Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Izuku Todoroki encountered the sludge villain on his afternoon run.

It was a warm spring day. Flowers were blooming on trees. Despite the weather he wore a hoodie and leggings. The unusual outfit drew attention but not as much as if he left himself exposed. The son of the number two hero tended to attract people like exposed food attracted rats and he wasn’t in the mood to answer questions.

His feet made little sound as they connected with the ground even though he was running quickly. Stealth was a trait Father had trained him in well, perhaps unintentionally.

He was currently away on a villain hunt, which was the reason Izuku ran outdoors and in the city. He’d be back in a few days, but for now, Izuku relished the simple pleasures of living with slightly less limits.

Izuku did not smile as he reached the beginning of a tunnel but there was a hint of satisfaction in his eyes that those well acquainted with him would notice meant he was happy.

By people, he basically just meant Mom.

He did not hesitate as he plunged into the shadows but his hands did tremble. There weren’t many people around so he pulled down his hood and let his green and red hair puff out around him.

Something was wrong.

He twisted his head and lunged out of the way just in time.

Izuku fell to the ground and rolled back onto his feet. He felt the vibrations of the impact through the pavement from where the villain had slammed a slimy tendril onto the spot where he’d been.

“A perfect sized flesh suit,” it declared.

Izuku thought quickly. Haven’t seen any heroes on patrol for under ten blocks. No bystanders for five. Quiet area, chances of rescue via car is slim. People in houses? Might not be able to scream loud enough.

No help was coming. This could be another attempt from Father but even if it was, he had to do his best to get out of it by himself. Past experiences had more than taught him that he wouldn’t interfere until it was quite literally life or death. Even a quirkless kid was worth more than a dead one, if only slightly.

The villain was quick but not faster than Father. He ducked beneath the next slippery attack, quickly examining the pavement where the first one had landed. It wasn’t cracked but pieces of the slime that consisted of his body were scattered across it.

There were two options. Defend himself or run.

Can’t fight, his brain helpfully reminded him, in a mean voice that sounded like Father. Quirkless.

On the other hand, if this was another attempt, then it’d look better if he tried to fight. Didn’t want another lecture. Izuku risked a glance at the exit as the villain laughed maniacally. Over the top. Real villains could be cheesy but so would someone told to act like one. The indecision didn’t paralyze him but it did slow him.

Gotta pick one. This compromise wasn’t sustainable. His mind was ticking at a million miles an hour, an instinct that kept him alive on the field but made paying attention to a lecture hell. He needed to find a weakness. That’d work for fighting and running.

Another attack. How did the slime affect foreign objects? There was nothing around he could test it with. Izuku barely avoided his arm getting caught and he spun around as part of it attempted a sneak attack. If he hadn’t just been on the final part of his run!

That was no excuse. Sloppy! So sloppy. For a moment, he’d almost relaxed and he hadn’t noticed the trap.

“Feisty one, huh?”

What are you doing? Run!

Finally, the sensible part of Izuku’s brain kicked in. He lunged backwards over a tendril for the exit, keeping his eyes on the enemy as he did so. Couldn’t show his back to it...

Izuku tripped, stumbling backwards and right into the villain. The green liquid wrapped around his arms, dragging him into the mess. He tried to yank himself out but the grip was strong. He kicked at it but that only got his leg into the mess.

His entire body sunk in and the liquid was filling him up. It consumed him, pouring into every crack and crevice of Izuku’s body. He didn’t cry but he managed a scream. Izuku pretended to himself that it was because the sound would call attention to him but that was a lie. Maybe if he practiced telling it to himself, he’d believe it?

Scared?

Of course he was afraid. It’d be stupid not to be afraid, right? Right? He thrashed around in the grip, desperate for some sort of break from the oppressive hold but every single passing moment without breath only strengthened the villains hold. He didn’t know how long he was there. Dark spots and red blurs began to form in the periphery of his vision.

What was he thinking? Be a quirkless Todoroki... be a quirkless hero... be a quirkless anything. No matter what Father accused him of, Izuku tried. He tried so hard. With all of his might, Izuku reached inside of himself, desperate to bring out that last minute wind or fire. Either quirk would be nice right now. With Mom’s, he could blow it away. With Father’s, he’d roast it into oblivion. If he’d inherited both, he’d be so powerful he didn’t even need to consider his next move.

Instead, he kept struggling, kept choking for breath. No spark rose inside of him. Determination couldn’t change destiny. His heart pounded so rapidly he felt like it would burst out of his chest. He couldn’t die— he didn’t want to die— but it wasn’t his choice, was it?

He couldn’t…

Chose anything.

A wave of air flew through the tunnel. Air entered Izuku’s lungs. The sludge villain splattered across the tunnel, too quick to scream. Izuku found himself in midair, about to collapse onto the ground and for a brief second, euphoria exploded inside every nerve in his body.

I… did it?

Everything was going to change. Despite everything he said, he’d never really thought Father’s attempts to bring out a Quirk would work. Someone developed one or they didn’t. There was no such thing as someone Izuku’s age getting out of the blue. His toes signaled that.

So… where did the wind come from? He looked at his hands in awe before he heard a sound that made his heart sunk.

“I am here!”

Most people would love to be rescued by the number one hero and Izuku, shamefully, wasn’t an exception to that, despite Father’s best attempts. Still, the brief moment of hope that he might’ve, just maybe, done something by himself was nice.

He coughed and chunks of slims spewed out of his mouth. They’d gotten up his nose as well. Ick. He recovered quickly, managing to pull himself together in a couple of minutes, but his vulnerability in the mean time was frustrating. He hoped the darkness of the tunnel was concealing his face because All Might recognizing him would be the cherry of humiliating on top of an embarrassing morning.

“Are you alright, my boy?” he asked, leaning over Izuku. His height wasn’t intimidating, like Father’s. It was warm and… hopeful. He wore a plain white t shirt was stretched tightly against his muscles but he didn’t look like he was showing off. No display of power. Just concern.

“Uh. Yeah.” He paused. “Thanks for rescuing me.” The words were tacked on at the end, a rushed formality he’d forgotten in the surprise. That had definitely been real. Father would never ever involve All Might. He hated him with a burning passion that literally burned.

All Might held out a hand to help him to his feet but Izuku stood up by himself. “No worries! I apologize for getting you caught up in my villain hunt. Seems like you held your own for more than a few minutes before I managed to save you, though!”

“Sorry,” he replied, looking down. “I’m… pretty weak.” All Might frowned, turning his head to examine behind him and then back at Izuku for a few seconds. Something had him preoccupied.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“No reason.” Izuku shrugged. It was best to start with the assumption he’d messed up so he didn’t annoy someone who was angry with him even more. He shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket, which was drenched in slime. “Should I help clean up?”

“It’s alright, I’ve got it!” All Might moved super quickly, with a speed Father could only dream of. There was a reason this man was number one instead of him. By the time Izuku had finished his thought, he’d collected most of it in a soda bottle. Izuku didn’t recognize the brand but it wasn’t like he had the sugary treat very often.

Or, well, ever.

“Um,” Izuku said, trying to work up the courage to ask the question that was bubbling in his throat. He didn’t know how to form the words. “Can…”

“I’m sorry, I’d love to talk, but I’ve sorta got to get this guy here to the station. Message me on my site, okay?” Izuku stepped forward, outside of the tunnel and into the light, closer to the powerful figure.

He absolutely could not do that. Father didn’t monitor their internet usage as much as he used to but Izuku had no doubts following the suggestion would earn him a significant amount of pain. What he wanted to say, he had to say it in person.

“Wait—“ he exclaimed and grabbed ahold of All Might’s leg as he took off.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Maybe he’d gotten a concussion when the sludge villain had attacked because this was probably the stupidest thing Izuku had ever done in his entire life. Stupid!

The air that bellowed against his skin pulled him backwards, demanding he collapse to the ground. All Might flew —Jumped, Izuku corrected —quickly and with immense power. The wind resistance was immense. He couldn’t help but scream.

“Whoah!” exclaimed All Might when he noticed the stowaway clutching at his leg. “Boy? Is that you? What are you doing?” Izuku looked up, doing his best impression of a pointed glare. Not everyone could talk mid-flight. “Oh, right. Close your eyes and mouth.”

He did that and suddenly the pressure went down. Much better. All Might turned from his route downward. Probably going to drop Izuku off somewhere and run off to who knows where. He couldn’t let that happen. Not without getting an answer. The only person more qualified to answer his questions than the number two hero was the number one, right?

He landed. Izuku let go and found himself standing across from All Might. He furtively looked around for witnesses but then he realized what he’d done. Anyone who wanted a story with him in it for the papers already had one. He cringed, anxiety ringing in his head like a headache. Or maybe that was just a migraine. Both were possibilities.

Any damage was already done. Now, he’d dig his heels in and make sure the risk was worth the answer.

“Why did you do that?” All Might kept looking over his shoulders. In a rush to get the villain to the police station? No, it was something else. The expression on his face wasn’t concern, it was almost panic. A concealed panic, hidden beneath a smile, but a panic nonetheless.

“I need to know,” Izuku said. “I need to know what you really think.”

“On what?” Smoke was curling around the roof top. Where was it coming from? Izuku turned to check if it was from the building itself but no. The substance was focused on All Might in particular.

“I’m quirkless,” he admitted, rushing the words out one after another as if he’d lose his nerve if he stopped. “I’ve done everything I can— it’s not happening but if I don’t have one, I’m powerless. That villain down there... I couldn’t do anything but I need to be a hero. I mean, I want to be a hero. People told me I couldn’t. Lots of people and— what the?”

His words were cut off when the man in front of him vanished, replaced with a weak and emaciated form. His cheeks were empty and his eyes seemed hollow, except for tiny sparks of blue.

Instead of getting angry at him for asking about the mystery, the man who was also All Might explained. All the while, Izuku was screaming on the inside.

You can’t tell me this, he wanted to say. I’m your rival’s kid.

He should’ve said something. It’d be the right thing to do. All Might didn’t recognize Izuku, that much was obvious. If he had, he would never have revealed the truth to him. It was nice, even if the not-quite-a-lie stuck in his throat. Izuku ran his fingers over the old scar that covered the bottom left of his face and a good chunk of his neck. It didn’t itch, not really. The movement was more of a habit than anything.

“I’m sorry but I don’t think you can be a hero without a quirk.”

Izuku nodded dumbly. He knew that. He’d known it all along, really. Father wanted him to be a hero that he’d do anything to make his only son manifest a quirk. He’d taken a less body destroying but slightly more self esteem damaging approach— ideas of being the first quirkless. The dreams he’d spun for himself crumbled but it was alright, in a way.

He’d keep surviving. He’d turn twenty, eventually.

He didn’t want to but... there was nobody else to ask. Nobody with higher authority to contradict what Father had told him, repeatedly. Hope was powerful but blind belief was stupid.

He nodded, pulled on his hoodie, and found his way down to the street. All Might hadn’t gone too far and Izuku recognized the location. He wasn’t really feeling up to finishing his run at the moment, so he headed to an area with shops to see if he could grab any food. The house had plenty but there was no telling if slash when Father would try to starve Mom or him for disobedience slash in order to try to get out the quirk they all knew wasn’t coming.

He shoved his hands in his pockets to hide the fact they were shaking and clenched his fingers around the thousand yen he’d managed to grab. It wouldn’t buy much but every little bit of safety he could find was important.

The day had been so all over the place, and he’d been so distracted by his thoughts, he didn’t notice the boy he was on a collision path with until it was too late. His shoulder hit the boy’s solidly.

His bright blonde hair shot up around his head like the edges of a cartoon explosion and he wore a black uniform. Anger and pride shot across his face.

“Watch where you’re walking, nerd.” Izuku pulled his hands out of his pockets, not raising them in a defensive gesture but not relaxing either.

“Sorry,” he said, absentmindedly. The boy had two others behind him, who seemed more like sycophants than friends. His hands let off some sort of energy, traces of power shooting between them. Some sort of electricity quirk? No, they weren’t sparks. Smoke surrounded some sort of fire, which Izuku refused to react to. Couldn’t let anyone figure out why fire made him so nervous.

“You should talk to Katsuki Bakugo with more respect,” one of the sycophants said, making a childish attempt to sound intimidating. A few people turned to look and Izuku really didn’t want to cause a scene. He shrugged and started walking.

“Who do you think you are?” the boy, Bakugo, asked. Izuku wondered if his tone was coming off as condescending. He didn’t intend it to.

“Izuku,” he said, pointedly not giving out his last name. He tried to think of something that’d defuse the situation and his eyes fell on the hands. “What’s that quirk of yours?”

Idiot! That’d only lead to him asking the same question. Well, quirklessness wasn’t that rare. Uncommon and embarrassing, but not that rare.

“Think we’re friends? What’s your last name?” Bakugo ignored the quirk question. On one hand, it was a mercy because it meant he wouldn’t have to explain his own glaring weakness. On the other hand, he really had been curious. Most fires didn’t spark like that.

“Call me what you want, I’m going,” he said, even though he really did want a better look at that quirk. He stepped forward, trying to push past Bakugo but he was sturdy. The loose uniform concealed muscles. Izuku wasn’t a pushover but he was exhausted. “Are you kidding me?”

“What’s your last name?” he repeated. The sycophants looked nervous. They were probably used to harassing people who wouldn’t fight back. Izuku wouldn’t risk getting in trouble but they didn’t know that.

He really didn’t want to expose himself. Being incognito had been nice while it’d lasted, especially given that All Might himself hadn’t noticed who he was, but all good things came to an end. In a public area too.

“Todoroki,” he said, quietly, shaking the hood off of his head. Bakugo didn’t stop his push against Izuku’s chest but his sycophants gasped. They looked like they wanted to run away, assuming he could roast them all to a crisp if he pleased.

“Like… Endeavor, Todoroki?” one of them asked, panicked. He shrugged again. They took it as a yes. “Bakugo, maybe you should… back off?”

“What a coincidence,” Bakugo said, relenting. His tone didn’t soften but he didn’t sound like he was judging Izuku either. “Maybe I’ll see you at UA.” He wanted to laugh. That wasn’t happening. If he did see him, it’d be from the General Department. “Maybe you can take second place in the entrance exam too.”

The insult probably would’ve angered Father but all Izuku did was shrug.

“Got nothing to say?” He scowled. “Just like Icy-Hot. Am I the only UA hopeful that knows how to hold a friendly conversation?” Izuku wondered who he was talking about. “Whatever.”

Izuku pulled his hood back but the damage was done. People looked at him, the questions in their eyes refusing to go away. Is that Endeavor’s kid? A few got up the nerve to approach him but he glared at them until they went away. The uncomfortable conversation just made the bad day worse and he wasn’t in the mood for talking to haters or fans.

The moment he said his last name, everything changed. He’d earned respect or hatred based on their opinions on his father, not on him as an individual. It was just accepted he’d be applying to UA and getting into the hero course. Nobody ever asked if he even wanted to do that. They were right, of course. He did want to go there with his entire heart, but not because Father had gone there.

Father was a presence. He was a perpetual storm, not something to idealize but not something to fear either. He would only hurt Izuku if he stepped into his path.

All Might was different. His strength, which Izuku had just seen in person, didn’t come from bowling over those who refused to get out of his way. It came from his heart, from his laugh, and from his smile. The smile might be a mask but the compassion wasn’t.

He kinda reminded Izuku of Mom, actually.

By the time he’d gotten out of the range of the people who recognized him, he entered a store and began examining a packet of dried fruits and nuts. He could hide them easily, they were good sources of nutrients, and best of all, didn’t need to be cooked or refrigerated.

Izuku finished paying for them at the register, pocketing the small amount of change when he heard the scream.

Villain! Another one? He considered going to watch. It would just make him feel bad about himself, so he shouldn’t. Maybe some of the people who’d noticed him before would be there, so he shouldn’t. Maybe...

The maybes didn’t stop his feet from tugging him towards the sounds. The closer he got, the stronger the sense of dread in the pit of his stomach grew. He turned the corner and found himself not to far away from his encounter with the UA hopeful.

The scene was pure anarchy. Fires littered the ground. Several heroes were on the scene but most of their quirks were useless against the... familiar villain? Izuku’s eyes widened. The same one who’d ambushed him under the bridge. It must’ve gotten away when he’d grabbed All Might.

It’d taken a hostage and, because his day was shaping up to be just so fantastic, it was Bakugo. Fires... he thought. They must’ve been from his quirk, whatever it was. The arrogant smirk was completely gone from his face, replaced by one of panic.

This was his fault. One hundred percent. If he hadn’t distracted All Might, the villain would be safe in custody. Now there was nothing he could do. When the pros were struggling, Izuku would be worse than helpless.

He was transfixed by the scene. Where had Bakugo’s sycopha— friends gone? He couldn’t insult the boy in his head when his life was in danger, that was just unfair. Had they ran or had the villain murdered them? Bakugo’s eyes were shifting desperately. Looking for them?

No.

No.

His eyes landed on Izuku. It made sense, logically speaking. People suspected any kid of the number two hero had some great quirk, the fact he’d never shown it off in public notwithstanding. Did Bakugo know what he was asking with those accusatory eyes? He had to. Interfering with a quirk would mean breaking the law, a fact Bakugo knew.

But... he didn’t have one. The sludge villain hadn’t recognized him in the dark but he would in broad daylight for sure. He’d think...

