Chapter Text
Izuku sat in the centre of the studio floor, legs spread wide. Lichtenberg hands pushed against scarred shoulders; bringing the green haired teen forward, bare chest millimeters from the ground. Izuku gave a deep exhale, stretching until he was flush with the floor's cold surface. Denki let go of his shoulders and Izuku slowly returned to a sitting position. Reaching for his right foot, Izuku stretched his sides as he touched his nose to his knee. Switching feet, he repeated the action while deeply inhaling and exhaling. Slowly, he worked through each muscle to ensure he didn’t cause injury to himself while he performed.
My body has taken enough damage over the years . He thought quietly to himself while bringing his arms above his head and bending one at the elbow; arms rippling with taught muscles as he reached between his shoulders. As he switched arms Izuku’s mind recalled his recent villain encounter.
Having entered his final year at UA, Izuku felt like he was running into villains every other day. This particular villain had possessed an interesting quirk - Sensory Deprivation. Unlike most individuals who would have targeted their enemies eyes, blinding them in battle, this villain had targeted Izuku’s hearing. Their mistake. Being hard of hearing since middle school, Izuku had trained to adjust for the inevitability of losing his hearing completely. The sudden absence of sound had been a surprise at first but Izuku was quick to recover; focusing on the fight at hand. If anything his lack of reaction to the sudden sound deprivation seemed to set the villain on edge, allowing Izuku his opening. The fight had ended quickly without casualties or damage to the city.
Afterwards Izuku had spent several hours alone in his dorm room waiting for the villain's quirk to pass. Things as they were, he still hadn’t made public what was happening to him. Outside of a few members of the faculty and a couple of close friends, Izuku had told no one about his hearing loss. How could he explain to his peers that behind his smile was a man falling apart at the seams. Between the hearing, the broken bones and the new quirks that seemed to crop up over night Izuku was starting to lose faith in himself as a hero. Hero’s took care of people, and he could barely take care of himself.
Izuku let out a groan as he continued to stretch his limbs, warming up various muscle groups. Tight sinew rippled under scarred flesh as he pulled his limbs across his body in careful motions. Perhaps that was the reason that he loved to perform. A means of escape and self expression that wasn’t dependent on the public’s opinion. It was his way of coping with what was beyond his control - his way of feeling less broken.
As Izuku stretched, Denki quietly observed the expressions that crossed the green haired teens face. Each change of expression caused sharp pains to run through the lightning bug's chest. As much as he wanted to say something - to put Izuku at ease - there was nothing that he could say. At least, nothing that wouldn’t make things worse. Sometimes Denki wished that Izuku hadn’t corrected his habit of mumbling; a habit that had gotten Izuku in trouble during a fight eleven months ago. There was nothing Denki wanted more than to listen to his classmates ramblings, just so he could get some inkling of the issues that the teen was facing. Since a verbal window into the teens' thoughts wasn’t happening any time soon, Denki did what he did best. Talked.
“Izuku?” Denki asked, interrupting his partner's silent torment, “You okay man...you seem a little more lost in thought than usual.” A look of concern spreading across the brow of the electric blond, a crooked smile settling on his face.
“Ri...right! Sorry. That’s my bad Denki.” Izuku said, absentmindedly thumbing a scar that spread across his nasal bridge, spilling onto his left cheek. “I’ll stay focused on rehearsal. Sorry. I got distracted. It won't happen again. My mind is officially a no hero zone for the next three hours,” smile spreading across his freckled face.
“Okay...that’s not quite what I meant man, but I appreciate the new sense of focus.”
“Oh...uh. Sorry. What did you mean then?” Izuku said, letting his head fall to the side. Several small forest green braids fell over his shoulder, as he looked towards Denki in bafflement.
Denki sighed, hiding his internal frustrations. “You know...we can talk when things become overwhelming. I mean, yeah, I...I know we agreed on no hero talk at the studio, but if something is bothering you, I’m always here for you.”
Izuku glanced at his classmate. His smile was a shadow of the previous brilliance he had shown Denki a moment ago.
“I’m okay. Things will work out.” Izuku’s tone sounded hollow; as if he was trying to convince himself and failing miserably.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk too. You know where I live and my doors always open. Okay?”
Izuku nodded silently before turning to look away. Somehow Denki could always tell. Careful idiot, your mask is slipping. You’re causing problems for others. Focus. Izuku thought.
“We should probably start practicing,” Izuku stated quietly.
