Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Kacchan you gotta stop! This isn’t right!”

Midoriya’s first act of heroism was also his first act of villainy. He was five years old. It was a normal day at the park on the weekend. The sun was shining. The birds were singing. It was beautiful. And that was all about to change.

“He was in my way Deku,” Bakugo said with a sneer. He and his friends wanted to play in the sandbox. The whole sandbox. And with this stranger standing in his way, Bakugo wouldn’t have any of it. The boy was around the same age as the group, barely five years old and ignorant to bakugo’s desires. So Bakugo summoned his quirk to his hand and set the boy’s shirt a blaze with a pop pop pop!

Midoriya saw the exchange. He saw Bakugo want something and take it without thought of the other boy’s safety. Midoriya had been in the boy’s place before. He had felt the fire of Bakugo’s quirk, he even had scars to prove it. But he always saw it as a game, where the two would pretend to fight. Midoriya just wasn’t strong enough to hold his own yet, his quirk hadn’t come in.

Midoriya had never seen Bakugo for what he was before that fateful day; Bakugo was a bully.

“You shouldn’t use your quirk on someone! It isn’t right!” Midoriya stood between his friend and the stranger, his fists raised up like he had seen in the movies. Two tiny fists, held in front of him at awkward angles.

Bakugo laughed. And then his friends started laughing. The boy behind Midoriya was still crying.

“What are you doing?” Bakugo sneered. “Are you trying to play hero? But you’re an idiot! A Deku! You don’t even have a quirk!”

“It’ll come in someday,” Midoriya said. “Now stop this!"

Bakugo reared up to punch Midoriya, aiming for his cheek. It was the first time he turned his fists towards Midoriya rather than using his quirk. It was the last time he aimed his fists towards Midoriya.

The moment Midoriya felt the impact a bright light emanated from the touch. The sound of wind chimes filled the air and Bakugo was gone.

In his place stood Midoriya, his hair whipped up from it’s usual tossed curls into harsh spikes, a single lock of hair where his bangs were turned into an ashy blond streak. One of his green eyes turned red. He was suddenly wearing a bright red tutu and long black stockings instead of cargo shorts. His shirt had dissolved away into a black combat vest, without anything underneath. Around his wrists were long copper bangles, fitted perfectly to his skin. He was wearing black combat boots with two buckles on the side.

Midoriya had changed, and Bakugo was no longer in front of him.

“What’s happening?” Midoriya screamed. The boys in front of him were backing away slowly, a look of horror on their faces.

What is going on? He heard the inside of his head scream back.

“Bakugo?” Midoriya looked around and realized that his attacker wasn’t in front of him anymore. He turned in circles but Bakugo seemed to have vanished into nothing. Even the crying boy was backing away.

“Get me out of here!” Midoriya screamed. But that wasn’t his voice. Well, it was his voice, but those weren’t his words. “I can’t move! Where am I?”

Midoriya’s hands wound to his hair and he screamed again. This time it was a wordless screech of fear. He clenched his eyes, and pulled at his hair. His throat scratched and ached and he heard a loud boom.

When Midoriya opened his eyes again, Bakugo was in front of him, lying on the scorched side walk. All around him were burn marks and ash. The trees above them were on fire. The sandbox turned into opaque glass. And all the boys were on the other side of the park by now, having turned tail to run.

“What did you do?” Bakugo asked, tears pricking at his eyes. His eyes were wide, his usually confident smirk was open in shock. He was shaking on the ground, tiny quivers that reverberated through his body.

“I-I I don’t-“

“It was your quirk! You did this!”

“No I don’t know what-“

“Stay away from me!”

Bakugo was on his feet, backing away from Midoriya like he was a predator. His eyes stayed locked on Midoriya as he made his escape.

“You’re a freak! A villain! You can never be a hero with that quirk!”

Midoriya was quiet on the way to hospital where he registered his quirk. When his mother touched his head he saw the bright light and jumped a meter back. She put a hand on his clothed shoulder and there was no external light. When the doctors took his pulse he heard wind chimes and he pulled away. When the doctors donned latex gloves he heard no chimes.

“And we’re almost done,” the receptionist said two hours later. “It looks like skin to skin contact is what activates your quirk. And since we don’t have anything like it in the system you get to name it. So, Midoriya. What would you like to call your quirk?”

Midoriya had been waiting for this day since the beginning of time. He always thought it would be a day of celebration and elation. Not anxiety and dread.

“Preet,” was the first thing that came to mind. “I want to call it preeting.”

Years later and Midoriya still loved heroes above all else. He was on his thirteenth notebook, filling every page with every fact he could find about the heroes that surrounded his life. He stopped to watch fights. He went to autograph signings for the new up-and-coming sensations. He even had a completed collection of hero trading cards.

It was to no one’s surprise when his middle school teacher asked who wanted to be a hero that his hand was raised along with everyone else’s. Heroes were powerful. Strong. Kind. Rich. Elite. Not all of that appealed to Midoriya, but he still desired for his name to be at the top of the list of would-be heroes.

“Your quirk would never allow it,” one of the girls at the front of the class said.

“You can’t save anyone if you can’t touch them,” one of the boys near the window said.

“You’re a villain Deku,” Bakugo spat from directly behind him. Midoriya didn’t have to turn around to know that Bakugo was shooting daggers at him. “No one in their right mind would ever want help from you.”

Midoriya still filled out his career assessment sheet with “UA- heroics program” in the first slot on the paper. It was the only thing he wrote down.

Midoriya didn’t care what the people in his class thought of him. He had a powerful quirk if the still damaged park had anything to say about that. He wanted to help people. He needed to help people. It was his dream, and no one was going to tell him he couldn’t.

When the rest of the class left for the day, Bakugo and Midoriya stuck around a moment longer.

“You’re seriously going to try to get into UA?” Bakugo asked.

“Yes,” Midoriya said simply, packing up his bag so he could be doing anything else than look at his ex-friend. He didn’t want this conversation, but with Bakugo hovering over him, Midoriya felt trapped.

“They’ll arrest you the moment you step into the entrance exam. One wrong move and you’ll be locked away for life.”

Midoriya took his time reorganizing his bag, trying not to be present in the conversation that Bakugo seemed so desperate to have.

“You’re an idiot,” Bakugo spat. “You’ll never have a partner. You’ll never save a person. You’ll never be a hero.”

Midoriya made the mistake of pulling out his heroics notebook and felt the notebook slip from his grasp. Bakugo had taken the book with nimble fingers, careful not to touch Midoriya.

“Is this what I think it is?” Bakugo paged through the half filled book with horror. “Are you keeping track of them so you can kill them?”

“Of course not” Midoriya said, trying to take the book back. He knew that Bakugo was safe so long as Midoriya didn’t make skin to skin contact, and he had taken to always wearing gloves years ago for protection.

Bakugo slammed the book shut in his hands, and let his quirk free.

“What the hell?” Midoriya asked, diving for the book only to fall to the ground. Bakugo ran for the window and threw the book out the window.

“I just saved a dozen lives,” Bakugo said watching the burnt pages fall free to the ground.

“You just destroyed my property!”

“You’re a villain,” Bakugo snapped. “Your powers aren’t suited to save people or taking down bad guys. You steal people’s will, rob them of their quirks! They disappear inside of you! That can’t help someone! You ruin everything you touch.”

Midoriya was taken aback from Bakugo’s words. He was used to being called a villain from Bakugo, but this was different. This sounded almost like pleading. It reminded of Bakugo almost ten years ago, on the ground in the park.

“They’ll never let you into UA,” Bakugo said, pulling back into the anger he was familiar with. “You touch someone during the entrance exam and you’re through. They’ll have you arrested for using your quirk on someone, and then I’ll be right.”

Midoriya pushed everything into his backpack and ran out the door to find his notebook.

“You’ll never save anyone!” Bakugo screamed while Midoriya ran.

Midoriya found his book in the well near the back wall. His notebook was water logged and burnt, but he could still read the pencil drawings and words.

Midoriya always took the long way home. Anything to avoid the park where the sidewalk was still scorched. He can’t stand even looking at the trees with the noticeable skylight above the sandbox without remembering the fear of children running for their lives and an uncontrollable explosion.

He walked around the city, keeping an eye out for any hero battles, but trying to stay away from crowds. He once bumped into a businessman during a hero fight and a bright light between them distracted the villain long enough for the hero to make the arrest. Midoriya hadn’t fused with the man but it scared him enough that anything less than a foot of empty space surrounding him put his teeth on edge.

Midoriya was picking at his gloves, trying to drain some of the water that had absorbed into them when he retrieved his notebook earlier. The wetness made them slightly uncomfortable, but there wasn’t anything he could do to fix it until he got home.

“Finally,” a deep voice said followed by the sound of slobbering footsteps. “A disguise.”

Midoriya turned in time to see a mass made out of slime grunge behind him. The mass was menacing and encompassing, throwing slime around the mass at will. There were teeth that formed a mouth and two large black eyes at the center. This wasn’t a man, this was a monster. This was a villain.

“No,” Midoriya’s voice came out as a hushed whisper.

“NO!” Midoriya screamed and tried to run away. But the moment that he turned around he felt a limb of sludge grab hold of his ankle and pull him down. Midoriya scraped at the floor trying to pull himself away from the villain. “Don’t touch me!”

“Aww it’s ok,” the quivering voice said. “I just need you for a few moments. It’ll hurt for a second,” a second slime hand found Midoriya’s other ankle and dragged him backward, “but then you won’t feel anything.”

The slime mass threw itself on top of Midoriya, covering Midoriya’s mouth and nose. A bright light and the sound of wind chimes sent a shiver of fear down Midoriya’s spine, a fear stronger than the mass above him could ever inflict.

“What the fuck?” the man screamed and then he was gone.

Midoriya pushed himself up, but his hands seemed to have been converted into slime. It wasn’t just his hands. It was his legs, his arms, his entire body was nothing but the brown slime. His body felt like it was oozing and creeping all around him, the mass moving under Midoriya’s will. He was still Midoriya and he was in control.

What’s going on? the slime man screamed inside of Midoriya’s head.

Midoriya pushed himself into a standing position with all of his will power. He stood two inches taller than his normal height, but he still felt weak under the villain’s quirk.

“Help!” he screamed. His voice seemed to gurgle as though his vocal cords had also been converted into the sludge.

“Don’t worry,” a voice said, throwing a man hole cover out of the way. “I’m here.”

All Might stepped out. The number one hero was standing directly in front of Midoriya.

“You look different,” the hero noted, walking towards Midoriya with confidence. “But nothing I can’t handle.”

“Help me,” Midoriya pleaded. “He’s in me. I have him trapped but I don’t know for how long.”

All Might stopped.

“Wait,” the hero said. “Did you take-“

“He’s inside me!” Midoriya pleaded. His eyes were stinging with unshed tears. He can’t cry. Heroes don’t cry. “It’s my quirk. I can’t control it! He touched me and now he’s- he’s-“

“LET ME OUT,” Midoriya wailed and clutched at his chest.

All Might was at a loss. He covered his mouth in what appeared to be abject horror.

“Get me to the police,” Midoriya said taking back control. “If I can hold him back- I can take him into the police station. He attacked me, but with you this is a citizen’s arrest, it’s legal. Please. I’m not the villain here. I’m not.”

All Might nodded and removed his hand. Midoriya couldn’t see the blood that came away.

All Might seemed to trust Midoriya, and seemed to know that it wasn’t the villain that had taken control or even just taken a hostage. Midoriya was in control. He could stay in control.

Each step was torture as they made their way to the police station. They made their way through the side streets, finding the fastest path to the station. It was only a few blocks away and if Midoriya could just barely hold it together he could release the villain inside the station.

“I want to be a hero,” Midoriya said, trying to find a distraction as he found himself in the dreaded park.

You’re doing a terrible job, the sludge inside his head said. The consciousness inside of him was still fighting it’s way through him. But at least he was still there. Midoriya hadn’t erased the man.

“You’re doing a fine job my boy,” All Might said. “What exactly is your quirk?”

“I preet,” Midoriya said. “I take the consciousness of another and put it inside me when we touch. I get their quirk and I amplify it so it’s stronger. This is… This is only the second time I’ve done this. And- and- and I’m scared.”

Let me go!

“Fear is natural,” All Might said. “And your quirk is very powerful. With the right kind of control you’d make an strong hero.”

Midoriya nodded stiffly and some slime fell into his eyes, covering them. He pushed the slime out of his face, wondering if it was a piece of his hair.

It’s not your hair. My quirk allows me to create slime and manipulate as I please. My entire body is made out of slime. I move it with my quirk. The villain felt stunned by his own revelation. I didn’t mean to tell you that. I don’t want to tell you that.

Midoriya stopped walking. The villain didn’t want to tell him that? They were communicating but how far did that go?

“What’s your name?”

Hiro Ishitawa.

“I’m All Might. You know. Number one hero?” All Might looked at a loss for the sudden change in Midoriya’s mood. He couldn’t hold back a cough as he started to smoke in front of the boy. But Midoriya was too distracted to notice.

“Where were you born?”

Tokyo, my mother doesn’t remember the hospital.

“Stop it!” Hiro said with Midoriya’s voice. “Stop making me talk!”

“Can you lie to me?” Midoriya’s voice cracked at the newfound ability.

I don’t think I can.

“Let me out! I want to get out!”

“No! You’re under arrest! You attacked me!”

“Escape. Escape. ESCAPE!”

Midoriya fell to the ground, a normal human boy, completely separated from the slime.

Hiro looked at Midoriya, the face of his captor and ran for his life.

“My boy!” All Might said, failing to catch Midoriya. The moment that the villain was out of sight All Might fell as well.

“Ah!” Midoriya screamed  getting out of the way as the giant made of muscles turned into a giant made of bones. “Sir? All Might?”

All Might puked blood into the grass.

“Oh my god!” Midoriya said crawling closer to his hero. “Sir! We have to go!”

When Midoriya got closer to his idol he saw that All Might had faded into almost nothing. The man still held his height and darkened expression, but he was no longer smiling. Bile and blood was dripping from his mouth.

“No we don’t,” All Might said, falling back into the grass. He sat down with the weight of the world, a stubborn and mulish action. “You’re not a hero, I shouldn’t have even taken you this far. And I’m… I’m a relic.”

“What?”

“Five years ago I was stuck in a fight that nearly lost me my life. I’m the symbol of peace who can barely be strong now for more than three hours. You’re a child. Some other hero will find the villain and take care of him.”

“I don’t- I don’t understand. How can you look so strong?”

“It’s like flexing your muscles. I just tense up and-“ All Might gained his muscles again for half a second before reverting back, coughing up more blood. “And I can’t. I’m out of time.”

Midoriya pulled back. This man was his idol. He had always looked up to All Might as the number one hero. And here he was, on the ground whining about what he couldn’t do.

“We can help,” Midoriya said. “We can at least go find other heroes and tell them.”

Midoriya brushed himself off and stood up. He offered his gloved hand to the hero.

“We won’t merge if you touch me through the glove,” Midoriya offered, hoping not to dissuade All Might for accepting his help.

The hero didn’t respond, instead choosing to look away, ignoring Midoriya’s offer. Midoriya hesitated for a moment before dropping his hand to his side.

All Might made his choice. And Midoriya made his.

Midoriya ran for the city, in the direction that he had seen the villain running towards.

Chapter Text

Bakugo kicked the the empty soda can in front of him into an alley. For some reason, his idiot friends from school decided it would be a good idea to go buy a pack cigarettes off some idiot selling them on the corner. Which was illegal! And it pissed him off.

“You guys are going to ruin my recommendation letters if you get caught,” Bakugo had snarled. “I can’t get into UA if I’m caught with some fucking delinquents. I’m out.”

He was on his way home, perhaps hoping to see some hero fights, when the can kicked back at him.

“Huh?” Bakugo said looking down the alley.

“Help.” There was a groan in the darkness. “Help me.”

Bakugo felt every bone in his body tell him to run. This was a trap. But heroes don’t run. He started walking towards the voice cautiously and saw a sentient pile of slime.

“Help,” the slime said again.

“Do you need me to call an ambulance?” Bakugo asked, pulling out his cell phone. The slime shot up at him, knocking his phone away.

“No,” the slime said standing up to his full height. “I just need your body.” The slime villain threw itself on top of Bakugo, drowning the boy in the sludge.

Bakugo didn’t even have time to scream.

Midoriya ran through the city, looking for a hero. He needed to warn someone that there was a villain on the loose. Someone who was attacking people at random. Someone that needed to be stopped.

About five minutes into his search he heard a giant explosion and saw a plume of smoke just a few blocks over. Midoriya would recognize the sound of the of that explosion anywhere.

“No,” Midoriya said running towards the battle ground.

When Midoriya arrived there were heroes everywhere but no one was doing anything. They were keeping citizens back, putting out fires and supporting each other. But no one was helping the screaming boy in the pile of slime.

Midoriya pushed his way to the front of the crowd, ignoring the wind chimes that he heard every so often and trying not to touch anyone skin to skin. His mind was screaming at him to run, that he couldn’t take over someone again, but he needed to confirm his suspicions.

“Bastard!” Bakugo screamed from the slime monster, before more slime was forced down his throat. Bakugo was throwing fire balls left and right, attacking his attacker with everything he had. The fire had caught on the nearby buildings and sent ashes flying through the air. The entire area smelt like sulfur and charcoal.

“No,” Midoriya whispered, frozen to his spot on the pavement. “But that’s Bakugo. Bakugo can’t be- he just can’t.” He made brief eye contact with Bakugo and saw the small boy from all those years ago all over again.

Midoriya knew what he had to do. He ran back, getting away from the crowds. He needed to prevent any accidents from happening, his quirk was ridiculous and unstable. It wouldn’t help anyone if her merged with someone here. But if he could just find All Might again. He knew that the hero was in the city. If Midoriya could find him, and bring the hero here. All Might could save the day.

When Midoriya finally got to the back of the crowd he was tripped by some stranger, falling at the feet of the man he had previously left behind and was hoping to see.

“All Might!” Midoriya exclaimed before slapping his hand over his own lips. Luckily at that same moment Bakugo let out painful wail and explosion blocking out anyone from hearing Midoriya’s shout.

“You have to save him,” Midoriya said. “The heroes- they’re doing nothing. No one can light a candle to-“

“Preet with me,” All Might said interrupting Midoriya’s plea.

And in that moment time stops. There are no explosions, or screams, or ash. The fires are gone, and it’s just Midoriya and his hero. Midoriya stood up, and stepped back.

“What?” Midoriya asks, trying to get rid of the shock.

“I’m not strong enough, not right now,” All might explains. “But I think you can use my quirk and save him. If you use my power and we work together, I think we can win.” All Might held his fist in the air to show his determination.

“But you’ll be stuck in my mind,” Midoriya explains. “You don’t have any agency when we’re together. Sometimes people can speak through me, but I’m not sure.”

“But we can talk to each other,” All Might said. “I’ll guide you through my powers. I don’t know if I can win going this alone, but together… Together I know what will happen.”

All Might held out his hand, a question for Midoriya. A subtle, soft question. If Midoriya said no, All Might might still go on. And he might loose. A small part of Midoriya whispered ‘he might die.’

Midoriya looked at his own hands, the weight of his quirk felt suffocating. He hadn’t touched another human being in almost ten years. Sure, he shook hands with people (so long as he was wearing his gloves.) He hugged his mom good bye when she went to work (so long as she was wearing a jacket that covered her arms.) But to be able to shake his hero’s hand. To feel someone’s touch, and to know that they were ok with the consequences.

Midoriya removed his glove and took All Might’s hand. The light didn’t feel so blinding this time and the wind chimes weren’t so menacing.

“Let’s save Kacchan,” Midoriya said as the engulfed them.

The light was gone and Midoriya was standing alone. His hair straightened out with two locks of hair standing up like rabbit ears on the back of his head. On to of his head, just above his hair line was a golden tiara with red and blue jewels  running across the circlet. His left eye remained green while his right eye turned blue.

His body tightened and expanded into tight muscles that looked would have looked bulky on a middle schooler, but he didn’t look like a middle schooler anymore. He looked like he was in his late thirties, standing six inches taller than he normally was, not including his three inch heels. His face turned gaunt with age mixed with All Might’s skeletal form.

Midoriya’s school uniform turned into starlight around him, replaced with red and white spandex. His midriff was exposed to show off his newly formed six-pack of muscles. His shirt was white spandex that had red and blue stripes coming to a point near his naval. On his hips was a bulky yellow utility belt that had a functional weight to it. Under the belt was a red mini skirt ending in white and blue trim. On his hands were wrist length yellow gloves that matched his belt in both color and bulk. His shoes were heeled boots that rose all the way up beyond his knees to mid thigh, almost where his skirt ended, leaving just one inch of skin to be seen.

Jump into the action, All Might commanded inside of Midoriya’s head.

“Right!”

The jump sent him high in the air, flipping head over heel until he was standing in front of the grey slime man. Midoriya could hear shouts from behind him, calling for him to get back, that it wasn’t safe. But All Might helped him to block those sounds out.

“Hiro, you have to stop!” Midoriya called out, looking for the eyes on the slime. “Hiro!”

The eyes moved across the slime, bubbling under the surface until they were blinking back at Midoriya. Two tentacles with the eyeballs attached drew out from the main mass until they were inches from Midoriya’s face. Teeth following soon after forming a mouth.

“Let him go,” Midoriya said using All Might’s words.

“You merged again,” the teeth said. “With… All Might? How’s it feel All Might? To be under the boy’s control. He doesn’t give that up too easily.”

All Might was silent inside of Midoriya’s head.

“Hiro, you have to stop,” Midoriya said bringing the conversation back to making the villain surrender. “You have a hostage, someone who doesn’t deserve this. Let him go.”

“Ha!” the teeth screamed, and retreated back into their original mass. The form of slime morphed and moved until Midoriya could see Bakugo plain as day. Bakugo looked like he was terrified, eyes screaming out a desperate plea for help. “If you hurt me, I’ll make sure to put the boy in the front line of fire.”

Midoriya lowered himself into a defensive stance, maintaining eye contact with Bakugo. The stance felt like muscle memory, as though he had always taken this exact position when going on the defense. And maybe it was for All Might.

Behind you!

Midoriya jumped into the air just as a tentacle of slime came crashing down on where Midoriya was originally standing. Concrete split into pieces with the force of the impact.

“Help me out here All Might,” Midoriya said floating in the air for a moment before he started to fall.

My power is called One for All. Just think of how strong you need to be and release it in front of you. Be careful to only use the strength you need.

Midoriya nodded and extended his arms out to the side.

Don’t forget the cool move name!

“Austin,” Midoriya shouted as he brought his hands together for a loud clap, “CRUSH!”

The sound wave sent ripples through the slime, scattering the villain through the pressure. Bakugo fell out the villain with a thud, rolling to a stop off to the side. The wave continued moving outward, bouncing off the pavement and creating a strong wind. It carried Midoriya up another ten feet in the air.

The current continued on, another thousand feet, dispersing the clouds in the sky. The sun shined brighter than it had all week, covering the entire city in a different weather pattern.

When Midoriya touched down, he took a running start towards Bakugo.

Don’t touch him! All Might said from his head. He could be injured. The villain is gone now, but the boy could still be hurt.

Midoriya nodded and took a step back.

You need to get out of here anyways. Somewhere we can separate. You aren’t an official hero Midoriya. You can be arrested here.

“Got it,” Midoriya said.

The heroes started running towards him, either to arrest him for not having a hero license or to help out Bakugo, who was unconscious on the ground\ it didn’t make a difference.

Midoriya knelt down before jumping as high as he could, pushing himself away from this disaster zone. He didn’t have a specific location in mind, just away. He was on top of a tall building when he landed, the landing was easy and soft, like he was just taking another step. Midoriya took a deep breath and released the transformation.

All Might was standing in front of him suddenly, and Midoriya felt his heart squeeze.

“I just broke the law,” Midoriya said, the weight of his decision laying heavy on him. “I used my quirk on someone. I used my quirk on you and then I used your quirk on the villain. He was a person, but his quirk just took over.” Midoriya’s breath started to quake and his eyes got wet. He couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, each one feeling like a betrayal to the career he wanted so bad.

His face contorted with tears as they spilt down his cheeks. He broke the law. He fulfilled Bakugo’s prophecy. He was, by definition, a villain.

All Might was uncomfortable in the face of the boy’s emotional outburst. But he had been inside of Midoriya’s head. He knew what kind of person Midoriya was, there wasn’t a bad bone in that boy’s body. He took that half step forward and closed the distance between them. He knew how Midoriya’s quirk worked now, skin to skin was what activated it. But he could hold Midoriya from his jacket and the back of his head gently. There was no light or wind chimes, just the warmth of an embrace.

“You had my express permission for what we did,” All might said. “I won’t let you get in trouble for this. I have some friends in the police department, they’ll take care of you.”

“I’m a villain,” Midoriya sobbed.

“You’re a hero,” All Might corrected. “I couldn’t have saved that boy, but with you we both did. I-I’m not the person I used to be. When I puff up and look like I used to, it hurts. It’s physically painful and I can only keep that up for so long. But with you I didn’t feel that pain! It was like I used to be.”

“That doesn’t change what I did,” Midoriya said, pulling away from his hero. He rubbed furiously at his eyes, trying to clear his vision. Heroes didn’t cry. But when he could see better, he was proven wrong.

All Might had a silent stream of tears running down his face. His breath didn’t hiccup, his shoulders were still held high, but there was definite tears.

“You were a hero today,” All Might said again, pride oozing from his words. “And with my help I think you can be a hero again. I can teach you! You’re so powerful, you have the quirk and the attitude! You can be a real hero.”

Midoriya didn’t hold back anymore and just let himself cry. He fell into All Might’s arms and just sobbed tears of joy.

“One for all?” Midoriya asked as he and All Might were wandering around the suburbs together. All Might offered to answer any questions Midoriya might have had while seeing him home safely.

“Yes, that’s what my quirk is called. It’s a stock pile quirk.”

“So your strength is a form of stock piling? How does that work exactly?”

All Might stroked his chin for a moment, as if fighting an internal debate.

“It’s a bit complicated,” All Might said with a shrug.

“I’m smart.”

All Might chuckled. “You are, aren’t you. It’s a-“

“Deku!” All Might was interrupted by a shout from behind them.

Bakugo was standing behind the two men, breathing heavily.

“Uhh,” Midoriya said looking up at the hero. “You should probably go.” He didn’t want All Might to take back what he said earlier with Bakugo’s words.

“Are you sure? I could feel your emotions in the fight when we spotted him, I didn’t catch his name though.”

“Kacchan. Or umm, Bakugo Katsuki. He’s aiming for UA as well.”

“Right, I could feel that there was a….” All Might snapped his fingers as though trying to put a name to the emotion that he had felt when Midoriya saw Bakugo during the fight earlier. Fear almost. But not quite. A sadness maybe? “Would you like to be alone?”

Midoriya nodded.

“I have your phone number,” Midoriya said.

“Alright,” All Might said just as the other boy caught up to them. “Have a good evening then.”

Midoriya nodded stiffly, turning his attention back to Bakugo.

Bakugo glared at All Might as the man walked away. His eyes looking the man up and down a few times before turning his glare back to Midoriya.

“That was you,” Bakugo growled. “You took someone’s quirk. You took someone and used their quirk without permission. Didn’t you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Midoriya said.

“You tried to save me! You took someone’s life and used it without their permission!”

Midoriya played up his shock, throwing a hand to his chest and gasping.

“You were in trouble?” Midoriya asked. “Are you ok, Bakugo? Did a bridge collapse or something?”

“That’s bull shit and you know it!” Bakugo’s hands lit up with several pops. “You are a fucking villain and I should take you down now!”

“No,” Midoriya said. “You have no proof, you have no power, you have no right. I’m no more a villain than you are Kacchan.”

If looks could kill.

“And besides, if I were the one to save you, and I wasn’t.” Midoriya felt his breath quicken. “I wouldn’t be a villain. I’m not a villain.”

“Then why didn’t you stick around,” Bakugo said before walking around Midoriya to go to his own house.

Midoriya was left alone in the late evening. He could feel the bridges building forward under his feet and the road collapsing behind him. He couldn’t change the past, change his previous mistakes. But he could take advantage of them. Learn from them. Grow from them.

No more vigilante work without a license. No more using his quirk without permission. Midoriya would never fuse with someone again unless they explicitly said that he could.

Midoriya was done running away from his quirk. It was time to embrace it.

Chapter Text

“Inheritance?” Midoriya asked. He and All Might, or Yagi Toshinori, were walking out in the early morning just two days after their first meeting. They had been texting nonstop about the preparations that Midoriya would have to face in order to be the hero he so desperately wanted to be.

“Yes,” Toshinori said. He was in his lankier form, trying to keep a low profile. “My quirk isn’t genetic or a mutation. When I was just a bit younger than you are now I met one of the greatest heroes of all time with this quirk. She passed it on to me, and I think you have the passion to be the next holder of One-for-All.”

“Passion?”

“The hero spirit. I saw it in you when we first met and you wanted to go to the police for a citizens arrest. And I saw it again when you fought the villain in the alley. I’m not sure how much you could see into my head at the time, but I saw yours clear as day. You’re the perfect candidate to inherit my quirk.”

Midoriya scratched the bottom of his chin in thought. All Might’s quirk was theorized to be some kind of strength enhancer. But it was only ever a theory, he was always avoiding the topic during interviews. A quirk that hadn’t been obtained since birth was completely unheard of, nothing that he had ever heard of at least. But then again he hadn’t researched quirklessness that much since he didn’t know anyone who was quirkless. It was only 5% of the global population.

“I’m apart of the 5% by the way,” Toshinori said, interrupting Midoriya’s thoughts. Perhaps his mouth had opened and he had said some of his thoughts. “I was quirkless before I got One-for-All.”

“Really?”

“It’s the hero spirit,” Toshinori said with a slight pep in his step.

“What exactly does this mean?” Midoriya asked, pulling over to a stop on the side walk. “Are you concerned with me accidentally inheriting your quirk when he fused? I haven’t noticed anything unusual since then.”

“Oh no,” Toshinori said. “No. It’s something that can’t be forcibly taken. Only given. I can force someone to receive my quirk, but no one can forcibly take it from me. And I’m offering this power to you.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Midoriya said.  “I can barely control my own quirk. If we add your quirk on top of this mess someone could get seriously hurt.”

“That’s what- oh hang on,” Toshinori pulled a large packet of papers out of his jacket, “that’s what this is for. It’s an itinerary on quirk control. Specifically something like yours where you can’t turn it on and off. I called some acquaintances at UA for some advice and I think this will help.”

Midoriya paged through the paper work looking at the different plans.

“I also included some other things that will help with hero training. Strength training. Community service. And it should leave you time for school work as well.”

“This is pretty intense.” Every hour for the next ten months was planned down to the second. Three hours of training every morning. After school there was one hour for studying, two hours for training. Community service. Quirk exercises. Hero work. Every bathroom break, water break. Even this conversation was only meant to last another fifteen minutes.

There was just one thing that didn’t sit right with Midoriya. Every week there was a set block of time at night set aside for ‘vigilantism.’ It talked about how the goal was for Midoriya to get used to merging with people. To find comfort with his quirk.

“Can you handle it? I did make it intense, and for good reason. Hero work is challenging. You’ll be facing off against hundreds of other students with the same goals as you. Tell me, are you up for a challenge?”

Midoriya flipped the packet closed, with a nod. If All Might said this would work, then this would work.

“Let’s start.”

Midoriya’s days were grueling and long. Not everything was terrible, but it was hard work none the less. Moving trash from a beach followed by school would be challenging enough. Then he would go to homeless shelters and soup kitchens, giving back to his community and building relationships with the people. That part was highly rewarding. But the worst part of his day was quirk training.

“No no no,” Toshinori said.

The two were sitting on the roof of a building in the city, surrounded by books on quirk usage and teaching theory. Each book was open around them, forming a mess around them.

“You can’t focus on the action of control.” Toshinori was reading a book in his lap depicting out of control fire quirks. “This one talks about how it’s the control itself that you should focus on. Not a ‘stop the merging’ thought process but more of a ‘stop wanting to merge.’”

“But this book is saying that I shouldn’t focus on anything at all,” Midoriya said with his own book open. It focused on transformation quirks which were theoretically similar to his own quirk, but not by much. The book was focused more on people who could manipulate parts of their body like bones or teeth. “That the more clear my mind is the easier it is to use my quirk.”

“Well that doesn’t fit at all considering that you do it unconsciously.”

“You’re right. We’ve been working at for months now and every book is different.” Midoriya picked up the different books around him. Books focusing on the control of body manipulation, control of lasers, control of strength.

“Air quirks work better when it’s a natural instinct,” Midoriya continued. “Vibration based quirks can be controlled with emotional responses. Physical augmentations likes mutations typically can’t be turned off but sometimes do involve manipulation that comes with physical exertion.”

“Each quirk is different Midoriya,” Toshinori said. “The only way to learn control is to just try different things. You’ve ignored your quirk for so long that you don’t know your limits. And we’re learning different things as we go.”

Midoriya sighed.

“Let’s try the stop wanting thing you were talking about,” Midoriya said slipping off his gloves.

Midoriya closed his eyes in focus. Intense focus. He didn’t want to merge. He didn’t want to fuse. He didn’t want to preet.

And there he was standing on the roof. Alone. An extra five inches taller and wearing a mini skirt.

“It didn’t work,” Midoriya sighed.

Give it time. Patience is a virtue we can afford. We just have to take this at a set pace.

Weeks later it was the dead of night and All Might and Midoriya were on the lookout for trouble. Minor agitations. Small things that wouldn’t attract attention.

Usually heroes will patrol like this on the ground floor. It deters criminals, but because what we’re doing isn’t legal, we shouldn’t be seen by civilians.

Midoriya nodded. The two of them had taken to vigilantism. It was supposed to help Midoriya get more comfortable with his quirk, but every preet was just as uncomfortable as the last. Midoriya had purchased a mask to wear on outings after that first time with Bakugo. He couldn’t risk his mother or Bakugo recognizing him in a worse case.

It was the third month of running around on roofs. Most of the time they guided women back home from work. Or they would escort drunkards away from the bars. They tried to stay away from anything that might attract actual heroes or the police.

“Did you hear that?” Midoriya asked. In the back of his mind Midoriya could hear a high pitched noice. A small voice that sounded like just a scream. But it was so quiet that there was no mistaking it.

To the east.

Midoriya jumped into action. Midoriya didn’t always have the best control of his strength when using One-for-All, sometimes his jumps would send him flying into the sky or straight at a bill board. But with All Might’s careful tutoring Midoriya had been able to fine tune his strength for more accuracy.

Midoriya landed in the middle of the empty street about half a block away from the scuffle.

“No please,” a woman called out. “Just leave us alone.”

Midoriya couldn’t hear the response, but just a beat later he head another scream. Midoriya ran into action, finding two women cornered in the alley with three men surrounding them.

Interrupt them. Show them you mean business.

“Hey,” Midoriya called out, using his most heroic tone he could. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”

Everyone turned around to look at him. The women were dressed for a party, hip hugging jeans and loose colorful tank tops. One of them had green skin with curing horns and the other was covered in black patches of fur. Both of them had lines of mascara down their face.

The men on the other hand were human appearing. One of them had larger than normal hands and another had a hood covering most of his face.

At least one of them has a body augmentation quirk. Make note of quirks if you can, it’ll be helpful if this turns violent.

Midoriya gave a minute nod to acknowledge All Might, but otherwise stayed silent.

“Listen here,” the man in the middle said. He was taller than the others with thick red hair. Midoriya couldn’t figure out his quirk just from appearances.

“This here is my sister,” he pulled the woman with green skin forward by her arm, “she’s grounded and shouldn’t be out right now. I’m just taking her home before the folks wake up. You understand right?”

“Please,” the woman begged. “I don’t know him or any of them. We were just going out for fun, but they’ve been following us for an hour. We don’t know them! You gotta help us Lady Might!”

Lady Might?

“That’s what you’re focusing on?” Midoriya mouthed, his breath barely carrying his words out.

He cleared his throat, and set his eyes on the red head.

“You have a lot of nerve following these women around,” Midoriya growled. “You have until the count of ten to leave before I take you in for stalking.”

“Stalking?” the red head said with a laugh. He squeezed his grip on the girl’s arm until she cried out in pain. “Really? That’s the best you got?”

“One.”

The one on the left with the larger hands grew his hands until they were the size of his chest before throwing a fist at Midoriya. Midoriya dodged taking a step back, letting All Might’s fighting skills take hold.

It wasn’t that he could see the attacks before they were happening, or even that All Might was telling him what to do. He could feel All Might’s strength take hold of him, guiding him to the right actions.

The man with the hood glided forward, each step was like a ghost’s as he went around Midoriya trying to pry his attention away.

The two threw punches and kicks, coming at him from two different sides, but Midoriya was smarter. His instincts told him when to dodge and when to duck. He jumped away from a sweeping leg from the hooded figure and threw a block up against the enlarged fist. He bobbed and weaved through the fight, letting his opponents wear themselves out.

When the man with the large fist started to slow in his advances, Midoriya got up close. The closer he was the less the man could use his quirk. Midoriya went for his first guttural instinct and kneed the man in the crotch, incapacitating him.

Midoriya turned around and saw the hooded figure groan in sympathy for his friend while Midoriya wound up for the punch, choosing not to use One-for-All. He aimed for the man’s nose only to have his fist phase through the man’s head.

The man grinned from under Midoriya’s fist and Midoriya could feel the muscles of his face twitch.

Without thinking it through Midoriya twisted his wrist and summoned the smallest amount of his quirk and snapped his fingers. The sound echoed through the alley as the man fell to his knees, immediately knocked out from the sound vibrations. Midoriya was terrified for a second that he had killed the man before Midoriya heard a cough coming from the man.

Midoriya turned his attention back to the red head with as menacing of a look as he could muster.

“What the hell man?” the red head shouted. He pulled a knife out of his coat pocket and pointed it at Midoriya.

He dropped his grip on the girl’s arm and ran at Midoriya with the knife out. Midoriya pivoted to the side and caught the man’s wrist in one hand and his shoulder on the other. He used the man’s momentum to slam him into the wall and twist the hand holding the knife.

Midoriya used his foot to trip the man to the ground and stepped on his left shoulder, the heel of his boot pushing into the man’s jacket.

“If I ever catch you near these girls again you won’t get away so lucky.”

The man nodded with a whine beneath Midoriya. Midoriya released him and the man ran off, dragging his friends with him.

“Thank you so much,” the green girl cried, throwing her arms around Midoriya.

