Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shouta watched, from the other side of the double-sided glass, as Detective Tsukauchi leveled the villain he was interrogating with a glare.

But not just any villain, no.

The villain Deku .

The villain that has attacked and almost killed most of his class on separate occasions. 

He has no idea how they caught the villain, but he doesn't really care.

He just cares about getting answers out of the villain.

"Deku," Tsukauchi started. "I know you know what my quirk is, please refrain from lying from now on."

"And I know you know that I'm not gonna do that, so please, continue Detective." The arrogant little shit stated, a smirk playing on his lips.

Tsukauchi gritted his teeth and huffed a controlled breath through his nose before clearing his throat.

"What is your civilian name, Deku?" Tsukauchi asked, quirk ready to tell if the villain was going to lie.

"Oh, come on , Detective!! Isn't it your job to figure that out?" Deku laughed, eyebrows raised. "I'm not going to do your job for you !"

Tsukauchi took a deep breath, his hands shaking on top of the table with irritation.

"Deku. If, and only if, you cooperate with me, I'll be sure to put in a good word for you-"

"Aww, now that's no fun~" Deku mocked as he clasped his hands on the table, posture completely relaxed. "Why would you give me, the villain that has nearly murdered Eraser's precious hero hopefuls several times-" Deku raised his gaze and, somehow, met Shouta's through the glass. "-any good words? That seems unlike you, Detective!"

Both of the occupants inside the interrogation room jumped as the door to it flew open.

Tsukauchi jumped up frantically, seeming to want to get to the door before the villain did (Even though Deku didn't move besides his minor flinch when it opened, something that struck Shouta as odd…). The man stopped and gave a small sigh of relief at the small figure standing in the doorway.

"Ah, Naomasa! What a surprise!!" Nedzu, the principal of UA and Shouta's boss, exclaimed, their paws folded behind their back. "I think it may be time to cool-off a bit, yes? If I may, I'd like to speak to Midoriya-kun alone."

Deku full-body flinched at the name and Shouta smirked at the bewildered, nervous look on the villain.

Not so cocky when someone uses your name, are you?

Tsukauchi blinked before nodding and leaving. The man entered the observation room along with Shouta and two other officers just as Nedzu smiled at Deku.

"So, Midoriya-kun, I've been hearing that you're giving Naomasa a bit of a hard time?" Nedzu asked, though it sounded more like a statement.

Deku swallowed and his posture became a bit less relaxed than it had been.

Nedzu grinned when Deku didn't respond, the villain shifting uncomfortably in the face of it.

"Not much of a talker, hm?" Nedzu flicked their head to the side and Deku grit his teeth, glaring right at Shouta through the glass.

"Is he looking at us?" Tsukauchi asked, surprise colouring his voice.

Shouta shrugged half-heartedly.

"Well, I think that's quite alright! Now, Midoriya-kun, I have something to propose to you! A deal, so-to-speak!"

Deku blinked and moved his gaze back to Nedzu.

The two went silent, simply staring at each other for a good few minutes, until Deku narrowed his eyes and nodded slightly.

"Go on, then."

Nedzu grinned again, and Shouta felt himself go rigid. He just knows that Nedzu's about to do something he won't like.

"As you may know, roughly four years ago, I started a program!" Shouta felt his jaw drop. "The Villain's Rehabilitation Program, or VRP for short, is to help villains get off of the wrong path and onto the right one!"

Shouta clenches his fists. The rat cannot possibly be offering a spot in the VRP to Deku .

"You cannot possibly be offering a spot in that place to me ." Deku states, and Shouta blinks at how parallel it was to his own thoughts.

"Oh, but of course, Midoriya-kun!!" Nedzu brings their paws in front of themself, a packet of paper held in one of them. "I took it upon myself to research everything I can about you, you see."

Deku's eyes go wide and panic flashes within them.

Nedzu's grin softens and they set the packet onto the table, facing Deku.

"Ah, please do not panic, Midoriya-kun, there's no need. In fact, because of what I've discovered, I think you have some of the most potential to complete this program and exit as a full-fledged hero!"

Now that makes Shouta curious.

As does the blank way Deku is staring at Nedzu.

"I appreciate the offer, mouse man, but the last thing I want to do is become a hero."

Nedzu twitched at the gendered term and tilted their head again.

"My apologies, Midoriya-kun, but I think you'd much rather join my program than go to Tartarus, no? You did try to kill multiple of my students, so there's no doubt that's where you'd go."

Deku blinked and furrowed his eyebrows briefly before a bored look overcame his features.

"Why do you want me in your program in the first place even though I've tried to kill your students?" Deku asked, tilting his head in an almost amused way. "Like, seriously, one wrong word and you'll have several dead students on your hands."

Nedzu twitched and smiled wider.

"Do not worry, Midoriya-kun, I already have precautions in place if that should happen!"

Deku raised a brow and huffed a laugh.

"Precautions? What, are you gonna have a teacher watch my every move or something?" Deku blinked, then laughed. "Actually you should assign that job to Eraserhead. I'd love to make every waking moment of his a living hell."

Shouta froze, eyes moving between Deku and Nedzu.

They wouldn't dare.

"What a great idea, Midoriya-kun!! I was thinking that myself!!" Nedzu turned to the glass and met Shouta's gaze, just like Deku had. "Aizawa! Please come and meet your potential new charge!"

Deku burst out laughing as Shouta grit his teeth and made his way out of the observation room and into the interrogation room.

Deku was still laughing his ass off and Shouta could tell that Nedzu was silently laughing at whatever expression the hero was wearing.

"Holy shit, this is gold!!" Deku cackled, and Shouta had to physically restrain himself from lunging at the villain.

"Aizawa!! You look lovely as usual!!" Nedzu stated, making Deku start to cough with how hard he was laughing.

"Nedzu. Can I ask what the hell you're thinking?"

That sobered both of the two up fairly quickly, though Deku was still smirking at Shouta.

"I don't know what you mean, Aizawa! There have been numerous villains in the program under your eye before!"

Shouta clenched his fists and glared.

"Yes, but none of them have ever tried to kill my students before." Shouta pointed at Deku, ignoring the villain's flinch at the sudden movement. "This one has. He's sent Tsuyu to the hospital. If you expect me to keep watch over him at all times, he'll have to be in contact with my class for multiple periods and live in the same dorm as them!!"

Deku shrunk a bit the more Shouta yelled, which only served to anger him more.

What right does this villain have to not like a bit of yelling? Does he know how much his class wakes up in the middle of the night screaming from nightmares that he caused???

Nedzu hardened his gaze.

"Aizawa, while I appreciate your concern for your class, I do not appreciate you doubting how much I've contemplated this." Nedzu lectured. "I promise you, I have thought about this for long before we even caught this young man. Now. Please, sit down and be quiet while me and Midoriya-kun speak some more."

Shouta clenched his jaw and threw another glare at Deku before sitting down beside Nedzu.

"Thank you. Midoriya-kun," Nedzu turned to the villain. "You now have a chance to, quote unquote, 'make every waking moment of his a living hell'. Would you like to join the VRP?"

Deku looked at Shouta.

Shouta glared back.

Deku smirked and reached forward to pick up the packet.

"It'd be my pleasure, Principal."

Chapter Text

"It'd be my pleasure, Principal."

Izuku reveled in the glare that Eraserhead sent him.

"Wonderful!" Nedzu exclaimed, producing a pen from who-knows-where and placing it in front of Izuku. "Please fill that out and call out when you're finished."

Izuku was confused for a second, because why would he call out Nedzu's name once he's done if he's right in front of him?

He was confused until Nedzu grinned and turned to Eraserhead.

"Aizawa! Why don't you watch over your charge while he fills out the forms?"

Eraserhead glared and grit his teeth, but gave a short, stiff nod.

Nedzu nodded as well, hopped out of his chair, and exited the room.

As soon as Izuku's soon-to-be principal left the room, the villain turned his attention to the packet in his hands, not sparing a glance to the hero who was trying to kill him with looks alone.

"You won't last a week in our program." Eraserhead growled when Izuku was halfway through the page.

Izuku looked up, annoyed at the interruption, with a brow raised.

"My students will rip you to shreds." Eraserhead's hands clenched and Izuku smirked.

"Actually, no, they won't. It says here that no violence is tolerated between the villain in the program and any students." Izuku waved the packet as he spoke. "If any of your students lay a hand on me, they'll have to do two weeks of a punishment picked by the principal. The same will happen to me, though if it happens too many times, I'll be expelled and sent to Tartarus."

Eraserhead's glare faltered and Izuku nodded dismissively, going back to reading.

Izuku finished reading through everything and picked up the pen to start signing when Eraserhead spoke up again.

"Where do you win then, Deku? You can't harm my students. You can't harm me. You can't do anything."

Izuku looked up, amused this time.

"Are you deaf? Both the Principal and I said why I'm going to do this." Izuku tilted his head. "And, no, I can't hurt you, or anyone else, but there's no rules against psychological play. Be prepared for the coffee that you love so dearly to be switched to decaf."

Eraserhead blinked, then squinted at Izuku.

"You're a kid ."

Izuku rose a brow.

"Congratulations, Sherlock Holms, you deserve a gold star." Izuku drawled, moving his attention onto the packet and starting to sign where he needs to.

"No, you're a kid . No older than my own students." Eraserhead said, some sort of emotion in his voice.

"Mhm. Great detective work there."

Eraserhead stood up and slammed his hands on the table, causing Izuku to flinch and glare up at the man.

"If you're the same age as them, why the hell are you trying to kill them ?!" The hero shouted.

Izuku sighed and weaned the packet out from under Eraserhead's hands.

"Not them , Eraserhead." Izuku said, dropping the unfinished packet in his lap. "I've only ever been after one of your students, everyone else was stupid enough to try to protect him."

Eraserhead activated his quirk, frowning when Izuku gave no reaction.

"Which one?" Eraserhead snarled.

Izuku sighed and sat back.

He wanted his cat.

"It doesn't matter anymore, I won't be able to do anything." Izuku shrugged.

"It does matter, villain, I need to know who to keep you away from so that you don't provoke them into hitting you." Eraserhead narrowed his eyes.

Smart!

"Fine. Noneya." Izuku dismissed, turning to the packet in his lap.

"I don't have a student named Noneya, Deku." Eraserhead glared.

Izuku smirked and wrote down the last signature needed.

"None ya business, hero." Izuku met Eraserhead's gaze before waving the packet out to the side. "Hey, Principal, I'm finished!"