Bad idea, warned the sensible part of his brain. Can’t fight.

Izuku unzipped his hoodie, exposing his scarred arms to the world. The person standing next to him opened their mouth, perhaps about to tell him not to do the stupid thing he was about to do, but they were too slow.

Izuku’s feet hit the pavement silently. Every muscle worked together, propelling him forward like a rocket. His green and red hair flew around him, too intense teal eyes alight with determination. The powerlessness he’d felt before vanished, replaced with something he wasn’t sure he understood. For a moment, the world was quiet.

Then it burst back into life and instincts buried inside of him flared into motion. The sludge villain moved to grab him too but he raised his arms as if to attack with fire. It’d clearly figured it out now because it hesitated and Izuku took that moment of opportunity to start pulling the slime away from Bakugo’s mouth, giving him a moment to breath.

Bakugo managed to gasp for breath, taking advantage of the chance, but his attempt to help was cut short when a tendril smacked him away. This hit hurt a lot more than being pulled in earlier did and he didn’t manage to roll with it. The skin on his elbow broke, leaving small traces of blood on the pavement.

He jumped to his feet and dashed forward again. The crowd was screaming, some for him to keep fighting and some for him to run. Izuku didn’t hear them. He threw his hoodie straight towards what appeared to be the head of the villain, who dodged.

Go for the eyes. One of the usual vulnerabilities of heteromorphic types.

Bakugo was drowning again but he’d been given a brief respite. Enough to calm down and stop setting things on fire, apparently. The villain attacked again and Izuku ducked beneath the blow and jumped over another one as he ran back towards Bakugo.

The name Endeavor was on the tips of the crowd but for one, Izuku didn’t care.

Save him!

Save him!

I have to...

Save him.

Izuku found himself only narrowly dodging the blows. The energy he’d regained between the two incidents was hardly enough to support a large scale fight like this and he was sure the pavement was getting torn apart by this. Most heroes knew to avoid collateral damage.

He was just about to be overwhelmed again when All Might came to the rescue. Again.

Bakugo was saved. He received a mixture of confused scoldings from the other pros and found himself next to Bakugo, being swarmed by a mob of reporters, when All Might pushed through the crowd.

“I’m sure they’d love to stay and chat but they’ve been through quite a bit today and probably need to head home. Thank you very much!”

The rain he’d smashed into existence put out the fires Bakugo had probably started.

His time limit! Izuku realized. All Might needed to get out of here. Izuku ran through an array of complicated ideas in his head but the solution All Might went with was apparently... pick them up, jump a flew blocks away, and duck into an alley.

“Well,” Izuku stated out loud, mostly to himself. “Today can’t possibly get any crazier.”

Later, after Bakugo had stormed out of the alley and All Might explained the origin of his quirk, Izuku was mentally kicking himself for saying that. It was like he’d dared reality to prove him wrong. Apparently, Izuku had to expect the weirdest and most absurd situations to avoid being surprised.

“What?” he said when All Might finished, surprised despite his new found determination to accept the absurdity. “What?”

“I want to give you my quirk and make you my successor.”

Did All Might not realize who he was talking to? That was absurd. Everyone had been screaming Father’s name throughout the crowd.

“Do you know what I am?” Izuku asked, trying to hide the tears that were spilling down his face as he fell to the ground. Tears were a weakness that he shouldn’t show in front of anyone, especially not those with power, but he couldn’t help himself.

“I know who you are,” he corrected. The wind blew in his golden hair and the core of blue in his eyes shone sapphire. Izuku’s heart was pounding. “You’re a quirkless kid but you weren’t afraid to throw yourself into the middle of a fight that’d make most pros nervous for a boy you’d just met. That takes guts and a caring heart. I’ve seen a lot of heroes come and go in my time. Whether they were in a family who’d been in the business from the beginning or were the first to even consider the possibility didn’t matter half as much as their drive.

“So believe me when I say what you did today, young Todoroki, shows you have the spirit of a hero.“ He hesitated. “Don’t get me wrong. The path of a hero is long, hard, and incredibly dangerous. If you are not absolutely sure this is what you want, then tell me.”

Izuku thought of Mom comforting him after Father finished yelling at him about how he couldn’t be a hero without a quirk. She’d told him he didn’t have to be a hero, that she’d support him no matter what Father did. Then he thought about Father and about his obsession with victory. He remembered the sting of a slap on his face when he asked if he could be a hero if he didn’t get a quirk.

He remembered Bakugo’s face. He was basically a stranger. Yet, he’d been looking to Izuku because he thought he’d be able to help. In that moment, it hadn’t mattered why he was asking. His desperation was seared into Izuku’s memory. He’d been begging for help and the best Izuku could do was stall for time so the real help could arrive. Still, it’d been something. The unmistakable look of relief on his face... it’d meant the world to him.

There was really only ever one answer.

“Yes.”

—
Shouto Midoriya examined the photo of his classmate in the newspaper. Katsuki was going to be in a bad mood when he got back to school.

The other boy in the picture caught his eye. Two toned hair and eyes so teal they looked almost unnatural. He had a horrible scar on the bottom left of face that wrapped around his neck.

Shouto put the article down when he heard Mom calling for dinner. He breathed out, snowflakes floating out through his mouth and melting a moment later, evaporating as steam. He could choose between either and deliberately increase the temperature but he usually just let his breath switch back and forth.

He was almost out the door when his phone buzzed. It was Fuyumi, texting to make sure he was alright after hearing about Katsuki. Shouto replied with a simple yes. She was at some sort of event for her school so she wouldn’t be back till he was asleep, apparently. She’d also attached a selfie. Her icy white hair had something stuck in it and the silly face she’d made manage to provoke a bit of a smile in Shouto’s usually stoic face.

He responded with a photo of himself. His hair was a few shades lighter but otherwise the same color and his eyes were dark brown. Shouto did his best to make a silly face back at his older sister but it was tricky. How did she make it look so easy?

He shrugged, sent the message, and left his phone on his bedroom table.

Chapter Text

Izuku met All Might for the third time on the beach.

It was covered in trash. From abandoned soda cans to entire pieces of furniture, there was hardly a spot of sand in sight. Izuku was almost impressed by the sheer volume of waste.

“Hey,” he said. All Might sat on top of an old car in his powered up form, wearing a tight shirt with a cheesy saying on it, while Izuku stood a fair distance away. It was early in the morning. Father wasn’t back yet, but he didn’t want All Might to make the connection between his tight schedule and Father’s presence. If he could keep All Might’s secrets, he could keep Father’s. It was only fair.

Fairness. That was why there was a part of him that was screaming out in fear, telling him that accepting this was going to get him killed. It was all about not accidentally tilting the rivalry between the number one and the number two in anyone’s favor. Clearly…

“Hello, young Todoroki!” All Might exclaimed.

“Just call me Izuku,” he said. “So what’s this about?”

“Well, I was thinking. You’re already pretty strong so taking One For All now probably wouldn’t be dangerous—“

“Probably?” Izuku spluttered.

“That’s exactly why I’ve developed a plan! Clean this beach up. When you’re done, you’ll be strong enough so there won’t be any danger. Any questions?” Izuku shook his head. “Oh.” He looked sort of dejected. “I had this whole speech and everything.”
-
“Wowzies!” All Might exclaimed, a few months later. “That was way faster than I expected.” Izuku shrugged. If he’d had his way, he’d have finished weeks ago but dodging Father’s suspicions was hard. “You’re going to be a great hero, my boy!”

The words washed over him and, although he didn’t smile, his eyes sparkled with something close to satisfaction. These months might’ve been the hardest in his entire life, the challenge of balancing the combined training methods of the two best heroes in all of Japan, but they were probably the best as well.

When Izuku collapsed from exhaustion, All Might didn’t push him. He allowed breaks, offered encouragement, and never lost his temper. As far as Izuku could tell, he didn’t have a temper, even in his plain form. He radiated determination but in a different way than Father. He won but he won because he loved the world, not because he felt like he had something to prove to it.

Izuku still flinched when All Might moved but he’d managed to stop dodging on instinct when he put his hand on his shoulder. The changes were slight but noticeable to those who paid attention. Mom seemed happier too, although Izuku wasn’t sure why. If anything, Father only grew angrier as Izuku grew stronger. The burns he tried his best to hide from All Might became more frequent.

“Now, it’s time,” he said, plucking a hair from his head. Izuku wondered what the process would involve. A mysterious incantation? A sacred ritual? “Eat this.”

“What,” Izuku said flatly.

“It doesn’t really matter what it is as long as you get some of my DNA.” Ah, that made sense. He nodded and took it, swallowing it. “Now, don’t expect instant results. You need to digest it first and no matter what you do, be careful when you try to use it and make sure you’re not alone.”

Izuku nodded as All Might transformed back into his normal form to make a point. “I mean it. You’re pretty tough but the combined strength of eight generations of pro heroes is going to be overwhelming.“

He looked down at his feet, going still. All Might had a point. Without the warning, he probably would’ve tried using it the instant he thought could.

“So...” Izuku said. “I should probably head home for now. Morning patrol’s probably almost over.” A part of him, the one he’d never admit existed, wanted All Might to insist he stay.

“Alright,” he said. Izuku’s traitorous heart sunk in his stomach. Why was he so disappointed? When had he went and gotten expectations anyway?
-
Learning how to use One For All was a lot harder than Izuku thought it would be.

It probably had to do with the fact he received it so late in life or that it was someone else’s. He hadn’t grown up with it the way Father and Mom had theirs. The ability was plain unnatural to him.

So when he first managed to use it, it was a few weeks after receiving it. He’d been trying several different ways and they’d finally gotten around to ‘sparring,’ a term Izuku was glad to discover All Might used loosely. Father’s idea of holding back in a fight meant only giving him second degree burns. All Might meant exclusively dodging and moving as slowly as possible.

Fifteen minutes after they started, he was starting to get frustrated. He lunged towards All Might, fists flying, and let out a shout.
Air moved. A loud crack echoed throughout the beach. Blood sprayed from his fist. The world around him shuddered into movement and the sand flew, propelled by the power of his fist.

By the time he realizes he’s actually made contact, he’s on the ground but not because he didn’t stick the landing. His broken fist hurts, yes, but he’s had worse. He’s apologizing on instinct, pulling himself tight to make himself look small. Despite the fact he knew All Might wasn’t Father and that his way of training was so much softer, anyone would be angered by the probably painful blow. Even the seemingly unflappable All Might who’s patience was legendary would have to punish him for going all out against him.

“I’m sorry,” he was repeating to himself, desperate words stumbling over each other. How would he explain whatever was going to happen to Father? And the hand? That wasn’t going to fix itself quickly. He didn’t know what to do. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

He kept mumbling the words until he realized a blow wasn’t coming. In fact, All Might seemed baffled by his reaction.

“My boy, what’re you apologizing for?”

“I hit you,” he said, aghast. “Aren’t you angry with me?”

“No? I asked you to. Why would I get angry over that?” Izuku pulled himself to his feet, looking at the limp fist.

“Oh.” There wasn’t much else to say.

“Should I get you to the doctor’s for your hand? One for All’s going to be hard to manage until you get used to it, so... I’m proud of you for figuring it out, don’t get me wrong, I’m just sort of worried about that.”

“It’s not that bad. I’ve can take care of it at home.” Fortunately, All Might didn’t think to ask any questions or maybe didn’t want the answers he’d feel honor bound to give.

“Are you sure?”

“If I go to the doctor, they’ll ask questions, right?”

“Okay. Be careful, though. Now you know what it’s like to use ninety nine or so percent of that power, you should work on trying to modulate it. I think you’d be able to handle eight percent without hurting yourself for now.”

“Only eight percent?” Izuku’s eyes widened. He felt small in comparison to the amount of power now at his command. He’d thought he was reasonably strong but... wow. No wonder All Might was the number one hero.

“I won’t lie, you’ve got a long road ahead of you. But I wouldn’t have chosen you if i didn’t think you had the capacity.”

“Thank you,” he said.

“Now, you should get those wounds looked at. You’re officially banned from using One For All until they heal and I want you to be very careful in any sort of training you do. Avoid that hand all together and be very careful with the arm. We don’t want any sort of permanent damage. The sooner you can moderate your power, the better.” He paused, expecting a response. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”

“Alright, Mom,” Izuku said. Sometimes it was hard to believe such a nice person was a top hero. Father would’ve lectured him on recklessness and probably break his other wrist to make the lesson stick.

All Might beamed at the comment.
-
Mom cleaned the injury without asking questions. They’d developed a sort of quiet harmony, moving in sync whenever Father was around. Learning how to move quietly, avoid attracting attention, and make himself look small were some of the first things she’d taught him. Father’s senses were tightly honed from years of work as a hero but they did have weaknesses.

When Father stormed home, fuming for one reason or another, it was Mom who went to him. Izuku despised himself for allowing her to protect him like that but there was no arguing with her once she’d put her foot down. Especially when it came to protecting him. He’d have a better shot of convincing the sun to stop shining than to convince her to let him be the one to protect her.

By the time Father found Izuku, his temper had almost cooled which made the resulting punishment even worse.

“What. Is. That.” His voice was distinct, a simple sentence split into three. The flames all over his body were extinguished. On one hand, that was good, because it meant the risk of burns was lower. On the other hand, Father tended to have just returned from hero work if he had the flames on, which meant he’d be tired from fighting.

“I fell down,” Izuku lied. He was in the small closet where Mom kept the medical supplies. Technically, he hadn’t been hiding as there was a valid reason he was there, but Father wouldn’t see it that way.

“You broke your wrist falling. You also got your clothes a mess. Falling.”

Izuku nodded. He’d stick to his story, no matter how many holes Father poked in it. He could not discover the truth. Izuku would pay any price to keep that secret.

“Give me that,” Father said. He strode over to where Izuku stood. I’m sorry, All Might, he thought. He wasn’t going to be able to keep his promise after all. For a moment, he fantasized about firing up that incredible power one more time and smashing Father into the dirt.

Instead, he raised the arm and let Father tear off the bandages Mom had ever so delicately applied. The bruised and twisted purple skin was covered in an anti infection cream. Any pain the bandages had been helping alleviate returned with a fury. Father’s nails dug into the tender skin, shooting needles of agony up and down Izuku’s wrist. “What is this?”

“I fell down,” Izuku repeated, the lie painful on his tongue. He let his face twist into uncomfortable positions, pushing tears out of his eyes, and looked down at the ground. If he looked weak, maybe he’d think the lesson had already sunk in.

“Where?” He didn’t have any idea what the truth was.

“In the house,” he said, letting his hands tremble in the fear he liked to pretend was completely fake.

“Really? Was your mother there when you fell?” Father twisted his skin, heat boiling beneath the surface.

“No,” he said. “Came to help.” Father glared and shoved Izuku’s hand, along with the rest of his body, backwards— hard. Izuku dropped to the floor and tried to roll to a sitting position but he ended up collapsed instead, grabbing his wrist with his free hand.

“When I find out what you’re hiding...” Father said, his hand igniting in an implied threat. Izuku shook his head, letting the weakness show.

“Not hiding anything.”

Father kicked him in the back. Hard. That one’s gonna leave a bruise, Izuku observed from outside of his body. His mind floated some where else, numbness flooding the lifeless body.

It was probably over for now.
-
It took another handful of weeks for his hand to heal. Longer, Izuku guessed, then it would’ve if Father hadn’t made it worse. All Might seemed content to let him recuperate from the injury in peace, which Izuku would’ve appreciated if Father followed the same teaching philosophy.

The second time using it was easier, probably because he understood what he was aiming for. He managed to limit the power to three fingers, painful but an improvement. He was also pretty sure he’d managed to bring the power down by more than a few percentage points as the damage seemed lighter. All Might’s concerned reaction involved making him promise to take it easy again, while Father’s involved a lot of yelling and two more broken fingers.

The third, fourth, and fifth times passed without much note. Father’s reactions grew more violent each time, until he gave up at the fifth. He limited the damage to a few fingers every time, the recovery period easing up.

The fifth time was a few weeks before the entrance exam.

Father had insisted he take it, although he made sure Izuku signed up for the general exam as well because of course he did.
-
On the day of the exam, Izuku encountered Bakugo again. They studied each other for a few moments before Bakugo flipped him off for some reason. The boy he was walking next to him was giving Izuku an intense stare as if trying to figure out a difficult puzzle. His hair was white and he breathed traces of ice and smoke. He didn’t seem to be Bakugo’s friend. In fact, Izuku couldn’t figure out why they were walking together at all.

The icy boy sped up his walking speed and Bakugo yelled a swear word or two after him. His name was Shouto, apparently. Did they know each other?

He nearly tripped but ended up correcting his own trajectory. He spotted two girls, one that looked sort of like a frog and one with short brown hair chatting to each other as they walked.

Not touching anything completely, he noted, observing the girl with brown hair. Her cheeks were bright pink. Touch activated quirk?

He found his way into the auditorium. The icy boy and Bakugo sat next to each other in the row beneath him. Izuku assumed the seat assignments had to do with schools, as he was surrounded by kids he didn’t recognize. They all looked to be pretty socially awkward in comparison to the rest. Home schooled.

Present Mic began his presentation. Izuku watched him move and let the words wash over him.

