Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s funny how when there’s something that makes you different from everyone else, something others have that you don’t, you want to hear nothing about it. After all, it doesn’t apply to you, and if anything, it’s a further reminder of how different you are from what’s considered normal. That’s how it went with Izuku and soulmates. When it came to anything else, he would learn everything he could, always desperate for more knowledge. Soulmates and their marks went ignored.

After realizing Hitoshi was his soulmate and he wasn’t actually the only human on the planet without one, things changed. Of course, most importantly, he now has Toshi, but he also has an overwhelming amount of knowledge to catch up on. And Zashi, Toshi’s Pops, is more than happy to help with some reluctant assistance from his own soulmate, Aizawa.

Izuku was already aware of the fact that a soul mark became the colors that best represented the soulmates. His and Hitoshi’s marks are emerald green and indigo purple. It really isn’t hard to figure out which color represents each of them, but for some, it is a bit harder. Rumi and Ryuuko’s marks are a carrot orange and a gorgeous light blue. The orange is for Rumi and her love of, well, carrots. The blue represents Ryuuko’s love of the sky and the peace that comes with flying. Past there being two colors though, Izuku doesn’t know much.

This is where Zashi, or Pops as he's already insisting on being called, comes in. According to him, like most things in life, soul marks have plenty of research on them and plenty of statistics to show for said research. The first thing Izuku finds out is that soulmates don’t actually have to be between just two people as the media so popularly tries to portray. They can just as easily be polyamorous such as with Zashi’s close friend, Nemuri Kayama, the pro hero Midnight. She’s happily in a relationship with her fellow soulmates and pro heroes, Snipe and Majestic.

The next thing he learns is how common an individual’s colors are. The most common color by far is red, with over a quarter of the world’s population having it as their color. Papa, Auntie Mitsuki, and Aizawa all have red. It’s followed closely by blue (Uncle Saru and Ryuuko) and violet (his adorable kitten). Green (his and mama’s) and yellow (Zashi) are far less common, and the rarest by far, with less than ten percent of the population having it, is orange, which of course, is Rumi’s color.

From individual colors, it doesn’t take much for Izuku to get lost in the most common color combinations. For polyamorous soulmates, there isn’t much data on their colors with how rare they are, but there is more than enough on pairs. The most common paired colors are red and blue followed by red and violet. Auntie and Uncle are the first. The least common pairing by far is yellow and green with roughly one percent of the paired population having the combination. He and Hitoshi are pretty middle of the road.

Something Zashi adores is learning about the locations of soul marks. To no one’s surprise, the hands and arms are the most common areas for soul marks to appear. This is true for Mama, Auntie Mitsuki, Uncle Saru, Ryuuko, and partially Papa. The ones that really interest Zashi though, and Izuku can’t help but agree, are the more unconventional of soul marks. Shouta calls him biased, but Hizashi loves their marks on their ankles. He nearly lost it when he first saw the adorable tiny feet on Ryuuko’s hand that increased in size with her dragon form. Izuku himself is partial to the five fingerprints on Kat’s cheek and the bright red and emerald green that cover his papa’s lips. The two of them agree that one of the best ones is Izuku’s and Hitoshi’s.

Aizawa's favorite part of soulmates is how it affects quirks. Well, he phrases it more as one of the most important things to remember, but Izuku knows he’s secretly a softie. Soulmates have always been a thing, quirks not so much. As quirks developed and became increasingly more common, it turns out that the whole soulmate thing took them into account. 

If someone were to use their quirk against their soulmate in a truly threatening manner, the quirk will either be considerably weaker or stop working completely. If Zashi were to try and blow out his husband’s eardrums, it wouldn’t work. Of course, he’s never tried, so they don’t know if his voice would just cut out or it would just be quiet. Thankfully, quirks take intention into account with sparring, training, and most importantly, self-defense being fine.

Personally, Izuku’s favorite part about quirks and soulmates is that at the same time that they stop offensive attacks, a person’s quirk will become strengthened if they are defending their soulmate. One of Zashi’s favorite stories was about the time he and Aizawa were on patrol together and they were ambushed. Someone with a mutation quirk had landed a lucky shot on Aizawa and managed to knock him out cold. Zashi says he’s never achieved the perfect level of control over his quirk since that moment when he was able to knock the thugs out in just a couple of screams and not damage any of the surrounding area or people. Aizawa rolls his eyes at the story but Toshi tells him that it’s one of his dad’s favorites.

After learning about this, Izuku realizes that Toshi’s quirk already did the same thing for him. When they had first met, Toshi had managed to brainwash seven of Izuku’s bullies when his limit was two, at most three. It had hurt like hell and didn’t last very long, but it lasted just enough time for Hitoshi’s soulmate to be able to escape. After having this realization, Toshi is stuck a bright red for about an hour or two as he receives countless thank you kisses from his soulmate.

Izuku may have held onto a seemingly impossible belief that he wasn’t actually markless and therefore unloveable, but he never truly believed it. Now that he has Hitoshi by his side, he can’t wait to find out everything else life has to offer.

Chapter Text

For all the confidence he had shown to Toshi and Kat outside, and even during the written portion of the exam, Izuku can’t hold back the wave of nerves that threaten to overwhelm him as they make their way into the auditorium. Yes, he’s had training from actual pro heroes since he was young. Yes, he’s practically the Eraserhead’s protégé at this point. Yes, he’s been the personal student of Nezu for most of the past year. Did that do anything to help the anxiety pooling in his stomach? 

Of course not. 

He’s careful to hide it as he walks in holding hands with his boyfriend while his best friend leads the way. His carefully crafted mask of calmness with just a hint of cheekiness is helping both Kat and Toshi to stay cool as well. So as he takes his spot in between the two, he knows that no one would ever guess how nervous he really is. 

The fingers still linked with his give a light squeeze, “You alright, bunny?”

Well, almost no one…

Izuku turns to his soulmate, internally melting at the clear love and concern in Hitoshi’s eyes, “Never better, kitten.” 

Toshi’s cheeks turn a faint red even as he raises a single eyebrow, “Is that so?” 

Izuku grins, “Of course! Got both of my boys here with me. What else could I possibly need?”

Katsuki peers around from his other side, “Uh, we are not ‘your boys’.”

Izuku just beams while Hitoshi stares at the blonde deadpan, “Yeah, we are.”

There’s a pause before his best friend just huffs, settling back into his chair with a pout, “Yeah… we are.” 

As the auditorium lights begin to dim, Izuku quickly gives his soulmate’s fingers a sweet kiss before releasing his hand. Turning forward, he can’t help but smirk at how Toshi’s ears are practically glowing. 

Up at the front of the room, Zas- Present Mic walks up to the podium followed closely by a JSL interpreter. 

“WELCOME TO TODAY’S LIVE PERFORMANCE!!! EVERYBODY SAY ‘HEY!!!’”

Without hesitation, Izuku cups his hands around his mouth and shouts back, “HEY!”

There’s a moment of silence before he pokes both Kat and Toshi and they both follow with a much less enthusiastic, “Heyyy…”

Izuku is glad to see that a few other students choose to join in with them, including a bubbly looking brown haired girl towards the front and a blonde with a black lightning streak in their hair a few rows ahead of them. 

“Thank you, listeners!!! I’m here to present the guidelines of your practical which can also be found on the handouts in front of you! Are you ready???”

Even from here, Izuku can see the happiness radiating off of Mic when even more kids respond this time, even with their varying levels of enthusiasm. 

“This is how the test will go, my listeners! You’ll be experiencing ten minute long ‘mock cityscape maneuvers’! Remember all equipment you brought in must be pre-approved! After this presentation, you’ll head to your assigned testing location!!!”

The trio glance at their papers, and immediately notice that they all have different testing sites. 

Hitoshi raises an eyebrow, “It’s probably so kids from the same middle school don’t help each other out, right?” 

As Izuku hunches over the handout to read through all the details, Katsuki grins at his friend wolfishly, “Means we’ll get to have a real competition that way. Won’t know how the other really did till the results come in.” 

Toshi smirks, “Don’t worry, honey. I’m sure they’ve got your third-place spot all ready for you.”

Izuku ignores his boys as they continue, choosing instead to focus on what they’ll have to do. He knows he’s likely begun to mumble by now, but trusts Toshi or Kat to let him know if he’s getting too loud. 

“Each site is filled with three kinds of faux villains. Points are awarded for defeating each according to their respective points.” 

Seems reasonable so far. One-pointer, two-pointer, three-pointer… more than likely more difficult as they go up…

“Use your quirks-”

Ha. 

“- to disable these faux villains and earn points.”

Seems like an easy enough goal if not a bit skewed… Why only focus on the combat aspect of heroism? Nezu, what are you playing at?

“*Playing antihero and attacking other examinees is prohibited and-”

“MAY I ASK A QUESTION?!”

Izuku jolts back into awareness at the new voice, staring surprised at the tall boy with navy hair standing up from his seat. Toshi catches his hand to rub his knuckles in an effort to help calm Izuku’s racing heart. Katsuki just defaults to his usual glare towards the kid.

“There appear to be no fewer than FOUR varieties of faux villains on this handout! Such a blatant error, if it is one, is highly unbecoming for U.A., Japan’s top academy! We’re all here today in the hopes of being molded into model heroes!!”

Present Mic opens his mouth to answer, but the boy doesn’t give him the chance, already turning to face their trio. 

“And, YOU, with the curly hair! You’ve been muttering this whole time… It’s distracting! If this is some sort of game to you, then please leave immediately!!!” 

Izuku can’t help but sink into his seat, face red with shame for his disruption, hands covering his mouth so as to prevent any further muttering. Katsuki and Hitoshi look at Izuku in shock before meeting each other’s gazes and turning as one to the offender, anger overcoming them.

“What gives?” Hitoshi drawls, condescending smirk strong as ever. “Why’re you only singling him out even though we were talking even louder than he was? Clearly, no one else had an issue with it. Besides, if you wanna talk about distractions, I’d say you’re being an even bigger one right now, causing this big scene. Yet we aren’t asking you to leave, now are we?”

The boy’s glasses practically steam with how fast his face heats up, but Katsuki doesn’t give him an opportunity to retort.

“Yeah, you wanna go, four eyes? Maybe if you had stayed seated in the first place, instead of causing a distraction , Present Mic may have actually had the time to address the supposed issue!”

The two boys immediately ignore the other in favor of checking on Izuku, and as people start whispering, the blue haired boy has no choice but to stiffly retake his seat and face forwards once more. 

Hizashi exchanges a glance with Hibiki, the school’s interpreter, but they just give him a somewhat helpless shrug. 

Alrighty, moving on then…

He clears his throat for everyone to focus, “Nice catch, listener! The fourth faux villain is there to be more of an obstacle and will result in zero points. There’s only one at each site and they’re really just there to make your lives harder.”

Hizashi’s phone buzzes in his pocket, signaling their time is up. Due to the… incident with Tensei’s little brother, they manage to just barely finish on schedule though this does mean the few minutes set aside for the examinees to prepare themselves before they go to change is now given up. 

“That’s all from me! I’ll leave you all with our school motto!“

This time everyone joins in as he yells out. 

“PLUS ULTRA!!!”

Chapter Text

As they’re let out of the auditorium, Izuku releases Toshi’s hand, “Sorry, guys! Have to go get my equipment. I’ll meet you out front after the practicals.”

He kisses his boyfriend on the cheek, “Good luck, kitten.” Giving Kat a soft punch to his shoulder, he grins, “Try not to kill anyone, Kacchan.”

The blonde rolls his eyes as he starts to drag his violet haired friend away, “Don’t worry, nerd. We’ll be fine! Not go get your sorry excuse of ‘equipment’ those losers had to approve. Come on, lover boy!”

Izuku laughs at their antics before making his way to the support lab to pick up his… rope. God, he can’t wait to absolutely destroy those assholes’ expectations.

—

When Zawa and Nezu first tell him that any support equipment will need to be preapproved, he knows something is up. The way Nezu subtly shifts at his desk and the way his mentor glares at the wall as if ready to attack it only confirms his suspicions.

“I already knew this. You know I knew this. You’re the one that suggested I memorize the rules, so I know what I can work to my benefit, Nezu.”

Ignoring Aizawa’s sudden snort at Izuku’s blunt response, Nezu clasps his paws together and takes a deep breath, “Be that as it may, due to special circum-”

“Special circumstances, my ass,” mutters the heroics teacher.

“-stances, you will be required to present your ideas for possible equipment you’ll use to the school board.”

There’s a moment of silence before Izuku speaks, “Oh, so they have an issue with me being quirkless.”

Nezu grits his teeth, knowing he can’t speak outright against the board, “I’m sure that-”

“Of course they do.”

The principal has always appreciated how outspoken Aizawa can be.

Izuku nods before looking down at his hands, thinking. While not completely unexpected, he can’t help feeling angry… and maybe even a bit spiteful.

“Listen, kid, we know they’re assholes, but there’s no way they’re gonna be able to stop you from using a capture wea-”

“I’m going to be using a rope.”

Nezu and Aizawa share a look of shock before turning back to their student, “Izuku, are you sure about this?”

“Of course, Nezu,” Izuku looks up with a grin, shining bright with determination and just a hint of spite. “After all, as you always say, plans work best when your enemy underestimates you.”

———

The actual meeting with the board had gone exactly as planned. There had been plenty of pitying smiles and thinly veiled insults. Every word spoken to him was heavy in condescension and arrogance. Honestly, it had just reminded him of Aldera. It was a bit sad that this group of senior citizens couldn’t do much better than some middle schoolers and their teachers. Still, he made sure to keep a blank face throughout it all, even when a particularly sadistic looking member said a rope is the least they can allow this poor boy and promised to deliver his results personally.

Izuku couldn’t wait.

———

As he nears the support labs, foot traffic just barely picks up. He knows that the support course exams finished about when Mic’s presentation did, so it makes sense the applicants are leaving now if they don't plan on sticking around. Just as he spots Powerloader in the crowd, a hand grabs him by the wrist and yanks him back. He turns and comes face to face with a girl with pink hair and an energetic if not slightly manic smile.

“Hi! I’m Mei Hatsume, future CEO of Hatsume Industries! I didn’t see you in there which means you must be a hero kid! Right?!”

Izuku laughs nervously, rubbing at the side of his nose, “Uh, yeah, I’m hoping to be at least. Sorry, but I gotta-“

“Oh yeah, you’re getting stuff for your practical! Well, hit me up once you get in for support equipment! Sorry, gotta go!”

Within seconds, she’s gone, leaving Izuku to wonder if he had somehow imagined the whole thing. Then another hand lands on his shoulder and he yelps in surprise.

“Relax, kid,” laughs Powerloader. “Here’s your rope. Good luck out there. Not like you need it if Yamada’s bragging is anything to go by. You’d probably pass even without the rope being Eraser’s minion.”

He, too, is gone almost instantly, and Izuku realizes that this might just be a support course thing.

Chapter Text

Changing into a t-shirt he stole from Hitoshi at some point and a pair of comfortable sweats, Izuku manages to make it to his bus with just enough time to spare. He keeps his head down, trying desperately to remember the breathing exercises Ryuuko had shown them while not forgetting everything Rumi and Zawa had taught him. He’d be fine. This is fine. Everything’s fine.

The bus parks and as he gets off and stares up at the giant gates leading into the testing site, he can’t help but think, This is very not fine…

Well, no time like the present to prepare. As he starts stretching, he tries his best to lose himself in the exercises and get ready for the test. This is it. It’s time for him to-

“Hi!”

Izuku falls back in surprise at the sudden voice. Looking up, he sees the bubbly looking brunette he’d noticed in the auditorium beaming down at him. It takes a second or two for him to realize she’s talking to him.

“Oh! Uh, h-hi?”

She giggles, “Sorry! I just wanted to say it was nice of you to help out Present Mic earlier. I wanted to respond, but I was super nervous. It was really cool of you to do it even on your own.”

Izuku stands, rubbing at his nose, suddenly bashful, “Oh, he’s just one of my favorite heroes, so it’s not like I could leave him hanging. But thanks! I’m Izuku Midoriya!”

He holds his hand out and she shakes it, excited, “Ochako Uraraka!!! We’re probably starting soon, so I’ll make sure to talk to you after!”

He nods, smiling at his possible new friend even as she runs off. Izuku quickly runs through a few more stretches.

“AND…”

He looks up, seeing Mic in the distance at the very top of the gates.

“BEGIN!!!”

Like a switch has been flipped, he’s off. It’s the same as when Rumi will throw them into training with a kick from out of nowhere. As he runs past the frozen forms of the others, it’s the same as when Zawa just gives him a sly grin before he’s off in a race to get home first. With those two to guide him, countdowns have long since become meaningless.

“What’s wrong with you guys?! The test has started! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!!!”

Distantly Izuku hears the others rushing to catch up to him, but he immediately pulls away from the main streets into an alleyway. This is more his terrain. Jumping onto a dumpster, he leaps at the fire escape to pull himself up to the roof. He takes a second to catch his breath before looking around to see where the bots are coming from. Zawa always says it’s best to have a plan before just running in.

There seems to be quite a few relatively steady streams of robots entering the streets with one of them starting from just a few buildings over. Leaping across the rooftops, Izuku peeks over the edge before grinning.

Perfect.

It was so nice of Powerloader to line them up in such neat rows of five to six as well. He drops down on top of a two-pointer that’s in front of the last row of one-pointers. He waits long enough for them to lock onto him before launching himself backwards. The two-pointer is easily destroyed as he grabs onto a three-pointer just ahead. Using everything his mentors have taught him, he makes quick work of the remaining robots, leaping around the alley to avoid their beams. There is only a two-pointer and one-pointer left as he pulls himself up with his rope to hang between the two robots.

“Target locked on,” they report, ready to fire.

“Not today, Satan,” Izuku quips before dropping down to the ground, letting the two hit each other instead. The drop is a bit rougher than expected, so he pauses to take a breath at the front of the alley once he grabs his trusty rope. He hears yelling from the main street from the other applicants.

“45 points!”

“28 here!”

“32!”

The quirkless boy glances behind him before shrugging. Seems like a decent amount. Looking back to the street, his eyes widen as he notices some kid about to be hit by rubble. Running forward, he unloops the rope and throws it out the same way he would with a capture weapon. It won’t be nearly as good as one, but as Izuku manages to pull the kid away by their arm, he mentally thanks Zawa for all the grueling training they did with said rope.

After spotting one person completely ignoring their surroundings, it’s suddenly as if everyone wants to join the party. Most of Izuku’s remaining time is spent feeling like an exhausted mother trying to keep her children out of danger. No one is paying attention to how their quirk might be hurting those around them. Zawa would have a field day with them.

Suddenly, a thunderous boom is heard, and everyone collectively stops in their tracks. Looking up, Izuku can only stare for a few seconds at the absolute monster that Zashi had described as “an obstacle” that was here simply to “make their lives harder”.

Fuck

——

The bus is loud as it makes its way to the exam site, but Hitoshi tries his best to shut it all out. Admittedly, it was easy enough after living with Pops and recently being around Katsuki and his mother. Ryuuko’s meditations help as well.

“Hey! You’re friends with the curly haired kid, yeah?”

Hitoshi opens his left eye to see an excited looking blonde beside him, “What?”

Despite his gruff response, the blonde only looks encouraged by it, “You know, the nervous looking one that was super brave for responding to Present Mic when no one else did?! The one who got called out for literally doing nothing! Like, I was closer to you guys and I barely heard you and the angry blonde let alone him. Maybe the other guy had super hearing or something? But also wouldn’t he be used to it then? I don’t know, man.”

Hitoshi rubs at his neck, his cheeks growing warm at the thought of his soulmate, but he ignores that for now, “Yes.”

The other only looks at him in confusion, and he realizes he’s going to have to elaborate, “You asked if I was friends with him. Yeah, something like that.”

