Archive of Our Own ^beta

Sliding off the balcony Tokoyami gave a grunt of frustration when, after hitting and rolling to a standing position again, he tried to walk away only to be jerked back.

"Let GO!" he hissed at Dark Shadow who was holding tight to the rail with it's eyes closed shaking it's head fiercely, "NO!"

"No Fumi, no no no no nonononono don' wanna!!!"

"You are being foolish beyond permission!"

"Well, YOU are being MEAN!"

"This childishly silly fear is beyond stupid and tonight, and for as many nights as it takes, we are going to work on getting rid of it…. So…. LET.... GO!!!"

It didn't work, nor did twisting and pulling and tugging and even thrashing against the bond that joined them, Dark Shadow held tight and wouldn't let go of the railing, just keeping up a litany of "NO you're mean mean mean don't wanna Fumi don wanna don make me please please please…."

Only when he had tired himself out beyond any hope of being able to jog that night did Tokoyami realize that Dark Shadow was sobbing as they clung, head shaking in panicked movements and he exploded, temper finally beyond any attempts to restrain, "You STUPID quirk, why do I HAVE TO HAVE YOU? How can you be afraid of the dark, YOU’RE FUCKING MADE OUT OF IT!!!”

He didn't end there though, his blazing wrath at being stuck with something opinionated, spiteful, selfish, deceitful, stupid, panting as he ran out of words he stood gasping for breath as Dark Shadow looked at him in shock, beak opening and closing wordlessly as he finally found enough breath to say, "FINE, do it your way then, I’m DONE!"

Climbing back up was harder than getting down but he managed it, resolutely refusing to let Dark Shadow back inside of him as he crawled into bed after turning on more of his lights, not even noticing that they didn't try, or even come into the room, choosing instead to remain outside on the balcony.

*************************

Fumi hated it, it was sure of that now.

It had thought that for a long time, but being at UA had proved it.

So many good quirks, so many good powers, and Fumi only had it, bad broken stupid selfish it.

Fumi was right, how could it be afraid of the dark when it was made of dark?

Waiting for Fumi to fall asleep, pain gnawing at its heart, it did something it had never done before, it left.

Not far of course, it couldn't go far, only thirty or so meters but it did it, despite how tears of blackness rolled down its face as it shook in terror at the darkness all around, only the moon and a few scattered beams of light seeping out from behind curtains in the wall behind it to light its way, the power that always filled it in darkness making its weeping grow stronger, its fear trying to tremble into rage.

Anger was easy, rage was strong, fear was weak and pathetic and vulnerable, it usually snatched and clawed at rage to force the fear away but now….

Now it was too ashamed for anger.

Too stupid for rage.

It was a bad quirk, stupid, pathetic, useless, and all the other things Fumi had called it.

But not anymore!

Holding itself in the dark, feeling the power filling it, it resisted all of its usual coping techniques, ignored the rage and instead simply stayed in place, letting the moon sail overhead, watching as one by one the lights from the dorm turned off, simply existing as fear rose and fell, ebbed and flowed, terror making its limbs twitch and shake, waiting for the thing it was so sure was going to get it, come tear it to shreds in the darkness but if it died tonight in the dark, well, Fumi might be better off really, all it did was hold them back.

Watching the night pass into the dim light of dawn, it realized it was still alive, although so tired it could hardly think, but this time when it felt Fumi get up it stayed where it was, the invisible tether between them twanging with the anger still burning in them but this time the emotions only went one way, Fumi hated it now so it kept how it felt to itself.

Fumi didn't need how it felt.

It could feel Fumi so much that it didn't think it could handle it, they hated it and that hurt, hurt so bad bad bad.

Waiting as the sun came up it wanted to go inside Fumi and just not be for awhile but instead, as it felt Fumi head to class it trailed along behind, feeling like nothing more than a worthless shadow indeed.

It stayed outside rather than under Fumi's desk as usual, hiding smaller and smaller as the sun got higher and higher, finally curled under a bench below the classroom window, simply existing, too tired now to even cry.

