Chapter Text
Snow falls into his hair as he wipes the sweat off his brow.
Another night, another dazzling fight, another villain on their way to jail.
He pretends not to notice the paparazzi snapping pictures of him as he shakes his head to dislodge snowflakes from his hair, but he has angled it all so the yellow and purple lights of the city reflect on his locks and make him look like a snowflake himself.
It’ll make him look so ethereal and his handler will be pleased.
Police continues to clear the area and Mai-chan grins and tells him she’s going to go get an umbrella for him and some warm tea from a vending machine that survived the fight a block over and for him not to move, because, apparently, Touya has broken his hand and has to get medical.
Huh, he thinks as he looks at his fingers, bent in an unnatural angle.
She’s right.
He guesses he is so cold he can’t feel it.
Whatever, soon Mai-chan will come in like the bestest friend ever she is with warm milk tea and a nice umbrella and they will go to the hospital.
All is well.
“Can we talk?” a voice calls from behind him, a large shadow blocking all lights from the streets at his back.
Touya feels his whole body tense, a chill colder than the air outside runs down his spine and he has to force his shoulders to relax, for his face to remain neutral, not happy, not sad, not angry.
Emotionless is safe.
No one can hurt you if they don’t know how you feel.
He turns around, a silver eyebrow raised.
“I would rather we didn’t,” he says, taking a step back.
The man stretches a long, huge - so warm it is, Touya knows it - hand towards him and Touya feels his body start to shut down. He doesn’t want to be touched - he does, so badly it physically hurts - and he is definitely not going to let him.
“Please,” he says.”I haven’t seen you in more than a year.”
Touya’s lips curl downwards.
“Not long enough if you ask me,” he replies, arms crossing over his chest.
The other man lowers his outstretched hand, eyes downcast.
“... you didn’t come to the wedding.”
Touya blinks.
“You honestly, honestly expected me to go?” he says, visibly surprised. The utter audacity.
The other man doesn’t respond, not that Touya expected him, he has always been more of a man of action than of words.
That used to be his job, once upon a time.
“That’s what I thought,” he snaps, turning around and walking away. His mood is soured and yeah, Mai-chan is coming back but she will understand he just had to go.
His boots crush the snow as he steps on it, his shoulders squared, his back straight.
“... She’s pregnant,” his ex - that’s who he is, just an ex - says finally, his voice soft, broken, defeated.
So unlike him.
Touya stops, frozen in place, something heavy and hard settling in his stomach.
“... Rei is pregnant and I’m scared,” he clarifies, and Touya thinks he had done a good job not learning of her name so far and of course this motherfucker had to ruin it. “I… I thought… well, you are smarted than me, you’ve always been smarter and maybe… maybe if you godfathered my child…”
Touya turned once more, facing him, unable to believe his ears.
His lips part, his warm breath wisping in a white cloud of fog once, twice.
“How long are you going to hurt me?” he finally asks, shaking his head in disbelief. “You have the nerve… really?”
His ex shakes his head frantically.
“I- I don’t want to hurt you!” he says quickly, blue eyes wide. “I thought… I mean, we didn’t work as a couple, I get that… but I want you in my life…”
“Oh do you?” Touya scoffs, still trying to process what is happening. “And your lovely wife doesn’t mind you bringing home the guy who used to suck you off?”
He lowers his eyes in shame.
Clearly he didn’t think about that.
Well, thinking has never been his strong suit.
He opens his mouth once more.
“She doesn’t need to know… that.”
The hard, heavy thing in Touya’s stomach plummets to his feet, his body has lost all warmth.
“... Don’t ever talk to me again,” he hisses before quickly turning on his heel and walking away once more.
His ex doesn’t try to stop him, this time and Touya doesn’t know if it’s because he’s shocked or because he is finally respecting his boundaries and letting him go.
His tears feel painfully cold against his cheeks as they fall.
He just wants to go home.
