Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kacchan’s words kept repeating over and over again in Izuku’s mind. 

“ If you wanna be a hero so bad, why don't you make it easier for yourself and take a swan dive off the roof? Maybe you'll have a quirk in your next life! ” 

Izuku’s stomach twisted as he clutched his notebook to his chest, the wind whipping around him and ruffling his hair, his clothes billowing. Flipping through the pages, he found the page All Might had signed. 

Even All Might, the person Izuku looked up to most in the world, had told him he couldn’t be a hero. Even when Izuku had run in to save Kacchan from the Slime Villain, they’d all looked down on him. All the heroes, even All Might, had scolded him for getting involved. Then at school the following week, Kacchan had attacked him, going as far as to set off some small explosions against his skin, leaving burns. His classmates had laughed, saying it was pointless for him to have tried to do anything to save Kacchan.

Izuku thought maybe things would get better in high school. He applied to UA, trying for the Hero Department. But on the day of the exam, while he handed in his forms, he was turned away at the door by a member of the administration. 

“ Quirkless? It’d be far too dangerous for you to be in the Hero Exam. You would be a liability not only to yourself but to the others in the exam. If you would like to apply for the other programs, you can, but I simply can’t let you apply for the Hero Department. ”

But what was the point of going to UA if he couldn’t be a hero? So he applied for a school closer to home, hoping that he would be able to stay under the radar and avoid the bullies. Kacchan would be going to UA, so maybe the others would leave him alone. 

On the first day, it became evident that a power vacuum had formed in Kacchan’s absence. His old cronies were vying for  the position of top-dog and the easiest way to do that was to go after Izuku. They picked on him, becoming crueler and crueler to prove themselves. They eventually sorted themselves out and Izuku found himself at the bottom of the pecking order. He was the butt of every joke and the odd man out. 

At home, it wasn’t much better. Not that his mother bullied him of course. His mother was kind, but she did not understand Izuku sometimes. She couldn’t imagine him as a hero. Every time something bad happened at UA, like the USJ attack or the attack at their summer camp, she would remind him about how it was a good thing that he didn’t get into his dream school, that it was better that he avoided heroics. Then he would hear her calling Mitsuki Bakugou at night, praising Kacchan. Saying how it was amazing that Kacchan was near the top of his class and how it was amazing that Kacchan managed to narrowly avoid being kidnapped at the summer camp. She praised how aggressive Kacchan was, not only against the villains during the attacks, but also against his classmates at the sports festival. All Izuku ever heard was how amazing Kacchan was and how he was going to be the Number One Hero one day. And maybe Kacchan could be a good hero, but he wasn’t a good person; that much was clear. He needed to grow up before he could be a great hero. Yet he got all the praise and Izuku was looked down on. He was called weak by everyone, if not in words then in actions, like how his mother treated him like he was fragile.

And so, after a particularly bad day at school, Izuku took a walk. Somehow, he managed to find himself back at that building where he had spoken to All Might all those months ago. 

He took one last moment to look at All Might's signature before he went back to flipping through the pages. Izuku kept going until he came to a blank one. Riffling through his backpack, he found a pen and wrote a short note to his mother, telling her he was sorry for everything, before bookmarking the page and putting it into his backpack. He swung the bag onto his back, figuring that the notebook would be safe in there and would be easy to find. 

Shaking, Izuku stepped up to the edge of the roof and looked down. The ground seemed so far away, the skyscraper towering over everything. 

“ If you wanna be a hero so bad, why don't you make it easier for yourself and take a swan dive off the roof? Maybe you'll have a quirk in your next life!”

He took one last deep breath before stepping off. 

For a moment, he felt weightless. Time stood still. Then, the wind picked up, and the ground started to come up to meet him. And then, Izuku realized. 

He didn’t want to die. He’d never wanted to die. He’d made a mistake. 

Izuku opened his mouth to scream, but before a sound came out, a black void yawned open in the air, swallowing him whole. 

He slammed into a wooden floor and tumbled across it, slamming into a barstool. The stool crashed down onto him, adding extra bruises to his body. His backpack burst open and all of his things scattered across the floor, making an even bigger mess. Izuku let out a yelp as he slammed into the side of what he at first thought was a wall, but was actually the side of a bar. 

“What the fuck? Where’d he come from?” a scratchy, thin voice said.

“I thought you opened the warp gate in the middle of the sky?” a rough voice chimed in. “What was he doing in mid-air?”

A high giggle cut through the air. “I think he’s kind of cute!”

Everything was blurry and dim as Izuku managed to pry his eyes open. A face came into focus as someone leaned over him, looking down with furrowed, concerned brows over thick-rimmed sunglasses. Shockingly red hair swayed over him as everything finally stopped spinning. 

“You okay there, kid?” 

Izuku nodded, taking a shaky breath before trying to speak. “Th- Th- Thank you! I think you… you saved my life!”

“Magne, give him some space,” a rich voice said as footsteps approached. “I have some water here for him.”

A man knelt next to him and held out a glass of cool water. As Izuku looked over to thank him, he felt his throat tighten in panic. 

It was Kurogiri: one of the villains from the USJ attack; the one he had seen pictures of on the news. 

Stifling a scream, Izuku scrambled backwards over the barstool and plastered himself against the bar. 

“You’re… You’re…” 

“Ah, you recognize me. That complicates things.”

“Shigaraki, send the Nomu out. We don’t need to freak him out even more,” Magne said

“You’re not the boss of me.”

“Shut up and do what she says, you crusty ass bastard,” the rough voice said. Izuku glanced past Kurogiri to see that the speaker was a tall man with black hair and a multitude of scars ranging over his body, leaving him disfigured. His body language seemed disinterested, but his sharp blue eyes seemed to catalog everything. Beside him was the infamous leader of the League of Villains, Tomura Shigaraki. The head of the villains was dressed in plain clothes, which weren’t all that intimidating really. He looked rather monochrome, except for the bright red shoes on his feet, which looked startling similar to Izuku’s own. Behind the two men was a massive winged Nomu, its rolling eyes locked on Izuku. 

Tears welled in Izuku’s eyes as he pressed himself even further against the bar and whimpered. “Please… I swear I won’t tell anyone. You don’t need to kill me, I promise!”

“Slow your roll, kid,” Magne said, taking the water from Kurogiri and coming closer to Izuku to hand it to him. “Let’s start from the beginning. Do you have a flight quirk or something? Is that why you were in the air?”

Izuku shook his head as he took the water with shaking hands. 

“Okay, then why were you up there?” the scarred man said as Shigaraki ushered the Nomu from the room. As he came back, he started poking through Izuku’s things, which were spread across the floor. 

“I… I…”

“How did we save your life?” said a blonde girl as she skipped into view. It became clear that she was the one with the high pitched voice that spoke before. Past her were three other men: one with a lizard mutation quirk, one in a mask and top hat, and one in a full body suit and mask. 

“I was falling.”

“From where?”

“He didn’t fall off anything,” Shigaraki said, stepping up to Izuku and holding up his notebook. He’d opened it to the bookmarked page: his suicide note. “He jumped. Kid was trying to kill himself.”

A look flitted across Magne’s face. It was something sad and laced with pity and understanding. 

“Oh hun, why would you do that?” she asked. 

“I… You see… Um…” 

“Ugh,” Shigaraki said, flipping through the notebook and landing on the page with All Might’s signature. “An All Might fan boy, huh? Disgusting.” He ripped out the page before letting his pinky, the last of his fingers, touch the page, disintegrating it to dust.

“I don’t like All Might anymore!” Izuku said, both defensively and desperately. 

That caught the villain’s attention. He gestured for Izuku to keep talking while he tossed the notebook aside. The scarred man picked up the notebook and started to read. 

“Well… I met All Might once… and he told me I could never be a hero, even though I really really wanted to be one. And… I guess he was right. But I looked up to him since I was a little kid, you know? Then he just- he just crushed my dream like it was nothing. I don’t hate him for it but I don’t really like him either. And he just left me on a rooftop… the rooftop I just jumped off actually. And my friend… or I guess my bully… had told me earlier that day to kill myself by jumping off a roof and for a second, I thought about doing it. I didn’t, which was a good thing, but everything just kept getting worse and worse and today I guess I finally broke.” With a choked off sob, Izuku buried his face in his hands, bringing his knees up to his chest as he curled in on himself. 

Magne cooed at him as she settled to sit next to him, wrapping him up in her arms. 

Shigaraki scoffed. “Typical. I wouldn’t expect anything less from All Might.”

“He was the one hero that Stain said was true. He has to have some sort of redeeming quality!” the lizard man said. 

The blonde girl glared at him while hissing, “Shut up, Spinner. The guy is obviously a douche if he was so mean to this cutie!”

“Kid, did you write this stuff?” the scarred man asked, still reading from the notebook. 

Izuku looked up and shyly nodded. “Yeah… That’s one of my hero analysis books.”

“Is that your quirk? Analysis?”

He shook his head. “No, I just really like heroes and studying them. Like I said, I wanted to be a hero and I thought if I studied heroes, I could learn to be like them.”

“These are actually good, kid. Like, really good.”

“Let me see that!” Shigaraki snapped, snatching away the notebook. He scanned the pages, his glare slowly morphing to confusion, then excitement. “Not half bad. You must be pretty smart if you were able to write these up. Do you have an intelligence quirk then? Come on, tell me what your quirk is; I’m curious now.”

Izuku ducked his head, avoiding Shigaraki’s gaze. He felt Magne squeeze him ever so slightly tighter. 

“It's okay, hun. You can tell us your quirk. None of us will judge you for it.”

“I- I, um… don’t have a quirk. I’m quirkless,” Izuku said. He immediately closed his eyes and tensed in preparation for the attacks that he knew were coming. 

Instead, Magne just gave him a little squeeze while the scarred man made an impressed noise.

“Damn, wish I was that smart, especially at your age,” he said. “When I was 13, I was out just trying to cause trouble.”

“I- I’m 15…”

“Oh shit, you’re tiny.”

“Dabi, you’re not helping,” Magne scolded.

“Oh! You’re almost the same age as me!” The blonde girl said excitedly. “I’m 16 years old. Wait, I didn’t tell you my name! I’m Himiko Toga! What’s your name?”

Izuku hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should tell the group of villains his name, even if they were being surprisingly nice. Before he could make up his mind, Shigaraki flipped the notebook closed and looked at the cover, where Izuku had written his name. 

“Midoriya. Izuku Midoriya. At least that’s what this thing says.”

“Uh, yeah that’s my name. I- I don’t mean to be rude but am I allowed to go home? Like I said, I won’t tell anyone I met you guys!”

“For sure! No, we have to kill him! ” the masked man said, contradicting himself. 

“Don’t listen to Twice,” Magne said. “He doesn’t mean it.”

“I’ll make you a deal, Midoriya. I’ll let you go but I want to keep this notebook. And I want you to write down one more analysis for me. Do we have a deal?” Shigaraki asked, holding out the notebook to the small boy. 

Izuku nodded vigorously. “Yeah sure! Whatever you want! Who should I write it on?”

“Endeavor,” Dabi chimed in slightly too quickly. If anyone else noticed, they didn’t say anything. 

Within minutes, Izuku was handing the notebook back, two full pages written on Endeavor.

“I did an analysis on him a few years back. This is everything I wrote before, along with a few recent things I noticed. Is that enough? C-C- Can I go home?” 

Dabi stepped up behind Shigaraki, who failed to try to wave the other man off, and read the pages over Shigaraki’s shoulder. He smiled, his skin pulling on the staples in his face as he reached out to ruffle Izuku’s hair. Izuku flinched at first, thinking that he had somehow messed up and was going to be killed for it. When he realized the man was being fairly gentle with him, he froze and stared at the floor, his thoughts racing as he tried to process what was going on. 

“That’s perfect, kid. Toga, help him pick up his shit. Kurogiri, think you can open up a warp gate to send him home?”

Kurogiri nodded. “Yes. Where can I drop you at, Young Midoriya? Can you tell me a general area so that I can see if I know any locations near there to open a warp gate to.”

“Um… Do you know the Shiba River Park in Musutafu?”

“Yes, I do.”

Toga scurried over with an armful of papers and books that she helped squeeze back into Izuku’s backpack. Once it was zipped up, she helped him to stand on his shaky legs while Magne tutted over Izuku’s dirty school uniform. 

A warp gate opened and Izuku was ushered through. As it closed behind him, leaving him in the dim park, the street lights just starting to flicker on, Iuku was left wondering quite a few things. 

Should he believe the League won’t come for him eventually, since he was a liability now?

Did he make the right choice, handing over all that information on heroes?

And why did he find that he didn’t particularly care if what he did was wrong? In the end, he did it to survive. It wasn’t like there was anyone out there that would care enough to save him. 

After all, he was just a quirkless Deku. He was alone in the world.

The only person that was going to look out for him was himself. 

---

“I have a gift, Sensei,” Shigaraki said, his cracked lips twisting into a smile as he held out a notebook.

His Sensei, the true leader of the League of Villains, cocked his head, his eyeless face turned towards the young man. 

“A notebook, Tomura? Tell me: what is in the notebook?”

“It’s filled with detailed write ups on plenty of heroes. When we went to release the Nomu into the city, an NPC fell through. Skinny kid, kinda short. Said he was 15. He’d tried to kill himself. I’d hoped he had an interesting quirk to give you, especially after I saw his notebook, but he turned out to be quirkless. Some of the others seemed worried about him and, wanting to help solidify their trust in me, I agreed to let the kid go on the condition that he write out one more analysis in the book and leave the thing with me. He gave us more information than I think he realizes.”

“Well done, Tomura. You were smart to use this opportunity to foster your subordinates' loyalty. But if the boy is as smart as you are implying, he may very well know how much information he has handed over. It’s curious he was so willing to give it to you. He might be a resource to utilize at a later date. First, read me some of his analysis. I am curious about how thorough he was.”

Chapter Text

Izuku’s shoulder ached as he started his trek home, bruises already forming from being slammed against the side of a locker. The sleeve of his uniform jacket was torn and there were specks of blood on the white button up shirt he wore. He still clutched a blood stained tissue in his hand from when he had mopped up his bloody nose. 

It’d been weeks since Izuku’s encounter with the League of Villains, and it was like nothing had changed. He went to school, got bullied, and then went home. He kept waiting for his mom to notice the missing notebook, or how quiet he was, or the fact that he hadn’t come home until late the night he had tried to kill himself. Yet she never said anything, same as how she never said anything about the bruises, cuts, and burns that had covered his body for years, nor did she comment on his damaged school uniforms. She had simply taught him a few basic stitches so he could mend them. The blood on his clothes had been common enough for him growing up that he had long since learned how to get the stains out. 

A part of Izuku wondered why he was still so scared of his bullies. After all, he had a run in with the League of Villains and they were a million times scarier than the kids at school. Yet, the League was also somehow kinder than his bullies. They hadn’t hurt him. They hadn’t cared about the fact he didn’t have a quirk. They had even been impressed with his hero analysis! 

He’d been checking the news too and none of the heroes from the notebook he gave them had been hurt, at least not badly. The only thing he had seen on any of the heroes was from when Mount Lady had tried to apprehend the League. Izuku had written that due to her being unable to be any other size between her largest or her normal size, meaning that the best way to counteract her was to lead her into a smaller space where she wouldn’t be able to use her quirk. With her high ambitions and desire to reach the top, she would be mindful to minimize the destruction of public property so that her ratings wouldn’t take a hit. When she had gone after the League, they had dodged into some back alleys. She wasn’t able to follow them without deactivating her quirk and they were far too dangerous to go after without a quirk. The League had managed to escape, avoiding her easily. 

Izuku kept walking, mulling this over, and not particularly paying attention to what was going on around him. 

“Deku! Hey, Deku!” someone called just as a hand came down on his injured shoulder, squeezing it painfully tight. 

Izuku yelped, trying to twist out of the bully’s grip. The bully gave him a shove, sending him into the wall of a nearby building. 

“What are you mumbling about now, huh, Deku?”

“N-N-Nothing! Can you please just… just let me go home? Please?”

The bully laughed. “Aw, listen to you beg! You sound like you’re about to cry! Hold still, I’ll give you something to actually cry about.”

He pulled his fist back, preparing to punch Izuku square in the face when a shadow fell over them. Someone grabbed the boy’s arm and yanked him away, freeing Izuku. The bully started to protest, but his words died in his throat when he saw who was looming over him. 

“Can’t believe they call me a villain when scum like you are walking around,” Dabi drawled, tightening his grip on the boy’s wrist, his skin slowly starting to heat. The bully looked panicked as he desperately tried to twist his arm away.  “At least I attack people who deserve it. What the hell did this kid ever do to you?”

“He’s… He’s just a quirkless loser we all mess with. It's not a big deal!”

“Yeah? What’s your quirk, tough guy? Got something real fancy and flashy? Gonna be a big strong hero someday? Come on, I’m curious,” Dabi said with a sneer. 

The boy stared up at him, his eyes blown wide with fear. “It's a… um… I can tell the exact components of foods by looking at it, along with the calories. I’m going to work as a dietitian at my mom’s practice.”

Dabi scoffed. “That’s a lame fucking quirk. With enough research, anyone could do that. Now, lucky for you, I’m not a fan of killing kids, so I’ll let you go for now. But if I see you causing trouble again…” Dabi paused and raised his other hand, a small blue flame flickering to life. “Well, let's just say I have no problem hurting kids.”

As soon as Dabi let go of the boy’s arm, the bully took off running.

Izuku was left behind, staring at the villain and trying to hide his shaking hands.

“Were you… Were you following me?” Izuku asked quietly. 

“Yeah, today was the first time though, so don’t freak out. I wanted to ask you a question about your notebook. Then I saw that little shit messing with you so I figured I’d scare him off. You’re welcome, by the way.” Dabi looked Izuku over, pointedly looking at the blood stains and damaged clothes. “This shit happens a lot?”

“It's not a big deal,” said Izuku, looking away.

“You need to learn to stand up for yourself, kid. If you fight back, they’ll leave you alone.”

Izuku’s eyes went wide as he hurriedly shook his head. “Oh! No! I can’t do that! I tried that once and Kacchan got really angry and he burned me really badly! If I fight back it makes it worse! And without a quirk to defend myself with I can’t just -”

“Wow, slow it down. Do you know how many heroes and villains fight without using a quirk? Plenty. What’s a kid with a calorie quirk going to do against a knife? Jack shit. You just need to learn to fight. But that’s not why I’m here. Your notebook was labeled as Volume 13. Do you really have 12 others?”

Izuku tentatively nodded. 

“Nice. Let me know if you ever want to sell those. Especially if you have any more thoughts on Endeavor; I’ll pay.”

And with that, the tall, scarred man slipped back into the alley beside them and disappeared into the shadows. 

---

After his run-in with Dabi, Izuku took to checking over his shoulder wherever he went. He wasn’t particularly scared that Dabi would show up to hurt him, but he didn’t love the idea of being followed without his knowledge. It wasn’t until two weeks later that he noticed some movement: someone tailing him. 

He made a few turns, leading them to a more deserted area, before ducking onto a quiet side street. Once he was sure no one else was around, he cleared his throat.

“Um… Dabi, is that you? Are you following me again?”

The slight scuff of shoes against brick caught Izuku’s attention. He glanced up and saw the blonde girl, Toga, scrambling off the edge of a roof and onto a fire escape. From there, she clambered down to the ground. With a skip in her step, she approached Izuku. Her smile seemed sharp and looked dangerous, especially with her fangs flashing in the low light of the setting sun. 

“How’d you know I was there, Izu-kun?”

That caught Izuku off guard. Where did the nickname come from?

“Ever since Dabi talked to me the other day, I’ve been keeping an eye out. I thought you were him. Can… can I ask why you’re following me?” Izuku asked nervously.

“Dabi told me he saw you get bullied and some of us didn’t like it. I fight without using a quirk so I’m the best one to teach you!”

“Wait what?”

“Here!” Toga excitedly shoved the handle of a knife into his hand. “You can keep this one! It’s really sharp and will work super well! There’s a park up the street that usually doesn’t have too many people in it so we can go there! By the way, I really like your shoes. Red is such a good color on you.”

---

At least three times a week for a month straight, Toga would find Izuku on his way home and work with him for hours on how to fight. After she realized how little he knew, she started him on basic self defense and movements. From there, she started teaching him how to use the knife she gave him. Slowly, she became a normal part of his life and he found himself looking forward to working out with her. 

Sure, sometimes she slipped up and would give him a little cut, but she couldn’t help it. It was in her quirk’s nature for her to have an interest in blood. It was like if someone had a strength enhancing quirk: they would naturally be prone to building muscle. Her desire to see (and consume) blood was just another part of her quirk. Izuku just had to be careful to quickly clean up his blood so that she didn’t get too distracted by it. 

One day, when Toga showed up to train him, she had Magne with her. Immediately, Izuku got nervous. He had gotten used to Toga’s presence, but anyone else from the League put him on edge, which he frankly thought was fair. 

“Hey there, kid. I didn’t properly introduce myself before. I’m Big Sis Magne,” the woman said, smiling at Izuku. “I heard Toga talking about your training and I wanted to come check on you.”

“I told her you were fine but she didn’t believe me,” Toga pouted.

“Your definition of fine is very different from everyone else’s, Toga. Now, are you eating enough, Midoriya? You’re working out a lot so you really need to be eating more.”

Izuku stared up at her with his round, green eyes, feeling utterly confused.

Was this villain… worried about his health?

“I-I-I try to eat extra when I can. Mostly at school instead of at home. My mom would notice if I started to eat a bunch more and then she’d start asking questions and I don’t want to worry her.”

Magne nodded. “Has she said anything about you coming home covered in dirt? What about the bruises and cuts from working out? Or does she just think it's from the bullies?”

“I do my own laundry so I don’t think she notices my clothes,” Izuku said, looking down at the ground and kicking at a rock. “And she’s so used to me having bruises that she probably just assumes they all come from the same place. Which makes sense, really. I don’t blame her for thinking that. She stopped asking about them a long time ago. She helps me with the bad injuries though.”

That had both Magne and Toga frowning.

“Izu-kun, is your mom not nice to you?” Toga asked defensively. “My mom wasn’t very nice to me, so I totally understand what it's like!”

“Oh no, she’s plenty nice! She’s just really busy. She’s a single mom and she has to work a lot to make ends meet. She worries a lot though, especially since I’m quirkless. I try to hide as much stuff as I can so she doesn’t worry. And since she is at work so much, she taught me to do stuff by myself, like how to do a little bit of sewing. Now if my school uniforms get damaged, I can fix them.”

“You shouldn’t have to though. I know your mom is busy and doing her best, but she should have put her foot down about the bullying,” Magne said. She looked rather upset, though it was hard to tell with the sunglasses.

“She tried once to stop the bullying but the school didn’t listen to her. And I’m plenty old enough to take care of myself now. She’s probably just giving me the chance to solve my own problems and learn how to stand on my own two feet, you know?” Izuku said, his nearly becoming desperate trying to brush off their concerns. 

“Don’t care,” Magne said, crossing her arms. “Next time your uniform is damaged, give it Toga. She’ll bring it to me and I’ll fix it. Also, I’m sending snacks with Toga from now on. You’re going to eat them, got that? And I’ll be coming with her sometimes to check on you. Have I made myself clear?”

Izuku found that he was trembling, tears burning in his eyes. When the two villains noticed, they both looked slightly panicked. Before either could say anything, Izuku gave a broken sob and spoke.

“Why are you guys being so nice to me? I don’t get it! I’m just a useless, quirkless Deku! The only person who has ever been nice to me was my mom and that’s because she has to! I just… I just… I don’t get it!”

Within a heartbeat, Magne had him bundled up in her arms, giving the boy a tight hug.

“Listen, kid, we may be villains, but we’re still human. For the most part, we still care about other people. Dabi is hit or miss on that and Shigaraki definitely doesn’t, but the rest of us do have hearts. That means when I see a scrawny boy in dirty clothes covered in bruises and scars, I’m going to worry about him. So just let us help when we can, okay? We’ll do what we can to help and we’ll keep you out of the stuff we get into.”

“Yeah, exactly!” Toga said excitedly. “Just avoid Shiggy and you’ll be fine!”

---

Izuku and Toga continued training together. She had even taken to bringing him to rooftops to learn some basic parkour. There were a few scares, where he nearly didn’t make the jumps, but Toga was surprisingly fast and would always manage to grab his arm, keeping him from falling. Every time that she would pull him back onto the roof, they’d collapse in a heap, giggling and laughing together. The pair ducked and weaved through the streets, passing unseen. And slowly, as they grew closer as friends, Izuku’s confidence slowly grew as well. 

On days where Toga didn’t train him, Izuku would go out by himself. He’d travel the city, finding new ways to get from location to location. Eventually, he’d settle himself somewhere quiet to finish off any homework he didn’t get done at school. Most of the time, he’d get the work done during class. It was easy work; there was nothing to challenge him. Izuku had started supplementing so he wouldn’t go crazy from boredom. He kept up with his hero analysis, since it was what he was best at. He also started researching how to do some coding, which led him to reading up on hacking. Izuku knew better than to try hacking anything. Izuku figured he hadn’t done anything illegal yet, besides maybe spending time with wanted criminals and some light trespassing while parkouring, and he wanted to keep it that way. Afterall, even if he had given up on his dream of becoming a hero, he didn’t want to go to jail. That didn’t mean he couldn’t study the theory behind how to hack. He was positive that should the need arise, he would be able to hack a number of things fairly well.

Izuku had perched himself on a roof to work on some homework and had turned on the Hero Watch station he typically listened to. He’d mostly tuned it out when something caught his attention. 

“ The fight has passed Shiba River Park and is heading towards a populated area. Mount Lady and Kamui Woods are trying to redirect the villain but he seems to have slipped past them. Oh! What's this! All Might has appeared on the scene! ”

Izuku’s stomach did a flip. All Might? So close by? If the villain was running in the direction Izuku thought he was, then the fighting was getting dangerously close to where Izuku lived. 

Without thinking, Izuku threw all his things into his backpack and jammed his earbuds into his ear, pocketing his phone as he stood up. He took off running, jumping to the next rooftop and hurrying towards his apartment building. 

“ It appears the villain has a seismic quirk of some kind. He just rattled All Might! All Might is swooping in for an attack. He’s sent a burst of air at the villain! The villain has been thrown backwards into a building. Let’s see if he gets back up…”

Izuku ran faster, desperately praying that his mom wasn’t home. He hoped that she had gone out with friends, or stayed late at work, or anything, as long as she wasn’t home. 

“ The villain has activated his quirk! The building is taking heavy damage! Kamui Woods is attempting to stabilize the building while also trying to pull civilians to safety. Mount Lady is currently setting up a perimeter to keep everyone back. All Might and the villain are continuing their fight. ”

“None of their quirks are suited for stabilization or recovery, though. Where are the rescue heroes?” Izuku whispered to himself as he ran.

“ The building has collapsed! Kamui Woods has moved away from it and is attempting to aid Mount Lady in creating a perimeter. Oh! It looks like All Might has knocked out the villain! He’s picked up the villain and is heading to the nearest police department. Kamui Woods and Mount Lady are holding the perimeter until search and rescue can arrive. ”

Izuku found himself sliding down a fire escape and landing on a side street only a block from his building. His lungs felt like they were on fire as he kept running, making a mad dash for his building. When he finally turned the corner onto his street, it was like the air had been knocked from him. His knees shook and he thought he was going to puke. 

It was his building. It was destroyed. There was no more than a pile of rubble and smoke. Izuku fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed his mom’s number. 

It went straight to voicemail. 

He tried calling her work. It took two tries, but the person to finally pick up said that Izuku’s mom had gone home, stating that she was planning to have a quiet night in. 

Looking around, Izuku couldn’t see his mom anywhere.

Stifling a broken sob, he made to run again, this time towards the decimated remains of his building in a mad attempt to find his mom. As he went to take a step, a hand came down on his arm, tightly squeezing his bicep. With a harsh pull, Izuku was thrown backwards into the stranger’s narrow chest. The grip on his arm was released only for a thin arm to wrap around him, holding him against their body. Izuku tried to struggle but it didn’t seem to do much good. He was forcibly yanked into an alley and thrown against the wall beside a dumpster.

“Let me go! I need to find my mom!” Izuku sobbed, continuing his struggles. 

“Shut it, Genius Boy!” a raspy voice hissed. 

Finally getting his eyes to focus, Izuku saw that the man to grab him was none other than Shigaraki: the leader of the League of Villains. Shigaraki wore a black sweatshirt, the hood pulled up to shield his face. He was careful to keep his pinkies raised as he gripped Izuku’s shoulders, steadying him.

“She’s gone, Midoriya. She’s gone. There’s nothing you can do.”

“She might still be alive, you don’t know! What are you even doing here?”

“I was in the area scoping out heroes. That doesn’t matter right now. She is not alive. We both know that. It wasn’t your fault. Hell, it isn’t even that weak NPC villain’s fault. The heroes are to blame; they drove him this direction. They threw him into your building. They were the ones who let the whole building crumble. There is nothing you can do, not with your current skill set. If you want to do something, you’ll need to level up.”

Izuku frowned, rubbing at his eyes. “Level up?”

“As of right now, your options are either you go stay with your dad, wherever he is, or you go into foster care. But, you have a third option, if you’re willing to take a chance. You can come with me. Join the League.”

“I can’t do that!”

“Why not? You already spend most of your time with League members. We’ve been nicer to you than anyone else in your life.” Shigaraki paused and let his eyes skim over Izuku, taking him in. “I’m not saying I’d be sending you out to fight heroes. At least not right off the bat: not until you were ready. I’m saying you come back with me now, you have a safe place to stay, and we help teach you: help you level up. What do you say kid? Ready for people to actually give a shit about you?”

Izuku sniffled. “I won’t have to go fight? You guys would keep me safe?”

“Yes. We’ll take care of you. Protect you. We’ll be better to you than anyone else ever will be. Think about it, Midoriya, if you were moved away, you’d never see Toga or Magne again. You’d be alone. Completely and truly alone. Who knows where you would end up, or who you’d end up living with.”

Slowly, Izuku found himself nodding along with Shigaraki’s words. 

“I don’t know exactly where my dad is and if no one can contact him, I’d end up in foster care. Things could end up really bad for me there, right? Since I’m quirkless?”

Shigaraki’s lips twitched, though it was hard to tell if he was suppressing a frown or a smile. “Exactly.”

“Then… Then… Okay. Yeah, I’ll go with you. At least for now, until I figure things out.”

---

“You’ve returned, Tomura,” All For One said, smiling at Shigaraki as the younger man entered the room. 

“The plan worked, Sensei. I dropped little hints to Dabi to get him to seek out the boy. Then he let slip to Toga, just as I thought he would. Toga took to Midoriya immediately and even got Magne to grow attached to him. Then all I had to do was give a low level villain some direction to attack in the area that Midoriya lived in. Told him which building, which floor, to crash into. He collapsed the whole thing though! It was perfect! And now we have Midoriya. It's only a matter of time before his stats are boosted enough that he can be of use.”

“You did well, my boy. Keep cultivating these relationships. The stronger and more loyal your followers, the stronger you are.”

Chapter Text

Class 1-A were in their first class of the day when Bakugou’s phone rang. 

Aizawa glanced up from the notes he was lecturing from to glare at the student. 

“Phones are supposed to be on silent, Bakugou. You know this.”

“It was on silent,” Bakugou grumbled, yanking his phone out of his pocket. “Only my mom’s number is set up to ring.”

Bakugou looked at the screen and found he was right: it was his mother. After the incident at the summer camp, they agreed to have their phones set up so that even if their phones are on silent, if they called each other, it would ring. That way, if there was an emergency, they could reach each other no matter what. 

“Sir, I need to take this,” Bakugou said.

“Put it on speaker. I want to know what is so important that she is willing to interrupt our class.”

It was easier to just do as he was told rather than argue. In the end, Bakugou was getting what he wanted and that was all that mattered. He quickly swiped his finger across the screen to answer the call.

“Mom? What’s the issue?”

He was met with muffled sobs.

“Katsuki… It's… Did you hear about the villain attack last night in our neighborhood?”

Everyone in the class froze, even Aizawa. Bakugou straightened in his seat.

“What? Are you guys okay?”

“You’re father and I are fine. It’s… Katsuki, it’s the Midoriya’s! The villain crashed into their building and used his quirk to completely destroy it. They found Inko’s body, but they aren’t sure if they have Izuku’s. There were a few bodies so heavily injured that they can’t identify who they are. But… They’re gone. Katsuki, they’re gone!”

Bakugou didn’t move. All the blood drained from his face, leaving him as pale as paper. His red eyes stared straight down at the phone, unseeing and unblinking. Kirishima climbed out of his seat and came over to Bakugou’s side. 

“Mrs. Bakugou,” he said. “I think Bakugou is pretty shocked. I’m going to hang up now and take him to Recovery Girl or something.”

“Kirishima? Why do you have his phone?”

“He had to put his phone on speaker to be allowed to pick it up.  I’m really sorry for your loss! Oh shit, um, I think he’s starting to hyperventilate so I’ve got to go.”

“Take care of my boy!” she said, almost panicked, as Kirishima hung up.

Aizawa had made his way over as well and was kneeling beside Bakugou. 

“Bakugou, can you hear me?” Aizawa asked, carefully putting his hand on the boy’s shoulder. When Bakugou flinched, Aizawa let go. “Bakugou, I’m sorry that I made you put the phone on speaker. I will not be doing it again. You’re dismissed from class for the rest of the day. Kirishima is going to walk you to Recovery Girl’s office. You will be staying there until she says you are allowed to leave.”

“No,” Bakugou croaked out.

“What?”

“No, I need… I need to go. I need to go over there. I have to find him.” Bakugou struggled to get out of his seat but was quickly grabbed by Aizawa.

“There is nothing you can do, Bakugou.”

“I never apologized. Fuck, I need to find him and apologize. I promised myself I would. You have to let me go!” Bakugou snarled, tears welling in his eyes. He tried to shove Aizawa off, only to weakly push at his shoulders. Kirishima wrapped Bakugou in his arms and let Bakugou bury his face into Kirshima’s chest.

Aizawa gave Kirishima a nod.

“I’ll take him to Recovery Girl,” Kirishima said, already guiding Bakugou towards the door.

“Stay with him until he calms down.”

---

“We can share a room, Izu-kun!” Toga excitedly said, dragging Izuku through the hideout, showing him around. He stumbled along behind her, trying not to giggle at her antics as they finally settled in the living room. Magne, Spinner, and Compress were all lounging and watching TV. “We’ll have to get you a bed or something but there should be room! Oh, maybe we can get a bunk bed! That would be so fun! And sharing a room with me will be a lot better than sharing with Dabi or Twice or any of the others.”

“Give the kid a chance to breathe, Toga,” Magne scolded. 

“You’re going to need a villain name too! Unless you want to use your real name, like me,” Toga continued. 

Izuku awkwardly rubbed at the back of his head. “I don’t know how much villain work I’ll really be doing since I’m still not great at fighting. I’ve been getting better with my computer skills though so maybe I can choose a hacker name. If I end up helping you guys with a mission or something, we can just stick with that name I guess.”

“Hacker name, villain name: not much of a difference,” Spinner scoffed.

“Hush,” Magne said, swatting at his leg. “I think it's a good idea. What were you thinking, Midoriya?”

“Well, I was thinking about using Deku. This friend I had as a kid called me that to call me useless and make fun of me for being quirkless, but I want to take it back, you know? Reclaim it.”

Toga squealed, clapping her hands together excitedly. “It's so cute! I love it!”

Spinner leaned forward in his seat. “Alright then, Deku. Show me what you can do with a computer? I’m curious.”

Izuku, newly coined as Deku, sat down next to Spinner and pulled his laptop from his backpack. With a few keystrokes, Deku had the computer booted up and had the wifi pinging through various satellites, hiding his actual location. 

“Okay, I’m set up. What would you like me to hack?”

“The CCTV cameras in Hosu City,” Spinner said, the answer immediate. “I want to see the Hero Killer, Stain, on his last night as a free man.”

Deku nodded. “Yeah, I can do that. Hold on.”

It only took him a moment to find the footage, even though it was older. He pulled it up and set it to run. There was no sound, but they were able to see a teenager, probably near Deku’s age, enter the alley as Stain made a move to kill a hero. The teenager’s hero costume was similar to Ingenium’s, making Deku wonder if the boy looked up to the retired hero. 

The pair talked for a moment before the teenager lunged at Stain. The boy’s leg came around to kick at Stain’s head, only for Stain to dodge and knick the boy with a blade. Stain quickly licked up the blood from the blade and the teenager went still. He collapsed to the ground, completely unable to move. Stain seemed to monologue before approaching the immobilized pro hero, who Deku then realized was Native, and stabbed the hero through the heart. The hero shuddered before falling limp: dead. Stain continued to monologue, circling the boy. The teen yelled something that seemed to piss Stain off. With a snarl, Stain lunged and slashed his blade at the boy’s face, leaving a weeping gash from his forehead, across the bridge of his nose, and down his cheek. The boy screamed in pain, though his body didn’t flinch, since he was still paralyzed. As Stain raised his sword to drive it through the boy’s chest, a blast of flames shot out from off camera, catching Stain in the chest and sending him flying backwards. Another teen came running on screen. This one piqued Deku’s interest.

The new teen had bi-color hair: half was red and half was white. His hero suit was rather plain, at least compared to others. It was just a blue jumpsuit with some white detailing and a belt. The boy stood over the other teen, shielding him from Stain. His face was rather intense. There was almost a hidden anger behind his expression. He looked almost familiar… 

“That’s the Todoroki kid. Endeavor’s son,” Spinner hissed, eyes narrowing. 

That was when Deku realized where he had seen the other boy before: the Sports Festival. He and Kacchan had fought each other. Kacchan had beaten him, but hadn’t seemed particularly happy about it. Back then, Todoroki had only used ice, though the commentator had said the boy had a Half-Hot, Half-Cold quirk. Deku had been curious back then what that had meant, and now he had his answer. 

Todoroki could also wield fire. 

Stain snarled something at Todoroki and made to lunge again only to be struck with a blast of ice that sent him backwards again. The wounded boy on the ground was shouting again, though neither Todoroki nor Stain responded. 

Before Stain could get up again to attack, Todoroki formed a wall of ice that spanned the alley, splitting Stain away from them. As soon as the wall was up, Todoroki was trying to lift the other boy from the ground, quickly trying to make his exit. Just as he got to the entrance of the alley, Stain leapt to the top of the ice wall and threw a knife at the two teens. 

The other boy seemed to have regained mobility and swung his arm up, shielding Todoroki and allowing the knife to sink into his arm. He gave a scream, but it gave Todoroki a chance to turn around and send a blast of flames at Stain. It struck him in the chest and knocked him backwards off the wall of ice. The pair of boys hurried off camera, drops of blood leaving a trail behind them. Just as Stain managed to climb back to the top of the ice, a massive wave of fire ripped through the alley, completely melting the ice and burning Stain. Endeavor stepped into view, flames licking up his arms. Another burst of flames shot up, frying the camera.

Spinner and Deku were left looking at a blank screen. After a beat, Deku closed the laptop. 

“That’s it, I think,” Deku said, slipping his laptop back into his bag. 

“Children…” Spinner whispered. “Children defeated Stain.”

“No, they didn’t defeat him. They evaded him. They fought back just enough to escape.” Deku paused, cocking his head for a moment as his mind began to race. “The situation would have been vastly different if Native hadn’t been killed. With that two toned hair boy, Todoroki, being the only one mobile, it would have been impossible for him to keep Stain back and get both of the others out of there. With Native dead and the only other person in the alley being the other student, Todoroki only had two choices: take on Stain alone or get the boy to safety. He made the right choice, in my opinion. There is no way Todoroki could have defeated Stain alone. If Stain got ahold of any of Todoroki’s blood, then all of them would be dead.”

Spinner glared at him. “Are you taking that boy’s side?”

Deku’s eyes went wide as he frantically shook his head. “No! I’m not taking anyone’s side! I’m just… you know… analyzing the fight and stuff.”

“Cut him some slack, Spinner. Not everyone is obsessed with Stain as you are,” Magne said. “Though, I think if we gave him the chance, he’d be a fan.”

“Stainy is ah-mazing, Deku-kun! I can tell you all about him, okay?” Toga said excitedly, her eyes sparkling. 

“Oh! Uh… Okay! Thank you, Toga-kun.”

Chapter Text

Deku quickly ducked, narrowly avoiding the knife that Toga had thrown at his head. Magne laughed from the sidelines, watching the two youngest members of the league spar. Toga stuck to her knives, while Deku had picked up a few other things. He still had some knives, since they were the first weapon that Toga had taught him, but he also had grown fond of his escrima sticks and his collapsible staff. They were less likely to cause serious damage or kill someone, which was his favorite thing about them.

He may be with the League of Villains, but he still wasn’t a fan of death. 

Dashing forward, he caught Toga around the middle and knocked her to the ground. She tried to stab at his sides, but he managed to block her swings and knock one of her knives away.

Toga was laughing as she twisted her body, pushing off the ground and rolling Deku beneath her. He had to dodge again as she brought a knife down towards his face. She managed to knick his ear, bringing forth a bubble of deep, red blood. Her eyes were drawn to it and for just a moment, she faltered. 

Just as Deku had planned. 

Within seconds, he had her pinned and devoid of knives, ending the match. 

“You did it!” Toga shrieked excitedly. “You finally beat me!”

“It was bound to happen eventually, Toga,” he said with a laugh. 

“Good job, kid!” Magne shouted. She smiled proudly at him, making Deku feel warm. As she clapped, the sound echoed off the walls of the courtyard. Toga kept giggling as Deku helped her up from the ground. As soon as she was on her feet, she wrapped him in a hug, leaning up to lick at the cut on his ear. Deku, having become used to her doing this every time he was hurt, just gave a little chuckle. He ducked his head away, pulling himself from her arms. 

“Toga, let him go!” Magne called, also laughing. 

“Yeah, let him go.”

The three jumped in surprise, turning to see Shigaraki and Dabi standing on the edge of the courtyard, watching them. Both looked rather unimpressed. Especially Dabi, who was fiddling with a cigarette before popping it into his mouth, the end glowing slightly blue, having been lit with his quirk. 

“We were just practicing!” Toga said. “Deku is getting really good!”

“I didn’t let him join us for his fighting skills. I brought him on for his brain,” Shigaraki said, his voice rasping. 

Dabi snorted. “Yeah, so how about you stop scrambling it?”

Toga pouted, but didn’t respond. She just tightened her grip on Deku.

“We have a meeting, so let’s go,” Shigaraki said, turning and walking out of the courtyard.

“With who?” Magne called after. 

“Just move it. Deku, you’re coming too.”

Deku perked up at that. He had only been brought out a few times for meetings, usually to analyze possible recruits or allies. Occasionally he was brought along for intimidation. Not because he was big and scary, but because he could spout off things about people’s quirks without even pausing to take a breath. There had been some whispers starting in the underground about the small and mysterious villain with an analysis quirk, which only made Deku laugh. 

Within the hour, they were all huddled in an abandoned warehouse. They each found a place to hunker down, most of them distancing themselves from one another. 

Plenty of members of the League were friends, and they managed to get along when it counted, but they hardly called themselves close. Toga, Deku, and Magne considered each other good friends, and Toga was fairly close with Twice. She also had a bond with Dabi, since they joined that league at the same time. Mostly, Dabi just kept an eye on Toga occasionally and Toga would help him with his staples when they got messed up. Spinner and Shigaraki seemed to get along, since the pair played video games together. And then Kurogiri acted like dad to them all, making sure they ate and slept on schedule. Mr. Compress and Magne also got along well. So well in fact that Toga was convinced that Compress had a crush on Magne. Anytime Deku and Toga brought it up to her, she brushed them off with a slight smile. 

Deku and Toga had climbed up on some old wooden crates and were lounging together. Toga had her legs dangling over the edge of the crate, kicking her feet happily. Deku had his legs drawn up and he was curled in on himself, his years of being bullied having trained him not to draw attention to himself, even if he did have a reputation by now that kept people from messing with him. He fiddled with his mask, trying to get it to sit comfortably on his face. 

He and Toga had designed his ‘villain’ costume together for when he was dragged along to meetings. When he wasn’t going to meetings to creep people out, he stayed in the base doing work behind the scenes. He’d hacked a few things for them and wrote out some more hero analysis too. He had also written up analysis for each of the League members to help them better develop their skills. It had especially helped Toga, who had never been told before that her interest in blood was natural for her quirk type.

All her life, she had heard that her love for blood, both the taste and look, was evil. That she herself was evil for loving it. Deku sat down and explained how it was a natural side effect of her quirk; something that anyone with a blood quirk experienced to varying degrees, including Stain and Vlad King. He assured her that there was nothing wrong with her and that he would never judge her for her interest. Deku even went as far as to offer to let her have tastes of his blood whenever she really needed some. Her confidence sky-rocketed and she was far less nervous about talking to new recruits. She relied less on her overly loud and crazed mask that she put on to keep people at arm’s length. Toga even let Deku and Magne see her more vulnerable side. 

That’s not to say she wasn’t still unbalanced. She was still Toga, after all. It was just a part of who she was. 

While designing Deku’s villain costume, they took into account that people were going to assume he had a quirk. That was fine with them: they’d never guess the truth. Especially not when they used support items to make it seem like he had a quirk.

First, they designed some steel lined boots for him. The soles and toes were steel, meaning when he kicked, it would cause more damage. Toga had wanted to add spikes but Deku managed to talk her out of it. He had agreed to them being red though. Since he was quirkless, he had the extra toe joint, which made it hard to squeeze his feet into normal shoes. Most quirkless people had to buy special shoes and the ones that he always got came from a company that made the shoes bright red as a part of their brand. Deku hadn’t liked the color at first, but the brand was affordable while still being comfortable, so he wore them. Eventually, he had grown to like the color. Making shoes for Deku would have been troublesome, so it was easier to have existing ones modified to fit his needs. He had gotten his hands on the ones he wanted and made the modifications himself. 

They also designed matching fingerless gloves that had steel built into the knuckles. The rest of his clothes were black, which allowed him to blend into the background much easier. He had military style cargo pants that were a bit baggy that he kept tucked into the boots. The pockets were large, so he was able to keep knives, smoke bombs, and lock picks. His collapsible staff hung from his belt along with a canister of mace. He wore a loose black hoodie that hid the lean muscle he had developed. The hoodie was made out of reinforced material that, while it wouldn’t hold up to everything, was slash proof. If Toga tried to lovingly cut him, the knife would just graze right off. Underneath the hoodie, he would wear whatever t-shirt he could get his hands on, not caring too much about it.

Deku always kept the hood up when he wore the jacket, careful to hide his distinctive green hair and to cast a shadow over his face. The mask he and Toga had designed was specially made to not only filter out harmful gasses, smoke, and poisons, but also change his voice. Dabi had told them that no one was going to take him seriously with his young, high voice, so they made the mask so it’d deepen his voice and warp it slightly, making him sound almost robotic and otherworldly. Beneath the loose hoodie and pants, Deku had elbow and knee pads for some extra protection and he wore a pair of goggles loosely around his neck. At his wrists, he had some specially made forearm guards hidden beneath his sleeves. One guard was able to send bursts of flame using a flammable gas and a small ignitor while the other shot out various types of acid. Some of the acids were for harming people, and some were for burning through inanimate objects. In that same brace were two types of gasses as well, one to knock people out and one to induce hallucinations. 

Lastly, he had his escrima sticks in a holster strapped to his back. He kept them within easy reach, since he favored them out of all his weapons. They were made out of black carbon fiber, same as the rest of his weapons. They also were equipped to electrocute people if Deku pressed a small button on the handles. Depending on the settling, it would be enough to mildly shock them, or completely knock them out.

The gear would have cost the League a pretty penny if it hadn’t been for Deku offering his services to Giran in exchange. He’d compiled a list of possible customers and subcontractors for Giran to explore, along with details about their quirks: a truly invaluable bit of information. Giran had appreciated it so much that he had even thrown in some extra cartridges for the forearm bracers for free. 

It was an understated costume, just how Deku liked it. He could blend into the background of the meetings until he was needed. 

This time, he wasn’t sure why Shigaraki had him come. It seemed like any normal League meeting, which they could have just done back at the base instead of going to a weird old warehouse. That is, until Twice arrived with another man.

The new man would be rather plain looking, with his pale skin and brown hair, if it wasn’t for his clothes. He wore a plain black dress shirt that he had tucked into black dress pants. He paired the black outfit with white accessories; a white tie, white gloves, and white sneakers. The only pieces of color in his entire outfit were his jacket and his mask. The jacket was an army green color with a thick, furry purple collar that arched over his shoulders and around the back of his neck. The mask was unlike anything Deku had ever seen. It was based on an old plague doctor mask, giving the man a birdlike appearance. It had been colored a shade of rust red, with gold embellishments. 

Deku recognized the man right away.

“You brought us a big fish, Twice,” Shigaraki said, his eyes narrowing behind the hand he wore on his face. 

Magne frowned. “What? Is this guy famous or something?”

“He's a Yakuza. This is the young head of the Shie Hassaikai.”

“Kai Chisaki,” Deku said, his voice filtering through his mask. 

“It’s Overhaul, to you,” the Yakuza head snapped, glaring. 

Before, Deku would have shrunk away in fear. But now, with his new found confidence, he lazily batted his eyes at Overhaul. He waited until the man looked away to press himself into Toga’s side, grounding her and himself while also making them a smaller target if things were to go wrong. Toga glared at Overhaul as she fiddled with a knife, making an obvious threat. 

The banter continued, Shigaraki and Overhaul exchanging verbal blows until Overhaul said something that made the entire group tense up. 

“All Might hardly patrols anymore and I haven’t seen the League do anything impressive recently. There’s no longer a king of the light. Or the dark. An open vacancy, if you will.”

Shigarki’s eyes narrowed even further. Magne tightened her grip on her magnet while Compress straightened in his seat. Toga shifted in her seat, like she was preparing for a fight. Deku balled his hand in the back of her sweater, pulling her backwards. 

He wasn’t sure what was going to happen here, but he knew it wasn’t going to be anything good. There was no way he would let Toga get involved. 

“You seem to be mistaken, you Yakuza thug,” Shigaraki sneered. “Sensei is still powerful. And should he ever fall, I will be the next to rule.”

“Do you honestly think you are the one for the job? I mean, you lost key players, like Muscular, Moonfish, even Stain, to children. The Yakuza is thriving, especially with All Might focusing on teaching at UA. I have plans: big ones at that. All I need is the League of Villains name to earn me the trust of buyers, and I have everything we need to take over. So,” Overhaul paused and raised his arms to either side of him in a welcoming gesture, “are you ready to join me?”

Dabi huffed. “You’re trying to get us to join you? You stupid or something?”

“I’m asking you to let me lead you to greatness. It's not like you will be able to do it on your own. Not with such… unevolved individuals in your ranks,” Overhaul said. His eyes flickered over each of them as he spoke, but his eyes happened to scan over Deku and Toga while he said “unevolved.” 

Deku’s stomach twisted, suddenly flashing through memories of his classmates and teachers talking about how quirked people were more evolved or superior to quirkless. Cruel words streamed through his mind as he felt his body tense. Beside him, Toga hissed under her breath, her fangs bared. Deku tightened his grip on her sweater and pulled her into his side even more firmly. 

Magne, who was sitting on a crate below them, snarled at Overhaul. Deku immediately realized that she thought Overhaul was referring to him and how he was quirkless, even though there was no way for Overhaul to know that. Before he could say anything, Magne was in motion.

“Who the fuck are you calling unevolved?” she snarled, lunging at Overhaul with her magnet raised to strike him.

Overhaul raised one hand, glove gone, and dragged a finger down her arm. Magne’s eyes went wide, her skin bubbling. In less than a second, Magne’s entire upper half exploded outwards, sending blood flying. 

Deku’s breath caught in his throat as something warm hit his face. With a shaking hand, he touched the splatter on his forehead, wiping it away. Toga had completely frozen, her body stiff and her face blank. For once, Toga didn’t look excited at the sight of blood. 

With a shout, Mr. Compress lunged across the room towards Overhaul, hand raised.

“Compress! No!” Shigaraki yelled, running forward at the same time. 

Overhaul swiped at Compress’ arm, and within a blink of an eye, the arm was gone. Compress collapsed, blood spilling across the floor. 

Shigaraki reached a hand out, all five fingers splayed and ready to decay the other man. Before his hand could touch Overhaul, other members of the Yakuza, who seemed to have followed Overhaul to the warehouse, burst into the building. Overhaul pulled one of them in front of his body, allowing Shigaraki to touch and decay the underling, leaving Overhaul unharmed. 

“What a mess,” Overhaul said, pulling his glove back on. “I will leave you for now, Shigaraki. We’ve each lost a man, leaving us even. I do seem to owe you an arm though. Here’s my card. Call me when you’re ready to talk.” 

With that, Overhaul threw his card down, narrowly missing a pool of blood, and walked out of the building, his followers in tow. 

The room fell silent as the Yakuza left. Slowly, Toga climbed off the crate and approached Magne’s magnet, staring at the blood with a dark expression. Deku scrambled after her, his hand reaching out to take her’s. When she felt his skin against her’s, she was broken from her trance and she turned to look at him. 

Frowning, she dragged her edge of her sleeve across his face and his mask, wiping away the blood.

“I don’t think I like you in red anymore,” Toga said, her voice thick. 

Deku wiped her face clean too, tears threatening to spill over his cheeks. He didn’t try to speak, his throat too tight to form words.

“It’s my fault,” Twice stuttered. “I… I shouldn’t have brought him here.”

“No. You shouldn’t have,” Dabi snapped. He walked past the grief stricken man to crouch next to Compress. A blue flame lit on his hand and he pressed it to the stub of Compress’ arm. The smell of burning flesh filled the room, making Toga wrinkle her nose. Deku was lucky in that the scent was filtered out through his mask, but the sight of Dabi cauterizing the wound was enough to make his stomach rebel. He had to fight the urge to throw up. 

“This was wrong. All wrong. How’d he get the jump on us?” Shigaraki growled as he pulled the hand from his face. “Deku, Toga; I want you two to carry Compress. We need to take him to the doctor. I’ll call Kurogiri to open a warp gate. Twice, you and Dabi are in charge of taking care of Magne’s body. Try to get this place cleaned up too. Don’t need to leave evidence that we were here for the heroes to find.”

“What are we supposed to do with her body?”

Shigaraki fixed Twice with a harsh glare. “Dabi has a fire quirk. Figure it out.”

Deku hurried over to Mr. Compress and lifted him off the ground. With how much he’d been working out, it was easy for him to pull Compress across his shoulders into a fireman’s carry. Toga picked up Magne’s magnet, cradling it as one would hold a baby. A swirling purple warpgate opened and the group walked through, much more somber than they typically would be. 

Chapter Text

Deku and Toga were settled into one chair together in the corner of the laboratory. It was a tight squeeze, but the pair were both so small and thin that they managed to wedge themselves in. The Nomu floating in their tanks lined the rooms, their wide eyes unseeing as they stared out. Deku kept glancing over at the nearest one, feeling almost as if he was being watched. 

Doctor Ujiko was flitting around the operation table that he’d set up in the center of the room. Compress was laid out on it, stripped from the waist up and devoid of his mask and hat. The charred skin of his shoulder slowly being cut away, leaving freshly opened wounds behind. The new robotic arm would be grafted on to the newly exposed nerves, allowing Compress to have full range of motion. 

“Deku, my boy, go collect the parts I need for the arm. You know where they are, correct?”

Deku nodded at the doctor and hurried over to the workstation laden with various pieces of machinery. It took a few moments to find all the pieces he needed, but eventually, he found everything. He stood by the doctor and started to piece together the arm, preparing it to be attached. 

“Very good, Deku. I always knew you would grow up to be a clever one, even when you were little,” Ujiko said, referencing when he used to pose as Dr. Tsubasa and had diagnosed Deku as quirkless. “You understood everything I was telling you at just 5 years old. Understood it all faster than your mother did. Like I said, a clever one, you are.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Deku asked, nodding his head towards Mr. Compress.

“He should be fine. Once I have the arm attached, I will put him on an IV to get his fluids up and to give him some blood. He’ll be right as rain in no time.”

Toga sniffed at the air before tentatively climbing from her seat.

“I think I can smell something weird. An infection maybe. You’re going to need to give him antibiotics,” she said, nodding towards Compress.

“Oh yes, that doesn’t surprise me. The warehouse you were all in was hardly clean and neither is my lab. This is a place for experimentation, not surgery. You would all do well to remember that.”

“Not exactly our fault this happened,” Deku said, leveling Ujiko with a glare. “It's that asshole Overhaul’s fault.”

“Oh! What is this?” Ujiko laughed. “Curse words from Young Midoriya? I never thought I would see the day!”

“I don’t go by that name anymore and you know it.”

“Tell me, did you pick up that language from Toga? No, she hardly seems the one to curse that often. Was it from Dabi then? Perhaps it was from that little friend of yours. What was his name? Bakugou?”

Deku didn’t respond, but from the way he forcefully fitted together some pieces for the arm, it was obvious that Ujiko had struck a nerve. 

“Young Bakugou goes to UA now, doesn’t he? Quite a prestigious school. I am sure the teachers there love his quirk, just as they did at your middle school.” When Ujiko saw the slight confusion on Deku’s face, he smiled. “Did you not think I kept an eye on him? I kept an eye on all my past patients. The interesting ones, that is. The ones with flashy, useful quirks. Or ones like you, with no quirks. I was always curious about what would happen if we were to give you a quirk, Deku. I discussed with Shigaraki and our Master about using Quirkless patients and there was some interest there. Have you ever considered -”

Deku cut him off with an ominous growl, his head hung low but his eyes glaring upwards, making direct contact with Ujiko’s. 

“Touch him or me with any of your experiments, and you will regret it.”

“Protective of Bakugou, are we?”

“No. I’d just rather not see his ugly ass face around here. Shouldn’t you be focusing on Compress?”

---

“Think long and hard before deciding whether you will be taking on a work study,” Aizawa said, eyeing each of his students carefully to gauge their interest. Many of them looked excited, nearly bouncing in their seats. 

Unsurprisingly, Bakugou looked downright bored. His eyes were dark, the bags under his eyes more pronounced than Aizawa would have liked to see. Ever since the call Bakugou had received during class, the boy had been nearly emotionless. Aizawa had forced the boy to start having sessions with Hound Dog to help with whatever depression the boy was going through, but it hadn’t seemed to help much yet. It had only been a couple months, but Aizawa had been hoping for some sort of improvement by now. The only times Bakugou seemed to have any sort of reaction were when he got aggressive during sparring or when Kirishima managed to pry a rare smile from the other boy. 

“If you have any questions, speak to me after class. You’re all dismissed for lunch.”

The majority of the kids scrambled up, gathering their things in a hurry. Bakugou was slow, as had become normal, and Kirishima hovered over him, talking animatedly.

One student caught Aizawa’s attention though: Shinsou. Shinsou typically stuck close to Todoroki, the two having formed some sort of odd bond as two of the quietest, possibly shyest in the class. The two seemed to eat lunch and work well with Iida and Uraraka, but for the most part they kept to themselves. Today though, Shinsou waved Todoroki on ahead. As the last of the students filed out, Aizawa and Shinsou were left alone.

“Is there something I can help you with?”

“You vouched for me and got me into the heroics program.”

That caught Aizawa by surprise. It was nearly enough to even get a reaction out of him. He didn’t think that the young boy had known about that. After all, when he and Nezu struck their bargain a few years back to allow him to choose one student for heroics that had failed the physical entrance exam. The two heroes had agreed that the exam, while required by the Commission, was biased against mental quirks. There was, of course, the sports festival route, which was how Aizawa got into the hero program. But in Aizawa’s opinion, that was just adding more hurdles for a student that already had the odds stacked against them. So he made a deal: if Aizawa could choose one student to be brought into his class, he’d stop expelling his entire class on the first day. That didn’t stop him from expelling classes later in the school year, but it kept the students there for longer than a day. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Aizawa said, keeping a stern look on his face. 

“Liar.” Shinsou gave a rye smile. “I want to be an underground hero, remember? That means doing research on anything and everything I think can help me as a hero. You taught us that early on. I did some digging in school records. Every year, there is one student in your class who is awarded special ‘stealth’ or ‘creative quirk use’ points in the entrance exam. It is always just enough to get them into the hero course. Those points didn’t exist until you started teaching here. And the students they are awarded to are always ones who don’t have flashy quirks. I know it's you.”

“What does it matter?”

“Train me.”

“I already do.”

“Outside of class. I want to do my work study with you.”

That was even more startling than Shinsou figuring out the truth.

“You want to work for me? Why?”

Shinsou’s smile grew. “It's only logical for me to want to work under a successful underground hero. So? What’s your answer?”

Aizawa sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “If I say no, you’re not going to drop it, are you?”

“Look at that, we already know each other so well.”

“I’m going to regret this. Fine, kid. You can do your work study with me. I won’t take you on every mission, since some are more extreme than someone your age needs to deal with, but I can take you on patrols and I’ll bring you on the missions that I can. Have I made myself clear?”

“Crystal clear, Sir. Now, when do I start?”

Chapter Text

“So you’re serious? This isn’t a joke? You actually want us to work with the Yakuza?” Dabi said with a sneer, leveling lazy blue eyes on Shigaraki. 

The room was nearly bare, with only a few pieces of broken down furniture scattered around the room. Dabi had dropped onto the empty bed frame as soon as he walked in, leaving Spinner and Twice to take the ratty old couch. Toga and Deku perched themselves on the window ledge, their feet dangling. Kurogiri was out working on something else and Compress was still recovering. 

They had all listened as Shigaraki had debated with Toga and Twice, the rest of them carefully watching to make sure nothing escalated into a fight. Just below the window was Magne’s magnet. Toga and Deku had been carrying it with them, feeling particularly attached to it ever since Big Sis Mag had been killed.

Shigaraki gave Dabi a deadly grin. “For the time being, yes. Up until they no longer serve their purpose.”

“Yeah? What purpose is that?”

“They are hiding something,” Shigaraki said, leaning against one of the nearby walls. “They are hiding how they are making those temporary quirk erasing bullets and how they plan to make the permanent ones. I want answers. That’s why I’m sending Toga and Deku to work with them.”

That caught everyone’s attention. Even Dabi froze, one brow cocked up in question.

“You want to send the quirkless kid and the psychopath into the Yakuza den?” Spinner asked.

“It makes the most sense. They wanted Kurogiri or Dabi, but I refused. With Deku, there’s no chance of them erasing his quirk. And between Toga’s spy skills and Deku’s brain, they’ll be able to figure out what the hell the Yakuza is hiding. And then, once we have our answers, we get our revenge.”