When practical heroics came at last it did everything possible to just follow orders, to do what Fumi said, but it couldn't even do that right and the blasting boy and the make everything girl won and Fumi was even madder at it than before….

It stayed outside when Fumi went back to the dorms, stayed outside as the darkness came back, stayed outside as the moon rose and stayed outside as the thing that was going to eat it from the darkness didn't come.

The next days class went just as badly, and the next, and the one after that, and today's heroics class was a little bit better but it was so tired, any time Fumi had a break between spars it hid in the farthest corner it could get into, watching all the other kids with GOOD quirks do what they were told, wishing it was good.

That night it moved from the patch of grass it had been standing on every night, this time it went looking for the thing that was going to eat it, it didn't want to do this anymore, maybe being eaten was better.

It didn't find it.

It didn't find it that night or the night after either, and then it was roaming the campus and woods at night, crying and jumping at every sound, a lonely ghost no one wanted, and every night it got that little bit farther, pushing harder and harder and harder to go keep looking, to find the thing it was so sure was in the darkness, and spending its days under the bench because Fumi didn't want it anymore, and during heroics class it tried, tried so hard but it never managed to make Fumi happy, only ever being ignored or yelled at.

It was so tired of never ever being able to do anything right.

*******************************

Midoriya was the first to ask, "Where's Dark Shadow?"

"Outside." Tokoyami said shortly, tone so clipped and frustrated that he backed right off.

Several others asked across the next few days but they got the same answer until finally everyone got used to it being outside and stopped asking, only interacting with the quirk during classes that required quirk use. After all, it was Tokoyami's quirk and if he wanted it outside during class, then why not?

But it was Midoriya who worried, who fretted, who kept casting glances at the window, and who finally went outside during lunch and spent the time to look, trying to spot anywhere a shadow could hide from the sun in the wide open, blazingly bright space, finally catching sight of purple eyes and the miserable huddle of the quirk under a bench.

Kneeling down he said, "Hey Dark Shadow, are you okay?"

"No," it said, "not really, but green is nice to ask. Go away now or Fumi will be madder even than now if you stay."

"Wait, why is Fum... um, Tokoyami, mad at you?"

"Cause I’m stupid."

Sucking a breath in shock at the words, he said the first thing that came to mind, "No you're not."

Nodding miserably as new tears dripped off its beak to evaporate before hitting the ground, "Fumi thinks so.  Fumi thinks I’m a stupid quirk, bad, useless, broken and bad, and stupid and Fumi is real and I'm not so Fumi should know."

Now all the way sitting, Izuku tried to reach the ball of misery that was saying such awful things about itself, but it scooted farther away, right at the edge of the blazing sun out of his reach and he pulled back quickly, not wanting to risk it getting hurt, he knew what light did to the thing, how it reduced it but also, "Dark Shadow, does light HURT you?"

Scrunching smaller, it nodded, blinking at him, "Yes, hurts."

"Then why aren't you inside Tokoyami right now, you shouldn't be out here, it's bad for you!"

"Deserve it."

"What?"

"I deserved it, made Fumi mad, Fumi was trying to make me not afraid of the dark but I won't help and now Fumi hates me and I can’t go in anymore, I’m a bad quirk."

"Bad quirks don't deserve to be in anymore."

"Oh Darkshadow, oh no, oh sweetheart," hands almost aching at how badly he wanted to scoop it up, to cradle it to his chest, he couldn't stop the tears that trailed down his face, "how long?"

"Don't know, long, long long long. Fumi never gonna not be mad."

The warning bell rang and Izuku knew he was on a deadline so he asked quickly, "Where do you go now, you're tied to him, you're his quirk, you can't go far."

A tiny nod, "Yeah, I’m his quirk, outside, stay outside now never go in, never never never, I'm too bad bad bad to ever go in."

"Right, I have to go now but when we get back to the dorms can I come and you show me where you stay now?"

"K."

"Good, good, I’ll see you soon."

Fumi yelled at it again the entire time when it failed to find the flag fast enough but it tried, it tried so hard but it was so tired and lost as it wandered through the maze, looking and looking and looking.

