Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Midoriya Inko, formerly Sawada Inko felt like her world was ending. But if she felt that way, then her son must feel even worse. Being quirkless in this day and age was rare; those few people were shunned by the rest of society for being different.

He was just like his father. Tsunayoshi Sawada was born without a quirk too. Now, he was the leader of the world's largest crime empire. The mafia was the only place in the world where being quirkless was seen as normal, advantageous even. They didn’t fight with quirks; they fought with flames.

Dying will flames would only activate if you were in a situation where your life was in danger and you had no other means of escape. Now that nearly everyone had a superpower the likelihood of successfully activating flames decreased drastically. You would save yourself before the need for active flames. On the other side however, the likelihood of those without quirks activating their flames jumped to nearly 100%. The world was a much more dangerous place now, even with pro heroes like All Might around.

When they were young, and Izuku had been born it had taken a few too many attempts on the life of the young heir for Inko and Tsuna to agree that splitting apart to hide Izuku away was the best option. If he had a quirk he wouldn't likely activate his flames. Tsuna would have to find a new heir at that point, and only introduce them if they were ready to defend themselves.

Now it was confirmed that Izuku didn't have a quirk. Her hands shook as she called her husband that night. He answered within the first two rings, a note of concern in his voice.

“ You don’t usually call this late Inko. Did Izuku have a nightmare?” He asked. Inko sighed as a bit of tension left her body. Tsuna would know what to do.

“No dear he… the doctor told him that he didn’t have a quirk today… he's probably still awake watching hero videos.” She managed to relay the news without breaking down completely. Tsuna was silent as he absorbed the information.

“I suppose he'll like to speak with me about it. Can I talk to him now?” Inko nodded before remembering Tsuna wouldn’t be able to see.

“I'll go tell him.” She shuffled into the computer room where Izuku was watching the same video over and over, clutching his knees to his chest while tears continued to pour down his face.

“Izukkun… Daddy wants to talk to you.” Her son perked up at the mention of his father and she handed the phone to him.

“Daddy…” was the only thing he managed to get out before he was sobbing down the phone as Inko could vaguely hear her husband’s reassuring voice through the earpiece.

“ It's all right Izuku. I don't have a quirk either, do you think I'm useless?” Izuku sniffed and shook his head.

“Daddy's the coolest… but… I can't be a hero because I don’t have a quirk.” Being a hero was all he had dreamed of. What was he supposed to do now?

“ Of course you can. You can do anything as long as you do it with your dying will.” Izuku nodded as he finally managed to calm down.

“Really?”

“Of course. If you feel better now can you hand me back to mummy? I have to speak to her about something.” He gave the phone over to her.

“This changes things Inko. You know what can happen to someone who doesn’t have a quirk.” She sighed, resigned.

“What if he isn’t a Sky?”

“ He still needs to be prepared. The world isn’t kind to people without, Inko. The underworld might be the kindest place for him.” She knew that. But even with her husband at the lead it wasn’t a nice place. It was still the mafia.

“Let him stay with me in the summers. We'll be in Namimori. Everyone wants to see him… and you.” Inko choked back a sob as her son looked over with concern.

“I can't go back… but Izuku can. I know you and the others will take care of him.” She said before turning to Izuku with a watery smile “ How would you like to visit your father for the summer?” Izuku's eyes widened as a childish grin broke out over his face. His father was the one who always visited him with at least one of his uncles or aunts with him. He could visit everyone.

“I want to! I really wanna go!” she smiled a bit more convincingly at his enthusiasm. Maybe he wouldn't be like his father. She prayed he wouldn’t have that burden. She prayed he was a Lightning.

She watched as he left with his father and Gokudera with a heavy heart. One day her son might be the head of a criminal empire… far from being the hero he dreamed of, at least in the eyes of society. Tsuna gave her a look of understanding. He was just as worried about the future of their son. Izuku waved at her excitedly and she returned the gesture.

He came back to her just as bouncy and excited now armed with an envelope of photos from his time spent with Tsuna and his guardians.
She looked through the photos with a smile as she listened to Izuku's chatter. Pictures of him sitting on shoulders, doing paperwork with Tsuna, even a snapshot of her son and the prickly Hibari Kyoya napping peacefully in one of the training rooms. It was only as she reached the end, a single white card with her husband’s elegant calligraphy that the stone in her stomach settled to stay.

He’s a Sky.

She was faced with the inevitable. All she and Tsuna could do was give him a chance at a normal childhood until the day his flames activated. Izuku tugged at her skirt looking up to her curiously. She smiled and ruffled his hair.

“ I’m glad you had so much fun with your father Izukkun. Why don’t we get dinner started?” There was no point in worrying uselessly about the future. She would have to make sure she and Izuku were ready for it.

“I hope I can remember my training. I've been out of practice for five years after all.” She murmured to herself as she followed her son to the kitchen.

Chapter Text

Izuku didn’t spare the teacher much attention as he lectured. He was only going to talk about high school choices and Izuku already knew exactly where he wanted to study. He was going to attend U.A, either in the hero course or the general education department. He still hadn't activated his flames, but with the training he received from his parents and his father's Guardians he knew it was possible for him to actually pass the exam even without a quirk.
He looked up, realizing that everyone was staring at him, in Bakugo's case, glaring. He mentally went over what was said.

“…There's nothing stopping me from applying…” He muttered awkwardly even as Kacchan slammed his palms onto Izuku's desk, setting off a small series of explosions and leaving the desk blackened and scorched.

“You little shit!I am the only one from this school who is going to get into U.A, got it?No quirkless little Deku fuck is going to get it the way.” He growled low, fixing his sharp red gaze on Izuku's wide green ones.

“It can't hurt to try right?” He managed to get out while the teacher called Kacchan back to his desk. The last look the violent boy shot him let him know this wasn’t over. Izuku shuddered. Even with only the potential for flame activation his classmates were susceptible to Sky Attraction.
His childhood experience was eerily similar to his father’s. Even down to the fact that they both had nicknames that alluded to them being useless. At least Izuku knew why he was being treated like this. His father had grown up completely in the dark with no clue why he was being treated so badly. It didn't necessarily make him feel good about it, but it did help in giving him more self worth than he probably would have had otherwise.

The relative peace and safety brought on by class time ended all too quickly for Izuku's taste, bringing with it yet another confrontation with Kacchan as he tried to pack his bag as quickly as possible. The violent teen quickly forced his way into Izuku’s personal space, expression and stance aggressive.

“Don’t even try applying for U.A Deku, or else. Every good hero’s backstory includes that they were the only one from their school to get in. Don’t try to run that for me with your useless was.” For some reason, despite insisting that Deku was useless and stupid, Bakugo Katsuki still seemed to hold some sort of weird complex. Some part of him still believed that Izuku would succeed despite all evidence to the contrary.

“I might not even get in to the general department. What’s the harm in me trying Kacchan?” Bakugo grit his teeth, snatching the latest of Deku's analysis notebooks.

“The point is, someone as shitty and Deku as you shouldn’t even be trying. A quirkless nobody like you should just go jump off the roof and pray you’ll be reborn with a quirk.” With a cold laugh Bakugo ignited an explosion setting his notebook on fire before chucking it out the nearest window. Izuku followed it, leaning out of the open window to check where it landed. He could just barely see it floating in a pond. His bullies left the room, laughing and joking with each other as he sadly finished packing away his things. It could have been worse, he thought as he went to retrieve his ruined notebook.

“You shouldn’t say things like that Kacchan, if I were anyone else that would be inciting suicide.” He muttered to himself. He was made of sterner stuff than most. He had to be to survive the craziness of his mafia family. But some other child would’ve broken under this kind of pressure.

Deciding to take a detour home might have been the worst decision of his life, he thought. He'd only had a tiny warning before he was engulfed in some kind of disgusting sludge creature. It spoke to him but he couldn’t quite make out what it said over the roaring in his ears and his own thundering heartbeat. The liquid this creature, or man, was made out of was forcing its way into his mouth, his nose, invading his lungs and filling his mouth with the disgusting flavour of rot and filth. Oh god… this thing was inside of him! He couldn't breathe, his lungs were burning, begging for air. His diaphragm ached and spasmed as he tried to cough out this invading monster.

He was going to die here. Tears streamed from his eyes as he struggled futilely against the thing holding him. If he didn't do something he was going to die here! Oh god. Please somebody, anybody!

I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I DON’T WANT TO DIE HERE

His eyes flashed orange and there was a flash of flames the same colour bursting to life on his forehead. It might have taken too long to get to that point though. His vision was fading far too quickly. Luckily some outside forced intervened and he managed to take a brief lung full of air before he fell unconscious.

He woke up to a hand tapping against his face. His vision was blurry as he looked up to his saviour. He looked familiar. Izuku blinked the blurriness away, eyes widening comically as he realized just who had saved him. All Might. The All Might had saved him. He opened his mouth to thank the number 1 hero for rescuing him… or maybe ask for his autograph. Instead he abruptly rolled over onto his hands and knees and promptly vomited some sort of grotesque mix of stomach acid and disgusting sludge. All Might patted his back gently as he tried to cough up as much of it as he could, only speaking when he seemed to have calmed down.

“Are you quite alright young man?” He asked as Izuku finally turned to him, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. Blame it on the shock, but Izuku didn’t seem to have any trouble talking to his idol.

“I…. Uh, I actually feel really violated. And gross. But thanks for saving me… and probably giving me CPR or whatever.” He said, gaze far away as he wondered how to describe what the he’ll just happened to him. His mom, father, aunts and uncles, he’ll even Reborn was going to freak out when he told them.

“Think nothing of it! It was my fault for letting him slip away from me in the sewers, this never should have happened. I’m very sorry about that.” The fact that All Might, Number One Hero All Might, apologized to him was superseded by the rest of his words.

“The…. Sewers?” He shook his head as All Might helped him stand. God he felt awful, and he didn’t think it was all because of the sludge villain in his mouth. Did his flames really activate during that or did he just imagine it. He looked over to All Might, who seemed to be shoving a couple plastic bottles that served as the sludge villain’s prison into his pockets. Izuku bowed as All Might once again turned to him.

“Thanks again for all your help sir! I’m going to go to the hospital and get a tetanus shot. Or twelve. Actually I’m going to go get all the shots.” He said as he straightened up. Some vague sense that something was wrong overcame him as All Might gave him a quick thumbs up.

“That's good thinking Young Man! I must go drop this villain off to the police station!” White steam seemed to be rising off of the man as he turned to leave. Izuku reached out to grab onto the hero only to meet empty air as his voice did the same.

“Are you okay?” Oh well, he thought as his hand dropped back to his side. Even if there was something wrong what could he do about it? He pulled out his phone to let his mother know he would be going to the hospital on his way home. He met All Might and didn’t even ask for his autograph.

It was only that night when he opened up his notebook that he noticed it was already signed.

Izuku spent a week away from school recovering from his encounter with the sludge villain. He considered himself lucky that he managed to escape the encounter with nothing more than a bad case of the flu and some rebound from activating his flames. Who knew what sort of horrible diseases that monster could have been carrying? Unfortunately by the end of that week Reborn was already inside his and his mother’s apartment sipping espresso like he’d always lived there.

“Your father begged me not to come here. But nobody can train a young Sky like I can.” Was his only explanation to Izuku's expression of alarm. There was no way his father would be willing to put him through the same thing he went through. Tsuna never spoke of it, but his guardians were all to willing to share.

“Please don’t shoot me with the dying will bullet.” Reborn only smirked.

“That's fine I don’t need to. Unlike Dino and Dame-Tsuna you’re actually willing to go along with training. No need for public humiliation this time.” Izuku caught the uttered ‘unfortunately’ at the end of that sentence and shivered. What kind of training was he going to get. Reborn's infamous sadism would probable show through every action regardless. He studied the deceptively young looking man carefully in the hopes he could get Nome sort of understanding for what was about to come. When the curse on the Arcobaleno broke they only aged at twice the speed. Now the man who was over twice the age of his father looked like he was only just into adulthood. It was impressive how many people still underestimated the world’s greatest Hit man. A bottle of pills chucked at his head interrupted his musings.

“You’re muttering again Dame-Izu.” The man grinned. It was understandably horrifying.

“I’ve never had a willing student before so this will be interesting.”

Chapter Text

Izuku wanted to disappear right now. Just slide right down out of his chair and though the floor. Right down into the earth where he could happily suffocate and die. Because this whole situation was so completely ridiculous.

His first day back and he was faced with Reborn wearing a graduation gown and cap and a pair of thick black glasses standing in front of his class. And oh yeah, his glasses were attach to those beaded chords elderly librarians wore. The beads were in the shapes of lizards and suns.

“Hello class, my name is Reboyama and I will be your substitute teacher for the day.” He claimed, holding a large book in his hands. The title of the book was BOOK.There was a moment of silence, until one brave student raised her hand.

“What happened to our usual teacher?” She asked, another student leaned in to comment.

“I saw him earlier this morning. Nothing seemed to be wrong.” Reborn gave an uncomfortably long pause, and Izuku couldn’t help but worry about his regular homeroom teacher's fate.

“…. Don’t worry about it.” And the lessons continued.

Reborn lived for the look of absolute confusion bordering on horror that appeared on his student's face when he wore his ridiculous disguises. It was a shame he was no longer child sized and couldn’t wear some of his more… unusual pieces. He would love to see Izuku's expression if he brought out his potted plant outfit or the chestnut one.

That wasn’t to say there was no purpose for him to be at his newest student's school. He needed to observe Izuku and his classmates.
The class passed relatively quietly despite Reborn's presence. He was still concerned about what might have happened to his usual homeroom teacher. With Reborn involved anything could have happened. Lunch break brought a confrontation with Bakugo that Izuku was wholly unprepared for.

“Where the fuck were you all week, shitty nerd?” He growled. Izuku looked up in confusion.

“ I got sick after some disgusting sewer monster tried to pilot my body like some kind of demented flesh mecha. What is it to you?” He blurted out before he could think to say something else. Bakugo leaned back in shock. A little green from the imagery. 

“What the actual fuck Deku?” He asked. Izuku stared him down still trying to figure out why he was even asking. Bakugo held his gaze for a moment before his red eyes slid away from his own. Then he remembered the last thing the other had said to him. Oh.

“ Did… were you worried I tried to kill myself?” He asked, quiet enough that it wouldn’t be overheard by any of the other students. Bakugo’s glare returned as he slammed his palms on Izuku's desk.

“Of course not! Who the fuck would worry about a Deku like you?” He yelled, drawing the class’s attention. Reborn made his way over to the two in time to hear Izuku's hushed reply.

“I get it Kacchan. If I had, it would be really bad for your career. If you pushed someone to kill themselves you'd never be able to be number one. I won’t tell anyone about what you said.” Before Bakugo could formulate a reply Reborn interrupted with unwarranted violence, bringing his book down on Izuku's head.

“ Deku huh? That's a good one. That’s your name now Dame-Izu.” He said with amusement before levelling his coal black eyes on Bakugo. “Go back to your seat. Break time is over.” Bakugo glared even as he slouched back to his desk. Reborn hummed, returning to the front of the class.

“I am flabbergasted. How did no one realize how ridiculous your disguise is? Is it a quirk? I thought you were quirkless?” Izuku asked as he and his tutor walked home after school. Reborn, back in his usual suit and fedora only smirked, not bothering to give an answer.

“Today was very useful. Now that I've seen how you act in a school setting I know how to proceed with your training.” He said, completely changing the subject. The green haired boy was burning with curiosity, but knew asking would be a lost cause.

“What did you learn?”

“That you are just like your father. Unfortunately.” Reborn said it like an insult but Izuku still glowed with pride at the comparison.

“How so?”

“You're both remarkably strong skies. You both gave off Sky Attraction before properly activating your flames. Hence the bullying. Particularly that blond guy. What was his name, Bakago?” Izuku frowned.

“What about Kacchan?”

“He’s a powerful Sky too.” That stopped Izuku short.

“What?”

