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Chapter Text

Word about why the students were moved to the dorms beyond what the media knows breaks almost immediately and moves through the Yuuei student body like Kaminari’s electricity. Everyone knows about the kiss, and it doesn’t take a genius to put gay son, homophobic father, and good teachers together. Only one person exhibits any anger about this situation.

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN SHITTY DEKU AND ICYHOT GOT TOGETHER?” Bakugō Katsuki screams, palms popping with small, unintentional explosions. “NO WAY SHITTY DEKU GOT A BOYFRIEND!”

“It’s in the papers, bro,” Eijirō replies, nonchalant. “Endeavor’s pissed. It isn’t as bad as when his oldest accidentally did it on live TV, but there’s still a lot of property damage.”

“Give me that!” Bakugō snaps, grabbing Eijirō’s phone out of his hands.

“Bro, don’t blow up my phone!” the redhead whines.

Bakugō ignores him in favor of jabbing at the screen, scrolling quickly, and if it was possible, his ears would be smoking.

“FUCK!” Bakugō screams again, and true to form, he doesn’t blow up Eijirō’s phone: his hands get so hot that it melts.

“Aw, mannnnn,” Eijirō whines again. “That’s the second time, bro.”

Bakugō ignores him again, pacing in front of Eijirō’s dorm-issued bed. “Fucking Deku… before me… that fucker…”

“Uh, what?”

“How the fuck did Deku of all fucking people get a boyfriend before me?” Bakugō demands, his face suddenly right next to Eijirō’s, and the redhead feels his cheeks flush. The angry boy is also unfairly pretty and Eijirō is way too gay for this.

“Um,” Eijirō squeaks, avoiding Bakugō’s stare. “He’s really nice? And kind of cute. And he’s really smart…”

“Shitty Hair,” Bakugō growls, small pops reaching Eijirō’s ears. “Do you have a fucking crush on him too?”

“No!” the boy blurts before swallowing thickly. Bakugō sounds almost jealous, and Eijirō’s poor gay heart squeezes with the thought. “I’m just… giving a reason,” he reasons lamely.

Bakugō grunts, moving away to sit on the ground.

“I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“Do you want me to say it again?” the other boy snarls. “I’m fucking sorry, okay? I’ll pay for the phone.”

“Oh,” Eijirō exhales, relaxing slightly. “Don’t sweat it, bro.”

“… Was that a fucking pun, Shitty Hair?

Eijirō grins. “Maaaaybe.”

“I’m going to fucking kill you.”

…

No one really ever thinks of Mashirao as a particularly stealthy or attentive person. He supposes that’s one of the side effects of an easily seen physical quirk. Still, he’s so plain-looking that most people can glance right off of him in a crowd.

He’s not surprised that no one really ever notices he’s one of the first people in class, or that he passes the time by just listening to what people say.

He always knows when people walk in, so Bakugō walking in early piques his interest immediately. The boy is always irritated, though the affect has been mitigated slightly since he was forced into counseling with the mysterious “Miss CeCe”, or “that fucking bitch”, as Bakugō calls her. Mashirao has yet to see hide nor hair of the woman, but the affect of her sessions is paying off. He brushed Bakugō with his tail once and didn’t get it snapped off. He considers that a win where Bakugō is concerned.

More than just the usual irritation, Bakugō looks expectant as well. Perhaps he hasn’t heard yet the real reason they’ve been relocated to the dorms. It’s not like it’s common knowledge outside of Yuuei, after all, and he can’t see someone letting the other boy in on it without chickening out in fear.

A few more people trickle in, including Kaminari, who likes to play with Mashirao’s tail in the mornings. It feels nice, so he allows it, draping the appendage across the other blond’s lap. Midoriya and Todoroki walk in together and are met with wolf-whistles that make Midoriya blush. Mashirao catches his friend’s eye with a smile and a thumbs up and gets a grateful nod back.

