Chapter Text
Izuku cringed under Gran Torino’s glare, flat on his ass on the ground as the pro ripped into him. He jabbed a finger at Izuku pointedly as he yelled at him. He didn’t know how to defend himself. He kind of deserved it, after all. After a few moments of bellowing, Gran Torino wheeled around to evaluate the rest of the group, all of them clearly young and inexperienced.
And then he spotted Stain, his eyes flicking to the knives still embedded in Todoroki’s arm, the haphazard bindings on Iida that were already red with blood.
“Is that...Stain? ”
“Uhh....” The answer was clear, but Izuku didn’t want to get in any more trouble than he was already in. “I found Iida paralyzed in an alley. Stain was going to kill him.”
“And me.” Native added. “He had already paralyzed me too.”
“You kids did this?” Gran Torino asked, poking Stain in the head, as if to check that he was still unconscious.
“Yes.” Todoroki said. “We didn’t have a choice.” It was hitting Izuku that Stain fought Quirkless . Like Aizawa, he had a powerful Quirk but it’s effect was on others, not himself. The superhuman speed, the mastery with blades as if they were an extension of his own body , the martial arts, the stamina....was all just him .
Izuku shivered.
Gran Torino rubbed his forehead.
“None of you thought to bring a pro with you?”
“Midoriya only sent me his location. I told my father to send any pros this way when he could. I didn’t know it was Stain; if I did, I would have ensured one of them came with me.” Todoroki said coolly. He was respectful, but still confident, as if he would have made the same decision over again.
“Endeavor?” Gran Torino asked. Todoroki nodded. “He’s the one who sent me. Little fucking brat didn’t even remember me. I taught the bastard when he was yay high-,” The old man gestured with his hand, holding it to a height that couldn’t be much taller than Izuku. “- and 140 pounds.”
Todoroki abruptly slapped a hand over his mouth but Izuku could see his eyes dancing with mirth.
“Like a wet rat, I tell you.” The old man muttered. “I thought you were bad and all you knew was smash .” He shot to Izuku, who had climbed to his feet with some assistance from Native. “Blast this, blast that. As boring as the day I met him.”
A strangled noise came out of Todoroki, who bent at the waist abruptly. One hand came down to his thigh and Izuku could tell he was choking back laughter.
“Midoriya?” Todoroki choked out. “Is this the hero you’re interning with?”
“Yeah. This is Gran Torino.” Izuku said. His classmate straightened up, sucking in a breath, and sticking his hand out to Gran Torino.
“Todoroki Shouto.” He said. “We’re Midoriya’s classmates.” The old hero looked the split-haired boy up and down first, eyes narrowed. He was obviously studying him, formulating his opinion. Eventually, he took his hand, shaking it.
“Eraserhead must be going grey.” Gran Torino said, tilting his head, before breaking out into a cackle. He turned around to Izuku again, a grin on his face. “Seems like a fun group.”
“That’s a word, for it.” Todoroki offered dryly. Iida was already sputtering, face going bright red. They started to drag Stain further out of the alley, a few more pros running up to them, battering them with questions about their wellbeing and Stain. Thankfully, Native and Gran Torino stepped forward to handle most of it, giving the students a moment to breathe.
They were at the other side of the street, handing Stain off to a Pro more equipped to take him in than the currently injured trio hobbling down the road. Izuku glanced back into the alley as they left it behind. It was still crested with ice, columns and pillars decorating the sides. Some were destroyed, melted, cracked , even stained with blood. He could see the scorch marks along the bricks, from both Todoroki and him, thin, whipping lines marking the walls along with the places where Izuku had crunched brick. He flexed his right hand as he took it in. He couldn’t believe that he had gone through all of that without breaking a bone. Well, maybe that wasn’t true. There was some pain radiating out from his foot and Izuku was pretty sure he at least cracked it kicking Stain through the wall. But it was different from the shattering that One for All did to him.
Not that Izuku wished he had used One for All at 100%. He had thought about it, briefly. But Stain was so fast , and there was no guarantee that he would hit him. And if he didn’t get him in one shot, he would have been out of the fight and they would probably all be dead.
Even though Izuku was pretty sure All Might was going to freak out , he was excited . He could finally use One for All in a fight without turning his body to dust. Even the fire whip; he hadn’t really wanted to use it right away, but at least he was able to test it and it had been effective. He had done some damage to Stain, which saved them in the last part of that fight.