Toga leaned into Deku’s side, glaring slightly at Shigaraki. “What are we supposed to tell them about Deku-kun’s quirk? They’ll ask.”

“Figure it out. They’re expecting you both in the morning. Try not to piss them off right away.”

With that, Shigaraki left. The others trickled out after, either going back to the hideout or going off to wherever they stayed when they weren’t with the League. Spinner scooped up Magne’ magnet, taking it with him so that the two teens wouldn’t have to carry it with them when they went to see the Yakuza. Toga and Deku were left behind, leaning against each other and absorbing the news. 

“I don’t like this,” Toga whispered.

“Me either. I don’t think Shigaraki is thinking far enough ahead. “

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what if things go sideways? The Yakuza would have information on you and me. If they get arrested, they could tell the heroes about us.”

Toga nodded along with his words. “That wouldn't be too big of a deal for me, since the heroes already know my name and have a little bit of an idea about my quirk. I’m more worried about you. If they find out who you are, it could be bad.”

“I’ll just have to keep my mask on around the Yakuza and lie to them about having a quirk. You’ll be good to keep up the lie, right?”

Toga snorted before flashing her fangs in an impish smile. “Of course I can. Who do you think I am?”

“Right, I forgot I was speaking to a master of espionage,” Deku said with a slight laugh, bumping his shoulder against her’s. Toga let slip a high giggle as she ducked her head. “Are you going to be okay with this though? I mean, with seeing Overhaul again?”

She shrugged, furrowing her brows. “I should be okay. It's just been hard lately, you know? I’m not getting enough blood in my diet, human or animal, and it's making me fuzzy. I’m scared I’ll say something mean to Overhaul and get us in trouble. I really really don’t want Shiggy mad at us.”

“I’ll cover for you if we get in trouble.”

“Don’t do that! Shiggy is already crabby and he might be really mean to you! You heard what the doctor was saying. Shiggy and his Sensei and the doctor have talked before about using Quirkless people in their experiments. I don’t want Shiggy to use you for it.”

Deku gave her a small smile. “I’ve dealt with bullies before. Shigaraki isn’t much different.”

“I don’t like that you think that,” Toga said with a pout. “The point of you coming and joining us was so you’d be happy and safe.”

“I’m happy when I’m with you. I mean, you were my first real friend since I was little. You’re my best friend, really. As long as you’re here, I’ll put up with Shigaraki and his tantrums.”

With a tiny squeal, Toga hugged Deku tightly. “You’re my best friend too, Deku-kun! I’ll make sure Shiggy doesn’t do anything to you, okay? I’ll be extra careful, I promise! And… and if Shiggy tries anything, I’ll cut him! Not in a good way either. I’ll make him regret ever hurting you. I’d do it to anyone that tried to take you from me, got it?”

“Thanks, Toga,” Deku said, hugging her back. As they let go, he stepped down off the window sill. “Come on. Let’s go find something to eat. Maybe we can find some raw meat or pig’s blood or something to help you feel better. Then, we can find somewhere to sleep for the night. We don’t want to be tired when we show up to woo the Yakuza tomorrow. Got to make a good impression.”

Toga nodded and jumped down from the window sill and the pair slipped out into the dusk, no one batting an eye at a pair of teens giggling and joking around: just being children. 

---

“So these quirk erasing bullets,” Shinsou started, looking over the file that Aizawa had casually slipped him at the start of their meeting. “They basically do what your quirk does? Just temporarily take away people’s quirks?”

“Correct. I’ve been helping with looking into the distribution of these bullets. I don’t particularly want to bring you on this case but we need all the help we can get, especially yours. If we manage to get hold of anyone involved in the creation or distribution of these bullets, we would need you to help with interrogations. Your quirk would work well for that.”

“As long as I don’t get hit with one of those bullets.”

“Don’t get shot and we won’t have any problems.”

Shinsou snorted at that, closing the file. “Fair enough. And no leads yet?”

“Only thing we have is a possible Yakuza connection, but we are still unsure. I’ve been working with Nighteye’s agency and I heard he is bringing in Fatgum’s agency as well. I’m planning a stake out in a couple of nights and I want you to come. Think you can handle going to class the next day?”

Shinsou shrugged. “I barely sleep as it is so it shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Good. And I don’t need to remind you that you can’t tell anyone about this, right?”

“I’m not an idiot.” 

“Keep telling yourself that, kid.”

Shinsou leaned back in his seat and ran a hand through his unruly hair. “What other cases are you working on? Anything you think I can help with?”

“I’m not working on much else,” Aizawa said with a frown. “I limit myself to about one case at a time. When I have the time, I patrol and deal with smaller crime at night. Only other active case I have open is the League of Villains but basically every hero is working that. Everyone is keeping their eyes and ears open.”

Shinsou found himself shivering slightly thinking about the LOV. He’d faced them twice now, same as the rest of his class. The first time was back at the USJ, when he barely had any training or skills. He had his quirk, but he hadn’t had the hand-to-hand combat that he had now, which had left him mostly useless. Shinsou had been teleported away to the shipwreck zone, along with Tsu and Mineta. He had managed to brainwash one of the villains into attacking a few of the other villains, but as soon as the brainwashed villain got injured, it snapped him out of it. Tsu had then grabbed both him and Mineta and jumped to shore, giving them a chance to run back to the main square. The remaining villains from the shipwreck zone had tried to follow, but were caught up in Mineta’s hair-ball-things, the shorter teen throwing them as he ran. After that event, Mineta had transferred schools, saying he didn’t trust UA anymore.

And then, there was the summer camp incident. Shinsou had had his one-on-one training with Aizawa by then, meaning he could take care of himself. Shigaraki had put out a hit on both him and Bakugou, having seen the two of them at the USJ and the Sports Festival. He’d thought that the two of them would make good villains and instructed the attacking villains to kidnap them both. He had been deep in the forest with Todoroki when he got word the villains were after him. The pair immediately began trying to get back when they ran into Tokoyami and Bakugou. Moonfish, a particularly bloodthirsty villain, was chasing them, trying to catch Bakugou. The stress of it all had triggered Dark Shadow to go into a rage, so Bakugou was not only trying to keep Moonfish back, but also try to light off an explosion bright enough to tame Dark Shadow. Todoroki jumped in quickly, lighting a fire on his arm and forcing Dark Shadow to retreat into Tokoyami. Shinsou managed to get Moonfish to reply to him and put the villain under his brainwashing, telling him to sit down and not move. From there, the four boys hurried back to the campsite and managed to keep themselves from being captured. As soon as they entered the classroom where their other classmates were hiding, Vlad King guarding them all, Kirishima burst into tears and hugged Bakugou, earning himself a growl. Todoroki had refused to leave Shinsou’s side, boldly stating that if a villain managed to get in, he would set them on fire. The rest of the students tried to dissuade him, saying that he would end up burning Shinsou as well if he wasn’t careful.

“I can protect myself, you know,” Shinsou had grumbled.

Todoroki frowned. “ I know that. But you don’t have your capture scarf and the other villains might not be as dumb as Moonfish, so they might not respond to you. That means you don’t have any sort of ranged attack. With me here, we can be a team. I can be the long distance fighter and you can be the close-quarters one.”

Shinsou’s heart stuttered, realizing that Todoroki hadn’t been looking down on him when trying to protect him; he’d just been trying to be a good friend. He gave Todoroki a small smile. 

“Well, I guess I’d rather get lit on fire by you than get kidnapped.”

“Stop encouraging him!” Bakugou had snarled. 

Sitting in the classroom, thinking of the LOV while Aizawa rifled through his things to find the file on the LOV, Shinsou hoped that he wouldn’t have to see those particular villains any time soon. 

“The League has been laying low recently, but there has been word that they are trying to recruit fresh blood. So far, they haven’t made much progress, but I have heard the name ‘Deku’ thrown around a bit, so I am assuming that he is a new League member.”

Shinsou cocked his head. “Deku? What kind of name is that?”

“No clue. And no one has been able to get a read on his quirk and we still haven’t got a description of him. Only thing we’ve been able to get out of the criminals who will talk about him is that Deku is ‘creepy’ and ‘not to be messed with.’ Not sure what he’s done to put them all on edge but if you see him, just turn and run the other way, got it?” Aizawa said, raising a brow and fixing Shinsou with a stern look. When the teen nodded, Aizawa continued. “Good. And don’t tell your classmates about him either. At least not yet. We still aren’t positive he is an actual League member and we have no idea what his quirk is. Until we have some solid information, we aren’t telling your classmates anything. It would just make them more stressed than they already are.”

“But it's okay to stress me out?” Shinsou joked. 

“I trust your mental capacities to not let the stress get to you.”

“Aw, you really do like me.”

“Don’t push it, brat.”

Chapter Text

The Yakuza base was big. Really big. Deku found himself sticking close to Toga’s side as the pair walked up to the front door. There were a set of guards at the door, watching the two approach. As they got closer, Deku could see that the guards were eyeing them carefully, searching them for weapons. 

Not that they would see any. They were too good at hiding them. 

Toga skipped up to the guards, smiling. “Hi! We’re here to see the boss man. Is he here?”

“You’re the people from the League of Villains?” the first guard asked. “You can’t be serious. You’re both kids.”

“We’ve done more than you ever could, so how about you let us in before someone sees us, yeah?” Deku snapped, his voice sounding odd as it passed through the voice modulator of his mask. “Some of us here are pretty damn recognizable and it sure ain’t you.”

The second guard snorted. “He’s got you there. Alright, I’ll show you the way. Follow me.”

As they walked through the halls, the guard’s eyes kept flicking back to them. Finally, he spoke.

“How old are you guys?”

“106,” Deku said, deadpan. 

The guard frowned, clearly trying to tell if he was serious or not.

Toga giggled, but didn’t offer up any further information. 

“Not to be rude, kids, but are you sure about this? We’re the Yakuza, you know? This is going to be dangerous.” The guard paused, sighing. “I just don’t want to see any more kids tied up in this.”

“Any more?” Toga said, cocking her head.

Deku frowned behind his mask. “Are there kids in the Yakuza?”

“Not typically. Not in the old days, at least,” the guard said, his tone dark. 

He said nothing more as he led them to a door and knocked at it. From inside, they heard movement and then the door opened, revealing one of Overhaul’s close subordinates, a group that called themselves the Eight Bullets. His beaked mask was worn proudly, the leather material almost gleaming. Deku recognized him immediately and he hoped that Toga did too, considering he had spent a good portion of the night teaching her everything he knew about Overhaul’s inner circle and their quirks. 

He had done all the research, back when he first started hearing about the quirk drugs, both enhancing and erasing, that had come on the market. Deku wasn’t about to let all that hard work of digging through shady websites and chat forums go to waste.

The man before them was Shin Nemoto; Quirk: Confession.  

He was the one that they had to be careful with. Deku had quizzed Toga all night on how they could work around his quirk. 

“You’re late,” he snapped, glaring at the teens.

“We were told to be here in the morning. It’s morning,” Deku snapped. 

Toga glared back at the man. “If you wanted us here at a certain time, you should have given us one.”

“It’s 10 AM. That's late in the morning. I would think that the League of Villains would be more prompt and eager to work than this.”

“Not with this one’s sleep schedule,” Toga said with a snort, elbowing Deku. “He’s up all night and then crashes when the sun comes up. You’re lucky to see him before noon.”

“None of the good stuff happens in the mornings. If I want to find anything decent online, I have to do it at night,” Deku huffed, playing along with her shenanigans. 

He knew well enough that it was all a show she was putting on to irritate the Yakuza.

Nemoto huffed before opening the door wider and letting them enter. The guard watched as the two teens walked into the room, his expression conflicted, as though he had just allowed children to walk into a lion’s den. 

In a way, he almost had. 

Deku scanned the room quickly, eyeing each person and cataloging them with their quirks. He saw the majority of the Eight Bullets, along with the leads of the Shie Hissaikai.

Overhaul sat on the couch; his quirk was obvious to both Deku and Toga, who had seen it in action. Then there was Chronostasis, the aide to the organization. His quirk was a dangerous one. You just had to be hit by his clock hand-like hair, and you’d be slowed down. Depending on which clock hand you were hit with would determine how slow you’d be. Then there was Mimic, the director. His quirk was called Mimicry, which let him merge his body with an object and control it. It was a useful quirk, though the man’s temper got the better of him more often than not, making him less of a threat than the others. 

Deep down, Deku knew if they could get through this next bit, he and Toga would be just fine. They just had to trick Nemoto’s quirk. 

Deku carefully kept his expression as neutral and non-threatening as possible as he came further into the room and dropped into the seat opposite Overhaul. Toga stayed standing, hovering at his shoulder. 

“Glad to meet again on more pleasant terms, Overhaul,” he said. “Let’s try to get to know each other. I am Deku and with my analysis, I can get a read on people’s strengths, weaknesses, quirks, and so on. I need to be able to watch the person, either face to face or over video, to be able to analyze them. You remember Toga, I am sure. With Transform, she is able to turn herself into anyone she drinks the blood of. The more blood she drinks, the longer she can appear as that person. Any questions?”

Overhaul looked at them, a hint of surprise in his eyes. “You’re rather forthcoming, aren’t you? Does this mean there are no hard feelings about Magne? I didn’t want to kill him, you know.”

Toga hissed slightly, glaring. “You mean her. ”

Deku put a hand on Toga’s arm. “He won’t make the mistake again, don’t worry, Toga,” he said, giving Overhaul a pointed look. “Now, it’s pointless to beat around the bush, Overhaul. The more you know about us, the quicker you can put us to work and the quicker we can be done working here. So let me repeat myself. Do you have any questions for us?”

There was a tense pause, everyone silent, and for the briefest moment, Deku was worried that everything was going to backfire. Finally, Overhaul turned and gave a short nod to Nemoto. 

Nemoto turned, activating his quirk. 

“ Did you tell us the truth? ” he said, his voice almost hypnotic. 

Deku spoke before he could even think. “Yes. I told the truth.”

“ Is there anything else we need to know, or should know, about both of your quirks? ”

“No,” Toga and Deku both said, Nemoto’s quirk washing over the pair of them. 

“ And do either of you have a plan to betray us? Did Shigaraki tell you to double cross Overhaul? ”

“No to both,” Toga said, speaking up. Deku nodded along with her. 

Most would not have noticed, but to Deku’s trained eye, he could see Overhaul relax slightly in his seat.

“Good. Now, I will have someone show you to your rooms. You will be staying here in the house during the duration of our partnership.”

“Can we share a room?” Toga asked, smiling and flashing her fangs. “Deku-kun and I always share a room.”

“There would only be one bed.”

“I hardly sleep at night anymore so it’s not a big deal,” Deku said with a wave of his hand. “We’d be happy to see the room now, though. I would like to get my laptop set up. Afterall, I am best known for my hacking. I am assuming these skills will be put to use while we’re here.”

---

“Bakugou! Hey, wait up!” Kirishima called, chasing after Bakugou as the blonde walked towards the dorms. 

“What do you want, Shitty Hair?”

“I just wanted to check on you. Ever since your friend died, you’ve -”

Bakugou spun around, snarling. “He wasn’t my friend!” After seeing Kirishima’s startled, almost scared expression, Bakugou sagged and hung his head. “He wasn’t my friend really. We grew up together and I was a dick to him. After everything with the training camp and the League wanting to kidnap me to convert me, I realized how much of an asshole I’ve been to everyone in my life, especially De-, especially to Izuku. I mean, I have to be a pretty shitty excuse of a person for the villains to think I would ever join them. So I thought maybe I could get better. I’d been writing a letter to send him. An apology letter. I would have gone to talk to him in person but I was pretty sure that he would have just run from me. Damn nerd was pretty scared of me by the end of middle school. But I couldn’t get the fucking letter right. And now it doesn’t matter. He’s dead and none of it fucking matters.”

Bakugou felt his eyes starting to burn, tears threatening to well. He squeezed them shut, ducking his head even further and bringing his shoulder up to his ears as he balled his hands into fists, waiting for Kirishima to say something. 

Instead, he felt tentative fingers touching one of his fists, gently prying it open. Kirishima slipped his hand into Bakugou’s, giving it a small squeeze. 

“I’m so sorry, Bakugou. You didn’t get to say goodbye at all and that has to be really hard. Come on, how about we go up to my dorm, make a bunch of snacks, and you can tell me more about him. If you want, you can read your letter to me. I can help you finish it and we can take it to his grave and leave it there. How does that sound?”

A shuddering breath slipped from Bakugou’s lips as he sagged again, leaning forward just enough to press his forehead into Kirishima’s shoulder. 

“Yeah, that sounds good. You better not tell anyone about this though.”

“My lips are sealed, bro. Now come on! I bet if we hurry, we can grab some of those fancy candy bars Yaoyorozu bought for everyone before Kaminari gets into them.”

Chapter Text

Deku frowned at the computer screen, his eyes red rimmed. He sat back in his seat, barely suppressing a groan as his back popped. Magne had always gotten on him about hunching over his computer while he worked. She would always tell him that he was going to ruin his back, or that he needed to get blue-light glasses to protect his eyes from his computer screen, or the reason he had trouble sleeping was because of all of his screen time. Like the teenage boy he was, he didn’t listen. 

Now she wasn’t there to lecture him. 

As soon as he had arrived at the room he and Toga would be sharing, he began setting up his rig, which included a hotspot so he wouldn’t be attached to the Yakuza’s internet. It would be way too easy for them to track what he was doing if he was on their network. 

The Yakuza had left them alone for the rest of the day, saying there was business to attend to. That worked just fine for them. Toga sharpened her knives and doodled in one of Deku’s notebooks while Deku focused on his hacking work. He quickly finished up the few jobs he had, sending them either to Shigaraki or to Giran. Then, he had switched to quietly drilling through the Yakuza’s firewalls to see the details of what they were working on. 

It wasn’t really a betrayal, so technically Deku hadn’t lied when he was questioned. He’d just answered in half-truths. There was no plan to betray or get back at the Yakuza. Just a desire to.

He hadn’t been able to find anything concrete yet. After reading a few files on the creation of the quirk erasing bullets, Deku had tried to find any information on the thing they called “The Source.” Whatever this Source was, it was finicky and the material needed to create these bullets could only be extracted with Overhaul present. 

When Deku hit a dead-end on that, he switched to looking up a map of the facility. It wasn’t until he found a map of the underground tunnels and labs that he found something of interest.

There was a room simply labeled “Lab 3.” From the looks of the maps and blueprints, it was heavily secured, much more so than the other labs. It was also much smaller and appeared to have a tiny bathroom attached to it. There were sensors built into the walls and the door, not only tracking if someone came in, but if someone came out. In the hallway outside the door, there were numerous cameras, each angled so that there were virtually no blindspots, ensuring no one could sneak up to the door. Inside the room, there were three cameras, including one in the bathroom.

Lab 3 looked like a prison cell. 

“Toga… Toga, wake up,” Deku whispered, turning in his seat to face the bed where Toga slept. 

She snuffled slightly and burrowed further under the blanket. Rolling his eyes, Deku picked up one of the pillows she had knocked off the bed and tossed it at her. As soon as the pillow made contact, she came up swinging, her knife glinting in the moonlight as it arced through the air. 

“Good, you’re awake. Come look at this and tell me what you think.”

Huffing and cursing under her breath, she climbed out of bed and came to stare at his laptop with blurry eyes. 

“It’s a map,” she sighed. “You woke me up to look at a map.”

“No, this is the blueprint. If you want to look at the map, I can pull it up. But look here at this room. I think they are hiding something important here.”

“I can get us in there if you want to check it out.”

Deku shook his head. “I can probably pull up one of the camera feeds from inside the room. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t the only one who thought it was weird.”

“Oh it’s definitely weird. Let’s see the video.”

With a few keystrokes, Deku hacked one of the security cameras to pull up the feed. 

He was right. It was practically a jail cell.

And inside was a little girl. She looked skinny, maybe a little too skinny, and her long curly white hair was tangled and messy. The girl was sitting on her bed, a few toys laying on the ground, barely touched. She had her knees drawn to her chest and arms wrapped around them, pulling herself into a tight ball. Her big red eyes were fixed on the door, as if she was waiting for something. When she shifted, making herself a little more comfortable, her hair moved to reveal a little horn growing off center on her forehead. 

“Deku,” Toga said, voice strained and barely above a whisper. “What is that on her arms and legs?”

He swallowed thickly. “Bandages. She’s covered in bandages. I… I think they are experimenting on her or something.”

“We have to tell Shigaraki!”

“I mean, we have to tell someone but should we really tell him?” Deku glanced up at Toga. “Will Shigaraki actually help her? You always told me that he isn’t the best when it comes to empathy and shit like that.”

That made Toga pause, her eyes flicking between Deku and the girl on the computer screen. She bit at her lip while she thought, fidgeting with the knife in her hand. 

“If we don’t tell Shigaraki, who would we tell? You can’t seriously be suggesting we tell a hero. You and I both know they can’t be trusted.”

“We can’t trust the spotlight heroes, I know. Half of them are corrupt and the other half are covering for the others. But what about the underground heroes? They are heroes just to do good, not for money or fame. And they take on cases others won’t touch. A case like this would be perfect for an underground hero,” Deku said, gesturing to the computer screen as he finished. 

Toga nodded along, a pensive look on her face. “Those guys are definitely true heroes. Stain would have approved of them. But what would the heroes do with her?”

“Probably put her in witness protection. The Yakuza would want to try and get her back or kill her to keep her from talking. In witness protection, she could completely disappear and be safe. No one would have to know. And it would get back at Overhaul for what he did to Magne and Compress.”

“I don’t know,” Toga said, shuffling nervously. “Maybe we should still run the plan past Shigaraki.”

“I really don’t think we should. At least not yet. He’s great at going up against heroes and he’ll do a great job reshaping hero society, but he wouldn’t know what to do about a little girl being held captive by the Yakuza. If the underground heroes fail, then we can go to him.”

“I guess you have a point. And if the heroes actually do save her, we can always say that the heroes came before we could do anything. He doesn’t have to know. But can you get a message out to a hero without anyone knowing?”

Deku snorted. “Look who you’re talking to! Of course I can!”

---

Aizawa’s phone buzzed just as he finished hauling Shinsou up onto a rooftop after the teen had misjudged a jump.

“Sorry, Sensei,” Shinsou said, panting. 

“Call me Eraserhead when we’re working,’ Aizawa grumbled as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. 

When he lit up the screen, he saw that he had an email, which was odd considering the time of night it was. The subject line simply read “TO ERASERHEAD.” Which, under the circumstances, was rather ominous. 

A million different possibilities ran through Aizawa’s head, from a missing student to a murdered husband. Immediately, Aizawa turned on the program he’d downloaded years ago to scan emails for any dangerous attachments. While that ran, he called Hizashi.

“ Hello? Sho? You alright? ” came Hizashi’s sleepy voice. “ Hold on, I need to grab my hearing aids. ”

Aizawa breathed a sigh of relief. “Sorry to scare you. Just wanted to check in. Everything is good on your end?”

“ Yeah, except for your fat cat trying to hog the bed. She’s a menace. Nothing like my perfect angel boy. ”

“Keep telling yourself that. Talk to you later.”

As Aizawa hung up, Shinsou gave him a curious look. 

“Who was that?”

“None of your concern, brat. Keep a look out for a minute while I read this email.”

When he opened the email, there was an attachment and a short message.

‘Shie Hassaikai. Underground labs. Get her out of there. - Deku’

Deku. Aizawa knew that name. Seeing that name made him feel like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head. 

The hero world had heard whispers about Deku, but nothing concrete. Some weren’t even convinced that Deku existed. But here on his phone, Aizawa had proof. Deku was real.

Against his better judgment, Aizawa opened the attachment to find a video. The time stamp showed it was from that day, only an hour before. It looked to be footage from a security camera, the angle high and wide and the video grainy. A small girl with white hair and a short horn sat on her bed, wide eyed and terrified. She looked too thin for Aizawa’s comfort and based on the bandages on her arms and legs, she was injured. 

“Who’s she?”

Aizawa nearly fumbled his phone, startled by Shinsou appearing at his shoulder so suddenly. 

At least he knew that Shinsou’s stealth training had paid off.

“I thought I told you to keep look out.”

“Yeah, but then you got a weird look on your face so I wanted to see what was going on.”

Aizawa barely repressed the urge to roll his eyes as he shoved his phone into his pocket. 

“We’re going back to campus. Now.”

“Wow,” Shinsou said, straightening to his full height. “This is serious?”

“Very. I need to speak with Nezu and show him this video. I want him to confirm it's real before I bring it up to Nighteye.”

“Is this about the Yakuza?” 

Aizawa nodded. “Looks like it. And it may be tied to the League of Villains as well. I’ll tell you more when we are at a secure location. I don’t want to go into detail out in the open like this.”

“Lead the way.”

Chapter Text

Two days. Two days and no sign of the heroes. No email back, no report on the news… nothing. Deku was starting to get worried. Did Eraserhead not take the email seriously? There should have been some sort of movement by now, right? Had Eraserhead even read the email? 

Toga had offered to snag some blood and make a trip to UA to see what the pro hero was doing, but Deku had shot that idea down. It was too risky. If the heroes figured her out, she’d be arrested on the spot. And if Shigaraki found out, he’d kill her. Deku had considered hacking the UA camera system to see if he could spot the underground hero, but decided against it after he realized that Nezu was most likely the one to design it. 

Deku knew he was reckless, but he didn’t have a death wish. He knew better than to mess with Nezu.

Maybe it was time for more drastic measures. 

With a sigh, Deku opened a new tab and began typing another email to Eraserhead. He attached another video, this time of a Yakuza thug dragging the girl out of her room, and he attached the blueprint of the basement and labs. Deku typed up a quick message and sent it, sitting back in his seat.

“If that doesn’t get him moving, I don’t know what will,” he mumbled to himself. 

Toga sat up from where she was sprawled on the bed, a groggy look on her face as she yawned. 

“What’re you doing, Deku-kun?”

“Trying to get Eraserhead to get off his ass.”

“Ooh! Let me see!” Toga said excitedly, scrabbling out of the bed and looking over his shoulder to see the email he just sent. She snorted once before starting to read aloud. “‘ Eraserhead, are you too busy fucking your husband to save an imprisoned child or are you just lazy? Do you need more proof that she’s in danger? How about this video? Here are the blueprints for the building and her cell. Get up and come get her. Let me know if I need to prop the door open for you or something. ’ Damn, Deku, you really have no chill. And is Eraserhead really married?”

Deku nodded. “Yeah, it's not common knowledge but I figured it out. You’ll never guess who.”

“Do I get a hint?”

“He’s loud.”

Toga paused and thought for a moment. Suddenly, she gasped. “It’s All Might!”

“No, dumbass, it's Present Mic. Literally the loudest hero out there.”

“You make an excellent point, but please consider this: I am stupid.”

Deku shook his head, laughing. “You’re not stupid, Toga. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

Before she could respond, Deku’s computer chimed, alerting them to the fact that there was a new email. They looked back to the screen and both of them smiled when they saw who it was from. 

“I thought that email might get his attention. Mention the husband, and he’ll panic,” Deku said, running multiple programs to ensure the email was safe to open. “Let’s see what he has to say.”

---

Aizawa’s phone went off in class, which was a first. His ever present poker face remained intact as he pulled his phone from his pocket. When he lit the screen, his eyes went wide. After a moment of fiddling with his phone and reading something, his head snapped up, his gaze set on the confused students. 

“Stay here and study until I get back. Shinsou, with me. Now.”

Shinsou was out of his seat before Aizawa even finished the sentence, quickly following after his sensei. He had to lengthen his strides to keep up with Aizawa as they hurried towards the teacher’s lounge. 

“Aizawa-sensei, what’s going on?”

“Deku emailed me again. He knows something about me that he shouldn’t.”

Shinsou’s mouth went dry and he felt a heavy pit in his stomach. He knew how secretive Aizawa was. For this villain to be able to have any sort of information on him was terrifying, but also somehow slightly impressive. When they reached the teacher’s lounge, Aizawa threw the door open, startling the scant few teachers inside.

“Mic, we need to talk. Now,” Aizawa said, an edge to his voice that clearly put all the teachers on edge.

Present Mic didn’t even question it. He was on his feet and out the door within seconds. When he opened his mouth to ask what was going on, Aizawa put a hand up, signaling for him to be quiet.

“We need Nezu for this too. I’ll explain as soon as we are in his office.”

When they got to the Principal’s office, the door was already open and there were cups of tea set out for each of them. 

“Midnight called and told me that you seemed rather distressed, Aizawa,” Nezu said, his voice even and calm. “I checked the footage and saw you were on your way to see me. Please, sit. Tell me what the matter is.”

Shinsou let his teachers slip in ahead of him, quietly closing the door to the office behind him. As he sat down, Nezu nudged one of the cups closer to him, his smile kind even if his black eyes expressed little emotion. Shinsou gladly took it, the warmth of the tea feeling nice against his suddenly cold hands. 

“Deku emailed me again,” Aizawa said, pulling his phone out and handing it to Nezu. “He knows about Hizashi.”

Shinsou frowned, confused on who Hizashi was. He went to ask what was going on, but was interrupted by Present Mic spluttering. 

“Again? What do you mean by that? Deku has emailed you before and you didn’t think to tell me?”

“I didn’t want to worry you. Besides, the contents of the email are confidential. It relates to a case I’m working with Shinsou.” Aizawa paused, running a hand through his hair, a nearly anxious gesture. “The only reason I brought you in now is because Deku mentioned you in the email.”

Well, that answered Shinsou’s question. Mic-sensei was Hizashi. This revelation only raised more questions though. Why was Deku talking about Present Mic? What did it matter to Aizawa and to the case? And why did Aizawa-sensei call Present Mic by his first name?

Nezu said nothing but handed the phone to Mic, who snatched it away to quickly read. As his green eyes scanned the screen, his face went pale. 

“Shit,” he hissed under his breath. 

Aizawa shot him a glare.

“Don’t curse in front of a student.”

“It’s okay, I’ve heard and said worse. But if someone can explain what is going on, I would really appreciate it,” Shinsou said, his eyes flicking between the two teachers.

Mic handed him the phone. As soon as Shinsou saw the word “husband” he nearly dropped both his tea and the phone.

Aizawa snatched it away, pocketing his phone again. He kept his eyes fixed on the ground, looking almost nervous.

“Now you know. You’re not allowed to tell anyone. And I mean anyone. Do I make myself clear?”

Shinsou wordlessly nodded before taking a shaky sip of his tea. Mic was looking him over, a careful and calculating look in his eyes that Shinsou had never seen before. 

“Do you have any questions, little listener?”

It took a moment, but Shinsou eventually managed to clear his throat and speak. 

“You guys are… gay then?”

“I am,” Aizawa said, still not looking at Shinsou.

Mic raised his hand. “I’m bi. And before you ask, Sho and I have been together since high school. Got married when we were 23. No kids, but we do have two cats. We’ve kept the relationship a secret from everyone except a few close friends and trusted coworkers.”

Shinsou nodded again. Nezu watched the boy carefully, noticing how he was bouncing his knee and biting his lip, his eyes still looking between the two teachers.

“Shinsou, if you have a question, now is the time to ask it,” Nezu prompted. “This isn’t a topic I see being brought up again in the future.”

Heaving a shaky sigh, Shinsou let his eyes drop to look at the floor, one of his hands coming up to rub at the back of his neck. In that moment, he looked very much like his mentor, which brought a small smile to Nezu’s face.

“Why did you keep it a secret?” Shinsou asked, his tone oddly even and emotionless.

“The villains Sho goes up against are the type that would happily try to kidnap and use me against him, so we thought it best to keep our relationship quiet, especially when we first started out. We’ve considered coming out now that we focus more on our teaching jobs, but we still haven’t made any decision on it.

“So… you’re allowed to be gay and be hero?” 

Aizawa almost seemed to shrink into his seat at the question.

Mic narrowed his eyes slightly, becoming protective of his husband. “Of course it's allowed. Being gay has no impact on our ability to be good heroes. A number of your peers are gay too, you know this. Shinsou, if this is going to be a problem, then maybe you shouldn’t be working with Sho for your-”

He cut himself off when he saw the tears welling in Shinsou’s eyes. The boy looked both confused and in awe as he continued to stare at the ground. 

“I can be gay and be a hero?” he asked, his voice cracking. Aizawa’s head whipped up, shock evident on his face. Mic stared on, his mouth hanging open as the boy teared up. “I thought that I’d have to hide it. I already have a villainous quirk, and I thought if anyone found out I was gay, I wouldn’t be allowed to be a hero. Thought that the Commission would pull my license or something, since they are always talking about how heroes have to be perfect role models and stuff like that. I know there are gay heroes, but they are the ones in the spotlot with good quirks, like the others in 1-A. But… Aizawa always says that he gets crap for his quirk, like I do, so if he can be gay and married then maybe I… I…”

Without a word, Aizawa reached across Mic and wrapped Shinsou in his arms, letting the boy bury his face into his shoulder. Aizawa petted Shinsou’s wild purple hair, smoothing it only for it to pop back into place.

“It’s okay, kid. I get it,” Aizawa breathed. “I get it.”

“I’m so happy,” Shinsou hiccupped. Then, with a gasp, he wrenched himself backwards. “Oh fuck, a villain knows you two are married. Shit, this is bad.”

“It’s definitely not great,” Mic said with a nod. “Who is this girl that Deku is talking about though? And what is this case?”

It took them about five minutes to fill Mic in. He listened quietly, nodding along. Once they finished telling him everything, he didn’t speak for a moment, soaking it in. 

“And we haven’t gone to save the girl because… why?” he asked. 

“We don’t have enough information,” Aizawa said. “Shinsou and I have been patrolling the area, but we don’t have enough evidence to legally break in and find the girl.”

“If there even is a girl. This could be a trap,” Nezu pointed out.

Mic poked at Aizawa’s shoulder and put his hand out, making a “give me” gesture. 

“Let’s email Deku back then. Tell him that we need actual proof that this is legit. If he provides it, great. If not, we continue investigating,” he said.

Aizawa shook his head. “I am not letting you email a random villain, especially not when he’s making thinly veiled threats against you.”

“It's not a thinly veiled threat.”

“He’s making it clear he knows about you and that he isn’t happy with me. That means he’ll go after you. This is exactly why we’ve kept our relationship a secret!”

“We shouldn’t dismiss the idea too quickly,” Nezu said leaning forward in his seat. “Let me craft the email. Please hand me the phone.”

Groaning, Aizawa handed him the phone. Nezu took it, read the email one last time, and then began to type. 

“Deku, you must understand that these things take time,” Nezu read aloud as he typed. “Can you provide any more evidence regarding this girl? At this point, you have provided little to no evidence that this is a legitimate case. I need assurance that this is not a trap set by the League or by the Yakuza. Sincerely, Eraserhead.”

Nezu sent the email and then handed the phone back to Aizawa.

“You could have tried a little harder to sound like Sho,” Mic said, almost laughing. 

Nezu frowned. “In all of his emails to me, that is how he sounds.”

“Yeah, because you’re my boss. I have to sound professional.”

Shinsou picked his tea back up, not caring that it had already gone cold. “Let’s hope Deku just thinks that Aizawa is being formal because he’s talking to a villain.”

A few minutes later, the phone chimed. Aizawa opened the email and rolled his eyes. 

“It's Deku. ‘ Hi Nezu, I’m pretty sure I emailed Eraserhead, not you. I guess I should have assumed he would bring this to you. Maybe you can light a fire under his ass and get him moving. You should sympathize with the kid; the Yakuza are using her for research and experimentation. I can try to get footage of Overhaul and her, but it won’t be easy. They don’t keep cameras in the rooms that they do the work in. As for the matter of whether or not this is a trap: you’re just going to have to take my word for it. No matter what I say, you will think this is a trap. All I care about is that the girl is saved and put in witness protection, or something similar. I sent this case to Eraserhead to handle it because he is an underground hero and slightly more trustworthy than the spotlight heroes. If you have to bring other heroes in on this, fine, I don’t give a shit. Just do your fucking job and save the girl. ”

“Deku sure does have a mouth on him,” Shinsou mumbled. Mic snorted, nodding. 

Nezu pressed his paws together and sat back in his chair.

“How curious,” he said, a pensive look on his narrow face. “Deku knew right away that it was me that drafted the email, not Aizawa. This means he has a history of reading either my writing or Aizawa’s. Or perhaps he made the correct assumption that Aizawa would not speak like this to a villain and, thinking of who Aizawa has the most contact with, concluded I was the one to send the email.”

“Does it really matter?” Mic asked. “The bottom line is that this dude is scary smart and possibly spying on all of us… we need to start planning.”

---

“How could you tell so fast it was Nezu, Deku-kun?”

“Eraserhead wouldn’t care if it was a trap. He’s knowingly run into traps like, a million times before just because it meant there was a chance of saving someone. There was no way Eraserhead wrote the email. Also, it is the middle of a school day. Only people Eraserhead would talk to about my email would be Present Mic and Nezu. And I don’t think Present Mic has ever signed an email with ‘sincerely’ in his life. Especially not to a villain. So that left Nezu.”

“Your brain scares me sometimes.”

Chapter Text

There were footsteps in the hall outside of Toga and Deku’s door. People were running past, their voices raised. 

Deku had been dozing, flopped halfway across the end of the bed. Toga has her back against the headboard, her feet resting on Deku’s lower back. When they heard the racket outside their room, Deku bolted up, his eyes wide and his chest heaving. Toga whipped out a knife, her teeth barred with a hiss. 

Neither reacted well to being startled. 

“What the fuck is going on?” Deku asked gruffly. 

“Don’t know. Come on,” Toga said as she got out of the bed, her knuckles white with how tightly she gripped the handle of her knife. Before she opened the door, she picked up Deku’s mask and tossed it to him. He quickly slipped it on and flipped his hood up.

As he opened the door and slipped into the hall, something small and fast came flying up and crashed into him, nearly knocking him to the ground. Deku instinctively wrapped his arms around what had hit him as he stumbled backwards into Toga. When he looked down, he found himself staring into the bright red, watery eyes of the girl from the lab. 

“Please don’t let him hurt me again,” she whimpered, clutching him tightly. 

“Eri, time to go back to your room,” a cold, steely voice said. Deku looked up and found himself looking at Overhaul. The masked man walked calmly down the hall, his eyes locked on the girl: Eri.

She buried her face in Deku’s stomach, whimpering quietly. He found his own hold on the girl tightening.

“Who’s this, Overhaul?” Deku asked, trying to keep his voice light. “Your daughter?”

“Hardly. Eri, come here. Now.”

Toga swooped in and ran a hand over the back of Eri’s head, smoothing her tangled hair. 

“Hi Eri-chan! You have such pretty hair! I would love to braid it! Think I could do that for you?”

Eri pulled her face out of where she had hidden it in Deku’s jacket and looked up at Toga, her red eyes watery. 

“Braid?” the girl whispered, seeming almost confused by the word. 

Overhaul reached out and snagged the girl’s arm, wrenching her away from the pair of teens with a forceful pull. Eri let out a sharp cry of pain as she stumbled backwards. 

“We don’t have time for this,” Overhaul snarled, shoving the girl towards one of his henchmen. The man grabbed Eri and lifted her, tossing her over his shoulder and walking off down the hall. All the while, Eri whimpered and sent a pleading look Deku’s way. 

As Eri disappeared around the corner, Deku calmly tilted his head. 

“Want to tell me who that was?” he asked, his gaze cold.

“You’re the analyst, you tell me.”

Deku paused, running through his options. He could take a risk and lay out his theory, or he could play dumb. He ran through the possible outcomes, weighing the risks and the benefits. Finally, making his decision, he spoke. 

“She’s your Source, isn’t she? Somehow, she is used in making your drugs. Is she the Source for the quirk removal bullets or is she for the quirk enhancement drugs? Is it her quirk? That is my guess. That or her DNA. Is it made from her blood? Or is it from her muscle cells? Muscle cells would be much more substantial than blood cells. What about -”

Toga elbowed him, breaking him from his rambling. 

Deku ducked his head, pretending to be embarrassed. “Ah, I got carried away again. Sorry about that. I’ve been a fan of science since I was little. Maybe in another life, I would have been a scientist.”

“A fan of science?’ Overhaul asked, narrowing his eyes and cocking his head. “You aren’t fishing for information on the girl?”

“I am more curious about the process of creating your drugs. If the process starts with her, then I want to know how. Shigaraki sending me here wasn’t a mistake. He sent me so I could be an asset. It was supposed to be a show of goodwill. He knows I am the smartest in the League and he thought you knew that too.”

Toga sniffed and looked down her nose at Overhaul. “If you don’t want Deku-kun’s help, then we’ll just go back to sitting in our room. You know, doing nothing and wasting time. It’s starting to get really boring though.”

“And you do not want a bored Toga on your hands,” Deku said. He gave a little shiver, acting as though he were remembering a particularly bad incident. His statement wasn’t exactly a lie though: a bored Toga was a dangerous Toga. She posed a threat to his sanity when she got bored, always chattering and wanting attention.

Overhaul eyed Deku and Toga for another moment before speaking. 

“I will consider what role you will play in this. You will both hear from me soon,” he said. With a final glare, he turned and walked away, leaving them standing in the hall. 

The pair slipped back into their room. As soon as the door was closed, Deku ripped off his mask and threw himself at his computer, his hands flying to the keyboard. He quickly pulled up the video footage of the hall, carefully copying the clip of Eri’s escape attempt and her being forcefully dragged back to her room. Deku only paused for a moment to add a quick blur over his head in the footage. He knew Toga didn’t care if anyone saw her face, especially since she never bothered to change her name. Then, he attached the video to an email to Eraserhead and sent it with a short message.

Is this enough proof?

---

The conference room at Sir Nighteye’s agency was crowded. At the head of the table sat Sir Nighteye with Mirio just to his right. Next to Mirio was Tamaki, who looked like he wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole. Nejire was beside him, babbling and pestering poor Tsu, who was shrinking back in her seat and leaning into Uraraka. Uraraka was talking animatedly with Kirishima, who sat across the table beside Fatgum. At the other end of the table, facing Sir Nighteye, was Nezu. Aizawa was behind him, Shinsou between him and Kirishima. And finally, beside Fatgum were Rocklock and Ryukyu. Bubble Girl and Centipeder were still setting things up for the meeting, bustling around the room. 

Shinsou could tell that Sir Nighteye’s patience was nearly at its limit. He was glaring at the room, his face growing more stern every time someone made a loud noise. Shinsou shot a look at Aizawa, making eye contact with his mentor. Aizawa easily read the look in Shinsou’s eyes, the two silently communicating their amusement at Nighteye’s suffering. 

“Let’s get started,” Nighteye finally said, standing up beside the massive TV screen hanging on the wall. He pulled out a remote from his pocket and pressed a button. Up on the screen, a picture of Overhaul appeared, creating a somber mood in the room. “As you all know, we have been investigating Overhaul and his band of Yakuza thugs who have been distributing quirk enhancement drugs. We have recently discovered that he is also selling quirk erasing bullets that will temporarily strip you of your quirk. There is talk about possible permanent versions of these bullets being made, though we have nothing concrete yet.”

Rocklock leaned forward, his crossed arms resting on the table. “Yeah, we know that, Nighteye. What's the real reason you had us all meet here?”

“He’s getting to it,” Aizawa snapped, sending an icy look towards the other pro. 

“Thank you, Eraserhead,” Nighteye said with a nod. “Eraserhead has recently been contacted by the villain known as Deku -”

Before he could continue, a murmur went up in the room. The UA students, all besides Shinsou, looked confused, whispering to each other and asking about the villain they had never heard off. The pros looked startled, most having heard very little about Deku. The only things they knew about the villain were that he was smart and he was dangerous. 

Once everyone quieted, Nighteye continued. 

“As I was saying, the villain Deku, who is a known associate of the League of Villains, contacted Eraserhead. He sent an email with video footage of a young girl, who has clearly been abused, and requested that Eraserhead save the girl. The location he gave was the hideout of the Shie Hassaikai.” Sir Nighteye pressed another button on the remote and brought up the video footage of the girl sitting on her bed. The students in the room all let out small gasps. Tamaki fully ducked his head and pressed it into Mirio’s firm shoulder, while Nejire reached out and grabbed Tsuyu’s wrist in one hand. With her other hand, she reached around behind Tsu to grasp Uraraka’s shoulder, almost as though she were trying to keep the girls close to protect them. 

Fatgum turned to look at Aizawa, a serious look on his normally jovial face. 

“When did ya’ get this? Last night? This morning? Have ya’ started drafting a plan for us to go in and get her?”

“I got it about two weeks ago,” Aizawa said. “I had begun to -”

Fatgum was out of his seat and towering over Aizawa. Kirishima sunk down in his chair, startled by his mentor’s sudden movement. Shinsou, on the other hand, straightened in his seat and grabbed at the capture scarf hanging from his neck, ready to defend Aizawa. 

“You’ve let this girl sit in hell for two weeks? What kind of hero are ya’? We should be storming in there right now to rescue her!” Fatgum roared, his hands rolled into massive fists. 

“If I may interject,” Nezu said, his calm voice cutting through the tension in the room. “Eraserhead brought this to my attention immediately. Together, we began making plans and preparing for a rescue. We needed more evidence and proof, beyond the word of a villain, to legally be able to go into the residence to retrieve her. Sir Nighteye will explain in detail, if you would please sit.”

Nighteye gave Nezu a thankful nod as Fatgum grudgingly returned to his seat. Slowly, Shinsou let his hand fall from his capture weapon. 

“Nezu is correct. They began the process to prepare to save the girl. In the meantime, Deku reached out again to see why no one had taken action. Nezu crafted a response posing as Eraserhead, which Deku immediately saw through. They asked Deku to provide some more proof that the girl was actually with Overhaul. Late last night, he sent us this video.”

Shinsou leaned forward at this, wanting to get a good look at the video. Aizawa hadn’t shown it to him yet, so he would be seeing it for the first time with everyone else. 

The footage showed some men running around in a hall, clearly searching for something. After the men had cleared the hall, the girl came sprinting in. A door suddenly opened and out stepped a pair of people. 

The girl ran face first into who Shinsou assumed was Deku. He had a slim build and was rather short. He wore what looked like simple jeans, red shoes, and a black hoodie. A blur had been added in, hiding his face and head. Beside him was Toga, clear as day. She was staring at the girl in surprise as Deku wrapped his arms around her. 

And then, Overhaul stepped into the hall. 

Some words were exchanged, though the video had no audio so they couldn’t hear anything. Toga reached out at one point and gently ran her hand over the girl’s hair. Overhaul looked down right murderous as he grabbed the girl and flung her off to another man, who simply hoisted the girl over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, carrying her away.

Nighteye paused the footage, leaving Overhaul, Deku, and Toga on the screen. 

“As you can see, we now have proof that the LOV is working with Overhaul and that this girl is being held captive by the Yakuza. I have gathered us all here today to discuss the rescue. The girl is valuable to Overhaul somehow, so while he may be harming her, there is no reason to believe that he will kill her. This gives us a little time to plan and make sure we get this right.”

“We should be going and getting her now! She’s just a kid!” Fatgum snapped.  

Mirio jumped in, defending Nighteye. “Sir is right. While I don’t like the idea of that girl being there, if we rush in, they could move her or they could get scared and kill her just to keep her from us. We need to have a 100% perfect plan that won’t fail. If we don’t, we could end up being the cause of her death.”

“Well said, Mirio,” Nighteye said, giving him a small smile. 

“Is no one else concerned about the League being a part of this? Or that maybe this is a trap set up by Deku?” Ryukyu asked, eyeing the screen. 

“It is a possibility that we have to accept.”

Kirishima cautiously raised his hand. Nighteye gave him a surprised look before nodding, indicating that he should speak. 

“Who is this Deku guy? I’ve never heard of him,” he asked.

Tsu nodded, joining in. “And who says Deku is a guy? Looks kinda small. And Deku and Toga were sharing a room together. Maybe Deku is a woman.”

“Eye witness accounts from arrested criminals say that Deku is male,” Aizawa says. “This is the first time that we have had any visuals on him. I’ll admit, he is… smaller than I expected. The little that we know is that Deku is a hacker for hire aligned with the LOV. He doesn’t do onsite work with them, but he does stuff behind the scenes for them. Giran, an underground broker, is the point of contact for outside buyers to get Deku’s services. No one is sure of his quirk, with witnesses ranging from saying he has a fire based quirk, to a gas or pheromone based quirk, to mental quirks, such as analysis or intelligence. No one is positive and no one can give much details. They don’t want to cross him and state that he is unnerving.”

Rocklock jerked his head towards the screen. “Froppy has a point though. Deku is tiny. He looks like he’s only a few inches taller than Toga. Maybe we should consider that he may be a kid, like Toga. Obviously villains have no issues using kids in their schemes. And apparently we aren’t much better. You guys can’t seriously be considering using these high school students while going up against the Yakuza.”

“I don’t like it any more than you, Rocklock,” Aizawa said, letting his head hang slightly. “I made Nezu and Nighteye promise that if the kids are used in the rescue, then they have to have minor roles. At most, I want them holding the perimeter. With Yakuza and the LOV being involved, I think it is too much of a risk for students to be involved.”

“I hardly think we should count out all the students. Mirio here is more than capable. All of the third years are. They will be graduating in a matter of months and will be fully fledged heroes,” Nighteye said.

Aizawa’s frown deepened. “They’re still kids.”

“They are all 18. They can make their own choices.”

“I thought that perhaps this argument would arise. That is why I have created multiple, detailed plans for us to review and build on,” Nezu said. “Each involves the students to varying degrees. Should we begin reviewing them and decide which would be best?”

Chapter Text

Two days after Deku sent the new video to Eraserhead, he got an email from Nezu.

Deku, please be aware, we will be making a move on the Yakuza soon. Eraserhead and I thought it to only be fair to warn you. We cannot give you the date, time, or any details. While we may believe you that there is a child in need, we do not trust that this is not a trap. If you and Ms. Toga do not want to be arrested during this raid, I highly suggest you leave as soon as possible. We only ask that you do not warn the Yakuza. Thank you for your help. If you wish to provide information in the future, do not hesitate to reach out.

Deku jumped up from his computer, catching Toga’s attention. 

“What? What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Her big yellow eyes flashed in the low light.

“We need to go. Now. The heroes have planned the raid and could be here at any time.”

“Should I call Kurogiri?”

“No! No, we can’t call him or any of the others. They would all tell Shigaraki that we’re leaving the Yakuza and he’d wonder why we left.”

Toga was already up and throwing her clothes into her duffle bag. “Dabi wouldn’t. He’d help us out.”

“Maybe if we had something for him. Dabi never does anything for free.”

She didn’t have a rebuttal to that. Toga simply zipped her bag shut and ran over to help Deku to pack his computer gear. Just as they we’re wrapping up the last cord, there was a loud knock on the door. 

The pair froze, staring at each other with a combination of fear and shock. After a beat, Deku grabbed his mask, shoving it on as fast as he could. He flipped his hood up just as Toga opened the door to reveal Chronostasis. 

“Overhaul has requested Deku meet him in his lab,” the man said, his voice firm. 

Toga glared up at him. “Where Deku goes, I go.”

Chronostasis tried to stare her down, neither speaking a word. After a good minute or so, he finally sighed and nodded. 

“You may come as well. Keep quiet and keep your hands to yourself. 

She grinned dangerously, her fangs barred, as Deku came up to her side, bumping his shoulder against hers.

“We don’t want to keep the bossman waiting, now do we? Lead the way, Chronostasis.”

The walk down to the labs was silent, but that didn’t mean that Deku’s mind was quiet. His thoughts were racing, mapping out the way through the building while simultaneously trying to figure out why the hell Overhaul wanted to see him. If Overhaul was pissed at him, either for hacking his system or for their conversation in the hall, then Chronostasis wouldn’t have let Toga come. It would have been too risky. Sure, the Yakuza easily outnumbered them, but Overhaul couldn’t kill both of them and manage to escape Shigaraki’s wrath. If it was just one of them, then maybe he’d get away with it, stating that it was a necessary sacrifice, but definitely not both. And Overhaul was smart enough to know that.

When they entered the lab, Deku felt his stomach twist into a knot and every hair on his body stood on end. 

In the center of the lab, her wrists strapped to the arms of the chair she sat on, was Eri. 

Her eyes were watery as she tracked Overhaul, who was walking around the lab preparing things. For once, he wasn’t wearing his coat, but he still wore his bird-like mask and gloves. When he spotted Deku and Toga, he straightened himself to his full height, looking down at them.

“Thank you, Chronostasis, you may leave. Deku, I see you brought Toga with you.”

“That’s not a problem, is it?”

“No, though I do not see her having anything of value to add to the conversation.”

Deku had to catch Toga’s wrist to keep her from grabbing the knife at her belt. 

“You were interested in my process,” Overhaul said, continuing as though nothing had happened. “I thought that perhaps you would like to observe and, at the end, provide any insights that you may have.”

As Overhaul turned around to face one of the many lab tables, Deku’s eyes flicked to Eri, who was now staring back at him with pleading eyes. He could feel his heart twist in his chest; something bad was going to happen here and there was nothing that he could do. 

“What I am hoping that you can help with is mass production. As of right now, I can produce only a few bullets at a time. The source of the drug is limited, afterall.”

“You mean the girl, Eri,” Deku said, his voice flat and emotionless. He wasn’t about to let anything slip to Overhaul. 

“Correct. If I take too much from her, she’ll die, obviously. And then I would be without my source. And the process for extraction is difficult, more so than it should be.”

Overhaul turned to finally face Eri, his cold eyes glaring down on her. She whimpered and ducked her head, trying to shrink further into her seat. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“If only you weren’t cursed, Eri. You could do so much better if your quirk wasn’t the way it is. Where did you think you were going to go, when you tried to run before? I’m the only one who can make sure you can’t hurt people. Or were you wanting to kill people? Was that it, Eri? Do you want to kill more people?”

“No! No, I don’t! I’ll be good, I promise!”

“Tch.” Overhaul shook his head. “It's pathetic how weak you are. Unloveable. How could anyone but me want you?”

Eri was sobbing, fat tears rolling down her cheeks. A golden, shimmering glow began to encase her, originating from her horn. Slowly, the horn began to grow, the glowing light increasing with it.

“You killed your father. Completely erased him from existence. Your mother hated you for it, you know. She abandoned you here. She knew we were the only ones who could control your cursed quirk. If you left here, you would only kill more people. You would terrify everyone.”

“Please,” Eri hiccuped, begging through her tears. “Please don’t.”

“They’d lock you away. They would chain you up. They would take you apart and they wouldn’t put you together again. They’d slaughter you like a little lamb, Eri. If you left here, I would have to come get you. I would have to kill so many people. Is that what you want?”

“No!” she screamed, her voice shrill as the light around her became blinding. Her eyes were wide and panicked as she continued to scream, her nails digging into the arms of the chair. She tried to fight against the restraints again, though if it was because she was scared of Overhaul or because she was scared of herself, Deku wasn’t sure.

As fast as lightning, Overhaul ripped a glove off and pressed his bare hand to Eri’s arm. 

And the girl was gone. A spray of blood, hanging in a thick mist, hovered over the chair. Less than a second later, Eri was back, shaking and sobbing as she curled into a ball in the chair. Her arms were no longer strapped down, though one of her arms was covered in wet, sticky blood. She hugged it close to her chest as she pulled her knees up to shield herself even more. The golden light was gone and her horn was back to being a small nub on her forehead.

In Overhaul’s hand was a piece of raw flesh.

“You see, Deku, I have to force her to activate her quirk. Once it is fully activated, I need only take a sample from her.” Overhaul turned to the lab table and set the flesh on a small metal tray. It made a wet, slimy noise as it was dropped on the tray. “Unfortunately, she can’t control her quirk, so I have to manually deactivate it. Afterwards, I have to process the sample. It takes time, but a sample this size creates one bullet.”

“Only one?” Deku asked incredulously. 

“It's a long and arduous process. I have a general idea of how to mass produce once I have the sample, but it's a matter of having enough of the sample. That is where you come in.”

Toga said nothing as she walked over to another table, scooping up some gauze and medical tape. She settled herself on the floor next to Eri’s chair and gently pried the girl’s arm away from her chest. Eri whimpered once, though she didn’t seem too scared of Toga. Mostly, she just seemed nervous and a little curious about the older girl. Toga quietly dabbed at the open wound, making a conscious effort not to stare at the multitude of scars on Eri’s arm.

Deku made a show of thinking, tapping a finger to his chin and humming to himself.

“Remind me how many bullets you have now?”

Overhaul shot him a sharp look. “I didn’t tell you how many.”

“Oh, well then. How many do you have?”

“Four, for now,” Overhaul said, opening a small box that rested on the lab table. Inside were four bright red bullets. Next to them was an empty slot, ready for the next bullet. “It took a number of years to perfect the formula. The quirk-erasing bullets were the first to be completed. These ones are quirk-destroying. They completely eradicate the quirk factor in the target. I can sell these off to the underground, and then sell the antidote to the heroes. We’ll be the problem and the solution. We will be the most powerful force in all of Japan.” 

Deku nodded along with what Overhaul said. “I can do some research. There may be someone with a quirk that can help us with the replication.”

“Good. I want your findings as soon as possible.” Overhaul stepped away to rinse his hands of the blood and then slipped on fresh gloves. The sweat that had formed on his brow was drying, the danger of the tainted blood now gone. “We have to move the base,” he stated, watching Toga work. “One of my sources has said that the police nearest here are acting odd. Excited, almost. Antsy in a way I don’t like. I have a new base already set up. It's much more secure and away from the public eye, so we will have plenty of space to work on mass production. I will finish processing this sample tonight and we will leave early in the morning, just before the sun rises. Have your things ready by then.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Deku could see that Toga had finished bandaging Eri’s arm. She was gathering the bloodied gauze and tossed a handful of it into the trash under Overhaul’s vigilante gaze. What Overhaul didn’t see was that as she threw away the gauze with one hand, she slipped a few blood-soaked pieces into the pocket of her sweater. 

‘ Good, ’ Deku thought. ‘ She’s thinking the same thing I am. ’

They had to get Eri out of here. Tonight.

---

Bakugou burst into Sero’s room, slamming the door shut behind him with a bang.

Sero, who had been working on some homework, jumped so high out of their seat that they came crashing back down on the floor, spurting curses the whole way. 

“I need to vent and you’re the only person in this goddamn school I can talk to about this so get off the fucking floor and listen to me,” Bakugou demanded, his voice a deep growl. 

Carefully, Sero picked themself up off the floor and ran a hand through their hair to smooth it out. 

“Hi Bakugou. Yes, I’m fine, thank you for the concern. No, I’m not busy at all.”

“Shut up, Soy-sauce face. I have a problem.”

Sero cocked their head and gestured for Bakugou to continue as they sat down in their chair again. Sighing, Bakugou dropped to sit down on the edge of Sero’s bed.

“So, a while back, this guy that I knew died. Remember that?”

Sero nodded.

“Well, Kirishima decided he was going to keep an eye on me, or whatever. Always following me around, asking about my feelings and shit. He’s the only one I really talked to about the guy who died. And at first, it pissed me off. Like, I had to have looked so weak, you know? But he didn’t judge me or anything. And then, next thing I know, I don’t mind being weak around him. I keep wanting to do dumb shit, like make him breakfast or sit by him for movie night and it doesn’t make any fucking sense.”

Snorting, Sero shook their head. “You have a crush. It's simple, dude, I don’t get why you’re freaking out so bad.”

“Because Midoriya is dead!” Bakugou shouted, his hands sparking. He took a shaky breath and let his hands drop back to his lap. “The damn nerd is dead and I’m over here, acting all soft over Kirishima. I… I did a lot of bad shit in the past and Kirishima just… didn’t care. He told me that he could tell I was working to be better and that he’d help me with it. But I don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve to be happy when Midoriya is dead.”

They sat in silence, the room tense. Bakugou’s shoulders rose and fell with each shuddering breath he took. Slowly, Sero stood from their chair and moved to sit beside Bakugou on the bed. Each movement was deliberate and telegraphed, giving Bakugou the chance to move away. When he didn’t, Sero put their hand on Bakugou’s shoulder. 

“Listen, man, I don’t know what you did in the past, and I don’t know anything about Midoriya, but I’m guessing you knew him pretty well, right?”

Bakugou nodded. “I knew the nerd since we were in diapers. We grew up together. He was always following me around and stuff.”

“He liked you, right? He wouldn’t want you to sit around making yourself miserable. He’d probably be happy that you’re working on yourself. And if Kirishima makes you happy and wants to help you grow as a person, then I bet Midoriya would want you to go for it. Hell, he’d probably think Kirishima was good for you. I know we all think that. So talk to Kirishima and work this out, okay?”

Bakugou sighed. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t know. It’s not like Kirishima likes me like that.”

“You don’t know until you talk to him.”

“Fine. Thanks, I guess. You’re not horrible at this kind of stuff.”

Sero mockingly gasped, putting on a big show of placing a hand to their chest and swaying as though they were swooning. 

“A compliment from Katsuki “King Explosion Murder” Bakugou! I am so honored, my liege! A blessing, truly!”

Snorting, Bakugou shoved Sero away from him and got up. 

“Shut up, dumbass. Do your homework.”

As Bakugou closed the door behind him, Sero smiled and moved back to their desk. Just as they picked up their pencil, the door burst open again.

“Sero!” Mina shrieked. “Kaminari got his tongue stuck in the electrical socket again and we don’t know how to get him out!”

Work was never done for Sero: the resident therapist/parent friend of the Bakusquad. 

---

A banging on his door startled Shinsou from a deep sleep: the first he’s managed all week. 

Groaning, he climbed out of bed and stumbled to the door. When he opened it, he was startled to find both Aizawa and Mic standing there.

The teachers looked disheveled. Mic’s hair was down and unstyled, hanging loose around his shoulders. His pajamas, which consisted of a pair of plaid flannel pants and a t-shirt, were rumpled from sleep. Aizawa, who had been the one trying to beat Shinsou’s door down with his fist, was in a pair of hot pink sweatpants and a black long sleeve shirt, his hair thrown into a messy bun.

“What’s going on?” Shinsou asked, dread creeping into his stomach. “I thought we didn’t have to be up until 4:00 to get ready for the raid.”

“There’s been a break in,” Aizawa said, his bloodshot eyes round with worry. “Nezu said we need to get to his office. Now.”

Shinsou didn’t question it. Sure, it was a little weird that the principal would ask a student to tag along with the teachers to help with the break in, but he figured they needed his quirk for some reason. He quickly grabbed his capture scarf and followed his teachers down the stairs, where they only paused at the front door of the dorms long enough to shove their shoes on, and then they were out into the cold night air. 

Within minutes, they were sprinting down the hall to Nezu’s office. Aizawa hit the door first, barreling in and activating his quirk, sending his hair floating up into the air. Shinsou grabbed the end of his scarf and prepared to throw it as Mic put his fists up, ready to DJ Punch whoever dared to break onto the campus. 