“We have no clue what those guys wanted but it couldn’t have been good,” the girl with the fur patches said. “So thank you so much.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Midoriya said. “I’m just hoping to help.”

“Where did the name Lady Might come from?” All Might took over for a second to ask.

“Oh really?” The green girl asked pulling away. She pulled her phone out of her pants and opened a website up. The website was pretty dark looking with various pictures of vigilantes up. There was a blurry picture of Midoriya with a small blurb about how ‘she’ wasn’t very active except in Mustudo once or twice a week.

“Oh boy,” Midoriya said.

Later that night Toshinori was walking Midoriya home while Midoriya was looking up the website. Each step was a silent accusation against the hero.

“It doesn’t know much about us,” Midoriya concluded. “Some blurry pictures of us running around on roofs. One or two of us walking people home. But not a lot.”

“That’s good,” Toshinori agreed, not looking at his protege.

“It’s scary that we’re being noticed,” Midoriya said putting his phone away.

“Don’t worry. It’s just one website. And you have me with you. I’m teaching you how to be a hero Midoriya.”

“What about the police All Might?” Midoriya could feel his hands shaking as they walked. “We’re still not doing anything legal.”

“You’re learning Midoriya. Let me handle the legal work.”

Midoriya shook his head. He could feel his anxiety hitting the back of his throat, sour and thick.

“They think we’re a woman,” Midoriya said. “At least that’s a good disguise.”

“Your shape shifting is very handy,” Toshinori agreed. He gave Midoriya an enthusiastic thumbs up. “And we have the skills to back it up. No one will ever know Midoriya. Our secret is safe.”

Midoriya was on his sixth lap around the beach by the time that All Might showed up. He had been running for over an hour, carrying various loads with him. Each pass across the beach he found more trash hidden just beneath the surface. He had a large pile of tires, hunks of misshapen metal, and hunks of rebar waiting for All Might’s truck.

“You’re early,” All Might said stepping out of the rental. While in his larger form he could barely fit inside of the truck cab, but it did give him better driving instincts.

Midoriya pulled the tarp out of the back seat and spread it over bed of the truck.

“I guess,” Midoriya responded. “I just felt like running.”

All Might hummed, leaning against the truck while Midoriya filled the truck with trash.

“How many hours of sleep did you get last night?”

Midoriya didn’t respond.

All Might reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his itinerary for Midoriya.

“How long have you been out here?” All Might asked.

“About an hour, maybe two?”

All Might hummed again. “Well, it’s strength training today. So let’s start lifting.”

Midoriya nodded and went over to the truck that they had been dismantling. Midoriya was lifting the parts back tot he truck while All Might disconnected them.

Midoriya carried the car doors, hood, wheels and other various parts through the sand. All Might had dismantled the entire car while Midoriya ran with the parts. For Midoriya each part was heavier than the last as he tried to jog with the large hunks of metal. He was flipping one of the tires when he finally collapsed in the sand.

“I was waiting for that,” All Might said lifting the engine block from the frame and letting it fall in the sand with a thud. He dropped his strength and walked over to Midoriya.

“You’re over doing it,” Toshinori lectured. “I made this plan for a reason. It’s sleep, and rest, and eating too. If you over do it your muscles don’t get that much needed rest. You can’t just go 100% all the time. That’s not how your body works.”

Heroes don’t cry. They just don’t. But Midoriya wasn’t a hero yet and was sobbing into the sand. He could feel the sand sticking to his face with the tears.

“I can’t stop,” Midoriya sobbed. “I’m so far behind. I’ve never practiced with my quirk. I don’t know how it works. But I can do this. I can get stronger. I know I can. If I don’t give everything I have into this then what’s the point. It’s not that I need to get into UA.”

Midoriya pushed himself up on wobbling arms until he was eye to eye with All Might.

“I need to be a hero,” Midoriya said with every ounce of conviction he had.

Toshinori’s face softened with realization. Of course, he thought. How could I be so blind?

Midoriya wasn’t out here to get stronger. He wasn’t out here to better himself. He wasn’t even out there to pass his exams. Midoriya met All Might on roof tops to study quirks and how they worked. He went out and saved people for the sake of saving people, even though it scared him to break the law.

“I see,” Toshinori said. “If that’s the case, then I think you’ve already reached your goal. You’re already a hero.”

“Then I want to be a better one!” Midoriya wasn’t just shaking from his exhaustion now. He reached up and wiped his snot and tears off on his sleeve. “I’m going to be one of the best heroes in the world. No. I’m going to be the best hero in the world!”

Toshinori laughed. So the boy had guts?

“Alright,” Toshinori said. “You want me to revise the plan then? Something harder, more challenging for you?”

“Yes,” Midoriya said, feeling himself wobble slightly.

“Alright. I’ll have something for you later today.” Toshinori flexed his shoulders and transformed back into All Might.

“Just promise to rest tonight. No patrol. Instead focus on your studies in quirk theory and school work. It’ll give your muscles a break. Remember that if you’re feeling this bad right now it will only be worse tomorrow.”

Midoriya sniffed and nodded. He rubbed his nose a bit with the back of his glove, trying to stop the snot.

“Go home. Take a shower. Get ready for school.”

Midoriya was on time for once. Not a minute early. Just on time.

He looked around and All Might wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

Midoriya sighed and looked across the beach. He must have cleared at least six miles across the beach. It was only a fraction of the entire beach but it wasn’t a small feat. He jogged across the sand over to the edge of his work, wondering if he could have finished.

He reached a hand out and started to climb up the pile. He wanted to see it. See everything. It didn’t take much to be onto of the pile, looking out at the ocean. It was so big, and so dirty. Every minute another bottle washed up on the sand. Another bag. Another tire iron. It was disgusting and never ending.

Midoriya screamed. He just wanted to feel something. Anything. He didn’t feel accomplished. He didn’t feel satisfied. He felt empty. It shouldn’t feel like that.

“Midoriya!”

Midoriya turned around and saw that Toshinori was waiting in the sand next to the rental truck.

“Come here.”

Midoriya slid down the pile and ran for the parking lot. He was there in a moment, even if it was a couple miles away.

“Hey,” Midoriya greeted the man with a half smile.

“You ready?”

“I think so,” Midoriya said. “A bit anxious. But I think so.”

“Good.” Toshinori hesitated for a moment. “I hate to bring it up, but I wanted to ask you… have you considered my offer?”

“You mean your quirk?”

“Yes.”

Midoriya hesitated. He had thought about it. But he still barely knew how to control his powers yet. He couldn’t turn it off. He still couldn’t hold his mother’s hand, or give her a hug. He still couldn’t stop himself from preeting with All Might.

Midoriya felt his throat close.

“I’m not sure,” Midoriya said. “I mean… I’m grateful for everything we’ve done, but I don’t know if it’s made much of a difference.”

Toshinori blinked back his obvious shock.

“Turn around,” Toshinori said. He guided Midoriya’s vision out to the beach’s horizon. “I see a huge difference. You moved six miles worth of trash. That’s six miles of sand that wasn’t there before.”

“There’s still so much that I haven’t done,” Midoriya muttered, looking back at the edges of his vision to the piles and piles of garbage around.

“Midoriya,” Toshinori sighed the boy’s name. “What are the three types of quirks?”

“Mutation, emitter, and transformation.”

“An example of each?”

“Mutation is something that can’t be turned off like someone with six eyes. Emitters make new things like someone who can breathe fire. Transformation is something like my quirk.”

“Did you know that before?”

Midoriya hesitated. “I didn’t.”

“Is that a difference?”

“… Yes. I guess it is?”

“You’ve bettered yourself,” Toshinori said. “Take off your jacket.”

Midoriya did as he was told and set the jacket on the ground.

“Can’t you feel your strength? You didn’t have muscles before like this, that’s for sure. You’re stronger. You’re smarter. You did good things.”

Midoriya looked down at himself. He tried to see what Toshinori was seeing, and it kind of worked. He didn’t have definition before they started. He didn’t know quirk theory like the back of his hand before. And this beach was just a landfill.

“You’re right,” Midoriya said picking up his jacket. His muscles were still there even if he couldn’t see them.

“So I’ll ask again,” Toshinori said. “And if the answer is no, the offer will still stand when you’re ready. Do you want One-for-All? Permanently?”

Chapter Text

The ride to the exam was awkward. Midoriya could still feel the hair moving down his throat with every swallow.

“It’ll be a few hours,” Toshinori said trying to lighten the mood.

“Is there a way I’ll be able to tell?”

“Not sure,” Toshinori said. “But it’s working.” He looked at the top of Midoriya’s head with a pointed glance. When Midoriya reached up to see what Toshinori was looking at he could feel two locks of hair defying gravity. He didn’t recall having a cowlick like that before.

“Huh,” Midoriya said as the car pulled over. Midoriya had one foot out the door when he felt Toshinori grab his arm.

“Good luck,” Toshinori said. Toshinori didn’t smile a lot when he wasn’t in his muscle form. It wasn’t that he didn’t smile ever, but more that he had a serious aura when he looked like a reaper. But the way Toshinori was looking at Midoriya now, it felt like home. “You’ll do great.”

Midoriya’s lips caved into a matching smile.

“Thank you.”

Toshinori drove away.

Midoriya turned and saw the large building, his breath was stolen from his lungs. He had seen pictures of the school, but it was still a town away. The building was huge with four large pillars connected with a walk way on the second or third floor. A giant metal gate, with metal detectors surrounding the entry way.

This was the alma mater of All Might. This was the number one hero school in the country with a 1 to 300 acceptance rate.

And Midoriya was going to go there next year.

“Out of my way Deku.”

Bakugo was coming up from being Midoriya, hands in his pockets and a permanent scowl on his face.

“Kacchan,” Midoriya said, surprised to run into Bakugo so early. He knew that Bakugo was going to the same exams as him, but he didn’t think that they’d arrive around the same time. “Uhh-“

“Shut it. Don’t say anything. You being here is a disgrace.” He walked around Midoriya with a wide birth of space.  “Go the fuck home.”

Midoriya hadn’t really seen or interacted with Bakugo since he met All Might. Maybe it was that their schedules just didn’t overlap any anymore or maybe Bakugo had finally decided to leave Midoriya alone. Midoriya hoped it was the later.

“Good luck,” Midoriya said anyways. He could be civil.

Midoriya took an extra moment just to take it in. He wanted this to be special, to cross this threshold with his head held high. This was going to be his school for the next three years. He was going to graduate with honors and be a true hero. He was going to save countless lives, and it all started with this one step forward.

The uneven pavement caught the toe of his shoe. He waved his arms trying to catch himself but he could feel himself falling. He felt a quick tap on his back and he no longer felt the gut clench that came with tripping.

“Sorry,” a feminine voice said. Midoriya was no longer falling, in fact he was floating. He was just a few inches off the ground, hovering. “I didn’t mean to use my quirk on you, but falling on the way into the exam felt like bad luck.”

Midoriya extended his arms and was able to push himself upright. The girl tapped her fingers together for a second and Midoriya touched ground again. Some kind of telekinesis quirk? Something that involved touch at the very least by the looks of her hands, her finger tips were a much brighter color than the rest of her fingers.

“It’s ok,” Midoriya quickly said. He was all too familiar with not having full control of your quirk. “Uhh, thank you for saving me. I’m Midoriya.”

“Uraraka,” the girl said, extended her hand out to shake his hand. He didn’t, he was wearing gloves but it still felt like it was setting a dangerous precedent. He hadn’t shaken someone’s hand in a long time for good reason.

“Sorry my quirk doesn’t do well with touch,” he said waving his gloved fingers.

“Oh! Ok then.” She suddenly looked nervous, Midoriya couldn’t blame her. “Well, good luck I guess.”

Midoriya nodded and wished her the same as they walked to the exam hall.

The written exams took only two hours, it was a simple reading and math exam. Midoriya felt confident that he’d get a passing score. That was when the real challenge began.

Pro-Hero Present Mic was announcing the rules to the physical assessment exam. It seemed simple enough. Robots with numbers. Smash for points. Avoid obstacles. Easy.

Midoriya’s group was the first one to go out into the battle zone, meaning he didn’t have time to develop a strategy. All he could tell was it was a city scape. The testing zone seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see.

He was standing in the back looking at the people around him. Some had some obvious quirks that looked powerful, while others just looked normal, no real distinguishing features. That was when he noticed the girl from before. Uraraka.

Midoriya raised his hand to say hello, the awkwardness of their earlier encounter forgotten. He should wish her good luck a final time, maybe they could watch each other’s backs, work together. Maybe he could offer to- no that was a bad idea. This was meant to show off their quirks and show that they could be heroes. If he took away her abilities and they fused he’d remove her chances of being seen as a hero on her own. He couldn’t do that.

Midoriya lowered his hand and turned forward to see the crowd of people in front of him.

“Good choice,” a voice said beside him. “You saw that she was trying to concentrate and didn’t stop her. That was a good move.”

Midoriya turned to see a boy wearing a streamlined uniform. He was bulked out to the max with a square jaw and brilliant brown eyes.

“I didn’t even think of that,” Midoriya muttered.

The boy open his mouth to respond when the loud speaker rang clear.

“GO! What are you waiting for? There’s no count downs in real life! Go!”

And they were off.

The gate opened to reveal an empty street with a few side paths around the edges. If you were smart you’d take the side paths and get away from the crowd and competition. But Midoriya couldn’t touch anyone without consequences and got swept away by the mob. Every time he tried to push sideways the echoing of wind chimes filled his ears. He was covered from the neck down in his track suit and gloves, but he could still hear the nightmarish ringing.

It took far too long for him to go his own way. He was able to avoid preeting with anyone, but the damage was already done, most of the robots in the immediate area were destroyed.

Midoriya took off in a run, looking for any twitching pile of metal to stomp on. Maybe he could scrape a few points together, if he could just find something.

One of the two pointers was battling with a small group of students, each student was screaming for other to back off. “I saw it first!” “This is my fight!” “Back off!”

One student was running around shooting a laser from his naval at anything that moved. He stopped long enough to blow Midoriya a kiss before running off again.

One student was running around, jumping on the legs of a two pointer, breaking it down by it’s movement first.

This wasn’t a test. It was a war zone.

“Look out,” a boy yelled as he toppled a three pointer. Midoriya dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting trapped under the large robot. “Sorry!”

Midoriya had just gotten his footing back when he heard a scream. Everyone around him stopped. A giant robot, reaching the tops of the building came through. Each step sent a tremble through the stadium.

“Zero pointer!”

“Run!”

Midoriya turned his back to follow the advice of the shouts when he heard the scream again. This wasn’t just a surprised scream at seeing a zero pointer. This scream was asking for help.

Midoriya turned tail and ran against the current of students, finding the girl- Uraraka pinned under the leg of a three-pointer robot.

“We gotta get out of here,” Uraraka said. She was bleeding from her forehead and looked pale green. She kept slamming her hand against the giant leg, as though slapping the leg would help. “I over used my quirk!”

Midoriya knelt down, trying to lift the leg with her, but it was useless. He could see under the robot that her leg was bent in an unnatural way. Even if he could get her out by some miracle there was no way she’d be able to run. Another slam rattled their bones as the zero-point robot got closer.

“Leave,” Uraraka said, making eye contact with Midoriya. “You need to get out of here.”

Midoriya’s head swam with ideas as he tried to come up with a solution to get them both to safety. He had always wondered what type of hero he could be. He could work in a team and fuse with others to be on the offense. He could be an interrogator and find the truth from villains he pressed with. He could be a capture hero that stopped villains in their tracks and took them to prison. But right now he needed to be a rescue hero, to get Uraraka out of a dangerous situation.

“I need you to trust me,” Midoriya said. He quickly removed his glove and threw it away. He held his hand out for Uraraka to take. “I can get us both out of here, but you need to take my hand.”

She hesitated for a moment, biting her lip before nodding. She remembered his warning about his quirk not working well with touch. But she didn’t have a choice. She took Midoriya’s hand and the light consumed them both.

Midoriya was kneeling next to the robot, exactly where he was before, but Uraraka was gone. He looked down at his hands and saw he was wearing long, black, fingerless opera gloves. He stood up on stiletto heels, a good three inches taller. He was in a long black dress with glittering sequence resembling star patterns, there was a slit down his right leg that allowed him to have easy movement. His wrists had two tight bangles that pressed comfortably on his wrists. On his head was a helmet, completely covering his ears and providing a purple tinted eye shield.

What’s going on?

“My quirk is preeting, we merge consciousnesses and I amplify your quirk. What do you do?”

Gravity manipulation. I make things float with my finger tips.

“Emitter quirk,” Midoriya said, suddenly understanding. “Got it.”

The ground shook violently as the zero pointer came closer. The surrounding test takers continued to scatter around them, running for their lives.

We need to stop it!

“Are you sure?” Midoriya asked. “I know we can take it down, but I’m not doing anything without-“

You’re wasting time. This thing looks like it’s about to crush somebody!

“Alright! Let’s go!”

Midoriya looked around at everything around him. Maybe if he lifted all of the debris around him he could use it to at least slow the beast down.

Midoriya dragged his hands on everything within reach, focusing on the power of the quirk. His afternoons on roof tops with All Might going over quirk theory seemed to come in handy as the quirk seemed to be bending to his will.

It’s too much! You’re going to get sick! My quirk makes me nauseous.

“We’ll worry about that later.”

By the time the street was clear of debris the giant robot had reached them. His fingers twitched with power as he focused on the rocks and metal bits. It wasn’t just that he could focus on how high everything went, but he could feel the directions that they were floating in. It felt like he was juggling a hundred balls that he was in complete control of. He wondered…

Try it!

Midoriya tapped himself and let himself float- no, he flew. He could control his own movements, he could feel himself being raised up and up and up until he was hovering. He tried to move to the left, and he went left. He tried to move to the right and he went to the right.

We’re flying! Actually flying! I could never do more than float a few feet off the ground.

Midoriya laughed with Uraraka, taking joy at being in full control of their quirk. Uraraka wanted to try a flip, but the zero-pointer robot was still coming.

“Focus,” he said, reminding himself. “We need to focus.”

He focused on the debris, using it as projectiles. He flung the rocks first, wondering if they would even leave a scratch on it. It wasn’t just leaving scratches, but making dents in the mechanical beast. He flung his arms forward as though pitching a baseball, watching the metal fly. The pieces of robots that his competition had smashed were his weapons. He flung everything he had at the Goliath and watched it stumble backwards.

But it wasn’t enough. The robot seemed to gain it’s footing back as it got it’s balance.

“One minute left!” Present Mic shouted over the intercom.

“I have no points,” Midoriya whispered, horrified by his lack of response time. But he quickly shook himself back into the present. He had to finish this.

He flew around the beast, looking for something to stop it when he had an idea.

That could work! You think we can make things weigh more too?

“One way to find out.” Midoriya flew as high as he could, tapping a button on the side of his helmet that covered his mouth too. He kept gaining altitude, focusing on the zero-gravity quirk he had control of.

When he was high enough off the ground that he could touch clouds, he switched his position.

He dove down towards the robot, just a speck in the distance. He was gaining speed and mass as he dove towards the beast. He’d only have one shot at it. An echo of All Might came into his head, reminding him to name all of his power moves.

“Hokkiado… PUNCH!”

His fist glowed a bright white color, electric spikes running up his arm as he flung himself into the zero-point robot. The robot turned to dust under his touch as both he and Uraraka screamed out in pain.

“Times up!” Present Mic called out, as Midoriya effortlessly floated back to the ground.

Midoriya released his quirk and he and Uraraka were back safe and sound. His arm was a dark purple from his shoulder to his finger tips, and Urakara’s leg seemed to be twisted in an abnormal way like it had been under the robot leg.

“Good- bleh.” He wanted to wish Uraraka a job well done, but his stomach suddenly decided to empty itself next to her. She didn’t seem to bothered as her face was quickly turning a pale array of colors before landing on green. She puked on his shoes not even seconds later.

Midoriya was anxious, and terrified. His arm had been completely shattered under the effects of One-for-All and Uraraka seemed to only suffer a dislocation rather than a fracture. The retching was a side effect of her quirk, it messed with their internal sense of balance and made them both extremely nauseous. But it was still a great shock to puke immediately after the merge.

Recovery Girl was near by and sent them on their separate ways after a quick peck on the cheek. It fixed both of them up good as new with no long term effects.

“I didn’t get a single point,” Midoriya confessed to All Might later that day. “I messed up, and didn’t get a single point. Everything was happening all at once, and my quirk only works with other people, so it was useless on the robots.”

All Might was a pillar of silence, and it sent rocks to Midoriya’s stomach.

He sat down in the darkness of his room with the academy letter in front of him. It couldn’t be anything else but a denial letter t. It took him ten minutes to open the letter. And it shook him to his core.

In front of him was a hologram of All Might, muscle form and all.

“You did it young Midoriya! Welcome to the UA heroics corse!”

Midoriya could barely hear the rest of the letter past his sobbing. He was going to be a hero! They accepted him and his unusual quirk into their program!

Later that same night Midoriya was waiting for Toshinori on the beach front. He had brought some trash bags with him and was walking around the beach, looking for half buried pop cans and cigarette butts. He was wearing some of his thick leather gloves just for the occasion. The local news had labeled the location as a “modern miracle” and “one of the hottest new date spots this winter.” Midoriya wasn’t sure how he felt about either article, but it was nice to get some kind of recognition.

“Young Midoriya,” Toshinori called out, walking along the water line.

Midoriya turned towards his mentor. Toshinori was in a long brown coat, two sizes too big for him.

“You didn’t tell me that you were going to be working at UA, did you?”

Toshinori’s face lit up in a gentle smile.

“You got your acceptance letter then? How do you feel?”

Midoriya met Toshinori’s smile with his own. He felt great. Anxious for the future, but in a much more hopeful way.

“Good,” Midoriya answered. “I feel really good.”

Toshinori nodded and held his hand out for an empty trash bag. They walked up and down the water line, pulling pieces of trash out of the surf while they talked about menial things. How was your mother? Did you buy your uniform yet? How’s the move going for your new office? It was small things that they hadn’t had much time for before, but now that their immediate goal was fulfilled they had the time to settle down and just talk.

“How have you felt about One-for-All so far?”

Midoriya reached up to touch the cow lick that hadn’t gone away since the exam.

“It’s interesting,” Midoriya said. He pulled off his glove and focused on his fist. With all the practice of using One-for-All when he was Lady Might he knew how to summon it. But he didn’t have an ounce of control. His fist turned white with power, electricity crackling off his skin. With a breath it was gone again, no harm done.

“I can turn it on and off, but when I used it during the exam I broke my arm. I don’t want to risk breaking any limbs when the new school year is so close.”

Toshinori nodded as he leaned down to dig a milk carton out of the sand.

“I think it’s because you got the quirk so soon,” Toshinori said. “We built you up for hero work, but it was also a way to make yourself a vessel for the quirk. But you’re only just starting to get used to this quirk, so the control is a bit hard now. But with continuous use I think you’ll gain full control. And your body isn’t used to it yet. When we preet your body is much more durable, so focusing on control while we’re merged would be a good way to train.”

The thought made Midoriya hesitate. He thought that merging was supposed to be a way for him to get some skills in crime fighting, but now that he was in UA was all of that necessary?

“It feels different here than it does when we’re together,” Midoriya explained. “I’m wondering if you are helping to bare some kind of control while we’re together. Would preeting really help?”

“I think so,” Toshinori said with a nod. “Practice makes perfect, and you’re less likely to break yourself when we’re together.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

Midoriya and Toshinori were walking through Hamamatsu late at night, looking for opportunities to help others. Midoriya left his gloves at home when they went out like this. He preferred when Toshinori touched his hands. As it turned out that when Midoriya released his quirk they would be in the same position as before, and Midoriya still wasn’t used to prolonged touches anywhere, let alone his face.

To keep their minds busy while their eyes searched, they were talking quirk principals and theories.

“How do you think mutation based quirks will mix with me?” Midoriya asked. So far he had only tried emitter based quirks, but they hadn’t used transformation based or mutation based quirks together. “Or even transformation based quirks?”

“Not sure,” Toshinori said, his over coat was four sizes too big and made him look over dressed. “The slime man when we first met was a mutation based quirk. So you’d probably just look like yourself plus part of that mutation.”

Midoriya hummed, remembering when he and All Might had first met. All Might was just a shell of himself at the time, now that he had passed on his quirk he seemed to be happier. Quicker to laughter or jokes. More reasonable overall. It was like Midoriya was talking to a younger version of his mentor.

“I wonder how Hiro is doing,” Midoriya mumbled.

“Prison,” Toshinori said simply. “He’s in prison.”

“Oh, I know that,” Midoriya said. “But it seemed like he was randomly set off. When he was in my head he was-“ he was scared. Midoriya shivered for a moment, stopping on the street.

“What’s it like?” Midoriya asked. “In my head?”

Toshinori stopped just a few steps ahead. He looked torn up, like he didn’t want to answer.

“I can’t speak for others,” Toshinori said carefully. “But it’s cold. I can feel everything that you feel but it’s a dozen degrees colder, like stepping into a freezer. I can feel the wind on your face, or the clench of a punch. But it’s like I’m covered with a glacier.”

Midoriya’s hand clenched at his stomach.

“I can see everything around you,” Toshinori continued. “I can see behind you, or above you, or next to you if I just focus. Like zooming out on a camera. That’s why you’re not hurt as much when you follow my instructions. I can see people trying to sneak up on you from behind, it’s very useful.

“And I can feel your power. My quirk was already very powerful, giving me strength ten-fold. But when I’m inside of you it’s stronger.” He was silent for a moment, as though hiding something. Midoriya didn’t want to know what he was hiding.

“Thank you,” Midoriya said. “Thank you for your honesty.”

Toshinori nodded and motioned for them to continue.

The two walked the streets for hours, their conversation growing stale with Midoriya’s newfound knowledge. Toshinori was about to call it a night, that they’d go to a local grocery store and just hand out some food for the night when they heard a massive explosion behind them.

The two saw a giant beast made of fire walking through the empty streets with hell in it’s eyes. It stood two stories tall with a small lock of black hair sticking out of the top of it’s head. It had six eyes, four on one side of it’s face and two on the other. It had no nose, but sharp teeth that stuck out of it’s face at obscured angles. It’s claws dragged across the ground, leaving molten tar behind it.

The beast seemed to be surrounded by men wearing black gas masks holding guns. Either to protect it or to control it, neither of the men could tell.

Midoriya made eye contact with Yagi, a silent question of if they should call in the real heroes, but Yagi held out his hand instead. Midoriya pulled his mask out of his pocket and tossed it in the air before accepting Toshinori’s request.

In a flash the two people were just one, running as fast as One-for-All could take them towards the beast.

Terrorist attack?

“Not sure,” Midoriya said, jumping to the building tops to get a better look without revealing his location. “But it looks like it. What are they after?”

The beast roared, bearing it’s claws out to swipe at the buildings nearby. Midoriya counted a dozen men, circling the beast with their guns pointed out.

There aren’t any heroes coming that I can see. We need to stop it.

“Agreed,” Midoriya said. He jumped down on top of one go the guards, pushing him out of the way. The monster payed Midoriya no attention as Midoriya attacked the masked men.

The three men who were closest to Midoriya seemed to try and converge on him. They raised their fists before their guns, running at him with intense speed. One of them slung a fist at Midoriya’s chin while another got his back. Midoriya threw punches and kicks at the people around him, using All Might’s instincts to guide him.

With every hit that landed on him Midoriya could feel the bruises starting to form, and with every hit that Midoriya was able to land the men took no notice. Midoriya’s fists glowed with the power of One-for-All but had no affect on the people around him. The men didn’t flinch away from Midoriya’s hits nor were they deterred.

Take off one of their masks!

Midoriya did as he was ordered and found a silver face covered in small red lights looking back at him.

Robots?

Midoriya jumped high in the air to catch his breath.

“What’s going on All Might?”

There was another boom in the distance and Midoriya saw the heroes begin to arrive. Midoriya counted four at least running for the beast and his location. Air Jet was leading the way with Mt. Lady and Death Arms coming in from the rear. The only hero that wasn’t running was on fire himself.

“The beast is mine!” Endeavor shouted as he skulked towards the villain.

We should go. The pros can take care of this.

“Right,” Midoriya agreed as he jumped away from the scene as fast as he could go.

The following day Midoriya was woken up by a soft knock on his door, an hour before he was normally up.

“Izuku, sweetie,” Inko Midoriya said, cracking opening the door. “Can you get up for a few minutes and meet me down stairs?”

Midoriya looked at his clock and groaned. In his sleep addled mind he swore that if he ever had to get up this early for hero business he might have to reconsider is career path.

Midoriya was down stairs just a few minutes later in his uniform with large bags under his eyes. He had gotten back in the early hours of the morning due to his night with All Might, and after the villain attack he still couldn’t find a minute of restful sleep.

Inko was sitting at the table with a troubled look on her face as she was reading the paper.

“I want you to know I’m not mad,” she said looking at her son with sad eyes. “I’m not angry- but I’m not happy either.”

“What’s going on?” Midoirya was hesitant about sitting won at the table, but he doubted he could get away with this conversation standing.

Midoriya had never seen his mother look so old in his life. She had been so spry when he was younger, taking care of him in all the best ways possible. With his father out of the picture it had left Inko as a single mother for most of Midoriya’s life. But in his memory he had never seen her as old or as tired as she looked in that moment.

She flipped the paper around so Midoriya could see. On the front page, plastered with big black letters was the headline “Endeavor Defeats Terrorists!” The sub line read “Vigilante Lady Might Found on Scene.” In the bottom corner of the paper was a blurry picture of Midoriya’s face in his full costume.

“How’d you meet All Might?” Her words were tight with concern.

Midoriya didn’t know what to say. Where had the picture come from? Why was he on the front page? How was this happening?

“A while ago,” Midoriya finally said as he turned the paper over so he couldn’t see his face anymore. “I was attacked by the slime villain that got Kacchan a while back. All Might rescued me, and then we rescued Kacchan.”

Inko nodded, resting her lips on her knuckles in thought. Her eyes were boring holes into Midoriya’s soul. The silence was suffocating.

“So you met All Might, and you preeted with him,” Inko said, drawing out the conversation. “You understand why I’m upset, right?”

“Because I’m breaking the law?”

“Because he’s letting you break the law,” Inko said leaning into her words. “He’s a hero, he shouldn’t be encouraging this. You’re a child! And you’re running out into danger? Fighting robots? Stopping muggers? I have the internet, I’ve been watching you for months now. The moment that I heard about a ‘Lady Might’ at work I looked it up. And I see my own son. Sure he’s much older and muscular, but I’d recognize you anywhere.

“It didn’t matter so much because most of the articles were about how you walked drunk people home, or cleaned up litter. That you bought people food who needed it and gave where it counted. That’s good work Izuku. And I was proud of you.

“But then I see the paper this morning? And you’re fighting robots?”

“Mom I-“

“Did you know that Air Jet is in the hospital right now for third degree burns?”

Midoriya stopped all trains of thought as he opened the paper up. It turns out that the monster went super nova before Endeavor could stop it. They had to call in back up from three different hero companies before the monster was knocked out.

“Izuku,” Inko said, getting up from her seat and carefully wrapping her arms around her son. It took a moment for the lights to die down as she found a way to hold him without activating his quirk. “I’m scared that something will happen to you out there. And if you’re fighting villains without a license then you could loose your chances at going to UA.”

Midoriya wrapped a hand around his mother’s sleeve and squeezed. It was all the comfort he could afford without breaking down.

“All Might-“

“Can’t protect you if he’s in your head.”

“But he does,” Midoriya said, his voice breaking. He sniffed loudly as he fought back the tears that threatened to rush out. “He does protect me.”

Inko pulled away and pulled her chair closer to Midoriya so their clothed knees were touching.

“He’s taught me so much about my quirk,” Midoriya said rubbing at his eyes. “I can communicate with the people who are inside of me. And he coaches me through everything. I can feel his muscle memory and his instincts. They… they guide me. He guides me.”

“And what if you get arrested?”

“We talked about this early on,” Midoriya said. “We’re going to separate and he’s going to tell the police that I’m a future side kick. We’re just doing some practice runs.”

“Izuku,” her lips trailed off with the word.

“He has friends on the force. He promised he’d protect me. He’s All Might. What would he have to gain by lying about that?”

“I doubt he’s lying. I’m just scared is all.”

“Don’t be mom.” Midoriya’s lips twitched into a half-hearted smile. “I’m going to be a hero. Remember?”

His mother’s lips found a much more genuine smile. “You’re already my hero Izuku.”

Chapter Text

Midoriya was in the kitchen peeling vegetables with his mother. Ever since he had told his mom about being a vigilante they’d done more personal things. He told her everything except for All Might’s quirk, and they’d gotten closer for it. They sat on the same couch when they watched movies. He handed things directly to her and didn’t run away immediately afterwards.

Normally he stayed far away from the kitchen when his mother was there. It was far too cramped for his liking. But he had learned more about his quirk, it’s limits and expectations; he was confident that he could be in the kitchen with his mother for a few hours without the blinding lights.

“So what have you decided about your costume?” his mother asked while she cut carrots into bite sized pieces.

“Not sure, the designs aren’t due for another month,” Midoriya said. He kept his knife still and the potato moving as he peeled. “I was going to do something that was similar to All Might’s but because of our vigilante work together it doesn’t feel like a good idea anymore.”

“That could get you caught,” his mother agreed. “Well then think about something different. Not red, white, and blue. Not American.”

Midoriya nodded.

“I’m not sure if the costume really matters though,” Midoriya said. “Every time I use my quirk I look different. And I always look like a girl for some reason, not that I mind. So I think I’d want something either gender neutral or masculine. I know I need it to be functional in case I’m not able to find someone to merge with.”

“So homemade is off the table?”

“Homemade?”

“Well, if you asked I would have done something for you,” his mother said dropping the carrots into a bowl. She joined Midoriya in peeling the potatoes by the sink.

“You’d do something like that?”

“Of course,” she said with a bright smile. “You’re my son, and your dream is coming true. I want to support you any way I can.”

Midoriya’s chest tightened with her words. He never would have thought this was possible. Standing so close to another person without fear of his quirk. To be able to work side by side with his mother pulled at his heart in immeasurable ways. And she was supporting him. She wanted to help him!

Midoriya coughed once to try and loosen his throat.

“How about you just help me design the outfit? I don’t really have any ideas here.”

“I like green and white,” Inko said. “And you should probably have something to cover your head and face.”

“Like a hood maybe? Or a helmet?”

“I like the hood idea.”

“And body armor too.”

“Can you look like a rabbit?”

“A what?” Midoriya set down his knife to look at his mother and her strange request.

“A rabbit. You know.” She held up two fingers to resemble ears on either side of her head. “Boing boing.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re my favorite animal.” She and Midoriya laughed at her ridiculous request. “You don’t have to actually look like a rabbit Izuku. I’m just glad we get to talk about this.”

Midoriya smiled. “I’m glad too. I love you mom.”

“I love you too.”

Walking through the doors to UA as a student was very different than when he came in for the entrance exams. There were more people in uniform, and all of them felt important. Less than a third of the students here were hero students but everyone would work with or as heroes. It was intimidating.

Midoriya tried to stay to the outer edges of the crowds, the thought of preeting with someone so early in the school year left a sour taste in his mouth. It wasn’t that he wanted to keep his quirk a secret- most would find out his quirk at the sports festival or even sooner- but some still considered his quirk dangerous. The thought of the icy prison his quirk could be was discomforting.

Midoriya stood outside the 1A classroom for just a second of hesitation. The large door felt like a judging presence telling him he wasn’t good enough. But he was good enough. He passed the exams. He was training with All Might. Everything was leading up to this moment where his dream of helping others and being a hero would be fully recognized.

“Stay away from him,” Midoriya heard through the door. “He’s a menace and he’ll steal your quirk and your abilities.” Midoriya’s heart beat faster as he heard Bakugo. “You don’t know me, and you don’t know him either. But just trust me on this, he’s a menace and you have to stay away from him.”

Midoriya put his ear to the door, trying to gauge the reactions of his future classmates without seeing them. He knew Bakugo was going to be in his class, the other would-be-hero had announced as much during their advisement session after they had been accepted. He was prepared to see Bakugo, but he wasn’t prepared for Bakugo to make him the bad guy from the start.

“That’s not true,” a feminine voice said. “We worked together during the exam and he was nothing but courteous.” Uraraka was in this class too? He wasn’t sure if she had passed or if she would be in the other hero class.

“Did he force his quirk on you?”

“No, he asked.”

“So you know what it’s like to be trapped in there.”

“I-“

“It’s torture and you know it.”

“I wouldn’t-“

“Just don’t trust him. That’s all I’m saying.”

Midoriya was about to step away from the door, hoping to collect himself when he felt something at his feet.

“Spying already are we?” A droll voice came from a yellow sleeping bag at his feet. “That’s not very heroic.”

Midoriya felt his skin crawl as the man stood up and walked around him, hobbling in the sleeping bag through the class room door. The man hopped into the room, taking in the looks on all the students already in their seats. He stood in front of everyone behind the teacher’s desk and dropped the sleeping bag to reveal his dark clothes and unshaven face.

“Get in and take a seat,” he ordered the stunned Midoriya.

Midoriya’s face lit up as he rushed to the only open spot in the middle right of the room. Right behind Bakugo.

“I’m your homeroom teacher,” the man said. “It took you ten seconds to shut up and sit down. That’s a bit slow for my tastes. But it doesn’t matter right now. You can call me Aizawa-sensei or just sensei.”

He reached into his desk and pulled out stacks of dark blue and white clothes.

“These are your gym clothes,” he said. “You might get your costumes later, but we’ll have to see about that. We’re going to go outside and have a little quirk assessment test.”

A boy stood up in the back of the room, scrapping his chair across the floor. “What about the entrance ceremony?”

“That’s for idiots. We’re getting straight to business. You’ll find the locker rooms on your campus maps and I’ll meet you on the PE grounds. You have fifteen minutes.”

Aizawa bent over and folded up his sleeping bags before walking out of the room with a careless wave of his hand.

“Don’t be late,” he called out over his shoulder.

The entire class was out on the courtyard. No one made eye contact with Midoriya. No one said anything to him, not even Uraraka. And he… he was fine with that. Midoriya had spent most of his life alone. He could handle the rest of his class hating him too.

Aizawa was blunt and fast explaining the program. Use your quirk on the national standard fitness tests. You have free range, however you want to use it. Just do. The person with the lowest improvement score from their final year in middle school was out. Permanently.

“You mean expelled?” A girl with long green hair asked. “Isn’t that cruel?”