When almost everyone is present, Bakugō storms out of his desk and directly to Kirishima’s, who jumps a little before greeting his friend.

“What’s up?” is all the redhead can get out before Bakugō has dragged him out of his seat by his shirt collar, scowl still in place.

Mashirao’s head is swiveled at an unnatural angle to take it in, but he ignores it in favor of staring at the boys who are suddenly kissing very violently in the middle of the classroom.

Bakugō ends the kiss abruptly, dropping a very dazed Kirishima back into his seat, and glares daggers at Midoriya before stomping back to his own spot.

Mashirao feels his brain struggling to comprehend this when Aizawa-sensei’s voice jolts his attention back to the front.

“If anyone does that again, they’ll get detention,” the disheveled man deadpans. “PDA is against school policy.”

Mashirao hears Bakugō give a snort.

Aizawa-sensei ignores him and moves on.

…

“You will all be serving an internship,” Aizawa-sensei informs them, but Tenya hardly hears him.

Ever since Tensei’s injury at the hands of the Hero Killer, it’s like everything is stuck under a thousand pounds of static. He can’t focus on anything else, his mind racing from all of the shock of the Sports Festival. First the shock of the reveal of Midoriya’s quirkless status, then shame at it being such a revelation and his own reaction, then the news that Tensei would never walk again. His brain is full to capacity, barely taking in the statistics on the board in front of him. He sees Midoriya’s name towards the bottom and Todoroki's at the top, but he doesn’t know what for.

Guilt and shame battle in his gut, making him nauseous, and Tenya swallows in unconscious response.

Midnight pops in the room to help them with hero names, and all Tenya can think of is his brother’s words about him taking the Ingenium mantle.

He sees somewhere in the back of his mind the concerned look Midoriya gives him.

Tenya focuses on the whiteboard he’s been given instead of opening that can of worms.

…

Izuku is worried about Iida-kun, and so Shōto spends half of class looking at his boyfriend while he looks at the other boy who stares holes into his blank whiteboard.

Shōto is aware that it’s gotten around that he and Midoriya are the reason they’ve been moved into the dorms, but so far, the only thing that’s come of it is Kirishima and Bakugō finally moving on the UST between them, so Shōto isn’t too concerned.

Miss Midnight quickly lets on that she’s using her own personal biases influence their names, and several students scramble to change their name choices. Shōto has had his written since he got the whiteboard, Izuku giving him the idea.

Iida gives “Tenya” as his hero name, his face blank as he says nothing, and Shōto begins to share in his boyfriend’s concerns. He knows he’s bad at recognizing feelings in others, but this is simply not like Iida.

Izuku’s hero name is “Obsidio”, a reference to his dark-colored costume, the Persistence Hero. Miss Midnight eats it up with overt enthusiasm.

“Entropy,” Shōto deadpans. “The Temperature Hero.”

“How wonderful!” Miss Midnight squeals.

“Hmm,” Shōto hums neutrally, his gaze still fixed on Iida.

Something is definitely wrong.

Chapter Text

“So, Bakugō-kun,” the therapist begins, flask topped up and sarcastic smile in place, “would you rather talk about your panic attack at the Sports Festival, your inferiority complex, or your upcoming internship with Best Jeanist and why it’s a terrible idea?”

“Fuck you, bitch,” Katsuki spits, back arching like an angry cat.

The counselor sighs, plaid jacket shifting, and holds up a new bottle.

“What the fuck is that shit, vodka?” the blond remarks moodily, arms crossing and eyes narrowing defensively.

A spray of water hits him dead in the face and he splutters.

“What the fuck was that?”

“Homicide prevention!” the hag provides with a wide smile.

Katsuki sneers. “Isn’t it supposed to be ‘suicide prevention’ or some shit?”

The brunette’s smile tightens and she stares him in the eyes. “No.”

Katsuki scowls and tucks into himself. “… The Sports Festival. Reminded me of. Things.”