The three froze at the sight before them. 

None other than Himiko Toga sat in one of the chairs facing Nezu’s desk. Half of her hair was in a bun on the side of her head, while the hair on the other half was hanging loose just past her shoulders. In her lap was the small white haired girl from the footage Deku had sent. The girl had a black hoodie wrapped tightly around her as she looked at the three new people in the room with her big red eyes. Toga glanced up from braiding the girl’s hair and flashed them a toothy smile before using her own hair tie to secure the end of the girl’s braid.

In the second chair was a boy. He was short, much shorter than Shinsou. His wild, curly green hair was damp with sweat and was sticking to the back of his neck and to his forehead. The boy wore a white t-shirt that Shinsou noticed hung off his thin but toned frame. Across the front of the shirt, in rather cutesy handwriting, was the word “criminal” written in black marker. The boy had turned in his seat to look at them, his green eyes bright. It looked like a smattering of freckles spanned his cheeks, but it was hard to tell since there was blood smeared down the side of his face from a rather nasty looking cut splitting his eyebrow. A piece of navy blue cloth, which looked to have been ripped from Toga’s skirt, was tied around the boy’s arm. The cloth was covered in fresh blood, leading Shinsou to believe that the boy had been injured there as well. 

Nezu sat at his desk quietly sipping at his tea. An odd assortment of weapons and support gear were piled in the middle of the desk. Nezu was looking it all over and glanced up when he heard the door open.

“Ah, glad you all could join us. I would like you all to meet Toga, Eri, and Deku. Once Vlad King and Recovery Girl join us, we can begin our little impromptu meeting.”

Chapter Text

“You got all of our stuff to the rendezvous point?” Toga asked, her voice barely above a whisper as she and Deku crouched together in a door frame. According to Deku’s calculations, which were rarely wrong, they were perfectly placed out of view of any cameras.

Deku nodded. “All my computer gear, your knives, and the like, three pieces of clothing between the two of us, are all there. I hid them pretty well so no one should find them. Are you sure you want in on this? There’s no turning back, you know. Shigaraki will eventually find out.”

“You saw what happened to that girl. We can’t just leave her here. And… And if Shigaraki knew about Eri and what she could be used for… I don’t think he’d be much nicer to her.”

Deku frowned, but nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Toga. I know that the League is your family.”

She shook her head. “You and Magne are my family. If you think this is the right thing to do, then we’ll do it. Besides, if Shiggy found out you helped Eri, he’d hurt you. And then I’d have to hurt him and I’d get kicked out of the League anyway. So this is better. Now, remember, we only have 15 minutes max before my time runs out after I drink the blood. You have to be ready, okay, Deku-kun?”

“Got it. Let’s do this then.”

Toga picked up the small water bottle and untwisted the cap. Deku grimaced slightly, watching the gauze float around inside the bloody water. 

They had known that if Toga had sucked the blood out of the gauze while it was still wet, then Toga would have only been able to be Eri for a few minutes during the day. What they needed was for her to be able to transform into Eri during the night, when most everybody was asleep. The blood would have dried out at that point and they hadn’t done enough tests yet with Toga’s quirk to know if dry blood would work. So, they did the only thing they could think of: they made blood infused water. Shoving the gauze into a bottle of water, they had watched as the water had turned a hazy shade of pink. 

Toga downed the entire bottle in one go, stopping only to poke a finger in, hook it on the gauze, and yank it out to squeeze the last drops into her mouth. Looking away, Deku waited for Toga to take off her clothes and transform into Eri. After a moment, Toga, who now looked exactly like Eri, poked him and handed him the bundle of her clothes. He took the clothes and then pulled his phone from his pocket. With a few quick taps, all of the cameras in the Yakuza base went down, along with all other security measures: including the high tech locks on Eri’s door.

“Meet you soon,” Deku said, before hurrying away, leaving Toga to her part of the plan. 

Toga scurried off towards where she knew a guard would be, following the path she and Deku had mapped earlier. Letting the guard spot her, she let him chase her, shrieking and crying the whole way. Other guards and thugs were startled awake by the noise, coming out of their rooms to investigate. They were all too drowsy and disoriented to notice the small girl dodging through their legs. They were awake enough to notice when the first guard crashed into them full force, sending them all sprawling. This, of course, started multiple arguments, which led to at least three different fist fights breaking out. Toga giggled quietly as she slipped into the vent that she and Deku had unlocked for her earlier. From there, it was just a matter of climbing through the ducts until she got out of the building.

Meanwhile, Deku was sprinting towards Eri’s room. Just as he turned into the hall with her room, a lab door opened, revealing Overhaul. Scrambling, Deku ducked back around the corner, his breathing erratic. Overhaul manually locked the door behind him before he calmly walked down the hall away from Deku, yawning. 

He’d finished making the fifth bullet. 

As soon as Overhaul’s footsteps had receded, Deku poked his head back around the corner. Seeing that the coast was clear, he hurried over to the door that Overhaul had just exited from. He paused, wondering if this was the right thing to do. He and Toga hadn’t planned for this, but it was the perfect opportunity. With a final grimace, Deku used one of his gauntlets and sprayed a little acid around the lock. Once it had eaten through the metal, he opened the door and slipped inside.

Without hesitation, he picked up the small box that held the bullets. Peeking inside, he confirmed all five were there. Deku glanced around the room, wondering if he had time to destroy all of Overhaul’s research. After a brief hesitation, Deku pulled out a flash drive from his pocket and plugged it into the nearby computer. A few keystrokes later, the entirety of the computer’s contents had been copied to the flashdrive and deleted from the computer’s hard drive. He pocketed the flash drive and then turned his attention on all the papers that littered the lab. It took only seconds for Deku to use his gauntlet to set them on fire. 

He hurried from the room and opened Eri’s door, flooding the dark room with the light from the hall. 

Eri looked up from where she laid on the bed, her bleary eyes turning sharp and fearful as soon as she saw him. Deku closed the door behind him and slowly took his hood down. Then, he pulled his mask off, allowing her to see his face. 

He smiled at her, his dimples flashing on his freckled cheeks. 

“Hi Eri, I know you don’t really know me, and I know this is scary, but I’m here to help you. I need you to be a brave girl and come with me. Do you think you can do that?”

She sat up in her bed, clutching the thin blanket to her chest. She shook like a leaf, though Deku couldn’t tell if it was from the cold or from fear.

“Overhaul said I’m bad. I’m cursed. He’s the only one who can help me.”

Deku frowned. “Has he ever lied to you, Eri? About anything?”

Slowly, she nodded. “He would tell me it wasn’t going to hurt, but then it would hurt really bad. He’d cut me sometimes and sometimes he’d poke me with needles. And one time, he told me that I was going to get a really nice new bedroom if I was good for him. I tried really, really hard to be good. He even said I did well. But then he didn’t get me a new room.”

“I bet there were other times where he lied too, huh? I think a lot of people have lied to you about a lot of things, Eri. But I promise you, I am not lying. I am here to help you because I can tell that Overhaul is hurting you. He is the bad one, not you. If you come with me, I can take you somewhere that is safe. You’ll never have to see Overhaul again.”

“How can you promise that though?” Eri asked. “Overhaul said that he’d come for me.”

“Well, I’m going to take you to some heroes. Some really good ones. They’re strong and they can protect you from him. But we have to leave now, okay?”

Eri looked him over for a moment, her eyes calculating. Finally, she let go of the blanket and climbed from the bed, her bare feet padding on the cold floor.

“I want to leave with you, Mr. Deku.”

Shucking off his jacket, he wrapped it around her shoulders, leaving him in his t-shirt, cargo pants, and his gear. Eri took hold of the hoodie and pulled it tight around her small body, seeming to revel in the warmth of it. Putting his mask back on, Deku stooped down and opened his arms wide.

“Is it okay if I carry you? We need to move fast and I worry about you hurting your feet since you aren’t wearing shoes.”

When Eri nodded, Deku moved another step forward and scooped her up, holding her close to his chest. Holding onto the hoodie with one hand, she wrapped her other arm around the back of Deku’s neck and buried her face into the side of his neck. He pulled the hood up over her bright, distinctive hair and left the room, praying that Eri would never have to come back to it ever again. 

Deku hurried through the hall, knowing there wasn’t much time before the cameras came back on. He needed to be out of the building before that happened, or Overhaul would know he was the one to steal Eri away. 

He was almost to the door when a knife sliced across his upper arm. 

Hissing in pain, Deku dodged to the side, wrapping his body protectively around Eri. As he twisted away, the knife flashed through the air again and came down on Deku’s face, cutting him at his brow and sending blood flooding down into his eye. Thankfully, Eri was still wrapped in his jacket, so when the knife glanced off Deku’s face, it didn’t cut her.

Finally distancing himself from the attacker, Deku turned and found himself facing some low level, no name Yakuza thug. The man’s stance was horrible, his grip on the knife incorrect, but effective enough to get the job done. 

“I’m not letting you steal what belongs to the boss,” the man spat, glaring. “Hand her over and I’ll let you go.”

“What are you hoping to accomplish here, dude? You honestly can’t think that you can take me on, do you?”

“I can take on some skinny brat! I’ll take back the girl and the boss will see how valuable I am! This is my ticket into the inner ring! So hand her over and I won’t -”

He was cut off as Deku launched one of his extra bracer cartridges at his throat. While the man gagged, struggling to suck in air after having been struck, Deku activated the bracer with the gasses, not really caring which one he sprayed the guy with. When the man swayed and collapsed to the ground, unconscious, Deku found he was slightly disappointed.

He’d kinda been hoping it was the hallucinogenic one. 

Deku didn’t wait around. He just pulled Eri in closer to his chest and hurried out the door. 

A moment later, the cameras came back on within the base, showing hallways filled with chaos and a little girl’s empty bedroom. 

When Deku and Eri got to the rendezvous point, they found Toga waiting for them wearing a too-large t-shirt and too-small shorts. 

“Do you have my clothes?” Toga asked, hopping from foot to foot excitedly. 

Deku passed over the small bag and turned around, letting Toga change in private. As soon as she was done, she used one of her knives to slice the hem of her skirt and wrapped it around Deku’s bleeding arm. 

Eri frowned at all the blood, tears welling in her eyes. “I didn’t want anyone getting hurt for me. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. This isn’t our fault, okay?” Deku said, giving her a little squeeze.

“You know,” Toga said, still working to stop the bleeding from the cut on Deku’s arm. “It's a long walk to UA. And with you being hurt, it’ll just make it even longer. That gives Overhaul too much of a chance to find us.”

Deku groaned. “I know, you’re right. We really don’t have a choice about this, do we?”

“Nope! Now, I know you said we can’t ask Shiggy or Kurogiri for help. What about Twice?”

“He’ll blurt it out to Shigaraki. And Spinner is out too. He’s way too loyal to Shigaraki not to rat us out. We need someone who will show up and not tell Shigaraki where they are going. We really only have one option here and it's not great.”

“You mean Dabi? I guess we could call him, but I don’t really see him helping us just to be nice. That’s not really his style,” Toga said, finally tying off the scrap of cloth.

“He’ll do anything for a price, and I definitely have something he’ll want. Call him.”

Within 15 minutes, Dabi was pulling up in a trashed beater, the engine sputtering and hissing. Leaning out of the broken window, he gave them all an unimpressed look. Eri burrowed further into Deku’s chest, her whole body quaking.

“Toga said you’d pay me for help,” Dabi drawled. “What’s the offer?”

Fishing a hand into his pocket, Deku pulled out the small box he had stolen from Overhaul’s lab. 

“Here’s the deal. I can tell you some more information about Endeavor as a thanks for driving out here to listen to us. You can then go on your way and pretend you never saw us. Or, I can give you something that is in this box that you can use against Endeavor. To get it, you have to drive us as close to UA as you can safely get. I would suggest you not tell Shigaraki you helped us, if you value your life, and we’ll make sure the heroes don’t let it slip that you helped us. You also have to swear not to tell Shigaraki anything about Eri and her quirk. So, which option are you taking?”

Dabi carefully eyed the box in Deku’s hand, feigning disinterest, as he always did, but showing a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

“Whatever you’ve got there: is it good? How bad will it mess with Endeavor?”

Toga stepped up, smiling. “It’ll completely end his career. He’ll never be a hero again. And with how bad it is, it’s probably worse than death in his eyes.”

Without hesitation, Dabi unlocked the car doors. 

Toga climbed in first and took Eri from Deku, settling the small girl into the seat beside her. With some struggling, Deku climbed into the passenger seat in the front, sitting himself beside Dabi. Opening the box, Deku fished out one of the bullets and held it out to Dabi.

“This is a quirk-destroying bullet. Shoot Endeavor with this and he’ll never be able to use his flames again. There is technically an antidote, but it was being produced by the Yakuza. With the way it's made, the other heroes will refuse to let Endeavor have it.”

“How’s it made?”

“From me,” Eri said from the backseat. “Overhaul would take me apart and then put me back together, but he’d keep some of me for himself. Then he’d make it into a bullet. He made a few of the blue bullets but they got used up for tests. He only has the red bullets right now.”

Dabi glanced back at the girl, his eyes scanning over her bandaged limbs and cataloging every single one of her scars. Slowly, he turned back to Deku and opened his hand, letting him drop the red bullet into his palm. 

“We have a deal. Can’t believe I’m helping you brats play hero. You better not tell anyone that I have this, got it? If you do, I’ll find out and I’ll make you regret it.”

“Completely understandable. Now, could you please drive? I really think I’m losing more blood than I would like.”

Dabi dropped them off about a block from the UA campus, pausing only long enough to wave Deku closer to his window. Deku leaned in, frowning in confusion.

“Listen, kid, shit is going to be hard. Most heroes are bastards. There are a couple good ones at UA, which I’m sure you know. Talk to them. They’re more likely to listen to you,” Dabi said. His blue eyes were serious, more so than Deku had ever seen. “I’m changing my number after this, just in case the heroes are able to get it out of you two. But this bullet… This bullet is worth more than a car ride. If you need help, then find a computer and track me down. You’re smart enough to do it. I won’t meet up with you, since I can’t trust that the heroes aren’t using you, but I can tell you some information or something. Then we’ll be even, got it?” 

Deku nodded before patting the side of the car. Dabi gave him one last wave farewell before peeling away from the curb and disappearing into the night. Toga carried Eri the rest of the way to UA while Deku kept pressure on his wounded arm, only stumbling twice. At the gates, Deku used a small pair of pliers to open the control panel and manually rewired the gates to open, letting them onto the campus. 

Standing on just the other side of the gate was Principal Nezu, a serene smile on his face. 

“Hello! Please, come in. Let’s talk in my office. I believe we have much to discuss.” 

---

Dabi held the small red bullet between two fingers, turning it back and forth, watching as the light moved across its smooth surface. 

He wasn’t thrilled about Deku and Toga running off to the heroes. It wasn’t a complete surprise that Deku ditched the League: Dabi saw that coming from day one. Toga leaving was a surprise and it was definitely a shock that the two were skipping out to work with heroes. 

But, Dabi also knew what it was like to be driven by pain. The two teens had been driven by abuse and suffering to join the villains, working in the underbelly of society to create a better future. And now, they were being driven by the pain of losing Magne, who they had both been close to, and the pain of seeing such a young child in need of help. He understood why they wanted to help her: they saw themselves in her. They wanted to be the person that they wished had saved them. Hell, Dabi had felt the same thing the first time he had met the teens. He had seen his own pain reflected in them and he’d been drawn to it. 

It was too late for him. He knew that. But it wasn’t too late for them. They hadn’t done the things he had. In a way, it was nice to see someone finally break the cycle. It was nice to see people escape from their abusers. 

Afterall, when Toga and Deku joined the League, they hadn’t truly escaped abuse. No, they had just traded one set of abusers for another: they had just traded for Shigaraki and his mysterious Sensei. 

“Good for you, kids,” Dabi whispered into the night, pocketing the bullet and looking down on the dark, empty street from his window. “Good for you.”

Chapter Text

“So you’re telling me that these two kids, who are members of the League of Villains, stole this girl and these quirk-destroying bullets from the Yakuza?” Vlad King said, eyeing Deku and Toga carefully. 

Toga was smiling at him, stars in her eyes. She had been doing that ever since he’d stepped in the room, her hand fisted tightly in Deku’s sleeve. Recovery Girl had come in with Vlad King, shuffling along and grumbling about the hour. She’d planted a kiss on Deku’s cheek without question, closing his injuries. A white, shimmery scar was left behind, splitting his brow. The bags beneath his eyes had darkened, his eyelids drooping as he got tired from the energy drain. Recovery Girl had forced a handful of energy gummies at him before trying to get Eri to come with her to the clinic for a full check-up. The little girl had teared up, not wanting to leave her “heroes” but with some prodding and promises from Deku that he would see her soon, she’d eventually agreed to go with Recovery Girl, still wrapped tightly in the black jacket. 

Overall, it had been a very confusing 15 minutes for Shinsou. 

Deku, who had been staring down at his hands, looking nearly catatonic ever since Eri left, looked up at Vlad King and frowned. 

“Technically, I wasn’t a part of the League of Villains. I’m a freelancer.”

“Yet you lived with the League and worked for them?” Vlad scoffed.

“I hacked for them and did research and analysis in exchange for room and board. They kept me safe; that was our deal. I also would work for a broker when he found people who needed my skills. I got paid for that stuff.”

Aizawa raised an eyebrow. “Want to tell us that broker’s name?”

“Not really, no. My knowledge is probably the only thing keeping me out of handcuffs right now so I’m not about to hand everything over right away.”

“Smart,” Mic said, nodding. When he saw Aizawa shoot him a deadly glare, he gave him a shrug. “Can’t fault me for complimenting the kid.”

“King-kun, what kind of blood is your favorite?” Toga asked, nearly leaning out of her chair. Her grip on Deku’s shirt was the only thing keeping her from tumbling to the ground. “I mean, obviously human is the best but it sooo hard to get a bunch of it at once. So when Shiggy let’s me drink blood, I usually just get whatever animal blood that I can. Pig is my favorite but usually I can only get cow.”

Vlad King’s mouth dropped open in shock, as did Mic’s. Nezu, Shinsou, and Aizawa were better at hiding it, but the widening of their eyes was indication enough that they were startled. Shinsou, not knowing Vlad very well, was shocked that Toga thought a pro-hero drank blood, while the teachers were all shocked that she knew Vlad King did.

“What… How…” Vlad stuttered. 

Deku grabbed Toga’s arm and pulled her back closer to him, sending an apologetic smile towards the startled hero. 

“Sorry about that. I told her about how you liked blood too and she’s been really excited about it ever since. Don’t be surprised if she asks more questions.”

“And how did you know, Deku?” Nezu carefully asked, sipping at his tea. 

“Well, it's sort of obvious, isn't it?” Deku said, cocking his head, making Shinsou think of a sweet, curious little puppy. “I mean, he has a blood quirk. A strong one at that. Most people with blood quirks have some sort of affinity for blood. With his fangs, it's obvious that he would have an interest in the taste of blood. Most people with a blood quirk who like drinking blood have a mutation to their mouth. It's like, the main signifier for it. Like Stain! He had the tongue. Toga has to drink blood for her’s, as you guy’s know, but she also needs it for her health. I think she might also be anemic, but I can’t be sure.”

“Wait, how do you know about Stain’s quirk?”

Deku turned his eyes on Aizawa. “Oh, I hacked the camera feeds and watched the fight. Your students are really fucking stupid, did you know that?”

“Nuh-uh,” Toga giggled. “You thought Todoroki made the right choice when we watched the fight with Spinny.”

“Yeah, given his options he made the right choice, but he also shouldn’t have been running into a fight like that with no plan or information. The dumbest one was the kid that went after Stain alone. He’s the real dumbass.”

“Right! The Ingenium knock off!”

“Iida?” Shinsou blurted out, not thinking. “He’s one of the smartest guys in our class!”

Deku fixed his green eyes on Shinsou and gave him a lopsided grin. “Iida? So he is related to Ingenium! Oh, it all makes sense now.”

Shinsou went to speak again but stopped when Aizawa’s hand came down on his shoulder. Looking up at his mentor, he saw that Aizawa was giving him a look Shinsou had seen a million times before: Aizawa wanted him to keep his mouth shut.

Deku’s grin only grew. “Are you two related? You’ve both got mental based quirks, similar builds, and similar facial features. The hair is pretty different though. And the activation for your quirks is pretty different too, so maybe not. Distant cousins? You do have a voice quirk though, so maybe you’re actually related to Present Mic. Sorta doubt that though: you guys look nothing alike.”

Toga elbowed him. “You’re rambling again, Deku-kun.”

“Oh, sorry,” Deku said, a blush creeping up his face to his ears, making him look impossibly cuter. “I can’t help myself sometimes.”

“An analysis quirk. Should have guessed,” Vlad King said. He folded his arms and leaned back in his seat. 

“Incorrect,” Nezu said. He poured two more cups of tea and pushed them towards the young criminals. After a moment's hesitation, he poured another and passed it to Shinsou, seemingly deciding that all the children needed caffeine and comfort.

Deku’s eyes went wide as he stared at Nezu, not touching the tea. 

“So… You know?”

Nezu nodded. “I knew as soon as I saw you.”

For the first time since Shinsou had seen her, Toga lost her smile. She grabbed hold of Deku with both hands and barred her teeth at Nezu, clearly threatening him. 

“Deku-kun is amazing and if you try to hurt him, I will -”

“Oh, I have no intention of hurting him! You have nothing to worry about, my dear. I have no intention of hurting either of you. In fact, I planned to offer you both a place here at my school.”

That caught everyone’s attention.

“You can’t be serious,” Aizawa snapped. “She tried to kill my students!”

“And mine!” Vlad snarled. 

“I wasn’t going to kill anybody! I just needed some blood!”

Nezu raised a paw, signaling for silence. “These two risked everything: their lives, their standing in the League, their home. All to do the right thing and save a little girl’s life. Before you all arrived, they explained that Overhaul was planning to move their headquarters. They would likely have been gone before we arrived for the raid. Now that we know what time they are planning to leave, we can attack while they are unstable. There will also be less risk, now that there will be no civilians within the base.

“For a few years now, I have been pushing to have a villain rehabilitation program implemented here at UA. The Commission pushed back and would not approve, stating that it was too dangerous, that most villains had no interest to be rehabilitated, and that there were no stable villains young enough for the program to work. But now, Deku and Toga have proven them wrong. With the right diet, and possibly medication, I believe Toga would be able to be an excellent candidate. Deku, with his brilliant mind, could easily see himself at the top of the class within months. There has been an open spot in 1-A for some time, ever since Young Mineta left after the USJ event, and there is an opening in 1-B now that Tsunotori has completed her study abroad. Toga and Deku will fill these vacancies.”

“Wait,” Toga said, looking mildly panicked. “We’d be hero students?”

“Am I even allowed?” Deku asked. “I mean, I thought it was against the rules.”

“There is no rule against it. Who told you there was?”

Mic scoffed. “I’m pretty sure there are rules against kids with criminal records being in the hero courses.”

“I don’t have a record. Neither does Toga.” Deku gave Mic a smile that was somewhere between self conscious and smug. “We’ve never been arrested.”

“Fine. Kids with warrants out for their arrests.”

“None of you know my real name.”

“And I don’t suppose you’ll be telling us that, will you?”

“You know me so well already, Eraserhead.”

Nezu cleared his throat, catching everyone’s attention. “We, as heroes, have a duty to help those in need. Right now, that is Deku and Toga. If they were to return to the League, they could very easily be punished for what they have done. They need UA’s protection and that is what we will do. If you are all uncomfortable with the idea of them being in the hero course, I will find another way to keep them safe. But I believe it would be an opportunity to show more diversity within our hero course, which I know is something you have been campaigning for, Eraserhead. It will also help the current students to learn that they need to learn an individual's full story before passing judgment. I believe it will also help Toga and Deku learn to trust heroes again if they were to spend time with heroes-in-training. Additionally, it would be the safest place for them. If there was to be an attack, they would be better protected.”

“And you also think that if we were to attack, the hero course kids would be better at protecting themselves,” Deku chimed in. He didn’t sound or look offended by this: he was just stating a fact.

Nezu nodded, not at all ashamed. “Precisely. I will be putting this to a vote, which is why I have gathered you all here. I wanted the input of both homeroom teachers, a student in the hero course, and a third teacher with less of a stake. This way, we would have a more diverse voting pool.”

“What if we don’t want to be heroes?” Toga asked.

“Then you will be arrested and treated as any other criminal.”

“Got it, okay, do your voting thing.”

“Now, there would be rules and safety measures put in place,” Nezu said, addressing the teachers again. “They wouldn’t be given free reign. Obviously, I will be voting to include them in the hero course, since it is my idea. Vlad, what is your vote?”

Sighing, Vlad looked over at the two criminals. Deku had his eyes downcast avoiding eye contact. There was a nervous energy to him that seemed disproportionate for a simple vote. Toga was flashing Vlad a wide smile, but was still tense and clinging to Deku. 

“Fine. Let them join. If they step a toe out of line, we arrest them.”

“Mic?”

“I mean, they’re kids. There’s gotta be a story there of why they thought they had to be villains. I say give them a shot.”

“Aizawa?”

Aizawa gave a groan and closed his eyes. “I’m going to go gray early. I just know it.”

“I’m taking that as a yes. Shinsou?”

All eyes were turned on him as he took a shaky breath. 

“I… I don’t know how everyone else is going to feel. Doesn’t feel right that I’m the one that has to speak for both classes. Maybe we should have Iida and Kendo vote. They’re the class reps.”

Nezu shook his head. “I chose you to do the vote because you are aware of the case and have been on it from the start. We want your honest opinion, Shinsou. If you say no, we will just privately teach them. It won’t be a problem, do you understand?”

Shinsou nodded before looking over at the villains. 

They weren’t so different from him. Toga had a “villain’s” quirk, like him. Deku must have one too, since he seemed so scared of anyone knowing what his quirk was. One bad thing, one change in Shinsou’s life, could have been the difference between him being a villain, like these two, or being a hero. 

Who was he to judge them?

“Yes. Give them a chance. They deserve that much.”

Deku gave a shuddering sob and folded over on himself, leaning into Toga. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders in an attempt to comfort him. Everyone else, besides Nezu, looked startled at the reaction. Carefully, Mic stood up and picked up a box of tissues from Nezu’s desk and slid them over to Deku.

Toga grabbed a tissue and wiped at Deku’s face, smearing tears and blood across his cheeks. 

“See, you can still be a hero, Deku. He was wrong. They were all wrong! It’s okay, you don’t have to cry.”

“But… I… I can’t… I…” Deku hiccupped, unable to get a word out.

“You can,” Nezu said, a smile on his face. “We’ll help you.”

Chapter Text

It took a few minutes for Deku to stop crying. In the meantime, Aizawa stepped into the hall to call Sir Nighteye to give him the update about Eri. They still needed to arrest the Yakuza, but the plan needed to be tweaked now. Mic had offered to make a new pot of tea while Vlad King went to get a blood bag filled with pig’s blood to give to Toga. As he got up to go get it, Deku thought he could hear Vlad grumbling about how Toga obviously wasn’t drinking enough and how her scent and color was off. Nezu went back to looking over the support gear Deku had designed, leaving the three teens sitting together. 

Deku couldn’t bring himself to look at the other boy. Not yet, at least. He remembered the boy a little bit from the Sports Festival: Deku had been really interested in how cool his quirk was and how cute he was. In the time since the festival, Shinsou had put on muscle, enough that he was filling out his t-shirt and the sleeves were pulled tight around his biceps. Now, he was downright gorgeous and it wasn’t fair.

Deku knew how he looked. He was plain and had a boring, round baby face. His hair was messy; and not in a cool, effortless way like Shinsou. He had some muscle, but nowhere near the same amount as the hero course students: he was too underfed to build serious muscle. He and Toga were mostly wiry, thin muscles; they were built for survival and that was it. Without his mask and hoodie, Deku had nothing to hide behind, so his watery eyes and tear stained cheeks were on full display for the world to see.  

Overall, he looked like a useless, blood-covered, crybaby; just like he had always been as a little kid. 

“So,” Shinsou said, breaking the awkward silence. “Which of you is going to go to which class, do you think?”

“I want to go to Vlad King’s!” Toga said excitedly, bouncing in her seat. “He’s like me, with the blood! Deku can go with Eraserhead.”

Deku whipped his head up, glaring at her. “Fuck no! You can be in Eraser’s class. There is no way in hell I’m going to 1-A!”

“Maybe we can both be in Vlady’s class.”

Nezu looked up from the pile of weapons and gear. “Oh, no, we will not be having you in the same homeroom. I believe it would be best for everyone if you were in different classes. Toga will go to 1-B and Deku to 1-A. Deku, you would benefit highly from hand to hand combat training with Aizawa. Unless you have a reason why you shouldn’t be in his class?”

Deku clamped his mouth shut and folded his arms across his chest. Glancing at Toga, they had a silent argument with only their eyes. Toga was begging, with her big puppy dog eyes, while Deku was begging with his own eyes to not be forced into 1-A.

He really didn’t want to be in there with him .

But there was no way he was going to say anything to Nezu. The longer he could keep them from figuring out his identity, the better. Sure, Nezu might know he’s quirkless and be okay with it, but who was to say any of the other teachers would be. They could all go to Nezu and demand he leave if they found out. No, it was better to fake having a quirk until he had made himself invaluable. Then, they might not want to get rid of him. He’d just have to get to him in secret to tell him to keep his damn mouth shut.

With a final sigh, Deku nodded. “Fine, I’ll go to 1-A.”

“You’ll like it, don’t worry, man. They’re a good group. Kind of loud though,” Shinsou said, rubbing at the back of his neck shyly. 

Deku had to fight down the blush that was threatening to flood his cheeks. 

Aizawa and Mic came back into the room at the same time; Mic with a fresh pot of hot water for the tea and Aizawa with a tired expression on his face. 

“Nighteye pulled me from the raid. He wants me here to handle these two and the girl. Until we know all the details of their quirks, he wants me to keep an eye on them. Shinsou, he said you could still go on the raid. You’re to stick close to Fatgum, got it?”

Shinsou nodded. “Am I excused? I know I still have a couple hours before I have to leave but I might as well use this time to catch up on homework.”

“Yeah, go. Don’t tell any of the others about this. Nighteye will be telling everyone the basics of what happened but the other students don’t need to be worrying about this while on a raid,” Aizawa said, dropping to sit back down in one of the chairs. “And eat some real food for breakfast. Coffee doesn’t count.”

“Got it. I’ll have coffee and a single grape.”

“I swear, I will fail you if you don’t eat a full meal.”

“Two grapes.”

Mic snorted and swatted at Shinsou as he walked past, making the teen grin. Deku ducked his head again, knowing he had turned bright red. Toga hid a giggle behind her hand. 

When Vlad King came back, he handed Toga a blood bag with a straw poked into it. Deku thought it looked like a morbid version of a Capri Sun, but Toga seemed pretty excited. She took a big gulp and then gave Vlad a massive, toothy smile. 

“This is so fresh!”

“Say thank you,” Deku prompted, elbowing her.

“Oh, right. Thank you for the pig’s blood! It’s super good!”

Nezu poured a fresh cup of tea for Deku and handed it to him before going to rummage in his desk drawers. After a moment, he popped back out with a package of biscuits, which he sat down between the two criminals. 

Toga opened it and took a quick sniff before pushing it towards Deku with a nod. While he took out one to eat, she sniffed at Deku’s tea and nodded again.

“What’s the smelling for?” Mic asked, sitting down beside Aizawa. He let his knee bump against his husband’s in a reassuring manner. 

“Oh, Deku-kun gets nervous about taking food from strangers so I check it for him,” Toga said, pulling out a biscuit for herself. “I have a really strong sense of smell since I have to be able to tell when blood has gone bad. I can pick up more from blood than food, but I can still tell if stuff has been drugged.”

“She can also pick up the smell of blood easier. That’s why she didn’t have to sniff at the stuff Vlad King gave her,” Deku said before gulping down the tea. He scarfed down about five biscuits before he picked up the first cup of tea that Nezu had given him, which had long gone cold. He shot a glance to Toga, and when she nodded, he drank that down as well.

Aizawa frowned even further, his brows furrowing with concern. Mic and Vlad bore a similar expression, watching the kids eat. 

“When was the last time you two ate?” Mic asked.

“I was about to ask the same,” Aizawa said gruffly. “Was also going to ask why you were concerned about your food being drugged. Did something happen?”

Toga beamed at him, laughing. “It's such a funny story! So, like, the first week after Deku moved in, he -”

Deku lunged and slapped a hand over her mouth, which only made her laugh harder. 

“Shut up, Toga! No one wants to hear that story! And stop licking my hand, you know damn well it isn’t clean.” 

“Uh, actually, I think all of us would like to hear it,” Mic said, looking even more concerned. 

Toga knocked Deku’s hand off before sticking her tongue out at him. She turned back to Mic, looking borderline crazed. 

“Okay, so, Deku moved in and during the first week, we went to hang out with everyone else. We wanted Deku to meet the broker we usually worked with so we could get some gear for him and so Deku could get some jobs, you know? Well, the broker brought some dudes for Shiggy to meet, so it was kinda crowded and stuff. Deku was drinking a soda and someone slipped some sort of drug into it. Pretty sure the dude thought it was my drink, but whatever. Deku drank it and he got soooo high. Like, obviously he didn’t mean to, but he did. And we didn’t realize until he started talking about his childhood and stuff, which, like, Big Sis and I had told him not to talk about that stuff, so it was weird that he was. Then, he full on hugged Dabi! Started saying how warm and toasty and snuggly Dabi was. I pulled Deku off before he got burnt and the broker kicked out the dude that slipped him the drug, but it was hilarious. After that, Deku made me check all his food.”

Toga broke off into laughter while Deku was blushing and pouting. 

“That story is so embarrassing. Why do you always try to tell people about it?”

“Because you get all red and it's so funny!”

It was only then that the two realized no one else in the room was laughing. Toga and Deku blinked at them in confusion. 

Toga, having spent years around criminals and villains while living on the streets, was used to these sort of stories being a source of comedy, while Deku was just used to being mocked. They didn’t understand why the heroes didn’t find it funny. 

Mic and Vlad looked green in the face while Nezu was frowning, a small slant to his brow over his beady black eyes. Aizawa looked stricken, his hands balled into tight fists.

“So, you’re saying a man tried to drug you, but instead drugged Deku? And the only repercussions the man faced was being made to leave?” Vlad asked, his voice quiet. 

“Well, yeah. I mean, it wouldn’t have been the first time someone drugged me. It happens sometimes. Big Sis or Dabi would keep an eye on me and make sure I puked it all back up so it wasn’t, like, a big deal.”

Deku nodded. “Yeah, and the one time I caught a guy trying to drug her, I took care of it. Why are you guys acting weird?”

“You do realize it isn’t normal to get drugged, right?”

“I mean, for heroes like you guys, sure. But for girls like me, it's normal. The other girls my age that I would meet on the streets always told me I was lucky I only got drugged and always had people I could trust with me. Deku always says how I need to be better about checking my own stuff like I check his, but I forget a lot.”

“And some people like boys,” Deku said with a shrug. “Toga’s found my drinks and food drugged more than once.”

Without saying a word, Mic stood and walked out of the room, the door slamming forcefully shut behind him. Vlad pinched the bridge of his nose, taking measured breaths while Nezu stared into the depths of his tea cup. Aizawa was the first one to speak, his voice thick. 

“And the last time you ate? You didn’t tell us that.”

“Oh,” Toga said, pulling her straw out of her mouth. “The Yakuza offered us some food but they gave us weird vibes so I would sneak out and get food for us sometimes. We eat just fine.”

She then shoved an entire biscuit into her mouth and crunched on it happily.

Deku nodded along with her words. “Yeah, we eat fine. I mean, it's probably not as much or as nice as what you guys eat but everything combined is probably like, one to one and half meals a day. It's less than what we had before we left home but it's better than what a lot of other people get.”

“We just didn’t get to eat today, or I guess it's yesterday now, or the day before. I wasn’t able to go out and get stuff and then Overhaul was showing us what he was doing to Eri and then we had to pack up and get her out of there, so we just didn’t have time.”

Mic came bursting back into the room and dumped an armful of jelly packets, fruit snacks, and miniature bags of pretzels on the table, all of which were sealed. They scattered across in a clatter, making Deku jump in surprise and Toga flash her teeth, as though she was being threatened. 

“Eat.”

“What the hell, Mic, did you completely wipe out my stash?”

“They’re hungry! And this stuff is prepackaged, so they can trust it!”

“They need real food!”

“Oh, so when you eat it, it's ‘real food’ and ‘a complete meal,’ but when I feed it to kids, it's not? Hypocrite.”

Deku narrowed his eyes up at Mic.

“Why are you being nice to us?”

Sighing, the teacher gave him a small smile. “You guys are kids. I can’t let you go hungry and I don’t want either of you worrying about being drugged, okay?”

Deku kept glaring as he picked up one of the jelly packets. Breaking the seal, he held it out to Toga, who took a quick whiff and nodded.

Deku guzzled it down within seconds. 

Chapter Text

Outside of the Yakuza base, Shinsou and Kirishima were huddled on one side of Fatgum, Tamaki on the other. The rest of the heroes and police were scattered around the perimeter, ready to move in and take out the Yakuza when they started to move. 

“I still don’t understand,” Kirishima whispered. “The girl was rescued and Aizawa has to stay with her? Why? And how did she get rescued? I mean, none of us did it.”

“Aizawa will tell us more later. We should just focus on what we are doing right now,” Shinsou whispered back. 

“Does the girl have a weird quirk or something? That would explain why Aizawa had to stay behind. So if she gets out of control, he can turn off her quirk. Come on, Shinsou, he had to have said something to you!”

Fatgum flicked the back of Kirishima’s head, making the boy flinch but grin up at his mentor. Fatgum gave him a smile back. 

“Keep your eyes on the mission, ya’ hear? We don’t wanna have any of these guys escaping.”

“Yessir!” Kirishima said enthusiastically. Tamaki nodded as well, though he kept quiet. He’d been quiet all morning, ever since they told him he wouldn’t be in the same team as Mirio or Nejire. 

Shinsou wasn’t positive, but he was starting to get the feeling that there was something more between the three than met the eye. And after the revelation he had regarding being gay and being a hero, the idea of being a hero and in a poly-relationship just made his head spin. 

He quickly packed those thoughts and feelings away in the back of his mind to ignore, just like he did with most of his emotions. 

“Alright, remember boys. Stay together as best as ya’ can. Fall back if ya’ get hurt too badly. And if things go sideways, go for help. Am I clear?”

They all nodded up at him just as the Yakuza started to trickle out of the base.

It was time.

---

“Vlad King and I are going to work with Nezu to figure out the details of you two staying at UA. While we do that, you two can get some sleep in here. Midnight is going to come in and keep an eye on you two while Shouta goes to talk with Eri,” Present Mic said, opening a door. Inside was what looked like a nice apartment, though it had two doors; both on the same wall. When Deku pointedly looked at the second door, Mic smiled shyly. “We wanted the kids to think that Shouta and I had separate dorms. Really, Nezu had an apartment built for us. That way we could still live together but we’d be here in the dorms with the kids.”

Without hesitation, Toga was walking around the living room and looking at everything. As she went to pick up a picture frame, a small noise from the couch caught her attention. When she turned to look, a ball of white fluff perked up from behind one of the throw pillows. Gasping, she hurried over to the couch. 

“A kitty!” she whispered, putting her hand out for the cat to sniff. 

“Oh, yeah, we have two cats. That one is my boy: Sardine. Sho’s is around here somewhere. Her name is Dumpster.”

Deku snorted. “Dumpster? Sardine?”

“Hey! Sardine is a Broadway reference. Waitress is a great musical and I will fight you on that. And Sho named her Dumpster because that’s where he found her. I think he originally named her that as a joke to annoy me, but the name stuck and now it's all she’ll answer to.”

As if on cue, a fat tabby cat came padding from down the hall, meowing loudly. She wound her way between Mic’s legs and then rubbed against Deku’s shins affectionately. 

“Huh. She likes you.”

“Animals usually do,” Deku said, kneeling down to pet her. She purred happily before trotting off again. 

Sardine was looking at Toga warily, his ears pinned back. Most animals didn’t love her, so it wasn’t a surprise that he was nervous. Something about her eyes and sharp grin screamed dangerous , even to animals, so they were cautious around her. Carefully, Toga ran her fingers across the top of his head. His blue eyes blinked at her a few times before he got up, stretched languidly, and then padded after Dumpster. Toga pouted as he left.

“So there is a guest room and an office that you guys can stay in. Shouta put a futon in the office and it's pretty comfortable. The guest room bed should already be made up,” Mic said. He went over to a hall closet and opened it up, pulling some extra blankets and pillows down from a shelf. 

“Actually, can we sleep out here for now?” Deku asked, shifting from foot to foot nervously. 

Mic frowned. “Wouldn’t you be more comfortable on a bed or something? The couch out here isn’t that comfortable.”

“I’d rather not get locked in a small room in a hero’s apartment minutes after meeting him.”

Blushing, Mic nodded and tossed the blankets and pillows onto the couch. 

“I’ll go get the blankets and pillows from the guest room. You guys can set yourself up here. I’ll also see if I can find some clothes for you two to sleep in.” 

Toga nudged Deku towards the couch. “You should sleep there, since you got hurt.”

“I’m healed now, it's fine.”

“Well, you’re probably still sore, so take the couch.”

Mic came back with extra pillows and blankets, letting the two kids divide those as well. Deku tried one more time to get Toga to take the couch, but she refused and instead built a nest of blankets and pillows on the floor. Mic brought them each a pair of loose gym shorts and t-shirts to change into. The clothes were way too big, but they were comfortable and soft, so neither of them minded. Toga took her hair the rest of the way down, leaving it tangled around her face as she crawled into the pile of blankets she had made. Deku flopped face first onto the couch and yanked a blanket over himself, so tired that he dozed off almost immediately. 

A little while later, a knock at the door startled both him and Toga awake. He bolted upright, his green hair smashed flat on one side. His eyes were wide as he stared at the door. Toga had also bolted up, but she had come flying out of the blanket pile and put herself between Deku and the door, teeth bared. 

Mic, who was sitting at the dining room table working on some paperwork, got up slowly.

“It's okay, guys. It's just Midnight coming to sit with you guys, remember?” he said, his voice soft and gentle.

When he opened the door, a tall woman stepped inside. She was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, her dark hair thrown up into a ponytail. She had a bag slung across her body that looked to be filled to capacity. Her glasses were slightly crooked on her face, but her smile was kind. 

“Hey Mic. I’ve got it from here. Vlad and Nezu are in the front office waiting for you.”

As Mic left, the woman, who Deku assumed was Midnight, looked at the two teens and gave them the same warm smile. 

“Hey guys! Sorry to wake you. They fed you, right? Mic and Eraser aren’t great cooks, so they probably fed you junk, didn’t they? I can make you guys something if you’re hungry.”

Toga shook her head, letting her lips drop to cover her teeth again. She didn’t stop glaring though. 

“We’re fine,” Toga bit out as she slowly moved back to her blanket pile. 

Midnight wasn’t phased by Toga’s posturing.

“Great! I’m going to be here at the table working on some stuff for my classes. You two get some sleep.”

With that, Midnight sat down at the table and pulled out stacks of papers and a laptop, setting it all up so she could work on grading. Deku watched her get settled, confused on why she was so relaxed. 

He and Toga were criminals. They’d done bad things and no one trusted them. Hell, at this point, even the League wouldn’t trust them; they only had each other. Yet Midnight was acting relaxed, like they were just regular teenagers. When she caught Deku staring, she cocked her head curiously. 

“You good over there, hun?”

“You’re weird,” Deku grumbled, before flopping back down to sleep. 

Toga snorted from the floor and curled up even tighter under her blankets. 

---

After the raid, the medics looked over everyone. Thankfully, there had been minimal injuries since they had caught the Yakuza by surprise. There were some bruises and cuts, but the only serious injury was Tamaki’s broken wrist. A medic with a healing quirk took care of that in the blink of an eye, and all the students were released to go back to UA. 

Shinsou and Kirishima went in search of the girls, not wanting to leave without them. It took a minute, but they managed to find Uraraka and Tsu being fussed over by Nejire. As soon as she saw them, she was in front of them and checking them over. 

“I really don’t like that they had first years on this mission,” the older girl grumbled, poking at a bruise on Kirishima’s arm. “But I didn’t get a say in it. Come on, let's find Tamaki and Mirio. We can all walk back together!”

Shinsou let Nejire guide them to where Sir Nighteye was debriefing with Mirio, who had his arm tightly wrapped around Tamaki’s waist. Nejire bounced up to the pair and slipped her hand into Tamaki’s. 

Nighteye glanced over at the first year students, a grim look on his face. 

“I will be escorting you all back to UA. Eraserhead has requested that all of you, including the third years, come to the 1-A dorms. He has information regarding the rescued girl that he wants to share with you all.”

All the students, besides Shinsou, looked nervous. They all knew it was never good when Aizawa wanted to ‘talk.’

As they walked towards the cars that Nighteye had called for them, Shinsou slipped his phone out and texted Aizawa.

‘We are on our way back. Everything good there?’

Within moments, Aizawa responded. 

‘ I’ve mostly been with Eri. She will need to stay with Recovery Girl for a while. Kid is malnourished and dehydrated, among other things. The other two have been sleeping. Midnight stayed with them. Zashi and Vlad have been working with Nezu to get everything taken care of. There’s a lot of paperwork.’

Shinsou felt some of the tension leave his shoulders, knowing that everyone was alright. Slipping his phone back into his pocket, he got into the car with Uraraka, Tsu, and Kirishima. Centipeder was driving this car while Nighteye drove the other with the third years. When they got back to campus, Centipeder left them, saying he was going to handle some of the post-op paperwork. The ride had been quiet, everyone too tired to talk, and the walk to the dorm was the same. 

That is until they walked in. 

All of class 1-A was gathered, along with 1-B. Vlad King, Aizawa, Mic, Nezu, and All Might were corralling the kids, trying to keep them from bickering and causing trouble. When they saw the work study students, they only got louder.

“You guys are back! We were so worried!” Mina shrieked, running over to hug Tsu. The couple went to sit in one of the armchairs, curling up together. 

Uraraka hurried over to Iida, who draped an arm across her shoulders and pulled her into his side. Shinsou trailed after and sat on the ground at Todoroki’s feet. Todoroki slipped a warm hand under Shinsou’s capture weapon and rested it on the back of his neck. Shinsou melted under the warmth, closing his eyes and relaxing into it. 

“Alright, now that everyone is here, we can start,” Aizawa said with a sigh. “Please hold all questions, comments, and outbursts until I have finished speaking. Is that clear?”

The teens all nodded, looking confused and nervous. When he was sure they were all paying attention, Aizawa continued. 

“Be aware that everything I am about to tell you has been approved of by all the teacher’s in this room. Sir Nighteye, the hero at the back, is also aware of everything I am telling you and agreed to this course of action. I will not be telling you all the details, as it is a part of an ongoing investigation, but I will tell you what I can.

“The League of Villains formed a partnership with the Yakuza, sending two… I hesitate to call them both members…”

Nezu cut in, smiling slightly. “We will refer to them as contacts for now.”

“Fine. They sent two contacts to work with the Yakuza. While the two were there, they discovered that the Yakuza were abusing, torturing, and using a young girl by the name of Eri to create not only quirk-erasing bullets, but quirk-destroying bullets. Eri has a quirk called Rewind and they were using her DNA to destroy the quirk factor in the target's DNA. The League contacts did not approve of how Eri was being treated and, knowing the rest of the League would not help, they reached out to me to ask if I would save Eri. 

“What these contacts were not aware of was that Sir Nighteye and his agency were already working to take down this sect of the Yakuza. The information that the contacts, or I guess informants, told me was enough to form a task force to raid the Yakuza, which a number of the work study students were a part of. The raid took place this morning, which is why some of your classmates are still in their hero uniforms. 

“Late last night, the head of the Yakuza, who is known as Kai Chisaki, or Overhaul, showed the informants the process of how Eri’s DNA was extracted to make the bullets. It was a highly dangerous and painful procedure that left Eri with injuries. Overhaul then told the informants that the Yakuza base was going to be moved. The informants realized that if the Yakuza moved, the raid would be ruined. That, or if the raid happened at the same time as the move, Eri was more likely to get hurt. So they made a plan. They took Eri and ran from the Yakuza. They brought her here, to UA and they both turned themselves in. They are willingly working with UA to stop the League by providing information on them.”

“In light of the actions the two have taken, and due to their history, we are allowing them to stay here on campus as wards of UA, just like we are with Eri. The two are around your guys’ age and will be students in the hero course; one in each class. We will be initiating a villain rehabilitation program that Nezu has been working on for a number of years. Precautions will be taken to keep you all safe and at no point in time should any of you be alone with either of them until we tell you otherwise.”

Aizawa paused, taking in the shocked faces of the students. He heaved another sigh. 

“These two have risked a lot to help Eri and to help us. Without them, there would have been many more injuries during the raid today, and possibly even deaths. They have given up everything they know to do the right thing. They are here to learn and to grow to be better people, the same as all of you. I’m not saying you have to be their best friends, but I am asking that you at least try to not be mean. I’ll take questions now.” 

They were all silent for a moment before Momo cautiously raised her hand. 

“Sensei, who are they? Do we know them?” she asked in a timid voice.

“One was not an active member and considers himself more of a ‘freelancer,’ so none of you will know him. The other, you guys do know. It's Himiko Toga. We don’t have the legal name for the other yet, but he goes by -” 

“Deku!?” Bakugou shouted, startling everyone. He leapt to his feet, his face pale and his eyes wide as he looked past Aizawa to the hallway where Midnight was leading a messy haired Deku and Toga towards the common room. 

The two criminals had been rubbing sleep from their eyes, but at Bakugou’s yell, they jumped and gaped at the gathered students.

“Oh fuck,” Deku whispered. 

Chapter Text

“Kids, wake up,” a voice whispered, rousing Deku from his sleep. 

Yawning, he stretched and ran a hand through his hair. He knew it had to be a mess, more so than usual, but he was too tired to care. Recovery Girl’s healing, along with his normal lack of sleep, really wiped him out. 

Toga was blinking awake beside him, looking around in confusion. It took a moment, but she seemed to remember where she was. Her eyes sharpened and locked onto Midnight, who was standing a few feet away from them.

Midnight gave them a kind smile. “Come on, we have to go meet up with the others.”

“Is there time for coffee?” Deku asked, pulling his blanket off.

“No, sorry. I can get you some after. This shouldn’t take too long.”

The pair of teens followed behind her, still sleepy as they padded barefoot through the halls. Deku glanced out a window as they passed and saw it was morning. 

‘ Oh, ’ Deku thought, ‘ I’m going to need to find a time to slip away and have that private chat today. Otherwise, everyone is going to know… ’

Stifling another yawn, Deku rubbed at his face, trying to wipe the gunk from the corners of his eyes. Up ahead, he could hear Aizawa talking to someone.

“... Toga. We don’t have the legal name for the other yet, but he goes by -”

“Deku!?”

Deku jumped at the shout and looked for the source of the painfully familiar voice. 

It was him . 

It was Kacchan. 

“Oh fuck,” Deku whispered, taking a hesitant step back. 

Midnight put a hand on his shoulder and guided him further into the room, Toga at his side. 

Aizawa narrowed his eyes, looking between the two boys. Bakugou was breathing heavily, his face as white as paper and his mouth agape. Deku kept his eyes locked on Bakugou’s chest so that he would be able to see Bakugou make any moves to attack: an old trick Magne had taught him. It was the best place to watch for telegraphed moves. 

“Bakugou, how do you know Deku?” Aizawa asked in a tense voice. 

Bakugou ignored him, instead taking a few small steps towards Deku.

“You’re… You’re alive? How the fuck are you alive?”

“Uh… hey Kacchan…” Deku said, forgetting himself and ducking his head slightly. He hunched his shoulders up by his ears, trying to make himself look smaller. “Can… can we talk about this in private? I can explain, it's just that -”

Blinding pain lanced across Deku’s face as Bakugou swung a solid punch into his cheek. Deku’s head whipped backward at the force, sending him stumbling. Without thinking, Deku lunged forward, hands outstretched. 

He wasn’t aiming for Bakugou though. 

Deku wrapped his arms around Toga’s middle as she let out a shriek. Knocking her to the ground, he pinned her as she spat threats at Bakugou.

“Fuck you! Don’t you touch him, you fucking piece of shit! I know what you did to him! I know what you said!” she howled, her hands scrambling for purchase on the smooth ground. “Let me go, Deku! I’m going to make him bleed for what he did!”

There was motion behind Deku and he flinched, ready for whatever strike was coming. 

Instead, the redhead that Deku vaguely remembered having a hardening quirk was grabbing Bakugou and pinning his arms to his side, yanking him away from the teen villains. Shinsou was also moving, placing himself between Bakugou and Deku, his capture scarf held tightly in his hands.

“Leave them alone, Bakugou,” Shinsou spat.

“Let me go!” Bakugou yelled, trying to fight off the arms that held him. “What the fuck, Deku? You faked your death? Who does that? My parents cried for you! You and your mom! They had a funeral for you both! And, for what? You ran off to be a fucking villain!”

Deku pulled Toga up to her feet, keeping a tight grip on one of her arms. Shinsou reached out and took the other, though she wasn’t fighting as hard now. She was mostly glaring at Bakugou and baring her fangs.

“Kacchan, I didn’t have anywhere to go -”

“Oh, right! Because your mom was dead! What about her? Huh? Did she even mean anything to you? I bet you and those League fuckers had that dude destroy your building so she’d be out of the way!”

And for the first time in his life, Deku tried to attack Bakugou. 

With a shout, he went to throw a punch at Bakugou but was caught by a pair of thick arms. He was dragged backwards into a chest that was both somehow hot and cold at the same time. 

“Bakugou, you shouldn’t -” the person that held Deku said, his voice deep and rumbling in his chest. 

Deku cut him off. “Don’t you talk about her, Kacchan! I loved her and you know it! When she died, I didn’t have anywhere to fucking go!”

“My parents would have taken you in!”

“Oh right, I totally want to live with the family of the guy who made my life a living hell! My options were tracking down my shitty, deadbeat dad or going into foster care, and you know I wouldn’t fucking survive there!”

Bakugou scoffed. “So you thought you’d run off with the League. Well, I guess you did always make the best villain when we played as kids.”

“Fuck you!”

“No, fuck you!”

“Enough!” 

Both boys flinched and looked to Aizawa. The teacher’s dark hair was floating and his eyes glowed red as he glared at them. When he saw that both boys had stopped struggling and trying to attack each other, he let his quirk drop. 

Turning to look fully at Deku, he sighed. 

“You’re the friend of Bakugou’s that supposedly died a few months back. Of course you are, because we definitely needed this to be more complicated than it already was. What’s your name? Midoriya, isn’t it?”

“Izuku Midoriya,” Bakugou spat. “His mom was Inko.”

Deku sagged in the arms that held him, his head hanging. After a pause, he nodded.

Shinsou snorted. “So that’s why you didn’t want to be in 1-A. Makes sense now.”

“Deku can’t be in the hero course,” Bakugou said. There was anger in his voice, but also a hint of desperation and worry. “He’s a fucking genius or whatever so put him in Support. But he can’t be a hero.”

Aizawa frowned. “Why can’t he be in the hero program?”

“Kacchan, don’t. Please,” Deku said, looking at Bakugou with round, pleading eyes.

“They have to know! You already died once and my mom couldn’t handle it if you died again,” Bakugou spat. “Deku is quirkless. You put him in the hero course, he’ll be slaughtered in his first villain fight.”

The room was silent. Deku turned his eyes towards Aizawa, fear evident on his freckled face.

“You’re quirkless?” Aizawa asked. He sounded surprised, though his expression remained neutral. 

Toga started to sob. Fat tears rolled down her cheeks as she pulled at her arm, trying to break free from Shinsou’s strong grip. “Please don’t kick Deku out! If you send him to Tartarus, Shigaraki will have him killed within the first day. He’s going to find out what we did and he won’t be happy and he’ll blame Deku! Shiggy’s teacher knows people there and it would be too easy for them to kill Deku! I’ll go instead! Or… or I can go undercover with the League! Yeah, I can be a spy!”

“No!” Deku said, a new desperation in his voice. “Keep Toga here! Shigaraki will kill her no matter what, regardless of where you send her. UA is the only safe place for her. And she’ll make a great hero, I promise! Keep her and I’ll tell you everything I know and I’ll even write up as many analysis pages you want on anyone you want. Please, I’ll do anything!”

“Deku’s always wanted to be a hero and he’s a really good guy! I taught him a lot of stuff already so I promise he’ll make an awesome hero!”

“Toga, I had my chance! They turned me away and said I couldn’t apply, so just stop it!”

“No, you!”

“Both of you stop,” Aizawa snapped. “Deku, when were you planning on telling us you were quirkless? That’s something we need to know. And what do you mean you already tried to apply?”

“I tried to apply for the Hero Course here at UA but some official looking guy turned me away at the door. Wouldn’t even let me sit for the test. Said I couldn’t because of my quirk status.”

Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose. “Great. More quirkest assholes in positions of power.”

“I will look into it,” Nezu said steely. “They should have let you sit for the test. Regardless, your quirk status will not impact the deal we have made.”

“What I don’t understand is why we are keeping either of them.” One of the students that Deku didn’t recognize stood up as he spoke. He pushed his blond bangs out of his eyes as he sent a glare towards Toga. “She attacked our classes. I know she tried to stab some of the 1-A girls. So who cares about their quirks, or lack of, and talk about how they are literal criminals.”

“Monoma, sit down.” Vlad King snapped. “Toga will be in 1-B and that is final.”

“And young Midoriya will be in 1-A,” Nezu said evenly.

Mic glanced at the principal. “You knew he was quirkless. How?”

“My shoes,” Deku mumbled. “They’re for quirkless people. We have to have specifically designed shoes since we have a toe joint that quirked people don’t. If I wore regular shoes, they’d hurt my feet.”

“Yeah, and quirkless shoes would hurt our feet.”

“How do you know that, Bakugou?”

“Because I knew this asshole back when we were kids, Shitty Hair! Kids do dumb things, like trade shoes!”

“Aw, that’s actually kind of cute.”

“Shut it, Racoon Eyes.”

A tall boy with blue hair and glasses caught Deku’s attention as he raised a hand. When Deku saw the thin scar spanning across the boy’s face, everything clicked into place. 

That was the boy who tried to fight Stain. 

“If I may, I do not see any issue with Deku being in 1-A.”

Deku let out a startled squawk as he looked at the boy. The blue haired teen ignored him and continued. 

“Aizawa-sensei fights quirkless, and none of us can deny that he is a great hero. Shinsou also fights without utilizing a quirk, and I believe Monoma does on occasion as well. Many of us have learned self-defense skills so that in situations where our quirks can not be utilized, we aren’t without means to fight. Hagakure, Yaomomo, Ojirio: all of you fight nearly quirkless. You instead use your quirks more as support, either to hide where your attacks come from, create weapons, or provide an extra limb to fight with. It is foolish and narrow minded of us to discount someone simply because they do not have the same advantages we do.”

Aizawa grinned at him. “I couldn’t have said it better, Iida.”

“I believe you have said it to me before, Sensei,” Iida said, blushing. “You and my brother.”

“Then we taught you well. And Iida is right. Don’t discredit Deku. He has plenty of skills that he can use as a hero. Deku will be in 1-A. Boys, you can let those idiots go. If they try to attack each other again, I’ll handle it.”

The arms gripping Deku released slowly, letting Deku get his balance. When Deku turned to thank the boy, his words caught in his throat.

It was Todoroki. As in, the other guy who fought Stain. The one that Deku thought was super cute, with his piercing eyes and stoic expression. 

Deku managed to let out a small, choked noise before he scurried back to Toga. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her head into his shoulder.

“Where will they be staying?” one of the students asked. This one had messy silver hair and long eyelashes. When he spoke, he revealed sharp, pointed teeth.

“Toga will be staying in the 1-B dorms, just as any other of my students would,” Vlad King said. “My dorm, which is more like an apartment, has a second bedroom that she will be staying in. Deku will be staying in the 1-A dorms with Eraserhead. For the first week or two, we will be allowing them to stay in each other’s dorm at night since it is unlikely they will be able to sleep without someone they trust acting as backup. It's just like when we let you kids have sleepovers in the common rooms when you first moved to the dorms after the summer camp. And with what I just saw between Bakugou and Deku, I am guessing Deku will be staying with Toga.”

“What!” a boy with yellow hair shouted. When he turned his head, Deku could see a black lightning bolt pattern in his fringe. “They get to have sleepovers! That’s not fair! You guys don’t let me stay in Sero’s room!”

“That’s because you and Sero are dating,” Aizawa said, rolling his eyes.

“And they aren’t?”

Toga made a gagging noise. “Ew, I’m not dating Deku-kun. He’s like my brother.”

“And she really isn’t my type.”

“You not liking blondes doesn’t make a difference!” the boy insisted. 

“I’m not his type as in I am mostly a she and not a he ,” Toga giggled.

Deku groaned. “Is today just ‘tell the heroes all of Deku’s secrets’ day? Does anyone else have anything to share?”

“Your favorite color is green.”

“Thank you, Toga, that’s super helpful.”

The yellow haired boy had perked up. “Oh! You’re gay! Gotcha. And sounds like Toga isn’t exactly cis, so you’ll all fit right in!”

Toga cocked her head curiously. “We will?”

“Yeah! So like, I’m bi and my partner here is non-binary and pan. Then Tsu and Mina are lesbians, same as Jirou and Momo, and then -”

“Kaminari, not cool,” Kirishima said, elbowing the yellow haired boy. “You can’t out people like that without permission.”

“Oh sorry, I just thought they’d find out eventually so it was okay. I’ll stop.”

Monoma snorted. “Don’t worry, they’ll find out that Class 1-A is just a GSA club without the S.”

“1-B makes up for it.”

“Hey! We have gay people too! Just because 1-A has more doesn’t mean -”

“Are you kids arguing about this? Seriously?” Aizawa asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Knock it off.”

“This is going to suck,” Deku whispered to Toga.

She nodded. “We’ll make it work. We always do.”

Chapter Text

Mic led Deku and Toga away while Midnight went to fetch breakfast for them. The students of 1-A and 1-B were told to go about their business, which led to most of them going outside to gossip. The three third years were about to leave when Sir Nighteye caught their attention and gave them a small shake of his head. 

Once the common room was empty of the first years, leaving only the pro heroes and third year students, Mirio finally spoke up. 

“So, not that I don’t appreciate being included in this, but why were we here?”

