Chapter Text
"Doctor, the lights. I have a few tests I'd like to run."
Doctor Garaki quickly shuffled over to the lights and flipped them on to reveal a pale green room with several surgical tables lined up in rows. Twice turned to see a large man in a suit with only scar tissue above his lips.
"So, uh, what... whatcha want?"//"Can we be friends?!"
The eyeless man chuckled. "I'd love to be your friend, Bubaigawara. First, I would like you to explain your quirk for me."
Twice straightened his posture and started speaking with a dramatic flare. "I can make clones of anything as long as I have a precise image in my head! I can only create two of any specific object, but an unlimited number of total objects, and I can only have two clones of people at one time. For personal reasons, I refuse to make clones of myself!"//"We're already bonding! Tell me about yourself, buddy!"
"So, if I handed you a glass of water, you could have two active copies of it, and if you had a dozen different glasses of water, you could make two copies of each individual glass?"
"Absolutely!"//"No way!"
Interesting... "Why do you refuse to clone yourself?"
Twice curled in on himself and started shaking. "The clones I make are all weaker than the original, something as simple as a broken bone or nasty cut would be enough to destroy it... and I don't know if I'm the original..."//"My clones are assholes! I can't control them at all!"
"Would you create a clone of my friend here? I'd like to try something." Twice nodded his head and quickly got to measuring Garaki with the tape measurers on his wrists. After only a few seconds, he held out his left arm and brown sludge poured out of his sleeve, forming into a perfect clone of the mustached doctor. "Magnificent. Clone, come closer."
The clone approached and kneeled before the man. All for One placed his hand on its forehead, and softly slithered his quirk-stealing tendrils into the clone's skull. He was successful in deactivating the clone's [Extended Life] quirk, his body rapidly catching up to his real age. However, he failed at taking the quirk back. He crushed the clone's skull, and thought to himself as it melted into brown sludge. It's like mush… A shame, cloned quirks could have been a real game changer. However… "I could tell you if you were a clone or not, if you'd like." A smirk appeared on the Demon Lord's face as Twice fidgeted.
"I… I don't know… if I find out I'm just a clone, I don't know what I’ll do…"//"Hell yeah!! I need to know!" The conflicted man slowly approached All for One. "How- how can you tell?"//"Get on with it!"
The Demon Lord stuck his hand out, palm up. "I can transfer quirks between individuals. I tried to take the quirk of the clone you made, but was unable. My attempt didn't harm the clone, so you would be safe regardless of the outcome."
Twice grabbed the sides of his head and squeezed. "G- go ahead... Just, please be careful..."//"FINALLY!!"
The All for One rested his palm on Jin's forehead. His quirk-thieving fibers gently wormed their way into the fearful man's genome, where he felt a solid quirk he could retrieve. I can't risk having more of myself around with any sense of autonomy, so I'll leave this boon in little Tomura's hands. The Demon Lord retracted his quirk and smiled. "Good news, Bubaigawara, you are the original."
Even through his mask, the man's joy was visible. He slowly backed away and stared at his hands. "I'm the real me? After all this time..."//"ALL OF THESE YEARS, WASTED! I CAN FINALLY DO SOMETHING WITH MYSELF AGAIN!! I'M FREE! Can I hug you?"
The faceless man activated a microphone. "Kurogiri, you can take him back now. Tell Tomura to let them know about the deal."
Okay, I just have to tell Uraraka how I feel. The worst case scenario is she says she doesn't feel the same way and... never speaks to me again...
The boy was taking the long route back to the dorms to stall for as long as possible.
"So... how do I tell her? I've never actually done this before."
Three vestiges spoke in perfect unison.
"You and me both buddy."
"You and me both buddy."
"You and me both buddy."
The three vestiges looked between each other for a brief moment before they all broke out into laughter.
"You're fucked bro." Seventh gave Sixth a very stern glance before speaking up.
"Izuku, just bring her somewhere sweet and let your heart do all the talking."
Izuku scrunched up his shoulders and held his hands in front of him in an exasperated manor. "Okay, but like, everyone says to just 'let your heart do the talking' and that 'the words will come naturally' and stuff, but that's not like... actual advice!!"
"Uh, Midoriya..."
"Like, if I didn't know how to do a math problem, you wouldn't just say 'the numbers will come naturally.' You'd explain the formula and work with me, step by step."
"Hey, kid..."
"So like, why don't people do that for this kind of stuff?? It never made sense to me. Like, I know not to objectify her or anything weird, but I don't know the type of romantic language she'd prefer."
Successor. Speaking. Out loud.
The teen stopped dead in his tracks, frozen. Shit. He relaxed his hold on [Seismic Sense] and took a deep breath.
[One for All] Full Cowling: Two Percent.
Izuku felt for anyone nearby, but the closest person was over 700 meters away. He let Full Cowling fade and exhaled. That could have been bad...
