worried about Izuku?”

 

“Your brother,” Sir Nighteye said stiffly, “will cause problems whether I want him to or not. But I know what sorts of problems he’ll cause. You’re the wildcard here.”

 

“Oh, so you’re here to wrangle a promise out of me to behave?” Sasaki teased, and flicked her hair. “Sure. I will definitely not cause more problems than Izuku.”

 

“That isn’t reassuring.”

 

“Whatever I do will not cause more headaches for you than Izuku,” she assured him, and Sir Nighteye’s face went pinched and tight. Tokoyami had wondered what kind of man raised children like that, but he now had more of an idea of who was really in charge of the house. Things made a lot more sense now.

 

“I’ll just have to take that, won’t I?”

 

“You should have brought backup,” Sasaki said sweetly as the train rolled up. “I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you in a week, Papa.”

 

With that, she stood on her tiptoes to give him a hug, and he begrudgingly wrapped his freakishly long arms around her.

 

“I expect texts and calls.”

 

“You’ll be way too busy cleaning up whatever mess Izuku makes for that,” she retorted and picked up her bags. “Ready, Tokoyami?”

 

“Ready,” he replied, now that they had remembered he was here and watching this.

 

“Bye, Papa!” she called, and caught Fumikage by the sleeve to pull him onto the train. “Whew. Sorry about that. He isn’t normally like that.”

 

“He seems to have a great many concerns,” Fumikage said slowly, like that would even encompass all of that, and she flashed him a quick grin.

 

“He’s the worrywart,” she replied and flopped in her seat. “So, are you excited?”

 

Fumikage sat down next to her and took stock of this whole situation. The conversation with Hitoshi about comparisons was weighing on him, but it was hard to think about Sasaki in a negative light. Sure, she was terrifying in a variety of ways, but that was mostly because of the unapologetic confidence tied with frightening competence. And, well, a girl that could wrangle two fully grown teenage boys was something to be feared. Compared to Hitoshi and the other Sasaki, she seemed like she was wrestling her twin for the position of ringleader half of the time. Even the thought of being willing to go toe to toe with the monster that was her brother was terrifying in a way that the male Sasaki wasn’t.

 

He wasn’t looking forward to being stuck with her for a week. Uraraka had to be the bravest person in their class.

 

“I’m more concerned about why Hawks sent me an invitation at all,” he admitted, and then paused. “Do you know him?”

 

“Nah,” she said, and propped her foot up on the seat. “Too far away to regularly work with Papa. I’ve heard a lot of rumors, though.”

 

“What kind of rumors?” Fumikage asked, and she paused.

 

“Well, we’re going to be burning a lot of calories,” she said dubiously. “Probably won’t get much mentorship at all. He’s never taken an intern before.”

 

“... Never?”

 

“He’s only, like, twenty-one,” she replied, and reached into her hoodie pocket. She sure had dressed comfortably. Fumikage hadn’t worn his uniform, either, but still. The running pants were a bit much. “Gum?”

 

“No, thank you,” he replied, and she shrugged and popped a piece into her mouth.

 

“I heard he’s suspiciously easy to get along with, and his sidekicks basically only handle clean up,” she said as she checked their itinerary. “Do you wanna get coffee on our layover? My treat.”

 

“I prefer tea.”

 

“I can get ya tea,” she said, and blew a bubble. “Anyways, his whole thing is fast, fast, fast. We’re probably gonna get left behind with his sidekicks.”

 

“... Ah.” That wasn’t good. What was there to learn with sidekicks?

 

“Which is why I took his internship,” she said thoughtfully, and he startled.

 

“I’m sorry?”

 

“You won’t mind if I cause a little drama in his love life, do ya?” she asked slyly, and Fumikage blinked. Seriously? This was about her future career. She was getting mentored by the top three pro.

 

Though, he supposed with a pedigree like hers, that sort of thing didn’t matter. Her and her brother clearly had an issue with All Might, but they were probably surrounded by pros constantly. She could get mentorship from anyone she wanted, so why Hawks? He thought she took the heroics thing more seriously than this. She seemed just as driven as most of their classmates.

 

“Is this all the internship is to you?” he asked bluntly, and she blinked with those big button eyes.

 

“Obviously. If I cause drama in his love life, he’ll clean up his act quick, and then we’ll actually get mentorship.”

 

“I’m not following,” he said, and she grinned slyly.