A loud screech pulled him out of his thoughts, and everyone whipped around to see a winged creature, brain exposed dive-bombing the alley.
One second it was coming for them, claws outstretched, drool and blood flinging from its mouth, all wings and teeth. One of the pro heroes snagged it but it was hard to see in the struggle as it whirled around and then Izuku saw sharp claws and he shoved Todoroki away before he could only see veiny wings. There was a pressure on Izuku’s abdomen, sharp points of pain pushing through the skin. He yelled as he felt weightless, like Uraraka had used her Quirk on him and when he blinked, he realized that he was whipping through the air, his friends getting further away. His arms were still outstretched and he saw fear in familiar mismatched eyes, Todoroki’s hand outstretched uselessly.
Fuck .
He started to struggle and twist in the Nomu’s grasp, banging on its claws, screwing his eyes shut. They were moving higher up and if it took too long to get free-,
He heard yelling below him, sounding like Iida’s voice.
“I can’t -...my engines! ”
“ Midoriya!” He heard the guttural yell, eyes snapping open, and then his vision was completely obscured by ice and they were frozen in mid-air. He blinked, to see a massive glacier shooting up from the ground like a ramp, catching the Nomu around the midsection, barely tall enough to encase it. It was shrieking, still alive, but frozen in place.
Izuku let out a sigh of relief.
And then the Nomu shrieked again and its wings beat down heavily , a shockwave rippling out from it and shattering the ice. It burst apart violently, and Izuku barely got his hand in front of his face before a few pieces of ice embedded themselves shallowly in his palm. Shattered, dust-like particles rained down on his head and he tried to blink them away. He couldn't see what was going on, but as soon as he heard another sharp scream, he started beating on the claws again, as useless as it was.
The Nomu screeched and they were suddenly losing altitude. Izuku spotted the dark figure leaping from the ground, climbing through the air and using the weak remnants of the glacier. They shattered under his feet as he leapt forward, mask twisting behind him like a bloody specter. Izuku let out a garbled yell as Stain’s body hit the Nomu that was quickly descending towards the ground weakly and Izuku realized Stain must have gotten ahold of its blood somehow. There was a sick, squelching noise as the knife flashed in front of Izuku’s face and Stain twisted it into the exposed brain of the Nomu.
They hit the ground hard , the Nomu’s shrill screaming burning itself into Izuku’s brain, ripping up concrete as they hit. Izuku winced, groaning at the pain in his back. But the worst part was being forced to stare up at the wide, bloody mouth of Stain, his expression warped into a sick grimace as he ripped his knife through the Nomu’s brain. He knew they was no remnant of consciousness in the creature, but it was still disturbing .
When they slid to a stop, Izuku found himself face-to-face with the limp, bloody figure of the Nomu, eyes still wide and panicked, blood spurting from its brain.
Oh God, he was going to throw up. He looked up to see Stain hovering over him, glaring down at the Nomu like it personally offended.
“I will be coming for you next .” he hissed, and Izuku knew it wasn’t directed at him. “Both... this sham-filled society...and the criminals who wield their power... in the name of petty mischief ....” He was rambling, and Izuku took the opportunity to try and scramble away but Stain planted a foot on his leg. Not hard enough to injure him, but pain lanced though his wounds, causing him to cry out. “...the targets of my purge ...” Stain hissed. He was staring at Izuku as he spoke, but he wasn’t speaking to him, his voice far too venomous for that. “... all for the sake of a better society.”
Stain just saved his life, he realized. He didn’t have to. He had been bound, on the ground. But he had freed himself, ripping a knife from seemingly nowhere and lurched into action, while everyone else was frozen to the spot. Todoroki had tried, at least.
But Stain had moved without a second thought. A dark, frightening figure tearing his away across the night sky, but without any hesitation.
He ripped the blade from the Nomu’s brain, the blood spraying across Izuku’s face as he stared with wide eyes at the man before him. Twisted and warped as he was but it was abundantly evident that despite the trail of blood that followed him wherever he went that Stain was the other side of the coin.
A warped reflection, but a reflection nonetheless.