“Even inactive It’s clear. And clearly he’s recognized you as a rival Sky, even if he doesn’t realize it. And you just had to have the opposite reaction didn't you? Just like your father and Xanxus. What am I supposed to do with such idiotic Skies?” The Sawada family had no sense of self preservation whatsoever. Reborn smirked. At least there was never a dull moment

“What do we do now?”

“ We have less than a year before the entrance exams. Don’t slack off now.” Reborn answered with a dark chuckle. Izuku felt a chill run down his spine.

This was hell. It had to be. Izuku's thoughts cut off as Reborn shot at him again, bullets biting into the ground near his running feet. This happened any time he ran slower than a dead sprint. They'd been running for a half hour already.

“You said you weren’t going to shoot me!” He shouted, wasting precious oxygen and earning a few more shots.

“ I said I wasn’t going to shoot you with Dying Will Bullets. This is just motivation. Keep running with your dying will Deku.” The bastard was keeping pace with Deku without even breaking a sweat. Tears were already streaming down Izuku's face. How was nobody in town noticing this!? Why didn’t his dad warn him!? He dodged yet another bullet with a shriek.

“Hiiiiiiiiii" Reborn smirked, like father, like son. The boy didn’t even realize he was training his hyper intuition at the same time he was training his body.

“Faster Deku. If you can’t maintain this speed for at least two hours you’ll face a penalty.”

“Yes Sir!”

The penalty was mountain climbing. How did Reborn even find a cliff face this sheer? Izuku was going to die. He only had two minutes to go when he collapsed. Reborn just force fed him some Sun pills and brought him to this cliff. He took a moment to be supremely grateful for refined Sun flames in pill form, otherwise he’d be dead right now. Or worse. Still, he wouldn’t complain. He’d asked for this. He wanted to be a hero. If that meant surviving an even more condensed version of Reborn’s infamous tor-tutoring then so be it.

Izuku decided he hated the hyper intuition training the most. Hyper intuition was a passive ability that couldn’t be strengthened.

“Think of it like a skill or stat in a video game. It’s already maxed out, you can’t put any more points into it. What we can do is make your ability to recognize it and react to it way faster.” The best way to do that apparently, was for Reborn to hound him mercilessly in order to catch him off guard; sometimes with harmless pranks, but often with terrifying amounts of force. He couldn’t even muster anything more than a squeak of alarm now, even with a one ton mallet making a large crater in the concrete where he was just standing. Reborn was enjoying this far too much.

“You're enjoying this way too much Reborn.” The hit man actually laughed, which was the most terrifying sound he could imagine.

“Get running.” His chameleon Leon changed into his gun form as Reborn spoke. He didn’t even finish the sentence before Izuku was gone. This is the most fun Reborn has had in years.

“ I wonder if U.A needs an extra teacher…”

The weeks leading up to the entrance exams were one long blur of suffering as Reborn pushed him along one hellish activity after another. Even studying was amped up to the extreme with electric shocks and tanks filled with piranha. He didn’t even need help in studying! He said as much to his father, and only received a blank, resigned look over video chat.

“ If we ever heard Reborn’s reasoning for why he does anything I don’t think our mortal minds could handle it. Don’t question his methods for the sake of your own sanity Mio Bambino.” It was the look of a man who had seen far too much to be surprised by anything the world could throw at him. A look Izuku was quickly becoming familiar with in his own mirror.

Reborn’s disguises were the worst, and Midoriya was downright ashamed to be in the man’s presence when he wore them. Not that anybody even noticed that something was wrong. Tsuna swore that Reborn was quirkless, though he too had no explanation for how people never noticed his disguises, especially when he had been trapped in the body of a toddler. Izuku could feel himself dying inside each time Reborn donned a new disguise.

He had to admit though. Reborn's training paid off. Months of pushing himself beyond his limits on a daily basis had completely changed him. Thank goodness for Sun flames. His stamina and endurance had reached levels it normally took years to reach. Though he’d only just begun to scratch the surface of flame training.

“You wouldn’t be able to draw them out on your own in time anyway, and it’s required that you have to have any support items approved for the practical exam. Telling the school that you need to take a drug to activate your ‘quirk’ would reflect poorly on you and might affect your chances of admission. That's why we've worked so hard on maximising your agility and hyper intuition. This way you stand a fighting chance even without your flames.” Izuku gave Reborn a look full of suspicion.

“You know exactly what I'm going to be fighting against, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. It would be cheating if I told you about it though. Do you want to know?” As tempting an offer that was Izuku shook his head. He wanted to get in on his own power. Reborn smirked, pulling an unassuming pair of compression gloves from his pocket, and handing them to the green haired boy.

“Congratulations, your first pair of flame reactive gloves. You can wear these during the exams. I already pushed the paperwork through. Get used to wearing them all the time or else.” The boy accepted them with a hasty nod, already putting them on, flexing his fingers experimentally. He looked up at Reborn, eyes filled with determination.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t disappoint me, Deku.”

Chapter Text

This was it. Today was the long awaited U.A entrance exam. Izuku practically vibrated with nerves and excitement as he hesitated outside of the towering gates of his dream school. This would be his first step to becoming a hero. It only stood to reason that he would trip taking that first step, literally.

‘Well, guess I’ll die.’

His meeting with the ground was suddenly cancelled as he found himself suspended above the ground, floating weightlessly. Huh, weird.

“Sorry! I know it's kinda rude to use quirks on other people without their permission but I just thought it would be bad luck to trip and fall here you know?” Someone said from behind Izuku. They sounded like a girl.

“Uh-uhh, that’s okay. But, do you think you could uhh… put me down now? Maybe?” He flailed his limbs a little awkwardly for emphasis. The girl squeaked a little pulling him upright so he landed on his feet when she deactivated her quirk.

“Sorry about that!” She apologized again as he turned to face her. She was cute, with big brown eyes and a bouncy bowl cut. He shook his head at her apologies.

“Don’t worry about it. Thanks.” The girl opened her mouth to say more, but they were interrupted by Bakugo as he pushed his way passed them.

“Out of the way Extras.” He growled. The girl frowned, cheeks puffed out adorably as she stuck out her tongue at Bakugo's back.

“Well isn’t he rude.” Izuku gave a hesitant laugh.

“Yeah… but we should probably get moving anyway.” They parted ways shortly after entering the school, wishing each other luck. It was only later Izuku realized he forgot to ask her name.

The written test was a piece of cake, Izuku was sure he probably scored somewhere in the upper percentile of examinees. If he didn’t Reborn would probably give him remedial classes, he shuddered at the thought.

The theatre was packed with people, all students taking the practical exam. The sheer amount of competition was staggering to behold. It was just Izuku’s luck that out of all the people in the room, he got stuck sitting next to Kacchan. The other boy glared at him, arms crossed over his chest. He didn’t say anything though, much to the Greenet's relief. He turned his eyes to the stage as Present Mic stepped out to give them a rundown on the practical exam. Izuku gave a sympathetic wince as the sound hero's attempts to rally the crowd were met with silence. He admired the blonds easy confidence as he shrugged off the awkward moment and began to explain the test.

It seemed simple enough. Present Mic explained the gist of it with the help of an informative animation of himself as a pixelated game character. Robots of varying difficulty and point values would be roaming a pre determined field. The goal would be to defeat the most robots during the time limit. It was also of note that people coming from the same school district were separated to prevent them from working together. Which made no sense to the green haired boy, after all there were plenty of people who would excel more given a hero team or as a duo. The whole exam seemed against the formation of teams or duos. In fact fighting robots automatically took out several potential heroes who may not have combative quirks, or even those who had specialized anti-personnel quirks that wouldn’t work on a hunk of metal.

“- And You there! You with the messy hair. You are extremely distracting with your muttering!” Izuku yelped as he looked up, meeting the eyes of a stern faced boy in glasses. Izuku’s apology was barely audible as he slid down further into his seat in embarrassment. Bakugo gave a derisive snort.

“Fucking Deku.”

“Well, as you say young student! The last robot on our list is actually worth… ZERO POINTS! It will be released in the last few minutes of the exam as a sort of… trap or obstacle. You can fight it, but it’s pretty well worthless so why bother.” Present Mic explained. The stern boy bowed to the hero and sat back down.

“If there are no further questions LET'S GET STARTED!”

The area for the exam was huge. An urban landscape fenced in by huge walls to simulate a city under attack. And U.A had five of these spaces. That was an awe inspiring amount of money. Granted, Vongola had even better training grounds, but those were greatly helped along by generous use of mist flames. He caught sight of the girl from earlier closer to the front of the group. Maybe he should make his way over to her, wish her luck and ask her what her name is. And then a hand was on his shoulder. Izuku turned to find it was the same stern faced teen who'd yelled at him for muttering.

“What were you doing? That young lady there is clearly trying to prepare herself for the practicals. Was it your plan to break her concentration?” He could only shake his head at the others accusation. Luckily the test began moments later, quite abruptly. But Present Mic was right, there is no countdown in a real battle.
The robots were a bit bigger than he expected. That was fine; first, Izuku would need a weapon. Handily enough he managed to scavenge a nice piece of rebar from one of the collapsed buildings. He took down a few robots simply by stabbing their legs and arms to lock up their joints. His progress got a lot faster when he realized they had off buttons strategically placed on them for students who lacked a lot of power. Not that it helped make the exams that much more fair. You had to get pretty close to notice it. Izuku vaulted over another three pointer slapping his hand over the off button while he went, listening to the slow whirr of it powering down.

“I think that's….16 points.” There were plenty of people around with more points than he had, even the girl with the gravity quirk had 28 points already. He searched around for another robot that wasn’t already someone’s target, when the wail of a siren cut through the field. The ZERO pointer has been released.
It was huge. Towering over buildings and destroying everything in its way as it lumbered forward. No wonder it was better to just ignore this hulking beast. Who would even try to fight it?

...Kacchan would. If he had time to spare he'd fight it just to prove he could. Uncle Hibari-san would want to as well. But those two were not Midoriya Izuku and he was happy to turn away and find more manageable robots to fight, thank you.

Until someone cried out in pain, it came from the direction of the ZERO pointer.
The gravity girl was face down, leg trapped under a large slab of concrete and metal-the remains of a building-directly in the path of the hulking robot. She couldn’t get free on her own, and it wasn’t like Izuku had super strength that could help. Still, he found his legs carrying him towards certain death the sensation of his flames exploding through his body had quickly become familiar and right.

Emboldened by this, he lit his gloves as he slid to a stop near the girl, spreading his legs and extending his arms, one forward the other back. He bit down on the desire to shout out ‘X burner’ as he shot out with his flames, blasting the robot to kingdom come in a shocking display of power.

Unfortunately for Izuku, he couldn’t possibly look cool in front of everyone and you should not attempt a high level technique like XBurner with so little training. He underbalanced his flame output. Overpowing the forward blast to make up for his flame purity. Due to the angle of thrust, instead of slamming into a building, his leg broke and he ended up skidding across the unforgiving asphalt, breaking his left arm as he tried to stop his fall. His slide continued on momentum alone when he finally thought to stop his flames, only ending when he ran into an unsuspecting 1 pointer, managing to bust it in the process. He managed a weak groan as Present Mic called an end to the exam.

“Are you okay?” The gravity girl asked, having managed to free herself and run over. The flame on Izuku's forehead sputtered out as he turned dizzy eyes on her.

“I did something super stupid, and I will never hear the end of it But I am fine.” Izuku managed to frown at her even if there were two of her now. “Are you okay?” Her eyes widened, but she smiled at him.

“I’m fine, really. Thank you so much for saving me.” Izuku smiled back at her, this felt a little stupid and he thought they probably looked like a couple of dorks sitting in wreckage and smiling like idiots. That was okay though.

“Don’t worry about it. I did what anyone would have done. Hey, do you think accidentally ramming into this 1 pointer counts as defeating it? I only got like, 16 villain points otherwise. I think I failed.” He asked, only half joking.

“It counts. But damn kid, that was impressive. Where was all that power during the rest of the exam? Holding out for the wow factor?” Present Mic answered, jogging up with a small old woman riding piggy back. Izuku tried to sit up, managing it just barely with the help of gravity girl.

“As you can see I haven’t really perfected the move…” he said with a sardonic smile, gesturing to his broken limbs. Reborn was going to laugh way too hard at this. That was assuming he wasn’t spying on the exam, in which case he was already laughing. The old woman nodded as she hopped down to the ground. She poked at his broken limbs and hummed.

“All things considered the damage isn’t as bad as I thought. Your limbs need to be re-set, but it’s a simple fix with my quirk.” She said. It clicked, Izuku knew exactly who this was now.

“Oh wow, Recovery Girl in the flesh.” She smiled, and then with no warning, brutally re-set the bones in his arm. Present Mic quickly followed with his leg as Izuku choked on air. The healing hero finished up the treatment with a kiss to his temple and a packet of gummies he didn’t get to eat because he passed out from the sudden drain on his stamina.

When Izuku finally woke up, a quick look around showed he was in what must have been the infirmary. Recovery Girl looked up from her desk as he sat up.

“Ah, you’re awake. That’s good. Your arm and leg will probably be a bit sore so take it easy for at least a week. I didn’t heal you completely after all.” Izuku nodded as he stood up, carefully testing out the previously broken leg. It was stable and he could put a fair amount of weight on it.

“Thank you very much for healing me Ms. Recovery Girl. The old woman waved him off with a small smile and a wave.

“It’s no trouble at all dearie. You should be getting home, it’s getting late.” He left with a respectful bow and another thank you.

The train ride home was quiet and consumed by the practical exam replaying in his head on a constant loop. There were so many things he could have done differently. Maybe then he wouldn’t have failed. The one thing he couldn't regret was saving the gravity girl. He would still do that whether he failed for it or not.

“I still forgot to ask for her name…” Oh well, it wasn’t like they were going to meet again anyway. Time to look at what other schools he should apply for.

His mom had Katsudon waiting for him. It would be a celebration if he did well, and a comfort if he didn’t. Reborn was there too, as usual.

“How did you do Izukkun?” His mother asked as he sat himself down at the table. His face met the solid wood as he let out his frustrations in the form of a loud groan.

“I probably failed.” Reborn chimed in from his other side.5

“You did well enough for a Deku.” He took a sip of coffee. Izuku turned his head to look at the hit man.

“Thanks so much. I just knew you would find some way to watch.” He muttered, sarcastic.

“Of course. What sort of tutor would I be if I didn’t?”

“At least I don’t need a bullet to activate Dying Will Mode. I don’t need that humiliation.” Reborn nodded along to his whining.

“You humiliate yourself plenty enough on your own only your second time achieving Dying Will Mode and you try performing an X Burner. You've only seen it a couple of times.” Izuku groaned. While Reborn pulled up a video of the whole event on his phone. As he showed the footage to Inko she looked torn between laughing and, clutching her heart in fear for her son.

“ That was very irresponsible Izukkun.” She finally said while his slide into a robot repeated on loop. This was the worst.

“I’m sorry mom. It just sorta… happened. Can we not tell Dad or the others about it? I will never hear the end of it. “ Reborn smirked, phone in hand.

“I wasn’t going to, but since you feel that way I’m sending the video to everyone now.” Izuku shrieked trying in vain to snatch the cellphone away from the world’s greatest Hit man.

The wait for U.A's letter was excruciating. Was it a rejection or acceptance? Who could tell with Izuku’s middle range performance. At least if he’d done terribly he wouldn’t be worried like this! He supposed it was a good thing Reborn was around to make sure he focused on his training instead of his bottomless anxiety. As it was Reborn was perfectly happy to throw all manner of cruel and unusual punishments in the form of training his Dying Will flames.

“Remind me why we're here again?’ Izuku asked, already fired up in Dying Will Mode. The shoreline they were standing on looked more like a garbage dump than prime real estate.