He looks even more confused for a second before his eyes flicker down to Hitoshi’s soul marks, “Ohhhhh… I get you. That’s cool, man. You’re so lucky. I wish I could meet my… you know already. Anyways!!! I’m Denki Kaminari, pleased to meet you!”

Hitoshi sighs, sensing he isn’t getting rid of Kaminari anytime soon. It could be worse, and he seems pretty chill so far. He was also fairly subtle about the soulmate thing. Plus, Izu would be happy if he actually accepted the chance to make a friend.

“Hitoshi Shinsou.”

The bus comes to a stop, and Hitoshi makes sure to stay away from the main crowd, but near the front. He’s going to need all the help he can get since he wasn’t as confident with the capture weapon just yet.

Hitoshi sighs. Who’s he kidding? He can work the capture weapon perfectly fine after two years of training. He just wants to see if he can get through this without it. He needs to prove to himself that he can do this with his mental quirk alone.

As he takes a few deep breaths to settle himself, he realizes that the blonde had followed him, and is now stretching beside him.

“W- What are you doing?”

Kaminari blinks up at him, “Uh… touching my toes?”

Hitoshi can’t help the laugh that escapes him at that, “Wha- No, I meant… Why are you by me exactly?”

He straightens quickly with a grin, “Ohhhhh!!! We’re buddies now! You and me! Can’t stop this, won’t stop this! You’re stuck with me!”

“Okay then…” As he does a few of his own stretches, an idea hits him. One that would even make Katsuki reluctantly proud. Let’s hope Kaminari agrees to it.

“So, Kaminari, I might need your help…”

——-

Katsuki grins as he blasts another three-pointer apart. He knows he’s got more than enough points based on the scores others are calling out, but he’s not about to let them catch up. He’d have even more, but too many idiots aren’t paying attention to their surroundings. If he has to pull one more dumbass out of danger, he might just scream. These assholes are just attacking without a single thought in their heads.

Seeing no one in any immediate danger, he sets his eyes on a two-pointer coming towards him. As his hands start crackling in anticipation, he runs forward… only to be abruptly yanked back. Green small projectiles shoot through where he was just standing and tear through the two-pointer as easily as if it were paper.

Growling, Katsuki turns on whoever pulled him back. A boy with spiky black hair grins at him, unabashedly, “Sorry, man. Didn’t want Rin to hit ya.”

Katsuki tries pulling away, only to realize his arm is attached to the other’s.

What the actual fuck…

“Oops, sorry about that. It’s my quirk. Anyways, carry on! Rin! Wait up!”

He unfuses them before running off, and Katsuki just stares after the two, shocked.

“Target locked on.”

He blasts himself out of the way of the one-pointer just in time before destroying it. Gotta stay focused.

He wishes he could say that was the only time he runs into the duo in the remaining three minutes. He wishes he could also say that it was the last time they stole his points.

Chapter Text

The zero-pointer’s arm slowly raises before it comes crashing down into the side of a building. The sound is more than enough to shock a majority of the applicants into running for the hills. Izuku waits as most of them pass him by, trying to make sure there’s no one left behind. As he finally turns to leave, he hears a yell.

“Help!”

Immediately, he runs towards the voice, perfectly aware that he’s running towards the very dangerous robot which definitely does not make his inner Aizawa happy. Glancing to the rooftops, he desperately hopes the kid he saw earlier is still there. He had looked more than strong enough to lift any possible rubble if Izuku would need to dig someone out.

There he is!

“Hey! Multi limb guy! I need your help!” he shouts, trying his best to project his voice over the chaos around them.

One of the limbs (he’s not quite sure what’s going on there?) turns towards him, almost as if to hear him better before the other teen makes his way off the roof and towards Izuku.

Continuing ahead, he runs until he sees Uraraka with her leg trapped underneath some rocks. The other boy catches up and together, they quickly free her leg. The ankle looks badly sprained at the very least, but nothing Recovery Girl can’t fix. Now to get out of here.

“This way,” the other boy says, lifting Uraraka carefully. Izuku nods and the two race ahead to where a side street connects back to the main gate. Luckily, the robot moves slowly enough to not be much of a threat anymore, but the more space between them, the better he’ll feel.

“AND IT’S OVER!!!!”

Izuku and the boy both breathe a sigh of relief as the noise from the zero-pointer abruptly stops, but continue their quick pace regardless, eager to get Uraraka’s ankle checked out.

“Mezo Shoji, pleasure,” the other boy says, holding out a hand, palm covered in a still black soul mark.

Izuku instinctively tenses up before taking a deep breath. It’s just a handshake. You have Toshi now. He shakes Shoji’s hand, beaming, “Izuku Midoriya! Hope I’ll see you next year!”

——-

Ochako tries to keep her breathing even as Midoriya and Shoji take her back to the entrance. Kami, she’s lucky these two were here. She just hopes they were able to get enough points to make it in.

——-

“Yes, yes! Well done. Here, have some candy. Well done. Good work. Haribo for all. Eat up, dearies.”

The familiar gruff voice makes Izuku rush on ahead, “Recovery Girl, we need a kiss.”

Even as most of the applicants give him strange looks, Izuku focuses only on the elderly heroine shuffling her way over.

“Izuku Midoriya, that better not be you I hear. I swear if you’ve even got a scratch on you, you and Aizawa are both getting hit.”

Izuku laughs nervously, preemptively throwing up his rope to loop onto a nearby lamppost. As far as he knows, he isn’t injured, but having a quick getaway never hurt anyone. He quite likes his kneecaps after all.

Shoji steps in to save him like the hero he is, “No, ma’am. She’s over here. A girl’s leg got pinned underneath some rubble.”

He carefully sets Uraraka down, supporting the majority of her weight as she balances on her good leg. Recovery Girl gives the injury a brief look over before kissing it. Immediately, Uraraka’s ankle shifts from its more unnatural angle into the correct one. Hesitantly she places her foot down, testing her ability to stand.

“Oh, wow! That’s amazing! Thank you so much!” she bows, face shining in relief at both her pain and the injury already being gone.

“No problem, dearie. Have some candy.” She turns, but not without a lazy swipe at Izuku’s legs which is quickly avoided. “Any more injured children?”

She shuffles away, and Uraraka runs up to Izuku, “Thank you so much for saving me, Midoriya!” Before he can respond, she spins back to Shoji, “You as well, Shoji! Thank you! You guys are my heroes!!!”

Immediately both boys blush, stuttering out protests, but she just waves away their attempts, “You could have just as easily left me behind. You didn’t. Seriously, thank you.”

Shoji nods, eyes crinkling in a smile. One of his limbs forms into a mouth to speak, “You’re welcome. I’m afraid I must leave to find a friend of mine, but I hope to see you both again.”

Izuku and Uraraka wave goodbye before turning back to each other. Izuku needs to find his boys, but he also wants to keep spending time with his new friend. Maybe he can find that pink-haired girl again too. He really liked her vibes. She seems like she’d give Toshi and Kat a few grey hairs.

“Hey, Uraraka-” starts Izuku.

She grins, “After saving me, please, call me Ochako.”

“Then call me Izuku! Anyways, do you want to join me and my friends at a cat cafe after this? Who knows if we got in, but we might as well celebrate that we actually got through the exam.”

Ochako grins, excited before visibly hesitating, “I’d love to! B-But I need to talk to one of the staff before I leave.”

He smiles, “That’s fine. I can just wait for you out front after I grab my stuff. Hopefully, I can find my friends by the time you get out…”

She smiles in thanks, “Are your friends also trying for the hero course?”

Izuku nods, leading the way back to the bus, “Yeah, Toshi and Kat should be done soon. Hopefully, they haven't killed each other yet…”

She hesitates, “D- Do they not like each other?”

He laughs, waving his hands to try and reassure her, “No, they’re just what I like to call loveable assholes. In a nice way, I promise! Or as nice as that can be… They’re great friends, but they also love getting on each other’s nerves more than anything. You’ll see what I mean. Anyways, I’m also hoping there’s a chance that this girl I saw earlier might be still hanging around. She’s here for the support course, so her test has been over for a while, but maybe. I’d love to hear her opinions on some ideas I have for gear.”

Ochako giggles, “I’m glad I met you. You seem super nice even if you do talk a lot.”

Izuku rubs the side of his nose, blushing, “Yeah, guess I’m just making up for lost time.”

She tilts her head, confused, “What do you mean?”

He waves his hands again, eyes wide, “Nevermind, ignore me! Anyways, tell me about yourself! If we’re gonna be friends, we should learn more about each other. How about a game of twenty questions?”

“Ooh, I’ll start!!!”

Chapter Text

“Jeez, where’s the nerd at?”

Hitoshi looks up from his phone at the pacing blonde, “Calm down, honey bee. I’m sure Izu will be here soon enough. His bus was scheduled to leave a bit later after all.”

Kaminari stares at Katsuki with wide eyes from the violet haired teen’s other side, sitting on the wall he’s leaning against, “Is he normally like this?”

“Like what?”

“You know-” Kaminari leans back as Kat passes near him again. “Is he always this growly and protective? He's kinda reminding me of a mama bear.”

There’s a pause before Hitoshi nearly falls over from laughter, phone slipping out of his grip, “Mama bear?! Oh my god, I’m dying! How have we never thought of that?! That’s so accurate!”

Katsuki stalks closer to Kaminari, “What was that, Pikachu?”

Hitoshi lightly shoves him to back off, “Lay off, mama bear. He’s right and you know it. You hate it, but you know it.” He looks around, “Where’s my phone? I need to tell Izu.”

“Tell me what?”

Hitoshi grins at his soulmate’s voice. Picking up his phone from the ground, he makes his way to Izu’s side. Sliding an arm around his shoulders, he pulls him close, so he can kiss the side of his head, “Hey, bunny. You missed Kat being called out for the mama bear that he is.”

Izuku laughs, “Who was brave enough to do that? And why haven’t we thought of that yet?”

Kaminari pops up in front of them, rubbing his hands together nervously, “Hi! That’s me! Kaminari! Please save me from said mama bear! I’m too young to die! Too cute, too, but that’s never stopped anyone!”

Looking between Toshi and Kaminari, Izu’s eyes are wide, “Where did you of all people manage to find him?”

“How’d you know it was me?”

“Cause Kat would’ve killed him.”

“Still debating.”

“Behave!”

Kaminari grins and links arms with Toshi, “I didn’t give him a choice. You were super cool earlier and he’s with you, so he had to be cool, too. Sat next to him on the bus and now we’re besties!”

Toshi stares down at the blonde shell shocked, and Katsuki barks out a laugh, “Congrats, Eyebags! You’ve been adopted by an extrovert.”

It’s clear his kitten is still in shock, so Izuku takes the chance to pull his new friend forward, “Anyways, I found my own person. This is Ochako, and she likes mochi. She’s coming with us to the cat cafe along with Kamin-”

“Call me Denki!”

“- Denki. Did you bring anyone with you, Kat? Any new friends for us to meet?”

The blonde scoffs, “The only losers I noticed were these two assholes that kept stealing points from me in the second half of the exam. One somehow kept attaching themself to me before pulling me back while the other would use scales or some shit to take out the bots.”

Izuku practically bowls him over in his haste to get details, “Are they still here? Their quirks sound fascinating! Do you see-”

Katsuki shoves his hand over his mouth, “Shut the hell up, nerd!”

His best friend just stares up at him, eyes watering ever so slightly, “But Kacchan…”

“Don’t you fucking dare use those eyes on me!”

“K- Kacchan?”

There’s a tense moment of silence before he gives in, “Nghhhhhh, fucking fine! The scales one is over there by the gate.”

In seconds, the tears are gone, replaced by a blinding smile, “Let’s go talk to them!!!”

As Izuku drags his best friend away, Hitoshi shrugs, turning back to the two newbies… make that three?

“And you are?”

Denki and Ochako both jump in surprise at the girl now standing between them. Leaning forward, she grabs Hitoshi’s hand, shaking it firmly, “Hi there! Mei Hatsume, future CEO of Hatsume Industries. Just call me Mei. Here for the support course! I’m assuming all of you are hero hopefuls?”

He nods, assuming she’s another one that Izuku picked up at some point, “Yeah, Hitoshi Shinsou. I’m aiming for underground heroics. Izu is too. The angry looking Pomeranian with him is limelight.”

Her eyes practically sparkle at the possibilities. Looking between the other two, her grin gets even wider, “What about you guys?”

Denki shrugs, “Limelight?”

Ochako smiles nervously, “W-Well, Thirteen is my favorite and they’re rescue, so I want to look into that.”

“Ooooh, I can’t wait to create babies for all of you! I need all the details, so I can create the best for you and your quirks!”

“I'm quirkless.”

There's a heavy silence at Izuku’s admission. He’s returned with Katsuki and a confused looking dark haired kid. Clearly, Ochako wasn’t told this earlier if her surprised look is anything to go by. However, she and Denki seem to be taking it well enough. It’s Mei that’s slightly concerning Hitoshi. Her eyes widen and she creeps closer to Izuku, “You’re… quirkless?”

Hitoshi and Katsuki both straighten, ready to step in if need be. Izuku gives her a long look before nodding, “Yep.”

Suddenly, she’s shaking him back and forth, nearly screaming, “Oh Kami, you’re PERFECT!!!”

“Say what now?”

She stops, holding tight to his shoulders, “Do you realize how hard it is having to factor in quirks to support equipment? How bothersome they can be? How limiting they are? But you don’t have one! You’re a blank canvas! You shall be my muse!!!”

She pulls him close, and Izuku hesitantly pats her on the back. Sharing a glance with Toshi and Kat, he grins, “I think I just got adopted as well.”

Hitoshi laughs before helping his soulmate escape her embrace. Izuku brushes himself off, turning to their newest member with a flourish, “Everyone, this is Hiryu Rin. He is the ‘scales kid’ as dubbed by Kat. Unfortunately, his friend, Awase, had to leave already, but I’ve convinced him to join us at the cat cafe. Rin, this is Shinsou, Kaminari, Uraraka, and Mei! Now let’s go!!!”

Ochako and Denki link arms with Rin, giving him friendly grins. Mei latches onto Izuku again, and Hitoshi considers joining them until he hears “escrima sticks but lightning.”

Instead, he offers his arm to Katsuki with a grin, “May I have the honor of escorting you, sweet cheeks?”

With all the grace of a refined prince, he loops his arm through Hitoshi’s, “I thought you’d never ask, sweetie pie.”

As they follow the others, Hitoshi briefly wonders if he should text CP’s a heads up of the chaos crew headed their way.

Nah… it’ll be fine.

———

When they get to CP’s Kitty Cafe, the staff looks mildly overwhelmed at the group of seven teenagers suddenly invading them.

Michi glares at Hitoshi as soon as they see him. “Couldn’t give us a warning?”

He shrugs sheepishly, “Well, I didn’t expect seven of us. Originally, it was just me, Izu, and Kat.”

They roll their eyes, shoving him towards where the others have sat down already, “Go on! You’re lucky I got some fresh tiramisu in the back.”

He grins, “Really? Have I told you that you’re my favorite recently?”

“Only every time you get the tiramisu, now go!”

Hitoshi chuckles as he makes his way over to their usual table, and slides in beside Izuku. His soulmate is asking Rin about his quirk. Katsuki grins ferally as he discusses the idea of grenades to store his sweat with Mei. Ochako and Denki are busy cooing over some of the cafe’s kittens.

Not a bad way to celebrate.

-----------

Toshinori Yagi knows he needs to find a successor, the perfect successor, but it’s proving to be far more difficult than he anticipated. He knows he needs someone that he can turn into the next symbol of peace, someone who will lead Japan into the future… with his guidance, of course.

Unfortunately, Sasaki’s choice would never allow for that, too clouded by his loyalty to the prophetic hero. No, he needs someone he can make loyal to him alone.

As he reviews the footage that he watched earlier of the exams, he spots the boy that had stood out to him, the one whose quirk seems like it might be of the most use to him. His physique seems strong enough, but it will need some work. Maybe Torino can help him with that.

Nevertheless, he will make sure that Hitoshi Shinsou becomes great. Just as Nana did for him.

Chapter Text

“Izuku, Hitoshi, I have to know. How in the world did your soul marks happen?” Ochako asks.

Katsuki lets out a loud laugh, “Oh, this should be fun. Go on, share the greatest love story of our generation.”

Hitoshi rolls his eyes, “You’re just jealous of our greatness. Don’t worry, darling. You’ll understand when you meet yours.”

Izuku rolls his eyes at them before turning back to the others. Denki and Ochako wait in open anticipation. Rin seems to be mildly interested, and even as Mei continues her notes for gear for them, she appears to be listening as well.

Glancing over at Toshi, he shares a grimace before sighing, “Well, for the longest time, I actually thought I was markless. I mean, dark spots on the skin? That’s called freckles.”

Toshi chimes in, “Even when I first became friends with him, I never would have guessed that we would be soulmates. My mark is clearly two hands and his were blank.”

“But after having the worst day imaginable,” Izuku pauses for a second, thinking back on that life-changing day, “I found out I actually do have a soulmate, and everything was perfect.”

Denki stares, waiting for more before leaning closer, “Okay, but that doesn’t explain HOW?!?!?! Come on, man. I’m dying to know!!!”

Beside him, Ochako nods frantically, “As someone who hasn’t met theirs yet, you do not understand how much I need to live vicariously through you right now.”

Kat snorts, “Sure you want to do that? Might need a raincoat. Could be a bit wet.”

“What?”

Toshi shoves him halfway out of his chair, while Izuku just puts his head in his hands, “Jeez, there’s no way of getting around this, is there? Alrighty then. I told Hitoshi some traumatically shocking stuff that made him spit his drink in my face accidentally, and apparently, saliva counts as touching. His marks are cause the dummy wouldn’t look at me afterward when I was trying not to lose it because he was too embarrassed.”

There’s silence before Ochako starts giggling into her hands. Denki follows shortly, actually falling out of his chair, and even Rin lets out a laugh or two.

Mei hums, “At least it’s interesting. I could think of much more boring ones.”

Katsuki scoffs, standing as his phone goes off, “It’s the hag, I have to take this. For the record though, while it’s not boring, it is stupid as hell, and mine is gonna be nothing like that.”

Toshi throws his wadded-up napkin at the blonde’s retreating form, “I cannot wait for you to eat those words, love bug.”

Ignoring the two, as usual, Izuku grins at Mei, “What would you classify as a boring soul mark? I find all of them to be absolutely fascinating.”

Without a word, Mei lifts her right hand with its palm painted in black, “I’d say this qualifies.”

Ochako touches four of her right fingertips to Mei’s hand, “Hey! Similar marks! Kinda? Mine is all five of my right fingertips which honestly kinda worries me…” She scratches her cheek, looking embarrassed, “Hopefully, I don’t send them into the stratosphere when I first meet them.”

“Well, it’d be an interesting start to a relationship.”

“That’s not what I-”

With wide eyes, Izuku subtly nudges Toshi’s arm.

“What?”

Glancing at the others, Izuku chooses to sign instead, “Katsuki soulmate.”

Toshi’s eyes widen as he realizes what he’s saying, “Y- You don’t mean-”

He gets cut off by Mei’s loud laughter, and the pair look back to the others to see Uraraka shoving away the inventor’s face with one finger lifted, “Stop it!”

The couple shares one more glance, Hitoshi smirking before he turns to Rin and Denki, “What about you two?”

Rin smiles bashfully, rubbing at the black mark across his nose, “I think mine is pretty obvious.”

Ochako grins, “It’s so sweet though! What if your mark is rubbing noses with your soulmate?”

“I’m rubbing noses with a… stranger?”

Denki wraps an arm around his shoulders, “Nah, man. You gotta think of it this way! Not everyone with unmet marks is the most touchy-feely. Maybe you’ll get close to them first and then have a cute realization.”

Izuku nods, “That’s what happened with me and Toshi. We became friends first, and then the marks happened. Denki, what about you?”

“What about Pikachu?” Katsuki asks as he returns, dropping back into his seat.