Vaguely, Izuku saw a fiery man appear at the edge of his vision, knowing it was Endeavor. Likely chasing after the Nomu that had just gone down. But it was hard to focus on anything besides the man in front of him, who whipped around to face the crowd, hunched over. His hands were twitching, a blade still locked in one of them as he stepped forward. There was a lust , an aura he was projecting that kept Izuku pressed to the ground even though Stain had released him.
“All of you...fakes... liars ...” His voice started out quiet, but it was building. His intensity grew with every word, every step forward and Izuku could see his friends rooted to the spot, staring. “If I don’t fix it...if someone isn’t...stained with blood ...” He took a step forward, his voice building. “If heroes aren’t restored!! ”
His next step punctured through the already cracked concrete.
“ Come! Just try me...you fakes! ” He roared. His mask had fallen away and Izuku couldn’t see his bloodshot eyes, but he could see the horror on the faces of the heroes watching him. “ The only one allowed to kill me is....ALL MIGHT! A TRUE HERO-, ”
And then it all just.... stopped .
Even his hair and clothes that had been blowing in the wind seemed frozen in place, mouth open in a guttural scream.
Later, Izuku would learn that his broken rib had punctured through his lung and that Stain had truly fallen unconscious at that moment. Standing up, rooted to the spot, his bloodthirst and indomitable will pressing everyone in the area to the ground with fear.
But it was like watching that moment be preserved in time forever.
Wincing, ignoring the blood streaming down his leg, Izuku stood up.
XXXX
He couldn’t get enough air in his lungs. It was like Stain had reached down his throat and pulled them out of his chest, eyes smarting in the struggle to breathe.
And of course, it was Midoriya who got up first, shooting to his feet. He looked injured, hobbling, one hand at his side where the Nomu must have punctured skin. But alive .
Shouto couldn’t believe it.
The green-haired boy limped over to Stain, his hand going to the Hero Killer's, and prying the knife from his death grip, letting it fall to the ground.
And then he turned, to study Stain’s face. Shouto couldn’t tell what happened. Was Stain unconscious? Dead ? Frozen in time forever?
Midoriya poked him in the cheek.
“ Midoriya!” Iida shrieked behind him. The green-haired boy lifted his fingers to his neck, before turning to the crowd slowly.
“He’s alive.”
That was enough .
Shouto broke out into a sprint, shoving one of the pros aside. He darted for Midoriya, grabbing him by the arm and yanking him away, the green-haired boy almost falling over as he did.
“Get away from him!” He hissed. His classmate stumbled, and Shouto quickly looped his arm around Midoriya’s side without thinking, lifting his arm over Shouto’s shoulder. A position reminiscent of when he helped him off the field at the Sports Festival. He dragged him away from Stain, practically lifting him off the ground as he did so, with a grunt.
“Todoroki-kun, it’s okay.” His voice was soft.
“No, it’s not!” Shouto hissed back.
“H-he saved my life .” He had, but Shouto wasn’t taking any risks. He dragged Midoriya back to Gran Torino, who immediately started checking him for injuries. His classmate insisted he was okay. Bruised, but no worse than he was a few minutes ago, really. He released his classmate to him, about to step away when fingers snagged his wrist. “Todoroki-kun. Thank you.”
“I didn’t save you.” Shouto said bitterly. “It wasn’t enough.” He hadn’t even realized how close the Nomu had been to grabbing him. It was happening so fast, everything a blur of wings and limbs and noise . But it had been and Midoriya, selfless, kind Midoriya had shoved him out of the way at the last second. He only realized what was happening too late.
A second too late.
If he had gotten the Nomu even a moment earlier, had he used his head , he would have trapped the Nomu in the center of the glacier instead of the top. He could have frozen its wings, so it wouldn’t have been able to use that shockwave to free itself. So that it wouldn’t have ripped that moment of hope and relief away from him.
“You tried.” Midoriya said, giving him a soft smile. “You acted.” His eyes suddenly flicked to the side, and Shouto turned to see his father approaching. Looking stunned .
Like a wet rat , ran through his mind and Shouto suppressed a snort. Was it too late to try and get an internship with Gran Torino?
“This is where you ran off to?” Endeavor’s voice wasn’t a snap , per se. He sounded like he was at a loss for words. Shouto nodded, regardless. He jerked his head towards the icy alley.
“My friends needed help.” He said.