"Deku, if you don't tell me who you were targeting, I will-"

"You'll what?" Izuku challenged, standing up and glaring back at the hero."Seriously, Eraserhead, what'll you do? I'm curious. Chances are whatever you're thinking of doing, I can do a whole lot worse much, much faster." Izuku smiled and sat back down. "I'd watch yourself if I were you."

With that, the door swung open and Nedzu walked in.

"Now, gentlemen, calm yourselves." Nedzu made his way to Izuku's side and grabbed the packet from him.

He flipped through it, looking for each signature, and grinned when he saw everything was there.

"Well done, Midoriya-kun, you have beautiful handwriting!" Nedzu complimented, summoning a key into the hand not holding the packet. "Now, while it isn't said in here, I fully expect you to follow the rules of UA itself and any rules the dorms have set in place, understood?"

"Yessir!" Izuku grinned and nodded.

Nedzu's expression went soft as he leaned forward and uncuffed Izuku.

"And one more thing for now, Midoriya-kun." Nedzu started, putting the cuff key back wherever it came from. "As an animal with a quirk, I find it slightly unnatural to be referred to with gendered terms or pronouns, so please respect that."

Izuku blinked and felt his eyebrows raise.

"Oh! Uh, yeah, sorry for, uh… misgendering you? Using the wrong pronouns?" Izuku cringed at his own awkwardness. "Whatever it is, sorry for doing it, I'll try to remember from now on."

Nedzu smiled and nodded.

They met both Izuku's and Eraserhead's gaze, nodded once, and began to lead them both out of the station.

Izuku saw the Detective he was giving a hard time earlier standing outside along with a few other officers.

And one of them had a cat head.

"Oh! Wait, I have a question!!" Izuku watched the cat officer's ears twitch.

"Yes, Midoriya-kun?" Nedzu turned and followed Izuku's gaze.

"I have a cat back at my apartment, can we stop by to pick her up? And some of my clothes?" Izuku asked, intrigued by the way the officer's pupils dilated at the mention of another cat.

"Absolutely not." Eraserhead cut off whatever Nedzu was going to respond with. "We don't know what kind of weapons you could collect at your apartment."

Izuku turned away from the officer and leveled Eraserhead with a deadpan look.

"Disrespectfully, fuck off. I wasn't asking you." Izuku turned to Nedzu then. "If we do, you can come with me and make sure I don't grab any weapons. I just want to make sure my cat doesn't starve or something."

"And that's perfectly acceptable!" Nedzu cheered, their hands splayed out to their sides. "Though, I cannot allow you to bring any clothes. If I'm correct you created your own costume, and you embedded several types of weapons in it, somehow. Impressive work, by the way! But I have no way to tell if you've done that with any of your other clothes, so I will supply anything you need from here on!"

Izuku nodded along as the principal explained, watching Eraserhead's expression get slowly more irritated out of the corner of his eye.

"Fair enough, as long as I get my cat."

Nedzu nodded and began walking again. Izuku shot Eraserhead a smirk as soon as their back was turned to the two.

Chapter Text

"Ah, what's the address of your apartment, Midoriya-kun?" Nedzu asked once everyone was in the car and buckled.

Eraserhead sat in the driver's seat, Nedzu sat shotgun and Izuku was in the middle in the next row.

Izuku rattled off the apartment that he had his cat at - because what kind of villain doesn't have multiple places to stay? - and was prepared to sit in silence for the entire ten-minute drive.

"What kind of cat do you have, if I may ask?" Nedzu asked as they were pulling out of the parking lot.

"I don't really know." Izuku said plainly, mourning the ten-minutes he could have not spoken for. "I found her wandering around like a month ago, fed her once, and now she won't leave."

Izuku heard Eraserhead snort and a quiet "Typical cat behaviour." , and smirked a bit.

"Ah, a stray! And what's her name?" Nedzu turned in their seat to look at Izuku as they spoke.

"Uh, I haven't really named her yet. Like I said, I fed her and she wouldn't leave." Izuku mumbled. "But I like how Stray sounds, as rude as it is. So I guess her name's Stray, now."

Nedzu chuckled, the squeaks almost covering Eraserhead's own quiet huff.

"What's so funny, Eraserhead?" Izuku provoked. "I thought you didn't like me?"

Eraserhead glared at him through the rearview mirror.

"I didn't laugh, number one. And number two, you're right, I don't like you."

Izuku smirked.

He's going to have so much fun fucking with him .

"Actually!" Nedzu spoke up. "I'm sure Aizawa is just thinking about his own cats, Midoriya-kun!"

"You have cats?" Izuku couldn't stop from asking.

C'mon, cats are his weak spot, give him a break.

Eraserhead blinked and glanced at Izuku through the rear view again.

"...Three of them." He said wearily. Then, using one hand to count, Eraser named them off. "Cat, Fluff, and Dork."

Izuku laughed softly at the names.

"Don't get too excited. You won't be meeting my cats." Eraser stated, voice hard.

Izuku blinked and ignored the twinge of sadness that ran through him.

"Didn't want to meet them anyway, Stray doesn't get along with other cats."

Eraserhead and Izuku fell silent, and the only sound for the rest of the ride was Nedzu's disappointed sigh.

"...This is where your apartment is."

It was a statement, not a question, and Izuku could practically taste the disgust that Eraserhead was feeling.

"Yep!" Izuku chirped, unbuckling. "I'll be right back!"

"We, Midoriya-kun." Nedzu corrected.

"Right, same thing, y'know?" Izuku rolled his eyes as he opened the door.

"Um, excuse me? We?" Eraserhead asked, irritated. "There's no way I'm going into that rickety old place. There's probably mold. And rats."

"Good, cause you weren't invited in the first place!" Izuku closed the door right after he finished speaking and walked a few feet away from the car to wait for Nedzu.

He watched the rat and Eraserhead have a quick conversation, one in which the hero glared at Izuku many times, before both of them got out of the car, Eraserhead sighing agitatedly.

"I thought nothing would get you into this infested place, Eraserhead?" Izuku mocked, a smirk pulling at his lips.

"Shut up, it's not willingly." Eraserhead growled.

"Boys. If we could retrieve the feline and be on our way, please." Nedzu sighed, motioning for Izuku to take the lead.

Izuku smirked and entered the abandoned apartment complex. 

"My apartment is on the top floor, so we've got quite a trek to make, since the elevator doesn't work and all." Izuku said, his voice echoing around the dirty, empty lobby area.

"Of course it is." Eraserhead scoffed. "What, did you want to be all edgy by having close access to the roof or something?"

"No," Izuku rolled his eyes. "It was the only floor with a room that was decent." Izuku opened the door to the stairs and began climbing as he spoke. "Since the building is so old, most of the rooms, especially ones with broken windows, have really bad water damage. The floors are mostly rotted and broken. One wrong step and- oops! No more Deku!"

Nedzu hummed thoughtfully during Izuku's explanation.

"I'm curious, Midoriya-kun, how have you been able to live here? I doubt there's any running water or electricity, heating, cooling, gas, etc.." Nedzu listed, and Izuku noticed that he couldn't hear the creature's footsteps. 

A glance back showed that the principal was perched on Eraserhead's shoulder.

"I mean, most of that isn't a problem. I was homeless for about a year before finding this place, so I know ways to do things without using what a typical home provides." Izuku motions his hands as he talks, looking back every-so-often to make sure the creature's still listening. "So, for example, there's a gym about a block away that hardly ever locks their roof hatch. I just get in there to take a shower, and the employee lounge has a coffee pot, stove, microwave, all that stuff.

"As for the heat or cooling, you just get used to it, I guess. I've gathered enough blankets that Stray and I can stay warm no matter how cold it gets. It sucks when it gets warm, but when it does, we have a whole roof to ourselves to cool off on."

Nedzu hums again, nodding, and Izuku can tell that Eraserhead had been listening, too.

"Why didn't you just rent an apartment?" Eraserhead asks, eyeing Izuku and the grimy hand rail he was using.

"With what money?" Izuku snorts. "You don't exactly find eight hundred dollars on the ground, Eraser."

"Don't call me that." Eraser growled. "And money that you get from stealing or robbing."

Izuku stopped and turned.

"Do you really think I do that?" Izuku asks, kind of offended. "Yeah, I've tried to kill people, I've set a few buildings on fire, vandalized, whatever. But I'm not a thief, Eraser. I may be a villain, but I'm not a monster."

Eraser looked shocked, and Izuku turned and began walking again. The hero's footsteps followed a few seconds later.

"Why not?" Eraser continued. "Why not steal , of all things?"

"Again, I'm not a thief." Izuku shrugged. "And what would I even steal from, if I were? This part of town is dominated by homeless people, which need money more than I do. The shops around here are all either locally owned or family businesses, not big ones like WalMart. They need their money to survive, and I'm doing fine with my gym coffee."

Both Eraser and Nedzu were silent the rest of the entire way up, and Izuku had no intentions of breaking the peace.

When they finally got to Izuku's apartment door, the boy turned to look at the other two.

"Fare warning, it's really messy, I wasn't expecting visitors. There's some weird mold in the fridge, so keep that closed. Oh, and Stray likes to fly." Izuku warned before opening the door and ducking.

"Wait, what do you mean by fly-"

The hero was cut off by Stray flying out of nowhere and choosing to use Eraser's face as a springboard into Izuku's arms.

"Hey there, sweet pea," Izuku cooed, ignoring Eraser's swears as he clutched at his face. "I know, it's been a while~!"

Izuku enters his apartment, hearing Nedzu enter behind him, and leaves the hero outside.

"Yeah, I know, baby~!" Izuku says in response to Stray's incessant meows. "Ohhh, I missed you too, honey!"

Izuku entered his living room/creator space, Nedzu a few paces behind.

"It looks like you have a ragdoll breed, Midoriya-kun!" Nedzu chirps from behind him.

Izuku grins and pets his hand over Stray's back, the cat automatically beginning to purr.

"Don't care what she is, she's still cute!"

Stray meows at that, as if she's agreeing.

Izuku starts to go around, collecting all of Stray's food and toys, the cat herself following him everywhere.

By the time he finishes collecting everything, puts Stray into her cat carrier, and goes back to the living room, Eraser had come inside, red scratches all over his face, and was watching Nedzu examine one of Izuku's creations.

"I wouldn't touch it if I were you." Izuku says, just as Nedzu had begun reaching out to touch the explosive they were looking at.

Eraser jumped at the sound of his voice, apparently not noticing Izuku was in the room until he spoke.

"Oh? I thought you were Eraserhead, the one no one can sneak up on?" Izuku mocked. "No wonder I could constantly attack your kids and they wouldn't realize I was there."

