Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Two sentences.

That was all it took to break Izuku.

No, break wasn’t the right word.

Izuku had shattered.

“Without power, can one become a hero? No, I should think not.”

Now he stood on a rooftop, staring down at his notebook. Hero Analysis for the Future, No. 13

What a waste of time.

He numbly tossed it off of the roof, an eerie parallel of what Kacchan had done only hours prior.

He didn’t see the blonde girl startle as a notebook landed a few feet in front of her.

He didn’t see her pick it up and flip through it.

He didn’t see the toothy grin slowly bloom on her face.

He didn’t see her start to follow him.

He walked aimlessly, with no destination in mind.

It should have come as no surprise when he found himself at a villain attack.

His hands habitually twitched for a notebook that was no longer there.

He watched the fight blankly. As if it could even be called a fight.

The sludge villain had taken another victim. The heroes were doing nothing.

Dull green eyes met panicked red.

Kacchan.

A small part of Izuku screamed at him to do something, to run forward and save him. If this had happened just a few hours ago, before Kacchan told him to jump off a roof, before All Might had told him to give up, before his dreams had been torn apart and thrown in his face, maybe he would have.

Instead, he just watched.

And then there was a small flicker of… something in his chest. Some emotion he didn’t recognize.

He realized he was grinning.

Kacchan was trapped, unable to do anything as he slowly suffocated. No one was coming to help him.

For once, it was Kacchan, not Izuku, who was helpless. It was Kacchan who was scared. Kacchan, who’s quirk was now completely and utterly useless.

And Izuku loved it.

“You like it too, don’tcha?”

Izuku yelped and jumped away from the girl that had somehow just appeared there. She giggled.

“I, uh, what?”

“I said you like it, don’t you? The look in his eyes. The terrified expression on his face as he realizes he’s dying and there’s nothing he can do to stop it. It’s beautiful.”

“I wouldn’t call it beautiful,” Izuku murmured, turning his head back towards Kacchan. “But you’re right.” A glint appeared in his eyes, lips curling upwards. “I like it.”

All Might chose that moment to finally get his shit together and save the day. As the number one hero was crowded by reporters, Izuku felt the numbness creeping back in. His smile faded.

“Oooh, you don’t like that All Might guy, huh?”

He flinched. He had forgotten about the girl.

“I…” He watched All Might run off, probably trying to get away before his time ran out. Again. “I don’t know anymore.”

The girl frowned. Actually, it seemed more like a pout. “That’s no good. Your feelings are all mixed up, huh? Well I’ll just have to help you unmix them! And then you can help me!” She smiled brightly. “C’mon, let’s get outta this rain! My hair’s getting all messed up!”

It was only then that Izuku noticed it had started raining. He nodded absently and let the girl drag him away.

They ended up in the outdoor dining area of a small coffee shop. They couldn’t go inside because of how wet they were, but there was a roof, so they could at least stay out of the rain.

“I’m Toga Himiko, by the way!” The blonde chirped. “It’s nice to meetcha!”

“Midoriya Izuku,” He replied.

“Oh, that’s such a cute name!” Toga cooed. “And it fits too, since you’ve got a bunch of green, and midori means green!”

“I, um,” Izuku flushed, looking at anywhere that wasn’t Toga. “Th-Thanks.”

“So,” She chirped, setting something on the table. “You’re the one who wrote this, right?”

Izuku blinked. It was his notebook. The one he had gotten rid of earlier.

“Y-Yeah,” He finally answered. “I am.”

“Great!” She grinned. “Do ya think you could do one on me? Pretty please?”

“I- what?” He stammered, looking between Toga and the notebook. “You- You want me to analyze you? You… You don’t think it’s creepy?”

“No, I think it’s cute! You’re really smart!”

Izuku blushed at the compliment. “I, um, I- Thanks. A-And sure, I guess.”

Toga beamed, showing off fanged teeth. Izuku noticed now that her eyes were bright yellow and catlike. He wondered if it had anything to do with her quirk. Maybe some sort of feline quirk?

“Thank you so much, Izuchan!” Toga bounced in her seat, drawing him out of his musings. “You don’t mind if I call you Izuchan, right? We’re basically friends now, so I gotta give you a nickname!”

“I-I, um, y-yeah, yeah, that’s- that’s okay!” Izuku was barely able to get the words out, he was stuttering so much. He was positive that he was as red as a tomato now.

“Yay!! We’re gonna be such great friends!”

“Y-Yeah,” Despite the overwhelming nervousness and slight confusion he was feeling, Izuku found himself smiling. He had a friend.

A friend that would probably abandon him as soon as she found out he was quirkless.

Izuku’s smile dropped. Toga frowned.

“What is it, Izuchan? What’s wrong?”

“W-Well, it’s just…” He wanted to lie, wanted to say it was nothing. But then once Toga eventually found out about his quirklessness and realized he’d been lying to her, she would hate him even more. Better to have her leave now, before he got too attached.

“The thing is…” He took a deep breath as Toga tilted her head to the side curiously. “I… I’m quirkless.”

“And?”

“I- what?”

“Why does that matter? What does being quirkless have to do with us being friends?”

“You… You don’t hate me?”

“Of course not!” Toga’s eyes widened. “I could never hate someone because of their quirk! Or lack of one, in your case. That would be hypocritical of me and hypocrisy soo isn’t cute!”

“Hypocritical?” Izuku frowned. Was she quirkless too? No, her eyes and teeth were too unnatural. A weak quirk then? Maybe her mutation was her quirk?

“Well yeah, sorta!! People say my quirk is creepy!!” Once again, Toga brought him out of his thoughts. “It’s not really fair, since you can’t choose your quirk, right?”

“No, you definitely can’t,” Izuku muttered, before perking up. “So, what’s your quirk then?”

“It’s called Transformation!!” She practically sang. “If I drink someone’s blood, I can turn into them!!”

“Woah, really?! That's so cool!!” His brain was already swimming with questions. Did she only have to drink their blood once or is there a time limit? Does the amount of blood she consumes determine how long she can transform? Would it work on animals? Could she copy a person’s quirk too? Or was it only their appearance? If she-

“Woah, slow down Izuchan, I can’t understand a thing you’re saying!”

Oh. He must’ve been mumbling. “S-Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize!! I think it’s cute!!”

Toga apparently thought a lot of things were cute. Or maybe it was just Izuku?

“So, what were you saying?”

“Oh, um,” Izuku smiled sheepishly. “I had a lot of questions about your quirk.”

“Well, ask ‘em!” Toga prompted.

No one had ever wanted to hear his questions before. Toga did, though. The thought made him happy.

“Okay, um, what are the parameters? Is there a time limit?”

“Yup! The more blood I drink, the longer I can stay transformed! And if I detransform before the limit’s up, then it sorta puts the timer on pause!”

“So you can switch between different people without canceling any of the timers?”

Toga nodded, bouncing in place. “As many people as I want! Can’t do animals, though.”

Izuku hummed in thought. “What exactly does your quirk copy? Is it just their appearance, or can you do quirks too? Or their voice?”

“Not quirks, but yes, their voice copies. I can do their clothes too, but then my own clothes are layered on top of them, so I gotta get naked first.”

The image that brought up made Izuku blush, but he forced the thoughts from his head. Instead, he focused on the many ideas that were already running through his brain.

He’d grabbed his notebook without realizing it and was already flipping to a new page before he realized he didn’t have a pencil. That was fine though, this notebook was practically destroyed anyways, and he wanted to do Toga’s analysis in a new notebook. One that wasn’t ruined by Kacchan and marked by All Might.

“Hellooooo? Izuchan? Ya there?” Izuku blinked, eyes following the hand waving in front of his face. That was the third, no, fourth time that Toga had gotten Izuku out of his head. He fought off a frustrated and embarrassed sigh. Toga frowned. “Ya got a little lost there, huh? Your face was all frowny, like when you saw All Might.”

“Yea, sorry,” Izuku closed his notebook with a scowl. “I’m fine.”

“You sure about that?” Toga asked, tilting her head to the side. Izuku opened his mouth to reply, to say that yes, he’s fine, everything’s okay, nothing’s wrong. He stopped himself before the words came out. No point in lying.

“No, no I’m not,” Izuku sighed. “I’ve had a really shitty day, a really shitty life, actually, and I’m just… tired.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

He considered saying no, considered dealing with it on his own, but… she offered. And… Izuku really did want to talk about it.

“Ever since I was little, I’ve wanted to be a hero. Being quirkless never changed that. Unsurprisingly, this didn’t go over well with my peers. Because how could a useless, worthless, quirkless Deku like me ever be a hero?” He paused to rub away the tears beginning to gather, then continued quietly.

“As you can probably guess, everyone… bullied me.” He’d never used the term ‘bully’ before, even though he knew that’s what was going on. “Still, I never gave up. Kept notes on heroes and quirks and strategies to use in the hopes it would help eventually. The… the bullying got worse as time went on. Today… Today was the first time someone told me to kill myself.”

Toga sucked in a sharp breath and grabbed onto his hand. The warmth was comforting.

“Was it…” She bit her lip. “Was it the boy from earlier?”

Izuku nodded. “Kacchan. We… used to be best friends.”

“Well, not anymore, obviously. I’m your best friend now!” Her declaration drew a small smile from Izuku.

“Yeah.”

“So, what else happened? ‘Cause you were looking at All Might like he had killed your puppy or something.”

“He killed something, all right, but it wasn’t a puppy.” Toga stepped closer; their shoulders were touching now. “I was… walking home. There was a villain- the slime one, same one that attacked Kacchan. All Might saved me. I asked him if I could be a hero without a quirk. He-” Izuku broke off, choking on his words. Toga squeezed his hand.

“He said no.” She finished for him. Izuku nodded. “Well, screw him then. If he doesn’t think you can do it, then he’s no better than your bullies.”

Instinctively, Izuku opened his mouth to defend the number one hero, but found that he couldn’t find anything to say. Sure, maybe All Might was a hero, Izuku’s lifelong idol, the symbol of peace, and yeah, he’d at least tried to be gentle when crushing Izuku’s dreams.

But he was also a liar. Izuku had seen countless videos of All Might proclaiming that anyone could become a hero no matter their quirk. Yet when Izuku had asked him that very question, he replied with the exact opposite. Had told him to pursue something more realistic. And then, once Izuku was thoroughly broken and utterly devoid of any ambition he had left, All Might left him on a roof.

A fucking roof. Right after Kacchan had told him to take a swan dive off of one.

“I think I have an answer.” He saw Toga raise an eyebrow.

“An answer to what?”

“The question you asked earlier. If I liked All Might,” He scowled. “I don’t.”

Toga’s face lit up. “Great! Because neither do I! Actually, I don’t really like heroes in general.”

Izuku’s eyebrows raised. “You don’t?”

“Nnnnope!” She said, popping the ‘p’. “They’re all fake! Doing it all for the fame and money. Not helping people who really need it.”

“You’re certainly right about that,” Izuku snorted.

The rain had stopped. Izuku sighed.

“I should probably get home. My mom will be getting worried…”

“Aww, already?” Toga pouted. “But we only just met!”

“Here, hang on a sec.” Izuku ripped out a blank page of his notebook, scribbled his phone number down, and handed it to Toga. “You, uh, you have a phone right?”

“Of course!!” She giggled. “I’ll text you later, ‘kay?”

“Okay!” Izuku beamed, waving at her as he raced away. “Bye, Himichan!”

He didn’t see her surprised blush at the nickname.

Chapter Text

When Izuku got home, his mother was understandably worried, but he’d texted her ahead of time, so she knew the reason he was home so late. (Or at least part of it. Izuku omitted a few details.) When she finished fussing over him, he headed to his room to work on “homework” (He’d finished everything at school) and flopped down on the bed, pulling out his phone. He smiled when he saw that Himichan had already sent him a message.

Toga Himiko: Izuchaaaaaan

Midoriya Izuku: Himichan!!

Toga Himiko’s name has been changed to Himichan

Midoriya Izuku’s name has been changed to Izuchan

Himichan: So, since we’re friends, we should get to know each other better!!

Izuchan: Okay, well, what do you wanna know?

Himichan: Hmm

Himichan: What’s ur favorite color?

Izuchan: Um

Izuchan: Yellow?

Himichan: Is that a question or an answer

Izuchan: Well I mean

Izuchan: It used to be yellow

Izuchan: But that was cause All Might had a lot of yellow

Izuchan: And I still think it’s a cool color

Izuchan: But it’s kinda hard to think of yellow without thinking of him

Izuchan: So idrk

Himichan: Oh well

Himichan: Guess you’ll just have to pick a new one

Himichan: What about red? That’s my favorite color!!

Himichan: It’s the color of blood and it looks super pretty on people~

Izuchan: Do you have a fascination with blood because of your quirk?

Izuchan: Crap, sorry, that was rude

Himichan: No, ur ok!! I kno u were just being curious!!

Himichan: I don’t need blood to survive like some people think, but I get cravings after going a while without drinking any

Himichan: I usually end up attacking some poor animal and drinking its blood to satisfy myself

Izuchan: Well

Izuchan: U could always drink my blood

Izuchan: If u want

Izuchan: Himichan?

Izuchan: U still there?

Izuchan: Crap, did I overstep a boundary?

Himichan: aekjhwileughlizrgbi

Izuchan: um

Himichan: REALLY?!?!

Himichan: U MEAN IT?!?!?!

Izuchan: Yeah of course

Izuchan: As long as u don’t take too much at a time

Himichan: kngskeluthlsiuh

Himichan: THANK YOU SO MUCH IZUCHAN

Himichan: U R LITERALLY AN ANGEL SENT FROM HEAVEN

Himichan: (*^▽^*)

Izuchan’s name has been changed to Angel

Angel: bsnajahqiqkn

Angel: HIMICHAN

Himichan: wHAT IT FITS

Himichan: Anyways I should start craving within the next few days so I’ll tell u when I need some

Angel: Oki :D

Angel: So how exactly is this gonna work? Like r u gonna suck it out of me like a vampire orrr

Himichan: Well I can do that, but it’d look like a hickey

Angel: Is there literally any other way I cannot go to school with a hickey

Himichan: I could do it in a place no one would see (*⸰‿-)

Angel: Himichan please

Himichan: Well

Himichan: I could just use a needle

Angel: Yea let’s do that

Himichan: Okay!!! I already have some needles so I can just take some next time we meet up!!

“Izuku, dinner’s ready!”

“Be there in a sec!”

Angel: Hey I gtg, but could we meet up at that café on Saturday? The one from earlier?

Himichan: Yup!! What time?

Angel: 10?

Himichan: Too early. 11?

Angel: Sounds good!! See you then!!

Himichan: Seeya!!

Izuku turned off his phone with a smile and padded out of his room. His mom, having just finished setting dinner on the table, brightened when she saw him. “Izuku! You look happy! Did you have a good day?” Izuku nodded and sat down, picking up his chopsticks.

“I made a new friend!”

Though she tried to hide it, surprise flitted across his mother’s face. “Really?”

Izuku slurped up some noodles before replying. “Yup! Her name’s Toga Himiko!”

“That’s great, honey!” His mom smiled. “You’ll have to bring her over some time!”

Izuku grinned and took another bite. “You’d like her, Mom. She’s really nice and cheerful and she doesn’t think my notes are creepy! She, uh,” He blushed. “She said they were cute.” A sly gleam appeared in his mother’s eyes, and he hurriedly cut her off before she could say anything. “N-Not like that! Sh-She thinks a lot of things are cute!”

“A lot of things?” His mom questioned. “Or a lot of things about you ?”

Izuku’s silence as he shoved more food into his mouth was enough of an answer for her. She smirked and went back to her food. “Just make sure you invite her over before you ask her out.”

“M-Mom!” Izuku sputtered, red as a tomato and arms waving wildly as his mom laughed. It took them both a few minutes to calm down.

“Either way, I’d still like to meet her. She sounds like a wonderful girl.”

“Y-Yeah,” Izuku murmured. “She is.”

They broke off into meaningless chatter after that. Izuku told her about his day- minus All Might and Bakugo. He managed a convincing enough lie that he had accidentally dropped his journal and Himichan had returned it to him, and when it started raining, they’d taken shelter together. It was true enough, anyways. If Izuku’s mom suspected anything, she didn’t mention it, so he figured the story was good enough for her.

He went to bed immediately after dinner, exhausted both mentally and physically. Before he laid down, however, he sent a quick message to Himichan.

Angel: Night Himichan!!

Himichan: Good night Izuchan～♪（⌒∇⌒）ﾉ""

Angel: Sweet dreams!

Himichan: (っ ˘ω˘c )

Izuku smiled, plugged in his phone, and snuggled under his covers. He was asleep within minutes.

Chapter Text

Himiko liked her new friend. Izuchan was super nice, super smart, and absolutely, positively adorable. Plus, he didn’t care about her quirk! He actually thought it was cool! No one had ever told her that before! Talking to him made her feel happy-warm-sunny, a nice change from the usual sad-gloomy-lonely that came from fake friends, mean bullies, and disappointed parents.

Thinking about Izuchan made her think about Izuchan’s bully. She scowled at the thought. He didn’t deserve such a cute name (because even though she didn’t like him, she could admit that Kacchan was an adorable nickname) when he made Izuchan feel so dejected-cloudy-bitter. Luckily, Toga was there to help!

She shook her head to shake away the sad thoughts and pulled out her phone to text Izuchan.

Himichan: Hi Izuchan!! U done with school yet??

It took a few minutes for a response, but Himiko didn’t mind.

Angel: Sry it took so long to reply, had to hide from Kacchan

Himichan: Ugh. Want me to kill him for you??

Angel: …

Angel: Kinda??

Himichan: K I’m almost home let me grab some knives and I’ll be right over

Angel: WAIT NO

Angel: HIMICHAN I WAS JOKING

Himichan: Were you tho??

Angel: Mostly joking

Angel: But please don’t kill him

Himichan: Not even just a little stab?

Himichan: I wont even send him to a hospital!!

Angel: Himichan

Angel: No

Himichan: Fineeeeeeee

Himichan: He can live

Angel: Thank you

Himichan: For now

Angel: …

Angel: *sigh*

Angel: You know what? I’ll take it

Himichan: :3

Once again, there was a few minutes before Izuchan sent another message. Himiko frowned when she saw it.

Angel: Hey Himichan?

Himichan: Yeah, Izuchan?

Angel: Remember what you said about heroes the other day?

Angel: How they’re all fake?

Himichan: Yeah?

Another pause. Himiko figured he was hesitating. That was fine, she could wait.

Angel: Did you really mean that?

Himichan: Yup! Heroes are self-absorbed, greedy bastards who only care about themselves

Himichan: They ignore the people who really need help in favor of putting away as many “villains” as possible to increase their popularity and payroll

Himichan: Plus, there’s tons of instances of the HPSC covering stuff up in order to maintain a hero’s spotless reputation

This pause was the longest.

Angel: Sry to leave so suddenly, but I have to go work on homework. I’ve got a big essay due soon and I want to make sure it’s perfect!

Himichan: Okay!! Bye!! φ(*⌒▽⌒)ﾉ

Angel: Bye!!

Izuku placed his phone face down on the desk and sat back in his chair, letting out a deep breath. He felt bad for lying to Himichan, but he needed to think.

He’d always known that hero society wasn’t perfect, but that fact had always been overshadowed by his love and adoration for heroes, specifically All Might. The rose-colored glasses had been taken (ripped) off now, though, and without them, Izuku could see the flaws more clearly.

Of course, it might not be as bad as he was making it out to be. He and Himichan had just had bad experiences; their opinions were biased. Sure, everything had flaws, heroes were no exception, but they were heroes , how bad could they be?

Apparently really bad, A part of him whispered. Even All Might, the perfect hero, symbol of peace, isn’t half the hero he’s made out to be. If All Might is a lie, what else is?

Izuku shook his head quickly. Sitting here speculating wasn’t going to get anything done. He needed facts.

Opening up his laptop, Izuku typed “corrupt heroes” into the search bar and, with hardened eyes and a decisive nod, hit enter.

What he found was incredible. Cover ups of crimes ranging from bribery to assault, publishers and reporters being sued for slander and losing everything, villains who were victims of excessive force, stories of kids like him and Himiko who reached out to heroes for help and were denied.

During his search, one name came up repeatedly in recent articles. Stain. A quick search in a new tab revealed him to be a villain who killed heroes he deemed false. While Izuku didn’t agree with his methods, he could admit that his base motivations were understandable.

He wondered what could have happened to Stain to make him resort to such extreme methods.

He wondered if there was anything that could make him turn to those methods as well.

Closing out the tab on Stain, Izuku turned back to his original search and started searching for individual heroes. At one point, he grabbed a notebook (a blank one, he wanted to keep his research separate from his analysis journals) and started sections on the majority of heroes that came up. When Endeavor turned out to be the one with the most criticism, Izuku wasn’t sure if he was surprised or not.

When his mom called him for dinner, Izuku realized he’d been at it for several hours, and he still hadn’t found everything he wanted to. Of course, a lot of that information was probably locked up in police databases and HPSC files.

At dinner, he mentioned to his mom that he was going to learn coding, to which she responded enthusiastically and offered (Read: insisted) to pay for some online courses. After some pushing and prodding, Izuku gave up on resisting and allowed her to do what she wanted.

When they finished, Izuku returned to his research with the excuse of homework and the promise not to stay up too late.

He didn’t get much sleep that night.

Chapter Text

Something was up with Deku. The nerd was… quieter, recently, but also happier. Ever since… that day … Katsuki hadn’t seen that damn notebook. Probably because he destroyed it.

He didn’t talk about being a hero anymore, didn’t ramble about quirks or hero fights, didn’t even try to defend himself from Katsuki and those extras that followed him. He was also smiling and looking at his phone a lot, which was weird because the only person he texted was Auntie Inko, and she wouldn’t be talking to him that much during school. Did the damn nerd get an actual friend or something?

Katsuki scoffed at the thought. Like anyone would want to become friends with a quirkless weakling like him. Still, whatever it was, it was pissing Katsuki off. He was gonna figure out what the hell was going on with the damn nerd if it killed him.

Despite what some people may think, Izuku was not stupid. He could tell Kacchan noticed something different about him, hell, he could practically feel the heated glares being sent his way. But strangely it… didn’t bother him. Normally, this amount of attention from Kacchan would set Izuku on edge. A few weeks ago, he would’ve been sweating bullets and restless with anxiety.

It was most likely because of what Izuku had been referring to as “That One Day.” Kacchan had been acting differently, too; he was louder and more aggressive than usual, probably trying to prove that he wasn’t weak. Izuku wasn’t sure who he was trying to prove that to. In the eyes of their peers, the fact that he was able to put up such a good fight and get out without so much as a scratch just made him even more amazing. The Izuku of the past would have thought the same thing. Now he was just annoyed.

Today, Kacchan looked about ready to explode, so Izuku figured a confrontation would be happening soon. He contemplated putting it off, but waiting would just make Kacchan even angrier. Izuku sighed through his nose. Good thing Mom had restocked the medkit recently .

Speaking of Mom, Himichan had been asking about her recently. Apparently, she really wanted to know the woman who had raised such a “sunshiney, angelic, adorable son who is too good for this world; seriously, this woman is a saint, I must meet her immediately!”

Which was how Izuku had ended up promising to bring Himichan over to his house for dinner on Saturday. Upon finding out, his mom had immediately asked what her favorite food was so she could make it (Himichan had said blood, Izuku had suggested katsudon, Himichan had said that was fine too).

But anyways, back to Kacchan. School was almost over, so Izuku had little time to prepare himself for the beating that was most certainly coming his way. He just hoped that Kacchan wouldn’t bring any of his lackeys along with him.

When the bell rang, Izuku was the first out the door. He was able to get out of the school and on his way home before Kacchan caught up with him.

“Oi, Deku!”

Izuku almost flinched.

Almost.

Kacchan stalked up to him, a seemingly permanent scowl etched into his face. Izuku frowned when he found himself resisting the urge to roll his eyes. That was new. Normally he’d be stammering and trembling.

“What the fuck as been up with you lately, huh?”

“N-Nothing, Kacchan!” Ah, there was the stammer. He’d wondered what had happened to it.

Kacchan scoffed. “Yeah right, stop fucking lying. You’re on your phone all the fucking time, and I haven’t seen you write in one of your fucking journals since-” He cut himself off, but Izuku knew what he was about to say. He almost smirked.

“What’s the point of writing in a journal when you’re just going to destroy it, Kacchan?” The confidence in his voice surprised both Izuku and Kacchan. A buzz in his pocket brought Izuku’s attention to his phone. Himichan had texted. Kacchan regained his bearings before Izuku could text her back.

“You’re still acting really fucking weird,” He growled. “The hell’s up with you?”

“Having your lifelong dream crushed can do that to a person.” This time, Izuku did smirk, though it was forced. He could feel that rare burst of confidence fading; he wanted to make sure he got his point across before the stutter came back. “What’s wrong, Kacchan? I thought you wanted me to give up?”