“So you said. ” Endeavor hissed. Midoriya’s grip on his wrist tightened and Endeavor seemed to realize that he was there for the first time. He glared at him. “This one? From the Sports Festival?”
“Yes.” Shouto answered flatly. “My friend.”
XXXX
Izuku probably should have guessed that Todoroki had a fiery side.
He was just always so cool and collected that it seemed so surprising. But watching Todoroki storm forward, voice building in intensity as he defended himself, as he defended them , it seemed perfectly in character.
“You dog -,” He’d snapped and Izuku’s face had gone bright red .
But despite everything, it was all going to be okay . Izuku didn’t need the recognition for taking down Stain. It wasn’t about defeating him; he was glad just to get out with his life and the lives of his friends. He was more than happy to accept the deal and was glad his friends would do the same. Even Todoroki’s eyes softened, when the chief thanked them for what they did, taking a seat on Izuku’s hospital bed when the chief started to fill them in on more details.
“By the way, the city has funds for these purposes, but there will be no charges or anything for the property damage. So you have nothing to worry about, young Todoroki-,”
The split-haired boy crossed his arms over his chest abruptly, his eyebrows shooting up and the chief came to a halt, tilting his head. They had filled them in on as many details as they could, but they hadn’t walked them through a play by play of the battle.
Izuku had an idea of where this was going.
“It wasn’t me.” Todoroki said, but Izuku heard a hint of amusement in his voice. “The property damage.”
Izuku was thinking about pulling the blankets over his head. He could feel Gran Torino’s eyes boring into him, waiting for him to fess up. He seemed amused as well, probably having taken a guess as to what Izuku had done but he knew the old pro liked to watch his students squirm.
“Ah, then. Iida-kun-,” Iida shook his head, giving Izuku an apologetic glance.
It took a few seconds for Tsuragamae to move to Izuku, eyes wide. Manual was staring at him now too, jaw hanging open.
“I’m sorry!” Izuku burst out. He felt a hand pat his leg, and turned to see Todoroki pressing his mouth into a thin line so he wouldn’t smile.
“The scorch marks?” Tsuragamae asked, confused. “Those were not Todoroki-kun?” Sure, there was some from his friend, but they were mostly on the ground. The primary culprit was Izuku’s fire whip that had ripped down the alley with a lot of destruction and very little control.
“Uh, no.” Izuku squeaked. Tsuragame nodded to himself sharply.
“Well, no matter.” He said. “I did not realize you had a fire Quirk as well, is all.” He paused. “And the hole in the wall?” His eyes darted back to Iida, who obviously had the strength in his legs to do so.
“Uh, no. Me, as well.” Izuku said.
“Midoriya-kun kicked Stain through the wall.” Iida supplied. “It was quite an interesting move.”
“I fractured my foot, though.”
“Oh. Okay.” The chief scratched his head, blinking at Izuku. “Pardon me, but what is your Quirk?” Izuku wanted to die .
Gran Torino just cackled.
XXXX
When Toshinori saw he had a missed call from Gran Torino at 5 am , well, he got worried.
He had called him back as soon as he could, worried that young Midoriya was hurt, that he was bleeding , that his bones were broken -,
And was in no way prepared for what Gran Torino told him.
“Stain. ”
“ WHAT ?!” Toshinori slammed his hand down on the table, his mug of tea wobbling with the force.
“ Your kid fought Stain.”
How was it so much worse than Toshinori was imagining? He knew that Midoriya was in for a rough week with Gran Torino. Rough, but effective. He was hoping that he would gain some control over One for All and maybe fight some low-level villains.
Not the villain that had been on a hot streak, killing experienced pros left and right with a practiced ease that had rattled the whole country.
He shot up from his seat, stumbling into his room to try and get dressed. He tossed his phone onto the bed, putting Gran Torino on speaker as he quickly changed shirts and pulled on a pair of pants acceptable for going outdoors in.
If Midoriya had fought Stain, he had certainly used One for All. There was no other option; Toshinori wasn’t happy about the injuries Midoriya must have caused to himself but if he was fighting Stain Toshinori didn’t blame him. If it was between Midoriya breaking his arms and certain death, Toshinori wasn’t going to be mad, he wasn’t going to yell at him. But all he could imagine was how much pain the little green-haired boy must be in, what Stain must have put him through, how scared he must have been until the pros arrived-,
“I’m getting ready right now, send me the name of the hospital and I’ll be there-,”
“Hold your horses, Toshi.” He froze. “Kid’s fine.”