“For training, obviously. You'll be cleaning this beach with your Dying Will. If you don’t get it clean before your letter from U.A arrives You’ll be facing a punishment.” He finished, with a gun waved threateningly in Izuku’s direction. With a yelp, he quickly got started, carrying anything he could away and quickly learning how to vaporize larger objects. As much as he wanted to try practicing his Dad's special move again, the resulting blast would draw attention he couldn’t afford right now.

Dying Will Mode made cleaning the beach a lot easier than it would have been otherwise. He knew that Dying Will Mode gave a boost to his strength and speed, removing all physical limiters in return for a more rapid drain on his stamina. He could hold it for about half an hour barring any dire situation.

“That’s not bad, when your father started he could manage about five minutes, but you get your stamina from your mother.” Reborn said from his perch atop an abandoned truck. While she may not look it, Inko was once a formidable assassin, using her quirk to take people by surprise.

“You don’t know when that letter is going to arrive… I don’t know if you can afford to take it easy.” Reborn warned when Izuku paused in hauling away a mound of trash to catch his breath.He gave the Hit man a withering look, yelping and getting back to his task when all he earned was a bullet whizzing past his face. Reborn smirked.

It took two weeks for his letter to arrive. Izuku made a lot of progress on the beach, but unfortunately he didn’t manage to remove all the trash so he did end up facing Reborn's punishment. That's how he ended up trusses up, hanging upside down over a kiddie pool filled with piranha watching the holodisc that came with his letter.

"I am here! On screen! We kept it a secret, but come next year I will be teaching at U.A. Will I be teaching you? Well Midoriya Izuku my boy! You passed the written exam with flying colors, in fact you did well enough to earn a top spot! As for the practical exam, well… 17 points wouldn’t be enough to consider it a pass.” Izuku sighed, he knew that, at least he was accepted to gen ed. But All Might-because it was All Might presenting his acceptance letter!-wasn’t finished.

“However! Defeating villains wasn’t the only objective of the exam, our heroic teachers were watching the whole time! They were looking for something that true heroes need, bravery in the face of nigh unwinnable odds and self sacrifice in the name of saving others! And you my boy have these in spades!” A video replay of his failed X Burner and subsequent broken limbs played out next to All Might’s image.

“Not only that you inspired another as well. The young girl you rescued came forward on your behalf! She was so grateful she offered to share some of her own points so that you could pass!” A video of gravity girl speaking with Present Mic took up the entire holo-screen.

“Such a selfless act! It really warms this hero's heart.” All Might mimed wiping away a tear. " Of course, however, it was unnecessary! With your selfless act of heroism you earned a grand total of 60 RESCUE POINTS! Congratulations young man, U.A is your hero academia! I can’t wait to see you when the year starts.” All Might proclaimed proudly. The video ended, leaving Izuku speechless. And then the waterworks came. He got in! He sobbed Inko running in to see what happened. She screamed, and belatedly Izuku remembered that he was hanging upside down. She pulled the fish away and quickly cut him down.
“I got in! Mom! I got in!” He sobbed over and over as she cut him out of his bindings.
“I’m so proud of you sweetie, I knew you would!” She assured him. They sat together for what felt like hours sobbing great big, happy tears. Reborn left them alone. Both of his parents were crybabies.

The feared and respected Vongola Decimo grinned at his son’s beaming face on his phone. Tears were streaming down his face. Crybabies, all of them.

“I'm so proud of you! Terrified, and still upset with you for trying the X Burner without any training, but proud all the same.” Izuku laughed wetly.

“I said I was sorry, it won’t happen again.” He promised. Tsuna knew better than to believe that. His son was somehow more reckless than he was despite having the careful and cautious Inko as his mother. He only hummed in acknowledgement.

“If you do, I'll be sending you to Hibari-san for remedial lessons.” He threatened. The sparkle in his eyes said it was all in good fun. Izuku gave a mock shudder.

“Please don’t.” They spent a bit more time talking, before Tsuna reminded him that it was getting late in Japan. The two said their goodbyes. He was dreading the next day to be honest. Kacchan will have no doubt received his acceptance letter as well, and the teachers would have been notified. He prayed they wouldn’t say anything about their acceptances, but he knew they probably would.

“-and congratulations to Bakugo and Midoriya for their acceptance to U.A. You two are the pride of this school.” The teacher finished his speech and all eyes were immediately turned to Izuku in shock. Then the class erupted with cheers. It was almost funny how quickly people can change their attitudes as soon as the person they’ve mocked and laughed at sees some success. Even if Izuku were inclined to enjoy the new, positive attention he was receiving, Kacchan's furious glare was more than enough to keep him humble.

He spent the rest of the school year avoiding Kacchan and leading him on wild goose chases whenever the angry blond tried to corner him after school. It was good training at least. He knew he was just making Kacchan even more angry, but if they never spoke again, he would never have to worry about it right?

Chapter Text

“Did you remember to pack your gloves and pills? What about tissues?” Inko asked, hovering as her son knelt in the front hallway to tie his shoes.

“I have everything Mom, don't worry too much.” He assured her as he stood up. Despite this his mother's expression remains a worried frown.

“You remember to call me, or Reborn if you get into any…Family trouble, alright?” she asked. Izuku grinned widely at her.

“Of course Mom, now I really have to go.” Izuku laughed as he opened the door to leave.

“I love you! Be careful!” She called after her son's retreating back. Izuku ducked his head in embarrassment, but waved back anyway.

He spent the train ride to U.A scrolling through forums, silently thankful Bakugo took a different train. The other boy had spent the last few weeks hounding Deku incessantly, practically frothing at the mouth. After the official rankings came out and it turned out they had both tied for first place in the practical exams he'd been even more insistent on destroying him. Hopefully they would be put in different classes.

He'd already had a sense of foreboding before he opened the door to class 1A, but despite his trepidation he did have to enter the classroom. He took a short moment to stall-admire the accessible architecture- before he shakily opened the door.

The first thing he saw was Bakugo lounging in a front row seat, his feet on the desk. The strict looking boy who had yelled at him during the exam was also there waving his arms as he tried and failed to chastise the blond.

“-DISRESPECTING THE GREAT HEROES AND HEROINES THAT CAME BEFORE US?!” Bakugo ignored the other student with his usual smug expression; however Izuku knew him well enough to tell that the blond was getting annoyed.

“I don’t give a shit about our upperclassmen or ‘the heroes that came before us’ or whatever. I don't give a shit about any of you guys either, you know why? Because I'm going to be number one and you are all just stepping stones on my way to the top.” Bakugo continued, growing more threatening “ So you and your uptight ass should get the fuck outta my way.”

This is fine, Izuku thought. The taller boy was getting quite red in the face as he tried once again to admonish Bakugo again. It was like watching someone fight a forest fire with a watering can. He would know, he had experiences both literally and figuratively.

“ Your language is unbecoming of a hero in training. I suggest you correct that sort of behaviour soon.” It was clear that Kacchan was getting really irritated now, and that this strict hero in training could very well die today, but before Izuku could decide to interfere or duck and cover a girl's voice chirped excitedly behind him.

“Hey! It's you, the plain looking guy from the exam! I'm super glad you made it! We're even in the same class.” He turned, it was the girl with the floating quirk from the exam.

“Oh! Yeah, actually the teachers told me that you actually tried to share some of your points with me. Thanks for that.” The girl smiled as she awkwardly scratched at her neck.

“Aw geeze, they did? So embarrassing. I ended up doing something totally unnecessary. Oh right, I'm Uraraka, Uraraka Ochako.” She said with an awkward laugh. Izuku smiled back, temporarily forgetting the active volcano that was Bakugo Katsuki.

“I'm Midoriya-" Izuku started only to be interrupted by the navy haired boy.

“Midoriya was it? I misjudged you! Clearly you understood the true meaning of the practical exam far better than any of us. My name is Iida Tenya.” Anything else that could have been said was interrupted by an exhausted looking man wrapped in a bright yellow sleeping bag.

“Hurry up and take your seats. I'm not interested in wasting time.” The man was surprisingly intimidating for someone who looked like a caterpillar sucking on a juice pouch. The class quickly settled down, Izuku ducking his head to avoid eye contact as he scuttled past Bakugo to get to his desk behind the blond.

“It took you all eight seconds to get to your seats. You'll need to be faster if you really want to be heroes.” He said as he stepped out of the sleeping at the head of the classroom. He gave them all a rather unimpressed stare as he placed a hand on top of one of the many boxes at the front of the room.

“I am your homeroom teacher, Aizawa. Grab one of these uniforms, get changed and meet me at training field A.” With that short introduction, their new homeroom teacher left. Uraraka laughed a little as she grabbed a uniform.

“I guess We’re skipping the entrance ceremony, huh?” Izuku nodded, grabbing his own uniform.

“ Aizawa is already an interesting teacher.”

Izuku snuck off to find a quieter corner of the changing rooms,far away from Bakugo to get changed. Now that everything was a bit quieter, he could finally pay attention to his intuition. There was an odd buzz against his senses. Now that he could focus on it, it was a familiar feeling. It brought to mind long days with his father and his aunts and uncles, or more recently training sessions with Reborn. It was the feeling of active Flames. Someone inside this room was already Flame Active.

Aizawa watched his newest batch of brats file onto the grounds with his usual tired frown. He idly wondered how many of them wouldn't be coming back tomorrow. For a moment he focused on Midoriya. The green haired boy had done very well, even before he used his quirk, Aizawa had seen his potential. And was almost rooting for the boy.

Then he had been accepted, and suddenly there was paperwork that said Midoriya required special medication in order to reliably activate his quirk. Both the medication and the paperwork were suspicious and set Aizawa on edge. He pulled Midoriya aside.

“I've been informed that you require ‘specialized medication’ in order to activate your quirk. Why wasn't that information included in your preliminary application?” Midoriya shuffled his feet and sighed.

“ I didn’t want to be judged unfairly for what's barely a handicap. There was nothing in the rulebook that I was required to mention support items in my application provided I didn’t use them during the exam.”

“The official paperwork is vague on the details. Assuming you pass today's test I will need more information as your homeroom teacher. For now I'll only ask, is this a permanent condition?” Midoriya shook his head.

“No sir.” The answer only confused Aizawa more. What caused an emitter type quirk to act like that?

“Alright, go back to the others.” Midoriya nodded and returned to the group, Bakugo Katsuki glaring at the boy as he passed. Aizawa absently noted the animosity as he addressed the now attentive students.

“ You all passed the entrance exams and made it into the hero course. I suppose I should congratulate you all. However, don’t get comfortable yet! Now, I want to see what you all are capable of. I’m assuming you are all familiar with the yearly fitness exams you took in middle school?” After a few murmurs of confirmation from the crowd, Aizawa continued “ I want to do the same today, except with the addition of quirks.” Excited murmurs from the crowd this time. They were all taking this a little too lightly, Aizawa thought.

“Oh, so you think this will be fun? In that case, whoever is in last place will automatically be expelled.” The class fell into horrified silence as Aizawa grinned.
They started with the 50 metre dash. When it was Izuku's turn, the boy stepped nervously up to the starting line. Before the countdown finished, he popped a pill into his mouth and ignited. The countdown finished and there was a sound like a space engine. Izuku was on the other side of the track, leaving Bakugo gaping in his dust.

The blond didn’t stay in shock for long; his expression morphed into one of uncontained rage as he threw himself at Izuku, whose eyes widened.

“What the fuck was that Deku! You fucking tell me now!” Aizawa threw out his capture weapon at the same time he erased the two boy’s quirks. Izuku's flames guttering out seconds after Bakugo's explosions. The green haired boy took a few steps back, eyes wide.

“Congratulations Midoriya you cleared that in point five seconds. Can you continue?” Aizawa asked, ignoring Bakugo for the moment. Izuku gave a strange little half shrug.

“Um… I’m going to need a bit of time before I can reignite my flames.” Aizawa only nodded.

“I guess you're playing with a handicap now. Let's continue"

After that outburst the rest of the test passed without issue. Izuku managed to reignite in time for the long jump where he flew a lap around the field. Other highlights included Uraraka throwing infinity on the ball test and Yaoyorozu Momo creating a motorcycle for long distance running.

“By the way, the expulsion was just a logical ruse designed to bring out your best performance.” Some of the students gave shouts of outrage while others nodded sagely, obviously it would be a ruse. Izuku frowned, tilting his head curiously. Aizawa hadn't been lying when he said he would expel one of them. So what made him change his mind?

The teacher ignored any questions about it, and after their exciting morning the rest of the day was surprisingly normal.

“Hey Deku!” Uraraka called as they left school for the day. Izuku flinched, turning to look at his new classmates.

“Um, what?” Uraraka frowned.

“Isn’t that your name? I heard Bakugo call you that." Izuku gave a nervous laugh at that.

“Ah, no, that's just what he calls me to insult me. My name is actually Izuku.” Iida frowned, considering.

“If Deku is another way to read Izuku, does it mean useless person?” Izuku nodded.

“It was actually pretty clever for a 5 year old.” Uraraka pouted, disappointed.

“Aww, but it sounds so cute though, like ‘You can do It’ or ‘never give up’ you know?” Deku smiled.

“You can call me Deku.” Iida looked to him in surprise.

“are you sure Midoriya? It is a rather mean thing to call someone.” Izuku waved him off.

“It’s fine. I never thought about it like that before. I think I really like Uraraka’s interpretation.” Iida didn’t look entirely convinced, but acquiesced.

Despite all the excitement of the first day at U.A Izuku's mind kept returning to the unknown Flame Acitive hiding in his class. The green haired boy was still to untrained to even know the flame type let alone where they came from. But what could have happened, to activate someone who has a quirk strong enough to be in the hero course? His heart reached out to whoever it was.

Chapter Text

      Bakugo was many things. Patient was not one of those things. Ever since the U.A entrance exam’s results the blond had been trying to track down that little green weasel and get some answers. How did some quirkless little bitch not only pass the exam, but tie with Katsuki as well? Deku had already been avoiding him ever since that… incident when he disappeared for a week. After the exam results came out Izuku had started actively running from him. He was a slippery bastard.
Yesterday was the first time in months that he had been face to face with Deku in months, and that… little bastard had just burst into flames like it was nothing! At that moment Bakugo had been so enraged his only thought was to beat the shit out of that lying bitch until he was finally given some answers. He had been stopped by their new teacher and Deku had scurried back like a coward, hiding behind his friends and their teachers for the rest of the day and once again not giving Bakugo the answers he deserved. But once again he was left to stew in his anger.

     How long has Deku had a quirk. How long has he been sitting on his pedestal and lording it over Katsuki as some gigantic secret? He’d only started acting strangely after he returned to school but it was impossible to get a quirk at 14. He would just have to corner him and demand his answers.

     Izuku shivered. Earning a strange look from Uraraka. It turned out they caught the same train in the morning.

    “You cold?” Izuku shook his head, giving a helpless shrug.

    “Someone walking over my grave.” They spent the train ride chatting comfortably.

     Everyone waited in anticipation for the class after lunch. Their first Foundational Heroics class with All Might as a teacher. No one knew what it was going to be like but it was All Might.

     The sound of rapid footsteps approaching the classroom heralded the arrival of the number 1 hero. With the class on the edge of their seats All Might threw open the door and rushed into the room torso first stopping on his toes and holding the doorway with his hands.

    “I am here! Coming through the door like a normal person!” He called boisterously, wearing a horrendously out of date costume. The classroom went dead silent save a few murmurs as All Might practically skipped across the floor to the teacher’s podium. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

     “Good day everyone. Welcome to Foundational Heroics! I am glad to see everyone is present, bright eyed, and eager to learn!” All Might paused. “Right, I thought as this is our first class together we could break the ice with a practical lesson. Today we will have a battle simulation!” He pulled a remote from his pocket and pressed one of the buttons. Panels slid up on the walls and simple silver suitcases slid out of the compartments, each was emblazoned with a number.