Denki grins, “We’re talking soul marks. Mine’s a bit weird.” He rolls up the right sleeve of his hoodie, “I got the top of my right forearm and my left hand.”

The other blonde’s face scrunches up in confusion for a moment before he laughs, “Sounds just about as weird as you. Nice.”

As Kat goes back to his cake, Denki looks to Toshi, “I can’t tell if I was just complimented or insulted…”

“Probably a bit of both to be honest.”

Izuku beams, “Means he likes you!”

“SHUT IT!”

—————

Over the next week, the topic of the entrance exam becomes an extremely touchy subject. All three boys are incredibly nervous even if some hide it better than the others. All of them, even Katsuki, lie awake at night overthinking every exam question, and every second of the practical.

Sure, Aizawa and Zashi both already know the results, but they’re not sharing. Besides an original half-assed attempt at asking, Izuku knows none of them are going to push for the couple to tell. They want to wait for the results, just like everyone else.

Luckily, they’ve had plenty of distractions in the form of their new friends. Izuku’s even getting a new housemate out of it. Well, potentially…

Turns out Ochako doesn’t live anywhere near UA and missed the last train due to their trip to the cat cafe, so Izuku cheerfully offers up his family’s guest room when everyone heads their separate ways.

That’s all it takes.

“What do you mean, you were planning to just rent out a cheap apartment when you-”

“If, Izuku!”

“WHEN you get into UA?! Do you realize how dangerous that is?!”

Ochako hunches in on herself, cheeks burning hot in shame, “Of course I do! But… well, it’s all my family can really afford, so it’s not like I have a cho-”

“Yes, you do!”

“What do yo-”

“MAMA! PAPA! OCHAKO IS MOVING IN!” Izuku yells, running from the room to find his parents.

Ochako scrambles after her friend, face becoming redder by the second, “W-Wait a minute, Izuku! You can’t- That’s not- IZUKU!!!”

When she manages to catch up to him, she’s horrified to find the boy already talking to his mother. Mrs. Midoriya is looking more and more alarmed by the second. Finally, she faces Ochako with the same determined look in her eyes as her son, “Is Izuku right that you’re planning on renting out an apartment to live in on your own for school?”

If Izuku’s puppy dog eyes had made her feel ashamed, Mrs. Midoriya’s gaze full of motherly love and concern makes her feel a hundred times worse. Looking down, she mutters out, “Yes, ma’am.”

There’s a beat of silence before Ochako’s chin is gently lifted, “Well now, that just won’t do, sweetheart. Don’t you worry, I’ll talk to your parents. The guest room is yours. Angel, help her set up the bed please.”

Izuku beams, “Yes, mama. C’mon, Chako!”

The young woman can only follow in disbelief, giving a brief mental apology to her parents for the whirlwind known as Inko Midoriya that’s about to hit them. Hopefully, they’ll be fine.

Chapter Text

On the day the results come in, Izuku and Hitoshi are joined by their parents at the Bakugous’ house. Zashi had let them know that Nezu had given him permission to hand deliver their letters. Now they lay in front of the trio, waiting to be opened.

“I would recommend opening them one at a time,” Aizawa advises, “It will be easier to understand.”

There’s a pause as everyone waits for who will reach for theirs first.

“Any day no-”

“Ugh, this is stupid, I’ll go first!” Katsuki growls out, grabbing his letter off the table. He rips it open and a small electronic device drops onto the table. “What the-”

The device turns on, cutting him off as it projects an image of All Might.

“I am here!”

“Ew,” Katsuki deadpans.

Izuku and Hitoshi share a glance before promptly losing it.

“Shut up, nerds! Unfortunately, I need to hear what the asshole has to say!”

Their laughs only get louder as Mitsuki yells from behind them, “Language, brat!!!”

“Japanese, hag!”

Aizawa sighs, “Luckily, there’s a pause and replay. Everyone calm down while I reset it.”

To Kat’s chagrin, the young soulmates let out a few more giggles before they manage to calm down. Even if it was at his expense, the blonde knows that the moment did wonders for Izu and Toshi’s nerves.

“Ready?” Aizawa asks, waiting for all three boys to nod. He clicks play and sits back down.

“I am here! As a projection! Katsuki Bakugou, not only did you pass the written test, but more importantly-”

A scoff from both Aizawa and Zashi isn’t missed at this.

“-you scored an outstanding 77 villain points! Not that you needed them with your already outstanding score but rescue points were also a factor! You scored 22 which equals a total of 99 points, just two less than the record of my own 101 points! With this score, you scored second place and a spot in the hero course in class 1A! Welcome to your hero ac-”

Katsuki cuts the recording and sits back with a smirk. Everyone can see how he relaxes in relief at getting in, even as he boasts, “Beat that! Second place with 99 points.”

Masaru ruffles his hair while his mother kisses his cheek. Hitoshi gives him a high five before Izuku dives in for a hug, “I’m so proud of you, Kacchan!”

Katsuki’s smirk softens as he gives him a loose hug back, “Thanks, nerd.”

There’s a brief moment of silence before the freckled boy pulls back with a mischievous grin, “How annoyed are you that it’s one away from 100?”

Immediately, the blonde attempts to suffocate his best friend with a pillow while Hitoshi cackles in the background. It takes a few minutes for order to be restored, and there are two envelopes left.

Hitoshi groans before grabbing his letter from the table, “I might as well go next. I already owe my sugarplum here snacks for a week, so nothing to lose.”

Hesitating for only a mere moment, he rips open the letter, allowing his projector to drop onto the table. All Might appears before them once more, somehow smiling even more than in the first recording, “I am here! Hitoshi Shinsou, my boy, not only did you obviously pass the written portion, but with an admirable 21 villain points and an additional 39 rescue points, you have effortlessly snagged yourself a spot in the hero course in 1A. I can’t wait to teach you this coming year! Congratulations, young Shinsou, and welcome to-”

The recording cuts off and there’s a moment of tense silence before Hisashi speaks up from where he’s leaning into Inko, “Did anyone else get some sketchy vibes from that?”

Aizawa scowls, “That was weird even for Ass Might. Probably trying to overdo what he saw as failing in his eyes. You did great, brat.”

Zashi cheers, giving his son a brief, but warm hug, “You did it, kiddo! We’re so proud of you.”

“Can’t wait to have free hot chili seaweed chips for a week, honeybun,” Katsuki grins as he playfully punches his friend’s shoulder.

“I feel so sorry for your soulmate who’s gonna have to deal with your abysmal taste.”

“Excuse yo-”

Izuku cuts off their bickering with a hug and a kiss on Toshi’s cheek, “I’m so proud of you, kitten!”

Instantly, Hitoshi’s face is a bright red, “T-Thanks, bunny.”

Hisashi lets out a loud laugh, “Seems our Angel takes after you, Princess.”

Now it’s Inko who has a red face as she swats at her husband, “Oh hush you.”

Izuku takes a deep breath before looking at the only letter left. He knows that Kat and Toshi are positive that he must have taken first, especially with the reveal of rescue points, but his anxiety refuses to let him believe that. He just needs to pick up the envelope, but he doesn’t know if he can.

Suddenly, a hand enters his vision, startling him. Kat grabs the letter, and offers it to him, “You need one of us to do it, Izu?”

Izuku hesitates, and Toshi takes his hand, “Listen, we all know if that buffoon is the one giving out the results, it’s not going to be pretty, but ignore him. He’s a quirkist jerk who doesn’t know a damn thing about you or your ability to kick ass. We know that you got in, but in the impossible future where you didn’t, all of us will be here for you no matter what.”

There’s a quiet rip behind him and Izuku turns to see Kat carefully pulling out the projector to avoid it automatically setting off. Placing it gently on the table, he settles back into his spot by his best friend, “Just press play whenever you’re ready, Izuchan.”

Izuku closes his eyes, and takes one more deep breath, soaking in the unconditional love and support he feels from everyone in the room. Drawing strength from his best friend’s leg pressed firmly against his as well as his soulmate’s strong grip on his hand, Izuku opens his eyes and reaches forward to hit play.

“I am here! Izuku Midoriya- Wait, I thought those that failed got letters?”

Izuku stops breathing and vaguely registers a gasp behind him as his gaze remains fixated on All Might. The man seems to be arguing with someone off-screen.

“But that can’t be right! …. Somebody call Nezu! …. There must have been a mistake! After all, the boy is-”

Suddenly the recording cuts off, and everyone is frozen in shock.

“Oh, when I get my hands on him!”

“Now, Princes-”

The video resumes before Hisashi can finish speaking, and it now shows Nezu in his office as opposed to the set All Might was on before. The principal smiles, “Hello, Izuku-kun. I deeply apologize for that, but don’t worry, All Might has already been dealt with. Unfortunately, he will be teaching here this coming year, a choice not made by me, but I will be keeping the two of you as far apart as possible.”

For the first time in the past week, Izuku breathes a sigh of relief. If there’s even a chance of him interacting with All Might, that must mean-

“Now for your results that I’m sure that you’re dying to hear. You passed the written exam with an exceptional score, as expected of a personal student of mine. In terms of your practical results, I think there’s something you should see first.”

The video changes once more and now shows Ochako nervously walking up to Zashi. Izuku vaguely realizes this is where she must have disappeared to before they met up again, but now’s not the time to focus on that. Ochako clears her throat, “Excuse me, but… um, Izuku Midoriya and Mezo Shoji both saved me when they could have just as easily run away. I know they lost possible points while saving me so can you give them some of the points I earned?! At least however many points they gave up trying to save me!”

She shuts her eyes as if afraid of Zashi’s response, but he just smiles and pats her on the shoulder, “I’m afraid we can’t give them your points, little listener! But don’t worry! I have a feeling they’ll be just fine.”

The video cuts back to a smiling Nezu, “After such a heroic display from you and young Shoji, not to mention all of the other examinees you saved during the exam, there was no way we could let your actions go unrewarded. So with a combined 53 villain points and an impressive 62 rescue points, you have earned yourself a total of 115 points, Izuku Midoriya. Not only does this mean you scored first place, but it also means that you have beaten the previous record for this exam of 101 points held by All Might.”

Nezu pauses long enough to show off a sadistic grin before waving someone forwards, “Now I believe there’s someone who wants to offer you their congratulations on your success.”

The school board member that had promised to personally deliver his results should he pass comes into the frame. The look on their face is priceless, their mouth scrunched up as if they had been sucking on lemons all day. Clearing their throat, they attempt a smile, “The school board and I would like to… congratulate you, Mr. Midoriya, on this… momentous success. We are so… proud of what you have accomplished, and I am so… sorry that I was unable to personally deliver your results as promised. Congratulations…”

Without another word, they exit the screen, practically running.

Nezu’s smile softens once more, “And with that, I would like to formally welcome you to class 1A this coming semester. Congratulations to you, Bakugou, and Shinsou. The three of you did very well.”

Finally, the recording cuts out. There’s a pause as they take in everything that just happened before Aizawa begins to cackle, “I cannot believe the damn rat got the board to agree to that! Probably was recording the entire meeting just so they couldn’t back out. Congrats, Problem Child. You did great.”

Inko and Hisashi tackle their son from behind, “We’re so proud of you, Angel! We knew you could do it!”

Izuku feels his eyes start to tear up, “I- I did it… I did it! I got in! We all got in!”

Toshi wraps an arm around his crying soulmate, “That’s right, bunny. We’re all gonna be heroes.”

Katsuki smiles before reluctantly joining the cuddle pile that’s formed, “Damn right we are.”

--------------------------------

Green Bean

We all made it in! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Gravity Whomst?

Congrats!!!＼(*^▽^*)/

Pika-CHUUU

Same!

Dragon

I also made it in.

Green Bean

Ocha, wbu???

Gravity Whomst?

I’m terrified to open it o(╥﹏╥)o

Green Bean

I believe in you! (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ

Mama Bear

If only you’d believe in yourself

Green Bean

HUSH (≖︿≖✿)

Sleep or Death

No he’s right

Pot meet kettle

Green Bean

Toshi!!! ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

Pika-CHUUU

cmon you got this girl!!!

Gravity Whomst?

fine…

I GOT IN!!! Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ

Fix-It Gremlin

all of u better come 2 me 4 my babies!!!

Green Bean

Of course, MeiMei!!!

Gravity Whomst?

Congrats Mei! ◝(ᵔᵕᵔ)◜

Pika-CHUUU

what class are y’all??? I’m 1A

Gravity Whomst?

Same!!!

Dragon

1B

Sleep or Death

All of us are 1A

Gravity Whomst?

oh no (｡•ˇ‸ˇ•｡)

Green Bean

What about your friend Awase???

Mama Bear

Please tell me he’s with you

Dragon

Yes, he’s in 1B with me.

Pika-CHUUU

YO you should add him!!!

Mama Bear

Oh no

Sleep Or Death

Oh YES

Awase has been added

Awase has changed their name to Mine Now

Mine Now

sup

Mine Now has changed Dragon to Not A Furry

Not a Furry

I hate you and I regret everything.

Mine Now

no you dont

Pika-CHUUU

dang wish you guys could be with us

Gravity Whomst?

at least you got each other ( ˶ˆ꒳ˆ˵ )

Green Bean

By the way, we’re celebrating the results w our fams at my house this Sat! All of you are welcome to come!

Mine Now

sick, finally get to meet y’all

Fix-It Gremlin

Ill b thr

Pika-CHUUU

hell yeah

Private message to Gravity Whomst?

Green Bean

we’ll come pick you and your fam up so you can bring stuff for your new room (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ

Gravity Whomst?

can’t wait!!! ＼(≧∇≦)/＼(≧∇≦)/

Green Bean

Also we saw what you told Mic

Thanks ♡

Gravity Whomst?

Of course ♡♡♡

Chapter Text

The day of the party arrives, and it’s time to move Ochako in.

“Gah! I can’t wait to have Ocha living with us!” Izuku beams, practically bouncing in his seat as they drive to her place. 

Hitoshi smiles, hugging his boyfriend to his side, “Calm down, bunny. We’re almost there.”

Kat scoffs from Izu’s other side, “Can’t believe she was going to be forced into living in a shady shithole. Old hag would’ve volunteered our place in a heartbeat if she knew.”

The two soulmates share a glance, thinking about Izuku’s realization back at the cafe. Hitoshi smirks, “Always loved that heart of gold of yours, love bug.”

Katsuki growls, his hand starting to lightly crackle, “Shove off, Troll Doll, or I’ll-”

“I know you’re not threatening others with your quirk, Katsuki. Right?” Inko calls sweetly from upfront.

Immediately, the blonde drops back into his seat, glaring at a snickering Izuku and Toshi, “No, Auntie.”

“Good! Now all of you behave. We’re almost there and we don’t want to scare them away so soon with our chaos.”

Izuku perks up, excited to see Ochako again, “I can’t wait for her to stay with us! I told her all about the amazing food you and Papa make! And she’ll be able to drive to school with us! I can’t wait to help her decorate her room!”

Inko smiles at her angel, “Me too, sweetheart. I can’t wait to have another girl in the house, not that I don’t love my boys.” 

“We love you too, Mama.”

Inko pulls into the parking lot of the apartment complex, and Hitoshi ever so patiently allows Izuku to crawl over him so he can get to their friend first. 

“Ochako!”

“Izuku!”

———————

By the time they get back home, they have just enough time to bring Ochako’s things in before the others start to arrive. Denki shows up first along with a young woman who must be related to him, and Izuku immediately recognizes her. 

“Hey, guys!” Denki bounces forward, hugging Izuku tight. He grabs onto Hitoshi, the taller teen choosing to hang from his arms like a limp cat. “Oh, this is my older sister, Rai!” He grabs Kat next, the other clawing at his arms to escape, “But you’d probably know her better as-”

“You’re the pro hero, Lightning Whip! I've been such a big fan ever since you helped save those kids three years ago!” Izuku beams. 

She smiles wide, cheeks tinged with the slightest hint of pink, “Thank you! You must be Izuku. Denki won’t stop talking about how crazy smart you are to me and Baba.” Izuku feels Hitoshi flop onto his shoulders, and she laughs, “And you must be Hitoshi, the one my brother has claimed as his new best friend.”

Hitoshi hums as Izuku plays with his fingers, “Yeah, I’ve accepted it. I like the memes he sends me.”

“Fucking let go of me, Pikachu!”

“Never,” Denki sings out.

“Firecracker, language!”

“Sorry, Auntie,” he grumbles back. Katsuki tries to intimidate Denki by crackling small explosions in his palm, but they immediately vanish. 

Aizawa glares unamused from the kitchen door, “Angry Child, quirk.”

He receives a shit-eating grin, “Explosion, hobo man.” 

Rai giggles, “And that must be Katsuki. Just how I imagined him.” 

Aizawa walks over to her, offering his hand, “Good to see you, Rai. Come on, I’ll introduce you to the actual adults. Zashi’s here of course as well as Rumi and Ryuuko.” 

As they walk off, Hitoshi squints at Denki, “My dad knows your sister.” 

The blonde nods, excited, “She’s underground. By the way, where’s Ocha? Isn’t she living here now?” 

Izuku nods, “Kat’s parents are helping her set up her room with some stuff they brought over. They’re both designers, and Auntie says she wants to bond now that there’s another girl here. She should be released soon though.”

Katsuki finally escapes Denki’s grasp with a growl, dusting himself off, “Speaking of, I should probably go check on her. Make sure the hag isn’t suffocating her too much. Bonding with her is just another way to say she’s torturing her.”

Subtly, Hitoshi taps at Izuku’s nose, more specifically where his soul marks are densest, and he nods in response. The two are sure that if Ochako knew, she’d be taking full advantage of the chance to bond with her possible future in-laws. 

The doorbell rings again as Kat leaves, and Toshi finally removes himself from Izuku’s shoulders to open it. 

“Sup, my dudes!” Awase grins, walking in. 

“Good evening. I believe Mei is just pulling up now as well,” Rin follows, giving them a lazy wave in greeting.

Izuku beams, excited for his chaos partner to arrive, so Toshi decides to take on the role of host, “Hey, guys. Everyone else besides you and Mei has arrived, so dinner should be soon. Your parents coming?” 

Awase shakes his head, “Nah, already celebrated with them. They’re taking advantage of someone else being in charge of us tonight.” 

Rin shakes his head with a small smile, “More taking a break from your craziness. They’re enjoying a double date night.” 

“Cool, I’ll let Papa know as soon as Mei-”

“GREENIE!”

“YOU ASSHOLE!”

“MEI MEI!!”

“Hey, it’s the Pomeranian!”

Just like that, any semblance of order has vanished as both Katsuki and Mei arrive. Hitoshi joins Denki in holding back Kat from Awase while Mei and Izuku go running into each other’s arms. 

“You point stealing-”

“Dude, come on!” 

“I have to show you my latest-”

“Told you he’d remember us!” 

“Katsuki, fucking stop!”

“That’s absolute genius!”

“I’d really rather you not antagonize him…”

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!”

Immediately everyone shuts up and faces an angry-looking Masaru with a confused Ochako right behind him. All at once, six fingers point to Katsuki. 

“He did it!” 

———

Dinner is an eventful affair. Not only are there eight hero hopefuls and one support course gremlin on the loose, but it turns out that Mei brought yet another hero with her, bringing the total count up to six.

“I didn’t know you knew Powerloader, Mei!” 

She grins at Izuku, “Yeah, he’s more or less my glorified babysitter. He’s friends with my parents and when they’re out of the country at expos, like now, he watches me. Since he works with Hito’s parents, he decided to come with!”

Hitoshi grins, “When you say he watches you, I assume that’s more for-”

“Explosions, yeah.”

“Yep, that tracks.”

The group is already all too familiar with Mei’s more volatile ideas. While none of them had been near her workshop yet, they’ve seen enough selfies from a slightly singed her that there was now a count in the group chat of how many days it’s been since her last explosion. 

The longest was two days. 