“Yeah, sure.” Denki agreed.
“Especially if we want to be at a hundred percent for the competition this weekend!” Denki quipped, providing Izuku with one of his famous hundred volt smiles as he sat down beside him on the studio floor. “I just need some help with my last few stretches if you don’t mind?”
Izuku nodded, agreeing to help with the stretches, as Denki had predicted. He spread his legs out and waited as Izuku pulled himself off the floor to assist in much the same way as the blond had assisted Izuku earlier. Scarred hands pressed against Denki’s shoulders, the blond reaching his darkened fingers and Lichtenberg arms out across the studio floor. Afterwards Izuku joined Denki on the floor, legs spread out as they helped one another with their final stretch, pulling and pushing one another with their arms as they restrained themselves with their legs. Each in turn pulled the other forward as they loosened their shoulders and stretched their backs, head hanging in a straight line between their outstretched arms.
“You good?” Denki asked.
“Yeah. You?”
“Definitely, so let's get this going before we run out of time. Eight o’clock classes come fast, even if it is only five-thirty right now.”
Izuku nodded in agreement, “You seem enthusiastic today Denki.”
“I’m pumped man, how can you not be? We get to compete in both categories for each division this weekend, you know how rare that is?” his tone one of near disbelief. Excited eyes stared at Izuku.
“That’s true. It’s not often that they host both divisions in one competition. They usually separate the quirked from the quirkless.” Izuku mused, a small smile spreading across his face as he quietly recalled his competition days in the quirkless category. Unlike many who competed without using their quirk, he had never had a quirk. Yet another way he had been broken.
Denki nodded, his excitement uncontainable. “We should seriously focus though, before we run out of time.”
Agreeing, Izuku walked over to the far right side of the studio and prepared his music; taking special care to ensure he could feel the beat of the bass from the device adhered to his right pectoral. Mei had been great about collaborating and creating assistive devices Izuku designed; she’d become a valued friend and confidant over the years. Among all the people at UA, Mei was the only student who knew about and regularly attended their competitions. In addition to the bass plate on his chest, Mei had also created a small device molded to the shape of his right ear. Its purpose being to block out certain frequencies to ensure he didn’t cause any unnecessary damage to what remained of his hearing. He had no need of a second device, having lost the hearing in his left ear eleven months ago. Sighing, Izuku pulled himself out of his head, and turned his focus towards the task at hand.
Two pieces of smooth crimson silk hung a perilous twenty-two feet above the ground. Grasping one of the pieces with his thumb Izuku twisted his arm, wrapping the silks around his left palm, wrist, and elbow continuing up to his shoulder, leaving gaps between the wound fabric. The muscles in his arm became taut as he tested the strength of the silks, ensuring everything was equally distributed. Entwining the silks around his right arm, as he had done with the left, Izuku took a deep breath and centered himself beneath the silks. Phone on the floor next to him, he tapped the play button with his toe - an act in which he had become quite proficient - waiting as the music bled into the quiet of his mind. Izuku kicked his feet into the air, twisting and turning his body, strategically wrapping his waist and his limbs with the lengthy silks as he ascended higher and higher.
Meanwhile Denki had reached his own set of silks on the far left side of the studio. They were the only two who came for early morning rehearsals; after school rehearsals conflicted heavily with their schedules. Denki was grateful that their instructor was comfortable with them rehearsing alone. He’d worked up the nerve to ask why once and her response had been blunt but simple.
“If you can run headfirst into a life or death battle against villains, I doubt there is little my silks could do to you so long as you recall your training.”
She had a point. Denki shook his head, breathing deeply as he sank his mind into the headspace he needed for his routine.
“Hey Google, play track 8” Denki called.
“Playing track 8,” came the voice of the small device just off stage. A song with a memorable beat began to play on the small speaker. Denki stepped forward, grasping the silks tightly with both hands, entwining one ankle in the silk. While pulling himself upwards, he released his ankle, always rewrapping it higher in the silk before continuing to climb. When he reached the highest point, he began to wrap his body in time to the beat of the music, occasionally releasing the tension and sliding through the fabric towards the floor.
Both bodies suspended by silk, climbed higher and higher off the ground. Waists wrapped in sheer fabric, arms loosening restraints, freeing themselves as legs found purchase in the silks.
As he worked through his routine Izuku found himself lost in the feeling. His mind wandered back to the first time that he had participated in an aerial silks lesson. Originally Izuku had been enrolled in a dance class, a pastime he had been curious about pursuing. He had quickly come to the realization that he had no talent for hip-hop. It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried, so much as the fact that Izuku hadn’t really been given the chance.