The bottle is settled on the desk in front of him. “Now, that’s much better. Let’s discuss these ‘things’, shall we?”

Katsuki sighs. Can’t we not and say that we did?

…

Izuku smooths over his blazer for a fifth time, the ill-tied tie causing it to not quite fall flat. Iida-kun said next to nothing while they traveled, even though they’re interning in the same city with the same hero. Manual is a good hero and good person whom Izuku is certain he can learn a lot from.

His concern for Iida-kun may have had a little bit to do with it, but in honesty, he learned about his friend’s internship choice after he had accepted the Pro’s offer. That was another thing that earned Manual props in Izuku’s eyes: the hero had been one of his 13 offers after the Sports Festival and the reveal that he’s quirkless. It seems almost everyone else was scared off by this fact.

Izuku has tried to bring Iida-kun into tentative conversation multiple times on the train, but so far all he’s gotten have been affirmative grunts and a reply of “Mmm, in a while” when he asked the taller boy what made him choose Manual.

Iida-kun’s head has been in the clouds for so long that Izuku wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he’s listening to birdsong. The other boy’s face is kept neutral, but Izuku can’t help but notice that it’s unnaturally tense.

The blue-haired boy almost flinches when the train stops at their station in Hosu City, but Izuku ignores it, merely smiling at his friend and offering his help with luggage, which is shrugged off not unkindly.

Izuku has an inkling of what this is all about. He has for weeks.

Izuku ignores his gut feeling in the hope that it’s wrong, even if it’s just this time.

(He knows it’s not.)

…

Shōto doesn’t show it outwardly, but he is a little put off that the Wild, Wild Pussycats didn’t tell him that they were going to be interning in Hosu while on a mission. If he had known, he could’ve ridden the train with Izuku and Iida-kun. He isn’t sure he understands what’s going on with the latter, but he knows that his boyfriend thinks he knows, and also that he doesn’t want to be right.

Izuku was right that the Pussycats were the right choice for him to intern with. Not only would him learning from a team of rescue heroes give his father a (hopefully literal) heart attack, he could stand to learn more about teamwork and avoiding collateral damage, as evidenced in his fight with Sero in the Sports Festival.

Pixie-Bob greets him first, as her quirk is most applicable to his own, and a cat-ear communicator is thrust into his hands practically first-thing. The overzealous woman continues to chatter on about how she had wanted to provide him his own version of their costumes, but Tiger talked her out of it, for which Shōto is secretly very, very grateful. He would prefer not to burn through a gift on accident. (Then he thinks of the last time he burned through his costume and got a passive-aggressive verbal smackdown from Watanabe-senpai and shivers, suddenly even more eager to learn restraint.)

Pixie-Bob (“Oh, please! Call me Tsuchikawa-sensei!”) has a thankfully toned-down driving style in comparison with her personality, and Shōto finds himself relaxing on the drive to Hosu City.

With Pixie-Bob’s chatter as white noise, Shōto fades out into his own head. Tsuyu-chan is interning with the water-based rescue hero Selkie, which ought to be great for her own quirk and aspirations that she shared along with her hero name. “Froppy” is certainly a unique choice. Shōto supposes that it’s probably aimed at younger audiences, and he certainly can’t judge with his niche chemistry-based name clearly aimed at older audiences.

Izuku and Iida-kun being together makes Shōto feel better about the latter’s obvious problems. No one’s better at opening people’s hearts and helping them than Izuku. He would have made a great therapist or quirk counselor in another life.

Dad has been more stressed out lately. It’s written between the lines of irritation on his face during homeroom. He grades papers distractedly. Shōto absently wonders if it isn’t that everyone seemed to take Shōto calling him “Dad” in front of reporters and Dad not killing him as permission to do it as well, but he dismisses it. If Dad were really that upset about the paternal moniker, he wouldn’t have allowed its usage to grow so out of hand.