Glad when the timer went off it just hung its head and let the words roll off its shoulders, finally curling catlike in the corner, not hearing when the green one yelled back at Fumi, telling him he didn't deserve anyone as brilliant as Dark Shadow!

When the two boys were called to task for fighting, it simply watched as Fumi jabbed his finger and yelled, and Green yelled back, and the loud teacher that used to make it feel happy suddenly looked right at it and it curled tighter, eyes closing and hands over its ears so no one could see it.

And when it felt the light tread of them coming its way anyway it fled through the wall and away, it was bad bad bad but it didn't want to get in any more trouble than it already was.

******************

"How long?"

The flat words of Aizawa-sensei rocked Tokoyami to his core because he hadn't realized it had been so long, how had it been four weeks since Dark Shadow was near him? How had they not even touched in four weeks if it wasn't heroics class, and even then all he did, all he did was yell at it.

But it was so stupid!

It never did what it was told, never acted right, never just did what it was told, never!

Everyone else had a quirk they just turned on and used and turned off and his one had opinions and argued and resisted and broke things and cried in the night and got bored and was afraid of the dark, how stupid was his quirk anyway!

Four weeks, his heart whispered, it's been four weeks, what’s it been doing for four weeks, where had it been at night for four weeks?

Ignoring the tangle of anger/suspicion/doubt/revulsion, he decided it had to just be hiding under his bed like normal, just finally quiet at last, he resolved to let it inside him tonight but when tonight came, he couldn't find it.

And now he had a problem because Aizawa-sensei had said he was to bring it to class tomorrow or else!

***************************************

Sitting in the dark, form ruthlessly held to only just taller than Aizawa-sensei instead of the towering shape it knew it could be in that much darkness, it watched the moon rising. The glowing form was now the same shape as the very first night it just stayed outside alone, and while it didn't know why the thing way up high changed shape, it was happy it was there, the moon was like a friend, one that didn't yell at it, or ask it things it didn't understand, and never ever said it was useless.

Hearing something coming it spun, was this the night the thing from the dark got it at last?

But no, it was green, smiling up at it, and it was ashamed to be so tall, so big, so it dropped and curled and made itself small and blinked up at the boy, the one Fumi said was quirkless and stupid and so many of the words he used at it and that he shouldn't have been allowed to be a student but it couldn't see why, green was nice, and heroes were nice, so green was a hero.

But it was stupid and Fumi was smart so maybe green was not good either but maybe it was alright for it to be with someone who wasn't good too?

And then green asked, "Can I touch you Dark Shadow?" And it was so tired of being alone so it gave a small nod and a hand was brushing across its head and the hand was warm and nice and it pressed into the hand and crooned a desperate trill and then grabbed its beak cause Fumi hated it when it made any noise that wasn't proper speech and sometimes hit it really hard when it forgot but then, wonder unimaginable, there were arms around it, holding it tight, and it was crying and so was green but maybe that was alright too?

"Dark Shadow, will you come to my room tonight?"

"No, I can’t, I need to not be afraid of the dark so Fumi will like me again, and I can't not be afraid of the dark if I’m with you inside."

It wanted though, it wanted to be inside, to have someone tell it what to do and explain things and to love it like it saw people being loved but it wasn't people, Fumi had told it that so many many times, it was nothing but a quirk and had to do what it was told and do its best and never argue or talk back and….

"Yes you can."

Blinking in shock it stopped listening to the little mean Fumi that lived in its head and asked, "What?"

"You can be not afraid of the dark in my room just like out here, it's the same dark."

Looking around, it said, "No it isn't. This dark is all full of tree noises and moon friend and over that away a water thing that goes shiver giggle whoooosh over rocks that Fumi won't ever tell me the name of and in a room it's all quiet and Don't make a sound Don't move Don't fidget DON'T wake me up and it's a different dark inside and outside. It is!"

Quiet words then turned its reality on its head when they said, "There’s nothing in the dark that isn't there in the light so inside is different to outside yes but the darkness is the same in both places so you CAN come in with me and not be afraid of the dark. It's easier together to not be afraid of something so please come with me."