 

“Do you know, Present Mic’s little brother works in Kyushu?” she asked, and he tried to figure out why that was relevant. “Kitaro, also known as Tranquil. He’s a bit like an uncle to me.”

 

“I’ve never heard of him.”

 

“He’s an up and coming rescue hero,” she explained as the train started to move. “And Hawks loves to pull his pigtails. He’s a bit overprotective nowadays, especially after USJ, so he’ll throw a huge fit if he finds out Hawks has been slacking off. One badly timed selfie when they meet on patrol and we’ve got it in the bag.”

 

“... You put some thought into this,” he said dubiously, and she grinned.

 

“I may not be as smart as Izuku, but I’m pretty smart. And I keep up on tabloids. They got caught getting along on camera the other day, and Kitaro pretended nothing happened when I asked about it. Perfect timing for a spat.”

 

“... You’re terrifying,” Fumikage said flatly. “I like that.”

 

It was hard not to like it, honestly. But something about that statement made something shift in the air, and Sasaki leaned in as her grin went a little eerie.

 

“You think I’m terrifying?” she asked sweetly, and Fumikage startled. “Good. Remember that if you get it in your head to break Hitoshi’s poor little heart.”

 

“... What?”

 

“Of course,” she said and abruptly leaned back, “if he’s in the wrong, I totally will be cool with you. Just something to keep in mind.”

 

… Ah.

 

Right.

 

Joined at the hip.

 

He’d known Sasaki was terrifying, but he hadn’t actually seen it up close. How was Hitoshi even alive?

 

“Now that that’s said,” she said casually and started rooting around in her backpack, “if we’re being stuck together for a week, we might as well be on a first name basis. I prefer Yumu, if you don’t mind.”

 

“... Yumu.”

 

“Probably better than ‘the other Sasaki’, don’t you think?” she asked sweetly, and pulled out two identical copies of short story collections. “Can I call you Fumikage?”

 

“... That’s fine.”

 

“Great. It’s time to start a book club, Fumikage,” she said, and offered him the book. “Ever read ‘A Rose for Miss Emily’?”

 

“It’s one of my favorites.”

 

“And ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Great. We’ll start with the Nine Billion Names of God, then, if a detour into sci-fi won’t break your heart,” she said, and flicked open the book. “Ready for quiet time?”

Quiet time was definitely preferred to whatever that conversation had been. She was utterly terrifying. He had a whole newfound respect for Hitoshi now, and he… kind of wanted to be her friend. How strange.

Notes:

Here's a bonus chapter!! Fumikage went on ONE date and got the shovel talk. I sure hope he really likes Hitoshi.

Chapter 41

Kamui Woods’s agency was nothing to sneeze at. Izuku was mostly just happy he got to stay in Musutafu for a short while, but through the eyes of his current closest parallel self, he could tell this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park in terms of navigating the size of the building. Kamui Woods was projected to hit the top ten this year, and his place certainly reflected that. It was huge.

 

Hopefully no one here was going to be allergic to dogs.

 

Deep breath in. Let it out. Flick down the visor.

 

“Ready, Aki?” he prompted, and stepped forward with Aki’s warm heat against his leg. Aki pushed open the double doors, and Izuku stepped into the fresh, air conditioned lobby that smelled faintly of crushed pine needles.

 

“Do you have an appointment?” someone in front of him asked, and he plastered a bright smile on his face.

 

“I’m the intern this week. Yochō? Am I too early?”

 

“Ah! Yochō! No, you’re right on time,” the woman said, and pushed her chair back. He tilted his head at the sound of the rolling wheels, and took a step forward to let Aki guide him to the desk.

 

“Great,” he said happily as Aki bumped him to stop. “Do I need to change or meet Kamui Woods first?”

 

“Whichever you prefer,” she said. “I’m Ana, the front desk associate here. Let me call for a sidekick to guide you.”

 

“Thank you!” he said and straightened his tie. There was a beep, and Yuki whispered for someone to come down and guide the intern into the phone.

 

“I’m sure you got a lot of offers,” she said after a second beep, and Izuku internally winced. “Thank you so much for choosing our agency. We’ll be sure to take good care of you here.”

 

“Ah, not as many as you’d think,” he replied with a half-nervous laugh. “But thank you for having me!”

 

Well. They were all mostly top pros. It was just that most of them were also his parental squad. And his uncle. Horrendous. Hawks had been a bit of a surprise, though. Izuku had just let Yumu go to him and dipped out on that. Mostly because he needed Kamui, but also because it was vacation and two siblings were already staying at home. Someone needed to get away from the other two, and it was better that it was Yumu. Ah, at least he’d given her a heads up from other Izukus that went to Hawks that she’d be mostly playing catch up.