“Cruel?” Aizawa responded. “Isn’t it cruel to let someone with no hope of making it as a hero stay in this program? This is one of the best hero schools in the country, and with good reason. If I don’t see a reason to keep you here I’ll expel you on the spot. So the person in last place in terms of scoring will be expelled. And my word is final.”

If the air hadn’t already been tense from Bakugo’s speech earlier, it was then.

Midoriya was tempted to use One-for-All. He wanted to use the exponential strength, but he also knew that he didn’t have proper control of it. Sure he had trained with it when he was preeted with All Might, but Midoriya hadn’t tried anything aside from turning his power on and off.

Midoriya didn’t use his power. And that may have been a mistake.

Midoriya was in a three way tie for last place. At the end of the day he was panting next to an invisible girl and a boy with wild purple hair.

“All of you had improvements since middle school,” Aizawa said flipping through a clip board. “But only marginally. And two of your didn’t use your quirks at all.”

The girl’s shoulders drooped in what Midoriya could only assume was disappointment.

“You’re here for your own reasons, and I don’t really care about why,” Aizawa said. “I should expel all three of you for these scores.”

“Wait you can’t!” The girl said.

“Why not?”

“Because my quirk isn’t built for these tests!” Midoriya felt a slight breeze as her sleeves moved up and down irradically. “I’m invisible, I’m built to be a spy not a fighter!”

“My quirk only works on people,” the other boy said, nodding in agreement. He had sweat dripping down his brow. “I wouldn’t be that good in combat or with physical things.”

Aizawa sighed and then turned to Midoriya.

“What about you? Do you also want to beg for your place here?”

Midoriya bit his lip, looking at his other classmates that were in boiling water.

“I want to save people,” Midoriya said. “And the best way to do that is by being a hero. But if the standards for heroism are throwing softballs or testing grip strength, then what’s the point?” Midoriya paused for a moment to see if Aizawa was going to interrupt him.

“There are dozens of heroes who’s quirks wouldn’t be good for these tests,” Midoriya continued. “Like the rescue hero 13, or the hero Mandalay from the Wild Wild Pussycats. Not every hero needs to be strong. Some just have to be quick thinkers.”

“Fair,” Aizawa said with a shrug. “But these tests are here to gauge the powers of your quirks. To see the potential in them for heroism.” He looked at the girl. “Your quirk is easy to gauge, so Hagakure you’re safe. You have potential to be a stealth hero, I agree. The underground would suit you well. But don’t think that you can get by just with your invisibility. Even stealth heroes have to carry heavy loads, or run great distances. You’ll have to make up for everything that you can’t do by being ten times better than everyone else.

“You have an uphill battle a head of you. Do you understand?”

He paused for a moment, looking at where her head would be.

“I’m going to assume you’re nodding your head,” Aizawa said. He gestured towards the rest of the class, who were watching the small group. “Go stand over there.”

The invisible girl breathed a sigh of relief and ran away from her teacher as fast as she could.

“So you need people to use your quirks?” Aizawa asked.

“Yes,” the two students said in unison.

“Then use your quirks on me.”

Midoriya frowned and folded his arms around himself. He had to preet with his teacher? That didn’t seem right. He didn’t want to take over the consciousness of his teacher, what if the rest of the class thought he was forcing Aizawa-sensei to change his mind? Bakugo definitely would think that, and who knows who else believes Bakugo’s warnings.

“You’re Deku, right?” The boy next to him asked. “The one that we’ve all heard so much about?”

Midoriya wondered if he was going to be sick. His heart clenched at the nickname and all the implications that came with it.

The other boy held out his bare hand.

“I’m Hitoshi Shinsou. And I’d very much like to show off my quirk with you.”

Midoriya froze, looking down at the out stretched hand. If Bakugo warned them, then this boy knew what he was in for. He knew exactly what awaited him.

Midoriya reached out to take the boy’s hand and Shinsou withdrew for a moment.

“Without your glove.”

Shinsou absolutely knew what he was asking.

Midoriya tentatively removed his glove and slid it into his pocket. He made careful eye contact with Shinsou and took his hand. The two were surrounded by a bright light and wind chimes filled their ears.

Midoriya stood upright with purple locks inter spliced with his green ones. His left eye turned purple while the other stayed green. He was wearing a skin tight cat suit, covering his body from the neck down in black leather. He was only a few inches taller with small platform boots that laced up on the outer sides. On his head he felt a black headband with amethyst stones stretching across the band.

“What’s your power?” Midoriya asked out loud.

Aizawa’s eyebrow quirked with interest.

I can manipulate people if they talk to me. It requires a question first. Shinsou was as clear as day inside Midoriya’s head.

Midoriya nodded and opened his mouth to talk with his teacher when he heard a guttural roar.

Bakugo was running at Midoriya with his hands popping with flames.

Aizawa raised his arm to control his capture weapon that was draped across his neck, but Midoriya beat him to the punch.

“Stop!” Midoriya’s words echoed in his throat, his entire voice coming out like it was him and Shinsou talking at the same time.

Bakugo stopped mid step, falling to the ground. His body was frozen mid attack, his face still open in his scream.

“Don’t move,” Midoriya and Shinsou said together. The activation of Shinsou’s quirk set the classroom’s teeth on edge as everyone within hearing range stopped their motions and stood completely still.

Midoriya looked around at everyone. Two dozen frightened eyes looked back at him.

We don’t need to ask questions. Shinsou sounded both thrilled and terrified at the thought.

“Release.” Their words sent a rush through everyone’s bodies.

Aizawa flexed his fingers as though testing his motor function.

Bakugo stood up and glared at Midoriya. He spit off to the side and growled.

“You’re taking control of his quirk to get out of expulsion? You’re a coward too!”

“It was consensual,” Midoriya’s mouth formed around Shinsou’s words. “I agreed to this, so don’t go attacking Deku for my choice.”

Bakugo lowered into an attack position, ready to throw himself at Midoriya when Aizawa finally activated his own quirk. He sent the capture weapons out to detain the offending student.

“This is not your fight,” Aizawa said. “Get back in line or else you’re on the chopping block too!”

Bakugo was released and went back to the group, never looking away from Midoriya.

“Not exactly what I meant when I said use your quirks on me,” Aizawa said looking at the raging boy. “But this was interesting.

“Hitoshi Shinsou, mind control. Midoriya Izuku, preeting. Interesting combination. You both should separate.”

Midoriya nodded and he was back to shaking Shinsuo’s hand again. He quickly pulled back and slipped his glove back on.

Aizawa looked at them both. “Your quirks wont always get you out of trouble you know. They’re specific and niche. And if you don’t have the correct environments you can wind up in a lot of trouble. But I’ll pass you both.”

“Huh?” Midoriya asked.

“What about-“

“It wasn’t a lie,” Aizawa said. “I still have every right to kick you out, but you’re both stubborn and have interesting quirks. If you’re willing to learn, I’m willing to teach you. But one step out of line, one stupid decision, and you’re out.”

Chapter Text

The rest of Midoriya’s first day of high school was spent normally, or as normal as it seemed to get at UA.

They met all of their subject teachers, and had a syllabus day dedicated to how each class would run. It was interesting to meet all the pro-heroes that decided to be full-time teachers and part-time heroes. Each teacher spent around 20 minutes introducing their classes, grading techniques, and office hours. Then the day was over.

The entire day Midoriya was alone. He had expected as much with Bakugo in his class, but he had hoped to make at least a few friends. He wondered if he had better chances catching falling stars.

“Deku!”

Midoriya froze on the steps of the building heading out. He turned around and saw the floating clothes and the purple haired boy standing on the top of the steps, running to catch up with him.

“You know that’s not my name,” Midoriya said as the two caught up to him. “It’s Midoriya.”

“Why does Bakugo call you Deku then?” Hagakure asked.

“It sounds like my first name and the phrasing for ‘good for nothing.’”

“Oh,” Hagakure said. “That’s terrible.”

Midoriya shrugged. He may not have liked it, but he was used to it by now.

“So what did you guys need?”

The two other students paused and looked at each other.

“We were wondering-“ Hagakure said, her words trailing off.

“We were wondering if you wanted to go to the school gym with us,” Shinsou finished. He scratched the side of his face, looking away from Midoriya’s face. “I asked Aizawa-sensei if there was somewhere we could go during lunch, and he said there’s a gym on site.”

“And I over heard and said that maybe all three of us could go. Like gym buddies.”

Buddies? Midoriya blinked at the two of them dumbly. His mind came to a halt for a moment while he processed their words.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean being near me is probably a bad idea.” Midoriya fidgeted under their gaze. No one had ever offered him a hand of friendship before. He would be a fool to turn them down, but he needed to make sure he wasn’t imaging this.

The shoulders of Hagakure’s blazer scrunched into a shrug. “Who cares?” she asked. “I mean I think the closest that we’ll come to touching you here is if we were sparing or if we were spotting you. We know the risks.”

“I… yeah that makes sense.”

“You shouldn’t say yes if you don’t want to,” Shinsou said. “We’re not going to force you into-“

“No, that’s not it at all!” Midoriya’s hands flew up to defend himself. They waved frantically through his words. “I’m really honored that you asked! I’m just not used to people asking me to do things with them! Most of the time people want to stay as far away from me as possible! I just had to make sure that you weren’t saying this out of pity or anything.”

“I don’t do pity,” Shinsou said bluntly.

Hagakure’s laugh sounded like bells to Midoriya’s ears. He hadn’t heard a girl laugh in a long time. Most of the time when girls laughed around him it was them laughing at him. But there was no maliciousness here. This was a girl joking around with a- dare he think it- friend.

“But you’re so… likable? Are people really that scared of your quirk?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She laughed again, and Midoriya couldn’t help but smile. Shinsou only starred at the invisible girl.

“But you look like you couldn’t even hurt a fly!”

“Do you… not realize what I can do?” Midoriya asked. “I mean like- what do you think my quirk does?”

“You touch someone and then turn into a girl.”

She kept laughing as Midoriya sputtered. Was that what people thought happened? That he switched genders whenever he merged with someone? Midoriya had never considered why all of his outfits were high femme. Maybe it was just a reflection of his powers?

“That- I mean- what?”

“I mean, like, that one kid kind of yelled at everyone this morning,” Hagakure said. “He said something about how you uhh… make hell? But that’s not what it looked like. It looked like you got purple hair and a hero outfit.”

Shinsou scoffed. “He called that hell? Seriously? What a pussy.”

Midoriya snorted and had to cover his mouth to stop. No one from middle school called Bakugo names for a reason. His quirk was phenomenal. He was destined for greatness and heroism, or so all the teachers said. To hear his classmate call his childhood bully a pussy was highly entertaining.

“I mean if he can’t stand a little temperature drop then being a hero is going to be real hell.” Shinsou shook his head with a sigh. “Anyways, let’s forget about him. Do you want to come or not Midoriya?”

Two people were offering him friendship. The first people who were willing to look past his quirk. And Midoriya felt his heart pound with excitement.

“Yes. Yes, please.”

“Tomorrow you’ll have class with me,” Toshinori said with a triumphant grin. “I spent all day reading about teaching theories and practices. I even introduced myself to a few different classes in the general education course!”

“I’m glad you had a good day,” Midoriya said between sips of his milkshake. Earlier his mother had texted him saying that she was going to be working late and wouldn’t be home for dinner. It happened sometimes, she worked as a secretary at a fancy hair salon, only working three days a week. They didn’t need the money with the checks that Midoriya’s father sent every month. She just loved the work. Midoriya always was supportive of his mom having a life of her own.

He was planning on being out late with All Might anyways, possibly doing some hero work later. All Might insisted they get dinner first.

“I’m surprised that your day went as well as you said,” Toshinori said. “I wasn’t sure who your teacher was going to be, but when I heard it was going to be Aizawa I was concerned. Are you sure he didn’t pull any dirty tricks?”

Midoriya hesitated. He had told Toshinori everything except for the threat of expulsion that was hanging over his head.

“I mean, kind of. But nothing came of it.”

Toshinori just starred Midoriya down.

Midoriya broke eye contact first, starring at his half eaten burger.

“I’m still in the hero course.”

“Did he threaten to expel you?”

Midoriya didn’t try to hide his shock.

“Yes. Me and the others that I mentioned before. Hagakure and Shinsou.”

Toshinori sighed, taking a moment to collect his thoughts.

“Don’t take his threat lightly,” Toshinori said. “He has an expulsion rate of over 65% of his classes. He thinks it’s a joke or something. There isn’t a 2B this year, and it’s completely his fault.”

“He… Did he expel an entire class?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“The reports all cited a lack of potential to be a hero. He was punished for it, but not nearly enough if you ask me.”

Midoriya nodded, pushing the fries around on his plate. “Do you… not like him?”

“No. I don’t dislike him. He’s stubborn to the point of fault, and he isn’t my biggest fan. He thinks heroes shouldn’t work in the lime light, that fame has no place in heroism. He’s an underground hero, someone who works in the shadows. It’s tainted his opinion if you ask me.”

Midoriya swallowed his own spit, thinking about the hell that awaited him back at school.

“Cheer up Midoriya!” Toshinori said changing the mood. “If you didn’t have potential then I wouldn’t have given you my quirk! You should be safe from him.”

The next day was flipped from their first day. The first half of the day was spent with English classes, Japanese lit, and Mathematics. Most of the students looked like they were going to fall asleep. It was only after lunch that the real classes begun.

Everyone came back from lunch early, sitting in their assigned seats with baited breath. Was it real? Were the rumors true?

“It’s me!” All Might shouted as he walked through the door. He posed with every step as the student’s excitement came to a climax.

All Might was really teaching at UA! He was going to be their teacher! Even Midoriya was affected by the excitement. He had been tutored by All Might for a few months now, but sharing the number 1’s skills was amazing.

All Might was even wearing a newly designed costume for the occasion. His new costume was rounded almost. The entire costume was form fitting red with white circles. An homage to his silver aged costume, with his long flowing cape and circular design.

It was almost a regression from the latest costume that All Might was currently wearing in his hero work. His latest costume looked like a white bird with a red outline, soaring through the blue sky. It was stream lined and form fitting without the cape.

His newer costume looked like Lady Might. This costume did not.

“Now now,” he said with a cordial laugh. “Calm down everyone. I’m just a teacher here! Your teacher in fact! I’m in charge of the fundamental course for the first year classes! And might I just say,” he spread his arms wide as if offering a physic hug to the students “welcome to UA.”

The classroom went wild with excitement. Even Bakugo couldn’t hide his ear-to-ear grin.

After the classroom quieted down the tone took a slightly more serious turn.

“Anyways, today we’ll be doing something a bit fun. It’s necessary for all heroes to be well versed in this subject. Every hero from the rescue teams in the forests to the aquatic teams at sea can find themselves in sticky situations. So today we’re going to learn the fundamentals. The absolute basics. This-“ All Might paused for dramatic effect- “will be the trail of the battle.

“Behind you you’ll find your hero outfits you all designed.” There was a clicking sound as the back of the wall unlocked and panels slid out with suit cases displayed. Most of the suit cases were an average size but there were a few that were slightly larger or smaller than the other cases. “Find your seat number on the cases that will correspond to the outfit. Keep in mind that the artists and support members who designed your costumes were only instructed to take your submissions as suggestions. Some will be closer to the initial designs than others, but each will be fitted to your quirks.

“You should all be familiar with the location of the locker rooms and you’ll be able to change there. We will be working at the beta battle grounds, so I look forward to seeing you all there in thirty minutes. Now say it with me, Plus Ultra!”

The class echoed in cheers as they raced to get their hero costumes. Midoriya waited in the back, not wanting to bump into his class mates by accident as he contemplated what a battle trial meant.

“A word in private young Midoriya?” All Might asked.

Midoriya looked back at his chattering class and nodded. The two stepped outside the classroom.

“It won’t be long,” All Might said quickly. “I just needed to say this.”

Midoriya nodded.

“I expect many great things from you,” All Might said.

Midoriya waited for more but nothing else came.

“What does-“

“Now go in there and be great!”

Midoriya blinked, but walked back into the classroom to see that most people were out of the way now. He walked to the back easily without having to get near the other students. His suitcase was averaged sized for a suit case if not a little thicker.

Most of the class was gone except for Hagakure and Shinsou, who were waiting for Midoriya.

Shinsou’s suit case was similar to Midoriya’s, but Hagakure’s was tiny.

“Why is your case so small?” Midoriya asked pointing at the case.

“Oh! Well I’m invisible. So I can’t really wear much.”

Shinsou and Midoriya flinched. “So you’re just going to wear like a tank top and shorts?”

“Nope,” Hagakure popped the ‘p.’ She opened the case to reveal a set of heavy duty gloves and shoes.

“So you aren’t going to be wearing anything?” Shinsou asked, his words not hiding his horror.

“Well there isn’t much that I can wear,” Hagakure said with an exaggerated shrug. “I’m going to be a stealth hero.”

Midoriya shivered.

“You should talk to someone about this. It feels really… shady that you’re going to be naked on a battle field,” Midoriya said.

“I will not be naked! I’ll have gloves and shoes!”

“Hagakure,” Shinsou said softly. “You’re going to be naked out there.”

“But my gloves,” she said, her voice tiny.

Midoriya just shook his head, sadly looking at his invisible friend.

The three walked in awkward silence to the locker rooms where the separated from Hagakure. The boy’s room was hectic as people were running through the instructions of how to wear their costumes. Some boys were done and just posing in front of the many mirrors, admiring their costumes. Others were sitting at the sinks, poking themselves in the eyes with eye liner pens.

“How do girls do this,” Bakugo muttered.

Midoriya chuckled and went to an empty locker to change. He opened his suit case and saw a sea of white fabric and padding. He had requested his costume be green, to match his hair closer, but it didn’t matter too much. He pulled on the kevlar armor and fabric into place, finding a large pot of black face paint at the bottom.

“Oh great,” he muttered pulling out the requested face design sheet. It showed him how to apply the face paint and take it off at the end of the day, and even some skin care regiments. He read the pot’s labeling and saw that it was a oil free product, probably a consideration for a teenager’s potential acne problem. That was thoughtful.

“No gloves?” Shinsou asked beside him. He was putting knee pads over his loose windpants.

“I need my hands for my quirk,” Midoriya said. “I mean it works with any skin to skin contact, but without the gloves I can control it’s use better.”

Midoriya smiled before finding an open mirror to put on his face paint.

Just a few minutes later Shinsou was joining him, cursing at his eyeliner. “They want me to put it under my eyes? This is some real horse shit.”

Midoriya laughed as he smeared the paint over the top of his face, being careful around his eyes and nose.

“You ready?” Midoriya asked washing his hands.

Shinshou sighed. “Do you think Hagakure knows how to put eyeliner on?”

“You can always ask?”

Shinshou nodded, capping his pen and putting it with his empty suit case. He looked at himself in the mirror, admiring his costume. He was wearing a leather short sleeve shirt with a zipper off center. He had epaulets on his shoulders that were just a shade lighter than his hair. His elbows and knees were protected with skater styled padding. His pants were a swishy material that were loose at the ankles with thick soled boots. The only color in the outfit was up the side of his legs in thin stripes and the epaulets.

“Let’s go show them what we got,” Shinsou said with his first real smile. Midoriya couldn’t help but grin back.

Midoriya popped his hood up, revealing two long rabbit shaped ears sticking up in the air. "Let's do this."

Chapter Text

The class was filling the control room, looking up at multiple monitors on the main wall. Each one showed a different angle of the inside of a building, giving the class the full show. Midoriya stood at the back with Shinsou and Hagakure.

All Might came in just moments later, taking his place at the front of the room.

“As I’m sure you all could guess by now, this is going to be a indoor test. We’ll be splitting everyone up into groups of four. Two of you will be heroes, and two will be villains. The villain’s goal will be to hide a styrofoam bomb somewhere in the building and keep the heroes from collecting it in fifteen minutes or capture the heroes. The heroes can either collect the bomb or capture the villains.

“Any questions?”

The room flooded with voices, each asking something different.

“I can’t understand you if you talk all at once,” All Might said, nervousness tinting his voice. The room raised it’s hands instead.

“How do we determine capture?” A girl with a high ponytail asked.

All Might kicked a box over, showing quirk suppression cuffs flowing out. “Everyone will have a pair of these. You do have to capture the entire other team though. Just capturing one of them won’t work.”

“Is there a threat of expulsion?” Uraraka’s small voice asked.

“No,” All Might said. His eyes darkened for a moment before calling on the next person.

“Do we get to pick teams?” Shinsou asked.

“Everyone will draw numbers to determine your team mate. Your opponents will be determined by me via another lottery.”

“Can we veto a group member?” Bakugo asked, not waiting to be called on.

“Again no,” All Might said. “You never know who you’ll be partnered with in the hero business. Sometimes it’ll be someone you know or someone you hate. You just have to deal with it and move on.” All Might chose not to elaborate.

The rest of the room remained silent and All Might divided up the class.

Midoriya drew his lottery card from the front box. A green triangle. Shinsou held up his own card, a black circle. Hagakure drew a yellow flower. All three held their tongues as they went to find people with matching cards.

“You’re Deku, right?” a tall boy in a robot suit asked. He held his card up that showed his own green triangle.

“It’s Midoriya. But yes. You’re Iida. Right?”

The robot nodded.

“I must say, I do have some concerns about this arrangement.”

Midoriya held back his sigh, and let his face remain blank. “Look, if it’s concerns about my placement yesterday I promise you I’m not as-“

“No I’m more concerned about your quirk,” Iida said. “It’s very powerful but…”

Midoriya opened his mouth to defen when All Might interrupted him.

“Alright! Now that everyone’s found your pairs, we’ll send you into groups. The villain side will have five minutes to hide your ‘bombs’ and plan. The first hero team going up will be,” All Might pulled card from a box, “the orange circles.”

Bakugo and Uraraka stepped forward. Bakugo’s face was unreadable in that moment. A cold face of determination. Uraraka looked terrified.

“The first villain team will be the green triangles.”

Midoriya swore under his breath as he and Iida stepped forward.

“Alright, you may begin.”

Midoriya and Iida set up the ‘bomb’ on the top floor, the furthest from main entrance.

“You stay here,” Iida said. “I’ll meet them half way down on the fifth floor and try and capture them. Bakugo seems to have the most… destructive quirk. So I’ll see if I can cut him off.”

“That’s a-“

“Stay here.” Iida pointed at the ground.

“But-“

Iida took his helmet off so that Midoriya could see his face. Iida’s face was frozen in stone, completely resolved in his plan. His brow was furled and his lips were a tight line.

“Your quirk is volatile. You take the wills of others. I can’t risk you doing that to our classmates here. Even if they are our enemies in this exercise.”

Midoriya crossed his arms and lowered his hood, offering the same curtsey as Iida. It used to be that when someone would challenge his quirk he would take it in silence. But now that Midoriya was at UA questioning his quirk could get in the way of his goal, and his ability to learn. Iida was telling him to sit on the side lines because he didn’t trust Midoriya.

“Where’d you hear that?” Midoriya asked. “Is that how Bakugo is describing my quirk? Because if you even thought to ask me I’d tell you exactly how my quirk works. I’ve never tried to take away the ‘wills of others.’ I take their opinion into account everything I do. When you’re in my head I can hear you, we converse. Am I in control? For the most part yes. I’m sure that if they wanted they could take away my autonomy. It happens all the time with speech, I don’t think about it, they just speak. If they wanted to I’m sure they could control my body as well.

“You think my quirk is a prison, but it’s not.”

“Then what is it?” Iida asked. “When I saw you take away Shinsou, it looked like you absorbed him completely. Erased his existence.”

“They always exist inside of me. I’m not… We’re not a me anymore. With every person I take I becomes ‘we.’ And I make sure that they’re always apart of the experience. It’s never about erasing them, it’s about joining them. We’re partners.”

An air horn blasted, signifying that their head start was over. Iida put on his helmet and ran out of the room.

Midoriya groaned and looked at the bomb. It was six feet tall and three feet wide. The entire thing was as light as a feather but stuck out like a sore thumb.

He needed to hide this. But where.

The entire building was designed to be abandoned. There were empty cardboard boxes everywhere, so logically it would make sense to hide the bomb there. But that would be the first place Midoriya would look.

The first place Midoriya would look would be the top floor. He’d use Uraraka to float up to the third or fourth level. They’d walk up until they ran into opposition. Then he’d fight and make the other person go on ahead to capture the weapon. He could disable an attacker easily with his quirk and force them to surrender.

But Bakugo wouldn’t want to disable, he’d want to fight.

An explosion cut off Midoriya’s train of thought. That must have been Iida and Bakugo fighting. Which means that Uraraka was going to look for the weapon. There’s no way Bakugo would dream of trying to double team someone, and Uraraka looked so uncomfortable earlier. She’d run and try and find the weapon.

Midoriya needed a plan, and he needed one fast.

Bakugo was terrifying to have as a partner. He snarled like an animal and claimed he didn’t need help. It set Uraraka on an edge she didn’t know existed. It only got worse when their opponent was announced.

The moment they stepped into the building Iida came barreling towards them at top speed, kicks flying high towards Bakugo. The two duked it out with explosions and speed that Uraraka couldn’t keep up with.

She made it to the top floor with time to spare.

“Hi there,” Midoriya said with a confident smile. “Nice to see you again Uraraka. I love the cape.”

Was this supposed to be villain banter? she wondered.

“Thanks,” Uraraka said. “I don’t think I would have made it here without you. So when I got the acceptance letter I couldn’t help but steal some ideas.” Her outfit was a black and white explosion with pops of pink. Her ears and wrists were confined to help with the nausea, as well as offering a bubble-like appearance to her outfit. Her outfit was exactly how she had envisioned it when she was small with the minor addition of a knee length cape. On the side facing out was a black galaxy, glittering jewels to represent stars and swirling embroidery for galaxies. On the side facing her back was a giant red and yellow sun, illuminating a clear blue sky.

“It looks good on you,” Midoriya said lowering into an offensive stance. “But we should probably start fighting now.” An explosion echoed from below them.

Uraraka’s eyes drew to the tower of boxes behind him and started running. That had to be where the bomb was.

The two fought in the middle. Midoriya threw a left hook that she dodged, a right uppercut that she jumped out of the way of. The two sent clumsy punches at each other with open palms. It was a competition to see who could touch who first. If Uraraka touched first then Midoriya would be helpless against the anti-gravity. If Midoriya touched first she would be at his mercy.

Uraraka used her quirk on herself, flying up the ceiling behind Midoriya. She pushed off the foam tiles with her leg, throwing a punch down.

Midoriya jumped out of the way dodging the flying kick. He landed far away from the boxes, Uraraka being much closer to the stack.

Uraraka released her quirk and ran for the boxes, picking them up with her quirk and throwing them off to the side, just letting them float in the air.

Midoriya came up behind her and grabbed her cape. He flung her away from the pile with ease and took out his capture cuffs.

“Sorry, you’re not getting anywhere near the bomb again,” Midoriya said.

Midoriya punched one of the floating boxes, sending it hurdling towards Uraraka where she dodged out of the way.

As she dodged Midoriya ran under the box, putting one cuff safely around Uraraka’s left arm.

The two stopped where they were.

“Does this count?” Midoriya asked.

“Am I captured?” Uraraka asked.

A voice over hidden speakers came to life.

“Both hands must be in the cuffs for a complete capture.”

Midoriya nodded and the fight resumed.

Uraraka threw herself away from Midoriya, kicking him in the gut. With an grunt he released the other half of the cuff letting it jingle to Uraraka’s side. Uraraka ran for the boxes again, throwing herself at them with arms outstretched. She landed in the middle of the boxes, crushing half of them with her weight.

“No!” Midoriya screamed.

“Ow.” Uraraka came crashing down in the boxes. Only in the boxes. The bomb wasn’t there.

Midoriya ran over and finished the capture.

“Sorry,” Midoriya said dropping to his knees in front of her. “You ok?”

“Yeah, just a tough landing is all.”

Midoriya nodded.

Uraraka looked around the room and saw that there wasn’t any other place for the bomb to hide.

“You left it ungaurded?” Uraraka asked.

“Oh! No, it’s just over here.”

Midoriya shifted some boxes out of the way to revel a window. At the bottom of the window and a polyester rope, tied to one of the hinges on the frame. Dangling thirty feet in the air was the styrofoam bomb.

“Anyways, I gotta go help Iida,” Midoriya said with a sneer. “I’ll be back.”

“I’ll be here!” Uraraka called back as her opponent left. “I… guess I’ll wait here.”

Iida had expected that Bakugo was strong, but this was something else entirely. There was a gaping crater in the outer walls and multiple holes in the floor. Everything around them was scorched or sweltering. Even Iida could feel the his exhaustion taking him out slowly. But Bakugo just didn’t stop.

“Die!” Bakugo screamed as he let loose a furry of explosions.

Iida took flight as he ran around his opponent going for the stairs. The structural integrity of this level was too great and he had to warn his partner.

Midoriya ran into him on the stairs.

“Why aren’t you protecting the bomb?” Iida shrieked.

“It’s hidden somewhere Bakugo will never find it,” Midoriya said quickly. “Besides I already captured Uraraka. If we can get Bakugo, then we’ve won!” Midoriya’s eyes were drawn to Iida’s left forearm, a one half of the suppression cuff dangling and the other half securely in place.

“You got caught,” Midoriya gasped.

“Don’t worry about it. We have to-“

“Iida, you have to trust me! I know we can beat Bakugo together.”

“Wait, do you mean together together?”

“Only if you want it that way,” Midoriya said. “I’m not going to force it on you.”

Iida’s face was hidden behind his mask, but Midoriya could feel the fear radiating off of him.

“We can do something else,” Midoriya said quickly.

“No I just! It’s smart to preet. My powers are weak and I’m exhausted right now. But together that exhaustion will be minimized.”

“And your quirk will be amplified,” Midoriya said. “But if you’re scared, then we’ll do something else.”

There was an explosion beneath them as Bakugo got closer to find their hiding place above him.

“I’m scared,” Iida said. His voice was so soft that Midoriya wasn’t sure if he really heard him.

“I told you we don’t have to-“

“I’m scared of wearing heels.”

“I- you- what?” Midoriya was dumbfounded.

“My powers involve running. I have engines on my legs. If the… outfit that we make has heels then they’re useless. Our power together is useless. Worse, I’ll be stuck in there- inside of you- for no reason.”

Midoriya thought through all of his previous costumes. When he and Shinsou preteed their outfit looked similar to his hero outfit, the leather and catsuit design similar to Shinsou’s hero style. His outfit with Uraraka looked a bit like her current hero costume, if not a more formal design. His outfit with All Might looked like All Might’s latest costume. Even his first preet with Bakugo all those years ago looked something like Bakugo’s current outfit. The only one that didn’t fit the pattern was with the slime man, but then again it might have been years since Hiro had worn clothes. There wasn’t a point of reference for him.

“I think that… the outfit designs are linked to our desires,” Midoriya said. He spoke slow, forming his words cautiously. “What we want to look like. And I think that if you really don’t want high heels, then we won’t have high heels.”

That seemed to be all the encouragement that Iida needed. Perhaps it was a desperation or even just a desire to feel powerful again, Midoriya had no idea. But Iida took off his helmet and tossed his hair to reveal his skin to Midoriya.

A hole in the wall formed with Bakugo standing on the plaster edging.

The explosion sent the faux-villains into the wall behind them, watching Bakugo’s enraged body hyperventilating.

“Now or never,” Iida commanded and Midoriya lunged with his hand out, placing his bare palm on Iida’s neck.

“No!” Bakugo screamed as the blinding light and high pitched wind chimes filled the room.

Midoriya was on his back, the same way Iida had been before. He stood up and took a running jump at Bakugo, kicking the student back through his hole.

Midoriya was taller again, but this time it was from Iida and his combined height. He was silver armor, covering his body from the shoulders down. The separate pieces fit together with rivets and spines. The style of the armor was less of the modern riot armor that Midoriya wore or the futuristic armor that Iida wore. It was a combination with the light weight material that Midoriya used but the style of Iida’s. He didn’t have a helmet to protect his face, instead his hair was longer reaching to his shoulders. The hair was tied into a high pony tail, with bright streaks of green mixed in with navy blue.

“Bakugo!” Midoriya screamed, his voice deeper and more robust. “Surrender now!”

“You idiot,” Bakugo said, his voice gravely from all of his previous yelling. “I warned you not to preet with him! But did you listen? No! How’s it feel inside that monster?”

No heels! Iida was screaming. I was so scared we’d break our ankles or twist a limb, or worse! But they’re just comfortable running shoes!

“Can we focus on the mission?’ Midoriya asked.

Oh! Yes. Sorry. What next?

“Run!” The two shouted together. Bakugo let go another barrage of explosions and the two of them took off.

It was like being on a conveyer belt. Every step that they took took them the distance of five.

I wonder if we could break the sound barrier like this. I’ve tried before, but always fell short. Very short. But I bet together we could.

“Focus,” Midoriya said again.

Midoriya reached behind him and found the second pair of quirk suppressant cuffs. He held them out, preparing for Bakugo’s next attack.

“Focus,” Midoriya whispered this time for himself. He called the powers of One-for-All to his side, letting his body sparkle with green and navy lightning.  The lightning crackled along his skin, bringing with it the intense strength.

Bakugo came at Midoriya again, this time using his fists. For once using his fists. Bakugo had never been this close to Midoriya, Midoriya could almost smell the nitroglycerin sweat off of his opponent.

Bakugo threw punch after punch, each one felt like it was moving in slow motion around Midoriya.

Incredible.

Midoriya wound one fist up and socked Bakugo in the gut, sending him flying back into a wall. Bakugo’s eyes fell shut, but he was far from unconscious.

“No no no,” Bakugo kept saying as he tried to stand up but failed. Bakugo crumpled to his knees, falling into the pile of rubble.

Midoriya walked over to Bakugo and put the quirk suppressant cuffs on the weakened Bakugo.

That was a bit cruel wasn’t it.

“We won,” Midoriya said. Any pity for Bakugo was used up long ago. “Isn’t that what counts?”

Hmm… I suppose.

A voice came over the intercom announcing the match results. “Villains win by capture!”

Midoriya instantly released his bond with Iida.

“So? Was it as bad as you thought it would be?”

Iida hesitated, wiping the dust off of his armor.

“It… wasn’t that bad? I mean, it was interesting to be so… connected. Is it like that all the time for you?”

Midoriya nodded.

“I’ve never felt so close to someone,” Iida said. “But… I’ve also never felt so far away from someone either. I’m inside your head but everyone else is so far away. Like I’m a mile away from anyone else in the world. It’s interesting for sure.”

Iida looked down at Bakugo. The other boy was fighting the unconsciousness that so desperately wanted to take him. His voice was soft, a repeated denial of his loss.

“I see why it scares him,” Iida whispered.

Midoriya moved out of the way as the nurse bots took Bakugo.

“I do too,” Midoriya said.

Chapter Text

Bakugo was the only person sent to the nurse’s office from that exercise. Everyone else left with just scratches and bruises at the most. If people were wary of Midoriya before, most of them feared him now.

Midoriya tried to comfort Hagakure when she came back from her defeat shivering. He wanted to embrace her, just so she could get some warmth back. But from a mix of her being naked and him not being comfortable with touch, he was useless.

“It’s ok Midoriya. I understand. It just had to be ice,” she muttered. Her hands moved up and down on her arms, trying to bring some warmth back through friction.

“I’m sorry.”

The boy who Hagakure was fighting with stepped away from his group to come talk to the two friends. He looked like a martial artist with his hair cropped short and a thick tail hanging in the air behind him.

“I wish I could have protected you more from the ice, who would have thought someone in class was that powerful.” He laughed nervously, his hand scratching the back of his head.

“It’s ok,” she chattered, her teeth ringing in her mouth. “It was really fast, and neither of us had much time to react.”

“Are you ok?” he asked. “I’m not sure I can be much help but…” The boy’s tail wrapped around his front, hugging close to him.

Midoriya could almost hear Hagakure smile. “I’m ok!” Her voice squeaked. “I just wish we had a proper moment to show off our skills though!”

The boy laughed and he held a firm hand out for Hagakure.

“Mashirao Ojiro,” he said.

“Hagakure Toru,” she said taking his hand firmly in hers. “Wow! You’re really warm!”

Ojiro’s face broke out with delight as he laughed. “I’m guessing anything must feel warm to you now!”

“I’m Midoriya by the way,” Midoriya said awkwardly raising his hand. He was standing so close to Hagakure, but completely ignored in the conversation.

“Oh! Sorry,” Ojiro said. “I uhh… did know that. You had a great fight by the way. I was really impressed with-“

All Might interrupted by announcing the start of the final fight.

The class fell silent as they watched the last two heroes, Shinsou and a girl named Yaoyorozu Momo on the main monitor. The two heroes walked into the building slowly, Shinsou with an obvious swagger, Yaoyorozu with her head down in hesitation.

One of the monitors showed a girl, Kyoka Jiro, kneeling next to a wall, pushing her earlobes into the plaster. She said something to the boy next to her, Kaminari Denki. Sparks flew from his hands in anticipation.

The other monitor showed the heroes, running from wall to wall, looking for the hidden bomb.

Yaoyorozu pulled a pipe out of her arm, and a shield from her belly. Shinsou was running around the floors.

When the four finally met for a clash minutes later, Shinsou must have used his quirk on the blond boy because he stopped fighting and just sat down. The girl seemed to be distracted throwing punches at Yaoyorozu; she didn’t notice. The two duked it out for a few minutes before an alarm went off, signaling that the heroes had found the bomb and secured it.

One monitor focused on Shinsou’s wide grin at what must have felt like an easy win.

Midoriya decided to stay after class to look at the rec room. He had previously been in there looking at the equipment available with Hagakure and Shinsou, but this was the first time on his own.

It felt like a simple work out room, with the occasional kid on a treadmill or doing pull-ups. It felt like the only place on campus that was for everyone. There were people that Midoriya recognized from previous years sports festivals as being from the general classes, or the support classes. There were first years, second years, third years, and even the occasional teacher was walking around.

This was a place that was for anyone at UA.

“You have something on your face,” a voice said from behind him. Midoriya turned and saw Aizawa-sensei.

Midoriya was in his normal gym clothes, just the regular UA uniform with his black leather gloves. He hadn’t showered yet so the black paint still smudged across his face. Midoriya had forgotten about the paint, it felt closer to a second skin than a thick make-up.

“Oh, yeah,” Midoriya said, he wiped the paint onto the back of his bare forearm.

“You’ll get bad acne if you don’t take it off,” Aizawa said. “You’re still a teenager, even if you are training to be a hero.”

“Thousands of people in the hero support community and we still have acne-causing face paint?” Midoriya joked.