Kacchan’s scowl morphed into a sneer. “Oh, so you’ve finally accepted that a quirkless weakling like you could never be a hero? Fucking finally. Thought you’d never come around.”

“Can I go home now?” Izuku drawled as his phone buzzed two more times. Kacchan studied him for a minute longer, made some weird noise that might’ve been a huff or a growl, and stalked away. When he was out of sight, Izuku pulled out his phone to check Himichan’s messages.

Himichan: Izuchaaaaaaan

Himichan: Helloooooooo?

Himichan: Is that Kacchan dude bothering you again?

Himiko huffed. Another minute had gone by and Izuchan still hadn’t replied. What was keeping him? Maybe it was ‘Kacchan’ again. She scowled, but immediately brightened when her phone dinged. Izuchan!

Angel: Hi Himichan!! I’m fine!!

He was avoiding the question. Himiko scowled again, anger-frustration- hate swirling through her blood.

Himichan: So he was bothering you. I’m gonna kill him.

Angel: Himichan

Himichan: Izuchan

Angel: Himichan he didn’t even touch me

Himichan: ...He didn’t?

Angel: Nope! ^-^

Angel: We just talked

Angel: Now that I think about it, it was kinda weird

Himichan: He didn’t touch you tho?

Angel: Not even a poke

Himichan: …

Himichan: Alright, I’ll back off

Angel: Seriously u need to stop threatening to kill him

Angel: My resolve is growing weak

Angel: Wait no forget I said that

Himichan: Too late

Himichan: I’ll wear you down eventually ☆(>ω・)

Himichan: So anyways are we still on for tomorrow?

Angel: ...Blatant subject change but I’ll allow it

Angel: Yup, we’re all set!!

Angel: I’ve finished your quirk analysis, and I even made two copies so you could keep one!!

Himichan: Aww, Izuchan, you’re so nice!! It’s adorable!!

Angel: Um

Angel: Thanks

Angel: I gtg now, recently joined an online coding class and I need to stay on top of that!

Angel: Cya!!

Himichan: Byeeeeeeee (≧∇≦)/

Himko smiled and slipped her phone into her pocket. She was sad that Izuchan had to go, but it was okay because he still left behind a feeling of fuzzy-warm-happy when he was gone. Plus, she would get to see him tomorrow! The thought made her excited-cheery-thrilled. She skipped the whole way home.

Chapter Text

Izuku left his house early hoping to arrive before Himichan, but he shouldn’t have bothered because, according to what Himichan told him when he got there, she had already been waiting at the café for half an hour. She’d also downed two cups of hot chocolate and was working on her third. Izuku would have been worried about her sugar intake level had he not ordered a latte that was 80% cream and sugar and 20% latte.

“So,” Himichan started, taking a sip of her hot chocolate and shifting in her chair. It was a nice day, so they were sitting outside, under the awning. “You have the analyses?”

“Of course!” Izuku grinned, pulling two notebooks out of his bag and handing one to Himichan, who grabbed it eagerly and flipped it open.

“You drew me!” She gasped.

“W-Well, yeah,” Izuku stammered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I-I draw everyone that I analyze. Is that… Is that alright?”

“Well, I asked you to analyze my quirk, so of course it’s all right!” Her eyes skimmed the pages, giving each sentence a brief glance before moving onto the next one. She wasn’t reading it word-for-word, but Izuku didn’t mind. He was just glad she was interested.

“Oh, I’ve never thought of this!” Himichan exclaimed. Izuku leaned over to see what she was pointing at.

“About whether the injuries transfer over?”

Himichan nodded. “I think they would. I mean, it’s still my body; I just look like someone else.”

“What if the person you transformed into had an injury?”

Himichan hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t think it would transfer over, unless it was a really old injury that healed wrong.”

“Hmmm,” Izuku chewed on his pen, staring at the journal. “You said you can copy their clothes too, right?” She nodded. “How does that work? Is it the last outfit you saw them in, or do you get to choose which outfit? What exactly counts as clothes? Like, say, if they had a support item on, or a dagger strapped to their wrist.”

“Oooh!” Himichan squealed. “You’re so smart! And it’s so cute when you analyze stuff!”

“U-Uhm, I-I am?” Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, blushing furiously. Himichan beamed.

“Your eyebrows get all scrunched together and when you’re writing, your tongue pokes out of your mouth! Like this!” She demonstrated, eyes crossed to look at her tongue. Izuku was reminded of a cat blepping. “And then you start muttering and it’s absolutely adorable !”

Izuku stammered out some reply that might’ve been a thank you, but he honestly couldn’t tell because he was too busy trying not to die of embarrassment. He opted to stare at the table instead of looking at Himiko. The blue paint was sun-bleached. Someone should really get around to repainting this.

Himichan giggled and ordered another hot chocolate. “So anyways, about what you were saying. I think it only applies to like, something that you could buy at a clothing store or something. Or maybe when I transform it just looks like support items, but they don’t actually work. I honestly don’t really know. We’ll have to test it out!”

“I-I, uh, yeah…” Izuku took a sip of his latte in an attempt to calm his breathing. It sort of worked. He forced his brain to focus on something else. “S-So the length of time you can stay transformed depends on the amount of blood you drink, right?”

“Yup!” Himichan grinned. “I think it’s like, fifteen minutes per ounce, but I’m not really sure since I’ve never gotten an exact amount of blood to test that out on.” She looked down at her hands. “I’ve never gotten to test anything out, really.”

“Well that’s changing now,” Izuku huffed. “We’re gonna find out exactly what you can do, and then we’re gonna improve on that!”

“Oh, Izuchan!” Himichan launched herself at him with a laugh and wrapped him in a hug. “You’re the absolute best friend ever! Thank you thank you thank you so much!”

And he was blushing again. “U-Uh, y-yeah, of course! I-It’s really no problem!”

“Still,” She pulled back to look him in the eyes. “Thank you.”

Izuku nodded, and she grinned, satisfied, before grabbing her hot chocolate and taking another gulp. Then she placed her hands on her hips. “I’m hungry. Let’s go get ice cream.”

“But we still have to pay…” Izuku protested weakly as she grabbed his arm. A woman nearby heard and smiled.

“Don’t worry about it, you two, I’ll pay for it. Consider it my treat for such a lovely couple.” Izuku almost protested that they weren’t a couple, but he knew it was futile.

Would she still have paid for it if she’d known that Izuku was quirkless and Himichan drank blood?

Izuku shook off the thought, shoving his journals and pen back into his bag, and allowed Himichan to drag him to a nearby ice cream parlour.

Himiko was practically glowing with joy-happiness-cheerfulness. She hadn’t felt this amazing since… since… since, well, ever! She somehow brightened even more when they stopped in front of the counter and peered at the many many flavors. “Which one are you gonna get, Izuchan? I’m having pomegranate!”

“I… um…” Izuchan regarded the ice cream uncertainly, breath fogging up the glass. “I usually get, well,” He blushed and his voice dropped to a murmur. “I usually get All Might flavored, but uh, I don’t… I think I wanna try something else this time. I just… don’t know what to choose.”

“Well, I’ll help you choose, then!” Himiko stepped forward and examined their choices. She considered getting him pomegranate since that was her favorite, but then she spotted a green-colored flavor and grinned. “Here, how about this one?”

“Matcha?” He questioned.

“Yeah!” Himiko said, eyes sparkling. “It’s green, and you’re green, so it’s perfect!”

“Okay then,” Izuchan smiled in that adorable way of his. “Matcha it is.”

“Great!” She bounced up to the counter, pulling Izuchan behind her, and they ordered. As soon as they both had their ice cream, Himiko dragged Izuchan out of the ice cream parlour and out onto the sidewalk. She watched as he hesitantly licked his ice cream and felt a burst of satisfaction-glee-delight when his lips quirked upwards. Content, she started on her own treat.

They strolled down the sidewalk in silence, but it wasn’t awkward. It was the kind of nice-pleasant-calm silence that friends shared. Himiko liked it.

The silence was broken by a shout from a nearby alleyway.

Chapter Text

Himiko and Izuchan quickly met each other’s eyes, then hurried towards the mouth of the alley. They found a scene that made Himiko’s blood boil with outrage-empathy-viciousness.

Two teens stood in front of a girl with wide eyes and her back against the wall. Her stance was confident-brave-defiant, but Himiko could see her trembling. So could the other kids, apparently. One of them laughed. The girl didn’t move. “L-Leave me alone!”

“Or what, huh? You’ll make me sneeze to death?”

In response, the girl grabbed the bully’s arm and she sneezed violently.

Next to Himiko, Izuchan was muttering. She tilted her head so she could hear him better. “-obviously has some sort of sneeze quirk; seems to be touch-activated. Taller girl has rough-looking skin; looks almost like armadillo plating. No obvious mutations for the other girl; most likely has an emitter quirk; small chance of a transformation quirk-”

“Izuchan.” She cut him off. He looked over at her. “We need to help.” He nodded. Himiko nodded back and stalked into view of the bullies. “Ugh, you two need to stop. Bullying is so not cute.”

“Um, wh-what she said.” Izuchan stammered. It was adorable.

“Mind your own damn business,” The armadillo-girl growled. Himiko grinned and used her free hand (she still hadn’t finished her ice cream, and she wasn’t about to throw it away) to pull a knife out of her pocket. Izuchan’s eyes widened slightly, but he said nothing.

“Mmm, how about no.” She tilted her knife so it glinted in the sunlight and licked her ice cream. “Leave her alone.”

“And what’re you gonna do if we don’t, huh?” The other bully sneered. Himiko silently handed Izuchan her ice cream and took a few menacing steps forward, putting on a smile that showed off her fangs and doing a little bounce. She would’ve looked like an excited schoolgirl if it weren’t for the knife.

“Y’know, I think you’d look much prettier covered in red,” She pointed the knife at Armadillo-girl. “Don’tcha think, Izuchan?”

Izuku got the hint and nodded quickly. “Oh, absolutely, Himichan! I’ve heard that red-on-white looks great!” He beamed at the white-haired girl, who paled in fear-dread-worry. “Wanna help us test that out?”

“F-Fuck off!” The girl sputtered.

“Yeah!” Armadillo-girl smirked. “I bet you don’t even have good quirks!” She folded her arm and puffed out her chest. Arrogance-cockiness-pride radiated off of her. “So, what are they, huh?”

“I’ll show you!” Himiko pounced towards them, knife hand outstretched. “I’ll just need a little bit of your blood!”

The white-haired girl shrieked and jumped away. “You fucking creep!”

“Ugh, she’s not worth it,” Armadillo-girl wrinkled her nose in disgust-worry-disdain. “Let’s just go.” Himiko’s eyes narrowed as they stalked away. Izuchan hurried over to the victim. Himiko joined him.

“H-Hey, are you okay?”

“Get away from me!” The girl pushed Himiko away, snarling. “I had it handled! I didn’t need help from a weirdo like you! Leave me alone!”

She ran off, leaving a startled-shocked-hurt Himiko staring after her while Izuchan scowled. His face softened when he turned to her. “Don’t listen to any of them. Their- Their opinions don’t matter. Who are they to call you a creep; they don’t even know you!”

“Yeah,” Himiko said quietly, taking back her ice cream and licking it. “Let’s just… go somewhere else. I’m having dinner at your house, right?” Izuchan nodded. “Let’s head over there! We can hang out in your room and test my quirk and stuff!”

“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Izuchan brightened. “C’mon, follow me!”

He started down the sidewalk, Himiko close behind, and they started up a steady stream of mindless chatter. Their ice cream melted halfway there, so Izuchan and Himiko had to throw it away. They both pouted at that, but upon seeing each other’s faces they broke into uncontrollable giggles.

“So,” Izuchan began once they got their laughter under control. “What do you think we should try out first?”

“Hm?” Himiko tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“Your quirk,” Izuchan elaborated. “What do you think we should test out first?”

“Oh! Ummm,” She put a finger to her chin, frowning in thought. “I think we should try out that injury thing. Only small ones though, like a cut on my arm.”

“Really?!” His eyes widened. “You’re willing to get hurt to test out my theories?”

“Yup!” Himiko chirped. “And after that we can test out all of the clothes stuff!” She clapped her hands, a bubble of joy-warmth-happiness fluttering through her stomach at his smile.

“Yeah!” Izuchan beamed. “I’ve never actually gotten the chance to test my theories out with someone! This is gonna be so fun!”

Himiko giggled and skipped ahead, stopping at a street corner to wait for Izuchan to catch up. “C’mon slowpoke, let’s go!”

“Alright, alright, I’m coming!” Izuchan chuckled, trotting up to her. She grabbed his arm and pulled him along behind her, forcing him to walk quicker. He laughed. “Himichan, you don’t even know how to get there!”

“Well then just tell me where to go! I wanna meet your mom as soon as possible!”

“Left here!” She swerved left, almost crashing into a woman and her child. Izuchan apologized as much as he could before she dragged him away. He sped up so he was beside Himiko instead of in front of her, which made it easier to both navigate and avoid running over startled pedestrians.

By the time they arrived at Izuchan’s house, they were both panting and laughing. Izuchan raised his hand to open the door and Himiko realized they were still holding hands. She let go, noticing his blush, and they headed inside.

“Mom, I’m home! And Himichan’s here!”

“Oh!” His mother hurried from the kitchen, a smile on her face. “You must be Himiko! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you! I’m Izuku’s mother!”

“I can tell!” Something in Himiko warmed at the pure love-happiness-gentleness this woman could show with just a few words. “It’s nice to meet you too, Mrs. Midoriya!”

“Oh please, just call me Inko,” She smiled, and Himiko decided that yes, God was real, because how else could this angel of a woman exist? “You’re a friend of Izuku’s no need to be so formal.”

“Okay, Inko!” Inko nodded.

“Alright, you two go ahead and get on with whatever you were planning on doing. Izuku is practically vibrating with anticipation.”

Izuchan sputtered out a denial but Inko just sent them off with a smile and went back to the kitchen.

“Well,” Izuchan said once the door had shut behind them, placing his hands on his hips and turning to face Himiko. “Let’s get to work, shall we?”

Himiko beamed and nodded. Time for the real fun to begin.

Chapter Text

“Alright, so,” Izuku hopped up onto his bed. “First things first. You have your needles?”

“Yup!” Himichan chirped, pulling three syringes out of nowhere. “You ready?” Izuku nodded and pulled up his sleeve, holding out his exposed wrist for Himichan. She sat next to him on the bed, looking giddy, and gently poked one of the needles into his vein. It stung, but Izuku had gotten way worse from Kacchan, so it didn’t bother him.

He watched, almost if he were hypnotized, as Himichan filled the syringe with his blood. She pulled it out, placing it on his nightstand, and repeated the process twice more with her other needles.

“So now you just… drink it?”

“Mm-hmm!” Himichan stuck one of the needles in her mouth and squirted it out, groaning like she’d just tasted the best thing in the world. Maybe she had, her quirk could be affecting her taste buds.

She quickly drained the last two, licking her lips, and grinned. “Okay, I’m all ready now! What’re we testing first?”

“Injuries, like you said earlier!” Izuku bounced up off the bed and looked around. “We just need… oh! There!” He grabbed a pair of scissors off his desk, then brought one of the notebooks and a pen out of his bag and padded back over to Himichan. “So, uh, how do you wanna do this?”

Himichan tilted her head to the side like a confused kitten. “What do ya mean?”

He held up the scissors. “Do you want to cut yourself or do you want me to do it?”

That would sound really weird out of context, Izuku thought, then realized that it was weird even with context because who injured themselves in order to test out their quirk?

Himichan and Izuku did, apparently.

“I’ll do it.” Himichan took the scissors from him and made a small cut on her arm. Izuku winced at the sight, but it didn’t seem to bother her. “Ready?” She chirped. Izuku nodded eagerly, then watched in amazement as she morphed and changed until he was staring himself in the face, albeit with Himichan’s clothes on over his.

“Woah…”

It was weird, seeing his own face grinning back at him like that. Himichan giggled. “You look so cute like that, Izuchan!”

“U-Um, th-thanks…” He blushed, hiding his face behind his notebook. “S-So um, is the cut still there?”

“Lemme see,” Himichan pulled her sleeve up. The cut was still there.

“Okay, so injuries transfer over,” Izuku muttered, scribbling in his journal. “Now to test out clothing. “Ummm, crap, am I wearing anything that couldn’t count as clothing? There was… There was a pen in my pocket!”

“Lemme see,” Himichan checked the pockets of her hoodie and came up empty. “Nope, no pens here!”

“I wonder what the clothing depends on…” Izuku wondered aloud. “Does it depend on when you took the blood or when you last saw them? Or could you pick which outfit?” He hummed in thought. “Hey Himichan, do you remember what I was wearing when we first met?”

“Uh-huh! It was adorable!”

“R-Right. Um, could you try changing into me with that outfit on?”

“Sure! Let’s move to the bathroom, though.”

“Umm… okay…” Izuku followed her as she trotted out of the room and into the bathroom. And then she kinds just… stood there. Staring at him. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she finally moved.

“Welp, looks like I can’t change outfits!” She chirped. “What’s next?”

“Uhhh, oh! Stay here! Change back into yourself!” He rushed back to his room, leaving his journal and pen in the bathroom, switched his hoodie out for a short-sleeved t-shirt, then came running back to a confused-looking Himichan. “Alright, now change back into m- why is there slime on the floor?”

“Side-effect of my quirk.” Himichan shrugged.

“Well, I can see why you wanted to move to the bathroom now,” Izuku chuckled. “I’ll have to clean that up later. But for now,” His eyes brightened. “Change back into me. Concentrate on the outfit I was wearing before.”

“Got it.” Himichan closed her eyes this time and her features shifted and changed until she once again looked like Izuku, but instead of the hoodie he’d had on when she drew his blood, she was wearing the t-shirt he’d changed into.

“Alright,” Izuku said, writing in his notebook. “It looks like you change into the last version of them that you saw.” He frowned in thought. “I wonder what you’d look like if you had never seen them before? Would your quirk even work?”

Himichan giggled. “Heh, ‘quirk’ and ‘work’. That rhymes.”

“Hm?” Izuku hadn’t heard her, having zoned out, but Himichan waved her hand as if to say “nothing” and he shrugged and went back to his musings. “Oh, um, you can change back if you want.”

“Nah,” Himichan said, leaning against the wall. “I wanna stay like this! It’s… nice.”

“Okay.” Izuku shrugged, hopping up onto the bathroom counter because he wanted somewhere to sit and that was the closest available area. Himichan joined him.

After another forty-five minutes of testing and a considerable amount of sludge on the floor, they moved back to his bedroom (after Himichan had changed back into her usual self and they cleaned up the slime). They still had a few hours before dinner, so Himichan dragged him to the computer and logged into an online chatroom that she said was for “people like us, Izuchan!”

KnifeToMeetYou: Hiiiiiiiii

ChinkenNunget: Oh hey Knife

ChaosAgentNumber666: Yo Knifey wats up

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: heeeeeeeeey

KnifeToMeetYou: I have brought a fren

ThisBitchEmpty123: oh is this the green bean u were telling us about

KnifeToMeetYou: Yep!

“G-Green bean?!” Izuku stammered. Himichan grinned.

“Well, I had to call you something !”

KnifeToMeetYou: He’s blushing at being called a green bean

KnifeToMeetYou: Hang on imma let him talk real quick

KnifeToMeetYou: Hi, nice to meet you all! -GB

NotACondiment: Yo r u ready to become disillusioned with hero society

KnifeToMeetYou: I became disillusioned the moment All Might told me I couldn’t become a hero because I’m quirkless -GB

ThisBitchEmpty123: bro that’s the best villain origin story ever

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: Well that’s depressing

ChinkenNunget: How have you not already killed someone

KnifeToMeetYou: He’s too much of a cinnamon roll :3

NotACondiment: For now

ThisBitchEmpty123: well that’s not ominous at all

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: Seriously how r u still a cinnamon roll after being rejected by the number one hero

With the immediate acceptance of his quirklessness and having been called a cinnamon roll twice now, Izuku was too busy trying not to faint to reply.

KnifeToMeetYou: His mom is too much of an angel

ChaosAgentNumber666: lol imagine having loving parents

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: ^^^

ThisBitchEmpty123: y’all are depressing

NotACondiment: Life is depressing

NotACondiment: That’s why we’re all in this chatroom

ThisBitchEmpty123: can’t argue with that

Chapter Text

“Izuku, Toga, dinner’s ready!”

“Coming, Mom!”

After promising that Izuku would make an account, Himichan bid their friends goodbye and logged out of the chat. They padded out to the dining room, where three steaming bowls of katsudon sat on the table. Izuku’s mom beamed when she saw them and quickly gestured for them to sit down.

“So,” She prompted as they slid into their seats. “Tell me more about yourself, Himiko.”

“Well,” Himichan slurped up some noodles. “I’m fifteen years old, I go to Randamu High School, and I love love love the color red! Especially when it’s blood .” She practically swooned. Izuku’s mom raised an eyebrow at him.

“She has a blood quirk.” He explained. “If she drinks someone’s blood, she can turn into them.” His mother nodded in understanding.

“Well, I’m sure you two had a lot of fun testing it out today,” She smiled. Himichan beamed and nodded.

“It was so fun ! Izuchan came up with so many interesting ideas and we got to test a whole buncha them out! I’ve never gotten to use my quirk so much!” Izuku blushed and stuffed a piece of chicken in his mouth, staring down at his bowl while his mother smirked knowingly.

“Yes, that certainly sounds like a lot of fun. I’m glad Izuku could help you out with that.” Himichan nodded so quickly Izuku was worried she’d get whiplash, mouth so stuffed with food that her cheeks popped out like a chipmunk.

“This is the best-tasting I’ve ever had in my whole life! Besides blood, of course!” She announced once she’d swallowed. “You’re a great cook, Inko!”

“Oh, thank you so much Toga! This is Izuku’s favorite meal, so I’ve made it so often that I’ve practically perfected the recipe!” They both giggled and Izuku blushed again.

The rest of the meal was spent chatting and teasing Izuku, with more of the former than the latter. By the end of dinner, Izuku felt like a tomato in a microwave. Hot, red, and about to explode.

While his mother cleaned up the table, Izuku walked Himichan to the door. “I, uh, I had a lot of fun today.”

“Me too!” Himichan beamed. “Your mom was really nice! Let’s do this again sometime, ‘kay?”

“Y-Yeah!” Izuku nodded. Himichan leaned forwards and squeezed him in a hug. He’d hug back, but his arms had been pinned to his sides, so he just stood there awkwardly until she pulled away.

She spun around and trotted out the door. “I’ll see you later!”

“Bye! Be safe!” Izuku called after her as she skipped away. She looked back at him with a sharp grin. A knife had appeared in her hand.

“Aren’t I always?”

She was down the stairs and out of sight before Izuku could reply. He sighed with a smile and closed the door, walking to the kitchen to help his mom clean up. His mother grinned.

“She’s such a nice girl, isn’t she Izuku?”

“Um, y-yeah!” Izuku stammered, grabbing one of the bowls and scrubbing it off.

“Here sweetie, let me take care of this.” She nudged him out of the way and took over, sending him a smirk. “You’ve had a very… long day, haven’t you? Go get some rest.”

Izuku did not like the way she said that. Not at all. Blushing and stuttering, he nodded and practically raced to his room, just barely managing to not slam the door behind him. He let out a long breath, finally managing to get his blush under control.

Why must moms be like this?

He shook his head quickly and headed to his computer, plopping down in the chair. “Okay, what was that website Himichan had shown me? Umm… Oh! Here!” He clicked on the link and a login/signup page popped up. He debated over the username for a few minutes before deciding on GreenBean, since that was what they already knew him as. Taking a deep breath, he hit Confirm and entered the chatroom.

GreenBean has joined the chat!

GreenBean: Umm hi

ChaosAgentNumber666: Greenieeeeeee

ChinkenNunget: The green boi has returned

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: yooooo welcome back

the_kraken: Oh hello

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Oh so this is who you were talking about?

ChaosAgentNumber666: Yep!

ChaosAgentNumber666: Greenie, meet Lord Fries, our internet Dad and holder of the braincell

GreenBean: Nice I always wanted a dad

the_kraken: Oh you poor thing

NotACondiment: Oh cool another person with Daddy Issues™

NotACondiment: How many is that now?

ChinkenNunget: 5

ChinkenNunget: You, Chaos, Void, Knife, and now Greenie

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: Nice

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: Anyways introductions everyone

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: Hi, I’m Void, she/her

NotACondiment: Condiment, Ze/Zir

ChinkenNunget: I’m Nugs, genderfluid, currently I’m a She!!

ChaosAgentNumber666: Chaos, She/Her!

Lord-Of-The-Fries: I’m Fries, He/Them, and everyone in this chat are my children

the_kraken: Hello!! I’m kraken, they/them, and since ur Fries’s child now i will protect u with my life

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: Wow kraken sure got attached fast

GreenBean: It’s nice to meet you all!! You can call me Green I guess, He/Him

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Empty and Snorlax aren’t on right now, but they’re he/them and she/her, respectively

the_kraken: Okay introductions over

the_kraken: So, what’s your Tragic Backstory™?