"Can I really?" The tiny hope grew, could it be inside with green?

"Yes, yes you can, and we can make my room as bright or dark as you need it to be cause I can sleep anywhere, it's one of my special powers."

Green's giggle was sweet, and his lopsided smile was even sweeter, and it was lonely, and Fumi hated it now, so it went with green, curled up in their arms and trying not to shiver at how angry Fumi would be, he hated when it interacted with anyone at all.

Looking at the room it was in, it felt amazement filling it, "Erase me!” it chirped at the picture on the wall, “And Big Loud! I love them!” but ALL the walls were covered in big shiny pictures"

“Who’s this one?” and green didn't yell at it for asking a question, and green told it not just who each picture was, he told it their names and their quirks and how long they’d been a teacher or hero or both and the ones he’d met and the ones he was going to meet, he hoped anyway, and he just kept talking and it was filled with a weird kind of heat inside and not wanting to be a bother it was going to go under the bed to get out of the way but green asked instead, "Do you want to go under the bed or will you sit on it with me?"

Normally it either was in Fumi, under the bed, or in the closet.

It was NEVER allowed on a bed, not even when Fumi was at home, no bed, no couch, no chair, always floor!

Climbing up shyly when green patted the bed, it curled up and listened to green talk, watching how their face changed and moved as they smiled and frowned and rolled their eyes and it didn't understand even half of what green was telling it but it loved their voice, and so it listened in the dim glow of the tiny light green had in their wall, shaped like the things Erase Me wore on their face sometimes in heroics class and…..

The night was filled with something it had no name for but it wondered if it was very very not terrible (it had never managed good, would never manage good, but maybe not terrible was something it could do?) it might get more of the feeling?

When green finally slid down and slept it held very still because he had his arms around it, and it was suddenly making a vibrating noise because of how happy that made it and the fear of being heard and disturbing green had it stopping again but the warmth of being held had it rumbling again and then stopping and it did that several times when a sleepy giggle and the words, "I didn't know you’cn purr, ‘s nice…”

It could purr?

It was nice?

Something inside relaxed and it gave a sigh and this time their purr didn't stop.

For three nights it was in green's room, warm and happy and it could feel Fumi tugging at their bond, pulling and pulling and pulling but it could go all the way to the other side of UA now so a little bit of pulling wasn't going to make it go back now, not when it was night time and Fumi didn't need it for class.

At heroics the next day Fumi yelled and yelled and yelled and finally demanded it get inside of him and it didn't want to but it belonged to Fumi so it did as it was told and now it was inside and Fumi wouldn't let it out and it could hear Fumi saying all the things they always did but it was small and tight and it didn't want to be there it was bad bad bad but it wanted OUT OUT OUT and it could hear the class as they chatted and laughed and then Fumi was telling green that it was where it belonged and to not worry about it and then they were in the bright bright bright room because Fumi never ever turned his lights off and then Fumi was in bed and it was curled up tight and hurting and small small small and it waited forever and then, like a wonderful door unlocking….

Fumi was asleep enough for it to slide out of the prison inside of Fumi and escape, to flee, and this time it ran not outside to wander like a lonely specter but it ran to green, green who talked to it, who didn't yell, who explained things and petted it as it purred, who said it gave him good dreams….

"Oh thank gods, here!" The covers were lifted for it as it finally made it to the sanctuary of green's room and it slid under, curling tight to their chest as arms were wrapped around it and it was small and tight but it wasn't hurting and filled with bad words it was just right, warm and safe and perfect.

For the first time in forever, it fell deeply asleep, no longer afraid of the dark because it was safe in Green's arms.

It didn't understand all the words that Fumi and Green yelled at each other but it did try, and then there were teachers involved and it was sorry but it didn't WANT to go to Fumi, didn't want to do what they said, didn't want to be yelled at and called useless and the feelings were just too big, and it ran, out into the sun and it burned and it screamed but it reached the trees and the shade and it just kept going, finally hiding near the thing that Green told him was called a stream, listening to the sound of water.

Green had told it that many people found the sound of water soothing, and that soothing meant calm and happy but slow, not a jumpy happy but a sleepy one, only without the sleepy.

