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Chapter Text

Izuku was practically buzzing with excitement. He and his classmates were at the Unforeseen Simulation Joint - the USJ! Besides the students, Loud Cloud, Eraserhead- Shouta Aizawa was his civilian name- and the Space Hero: Thirteen were there! Izuku caught wind of All Might also having been scheduled to join them, but he hadn’t appeared yet. Maybe a villain attack had happened and he’d gone to save the day. Izuku was disappointed but understanding.

(Even though All Might was teaching Heroics at UA now, Izuku hadn’t been able to properly speak with the man. Maybe one day soon. But he probably wouldn’t recognize him.)

The students were split up into groups. Izuku ended up with Uraraka and a frog-Quirked girl named Tsuyu Asui. They were ferried away to the rescue simulation that looked like a sinking ship. As Loud Cloud merrily directed them, Izuku could’ve sworn he saw something move out of the corner of his eye.

But no one else seemed to notice it, so he decided to focus on the training.

He was surprised when Thirteen suddenly appeared. She’d been two terrains away.

“Shirakumo!” The Space Hero yelled, “We got a bit of an accident. Some of the students need your clouds.”

“Oh, I’m totally on it! Hey, kids!” Loud Cloud pointed at Izuku’s group, “Don’t break anything while I’m gone! Shirakumo-sensei will be right back, ya hear?”

“Yes, sir!”

The moment their teacher was out of sight, Uraraka turned to Izuku with a large grin. “So cool!”

“Y-yeah. It is.”

Tsuyu glanced around the area, “So, Midoriya, you can’t really control your Quirk, huh?”

He flinched, “Uh, no, I’m still getting a handle on it. Is it that obvious?”

“Pretty much.” She replied bluntly. He drooped.

“Aww, don’t worry, Deku!” Uraraka gave him an encouraging thump between the shoulder blades, “You’re already super powerful. Now that I think about it, does your Quirk just get more powerful with time? Is that why it’s hard for you to control?”

Of course she would think something like that. Who would assume that he hadn’t manifested a Quirk until he was 14 years old?

Izuku opened his mouth to stammer out an excuse, but then he saw it.

A complete stranger, stumbling around the terrain. It was a man with hair the color of pale mint and eyes of two different colors, like Shouto. A large neon brooch was pinned to his vest. He was looking around wildly, and his golden-green eyes landed on them.

Izuku’s mind analyzed three things at once.

One, he had no idea who this man was. That meant he was probably not a student. It also wasn’t likely that he was a teacher, since only four were scheduled to be at the USJ.

Two, he was coming towards them. Not calmly, either, no- he was running. Surely he would only run if something was wrong…

Three, no one was supposed to be able to come into the USJ any other way but the entrance, which was closed. The alarms would have alerted them to his presence. This man had not come in through the entrance.

This man was not supposed to be here.

He was so close that he could touch them.

Izuku cried out in fear. On instinct, he ushered his classmates back and used his Quirk to bind the stranger in place with ivy. They all let out shocked gasps. Uraraka’s hands flew up to her mouth, and Tsuyu hurried away to get a teacher.

The man struggled, saying, “Hey! Let go!”, and to Izuku’s utter horror, trees sprouted from the ground and broke the vines’ hold.

“Crap, his Quirk!”

Uraraka shrieked and threw a piece of rubble at the stranger, who yelped indignantly. Another tree burst up from the ground, narrowly missing Uraraka. Izuku could see actual fruits hanging low from its branches.

‘What kind of Quirk is that? It’s cool- but NOT THE TIME!’

He needed a way to incapacitate the man without that Quirk interfering! Fire was immediately off-limits because he was still learning how to control it and didn’t want anyone ending up like his mother. Water was useless for anything but drenching people until he could utilize it better. He could try using a vine to pinch the man’s neck, but he was moving too much. Earth wasn’t really a choice, either, since Izuku could overshoot and seriously hurt someone. (He’d gotten lucky with the Ebina incident, because Ebina was an idiot. That was a one-time thing.)

Which only left one option. But how could he use it?

It’s air. Anything that’s in its gaseous form can be controlled, including oxygen.

An idea lit up his mind. Just something to stall. Something to distract until Tsuyu brought a teacher.

Izuku reached for the string and tugged, focusing only on the man, who was still growing trees and yelling angrily in response to Uraraka’s pebble attacks.

‘Please, please work.’

He pulled the air and forced it out of range.

The effects quickly became clear. The man tried to breathe, but found the air rejecting him, and he started to panic further. Uraraka had run out of ammo and fell back to Izuku’s side. She noticed his intense focus and watched worriedly, not wanting to interrupt him. Before Izuku could decide that he didn’t want to completely asphyxiate the poor man, he felt his hold on his Quirk vanish.

The air rushed back into place like water breaking a dam. The man gasped, coughing, as Aizawa swiftly knocked him out.

Izuku could control his Quirk again. He gulped.

Loud Cloud put a hand on his shoulder, smile just a little more strained, “It’s alright, Midoriya, Uraraka. Did he hurt any of you?”

“No.” Uraraka replied, “We just got a little scared.”

Tsuyu blinked, “You didn’t seem scared. We saw you throwing rocks at him.”

“Well, that was because I was scared!”

“Midoriya.” Aizawa cut in, “What exactly were you doing?”

Izuku tugged on one of his green curls, “U-um. I’m sorry, sir. I was…I wanted to distract him, but not really hurt him, if that makes sense? So I…”

“You forced the air out of his lungs.”

“I-I think so?”

“…Told you he was overpowered.” Uraraka whispered.

~

Hitoshi: Don’t you guys just love it when rescue training is called off because some random villain snuck into the facility?

Sagiri: Wait rlly?? Are you guys ok??

Neito: THEY WHAT

Izuku: We’re okay!!!

Izuku: No one got hurt. The police are trying to figure out how he got in

Izuku: I think I heard something about the cameras somehow getting disabled?

Neito: That’s worrying.

Sagiri: Well at least it wasn’t a full-scale villain attack! And no one got hurt!

Hitoshi: Except the one villain. Izuku asphyxiated him.

Sagiri: I’m sorry, how do you ASPHYXIATE SOMEONE??!

Izuku: um

Izuku: anyway

[Izuku added Shouto Todoroki to chat]

Izuku: Shouto wanted to join u guys

Neito: You just dodged the question

Shouto: Hi

Sagiri: Hi! Do you like cats?

Shouto: Yes, they like my fire side

Hitoshi: Lucky

Neito: So we’re just not gonna talk about how Izuku apparently stopped someone from breathing

Sagiri: Nah

Izuku: Sorry, I’ll explain later

Chapterly Omake!

Shouto: “How do I change a ringtone?”

Izuku: “Oh, here’s how you do it.”

Shouto: “Cool.”

(Later)

Enji: “How do I change a ringtone?”

Rei: “What happened?”

Enji: “Shouto changed it to All Might saying “I am here” and it’s driving me crazy.”