Shōto won 50 yen on Bakugō and Kirishima finally acting on their feelings, although he hadn’t bet on the circumstances around it. He would have much preferred that they had not kissed in the middle of the classroom, but it wouldn’t be Bakugō “Territorial, Competitive Bastard” Katsuki otherwise, he supposes.

“We’re coming up on Hosu!” Pixie-Bob exclaims cheerfully, and Shōto finally looks out the window at the approaching city.

In Hosu is his boyfriend, one of his friends who’s acting off, his own internship, and a slew of heroes who are not his father.

Shōto cracks the slightest hint of a smile.

Chapter Text

Katsuki doesn't want to say that the counselor bitch was right. He really doesn't want to admit defeat. Bakugō Katsuki doesn't fucking lose. But goddammit, if he has to spend one more minute with this denim-obsessed loser, he is going to seriously kill the number-three hero.

What is wrong with this asshole? What's his fucking problem? Treating Katsuki like a monster to be tamed, doing... something to his hair, lecturing him on his appearance? Yeah, fuck that.

Fuck, that bitch was right. This was a bad fucking idea.

…

Shōto's actually been learning useful things in his internship. The Wild Wild Pussycats work as a well-oiled unit, communicating half without words. His training with Pixie-Bob alone has lent him control with his ice and fire that he's never had, even when he spent every day with Endeavor until he puked. Pixie-Bob and the other Pussycats never work him as hard, and yet he's learned more in the past few days than he ever did with his fath – with Endeavor.

Shōto has never seen heroes behave so much like... friends. That's what the Pussycats are, friends. Well, friends who happen to rescue people together, but friends nonetheless.

If this doesn't piss off his father, nothing will.

(Deep down, something inside of Shōto whispers how nice it would be to be just like this. He buries it on instinct.)

…

Their patrol has been ordinary so far, just regular civilians smiling and waving. Manual keeps his pace and responds in kind, saying something about reassurance... or at least, Tenya thinks that's what he's talking about. He's too busy looking into every alleyway for some sign of the Hero Killer. He knows that he should be focusing – this internship is about learning – but how can he concentrate knowing that Tensei's attacker lives?

Izuku gives him a worried, knowing look that Tenya artfully ignores, grateful for the privacy of his helmet. Its bulk may weigh him down, but it also keeps his friend from seeing his scowl.

Tenya resumes his search, face darkening.

Unseen by him, Izuku's face darkens as well.

…

“I'm not stupid, you know.”

“Huh?” Midoriya responds, head cocking.

Masaki sighs, setting aside his own helmet alongside Iida's long-forgotten one. “I'm not an idiot,” he repeats. “I know why he's here, and I know you know, too.”

Midoriya bites his lip in what is conformation for the Pro, and Masaki sighs again.

“I suspected...”

“...But you didn't want to be right,” Masaki finishes for his intern. “Did you choose me just to keep an eye on him?”

Midoriya's eyes go wide and his hands come up in emphasis. “No! No, I genuinely wanted to be here! I didn't even know Iida-kun was going to be here until after I made my application, I swear! You were one of the only people who wanted a quirkless intern, and I think you're really fascinating and cool! Your quirk alone is amazing! Though you can't create your own water, that's never stopped you from using your quirk in really interesting ways, like your fight with Skeleton three years ago! He totally had the advantage and you still won! Of course, you're also really talented with quirkless fighting, something more heroes ought to employ, honestly, considering the likelihood of the inevitability of a villain with a quirk like Eraserhead's –”

Masaki cuts Midoriya off with a laugh and a wave of his hand. “Okay, I believe you.”

Midoriya is quiet for a moment. “How do we help him, sensei?”

Masaki breathes out. “I don't know, kid. Just... be there, I guess.”

Midoriya hums in thought.

...

Chizome stalks away from the meeting, wiping his blades in irritation. How dare that brat speak about All Might like that? How dare he? Some childish brat barely out of pubescence who thinks that his own tragic backstory gives him the right to judge All Might? Chizome spits in automatic disgust, stalking down the back-alleys of Hosu City.