And as it listened it knew Green was right, the water did make it feel better, and it had wrapped its tether around stones and trees and left a wild tangle in its wake so that Fumi could spend hours and hours following it and never find it at the end cause it didn't like Fumi anymore, just like Fumi hated it.

Did it hate Fumi?

Pondering that as the light faded, it watched the dark come without fear for the first time in its existence because the thing that would eat it that hid in the dark just didn't seem to be there! And if it was, then maybe it wasn't as bad as it thought? Because if it was there in the dark it was there in the light, Green said so, and it had never ever seen anything like it in the light so the dark couldn't be scary if it wasn't there.

Green said the dark was just a different way to see the word, not better, not worse, just different. And Green was always right!

And then the thing it had hoped for happened and Green was there, just suddenly there and opened his arms and it was curled into them and was being rocked as it cried cause just because dark isn't scary anymore today had been bad bad bad and hard and together they settled to the ground and listened to the music of the water and it wished it was Green's quirk.

It wished it was Green's quirk!

But Green didn't need a quirk, it watched him in class and he won more than anyone else did because Green was smart, and clever, and skilled, and so terribly fierce yet so gentle and so so so kind!

Still, it gave a sigh as it was carried back towards the dorms, it did wish it could be!

Then, when they were close, Green asked, “Dark, can you cover me with shadows so no one sees us go in?”

"Ummmm I’m not very good but I can try?"

Suddenly filled with fear, what if it failed, what if Green didn't like it anymore, what if it - "That's okay, if it works, great, if not, it doesn't matter, no one is gonna get mad or anything, I just don't want to see Tokoyami right now.”

"It doesn't matter?"

The hand suddenly holding its beak and a kiss to the top of it had its head spinning, as did, "Nope, it’s just an experiment so only if you want to, we can try it, but if not….”

That was as far as Green got before it was wrapping around him, shrouding him in his shadows, the electric crackling that hurt so much when he did this with Fumi never happened, instead it was a warm thrumm and it was so happy it could help and together they slid past everyone and up to Green's room and not even Fumi hammering at the door demanding it to come out disturbed their sleep.

In heroics the next day it ignored Fumi for the first time ever, instead it heard the whispered question and vanished, coming back with the location of the target, hiding in shadows, helping Green to win, then fleeing from the room as Sensei told them all how they’d done.

The rage it felt through the tether burned, so it stretched it thin and tiny and tight so the hurt couldn't get through it but it felt so weak suddenly, so tired with it small like that so it curled on Green's bed, hoping Green would know what to do because the tether hurt it now, FUMI hurt it now, and it didn't want to hurt anymore!

*-*

"So, let me be sure I understand." Holding the tether the quirk had made solid for him in two gentle hands, Izuku asked, "This connects you to Tokoyami, and usually it's invisible but you can make it like this, so I can touch it and hold it, and through it, you feel each other, but now you don't send anything back to him because he hurt you and scared you and he’s just sending anger at you now and hurting you that way so you pinched it off so he can't hurt you through it but you feel really weak and tired now?"

Chirping "UhHuh, tired, sad, don’t want Fumi anymore, he hates me and I want to love him but he’s mean Green, he hurts me!"

"Like a bully," Green said softly, "he’s a bully to you and hurts you but unlike me, you're connected to him and can't get free."

Running the silky softness of the tether through his hands he gathered the precious bundle into his arms and settled them to the bed, whispering, "I wish you were free, I wish you were free to be mine, or really, I wish you were free to be YOURS!”

"Mine?"

"Yeah, you’re a person too so you should be free to make your own choices and things and not just be pushed around by someone who isn't very nice. You deserve to be more than a tool!"

Shaking its head it said, "No I’m not, no I don't, I’m nothing, Fumi says so."

"Well, “Fumi” doesn't know shit!"

"GREEN! You can't say that!" It suddenly giggled, "Even if it’s true!"

Together they laughed and all the time Green kept running the tether through his fingers and eventually it watched Green do his homework and suddenly Green started to talk, low and soft and fast, and was holding its tether in both hands like it was amazing and it didn't move, afraid to distract Green but it hoped it was right cause Green was so smart and then, it happened.