"Don't get arrogant because you snuck up on me once , Deku." Eraser growled. 

Izuku shrugged and turned to Nedzu as they called his name.

"These are explosives, yes?" Nedzu questions, circling the small object.

"Correcto, rat ma- uh, creature." Izuku caught himself that time! "I haven't had a chance to test it fully since I finished it, but the prototype could bring down a two-story library."

Yes, Izuku tested the prototype on a two-story library. No, they don't get any context.

"Something this small?" Nedzu looked at Izuku, shock and curiosity in their eyes.

"Yeah. I have one somewhere around here that's about twice that size, but can take down maybe three apartment buildings." Izuku sets Stray's carrier down and joins Nedzu in looking over his creations.

"And you've made all of these yourself?"

"Mostly. I needed a tech I know to teach me how to wire a flamethrower or two, but other than that, yeah."

Nedzu turns to Izuku, eyes shining, and Izuku vaguely hears Eraser groan.

"Midoriya-kun, I have a question for you. Unlike at the station you can say no without any repercussions to it." Nedzu says, eyes raking back over Izuku's stuff.

"Uh, sure? I guess?" Izuku blinks nervously, watching Eraser pet Stray through her carrier.

"Would you like to take some support classes with the hero Powerloader?"

Izuku blinks and his head whips toward Nedzu so fast he feels it pop.

" What?? "

"Would you like to take some support classes with the hero Powerloader?" Nedzu repeats.

"No, I heard what you said, Nedzu," Izuku starts, his head buzzing. "But would you really trust that? I'm a villain and I'll have access to support equipment. Knives, a whole shit ton of metal…"

Izuku trails off and Nedzu looks back at him.

"I'm sure, Midoriya-kun. Maybe not right now, until you build some trust with the school and Aizawa, but at some point, yes."

Izuku blinks and looks back at Eraser, who was looking straight at him with a calculating, guarded look.

"Well. I mean, at some point, I'd love to." Izuku honestly replied.

Nedzu nodded and walked over to Eraser. They scale up Eraser's arm and sit on his shoulder.

"Wonderful, Midoriya-kun! We have acquired the feline, now we must get back to UA! Students won't manage themselves, after all!!"

Chapter Text

Okay.

Izuku knew stuff.

Some of it is okay, normal stuff, and a lot of it is fucked up.

So how.

In his unbalanced, ill, fucked up brain.

How did he not know how fucking big UA was??

It's fucking gigantic .

Do you know how many of his mini-explosives could fit in it??

Neither does Izuku, because somehow, he didn't know just how big the school was.

"God damn."

Eraser huffed a laugh at Izuku's reaction, rolling his eyes.

"Has this school always been this big?? It's like… huge…" Izuku trails off, more focused on everything around him as Eraser pulls into a spot in the staff parking lot.

Izuku was unbuckled within a second of the car stopping, and would have left to explore if a certain pain-in-the-ass hero hadn't locked the doors.

"Excuse you, you greasy bitch, you can't just lock me in here." Izuku protested.

Nedzu unbuckled and stood on the dashboard, facing both Eraser and Izuku.

"Now. Before we go inside, your behaviour with each other has made me come up with a few more rules; Rules that will apply to both of you and they will have consequences if broken." Nedzu stated, glaring in irritation.

"Number one. Aizawa, you must treat Midoriya-kun like any other student-"

Eraser huffs a scoff.

"How the hell am I supposed to do that? He's tried to kill most of my class, multiple times." Eraser growls, glaring at Izuku through the rear view.

"I understand, however, being treated like an outcast will only be detrimental to Midoriya-kun and his growth into a hero." Nedzu said sharply. "If I hear even a whisper of you treating Midoriya-kun unfairly or differently, you'll be required to serve at least two weeks of cafeteria monitoring."

Eraser groaned and Izuku smirked at his misery.

"Something similar goes for you too, Midoriya-kun." Nedzu began, turning to Izuku. "You will regard Aizawa, and every other person here, with respect . You'll address any teachers by their last name followed by sensei, whether you have their classes or not. You will not curse at them, call them names, provoke them, anything of the sort."

Izuku grit his teeth and glared at Eraser when he smirked at him through the mirror.

"No glaring at them either, Midoriya-kun." Nedzu sighed. "If I get reports of you being disrespectful to my staff or students, you will go two weeks without seeing Stray."

Izuku jolted in place.

"Wait, hey, that's not fair!" Izuku shouted. "I may be a little shit, but Stray shouldn't have to suffer for that!"

Nedzu pauses and hums.

"Okay, then you will have to do two weeks of mandatory therapy. Meaning no getting out of it or skipping it."

Izuku pauses.

Neither one of those were good options.

He didn't want Stray to feel uncomfortable or lost because of him, but he absolutely hated the thought of going to therapy .

Izuku sighed and rolled his eyes.

Punishments were meant to not be enjoyed, so he guesses this isn't the worst one out there.

"Fine." Izuku ground out. "But."

Nedzu tilted their head, a sign to continue.

"What happens when the other students disrespect me . Because it will happen." Izuku pet Stray through the bars when she started to whine in her carrier.

Nedzu contemplated, then shrugged, which was weird to see a mouse creature do.

"What are you thinking, Midoriya-kun?"

Izuku pursed his lips.

"If someone's shit to me, I want permission to be shit back." Izuku said, meeting Nedzu's gaze. "Not physically or anything, I wouldn't want to be seen as a villain , but if someone, namely Bakugou, starts talking shit I want to be able to talk my own without the fear of Tartarus breathing down my back."

"Great idea, Midoriya-kun!" Nedzu praised. "I think that's fair enough, and Aizawa here can moderate as well! Make sure things don't get too tense!"

"Right." Izuku nodded, then a thought hit him. "And if someone hits me, do I have permission to hit them back? Not badly. But if someone clocks me in the face, can I clock them in the face?"

Nedzu contemplates, then nods, a grin on their face.

"I think that's fair enough. Again, Aizawa will be close enough to moderate and break up any fights, but I'm sure it won't be a problem. What's that saying, for a situation like this? An eye for an eye?"

Izuku matches Nedzu's grin and nods. 

"My life motto, Ssssuper awesome creature!" Izuku grimaced and furrowed his eyebrows. "What's a non gendered term for Sir?"

Nedzu chortles and waves their paw.

"Don't worry, Midoriya-kun, I have yet to find that answer myself! For now the 'sensei' title will do just fine."

Izuku nodded and looked over Nedzu's shoulder, watching a person with long blonde hair approach the car.

"There's a person coming." Izuku says, pointing. "Looks like Present Mic."

Eraser sits up, looks at where Izuku is pointing, sighs, and exits the car.

"Ah, as Aizawa mentioned earlier, Midoriya-kun, you will have to stay in the dorms with his homeroom class, though you'll be sharing the teacher apartment with him and Yamada."

Izuku furrowed his eyebrows.

"Do they live together?" Izuku asks, watching Eraser hold Mic by his shoulders as the blonde spoke rapidly, gesturing angrily at the car.

"They do, and you'll find out why soon." Nedzu states ominously.

Izuku's confused and a little scared at what that means, but the emotions clear up when he sees Eraser thread his fingers through Mic's hair in an all-too-intimate way.

"Ahh, they're married?" Izuku confirms, opening Stray's carrier and letting her crawl into his lap.

"Indeed." Nedzu chirps.

Izuku looks back up at the couple, watches them speak in what has to be whispers, watches how Mic sighs and buries his head into Eraser's shoulder.

The villain grits his teeth and moves his gaze to Stray, the movement not escaping Nedzu's eye.

"Are you uncomfortable with their relationship, Midoriya-kun?" Nedzu asks, tilting their head.

"A bit." Izuku scratches Stray's ears as he speaks. "Not in a homophobic way, though."

"Would you elaborate on that?" Nedzu hums questioningly.

Izuku huffs a laugh and meets Nedzu's gaze.

"You said you researched all you could about me, right?" Izuku grins wryly, watching Eraser and Mic walk to the car hand-in-hand. "My parents never acted like that, that's all. It's a bit weird seeing something like this in real life."

Nedzu hummed understandingly just as the door to the driver's seat opened.

"Are we ready to go, now?" Eraser asks, noticeably less agitated than earlier. 

Nedzu nods and hops off of the dashboard and Izuku puts Stray back in her carrier.

"Alright, Deku, you have your cat and her bag?" Eraser checks while literally staring at Stray through the holes on her carrier.

"Nope, not at all, forgot her at the apartment." Izuku rolls his eyes as he opens the door and exits on the opposite side from the heroes.

As soon as Izuku leaves the car, he feels eyes on him.

Not just Eraser's, Mic's, and Nedzu's. 

No, there were more.

At least two more different sets, watching his every move.

It immediately makes Izuku on edge as he pulls Stray's carrier and the bag of her stuff out of the backseat.

"Yamada, Aizawa, will you two please lead me and Midoriya-kun to the dorms?" Nedzu asks as Izuku makes his way around the car. "You two should go in first and advise the class to not attack, as Midoriya-kun has permission to fight back if anyone attacks him first."

Mic looks surprised at that and eyes Izuku up and down.

"I'm sorry for asking, Nedzu, but how will we be sure that he won't go overboard?" Mic asks, picking at his fingers.

"Don't apologize, Yamada! Aizawa is assigned to watch over Midoriya-kun, so if anyone starts a fight, he will be right there to break it up!" Nedzu assures, ignoring the way Aizawa rolls his eyes.

Mic seems appeased by this and turns to Izuku.

"I don't think we've ever introduced ourselves properly, have we?"

Izuku shakes his head, a bored look on his face.

People are still watching him. He doesn't like it.

"Well, I'm Yamada Hizashi, or The Voice Hero: Present Mic!" Miz says, a wide smile on his face. "You can call me any variation of those, whatever makes you comfortable, kay?"

Izuku blinks and looks at Nedzu.

The creature had said that he was to address people as 'sensei', and he didn't know if that changed if the person he was supposed to be addressing told him to use what he was comfortable with.

"Ah, Yamada, as part of the program, Midoriya-kun is required to address any teachers with the correct title." Nedzu shakes his head at Izuku. "It teaches the members of the VRP to learn respect!"

"Oh." Mic muttered, tilting his head. "I mean, I don't really see it as disrespectful for someone to not call me sensei. As long as the kiddo isn't cursing or yelling at me, I don't see any disrespect."

Nedzu hums and thinks about that for a second, their beady eyes flicking from mic to Izuku.

"I suppose that's fine, then, though do not expect every teacher to be like this, Midoriya-kun."