***
Izuku swallowed the mouthful of udon he had been chewing before turning from his meal and staring at his nervously fidgeting homeroom teacher. Yamada-kun was looking at him as if he would bite - not that he wouldn’t, he had done it in the past for sure, but Yamada-kun didn’t know that, right? - hands ready to defend himself.
To his left, Shinsou-kun had stopped eating as well, a frown marring his face.
“Excuse me, Yamada-sensei,” he said, cleaning his mouth with a napkin. “Can you repeat that?”
“The Principal wishes to talk to you, little listener,” Yamada-kun obediently repeated, and really, if he wanted to survive the rest of the year with Shinsou-kun and Izuku in his class, he needed to grow a backbone as fast as possible, in Izuku’s humble opinion.
“Am I in trouble?” Izuku asked, tilting his head.
Yamada-kun waved his hands.
“Oh, no, no, no!” he reassured. “Not at all.”
“Is it something related to my academic performance?” he asked once more, blinking once, twice, playing the innocent little student he obviously wasn’t.
“Well,” Yamada-kun hesitated. “Not really, no.”
“Then I’m afraid I must decline, sensei,” he said with a shrug. “It would be very improper.”
“E-eh?” Yamada-kun sputtered, surprised. “It’s not what you think, Midoriya-kun! Principal Nezu just wants to know some details of the attack on the school!”
Izuku widened his eyes, cheeks growing flushed.
“I’m pretty sure I wrote down all the details I could remember in the report I handed to you last week, sensei,” he argued back, visibly confused. “There is literally nothing I could add that is not already in there.”
“Well…”
“And considering it is highly unusual for the principal himself to want to meet with me for not school-related issues, without the presence of my mother at that…”
“... we didn’t think to call her, no…”
“I’m afraid I am forced to decline your invitation, sensei,” Izuku finished, his smile small, shy, perfectly suited to a 15 year old. “I’m sorry I made you come all the way here for nothing.”
Yamada-kun waved his hands, eyes wide.
“Oh no, little listener!” he argued back. “It’s not your fault! I completely understand!”
“I’m so glad, sensei!” Izuku beamed, gently elbowing Shinsou-kun to smile as well.
Which he did, because he was the best.
“I’ll leave you two to finish your lunches!” Yamada-kun beamed back, giving them both a thumbs up. “See you in class, little listeners!”
And he left.
Izuku nodded to himself, grinning, and slowly started slurping his soba once more.
Shinsou-kun snorted.
“You are going to break him one of these days,” he said, placing a sausage from his bento into Izuku’s as a reward. “You think he’ll realize you played him before next period?”
Izuku sighed.
“Doubtful,” he said, munching on the sausage. “I think he’ll start learning by next semester.”
“Tough.”
“Realistic.”
And it really wasn’t his fault? The Principal had been trying to get him alone in a room for a while now since the attack and Izuku was a salty little shit, sure, but he had been called a cheater when he saved a life and no one did a thing to clean his record - he would know, he checked - which, he knew for a fact, would affect his future career as a hero.
The quirkless brat who cheated his way into UA.
He could already see it.
Fuck that shit, he was sure he would eventually have to meet with their esteemed principal, but it would be in his terms, just because he was a teenager and he had a right to be petty.
For now, Izuku and Shinsou-kun looked at each other, and couldn’t help but smile.
“What’s so funny?” a girl asked, plopping herself in front of them at their table that, up to this point, no one approached.
Izuku blinked.
“An inside joke Shinsou-kun and I have been sharing for a few weeks now,” he explained, confused.
“Yeah, you two seem close,” she said, pulling her bento from her back, golden eyes set on them. “Hey, what happened to your hair?”
Shinsou blinked, running a hand through his now short, cropped hair.
“Penitence,” he said simply.
“That he didn’t really need,” Izuku interrupted, rolling his eyes.
“It’s my fault you cut yours,” Shinsou argued.
“It was Bakugou’s fault, he literally burnt it, remember?”