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Oh my gods Kraken you can’t just ask people that

GreenBean: No, I don’t mind!!

ChinkenNunget: Are u sure?? U don’t have to

GreenBean: I’m sure ^-^

NotACondiment: He did already give us part of it earlier

ChinkenNunget: tru

GreenBean: Better buckle up, it’s a long one

ChaosAgentNumber666: hoo boy

NotACondiment: …

NotACondiment: He’s been typing for two minutes now

ChinkenNunget: Kraken what have u done

the_kraken: i-

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: He did say it was long

Lord-Of-The-Fries: I’m worried

GreenBean: So you all know I’m quirkless, right? Well as you can probably guess not everyone is as accepting of it as you. Even before my diagnosis, I’d get picked on because I’m soft and weak. And then we found out I was quirkless and everything went downhill. My dad left a week later, and I haven't heard from him since. My childhood friend turned into my worst bully. Thing is, I’ve always wanted to be a hero. Ever since I learned what the word meant, it’s been my dream, the thing that’s kept me going no matter what. You can guess how this went with everyone else. After my diagnosis, everyone was telling me to give up. Can’t be a hero without a quirk, right? My mom tries to be supportive, but I can tell she’s constantly worrying about me and wishing I’d choose something else. That childhood “friend” I mentioned earlier? His quirk turned out to be powerful and flashy, perfect for hero work. He’d already had a big ego, but with everyone telling him how amazing he was and how great a hero he’d be, it only got bigger. Our teachers reinforced a “might makes right” mindset in him and, seeing how I’m quirkless, he sees me as the lowest of the low, nothing but a pebble on his path to greatness. Still, I never gave up. Researched quirks and heroes and filled notebooks with analyses. Then, about a week ago, he crossed a line. Almost ruined my notebook and told me to jump off a roof and hope I’d be reborn with a quirk.

ChaosAgentNumber666: holy shit

the_kraken: Tell me where he lives, I just wanna talk

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: ^^^

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Do… do you want a hug?

GreenBean: yeah

ChinkenNunget: I am so sorry Greenie u are too good for this world

NotACondiment: Didn’t u say something about All Might earlier?

GreenBean: Oh I’m getting to that

GreenBean: So, the same day all that shit happened, I was attacked by a villain. Remember that sludge villain on the news? He went after me first.

the_kraken: Oh fuck no

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: Bitch what

Lord-Of-The-Fries: All Might saved you, though, right?

GreenBean: Yep

GreenBean: The number one hero, symbol of peace, the main thing that kept me going all these years

Lord-Of-The-Fries: I don’t like where this is going

GreenBean: I mentioned this earlier, but for those who weren’t here, I asked him if I could become a hero without a quirk

ChaosAgentNumber666: He fucking didn’t

GreenBean: He did

ChinkenNunget: That motherfucker

the_kraken: Brb gonna go murder the symbol of peace

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: Hold up Kraken I’m coming with u

snorlax-use-yawn is online!

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Kraken, Void, what have I said about murder?

the_kraken: Always secure an alibi first and wear gloves to hide your fingerprints

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Good

snorlax-use-yawn: Wait who are we murdering?

ChinkenNunget: Hi Snorlax!! Scroll up!!

snorlax-use-yawn: …

snorlax-use-yawn: I’m too tired for this shit

Chapter Text

Kacchan was being attacked. His body was coated in sludge, eyes wide and fearful, almost like he was pleading for help. Izuku watched gleefully; Kacchan was finally getting what he deserved, he was going away, he’d never torment Izuku again-

Izuku couldn’t breathe. Slime forced its way down his throat, cutting off his airway. A familiar cackle echoed in his ears. Explosions popped against his skin. His eyes watered as black spots danced across his vision.

A blurry figure stood in front of him with a wide grin and a reassuring laugh. All Might! All Might was there, he’d save him, he saved everyone.

But All Might’s image flickered and disappeared, replaced by his true form, frail and skeleton-like. “You think I’d save a quirkless Deku like you?” He sneered in Kacchan’s voice. “Pathetic.”

No! All Might! Wait!

Izuku clawed at the slime pouring into his mouth, twisted away from the explosions and cackling, but his fingers slipped through the sludge and the explosions were relentless.

All Might! Please! I’m not useless, please! Ple-

Izuku awoke with a gasp, gagging and choking on nothing. He pushed himself into a sitting position, hacking on nothing but air.

“Izuchan?”

Izuku blinked, looking around. Where was that coming from?

“Izuchan, are you okay?”

He looked to the side and- oh. His phone. He’d called Himichan without realizing.

“H-Himichan?”

“Izuchan!” It was just his name, but Izuku could already feel himself relaxing at the sound of her voice.

“H-Hey, Himichan. Sorry if I woke you up.”

“It’s fine! If I have to wake up, I’m glad it’s ‘cause of you!”

Izuku was glad she wasn’t there to see his blush. “U-Uh, still, sorry. I-I’ll let you go back to slee-”

“Hang on a sec!” Izuku’s finger stopped mere millimeters over the ‘end call’ button.

“Y-Yeah?”

“You wouldn’t have called me in the middle of the night for no reason. What’s goin’ on?”

“I-It’s nothing, really, I’m sorry,” Izuku stammered. “I didn’t mean to-”

“Was it a nightmare?”

Izuku’s silence was apparently enough of an answer for her.

“Tell me about it,” Himichan prompted.

“I-It was the slime villain,” Izuku started. “A-And Kacchan too. I-I didn’t see him, though. Just his voice.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “And his explosions.”

“Oh, Angel,” Himichan said softly, which startled him, because while she’d called him that multiple times over text she’d never said it out loud. He… liked it. “You know that nothing he says about you is true, right? You’re not weak or useless or a Deku ,” She spat the word. “You’re Izuchan, my best friend and the sweetest, most kindest person in the whole wide world. You’re worth, like… a gajillion times more than him.”

Izuku chuckled and wiped away the tears he hadn’t realized were falling. “You really think that, Himichan?”

“Yup,” Himichan said, popping the ‘p’.

“I-” He sniffed, rubbing his eyes. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me!” Himichan giggled. “I was just telling the truth.”

“Still, thank you.” Izuku snuggled back under his blankets, placing his phone next to the pillow. “Himichan?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you… Do you think I could be a hero?”

“Of course!” She answered. “You’re super smart, and could be really good at fighting if you trained yourself! But,” She paused. “Do you still want to be a hero?”

The determined yes that would usually answer that question was on the tip of his tongue, and yet he felt himself hesitating. Being a hero had been his dream since… forever. For as long as he could remember, that’s all he’d ever wanted. But did he still want it?

Izuku stared at his walls, still covered in images of the symbol of peace because he hadn’t been able to bring himself to take them down. But the smile that had once felt encouraging and reassuring now left him with a bitter taste in his mouth.

“I don’t know,” He finally answered. “I don’t think so.”

“Good,” She stated firmly. “Your talents are wasted with those fakes.”

Izuku hummed out a noncommittal reply and stared at the soft glow coming from his phone. “Hey Himichan?”

“Mm-hm?”

“I know tomorrow’s a school day, but do you wanna come over? I might need some help taking down some posters.”

“I’d love to!” Himichan squealed. “It’s about time you got rid of those things. They’re hideous.”

Izuku snorted. “I’m just worried about finding a place to dump it all.”

“Why not just burn it?” Himichan suggested. Izuku blinked. Why hadn’t he thought of that?

“That… that’s a good idea.”

She giggled. “Plus, it would be really satisfying.”

Izuku smiled. “Yeah, it would.”

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, but neither of them hung up, content to just sit there quietly. Eventually, though, Izuku yawned.

“Dang,” Himichan laughed. “I could hear that yawn even over the phone. You should get some rest, Angel.”

Izuku blushed. “Y-Yeah, probably. Could you… could you stay on the phone, though? Just… talk to me. 

“About?”

“Anything.”

“Okay!” Himichan launched into a ramble, hopping from one topic to another without pause. Izuku fell asleep to her gushing about a TV series that talked about serial killers. He made a mental note to ask her about the next day.

Himiko fell quiet, listening to Izuchan’s slow breaths.

“Izuchan? You still awake?” She whispered, feeling a flutter of fondness-warmth-protectiveness when there was no reply. She smiled and hung up, plugging her phone back in, pulled a knife from her drawer and fiddled with it absentmindedly.

She remembered the reason that he’d called her and the fondness-warmth-protectiveness quickly turned into fury-contempt-venom. Kacchan wasn’t even there and he was still managing to make her Angel suffer. Himiko would just have to make him suffer infinitely more.

She jabbed her knife into the air in front of her, imagining what it would be like to sink it into Kacchan’s gut, and grinned. Izuchan might not approve of it now, but she was sure that eventually he’d let her go after explodey-boy. He probably still wouldn’t let her kill him, but there were much better ways to make someone suffer.

In the meantime, she’d have to teach Izuchan how to defend himself. The thought of him holding one of her knives, beat up and splattered with his opponent's blood made her shiver with excitement-glee-anticipation. Oh yes, she was definitely going to show him how to use a knife.

With that thought in mind, Himiko grinned and hid her knife back in her dresser. She’d suggest her idea tomorrow when they were getting rid of that horrible-dreadful-obnoxious hero stuff. Oh, this was gonna be so much fun !

Chapter Text

Himiko raised her hand and rapped on the door, letting out a happy-elated-excited squeal when it opened a few seconds later. “Izuchan!” She launched herself at him, almost knocking them both to the ground. Izuchan laughed and it made her feel joyful-delighted-pleased to know she’d been the cause of it.

“Is Inko here?” She asked as she let go of him. Izuchan shook his head.

“She had to work late today. It’s just us.”

“Aw,” Himiko pouted. “That’s too bad.”

Izuchan shrugged. “Yeah, but there’s nothing we can do. C’mon!” Himiko followed eagerly as he led her down the hall. “Here,” He gestured towards a pile of boxes as he entered the room. “Is where we’re gonna put everything. And then we can find a place to burn it.”

Himiko beamed. “So, where do we start?”

“How about…” Izuku grabbed one of the All Might posters and smirked. “Here.” He ripped it off the wall and tossed it into one of the bins. The look in his eyes had Himiko shivering. “Well?” He asked, giving her a feral-wild-fierce grin. “Let’s get to work.”

They had a lot of fun. From how aggressive he was, Himiko guessed Izuchan was letting out a lot of repressed anger-frustration-malice. It was so cute! She told him so, and he blushed, stammering out an unintelligible reply.

One of Himiko’s favorite parts was when they both grabbed the top of the biggest All Might poster there and tore it down with one big pull. Then they tore it up into smaller pieces and deposited them in one of the boxes. Izuchan had smirked in satisfaction-pleasure-appeasement, then whirled around and went right back at it.

Her other favorite part was when she picked up one of the boxes and swept all of the figurines off the bookshelf. She had started tearing off the heads of the All Might ones when Izuchan saw what she was doing and stopped to help. They couldn’t get all of the heads off because some of them were really well made, but they’d still get to burn them, so it was fine.

When they had finally finished, Izuchan had flopped face-first onto his bed. Himiko sat down next to him, and he shifted so he could look at her. His cheek was squished into the pillow. It was cute.

“So…” Himiko started.

“Yeah?”

“Do ya wanna learn how to use a knife?”

Izuchan blinked. Blinked again. Blinked a third time. Did he have something in his eye? “...What?”

“Do you want to learn how to use a knife?” Himiko repeated slowly. “Ya know, for self-defense purposes.”

“Um… Sure?”

“Great!” She chirped. “I’ll lend you some of my knives so I can start giving you lessons!”

“Okay, but, uh…” He chewed on his lip. “Where’re we gonna train?”

“Hm…” Himiko pressed a finger to her chin. “Maybe… Oh! There’s a beach near my house, Dagobah Beach. Heard of it?”

“I think so.” Izuchan wrinkled his nose. “Isn’t that the one that’s basically an illegal junkyard?”

“Yup!”

He frowned. “Why there?”

“Because no one will see us, and it’s the perfect place to burn your trash!” Izuchan barked out a laugh.

“Alright then, Dagobah Beach it is. Maybe we could turn it into our secret hideout!” His eyes glittered mischievously. Himiko giggled.

“Yeah!” She hopped to her feet. “I’ll meet you there on Saturday, ‘kay? I gotta go, my parents’ll be mad if I stay out much longer.”

“What time?” Izuchan asked, getting up to follow her as she walked out.

She reached the door and slipped her shoes on. “Noon?”

Izuchan nodded. “Noon is good!”

“Okay! See you then!” She squeezed him in a quick hug, then bounced out the door.

“Bye, Himichan!”

Izuku closed out his latest coding lesson and opened a new tab, keyboard clicking as he typed in the website for the chatroom. It’d been a few days since he joined, but these people were already the best friends he’d ever had. Not that it was much of a contest.

GreenBean is online!

ThisBitchEmpty123: and that’s why you don’t microwave a pickle

GreenBean: Hiiiiii

GreenBean: Wait what

snorlax-use-yawn: Hey Greenie

ThisBitchEmpty123: yo green bean what’s up

NotACondiment: Hi

GreenBean: Hang on what’s this about microwaving a pickle

snorlax-use-yawn: Empty microwaved a pickle

GreenBean: Why

ThisBitchEmpty123: why not

GreenBean: You know what? Fair

ThisBitchEmpty123: alright subject change

ThisBitchEmpty123: has anyone seen the news about stain’s latest hit?

snorlax-use-yawn: Oh yeah it was that bitch with the swords right

snorlax-use-yawn: Fuckin uh shining knight or some shit

GreenBean: Wait really??

NotACondiment: Yeah apparently he was running a human trafficking ring on the side

ThisBitchEmpty123: he’s lucky stain got to him before i did

snorlax-use-yawn: I bet the HPSC swept it under the rug like they always do

snorlax-use-yawn: Protecting Japan my ass, they’re just protecting their public image

NotACondiment: ^^^

snorlax-use-yawn: This is the third hero he’s killed in Tokyo, right?

ThisBitchEmpty123: yup

GreenBean: What does that mean?

NotACondiment: We’ve picked up a pattern. He kills four heroes in each city, then moves onto the next one.

snorlax-use-yawn: So he’ll be killing one more in Tokyo

GreenBean: Isn’t that going to make it easier for him to get caught?

ThisBitchEmpty123: wdym?

GreenBean: If he kills four heroes in each city, then figure out what city he’s in and which heroes typically patrol there. Then narrow it down by working out which heroes he would deem false, get ahold of their patrol routes, determine the most likely areas that Stain would attack, and you’ve got him.

ThisBitchEmpty123: holy shit that’s rlly smart

snorlax-use-yawn: Damn kid that’s good. Don’t give the police that information.

GreenBean: Why not?

NotACondiment: Because so far all he’s killed are genuinely bad people who aren’t deserving of the title hero

GreenBean: But he’s still a villain, right?

ThisBitchEmpty123: he’s doing what the government is too scared to

ThisBitchEmpty123: they’re covering up all of the crimes and wrongdoings because they don’t want the public finding out that not all heroes are upstanding citizens

ThisBitchEmpty123: stain’s just opening people’s eyes

snorlax-use-yawn: Normally I’d say that he still shouldn’t murder people, maybe just cripple them, but a lot of these heroes are absolute pieces of shit who deserve to rot in hell

KnifeToMeetYou is online

KnifeToMeetYou: Ooh are we talking about Stainy?

NotACondiment: Oh great

GreenBean: ?

ThisBitchEmpty123: she has a crush on stain

GreenBean: U never told me that Himi

KnifeToMeetYou: Sorry Izu! It just never came up!

ThisBitchEmpty123: djkfnhviseurnhksueb

snorlax-use-yawn: Oh my gods u two are the cutest thing ever

GreenBean: What?

snorlax-use-yawn: Himi and Izu

snorlax-use-yawn: That is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen

KnifeToMeetYou: Aw, thanks Lax! You’re cute too! (っ ^ ▿ ^ )っ🎔

snorlax-use-yawn: <3

NotACondiment: Green isn’t talking

KnifeToMeetYou: You probably broke him! He’s not used to compliments!

ThisBitchEmpty123: i don’t think any of us are used to compliments

NotACondiment: True

snorlax-use-yawn: What depressing lives we live

Chapter Text

Himiko stifled a groan and resisted the urge to slam her head against her desk. The teacher continued his lecture in that boring-monotone-drab voice of his, oblivious to her suffering. The boy next to her had fallen asleep ten minutes ago. His cheek was squished against his desk, reminding her of Izuchan three days ago, when half of his face had been smooshed into his pillow. She smiled at the thought and turned to look at the boy again. He wasn’t as cute as Izuchan.

Finally, finally , the bell rang. Himiko shoved her things into her bag, uncaring of the mess, and practically flew out the door. In her opinion, the distance between her classroom and the exit of the school was way too much. Maybe she should learn parkour so she could jump out of the window.

“Himiko!” The familiar voice of one of her “friends” sounded from behind her. Himiko stopped in order to let her catch up. “Himiko!” Rika beamed as she slowed to a stop. “Almost lost you, there! Why are you in such a hurry?”

Because I wanted to avoid talking to you. The answer rang through Himiko’s mind, but she plastered on a smile (the normal-likable- fake one she’d rehearsed in the mirror daily because her real smile was too creepy-disturbing-weird) and resisted the urge to grab a knife and run it through Rika’s chest. The blood would have been so pretty.

“I just wanted to get away from that classroom as soon as possible,” Himiko forced out the half-truth. “Mr. Hirano is so boring .”

“Ugh, I know, right?” Rika grimaced. “Who even let him be a teacher? It’s impossible to learn anything when you’re half-asleep the whole time.” Himiko nodded and made a noise of agreement. “So,” Rika continued. “Have any plans this weekend?”

“Yup!” Himiko chirped, relishing in Rika’s eyes widened in surprise-confusion-curiosity. “I’m meeting up with a friend!”

“Really?” Rika tried and failed to hide her disbelief. “Who?”

Himiko shrugged. “Someone I met a few weeks ago.” Rika stayed silent, obviously waiting for her to elaborate, but Himiko said nothing. Rika sighed through her nose and switched topics.

“So how’d you do on the biology test? I’m pretty sure I bombed.”

“Eh,” Himiko said. “Coulda done better, but I think I passed.”

Rika huffed. “I don’t even know why we need bio anyways. Not like when I’m at my future job interview they’ll be like ‘Please identify the different parts of a human skin cell!’”

Himiko giggled. “Yeah, that’d be pretty weird.”

“Well, I gotta go,” Rika sighed. “My parents want me home early tonight for Dad’s birthday dinner. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Mm-hm!” They waved at each other as they split apart at the school’s exit, going in opposite directions. Once Rika was out of sight, Himiko huffed and pulled out her phone.

Himichan: Hi Angel! Whatcha doing?

Angel: Hi Himichan!! I just got home from school and I’m working on one of my coding lessons!!

Himichan: Ooh, really? How’s it going?

Angel: Great! It’s actually pretty easy!!

Himichan: Yay!!

Angel: Speaking of my coding lessons, I gotta go! About to take a timed test

Himichan: Aww, really?

Angel: Yeah, sry!!

Himichan: You’ll be online in the chat later tho, right??

Angel: Definitely!

Himichan: Alright, I’ll c u later then! \( *^ ▿ ^ *)/

Angel: Cya!!

Himiko sighed and pocketed her phone. Without Angel to talk to, the rest of her walk was gonna be super dull-boring-grey. She hummed a made-up tune and hopped on the cracks in the sidewalk. Maybe if she was lucky that old English superstition would come true and one of her parents’ backs would break. She giggled at the thought. “Step on a crack, break your momma’s back. Step on a line, break your dad’s spine.”

After what felt like forever , she was finally home. She waltzed through the door, just barely managing not to slam it behind her. Sadly, neither of her parents' backs were broken. Her mom was cooking dinner in the kitchen and her dad was watching tv. She ignored them, they ignored her, and she headed straight for her room, just like every other day.

Himiko shut her door behind her and hopped up on her bed, pulling out her laptop. She briefly considered shifting into Izuchan, but she didn’t have a lock on her door and even if she changed back before her parents saw, there’d still be a puddle of slime around her. Sighing, Himiko shook away the idea. She’d have to wait until she was alone to wear Izuchan’s face.

She opened up her computer and clicked onto the always-open tab with the chatroom. She’d been logged out because of inactivity so she had to log back in. The three seconds that it took her to do so felt like the longest three seconds of her life.

KnifeToMeetYou is online!

KnifeToMeetYou: Hiiiiiii

snorlax-use-yawn: ello

ChaosAgentNumber666: Hi Knifey!

ThisBitchEmpty123: yo wassup

ChinkenNunget: An octopus is a wet spider

ChaosAgentNumber666: I-

ThisBitchEmpty123: oh my gods ur right

snorlax-use-yawn: Y r u like this

ChinkenNunget: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

KnifeToMeetYou: I mean

KnifeToMeetYou: It’s not like he’s wrong

KnifeToMeetYou: (U r a he right now right?)

ChinkenNunget: (Yep)

snorlax-use-yawn: Ur all dead to me

ThisBitchEmpty123: anyways knife do u know where green is

ThisBitchEmpty123: he’s usually on rn

KnifeToMeetYou: Oh! Izu’s taking some online coding lessons rn! He’ll be online soon!!

ChaosAgentNumber666: Ooh coding??

KnifeToMeetYou: Yep!!

ChinkenNunget: ...So Greenie’s a hacker?

KnifeToMeetYou: Yes, but he technically hasn’t hacked into anything so also no

ThisBitchEmpty123: think i could convince him to change all of my grades to a’s?

ChaosAgentNumber666: Knowing Greenie, he’d offer to tutor u instead

ThisBitchEmpty123: i bet i could convince him

KnifeToMeetYou: No you couldn’t

ChaosAgentNumber666: ^

ChinkenNunget: ^

snorlax-use-yawn: ^

ThisBitchEmpty123: wow okay good to know that none of you have any faith in my persuasion abilities

ChaosAgentNumber666: It’s less about your ability to persuade him and more about the fact his sheer level of purity wouldn’t allow him to help you cheat

GreenBean is online!

Himiko squealed when the notification that Izuchan was online popped up. It had been forever since they had talked. Yes, half an hour did, in fact, count as forever. At least in Himiko’s mind it did. And besides, they hadn’t actually seen each other since Sunday, and it was Thursday! Himiko was feeling extreme Izuchan withdrawal.

ChinkenNunget: Oh hey Greenie we were just talking about u

GreenBean: U were??

snorlax-use-yawn: All good things, I promise

ThisBitchEmpty123: hey greenie do u think u could do me a favor

GreenBean: Sure! What do u need?

ChaosAgentNumber666: He’s not gonna do it

GreenBean: Do what?

ChinkenNunget: Empty wants u to hack into their school’s records and change all of his grades to a’s

KnifeToMeetYou: We all said you’d say no

GreenBean: Um

GreenBean: I could tutor u instead??

Aww, Izuchan was so cute! He was funny that way; he wouldn’t hack a school to give someone better grades, but he’d hack into the files of the HPSC to learn more about false heroes. It was one of the reasons Himiko loved him. And she did love him, despite the fact that most people would say it was too early for it to be anything but a crush. Himiko knew what a crush felt like, and this was not it.

ChaosAgentNumber666: CALLED IT

ChinkenNunget: lmaoooooo

ThisBitchEmpty123: godammit

snorlax-use-yawn: Green: 1, Empty: 0

GreenBean: I’m confused??

KnifeToMeetYou: Izuchan I want you to never change. Stay just the way you are

GreenBean: Okay??

ChaosAgentNumber666: Well now that that’s settled y’all wanna hear what my cat did today

snorlax-use-yawn: YES

ThisBitchEmpty123: YES

KnifeToMeetYou: PLEASE

ChinkenNunget: What hell has the gremlin unleashed upon the world this time

GreenBean: Don’t call him a gremlin!! He’s baby!!!

ChaosAgentNumber666: My mom had left her knitting supplies on the table and he knocked everything off, then got so tangled in the yarn that we had to cut him out. In the end he ruined 5 balls of yarn and a half-knitted scarf.

GreenBean: Nevermind he’s a gremlin

ThisBitchEmpty123: f

snorlax-use-yawn: f

ChinkenNunget: f

KnifeToMeetYou: f

Chapter Text

Izuku frowned as he looked over Himichan’s stance for what felt like the hundredth time and shifted his body to copy her as best as he could. Himichan beamed. “You’re doing great, Izuchan! Your form looks way better than when we started!”

“It is?” He made a face. “It doesn’t feel any better.”

“It is!” Himichan nodded so enthusiastically that Izuku worried she’d get whiplash. “Now, hold your knife like this…” She adjusted her grip on her knife, and Izuku mimicked her. “And slash!” Izuku studied her movements drinking in every detail he could and once again tried to replicate the action. She was right; he’d definitely improved since they’d started earlier. He was still nowhere near Himichan’s skill level, though.