     “So without further ado, grab your costumes, get changed and meet me at training ground Beta!” Everyone grabbed up their corresponding cases and headed off to the change rooms closest to ground Beta, eager to show off their costumes. Izuku followed with some trepidation, remembering the evil smirk Reborn had when he told Izuku he’d already sent his costume design in. Upon opening the case Izuku had is worst fears confirmed. A full, three piece, pinstripe suit with a Sky orange clip on tie sat nestled in the case… Of course it would be a mafia outfit. As he pulled that out of the case and set it aside he found a short cape somewhat reminiscent of his Father’s mantela de Primo and some goggles and a headset. At least reborn had left his requested gear alone. The goggles functioned the same way his dad’s old contacts did with the AI connected to his headset. But there were a lot of extra features like facial recognition software and access to internet and GPS tracking. He made a mental note to send his dad a new costume design. Unlike the rest of his classmates, whose designs were sent to a support company affiliate with U.A, Izuku’s costume was handled by a support company run by Vongola’s R&D department. For now he would have to resign himself to dressing like a gangster for a time.

      Izuku was the last to leave the locker room and join the rest of the class outside of the fake city that was training ground Beta, feeling awkward in his formal attire, his orange goggles hung around his neck and the matching headset over his ears. Uraraka noticed him first, bouncing over to him excitedly in her space themed costume.

     “Wow Deku! You’re outfit is so…unexpected… But it looks really cool and mysterious!” She said, going for the optimistic route. He laughed awkwardly, tugging at his cape.

      “My tutor designed it… He probably thinks it’s hilarious.” Uraraka tilted her head curiously.
   

     “I didn’t know you had a tutor. Is he nice?” Izuku paused before answering, unsure of just how exactly to describe Reborn.

     “Um…No?” He said. The brunette frowned at that. Aoyama joined them with a critical look.

      “I think you look Magnifique Midoriya, but you don’t pull off a cape as well as I do!” The blond did a twirl, showing off his outfit from all sides. Midoriya could think of hundred of ways Aoyama’s outfit could be impractical for hero use, but chose not to say anything.

      “It looks very good on you.” Aoyama preened and left to go find someone else to show off his costume to. Even with a full suit of armor, Iida managed to project his awkward confusion as Aoyama demanded compliments.

     “All right everyone! You all look are starting to look like real heroes!” All Might called the class to order. For a moment his gaze rested on Izuku awkwardly ,‘that’s a hero outfit?’ it seemed to say. The verdant eyed boy shifted awkwardly.

    “Well then! Let’s get right down to business shall we? We’re here in Ground Beta to perform a simple mission. Villains have hidden inside one of these buildings with a bomb. It is the heroes job to go in there and either capture the villains or defuse their weapon. Soo.. for this test you will all be split into teams of two. One team will be heroes, the other tem will play the villains. Heroes must complete their objective before 15 minutes have passed. Villains only need to protect he bomb and no get captured in that same amount of time. Any questions?” The class scrambled to ask questions all at once, most of which weren’t related to the scenario. Iida dutifully raised his hand.

     “How will we be choosing the teams?” All Might grinned

     “Actually, I was thinking we could do it the old fashioned way and draw lots.” He pulled a box out from behind his back. It was almost adorable.

    “Isn’t that a bit irresponsible?” Iida asked, and felt guilty when All Might looked disappointed. Izuku rescued the poor man.

    “As a hero, there will be plenty of times you will have to team up with heroes you might not have even met before. This is a good opportunity to learn how to quickly communicate and plan strategies on the fly.” He said, All Might brightened.

    “That’s exactly right young Midoriya!” Iida nodded seriously.

    “Of course, as expected of a veteran hero.” He said, as if All Might himself had spoken and not Izuku.

    “Right, well, without further ado, shall we draw the names?” The names were quickly drawn and the teams were as followed:

Team A- Midoriya and Uraraka

Team B- Todoroki and Shoji

Team C- Yaororozu and Mineta

Team D- Bakugo and Iida

Team E- Mina and Aoyama

Team F- Sato and Koda

Team G- Jirou and Kaminari

Team H- Tokoyami and Asui

Team I- Ojiro and Hagakure

Team J- Kirishima and Sero

       There was an awkward shuffle as everyone moved to stand next to their new partners. Some looked happier with their arrangements than others. Uraraka smiled at Izuku rocking on her heels in anticipation.

       “Wow, looks like it’s you and me then huh? I’m kinda relieved.” She said. Izuku nodded along awkwardly. At least he knew what his partner was capable of. Now he only had to worry about who they would be up against.

       “Well then! The first battle will be between… Team A and Team D! Team A will be heroes and will be villains! Team D can head on inside and get set up, you have 5 minutes before the heroes are allowed to begin.” All Might said. Mineta raised his hand.

      “Why is it indoors again?” All Might gave a thumbs up, teeth glinting.

      “I’m glad you asked. While most villain attacks seen on tv occur outdoors, statistically the majority of villain encounters actually happen indoors. After all, in this society saturated by heroes any villain with intelligence will be lurking in the shadows.” With that All Might sent Team Midoriya and Team Bakugo to one of the many empty buildings.

      “Well this is the worst possible thing that could have happened to me.” Izuku muttered to himself, as he stood outside, examining the map All Might had provided them. They had five minutes to memorize the layout and come up with a plan to use against Bakugo and iida. Uraraka stretched, much more relaxed than Izuku.

      “At least we don’t have to worry about getting expelled this time.” She said giving the building a look over. She frowned as she caught sight of the green haired boy’s pensive expression.

     “What’s wrong Deku?” He looked up and shook himself out of his thoughts.

     “Nothing really… just… I’ve kinda been avoiding Kac-Bakugo for a pretty long while. He’s probably pretty pissed by now.” He said with sheepish smile. At his partner’s look of concern Izuku hastened to reassure her.

     “It’ll be okay though; he’ll come straight for me. When he does, you go find the bomb, when you find it radio me and we’ll wing it from there. Unless you have anything you wanted to try out?” Uraraka shrugged.

      “I’d rather not leave you alone with Bakugo, but your plan is more likely to actually work. How big a chance do we have of winning do you think?” She asked. Izuku frowned.

     “I don’t know, my… ability is good for speed and maneuverability; but I’m not very good at using it in enclosed spaces yet. If I had to face off against Iida there might be trouble, but only if he doesn’t have the same issues as me. I know Bakugo, so I have a pretty good idea of what he’ll do and how to counter him. Which is why I’ll be the bait.” A chime went off, and All Might spoke through their earpieces announcing that the trial has officially begun. Izuku took a deep breath and popped a dying will pill in his mouth. Uraraka ooed at the at the bright orange flames that ignited on his forehead.

     They decided to fly- and float- up and enter the building through a window instead of going through the front door. With any luck it would give them an advantage, the bomb was likely to be on a higher floor, so long as no one took his ability to fly into account. They found a conveniently broken window they could fit through on the west side of the building and slipped through.

      “When Bakugo finds us, try and see where he came from. I’ll lead him as far away as possible.” He whispered to his partner who nodded with a serious expression. It wasn’t long before they heard Bakugo’s footsteps from above. Uraraka gave a thumbs up and kept herself close to the wall while they waited. Bakugo rounded the corner and threw out a strong right hook to take Izuku off guard, but the other boy was ready; ducking under the swing and executing an expert flip that left the blond on his back gasping for air.

      “Get going!” He shouted to Uraraka while pulling out his capture tape. The brunette was already dashing past and going the way Bakugo came. Bakugo shot up and threw another punch, pulling short and jumping out of range when he noticed Izuku trying to wrap the capture tape around his wrist. They both stood still, sizing each other up.

     “Was it funny to you? Pretending all this time?” The blond asked, Izuku frowned.

     “What are you talking about?” He asked. Bakugo glared, lunging at Izuku with a roar. The green haired boy dodged every explosion as he jumped out of Bakugo’s reach, infuriating the boy even more.

     “All this time you were just laughing! Pretending you didn’t have a quirk until you could rub it in my face!” He used his explosion to get under Izuku’s guard only for his swing to be blocked. Izuku kicked the blond away and put more distance between them.

     “Of course not! It’s not like that Kacchan!”

    “Bullshit! You’ve always been looking down on me!” Bakugo shouted, using Izuku’s momentary confusion to land a solid hit to his stomach. Izuku barely reacted to the blow, grabbing Bakugo’s arm to hold him in place and smashing his own forehead against the Blonds. There was a loud crack and both fell back, dazed. Izuku was the first to recover.

     “I’ve never looked down on you!” He shouted before quickly disappearing around a corner. Bakugo shook his head roughly to get rid of the lingering dizziness. He growled angrily in the now empty hallway..

     “Get back here Deku you Coward!”

     Uraraka found the weapon on the fifth floor, along with Iida, who was getting very into character. She managed to sneak in and hide behind a pillar while the armoured villain was muttering to himself, but she couldn’t help the burst of laughter when her classmate practiced his evil laugh. She gulped when he turned his sights on her.

     “Well, well, well… If it isn’t infinity girl. Looks like you’re here all alone; is my partner keeping your friend busy?” he asked but continued speaking without waiting for an answer. “It’s just too bad I was prepared for you!” He swept his hands out grandly, taking in the entire room which was practically sparkling.

      “I know you use your quirk to make things float, so I made this place spick and span! There’s nothing here for you to use against me! Muhahahahahahaha!” Iida said evilly, advancing slowly on the gravity heroine for intimidation purposes. Uraraka backed away, calling Deku on her communicator.

      “Uhhh… Deku, I found the bomb…” Her partner sounded alright when he responded.

      “That’s good. Where is it?”

      “Center west room fifth floor, but there’s a problem; Iida was ready for me.” Deku frowned. He was hiding on the fourth floor, in a hallway.

      “I’m nearby on the fourth floor. I can try to get to you, but Bakugo is still after me.”

      “What’s the plan boss?” Uraraka asked. Izuku gave a wry smile as he thought for a moment.

       “I have a few plans. One of them is really risky and will probably make us lose a lot of points.
We’ll save that for last…” Izuku stood and quickly made his way to the room directly below Uraraka and Iida, filling her in on his plans as he did.

       “Got it.” Uraraka confirmed just as Bakugo found him.

       “Found you…” he said with a sinister grin “Even with that flashy quirk all you’re good for is running away.” Deku didn’t say anything, his eyes darted about looking for possible exits.

       “Still trying to run? Give it up Deku and face me already!” Izuku shook his head.

      “You’re predictable as ever Kacchan. Why should I fight you?” Bakugo frowned.

      “You think I’m predictable? Can you predict what these do?” He asked, lifting his arm and showing off one of the gauntlets. Izuku didn’t answer, though he had his suspicions.

      “These gauntlets store my sweat. With these I can make bigger and better explosions. Do you think you can dodge this?” With that the blond aimed and pulled the pin. Izuku could vaguely here All Might yelling through Bakugo’s earpiece while he threw up his own wall of fire to protect him from the blast. His hasty barrier work and Izuku was left blinking away the bright spots in his vision.

      “Bakugo, if you use that attack again I will halt the exercise and you will fail!” The blond gave an annoyed sound.

      “Tch, Fine, I don’t need it to kick his ass anyway.” He advanced on Izuku. The other boy was busy thinking. He and Uraraka were running out of time. Uraraka was effectively useless at this time and if they went with Izuku’s final plan and used Kacchan’s last gauntlet to explode a hole in the ceiling They would lose points or maybe even forfeit the match. His eyes flickered, and stayed on the exit behind Bakugo. The blond followed his gaze and scowled.

      “Still trying to escape? I won’t let you.” He said, moving to intercept while Izuku charged his flames. It was a feint and Bakugo could only watch as Izuku propelled himself back and out of the hole Bakugo had created in the wall. With a scream of rage Bakugo turned and ran.

      Uraraka and Iida both turned to the windows as Izuku burst through with the sound of shattering glass. With only a moment’s hesitation Iida rushed to intercept him.

      “Ah, Midoriya you’ve decided to join us. Too bad for you I will be taking victory! We will prove here and now who is the fastest!” Izuku didn’t answer, instead he continued to try to get past Iida’s speedy defense.
     

“Give it up Midoriya! Time is nearly up and you cannot get past me!” He said just as the buzzer went off.

      “Heroes win!” Was heard just as Bakugo entered the room. Iida froze in shock and turned to the fake explosive. Uraraka stood there with a small grin, finger pressed against the bomb.

      “Did you forget about me?” Iida fell to his knees.

     “How could I have been so foolish!” The flame on Izuku’s forehead went out and he gave a sheepish laugh.

     “People tend to focus on the bigger threat in the room.” He explained to Iida, it didn’t seem to help.

     “Please return to the class so that we can critique your performances.” Izuku offered Iida a hand and helped the armoured boy to his feet. The four walked back to the class, Bakugo trailing behind.

      The rest of class A greeted the hero team with congratulations and Iida with compliments on his villain persona and ‘better luck next time’s which he accepted graciously. All Might stood in front of the monitors, beaming proudly.

      “Fantastic work dear students, wonderful! Granted, there were plenty of mistakes made but that’s the whole point of these exercises, so that you can all learn from your mistakes in a safe environment. I think I’m going to open the floor to your fellow students. There is nothing quite like a peer review session after all! Anyone like to point out what went wrong?” Yaoyorozu raised her hand.

      “Uraraka didn’t have any countermeasures against Iida’s plan. She became a sitting duck when she couldn’t use her quirk and had to rely on Midoriya. She likely would have lost had Midoriya already been captured or unable to get to her in time.” Hagakure spoke next.

     “Iida was too distracted by Midoriya to notice Uraraka go for the bomb!” All Might nodded.

     “That’s right miss Hagakure! While Midoriya appeared as the bigger threat at the time it is important to remain aware of your surroundings when you fight.” Todoroki raised his hand.

     “Bakugo seemed to prioritize a personal grudge over his mission to protect the package.” Izuku glanced nervously at Kacchan, who simply gritted his teeth, glare fixed firmly ahead.

    “That’s good. He also didn’t value teamwork with his partner for this activity. Midoriya, I commend you for your quick thinking and ability to plan for multiple contingencies on the fly. As for Bakugo.” All Might’s gaze grew serious “Much like your partner you neglected to take your surroundings into account. Using that large scale explosion could have brought the whole building down around you, not only is that dangerous to yourself and others, it is a stupid thing for a villain to do to his own base.” He lectured. Bakugo said nothing, only giving a stiff nod.

      The rest of the matches passed with far less dramatics. The only other incident was Todoroki freezing an entire building. Izuku took borderline obsessive notes on every match. Everyone had amazing quirks that they knew how to use so well. Aizawa had been correct when he said everyone had potential. During one of the matches Uraraka nudged him.

       “I’ve been wondering… how did you know what Bakugo’s gauntlets did before he used them?” She leaned in to ask. Izuku stared at her blankly.

      “I… don’t know, I just did.” Izuku said, sneaking a glance at Kacchan, who was still staring intently at the screens. The blond hadn’t made a sound since their match, instead he seemed to be deep in thought. Izuku frowned. Something inside of him said he needed to clear the air with the blond, that he’d been putting it off for far too long.

      He had to run to catch up to Bakugo after school, leaving Uraraka and Iida behind with a flimsy excuse.

     “Kacchan!” He shouted catching up to the blond near the front entrance. He froze at the nickname and turned to face Izuku with a subdued glare.

     “What the fuck do you want Deku?”

     “I’ve been avoiding this- you- for too long. I need you to know I never lied to you. I never hid a quirk… actually my ability isn’t even a quirk at all.” Bakugo frowned.

      “Then what is it?” Izuku swallowed.

     “I… can’t tell you that.” He admitted.

     “Then how did you activate it?”

     “I won’t tell you that.” Izuku said, looking away and hunching his shoulders. Bakugo barked out bitter laugh.

     “So, I’ve been trying to hunt you down for answers for weeks and now when I want to be left the fuck alone you bring me this half assed shit? Fuck off. It doesn’t even matter anymore. It doesn’t matter if you have a quirk or you’re a fucking magical girl. I lost to you and all those other chucklefucks in class are just as good! I got comfortable with my ability because no one else could measure up. Then I got thrown into the lake and I’m not so big anymore. But not anymore. I’ll be at the top again, and I’ll keep going so just you wait!” He said, determination shining in his eyes.