Izuku nods and pets Stray through her carrier when she begins to meow for attention.

The noise and movement attracts Mic's attention, who cooed and kneeled to see through the bars and straight at Stray.

"Awww, and who's this?" Mic whispers, a sweet smile on his face.

"Stray." Izuku says simply, maneuvering the carrier so that Mic couldn't see into it. Yes, the man was acting nice, but Izuku didn't trust him.

"She's so cute!" Mic squealed, standing up. "And what's your name, kiddo?"

"Deku." Izuku replied, almost robotically.

Mic furrowed his brows and tilted his head.

"Oh, kiddo, I meant your actual name! Using just your villain name seems kinda impersonal and rude, dontcha think?"

Izuku pursed his lips and nodded slowly.

"Midoriya Izuku, then." He said quietly, gaze back on Stray. "You can call me either Midoriya or Deku, I really don't care. And please drop the -kun, Principal Nedzu."

Izuku heard both Mic and Nedzu hum in agreement.

"Okay, then, Midoriya!" Mic started, and Izuku heard the man turn. "Let's get you introduced to the class and settled in!"

Mic started walking and Aizawa followed, Nedzu perched on his shoulder.

Izuku waited a few paces until following them, still feeling those eyes on him even though the three heroes weren't looking at him.

Chapter Text

The walk to the dorms was silent, aside from Mic asking Nedzu the occasional question about the whole arrangement with Izuku, which the boy couldn't blame him for.

The eyes disappeared from Izuku's body about halfway to the building, and he couldn't help but give a quiet sigh of relief.

He hated being watched.

As Nedzu had said before, Mic and Eraser went into the dorm building first to inform the hero students about what was going on while Izuku and the creature themself waited outside.

"There aren't any rules about having pets, are there?" Izuku asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

It wasn't actually out of nowhere, though.

Now that they're standing practically on the doorstep of the dorms, Izuku's remembering that Nedzu had said he was required to follow the rules of the dorm.

If pets aren't allowed, Izuku will sleep in a tree, comfort be damned. He won't leave Stray.

"Not that I know of, Midoriya, do not worry!" Nedzu chirps, their ears twitching as a muted explosion sounds from inside.

"Looks like Bakugou is not happy." Izuku chuckles, excited to see everyone's expressions for himself.

"Well, I don't really blame them!" Nedzu exclaimed, turning to Izuku. "You have tried to, what does Kaminari call it? Murk the boy on several occasions."

Izuku cackled at hearing the ever-proper Nedzu use the word 'murk'.

The doors to the dorms open slightly, releasing the sound of angry shouting, and Eraser slips out.

"This is one of the worst ideas you've ever had, Nedzu." The man says as he approaches the duo. "We'll be lucky if only half of the class tries to lunge as soon as they see Deku."

Izuku cackles harder.

"Well then, Aizawa, I suppose you should prepare your capture weapon!" Nedzu smiles and tilts their head.

"Okay, wait!" Izuku giggles, wiping tears from his eyes. "I have attacked them a lot. So if any of them come at me, I won't fight back, just this once."

Izuku giggles again, his humour from earlier having not completely gone, and ignores the way Nedzu and Eraser look at him.

"Now can we go in?" The villain asks, finally done laughing for now. "This princess doesn't like staying in her carrier for too long."

Eraser sighs deeply and rests a hand on his scarf, but nods nonetheless.

The three move to the door and Eraser opens it, allowing Nedzu to enter first, then Izuku.

As soon as Izuku entered, he was bombarded in every sense.

It was loud .

Izuku was immediately wincing and covering his ears at the assault.

But every other sense was being torn at, too.

The air was pricking at the skin, possibly an effect of that electric kid's quirk.

The smell of Bakugou's quirk burned at his nose, and when he went to breathe through his mouth, he tasted whatever had been burned in the kitchen to the right.

His eyes stung from whatever mix of quirk fumes were in the air and he had to blink rapidly to get accustomed to the feeling.

But Nedzu hadn't stopped walking and Eraser was impatiently tapping his foot behind Izuku, so he uncovered his ears and followed the rat creature.

"Hey, Listeners, let's all calm down, please!" Mic shouted over the sound of everybody. "We all know that quirk use outside of training is prohibited, so the next person I see using their quirk will earn a detention!!"

The class calmed down quite a bit just as Izuku, Nedzu, and Eraser became visible in the doorway.

Nobody noticed, as they were all facing the other way, previously having been voicing their protests to the blonde hero.

"But Yamada-sensei!!" A squeaky, teary-eyed voice called out. "The villain is dangerous !! Do you expect us to just get along with him?!"

Izuku huffed a laugh, which attracted the attention of the two students with hearing enhancement quirks.

Both of them froze when they saw Izuku standing in the doorway, a smirk on his face, which notified the people around them into following their lines of sight.

And soon enough, all eyes in the room were on Izuku.

"Can I start off by saying-"

Izuku was cut off as several students began yelling again.

"I'm gonna take that as a no." Izuku sighed, rolling his eyes and stuffing the hand not holding Stray's carrier into his pocket.

It took another few minutes for Mic and Eraser to get the class under control, minutes in which several students tried to attack Izuku.

"I know that none of you are happy about this," Nedzu started when it was silent again. "However, I have Midoriya under strict rules."

A lot of the class adopted shocked looks at the use of Izuku's actual name, others relaxed at Nedzu's reassurance.

"I can confirm!" Izuku piped up, ignoring the room full of glares being aimed at him. "I'm gonna have Mr. Emo over there watching my every move, and he likes me about as much as you guys do. Literally a centimeter out of line and I'm off to Tartarus."

"Why wait?!" Ingenium's little brother shouts, arm chopping through the air. "This villain has committed many crimes, Senseis! It makes no sense to allow him onto our school campus!!"

"Excellent point, Iida!" Nedzu grins and climbs onto Eraser's shoulder. "Midoriya has accepted joining our rehabilitation program for villains in exchange for going to Tartarus! He is here to become a hero instead of continuing his life in prison!"

Ingenium's brother doesn't look appeased at that and Izuku rolls his eyes.

"Look, I would rather listen to Endeavour asmr for several days on end than be here, so chill out." Izuku wrinkles his nose. "Wait, no, that makes me sound like an Endeavor stan. I meant that in a derogatory way."

The way the bicoloured kid near the back perked up at that made Izuku raise a brow.

"If you are not here willingly, why should we believe that no harm will come to us by your hand?!" Mini-Ingenium shouted again.

"Okay, first of all, quit yelling," Izuku rolls his eyes and glares at the kid. "And because of several reasons. One, your teacher's gonna be watching me everywhere I go. Two, I have my own consequences if I pick a fight. And I say 'if I pick a fight' because I have permission to fight back if any one of you picks one with me. But, by all means, I have no qualms about you staying scared of me."

"Who says we're fuckin scared, you arrogant bastard?!" Bakugou shouts, hands clenching at his sides.

"Oh c'mon, blasty bitch," Izuku sighs. "Everyone here knows that you yell to mask your crippling anxiety and inferiority complex, and if they don't, they're about as blind as Helen Keller."

Several jaws dropped at Izuku's blatant call-out.

"The fuck did you just say to me, fucking Deku?!" Bakugou yelled, starting to push his way towards Izuku.

Eraser stepped between the two, probably in order to de-escalate the situation.

"Aww, Bakugou, I've been telling you for years that your hearing will deteriorate if you don't cover your ears when you explode~" Izuku taunts. "But I'll say it louder for you. I called you a pus -"

"That's quite enough, Midoriya." Nedzu said sternly from on top of Eraser's shoulder. "Bakugou, please calm yourself. If you don't, you will need to leave the room until you choose to do so."

Bakugou stopped yelling, whether it was because of the villain's mocking or at Nedzu's words, Izuku didn't know.

"Now, everyone please refrain from yelling, we have students with sensitive hearing." The statement caused many of the people who were yelling to look sheepish. "If we cannot all have a civil discussion, with no shouting , then I will be convinced that everyone here needs more lessons in communication."

Half of the class grimaced at the thought of extra classes, the other half frowning at the thought of having to be civil with the villain that's tried to kill them before.

"Please, everyone have a seat. Yamada, if you would make some tea?"

Mic nodded at Nedzu's request and left the room.

Everyone else found a spot to sit down, half-heartedly arguing over spots that they've "claimed".

Izuku just sat down where he was standing in the doorway.

Stray meowed, irritated at being in her carrier for so long.

"Does anyone here have a cat allergy?" Izuku asks, scanning the room. "No? Good."

With that, Izuku opened Stray's carrier and the cat immediately shot out.

She paused when she saw how many new people were in the room, then her gaze zeroed in on the kid with the blocky looking head.

The kid blinked, a slight flush taking over their cheeks, and held out their hands.

Without a thought besides "potential pets", Stray padded over to the kid and curled up in their lap.

"If you steal my cat, I'm gonna be upset." Izuku deadpanned, his eyes narrowed at his traitor of a cat.

The kid shook their head quickly and surprised Izuku by signing a quick 'I would never!' .

The kid with the tail, who's sitting beside Stray's apparent new best friend, elbowed them in the side, shooting them an incredulous look.

"Don't communicate with him, dude!" Tail-guy hissed. "You know what he's done!"

"Oh my god." Izuku groaned, rolling his eyes.

Tail-guy glared at Izuku, his tail twitching behind him.

"What? Got something to say, villain?"

"Wow, real creative." Izuku said dryly. "And yeah, I have several things to say, but I don't want to make you cry, so." Izuku shrugged.

"Midoriya." Nedzu's tone was very clearly a warning.

Izuku just rolled his eyes again.

"Now that we've all settled down a bit, I think we can start to answer anyones questions about this new arrangement." Nedzu said, folding their paws in front of themself.

Literally everybody rose their hands and Izuku groaned.

He needs to take a nap. And switch Eraser's coffee to decaf. And fill all of his left shoes with glitter.

Chapter Text

Apparently Nedzu chose someone to ask their question, because Izuku was snapped out of a really good yawn by the creature calling his name.

"Huh?"

A very elegant response, if Izuku says so himself.

"I asked why you're here?" The guy that could turn into a rock said, a hand to the back of his neck. "You said you didn't want to be here, earlier. And I hope Principal Nedzu made rules against you hurting any of us. So I don't really see why you'd willingly join the rehabilitation program?"

"Eh." Izuku made a so-so gesture with his hand. "A few things to answer there. Number one! I'm here because it's better than how I imagine Tartarus is. Two! Yes, Nedzu has told me that I can't harm any of you physically, which brings us to number three.