“Alright,” Himichan proclaimed. “I’m bored! Let’s try something else now!”

Izuku knitted his brows. “Like what?”

“Close your eyes-” Himichan put her hands over her eyes. “-and count to five! Then, see if you can find me before I tag you!”

Frowning, Izuku walked over to his bag to place his borrowed knife on top and did as Himichan said. He counted to five, opened his eyes, and looked around. Himichan had vanished. Izuku turned in a slow circle, searching the sand for any footprints and listening carefully for any sudden sounds.

And then a giggle came from behind him, and he just barely managed to stop himself from yelping. Izuku whipped around, eyes wide, and Himichan giggled again, gently poking his nose with her finger. “Tag! Gotcha!”

“How’d you do that?” Izuku breathed out. “That was so cool!”

“It’s easy!” Himichan chirped. “All ya gotta do is hold your breath and clear your mind! Now let's go again!”

And so they went again. And again. And again. Izuku lost track after the sixth or seventh time Himichan scared the living daylights out of him.

This time, when he got to five, he kept his eyes closed and focused solely on what he could hear, which, right now, was nothing. He held in a sigh of frustration.

Wait. He tensed at the sound of shuffling from behind him and spun on his foot, blindly reaching out.  There was a yelp, and he opened his eyes to see Himichan with wide eyes as she stumbled forward and into Izuku, knocking them both down. Himichan landed on top of him.

For a moment, all they could do was stare at each other. Izuku’s gaze flicked from Himichan’s yellow eyes, her normally slitted pupils now expanded into dark circles, down to her lips, which were parted in a small, startled ‘o’ shape. Her tongue flitted out and ran across her mouth. He was suddenly very aware of her hands on his chest and her legs tangled in his.

Izuku’s face grew so hot that he was sure it had set fire. He quickly but gently pushed Himichan off of him and scrambled back, babbling stuttered apologies. Himichan giggled and his mouth snapped shut.

“It’s fine, Izuchan, I don’t care! I get in your personal space all the time, it’s not like this is any different!”

Izuku had nothing to say to that. He continued to stare at her. She stood up with a smile and helped him to his feet. “It’s starting to get dark, so I think that’s enough for today! Your house is closer, so I’ll walk ya there!”

Izuku nodded blankly, brain still screaming, and allowed her to hand him his bag while she returned her knives to whatever pocket dimension she always seemed to pull them from. They picked their way past the mounds of trash and junk until they finally reached the sidewalk where Himichan turned to him with a bright grin. “Same time next week?” She asked, and Izuku nodded in response. Himichan beamed. “Great! I’ll see ya then!” She bounced forward and wrapped him in a hug. “Bye!”

She was ten feet away before Izuku found his voice. “Um, b-bye Himichan!” She looked back and waved, then continued skipping down the sidewalk.

By the time he got home, Izuku was fairly sure his blush was gone, but he hurried to his room just in case, announcing to his mom that he was home and going to take a shower. If she said anything in reply, Izuku didn’t hear it.

He grabbed a fresh pair of underwear and some pajamas- managing to slow down just enough that he didn’t slam any drawers- and made his way to the bathroom. He wasn’t lying about the shower part; he was covered in sand, but he also needed a place away from his mother in order to get his raging hormones under control. He really hated being a teenager sometimes.

As he stripped out of his clothes and stepped into the water, he wondered what would have happened had he not pushed Himichan off of him. Would she have stood up on her own and acted like nothing had happened? Would they have kept training?

Would she have kissed him?

Izuku’s hands stilled from where they had been lathering up his hair. What would it be like to kiss Himichan? She’d probably bite. He could imagine her nipping just hard enough to break the skin, then lapping up whatever blood welled up from the wound. A shiver went down his spine and he shook his head quickly, trying to dispel the thought.

He wasn’t successful.

Himiko flounced into her room, flopped onto her bed, and squealed into her pillow. Her heart felt like it was going to burst with exhilaration-pleasure-elation. She bit her lip and rolled onto her back, squeezing her pillow to her chest. She had seen the look on Izuchan’s face.He was red as a tomato! Of course, it could’ve just been from embarrassment, but Himiko was skilled at reading people. Izuchan was at least mildly attracted to her. Probably a small crush, nothing like how Himichan felt for him. But still, Izuchan had a crush on her! She lifted her pillow to her face and squealed into it again. This was the most amazing-fantastic-wonderful she had felt in so long, and it was, as always, thanks to her darling Angel!

Chapter Text

Summer break had started, meaning Katsuki had an entire month free of school and he was taking full advantage of that. His usual scowl was in place as he stalked down the sidewalk, towel thrown over his shoulder. He didn’t bother weaving through the crowd; people would move out of his way as soon as they made eye contact. The perks of having a resting bitch face.

Katsuki silently thanked the soft breeze that would pick up every now and then, providing a much-needed break from the unrelenting summer sun. The weatherman had said it would be cloudy that day, but clearly the weatherman was a fucking dumbass since there wasn’t a goddamn cloud in the sky. With the amount of sweat pouring off of him, Katsuki would be able to supply the entire fucking Japanese military with enough explosives to last a decade. He cursed the weatherman again and shoved his way past some dumbass businessman. The man grabbed his arm and was probably about to start spouting some bullshit about respecting your elders, but one rage-filled glare had the idiot sputtering an apology and scurrying in the other direction. Katsuki smirked and continued his walk home.

A voice caught his attention, familiar and foriegn at the same time. The tone and words didn’t match the person that was saying them. When Katsuki finally caught sight of the source, a feeling of wrongness set in.

“Deku?”

Deku either didn’t hear Katsuki or was purposefully ignoring him. Either way it pissed him off. He was ordering ice cream from some dumbass-looking ice cream truck. The nerd handed a wad of cash to the dead-eyed employee and took his ice cream.

“Oi, Deku!”

Deku startled and glanced around until his gaze fell on Katsuki. His brows furrowed for a moment before his eyes widened and he smiled.

(The nerd’s smile wasn’t supposed to look like that)

(But when was the last time Katsuki had seen him smile?)

“Kacchan? What’re you doing here?”

Katsuki scowled. “Walking home from the gym, what the fuck do ya think, Deku?”

Something flashed through Deku’s eyes, but it was quick enough that it could’ve been a trick of the light. His face transformed into that of the nervous weakling Katsuki knew so well. “S-Sorry, Kacchan. That was a stupid question.”

Katsuki grunted in reply. “So what the fuck’re you doing around here?”

“J-Just thought I’d go for a stroll,” Deku chuckled timidly. “It’s a nice day out.”

Katsuki raised an eyebrow. “It’s fucking hot as hell outside and your house is a twenty-five minute walk away.”

“I just, uh, just thought a-a change of scenery would, um, would be nice.” The nerd explained with a shrug. “And th-the heat is what the ice cream is for!” That drew Katsuki’s attention to the ice cream Deku had bought. His eyes narrowed.

“What the fuck is that? Since when do you buy anything besides All Might-flavored shit?”

“Oh! It’s pomegranate! I, uh, I’ve been getting A-All Might-” A grimace flickered across his face. “-ice cream for so long that I, uh, I thought I’d try something else!” Katsuki snorted disbelievingly.

“Right, sure. Like I’d believe something like that. The fuck is up with you, Deku?” Deku’s eyes narrowed slightly at the name, but he stayed silent, instead choosing to lick his ice cream. Katsuki’s scowl grew deeper. “Fucking answer me, Deku! You’ve been really fucking weird lately!”

“There’s nothing up with me, Kacchan!” The statement was missing Deku’s ever-present stutter. “And even if there was, I don’t see why it would be any of your business!” Katsuki growled. 

“The fuck did you say to me?” Explosions popped off of Katsuki’s palms, but the nerd didn’t flinch like he usually did. Sure, he tensed and his eyes grew wide and fearful, but there was no trembling, no apologizing, no quickening of the breath.

(But was that really fear in his eyes? Or something else?)

“S-Sorry Kacchan!”

Katsuki huffed. “Whatever. Stupid fucking Deku.”

Deku turned his attention back to his ice cream, pausing when his phone went off. Except that it couldn’t have been Deku’s phone, because that ringtone was wrong. Instead of All Might shouting “I AM HERE!,” it was the sound of someone laughing. Katsuki frowned, positive that it was a laugh he should recognize. He’d heard it somewhere before, he knew it, but it must’ve been so long ago that the only thing left of the memory was a vague recollection.

Deku grinned down at his phone - a grin Katsuki had never seen on him before - before pocketing it. “Sorry, Kacchan, but I gotta run. Seeya later!”

And then he was gone.

Katsuki blinked, looking around, but it was as if Deku had vanished into thin air. He growled and stalked away, continuing on his route home. What the hell was going on with him? He’d almost seemed like a completely different person. Was this what Deku was usually like? Was the timid, stuttering wimp act just that- an act? Katsuki snarled. Deku was probably still somewhere nearby, thinking about his encounter with Katsuki and laughing. Deku was looking down on him! That quirkless fucker still thought he was better than Katsuki.

Fine then, thought Katsuki. If Deku thinks he’s better than me, I’ll just have to do even more to prove him wrong when school starts up again. He smirked and shoved his hands into his pockets. He’d show Deku his place.

With that settled, he pushed away the feeling of wrongness that was slithering down his spine. No way a quirkless weakling like Deku could actually be of any threat to Katsuki.

Chapter Text

Izuku had just finished typing up the last lines of code for his newest lesson when the doorbell rang, followed by rapid knocking. He grinned. Right on time .

“Izuku, Himiko’s here!” His mother called out. He heard her open the door to greet his friend and quickly submitted his assignment, standing up right as Himichan flew into his bedroom.

“Izuchan!” She cheered, throwing herself at him and squeezing him into a hug (Although arguments could be made that it was an attempt to suffocate him). Izuku smiled and hugged her back, then dragged her to his desk, where he’d already had an extra chair pulled up in preparation for her arrival. She plopped herself down and moved the laptop in-between them. “So, what do ya wanna do?”

Izuku chuckled. “Didn’t you come over so I could help you with your summer homework?”

Himichan pouted. “Well, yeah, but I figured we should have some fun first!”

“Homework first,” Izuku said. “Then fun.”

“Ugh, fine !” Himichan groaned dramatically, pulling out a stack of papers and notebooks from her backpack. “So what are we starting with?”

Izuku hummed in thought. “You said you were assigned an essay, right? Let's do that, since it’ll take the longest and the sooner you start the better it’ll be when you finish.”

Himichan huffed and pouted, but separated her History materials from the rest of her things and pushed everything else to the floor. Izuku rolled his eyes with an affectionate smile and looked over the topic. An essay about the dangers of drug abuse. Huh. They could work with that.

Himichan was… better at this than most people would have thought. She knew how to describe things in a way that didn’t make you feel like falling asleep after reading two sentences. She struggled with the organization aspect, but Izuku was able to help her make it sound less like a caffeine-induced ramble and more like a planned, well thought-out article.

After forty-five minutes of working Himichan declared she’d had enough and shoved all of her things into her bag. Izuku chucked fondly but obliged, closing out the tabs they’d been using.

“So,” Himichan prompted. “Do ya got any new analyses you wanna show off?”

“Oh!” Izuku perked up. “I do! There’s this underground hero I’ve started watching; his name’s Eraserhead! Here, I’ve downloaded a few clips I found of him.” He scrolled through the files on his laptop, choosing not to mention that the majority of these clips were from security cameras he’d hacked. “Here! Look at this!”

The video he had chosen showed Eraserhead taking down a trio of would-be assaulters, allowing a young teen and his friend to escape. Himichan watched with wide eyes. “What’s he doing? Why aren’t they- Oh! Can he cancel quirks?”

“Yep!” Izuku grinned, grabbing his latest analysis notebook and flipping to the Eraserhead page. “He can cancel the quirk of anyone he looks at! When it’s activated, his hair floats up-” Izuku made a wavy motion with his hands, imitating Eraserhead’s hair. “-and I’m pretty sure it turns off when he blinks! Oh, and see here at the end,” He skipped to the end of the video, where Eraserhead had taken off his goggles and was squeezing something into his eyes. “Those look like eye drops. With how long he has to go without blinking, I bet he has dry eye.”

Izuku had written all of this down, of course. He switched to a different part of the clip, one he had sketched out, which showed Eraserhead using his scarf as a weapon. “I’m pretty sure it’s called a capture weapon,” He said, tapping his drawing with the eraser end of his pencil. “It’s like he’s controlling it with his mind. Must’ve taken years of practice to figure out.”

“But what happens if it gets caught on something?” Himichan questioned, putting her finger to her chin. “Wouldn’t that hinder him?”

“Yeah, but he’s prepared for that!” Izuku closed out the clip and opened up another one. “Look at this one, right about…” He skipped along the video until he found the part he was looking for and paused. “Here! See, the villain has grabbed onto his scarf and he can’t get it free. So he has a knife in order to cut it! Of course, seeing as how the capture weapon has been able to undergo a lot of stuff without getting damaged, I bet that’s a knife that was made specifically for cutting it in case of an emergency. And he can also use it as a back-up weapon! Smart, huh?”

Himichan nodded eagerly. “Do ya have anything else?”

“Ehh, no, not really.” Izuku shrugged. “Like I said, he’s an underground hero, so he’s really secretive. I haven’t been able to find much else on him, but I’m still looking! I’m trying to figure out whether he went to UA or not, ‘cause if he did, then I can find a clip of him at the Sports Festival!”

“Well tell me when ya find some more stuff, ‘kay?”

“Of course!” Izuku beamed, putting away his notebook and closing out the files on Eraserhead. “So what have you been up to lately?”

“Hmm,” She tapped her chin in thought. “Oh! I ran into Kacchan the other day! He really is just like you described him!”

“O-Oh, really?” Izuku shifted in his chair, then frowned. “Wait. How did you know it was Kacchan?”

“I was wearing you and he called me Deku!”

“You- You were what?”

“Wearing you,” Himichan seemed to deflate, looking down at her hands. “You… You don’t mind, do you? I just… My skin felt all itchy and you had already given me permission to drink your blood so I didn’t think you’d mind, but I can stop doing that if you don’t like it. I’m really sorry, please don’t be mad-”

“Whoa, hey.” Izuku placed his hands on top of Himichan’s. She looked up at him, bottom lip trembling. “It’s okay, I don’t mind. I was just a bit confused, is all. You can, um, you can wear me anytime you like. Just as long as you don’t do anything that would get me in trouble or embarrass me. Okay?”

Himichan nodded eagerly, immediately switching from her chair to his and wrapping him up in a tight hug. “Thank you, Izuchan. Thank you so much.” Izuku chose not to concentrate on the fact that she was now sitting in his lap and returned the hug.

“Of course, Himichan. Just ask next time, okay?”

“Okay,” She said, voice muffled from where she had buried her face in his shoulder. “You’re a great friend, you know that?”

Izuku smiled softly. “Thanks, Himichan.”

Chapter Text

ThisBitchEmpty123 is online!

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid is online!

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Oh gods what did you two do this time

GreenBean: Wait how do you know they did something

ThisBitchEmpty123: exactly what makes you think we’ve done anything

NotACondiment: Whenever the 2 of u get on at the same time it means u did something

the_kraken: ^^^What ze said

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: that’s fair

KnifeToMeetYou: So what did u do???

ChaosAgentNumber666: Oooooh this is gonna be good

ThisBitchEmpty123: we uh

ThisBitchEmpty123: we may have um

the_kraken: you what

the_kraken: finish the sentence you coward

ChaosAgentNumber666: Come on tell ussssss

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: We got banned from our local grocery store

Lord-Of-The-Fries: what

NotACondiment: Ofc u did

ChaosAgentNumber666: LMAOOOOO

the_kraken: Why am I not surprised

KnifeToMeetYou: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

GreenBean: wha

GreenBean: how

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Please tell me you weren’t racing shopping carts down the aisles

ThisBitchEmpty123: of course not

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Then what were you doing

ThisBitchEmpty123: i sat in a cart screaming while void pushed me down the aisles

ChaosAgentNumber666: Why was I not invited

KnifeToMeetYou: Did you run someone over

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: Sadly, no

GreenBean: How is what you said different from what Fries said

NotACondiment: It’s not

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: Actually, it is

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Explain how it’s different

the_kraken: Yes, please enlifhten us

ChaosAgentNumber666: enlifhten

the_kraken: You know what i fucking meant

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: anyways

ThisBitchEmpty123: you see, fries used the word “racing”

ThisBitchEmpty123: “racing” implies that we were competing with someone, but seeing as how void and i were the only two in the store who were participating in this activity, there is no one we could have been competing with

ThisBitchEmpty123: therefore, we were not, in fact, “racing”

Lord-Of-The-Fries: I am going to strangle you

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: shit

ChaosAgentNumber666: Run

GreenBean: Rip Empty and Void

ThisBitchEmpty123: wait no please i still have so much to live for

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Too late

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Green I need their location

ThisBitchEmpty123: please there’s so many people i haven’t pranked yet

KnifeToMeetYou: You will be remembered fondly-ish

GreenBean: What makes you think I can find their location?

ChaosAgentNumber666: Hacking, duh

the_kraken: See you in hell

NotACondiment: Say hi to Satan for me

GreenBean: Sorry but I’m not gonna hac their accounts

GreenBean: hack*

KnifeToMeetYou: Awwww cmon Izu it’ll be fuuuuun

GreenBean: No

KnifeToMeetYou: (ρﾟ∩ﾟ)

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: Aw now look wat you did you made her sad

GreenBean: I am not going to assist in murdering anyone

KnifeToMeetYou: Yet

GreenBean: What

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: Knife stop corrupting him

KnifeToMeetYou: Ur no fun

ChinkenNunget is online!

NotACondiment: Shit

ChaosAgentNumber666: Nugs no

ThisBitchEmpty123: yesss nugs what knowledge do you have to share with us today

the_kraken: Nugs please don’t

ChinkenNunget: You could throw a lock into a lake and be the last person to touch that rock until the end of time

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

NotACondiment: SHIT

GreenBean: I-

ThisBitchEmpty123: nugs has once again blessed us with their wisdom i am eternally grateful

the_kraken: That’s it I’m leaving

the_kraken: goodbye

KnifeToMeetYou: Oooooh Izuchan lets try it out

KnifeToMeetYou: But like. With a knife

GreenBean: But thats wasting a perfectly good knife

KnifeToMeetYou: Tru

Lord-Of-The-Flies: Nugs why do you do this

ChinkenNunget: :)

snorlax-use-yawn is online!

KnifeToMeetYou: Hiiiiiii Laxie!!!! (*＾▽＾)／

snorlax-use-yawn: What's up fuckers

GreenBean: Hi Lax!!!

ChaosAgentNumber666: Yo whassup

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: lax whatever u do do not scroll up

snorlax-use-yawn: I see nugs got here before me

snorlax-use-yawn: I will not ask

the_kraken: That’s probably for the best

ThisBitchEmpty123: aw ur no fun

snorlax-use-yawn: It is too early for me to have an existential crisis

GreenBean: It’s 6pm

snorlax-use-yawn: exactly

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: You know what that’s fair

ChinkenNunget: Hey didn’t u have like a big test today or some shit

Lord-Of-The-Flies: Oh yeah how did that go

snorlax-use-yawn: Not good

GreenBean: No I’m sure you did great!!

snorlax-use-yawn: I stayed up all night studying, yawned once during the test, and put half the class plus the teacher to sleep

ThisBitchEmpty123: oh damn

GreenBean: Oh yea that’s not good

snorlax-use-yawn: yeah ya think

Lord-Of-The-Flies: So what happened afterwards? Did they give you another chance or something?

snorlax-use-yawn: Yeah they’re letting the entire class retest but they’re putting me in a separate room

ChinkenNunget: Well that’s lucky at least

GreenBean: I gotta go, my moms calling me

GreenBean: Good luck with your test, Lax! Talk to y’all later!!

KnifeToMeetYou: Aw, bye Izu!!

ThisBitchEmpty123: byeeeeeee

NotACondiment: Cya

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: Adios

GreenBean is offline!

Chapter Text

Inko hummed as she scrubbed a plate, smiling at the laughter she could hear coming from her son’s room. She was glad Izuku had finally found a friend. She wasn’t blind, she knew that things had been tough for him recently at school. She had tried going to the principal about it, but he had just waved her away, claiming that “kids will be kids” and “if he can’t handle a little fooling around then how could he handle real life?”

Inko scowled at the memory. What she wouldn’t give for her baby to have a quirk. Not that being quirkless made her love him any less, but she knew life would be easier for the both of them had he developed even a weaker version of her or Hisashi’s quirks.

Himiko trotted out of Izuku’s room, Izuku following close behind. “Oh, are you leaving already?” Inko asked, setting the plate aside and drying her hands on her apron.

“Yeah, my parents said I had to be home by dark!” Himiko chirped. She paused by the door and gave a wide grin. “I’ll see you tomorrow, though, okay?”

“See you tomorrow, sweetie. Have a nice evening. Be safe on the way home!” Himiko nodded, hugged Izuku goodbye, then hopped out the door. Izuku watched her leave with a look on his face that Inko knew all too well. She smiled knowingly as her son turned back to her. “So how was your day, Izuku?”

“It was great!” Izuku beamed, bouncing in place. “Himiko helped me go over some of my notes for this new hero, Doodlebug! Basically, her quirk is that she can make drawings come to life! There was this one clip where she was tracking down a thief with an invisibility quirk, so she used some graffiti of a wolf to make an actual wolf and had it sniff out where he was. She’s super creative, I don’t think many other heroes would have thought of using street art!”

“That’s very cool, sugar!” Inko smiled. “So you and Himiko had a lot of fun then?”

“M-Mom!” Izuku stammered, ears red. “Not like that!”

“Mhm.” Inko turned back to the dishes, eyes glittering in a way that had Izuku power walking to his room with the stammered excuse of summer homework. She let out an amused huff and picked up the plate she’d been washing, resuming her humming.

Really, the changes in Izuku ever since he had met Himiko were amazing. Having someone besides his mother who didn’t care about his quirklessness, someone his own age, no less, was something Inko had wanted for her son since he was little. And Himiko was such a sweet girl, too, even if she was a little too obsessed with blood for Inko’s liking. Still, what could you expect from someone with a quirk like hers? Not that Inko was prejudiced or anything. She knew that some quirks came with certain… oddities. Himiko’s just happened to give her a certain craving for blood, one that she knew Izuku was helping her with (even if he did try to hide it).

If Izuku had anyone besides Inko and Himiko, perhaps she would’ve tried to subtly steer him away from the girl. But with Izuku’s condition, well, it’s not like he would be finding any other friends anytime soon, especially not with how the kids at school were treating him. Inko wondered how things would have been had Katsuki stuck by Izuku’s side like he’d promised as a child. Izuku still wouldn’t be able to be a hero, Inko was sure of that, but maybe his life so far would have been better. But Katsuki hadn’t stayed loyal, and there was no changing that, so it was useless to dwell on it.

And so, even while their relationship was certainly not ordinary, Inko could do nothing but encourage Izuku and Himiko’s friendship. Besides, it was clear that Izuku had feelings for the girl, even if he hadn’t realized it yet. She hoped Himiko wouldn’t let him down like all his other crushes had. There had been one girl he’d liked, Haruka, who hadn’t really accepted Izuku’s quirklessnes, just ignored it like one would ignore an unpleasant habit. But she had quickly learned that being around Izuku meant having a target on your back, and she’d dropped him after two weeks. Izuku had been heartbroken, so Inko had called in sick that weekend and they’d spent the entire time eating ice cream and katsudon and watching All Might movies.

Himiko was already better than Haruka in multiple ways: She’d embraced Izuku’s disability, stuck with him for almost four months now, and she didn’t go to Aldera, so there was no chance of her being bullied out of her friendship with him. Inko had hopes that maybe they could grow to be something more for each other, but even if they only remained friends, Inko would be happy.

She paused, wondering what it said about her that she, a devoted mother, was happy that her son had one friend. That was not something most mothers would be happy about. And yet Inko couldn’t stop smiling. She figured that with Izuku as a son, she wasn’t like most mothers. That was fine with her.

Chapter Text

Katsuki growled as he stalked down the sidewalk, kicking a pebble out of his way. That’s what Deku was supposed to be, a tiny pebble on Katsuki’s path to glory. But recently, the fucking nerd had gotten it into his head that he was actually more than just a quirkless nobody. Katsuki was gonna find that little piece of shit and tear him apart.

It didn’t take long to find him. Despite not having been his friend for a good ten years, Katsuki still knew practically everything about him. Not like he had anything to hide, anyway.

Katsuki grinned when he finally spotted Deku on his way home from the library, clutching what Katsuki assumed was some hero’s autobiography or some shit. Deku was into that kind of crap.

“Oi, fucking Deku!” Deku jumped and turned, eyes narrowing when he saw Katsuki.

“What is it, Kacchan?”

Katsuki was momentarily stunned by the lack of whimpering or trembling, but he shook it off with a growl. “You’ve been really fucking weird lately. What, did you finally give up on that hopeless fucking dream of yours?”