"I didn't realize you had this tough of a time communicating."
Izuku rubbed the back of his neck. "It's just when it comes to stuff that's subjective. Factual things are a lot easier." The boy eventually made it back to 1A's dorm building. He stood at the bottom of the front steps for nearly five minutes, attempting to hype himself up. The green haired teen entered the building to see Ochako and Tsuyu on the common area couch, textbooks and papers scattered across the table.
"Hello Midoriya. Ribbit. What did Aizawa-sensei want you for earlier?"
"Hey Tsu! He, uh, well, it's best if it's kept private for now. What are you two up to?"
Ochako's posture slipped down the couch as she sighed. "Ectoplasm-sensei's review packet. I can't believe he gave us two weeks to get thirty pages done. Does he not realize that we can't clone ourselves?" The girl continued to groan as she stood and half-heartedly shadow boxed the air. "I didn't have anyone to work out with today! Kiri's been busy with Bakugo, Tsu's been catching up on school work since Selkie's ship didn't have consistent internet service, Mina and Toru went shopping, Iida's helping Yaomomo memorize some new formulas she learned during her Fat Gum internship, and you got swept away by Aizawa!" Ochako collapsed onto the couch, pouting. "Training is so boring without friends, so I've been stuck with school work and that's almost as unbearable."
Now's your chance! "W- well, if you, um, wanna relax, or something, I, uh..." The girl quirked her brow at him. "I have a little spot that's nice and relaxing, if that's, um, what you're wanting? I can show you..." Izuku tried fighting his blush.
"Thank God [One for All] isn't hereditary." Third had to dodge several strikes from Seventh. Fifth was proud of his poker face, able to contain his laughter so he wouldn't have to face her wrath.
The [Zero Gravity] wielder's face quickly matched Izuku's redness. "Uh, s- sure. I mean, yes! That sounds nice! Lead the way Deku!"
Izuku led her outside where he called upon [G-Direct] and started to hover above the ground. "It's, uh, on the roof." The boy floated awkwardly while waiting for Ochako to remove her own gravity.
The pair softly landed on the western side of the building. The girl spotted an All Might-themed bean bag chair underneath a large cabana before realizing something. "Isn't this above your room?"
The nervous boy chuckled. "Y- yeah, I discovered this place pretty soon after we moved in. Kaminari was being noisy above me when I was trying to study, and I wasn't feeling very social so... here we are."
"So, uh, where'd you get the giant bed frame?"
Izuku let out a genuine laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Originally, I just had a big tarp that I sat Bag Might on, but the cabana is from Yaomomo; I was doing my new blindfold training and jumping from each side of the building. I guess I ended up being the noisy one that time, because she created a ladder from her balcony up to here to see what was happening." He approached the cabana and ran his hand down a support pillar. "She made a big fuss over not having a roof in case it started raining and needing to be elevated from the ground, so she put this together in a few minutes. She wouldn't even let me help, said she 'needed the practice.'"
"'Bag Might', how adorable."
"Um, could I uh... have a little bit of privacy, Seventh? I just... want this to be between me and Uraraka." The vestige crossed her arms and harumphed.
"I guess you can. All the others left to their respective corners of [One for All], so you don't have to worry about anyone else. You better tell me how everything went afterwards. Good luck!" Izuku felt Seventh's presence fade into the core. It was a semi-rare occasion that he had his mind all to himself outside of hygiene and getting dressed.
Ochako brushed up next to the boy and leaned into his shoulder. "Sooo... are we standing, or..."
Izuku's blush rivaled Yuga's [Navel Laser] in luminosity. The boy started coughing. Crap! Bag Might's the only thing to sit on up here, and with the cabana, it gives off the completely wrong message!! "Um, I uh, o- over here, actually, we can sit!" He speed walked towards the edge of the roof, legs laying across the shingles.
The girl's blush marks darkened. At least I tried... She followed and sat close to her crush, leaning on him for faux support. "I like the view from up here."
Izuku smiled. "Y- yeah, it's nice, but nothing beats flying." The girl giggled, and they both cleared their throats and spoke at the same time.
"There's, um, something I need to tell you."//"I really wanna tell you something."
The pair silently stared at each other before trying again.
"Can I go first? It's kind of a big deal."//"I gotta tell you first! It's important!"
"Rock, Paper, Scissors?"//"Rock, Paper, Scissors?"
The duo nodded and stood to play the game, only to tie nine times in a row. "This just can't be real."//"No way this is happening."
The green haired teen raised his hand to prevent Ochako from speaking. "Sorry, I just... really need to get this out." His arm fell to his side as he took a deep breath. "You were the first friend I made here at UA. You always make me feel seen, you listen to my hero rambles, you ask me for quirk advice, you laugh at my stupid jokes." He took a step towards her, closing the distance to around a foot.