The shortest was ten minutes …

When it comes time for dessert, Izuku, Toshi, and Ochako decide to help Aizawa, Masaru, and Hisashi in the kitchen. It’s a refreshing break from the other’s chaos. 

“OOH, MOCHI!!!”

Hisashi laughs, “A little bunny told us it was your favorite. Plus it’s easy enough to share.”

Ochako turns to Izuku with watery eyes, cheeks already full of at least two pieces, “You did???”

Izuku smiles teasingly, leaning in, “Well, someone has to feed your addiction. Can’t let you, how’d you put it? ‘Die if I don’t get some mochi soon’?”

Without hesitation, she shoves the side of his face away, one finger up as always. Aizawa pokes his son gently in the side, giving the two a curious glance. Hitoshi meets his dad’s gaze and nods, not at all surprised that he had caught on so quickly. His dad subtly nudges Hisashi and Masaru, pointing to Toshi. Without looking away, the teen smirks, “Careful, Chako, that’s my soulmate you’re manhandling. Isn’t being rough Kat’s thing?”

Ochako just sticks her tongue out at him while she continues to roughhouse with Izuku. It takes them a second or two, but Hisashi and Masaru’s eyes have now widened in understanding. Hisashi whips around, staring at Ochako, and Masaru’s eyes are getting misty. After all, it isn’t every day you find your only child’s soulmate. 

Completely unaware of what’s happened, Izuku grabs one of the trays of mochi, walking towards the door, “Dadzawa, grab the other one. Uncle and Papa can get the dips. Hitoshi, make sure Ochako doesn’t sneak anymore before we sit down.” 

With that, he’s out the door followed by a mischievous looking Ochako. Hitoshi can’t help but laugh at his father standing frozen with a tray as he mumbles, “Dadzawa?”

He decides to take pity on him and walks over, stealing one of the mochis for himself, “It’s what he’s planning to call you at school. Mostly so if I slip up, it’s not the weirdest, but also because he’s a little shit.” 

Aizawa’s head drops as he groans, “Of course he is… Do you think he’d stop if I gave him another autograph?”

“Not a chance in hell.”

His dad takes a deep breath before shoving the kitchen door open, “I was worried you’d say that.”

Hitoshi simply laughs as he follows him out and if he later sees an excited Uncle Hisashi whispering back and forth with Auntie Mitsuki and Auntie Inko while glancing between Ochako and Kat, then that’s their business.

Chapter Text

In seemingly no time at all, it’s the first day of classes. Izuku is bouncing on his feet, trying his best to wait patiently until it’s time for Mic to come pick them up. With his anxiety, no one in the house was surprised when he was up and ready to leave just before dawn. Now, he and Ochako are letting his mama flit about, making sure that they have everything. 

“Angel! Do you have your laptop?”

“Yes, Mama.”

“Ochako, sweetie, have you got your pencil case?”

“Yes, Auntie Inko!”

Hisashi smiles into his coffee mug, “Relax, Princess. They’ve got this. They’re big kids now.”

Izuku rolls his eyes with a smile, “Papa!!!”

“It’s true, Angel.”

Inko steps forward, cupping each of their cheeks. She smiles, clear pride shining in her eyes, “I know they are. Good luck you two! You’re going to do great, my little heroes!”

Izuku’s eyes immediately tear up, and he hugs his mom tight, “Thanks, Mama! I love you! Love you, Papa!”

“I love you, too, Angel.”

“Love you!”

Ochako receives a hug as well, and the two are ushered out the door, racing to Zashi’s car out front. With Aizawa and Zashi being teachers at UA, it just makes sense for them to take the kids in the mornings.

“Morning!” Izuku greets as he and Ochako walk over to Hitoshi’s side to get in. 

“Morning, kiddos!” Zashi greets from the driver’s seat. Kat just grunts from behind him, barely awake. 

Hitoshi leans his head out from where he’s sitting up front, and grins at Izuku, “Morning, bunny.”

Izuku smiles as Ochako motions to let him in first, “Hi, kitten.” He quickly kisses his soulmate’s cheek before getting in the back, Hitoshi sputtering in surprise at the open affection so early in the day. 

Kat shakes his head at Izuku with a lazy grin, “You’re so bad.” 

Zashi briefly pats his poor son on the shoulder before starting the car, “Next stop, UA!”

Ochako looks around, confused, “Are we not picking up Mr. Aizawa first?”

“Nope!”

She nods as if that makes sense, “Oh, he went in early.” 

Hitoshi barks out a laugh, “I think he’d rather die if he had to go in any earlier.”

Izuku can practically see the question marks over Ochako’s head as she asks, “Then wh-”

He figures he should just tell her, “He’s in the trunk.”

There’s a moment of silence before- 

“I’m sorry, WHAT?!”

Kat starts laughing, but Izuku just shushes him, “Zawa likes to catch up on sleep since he doesn’t get much with him being underground and then teaching, so he’ll just sleep on the way to school in his sleeping bag.”

Ochako just stares at him before turning to the front, “He’s messing with me, isn’t he?”

Zashi shakes his head with a bemused grin, briefly meeting her eyes in the rearview mirror, “Nope! He’d be doing it even if it was just me in the car with him.” 

The remainder of the ride passes by with Ochako waiting for someone to reveal the joke, but it never happens. Zashi has the radio on and he and Izuku sing along while effortlessly keeping Hitoshi from antagonizing a still waking up Katsuki. It has such an air of routine to it that the closer they get to UA, the more she has to accept that maybe they actually aren’t joking.  

“Alright, listeners! Here we are!” Zashi exclaims, pulling into the employee parking lot. Everyone gets out, and Ochako can only numbly follow the others as they make their way to the back of the car. 

Zashi pops the latch and sure enough, there’s a form bundled up in a bright yellow sleeping bag looking like some kind of cursed caterpillar. 

Katsuki snickers from where he’s leaning on Izuku’s shoulders, “Care to do the honors, Pink Cheeks?”

Ochako can only blink in shock, and Hitoshi decides to take pity on her. He pokes at the mass of yellow, “Hey, Dad, we’re here. Time to wake up and meet your newest batch of gremlins.” 

There’s an annoyed groan, and Izuku can’t help but laugh, “Right. Looks like we should leave this to Zashi and get to class. Maybe Denki is here already?”

Katsuki scoffs as the four of them start heading to the classroom, somehow managing to keep his balance by leaning on his best friend’s shoulders while walking, “How much you want to bet he’s not?”

He falls forward, barely managing to catch himself as Izuku spins around, eyes sparkling, “You want to bet?”

Red eyes widen immediately in alarm as Kat takes several steps back, “Fuck no, nerd!”

The green haired teen sags in disappointment, and Toshi brings him into his side, “It’s alright, bunny. He’s just a chicken.”

The two ignore the blonde’s squawk of protest, Izuku gazing up at his soulmate hopefully, “You’d make a bet with me, right, kitten?”

Hitoshi stares back for a moment, conflicted, before sighing and pulling his boyfriend closer, “Of course, Izu.”

“Whipped,” mutters Katsuki, and having gotten over the Aizawa in the trunk thing, Ochako attempts to shove him away. Cackling, the blonde darts out of her range before she can even touch him. 

“Hey, guys! You’re here! I can’t believe this is happening! We’re on the first step to being heroes! Let’s goooooooo!” With one final yell, Denki shoves the door to class 1A open and races inside. 

Katsuki stares in horror, “Who the fuck gave Pikachu caffeine?!”

Ochako skips in after the blonde as Toshi snorts, “That’s all-natural. He actually calms down as the day goes on. Good luck, pumpkin.” 

“You know, on second thought, maybe Headband and Scales aren’t so bad.” With that, Kat turns to head to class 1B, but Toshi grabs the back of his collar before he can take one step. 

“Oh, no you don’t, darling! Come on!” He drags his pouting friend through the door, leaving Izuku to have a much needed moment alone. 

Kami, I love him so much…

Taking a deep breath, Izuku takes a moment to center himself. 

You got this. You made it in. Now you just need to learn to be a hero. You can do this. 

He takes a step forward before halting, remembering the entrance exam. 

Please don’t let that navy haired kid be in there… Please

With one last deep breath, he steps into the classroom. 

Chapter Text

Glancing around quickly, Izuku doesn’t notice the kid and breathes out a sigh of relief. Looking at the seating chart, he also notes he’s right in between Toshi and Kat. Aiza- no, Dadzawa is definitely getting some of his favorite coffee for that. Denki’s things are somewhat in the middle, but unfortunately, Ochako is on the other side of the room. She doesn't seem too upset though if her excitedly chatting with a shorter girl with long green hair and a hyper pink skinned girl is anything to go by. Besides, it’s not like he’ll never see her with them living together. 

Izuku takes his seat, closing his eyes and leaning back on Hitoshi who’s currently sitting on top of his own desk. 

His soulmate chuckles, “Not gonna tell me to get down?”

Izuku shrugs, “You’re too good a pillow. Also, I resigned myself to your gremlin energy long ago.”

Toshi scoffs, booping him on the nose, “Like you’re any better.”

“Touché.”

Izuku hums happily as Hitoshi begins running his hands through his curls. The sound of his classmates arriving and chatting becomes a calming white noise to him, and he begins to give in to the idea of a quick nap befo-

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THAT DESK?!”

At the sudden yell, Hitoshi jolts and unfortunately yanks at one of the shorter boy’s curls, “Owww!”

“Sorry, bunny! One sec,” he carefully runs at the tender spot on Izuku’s head. “You okay?” 

Blinking away the tears of pain, he gives the violet haired boy a cheeky grin, “Kiss it better, kitten?” 

Though he turns bright red, Toshi obediently drops a kiss on the top of his head. 

“All better!” Izuku grins.

Together, the two turn towards the person that yelled. Hitoshi and Izuku both immediately recognize the navy haired boy that has decided to lecture early morning Katsuki Bakugou of all people. 

Oh no…

“I must insist-”

“I think the fuck not, Toyota!” 

Izuku and Hitoshi try their best to muffle their snickers as the kid reels back like he’s been slapped. The insomniac opens his mouth to intervene, but his soulmate stops him. It seems that Glasses is good to go again. 

“Remove your feet from that desk! Such action is insulting to those who came to UA before us as well as the craftsmen who made the desk!!!”

Katsuki scoffs, “Like I care what you think, you snob? What middle school do they teach you to be such an insufferable asshole?” 

The kid tries his best to calmly introduce himself in the face of Katsuki being… well, Katsuki, “I-I’m from Somei Private Academy. My name is Tenya Iida.” 

Katsuki grins, “Somei, eh? Must be a stuck-up elitist then. Should be easy to kick your ass.”

Reaching over Izuku, Hitoshi smacks Kat lightly on the head, “Cool off, honey pie. Wait till training at least.” 

Iida turns to face them, eyes immediately focused on the fact that Toshi is still sitting on his desk, “I really must insist that you respect UA’s property and get off that desk at once!”

Hitoshi just gives him a lazy grin, “Mmmmm… Nah.”

Iida’s face steams up in anger, “What do you mean no? How can the two of y-”

Izuku takes the chance to jump in before the kid has a stroke, “I’m gonna be honest… it’s probably best to just let it go at this point. Your reactions are just making them want to keep doing it.”

As Iida sputters incoherently, Kat leans back to meet his best friend’s eyes, “Spoilsport.”

“Only for you, Kacchan.”

 “Midoriya…”

The three turn back to Iida, who seems to have regained his cool.

“Yes?”

“Y-You perceived the true nature of that practical exam. While I did not…” He looks to the side in shame as Izuku shares a look with Toshi and Kat. The two look just as confused as he does. 

I didn’t perceive anything?!

Iida clears his throat, “I misjudged you! I hate to admit it, but you were the superior candidate.”

There’s a beat of silence before Katsuki scoffs, yanking his feet off the desk to glare at the other teen, “Well that was a shit apology.”

“E-Excuse me?!”

Hitoshi speaks up from behind Izuku, “No, he’s right. I mean, if you can even call that an apology…” 

“Now, see he-”

Ochako suddenly pops up in front of Iida, face screwed up in anger, “Are you trying to imply that Izuku and Shoji saved me only for points?! That the two of them somehow managed to find out about the rescue points that none of us were told about and saved me not out of the goodness of their hearts but for their own personal gain?!”

Iida’s glasses steam up with how quickly his face heats at how his words have been hopefully misinterpreted. He opens his mouth to say anything at all, but nothing can come out. Izuku decides to take pity on him and pulls Ochako back, “Down, girl. I’m sure he didn’t-”

From the corner of his eye, Izuku sees movement from the doorway, and he immediately releases Ochako to sit down in his seat. Hitoshi and Katsuki both follow his example without question. 

“Izu, wha-”

“Pink Cheeks,” Katsuki whispers before nodding towards her seat. She looks between the three in confusion before walking back to her things. 

As soon as she’s seated, there’s a heavy sigh from the doorway. “If you’re just here to socialize, then get out.”

Izuku realizes the man is still in his sleeping bag as Aizawa pulls out a juice pouch and he has to fight back the urge to laugh. From Katsuki’s shaking shoulders in front of him, he isn’t the only one. 

“This is…” there’s a loud slurp that nearly breaks the three of them, “the hero course.”

There’s a moment of silence as Aizawa slowly steps out of the sleeping bag. The class stares, transfixed. “It took eight seconds for the majority of you to quiet down. Only three of you were ready. Time is a precious resource. It’d be wise of you to understand that. I’m your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. Pleased to meet you.” 

Hitoshi has to look away from his dad’s deadpan look to not lose it. 

Aizawa reaches into his sleeping bag and pulls out a gym uniform, “Quickly now. Change into your gym clothes and head out to the grounds.” Without explanation, he throws the uniform to Hitoshi as he had used his as the example before reaching behind the desk for the remainder. 

Izuku takes this as the dismissal it is and bounds up to the front of the room to grab his and Kat’s clothes, “Thanks, Dadzawa!” With that, he’s out of the room followed by Hitoshi and Katsuki. 

Their teacher immediately face palms, groaning loudly, “This is going to be a long three years…” He levels a glare at the remaining students, focusing in on Ochako and Denki specifically, “Anyone else does that, and they’re expelled.”

Chapter Text

Halfway down the hall, the three boys collectively come to a stop. 

“So…” Hitoshi starts, “Are we gonna talk about any of that or-?” 

Katsuki turns to him, ready to make a smart-ass comment but makes the mistake of meeting the eyes of the other two instead. Immediately, the three are on the ground, clutching their sides in laughter. 

“I can’t believe-”

“The way he just appeared-”

“-like a fucking cryptid.”

“But the juice pouch!”

“I know!!!”

Izuku suddenly sits back up, “Wait a minute, guys!” The two stop, staring at him in mild concern. He pauses for dramatic effect before giving a shit eating grin, “Do you think he walked to the class and consciously laid down or scooted all the way from the teacher’s lounge?”

Toshi and Kat’s eyes grow wide as they slowly turn to one another.

“Do you think Pops would have a video of-”

“Well, we’ll never know unless you fucking ask.”

Hitoshi scrambles for his phone, texting Mic before Kat even finishes. 

Izuku stands, grabbing his gym uniform from where it had fallen, “Well, we should probably get out there before Dad decides to make us run laps.”

There’s a clatter as Toshi promptly drops his phone, but Denki runs towards them before the others can ask, “Dang, there you guys are. Y’all ran out so fast. I was worried I was gonna get lost cause I kinda realized I’ve never been to the locker rooms, but here you are! Now we can go get cha- Woah, dude, you Gucci? You’re like super red, Hito!”

Izuku turns to his soulmate and sure enough, he’s turning cherry red. Katsuki groans in disgust, “Eyebags is fine! The nerd’s just being himself and Hitoshi is too gay to handle it. In fact, he can tell you all about it while we go get changed. Let’s go, nerd!” 

Izuku giggles, pecking his boyfriend on the cheek before following Kat, “Sorry, kitten.”

“Uh- ngh- uh… bye?”

--------------

Izuku and Katsuki end up being the first two out, finished changing before most of the boys even make it to the locker room. Izuku knows Kat did it on purpose, knowing he wouldn't want to have to explain his many scars to the others on the first day. As the two make their way to Aizawa’s side, Izuku pulls his hair back into a half bun, idly noting he should probably get it cut it soon. He’s not exactly trying to copy his mentor’s look after all. As much as Aizawa rocks the look, it wouldn’t do for Izuku’s hair to be in his face while training, and he’d be dying once summer hit. 

Aizawa raises an eyebrow as the two come to a stop, “No Hitoshi?”

Katsuki scoffs, “The nerd here killed him unintentionally with love… again .”

Their teacher stares them down for a second before finally nodding, “Makes sense. Any particular reason you’re wearing your compression sleeve, kid?” 

Izuku swallows, shuffling his feet a bit, “That one’s not feeling great today… Plus, I didn’t want any questions from the others.”

Kat pulls him close as Aizawa squats down in front of them, “Hey, Problem Child… Remember, we’re here for you. Anything you need, let me know. Anyone tries to give you shit, I’ve got your back. Remember your scars only show that you...”

Izuku gives him a watery smile, leaning into Katsuki, “Survived. Yeah, I know.”

“Good. Now get ready. They’ll be out any minute… hopefully.”

------------

By the time the others arrive, the only one able to see that something had happened is Hitoshi. This is from equal parts gut instinct and subtle looks from both Kat and Dad towards his soulmate. Casually, he walks to Izuku’s side, linking their pinkies before bringing their hands up to kiss his knuckles. The light blush and beaming smile are well worth his inner self freaking out from doing something so bold. 

Da- Aizawa sensei clears his throat from up front, “Alright, now that you’re all finally here, it’s time for a quirk apprehension test.” 

As Ochako protests, mentioning something about entrance ceremonies, Izuku takes the chance to tighten his finger around Hitoshi’s, “Remember, we planned for this. If anyone has a problem with you or your quirk, they can deal with me.”

His boyfriend smiles down at him, “Same here.” 

The freckled teen huffs out a sad laugh, leaning into Toshi’s side, “You’re going to have to deal with a lot of people then…” 

“But you’re worth every second.”

“Bakugou.” 

Aizawa’s voice brings them back to the present as they see Kat immediately straighten in front of them. Yeah, hearing their last names from Aizawa is going to take some getting used to. 

“How far could you throw in middle school?”

“Sixty-seven meters.”

Denki quietly scoffs as he takes the chance to join Izuku and Toshi, “I don’t know if it makes it better or worse that he says that so casually.” 

Hitoshi groans, “Just wait until you start training with him. He’s insufferable.”

There’s a loud boom as Katsuki sends the ball flying and Izuku waits excitedly for the results. He and Nezu both have their guesses as to how Hitoshi and Katsuki will do on the different tests, and at this point, the principal has become one of the select few still willing to bet with him. 

“705.2 meters.” 

Curses, Nezu sensei was just a hair closer…

As some of the students gasp in wonder, Aizawa speaks up, “It’s important for us to know what we are capable of. This is the first rational step in finding out the basis for what kind of heroes you will become.”

As the class starts whispering to one another in excitement, Katsuki saunters his way over to the three boys, “What do you think of that, nerd?”

Izuku hums, slightly disappointed, “Honestly, I thought you’d get a bit further. I bet Nezu sensei you’d throw 705.6, but he insisted on 705.1 meters.” 

Growling, the blonde grabs his best friend in a headlock, “You rotten, little-”

“THIS LOOKS LIKE SO MUCH FUN!”

Kat, Hitoshi, and Izuku all freeze before slowly turning to look at Aizawa who is looking down at his phone. 

“It looks fun, you say?”

Oh fuck…

Immediately, Katsuki drops Izuku and they both scramble away from the aura of doom that has now surrounding their teacher. Hitoshi is way ahead of them, dragging a confused-looking Denki along with him.

“So you think your three years here will be all fun and games? What happened to wanting to become heroes?” Slowly their teacher lifts his gaze, glaring at his class, “Well, in that case, time for a new rule. The student with the lowest overall score will be deemed “hopeless” and therefore expelled.”