“But I didn’t help, either.”
The girl watched them back and forth, as if watching an interesting match, her smile turning into a grin.
“Now that makes sense,” she said, stretching a hand towards them. “Shinsou knows me already but I’m Hatsume Mei, 1-H.”
Izuku shook her hand, surprised.
“Your voice did sound familiar,” he said as if he hadn’t memorized her school profile and all the info the records had on her, which he totally did.
“ Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet you,” he said, smiling.
“Oh, I know who you are!” she said, giggling. “It’s hard to not know who you are after…”
“The attack?” he asked, shaking his head, smile growing shy.
Hatsume stared at him for a moment, eyes wide.
“Well, yeah…” she said. “But even before that, I mean, you are The Singularity.”
“The what?” Shinsou-kun asked, frowning once more.
“I’m the what?” Izuku asked at the same time.
“The Singularity!” she said once more, waving a hand towards him. “I mean, it’s not every day a quirkless student makes it into UA, much less…”
“I’m just kinda smart…” he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I didn’t do well in the practical.”
Hatsume seemed to choke on air alone at that.
“Not well in the practical? Are you kidding?” she gapped, eyes widening further. “You are a literal legend! There are so many theories about you!”
“What?” Shinsou’s frown deepened.
“Why?” Izuku’s lips curled downwards. “Because they still let me in even if I cheated?”
“No?” Hatsume blinked. “Because you were the first place before the Commission intervened? Like, you beat all the scores in the hero classes! Something no one thought would be possible!”
Izuku blinked back, eyes widening.
Shinsou’s scowl softened in shock, his lips parted.
They looked at each other for a second.
Then turned in unison towards Hatsume.
“Explain,” Shinsou-kun demanded.
She stared back at them, frowning.
“Didn’t they tell you your scores, Midoriya?” she asked,
Izuku shrugged.
“All Might said I got seventy points for Rescue, but that was it,” he said, confused.
“And you didn’t know you had 8 villain points as well?” she frowned. “No one told you? I mean, you literally had 78 points! You beat that loud kid from 1-A by one point! Everyone in school knows it!”
“What?” Izuku asked in disbelief. “Is that why he attacked me out of nowhere? Because I got one more point?”
It did make sense, actually.
The whispers that had been following Izuku around since day one had only intensified after the attack but they had not changed. And there was no real reason why Bakugo had attacked him that very first day just because he made it into UA, he was in General Studies, for all Bakugou knew he was not a threat, he was not in the hero courses.
And sure he had broken his arm with his knee before having his face go crispy and crunchy, but that didn’t explain why all the other students avoided him like the plague, but didn’t hiss bigotry in his direction like he had heard since he was five.
But apart from Yuuki-kun’s cheerful waving at them to join his table at the center of the cafeteria, ignoring how all his friends shook their heads in a panic, he had honestly thought the school as a whole thought he was contagious or something.
So, the students were not avoiding him because he was a freak or something,
They avoided him because he was
special.
Huh, interesting.
Shinsou sighed, reaching with a hand to ruffle Izuku’s short hair. “Congrats.”
Izuku could feel his skin flush, his lips curl up in a smile.
“Thanks, Shinsou-kun.”
Shinsou nodded, his own smile fond.
Maybe Hatsune’s bold presence at their small lunch table that up to this point everyone seemed to gawk at from a distance would make him look less threatening. He wasn’t a monster, not really, he was just quirkless and smart and a little impatient, that wasn’t that bad.
And he definitely needed to be social and accepted for his long term plan to work.
“When you say the whole school knows it,” Shinsou-kun began. “Is that why they look at Izuku and point and whisper behind his back?”
“I thought it was because I’m quirkless?” Izuku wondered out loud.
“Well, it’s both if you ask me, you are the literal first place and quirkless, so everyone wants to know how you did it,” Hatsume beamed at them, her own cheeks coloring while she pointed at them with her chopsticks. “But everyone is afraid you are going to kill them or something, especially after the attack, you are like a cryptid now, a legend.”