He planned to avoid using One For All as much as possible, relying on his instincts and strength, but he was starting to doubt his plan as he stood at the testing ground. The icy boy was at the same testing ground but Bakugo was no where to be found. He also spotted the girl with brown hair and pink cheeks. A boy Izuku recognized as Tenya Ida stood prepared. He knew most of the hero families relatively well. Father had insisted he’d be facing the boy as a rival at UA, back before his attempts to stir up a quirk began to feel only half hearted.

A few people looked at him with recognition but they seemed too preoccupied with the upcoming exam to make a big deal out of his presence. The Ida either didn’t notice or didn’t feel like it was worth mentioning.

The exam started. Robots appeared. Izuku dashed towards the first one pointer he spotted. It made the first move but he dodged the weak spray of attacks it spluttered out with ease. The next volley was a different pattern but he was already grabbing a piece of wreckage from someone else’s fight to smash it with.

One point. Smoke trailed from the robotic body. Izuku grabbed onto the piece of metal he’d use to beat the thing senseless, dragging it with him as the next attack came from a three pointer. He blocked, swinging up the metal like a shield, and studied the way the bullets flew.

Different attack patterns for each kind. The higher the point value, the more complicated they are. He twisted to observe a two pointer in action and he connected the dots in time to predict where they next attack would land. Parts of its attacks accidentally damaged a three pointer across from the applicant with a bird’s head it was fighting.

The next attack didn’t come. Some sort of laser shot through the bot he was facing. Izuku swung himself away from the other applicant, not wasting time to get frustrated with the point robbery.

He sprinted left, towards the sounds of machinery. A two pointer geared up to make a move but Izuku launched himself towards its ‘legs.’ If the way he’d seen this in his head right, that’d be it’s blind spot. Izuku’s mind raced a million miles per hour even though his heartbeat was steady and his breathing was balanced. Adrenaline flooded his limbs but he controlled their movements, instincts pushing him to shove the metal upwards. It knocked the two pointer off its rhythm, and Izuku slid out from beneath the bot, grabbing the end of his metal as he moved.

It crashed into the ground. Three... How much time was there left? This was a good strategy but would it be enough? He didn’t want to have to start to sacrifice his fingers, but he prepared to summon the energy anyway.

“Five minutes!” Present Mic exclaimed,

A pair of two pointers locked onto him. He was in the same fake street as the boy with white hair he’d spotted before. He faced off against three one pointers with confidence, but Izuku didn’t have time to spend on evaluating the competition.

He hadn’t been able to grab his shield out from beneath the wreckage but that was okay. Facing two meant he could play them against each other. He wasn’t sure if causing a cross fire would give him points, but he figured they’d be grading him on creativity too. Izuku waited for the very last possible second and ducked to the ground.

Pieces went flying. Another two pointer came after him. He glanced a look at the boy. He was already onto another group, the three bots he’d been facing were covered with frost. These bots aren’t very smart, Izuku observed, but that doesn’t mean I can get careless.

“Two minutes!” Present Mic exclaimed. Darnit. He wasn’t anywhere near a good score, considering the fact everyone else seemed to be doing way better.

Were there any left? Pieces of metal were scattered across the ground. Izuku risked a few moments to look around for the bots. He spotted one only moments before fire burst out of the icy boy’s mouth, melting it into rubble. He could use One For All but not if he didn’t have any targets. He could use it to propel himself through the air but he wasn’t very practiced with controlling his movements like that. He’d end up knocking himself into the wall.

He sprinted away from the start, looking for an enemy, any enemy when —

The zero pointer came rumbling around the corner. Huge. Way bigger than Izuku anticipated. Run, shouted his instincts. A waste of time to try to take it down, really. The people who were in the same area were already running away. Really, he should do the same thing. Only logical. Needed a few more points… only a few… otherwise he’d never be able to get in.

Then he spotted the boy.

Bakugo’s... friend… from earlier. He was trapped beneath a pile of wreckage, head to the ground. The zero pointer was moving towards him at a steady pace. Izuku knew it was just an exam… He knew that… Just a test…

It wasn’t going to stop. Did a piece of wreckage hit his head? No, he was being held down so he couldn’t turn to use his quirk. Fire and frost breath, he assumed. It’d only rebound onto himself if he attacked the ground.

He was twitching, trying to push the wreckage off himself. Couldn’t do it. Wasn’t strong enough. Izuku couldn’t see anyone else coming to help. He shouldn’t. He knew he shouldn’t. But… the icy wasn’t going to be able to save himself in time.

Izuku was running, confidence swelling in his chest. He knew what he could do this time. The zero pointer looked strong without any particular weak points, but One For All was a powerful quirk. Even a finger would be able to smash it away, given that most of his previous uses had accidentally caused rocks to go flying.

He crouched his legs and dropped into an offensive stance. It wasn’t quite All Might’s style, but it wasn’t really Father’s either. He pulled his left arm back as he shot forth his right, pushing the quirk out. Energy rose in his chest, spreading throughout his hand.

He pulled his pointer finger back using his thumb, cracking the joint, and releasing the grip of One For All on the two trembling digits. The power left him, flying out with a wave of energy. Wind wrapped around his body and he breathed in as mechanical pieces went flying.

The wreckage keeping the boy down went flying. The boy almost went flying too, but he pulled his head up and breathed out ice. It expanded outwards and grabbed his arms, keeping him from flying off. His perfectly white hair waved up and down, settling softly. He was really pretty, Izuku observed as he slid into a neutral pose.

He dropped the painful fingers down by his side. Both his thumb and his pointer finger ached, but he’d gotten used to their brutal throbbing.

Izuku, shocked by what he’d done, barely noticed when the piece of scrap metal went careening towards his head. Even if he had noticed, he wasn’t sure he would’ve reacted in time. That’s why it was a surprise when the boy with white hair leapt forward, breaking the ice he’d used to keep himself down, to push him to the ground.

He twisted as he moved and breathed out fire then ice in rapid succession. The air above them burst, breaking apart the metal in two pieces.

Using One For All took concentration and effort. This boy’s instant utilization of his quirk and the precision he’d demonstrated… it was enough to make anyone jealous. Plenty of pros would kill for that much talent slash skill.

“Okay?” he asked. Izuku’s heart was beating rapidly, probably from the close call. It had nothing to do with the strangely comforting temperature of the boy’s breath on Izuku’s face as he leaned over to check on him.

“Yeah, I’m good! Great. Definitely fine, that is the definition of the word good, um, are you okay?”

“Yeah.” He got to his feet. Tiny fractals of ice clung to his lips and parts looked slightly charred. The boy pushed his hand through his hair and it sparkled in the light. Then he walked away.

Izuku gave a tiny wave but he was pretty sure the icy boy was already gone.

Recovery Girl came through and healed his fingers. Her quirk helped with the pain but he felt exhausted afterwards. He needed a long nap, but it was a lot better than having to deal with being grilled-- metaphorically or literally-- about his injuries by Father.

Did he get in? Honestly, Izuku wasn’t sure. He stared at the buildings in the fake city for a while. There wasn’t any point to hoping. It wouldn’t change anything. That was the truth about reality he’d learned when he was four. Still... just because he knew it was pointless didn’t mean he wouldn’t do it anyway.

I hope I see him again.

Chapter Text

The waiting was hell.

More precisely, what was contained within that waiting was hell. Father‘s decision to stay close to home for a while was most definitely not a coincidence. He was stressed, even if he’d never admit it, so he took out that stress on Mom and Izuku. All Might went radio silent after the exam which only gave Izuku more reasons to worry.

Izuku was sure he’d passed the written portion with a decent grade at worst, if not flying colors. He was pretty sure he’d done well enough for the general department, but he didn’t want to get in there. He wanted to be a hero.

He was in the middle of a training session slash Father vent session when the mail came. Izuku slammed his fist into the punching bag, sweat trickling down his face. Father loomed over him. He wasn’t dangerously angry at the moment, but his presence was enough to make Izuku want to run—as if he hadn’t tried that before. The memory of nearly running into a wall of flames and being thrown against the ground made him falter. He hit the bag at a slightly off angle.

He didn’t bother begging this time. He just let the same kind of punch he’d messed up slam into his shoulder, knocking him into the bag. Izuku reached up to rub the spot for a few seconds, massaging the area, before dropping back into his stance.

“Pay attention,” hissed Father. Izuku nodded. That was the second mistake he’d made. Usually this kind of session lasted until his injuries were too bad for him to continue but with the mode Father was in... he might make time to kick Izuku while he was down.

Mom coughed. Izuku looked up to see her at the door. She was holding an envelope. He flinched, preparing to watch him get angry for interrupting them.

“It’s from UA,” she explained.

He didn’t hit her. Thank goodness for small mercies. Father ripped the envelope out of her hand, and she quietly left. He tore open the paper and a small projector fell out.

All Might appeared. Izuku swallowed and took small steps away from Father. Of course. Of course it had to be All Might who was making these announcements. Because seriously, it wasn’t like fate was conspiring to make his life as awkward as possible. That would be absurd.

“I am here! As a projection!”

Thankfully, Izuku had asked All Might to avoid talking about anything to do with his quirk or their training at the beach over any sort of communication. That meant this was only going to suck a lot as opposed to the near death experience it would be otherwise.

Was Father going to burn him or just throw him into the wall? Probably the wall.

“I’m in town for one reason— to teach at UA!” Oh great. Thrilling news, really, just the kind he’d rather not have Father know about. Well, he’d learn eventually no matter what happened. “Although you only got seven villain based points on the practical portion, there was another criteria the examiners didn’t tell you about.”

Father glared at him. Izuku waved his arms in a ‘what can you do’ sort of gesture.

“Just watch!” The projection cut to a shot of the pretty boy with icy white hair inside Present Mic’s office. He looked sort of awkward, in a way not many people would’ve noticed. Izuku spotted his nervousness in the subtle shifting of his weight from foot to foot.

“Hey,” he said.

“He came to see us after the test. Why? Watch and see!”

“I just wanted to say... it’s about the boy from the test with the Christmas hair and the scars on his face.” Izuku wasn’t sure whether to be amused or offended by his description. He tugged at a loose strand of hair. “He helped me out. I probably would’ve been crushed if he wasn’t there, but from my estimation, he only beat five or six of the robots. Can you give him some of my points? Or, at the very least, any points he would’ve earned if he didn’t help me?”

If looks could kill, then Izuku probably would’ve been a pile of ash from the way Father was glaring at him. As it were, he was pretty sure he wouldn't like what was gonna happen after the video ended.

“I can’t give him your points but there’s no need to worry.” Present Mic bopped the boy on his head. His face was almost enough to make Izuku's eyes twinkle in humor, despite the stressful situation.

It cut back to All Might. “We weren’t just watching for combat prowess! After all, what sort of hero course would we be if we rejected those who did the right thing. Rescue based points were also a factor.”

Father was literally smoking.

“Sixty rescue points for Izuku Todoroki and fifty for Shouto Midoriya! You’re both in. Welcome to UA High.”

Izuku swallowed. The projector shut off.

“Did you know about this,” Father demanded, each syllable carefully selected and enunciated with a crisp edge.

“No,” Izuku responded honestly. Shouto Midoriya… He memorized the name. “I had no idea.”

“And only seven points as well. Without these worthless ‘rescue points,’ you would’ve completely failed. You are an embarrassment.” Izuku nodded and stiffened his body in preparation for whatever was going to come next.

He suspected taking anything other than first place would’ve been seen as a disappointment. The words stung anyway. “Helping out your competition. That should’ve lost you points. Pathetic.”

He detached from his body. He was someone else, watching a body tremble in anticipation of a blow. He heard the words but he didn’t listen to them. They washed over him. The body’s shoulder ached.

He didn’t release any sound when Endeavor’s hand collided with his stomach. The body dropped to the ground. Breath was knocked out of him but vomit stayed in his stomach. The tears were forced down into his eyes. No screaming. That was good. Endurance was good. Don’t gasp. Breath slowly.

“Try your best not to humiliate me in front of your classmates.” Father stormed out. It took a while for Izuku’s mind to return to his body. He found his way to Mom’s room.

“Congratulations,” she said and she offered a hug. He nodded and let her hold him. She ran her fingers through his hair. Her green eyes shone with happiness.

Neither of them smiled. Emoting anything besides numb acceptance was tantamount to rebellion in Father’s bright blue eyes. Instead, they’d learned to communicate their feelings through other methods. A too long glance spoke volumes. “I’m proud of you.”

“Mom,” he whispered when he was sure Father wasn’t nearby. “I got a quirk.” Her face didn’t slip, but a small sound escaped her lips.

“What? How?”

“I don’t know.” He hated lying to her, he really did, but All Might had said no one could know. If he betrayed him like that who knew what the consequences would be. “But that’s where the broken fingers were coming from. That’s how I got into UA.”

“Are you sure?” He nodded and let her hold him even though her grip was painful against his bruises, new and old. “Are you going to tell him?” He shook his head. “If he finds out...”

“Won’t find out.”

“Okay.” Worry weighed down her words, but she didn’t elaborate on the concern behind them. “I trust you. Just... please be careful.” He nodded again. “How long?” He raised nine fingers. “Months?” Another nod. “I’m sorry you didn’t feel like you could tell me earlier.”

“‘m sorry,” he mumbled as he buried his head in her clothes.

“It’s okay. Promise.” They stayed that way for a while. Eventually, he hollered at her for dinner. She patted his head one last time. “Congratulations on getting in, Izuku.” She left and he checked for messages from All Might.

He communicated with Izuku via his secret email. To log in, he logged out of his account on his computer and went into guest mode. Then he pulled up an alternative web browser and logged into his account, which used a different messaging service than his official one. Overkill? Maybe. Was it safe? Hopefully.

Can you make it to the beach?
I’m sorry, I won’t be able to.
Alright. I just wanted to say that I didn’t tell the school about any of this and I wasn’t a judge so you needn’t to worry about favoritism. There shouldn’t be any concern of nepotism because of your father either. They’ve passed over plenty of kids from famous hero families in the past. You earned this. Thanks.

-
Shouto carefully opened the envelope containing the acceptance letter. It weighed too much for just paper. A bump a few inches wide indicated some sort of device. Out slid a projector.

“Hello, Shouto Midoriya!” proclaimed an image of All Might. What was he doing on official UA correspondences? “I’m going to be teaching at UA this year!” Well, that answered that question. Shouto sat back in his chair, watching the video play.

“You probably already know you got in but did you know you got the top score on the practical exam? Congratulations! Better start preparing your speech for the Sports Festival, huh?” Shouto noted he said practical, not entrance in general. He wondered who took the top spot for the written portion.

Sports Festival, huh. He wasn’t much for speeches. He needed to rewatch a few of the past ones to get an idea of what to expect.

Had Katsuki gotten his results back yet? He wouldn’t be very happy about Shouto getting valedictorian. Oh well. Katsuki wasn’t going to be happy with his results no matter what happened. He was just that sort of person. He pulled out his phone.

I got in.

He decided not to comment on his top spot. Katsuki would figure it out eventually and Shouto was fine with delaying that particular tantrum for as long as possible.

I didn’t get my fucking results back yet.

Shouto shrugged. A series of angry texts followed, which he ignored. He scooted the device into his left pocket and headed out of his small room.

“Were those your entrance exam results?” Mom asked. The dark shadows under her eyes indicated she was exhausted from working too hard, but she’d never admit to being tired if Shouto asked. Her soft hair floated gently in the breeze flowing through the apartment.

“Yeah,” Shouto said. “I got in.”

“I knew you would.” She smiled and Shouto let the expression spread onto his face as well. He didn’t say he took first. That felt like it would be bragging. He let her hug him tight, the cold more comforting than any warmth. “Congratulations. You’re going to be a great hero, Shouto.”

The days before school started seemed to fly by. Katsuki got in as well, although he predictably flipped when he realized he didn’t come in first.

Shouto woke up early on the first day of school. He always slept curled up into a ball, his head tucked into his chest and his knees up. When he was younger, he kept accidentally covering his bed with ice and melting it into water when he slept. He hadn’t done that for a while, but he kept the habit of sleeping tightly clenched.

Today wasn’t any different than normal. His bed sheets were a plain blue. They were light, and most people would consider the room cold. His family tended to have unusual body temperatures and years of casual contact had given him what most would consider strange ideas of what was comforting.

He stretched, reaching down to touch his toes and placing his entire palm on the floor without bending his knees. Then Shouto practiced regulating his temperature in front of the mirror for a few minutes. His pajamas were loose even over his muscles. They had little All Mights on them.

The fact he owned such a silly outfit was a closely guarded secret.

He looked at himself in the mirror. Frosty green eyes stared back, determined. Today, he took the next step to becoming a hero.

Shouto made his own breakfast, ate it, and changed into the school uniform. He brushed his teeth. He’d had to get his toothbrush modified to be able to handle the sometimes random shifts in heat. Accidentally melting plastic into his teeth did not sound fun.

His backpack rested by the door where he’d left it the night before. Shouto was about to grab it when Mom appeared.

“Have a great first day of school,” she said.

“I will,” he promised and picked up his bag.

“If anyone gives you trouble, tell me and I’ll freeze them for you.” Shouto gave her a thumbs up along with a perfectly straight face and she laughed. “Don't worry, I’m sure you’ll be able to freeze them yourself.”

“Love you,” he said.

“Love you too.” She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. “Best to get going now. You don’t want to be late.” Shouto nodded and opened the door. His commute was pretty short, and before long, he was standing in front of UA. The school of his dreams. Literally, in a handful of poorly remembered cases. It towered over him.