Despite knowing full well this was how Aizawa weeded out those unwilling to put in the hard work that heroics required and that the likeliness of them coming last was practically nonexistent, the trio felt fear run through their veins as Zawa gave one of his infamous grins.

“Your fate rests entirely in your hands. Welcome to UA’s Heroics Course.”

Chapter Text

Yagi grimaces from where he’s hiding. While he’s sure that young Shinsou will be able to hold his own well enough, Eraserhead will likely choose him to expel in the end. After all, there seem to be so many more preferable quirks here. 

The young man who had thrown the softball, for example, had an excellent explosion quirk that could easily be – wait a minute, it couldn’t be… Is that the quirkless – no, it’s simply another student that just happens to look like that poor boy. While the pro hero has no idea how that boy had managed to convince everyone he had beaten his score, there’s no way they would actually let him into the school, let alone the heroics course. 

Yes, he must be mistaken. 

He needs to focus on Shinsou. After all, if he's expelled and Yagi manages to pull a few strings to keep him at UA regardless, no doubt the boy will be more grateful to him than ever.

—————

“Expelled? B-But it’s only our first day! I mean, even if it wasn’t…” Izuku’s eyes widen in alarm as Uraraka looks more and more upset by the second.

Oh, please don’t say it!

A voice joins in from beside her, frustration clearly heard despite the fact the speaker’s expression goes unseen, “That’s totally unfair!!!” Quite a few students voice their agreement. 

Katsuki’s hand smacks against his forehead, and Hitoshi drops his head onto Izuku’s shoulder with a groan. Even the freckled teen can’t help but shake his head in disbelief at the class and their response to Aizawa’s words.

“Natural disasters, highway pileups, rampaging villains… All kinds of things can happen when people least expect them. I’d say the world, not just Japan, is full of unfair things. That’s just how life is.” Their teacher sighs, making sure to keep eye contact with them. “However, it is our job as heroes to correct this unfairness, meaning it will be your job in the future as well. If you were counting on easy days and lax afternoons, I regret to inform you that this is not the course for you. For the next three years, not only UA, but I, personally, will be putting you through the wringer in order to make you the best heroes you can possibly be. That is what it means to be Plus Ultra. Now I expect you to overcome these challenges and show me that you have what it takes.”

It’s clear that the gauntlet has been thrown and a fire in the students has been lit. They’re ready to give this everything they’ve got. 

-------------------------------------

Hitoshi groans as his dad leads them over to the 50-meter dash.

Izuku giggles, swinging their clasped hands just a bit, “Kitten, did you forget you’d have to run today?” 

“More like I was purposefully avoiding thinking about it…”

Kat snorts from behind them, making the insomniac jump, “I can’t wait to see your reaction to the long-distance run later.”

Hitoshi straight up whines, bending his head down to hide in Izuku’s hair as he wraps his arms tight around him, “Bunny, this is homophobic. Make the mean boy go away.”

“Oi, fuck off!”

“Kacchan, don’t be mean to Hito.”

“Do not encourage his bullshit!”

Aizawa thankfully stops them from continuing any further, “Alright, this is going to go two at a time. Just come up when I call your names and wait for the signal to begin. Asui and Iida, you’re up first.” 

The girl with long green hair that Uraraka had been talking to earlier walks up with Iida. At the sound of the horn, Iida immediately takes off, leaving Asui in the dust. She squats down like a frog and leaps after him, the timer chirping out 3.04 seconds and 5.58 respectively. Hitoshi just groans more, burying himself even further into his boyfriend’s curls. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll let you know when it’s your turn. Rest.”

Hitoshi releases his grip just long enough to sign thank you and tap Izuku’s nose before hugging him once more. Izuku smiles before focusing on studying the rest of the class. According to Nezu, one could never stop improving, and Izuku’s analysis is a skill that he wants to cultivate into something great. These tests would be a wonderful chance to practice what Nezu sensei has taught him. 

It seems that most of the times average around five and a half seconds. They’re impressive enough, and Izuku can see how the sense of competitiveness is still running strong. 

Finally, it’s their turn, and luckily, they’re the last to go to cover Aizawa’s slip up, “Tosh- To finish up , we have Shinsou and the new Problem Child.”

Izuku taps Hitoshi’s arm to wake him up as Katsuki laughs, “Can’t believe he brought out the nickname to try to distract from that.”  

“Had to happen eventually.”

Hitoshi shrugs, “It’s probably gonna bite him in the ass.”

The soulmates walk over to the starting line and wait for the signal. The horn sounds and Izuku easily beats his boyfriend, too used to running from bullies for years, but it’s not bad. 

“4.48 seconds!”

“5.17 seconds!”

Izuku smiles at his boyfriend who comes to a stop beside him, “You’re getting faster.”

Hitoshi rubs at his neck, “Still not enough to beat you. Would have been better if I had my scarf.”

The shorter teen glances at the completely flat terrain around them, “Yep, lots of things to grab onto here…”

Hitoshi snorts, shoving his shoulder, “Shut up…”

They make their way over to the rest of the class as Aizawa speaks up, “Alright, next we’ll be doing a grip strength test. We have five devices available, so get into groups of four. To start, just enter the order you’ll test in and go. Any questions? No? Great, let’s go.” 

Hitoshi sighs as he follows Izuku over to grab a device, “Can’t believe he’s already done with this.”

Katsuki scoffs from behind him as he drags Denki to follow them, “Are you even surprised?”

“Nah, just mildly disappointed and relating hardcore.”

Izuku laughs as they make their way over to a clear area, “Alright, so what order do you guys want to go in?”

Kat grins smugly at Hitoshi, “Entrance exam order, least to best?”

Hitoshi glares, “You’re never letting that go, are you, sweetums?”

“Fuck no!”

“Alright, so Denki, you’re up first then,” Izuku chirps, holding out the device. 

Denki blinks in shock, “Hold on! How do you kno-?”

Hitoshi places a hand on his shoulder, cutting him off, “You sure you want to know the answer to that?” 

Denki glances between his bestfriend and the green haired teen who is blinking at him far too innocently before quickly shaking his head, “N- No, you’re right, my bad. No more questions, your honor.” 

Kat rolls his eyes as Izuku giggles, “And you guys talk about my ego…”

The group continues without much fanfare until it’s Izuku’s turn. The device beeps, “56 kilograms.”

Denki grabs the device from Izuku’s hand, staring at the screen in shock, “What in the ever loving flipper flapper is this, Izuku?” 

“What?”

“How are you so strong?!” 

Izuku blinks, confused by the blonde’s reaction, “B- But, Kat got an even higher score?”

“Izuku Midoriya, you have no right to be that strong with how smol you are,” the blonde emphasizes as he grabs the shorter teen’s shoulders. 

“Kat-”

“He is made of pure anger and bullshit power.”

“Hey!”

Hitoshi pats him on the shoulder with a grin, “He’s not wrong, gumdrop.”

“Therefore, he does not count. You! How?!?!?!”

Izuku desperately looks towards Hitoshi and Katsuki for help. His best friend just grins, snatches the device, and heads over to Zawa, who’s pulled out his sleeping bag. The freckled teen turns back to Denki, “I- I mean, I work out?” 

Denki gasps, and he releases his shoulders to grab onto Izuku’s right arm, “Show me those guns!”

Katsuki jogs back to Izuku practically rubbing his nose raw as he awkwardly flexes his arm for Denki’s amusement. Hitoshi is strawberry red, mouth hanging open as he stares entranced. With one finger, Kat closes the teen’s mouth, “Troll, quit drooling.”

Chapter Text

The next test is the repeated side steps which Ochako and Denki have a few opinions on. 

“They’re not human…”

“I know, Denks.”

“How are they-?”

“I don’t know…”

“Ochaaaa, look at them!”

“They’re not human, Denki.”

Katsuki scoffs from beside them, having lasted a decent amount of time, but unable to hold his own against the two future underground heroes, “Look who fucking trained them.”

The duo glance over at Aizawa sensei before nodding in tandem, “You right.”

--------------

Shouta knew that he would have to deal with soulmates in his class. He already has his son and the Problem Child after all. If he can get his head out of his ass, Katsuki will hopefully realize Uraraka is his one of these days. Soulmates frequently start to meet each other in high school, so he’s been prepared for this for years. However, did he already have to have another pair? And Tensei’s little brother no less??? 

Shouta sighs, glaring at the sky, praying he had heard Izuku wrong, “And you’re sure?” 

There’s a heavy silence as his Problem Child refuses to even grace that with an answer before the teacher groans in defeat, “I know. You’re sure. Alright, go back to the others. I guess, I’ll be the adult and deal with it.” 

Shouta looks over to the group that just finished with their round of situps, focusing on two students in particular. Tenya is chatting with Momo while Aoyama is off to the side, fiddling with his gloves. Sure enough, Shouta can see just a glimpse of light purple beneath the fabric. 

Kami, Tensei isn’t gonna let him live this one down…

“Aoyama! Iida! Over here!” 

--------------------------------------

The standing long jump passes without much fanfare. Hitoshi notices his boyfriend smiling over at a red faced Iida and shy Aoyama though. 

“What’s that about?”

“We aren’t the only soulmates anymore, kitten.”

Hitoshi’s jaw drops, “Really? Those two?”

Izuku smiles, leaning into Hitoshi’s side, “Yep. I noticed after the sit ups test.”

“How romantic…”

There’s a moment of silence before Hitoshi snorts. 

“What?”

“Can’t believe Toyota got his shit together before Kat did.”

Izuku helplessly giggles as Katsuki makes his way over to them followed by Ochako and Denki, “Oi, you talking shit about me, Eyebags?!”

“I would never, Sugarplum!” 

--------------

“Nerd, stop it.”

“Stop what, Kacchan?”

“You’re gonna kill him.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Kacchan.”

“Izuku, please. Look at him! His nose hasn't stopped bleeding since you started!”

The green haired teen smiles innocently from where he’s doing his toe touch before effortlessly sweeping one leg behind him in a split. He leans back, reaching towards his back leg and nearly touches his other foot. There’s a faint groan from behind Katsuki.

Mina however is practically vibrating in excitement from beside him, “How are you doing that?!”

Izuku grins, “My mentors realized I was flexible and honed in on it.”

Finally, to Katsuki’s relief, his best friend gracefully stands up… only to give him a devilish smirk as he kicks up his right leg to hold it flat against his body. 

Behind him, Hitoshi honest to Kami whines as Denki dives to catch him, “Woah, Toshi! Stay with me, buddy! Medic!”

Without looking away from Izuku, Katsuki glares as he calls out, “Aizawa!!!” 

------------------------------

Aizawa decides it’s best to take a small break before the long distance run, if only to give his son a chance to recover. He also takes the chance to talk to his Problem Child about how he’d prefer if his son’s blood stayed inside him… you know, where it’s supposed to be, so please stop giving him unnecessary nosebleeds. The little shit just smiles innocently at him in a way that reminds Shouta far too much of Inko before she kicks someone in the kneecaps.

This is going to be a long year…

“Alright, brats! Time for the long distance run.”

------------------

Currently, the only four left are Iida, Momo, Katsuki, and Izuku. Iida makes sense with his quirk. Momo had used hers to make a straight up moped, but everyone has their eyes on the other two. Katsuki and Izuku are running along as if this is just their casual morning run with short bursts of racing each other included. 

Denki rolls over from where he had collapsed in the grass earlier, gasping out, “They’re. Not. Human.” 

Mina lazily waves her hand towards him in what might have been a sympathetic pat, “We know, Pika.”

Ochako glares up at the sky instead of the duo and groans, “Izu’s mom told me that they enter 5k races for fun. Who even does that???” 

The group stares at the best friends, impressed. Sero knocks his shoulder against Hitoshi’s, “Dude, your soulmate’s a god.”

Hitoshi smiles a lovesick grin, eyes focused on his curly haired sweetheart, “I know.”

Chapter Text

Eventually, Aizawa calls for the others to stop before they run themselves into the ground and everyone takes another break before the final event, the ball throw. Hitoshi can’t help but feel his anxiety rise as they walk over to the pitch. Sure, he has Katsuki and Izuku, but this is where everyone else is going to realize what his quirk is. Well, Denki knows, but he’s a special case. This is where everyone else is going to decide he’s more of a villain than-

A tug on his shirt pulls him from his thoughts. Looking down, he meets Izuku’s worried gaze. 

“Everything alright, kitten?”

Hitoshi rubs at his neck, finding comfort in his marks, “Yeah, totally fine. It’s just…”

“Yeah…?”

The taller teen glances ahead to their friends, specifically a bubbly brunette laughing with Ashido and Tsuyu. “Y-You’re sure that Ochako won’t hate me?”

Izuku pulls him to a stop, placing his hands over his soul marks, “Hey, look at me.” Reluctantly, Hitoshi meets his eyes, melting at the love and warmth radiating from them. “Of course, she won’t. Trust me.”

He smiles, helplessly in love with this boy who’s changed his entire life. Cupping his cheek, Hitoshi leans down and kisses Izuku on his freckled nose, “With everything.”

His boyfriend beams back at him before grabbing his hand and dragging them over to their friends. Hitoshi meets his dad’s eyes, nodding to let him know everything is fine. 

He nods back before continuing with the test, “Alright, Bakugou already went, so time for the rest of you to throw. When I call your name, step into the circle and throw the ball. Anything goes as long as you stay in the circle.”

Izuku squeezes his hand at that, trying his best to reassure him once more. Aoyama is the first to be called, and Hitoshi tries his best to shove his nerves down. However, as the numbers dwindle, he can’t help but start rubbing at his neck again. 

“Oi, stop that,” a voice snaps at him.

The exhausted teen looks to the side and meets Katsuki’s eyes, “Hm?”

“You got this, Eyebags. Trust the nerd.”

Hitoshi tries to smile, “I do.”

The blonde smirks, “Good, cause you’re up.”

“Wait, what?”

“Hitoshi Shinsou.”

Hitoshi’s head snaps back forward to his dad, watching as the invisible girl leaves the circle. Did he really leave Izuku and him for the final two? And this man actually tries to tell people that Pops is the dramatic one. 

Izuku gives him one final kiss on the cheek for luck before sliding over to Ochako’s side. Hitoshi’s cheeks burn as he walks up to the circle. His dad hands him the ball, whispering, “Whenever you’re ready, Stars.” 

Finding comfort in the familiar nickname, Hitoshi takes a breath before looking behind him to check that Izuku has Ochako distracted. His boyfriend subtly sends him a thumbs up, and he clears his throat, calling out, “Hey, Ochako?”

She turns towards him with a smile, “Yea-”

He hesitates only a second before quickly grabbing onto her string. Immediately, her posture loosens and she relaxes, ready to follow his orders. 

“Come here, please.”

Whispers start to break out as she makes her way over, but he refuses to listen, focusing solely on her string right now. Soon enough, she comes to a stop beside him, and he holds up the ball, “Touch this.”

As soon as she touches it, he doesn’t waste a second and simply repeats Ochako’s throw. His dad’s phone dings with the score of infinity, and just like that, the bubble around him pops and sound floods back in. 

“That’s cheating!”

“He used her quirk!” 

“Sensei, how is that fair?”

“What did he do to her?”

Hitoshi drops to his knees, overwhelmed from the noise and suddenly exhausted. He was right. People don’t change, and they aren’t going to accept hi-

Hands grab onto his shoulders, concerned, “Hitoshi, are you okay? Is everything alright?”

“O-Ochako?”

“Do you need to see the nurse?”

He winces but still gives her a smile regardless as relief threatens to overwhelm the panic, “N-No, I’ll be fine. Thanks.”

-----------------------------

Izuku glares as some of his classmates around him object to Hitoshi’s perfectly legal throw. Distantly, he can recognize both Denki and Katsuki arguing with the few who are being extremely vocal, but all he can focus on is Hitoshi and Ochako up front. His soulmate is on the ground, looking seconds away from a panic attack. As much as he would love to comfort him right now, Izuku knows that getting the attention off of Hitoshi is what he really needs right now. 

Izuku grabs Denki’s wrist, “I have to throw now, so I need you to take care of Hitoshi for me.”

He waits just long enough to see him nod before stalking over to Aizawa. He holds his hand out for the ball, “I refuse to apologize for anything that’s about to happen.”

Zawa gives him a barely there smile, “Not like I’d accept it anyway, Problem Child.”

Taking the ball, Izuku walks over to the circle where Ochako has now helped Toshi to stand up. He places his hand against his soulmate’s mark, trying to give him as much comfort as possible. “Denki is gonna take care of you for now and I’ll be over there as soon as I’m done with this. You did amazing, kitten.” 

Izuku receives a weak smile, and he turns to Ochako, “Keep an eye on him for me, please.”

She nods before leading Hitoshi over to Denki. Izuku nods to Zawa, letting him know he’s ready. 

The teacher nods back before speaking up over the still arguing students, “If you don’t mind, Midoriya would like to throw now. If you have a problem with Hitoshi‘s throw, you can come see me. But before you do, you should know that UA has a very strong anti-bullying policy and anti-discrimination policy that all of you should be aware of because you had to sign a lovely little sheet that said you read the student handbook. If you still have an issue and you wanna argue that, I am more than happy to talk the issue over with you and principal Nezu. Now, are we good?”

There’s silence finally, and Aizawa gestures for Izuku to go. The teen gives his soulmate one final glance before calling out, “Kat?”

His best friend strolls up to him without hesitation, “What’s the plan?”

Izuku gives his classmates one more cold glare before grabbing Kat’s arm and pulling him towards him. The two deliberately turn their backs on the others as they discuss the plan. Izuku holds up the ball with a grin, “Think you can get 700 even?”

The blonde smirks, grabbing the ball, “Just tell me when.”

Izuku grins, stepping aside to give him room but still staying within the circle. He takes a moment to observe, feeling the wind against his skin. “Hmm, give it 89%...” Katsuki winds up, waiting for his word. “Now!”

“Die!” Kat screams as he sends the ball flying forwards. Immediately, the two turn toward Aizawa’s phone. It takes a second before it beeps, showing 700 meters exactly. 

“Yes!” Izuku screams, jumping onto Kat’s back. “You did it, Kacchan!”

His best friend scoffs, holding him tight, “ We did it, nerd.”

“Sir, I really must insist that Shinsou and definitely Midoriya have both broken the rules. Shinsou cheated with the aid of an unwilling Uraraka and Midoriya didn’t even throw his own ball!” Iida calls out, aggressively shopping his arm. Beside him, Aoyama is edging away slowly. 

Aizawa opens his mouth to respond, but Uraraka jumps in before he can, “Shinsou didn’t cheat! He used his quirk and I was more than happy to help him! I just didn’t know beforehand about his quirk which just gives a more honest showing of it. I think it was really smart!”

Hitoshi smiles shyly up at his friend, and Aizawa has to stop himself from giving a proud smile as well. It looks like his son really chose a good batch of friends, chaotic as they might be. He can’t wait to tell Zashi later. For now, he clears his throat, “Thank you, Uraraka. Well said. Now as for Midoriya-”

“That was definitely cheating!” 

“He didn’t even use his quirk!”

“That throw shouldn’t count!”

Aizawa has finally decided enough is enough and activates his quirk. His fiery red gaze immediately silences those who were protesting. He holds it for an extra second or two before finally blinking, “Now, if you would let me speak, that would be wonderful. Something all of you need to learn sooner rather than later is that a lone hero is a dead hero. The rankings might have a number one at the end of the day, but someone who tries to go at heroics completely on their own is going to end up dead. Underground heroes especially know how essential backup is to do your job. It is always smartest to use everything you have at your disposal instead of powering through with just your quirk. It is not Shinsou or Midoriya’s fault in the slightest that they’ve managed to learn this before the rest of you.”

There’s silence before slowly a student raises her hand. 

“Yes, Momo?”

