Chapter Text
EPILOGUE
Aizawa’s eyes scan his homeroom class. The students are all chattering, excitedly as the school year comes to a close. Aizawa manifests his quirk, immediately quieting his class. He smiles. [After three years with all of you, I can not say just how happy I am for all of you to finally leave me. I might actually get some sleep.]
The class chuckles, forcing themselves to sit still.
Kaminari shifts in his seat and shouts, “Come on Sensei, you can tell us you love us!”
[I love- sleeping. Now watch yourself Kaminari, or I won’t let you graduate.]
Kaminari clamps his mouth shut.
Shinso raises his hand, “Sensei, why are you keeping us here? We’re supposed to be attending the pro hero ceremony in less than 30 minutes.”
“Shinso-” Aizawa cuts off.
And Shinso smiles, “Now, tell us how you really feel about us. And don’t use your quirk on me.”
Aizawa’s eyes shoot daggers at Shinso, [I have been honored to teach all of you over the last three years. I will miss all of you dearly, and I truly believe you all are going to make amazing heroes. I love- I love you all.]
The class awes and yells back, “We love you, Sensei”
Shinso reels Aizawa from his quirk. “Please don’t kill me.” Shinso pleads.
Keeping a straight face, Aizawa says. [I’m giving Eri your bedroom.]
The class cracks up laughing.
Aizawa sighs, [Since Shinso already made me tell you all the truth, I guess I can go ahead and tell you without brainwashing, making me talk. I have seen all of you grow into amazing heroes and even more than that, you have grown into some pretty terrific humans. I know that this class has already faced far too much hardship for such a young age, but you all grew stronger and persevered. Now, if you all will change into your hero outfits, it’s time for your hero commencement ceremony. Change and meet me outside.] Aizawa addresses the class and walks out to go change himself. A single tear escapes his eye as he leaves the room. He makes his way around the corner before wiping it away. ‘ Those damn kids.’
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The cherry blossoms are in full bloom for the Spring. Petals flutter past Deku’s face, but right now, he doesn’t want to float away with them. His eyes focus on the podium in front of him. Dynamight is standing on the stage.
[I told you all I was going to win three years ago at the Sports Festival and here I am again, standing in front of you because I finished at the top of class. In all subjects,] Dynamight adds, glaring at the section where business class is sitting. [I will continue to win, becoming the number one hero.] Dynamight glares at Deku. [Got that Deku?]
Deku smirks and gives a thumbs-up from his seat.
Rolling his eyes, Bakugou steps away from the podium and struts off the stage, finding his way back to his seat.
Endeavour, Hawks, and Best Jeanist walk onto the stage. Behind them stands the UA teacher’s sitting in chairs. Unshockingly enough, Nezu is sitting in Aizawa’s scarf.
Endeavour takes a step forward. [As number one hero, I am going to start announcing this year's graduates from UA by class starting with the business course, then the support class, and finally the pro-heros. Jeanist will be announcing which agencies or companies each student is joining. And Hawks said he wanted to be the one to shake hands with the graduates.]
Hawks gives a hundred watt smile and puts up two thumbs to the crowds.
As Endeavour calls up the graduates by class, Deku shifts nervously in his seat. He watches students he barely knows and some he’s never even seen before walk across the stage. He watches Hatsume skip across the stage and smile as she starts to ramble about support gear that Endeavour could use. Eventually, he nudges her off the stage.
“Now, for the pro heroes.” Endeavour starts calling the names out of heroes as they walk across the stage. “Pro Hero: Great Explosion Murder God, Dynamight,” Endeavour booms.
Beside Endeavour, Best Jesanist smacks himself in the face and announces, “Dynamight will be joining Best Jeanist’s agency.”
Bakugou struts across the stage and flashes a smile. He looks down at Hawks' extended hand and goes, “No.” And walks off the stage.
Eventually, Endeavour announces, “Pro Hero: Deku”
Off the stage, Deku is staring down at his hands, trying to decide which one he should use to shake Hawks hand. His right is his dominant hand, but what if Hawks would rather use his left hand. What hand has Hawks been using? Deku should have been paying more attention to this before he was about to walk up. Someone shoves Deku from behind. He stumbles forward. Looking up, he sees Endeavour raging on the stage for wasting his time.
“Sorry,” Deku mumbles as he walks across the stage. He reaches Hawks and ends up shaking his hand with both of his own. Deku closes his eyes for a moment and wishes he’d just become a vigilante. He drops his hands to his side and darts off the stage only to be met with Dynamight laughing his ass off.
Deku waves him off and turns his attention back to the stage to watch the rest of his class graduate.
Finally, what Dynamight has been waiting for finally happens. Endeavour has to call up Todoroki.
Endeavour looks at the piece of paper in his hand with the list of hero names. His mouth drops. He looks off stage at Shoto. “This is not your hero name.”
Shoto starts to walk on the stage and nods his head. [Make the announcement father.]
Through gritted teeth, Endeavour announces, “Pro Hero: Icy-Hot.”
[Icy-Hot will be joining Endeavour's agency for the time being,] Jeanist announces, holding back his laughter. Off stage, Dynamight can be heard, barking laughter.
Icy-Hot shakes hands with Hawks and calmly leaves the stage. Deku immediately greets him. “What in the hell was that? Why did you pick Bakugou’s nickname for you as your hero name? We talked for weeks about what you wanted to be named. That wasn’t even on the list!”