"No, I cannot harm you physically , but there's no rule against fucking with you guys psychologically. Do be prepared for that. Uhhh, oh! I kinda did join willingly, kinda didn't. I signed the paperwork to be placed here, but I don't want to be here, take any courses, et cetera."

After Izuku's mini word vomit, a few people looked worried about the mentioned psychological warfare, and three hands went down.

"May I ask why you don't like Endeavour?" The bicoloured dude said before anyone else asked their question.

"I have several reasons." Izuku snorted, waving a hand. "But they all sum up into him being a general douchebag. Asshole has exactly zero cares for anything around him. Which, generally, I'd understand, because giving zero fucks is a specialty of mine, but he doesn't care what he damages with those flames of his. Doesn't care for who he hurts."

"Like you have room to talk." Bakugou growled from where he was sitting next to the pink alien chick.

Izuku rose an eyebrow and tilted his head.

"Oh, but I do have room to talk."

"Bullshit!" Bakugou snarled, hands popping off tiny firecrackers. 

"No shouting." Nedzu reminded from the arm of one of the couches.

"Yeah, Bakugou, no yelling." Izuku smirked. "And I'm not bullshitting you. No, I will not expand on that at this moment, next question!"

"Ooh, I got one!" The electric kid waved his hand in the air. "Why does it seem like you and Bakubro have a history? Like, it's way too tense to just be what's happened this year."

"And you said that you've been telling Blasty that his explosions would hurt his hearing for years!" The alien girl pointed out.

Izuku smirked.

Bakugou glared.

"You see, I could tell you." Bakugou tensed up. "But what type of villain would I be if I revealed my tragic backstory too early?"

"Tragic backstory?" The one with the bird head asked. "That seems like a line Shigaraki would say…"

The students blinked then shot Izuku a nervous glance.

"Were you working with the league, Deku?" The gravity girl asked.

"Oh hell no." Izuku snorted. "Handy man hates me. No way he'd allow a noob like me into his party."

"Do I want to know how you got Shigaraki of all people to hate you?" Eraser groaned.

"Of course you do!" Izuku cheered, moving to the side slightly to give Mic more room to enter as he came back with tea. "I snipped a finger off of all of his weird hands!"

Mic's hand on the tea tray slipped, damn near sending the entire pot of boiling water onto the bicoloured kid if the frog girl hadn't whipped out her tongue to catch it.

Mic whipped around to face Izuku when he set the tray on the table in the middle of the couches.

"You did what?? " He asked incredulously, amusement, horror, and confusion warring on his face. "Why would you even- What?? "

Izuku snorted at the man's reaction and shrugged. "I heard that he was in contact with some asshole in the yakuza who's experimenting on a little girl so I paid the crusty bitch a visit. Things got ugly and he threw the hands at me, so I cut off a finger of each one."

"Wait wait you said Shigaraki was in contact with who doing what ." Eraser asked, quirk flaring quickly.

"Oh." Izuku blinked. "Chisaki Kai. He's the current leader of the Shie Hasakai. He wants to make bullets that permanently erase a quirk and thinks it's a great idea to use a little girl to do that." Izuku felt his hands clench and face harden. "I tried to set up a meeting with the bastard but he refused. I swear if I ever see him I will yoink his arms."

"Wait, y'know what?" A kid with weird, fluffy purple hair began. "You're kinda cool."

It went silent.

Like, so silent Izuku could hear Stray purring on the other side of the room.

"I've literally broken your wrist." Izuku deadpanned.

"I did that falling off of a bicycle, it's not that hard." Purple hair said, a shine of amusement in his eyes.

Silence again.

"I sent your friends to the hospital ."

"We spar with Bakugou on a daily basis, we're used to needing medical assistance.".

Izuku's mouth floundered as he searched for a response.

"Wait, no, cause Shin's got a point here." The electric guy said.

"Kaminari, Shinsou!" Mini-Ingenium scolded. "Do not be making friends with a villain, it is highly unheroic!"

"So is going on a manhunt for revenge, but go off, I guess." Izuku said, crossing his legs applesauce style and leaning back.

Mini-Ingenium blubbered for a second, rebooting his metaphorical engines.

"Wait!!" Alien chick laughed. "Class pres has done what?!"

"I-It is confidential, Mina!!" Mini-Ingenium stuttered. "It is not to be spoken of, I don't even know how Deku knows of the incident!"

"Dude." Izuku scoffed. "I'm literally a villain. I've broken into that detective's office for less."

"Please tell me you're talking about a detective other than Tsukauchi." Eraser deadpanned. 

"I'm one-hundred percent talking about Tsukauchi." Izuku smirked at the responding groan.

"Yeah, Shinsou's kinda right." The gravity girl said, her head tilted to the side. "You're not really scary, now that we're talking and not, um. Almost dying."

"No, stop." Izuku held up a hand. "I'm actually offended. I'm terrifying. Quit thinking otherwise."

A few students giggle or smile at that, and Stray, the little shit she is, decided to move and start circling Izuku meowing, begging for pets.

Izuku lasted all of two seconds until he gave in and picked her up.

"Very terrifying." Purple hair smirked.

"Shut up." Izuku pouted frowned . "I'm absolutely nightmare inducing."

That seemed to get more students to crack.

The image of the villain they've feared for so long cuddling a cat was too cute to be completely terrified at the thought of him anymore.

So now Izuku had a little over half the class very much not scared of him.

"I think this will work out just fine." Nedzu hummed.

Chapter Text

After getting to actually know Izuku when he's not actively trying to terrorize them, the class warmed up to him fairly fast (read: it's taken two weeks) with only a few exceptions.

Namely Bakugou, Ojirou, and Iida.

Izuku knows that people from other classes are still absolutely not okay with his presence, but he doesn't really care.

Well, he kind of cares sometimes.

Like right now.

Because he doesn't know who it is, but people keep on fucking watching him .

Yes, he's hot, but mind your own business, damn! It's not that hard!!

Izuku sighs irritably and adjusts how he's sitting on the table at the back of Eraser's class.

He's been on good enough behaviour that the hero doesn't snap his gaze to him every time he breathes, but apparently Izuku's constant shifting is getting on the man's nerves.

It wouldn't be a fucking problem if people would stop fucking watching him all the time.

It's getting on his last fucking nerve. 

Izuku huffs through his nose as he narrows his eyes at the entire class.

He would say that someone in his class had a staring problem, but no one was even looking up. They were all focused of whatever bullshit worksheet Eraser had given them.

The only one Izuku couldn't confirm was watching him was the invisible chick, Hagakure, and it's obvious why, but he doesn't think she is.

Izuku grits his teeth and turns his focus to the homework packet Nedzu had given to him the day before.

Since Izuku hasn't gone to school since he dropped out in his first year of Aldera, Nedzu needed to test him to see how far along he is to see what all they need to teach Izuku before he can join actual classes.

Most of it has been easy, so far.

He'd gotten about a quarter of it done the night before.

After school let out yesterday, Nedzu called both Eraser and Izuku into his office where they had given Izuku the packet and told him to complete it in as little time as he could.

So, after eating the dinner that the tape guy, Sero, had made (which was really fucking good, by the way), Izuku settled on the couch in Eraser's apartment and worked until he had fallen asleep in the middle of some history problem.

He doesn't remember what he had dreamt about, but he does know it wasn't pleasant. Probably something about living with Inko again.

Whatever it was, it was enough to have Izuku start to shake, sweat, and whine in his sleep.

When Eraser, who had been grading in the loveseat, noticed, the man had shook Izuku awake.

Now, Izuku isn't very receptive to touch even when he's awake, so when he woke up to the feeling of someone touching him… Well. Eraser very nearly had to make a midnight trip to see the healing nurse UA hired.

"Jesus, kid, chill out." Eraser had said when Izuku went to bite the man's forearm.

Izuku blinked, trying to get his brain to wake up enough to actually register things around him.

"Sorry." He said, and dragged his hand forcefully down his face and scratched at his jaw

"It's fine…" Eraser said, slightly wary. "Do you get nightmares?"

"Who doesn't?" Izuku rose a sleep-deprived brow.

"I just…" Eraser furrowed his eyebrows and ran a hand through his messy hair. "It never occurred to me that villains get them too."

Izuku snorted.

"Most people don't." He said, somewhat sad. "But we all had lives before villainy, Eraser. And no one that turned to villainy as young as me had a good childhood. Plenty of nightmare fuel."

"Midoriya."

Izuku jolts upright at Eraser's voice right by him. He'd been too out of it to notice the man come to stand by him.

"I asked if I could speak you outside." Eraser said- repeated? Izuku didn't know.

"Oh, okay?" Izuku hopped off of the table, leaving his packet behind, and followed Eraser outside.

"What's up?" Izuku asked as soon as the door was shut.

The feeling of eyes on him was stronger out in the hall. He hated it.

"You've been huffing and puffing all morning." The man started, crossing his arms over his chest. "I understand that homework isn't fun, but you're distracting some of the other students."

"No," Izuku groaned, shifting uncomfortably under those fucking eyes . "I don't care about homework, Eraser."

"Then what's going on?" Eraser asked, eyes narrowing. "If you're purposely distracting my class-"

"No!" Izuku huffs. "No, it's just- People have been fucking watching me and it's getting on my nerves."

Eraser raises a brow and looks around.

"No-" Izuku sighs. "Fuck. I don't know. I've looked for whoever it is, but I can't see them and it's driving me up the wall!"

"Okay." Eraser holds his hands out placatingly. "We'll talk to Nedzu after school and see if he can find out who it is."

Izuku sighed and nodded, scratching at his cheekbone.

With one last look around the hall, Eraser opened the classroom door again and walked back inside.

Izuku shuddered as the eyes felt like they multiplied and entered as well, closing the door a bit too firmly behind him.

"Watched?" Nedzu asks, their whiskers twitching.

"Yes." Izuku grits his teeth as he answers, trying to remain as respectful as possible. He hasn't racked up any therapy time and he wasn't planning on getting any. "I don't know who it is but someone has been watching me almost constantly since I got out of the car two weeks ago."

Nedzu hummed and turned to their computer, then proceeded to tap on it for a minute.

"Well, this is certainly a problem." They confirmed, petting over their chin. "Whoever it is isn't showing up on any of my cameras, so they're amazing at hiding!"

"There's nothing amazing about it, Principal , I'm about two seconds from burning this establishment to the ground."

"Now, Midoriya, I'm sure you wouldn't do that." Nedzu chortles, expertly ignoring Izuku's expression that clearly says he would. "Are they watching you even now, I wonder?"