Aizawa smirked at the light-hearted joke. At least it was a positive response.

“What were you thinking of trying?” Aizawa asked.

“Huh?”

“The equipment,” he specified. “What’s your exercise regiment?”

“Oh! Well I go for runs in the morning, maybe a kilometer or two. Over the past few months I’ve been doing some labor intensive community work around my neighborhood.”

“Is that what you call it?” Aizawa asked.

“Wh-wh-wh-what do you mean?” Midoriya asked. Did Aizawa know about his relationship with All Might? Did he know about Lady Might? Midoriya’s brief life flashed before his eyes, wondering if it was grounds for expulsion, or worse. Imprisonment.

“If I recall correctly it’s called picking up trash,” Aizawa said.

“Oh! Oh. Yeah. I mean, well my way sounds cooler.”

“I suppose it does. Does any of the equipment look enticing here?”

Midoriya looked around and pointed at one at random. It was a squat machine, currently holding the minimum weight. The machine was large, with multiple pegs available for adjustment so people at different sizes could still use it. The machine took up a good chunk of the wall, holding dozens of thick weights.

“That’s usually for people with mutant or strength type quirks,” Aizawa said. “But if you’d like I can spot you for it.” Aizawa walked over, ignoring the look of panic on Midoriya’s face.

Midoriya opened his mouth to own up to the mistake. It was just a reflex, he’d rather look around some more and find something more suited to him. But Aizawa just leveled a glance at him. It didn’t feel like a glare, Aizawa would have accepted Midoriya’s apology and excuse. But this was a dare. Aizawa was daring Midoriya to come and try something out of his league.

Midoriya followed to the large black machine. It was designed similar to a normal standing squat machine with extra padding. There were two bars sticking out with handles attached. Midoriya stood under the machine. The weights were a mechanical slider where you could set it to the desired weight on a control pad and then the weight would get added.

Aizawa stood next to the weight pad and helped Midoriya get into the starting position. He lowered Midoriya as low as he could, putting the pads on Midoriya’s shoulder to hold the weight up.

“We’ll start light,” Aizawa said. He set the dial to fifty pounds. There was a slight clinking noise as the proper weights slid into place.

Midoriya adjusted his position slightly before standing up tall. He could feel the pressure on his shoulders, but it felt light at the moment. Midoriya continued to stand up with the weights, counting each squat out loud.

“Straighten your back more,” Aizawa advised.

Midoriya hit twenty before Aizawa told him to stop.

“That looked almost too easy,” Aizawa said. He tapped the control pad again and more weights clicked into place. “Don’t look at the screen. Do another set.”

Midoriya nodded and pushed up against the weights. His body could feel the pressure the longer he worked out. His sit into his squat fell faster and his back extension was slower. But he was able to count out a full twenty squats.

Aizawa tapped the pad again and more weights went into place.

“Again,” Aizawa ordered. His face didn’t betray the weights that Midoriya holding up, but he suspected it was a lot.

They continued the pattern for twenty minutes before Aizawa added too much weight and Midoriya could no longer stand. Midoriya fell onto the slightly padded floor, his body drenched in sweat.

“You lifted close to two hundred pounds,” Aizawa said.

“That’s good, right?”

“That’s great,” Aizawa said. “And you didn’t use your other quirk did you.” It wasn’t a question, but both men knew what Aizawa was talking about.

“Picking up garbage,” Midoriya said with a shit-eating grin.

Aizawa let out a sound that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle before recomposing himself.

“Why don’t you use that power?” Aizawa asked, getting down to Midoriya’s eye level. “If you had used it during the quirk assessment you wouldn’t have landed in the bottom three.”

“No control,” Midoriya said, his breath was heavy and his heart was pounding in his ears.

“You can’t control your transformation quirk either,” Aizawa countered. “But you still use it.”

“My preeting doesn’t break my bones.”

Aizawa was silent for a moment, absorbing Midoriya’s words.

“Breaks your bones,” Aizawa repeated. “You’re… quirk… breaks your bones.”

“I use it sometimes… when I preet…. I know how to control it then… But not when I’m alone.”

Aizawa nodded and offered a hand to help Midoriya stand. Midoriya hesitated for a moment before grasping his teacher’s hand.

“Let me show you the machines I want you to work on when you’re down here,” Aizawa said. “You have some physical strength, but not enough. You can squat, but you should be running for longer than a few kilometers a day.”

Aizawa showed Midoriya around, explaining how to use foreign equipment and the importance of the different muscle groups. They talked through Midoriya’s needs and concerns, finding the best exercise regiment for Midoriya.

The rest of the week fell into a routine. Aizawa would announce anything new for the day, normal classes for the rest of the morning, lunch, and then some kind of hero specialty class.

“You’ll be picking your class president today,” Aizawa drawled one morning. He looked half asleep up on the podium, looking down on his students. “To be honest we should have done this earlier, but some things got in the way and I forgot. We’ll be electing three positions: president, vice-president, and secretary.

“Things to note here is that you should elect someone trust-worthy for your president position, someone organized for vice-president, and someone with good hand writing for the secretary. The president will take attendance before class starts, and read off any announcements that I forget. They will be in charge when I’m not around, although this position can be reassigned at any point in time if the person you elect fails to meet my standards. This means I’ll choose your next president. The vice-president will be the next person in charge if the president isn’t here. The secretary is the person who you should go to for notes in this class.

“Understood?”

What Aizawa neglected to mention was UA’s history of class presidents. How most of the went on to being top heroes, offered internships before their peers, made headlines just a year out of school, and sometimes were promoted from side-kick to hero instantaneously. A class president was destined for greatness in UA.

“Good. Now raise your hands if you want to be president.”

All Around the class, hands shot up like lightning. Every student had their arms raised high in the air, except for Midoriya. He knew he didn’t stand a chance, so instead sat back to watch the others.

After all the positions had been called and votes were tallied there was a clear winner.

“Alright,” Aizawa said. “With three votes your president will be Shinsou Hitoshi, with two votes vice-president with be Yaoyuruzu Momo, and secretary Uraraka Ochako with three votes.”

“I demand a recount!” Bakugo screamed from his seat.

“Noted,” Aizawa said. “Oh look. I’m right. If you three could stay after a few minutes before lunch, I’ll explain your positions more in detail.”

“How’s it feel Mr. President?” Hagakure asked, pointing her chopsticks at Shinsou.

“Oh god, I didn’t think I’d win,” Shinsou groaned.

“Why not?” Midoriya asked. “You’re charismatic, and smart. I mean, I voted for you.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, sorry Hagakure.”

Hagakure’s shoulders moved in a shrug. “I didn’t even vote for me, I voted for Oijiro.”

“Really?” Midoriya asked with a knowing grin. “You’ve been talking with him a lot lately. Anything we should know.”

Midoriya could feel her blushing from the way that her sleeves moved around her face.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about Midoriya!”

“You just seem to gravitate towards him,” Shinsou said. “Did something happen while you were setting up during All Might’s exam?”

“Of course not! You would have seen it on the cameras.”

“But we can’t see you,” Midoriya pointed out.

Hagakure gasped and started to sputter before filling her mouth with her fish fillet.

Midoriya and Shinsou couldn’t help but laugh together, a chorus of chuckles that felt like heaven to Midoriya. To have this kind of friendly banter with friends felt unreal. Unexpected. Exciting.

Danger.

The alarms started going off around the cafeteria. Bright lights flashing, warning the students to evacuate in a calm orderly fashion. But it was chaos everywhere. Every student around took to their feet and began to crash for the exit.

“What’s going on?” Hagakure screamed over the students.

“Villains are in the school!” a voice shouted back from the crowd. “We have to get out of here!”

Midoriya quickly hopped up onto the table, backing away from the large crowd. His heart began to pound in his ears as he saw every exit become blocked by the students.

“Shit,” Midoriya said, looking for a way out that didn’t involve masses of students. “There’s no way I can get out of here.”

“What?” Shinsou asked, looking up at Midoriya.

“I’ll preet with a stranger if I try and go through that. Skin to skin contact is all I need. Someone knocks my head, or hits me in just the right way and… bad.“

“Oh,” Shinsou said. “Shit indeed.” He got up on the table with Midoriya and helped out with the search. He helped Hagakure up while the three looked for a way out. It was useless. Students were everywhere running around in a massive panic.

“Wait look,” Shinsou said, pointing towards the windows. Just beyond their view point was a group of people running around the campus lawn. “Don’t they look like the reporters we saw this morning?”

“Yeah! They look exactly like those reporters!” Hagakure gasped. “Do you think they’re what set the alarms off?”

“I think so!” Midoriya said. “We have to stop this panic though. If there isn’t actual villains and it’s just reporters we need to calm people down. Someone could get hurt.”

Shinsou nodded, and the three looked at each other. If they were the only ones who knew this information, everyone deserved to know.

“Shinsou,” Midoriya said taking off his glove. “How loud can you yell?”

For a second Shinsou looked confused, before his eyes grew wide with understanding. “We’re about to find out.”

The two shook hands and Midoriya was overwhelmed with bright lights and wind chimes.

“Listen up!” Midoriya yelled from his position. It felt weird to preet with someone for something that was so… trivial. He’d never wanted to treat his quirk like a commodity, but with the way that every student stopped what they were doing Midoriya knew he was right. A hush fell over the cafeteria.

“Remember my words,” Midoriya said, the weight of Shinsou’s quirk filling him. “There are no villains. It’s just reporters that broke onto school grounds. Continue to evacuate but do so calmly. Release!”

The students all blinked up at the strange hero in their midsts. No one could recognize the cat suit hero in the back of the cafeteria, but they had all been captivated by her words.

“Did I miss anything?” Midoriya asked, looking at Hagakure.

“Wow,” was all she said.

We’re good Shinsou said from within.  Everyone should be much calmer now.

Midoriya nodded, and took a breath to release his quirk but Hagakure stopped him.

“Wait!” she said. “You shouldn’t separate just yet.”

Midoriya head quirked at an angle that felt closer to something Shinsou would do. A silent question, something picked up from before Shinsou could fully control his quirk. Midoriya just knew that was how Shinsou got that habit without even having to consult his partner.

“You can’t preet with multiple people right,” Hagkaure asked. “So just stay together while we evacuate. That way we can get in line without worrying about you bumping into someone.”

“That’s a great idea,” Shinsou said with Midoriya’s mouth.

“But you’ll still be inside me,” Midoriya said, face scrunching together with concern.

“One less person in line,” Shinsou replied, Midoriya’s shoulders shrugging on their own.

“That’s really weird,” Hagakure muttered.

Midoriya sighed and hopped off the table, offering a bar hand to Hagakure. Her fingers were warm as she used Midoriya to get down on the ground while they got in line for evacuation.

“How do you feel?” Hagakure asked, looking up at her two-in-one friend.

“Strange,” Midoriya said, one hand running through his slightly longer hair and the other on his leather covered forearm. He felt like he needed to cover himself with the highly revealing outfit. He didn’t want to look in a mirror, but he could tell that every curve of his body was hugged by his leather catsuit. His features weren’t his own, some kind of combination of what Shinsou and himself would look like if they were 1000% hotter.

Tell her I’m fine.

“Shinsou says he’s fine in here,” Midoriya said. “You’re not too cold, are you?”

It’s not that cold honestly. Like if you stepped out without a jacket on a brisk fall day.

“That’s warmer than I usually hear.”

“Is Shinsou able to talk to you?”

Midoriya blinked for a moment, looking down at Hagakure. He was a good three inches taller than her now.

“Yes,” Midoriya said. “Sometimes he just talks in my head and sometimes he- I- we talk together. I’m not sure how it works, but it does.”

“That’s really cool,” Hagakure said, her voice bright with excitement.

“He-ummm,” Midoriya hesitated for a moment. “He can’t lie in here. You can’t lie in my head. I don’t know if Shinsou figured that out yet or not, but it’s kind of like a truth serum or something.”

Really?

“Try it.”

I have purple hair and- huh. I want to be a hero- hmmm. I think I like this.

“Really?”

Really.

Midoriya sputtered for a moment as they finally reached the evacuation point. The place was still too crowded for Midoriya’s tastes, but at least it wasn’t crushing like it had looked before. Midoriya didn’t separate until they heard the all-clear announcement from principal Nezu and had returned safely to the classroom.

“Thanks,” Midoriya said, rolling his head over his neck. “I really appreciate you doing that.”

“Anytime,” Shinsou said, a crooked smile forming. “Just say the word. Alright?”

“Alright,” Midoriya said, the two separate people taking their seats.

Chapter Text

“I’m taking my new position at UA High very seriously. Saving people has always been my top priority, and being able to share those values with the youths of today is important,” All Might said, his teeth glimmering in the camera flashes.

“All Might? Sir?” A reporter called from the crowd. “How are you dealing with the sudden crime rise in Mustufu? Since your arrival the police have estimated that petty crime has risen 5%.”

“Estimations are different than reality,” All Might said. “Perhaps the heroes in town think they can take a day off with me around.”

The crowd of reports awkwardly laughed with All Might’s overpowering roar.

“But in all seriousness, I’ll be leaving most of the crime fighting to other heroes in the area. Mustufu’s hero agencies are more than capable in the area, I haven’t worked with a group more talented. With my teaching position at UA it just leaves less time for direct heroism these days. But don’t worry. If there’s ever a need,” All Might expertly turned to the camera with a wide grin and a thumbs up, “I’ll be there.”

The reporters cheered, an audience eating out of All Might’s palm. As always.

His manager stood up to announce the end of the press conference, except for one reporter that shot up, asking for a final question. All Might nodded him through with a kind smile and an open palm.

“We all know your opinion on the heroes of the city, but what of the vigilantes? Particularly the one that’s been using your aesthetic and name? Lady Might.”

To All Might’s credit, he didn’t appear phased at all, not an eyelash out of place.

“Unfortunately vigilantism is still a crime, so we do have to persecute those who break the law. All laws exist for a reason, but I cannot fault citizens who choose to take matters into their own hands. Maybe one day she, and the others like her, will be willing to apply for the heroics programs and be willing to serve her town with the law on her side. It’s never too late to be a hero.”

“What a load of hogwash,” Aizawa said turning the volume down so he didn’t have to hear the symbol of peace lie through his teeth. It was a standard response when asked about vigilantes. He had heard what All Might really thought of the vigilante over coffee with Present Mic.

All Might was a big fan. He thought it was great that someone wanted to be the female version of him. That it saved time in the long run with her running around. He wanted her autograph.

“Just hogwash.”

Aizawa went back to the stack of papers still left to grade, putting his focus on them, rather than the lying tv.

Nothing new. Nothing informative. All of All Might’s recent interviews were like that. Deflecting questions about why he was less and less active in the present. Pretending his focus was on his students and not his muscles. Faking his way through interviews off of his charisma and charm like it was the easiest thing in the world. Perhaps for heroes like All Might it was the easiest thing in the world. It had always been something that Aizawa had struggled with, and his teaching position had forced him to face this down fall more often than he preferred.

Perhaps he could get All Might to take his MC position at the sports festival coming up. All Might would surely get a kick out of it with Present. Or perhaps the two would fight like cats and dogs over the spotlight. The later sounded far more entertaining.

Lady Might ran through the streets in the morning, the wind catching her hair with every bound she used One-for-All. Typically she was a night owl, only coming out in the late hours of the darkness. But today she ran through in full daylight, her golden and green hair whipping in the wind.

“HELP!”

She saved a family from a hostage situation.

“STOP!”

She saved a couple at a cafe from being hit by a run away driver.

“SAVE ME!”

She stopped a robber from escaping with bags full of jewels.

Every turn was another citizen in danger. Every moment was another cat stuck in a tree. Every minute was a minute later for class.

By the time that Lady Might landed next to UA she was ten minutes late for homeroom. No- she wasn’t late for class. Midoriya was. The separation was getting harder to differentiate the longer that he stayed preeted. It felt like a side effect from prolonged exposure to one person’s form. Sometimes Midoriya couldn’t tell who was in charge anymore, if it was him or Toshinori. Sometimes he wondered it it was neither of them.

“We’re so late!” Midoriya screamed as he and All Might raced into the school. All Might seemed far less stressed at the moment, but he still understood Midoriya’s strife. He didn’t miss a homeroom class, but his protege did, something he apologized for as the two ran.

The two raced into the 1A classroom where Aizawa was at the podium in the middle of the room. His morning had already been tainted by the morning’s airing of All Might’s interview, but now he had to work with the man for the rest of the morning. All Might had three hours with him today, and Aizawa had never been more thankful it was more.

“I’m so sorry,” All Might said in his bright yellow suit full of muscles and and a smile. “I forgot what day it was and was running young Midoriya through some intense training. Any tardiness is my fault first and foremost.”

Aizawa struggled not to roll his eyes as he gestured for Midoriya to sit down.

“Come in, both of you. Now that you’re here would you like to explain today’s training exercise All Might?” Aizawa asked, looking for any excuse to sit down and relax.

All Might cleared his throat and nodded. “Of course!”

All Might walked to the front of the class room and adjusted his tie. There he explained the basic elements of the day’s events. A rescue trial set in various climates and weather conditions. The goals would be simple. Each student would take turns deciding how to rescue the ‘citizens’ or dummies from whatever calamity befalls them.

He spoke with his entire body, gesturing and miming out the rescue oppositions they would be preforming. The song in dance seemed to wow the class room with his charismatic flare. When he mimed damsels in distress he took out his handkerchief and waved it in the air. When he told them about roaring forrest fires he moped his brow and even produced drops of sweat on command. The entire explanation was just an act. Just a show.

It left the bitter taste of jealousy in Aizawa’s mouth. No child ever looked at him with such awe, such inspiration. All Might didn’t even want to be a teacher, but he was so naturally good at it.

No. All Might wasn’t a good teacher. He was a good story teller. That was what the students responded to. But any response like that was something worth noting, and Aizawa did.

“And all of this will be taking place in the training facilities on the edge of campus! Don’t worry, it’s not too far from here, but we will need to take a bus. So everyone grab your super suits, and we’ll head out!”

Aizawa left the room to call up the driver to meet them at the East gate of the school.

The walk down to where the bus was going to pick the up was a short one. Most of the students had changed into their hero costumes, one did not.

“I think it’s a smart choice,” Shinsou said looking at Hagakure. She had put on her hero gloves and boots, but she was also wearing the gym uniform, covering the sensitive parts of her body.

“It was really cold during the fight exam,” she muttered, a defensive mechanism.

“No, no,” Midoriya said, his hands patting the empty air as a gesture of comfort. “Shinsou was being serious. It’s smart to wear clothes when you don’t know what’s going on. They’re safer than running around naked.”

“But it goes against my quirk,” she whined. Her sleeves crossed in front of her body. “I’m not invisible if I’m wearing clothes!”

“Have you tried contacting the support teams to see if they can come up with a solution?”

“I sent an email, but they haven’t responded yet. But it hasn’t been more than a few days now, so we’ll just have to wait.”

Midoriya nodded solemnly. He felt bad for his friend, the idea of running around naked for any duration sounded terrible. Even if she was invisible, people could still touch her, and she could still feel eyes on her. Searching for her naked body. Maybe when she’s an adult it might feel different, but right now as a 15 year old Midoriya felt dirty just thinking about it.

“Everyone on the bus,” Aizawa said as the driver pulled up. The bus that appeared was a normal city bus, big enough for average sized citizens to ride, but with enough empty space that one or two larger people could also sit comfortably. Midoriya could hear Shoji sigh with relief in the back.

“Orderly lines,” Iida called out. “One a time people! One at a time.”

Everyone placated their enthusiastic class mate as they got on the bus. Midoriya sent him a soft smile that Iida enthusiastically returned. One more person liked Midoriya, and it warmed his chest.

Hagakure and Shinsou sat together towards the back of the bus and Midoriya took the seat in front of them. He was expecting for the seat next to him to go untaken, but was surprised to see a girl with long green hair and large eyes stand next to the seat.

“May I join you?” Tsuyu Asui asked.

Midoriya nodded and gave her a tentative smile. “Of course.”

She sat next to him comfortably, not sitting on the edge of the seat or leaning away from him. She just sat there. Staring at him. It felt like she was too close, but that was only because people rarely got near Midoriya. It was weird, but not uncomfortable.

“Uhhh…”

“I’m very blunt,” Asui said as the bus started to move. “I like to speak my mind about these kinds of things and I’ve been meaning to ask you something Midoriya.”

The first person not to use Bakugo’s nickname for him.

“Alright,” he said.

“What are your actual powers?”

Midoriya blinked, not expecting something so simple. “I think it’s pretty obvious,” he said, his confusion leaking into his voice.

“Far from it,” she said, her voice was raspy yet soft. “You touch people and they’re gone. And you’re gone too, because you don’t look like you and you don’t look like them. Your faces are mashed together and you have their quirk. But that doesn’t mean much. How do you define your quirk?”

Midoriya nodded and scratched the side of his face. He’d never been asked something like this before. He hadn’t defined his powers in years, not since he was four years old and standing a the quirk registration office with his mother. Even when he talked about it with All Might there was a focus on the magnification of his powers, not the people or even the act.

“I call it preeting,” he said. “If I make skin contact with someone we… mesh together. I don’t really know what I look like, but I know I look different. I’m the one in control of our body, but they’re still there in my head.” He tapped his paint covered temple twice. “They speak to me and I can hear them. Sometimes they can speak to others but I’m not sure how that works exactly. When they talk in my head they can’t lie to me.

“Their quirks change too, sort of like it goes through a distillery or a magnifying glass. I can use their quirks and they’re much more powerful with me.” He looked across the bus, filled with the only people he had ever preeted with before. “Uraraka can fly. Shinsou doesn’t need a call and response. Iida said that he thought we could move at the speed of sound together.”

“And Bakugo?”

“We were so much younger when we preeted. He… we were messing around” fighting “and he accidentally” it was on purpose “hit me. We, well, you know.” Midoriya linked his fingers together so he didn’t have to say it out loud. “And he hated it. A lot. I’m glad we didn’t have to wait long to separate, but I didn’t get to use his quirk when we were together. So I don’t know what we can do together. He hasn’t touched me since.”

He didn’t mention All Might or Hiro. Both were implications of his relationship to Lady Might.

Tsuyu nodded, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. She looked thoughtful, processing the information. After a moment she spoke.

“I’d like to preet with you Midoriya.”

“Say what?” Midoriya asked.

“I don’t think this is something that you can just hear about and understand,” she said, nodding to herself. “I don’t want to take other people’s word for your quirk. I’d rather experience it myself. And if you don’t mind, today I’d like to try it.”

Midoriya nodded, his mind rebooting. Someone in his class wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. She said she wanted to try.

“Have you talked with the people who’ve been in my head though?” Midoriya asked.

Tsuyu nodded. “I’ve gotten a few responses about how it’s cold, but it goes from a brisk autumn day to the Arctic circle. But they also say they can see things that you can’t, and how it’s still easy to communicate. Iida was very helpful when I asked him. But I’d still rather experience it for myself. So what do you say?”

“Alright,” Midoriya said. “We can try it, see how you feel about it. Do you mind me asking how your quirk works?”

“Well I have a mutation quirk,” she said. “I can do pretty much anything a frog can. My tongue is very sticky, and I can jump really high. I’m an excellent swimmer and I can throw up my stomach to clean it.”

“That’s really gross.” Midoriya laughed lightly, trying to ease the anxiety in his heart.

“It is,” she agreed. “But it’s something I can do. I can also secrete a mucus that can cause some mild irritation.”

“Wow, that sounds amazing. You could do so much with that! It sounds really versatile Asui.”

“Call me Tsu. It’s what my friends call me.” She held her hand out for a hand shake and Midoriya laughed.

“No gloves,” he said. “Unless you want to preet now I’ll have to ask for a handshake later.”

Tsuyu laughed. It sounded a bit like a frog, but also enough like a human girl that it was cute. Midoriya couldn’t help but laugh with her. She had said friends. She counted him as a friends. Not a maybe-friend. Not a if-this-works-out friend. A friend.

His heart still stung with anxiety over knowing that he would be using his quirk on a class mate again. But it was lessened knowing that she was a willing participant.

The Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or the USJ was huge. The large building was a six story tall dome that sat at the edge of campus, a stark symbol of the prestige that was UA. At over 60,000 square feet the building was the size of a professional football field with six visible areas they were going to be training in. Natural disasters, fire, floods, and other states of ruin awaited the UA students.

“Welcome,” said a person in a space suit. The person was short, almost as tall as Midoriya, with two large white eyes shining through the pitch black of the space suit. Their voice was tinged with the sound of auto tune, either to protect their identity or perhaps as a previous injury that could only be healed through robotics. The person had a futuristic aura that lit sparks in the student’s eyes.

“You’re Thirteen!” Uraraka gasped, looking at the space themed hero. “Oh my god! You’re Thirteen! You’ve been my idol for so long!” She ran to the hero’s side, a complete mess of adoration. “I’ve always wanted to be a rescue hero because of you. You’re powers are so cool, and I’m just your biggest fan.”

The hero seemed to smile with just their eyes, taking obvious delight in Uraraka’s enthusiasm. “Thank you! It’s wonderful to meet you.

“It’s wonderful to meet all of you. Welcome to the USJ for your first lesson in rescue training.”

Aizawa and All Might made their way to the front with Thirteen, standing at attention behind the space suit.

“Have you all been introduced to what you’ll be doing today?”

“More or less,” Aizawa said, looking off in boredom. “They have the general idea but if you’d like to explain anything about yourself or the history of the USJ go for it.”

Thirteen nodded, and looked back at the students. They began to talk about the inception of the building and how heroes around Japan frequently come to refresh their rescue skills. That the USJ was one of UA’s most valued treasures. But something felt off to Aizawa. A strange pressure in the air that just seemed to appear and disappear with irregular rhythm.

He looked around, trying to figure out what was setting his instincts off. It was only when Thirteen began to talk about the value of using one’s quirk for the sake of other’s that Aizawa saw what was wrong.

“Every quirk has a side effect,” they said as a black hole began to form at the center of the building. The hole started small, the size of a pea, only growing larger and larger with every passing second. Aizawa only just noticed it when it was the size of a large dog, not fully processing what it was that he was seeing. No one else seemed to notice either.

“Some quirks cause exhaustion and weakness the longer you use it.” The hole was the size of a person now, looming in the center of the building. A pale hand reached through the void. A man walked through, looking around his new surroundings. He was wearing pale clothes with dismembered hands clutching to various points on his body.

“Some quirks are deadly at their core. My quirk is called Black Hole for a reason.” The man’s face was covered with a hand, but Aizawa could feel him grin as his wandering gaze settled on the back of the number one hero.

“I can turn anything to dust in the blink of an eye, without thought or hesitation. It’s dangerous and has resulted in death before. Be wary of your powers, and use them only for-“

“Thirteen you need to evacuate,” Aizawa said lowering his goggles and unwrapping his capture weapon from his body. He looked at the children. His students. His wards. And he knew there was immense danger here.

“There are intruders.”

Chapter Text

Aizawa was understating the situation when he said there were intruders. Everyone with eyes could tell exactly who these people were. Villains had infiltrated the USJ.

All Might cracked his knuckles as the main plaza began to fill with at least a hundred unknown villains.

“This will be interesting,” he said purred. He put a large hand on Aizawa’s shoulder and grinned. “Don’t wait up.”

And All Might was gone.

The hero leapt off of the balcony and began to saunter towards the oncoming fiends while Aizawa almost spat in disbelief.

“This is not good,” Aizawa said, turning towards Thirteen.

“How long can he-?” they asked. Aizawa knew exactly what they were asking even if the question sounded unfinished.

“We should be fine, but that doesn’t change the danger we’re in.” He turned to look at the students and saw a sea of scared faces. Even if they wanted to be heroes they weren’t trained for combat. Yet. “All Might will take the offense, I’ll go in for back-up. Thirteen, I need you to get these students out of here ASAP.”

“And where would that be?” A deep fog rolled up the steps, crowding around the students. The air got thick with panic as the group were pushed together. Midoriya could feel the body heat of his friends next to him, a distance that made his ears ring with oncoming wind chimes.

The fog gathered together into the form of a giant, lurking over the class with outstretched, shadow arms. Two pale yellow eyes gazed down at the children with a malicious curiosity. Metal plates wrapped around the fog close to the eyes giving the entity the appearance of a neck and head.

“No one’s leaving until the symbol of peace is dead,” the deep voice said. “So just sit back, and watch.”

Aizawa didn’t blink. He couldn’t look away. Whatever this person’s quirk was it must have been a mutation but there was no way to tell just yet if there was anything else. He couldn’t risk blinking, not even for a second.

Aizawa unrolled the capture weapon from around him and leapt into action. He threw the bands at the shadow figuring, testing his tangibility. The cloth bands brushed through the air, displacing the mist  for a second before falling back into place.

The mist laughed and fell onto the children, cloaking them in the opaque fog.

“If you don’t want to watch, then so be it.”

Aizawa’s eyes began to water and he heard a distinct popping sound, like fire crackers. A scream of anger. A roar of rage.

The children were gone from sight but the mist wasn’t. If the mist was a person- was his opponent- then the children would be safe from any emitter or transformation quirk. But his quirk had a time limit, a moment of weakness. He’d have to blink eventually.

Aizawa ignored his body’s protest as he threw his capture weapon against the ground, pushing himself high in the air. The misty man must have some weakness for him to exploit. He must!

One second Aizawa was air born, jumping back from the shadow’s grasp and the next he was falling. Hurting. Bleeding. Something had struck him in the back, pushing him away from his safe landing and hitting the floor. A villain must have seen an opportunity to eliminate All Might’s ally and taken it.

Aizawa hit the floor and went sliding off a few feet. His shoulder stun, and he reached behind him to feel the projectile, a spike, piercing the flesh between his left shoulder blade and his arm.

Aizawa cursed himself. Not for not having the foresight to remember the battle behind him, but because when he hit the ground he had blinked. In that moment he knew he failed his students.

Midoriya landed on his side with a breathless thud. His entire body ached as he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. The mist had surrounded him, pulled his body, and taken his breath away. Now he was somewhere new, a place he didn’t recognize.

“Midoriya,” he heard a familiar voice crackle. Next to him were two fellow students, Tsuyu and another girl who had pink skin and horns on her head, Midoriya was certain her name was Mina.

“You ok?” he asked going over to his friend.

“Not sure,” Tsuyu said, standing up. “Where are we?”

At first glance, Midoriya had no idea. They were in a modern building that looked like it was crumbling around them. The floors and ceiling were made of concrete and the plaster walls looked minutes away from turning into rubble. There were two large window holes, minus the glass, and a door way.

Mina stood up and looked out the window.

“Wait!” Midoriya called but it was too late.

The pang of a gunshot cleared the air and Mina ducked to the ground. Her body shook for a moment, realizing how close she was to death just for looking outside.

“Are you ok?” Midoriya threw himself at Mina hovering a comforting hand on her back.

She nodded, still buzzing for the bang.

“What did you see?” Tsuyu asked.

“We-we we’re still in the USJ,” Mina whispered. “There’s a ceiling instead of a sky and I saw other buildings like ours.”

Midoriya nodded and crept up to the window. He peered above and confirmed what Mina saw. There was the blue painted panels of the USJ above them, dotted with the eco-friendly light bulbs.

Midoriya pulled his face away and slid up the wall. He was careful not to reveal himself to whatever was below them. He looked down at Asui who gave him a short nod as she comforted Mina.

Midoriya carefully peered around the concrete edging and looked below them. They must have been five stories up. Below them was a crowd of villains, walking through the disaster zone. A few of them were calling out to other villains and pointing up at the window that Mina had used.

“I’m counting seven villains down there,” Midoriya said. “I think they have emitter quirks or just old fashion guns. But there’s more gathering.”

“What should we do?” Tsuyu asked. “Is it safer to hide here or should we leave?”

Midoriya ducked behind the wall again and crawled down to Mina and Tsuyu. “We should leave if we can,” he said. “Theres no telling what they’ll do trying to get up here. If we stay put they’ll absolutely get us.”

Mina nodded quickly, agreeing with Izuku.

“Tsuyu you said you were ok if we preeted right?”

Asui nodded. “Now?”

“No, the lights and sounds will give away our position. I’m thinking we should get on the roof first, then we can jump away from here with Mina on our back.”

“That works,” Tsuyu said. “Normally I can do a vertical jump of twenty feet and a long jump of about seventy feet. But that’s without carrying anything.”

“I’m a power magnifier, so we should go even farther.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Mina asked. “Bakugo said-“

“Bakugo doesn’t know as much about my quirk as he thinks he does,” Midoriya snapped. “He’s stubborn and scared of me. But I promise it’s not as bad as he leads on.”

Mina flinched at Midoriya’s harsh tone, curling in on herself more. Asui laid a gentle arm around her and rubbed her arm.

“I’m sorry,” Midoriya said. Tensions were high and villains were just outside. It was a dangerous situation and the pressure was getting into Midoriya’s head. “Bakugo just… he can’t see me anymore. He just sees that experience. It was a long time ago and I’ve had a lot of practice since. I’m sorry Mina, but this will work.”

She nodded, her heart squeezing in her chest. She had spent a lot of time with the foul mouthed teenager over the past few weeks, slowly getting to know him. Bakugo was hot tempered and loud, he didn’t feel like a liar. But whenever Midoriya was involved something inside of him seemed to shift.

“And if it doesn’t?” she asked.

“We’ll try something else,” Midoriya said. “There’s always something we can do.”

“Then let’s come up with a full plan,” Mina said. “And a plan B.”

There was a bang from below them and they all peered over the edge of the window. Below them villains started to pour into building.

“We don’t have much time,” Tsuyu said. “Let’s hurry.”

“You’re just being a shitty idiot!” Bakugo screamed. His palms were popping with energy. He threw another explosion blast into the water beside the boat watching as the water splashed up, throwing the boat back again.

The villains were backing away from the random explosions that Bakugo threw into the water. Each explosion started as a small ball of light, only to become a firey ball of death the moment it touched the water.

“And you’re being dangerous!” Shinsou shouted back. “Do you ever think about anyone else?”

Bakugo grit his teeth and walked around the boat. He knew what Shinsou’s powers were. A question and a response and then he was under mind control. Bakugo may not have looked it, but he paid close attention to his classmate’s quirks. He knew what his competition was.

“Guys, can’t we just work something out?” Kaminari asked following Bakugo. “We need a plan. We can’t just keep fighting with each other.”

“I’ll start working when he stops with the questions! I’m not about to fall into whatever mind control hell he has planned,” Bakugo said rearing up for another throw.

“Then stop-“ Shinsou tried to talk but the boom echoed across the water at a deafening volume- “exploding shit you can’t see! They’re under water! Explosions don’t reach down there!”

“It’s better than fucking nothing,” Bakugo screamed. “It keeps them away from here doesn’t it?”

Kaminari groaned and walked into the main cabin of the yacht they were on looking for something to help. He needed to find a way to send for help, maybe even contacting the school. But his headphones had been damaged when he was thrown in the water.

Kaminari looked around the main cabin. If he could just find a radio of some kind, maybe he could boost the powers with his quirk. Something to contact the outside world, something to get help for himself and his class. All Might was here, but who knew how many heroes there were or how long it would take to defeat them.

Kaminari opened cabinet after cabinet, looking for anything that could help him. It didn’t help that he could hear Shinsou screaming over the explosions. That boy had some control issues.

Most of the cabin was empty aside from a control panel and steering wheel. When Kaminari tried to move the wheel it didn’t budge an inch, and all of the dials on the control panel read a disheartening zero. There was a radio, but it was in poor shape. He opened the back of the radio and saw that most of the wiring had been pulled from it’s placing. But the damage looked intentional rather than accidental with each wire having a jack on one end.

“That’s something,” Kaminari said. He wondered if he could fix it, figure out what was wrong. But Kaminari didn’t know anything about wiring or electrical units, and he doubted his classmates outside did either.

Kaminari opened a few drawers and found a manual that was dedicated to fixing the different components in the ship. It felt like someone had handed him a cheat sheet, or perhaps it was apart of the test that they’d never take. It told him how to fix the steering wheel and turn on the engine. It told him the different situations in which the control dials on the main panel would read 0. But most importantly it had detailed steps to fixing the radio.

Kaminari kissed the manual and flipped through the pages before getting to work on the radio. The details in the manual were too detailed if you asked him. Every other word was longer than the last and didn’t use consistent wording.

“Blue wire goes into teal port,” Kaminari muttered. “Or is it the cinnamon wire goes in the emerald port? What’s the difference between the emerald wire and the jade wire?”

An explosion just outside the main cabin sent shivers down Kaminari’s spine.

The cabin door creaked open and light foot steps entered the room.

“Shinsou, I could really use some help here. I’m trying to send out a distress signal but the radio’s busted. Can you stop arguing with-“

Another explosion caught Kaminari off guard. The steering wheel exploded in the corner of his eye. The wood of the wheel splinted in the air and for a second he wondered if Bakugo had lost his mind entirely. But instead Kaminari turned to see a fist of physical water and a man with sharp teeth that jutted out of his jaw and large bubble eyes.

“Don’t move,” the villain snarled with an intense lisp. “I’ll end you as painlessly as possible.”

“Fuck me,” Kaminari whined.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck,” Hagakure whispered as she ran across the uneven battle field. She silently thanked Aizawa’s coaching and insistence in endurance running. She had been running since she was dropped in the middle of the mountain range, looking for other students and allies.

When she was first dropped into the area she was surrounded by villains, but she left them in her dust before they realized that a student was within their grasps.

She was constantly vigilant, running from crater to ledge, avoiding the gaze of the villains who seemed to stop for a moment seeing the pair of floating clothes. Their confusion was her advantage and she would duck out of their sight when she felt their eyes on her.

Every moment of aversion was a moment to catch her breath.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck,” she whimpered. Hagakure would put her hands over her head and cower on the ground, trying not to draw attention to herself. She could easily just take off her clothes and just stroll out Scott free, but the humiliation of the idea made her stomach roll.

She poked her head up after having run around the battle field for what must have been fifteen minutes and she could feel her lungs catch fire. She couldn’t keep running and hiding, hoping to just run into another student. She needed a plan.

“Fuck fuck fuck,” she whispered. She sat up and looked around. As far as she could see she was still in the USJ, and she was pretty high up. In fact, judging by the terrain she was either in the mountain zone or the landslide zone. It didn’t look like the city scapes of the ruins zone, and there wasn’t fire or rain.

“Think Toru think,” she whispered to herself, tapping her forehead. She was smarter than this.

“If I get up higher,” she whispered, starting to form a though, “maybe I can see more? Or maybe I can see someone. Oh man, I wish I had some way to contact other people.”