Shouto was five minutes early when he made his way to his classroom. The boy with engines in his leg that had lectured him at the entrance exam was on the edge of getting into a fight with Katsuki.

Todoroki was watching the disagreement with something in between abject horror and fascination. He stepped inside. Todoroki didn’t move his head but his eyes swiveled to observe Shouto’s movements.

Shouto took a seat in the front, next to a girl with lots of hair in a fancy bun. He felt the presence of Todoroki’s eyes on his back and turned his head ever so slightly so he could meet his gaze. Strangely, the moment he made eye contact, Todoroki shrunk down in his seat. His posture, which had up until now been flawless, became nervous. Small.

The nice girl from the entrance exam came rushing. Shouto waved and she dashed over to the desk behind him.

“Hi,” she said. “Nice to see you again!” He’d tripped and she’d caught him with her quirk. “I’m Ochako Uraraka. You?”

“Sho—“ He stooped talking when he noticed the man inside of a sleeping bag by the door.

“Huh?” Uraraka asked. Shouto tilted his head towards the man and she fell silent as well. He sucked in a... juice box?

He counted in his head to see how long it would take for everyone else to catch on, but it turned out he didn’t need to because when the man stood up, he said, “It took you all seven seconds to realize I was here and shut up.” Uraraka awkwardly slid into the seat on Shouto’s right. “This is the UA heroics course and I’m your homeroom teacher, Shouta Aizawa. Thrilled to meet you all. Now change into your gym clothes and meet me on the grounds.”

He presented a test of their quirks and ominously promised that the lowest ranked would be expelled. Shouto wasn’t sure if he was serious about that last bit but wasn’t willing to take the risk. He knew he wasn’t going to take last anyway but tried his best to get first anyway.

A few of his classmates stood out. Momo Yaoyorozu took first over all and was obviously smart. Apparently Yaoyorozu got into UA on recommendation. That meant she was leagues above the rest of them. Shouto took note of this. He’d make an effort to befriend her and hopefully learn more about her training regimen. For now, she stood next to the girl in eighteenth place, Kyoko Jiro

Katsuki only got second and Shouto stood comfortable at fourth. He wasn’t surprised Katsuki beat him, although it was a bit disappointing. The boy who’s bested him was Tenya Ida. The upright boy who’d gotten into an argument with Katsuki earlier.

Todoroki took fifteenth, just behind the potentially fake French boy, Yuga Aoyama.

The person in last place was one Minoru Mineta.

“Alright, you’re out,” he said, pointing to Mineta. “Pack up your stuff and head home.”

“What?” Mineta exclaimed. Yaoyorozu looked surprised, though most everyone else just looked relieved they weren’t him. Shouto himself hadn’t really thought he’d go through with the threat. “You can’t do that!”

“Yes, I can. Because I just did.” Upon second thought, Yaoyorozu’s expression changed to relieved and grateful along with the rest of the girls in the class. Shouto had observed Mineta’s behavior earlier and been disgusted.

He was glad the school was responding appropriately, although he wasn’t really sure if Aizawa was simply expelling him because he was incompetent. Either way, it was probably for the best. “For the rest of the, your syllabuses are in the classroom. Get some rest. Tomorrow will be even worse.”

Most everyone groaned at that.

“Todoroki,” Aizawa said and handed something over to the boy. “Get Recovery Girl to help you with that for now, but you need to learn how to control your quirk or you’re out of here too.” Todoroki nodded mutely and risked a glance at the figure of a humiliated Mineta running off in tears. “Don’t expect any sort of special treatment from UA."

After a pause, he added, "In fact, it’ll probably be even harder for you than the rest of your class because of everyone’s expectations, good and bad. It’s not fair but neither is life. Get going. Oh, and you can stop eavesdropping now, Midoriya.”

Shouto pretended he hadn’t been and drifted in the general direction of the school building, embarrassed to be caught. He caught up with Uraraka and found she was chatting with the frog girl again. Tsuyu Asui, he remembered. “Oh, hey again. I don’t think I caught your name earlier!”

“Shouto Midoriya.”

“See, I told you his name couldn’t really be Icy Hot,” Asui said, a finger on her chin. The pose was kind of adorable, if hard to read.

“Okay, it does sound a bit ridiculous when you put it that way.” Uraraka rolled her eyes. “This is Tsuyu. Want to be our friend?” Shouto wasn’t used to being propositioned so openly. In his experience, friendship required long and tedious gestures of half hearted antagonism before eventually surrendering into something approximating a desire to keep the other safe from everything but the other.

Perhaps using his... relationship... with Katsuki as a model for forming friendships wasn’t the best idea.

Uraraka stuck out her hand and Shouto took it. “Can I call you Icy Hot anyway?”

“Isn’t that the name of a pain relieving medicine or something?” Asui— well, Tsuyu— asked.

“Well, then it’s a perfect hero name then!” Shouto couldn’t quite follow the logic, if there was any, in Uraraka’s claim, but her enthusiasm was kind of infectious. They chattered on with minimal required interjections required.

After a few minutes of walking, Ida caught intentionally up with the small group after a few seconds of power walking.

“Midoriya! Is it true you are acquainted with that ruffian?” Oh boy. Shouto couldn’t think of many solutions to the issue their, well, conflicting lifestyle choices that didn’t result in either of them leaving bruised.

“I mean, yeah, we went to the same school.” And lived across from each other. And gotten their quirks together. And a whole bunch of other things.

“If you’re trying to pick a fight, he’ll win.”

“A fight? What sort of person do you think I am?”

“A stuck up one,” Shouto replied, letting his poker face show. Uraraka and Tsuyu laughed at the frank response.

“Very funny. What have you three been getting up to?”

“Friendship,” Tsuyu remarked.

“Want to join in our platonic shenanigans?” Uraraka asked.

“I don’t see why not.” And that’s how Shouto became friends with Ida. They exchanged phone numbers, though they’d had to fidget a bit with Uraraka’s to make it work. Katsuki didn’t come up again, even when the girls split off and headed in a different direction.

He waved goodbye with an almost robotic gesture. That was it, at least until their texts began piling in.

Shouto opened the door to his home with a smile on his face. He placed his bag down and found Mom on the computer. Natsuo was on the screen, puffy white hair exploding all over the place. Fuyumi had pulled up a chair. He’d expected she’d still be at her school's entrance ceremony, but apparently not.

She chewed on a chocolate chip cookie from a plate near Mom’s hand. “I’m home!” Shouto said. Mom looked over her shoulders and held up a cookie. Everything felt complete. Everything except the glaringly obvious absence… Not going to think about that, he decided. Today was his first day of high school. It was not the time to feel sad over his missing brother.

Shouto would think about him when he got his license. He’d find him and bring him back, safe and sound. He had to. But for now… Shouto pulled up a chair and took the cookie. He bit into it and felt it crumble in his mouth.

It tasted like home.

Chapter Text

The first day of school had been tense and the ending sudden. The second day was long and crowded. All of his classmates were so loud and prone to bouncing around. They were hard to track and didn’t act scared of each other. Whether it was a convincing lie or the honest truth was difficult to understand.

There were very few people he understood but Shouto Midoriya was probably one of the most unusual. He brought in chocolate chip cookies, which Aizawa had accepted with the minimal tax of a single cookie for himself. He looked contemplative as he consumed the sweet treat inside of his cocoon. The strange mixture of emotions was interesting. Izuku studied him when Midoriya held a cookie out at him.

“Want one?” he asked. Izuku hadn’t ever had a cookie before. When faced with the rare chance on a day of freedom, he’d reminded himself there were more practical methods of sustenance than sweets. But… Midoriya was offering it, seemingly free of charge.

Unsure of what to do, Midoriya kept talking, “Mom made too many so you’re really doing me a favor by taking them off our hands.” That didn’t make much sense to Izuku. “I think she did it on purpose.” Elsewhere, Bakugo consumed an entire cookie in a single bite.

Midoriya was starting to look a bit awkward standing there, and Izuku was pretty sure he was supposed to say yes, so he nodded, hesitant, and outstretched his hands cupped together with his palms up. Midoriya placed the baked good in his hand and moved onto the next person, shooting nervous looks back.

He examined the treat all over before biting into it for himself. What could possibly be so good about cookies? They were just combinations of ingredients, right? Wasn’t that what everything was? In a way, the whole world was a particular organization of its elements...

Then the cookie hit his tastebuds, the tangent halted, and everything changed.

Well. Not everything changed. The Earth still turned, the sun still shone, and the moon still pushed the tides to and from. But… something did change. It was like pure happiness had turned into a food. It made his eyes shine bright with a feeling stronger than happiness. Was this joy? Everything disappeared. Everything that wasn’t bliss, that was. Izuku stared at the crumbs that remained, unaware of how he’d actually finished the beautiful miracle of a food. He wanted to hug Midoriya even though his breath could be hot.

“Whoah,” he said. “Whoah.”

“You okay there?” asked a boy with yellow and black hair.

“That’s good,” he exclaimed.

“Jeez, you’re acting like you’ve never had a cookie before.”

“I haven’t,” he confessed. Was that unusual? He didn’t want to stand out as the weird kid who hadn’t ever had a cookie. Well. That might be better than standing out as the embarrassment of a Todoroki. “Sorry.”

“Why’re you apologizing? Dude, just take mine too. You look like you need it.” The concept of needing a cookie didn’t make much sense to Izuku. How could one need a cookie? After all, it was just… absolute perfection.

“I… thank you. A lot. Oh, what’s your name?” That was a good starter for a conversation as he passed over his. He hadn’t even bitten into it yet. How could he keep himself from immediately consuming it? It was so… tasty!

“Kaminari. Todoroki, right?”

“Izuku’s better. If you don’t mind, I mean,” he clarified. “You don’t have to.”

“Sure. Izuku it is, then.” He made a satisfied sound and pointed his hands at Izuku in what he guessed was supposed to be finger guns. “Nice to meetcha.”

“Likewise.” Was that too formal? He wasn’t sure.

It didn’t really matter anyway as only a few moments later, Aizawa finished his cookie and stood up with an air of finality around him.

“Alright, you’ve had your fun. Now get to your first period class.”

Izuku followed the instructions. His academic classes weren’t too difficult. Izuku took notes the best he could but found himself getting distracted by the quirks of his classmates.

Lunch was a strange experience, and he wasn’t just saying that because of his first encounter with Class 1-B. Although, he had to admit, that was rather unusual.

Kamanari and three other classmates practically forced him to go with them. Mina Ashido and Ejiro Kirishima had become instant best buds, with Toru Hagakure coming along for some reason. Maybe the entertainment value? Well, there was certainly plenty of that.

“Hey, you!” proclaimed a very tall and muscular boy. “You’re Endeavor’s kid, right?” His captors/potential body guards stiffened. At least, the visible three did. It was hard to tell with Hagakure.

“So what?” Ashido asked, accusatory. His body was intimidating, but Izuku was more bemused than anything. What was happening? “He’s our friend.” “

Since when?” he asked, not quite sure how he’d been officially upgraded from ‘classmate’ to ‘friend.’ Or was classmate synonymous with friend in their eyes? People are hard, Izuku decided. At least Bakugo had made sense. “What’s going on?”

“Just go with it,” Kirishima recommended.

“I just came to say that I really really hate your dad but I hope it doesn’t mean we can’t be friends too!”

“What a way to introduce yourself, huh,” Hagakure said. The boy turned to leave before a giant hand slapped him on the back of head. Izuku frowned, confused. “Kendo!” objected the boy.

“My entire class is filled with lunatics out to pick a fight,” said the red head. The hands extended from her arms. “I’m really sorry about him and — oh my god, there goes Monoma again. I’ve got to go, have a great day!” “What was that about?” Kaminari asked and nobody really had an answer. Izuku ate quickly and in silence while the rest of them chattered on incessantly. Did they ever stop? If it wasn’t about what heroes they looked up to, it was about some video game they all wanted to play. They’d practically dragged Izuku over here, but they didn’t even care what he had to say? He wasn’t offended as much as confused. Just when he’d thought he was going to be forced to act sociable, they’d lost interest.

It took a few more classes before he finally got around to hero training. Also known as the only part of this damn school that made any sense. Except for the rules, teachers, the classmates, oh, and basically everything else.

Izuku examined his costume. Mom had helped him update the quirk registry form and snuck it out without father noticing, so it was suited to One For All. The only design specifications he’d made were, ‘not like Endeavor’ and ‘simple’ because he was sure Father would hate to be reminded of Izuku’s imperfections.

It was pretty simple but… nice, at the same time. There were supports for his arms built into the sleeves of what would’ve otherwise been a tight pale, almost pastel, teal jumpsuit. There were two black dots marking the collar and a belt around his waist with boxes for first aid supplies.

His boots were pale red and black laces tied them up. The soles were iron to give him some solid kicking power and there were similarly colored gloves. He looked at himself in the mirror before heading out to the field. Over all, it was a soft but solid look, emphasizing his muscles in a gentle way as if to say, I won’t hurt you, but I won’t let anyone hurt you either.

Definitely not like Father, who’s entire outfit was designed to terrify enemies into submission.

He strode out, feeling a bit bolder. When everyone had assembled, All Might began to explained the general rules before moving onto the specific ones. If someone went ‘too far’ then All Might himself would step in. Izuku wasn’t really sure what the point of that rule was, but it was consistent with the way he’d trained Izuku on the beach. All his talk about breaks and taking it easy after injuries. It was like adding one and two to get five. It was completely alien.

One surprise after another. He’d thought he understood Aizawa when he’d threatened the class with expulsion, but then he’d acted genuinely concerned for Izuku after he’d broken his finger on three different occasions yesterday. Like Mom, but Mom didn’t train him too. So… what was the point of the kindness? Training was useless if it wasn’t brutal, right?

The pain made him not want to make a mistake. Right? All Might finished with the rules and declared the teams. First up was…

“Izuku and Uraraka against Bakugo and Ida!” Great. Izuku was really looking forward to facing the guy who’d responded to his life being saved by swearing at the person who’d done it. Just... great. Especially considering the great match up of quirks and Izuku’s instinctive flinch reaction to fire. It couldn’t be a better pairing if he’d tried.

Of course, there was Uraraka. She was an unknown. He looked around and spotted the girl with pink cheeks searching took. She stood next to the frog girl, that… Shouto Midoriya, and Tenya Ida.

Bakugo was glaring at the entire group but especially Ida, who looked like he’d been assigned a project with a venomous snake. They looked like they’d rather fight each other than together, a fact Izuku would need to utilize. Coordination would be the key to take down their opponent. Divide and conquer, as they said.

“You’re Izuku Todoroki, right?” Uraraka asked, heading over to talk to him. Izuku nodded. “You like going by your first name too?” He nodded again.

Too? By process of elimination. he managed to guess it was probably the frog girl who shared his distaste for the family name. Or not. Maybe she simply liked her first name better. Honestly, it didn’t really matter why. If another person was doing it, that meant he wouldn’t stand out. “Cool. Yours is pretty obvious, but my quirk is zero gravity. I can make stuff float by touching them with five of my fingers. I can float myself too, but that tends to make me need to throw up.”

The casual way she said yours in relation to a quirk felt… nice. It was like he really belonged here. The few people who’d mentioned Father didn’t seem to even care.

“You were walking away from school with Ida the other day. Bakugo and I have met previously. I’m assuming they won’t be able to overcome their differences in time for a coordinated assault. Does this assumption concur with your experiences?”

“So you can talk in full sentences after all,” Uraraka observed.

“I can stop,” he offered.

“No, I was just a bit surprised. That makes sense, I don’t think they’ll get along. Ida called Bakugo a ruffian.” Izuku nodded.

“We’ll want to get them fighting each other if possible. All Might says he’ll interfere if things get out of hand, but I’m not really sure I understand how much he considers bad enough to step in. Do you know what he means?”

“Well, you know.” Uraraka waved her hands. Izuku shook his head in confusion. “If it’s dangerous. We are kids, after all.”

“Can you quantify dangerous?” Izuku was pretty sure he was only confusing the two of them worse. “Like, if they start fighting each other. How much of that would All Might tolerate?”

“I dunno? Now you're confusing me. I wiish we weren’t going first.”

“I agree.” Uraraka looked like she was trying to figure something out, something more important than the parameters of the assignment. “Maybe the rule about moderation is a test.”

“Like Aizawa’s test? To see if we’re too mean to be heroes? I don’t think All Might would do something like that.” No, he wouldn’t. That was part of why Izuku loved watching All Might work. He never acted like the people he saved were burdens. He always smiled, even when it was only Izuku.

“You’re probably right. So how can we get them fighting?”

“It won’t be that hard,” Uraraka remarked. “Honestly, I’d be impressed if they weren’t already. You said you know Bakugo, right?”

“We ran into each other, got into a disagreement, and I saved his life. The fact he needed to be rescued has been eating at him, and he’s probably itching to take me down a few perceived pegs. I assume Ida would disapprove of this behavior.”

“That’s really immature of him.”

“I know the type,” he said. The behavior that seemed so childish on Bakugo was what Father demonstrated every day. The concept of Father as an immature child with too much power was disturbing and Izuku banished it from his mind. “I think I have an idea. How well do you think you’d fair against Ida?”