"Yeah, they are." Izuku growls, beginning to bounce his leg. "And whoever it is better fucking stop before I get thrown into Tartarus."

Nedzu shoots Izuku a warning glance and the boy gives a quiet apology.

"For now, you and Aizawa may go back to the dorms, I will continue to look into this and find the culprit of your unease." Nedzu dismisses, the doors to his office opening.

Izuku stands up and huffs as those eyes follow him.

They follow him all the way back to the dorms and into the apartment, where he flops down on the couch.

"Uh-oh, kiddo down!" Mic calls from the kitchen. "What's up, Listener?"

Izuku answers with an irritated groan and turns onto his back when Stray starts meowing for pets.

Eraser huffs and greets Mic in the kitchen, then explains what was happening.

"You have a stalker, kiddo?" Mic asks, concern absolutely dripping from his voice.

"Fucking hope not." Izuku replies, scratching Stray's chin. "Shit's creepy as is, and the bastard being a stalker on top of it all? Hell no."

Mic huffed a laugh and went back to what he was doing before Eraser and Izuku came ho- back .

The door to the apartment flies open and Eri marches in, pouting and holding a half-crumpled paper in her hand.

After Izuku had mentioned Chisaki the first night he was here, Eraser and several other heroes worked fast to save Eri, the little girl the bastard was experimenting on.

"Hey, snot, whatcha got there?" Izuku asks, sitting up and holding out a hand.

Eri stomped up to him, slammed the paper into his hand and crawled onto the couch beside him.

Izuku deposited Stray into her lap and carefully uncrumpled the paper.

It was a drawing.

…Kind of.

…Maybe.

It was shapes, at least. And some colour. On a paper. That's what a drawing is, right?

"Darn," Izuku whistles. "Bet the police wish you were there when they needed a sketch of my face."

At first, Eri was nervous when Izuku had mentioned being a villain in the VRP, but had gotten comfortable with him over the course of the week and a half she's been in the Erasermic family household.

"Kami said that I need more practice." Eri huffed, settling her hand on Stray's back.

"Yeah, well, Kami's a moron." Izuku bumped his shoulder against his little sister's Eri's. "Besides, who are you gonna believe, some random dude who's too chicken to ask out Jirou, or your cool as heck criminal roommate?"

Eri giggled, and looked back at her drawing.

"Is it really good?" She asked, eyes squinting at the masterpiece.

"Are you doubting me?" Izuku asked, faux offense in his voice. "And I thought I could trust you, Eri. How could you betray me like this??"

Izuku fake sniffled and Eri laughed, slapping Izuku's shoulder.

"No, no!" Eri shoved her hand against Izuku's nose as he sniffled again. "I trust you, Izuku, I swear!!"

Izuku felt a gooey smile fall onto his face.

Eri was the only one to use his first name in a long, long time, and she adamantly refused to use anyone else's first names.

It made Izuku feel special. Wanted.

Mic snorted and poked his head around the corner.

"Okay, kiddos, enough of the dramatics, what are you two feeling for dinner?" He asks gently, the softest smile on his lips.

"Katsudon!!" Eri shouts, most definitely bursting at least one of Izuku's ear drums.

"Alrighty then, katsudon it is!" Mic cheers with Eri, then disappears back behind the corner.

Eri looks back at Izuku with a smile and Izuku grins.

The villain holds his little sister's Eri's drawing out again.

"I wonder if Mic has a picture frame."

Chapter Text

Literally the first time Eraser allowed him off campus, something just had to go down.

Eri had seen a commercial on the tv for a film being put on in theaters, so of course she begged Eraser to let the class take her.

And originally, Izuku was not planning on going.

Theaters always smelled like sweat and over-buttered popcorn, and he really hated it.

But then Eri got that dejected look when he had said he'd stay.

So now, he's sitting in this smelly, grimy theater, watching this corny ass romcom, bored out of his mind.

Until the door to the theater opened.

The naturally paranoid person he is, Izuku turned to see who entered.

But there was no one near the doorway.

Okay, someone just left the movie, and Izuku really can't blame them.

Izuku turns back to the screen, but something seems wrong with it.

In the middle of one of the protagonist's nose, there's something spreading across the screen, making it glitch and go all staticy.

"What's that?" Eri asked, sitting up to get a better look.

"Not sure," Izuku replied, furrowing his eyebrows. "It's definitely not part of the movie."

"Well, well, well. Would you look at who the hero hopefuls dragged in!"

Izuku groaned and stood up, as did the rest of the class when they recognized the voice.

"Are you serious, Hand Fetish?" Izuku drawled, watching the decay that was spreading across the screen finally reveal Shigaraki and Kurogiri. "We're just trying to enjoy a nice day with a cringy movie, did you really have to interrupt?"

Shigaraki cackled and murmured something to Kurogiri.

And… Great, now all of the exits are blocked by fucking warp gates.

Warp gates…

"Quick question!" Izuku said, hopping over the seat in front of him and into the aisle in front of the class, motioning for Eri to stay put. "Are you the one that's been watching me since I got here?"

" Wow , are you slow," Shigaraki 'insulted'. "Took you a bit to figure that one out. But it's not surprising for someone of your intelligence stats."

"The fu-" Izuku clamped his mouth shut and turned to Eri. "Hey, snot, cover your ears." After Eri did as told, Izuku turned back to Shigaraki. "The fuck did you say to me?"

Shigaraki paused, confused.

"What's with you censoring yourself all of a sudden?" He asks, raising a hand to scratch at his neck. "Has UA really broken you already?"

"Since you must know, fuckface," Izuku drawled, glancing back at Eri briefly to make sure she still had her hands over her ears. "I have to make sure the gremlin won't repeat anything I say to her dads, or else Eraser will have my head."

"Why the fuck does Eraserhead care what that brat says-" Shigaraki narrowed his eyes.

"Oi!" Izuku interrupted, pointing a finger at the four-fingered-hand on Shigaraki's face. "Only I can call her names."

Shigaraki tilts his head, as if Izuku had just challenged him.

"And what are you going to do if I keep calling her a brat?" One of Shigaraki's crusty eyebrows lifted. "Kurogiri."

There was a moment where nothing happened, and Izuku was confused.

And then there was a cut-off shout behind him.

Too high-pitch to be any of his classmates.

Izuku whipped around, and Eri's seat was empty.

The villain turned back to Shigaraki with a snarl.

" Where the fuck did you put her? "

Shigaraki's eyes widened slightly at the tone, then broke out into a wide smile.

" I didn't put her anywhere, Deku ." That grin got even wider. " Kurogiri could have put her anywhere. The edge of a building, the middle of the ocean…" The man-child paused. "In the cell with that yakuza guy…"

Izuku didn't think, he just lunged.

Izuku's been told many times that he was fast, and the way Shigaraki's grin dropped and pure terror shone through his eyes confirmed it for him.

Shigaraki yelped as the sole of Izuku's boot connected with the hand on his face, blood immediately dropping down his chin.

The man flung out a hand, trying to graze Izuku with his quirk.

Izuku leaned back to avoid the swipe, but as the hand was passing, he grabbed Shigaraki's middle finger and pulled back until he heard a delicious snap.

"Fuck!" Shigaraki shouted, then yanked his arm back.

Izuku took a step forward and yanked the hand on his face off.

"Tell me where she is," Izuku tossed the hand to Bakugou (and now he's wondering why all of them are just standing there instead of calling for help). "Or your dear Father will get blown to nothing more than soot in between Kacchan's hands."

Shigaraki's eyes widened, a flicker of anger shining through.

"You wouldn't."

Tiny little sparks behind Izuku challenged the statement.

The man raised his hand to his neck, scratching hard enough to make himself bleed.

"You have exactly two fucking seconds until I blow this shit up." Bakugou growled, and a glance back showed most of the class frozen, staring at Izuku.

"Kurogiri!" The shout makes Izuku turn back to the threat, not bothering to waste brain function on them. "Bring the br- kid back."

In the blink of an eye, a portal opened above Izuku and Eri dropped out of it.

Izuku took a step back and caught his sister in his arms.

"Hey, snot, are you okay?" Izuku asked immediately. "Are you hurt?"

Eri shook her head, teary-eyed but uninjured.

"Okay," Izuku turned so that his back was to Shigaraki and slowly let Eri out of his arms. "Go to Kami, okay?"

Eri bolted with a whimper, colliding into Kaminari's body with a solid thud.

The contact finally got the boy to blink away from Izuku and pick up Eri.

Izuku stood up straight and turned back to the villains.

"Now. Kurogiri, open a portal to whatever base you guys have." Izuku waited until the misty man did as he said before continuing. "Kacchan!"

As soon as the name left his mouth, the hand hit Izuku softly in the back.

Izuku picked it up without breaking his gaze with Shigaraki.

"Now, I will hand this to you, and you will retreat." Izuku ordered.

"Says who?" Shigaraki growled, eyes narrow.

" Me ." Izuku snarled. "And if you fucking don't, I'm gonna say screw this fucking rehabilitation and bash your brains in. You made my brat cry, called her names, traumatized her more than she already was. I am the only one allowed to traumatize this class now. That is my job now, so I will hand this to you and you will retreat."

Shigaraki tilted his head and analyzed Izuku. His posture, his facial expression, the manic look in his eyes.

"You see them as family, don't you?" Shigaraki asked, holding out his uninjured hand to take his father back.

Izuku paused and grit his teeth.

He doesn't have a family. Hasn't had one since he left Inko's apartment years ago.

"It doesn't matter what I see them as," Izuku chooses to say instead. "They're more of a family than whatever we've ever had, Shigaraki. Whether I see them as family or not, I won't let you hurt any of them."

With that, Izuku dropped the hand into Shigaraki's.

The man grinned and turned away, throwing a last " They aren't the ones I want to hurt." thrown over his shoulder before he steps into the portal.

Chapter Text

Izuku grit his teeth as he avoided the gazes of both Eraser and Nedzu.

"Midoriya, I'm sure you know that your fight with Shigaraki is against the rules in the packet you signed, yes?" Nedzu asked, concealing any emotion in their voice.

Izuku nodded.

"And you could have put the class in more danger by instigating Shigaraki." Eraser stated.

Izuku felt his fists clench and nodded again.

"This incident very well should make me expel you from the VRP and send you to Tartarus." Izuku heard the creature fold their paws on top of the desk.

"I understand." Izuku felt his lower lip wobble and directed his gaze firmly onto his lap.

Nedzu and Eraser both went silent, but Izuku could feel their stares.