“And now you are avoiding the Principal like the plague,” Shinsou added, his smile turning smug.
“You are?” Hatsume asked in excitement. “For your own protection no doubt”
“You are not helping, Shinsou-kun,” Izuku scolded. “And no, he’s not going to dissect me or anything, I just don’t see a reason to go meet him when it has nothing to do with my education.”
“And making Yamada-sensei run around in circles is funny,” Shinsou said, shrugging.
Izuku elbowed him less gently this time.
Hatsume giggled, shaking her head.
“Some teachers just don’t understand true genius,” she said, shaking her head. “Can you believe Maijima-sensei thinks I’m too impulsive? He’s failed me twice for the same assignment!”
“You are impulsive,” Shinsou said, taking a bite of his lunch. “You heard Izuku on the phone, in a highly stressful situation surrounded by better trained seniors, and you said bet.”
Hatsume sputtered.
“You did too!”
Shinsou-kun shrugged.
“I know him,” he replied, an eyebrow raised when Hatsume’s cheeks flushed and she almost stabbed him with a finger.
“So do I! I told you! He’s The Singularity!”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Shinsou asked, confused.
“She means I’m the first in a snowball effect that will have the quirkless rule over the quirked in a new dystopian World Order…” Izuku replied for her, shaking his head and deciding if he was going to eat the fruit his mother packed him or the little cakes first.
Shinsou and Hatsume looked at him.
Shinsou-kun seemed to think about it for a moment, his eyes mistrustful, most likely he was trying to decide if Izuku was being sarcastic or not.
“Is that your end goal?” he asked, lips twitching.
Izuku looked at him.
“Maybe…”
Hatsune snorted, rolling her eyes.
“Not to be rude but not because you are quirkless,” she said, patting his hand. “It’s because you are smart,”
“ How do you know?” Izuku asked, eyes sparkling.
“I mean, you are quirkless and you still made it in and… sorry but it’s kind of obvious it’s not because of your physical prowess,” Hatsume said with a shrug of her own. “I mean, it’s not that bad, my quirk is not intelligence either and here I am…”
“Failing Power Loader-sensei’s assignments?” Shinsou said, earning himself another elbow to the ribs from Izuku.
Hatsume stuck her tongue at him.
“Well,” Izuku coughed into his fist. “There is no intelligence quirk as far as I know.”
“Tell that to Principal Nezu,” Hatsume said, shoulders slumped.
“You think his quirk is what makes him smart?” Izuku asked, resting his chin on the back of his hand.
“I thought his quirk was him being like a dog-chipmunk person?” Shinsou-kun argued.
“No one knows for sure,” Hatsume answered, poking a piece of egg in her food. “No one even knows what he really is, my standing theory is that he is a stoat.”
“What’s a stoat?” Shinsou-kun asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket and googling. He blinked at the image, then frowned, then turned the screen sideways for a moment. “Nah, doesn’t have the fluffy tail.”
“Maybe he combs it?” Hatsume said, eyes bright. “The ears and the snout are a dead give away!”
“His nose is pointier…”
“Because he’s a hybrid!”
“Or it could be his quirk…”
Izuku smiled, letting them debate back and forth, Shinsou-kun’s cold sarcasm against Hatsume’s bubbly and passionate enthusiasm.
They could either end up as good friends or they would kill each other in the future.
Who knew?
He let their voices wash over him as he finished his lunch - his mom was a goddess, seriously, he might have lived centuries ago, but he was sure no food in this world could taste this good - enjoying the nice fall breeze that was coming from the open window and thinking that maybe he should find a small spot outside to eat and rest in.
Not the plum tree though.
That spot was banned for all eternity.