She had a plan, it was a simple plan but it was better than nothing.

Hagakure started to run up hill, pacing herself the entire way to keep a steady pace.

“Keep up with your breathing,” she chanted. “Stay focused on your goal. You don’t have to get there fast, you just have to get there.”

As she climbed higher the terrain began to change. Some of the rocks around her showed signs of being wet. The the rocks had ice and snow surrounding them. The sight sent her to a flash back of the first test All Might and put the class through.

“Todoroki Shouto,” she whispered looking around. One of her classmates was nearby.

She changed her course looking for Todoroki instead. She didn’t need to climb a mountain if one of the students was close.

The icier the terrain got the slower she walked. “Don’t trip, don’t trip, don’t trip.” She kept her eyes to the ground as the ice crunched beneath her feet.

A deep voice called her name breaking her concentration. She looked up and fell on her butt with a solid thud.

“Ow,” she whined looking up at a a pair of coal black eyes and sandy blond hair. She could feel a creeping heat cover her face as she looked up at her friend.

“Hi Ojiro,” she said. “Are you trying to find Todoroki too?”

The boy’s lips twitched up into a shy smile and Hagakure felt her heart squeeze. He obviously couldn’t see her, but he didn’t look past her either. He never looked past her.

“Yeah,” he said offering a hand out for her. “When I saw the ice I recognized his quirk and decided to investigate. We’re stronger together.”

His hand was warm, his fingers hardened by effort and exercise. His was a physical quirk, something that took physical exertion to master, and it showed. Hagakure gave his hand a gentle squeeze without thinking.

They pulled away from each other with hot cheeks and began to follow the ice trail.

“Hopefully this goes better than the fighting training thing,” Hagakure muttered as the ice crunched beneath her feet.

“Well we’re all allies now,” Oijiro said. “He shouldn’t attack us if he recognizes us, and I’m guessing there’s been a few attacks around here so far with all the ice.”

Hagakure nodded before remembering that she didn’t have anything to signify her agreeing with him. “I’m just seeing a lot of ice here.”

The two walked over the crunching ice for a while, ducking under random bridges and climbing over small walls before they saw the first set of frozen villains.

It was a man with a protruding jaw and four eyes, frozen up to his neck. He seemed to have passed out in mild hypothermia, preserving what body heat he could.

“Do we leave him?” Hagakure asked. He had probably attacked Todoroki. He had probably tried to kill her classmate.

“It won’t take long to thaw him out when the heroes arrive,” Ojiro said. “But, I know what you mean.”

The two turned around and continued on their path.

“Is he going to die?” Hagakure asked after a few minutes.

“No,” Oijiro said. But his voice wavered in the one syllable. He was lying, and doing a very poor job of it.

“Do you think it hurts?” she asked.

Neither responded, they knew the answer well enough from their short encounter at the brunt side of Todoroki’s quirk earlier that month. Hagakure had put on her gym uniform for a reason.

Kaminari ducked out of the way of the next punch. For a second he was ecstatic that he had dodged, but that feeling was short lived when the villain rushed him.

The villain pinned Kaminari to the dashboard, one hand firmly pushing down against Kaminari’s cheek and the other pinning his right wrist.

Kaminari screamed, his mind going blank as he was face to face with the villain.

“Stay down,” the villain slurred. “And maybe I’ll kill you painlessly.”

Kaminari screamed again, this time throwing a useless punch with left hand. He scratched at the hand against his face, clawing at the shark skin that coated the villain’s body. He didn’t want this, he didn’t want to die.

Kaminari closed his eyes, not wanting to see death coming for him. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die.

“Kaminari!” a voice screamed. He felt a thud as something hit the villain over and over again.

The villain merely laughed as the purple haired student tried to save his friend. Shinsou, without any way of defending his class mate could only pound on the villain’s back hoping he would distract the villain enough for Kaminari to get away.

“Not a combat quirk, are you?” the villain sneered. He released Kaminari’s wrist to throw Shinsou across the room.

Quirk. Quirk. QUIRK.

Both of Kaminari’s hands were free!

Kaminari reached back for the villain’s arm and grabbed hold as tight as he could. He cleared the panic from his mind as best as he could and released an electric charge as strong as he could without frying his head.

This time it was the villain who screamed. He released Kaminari’s face and tried to retreat from the electric hero, but Kaminari pursued. His mind was set on one of the few things he had learned from All Might’s combat classes. Neutralizing the threat so it can’t pursue.

Electricity cracking against his skin he rushed the villain and put his hands on the villain’s chest, slamming the villain into the wall of the boat as hard as he could. Kaminari released another electric blow, feeling the villain convulse under his touch. The air glowed with the released electricity for a moment before Kaminari pulled back.

His palms were covered in blood.

The villain feel to the ground with a massive burn wound on his chest. He still was breathing but he was unconscious.

Kaminari didn’t look too closely, not wanting the image to be burned into his brain and instead rushed to Shinsou’s side.

“We need to leave,” Kaminari said. “Please, we need to get out of here.”

Shinsou starred dumbly at Kaminari for a second before nodding. For the first time since he had gotten out of the water Shinsou was speechless.

Kirishima grabbed Shinsou’s wrist and pulled him out of the cabin.

“Stop it,” Kaminari said going up to Bakugo.

Bakugo turned to the electrically powered boy to tell him to fuck off but then he saw the blood. Kaminari’s hands were covered in the red tar, leaving a full print on Shinsou’s wrist.

“What happened?” Bakugo asked.

“Cleaning up your mess,” Kaminari said. “We have to stop fighting and we need to leave. You were so distracted that a villain go on board the boat and attacked me.”

“Is any of that your blood?”

“No.”

“Ok then,” Bakugo said. He looked at the water and saw heads start to appear in the distance. He looked back and saw Shinsou finally start to come back from whatever trance he was in.

“What’s the plan?” Bakugo asked.

“I don’t know,” Kaminari said, his face starting to shift into panic. “I didn’t think that far ahead.”

“Ok,” Bakugo said looking around. “We can fight, but that doesn’t seem to be working if one got on the ship.”

“We should try and call for help,” Shinsou said. His voice was soft and his words broke in his throat.

“I tried that,” Kaminari said. “I found a radio but it’s too broken to fix.”

“Then escape,” Bakugo said. “It’s a shitty idea, but I’d rather escape and live than fight and die.”

Kaminari and Shinsou both flinched.

Bakugo wondered if there was a villain on board or a body.

“Escape,” Kaminari said looking around. The heads that bobbed in the water seemed to chatter with impatience. “How?”

“Don’t know,” Bakugo said. “Does the steering on this thing work?”

“The villain destroyed the control panel.”

“But not the rudder,” Shinsou said. “If I can get some of those villains to talk then maybe they can control the rudder for us. But then we don’t have anything to propel us.”

Bakugo grinned at them and held up his gauntlets. “Leave that to me. Any good way to get them to talk back to you?”

“Not sure,” Shinsou said finally shaking off Kaminari’s hand. He kept his gaze far from the bloody finger prints that were left behind. “I mean I tried yelling at you for the past twenty minutes and that didn’t work.”

The three paused for a moment, Shinsou’s gaze going to the villains that were creeping closer to the boat.

Shinsou cleared his throat and walked over to the edge of the railing. “Could you just go away?” he shouted as loud as he could. He activated his quirk and waited. When he was first learning how to use his quirk it was a process of trial and error to find the right way to end a question. Without enough envigor in his voice the quirk couldn’t flow right. The question had to be open ended, a simple yes or no wouldn’t work as consistently. A question he didn’t know the answer to always worked best. Just asking someone a simple math problem didn’t work, and asking someone if they’d eaten lunch wouldn’t work if it was a one word answer. But asking for the location of something or an emotional question, those always seemed to work. Shinsou just prayed that the responses, if any, that he heard back would be a variety wide enough for his quirk to take effect.

A few villains looked between each other before a few piped up shouting back a variety of retorts. “Fuck you!” “I wanna eat!” “You’re going to die!” “You’re mine!”

Shinsou grinned and felt the words enter his ears. Every swear, every word, every threat was music to his ears. He didn’t know what he had expected, he didn’t know if he’d get a response. But he did know that he had at least three people under his control. He snapped his fingers and called out an order to help steer the boat to shore.

“Bakugo, do your thing,” Shinsou called out, letting them know it had worked.

Bakugo cracked his knuckles and walked to the back of the boat. He stood in the most stable stance he could, crouching low to the ground and put his finger in the pin of the gaunlet. He had designed these specifically and ordered that they be made exactly right. The rest was up to the designers, he just wanted to be able to store and use his sweat. And he had spent many a sleepless night drawing up schematics on this bad boy.

Bakugo pulled the pin and everyone went flying.

The villains underneath the water kept up, lining up the rudder so that their propulsion wouldn’t send them in circles. Instead the yacht went flying to the edge of the flood zone, crashing into the false beach.

Shinsou snapped his fingers and the villains came aboard, already lining themselves up for Shinsou to bind them.

“How long will that last,” Kaminari asked, looking at the various villains.

“It takes a bit to knock them out of my control,” Shinsou said. “But if I just order them to stay in the cock pit until heroes find and arrest them they should be ok.”

“Do you think they’ll be able to care for him?” Kaminari asked looking down at his bloodied hands.

“He’ll be fine,” Shinsou lied with ease. “Just don’t think about it. We have work to do.”

Kaminari gave a stiff nod and left to go find Bakugo.

Toshinori didn’t break a sweat for most of the fight. His mind raced as he jumped down to face off against the villains coming in, bullets bouncing around him as he dodged the projectiles.

One punch! Two punch! Three punches! Three villains down, broken on the side lines. If they knew what was best for them they would stay down too.

“What kind of fight is this?” Toshinori asked, looking around at the standing villains. Each one had a similar look of determination, but beneath that facade there was fear.

“Well come on,” Toshinori said, bringing a mocking hand up. He waved the villains forward. “Take your best shots.”

He was dog piled by the villains, each one hoping to get their swipe at the number one hero. Each one falling to the ground.

Broken arms. Broken hands. Broken legs. Each villain fell to the floor beneath Toshinori without a second glance. Toshinori was obviously winning, and it felt good. It felt wonderful! He hadn’t felt this good in years! Ever since his fist fight with All for One that had left his scarred and damaged he hadn’t taken his hero work too dangerously.

He backed off when other heroes came, letting them take the lime light. He’d bow to other hero corporations and let them take over procedures. He’d stay behind and kiss hurt children and save missing pets. But it wasn’t nearly as rewarding as punching a man with a pig snout and tusks in the face so hard he could feel the bones breaking.

Toshinori laughed when there were a dozen men and women lying on the floor next to him. He walked over the bemoaning piles, getting closer to the fountain that seemed to the epicenter of operations.

A man stood calm, his body covered with disembodied hands, leaning back against the fountain. He slowly clapped All Might forward, a mocking display. Next to him was a hulking figure that had a bird beak, teeth and a visible brain. He stood ten feet tall and looked rearing to join the fray.

“Very good very good,” the villain with the hands said. “Oh you do hold up to the legends don’t you. The final boss is here! We’ve been leveling up, and gathering our allies. How I’m dying to see how well we do.”

The villain snapped his finger and the goliath next to him screamed and started running forward. The monster threw his hands on the ground as he ran, each slam of his palms breaking up the ground beneath him. It ran on all fours until it was within reach of All Might and it stood up and threw a punch.

Toshinori could feel the impact with his soul. His entire body was sent backwards with a deafening slam. He flew through air, wind whistling in his ears, and rolled to the ground.

Toshinori hadn’t felt an impact like that in years, his breath completely escaping him. He stood up, each limb screaming in agony.

“What was that,” he whispered. His saunter was gone as he walked back to the clearing.

He wound up for a punch and the fight began in earnest. Each blow from All Might landed squarely on the unflinching monster. Every blow from the beast made All Might see stars. They kicked, and rolled. Punch and swung. Every minute was another injury that Toshinori sustained and the beast felt nothing. He didn’t see a hair out of place on the man.

What started as a slaughter turned into a brawl. It was unusual and Toshinori felt himself wishing for backup. This monster was keeping up with All Might’s every throw, and worse Toshinori could feel himself breaking a sweat.

Toshinori didn’t want backup anymore. He needed backup.

All Might, the number one hero, needed help.

Midoriya was nervous going into battle. It hadn’t taken too long for the three of them to come up with a plan and some back up ideas. The goal was mostly to get to the roof of their own powers and then make an escape plan from there.

Mina’s quirk was simple, but effective. She could spray acid that she could change the intensity of it at will. She would normally use this for enhanced mobility so she could go faster, but she also could use it to slow other people down.

Midoriya was first in their line, running slightly ahead and keeping an eye out for villains. Tsuyu was always within reach and on the defense. If something would go wrong they’d use their enhanced strength together to grab Mina and run. Mina was in the back, touching surfaces to leave behind a slippery acid trail that would hopefully slow down any pursuers or at least make them second guess their steps.

It was a solid plan that worked all the way to the top floor. Every time they went up a level the sounds of pursuit got softer and softer.

“We made it,” Tsuyu said when the three of them were finally on the roof. It wasn’t the tallest point in the area, but they were very high up.

“Do you see anyone?” Midoriya asked walking around the roof. They had made it to their escape point, but now they had to see if any of the other students were in the area.

“No, no,” Mina said walking over to the edge. She peered over, being careful of her balance and saw a mob of villains surrounding their building. “You guys better take a look at this. I think we’re in trouble.”

Midoriya and Tsuyu joined her.

“That looks like at least a dozen,” Midoriya said, squinting down below. “Probably more.”

“We need to leave,” Tsuyu said. “They know we’re here but-“

Below them the villains began to back away from the building as two of the villains began to grow is size and strength. Each one gained more animalistic features and monstrous appearance as they grew teeth and muscles. The villains around them started to retreat, getting away from the two hulking beasts.

The beast began to pound on the concrete. They smashed the side of the building, reducing the foundations of the building to rubble and sand. The villains around them began to scatter and the building shook.

The three students jumped up, backing away from the side of the building that the villains were smashing.

“Midoriya,” Tsuyu said looking at the boy with growing eyes. She fumbled with her gloves, trying to remove them to reveal her skin. But Midoriya was faster on his feet than she was with her fumbling hands. He reached a palm out and gently touched the side of her face, running his fingers through her hair and into her scalp.

The bright light engulfed them completely and the wind chimes were all that Midoriya could hear for a second.

They both stood in one body just a moment later. Their hair had grown out to Asui’s length, draping well below the waist and tying itself into a large bow on the back of Midoriya’s head. His face was elongated slightly with eyes wider and more frog like. His freckles had scattered from his face to his sounders and legs, covering his body in tiny dark patches.

Midoriya snapped his fingers for a moment, feeling his hands become covered in green skin tight gloves. His feet broke and shaped themselves into frog feet painlessly. He stood with three toes on each foot with longer feet and dark green shoes that fit them perfectly. From the shoes dark green ribbons wove themselves up, high up his calves meeting with two small bows in the back.

Midoriya wasn’t wearing what he had expected from Tsuyu’s assigned hero outfit of a green leotard, but instead found himself in a green one piece swim suit that fit to his body perfectly, not a hair out of place. Around his hips was a green tutu, jutting from his hips at a 90 degree angle and a set of pink flowers on the edge. It took Midoriya a moment to realize that the tutu was a lily pad with the soft flowers and rippling edges.

“Neat,” Asui said with Midoriya’s voice. Midoriya’s voice was pitched higher to mimic a girl’s voice closer than any of his other transformations. He strangely felt petite and cute in this outfit, more so than any other outfit he had worn before.

Midoriya opened his mouth to ask Asui how she was doing when the ground began to give way. The edges of the building began to crumble into the street. The floor beneath them began to cave, tilting towards the edge at an unstable angle.

Mina screamed and jumped away from the crumbling edges.

“Midoriya!” she screamed looking at the frog girl-boy-person. “We need to get out of here. Like, now!”

Midoriya nodded and reached out, pulling Mina close to his body. For a second he recognized that he was touching her without the threat of preeting, but that moment soon passed. He crouched down to give himself the most lift he could get and jumped high in the air.

Mina screamed and wrapped her arms around Midoriya in a choke hold.

“Careful!” Midoriya cried out, trying to readjust his hold on Mina mid flight. “You can’t just-“

“Look out!” Mina screamed as the two started to fly head first into another building.

Asui screamed using Midoriya’s mouth but Midoriya knew what to do. He summoned his inheritance through his body, focusing hard on the strength that All Might had given him and punched his way through the glass window.

It hurt. Asui screamed again, this time mostly in Midoriya’s head but Midoriya’s voice was sore too. The three of them crash landed on the building side, falling into the pile of glass.

Mina groaned and sat up, relatively unharmed.

“You both ok?” Midoriya asked standing up.

“I’m fine,” Mina said. “But we can’t stay here.”

Asui whimpered inside of Midoriya’s head. I don’t feel so good.

“Is it the cold?” Midoriya asked. When Mina shot him a questioning look he repeated Asui’s words out loud.

I’m not cold. But I really felt that impact Midoriya. Are we bleeding?

Midoriya checked himself for any injuries. He rubbed his hands across his face and arms but just brushed the glass off of his skin, completely unharmed.

“I think we’re ok,” Midoriya said. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

I’m ok. Let’s go.

Midoriya nodded, and he and Mina took off running around the perimeter of the floor they were on. This was one of the few buildings with glass installations, perhaps to show how glass acts when it is shattered? Midoriya wasn’t sure.

“Look there,” Mina said when they were facing the Eastern wall. Outside the window was a perfect viewing of the fountain that was at the main square. There seemed to be explosions coming from that direction with plumes of smoke and the shakes of impacts.

“Then we go there,” Midoriya said. “Ready?”

Mina nodded.

Midoriya wound up his arm, focusing on the strength of One for All again, green lightning crackling across his skin. He punched the glass as hard as he could and explosion of shards went flying into the distance.

Midoriya screamed again, this time doubling over to clutch at his arm and wrist. They had turned purple under the impact. Midoriya could feel fractures in his knuckles and his wrist at the very least. His eyes started to well with hot tears, but then the purpling subsided. The color returned to the pale coloring that Midoriya normally was.

“Amazing,” he whispered looking at his arm.

I don’t feel so good, Tsuyu whispered.

“Should we separate?” Midoriya asked.

No. I can’t carry both of you, and we need to get down safely. Just try even out the impacts a bit more. Ok?

Midoriya nodded and motioned for Mina to get on his back. The two flew through the air, traveling fast enough to confuse it with flying. The impact of the landing away from the disaster zone was extraordinarily better, Midoriya and Asui didn’t feel a thing and they continued with their almost flying jumps, getting far far away from the villains that they knew were behind them.

Chapter Text

The trek up the mountain was a long and arduous one with frozen barriers slowing them down at every corner. Todoroki seemed to have taken control of the region with his quirk, casting what was once the landslide zone into a frozen ice tundra.

Ojiro and Hagakure walked up the mountain carefully, stepping with careful weight distribution, hoping that the tread on their shoes was strong enough that they wouldn’t go sliding in the wrong direction. It was a difficult task, passing by the occasional villain frozen to their neck in ice. Each one was still breathing, but Hagakure had he doubts for how long that would last for.

“I think that’s him,” Ojiro said pointing upwards where the ice seemed to be changing shape. A golem was standing there, covered from head to toe in the blue ice. Ojiro started to wave enthusiastically, trying to catch the attention of their classmate but Hagakure stopped him.

“Wait,” she said, pulling on his arm. “If we startle him he’ll try to freeze us like he did in the trials.”

Ojiro paused for a moment looking up at their classmate. Todoroki was visible at this distance but they could only tell it was him from his quirk. If they could barely see him then he could barely see them.

“How do we get closer?”

Hagakure shrugged, her clothes indicating her movement. It didn’t take long to realize that she could see her own breath. For a fraction of a second, she thought it was odd that the temperature of the area had suddenly dropped when a wave of ice came rushing towards them. She pushed Ojiro out of the way with a scream. A cascade of ice separated them forming a barrier.

Todoroki was standing at the precipice of the wall, a thawed hand outstretched.

Hagakure heard a guttural roar as Todoroki threw ice shards at Ojiro. Sharp talons piercing the ground around him in a cage. Ojiro tried to move but his limbs were caught between the spears.

Todoroki came waltzing forward, his ice-covered limb extended outwards, ready to send another attack.

“Todoroki you ass!” Hagakure screamed. “We’re your classmates!”

The icy boy stopped in his tracks for a moment, as if squinting towards them.

“Shit!” Todoroki’s voice was barely loud enough for the two students to hear, but the panic in his body language was easy to see.

Todoroki ran towards them, no longer an emotionless monster on the horizon but a fumbling student.  His arm was no longer to prepare an attack against them, instead, he was fumbling down the mountainside towards the duo. When Todoroki arrived he raised his other hand and wrapped his fingers around the ice spears. They melted in his touch, releasing Ojiro from the prison.

“Sorry,” Todoroki mumbled when his classmate was free. He turned back to the barrier that stood between them and Hagkure and raised his warm hand to melt the wall.

Ojiro opened his mouth to accept the apology but Hagakure had had enough. She slammed her fists on the icy barrier creating a loud thud. Spider webs started to form under her fists as the two worked towards rejoining the group. When the barrier was no longer between them Hagakure continued her punching, landing one directly on Todoroki’s unfrozen shoulder.

“You’re an idiot!” she shouted at him, her fists aiming lame punches at the same shoulder. “Do you have any idea what we’ve been through trying to find you? You’re throwing your quirk around without any care for your surroundings!”

Todoroki took every punch without so much as a blink. Hagakure was weak and pulling her punches against, but it still stung to see him so emotionless.

When she was less angry she crossed her arms and pouted, an action that was lost on her companions.

“You need to be more careful. You could have killed us Todoroki.”

“But I didn’t,” he objected, his one good eye lighting up in surprise.

“Say that to the villains we passed. They’re all frozen up to their necks and dying, we had no idea if we would be next.”

“They’re not dying they’re-“

“Unresponsive and unconscious,” Hagakure said. “What are you even doing up here?”

Todoroki’s eyes widened, his breathing shortened. He hadn’t thought of the after effects of his attacks, and the idea that there were countless popsicles shivering didn’t sit right with him. He shook his head, the ice on his neck cracking as it snapped.

“I was looking for information and higher ground.”

“What kind of information?”

“I wanted to know what their plan was. Where the mastermind was. Anything I could get.”

“And? What did you find out?”

Todoroki shook his head as his answer.

Hagakure groaned and the slap of her hand hitting her forehead could be heard.

“They were unwilling to talk,” Todoroki muttered.

“Or were they unable to talk?”

Todoroki didn’t answer.

“How did you even learn to do this?” Hagakure asked, her sleeves gesturing to tundra around them. “Your quirk is… it’s scary. And you have to be more careful.”

Ojiro put a hand on Hagakure’s shoulder, figuratively pulling her back from her attack on their classmate. Todoroki looked completely void.

Hagakure took a deep breath and sighed. “We’ve seen from the high ground, we know what it looks like, we should head back.”

The first thing that Kaminari did when he got off the boat was to wash his hands in the water. The blood on his fingers dried hard into a flaky mess that left him feeling violated and disturbed. Whenever he scratched at the mess the blood had rolled under nails staining the nail bed.

The two other classmates had waited for him on the bank, letting Kaminari find some comfort in his cleaning.

“Where to next?” Kaminari asked picking under his fingernails for the third time.

“We should find the center of the building,” Bakugo spat. He smashed his fists together and sparks flew. “I want a piece of those assholes! Anything that All Might left behind.”

“We should find Thirteen,” Shinsou said. “Any teacher that isn’t fighting. We need to-“

“Help All Might! Did you see how many villains were out there? And if villains thought they could handle All Might now they must have some kind of weapon to hurt him.”

“All Might doesn’t need the help of untrained students.”

Kaminari stood up, his fingers were raw from the cleaning. He shoved his soaked hands into his pockets and shuffled over to his companions. “I think we should see what’s going on. And if the big fights are going to be in the main court with the fountain we should go there.”

Bakugo grinned while Shinsou pouted.

Shinsou opened his mouth to argue but saw the dead look in Kaminari’s eyes. The boy’s golden eyes seemed deflated, a drab pit of color. He seemed to have aged thirty years in twenty minutes.“Alright. We’ll go watch the fight.”

The three walked in tense silence. Everyone kept an eye on the trees, waiting for the next battle to commence. Shinsou’s eyes darted to the sides of the path, keeping a vague look out for unnatural movement in the foliage. Bakugo’s fingers snapped with sparks every so often, ready to fire at a moment’s notice. Kaminari was the only one looking down, away from any possible danger that could be approaching.

“You wanna talk about it?” Bakugo asked, looking to his companion. Shinsou and Kaminari ain’t made eye contact since they had left the boat and the tension was starting to make Bakugo nauseous.

“No,” Kaminari said, his voice was too sharp, to be honest.

“That’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one,” Bakugo snorted. “It’s obviously bugging you.”

“I might have killed someone today, I don’t think now is the time to unpack my feelings.”

“We don’t know that,” Shinsou whispered.

“We don’t not know it either!”

“Chill,” Bakugo said, putting a firm hand on Kaminari’s shoulder. “We don’t know anything yet. And even if what you’re saying is true you gotta chill. We’re heroes man. Heroes don’t let the details bug them.”

“Details? Are you fuc-“

“We’re under attack Kaminari.” Bakugo’s words were level, a false projection of calm washing over Kaminari. “We have to stay strong here. When we’re safe again you can freak out then.”

Kaminari’s lips wobbled, his eyes welled, his face shook. But he took a deep breath and nodded. “Freak out later.”

“Freak out later,” Bakugo repeated. “If it’s too much you gotta suck it up. We’re heroes. Remember that.”

“We’re heroes,” Kaminari said, the words repeating over and over in his head. He was a hero, this kind of tragedy couldn’t take over the situation.

Only a few minutes later they were on the edge of the tree line, looking out to the war-torn plaza.

Aizawa turned to the attacks behind him, a few villains gathering around the edges of the entrance, walking closer to the stairs. They were being attacked from both sides, from the front was a man made out of shadows who had taken half the children away, from the back were the stragglers who decided that All Might was too much trouble to try and fight.

“Aizawa!”

Aizawa whipped his head around and saw Thirteen standing with a handful of students. He looked back and forth between the group of students and the oncoming enemies. The shadow man seemed to be dispersed away from his main hub, long tendrils leaking out across the sky to where the other students must have undoubtedly been.

He rushed over to his companion and took a quick headcount, there were seven students visible.

“Thirteen do you have a radio on you?”

The hero shook their head, a hand pressed to the side of their helmet. “I’ve been trying since you first saw the villains but I haven’t gotten any signals in or out.”

Aizawa turned to see that the shadow tendrils were starting to recede, coming closer to the main body that stood only twenty feet away. He looked at the students, a sea of concern among every expression. He needed to get them out, they were his responsibility.

He took a step closer to the tallest student in the group and put a firm hand on his shoulder. “Iida. I need you to run.”

The boy had forgone his mask in the locker rooms and looked at his teacher with wide eyes. “What?”

“You’re going to run back to the school right now and get help.”

“But I can’t just leave you!”

“No buts! I need you to go and find any help you can. They don’t know there are intruders. If radio signals aren’t working we need your help. This is your moment to be a hero.”

The student’s mouth opened and closed like a fist, his expression wide with terror.

“Using your quirk can be dangerous in most situations, but this is not one of those times.” Thirteen looked at the surrounding students and lifted their hand. “I can give you a chance to get away but you have to take it.”

Aizawa squeezed the boy’s shoulder. “I believe in you. You wouldn’t be here if I didn’t see something in you.”

Iida removed his glasses for a moment and rubbed his eyes, wiping away at his stinging eyes. He looked around to the faces of his fellow students, each one starring at him with some amount of confidence. A dozen faces, each one depending on him to survive.

“Alright, I’ll go.”

“Wait,” Uraraka’s voice broke the touching moment. She tapped the shoulder of the student and nodded. “Ok, you’re good now.”

Aizawa turned around to see a group of villains stocking closer to the group. He took a defensive stance, his eyes darting back and forth between the various group.

“Go!” he ordered and heard a puff as the speedster was gone.

“Thirteen can you take the teleporter?”

“With pleasure.”

The oncoming group was small, but growing in number. They stalked closer to Aizawa, each villain cracking their knuckles with delight.

“Who are you supposed to be?” one of the villains called out.

Aizawa didn’t acknowledge them, instead picking out the first obvious threat, a girl with metallic pigtails that stood unnaturally high. He activated his quirk and sent her flying with a well-placed kick.

He turned his attention the left, dodging a punch that cracked the concrete beneath him. He spun around, wrapping the captured weapon around the villain’s feet, knocking him over.

Aizawa leapt to the side. He dodged left, right, ducked, and spun. A macabre dance with his multiple partners.

He tripped as many as he could, knocking them to the ground to temporarily incapacitate them. The goal was to get them away from each other, thin their numbers until he could take on the group more efficiently.

He pushed one villain’s fist aside with an open palm, redirecting the attack towards another villain. He spun kicked the two closer together, out of his reach.

Aizawa controlled his breathing, looking for the rest of the villains, but most lay at his feet. They had already been weakened considerably from their fight with All Might so they went down easy.

For a moment he allowed himself to look back to see how Thirteen was fairing and saw a few more students were missing. Whether they had taken the initiative to escape or they were caught up in the teleporter’s grasp again Aizawa had no way of knowing. He just knew that one student was missing, and he hoped that Iida was running for their lives.

Midoriya flew above the trees with Mina across his back. Every jump was a couple hundred feet, saving them both time and energy.

Mina had a tight hold across Midoriya’s shoulders, looking around for any signs of threat or danger. She would sporadically call out movement in the trees or spots of color that the trio avoided. It was only when they stood at the edge of the tree line that they saw what they were looking for.

All Might was throwing punches and kicks with a darkened beast, the beast taking every hit with ease. He stepped into All Might’s punches, his body shivering with exertion. The beast would ripple for a moment before straightening out his stance again, ready to take the next punch.

“Some kind of absorption quirk,” Midoriya whispered. “That’s the only explanation for why he’s going head to head with All Might.” He set Mina down next to him, both of them watching the fight from a distance.

“Do you think that was the secret weapon?” Mina asked. “The thing that they brought specifically to fight him?”

“I can’t see any other major threat,” Midoriya said. “Just him and… that person sitting on the fountain.” They couldn’t tell much from that distance aside from his color scheme. The man seemed to be an off-white color, just lounging near the giant water piece. He looked like he was relaxing, watching the major fight. Like it was just another day in the park.

“The brains?” Mina wondered.

“Probably. He must be the one in charge.”

Just as the two spoke the shadow man they’d seen at the entrance started to form next to the man. The looming dark figure next to the white man seemed to bend over. It was too far away to hear their conversation or see their facial expression, but it didn’t look good.

The man in white turned his gaze to the forest edge, looking around the clearing. Midoriya ducked behind a tree and Mina jumped under a bush. They stayed still for a few moments, hoping that they wouldn’t be noticed.

Midoriya was the one to make the first to look back at the clearing.

The man was standing now, his fingers wrapped around the edge of the fountain. The white stone seemed to vaporize under his touch, the new fountain turning grey with age until the sides seemed to turn to crumble into dust.

“His quirk,” Midoriya realized. A vaporizing quirk? Aging? It looked dangerous either way.

There was a loud slam alerted the group to All Might’s fight, the hero slammed against the earth.

“No,” Mina gasped, her hands covering her mouth. “He can’t be- there’s no way he’s-“

Another noise alerted the group to the other side of the courtyard. Closer to the fountain, but still a distance away. The forest seemed to light up with fire as Bakugo stepped through the tree line. He aimed his wrist towards the ground and shot off a second shot, launching himself into the air. Midoriya could see a stunned Shinsou and Kaminari left in the ashes of his wake.

Bakugo seemed to be aiming his fall towards All Might, setting a blaze of fire towards the beast on top. His palms shot off flashes of light aimed towards the beast’s back. He kept his distance, as far from the fight as possible while still trying to be an ally to symbol of peace. Bakugo sent blast after blast at the quaking beast.

The pale man seemed at his own odds between panic and self-assuredness. He looked between the firing student and the panicked group on the edge of the forest. He made his choice between the two targets and ran towards Kirishima and Shinsou.

The two didn’t move, they didn’t flinch. They just watched as a villain ran towards him.

“No!” Midoriya jumped as far as he could clearing a third of the field in record time. He briefly debated running for a moment before his legs took him in another bound towards the clueless students.

Midoriya! Think this through!

He ignored Asui’s advice and took another half of the field in another hop. He was so close.

“I don’t have time to think this through!” Midoriya shouted. His heart was pounding in his ears when he considered that the pale man could make it to Shinsou and Kaminari first.

“I’m sorry Asui!” Midoriya begged as he took off a final time, dropping his preet with Tsuyu in midair. His fingers were still wrapped in her hair in a tender touch as she fell from his grasp. She looked awful. She cradled her arm, blood dripping from wounds she did not have before. Her right ankle was twisted in a horrifying angle that Midoriya didn’t remember. She looked bad, hurt in ways that Midoriya didn’t remember her being. He let go of her in the air, knowing that this was all his fault.

“No,” the word came out in a breath as she fell straight down to the ground, landing on her bad foot with a scream.

Midoriya couldn’t change his direction as he was launched into the body of the pale man, knocking him to the ground with a solid thud. The two rolled off into the foliage Midoriya on top. The two didn’t make skin contact at first but Midoriya could still feel the warmth of the light on the back of his neck.

“What,” the villain snarled, a fleshy hand covering his face preventing Midoriya from seeing his expression. The man was covered in hands, each one grasping his limbs. Aesthetic or purposeful Midoriya was unsure.

The villain reached up and pushed his full palm into Midoriya’s face. Midoriya could feel his skin cracking under the villain’s touch, a sharp pain that brought tears to his eyes.

Midoriya screamed as loud as he could, hoping to drown out the ever-present wind chimes from his mind. It didn’t work.

A bright light consumed the two as they gathered themselves off of the ground. Midoriya felt cold inside his chest, a change in temperature so severe that for a moment it felt like a raging fire inside of him.

Midoriya picked himself off of the ground, his limbs falling heavy at his sides.

“What on earth?” Midoriya’s lips asked. No. They didn’t feel like Midoriya’s lips anymore. They felt chafted and cracked, his entire body tensing with dehydration. He looked down at his hands and saw black ink covered his skin from fingertip to the crease in his elbow with tendrils of ink sinking their way into his skin.

Midoriya raised a hand to his eyes covering the one green and one red eye for a moment, leaving an ink stain behind in the perfect shape of his sideways palm. His hair was slicked back, a matted mass of black pasted to his skin. His hands moved on their owns to lay a set of prints around his neck, exactly where Midoriya had touched the villain to form a preet.

The preeted form stood several inches taller, a height gained from stiletto heels that seemed to be made of the black ink with tendrils cupping his calves. Off of his back was a tattered cape, flowing around him onto the ground, the bottom edges of the heavy fabric was tattered and ashen like someone had taken a flamethrower to the back of it.

“This very strange.” The man’s lips moved of their own accord as he looked around. “What’s going on here?”

It’s my quirk. Wait, why am I not talking?

“Your quirk?” the words seemed to fall off of Midoriya’s tongue in a hiss.

I’m like a transformer. People I touch merge with me. This is- it shouldn’t be like this.

Midoriya tried to lift his arms. He tried to take a step forward. But his body wouldn’t obey. He was stuck in the kneeling position that the villain seemed to find comfortable. He couldn’t wiggle his fingers or feel his toes. It was his body, but it didn’t feel like it.

Is this what it feels like every time?

“Not sure,” the villain said. “But I like it.”

“Midoriya. Are you ok?”

Midoriya’s head was thrown to the side so he could see the voice and saw Shinsou looking terrified.

“I’m fine,” Midoriya’s voice said. “Perfectly, absolutely fine.” His hand raised up as if asking for a hand for help.

No! Midoriya could feel the quirk tingling through his fingertips. A power of destruction that made Midoriya taste iron.

Kaminari reached forward to grab Midoriya’s hand but Shinsou pulled the blond boy back.

“Something’s wrong,” Shinsou said, pulling Kaminari away from their friend. “Midoriya doesn’t ask to be touched.”

“Huh,” Midoriya’s lips said. “You think you’re clever don’t you.” And he lunged. Midoriya’s body was thrown forward, open palms stretched out to grasp at the student’s legs, looking for something to grasp for.

The villain clawed at the student’s feet, his body on all four limbs like he was clinging to strike. Every outstretched arm felt like an atom bomb waiting to go off.

Midoriya tugged at every ounce of strength he had, trying to pull the villain back. He wasn’t able to move his limbs but he could send out a warning.

“Run!” Midoriya broke through the blockade of the villain’s control just long enough to send out the one-syllabled screech.

The two students ran into the field their legs carrying them to Asui who was lying on the ground in a crumpled heap.

“What’s going on?” Shinsou asked getting down to the frog girl’s level.

“Midoriya’s quirk,” she said as Kaminari pulled her up. “I was preeted with him but then he dropped me, I don’t-“

“No, I mean why isn’t Midoriya in charge?”

Midoriya’s body got up onto his feet as the students ran. He looked over, watching them run with a monumental sense of glee.

“Well well well,” the villain said. “This is very interesting. So you said that we merge together, right? What else do you do?”

I amplify your powers. And I think I hurt the person inside.

“The person inside? That’s you isn’t it?”

I think so. I’m not- I don’t want to tell you these things!

“But it seems like you have to.” The villain tisked his lips for a moment, looking at one of the trees. He reached a single finger out and touched the bark. From the center of his touch, the tree began to whither, a fine spider web of dust falling away from the tree. Even when the villain pulled his hand away the tree continued to ashen and break until there was only a jagged stump left in the ground.

“That’s fun,” the villain said. “It’s like I’ve gained a whole new level! No, more like ten levels! You’re the power item in the game that everyone fights over! The golden mushroom! A star power! Invincibility!” Midoriya could feel his mouth turn into a Cheshire grin.

The villain snapped his neck to look at the group of students, then he looked beyond at the equal battle between All Might and the beast.

“My poor Nomu looks like he’s struggling,” the villain teased. “Let’s see if I can offer a helping hand!”

The villain took off in a dash towards the battle, a hand outstretched as if to touch the symbol of peace.

What have I done?

The shadow man had left the moment that Iida disappeared. He must have wanted to cut his losses where they were and rushed to gather his allies. Aizawa couldn’t have been more grateful.