“ Fine ?” Toshinori repeated. The word didn’t compute.
“ He won.” He choked at Gran Torino’s words. Midoriya must be really injured-,
“But he must be hurt-, ” He started, but the old hero interrupted him again.
“ He cracked his foot kicking Stain through a wall, but it’s not paste or anything. He can still walk on it. Your kid is fine, Toshi. Some bruises and bumps and the Nomu punctured his side but it’s shallow-, ”
“The NOMU?” Toshinori was enraged .
“ Take a seat. I’ll fill you in. But your kid is fine. He’s a tough one. And he had some back-up. The Todoroki kid went chasing after him.”
“How did he end up facing Stain in the first place ?” He begged, as he took a heavy seat on his bed. His hands were shaking, but he balled them up and pushed the feeling away, as he picked up the phone again.
“ Uh, you know Ingenium’s baby brother? Engines in his legs from the Festival?”
Iida.
“Yes.”
“ Midoriya found them in an alley. Stain was about to chop his head off.”
Toshinori swallowed.
XXXX
When Shouta walked into the teacher’s lounge to make himself some coffee, he was almost surprised by the sight.
There was All Might, looking like he got dressed in the dark , his shirt half-tucked into his pants awkwardly, sitting heavily on the couch. He was in his smaller, weaker form and it always struck Shouta how wild the lanky man appeared with his spiky blonde hair. Like an emaciated lion, he reflected.
His hands were covering his face.
It seemed like a problem that Shouta didn’t want to get involved in, but he knew exactly what All Might said. About meddling in others business.
So he sighed, sipped on his tea, and gently touched All Might’s shoulder. He could see the man’s phone in his lap. When he touched his coworker, All Might’s head shot up, his hands falling from his face.
“All Might.” He said. “Is everything alright?”
“ No! ” He was surprised by the intensity that All Might burst out with. “Is it normal? For them to make your hair go grey?”
So it was about Midoriya .
He thought back to what he knew about the green-haired boy’s internship. He knew he was interning with Gran Torino, All Might’s former mentor. An old pro, a hero who taught at UA before Shouta did. It seemed like a good choice for Midoriya. He had seen what happened on the news and spoken to some contacts briefly in Hosu, who had simply informed him that Stain had been caught. He intended to dig more, but he knew things were hectic with the clean up in Hosu, so he didn’t press yet. But he also knew that Midoriya wasn’t interning in Hosu. If anything, he was concerned about Todoroki and Iida.
“Normally, no. But I would say Midoriya is a special case.” This entire class, really. Though, Shouta couldn’t blame them. The attacks at USJ were no fault of their own and Shouta couldn’t deny he felt closer to his students after that. Closer than he had been to any of his classes in a long time.
“He was in Hosu .” All Might’s voice was ragged. Shouta blinked.
“I see.” He said carefully. “Is he alright?” Probably not, Shouta guessed. Some more broken bones, which was par for the course. He would scold him about that when the week ended. All Might sighed, scrubbing at his forehead.
“You’ll hear about it soon enough, but it has to be kept under wraps.” All Might said. Shouta didn’t know where the lion-like man was going, but he just nodded, walking so that his coworker had a better view of him. “He fought Stain.”
Shouta choked on his tea.
“They’re the ones who took him down, not Endeavor. But they were all operating without a provisional license, so the city is keeping it quiet.” All Might said, sighing heavily.
“ They ?” His coworker unlocked his phone and handed it to him.
Young Midoriya, are you okay?
Image attached
We lived!!!!!
Shouta clicked on the picture.
It was a selfie, Midoriya’s freckled face beaming in the bottom corner, bandaged lightly. They were clearly in a hospital room of some sort, three beds filled. He could see Iida, off to the side. His arm and shoulder were heavily bandaged, and he was waving enthusiastically at the camera, despite the obvious scrape on the side of his face. Off to the right, in the background was Todoroki, sitting cross-legged on his bed with a book in his lap. He looked confused, but was holding up his fingers in what looked like a peace sign, brow furrowed.