“For your information, that dream wasn’t hopeless. But yes, I did 'give it up,' as you put it. Satisfied?”

Katsuki scowled and stalked forward until he was inches away from Deku, explosions popping off his palms. “The fuck is up with that tone?! You think you’re better than me or something?! Huh?! A quirkless weakling like you ?!”

Deku stiffened, eyes taking on a gleam that Katsuki had never seen in them before. “I’m not claiming to be better than you. But you are definitely not better than me, or anyone else for that matter,” he hissed, leaning forward. “And I am not weak.”

Katsuki snarled and grabbed the front of Deku’s shirt, pulling him forward so forcefully that he dropped his book. “The fuck did you just say to me, you useless piece of trash? Do I need to remind you exactly how worthless you are?”

“Let me go,” Deku said quietly, eyes cold. It sent a shiver down Katsuki’s spine, but he didn’t move. He tightened his hold on Deku’s shirt.

“Not until you remember your fucking place.” He tossed Deku to the ground and aimed a small explosion at him, but the quirkless weakling rolled out of the way and launched himself at Katsuki.

Katsuki suddenly found himself on his back, with Deku on top of him, arms pinned to his sides by Deku’s knees, and a knife under his throat.

Izuku resisted the urge to smile. He shouldn’t smile while holding a knife to someone’s throat. Even if that someone was Kacchan. He could hear the way Kacchan’s breath had sped up, feel the way Kacchan had tensed up under him. It reminded him of when Kacchan had been held captive by the sludge villain, but this was… different. Better. The fear in Kacchan’s eyes wasn’t caused by some random villain, it was caused by Izuku. The thought that Izuku could have this effect on Kacchan made him giddy.

He slowly moved the knife to Kacchan’s cheek and cut a thin line, observing the blood well up and dribble down his face. Himichan would have loved this. Thinking of Himichan made him wish she were here with him, watching as he made Kacchan bleed. As he made him suffer.

“I told you I wasn’t weak,” Izuku said softly, wiping away the blood and watching as more soon took its place. “So don’t ever call me that again. Don’t call me useless, don’t call me worthless, don’t call me trash, don’t call me Deku.” The last word was spat out like it was a rotten piece of fruit. He leaned down so his mouth was right next to Kacchan’s ear, pressing the knife so it left another cut on his cheek. “Got it?”

Kacchan nodded, apparently too shocked to say anything, and Izuku slowly, reluctantly, moved the knife away from his face. He stood up and stepped away, slipping the knife back into its sheath, and watched as Kacchan pushed himself to his feet, shaking. They locked eyes, and for a few seconds, both of them were still. Silent.

Kacchan was the first to look away. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and stalked away, trying and failing to look like he still had his pride intact. Izuku wrinkled his nose and rolled his eyes, staring until Kacchan had turned a corner and was out of sight, before pulling out his phone and picking up his book. He clicked on Himichan’s name and put the phone up to his ear, grinning when she picked up almost immediately.

“Izuchan! Hi! What’s up?”

“Hi, Himichan! I just had a run-in with Kacchan.”

“Omigosh, really? You’re okay, right? Did ya use your knife?”

Izuku giggled. “I’m perfectly fine, Himichan. And yes, I did use my knife. He looked…” He smiled and closed his eyes, recalling the image of Kacchan helpless underneath him, eyes filled with nothing but fear. “He looked terrified. It was amazing.”

“Aw, I wish I had been there to see it!” Izuku could perfectly imagine the pout on Himichan’s face. “I bet you looked so cute! Please tell me you at least cut him a little bit!”

“Of course,” Izuku replied. “I wonder how he’s going to explain it to Auntie Mitsuki. I doubt he’ll want to admit that I did that to him.”

“Oh, I’m so proud of you Izuchan! I’m glad your training’s paid off!”

“Me too,” Izuku hugged his book closer to his chest. “Thanks so much for helping me, Himichan. I… I couldn’t have done that without you.”

“Aw, you don’t have to thank me, Izuchan! It was really no problem. Honestly, it was fun doing all of that with you!”

“Still, thank you,” Izuku smiled. “Himichan, I-”

He froze.

“Izuchan? Izuchan, what’s wrong?”

Sirens. Screaming. Smoke. All coming from the direction of his apartment building.

Chapter Text

Izuku ran.

Some part of him absently registered that his phone was still on, Himichan’s voice filtering through the speakers, so he hung up and slipped it into his pocket.

He kept running.

He skidded to a stop when he caught sight of the apartment complex.

The blaze was massive; it had already engulfed two of the buildings and was reaching towards a third.

Izuku’s apartment was in one of those two buildings.

Mom.

Izuku ran forward and pushed through the crowd of spectators, elbowing and shoving his way to the front, where a line of police officers was keeping them from moving any closer.

“Please, I need to get through! That’s- that’s my house, my mom is up there, please, let me-”

“Surrender, villain scum!”

Izuku’s head whipped towards the shout, where some hero he vaguely recognized as a sidekick from the Endeavor agency was facing off against a villain. They shot off a flame that just barely missed the criminal and lit a bush alight. The firefighters quickly extinguished it.

No. No no no no no no no. His mom was not going to die just because some, stupid, idiotic, careless fucking hero couldn’t do their job right. Izuku turned back towards the crowd and began weaving through it, searching for a familiar face.

“Mom! Mom! Mom, please- Mr. Kuuhaku.” He clutched at the man’s elbow, eyes desperate and pleading. “Mr. Kuuhaku, please, do you know where my mom is?”

Kuuhaku shook his head. “I was out getting groceries when I came back and saw this. Think I saw Inko on my way out, but I don’t know if she was leaving or coming back.”

Izuku didn’t bother to reply. He moved past him, questioning onlookers, frantically searching, until- No. Oh gods, please, no.

Laying on a stretcher, skin stained with ash and angry red burns, hair practically incinerated, was the unmistakable form of his mother.

“Mom.” His voice came out cracked and scared, like a toddler who’d just had a nightmare. “Mom?” He stumbled forward, as close as he could before a police officer stopped him.

“I’m sorry young man, but you can’t go any further. Please remain where you are-”

“Please,” Izuku pleaded, futilely shoving at the officer’s arms. “Please, that’s- that’s my mom, I have to see her, I have to see if-”

“Kid, I’m sorry, but if she’s in that bad of a state, she’s dead,” The officer said after a two-second glance at Izuku’s mother. “If it’s any comfort, she most likely died of smoke inhalation before most of the flames reached her, so she didn’t suffer.”

She’s dead.

The words rang through Izuku’s head, over and over, growing louder the longer he stared at his mom’s corpse body. One of the medics pressed two fingers to her forehead (A diagnostic quirk?), then shook their head and stepped backward. A few seconds later a white sheet was laid on top of her and the medics moved on.

She’s dead. She’s dead. She’s dead. She’s dead. She’s dead. She’s dea-

A broken sob tore its way out of Izuku’s throat as he stumbled backward, then turned heel and ran. A few people tried to stop him, asking if he was okay (obviously he wasn’t), but he shook them all off and kept running.

He ran and ran and ran, eyes blurry and swimming, throat so choked he felt like he was drowning.

And then he tripped. He remembered Himichan teaching him how to fall correctly, how to roll upright and keep going, but he couldn’t even find the energy to try to catch himself with his hands. He curled up in a ball on the empty sidewalk, hugging his knees to his chest.

He could have been there for five minutes or five hours, tears falling from his cheeks and splattering the sidewalk below him.

Someone placed their hand on his arm.

“Izuchan?”

As soon as Izuchan had hung up, Himiko felt a rush of panic-worry-distress, opened the tracking app they’d both installed, and pinpointed the little blue dot on her screen that indicated Izuku’s location. She flew out of the house without a word to her parents and ran.

Himiko finally found Izuku almost a mile away from his apartment, on the ground, shoulders shaking as he cried. She raced over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Izuchan?”

Izuchan looked up, eyes swimming with tears and filled with so much sorrow-grief-defeat that Himiko’s heart broke. She wanted to stab whatever had made her Angel feel like this.

“Oh, Izuchan.” She fell to her knees and pulled him into her arms, resting his head in the crook of her neck. “Shh, it’s okay, Angel, I’m here.” Himiko ran her fingers through Izuchan’s hair, untangling the curls as gently as she could. “What happened, Izu?”

Izuchan shook his head and pressed harder into her embrace, clutching her shirt like a lifeline. “H-Himichan…” His voice sounded so broken-hopeless-lost. She squeezed him tighter as if she could chase away the sadness by the pure force of her will.

“She’s gone,” he whispered, so quietly that if he hadn’t been this close, Himiko doubted she would have heard him at all. “They- they said-” He choked on the words. “They said she was-” Another wave of sobbing made him break off, but Himiko could guess what he was trying to say. She could do nothing but hold Izuchan close and whisper condolences in his ear. She wished it was enough, oh god, how she wished this was all it would take to make his pain go away.

But Izuchan kept crying. So Himiko kept holding him.

“Oi, the fuck’re you kids doing in the middle of the sidewalk? Get outta the fuckin’ way.”

Himiko sent an angry-protective-furious glare at the man, who snorted and walked around them, lightly shoving Izuchan as he passed. She wanted to stab him. But Izuchan was more important.

“C’mon, Angel,” she whispered. “Let’s find somewhere better to sit, okay?”

Izuchan didn’t respond, but then again, Himiko didn’t expect him to. She helped him to his feet and led him down the sidewalk, looking for somewhere they wouldn’t be disturbed.

Well, she thought as they came upon a relatively clean alley. This looks good enough. She sat them behind a large dumpster, out of sight of anyone on the sidewalk. Izuchan still hadn’t spoken a word. Himiko held him tighter.

“Himichan…” he whispered eventually, when his trembling had lessened and his grip on her shirt had loosened. “What am I gonna do?”

“I don’t know, Izuchan,” Himiko replied quietly. “But I’m not gonna let go.”

And she didn’t let go. Even when her limbs grew stiff, even when the sun sank below the horizon, even when Izuchan fell asleep, cheeks still wet with tears, Himiko did not let go.

Chapter Text

Himiko awoke to crying. She opened her eyes slowly, taking a moment to take in her surroundings before her brain fully registered Izuchan crying into her shoulder.

“Izuchan,” she whispered, running her fingers through his green curls. “Shh, it’s alright, I’m here.”

“S-Sorry,” Izuchan hiccuped, looking up at her with watery green eyes that filled Himiko with rage-protectiveness-heartbreak. “I-I didn’t… I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“No, it’s okay, Angel,” she soothed. “I’m glad you did. I don’t want you to go through this alone.”

Izuchan sniffled and buried his head in her shoulder, shoulders shaking with silent sobs. The tears that didn’t end up soaking her shirt, Himiko wiped away, until she was gently caressing his cheek. She pressed a kiss to his forehead and continued soothing him until, after who knew how long, he let out one last broken-quiet-shuddering breath and was still.

“That’s it Izuchan, everything’s okay. I’ve got you, remember? And I’m never, ever letting go.”

Never, she promised herself. Even if she were dying and letting go would save her life, she would never leave her Angel. And she would kill anyone who tried to make her.

“Himichan,” Izuchan drew her out of her head with just a whisper. “You gotta go back home.”

Her grip on him tightened. “And what about you?”

“I-” He cut off, as if he were only then realizing he should worry about himself. “I guess I’ll… I’ll have to go to the police. Mo-” His lips pressed into a thin line. “Auntie Mitsuki is my godmother. They’ll send me to live with… with her.”

“Auntie Mitsuki…” Himiko’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “Kacchan’s mother. They’ll send you to live with him .” She spat. Izuchan nodded absently. “No. Absolutely not. I will not let them send you to that stupid, sorry fucking excuse for a human being.”

“But- But I can’t stay with you…” Izuchan’s bottom lip trembled. “Your parents would never allow it…”

“Then we’ll run away,” Himiko huffed. “We’ll run away together and we’ll never let them catch us.”

“H-Himichan!” Izuchan sputtered. “You- You can’t! I-I can’t… I can’t ask you to leave your home for me!”

“Please, that place is hardly a home ,” she snorted. “And you’re not asking me, I’m telling you. You’re obviously not gonna live with… with them and I’m not letting you stay on the streets on your own. So I’m coming with you, and that’s final.”

“Himichan, I-” Izuchan choked on a sob and Himiko hugged him close to her chest. “Thank you.” He whispered into her neck.

“Always, Izuchan. Always.”

It was Himichan who had suggested it.

“My parents aren’t gonna be home from work for hours,” she’d said as she pulled Izuku to his feet. “We can go and grab whatever we need and be gone before they get there.”

Izuku had nodded silently, content to let Himichan do the thinking, for now, his brain still numb with shock and grief.

When they were slipping in through Himichan’s bedroom window, it occurred to Izuku that this would be the first time he’d ever been to Himichan’s house, and yet she practically lived at his.

Or she used to, at least.

He stopped that train of thought immediately and watched Himichan dump everything from her backpack onto the floor, giving it a few shakes to make sure everything was out.

“Here.” She tossed the bag in Izuku’s direction and he caught it clumsily. “I think my parents have a duffel bag in their room. We can fill my backpack with clothes and put the food in the duffel bag.”

She tapped her chin in thought. “I’ll grab the first-aid kit from the bathroom, too. And some of our extra blankets. Don’t think we’ll be able to take pillows, though. They’d take up too much space.”

Izuku nodded. Himichan frowned and padded over to him, gently taking the bag from him and placing it on her bed. “What’s wrong, Izuchan?”

Izuku shook his head. “It’s fine. I… I’m fine.”

Himichan frowned, obviously disbelieving, but she didn’t push. Instead, she squeezed Izuku’s hand, then grabbed the backpack and pulled him over to the closet. “C’mon, help me choose some clothes. I might have some sweatshirts that’ll fit you.”

Izuku silently helped her pick and choose outfits, guiding her towards clothes that were more comfortable than stylish. She’d pouted when Izuku didn’t allow her to pack her favorite shirt, a blood-red one with ruffles on the sleeves, but got over it after Izuku grabbed a pink hoodie with cat ears.

Himichan grabbed three large jackets and two shirts that she claimed he’d be able to fit into then went to stuff everything in the bag, but Izuku stopped her and folded it all neatly so it wouldn’t get wrinkled. Once Himichan was satisfied, they took the first-aid kit from the bathroom, then moved to the kitchen. Himichan grabbed the duffel bag from her parents' room and started stuffing it with water bottles and snacks.

“Himichan?”

“Yeah, Izuchan?”

When Izuku didn’t respond, Himichan looked over at him, frowning. She must’ve seen something in his expression because she immediately set down the bag and padded over to him, cupping his cheeks with her hands. Izuku realized he was crying.

“What is it, Angel?” She asked quietly.

“…Why are you doing this?” Himichan tilted her head to the side, confused, and Izuku elaborated. “Why are you leaving? Y-You could stay here, sleep in a warm bed, not have to worry about… about f-food or a-anything. Why… Why are you giving all of that up? I’m just… I’m just me.”

“Oh, Angel.” She tilted his head so he was looking her in the eye. “That’s exactly why I’m coming. Because you’re you . Because you’re Izuchan, my Angel, and I… I care so much about you. There’s no one else I would rather be with. I’m going to stay with you. Always.”

Izuku couldn’t speak, but even if he had been able to, he wouldn’t have been able to think of a thing to say. Because there was no way this was real. Why would anyone , especially someone as amazing as Himichan, care so much about Izuku ? Care enough to leave behind everything just to stay with him?

His disbelief must have shown because Himichan frowned.

“Here,” she whispered. “Let me show you.”

And then she tilted her head up and gently pressed her lips to his.

Chapter Text

Izuchan froze at first, and Himiko drew away with a flash of anxiety-panic-guilt, thinking she had made a mistake, but Izuku chased after her. She giggled and moved her hand to the nape of his neck, pulling him in for another kiss.

This time, Izuchan’s eyes fluttered shut, arms wrapping around her waist. Himiko licked at his mouth until it parted, allowing her tongue to slip in. She nibbled at his lips, drawing a whimper from him. She paused, but when he made no move to stop her, she took it as encouragement to bite down harder. His blood smeared across both of their mouths, and Himiko eagerly-happily-greedily licked at it like an overexcited puppy. The metallic taste of his blood coated her tongue, sending a shiver down her spine.

Izuchan was clumsy-nervous-inexperienced, but that wasn’t his fault! The only reason Himiko knew what she was doing was because she and her various “friends” had practiced on each other multiple times so they’d be ready when the time came to kiss a boy (Well, her "friends" wanted to kiss boys. Himiko didn't really care what gender they were). Himiko had disliked it at the time; she’d only done it to fit in, but now, she was grateful for the chance to show her Angel how it was done.

They parted for air, both panting and staring at each other like they were the only things that existed anymore. Himiko felt a surge of warmth-bliss-protectiveness and grinned.

Izuchan’s eyes were devoid of any of the sadness-grief-despondence that had been there earlier, now only focused on Himiko. She leaned up and kissed him again, his contented-satisfied-pleased sigh confirming what she already knew: Izuchan was hers and hers alone; no one would ever take him away now.

Mine-mine-mine-mine, her mind chanted as her tongue ran across his lips, collecting the fresh blood. Izuchan. My Angel.

Mine.

----

Later, when they were settled on a park bench and snacking on Cheez-Its, Himiko rested her head on Izuku’s shoulder. Izuku smiled, warmth bubbling up in his chest. “Hey, Himichan?”

“Hmm?” Himichan hummed in reply.

“Thank you.”

Himichan turned her head and blinked up at him. “You don’t gotta thank me, Izuchan, I’d hate myself if I didn’t come with you. It’s like I told you, I’m never leaving you. Never.”

She leaned up and pressed a light kiss to his lips. Although it was nothing like the last kiss they’d shared, it still sent a small thrill through Izuku. Himichan smiled and pulled away, pushing herself to her feet. “C’mon, let’s go. We still gotta find somewhere to sleep tonight.”

“Right.” Izuku nodded, tossing his empty bag of Cheez-Its in a nearby trashcan and pulling his bag back on. “So, where should we go?”

“Hmmm…” Himichan tapped her chin and started walking in a random direction. Izuku trotted after her. “We could...find another alleyway?”

“I guess…” Izuku mumbled. “I just… wouldn’t feel safe.” Himichan snorted.

“I doubt anywhere is gonna be safe for two runaways living on the streets.”

“True,” Izuku sighed. “Still, could we try to find somewhere a little more… secluded?”

Himichan bit her lip in thought. “Uhhh….”

“Oh!” Izuku lit up. “What about the beach? There’s a ton of old junk there, I bet we could find a sheltered spot!”

“That’s a great idea, Izuchan!” Himichan beamed. “Let’s go!” They changed directions and headed towards the beach, which, unluckily for them, was about a 45-minute walk from where they were.

About twenty-three minutes into the walk, he and Himichan were discussing… something or other, Izuku wasn’t really paying attention, when he spotted his former favorite store, the one where he would always go to buy hero merch.

That’s where Mom bought me my first journal.

Izuku froze in place, eyes locked on the storefront. Why was his vision getting blurry?

Himichan wiped his face and- oh, he was crying. Izuku pressed his fist to his mouth, muffling a sob, and Himichan pulled him forward into a hug. He collapsed against her and let out another sob, shoulders shaking.

“Is he okay, sweetie?” A voice asked. Izuku didn’t turn to look, but Himichan’s hold on him tightened.

“He’s fine,” she practically growled. “Leave us alone.”

There was the sound of footsteps retreating quickly, and then they were alone again.

“Shh, Izuchan,” Himichan whispered. “I need you to calm down, okay? We’re almost to the beach, and then we can find a nice spot to sleep, okay? But right now it’s getting dark, and we don’t wanna get caught out at night. It won’t be safe for us to be walking around at night.”

Izuku nodded and sniffled, pulling away from her. She wrapped an arm around his waist and guided him down the sidewalk. They were at the beach before he knew it. He helped Himichan stack various box-shaped items into a pseudo wall a few feet away from a small heap of trash, before they closed off one of the entrances and stuck a raggedy tarp over it to act as a ceiling. It was crude, and the tarp was full of holes, but it was good enough for them. Himichan laid a blanket on the ground and they curled up together, not bothering to cover themselves in another blanket because of how warm it was outside.

Izuku finally allowed himself to break down. Himichan hugged him to her chest and whispered quiet reassurances in his ear, running her fingers through his hair. It was the second night in a row that Izuku fell asleep crying.

Chapter Text

Dabi wasn’t entirely sure how he’d ended up in this situation. One moment he’s looking for a place to smoke, and the next he’s defending two kids from some asshole that was threatening them.

The dude scrambled away with his tail between his legs (literally, since he had some sort of mutant quirk), and Dabi turned to face the teens, one of whom was holding a pair of knives and looked ready to throw one at him.

“U-Um, th-thank you,” the other one stammered. He had a knife too, but he was hiding behind the girl, who was staring at Dabi like she wanted to gut him. Dabi took a few steps back.

“Uh, yeah, no problem, kid. If ya don’t mind me asking, the hell’re you two doing out here? This’s the seediest part of town and it’s almost dark.”

“We didn’t need your help,” the girl growled, moving so she was shielding the boy even more. The boy peeked out from behind her.

“Right, of course, you didn’t. That dude looked like he was about to eat you alive.”

“I had it handled.”

The girl didn’t seem likely to back off anytime soon, so Dabi dropped the subject. “You didn’t answer my question. What are two kids like you doing out here so late?”

“None of your business,” the girl scowled. The boy eyed Dabi distrustfully and grabbed the hem of the girl’s shirt, probably for reassurance. Dabi realized something.

“Fuck,” he groaned. “You two are runaways, aren’t you?”

Their silence told him enough. Dabi sighed, stared up at the sky, muttered a few curses under his breath, then turned to look back at the kids. Fuck. Of all people, why did it have to be him that came across these two?

“Goddammit,” he groaned again. “Come on, you two, let’s go.”

“Why should we go with you?” The girl questioned, eyes narrowed.

“Yeah!” The boy agreed. “We don’t even know your name!”

“Dabi,” he grunted. “And seeing as how it’s almost dark and I saved you from possible death or assault, I’d say you can trust me. Or you could stay out here and take your chances. Might not be so lucky next time, though.”

He gave them a few moments to consider their options, then turned and began stalking out of the alley. After a quick whispered argument, he heard two sets of footsteps following behind him.

“So, what’re your names?” Dabi asked, glancing behind him.

“Mi… Midoriya Izuku.” Dabi almost didn’t hear the kid, he was so quiet.

“Toga Himiko.” The girl was louder, more confident. She was walking in between Dabi and Midoriya, arm reaching back so she could hold the boy’s hand.

“So, uh…” Midoriya said after a few minutes of silence. “Where exactly do you live?”

“An apartment building,” Dabi replied. “It was abandoned after the owner went crazy and went on a killing spree.”

On second thought, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to tell the kids about that part. They would’ve found out eventually though, what with the bloodstains and all.

“Ooh, that’s so cool!” Toga gasped. “There’s bloodstains, right? Please tell me there’s bloodstains!”

Or, maybe it was a good idea.

“Yeah, there’s bloodstains,” Dabi replied. Toga squealed.

Dabi was starting to have doubts about his latest decision. Too late to go back now, he reasoned.

“So,” he drawled once the silence had stretched long enough that it was starting to get awkward. “How long have you two been on the streets?”

“We don’t have to-

“A bit over a week,” Midoriya interrupted Toga, then flushed. “S-Sorry Himichan, I didn’t mean to talk over you.”

“It’s fine, Izuchan,” she responded, and although Dabi couldn’t see her, he could imagine her smiling.

Luckily, Dabi was saved from having to come up with anything else to say, since they had just come up on the apartment building. He strolled into an alleyway next to it, pulled down the ladder for the fire escape, and started climbing up. When he reached the first flight and saw that the kids hadn’t followed him, he raised an eyebrow. “You two coming or what?”

Midoriya moved to the ladder, but Toga nudged him back so she could go up first. She obviously still didn’t trust Dabi, which, honestly, was fair.

A quick two-minute climb up the stairs later and Dabi crawling through the missing window of his “borrowed” apartment, the two teens following cautiously.

“Home sweet home,” Dabi announced, flopping down on the couch. He shifted to watch Toga and Midoriya, who were standing by the window, taking everything in.

The apartment wasn’t much, but you couldn’t have much when you were homeless and no one would hire you because you looked like a villain (Which wasn’t really that far off, in Dabi’s case). There were three rooms; four if you counted the living room and kitchen separately (Dabi didn’t since there wasn’t a wall separating them).

He assumed the wallpaper had once been some ugly shade of yellow, but now it had turned an even uglier shade of brown. The carpet was stiff and rough, and honestly, Dabi had slept on sidewalks that were more comfortable.

“Bathroom’s right there-” Dabi waved a hand in the general direction of the bathroom door. “-but the water was shut off a while ago, so it’s pretty much useless. Bedroom’s the doorway right next to it.”

“What happened to the actual door?” Midoriya questioned, peeking his head inside. Dabi shrugged.