“I don’t think I could win but I could probably fight him to a draw.”

“Alright, here’s my idea,” he began...

--

Bakugo was not a team player.

That fact was fairly obvious at first glance. He was also clearly prideful and stubborn. His temper was explosive, in more ways than one. These were all traits most people with common sense and a fear of death knew to avoid. Eijirou Kirishima wasn’t sure which he lacked, as he was intrigued.

He’d immediately began shouting at Ida, who’d tried lecturing him on something. The monitoring room didn’t have sound, annoyingly enough, but he got enough of an idea based on their wild gestures. The divide wasn’t really surprising.

What was sort of surprising was the other team, particularly Izuku. He’d gone from awkward, confused, and semi-mute to describing something in great detail to Uraraka, who was nodding along. He finished, and she raised four fingers up. He assumed it was a request for a version of a high five, modified to avoid activating her quirk. Izuku’s perfect posture fell into a slump for a single second at the movement, but he perked back up really quickly. Eijirou wondered if anyone noticed the motion.

He guessed Uraraka explained the concept of a high five or something because he softly patted her, and she threw up her hands in surrender.

They headed into the building together, and Eijirou turned his gaze back to one of the screens tracking Bakugo. Despite his seemingly out of control personality, he was clearly scanning the area around him for traces of the enemy. His anger was driving him but didn’t consume him yet. Interesting.

A few minutes in, and the three were about to collide. Izuku said something to Uraraka when he was a few corners away, and she slid just inside the opening of a room. Had he realized Bakugo was near? That was some pretty impressive detection. Bakugo looked like he was making a lot of noise, but he wasn’t that close.

Izuku settled into some sort of combat stance as Bakugo came swinging around the corner. He started with a right hook, which Izuku ducked under, dropping into a crouch and leaping upwards, beneath Bakugo’s guard.

Bakugo blasted him back but Izuku had gotten really close to hitting him. Bakugo was focused on Izuku, who dodged his blows just a bit too slowly. There was something off about the way Izuku was moving. Each action was too flashy and his expressions were too exaggerated. Yesterday, Izuku had sounded awkward if he spoke at all, so why was he talking in the middle of a fight?

Wait... Eijirou glanced at the monitor with Uraraka, who’s hiding place was right behind where Bakugo had landed. A distraction! He was leading Bakugo into the perfect position for Uraraka to strike. Bakugo was growing really angry at Izuku over what he was saying, past the point of common sense and enough to block out his apparently high level of battle awareness. The explosions were out of control, and they only grew worse when Izuku began grinning smugly.

Now, Eijirou thought as he spotted weakness in Bakugo’s defense. Uraraka must’ve seen the same thing because she rushed forward, capture tape flowing out and wrapping around Bakugo’s chest while he was in flight. In the instant it took for him to realize what was going on, she’d released her quirk, yanked the tape tight, and spun him around until he’d been tied up.

“Bakugo’s out!” All Might declared. The rest of the class needed a moment to process the action. Neither of the two looked physically intimidating, which made their victory over Bakugo, who was probably the scariest member of their class so far, that much more impressive.

Uraraka was bubbly, and her quirk didn’t seem partially powerful. She wore a pink costume that emphasized her curves, not the muscles Eijirou was only now noticing. On the other hand Izuku might’ve concerned people at first because of the last name, but his social awkwardness and unreliable quirk had led most to dismiss him. Pity him, even, for that painful scar covering his neck and chin.

They found Ida with ease, and when Izuku seemed to want to make a plan, Uraraka charged in. They beat him, but only after Izuku used his quirk in his finger to keep Ida away from Uraraka. It sends him flying for long enough for her to grab ahold of the weapon, accidentally causing the windows in the room to explode outwards. The few cameras that still focused on Bakugo indicated he hadn’t stopped screaming the entire time.

“The heroes win!” All Might proclaimed.

A few minutes later a disgruntled Bakugo, proud Uraraka, nonplussed Izuku, and ashamed Ida marched into the observation room. After a few minutes of getting the group in order, All Might began the debrief.

“I would say the MVP in this fight was Uraraka. Can anybody tell me why?” Yaoyorozu raised her hand and he pointed at her.

“Ida allowed his disagreement with his teammate to distract him, allowing Uraraka and Todoroki to surprise him. Bakugo’s performance was clearly driven by a personal grudge, and his destructive attacks damaged his own strong hold, which is not a good tactic for a hero or a villain. Todoroki did slightly better but ended up causing collateral damage as well. It was also clear the plan was completely Todoroki’s, and he did not ask for input from his teammate.”

Uraraka bounced up and down on her toes. Eijirou observed how Izuku tensed up as she finished what amounted to a lecture.

“Oh... well, I’d say she was a bit haphazardly with her attacks, but... you’re correct.” All Might gave the number one recommended student a thumbs up. Eijirou could see why she’d gotten in so easily. Even without her awesome quirk, her analytical abilities were top notch.

“We’ve got to start at the bottom and work up! If we don’t cheer each other on, we’ll never be pro heroes!” Her costume consisted of a red sports bra and tight shorts, with a yellow belt holding two books on either side.

The next team up was Midoriya and Shouji. Using his dupliarms, Shouji tracked down their location and helped pull Midoriya up to a window. He opened it and breathed out a wave of ice, which coated the floor the villains were on. Eijirou looked over at Bakugo, who scowled at Midoriya with something like... jealousy? Bakugo’s power was practically great for heroics, what did he have to be jealous about? Eijirou thought about saying something but ended up distracted by his own match.

These classmates of his sure were interesting, to say the least. This was gonna be a great school year, he was sure of it.

Chapter Text

“Today you’ll be picking your class president,” Aizawa said, in a flat tone that indicated he couldn’t care less who they picked. His yellow sleeping bag laid on the floor next to him, and he was already beginning to pull himself into it.

The entire room burst into chaos at the words. Izuku silently raised his hand as well. He didn’t really want the role, but Father would expect him to at least try and All Might would... Izuku had no idea what All Might would think.

All Might wanted Izuku to become whatever it was Izuku wanted to be.

It was overwhelming, in a way, but it was nice too. He’d chosen this. Maybe Father would’ve tried his hardest to force him into it regardless, but he hadn’t managed to. He couldn’t. He didn’t even know he had a quirk yet.

When Ida insisted on a democratic approach to the presidential dilema, Izuku voted for him. He seemed the type who’d be able to manage the responsibility well.

In the end, Ida tied with Yaoyorozu. Both had two votes. They solved the tie with a second round, with everyone being forced to vote for one of the two. Ida won, but barely.

Izuku hadn’t received any votes. That was okay. He’d expected as much. So... it was fine. Yeah. This was fine. He watched Ida literally vibrate with enthusiasm and felt... okay. Satisfied, even. Why? He hadn’t won. He hadn’t tried to win.

At lunch, Izuku sat down at the same table as before. The group was mostly the same with one curious addition— Bakugo. Somehow Kirishima had convinced him to sit with them. Izuku wasn’t sure how or even why. The redheaded boy’s outgoing energy was a little overwhelming, maybe it was simply stronger than Bakugo’s ego?

Instead of contemplating the strange situation forever, Izuku watched Bakugo eat. It was an impressive, if somewhat gross, display. He practically shoveled the rice into his mouth, huge bite after huge bite.

“Fuck off, Deku,” he snarled once he noticed Izuku’s intense gaze. “Deku?” Izuku made the connection with the kanji in his first name.

Bakugo was an interesting person, that was for sure. Although his strong sense of pride had wavered after his loss the other day, it‘d seemed like it’d returned with a fury by now. Yet, he glared at Izuku with those furious eyes and came up with an insulting nickname. Perhaps a white hot rage was Bakugo’s default way of communicating with people.

Kirishima made eye contact with Izuku and looked like he was about to say something when the alarm went off.

As the cafeteria turned from a simple disorderly mess of conversations and complicated relationships to pure chaos, Kaminari grabbed the arm of a third year with bold pinkish red locks. Izuku noticed a tattoo of an origami crane swam up and down her neck, turning as if to search for something.

“Do you know what’s going on?”

“No idea, sorry. Hasn’t happened in any of my years here.” Actually, the tattoo wasn’t the only crane she had on her. A metal one sat on her shoulder before it flew off. She pulled her arm out of Kaminari’s grip with ease, heading towards the exit.

“That way?” Ashido asked, rhetorically because Bakugo was already pushing ahead. The group followed, of course, and Izuku trailed shortly behind. He wasn’t sure what else to do.
The pure mass of the students in the hall tore the groups apart, squishing Izuku in between the heat of different bodies. He let the force of the crowd drive him onwards, not bothering to waste energy attempting to control the anarchic situation.

The evacuation only turned quiet once Ida and Uraraka worked together to deliver a surprisingly effective lecture.

—

It was rescue training today, and Izuku was grateful for the reprieve. He’d been sure was sure he was going to end up breaking down out of fear in training every time he heard Bakugo’s screaming. Lectures weren’t punctuated by pain here, but he kept expecting the other shoe to drop. Father had been light with his training demands as well, a rare break he was grateful but suspicious of.

On the ride over to the separate facility, Izuku observed his classmates in a natural environment. Kirishima and Kaminari appeared to be fearless, teasing Bakugo without fear.

Uraraka’s friend introduced herself by her first name too, going as far as to insist on a cuter variation of it. She pointed out his quirk’s similarity to All Might and Izuku wondered if this was what a heart attack felt like.

A quick, “All Might doesn’t hurt himself,” from Kirshima is all Tsu needed to make her back off, but it didn’t make the confrontation any less nerve wracking. He knew his quirk would make no sense to anyone who knew about his parents’ quirks, which was basically the whole world.

Midoriya stayed quiet throughout the trip. His eyes were closed, but he was clearly aware of what was going on.

Izuku breathed. They’d have a new teacher today. He wondered what they’d be like. Intimidating, like Father? Inspiring, like All Might? Maybe even the strange mix of relaxed, scary, and nice that Aizawa was.

It turned out they were something entirely else. They were the rescue hero Thirteen, and they were kind.

The off site facility was huge. It was in the shape of a dome and was basically in the middle of no where. Thirteen met them inside, and Izuku was almost too distracted by the interesting location to overhear the brief exchange between them and Aizawa. Almost.

“Thirteen, where is All Might? I thought he was supposed to be here too.”

“He won’t be joining us. He ran into some trouble earlier.” They raised three fingers. The time limit.

“Can’t be helped, I suppose. Take it away, Thirteen.”

“Gladly.” Thirteen turned to the crowd of students. “Welcome! Today you’ll be practicing rescuing in the zones I created to mimic natural disasters, from floods, to rockslides, to shipwrecks, and more! I like to call this place the Unforeseen Simulations Joint!”

“So, basically Universal Studios Japan,” Kirishima remarked as Uraraka jumped up and down in excitement.

“Before we get started,” Thirteen said, pretending not to hear the comment, “I have one or two points. Or three, or four, or... Well, I’m sure you all know my quirk is called Black Hole. It can suck in anything and turn it to dust. I’ve used it in all sorts of disasters to save lives. However, my power could just as easily kill.”

That dampened the mood. Even Bakugo looked somber at the comment. Izuku felt a pressure in his permanently twisted pinkie and scratched the scar on his chin with his other hand.

“I’m sure plenty of you have similar abilities. It’s easy to start to feel safe with our society’s strict regulations, but it’s important to remember that it only takes one wrong move with an uncontrollable quirk for people to die. All Might’s battle training let you begin to understand the danger your quirks can pose. This class will offer you a different perspective. Here is where you will learn how to save lives.”

Thirteen was not soft, although their costume did make them look like a big marshmallow. They spoke with years of experience behind their words.

“Your powers aren’t meant to harm. I hope you leave here today with an understanding that you’re meant to help people.”

The crowd cheered, with Ida as one of the loudest among them. Izuku offered some polite applause that he let die out after a few seconds.

“Alright, then,” Aizawa began but didn’t finish his sentence.

The light bulbs flickered.

Then, the strangeness moved to the water fountain. At first, Izuku thought it was simply malfunctioning. Then he realized no malfunction looked like it was tearing a hole in the space time continuum.

Several others noticed, stepping backwards or forwards depending on their personalities. Izuku kept track of which did which, wondering what could be causing this when it became clearer.

Perfectly clear, actually. Disturbingly clear.

Those were villains stepping out of some kind of warp gate. Izuku blinked, as if to clarify what he was seeing was real. They didn’t vanish. Instead, they only kept coming. Dozens of them.

“Stick together and don’t move!” Aizawa ordered. Izuku’s heart caught in his chest.

“Huh?” Sero said, confused.

“Thirteen, protect the students.” Aizawa had already pulled up his goggles.

“What the heck’s that? More robots?” Kirishima asked, although he already knew the answer. Denial was one hell of a drug.

“Get back! Those are villains!” It takes the actual word to get through the class’s collective heads. The fear set in fast, but the class didn’t break down in the face of adversity. If anything, they displayed a grim determination. As understanding spread, they, probably subconsciously, dropped into combat stances.

They were only first years, and they were ready to take on a mob of villains who’d managed to break into a secure facility like this. Their fragile strength and unity was impressive.

Guilt dripped down Izuku’s forehead as sweat. He was fighting the urge to buckle in pure intimidation.

Father had been wrong— so very wrong. Forcing himself through the pain hadn’t made him strong. It had made him even weaker than he already was. It’d made him want to fall to the ground and make himself small so that he’d think the lesson had already sunk in. The false arrogance he’d mustered up to trick Bakugo the day before was gone.

All that remained was a cowardice seeping into every cell of his body.

“Thirteen and Eraserhead, is it?” said one of the villains. “According to the staff schedule we received, All Might is supposed to be here.”

All Might, The name, even spoken from a villain, was a life saver.

He remembered All Might’s encouraging grin as he’d officially accepting Izuku into UA. The weeks he’d spent trying so hard to harness the strange power, All Might’s refusal to give up on him, and the day he’d said those magical words that’d changed everything for Izuku flooded through him. Then, he thought back to the confidence that he’d never once failed to display in an emergency.

Izuku grabbed onto the idea of All Might’s kindness as he pulled all the memories of his numerous victories to the forefront of his mind. Even the idea of him was like a comforting shadow in the blinding light that stunned him in place.

Think, Izuku, think. The other day. That meant they’d gotten in with the press or they’d caused the break in to cover something else.

“Where is he? I went to the trouble of bringing so many friends who are eager to meet him.” The villain who’s face was covered in hands described their invasion as if he was in control of it. “I wonder if some dead kids will bring him here.”

There.

That was the mastermind behind all this. His ominous crimson eyes peaked out from behind the wide fingers. His silvery hair rippled with his movements. The outfit he wore was rather plain if he ignored the hands, lacking anything resembling illegal support items.

Izuku clenched onto All Might’s smile and refused to let someone who wouldn’t even show their face intimidate him. The threat of death was already present from their initial incursion. If they didn’t kill everybody here, then they’d be able to identify most of the perpetrators to the police.

That was only further confirmation. It didn’t matter, it didn’t matter. It didn’t change what they had to do.

“Aren’t there intruder sensors, sensei?” Yaoyorozu asked.

“Yes, of course there are,” said Thirteen, trying to project an air of calm as Aizawa prepared to leap into battle. Behind him, Midoriya spoke quietly but firmly, articulating thoughts similar to the ones going through Izuku’s head.

“Thirteen, begin evacuation and try calling the school. One of these villains is probably jamming the sensors, probably an electric type quirk. Kaminari, see if you can get through.”

“Got it,” Kaminari said and focused. Izuku swallowed, hating what he was going to say but knowing it was true.

“Sensei, you can’t win against that many. You use the element of surprise and a quick capture, it won’t work on a group like that.” Aizawa turned, determination carved into every feature on his face. He didn’t smile. He didn’t need to.

“No good hero,” he said, “is a one trick pony.” There was a beat as the words sunk in. Then, there was motion worthy of someone given the title of hero.

When Aizawa leapt, he leapt. Powerful muscles propelled him through the air, and the scarf around his neck moved as though unaffected by gravity. His hair rose up, whipping through the air around him.

He’d seen glimpses of the danger behind Aizawa’s relaxed facade before. Izuku had observed his too quick responses to subtle stimuli and catalogued them, almost without thinking, the first time he’d met him. His near instant erasure of Izuku’s quirk when he’d been prepared to use his entire hand had been enough to remind him that his teacher was a pro.

None of those signs had been enough to prepare Izuku for the pure power Aizawa revealed now. He didn’t have any sort of physical enhancement quirk— no supernatural strength or dexterity. Yet, he landed as gracefully as a cat, tossing villains away with practiced ease.

Two slammed into the ground with a painful crash. More followed in the moments before the villains even identified him.

The majority of the villains reacted far too slowly to the one man army Aizawa was revealing himself to be. They didn’t seem to be very experienced, or maybe Aizawa was simply so good he’d managed to throw them off balance.

Izuku shook the analytical thoughts away and began to move towards the exit. Time was of the essence here. No matter how powerful Aizawa was proving himself to be, the mob would wear him out eventually. If he was holding the villains off for them, they.

He’d only began to move when the villain he assumed was responsible for their entrance— a figured hidden in a shroud of black and purple mist — appeared in front of them. Aizawa must’ve blinked.

Izuku halted immediately, although some of his classmates took a few seconds to reach a stop.