 

Seeing how she handled that would be a delight. Izuku would have just put up with it. Yumu was going to be going to war.

 

It was probably a dick move to tell her after the fact, but, hey. He had to get entertainment somewhere.

 

A door somewhere off to his right opened, and he swiveled his head around.

 

“Ah, Yochō, welcome!” a masculine voice said. “And Aki, hello.”

 

“Hello,” Izuku said and smoothed out his shirt.

 

“I’m Tremors, I’ll be showing you around,” the man said as footsteps drew near. “Would you like to suit up first?”

 

“If that’s okay!” Izuku replied with a bright smile, and the man laughed.

 

“More than okay. I’ll show you the changing rooms. Do you need my arm?”

 

“No, that’s okay,” Izuku said and stepped forward. “I can just listen.”

 

“I imagine you have pretty sharp ears,” Tremors said and fell into step next to him. “You probably won’t be coming on any patrols with me, so enjoy my presence while you can, kiddo!”

 

“Oh?” Izuku tilted his head, but he already had a feeling he knew what was up with the man’s quirk. There was a discordant hum all around him, barely enough to pick up, but thankfully not enough to bother Aki. His desensitization training had been extensive and expensive, after all.

 

“Vibrations. They could mess up your eardrums pretty bad, so you’ll be sticking with Kamui for the most part,” Tremors explained. “He doesn’t like hearing them, either, and they can peel bark at the weirdest frequencies. He says it makes him feel naked.”

 

“I can imagine that would be something to worry about,” Izuku said solemnly. So that felt naked to Kamui Woods? He’d have thought it’d be bald. Or flayed alive. Naked was a weird way to take it. Ah, he could file that under ‘weird things not to say to his mentor this week.’.

 

“So, we’re about to step into the elevator,” Tremors said as they came to a stop in a more echoey location. “There’s five floors here, plus our basement training room, and the buttons in the elevator have ridged numbers. I don’t expect you to learn the whole layout in a week, so ask if you need help, but doors here are also labeled in Braille.”

 

The elevator doors dinged open, and the three of them stepped in.

 

“The changing rooms are also in the basement, so we’re going there first,” Tremors continued. “You’ll have a locker down there. It’s badge access, but you’ll have one by the time you change out today. You can leave the suit here overnight, just make sure you take it back on your last day.”

 

His last day was likely going to be in Hosu, but Izuku didn’t say as much.

 

“I think you got an email about the accommodations we’ve made for your partner. I think you said just the water bowl was fine?”

 

“Yes, Aki gets fed twice a day, morning and night, and I live in Musutafu,” Izuku said, and Tremors hummed.

 

“You also mentioned that you have a collapsible bowl in your suit for patrols.”

 

“Yes! That’s one of the reasons I went with a loose design,” Izuku confirmed. “More pockets for Aki. He has pockets, too. He’s very good at guarding cell phones and his snacks, and the pockets are bulletproof weave.”

 

“Ha. You really think of everything,” Tremors said, and the elevator doors dinged open. “Alright, the men’s changing room is labeled, but it’s the first door on the right. Women’s changing room is opposite, so remember the right. ”

 

“I got it,” Izuku assured him. “Thank you.”

 

“Alright, here we go.” Tremors pushed a door open, and Izuku was blasted in the face with lingering steam in a cold room. “Showers are to the left, lockers are straight ahead of you, toilets are on the right. Your locker has been set in an easy location. First row, bottom locker, right here.”

 

Tremors led him to the locker in question and guided Izuku to where the latch was.

 

“If you can’t find it, just remember it’s the very first row on the left, no rows past it,” he directed, and Izuku nodded. “Go ahead and get changed and I’ll continue the tour, okay?”

 

“Thanks, Tremor!”

 

Izuku really… really was not used to this level of accommodation. He was used to just his siblings or family members helping out, and they were only good at it from years of experience. Tremor was handling everything effortlessly, and Izuku couldn’t help but feel a little tense as the door swung shut.

 

It was a little off putting.

 

“What do you think, Aki?” he muttered as he started stripping off his clothes. “Too good at this?”

 

Aki just whined lowly, and Izuku pulled out his bag of snacks to let him take a chomp out of them as he started to change.