“You three were a part of the task force that was supposed to rescue Eri, so we thought it only fair that you were made aware of the full situation,” All Might said, coming to stand beside Sir Nighteye. “We also are hoping to ask for your help when it comes to the new wards of UA. Unlike the first years, you have little to no bias against Toga and Deku, so we are hoping that you three can check in with them sometimes. Act as a guiding hand to help steer them on the right path.”
“We are not asking you to be friends with them. Honestly, I don’t think you should spend much time around them in general,” Nighteye said, folding his arms across his chest.

All Might gently bumped his arm against Nighteye’s shoulder. “Mirai…”

“Yes, we all know what you think, Nighteye,” Aizawa snapped. “You think we should lock two abused and manipulated teenagers away in prison and send a traumatized child to stay in a hospital.”

“Those two committed crimes and the girl needs around the clock care!”

“Which is what she will get here at UA,” Nezu said evenly. “Sir Nighteye, you agreed to this course of action.”

“That doesn’t mean I am happy about it.”

“Regardless,” All Might said. “We also think you three could act as role models for Eri. She currently looks up to Toga and Deku, so we would like for her to have others with a less… complicated history to look up to as well. She is still fearful of adults, but she will see you three as kids since you are still in school.”

Nejire nodded along. “That makes sense!” she said happily. “We’ll be happy to help!”

“Good. Thank you.”

Nighteye glanced at his watch and nudged All Might. When All Might looked down to get a glimpse of the time, he grimaced. 

“I apologize but Mirai and I must go. If there is anything you need from me, Nezu, please reach out.”

With that, All Might hurried from the room, making it feel a lot more open without his bulk filling it up. Nighteye followed after, the pair leaving the dorms. 

Aizawa turned to the third years. “Go get cleaned up and get some rest. I’ll contact you about talking with the new wards.”

---

“Dude, what was that?” Kirishima said, following Bakugou into his room.

“Get out. I don’t want to talk.”

“No, we are going to talk about this! You said that if you had a second chance at seeing Midoriya, that you would apologize to him! That you’d be nicer! But that’s not what I saw back there.”

Bakugou spun around, tears welling in his eyes as his face went red.

“He’s a villain!”

“He saved that girl!”

“So?! Who knows what he did before that! And whatever he did, it's my fault! Don’t you get it? The reason Deku became a fucking villain is because he thought there was literally no other option. He thought that the world was so bad and cruel and against him that being a villain was the only thing he could do to stay alive! I beat him down and hurt him so badly that he became a criminal! Fuck, Kiri, he thought it would be safer to live with the League than to live with me and my family. How fucked up is that?” Bakugou shouted, the tears bubbling over and streaming down his face. He hiccuped as he buried his face into his hands. “This is my fault. It's all my fault. I fucking failed him.”

Kirishima didn’t move. He watched as Bakugou sobbed and for the first time since meeting Bakugou, Kirishima was angry at his friend.

“You bullied him,” Kirishima snapped. “You told me that. And remember what I told you? I told you that it wasn’t cool, but that it was in the past. But as soon as you saw him, you attacked him, just like you used to. You were angry, I get it. But why were you angry? Were you angry that he had committed crimes? Or was it because him being a villain reflects badly on you? Because everything you just said makes it sound like the second. Midoriya, or Deku, or whatever his name is, has probably been through hell. His mom died, he lived with villains, was stuck in a Yakuza base literally begging the heroes to help Eri, and when he realized the heroes wouldn’t get there in time, he risked his life to save her. He looks crazy skinny and way too pale. Hell, he’s probably been going hungry for a while. And did you see that scar on his face? That looked new. He’s been through shit and none of it had anything to do with you. So stop making this whole thing about you and try to be supportive of him. You’re the only other person he knows here, besides Toga, so at least try.”

“How? He probably hates me!”

“To be honest, dude, he kinda has a right to,” Kirishima said, rubbing at the back of his neck. “All you can do is apologize and try to grow. You’re going to have to prove to him that you want to change if you want him to ever trust you again.”

Bakugou nodded shakily, sniffling. “Do you hate me now too?”

“Nah, I couldn’t hate you! I was just sorta mad. I got it out of my system now. How about you wash up your face and I’ll go get cleaned up and we can go downstairs to get something to eat?”

He shrugged but nodded, letting Kirishima nudge him towards his bathroom. 

When the two met back up in the hall, Kirishima had changed into a pair of sweatpants and a loose t-shirt, which looked much more comfortable than his hero costume. Bakugou had dried his face and it was nearly impossible to tell he had been crying. There was a barest hint of red in the whites of his eyes, but it was doubtful anyone would notice. 

Downstairs in the common room, they found the rest of their friend group waiting for them.

“Baku-bro!” Kaminari shouted, hopping up from his seat. “Dude, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Dunce Face.”

Sero leaned forward, their bulky elbows resting on their knees. “Are you sure? Cuz your friend just basically came back from the dead.”

“Deku’s not my fucking friend.”

“Sure, it sounds like you guys had a falling out, but he made his villain name the nickname you gave him. Sounds like something friends do.”

Bakugou glared. “Deku was a fucking insult, not a nickname. He was always following me around and being useless. And he was always trying to act like a hero, even when no one wanted him to. Dumbass is lucky he didn’t get himself killed with how often he went chasing villain fights.”

“Well, isn’t he, like, lucky to be alive at this point anyway?” Mina asked. Her eyes were closed as she hung upside down over the edge of the couch, her legs up over the back. “You know, since he’s quirkless?”

“That’s what I just fucking said.”

“No, I mean since the average lifespan of quirkless kids nowadays is supposed to be 10-12 years old or something close to that.”

That caught Bakugou’s attention. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Mina cracked open one eye and looked up at him. When she saw he was serious, she sat up so she was sitting properly. 

“Didn’t they teach you this in school?” she asked. “We had a whole seminar on it when we were kids.”

“Right! I forgot about that!” Kirishima said. He turned to Bakugou and continued. “So our school did a lecture on quirk and quirkless dicrimination. They did it every year for the 2nd graders, and then they did it again in more detail for 5th graders. The teachers didn’t usually focus too much on quirkless statistics, but they made a point to tell us that because of the way they get treated, quirkless people have shorter life expectancies.”

Mina nodded along. “I have an aunt who is quirkless, so I asked her about it afterwards and she told me that today, quirkless kids get bullied really badly and a lot of times, get neglected by their families. If the kid ends up in the system, they can get abused there too. Stuff can get so bad for the kids that they kill themselves. That, or they get killed by someone else. It's like, crazy sad. It stuck with me growing up and I always made a point to try to be nice to people and get people to get along!”

“That’s why you always stood up to those bullies in middle school! You were really good at that.”

“Aw, thanks Kiri! Yeah, I just know how hard it was for my aunt and that it's even harder today since quirkless kids are so rare. Did you know that most of the quirkless population are the older generations? It’s wild! And when I was a kid, people made fun of me for my mutations but it got a bit better after those lectures, so I assumed that all schools had them. They obviously worked, so why wouldn’t they? I can’t believe your school didn’t do that, Bakugou.”

“Yeah, well, the teachers at my school were shit,” Bakugou grumbled, looking a little shaken. His shoulders collapsed inwards as he made himself smaller. “They just let us run wild.”

“Damn. I mean, my school didn’t have the lecture either but they at least kept an eye on us,” Kaminari said, leaning into Sero’s side.

“I didn’t know all that stuff about quirkless people. That’s really sad, actually. Bakugou, how was Deku treated at your school?” Sero asked.

Mina nodded. “Yeah, how did people react to him being quirkless? And what was his mom like? Sounds like she was pretty nice.”

Bakugou shrunk even further in on himself. “Auntie was great. She was busy a lot, since she was taking care of Deku on her own. She kinda treated him like glass sometimes, I think. Which makes sense; he’s quirkless. At school… school wasn’t great for him.”

“What happened?”

“It… It was just bad, okay? Why the fuck do you guys even care?”

Sero shrugged. “He’s going to be in our class. Want to know everything we can about the guy. What happened for you guys to stop talking?”

Finally, Bakugou exploded, his hands popping menacingly. “I don’t want to fucking talk about this anymore, shithead! Stop asking questions!”

“Bakugou!”

The group spun around, startled at the shout. Standing in the doorway to the common room was Present Mic, Toga and Deku behind him. The teens were wearing some spare gym uniforms and looked like they had finally gotten cleaned up. Deku’s head was hung as he pressed himself into Toga’s side, like he was trying to hide. Toga was openly glaring. Mic, who had been the one to shout, was frowning at Bakugou. 

“Stop using your quirk inside the dorms. We don’t need you starting a fire, got it?”

Mic didn’t wait for an answer. He just gestured for the two villains to follow him as he led the way out of the dorm building. As soon as the door closed behind him, Mina and Kaminari bounded over to the window to watch where they were going.

“Looks like he’s taking them to the main building. I wonder why,” Mina said.

Kirishima came up behind her and looked over her head out the window. “Probably have to do paperwork and stuff. There’s got to be a lot that goes into becoming students here when you used to be a villain.”

Chapter Text

“Kids, this is Detective Tsukachi. He will be interviewing you both individually,” Nezu explained, introducing the unassuming man beside him. “I understand that at this time, you will likely not want to tell us everything, and that is okay. But we need some information on the League to show that you are serious about this agreement we have. Does that make sense?”

Toga and Deku both nodded, looking nervously at the cop. This time, Toga was the one trying to hide behind Deku. She’d had many encounters with the police, none of them good, leaving her nervous about them.  

Tsukachi didn’t seem to mind her shyness though. He gave them a kind smile before speaking. “You both have been through a lot recently, so I won’t be questioning you for long. Mostly, I will just be asking about future plans that the League has. I will also be asking about some of the members. Deku, I understand that you write analysis. I am hoping that you can do full write ups on the League members for you and I to review together.”

“I have those done already,” Deku said in a quiet voice. “I just need my notebook.”

Nezu pulled open a drawer on his desk and handed the notebook to Tsukachi. 

“I have reviewed what you had written, Deku, and I am quite impressed,” the principal said with a smile. “I am so impressed that I will be adding private lessons with me to your schedule so that we can improve upon your skills.”

Tsukachi flipped through the notebook, his brows steadily rising in surprise. 

“You wrote all this?” he asked.

“Yeah. It's been a hobby of mine since I was little. I… I have a question,” Deku said nervously. “We got help from someone to escape, but if it got out that they helped us, they would get killed. I know you’re going to ask about how we got here, but I’d rather not tell the police because then it has to go into your report and it could get leaked pretty easily. I told Nezu about it though, so is that enough?”

Tsukachi nodded. “That’s enough for me. I understand that this is a unique situation. Come on, how about we go in the next room and we can discuss everything together.”

Deku and the detective left together, Toga’s eyes following them until she couldn’t see them anymore. As soon as they left her line of sight, her attention snapped to Nezu.

Nezu gave her a smile before holding out a cup of tea for her. When she took it, she picked up the smell of pig’s blood mixed with the ginger tea. 

Toga found herself smiling back at him. 

---

After dropping off the two teens with the principal, Mic went in search of his husband. It wasn’t hard to find him; he just had to follow the sound of muffled cursing. 

“Uh, Sho? What are you doing?” Mic asked, standing in the door of their home office.

Aizawa looked up, still awkwardly bent trying to lift their desk. His hair was pulled back into a messy bun and his shirt was starting to cling to him from his sweat. With a huff, he dropped the desk and straightened, a slight blush forming on his cheeks. 

“I’m cleaning out the room.”

“Want to tell me why you didn’t ask for help?”

“Figured I could do it myself.”

“Uh huh. You grab that end, I’ll take the other.”

Together, they moved the heavy desk into the corner of the living room, tucked out of the way. It took them only a few minutes after that to clear out the office, leaving the room empty. 

Mic nodded and put his hands on his hips, feeling rather proud. 

“Now we just need a bed, a dresser, and maybe a side table, and this should be all set for Eri!” Mic said. “How is she, by the way?”

Aizawa sighed, letting his head fall. “She’s exhausted. She’s been sleeping for a while now. She should wake up by tomorrow morning though. We can take Deku and Toga to see her then. She was pretty freaked out about being away from them.”

“Does she know she’ll be staying with us?”

“Not yet. We’ll tell her later. I’ll be honest, I’m worried about her and Deku both staying with us. I know it's for the best, but I’m worried about what influence he may have over her.”

Running a hand up Aizawa’s arm, Mic let his husband lean into him. Aizawa pressed his head up under Mic’s chin, much like a cat would. Mic smiled as he put his arms around him. 

“It’ll all be okay. I know Deku and Toga were with the League, and I know Toga hurt your students, but I can’t help being reminded of us when I look at them. It's like seeing you, me, Nemuri, and Oboro all wrapped up into two kids.”

“You think I don’t see that too? When I looked at Deku, all I saw was him . With the big eyes and the messy hair and the banged up face… It was like I had been thrown back in time. I don’t want to see a repeat of Oboro.”

“I know, Sho. It’s going to be okay. We’ll help them. With all of us pitching in, I think we could set them straight and keep them from getting hurt any worse than they already have been. I mean, I really don’t think either of them particularly wanted to be criminals, and they obviously don’t want Eri on the same path as they were. They gave up a lot for her. I don’t think we need to worry about them teaching her anything too bad. At least, not worse than anything you would teach her.”

That got a snort out of Aizawa.

“Nice to know my husband has such a high opinion of me.”

“Oh, so you won’t be teaching Eri how to throw a proper right hook? Or how to break someone’s fingers?” When Aizawa said nothing, Mic laughed. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“How are you so calm about all this?”

“Oh I am not calm at all. I just put on a front. Inside, I am a mess of anxiety, energy drinks, and pure panic.”

“That’s really comforting, thanks. Doesn’t make my own anxiety spike at all.”

“Happy to comfort you any time, babe.”

“Hey, does UA even have any clothes that will fit Eri?”

“... I’ll go to the store later and get stuff for all three of them.”

“That’s probably a good idea.”

---

Once both Toga and Deku finished their interviews with the Detective, Nezu walked them to the 1-B dorms, where they promptly hid away in Vlad King’s apartment. They didn’t want to run the risk of seeing any of the hero course students, especially since Nezu informed them on the walk over that they would be starting classes the next day. 

“What about Eri?’ Deku asked, his brow furrowed in concern. “When can I see her again?”

Nezu gave him a smile. “Tomorrow, I promise. I have arranged for you three to have breakfast in Recovery Girl’s office, where Eri will be staying tonight. Vlad King will walk you both over first thing in the morning. Afterwards, he will walk you both to my office for you two to take some tests. We want to get an idea of where you are at in your studies so that, should you be behind, we can help you to catch up to your classmates. Once you have finished with me, you will join 1-A and 1-B for their lessons. Now, I know you are both concerned, but I promise you that you will both be safe. Your teachers will be making sure no one bothers either of you.”

“And making sure we don’t hurt anyone,” Toga grumbled.

Nezu, either not noticing her frustration or not caring, nodded. “Yes, that as well. After lunch today, Recovery Girl will be coming to visit you both to check you over. Having been on your own for so long, it is possible that your health may have suffered. We want to make sure you are both well taken care of.”

Toga gave Nezu an odd look, almost as though she didn’t fully believe him, but she didn’t argue. 

Once the two were alone, Deku pressed a finger to his lips, gesturing for Toga to keep quiet. She gave a short nod, sitting down on the couch. Vlad King was out of his apartment, likely speaking with the other teachers preparing everything for them to join the classes. A teacher would probably be coming to sit with them soon, since they weren’t supposed to be alone, at least not for long, so Deku knew he had to make this fast. 

He did a quick sweep of the room, checking it for hidden cameras and microphones. Not finding anything, he faced Toga. 

“I’m not telling them everything about the League,” he said in a hushed voice.

Toga cocked her head. “What do you mean? I thought we have to tell them everything for the deal to work.”

“Maybe I’ll tell them the rest in the future, but I just don’t feel like I have it all figured out yet. It's… it's like there are pieces of the puzzle missing, you know? It's like knowing where the end of the maze is but not being able to figure out the path to it, because it makes no sense. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. You were with the League before me. What can you tell me about Shigaraki’s Sensei?”

She shrugged, though she seemed to be mulling his question over in her head. “I’ve never seen him. Only ever heard his voice from the computer thingy. I think Shigaraki was like, raised by him or something, because I heard them talking about when Shigaraki was a kid once and it sounded like his Sensei had been there. Kurogiri basically took care of Shigaraki when he was a kid, I know that much.”

“That’s another thing,” Deku said, starting to pace. “Usually when a quirk has a mutation aspect, it is related to the quirk’s function. Kurogiri creates those warp gates, but why is his entire body covered in the stuff? We know he has a body under there, since he and Shigaraki mentioned once about him getting pinned and about how UA kids tried to use their quirk on his body. It would make more sense for him to cover himself in the wispy stuff only when he was going to do villain work, that way he could go to the store and stuff as a normal guy and not be recognized, but he is covered in it all the time. It's like the quirk took his body over.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“Exactly! That’s why I didn’t bring it up. Same with Shigaraki’s quirk. Something just seems… off about it. I can’t put my finger on it. The others are pretty straight forward, though I didn’t tell them everything about Dabi.”

“Like the bullet?” Toga asked.

“Oh I am never telling them about that. Dabi hates Endeavor, and not in the way he hates other false heroes. That is some personal shit that I don’t really want to unpack. And after seeing Endeavor yell at his youngest son at the Sports Festival, I think I have an idea of why Dabi hates Endeavor.”

“Are you going to tell me?”

“Not yet. Like I said, I’m missing pieces of the puzzle. I need to figure some things out. Just, don’t tell them what I just told you and don’t tell them about Dabi’s quirk hurting his body. At least not yet.”

Toga straightened in her seat, looking concerned. “What do you mean it's hurting him?”

Deku sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “The fire is too hot for his body. I don’t know if it's that Dabi wasn’t born with fireproof skin or if it's some other problem but basically his quirk is burning him. I’ve told him a million times that he needs to get a support item or medication or something to help with it, but he always just blew me off. To be honest, I’m pretty sure he thinks that he isn’t going to survive taking out Endeavor.”

“Maybe with the bullet, he can.”

“Maybe. Out of everyone that was left at the League, he was the least shitty,” Deku laughed.

“Twice was cool.”

“Yeah, I guess he wasn’t too bad.”

A knock at the door caught their attention, promptly ending the conversation. Before either could say anything, the door creaked open and Midnight poked her head in.

“Hey guys, I brought some UA school uniforms for you two to try on. Once we figure out what size you wear, we can get you a couple pairs so you have enough during the weeks. That sound good?”

They took turns in the spare bedroom, which was to be Toga’s room, trying on the school uniforms. When they would step out for Midnight to check the uniform over, making sure it fit them right, she would get an odd look on her face. 

Deku narrowed his eyes at her while she fussed over his uniform jacket. Toga was eyeing him carefully, picking up his discomfort. 

“Why do you pity us?” he asked, his voice harsh.

Midnight looked taken aback at his words. “What?”

 “I can see it on your face. I don’t know what we did to make you pity us and I want to know why.”

“Oh… hun, I don’t pity you. Not at all. I’m worried about you both.”

Toga tensed beside Deku. “Worried about us? Why?”

“How do I say this nicely,” Midnight mumbled, frowning. “Listen, you two are… really skinny. You guys are underweight. Concerningly so. And the uniforms are loose on you in a way that it shows how skinny you both are.”

“Yeah, but why are you worried about us? We’re villains.”

With a small smile, Midnight reached out to run her hand over Toga’s hair. 

Toga flinched away. 

Midnight froze, seeing the fear in Toga’s eyes. Her smile turned sad as she let her hand fall. 

“Because above everything else, you guys are kids. Sure, you made bad choices, and we can’t trust you just yet, but with some work on both of our ends, we’ll get you guys on the right path. Now change out of those so you don’t mess them up. I’ll text Vlad to pick up some more in these sizes for the two of you. Recovery Girl should be here soon to give you guys check ups. While we wait, I can make you two something to eat and we can watch TV. How does that sound?”

“Can I use a computer?” Deku asked, giving her a faux innocent smile.

“Nice try. Go get changed.”

Recovery Girl arrived not long after they finished eating to give them a full check over. As she worked, her frown grew deeper and deeper. She looked at all of their scars, new and old, along with drawing some blood to run some tests. Toga had to forcefully drag her gaze away from the tubes of blood to focus on Recovery Girl inspecting her limbs and joints. Once Recovery Girl was done, she gave both teens a handful of vitamins and supplement pills before pulling Midnight into the hall to talk. As soon as the door shut behind them Toga and Deku were scurrying across the room and pressing their ears to the door. It was muffled, but they managed to make out what the women were saying.

“Those two are far too thin. And the amount of scars they have, especially the boy, is concerning. He has scorch marks on his body that appear to be old. Eraserhead mentioned that you know the boy’s identity now. Any idea where those marks came from?” Recovery Girl asked, worry laced in her voice.

“Were the scars normal burn marks or were they starburst shaped?”

“Starburst. How did you know?”

Midnight sighed. “Bakugou and Deku were childhood friends and it seems that Deku was bullied by Bakugou. Mercilessly so. We’ll need to talk to Nezu about what to do. And both Deku and Toga have been homeless for a while, Toga for much longer, so it's not a surprise that they are thin. How bad is it though?”

“They are malnourished and dehydrated. I will be creating meal plans for them both to work on getting them back to a healthy weight. Toga may also have a few toes, maybe a finger, that were broken in the past and healed wrong. Once she has her strength up, I will want to realign those. She has symptoms of anemia, but I think that is due to the lack of blood in her diet. That can be easily fixed. I’ll want to run some tests on the samples I took to make sure they don’t have any illnesses, but besides that, I think they are physically okay. Emotionally and mentally could be another story. They are incredibly distrustful of adults, especially authority figures. Therapy could help, but it will take time before they feel safe enough to open up.”

“What do you suggest we do to help them get comfortable here?” Midnight asked.

“To be honest, I have no idea. The best advice I can give is to be patient.”

There was a shuffling noise, which Deku recognized as Recovery Girl leaving. He grabbed Toga’s arm and yanked her back to the couch, where they quickly began acting as though they had been discussing vitamins the whole time. Midnight came back in seconds later, smiling at them both, and offering to get them glasses of water to wash down the pills. 

Vlad King arrived not long after, bags in hand. Trotting along beside him was a wrinkly, grumpy faced bulldog with an underbite that rivaled Vlad’s. When Toga saw the dog, she shrieked and jumped up from the couch, flailing her hands excitedly. She didn’t rush the dog, thankfully, since Deku figured that would have startled Vlad King and possibly gotten her in trouble. 

“A puppy!” she screeched, her eyes sparkling. “What’s his name?! Does he know any tricks?!”

“This is Captain,” Vlad King said, eyeing Toga cautiously. “He knows how to sit, but that’s it. He doesn’t do much, really.”

Midnight laughed. “Yeah, Captain is too lazy. All he wants to do is eat and sleep.”

Captain, almost as if he was trying to prove Midnight’s point, waddled further into the apartment and collapsed onto the carpet. Within seconds, he was snoring. 

“Can I pet him?” Toga asked, dancing from foot to foot like she couldn’t contain her excitement. When Vlad gave her a nod, she dropped to the floor next to Captain and gently ran a hand over his head. He cracked one eye open, glanced at her, and then closed it again. Toga stared in awe. Since most animals were scared of her, the fact that Captain wasn’t growling or moving away from her was like a miracle to her. Leaning down, Toga began whispering to him. “You are amazing, Captain. I would kill anyone for you, cuz you’re such a good boy! I’d even die for you. We’re going to be best friends, okay?”

Deku looked up at Vlad and in a deadpan voice, said, “Congratulations. Captain has a guardian for life now.”

Vlad blinked at them a few times, trying to take in everything they had said, before awkwardly holding out the bags.

“These have your uniforms and supplies in them. I also got some extra blankets and pillows for you both. Dek- I mean, Midori- I mean… kid, what do I call you?”

Deku frowned, averting his eyes. He gave a small shrug. 

“Aw, Deku-kun, it's okay!” Toga said, coming to give him a hug. “Do you still want to be Deku? I know it might be weird, since Bakugou was the one who called you that. We can have everyone call you Midoriya, or if that feels weird, we can call you Izuku. It’ll be like the old days!”

“I think Deku is fine for now. I mean, I’m still kind of a criminal, you know?”

“Having people continue to call you Deku won’t inspire them to trust you,” Vlad said. “You might want to go by your legal name so they learn to separate you from what the League called you.”

“Kach- I mean, Bakugou will call me Deku no matter what, so it doesn’t matter. Just call me whatever you want.”

With a sigh, Vlad nodded. “Well, if you’re okay with it, I’ll call you Midoriya. But listen, since you’ll be staying here for a while, until you move to the 1-A dorms, I also got you a couple pairs of pajamas. You can keep them and the extra blankets and stuff here for when you feel like coming to stay with Toga. You’re welcome over here whenever you want, just give me a heads up and have someone walk you over, got it?”

Deku nodded, taking the bags from Vlad’s hands. They were heavier than they looked, dwarfed in Vlad King’s massive hands. Deku’s arms dropped as he took the weight of the bags, huffing as he tried to lift them. Toga hurried over and took a few from him. 

“We have all the paperwork set up for you two to start school tomorrow,” Vlad continued. “Nezu is still working to track down any living family members you two have so we can alert them about where you are. And - hey, don’t make those faces, we have to tell them where you are and that you are now wards of UA. It's literally the law. Go unpack the stuff and get settled.”

Chapter Text

With a howl, Shigaraki threw his glass across the bar. Twice neatly dodged it, though he still ended up covered in shards of glass. 

“Where are they?!” he shouted, a hand coming up to scratch at his red, raw neck. “Those Yakuza scum bags got arrested and the brats didn’t even call to tell us! We were supposed to get back at Overhaul and now we can’t!”

“Maybe they got arrested,” Spinner suggested. He didn’t lift his eyes from his sword as he continued to sharpen it. 

“The heroes would have been gloating about it by now.”

“Not if they got killed,” Dabi suggested. “Heroes killing two kids? They wouldn’t want the press catching wind of that.”

The computer screen in the corner flickered to life, the message Video Unavailable showing brightly. 

“You are concerned for your comrades, correct?” Shigaraki’s Sensei said, his voice scratchy and deep. “I have news of them, if you wish to hear it.”

Shigaraki spun to face the computer, a crazed glint in his eye. “Where are they?”

“As of late this morning, not long after the raid on the Yakuza base, two new students were enrolled at UA. Himiko Toga was enrolled in 1-B and Izuku Midoriya in 1-A. The two will be training to become heroes. Statements from them were given to the police. In these statements, they said that they stole what is referred to as “The Source” from the Yakuza and escaped to UA for asylum. It appears they have struck a plea bargain and will be a part of a newly formed villain rehabilitation program. You will need to move your headquarters immediately. I have already arranged for a new bar to be purchased and will alert you when it is ready to be moved into.”

The room was silent, no one daring to speak. Shigaraki’s chest was heaving with his heavy breaths as he stared at the dark computer screen. Kurogiri had even froze, his eyes locked on his young charge, waiting to see what would happen. 

“They… betrayed us?” Shigaraki asked in a thin voice.

“Yes, it appears so.”

“Maybe they are spying for us and will call soon! They’re traitors! Let’s kill them! ” Twice yelled, switching between his personalities.

Shigaraki’s Sensei continued to speak, ignoring Twice’s outburst. “My contacts in the police force will continue to keep me updated on the matter. In the meantime, I can have one of my contacts within Tartarus handle Overhaul, should you wish.”

“Yes… Yes… I want to make him pay. It's his fault we lost three party members. He killed Magne and he did something to Toga and Deku to make them go to UA! There is no other reason they’d switch sides like this.” Shigaraki’s hand had climbed back up to his neck, scratching again. His voice was even and cold, pure hatred shining from his red eyes. “And when we get the chance, we’ll get the brats back. Yeah… I bet Overhaul got the kids arrested and it was the heroes’ idea for the plea deal. They’re trying to take them from us! We’ll have to rescue them somehow. We won’t let the heroes corrupt them.”

“Whatever you want and need, Young Tomura, you shall get. You must only ask.”

As the computer screen turned off, Dabi shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

Something about the way Shigaraki’s Sensei said that made his skin crawl and wondered, not for the first time, if being a part of the League was worth it. 

His fingers skimmed across his pocket, feeling the bullet hidden away there. 

---

“Deku! Toga!” Eri shouted, trying to crawl out of the hospital bed. Recovery Girl quickly put a hand on Eri’s shoulder, trying to get the girl to settle. Flinching, Eri pulled away. Recovery Girl backed off immediately, giving Eri an apologetic look. Toga and Deku hurried into the room, helping Eri settle back into the bed and to get her to stop pulling on her IVs. 

“Hey there, peanut, how’re you doing?” Deku asked, a smile on his face.

“I’ve been really tired. And they wouldn’t let me come see you guys.”

Toga smoothed a hand over Eri’s head, running it down the braid that was still in her hair. “We’re sorry. We had to do a lot of stuff so we could all stay here, so we weren’t able to come visit.”

Eri cocked her head curiously as her eyes scanned over the two teens. “What are you wearing?”

“Oh!” Deku said, blushing. “Uh, these are our new school uniforms. Remember how we told you that UA was a hero school? Toga and I are going to take classes here now. That way, we can be near you and help keep you safe.”

Vlad King, who was still standing in the doorway, gave a little huff. “That’s a bit of a stretch,” he grumbled. 

Recovery Girl smacked his shin with her cane. He yipped in surprise, jumping away from her. 

“Go get these kids some food and get yourself a coffee. You’re too grumpy without it,” Recovery Girl said, glaring up at him. 

Vlad, looking sheepish at being reprimanded like that, nodded and hurried away.

Toga sat on the edge of Eri’s bed, listening as the little girl gave a detailed outline of what had happened since they last saw each other. Deku settled himself in the chair beside the two, smiling as he watched the two girls talk. Eventually, Eri got to the part where Aizawa had told her she was coming to live with him. 

“And Mr. Eraserhead, the man with the dark hair, said I’d have my own room and that Deku would have his own room too,” Eri said. Her little hands were balled into fists, clutching the sheet across her lap tightly. “But… I’m scared about it.”

“It's understandable that you’d be scared, Eri.” Deku reached out and took one of her hands into his, squeezing it lightly to try to get her fist to relax. “It’ll be a new place with people you don’t know. But my room will be right next to yours, so if you ever wake up during the night and don’t want to be alone, you can come into my room.”

“I’ll be allowed to leave the room? The door won’t be locked?”

A choking noise caught their attention. The three turned to see Vlad King in the doorway, holding their breakfasts. He had an unreadable expression on his face as he looked at the three children. 

Deku and Toga turned back to Eri, ignoring the hero. 

“Yes, you’ll be allowed to leave your room,” Deku said, smiling at her. “You can come and go from your room whenever you want! If you want, you can even leave your door open at night, if you’re worried about it being shut. I bet if you asked, Eraserhead would probably let us have a slumber party in the living room so we are all together.”

“A slumber party?”

Toga perked up. “They are so much fun, Eri! We all stay up late, watching movies, doing our hair, and we can build a blanket fort to sleep in! You’ll love it!”

“She needs to get her strength up if she wants to do that,” Recovery Girl said, nudging Vlad King to get him in motion again. “All three of you do. So eat up!”

The kids ate quietly, talking to Eri about the cats in Aizawa’s apartment and the dog in Vlad King’s. She was pretty excited to see the animals, since she couldn’t remember ever getting to see one before. Once they all finished, Recovery Girl handed out vitamins to each of them and then the teens said goodbye to Eri. She pouted, but didn’t complain. 

Vlad King led them to Nezu’s office. The principal had brought in two small desks for Toga and Deku to sit at and there were already packets of tests and multiple pencils waiting for them. Toga threw her new backpack on the floor beside one of the desks and sat down, looking at the papers distrustfully. 

“How hard is this going to be?” she asked.

“It will start fairly simple and will get progressively harder. Give all of it your best shot. If you get to a point that you simply do not know how to continue, then you can hand that packet to me and begin on the next. I would like you to at least try, even if you get the answers wrong. The packets are broken up by subject and you can do them in any order that you would like,” Nezu explained. “I expect this to take the entire morning. Once you are both finished, I will take you to the teacher’s lounge. You will eat lunch there today and Eraserhead and Vlad King will collect you from there for your afternoon classes. Midoriya, at the end of the day, Vlad King will collect you from the 1-A classroom and walk both you and Toga to the 1-B dorm. Any questions?”

“What if Deku finishes early?” Toga asked. “Cuz he’s really smart and he’ll probably finish before me.”

“Then he can work on some analysis. Anything else?” When neither teen spoke, he smiled and gestured towards the packets. “Then why don’t you begin?”

---

After he finished his lecture on Algebra, Ectoplasm handed out worksheets to all of 1-A to complete. He let them work in groups, knowing that the kids were antsy and nervous about when the new villian students would be joining them. He’d hoped that by working on the problems together, they would be able to help fill in any gaps for each other on anything they missed in the lecture. What ended up happening instead was that half the class was talking about the new students, and the other half was staring at the worksheet blankly. Iida and Momo tried to get everyone back on track, but it took a small explosion from Bakugou to get everyone to shut up and get to work. 

Todoroki and Shinsou worked together, as they always did for partner work. From day one, the two had gravitated towards each other, appreciating the quiet the other brought. Some in the class had initially been nervous about Shinsou’s quirk, but Todoroki had never even batted an eye at it. He simply asked in a deadpan voice if Shinsou would brainwash his father for him. Shinsou had cracked up and nodded, saying that as long as Todoroki covered for him so he wouldn’t get in trouble, he’d do it. Todoroki’s lips had turned up into a small smile at that. 

The pair had moved two desks together and worked quietly, only asking the occasional question about the problems. As they were about to finish, Todoroki finally said something that wasn’t related to math.

“You stood up to Bakugou for the villains,” he stated, his voice even and emotionless, as always. 

“I stopped Bakugou from get expelled for murder.”

“You know more about the situation than you’re letting on,” Todoroki said, still not looking up from his worksheet. “I’m not going to ask you to tell me. I know you probably can’t. I just want to know if our classmates will be safe with the villains here.”

Shinsou sighed, setting his pencil down. “To be honest, I’m not sure. I want to say yes though. Toga and Deku both… they both want better for the girl they rescued. And while I don’t know a lot about their past, I get the feeling that they went through some of the same stuff I did. I mean, I had no friends as a kid and was always told that I’d end up as a villain because of my quirk. I was lucky enough to have my mom supporting me, but what would have happened if I hadn’t? What if she also hated my quirk? Or if she had died? I could have ended up just like Toga and Deku. Under the right circumstances, any of us could go villain. Maybe a second chance is just what they need to turn their lives around.” 

Todoroki was silent and unmoving, taking in Shinsou’s words. After a moment, his pencil started to move again as he nodded. 

“I see what you are saying. You’re right. With the right push, anybody in this class could go down a different path.”

“Exactly. That’s why when Deku joins the class, I think I’ll try to talk to him or something. Don’t know if I’ll be his friend, since I really don’t know what kinds of crimes he's committed, but he should have at least one person in the class that’s nice to him.”

Freezing, Todoroki’s eyes went wide. A smile slowly started to form on his face and he raised his gaze to make eye contact with Shinsou.

Shinsou frowned, his brow furrowing. “I don’t like that look. What are you thinking?”

“I’m going to make Deku my friend.”

“Two seconds ago you sounded like you were ready to throw down with him if he was a threat to the class. And now you want to be friends? What the hell?”

“Just think for a second. The school will likely have to alert our parents that the villain reformation program is being initiated, even if they don’t announce it to the public. That means my father will find out I am in class with a villain. How furious do you think he would be if I became friends with the villain?”

Snorting, Shinsou shook his head. “Dude, you can’t just use Deku like that. If he finds out, who knows what he’ll do.”

“I’ll tell him I’m doing it to piss off my father. He’ll love that idea.” Todoroki paused, his smile falling. “That is, if Deku will even let me get near him. He looked terrified of me yesterday. Perhaps he recognizes me as Endeavor’s son.”

“Take it one step at a time. The first step is helping me with this math problem because I have no idea how to solve for x .”

---

As Toga had predicted, Deku got done with the tests before her. He handed the packets off to Nezu, who promptly handed Deku his analysis notebook. Deku flipped through the pages, rereading past entries and adding notes in places. Once he finished that, he started cleaning up and adding detail to the sketches he had made in the entries. By the time he had finished, Toga was turning in her last packet to Nezu. 

“Good job! I will grade theses and let you know the results later today. Now, Deku, let me put your notebook away and then I can walk you both to the teachers lounge.”

As he led them through the halls, the bell rang, signaling the start of lunch. Doors started to open and students flooded the halls, all talking excitedly. The crushing noise and suffocating crowd made Deku’s heart race. A buzzing started in his body and he felt himself start to shake. Looking around, all he saw were unfamiliar faces. As he stared, they slowly morphed into the faces of his old classmates from middle school. Their expressions were cold, sneering at him. The sounds of the students turned into jeering and taunts, whispers about how worthless he was.

Without thinking, Deku grabbed Toga’s arm and Nezu’s shoulder. Pressing backwards, he pulled them to the side of the hall, out of the press of the bodies. He managed to find a small gap of space beside a pillar that the students weren’t crowding around. Once they were safely tucked away, Deku let go of the other two and leaned back against the wall, his breath coming in short bursts. His wide green eyes roved, fear shining brightly. 

Toga stepped into his field of vision and clamped her hands over his ears, blocking out the majority of the noise. Tucking his head into her shoulder, Deku closed his eyes and tried to quell the rising panic. 

“It’s not true. It’s not true. It’s not true,” he whispered to himself. He could feel Toga humming, her shoulder vibrating with the noise. He focused on that, focused on her breathing and the feeling of her hands on his face. The sound of the bell ringing again made him flinch, curling in on himself even further. 

Slowly, Toga’s hands came away from his ears. 

“They’re all gone, Deku. It's okay.”

Lifting his head, he looked around the empty hall. He took a shaky breath and straightened, rubbing at his eyes and trying to slow his heart rate.

Nezu looked up at him curiously. “Are you alright, Midoriya?” 

“I’ll be fine.”

“He has panic attacks sometimes,” Toga explained. “Big crowds with not much space freak him out. Reminds him of middle school.”

“It may also be sensory overload. That is common for those with anxiety. I have already arranged sessions for you both with Hound Dog, who is the school’s therapist. I’ll mention this to him as something to revisit,” Nezu said, reaching up and gently patting Deku’s arm. “Thank you for thinking of me when you got startled by the crowd. That was very kind of you.”

Deku huffed and averted his eyes, a slight pout on his face. “I didn’t know what I was doing.”

“Ah, I see. A happy accident then.” Nezu winked at Toga, who giggled lightly before realizing what she was doing. She quickly schooled her expression into something more neutral. “Let us continue on. I am sure you are both hungry by now.”

In the lounge, various teachers were scattered about at different tables. Some were grading papers while others were eating and talking amongst themselves. When they heard the door open, all eyes looked up, locking onto the two newest students of UA.

Nezu didn’t hesitate. He just urged the two further into the room and sat them at a table that was mostly empty. A tall, thin man in an ill fitting suit sat alone, quietly drinking a nutrition shake. When he saw Nezu guide the teens to his table, he straightened up, looking panicked. 

“Uh, Nezu, are you sure -”

“I already know it's you, All Might. So does Toga,” Deku said, his voice even and cold. He pulled out one of the chairs and sat down, Toga taking the spot directly next to him, pulling the chair even closer. “You don’t need to worry.”

That caught Nezu and the other teacher’s attention.

“I’m sorry, what did you just say?” one hero, the one Deku recognized as Cementos, said.

“Yeah, Deku and I know. Don’t worry, the only other one who knew in the League was Big Sis Mag and she’s dead now,” Toga said, her eyes narrowed into a glare. “I told Deku to tell Shiggy though. You should be thankful he didn’t listen to me.”

“Toga!” Deku hissed, elbowing her.

“Well, it's true!”

All Might cleared his throat nervously. “How… How do you two know?”

Deku turned to look back at All Might, his mouth hanging open slightly. Before he could say anything, Toga spoke up again. 

“Holy shit, he doesn’t remember you. How the fuck does he not recognize you?”

“I guess I do look kinda different.”

“Oh, so you lose a little weight and change your clothes and suddenly you're unrecognizable?”

“To be fair, my hair has grown out too.”

“Okay, but how many green haired, green eyed, quirkless kids does this douchebag meet?”

A look of realization flitted across All Might’s gaunt face. “The boy from the rooftop.”

“You two have met?” Nezu asked evenly, a frown stretching across his snout. 

Deku nodded. “Yeah, he saved me from a villain back when I was in middle school. After I woke up, he signed my notebook and tried to leave. I grabbed hold of him cuz I had a question. He dropped me off on a rooftop. He sorta… I guess deflated. He explained why, answered my question, and left.” 

“What I think you mean to say is he told you to give up on your dreams and then left you on the top of a skyscraper by yourself,” Toga said bitterly. 

Aizawa gave a startled cough, nearly spitting out his coffee all over the table. 

“What the fuck, All Might?” he choked out, still coughing.

All Might frowned. “Language! We have students present!”

“You curse in front of students all the time, so shut up. Now let me get this straight: a child was attacked by a villain, presumably knocked out, and you planned to just leave? You didn’t take him to a hospital or anything? And then when he grabs onto you, which was stupid, Midoriya, I hope you know that, you dropped him off on the top of skyscraper and then left him there? I knew you were an idiot but I didn’t know you were that dumb.”

Toga was grinning, her sharp fangs on full display. “You’re forgetting the part where he told Deku that he could never be a hero because he was quirkless. That’s when he left him on the roof. You know, after he had been bullied all day and told to - what was it he said, Deku-kun? Oh right! Take a swan dive off a roof.”

“It wasn’t a big deal. You make it sound worse than it was,” Deku said, huffing and folding his arms across his chest.

“I don’t think I am.”

“Yeah, I don’t think she is,” Aizawa said, fully glaring at All Might. “You left a kid on a skyscraper roof after he had been suicide baited?”

“I didn’t know he had been! I didn’t know leaving him there was a risk!”

“Leaving a child on any roof is a risk! It's a child! On a roof!”

Nezu gently tugged at Deku’s sleeve, getting his attention. “Perhaps you and Toga should sit with Eraserhead and Present Mic. I thought perhaps sitting with All Might in this form would be less… threatening for you two but I think I may have miscalculated.”

“You think?” Toga scoffed. She grabbed both her backpack and Deku’s and stood up, shooting another glare towards All Might. “Stay away from Deku or I’ll kill you.”

“Toga, you can’t threaten him. He’s our teacher now,” Deku said, giving a defeated sigh, as though he was used to her acting like this.

 He followed her over to Aizawa and Present Mic’s table, which they shared with Midnight. Aizawa was still shooting daggers at All Might with his eyes while Present Mic and Midnight were fussing over the two teens. Vlad King entered a moment later and handed bento boxes to the kids along with a blood bag to Toga. When he spotted one of the business course teachers wrinkling her nose at that, he pulled out his own bag and slurped loudly, staring her down.

“So, kid, do you want to tell me about why you think its not a big deal to be told to kill yourself?” Aizawa asked, his tired eyes watching Deku carefully. 

The teen looked up from his food, his cheeks full and distended from the massive bite he had taken. Both Toga and Deku had been shoveling the food into their mouths at top speed, silent besides Deku asking Toga to sniff his food. It was as though they were scared the food was going to be pulled away from them at any moment. 

Deku gave Aizawa a shrug as he swallowed. “I’m quirkless.”

“And this is normal for quirkless kids?”

“I think so. I’ve never met any others. From what I’ve heard, it could be a lot worse. But, I mean, people get picked on all the time. It's really not a big deal.”

Aizawa’s frown deepened. “That’s not normal teasing. That’s extreme bullying.”

“Why are you so worried about this? People said worse to Toga when she was in school. Hell, people said worse to the both of us when we were on the streets. They are just words and it's in the past, so you don’t need to get so hung up on it. Just drop it,” Deku said, scowling down at his food. 

Aizawa could tell there was more to the story. He had been a hero long enough to know when he hit a nerve, making someone clam up. Toga and Deku had both shutdown, their shoulders drawn up and tight by their ears, hovering over their food protectively. They kept their eyes down, avoiding the gazes of the heroes in the room. Mic glanced at Aizawa over the tops of the teens’ heads, catching his eye with a meaningful look. 

It was clear that he was just as concerned about what they had said as Aizawa was. 

Midnight was trying to pull the kids into a conversation, chattering away about what kind of clothes they wanted and what things they could order to decorate their rooms with. Neither Toga nor Deku responded, only offering noncommittal grunts and shrugs. 

The remainder of lunch was uneventful. When the bell rang, dismissing students back to their classrooms, the teachers began making their way out of the lounge. Vlad King and Aizawa got up, gesturing for the teens to stand with them. 

“We’ll wait until the halls are mostly clear before we head out. Do either of you have any questions?” Vlad asked, looking between the two. 

“Will Deku have to sit near Bakugou?” Toga quickly asked. Her arms were folded across her chest as she fixed her yellow eyes on Aizawa.

“No. He will not. He will be sitting by Shinsou, who you two met when you first arrived.”

She perked up at that. “The tall purple haired guy? He seemed nice!”

“He’s a brat but he means well. He won’t cause trouble.”

Deku looked up at Vlad. “And Toga will be safe? Your students actually know who she is so they may be more hostile towards her. I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“I have planned for her to sit between two students who are known for being open and kind. Neither responds well to bullying and will put a stop to anyone bothering her. She will be in the front row as well, so I will be nearby to protect her.”

Seemingly appeased, the two teens followed their new teachers towards the hero classrooms. Outside the doors, they each gave each other a lingering look, seeming to communicate with just their eyes, before breaking away, prepared to face their new classes. 

With a heaving sigh, Aizawa yanked open the door to class 1-A and led Deku in. As soon as they entered, the room fell into a hush, all 19 students staring.

“This is Izuku Midoriya. He is joining the class. Don’t cause problems,” Aizawa said, glaring at them all. He then turned to Deku. “Go sit next to Shinsou.”

Deku kept his eyes downcast as he nodded, scurrying over to sit in the empty desk beside Shinsou. This put him in the third row from the front and close to the middle. Shinsou sat to his left while the red haired boy sat to his right. The student with large elbows sat behind Shinsou and gave Deku a nervous look. In front of Shinsou was the invisible girl, and with her quirk it was impossible to tell if she was staring at him, but just in front of her, in the first row, was Bakugou. The explosive teen kept his eyes facing forward, dutifully ignoring Deku. 

“Alright, get out your Hero Law textbooks. Since you all should have done the reading, which of you can tell me which section of the Quirk Regulation Act discusses quirk registration?”

Iida, the boy with engines in his legs, raised his hand, as did a girl with a large black ponytail. 

“Yaoyorozu,” Aizawa said, pointing to her. 

“Section 18.5, sir.”

“Correct. Iida, can you elaborate on what this section entails?”

“It discusses the guidelines for the registration of all quirks. It breaks down the different categories of quirks and outlines the registration process.”

“Can you tell me why people opposed this section?”

Iida froze up, looking confused. When Aizawa saw he wasn’t going to answer, he looked to the rest of the class, one eyebrow cocked. 

Shinsou slowly raised his hand. When Aizawa nodded to him, he spoke. “Those with quirks that could be discriminated against were concerned about being targeted based on their registration.”
“That’s one of the reasons. Anyone else?”

There was the sound of flipping pages as some students scanned through their books and their notes, looking for the answer. Deku, on the other hand, was writing in his notebook, his mouth silently moving. Aizawa watched him for a moment, curious. After a moment of internal debate, he called on the boy. 

“Midoriya, do you know the answer?”

Deku jumped in his seat, his pencil clattering to the ground as he dropped it. The red haired boy bent over in his desk and picked it up, holding it out for Deku to take. When he realized what he had done, he made a small, startled noise before setting the pencil on Deku’s desk, looking nervous. 

“Midoriya?” Aizawa prompted again.

Stammering, Deku felt his heart start to pick up speed. “Well… well… There were a lot of people who were worried that this was a way to track citizens. The counter argument that supporters made was that with birth and death records, driving registrations, tax filings, and other legal documents, that the government already had methods of tracking everyone. Some were worried that it would be used to exploit those with desirable quirks, which did happen, with the whole trend of quirk marriages that happened for a while. It can still be used today for exploitation in the underground quirk trafficking rings, but with recent laws and security measures being put in place, the registration information is becoming harder to access. In general though, when the act was first introduced, people felt the registration was a violation of privacy and it was only recently that it was widely accepted by the public.” 

“You know about quirk marriages?” a startled voice blurted from the back row. 

Deku turned to look over his shoulder to see who spoke, only to find Todoroki staring at him with wide eyes. Tentatively, Deku nodded. There was a spark of something in Todoroki’s eyes. Deku turned back to face the front, not sure how to feel about the other boy’s reaction. 

“You’re correct, Midoriya, though the majority of that wasn’t in the textbook. Quirk trafficking isn’t covered until your second year.”

The girl with pink skin and hair raised her hand. “Mr. Aizawa, what is quirk trafficking? I’ve never heard of it.”

Seeing an opportunity to get the students to interact with Deku, Aizawa nodded towards the teen boy. “Why don’t you explain it, Midoriya?”

“Oh… Uh… It's when people are trafficked and sold based on their quirk. There are a few categories for it. The most common reasons are for manual labor, for security, or for sex. If traffickers can get a hold of a batch of completed registration forms, they will go and kidnap the kids they think will make them money. It's typical for children to be the main target for trafficking, since they are easier to catch and control, but others can be targeted as well.”

“That’s messed up,” Shinsou grumbled, glaring down at his desk. 

Deku simply nodded.

“You’ve done research on this,” Aizawa stated, his head cocking slightly to the side. 

“I worked with some people who were a part of it. Wanted to know more.”

“You helped traffickers?” a blond boy with a tail snapped, turning around in his seat to glare. “What is wrong with you?”

Deku looked offended, his eyes narrowing. “I said worked with people who were a part of it, not that I worked with fucking traffickers. I met people who had gotten out after being trafficked. I set up online presences for them and back dated it to cover the time they were being used as slaves. Employers check that kind of stuff and without it, they’d never have been able to get jobs. I only ever met one trafficker and I sure as hell didn’t help him.” Deku paused, giving a dark chuckle that made Aizawa’s skin crawl. “He didn’t come out of the conversation for the better.”

Bakugou turned, a crazed, borderline scared look on his face. “When the fuck did you meet a fucking trafficker?”

“We aren’t going into this,” Aizawa said. He had straightened and was giving Bakugou a stern look. “We’re moving on.”

“No, Deku is going to fucking tell me where he met a trafficker.”

Deku sneered. “Aw, is Kacchan worried about me?”

“Boys!” Aizawa snapped. Neither listened. 

“Answer the fucking question!”

“Fine! I was out with Dabi and a trafficker recognized him. Didn’t know who I was so he assumed I was a trafficked kid. Took a liking to me. Dabi really hates quirk trafficking and burnt the bastard’s arm for touching me. I barely convinced Dabi not to kill the guy. I zip tied him to a stop sign and called the cops so they could get the guy to fess up to where he was holding people. So don’t worry, soft little baby Deku didn’t get hurt.”

“Midoriya, that’s enough.”

“What? You don’t want your precious hero students to know what the real world is like?” Deku snarled, acting like a corner animal while glaring at Aizawa. “The world is twisted and fucked up and they need to know it or they’ll end up dead, just like the majority of people that get sold into quirk trafficking. But heroes don’t really care about that, do they? They just want the glamorous jobs that will help their ranking.”

Aizawa’s eyes flashed red, his hair floating up from his shoulders as he spoke. “Hallway. Now.”

Deku stood from his desk, still glaring. “You’re quirk doesn’t do shit to me.”

“Shut up and walk.”

Once they were both in the hall, Aizawa slammed the door shut behind them and dragged Deku down the hall, away from the classroom. 

“Two of those brats have enhanced hearing,” he said as an explanation, as he let go of Deku’s arm. “Now, you want to tell me what that was about?”

“Want to tell me why you thought it was a good idea to have me answer questions in class?”

“You’re my student now. You have to participate in class.”

“And you couldn’t have waited until they had gotten used to me?”

Aizawa sighed. “I was hoping if I treated you like any other kid, they would do the same. Apparently, I was wrong.”

“No shit,” Deku scoffed. “It would have been fine if Bakugou hadn’t jumped down my throat.”

“He seemed genuinely concerned about what happened to you with that trafficker. To be honest, I am concerned as well.”

“The dude is in jail now, it doesn’t matter.”

Aizawa continued to frown. “You aren’t at all bothered that a man tried to purchase you?”

“Shit happens. I’m just thankful that my mom actually gave a damn about me and didn’t sell me off when I turned out to be quirkless, which my old classmates loved to remind me of whenever they got the chance. ‘ What’re you even good for? I know! You can just be some rich perverts toy! Come on, you need practice! ’ Some guy pinching my ass and asking how much I cost isn’t a big deal. Hell, I bet shit like that has happened to all the girls in class and at least half the guys. So why does Bakugou give a shit about it happening to me?”

Breathing heavily, Deku finally looked up to meet Aizawa’s eyes and was startled to find that the teacher had a grief ridden expression on his face. Taking a shaky breath, Aizawa reached out with both hands. Deku flinched back without thinking, ready to take the hit he was sure was coming. He spoke out against a teacher, a hero no less; it made sense that he would get hurt. 

When Aizawa saw him shrink away, he froze, letting his hands slowly lower. “I was going to give you a hug, kid. Seemed like you needed one. Sorry, I’m… I’m not great at this stuff. Just… You should know that that type of stuff is not typical and has not happened to the rest of your class. Sure, some of them may have been cat called or something along those lines, but I can assure you that none of them have had to worry about being sold or been approached by a trafficker.”

“Maybe not that they have told you. I’ve met plenty of people who have gone through the same or worse.”

“People you met in the underground or on the streets? They are not the majority, Midoriya. And the fact that your former classmates treated you like that is disgusting. Your teachers should never have allowed that.”

Deku said nothing. He let his gaze fall back to his feet. His stomach was churning as he tried to sort through what he had just been told. A part of him knew that Aizawa was right; that what Deku had gone through was not normal and that the adults in his life should have been protecting him. But the other part was screaming that Aizawa was wrong, drowning out his rational side. When it became clear that Deku wasn’t going to respond, Aizawa took a step back and jerked his head towards the classroom. 

“Come on, let's go. I won’t call on you for the rest of the day unless you raise your hand to answer.”

As they reentered the room, the class fell silent again, all eyes turned to watch Deku walk to his seat. Aizawa stood at the front of the room, an impassive look plastered on his face.

“Bakugou, detention after school today.”

“What?! Why?!” Bakugou shrieked, setting off small explosions that made Deku flinch. 

“You cursed in class.”

“So did Deku!”

“Yes, but detention doesn’t make sense for him since he’s already always stuck with a teacher. He will receive a different punishment.”

‘ Ah ,’ Deku thought. ‘ So the beating comes later. Makes sense. ’

Chapter Text

Vlad King led Toga into the classroom and wordlessly gestured to the empty desk in the front row. With her head ducked, she scurried over and dropped into it, letting her backpack rest on the ground against her leg. 

“This is Himiko Toga. Be nice,” Vlad snapped, his eyes scanning the room and pausing on the blonde haired boy who had spoken up at the announcement at the 1-A dorms. The boy sniffed hautly but said nothing. 

The class started fairly normal. Vlad gave a lecture on Hero Law and on the basics of rescuing civilians and the students diligently took notes. Toga tried to keep up, but more than once, she would miss something he said and just skip down the page, leaving blank space for her to write in later. She lived with the guy, so she figured she could just ask him about the parts she missed later. 

“Now, in a situation where there are hostages and the villain is in the same room as them, how do you ensure the safety of the hostages while also working to capture the villain? Yes, Monoma?”

The blonde haired boy lowered his hand as he spoke. “You can lead the villain away so that the hostages are not caught in the crossfire.”

“Correct, that is one method.”

The girl next to Toga, the one with red hair pulled into a side ponytail, raised her hand. “Sir, would this work if there is more than one villain?”

Vlad King nodded. “It can, as long as all the villains follow. It is possible that they won’t. In that case, you would need to capture the ones that did follow and go back to fight the one who didn’t. Any other questions?”

Without thinking, Toga raised her hand. Vlad blinked at her in surprise, a murmur going up in the room behind her. He gave her a nod, gesturing for her to ask. 

“How do you tell the difference between a hostage and a villain?” she asked, her voice coming out high and squeaky from nerves. 

The blonde boy, Monoma, scoffed. “Have you been so warped that you can’t tell the difference between a civilian and one of your type?”

“Dude, not cool,” said the silver haired boy on Toga’s other side. This boy sat just in front of Monoma and turned in his seat to frown at the other teen. 

Toga glared at Monoma. “That’s not what I meant.”

Vlad King cleared his throat, catching everyone’s attention. “Toga, why don’t you explain so I can better answer for you?” 

She nodded. “What I meant is that villains will sometimes have someone planted in with the hostages. It's one of their own members mixed in so that there is always someone keeping an eye on the hostages. The plant goes in to mingle with the people before the rest of the team shows up so that no one who was there would question where they came from. I’m just wondering how heroes can pick out which of the hostages is a plant.”

A hush fell over the class. Finally, the orange haired girl spoke up. 

“Villains actually do that?” she asked in a small voice.

Toga nodded. “The plant always looks super normal and boring too. But I’ve heard about heroes being able to pick out the plant so I wanted to know how they did it.”

“Oh, so you can call your villain friends to give them tips?”

“Monoma, quiet,” Vlad King snapped. “That is not how we treat our classmates. She is asking a valid question. Now, plants in a hostage situation is a more advanced topic that you will all cover in detail later, but the basics of it is watching how the plant reacts to heroes and other hostages, especially during the aftermath when emergency services are on scene. That is usually when the plants are figured out.”

From there, he continued his lecture.

Toga didn’t raise her hand again, even when she got confused. 

---

“Nezu, you wanted to see me,” Aizawa said, stepping into the principal’s office. Classes were over for the day and Vlad had already taken Toga and Deku back to his dorm. The rest of the students were off studying or doing extra training together. Nezu had sent Aizawa  a text asking him to come to his office before he picked Eri up from Recovery Girl’s clinic. 

“Yes, there was an incident at Tartarus today that I felt you needed to be made aware of.”

Aizawa straightened, his already serious expression turning stony. Nezu continued. 

“Overhaul, the man who held and abused Eri, was killed. Another prisoner slipped past some guards and killed Overhaul in his cell. It was… a gruesome event. Neither man has ever met before, so we are unsure on why the prisoner murdered Overhaul.”

“And he won’t say why?”

“No, he has remained silent since the event.”

Sighing, Aizawa sat down in the chair opposite Nezu. “It was probably the League. They must have paid off the prisoner to take out Overhaul. From what the kids said, Shigaraki really hates the guy.”

“Yes, for insinuating that he would be a better leader of the underworld than Shigaraki and his Sensei. Along with the murder of Magne, Shigaraki must have felt that Overhaul was waging war,” Nezu said. He brought his paws together and steepled them at his chest as he thought. “We will need to take care in protecting Midoriya and Toga. It is possible that Shigaraki may attempt to have someone attack the two. How were they in the afternoon classes?”

Aizawa shook his head. “It didn’t go well with Midoriya. He has seen things no kid should ever see. I’m sure Toga has too.”

“Your other students have faced difficulties as well.”

“Yeah, but none of them have been propositioned by a quirk trafficker.”

Nezu flinched at that. “No, I would say none of them have experienced that. I am guessing he acted up in class then?”

“In self defense, mostly. Vlad told me that some of his kids were pretty harsh towards Toga, but they settled quickly. It's going to take some time before they are accepted by the classes. I just hope they can hold out until then.”

“They are strong, evident by their resilience in the face of the things they encountered before coming here. With the right support, I am sure they will do fine.”

---

A light was shining from beneath Toga’s bedroom door. Checking the time again, Vlad saw that it was late, later than the two kids should be up. Knocking gently at the door, he waited for either of them to answer. When he heard nothing, he cracked the door open and peered inside. 

Toga was sitting at her desk, her head down next to her notebook. Her eyes were closed, leaving her long lashes fanned out across the tops of her cheeks. She took even breaths as she slept and looked peaceful for once. Deku was on the floor on the futon, his back resting against the bed. His head was hanging down, his chin tucked to his chest. Spread across his lap were a multitude of books, papers, and notebooks. 

They looked like two normal kids who fell asleep studying. 

Vlad smiled slightly before pulling out his phone and snapping a quick picture. He sent it off in the teacher’s group chat, which was filled mostly with heroics teachers and a handful of others. 

‘ Working hard to catch up, ’ he typed, giving context to the photo. 

‘ Aw, they’re so cute! ’ Midnight texted back straight away.

Cementos followed up. ‘ Yeah, when they aren’t trying to kill anyone. ’

‘ Shut up and give the kids a chance, ’ Aizawa fired back. The group chat went quiet after that. 

Stepping lightly, Vlad moved further into the room and peered at Toga’s notebook. It was the same that she had been writing in during his lecture that day, but he noticed that a portion of it was written in pencil while the rest was in pen. She had been using a pencil in class, so that would have been what she had written earlier, but the portion in pen was fresher, filling in blanks and adding comments and definitions in the margins. It hit Vlad: she hadn’t understood some of the things he had said, so she had waited until she got back to her room to use the textbooks and Deku for help.

“Smart,” he whispered under his breath. Carefully, he reached out and nudged her shoulder. “Hey, kid.”

Toga’s eyes flew open and her lips curled, her fangs barred as she hissed and shot up from her seat. Vlad raised his hands, showing her that he was unarmed. When she saw who it was, her lips fell and she relaxed ever so slightly. 

“You looked uncomfortable sleeping on your desk. Thought maybe you would want to go to bed,” Vlad said.

With a small yawn, she nodded and made her way across the room. When she got to her bed, she poked Deku, startling him awake. Blinking, he saw Vlad standing by the door.

Yawning, Deku stretched his arms above his head. “Are you here for my punishment?”

Vlad frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Got in an argument with Kacchan. Cursed in class. Kacchan got detention and Aizawa said I’d get a different punishment later, since detention wouldn’t do much to me.”

“Oh, uh, alright. Then, you have to clean the kitchen and dishes tomorrow night.”

Both Toga and Deku continued to stare up at him, expectantly. Vlad shifted uncomfortably, unsure of what they were waiting on. 

“What?” he asked.

“I’m waiting for the rest,” Deku said, stifling another yawn. 

“That’s it, kid.”

Toga frowned. “So he only has to skip dinner to do the dishes and wipe counters? Doesn’t seem like much.”

“What? No, he’s not skipping dinner. He’ll eat dinner with us and then he’ll do the dishes after. It's comparable to what Bakugou will be doing, which is cleaning the classroom.”