“I won’t allow that,” the villain said. The voice was low— male? — and the way he stressed certain syllables was rhythmic, almost musical.

He was nothing like the criminals Aizawa was facing off against. His confident yet not arrogant tone indicated experience. There was no such thing as a ‘pro’ villain, but if there was, Izuku was sure this one would qualify. He didn’t allow the fear to paralyze him, simply stood alert.

“Greetings,” the villain continued. “We are the League of Villains.” Izuku had never heard of such a group. Most organized crime had been eliminated since All Might’s rise to power, which meant this league was either incredibly skilled or new. This villain in front of him indicated the former, but the inexperience of those facing off against Aizawa made him lean towards the latter.

“Pardon our audacity, but we have invited ourselves to this bastion of heroism to end the life of All Might.”

…huh? To kill All Might? That was why they were here? It matched up with the high numbers and why they’d seemed disappointed that he wasn’t there, but why? Wouldn’t it make more sense for their target to be 1-A all along?

“It appears he is not here. Regardless, my role remains unchanged.” Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku spotted Thirteen preparing to use their quirk. Weren’t they a rescue hero? Their years of experience weren’t spent fighting on a battle field.

Before Izuku could process their actions, two of his classmates reacted. Bakugo and Kirishima lunged for the villain, quirks activated. Kirishima’s arms hardened as he smashed one into an area resembling some kind of head and smoke burst out around the explosion Bakugo ignited.

“Not if we end you first!” Bakugo snarled.

“Betcha didn’t see that coming, huh?” Kirishima asked, confident despite the situation. No, Izuku noted. He was shaking; Kirishima’s bravado was a front. Bakugo’s was more sincere.

“Close one,” the villain mumbled, shifting the mist around his head to conceal some form of armor over a nice suit. Who dressed up to an invasion? “Yes, although you’re only students, you are the best of the best.”
Hardly.

“Get back! Both of you!” Thirteen shouted, noticing some sort of change Izuku couldn’t pick up on. Not until the black mist had already spread out to cover the entire group.

The darkness choked him. He couldn’t see anything beyond a hand he recognized as Tsu’s based on its size and the color of the costume covering it. The villains voice echoed through the shroud, chilling Izuku to the bone as an unsettling feeling of sickness permeated his body.

“Begone,” he thundered. “Writhe in torment until you breathe your last!”

---

Shouto landed surrounded by enemies on all sides.

He didn't even pause to try to figure out where he was or what happened, he simply sucked in a deep breath and spun around in a full circle, ice spreading out all around him. Frost snuck up the legs of most of the people surrounding him almost instantly.

Usually such a move would leave his lips almost frozen and his body numb, but in his hero costume, a blue jacket with a belt around his waist, his body rebalanced itself far quicker than usual. He was still getting used to the boost it provided.

Nice, he thought.

"You're not very strong, are you?" Shouto mused, searching the crowd for anything hinting at the professional demeanor the warping villain had sported. "Probably not anything more than simple thugs."

Shouto considered the few members of this League that he'd consider dangerous-- the man covered in hands, the warp gate, the bird monster with an exposed brain, and maybe a few others who'd remained out of sight.

He burned away the ice that impaired his path, controlling the fire with a casual thought after it puffed out of his mouth. The water left the earthy ground damp.

"Who is this kid? He froze us all the moment he warped here!"

"That's not a kid, that's a monster!" another chimed in. Shouto ignored the comments. They were the ones who'd tried to attack UA. What sort of reward had they been offered to make this crazy job seem reasonable? What sort of plan did they have to make it seem feasible?

He reached the closest villain.

"Keeping you like this would cause you to slowly freeze to death, but I can't let you go until I know more about your plan to kill All Might. Tell me everything."

---

"That's all of them," Katsuki said, breathing heavily. Shitty hair exhaled as well, letting go of the shirt the villain he'd just taken down. "Bunch of weak ass cannon fodder."

"Great, let's go help the others!" Shitty hair responded with a new energy. He rubbed sweat off his chin. "If we're still here, everyone else probably is as well. I'm worried for the ones that don't have the same sort of offense we do. Anyway, we're sorta responsible for them getting scattered since we interrupted Thirteen Sensei like that so it's up to us to help."

"If that's what you wanna do, go ahead. I'm going to beat that warp bastard to a pulp." He said our attack had been a close call. He has to have a weakness.

"What? Being immature right now?" Shitty Hair was aghast at his reaction. "Come on! We saw normal attacks don't work on him."

"No, they do." Shitty Hair looked confused, so he elaborated. "Besides, he's their mobility. If we take him down, these punks won't be able to escape justice."

Out of the corner of his eye, Katsuki spotted a villain they'd missed lunging for him. He grabbed its head and blew its face to kingdom come, dropping it's unconscious body onto the ground.

"Besides, these villains fucking suck. Our classmates can handle them."

"You're pretty calm all of a sudden. Normally you're all like, 'Die, die, die!'"

"I'm always fucking calm, you red haired loser!"

Katsuki knew he was an angry person. He also knew that colored people's expectations for him. It wasn't like Katsuki was internally some sort of relaxed hippy who only got angry to throw people off, but he also didn't fight the image of a reckless asshole who only cared about making his point.

He accepted it. He used it. Shitty Hair's observation said... something... about him.

"Ah, there you are." Shitty Hair's smile was infuriating. So. Damn. Infuriating.

"I'm out of here," Katsuki said, turning to leave when Shitty Hair moved to join him.

"Hey, hold up! It's important to trust in your pals, as a man! You've convinced me." Katsuki wouldn't say he was relieved to have Shitty Hair's help. That would be an unfair exaggeration. Still, it'd be a lie to say he didn't feel any boost in confidence with any ally as stubborn as Shitty Hair on his side.

Any ally as stubborn as him.

Chapter Text

One moment, Izuku was inside a dark cloud. The next, he was drowning.

Water surrounded him. It was a lukewarm temperature. He closed his mouth and eyes immediately. Izuku didn’t have too much experience with casually swimming, but he did know how to handle drowning.

Sound didn’t travel easily underwater, but he could hear the villains approaching him. The small glimpse he’d caught had been blurry, but it’d been enough to tell him which way was up.

Izuku was glad he’d inhaled right before being warped. He had roughly a minute before he started to lose consciousness.

Calm down, he reminded himself as he did his best to push himself away from the approaching villains and towards the surface. The more he panicked, the more air he’d waste. It was only a few feet. He could make it. He had to make it.

His head burst above the surface, and he forced himself to take small breaths, coughing out as much water as possible. Trying to get his eyes clean was harder because he didn’t have anything dry to wipe them with.

Once he’d somewhat recovered his vision, Izuku spotted the green blur of Tsu fighting off the villains who were about to attack him. She didn’t manage to completely knock them out, but she did distract them for long enough for her to wrap her tongue around Izuku’s chest and fling him towards a boat.

She followed him onto the vessel a few moments later.

“Tsu,” he said, feeling uncomfortable with the nickname but not about to risk bringing up something she didn’t want to talk about, especially in the situation they were in now. “Are you injured?”

“No,” she replied. Her face revealed little. “You?”

“No.” His eyes stung a bit, but that wasn’t relevant enough to mention. The villains were regrouping. “We need a plan.”

“If we’re still in the USJ, everyone else should be too. We could try to get to the exit or try to track them down,” she said, raising two fingers. “Whatever we do, we should decide quickly.” She followed his gaze towards the villains swarming around them. One of them was going to make a move any moment now.

“The exit is a good meeting place. We’d be working towards alerting the faculty while also reuniting with our classmates.”

“Let’s try to head there, then.”

A thought occurred to Izuku and he examined the crowd. The villains all seemed to rely on aquatic abilities of some variety, which made sense, but why were they sent against Tsu?

“Well, I don’t think they know our quirks,” he observed. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be here. We have the benefit of surprise but they won’t be underestimating us.” A double edged sword.”

“Let’s talk quirks then.” Tsu followed the statement up with a quick explanation of hers. Izuku was impressed. Her abilities were spread evenly across the board, with no clear weakness. She was easily adaptable in any situation, suited to both combat and rescue. Her looks were charming but couldn’t be read easily, which was a good defense against analysis quirks.

“I’ve got my super strength, but it’s difficult to control. Once I use it, that limb is usually out of commission. I can still move the limb, but I can’t really fight effectively with it. With your mobility, we could probably make it close to the shore if I use a few fingers.”

He explained the idea. It was inspired by something he’d seen Bakugo pulling in the combat training the other day. A villain attacked once he’d finished, cutting the boat through. They began to sink but slowly.

“Now?” Izuku asked.

“Now,” Tsu replied. She crouched in preparation to catch him, and he climbed over the railing. The sensation of a power circulating through his fingers was growing more and more natural, but he couldn’t allow himself to grow used to it.

Bad habits died hard, and using One For All this way was definitely a bad habit.

The sensation of falling reversed. Force exploded through his fingers, and he went flying. The water reacted precisely as predicted, sucking the villains in and shooting them out. By the time they’d recovered, Izuku was already flying.

“Guess we cleared the shipwreck zone. You’re amazing,” Tsu said as she caught up with him. The air whistled by Izuku’s face and the pain in his fingers barely felt real. Together, they soared.

Izuku allowed himself to feel satisfied for a single moment before second guessing himself. Every single variable that could’ve spun out of control, the recklessness of the attack...

Now they were falling. Tsu controlled their descent so they landed softly in the water instead of on the hard land. Izuku swam towards the shore, Tsu politely matching his speed.

“You okay?” she asked, spotting his broken fingers. Izuku tugged the glove down to cover it.

“Fine,” he said. “I’ve had worse.”

“To the entrance, then? If we cut that way—“ she gestured, “we can avoid the big brawl.”

“Yeah, but Aizawa’s got to be getting tired,” Izuku pointed out. Even from a distance, they could tell his movements were slower than before and although he’d taken out a significant number of the villains, the more dangerous ones hadn’t made their move.

“Do you want to help him?” Tsu asked. “We might be overwhelmed.”

“Only if we faced them head on. We could split a few off to lighten his load.” Tsu nodded, a silent agreement passing between them as they changed direction. She was going to be a great hero one day, assuming she didn’t get killed here. Izuku wasn’t going to let that happen. He wasn’t.

The villains in the shipwreck zone were a while off from regrouping enough to come after them, but Izuku kept checking over his shoulder anyway. He didn’t want to get caught off guard.

The ground near the shore was shallow enough for Izuku to stand on. The concrete was a few feet taller than where the water ended.

“We need an opportunity,” Izuku whispered to Tsu.

“Watch and wait, then?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Tsu stood and watched close to Izuku. Beneath the water, her hand closed around Izuku’s. Her skin was covered in gloves like his, although hers were clearly designed to be water proof. Izuku didn’t pull his hand away.

He wasn’t sure why not. Physical contact, through gloves or not, wasn’t something he was used to from anyone but Mom and All Might now. But It’d taken time for him to get used to All Might’s habits. Tsu had crawled beneath his barriers in less than an hour.

The touch was reassuring. Somehow, instead of startling or scaring Izuku, Tsu grounded him.

“Thank you,” he whispered and focused on the battle above.

The villain Izuku guessed was the mastermind behind the invasion was talking to himself. Izuku couldn’t quite hear what he was saying, but he didn’t like the way he was staring at Aizawa.

When the mastermind jumped into action, he matched Aizawa’s speed and grace. No, Izuku noted, not quite. They were only matched because Aizawa was exhausted.

“You the final boss?” Aizawa asked to the mastermind, trying to maintain a facade of bravado. It didn’t work, not when the statement was punctuated by a deep breath. Izuku had been right— he wasn’t suited for this kind of drawn out brawl.

“Twenty four seconds,” the mastermind said, this time loud enough for Izuku to hear. He grabbed onto Aizawa’s capture weapon, trying to tug him forward. “Twenty seconds.”

Aizawa ducked down, using his momentum against him and as the mastermind moved to go above him, saying, “Seventeen seconds,” Aizawa shoved his elbow in his gut.

The blow connected solidly.

Wait.

No, it hadn’t. The mastermind had let Aizawa hit him. In the moment when Aizawa blinked, the mastermind did something as he grabbed his elbow. All of his fingers made contact. Izuku clenched Tsu’s hand tighter as he realized what happened.

Aizawa’s shirt crumbled first. Threads became dust.

“You kept jumping around so it was hard to see,” the mastermind hissed, too close to where Izuku and Tsu were watching. His voice was too breathy, too cracked. Hatred, the sort of hatred Izuku only heard when Father ranted about All Might, dripped from every single syllable. “but I found your tell.” Cracks spread across Aizawa’s elbow from where the mastermind’s fingers connected. “It’s your hair. When it falls over your face, you’ve stopped using your quirk.”

Tsu was holding his hand tightly too. Izuku didn’t want to let go, but if he had, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to.

“The intervals are getting shorter and shorter, aren’t they?” His voice grew more manic as pieces of Aizawa’s flesh broke off. “Don’t push yourself too hard. You might just fall apart.”

At the word apart, Aizawa dropped out of the daze he’d fallen into and pushed his way out of range of the mastermind. More villains moved to take advantage of the opportunity the mastermind gave them. He kept fighting, but it was clear the wound was slowing him down.

Izuku didn’t know what to do. He could move to help, but he’d only risk being taken hostage.

“What... what can we do?” he asked. Tsu didn’t have an answer. Her hand slackened and almost slipped out of his.

“That quirk of yours, isn’t it unsuited for a brawl like this? Isn’t your usual tactic short range sneak attacks?” The mastermind was thinking out loud, coming to a conclusion Izuku didn’t want to hear. The glee in his voice was rising.

“You jumped into battle to reassure your students, didn’t you? You’re so cool, so cool, so cool.” Izuku didn’t realize he was holding his breath until the mastermind said, “By the way, I am not the final boss.”

The villain with the brains spilling out and a mouth like a bird’s beak who’d only watched the battle with disinterested eyes that didn’t seem to hold anything moved.

He was too fast for Izuku to see and too fast for Aizawa to react to. His size would’ve indicated a slow moving tank like fighting style, but Izuku’s assumption was wrong— so wrong.

His fist came down.

A sickening crunch. Blood pooling around his head. His googles split into pieces across the ground.

Izuku sucked in a shaky breath, suddenly desperate for more solid ground beneath his feet. Violence wasn’t new to him. He’d seen blood and broken bones before. So why... why was he shaking like this? Why was he holding onto Tsu for dear life?

Can’t run, can’t fight.

Izuku knew the fear of being weak and vulnerable in the powerful grip of someone stronger. Memories told him what to expect. Aizawa would surrender or stay still in hopes of avoiding further pain.

He didn’t. He cried out in pain, but it was a muffled reaction. He was trying to avoid showing weakness. Maybe because the villains looked like the type to kick someone who was already down— no, that wasn’t it. Izuku thought back to Aizawa jumping into battle despite knowing the odds were against him and to what the villain had said.

Aizawa was trying to reassure any students who might be watching. He fought through the pain, because he was a hero.

The mastermind introduced the villain as Nomu, but Izuku couldn’t think about him right now. He couldn’t think at all. All he could see was how the Nomu twisted Aizawa’s arm in the wrong direction to the point of a painful snap.

No.

This was wrong.

Aizawa was trying to protect them; he was sacrificing himself for their safety. Izuku couldn’t— wouldn’t— accept that. He'd been making excuses before, excuses that didn't hold up in the face of that monster. His mind started ticking, examining every single angle of attack and coming to a single conclusion as he turned to Tsu.

“Tsu, if you see an opportunity, get Aizawa out of there,” he whispered.

“What are you going to do?” she asked, but he didn’t answer with words. Instead, he climbed onto the concrete shore.

Izuku wasn’t sure what it was that propelled him forward. This wasn’t like in the entrance exam or against the sludge villain. He was fully cognizant of his actions, inside of his body, and prepared to fight. Yes, he’d felt some measure of false confidence after managing to fight off the villains in the shipwreck zone, but he wasn’t cocky either. He knew attacking was dangerous. He knew interfering with the fight was risky.

Izuku didn’t move because he had something to prove or because he wanted to beat somebody. He climbed onto the shore because he was needed. There wasn’t a smile on his face as he faced the mastermind, but there was hope in his eyes and maybe that was good enough for now.

I have to stop this.

“Now… who might you be?” the mastermind asked, turning his sharp red gaze onto Izuku. He reminded Izuku of Father for reasons he couldn’t begin to understand.

Nomu turned to look at him, birdlike face completely expressionless as he left Aizawa alone for a moment. His eyes tracked Izuku’s movements in the same way a robot might. Was Nomu really human? There were quirks that could change a body intensely, but this didn’t look… natural.

Biologically engineered.

The pool of blood around Aizawa was spreading fast, covering the ground. If Izuku didn’t get help soon, his teacher might really die.

Izuku had to distract the villains. If he could draw their attention, maybe Tsu would be able to get Aizawa away from Nomu. It was a gamble, especially considering how fast those two had already proven to be, but Izuku had to try something.

“I’m Izuku Todoroki and you’re going to leave my teacher alone.”

“Oh really?” The mastermind moved to the side of Nomu to examine him as if seeing him for the first time. Analyzing him. It was like Midoriya’s strange way of staring at him but twisted beyond recognition. Then he laughed. The mastermind's red eyes were the same shade as Bakugo but layers of scarred skin around them indicated a far harsher life.