There was a second image, which Shouta swiped too. It looked like the same position, except a shriveled old man in a yellow and grey hero suit appeared, looking unamused and reaching for the camera. The image was blurry.
He could feel a stress headache forming behind his eyes.
“Any broken bones?” Shouta asked carefully, forcing his voice to remain even. All Might shook his head.
“No, but keep scrolling. It gets worse.” Shouta wasn’t sure if he wanted to see the rest.
Are you injured?
Just a little! I’m okay though. I cracked my foot when I kicked him, but it’s not shattered or anything
It’s like a normal injury
I’m gonna reinforce the boots on my suit
Also I have good news/bad news
Young Midoriya, I am very worried.
Good news: I have a fan
Bad news: it’s Stain
Please elaborate.
What do you normally do with fanmail?
Hypothetically
Please tell me.
He wrote me a letter from jail
He says some very nice things in it
Do I respond?
NO!!!!!
It feels rude not to?
He saved my life, technically
FROM WHAT?
Uhhhhh
A Nomu carried me off
We thought we had him tied up but he swallowed a knife apparently and yakked it up when he woke up
But i’m good now i swear
He is a serial killer, young Midoriya.
He’s says i’m too ‘pure’ to kill
He’s a big fan of yours too
Shouta couldn’t read anymore or his brain was going to shut down.
All Might’s dejected expression made a lot more sense, now. He handed his phone back to him, watching his coworker groan and rub his face.
“He’s alive, at least?” Shouta offered. “And relatively uninjured.” He didn’t know what to say about the fact that a psychotic serial killer had developed an attachment to Midoriya.
“My head hurts.” All Might confessed. “I don’t know if I should be proud of him or if I should yell at him. I know he was just defending himself and his friends and that they would have died if they didn’t. But he never should have gotten himself into that kind of situation in the first place.”
Shouta was conflicted as well. Personally, especially after USJ, he felt that there needed to be a larger exception in the laws for Quirk use in self defense. The students had gotten away with it during USJ because it was UA property, ultimately. They had been told they were going to use Quirks for training. But the police had made it explicitly clear that UA needed to be more careful and that if it had occurred anywhere but UA property, the students would be potentially facing charges.
Even though they would have all been violently killed if they hadn’t defended themselves. It had made Shouta’s blood boil, but he kept quiet, not wanting to cause any more trouble for his students and the school. They needed time to recover, not legal matters being thrown in their face.
He had been keeping up with Stain and all the heroes he had killed; there was no doubt in Shouta’s mind that it was a matter of life and death, using their Quirks. That if they hadn’t, they would have been killed. Except for maybe Midoriya, but Shouta didn’t want to dwell on Stain’s insistence on Midoriya’s moral character for too long. If the situation was being kept quiet, it was to avoid charges against his students. Meaning that they would have faced them, if not for the grace of the Hosu police and the proximity of Endeavor to the situation.
He didn’t like that at all .
“I can’t tell you what to do. I don’t know the full measure of the situation yet.” Shouta said. “I don’t know if there was anything Midoriya could have done differently. But if it were me, I would scold him for the things he could change, but not for defending himself. I don’t believe a fifteen year old should lay down and die rather than use his Quirk. Provisional license or not.” He said with a sharp nod of his head.
All Might sighed again, setting his phone down.
“I’m going to think about what to say to him.” He said. “He never has any ill intentions, at least.” Shouta nodded to that. “He says he has something to show me, when he gets back. You too.” He cocked his head to the side, sipping on his tea.
“Something good, hopefully?”
“He can use his Quirk without breaking his bones now.” All Might answered. “And he did something...interesting. Gran Torino talked about it, but he was cackling too much to be clear, exactly. All I got was that we should use a fireproof training room. Midoriya just said it was hard to explain.”
“I can arrange for that.” Shouta said, unable to deny his curiosity. He wanted to see what that crazy strength enhancement looked like without blowing the teenager’s body apart.
XXXX
Shouto was aware he was playing with fire.
He was aware from the moment his father found him sitting next to Midoriya on his bed, pressed thigh-to-thigh. They had been talking quietly, while Iida went to physical therapy. The green-haired boy seemed to get shaky when it got too quiet, so he had taken to sitting next to him and reading. His presence seemed to be enough for Midoriya, pressed into his warmer, left side and scribbling away in one of his noteworks. His handwriting was a messy scrawl, so characteristic of the teen that it made Shouto smile.