Snapping his head up Green asked, "You get energy through this from Tokoyami, right?"

It nodded, not daring to talk.

"How does it feel when I hold it?"

"Nice!"  It suddenly gave a high happy trill, "Nice nice!!!"

"Good, that's good, now, how does it feel when I let it go?"

Watching Green set its tether down it felt bereft and lost and sad and then Fumi’s rage hit it like a blow and it cried out and then, sweet relief as Green grabbed it back, movements like lightning but so gentle and it could breathe again as the pain faded and it gasped, "Fumi hurts hurts hurts but Green feels warm safe safe like Green hugs only better even safer don't let go please Green don't let Fumi hurt me!”

"Come here," Green gathered it close, "I’m going to ask you some questions and don't worry, there are no wrong answers, okay?"

"Questions?" Its voice was so small, "But I’m stupid, I’ll get it wrong.”

"What did I just say, can you tell me?"

"No wrong answers?"

"That's right, no wrong answers."

"Okay, even I’m not that stupid to get no wrong answers wrong!"

Green looked really sad for a moment and it could feel how sad they felt through the tether too but they also felt strong and firm and determined and hopeful and so many things it didn't have a name for but that was alright, Green would tell it what it all meant if it asked because Green always answered its questions but first, "Questions?"

Still holding its tether to block out the noise and hurt Fumi was trying to send it, Green asked, "Do you know you’re a person?"

"No I’m not!" Was the instant reply.

Green suddenly look a LOT like Erase Me as he said, "Okay, first I want you to tell me each word of your answer, okay?"

Nodding it said, "No. Ummm, then there was not? Yeah, not, but the middle word was I’m but Big Loud says I’m is two words, I and am so, which one do you want?"

"The first one please?"

"Easy! I LIKE this game, that word is I!"

"You’re so good at this game too, now, can you tell me what I means?"

"Uh huh, it means me."

"Yep, it does. Now, does a rock have an I or a me or is it just a rock?"

Frowning because it felt a trick was coming but it looked at the pretty rocks on Green’s desk and said, "No?"

"Why not?"

"Cause a rock doesn't talk, silly!"

"No, a rock doesn't talk silly, or at all."

It couldn't help it, the joke had it convulsing in giggles, the happy free feeling like the way water sounded felt inside and it was gasping as it caught its breath, still muttering "rocks don't talk silly" and bursting out laughing and Green laughed with it.

Catching its breath at last, it realized, Green laughed with it.

Blushing, it said, "I like that, when you laugh with me." It said the words shyly, feeling very small and fragile as it said them, but, still keeping one hand around its tether, Green's other one came around it in a side hug and said, "I like it when you laugh with me too."

"Now," a moment later, "do you want to keep going with the game?"

Nodding it said, "Yes please!"

"Okay, so, rocks don't talk silly, or at all, now, do quirks talk?"

"No?"

"No, you're right, most quirks don’t talk. Nor do cats or trees or dirt or clouds or walls or floors or chairs or dinners or washing machines. Nothing like that has an I, or a me, they are either just things or don’t have any awareness of themselves, so they don't have an I or a me."

"What does have an I or a Me?"

Pondering that for a moment it finally said, hesitant but trusting, "You do?"

"That’s right, I do. Now, who else?"

"Oh oh oh Erase Me does, so does Nice Loud, and Little Scary Fuzzy, and Burning Cold and" - "That’s good, that's enough, so, you agree that people have an I and a Me, right?"

"Yep!"

"Now, tell me your sentence again, just the way you said it the first time."

"No, I’m not?"

"Yep, now, say it again but listen to it this time, listen really hard, okay?"

Nodding, it agreed, and it would try really really hard for Green, it would do anything for Green, Green was amazing! "No….." that word meant don't and Fumi loved it so it didn't like it much.  "I’m….." this one meant I am and trees didn't have an I but people did and - it felt its entire body freeze, hardly breathing as it thought the words 'I Am, I am, I am me…..'