Perhaps Father could’ve taken him down with overpowering strength, but he wasn’t Father. He was his own person, no matter how scary the concept of indipendence could be.

“Yes.” Izuku forced himself not to tremble. If he could show weakness when he was strong, then he could show strength when he was weak. It was… easy. He kept track of Nomu with his peripheral vision but made eye contact with the mastermind.

“How very interesting.” The way he said interesting made Izuku feel like a bug under a microscope. “For the son of the number two hero, you aren’t very smart. I wonder how he’ll react to finding out you’re dead.”

“Wouldn’t care,” Izuku replied, his voice casual as if he was conversing with someone he knew well instead of a criminal.

“Huh?” That threw him for a bit of a loop, but he recovered quickly enough, easily switching into an attack. He lunged, moving too quickly. Izuku didn’t think; he pulled his hand back into a fist and—

The air around him moved. Water went flying. Sound echoed throughout the USJ. Energy thrummed through his arm without exploding inwards. The power was overwhelming, but it was his to command.

Izuku felt the impact of a solid hit and looked down at his arm. It wasn’t broken. Then he looked up and realized he hadn’t hit the mastermind. Somehow, the Nomu jumped in the way of the smash.

Of course, he realized too late. Their way to kill All Might. If Nomu was supposed to be the ‘anti-symbol of peace,’ of course he could tank Izuku’s comparatively weak hits. It was the same power.

Nomu grabbed his arm and, almost thoughtlessly, slammed Izuku into the ground. He braced for impact, instinctively shifting his body into the best position to land in. The preparation meant, although the landing hurt like hell, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. He kept his head safe, mostly, but the rest of him ached.

Nomu had let go of his grip at the last moment to maximize his momentum and didn’t reach for him again. Izuku pulled himself to his knees, quickly examining his physical condition. His arms didn’t feel broken but they weren’t in a good shape either. The gym outfit wasn’t designed to absorb damage in the same way as his costume, but thankfully, the fabric still didn’t tear too badly.

The warp villain appeared and spoke to the mastermind. As Izuku listened, he scanned for Aizawa and Tsu. She’d managed to get him away, but where was she? He spotted her trying to drag Aizawa towards an area with more cover. When she spotted Izuku looking back, she carefully laid Aizawa in a position where he could see the fight/use his quirk and started heading back towards the fray.

Izuku didn’t listen to closely to what the warp villain — Kurogiri— was saying because he was keeping track of what Tsu was doing, but he got the general gist of the situation.

One of them had escaped.

One of them had escaped.

Now all he needed to do was survive until backup arrived. Depending on who had escaped, that could be five minutes or an hour. It didn’t matter. It didn’t change what Izuku needed to do.

He crawled, making himself as small as he could, away from where the mastermind, Shigaraki, stood. The news could only distract him for so long, Izuku needed to put as much distance between them as possible before he resumed trying to kill them.

It didn’t take too long. He’d managed to make it a few feet away from Tsu when he spun to attack them again, muttering something about All Might’s pride. Shigaraki reached his hand out, using his own body as a weapon as he aimed for where Izuku was slowly pulling himself away from the fight. He didn’t have time to think. Tsu shot out her tongue. Shigaraki switched his target mid air, grabbing the slippery appendage. Izuku prepared for a gory sight like before, but nothing happened. Aizawa, he realized. Despite the wounds Nomu inflicted, he was forcing his eyes to stay open.

Izuku reached out to grab Shigaraki’s leg in an attempt to pull him down, but he kicked Izuku in the shoulder before he could get a solid hold on Shigaraki’s leg. Tsu pulled her tongue out of his hand and jumped backwards. Izuku’s shoulder burned. Shigaraki probably dislocated it. He kept himself from clinging to the painful area by pulling his fingers into a fist. It worked but that irritated the broken fingers.

He’d felt worse, but the pain was making his head woozy anyway. Or maybe he hadn’t managed to avoid a concussion after all? Shigaraki turned and kicked Izuku again. This time, Izuku couldn’t brace himself for the blow. He tried to raise his arm to shield his head, but they were worse than useless against his barrage. He was gearing up for a third blow when the large door swung open.

Izuku turned his head to see All Might, powerful and imposing, enter the USJ. His vision was starting to grow blurry, but Izuku noticed one important detail before he blacked out.

All Might wasn’t smiling.

Chapter Text

Izuku didn’t dream.

When he woke up, he was in Recovery Girl’s office, on a bed. He wriggled the fingers he’d summoned One For All in. They didn’t hurt. His body ached a bit from where the villain— Shigaraki— had kicked him, but besides that, he was in fairly decent shape. He pulled up his sleeve on the arm Nomu had grabbed. The only reminder of what’d happened was a faint bruise. No new scars.

Recovery Girl stood next to his bed. She looked tired and more than slightly annoyed.

“Your friend, Asui, filled me in on what you did in the USJ,” she said. Izuku opened his mouth to ask about what she meant by friend, but she shushed him. “You likely saved your teacher’s life, but you did so at a high cost to yourself. If you think he’ll praise you, then you’re wrong.”

“I never expected anything like that,” Izuku responded, then realized what she said. “He’s okay? Are the others okay? All Might— is he—“

“Slow down.” Izuku sat up and looked around her office. “You fell unconscious directly after All Might arrived, am I correct?”

“Yes.” The curtains separated him from the other patients.

“He defeated the villain they called Nomu with the help of your classmates. Kirishima convinced the remaining two to back off.”

“Is he okay?”

“A little worn out. He’ll be fine.”

“And Aizawa?”

“He’ll take a bit longer to heal, but he shouldn’t have any permanent damage.” Izuku let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “You’ll be fine to go home tonight. Your parents called, and I explained the situation.”

“You mean... Father?” He tried his hardest to keep his voice steady.

“Yes.” She didn’t sound very happy. Izuku was pretty sure Recovery Girl had still been the nurse at UA during Father‘s school years.

“What was he like, as a high schooler?” Father wasn’t one for talking about himself, except when he was comparing Izuku to him. Sometimes Izuku would look up videos of his sports festivals and just watch his face for signs of... something.

“Stubborn, often destructively so. More than a little childish and with a temper even young Bakugo might not be able to match.” She looked at Izuku’s scars. He tried to push his hair over them, but that just made her raise an eyebrow. “And it seems like he hasn’t changed a bit.”

“I...” Izuku wasn’t sure what to say to her, so he adverted his eyes from her piercing gaze.

All Might stepped through the curtain a moment too late.

“You shouldn’t be up,” Recovery Girl said, glaring. He conceded, sitting down on the end of Izuku’s bed past where his legs laid.

“I’m sorry, young Izuku. I should’ve been there faster.” Izuku shook his head, softly. He wasn’t sure what All Might was apologizing for. After all, it was the villains who’d attacked, not him.

Recovery Girl wandered off to check on something.

“You got hurt for us,” Izuku observed, quietly. He wasn't sad. At least, he didn't show sadness. There was probably a difference, but he’d gotten too good at lying to himself to tell anymore. The burst of feeling he’d summoned to distract Shigaraki was gone. Maybe a different person would’ve cried, seeing All Might with a look like that on his face. Izuku wouldn’t know. “For me.”

“I did. Recovery Girl gave me quite the lecture about that.” He chuckled and gave a weak smile. Izuku reached his fingers to the corners of his lips and tried to push them into a smile. All Might’s expression shifted for a moment.

“I got one as well.” He’d probably get another one at home. “She’s kinda intimidating.”

“She’s always been a force to be reckoned with.” Of course. If she was here for Father, she'd have been here for All Might as well. Father was only a year older than him. (Izuku had watched All Might’s sports festivals too.)

“I used to think you weren’t scared of anything,” Izuku admitted, picking at the scar on his neck.

“Couldn’t be further from the truth, my boy.” Izuku slid out from beneath the covers and crossed the bed so he could sit next to All Might. He raised his too-slender hand out, watching it tremble.

“You’re shaking.”

“Yeah. I shortened my limit again today.” All Might looked off, staring at not quite anything in particular. Thinking, maybe. “I’m sorry I haven’t been the best teacher. I shouldn’t have let myself get distracted this morning.”

“Wish I could’ve seen you beating up the bad guys.” Despite everything Father tried to teach him, Izuku was and would always be an All Might fan.

“You’ll have plenty of opportunities for that,” he said, not quite convincingly. How long would All Might’s powers last? Izuku felt for the reserve of energy raging inside him. It might’ve been his imagination but that reservoir seemed ever so slightly deeper now.

He’d used One For All without hurting himself for the first time today. He needed to think about that and, hopefully, figure out how to replicate it as soon as possible. Couldn’t talk about it here, though. He didn’t know how much Recovery Girl knew, and the other injured teachers were probably nearby.

“Hopefully not,” he said, trying his best to pass off the statement as humorous. “Cause that would mean we got attacked by villains again, right?”

“Right.” All Might gave Izuku a thumbs up. Despite his clear exhaustion, he put his energy into making him feel... at peace. He always did that. Izuku looked at his twisted pinky and moved it side to side. It didn’t really hurt anymore, though the unnatural movement made a lot of people uneasy.

All Might was everything he’d dreamed of and more, but Izuku didn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe it. The kindness was never forced or an apology for some mistake. He might have his secrets— the weak form in front of him and the truth of One For All being some of them— but they never stopped him from caring.

“All Might, get back in bed,” Recovery Girl finally said, breaking the comfortable silence. After he headed back through the curtain, she turned to him. “You should rest for a while more before going home.” Izuku nodded and crawled back under the covers at her ‘suggestion.’ The tone of her voice indicated it was more of an order.

He could figure out what all this meant for his perception of heroics and what not later.
-
“Hey,” Kyouka said to Yaoyorozu as they sat on the bus. The police asking questions had lasted a good few hours, which she’d answered to the best of her abilities. “You were badass out there.”

“Thank you,” Yaoyorozu said. They were sharing a row in the back, away from the heroes/teachers who’d insisted on accompanying them. Kyouka figured the villains wouldn’t try anything again, but what did she know? “You were as well.”

“I’m gonna head home to make sure my parents don’t worry, but...” Kyouka toyed with her jacks and blushed. The sound of Yaoyorozu’s carefully tied pony tail moving in time with her small gestures was interesting to listen to. “Do you want to hang out after class one of these days?”

“Sure,” Yaoyorozu said, smiling. She looked like she was about to add something when an annoying face leaned over the seats. He breathed in and out heavily, making plenty of sound. His mess might get on her nerves, but at least she could always tell where he was. He’d recovered from his jammed brain but was, unsurprisingly, still an idiot.

“Can I come?” She looked at Yaoyorozu, who looked at her right back.

“No,” Kyouka replied, holding back a laugh at his over the top reaction. Kaminari was sort of annoying, but it was the kind of annoying that was funny to tease. She didn’t really mind if he came along to their hang out. Really. Why would she?

“C’mon, Jiro!”

“We don’t even know where we’re going yet,” Yaoyorozu pointed out. He paused, as if he hadn’t realized that yet.

“Well, it’s probably gonna be something cool.” He slumped back down in his seat, leaving the conversation as quickly as he’d entered in.

“We should probably trade numbers,” Kyouka said as the thought occurred to her. Yaoyorozu pulled out her phone, which was pretty fancy. It was pretty slender and had the new kind of charging port. The newest model? Maybe she figured out how to make her own tech with her quirk. Kyouka was pretty satisfied with hers— it was versatile and allowed her to ‘see’ in ways she wouldn’t be able to even if her eyes worked, but the borderline unlimited potential of creation was perfect for a top hero in the making.

“Here.” She handed the phone to Kyouka, who didn’t take it.

“How about I tell you my number and you type it in?” Using her own phone was easy because she’d memorized where everything was and there were settings so each letter/number made a unique sound, but Yaoyorozu’s was a mystery for now. Kyouka needed time.

"Sure." Kyouka recited it, and Yaoyorozu tapped the screen, each finger making a quiet pat sound as they connected with the screen. She sent a text to Kyouka's number. She made a mental note to put the number into a contact later.

"So... what sort of music do you like?"

They continued to make polite conversation all the way back, with Kaminari occasionally chiming in with comments that ended up making everything significantly more awkward than it needed to be. Although they strayed away from talking about the near death experience they'd shared, Kyouka couldn't help but think it was responsible for this new bond between them.

And when her hand drifted against Yaoyorozu's, she couldn't help but think of how beautiful her quick thinking and bravery in the face of mortal peril had been.

Chapter Text

As Izuku headed back to school after a day off, he decided to consider himself lucky. Father had mostly left him alone once he’d gotten home. Maybe he’d seen Izuku’s exhaustion and realized he’d already gotten more than enough battle experience for the day. Maybe he was preoccupied with an assignment. It was probably the latter.

Or... he could’ve seen the unafraid look on Izuku’s face as he strode in the door, without trying to hide himself or act like he’d already been beaten. After surviving an encounter with actual villains, albeit somewhat worse for the ware, he’d temporarily lost track of his common sense.

Whatever was going through Father’s head, Izuku had actually managed to spend the recovery day recovering. When he made his way into his seat in the back of the classroom, he examined his classmates. The kids who’d been together during the attack were a lot closer than they were before, but other than that, they seemed the same as yesterday.

He shouldn’t have been surprised at their mostly unshaken appearances. They wanted to be heroes, a profession synonymous with dangerous battles and life threatening situations. It made sense that those who’d made it into the most famous hero program in all of Japan would have emotional fortitude. Even then, he would’ve expected at least a few to be expressing signs of trauma. Instead, they simply chattered to each other about subjects ranging from the mundane to the recent events.

“Everyone, sit down! Homeroom is about to begin!” Ida declared.

“You’re the only one standing up,” Sero noted, a few moments before Aizawa came through the door. His forehead had a bandage wrapped around it and his arm was in a sling, but other than that, he looked fine.

“Good morning,” Aizawa said.

“We’re glad to see you’re doing well, sensei!” Ida said, and Izuku could’ve sworn Aizawa looked at him.

“My welfare is irrelevant. What matters now is that your fight is far from over.” Bakugo raised an eyebrow and muttered something Izuku couldn’t quite hear. “The UA Sports Festival is fast approaching.”

“They’re holding it even though we were attacked?” Kirishima asked. Aizawa explained, but Izuku wasn’t listening. Sports festival… He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that. On one hand, it would be interesting to see how he fared against his classmates, but there was no way he could use One For All in it without Father seeing. He always went to scout for sidekicks, but he’d also be watching Izuku very carefully.

He was still thinking it over as he headed towards lunch. Everyone else seemed incredibly excited for the chance to show off their skills, and he was sorta... there. Izuku was so in his own head that he almost didn’t notice All Might’s arrival in time to prevent himself from flinching. Almost.

“Share lunch with me, my boy?” he asked as he appeared in a strange position. Izuku followed him.

“Is something wrong?” Izuku said, once he was sure the door was all the way closed. All Might returned to his smaller form after he sat down.

“No, actually, I just wanted to talk to you about the sports festival. You still can’t regulate One For All, right?”

“Oh,” Izuku realized, thinking back to Nomu. “I made some progress. When we were in the USJ, I tried to attack Shigaraki with a smash. Nomu jumped in the way, but I didn’t break my arm.”

“Excellent!” All Might beamed. “What was different that time?”

“I’m not sure. It’s not like I’ve never used it against a person before.” The first time he’d used it was when he was sparring with All Might, after all. “I guess I never tried hitting someone I didn’t know would be able to block it.”

“Sounds like you figured it out on some level. That’s good to hear, especially given how it seems my time as the symbol of peace is running out.” Izuku nodded. “For now, I have fifty minutes.”

“That’s not very many.”

“Which is why you need to be ready. I gave you my power so you could succeed me in more ways than one. Almost everyone in the country will be watching the sports festival, which means its time for you to show the world who you are as the next Symbol of Peace.”

Me? The next Symbol of Peace? The idea was ridiculous, but then again… it made sense. Izuku was going to be a hero. He had All Might’s quirk. He could chose to follow All Might, but... it wasn’t exactly as easy as All Might made it sound.

No matter how much he admired All Might, he couldn’t just abandon his family. Yes, most nights left him feeling like Father hated him and sometimes Izuku hated him right back. But he was still family. His blood ran through Izuku’s veins, the same as Mom’s. All Might said he could be both, but that felt impossible. All Father ever taught him about being a Todoroki was that it meant wanting to beat All Might.

As he thought, a tuft of red hair fell over his eye. He looked down at his hand. One For All had left tiny scars around the edges of his fingers, but they were dwarfed by the oddball assortment of marks he’d earned in training with Father. Staring at the hand he’d broken repeatedly, he knew for sure which legacy he favored.

“I’m going to make you proud,” he promised, meeting All Might’s eyes with his. His features twisted into something resembling determination. Izuku’s emotions had been running wild since the USJ attack. He should be trying to shove them back down again, but he didn’t. “Of course you will. Just remember how you felt cleaning up that beach, and you’ll be fine.”

Trying his hardest would mean using the quirk, and there was no way to do that without revealing the quirk to Father. Or, more accurately, revealing his lie. He'd never said he was quirkless out loud since he'd gained One For All, but he'd stayed silent when Father told him what an embarrassment that a quirkless Todoroki was. A lie of omission was still a lie.

He wanted to make good on that promise to make All Might proud. He didn't want Father to find out about the quirk.