 

It was probably the leftover tension from the draft results. At least, that was what he was sticking to. After all, how could someone be this good at accommodating him and not view him as… well, blind?

 

Ah, what was he thinking? He knew from peeking ahead that Kamui Woods was going to be the best at the times when his visor was up. He had too much anxiety. This was embarrassing. Maybe it was because Kamui Woods viewed him as blind that this was a good thing. Besides Hawks and Edgeshot, who he’d only met once, Kamui Woods was the only pick that he didn’t know personally. Well, he did meet him once, but that was immediately before the festival, when he was… lost.

 

“I really need to get it together, huh?” he asked Aki as he zipped up his suit. “I know what I’m doing here. Sheesh.”

 

Who knew Izuku Sasaki could get intimidated? Where’d all his confidence go?

 

He pulled off his visor to swap out for the uniform one, and an image of his father’s broken body on the ground flashed through his mind.

 

“... Dammit,” he muttered, and Aki’s cool, wet nose nudged at his hand. “Yeah, I know. Just not feeling too confident, bud.”

 

It was going to be much worse this time around. Nomus all over the city, and every instinct in him was screaming to tell an adult now, damn the timing, damn the risk, but he couldn’t do that, could he? Just because he wasn’t a fully fledged pro yet didn’t mean he had to be cautious. These were the hard decisions he had to make. And he only had Aki to talk to about it.

 

… That wasn’t true.

 

Izuku felt behind himself for the bench he sort of knew was there, and he sank down and pulled out his phone.

 

“Send voice message to Tenya,” he said into the mic, and there was a beep as his phone acknowledged him and let him know it was recording. “... Hey, Tenya. You’re probably meeting Manual right about now, but… Tell me I’m doing the right thing. Please. It can be a text. My phone can read it to me. Thanks…. End recording. Send message.”

 

A long breath expelled from his mouth, and he leaned forward on his knees as Aki’s heavy weight pressed into his leg.

 

“We got this,” he muttered. “We’re gonna be just fine.”

 

Aki wiggled his big head between Izuku’s thigh and torso, and he snorted.

 

“Who told you you were emotional support, too?” he asked, and pressed a kiss between his eyes. “Thanks.”

 

For a second, he just sat like that. He couldn’t make a mistake again. There were too many and they were starting to pile up. He just wanted a normal high school experience, but everything kept going wrong. What was with people, anyways? He just… he wanted a normal life. Without burgeoning knowledge. Even the internship… he wanted to learn, but instead he had to deal with the upcoming disaster of Hosu. But it wasn’t like he couldn’t turn a blind eye for the sake of normalcy.

 

It was frustrating.

 

“Welp, gotta put the other stuff on,” he said, and started to pull on his boots. “Need you in your other work vest, too, huh?”

 

Aki slumped down next to him, and Izuku smiled despite himself. At least he still had Aki.

 

As he started to get his harness on, his phone pinged with a text. Izuku fumbled, unlocked it with his fingerprint, and swept down on instinct to tap the top notification.

 

“Text from Tenya: We’re doing the right thing. Thumbs up emoji.”

 

A ghost of a smile touched Izuku’s lips, and he locked his phone.

 

“We, huh?”

 

We felt a lot less like responsibility.

He liked that.

Notes:

So, I wrote this.... nine months ago? But I have no sense of object permanence and promptly forgot it existed. My deepest apologies. I am going to be working on this as an apology. I... I don't even know what to say, actually.

Have a chapter.

Chapter 42

“He’s just going to keep going, isn’t he?” Yumu asked with a defeated sigh.

 

“It seems so, yes,” Tokoyami agreed. If a bird could look pissed…

 

“We are literally not learning anything,” Yumu muttered in irritation.

 

“We are learning that a hero needs to move fast,” Tokoyami pointed out and Yumu stretched fully, working out the kinks in her shoulders.

 

“Yeah. We are also apparently learning that as a hero it’s perfectly acceptable to leave two fifteen year olds alone without even a sidekick for supervision because there are crimes to solve,” Yumu retorted.

 

“We had a sidekick,” Tokoyami retorted.

 

“And the sidekick is gone,” Yumu pointed out. Right now they were tasked with ‘catching up’, because apparently Gorgon was going to be doing cleanup for a while at the last crime scene, and didn’t want them around all of the blood. Car accidents were a tricky thing. They needed experience in talking to victims, but Gorgon was jumpy about the whole thing with USJ. Which was objectively fair. Hawks was supposed to be waiting for them at the last crime scene, but he was gone, so now they were on their way through the route to meet him at the next location.