He was about to eat his last piece of persimmon - he still had half but they were Shinsou-kun’s favorites and he definitely deserved them because for some reason that was most likely teenage angst he had cut his hair in solidarity or repentance to Izuku and he was seriously the best - when he felt a presence behind him and he quickly reached with his hand to wrap around the wrist of the hand that was about to make contact with the back of his neck.
The skin under his fingers tensed for a second, just as Shinsou-kun and Hatsume grew silent, their eyes wide.
Izuku turned, an eyebrow raised.
“Can I help you?” he asked a blond boy who was quietly and very obviously trying to compose himself. Had he honestly not expected to be caught when he was trying to place his hands on Izuku without asking?
The boy stared at him for a second, then his lips curled upwards.
All bravado, no brains.
Typical teen.
“Got you,” he said, triumphant.
“Seems like he has you,” Hatsume said, tilting her head in confusion.
Around them, the cafeteria grew silent, most likely everyone expected them to fight, and yeah, Izuku seemed to be setting a precedent.
How fun.
At least he could see from the corner of his eye how Yuuki-kun nodded to himself and ran towards the teacher’s lounge. Most likely to tell Yamada-sensei someone was being a dick towards him again .
Good kid, Yuuki-kun.
“Y-You can trick the school administrators all you want,” the teen continued, cheeks flushed. “But I know your stunt is not gonna work!”
“My what now?” Izuku asked, not really getting it.
“You are pretending to be quirkless as a publicity stunt, aren’t you?” the teen accused, eyes narrowed. “Just so people look at you when you become a hero!”
“Is he seriously…” Shinsou scowled.
“You think I made up that I was quirkless? Really?” Izuku said, still holding onto him, trying to predict his next move.
“There’s no other explanation!” the teen yelped, struggling to free himself. “You can’t be quirkless AND the number one at the same time, you have to be faking it.”
“Oh, that’s really quirkist,” Izuku scowled. “You sure you don’t want to take that back while you still have the chance?”
His grip around the teen’s wrist tightened.
He wasn’t strong enough to actually harm him, but he did know where to press to make it hurt.
The teen winced, trying to twist his wrist to get away.
Another huge ass teen was coming towards them from the other side of the cafeteria, the tank of a teen Izuku was sure didn’t like him from the exam, eyes determined, shoulders squared.
Oh no, he wasn’t about to deal with two hostiles and potentially ruin his persimmons.
Those were Shinsou-kun’s.
Izuku smiled.
It was not a pleasant smile.
“You must be 1-B’s Monoma, right?” he guessed, his hand unmoving. “Let me guess, you are trying to copy my quirk to prove I’m a liar.”
“And now that you made skin to skin contact with me I can!” Monoma said, his smirk growing. “I have your quirk now! You can’t hide from me!”
Izuku rolled his eyes so hard he thought he might lose one, pulling onto the hand he was holding onto to pull the teen off balance, his other hand reaching to the back of his head to slam his forehead against the table seconds after Shinsou-kun pulled their food away.
Perfect timing.
No wonder he was his favorite.
Monoma groaned in pain just as Izuku stood to his feet, arms crossing over his chest, his eyebrow still raised in disbelief.
“Oh, don’t be a baby,” he mocked. “That was for you being a quirkist asshole.”
He took two steps back, giving Monoma ample room to move.
“Now,” he said, his own lips curled into a sneer. “Go ahead, use my so-called quirk.”
Monoma stood up himself, rubbing his forehead to alleviate his pain.
He hadn’t even hit him that hard.
Blue eyes met his own green ones.
“...what?” he asked.
“Well, you copied my quirk, didn’t you?” Izuku asked. “Surely you will be able to use it now that you have it right? Isn’t that what you wanted ?”
Monoma nodded, eyes narrowing as he jumped in place, frowning when he didn’t reach any special height. He then reached with his fist for the table, slamming it with all his might and hissing when he couldn’t make more than a loud noise.
Students watched with avid interest, even the tank from the exam stood in place, shocked.