Deku and Toga looked at him with thinly veiled skepticism, but didn’t push. They settled themselves down and burrowed beneath their blankets. Vlad told them goodnight, which he got no response to, and turned the light off as he shut the door behind him.

Back in his own room, Vlad pulled his phone out and opened the text conversation he had between himself and Aizawa. 

‘ Check over Midoriya’s notes sometimes. I don’t think the kids feel comfortable admitting when they don’t understand something. ’

‘ What makes you say that? ’

‘ Apparently, Midoriya and Toga have spent the entire night reviewing their notes and textbooks. I think he was helping her more than she helped him. ’

‘ From the results of the tests that they took this morning, it doesn’t surprise me. Midoriya is a certified genius. He’s fluent in English, so Nezu is pulling him from that period and doing private lessons on analysis. Looks like Toga will be an average student once she catches up on the core subjects. Nezu is setting up private tutoring sessions after classes for her. ’

‘ Got it, thanks for the heads up. Also, the kids don’t understand what a normal punishment is. Midoriya asked me about his punishment for acting up in class and when I told him he had to clean the kitchen tomorrow night, both he and Toga assumed that meant he had to skip dinner to do that. They thought that wasn’t enough and were waiting for the rest of it. I’m kind of worried about what they thought the punishment would be. ’

‘ Well shit. That’s concerning. We’ll need to be more clear with them in the future about that kind of stuff. Will probably need to do the same with Eri. ’

‘How is she? Settling in okay? ’

‘ Stressed. She barely speaks and flinches every time someone gets near her. I think she’ll feel better once Midoriya is moved in. ’

‘ Fingers crossed. Have a good night. ’

---

“Overhaul is dead,” Shigaraki said, his red eyes staring into the depths of his drink. 

Dabi, who was sitting at the other end of the bar, looked up, blinking lazily. “That was fast.”

“Sensei works quickly.”

“We ever going to meet the guy?”

Shigaraki shot Dabi a deadly look. “Someone like you has no business meeting him.”

“Oh, he’s that special, is he?”

Shigaraki did not answer. He turned away and lifted his drink to his cracked lips. His scowl was deep set, though his eyes looked pensive. After a moment of silence, he finally spoke. 

“He is. He is… different from any other man I have ever met. He is the final boss at the end of the game. At least, he is for now. He’s raised me to surpass him. And one day, I will. And I will use all the power he has given me to tear down hero society; All Might with it.”

“The others think of the League as a family. A bit weird that the family hasn’t met your daddy.”

Shigaraki growled, glaring at Dabi. “Watch it.”

“Fine, whatever. Just think it's weird he won’t show himself.”

“He’ll reveal himself when the time is right. Now, have you heard anything about the brats?”

“It's been like, one day. Give it time. Besides, I thought you were the one with all the connections.”

“Yeah, in the police force. Not UA. You work with people on your end, I’ll work with people on mine. We’ll see who gets the kids back first,” Shigaraki sneered, taking a drink from his glass. “They better be grateful for everything we are doing to get them out.”

Dabi said nothing. 

---

Two weeks into their stay at UA and not much had changed. 

In 1-B, Kendo had made a few attempts to draw Toga into conversations, but every time that Toga started to come out of her shell, someone else in the class would say something that would scare her away. Kendo always scolded the classmate afterwards, but she never made a real attempt to defend Toga. 

Shinsou and Todoroki had both tried to speak to Deku, but every time they approached him, Deku would scurry away, barely pausing to offer up a flimsy excuse. The only time that 1-A saw Deku really speak to anyone was when he moved into the 1-A dorms and Eri ran out to the common room to greet him. 

He and Toga didn’t really speak at lunch either. The pair would grab a table in the corner near the windows and would sit beside each other, facing out to the rest of the cafeteria. Their eyes were always up and scanning, watching to make sure no one would catch them by surprise. Deku had even stopped arguing with Bakugou. Every time the blond approached him, demanding answers about his time with the League, Deku would sit silently, staring down at his desk. 

Basically, Toga and Deku had shut down. 

Nezu had approached Hound Dog about this development, concerned for the pair. Hound Dog had assured Nezu that this was to be expected and to give the teens time to adjust. He had nearly daily sessions with them, trying to uncover their history so he could help them, but neither was very forthcoming. Again, Hound Dog had to assure Nezu that this was also normal and that they all needed to continue to build trust with the pair if they ever wanted them to open up.

When Nezu brought that up with the teachers during a staff meeting, some of the teachers had grumbled, saying they didn’t see how they were supposed to build trust with villains.

“Well, they aren’t really villains now, are they?” Mic asked, lowering his sunglasses and fixing his vibrant green eyes on the rest of the staff. “They are students. And it should be our goal as teachers to have all of our students trust us.”

“They probably won’t begin to trust the teachers until they have started to develop bonds with other students. They have grown up seeing adults as adversaries and abusers. When they were in need of support, they typically found solace in others closer to their age. We should be encouraging the rest of the hero course to accept them and treat them with kindness. Not only will this give them someone to turn to when they need help, but it will also show that we are willing to stand up to anyone who will bully them, including other hero course students,” Nezu said, a paw rubbing under his chin thoughtfully.

“Perhaps a hero exercise will help with team building,” All Might suggested, perking up. “I could design something to help bring the students together.”

“Oh, like the battle trials you did at the beginning of the year? Where Recovery Girl had to treat students for burns, concussions, frostbite, and various cuts and sprains? Yeah, I don’t think so,” Aizawa snapped.

“I’ve learned since then! I was thinking about a game of capture the flag. I could do a combination of 1-A and 1-B to help foster teamwork with those they don’t typically work with. It would be good for them!”

Vlad King made a slightly impressed expression. “That’s not a horrible idea. Would give Aizawa and I a chance to catch up on grading while the kids are with Yagi.”

“I can help All Might run it,” Midnight said, raising a hand. “If any kids get out of control, I can knock them out.”

Nezu nodded. “Yes, I think that would do nicely.”

Aizawa continued to frown, his hands in fists on the table. Mic bumped his knee beneath the table in an attempt to comfort him. 

It did little to quiet the voice in his head saying this was a bad idea. 

Chapter Text

“Team building with 1-A? Hardly sounds like good use of our time,” Monoma said petulantly as Kendo dragged him towards the training grounds.

“It’ll be fun, dude!” Tetsu said, bumping Monoma’s shoulder gently with his fist. “You said you wanted to practice using new quirks, right? I bet if you ask, some of the people from 1-A would let you!”

“I don’t need their quirks.”

“Just try to play nice, okay?” Kendo said, releasing his arm as they got closer to the training grounds. “I don’t want to have to pull you out of trouble.”

“I’m hardly the one you need to worry about causing trouble. You should go warn off the villain girl,” Monoma snapped, jerking his head towards Toga, who was trailing at the back of the class as they walked across the UA campus, Vlad King by her side. She was the only one in the class wearing her gym uniform, everyone else having dressed in their hero costumes.

Kendo glanced back at the other girl. “Do you think she’ll ask one of us for blood to use for her quirk?”

“She’s probably not allowed to,” Tetsu said. “Like, what if she drank some of our blood and went into a frenzy or something? It's probably safest if she didn’t have any blood.”

“She’s not a shark. She won’t go into a blood frenzy.”

“You don’t know that. We’re going to have to keep an eye on her if anyone gets hurt and is bleeding. Don’t want her freaking out and hurting someone.”

Monoma sneered. “If she can’t control herself around a little blood, then she’s even weaker than I thought.”

As the class reached the observation room of the training grounds, they saw that 1-A was already there. Aizawa was standing off to the side, Deku hovering behind him. Toga rushed past 1-B and hurried over to his side, the two whispering to each other in hushed tones.

Monoma narrowed his eyes at the two and saw more than a few others in both hero classes doing the same. Everyone was thinking the same thing: what were those two planning?

Little did they know, Toga and Deku were simply babbling away about whether or not they could convince Vlad King to dress Captain up in little sweaters. Toga firmly believed they could beg Vlad into agreeing but Deku thought that they would need to bribe or barter. Aizawa, who was listening in, had to suppress the urge to smile. 

All Might, in all his muscled glory, approached the gathered classes, Midnight at his side. He gave the hero course students a wide smile as he placed his fists on his hips. 

“I am here! To teach you about the importance of teamwork!”

Both Deku and Toga flinched at his bellowing voice, which didn’t go unnoticed by Midnight. She quickly stepped in, speaking in a quieter tone. 

“You will all be put into teams of two. Two teams will be released into the training grounds at a time. There are three flags total hidden in the training grounds and the team with the most when time runs out wins. You can steal flags from the other team. Try to avoid outright fights with each other, but you can if it means stealing a flag.  You have free use of your quirks and support gear. You need to work with your teammate on this, alright? No running off on your own.”

Kaminari raised his hand. “Do we get to choose our teammate?”

“No, we will be drawing names to partner you off. Eraserhead, Vlad, we’ve got it covered from here if you want to head back.”

The two teachers nodded. Aizawa pulled four small cylinders from his belt and handed two off to Deku and Toga. Toga cocked her head curiously while Deku frowned down at them.

“These aren’t mine.”

“No, they aren’t,” Aizawa said gruffly. 

“Why can’t I use mine?”

“Because I don’t want you electrocuting anyone.”

“So Discount Pikachu gets to shock people but I don’t?”

“Hey!” Kaminari snapped, shooting Deku a dirty look.

“Kaminari, not now. Midoriya, your’s are also made of carbon fiber and I don’t much feel like watching you knock someone’s brains out because you don’t know how to use them properly.”

Deku glared up at him. “I know how to use them just fine.”

Toga pressed a button on one of the cylinders and it expanded into a full sized escrima stick. She looked at it, pouting. 

“This isn’t a knife,” she whined. “I fight with knives.”

“Not today, you don’t.”

She continued to pout as Deku shuffled off, pulling her along behind him. He grumbled the whole way about how he hated fighting with shitty gear. Aizawa watched as Deku tossed his backpack to the ground and sat down beside it, fiddling with the escrima sticks and inspecting them closely. With a sigh, Aizawa left, an unsettled feeling washing over him.

Midnight and All Might stepped back, still within view of the students, to draw the lots and determine the partners. The kids milled about, talking and laughing as they stretched in preparation for the game. Monoma was sitting with Kendo and Tetsu, though he wasn’t listening to what they were saying. His eyes were fixed on the two villain transfers, watching them talk. 

As Monoma watched, Deku reached into his backpack and pulled out a water bottle from the cafeteria. He drank down a few swallows before handing it to Toga, who downed the last of it. Then, as she turned back to Deku, he pushed up his sleeve and held his wrist out to her. In one swift move, she cut him with one of her fangs, just on the inside of his arm. Squeezing at the cut, she got the blood to bubble to the surface and track across Deku’s skin. Quickly, she held the water bottle up to the dripping blood and let it flow into it. 

Monoma let out a startled squawk, catching his friends’ attention. When they turned to see what he was staring at, they both let out startled noises. 

Kendo was on her feet and running over before any of them could say anything. Her sudden movement caught other’s attention and caused them to look around. A few gasps went up when people from both classes saw what the villain kids were doing. 

“What are you doing?!” Kendo asked shrilly, trying to grab Deku’s arm from Toga.

Deku jerked away from Kendo, glaring at her. “Back off.”

“You’re bleeding!”

“No shit. She needs blood to use her quirk. So I’m giving her some.”

Shinsou and Todoroki had both gotten to their feet and hurried over when they heard the ruckus. Todoroki was digging through one of the canisters on his belt to pull out gauze and medical tape. 

“Aizawa-sensei leaves for two minutes and this is what happens,” Shinsou grumbled. “Deku, let Todoroki bandage your arm.”

“Fuck off, Mini-Eraser.”

Kendo was looking green in the face as she watched the blood pooling in the bottom of the water bottle. “You’re just going to give her your blood?”

“I’ve done it before. Not really a big deal.”

“You’re… You’re giving her an edge in the game though. What if you get paired against her and she beats you?”

Deku raised an eyebrow at that. “Seriously? Is that all you guys worry about? Who wins and who is the best? I thought the point of being a hero is to save people. I don’t see how that is a competition. Besides, you know damn well whoever she gets partnered with isn’t going to give her their blood.”

As he finished speaking, Toga pulled the bottle away from his arm and leaned down again, drawing her tongue across his skin. When she pulled away, the bleeding had slowed, turning sluggish. She turned and gave Kendo a smile.

“My saliva can slow and stop bleeding. Kinda the opposite of what bat’s saliva does, but it works! It does have some pain killer in it, just like a bat’s. And don’t worry, this isn’t too much blood. Deku-kun won’t get sick or weak or anything and this isn’t enough to be him for very long,” she explained, putting the cap back on the water bottle. 

“That can’t be sanitary though.”

Deku let out a loud snort. “Sanitary, that’s funny.”

“Yeah, my mouth is probably cleaner than most of the places we’ve lived. Remember that one warehouse by the fish market?” Toga giggled.

“Ugh, don’t remind me.”

Shinsou continued to frown. “Don’t care. You’re still going to let Todoroki wrap it.”

Deku huffed but didn’t fight, holding his arm out to Todoroki. He kept his eyes averted as the taller boy worked, spraying some antibacterial medication on it before applying gauze and tape. When he finished, Todoroki sat back, giving Deku a cautious look. 

“Is it comfortable? Not too tight?”

“It’s fine. Thanks, I guess,” Deku grumbled. His expression had gone carefully blank, as though he had slipped on a mask. Todoroki gave him a nod as he stood back up, sending Shinsou a pointed look. Shinsou gave him the same look back.

Neither liked how emotionless Deku had suddenly become.

Midnight and All Might had turned to face the students again, catching their attention.

“We have the groups decided!” All Might said, his voice echoing across the vast space. “Please listen for your name and group number! Group 1 will be Kendo and Komori. Group 2 will be Midoriya and Sero. Group 3 is Kaminari and Tokage. Group 4 will be Todoroki and Bakugou.”

All Might continued, listing off the groups, until he got to the last one. 

“Finally, Group 20 will be Monoma and Toga. Please find your partner and sit with them. You are free to discuss strategy during the next five minutes while the flags are hidden. This will be your only time to plan. During the matches, I want you all to watch and learn from your classmates. On the screen behind me is the breakdown of the matches. Good luck!” All Might said before stepping away, the screen lighting up to detail the pairings. 

Midnight was reviewing the screen and noticed something off right away.

Deku was paired against Bakugou.

Quickly stepping over to one of the computers, she started to log in so she could rearrange the matches.

“I want to go against Deku.”

She looked up to find Bakugou standing in front of her, his face serious and eyes fixed on his feet. 

“I don’t think I can allow that.”

“Besides Toga, I am the only other person here who knows him. I’m the only one who knows his limits. I know how to hurt him. But that also means I know how to not hurt him. If you pair him with anyone else, they are going to go all out. I’ll hold back against him and I’ll make sure IcyHot does the same,” Bakugou said. “Deku is quirkless and he just got here. You might as well be signing his death certificate if you throw him in there against a different group.”

She studied Bakugou for a moment, before turning to call over her shoulder. “Midoriya, could you come here for a moment?”

Deku jumped slightly from where he was sitting, startled out of his conversation with Toga. He looked past Midnight at the screen, to Bakugou, and then back to the screen again before nodding and making his way across the room.

“The randomized system paired your group with Bakugou’s. Personally, I would rather not send you two in there against each other. I honestly don’t think either of you should work on anything together for quite some time. I brought it up to Nezu already and he has stated since neither of you will tell us the extent of your past… disagreements, we can’t really do anything to set boundaries for you both. So I am leaving it up to you, Midoriya, on whether you are comfortable being around Bakugou. Bakugou has shown concern about you being paired against another group, since some of the others in the hero course may be aggressive towards you due to your history with the League.”

“He was aggressive towards me when he found out too,” Deku mumbled, looking away from them both.

“I know, but from what I have seen, since those first few days, he hasn’t done anything besides ask questions, though it has been in an aggressive manner. If he has done anything besides that, or does in the future, tell me and I’ll take care of it. But for today, do you want to go against Bakugou’s team or would you rather I change it?”

Deku paused, his frown deepening slightly as he thought. With a furrowed brow, he turned around and looked at the hero course students, who were all moving to stand with their partners. “Who am I working with?”

“Soy-sauce Face!” Bakugou shouted, making Deku flinch. “Raise your hand!”

“I have a name!” Sero shouted, though they still raised their hand.

Bakugou turned on his heel, glaring at Deku. “That’s Sero. They have a tape quirk. Comes out of their elbows. If you watched the sports festival, you saw them.”

Deku had his eyes fixed on Sero, who gave an awkward wave. Nodding, he turned back to Midnight. “I’ll be fine going against Bakugou’s group.” With that, he marched off, gesturing for Sero to follow. Looking hesitant, Sero walked after him, rubbing awkwardly at the back of their neck. 

The pair settled in a corner at the back of the room, away from everyone else. 

Sero opened their mouth to say something, though they weren’t sure what yet, only to be cut off.

“You can shoot your tape pretty far, right?” Deku asked, riffling in his backpack again.

“Oh, uh, yeah.”

“And is it strong?”

“It’s pretty strong, but not indestructible.”

“I wouldn’t expect it to be,” Deku said, a grin forming on his face as he pulled something from the depths of his backpack. Holding it up, he revealed a small, folding multitool. “I know I’m not supposed to have this, but if you wait until after our turn to tattle on me to the teachers, I promise you we’ll win.”

Sero cocked their head curiously. After a pause, they nodded. “I’m morbidly curious, so sure. You’ve got a deal. Where’d you even get that?”

“Stole it from Aizawa’s place. Now, here is my idea.”

---

Monoma was pissed. 

Not only was he paired up with a villain, he was paired up with Toga . Sure, neither of the villain kids had a quirk that was useful to copy, in Deku’s case he had no quirk, but at least Deku was smart enough to listen to whatever plan Monoma came up with. Toga was batshit crazy. As soon as they got onto the training grounds, she’d probably take off. She was useless as a partner.

Stomping over, he jerked his head at her to follow him. Scrambling up, she ran after, trying to keep up with his long strides. They stopped by the wall, with only a few others near them. 

“Listen closely,” he snapped. “Do as I say, and maybe we won't fail. Think you can do that?”

“Sure, I guess.”

“Good. Looks like we are first up, so we better be ready. You know how to fight?”

Toga nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I didn’t have fancy lessons but I learned. I’m not as good with these stick things as I am with my knives, but I know how to use them since I helped with teaching Deku. I’m good at climbing, running, and jumping though. Makes me good at parkour. I taught Deku that too!”

“Do you ever stop talking about Deku?” Monoma snapped harshly. When he saw Toga’s startled, slightly hurt face, he paused. She quickly schooled her expression. Monoma continued, “Listen, the plan is you stay where I can see you and you don’t do anything stupid. We are up against Shoda and Ojiro. Both of them are good at hand to hand combat, so be ready. If you hurt them though, you’ll have me to answer to, understood?”

“Shoda is the vice rep, right?

“Yes. Do you not pay attention?”

Looking away, she scuffed her foot on the ground. “No one has introduced themselves to me. I’m still trying to figure out names and quirks and stuff.”

“Hell. Fine, Shoda’s quirk is called Twin Impact. When he hits you, he can make a second, stronger impact hit where he just hit. Ojiro has a tail and is skilled in martial arts. Can your quirk do anything besides make you look like someone else?”

Toga shook her head. “Not that I know of. But I have some of Deku’s blood here,” she said, holding up the bottle.

“What good will that do us?”

“Well, Deku-kun is a little taller than me and has a bit more muscle. His reach will be better in a hand to hand fight and his muscles are stronger than mine, so if I am him, I can jump better, climb further, and hit harder. I know it won’t trick any of them, but not everyone can have a fancy hero quirk like you and the others.”

Monoma frowned. “Do you even know what my quirk is?”

She shook her head. “Something flashy and cool? I don’t know. You’re a hero kid, so you have to have something special,” she said, her tone bitter. “Bet everyone thought you were really cool growing up, huh?”

“You really don’t pay attention,” Monoma chuckled darkly. “My quirk is called Copy. When I touch someone, I can copy their quirk for a few minutes. People hated me. Some still do, especially those 1-A bastards.”

“Oh… so we’re kinda alike.”

“We are not alike,” Monoma snarled. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“But I do. All the other kids on the playground avoided you, didn’t they? Called you weird? Said you were creepy? Did they say you were destined to be a villain? Because that’s what happened to me. Even my parents said that, just before they kicked me out on the streets.”

Her words gave him pause. Because, in the end, she wasn’t wrong. He had been treated like that growing up. The only difference was that he had his parents’ love and support. They both were there for him, wiping his tears and bandaging his scraped knees. His dad would take him to the library nearly everyday to read about heroes and learn about quirks. His mom talked to him about strategy, and how to make a plan and see it through. When he told them he wanted to go to UA, they would take turns staying up all night, helping him to study and prepare for the entrance exam. They let him practice using their quirks so that he would know how to adapt quickly. He would work with them to lengthen the time he could hold onto the quirks, and he worked to hold onto more than one quirk at once. That didn’t stop the kids at school from laughing at him, poking fun at him for not being able to be a hero without using someone else’s power. They’d call him a thief, asking him when he would stop stealing quirks and start robbing banks. 

So really, Toga was right. They were alike.

When it looked like he wasn’t going to respond, Toga twisted the cap off the water bottle and raised it to her lips, about to guzzle down Deku’s blood. 

Monoma’s hand came up, smacking the bottle to the floor. Blood spilled out on the floor, staining the tile red and splashing her shoes.

Her head whipped up to look at him, her fangs barred in anger. “What the hell was that for?!”

“We’re going to prove them wrong.”

“What?”

“All the people that said we’d never amount to anything. We’re going to prove them wrong. We are going to prove that we can win regardless of what quirks we were blessed with. We’re going to beat them without our quirks. With my planning skills, we’ll be able to take them out. I know you’ve been pretending to be sane now, but you think you can bring out the crazy again?”

She pouted, glaring at him. “I’m not pretending. With my new diet, I’ve been doing better.”

“Yes or no?”

“Ugh. Yes, I can act crazy.”

Monoma smiled, looking slightly crazed with the way his pale blue eyes sparkled. “Perfect.”

Chapter Text

Shoda and Ojiro moved through the training ground, the false city looming over their heads. Ojiro had one flag tucked into his belt, carefully placed so it would be easy to protect. Shoda followed behind him, nervously wringing his hands and glancing over his shoulder. 

“How much time do we have left?”

“Only a few minutes. Why?”

“We haven’t seen either of them yet,” Shoda whispered, shuffling along. “Shouldn’t we have seen them by now?”

“Monoma is probably busy trying to keep Toga with him. You know how she is.”

“She’s been really calm recently. I don’t really get it, honestly. Like, the first few days she acted weird but then she started looking… healthier. And she started acting as close to normal as I’ve ever seen her.”

Ojiro shrugged. “Maybe this rehabilitation thing is actually working.”

A scream caught their attention, causing both boys to fall backwards into fighting stances, fists raised. Monoma came stumbling out of a nearby alley, trash and debri tumbling out with him. A metal garbage can lid rolled into the street, circling and collapsing between Monoma and Ojiro. Monoma’s hair was disheveled and blood was smeared across his face. His typically pristine suit was rumpled and covered in dirt, as though he had been through hell and back. 

He let out another shout, waving at the other two. 

“Help! Help, it’s Toga!” he yelled as he tripped towards them, nearly losing his footing. 

Without hesitation, Ojiro ran forward, catching Monoma around the middle. Carefully moving the shorter boy’s arm, he helped Monoma to drape his arm over his shoulder for support. Shoda was hurrying after Ojiro, his eyes wide with worry. 

“What happened?” he asked, his voice bordering on hysterics. 

“It was Toga. We were jumping from one roof to another and I… I miscalculated. Hit the edge and cut myself. She smelled my blood and she went feral!”

Ojiro frowned, raising his head to look back the way Monoma came, his eyes searching for the girl. “She didn’t do that when Midoriya was bleeding earlier.”

“She’s used to his scent. My blood is new to her, so it set her off.”

“And the teachers haven’t stopped her yet?” Shoda squeaked.

Monoma scoffed. “You saw who was running this exercise. All Might doesn’t care what happens as long as his precious 1-A succeeds and Midnight cares more about someone paying attention to her than actually doing her job. We need to move before Toga catches up, come on!”

“Too late!” came a sing-song voice from just above them. Before any of the boys could react, Toga dropped off an overhanging fire escape, landing on Shoda feet first, driving him into the ground. Her escrima sticks came down on his wrists; hard enough to hurt, but not hard enough to break bone. Shoda screeched, trying to kick her off of him. She quickly danced out of the way, giggling. 

Her yellow eyes looked demented as she licked her teeth menacingly, her gaze locked on Monoma. 

“You smell so sweet, Neito-kun. Can I have a little taste? Pretty please? Then, I can be just like you and we can be best friends!”

“I’m not your friend, you crazy bitch!” Monoma shouted, spit flying from his mouth with the force of his yell. 

Toga pouted. “That’s not a very nice thing to call me, Neito-kun. You should call me by my first name! That’s what friends do, afterall!”

Ojiro shifted, pulling Monoma closer and shielding him with his body. “Toga, listen, this is just because you smelled blood. This isn’t you. Let’s go talk to the teachers, okay? We’ll get you some help so you feel better.”

She smiled at him, pointed teeth flashing. “But this is me! The blood just makes me… so… happy!” Toga giggled, skipping forward and swinging an escrima stick at Ojiro. It was a sloppy strike, as though she was so drawn in by the smell of the blood that she couldn’t focus on anything else, not even the fight. Ojiro neatly dodged it, Monoma moving with him. 

Shoda had gotten back to his feet, cradling his hands close to his chest as his wrists twinged painfully. Punching at her would probably hurt him more than it hurt her, but he still had his feet. Aiming for her knee, he swung a kick out only for her to knock him away, hitting his ankle to redirect him. 

“Come on, guys! I just want a little taste!”

“Shoda,” Monoma said, drawing his classmate’s attention. “You run back to the observation room and get the teachers. Ojiro and I will take care of her.”

The shorter boy nodded, turning and running as fast as he could. If Ojiro thought it strange that Monoma sent the slower runner to get help, he didn’t say anything. He also didn’t seem to notice that Monoma had sent away the one with the powerful combat quirk, evening the playing field. 

“Here, stay back and try to stop the bleeding. I’ll keep her busy,” Ojiro said, letting go of Monoma and stepping in front of him, confidently facing Toga. “I can take her.”

“Oh, can you?” she taunted. 

“No doubt about it,” Ojiro said, his tail twitching. And he was probably right. That is, if Monoma hadn’t picked up the metal garbage can lid from the ground beside him and smacked Ojiro in the back of the head with it. 

“Run!” Monoma shouted, taking off at a sprint down the street. Toga followed right after, their sneakers beating a rhythm into the pavement. She let out a giggle that sounded far less crazy than the one she had given moments ago. 

“I thought you said you knew how to fight?!” Toga shouted.

“I do!”

“Then what was that? I thought you were going to do a cool kickflip or something. Anyone can hit someone with a trash can lid!”

“It's called using your resources!”

Toga continued to giggle as she caught up to Monoma, falling into step beside him. “Did you get it?”

He gave her a cocky grin and held up the flag he had snatched from Ojiro’s belt. “Of course I did. You still have the other two?”

She pulled them out of her pocket triumphantly. “Is there much time left?”

Monoma took one of the stopwatches off his belt and gave it a quick glance. His smile only grew.

“Time should be up right… about…”

The sound of a horn rang out through the training grounds, signaling the end of the match. The two slowed to a stop, panting heavily. 

“ Monoma and Toga win with three flags! ” All Might said, his voice amplified over the PA system. 

Squealing, Toga threw her arms around Monoma’s neck in a tight hug, dragging him down to her height. He let out an indignant squawk as he tried to push her away. “I already let you smear your blood on my face and dirty my suit! You don’t need to make it worse than it already is!”

“But we did it! The trick worked!”

“Of course it did! I planned it!”

---

Todoroki followed Bakugou to their starting position in the training grounds, watching the blond carefully. As they had watched the previous matches, Bakugou had grown more and more tense, until it seemed like every muscle in his body was locked up.

“Are we ever going to discuss a plan?” Todoroki asked.

“Find the flags and kick Sero’s ass.”

“What about Midoriya?”

Without warning, Bakugou spun around fist raised and swinging at Todoroki’s face. Todoroki quickly ducked, narrowly avoiding the blow.

“Don’t you dare even think about touching him, got it?!” Bakugou roared, his voice carrying. “I’ve seen what your quirk can do and if you use it against him, you’ll kill him!”

Todoroki had moved a few steps back, putting distance between himself and Bakugou. “I know how to control my quirk. I can just incapacite him with some ice. But we need to discuss what we will do should he attack. He may be quirkless, but he is smart. Given an opportunity, he could hurt us.”

“Tch.” Bakugou rolled his eyes. “It's just Deku. He might be different from when I last saw him but he’s still the same nerd I grew up with. I’ll handle him and then you and I can take care of Sero.”

A siren wailed, signaling the start of the game. Bakugou and Todoroki quickly moved out, searching for any sign of the opposing team or the flags. As they turned down a side street, the rasping sound of unraveling tape caught their attention.

“Behind us!” Todoroki shouted, already turning with a hand raised to send a sheet of ice at Sero. Bakugou mimicked him, gauntlets rising. Before either could get a shot off, something hard and solid crashed into Bakugou’s back, sending him stumbling. Startled, Todoroki tried to grab Bakugou’s arm, but he was suddenly struck as well, knocking him away. Just before Bakugou hit the ground, a strand of tape wrapped itself around one of Bakugou’s gauntlets. Bakugou’s own momentum pulled his arm out of the gauntlet and in the blink of an eye, the gauntlet was whisked away, the tape reeling back.

Todoroki righted himself and turned to see what had hit him, only to find two loose bricks lying on the ground.

“Who the fuck threw this?!” Bakugou shouted, grabbing the brick and jumping back to his feet, looking around for where it came from.

A cackling laugh sounded from the roof behind them. Spinning around, they found Deku standing at the top of the building waving down at them.

“I can’t believe it!” he shouted, laughing again. “I took you down with a brick!”

“What the fuck, Deku!”

“I aimed carefully, don’t worry. I was sure to not hit you guys in the head.”

Bakugou set off small sparks in his hands, snarling. “Get down here! Now!”

Deku didn’t respond, simply flipping Bakugou off and then sprinting across the roof, jumping to the next building and disappearing.

“What was the point of that?” Todoroki asked, stretching his shoulder, wincing as he felt the tender skin from the brick twinge uncomfortably. He knew it was going to bruise. 

“Deku probably wanted to weaken me or something,” Bakugou grumbled, tossing the brick to the ground and glaring at it as though it had personally offended him. “That, or they saw us as they passed and decided to fuck with us. Come on, let’s go find the stupid flags.”

As Bakugou and Todoroki moved deeper into the city in search of the flags, Sero and Deku were hunkered down on the top of a building a few blocks away. When the two had met up at their rendezvous point, Sero had held up the gauntlet proudly. 

“I got it!”

Deku smiled widely. “Perfect! And look what I found on the way!” he said, holding up a flag. “We’ve got everything we need for this to work.”

The pair sat down, Sero handing off the gauntlet to Deku. Deku passed them the flag so that they could tuck it into an inner pocket of their uniform, ensuring it’s safety. After turning the gauntlet this way and that, Deku finally settled on a place to crack the casing. Using the multi tool, he leveraged up a piece of the casing, prying it off.

Sero watched him work, a mildly nervous look on their face. “And how do you know how to do this?”

“I analyze quirks. A part of that is thinking of applications and support gear. I’ve had years to think about Bakugou’s quirk. He designed these ugly ass things back when we were kids, so I already know exactly how they work too. With my knowledge of support gear, of Bakugou’s quirk, and of more… underground type stuff, this will be a piece of cake.”

A few snips of wires, reattaching them in different ways, and a few strategically placed pieces of tape later, the gauntlet was ready. Deku lifted it up in his arms, careful to keep it steady.

“It’ll work?” Sero asked

“It should. How much time is left?”

Looking at their watch, Sero grinned. “About 5 minutes.”

“Then it's time to catch up to them.”

Sero led the way, swinging from building to building, Deku hot on their tail as he ran and leapt. 

It was only a matter of time before they found the other group.

Meanwhile, Todoroki and Bakugou were searching for the last flag, having already found the other two. They were regularly checking the time, waiting for the game to end. 

“Do you think they found the other one?” Todoroki asked, glancing over his shoulder and checking the tops of the buildings for any sign of the other team. 

“It's possible. We just have to find them and beat the shit out of them until they give us the flag.”

“If we see them, shouldn’t we avoid them? We have two flags, which means we will win. We just need to run the clock down.”

Bakugou snarled. “You trying to half ass shit again?! Fuck that!”

Before Todoroki could argue, a shout caught their attention.

“Hey dude!” Sero yelled, swinging down onto the street. “Try not to give Roki such a hard time.”

“What the fuck are you doing here? Where’s Deku?” 

Sero shrugged, an easy grin on their face. “Somewhere. Did you guys find all the flags? Cuz I haven’t been able to find any.”

Reaching into his pocket, Todoroki pulled out the two flags they had found. “Only two. The third must still be out there.”

“And we’re going to find it! So go find Deku and keep a fucking eye on him!”

Sero cocked their head. “Aw, Bakugou let you handle the flags, huh Todoroki? That was sweet of him. Or was it that you found them both?”

Bakugou’s face was growing redder by the second. His entire body was shaking with rage. “I fucking helped! I grabbed them and gave them to him! He’s got to be useful somehow.”

“Oh, you touched the flags too?” Sero said, their smile growing wider. “Perfect.”

Suddenly, Deku came swinging down from a rooftop from a long strand of tape. He landed with a hard thud, falling to his knees. He let out a grunt, wincing, as he stood. Clutched under one arm was the gauntlet Sero had stolen from Bakugou.

Deku’s smile was sharp, much sharper than Bakugou had ever seen it. His green eyes were wide and crazed, glinting in the light. For a moment, Deku almost looked like Toga.

Without a word, he yanked a folded piece of tape out of the hole in the casing. The tape had been separating two wires that had been taped together. With the folded tape in the way, the metal ends weren’t touching. Once the folded tape was removed, the wires touched. As quickly as he pulled the tape out, he threw the grenade shaped gauntlet directly at Todoroki and Bakugou. 

Using their tape, Sero pulled themself up and away from the other team while Deku dodged behind a nearby car. Startled, Todoroki and Bakugou didn’t have time to react. The bomb would have struck the ground directly between them had it not exploded a foot over the asphalt. The two boys went flying, the explosion tearing up the street and sending rubble flying. The flames from the explosion caught on the nitorglycrylin on the flags, left over from when Bakugou touched them. Within a second, they were reduced to ash. Small explosions ran up Bakugou’s arms as his sweat caught from the heat, sending him flying even further back. Neither boy was able to use their quirk before they struck the ground. 

Bakugou wheezed, trying to clear the dust and ash from his lungs while also trying to catch his breath. Sitting up, both his head and his vision swam. Across the street from him, just at the bottom of a building, was Todoroki, who was lying in a loose heap. 

“IcyHot!” Bakugou tried to shout, his voice coming out as a rasp. “You good?”

There was no response. 

The sounding of slapping sneakers and boots on pavement came from somewhere in the cloud of hanging dust. Deku and Sero came running towards them, splitting so that Sero was facing Bakugou, keeping themself between Deku and Bakugou. Deku was hurrying to Todoroki’s side, dropping down and pressing two fingers to his neck. 

“What the fuck did you do, Deku?”

“Used your quirk against you,” Deku said, never taking his eyes off Todoroki. “Your gauntlet stores up your sweat. I turned it into a real grenade. Explosion was bigger than I expected though.”

“Is he okay?” Sero asked, turning their head slightly.

“Yeah, he has a steady pulse. Must have hit his head and it knocked him out.”

Stumbling to his feet, Bakugou set off a handful of sparks, his teeth barred. “Were you trying to fucking kill us or something?! What the fuck?!”

“I told you the explosion was bigger than I expected. I underestimated how much you had stored in the gauntlet. But I knew that because of your guys’ quirks, you wouldn’t really get hurt by the fire.”

“This is over! All of us are going back to the observation room!”

“Why would we do that?” Deku asked, finally looking up at Bakugou. “I have the only flag. We just have to wait for time to be up, which it will be soon, and we win.”

“What?!” Bakugou shouted. He started to stomp forward, his red eyes gleaming with rage.

“Sero, get Todoroki out of here. I’ll keep Bakugou busy. I can handle him,” Deku said, already up and moving down the street.

“Huh?! You’ll handle me?! Bullshit! Come back here, Deku! The game is over! Give me the fucking flag!”

Deku did not listen, of course. He took off running down the street, laughing loudly as Bakugou ran after, stumbling slightly and shaking his head, trying to get rid of his dizziness.

Sero picked up Todoroki, slinging him over their shoulder. They calmly walked towards the exit, knowing that they would get there just after the time ran out, exactly as Deku had planned. 

And still in their pocket was the last flag; the only one not destroyed.

Chapter Text

Todoroki woke up in Recovery Girl’s office, his head throbbing. He could hear people talking around him, but he was struggling to put names to voices. 

“I can’t believe you ran on a broken foot. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that I didn’t want to get blown up by Bakugou.”

“And you didn’t think about telling All Might or Midnight about the broken foot because why?”

“It wasn’t that bad. Barely hurt.”

“Toga was having to help you walk!”

“He didn’t need much help! Deku-kun has a crazy high pain tolerance and he knows how to set bones. We could have fixed it on our own.”

“Toga, stop picking at your bandages and sit down.”

Opening his eyes, Todoroki saw the ceiling swimming in his field of vision. Slowly, he turned his head to find Shinsou sitting in the chair beside him. He was turned around in his seat to look behind him to where Aizawa was arguing with Deku and Toga. Deku was lying in a bed, his foot bandaged up, and Toga sat on the edge of it, rubbing at the wrap on her hand. Vlad King was standing by the door, his head bowed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. In the bed opposite Deku was Bakugou, sleeping soundly as Recovery Girl bustled around him. If Todoroki had to guess, she had healed Bakugou’s injuries from the explosion and he had fallen asleep out of exhaustion. 

“What happened?” Todoroki croaked out, blinking in the harsh light.

Shinsou jumped in his seat, startled. “You’re awake! Good. How do you feel?”

“Like I got hit by a bus.”

“Doesn’t surprise me. Deku and Sero used one of Bakugou’s gauntlets to blow a crater into the street you were all on. Deku broke his foot jumping off the roof, you got knocked out, and both you and Bakugou have concussions. Recovery Girl has healed Bakugou and she’s planning to take care of you next. Then she’ll move on to Deku and Toga.”

“What happened to Toga?” Todoroki asked.

“She cut her hand to smear blood on Monoma’s face. Remember their match?”

Todoroki blinked again, trying to think back. “I think so? They went up against Shoda and Ojiro, right?”

“Yeah. Ojiro and Shoda are a little bruised up but no serious injuries. I think your injuries were the worst of the day.”

Recovery Girl tottered over and gave Todoroki a kind smile. “How are you feeling, dear? Any pain?”

“I’ve got a headache. That’s about it.”

She nodded. “That’s good. I’m going to give you some energy gummies and something to eat to help build your strength. Once I think you’re strong enough, I’ll give you a quick kiss. Now, you rest up,” she said, patting Todoroki’s cheek and moving on to Deku’s bed. Recovery Girl planted a wet kiss on Deku’s cheek, the green haired boy flinching at her sudden movement. She moved on to Toga, giving her a quick kiss as well to heal her hand. “Now you two, here are some gummies. Go eat a full meal tonight. No complaining. Remember to stick to the meal plan I made you both.”

“They will, don’t worry. Let’s go, you two. Back to the dorms,” Aizawa said, jerking his head towards the door. 

Toga climbed off the bed and picked up Deku’s shoes, handing them off to him once he had unwrapped his freshly healed foot. He slipped on the shoes and stood up, twisting the ankle back and forth, testing out the foot. He then walked across the room, away from the door and to Todoroki’s bed.

Deku’s face was red, his green eyes cast towards the floor. “I’m sorry.”

Todoroki blinked up at him, looking slightly startled. “What?”

“I’m sorry. The explosion didn’t go exactly as planned. It wasn’t supposed to be so big. I miscalculated how much nitroglycerin was built up in the gauntlet. You weren’t supposed to get hurt. It was just supposed to knock you both around and burn up the flags. So, like I said; I’m sorry.”

“It… It’s fine. Really. It was an accident,” Todoroki said, giving Deku the smallest of smiles. “People get hurt in training all the time.”

Deku’s face grew redder as he gave a curt nod and scurried away. Back at Toga’s side, he ducked his head down and followed Aizawa and Vlad King out of the infirmary. 

“He really is still scared of me,” Todoroki said, glancing over at Shinsou.

Shinsou’s eyes were narrowed, watching the group leave. “You know, I’m not so sure about that.”
“What do you mean?”

“I think I may know what’s up with him. I’ll keep a closer eye and if I’m right, I’ll let you know.”

The next day, Deku acted the same as he had been: avoiding everyone in class. He kept his head down and did his work, never raising his hand to answer questions. When Aizawa told the class that they could work in groups on a packet, Deku didn’t even try to find a partner. He just opened the packet and started working by himself. Shinsou and Todoroki shot each other a look before getting up and walking over to Deku’s desk. 

“Hey, do you want to work with us?” Shinsou asked, his voice even and sounding bored. 

Deku jumped in his seat and looked up at them, his green eyes looking borderline terrified. “Why?” he asked, hunching over his papers slightly.

“Because working alone sucks. Come on, we can sit in the back corner away from everyone else. It’s quiet back there.”

Glancing over his shoulder to the corner Shinsou gestured to, Deku narrowed his eyes. “I still don’t get why you want to work with me.”

“Because you’re smart and have been nice every time you have spoken to us,” Todoroki said. He spoke as though it were a simple fact and not actually the nicest thing anyone in the class had said to Deku thus far.

Blinking owlishly, Deku finally nodded and gathered his things into his backpack.

Todoroki frowned. “If you want, you can leave your backpack at your desk. That way you don’t have to move it again later.” Deku shook his head, back to looking suspiciously at Shinsou and Todoroki as he tugged his backpack closer to his chest. Seeing Deku’s reaction, Todoroki quickly back tracked. “But you can bring it if you are more comfortable. I can help carry things if you need me to.”

Deku didn’t take him up on the offer, but he did continue to silently pack his bag and then proceeded to follow them to the back. The three arranged some desks and sat down together. 

They worked mostly in silence, having broken up the packet between the three of them. Occasionally, Todoroki or Shinsou would ask a question and Deku would answer it immediately, The other two would give an appreciative nod and continue their work. Deku finished first and sat back in his seat, a notebook out that he started to write in. 

As Shinsou finished, passing his packet to Todoroki for him to look at the section he completed, he leaned over towards Deku. “What’s that?”

Deku snapped the notebook closed. “Don’t touch it!” he hissed, looking defensive. 

Shinsou put his hands up placatingly. “Not going to, don’t worry. Just curious.”

He studied Shinsou for a moment, his eyes searching the other boy’s face. Slowly, his shoulders relaxed. “Its… Its a new analysis notebook. My old ones are with Nezu and the Detective from my case. I do private lessons with Nezu and he gave me this notebook to work in.”

“That’s pretty cool. Nezu is sorta scary though. I mean, what is he even like as a teacher?”

Deku shrugged. “He’s not that scary. Mostly we just sit there while he reads my past analysis and my most recent analysis. Then at the end he gives me an assignment. I think that he’s still trying to figure me out.”

“You mean he hasn’t yet?” Shinsou asked, a smirk on his face. “I thought he had everyone figured out.”

“He knows the basics about me but he’s still trying to figure out how to get me to open up or something. I’m not exactly a friendly student,” Deku said with a laugh.

Todoroki flipped his packet closed and moved to hand both his own and Shinsou’s to Deku. Seeing Todoroki’s hand coming towards him out of the corner of his eye, Deku flinched backwards, whipping his head around so that he had full view of the other boy. A strange look flitted across Todoroki’s face before he was back to his neutral expression. He carefully set the packets down on Deku’s desk and then stood up.

“I have to use the restroom. I’ll be back in a moment,” he said, walking to the front of the room to ask Aizawa’s permission. 

“You know, he might be quiet and have a serious face, but he’s actually a really nice guy,” Shinsou said evenly, carefully watching Deku’s reaction.

“And?”

“And he thinks you’re scared of him.”

“Who says I’m not? Maybe I’m scared of all of you. You guys are all hero students and I’m a villain.”

Shinsou shook his head. “Villains don’t save little girls, or leave traffickers alive so their victims can be rescued, or offer up their own freedom in exchange for their friend to go to school. You do a lot of heroic things for someone who claims to be a villain.” Slowly, Shinsou leaned into Deku’s space. As he spoke, his voice dropped, turning quiet and gravely. “Is there another reason you act so weird around our resident ice pack-heating pad combo?”

Instead of responding, Deku leaned back, his face burning and a blush creeping up his neck. Shinsou’s smile grew, even as a thread of jealousy wove its way through his heart, though what he didn’t seem to realize was that Deku wasn’t blushing because of the accusation: he was blushing because Shinsou was so close and speaking in that flustering voice. 

“That’s what I thought,” Shinsou said, his grin Cheshire like. 

“It's not that,” Deku spat, finally collecting himself. “You remember who his dad is, don’t you? I don’t have fond feelings for Endeavor.”

“Neither does he. See, you already have something in common.”

“Why are you pushing this so hard?”

“Because he wants to be your friend.”

Deku scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“No, it's true!” Shinsou said, “He and I talked about it. He likes that you’re not loud, like most of the people in this class, and he likes that being your friend will piss off his dad. He thinks it’d be a win-win for you guys: you both get to piss off Endeavor and you both get a new friend. ”

“I’m not here to make friends. I’m here so I don’t get murdered for being a traitor. I don’t know what your angle is, but you aren’t getting anything out of me,” Deku snapped. He stood, tossing his packet towards Shinsou. “I finished the whole thing. Copy the answers from my section and give it back when you’re done. I’m going to my desk.” With that, Deku grabbed his backpack and stormed back to his seat, dropping down into the chair and glaring at the desktop.

When Todoroki returned, he gave a questioning glance towards Deku as he sat down in his seat. “What happened?”

“He’s mad at me. Not that I blame him really. I pushed too hard.”

“Trying to find out why he acts weird around us?”

“Yeah, I thought I had it figured out, but now I’m not so sure. I think he may actually be scared of us. He still sees himself as a villain and not as a student.”

Todoroki frowned, his head ducking and his bangs falling further into his eyes. “It's not like any of us have tried to treat him as anything besides a villain.”

“We have.”

“We’ve tried to speak to him a few times and I treated his injury once. That isn’t much. He could have thought we were being like Bakugou and trying to talk to him about his past. It is likely a sensitive subject for him.”

Shinsou groaned, letting his head hit his desk. “And the first chance I got alone with him, I started badgering him with questions. Shit.”

“We may need to think of a new strategy.”

---

At lunch, Todoroki and Shinsou sat in their normal spot with Tsu, Iida, and Uraraka. Iida was discussing his need to go shopping for new binders, which led to Uraraka and Tsu giving each other confused looks, unsure if he meant a three-ring binder or a binder for his chest, which they all knew were difficult to find since he was so broad shouldered. At the other end of the table, Ojiro, Tokoyami, Shoji, and Koda were eating together as they typically did. Beside them at the next table were some 1-B students, which included Monoma, who looked oddly reserved that day. 

“It just worries me that she is going to snap one day,” Ojiro said, his voice having risen slightly. “You guys didn’t see the way she was. It was like she was the old Toga. What if she snaps again?”

“It was an act,” Tokoyami insisted. “As soon as the game started, she and Monoma found the nearest camera and explained their plan so that All Might and Midnight wouldn’t end the match. She was fully in control of herself the whole time.”

“That doesn’t mean she still isn’t capable. We saw what she did to Tsu and Uraraka. I mean, I’m all for a villain rehabilitation program, but are these two the right choice? Deku could have killed Bakugou and Todoroki during their match and Toga could bite someone at any time. Neither of them are really cut out for hero work either, are they?” Ojiro said, a stern look on his face. “Without a quirk, Deku could get really hurt in the field. And Toga’s quirk can’t be used to be a hero. She has to hurt people to use it and then all she can do is disguise herself. It's not very heroic.”

“That’s funny,” a loud voice cut in, catching the attention of half the cafeteria. Monoma stood up from his table, glaring at Ojiro. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were a quirkest asshole.”

“What?”

“I heard you talking shit. I don’t think that’s very heroic either, kangaroo boy.”

Ojiro stood from his seat, glaring right back at Monoma. “You aren’t a part of this conversation. Back off.”

“Did you know that your quirk could be used for villainous things? That tail of yours could easily break a neck. You could use it for plenty of criminal acts. So what gives you the right to judge her?”

Koda reached up and tried to gently pull Ojiro back down into his seat, but Ojiro shook him off. “How’s she supposed to be a hero with a quirk like that, huh? She and Deku should be in support or general studies! It’d be safer for everyone, including them!”

“It's like you haven’t had Eraserhead for a teacher this whole year,” Monoma said, laughing incredulously. “Did you forget about underground heroes? With the right training and tools, she’d be great at undercover work! You might not have faith in 1-A’s ability to rehabilitate Deku, but don’t you dare write off 1-B’s ability to help Toga! Wait and see; we’re going to help her become a model hero student, better than anyone in 1-A! And since you don’t think 1-A is good enough to help Deku, which I am sure they aren’t, 1-B will help him too! I’m going to make sure they become heroes, just to prove quirkest pieces of shit like you wrong.”

With that, Monoma grabbed his lunch tray and stepped away from his table. He looked at Kendo and Tetsu expectantly. “Are you coming?”

“Where?” Tetsu asked, cocking his head in confusion. “All our friends are sitting here.”

Monoma huffed and stormed away, not even bothering to respond. Toga and Deku, who had been sitting in the corner as they always did, were watching the entire interaction with startled expressions, which only became more shocked as Monoma approached their table and dropped his tray down across from them. He sat down, glaring at his tray as he dug into his food. Toga stared at him, slack jawed, while Deku stared in confusion. Slowly, Toga smiled and began eating again. 

Without a word, Todoroki stood, picking up his tray. He gave Shinsou a pointed look before starting to walk across the cafeteria towards the corner. Shinsou was quick to follow. The two boys sat down beside Monoma, facing Deku. 

“What are you two doing?” Monomoa snapped. “Didn’t you hear what I said about 1-A?”

“Yeah, but us villain kids have to stick together, don’t we?” Shinsou said. He smirked at Monoma. “I got told my entire life I’d never be a hero cuz of my quirk. If you’re serious about helping Toga and Deku, you’re going to need help, especially from someone who understands what it's like to get shit on by society.”

“Toga is going to need extra people to practice turning into and Deku needs people to spar. Figured I could help,” Todoroki said with a shrug.

“People are going to be mad that you guys are doing this,” Deku warned, still eyeing the hero course students.

Monoma shrugged. “People have hated me most of my life. What does it matter if they hate me now? As a hero, it's my job to help others, so I’m not going to stand by and watch Toga go through what I did.”

“Was it because of your quirk?” Todoroki asked.

Monoma didn’t say anything, but he did nod. Shinsou reached around Todoroki to good naturedly punch Monoma’s shoulder. “Hey, look at that, we have something in common. Who would have thought?”

Seeing Monoma’s scowl deepen, Toga picked up one of the onigiri on her tray and gently set it on his. When he tried to hand it back, she shook her head. “It's plum. I don’t really like plum.”

His frown relaxed slightly. He picked up one of his onigiri and put it on her tray. “Mine are tuna.”

She smiled appreciatively, her fangs flashing in the light, but instead of looking scary, she just looked like a normal, excited teenage girl. Toga took a bite of the onigiri, melting at the taste of fresh meat. Deku watched her, a small smile playing on his face.

Todoroki found himself staring at that smile, a fluttering feeling playing deep in his gut. Beside him, Shinsou felt his face slowly start to flush and had to will his blush away.

---

Shigaraki was losing it. 

That was the only way to describe it. He was off the rails. Every chance he got, he was ranting about how evil hero society was. He would complain about how they were holding Toga and Deku hostage, keeping them from their true calling as villains by his side. His bitching had gotten so bad that even Spinner had said something, asking Shigaraki gently if they could focus on something besides the kids.

“When they see the chance, they’ll escape,” Spinner had said, carefully keeping out of Shigaraki’s reach. “I think we should maybe focus on the next step in our plans to take down the heroes, don’t you?”

Shigaraki growled, his red eyes locking on Spinner. The burning anger Spinner found there made him flinch. 

“You’re not here to think, Lizard. You’re here to do what I say. And I need those two back. It's been weeks and there’s no progress.”

“Why doesn’t Kurogiri just warp in there and grab them? Who cares!? Let the brats rot there! I miss Toga,” Twice said, flipping rapidly between his personalities and emotions. 

“He can’t just open a warp gate at UA. After the USJ, they put up tech to keep out teleporters of any kind using their quirks,” Shigaraki said. He stalked back towards the bar and grabbed his drink, downing a swallow. “Dabi, you were supposed to be getting me information on their backgrounds. Any luck finding Deku’s dad or Toga’s parents?”

Dabi, who was lounging in a chair as far away from Shigaraki as he could get, gave a shrug. “No word on Deku’s dad. I know the names of Toga’s parents but they moved years ago. When I tried to trace them so I could ask them about Toga, I couldn’t find them. I think they may have changed their names. Would make sense, if they thought their daughter was hell spawn and threw her out on the streets; they wouldn’t have wanted anything connecting them to her.”

“Give me their names. I can track them down.”

“If you just tell me how you would do it, I can manage it just fine,” Dabi said, his brilliant blue eyes narrowing.

Shigaraki glared right back at him. “The names. Now.”

The room was silent and tense as the two men watched each other, waiting for the other to break. Twice shifted uncomfortably while Spinner gripped his sword, ready to step in if a fight broke out. Kurogiri and Mr. Compress stayed close to the wall, content to watch everything unfold. Finally, Dabi heaved a sigh. 

“Fine. Katashi and Naoko Toga. Like I said, it looks like they changed their names and disappeared sometime after they disowned their daughter. Tell me when you find them and I’ll go talk to them.”

“I can handle this. You keep looking for Deku’s dad. We already know his name; he shouldn’t be that hard to find.” With that, Shigaraki knocked back the last of his drink and retreated to his room, pulling his phone from his pocket. Once alone, he dialed a number and raised it to his ear. “Sensei. I need your help finding some people that changed their names.”

“What were their original names? I can have them found for you, Tomura.”

Chapter Text

“Now, Midoriya, let me see your latest entry,” Principal Nezu said, holding out a paw for Deku to place his notebook in. 

Deku carefully pulled it from his bag and handed it to the principal, worrying at his bottom lip with his teeth. “I… uh… I did a write up on Spinner’s quirk. I know I gave you an analysis on him in my past notebooks but I’ve been doing extra research on mutation quirks, like you asked me to, and I think I may have found some things that can be applied to him. I… That’s okay, right?”

Nezu nodded, flipping to the most recent page. “Of course it is. I look forward to reading it. You always have such insightful thoughts. I am curious though, you haven’t written any analysis on your classmates. Is there a reason for this?”

“Wait, you want me to write about my classmates?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because I’m a villain kid? I figured you wouldn’t want me writing the details about your students’ quirks.”

With a pondering look, Nezu glanced up from the notebook. “While I would not want that sort of information lying around, we have already established that for the most part, your notebooks will be staying here with me, so there is no reason for concern in regards to you writing your analysis. Now, on the matter of you being a, how did you say it, a “villain kid,” you aren’t that at all. You are a UA student in the hero course. And as such, you must work on strengthening all the tools in your arsenal. One of these tools are your analysis skills. You spend most of your time with your classmates, making them the perfect individuals to practice with. Besides, you can’t honestly tell me you aren’t analyzing them anyway. I suspect that you are just not writing it down.”

Deku averted his eyes, looking sheepishly down at his feet. “I mean, you’re not wrong. Sorry.”

“There’s no need to be sorry! Analyzing others has become like second nature to you. It makes perfect sense that you would do it. But for me to be able to help you, I need you to write everything down. That can be your next assignment.”

“But… What if they find out?”

“Your classmates, you mean?”

“Yeah. If they find out, they’ll get mad at me. They hate me enough as it is; I don’t want to make it worse.”

Nezu arched a brow, his beady black eyes sparkling as he gave Deku a small smile. “Now, I hardly think it is accurate to say they hate you, especially since Monoma, Todoroki, and Shinsou have taken to sitting with you at lunch.”

“That’s different,” Deku spluttered. “Monoma is just trying to prove that 1-B is better than 1-A. And Todoroki and Shinsou want something from me. I don’t know what yet, but they do. They keep trying to say they want to be my friend, but it's bullsh- I mean, it's bullcrap.”

“Why do you believe they want something from you?”

“Why else would they want to be around me?”

“Perhaps they can see the good in you, just as I did. Just as Eraserhead, Present Mic, and Vlad King did as well. Shinsou was present when you first arrived with Eri, so he has seen you act as a hero first hand. Todoroki is friends with Shinsou and would likely follow his friend’s lead.”

Deku snorted. “Todoroki wants to piss off his dad by being my friend. There’s probably more to it but I’m not going to let him get close enough to find out. If he wants to sit there with us at lunch, that’s fine. Him being there scares people off from messing with Toga and I. But I’m not about to start asking about his day and stuff.”

“Have you considered that because everyone is scared of him, he may not have many friends? His father is the Number 2 hero and that can be intimidating for most people. It is possible that you, being an individual who has shown an ability to stand up to pro heroes, would be appealing to him as a friend. In his eyes, he may think that you wouldn’t be scared, or as scared, of his father and thus make a good friend. You would be one of the few who wouldn’t care about who his father is.”

“But I do care,” Deku said, huffing and running a hand through his messy green hair. “I’m definitely not a fan of Endeavor and don’t want to be anywhere near him. I’m not interested in being friends with his son and going over to Endeavor’s house for movie nights or whatever else friends do.”

“You wouldn’t need to worry about that. Todoroki has not once brought a UA friend home to meet his family, and since he was homeschooled before he came here, he wouldn’t have had an opportunity to bring school friends home then either.”

“So, what, you want me to be his friend because you think he’s lonely or something?”

Nezu shook his head. “No, I think you should just give him a chance. He’s a rather straightforward and blunt young man. If he wants something from you, he will tell you right away.”

Before Deku could respond, the door to Nezu’s office was flung open, swinging and striking the wall with a loud bang. Both Deku and Nezu jumped in their seats, reaching for makeshift weapons at the same time. Deku had grabbed his backpack by one strap, prepared to fling the heavy thing at any oncoming attacker, while Nezu had grasped a sharp metal pen, which would have worked wonderfully as a palm stick in an emergency. 

Present Mic was standing in the door, looking disheveled and panicked. His green eyes were wide as he panted, stumbling further into the room.
“Midoriya! Good, you’re okay. Come on, you need to come with me.”

Deku stood from his seat, looking panicked. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“The League has just started a broadcast. Students are streaming it on their phones and laptops and I want both you and Toga in a safe place, just in case the League says something that sets off the students.”

Nezu was out of his seat and hurrying over to Mic, who immediately scooped up the principal and deposited him on his shoulder. “Where is Toga?” Nezu asked, his voice stern.

“1-B was at quirk training. I called Vlad and told him to pull Toga and to meet me at the dorms. I released 1-A from class and told them to go straight to their dorm as well. With how much the League has affected them, I figured they’d be better off away from the crowds while whatever this is happens.” 

“That was smart,” Nezu said, nodding. “We should take Midoriya to your’s and Eraserhead’s apartment. While his classmates will be nearby, they aren’t likely to retaliate against him should the League do or say something that upsets them. Besides, no one would dare to enter Eraserhead’s apartment without permission.”

The three quickly left and hurried out of the main building. Mic kept Deku close to his side, a hand on the boy’s shoulder. For once, Deku wasn’t flinching away. As they walked across campus, they saw clusters of students gathered around their phones, talking in hushed voices. A few looked up as they passed, some glaring while others just looked horrified. As they got closer to the dorms, they could see 1-B being led towards their own dorms, Vlad King hurrying along with Toga just beside him. Monoma was with her, a sneered expression on his face as he snarled at anyone who looked at Toga for too long. She was clutching her books closely to her chest, looking nervous. As soon as she spotted Deku, she sprinted ahead of Vlad King and latched herself to Deku’s arm. 

Vlad King pushed open the door to the 1-B dorms. “All of you, get inside and stay there until I come back.”

Silently, the kids filed in while Mic continued to lead Deku and Toga towards 1-A. No one was about to argue with Toga that she couldn’t stay with Deku right now. 

The person they did have to argue with was Monoma. Instead of heading into the 1-B dorm, he was marching himself off after Toga. Vlad King grabbed his arm and tried to pull him back.

“Stay with the class,” Vlad said, trying to usher the boy back.

Monoma ripped himself out of his teacher’s grasp. “She will be woefully outnumbered by the 1-A students. It is only right that she has someone from her class with her.”

“I will be with her. Now go inside.”

“Actually,” Toga called out, catching their attention. “I’d like it if he was with me.”

Looking rather pleased with himself, Monoma gave Vlad King a dry smile before hurrying after Toga, heading into the 1-A dorms with her. 

As they stepped inside, they found the entirety of Class 1-A gathered in the common area, Aizawa with them. The TV was turned on to a news station, which was flashing a warning for viewer discretion at the bottom of the screen.

Mic and Vlad tried to hurry the three kids on, but Toga let out a shriek, stopping all of them in their tracks.

Toga dropped her books. “My parents!” she gasped, rushing across the room to get a better view of the TV.

“Toga, no!” Aizawa said, catching hold of her. “You shouldn’t watch this.”

“Let go! I want to see!” she screamed, fighting against his grip.

Deku was frozen in place, staring at the screen as Shigaraki’s crazed face stared back. His wide, toothy smile was pulled painfully tight, cracking the skin on his lips as he paced in front of a kneeling couple. 

It was a man and a woman, both of whom looked rather unassuming. The woman had a slight build and a soft face, with round cheeks and a button nose. Her ashy blonde hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail with long strands gently framing her face. As she stared up at Shigaraki with a quivering lip, her brown eyes began to well with tears. Beside her was a broad shouldered man with mousy brown hair. He wasn’t heavily muscled, but he looked fit and healthy, with radiant skin and bright yellow eyes. His square jaw was tightly set as he ground his teeth, glaring at Shigaraki with disdain. Both the man and the woman had their hands bound behind their backs and were covered in bruises and cuts. 