The brown eyed girl blushed as he approached, eyes widening in recognition. Oh my god oh my god oh my god, is this real?? Is this actually happening right now?!? "D- Deku..."
He softly grabbed her hands at her sides and stared into her soul. "We've gotten to know each other pretty well over the last seven months, but I've known since day one that... I really like you, Uraraka." Izuku nervously smiled as Ochako sharply inhaled.
FUCK YES!!! The girl's smile opened and closed without any noise escaping. She wrapped her arms around the boy's upper torso and buried her face into his neck. She opened her eyes, only to see... nothing? She pulled back and Izuku let out a gasp to catch his breath as their forms reappeared.
"S- sorry, haha. You squeezed me a little tight and... well, you know, invisibility and all that..."
Ochako giggled at the boy's nervousness. "Wait, does it happen every time you hold your breath?"
"Pretty much, I have to suppress it similarly to my echolocation... but um... I'm assuming... you like me too?"
The girl blushed and closed the distance between them once more. "Absolutely." They wrapped themselves in each other's arms for what felt like an eternity of which neither wanted to end. As she was running her fingers through Izuku's hair, Ochako noticed something. "Um, Deku?"
"Mhm?" The noise was muffled from his face being pressed into her hair.
"Why are we floating?" Izuku quickly pulled away to get a look at their surroundings, and sure enough, they were floating more than five meters above the roof of their dorm building, slowly drifting against the wind. Before he could question anything, he heard an apologetic voice in his head.
"Sorry, this is my fault. I felt your heart rate going crazy so I took a peak, saw you two holding each other, and thought it was adorable. I, uh, started floating in here, and I think it activated [G-Direct] for you too."
"Oh..." Izuku did not appreciate Seventh spying on him and Ochako. He swallowed his discomfort in favor of a question. "You were able to control your quirk in my body?"
"It sure seems that way. You've got it handled from here, so... bye bye!" Seventh's presence dissipated and he focused on the situation at hand.
"I, uh, just got excited, sorry..." He floated the two of them back to the rooftop. "So, would you want to, like, go somewhere sometime? There's a really good buffet place I used to go to a lot near Takobah Beach."
Normally she would have declined going out to eat, but Gunhead had insisted on paying her a full wage for her work in the field, rather than an internship wage, so she had a small surplus of spending money. "That sounds great! Does this Saturday after class work for you?" The boy nodded and smiled. "Then it's a date."
"Okay Third, you gotta hold up your end of the deal now."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. I call my quirk [Analyzing Eyes]. I can see weak points in anything physical, but it works best on biological organisms."
"That's really cool! You said a while back that it makes your eyes glow red, is that when it's activated?"
"Bingo. To be specific, it makes my pupils glow red. I'm not too sure about the reasoning to be honest, the world didn't have a good understanding of meta-anatomy in my day. Something about infrared and being able to pierce through matter easily. You'll be able to tell what material things are made of with some practice."
"Can't I already do that normally? Like, it's pretty easy to tell the difference between steel and concrete."
"No smartass, you can't do that. Not to the level of my quirk. I was able to determine the exact ratio of carbon to iron in steel, the exact amount of pollutants in water supplies, real specific shit. Hell, with the hundred years of baking it's done in [One for All], you could probably recognize the concentration of foreign bacteria in a person's body with a glance."
Izuku was writing everything down in the notebook he used for [One for All], "Quirk Analysis for the Future: [Superpower]". He made sure not to write down anything involving the past vestiges, simply referring to any non-manifested quirks as theoretical applications of his energy stockpile. He also threw in several quirk-ideas that wouldn't manifest, like increasing his speed on a molecular level or emitting a smokescreen, to ensure it didn't look like all of his ideas were right on the first try in case someone were to read the book.
"So, I'll basically have spectroscopes for eyes?"
Fourth and Sixth chuckled, while Fifth wondered what a spectroscope was.
"I'm gonna let that one slide for the sole reason that you actually know what spectroscopes are. But yes, if you grossly, and I mean grossly, oversimplify it."
"Sorry, haha. You mentioned I'd be needing eyedrops, I'm guessing it works similarly to Aizawa-sensei's [Erasure], in that I can't blink or it deactivates?"
"Nah, blinking's fine, it just gets a little fuzzy for a bit. Your eyes get hotter the longer it's activated, like overclocking a CPU. I never had any direct damage from overheating, but my eyes would be drier than the damn Sahara after all my missions, and eyedrops were the easiest solution."
Third continued to relay any information regarding his quirk. He was happy to answer all of Izuku's questions, thankful to have someone as interested in analysis as he himself is. After around thirty minutes, Izuku received a text message from his homeroom teacher.
Eraserhead
Friday. 5pm. Gym Gamma. Hero Costume.
Midoriya
Understood! I'll see you there, sensei!