Todoroki raises his eyebrow. [Well, I realized that you used Bakugou’s nickname for yourself, and it has worked out well. And Icy-Hot is a pretty good description of me, so I wrote it down on the official paper.]
Deku smacks himself in the head. “I can’t believe you actually did that. But you know what, I have no room to judge.”
Gradually, the rest of Class A and B join the group backstage.
[Hey, Deku,] Uravity greets him, [I was wondering who’s agency are you joining? Best Jeanist didn’t announce it. I think he forgot since you took so long to get on stage.]
Deku blushes, “Ha, about that. I didn’t write down an agency on the paper for what I was joining. All Might gave me permission to use his old headquarters since he closed down years ago and restart it. So, I don’t really have an agency yet. I’m just gonna free-lance for a while, while I work on setting it up.”
]That’s so cool,” Uravity beams, “That means that you can come and work with Red Riot and I at Fat Gums agency. I’m sure Fat Gum would let you partner with us!]
“Thanks, Uravity,” Deku smiles, “I would love th-”
Deku is swung around to be met by Dynamight. “What the Fuck Deku! Why the hell did All Might give you the rights to his agency?!”
Eyes wide, Deku responds, “He told you, you could be a part of it too! You didn’t listen to what he had to say after Toshinori said that he had a proposition for the both of us!”
Dynamight throws his hands up, “Wait! NO! That’s not what I thought he was going to talk to us about! Are you shitting me!? You get to build your own agency, and I’m stuck with the long neck for at least six months! You have to be fucking kidding me-”
Dynamight is cut off as Red Riot jumps in front of him. Red Riot grabs Dynamight’s hips and pulls him close.
“What are you doing, Shitty Hair?” Dynamight screeches.
Flashing a dashing smile, Red Riot’s face glows, “You said that you’d give me public affection once we were pro-heros. And we are, so…” Red Riot leans forward and kisses Dynamight. Dynamight pulls away for a moment, scoffing, and mumbles, “Dumbass.” He leans in and returns the kiss.
They pull apart and Dynamight smiles, “Fine, I guess that was the deal. Now let go of me.”
“I’ll let go of you in just a second, I have a present for you first.” Keeping one hand on Dynamight’s hip, Red RIot reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a key. “Will you move in with me? I already put a deposit on an apartment that is halfway between Jeanists and Fat Gum’s agencies. And I wrote on all of the boxes in your room this apartment number for them to be shipped to. So, if you say no, you’re gonna have to come get your shit, and I’ll just convince you to stay since it’s already there.”
Dynamight glares at Red Riot and then looks down at the keys holding up. “Fine,” Dynamight agrees, taking the key from Red Riot’s hand and putting it into his own pocket. “Now. let. Go.”
“Ha, right,” Red Riot chuckles, dropping his hand from Dynamight’s waist. Dynamight starts to walk away, forgetting his anger at Deku and Red Riot follows like a happy puppy.
[That was sweet, I think,] Uravity signs, watching them walk away.
“That Kacchan was gushing.” Deku responds.
[Ha. Oh, I love that.] Uravity pulls on Deku’s hand, [Okay, now let's get back to the dorm, all of our parents are waiting for us.]
—-
The dorms look the exact same as they always have in the common area, but the rest of the dorms are empty. Leaving a blank canvas that the second years will soon take over and decorate their own way. Midoriya runs his finger across the wall, memories washing over him. Leaving UA just doesn’t feel right to him. This school has been home for so long now.
The party around him continues as parents and students mingle around excited. Midoriya watches Iida and Tensei arguing with Sui and one of her sisters. Uraraka is introducing her parents to Kirihsima. A sad smile grows on the surface of Midoriya’s face. He closes his eyes and leans against the wall, the memories continue to wash over him. The good and the bad. A lot has happened and he’s made friends- no, he’s made a family that he can’t separate himself from, but now they’ll all be separated. They’ve been protecting each other for years, breaking rules and laws to save each other. Midoriya’s breath catches. He swallows.
A hand taps lightly on his shoulder, Midoriya opens his eyes to see Hisashi and Daniel standing in front of him. Daniel is holding a present in his hand. Behind them is Inko and Toshinori. Inko already has tears streaming down her face as she looks up at her son.
Midoriya smiles at his family around him. A tear leaks down his face and he wipes it away, “Hey. I’m glad you guys could make it.”
“Are you kidding me?” Hisashi asks. “I wouldn’t miss this for anything.”
“Yeah, we’re here to stay, Kiddo,” Daniel chimes in.
[It’ll be damn near impossible for you to get rid of any of us.] Toshinori adds, linking his arm with Inkos.
Midoriya’s heart throbs in his chest.
Todoroki walks up with Uraraka at his side. Todorki starts signing, [We’re going to go out for dinner. Endeavor’s paying. Do you all want to go?]
“We’d love to go,” Hisashi signs back.
“Yeah,” Midoriya echoes, “We’d love to go.”
And Midoriya smiles. In the last few years, his life has changed significantly. Going from a quirkless kid with no friends, to the boy who’d always break his bones as a hero in training, then figuring out how to be a hero without his hearing, and finally to becoming a hero with more friends than he could count and more dad’s than he ever thought he’d have. Deku takes a deep breath in as he follows the group out the door, starting the next chapter of his life and ending his origin story.