“Anything to say for yourself, Toga-san?” Shigaraki said with a sneer.

“That’s not my name,” the man spat. “I am Hideo Ichikawa and this is my wife, Kimi Ichikawa. You have the wrong people!”

“No, I don’t, Toga-san. You are Katashi and Naoko Toga, mother and father of Himiko Toga. Don’t try to deny it, not after you publicly disowned your daughter. Saying how she was born bad, all because of her quirk. She bites one boy and you throw her out. You called her a… what was it? Oh that’s right. A “creepy demon child.” It never crossed your minds that maybe you did something to make her snap. That maybe your parenting was so bad, that your daughter couldn’t take it,” Shigaraki sneered, walking closer to the couple. The woman sobbed, ducking her head. He tangled his hands in her hair and yanked her head back, hissing at her. “Don’t you dare hide your face!”

“She put a straw in that boy!” Naoko sobbed. “She drank his blood! What were we to do? As soon as she showed any interest in blood, we tried to stomp it out! We got her to act normal, and then she just lost it!”

“And then you abandoned her! You know, when she was living with us, she had access to blood regularly. With her thirst quenched, she was able to ignore when someone got hurt. We had a member: smart boy, knew a lot about quirks. He explained that those with blood quirks almost always have a fascination with blood and a need to drink it. Not a desire: a need . Without it, they can get sick. You were starving your daughter. You were abusing her!” 

“No! I would never!”

Shigaraki let go of her head, letting her sag as she wailed. Her husband, Katashi, struggled against his bonds in an attempt to reach her.

“And you,” Shigaraki snapped, glaring at Katashi. “You don’t even care, do you?”

Katashi spat at Shigaraki, the glob of spit barely missing Shigaraki’s face. “That girl is no daughter of mine. I have no children.”

Silence fell as Shigaraki stared down at the man, an eerily serene look on his face. Naoko’s sobs only grew louder, her shoulders shaking.

“You know, she talked about you,” Shigaraki said. His voice was quiet and scratchy, like the rasping of insect legs. Deku felt his skin crawling as Shigaraki lowered himself down so he was face to face with Katashi. “She talked about you both. She would tell us about how you didn’t want her. She acted like it was fine, but that didn’t stop her from crying late at night whenever she missed you. Deku and Magne would stay up all night comforting her. It was pathetic, but she had never been the strongest of the party, so I won’t hold it against her. It was good for her, in a way. The heartbreak. The pain. It made her stronger. Made her colder. It gave her the power to level up. But now, she’s gone. The heroes took her. They are keeping her from me. And unlike you, I want her back.”

Shigaraki then stood, turning to face the camera. “Give back my rogues, heroes. I know you stole them, since they know better than to split the party. They better be released within the next 24 hours, or else… well…” He paused and reached out with one bare hand, dropping it onto Katashi’s shoulder. The man’s shirt crumbled away to ash and dust. As soon as Shigaraki’s skin touched his bare shoulder, Katashi began to scream. Cracks formed across his body, spreading up his neck to his face. He broke apart, piece by piece, until all that was left was a pile of dust.

Toga screamed, breaking free from Aizawa’s grasp. She lunged at the TV as Shigaraki moved behind her mother, who was sobbing so hard that she had begun to hyperventilate. Monoma jumped forward and caught hold of Toga, dragging her back into his chest. She fought against his grip, trying to rush at the TV again. No matter how hard she struggled, Monoma kept his arms locked tightly around her middle.

“Return Toga and Deku and these will be the only two to die by my hands today,” Shigaraki said, dropping his hand down onto the back of Naoko’s neck. Her death was slightly faster, and she had only a moment to let out a pained shriek before she crumbled away.

“No!” Toga sobbed, fighting even harder. “No no no no!”

“Deku’s father is next. Then, we move on to innocent civilians. Tick tock heroes. Your time starts now.”

The screen flickered to black as someone turned it off. The only sound in the silent room was Toga, who had gone limp in Monoma’s arms as she continued to cry. He gently turned her around, allowing her to latch her arms around him as she buried her face into the side of his neck.

Mic slowly reached out to touch Deku’s shoulder. “Midoriya -”

Before Mic could say more, Deku lunged towards a nearby potted plant and vomited, emptying his stomach into the pot. A gentle hand rubbed at his back as he heaved, retching up pure bile. As he slowly straightened, he found Aizawa standing beside him, his rough hand on Deku’s back and his thumb rubbing soothing circles against his shoulder blade. A girl, the one Deku recognized as the class Vice Rep, approached carefully, holding out a water bottle to him. He took it, giving her an appreciative nod. From her skin, she pulled a tin of mints and handed that to him as well. She then walked over to Toga and pulled a box of tissues from her skin and handed it to Monoma, who held it in preparation for when Toga lifted her head from his shoulder. 

“Sensei, I’m going to make a pot of tea,” the girl said quietly.

Aizawa nodded. “Thank you, Yaoyorozu.”

“Midoriya,” Nezu said, hoping down from Mic’s shoulder. “I know that was difficult to watch, and you must be very worried for your father, but I need you to focus. Can you please tell us where your father is? We need to reach out to him so that we can -”

“He doesn’t know,” Midoriya croaked. “Fuck. He doesn’t fucking know. This is bad.”

“I know. We have to tell him so he can be safe. So that’s why we need -”

“No, not my dad. Shigaraki. He doesn’t know we betrayed him. This is really really bad.”

Vlad King frowned. “That just means he never sent an attack after you. This is a good thing.”

Deku shook his head violently, stumbling away from Aizawa and putting his hands out, as though he was trying to keep anyone from approaching him. “I’ll go. You don’t have to fight me on it. Just don’t send Toga. It’ll be too much for her.”

The room froze. Before any of the teachers could say anything, Bakugou was out of his seat and setting off small explosions in his hands. 

“You aren’t sending him back there!” he snarled, eyes narrowed at Nezu. “I won’t let you!”

“Bakugou, sit down. Now,” Aizawa snapped, pulling himself to his full height. “No one is being sent anywhere.”

Deku blinked at him, the panic in his eyes clearing and giving way to confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“We aren’t sending a child to the League of Villains. Why would you think we would do that?”

“So you could have a double agent on the inside? So the League doesn’t kill more people? To have one less villain on campus? There’s a lot of reasons.”

“Listen, kid,” Aizawa said. He paused to run a hand through his snarled hair as he sighed. “It is not your job to go undercover. You are a literal child with no training. It is our job to protect you, okay? We aren’t sending you back to the League. To be blunt, if we sent you back, you’d probably get killed. We would never knowingly send a student to their death.”

Deku continued to blink up at him in confusion. “But I don’t count.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m quirkless and a villain. I don’t count.”

“Are you trying to say you don’t count as a student?”

“I mean I wouldn’t count towards your statistics if I did die, so it shouldn’t matter. You can easily write me out of the rehabilitation program and it would be like I was never here. You can send me back to League as a double agent and you’d get a lot more information than what I’m giving you now. And if you don’t send me back, Shigaraki is going to go nuts. Without me, he doesn’t have anyone to analyze for him. He has no hacker. He has no one to act as a brain. The only people he has that aren’t what he sees as a “brawler” are his Sensei and Mr. Compress. He doesn’t trust Compress enough to ask him for anything and his Sensei wants him to learn to stand on his own or something, I don’t know. Shigaraki was always asking for my or Magne’s opinions and he’d be having Toga and I collect information for him. Without at least one of us, he is practically crippled. 

“You have to send me back or he will become unpredictable. You saw what he did! He’s already unraveling! I thought that he would put it together that Toga and I betrayed him and he would just focus on getting back at the two of us. People would be safe because he’d be so busy trying to figure out how to kill us. But no, he had to be fucking stupid and think we got kidnapped and now he’s taking it out on anyone he can find,” Deku was panting hard as he spoke, his hands fidgeting as he shuffled from foot to foot in a panic. “I have to go back. I can feed him bad information. Throw him off. It’ll buy you guys time. That’s the only thing we can do.”

Mic folded his arms across his chest, his frown severe. “No.”

“But -”

“No. You are not going back. I don’t care if you think it's what is best. I will not allow a child to go to the League of Villains. You are staying here and that’s final.”

“Damn,” Kaminari whispered, leaning against Mina to whisper in her ear. “Who knew Mic-sensei could be so serious and scary?” Mina elbowed and shushed him while Bakugou finally lowered himself back into his seat, red eyes still glaring at Nezu.

Toga lifted her head, blinking around the room with teary eyes. “Deku-kun,” she said, her voice shaky. “I didn’t get to apologize to them.”

Deku hurried past Aizawa and pulled Toga into his arms, hugging her tightly. Monoma took a tissue from the box and handed it to Deku, who gently wiped at Toga’s cheeks. 

“It’s alright, Toga. You shouldn’t have to apologize to them. They are the ones who hurt you,” he reminded her, same as he always did when she would cry over her parents. “None of this is your fault. It’s Shigaraki’s.” 

“I ruined their reputation! All because I couldn’t keep myself from biting that boy!” she sobbed, a fresh wave of tears streaming down her face. “They’re right! I’m just a creepy demon child!”

Yaoyorozu came back into the room with a full pot of tea and a stack of cups. She poured out two and went to hand them to Deku, but Monoma intercepted and took them. Looking past her, he glared at the rest of 1-A.

“Don’t you guys have anything better to do than stare?” he snapped, shooting them all an icy look. 

Turning to look over her shoulder, Yaoyorozu gestured to the tea pot. “Everyone, take a cup of tea and then head to your rooms please. Iida, could you help with passing out the tea?”

Iida nodded, standing up and beginning to pour out equal measures of tea for everyone in the class. When he went to hand one to Bakugou, the explosive teen snarled, smacking the cup away.

“I don’t need any fucking tea. Deku, where is your fucking dad? You’re supposed to be some sort of amazing hacker, right? You’ve had to have been keeping track of him.”

“I didn’t have any interest in finding him, so I didn’t do it.”

“Bullshit.”

Deku shot Bakugou a dark look. “He ditched my mom and I because I was quirkless. He barely ever spoke to us and never paid child support. I’ve never had any interest in knowing anything about him.”

“I can look into locating him,” Nezu said, trying to stop the argument before it got much worse. “In the meantime, I want both Deku and Toga to stay indoors within Eraserhead’s and Vlad King’s apartments. If this is a ploy by the League to distract us from an attempt to steal back or attack the two, then I want them to be well protected. Eraserhead, you already have young Togata, Amajiki, and Hado in your apartment visiting with Eri. We will ask them all to stay so you have help protecting Eri and Deku should the League arrive. Present Mic is in the building as well, so you should have plenty of support. Vlad King, Midnight is in the 1-B dorm and I will be sending a few third years over as well to help watch over the dorms. I will alert the other teachers to be on guard in their own buildings, but I do not believe they will need extra security.”

Vlad King nodded before he stepped over to Deku and Toga. He gently set one of his massive hands on Toga’s shoulder. Her entire body was quaking as she buried herself further into Deku’s shoulder.

“Come on, Toga. Let’s get back to the dorms.”

“I want to stay with Deku.”

Vlad sighed. “I know, kiddo. But we need to get back so we can keep you safe. It's safer for everyone if you two are separate, that way if the League does attack, they have to split their forces. Do you see why that’s important?”

She nodded, but still didn’t let go of Deku. After another moment of her clutching to him, she slowly let go and pulled away, her eyes bloodshot and her cheeks tear stained. Monoma, who was still holding the cups of tea, handed one off to Deku before reaching out to take Toga’s hand. He pulled her hand up and wrapped it around her cup of tea. Her fingers fumbled slightly, but clutched onto the paper cup and pulled it back into her chest, where she wrapped her other hand around it, nuzzling into the warmth. 

Monoma’s arm lifted, as though he was about to touch her, but then froze. He glanced over his shoulder at the few remaining members of 1-A. Bakugou, who was still sitting and glaring, made a huffing noise and then fixed his attention on Nezu again. Todoroki and Shinsou were sitting with Uraraka, who was waiting for Iida to finish passing out the tea. Shinsou arched one brow, giving Monoma a pointed look before letting his gaze wander back over to Deku. A slight blush creeped up Monoma’s cheeks as he let his arm continue its motion and wrapped it around Toga’s shoulder. He tucked her against his side and squeezed her upper arm in a comforting gesture. Vlad King gave Monoma an approving nod, an impressed and proud look on his face as he led the pair out of the dorm. 

“I’ll see you soon. I promise,” Deku said, watching them leave. She gave him a watery smile as she passed. 

Nezu gestured for Deku to follow him. “Come now. Let us get you settled. Perhaps you can spend some time with Eri, yes?”

As Deku started to follow Nezu, Mic, and Aizawa, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he sees Bakugou trailing after them. Aizawa turned as well, having seen Deku move. 

“Bakugou, to your room. Now.”

“I’m staying with Deku.”

“No, you’re not. Go.”

Huffing, Bakugou stormed off, stomping up the stairs to his dorm. Iida was corralling Todoroki, Shinsou, and Uraraka up the stairs as well. Todoroki paused, glancing back over his shoulder to make eye contact with Deku. He gave the green-haired boy a small, sad smile before continuing back up the stairs. 

Stepping into the apartment, Deku found Mirio, Tamaki, and Nejire gathered in the living room with Eri, all watching a movie about a magical talking cat. Eri seemed particularly entranced, as did Nejire. Tamaki had buried himself into Mirio’s side as they watched.

Seeing the gathered people, Mirio straightened in his seat. His bright smile slipped slightly when he saw the state everyone was in. 

“Everything okay?” he asked, his blue eyes bright with worry. 

“The League… made an example of Toga’s parents,” Nezu said diplomatically, careful of what he said around Eri. “I am hoping you three can stay in the 1-A dorms tonight and possibly tomorrow night in case the League is planning a strike to hurt or take back Deku and Toga. Would that be alright?”

“Sure!” Nejire said excitedly. “Eri and I can do our hair and watch lots of movies! How does that sound?”

Eri nodded, looking excited, but not quite smiling. 

Mirio smiled at Deku and patted the spot beside him. “Join us! The movie is going to end soon but I think there is a sequel we can watch. Need me to fill you in on what’s happened?”

Deku shook his head while he stepped further into the room. He looked around nervously, shifting from foot to foot as his eyes flicked between the couch and the hallway to his room. “Toga made me watch this movie before. I know what's going on.”

As Nezu left, leaving Mic and Aizawa to keep an eye on the children, Deku eyed the older students carefully. Mirio watched Deku out of the corner of his eye, studying the younger boy as he studied them. Finally, after letting Deku get his fill, Mirio turned to look at him again, smiling.

“How are you settling in here at UA?” Mirio asked, trying to keep his normally loud voice a little quieter, not wanting to startle Deku.

Deku still flinched, jumping slightly and curling in on himself more. “It’s fine I guess.”

“Good! And it is probably nice living with two teachers. If you ever have questions on the homework, they can help you!” When Mirio saw the flash of surprise in Deku’s eyes, he laughed lightly, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Yeah, we know about Present Mic and Eraserhead. They had to tell us since we spend so much time with Eri. We promised not to say anything though.”

The credits were rolling before anyone spoke again. Nejire was searching for the sequel while Mirio had crouched down to ask Eri if she wanted a snack. Eri looked nervous as she nodded her head, as though she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to ask for food. Tamaki immediately got up and went to get a snack for her, Mirio following behind saying he would find something for everyone. As soon as they were gone, Eri was climbing up onto the couch with Deku, crawling into his lap and curling against him. It was a common occurrence in the apartment, since she was still struggling to warm up to others. 

In her eyes, Deku was her savior and she didn’t understand why people were always so nervous around him. Aizawa had tried to explain to her that Deku was possibly dangerous and that she shouldn’t spend too much time alone with him, but she refused to accept that Deku was anything besides a hero. She would climb into Deku’s lap while they watched TV or movies, and she would climb into his lap while he read stories to her. When he did his homework, she would come wandering into his room and sit on his floor with a coloring book, happily working on her drawings as he studied. Nearly every night, Deku would take some time to help Eri with her own studies. They would go over letters, numbers, and shapes, so that when she would spend time with her tutors during the day, she would be a little less confused. 

Tamaki stumbled as he came back into the living room, having spotted Eri curled up in Deku’s lap. He quickly regained his footing and sat down on the other side of the couch before holding out sliced apples to Eri. She took the bowl and happily munched on one before offering another to Deku. He took it, smiling down at her. Mirio came back with some chips and some juice pouches, which he passed out to everyone. Nejire squealed happily, snatching the juice away and slurping it loudly.

“Nejire, that’s rude,” Tamaki said, letting his bangs fall in front of his eyes.

“I’m just having a bit of fun! That’s what you’re supposed to do at slumber parties!” She grinned at him as she took another loud slurp from her juice.

Deku knew right then that it was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

“Where the fuck is he?!” Shigaraki snarled, scratching viciously at his neck as he paced the length of the room. “You said you would find him!”

Dabi rolled his eyes. “I told you I would try. It just so happens that I couldn’t find him.”

“It shouldn’t be that hard! Or are you just so useless that you can’t find one man?”

“Listen, Crusty, I was able to tell you that the guy moved to America. That’s more than anyone else has been able to find out.”

Shigaraki turned his red eyes on Dabi, glaring and hissing angrily. “America is massive! I can’t have Kurogiri opening random portals in America looking for Deku’s dad! I need an actual location!”

“Maybe don’t make statements you can’t back up. You can’t go telling the heroes that you’re going to kill a guy when you don’t even know where he is.”

Before Shigaraki could launch into another screaming fit, the computer screen in the corner flickered to life, displaying it’s typical message that video was unavailable.

“Tomura,” an even and deep voice spoke, catching everyone’s attention. “I saw your broadcast. The 24 hours have nearly ended.”

Looking startled and slightly embarrassed, Shigaraki hung his head, facing the screen demurely. Shuffling his feet, he scrapped the toes of his red sneakers on the floor of the bar. 

“Sensei. Yes, the 24 hours are almost up. I thought I would have Hisashi Midoriya by now.”

“You didn’t know his location before making your demands?”

“... No. I also had hope that the heroes would have returned at least one of the brats by now.”

A disappointed sigh rattled through the speakers of the computer. “You should have thought ahead, Tomura. I found Young Toga’s parents for you. You could have asked me to find Deku’s father as well.”

“Dabi was supposed to find him!”

“Do not blame your shortcomings on others. It is unbecoming of a leader. Now, since your announcement, I have had my contacts searching for Hisashi Midoriya. He passed away three years ago while living in America. It was an unexpected heart attack, leaving behind his new wife.”

Shigaraki perked up at that. “Any kids? The heroes will have to release Deku if I threaten children.”

Dabi felt something cold and ugly twist in his gut at Shigaraki’s words. “You can’t be serious.”

“What?” Shigaraki snapped, shooting Dabi a dirty look. “You scared to kill a few kids? You didn’t have any issues attacking the UA twerps.”

“The kids at UA are like, 16. They are practically adults. And they are training to be heroes. It's different. Deku’s siblings will be young: too young.”

Scoffing, Shigaraki rolled his eyes. “They’re collateral damage. You’ll get over it. Besides, you aren’t here to question me, Dabi. You’re here to do what I say. And if I tell you to kill a couple of kids so we can get our people back, you’ll do it. Is that clear?”

Dabi’s eyes narrowed further, smoke slowly spiraling off his skin. Looking at Spinner, he curled his lips in a sneer. “Is this what Stain would want? Huh? Do you think he’d agree with slaughtering little kids?”

“I mean…” Spinner started, shifting nervously from foot to foot. “He wouldn’t, but he also spoke of making sacrifices. Maybe this is a sacrifice we have to make to cleanse the world.”

Twice nodded along. “It's not cool, but if we have to, then oh well. Let’s kill some brats! ”

Dabi then turned to who he assumed were the only sane ones in the room: Kurogiri and Compress. Kurogiri had his eyes fixed on the computer screen, as though he was hanging onto every word that Shigaraki’s Sensei said and was waiting for more. Compress had his head bowed, masked face turned towards the floor as he avoided Dabi’s gaze. 

Before Dabi could snap at them, Shigaraki’s Sensei spoke. “There were no children. From what I can gather, they were planning on trying for children, but were not able to start before Midoriya-san’s passing. Deku’s stepmother has already remarried, so I hardly think her husband’s death was that upsetting to her. I believe that you will need to revise your plan, Tomura.”

Shigaraki pondered his Sensei’s words carefully, scratching at his neck as he did so. After a moment, he let his hand drop. 

“How hard was it to find this information?”

“Relatively difficult. With the right resources, the heroes could find it.”

“But they might not be looking if they think I have his dad already. We’re just going to have to bluff. Spinner,” Shigaraki said, looking livelier than he had in days. “Go find me a man that we can pass off as Deku’s dad. Make sure he has dark hair and freckles. That way, he looks more like Deku. Take Twice with you; he’s been irritating me. Compress, find me a woman that we’ll pass off as Deku’s stepmom. I really don’t care what she looks like, just make sure the age works. And Dabi, since you are so picky about what kids you’ll kill, go find me one or two brats. We can say that they are Deku’s little half-siblings. Make sure they’re cute though. Heroes are more likely to want to save cute kids. We can trade them for Deku and Toga.”

“It is a gamble, Tomura,” Shigaraki Sensei said evenly. “But if it is one you are confident in, then I will allow it.”

Shigaraki nodded triumphantly, smiling his eerie grin. When no one moved, Shigaraki snapped his fingers impatiently, giving them all a pointed look. Spinner was the first to move, grabbing Twice’s arm and leading him out. Compress followed after, keeping his head ducked. Kurogiri was fixated on the screen still, watching and waiting. 

Dabi was the last to move, slowly standing. “I’ll grab my disguise and then head out,” he said when Shigaraki glared at him. 

Back in his room, Dabi grabbed his old, beat up backpack and shoved a handful of clothes in along with a roll of cash that he always kept hidden. From a hidden place in the floorboards, he pulled a small box and flipped it open, confirming the little red bullet was still inside. Burying that at the bottom of the backpack, he then slipped on a black hoodie, sunglasses, and a face mask, hiding the majority of his scars. 

When he got back into the main area of the bar, Shigaraki and Kurogiri were gone and the computer screen was black again. Dabi trudged past and snuck out the door, following the alleys and side streets until he felt that he was far enough away. He pulled one of his many burner phones from his pocket and dialed a number, raising it to his ear to wait.

“ Hey man, listen, I know we have that meeting today to talk about the plan but - ”

“The meeting is off,” Dabi snapped, cutting off the speaker. “So is the plan.”

A startled squawk sounded from the phone. “ What?! Why? Dude, if this is because I was going to reschedule, then I’m sorry. I can shuffle things around and make it to the meeting. With Shigaraki making his threat though, things have been crazy .”

“No, dumbass, it's not because you were going to cancel. It's because I’m leaving the League.”

There was silence for a moment.

“ You’re just… leaving the League? Shigaraki is just letting you? ”

Dabi snorted. “Hell no. He has no clue I’m leaving. I just packed a bag and walked out when no one was looking.”

“ Oh… okay then. Are you calling to tell me who my new contact is? ”

“Of course not, birdy. I’m calling to tell you that you need to drop the act and steer clear of the League. Stop trying to play spy. Just stay out of it.”

“ We’ve been over this. I’m not a spy! I hate the Commission and - ”

“Yeah, sure. Maybe you really do hate the Commision for whatever reason, but you’re a spy, Hawks. I’ve known from the start. But I thought it was funny to watch you try and sometimes you had good information, so I let it play out. But Shigaraki is going off the rails and no one is stopping him. I thought his Sensei, whoever the fuck that is, might talk some sense into him, but he doesn’t seem to give a shit. So I’m out. I can reach my goal without them so there’s no point in staying. But I owe Deku a favor and I hate being in anyone’s debt. So here’s what’s going to happen: I am going to give you some information and you are going to pass it on to Deku and Toga, got it? You can pass it on to whoever is calling your shots too, that way you have something to show for all your efforts, but then after that, you are going to ditch the burner I gave you and we are never going to speak again. Is that understood?”

Hawks huffed before answering. “ Fine, you burnt-chicken-nugget-looking-motherfucker. What have you got to tell me? ”  

---

The sound of a door opening startled Deku awake from a surprisingly deep sleep. Bolting upright, he lost his balance and landed in a heap on the floor beside the couch, startling Tamaki and Mirio, who were both sitting on the floor leaning back on the couch, dozing. Tamaki jumped violently, swinging and accidently smacking Mirio in the face, who just laughed loudly. Hearing the ruckus, Eri let out a shriek and sat up from where she had curled herself up on the couch. Nejire, who had fallen asleep on a pile of blankets and pillows in the corner, just drowsy sat up, gently rubbing at her eyes.

The group had stayed up most of the night watching movies and had only gotten to sleep sometime in the early hours of the morning. They slept through the morning, even when Mic and Aizawa had cooked and eaten breakfast.

“What’s going on?” Nejire asked, blinking sleepily 

“Wow, you’ve got a lot of kids, Eraserhead,” an unfamiliar voice said, half laughing. 

Sitting up from where he had fallen, Deku looked over at the door, only to let out an even louder shriek than Eri had and flung himself backwards against the couch. 

Standing in the open door beside Nezu, Mic, and Aizawa was none other than Hawks: the number 3 hero. 

“They’re not my kids,” Aizawa grumbled. “Most of them don’t even live in this dorm.”

“Hawks has some information that he needs to share with us. Mic, Eraserhead, could you please come with me? We are going to go to the 1-B dorms and discuss everything in Vlad King’s home office,” Nezu said as he stepped into the apartment, Hawks following behind him. As Hawks got closer, Deku shrunk even further back, carefully watching the man’s every move. When Hawks saw this, he pulled his wings closer to his body, making himself look a little smaller.

“Don’t worry, kid, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Doesn’t mean I trust you.”

Hawks laughed good naturedly. “Fair. You’ve been through a lot. I gotta ask though, what have you heard to make you not like me? Or is it just a general thing with heroes?”

Before Deku could answer, Eri climbed into his lap, clinging tightly to his shirt and looking at Hawks distrustfully. 

“Deku, who is that?” she asked quietly. 

He wrapped his arms protectively around her. “That’s Hawks. He’s a hero. Or at least, that’s what he says.”

That had everyone looking at him with varying degrees of confusion and apprehension. 

Hawks didn’t laugh that time. He quietly cocked his head, his thick brows pulling down. “Have I done something to make you mad, kid?”

“You’re a mouthpiece for the Commission,” Deku spat, his fear twisting into something closer to anger. “You’re just a soldier for them. If you’re here because the Commission sent you to take Eri, then you might as well turn around and leave now, because I won’t let you take her.”

Aizawa’s frown deepened as he took a small step, placing himself so he was between Hawks and the kids. “Is that why you are here?”

“What? No! Kid, Midoriya, I don’t know where you heard that but -”

“Keigo Takami. Taken in by the commission at 6 years old. Underwent strict quirk training and private hero lessons. They fronted the money and pulled strings to get you an agency when you were 18. They hired everyone who works there and basically run it for you. You do what they tell you and you do it without complaint,” Deku said bitterly. He gave a dark chuckle, shaking his head. “Honestly, I would feel bad for you if you wouldn’t constantly defend the Commission in interviews and stuff. Do you really believe that stuff or have they just brainwashed you?”

Hawks had gone deathly pale as Deku spoke. His expression had twisted into something akin to fear. “How…” he choked out. “How do you know my name?”

“That’s what you’re so concerned about? Your name? Not the fact that I know all that other stuff?”

“I haven’t heard my name since I was a kid,” Hawks said, his hands shaking in front of him as he pulled them close to his chest.

Deku’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

“My name. I haven’t heard anyone say it since I was 6. I’ve just been Hawks.”

“You… what? No, the commission file said you chose your hero name when you were 15; the same age as any other hero.”

Hawks shook his head, his face turning green at the sudden movement. “What else did the commission file say?”

“It said you were fostered by some commission worker and that you were the one to always beg for the extra training sessions that were logged every week. Said you were always a lighthearted and rambunctious kid and that they had to work with you to teach you to sit still during lessons. Also talked about how you started drafting your own diet plans when you turned 14. You apparently had regular communication with your birth parents, who were a nice young couple that just couldn’t keep up with having a kid. Based on your reaction, I’m guessing that none of this is true though.”

Hawks hadn’t stopped shaking his head the whole time Deku spoke. Taking a shaky breath, he let out a dark scoff. 

“They lied,” he mumbled under his breath. “This whole time and they’ve been filling that stupid fucking file with lies. Of course they did. For this exact reason, probably. If anyone saw the real file, it’d be bad.”

Mic put up a reassuring hand, trying to calm everyone. “How about we go have that talk with Vlad. And then after, Hawks, how about we have an honest conversation about all of this, okay?”

“This chat you guys are going to have; is it about Deku’s dad?” Mirio asked. He glanced between Nezu and Hawks carefully. “Have you guys found him?”

When Deku saw the slight change in Hawks’ and Nezu’s expressions, he felt a hard pit form in his stomach. 

“Someone else got there first,” Deku said quietly, tightening his grip on Eri. “Was it Shigaraki?”

“No, Midoriya. Shigaraki does not have your father. But, due to some unforeseen circumstances, we are left without a plan for next steps. We are going to discuss the situation, which is rather time sensitive, and then you and I are going to have a long, private conversation about your father, alright?” Nezu said quietly. His voice was somber and set Deku even further on edge.

They’re lying , a little voice in the back of Deku’s mind whispered. Shigaraki has your dad. The guy may be a bastard who walked out, but he doesn’t deserve to get dusted, like Toga’s parents. This is your fault. If you had just convinced the heroes to hand you over, then no one would have to die.

Aizawa had turned his tired eyes on the Big 3, fixing them with a stern expression. “You guys stay here with Deku and Eri. They are not to leave this apartment, is that understood? Deku is technically not supposed to be anywhere without a teacher, so I need you all to swear that you won’t set foot outside of these walls.”

Mirio and Tamaki nodded seriously while Nejire saluted him. Seemingly satisfied, Aizawa grabbed Hawks’ arm and dragged him out of the dorm, grumbling something about problem children in a way that had Deku suspecting that Aizawa was referring to Hawks. 

Once the door shut, Nejire turned her curious eyes on Deku. “How did you know all that stuff about Hawks?”

“Dabi asked me to research Hawks once. So I did. Wasn’t really a big deal. I just had to hack the Commission’s database to find the digital copy of his personal file. But apparently most of the file is fake, so that's hours of my life wasted.”

Tamaki shuffled closer to Mirio, catching Deku’s attention. Taking a deep breath, Tamaki finally spoke. “I’m sorry that they couldn’t find your dad, Deku,” he said in a quiet and wavering voice.

“It's alright. Maybe if the heroes can’t find him, then no villains can,” Deku said half-heartedly, not believing the words he was saying. 

Nejire climbed up off the floor, stretching languidly. “I’ll make us something to eat. Maybe that will make us feel better!”

As she stepped into the kitchen, a knock at the door caught their attention. Frowning, Mirio went over and glanced through the peephole. Breathing a sigh of relief, he opened the door to reveal Bakugou and Kirishima.

“Kirishima! Good to see you! Are you looking for Tamaki?” Mirio asked. 

“No, actually. Bakugou, Deku, and I have a project we need to work on and since classes are canceled for the day, we thought today would be a good day to work on it!”

Mirio glanced over his shoulder at Deku, cocking his head curiously. Deku kept his face carefully neutral even though he had no clue what Kirishima was talking about. “Deku and Eraserhead didn’t mention anything about a project.”

“Well, yeah, it's not due for a little bit but it's a really big project and we want to get a  jump on it! Can Deku come to the common room to study with us?”

“Oh,” Nejire said, coming back into the room. She shook her head, making her messy hair swing gently. “He can’t leave right now. He’s gotta stay here.”

“We won’t be far! Don’t worry, we won’t let anything bad happen,” Kirishima reassured her. 

“Deku isn’t supposed to be without a teacher.”

“Tch,” Bakugou sneered, shoving his hands further into his pockets. “He’s not with one right now.”

“Well, yeah, cuz he’s with us.”

Bakugou raised a brow at her. “Then I guess you guys rank the same as teachers. Why don’t one of you come with us?”

“Great idea, Bakubro!” Kirishima said, punching Bakugou’s shoulder in a friendly way. “Amajiki-senpai! Come with us!”

Tamaki folded in on himself, his bangs falling forward to shade his face. He quickly shook his head.

“Ah come on! Fatgum said you have to work on your people skills and he said I should help you. Come with us to the common room and I can introduce you to people! Or maybe you can look at what we have on our project so far and give us some advice. Come on! It’ll be good for you!”

As Kirishima berated him, Tamaki continued to wilt before finally whimpering, “This is just like when he asked me to introduce him to Fatgum.”

Nejire had her lips pursed as she thought, considering what the boys were saying. 

“Mirio, it might not be a bad idea. Tamaki does need to work on meeting people.”

“We are supposed to be protecting Deku.”

“Tamaki can protect him in the common room!”

“And what are we going to do when Aizawa finds out? He’ll be furious!”

Kirishima shook his head rapidly. “Oh shit, yeah, don’t want Aizawa-sensei to get mad at you. How about this! Deku and Tamaki can come down to the common room just for a couple minutes so we can hash out which parts of the project we’ll each do and then he can come back up here to work. I do have a couple questions for Deku about the topic and everything, so don’t panic if he isn’t back right away, but we won’t be long!”

Mirio hummed, looking uncertain. Deku could tell he just needed one final push to agree.

“I promise it won’t take long. The project is a big part of our grade and I really want to do well on it,” Deku said pleadingly, adding just a bit of an earnest light to his eyes. 

And just as Deku planned, Mirio crumbled. “I don’t want you to get a bad grade… and it is great to see you putting in an effort for school… alright then. Tamaki has to go too. You guys stay together and be back as fast as you can. I don’t want Aizawa catching you guys out of the apartment.”

Eri climbed off Deku’s lap to let him up. Tamaki slowly climbed off the floor, looking as though this was the last thing he wanted to be doing. Finally, he took shuffling steps out the door and into the hall, Deku following closely. Kirishima started up a constant stream of conversation, talking Tamaki’s ear off and making the older boy cower as they walked. 

Deku shot a questioning gaze towards Bakugou, who kept his eyes on the ground. Within minutes, they were all in the common room. Mina, Kaminari, and Sero were piled on one of the couches, talking animatedly. When they saw the four boys approach, Sero leapt off the couch and tossed an arm over Tamaki’s shoulder.

“Listen, man, I need you to come settle this argument. Mina is trying to say that walking in heels all day is worse than walking around the city barefoot. You don’t have shoes in your hero costume, so can you weigh in on this?”

“I… I need to stay with…”

Bakugou set off a pair of loud and concussive explosions, making Tamaki violently flinch.

“Back off, weird face! We have to work on our project!” Bakugou yelled.

“Aw, Bakubro, don’t spoil the fun. Let Tamaki-senpai answer!” Kirishima said, laughing loudly.

“You guys just don’t get it,” Mina shouted shrilly. “Heels are the worst . They twist your feet in a weird position and then you have to walk on them all day! If you walk barefoot, you can build up calluses!”

Soon, they were all shouting and bickering, Tamaki in the center of them, cowering and covering his ears with his hands. Before Deku could try to ask one of them what was going on, someone grabbed his hand and pulled him into the hall.

Deku went to yank his hand away, prepared to hit whomever had grabbed him, but when he saw who had hold of him, he paused. 

Todoroki had a tight grip on his hand, pulling the smaller boy down the hall and up a side set of stairs. 

“We have to hurry,” Todoroki said. “We don’t have long.”

“Long for what? What’s going on?”

“Shigaraki is broadcasting again and he has your dad, along with your stepmom. When Bakugou saw, he turned the TV off in the common room and yelled at everyone to get back to their rooms. He grabbed his friends along with Shinsou and I and he told us the plan. He… We all thought that you should have a chance to see your father. Though I suggest we turn it off before anything… bad happens.”

Deku’s mouth went dry. “Bakugou set this up?”

“With a little help. Shinsou and I agreed straight away, as did Sero. The others took a little convincing. It was Shinsou’s idea to use Bakugou and his friends to distract one of the Big 3 and it was Kirishima’s idea to angle for Tamaki to come down with you. He knew it would be easy to overwhelm him and keep him distracted.”

Todoroki then led Deku to one of the dorm rooms, quickly opening the door and shutting it behind them. It was an average boy’s dorm: a bit messy with lots of coffee cups and energy drink cans scattered about, along with various photos pinned to the wall. The desk was covered in books and CDs, all in unruly stacks. Hoodies hung on the back of the desk chair and off every doorknob, as though the owner hadn’t had the time to properly hang them in the closet. 

Shinsou sat on the bed, a laptop in his lap. His eyes were glued to the screen as he waved them over. Todoroki only then let go of Deku and climbed onto the bed immediately. 

Taking tentative steps, Deku moved further into the room and sat on Shinsou’s other side, perching awkwardly at the edge of the bed. Leaning over, he got a look at the computer screen. 

Shigaraki was back in the same bare room again. Two people were kneeling in front of him, their knees in the dust that was once Toga’s parents. Hoods were pulled over the couple’s heads, but it was obviously a man and a woman. 

“Time’s run out, heroes!” Shigaraki sneered, pacing back and forth behind the kneeling couple. “And look who I have here: Deku’s dad. A piece of scum who abandoned his family, all because of quirks. His son didn’t have a flashy quirk, so he ran off and married some other woman. I have no problem killing trash like this, but I thought heroes did. You guys didn’t give back what you stole from me, and now you have left these so-called “innocents” to suffer for it.”

A muffled sob came from beneath the woman’s hood, her shoulders shaking violently as she curled in on herself. Shigaraki aimed a kick at her legs, causing her to shriek.

“Sit up!” he shouted. “You’re a part of this! Face it!”

As she straightened back up, he grabbed the hood and ripped it off her head, revealing her face to the camera.

She was a middle aged woman with a round face and watery eyes. Her black hair was messy and there were bruises forming on her face. Small patches of scales worked across her cheeks and up her temples, glittering in the low light. A gag had been jammed into her mouth and tied around her head, keeping her from being able to speak. It was tied so tightly that it was rubbing the sides of her mouth raw, a slow trickle of blood dripping down her chin.

Deku frowned at the computer screen. “This isn’t right.”

“What?” Shinsou asked, tearing his eyes away from the tragedy that was unfolding and looking at Deku.

“My dad’s a quirkest bastard, remember? That doesn’t mean he only dislikes quirkless people. He also doesn’t like mutant type quirks. Look at that woman’s scales: she has some sort of mutation quirk. He would never marry her.”

Just as Deku finished speaking, Shigaraki snatched the hood off the man’s head, finally revealing his face.

To the League’s credit, the man could easily pass as Deku’s dad. He was a stocky man with a smattering of freckles across his cheeks and dark, curly hair. But his jaw was too boxy and his eyes were a deep brown color: not the greyish-green that Hisashi Midoriya had. The man had a crooked nose that looked to have been freshly broken, blood smearing down the lower half of his face and staining the gag in his mouth. He struggled against his bonds, desperately trying to break free.

“Fuck,” Deku whispered. “That’s not my dad.”

“Are you serious?” Shinsou whispered, his panic clearly rising. 

“Yeah, I’m serious. I know what my dad looks like. And even if I didn’t, my dad has a fire breathing quirk. He would have the gag burned out of his mouth within seconds. That’s not my dad. Shigaraki is trying to bluff. He’s probably betting that the heroes don’t know what my dad looks like and that I’m not watching.”

“What do we do?” Todoroki asked as he straightened, his expression turning stern.

Deku paused, listening as Shigaraki babbled. Finally, he turned to the two boys.

“I have an idea but we’re going to get in trouble. If we do it though, it may just save those two people’s lives.”

Both boys immediately nodded. 

“I’m in.”

“I am as well.”

“Perfect. First, we need to lock and barricade the door. I also need to borrow somebody’s phone. I’m going to have to destroy it afterwards, though. I don’t want the League to trace it back and hack the phone to get info on you guys.”

Todoroki was already off the bed, ready to do as Deku said. He pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it to Deku.

“Use mine. I can use my father’s credit card to buy myself a new one,” he said before marching directly over to the door, locking it and then helping Shinsou to shove the dresser in front of it. For added measure, he iced over the edges of the door, fully sealing it. As they did that, Deku dialed Shigaraki’s personal number from memory, hoping that Shigaraki had his phone on him. Knowing how the crazed man was, he likely did: he was never far from his tech.

Holding the phone to his ear, Deku felt himself start to shake, his breathing going ragged. For the first time since  he had met Shigaraki, Deku was scared of him.

“No one is coming for you, Midoriya-san!” Shigaraki crowed triumphantly. “I am going to turn you into…”

He stopped speaking. From his pocket, the theme from Animal Crossings played. Slowly, he reached into the pocket and pulled out his phone, frowning at the screen. 

“What the fuck,” he whispered before he tapped at the screeen, putting the call on speaker. “Let me guess, this is some negotiator with the heroes trying to convince me not to kill these NPCs,” Shigaraki rasped, glaring at the lit screen.

“No,” Deku said, finding it weird to hear himself speak through the live stream. “It’s Deku.”

Shigaraki’s face twisted behind the severed hand, delight making his eyes bright. “You’ve escaped! Or did they let you go? You’re calling to tell me where we can pick you up, right?” he asked excitedly.

“No. I’ve… uh… borrowed a phone from someone. I’m calling to tell you that you’ve got the wrong people. That’s not my dad.”

Everything was silent. One of Shigaraki’s eyes twitched, his hand opening and closing as though he was desperate to grab and dust something. 

“So? They're still civilians. The heroes should trade for you.”

“I’ll make you a trade right now. Let those two people go, unharmed, and I’ll tell you what happened to Toga and I.”

Shigaraki paused, thinking it over for a second, before nodding. He waved his hand at the two prisoners, gesturing for someone to take care of them. There was a shuffling noise off camera and Spinner came into view with a small knife. He cut the binds on the two people’s wrists and pulled their gags off.

The woman wretched quietly, spitting blood out of her mouth. The man scrambled to his feet, helping the woman up as he went, and then hurried them both out. They kept their heads ducked as they scurried past, though Shigaraki paid them no attention.

“There, I let them go,” Shigaraki said. “You know, you and Toga getting arrested has really caused me a lot of trouble. We had to ditch the old hideout and find a new one. And do you know how long it took to find Toga’s parents? Such a pain.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that was really hard. But you’ve got one thing wrong there, you know.”

“Oh really? Please, enlighten me.”

Deku smiled, a crazed grin that sent twin shivers down Todoroki and Shinsou’s spines.

“We weren’t arrested,” Deku hissed.

Shigaraki’s free hand came up to scratch at his neck, his shoulders heaving as he took great shuddering breaths, his anger mounting. His red eyes were ablaze as he tried to throttle the phone.

“ What?! ”

“Yep. We weren’t arrested. We ran away to UA and struck a deal with them. Guess who are the two new Hero Course students? I’m finally going to reach my dream, Shiggy. I’m going to be a hero.”

The scratching became even more furious. It was so loud that Deku could hear it over the phone.

“How… dare… you. How dare you betray me! You’re lying! Toga would never join the heroes!”

“What can I say? She likes me better than you. The two of us found out some shit about Overhaul and we decided we were done. We were done being your little puppets, doing whatever you told us. You don’t give a shit about us, or anyone else that’s in the League. You didn’t care when Magne was killed. All you cared about was getting what you wanted,” Deku said. His voice was rising, anger coursing through his veins. A sound out in the hall caught his attention. He could hear shouting and someone banging on doors in the hall.

The teachers were looking for him.

Shigaraki growled into the phone. “Stop lying to me, Deku. Where are you? We are going to come get you.”

“Where do you think I am, you crusty bitch. I’m at UA, with all the other hero students. And I am telling the pros everything I know.” Deku let out a dark chuckle. “Good luck getting to Toga and I. We’re probably at the safest place in all of Japan.”

Shigaraki howled with anger, squeezing his phone so tightly that the case cracked. “I’m going to kill you! I’m going to decay you piece by piece until you are begging for death! I’ll rip your stupid little quirkless limbs from your body!”

“Oh, bringing up the quirkless thing. Real classy.”

“ Midoriya! ” Aizawa shouted in the hall, banging on Shinsou’s door. Todoroki lunged forward and put his full body weight against the dresser, trying to keep the teacher’s out for longer. Shinsou was quick to join him.

“Aizawa’s going to fucking kill me,” Shinsou grumbled, scowling.

“ Open the door, kid! ” Vlad King yelled, now having joined Aizawa in the hall. 

Shigaraki paused on the screen, cocking his head curiously. “What’s this? Are you not behaving for the heroes? Maybe you are still a villain.”

“I was a freelancer, it's different,” Deku snapped. “And I guess old habits die hard.”

The banging on the door got louder. Deku scrambled off the bed and pressed himself into the farthest corner. The ice began to crack around the edge of the door and the dresser was shifting, even with the combined weights of Shinsou and Todoroki pressing against it. 

“I don’t have long, so I’m going to skip ahead a little in the conversation. You’re going to keep threatening me and Toga, I’m going to act like it doesn’t bother me because, news flash, asshole, it doesn’t, and then I’m going to give you my threat. So listen closely: you come after anyone I care about, and I’ll make you wish you had never crawled out of whatever hole you came from. I will ruin you. If you think death is the worst thing that can happen to a person, then you must not have paid attention to the work I did, because I can tear you to shreds without ever being in the same room as you. Have I made myself clear, Tomura Shigaraki?”

“You’re a dead man, Deku.”

“Not the first time someone has said that to me and I am sure it won’t be the last.”

Before either of them could speak again, the door to the dorm was busted inwards, knocking the dresser back and sending the two boys sprawling. The commotion could be heard over the phone, playing in the small warehouse Shigaraki was standing in. He could hear the shouting and yelling, along with the sound of Deku trying to keep the phone away from the heroes.

“ Give me that phone! ”

“ Holy shit, is that Hawks? ”

“ Midoriya! ”

“ Stop it! I’m almost done talking to him! ”

“ No, you’re done now! ”

“ Did you seriously ice this door shut? ”

“ Deku, break my phone! Hurry! ”

There was a crunching noise and the line went dead. Shigaraki stared down at it for a beat before letting his pinky drop, turning the phone to dust.

The live stream ended.

---

“Are you all really that short-sighted?” Aizawa snarled, glaring at the group of students sitting in front of him. 

After Deku had crushed Todoroki’s phone with a well aimed stomp, the heroes had gathered the students who had been involved in the plot, or complacent in it, and forced them all to sit in the common room to be scolded. 

Mirio, Nejire, and Tamaki were squished together on one loveseat, Tamaki in the middle and being cuddled by his two partners. His head was bowed low as his hands shook, guilt wracking his body. Bakugou, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero were on another couch, Mina perched precariously on the arm rest. None of them looked too upset about being yelled at, though Kirishima did have his eyes downcast. Todoroki and Shinsou had squeezed themselves into an armchair, staring at the teachers unrepentantly, not at all ashamed about what they had done. Deku sat in the other armchair, alone. 

Vlad King had gone back to the 1-B dorm to sit with Toga, who had apparently seen the live stream and had begged to go with the teachers to find Deku. Midnight had refused, saying that the girl had to stay with her. Now that Deku was found, Vlad thought it best to go and help calm Toga down. 

That left Nezu, Aizawa, Mic, and Hawks in the 1-A dorm with the offending students.

“He was only supposed to be gone for a minute,” Mirio said defensively. “And Tamaki was going to be with him.”

“Deku is in the rehabilitation program! He’s not supposed to go anywhere without a teacher, especially not around other students! And the first time I entrusted him into the care of who I assumed were responsible senior students, he snuck away to call Shigaraki!” Aizawa snapped. 

“It wasn’t Deku’s idea,” Shinsou said, catching his mentor’s attention. “We came up with the plan. So really, we kinda kidnapped him.”

“Oh really? So it was your idea for Deku to call the League?”

“Well… no. That part came later when we realized that the League didn’t have his dad. We just wanted him to have a chance to see his dad, just in case things went wrong.”

Mic was pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to fight off a headache. “Do any of you realize how reckless this was?”

Todoroki nodded. “Yes. And I would do it again.” 

Aizawa shot him a dirty look.

“Don’t be mad at them,” Deku cut in. “It was my idea to call the League. If you’re going to be angry at someone, be angry at me.”

“They shouldn’t be angry at any of us! If we hadn’t helped you get to Shinsou’s room, you three wouldn’t have been able to save those two people!” Sero said, their dark eyes flashing with anger. “You guys expect Deku to learn to be a hero here, right? Well, he just did what a hero would do! He risked himself, not only by painting a target on his back with Shigaraki, but by getting on UA’s bad side, all to save two innocent people! Sure, he didn’t do it in the way a pro hero typically would, but he did it the only way he knew how: he used his brain.”

“Yeah!” Mina chimed in, growing confident as her friend spoke. “Deku convinced Shigaraki to let those two people go and then kept him on the line long enough to let those people get far away!”

Kaminari nodded along. “And I bet if we find those people, we can find out where the League’s base is.”

“That wasn’t their base,” Deku said. Frowning, he started to run over everything in his head. “Shigaraki is smart enough not to film inside his hideout, but he isn’t smart enough to leave his phone in the base when he goes out. That means he has gone to and from the base while carrying his phone. And since he is addicted to Pokemon Go, his data and location will always be turned on. If I take apart Todoroki’s broken phone, I might be able to salvage enough to trace a link to Shigaraki’s phone. From there, I can use the identifying data I get from it to hack into his service and read his digital footprint. Then, I might be able to triangulate where the base is.”

“Tch.” Bakugou rolled his eyes. “Stop mumbling, you fucking nerd.”

“Suck a dick, Kacchan.”

“Huh?! What did you say to me?!”

Aizawa’s eyes flashed red as Bakugou jumped to his feet, ready to fight Deku. “That’s enough! You all have detention! You’ll be scrubbing the dorm building from top to bottom until it is spotless! The third years will be doing that in their own dorm building. And then, Todoroki, Shinsou, and Deku will be installing a new door and building a new dresser for Shinsou’s dorm. None of you are allowed to go on any trips with your classmates off campus for a month, and Deku, since you already can’t leave campus, you aren’t allowed to visit Toga at the 1-B dorms for a month. Have I made myself clear?”

The Big 3 quickly nodded, while the 1-A kids just pouted. Sighing heavily, Aizawa shook his head.

“You kids are going to be the death of me. Alright, everyone back to their rooms. You third years can go back to babysitting Eri, though if you do any more stupid things, there will be hell to pay. Midoriya, you are coming with me, Mic, Hawks, and Nezu to have a talk.”

Shinsou raised his hand. “My room is trashed, so where do I go?”

“It's your fault the room is trashed, so figure it out.”

Todoroki elbowed Shinsou gently and jerked his head towards the stairs. “You can stay in my room until we fix yours.”

Chapter Text

Deku was led out of the dorms and taken to Nezu’s office for the conversation they wanted to have with him. Nothing was said during the walk, but Deku noticed that Mic kept sending him sympathetic looks. Once inside the office, they all managed to find a seat: Nezu at his desk, Mic beside Deku, and Hawks and Aizawa across from them. 

“Midoriya, I do have news on your father,” Nezu began, his voice even and gentle. “Because of the limited time we had before the League’s broadcast, we wanted to wait to have this conversation with you until after, so that you had plenty of time to ask questions.”

“So who has him?” Deku asked. “If you guys found him yourselves, then he’d be in a safe house or here. Since he’s not, someone else found him first. I assumed it was the League, but apparently not.”

“No, the League did not find him. They… Midoriya, they discovered that your father passed away a number of years ago. I am so sorry.”

Deku froze, his entire body locking up. His wide green eyes stared straight ahead at Nezu, unblinking. 

“It was a heart attack,” Nezu continued. “He had remarried after moving to America, though the marriage was rather short. His second wife has remarried. They never had any children. He was buried in a cemetery in America per his wife’s religious customs. I will be making efforts to see if any of his assets can be transferred to you, just as I am with your mother’s assets. Since you were presumed dead for some time, difficulties have arisen, but I am sure I can work through it. I am doing the same for Toga and her parent’s estates.”

“Principal Nezu, I don’t think now's the time to talk about that,” Present Mic said, eyeing Deku carefully. 

When Nezu saw that Deku was still catatonic, he nodded. “Ah, yes. It can wait. Midoriya, do you have any questions for us? We will do our best to answer.”

Deku swallowed thickly. “The… The League were the ones to find this out?”

“Yeah,” Hawks chimed in. “I’ve been... Well, I was trying to infiltrate the League as a spy. Dabi was my contact, so he was the only one I ever talked to. Apparently, Shigaraki was going off the rails and when he found out your dad had died, he decided he wanted to go with the bluff tactic he pulled. He told Dabi to go find some kids to pose as your half-siblings, which you don’t have, and Dabi decided he was done. I guess he draws the line at murdering little kids. So he packed a bag and skipped out. Called me and said he knew I was a spy the whole time, told me what I just told you, and said I had to pass it along. He also told me that I had to let you know that you two were even now. I guess you did something for him and he was in your debt?”

Deku nodded. “Yeah. I do that sort of thing a lot.”

“I’m picking up on that. You struck a deal to stay at UA, you bargained with Shigaraki to free those people, and apparently you help criminals to have them indebted to you. Why is that?”

“People don’t do anything for free. If I want something from them, I have to pay. Sometimes I just pay in advance. So wait, Dabi left the League?”

“Yes,” Aizawa said, tension thick in his voice. “That means Shigaraki has lost four of his closest allies in quick succession. And instead of keeping your head down, you went and called him. Now he’s going to be doing whatever he can to kill you.”

“Better me than those two people.”

“And what about everyone here at UA? You think he’s just going to ignore them and only hurt you? You’ve put everyone on this campus, including yourself, in even greater danger than they already were! I thought you were supposed to be smart, Deku,” Aizawa snapped. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he froze, his jaw making an audible click as he snapped it shut. “Shit, Midoriya, I don’t mean that. I’m sorry.”

Deku took a shuddering breath, his green eyes wide in shock. He shrugged off Mic’s hand as the teacher tried to comfort him, his entire body trembling. Panting heavily, he shot to his feet. Tears welled in his green eyes, threatening to spill down his cheeks. “I didn’t have to come here, you know! I could have just dropped Eri off close to the building and left! But I thought that maybe this was my chance to do better and give you guys the information you need to take down the League. So I turned myself in! You guys were the ones to suggest the rehabilitation program, not me! You decided to keep me on this campus! If I am such a fucking liability for people to be around, then throw me in jail! At least there I know not to trust anybody. Here, its a fucking mindfield! You tell me to trust the teachers and heroes here, but then you don’t tell me that my dad is dead! You tell me to get along with my classmates and try to make friends, and the one time I end up working together with them to save lives, you punish us! Literally the only other two times I broke a rule were when I cursed in class and when I snuck the multitool to hero studies class. That’s it! All of you always preach about how I’m not a criminal anymore and how I need to stop treating myself like a villain, but how can I when that’s all you see me as!”

“We don’t see you as a villain,” Mic said quietly, trying again to touch the boy’s arm. Deku shook him off, taking a stumbling step away.

“Don’t bother pretending. Eraserhead just played his hand. Deku. That’s what he called me. Don’t try to tell me he didn’t mean it. I might be stupid but I’m not that stupid. And I know damn well that Nezu told the teachers to call me Midoriya; why else do all the teachers keep calling me that? Let me guess, you guys were trying to help me subconsciously separate Deku from Midoriya in my head, right?” When no one answered, Deku continued. “That’s what I thought. At least the kids here have never pretended to see me as anything else. They see me for what I am: a useless, quirkless Deku.”

With that, Deku stormed from the room, wrenching the door open so hard that it slammed into the wall.

“Midoriya!” Aizawa shouted after him, moving to follow.

“Let him go,” Nezu said coolly. “He needs to calm down. I’ll pull up the camera feed and keep an eye on him that way. Meanwhile, I think we need to have a conversation on how we treat students who have recently suffered a loss.”

“Nezu, I know I screwed up. My anger got the best of me. I need to apologize.”

“No, you need to sit down and listen carefully. Then, we will be discussing your history, Hawks.”

“Shit, I was hoping you forgot about that.”

As the four began talking, Hawks detached one of his feathers and guided it out the door. It fluttered along the ground until it finally plastered itself to the back of Deku’s shoe, keeping track of where the boy went.

---

Monoma sat in his dorm, trying to focus on studying but failing miserably. 

How could he focus? His sort of friend had just watched her parents be brutally murdered yesterday and apparently today, The League had threatened to murder two innocent people instead of Deku’s dad. He had no clue why the League hadn’t shown up with Deku’s dad like they said they would, but it still had to be traumatizing to watch. Monoma had chosen not to watch, but Awase had knocked on his door after the stream ended to let him know what happened. 

Midnight refused to let Monoma see Toga when he had gone to see if she was alright, but he did hear her back inside Vlad King’s apartment shouting about how it wasn’t fair that she wasn’t allowed to go see Deku.

And so, Monoma ended up back in his dorm with nothing to do.

That is, until he heard a knock on his balcony door.

Frowning, Monoma got up and pulled the curtain back to look through the glass door. Standing on the other side was Deku, looking rumpled and bleary eyed. Without thinking, Monoma pulled the door open and let him in.

“What are you doing here?” Monoma hissed. 

“I want to see Toga but I can’t exactly go walking in through the front door right now.”

“Did you run away from the teachers?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Am I going to get in trouble for harboring a fugitive?”

Deku snorted loudly. “That might just be the funniest thing you’ve ever said. No, you shouldn’t get in trouble. Nezu probably watched me climb up here on the cameras and I’m pretty sure Hawks stuck a feather to me. Here, check my back.”

Monoma stepped around Deku and scanned him over for a moment before he spotted the bright red feather on the back of Deku’s shoe.

“Found it. Want me to get it off?”

“Nah, it's fine. At least this way there is sort of a pro hero keeping an eye on me. Then no one can really get too mad at me for running off. Thanks for letting me in, I guess. I’m just gonna head to Vlad King’s and see if I can sneak in to see Toga.”

Monoma shook his head. “Midnight and Vlad won’t let anyone in Vlad’s apartment right now. They’ll catch you right away.”

“Shit. Well that was the only place I could think of to go.”

Frowning, Monoma glanced back out of the glass doors, checking to make sure no one followed Deku. “You can stay here.”

“What?” Deku asked in surprise.  

“Here. In my dorm. We can hide out here until you have to go back.”

He blinked owlishly at Monoma for a moment before nodding. “Thank you. That… That’s really nice of you.”

Monoma huffed, turning away to hide his slightly flushed face. “It's not a big deal. We eat lunch together everyday, so what does it matter if we hang out outside of school?”

“I just mean most people would have pushed me back out their window if they saw me, forget about letting me stay in their dorm with them without a teacher.” Deku paused, scoffing to himself. “Didn’t turn out great for the last people to let me.”

“Right, Shinsou and Todoroki. Heard what happened earlier. Is that why you ran off from the teachers?” Monoma asked, sitting down at the edge of his bed. He gestured for Deku to take the desk chair, which he did. Sitting down, he looked down at his hands, picking at the skin around his nails. 

“Sort of. The teachers chewed out everyone that was involved in me seeing the broadcast and making the call. Then they took me to Principal Nezu’s office and told me...they told me that my dad was dead. He died a few years ago. And then Aizawa started chewing me out again and I sort of snapped. It’s just so… aggravating! No matter what I do, I’ll never be seen as anything but a villain. I don’t know why I bother trying.”

Before Deku could continue, something soft and solid smacked into the side of his head, knocking him off balance. Looking up, he found Monoma standing over him, holding a pillow in his hands. 

“Did you just hit me with a pillow?”

“Yes,” Monoma snapped, lifting the pillow and smacking Deku again.

“Stop it!”

“No! You’re being stupid! If you can’t be a hero, then what does that mean for someone like Toga? Or Shinsou? Or me? People like us with our villainous quirks are always getting shit on. We’re always the side characters, destined to turn to the dark side someday. At least, that’s what everyone thinks of us. You are a blank slate. You can be whatever the fuck you want, especially with a brain like yours. So stop moping! Get your head out of your ass, look those pricks in the face, and tell them to go fuck themselves! Prove them wrong, got it?”

“Yes, fine! As long as you stop whacking me with the pillow!”

Monoma hit him with it again before flopping back onto the bed. “Good. Now you’re going to use your big brain to help me with my English homework. I can’t figure it out.”

By the time Principal Nezu had finished scolding Aizawa and they had all finished deciphering Hawks’ past, the sun had long since set and the dorms had grown quiet. Tetsutetsu had knocked at Monoma’s door to see if he was coming down for dinner, but when the blonde had snapped at the other boy to go away, Tetsu had gone downstairs and snagged a plate full of food to leave outside Monoma’s door. Hours later, when Tetsu walked past again, the plate was gone. 

It was late when Present Mic walked through the doors of the 1-B dorms. A couple students were lounging in the common room when he walked in. They all looked up at him, startled to see him. 

“Mic-sensei!” Kaibara said, a hint of surprise in his voice. “Is there something we can help you with?”

“Yes, is Vlad King in his apartment?”

“Yeah, he and Midnight-sensei are keeping an eye on Toga. She keeps trying to sneak out to go to the 1-A dorms.”

He gave them a smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes before heading towards Vlad’s apartment. When he knocked, Midnight opened the door.

“Hey Zashi,” she said quietly. “You doing okay?”

Mic shook his head. “Can I come in?”

She nodded, letting him in. Vlad was sitting on the couch, his eyes closed and his hand up by his face, pinching the bridge of his nose to stave off a migraine. Captain sat by his feet, sleeping soundly. When Vlad heard Mic come in, he cracked one red eye open.

“Hey, are you here to tell me what happened with Midoriya?”

“Yeah, and to pick up Midoriya. The conversation with Nezu didn’t go well and Midoriya took off. We tracked him on the cameras and he snuck in here. Hawks sent a feather after him too and confirmed it. When I asked Hawks what he heard through his feather, he said Deku was talking with another boy and doing homework. I’m assuming that would be Monoma, right?”

“Most likely. If they haven’t caused any problems yet, then it's probably fine to leave them for a little longer. Tell us what happened.”

Mic shot a glance towards the hall. Midnight saw and gave him a smile. “Toga is asleep, if you’re worried about her overhearing.”

“Good. She should hear it from Midoriya,” Mic said before sitting down with a sigh. “So, Shouta chewed out all the kids, you know? Gave them cleaning duty and stuff. Then we took Midoriya to Nezu’s office to break the news. He didn’t react too strongly at first, that is until Hawks started asking why Midoriya felt like he needed to make everything a quid pro quo, Midoriya gave us an answer that made me feel depressed, and then Sho snapped at him again for the stunt he pulled. Shouta… Shouta was an idiot. He said something he shouldn’t have and Midoriya just sort of broke down. Cried and yelled at us before taking off. Nezu gave Sho a talking to before we dove into Hawks’ life, which is a shit show, by the way. Be prepared for Nezu to ask for help fighting the Hero Commission. Once we got done talking, I told Shouta to go back to our place and check in on Eri while I came to get Midoriya.”