“No idea. It was missing when I got here.”

“Ooh, I found a bloodstain, Izuchan!” Toga squealed. Dabi never wanted to hear that sound again.

Midoriya padded over to her and inspected the red splotch on the carpet. “Hmm,” he murmured. “It looks like they fell down and bled out. Probably dead by the time anyone found them. But...” He turned and walked slowly, inspecting the ground. “There’s a trail of blood splatters leading over here…” He stopped at a smaller patch of blood. “Right here is where they were first injured. My guess is that they were stabbed, walked over here,” He retraced his steps to the larger stain. “The collapsed and slowly bled to death.”

“Damn, kid,” Dabi whistled. “That was nice. You got some sort of analysis quirk or somethin’?”

“O-Oh, uh, not… not exactly…” Midoriya stammered, suddenly nervous. He mumbled something Dabi didn’t hear.

“What was that?”

“He said he’s quirkless,” Toga spat, glaring at Dabi like she was daring him to try something. Dabi raised an eyebrow.

“And…? Is that a bad thing? Hell,” he snorted. “If anything, that makes what you just did even more impressive.”

“Oh,” Midoriya whispered, cheeks pink. Toga seemed mildly surprised and pleased. “Um. Thanks.”

Dabi hummed and leaned back, eyes slipping closed. “Just stating the truth, kid. No need to thank me.”

“Still,” he said. “Thank you.”

Dabi sighed. “Whatever, kid.”

Chapter Text

“Alright, you two!” Dabi announced two days after he’d taken the kids in. “Now that you’ve settled in, it’s time you start earning your keep!”

Toga raised an eyebrow from her place on the couch, fingers tangled in Midoriya’s hair. Midoriya, who was laying in Toga’s lap, opened one eye to stare at Dabi. “And how exactly do you expect us to do that?”

“Well, seeing as how you’re two baby-faced kids, you’re the perfect candidates for conning people!”

Toga perked up. “Ooh, does this mean I’ll get to practice my acting skills? Yay!”

“We’re gonna… trick people? Steal from them?” Midoriya frowned. Oh, great, the kid had a moral compass. Then again, seeing as how Dabi had taken the kid in, he couldn’t really complain.

“Only the ones who deserve it,” Dabi smirked. “Rich people, assholes, other conmen, etcetera, etcetera.” He waved his hand in the air like he was swatting something. “How good are you two at acting?”

“I’m very good!” Toga grinned. Dabi suppressed a shudder. “After all, I’ve had to pretend to be normal my entire life!”

“And you?” He questioned Midoriya, who shrugged.

“Pretty decent, I guess.”

“Right, then,” Dabi nodded. “C’mon, let’s go.” Instead of going towards the door like a regular person would when exiting their apartment, Dabi climbed out of the window and onto the fire escape. The kids followed him down, and after they’d all gotten to the ground, Dabi led them out of the alley.

Almost ten minutes of walking later, the entirety of which was filled with a series of questions and complaints from the children. Dabi was seriously beginning to question his recent life choices.

“Aright,” Dabi finally said, leaning against the wall. He gestured for them to sit down on a nearby bench. “Pretend you’re talking to each other or something. People’d get suspicious if they saw you two talking to someone like me.”

After the kids were sitting down, grinning at each other, Dabi looked out at the crowd. “There, on that café patio. See that woman yelling at the waiter?”

They both glanced over at the woman. “Yup,” Midoriya beamed, and Toga laughed as if he’d said something funny.

“That’s our target. Here’s what you’re gonna do…”

Dabi explained the plan as quickly as he could, then sent the two away. When they were in position, he started walking towards the woman.

Right on cue, Toga and Midoriya raced around the corner, holding hands and laughing. Right as they all reached where the target was, Midoriya bumped into Dabi and fell, dragging Toga down with him, and knocked over the woman’s purse, spilling everything in it.

“Watch where you’re going, brat,” Dabi growled as Midoriya hurriedly apologized and started putting everything back in the woman’s purse. Dabi scoffed and stalked away, catching a glance of Toga pocketing the woman’s wallet while pretending to help Midoriya.

They met up in an alleyway a few minutes later and the dynamic duo showed off their loot. Toga had managed to snag the woman’s wallet and a handful of coupons, while Midoriya had also gotten a handful of coupons (how many coupons did this lady have?), and… “Are those her car keys?”

Midoriya shrugged. “Figured we could break-in, steal some stuff, then drop her keys down the sewer drain.”

“You… really don’t like her, do you?” When Midoriya didn’t respond, Dabi frowned. “Midoriya? Kid? Hello?”

“Izuchan!” Toga shook him and he blinked, breaking out of his trance.

“Sorry, I just-” He glanced to the side, then bit his lip and looked down. Dabi frowned and looked over where Midoriya had been staring and- oh. Okay then. Shit.

Midoriya had been staring at a mom and her kid eating ice cream across the street, both with bright smiles. Dabi scowled and looked away, noticing that Toga did the same. So all three of them had issues involving their parents. Fun.

“Let’s just drop her keys somewhere and head back,” Dabi sighed. “It’d take too long to figure out which car was hers and I doubt people would believe the car belonged to us once we got into it anyways.” Plus, now that he was really looking, the kid looked dead on his feet. Dabi doubted Midoriya would be able to do much of anything right now, especially break into a car. But Dabi didn’t say that aloud. He couldn’t admit how much he actually cared.

“Yeah, I…” Midoriya shook his head. “I don’t know why I thought that would work.”

“C’mon Izuchan, let’s go,” Toga said softly, grabbing the keys from Midoriya’s hand and tossing them to the side. Midoriya nodded blankly and allowed her to tug him down the sidewalk. Dabi stuffed his hands in his pockets and led the way.

The walk back was silent and subdued. Midoriya had practically gone catatonic. Like Dabi, no, Touya’s mother had been before she broke.

Dabi shook his head quickly and looked away.

When they finally got to the apartment, Toga and Midoriya curled up on the couch. Dabi, feeling like he was intruding on something, moved to the bedroom and sat down on the ratty sleeping bag he called a bed.

Well, he thought with a sigh. That was a fucking disaster.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Dabi?”

Izuku shifted nervously as Dabi looked over at him from his place on the couch. “Yeah, kid?”

Izuku opened his notebook to a blank page and took a deep breath, gathering his courage. “What’s your quirk?”

Dabi’s brows furrowed. “What?”

“I mean, it obviously has something to do with fire-” Izuku absently chewed on his pencil. “-as I’ve seen you use it a few times, but it’s so hot that it’s blue, and it doesn’t seem to give you fire resistance since you’re covered in burns, which is unusual because I’ve never seen someone with a fire quirk who didn’t have some form of fire resistance and-” He cut himself off, blushing. Dang it, now Dabi probably thought he was creepy and weird and would kick Izuku and Himichan out and then they’d be living on the streets again and they’d have to find a new place to stay and-

“Damn, kid,” Dabi interrupted his spiral with a laugh. “I knew you were smart, but, damn, that’s good.”

“Oh,” Izuku blushed. “Th-thank you…”

Dabi nodded. “You actually got a lot of that right. My quirk-” He raised his hand and summoned a small blue flame. “-is called Cremation.”

A brightness rivaling the sun filled Izuku’s eyes, and it stayed there for the entire conversation.

Izuku let out a shuddering breath, wishing that he could be anywhere other than the boy’s locker room at the local gym. Of all the places to break down, it had to be here?

Izuku wiped his nose on his sleeve, wishing Himichan were with him. But she was still showering in the girls’ restrooms, and probably would be for a while, seeing as how this was the first time they’d been able to shower in almost a week.

“Kid?” Izuku’s head snapped up at Dabi’s voice, quickly wiping his eyes and trying to make it look like he hadn’t been crying. From the almost concerned look on Dabi’s face, he wasn’t successful. “You okay?”

“I-I’m fine,” He stammered, cursing his stupid Midoriya tears. That was what Mom used to call it.

A fresh wave of tears welled up and Dabi rested a hand on his shoulder, guiding him to the bench. As they sat down, Dabi moved his hand to Izuku’s hair and Izuku found himself clinging to him. Dabi froze for a split second, then continued running his fingers through Izuku’s hair, pulling him closer.

“I miss her,” Izuku whispered into Dabi’s shirt. Dabi sighed.

“I know you do, kid. But you’ll get through it.”

“Really?”

“Yep. I promise.”

“...Thanks, Dabi.”

“What the fuck?!” Himiko giggled at Dabi’s surprised-frustrated-exasperated groan when he once again found himself with her knife against his throat. “How the hell do you do that?!”

“I told you, it’s easy!” She chirped, sheathing her blade and shaking some sand out of her hair. “You just gotta clear your mind and hold your breath!”

Dabi snorted. “Yeah, yeah, spare me the lesson. You probably just have a secondary quirk or some shit.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna have to go with Dabi on this one,” Izuchan said from his seat, an old armchair that was held together by faith, trust, and pixie dust (and duct tape, but that didn’t rhyme so Himiko didn’t mention that part). “I’ve been trying to copy your technique for months and I’m still nowhere near as stealthy as you are.”

“You’re getting there, though! You’re way better than when you first started. Now,” Himiko trotted over to him and pulled him to his feet. “Enough note-taking! Your turn to fight against Dabi! You still need to practice that move he showed you!”

Ignoring his protests, she snatched the notebook and pen from his hand and pushed him over to Dabi, then plopped down in the chair with a grin. The chair made a noise that almost sounded like it was begging for the sweet release of death. Himiko ignored it. “Now start!”

“Mmmm,” Izuchan let out a happy-pleased-content moan as he stuffed more fries into his mouth. “I’ve missed fast food so much.”

“You’re telling me.” Dabi slurped down some soda and took a bite of his hamburger. “This is the best fucking meal I’ve had in ages .”

“That makes two of us,” Himiko said through a mouthful of nuggets. “I don’t care how much this cost, we deserve it.”

“Mm-hm.” Izuchan stole one of Himiko’s chicken nuggets and popped it in his mouth. “Ladies and gentlemen of the council, I have a proposal to make.”

“And what might that proposal be?” Himiko asked.

“More junk food!” Izuchan declared, raising a ketchup-covered fry in the air. “Once a month, we go out and get as many burgers, fries, and nuggets as we want!”

“I second that motion.” Dabi copied Izuchan by lifting up his soda.

“Me too!” Himiko tapped a chicken nugget against Izuchan’s fry. “All in favor, say ‘Aye’!”

“Aye!” Izuchan and Dabi said at the same time.

“It has been decided!” Himiko announced. Izuchan and Dabi cheered, and the three of them dissolved into laughter.

Dabi closed his eyes and leaned back against the bench, listening to the sounds of Toga’s laughter as Midoriya pushed her on the swing set. For a second, he imagined Natsuo and Fuyumi, chasing each other around the playground while their mom watched from the bench, holding Shouto and smiling. He sighed and shook the memory away.

“Hey Dabi?”

Dabi opened one eye to see Midoriya standing in front of him, nervously shifting his feet. Toga was next to him, holding his arm. “Yeah, squirt?”

“Are- Are you okay? You looked kinda… sad all of a sudden.”

Dabi opened his other eye and shifted so he could see them better. “I-” He paused for a moment to consider his answer. “I’m okay. Just… remembering stuff.”

“Oh.” Midoriya bit his lip, then sat down next to him. Toga settled herself in Midorya’s lap. 

“Do you… Do you wanna talk about it?” He asked. Dabi shook his head. Midoriya nodded. He stared at the swingset, absently rubbing circles on Toga’s hand.

“My mom used to take me to the park,” He said suddenly. “When I was little. She doesn’t- she stopped taking me a few years ago. She… she was too busy. Being a single mom isn’t easy, y’know? ‘Specially when your son is quirkless.” He hissed the last word, fists clenching in his lap. Toga gently took his hands in hers and forced him to relax them.

“Even before my quirk manifested, my parents were never that… present.” She murmured. “I’d go to the park all the time and play with the kids there. Make friends. And then I got my quirk.” She pressed up against Midoriya, resting her head on his chest. “The park was near a small forest. Lotsa animals. I had just started getting cravings. They were harder to control because I was so young.

“There was a bird.” She stated matter-of-factly. Midoriya squeezed her hand. “The cravings were so bad that I just… I couldn’t control myself. Killed the bird and sucked up its blood. Thing is, it was so pretty .” She smiled softly. “And I didn’t feel any regret or disgust afterwards. Still don’t. I just thought it was cute. My parents didn’t feel the same way.”

Well now Dabi just felt even more depressed. But… lighter, too, if that made any sense. He sighed. “My father never wanted me around my siblings,” He started. “Said they’d hold me back, keep me from reaching my full potential. But occasionally he’d get… called away. For work. Mom-” He tried not to choke on the word. Even after all that time, it still hurt to think about her. “Mom would take us to the park. It was always later in the day, when less kids would be there. Usually it was just us. My- My siblings and I, we’d run around and play until it got dark. Then we’d go home and build a pillow fort in front of the tv and watch movies until we all fell asleep. That-” He swallowed, blinking away the wetness in his eyes. “That stopped when mom went away.”

“I’m sorry,” Midoriya whispered. Dabi shook his head.

“Don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault.”

“But- But I made you feel like you needed to talk about it even though you said didn’t want to and-”

“Stop it, kid.” Dabi huffed. “Really. You didn’t pressure me to do anything.”

“But-”

“Oh, hush it, Izuchan. He said it was fine.” Toga swatted her boyfriend on the nose, causing a small smile to flicker across his face.

The silence that followed almost had Dabi falling into a doze, but just as he’d leaned his head back and closed his eyes, Midoriya spoke up again.

“Oh, um, Dabi?”

“Hmm?” He hummed, not opening his eyes but listening all the same.

“You can, ah,” He hesitated. “You can call me Izuku. If you want.”

Dabi blinked open his eyes and raised an eyebrow. “Really?” Midoriya nodded.

“And call me Himiko!” Toga cut in, shifting in Midoriya’s lap so Dabi could see her face.

“I- Okay.” He swallowed. “My name is… it was Touya.”

“Was?” Midori- Izuku questioned.

“Touya’s dead,” Dabi stated firmly.

“Okay,” Mi- Izuku nodded.

Tog- Himiko beamed. “Dabi it is, then.”

Dabi smiled.

Dabi yawned and leaned against the doorway, observing Izuku and Himiko as they slept. He realized how creepy this situation would seem to a normal person and held back a snort.

A whimper drew his attention and he realized it had come from Himiko. “Kid?” He whispered, and when there was no reply, he realized it was a nightmare. He sighed through his nose and padded over to where they were curled up on the floor, sitting down next to them.

Dabi gently ran his fingers through Himiko’s hair until she calmed down. After a minute, her eyes blinked open and Dabi was struck by how catlike her eyes were. He pulled his hand away from her hair and she looked up at him, squinting.

“Dabi?” She questioned.

“Yeah, kid?”

“Please don’t stop.”

“Oh.” He blinked in mild surprise. “Okay.”

She smiled when he put his fingers back in her hair and cuddled closer to Izuku. “Thank you.” Dabi hummed in reply. She yawned. “G’night, Dabi-nii.”

By the time Dabi got over his shock, she was already back asleep.

Chapter Text

“Alright, I’d say it’s probably time to head back,” Dabi yawned and stretched. “We’ve probably got enough to last us the next week.”

“Plus the fast-food tomorrow, right?” Himichan asked.

“Yup,” Dabi replied, popping the ‘p’. Himichan beamed and bounced excitedly.

“I vote McDonald’s!”

“We had McDonald’s last time though,” Izuku frowned. “Why not someplace else?”

“Cause I’m trying to collect all of the kid’s meal toys before they change ‘em!” Himichan chirped.

“Just steal them,” Dabi suggested.

Himichan pouted. “But that’s cheating!”

“Himichan,” Izuku said. “You’ve literally tried to murder people before.”

“But that’s different!” She protested. Izuku decided she has a fair point.

“Okay, McDonald’s it is,” Dabi didn’t even try to argue. Smart choice.

“Yes!” She cheered. “I really hope I get the Midnight figurine! She’s so cute!”

Izuku started to reply, but then the worst possible thing that could’ve happened actually happened.

“I AM HERE!”

Okay so maybe not the worst thing since Dabi-nii and Himichan were still alive, but this was close.

All Might pranced by with his customary fake grin. Izuku scowled while Dabi and Himichan simultaneously flipped him off.

“Fucking bastard,” he muttered.

“Ugh, I know,” came a voice from behind them. Immediately, Himichan summoned a knife from who-knows-where and stood in front of Izuku, and Dabi lit his hands on fire and stood in front of Izuku and Himichan.

“Woah, calm down!” The stranger backed up. Izuku narrowed his eyes and assessed their appearance. Long, pale blue hair, dry skin, blood-red eyes with bags under them. The stranger obviously didn’t care about his appearance, was in serious need of some moisturizer, and hadn’t gotten much sleep lately. He was holding a phone, but his pointer finger was raised in the air. Five-point activation quirk, then, and he couldn’t turn it off. He agreed with Izuku’s statement about hating All Might, so he obviously wasn’t a hero fan, but he couldn’t be a Stain supporter since All Might was the only hero Stain respected. So: Not much care for appearance, sleep-deprived (possible insomniac?), five-point quirk activation, and anti-heroes but not a Stain supporter.

When Izuku noticed that everyone else was still silent, he realized he’d accidentally mumbled his entire analysis aloud. Whoops. At least Himichan and Dabi would know to watch out for his hands if it came down to a fight.

“Damn, your intelligence stats are off the charts,” The stranger rasped.

Dabi shifted so he was mostly covering Himichan and Izuku. “Who the hell are you?”

“Shigaraki Tomura,” the stranger smirked. “Leader of the League of Villains. And we’re recruiting.”

“League of Villains?” Dabi scoffed. “Never heard of them."

“Well, we haven’t done anything yet,” Shigaraki leaned against the wall while the trio watched him with narrowed eyes. “But that’s just because I haven’t gathered enough party members. And you three are too advanced to be NPCs. Especially him.” He nodded at Izuku. Himichan growled.

“What’re you planning?” Izuku asked. “If you’re gathering forces, you’re obviously preparing for something big. What is it?”

“Oh that’s simple,” Shigaraki grinned, eyes taking on a manic gleam that made Izuku tense. “I’m after the ultimate boss. I want to kill All Might.”

Izuku’s eyes widened slightly. Kill All Might? But that was… no, it wasn’t impossible. Not with what Izuku knew.

“How do we know we can trust you?” Himichan scowled, shifting her grip on her knife.

Shigaraki shrugged. “You don’t.”

Well, Izuku reasoned. At least he isn’t trying to lie to win us over.

Shigaraki’s phone dinged and he glanced at it, then nodded. “Gotta go.” He took out a notepad and a pen, scribbled something down, then ripped the page out and held it out for them. “Give it some thought; meet me here when you’ve decided.”

Himichan eyed it suspiciously, but Dabi just rolled his eyes and snatched it, right as something black and swirling appeared behind Shigaraki. He turned and disappeared into it.

“Whoa,” Izuku whispered. “A warp quirk! That’s so cool! I wonder how many people they can transport at once. Or how many portals they can make at a time? Do they have a range or can they make a portal to anywhere? Maybe it has to be a place they’ve seen before? Or maybe-”

“Slow it down, kid,” Dabi cut him off, ruffling his hair. “You’ll have time to analyze the quirk later. Let’s just head home for now.”

“Right,” Izuku nodded, still grinning. Teleportation quirks were so rare, he couldn’t believe they’d actually encountered one! If the League of Villains had a quirk like that, Izuku wondered what other kinds of quir- People, Izuku, he reminded himself. Quirks belong to people.

Still, he couldn’t help but theorize. A warp quirk would be extremely useful for a villain group, and it definitely increased their chances of actually succeeding in their goal to kill All Might. Depending on how the quirk worked, the League could- “Izuchan!”

Oh, Izuku realized, looking up. We’re home already.

“You’re so cute when you’re like that,” Himichan giggled. “Now come on, silly. You can write down all of those super amazing ideas of yours once we’re inside.”

That night, Himichan and Dabi-nii had to pry Izuku’s notebook and pen out of his hands so they could force him to go to bed. He’d waited until they fell asleep, found a flashlight, and continued his analysis until he passed out. In the morning, Himichan found him cuddling his notebook. The flashlight had run out of battery.

Chapter Text

ThisBitchEmpty123 is online!

ThisBitchEmpty123: so fuck math class am i right

snorlax-use-yawn: Preach

ThisBitchEmpty: my teacher is chill tho

ThisBitchEmpty123: not his fault that triginometry is the bane of my existence

the_kraken: trigonometry*

ThisBitchEmpty123: fuck you

the_kraken: You wish you could

ThisBitchEmpty123: ew

ThisBitchEmpty123: greenie would’ve helped me

snorlax-use-yawn: yeah

snorlax-use-yawn: he would have

insomnicat is online!

insomnicat: I found a stray cat today and I have named him Kraken Jr. because he’s a bastard

the_kraken: fuk u

ThisBitchEmpty123: A+ naming skills /gen

snorlax-use-yawn: pic????

insomnicat: [Picture of a gray-and-white cat with tattered ears screaming at the camera]

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Aw, cute!!!

snorlax-use-yawn: baby

insomnicat: He won’t stop following me around and screaming whenever he wants me to pet him

the_kraken: ha loser

insomnicat: ^^^ and this is why I named him Kraken

NotACondiment is online!

ThisBitchEmpty123: yo wassup

snorlax-use-yawn: hey condiment

NotACondiment: ever just wanna commit a felony

insomnicat: Yes

snorlax-use-yawn: All of the time

the_kraken: Every day

ThisBitchEmpty123: constantly

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Please do not I don’t have the money for bail and I don’t want to have to break you out

the_kraken: Bold of you to assume I would get caught

insomnicat: oh you would totally get caught

the_kraken: rude

insomnicat: i’m not wrong tho

NotACondiment: I doubt Cat would do anything to hurt his chances of getting into UA

insomnicat: i

insomnicat: yeah you’re right

ChaosAgentNumber666 is online!

ChaosAgentNumber666: So y’all know how Greenie and Knife haven’t been active for a few months?

snorlax-use-yawn: Yeah??

NotACondiment: Yeah what about it

ThisBitchEmpty123: do you have news??

ChaosAgentNumber666: Sort of

insomnicat: Wait who are they??

the_kraken: Oh yeah i forgot i never told u about them

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Their full usernames are GreenBean and KnifeToMeetYou. They’re two users who used to be pretty active on here, but a few months ago they stopped showing up and we haven’t heard from them since.

snorlax-use-yawn: They actually knew each other irl so there’s no way it was a coincidence

NotACondiment: So Chaos why’d u bring them up?

ChaosAgentNumber666: Well u know how they always called each other Izuchan and Himichan?

ChaosAgentNumber666: I just saw a news article for two missing teens in my area named Midoriya Izuku and Toga Himiko. They’ve been missing for about two months now.

ThisBitchEmpty123: holy shit

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Oh my gods

insomnicat: Do u think it’s them??

ChaosAgentNumber666: It’s gotta be

snorlax-use-yawn: There’s no way it isn’t them

the_kraken: Not to be that person but are you 100% sure it’s them??

ChaosAgentNumber666: Midoriya’s quirkless and has green hair and eyes, and Toga has a blood quirk

snorlax-use-yawn: fuck

ThisBitchEmpty123: that’s definitely them

ChinkenNunget is online!

insomnicat: holy fuckign shit

Lord-Of-The-Fries: oh my gods

ChinkenNunget: Wait what’s going on

ThisBitchEmpty123: chaos found greenie and knife

ChinkenNunget: What???

the_kraken: Scroll up

NotACondiment: Chaos what area do u live in?

ChaosAgentNumber666: Mustfu

ChaosAgentNumber666: Musatafu

ChaosAgentNumber666: FUCK

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Musutafu?

ChaosAgentNumber666: YES

NotACondiment: I’m near there, I can ask around and see if anyone’s seen them

ChinkenNunget: Same here^^^

Lord-Of-The-Fries: fuck I hope nothing’s happened to them

ThisBitchEmpty123: holy shit dad used the fuck word

ChaosAgentNumber666: The article said that Midoriya was last seen in a crowd outside his apartment building, which had caught on fire. Toga’s parents saw her racing out of the house at about the same time.

the_kraken: shit

ChaosAgentNumber666: Get fucking this. The fire was caused by a villain fight. Some sidekick from the Endeavor Agency misfired and hit a line of trees nearby. Midoriya’s mother died.

ThisBitchEmpty123: fuuuuuuuuuck

insomnicat: oh fuck

the_kraken: you’ve got to be fucking kidding me

NotACondiment: And this is why heroes are the fucking worst

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Goddammit

snorlax-used-yawn: I’ll get in contact with some people and see what they can find out

snorlax-use-yawn: ttyl

snorlax-use-yawn is offline!

ThisBitchEmpty123: what can the rest of us do???

Lord-Of-The-Fries: Put up missing posters, post on social media, do anything you can to spread the word

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid is online!