“Wasn’t Midoriya also entirely following the rules as he used his quirk for the throw?”

There are murmurs amongst the students before they quiet with another glare from Aizawa. He glances at Izuku before focusing on Momo once more. None of them expected something like this to happen. “What do you mean?”

“Didn’t he use his quirk, sir? Bakugou waited for him before throwing. I can only assume he has an analysis quirk of some kind.”

Izuku barks out a laugh, surprised before he dissolves into helpless giggles. Momo looks towards him, confused alongside most of the class. This continues for about a minute before Aizawa places his hand on the teen’s shoulder, hoping to ground him. Thankfully, it works quickly enough, and Izuku straightens back up, wiping tears from his eyes. 

“Sorry about that. It’s just that none of us expected you guys to go there all places. Very good guess though.”

Momo looks intrigued, “That’s not it? What is your quirk then?”

Izuku’s smile becomes almost dangerous, standing proud as he responds, “Oh, I don’t have one. I’m quirkless.”

Chapter Text

Everything around them seems to freeze for a minute or two before Momo speaks up once more. “Quirk… less?’ she asks, cocking her head to the side as if the very idea is foreign to her. With that, the class explodes with noise, and Aizawa can only watch as two very distinctive sides begin to form. 

“Sir, should he really be here?” Iida asks loudly. “Would it not be smarter and safer for him to be in General Studies?” A few students gasp at his boldness with even Aoyama inching away from him. 

Katsuki tries to rush over to Iida, palms beginning to crackle, but Izuku holds him back. Instead, he can only scream, “Come and say that to my face, Toyota! Izuku has more of a right to be here than any of you!”

Jirou scoffs, hand on her hip, “Does he though? How can we be sure that they didn’t just let him in out of pity as UA’s charity case? What if it’s just the school’s way of saying ‘Don’t worry, we accept everybody. Even those unfortunate enough to lack a quirk.’?”

Hitoshi nearly leaps over Denki to get to her, only slowed down by his friends and the fatigue from his recent panic attack. As it is, Ochako and Denki are both still struggling to stop him as Hitoshi yells, “Hey! How about you shut the fuck up about things you don’t know shit about! Izuku could kick any of your asses without hesitation! He earned his fucking place here!”

Todoroki stares Izuku down as if assessing his possible threat level, “Could he though? All of us have quirks at our disposal. Is that not giving us a natural advantage?”

Sero, who had been overall friendly to this point, was suddenly glaring, left hand clenched in a fist, “Quirks aren’t anything more than a tool. Just because I have tape coming out of my elbows doesn’t automatically mean I can beat Midoriya in a fight. He’s easily proven that.”

Ojiro rolls his eyes, “So he’s trained and that makes him unstoppable? People with quirks train too. He needs more than that. It’s not enough.”

Ochako looks absolutely furious at the implication that one of her closest friends wasn’t enough. Thankfully, she has enough sense to help Denki with Hitoshi still, but that doesn’t stop her from speaking her mind. “You’re right. Just punching your way through things isn’t enough. Luckily, Izuku is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, so he’s got that on his side as well. That’s more than can be said for quite a few of you.”

There are grumbles amongst those who have spoken out, but Tsuyu’s voice stands out amongst the rest, “Be that as it may, is it not still dangerous for him? Maybe the support course might be better.”

There’s a clamor as people give in to shouting at one another, trying to prove that they are right by being the loudest. It goes on for a minute or two before a sharp whistle pierces the air. Immediately, everyone freezes before slowly turning towards Aizawa. 

“If all of you are quite done, I would like to move on to the results. However, if you really must insist on wasting everyone’s time, please, do continue.” 

His students slowly shuffle back into place, no longer rushing to kill one another. As Izuku and Katsuki make their way back to their friends, notable groups are forming amongst the class. Those who were in support of Izuku drift closer to his group while the others avoid them at all cost with the few neutral students almost acting as a buffer between them. Aizawa can’t help but hide a wince in his scarf as Aoyama purposefully walks closer to Izuku and the others, leaving Tenya’s side. His soulmate looks confused for a second before adjusting his glasses and walking over to Yaoyorozu and Todoroki. 

Yeah, I’m definitely going to need to have a talk with Tensei…

“As reciting all your individual scores would take far too long and would waste what little time we have left, instead you’ll just see your final rankings overall. These were based on not only your actual scores but in some cases, creativity was taken into account as well.” He turns, clicking a button to reveal the results to the class. Aizawa takes a moment, relishing the panic on the students’ faces as they realize where they are placed.

“But, how-?”

“He placed-”

Aizawa hides his proud smile as Izuku beams at him. His protegee really showed the others he’s earned his place in the course by earning second overall. 

Rankings

    1- Katsuki Bakugou

    2- Izuku Midoriya 

    2- Mezo Shoji

    4- Shoto Todoroki

    5- Hitoshi Shinsou 

    6- Hanta Sero

    7- Tsuyu Asui

    8- Tenya Iida

    9-  Mashirao Ojiro 

    10- Momo Yaoyorozu

    11-  Ochako Uraraka 

    12- Mina Ashido 

    13- Eijirou Kirishima

    14- Fumikage Tokoyami

    15- Yuuga Aoyama

    16- Kyoka Jirou

    16-  Koji Koda

    18- Denki Kaminari 

    18- Rikido Sato

    20- Tooru Hagakure

“Now, I will say I was lying about expelling the lowest score.” He doesn’t miss the sigh of relief from his invisible student. “However, I would hate to have to reiterate what I said with Shinsou’s throw. If you have a problem with Izuku Midoriya being in this course, I’d be more than happy to handle it, and considering UA’s extensive anti-bullying policy that you all agreed to , the solution will more than likely be a transfer to gen ed or expulsion.” For a moment, those that had spoken out against Izuku look hopeful until their teacher continues, “ For you. ” 

Seeing some of the more outspoken students looking like they’re still willing to argue, Aizawa activates his quirk, “Consider this your one and only warning.” 

Izuku barely holds back the urge to cry as his mentor defends him. Luckily, the other students have quieted down and stay silent as Aizawa releases his quirk. He turns and walks away, “Anyways, we’re done here. All the paperwork you need is back in the classroom on your desks. Give them a look.” 

------------------

All Might had chosen to take his leave when that poor boy had confirmed he was in fact the same quirkless child from the exams. How was he allowed to attend the school? Why would the school be so cruel as to not only lie to him that he can be a hero but also put him in unnecessary danger? 

He knocks on Nezu’s door, knowing that, as the number one hero, he must be the one to take on the burden of making the principal see sense. 

“Come in.”

He opens the door, “Hello, sir. I came to address some concerns I have.”

The principal blinks at him slowly before smiling, “And what might those be, All Might? It is only the first day after all.”

He sits in the chair directly in front of the principal’s desk, grimacing, “I was watching Aizawa with his class, and I have a few-”

“It is delightful to know that you don’t mind wasting your time.”

All Might flinches, “P- Pardon, sir?”

The principal smiles wider, appearing much more sinister for a mere moment, “Seeing as I did not see you at the entrance ceremonies, I had assumed that you were getting ahead with planning for the classes you will be helping to teach. Of course, the homeroom teachers will still be taking the lead, but it is always good to be prepared.”

The number one hero scoffs, “Well, I had more important things to attend to.”

Nezu’s brow furrows, “Such as… watching Aizawa’s class without letting him know?”

All Might laughs, “I’m glad to see you understand. Of course, the students would be far too distracted if they knew I was there, but I did have to keep an eye on my future successor, of course.”

“Oh? You settled on a successor?”

“Yes! He needs a bit of work and I’m a bit concerned that Aizawa may be too hard on him. I can talk to him though if need be.”

Nezu’s smile begins to fall, thinking of all the possible ways this can blow up, “And who is the student?”

“Hitoshi Shinsou, of course.”

“Oh no…”

Chapter Text

The blonde hero straightens, “What was that?”

Nezu immediately smiles to cover up his mistake, “I said, who now?” He makes a mental note to give Hitoshi some of his favorite tea later even if one of his favorite humans won’t ever know this happened. 

All Might grins, “Ah, yes. There are so many students here that I could never expect you to know them all!” He doesn’t seem to notice Nezu’s fur bristling at the implication. “Hitoshi Shinsou! He’s a first-year in Aizawa’s class with a brainwashing quirk. Some might say it’s a bit villainous, but it’s a strong one! He shall be my new successor!”

The principal clears his throat, straightening a few papers before speaking. “All Might… While I am sure that this young man is an incredible choice-”

“Of course he is!”

“I would strongly advise against choosing him.”

All Might straightens, “And why might that be?”

Nezu sighs. Because he absolutely despises you. “I just think he might not be the right fit for your quirk-”

The blonde’s voice becomes ice cold, “I think I know my quirk better than you do.”

“Yes, but-”

“This is who I’ve chosen, Nezu.”

“I know. I’m just saying-”

Suddenly, All Might is on his feet, his large form looming over Nezu’s desk as if hoping to intimidate him, “Are we going to have an issue with this, Nezu? Am I going to have to contact the commission about not standing by your agreement to help me find a successor?”

Nezu’s fur is visibly bristling now. Unfortunately, he knows when his paws are tied, and he must accept defeat. However, he doesn’t see any way that this will work in All Might’s favor and he can’t wait until Shouta learns about this. 

“Very well. Give me a few minutes to get Shinsou here. Kindly return to your seat, Yagi.”

------------------------

When Chiyo gets a message from Nezu requesting her to distract Shouta, she doesn’t hesitate to text the teacher about needing to do his yearly check up that he keeps trying to skip out on. She has a bad feeling about this, but if she knows anything about her old friend, it’s that no one will protect the students and staff of UA more than its principal. 

And if someone tries to stop him? 

Kami help them.

-----------------------

Luckily, Hitoshi is the only one left in the classroom with him when Shouta gets Chiyo’s message. 

“ Fuck .”

His son looks up, alarmed, “What? What’s wrong?”

The hero just sighs, “It’s nothing, kid. Just Chiyo is finally taking advantage of the fact I’m here to do some medical shit…”

Hitoshi laughs, “Is that what you’re being a baby about? It won’t take long. Just go do it and we can leave right after.”

Shouta starts typing, shaking his head, “I have to get this paperwork to Nezu anyways. I’ll just tell her-”

His phone pings again and he groans. His son, the traitor that he is, laughs even harder. 

“Let me guess, that was Nezu?”

He groans loudly once more before opening a new message, “Of course it is. He says to just have you bring it and I can meet with him later. Let me just let Izuku know that he and Katsuki can go straight to the teacher’s lounge when they’re done in the bathroom. Text Ura-”

Hitoshi grabs the papers, heading out the door, “I’ll let her know to meet at the teacher’s lounge once she’s done with Ashido and Hagakure. Go have fun at the nurse. This just means we get to go home quicker.” 

Shouta scowls, grabbing his bag, “Brat…”

-----------------------------------------

It doesn’t take Hitoshi very long to reach Nezu’s office. The route is a familiar one after the principal had taken over the remainder of his, Izuku’s, and Kat’s middle school education. Hopefully, he still has some of that lavender vanilla tea. It would do wonders after the day he’s had.

Arriving at the office, Hitoshi immediately waves to the hidden camera that Izuku had been the first of them to spot.

“Enter, Shinsou.” 

The tired teen immediately stiffens, high on alert. Nezu hasn’t called him Shinsou for at least a few months now. The principal didn’t believe in using last names when it came to his favorite humans. That must mean that there’s someone in there with him. Someone Nezu doesn’t trust…

Stepping forward, Hitoshi opens the door, bowing, “I have the papers you requested from Aizawa sensei, Principal Nezu.”

“Thank you, Shinsou. Bring them here, please.”

He straightens, looking at whoever is joining the principal, and immediately freezes, “A- All Might?!”

“My boy! You have been chosen for something great!” 

“W- What?”

“You will be given my quirk!”

“What?!”

Distantly, Hitoshi is aware that Nezu does in fact have some of his favorite tea left over and is making him some, but it’s overshadowed by the avalanche of information that the number one hero is just suddenly dumping on him. Why is he being told these things? They sound like government secrets that no one, least of all him, should be allowed to know. 

An enemy that was actually able to injure All Might?

A quirk that gets passed down?

Why is he showing the stomach thing still?

By the end of it, Hitoshi is sure that he’s going to be sick. This is too much, especially after having to reveal his quirk to the class earlier. He needs to be anywhere else but here right now. 

“And, of course, there’s the matter of me being down to only three or so hours of hero work a day. That means we’re running out of time, so we need to do this now.”

Hitoshi chokes on his spit, “N- Now? Like right now?”

The hero laughs loudly, “I’m glad you understand the urgency. Now,-”

He can’t take any more of this and the teen scrambles out of his chair, “I can’t do this! I can’t accept this!”

All Might stares him down, his gaze piercing into his very being, “What do you mean, you can’t accept this?”

Hitoshi looks over to Nezu, hoping for something, anything to help him. Unfortunately, his teacher is staring at him sadly, and the teen knows immediately that he can’t do anything here and it’s killing him. As All Might looms closer, his brain is racing, desperate for a way out of this. 

What would Izuku do?

Thinking of his soulmate, Hitoshi is immediately surrounded by an overwhelming feeling of calm. 

Lie, Kitten…

“I just need some time to think about it! I can’t do it today!”

Everything freezes, All Might a mere foot away. Hitoshi is squeezing his eyes shut, hoping beyond hope that worked. The longer the silence stretches on, the more uneasy he feels. Suddenly, a hand claps him on the shoulder and Hitoshi nearly jumps out of his skin. Looking up, he sees All Might giving him his media grin.

“I understand, my boy! It’s a lot to take in. We’ll do it once classes have settled down! Trust me, once you’re under my care, I will be able to lead you down the right path. Now, remember, don’t tell anyone. You wouldn’t want to put others in danger, right?”

Hitoshi can only nod, ready to pass out and thanking every deity out there that he got out of this. 

Scrambling back, he makes sure to bow at Nezu, “If that is all, I need to get home. Bye!” With that, he runs out, the door slamming shut behind him. 

All Might turns to Nezu, clapping his hands together, “I think that went rather well, don’t you?”

Nezu just stares at him. 

“...What?”

Chapter Text

The moment that Hitoshi is out of Nezu’s office, he collapses on one of the benches down the hall. There’s too much to process. What just happened? Wh-What was that? His brain scrambles to piece everything together, to get it to make sense somehow. Gripping his soul marks, Hitoshi tries desperately to calm down before he has to return to the others.

The others! He needs Dad and Pops! He needs Izuku! His boyfriend would know how to calm him down. What was it he does again? Kami, he wishes one of them were her-

“Hitoshi? Hitoshi!” 

His head snaps up, vision bleary but still able to recognize the blob of green running towards him. 

“B-Bunny?”

“Kitten, are you alright? No, stupid question. Clearly, you aren’t.” Izuku falls to his knees before Hitoshi. ”Toshi, can I touch you? Is that alright?” He shakily nods, and Izuku immediately grabs his hand, placing it against his chest. “Okay, kitten. I’m going to need you to try and match my breathing, okay? You need to calm down before you hurt yourself, and I’m going to help you. Is that alright?”

Hitoshi barely manages a second nod, desperately trying to get his breathing under control. 

“Good. You’re doing so well. Now, let’s try the three trios exercises. Three things you can touch.”

Slowly, Hitoshi wiggles his fingers on the hand that Izuku is still holding. 

“Good, that’s one.”

His other hand pats the bench before he brings it to his own chest. Already, he can feel the mess in his brain starting to calm down just a bit. 

“Great job, kitten. Now, try naming three things you can see.”

Hitoshi clears his throat, grimacing, “I-I can see the fl-floor. I see m-my shoes and y-you.”

His soulmate smiles with love shining bright in his eyes. Knowing he’s in good hands, the violet haired teen attempts to smile back. He loves him so much. 

Izuku catches his other hand and kisses his fingertips, “Just one more, love. Three things you can move.”

Hitoshi takes a deep breath, his breathing more or less under control now, before shrugging his shoulders and cracking his neck. Pulling one of his hands away from Izuku, he ignores how it shakes ever so slightly in order to boop his boyfriend on the nose. 

“All done, b-bunny.”

Izuku beams again before yanking him to his feet. 

“Here you go, Tosh.”

Hitoshi startles slightly, having completely missed Katsuki’s presence. He takes the water bottle the blonde is holding out with a grateful smile, “Th-Thanks, sweetie.”

His friend just rolls his eyes, grinning, “Whatever, Troll Doll.”

Izuku gives him a few moments to drink before placing a hand on Hitoshi’s arm, “Toshi, what happened?”

Immediately, he stiffens, unsure of what he should say. He knows he can’t say anything remotely close to the truth. He could never put Izuku or the others in danger like that which means he has no choice but to hide this. 

“Was it from earlier today? You didn’t really get a chance to lie down after your panic attack earlier. Today’s definitely been a lot for you.”

Katsuki glares at his best friend, “Not just him, nerd.”

Hitoshi’s eyes widen, ignoring the blonde as he grabs onto Izuku’s excuse immediately, “Y-Yes! That’s it exactly. Just drained from the tests and everyone’s reactions and got stuck in my head…”

Kat pats him on the shoulder before he starts walking, “Well, we’ll have Recovery Girl look you over just to be sure.”

Hitoshi hesitates, “Weren’t we supposed to meet at the teacher’s lounge? That’s what I told Ochako at least.”

The blonde doesn’t bother stopping, just waves his phone, “Already texted her. Your dad is being a baby and taking longer than the old lady thought. Zashi is already there, helping her keep him in line.”

Izuku smiles up at his boyfriend, “Come on, kitten. Let’s get you checked out.”

Hitoshi shoves down the waves of guilt as he smiles back. 

-----------------------------------------

“You put that thing down or so help me, woman!!!”

“Shouta… This is a thermometer.”

Zashi pulls his hissing husband back down, failing to hide his laughter, “Sho, baby, honey. Y-You have to let her finish.”

Hitoshi puts his head in his hands. exasperated, “Is this the example I’m being given? I have to go after you!”

Recovery Girl rounds on him without hesitation, “If you pull half the shit he is now when I look you over, your kneecaps will be mine!”

The teen immediately straightens with a gulp, “Yes, ma’am!”

She nods, satisfied, before turning back to his dad, “I swear, you’re worse than Ken was, and he was a crybaby.” 

Subconsciously, everyone stiffens at the rare mention of her soulmate. Glancing at her grey lips, Aizawa forces himself to relax and lets her finish in peace. The silence is broken as the door opens, and Ochako walks in with a familiar blonde. 

“Denki? I thought for sure you’d be gone by now,” Izuku says, surprised. 

His friend shrugs, “Rai wanted to know if she could pick me up from your place after patrol. It’s cool if not.” 

Izuku beams, “Of course. I’ll let Mama know you’re joining us for dinner!”

“Alright, Shouta. Your check-up is done.”

Aizawa honest to Kami hisses at her one last time as she turns towards Hitoshi. Zashi petting his hair doesn’t help the comparison to a feral cat. Luckily, Hitoshi is much more cooperative and the group is leaving with orders to make sure the exhausted teen gets some rest tonight. 

As they make their way through the halls, Katsuki smirks at Ochako, “What took you so long to find us, Round Face? You get defeated by a school that’s bigger than you’re used to?”

Ochako rolls her eyes, “In your dreams, Katsuki. I was just socializing with some of our classmates which is something you should learn how to do.”

As he leans closer to her, grin wide, Izuku suddenly gets hit with a feeling and pulls Hitoshi back with him to lag behind the pair. He tunes out Zashi and Denki’s chatting behind him as he realizes what’s about to happen. 

“Why socialize with them when I can have your lovely company instead?”

“Careful, Kat. That almost sounded like a compliment.”

“And so what if it is? What are you gonna do about it, Cheeks?”

“Quit playing around,” groans Ochako, cheeks red as she shoves his face away and walks just a bit faster. It takes her a moment or two to register the silence behind her. She turns around, “Guys, what’s the hold- Where’s Katsuki?”