 

Yumu’s phone buzzed with a text and she looked down at the push notification over the map she had pulled up for the patrol route.

 

Yamada Kitaro: please don’t tell me that fucking idiot didn’t just leave you on your own

 

“Hey, Tokoyami, c’mere,” she said and reached out to snag him by the sleeve.

 

“What?” Tokoyami asked.

 

“We’re taking an incriminating selfie for Tranquil,” she said slyly and threw an arm around his shoulder to grin cheesily at the camera and snap a picture.

 

“The Kits you mentioned earlier? You have his number? ” Tokoyami asked in disbelief and Yumu tilted her head at the selfie. Tokoyami had his feathers appropriately ruffled.

 

“I’ve got a lot of pros’ numbers,” she replied. Kitaro, Botan, her three dads, Nemuri, Best Jeanist for emergencies, 90% of the UA staff, Nezu, Emi, Kubo, Kaoruko, Juzo, now Hawks, Tensei…

 

Tensei didn’t count anymore, did he? It was a stone in her gut anyways, but far be it from Yumu to give up a chance to stoke the flames of gossip columns.

 

“You must have grown up in a strange world,” Tokoyami murmured as Yumu sent the photo.

 

Sasaki Yumemu: Only one bird around here. (attached .jpeg)

 

“I’ve seen Present Mic fall asleep and faceplant into a bowl of ramen before,” she replied wryly and the reply came back immediately.

 

Yamada Kitaro: Where the fuck is Gorgon??

 

Sasaki Yumemu: Sent us ahead after the pile up. Didn’t think we needed to be around the blood after USJ. Hawks was SUPPOSED to wait for us, but I think he’s at the next scene.

 

“Oof, the paparazzi is about to go nuts,” Yumu said with a low whistle.

 

“... I know you planned this, but you actually planned this,” Tokoyami said, his voice colored in awe.

 

“Whatever happens, happens, but Kits is gonna be pissed.”

 

“... Tranquil lets you call him Kits?”

 

“Bubble Girl lets me call her Coocoo. You should hear what I call Present Mic.” Pops. She called Present Mic Pops, but she was going to save that little tidbit for herself.

 

Yamada Kitaro: He’s definitely going to be waiting at the next stop for you. Get over here. Don’t get attacked.

 

Yumu snickered quietly and Tokoyami frowned at her severely.

 

“I’m not sure this is the purpose of the internship,” he said and Yumu rolled her eyes.

 

“I’m not sure Hawks knows the purpose of the internship either,” she retorted. “In any case, I got him to slow down with a surefire method, so he’s definitely going to be letting us stick around for the next week. Or carrying us along with his feathers, who knows? But we’re not going to be left behind on the streets by ourselves in hero costumes as obvious targets for villains, so I’m going to count this as a success.”

 

“How do you even know this will work?” Tokoyami challenged. “Tranquil is…”

 

“Fun fact about gossip magazines: they always have a nugget of truth. Hawks likes pissing him off, but he doesn’t want him genuinely mad at him. That’s counterproductive. Just watch,” Yumu said smugly.

 

“So are they actually a…”

 

“Both will vehemently deny it, but Hawks definitely can’t leave him alone,” Yumu replied. “Seriously, Kits is always bitching about it. I wish they’d just talk like grownups.”

 

“... You seem to know him very well.”

 

“I know a lot of pros very well. I don’t think people realize just how connected my papa is in the hero industry. If you even want a chance of hitting the top one hundred, you have to be on good terms with him and Nezu, or Omen, or you’re not getting anywhere,” Yumu replied with a shrug. “That’s the thing people don’t understand about the industry. Intelligence pros run the rankings, because if you want those big cases that’ll get you plastered all over the news, odds are you have to go through one of them. Present Mic would have never captured Dragon and broken through top three hundred without Papa passing it off to an underground pro he knows. It’s intelligence pros that get you on the news to show you’re more than a dude on the streets beating up villains you happen across on your patrol. Without those big cases, heroes aren’t any different than vigilantes.”

 

“... Hawks hasn’t been involved in any of those cases,” Tokoyami said carefully, and Yumu grimaced.