Kacchan, whom he had originally enrolled with, usually found issue with all of the little mistakes he was making. The dance instructors had been the other issue. They were less than thrilled with the idea of teaching someone quirkless, often neglecting rather intentionally, to help Izuku when he was struggling. So Izuku decided to quit dance class and found an alternative hobby. It had taken a while to discover the aerial arts but one day in his internet explorations - trying to find a video of Eraserhead in action - Izuku had accidently stumbled across a video of a man in tight pants soaring through the air like the heroes he had come to admire.
Tight pants . Izuku chuckled to himself as he loosened his hands on the silks, falling several feet towards the ground, turning left and right picking up speed with each rotation. He gripped the fabric, stopping abruptly, upside down and swinging gently. If I recall, I thought it looked like a superhero costume.
It was true, young Izuku had seen the videos and immersed himself in studying the artform. First visually, taking notes in a special notebook just for the extra-curricular activity; then after several months of research he had brought the topic of lessons up to his mother.
Inko had looked at her son with concern, she knew how he was when he had a goal in mind. She’d questioned him endlessly about whether he would stick to this hobby or if his lack of quirk would be a concern. Izuku had explained to her that there was a local studio that was run by a married couple. One of whom had a quirk, one of whom did not and that all interested parties were allowed to attend the classes. This did little to calm Inko’s concerns, but she had scrimped and saved up enough to pay the entrance fee and after Izuku’s first lesson when he was ten, she could see that there was no going back.
I’ve been with the Simple Silks Aerial Company almost eight years now. Can’t believe it’s been that long. Izuku thought as he slowly released the silks again, spinning quickly towards the floor, and stopping in time to the final beat of the music. His face was a mere foot above the blue mat that rested on the ground below him. Carefully he unwrapped himself, brought himself out of his final position, and set his feet on the floor.
Denki was to Izuku’s left, completing the finishing pose of his own routine.
“Think you’re ready?” Izuku asked.
“For the competition? Absolutely!” He grinned, instructing his device to stop the music before the next song could start. “What about you?”
“Definitely! Though I’ll probably run through the routine again in my head another dozen times or so before Saturday.” admitted the green haired teen with a laugh.
Denki laughed in kind at the other boy's in-character confession. It was exactly the behaviour that he had come to know from Izuku over the last six years. He recalled the first time he had visited the Midoriya’s house after a competition and discovered the large pile of notebooks detailing each of the routines he and his fellow aerialists had performed since they started with the studio. All the journals had been stored on their own shelf in the small room that was covered head to toe in All-Might merchandise. Honestly, he’d been a little weirded out at first but he soon came to learn that Izuku was just as dedicated to the art as he was. Even if Izuku had been at it two years longer than himself.
“Do you want to go over the other routines?” inquired Izuku, snapping Denki out of his small reminiscence. The green haired teen threw him a small towel with which to wipe himself down.
“Have we got the time?” Denki asked, catching the towel gratefully as he pressed it against his brow and down his neck.
“Yeah, it’s barely six. We could run through all the routines a few more times honestly. Just have to finish by seven so we can shower and get to class.”
Denki gave a sigh. “Why do we come to practice so early if we know it doesn’t take us the entire three hours?”
“Because we never know if we’re actually going to make it to or from practice. It’s probably the only downside to being in the hero class. Gotta love having that target painted on our back.” Izuku remarked, finishing his reasoning in a heavily sarcastic tone.
Ambushes and villain run-ins had happened several times over the last two and a half years. Most of which had been quickly handled, others which had prevented rehearsals from happening at all. Being provisional heroes, they were always stepping in and assisting where they were needed.
“That’s fair, I just wish we could get a few more hours of sleep.” whined Denki
“Then stop staying up late, daydreaming about who you’re going to date next!” Izuku shot back, a chuckle escaping him.
It seemed like every other day Denki was mentioning a new crush on some cutie he’d seen. Come to think of it though, Denki hadn’t really brought the topic up recently. Leaving Izuku to ponder aloud, “Unless you are seeing someone and you just can’t keep your hands off them?”
“Whaaat, naw man. I’m not seeing anyone.” Denki covered his face in the towel, pretending to rub at his brow again. Deep red flushing across his cheeks. Just hopelessly pining away for the one person that likely hates me. Fuuuck.