'Only people have an I and a Me.'

The smallest voice in the world asked aloud for the first time ever, "I’m a people too?"

Held tight in safe arms it whispered "But Fumi said, everyone said…."

Solid as mountains and soft as a sigh, Izuku said, "Everyone said wrong."

"Even if you are a quirk, you are a person too."

"And people have rights and one of them is to not be tied to an abuser."

"Abuser?"

"Yes, an abuser is someone who hurts you to get what they want and Tokoyami hurts you, hurts you to get what he wants."

"Now, I have a really big question, and this one has no right or wrong answers either, and it can take years and years to know the answer or you can know it right away, and anything in between."

"But…."

"What do you want?"

And the short long easy hard question had a simple answer, "Not to hurt."

"I think we can work with that."

"When I hold your tether, can you feel Tokoyami?"

"No, he can't get past how warm and good you feel."

"Then, I know you need an external energy source, and that it needs to be biological because when we tried to see if you could eat my phone battery it proved you can't use that kind of energy at ALL so we can't just cut it off but what if we tied it to someone else?"

"Someone not Fumi?"  It felt its eyes blow wide with shock at the thought of not getting yelled at anymore, not called horrible names, not get dragged into the dark and made to do what someone else wanted, to being with....

"To you?"

"If you’ll have me, and if it works, yes, it can be to me."

"Because it’s your tether, you should be able to attach it to someone you like, and who likes you. And I don't just like you Dark Shadow, I love you! "

"Me?"

"How can you love me? I’m useless and bad and bro" - "STOP! No, no you are not!  Wait," keeping it from speaking by touching the tip of his finger to it's beak, Green kept going, "Dld you know people called me useless all my life?"

"WHAT?"

"Green is NOT useless! Green is amazing and wonderful and smart and funny and knows everything and makes me feel good and warm and tells me things and I love Green and, can I be Green's quirk?"

"No." Its heart almost broke at the quiet word but the next ones changed the world, "No you can’t be my quirk, but you could be my partner if you wanted to."

It learned that hope burns when it asked, "Partner?"

"Yes, partner. A hero partner. Alone I’m only just barely able to keep up in class, and I know I can be a hero but it will be hard, and dangerous, and no one will accept me as I am. And you alone won't live long, and you with Tokoyami is awful, he is nasty and doesn't deserve anyone as amazing as you are in his life."

"But together, together we can be strong, and smart, and the best heroes anyone has ever seen because partners help each other, and protect each other, and love and trust each other."

"And I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you and I can’t promise it‘ll work but if you want, we can try."

"Try," it gasped, "try try try Green love love I love Green! Green is strong and warm and I can be good for Green, can work hard and earn" - "No Dark, you don't have to earn or work hard or do anything at all for us to try, even if all you wanted to do is arrange flowers in a vase or lay tiles or sit on the bed and look pretty, I would be the luckiest person in the world to be part of that, to be part of you, so if we do this and it works you don't need to do anything to earn it because friends are there for each other, okay?"

Nodding it said, "I’ll try to remember but it's hard cause I've been bad for so long."

"Is there a way to make remembering easier?"

"Yeah," a tear-filled laugh, "it’s called therapy and Aizawa-sensei has been trying to get me to start and I think together we should take him up on it, even if this doesn't work."

"Now, before we go off on another tangent, let me block the door." Getting up he slid the desk in front of the door, then slid the bed over and turned it so it was braced between the desk and the other wall, not even an inch between them, rendering the door impossible to open. Doing it all one-handed was a right royal bastard but he managed it in the end, with lots of swearing and explaining what the words actually meant because it had been wondering ever since it met Bakugo.

Scooping the bedding off he dragged it to the closet, arranging it into a nest-like space that they both curled up in, and Izuku said, "I think if I hold your tether in two hands and you cut it off between them, then you can attach the one closest to you into me, and then I'll let the other end go."

"Do you think that’ll work?"

Looking at the glimmering purple-black cord between Greens’ hands, instead of answering, it focused and cut it cleanly in two.