"Do you like it here, Midoriya?" Nedzu asks, followed by the sound of them shifting.

Don't make him admit it. It'll make it hurt more when he has to leave.

But Nedzu doesn't take back his question.

So Izuku nods slowly, not trusting his own ability to talk around the soreness in his throat.

"Do you feel like the VRP is helping you?" Eraser was the one who asked this time.

"I don't know." Izuku's voice cracked. "I really don't. I-I still think about doing things that would get a hero license taken away in less than a second, and I threatened to bash Shigaraki's brain in, and I couldn't protect Eri at the theater-"

Izuku's words cut off when that pressure in his throat gets too much to handle.

Nedzu hums and Izuku hears the sound of them typing.

"Midoriya," The creature called once they stopped typing. "I asked the theater to send me the security footage of the entire ordeal. From where we believe the villains entered the theater to when they left via warp gate."

Izuku swallowed and wiped at his moist eyes.

"Will you please look up and watch this with us?"

Izuku sniffed and looked towards the creature's computer screen, still not looking at Nedzu nor Eraser.

Nedzu hummed their thanks and clicked play.

Izuku quickly realized that there was no sound, and he was confused.

Why would they listen without sound? There was a lot of context that they won't get because there's no sound.

"I want you to just watch how you act, Midoriya." Nedzu says softly, making Izuku hear how he was quietly mumbling.

"Principal Nedzu," Izuku sighs. "Some of what I did will look much worse if you don't know what was said before hand-"

"Just watch, Midoriya." Nedzu chided, turning to the recording as video-Izuku hopped the seat and began talking to Shigaraki.

Izuku sighed again, resigned.

Without the sound, Izuku's going to look villainous . And he's been doing good in controlling himself.

But now it's going to be thrown away because of some fucking missing context.

Izuku grit his teeth and looked at the monitor just in time to see Eri drop through a warp gate.

He watches himself, only half paying attention, but he still notices it.

His body language.

It's not nearly as hostile as he thought he would have looked.

He looked purely defensive.

Not 'villainous' like he would have expected.

And when he attacked Shigaraki, there was a panicked edge to his entire body.

When he snapped the man's finger, it was frantic, anxious.

When Eri was finally brought back, his body sagged with relief and his eyes had watered.

"You see them as family, don't you?"

The scratchy voice made Izuku jolt and look toward Nedzu, who had their paw on the volume button.

The principal and Eraser watched as emotions flooded video-Izuku's normally relaxed face.

Emotions that very clearly said "Yes, I do, but I don't want to believe I do." .

Izuku swallowed and glanced at his hands.

"It doesn't matter what I see them as. They're more of a family than whatever we've ever had, Shigaraki. Whether I see them as family or not, I won't let you hurt any of them."

Izuku hears Eraser inhale and feels the man glance at Izuku's hunched frame.

Nedzu stops the video and hums.

"I'm not sure about anyone else, Midoriya, but the last thing I think when watching that is 'villain'." The creature clicks a few buttons on their keyboard. "To me it looks like somebody trying to get someone they care about back. You were trying to protect the ones you care about, not acting villainous."

"I broke Shigaraki's finger." Izuku whimpered, his voice raw and full of insecurity and fear .

He was afraid of being taken away from here.

He was afraid of losing everything again. Stray, Eri, Eraser, Mic, class 1-a, the opportunity to get help .

He was afraid of himself .

He broke Shigaraki's finger without even flinching .

Threatened to destroy the last remnants the man had of his father.

"Midoriya, please watch this." Nedzu chirps, waiting for Izuku to look up before playing a part of the video again.

"Says who?" Shigaraki growled, eyes narrow.

" Me ." Izuku hears himself snarl, protectiveness dripping from his voice. "And if you fucking don't, I'm gonna say screw this fucking rehabilitation and bash your brains in. You made my brat cry, called her names, traumatized her more than she already was. I am the only one allowed to traumatize this class now. That is my job , so I will hand this to you and you will retreat."

Nedzu re-paused the video after Izuku said that and turned to him, staring.

Nobody spoke, but Izuku's sure that Nedzu's trying to say or ask Izuku something.

"Midoriya, think about what you said for a moment." Nedzu instructed.

"I said that I'd bash a person's brains in." Izuku grit his teeth and turned his teary glare onto his lap. "I didn't even know for sure if Eri was in trouble. And I threatened to hurt Shigaraki."

"Midoriya-"

"I wanted to kill Shigaraki," Izuku interrupted Nedzu, his voice wobbling and cracking. "I haven't had the actual urge to hurt anyone here, but if I was willing to break Shigaraki's nose-" His voice cracks violently, sending a sharp pain through his throat. His tears start to fall, landing soundlessly on top of his hands. He continued despite the pain. "If I was willing to do that to Shigaraki, I'm going to end up hurting someone here and I don't want to do that. I don't want to hurt the people here, I really, really don't and I'm scared that I will and-" Izuku cuts himself off with a deep breath and presses the heels of his palms to his eyes.

He can feel the concern wafting off of Eraser and Nedzu in waves, and he hates it.

They have no reason to be worried about him. They shouldn't be worried about him.

He's traumatized the class and he can still hear students waking up in the middle of the night screaming his villain name.

He sees how the class tenses up if Izuku moves too suddenly or speaks too loudly or looks at them in a certain way.

He knows they're still scared of him and the way he dealt with Shigaraki only could have made it worse.

And he caused Shigaraki to traumatize Eri .

Sweet, little Eri. Eri, who has already been through enough, but Izuku caused even more.

At this point Izuku thinks it's better to just-

"Just send me to Tartarus." Izuku mutters, tears coming even faster. He didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay . Stay with Eri and Stray and the best family he's ever had . "I don't want to hurt anyone here, but it's going to end up happening and I don't want them to be a victim of that, not anymore. I don't care about before, but I don't want to hurt them, but I know I will -"

"Hey, kid, breathe." Eraser's suddenly crouching in front of him, pulling Izuku's hands away from the bruising pressure over his eyes. "We aren't going to send you to Tartarus. We aren't gonna make you leave, okay? So calm down, take some deep breaths, it's okay."

Izuku sobbed, trying to pull his hands away from Eraser. He needed to cover his face, he didn't want them to see him crying, didn't want them to see him acting like a baby .

"Hey, no, stop." Eraser held Izuku's wrists tighter and pulled them towards his chest. "Midoriya, breathe , you're going to pass out if you don't-"

Izuku shook his head violently, now jerking his arms to dislodge the hero's grip.

"Dammit, kid, stop , you're going to hurt yourself-" Eraser's voice had taken on a frantic tone.

Izuku didn't stop, he needed his hands back, he needed to cover himself, he needed everything to just stop for just two seconds .

Izuku feels himself get pulled forward by his hands, and his head is being pressed into some sort of cloth.

" Izuku. " Eraser groans, and that finally catches the boy's attention. Eraser had never called him by his first name before. " Please , kid, calm down. It's okay , you're fine, everything is okay. Take a deep breath, kid."

Izuku shakes his head, his forehead digging into what he was now realizing is Eraser's shoulder, whining like a fucking baby .

"You're not a baby, kid," Eraser rubs a hand up and down Izuku's back. "But you need to breathe, okay? You're breathing too fast for it to actually do anything for you, so take a really deep breath."

Izuku grits his teeth and tries, pulling the air into his lungs, but it doesn't stay there. It rushes out just as fast as his last breaths and Izuku whines, digging his face into Eraser's capture weapon. "Can't."

"Yes you can," Eraser murmurs, and Izuku can feel the rumble of the man's vocal chords in his chest. It calms him a bit. "Here, let's do it together, okay? Deep breath."

Izuku follows the movement, and the breath stays in his lungs for a bit longer than the last one had before rushing out with a hiccuped sob.

"Good job, kid, now let's do it again. Ready? In…" Eraser breathes in, so does Izuku. "And now out, slowly."

Izuku can feel himself calm down in Eraser's arms the longer the man holds him, the vibrations of his chest doing a lot of that by itself.

Even though his breathing is slowing down, his tears definitely aren't, and Izuku feels so fucking stupid for being a crybaby over something he knew would happen eventually.

He knew that he wouldn't be able to stay here for very long; he's too violent and he makes the entire fucking school uncomfortable by just breathing .

He knew he would do something, because he always does something to fuck everything up, always, always, always .

He didn't get a fucking quirk and made his dad leave.

He made his mom hate him by being so fucking annoying and clingy all the time.

He made Katsuki distance himself because Izuku was too fucking weak.

He made those teachers in primary and middle school hit him because all he ever does is fucking misbehave .

He's too fucking stupid to do anything but mess shit up.

"Hey, stop," The hero speaks up, his chest vibrating so, so comfortingly. "Whatever you're thinking, just stop. Worry about your breathing for now, then we can talk about what's on your mind."

Izuku sniffs shakily through his nose and nods, moving his hands to clutch the middle of Aizawa's shirt tightly.

It takes a while for Izuku to calm his breathing completely, accidentally messing up his rhythm a few times, but he gets there eventually; breathing even, deep breaths into Aizawa's chest.

And even when Izuku calms down, the man doesn't move away.

He doesn't stop rubbing Izuku's back, or breathing deeply so that Izuku can copy it if he messes up again, or speaking soft reassurances into his curls every few seconds.

It makes Izuku's heart swell, his bottom lip starting to tremble and eyes watering again.

Aizawa's hugging him.

He hasn't been hugged since he was five, after he was diagnosed.

Izuku feels his crying start up all over again, and Aizawa just shushes him gently and holds him.

He really, really doesn't want to leave.

Chapter Text

After Izuku gets over his little mini-breakdown, Nedzu asks for him to go back to the Yamazawa family apartment, and that they'll talk again later.

But the creature did specify that Izuku wasn't going to be sent away.

They didn't say why, which put Izuku on edge, but he was exhausted from crying so he allowed Aizawa to walk him to the apartment.

They walked in awkward silence.

At least, it was awkward on Izuku's end. He had cried like a fucking two-year-old in Aizawa's arms and stained his capture weapon with those big, stupid tears.

Aizawa wasn't saying anything about it, but that didn't mean that he wasn't uncomfortable with Izuku crying in his arms.

But Izuku endured it until they got to the apartment, and when they got there, he immediately went to his and Eri's shared room. He ignored Mic greeting him from the couch where he was cuddling a half-asleep Eri in his arms.

No, he went straight to their room, shut the door, and burrowed underneath the blanket until he couldn't see or smell anything except the cloth.

He could, however, hear Aizawa quietly murmuring to Mic in the living room, then footsteps coming towards his and Eri's room.