Ah, is that? It is. The false hero Native, whose own selfishness has caused him to fail in saving people many times. Chizome grins.

Too easy. It is too easy to take down this false hero, especially with the cover of the brat's Nomu-filled temper tantrum. But as he goes to strike the fatal blow, he is halted by a child.

The young Ingenium II is every bit as weak as his brother. Hardly even worth the effort, but all false heroes must die, even false heroes in training.

BZZT!

Chizome springs back in time to narrowly avoid a taser. Its wielder is small, smaller than little Iida Tenya, but Chizome recognizes that hair.

“The quirkless child from the Sports Festival,” the villain observes. “You demonstrate promise. Step aside. I have quarrel only with the false heroes you see.”

Midoriya raises the taser in response, and Chizome grins inside. As one would expect from a real hero.

Chizome dodges the attacks, naturally.

Midoriya plants himself squarely between the Hero Killer and the false heroes. “I won't let you hurt them, or anyone.”

Chizome raises his blade in response.

...

Shōto had raced as fast as he could upon receiving Izuku's location.

Right alley, left, right – there!

Shōto sucks in a breath. He's only seen the Hero Killer in wanted posts and on TV, but he's unmistakable.

Izuku, Iida-kun, and an unknown Pro lie unmoving on the ground as Stain goes to stab Izuku.

Shōto steadies himself and takes aim. A ball of controlled flame rushes toward the Hero Killer, only missing due to the man's own agility.

“Please be a bit less cryptic when you're about to die next time,” Shōto deadpans, hurrying to his boyfriend's aid.

“Not up to your standards, honey?” Izuku snarks back.

“Hmm,” Shōto hums, dodging the Hero Killer's blade. “Could be better.”

...

Tenya feels useless, just lying there as his friends almost die for him. Stain was right. Tenya is a false hero. He's a selfish coward who avoided talking to his friends and now they're all about to die because he couldn't pull his own head out of his ass for two seconds and let his friends help him.

He flinches as Midoriya blocks Stain's attacks with his bo staff. He winces at Todoroki's close glance with a flying knife.

When he can move, he takes all of his self-hatred and he dedicates it to protecting them.

No one dies for him. Not now, and not ever.

...

The children really did a number on him. Chizome would chuckle if it wouldn't give him away. He feigns unconsciousness as the children tie him up uselessly.

It curdles his own blood to allow the false heroes to go this night, but it's not as if he won't be able to come back another time. Patience. Without it, where would he be?

He can hear Midoriya and Todoroki and Iida having their Power of Friendship moment and nearly gags. If he'd thought Midoriya saccharine during the Sports Festival, he's nearly insufferable in person. The boy is sugar and spice and everything nice... with a dash of heroism, of course.

He hears the other false heroes coming, how the interns greet their senseis. Todoroki's father is not among the gathered heroes, interestingly. Too busy for his own son? Chizome has long disdained the number two hero for his rude behavior towards All Might and civilians alike, but he had assumed that he would care about his own son. Then again, with the oldest...

How interesting.

...

Izuku is thoroughly exhausted. He knows he just woke, but he feels like the weight of the world, or at least Hosu City and the Hero Killer, sits on his eyelids. He forces them open, however. There's a nurse taking his vitals, eyes closed but hands writing.

Izuku coughs, and the nurse turns her head towards him. “Oh, you're awake! Here, have some water.”

He takes the cup from her with slightly shaky hands.

“How are you feeling, dear?” the woman inquires, eyes still shut. “You look all right, all things considered.”

“Your eyes...”

“Oh, that!” The nurse laughs. Her nametag reads “Higurashi”. “Yes, some of them are indeed. My question?

“Oh,” Izuku murmurs, slightly perturbed. He rolls his shoulder and then winces. “I feel... good, all things considered.”