Denki changed the subject, “That’s no fair Izuku. You can’t hold a personal life against me. Besides, it’s not my fault you aren’t interested in dating right now!”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t interested. I just don’t know how I’d balance that out. I mean, between classes at UA, and sneaking out of the dorms to get practice in with you, not to mention the constant villain interruptions. I’m swamped. Thankfully Hero Work Studies don't start until next month, otherwise I doubt we’d even be able to compete without worrying about being called in to fight off some villain.”
“Izuku…”Denki called, trying to interrupt the ongoing speech of his friend. Secretly pleased in the successful change of topic. “IZUKU!”
“Yeah?”
Denki gave Izuku a look that spoke volumes, and Izuku realized he’d gone on a small tangent again.
“Sorry”
“No worries. We are definitely two busy dudes, but we've gotta find down time too. Not healthy being crammed in a classroom or a gym all day. Even if we do enjoy it.” Denki gave a slight groan, “Ugh and graduation is in a few months too. Jeez Izuku now you’ve got me stressed out!”
Izuku gave Denki a guilty look and apologized again. “Sorry. Should we get back to practicing our routines before we have to pack up?”
Denki gave a nod and threw his towel over beside his bag, Izuku doing the same before heading over to the blue silks stationed at the center of the studio. Calling to his device again, Denki requested a different track from before, Izuku syncing the device to his ear piece. As the music began each of the teens grabbed a silk in hand, wrapping it around their right arm - giving themselves a running start in a counterclockwise circle. Denki reached for Izuku’s waist as they pulled themselves from the ground. Silks trailing behind them as they performed a series of skills. Bringing themselves closer together they rose higher into the air, sometimes holding onto the silks with no more than a single limb.
After practicing the duo routines several times, they practiced their remaining solos before finishing up, grabbing their bags and hitting the showers.
“That was great!” Denki hooted excitedly, trying to catch his breath, his slight but muscular frame glistening with sweat. He clapped a hand on Izuku’s back as they dropped their bags by the lockers. Izuku stopped to remove his earpiece and the patch on his chest, tucking them both safely into his bag.
“How are the devices working out? Are those the new ones you and Mei developed?” Denki asked bluntly.
Izuku was often appreciative of the fact that Denki didn’t tiptoe around his hearing. “The prototypes, yeah. I’m hoping to hear from Mei before Saturday, so keep your fingers crossed!”
“You got it man. Fingers, toes, eyes - all crossed.” Denki chuckled, winking at Izuku who rolled his eyes in response.
The two heroes in training left their bags and made their way back towards the showers. Izuku knew he’d worked up a good sweat, he could feel his hair matted to his forehead and the nape of his neck. Beads of sweat dripped into his eyes and down his spine, resting in the fabric of his waistband.
“As for practice,” Izuku began, circling back to their earlier conversation, “we’ve definitely improved. Our first time performing together was a disaster ! Remember?” Izuku chuckled as he stepped into his shower stall and stripped off his training gear - a calf-hugging pair of white pants and a simple pair of gray boxer briefs. Denki did the same - stripping off a pair of red boxer briefs and a matching pair of pants in black.
“How could I forget? We were barely thirteen years old; it was our first time doing a duo performance. I’d only been doing aerial for a year and with the exception of the lean muscle we’d made through practice, there was barely any muscle between the two of us. I nearly broke your arm! Thank god we weren’t very far off the ground or we would have had a serious problem!”
A slight grimace crossed both of their faces as they remembered the incident. Instructor Vasha had been furious and her students had learned early on that making her mad was a poor decision for all parties.
“Thank god for that; like I need a longer history of broken bones.” Izuku shouted over the sound of the shower heads. Hands slowly working a bar of soap across his scarred muscular form, ridding it of the slick results of their hard work.
“Hey Izuku, go easy on yourself. Your quirk is complicated. The fact that you haven’t broken more bones, or that you didn’t seriously injure yourself the first time you manifested your quirk is a blessing. Besides, it’s not like you shut down an entire city block when you sneeze.” Denki shouted back, rinsing the conditioner from his hair. Sure he’d improved exponentially, but one wrong power exertion and he knew how much of a problem he could cause.
“True, but don’t count yourself out either. You’ve improved over the last two and a half years. We both have. Besides, that only happened once.” Izuku stated as he stuck his head face first into the warm water, scrubbing the hair around his fringe and running his fingers over the short, stubbly hair on either side of his head. He pulled out the elastics that kept his hair bound in their braids and ran his fingers through each, detangling and washing them clean.