With a pile of villains lying across the small courtyard, he ordered Thirteen to take the remaining students and leave. There had been a brief argument between the two heroes that Aizawa won. He was the only one who could use his quirk for combat without the possibility of harming his allies. Thirteen had no choice but to agree.

Aizawa took to the woods at a sprint. He didn’t spy any students or villains as he ran, not a single soul in sight.

When he came to the main clearing he saw signs of a vicious battle between All Might and… someone. But that wasn’t what originally caught his gaze, instead it was the three students crouched in the middle with a fourth towards the center.

He crouched to take off to the students when he saw another figure darting towards them. Pale skin and dark hair. A long cape that he didn’t recognize as a student’s costume… but it also looked familiar. Or rather it looked similar to something he had seen before, a similar style.

Midoriya. But who was he preeted with? It didn’t look like something that any of the students would wear that he could think of. Maybe Tokoyami, but he remembered seeing the student with Thirteen earlier.

The student took off towards the group of students but diverted at the last second towards All Might’s fight. The group of students dove off to the side, avoiding the student’s grasp. He heard a scream, Kaminari, and a shout, Shinsou.

The teacher took off for the group, stopping only to stare with them at the fight.

The black and white version of Midoriya took to the fight, his fists slamming to the ground with puffs of dust and ash falling to the ground. He ran from side to side, dodging hits and throwing his own against-

“Is that Midoriya fighting All Might?”

“He preeted with a villain,” Shinsou said. He turned to look at Aizawa with fearful eyes. “He threw himself between the villain and us and now he-“

“Lost control,” Asui finished. “I don’t think he knew this was possible. We talked earlier about his quirk and he never mentioned not being in control before.”

Aizawa shook his head, a hand creeping up to his face in shock. “There’s no record of that in his records.”

The group watched for another minute, stunned into silence while the three took to the skies. The villain Midoriya slammed a fist into All Might’s side and the hero crumpled. The beast that they fought against took the hero from behind, slamming the hero into the ground. Each punch and touch against the hero sent All Might flying.

Aizawa absorbed the scene, throwing himself in front of his students. He kept his eyes on the fight as he spoke. “You guys need to escape. Get back to the front of the arena, Thirteen is organizing an evacuation there.”

“But Mina and Bakugo!” Asui broke.

“No buts! I’ll get them out. And Midoriya too.” He turned around and took a knee in front of the students. He put a solid hand on Kaminari and Asui’s shoulder. The girl looked bruised and the boy looked broken. “I need to trust that you’ll be ok. I’ll save your friends.”

The two nodded, but Shinsou looked anxious.

“If I can get Midoriya to talk to me- If I can get any of them to answer a question, I can stop them-“

“No, it’s too dangerous. You’re not trained yet.”

“But he’s my friend! I have to-“

“You will be. Some day. But that day isn’t today.” Aizawa leveled his eyes at the student. He knew better than anyone else what Shinsou was capable of, they’d trained hard together. He knew Shinsou’s strengths and weaknesses. Shinsou wasn’t ready. None of his students were. They were young. They’d never been trained.

Shinsou held his gaze. They two had a staring contest, trying to determine who was right. A silent challenge for power and the right to fight. But Aizawa’s quirk was powered from his ability to maintain eye contact. He’d won before the contest even began.

Shinsou blinked and Aizawa smiled. It was the most reassuring smile he could offer at the moment, but even still it hollow. “Go. Get yourselves safe. I’ll protect you.”

Aizawa turned his back on the group and ran to get Bakugo. The boy had been throwing attack after attack at the battle between hero and villain. It was only every other attack that landed on the villain, his explosions just as easily hit his mentor.

Aizawa turned the boy away from the fight and pointed towards the retreating group of students.

“Go,” Aizawa ordered. Bakugo opened his mouth to fight against his teacher’s wishes but quickly realized he was just as much a hindrance towards the number one hero as he was a boon.

Bakugo turned tail and ran towards the students quickly catching up to their retreat.

Aizawa turned his attention to the beast, throwing him to the ground. It appeared to be a man with a mutation quirk paired with an emitter type muscle modifier. Black skin with a bird beak and pulsating muscles.

Aizawa’s capture weapon threw the monster back away from the fight. Even with his quirk stopping any modifications the beast could make he was still naturally strong and resisting Aizawa’s hold.

The villain who possessed Midoriya screamed out a laugh as he wrapped a hand around All Might’s fist.

“You’re dead!” he screamed.

All Might screamed out in pain as his wrist began to crack and crumble under Midoriya’s touch. The skin turned white under Midoriya’s touch and the crackling spread like an infection. Tufts of skin flew off in an instant with blood seeping from the new wounds.

Aizawa looked away from the beast for just a moment, focusing his gaze on Midoriya. The two made eye contact for a second, one blood red eye and one deep green. The instant that Aizawa activated his quirk two bodies were flung away from the symbol of peace.

Midoriya rolled to the ground several meters away from All Might. His face was dark with bruises and patches of dried blood. His usual white outfit seemed stained with blood, harsh lines of bright color among the white fabric. Even from a distance, he could tell that the boy was passed out, for what reason was unclear.

The villain, on the other hand, seemed to have slid back from the hero, one hand pressed to the ground for balance and the other high in the air. He walked away without a scratch on him.

“That’s fun” the villain shouted with glee. “But I lost my power item! Doesn’t matter, the symbol of peace will be gone in just a moment. Nomu! Attack!”

The beastly man jumped out of Aizawa’s capture weapon with his reactivated quirk and ran for Aizawa. The beast grazed Aizawa with a hit, sending him flying towards the symbol.

“Aizawa,” All Might said, his voice was low with exertion and blood seemed to be pouring from the side of his mouth. “Are the students safe?”

“Yes,” Aizawa panted as he stood up, his back to the pale man instead facing the so-called Nomu. “Thirteen evacuated them and Iida Tenya should be on his way to get help. We just have to hold them off for a few minutes longer.”

“A few minutes you don’t have!” The villain giggled. “We’ve almost won now. Just give up All Might! It’s game over!”

All Might coughed blood into his fist. “They better,” he said crouching into a fighting stance. His eyes darted across the horizon before landing on the unconscious student, not that Aizawa could see.

“I can buy us more time,” All Might whispered, just loud enough for Aizawa’s ears only. “Keep Nomu busy. He’s tough, but I believe in you.”

Aizawa struggled not to roll his eyes, and instead settled for scoffing. “Are you serious? You should take on the super strength guy! I can knock out the pale guy easy then we can take on the bird guy together.”

“No,” All Might said. And he ran, his fist crackling with bright multicolored lights, a sign of All Might pulling all of his power into his attack.

The pale man jumped out of the way, his eyes flashing around the impact sight of All Might’s fist. Or rather where the impact would be.

Instead, All Might feinted a hit and kept running. His target was easy to get to.

“Midoriya,” the man gasped as he looked down at the boy. Midoriya was worse than he had previously thought. His lip was cut, his left eye swollen shut with a severe gash in his cheek. He seemed to have gashes on his legs and side even with his clothing was left unharmed. Something had gone wrong when he preeted with the villain, but All Might didn’t have a moment to reconsider.

“Forgive me,” he said as he took the boy’s hand and was surrounded by the white light and deafening wind chimes.

All Might readdressed the villain in complete control of his body, despite the outfit change. His eyes glowed with power that he hadn’t felt in full in years. His strength returned to him tenfold under Midoriya’s power. He dropped into a fighting pose, his direction aimed for the pale villain.

“Well well well,” the villain said, scratching the side of his face. “It appears that we have a new player on the field. I thought for sure that power item was used up. Turns out I was wrong. I should have gone for it so long as it was still on the field!”

“Give it up,” Lady Might sneered. They circled the villain with head held high, All Might was done playing games with this man. Aizawa was busy with the Nomu, dodging punches and looping around the beast. “Reinforcements will be here soon. If you surrender, you’ll be taken into custody as painlessly as possible.”

The villain laughed, his body swaying with every expiration. “I don’t think so All Might. Or perhaps I should call you by the name that the tabloids gave you-“

Lady Might screamed instead, throwing a punch into the empty air, sending a burst of wind at the villain. He went flying with the air currents, tumbling head over heel into the trees.

The current caught Aizawa’s attention but he dared not look away from his fight. Instead, Lady Might stalked forward until she was standing in front of the bound Nomu. She raised the beast high into the air with one hand and threw a sparkling punch at the beast, knocking it high into the air. Aizawa released his capture weapon and the Nomu hit the ceiling with a loud bang.

Aizawa looked back at the heroine with a grim look. He blinked once at the hero before the two separated, the force of the separation throwing Midoriya to the side and All Might to his knees.

“You idiot,” Aizawa breathed, his heart catching in his throat. “What have you done?”

“Lady Might,” Shinsou gasped. He had turned around to go back to help at the last minute. Mina had joined them at the forest edge and Kaminari had dragged Bakugo back against the explosive boy’s will. He was the only one who had gone back, his mind plaguing him with guilt that he’d turned away from helping his teachers. But instead, he saw Midoriya’s body merged with the symbol of peace, something he instantly regretted.

He watched as Lady Might fell to her- his- their knees in front of Aizawa. The two separated in a flash with All Might on his knees and Midoriya crumpled next to them. The battle was over, the heroes won. But at what cost? Shinsou didn’t want to wait around to find out.

He turned back and ran as fast as he could to catch up with his group.

“What happened?” Asui asked, putting all her weight on Mina as they limped forward.

“Nothing,” Shinsou said. “They’re fine. Better than fine. They’re great. Let’s keep moving.”

Asui didn’t look like she believed him for a second, but she didn’t have the strength to argue.

Chapter Text

The heroes arrived shortly thereafter. Each hero diving into the action to round up every villain that didn’t disappear in a flash of smoke and shadow. Some heroes arrived from the school, others arrived from the city, pulling all the stops to go out and help the young students of 1A from a villain attack.

The class gathered outside the building with the flashing lights of ambulances carrying those in dire circumstances. Most students passed on medical treatment, either not having come in contact with the villains or being triumphant in their fights against the ammeters.

Aoyama sat in one car with his right arm in a sling and his face a sickening green color. Asui in another receiving a soft kiss on the forehead from Recovery Girl and passing out afterward. Sato and Tokoyami were being treated from minor scrapes and bruises while Kaminari got a check-up after his battle with the villains.

“Are you ok?” Shinsou asked after he found Hagakure in the back with Ojiro. The two were huddled together, watching the rest of the class come out of the cursed arena.

“I’m fine,” Hagakure said. “We almost froze to death, but we’re ok.”

“An ice villain was out there?”

Shinsou may not have been able to see her face, but he could feel the venom in Hagakure’s voice. “No. No villains.”

Shinsou turned to watch Todoroki Shouto wave off medical attention in favor of sitting next to the school bus that would take them back to campus.

“Oh,” Shinsou whispered.

The three students watched as unharmed students escaped the building, each one with a story of valor from a fight won or wisdom from having avoided the villain fights altogether. Neither student mentioned who they were waiting for as the answer was obvious.

Midoriya was carried out of the building, unconscious in the arms of their homeroom teacher. Aizawa’s grip on the boy was tight but careful so as not to come into skin to skin contact with him. Midoriya’s forehead was bruised and bleeding, his white costume was red with blood. He looked the worst off from any of the other students.

Hagakure was aghast in horror. Ojiro held a concerned hand to his mouth. Shinsou didn’t blink.

Aizawa carried the student to one of the empty ambulances snapping at anyone who came close that wasn’t wearing gloves or wanted to touch the boy.

“He’s been through enough,” he snapped. “He doesn’t need another person in his head.”

When the paramedics were made aware of Midoriya’s quirk they were finally able to get to work on setting bones and mending cuts.

Aizawa turned away after a few minutes, looking to address his students. He took a quick headcount, looking to everyone who was well enough to stand on their own. Eighteen heads and one invisible girl, seven of them were talking to the medical staff, only one unconscious.

“Where’s Tenya Iida?” Aizawa asked the closest hero. “He’s the speedster.”

“He’s back at the school sitting with principal Nezu. When he arrived he told every teacher he saw, but he’s safe back there.”

“Thanks.” Aizawa patted the hero’s shoulder and walked closer to his students. He cleared his throat, making even eye contact with the entire class.

“Alright,” he called out. “Everyone who can gather round.

“Well,” he said, his own face the mirroring grim look he saw staring back at him. “That was terrible. No one is going to deny that. But you all did well. You’re alive, and that’s more than most civilians could expect. Some ran. Some fought. Some made hard choices that you couldn’t avoid. But you survived. And for that, you should be proud.”

The faces around Aizawa morphed from tattered to wary.

“Be proud you’re alive. Be thankful if you’re unharmed. This was a mistake. Today was a mistake on behalf of the school. Villains infiltrated our school. This will not happen again. You were lucky that none of you ended up worse.” His eyes flitted over to the car that Midoriya was sitting in. “You didn’t have the skills to survive but you did. Remember that. You survived because of luck today.”

The crowd of students shifted on their feet from side to side taking in the reality check.

“School will probably be canceled tomorrow,” he said. “Just because you survived an attack doesn’t mean you’re heroes. The buses will take you back home, school is done for the day. Everyone who fought or was hurt should be checked out by medical staff. Otherwise, just go home, I’ll see you on Monday.”

The group separated from those who were hurt and those who weren’t, milling into their correct paths.

Shinsou sat on the bus, leaning his head against the window with Hagakure at his side. He looked out the window, keeping a close eye on the ambulance that he knew stored Midoriya. It was closed, so he couldn’t tell what was going on inside but he didn’t suspect anything good from what he’d already seen.

He watched as an old man came around the corner, his back hunched over and blood dripping from his lips. Shinsou briefly wondered if one of the villains had escaped before Aizawa appeared next to him. Aizawa spun the old man around and started gesturing violently. He could hear the teacher’s raised voice but couldn’t pick out the exact words as the bus began to pull away from the USJ.

Shinsou followed the scene with his eyes as the bus began to pull away. He only turned back to his invisible friend when the arguing adults were out of sight.

He couldn’t tell exactly where Hagakure was looking, but he was certain they were making eye contact. A silent agreement that they were both worried about their friend.

Izuku woke up the next morning just in time for school. He had been sent home with his mother after the doctors insisted that the only reason he was still asleep was quirk overuse. That if he were still asleep by the next evening she should bring him back to the hospital. But he didn’t oversleep, rather he woke up bright and early making his way down to breakfast.

Inko was sitting in front of the tv, a stressed look plastered on her face. Her eyes were glazed over as though she weren’t actually looking at the screen but looking at what lived beyond the screen. Izuku had an inkling of what her thoughts might be.

“Hi,” he said, his voice cracking with nonuse.

His mother gasped and turned to look at her son. The son she wasn’t sure would wake up. She jumped to her feet and ran towards him, arms outstretched. She only stopped just before embracing her son, only stopping when she saw the terror in Izuku’s eyes.

She stepped back, her arms dropping to her sides.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I forgot, I just saw you and I got- I was.”

Izuku nodded, his arms wrapping around his stomach, wishing he had the confidence in his abilities to hold his own mother.

Inko looked around the room frantically running to the closet to pull a blanket from the middle shelf. She held it out, each hand holding a corner of the large piece of yellow cloth. A silent pleading.

Midoriya dove into her arms, protected by the cotton barrier. He could hear the ringing of the wind chimes in her grasp but there was no light or fuzzy feelings. Just the warmth of his mother’s hug.

They stayed like that for a while, the giant yellow blanket wrapped between each other as they held tight.

“I was so worried,” Inko whispered. “I got a call that you were in the hospital and I ran. I was so scared Izuku honey.”

Izuku nodded, squeezing his mother harder. They didn’t share the prolonged touches often but when they did it felt good. This was his home, here in his mother’s arms. And he craved home after yesterday.

“Mom, can we just… talk?”

Inko and Izuku sat down on the couch together, playing footsie under the blankets wearing socks. Even with such careful precautions Izuku couldn’t help but hear wind chimes in the back of his head. He explained the previous day from his late morning with All Might to his preet with Shigaraki.

“He was going to hurt them, mom,” Izuku whispered. “I could feel it when he was inside of me. He wanted to hurt All Might, and I tried to stop him.”

“Izu-“

“I couldn’t stop him! That’s never happened before! I was the one on the inside, not him!” Izuku took a deep breath so he could stop shouting. “People keep telling me that it’s cold when you’re on the inside, but it wasn’t. I was cold at first but then it was room temperature. Normal. But people keep telling me that they freeze, or at least All Might does. And my limbs were phantom, I couldn’t breathe without him deciding to take that breath first. I couldn’t control my limbs or fingers or toes or anything. I was a soul inside a puppet! That… that hasn’t happened before.”

Inko nodded, letting her son express himself the best way he could. She took her time letting the words come to her with all the maternal wisdom she could muster.

“Well, Izuku, we need to figure out what was different. Something was different that time, let’s just think it through.”

“He was a villain. Maybe when people are evil they just… take over?”

Inko’s thoughts moved to blond hair and a toothy grin. “No,” she said. “It’s something else.”

“He was older than me?”

“All Might is older than you, so I don’t think that’s it either.”

Izuku silenced, as he tried to pinpoint what was different.

“It can’t be because you were trying to save people,” Inko muttered. “You’re always trying to save people.”

“I wasn’t really hurt at the time we preeted,” Izuku whispered. His mind drifted to Tsuyu, another mystery to be solved. “But I don’t think that he was either.”

“Do you know what he was thinking about at the time?” Inko asked.

Izuku shook his head. He had barely gotten a look into the other man’s mind. All he remembered was a dark looming figure with pale hands and a black mask and the villain’s name. Shigaraki Tomura.

“What were you thinking about?”

“I already told you, mom.”

“Humor me.”

Izuku went through his mind’s eye again. He saw someone with a dangerous quirk running towards Shinsou and Kaminari. He remembered dropping Tsuyu from his grasp and the instant guilt that came with it. He remembered falling into the villain and their collision. He remembered actions and fear and pain and guilt.

“I was thinking about how scared I was,” Izuku whispered. “I was thinking about trying to save everyone but not being able to save anyone.”

Inko nodded. “You don’t blame yourself for any of this do you?”

“It was… like a fever dream,” Izuku mumbled. “I-I was drowning. I could see things and feel things that were happening but I had no control. I know that I hurt All Might like that.” Izuku looked down to his bandaged arms. “And he hurt me back mom.”

Inko frowned.

“When I was preeted with Asui, that frog girl that I mentioned before, I think I hurt her. She was fine when we touched, but when we separated I know saw her with a broken leg and a bloody hand. I don’t know how, but I did.

“And when the villain and I were together I felt every hit.” Izuku looked down at his hands and saw dark bruises going across his knuckles.  “And when I got hit he didn’t even flinch, just standing up from every punch. But… Do you think that’s what I did to Tsuyu? Who gets hurt when I preet with All Might? We only got in a fight that one time and neither of us really got hurt from that.”

Izuku took a deep breath to calm himself and looked back over at his mom. Her eyes were drawn with concern and her body language was tense. She hated seeing her son talk about fighting and heroics, but she was supportive. She put her own personal feelings aside for the sake of Izuku’s dreams and it was something he’d never forget.

“The point is,” he finally said, “I don’t know enough about my powers. And I don’t know enough to properly control them.”

“Well,” Inko said, her voice breaking under the pressure of Izuku’s concerns. “I don’t have the answers for you. You’ve been so scared of your own powers for so long that I just don’t.” She leaned forward and picked up a corner of the blanket to brush his cheek. “This is the closest I’ve come to touching you in ten years Izuku. You never would have let me do any of this when you were little.”

Izuku’s cheeks colored with shame.

“You don’t have all the answers now, and you don’t need all the answers now. They’ll come to you with time and practice. You’ve improved so much since you started training with All Might, and with more training will come more confidence and knowledge.”

Inko sat back again, pressing toes against Izuku’s with a comfort she hadn’t felt in years. Izuku didn’t draw away or stiffen under the touch, an amazing feat considering what had happened a year or more ago.

Izuku sighed and pressed his face against the couch back. His mother had all the confidence he lacked in his own skills.

“How do you always know what to say?”

“I’m your mother ‘Zuku. It comes with the territory.”

The laughter of mother and son filled the room like bright balls of light in the dark night. It didn’t fill Izuku’s world with the positivity but it gave him a place to look to. He might fail, he might get hurt or hurt other people. But Inko Midoriya would always be there for him, no matter what.

“I love you, mom.”

“I love you too.”

The announcement that Monday would only be a half day for the students of UA came in the form of a prerecorded message to all the students except for those in class 1A. The heroics class was left off of the phone tree, instead, they received an individualized message from Aizawa himself for both students and their parents.

The rest of the school would meet for an assembly held by principal Nezu and the lead investigator from the police force as a sign of good faith in the school’s revamped security systems. Class 1A would instead report to their usual class for the day and would be dismissed based off of individual recommendations.

Each student filled the room with gossip, discussing how unlucky they were not to have gotten off of the school day and instead of being forced to sit in for the entire day. At least lunch was free.

“Good morning,” Aizawa said walking into the bubbling classroom. He had a bandage over a cheek and wrapped wrist in a sling. Nothing serious, but not unscathed.

The students bowed in attention while Shinsou took the morning’s attendance. He left the papers on Aizawa’s desk and returned to his seat.

Aizawa leaned into his desk for a moment looking back at a sea of his student’s faces.

“You did good on Thursday,” he said. “Stupid, but good. Today’s a half day for the school, as I’m sure you’ve already heard, but we won’t be paying attention to that for the most part. The school is getting ready to go to the main courtyard to hear a speech from Principal Nezu. He’ll summarize the attack and talk about how hard the school is working to be better.” Aizawa waved his hand in the air as he spoke, a nonchalant movement that showed how much he didn’t care for the all-school assembly.

“But you were in the thick of it, so you don’t have to go. Instead for the next four hours, we brought in a professional to talk to you. He’s here to help you yadda yadda yadda. Honestly, I think it’s a waste of time. But that’s neither here nor there. So we’re just going to wait until he comes.”

There was a light knock on the door followed by a man walking into the room. He was tall with a head full of bright yellow hair and his nose replaced with a snout. The man walked to the front of the room and raised a fist to his face. He coughed into it twice looking back at Aizawa.

“Did you introduce me?” he asked in a graveled voice.

“No,” Aizawa said standing up. He looked back at the class before gesturing to the guest. “This is Ryo Inui, he’s the school counselor. And he’s here to talk to you about… things.”

The dog man nodded and scratched the side of his protruding jaw. “Thank’s for the warm welcome Aizawa.”

“Any time.” Aizawa plopped down in his seat and leaned on his fist, looking as bored as ever.

The dog man looked awkward, shifting from side to side as he gazed out at the twenty students looking back at him. He opened his mouth and only a barrage of barks came out for a solid minute.

Aizawa picked up a pencil from his desk and twirled it in his fingers while the dog man continued to verbally attack his students. He started to bend the pencil in his hands until it snapped, stopping the guest speaker in his tracks.

“Japanese please Inui.”

“Oh, right. Yes. I do that sometimes when I’m nervous. Terribly sorry. What was I saying again?”

“You were just barking.”

“Oh dear.” He turned back to the students who looked just as wary as they did confused. “I should start over then. I’m your counselor here at UA. My name is Ryo Inui, but you can call me Inui. I’m here to talk to you all about what you’ve gone through in the past week. It was terrible, but you’re going to be heroes so I’m here to talk with you about the different coping techniques you have available to you as heroes.

“I’m your first option. My door is always-“ he broke out into another bark where Aizawa threw half of his pencil at the councilor’s head. “Sorry. My door is always open, I’m a free option for you as a student. There are a few students that I’d like to talk to afterward here, but if you have any questions my door is always open, so to speak.”

The councilor went on to speak about the different techniques for dealing with trauma and recognizing PTSD in yourself and others. Every so often the hero-councilor would devolve into a fit of barking and other dog sounds only to be interrupted by Aizawa throwing a pencil or eraser at him. The entire presentation was an agonizing mess even if it was useful.

At the end of the lesson, most of the students' attention had been drawn to other things. Some drew in their notebooks while others starred off into space. It was an agonizing three hours of class work when the school bell rang. Inui apologized for going on too long, looking between the bored students and Aizawa.

“One last thing before you go,” Aizawa said. “A few of you do have to stay after today to talk with Inui. If you’re staying after you’ll have a complimentary meal with Lunch-Rush and if Inui’s report back to me is positive you’ll receive extra credit in your final exams. It’s only five points and goes for your written exams but it’s still five points of extra credit on your lowest scoring test.”

The class perked up at the idea of extra credit, particularly those who were at the bottom of the academic ladder.

“Thank you Aizawa,” Inui said. He woofed once before chucking to himself. “Just a jest there.” He turned back to the class and made eye contact with the students as he spoke their names. “Kaminari Denki, Todoroki Shouto, Fumikage Tokoyami, and Midoriya Izuku. If you all could come back to the classroom after lunch it would be greatly appreciated.”

“Class dismissed,” Aizawa called out. “Lunch Rush will be here if you want to eat here, but you’re all free to leave the school unless your name was called.”

Most of the class left, the student body leaving in a wave of relief. The only ones who stayed at their desks were the ones who's named were called out as well as Shinsou Hitoshi. When the classroom was quiet again the boy stood up.

“Sensei, if you don’t mind I’d like to stay behind to use the gym today. It doesn’t feel right for the class president to leave the school while class is in session for some students.” Shinsou’s words were off-putting, the way his tone was level almost felt cold to Midoriya.

“Alright, I have no problems with that. You’re all dismissed for lunch.”

“Kaminari, if you don’t mind I’d like to speak with you first,” Inui said. “After you get back from lunch of course.”

Shinsou disappeared after that. Midoriya looked all over the empty lunchroom for his friend but he was just gone.

Midoriya found a secluded place to eat his food away from the others. It reminded him of his time in middle school when the world was avoiding him.

When everyone went back to the classroom to wait for the councilor to summon them Midoriya had had enough of waiting around. He walked up to Aizawa’s desk and asked to be excused to go to the gym.

“Well you are last on the list,” Aizawa muttered looking down at his paperwork. “Alright, just remember to come back up here in two or three hours.”

Midoriya nodded and ran out of the room. Shinsou said he was going to the be in the gym while the others were stuck in class. It felt like just an excuse to get some extra time in the gym but it made Shinsou appear responsible at least.

Midoriya changed into his sports uniform and entered the main floor. Usually ever time Midoriya had arrived at the gym there was always someone running on the treadmills or climbing the stairs machines or bench pressing impossible weights. But due to the entire school being dismissed for the rest of the day there was only one person in the sparring corner of the room throwing fists at a punching bag.

Shinsou was attacking the punching bag, letting the bag swing back into his fist over and over again. Every throw was different, every punch hit its mark. It was unsettling to watch.

“Want some help?” Midoriya asked coming up behind his friend. Shinsou didn’t turn or even glance at Midoriya.

Midoriya walked around to brace the punching bag for Shinsou, allowing him to throw faster hits with more impact. Shinsou only glanced at Midoirya, barely nodding his head in thanks. Shinsou’s punches were erratic and violent, each impact vibrating through the punching bag into Midoriya’s shoulder.

“What are you doing down here?” Shinsou asked between punches, still not looking at Midoriya’s face. Shinsou looked impassive. His mouth was pressed into a firm line and his brow clenched together in concentration.

“Same reason you are,” Midoriya said.

“Training?”

Midoriya nodded.

“You’ve had a lot of that,” Shinsou muttered. He pulled back, stopping his attacks.

“I guess,” Midoriya rumbled back. “No more than you or Hagakure.”

Shinsou shook his head and walked back to one of the nearby benches, pulling a swing of his water bottle.

“Where were you during lunch?”

“I wanted to eat down here.”

“Is that even sanitary?”

Shinsou didn’t respond, his grip on his water bottle tightening.

The two stood in silence, each trying to read each other.

“Midoriya I-“

“Shinsou I-“

The two stopped when they realized they were trying to talk over each other.

“You go first,” Midoriya said.

“No, I think you should.” Shinsou’s eyes hardened against Midoriya.

Midoriya took a deep breath before he started. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m an idiot and I don’t know what I was thinking. I saw what his quirk was and I saw him going for you. I watched him destroy fountain and the idea that he could do that to you was too much.

“So I ran and tried to get him away from you and Kaminari and I don’t know what happened! I wasn’t thinking! I don’t know how he took control of me but he did. And I was so scared he would try to hurt you with my power and- and- and-“ Midoriya tried to bite back a sob but couldn’t. Instead, he wiped away his tears and took a deep breath.

“I put you in so much danger, and if that’s why you’re mad at me I’m so sorry.”

Shinsou was quiet through the entire outburst, patiently watching Midoriya fall apart in front of him. Even after Midoriya had pulled himself together enough to stop crying he was still silent, the cogs visibly turning in Shinsou’s head. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally settling on the right words.

“I wasn’t scared of you,” Shinsou said carefully. “I wasn’t even scared of him. I’m not… I’m not mad about that.”

Midoriya rubbed his face with the back of his gloves a few times, letting the final tears absorb into the fabric.

“Then what are you mad at?”

Shinsou took a deep breath and let it out again. He did that a few times before speaking.

“When my quirk first appeared I thought I could never speak again. The first time I used it was on my big sister and she was under my control for two days before I learned how to release her. I was terrified that I had broken someone I loved. But I didn’t let the fear control me. I learned and I trained and I fought hard.

“I decided I wanted to be a hero when I watched a hostage situation on tv. The good guys won because they used their words to talk down the guy with the gun. I didn’t need a physical quirk to be heroic. I just needed to be smart and charismatic and- and- and-“

Shinsou ran out of words and looked at Midoriya with panic in his eyes.

“And now I’m here. I’m on the track to being a hero.”

“You are a hero,” Midoriya said. “How could you not be?”

“Are you a hero?”

Midoriya blinked. He hadn’t expected the question to be thrown back at him.

“Because from what I saw at the USJ, you weren’t.”

Midoriya felt the world come crashing down.

“When you preeted with the villain you became a villain,” Shinsou said. His words were venom in Midoriya’s ears. “And I watched you the entire time Midoriya. I saw everything. Are you a hero? Do you deserve to be called a hero when you’re breaking the law?”

Midoriya’s vision began to blur at the edges, his palms began to sweat through his gloves.

“Why do you want to be a hero Midoriya?”

“Because- because- because-“ Midoriya’s words got smaller and smaller with every breath. “Because that’s who I am.”

“You’re not,” Shinsou said. “You’re not a hero.” Shinsou turned and walked to the locker room to leave.

Midoriya was left with his thoughts swimming and his heart pounding. His body began to vibrate and his teeth chattered. His hand found it’s way to his lips and he tried to hold himself together in the wake of Shinsou’s words.

“What?” Midoriya asked himself.

Chapter Text

When you’re alone with your thoughts even the ticking of a clock can drive one insane, Todoroki Shouto thought. He was tapping his pencil on table three times for every second that passed, and even with the rhythmic distraction could not satisfy his boredom.

Around the classroom, the various students who were left behind to go through a mandatory therapy session were off in their own worlds texting or reading. It was abysmal. No one spoke or acknowledged one another. They didn’t glance about or anything. Tokoyami was engrossed in a book. Kaminari was placated with his phone. Shouto was bored.

What woke Shouto from his dire spiral of thoughts was the sudden entrance of the class president, shuffling to his desk before throwing his stuff down.

“Aizawa-sensei, can we talk in the hall please?”

His dramatic entrance stopped Shouto’s impatient pattering and everyone looked away from their own distractions. Shinsou was sweating bullets. His face was pale. His eyes seemed to sink into his skin. His fingers seemed to twitch in his palms and his shoulders were tense with anxiety. Something had happened between Midoriya going down to the gyms and Shinsou coming back. It did not look good.

When the two were left Kaminari turned back to look at Shouto and Tokoyami with a wide grin on his face. He opened his mouth to gossip but was silenced when he realized that no one cared about whatever he had to say. Shinsou’s entrance was none of their business.

It didn’t take long for Shouto to realize that with nothing to do he was losing his mind. He had tried doodling, writing, reading. His homework was finished. He should have left, called the therapist session bullshit and run out the door. But the idea of returning home early was enough to stop that line of action.

When Aizawa returned he sat at his desk with a grimace. Shinsou was close behind him with Ryo Inui. The older man had a large hand on Shinsou’s shoulder’s as the boy rubbed at his tear-stained eyes.

Shinsou packed up his things and ran out the door.

So much for the class president sticking around.

Inui-sensei called Kaminari to leave with him and Shouto had had more than enough.

“Aizawa-sensei, may I go check out the gym? I haven’t been down there yet and wanted to look around.”

Aizawa looked at the clock and then back at Tokoyami. The younger boy turned a page in his book and didn’t bother to look up.

“Be back in an hour, I don’t want to have to look for you.”

Shouto nodded and left his stuff where it was. The day had originally been announced as a half day so Shouto hadn’t thought to bring a spare set of clothes. Not that he had any intentions of using the equipment, it was just an excuse to get out of the suffocating classroom.

Shouto found his way to the basement where the every-mans’ gyms was. He hadn’t seen a traditional gym near the hero training courses, and he suspected that the location was closer to the heart of campus so other students from the different disciplines could feel more comfortable training alongside the future heroes.

The locker rooms were spacious and wide, much bigger than the hero locker rooms that he had been changing in since school had started. Perhaps to accommodate different quirks? Or maybe the mass of students expected to train here.

Shouto didn’t plan on spending much time in the locker room at all but the sound of a shower slowed his exploration.

There was an open space for students to take public showers in. The white tile of the shower area was dripping with condensation and steam. Shouto half expected to find a variety of students using the facilities from the amount of steam but only heard one shower head going.

Midoriya Izuku was sitting on the ground underneath a roaring shower head, curled up into a ball. His head was tucked neatly between his knees with his back absorbing most of the heat.

“You shouldn’t sit in a public shower,” Shouto said.

It was a lack of a response that alerted Shouto that something was wrong.

Shouto hesitated but his instincts were running at full speed.

“Midoriya?”

The younger boy shook his head, causing his knees to wobble slightly in the position he was perched in.

Shouto slopped his way over to the shower and turned off the hot water. He could see patches of burns on Midoriya’s back. Nothing that was permanent, but he must have been sitting under the near boiling water for a long time.

“What happened?” His mind flashed to the distraught class president.

Midoriya looked straight ahead at the other side of the room and opened and closed his mouth a few times.

“I don’t know,” he finally whispered.

Shouto crouched down and raised a cooling hand out to Midoriya.

“Don’t touch me!” The boy snapped, flinching away from Shouto.

“I wasn’t going to.” Shouto let the ice gather on his fingertips, a barrier between his skin and Midoriya’s. He hovered his hands above Midoriya, allowing the cool air that floated off of his hands to caress the red marks on Midoriya’s back.

Midoriya’s eyes glazed over slightly as he felt ice melt against his back. His eyes were a thousand miles away. Almost like he was waiting.

When the red marks had cooled down to the milky color that Midoriya’s skin normally was Shouto removed his hand and let the ice melt down the drain.

“Where do you go when you do that?” Shouto asked.

“Hmm?” Midoriya turned to look at him for the first time and Shouto swore he saw a flash of blue in Midoriya’s usually green eyes.

“I’ve seen you do that thing when people get too close to you. You kind of tune people out. I saw that happen on the bus the other day when Asui sat next to you.”

“I didn’t know I did that.”

Shouto knew he wasn’t imagining things when he noted how swollen and puffy Midoriya’s eyes looked.

“You wanna dry off?” Shouto stood up and offered a hand down to Midoriya. Midoriya didn’t move, only starring at Shouto’s open palm. It didn’t take long for Shouto to realize the problem and he shifted his jacket over his hand, covering the skin.

Midoriya took the jacket sleeve and hoisted himself up. Shouto was about to chastise him about modesty before realizing that his classmate was wearing a long pair of boxers.

“Do you have a towel?”

Midoriya nodded and slumped over to a row of lockers and pulled out a bag. He found a towel and dried himself off with slow, tired movements.

“What happened?” He had never seen such a cheerful and happy person turn int, someone, he hardly recognized. If it weren’t for Midoriya’s signature green hair with a blond streak he probably never would have noticed it was his classmate.

“I got in a fight with Shinsou. He said some stuff that… I don’t want to talk about.”

Shouto nodded. “He came back to the classroom and left almost immediately after that.”

Midoriya nodded and took his time buttoning up his shirt. Shouto could see his fingers wobbling from where he was standing just a few feet away.

“Do you want help?” Shouto asked.

Midoriya clenched his teeth and tried to focus again. “I’m fine.”

Shouto didn’t object, as much as he wanted to. This was a boy in serious need of help and Shouto didn’t have a clue what to do.

It took Midoriya seven times longer to get dressed than it normally did and it wiped him out. He slumped down on the bench next to Shouto and let his forehead rest on his hands. Shouto didn’t know what to do, so he just waited for Midoriya to make the next move, whatever that could be.

“Are you a hero?” Midoriya asked, not looking up from his hands.

“Huh?”

“Are you a hero?”

Shouto didn’t know how to answer that. He was training to be a hero, he wanted to be one for the life of him. But was he a hero? “Not right now, no.”

Midoriya looked back at Shouto with tired eyes and a drawn in a frown. “Why?”

“I’m too young, and… And I know why I was asked to stay behind today. I hurt people. A lot of people, and that’s not something a hero would do.”

“I hurt people too,” Midoriya said, a flash of a fake smile touching his lips. “I didn’t want to, but I did. And I think that hurt Shinsou a lot.”

Shouto nodded. He didn’t know what to say. Who had Midoriya hurt? He hadn’t seen his classmate at all through the entire incident, and he couldn’t imagine how such a genuine person could hurt someone else. He hadn’t exchanged words with Midoriya up until this point, just watching his classmate from afar. Midoriya always looked happy when Bakugo Katsuki wasn’t in the same space. Laughing, smiling, just being an honest carefree person. It was so different from this broken boy sitting next to him.

“They were trying to kill us,” Shouto said, turning in his seat. “They were villains and it was us or them. We’re students! We can’t be held accountable for our actions like that.”

That fake smile grew into a grin that sent shivers down Shouto’s spine. It was a smile of teeth and gums that didn’t hold a single ounce of reassurance.“You’re right, but I didn’t hurt a villain, Todoroki. I didn’t hurt people physically, not the way you’re thinking. I lost control and… and…” The smile twitched and tears started to well in Midoriya’s eyes again.

Shouto didn’t know what to do. Midoriya was crying, and he didn’t know what he could do.

“And he hurt people. He fought All Might. I was so powerless. I don’t think that I’ve ever felt so out of control before. I’m so scared.” Midoriya’s voice cracked and he broke into a shattered sob.