 

“Hawks is… a bit of a special case.” Hero Commission’s golden boy, more like. “Most people just can’t move at his speed. They don’t have the quirks for it. And he looks good on camera. He’s rising based on the wow factor. He’s got the approval rating, and he doesn’t have to team up with other pros to get the mass arrests. Most pros can’t do what he does. Besides, he’s on good terms with Omen. He still gets those cases, it’s just that they’re wrapped up so fast and off his patrol routes that the media can’t get there in time before the clean up is basically done, and they can’t catch him on camera. If you pay attention, you’ll hear his name on those stings, you just won’t see him. That’s why they have his patrol route memorized.”

 

“... I think I’ve learned more from you than him,” Tokoyami said ruefully, and Yumu laughed.

 

“Chin up. We have a week of this. Aaannnddd there they are.”

 

Tranquil was a striking figure. Coming in at 190 centimeters, he definitely drew eyes on the street, and he was definitely attracting attention right now. Tall, with spiky strawberry blonde hair and a spray of freckles across his cheeks and all down his bare arms, he was clothed in a double breasted red vest with black accents and shiny gold buttons and gold studs on the shoulders, collar popped in a way that he swore wasn’t a nod to his big brother. Red pants clung to his ridiculously large thighs, with black combat boots that rose to his knees and a firefighter’s gas mask strapped to his hip, he was looking really pissed right now. Red eyes were blazing as he gesticulated at Hawks, half signing in his irritation as Hawks stood there awkwardly while the camera flashes were going off. Hawks, it seemed, was feeling really overwhelmed with Kitaro lapsing into sign every few seconds.

 

“Hey, Kits!” Yumu called and waved, and now Hawks looked really confused.

 

“Lucid, I am in my costume right now, you know the rules,” Kitaro shot back as Hawks mouthed ‘Kits’, eyes flicking to Yumu and back to Kitaro.

 

“Sorry, Tranquil!” Yumu called and skipped up the two of them. “Aw, Hawks, did you steal his arrests again?”

 

“No, we just happened to cross paths on our patrols,” Kitaro bit out bitterly and Yumu turned her sunshine smile up at him.

 

“Is that because Hawks’s new afternoon patrol route crosses yours seven times?” she asked slyly and Kitaro blinked at her.

 

“What?”

 

“Lucid…” Hawks said warningly and Yumu blinked at him.

 

“But doesn’t it? I have his memorized, so I thought it was a little weird that you guys crossed paths so much. It’s not like you to cover the blind spots for new heroes. I mean, you haven’t before. ”

 

“Why do you have Tranquil’s patrol route memorized?” Hawks asked in confusion.

 

“Present Mic is my papa’s best friend,” of the ring variety, “so all of the Yamadas are like honorary aunts and uncles. I grew up with them, didn’t I, Tranquil?” Actual aunts and uncle.

 

“Somewhat,” Kitaro grunted and then narrowed a dangerous eye on Hawks. “You have two whole fucking interns. Don’t let them run around the fucking city by themselves. They’ve already been targeted by villains, Yumu is a fucking celebrity’s child, why did you even think that was a good idea?”

 

Hawks’s eyes were locked on Kitaro’s lips and Yumu really wished there was a camera to look into right about now because Hawks’s gaze was drifting down, and, yeah, no, she couldn’t take this, Kitaro was her uncle, that was gross.

 

“Guess I was just in a rush to see you,” Hawks replied with a laugh, finally, and sheepishly lifted his hand up to the back of his head.

 

Kitaro had always been someone that went red at the drop of a hat, and right now, he was very red. Oh, so he caught that wandering gaze. And that loaded statement.

 

“Well, stop being in a rush to see me, idiot!” he barked and great, now his ears were red. Yumu wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

 

“That implies you want me to see you,” Hawks said with a cocky grin. “I’ll take that as a win! Come along, little chicks! We got a patrol to finish!”

 

Two feathers detached and snagged the two interns by the back of their costumes, lifting them up as Hawks just took off with the two of them in tow while Kitaro made a noise like a cat that got stepped on below them.

 

“Just walk with them!”

 

Yumu threw two thumbs up to Kitaro as the wind whistled around her, sending her hair flying this way and that. Not even concerned with the fact that the ground was suddenly sixteen meters below her, she dug around under her glove’s wrist and pulled out a hair tie, haphazardly pulling her hair back to keep it from slapping her face. Thank gods she remembered to snap a hair tie on her wrist this morning. What a mess.

 

“Luciiiiiid,” Hawks called as he pulled up to fly between the two of them. “You didn’t tell me you know Tranquil!”