Izuku left All Might considering the mutually exclusive wants he had to decide between. He kept thinking about it through the rest of the day, only distracted from the thoughts swirling in his head when he realized that 1-A’s homeroom was surrounded by strangers from other classes.

He recognized one of the crowd— the enthusiastic boy who’d came up to him on his first day for some reason towered over the crowd. His friend, the girl with the big hands who’d kept her orange hair in a ponytail, wasn’t with him. This time, he was accompanied by a boy who looked an awful lot like Kirishima.

“What are they going here?” Uraraka asked to nobody in particular.

“I bet they wanna see how cool we are,” Kaminari answered. “We are the class that kicked major villain ass the other day.”

“Idiots,” Bakugo snarled, pushing through the crowd. “They’re scoping out the competition. Not lIke it matters. Out of my way, extras.”

“Bakugo, we do not call people we don’t know extras!” Ida was practically vibrating with anger. Those two still hadn’t managed to work out their issues, apparently. Izuku wondered if it was even possible for them to get along. Probably not, he decided.

“It’s true,” said a boy with messy purple hair that he shoved back with a hand. His eyes had dark circles under them that indicated he hadn’t slept in a while. “Gotta say, I’m not really impressed. Is that how you talk to people who might be your future classmates?”

“Future classmate?” Midoriya said, raising an eyebrow. There was something about the way Midoriya spoke, with puffs of smoke or frost punctuating his words, that drew Izuku’s attention to his lips like magnets. It was a mystery, but one he didn’t mind leaving unsolved.

“Those who didn’t make the cut for the hero course were stuck in general studies. There’re quite a few of us, if you didn’t know, and given there’s an empty slot in your class, this sports festival is the perfect chance to move up.” A few of the members of the crowd mumbled in agreement.

“I don’t know what that guy’s talking about!” shouted the giant-in-human-form. “But it sounds like this battle’s gonna be super heated! I’m so pumped! It sucks you guys got attacked by villains, we won’t be take it easy on you, got it?! I wanna have the best, most heated sports festival ever!”

“What he said! Probably!” the Kirishima-looking guy added. “Don’t make the hero course look bad! Especially you, arrogant bastard!” Bakugo rolled his eyes and shoved his way through the crowd of people watching.

“Great, now everyone hates us. Thanks Bakugo,” Kaminari complained.

“Why should I care? I’m aiming for the top.” At Bakugo’s proclamation, the group dispersed and smaller conversations started up. Izuku quietly slid through the crowd, trying to avoid the huge boy.

“Hey Todoroki!” the boy called out again. Great. “Bring all you’ve got for the sports festival, got it?”

“What do you want with me?” Izuku asked, somewhat irritated by his inexplicable declaration. He did mention he hated Endeavor, which Izuku understood, but what did that have to do with him?

“I want a heated battle! You’ve got to be pretty powerful, right? Don’t lose the festival before we can fight!” Once the boy finished his demand, he ran off, boots hitting the floor with a crash.

“That… didn’t answer my question,” Izuku muttered.

--
The days flew by faster than he could’ve anticipated. Every day seemed to leave him training harder than before and every night, he collapsed into bed. His dreams were haunted by faint shadows and eyes he couldn’t see, but it felt like they were accusing him of something he couldn’t begin to understand. He went back and forth over whether or not he could use his quirk half a million times, but by the final morning, Izuku was no closer to coming to a conclusion about One For All than he’d been at the beginning of the school year. If anything, the time had only made him less decisive.

“Are you going to use it today?” Mom asked as she brushed his still wet hair. Most of the time, she’d use her quirk for something simple like hair care but not for Izuku. They stood in front of a mirror inside the bathroom. He didn’t look away from his own reflection, taking in every single detail of his own appearance from the scars to the muscle.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “What would Father think?”

“Well, what do you think?” Her brush caught on a tangle, which she reached up to undo with her fingers. He caught the reflection of her green eyes in the mirror, trying to see the feelings behind them. “It’s your quirk, isn’t it?”

When Izuku’s hair was wet, it was hard to tell the different between the colors in it. As the cold water dripped down his neck, it dampened the towel he’d wrapped around it. The window in the back of the bathroom let the soft light of the early morning in, not yet warm enough to dry his hair. He breathed in the fresh air, not sure how to feel.

“Yeah,” he replied, once she’d almost finished. “It is.”

—
Shouto took deep breaths as he waited in the prep room, both to warm up and to calm his nerves. He was leaning against a locker with his hands in his pockets. The rest of his class were in a variety of positions. He spotted Ashido stretching next to where Uraraka and Tsu where chatting. Kaminari was drinking from a water bottle, sitting next to Bakugo and Kirishima. Everyone was preparing in their own way.

Todoroki was looking at him. After a few moments, he stepped in front of Shouto. His posture was more solid than it was at the beginning of the school year. The villain attack had changed him, in ways Shouto didn’t understand. He’d asked Tsu what happened, but her explanation didn’t clear anything up. If anything, it’d only raised more questions.

“Objectively speaking, you’re stronger than I am,” Todoroki remarked. His voice was strong, attracting attention from their classmates. The chatter slowed to a halt. “More capable.”

“Your point?” Shouto asked, taking his hands out of his pockets and straightening his posture. There was something strange about Todoroki, from the unusual way All Might seemed to favor him or the inexplicable scars that covered him from his cheek to his neck. He flinched easily, yet he had an undeniable strength inside of him.

“I’m going to beat you.”

“Oh, a declaration of war, huh?” Kaminari exclaimed.

“Why pick a fight with Midoriya? Isn’t Bakugo tougher?” Ashido asked. Bakugo shot a glare at the pink girl, who took a break from her stretching to watch the dramatic encounter.

“Cause he fucking knows he doesn’t need to provoke me, Pinky.” Hagakure made a rude sound and maybe a gesture too before she realized Bakugo couldn’t actually see it. Did Todoroki think he needed to provoke Shouto into doing the best he could? If so, why? There were mysteries surrounding the quiet boy, ones Shouto wanted to unravel. Mysteries he would unravel.

“I don’t understand why you felt the need to ask, but I’ll hold you to that challenge. After all, everyone’s aiming for the top today. If you think you can take me on, well.” He raised out a hand and Todoroki grasped his forearm. “I’ll see you in the finals.”

“So manly,” swooned Kirishima. Bakugo elbowed him. He didn’t seem hurt by Bakugo’s sharp jab, which probably meant he’d activated his quirk. “Don’t worry, you’re still the most manly.”

“I’m going to blow you into the next century, shitty hair.”

“One, my name’s Kirishima. Two, your hair is even spikier than mine is. And three, I’ll be seeing you in the finals too, bro.” Bakugo reflexes ran fingers through his hair, as if to pat it down. Kirishima looked surprised he’d managed to get a reaction like that out of him. By now, the drama of Todoroki’s declaration seemed to have evaporated, so Shouto let go of his arm.

“Let’s all do our best!” Ashido proclaimed, finishing up her final stretch. Once she stood up again, she gave Hagakure a high five. Somehow, she managed to hit her palm on the first try. Shouto wondered how long it’d taken for her to master that. “Plus Ultra style.”

“It’s kinda weird nobody’s challenged you,” Jiro told Yaoyorozu. “You are the first in our class.”

“Why don’t you do it, then?” Kaminari asked. “You’re pretty tough too!” Yaoyorozu looked at her expectantly. Shouto watched the interaction, surprised at how easily friendship transformed into rivalry. Maybe he shouldn’t be. Friendship was, at its core, about the ways people made each other better. Jiro stuck out her hand and Yaoyorozu took it.

“Class huddle?” Ida suggested. “No,” Uraraka and Tsu said at the same time. A few moments later, there was a minor explosion back where Bakugo and Kirishima were sitting. It put a damper on conversations as most of the class turned to check out what happened. Once that commotion was sorted out, Yaoyorozu stood up, drawing the attention in the room to her.

“It’s time. Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

“It’s the UA Sports festival! The one time each year when our fledging heroes compete in a grand tournament to determine who’s the best! First up, you know who I’m talking up! The miraculous rising stars who brushed off a villain attack with their steely willpower!”

Present Mic was having a field day with his role as a commentator, gesturing wildly from his spot in the booth. His partner, Aizawa, was occasionally forced ducked to avoid accidentally getting smacked in the face.

“The first years of the hero course! It’s class A!”

They strode out onto the field together, a diverse group united by their purpose. The crowd cheered and cameras flashed as everyone tried to get a look at the class that survived a real villain attack.

“We’ve also got Class B,” he said, with slightly less fanfare. “Here comes C, D, and E from general studies! Next up, the support course classes, F, G, and H. Last but not least, we’ve got the business course!”

The general studies kids looked significantly more enthusiastic this year than in the previous ones. Talk of the open spot had spread, apparently, and Shinso Hitoshi wasn’t the only one after it. Motome Mirai, a chubby yet athletic girl with hazel brown hair and faint orange eyes that seemed to be focused on where people would be instead of where they are, cracked her knuckles. After a bit more audience hyping from Present Mic, he introduced Midnight. The tall and muscular woman climbed onto the stage. Her skin tight leotard, gem studded collar, and fake hand cuffs provided a pretty solid idea of the image she was going for, with her occasionally inappropriate way of speaking only reinforcing it. Whispers ran through the crowd of kids, which she silenced with a sharp comment and a crack of her whip before introducing the student representative. Shouto Midoriya stepped forward, his classmates parting for him. He might looked focused and quiet from the outside, but he was really just trying to quiet his nerves. He tapped his fingers against his leg, the only visible sign of his anxiety as he took the microphone with his other hand. “Everyone— try your best,” Shouto said, making an effort to sound as brave as possible. He very intentionally avoided looking at Katsuki, who was probably literally smoking with jealousy over Shouto’s higher score. “Good luck and go beyond.” The crowds joined in as he finished the school’s motto. They didn’t seem like they’d noticed his nerves, which he was grateful for. As they were cheering, he hurried off the stage, handing the microphone back to Midnight.
“And now, without any delay!” Midnight proclaimed, drawing out the syllables for as long as possible.

Without further delay? Kyouka thought, amused. She’s clearly stalling.

“The first event!”
She cracked the whip again and the screen behind her on the stage went flashing through a series of options before finally settling on one: an obstacle race. Behind the crowd of students, a door creeped open, mechanically unfolding. Yaoyorozu raised her fingers to measure the distance of the gate when compared to the size of the group of students, noting the difference.

Midnight went into a bit more detail about the rules as the students pushed their way to the starting line.

“Ready? Go!”

The moment she said the word, the crowd burst into motion in dozens of different ways. Most began shoving and pushing towards the gate, elbows painfully knocking into any available target.

Shouto released a burst of ice, aiming it towards the ground. At least ten students were in the range of the attack, but Ojiro jumped off the ground in time to avoid it, Ashido melted a path, and the parts he’d aimed at the huge boy from 1-B were blown off course, freezing the wall instead of his feet. Some sort of wind quirk? Between training and class, he hadn’t had the time to scout out the other classes.

He burst through the other side of the gate, the huge boy keeping pace with him. Yaoyorozu shot above Shouto, her jacket unzipped to expose a sports bra, with Katsuki following shortly behind. The majority of the group at the front was 1-A, with a couple of notable exceptions, including the huge boy and a girl with vines for hair.

As Shouto kept sprinting forward, he felt a blast of air knock him to the side. He might’ve fallen over if he didn’t turn and exhale a blast of flames. The fire didn’t hit him. Instead, it rose towards the sky, negating the wind attack. The attack might’ve only knocked him off balance for a moment, but that was enough to let Yaoyorozu, Katsuki, and the vine girl from 1-B pass the two of them. The boy grinned and turned to focus on something else.

“The first obstacle! A deadly robo inferno!”

That something else Inasa focused on was the three towering robots approaching the group of students. Ida slid to a halt before the imposing blockade, taking the sight in before developing a strategy. Yaoyorozu landed with only a slight stumble, focusing as she created a canon to take out the one on the right.

“They’re the same as from the entrance exam!” Kaminari shouted, as if the rest of the group hadn’t noted that.

“This what they used for everyone else’s test?” Yaoyorozu asked as it fired, blasting the huge machine away with ease. “Piece of cake.”

“That’s Yaoyorozu, the top student of class A, once again proving why she was let in on recommendation!”

Inasa turned his head over his shoulder to search the crowd for Tetsutetsu, who was doing his best to fend off Kirishima. He sent a blast of wind towards them which he used to toss the two through the chest of the robot on the left.

“We’re off to a lively start as Inasa from B launches his classmate, Tetsutetsu, and Kirishima from A through a robot. Good thing their quirks make them as hard as iron and rock respectively!”

“Don’t you dare get ahead of me!” Bakugo called out as he shot through the gap the two had made, while a large chunk of the students sprinted through the open legs to find themselves facing off against the wider array of bots.

“Hell yeah!” Inasa pumped his fist.

Izuku made his way through, carrying a large piece of metal he’d scavenged from someone else’s robo wreckage, carefully avoiding being drawn into fights with other students. There was no reason to try to eliminate anyone here and forcing a confrontation early on would drag them both back.

As he ran, he made an effort to keep track of his opponents. Most of A was near the front of the pack, with only a handful of kids from B matching them. Present Mic was quick to point the disparity out, though Izuku was uneasy to dismiss the other class so easily. They might not have fought villains, but they’d all made it into UA too. There was no way a single afternoon could’ve made such a difference.

The students in front made their way past the end of the robot’s territory with the rest in hot pursuit. They reached the next obstacle. Yaoyorozo, Shiozaki, and Shouto took a moment to consider their best moves while Bakugo and Inasa charged forward with reckless abandon.

“And we’re already at the second obstacle— it’s a perilous ravine! One misstep and you’re out of the race for good!”

Inasa couldn’t completely fly without his costume, but he managed to jump from island to island, destabilizing the entire thing. Bakugo used his explosions to do the same. In between jumps, he shot a few at Inasa who returned his blows.

“Our two front runners have started fighting each other instead of focusing on the race! Could this cause them to go tumbling into the abyss?”

Shouto froze a path across, making the parts he’d crossed crumble, without taking in Present Mic’s words or the roar of the crowd. In a competition like this, he knew how important it was to tune out distractions.

“Hey, copycat, let’s team up for now!” Kirishima suggested to Tetsutestu as they made it to the sheer cliff face. “Throw me!”

“Great idea!” They took a moment out of the race to fist bump, a silly yet important exchange. The two took turns throwing each other across the gaps.

“The two borderline identical hardeners are cooperating in a shocking display of teamwork! So manly!”

By the time Izuku made it to the chasm, the hardeners and Yaoyorozu were already across, with half a dozen others right behind them. He didn’t have time to consider his options, using his shield as a way to cross the wires. Behind him, he heard a cackling laugh and the voice of someone who’d had way too much caffeine this morning but couldn’t spare the time to try to place her voice.

Bakugo and Inasa’s mid race fight continued, with the former growing increasingly annoyed at the latter’s huge grin. Instead of attempting to sabotage Bakugo’s trajectory, Inasa used his attacks to boost himself further as he laughed.

“Die, you windy fuck!”

“Language, Bakugo!” Present Mic scolded, somewhat jokingly. Bakugo responded by abandoning to words in exchange for a pure scream.

Kirishima and Tetsutetsu shot each other identical looks of exasperation with the two overenthusiastic boys’ antics before returning to trying to elbow the other out of the way.

“Looks like the last obstacle is a minefield! Don’t worry, these bombs aren’t deadly, even if they do pack a hell of a punch!” The unsteady footing made speedsters like Ida slow down or get knocked back.

Realizing he’d have the disadvantage if he let Bakugo stay above, Inasa used a huge burst of wind to force his enemy to the ground. Throughout their heated rivalry, Shouto stayed no less than half a dozen steps behind them. He used his ice to make a path he scattered moments later, a technique that left his breath frosty but his progress steady.

Izuku found himself near the middle end of the group as he reached the final obstacle. If he kept going at his currant pace, he’d make it into the next round but near the bottom. That wouldn’t do. Izuku didn’t need or want first this round but finishing in the top ten... that’d be good enough. He’d do this for himself.

He scanned the field ahead of him, looking for an idea when his eyes landed on Bakugo. Hmmm...

“Whoah! Class 1-A’s Todoroki, the only son of the number two hero, just went flying!”

Nobody noticed Izuku’s ever so slightly clenched jaw, or the way his eye twitched at the descriptor. They were too busy cheering him on to care how little expression he seemed to show.

Izuku might’ve made it past the two leads if they didn’t both immediately turn their quirks on him. Individually, each blow could’ve forced him into a nasty crash, but Inasa’s wind knocked Bakugo’s explosion away from his target. The impact only served to knock him into a better position to land, if at the cost of his velocity.

As he took in the rest of the competition, he made the split second decision not to try another similar tactic and dropped the shield. Bakugo and Inasa would be ready for it. Besides, he wouldn’t have time to dig up another pile of mines. He was probably guaranteed a spot in the top ten as long as nothing unexpected happened.
“And first place goes to Inasa, with Bakugo close behind!” Present Mic’s announcement spurred him forward. He’d nearly passed the minefield, only a few more careful steps to go when Midoriya took third. Once he was through, he was free to sprint, passing Kirishima and Tetsutetsu.

“Yaoyorozu takes fourth!” Keep going, Izuku thought to himself as he came close to catching up with Shiozaki before she made her way across the finish line.