Izuku grit his teeth and evened out his breathing as Aizawa opened the door.

Maybe if he pretends to be asleep, the man will leave him alone.

He heard Aizawa sigh in the doorway, then the door closed.

Izuku breathed out a sigh of relief. He really didn't want to talk to anyone about anything right now.

The bed dips next to Izuku and he tenses.

He thought Aizawa left? The door had closed, Izuku hadn't heard the man's footsteps in the room, and couldn't feel him in it either. He must be more tired than he thought.

"I know you may not want to talk about what happened." The man started saying, keeping his voice quiet. "But if it's okay I'd like to ask you some questions at some point. You said some very concerning things, and I want to get some details before I sue the hell out of people."

Izuku grits his teeth.

"I didn't know I was talking." Izuku whispers, voice hoarse from crying and that one big voice crack. "I don't generally do that when I break down. Sorry."

"Don't apologize, kid." Aizawa huffed. "It's not your fault."

Izuku didn't respond to that. He didn't know how, so he just didn't. 

The boy felt the bed bob a little bit, as if Aizawa nodded, before that dip went away, an indication of the man standing.

Without even thinking about it, Izuku's hand shot out from underneath his cocoon and grabbed onto the side of Aizawa's pant leg.

"Please don't go."

Aizawa paused.

"Are you sure, kid? I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

Izuku felt his grip tighten as his response.

"...Okay, kid. Do you want me to get anything else?" The man asks softly, an emotion that Izuku can't identify in his voice. "A drink or snack? Stray?"

Izuku nodded, whether at the offer of food or his cat, he didn't know.

"Alright, kiddo, I'll be right back, okay?"

Izuku hesitated for a second before he let go, obviously reluctant.

Aizawa hummed and left, leaving the door open, if the volume of Mic's humming was to go off of.

Soft padding entered the room, followed by the softest meow he's ever heard from his cat.

Izuku stuck his head out of the blanket, Stray's eyes snapping to him as soon as he did so.

With another one of those soft meows, she jumped onto his bed and nuzzled into his face, like she could tell that he was a mess of emotions right now.

Izuku sniffed and lifted the blanket just enough for her to crawl in and cuddle up in the space between Izuku's legs and chest.

She began purring immediately, beginning to make biscuits softly on his stomach.

The motion of her paws and vibration of her purrs made Izuku relax, his shoulders unwinding and his jaw unclenching.

He was asleep before Aizawa came back with what Izuku asked for.

__________________________________

When he woke up, Aizawa was asleep leaning against his bed, a jelly pouch and an apple juice box sitting on the floor beside him.

Knowing that Aizawa had stayed, even though Izuku was asleep, made tears almost come back into his eyes.

The boy pushed them away this time. He's cried way too much today.

Izuku took a deep breath and stretched out, careful to make sure that he didn't dislodge Stray from her place by his stomach.

Oh, wait, actually, he doesn't have to worry about that; apparently Stray moved at some point, so Izuku took the opportunity to stretch as hard as he could.

It felt heavenly, and Izuku tried to be as quiet as possible as he got out of bed, not trying to wake Aizawa up.

He glanced over at Eri's bed and a soft smile crept onto his face when he saw the girl sleeping soundly, clutching a stuffed duck he had given her tightly to her chest.

He couldn't help but go over there and tuck her soft, fleece blanket a bit tighter on her and give her a light kiss on the forehead. She deserved all the pampering and love.

The sound of a camera shutter makes Izuku jolt and whip around, only meeting Aizawa's smirk.

"You literally scared the sh- crap out of me, you bastard!" Izuku hissed, glancing at Eri to make sure he didn't disturb her.

The man just blinked and took another picture, capturing Izuku's face mid-glare.

"I'm sending that one to Hizashi."

Izuku rolled his eyes, flipped Aizawa off, then left the room.

He stopped just outside the doorway, the door still open behind him.

It smelled weird.

Different.

Like somebody had sprayed something, but it wasn't the spray Mic always used.

"You okay, kid?" Aizawa whispers from inside the room.

"I don't know…" Izuku murmurs slowly, sniffing the air again. "Something smells weird."

He heard Aizawa stand up and the man joined Izuku in the hallway a moment later.

He smelled the air again and furrowed his eyebrows.

It smelled familiar in a way that was like when something happens but you feel like it happened before. Like those deja vú moments, just with a scent.

Izuku walks down the hall a bit and the smells get a tad stronger.

He keeps following it until he gets to the bathroom door, where the smell is the strongest.

The light's on, and Izuku furrows his eyebrows.

Mic's usually already asleep this late.

Izuku knocks on the door lightly, not wanting to wake Eri.

"Mic?" Izuku says just loud enough to be heard inside the bathroom. "Is everything okay?"

Aizawa comes up and stands next to Izuku, listening for Mic's response. 

When the man doesn't respond, however, Aizawa motions for Izuku to move and takes his place.

"Hey, Zash, I'm coming in." Aizawa knocks gently as he says it and opens the door, then slides inside. 

Then it's silent. Almost.

Izuku hears what sounds like a gag from Aizawa before the lock on the door clicks.

"Aizawa?" Izuku calls, quiet enough that it won't wake Eri, but loud enough for the man to hear over his gagging.

"Kid, go get Hizashi." Aizawa calls from inside, confusing Izuku.

"I thought he was in there?" Izuku asks, his eyebrows furrowing. "What's the smell then?"

"Kid, go get him, please."

Izuku hesitates, concerned.

The smell definitely wasn't good, so maybe the plumbing broke or something?

"...Okay." Izuku agrees, then heads down the hall some more and enters Aizawa and Mic's bedroom.

He moves to the bedside and gently touches Mic's shoulder.

The man jolts awake instantly, sitting up and eyes scanning Izuku.

"Listener?" He slurs, still riddled with sleep. "What's up, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, uhm." Izuku steps back, watching Mic put a hearing aid in. "Aizawa needs you in the bathroom."

"Is he okay?" The man asks, already standing up and moving to the door.

"Yeah, he's fine. The hall just smells weird and it's coming from the bathroom. He told me to get you."

Mic nods at the end of Izuku's explanation, then wrinkles his nose at the smell in the hall. It had gotten worse in the time it had taken Izuku to get Mic.

Despite the smell getting stronger, Mic moved briskly to the bathroom door and knocked, Izuku just a few paces behind him.

"Hey, Shou, everything okay?"

Instead of answering, the lock just clicked.

Mic blinked and sent a reassuring smile to Izuku before entering the bathroom, the door closing behind him.

"Holy shit."

Izuku blinked at the English swear, then his worry grew as he heard Mic retch.

"Is it bad?" Izuku asks, grimacing. "Do you want me to go get anyone?"

"Zuku?"

Izuku turned at the sound of Eri's sleepy voice.

"Hey, sweetheart." Izuku crouched and Eri moved forward until her head was resting on his chest. "Sorry, did I wake you up?"

Eri shook her head, yawning.

"Smells bad." She said simply, wrinkling her nose.

"Yeah, the plumbing in the bathroom might've burst. Aizawa and Mic are working on it right now." Izuku explained, running his hands through Eri's hair softly.

"Hm-mm." Eri hummed, shaking her head again.

"What?" Izuku asks, a slight smile on his face.

"Not plumbing." She mutters, yawning again. "Smells like that room did."

Izuku furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head. 

"What room?" He doesn't remember it smelling like this any other time.

"The one Overhaul used to take me to." Eri muttered, Izuku's blood running cold at the mention of the child abuser. "Where he used his quirk on me to get my blood."

Izuku blinked, then smelled the air.

Now that he has something to compare it to, it does kind of smell like blood, but it's more… sour? Raw? It just smells different than blood generally smells.

"Okay." Izuku hums into Eri's hair. "You wanna go somewhere until the smell goes away?"

Eri nods just as the door to the bathroom door crumbles in on itself.

Izuku's baffled for a moment, doors don't generally just disintegrate out of nowhere.

And then the smells gets about twelve times worse and Izuku's gaze moves to the inside of the room to see what smells so fucking rancid -

Izuku freezes.

Stops moving, stops thinking, stops breathing .

The bathroom is covered in splatters of blood, roof to floor.

But that's not what makes Izuku go numb.

It's Stray.

Hung by her neck with a wire attached to the shower curtain rod, the white of her fur soaked with her own blood. She has a long, deep cut from her throat trailing all the way to her groin, and everything that's supposed to be inside her body is hanging down towards the floor, pulled down by gravity.

On the shower wall behind her, in messy, bloody handwriting, "I want to hurt you , Deku." .

And Izuku understands why Aizawa and Mic's first reaction was to gag, or puke, but Izuku can't help his first reaction being to clench his hands into fists.

His hands, which were running calmly through Eri's hair.

Eri cries out as Izuku accidentally pulls out several solid strands of her hair, but he doesn't hear her.

He feels like somebody buried him in a box of sand, with only one little pinprick of a hole to see out of.

He couldn't hear anything happening, and could only see Stray's mangled, murdered body. Could only sit there as his thoughts raged inside his head.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

You know who did it.

Stray wasn't supposed to suffer because of you.

He did it.

How could you be so fucking stupid ??

He hurt Stray.

All you do is fuck everything up.

Shigaraki did it.

Stray didn't deserve to be killed because of you.

Shigaraki hurt Stray.

Stray was supposed to be safe here.

Shigaraki hurt Stray.

How useless can you be to not be able to protect Stray??

Shigaraki hurt Stray.

He needs to pay.

Izuku felt his hands unclench, releasing a now-crying Eri, and stood up.

Mic, who had come over to try to get Izuku to let go of Eri, held out his hands and began talking.

But sand was in Izuku's ears and he couldn't hear what the man was saying.

Shigaraki needs to pay for hurting Stray.

Without a word to Mic, Aizawa, or his little sister, Izuku turned and left the apartment.

He had a dead man to hunt.

__________________________________

It may be a detective's job to figure out everything about a person.

It may be a hero's job to protect their class.

It may be a principal's job to help people grow.

It may be a teacher's job to teach kids respect.

It may be a rage filled child's job to yell and scream.

It may be a student's job to ask questions.

It may be an adult's job to protect kids from watchful eyes.

It may be a brother's job to protect his sister.

It may be a parent's job to calm their children down.

It may be a family's job to protect each other from everything.

But it's a villain's job to destroy everything.

To take away everything a person loves or cares about.

To be completely ruthless when attacking their enemy.

It's not a villain's job to enter a rehabilitation program at a fancy hero school.

Sometimes, villains are meant to stay villains.