 

“I know a lot of people,” Yumu replied, shouting over the sound of the whipping wind. “But I know all six Yamadas.”

 

“Wait, there’s six of them?” Hawks asked in shock.

 

“Yep! Did you know he has a twin?” She called. “Kichi! She’s in support! I think she’s in Italy right now!”

 

“So is he a big brother?” Hawks asked and Yumu laughed. If she was going to be an information source, so be it.

 

“Nope! He’s the literal baby, twelve minutes younger than Kichi! Hizashi is the oldest, then there’s Aika, Botan, Hotaru, Kichi, and Kitaro comes in last! I think you’d like Botan!”

 

Now only to figure out how to make Radio Silence and Hawks meet… well. She could ask Botan to pick her up. She was in the city today, meeting up with Prism for something work related, and then going to dinner with the three of them. Technically, Yumu was staying with Kitaro for the internship. She’d been offered a place with Tokoyami at Hawks’s agency, where his apartment was on top, but cited family in the area.

 

She knew Kitaro actually did like Hawks, but he was such a tsundere. She knew the other five siblings had a group chat dedicated solely to complaining about the whole situation. Then again, they also had a group chat without Aika dedicated to complaining about her and Nemuri gal-palling it up and not just dating each other, so in reality, the Yamada family was just an endless circle of talking shit about each other and providing unsolicited input on each other’s romantic lives. It was fun to watch everything and know everything.

 

“Yeah? I’ll have to meet her sometime!” Hawks said with a laugh and Tokoyami peered around Yumu with a very judgmental stare. Was she playing matchmaker? Yes. Did it bother her? No. Someone had to do it.

 

The three of them eventually landed and continued the patrol on foot, with Hawks chattering about the importance in hiring a statistician to follow the trends in crime and help you plan your patrol routes. If you never got big enough to afford one, you should follow the crime trends yourself and make a map with this one website where you can track trends of each day and generate a route at the end of the month based on it. It took a subscription, but it was better than nothing.

 

“Why did you pick Susukino, anyways?” Yumu asked after a while, and Hawks paused.

 

“It lost some of its heroes in the riots six years ago,” he finally replied. “Nobody really came back, so there’s been a gap here in heroes for a while. I wanted Kyushu, but, uh, the decision was out of my hands.”

 

Yumu went silent for a minute. The riots. Right. Midoriya Hisashi had dominated the economy here six years ago as Dragon, and when he was arrested with his top lieutenants, the people at the bottom of the barrel started riots with their infighting to struggle to get on top. It had been a massive clash. Dragon had been seen as a ‘man of the little guy’. Never mind that he murdered his wife, or ruined so many lives with the drugs he pumped out onto the streets. He was charismatic. He purported that society was inherently flawed, and he was just widening the gaps to make the world see. What started as a gang war with heroes gradually turned into a full scale riot that almost destroyed the city. There was a power vacuum, and people were struggling to fill in that gap. Seven different heroes died, and fifteen sidekicks before the riots died down.

 

“Dragon was never a revolutionary,” she murmured. Inko watched over her every day. Her eyes in the picture of her holding a toddler Izuku were so kind, so full of life. She smiled without shame. “He was evil.”

 

Hawks was quiet for a long, long moment before looking up at the gray skies.

 

“People are always willing to overlook the brutalization of women to turn men into martyrs,” he said softly. “Dragon was all lip service. I think it took people a long time to realize that. The only really special thing about him was that he was able to recognize that he could build a life from the ground up after he destroyed it, and that created loyalty. I just hope her kid is doing okay.”

 

Her kid. Not his. It was the little things, Yumu supposed.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m not following this. What happened with the riots?” Tokoyami asked.

 

“They were less riots and more a full fledged gang war that took over the city,” Yumu explained. “Dragon was a drug lord, and a month before his arrest, his wife, Midoriya Inko, compiled a full case on his crimes and snuck it away to… to a hero. He found out about it and killed her in retaliation, and within a month was arrested for her murder. It was the case that got Present Mic into the top three hundred, as he was seen as the de facto leader, when in reality Eraserhead was the spearhead when Sir Nighteye passed the case off to him. But the media doesn’t know that Sir Nighteye was the one that built the case, of course. It was… a really delicate situation, because there was a child involved.”

 

Hisashi had been immortalized, and the world had put Inko’s name down as a footnote. There should be statues of her. If anything, Inko was a martyr. She knew exactly what she was doing when she did it, and she knew he could kill her for it.