Occasionally, Midoriya would stop writing, flex his hand, and spend a few minutes doing hand exercises.
“It gets a little stiff.” Midoriya explained. “But I’m working on it! As long as I do this regularly and try not to break it again too soon, it’ll improve.” He promised.
On the third round, Shouto reached over and put his own hand over Midoriya’s. His heart had been pounding when he did it, but he wanted to do something .
“The heat.” Shouto explained, trying to ignore the sounds of the blood rushing in his ears. “Might loosen it up.” Yeah. That’s why I’m holding your hand.
Midoriya blinked and smiled. He laced his fingers through Shouto’s without a second thought, squeezing his hand.
Shouto had no problem whatsoever raising the temperature on his hand a little. In fact, he was struggling to keep it down.
He watched as Midoriya picked up his pencil with his left hand and started writing. It was a little messier, his hand smearing the writing a little, inevitably. But more than effective.
Shouto blinked. His classmate was full of surprises.
They sat like that for a while, occasionally chatting quietly while Shouto tried not to get distracted by the way Midoriya puffed his cheek out while he was concentrating. He was writing about Stain’s Quirk, incomprehensible notes in the margins.
And that’s how Endeavor found them.
He quickly released Midoriya’s hand when he saw the first big boot step into the room, his head appearing through the doorway. Hopefully, he had pulled his hand back fast enough. He knew Endeavor didn’t like that he had any association with All Might’s protege and hand-holding would break his brain.
“Endeavor.” He said, as his father stared at his position on the bed with Midoriya.
“Hello!” Midoriya said cheerfully, setting his journal on his lap. But his smile didn’t reach his eyes. “It is good to see you again, sir. ” It was like watching Midoriya spit in his father’s face, even though his words were kind.
He loved it.
He pushed it later, too.
When he was back at Endeavor’s agency, surrounded by sidekicks who were asking him if he was okay, commenting on how scary seeing Stain must have been, but at least Endeavor was there to save him. He fought back a smile, able to tell how his father was simmering in the back. Being forced to take credit for Shouto’s victory was making him grind his teeth; he absolutely hated it.
One of the sidekicks, Candlelight, had been there. She had seen Shouto drag a tied-up Stain out of the alley, Endeavor nowhere in sight. But she met his eyes and said nothing, with a quiet nod of acknowledgement, knowing that things had to be this way.
The video was out, too. Of the Nomu attack on Midoriya, Shouto’s attempt to save him, and then Stain . Shouto wasn’t in trouble for using his Quirk against the Nomu, as the authorities had determined the creatures had no semblance of sentience. It wasn’t great, but it was akin to defending himself and his friend from a wild animal that was attacking.
“Father.” Shouto said, cocking his head to the side. “Midoriya can do something very interesting with his fire Quirk. I was hoping I could learn something similar to that.”
“Something interesting?” Endeavor ground out, the eyes of his entire agency on him. “Like what?”
“The closest I can approximate it to is a fire whip. The hero he’s interning with helped him learn it. Do you know anything similar?” His father’s flames were currently out, but if they had been on, they would have started to flare. He knew his father had nothing like that; Endeavor was an effective hero, but creativity was far from his forte.
“No, but I’m sure we can work on it.” He spat out. There were some hushed comments of wow, that’s so interesting and Oh, I wonder who his friend is interning with ? And is that the guy from the Sports Festival?
Shouto smiled.
“I know he’s just learning so much at his internship. I was very impressed with what he told me. Gran Torino is very experienced.” Shouto said, before he tilted his head a little more. “I spoke to him a little. He said he used to teach at UA, and you were in one of his classes.” The words were dripping with politeness but he knew every single one of them was cutting into his father.
“Oh, wow Tododorki-kun!” One of his father’s sidekicks said. “That’s amazing! I would love to meet one of your father’s mentors! I can’t believe Midoriya is so lucky, to be able to work with someone who used to teach such great heroes!”
Endeavor looked like he was going to have an aneurysm.
“Actually,” Shouto said. He knew he was twisting the knife at this point. But nothing he said could be construed as negative by anyone besides Endeavor and he was feeling bold. “I think Midoriya mentioned he taught All Might too.”
“ Amazing! ”