The nurse smiles and flits off to Iida's bed, leaving Izuku to pass out again.

...

When Izuku comes to again, it's to Shōto sitting by his bed in a hospital gown of his own. His arm is in a sling and he's holding Izuku's limp hand, which he flexes in surprise.

Shōto looks up immediately. “Izuku!”

Izuku smiles as Shōto pulls him into a one-armed hug as well as he can. Shōto doesn't say anything, but Izuku understands his fear and relief anyways.

Someone clears their throat, and Iida stands before their bed, arm in a bulky cast.

“I apologize profusely.” Iida bows.

“Iida-kun,” Izuku responds softly.

“If I had communicated with my friends, neither of you would have been hurt,” Iida presses on.

“Iida-kun,” Shōto intones. “You're our friend. We're not sorry for saving you.”

Izuku nods, taking his boyfriend's side and Iida's hand.

Iida suddenly sinks, sobbing, and they envelope him in a much-needed hug.

Everything isn't okay, but it will be.

Chapter Text

Kurogiri observes the two new League hopefuls with silent consideration. An adherence to Stain's ideals could prove useful in regards to a will to kill, but a zealot like the girl could easily become the problem Stain did when it came to All Might and Shigaraki Tomura's hatred. It would be a shame to have to clean more blood out of the floorboards were they to fight.

Shigaraki Tomura has been off lately. The media coverage of Stain's capture has overshadowed their own Nōmu attack for several days now. If Shigaraki Tomura wants anything in this world almost as much as All Might's head on a platter, it's recognition. Kurogiri has known it since Shigaraki was a boy, and so has All For One.

How else would he have molded the boy into the villain-shape he currently inhabits?

Kurogiri cleans glasses absentmindedly, deep in thought. Perhaps Shigaraki would like a new game to cheer him up a bit.

“Hello?” the aforementioned boy snaps. “Warp me to Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall. Now.”

Kurogiri puts the glass and rag down. “Why?” he questions, suspicious.

“Just do it!”

Kurogiri sighs but does as asked. One day, this boy is going to bite off more than he can chew.

...

Shōto files onto the bus behind Ashido, absently hearing her chatter but not really listening to anything she says. Instead, he bee-lines for Izuku, who has chosen a seat in the back of the bus, close but not quite out of any chaperon's sight.

Izuku does that a lot, Shōto notices. Hides away from adults. It's odd. Izuku talks too much about how sweet and supportive his mother is for Shōto to suspect her as the reason.

“Why do you always hide from adults?” Shōto decides to ask bluntly. After all, there's no point in making assumptions or pussyfooting around the topic.

“What?” Izuku squawks, clearly surprised. Shōto gives his boyfriend time to process the question, and Izuku soon begins spluttering.

“You do. You hide from adults all the time. I've never seen you even try to look at Dad directly,” Shōto elaborates just as plainly. “At first, I thought you were still just embarrassed about the whole 'Dad-sensei' thing, but you do it with Mic-sensei and Midnight-sensei, too.”

“I do not!” Izuku squeaks, green curls bouncing as he hurries to correct him. “And can you please stop bringing that up?”

“You do. I've watched you do it,” Shōto argues.

“It's not adults, okay?” Izuku snaps back.

“But it's only adults.” Shōto tilts his head, confused.

“Look.” Izuku sighs. “It's not adults. It's... teachers.”

“Teachers?” Shōto parrots, frowning. Why would Izuku be afraid of teachers?

“I've never had a teacher who liked me,” Izuku mumbles. “I'm... a deku.”

“You're a wooden doll?”

Izuku barks a bitter laugh. “Useless. Quirkless.”

Shōto's frown deepens. “You're not useless, Izuku.”

The green-haired boy smiles pitifully and drops his eyes to his lap.

Shōto hesitates. He's terrible at the whole “cheering-up” thing, but he's not about to let that slide.