“Heh, thanks man.” Denki said, turning his shower off with a chuckle as he recalled the Christmas parties he had shut down last year because of his cold. Not his proudest moment, not his worst either. Shaking the memory, Denki grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his waist.
The shower Izuku was using was also turned off as the green haired teen stepped out of the stall, towel wrapped around his waist. His six-pack was apparent to anyone with a set of eyes and a well maintained treasure trail carved a path through his abs towards his groin. Scars of every size scattered amongst a smattering of freckles. A sleeve-like scar covering his right shoulder and running down the entirety of his bicep.
Denki realized he was staring. “Sorry.”
“No worries. It’s not like we’ve never seen one another naked. Between aerial and the school change rooms over the years we probably know one another's bodies better than we should. Besides, I have nothing to be ashamed about. Neither do you.” Izuku said, feigning self-confidence while eyeing the blonds chest. Several beauty marks danced around his shoulders. Denki’s hands were darker than the rest of his skin tone and lightning shaped lichtenberg scars trailed up his arms to his shoulders. Each scar was a testament to the hours of training and the hard fought battles Denki had faced.
“True.” Denki remarked with a wink, giving a small flex.
Izuku rolled his eyes at the blond and continued towards their bags.
“So I believe you mentioned earlier that you were interested in dating someone.” Denki quipped, eyebrows wiggling seductively.
“Not what I said,” Izuku’s tone was flat.
“Uh-huh. Got your eye on anyone at school.”
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t but I’m not answering that question Denki and you know it.” Izuku smirked before sticking out his tongue. Piercings catching the light.
“Oh come on! You never share the fun bits. Pleaaase!” The blond begged half heartedly, familiar with Izuku’s close to the vest attitude.
Izuku ignored him as he pulled on the various pieces of his school uniform. “If you don’t get dressed we’re going to be late.”
“Oooo change of topic. Wait, are you seeing someone right now?!?! You better not have gotten yourself a partner and told me nothing about it! Come on Izuku, I want DETAILS.”
“All-Might help me! I am NOT seeing anyone!” Izuku fumed. “But,” Izuku continued cautiously, a small blush falling across freckled cheeks, “I MIGHT...have a...small crush on someone and regardless of how much you pester me I’m not saying a word about him! I already told you, my life is too damn busy as it is. Now get dressed!”
“Mmmm...him huh?” Denki knew how to push all the right buttons to get the gossip he wanted. Granted Izuku was always difficult to read and to pull information from, but Denki took what he could get. Izuku was beginning to regret having said anything at all.
Ignoring the blond Izuku grabbed the last of his discarded clothing and used towels and threw them in his gym bag. Heading to the closest mirror he ran a wide toothed comb through his long mossy locks, adjusting the strands so that everything fell over the right side of his head. Revealing a buzz cut on the left side, while covering up the hearing aid he wore on his right while he was participating in classes. A series of piercings adorned his upper left ear and on his off school days a long chain style earring generally adorned his lower lobes on both sides. Satisfied that he had pulled himself together on time, Izuku retrieved his hearing aid from the side pocket of his gym bag, sliding it into place on his right ear. He triple checked the mirror to make sure it wasn’t visible, double checked that his tie was done up properly and headed for the door shouting a five minute warning to the blond.
Denki, unlike Izuku, took longer to preen himself. The uniform was easy enough, but he had to make sure every hair on his pretty blond head was in the right spot. First towel drying it, then blow drying it, then styling it. Ridiculous. Unlike Izuku, Denki had a single eyebrow piercing over his left eye, and wore a long chain necklace. Jewelry was expensive when you had to make sure it wasn’t going to conduct electricity, so Denki had developed a healthy interest in tattoo’s instead. Beneath his uniform were detailed line work and bold colors that intermingled over his rib cage and down towards his hips. Taking one last look in the mirror, Denki applied a thin strip of eye liner beneath his golden orbs and blew his reflection a kiss.
A good fifteen minutes after Izuku, Denki emerged from the change room, shoulder length hair perfectly quaffed into a low ponytail at the back of his head. His bangs with their signature black lightning bolt hanging loose in front, reaching down to his chin and framing his face. Without stopping to acknowledge that Izuku had waited for him, he strolled directly past, motioning to follow along as he tore open a melon bread and started to chow down. The two teens sent a quick wave and a passing farewell to the front end receptionist before leaving the studio.