      “It looks like my pep talk wasn’t necessary after all!” All Might declared as he arrived on the scene.

      “Damn right it ain’t! I’ll be coming for your spot as #1 next so don’t get comfortable!” He yelled before stalking away. All Might laughed.

      “I’ll look forward to it.” Izuku sighed relieved Kacchan was back to normal.

      “I must thank you, young Midoriya for helping young Bakugo regain his spirit. From what I heard during the battle trial your relationship doesn’t seem too good.” All Might commented. Izuku gave a warm smile, almost indulgent.

     “Our relationship is… complicated. He hates me, but I still care about him. I’m like my dad that way.”
Back at home, Izuku finished telling his mom and Reborn about his day and the incident with Bakugo. Of course Reborn already knew about it. He hacked into the computers and watched. Izuku asked him about Uraraka’s question.

      “You don’t even know that much? You really are Deku. It’s your Hyper Intuition.”

       “But it didn’t feel the way it usually did.” Deku said. Reborn rolled his eyes.

       “Because you were in Dying Will Mode. As you should remember Dying Will releases external limiters in exchange for limiting your ability to think and focus on more than one goal. You’ve trained to be able to function more normally with it active but it still causes you to hyper focus. Things like what your hyper intuition is saying and how to recognize it falls to the side, but it’s still there. You instinctively knew because you picked up on it. The weight of the gauntlets, the sound of liquid inside, the shift in it as it moves etc. Your Dad had similar experiences while in dying will mode and he never achieved the level of awareness you did.” Deku nodded. Hearing about his dad reminded him he needed to talk to him soon. He was still thinking about whoever was already flame active in his class. His father would know what to do.

Chapter Text

           “What are All Might’s classes like? How is he as a teacher?” Izuku stared into the reporter’s camera lens like a deer in the headlights. He hadn’t expected the press to crowd the school’s entrance so quickly.
          “No comment. I would like to go to class now please.” He said, awkwardly trying to push past them all.
         “How many classes have you had with the number 1 hero?” they continued to ask.
          “No comment.” Izuku looked up when he finally reached the gate, relieved to see his homeroom teacher glaring at the reporters as he slipped past and into the school.
          “All Might isn’t here today. You are harassing our students and disrupting the peace. Leave.” Many of the reporters stepped back, intimidated by the tired man. One woman remained undaunted and stepped forward.
          “He must be here! Let us get an interview with him! Tell me what he’s like as a fellow teacher!” Aizawa sighed, stepping back under the gate and onto U.A property. The woman tried to follow. With a loud crash, several thick metal barriers slammed into place; the reporter jumped back with a yelp. A few of the other reporters laughed.
          “You must be new to this. That’s U.A’s famous security system. The barrier slams shut on anyone without a security pass.” An older reporter told her.
Uraraka gave Izuku an understanding look as he slipped into the classroom.
           “Did you get caught by reporters too?” She leaned over to whisper. He nodded. Aizawa arrived shortly after.
           “I suppose most of you were accosted outside by the press. For the future, ‘No comment’ will be your favourite phrase, along with ‘this is harassment’ and ‘I do not consent to this interview’. Now, we have something important to do…” Aizawa started. The class froze, waiting for whatever fresh hell their homeroom teacher might have in store for them.
           “You all have to appoint a class president.” There was a collective sigh of relief, ‘finally, something normal’ they all thought. Their teacher rolled his eyes.
           “I don’t care how you do it, just elect someone before the bell rings.” With that said, Aizawa took up residence in a corner of the room, crawled into his sleeping bag, and took a nap. The room erupted into quiet chaos. No one dared be too loud, for fear of disturbing their teacher. Being class president in the hero course was an important position and would look good on their record. Everyone was willing to throw their hat into the ring. It was Iida who finally spoke up over the whispered argument.
            “Everyone listen! The position of class president is a task heavy with responsibility! You must bear the burden of your fellow classmates, just because you would like to do it does not mean you can! It is a holy office that requires the great esteem and trust of those around you! The only truly worthy leader will emerge from a democratic choice reflecting the will of the people; which is why this must be settled by a vote!” Iida whispered passionately, his choppy hand gestures displaying his conviction. The rest of the class exchanged bewildered glances.
            “That’s all well and good Iida, but we’ve only been a class for a few days. That’s not a lot of time to get to know each other.” Asui-the girl with the frog quirk- said.
           “Yeah man, everyone will just end up voting for themselves anyway so what’s the point?” Kirishima added. Iida shook his head, smirking.
           “If that does end up being the case then we’ll think of something else. However, wouldn’t that be precisely why the person who got the most votes be the best person for the job?” The class murmured their assent, they would put it to a vote.
          While most people did in fact vote for themselves, and therefore received one vote, Midoriya won with three votes while yaoyorozu got two votes of her  own. Iida was devastated, as was Izuku.
          “Well, you guys figured it out. Congratulations Midoriya and Yaoyorozu president and Vice president. Now goodbye.” Aizawa said as he roused from his nap, gathered his sleeping bag, and left the room. Their next class was english.
          Lunch time saw Iida, Izuku, and Uraraka eating together at a table. Izuku sighed, poking at his food with his chopsticks.
        “What’s wrong Midoriya? Shouldn’t you be pleased you were voted president?” Iida asked, brow wrinkled in concern.
         “It’s just that… I’m busy enough as it is with my studies, and besides my tutor will make this experience a living hell for me.” Izuku morosely poked his food some more.
         “you mentioned having a tutor before. So, what is he really like?” Uraraka asked, hoping to distract him from his woes.
        “I didn’t know you had tutor.” Iida commented.
        “umm, yeah, Reborn is… Interesting.” Uraraka raised an eyebrow, silently urging him to continue.
        “He tutored my father and a couple of my uncles. He’s good at his job, but he’s very… eccentric and spartan.” More like demonic and sadistic, but Izuku kept that to himself.
         “A family tutor? Wow your family sounds prestigious.”
         “I really wouldn’t say that…”
         “Don’t be shy Midoriya! I myself come from a long line of heroes.” Iida said. It wasn’t said in a boastful tone which almost made it worse.
          “I thought your armour during training looked familiar…” Iid puffed his chest out in pride.
         “Yes! My armour is modeled after Ingenium’s. He’s my older brother and the hero I most look up to!” This time he was boasting.
          “Oh wow! I think this is the first time Iida’s smiled in front of us!” Uraraka teased. Iida pinkened.
          “What do you mean? I smile plenty.” Uraraka gave a sly grin.
          “I assure you, this is the first time.” Iida coughed uncomfortably and changed the subject.
          “and- and what are your families like?” Uraraka took pity and answered him.
           “It’s just me and my folks. Mama and Papa live out in the boonies so I’m renting an apartment close by.” She explained.
            “I have a big family. But they mostly live and work overseas so I don’t get to see them very often. It’s mostly just my mom and I home.” Izuku turned to Uraraka “If you ever get to lonely or want something to eat you can come over to our place. Mom loves a busy house.” He offered.
             A siren began to blare loudly, throwing the lunch room into confused chaos.
           “security level three breach. Students please evacuate immediately.” Chirped a robotic voice.
           “What’s security level three?”
           “Someone’s broken in to the school!”
          The evacuation was complete and utter chaos. Students were falling all over themselves, and others in their haste to get out. It didn’t take long for Izuku to become separated from his friends. He opened his mouth to call out, but shut it quickly when a cold chill of foreboding swept through him. He could just barely hear Iida calling out over the panicked students that it was only the press, but he was already tearing down a deserted hallway. The last door on the left was where the feeling was strongest. He got there in time to see a flicker of movement, but when he reached the open doorway there was no one there. The room looked untouched. Papers neat and orderly atop the desk, but he knew they had been touched. The computer monitor displayed a warning. Too many incorrect password entries. His eyes narrowed and he returned to the original hallway and looked out the window.
            The teachers were busy pushing back a horde of paparazzi with the aid of the police. The strong metal gate hung in tatters. Piles of dust on the ground as if the gate had just… crumbled. What member of the press had a quirk like that? And why would they make themselves an enemy of U.A? Something was very wrong here.
             “Umm… so, in light of what happened during lunch I would like to step down as class president and nominate Iida for the position instead.” Izuku’s proposition was met with nods of agreement and comments about Iida’s performance at lunch.
             “He did something really cool out there after all.”
             “He looked like the guy from the exit sign.”
              “Yeah! Exit sign Iida!” Aizawa sighed. Iida stood and cleared his throat.
               “In that case I would be honoured to stand as your class president.”
              “Fine, good, great. Can we move on now? What are the main foundations of heroics and how is that different from the heroics industry….”
               Izuku was distracted during training that night. Reborn definitely noticed. Izuku was -after all- his most willing student and focused well in training. This won’t do at all. The hitman called a halt to training.
               “what’s the problem this time?” he asked. Izuku opened his mouth, and automatic denial on his tongue before he paused.
               “something happened today at school. The press breaking in was just a distraction, someone was looking for information and I don’t know what to do about it.”
               “And you don’t want to tell anyone?” He shrugged.
              “I would just be dismissed.”
               “Then do it anonymously.” Reborn said obviously.
               “How?”
             “How would you do it?” Reborn prompted, making a lesson out of it. Izuku pursed his lips in thought.
              “Can I ask one of the hackers in the tech department to send it anonymously?”
               “They are your Famiglia.”
              That night, Nedzu received a strange untraceable email:
Your school has been compromised. The press break in was merely a distraction for someone to take a look at your files. Be extra vigilant from now on.

Chapter Text

            The next few days passed quietly, though Izuku noted that the teachers seemed to be more alert than usual. However, no sooner had they entered Class 1A, Aizawa had announced that they were going on a little field trip.

            "Get changed and meet me outside. You can wear your costumes, or not. I don't care." The students looked to each other and shrugged. Izuku decided not to wear his costume. He was waiting on the redesign anyway. He took his gloves and goggles and headed outside.

             He was the first to join Aizawa near the bus. Everyone else more than happy to take advantage of getting to wear their costumes again. The teacher didn't pay him much mind other than a small nod. They waited in silence for the rest of the class to arrive. The rest of the class finally arrived shepherded out by Iida who was trying to get everyone to form a single file line based on seat numbers.

             "Just get on the bus already." Aizawa ordered tiredly, stepping onto the bus himself. Izuku found himself sandwiched between Asui Tsuyu and Kirishima Eijirou as the bus drove down a nondescript road. He did his best to ignore the feeling of Asui's eyes on him but could only last so long before he finally turned to face her. She took this as an invitation to begin speaking.

             "Your quirk is more than just a run of the mill fire quirk isn't it?" She asked. Izuku gave a nervous laugh.

             "What do you mean?"

             "I've never heard of a quirk that controls the fire's temperature. It's quite unique. Not to mention the way you use it to propel yourself is rather interesting."

             "Oh, yeah I guess so... How did you know?"

             "You don't leave scorch marks behind. I noticed during our live training session and during the fitness test." She said rather bluntly. Izuku blinked it surprise.

             "I didn't realize anyone was paying that much attention... You're really observant Asui." He marveled.

             "Call me Tsu. I'm observant, but I've been told I'm a bit too blunt for most peoples' taste." Izuku smiled.

             "I don't think so." He told her. Kirishima leaned over to join in.

            "It's super manly to be honest like that Asui! Plus, that was super cool! I didn't notice anything about Midoriya." The froggish girl gave a slow blink.

            "Call me Tsu. How come you have such good control over your fire Midori?" Izuku blinked.

            "I just don't want to end up hurting anyone, I guess. It's just instinct you know?" Tsuyu nodded sagely.

            "It's still a very useful ability. It would certainly help to avoid accidental casualties in hero work. There are some here who will undoubtedly have more than a few accidents." She said with a pointed look at Kacchan Who exploded to his own defense.

             "You talking about me Frog Chick!?" Tsuyu didn't react to his volume and simply met his eyes head on.

             "Nobody else here nearly brought a building down on themselves." She said, matter of factly.

             "It might be too early to say, but I think we've found the future Mr. Property Damage already don't you think?" Kaminari interjected, leaning over the railing that separated his seat from the rest of the group. Kacchan rounded on the blond as most of the class laughed.

             "What did you say, you loser?"

             "Keep up that attitude and you won't be popular at all Mr. Property Damage." Kaminari tsked and wagged his finger at the explosive teen. It was a surreal moment for Izuku. Watching their classmates fearlessly gang up in teasing Kacchan. It would have never happened at their old school, everyone too afraid or in awe of Kacchan to even think of it. Uraraka leaned forward.

             "So, you and Bakugo have known each other for a long time huh?" She asked while Tsuyu and Kaminari continued to tease Kacchan, Ashido and Sero deciding to join in.

             "Yeah... Since we were like three? Our moms are really close."

             "So, when did he become.... That?" The brunette asked with a vague gesture to Kacchan, snapping like a wild dog and Kaminari and the others. Izuku watched him for a moment and shrugged.

             "He was nice for a few years." The bus slowed to a stop in front of a huge building and opened its' doors for the students to file out and gawk at the large white building. Aizawa was the last to leave the vehicle and made his way past the students to stand in front of the building.

             "This is the building where we will be performing most of our rescue and disaster drills."

         "It looks like Universal Studios Japan." Aizawa's eye twitched.

           "It is the Unforeseen Situation Joint. USJ for short."

            "For real?" Aizawa sighed.

            "Just get inside." As the class headed for the door, they heard the roaring of an engine and a far-off voice screaming.

            "WAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTT" A motorbike pulled up, drifting to a hard stop in front of the building. The rider quickly removed his helmet revealing a young-looking face and green streaked blue hair. Aizawa frowned at the newcomer.

            "What are you doing here?" The newcomer sighed.

            "All Might got held back, so Nedzu sent me instead." He told the other man before turning to the assembled children with an awkward grin.

            "Hello everyone. I'm Sprout. I teach homeroom for the business department I'll be your substitute teacher today." he introduced himself with a polite bow. Izuku frowned. It seemed odd, but it was probably a good idea to keep All Might close to the school just in case.

            "Alright then. Let's go meet your other surprise instructor." Aizawa said. Thirteen was waiting for them inside. The USJ was even more incredible on the inside. The space was huge; a large central plaza leading to all sorts of different landscapes and disasters, including a cityscape devastated by a landslide and a giant lake with a cruise ship floating in it.

            "I see you've already heard about All Might; you know how Nedzu can get." Thirteen greeted the two adults with a three fingered wave and Aizawa nodded sourly. Sprout gave a wry smile.

            "I'm sure we can handle a few rescue trials." He said. Izuku shivered and frowned. Nothing seemed out of place.

            "Hello students. As some of you may know, I am Thirteen and The USJ here is my pride and joy. A few other teachers and I put months of work into getting this place up and running; thinking of any possible disaster scenario we could think of to allow you students to gain valuable experience before you get out into the field. Before we get started, I just have three things to go over with you all before we get started... or four... or five..." Thirteen trailed off as the number kept increasing.

            "Just tell them what you want to." Aizawa said. Thirteen seemed to gather themself and nodded.

           "Right well, I'll start by explaining my quirk and how it works. My quirk is called Black Hole; I can create black holes that will suck up anything in my path. I mostly use it to clean up rubble from disaster sites, but it can be very dangerous if uncontrolled. It can kill people if I'm not very careful." The crowd was silent, something looking down at themselves with new eyes

           "Yes, everyone here could seriously harm or kill someone with their quirks. But I'm not here to make you afraid of them; in fact, I'm here to do the exact opposite. You've already had live combat training, now I want to show you how you can use your quirk to be a hero without violence! I want you all to leave here today with the knowledge that your quirks do not exist only to hurt others." There was silence for a moment before the class applauded Thirteen's speech. Aizawa called the class back to order. As the class fell silent, Izuku's earlier shiver returned with a vengeance and a warning wrenching in his chest. He paled dramatically and whipped around to stare into the plaza where the air above the fountain began to waver.