He wraps his arm around Izuku's shoulders and cuddles his boyfriends into his chest.

“You're not useless, Izuku,” he repeats into green hair. “Those teachers were wrong, and stupid, and – and assholes. You're going to be an incredible hero. You basically already are, saving Dad at the USJ and Iida and Native in Hosu. Even if you weren't, you're a kind, beautiful person, and I'm proud to be your boyfriend.”

He feels more than he hears Izuku sniffle.

“You think I'm beautiful?” Izuku teases, voice still watery.

Shōto thinks for a moment. “Well, from this vantage point, you actually look more like a shrub, but I like shrubs.”

Izuku shakes against his chest as he laughs, and Shōto allows himself a rare, wide smile.

...

Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall is huge. By huge, Izuku means he's never seen a mall this big in his life. He could probably get lost and not be found for months. He tugs his boyfriend's hand excitedly, and Shōto's eyes soften a bit.

He drags them to a sporting store to check out their equipment. Nothing's going to top the collapsible bo staff Mei-chan already made for him, but there's no harm in looking.

He and Shōto make their own little plan on the map that Iida had had the foresight to give them. For the most part, they're contented to stick together and peruse the same stores together.

Izuku ends up splitting off from Shōto about an hour later. Shōto frets over leaving Izuku on his own to go with Uraraka-chan, but Izuku waves him off.

What trouble could he actually get into at the mall?

“Oh, for fuck's fucking sake,” Bakugō growls lowly in the newly-evacuated mall. “Of fucking course it's the fucking nerd.”

“Bro, did you hear? Midoriya got attacked by that creepy hand guy from the USJ?” Kaminari blabs to Sero.

“No way?” Sero gawks. “You'd think he'd have learned his lesson, being tased so many times.”

Ochako shifts, for once queasy in a way that has nothing to do with her quirk.

“Todoroki-kun, I must insist that you stay put!” Iida-kun says loudly, holding tightly to Todoroki-kun's right arm.

Todoroki-kun growls, an almost feral sound, and Ochako sighs, almost relieved for the distraction. Todoroki-kun has been upset since the evacuation notice, and the news that it was his boyfriend who was attacked certainly hasn't helped.

“Todoroki-kun,” Ochako begins slowly, her hands raised in a calming fashion, “it's okay. I'm sure Dad will come tell us that Midoriya-kun is just fine. You know how strong he is.”

Todoroki-kun still scowls, but he doesn't pull away from Iida-kun, who guides him to a seat.

Ochako sighs. Why is it always Midoriya-kun?

...

Why the hell is it always fucking Midoriya? A motherfucking villain tantrum and of course the hostage was fucking Midoriya. Shōta resists the urge to smack his head into the cement, but it's a near thing.

Midoriya is, thankfully, unharmed. He had played along with Shigaraki until he saw the opportunity to flip the villain headfirst into a stone fountain, dazing the man and allowing Midoriya to raise hell and hold him off until heroes and police arrived, upon which the villain escaped through another of those damnable warp gates.

When Midoriya is finally released to rejoin the class and go home, Todoroki has damn near gone feral with worry. He insists on checking Midoriya over with gentle hands and more emotion on his face than Shōta has ever seen.

Midoriya's little squad huddle around him, frantic and relieved all at once, but the entire class looks stressed to some degree, even Bakugō, who growls angrily at Midoriya to “never fucking do that again, do you hear me, shitnerd?”

Shōta stops Midoriya before he can board the bus, and so he stops Todoroki, too.

He stares at Todoroki. Todoroki makes direct eye contact. Shōta sighs.

“Good work, Midoriya,” Shōta grunts, hand on Midoriya's shoulder, “but never do that again.”

“Trust me, sensei,” Midoriya responds, dead serious, “I'm trying.”

Shōta lets the couple get onto the bus before reaching into his pocket and pulling out two aspirin, water be damned.

This class is going to be the death of him, and he couldn't be prouder or more worried.