Shouto reached out and put a firm hand on Midoriya’s clothed shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault. Quirks are dangerous and some of them are volatile. You’re not the only person who’s scared of your own quirk.”

Midoriya shuddered and reached across himself to tug at Shouto’s sleeve. Even in mid-cry, Shouto could see Midoriya’s mind start to wander off again.  “Don’t you hear them? The warning?”

Shouto’s heart dropped into his stomach. “No. I don’t.”

“The wind chimes that warn when I’m too close. You can’t get close to me.”

Shouto perked his ears, straining to hear the faintest sound. “Midoriya, there’s no other sounds than us right now.”

Midoriya looked like his heart had sunken into his shoes. His face was ripped apart by sobs and he forced himself to wrap his arms around Shouto’s back, gripping at the fabric around his shoulders. His head was used as a distance prop, keeping the top of his head pressed firmly against Shouto’s chest.

“They’re everywhere, so loud and violent. I can’t stop hearing them when I get close to people. They’re as clear as your voice. I can’t stop them. I can’t stop.”

Shouto had felt fear before. He felt fear every day in his father’s dojo. He felt fear when he remembered his mother’s scream. He felt fear when he was standing on top of a mountain looking for allies and only seeing enemies. But none of it compared to the fear he felt in the clutches of Midoriya’s grasp as he described his delusions of wind chimes and the honesty of his mistakes.

The fear he felt at that moment was not fear for his safety or fear of an attack. It was fear that he was losing someone that was just inches away from safety that he needed to pull Midoriya towards. He needed to help this person, but he didn’t know how.

He pulled his sleeve over his hand and put it on the back of Midoriya’s head, the only physical comfort he could offer his classmate.

“I hear footsteps,” Shouto confessed. “But they’re not there. They come for me in the middle of the night and drag me into fights that I will never win. It’s a fire that I can’t control. I’ve been training to be a hero my entire life, both against my will and because it’s something I want deep down. I can’t control my destiny because of the powers I was born with, the same as you.

“I have a second part of my power that you don’t know about. I can control fire as easy as ice, but I don’t want that. I don’t want that fire. It’s not my quirk, it’s his.”

Shouto could feel his body stiffen at even thinking about his procreator.

“I was born because my father wanted a weapon that would serve as a means to usurp. He found a woman with ice in her veins and gave her family extraordinary amounts of money in exchange for her hand in marriage. And then he forced her to have children until she could produce the perfect heir that was more powerful than himself or the person he hated most in the world.

“My father forced my mother into an unwanted marriage all for her quirk. He’s done so much that it’s hard to ignore, but I have no choice. He’s the second greatest hero alive, and I have no power compared to him. I’m ignoring it for now, but I’ll never forget what he’s done.”

Midoriya’s grip loosened and Shouto wondered if the wind chimes were quieting in his mind.

“Who’s footsteps are they?” Midoriya asked.

“You know who.”

Midoriya’s hands fell away from Shouto’s back until he was just leaning against Shouto’s chest. Shouto pet the back fo Midoriya’s head, waiting for the other boy to calm down.

“You’re not the only person with skeletons in your closet,” Shouto whispered. “And you don’t have to face them alone.”

Midoriya pulled back and wiped his tears away with the back of his hand. He put away his bag, wet towel and all, into his locker and closed the door with a bang.

“Thanks,” Midoriya said.

“You’re welcome. Do you want to go to the classroom?”

Midoriya’s shoulders tightened as he put on his leather gloves from his pockets.

“Shinsou went home.”

The relief Midoriya felt was visible. “Yeah, ok.”

“I think I’m next in to talk to the counselor, but will you be ok on your own?”

Midoriya nodded and turned to look back at Shouto with the first kind smile that Shouto had seen all day. “I’ll be ok.”

The walk back to the classroom was slow to meet Midoriya’s energy output, and Todoroki didn’t seem to mind. He seemed just as exhausted as Midoriya felt, matching the crawling pace.

When they arrived at their usual hallway they were greeted with Inui and Tokoyami returning to the classroom. The four shared a quick glance before Todoroki was whisked away to talk about his feelings.

Midoriya sat in the classroom with Aizawa in complete isolation.

“Sit up front,” Aizawa said, without looking up from his grading. “When Inui gets back the three of us are going to talk about the USJ.”

Midoriya felt his heart drop for the millionth time that day. He picked up his things and sat at the front row desk in front of Aizawa. It was weird to sit in a different spot than normal, like putting your socks on backward.

The time spent waiting for Inui was spent doing his math homework and occasionally asking Aizawa for help with some of the harder problems. The teacher helped without hesitation. Aizawa was kind in his explanations, taking more care to describe the algebra problems than absolutely necessary and even drawing out figures to help. Midoriya was kind of stunned to see Aizawa’s dedication to Midoriya’s education.

When Inui and Shouto came back the younger man looked even more exhausted and slightly angry. His attitude was curt as he took his seat in the back of the room.

“You can go,” Aizawa said watching Shouto take his seat instead of taking his things.

“I was going to wait for Midoriya.”

“I said that wrong, you should leave Todoroki.”

Shouto hesitated for a moment and waited for Midoriya to mouth ‘it’s ok.’ Then he got up. “I’ll wait for you at the gate,” Shouto said before leaving.

And Midoriya was left alone with two towering adults. Midoriya moved to stand up, but Aizawa motioned him to sit down while he took two chairs away from the surrounding desks.

“Midoriya this is going to be tough,” Aizawa said. “Mostly because there are a few legalities that we have to follow as heroes, but also because we need the answers from you.”

Midoriya could feel his palm sweating in his thick gloves and nodded.

“What do you remember?” Inui asked. “Start from the beginning of when you entered the USJ and we’ll stop you if we have to.”

Midoriya did exactly what was asked of him and told them everything. From All Might jumping out to fight the heroes and when he got separated from the rest of the group. He spoke about Asui and Mina’s bravery in the earthquake zone and how heroic they were. The momentum of the story began to slow when he started talking about Shigaraki and his quirk, but Midoriya didn’t stop.

“And I was thrown to the ground by your quirk,” Midoriya said looking at Aizawa. “And that’s it. That’s everything I remember.”

Inui was taking notes the entire time on a note pad, glancing through the details that Midoriya had included.

“Was that everything?” Aizawa asked. “Do you remember anything after that at all?”

“No, just waking up in the hospital with my mom.”

“Are you sure?”

Midoriya nodded.

The two adults exchanged a brief glance as if trying to read each other’s mind.

“Midoriya, do you know if you can preet while you’re unconscious?” Inui asked.

“I-I don’t think I’ve ever tried before.”

Aizawa nodded and leaned on the desk with his chin on his knuckles. “You can. All Might took your hand and preeted with you.”

The world shifted on its head.

“What?”

“Be careful what you say from this point forward, we’re trying to protect you but if we have to say anything out loud that’s confirmed by you we have to report this.” Aizawa was concise with his words, using his tone to punctuate his meaning.

Midoriya bit the thumb of his glove and nodded.

“I can’t recall what you both looked like,” Aizawa raised his eyebrows to indicate he was lying. “But it looked very dangerous. I’m here to protect you but you have to be honest with us, and if you can’t be honest with us then don’t say anything at all.”

“Has this ever happened before?” Inui asked.

Midoriya didn’t respond, instead maintaining eye contact with Aizawa.

“Does this happen often?”

Aizawa didn’t blink.

“Do you consent to him using your quirk?”

Midoriya wondered if throwing up would get him out of this conversation.

“Are you aware of the laws against vigilantism?”

“Where’s All Might?” Midoriya asked. This couldn’t be happening, it couldn’t.

“Out,” Aizawa said. “He can handle himself, stay focused with us here.”

Midoriya’s head switched back and forth looking for an exit.

“Midoriya,” Aizawa snapped. “Are you safe?”

“Yes! I’m absolutely safe! I can’t not be safe when I’m with him! He’s the number one hero and he protects me!”

“He endangers you! He takes you out in the middle of the night to hunt thugs!”

“He believes in me!”

“He’s using you!” Aizawa slammed his hands on the desk with his shouting. Midoriya jumped back in his chair. Aizawa took a deep breath and continued at a lower volume. “You need to stop seeing the man as a god and think logically about everything he’s done. There are so many people in your life who believe in you, not just him. You need to wake up and stop worshiping the ground he trods on.”

“Aren’t you being a bit harsh?” Inui asked, trying to mediate the out-of-control conversation.

“I’m not. Midoriya has to understand that it’s wrong.” Aizawa turned back to Midoriya with a leveled gaze. “If you ever get caught while doing this who do you think is going to jail? The person with the hero license or the one without?”

“He said that he’d claim it was a training session.”

Aizawa sighed. “Discounting the USJ have any of our actual training sessions been with real villains out in the real world? The USJ was an accident that never should have happened. You’re young, and it’s illegal for people to use their quirks against people.”

Midoriya shook his head. He wanted to crawl under a rock and die. For a moment he wondered why he wasn’t still crying before realizing how dehydrated he was. “Can I go get some water?”

Aizawa nodded and Inui walked him down the hall to get a drink. The entire walk was tense, neither of them saying a word to each other.

“With Aizawa gone, you can talk to me without watching your words,” Inui said. “Just don’t tell me about any future plans. What happened?”

The cold water was numbing after the hot shower.

Midoriya wiped the water away from his face and looked back at the dog man. “I tried to save someone and he said I could be a hero with my powers if I just practiced. Then practice turned into… you know. It wasn’t… he said I’d be ok.”

Inui nodded and gave a wolfish grin. “You will be ok, you are ok. The past is the past. But we can’t protect you any more than we already have. Believe us, please.”

Midoriya nodded and the two came back.

The rest of the conversation was more of a lecture about the dangers of vigilantism and the legalities. No one was going to tell the law about Midoriya’s extra-curricular with All Might. No one ever said the name Lady Might for fear of the legalities of mentioning the vigilante’s name. The name was treated like a curse.

When Midoriya was finally allowed to leave he was only half surprised to see Todoroki Shouto was waiting for him. He didn’t think the other boy was serious.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“What are you doing here?”

Todoroki Shouto shrugged shifting his bag from one arm to the other as though that were a suitable answer.

Midoriya nodded and the two walked next to each other in silence to the train station. Midoriya would take the eastbound train. Todoroki would take the southbound train and they’d part ways. It was as though the two had come to a metal understanding in their silent walk. The only other words they said to each other was good-bye, but that was more than enough for the companions.

Midoriya wondered if he had lost a friend that day. He also wondered if he had gained a different one.

Chapter Text

The first full day back after the USJ was jarring for everyone. To return to your normal life after something so traumatic would be a challenge for anyone.

Hagakure’s normal had just been altered slightly more than the rest. Her two best friends (could you call them best friends after just a few months? Hagakure would argue you could) weren’t even looking at each other let alone speaking. She spent the entire first day just going back and forth between the two of them without anyone giving any information.

Anytime she would get close to Midoriya she would see Shinsou running in the other direction, or vice versa. At first, it was just an odd set of circumstances. But as it happened, again and again, she realized it was on purpose.

Things were only made worse when she realized that Todoroki Shouto was hanging around Midoriya. Todoroki was the person she fought against in the first professional battle. He was also the person who left behind what felt like a sea of frozen corpses that rivaled mount Everest in the sheer number. When had he started hanging around Midoriya?

It was Thursday before she got any information from either of them. She was down in the gym sparring with Oijiro for their weekly workout session. Oijiro had suggested it after their first fight together and how could she say no to such a pretty face? She was quickly finding herself swooning over his style and charisma in a way she didn’t intend to hide. If he was interested, he could make the first move, until then it was fun to flirt while learning martial arts.

“Keep your wrist straight,” he coached as they fought practice dummies in the back. Oijiro was a good teacher, a black belt in his own right, and his touches sometimes lingered a moment longer than expected.

He helped her keep balance as they practiced kicks and punches, each time with less help and a faster pace. It didn’t take long for her to break out in a sweat.

“Can we take five?” she asked Oijiro, holding up a gloved hand to show how long she wanted a break for. Her outfit took her performance as a first priority, then style, then her quirk. She hated feeling naked, but a pair of neon pink booty gym shorts and a matching sports bra was the most she was willing to press her comfort levels.

The two sat down on one of the benches while Hagakure cracked open a bottle of water.

“You wouldn’t happen to know what's up with Shinsou and Midoriya, would you?” she asked Oijiro.

“Uhh, not really no.” Oijiro scratched the side of his face, looking off to the side. “But did you want to go as Shinsou?”

Hagakure opened her mouth to ask what he meant when she saw where Oijiro was looking. Over on the treadmills, completely ignoring her and Oijiro was Shinsou on a run.

“He didn’t even say hello,” she gasped. “I’ll be right back.”

Oijiro nodded and went to go get a drink while Hagakure walked over to the treadmills.

“Can we talk?” she asked, leaning against the neighboring sports equipment. She wondered if her tone was betraying her anger.

“About what?” Shinsou asked raising the speed on the treadmill from a brisk walk to a light jog. He didn’t even bother to look at her while they spoke. She may not be much to look at, but the gesture still left her blood boiling.

“What do you think? You and Izuku haven’t said a word to each other since the USJ and I want to know why. And you’re totally ignoring me right now!” Shinsou flinched at their friend’s name.

“You’re on a first name basis?”

“Don’t change the subject Hitoshi.”

“I never gave permission-“

“I never asked either. We’re friends. That’s something friends do, call each other by their first name.” She was almost whining at the obvious. Was he really that pissed off right now?

She could see the gears turning in Shinsou’s head, watching him battle with his emotions and thoughts. She saw anger and resentment. But above all, she saw sadness. If he was so sad, he could always confide in her, she could help!

Hagakure reached over and turned the treadmill down to a near standstill.

“I’m worried,” she said leaning over to her friend. “I’m worried about both of you. What happened?”

“I saw something I wasn’t supposed to see,” Shinsou said. “And I’m not ok with it. Midoriya isn’t who he says he is.” Shinsou reached out and went back to his jog, looking straight ahead at the white tiled wall instead of Hagakure’s face.

Hagakure was invisible, but she had never felt that way when she was talking with Shinsou. He always looked around where her face was, and his eyes never dropped below the neckline, even when she was naked. But today was different. He didn’t look at her once.

“Well fine,” she spat. She reached across the machine and turned the speed up to ten and glared at him.

“Hey! Hagakure!”

“You think you saw something terrible? Midoriya is hanging out with someone who probably killed people! I’m scared for him Hitoshi! But if you’re going to be mad about- about- about seeing his underwear!” She sneered at him before storming off.

“Hagakure!” Shinsou gapped at her, but she didn’t turn back. She removed her glove before throwing a very vulgar symbol back at him as she walked away. Maybe Midoriya would talk to her.

She went back into training with an enraged vigor that had Oijiro concerned and impressed.

“Oijiro,” Hagakure said as they were walking to the lunch room the next day, “do you mind if you go on ahead? I’m going to see if I can talk to Midoriya.”

“Of course!” Oijiro smiled and raised a hand goodbye as the two went their separate ways. Midoriya had been asked to stay behind to clean the blackboard before going to lunch.

When she turned back to wait for Midoriya she saw someone else waiting for him. Someone she’d considered unwanted.

“What are you waiting for Todoroki?” she asked standing next to him. The two were just out of sight of the door to the classroom.

“I was going to see if Midoriya wanted to have lunch,” the other boy said, his eyes blooming with surprise. Hagakure had gotten quite sneaky the past few weeks. He training had its benefits.

“Of course.” She wondered if the concern in her voice was as obvious as it felt. “You two… have been spending a lot of time together haven’t you.”

It wasn’t a question.

Todoroki didn’t treat it like one either.

“We’re close,” he agreed.

“That’s funny,” she said, letting herself rock back and forth on her heels. “Very funny.”

Midoriya chose that moment to come out of the classroom, his eyes lighting up when he saw Hagakure and Todoroki both waiting for him.

“Hey! Hagakure were you waiting for me?”

“Of course!” she giggled, letting her enthusiasm blend into her voice. “I was hoping we could walk to lunch together, it feels like I haven’t seen you all week.”

“I know,” she sighed. “I’m sorry I just didn’t- I still don’t know what’s going on.” Her eyes flashed to the unwanted boy standing next to her. “I was hoping we could talk actually.”

The two boys exchanged a brief look. One that said more than she cared to hear.

“Alone,” she said hoping that the meaning would set in.

Todoroki nodded and waved goodbye as he went on ahead.

Tooru watched him go before turning back to Izuku. “Are you friends with him?”

Midoriya blinked, the way the surprise took over him made him look like a doe in headlights. It wouldn’t have been funny if Hagakure hadn’t been so frustrated the past few days.

“Yeah,” Midoriya said, the word surprising even himself. “We uhh… bonded on Monday while waiting to talk to the counselor.”

Hagakure nodded, knowing that Midoriya couldn’t see.

“What’s wrong?” Midoriya asked.

“He scares me is all,” Hagakure admitted. “I’ve seen what he can do and it doesn’t feel like something safe. His powers scare me and I don’t think he knows how to use them yet.”

Midoriya flinched harder than she had expected. It didn’t take long for her to realize the error in her words.

“I just! I’ve seen him take out a dozen people and I don’t think even he’s aware of the power that gives him.”

Midoriya stayed silent. His fingers went to clutch at his gloves for a moment before he nodded. He didn’t say anything as the two of them started to walk to the cafeteria.

“I’m sorry,” Hagakure finally said. “I’m just not… Fond of him.”

“It’s ok,” Midoriya said, his eyes flashing to look at where her face would be. “You don’t have to like everyone.”

“No,” she agreed. “You don’t.”

The sound of their shoes tapping on linoleum was the only sound for the longest time.

“What happened?” she finally asked, getting down to the problem that actually bothered her. “With you and Shinsou, I tried to talk to him yesterday but he wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“I wish I knew,” Midoriya admitted. “He was avoiding me and I tried to ask what had happened and- I just- he-“

Hagakure reached out and lightly touched Midoriya’s shoulder. She felt Midoriya falling into threads beside her. She had expected him to shake off her touch, but he didn’t, instead, he froze in place. He reached a hand up and kept her invisible hand there.

“Am I a good person?” Midoriya asked, looking up at where Hagakure’s face was. He was looking at her nose, but it was close enough.

“Yes,” she said, leaning into the word. “I haven’t met anyone as smart or kind as you Izuku.”

Midoriya nodded and took a deep breath, letting it calm himself down. He tapped her hand once with his gloved hand before pulling away from her touch. He gave her the closest thing she had seen to a smile all week. It was quiet and tiny, but it said more than she dared to hope.

“Am I supposed to beat him up now?” she joked.

“No, don’t do anything like that. He- he doesn’t have to like me. If he has a problem with me, if he has a problem with my choices, he can come to talk to me.”

“You don’t have to like everyone,” she echoed.

Midoriya nodded.

She and Midoriya sat at lunch together, bonding as friends again. Midoriya invited Todoroki to come sit with them under Hagakure’s permission and she asked Oijiro to come as well.

She may not like Todoroki that much, but she could see the influence he had on her friend. Midoriya sat up straighter and smiled a little bit more. His laugh sounded less hollow and he told more jokes than she had expected after their conversation in the hallway.

She didn’t have to like Todoroki. Shinsou didn’t have to like Midoriya.

The thoughts put knots in her stomach, she’d find a way to get over her weariness with the half-half boy. Maybe then Shinsou could do the same.

Chapter Text

The morning of the sports festival was stressful to say the least. A hundred thousand people were lining up to get into UA. The sight of the masses sent shivers down Midoriya’s spine. The students had been warned to arrive earlier but there must have been at least an hour’s wait at every entrance that Midoriya saw.

A funnel of people were let in individually moving through metal detectors and receiving ID tags. The media and spectators shuffled in groups waiting for their chance to go through the gates into the famous hero-training school. Pushing, shoving, running. Everyone was excited for the Olympic-like event of the sports festival and it put knots in Midoriya’s stomach.

Every person he saw was a threat. They were another person he could touch. Another person that could set off his quirk. There was no way around them, his only choice was to go through the massive crowds. Bells were ringing inside of Midoriya’s head like fireworks at a festival.

“Midoriya! Hey! Midoriya Izuku!”

Midoriya turned to the familiar voice and saw a floating school uniform dancing towards him.

“Good morning,” Midoriya said, his voice was tight with anxiety. A group of media personal almost bumped his back and he nearly jumped in the air trying to get away. The sound of bells echoed on his ears as he jogged over to Hagakure. “I’m never going to get through.”

Hagakure’s pause read as thoughtful as they walked away from the crowd. “Do you want me to act as a point guard keeping people away?”

“No, I- I don’t know what to do.” Midoriya looked around, wondering if there was a different entrance somewhere else. Midoriya’s gloves creaked as they tightened around his backpack straps. “It’s a bit-“

“I know,” Hagakure said. “It’s a lot right now. Lots of people.”

Midoriya jumped and help himself closer, looking away from Hagakure’s spot. The crowds started to move in on them. People were surrounding them. A hundred voices everywhere, a babble of noise that was drowning out Midoriya’s own thoughts. But nothing could compare to the wind chimes and bells that run, high pitched in Midoriya’s ears.

“Midoriya. Midoriya. Midoriya! Hey!” Hagakure pulled on Midoriya’s sleeve, tugging him out of his own mind. “It’s ok. I’m here. Do you know how to turn off your quirk? Wait- that’s a stupid question. I’m sure if we find some teachers we could-“

“No I think- I think there’s one way. I- at the accident- when we were out- at the USJ when I was with Tsuyu- we-“

“Midoriya. It’s ok. Take your time.”

Midoriya took a deep breath, letting his mind collect itself. “I preeted with Tsuyu at the USJ I was able to pick up Mina without preeting. And-“ Midoriya stopped. His memory went to the times that he fought with All Might and the people they captured. Midoriya always hesitated when touching people, but there were slip ups. There were moments when a fist connected, or a brush of fingers, but there was never a spark of light to accompany that moment.

“And I think I’m always ‘on’ unless I’m- I’m with someone.“

“Oh,” Hagakure said. Her sleeve moved out as though she was holding out her hand. An open invitation for Midoriya.

Midoriya’s eyes were drawn to where Hagakure’s face was. Not for the first time he wished that he could see Hagakure’s face. She was one of his first friends, and had compassion that Midoriya was never prepared for. He wondered what her face would look like. If she smiled with her teeth. Maybe her nose crinkled.

“Hagakure, what do you look like?”

The sleeve moved down. “Why do you want to know?”

“Because you’re my friend. I mean, I’m sorry, maybe you were born invisible. Or it’s none of my business. Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that. I wasn’t trying to be invasive.”

“No, it’s fine. I just, you’d think that being invisible means I get asked that a lot, but not really. I wasn’t born invisible, I think it was when I was after 3. Not quite 4. My baby pictures showed that I had brown hair and brown eyes. I can feel my hair is straight, but I have to cut it myself so I try not to let it get too long. I can’t imagine it looks very good.”

Midoriya nodded, letting the words settle with him. “What do you think we’ll look like?”

Hagakure blew a heavy breath out. “For the love of god, I don’t want to be naked.”

Midoriya’s laugh was exhausted and weak. “Me too.” He held his hand out for Hagakure to take. He felt a warm touch and although there were bells, they sounded less threatening in that moment and more of a comfort.

Midoriya blinked and in one second he was looking at floating clothes, and the next he was alone. He was the same height, but he felt lighter. He looked down at his hands and expected not to see anything. He was wrong. His fingers were delicate, long, with short bare nails. Midoriya looked down at his arms and saw that his arms were lithe with some muscle but otherwise completely normal, if not a little paler than he was used to.

Midoriya could feel his hair falling to his chin in unfamiliar loose curls. He could see a cloven color to it with the occasional fleck of his natural green hair, and most likely the one highlight of blond. Midoriya looked around for a reflective surface, settling for a mirror hanging out of a nearby reporter’s bag and saw a mousy face looking back with a pointed nose and pale, unfreckled cheeks. His eyes were a similar color to his hair with the same green flecks hiding in his irises.

Midoriya was wearing pink cargo shorts that fell to his knees and a white tank top. Something comfortable. Light. He felt average, feminine, and only visible in the sense that no one would look at him twice.

“Tooru?” Midoriya asked out loud, not surprised at the softer tone his voice carried. It was just as delicate as his fingers seemed to be. Something that was higher pitched than Lady Might but without any of the volume he normally carried.

I’m here. Wow, this is so strange.

“I can see myself,” Midoriya commented looking down at his hairless legs. His normally red sneakers changed in color to a baby pink. The same shade as his shorts.

I’m not- that’s not- I’ve ever seen myself. Where’s my phone?

Midoriya blinked and looked around. His backpack was gone. So was Hagakure’s.

“Not here,” Midoriya said spinning in place. The crowd was only slightly less constricting when he wasn’t alone. “I don’t- I don’t see it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything left behind from someone who preets with me. Is your bag with you?”

Yes. Yes it is. This is so weird.

“You’re telling me,” Midoriya said, in awe of this discovery. “Can you open the bag?”

Your bag is in here too. Midoriya I can open your bag and mine. And your clothes are here too. Oh man.

“Please don’t look at my underwear.” Midoriya stood in horror as a news anchor with a camera passed by.

Oh, now I have to look.

“Hagakure!”

I would have thought All Might themed boxers would be your thing. I like the classic black boxer-briefs. Very stylish.

“Please stop,” Midoriya whined. “I hate this.”

I’m done I’m done. I’m leaving everything as is. We should head inside though.

Midoriya nodded, standing still. The bells were gone, but the anxiety of the crowded space still held him in place.

It’s ok Izuku. Just take one step at a time and get in line.

Midoriya lugged his way through the crowd feeling someone bump into him far more often than he would have liked. The moment he entered the crowd people started touching him, bumping his shoulder, or pushing against his back. It sent shivers down his spine.

“This is a nightmare,” Midoriya whispered. The only thing keeping him sane was the sound of his own breathing, a thunder in his ears.

This is pretty on par with what I’m used to.

The good news about being constantly pushed around by the crowd was that Midoriya got to the front faster than he had expected. He suspected it would be close to an hour’s wait, but with everyone shoving him forward it was only a matter of minutes before Midoriya was next in line.

“Next,” one of the security guards called out. Midoriya stepped forward just as someone pushed into him throwing him in front of the security booth. The security guard looked right at him, and didn’t ask any questions or offer Midoriya any kind of ID card.

“I said next,” the security guard called out again looking back to the crowd.

“I’m right here,” Midoriya said standing across from the man as he felt the bystander behind him push him forward. Midoriya fell forward beyond the metal detectors. Nothing beeped, or acknowledged that he had passed through. Not even the soft melody to say that someone was cleared through to the festival.

“What the-“ Midoriya got off the ground and backed away from the security station with wide eyes.

Oh my god. Are we that invisible?

“You mean no one can see or hear us? Yes.”

I don’t think that the metal detector went off either. Do you think we show up on camera?

Midoriya frowned and walked over to a camera person. “Excuse me?” No response. Midoriya reached out, his hand wavering the slightest, and tapped the person’s shoulder. They turned around and looked blankly past Midoriya into the distance before turning back to facing the security check-in waiting for their partners to arrive.

Maybe try again?

Midoriya tugged on the person’s sleeve and saw the fabric move. He could feel the cotton of the sleeve, but when the person turned around again there was nothing. They saw nothing.

Midoriya stepped back, only half horrified. He was completely invisible. No one could hear him or see him. He was a living ghost.

Try screaming.

“I’d rather not,” Midoriya said turning away from the entrance and walking towards the stadium. He walked past people lining up to the smells of takoyaki and yakitori. No one so much as blinked as he walked past the groups. “This is so weird.”

Agreed. I don’t think I like this. I’m used to no one looking twice at me- but here no one’s even looking at us for the first time. It’s like we’re ghosts.

“Yeah,” Midoriya mumbled as he found his way to the entrance of the first year’s building.

The first year’s stadium was the furthest back on campus. The stadiums were supposed to be used for weapons testing during the year by the support classes. It was the only way to keep the large stadiums from collecting dust for the rest of the year, but it also meant that the buildings had a tendency to catch fire or blow up. Keeping the stadiums away from the main buildings was the safest way to prevent these catastrophes from spreading.

The long trek to the stadium was silent, even Hagakure didn’t seem to be talking, or rather thinking loud enough for Midoriya to hear. They were just passing the second year’s stadium when Midoriya decided to break the silence.

“What are you thinking about?”

Oh! Sorry, I was just messing with my phone.

“Your phone? Is it working?” No one had ever talked about the things that were carried with them. It was always about the cold, or the large spaces. Midoriya wondered if the spaces changed for each person.

Not sure. I sent a few texts to Ojiro asking him if he was here yet. It says the texts when through, but I don’t know. Also my clock hasn’t changed since I got in here. There’s no way it’s still 7:25 am.

“No, it’s probably closer to 8. That’s…. what’s it like in there? I’ve only been inside my head once that I can recall.” Midoriya didn’t remember the time inside of his won head very well. Just constantly screaming, trying to get out. It was a nightmare of his own creation that he didn’t want to contemplate any time soon.

It’s fine. It’s cool, and dark. When I’m facing forward I can see through your eyes. And if I turn around and squint I can… it’s like trying to see through the dark. I can make out shapes, which is weird, but I can kind of see all around us. I can’t move my feet, but it doesn’t hurt to stand around.

All of our stuff is kind of at my feet. It’s like reaching through a fog, I can pull up our bags and your clothes but only if I focus really hard.

“That’s- that’s amazing.”

Yeah. It’s really boring though. You should get some coloring books or something.

“Do you think they would come out colored if you tried?”

Let’s find out. I have pens and a notebook.

The final leg of the walk went much faster discovering the minute details of Midoriya’s quirk. All Might had always had Midoriya’s best interest at heart while they were preeted together, but the training had always come down to the physical. Nothing that had to do with the mental aspects that Hagakure was experiencing.

Midoriya was standing outside the student’s entrance when he caught a glimpse of purple out of the corner of his eyes. He turned his head only to see Shinsou waiting outside the entrance.

Shinsou was slouching, his normal posture replaced with a kind of exhaustion Midoriya could only dream of. His eyes were trailed on the crowd outside, scanning the horizon.

Is he waiting for us?

“I don’t- I don’t want to see him.”

He can’t see you.

Midoriya nodded, hoping beyond hope that Hagakure was right. He pushed his hands into his pockets and started to move forward, inching to get past his ex-friend.

“His underwear is not freaky enough to warrant this.”

Did I say that out loud?

Midoriya threw a hand over his mouth, trying to pull back the words that had already escaped. Shinsou stiffened, standing up straighter. He looked around for a moment, his gaze running across Midoriya’s mortified face.

Shinsou pushed himself off the wall and walked forward closer to the crowd. Shinsou passed by the invisible boy and met his awaited person half way between the crowd and the entrance to the first year stadium.

“I was waiting for you.”

Todoroki pressed his lips. His eyes had bags that rivaled Shinsou’s. Exhaustion marred Todoroki’s posture with drooped shoulders and a low center of gravity. Yet, his grip on his bag was white knuckled and tense.

“Oh?” Todoroki asked. “Were you?”

“I wanted to ask- no, I needed to know. Why are you hanging out with Midoriya Izuku?”

Any chance of Midoriya leaving these two to their privacy went out the window. Hagakure seemed just as intrigued.

“He needed a friend and I was there.”

“That’s bull shit.” Shinsou was shaking, his hands clenched into tight fists at his side.

“Look, I don’t know what happened between the two of you. I just know what I saw afterwards. Midoriya is- he’s a good person. He’s just had some hard times.”

“Hard times? He’s had some hard times? He is a hard time. He’s- he’s-“ Shinsou’s stuttering dragged off into silence.

“He’s my friend.” Midoriya’s heart swelled in his chest at Todoroki’s words. “And you no longer have any say in what happens to him. Midoriya hasn’t told me anything about why you two are no longer hanging out, but I can get the picture well enough. If you’re still asking about him you shouldn’t. You lost that right.”

“Shut up,” Shinsou said. “You don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“You’re right I don’t. But I do know what I’m talking about. You’re so selfish, and I don’t know why I’m-“

Shouto stopped. He just stopped mid sentence. And his eyes! What were once angry had turned dull and expressionless. His mouth fell into an open jawed, blank face.

“Stop,” Shinsou said. He ran a hand through his hair and starred in horror at what he had done. “I’m done. I just, you’re so stupid. You’re going to get hurt and I’m trying to help.”

Midoriya was flabbergasted seeing Shinsou use his quirk like this. Shinsou was level headed, a calm, cool person to be around. He never seemed like the person to turn his quirk on someone just because they weren’t agreeing with him. That was-

Wrong. This is so wrong.

Midoriya walked over to Todoroki, stepping between the two boys.

“I just want you to listen. You’re in danger every time that you go near him.”

Midoriya reached out and grabbed Todoroki’s sleeve, tugging on it. Todoroki had to snap out of it. He had to get Todoroki away.

Nothing.

“He’s a criminal who doesn’t respect the law. Midoriya doesn’t belong at UA, not when he’s knowingly breaking laws that exist for a reason.”

Midoriya reached out and placed a hand on Todoroki’s cheek lightly tapping the surface. It was like slapping a stone wall for all the good it did.

“I’m surprised he didn’t get in on recommendation like we did. Not when he has the once-great All Might backing him up. It’s not fair to the rest of the class that went through the exams and it’s not fair to anyone who calls themselves a hero.”

Every word was a knife in Midoriya’s chest that he had to ignore, he had to get Todoroki out of here.

“We have to help him,” Midoriya said.

I don’t know how.

“We have to turn this off.”

I can’t turn this off. This is a mutation.

“He’s used his powers in public, without the consideration of the law. And you deserved to know that before your friendship with him goes any further.”

Midoriya took a deep breath and reached out, laying a hand on the unscarred portion of his face. He closed his eyes and focused on his own powers, on the way that the preet felt in his body. He’d never thought too hard about his partner’s quirk, only using their skills to guide him through the power.

Now, Midoriya was forced to learn how to work this quirk that was not his own. He had to mold it to his will, force it to change. It was like reaching into a tar pit, looking around for something he didn’t even know if it was real.

Could he bend a mutation to his will? Force it to change?

“No,” Midoriya whispered. “No, this isn’t a mutation. Is it. It’s something else. This is- it’s different.”

Midoriya’s will wrapped around the quirk as tight as he could. The quirk felt like it was covered in dust, always in use but never manipulated, never changed. His will pulled on the edges, pulling at the cracks until there was a fissure that he could step through.

Todoroki blinked, color flashing back into his eyes. He looked down and made direct eye contact. Midoriya moved his hand from Shouto’s cheek over to his mouth, pressing a single finger into his lips.

Todoroki nodded and looked back to Shinsou, silently shaking his head. The look of shock followed by disappointment that Todoroki gave Shinsou twisted Midoriya’s heart.

Shinsou was startled, watching his own grip on his victim fall apart with no warning at all. “Wait, no, it isn’t what it looks like.” Shinsou’s panic was tangible in the early morning. “I just needed you to listen. Please- Todoroki.”

Todoroki took Midoriya’s hand and walked into the stadium. He didn’t give Shinsou a second glance.

It wasn’t difficult to jimmy open one of the closest beneath a stairwell to find privacy, away from the hustle and bustle of civilians looking for a place to watch the games from.

“How did you do that?” Todoroki asked, his eyes focusing on Midoriya.

How the fuck did you do that?

“I think that Hagakure, I don’t think your quirk is a mutation. I’ve felt mutations, and I’ve felt transformations, and emitters. And I’ve studied quirks for a long time. It’s really interesting trying to summon a quirk on your first time, especially if you don’t know what the quirk does. There are a lot of quirks out there that can be impossible to trigger due to their insane requirements-“

“Midoriya.”

“Right, sorry. I think that Hagakure’s quirk is a transformation. Not a mutation. If it was a mutation you- she would have been born invisible.”

My quirk is…. Can I turn it off?

“I have no idea.”

“Did she-?”

“Yeah, she’s in my head right now. Well, she-“ Midoriya stopped himself and took a deep breath.

Hagakure sighed with relief, across from Midoriya. She rolled her shoulders back and groaned with delight. “It’s warm out here.”

Midoriya sighed and nodded. The cold of his mind seemed to be a common theme. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be, it was the only way to get you through the crowd.”

“Was it-?” Shouto hesitated to finish his thought, glancing between the two students. “Bells?”

Midoriya nodded. His mind quiet for the first time all morning. “Or wind chimes, sometimes both. Thank you for your help, Hagakure.”

“Any time Izuku.” Hagakure excused herself out of the closet without another word.

Midoriya and Todoroki were alone again.

“About what Shinsou said-“ Midoriya started. His fingers entwined together in front of him. An anxious mess of his thoughts turned tangible.

“Don’t worry about it. Are you ok?”

“Yeah,” Midoriya said, looking away, “It wasn’t- it’s nothing he hasn’t said.” Midoriya lips began to quiver. Now that the adrenaline of the confrontation was gone Midoriya’s hammering heart was starting to ache. He could feel Shinsou’s words dripping through his body. “I mean- it’s nothing he hasn’t- I just he- he never said some of those things.”

Midoriya gasped for air and wrapped his arms around his chest. He could feel the tension building in his body the way it hadn’t before. Maybe it was Hagakure’s presence that was stopping the toxic words from affecting him before. But now there was nothing from Midoriya mulling over the words.

“I’m a danger,” Midoriya whispered, realizing what was happening. “Oh my god, he thinks I’m evil doesn’t he.”

“No, no, you’re not anything that he said you were. Midoriya you can’t think like that.”

Midoriya gasped again and felt his eyes sting with tears that overflowed. He shouldn’t cry- he was a- he was supposed to be a hero. Midoriya put a hand to his face, the other one waving as if to fan his face. He needed air. He needed space. No, he needed comfort. No, he needed his life back. He needed the normality of having Shinsou and Hagakure at his side. He needed his friends, his mom, his mentor. Something. Anything.

Shouto reached out, without thinking, and lightly grabbed Midoriya’s wrists, pulling the panicking Midoriya’s arms up and out of the way. Shouto leaned to the side and wrapped his arms around Midoriya’s chest. His head leaned to the side to avoid any accidental touches.

Midoriya felt arms wrap around him for the first time in his living memory. Nothing to stop any accidental touches. No blanket covers. No extra large jackets. No scarves. Just the clothes on their backs.

Midoriya slid the hand that was on his mouth up to cup his cheek, protecting his face from any chance of skin contact. Midoriya slid his other arm under Todoroki’s armpit and gripping him tight across Todoroki’s back.