Denki and Zashi are jumping up and down in excitement while Aizawa just sighs. However, Hitoshi and Izuku have matching evil grins as they both point up without a word. 

No…

Slowly, Ochako looks up, scared at what she’ll find. Above them, floating with his arms crossed and a pout is Katsuki. His face burns a bright pink making the red and violet fingerprints stand out even more on his left cheek. 

------------------------------------------

Much to the pair’s embarrassment, it takes far too long to get to the car. Using his capture weapon, Aizawa is able to get Katsuki down safely so that Ochako can release him. However, when face to face with her newly realized soulmate, she instinctively hides behind her hands, sending herself floating up to the ceiling when her fingers touch her face. Thankfully, Aizawa grabs her quickly, but Katsuki and Ochako have to walk to the car with his scarf holding tightly onto both of them. 

Once they arrive at the car, Aizawa waits just long enough for Zashi to unlock it before he lets the two go. Without hesitation, he opens the trunk, steps in, and waves Izuku over, “Problem Child, with me.”

Izuku just shrugs before climbing in beside him. The two get themselves settled before turning expectantly toward the others. Zashi raises an eyebrow, “Care to explain?”

His husband dares to let out a drawn-out groan as if he’s the only one making sense here, “There are seven people and the car has five seats, so Problem Child and I are gonna sit back here. Now would you mind closing the trunk?”

“And why you two?” Hitoshi asks.

At that, his dad actually rolls his eyes, “First of all, you need an adult to drive, and I’m not dealing with those teenage hormones if I can help it.”

Ochako somehow manages to turn even pinker while Katsuki just scoffs, refusing to meet their eyes with his cheeks still burning.

“Also, I’m not sitting by the ball of energy that is Kaminari. Plus, if he sits in the front, he and Zashi can bond since he was thinking about mentoring him anyways.”

Denki stares up at Zashi with stars in his eyes, “Is that true, Mr. Mic???”

Zashi laughs, ruffling the blonde’s hair, “Of course, little listener. I specialize in helping with way too powerful quirks that require a lot of control. Besides, you’re a pretty cool kid. Kinda remind me of me when I was younger, ya dig?”

As Denki attacks his pops in a hug, Hitoshi turns back to his dad, “And what about me?”

His dad nods to Pops, who just rolls his eyes but puts his hand on the trunk hatch. Focusing back on his son, Shouta gives one of his infamous grins, “I just want to make you suffer.” With that, Zashi slams the trunk shut. 

Hitoshi groans before snagging the seat behind his pops. Dad had already claimed the front for Denki, so he isn’t risking ending up in the middle. On the way to Katsuki’s, he comes to a few realizations. One, he’s so happy that he and Izuku were able to have their soul meeting on their own rather than in front of family and friends. Second, Dad was right about Denki and Pops. The two are getting along like a house on fire up front. Finally, between his dad and soulmate in the back, the two in the front, and the couple beside him, he is unfortunately left with far too much time to think about what happened in Nezu’s office. 

Hitoshi isn’t considering All Might’s offer for even a second. The gall this man has to just tell him that he’ll “lead him down the right path.” What does that even mean? Was he planning to just take over Hitoshi’s life if he agreed? This whole thing is rubbing him the wrong way, and honestly, he feels like he might just be about to lose it aga-

“Hey.”

Hitoshi startles, looking to his left. When did Izuku get up here? Looking around the rest of the car, he realizes both Katsuki and Ochako are gone. Denki has joined them in the back, and his dad is upfront, trying to convince Pops to get yet another cat. He must have been more in his head than he thought. 

“Kitten?” 

Focusing back on Izuku, he puts on his best smile, “Sorry, just a bit tired still.”

His boyfriend smiles lovingly at him, cupping one of his soul marks, “When we get back to my place, the two of us can take a nap before dinner.” 

Hitoshi closes his eyes and leans into Izuku’s touch. Pushing down the guilt of not being able to share what had happened earlier with his soulmate, he nods, “That sounds perfect.”

Chapter Text

Hitoshi is back home in his room, petting Bastard when his phone dings. As he grabs it, the sound goes off once more. 

Mine Now

yo where were y’all earlier??? 

was hopin to annoy Blondie 

Fix-It Gremlin

zuzu I was gonna show you my new goggles + an idea for boom boom boi 

Mama Bear

I want to hear this idea 

Green Bean

Oh I’m sorry!!! (///￣ ￣///) 

I forgot to tell you guys we wouldn’t be there  (＞﹏＜)

Not a Furry

Why wouldn’t you be there?

Yosetsu, please change my name back. I beg of you. 

Mine Now 

nope 

Sleep or Death 

Cause my dad does the same thing every yr

Pika-CHUUU

n you coulnt tell me?????? 

BFF rights REVOKED 

Green Bean

tbf the only reason we know is cause Zawa complains bout ppl every year (￣▽￣*)ゞ

Mama Bear

Also, he expelled his whole class last year

Gravity Whomst?

What??? ⊙﹏⊙

Pika-CHUUU

bruh I thought he ws jokin when he didnt expel any1

Mine Now 

yo the fuCk?!?!

Not a Furry

Is he even allowed to do that?

Green Bean

Nezu sensei knows  (^_^)

Mine Now 

nezu SENSEI???????

Sleep or Death 

Sides Denks, he wouldn’t have hesitated to expel us or at the very least punish us if we also didn’t put in all our effort 

Mine Now 

I WONT HESITATE, BITCH!

Pika-CHUUU

fineeeeeeee but you’re on thin fuckinf ice 

Not a Furry

Am I the only one lost here?

Sleep or Death 

He basically did a series of 8 tests in order to get baseline scores for us and we could use our quirks if they helped

Fix-It Gremlin

share the data, Zuzu?

Green Bean

Of course ＼(＾▽＾)／

Mama Bear

Also, Izu told everyone he's quirkless and there's a group of assholes I need to blow up :)

Fix-It Gremlin

give me their names :)

Mine Now

al;ready got a classmate who hates 1A so we can sic him on thm

Not a Furry

I (for once) support his idea.

Green Bean

Noooooo  (///￣ ￣///) thank you but it'll be fine 

Not a Furry

As long as you promise to tell us if anything happens.

Green Bean

Do I have to????? (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞

Fix-It Gremlin

Yes

Gravity Whomst?

We got you (*＾ω＾)人(＾ω＾*)

Mine Now

anywhooooo anythin else happen w y'all??????

Green Bean

I don’t know (¬‿¬ )

Did anything happen, Toshi???

Sleep or Death 

Hmmm… Honey bear??? Chacko???

Mama Bear

You know what? You two can fuck off!

Gravity Whomst?

IZUUUU!!! HITO!!!! (⁄ ⁄•⁄-⁄•⁄ ⁄)

Not a Furry

I feel like I’m missing something here… 

Pika-CHUUU

THEY FOUND OUT THEYRE SOULMATES!!!!!!

Mine Now

CONGRATZZZZZ

Not a Furry

Congratulations!

Fix-It Gremlin

took u2 long enough

Mama Bear

OI FUCK OFF YOU PEEPING TOM

Gravity Whomst?

Thank you but moving on!!! (￣▽￣*)ゞ

Our first full day and first hero class is tomorrow!!! ＼(＾▽＾)／

Not a Furry

Let us know how it goes. 

Mine Now

do we not have diff teachers??? 

Pika-CHUUU

nah i hrd some uppers talking bout a new TA which i think 1a gets frst 

Fix-It Gremlin

must be pretty big hero then 

Green Bean

I wonder who though o(>< )o

Gravity Whomst?

Anyone would be better than Assmight  (≖､≖)

Mine Now

yooo dude i still cant believe tht shit he put u thru

Not a Furry

He’s truly a sorry excuse of a hero.

Mama Bear

Agreed 

Anyone would be better than him… except maybe Endeavor

Hitoshi shuts his eyes tight, forcing himself to take a deep breath. It’s crazy how just one night surrounded by his family and soulmate can make him forget the horrors of today. Now, he just needs to try his best to avoid All Might. He can’t give the man a chance to be alone with him no matter what. Rolling over in his bed, he grips his soul marks, determined to sleep this all away for now. 

------------------------

Chapter Text

The next morning brings the first day of actual classes, and it’s as normal as one would expect. Despite the fact they’re being taught by actual pro heroes (including Pops), their fundamental classes aren’t anything different from the ordinary high school student’s school day. Honestly, the most interesting thing so far has been seeing their classmates’ reactions to Izuku’s reveal. The ones who had spoken up for him the day before seemed to have collectively chosen to form a barrier between Izuku and the others. Katsuki and Hitoshi clearly couldn’t be happier, but the green haired teen is starting to feel suffocated. 

Those who had spoken out against him definitely varied in their reactions. Some of the reactions are certainly better than others. Tsuyu and Momo are overall keeping quiet, almost as if this was their first experience with a quirkless person and they’re just feeling things out. Todoroki is also keeping quiet, but then again, he doesn’t seem inclined to make friends with any of them, so Izuku doesn’t take it personally. Iida is unfortunately just a step past that. He isn’t saying anything outright aggressive, but he has also decided to be obnoxiously helpful, treating being quirkless as if the most basic things are too complex to handle. The most outright aggressive however have been Jirou and Ojiro. After Zawa’s warning, they’ve been careful to not do anything too obvious or where they can be caught, but there have been plenty of under their breath snide remarks and dirty looks. The pair have Izuku’s friends practically frothing at the mouth, but the teen honestly can’t decide if he’s more annoyed by them or Iida. Jirou and Ojiro really aren’t doing anything he hasn’t seen before and part of him is tempted to let them know. They’re easy enough to ignore especially since he doubts they would be the type to use their quirks on him, but even if they did, it could pretty easily be traced back to them. 

Regardless, by lunchtime, Izuku is already starting to feel exhausted by it all. His mood is quickly improved when he sees Mei, Rin, and Awase waiting for them at a table. Judging by Katsuki’s groan behind him alone, his mood is sure to be improved before the end of the hour. 

“Hey dudes, how goes it?” Awase grins, leaning over the table to get closer to Kat. Rin has clearly given up on stopping his antics, continuing to eat beside him. 

“Back the fuck off, you kleptomaniac!”

Izuku beams, “You guys excited for heroics?”

Immediately, Denki and Awase reach over Rin's head and high-five, “LET’S GOOOOOO!!!”

Hitoshi hisses, “Too much energy…”

“Come on, Hito. You love us,” Ochako beams, leaning into him. 

Izuku leans into his other side, joining her, “You love us soooooo much.” 

The teen glares, unimpressed, “I would trade every single one of you for a single stale chip.”

His soulmate’s eyes immediately water, “Even me, Kitten?”

“Wait, no- That’s not fair, Bunny!”

“Even me???”

Ochako giggles, turning from the lovebirds to face the others, “So how have your classes been so far?”

Mei grins, finally looking up from whatever she’s working on, hopefully having already eaten, “I blew up two things already!”

Beside her, Denki raises an eyebrow, “You guys have already started working on stuff?”

“Nope!”

Rin clears his throat as Denki scoots away slowly, “Moving on then… Overall, the same as yours, I’d assume.”

“Anyone we need to fight yet for the green bean???” Awase asks, almost too eagerly. 

Katsuki groans, leaning dramatically into Ochako’s shoulder, “No one yet, unfortunately. There are two that are really testing my patience, but the nerd made a good point.”

Ochako rubs her boyfriend’s back, grimacing at the others, “So far it’s been nothing but endless snide comments. Rude, but nothing that would get them into too much trouble, and never in front of a teacher. We all know Izuku could push it and get proof if he really wanted to, but he won’t. He says they’re not the type to get worse than that and he’s more than used to some comments.”

Awase and Rin both frown while Mei outright growls, “Greenie just needs to say the word and I’ll release my babies upon them.”

Rin turns and looks over at some other students, seemingly contemplating something. Awase grins, “You got something, Rin?”

“Do you think we should sic Monoma on them yet?” 

The group turns to where he’s looking to see an enthusiastic blonde boy ranting to a small group of classmates. Beside him sits his soulmate, the colored mark on her hand matching his own. It’s clear she’s the only one still listening to him with the others having tuned him out and one redhead, in particular, looking ready to smack him. 

Hitoshi nods, having placated his boyfriend’s puppy dog eyes, “Yeah, he looks like he’d do quite nicely.” 

Izuku laughs, “Guys, we can’t weaponize your classmat-” Abruptly, he cuts off, straightening up. 

Rin leans forward, “Izuku, are you alright?”

His friends glance at each other, worried, as the teen mutters, “He’s here…” He looks around the cafeteria until he finds what he’s looking for. Without a word, he runs off. 

Hitoshi groans, hiding his face in his hands as soon as he realizes where Izuku is headed, “Oh Kami, his Dadzawa senses were tingling.”

------------------------------------------

Shota has been in the cafeteria for a total of seven seconds when he sees Izuku bounding up to him. Hiding a proud smile in his capture weapon, he gestures for his mentee to follow him out into the hallway. 

“What’s up, Dadzawa?”

Shouta sighs, knowing the nickname isn’t going away anytime soon, “I came to warn you.”

It hurts that he can instantly see the teen’s walls go up at that, “Warn me? Why?”

The teacher sighs, figuring he should just rip the bandaid off, “All Might is teaching Heroics with me.”

“...What?”

Shouta winces, pulling the boy he pretty much sees as his son into a hug, “I’m so sorry, Izuku. Nezu tried his best. Originally, he was just with the second and third years, but for some reason, he insisted on joining the first years this morning. Honestly, he tried to be the only teacher, but at least Nezu was able to put his foot down there.” Pulling back, he keeps his hands on his shoulders as he looks Izuku in the eye, “I promise you, I won’t let you deal with him alone. I’ll be there with you every step of the way.”

The teen’s eyes tear up before he nods and dives back into his mentor’s arms.

----------------------------

“So you just need us to cause a little distraction in ten minutes?”

“And you’re sure everything will be fine, All Might?”

All Might grins down at the two boys, “Of course, trust me. Everything will be fine.”

-----------------------------------

When the time comes for Heroics, class 1A is practically vibrating in their seats. 

Aizawa removes his sleeping bag, standing with a groan, “Alright, today we’ll be having your first class of Foundational Heroics. Assisting me will be-”

“I AM HERE!” The door slams open with All Might leaning into the classroom, “COMING THROUGH THE DOOR!!! LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!!!” 

As excited whispers break out amongst most of his classmates, Izuku sighs. He’s not gonna lie. Up until this point, he had hoped it had been a mistake, and All Might wasn’t actually joining them. Thankfully, he had been able to warn the others, glancing at his friends who are all staring down the number one hero. 

Up front, Aizawa clears his throat and the class is quick to focus on him once more. “As I was saying, assisting me will be All Might. Now, today is to get a grasp of the basics and we’ll be starting with a routine-”

A ringing phone cuts him off this time, but instead of looking annoyed, Aizawa is quick to grab it, looking more alert than he has all day, “Aizawa.” The class holds their breath, curious as their teacher looks more and more alarmed at what he’s hearing. “Code Indigo? Where?... Is Midnight on the way?... She’s out?!... Fine, I’ll be right there.” Aizawa hangs up and looks at his students, “There’s been an emergency that requires my aid.” He focuses on Izuku as he emphasizes, “I will be right back .” He tosses his lesson plan at All Might, “Follow that! I’ll be back soon!” 

With that, he’s out the door. 

There’s silence as All Might flips through the papers he was handed before dropping them on the podium with an almost ominous finality. Looking at the class, he grins, “I think it’s time for some battle trials.”

Chapter Text

Izuku, Hitoshi, and Katsuki all stare at the hero in shock as the class erupts into excited cheers. This isn’t what they’re supposed to be doing. Aizawa’s first lesson is always a hero costume review so that the students can get used to their gear and any possible problems can be fixed. 

Katsuki turns to the other two, alarmed, “Do we say something to the asshole?”

Izuku scoffs, “ I doubt the man would listen…”

Hitoshi rubs at his soul mark, worry clear in his eyes, “Should I text Dad? I know it sounded like an emergency, but this could so easily go bad.”

Izuku looks at the rest of the class, all of them excitedly rushing for their costume cases that All Might had revealed, “Not right now… I might text Nezu a heads up to keep an eye on us, but we’ll go with it for now.”

Hitoshi and Kat share a grimace, “Hope you know what you’re doing…”

Izuku rubs his nose, nervously, “Me too.”

-----------------------------------

When they get to the locker rooms, Ochako waves to the boys, splitting off to change. Wow, she really needs to get some female friends in the class. Though right now, Mina and Hagakure seem like the only options. They’re lovely, but she’d like to get to know the others as well.  Hopefully, the other girls will get their acts together soon, though Ochako isn’t holding out much hope for Jirou. 

She quickly pulls on her costume, making sure everything fits before she’s suddenly attacked from behind. “Ocha!!! You look so good!!!”

The brunette giggles, “Thanks, Mina. I love your color scheme.”

The girl backs off, striking a pose, “Oh, stop it! This old thing?” She does a few different poses, spurred on by Ochako’s giggles before stopping abruptly. “Um, Hagakure? Isn’t that a bit visible for someone… invisible???”

The teen in question laughs, swishing her holographic skirt from side to side, “You’d think so, but watch this.” She waves her hands eagerly before taking a deep breath. Tapping the bracelets on her wrists together twice, her entire costume vanishes. 

Mina immediately loses her mind, shaking Ochako in her excitement, “That’s so cool!!! How does it work???”

Hagakure’s costume appears once more, arm raising to rub the back of her neck, “I’m gonna be honest, I don’t understand it completely. I know it has something to do with my DNA being in it cause I had to give them a sample.”

“Oh, mine has something similar to that.”

The three turn towards Momo, who is sliding a brace onto her arm. She taps it experimentally, and a screen comes to life. 

“Wow, what’s that?” Hagakure asks, crowding closer. 

Momo blinks in shock at her arm, “It’s a computer so I can reference how materials are made and their compositions. I thought I’d have to carry a book or something…”

Ochako laughs, “Oh, yeah. Mei had a blast helping design that.”

The other girls turn to her, confused, “Mei?”

The brunette beams, “Mei Hatsume! She’s a first-year support student but Power Loader has been friends with her parents for years, so she sometimes helps him out. Apparently, when it came to the costumes you two originally designed, he enlisted her and Zu for help before they sent it off to the support company. Izuku is the one who was reminded of the new tech that a third-year tried last year involving using his DNA for his costume. The three of them also decided what should be preloaded onto your computer, Momo. I think Zuku mentioned that you can also add to it, but I’d ask him to be sure.”

Momo blinks in shock, “Izuku? Is that-?”

Ochako cuts her off, “Midoriya, yep.” She turns and points at Hagakure, “It’s because of him that you’re not going around literally naked.” She turns back to Momo, “And it is because of him that you won’t have to be practically naked with your boobs threatening to fall out of your top every other step.” She clicks her case shut and strides to the door, “Almost sounds like a hero if you ask me.”

As the door shuts behind her, she hears Jirou’s scoff and hopes the boys are doing better. 

----------------------------------

Izuku is hiding his final knives in his costume when Hitoshi reaches over and runs his fingers through his hair, “You really need a haircut, bunny.”

He bats away his boyfriend’s hand, scrunching his nose in faux annoyance, “My hair looks just fine, thank you very much.”

Kat chuckles, “Troll doll is right. Your hair is a mess. The old man has been itching to drive you to a salon for ages now.” Izuku sticks his tongue out at him and the blonde’s face scrunches up in confusion, “You know, that looks weird as hell when you do that. How the hell are we able to understand you so clearly behind that… uh…”

“Gautier,” Izuku supplies, helpfully. 

“Gesundheit. Anyways how?”

Izuku shrugs, “Support team. I just requested something I could speak clearly through and a way to cover these.” Pulling down the fabric, Izuku’s green and violet freckles stand out immediately. “Zawa says heroes in general cover their soul marks, but especially underground.”