           "Somethings wrong." He warned, turning to Aizawa who looked at him in surprise. The man frowned and followed his gaze which had returned to the fountain. Sure enough the waver had changed to a small black tear that was growing wider. Aizawa cursed.

          "Kids, head for the exit." He ordered. The tear was already large enough for a person- a villain- to step through.

          "Villains are attacking. Thirteen, back them up, Sprout and I will hold them off." The unknown hero nodded seriously as he stepped forward and raised his hands. The trees lining the staircase down to the plaza shuddered and began to grow, creating a shield between the students and what was quickly becoming an army of villains. When the final villain- a hulking monstrosity with an exposed brain and bulbous, vacant eyes- exited the portal it turned into a cloud of mist with two glowing eyes at the side of the first villain to emerge, a thin pale man with hands covering his body. Izuku shrank back a bit as the man looked around as if searching for something.

          "Where's All Might... Damn, is the plan ruined already? And there's an unexpected hero too..." The man said, scratching at his neck. The mist villain next to him followed his gaze up to the gathered students and heroes.

          "Shall I enquire about his whereabouts?"

          "Yeah sure." The Mist disappeared. Eraserhead had already jumped into battle while Thirteen ushered the children to the open exit, hurrying as the exit began to slowly close. Someone must have hacked into the systems and initiated lockdown. Sprout provided support to both heroes, shielding the students and using the plants in the plaza to trip up or entrap villains. The Mist warped passed the shielding plant life straight in front of the vulnerable students and stared down at them with glowing yellow eyes.

         "Pardon me, but All Might was supposed to be here, was he not? Where might he be?" Thirteen wasted no time in deploying their quirk against the cloud of mist. even as Izuku shouted out, Intuition guiding him.

        "Watch out!" Thirteen had barely any time to shut off their quirk before a warp gate was opening behind them and sending their own power back at them. While they avoided grievous injury, it did damage their suit. Thirteen wouldn't be able to fight anytime soon.

        "Hm, disappointing, I had hoped to completely take you out." The villain said. Sprout frowned, his attention split too much by maintaining the barrier and assisting Eraserhead to even try anything against the interloper. Izuku frowned and looked to Iida, then back to the warp villain. This could work.

        "Iida" he whispered "you need to get outside and go get help. run as fast as you can to the school and tell the other teachers. or pull the alarms." Iida looked aghast, the thought of leaving his classmates to face off against the villainous horde alone unthinkable. Izuku grabbed his shoulder and shook his head.

        "I know what you're thinking, but this is the best way you could possibly help us. You're the only one who can do this, so go." Izuku could already hazard a guess on how this villain's quirk operates. Iida clenched his jaw and nodded, and the revving of his engines was the only warning the villain had before he was tearing towards the closing doorway with incredible speed. The villain cursed and sent out an arm of mist to try to catch the boy. Izuku nodded, his hypothesis proven correct, the villain could make exit points anywhere, but the entrance points had to be attached to his own body. He almost reached him but was blown back by Kacchan and Kirishima rushing towards him with war cries. The villain tsked in annoyance.

       "You children are more of a nuisance than I had expected. No matter, we had plans for you all anyway."

       "Get back!" Izuku shouted as he pushed a few of his classmates out of the area that was quickly filling with mist, he could vaguely hear screams and the sound of Sprout cursing before he was swallowed up. And then he was falling. The portal opened high above the lake. He could hear at least one other, screaming as they fell towards the water.

        Izuku didn't have time to fumble out his pill case before he hit the water. He peeled his eyes opened and searched for the surface. Instead there was a man with a grinning shark like face swimming towards him at high speed. Izuku let out a short scream, bubbles cascading from his mouth towards the surface. He tried to swim away as fast as he could, but there was no way he would be able to out swim the shark man. He was saved by a long pink tongue wrapping around his middle and yanking him backwards. He broke the surface of the water and was thrown onto the ship in the center of the lake. Mineta was already there, shaking and sniveling. While he was busy catching his breath Tsuyu climbed onto the ship and sat with her back to the railing.

         "Thanks for the save Tsu." Izuku gave her a wry smile. She only nodded and peeked over the boat and down to the water below.

         "I counted 8 villains, all with aquatic based quirks." Mineta squeaked.

         "Aren't we all doomed then?" Izuku and Tsuyu looked over at the purple headed boy before turning back to each other.

        "Our best option is to get out of here, rather than engage the enemy. You're the only one here who can be on an even playing field with them here." Tsuyu nodded.

        "Which is odd isn't it? Why would they send me here out of all the students and places?"

        "I've thought of that too. With my flames I can easily fly myself out of here. They should have put me in an enclosed area like those buildings we saw."

        "They must not know what our quirks are then." Izuku nodded.

        "They must have thought we would be too inexperienced to get in their way." Too bad for them, this was like a regular Tuesday with Reborn around.

        "If we were to escape how much weight would you be able to carry with you?" Tsuyu asked. Izuku frowned in thought.

        "My Dad was able to fly a busload at my age. He had a bit more practice, but I should be able to lift you two. The landing won't be smooth by any means though." Tsuyu nodded.

        "I do think we should take care of these villains first though, so they don't follow us." She said. Mineta stared agape to the two of them with shock and fear.

       "Are you crazy!? Let's just get out of here! Midoriya, Flame On and let's get back to the teachers!" He begged while Izuku gave a considering look to the villains waiting impatiently down below.

       "No, I think Tsu is right. We should take care of these guys here and now." Mineta was crying by now.

       "Are you both crazy!? We're only students!" Tsuyu gave Izuku a small smile.

       "You thought of something didn't you?" Izuku nodded and turned to Mineta with a serious expression.

       "I'll need your help to do it though." The purple boy looked shocked at that.

       "Me?" Izuku nodded and told them his plan.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

       Sprout felt like a burden. He cursed the villain for sending him to the conflagration zone. He wasn't very well known as a hero, but obviously the villains had done their research on the teachers at UA. They didn't for the students though, as Ojiro and Tokoyami didn't seem too bothered by the extreme heat or wild blazes. Of course, they were still up against several villains, all with fire-based quirks. They'd also done their research on this building. The plant hero was willing to bet they had found villains who were well suited for every field to help them take down the heroes and children. He bit his lip as he carefully analyzed the situation. The kids were holding their own well enough, but they were slowly but surely being pushed back by the overwhelming power and experience of their adult adversaries. They would lose eventually, and the villains were not about to spare their lives. Sprout knew enough martial arts to get by, but he did rely on his quirk quite a lot. For his quirk to work he needed two things; water, and a source of nutrients. For that reason, he kept water and soil stashed on his person. But growing anything in this fire would be almost impossible. All except...

      Sprout opened a small red pouch on his belt and pulled out two small seeds, and a blade. With a deep breath he quickly made a small slit in each of his arms and sowed the seeds into them. He gritted his teeth as he activated his quirk and the seeds quickly took root in his body, feeding on his blood.

      "Get back kids, I didn't wanna do this but it's my turn." The three boys turned to the business class teacher and watched as thorny, red tinged vines sprouted from the man's body and writhed angrily around him. They wisely stepped back and hid behind the substitute. The villains laughed as the man approached them.

      "You're seriously going to use plants against us? It must be true what they say about the staff at U.A; madder than a bag of cats!" Sprout gave a dry chuckle as the vines curled around his form.

       "I know, when I was just getting started as a hero I had so much trouble against fire quirks that I spent months developing these babies. I've never used them in quite this situation so I doubt I'll last long; but that doesn't matter, as long as I can take you guys out first." With that Sprout commanded the vines to attack, shooting them forward with a whip crack as they tried to ensnare the enemies in their thorny grasp. They dodged the burst of flames and glowing hands aimed towards them and managed to wrap around one of the villain's arms. The man wrenched away from it, leaving surprisingly deep gashes that bled sluggishly. The villain laughed at the damage and turned to the hero.

        "Is that really all you got?" He asked, readying another blast of fire. Sprout said nothing, he only smirked and counted under his breath as the vines shot off after the other villains. Sweat was pouring down his paling face. the vines managed to find two more of their targets wrapping tightly around a distracted woman like a boa constrictor while the other vine snagged another by their wrist. The first villain was still laughing as his nose began to bleed.

        "My vines have two functions. They feed off my blood to survive. If they get a good grip, they can also take root in another person" He nodded to the woman, whose eyes widened in panic as the thorns pierced through her clothes "which takes the burden off me a bit and increases my range. If they can't get a good grip, they introduce a potent toxin into the bloodstream which incapacitates its victims. You'll all be unconscious shortly." The last villain tried to flee, but made the mistake of running past the bound woman. A new branch of vines exploded from the occupied vine and wrapped tightly around the man's torso. The other two had already fallen in a dead faint, foaming at the mouth. Sprout wiped the sweat from his face and turned to the students with a grin. They only stared at his ghostly pale face with concern.

        "Alright well, what do you say we get out of here?" They could only nod as his free vine picked up the last two villains and he turned to lead them out, dragging the bodies behind him. When they got outside, their teacher collapsed into the grassy hill next to the building, his vines releasing the unconscious villains. Tokoyami and Ojiro gave the bodies nervous glances.

        "Are they going to wake up and attack?" Ojiro asked. Sprout laughed as he carefully dug the roots of his vines out of his skin.

       "Nah, that stuff doesn't wear off for a long while. But if it makes you feel better, I'll tie them up." The grass around the unconscious group stirred, growing up and around them, wrapping them up tight while Tokoyami and Ojiro watched in awe. Sprout didn't seem to even look up as he used his quirk, instead digging around in one of the many pouches he kept strapped to his belt. He seemed to find what he was looking for, four round little seeds which he quickly dug a hole for and dropped them inside. Then he grabbed the canteen strapped to the other side and dumped out its entire contents onto the small mound of dirt. The seeds quickly grew sprouting from the dirt and becoming bulbous plants. Soon a small grove of fully formed cacti was in front of Sprout who pulled a trench knife from his boot and cut the top off three of them. He stabbed a hole in the center one and water poured out and into the cactus tops. He handed two cups of water off to Tokoyami and Ojiro.

        "Here, drink there's nothing better for heat exposure than cactus water." He took the last one and gulped it down. He definitely needed to replace his blood some. He didn't think he'd be much good to anyone right now. The two students shared a glance but followed the substitute's example.

        "How do you think the others are faring?" Ojiro whispered to Tokoyami, who shook his head.

        "Who can tell? Unlike us, they wouldn't have the support of a teacher. I do hope they're alright though."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

        "Everyone good on the plan?" Midoriya asked one more time. Tsuyu and Mineta nodded.

        "Good. Let's get started then." He pulled on his goggles and switched on his headset. A loud cheery beep and LED images announced the gear powering up. The first message read NO CONNECTION BASIC PROGRAM LOADED. Izuku sighed. He'd expected all radio transmissions were cut off; but he had hoped that maybe he would still be able to contact Reborn or support with his headset. Tsuyu whistled, impressed.

        "I'm surprised those things still work after being dunked like that." Izuku smiled.

        "It wouldn't be very good if a little water could wreck them so easily." He popped a pill into his mouth and let the familiar warm feeling of his flames wash over him before he leapt high into the sky. The villains looked up in shock as he flew high above them.

        "Input Command." A computerized feminine voice sounded in his headset.

        "Initiate X Burner, Air."

        "Understood, Calculating Trajectory and Power." The lenses of his goggles filled with gauges and graphed angles. Izuku studied them carefully. He couldn't afford to mess up this time.

        "Calculations Complete. Ready to Launch Sir." Izuku followed the instructions on his screen very carefully as he aimed down towards the water. He let his power gather as ha hovered frozen in the air.

        "X Burner: Air." It was a bit silly to announce attack names, but it did make him feel better as the explosion of flames flew up into the sky and down to the water below. The whole of USJ must have seen that as the energy beam impacted with the water. Steam hissed as the force of it created a whirlpool from which the villains could not escape. Mineta kept to the plan and began quickly pulling spheres from his head and throwing them down into the water below. As the mist cleared, it revealed the villains stuck together and struggling in the center of where the whirlpool used to be. Tsuyu sent him a thumbs up as she grabbed Mineta and jumped into the now calm lake. Izuku followed them from the air to the shore beside the plaza. He landed a few yards away and swam quietly to Tsuyu and Mineta. The flame on his forehead went out, his task accomplished.

        Half hidden in the water they watched as Aizawa fought bravely against a horde of villains. His skills were amazing; but Izuku could see the man was tiring. His limbs were shaking, and the time between activating his quirk was becoming shorter and shorter. Unfortunately, the villain noticed as well. He simply watched for a while, counting under his breath, waiting for the right moment to strike. That moment came all to soon as the pale villain covered in hands suddenly shot forward to strike out at their homeroom teacher who was soon overwhelmed by the man's surprising speed. He managed to catch Aizawa's elbow. Izuku watched in horror as fabric and skin turned to dust, revealing naked muscle before his teacher managed to leap away and blood dripped from his arm. Izuku's gut wrenched and his hand grabbed for the pill case in his pocket. He quietly pulled out two. Tsuyu frowned.

        "You can't be thinking of going out there. That guy's dangerous."

        "Sensei needs help." He swallowed both at once. Tsuyu watched with concern as he grimaced in pain. The flame on his forehead came back even brighter than before, and his eyes turned the same sunset orange. He seemed... different. 

        "Stay down. Be ready to dive, just in case." With that he left the water and flew out to confront the villain leader. The man had sent the hulking beast that had been at his side against Aizawa who was no match for the creature's superior abilities. It had the tired man pinned to the ground beneath it, one of his arms within its' grasp. Izuku was there in seconds, glaring down the leader.

        "Let my teacher go." The pale man raised an eyebrow, hidden beneath the hand covering his face. The boy standing in front of him had not spoken as a desperate hero, or child. Instead his words had been firm and resolute, an order that brokered no argument. He turned toward Eraserhead.

        "Well look at that. It hasn't even been that long, and you already have a student willing to die for you. How heroic." He drawled.

        "Hey kid, that flame; you must be the one who made that big explosion out over the water. That's a pretty impressive quirk you have there. But I bet you don't have much juice left." The boy said nothing, only firing up his gloves. The verdet shot towards the villain, intent on striking the man with a strong punch. The leader showed surprising agility as he dodged the oncoming attack. Izuku quickly recovered from the miss and used the thrust from his flames to flip into a roundhouse kick aimed at the man's head. The villain managed to catch his leg, fabric crumbling beneath his grip as Izuku pulled himself away and jumped back. His leg only losing a few layers of skin. The villain tsked.

        "The Silent Hero type? Man, that's so lame." Izuku said nothing, shifting into a battle stance. His head turned moments before a tear in space appeared and The mist villain returned to the leader's side.

        "What's the situation?" The man asked.

        "One of the children escaped."

        "What about the other teachers?"

        "Thirteen is incapacitated. I sent Sprout to the fire zone so I doubt he will be a problem anymore."

        "And All Might?" The misty figure shook his head.

        "A no-show." The pale man growled as he clawed at his neck in distress.

        "Great so not only did the final boss not show up, but now reinforcements are on their way! This is an absolute failure." The man kicked the ground as he devolved into a childish tantrum.

        "Shigaraki, we should leave now before the other heroes arrive." The pale man sighed.

        "You’re right... but I don't want to leave with nothing to show for it." Izuku froze as the man's eyes turned to where Tsuyu and Mineta were hiding in the water.

        "We should at least take out some kids before we leave..."The man moved with impressive speed; hand outstretched to grab Tsuyu's face. The girl was frozen like a deer in the headlights. Izuku shot over, managing to get between the outstretched palm and his classmate. There was a flash of purple light, unseen by everyone except for Izuku; Shigarak's hand contacted his chest. Nothing happened. Izuku's sunset eyes widened as he looked over at his teacher.