Lord-Of-The-Fries: We’re going to find those two if it kills us

ThisBitchEmpty123: finally void ive been texting u for forever

NotACondiment: I gtg, ill update u on what ive found tmrw

ChinkenNunget: Good luck

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: Good luck!

insomnicat: dont die

NotACondiment is offline!

IWishToScreamIntoTheVoid: if those two are dead ill murder them

the_kraken: Not if I get to them first

ChinkenNunget: I just really hope they’re okay

Lord-Of-The-Flies: They’ll be fine

ThisBitchEmpty123: of course they’ll be fine, knife doesn’t go anywhere without a multiple knives and greenie is super smart

ThisBitchEmpty123: they’ll be okay

“They have to,” Iwai Aki whispered as he anxiously waited for his older brother to text him back. “They have to.”

Chapter Text

“Are we sure about this?” Izuku asked, fiddling with his hands. “Like completely, absolutely, 100% sure about this?”

“Nope,” Dabi replied. “But we’re already on our way there, and I know none of us are changing our minds.”

“Don’t worry, Izuchan, it’ll be fine!” Himichan grinned. “I won’t let them lay a finger on your adorable face! Plus, if it works out, maybe we could find a way to get back at that sidekick for what they did!”

Dabi growled at the mention of that. When Izuku had told him about how his mother’s death was caused by a fight between a villain and one of Endeavor’s sidekicks, he’d gotten so mad that smoke had started trailing off of him. It had taken almost fifteen minutes for Himichan and Izuku to calm him down.

Himichan grabbed Izuku’s hand and squeezed it, offering him a reassuring smile. Izuku smiled back and they once again lapsed into silence, though the air was less tense than before.

“Of course it’s a bar.” Is the first thing Dabi said when they got there. Izuku wondered how Shigaraki expected them to be able to meet him there if two of their trio were minors. Then he remembered that Shigaraki was a villain, which meant that this was probably a villain bar, so no one would care if Izuku and Himichan were underage.

Mom would hate seeing me in a place like this, Izuku thought, then forced the thought away. His mom wasn’t there and it was a hero’s fault. Maybe this would give him a chance to get justice.

“Well, now or never,” Dabi muttered, strutting forward and pushing open the door. Izuku and Himichan followed him in to find that the bar was entirely empty except for one person: a bartender shrouded in the same dark mist that the portal had been made out of. Obviously, he was the owner of that quirk.

“Well? We’re here,” Dabi grunted. “Where is he?”

The warp user seemed to bow his head in greeting, but it was hard to tell with all of the mist. “You three must be the ones Shigaraki Tomura told me about. My name is Kurogiri; I am his caretaker. I apologize for the inconvenience, but Tomura is currently in a meeting with his Sensei. He should be back shortly. In the meantime, would any of you like a drink?”

“Himiko,” Dabi interrupted her before she could say anything about blood. Himichan pouted but stayed quiet. “We’re fine,” he said to Kurogiri, who nodded.

“Very well. Tomura will be here in about seven minutes.”

And so they stood there in awkward silence for seven minutes, except for Himichan, who hummed a made-up tune and bobbed her head to the beat. Dabi glared suspiciously at Kurogiri, who continued to wipe the same shot glass over and over even though it was already spotless. Izuku was just trying his best not to mumble aloud while he analyzed everything he laid his eyes on. It was difficult.

Finally, a swirling black portal appeared in the middle of the room and Shigaraki stepped out. Himichan, Dabi, and Izuku all tensed and subconsciously moved closer to each other.

“Ah, so you finally showed up. Took you long enough.”

Izuku frowned. “It’s only been two and a half days.”

“Exactly. Too long.” Shigaraki hopped up on one of the bar stools and leaned against the bar, assessing them. “Okay then, names and quirks.”

All three of them hesitated. Dabi spoke first. “I go by Dabi. My quirk is cremation.” He lit his hand on fire for a couple of seconds before extinguishing it.

“IRL names, not usernames.” Shigaraki glared at him. Dabi glared back.

“It’s real enough. That’s all you're getting.”

Shigaraki tensed, eyes narrowing, so Izuku spoke up before things could escalate.

“You haven’t reached a high enough friendship level to unlock that part of his backstory yet,” Izuku explained. “It took Himi- It took us forever to get it.”

There was a couple of seconds of tense silence before Shigaraki huffed and seemed to relax. “Fine. What about you two?”

Izuku debated the pros and cons of revealing his real name, then decided that there wasn’t really anything they could do with it since he didn’t really give a crap about anyone from his past life. Sure, Auntie Mitsuki and Uncle Masaru seemed to care about him, but Izuku had hardly talked to them at all before Mom had- yeah. Plus, they hadn’t even noticed their son was abusing anyone he deemed lesser than him. Following that, any fondness Izuku felt towards them shriveled up and died.

“Midoriya,” He said, finally. “Midoriya Izuku. And I’m quirkless.”

“And I’m Toga Himiko!” Himichan chirped before Izuku could gouge Shigaraki’s reaction. “My quirk is called Transformation; if I drink someone’s blood I can turn into them!” She waved her knife in the air excitedly. Shigaraki watched it warily.

“You said your goal is to kill All Might,” Izuku said, bringing Shigaraki’s attention back to him. His voice was calm and cold, like the last time he’d faced down Kacchan. “How do you plan on doing that?”

“Simple,” Shigaraki smirked. “All Might’s gonna start teaching at UA in about a month. He can’t go all out if he’s also trying to watch out for a bunch of kids. Plus,” His eyes gleamed maniacally. “We have a secret weapon.”

“Secret weapon?” Himichan gasped. “Really? Something that could face up against All Might? What is it?”

“Ah-ah-ah,” Shigaraki chuckled. “To know that, I need to know that you’re officially joining the League, not collecting our secrets so you can go running to the heroes.”

“What’s to stop us from joining and then running to the heroes?” Izuku challenged.

Shigaraki grinned. “After seeing what we have? You’d be too scared to.”

Izuku thought that was pretty presumptuous of him, but then again, something with the power to kill All Might would have to be really powerful, so there might’ve been some truth to what Shigaraki was saying.

“Can we have a minute to discuss?” Izuku asked. Shigaraki nodded and Himichan, Dabi, and Izuku huddled together.

“I don’t trust them,” Dabi growled.

“You never trust anyone,” Izuku replied. “But to be fair, I don’t trust them either.”

“I wonder what their secret weapon is?” Himichan speculated. “It’s gotta be so cool if it’s gonna beat All Might!”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Izuku muttered. “They could be overestimating their own strength.”

“But they also don’t know what we know,” Himichan whispered. “A weapon that can supposedly defeat All Might, plus knowledge about his weakness? We’d be able to kill him for sure! Just think, Izuchan! A chance to kill All Might! ”

They all went quiet at that.

“I don’t like it,” Dabi muttered a few seconds later. “But if joining them means we can kill not only the number one hero but also the fucker that started that fire...” He trailed off.

They exchanged a round of glances, then all nodded. Izuku took a deep breath and turned to face Shigaraki.

“All right,” he said. “We’ll join you.”

“Excellent,” Shigaraki grinned. “Welcome to the League of Villains.”

Chapter Text

“Alright, so we’ll need to get ahold of the hero course’s schedules so we can find a time when All Might will be away from the school and therefore more vulnerable,” Izuku shifted his position on the couch, pulling his legs up so he was sitting criss-cross. “I’d offer to hack the systems, but Nedzu himself wrote those codes, and while I am pretty skilled at hacking, I doubt I’d be able to get through his defenses without setting off some kind of alarm. If that happened, they’d know someone was planning something and the element of surprise would be lost.”

“I could always try to sneak in!” Himichan raised her hand. “I’d just need one of the students’ blood and I could turn into them!”

“We’d need a distraction to allow you to sneak off and search for the schedule,” Izuku hummed.

“The media,” Shigaraki spoke up, finally putting down his handheld game console. “With All Might working at UA now, there’s bound to be a mob of reporters at the gates within a few days.”

Izuku nodded slowly. “That… could work. The gates at UA automatically slam closed if anyone who doesn’t have an ID tries to pass through. But if we used your quirk to break a hole through the wall and let them in…” His eyes lit up. “They wouldn’t report the break-in because then they’d have to admit that they weren’t allowed to be there! And all of the panic and confusion would be a perfect distraction for Himichan! Shigaraki, that’s brilliant!”

He scribbled everything down in his notebook, grinning wildly. Not only would they get a chance to kill All Might, Kacchan was sure to pass the entrance exam, which meant that  Izuku would also get to see him! This was gonna be so great!

“Slow down there, kid,” Dabi-nii chuckled, ruffling Izuku’s hair. “One revenge plot at a time.”

“Right,” Izuku giggled sheepishly. “Sorry.” He looked back over at Shigaraki. “How many other people have you recruited?

“About thirty-five, give or take a few,” He responded. Izuku nodded. 

“Right. That should give us at least forty-five, maybe fifty by the time we attack. We’ll need to know the students’ quirks too, so we’re not taken off guard.”

Shigaraki snorted. “What can a bunch of stupid brats do?”

“You’d be surprised,” Dabi murmured. Izuku fixed Shigaraki with a hard stare.

“Don’t forget that some of these kids have been training most of their lives to get where they are now. We shouldn’t underestimate them. They’re not gonna go down without a fight.” Especially if a lot of them were like Kacchan, which honestly wouldn’t be surprising. UA’s entrance exam would obviously be biased towards powerful quirks, like a lot of things were these days. The stronger your quirk, the better you were treated, so the majority of kids getting into the hero classes would have been pampered their entire lives. Everyone hoped that by helping a “future hero” get into a hero school, they’d be giving themselves a leg up in the world. Izuku snorted. Once Kacchan got into UA, he wouldn’t give a shit about any of his past teachers or classmates. They’d be, as Kacchan always said, “just pebbles on my path to greatness!”

“I don’t know if Himichan will have enough time to get pictures of the hero class schedules and the files on all of the hero students’ quirks, and as I said earlier, if I tried to hack into UA’s systems to find them, Nedzu would definitely find out,” He frowned, tapping his pencil against his chin.

“Just have her impersonate a hero student,” Shigaraki said. “She might not be able to get all of the information on their quirks, but she’ll probably be able to get a good enough idea before she has to leave.”

“Yeah, I guess that’ll have to do.” Izuku didn’t like not knowing their opponents well, but there wasn’t much he could do about it, so he moved on. “Well, I’d say we’ve got a pretty solid plan. With All Might’s weakness and whatever secret weapon you’ve got-”

“Wait, weakness?” Shigaraki interrupted. “If you’re talking about how he’s not as strong as he used to be, we already know about that.”

“Oh, I haven’t told you?” Izuku grinned. “All Might’s on a time limit. He’s only able to stay in his muscled form for three hours before he deflates into a form so weak, a strong breeze could probably knock him over.”

Shigaraki’s eyes gleamed. “Really? And where did you learn this?”

“An encounter with the number one hero himself. The day he told me I couldn’t be a hero. I’m so very excited to show him that he was right.”

After a pause, Shigaraki nodded. “With a weakness like that, killing him will be easier than I thought.”

“Mm-hmm,” Izuku smirked in agreement. “And what about your secret weapon? Trust us enough to reveal it yet?”

“Hmm…” Shigaraki hummed thoughtfully. “Very well. Kurogiri?”

Kurogiri, who had been standing silently in the corner this whole time, nodded, and a swirling black vortex appeared in the middle of the room. Izuku’s eyes lit up and he resisted the urge to leap over the couch and start examining it. Instead, he stood up and followed Shigaraki through it, determined to remember every second of passing through the portal in order to get more information for his notes.

All of that was thrown out of his mind, however, when he saw what was waiting in the room he’d walked into.

“Meet Nomu,” Shigaraki said once everyone had arrived. “Our secret weapon. The thing that will kill All Might.”

“What the hell?” Dabi muttered, perfectly summarizing the trio’s thought process at that moment.

The ‘Nomu’, as Shigaraki called it, was massive. Dark skin was stretched taut over hulking muscles, contrasted by bright red scars that crisscrossed the monster’s arms. Its beak-like mouth, filled with razor-sharp teeth, appeared to be grinning, but the monster’s dull, empty eyes implied that this was merely how its mouth was shaped; the smile was not caused by any emotions.

Finally, Izuku’s gaze turned to the thing he found most interesting: The Nomu’s exposed brain. There was no blood, no sign of damage. Izuku knew that having one’s brain partially uncovered did not necessarily mean death; if medical attention was received quickly enough, a person could continue their life with little to no negative effects. But this was not a skull injury or neurosurgery. The upper part of the monster’s skull was gone entirely, and apparently had been for some time, but yet here it stood, alive and breath- wait, was it breathing? Was it even alive ?

“Can I…” Izuku’s voice was a mere whisper. “Is it safe to touch?”

“Nomu does not act of its own free will,” Shigaraki said. “It has no free will. It will do whatever it is ordered to without hesitation, and I am the only person it takes orders from. So unless I tell it otherwise, right now, Nomu is completely harmless.”

“You could have just said yes,” Dabi grumbled. Everyone ignored him.

“Incredible,” Izuku breathed out, slowly walking forward to place his hand on Nomu’s beak.

“Careful, Izuchan,” Himichan called from behind him. Izuku nodded absently, moving his hand to Nomu’s arm. He pressed lightly, but there was no give, not even when he increased the pressure. It was like a rock.

“Amazing… How… How was it made?”

“Nomu is made from a human corpse that has been genetically modified in a way that allows it to hold multiple quirks,” Kurogiri spoke up for the first time. “The experimentation on the body leaves it with no higher brain function, only able to take orders, making it the perfect weapon.”

“Multiple quirks?” Izuku turned to stare at Kurogiri. “How is that possible?”

“I do not know the exact process myself, but, if you would be interested, I could ask the one who created Nomu if they would be willing to meet with you.”

“Oh, please do,” Izuku beamed, turning back to Nomu. “This is absolutely incredible, to be able to not only reanimate a corpse but also give it multiple quirks and make it only answer to one specific person? Whoever created this thing has to be a genius.”

He stepped back from the Nomu and flipped his notebook open to a new section, already starting a sketch.

“So,” Shigaraki smirked. “Do you think Nomu can kill All Might?”

Izuku grinned up from his notebook, eyes gleaming. “The Symbol of Peace is as good as dead.”

Chapter Text

Ochako hummed happily as she walked to school. Well, it was less walking, more bouncing, but whatever. She still couldn’t believe she had gotten into class 1-A; it was so exciting! After the disaster that was the entrance exam, Ochako had thought that she was never going to get in, but it turned out that there were these things called “rescue points,” and since she’d helped a bunch of people out, she still passed the exam!

The hero course was both exactly what she was expecting and nothing like it at all. It was hardcore, that wasn’t surprising, but she hadn’t expected the threat of expulsion on the first day! But of course, it turned out that Aizawa-sensei was just messing with them. The kid who got last place… what was his name? Shima? Shinko? Shijo? Something like that. Anyways, he’d looked so heartbroken when he saw his name was in last place, not that you could tell much because his expression hardly changed at all. But then, when Aizawa-sensei revealed it’d been a trick, his relief was obvious! Well, obvious to Ochako at least.

There were some of her classmates that she really didn’t like. This one kid with grape-looking things on his head was a major pervert; he was always trying to look up the girls’ shirts and peek into the locker rooms. Ugh, Ochako didn’t even want to think his name, that’s how disgusted she was! She really hoped he would get expelled!

Of course, Grape-Perv wasn’t the only classmate that Ochako found off-putting. There was also Explosion-Boy, (his name was Bakugou, right?) who kinda looked like an angry pomeranian. She was glad that Aizawa-sensei’s quirk let him cancel out other people's quirks because otherwise, she would be terrified of getting exploded just because Angry-Pomeranian thought she was looking at him funny!

There weren't only bad people in her class, though! She’d made friends with this girl, Asui! No, wait, she’d said to call her Tsu! Anyways, Tsu had a frog mutation quirk, which was super cool, and she ribbeted just like a frog, which was the cutest thing Ochako had ever seen! Or heard, technically. Whatever.

Tsu was also super blunt; she tended to just speak her mind without sugarcoating or beating around the bush. Ochako found this really refreshing because so many people liked to avoid the truth or weren’t willing to say what they were thinking because they were scared of hurting people’s feelings. Honestly, the world would probably be so much better if everyone just said what they meant instead of lying all the time.

But anyway, back to talking about UA! The training exercise the day before had been insane. Ochako had been on a hero team, but they lost against Pomeranian-Boy and that super fast kid, Iida. She was bummed, but she still tried her best, and that was what mattered!

And speaking of All Might, Ochako still hadn’t gotten over the fact that the number one hero was her teacher! Sure, he wasn’t the best at it, and he clearly didn’t have a teaching license, but he tried his hardest, and plus, he was All Might , which more than made up for his flaws!

“Hiya there, cutie!”

Ochako slowed her trot and looked around, spotting a blonde girl walking towards her. “Oh, hello!” Ochako smiled. “Who are you?”

“I’m Toga Himiko!” The girl chirped, skipping beside her. “What about you?”

The name seemed familiar, but Ochako shrugged it off. “My name’s Uraraka Ochako! It’s nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too!” Toga grinned, revealing a pair of sharp fangs. “You go to UA, right? That’s so cool!”

“How could you tell?” Ochako’s brows furrowed as she tilted her head to the side.

“You’re wearing the uniform, silly!” Toga laughed, pointing at Ochako’s uniform. 

“O-Oh, yeah.” Ochako blushed in embarrassment.

“You’re kinda silly! And cute!” Toga’s grin seemed more predatory now, but it was probably just Ochako’s imagination. “Have you made any friends yet?”

“Um, only one so far, but I’m sure I’ll make more! Her name’s Asu- ah, Tsu! She’s got a frog quirk that’s super adorable!”

“Well then, you two must be the cutest pair in the class!” Toga covered her mouth with one hand as she giggled. “Maybe the entire school!”

Ochako blushed. “O-Oh, thank you!”

“You’re welcome!” Toga beamed. “You’re in the hero course, right? I can tell from the buttons on your shoulders! Did you know the buttons look different for every course?”

Ochako’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Really?”

“Mm-hmm!” Toga nodded. “The Hero course has one button on each shoulder, and Support and General Studies both have two, though General Studies’ has a gap between their buttons! Oh, and Management has three buttons on each shoulder!”

“It’s super cool that you know that!” Ochako complimented her.

“Thank you! Y’know, must have a really powerful quirk to have gotten into 1-A! What is it?”

“It’s called Zero Gravity!” Ochako explained. “If I touch something with all five of my fingers, it floats! And then when I do this-” She pressed all of her fingers together, making an arch with her hands. “The gravity comes back!”

“That’s perfect!” Toga cheered. “Just what I need!”

Ochako frowned. “What do you mean ‘just what you need?’”

“Well, you see, I’m trying to infiltrate UA, and I need some of your blood to do it!”

“Wh-What?!” Ochako sputtered, backing away. Toga’s smile grew sharper and she pounced. Ochako fell backward, head slamming against the sidewalk. Vision spinning, she tried to get back to her feet, but something hit her head again and the world went black.

Chapter Text

Tsuyu sat quietly in her seat while her classmates mingled. Well, most of them, anyway. A few, like the boy with red-and-white hair and the raven-headed one, were silent as well. She glanced at the clock and frowned, not that anyone would be able to tell with her face structure. Class started in two minutes and Uraraka still wasn’t here. Tsuyu wasn’t superstitious, but it couldn’t be good luck to be late this early in the school year.

When the bell finally rang and Uraraka still hadn’t arrived, Tsuyu grew mildly worried. Sure, she probably could have just woken up late, but Uraraka seemed like the type to get out of bed as soon as her alarm rang.

“Alright, class, settle down,” Aizawa-sensei droned. “I’ve got something important to tell you. Today we’ll be-” The door was thrown open and Uraraka rushed in, sliding into her seat.

“Sorry I’m late!” She panted. “My train was running behind!”

“Take an earlier one next time,” Aizawa-sensei said. “Now, as I was saying, today you’ll be choosing a class president and vice president. Do it however you want, I don’t care.”

As the class erupted into excited chatter, Tsuyu stood and walked over to Uraraka, who grinned up at her. “Good morning, Tsu! How’re ya doing?”

“Fine,” Tsuyu replied. “I have a question. You told me yesterday that you walk to school, so how could your train have run late if you don’t take the train?”

“Oh, that?” Uraraka giggled, leaning in conspiratorially and lowering her voice. “I just lied about that so our teacher would let me off easy. I didn’t miss the train; I accidentally pressed ‘off’ on my alarm instead of ‘snooze’, so I got out of bed way later than I meant to!”

“Oh, okay,” Tsuys nodded. She still felt as if there was something off, but then again, she’d only known Uraraka for a few days, so maybe she was wrong.

“Everyone!” Iida shouted, drawing the attention of the entire class. “I have an idea! Why don’t we vote for the class president?!”

“But won’t everyone just vote for themselves?” Someone questioned.

“Which is how we’ll know that the person who gets multiple votes is fit to be president!” Iida yelled back. The girl with the earphone jacks, Jirou, winced and covered her ears.

Nobody else had any ideas, so they all wrote down a name on slips of paper that Yaoyorozu handed out. Tsuyu went back to her desk and stared at her paper, thinking. They didn’t really know each other that well, so it was difficult to choose someone. Sure, Tsuyu sort of wanted to be president, but she knew that no one would vote for her, so voting for herself would be a waste. Eventually, she scribbled down Iida’s name and placed her slip in the box. He was obviously pretty keen on being president, and he did seem pretty responsible, so he’d be a good fit.

When all of the votes were tallied, Yaoyorozu won with three votes, and Iida had two. Tsuyu was surprised to see that she had a vote, but when she saw that there weren’t any tallies next to Uraraka’s name, she knew who had voted for her.

The bell rang for lunch, and a few minutes later Tsuyu found herself sitting across from her two new presidents, with Uraraka next to her.

“Congratulations on getting class president, Yaoyorozu!” Uraraka said. “And vice president for you, Iida!”

“Thank you!” Iida shouted. Tsuyu was starting to doubt he had any volume control.

“Call me Momo,” Yaoyorozu smiled shyly. “And to be honest, I’m a little shocked. I never expected to get three votes.”

“Well, you deserve it!” Uraraka chirped, shoveling food in her mouth. Momo nodded in thanks and began eating as well.

“So,” Uraraka spoke up after she had swallowed her food. “What do you all think of our classmates so far?”

“Some of them are quite powerful,” Momo replied. “Todoroki and Bakugou, for example.”

Something flickered across Uraraka’s face at the mention of the explosive blond, but she said nothing.

“Bakugou’s quirk is very powerful, but he needs to learn proper teamwork before he can truly be a hero!” Iida said, making chopping motions with his hands. “The way he acted in the training exercise yesterday was certainly villainous, but I have a feeling he was not acting!”

“Todoroki is similar,” Momo said. “He may have handled the exercise well, but he barely said a word to his teammate.”

Tsuyu nodded. “Covering the entire building in ice was very smart, though I’m wondering if he also has a fire quirk, what with the way his hair appears, and how he was able to melt the ice.”

“He does,” Momo confirmed. “We’ve interacted a few times at galas and similar events. He has a combination of Endeavor’s and his mother’s quirks.”

“Ooh, cool!” Uraraka swallowed a big bite of her food and checked her phone; it must’ve gone off without Tsuyu noticing. She typed something, clicked a button, then set it down. When she met Tsuyu’s questioning gaze, she explained. “One of my friends texted to see how I was doing. He’s really sweet like that!”

“Aw, how cute,” Momo smiled. “You two must be close.”

Uraraka nodded enthusiastically, stuffing more food in her mouth. “I wonder how some of our classmates got through the entrance exam,” She thought aloud. “I mean, how does being invisible help you take down giant robots?”

“I’m wondering the same thing about Kouda,” Iida interjected. “Talking to animals is quite useful, but how would those animals have helped him against machinery?”

“We can ask them later,” Tsuyu reasoned. “Maybe they’ll give us some ideas for utilizing our own quirks.”

“That’s a great idea, Asui!” Iida exclaimed.

“Call me Tsu,” She responded.

This time, she heard Uraraka’s phone ding. She checked it, pouted, and sent a reply.

“Something wrong?” Momo asked.

“It’s nothing,” Uraraka waved off. “Just a small change in our plans for later.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Momo frowned. “What-” She was cut off by a shrill alarm ringing through the building, shocking all of them. A few kids yelped and started running towards the exits.

“What’s happening?!” Iida questioned a nearby student.

“An intruder alarm!” They replied, panicked. “I’ve gone here for two years and this has never happened!”

Tsuyu turned to Uraraka, eyes widening when she realized the girl had disappeared. “Where did Uraraka go?!”

“I think she ran off already!” Momo shouted over the noise. “Come on, let’s get to the hall!”

The next few minutes were absolute chaos. Everyone was rushing towards the exits, pushing and shoving their way forward, but soon the hall became so crowded that Tsuyu struggled to just stay upright. At some point, she lost sight of Momo and Iida. She would have tried to call out to them, but she doubted they would be able to hear her.