“What did he say to Midoriya?” Midnight asked, eyes narrowed. 

“Don’t worry about it, Nemuri.”

“No, you’re going to tell me right now.”

“Fine. He said “I thought you were supposed to be smart, Deku.” I couldn’t believe he said it,” Mic said, his green eyes turning dark. “I told him he was sleeping on the couch tonight.”

Vlad snorted loudly. “Oh, Aizawa’s in the dog house.”

“Damn straight he is. And he’s on my Shit List right now,” Midnight snapped. “I’m dumping salt in his coffee tomorrow morning and he’s getting a talking to from me.”

“Good. Now, I’m going to collect Midoriya and get back home. I’m going to be shortening the punishments for the kids too. Sure, they shouldn’t have done what they did, but they did it with good intentions. We shouldn’t be punishing kids for trying to be heroes: we should be guiding them in the right direction.”

“They did call the League though, and went against the rule about Midoriya being without a teacher,” Vlad pointed out.

Mic nodded. “I know. That’s why there will still be some punishment. Just not nearly as bad as Sho gave them. I honestly think he was just scared.”

“Scared?”

“Scared of his students getting hurt. Losing a student to a villain attack is his worst nightmare. For the kids to conspire and call a villain was probably terrifying for him.”

Midnight was still glaring from her seat. “I’m still pissed at him.”

“Oh, that’s completely fair. Now, can one of you show me where Monoma’s room is? I have no clue where it is.”

Vlad nodded, clamoring off the couch. “Back in a second, Midnight.”

The two men left and went up the stairs to the second floor. Vlad led the way to Monoma’s dorm and knocked loudly. When there was no answer, he sighed, pulling a key from his pocket. 

“This boy will be the death of me,” he grumbled, unlocking the door with his master key. 

When the pair peered inside, a startling, and rather touching, sight was laid out in front of them. 

Monoma was sprawled out on his bed, his normally pristine hair in disarray and his mouth hanging open ever so slightly. Deku was draped over a small beanbag chair, his head tilted at an odd angle. Books were open in his lap, but they weren’t textbooks: they were comic books. An empty plate sat between the two boys with a set of chopsticks and two pencils resting on top. Food was stuck to the ends of the pencils, having obviously been used as makeshift chopsticks. The lights were dimmed, though not fully turned off. 

Gently, Mic bent down and placed a hand on Deku’s shoulder. Deku woke with a gasp, throwing himself off the beanbag and away from Mic. Monoma snapped awake immediately, a sneer already plastered on his face.

“Here to yell at him some more?” Monoma asked, glaring at the teachers.

“No, I’m just here to take him back to the 1-A dorms.”

“Why? So Eraserhead can be a dick again?”

Deku struggled up to his feet. “Leave it, Monoma. There’s no point arguing with them.”

“You can’t stand up for yourself. If you do, you get punished and could lose your spot at UA, meaning you have to worry about jail time. If I stand up for you, the most I get is a disappointed look from Vlad King.” Monoma paused and gestured at Vlad. “Yeah, that look right there.”

“Why are you like this?” Vlad asked, glaring at the blond teen.

Monoma grinned up at him. “Like what, Sensei?”

“Come on, Midoriya, time to get you back home. Thanks for hanging out with him, Monoma. I appreciate it,” Mic said as he put an arm out, gesturing for Midoirya to head out the door before him.

“I didn’t do it for you. I did it for him. Contrary to popular belief, Deku is a nice guy and I like hanging out with him.”

Deku startled at that. “You do?”

“Obviously. If I didn’t, do you think I’d let you come in here?”

Smiling slightly, Deku nodded. “Yeah, you make a good point. Thanks. I like hanging out with you too.”

Monoma huffed and then flopped over on his bed, rolling so his back was to them. 

Deku snorted and stepped out of the room, the teachers following. Mic and Vlad bid each other farewell. Vlad tried to say goodbye to Deku, but the teen had his head ducked, avoiding eye contact with either teacher. Mic then led Deku out of the dorm building, the pair making their way back to the 1-A dorm. 

The walk was silent, uncomfortably so. Halfway to the dorm, Mic paused and sat down on a bench, gesturing for Deku to sit down with him. With narrowed eyes, Deku slowly sat, keeping distance between himself and Mic.

“I’ve changed your punishment, just so you know,” Mic said, breaking the silence. “You’ll still need to help Shinsou and Todoroki with cleaning and fixing Shinsou’s dorm, and you’ll have to help the others clean the dorm building, but you’ll be able to go to the 1-B dorm to see Toga and Monoma in a week. I’m telling the other kids the same thing in the morning. Shouta went overboard with the whole month-long grounding thing.”

“You’re just doing that because you feel guilty.”

Mic shrugged. “I do feel guilty, but I don’t think it's the reason, or the only reason, for why I’m changing the punishment. I think Shouta panicked and overreacted.”

Scoffing, Deku shook his head. “Oh, cuz he’s scared I’m going to bring death and destruction to the school?”

“No, he’s scared of losing a student. You’re one of his students, so he is scared of you getting hurt too.”

“Why’s he so scared of that? Did he lose a student before or something?”

“Thankfully, no. He… We lost our… friend, when we were students. His name was Oboro Shirakumo. He was an amazing guy. Really funny and sweet. He would have been a great hero, one of the best. But there was an accident when we were on our work studies. A building collapsed and some rubble hit his head, killing him. We… we don’t think he suffered, at least. We think he died on impact. The whole thing messed with all of Shirakumo’s friends but it messed with Shouta the most. He shut down for a bit and when we finally got him out of his funk, he was… colder somehow. It's been years now and he’s closer to what he used to be but it's still hard sometimes. He is always scared of a student, or as he says it, “another kid” dying on his watch. No matter what any of us say, he won’t believe us that it wasn’t his fault.” Mic paused, taking a wet, shaking breath. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell Sho that I told you about that. He doesn’t like talking about Shirakumo in the first place, and if he found out I was talking about him and Shirakumo behind his back, he’d be pissed.”

Deku’s eyes had grown round, staring over at Mic’s silhouette. Mic kept his face turned up towards the sky, looking at the stars in the dark sky. His green eyes tracked a slow moving cloud, a glassy quality to his gaze hinting at unshed tears. Slowly, Deku turned away, looking down at his hands. 

“My mom died in a collapsing building.”

“I know, little listener. I did my research. I’m really sorry that happened. Did you ever read up on how it happened?”

“I… I was there. I saw it.” 

That caused Mic to finally turn to look over at Deku, his mouth hanging open in surprise. “What?”

“I was there. I had been doing homework across town and was listening to coverage about All Might’s fight with a villain. Then, the villain started heading towards my place. I ran across town on the rooftops and stuff, trying to get there in time to warn my mom or something. But by the time I got there, the building was down. It was too late. I freaked out and tried to run in to find her but Shigaraki grabbed me and pulled me into an alley. He told me it was pointless, that there was no way my mom was still alive. And then he pointed out that I’d have to live with my dad, if child protective services could find him, or I could end up in foster care. Even if I had chosen to live with my dad, I would have ended up in foster care because apparently my dad has been dead for years. But, since I’m quirkless, foster care would be a nightmare for me. The abuse and neglect could have easily killed me. I’d have had to run away eventually. So when Shigaraki offered to let me come and stay with the League, I agreed. It was the safest option, you know?”

“Midoriya, I am so sorry. I’m sorry that you saw that and I’m sorry you saw the League as your only option,” Mic said. He shuffled a little closer when he saw the way Deku’s eyes were glittering with unshed tears. “Can I give you a hug?”

Deku jerked in surprise. “Why?”

“Because you look like you need a hug and I want to give you one.” Mic opened his arms, giving Deku the chance to move in or move away. After a moment of hesitation, Deku threw himself forward with a sob, burying his face into Mic’s chest as he wrapped his arms around the teacher. Mic hugged Deku tightly, running a soothing hand up and down the boy’s back, humming a quiet tune as Deku cried. 

Hiccupping, Deku turned his head just enough to speak. “I just feel so fucking alone.”

“I know you do. Losing both your parents like this at such a young age has to be hard. But you need to remember that you aren’t alone. You have Toga, who I know you see as family. Monoma is obviously a friend and I can see Shinsou and Todoroki being considered friends as well. And I know you and Bakugou have a bad history, but it looks like he is trying to atone, since he and his friends helped you with sneaking to Shinsou’s dorm. You must have made a good impression on Sero, since they agreed to help too. They aren’t typically one to do much to get in trouble, so it says a lot that they were willing to put themself on the line to help you. We can’t forget Eri, either. She looks up to you, you know. And I know you might not think it right now but Shouta and I care about you. We want you to be safe and we want to see you become a hero. You have a lot of people in your corner, Midoriya. You just have to remember it, okay?”

Sniffling, Deku nodded. “Is Aizawa mad at me for yelling and running out?”

“Hardly. He wanted to run after you and apologize. We had to make him stay so Nezu could tear him a new one. And then after, I chewed him out. Tomorrow, he’s going to catch hell from Midnight. Oh! That’s another person that likes you! Midnight definitely has a soft spot for you and Toga.”

That got a low chuckle from Deku. “Really?”

“Yep! She loves rebels and you and Toga are the epitome of rebellion,” Mic leaned back a little to look down at Deku. “Feeling a little better?”

“Yeah. I’m ready to head to the dorm.”

Mic nodded before giving Deku one final squeeze before letting him go. The pair stood and continued to the dorm building, the silence less tense. When they entered the apartment, they found Aizawa sitting up on the couch, dressed in pajamas and looking worried. As soon as he saw the pair of them, he jumped up from his seat.

“Midoriya, I’m sorry. I should never have said -”

“Stop,” Mic snapped, fixing his husband with a stern look. “Not tonight. You can apologize in the morning.”

Aizawa obediently nodded, sitting back down on the couch. Deku looked at the blankets and pillows piled beside the couch with curiosity. 

“What's with all that?” he asked, pointing. 

“Shouta is sleeping out here tonight,” Mic said stiffly before stalking off down the hall to his room, closing the door behind him. 

Deku gave Aizawa a slightly sympathetic glance before scurrying off to his room, glad to finally be able to rest in the privacy of his own room.

Chapter Text

Once Deku left with the teachers, Shinsou and Todoroki made the walk up the stairs to Todoroki’s room. Shinsou looked around with wide eyes, taking in the other boy’s room.

“Damn, this place is nice. You did this all yourself?” 

Todoroki nodded. “Yes. I don’t have an extra futon, but we can ask Yaomomo to make us one. I should have some extra blankets and pillows as well.”

“Sure we can do that, or we can just share the bed. If you aren’t comfortable with that, then I understand,” Shinsou said eyes flicking away and a slight blush creeping up his cheeks.

Todoroki cocked his head curiously. “Why would I not be comfortable with it?”

“I’m gay.”

“I know. So am I.”

“No, I mean, I’m a gay guy, you’re a dude, and I’m, you know, me . People get worried about my quirk, you know? They are scared I’ll take advantage.”

Todoroki’s perpetual frown deepened. “You’re my best friend, Shinsou. I trust you, you know this.”

“You’re not worried that people will talk?” Shinsou asked, ducking his head and looking down at his feet.

“People always talk.”

“I mean if they find out we shared a bed, they’ll talk and say we’re a couple or something. I know you’ve taken a hit socially cuz of me and I don’t want to make it worse for you.

Snorting, Todoroki shook his head, stepping closer to Shinsou. “Do I seem like the type of person that cares about social status? If I want you in my bed, and you agree, then I’ll have you there.”

Shinsou’s blush darkened. “Dude, when you say it like that it sounds weird.”

“Why does it sound weird? Is the concept of us as a couple too far-fetched to imagine?”

“To most people, yeah probably. Todoroki, your class 1-A’s golden boy. You have the most powerful, most amazing quirk. You have the Todoroki legacy boosting you up, even if you hate it. You have the looks and the brains to become a top ranking hero. Hell, I could see you going international one day, you’re that good. But I’m me . I have a weak quirk that everyone sees as villainous. I might be smart, but with my face and hair, I’m not going to be on any magazine covers. And since I’m going into underground heroics, no one will ever know my name and I’ll never be on the charts. Hero couples are always supposed to be a good match up, like Tsu and Mina or Uraraka and Iida. Even Kaminari and Sero make sense. Us being a couple wouldn’t make sense to anyone.”

Todoroki’s hand darted out, catching Shinsou’s chin and forcing him to turn his head up to make eye contact. Furious mismatched eyes glared at Shinsou, a fire burning in them that Shinsou had only seen once before, at the Sports Festival. 

“You’re going to shut up and listen to me for a minute, got it?” Todoroki snapped. He didn’t even wait for Shinsou to respond before he steamrolled on. “I don’t give a damn about my family name. I don’t give a damn what the public thinks. And I sure as hell don’t give a damn about the hero rankings. My father wants me to be the Number 1 hero but all I want to do is save lives. You know who else has that mindset? You. You are one of the few people I have met that is authentic. You never saw me as Endeavor’s son, you just saw me as Shoto. You encourage me to think outside of the box when it comes to fighting and that makes me a better hero. You make me a better hero, Shinsou, simply by being my friend. I see you as a powerful hero with a good heart and I don’t care what anyone else thinks or says. I like you for you. I will not standby and listen to you degrade yourself like this. Have I made myself clear?”

Shinsou looked at Todoroki with round, glassy eyes, his mouth slightly agape. “You like me?”

“Wh… what?”

“You just said you like me. Were you serious? Or is that just in a best friend type way?”

“And people call me dense,” Todoroki huffed before he swooped in, pressing his lips to Shinsou’s.

Shinsou let out a startled noise, jolting slightly before relaxing into the kiss. His hands came up, gripping the front of Todoroki’s shirt and pulling him in closer, deepening the kiss for a moment. The pair split apart soon after for air, their foreheads pressed together.

“So you do like me?” Shinsou whispered, chuckling.

“I thought that was obvious.”

---

A knock at Bakugou’s door caught his attention, pulling him away from his textbooks. Growling, he stomped over and ripped the door open to find Kirishima standing there.

“What are you doing, Shitty Hair? We’re supposed to be in our rooms.”

“If you let me in, then no one will know that I’m not in my room,” Kirishima said with a toothy grin.

Rolling his eyes, Bakugou opened the door wider to let Kirishima slip inside. The red head immediately jumped onto Bakugou’s bed, kicking his slippers off.

“Is there a reason you’re here?” Bakugou asked, going back to his desk and curving over his textbooks.

“You did good today.”

“I didn’t do shit.”

“You got everyone to help Deku. That was really really nice of you. I just wanted to say I’m proud of you.”

Bakugou’s pencil stopped moving, a heat spreading across his cheeks and up his ears. 

Kirishima continued. “I remember everything you said about what happened with you and Deku and how you wanted to do better, so I figured I’d keep an eye on you and if I thought you were backsliding, I would tell you. But you haven’t. Sure, you’ve gotten into some arguments with him and been a little pushy with your questions -”

“Huh?!”

“But you haven’t bullied him. And today, you did something to actually help him. So, I’m proud of you. You’re making good progress and I think it's super manly, bro.”

Bakugou ducked his head lower. “Doesn’t make any difference. He still hates my guts.”

“I don’t know,” Kirishima said, scratching at the back of his head. “The dude seems prickly, kinda like you and Shinsou, but I don’t think he actually hates anyone.”

“He tried to blow me up with a bomb.”

“You try to blow people up everyday.”

“That’s different!”

Kirishima laughed as Bakugou snarled at him, a soft look on the red head’s face. Not getting the reaction he wanted, Bakugou set off a few small pops in his hands. 

“What the fuck are you laughing at, huh?!”

“You just…” Kirishima started to blush, his cheeks turning the same shade as his hair. “You’re cute when you’re angry.”

“What? I’m always angry, Shitty Hair!”

“Uh, exactly, bro.”

All of the anger in Bakugou’s body disappeared, immediately replaced with burning embarrassment and confusion. With a huff, he dropped his hands to his lap. Seeing Bakugou’s face fall, Kirishima straightened up, a look of worry clear on his face.

“Shit, I didn’t make you uncomfortable did I? I’m so stupid, I’m sorry!” Kirishima hurriedly said. Climbing off the bed, he started shoving his slippers on, mumbling to himself. “Never should have listened to Kaminari, he has the worst advice.”

“Wait, did you just say you went to Dunce Face for advice? Are you stupid? If you wanted advice you should have asked me!”

“I couldn’t.”

“Why the fuck not?”

Kirishima didn’t respond. He instead darted towards the door, only to be cut off by Bakugou. As Kirshima tried to wrench it open, Bakugou slammed his own body into the door, getting between it and Kirishima. The pair were mere inches apart, their faces far closer than they ever had been before.

“Come on, man, just let me leave.”

“Answer the question and then you can.”

“Ugh, fine. I couldn’t ask you for advice because it was about how to talk to you. There, are you happy?”

Bakugou’s frown deepened. “You asked Dunce Face for advice on how to talk to me and he told you to call me cute?”

“Yeah. I… I asked him how to tell you how I felt. I thought I should just be straight up but he told me that it wasn’t romantic or whatever so he said I had to drop hints. So that’s what I was trying to do. But I don’t want to make you feel weird. I’m really sorry, bro, so let’s just forget I ever said anything and -”

Bakugou silenced him by slamming his lips against Kirishima’s. The kiss was forceful and hungry, their teeth clacking as Bakugou tried to get as close as he could to the other boy. Kirishima gasped in surprise, mouth opening and allowing Bakugou access, which the blond happily exploited. Within seconds, Kirishima fell into the rhythm of the kiss, pressing Bakugou back against the door and kissing him just as hungrily. 

When they broke apart, panting heavily and lips swollen, Bakugou grinned at Kirishima cockily.

“In the future, if you want to tell me something, just do it. Don’t do the whole beating around the bush shit.”

Kirishima nodded enthusiastically. “Got it, yeah, of course.”

“Good. Now kiss me again.”

---

Deku stumbled into the living room with bleary eyes, having woken to the incessant beeping of his alarm. Classes were back on, since the League hadn’t made any more threats. Without any imminent danger, there was no reason to cancel classes. Deku could smell something burning in the kitchen and assumed that Aizawa had tried to cook breakfast again.

That is, until he turned into the living room and found Aizawa still sleeping on the couch. Eri sat on the floor, her back leaning against the couch as she watched TV. A plate was on her lap piled high with slightly scorched toast. She happily munched on it, some sort of jelly spread across the top and smeared on her cheeks. When she heard him come in, she waved and smiled.

“Hi Deku,” she whispered.

“Hey,” he whispered back. “Did you make yourself breakfast?”

Eri shook her head. “The bird man made it.”

“Bird man?”

“The one from yesterday. I forgot his name. You didn’t like him but he was nice to me this morning and made toast. He gave me the less burnt pieces and he put apple jelly on it for me.”

“You mean Hawks? The blond guy with the red wings?”

Eri nodded, then picked up an uneaten piece of toast and held it out to him. “Want some?”

“I’ll go get my own. You finish your breakfast, okay?” With that, Deku made his way to the kitchen, cautiously poking his head in.

Hawks stood in the middle of the kitchen, his red wings fluffed up in agitation as he repeatedly jammed a knife inside the toaster. Deku let out a strangled shriek, leaping forward and pulling the toaster’s plug from the wall.

“Do you have a death wish or something?” Deku hissed.

Hawks blinked at him owlishly, clearly confused. “The toast got burnt and broke when I tried to take it out. I was just trying to get the broken pieces out of the toaster before I made some for you, Mic, and Eraserhead.”

“With a metal knife? You’re going to electrocute yourself!”

“That can happen?”

Deku pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. “Just, go sit down at the table with whatever you’ve already made. I’ll finish making the rest.”

Hawks nodded, picking up a plate of blackened toast and trotting out to the dining room. Deku took the toaster and flipped it over the trash can, shaking out the crumbs and burnt toast. Once it was empty, he plugged it back in and put in some fresh pieces of bread. He then loaded the coffee machine and set it to brew, along with the tea kettle. Searching the fridge, he managed to find a few eggs and began mixing them to cook some scrambled eggs. 

As the coffee brewed, the smell of burnt food slowly faded, being replaced by the scent of fresh coffee. Within minutes of the coffee pot becoming full, Aizawa groggily padded into the kitchen, his eyes still closed. Blindly, he grabbed a mug from the cabinet, poured some of the coffee in and walked out of the kitchen, never opening his eyes enough to see Deku. 

A moment later, an ear splitting squawk rang through the apartment, closely followed by a startled shout. Mic came sprinting out of the bedroom, his long blond hair flowing out behind him. Deku bolted after him, only to run into his back when Mic abruptly stopped. Peeking around Mic’s body, Deku let out a snort. 

Apparently, Aizawa hadn’t opened his eyes before trying to sit down at the dining room table and had tried to sit down in the chair Hawks was in. Hawks, who had put on his headphones to listen to music, hadn’t heard Aizawa approach and didn’t notice the other man until Aizawa dropped into his lap. Hawks, thoroughly startled, had let out an animalistic noise and flew out of the seat, upending Aizawa and his coffee onto the ground. Aizawa laid flat on the floor, his gray eyes staring up at the ceiling in exacerbation as the coffee trickled out of his mug and spread across the floor.

“Is there a reason Hawks is here?” Aizawa asked.

“I invited him here,” Mic said, his voice stilted, clearly not done being angry from the day before.

“Why?”

“He’s here to talk with Midoriya.”

“He is?” Deku asked, surprise evident in his voice.

“Yes. I won’t be going into detail but Hawks experienced quirk trafficking. I remembered that you had helped past trafficking victims and thought you could give Hawks some advice.”

“Oh, sure. Yeah, I’ll help. We can sit here at the table and talk,” Deku said, nodding along. “By the way, there’s toast and eggs in the kitchen. I also started the kettle since I know you like tea.”

Mic gave him a soft smile and ruffled Deku’s hair, causing the boy to give him a startled but warm look. Mic then snapped his fingers at Aizawa, catching his attention. With a quick gesture from Mic, Aizawa climbed off the floor, groaning. Stalking across the room, he paused next to Deku.

“You’re excused from class today, if you don’t feel up to going,” Aizawa said, his eyes averted.

Deku shrugged. “No point in missing class.”

“Kid, you just found out that your dad -”

“My dad abandoned me when I was little. What's the point in being sad now,” Deku said coldly.

Aizawa sighed. “Alright. Before we go to class, I want to talk to you. In private.”

“Sure.”

Deku pushed past Aizawa and sat down while Hawks watched, his golden eyes flicking between the teen and the other pro hero.

“Uh, I can wait if you guys need to talk now?” Hawks said cautiously as he lowered himself down into his seat.

“No, it's fine,” Deku insisted. “So you were basically trafficked by the Commission. The bad news is they are going to be hard to break free from. The good news is, you are so famous and well liked by the public, that you have a lot of leverage. I just need to know two things from you, and then I can tell you what plan we’re going to use.”

Hawks nodded. “Right, cool. Lay it on me.”

“First, do you want the public to know what the Commission did to you?”

“If I did that then people would lose confidence in the Commission.”

Leaning forward, Deku fixed Hawks with a stern look. “Don’t think about the Commission. This is about you right now. So let me ask again. Do you want the public to know what happened to you?”

Hawks paused, thinking it over. He carefully bit at his bottom lip before shaking his head. “I’m not ready for people to know. I might tell them one day, but not right now. I think it would be dangerous for me.”

“That's understandable. You don’t owe anyone your story. Alright, so onto the next question: Do you actually want to be a hero?”

He jolted at the question, looking at Deku as though he just asked the unspeakable. Before he could answer, Deku put a hand up, silencing him.

“Think before you answer. Do you enjoy being a hero? Is this what you want? Or were you pushed into it by the Commission?”

Reaching behind himself, Hawks plucked a feather and fiddled with it between his fingers, bouncing his knee nervously. After a shaky breath, he looked up to meet Deku’s eyes.

“I want to be a hero. I just… I can’t be the hero that the Commission wants me to be. I can barely breathe, you know? I always have to be working, no matter what. I only get a little time to sleep and then I’m back to work. It's not sustainable.”

Deku nodded. “You’re right, it’s not. Alright, we can work with that. Here is what you’re going to need to do. You are going to need to work with Nezu to get your real file. If they don’t have a digital copy, you’re going to need to find a way to steal the paper version. From there, you are going to threaten the Commission. You are going to tell them that they are going to release you from whatever contract you are in, sign your agency over to you in full, give you full and exclusive access to your assets, and pull their employees from your agency. You’ll need to double check that they actually do that last one. You tell them all that and tell them that if they don’t do it, then you are going to release your entire file to the press. Now, I know you don’t want the world to know what happened to you, but neither does the Commission. They are going to assume you are bluffing. If they refuse your demands, then you go and set up an interview with a reporter and reveal your real name, which the Commission doesn’t want you to do. I'm guessing there is something connected to your name that they don't want the country to know about and the only thing I can think of is that you're related to someone they think isn't heroic. Only person that comes to mind is Takami the thief, so I am guessing he is your dad or something. That works in our favor. In the interview when you reveal your name, you get ahead of that and tell the interviewer about your family and spin this into an underdog tale and how you overcame your circumstances. They’ll eat it up. The Commission will shit themselves because they’ll realize you’re serious and they will cut you a deal. Have Nezu read over everything before you sign.”

Hawks’ mouth hung open in shock as he absorbed everything. Slowly, he nodded. “You’ve thought this through.”

“I’ve done this enough times to know what I’m doing.”

Eri came walking into the room, carrying an empty plate. Jelly was still smeared on her cheeks, so Deku waved her over. He picked up a napkin from the table and wiped her face clean.

“Do you have to go to school today?” she asked while he worked, holding still for him.

“Yep. But I’ll be back here tonight and we can hang out. Does that sound good?”

“Yeah. Can we color?”

“Of course. We still have to finish filling your art wall, don’t we?”

Eri giggled, nodding. Hawks smiled at the pair. “Art wall? What’s that?”

“It's a wall in my room with all the drawings we’ve done. Some of Toga’s are up there too. She uses a lot of red in her drawings and I like it because red is my favorite color.”

“Red is a nice color,” Hawks said, nodding. “Is it your favorite color because of your eyes?”

She shook her head. “No. Deku had red shoes on when he saved me. I thought they were pretty.”

“Yeah, I loved those shoes,” Deku said wistfully. “Toga and I had them specially made to protect my feet if I got in a fight. We modified them from a pair of old quirkless shoes.”

“Quirkless shoes? What are those?” Eri asked, cocking her head curiously. 

“So you know how most people have a quirk and I don’t? Well, the entire world used to not have quirks. As people developed quirks, different things in the body began to evolve. This included the little toe on people’s feet. Everyone used to have a second joint in it but people with quirks were born without them. Since I am quirkless, I have that second joint. My shoes have to be designed differently to fit my feet. The brand I got only sold red shoes. When I got here to UA, the teachers got me new shoes. They are quirkless shoes, but they are just these plain black ones. I think they’re actually better quality than the ones I used to wear but I still miss the red.”

Eri frowned down at the shoes, her little eyebrows furrowed. “I’ll take to Mr. Mic and ask him for red paint. Then we can make your shoes red.”

Deku smiled at her, ruffling her hair, careful not to bump her horn. “That sounds awesome, Eri. Now you should go get dressed; you have a session with your tutors today.”

As Eri went to get ready, Hawks bid Deku farewell and went to talk with Nezu about next steps. Mic soon emerged, Aizawa in tow. Deku ducked away to get ready for class himself and met Aizawa at the door. Mic had already left with Eri to take her to her tutoring sessions, leaving Aizawa to walk with Deku to class.

“Do you want to talk here or would you rather talk while we walk?” Aizawa asked, standing by the door.

“If we don’t leave now, then we’ll be late,” Deku said, putting his shoes on. He yanked the door open. “We can talk on the way.”

As they walked across the quad heading towards the main building, Aizawa cleared his throat. 

“I shouldn’t have said what I did. That was unprofessional.”

“No shit.”

“Let me finish,” Aizawa said, shooting Deku a look. “I reacted poorly to you putting yourself and the others in danger. I care about all of my students, including you. But, I didn’t react like a teacher should. I let my worry get the best of me, and I am sorry. I know you probably aren’t ready to accept my apology, nor are you ready to trust me, but I will do my best to prove myself to you.”

Deku walked in silence, taking in what Aizawa said. He gave one short nod, not feeling up to responding. Aizawa didn’t seem to expect one and led Deku to the classroom, where Bakugou and Iida were already at their desks. The rest of the class hadn’t arrived yet, but the pair was there early as they were everyday. 

As Deku walked towards his desk, he paused by Bakugou’s desk. He kept his eyes downcast, not looking at the blond. 

“Thank you,” he said in a low voice.

“Huh?”

“Thank you. For getting everyone together to help me.”

“Tch,” Bakugou said, leaning back in his seat. “Hope it was fucking worth it.”

“We saved those people’s lives, so I think it was.”

“I guess. Where’s your dad, huh? Is he on his way to come get your dumbass?”

Aizawa’s head whips up. “Midoriya, Bakugou, go to your seats and be quiet.”

“I’m already in my seat, old man!” Bakugou snaps.

“He’s talking to me, don’t worry about it,” Deku said, shrugging. “He’s worried I’ll lose my shit or something since my dad is dead.”

Bakugou jolted in his seat. “What?”

“Yeah, died a few years ago apparently. No one bothered to tell me or my mom. He really did get remarried, in America." 

Iida looked up at this, a sad expression on his scarred face. “I am terribly sorry, De - I mean, Midoriya. That has to be very difficult to find out. As Class Rep, I am here if you need anything.”

Deku nodded and walked to his desk, dropping into his seat. As the class slowly trickled in, Shinsou and Todoroki walked in together. They were shoulder to shoulder, the backs of their hands brushing against each other as gentle smiles played at their lips. Deep in his gut, Deku felt something ugly twist seeing the two like that.

He knew what those looks meant. He’d suspected that this was coming for a while. The two cared for each other, more so than others. They had feelings for each other. And while Deku was not friends with them and did not like them, no matter what anyone said, he couldn’t help the swell of jealousy he felt. Quickly, he tried squishing it, but as the pair turned their eyes on him, he felt it flare again.

“Deku! Hey man, how did you talk with Nezu go?” Shinsou asked.

“My dad is dead. Are you two dating?” Immediately, Deku regretted his words. His eyes went wide and he started to stutter. “I… I don’t know why I asked you that, I’m sorry!”

Shinsou looked bewildered, his mouth opening and closing in shock. Todoroki blinked at Deku, face blank. 

“Yes, we are. I confessed my feelings last night while Shinsou stayed in my room. I am sorry your father died, though I must admit that I am jealous. A dead father sounds wonderful right about now.”

“Todoroki!” Shinsou hissed, smacking at the other boy's shoulder and trying to hide his laughter. “You can’t say shit like that!”

“Why? It’s true.”

“You hate your dad that much?” Deku asked, forgetting for a moment that he was jealous of them. 

“Yes, you see, he is -”

Before Todoroki could finish, the door to the classroom flew open, blazing heat filling the space. 

“SHOTO!”

Todoroki’s face blanched as he turned around to face his father. 

Endeavor stood in the doorway in all his blazing glory. His flames reached nearly to the ceiling. All Might, in his fully muscular form, trailed after Endeavor, panting subtly as he tried to catch up to the other man. 

“Endeavor, you can’t just burst into the school. Come, let’s go to Principal Nezu’s office and we can -” All Might started, only to be cut off by Endeavor bellowing again.

“Why did I hear your voice on the news, Shoto? Along with that villain boy’s voice! I banned you from hanging around that boy and you disobeyed me!”

“Father -”

“No! You listen to me! You will not speak with him again, is that clear?” Endeavor’s eyes flicked to Shinsou, who was hovering beside Todoroki. “Is this him? Is this the villain?”

“Sir, I’m -” Shinsou began to say, getting cut off just as everyone else had.

“Stay away from Shoto. Is that clear? I will not have some two-bit criminal drag him down. Shoto is going to be the top hero, and I will not allow you to interfere.” Endeavor towered over the purple haired boy. Smoke trickled from between Endeavor’s fingers as his palms began to heat. His hands twitched, as though he were preparing to move, though it was hard to tell if he was going to move towards Shinsou or Todoroki.

Before anyone else can speak, a snort from behind Todoroki caught Endeavor’s attention. Looking past his son, he spotted Deku, who was still sitting at his desk.

“And what do you find so funny, boy?”

Deku stood up, stepping in front of Todoroki, keeping himself between Endeavor and the other two boys. Aizawa was on his feet at the front of the room, his eyes flicking between his students and Endeavor, analyzing the situation.

“Kid,” he said, his voice low, a clear warning.

Deku waved a dismissive hand at his teacher, still staring up at Endeavor, a small smile on his face.

“I’m laughing just cuz I finally get it now,” Deku said. “I really do.”

“Get what?”

“Why you’re only the Number 2 hero.”

Endeavor’s eyes narrowed, his flames turning redder as they flared. “What did you just say?”

“I mean, you’re sort of a dick, dude. And not observant at all. Shinsou here made it to the last round of the sports festival, or were you too busy with your head up your ass to notice?”

“Who are you to speak to me this way?”

“Oh, me?” Deku said, his grin turning sharp and dangerous. “I’m Deku, the villain kid you’re so worried about. And let me just say, I’m really seeing Dabi’s point now: you suck, dude. No wonder he wants you dead.”

As fast as lightning, Endeavor’s hand shot out, wrapping around Deku’s forearm. His massive fist began to glow, a thin wisp of smoke rolling off of Deku’s arm. Deku’s entire body stiffened, but he didn’t utter a sound, still smiling up at Endeavor with wild eyes.

Todoroki’s expression finally broke, pure horror over taking his face. 

“Stop!” he shouted, raising a hand to send a blast of ice at his father. 

Suddenly, Endeavor’s flames were snuffed out. He stumbled back, looking down at his hand in shock. He tried to reignite, but nothing came out. 

A meaty hand dropped down on Endeavor’s shoulder, causing him to turn around. Behind him were Aizawa and All Might, both with furious expressions on their faces. Aizawa’s eyes were glowing red, his hair floating around his head as All Might gripped Endeavor’s arm tightly. 

“It’s time for you to leave,” All Might said, his tone cold and even. “Now.”

“I have a right to speak to my son.”

“Not for long,” Aizawa snarled. “From what I’ve just seen, I have reason to believe you are a danger to your son and others. I will do everything in my power to make sure you never have the chance to see your son or any of my other students again. And if I see you around this school ever again, I will make you regret it.”

All Might pulls Endeavor from the room. As soon as the door closed, Deku collapsed inwards on himself, hissing in pain and holding his arm to his chest.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, that fucking hurt, shit,” Deku groaned, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. Todoroki grabbed hold of Deku’s uninjured arm and guided him back towards a desk to lean against. Shinsou looked panicked, his hands up and reaching for Deku, but not touching him, as though he was scared to hurt him further.

“Iida, get Recovery Girl,” Aizawa demanded, striding across the room.

“Toga!” Deku gritted out. “Get Toga first! Please!”

Iida gave Aizawa a questioning look and waited for his teacher to nod before he dashed off. Within seconds, Toga was sprinting into the room, Vlad King following behind. She immediately shoved Shinsou aside and grabbed Deku’s injured arm, pulling it towards herself. Bending down, she used her teeth to rip Deku’s sleeve, revealing a nasty looking burn on his forearm.

“Damnit Deku, you promised no more burns!” she said, angling his arm from side to side, looking it over.

“That was a long time ago. Statute of limitations ran out.”

“You’re not funny,” Toga said, hiding a small smile before leaning back down and licking across the terrible burn. The open, bleeding blisters sealed, but the burnt skin did not change. “That should help with the pain for now. You still need to get it looked at.”

“You really can’t go one day without something happening, huh, kid?” Vlad asked, giving Deku a sympathetic look.

“Endeavor was going to burn someone no matter what. Better me than Shinsou or Todoroki.”

Todoroki shook his head, still keeping his hand on Deku. “You’re too self sacrificing. You’re going to get yourself killed if you keep this up.”

Deku shrugged his hand off, moving to lean on Toga. “Then I’m just living up to the Midoriya legacy, I guess.”

No one said anything as Toga helped Deku from the room, Vlad King following behind the pair.

Sighing, Aizawa shook his head, looking particularly tired. 

“Everyone to their seats. I think we need to have a talk.”

---

Deku woke up in the early afternoon, having slept in Recovery Girl’s office after she had healed him. He lifted his freshly healed arm and inspected the new scar, grimacing. The skin was shiny and unevenly textured, but fairly close to his normal skin color, if slightly paler. The scar wrapped fully around his forearm, the edges uneven and vaguely shaped like Endeavor’s hand. It was still tender to the touch, but mostly healed. Letting his arm drop, Deku blinked up at the ceiling, feeling surprisingly empty inside.

Another scar. What did it matter, really? 

A knock at the door caught his attention. Recovery Girl tottered away from her desk and opened it, revealing Hound Dog. The teacher had forgone his muzzle and was instead looking rather reserved. 

“I’m here to talk with Midoriya,” he said, his voice gravelly.

“He’s in the far bed. If you need privacy, you can use my private office in the next room.”

Hound Dog nodded, stepping past Recovery Girl. Standing by Deku’s bed, he smiled down at the boy.

“Would you prefer talking in the next room?”

Deku shrugged. “There’s no one else in here.”

“Alright. Mind if I sit down?”

Deku gestured for the chair next to him, shaking his head. Hound Dog sat, carefully moving to perch himself on the small chair.

“Your teachers are concerned about you,” Hound Dog said. “With the discovery of your father’s passing along with your confrontation with the League, they are worried for you. Especially after your encounter with Endeavor today.”

“I was just being the villain kid. I saw a high ranking pro hero and I decided to harass him. Nothing more to it.”

“I think there’s more to it than that. I was told that you said that someone was going to get burned no matter what and that it was better if it was you. Why did you say that?”

“Well, it's true, right? If someone has to get hurt, it should be me, not Shinsou or Todoroki. Besides, Endeavor was really angry at me, not Todoroki. I figured that if Todoroki had to see Endeavor later, then Endeavor might be a little calmer after taking his anger out on me.”

Hound Dog frowned. “Are you not at all concerned about your own well being?”

“I mean, if you’re asking if I’m scared of dying, then yes, obviously. I don’t want to die. But me dying isn’t the same as if one of the hero kids died.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Two reasons: One, I’m a villain, and two, I’m Quirkless. I’m less than worthless.”

“I disagree,” Hound Dog said, leaning forward so his elbows were propped on his knees. “I don’t think you’re a villain. I honestly don’t think you ever were. Sure, you helped villains and criminals by giving them information, but you didn’t do it out of malice or anger. You did it because you believed you had no other options. You were led astray by Shigaraki, and combined with the bullying and abuse you received growing up, I think it has given you a low self esteem and a complete disregard for your own well being. That isn’t healthy, Midoriya.”

“Who cares?’ Deku snapped. “What does UA care? They’re keeping me around just so they can keep an eye on me.”

“Toga cares. Monoma cares. Shinsou and Todoroki care. All four of them have been coming to Recovery Girl’s office throughout the morning to check on you. Shinsou has been collecting your homework and Todoroki has been copying notes for you. Monoma and Toga brought lunch for you and have been stopping Eraserhead every chance they get to ask if there were any updates on you. Iida, your Class Rep, also made a point to bring your backpack here for you and offered to collect a change of clothes, if you wanted them. He also wanted me to tell you that he did not open your backpack, because he, Uraraka, and Asui have noticed that you are very protective of it and he was concerned you would get upset at the thought of him going through your things.”

Recovery Girl lifted her head and called out to them, “I have also been getting texts all morning from Eraserhead, Present Mic, Nezu, Midnight, and Vlad King wanting to know if you were awake yet. I just let them know that you have, so I expect at least one of them will be here soon.”

“See,” Hound Dog said. “A number of people care about you and your well being. Now, I know telling you this isn’t going to change your mind overnight. During our sessions, I want to work together to first get to the root of why you think of yourself as expendable and then I want us to work to change your mindset. Is that alright with you?”

Deku shrugged. “Sure, you can try, I guess.”

“I’m going to need you to try as well. It’ll be a team effort,” Hound Dog said as he stood up. 

“Wait, before you go, I have a question,” Deku said, catching the teacher’s attention. When Hound Dog nodded, indicating he was paying attention, Deku continued. “Toga and I are wards of UA, right? What does that mean? I thought your guys’ plan was to try to find our families so they could take custody of us eventually. What’s the plan now that it's been confirmed that Toga and I are orphans?”

“I spoke with Nezu about that this morning, since I had the same concerns. You will both remain wards of UA, but Child Protective Services will need to be contacted to alert them of this change. A file will need to be opened for the both of you and you will be assigned a caseworker. Technically speaking, you will be a part of the foster care system and UA would be fostering you.”

Deku frowned. “It's not technically legal for an organization to foster a kid like that.”

“You are correct. I believe Nezu is working out who will technically be fostering you both. They will be acting as your de facto guardian, but UA will take full responsibility for both you and Toga. The facility will work together to raise you two until you are of age,” Hound Dog explained. “It's not something UA has done before, but we are prepared to do it, don’t worry.”

“And Eri? What’s happening with her?”

“We still haven’t found a living family member of her’s. We will likely be fostering her in the same way we are fostering you. Once she has learned to control her quirk and is no longer in danger, then she may be placed for adoption. With her age, she is a good candidate for it.”

“Aren’t you guys worried someone will adopt her just to get at her quirk?”

“UA will thoroughly vet whomever is interested in adopting her and will keep an eye on her. We will ensure that she is safe.”

Deku continued to frown, his eyes narrowed in distaste. “I still don’t like the idea.”

“I understand. I’m not personally a fan either, but it will work out in the end. We will do our best for Eri.”

“Yeah, well, I want to do my own background checks on anyone you guys approve for Eri. No offense, but the last time I asked heroes for help when it came to her, no one came and I had to be the one to save her.”

Before Hound Dog could respond, the door flew open and Present Mic came flying in, his glasses askew. 

“Midoriya!” he cried, a bit of his quirk slipping into his voice. “Are you okay?! Does your arm still hurt?!”

“Mic-sensei, I’m fine. It was just a little burn.”

“A little burn?! It covers the whole bottom part of your arm! I can’t believe Endeavor did this. If I ever get my hands on him, he can say goodbye to his eardrums!”

Hound Dog made a huffing noise, turning his gaze back to Deku. “I think this may just illustrate my earlier point.”

“Enough with the shouting!” Recovery Girl scolded, shaking a finger at Mic. “The boy has just barely woken up and you’re already disturbing him!”

“I’m just worried about him! He had a hard day yesterday and then Endeavor came in here, causing issues. And do you know what he said once All Might got him to Nezu’s office? “When will you bring Shoto here for me to talk to?” He didn’t apologize or say anything about Midoriya or the fact that he was about to attack either Shinsou or Todoroki before Midoriya stepped in! And Shouta feels awful right now. Blames himself for not doing anything faster.”

“That’s stupid,” Deku said, cutting Mic off. “He didn’t know what Endeavor was going to do. His instinct is to trust another pro hero and he wasn’t close enough to see the steam from Endeavor’s hands.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that he feels bad. Your friends have been really worried too. Toga won’t stop mumbling stuff about burns. Which… uh… Nezu overheard and now he’s sorta worried. He wants me to ask if anything ever happened with Dabi that we should know about? Did he burn you and Toga? Was it like, a punishment type thing?”

Deku blinked up at him, a slightly offended look in his eyes. “Dabi never burned us. He’d say he was going to or pretend like he was about to but he never would have actually done it. I got burnt in middle school by Bakugou, remember?”

Straightening out his glasses, Mic nodded. “Right, right, right, I forgot. Shit. Okay, right, well are you still feeling tired? Do you want to stay here or did you want sleep in your room?”

“Can’t I go back to class?”

“Not today, young man,” Recovery Girl immediately said, shooting Deku a stern look. “You shouldn’t have gone to class this morning to begin with. You should have been taking time to come to terms with what happened to your father. No wonder you ran headlong into danger as soon as you had the chance: you’re in mourning.”

“I barely knew my dad.”

“Yes, and now you will never know him. Mourn that. Go back to your room and rest.”

Climbing out of the hospital bed, Deku followed Mic and Hound Dog out of the building, the two men discussing when Eri’s next therapy session was scheduled. Once they got outside, Hound Dog split away and Mic walked with Deku back to the apartment. Inside, Deku found the cats out begging for attention, twisting around his ankles as he walked. 

“Why don’t you take those two into your room with you and they can keep you company while you rest up. I’ll be out here working on some grading. If you need me, let me know.”

Deku nodded, leading the cats to his bedroom. When he opened the door, he found a box waiting on his bed. Cocking his head curiously, Deku went over and picked up the note that was laying on top of it.

Hey Midoriya, thanks for the help this morning. I got you these as a thank you gift. Also, I heard what happened with Endeavor. Hope these can cheer you up. If you guys need help at all with the Endeavor situation, let me know. - Hawks

Deku set the note aside and opened the box, his chest clenching when he saw what was inside. 

Red quirkless shoes. The exact brand and style he had as a kid. Tears burned in his eyes as he picked up one of the shoes, thinking about the first pair his mother bought him. By the time he was 8 years old, he couldn’t squeeze into regular shoes anymore and had to get the quirkless types. His mom had scraped together enough money to buy him a brand new pair. They weren’t the most expensive set, that was for sure, but they weren’t the cheapest either, that way they wouldn’t fall apart and would last him a while. They were a bright red color, just like the ones Hawks gave him, and as a kid, he hadn’t liked it at first, but they eventually grew on him. To have this little piece of his past, of who he used to be, here in his hands brought up a lot of strong emotions, most of them good. He thought about his mother, about the time they spent together. He had been pushing all those feelings and memories down for some time and with what had happened over the past two days, everything came rushing back and boiled over.

Deku pushed the box to the side and crawled onto his made bed. Still clutching the shoe to his chest, Deku allowed himself to cry and mourn, just as Recovery Girl had instructed. With his face pressed into his pillow, tears flowing down his cheeks as he choked back his sobs. 

Dumpster, the fat tabby, climbed up onto the bed and pressed herself into Deku’s side, purring quietly. Sardine quickly followed, curling up on the pillow just above Deku’s head, quietly keeping watch. 

Deku reached a hand out to pet Dumper’s ears, running his fingers through her fur until he cried himself to sleep. 

Chapter Text

“Deku!” Toga shrieked, throwing open his bedroom door. 

Startling awake, Deku knocked the shoes off the bed, flailing to sit up. Both cats let out indignant squawks of protest as they were dislodged from their spots. Sardine sprinted out of the room while Dumpster ducked under the bed, hiding from the loud noises.

Toga dashed into the room, jumping onto Deku’s bed and hugging him.

“I was so worried about you!” she said, burying her face in his shoulder.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to.”

“I know. Monoma-kun has been fussing all day, saying how you’d be better off in 1-B with us. He wouldn’t stop bugging Vlad King about having you transferred. He only stopped after Vlad threatened to give him detention for disrupting class. Todoroki and Shinsou were acting super weird at lunch too. I think Todoroki is blaming himself or something and Shinsou was all touchy feely, giving Todoroki hugs and stuff.”

“Oh, right. They’re dating now.”

“What!?” Toga shrieked, making Deku flinch. “And they didn’t tell me!? Ugh, they are the worst! When did that happen?”

“They’ve liked each other for a while, I think. They just got all their feelings out in the open last night.”

“And now they can’t go on a date because they’re grounded! Maybe we can set up something in the dorms for them! I don’t really know what a date is supposed to be like but we could ask Monoma and he’d be able to help us. What do you think?”

Feeling suddenly morose again, Deku shrugged and slipped free from Toga’s grasp to face plant back into his pillow.

“What’s wrong?” Toga asked, poking at him repeatedly. “Come on, tell me.”

“I’m depressed and gay, so nothing new.”

“Are you depressed over your dad or something else?”

“My dad, my mom, my life. Pick one.”

“Well, Aizawa ordered take out and he should be back soon with it. How about we go out to the living room and wait for him? Eri is here and she wants to show you what she did at school today.”

Nodding, Deku got up, Dumpster darting out from under the bed and pressing herself against his ankle. Smiling slightly, Deku bent down and scooped her up, cuddling her to his chest.

---

Aizawa stepped back into the 1-A dorms, arms loaded down with bags full of take away containers. Before he could get much further into the common room, Shinsou and Todoroki scrambled up from one of the couches, hurrying over to him.

“Sensei, is Deku okay?” Shinsou asked, lavender eyes wide and worried. 

“He’ll be fine. Recovery Girl said he’ll be tired for the rest of the day but if he’s feeling up to it, he can come to class tomorrow.”

“Can we see him?” Todoroki asked. His gaze was downturned, as it had been the entire day, the boy wracked with guilt.

In his mind, Aizawa quickly ran through the options. If he said, yes, then the two boys would come into his apartment and Todoroki would realize that Mic didn’t have a separate dorm but instead lived with Aizawa, thus revealing their relationship. But if he said no, then he was just putting the boys through more pain as they dealt with their guilt all night, only for them to have to approach Deku in class in front of everyone. Heaving a sigh, he nodded, gesturing for them to follow. 

Both boys hurried after him, offering to carry the food for him. 

When he opened the door, he was immediately assaulted by sound.

“That’s cheating!”

“No it's not!”

“Yes it is!”

“It doesn’t say anything in the rules about it!”

“Kids, stop arguing!”

“No! Deku and Eri cheated!”

“There is nothing about alliances in the rule book!”

Sitting in the middle of the living room, gathered around a board game, were Toga, Eri, and Deku. Toga and Deku were in the middle of a screaming match while Eri giggled beside Deku, one hand fisted in the hem of the boy’s shirt as she cuddled close to him. Mic was sitting on the couch, a pair of glasses low on his nose as he read a book, his feet propped up and showing off his long legs. His hair had been brushed out, leaving it loose around his shoulders. Toga had taken her hair down from its style as well while Eri’s hair was done up in an intricate braid, pulling it back from her face and showing off her horn. Deku still looked exhausted, shadows under his eyes making him look even more tired. His eyes were also puffy, and slightly red, as though he had cried not too long ago. Any traces of sadness were gone now as he triumphantly argued his case to Toga.

Aizawa stepped inside, gesturing for Shinsou and Todoroki to follow, who both looked taken aback by the scene in front of them. As soon as Aizawa slammed the door shut, the kids quieted, startled by the loud noise.

Toga immediately perked up. “Shinsou! Todoroki! What are you guys doing here?”

“We… we uh… wanted to come check on Deku,” Shinsou stuttered out.

Todoroki nodded, taking a moment to scan the room with his mismatched eyes, which quickly found the second front door: the one that everyone believed to be the door to Mic’s apartment. His eyebrows lowered, as though he were trying to piece something together.

“Present Mic and I live together,” Aizawa stated, carefully watching Todoroki. “We are married and have been for some time. Shinsou was already aware. I ask that you don’t say anything to anyone.”

“Of course, Aizawa-sensei.”

“Zashi, come help me with the food. Eri, why don’t you come too,” Aizawa said, jerking his head towards the kitchen. The pair got up, leaving the living room and giving the teens a little privacy.

“You guys didn’t have to come,” Deku said as he glanced away, a small blush creeping up his cheeks. “I’m fine.”

“No, we didn’t have to. But we wanted to,” Shinsou told him, patting his arm as he dropped to sit beside him. Todoroki took Deku’s other side, bumping his shoulder against Deku’s.

“Thank you,” Todoroki said in a hushed voice. “For standing up to my father. I am grateful, even if a part of me wishes you hadn’t done it.”

“Why do you wish I hadn’t?”

Todoroki’s fingers ghosted across Deku’s exposed forearm, his new scar on display. “You got hurt because of me. I don’t like when my friends get hurt.”

“This? Nah, it's not a big deal. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“I know what my father’s flames feel like. I know how badly they hurt. And I know you do not have any resistance to fire. It is very much a big deal.”

“Speaking of your dad being a piece of shit,” Shinsou interrupted, breaking the tension. “Deku, did you hear about the talk Aizawa gave the class after you went to Recovery Girl?”

Deku shook his head, his brows furrowing. “What happened?”

“He encouraged us to speak up about abuse, both from family or peers,” Todoroki said. His voice was thick as he spoke.

“Yeah, and he talked about quirk discrimination. That sorta hit home for me, to be honest. But he also included mistreatment of quirkless people in the lecture. Some of the people in class looked really freaked out by it, actually. I don’t think they’ve ever heard anything like that before,” Shinsou added.

“I know I never heard that before. Granted, I was homeschooled by tutors personally selected by my father, so that is no surprise.”

Deku had gone impossibly pale while Toga beamed, bouncing in place. “That’s amazing!” she squealed. “People will be nicer to Deku-kun now!”

“No, no this is bad,” Deku hissed, his hands balling into fists. “They’re just going to pity me and think I’m weaker than they already did.”

“I doubt that,” Shinsou said. “I think they just got to see things from someone else’s perspective for once. Maybe they’ll understand you a bit better. I heard people talking afterwards and some of them said they had learned some of that stuff in middle school during anti-bullying lessons but a lot of them didn’t. They just literally didn’t know. If anything, they’ll see you as stronger, since you survived so much.”

Before anyone could say anything, Eri came trotting back into the room. She looked at Todoroki and Shinsou nervously before she came over and tugged at Toga’s arm. Toga leaned over and let Eri whisper something in her ear.

“Eri says the food is all plated up! Come on, they even have plates for Shinsou and Todoroki!”

---

“Sensei, I don’t know what to do,” Shigaraki said, pacing back and forth in front of his teacher, the man leaning back in his chair as he watched his pupil through a sensing quirk. “Deku and Toga betrayed me. They actually, truly betrayed me. I was trying to save them from the damn heroes and Deku had the audacity to insult me in front of the entire country! And Dabi never came back with children for the livestream and he’s not answering his phone. His room is cleared out and no one knows where he went. The party has been split and there is no getting it back. All I have left are minor players.”

“This is a flaw in your plans, Tomura. What do you plan to do?”

“I don’t know ! I need help. That’s why I came to you. Please, Sensei, I need you to tell me what to do next.”

All For One felt a smile trying to curl the corners of his lips. Forcing it down, he put on a pondering expression, as if he hadn’t been waiting for this moment for years. “With the decrease in power within your team, you need to supplement it yourself. You need to become stronger. You should speak with Doctor Ujiko. He told me recently that he believes he has found a way to enhance an individual's quirk. It would be a long process, but well worth your time.”

Shigaraki nodded, an excited, manic gleam in his eyes. “Yes, yes that’s perfect! I will turn UA to dust and Deku with it!”

“Actually, I have another idea for Deku. Let me worry about that for now though. Just focus on your treatment.”

---

Things in 1-A were going slightly better than they had been before. Shinsou and Todoroki were right in that the class was a little nicer to Deku, but that didn’t mean they didn’t still avoid him. Iida had made a point to come and speak to Deku a handful of times, even going as far as to ask Deku for advice on some ultimate moves, but the others kept their distance. The first day Deku came back after the Endeavor incident, Bakugou had split his attention between staring at Deku’s covered arm and staring at Deku’s new red shoes, looking as though he had seen a ghost. He only stopped staring after Kirishima had taken his hand, giving it a squeeze as they walked to the training grounds. 

With things being a little calmer, the teachers decided to hold another cross training event between the two classes. The hope was that now the students had gotten more used to Deku and Toga, that maybe this time, the training would go smoother. Instead of a competition, pitting students against each other, they had an open training session, encouraging the kids to practice moves, spar, and help each other in quirk training. 

As soon as Vlad King finished explaining what they were all to be doing, Toga and Monoma hurried over to Deku, Todoroki, and Shinsou, ushering them off to the side of the training grounds and away from the others. Aizawa, Midnight, All Might, and Vlad King watched them go, slight frowns on their faces as they realized that their plan wasn’t likely going to work. The five kids had isolated themselves from their classmates, only occasionally speaking to others outside their circle. Sometimes, Todoroki and Shinsou would train with Iida, Uraraka, and Tsui, like they used to, but they typically stuck with Deku. That isn’t to say their training suffered. If anything, they were excelling in quirk training, same as Toga and Monoma. The teachers suspected this had something to do with a specific green-haired student and his quirk analysis, but they weren’t about to discourage any of them. 

Deku and Shinsou stood off to the side, wrapping their hands for hand-to-hand sparring. Toga and Monoma decided to team up to fight Todoroki, who was quietly stretching while the two blonds whispered. Finally, after some deliberation, Monoma held his hand out to Toga. Her fangs flashed as she used them to shallowly slice the side of his hand. As soon as she drank down some of his blood, she licked his wound, sealing it. Then, she began to morph. Within seconds, there were two Monomas, though one was wearing a girl’s school uniform over his clothes. Both Deku and Shinsou laughed along with Toga as she stripped her uniform off so she could match the real Monoma, who was scowling at the display. Once she had set her clothes aside, she cut her own hand and sealed the wound, making her a perfect match to Monoma. 

“Ready?” Todoroki asked, shaking his arms out as he straightened to his full height. 

“Of course we are! 1-B students are always ready for a fight!” Monoma shouted. Todoroki nodded, taking a step forward to start the fight. Just as he started to move, Monoma pulled two small, gray pellets from his pocket and threw them at the ground. Thick smoke floated up around him and Toga, obscuring them from view. 

Deku let out a short laugh. “Nice! Now he won’t know which is the real Monoma and which is Toga,” he said.

Shinsou nodded, smiling. “It's smart. Ready for our own match?”

“Yep, let’s do it. Are you using your capture scarf?”

“You’ll have to wait and see.”

Deku pouted, but dropped back into his fighting stance. “It's still bullshit that I don’t have my weapons.”

“You’ll get them back soon I bet. Which one are you most excited for?”

Deku didn’t respond, refusing to fall for any of Shinsou’s tricks. He just lunged forward, fist raised and ready to meet Shinsou head on.

Two Monomas darted out of the smoke, both identical with their crazed expressions. Todoroki went to shoot a blast of flames at the closer one, only to get smacked in the face by the other. Stumbling, he stomped his foot sending a sheet of ice across the ground to trap that one, only for the first to punch him in the throat, skin touching skin. The pair danced out of the way as a wave of flame burst from Todoroki’s arm, aimed for the both of them. 

The first Monoma laughed, tossing his arm over the shoulder of the other. “Can you tell which of us is the real Monoma? Or are you just going to have to guess?”

“Better guess right,” the second said, also laughing. “If you guess wrong, you might end up with a face full of ice.”

Todoroki’s eyes lit up, a small smile creeping onto his face. “You make a good point. Only one of you can actually copy my quirk. So I just have to force the real Monoma to reveal himself.”

Immediately, he shot a spike of ice at the second Monoma. The first shoved the second out of the way, throwing himself to the ground in the opposite direction, effectively splitting the pair. Todoroki advanced on the second, throwing flames next. Monoma ducked out of the way, trying to get in closer to Todoroki, since Todoroki wasn’t as skilled with close combat. Todoroki kept pushing him back, throwing ice and flame at him. The other Monoma ran at Todoroki’s back, ready to throw a punch. Before he could land a hit, Todoroki sent a block of ice out behind him, striking Monoma and sending him spinning to the ground.

“Just do it!” the first Monoma screamed, stumbling up from the ground. “Fight back!”

The second, still ducking and weaving around Todoroki’s attacks. “I would if I was the real Monoma! Hit him with an ice spike! Hurry!”

“Stop it! The plan didn’t work! Just fight back!”

“You do it!”

Todoroki’s smile grew. “Changing up tactics? Not a bad idea, switching to pretending to be Toga instead. I’ll be honest, it doesn’t matter which of you I attack. Eventually, the real Monoma will fight me. He won’t stand back to watch Toga get hurt, nor will he allow himself to be hurt either.”

Shooting another burst of flame, Todoroki advanced on the second Monoma. Faltering, the second Monoma miscalculated his movement and was struck, the flames whipping up across his chest and sending him sprawling backwards. Todoroki, having not expected to actually make contact with Monoma, was already sending a spike of ice across the ring. His eyes went wide as he realized that the second Monoma was about to strike the pointed end of the spike.

“No!” Todoroki shouted, his hand rising to try and melt the spike before Monoma got hurt. Before the flames could be called to his hand, an ear piercing shriek came from behind him, where the first Monoma had been standing. A glacier of ice suddenly sprung up. Waves upon waves of ice spread across the ground, reaching up towards the sky, encasing nearly half of the ring. Todorki found himself swept up in it, trapped from the waist down as he was lifted into the sky. The second Monoma was caught as well, kept high above the spike he was about to be impaled on. The ice encased him from the neck down, shielding him and snuffing the flames that had been smoldering on his uniform. 

On the ground below, the first Monoma was staring at his frost ridden arm in shock, the ice stretching from his foot. The entire training center had gone silent as both classes stared in awe. Deku and Shinsou had paused their sparring match, both breathing heavily. Deku was oddly pale, staring at the first Monoma with his mouth agape. 

“Damn, Monoma!” Tetsutetsu shouted. “That’s nearly as big as the glacier Todoroki made at the sports festival! How’d you do that?”

“He didn’t,” Deku choked out. 

Shinsou frowned, looking at Deku. “What are you talking about?”

The Monoma trapped in the ice wiggled slightly, the left side of his body steaming. Slowly, he was able to melt the ice around his left hand, raising it from the ice and lighting a fire in his palm. His teeth chattered as he held the flaming hand over his right side, shaking dangerously. Todoroki’s eyes went wide, flicking between the two Monoma’s.

“How… How are you both…”

“Don’t know,” the trapped Monoma said, his voice shaky. “But I already can’t feel my feet and want to get out of this ice.”

The Monoma on the ground took a stumbling step back, shaking his head hard and fast. “How did I… I can’t have…”

“Hey, it's okay, calm down,” Deku said, stepping closer.

Slowly, the panicking Monoma’s skin started to melt away, falling to the ground in gray globs as he began to hyperventilate. He shrunk, both in height and muscle mass. His smooth blonde hair gave way to messy double buns. Yellow eyes blinked back tears as Toga was revealed, staring down at her hands. Shinsou ran over to the pile of Toga’s things and grabbed the towel she had brought and draped it over the now naked girl. Deku crouched next to her as she sank to the ground and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.

“Does anything hurt?” he asked. “Is your hand cold? I don’t want you getting frostbite.”

“How did I do that, Deku? It doesn’t make sense.”

“I… I think your quirk evolved. That or with all the training we’ve been doing, you unlocked a new aspect that we didn’t know about. I think when you drank Monoma’s blood, you were able to also take on his quirk. So when you touched Todoroki, you copied his quirk and were able to make that ice. The stress of Monoma almost getting seriously hurt caused you to act on instinct. You saved his life, Toga. You did good! I always told you your quirk was cool!”