If they had been wearing their summer uniforms. If Todoroki’s sleeves were just an inch shorter. If Midoriya wasn’t wearing his gloves.

Midoriya was wearing his gloves. Todoroki’s sleeves went just beyond his wrist. And they were still wearing their winter uniforms with the longer sleeves.

Midoriya melted into the touch, sobbing his heart out. The bells drowned out the echoing, far more quiet sobs that came from his partner.

Chapter Text

The walk to the 1A waiting room was quiet. The hug was… the longest hug that Midoriya had experienced in years. Even embraces with his mother were brief, and far more guarded. Shouto was just barely depending on the fabric of his clothes as the only barrier between him and the cold of Midoriya’s mind.

“Todoroki,” Midoriya stopped, just a few feet away from the waiting room.

“Hmmm?”

“I don’t think that- I want you to know that-“ Midoriya’s mouth was moving while he was unaware of where it wanted to go. They were just steps away from losing this closeness that they had shared just seconds before. Midoriya wasn’t sure if he wanted it to end or not, but he did know that there were too many things left unsaid.

“You don’t have to say anything Midoriya.”

“I want to. I just don’t know what that was. He’s hated me since our time at the USJ, I wish I knew why but I don’t.” Midoriya’s mind flashed back to his time inside of Shigaraki and he shuddered. The immense weight of being unable to control his limbs was a suffocating memory he cared not to remember.

“Or maybe I do. Maybe he thinks that my time preeted with that villain tainted me? I just- I wish he would stop.”

“Midoriya.” Todoroki squeezed Midoriya’s shoulder. “He’s not worth the effort. If he wants to be mad, if he wants to tear you down you can’t let him. I’m- we’re in this together.”

Midoriya squeezed his eyes shut and nodded. Together. Right.

“And you also have Hagakure and her boyfriend on your side too. Right?”

Midoriya nodded faster. He would be ok.

“You’re not alone.”

Midoriya covered his mouth, hoping to stop any sobs from escaping his mouth. He- he wasn’t alone.

The two changed into their uniforms and joined the rest of the class in the waiting room. They didn’t have long before the beginning of the event, the flurry of changing their clothes came with the surprise of their missing costumes. Only their gym uniforms were in their lockers.

“So no hero costumes,” Todoroki murmured tugging off his tie.

Midoriya nodded, not paying any mind as he changed into his uniform. A few minutes had passed by the time that the two left the locker room. A queer blush colored the tips of Todoroki’s ears that Midoriya didn’t care to explain.

The rest of the class was sitting in an anxious mess. Mina was complaining about the outfits while Hagakure and Ojiro flirted at the same table. Bakugo was mumbling with a few of his friends off to the side. Uraraka was fumbling with her fingers while talking to Iida and Asui. Everyone sat at attention, waiting for their class to be called into the stadium.

“The entire world is watching.”

“First impressions are everything.”

“There’s nothing we can do to skip this, is there?”

Midoriya stood off to the side with Todoroki, the two making eye contact every so often.

Shinsou was no where to be found.

The clock ticked on the wall, waiting for the hands to strike 8 am.

As if an alarm had gone off, just five minutes before the class would be called down Shinsou sauntered into the room.

“Good morning,” he called out. He was greeted with a mumbled response. Todoroki, Midoriya, Hagakure, and Oijiro stayed obviously silent. “Anyone ready to show the world what we can do? The true power of class 1A?”

No proper response, instead the rest of the class starred blankly at the class president.

Shinsou looked around the room, making brief eye contact with the rest of the group. He skipped Midoriya at the edge of the room.

“We’re the only class to have faced off against villains. Shouldn’t that make you excited? The rest of the world would normally skip the first years but not this year. They want to see the battle worn heroes in training.

“And shouldn’t we greet them as such? We are heroes in training. I’m ready to fight, aren’t you.”

Shinsou walked over to the table that Bakugo sat at and made eye contact with the explosive classmate.

“I heard that you’re going to be making the opening announcement for the ceremony, right? What do you have planned?”

Bakugo scoffed at the class president. “What do you care?”

“You represent everyone, not just our class. So what are you going to say?”

“That I’m going to be number 1,” all the banter having left his voice.

“Are you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Are you going to be number 1? Because there’s a class here full of talent that’s aiming for that same spot. You got chosen for your score on the entrance exam. But are you going to be number 1 today?”

Anger flashed across Bakugo’s face as an explosion rippled across his finger tips. “You calling me out prez?”

“Not at all,” Shinsou said a hand raising in the air as a false peace offering. “I just thought you should know that no one’s chasing your coat tails. Not the way that you want us to. We’re not standing behind you with our hands in our pockets. We aren’t sitting still while you’re running.

“We are working hard at this, harder than you. You’re the type of person who’s had everything handed to you since the beginning right? Someone who’s shaken the village with your quirk and gotten treasure thrown at your feet.

“No one is lying down to you anymore. No one is quivering beneath you. We’re catching up, and catching up fast. Your lack-a-daisy attitude towards us is unimpressive if not sloppy and pathetic. So I suggest you pick up your slack and remember that you were number one yesterday. Today? Not so much.”

Just then a knock on the door leading to the stadium. “Class A, time to go.” The voice was clear.

“Next time, think a little harder about a speech you’re giving to the entire world. Ok?”

Shinsou turned away from Bakugo and walked out the door first, head held high.

The rest of the class stood in shock before following out the door. The door lead to a tall hallway. The roar of an audience greeted them the closer they got. What started as a dull thunder turned into a rapturous applause.

The announcement of their class name followed by the rest of the first year classes seemed to rumble through Midoriya’s bones.

“This is amazing,” Midoriya murmured as the class walked towards the stage at the center of the stadium. Up there was a single microphone with the teacher Midnight walking across the stage, drumming up the audience participation.

“Welcome everyone to the first year show! Media, families, and enthusiasts alike! The UA sports festival is about to begin! Give a warm welcome to the lucky show stoppers from across the country!”

Her announcement of the other classes was met with an early crescendo by the audience reaching its peak too soon. By the time the business classes were introduced the audience had gone from a thunderous boom to polite clapping.

Izuku’s world slowed down as Bakugo Katsuki was introduced as the highest ranked student in all of the first years.

Bakugo starred out at the crowd, meeting them with an uneven eye. The cogs in his head were visible as he tried to reach for something, anything to say.

“I’m-“ Bakugo stopped. He was tense up on stage, his body seeming to shut down without cause. A hundred-thousand eyes were looking down at him. His words would reflect his entire year’s worth of classmates, their struggles and desires.

Whatever he had been planning to say was gone. Whatever speech, whatever pledge, whatever desires he wanted to invoke for his class was gone. All that was left was Bakugo, a rarely intimidated Bakugo.

He sighed into the mic, his breath echoing in the stadium.

“I’m-“ he tried again only for the words to fall from his mouth onto the ground next to him. He stepped away from the microphone, ready to back away from the speech and instead let out a loud guttural scream the sound escaping his body.

The world stopped with his shout. Bakugo turned around and Izuku saw a much more common sight of anger and fury in his eyes. Something that would normally be openly directed at him but turned into a war cry for the rest of the students. Bakugo’s eyes narrowed on his classmates, his eyes piercing just behind Izuku.

Izuku turned and saw a grinning Shinsou.

“I’m going to tear you to shreds! You try and fuck with me you’re going to be left in the dirt behind me. I’m number one for a reason!”

Bakugo’s finger raised to be pointed at his class president. “I’m number one! Today! Tomorrow! Every day after!”

Midnight came up behind Bakugo and put a firm hand on the student’s shoulder. He shoved her off before sulking back to the mob of students.

Around Midoriya a mob of screams erupted from the students. The class of 1A called out to berate their classmate’s poor behavior. The rest of the first years calling Bakugo a pig.

Midoriya wasn’t sure what to think of the whole spectacle. He had seen Bakugo angry before. Serious. Morose. Scared. But that wasn’t what Bakugo was acting like up on the stage. He was fuming, sure. Angry? Definitely. But above all else he saw something in Bakugo that the classmate was lacking as of late. Passion.

Midoriya risked a glance back at Shinsou, wondering what the ex-friend thought of the spectacle. Shinsou had the look of the cat that caught the canary. Silently prideful.

A mechanical beep rang throughout the stadium just before the games were announced. Midnight was through about what the challenge would entail. It sounded simple enough. Obstacle course. Once around the track that had been laid out the night before. Quirks allowed. A no holding back free for all race.

“You coming?” Todoroki asked as he passed by a still Midoriya.

Midoriya glanced around and nodded. The short walk to the starting gate was breezy. Midoriya kept to himself, trying to stay away from the nearest person, trying to maintain his unnaturally large elbow room.

The beeps that counted down to the start of the race were deafened by the sound of Midoriya’s own heart beat.

The world around him narrowed down to a whisper around him as he realized what was going to happen.

The horn that announced the beginning of the race ran hollow. The world surged forward while Midoriya ducked to the side. It couldn’t be that easy. It wouldn’t be that simple. An open path that would accommodate everyone?

Midoriya took off before the final buzzard, running as fast as he could to the right. Something was wrong, he could feel it in his gut. There was a trap on the other side of that line.

Midoriya watched from the sidelines as a mass of students started to cram into one another, everyone ducking for the first one out of the gates.

Humans smashed into one another. Elbows were thrown. Bodies tumbled. People dove into one another with shouts of effort.

Dozens of people began to break apart, seeing the simplest problem and deciding it was too much for them. Perhaps they felt they had better things to do. Different talents to advertise. Maybe they just didn’t care for all the glamor and fame that came with the sports festival. But Midoriya- Midoriya stood in horror. What would have been a normal obstacle for one person was a horror to Midoriya.

“No, there’s no way.”

Midoriya watched as mass of human flesh formed in front of him. The sound of bells surrounded him, catching on cusp of his ears with all the malice in the world. If Midoriya took one step into that mass of people, he wouldn’t come out again. Or rather- he wouldn’t come out himself.

“Haga-“ Midoriya stopped himself from calling out only a second too late. Not that it mattered. The only things that Midoriya could see was a sea of strangers. The closest person he’d know was probably long gone by now, far out of the way of helping him.

Todoroki was probably in first place, racing ahead of everyone around him. Maybe even in the front of the pack, leading the charge. Hagakure would be doing her best, not at the front but definitely not the back either. She had been focusing on her stamina last he recalled, at least a decent way through.

“No- there’s- there has to be something.”

One step at a time, Midoriya shuffled towards the entrance. What started as a wide enough threshold for a dozen people to get through without bumping elbows turned into a thin pipe line, pressing students up against one another like sardines.

A loud boom echoed through the funnel signifying the next obstacle ahead. Something dangerous from ahead came to a crash that shook the stadium. Midoriya tried to glance around the mass of people but couldn’t see anything beyond the mass of people in front of him. Not even a speck of stray dust in the air.

“Move!” Midoriya screamed at the back of the mob. Not that anyone seemed to pay attention to him. Midoriya wanted to push everyone out in front of him. He wanted to scream and cry until people moved. But they took their sweet time working their way through the funnel.

To Midoriya’s horror, by the time he finally got through the corridor Midoriya could see that he was so far behind.

“I should just give up,” Midoriya said looking in front. There was no way- it was impossible to get through. He must have been dead last in the race, stuck behind the dozens of people. All of class 1-A, most of 1-B, probably every other class was in front of him.

Despite his words Midoriya kept up a steady jog. Pieces of robot had been scattered across the field in piles of wreckage. Giant hunks of armored platting and electric wires.

In his rush Midoriya had just enough time to pick up one large armored plate off the ground. There was no way he would catch up to the groups via brute strength, but if he thought his way carefully. No- he didn’t have time for carefully. And armor would just slow him down.

Midoriya let go of the trash hearing it scatter behind him. All of the robots that were left standing seemed to have missing limbs, spurting sparks or just malfunctioning of their own accord. Midoriya didn’t have time to worry about that.

He had to run.

Whether he was catching up to the front of just catching up to the majority Midoriya had no idea. But he was gaining speed and that was what mattered.

Midoriya came to a scattered halt when he came upon the next obstacle. His breathing came in shallowed, panicked gasps as he looked out in front of him. He was looking out at the chasm in front of him feeling despair wrap its ugly claws around him.

In front of him was a gorge with pillars of earth connected with tightrope wires. He saw people fly over the valley, cross the wires on their toes or wade across hand over foot. Sure there were simple ways across, easy ways that involved balance or perseverance. But those ways took time. Time that Midoriya was lacking.

But there had to be something else.

Midoriya peered over the edge and saw nets lining the basin to catch any unsuspecting victims that may have lost their footing.

Midoriya panted, and looked across the chasm. He was not going to finish if he didn’t get a move on. But was he agile enough to get across the gorge without help?

“What would All Might do?”

Midoriya knew what All Might would do. He would cross the chasm in a single bound. He would fly through the sky on his own strength. But if he used his powers, the one that All Might had given him he would get hurt. No- that had to be a final option.

“Wait.” Midoriya looked at the wire next to him. A hundred people must have strung themselves across these wires. Midoriya reached down and put some of his weight on the wire. It bounced lightly, hardly any give. The wire was designed to take multiple people’s weight as they crossed the chasm. Midoriya could try and crawl across the chasm using these wires and take ten minutes to reach the other side. By then there might be people who had already crossed the finish line.

Midoriya would not cross the finish line if he relied on his strength. He wouldn’t cross the finish line in one piece if he used one for all. He wouldn’t cross the finish line a hero if he used his own quirk- not without allies. That left Midoriya one final boon he had on his side.

Midoriya took a few steps back from the edge and tried to take inventory of everything he had access to. Behind him were hundreds of robot parts he had already rejected for taking away too much of his valuable time- a decision he was beginning to regret. In front of him were level wires that could hold hundreds of kilos worth of weight. Maybe that was the answer this whole time. His first instinct was right. Midoriya couldn’t fly like All Might. But he could fly like Spiderman.

Midoriya sat down on the ground next to a wire and began to force the nuts and bolts apart with his fingers. His gloves gave him the addition of extra friction allowing him to pry apart the bolts with just his strength.

Midoriya made sure not to lose the wire, holding it between his feet as his fingers made nimble works of the multiple safety precautions. There were three large pillars between this side of the chasm and the other. If Midoriya could swing from this first pillar to the second he would overtake at least a couple dozen people. If he flew into the side of a pillar he would be down for the count. If he overestimated his strength and lost his grip he would fall into the pit below. If he didn’t swing correctly he could miss his one shot of opportunity.

There were so many what-ifs that Midoriya wondered briefly if it was worth it.

The sports festival was there to show your aptitude towards heroism and help the hero classes find mentors and resources. As the years went by the festival would become more important, it became a recognition of training just as much as natural talent. Being good in the UA sports festival opened doors. Yet none of that should have mattered. Midoriya had already found the ultimate resource. He was currently being mentored by All Might. He shared the same quirk as All Might. The number one hero in the world had taken a significant interest in him.

But Midoriya didn’t care. He wasn’t about to be left behind.

As the final screw came loose in his hand Midoriya tightened his feet around the cord, stopping it from falling over the edge. He couldn’t pull it closer to secure his grasp, or even move the wire more than a few centimeters in front of him without loosing his grip.

With a deep breath Midoriya reached out and replaced his unsteady hold on the wire with his feet and replaced it with the more secure grip of his hands. Midoriya was leaning off the wall, holding onto the last meter of wire when he took the dive.

He tried to avoid thinking as he dove off the ledge. His mouth opened with an involuntary shout as he soared through the air. He was coming up on the first obstacle in his path quick. His voice raised in pitch as he came closer to one of the pillars in the gorge. Two options, kick, or smash. Smashing would be bad- smashing would be worse than just letting go and falling. Two options became one as Midoriya twisted his hips in mid air and raised his legs to prepare for impact.

It wasn’t so bad because Midoriya kept his legs moving as he flew. It was less like falling onto your knees from a great height but rolling to the ground, spreading the impact with every quick step as he gained speed. He had dodged the first pillar and was at the lowest point in which the wire would carry him. Now, he was going up with his momentum, flying towards another pillar.

He kept his feet in front of him, his stance ready to run along the edge of the pillar as he took off as fast as he could. His trick didn’t work with the same level of success the second time as his grip lost strength. The momentum of his impact had jolted the wire out of Midoriay’s hands for a second as he came down to the end of the wire, hanging on by the latching that had originally kept the wire connected to cliff edge just moments earlier.

He was almost level with the top edge of one of the pillars. If he kept his hold on the wire he would just fall backwards.

Midoriya screamed as loud as he could as he pulled with all of his strength, forcing himself to keep going forward without his safety net of the wire. He could see the other side of the cliff. He was so close, he was so close he was so close he was so-

Midoriya hit the edge of the cliff face first. Midoriya hands scratched the cliff as hard as he could, with all the strength he had. He was falling- he was falling- he-

Midoriya felt a hand wrap around his wrist keeping him from falling off the edge.

Midoriya looked up and saw the blank expression of a person from one of the other classes hold his wrist. Midoriya wanted to scream at the stranger to let go, the fear of his quirk activating catching his breath before he realized that he didn’t feel the warmth of skin on skin contact. A white handkerchief was keeping blocking their connection. Midoriya didn’t recognize the person but the student knew not to touch Midoriya. The person was just… starring at him. With milky white eyes.

“Hi,” Midoriya said to the stranger.

The boy didn’t respond as he lifted Midoriya with ease to the edge of the cliff until he was sitting comfortably. Then he blinked and the light came back into the stranger’s face.

“What- what on earth?”

The boy shook his head, looking around for a minute.

“Thanks for saving me,” Midoriya said.

The boy shot Midoriya a look of confusion before getting up and walking away.

Midoriya looked back to the crowd and saw the back of the student president as he was running away towards the next obstacle.

It took Midoriya just a moment to get back to his own feet. He was unsteady on his feet as he came to a standing position. The impact of him running into those pillars hadn’t broken anything but it hadn’t gone well either.

Midoriya started moving by limping until he got used to the pain. Then he was walking. Slow. Slower than before, and definitely not running. But he was able to catch up to the final obstacle having gained a significant amount of ground from before. For the first time since the race had started Midoriya felt like it was possible to catch up to the front of the pack.

The next obstacle was a mine field, he could tell by the giant yellow and red sign that announced as much. The skulls didn’t help that much.

There were a few dozen people in front of him with giant pits dug out of the ground in front of him like he was standing in front of a cheese block. The pits must have been mines that had gone off, and by the lack of blood anywhere he doubted any of the explosions had been strong enough to cause any damage.

Midoriya took off, walking through the pits in the ground like they were nothing. The arrangement of the mines were interesting, sparse enough at the beginning of the field but growing in density the further in that Midoriya got. Eventually there seemed to be one bomb every step with still hundreds of feet to go.

No, this couldn’t have been the intended strategy made by the teachers. There had to be more to the obstacle. If he was closer to the edges maybe there were less mines? A glance to his right said otherwise.

A loud pop in front of him sent a student flying backward, landing with a solid thud.

Midoriya flinched waiting for another pop but nothing happened. The student had fallen into an area without mines.

Midoriya stopped in his path and waited. Another student stepped onto a mine and fell back a few meters landing on their side with a thud in the earth. Midoriya could have sworn he had seen a mine exactly where the student had landed but it didn’t go off.

Midoriya took a deep breath and took a careless step forward, making certain that his foot landed squarely on a mine. The pop deafened him for a moment before he found himself several meters back lying in agony. His ears were ringing as he pulled himself to his feet, looking at the outline in the dirt he hand landed in.

Midoriya gasped, realizing that he had landed squarely on two mines. No. It couldn’t be that simple. There’s no way there were two duds on the field. Let alone that Midoriya had fallen squarely on both of them.

Midoriya deliberately stepped on the one his head had knocked against and was thrown three meters back, landing on his back.

“Nope,” he gasped looking up at the sky. He was seeing stars in the beautiful blue sky as his head came back to earth again. Everything was sore and he did not want to move ever again. He could feel three pockets under him indicating he hand landed on three more land mines. He waited to see when they would go off again but there was nothing. Nothing while he was still lying on the ground.

“Midoriya!”

Midoriya looked off to the side and saw a set of floating clothes standing next to him, careful not to step on any of the live bombs.

“Hagakure, hi.”

“Are you ok? You just got blown up twice!”

Midoriya coughed as he sat up, keeping pressure on one bomb directly under his butt. Still no explosion.

“I did,” Midoriya said. “Just needed to test something.” He looked around and saw that he had landed the same distance, 3 meters back every time. Directly backwards each time. “And I think I have an idea of how to get across this minefield without getting blown up again.”

He could feel Hagakure’s surprise as she helped him to his feet.

“Hagakure. Help me dig up some of these mines.”

Midoriya went through his plan as quickly as he could with his friend. Together they dug up four mines. One for each hand. It would get them past where the people in first place were.

“We could win this,” she whispered as she grabbed the last mine, careful not to hit the button sensor on the top.

“Ready?” She asked holding out the first mine.

Midoriya nodded.

She threw the mine and the two of them jumped into position and waited. She had blown up a mine about 6 meters in front of them and ran for the mines directly behind them just a few meters back.

The two of them jumped from their spots into the crater they had made.

“Oh my god,” Hagakure whispered.

“On three I’m going to throw it.” Midoriya tossed one of his mines and the two jumped three meters at a time. They were making speed, faster than anyone else. Better, they were making a path that no one around them could follow. They set off the mines at a large enough distance that no one could reasonably jump it but timed in such a way that they could keep a steady pace.

Toss, jump jump. Toss jump jump.

Midoriya grinned as he passed Todoroki taking the lead with Hagakure.

He could hear the people behind them calling out, asking how the two were standing on active mines without setting them off, but the two kept going.

When they had run out of mines they bent down and dug up the last few handfuls, more than what they would need to finish their trek.

Behind them, he could see Bakugo screaming about ‘Shitty Deku.’ They could also see a dozen people trying to replicate their strategy by digging up the mines under their feet and using them to blow up mines directly in front of them. The biggest difference was that the copycats didn’t have the same finesse or sense of timing that Midoriya and Hagakure had. Most of those people got blown up themselves.

“Ready?” Midoriya asked, seeing that the previous leads were close behind.

Hagakure made her toss and the two crossed the minefield without any major issues, even if Midoriya’s ears were still ringing.

“We did it!” Hagakure shouted. “Let’s go!”

Midoriya nodded and the two took off, Midoriya stumbling just slightly behind. He could tell that Hagakure was keeping a slower pace just to make sure that Midoriya didn’t lag behind. Whether she could tell how injured he was left up for debate.

When they got the finish line Hagakure paused for a moment, as though waiting to see if Midoriya was going to surge behind to take first place. But Midoriya matched her speed and gave an encouraging nod. He didn’t need first place.

Midoriya swore she was grinning as the line for first place was broken around the invisible girl.

Midoriya could see Hagakure jumping in the air. He could hear her vibrant laughter. He may just given up first place but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. If he could have chosen anyone to finish before him he couldn’t think of a better person.

Chapter Text

Midoriya fell to his knees while confetti rained down from the stadium. Hagakure ran around, reveling in her position at first place. While although her expression and gestures were hidden to the naked eye, Midoriya could hear his friend sniffling as she ran.

From up in the commentator booth Present Mic was shouting her praises. The audience was screaming. An invisible person won the first task! Not someone with a flashy quick, not someone with an overtly powerful quirk. It was incredible! Unheard of! Dazzling!

By the time the people in third place and below started to poor through the stadium Hagakure had collapsed next to Midoriya.

“Thank you!” She cried in a fit of giggles. “Why did you let me take first place?”

Midoriya shrugged. He didn’t know how to explain that he didn’t need to be in first place. He already had a mentor and people who were willing to look after him. He just wanted to finish the race.

“Well, thank you anyway.”

Todoroki ran over to his friends after he crossed the finish line, solidly placing in fifth behind Katsuki Bakugo and Hitoshi Shinsou. Not where he wanted, but nothing to sneeze at. His father would be pissed but that was only more cause for celebration.

Ojiro had also made his way over to the group of friends finishing towards the middle of the pack.

Hagakure was pulled to her feet by her boyfriend as Midnight began talking about the next task. Her enthusiasm towards the next battle was borderline sexual, making all of the students in the audience uncomfortable as she used the leather whip in her hand to emphasize her words.

The words cavalry battle sent shivers down Midoriya’s spine. Midoriya had never participated in these kinds of team sports, choosing to opt-out in middle school with his quick as his excuse. But now there were no excuses. Opting out would mean forfeiting the competition. Midoriya didn’t have a choice. He would have to preet with someone on purpose, or it was guaranteed to happen on accident.

Midoriya zoned out, his gaze turning glossy under the pressure of his own thoughts. He was startled awake by the point assignments laid before him on the board. As he was in second place he had the second-most points assigned at 205.

Hagakure, however, was stuck with 10,000,000 points. There wasn’t a single set of eyes that wasn’t looking at the invisible girl. And Midoriya could feel her glare boring into him.

He thought he had been kind letting her take first place. Generous even. He didn’t need first place. But he should have taken it.

“Whoops,” Midoriya whispered.

“Midoriya,” Hagakure growled. What had turned from thankfulness turned into hatred in less than a minute. “You better fix this.”

Midoriya nodded. He looked over at his other friends that were looking away. Neither of them wanted to have to hold onto the ten million point bandana for the entire game. Midoriya couldn’t blame them, it wasn’t his first choice either.

The students were dismissed with a fifteen-minute timer taking up every screen on the stadium to show how long the students had to strategize.

“We can- umm- if you’re comfortable that is-“ Midoriya was interrupted as Hagakure latched onto his face with an open palm. The bells- the light- the touch. Midoriya was on his knees shaking as the two people merged into one.

Todoroki and Oijiro squinted at Midoriya’s shaking form on the ground, glancing around.

“Where did they go?” Oijiro asked.

“We’re here,” Toorhu said uselessly. Her wide eyes blinking up at the two boys while they looked around her but never at her. It was as though their eyes were forced to look away from her. She reached out and took hold of Ojiro’s hand, her hand clamping down on his in a vice grip.

The boy’s eyes focused on hers’s and they maintained eye contact. His blush reached his ears as he saw the first approximation of what his girlfriend looked like. There was enough Midoriya in his appearance with the same eye shape, and the wrong color of hair and eyes that he would never be an accurate representation.

“This is weird,” Oijiro admitted.

“Can you see them?” Todoroki asked, his own gaze going through the preeted couple.

“Yes,” Oijiro said.

“I can still see you, Oijro, I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

Midoriya was still panting in their own mindset. The darkness was overwhelming, consuming. His heartbeat wasn’t his own. The actions weren’t his own. He was thrown back into a panic he couldn’t control, one that felt almost detached in his panic. The only influence he had over his body were the involuntary convulsions at the sudden intrusion.

Don’t just touch me!

The two split with Midoriya gasping just a few feet away from them. His arms wrapped around his stomach as he struggled not to puke on the ground. Panic soaked through his bones and onto his sweat-soaked face.

“Midoriya! I’m sorry!” Hagakure was crawling over to her friend, panic leaking into her voice. “I just didn’t think that we had time to talk that out! I figured it would be ok!”

Midoriya could only stare blankly in front of him as he tried to breathe, tried to take a breath. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t inhale. It was like his lungs had deflated in his chest and it was impossible to- it was impossible!

Todoroki got down to Midoriya’s level.

“Breathe,” Todoroki instructed. “I know it’s hard but you have to breathe. Long breaths if you can.”

Midoriya only panted out.

“You’ve just had the wind knocked out of you, but you’re ok. Just breathe, take a deep breath in. You got this.”

Midoriya finally took a breath and it lead into another. One after another in rapid succession.

“That’s it, you’ve got this. Now, longer breaths. One in- one out. Slow down, you got this.”

It didn’t take long for Midoriya to follow Todoroki’s lead, following his counts and regaining control over his own breathing, over his own body. It was his body. His life.

Todoroki reached out with his sleeve covering his hand, offering to help Midoriya up. Midoriya shook his head getting up on his own. Better safe than sorry.

“I’m so sorry,” Hagakure said, her own breathing ragged from invisible tears. “I didn’t mean to- it wasn’t-“

“It’s not your fault,” Midoriya insisted, putting a hand out.

“Where did you guys go?” Oijiro asked putting a tentative hand on Hagakure’s shoulder. “One minute you were gone and then you were there.

“We disappear completely,” Hagakure explained. “We found out earlier today that people can see us if we’re touching but I was hoping you would disappear too. It would make our team invincible, but we haven’t It just makes the most sense that we would preet, otherwise Midoriya would have to touch people. He can’t just-“

“I know!” Midoriya snapped brushing himself off. He took a shallow breath and tried again. “I know Hagakure, but you can’t just reach out when I’m not prepared for it.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-“

“It’s fine. Just- just talk to me is all.” A shiver ran down his spine.

“Ok,” Todoroki said. “You two can completely disappear which is all fine and dandy but you need someone to hold you up. And if you fall while you’re invisible like that no one would know you were gone. You might even get trampled.”

The memory of being shoved out of the way this morning didn’t sound like a pleasant thing to re-experience.

“So we don’t preet,” Hagakure said. “Too dangerous. What else?” She looked at Oijiro but he was looking off to the side.

“I don’t know if-“

“Are you trying to get away from the ten million price sticker on my head?”

“Maybe.”

Hagakure groaned. “We need a plan! And someone for you to preet with!”

Midoriya was stunned at her callous words. She was right, he had to preet with someone or else he wouldn’t be able to participate. Hagakure was out, they would get run over or worse, and Izuku wasn’t sure if he wanted to preet with her so soon. Oijiro didn’t even want to be on their team and Todoroki-

Todoroki was looking down at Midoriya with concern. His hands were hovering on Midoriya’s back, trying to offer some kind of comfort in that moment despite Midoriya denying it. If they preeted they would be powerful. Strong enough to protect themselves from the other students despite the blazing targets on their backs. It would be so easy to ask for help, and Midoriya didn’t doubt for a second that Todoroki would give it.

“You should go,” Midoriya said looking at Todoroki’s mismatched eyes.

“But I can help if you use me for offense.”

Midoriya shook his head, his eyes glancing at Hagakure. “We got this. You should go too Oijro. I think the two of us can handle this.”

“No, we can’t! The two of us don’t make a horse. We need at least one other person.” Her hand reached out for Oijro’s sleeve.

“I agree,” Midoriya said. His eyes scanned the crowd. “But I think I know a different way. The event is only fifteen minutes. There are two ways we can do this. Run the entire time keeping away from the other teams or ditch the points immediately and snag someone else’s.”

Midoriya glanced at Oijiro and Todoroki. He didn’t want them to leave, there would be a way to figure out how to use them effectively. Ojiro would make a good lower horse. Todoroki would be a great offense. Hagakure would make a light top.

Ojiro didn’t want to be there, he didn’t think they could win. Hagakure was scared of Todoroki’s powers and didn’t trust him as a person. It didn’t make for a solid team, and Midoriya couldn’t leave her behind after pushing her into first place.

“Go,” Hagakure pouted.

Oijiro was gone. Just like that, looking for another team to sneak into.

Todoroki was not so easy to leave. “Are you sure this is what you want?” He asked, his eyes scanning between the two board leaders.

‘No,’ Midoriya thought. His hands twitched towards Todoroki.

“Yes,” Midoriya said out loud. “Everyone is going to be after us, and if this doesn’t work I want to be able to cheer you on.”

Todoroki blinked at Midoriya, the shock taking over his face in his raised eyebrows and slightly open mouth. There was a light blush on the left half of his face. It was like a deer in headlights; stunned into silence.

“Ok. Bye.” Todoroki turned around, walking away as quickly as possible to find another team.

“Huh,” Hagakure said, watching Todoroki go. “I think I get it now.”

“Get what?”

“Nothing, so what was your plan?”

“I was thinking of flying. If we can get high in the air and stay there for fifteen minutes I think we’ll be safe. So someone who’s quick would translate into something evasive. Uraraka, Iida, or your quirk would be the best idea. But if we use your quirk then we need someone who is heavily offensive. Like Sato or Shoji. But we would be leaving them on their own for the most part, it wouldn’t be fair to them so we would need a team of offensive people I think.”

The two got to work, walking around looking for the people they were familiar with. Sato and Shoji were already in groups. Iida, and Uraraka were already in another group together, one that Todoroki had found solace in. The clock was ticking and Hagakure and Midoriya still needed to find a third person. Two bodies were needed to make a horse.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have sent away Todoroki,” Hagakure muttered.

“I sent him away because I know how you feel about him. If you don’t trust him it wouldn’t make for a good team.”

Hagakure was silent. Midoriya was waiting for a response, one that wouldn’t come. So he filled in the blanks.

“I know I said you don’t have to like him, but I like him.” His hands flew in the air with exasperation. “He’s been a really good friend the past few days and I don’t like that you don’t like him. There, I said it!”

“I thought you said that I didn’t have to like him.”

“You don’t,” Midoriya agreed. “But I don’t see why! His quirk scares you, he needs better control or something, but so do I! We work well together.

“You like him too!”

Too? Midoriya thought.

“I just said I liked him.”

“No, you like like him.”

“Wait, what?”

“Oh my god! Are you that dense?”

Midoriya chewed his lower lip, trying to find the right words. Were there other ways to like someone? He liked Todoroki the same way he liked Hagakure and the way he used to like Shinsou. He enjoyed spending time with them, he liked talking to them.

“I don’t understand,” Midoriya said.

Hagakure put a hand on Midoriya’s clothed shoulder, he struggled not to flinch away. “You wouldn’t, would you?”

The two were interrupted by a cough. Midoriya jumped away from Hagakure’s touch and saw Fumikage Tokoyami standing there. The boy had the head of a bird and thus a difficult to read expression. However, there was a shadow hovering over his shoulder that seemed to be vibrating with anxiety.

“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting something-“

“You’re not!”

“You are.”

Midoriya shot Hagakure a glare he wasn’t sure if he meant.

Tokoyami looked between the two of them, waiting to see if there was anything else.

“Anyways,” he trailed off. “I saw that you only had two people over here and wanted to know if you needed an extra person.”

“We do!” Hagakure said, her voice twinkling with an invisible smile. “Now we have three! This is great!”

Midoriya hesitated. He hadn’t really spoken with Tokoyami before. They were both forced to stay after for therapy after the USJ but that was the only real interaction that they had had.

“Why?”

Hagakure elbowed Midoriya in the stomach, which he jumped out of the way of.

“Why did you want to join us?” Midoriya asked again.

Tokoyami hesitated looking between the two students. His beak clenched in a way that Midoriya noted looked like concern, or possibly embarrassment. Tokoyami reached up and ruffled the feathers that made up the hair on the back of his head, letting the dark rainbows flutter in the sunlight of the open stadium.

“I didn’t want to,” Tokoyami confessed. “Not the way that you’re thinking.”

The conscious shadow that made up Tokoyami’s quirk emerged from his chest. The visual of a talking shadow was off-putting the first few times Midoriya had seen it. It was similar to trying to watch waves on a pond. When the shadow moved it was easy to see, watching the ripples of light bend off the edges into a clear concise image. But when the shadow stayed still it made it difficult to pinpoint exactly what it was doing, not impossible, just difficult. The only thing that was easy to see no matter what the shadow was doing were the two bright white eyes that seemed to be studying Midoriya.

“I wanted to see what we would look like as a preet.” The shadow’s voice was almost an autotuned version of Tokoyami’s voice. It was a higher-pitched and wavering tone that sounded squeaky. “I’ve been interested in this for a while.”

Midoriya hesitated, drawing back into himself.

The timer went off in the distance, a two-minute warning.

Midoriya looked between the two people in front of him. If he and Hagakure got on Tokoyami’s back they might be invisible enough that no one would know where to grab. They were invisible enough that even wearing clothes no one could see them. But that would leave Tokoyami alone in the fight, he would be a target for anyone to attack. Hagakure couldn’t turn other people invisible and if anyone touched them while they were together the jig would be up.

Midoriya pulled the glove off of his hand and extended it towards Tokoyami. The air brushing against his palm sent a nauseating chill up his spine.

“We protect Hagakure on our back. The name of the game is evasion. Are you ready?”

Tokoyami nodded in understanding. Dark shadow’s eyes closed in unadulterated glee. The shadow pressed its head up against Midoriya’s extended palm like a kitten desiring human touch.

Nothing happened. The shadow beast was warm, like the comfort of an animal. It had the texture of polished woodgrain, smooth and organic.

“Huh,” Midoriya said, letting his hand glide against Tokoyami’s quirk. He could tell that his hand could pass through the shadow beast if he tried, but Midoriya stuck to the outside, petting the quirk beast.

“Aww,” the shadow said. “I wanted to be the fusion.”

Midoriya didn’t say anything, just marveling in the feeling of the quirk against his skin. His fingers danced across the points at the top of its head over and over again. The sensation of touching something without preeting wasn’t one he experienced often. Midoriya never preeted with animals, so maybe this was similar? Or perhaps it was because this was Tokoyami’s quirk, and touching a person’s quirk didn’t count as touching them. Maybe it was-

Hagakure cleared her throat interrupting Midoriya’s fascination.

“Oh sorry,” Midoriya said pulling his hand away. He turned his attention back to Tokoyami. He extended his hand again.

Tokoyami’s hand was as warm as his shadow and just a firm. And then he was gone, sucked into the lights and bells that was Midoriya’s quirk.

Midoriya was tall. Taller than either of them had been on their own, almost as tall as he was with All Might. His hair was gone, replaced by a bird-shaped cowl that extended over Midoriya’s face giving him the silhouette of a bird head without the beak. Black feathers laid flat down Midoriya’s arms and legs, giving the sporadic look of feathers between patches of pale skin.

Midoriya’s outfit was skin tight and vulnerable. His chest was only clothed by leathery lingerie that wasn’t trying to cover anything, merely hold everything in place. On his hips was a pleated skirt made from the same black leather of his brasier.

Midoriya had never noticed his chest before with any of his preets. Or rather he had ignored it for the most part. He wasn’t interested in how his body changed when he preeted but this time the changes were too obvious to ignore.

“Why do I have boobs?” Midoriya asked looking down.

“Uhh,” Hagakure said, her eyes looking up and down the sexy amazonian preet.

Midoriya could feel Tokoyami settling uncomfortably inside of him.

Dark shadow is a girl. So… maybe that’s why?

“Your quirk is a girl?”

Yes.

“So our preet would be a woman? This doesn’t happen when I’ve preeted with other girls before.”

Hagakure’s sleeves went down to fold over her own chest.

Dark shadow doesn’t normally have a form. So maybe that’s why?

Midoriya sighed. “It doesn’t matter I guess. Let’s go win this.”