         "Tch, even in your state you still manage to save your students." Aizawa was still pinned beneath the monster, but he had forced his head up to glare at Shigaraki with glowing red eyes; his form covered in angry purple flames and his own blood.

         "Noumu." The creature once again slammed the man's head into the concrete. Izuku used Shigaraki's distraction and drove his fist into the man's gut forcing him well away from Tsuyu. While the villain leader stumbled to his feet Izuku shot toward the noumu putting all the force he could muster into pushing it off Aizawa's broken form. Both of his feet made contact just as the entry doors to the USJ exploded inwards, sailing over their heads.

         "I AM HERE!" All Might's boisterous war cry rang out over them and seconds later Izuku was snatched up along with Aizawa Tsuyu and Mineta and deposited on a hill away from the worst of the fighting. All Might gave them a strained grin.

        "Please watch over Aizawa. I will handle the rest." With that he was off again. Izuku only peripherally noticed as most of his attention was on the angry violet flames still dancing over his teacher's skin. This was bad. Izuku got to work; hurriedly spreading his own Sky flames over his teacher, smothering the Cloud with Harmony. Tsuyu and Mineta watched in confusion as Izuku continued the emergency treatment, muttering nonsense about clouds and late stage activation as he smothered every iota of purple back to sleep. When it was done, Izuku looked up to see All Might in big trouble.

         Todoroki, Bakugo, and Kirishima had made it to the plaza and odd-eyed boy had frozen half of the Noumu's lower body with his ice. All might was trapped in the middle of a suplex, a warp gate allowing the monster to dig its claws into the hero's ribcage. The man was losing steam fast. Satisfied that Aizawa's new Cloud flames wouldn't be returning any time soon Izuku stood up from his crouch, orange eyes glancing over his classmates.

        "Take care of Sensei."He was off, not waiting for any protests as he rocketed towards the thick of battle.

        "How do you like our Noumu?" Shigaraki asked gleefully as All Might ripped himself away from the creature thanks to Todoroki's ice. The thing barely reacted as half of its body was ripped off; merely standing back up as bone, muscle and skin reformed. The man-child laughed.

       "This Noumu was made to beat you! Superior strength, shock absorption... All this and more all to withstand you at 100%! It won't go down that easily!" All Might wasn't smiling anymore as he stared the villains down.

       "If it can withstand my 100%, then I just need to go beyond."All Might shot forward and landed a strong blow to the beast's midsection, he followed up with blow after blow, fists moving faster than most eyes could track as he whaled on the Noumu until with one final uppercut he launched the thing into the sky and through the roof. Shigaraki gaped, then attacked his own neck with ferocity.

       "No, no, no... That's impossible! He said he was weakening. He said... He said..."He whined as the mist villain returned to his side. The fog turned glowing yellow eyes to where All Might was still standing tall, strained grin back on his face.

      "I don't think he was wrong. Look; since that last attack he hasn't moved. Now may be our chance to finish him ourselves." He urged. Shigaraki calmed, nodding mechanically.

      "You're right... Get him."The warp villain obeyed, teleporting in front of the Number One Hero, oozing with menace.

      "Prepare to die." Before he could attack there was a loud noise, and a torrent of orange shot toward him. The villain leapt back, some animal part of his brain forgetting about his warping in his panic to get away from the dangerous energy. All heads turned as one to Izuku standing meters away, his hands aimed perpendicular to each other as he breathed heavily. Shigaraki scoffed.

      "This brat again..." Izuku pulled both hands back and launched himself forward, aiming for the warp villain.

      "Kurogiri!"The leader ordered. The mist quickly switched places with his boss and Shigaraki stood to meet Izuku head on, hands outstretched. Everyone froze, they could only watch until the sound of gunfire rang out and bullets pierced through the man-child's hands. He hissed in pain and instinctively brought them close to his chest. Izuku kept going, landing a flame covered fist into the man's face, knocking the hand he was using as a mask off. He flew back and was quickly caught by Kurogiri who warped them away to safety. Izuku noticed the villain took care to warp the disembodied hand as well.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

       All Might looked down at young Midoriya who had landed in front of him after taking on two villains by himself. The boy seemed… different. It was disconcerting to see none of his usual mannerisms or body language. In fact, there wasn't any body language at all relating to the nervous fanboy he saw every other day. He stood straight backed and calm, muscles coiled and ready to spring into action at any moment.

     "Young Midoriya. What happened to Aizawa?" The boy turned sunset eyes to him.

     "Sensei is stable. You need medical attention."

     "This is nothing, but a flesh wound my boy! I am fine." The boy shook his head. His gaze felt as though it could see through any lie All Might tried to tell.

     "You've pushed yourself too far today. I realized what Thirteen meant when they held up their fingers...You can only push yourself for three hours." All Might's eyes widened as the flame on the verdet's forehead began to waver.

     "How do you...?"The flame went out and the boy's eyes returned to green. He wobbled unsteadily.

    "Midoriya-!" The boy hit the ground with a dull thud as All Might lost the fight to hold his hero form. Cementoss came to the rescue, forming a wall between All Might and the students.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

       Awareness returned to Izuku in bits and pieces. Voices muttering to each other and hushed chatter, the scratchy but clean feeling of linen under his fingers, his hair falling to tickle at his nose and a warm familiar hand brushing it away. He didn't fully wake up until hours after that, eyes blinking blearily in the bright lights. He must be in either a hospital, or the nurse's office. He looked down and saw he was still wearing his gym uniform, and his gear was sitting on the bedside table. The nurse's office then. He struggled to sit up with a low groan. The curtain around his bed was flicked open and strong hands helped him up.

       "Good to see you awake kiddo! How ya feelin?" Izuku looked up to warm grey eyes and a familiar smile.

       "... Uncle Ryohei?"

Chapter Text

          Izuku frowned; peering up at the grinning face of his father's Sun Guardian. 

          "Uncle... What are you doing here?" Was this a break in? The white haired man only grinned. 

          "Nothing much; your Dad sent me here to keep an eye on you. He was worried going to a hero school would wind up getting you into trouble, not to mention Reborn's training. He was right to the extreme; it's only the first week and you've already been involved in a major attack." He said cheerfully, helping Izuku sit up and stuffing several fluffy pillows behind the boy's back. Izuku smiled ruefully as he accepted a glass of water from his uncle. 

             "Is everyone else okay?" He asked after a sip of cool water." 

              "Your classmates made out with minor injuries." The Sun reported "They're all a little shaken up, but they all seem like the type to bounce back pretty easily. Your teacher and Thirteen are both in pretty rough shape, but they're stable for now and a full recovery seems likely." Izuku sagged in relief, sinking further into the pillows. 

               "That's good... Aizawa-sensei, he-" Ryohei cut him off, expression shifting. 

                " He's okay for now, you stabilized his Flames enough that they aren't actively harming him anymore, but he's still too sensitive for me to try healing him with my Sun Flames. Recovery Girl has been to see him and done what she could for the moment so he's not in any major danger." 

                 "I see..." Izuku murmured, staring down at his clasped hands. Guilt creeping it's way into his core. Wasn't it his fault that his teacher was in such a state?

                 His uncle's hand landed heavily atop his head, roughly tousling already messy green curls and shaking him out of his spiraling state.

                 " I know that look; don't blame yourself for any of this Izuku! You saved him. He wouldn't have survived Initial Burn if you hadn't been there, alright?" The boy only frowned. 

                  " B-but if I wasn't there... if it wasn't for me being here, he wouldn't..." Ryohei sighed, pulling the little Sky into a hug. 

                   " If you weren't here Aizawa wouldn't have gone Active? Maybe not, but if he did and you weren't there, his own flames would have destroyed him. Or, if he didn't go active, then your classmate Asui likely would have died instead. Either way, you saved lives today kiddo. We're so proud of you, to the extreme." Izuku laughed wetly at the catchphrase. His uncle was a passionate and caring man, but he had never been the best with words, he doubted the man came up with all that on his own. 

                    "Feeling better?" 

                    " Yeah... who coached you on what to say?" Izuku asked, basking in the extra warmth a Sun Guardian offered. 

                     "... I will neither confirm nor deny that I had any help. Speaking of, Reborn stopped by earlier. He said that since you seem so eager skip ahead in your training he'll be happy to accelerate your training schedule." Izuku shuddered, he knew a threat when he heard one. Ryohei sat oblivious as his nephew broke into a cold sweat. 

                      "..... Where is he now?"

                      " He said he was heading to the hospital to wait for your Cloud to wake up." Izuku frowned at the response; his Cloud? What was Reborn- It dawned on him. 

                      " Aizawa-sensei isn't my Cloud!" 

                       Usually, after falling unconscious from such a traumatic experience as having your head smashed against concrete several times, awareness would come back slowly in bits and pieces. This was not so for Aizawa Shouta who snapped awake, sensing an unfamiliar presence that set his teeth on edge and hackles raising.  

                       "Wow, Sasagawa was right, you really are sensitive." Observed a dark voice of a man somewhere to his right.

                       Shouta's eyes snapped open, Quirk activating on instinct. He regretted it immediately after as white hot pain stabbed through his eye sockets like a hot iron poker. It was all the pro could do to stop himself from screaming out, only allowing pained breaths to hiss through clenched teeth.

                        " Oh that's right; a certain miss Recovery Girl said you should avoid using your Quirk until she gives you the clear. You have a rather serious head injury after all." The man said, nonchalant as he adjusted Shouta's hospital bed into a more upright position. 

                        ...Shouta was entirely helpless, he realized. Wrapped up like a mummy in sterile white bandages. Only one of his eyes able to peek through the gaps of gauze. 

                        He sighed, surrendering to his fate as he turned his head to face the mysterious stranger. He doubted the man was here to kill him, and it wasn't like he was in any state to stop the man if he tried. 

                         The man was tall; seated in one of those small hospital chairs, his limbs looked even longer, yet he still held a casual grace. Like a cat, ready to stand and attack at at any moment.  His sharp black eyes peered out at the hero under the shadowed brim of a black fedora. Decked out in a full suit, the man looked far too elegant for his surroundings. 

                         This man carried the aura of a dangerous predator. 

                         ".... Who are you?" Aizawa asked, eyes narrowing under his bandages. The man smirked, effortless confidence in his every gesture.

                          " I am called Reborn; The World's Greatest Hitman." The declaration was met with silence, Aizawa torn between caution and derision. 

                           " That's a bold claim to make." He finally said, carefully observing the man's reaction. Reborn's smirk grew teeth. 

                           "  Do you really disbelieve it?" Disbelieve it? Aizawa wasn't sure about that, but at least he knew- 

                           " You're dangerous." he allowed. Reborn chuckled at that, leaning back in his seat as he eyed the pro hero critically. 

                           " Indeed I am; it's fine if you don't fully believe me now. Why don't we get down to the real business, shall we?" Shouta closed his eyes, steeling himself for whatever was coming before facing the man again. 

                            " Alright, what business do you have with me? I don't believe I'm acquainted with any Hit men." Street criminals and barely illegal vigilantes maybe. 

                            " Naturally, I'm here to talk with you about the attack on the USJ and the fallout henceforth." Reborn stated, an odd, malicious cheerfulness in the hitman's tone. Shouta frowned. 

                            "... Why is it your concern?" 

                             " We'll get to that. Firstly, what all do you remember from the attack?" 

                              " I remember enough." Reborn only seemed amused by Shouta's defensive answer; maybe even pleased by the underground hero's protectiveness. 

                              " I suppose, then, you remember the part when you burst into flames?" That comment stopped Shouta's thoughts short.

                              What?

                             "Your face says it all." Reborn said with an amused chuckle " Yes, during the villain attack, while your head was being cracked open by that 'Nomu' you set yourself on fire in order to protect miss Asui Tsuyu from the lead villain's decay quirk." 

                             " How do you know all this?" He asked. Shouta would definitely remember someone this dangerous being at the USJ. 

                             " I have my ways, but we're not talking about me right now." 

                              "Fine, say I believe you;' Aizawa acquiesced "how did I somehow catch fire?" 

                              "I'm getting to that. First; what I am going to tell you is a world class secret. You cannot speak of it upon a fate worse than death." Reborn said, leaning forward to lock eyes with Shouta. 

                               "Do I even have a choice in this?" He asked, resigned. Reborn gave a sadistic grin that rivaled Aizawa's own. 

                               "Not really." Fantastic

                            "In order to save Asui you, Aizawa Shouta, used a power that has been kept secret since long ago. It's older than Quirks." 

                            "Right, what exactly is this 'power'? How has it been kept secret for this long?" 

                            "We call this 'power' Flames. The secret of their existence is safeguarded by the mafia." There was a long pause as Aizawa raised an eyebrow hidden beneath bandages. 

                            "I thought the mafia died out like the Yakuza." Reborn scoffed. 

                            "Hardly, our mission simply became more focused with the rise of quirks and superheroes." he stated. "But I'm not here to give you a mafia history lesson."

                            "Fine, then tell me about these so called Flames of yours." Aizawa sank into a more comfortable position with a sigh. Reborn grinned, and Shouta finally noticed the form of a... it looked like it could be some sort of chameleon... crawling along the brim of his fedora. It certainly didn't look like an ordinary chameleon, the eyes were wrong. 

                            "Dying Will Flames; also known as Soul Flames or Flames of Desperation are like a... high density energy built from life force. A fair portion of humanity has the potential to activate these Flames. We call that being Flame Active." Reborn paused to demonstrate, a cheery yellow flame dancing over his palm for a brief moment. It was long enough for something inside Shouta to prickle unpleasantly. "Generally they become active at a moment of certain death; when a person's entire being enters a state of overdrive just to stay alive."

                            "Then shouldn't we be hearing more about it?" 

                            "You would think, but actually it is quite rare for a person to find themselves in such grave danger that they have to give everything and more. However, the rates of activation in quirkless persons is nearly 100%." Aizawa frowned. 

                            "Flames are rare because Quirks generally act before the conditions to activate are met?" 

                            "Correct. There is plenty of evidence to the point, Quirks going through 'spontaneous evolution' when their users are in mortal peril." 

                            "Fair, but why mafia?" 

                            "Why not? Omerta was created to hide Dying Will Flames, the mafia just naturally formed around Omerta," The Hitman explained with a wave of his hand. "Most Actives are active members of the mafia." 

                            "So what? I'm being conscripted or something?"

                            "Not at all, but it is normal to be enfolded into the mafia after becoming aware of flames. Everyone has a choice, as long as Omerta is observed we don't really care what unattached actives get up to. In fact the Families I work with offer help and support to those wishing to maintain a civilian lifestyle." 

                            "What a charitable and generous crime syndicate." Shouta commented drily. 

                            "Well, they don't call Decimo Il Sante del Cielo for nothing." Reborn smirked "Of course in the end those with Flames usually end up joining or forming a Family anyway." He help up his hand for the strange chameleon to crawl into. 

                            "Which brings us to our next subject; The different Flame types and how they interact with each other." Aizawa's eye widened as the chameleon winked at him before it transformed into a smallish TV. 

                            "At this time, there are 15 known flame types. We can split them into two categories." As Reborn began his lecture the TV-lizard displayed two circles made up of seven symbols each, with one lone symbol alone between them. " The categories are Flames of Sky and Flames of Earth. Because we possess the former we're going to focus on them." The circle to the left expanded to fill the screen. "The Flames of Sky are further separated into seven different types; Flames of Sun, Cloud, Storm, Lightning, Rain, Mist, and last but most importantly, Sky." The symbols on the television changed into little cartoon characters that were each in a colour of the rainbow. " For reference I have Flames of Sun, while you have Flames of Cloud." Aizawa frowned. The purple cartoon looked like him, and the yellow was definitely supposed to be the man before him. Now that he was looking the orange one looked a bit familiar standing alone in the center of the screen. 

                            "What's the difference?" 

                            "Each Flame type have their own special attribute that gives their user special abilities. Sun is Activation, Cloud Propagation, Storm Disintegration etc. Finally Sky is Harmony." The little orange character on screen waved cheerfully. 