 

“Did you know, Inko was the head nurse of the trauma unit in Musutafu General?” Yumu continued. “She had no idea Hisashi was the Dragon. He hid it from her. But she had been spending years piecing people back together that he had ruined. People beaten black and blue by his people, people overdosing, people that were dragged behind cars as punishment and left on the side of the road. It’s kind of ironic. Makes you wonder why a man like that loved a woman like her. And no one even remembers her name, except the hospital where she worked. They named the new pediatric wing after her. She always loved kids.”

 

Yumu had never gotten the chance to meet Inko. She could have grown up with her in her life, but she didn’t get a chance. For some reason, that hurt more than anything. Izuku could barely even remember her.

 

“... You seem to know a lot about her,” Hawks said carefully, and Yumu shrugged.

 

“It was a rough case for Papa. That’s why he handed it off. It was… it was one of those cases that leaves its mark on you for the rest of your life.”

 

Literally. He got a child out of it, and because he got that child, he got another two children and two husbands.

 

“You know,” Hawks said after a long moment. “I always thought Midoriya Inko was the kind of hero I’d want to be. Next to Endeavor. But Inko was… she deserved a lot better than she got. People should have remembered her. I don’t even really know anything about her.”

 

“She had green hair and green eyes and freckles,” Yumu said softly. “She could pull small objects towards her. She made amazing katsudon. She wanted to be a nurse because she wanted to save lives without having to hurt anyone. Her favorite color was pink, and she wanted a pink Cadillac one day. Her parents died in an earthquake a few months after her little brother graduated high school, so she helped pay for his apartment and living expenses until he got… until he got a better job.”

 

Hawks was silent for a long, long moment, studying Yumu, who was now focused on the ground. She could see those cogs turning. It was never something that was really put out in the media, Inko being Papa’s sister. No one really knew that it was his sister that had died that day in a house fire, no one knew that Sir Nighteye was the brother in law of one of the most infamous drug lords in Japan. It had been enough years now that no one would really care, but if it came out in the moment, it would have looked bad. Izuku would have been heavily scrutinized. Dragon’s biological son being a hero was questionable at best.

 

“Say, Lucid,” Hawks said casually. “Are you adopted?”

 

“Three years ago, ish, yeah,” she replied. “Me and Izuku are both adopted.”

 

“Wait, you aren’t twins?” Tokoyami asked in shock and Yumu laughed.

 

“Did we even look related? Papa has a habit of collecting kids in bad situations.”

 

Hawks’s eyes drifted down to her scarred fingers peeking out from the gloves and she tucked her hands into her pockets with a warning glare.

 

“Guess it is confusing since he was born like, one whole day before me. But we aren’t biologically related.”

 

“Your brother and Sir Nighteye look related, though,” Hawks pointed out and yeah, he’d worked it out. Yumu shot a smile up at him.

 

“They are. His sister died and his brother in law was out of the picture, so he got adopted. It was so long ago Izuku just started calling him Papa, though. His biological father wasn’t around a lot.”

 

Yeah. Hawks worked it out. Yumu could see that flash of pain in his eyes as he realized the reality of their situation, the reality of why the case got passed off, the reality of Yumu being adopted so late in life. It wasn’t like twelve year olds were just surrendered like newborns were. Especially twelve year olds with scars like her. No, twelve year olds got taken away.

 

“Well. We’re just about finished with patrol, just in time to wrap up for the day!” Hawks said cheerfully and skipped forward. Immediately, Yumu whipped out her phone to text Botan.

 

Little Yu: Can you pick me up from Hawks’s? I don’t really know my way around the city.

 

Auntie B: just say you’re a scheming conniving gremlin. no reason to act like you don’t have GPS.

 

Little Yu: I’m a scheming, conniving gremlin, come get me.

 

Auntie B: lucky for you I’m five minutes away!

 

Little Yu: You were planning on coming anyways lol

 

Auntie B: sure was. kids are great excuses for everything. See ya soon!

 

Little Yu: thx

 

“I’m getting picked up by someone,” Yumu said as she slipped her phone into her pocket.

 

“Where are you staying, anyways?” Hawks asked, and Yumu shot him a cheeky grin.

 

“Kitaro’s.”

 

Hawks turned bright red, and yeah. Worth it. So worth it.

Notes:

Someone asked me to update this fic and I just realized I had this in my snippets channel. Whoops.

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• Part 2 of tomorrow belongs to those who can see it