Feeling an icy pain it gasped and then steadied when Green said, "Good, now, set this end," his right hand lifted a tiny bit as sweat beaded his brow at how hard it was suddenly to hold onto the ends, "deep inside me, now."

Taking hold of that end with its mind it pushed it deep into Greens' chest, feeling it latch on with a shock like ice and heat and pain and pleasure and love and joy and giggles, and Green slowly let go of the tether that now connected them and it flared nova bright with amazement and joy and RELIEF and love and.... 

"Fumi never felt like this!" It said in amazement because Fumi was always dark and hurt and said bad things and Green was light and kind and it felt like it could fly with the joy that filled it. It was so happy and then Green gave a wicked grin and said, "Shall we?" And it nodded and the free end of the old tether was let go and snapped away.

The scream when it came was glorious, and the thundering on the door didn't matter because no one could get in and it had Green and Green had it and together they could face anything.

*-*

An hour later they faced Erase Me and, despite how much they liked them, they frightened it too but with Green there instead of Fumi it was allowed to talk, and with Green supporting it through the tether it was not just allowed to talk but encouraged and supported and talk it did.

Later that night Small Scarry Fuzzy came to Erase Me’s rooms where they now were, curled on the couch in a big blanket as Green had something called coco and he’d let it taste too and it liked it but Nice Loud had said they needed to be sure it could drink it safely so a taste was alright but they had to see Scary Kiss and if she said it was alright then it would have its very own cup and if not, they would find SOMETHING it could have that was just as nice.

It really liked Nice Loud!

And it had to change Small Scary Fuzzy to Nice Fuzzy because they talked to it and talked to it and talked to it until it was so tired and then Bark Bark was there and all it had to do then was listen and then Green yawned and slumped down a bit and yawned again and asked in a soft voice, "Would you like to come in or sleep there?" and it slid inside Green and the space was so big and so warm and so welcoming and it wondered if this was Green's heart it was in because it was surrounded with love and welcome and joy and it slept, safe and happy at last.

********************************************

Stealing a quirk, it was called in the arrest warrant, but UA's fleet of lawyers called it Self Determination by a Sentient Being and the fight was on.

But it didn't have to do anything but talk to the Hat Man and tell them all about how it felt before and how it felt now and then it had Bark Bark with it as it talked to other people about the same thing and any time they asked a question that was supposed to hurt, Bark Bark made them say sorry and eventually it got to go home with Green and it was all good.

It did take forever thought but while it was all going on it got to spend time in class but not with Green, no, it got to be in class with the little bitty people in a place called a nursery school and it learned so much and Mummy Inko’s fridge was all covered up with the drawings it did in class and the dorm fridge had them too and Fumi wasn't there anymore because of something called being expelled but it was told to not worry about it so it didn't, it was just glad.

It got to talk to Bark Bark - whose name was Inui Ryou and it was trying really hard to remember names now - every single day for an entire hour about how everything felt and every other day Green was there too and together they talked about how life had changed.

And it wasn't always easy, and sometimes they argued, and Mummy Inko said that was normal because siblings fight sometimes but always love each other, and everyone else said the same thing so it believed it too, even when it was sad.

But it wasn't sad very often, and one day when Izuku asked, "Would you like a new name?" It said "Yes Please!" And together they started researching names and meanings and called Mummy Inko who came right over to the dorms to help and then Aizawa-sensei was in the big squashy chair with coffee (it wasn't allowed to drink coffee but it liked how it smelt) and Yamada-sensei was on the couch with it hugged into his side and Izuku on its other side and it felt a little bit like a sandwich and it was laughing at the name suggestion Nezu was tossing into the room and Momo was making dry erase markers of different colors to write names on the big board with and suddenly everyone was there and helping it try to find a perfect new name!

It looked around the room, filled now with its friends, its people, and, "What name is there for this feeling?" it whispered at Izuku and Izuku whispered back, "Family."

A Yamada-sensei kiss to the top of its beak and it snuggled down with its mug of almost hot eggnog to listen to names and knew this was a no hurry, no wrong answers question so it simply enjoyed the moment, knowing that with its family helping it, it would soon have the perfect name.