                            "Skies are the centers of mafia society because of this attribute, which allows them to create bonds." The purple Aizawa-lookalike appeared again next to the orange one. "Harmony allows a Sky to synchronize with another element in a process we call Harmonization." A little graphic of a ribbon tying the two chibis together appeared. "It's the bond between a Sky and their Guardians. The Sky gives their Elements a place to belong and in return they are given protection. This process isn't really voluntary though there are ways to force it or control it." 

                            "I don't like the sound of that." Aizawa muttered. Reborn nodded sagely. 

                            "It was rather common back in the day for Families to kidnap Skies either from other families or off the streets and force them to Harmonize. Having a Harmony boosts the amount of power a Flame user has, while also making them more stable and easily controlled. Just having Skies near helps with that so having a Sky in the Family significantly raises their status."

                            "That's barbaric." Aizawa spat. 

                            "It is. Especially when a Sky would never do the same." 

                            "So, to sum up; Mafia rainbow fire and weird symbiotic relationships. Now what?" Reborn's smile was unsettling. 

                            "The answer to that lies in the question of how you aren't dead right now." 

                             "What?" 

                            "Statistically, those who become Flame Active do so in their teens or childhood, It's not common for adults, their bodies never developed the resistances necessary to properly handle Flames. For that reason it's rarely even an option for the human body to consider." 

                            ".... Then how?"

                            "In the end, you weren't trying to stay alive, so your survival instincts were ignored. You used everything just to give Asui the precious few seconds she needed to escape." And he'd do it again.

                            "And I was supposed to die from this?" Shouta was getting tired.

                            "Oh yes, quite brutally so. You adults who manifest tend to suffer from their attributes. I have seen what overuse of a Cloud's propagation can do to a human body and...." Reborn mimed an explosion with his hands, including sound effects. Aizawa winced at the mental image "it is not pretty." 

                            "That still doesn't explain how I'm alive." 

                            "It was all thanks to our mutual student who stepped in to stabalise your Flames before they could completely tear you apart." 

                            "Midoriya right?" Aizawa guessed. Something inside him knew that it was the vertet the moment 'Sky' had been mentioned.

                            "That's right. It was reckless and stupid of him, but he did save your life." 

                            "What exactly did he do?" Aizawa hesitated to ask.

                            "It's called 'one sided harmonization' a highly dangerous technique Skies invented. On a small scale the side effects and dangers are minimal, but what Izuku did... He's lucky he didn't die. A Sky essentially forces their flames to match another's giving them the ability to temporarily control someone's flames. Using it in such a manner could have easily led to Deku losing control of his own flames and suffering the same fate as you would have. Thanks to his bloodline he was able to put your rampaging Cloud Flames back to sleep so to speak." Bloodline? Aizawa made a mental note to ask about that later. 

                            "Sealing?" 

                            "He couldn't seal your Flames in that state. It would have only created a sort of feedback loop; you would have been a time bomb instead of a grenade." Aizawa's lips thinned at the thought.

                            "So what happens now?" he asked somewhat resignedly. Reborn's smile was shark-like behind his steepled fingers. 

                            "There are a few options; would you like to hear them or should I just skip to the one you'll actually take?" 

                            "Call me a pragmatist but I'd still like to hear all my options." The bandaged man said with a sigh. The hitman huffed in amusement and he swore the chameleon was laughing at him. 

                            "Option one: Go about your life as normal and hope you don't die anytime your Flames leak out. Option two: we seal your Flames away and you don't have to worry about it. I will warn you however that this option has severely detrimental side effects that would effectively end your hero career." 

                            "What sort of side effects?" 

                            " Inability to maintain focus, lack of energy. no coordination, things like that. Even while inactive Flames are a vital part of you, taking that away tends to make people unable to function properly." Shouta frowned. 

                            "Third option: If you complete Harmonization with our mutual student your flames will stabilize and you will be able to learn how to properly control them without the constant threat of an explosive death." He knew this was the best option, but Aizawa was still reluctant, giving the hitman a wary glance. 

                          "Well it's only a matter of time until you bond with Deku anyway, given that you see him nearly everyday in class. Might as well accept it early on right?" Reborn added; Shouta's shoulders slumped in defeat. 

                          "Yeah, fine."  He surrendered. Reborn smiled as he stood gracefully from his chair. 

                          "It will be a pleasure working with you." He left Aizawa to rest after a few pats to his bandaged shoulder. He regretted this already. 

Chapter Text

     In the after math of the USJ incident the school was closed for the better part of two days. In part to give the students time to properly process the events; but mostly it was so that the Principal and teachers could implements improvements to U.A's security. 

    While school security was overhauled, Izuku was ordered to stay in bed and suffer under his mother's worried fretting, which was nothing in comparison to his father's long distance concern. According to his uncles, Dad had tried to use dying will to fly to his side the moment he'd been informed of his son's condition, only being held back by the combined efforts of Uncle Hayato and Takeshi. 

    Both of his parents had lectured him for over an hour each. It had been nothing short of relieving to return to school after such a guilt trip. It was also a relief to see all his classmates again. 

    "I'm glad to see you're doing alright Midoriya." Tsuyu said, the first to greet him as he entered the classroom. 

    "Thanks Tsu, And you're alright too?" He questioned. 

    "You were awesome back there Midoriya! You seemed way different than you usually are!" Kirishima burst in before the amphibious girl could respond. 

    "I'm just glad we all made it out okay." Midoriya said awkwardly. 

    "The students anyway..." Someone muttered. Quiet fell over the classroom. 

    "That's true..." Kirishima hummed, leaning against Bakugo's desk, much to the blond's displeasure. "Speaking of, you think we're gonna have a substitute for a while?" 

    "Most likely, kero. Aizawa-sensei was in really rough shape." 

    "...He'll probably show up..." Izuku said with a resigned sigh. He'd grown up hearing stories from his family that left him with the knowledge that nothing short of death could stop a Cloud from doing whatever they wanted. Even shattering all of their limbs wouldn't stop them. 

    Sure enough when the bell rang, the door slid open for their mummified homeroom teacher. 

    "Sir! With all due respect, should you really be teaching in your current condition?" Iida asked, hand outstretched and halfway out of his seat. Aizawa silenced him with a glare. 

    "You have all performed admirably during the attack. I apologize that it happened at all, but your actions would put some pros to shame. having said that, your next challenge is just beyond the horizon." He said, completely ignoring Iida's question. The class stiffened, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

    "The Sport's Festival will be held in just over a month." The class relaxed at the announcement, some students murmuring excitedly, while others exchanged worried looks. Jirou raised her hand. 

    "Sir, is that a good idea? I mean, we were almost killed by invading villains." She asked, a few students nodding in agreement, Izuku found himself agreeing. Aizawa sighed. 

    "I agree, if it were up to me, the festival would be suspended at the very least. However, Principal Nedzu has decided that we must take this opportunity to present a united front and prove that we are unwavering in the face of villains. Naturally security will be tighter than ever this year, and doubtless Nedzu will want to show that off as well." He stated. "Trainings facilities will be open before and afterschool for extra training. Do not forget, this is more than a school event; this is your chance to appeal to your future coworkers and earn opportunities for yourselves. You only get three chances so make them count." 

    It hadn't taken long before the upcoming Sport's Festival was all the school, and mainstream media, could talk about. In all likelihood that was the Principal's plan all along; it wouldn't be long before the attack on the USJ would be a distant memory. 

    Izuku was somewhat looking forward to the Sport's Festival. It would be nice to do something that wasn't life or death for once. Althoug, it seemed that some of his fellow students didn't seem so lighthearted and relaxed. Uraraka in particular seemed to have developed a somewhat threatening aura during their morning classes. 

    "I'm gonna do my best!" She announced, facing Midoriya down with a  clenched fist and a dangerous glint in her eyes. Izuku shakily raised his own fist in mild agreement. Seemingly satisfied, she turned to Kirishima and repeated her resolution. 

    "Uraraka is particularly impassioned today! I too will endeavor to do my best in the Sport's Festival." Iida said as they gathered their things for lunch. Izuku hummed in vague agreement

      He felt somewhat bad for not joining in on his friends' fervent enthusiasm, but he had no intentions of taking the Sport's Festival as seriously as they were; he had no interest in being a popular hero and he didn't really need the scouting or connections that came with a remarkable showing. He'd rather take it easy and have some fun.

    The walk to the cafeteria was interrupted by the muscly form of All Might peering shyly around a corner at the three friends. They exchanged confused looks before Uraraka spoke up. 

    "Um... What are you up to All Might sir?" The number 1 hero straightened up, seemingly embarrassed at having been caught. There was no way to miss him. 

    "Good afternoon young Uraraka, young Iida! Would you mind terribly if I borrowed young Midoriya for lunch?" The man asked, holding up a wrapped bento. Uraraka tried very hard not to laugh out loud as All Might acted like a schoolgirl. With a glance at Midoriya, who nodded, she happily pushed the green haired boy forward. 

    "Go ahead All Might! just make sure we get him back okay?" 

    "But of course! Shall we Midoriya?"  

    All Might led him to an empty meeting room, gesturing to the set of couches as he closed the door behind them. 

    They sat together in awkward silence for some time, only the slowly heating kettle breaking the silence.

    "... You know... you can relax All Might, I've already seen your true form." Izuku finally said. All Might tensed, before with a sigh and puff of steam, the blond deflated into a skeletal man in an ill fitting, tacky yellow suit.

    "That's right... and speaking of, allow me to personally give you my heartfelt thanks to you for your actions at the USJ. You were a big help in keeping your classmates safe and saving Aizawa's life. You held out until back up arrived, and for that I thank you." He said, bowing his head to Izuku. 

    Izuku's eyes widened at the gesture, hands coming up to flail in his panicking.

    "Ah- wait hold on All Might! You don't need to do bow or anything, I just did what I could!" The blond straightened back up with a smile on his face. 

    "Don't sell yourself short young man! Your actions were truly heroic and worthy of our praise and thanks!" He insisted, Izuku looked down at his hands with a flushed face. 

    "Then... Thank you, I guess." 

    "You're welcome Young Midoriya! Now... While I did call you here to offer my thanks, I also wanted to talk to you about..." All Might trailed off, looking down at his emaciated form. Izuku's embarrassment drained away into concern. 

    "I won't tell anyone if that was what you were concerned about, but... what happened? C-can I ask that?" The older man nodded, coughing slightly into his palm. 

    "Of course you may my boy, you've already seen me in this state; the least I can do is tell you about it." All Might tapped his side "Six years ago I was in a rather bloody fight with a villain. In the end I came out as the victor, but not without some losses. The bastard took a lung and a large portion of my stomach and intestines. Ever since, I have had a time limit for using my Quirk." 

    "That must have been terrible." 

    "I won't lie and say it wasn't, but I'm still here." 

    Izuku sat for a moment in quiet introspection. What villain could cause that kind of damage to All Might? Whoever it was, All Might seemed pretty confident that they hadn't walked away from the experience as he had. 

    "I wish there was something I could do to help..." Izuku said. 

    "Thank you young man, but I'm alright now." The older hero said with a smile. It looked far more genuine than any he had as All Might. The two finished their lunch and parted ways. 

    As the last period ended, Izuku packed his bags as Uraraka waited for him, chattering about possible new training regimens she wanted to try out.

      They found their way out of the classroom blocked by a mass of students from multiple departments. Izuku grimaced along with several of his classmates as Bakugo made his way to the front. 

    "Outta the way extras, some of us have places to be!" Kacchan demanded, firing off an explosion from his right hand. 

    "Bakugo! You shouldn't go around calling our fellow students in such derogatory manners!" Iida reprimanded, chopping his hand through the air.

    "Fuck off Robocop! They're the ones who came here to bother us! What, coming to get a look at the real competition?" Iida gasped, affronted, and would have continued with his lecture if a tall, lavender haired boy hadn't pushed his way to the front of the mass of students. 

    "Is everyone in the hero course as big of an asshole as you?" He asked looking down his nose in disdain. 

    "And who are you supposed to be you sleepless fuck?" Bakugo sneered. The gen-ed student only smirked. 

    "I'm one of the guys who failed the oh so biased entrance exam. I bet it was so easy for you guys with your flashy quirks to kill those robots, but what about those of us with the more subtle Quirks?" 

    "Sucks to suck Eggplant." Bakugo smirked, arms crossed. The other's brow twitched in annoyance but he didn't budge. 

    "Tch. Haven't you heard? If a gen-ed student performs well enough in the Sports Festival they can get moved into the Hero Course. I wonder if the opposite is true too?" Bakugo scowled as the crowd murmured. 

    "You think you can take me on?" The violet haired boy grinned. 

     "I know I can. This is a declaration of war. I'm coming for your spot." Bakugo bared his own teeth in a savage grin of his own. 

     "Bring it on you purple bitch. I'll smoke you out of the game in no time." 

    "Don't count us out either!" Another voice called out from the crowd. A boy with silver hair from the back of the crowd jumping to be seen over the heads of other students. 

    "... And who the hell are you supposed to be?" The boy seemed to be trying in vain to muscle his way to the front. 

    "We're from 1-B! We're gonna prove we're better than you guys from 1-A!" Bakugo's palms sparked.

    "Say that again Eyelashes! No one's better than me!" A simple declaration of challenge was fixing itself to be an all-out brawl; the original instigator taking the chance to slip away in the confusion. 

      The explosions emitting from Katsuki stopped suddenly and the hallway went silent. 

    "Classes are over. Leave now." The crowd quickly dispersed, scattering under Aizawa's oppressive stare. 1-A stood in confusion until their teacher's red glare turned to them. 

    "Everyone, go home. Midoriya, with me." The class scrambled off, Izuku's friends shooting him confused looks as he followed their teacher. He waved them off with a smile.

      "How are you feeling Aizawa-sensei?" The Cloud gave an irritated huff. 

      "Like shit. We're going to the infirmary; apparently Sasagawa can't heal me unless you're there to keep my flames stable." Ah, that made sense. 

     "That's good, the bandages must be pretty annoying." 

    "After this I want to hurry up and get used to these damn Flames." Izuku hummed. 

    "It's probably best to wait for Reborn to get back first. He said he was going to get some 'Training Aids' for you. It's better not to mess around with your Flames." Behind his bandages Aizawa frowned. 
     "Because I'm a Cloud." 

     "Well, yes; I mean it is one of the most volatile Flame types to activate late." Aizawa sighed as they reached the Infirmary. 

    "I'm going to need to know a lot more about all of this." Izuku frowned as they entered the infirmary. 

    "I can tell you what I know, but didn't Reborn fill you in?"

    "I'm sure he left plenty out. If only for his own amusement, and Sasagawa is useless when it comes to information." Aizawa replied. Izuku laughed somewhat resignedly. 

    "Fair. He's made anyone who tried to interrogate him cry." The silver haired man in question grinned as he noticed them. 

     "Yo Aizawa, Kiddo! Here for the healing?" 

    "Yes." The answer was immediate, earning a boisterous laugh from Ryohei. 

    It was a relatively simple and painless procedure. After the initial aggressive surge he had felt at the first touch of yellow Flames; like every part of him was being stretched beyond its limits. 

    Izuku grabbed his hand, a comfortable warmth suffusing him with an odd feeling of safety. The violent. angry energy inside of him retreating with a content hum. Shouta wasn't sure how he felt about that experience.

    "All done!" Ryohei announced as he stepped away. Midoriya dropped his hand leaning away to give his teacher space. 

    Aizawa removed the last of his bandages, sighing in relief at the return of a full range of motion. 

    "You should visit Recovery Girl tomorrow for a check up but you should be mostly better now. I was careful around since I'm not the best at the delicate stuff. For now, I heard Inko wants to have Aizawa over for dinner so she can officially meet him." The Sun Guardian said, laughing when the other man's shoulders slumped. He almost refused the offer but the expression on Midoriya's face changed his mind. 

     "Fine. I don't have anything better to do anyway." The wide smile he received from the young Sky made everything a little easier to put up with.