After almost ten minutes, it was finally over, and everyone headed back to their classrooms. When Tsuyu entered class 1-A, she noticed Uraraka talking to Aizawa-sensei. Aizawa-sensei said something, nodded, and Uraraka walked away. She passed by Tsuyu on the way out the door and gave her an apologetic smile.

“I’m not feeling too well,” She explained. “So Aizawa-sensei is letting me head home early. I’ll see ya tomorrow, okay?”

“Alright,” Tsuyu nodded. “Hope you feel better.”

“Thank you!” Uraraka beamed. “Bye!”

“Bye,” Tsuyu responded.

This must be why she was acting off all day, she thought as she headed back to her seat. She must’ve been feeling bad, and the break-in only made it worse.

She hoped Uraraka would be feeling well enough to come back to school the next day.

Chapter Text

“Ready, Izuchan?” Himiko chirped. Izuchan nodded, shifting nervously-anxiously-uneasily. Himiko smiled, standing up on her tippy toes to kiss him on the forehead, then stepped away so she could look over their outfits one last time.

They both wore a black undersuit, split into a shirt and leggings to make it easier to change in and out of; black fingerless gloves; hoodies that were cropped a little below their chests, Izuchan’s green and Himiko’s red; and belts equipped with numerous knives and support items, such as flash grenades and smoke bombs. Even more knives were hidden all over their bodies. Both of them had metal masks equipped with air filters, the sides patterned with triangles that resembled fangs.

That was where the similarities ended. Izuchan wore green pants over his leggings and black combat boots, while Himiko had a red pleated skirt and heeled boots that reached midway between her knees and ankles.

One of Himiko’s favorite things about her outfit was the support item: her syringes. She had six, one hidden in each of her sleeves, one on either side of her chest, and two on her belt. Each was attached to two tubes- one running up to her mask and one into one of the two 2-liter tanks attached to the back of her waist- and had a switch that allowed her to switch between tubes.

“Oh, we look fantastic!” Himiko squealed in excitement-anticipation-delight, squeezing Izuchan in a hug, one that he quickly returned.

“If you two are done -” Shigaraki griped from the other side of the closed door. “-it’s almost time. Get out here.”

Himiko rolled her eyes, but stepped away from Izuku, giving him one last peck on his forehead. He slipped his hand into hers, fingers intertwined, and together they walked down the hall and stepped through the warp gate.

When they emerged, it was not into the USJ, but a warehouse where the League of Villains forces were gathered. They obviously weren’t going to reveal the location of the bar to any random criminal or low-level villain, so this was where they were meeting.

“Took you two long enough,” drawled a voice to their left. Himiko turned and grinned up at Dabi.

“Well, unlike some people , Dabi-nii, Izuchan, and I need to look good for this. It’s a very special event, you know. Izuchan’s gonna get to see Kacchan again!” She bounced in place, barely containing her enthusiasm-elation-joy. Dabi huffed and ruffled her hair, then shot a concerned look at Izuchan, who had gone uncharacteristically quiet.

“Izuchan?” Himiko asked softly, squeezing his hand. Are you okay?”

It took him a few moments to answer. “I... Am I doing the right thing? My mom wouldn’t want this… I wanted to be a hero for so long and now I’m about to go murder one…”

“Izuchan, hey. Look at me.” Himiko moved so she was standing in front of him. His eyes, watery and uncertain-hesitant-scared, met hers. “Inko might not have wanted this, but you’re doing it for her . This is the first step in avenging her death, making sure she gets justice . Don’t you want that?”

“It’s okay to be nervous, kid,” Dabi said. “I was, too. But you’ve gotta push through that because there won’t be another opportunity like this. You can’t get cold feet, otherwise, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

“Right…” Izuchan nodded, letting out a small breath. “You guys are right. I can do this. I’ve got to. For Mom.”

“I believe in you, Izuchan!” Himiko hugged him tightly, dragging Dabi into it. Izuchan laughed and rested his chin on her head, seeing as how he couldn’t hug back since his arms were pinned to his body.

They drew apart not long after, but Izuchan and Himiko kept holding hands, and Dabi-nii stuck close to them. Slowly, more and more villains began to arrive, all coming through Kurogiri’s portals as an extra precaution. Some were alone, others came in groups. The largest group Himiko had seen so far had been seven, but she wasn’t really paying attention, so there could have been another group with more.

“Hey, Izuchan,” she started, in an attempt to get him out of his head. “Tell me about some of these villains. What do you think their quirks are?”

“Oh! Umm, let’s see… Well, they’ve obviously got some kind of marine animal mutation, maybe a shark of some sort? They’re also wearing goggles, so are their eyes sensitive? Oh, and those two over there are probably related!” Izuchan perked up as he got more into it. “Both of their quirks seem to have to do with their hair, and I think- ah! Yes! See, she’s controlling her hair! Showing off, I think. But they look kinda similar and combined with how familiar they are with each other and the similar quirks, they’ve got to be cousins, at least. Maybe sisters, but I wouldn’t be too sure. Hmm…” He looked around, trying to find new targets, but his search was stopped when Shigaraki drew everyone’s attention.

“Villains!” He called. All conversations drew to an immediate stop. They may have been hardened criminals, but Shigaraki was intimidating, especially while wearing his villain outfit. All those hands… Himiko shuddered. It was decidedly not cute, but she guessed that was one of the things that made him so scary.

“The time has come!” He grinned, not that you could really tell with that hand covering his face. “The fall of the Symbol of Peace is coming, and we shall be the ones to bring him down!” He spread his arms wide, inciting a deafening round of cheers and applause from everyone in the warehouse. Himiko bounced up and down, squeezing Izuchan’s hand tight.

As everyone got ready to leave, Izuchan, Himiko, and Dabi all gathered around Shigaraki, who nodded at Kurogiri. Warp gates began appearing around the warehouse, delivering villains to their designated areas in the USJ.

Finally, in front of them, the last portal appeared, larger than the rest. Shigaraki walked forward, disappearing into the swirling vortex of black, with Dabi right behind him. Izuchan took a deep breath and squeezed Himiko’s hand, a gesture she returned. Himiko walked forward, pulling Izuku with her, and together, they stepped through.

Chapter Text

The first thing Izuku noticed was the change in temperature. The warehouse had been chilly and damp, but the air on the other side of the portal was fresh, warm. It took him a few moments to adjust, but when he had, he could practically taste the bloodlust radiating off of the villains. Himichan’s hand tightened around his, and he looked over to see her staring at him. The bright yellow of her eyes was like a warning sign. Danger! Keep Away! As it was with most teenage boys in the media, this didn’t deter him. In fact, it did quite the opposite. It drew him in.

“Well, kid,” Dabi stepped up next to him, breaking the spell. “You ready?”

After a moment of hesitation, Izuku nodded. Dabi smiled and ruffled his hair. “You’re gonna do great, kid.”

“Don’t worry, Izuchan.” Himichan squeezed his hand. “I’m gonna be right here with you the whole time.”

Izuku didn’t realize how tense he had been until he felt himself relax. He finally looked ahead, across the plaza, at the group of students gathered near the entrance. With them were Thirteen, Eraserhead, and… All Might. Izuku grinned, running his tongue over his teeth. He couldn’t wait to make him bleed.

“Surrender, villains!” All Might’s voice boomed across the plaza. “You have no chance of winning!” Shigaraki grinned.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.” His voice, rasping and high-pitched, was the exact opposite of All Might’s, and yet it still managed to encompass the area, chilling the air around them. “After all, only noobs walk into a boss fight unprepared.”

Kurogiri disappeared in a flash of dark mist and reappeared behind the hero students. Izuku’s attention was finally drawn away from The Symbol of Peace, and he caught sight of Kacchan right as the blond was sucked into a portal. He felt a flash of disappointment at the thought that he wouldn’t get to confront his old friend, but perked up almost immediately because Kacchan would make his way back to the plaza eventually- it wasn’t like Shigaraki had picked the finest villains for this attack. Quantity over quality, Izuku supposed.

Eraserhead ordered Thirteen to protect the remaining students ( Not that it would do any good, Izuku thought gleefully.) and followed All Might into the fray. “Don’t hurt Eraserhead too badly,” Izuku growled, grip tightening on his knife. “He’s one of the good ones.” The responses of the people who heard him- Himichan, Dabi, Shigaraki, and some of the villains- varied from nods to scoffs, but he knew that Himichan, Dabi, and Shigaraki would listen, and that was all that mattered.

Dabi immediately went for All Might, who had bypassed the small fry and went straight for Shigaraki. The nomu stepped in before he could get there, though, and Dabi sent a burst of flame that All Might just barely dodged. With the Symbol of Peace occupied with those two, Eraserhead was struggling against the grunts. He wasn’t used to long, drawn-out fights, Izuku knew. His quirk was better suited for ambushes- his strategy was to surprise his opponent and defeat them before he had to blink. But with enemies on all sides, he wouldn’t be able to employ his usual tactics. He was doing well, Izuku could see that, but the intervals between blinks kept growing shorter and shorter.

Twenty-three seconds.

Eraserhead had defeated almost half of the grunts.

Twenty.

Five grunts left.

Twenty-four.

Eraserhead bashed the last two grunts’ heads together and turned his attention to Shigaraki.

Seventeen

Izuku’s eyes shone with delight as he intercepted the hero. Eraserhead just barely avoided his knife, leaping backward with a scowl. “Eraserhead!” Izuku beamed, not that his opponent could see. “I can’t believe I’m finally getting to meet you! You’re one of my favorite heroes!”

“How old are you, kid?!”

Izuku giggled as he ducked under the capture weapon. “About the same age as your students! I actually know one of them, isn’t that cool?! What a small world!”

“Is that what this is, then?” Eraserhead hissed as Izuku finally managed to slash his arm. “Taking revenge on your peers for the way you were treated?”

“Mmm, kinda.” He jumped away from an end of the capture weapon that had been going for his legs but ended up with his right arm trapped instead. Growling in frustration, he managed to cut it away right as Eraserhead swept his legs out from under him. He landed on his back, head cracking against the pavement.

“My turn!”

Izuku grinned at the red blur that jumped between himself and Eraserhead. “Took ya long enough, Himichan!”

“Sorry, Izuchan!” Himichan chirped. “You looked like you were having so much fun; I didn’t wanna interrupt!”

While Izuku took the time to regain his bearings, Himichan engaged Eraserhead. The following fight looked more like a dance to Izuku, with Himchan’s knives flashing in the air and Eraserhead’s scarves twirling around them like ribbons.

“You good, kid?” Dabi called, drawing Izuku’s attention away from the fight.

“I’m okay!” He called back. “Just taking a breather!”

“Don’t take too long! Don’t want the other villains to think you-”

“DABI, LOOK OUT!”

Dabi turned a second too late. All Might had taken advantage of his distraction and backhanded him in the chest, sending Dabi flying towards the lake. Izuku was up and running before he even hit the water. He passed a trio of kids who were hiding behind some bushes but paid them no mind as he jumped into the water. He managed to grab hold of Dabi right as he started sinking, and began hauling them both back to shore.

“I do know how to swim, ya know that, right?” Dabi coughed as Izuku pulled him out of the water.

“Right, but can you swim with broken ribs?” Izuku retorted. “There’s no way you survived a hit like that without some damage.”

“Who are you people?!”

Oh, right. Hero students. Izuku glared at the purple-haired kid that had spoken. “You’re either deaf or an idiot. We-”

The kid smirked and Izuku’s mind went blank.

Chapter Text

“Knock your friend out,” the kid ordered. Izuku felt his body moving on its own, and Dabi’s eyes widened in surprise before Izuku slammed his head against the concrete. Izuku hoped he hadn’t given him a concussion, but doubted he was that lucky.

“Now go help Eraserhead.”

Izuku’s legs moved and he found himself running towards Eraserhead and Himichan. Himichan turned, eyes lighting up.

“Izuchan! There you a-” she cut off as Izuku swiped at her, dodging quickly to the side. “Izuchan? What’s wrong, why are you-” Izuku lunged at her again, hating himself as he did it. He tried to stop himself, tried to make his body stop moving, but it felt like he was watching himself through a screen. He wanted to yell, wanted to scream and shout and stop stop stop , but his body wouldn’t listen to him.

Eraserhead seemed to realize what was going on and went to help All Might, letting Izuku take over in his part of the dance. Himichan kept trying to get at him, but Izuku would block her every time. She growled in frustration.

“What did they do to you?!” She demanded, eyes like yellow fire. “What did they do?! Who is it?! Who’s making you do this?!”

For the first time in his life, Izuku couldn’t cry. He wanted to, oh , how he wanted to, so Himichan could see how much he didn’t want to be doing this, but the tears wouldn’t fall.

“Stop it, Izuchan!” She shouted, slashing viciously at his arm. “Stop it, stop it, stop it! You’re mine! Not theirs, mine! You belong to me !”

Finally, she landed a kick on his head, and Izuku fell. Himichan went down with him, flipping him on his back and straddling his hips. She grabbed his wrists and pinned them above his head.

Izuku felt tears running down his face and smiled. He was crying. Himichan’s eyes softened immediately, and she let go of his hands, moving to wipe the tears away. “There you are, Angel.”

“I’m sorry.” Izuku shifted so he was sitting up, Himichan in his lap, and hugged her. “I’m so so sorry, Himichan. I didn’t want to, I swear I didn’t want to.”

“It’s okay, Angel, I believe you.” She squeezed him back. “Now c’mon, let’s make them pay .”

“There’s a kid with fluffy purple hair,” Izuku said as Himichan helped him up. “Don’t talk to him. I haven’t figured out how exactly his quirk works, but I’m positive it’s verbally triggered.”

“Got it,” Himichan nodded, eyes dark.

The sound of an explosion, coupled with a familiar shout, drew Izuku’s attention. He grinned.

Kacchan had entered the battlefield.

Katsuki’s day was going horribly, and he was fucking pissed. First, those dumbass extras wouldn’t leave him alone on the bus. Then, the field trip had been interrupted by some stupid-ass wannabe villains who thought they could take on All Might. The ones he’d encountered so far had been weak as hell, but since there were so many of them it’d taken him longer than he wanted to finish them off. He’d already figured out that misty fuck’s weakness, so now he just needed to get to the plaza and take him down. Easy as fucking pie.

Shitty Hair was following him like a lost puppy, but Katsuki ignored him in favor of launching himself at the misty fucker.

“Move a single muscle,” he growled. “Make a single portal and I will blow your fucking face off, you hear me?”

“A bit villainous for a future hero, wouldn’t you say?” Katsuki just grinned.

“It gets the fuckin’ job done, doesn’t it?”

“Woah, good job, Bakugou!” Shitty Hair had finally caught up. “I never woulda thought of that.”

“Yeah, ‘cause you’re just a damn extra,” Katsuki retorted. “Now get out of the way and go join the other extras.”

“No way, bro!” Shitty Hair grinned. “If you can help, then so can I!”

A ragged scream tore their attention away from each other. The nomu had Aizawa-sensei’s arm in a crushing grip, likely shattering it in multiple places. All Might punched it and it tossed Sensei away. He landed next to the fountain, head cracking on the edge, and collapsed in an unmoving heap.

“You wanna help?” Katsuki barked. “Grab Sensei and go join the other extras!”

“Right! I’ll keep him safe!” Shitty Hair rushed off, grin replaced with a determined fire in his eyes.

“I don’t think so!” One of the villains appeared out of nowhere, swiping at Shitty Hair. Caught off guard, he wasn’t able to harden himself in time, and the knife left a deep cut on his arm. The villain bounced backward with a giggle.

“Sorry Kacchan, but I’m gonna need you to back off.” She dodged away from a punch Shitty Hair threw and took advantage of his momentum to spin behind him and deliver a kick to his back. Shitty Hair stumbled but didn’t fall.

There was a noise behind Bakugou; he turned just in time to see a boot coming towards his head. It hit his nose with a sharp crack, but somehow he managed to keep his hold on the misty fuck. He lifted a hand and set off a large explosion, but it only grazed his opponent, who dodged easily, like it was something he’d done hundreds of times before.

“Not gonna get me that easily!” He laughed. “C’mon, Kacchan, you can do better than that!”

Katsuki froze. The villain laughed, eyes bright. “Oh, don’t tell me you just figured it out? I thought you were smarter than that, Kacchan!”

“De… Deku?”

Deku’s eyes hardened. “I told you not to call me that.”

Katsuki growled. “The hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Deku tilted his head in a very un-Deku-like way. “I thought we made our intentions very clear. We’re here to kill All Might!”

“What the hell?! You think you can take down the number one hero? You must be even more of an idiot than I thought.”

Quicker than he had ever seen Deku move, Deku swiped the blade across Katsuki’s face, leaving a cut on the same cheek as the last time they had seen each other. Katsuki once again found himself with a blade under his throat, Deku’s eyes blazing with wrathful green fire.

“You’re lucky I’m patient,” he whispered. “You’re lucky I have more self-restraint than you do. Otherwise, I would kill you right here and now.” The knife pressed a little harder against his throat but didn’t draw blood. “Or maybe it isn’t luck. I’m sure death would be far more appealing than what I’m planning for you. You know,” he giggled, “it’s kinda funny-” he paused, then leaped back a millisecond before a wall of ice separated them. Katsuki whipped his head around and locked eyes with Icy Hot, who nodded and turned his attention to All Might’s fight with some ugly-as-fuck monster thing.

The monster’s right side was completely encased in ice, and Katsuki smirked- but the smirk faded as the monster just ripped the limbs off and regrew them in a matter of seconds. The hell was this thing?!

All Might shouted something that Katsuki couldn’t make out and began launching a rapid series of punches, all too fast to see.

“Come on , I just wanna see a little blood! Just one small cut!”

“No way, psycho!”

Katsuki remembered the girl villain- the one wearing a matching outfit with Deku- and her fight with Shitty Hair. They were still going at it, the villain’s eyes lit with a (somehow familiar) manic light, while Shitty Hair bared his teeth. He’d hardened practically his entire body now, and seemed about to keel over with exhaustion.

“Shitty Hair!” Katsuki barked. “Down!”

It took two seconds for Shitty Hair to process and comply. By the time he did, Katsuki’s arm was already raised, and once his classmate was out of the way, he let loose one of his biggest explosions yet. The vampire bitch yelped and jumped out of the way, clothes singed and smoking. Shitty Hair scrambled behind Katsuki, letting go of his quirk and dropping to the ground. Katsuki launched another, smaller, explosion, but it got the job done. The girl narrowed her eyes and ran off.

Chapter Text

Izuku cuddled with Himichan on the couch, both still cold from their time encased in ice.

“Should’ve known the son of Endeavor would have no problem dealing with those common thugs,” Izuku scowled. “But he was in the storm zone! How did he manage to find his way to the plaza from there ?”

“He is the son of the number two hero,” Himichan reasoned. “He’s probably super smart.”

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” Izuku hit the back of his head against the couch. “We should’ve stationed more villains against him. Or put him in another zone. Or-”

“Hush, Izuchan,” Himichan soothed him. “Your plan was amazing. None of this was your fault.”

“Izuchan, there you are!”

“Sorry, Himichan, I had some trouble getting past that stupid ice wall. I had him, I was so close -”

“Aw, I’m sorry, Angel.” She hugged him. “You’ll have more chances later, though, right?”

“Yeah,” he sighed as they pulled away. “I guess so. C’mon, lets-”

Ice covered both of them from the necks down. The sudden drop in temperature sent a shock through Izuku’s system, and it took longer than he would’ve liked to realize what had happened.

“Stupid fucking-”

Dabi woke up soon after they had retreated, albeit with a splitting headache. He waved off all of Izuku’s attempts to apologize, saying it wasn’t his fault and he shouldn’t feel bad. Not that it did much to assuage Izuku’s guilt, but he stopped apologizing verbally, and instead tried to make Dabi as comfortable as possible.

He most definitely had a concussion, so Izuku and Himichan took turns watching and waking him. Izuku made some ramen that Dabi barely ate and Himichan finished off.

When the last of the effects were waning and Dabi was able to sit up without almost puking, he demanded they tell him everything that happened after he was… incapacitated. Himichan got up to the point where they had been frozen in ice, then Izuku took over.

The Nomu had been defeated. All Might had launched it into the freaking sun. Izuku swore he saw a little sparkle where it had disappeared. Team Rocket’s blasting off again, he thought with a deranged giggle, then wondered if that made Himichan and him Jesse and James. Or maybe that would be Kurogiri and Shigaraki?

He shook off the musings with a scowl. Either way, they had just lost their greatest weapon, meaning they were completely and utterly screwed.

Izuku could really feel the cold setting in now, shivering so much he half hoped he’d vibrate right out of the ice. Looking over at Himichan, he could see she didn’t look any better than he did. He could only hope they would be able to get free before hypothermia began to set in.

Muffled yelling could be heard down the hall, making Izuku flinch. Shigaraki had flown into a rage as soon as they had gotten back. Shamefully, Izuku was happy he was too injured to really do much damage, otherwise, he doubted he and Himichan would have made it out completely unscathed. Not to mention the hero student being kept there. If Shigaraki was able to walk, Izuku didn’t think the poor girl would survive. They’d have to let her free before their boss regained too much movement.

“Izuchan?” Himichan squeezed his arm, startling him out of his thoughts. He sent her a tired but thankful smile and continued.

“Are you okay, Himichan?” She nodded, though Izuku could see she was shivering as much as he was.

“Don’t worry, Izuchan,” Himichan reassured. “We’re gonna be fine.”

It took about 20 to 30 minutes to develop hypothermia while submerged in ice-cold water. Izuku didn’t know how that would translate to being trapped in a block of ice, but he doubted the statistics were any better. Not to mention frostbite which, while not as serious, wouldn’t take as long to set in.

Izuku really missed Dabi. His quirk would’ve been really useful right about now.

He strained his fingers and, though they didn’t move a single millimeter, imagined he could feel Himichan’s hand next to his.

“The kid who trapped you two,” Dabi interrupted. “You said his name was Todoroki?”

Himichan nodded. “He was kinda cute, to be honest. Not as cute as Izuku, obviously, and he never smiled. He just looked really serious, and kinda sad.”

Izuku hummed in agreement. “He only ever used ice, but I noticed that it always came from his right side. Since half of his hair is red, I’m positive that he can use fire on his left side. If so, using it would’ve greatly increased his advantage. So why didn’t he?”

“He’s the son of Endeavor,” Dabi said after a prolonged silence. “With someone like that as a father, it’s not much of a surprise.”

“Guess not,” Izuku murmured, and stored that comment in a growing list of observations about Dabi.

All Might wasn’t moving. He was standing completely still, grinning that stupid smile and acting like he was invincible. But he wasn’t. Especially not then. Izuku was willing to bet his entire life savings (which, admittedly, wasn’t much) that he was one little movement away from deflating like a popped balloon. All it would take was one little push, and he would be vulnerable enough that the world could finally be rid of him.

But Izuku couldn’t move. He was so close, and it would be so easy, but Izuku couldn’t freaking move, so he just had to watch as All Might stood there grinning, just like he had the day he’d chewed up Izuku’s dreams and spit them out like two-week-old leftovers.

“Shigaraki,” he hissed, teeth chattering. “Shigaraki, now!”

Shigaraki grinned and launched himself forward. This was it; he just had to touch him, and it would be over. All Might would be-

A shot cracked through the air. Shigaraki cried out and clutched his arm, but didn’t stop.

Another shot. Shigaraki fell to the ground.

“Apologies, Shigaraki Tomura,” Kurogiri murmured. “But we need to leave.”

Inky black appeared under Himichan and Izuku and swallowed them whole.

“We were so close ,” Izuku hissed. “All that work, all that planning, for nothing .”

Himichan stood and pulled him into a hug, resting her chin on the top of his head. “This wasn’t a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You’ll get another chance.”

“Yeah, kid,” Dabi rubbed his back. “Don’t let this get you down. All Might’ll be even weaker after this, won’t he? So it should be even easier to take him down.”

“Yeah…” Izuku whispered, eyes slowly widening. “Yeah, you’re right. He pushed himself past his limit, so it probably decreased by a lot. We just need a way to trap him again. He was really focused on the students, so maybe if we used hostages to split his attention…”

He scrambled off the bed and grabbed the notebook he’d left lying on Dabi’s nightstand. It was time to start planning their next move.

Chapter Text

Hi, Coyote here!! Sorry it’s been almost a year since any updates, I kinda lost interest in BNHA for a bit, and then God decided to make my senior year of high school a living hell and I’ve been dealing with all of that. BUT I’m here now!! This fic is not dead, I promise, but you’ll have to wait a bit longer for an update as I’m  gonna be starting college come August, so I’m preparing for that. In the meantime, I’ll probably be rewriting some chapters to spark my interest in this fic again, so be watching for that!

To everyone who’s stayed this long, thank you so so much for your encouragement and patience, and I ask that you wait just a little bit longer for me. Y’all are wonderful and I love you so much <3 <3

Much love and best wishes,

Coyote