She kept shaking her head, leaning into him heavily. “No! No, I have a bad quirk. It's bad. I’m bad and creepy and gross.”

“That’s what your parents told you. It's not true, Toga.”

“But…”

“Hey, Toga,” Shinsou said, kneeling down beside her. “What’s your favorite color?”

“What?” 

As soon as the word was out of her mouth, her eyes turned vacant and unseeing, her mind caught in Shinsou’s quirk. Her breathing slowed, the panic leaving her body in one fell swoop, her face relaxing. Shinsou held his quirk for a moment, giving her a moment to calm, and then released her. 

She slumped against Deku, still breathing evenly as she blinked in confusion. After a moment, she brought her eyes up to Shinsou and smiled. “Thanks.”

He nodded before standing, making space for Monoma, who had freed himself from the ice and was running over.

“Toga! Are you alright? Come, let's get you dressed and then I can walk you to Recovery Girl’s office.”

“If anyone should be seen by Recovery Girl, it should be you, Monoma,” Vlad King called, still eyeing the massive mound of ice that Todoroki was trying to melt. “I’ll take you both there.”

“I’ve got it, Vlad, don’t worry. I think you’re needed here,” Midnight said, shooting him a pointed look before glancing at the 1-B students, who were all looking at Toga with a mixture of awe and fear. 

When he turned and saw their fearful expressions, he nodded, knowing full well that he was going to have to have a conversation with his students to calm them.

---

“Any theories on what happened with Toga’s quirk?” Shinsou asked, he and Deku stretching with Todoroki after they finished sparring. Monoma and Toga had yet to come back, likely still being treated by Recovery Girl. 

Deku frowned, mulling the question over. “There are two options on what I think could have happened. The first is that since she knows how Monoma’s quirk works, she was able to use it after transforming into him. The other option, which I honestly think is more likely, is that she feels a close connection to Monoma, so once she turned into him, she was able to use that strong bond she has to access his quirk. She’s always had a thing about wanting to be like those she likes, so it could be that this is an extension of it. So, for example, if she took yours or Todoroki’s blood, she’d probably be able to use your guys’ quirks since she is close to you guys. If she turned into someone she didn’t care about, she wouldn’t be able to use their quirk.”

“Even if she did care about someone, she would need to know how their quirk works to use it,” Todoroki pointed out. “It could be a combination of the two.”

“That’s true. If she cared about someone, then she probably knows how to use their quirk.”

“Either way,” Shinsou said, standing and giving one last roll of his shoulders. “Her quirk is badass.”

“Oh definitely. I’ve told her that for as long as I've known her, but she is still kinda hung up on what happened with her parents when she was little. Maybe if all of us remind her how great her quirk is, it’ll finally sink in.”

Just as the three boys were about to go join their class to walk back to the main building, Tetsutetsu called out, catching their attention. They turned and found him hurrying over to them, Kendo and Shoda following. 

“Hey guys! Hold on!” Tetsu said, breaking into a jog. “We want to talk to you for a second.”

Todoroki and Shinsou both took a small step forward on either side of Deku, their shoulders brushing as they blocked Tetsu from getting close to Deku. A small fluttering feeling swelled in Deku’s stomach at the protective display.

Tetsu slowed down, stopping a few feet away. “So, uh, Vlad King said that Toga’s quirk leveled up, sorta like how our quirks did when we went on our internships and to the summer camp. That’s cuz you guys were working with her on her quirk, right?”

Shinsou nodded. “Yeah, we’ve been helping her. It was Deku mostly though. He made the training plans and analyzed all of our quirks so we could train together.”

“That’s really cool! We, uh, we kinda realized that we… you know…”

Kendo cut Tetsu off. “We realized we didn’t treat Toga fairly.”

“Yeah, we should have given her a chance and we didn’t,” Shoda said. “So we want to make up for it now.”

“So we want to give her some of our blood so she can practice working with our quirks. Do we need to do anything special with the blood? Like, so it keeps for a while?” Testutetsu asked. 

Deku blinked up at him, surprise evident on his face. “You could… uh… go to Recovery Girl and have her draw the blood and store it for Toga. That’d probably be best.”

Tetsu gave him a thumbs up, sharp teeth flashing while he grinned. “Sounds good! Thanks Deku!”

As they left, Shinsou glanced over at Deku. “She’s not close to them. Will she be able to use their quirks?”

Deku shrugged. “Not sure, but I’m not about to discourage them from doing something nice for her.”

With that, trio caught up with their class and walked back to the dorms, where they all showered and changed into clean clothes before dinner. Deku was sitting in Aizawa’s and Mic’s living room watching TV with Eri when he heard a knock at the door. 

Frowning, he got up and cracked the door open. When he saw Bakugou standing there, he tried to slam it shut again. Before he could, Bakugou jammed his foot in the way, keeping the door open.

“Wait,” Bakugou growled. 

“Fuck off. I'm not in the mood today.”

“I’ll leave in a minute. I just came to tell you we are having katsudon for dinner.”

“Okay, and?”

“And? That’s your favorite.”

Deku narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, it was when I was a kid.”

“Are you trying to tell me you don’t like it anymore?”

“No, I just haven’t had it since my mom died. Prepackaged katsudon from convenience stores is kinda shit so I never stole or bought it.”

“Yeah, well, this shit is homemade from scratch so come eat with the rest of the class.”

“I’m not allowed,” Deku said, opening the door a tiny bit more so he could see Bakugou better. “Not allowed to be around students without an adult present, or did you forget what happened last time.”

Bakugou snarled for a second, his face twisting into an ugly expression before he started shouting into the depths of the dorm.

“Hey! Old man! Can Deku come eat the shitty food with the rest of the extras?”

There was a clatter and then Aizawa appeared from the hall. He wore a pair of obnoxiously pink sweatpants and a black tshirt, his hair pulled into a sloppy bun.

“Are there any teachers down there?”

“Tch, no. The extras were complaining saying it wasn’t fair Deku couldn’t come to class dinners but they were all too chicken shit to ask so I had to do it. Is he allowed or not?”

Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. “Can you take it down a notch? You don’t need to shout.”

“The food is going to get cold so make a decision.”

“Fine. Midoriya can eat with the rest of the class if he wants. If he decides he wants to, Eri and I are coming as well.”

“What if I decide not to eat with the class?” Deku asked, his gaze flicking between Bakugou and Aizawa. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to eat with the class; he was sure it would be fun to watch everyone interact and it would be a chance to see Shinsou and Todoroki. But he was curious on how both his teacher and friend-turned-bully would react if he were to refuse. 

It was a test, one that he was sure Aizawa saw right through.

“Huh?!” Bakugou shouted, obviously not realizing it was a test. “You’re going to turn down katsudon? Fine! If that’s what you want, see if I care!”

“Bakugou, the shouting. I literally just said to stop. And Midoriya, if you don’t want to go, no one will force you. It is your decision to make.”

Deku paused for a moment before nodding. “Okay, I’ll go.”

Eri jumped up from the couch, looking a little excited. “I’ve never had katsudon. Is it good?”

Deku nodded, smiling at her as he put his hand out for her to take. “I think it is. Come on, you can sit next to me.”

Down on the main floor, they found all of Class 1-A gathered in the common room, a heaping bowl of katsudon in each of their hands. The TV was on, playing some sort of talk show. Two bowls were sitting on the table, waiting for their owners. 

“Oh! Aizawa-sensei! Eri! We didn’t know you were both coming!” Yaomomo said, setting her bowl aside and standing up. “I’ll go get some extra bowls.”

Bakugou waved her off. “I’ll do it. Deku, you and the hobo can have the bowls there. I’ll go get some for the kid and I.”

As he left the room, Deku helped Eri to settle into the couch beside him, Todoroki and Shinsou shuffling over to make room. Kirishima sat across from them and hungrily dug into his serving, only to splutter and grab at his glass of water, chugging nearly half of it before he came back up for air.

“Spicy!” he rasped, looking at the bowl warily.

“What do you expect, dude,” Mina laughed. “Bakubro made it. He makes everything spicy. That’s why I grabbed some milk. It helps with spicy food.”

“Wait, Bakugo made this?” Deku asked, picking up his bowl and glancing around the room at his classmates.

Sero nodded. “Yeah, he’s a really good cook. He decided to cook tonight even though it wasn’t his turn. Wouldn’t let anyone help. Only thing he asked, or really yelled at, anyone to do anything was when he tried to make me and Kaminari go and get you to join us, but we didn’t want to get yelled at by Aizawa, sorry man.”

“It's fine,” Deku said pensively, looking down into his bowl as though it would hold the answers on why Bakugou had gone out of his way to not only make his favorite meal, but to personally invite him to come and eat.

Bakugou came back into the room, a bowl in each hand. One bowl had a slightly smaller serving, which he handed to Eri.

“Here, kid. This is from the batch that isn’t really spicy. Figured you aren’t used to strong flavors yet.”

Eri took the bowl and offered him a tiny smile. “Yeah, Mr. Nezu says I have to work up to spicy stuff. Thank you.”

Bakugou made a huffing, snorting noise before going to sit with Kirishima, who was currently pouting.

“Why didn’t you tell me there was non-spicy katsudon?” Kirishima asked, almost whining.

“Because if you’re going to date me, you have to get used to spicy food! So man up and eat it!”

Aizawa made a choking noise, spitting his mouthful of food back into his bowl. “You two are together now?”

Bakugou’s eyes narrowed into a glare. “Yeah, why does it matter to you?”

“It matters because I owe Midnight 5,000 yen now.”

Mina shrieked, bouncing in her seat. “You guys placed bets?! Tell us what the others are!”

“No, it’ll ruin the game.”

Deku smiled, watching his classmates berate their teacher. He took a small bite of the katsudon and had to resist the urge to melt into his seat.

It was perfect. Extra spicy, a light crispness, and an overall smoky taste. It tasted exactly as his mother had made it when he was a kid. 

When Deku was really little, anytime Bakugou would come for dinner on nights that his mom made katsudon, she would make an extra spicy serving just for Bakugou, since it was how he liked his food. Wanting to be just like his best friend, Deku had started insisting that he liked his katsudon spicy too. Overtime, Deku had built up a tolerance to spicy foods and now actually enjoyed hot and spicy things. He and Bakugou had spent time in the kitchen as children, watching Deku’s mom cook, so Bakugou must have learned how she made her katsudon and repeated it here at UA. 

The next bite Deku took was huge, distending his cheeks until he looked like a chipmunk. A light, breathy laugh beside him made him freeze, turning to see Todoroki watching him with soft eyes. Shinsou looked up as well, letting out a snort when he saw Deku.

“What?” Deku asked around his food, trying to quickly chew and swallow it.

“Nothing. You just look cute,” Todoroki said, still smiling. 

It was Deku’s turn to choke, nearly inhaling his food and having to hack and cough it back up.

“See! You made it too spicy! You even made Deku sick!” Kirishima yelled, elbowing Bakugou.

“Huh? Like fuck I made it too spicy for Deku! Hey, shitty nerd! I know you like stuff just as spicy as I do! Did you lose your taste buds while you were homeless or something?”

“Bakugou, that is not very nice!” Uraraka said with a gasp. 

Iida was about to start lecturing Bakugou about how it was rude to bring up a classmates less than ideal living situation and past, when he was cut off by Deku laughing. 

“I didn’t lose my taste buds, Kacchan,” Deku giggled, scooping up another large mouthful of katsudon. “If I had, then I wouldn’t be able to taste how spicy it is. Todoroki just made a joke, that’s all.”

“Don’t try to use logic on my insults, you bastard!”

“Oh, look!” Hagakure shouted, her bowl waving in the air as she bounced in her seat. “Hawks is on TV!”

A few of the other students perked up, Deku and Eri included, as Hawks walked on screen, smiling at the studio audience of the talk show as he waved. His red wings looked well cared for and fluffed, like he had recently preened them. His gloves were off, which he had never done on camera before, revealing his dark, slightly pointed nails.

Settling across from the talk show host, one Deku hadn’t seen before nor cared to learn more about, Hawks shifted his wings around to awkwardly fit into the chair that was not built to suit him and his quirk. His smile was a bit tight, though most probably wouldn’t notice. He ran a hand through his hair to push a few loose strands from his eyes, looking cool and suave. 

“He’s so handsome!” Mina squealed.

“What the hell, racoon eyes, you have a girlfriend,” Bakugou said, narrowing his eyes at her.

Tsu shrugged. “She’s gay, not blind. I think just about everyone here can agree that Hawks is good looking.”

“What’s gay?” Eri asked, her red eyes flicking up to meet Deku’s green.

“You know how I like boys even though I’m a boy?”

Eri nodded.

“Its that.”

“Oh, okay,” Eri said, seemingly satisfied with his answer and turning back to look at Hawks. “When is Hawks going to visit again?”

“Don’t know. Why don’t you write him a letter asking? I bet Aizawa would mail it for you,” Deku suggested.

Eri smiled, nodding excitedly.

“ Hawks! It is great to have you on the show! ” the talk show host said. “ You look fantastic today too! Have you had your nails done recently? ”

Hawks gave her an easy smile, still seeming a little tense. “ Thank you! No, I haven’t had them done. This is what they look like naturally. Having an animal based quirk can come with a variety of quirk aspects. It's sorta like Miruko. She has the ears, tail, and legs. I’ve got wings, eyes, and nails. ”

“ Oh, so that is not eyeliner? ”

“ Nope, it's all natural, baby ,” Hawks said with a wink, making the host giggle.

“ It's so rare for you to speak so openly about your quirk! It’s refreshing! ”

“ I’ve realized recently how closed off I can be, especially with my fans. I mean, yeah I do the pictures and signatures thing, which I really do enjoy, but I don’t share my full self with them. They don’t know my likes, dislikes, hobbies… they don’t even know my name! All of us heroes are trying to encourage the public to trust and rely on us, but how can we expect them to when they don’t know the real us. ”

“Oh shit,” Aizawa said, his half full bowl of katsudon forgotten on the table. “He’s actually doing it.”

Deku’s mouth had gone dry. “His conversation with the handlers must not have gone well.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Shinsou asked, a frown twisting his face.

“It's not really my place to say,” Deku said apologetically. “Sorry.”

The talk show host on TV seemed surprised by what Hawks had said. “ Oh! I… Its great you want to connect better with your fans! You know what, I’m going to let you steer this interview. Instead of me asking a bunch of questions to prompt your answers, how about you tell us about yourself and I can ask follow up questions. ”

“ Sounds great! ” Hawks said, flashing a toothy smile and giving a thumbs up, causing the studio audience to melt and coo at his sweet expression, just as Hawks knew they would. “ Alright, so, my favorite food is chicken. I think a lot of people have figured that out since I’m always seen out and about with it but I’m confirming it now. I also really like sweets. I can’t cook or bake very well though. Not long ago, I tried to make toast and failed miserably. A friend had to step in and take over before I electrocuted myself with the toaster. ”

The talk show host laughed lightly on cue. “ How did you manage to almost electrocute yourself? ”

“ The toast had burnt and crumbled inside the toaster, so I figured I should get it out before making more. I looked around and found a butter knife and figured that would work perfectly. The friend walked in while I had the knife in the toaster. Good thing he was there, or I would have been a fried chicken! ”

The host and audience laughed again, along with some of the 1-A students. Eri had spun in her seat and grabbed Deku’s arm.

“He’s talking about you!” she said, giggling.

“Wow, you’re friends with Hawks!? When did that happen?” Kaminari asked, nearly vibrating with excitement. 

“Sometime after he chewed me out for calling Shigaraki,” Deku said sheepishly, making both Todoroki and Shinsou laugh.

“ He sounds like a great friend! Is he a pro hero? Would we know him? ” the host asked Hawks.

He shook his head. “ He’s not a pro, no. I don’t want to say much about him to respect his privacy. Hope that’s okay! ”

“ Of course! Please, continue telling us more about yourself! ”

“ Right! Okay, so my favorite time of year is the summer, since I love warm weather. I like to read, but I don’t get a lot of chances to do that right now. Oh! And I have always wanted to fly around the world! I think that would be really cool to do one day. For things I don’t like, I am not a fan of sitting still. I like to keep active and always have something going on. ”

“ Is that why you are one of the most hardworking heroes out there? It's been noticed that you work longer patrols than most other heroes and that you work more frequently. ”

A slightly uncomfortable look flitted across Hawks’ face, only to be quickly replaced. “ That’s one of the reasons, yeah .”

A quiet voice in Deku’s head whispered that Hawks was lying. The real reason was that the Commission made his schedules and insisted he work himself into an early grave. 

“ I’m obviously not a fan of villains, since I’m a hero, and I really don’t like orange creamsicles. I prefer regular popsicles. ”

“ We’ll be sure to remember that! Now, I have one more question before we bring our next guest out for a fun segment I have planned. If you don’t feel comfortable answering, that is perfectly fine! But you mentioned that your fans don’t know your name. Are you able to tell us what it is? And if not, can you tell us why?”

For the first time since Hawks walked on the stage, he let his smile fall. A serious expression overtook his face and he leaned forward in his seat.

“ My parents… well, they weren’t the best parents. I was left on my own from a very young age and expected to take care of myself. My mom mostly just drank, leaving trash and bottles all over the house. She ignored me. My dad though… he could get a little rough. It was mostly when he drank or when he was scared. You see, my name is Keigo Takami, son of Takami the Thief. He stole constantly and… and he was a murderer. Endeavor, the current Number 2 hero, was the one to arrest him while I was still young. I can’t tell you how happy I was when that happened. For the first time in my life, I saw that there was a future other than crime. And so, I dedicated myself to being what my father wasn’t. I dedicated myself to becoming a hero. ”

The studio audience was silent, as was the common room of the 1-A dorms. The host of the show had let her mouth fall open in surprise, but she quickly schooled her face into something more concerned, which didn’t seem to be fake.

“ So your father is in prison, yes? What about your mother? ”

“ I haven’t spoken to her in a very long time. I hope she is doing better though. While I don’t have any blood related family, I do have friends. They have helped me on my journey to becoming a hero that I can be proud of and I am eternally grateful to them. And, since I guess this is the first time my fans are meeting me, not Hawks, ” Hawks paused, turning to the camera and smiling, a shy and nervous glint in his yellow eyes. “ Hi, everyone. My name is Keigo Takami. It’s really nice to meet you. I hope we can all get to know each other better. ”

Sniffling and crying could be heard in the audience and it seemed that even the host was getting choked up. 

“ I believe I can speak for us all, that it is nice to meet you too, Takami-san .”

“ Please, call me Keigo. ”

The show then broke for commercial, leaving the students watching in shock.

“Oh shit,” Shinsou said in a hushed tone. “Deku, did you know about this?”

“Kind of. I know a lot about his past but not everything. I think he deserves to have his secrets, if he wants them.”

Todoroki was still blinking at the screen, his expression somewhere between surprise and awe. “He’s like me.”

“Yeah, probably in more ways than either of you realize.”

Aizawa’s eyes snapped over to the pair of them, narrowing into a suspicious squint. “Todoroki, you and I are having a long talk in the morning, is that understood?”

Todoroki wilted under Aizawa’s gaze. “Yes, Sensei. I understand.”

“If anyone else here needs to speak with me about their home life, my door is always open.”

The mood of the room had gotten tense, no one knowing where to look or how to act. 

That was not at all how Deku thought the night was going to go. He didn’t want it to end on this note.

“Aizawa, sir, I need to speak with you about my home life,” Deku piped up.

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, you see, I live with this really grumpy old guy and everything is covered in cat hair. It's a real nightmare. Pretty sure this counts as abuse.”

Aizawa glared at him, though there was a slight quirk to the side of his lips. Deku could hear Mina and Uraraka snickering together while Sero and Kaminari wore matching grins.

“Watch it, problem child.”

“I think the real problem is with the little kid that lives with me though,” Deku said as he tossed an arm around Eri. “She doesn’t have nearly enough crayons. Did you know she only has a box of 87? I think she deserves at least 100! And duplicates of each. What if a crayon was to break and she had nothing to replace it with? This is neglect, plain and simple.”

Eri giggled. “And I only have three unicorn plushies.”

“Only three!” Shinsou shouted dramatically, swooning over the side of the couch, his hair tickling the side of Aoyoma’s leg on the seat beside him. “Oh, the humanity! Call the police! We must protect this child!”

“Momo! Make her a new unicorn! She needs 4 so she has an even number of them! You don’t want one unicorn to be left out, do you?” Hagakure laughed, poking at her friend’s arm. 

Ojiro laughed at his girlfriend’s antics, trying to pull her back down into her seat so she wasn’t crowding Yaoyorozu. Tokoyami and Shoji, both on Ojiro’s other side, kept their stoic expressions, though there seemed to be amusement in both of their eyes.

“You’re all terrible, I hope you know that,” Aizawa grumbled, picking up his bowl of katsudon again to eat.

Before the kids could protest his statement, Present Mic came into the dorms. He was still in his hero costume, hair wilting out of its signature style. He had taken off his sunglasses and replaced them with regular glasses, looking tired after a long day of work. 

“Hey there, little listeners. I see you’re having a class dinner tonight.”

“Yeah, there is probably still some more in the kitchen if you would like some, Sensei,” Jirou said, smiling up at Mic.

He smiled back. “Thanks, kiddo!”

“One batch is spicy. The other isn’t,” Aizawa said, barely glancing up from his food.

“Which is which?”

“Figure it out for yourself.”

Mic whined, slouching. “Aw, that’s no fair! This is domestic abuse!”

Bakugou snorted into his bowl. “You’d guys have to be married, or at the very least dating, for it to be domestic abuse, idiot.”

Mic’s eyes flicked over to Aizawa, who finally looked up. Only Deku, Shinsou, Todoroki, and Eri knew why they both were looking at each other like that. 

Aizawa cocked his head slightly, silently asking Mic a question with his eyes. Mic gave a tiny shrug, followed by a nod. Sighing, Aizawa picked up another bite of his food. 

“Well,” he said, inspecting the pork at the end of his chopsticks. “I was already accused of abusing the children in my care tonight. What difference does it make if I’m accused of abusing my husband?” He popped the bite into his mouth as the class erupted. 

“Husband!?”

“You and Present Mic!? You have to be lying!”

“You’re full of shit! Oi, hey! Who threw the chopstick at me!? I’ll blow your head off!”

“Stop cursing in front of Eri! She’s just a kid!”

“Deku, did you know?”

Deku blinked, looking over at Sero, who had just shouted the last question at him. “I mean, I live with them both, so yes.”

“You knew before you even got here,” Aizawa grumbled. “And none of you brats are allowed to tell anyone, got it? It's a secret for a reason.”

“Hardly my fault that you two are pretty obvious about your secret marriage.”

“How are they obvious!? Literally none of us knew!” Kaminari yelled.

Shinsou snorted. “Speak for yourself.”

“You knew too!?”

“So did Todoroki.”

“Wait,” Mina said, perking up. “Was this another one of Todoroki’s conspiracy theories? Was he actually right for once?”

“No, my theory was that Shinsou was Aizawa’s secret love child, but then I met Deku, and thought perhaps Deku was his secret love child with Ms. Joke. It turned out I was wrong on both accounts.”

Both Mic and Shinsou were wheezing, they were laughing so hard.

“You… You never told me about that!” Shinsou managed to say between his shaky breaths of laughter.

“How could you think I was related to him! I look nothing like him! I don’t even have a similar quirk to him or Ms. Joke!”

“You have very tired eyes, Deku, and green hair. I thought your lack of quirk was due to Aizawa-sensei’s erasure quirk.”

“I think you are forgetting the fact I would have been around 15 years old when either of them were born,” Aizawa said, voice and face both deadpan. 

“Teenage pregnancies happen, Sho. You can’t blame the boy for not knowing you are a raging homosexual. Emphasis on raging.”

“Keep it up and I will show you rage.”

“Love you too, babe,” Mic said, blowing a mocking kiss at Aizawa as he walked towards the kitchen. All the girls squealed while Aizawa’s face turned bright red. 

“That’s it, dinner is over. Everyone go to bed.”

“It's only 7 o’clock.”

“Bed!”

Chapter Text

It was a bright Sunday morning and most of the students were sleeping in. Shinsou, Todoroki, and Deku were in the common room with Mic, sharing a quiet breakfast. Shinsou and Deku were nursing strong cups of coffee, both looking utterly exhausted. Mic and Todoroki had split a pot of tea that had paired nicely with their food. 

“What do you kids have planned for the day?” Mic asked. “Anything fun?”

“Now that Shinsou and I are no longer grounded, we are going to have our first date,” Todoroki said, pausing and glancing over at Deku with a mixed expression. “But we’re open to changing our plans.”

Deku didn’t notice Todoroki’s hesitancy, instead guzzling his coffee greedily. Shinsou bumped his knee against Deku’s, catching his attention. 

“What are you doing today?” Shinsou asked, his voice still rough from sleep.

“Oh, Toga and I were going to meet up with Monoma and Vlad King to work on her quirk. A couple of her classmates went through with donating blood for her training so we are going to see if she can access their quirks.”

“Sounds like you’re going too busy all day then, huh?” Todoroki said, a slightly dejected edge to his tone.

Deku nodded as he poured himself another mug full of coffee. “Yeah probably.’

“Well, if you get any free time, do you want to -” Shinsou was cut off by the front door of the dorm flying open with a resounding bang, light streaming into the room. 

Todoroki jumped violently, same as Deku, the pair both dropping into their own versions of fighting stances. Todoroki’s left arm lit up with hot flames, singing his t-shirt, while Deku had his fists raised, hands up near his face to block attacks to his head and elbows angled to protect his midsection. Shinsou, startled by the loud sound and by his friends’ reactions, promptly fell out of his chair and dumped his coffee down his front, making him hiss in pain.

Mic just glared at the door, his green eyes fixed on the cause of all the commotion.

All Might, in all his muscled glory, stood in the doorway, a confused expression on his face. Beside him stood Sir Nighteye, who was pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation. 

“Seriously, All Might? Don’t you think that was a little much? Most of the kids are still asleep. Not to mention Sho, who got in late from patrol and would probably gut you if you woke him up,” Mic said in a huff, folding his arms across his chest.

“Ah! I am sorry!” All Might said in a hurry, waving his hands apologetically. “I forget my own strength sometimes! We are here to pick up young Midoriya! We are hoping to take him and young Toga off campus for the day.”

Todoroki snuffed the flames on his arms as Nighteye and All Might stepped further into the dorm, shutting the door behind them. Deku lowered his arms, but he subtly moved closer to Present Mic, nearly tucking himself behind the hero. Mic glanced at Deku in surprise, but quickly schooled the expression off his face. 

“Deku can’t go off campus,” Shinsou said from the floor, picking up his mug and looking into its empty depths with despair. Todorki put a hand out and helped his pouting boyfriend off the ground.

“Yes, we are aware,” Sir Nighteye drawled. “But we can not keep him and Toga locked within UA forever. It has been decided to start occasionally taking them off campus under supervision.”

“Why wasn’t I told?” Present Mic asked, arms still crossed. “Pretty sure Eraser wasn’t told either. As Midoriya’s guardians, we should have been told. Does Vlad know? He’s Toga’s guardian and should be aware too.”

“We’ve cleared it with Nezu,” Nighteye cryptically said, not answering Mic’s questions.

“I’m not sure if I feel comfortable with them going off campus with you.”

“You don’t trust All Might, the number one hero? He is a respected pillar in our society. And I myself am a licensed hero. We can keep both of them from causing any sort of trouble.”

Mic sneered, his shoulders going even tenser. “That’s not what I’m worried about.”

Sir Nighteye drew himself to his full height, glasses catching the light in such a way that it sent a flare across the nearby wall. He squared himself up, looking down at Mic from his impressive height, only a few inches shorter than All Might himself. Mic didn’t shrink back at the clear intimidation display, but Deku and Todoroki sure did. Deku ducked even further behind Mic while Todoroki pulled Shinsou closer, clutching onto his arm. 

“Mirai,” All Might said, his voice quiet. “Stop. It's okay. We can do this another day, maybe after talking it out with everyone more. I don’t want Midoriya or Toga to feel forced into leaving the grounds.”

“You and I have busy schedules. We set aside this time so that we could guard the two while they went out for ice cream or to an arcade or whatever it is children do, and now we are being treated as though we are criminals.”

“You can’t take a kid somewhere without their parent’s permission!” Mic snapped, his voice going shrill and a bit too loud.

“Calling yourself Midoriya’s parent, now are we?” Nighteye asked, looking over the top of glasses frames to fix Mic with a severe look. “Getting attached?”

Mic’s eyes went wide, his mouth opening slightly in shock. Before he could respond, Shinsou spoke up, shifting so he stood more in front of Todoroki, which only seemed to make Todoroki even more anxious.

“There are better ways you could have gone about this. And no offense, last time All Might was supposed to protect his students, Endeavor waltzed on campus and burned Deku. I’m not sure how much I trust his observation skills.”

“I am still so sorry for that,” All Might said, folding in on himself as though he could make himself smaller, something the majority of the room knew he actually could do. “I feel horrible. I thought that all heroes carried their occupational morals and ethics into their personal lives, but I know now that I was wrong. Young Todoroki, I am sorry you had to live for so long in fear and in pain. I will be doing whatever I can to help in the investigations against Endeavor.”

Todoroki blinked up at All Might, looking slightly unsure. “Uh… thank you, I guess.”

“I want Sir Nighteye to help with the investigation too.”

Everyone in the room turned to look at Deku in surprise, though the boy had his eyes fixed on the ground, as though he were waiting to be struck. 

“Why would you want me on the investigation?”

“I studied heroes, remember? That means I know a lot about you. I know that a lot of your hero work is based on investigation, since you don’t have a physically combative quirk. You aren’t really a warm and fuzzy hero but you’re still good at what you do; probably the best, actually, behind Nezu. So I want you on the investigation too. If you agree, then I will come out with you guys today.”

“Midoriya, you don’t -” Mic started.

Nighteye cut him off. “Deal.”

Deku nodded, still not looking up. “I’ll go get ready then.”

“Excellent. All Might and I will walk over to the 1-B dorms to speak with Toga. We will return to collect you in a moment.”

As the pair of heroes left, Deku made to go get changed, only to be stopped by Mic’s hand on his shoulder. 

“Kiddo, you know you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. You’re allowed to tell them no.”

“It's fine. One day of following around a couple of heroes is nothing compared to the benefits of having Nighteye on the Endeavor case. It’d be better if I was the one on the case, but beggars can’t be choosers, you know? Nighteye is good with computers and he’ll be able to uncover stuff that a lot of others can’t. It's worth it.”

“Deku, you don’t need to do this for me,” Todoroki said, looking shaken. “I know you aren’t a fan of All Might. I may not know why, but I know that he makes you and Toga uncomfortable. You shouldn’t put yourself through this.”

“I’ll be fine,” Deku said, forcing a smile on his face. It didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Have fun on your date today, guys. Hope it goes well.”

With that, Deku left the room. 

“Word of advice, boys,” Mic said, watching Deku leave. “He isn’t going to pick up on subtle hints. If you two like him, you’re just going to have to tell him flat out.”

Todoroki spluttered while Shinsou kept his same, bored expression on his face. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, old man.”

“Uh-huh, sure. I’m curious, has Aizawa ever told you about his time at UA?”

Shinsou shook his head. “Not really, no.”

“Find a yearbook from our second year at UA. They have yearbooks dating back for years in the library. Maybe then you’ll see that I know exactly what I am talking about. And remember, if you need advice, I’m the guy to talk to.”

Once Mic left the room, Todoroki turned to Shinsou, worry clear on his face. “Was I too obvious in front of Mic-sensei? I’m sorry, I know you told me to be careful but I thought I was -”

“Wow, slow down. It's okay. When we talked about seeing if Deku wanted to date the both of us, we both agreed that it was going to take a while for Deku to realize what we were doing. He hasn’t had a lot of friends before, let alone a boyfriend. There is no way he is going to piece together that we have feelings for him quickly. Other people were bound to figure it out before him. We’ll take it slow for now. We just need to be patient,” Shinsou said, pulling Todoroki into a hug. “You okay? I know All Might and Nighteye gave you a scare.”

“I’ll be fine. Worried about Deku and Toga though.”

“I know. If I didn’t think we’d get caught, I’d say we should follow them.”

“That would ruin what I had planned for the day.”

“Oh yeah? What had you planned for our date?”

“Cat cafe.”

“Have I ever told you that you’re the best boyfriend ever? Cuz you are.”

---

Sir Nighteye and All Might bundled both Toga and Deku into a car, having the two climb into the backseat while they got into the front. As All Might slid into his seat, he deflated, becoming thin and sickly looking. Nighteye sat behind the wheel, starting up the car.

“Does everyone have their seatbelts on?” he asked, turning in his seat to glance over his shoulder at the teens. 

“No, we want to crash and die in a fiery accident,” Toga snarked. When Nighteye didn’t react, she gestured to the seatbelts that were snapped across her’s and Deku’s bodies. “Yeah, we’re buckled. Are you going to tell us where we are going?”

“Where would you want to go?” All Might asked as Nighteye pulled away from the curb. “You two can choose where and what we do. It's my treat! Do you two have enough clothes? Do you need any books or movies or anything? Or would you like a special treat? I’m sure we could find a nice candy store if that’s something you’d like.”

“Do you think throwing money at people gets them to like you?” Deku asked bitterly.

All Might seemed to startle. “What? No, I just didn’t want either of you to worry about the cost of whatever you chose.”

Deku and Toga glanced at each other. With a shrug from the pair, Toga spoke again. 

“We used to go to street markets together,” she said, a hint of nostalgia in her voice. “We’d spend the whole day there. If we had a little bit of money, we’d buy takoyaki to share. Sometimes, if a seller was a real jerk, we’d steal something small from their booth, like a key chain or a little plushie, or whatever. Then, when they started yelling at us, we’d run as fast as we could, weaving around people, getting the jerk to chase us. We’d lose them eventually, since we were faster than them, but it was still fun.”

Deku was laughing quietly to himself. “Dabi hated when we did that. He’d chew us out about being reckless.”

“Like he’s one to talk,” Toga giggled. “He did like taking us to those markets though. It was an easy place to blend in and just enjoy ourselves.”

“First rule of the day, no stealing. No breaking the law in general, is that clear?” Nighteye said sternly, catching their attention. 

“They know not to do that now. No need to be so stern. Kids, if you see something at the market that you like, let me know. I can get it for you. Maybe we can find a takoyaki stand, huh? I bet that would be good!”

“You can’t eat takoyaki anymore.”

“Oh come on, Mirai, don’t take the fun out of this.”

After a short drive, Mirai pulled off and parked the car close to a well-liked but not particularly crowded street market. As everyone started to undo their seatbelts, he turned around to face the kids again. 

“Here are the rules. You stay next to us at all times. You do not go anywhere alone. You do not tell anyone your names. You do not make any attempts to contact the League or any other criminals. You do not steal, fight, run, or do anything else disruptive. Do you both understand?” 

“Yeah, we get it. Don’t do anything fun,” Deku said, opening the car door and climbing out. Toga giggled and quickly followed. 

Nighteye scowled, ready to yell after the kids, when All Might started to laugh.

“Little rascals, aren’t they?” he said as he got out of the car, stretching his cramped legs. “What do you guys want to look at first, huh?”

“Don’t know. Whatever we get to first, I guess,” Toga said. 

Deku scuffed one of his red shoes on the sidewalk, looking away from All Might. “I want to get something for Eri. She still can’t control her quirk so it's not safe for her to go off campus yet. ”

“That sounds like a kind and honorable thing to do, young Midoriya! What kind of things does she like?”

Deky shrugged. “Soft things. Bright colors. She hasn’t seen much of the world yet so we try to get her lots of sensory type items to help her with adjusting.”

“Perhaps a new plush would make her happy. Or a coloring book. Does she like to read? Maybe we can find her a book that has lots of interesting pictures.”

With another shrug, Deku started walking towards the market, Toga hot on his heels. All Might quickly followed, lengthening his strides to keep up with the teens. Nighteye caught up soon after, grumbling about how rude the kids were.

“They don’t know us well, Mirai. And they aren’t my biggest fans. It's okay if they don’t want to talk,” All Might said easily, reaching over to give Mirai’s hand a quick squeeze. “I still think it's really sweet that you set this up for them. It’ll do them a lot of good to get off campus for a little bit.”

“Yes, well, hopefully they behave. Keep a close eye on Toga. With her quirk upgrade, you will be better suited for catching her if she tries anything. I will stay close to Midoriya.”

The group moved from booth to booth, looking over the wares that the sellers had. While Deku shifted through a bin of small plushie keychains, All Might caught Toga glancing at a nearby booth full of handmade novelty jewelry.

“Do you see something you like?” All Might asked, following her eyes to the stand of earrings.

She startled, looking away quickly. “We’re looking for something for Eri.”

“We can look for something for you as well.”

Toga shook her head. All Might, not one to be deterred, rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. 

“You know, Midnight was saying the other day that she needed some new earrings for a party she was going to. I had been thinking about getting something for her, as a thank you for all the help she has given me, but I am not very good at picking out jewelry. Want to help me?”

Toga looked him over and snorted at his baggy clothes and large belt buckle. “Yeah, I’ll help. Probably shouldn’t let you make fashion choices by yourself.”

“Excellent! Come, let’s find something that she will like.”

As the pair walked off, Sir Nighteye watched them carefully, mentally calculating the radius of their hearing range. With how loud the market was, he wasn’t too worried they would hear anything from him and Deku. He stepped closer to Deku, looking over the boy’s shoulder.

“Find anything?” he asked.

Deku shook his head. “Haven’t seen anything that I think Eri would like.”

“Unfortunate. And nothing for yourself?”

“No,” Deku said, still shifting through the bin. After a moment, he found a little fluffy black kitten face plushie with bright purple eyes. A small clip was attached between its tufted ears so it could be clipped to a bag. It was incredibly soft to the touch, and with the way the cat’s mouth and brows were set, it looked like it was tired, or a little grumpy. Deku held onto that one as he continued to shift through the bin. “So why are we here today?”

“Because you and Toga wanted to come to the market.”

“No, I mean why did you take us off campus? I believe you when you say you spoke to Nezu about it, but I have the distinct feeling that you didn’t have his full approval. My guess is that he said he would consider it and discuss it with Hound Dog to see if we were ready before he went to speak to Eraserhead and Vlad King about it. And then, if everyone agreed, there is no way that Nezu would choose you and All Might to go with us. So, unless you want me spilling the truth to Toga and All Might, who I know doesn’t realize since he is too much of a rule follower to break Nezu’s rules, then you need to tell me what’s going on.”

Nighteye sighed, taking another step closer to Deku. “You really are a bright young man, aren’t you? Alright, you are correct. I do not 100% have Nezu’s permission. But I needed to speak with you without anyone overhearing and this was the only thing I could think of. I… My student needs your help as an analyst. He has had recent changes in his quirk that are causing him to damage his own body. We need you to analyze him and see what training or fighting methods he needs to utilize so he can stop hurting himself.”

“Who is the student?”

“You know him. Mirio.”

A slight frown overtook Deku’s face. “He has the permeation quirk. How is he hurting himself with that?”

“We believe a latent quirk, possibly passed down from a distant relative, has developed, increasing his speed and strength. He is keeping it a secret, for now, since it is unstable.”

Deku’s frown deepened. “That makes no sense. No one truly has two quirks. Like, people say Todoroki has two quirks, but he doesn’t. He has a temperature regulation quirk that presents itself as fire and ice. Permeation and physical enhancement aren’t connected at all. Those are two very different quirks. So, want to tell me the real reason he suddenly has two quirks?”

“Perhaps this is an example of quirk singularity.”

“Maybe,” Deku said, shrugging slightly. “Or maybe not. I doubt I’m going to get a real answer from you, so I’m not going to push. If you want me to help Mirio, then I’ll need to see him in action. Watching him in person is best but I can make do with videos.”

Nighteye nodded. “I’ll work something out.”

“Great. Now, what are you going to give me in exchange?”

“I’ve already agreed to helping with the Todoroki case.”

“Yes, as payment for me agreeing to come out today. Now you need to pay me for helping Mirio. What will you give me?”

Nighteye sighed. “What do you want?”

Deku paused for a moment, thinking. After a beat, he finally answered. “I can’t go to my mother’s grave. I haven’t seen what it looks like. I’d like to see a picture of it, know where it is. Can you find out where it is, take some flowers, and get me a photo?”

“You… you want a picture of your mothers grave?”

“Yeah. The Bakugous would have arranged it. I’m not sure if her family had a family grave, or if she was put somewhere else. We never visited a family grave, so I’m assuming there isn’t one. I’d like to know where she is interred.”

Nighteye’s face went a little soft as he stared down at Deku, who still hadn’t looked up. 

“I can do that for you.”

“Deku!” Toga called, sprinting up, a big smile on her face. In her hands, she waved a pair of earrings at Deku. “Look! They’re blood bag earrings!” 

Nighteye shot a look at All Might, who was wearing an easy, relaxed look on his face. 

“Seriously, Toshi?” Nighteye asked.

“What? She liked them! And they’re cute, in their own way. Besides, I thought she deserved a treat for helping pick out some gifts,” All Might said with a laugh. “Midoriya, have you found something you liked?”

Deku nodded, holding up the cat keychain.

“Is that it? Is there anything else you’d like?”

He shook his head. “Maybe at another stall.”

All Might nodded, pulling out his wallet and slipping the stall’s owner some cash.

The group moved on, Deku and Toga leading the way. Anytime they stopped to look at something for more than a few seconds, All Might was pulling out his wallet, offering to buy it for them. They nearly always turned him down, only agreeing when the thing they were looking at was something for Eri. 

Just as Deku stopped to look at some snowglobes at a stall, Toga let out a gasp, grabbing tightly to his arm. 

“Deku! A kitty!” she squeaked, pointing to a nearby tree. Up in the mid branches was a small calico, clinging tightly to a branch and looking around with wide eyes. Her tail was swishing back and forth in a way that seemed nervous while her claws were digging firmly into the bark.

“Aw, I think she’s stuck,” Deku said with a frown. 

Toga started to dash towards the tree. “I’ll get her down!”

“Don’t run off!” All Might called, hurrying after her, shopping bags clutched in his narrow hands. 

Nighteye watched with barely concealed disdain. “So excitable.”

Deku shrugged. “It's part of her charm.”

“I meant Toshinori.”

Snorting, Deku turned his attention back to the small snowglobes, looking at all the colors and figures tucked under the glass domes. Just as he went to pick one up, Nighteye shouted, startling Deku enough that he jumped back from the table. 

“Toshinori!” Nighteye screeched. “Don’t you dare climb that tree! You will hurt yourself!”

“But the cat, Mirai!”

Nighteye sighed, looking back to Deku. “Midoriya, can I trust you to stay right here while I go and help those two blond idiots?”

“I don’t know, can you?”

“How about this, you run off, and I won’t do any of the things I promised you.”

“Then yes, you can trust me to stay here. Won’t move an inch.”

Nighteye nodded. “Good. I will be back in a moment.”

While Nighteye stepped away, Deku went back to looking at the snowglobes. He plucked one up from the table, admiring the figurine inside it. 

Sitting on a small mound of snow was a white kitsune, its face intricately marked with deep red patterns. Its paws, ears, and nine tails, all fanned out behind its body, were tipped in the same shade of red. Deku shook the globe gently, getting the fake snow and glitter to swirl up around the kitsune.

A shadow fell over Deku, a tall, lean body hovering at his shoulder. A hand came out, handing the stall owner some money.

“For the kid’s globe,” a deep, smokey voice said, sending a full body shiver through Deku’s body. 

Every one of his muscles locked, leaving him rigid and frozen. The man leaned over Deku’s shoulder, putting their heads level as they both looked at the snowglobe.

“Cute. I like its little ears.”

Deku swallowed thickly. “Hi Dabi.”

“Hi Deku,” he said, heat radiating off his body. “Fancy seeing you here. Is the snowglobe for Toga or for you?”

“Neither. You didn’t need to buy it for me. You’re probably broke now that you aren’t with the League.”

Dabi laughed, straightening up. Deku finally forced his body to move, turning just enough so he could see Dabi out of the corner of his eye.

The man was thinner than the last time he’d seen him, and his hair was longer. It was still dyed that same inky black color and his face was still marred by scars, but with the hood of his jacket casting a shadow over his face, it was easy to mistake him for any other young man. 

“So you’re making friends at your new hero school,” Dabi drawled. “That’s nice. You like it there?”

“Why are you here, Dabi? I thought we were even.”

“We are. I was actually just passing through and happened to see you standing here. They’re letting you out alone now?”

Deku shook his head. “I’m here with Toga and some pro heroes. They aren’t supposed to leave me alone so they’ll probably be back soon.”

Dabi cocked one dark brow, giving Deku an unimpressed look. “You going to yell for them? Have me arrested?”

“Technically, I should,” Deku said. “But you did just buy this snowglobe for me, so I guess I owe you one. I will have to let them know I saw you if they ask what I did while they were gone.”

A smile broke out across Dabi’s face. “Always the deal maker, aren’t you, Deku?”

“Not a fan of being in someone’s debt, you know how it is.”

“I do. So, did the birdy give you my message?”

“Yeah. Technically, he didn’t tell me everything until after I called Shigaraki, but that isn’t on him.”

Dabi laughed. “That’s right, I saw the recording of Shigaraki’s tantrum from the livestream. Lots of speculation online about who you are and what you’ve done.”

“I’ll be honest, I don’t really care what people say.”

“Good. Ignore them. Work hard and become a decent hero, you got that? And learn to be a fucking kid. You grew up too fast.”

Deku’s eyes narrowed as he cocked his head. “You did too, didn’t you? You know, back when I ran with the League, I tried asking Giran about everyone in the League, and you were the only one he knew absolutely nothing about. Why is that?”

“I’m sure you have theories.”

“I do. Want to give me any hints on which one is right?”

Sighing, the edges of Dabi’s lips curved up ever so slightly. “You’re just as annoying as ever, Deku. Give Shigaraki hell for me.”

With that, Dabi melted back into the crowd, disappearing. Just in time too, because seconds later, Toga came sprinting back, a cat in her arms and two grown men chasing after her, telling her to slow down.

“Look! Deku-kun, look! She’s hurt! All Might said we could drop her off at a vet’s office on the way back to UA! And… Oh, what do you have there?”

Deku looked down at the kitsune snowglobe still clutched in his hands. “It's a gift for someone.”

“It's very nice, young Midoriya!” All Might said jovially. He started to reach for his wallet, but Deku stopped him. 

“It's already paid for. Someone bought it for me.”

Nighteye’s eyes narrowed to slits, gaze already flicking around the crowd, searching for who the person was. “What do you mean someone bought it for you? A stranger bought it?”

“Uh, no. It was… well… Shit, okay, so Dabi bought it for me.”

“What!?” All Might spluttered, blood trickling out onto his chin. 

Deku hurriedly continued, waving his free hand in front of him nervously. “But he wasn’t here to do anything illegal, I promise! He just saw me and decided to come over and talk to me. All he did was ask if I was making friends and told me to keep working on being a hero! He didn’t even touch me or ask about heroes or anything!”

“He didn’t even say hi to me!?” Toga shrieked, stomping one of her feet and making the cat squirm in her grip. “What a jerk!”

“Both of you, to the car. Now,” Nighteye said, no humor in his voice. “Toshi, I’ll go alert the local heroes to have the market shut down and to set up a perimeter. 

“He’ll be long gone before you get a perimeter set up,” Toga said, readjusting her grip on the cat.

Deku nodded. “He taught Toga everything he knew about parkour and then she taught me. He’s probably better than the both of us combined.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Nighteye snapped. “We are going to try to catch him.”

All Might put a hand on each of the teens’ shoulders. “Come on, let's go to the car. Once Mirai is done with talking to the nearby heroes, we will head straight to UA.”

“What about the kitty?” Toga asked as All Might gently pushed them along back through the market. 

“She’ll just have to come with us.”

Chapter Text

Todoroki thought he was nailing this whole date thing, especially considering it was his first. 

He knew it was also Shinsou’s first, the other boy not having had a lot in the way of friends before coming to UA, but that didn’t stop Todoroki from being nervous. He wanted it to be perfect. So, he had booked them a few hours at a cat cafe, not far from the school, that he just knew Shinsou was going to love. The cat room was filled with overstuffed and plush furniture. Cats were sprawled on every surface, soaking in the mid morning sunlight and enjoying the pampering they were receiving from all of the guests

“How did you find this place?” Shinsou asked, looking around the room with awe.

“Did some research online. Do… Do you like it?”

“It's perfect!”

Within seconds, Shinsou was on a couch with three cats in his lap, another draped over his shoulders. When Todoroki sat beside him, one of the cats broke away to press itself into his left side, purring at the warmth.

“Aw,” Shinsou laughed. “It's using you as a heating pad.”

Todoroki just smiled down at theat, running his fingers gently over his fur. 

The pair sat together, sharing coffees and telling stories. They laughed together, sneaking soft looks as they held hands. Shinsou scooted closer, and though they were the same height, he leaned over to tuck his head on Todoroki’s shoulder, his purple hair tickling the other boy’s neck. 

“Thank you, for this,” Shinsou said. “It's amazing.”

“Of course. I wanted this to be special for us.”

Before Shinsou could respond, a ringing sound caused them both to startle, causing two of the six cats piled on them to run off. Frowning, Todoroki dug into his pocket and pulled his phone out.

“It's my brother,” he said, his brow furrowing. “He doesn’t call often.”

“You should answer then. Could be an emergency.”

Todoroki nodded, answering the call.

“Natsuo? Is everything okay?”

“ Did you tell your teachers about dad? ”

Swallowing thickly, Todoroki felt his blood run cold. “Yes. Why?”

“ Apparently Eraserhead showed up at the house last night and served the old man papers. UA is suing him for attacking a student and they have opened a case against him for child abuse, neglect, and a bunch of other stuff. The papers also said that he was losing custody of you as of that moment and that they were going to be finding you a new guardian. Fuyumi just called me to tell me all about it. Dad has been throwing a fit. ”

“Oh… I didn’t know Aizawa-sensei had already gone to talk to dad. I had told him everything the other day and he said they would have to get some paperwork together before anything could happen. I guess they finished.”

“ Damn, I would have given anything to have seen his face when Eraserhead showed up. I bet it was epic! I’m proud of you, man. You did what none of the rest of us were brave enough to do. But I’m going to warn you right now, Fuyumi isn’t thrilled. When she called me, she said she was going to try to talk to you about dropping the charges. She wanted me to back her up and I said no. ”

Todoroki gripped his phone even tighter. “She said that?”

“ Yeah, you know how it is. She wants everyone to just be one big happy family and ignore the past. ”

When Todoroki didn’t respond, Natsuo spoke again. “ You went quiet on me, what’s the problem? ”

“Well,” he started, choking on his words. “When I spoke with Aizawa-sensei, we agreed that mom wasn’t really in a position to have custody of me. She and I still don’t speak and there’s the matter of her dumping boiling water on my face. And since you are in college and Touya is… is not an option, we decided Fuyumi would be our best choice to be my guardian. She would have to move out of dad’s but we thought maybe she could care for me. But if she is taking dad’s side, I don’t know what I’ll do.” 

There was silence from Natsuo’s end. After a moment, Todoroki heard a quiet, “ Ah, shit ,” and then Natsuo began speaking to him again. “ Listen, Shoto, I am not going to let anything bad happen to you. I might be in college, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t take care of you. Let me sort a few things out and then I’ll call your teacher. I’ll tell him I’m willing to testify against Endeavor and lay out my plans to take care of you. If I have to, I’ll even petition for custody. Fuyumi is great and all, but I don’t really want her to have custody of you, not when she is so loyal to dad. ”

“Wait, Natsuo, you don’t have to -”

“ Got to go, little bro. I have some work to do! ”

And with that, Natsuo hung up.

Todoroki stared down at his phone in his hand. “I think my brother is going to try to petition for custody of me.”

“That’s great!” Shinsou said excitedly. “From what you’ve told me about him, he sounds like a nice guy, even if you aren’t super close, and he’d definitely tell Endeavor to fuck off if he ever tried to come near you.”

“But he’s only 19. How’s he going to be able to do it?”

Shinsou rubbed at the back of his neck, thinking. “Well, most of the year, you’re in the dorms. So he’d only really be watching you on breaks. He’d need to have an off campus apartment from his college, but a lot of college students do that. I bet he could make it work.”

“I guess so. Hey, I think our time is almost up here. Do you want to go by the library and try to find the picture Mic-sensei was talking about?”

“Sure. I’m pretty curious about it, actually.”

---

In the car, while waiting for Sir Nighteye to return, All Might had his phone out. He typed away, squinting down at the small screen. In the backseat, Deku and Toga were looking the cat over, trying to figure out why her tail was crooked. 

All Might tucked his phone away as Nighteye got into the car, slamming the door behind him. 

“They’re going to do a sweep to try to find Dabi,” Nighteye said. “For now, let's get these two back to campus. I don’t want to deal with any more problems today.”

The rest of the ride was quiet, the only sounds being quiet meows from the calico in the backseat. When they pulled on campus, Toga asked to go to the 1-A dorms so that she could ask Koda to talk to the cat and maybe find out what hurt so she could help. All Might agreed and Nighteye grunted, which they took to mean yes, and the four began the walk to the dorm building. 

On the way, they heard pounding feet behind them.

Deku spun around just in time to get a face full of purple hair and to be body slammed to the ground.

“Shit! Sorry! You weren’t supposed to turn around!” Shinsou said, struggling to get off of Deku. The pair were in a heap on the sidewalk, Deku flat on his back and Shinsou trying to push up off of him. Thankfully, All Might had had the sense to inflate to his full size while walking on campus, so there was no risk of Shinsou finding out his secret. 

Todoroki quickly jogged up, a half smile on his face. Hooking an arm around Shinsou’s middle, he hefted him off of Deku. He then swooped back down to take Deku’s hand and help him to his feet.

“What were you trying to do?” Todoroki asked, almost laughing while he helped Deku to brush himself off.

“I was trying to jump on his back for a piggy back ride. That clearly didn’t work.”

“Clearly,” Deku snorted. “What are you two doing? I thought you were supposed to be on your date?”

“We got done at the cafe and came back here. Stopped by the library for a little bit and then decided to go to the dorms to maybe watch a movie or something.”

Deku nodded. “Find anything interesting at the library?”

“Possibly,” Todoroki said cryptically, not offering up any more detail.

“As scintillating as this conversation is,” Nighteye cut in, eyes narrowed at the group of boys. “We don’t have all day.”

“Come along!” All Might said, smiling and gesturing with a handful of bags. “To the dorms!”

As they continued their walk, all the boys crowded around Toga, fussing over the cat. Shinsou was especially talkative, rattling off facts about cats and offering up suggestions on how to take care of her. When they reached the 1-A dorm building, All Might pushed the door open and let Nighteye and the children in ahead of him. 

Just as he was about to open his mouth to offer to carry the shopping bags to Aizawa’s apartment for Deku, a loud and angry voice startled them all.

“You bastard!” Aizawa shouted, lunging up off a nearby couch and making to leap over an arm chair at the group. Vlad King was on his feet within seconds, bear hugging Aizawa from behind and yanking him into his chest. “Let me go!”

“No. Not until I know you won’t do something you’ll regret.”

“That man fucking kidnapped my kid and left him alone long enough for an A-Ranked villain to approach him! How would you feel if Dabi had come up to Toga, huh?”

Vlad’s face turned even stonier as he glared over Aizawa’s head at Sir Nighteye. “Oh trust me, I know exactly what you are feeling. But if we start turning on each other, the villains win.”

“I’m sorry, can we slow down a moment?” All Might said, his eyes flicking from Aizawa, Vlad King, and Nezu, who was perched on another chair, a decidedly disapproving look on his narrow face. “What is going on?”

“You see, All Might,” Nezu said, standing and turning his beady gaze onto Sir Nighteye. “Your former sidekick has effectively kidnapped two UA students and made you an accessory in the crime.”

“What? No, Mirai said he had spoken to you and that you had agreed that Midoriya and Toga could leave campus.”

“We did speak on the matter. But what I told him was that we would take the two off campus in a large group, with other students, and surrounded by UA teachers. This way, they would not stick out as much as if they were two teens alone. Thus, protecting them and their identities while also giving them a chance to explore the world outside of UA. I had said I would discuss it with the two’s guardians and that we would plan something perhaps a month or two from now when we were sure we had planned the trip perfectly and ensured all the students’ safety. He deliberately ignored me and took both of them off campus, which led to Midoriya being approached by a dangerous criminal that could have possibly severely injured or killed him.”

All Might turned to gawk at Sir Nighteye, hurt clear on his face. “Mirai, why would you do that?”

Todoroki had snagged Deku’s arm in a painful grasp while Shinsou lashed out to grab his free hand.

“You saw Dabi? Holy shit are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Shinsou babbled looking Deku over for any signs of an injury. 

Before either Deku or Nighteye could respond, there was a flash of movement streaking from the kitchen, along with a deafening shriek.

“ DJ PUNCH! ”

With a loud crack, Mic punched Nighteye across the face with a solid right hook, knocking the taller man flat to the ground.

“Mic!” Vlad shouted while Aizawa grinned.

“What? You thought I was the threat to him?” Aizawa asked, nearly laughing. “It would have been better if I got to him before Zashi.”

Mic didn’t seem to hear either of them as he swung a kick into Nighteye’s side. All Might quickly set the bags in his hands down on a nearby chair and tried to reach out to grab Mic.

He deftly dodged away from All Might.

“I knew something was off, but I still trusted you!” Mic shouted, trying to land a kick to Nighteye’s head. “You manipulated Midoriya into agreeing! You used his kind heart against him! How dare you!”

Finally, All Might wrapped a meaty arm around Mic, pinning his arms to his sides and dragging him away from Nighteye. When Deku bent to try to help the man up, Todoroki yanked him backwards, hissing under his breath.

“He’s not worth it, Deku,”

“But -”

Nezu interrupted, hopping down from the chair and padding over to stand beside Deku.

“Midoirya, you do see that what he did was wrong, correct?” the principal asked in a firm voice.

“I mean, yeah. But I knew what was going on the whole time. He made a good deal with me, so I didn’t see the issue. I didn’t get hurt either, so it's fine.”

“Just because you can make a deal with someone, doesn't mean you should. Have you ever heard the saying ‘making a deal with the devil?’”

“Are you comparing Nighteye to the devil?”

Nezu ignored Deku’s comment and pushed on. “When you ‘make a deal with the devil,’ you may get something that you want, but the cost is so extreme, it almost negates the benefits. I understand you wanted Sir Nighteye on the Endeavor case, but you had to put yourself and Toga in danger to do so. Do you see that?”

Deku shrunk in on himself slightly. “I didn’t think Toga was in any danger. Nighteye and All Might were with us. Aren’t they supposed to be able to protect us?”

“Yes, but it was still a danger, one that outweighed the benefits. There are other ways to get extra heroes working the Endeavor case besides putting yourself at risk.”

“So tell us, Nighteye,” Aizawa spat, still being held back by Vlad King. “Why’d you take our kids?”

Nighteye shakily pushed himself off the ground, wiping the blood from his dripping nose. His glasses were shattered, so he pulled them off and tucked them into an inner pocket of his jacket.

“Your kids? I don’t remember you adopting them,” Nighteye drawled.

Mic glared at him. “We are Midoriya’s guardians, soon to be foster parents. Vlad is Toga’s as well. So yes, they are our kids. And you kidnapped them.”

“I would hardly call it kidnapping.”

“You took them under false pretenses and without permission,” Vlad snarled, his grip on Aizawa slackening. 

All Might was frowning, looking far more upset than any student had seen him be before. “Mirai, this isn’t right. Why did you want to take the kids out alone?”

“I needed to speak with Midoriya on a private matter.”

Mic started struggling anew in All Might’s grasp. “What did you do?! What did you talk to him about?!”

Nezu calmly raised a paw, silencing him. “Midoriya, could you please share with us what you two talked about?”

Deku looked between Nighteye and Nezu for a moment before heaving a sigh. “He wants me to analyze a quirk. They’re having issues with it and he thinks I can help.”

“I am guessing you are referring to Mirio-kun?” Nezu asked. When Deku nodded, Nezu looked back at Nighteye, expression cold. “I distinctly remember telling you that we would approach Midoriya at a later time about Mirio. Right now, Midoriya is still settling in here at UA and I hardly think he needs the added stress that your request brings.”

“He’s been here for months! How long does it take for him to settle in?” Nighteye snapped.

“His family passed away,” All Might said, sounding hurt. “He’s been through a lot since then and has had plenty of hurdles to face since coming to UA. Mirai, I told you that Gran and I could help Mirio.”

“Midoriya could do it faster!”

“That’s enough!” Nezu said, raising his voice. “Sir Nighteye, I think it is time for you to leave. You will not be invited back on campus until I see an honest change in your behavior.”

Nighteye turned to Deku and Toga, a searching, pleading look on his face. Toga barred her fangs, shifting ever so slightly to put herself between Deku and Nighteye. Todoroki’s and Shinsou’s grips on Deku tightened as Shinsou pressed himself more firmly into Deku’s side, towering over the shorter boy in a protective way. Deku kept his eyes cast down, his shoulders hunched and his head hanging low.

With a final sigh, Nighteye stalked off without another word. As the door closed behind him, All Might finally let go of Mic. Quickly, All Might dropped to the ground, kneeling and bowing to the group in the room.

“Please forgive me. If I had had any idea that Mirai had betrayed your trust, I would have refused to take the children off campus. He has been acting a little… off lately. I believe that the stress is getting to him, though that is no excuse. In the future, I will confirm everything before I take any action. I am so sorry that I put Midoriya and Toga in danger and I will strive to do better going forward.”

“See that you do,” Vlad King growled. “Toga, let’s go.”

“Wait! We got some stuff for Eri while we were out! Can we give them to her first before I leave?”

With a sigh, Vlad King nodded. Toga squealed excitedly, bouncing in place, making the cat in her arms meow in protest. 

“Toga, why don’t you go get her? She’s with the Big 3 in the apartment,” Mic said, smoothing out his clothes, which had been rumpled in his struggle. 

Her eyes went round. “Is… is that okay?”

“It's a short walk. I think you can do it alone.”

Nodding, she handed the cat off to Deku, who had to struggle out of Shinsou and Todoroki’s grasps to take the cat. As Toga scurried off to get the little girl, Shinsou leaned over to gently scratch behind the cat’s ear.

“She’s a cute little calico,” he said, smiling at her.

“Yeah, she’s pretty sweet too. She’s hurt though and we aren’t sure what happened. Toga was hoping that maybe Koda could talk to her and tell us what happened so we could help. I think she is always hoping to take care of the cat herself, but…” Deku trailed off, glancing at Vlad King.