“Not super strength or agility then,” he muttered to himself, ignoring the way Hatsume was scowling at him and Shinsou-kun rolled his eyes. “Heightened senses?”
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes.
“No, nothing,” he said, eyes wide. “What the hell?”
“Maybe it’s a perception quirk?” Hatsume proposed, her smile mocking. “Midoriya-kun is really smart.”
“I don’t feel any smarter,” Monoma replied.
“Obviously,” Izuku sighed.
“What the hell is your quirk!” Monoma demanded, cheeks growing red.
“Want to spar and find out?” Izuku proposed, cracking his knuckles, he didn’t really need to, but he had learned, at some point in his many lives, how to make it sound really loud and threatening. “I mean, if you still think you have my quirk and all that.”
Monoma took a step back, it seemed to have worked.
He wasn’t about to tell Monoma that he indeed had copied his quirk, because the only way to actually prove it was to put him in such a danger that his life would be at risk and yeah, he wasn’t that cruel.
Plus, Monoma was an asshole and quirkist and his mom and the lawyers at the Mochizuki Touya foundation would have a field day if this escalated.
Not that he wouldn't find it funny, because he would, but he didn’t want his mom crying because her baby had been attacked, at the same spot, in the same place, in less than three months.
Nah, he could deal with this one on his own, the stain where he had smashed Higawara’s face when he was still Touya still remained and he kind of felt proud about it to this day.
“It has to be a quirk!” Monoma argued, trembling.
“Or maybe it’s just that you are a bigot,” Izuku replied, sneering. “Which one’s most likely after this little test of yours?”
Monoma shook his head, shocked, his lips parted.
But then he and Izuku himself were wrapped in white cloth and pulled further apart and Izuku felt his heart sink.
“That’s the guy, Yamada-sensei!” Yuuki-kun yelled from behind them. “He’s the one harassing Midoriya!”
The cafeteria as a whole turned in unison, the teachers were there.
“Oh is he,” Eraserhead hissed, eyes narrowed, his scarf tightening around Monoma.
“He said Midoriya-kun had to have a secret quirk because he is smart and cool!” Hatsume supplied.
“And a lot of quirkist shit too,” Shinsou-kun added, crossing his arms over his chest. “He tried to touch Izuku without permission.”
“He hit me!” Monoma cried, struggling.
“For all I knew you were trying to assault me, there is a precedent in this scool, apparently,” Izuku said, shrugging. “I just defended myself.”
Yamada-kun quickly made his way towards them, just as the white scarf released Izuku, placing both hands on his shoulders, worriedly checking him out.
“Are you okay, little listener?” he asked, face worried, lips trembling.
Izuku placed a hand on top of his.
“I’m fine, Yamada-sensei,” he said. “Just a little shaken.”
“Of course you are,” Yamada-kun said, nodding. “Come on, let’s go back to my office for some tea, we can talk then.”
Izuku nodded, pitiful and small and soft, tears of utter relief pooling in his eyes, making them sparkle.
“Thanks sensei,” he whispered.
“I’m coming with you,” Shinsou-kun said, grabbing their stuff. “You need to rest and Mic-sensei might have some questions you won’t be able to answer in your state.”
Izuku and Shinsou-kun locked eyes for a moment, mischief clear in them.
“You sure?” he asked, voice soft.
“Great idea, Shinsou-kun!” Yamada beamed, slowly escorting them both away from the cafeteria, ignoring the way Vlad King and Eraserhead were chewing Monoma a new one while the other teen tried to defend himself and Hatsume unhelpfully continued to stir the pot.
Izuku was really liking that girl.
He definitely owed her one.
The sea of students around them parted, making a path for them to walk out that Izuku mostly ignored - that tank of a teen from the exam was looking at him in a mix of awe and heartbreak, whatever that meant he wasn’t sure - when he noticed eyes piercing him in intensity.
One pale gray like a winter sky.
One blue and bright like flames.
Izuku paused for a second, feeling his throat close up, his skin to lose all color.