“Thankfully, my persona chords and capture weapon cover mine well enough.” Hitoshi gives Izuku a dopey grin, resting his head on his bare shoulder, “Speaking of which, I really like the costume. Especially the shoulder cutouts.”

Izuku giggles, pecking his boyfriend on the forehead, “Kitten, I have enough knives on me to take down a small mob.”

The teen blushes, “That’s really hot…”

Katsuki groans, “Alright, you’re gay as hell for him. Quit it. I need Izuku’s opinion real quick, and your twitterpated ass isn’t helping.”

Noting his serious tone, the couple straightens, focusing on their friend, “What’s wrong, Kacchan?”

Katsuki pauses for a moment, twisting his gauntlets around, “These aren’t what we designed…”

Izuku immediately grabs one of his arms, inspecting the gauntlet with a critical eye, “You’re absolutely right. We have to go see Powe-”

“Alright, everybody!” Iida calls, “We shouldn’t keep All Might waiting.”

Katsuki rolls his eyes, “I guess I’ll ask Ass Might before we start. They don’t seem too different, but I’d feel better having Power Loader or Goggles look them over.”

Hitoshi grimaces, “Presuming the man will actually listen to you. Look how he listened to Dad…”

Izuku gives the gauntlets one last look before letting go, “Obviously, you’re gonna be careful, but I think they’ll be fine for today. After class, we’ll go to support immediately.”

Kat hesitates, “What if-”

His best friend cuts him off with a smile, “Relax, if anything happens, you can blame me. We all know Dadzawa is going to be mainly pissed at Ass Might anyways.”

The blonde finally nods, and the three leave, meeting back up with the others.

Chapter Text

“Alright, students! It is time for indoor battle trials!” All Might shouts as Izuku, Hitoshi, and Kat walk over. “While a good deal of battling villains is witnessed outdoors, most of it will occur indoors. Between confinement, house arrest, and black market deals, the most clever of villains stay inside, away from the cameras and witnesses.” Clearing his throat, All Might grins, “For this exercise, you will be split into pairs for a two-on-two team battle. One team will be the heroes and the other the villains.”

Izuku grabs Toshi’s hand tightly as his boyfriend stiffens at the term villain. Looking around, Izuku notices he isn’t the only one. Tokoyami’s shadow quirk wraps around him tightly while Shoji rubs at the still dark soul mark on his right hand. 

Tsuyu raises her hand, “Should we not be having some kind of foundational training before we jump into battle trials?”

All Might laughs, “This is the foundational training! It’s my belief that practical experience is the best teacher! The only real difference between here and the entrance exams is that you will be going up against each other instead of disposable robots.”

Katsuki and Izuku share a grimace. There went their hope that All Might would listen to them about the costume overview or the gauntlets. It also appears that they aren’t the only students with some concerns. 

Momo speaks up first, “What will determine who wins?”

Izuku catches Jirou giving him side eye before raising her hand, “How aggressive can we get?” Hitoshi holds Kat back from lunging at her. 

Tooru’s bracelets move rapidly almost as if she’s trying to shake her nerves away, “Will there be a threat of expulsion like in Aizawa-sensei’s test?”

Iida dutifully raises his hand, almost hesitantly edging towards Aoyama, “Will we be picking the teams ourselves or will you?”

With a very clean twirl, Aoyama sweeps his cape up and poses, placing himself further from Iida and closer to Izuku and the others, “Doesn’t my cape look magnifique?”

All Might steps back, clearly overwhelmed by all the sudden questions, “N-Now, students! I can’t possibly be expected to understand you if all of you are speaking at once!”

Beside Izuku, Hitoshi scoffs, “Another point to Dad for basic listening skills…”

Izuku grimaces, “Is anyone even surpri- Are those notecards?!?!”

Sure enough, All Might had pulled out notecards, and he’s reading from them directly as he explains the exercise. Izuku recognizes it as an exercise from Aizawa’s lesson plans… one that’s for at least a month and a half from now.

“Alright, I know we were already going to keep an eye out, but we really need to be on our toes for this. I don’t trust this going smoothly in the slightest. I think I am going to text Nezu to keep watch on the cam-”

“As for your partners, we’ll be drawing lots! Of course, one of you will be going twice to make it even!”

Izuku and his friends immediately freeze, focusing back on All Might. The hero is staring directly at Izuku, almost as if he’s daring him to speak up. Even Ojiro and Jirou look shocked for a moment. It’s one thing for peers to bully one another, but a teacher openly ostracizing one of the students? It was probably unheard of for most of the class. 

Ochako immediately steps forward, voice venomous, “And why would that be, All Might?”

The man gives her barely a glance before turning back to Izuku, “Well, I think young Midoriya should sit out. We wouldn’t want to risk his weak constitution or have his partner take care of him after all.”

Whispers immediately break out amongst the students as they glance between the two. All Might smiles smugly while Katsuki and the others all give him death glares. 

Izuku takes a breath before walking right up to the man. The blonde catches himself before he stumbles, clearly not ready for his student to stand up to him. It’s obvious he has no idea what he’s in for. Izuku smiles up at him, but nothing about it is happy. It’s a smile that says I can ruin you without even trying. It’s a smile that promises pain and suffering. It’s a smile that comes from being brought down to the lowest you can go and crawling your way back up in spite of that. This time All Might can’t hide his flinch, the chilling feeling of pure fear completely overwhelming him. 

There’s silence as Izuku softly clears his throat, “I assure you, All Might, that I am more than capable of taking care of myself and find your severe lack of professionalism quite frankly to be insulting. Then again, I'm not surprised by someone who didn't bother getting a teaching degree in the first place and instead chose to use his status to shove himself into places he doesn’t belong.”

The class holds their breath, waiting for All Might’s response. Despite how openly rude he was being to a teacher, no one, not even Iida, was willing to stop Izuku. All Might takes a deep breath before giving his own strained smile back with his teeth clenched, “Fine, have it your way.”

------------------------

One by one, the students walk up and draw their lots. Some people are more excited about their partners than others. Denki and Katsuki in particular don’t look happy. 

“Think I can get away with zapping her? Just a bit?” Denki asks, eyeing Jirou with a pout. 

Katsuki glances over to where his best friend and girlfriend are already discussing strategies and groans. “Unfortunately, no. The nerd will get upset and also Aizawa will definitely find out somehow. I don’t feel like doing laps until I collapse or facing the nerd’s kicked puppy eyes.” The blonde looks over to where Iida is talking with Momo and Todoroki. “As tempting as it is…”

“Ughhhhh, I hate when you’re right,” whines Denki, finally looking away from his partner to make his way over to Hitoshi.

Up front, All Might clears his throat, “Alright, kids. The scenario we’ll be running through will have the villains in the building first. You have five minutes to get into the villain mindset and place their bomb before I send the hero team inside.” The hero grins, looking towards Izuku’s group pointedly, “This is a practical exercise, so don’t be afraid to go all out. No holding back.” There’s a moment where he pauses, the tension practically suffocating the room before All Might regains his normal smile, “Everyone else will be watching from the cameras. Make sure to pay attention to see what mistakes your classmates might make.”

Hitoshi grips Izuku’s hand tight, trying to stop himself from responding to the obvious bait. A thumb rubs against his knuckles and he looks down at Izuku. His soulmate shakes his head minutely and the purple-haired teen looks away, spotting something similar happening with Kat and Ochako. 

All Might walks over to the box that’s next to the one that the students pulled their groups from, “Well now, let’s see who’s up first, shall we?” Reaching in, he pulls out two lots, “Alright, teams A and D step forward.”

Katsuki confidently walks to the front beside the nerd and Pink Cheeks. Unfortunately, Iida follows, reminding him who his partner is in this exercise. 

The four stand there, waiting to begin, but All Might just looks at them, seeming to consider something. The silence stretches on and Katsuki is ready to ask the sorry excuse for a hero if he’s finally lost it when the man laughs. “Yes, I think that will do quite nicely!”

“Finally…” Kat mutters, but instead of starting the exercise, All Might turns back to the box and pulls out two more slips of paper. 

“Teams B and I, step forward.”

Izuku looks to Ochako and Katsuki, confused, but they can only shrug in response. Behind the four, Todoroki confidently walks forward with Momo, Ojiro, and Hagakure following hesitantly. All Might waves them forward with a grin, “Yes, yes, come up here! I’ve decided to have your groups go first.” Despite his grin staying firmly in place, All Might’s eyes narrow as he turns to look at the previous four, or more specifically, one student. “This way, some of you will get the chance to see what you’re getting yourselves into. After all, there’s no shame in quitting.”

Immediately, Katsuki takes a step away from Izuku as he feels the nerd’s death aura appear around him. All Might has no clue what he just did as he cheerfully turns away from the now glowering green-haired ball of sunshine. 

“Katsuki.”

The blonde straightens at once, recognizing Izuku’s take no shit tone, “Yes?”

“I think the class needs to see exactly what the Symbol of Peace is really like,” his best friend says with a smile.

He nods in response, “Anything, in particular, you’re thinking of?”

Izuku’s grin turns feral, “I think I’m feeling a good old fashioned Ryuuko and Rumi sensei fake out.”

Katsuki briefly remembers the one time Aizawa and Zashi decided to fight Rumi and Ryuuko sensei to see who was the better soulmate hero duo. He doesn’t know what they were thinking as Rumi and Ryuuko had worked together often while Aizawa and Zashi were underground and limelight. It was hilarious to see the two men get their asses kicked. 

“Got it.”

“Hero team, you may move in!”

--------------------

Shoto looks up at the building that two of his classmates are hiding in. All he’s waiting for is All Might’s cue to start, and he’ll have this handled. Yaoyorozu clears her throat beside him, “T-Todoroki? I have a few ideas if you’d like to hear them?”

He doubts any will be more efficient than his, but he grunts, letting her know that he’s listening. 

“W-Well, Hagakure is likely to try and ambush us, so I can create heat-sensing goggles for us to use to see her incoming. I can handle her while you find Ojiro and the bomb.”

He hums, considering it for a moment before shaking his head, “My plan will be much quicker. When All Might gives us the cue, wait out here.”

“W-Wai-”

“Hero team, you may move in!”

Shoto strides into the building, taking a moment to look around before stepping down with his right foot. 

----------------

The class gasps in shock as the building they’re watching becomes covered in ice in mere moments. Even All Might looks impressed. As he sees Todoroki walk forward and touch the bomb, he calls the match, “Hero team has won. Return to the monitor room right away.”

Denki winces, “As much as I appreciate and am scared of Izu’s crazy genius, I don’t know how even he would get around that kind of power.”

Hitoshi glances towards the front where the others still stand, grimacing at the almost gleeful look on his soulmate's face as he whispers to Kat, “I’d give it to the end of the day…”

“Wha-”

“Wonderful, you’re back!” All Might’s voice booms out. 

Todoroki leads the four with the others trailing behind. Yaoyorozu is pulling a blanket from her stomach for a shivering Ojiro while an equally freezing Hagakure follows already covered with her own blanket. Hitoshi is holding out hope for Yaoyorozu to get her shit together with Izuku’s quirkless status. The girl seems smart and she’s clearly a nice person, if not a bit ignorant. Izuku would have a field day with her mind, and he could personally use another level-headed one in their group. 

“Now, class,” All Might begins once the four come to a stop beside him, “I think we can all agree that the best in this match was young Todoroki! Would anyone like to tell me why?”

Beside him, Denki rolls his eyes at how obvious the question is, but Hitoshi feels a wicked smirk slide onto his face. This might cause him a bit of trouble later, but he can already imagine how much this will make his boyfriend’s day. Lazily, he raises his hand in the air, knowing All Might will pick him immediately. 

“Ah! Young Shinsou, care to share?”

His smirk only widens further as he looks the man right in the eye, “Well, the answer is obvious that it’s Todoroki. Not only did he do all the work for the hero team, but he managed to capture the other two in less than a minute. In fact, one could almost say that when faced with a quirk such as his, the other three might as well have been quirkless.”

Dead silence follows his answer and Hitoshi dares to glance at the four students he was talking about. Hagakure is sending him a subtle thumbs up, obviously getting the point behind his answer. Yaoyorozu looks like she’s considering quite a few things. Good, she needed an epiphany, and if he could help it along, all the better. Todoroki’s face has barely changed, but then again when does it? Ojiro is the worst. With just one look, Hitoshi knows he’s made an enemy, but then again, the kid can build himself a bridge and get over it. It’s not his problem. 

All Might clears his throat, eyes narrowed, “Well, young Shinsou, that was certainly an interesting… opinion. Moving on to the next two teams, A and D! Team D, you may enter the building where you will have five minutes before Team A is allowed in.”

Chapter Text

Katsuki can only groan as Toyota tries to convince him for the third time since they had the misfortune to be assigned partners that it would be better to leave Izuku to him since it would be the more “humane” option. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath as Iida continues droning on behind him. 

If I kill him, the nerd will be disappointed. Cheeks will be disappointed that she couldn’t do it first. They’ll both be sad that I’m in prison. Eyebags will make a whole affair out of it, sobbing about how we can’t get married now. Pikachu will be insufferable and somehow bribe the guards to send me memes. Clepto will only help him. I can’t leave Scales on his own. He’ll never survive. Maybe I can convince Goggles to-

“Team A, you may enter the building!”

Katsuki’s eyes snap open and he scoffs at All Might’s complete unwillingness to refer to Izuku as part of a hero team. He turns to Iida, cutting him off, “Listen, as much as I would love to see you try and 'handle' the nerd so that he can immediately kick your ass, I can’t. First, he’d be disappointed. Second, I’d be down a teammate albeit a dumbass one. Third, he’s probably planned for it. Finally, I don’t have time for your quirkist bullshit, so I’m going to go find the nerd and you’re gonna stay right here and try to protect the damn bomb from my gorgeous girlfriend. Got it? Great!” With that, Katsuki is out the door with only Iida’s flustered yells behind him. 

----------

Izuku leads the way into the building, walking straight through the front door. He knows Katsuki will probably overthink whether he’ll come through the front or sneak in, so there’s no point in wasting the energy. Hopefully, he’s already left Iida with the bomb. Arriving at a split in the hallway, Izuku takes a second to make note of all visible cameras as he peers around the corner. 

Seeing that the coast is clear, he waves Ochako over, “Alright, Kat should be here any moment. We know he’s going for me, so remember what we planned.”

She gives a firm nod, grinning in excitement, “Time to kick ass!”

The pair manage to make it the next turn before Kat comes flying at them with one of his feral grins on his face. His arm is swinging forward in an explosive blast that abruptly vanishes as Ochako pulls Izuku behind her.

“Won’t work on me, babe,” she says, matching his feral grin with one of her own. 

He chuckles, “Yeah, but that would be boring. Go kick Toyota’s ass for some real fun.”

She gives him a cheeky wink before running past. Kat smiles after her for a moment before focusing all of his attention on the nerd, “Bout time you two showed up.”

His best friend smirks, “Oh, I’m sorry. Did we keep you waiting? My bad.”

The blonde rushes him, falling into the familiar feeling of sparring. Before he can make contact, Izuku grabs his right arm and throws him over his shoulder. Katsuki lands hard on his back, and Izuku tsks at him, “Rumi sensei has told you countless times about that right hook, Kacchan.”

He glares, “I know! I know!” He aims a small blast upwards, forcing his friend to dodge so he can kick up into a standing position. 

He hears a groan. “You show off!”

“Well, it’d be a sin not to show off this perfection.”

Izuku rolls his eyes before pulling out his escrima sticks, running over to attack. Kat’s eyes widen slightly, immediately on the defensive, “You better not turn those on!”

“Afraid of a little zap?” 

“Little zap, my ass!” 

Having checked things out before, Katsuki leads the way to the best place for their little show. The two make sure no one in the monitor room suspects a thing as they continue fighting the entire way. The blonde aims a kick at the other’s head, but Izuku yanks out his capture tape and catches him by the ankle. Not letting that stop him, Katsuki drops to the ground and follows through with the kick’s momentum. Izuku is launched into a large room with a clear view for the cameras to see them. Izuku scrunches his nose and Katsuki rubs his cheek in response. 

The explosive teen aims one of his gauntlets forward at Izuku while in the camera’s blindspot, “Hopefully the support team made these bad boys just like I asked. They’ve been storing my sweat so that I’ll be able to release an explosion at least five times stronger than my usual ones. Let’s see you avoid something like this…” 

Izuku subtly reaches for one of his pouches as All Might’s voice comes through their speakers, “Now, young Bakugou, I don’t believe that would be a good idea, especially for someone like hi-”

Katsuki growls, “He won’t die if he dodges!”

With that, he fires. 

-------------

Smoke fills the screen, and the class descends into panic. Hitoshi feels like his entire world is falling apart as he registers that he just watched one of his closest friends attack his soulmate. What- Why- How???

All Might’s voice shakes him out of his shock, and he looks up at the man who’s giving a half-hearted attempt in calming the class down, “Everyone, please calm dow-”

“Calm down?” Kirishima asks, “He just attacked him with something deadly.”

“Now, we don’t know th-”

“We should really stop the exercise! He could be seriously injured!”

“There’s no need for that. I’m sure the boy is just fine!”

Denki scoffs loudly, pulling Hitoshi with him up to the front, “‘Just fine’??? Did we see the same fight? What kind of imbecile do you have to be-”

“Kaminari!”

“-to think that anything about that was ‘just fine’???”

“Listen,-”

Hitoshi tunes the two blondes out as he sees the microphone that All Might was speaking into. Rushing forwards, he presses the button, ignoring the hero’s squawk of protest behind him. 

“I-Izu? Kat? Are you okay? Guys!”

There’s a moment of tense silence as everyone waits for a response. On another screen, he can see both Ochako and Iida, confused at hearing Hitoshi over the microphone. The brunette actually starts making her way back to the stairs. 

“W-we’re fine, kitten,” a voice coughs out and Hitoshi almost sobs in relief. Seeing Ochako come to a stop, Izuku must have hit his transceiver to let her know as well.

“Bunny, what happened? We can’t see anything still.”

Focusing on their screen, he begins to finally see the vague shapes of his boyfriend and Kat. The two are waving away the remaining smoke, coughing every now and then. “Sorry,” Izuku grimaces, knowing he just put his soulmate through emotional hell. They really should have let him know ahead of time. “The smoke bomb Mei gave me was a lot thicker than I thought it would be.”

“Smoke bomb?” All Might asks as he steps forward, eyes staring at the two boys on screen. Knowing Izuku is fine now, Hitoshi takes the chance to pause their timer and add an extra two minutes for the fiasco. 

“Yes, a smoke bomb, All Might.” Izuku glares at the camera, “Also, I’m ever so thankful for the concern you showed for a potentially severely injured student.”

Katsuki sneers, “Damn, All Might. You really want him dead, don’t you?” 

Hitoshi hits the timer as the two turn back to one another, ignoring the hero to continue the exercise. In the monitor room, the silence is ice cold as even those who are less accepting of Izuku stare All Might down at his complete negligence. 

-----------------

The two friends continue on with their fight, knowing they’re running out of time, and both are determined to win. Their movements are familiar from years of sparring with one another, each of them anticipating how the other will likely react. Izuku’s eyes flicker briefly to his left, and Kat realizes that Ochako must be speaking to him. When the nerd dodges his next hit and kicks up from a backbend, bringing him nearer to the door, Katsuki knows for sure. 

“Trying to get to your partner?”

Izuku smirks, “Frankly, I’m getting a bit bored.” 

Kat glares, “You fucker.”

His best friend grins and the blonde decides to shake things up. He aims his gauntlet at the door that’s a few feet to the other’s left, “Good luck getting through the rubble.”

As soon as the pin is pulled past the halfway point, Katsuki knows something is wrong. Time seems to freeze as he meets his best friend’s eyes. It’s too late to stop it. 

“Izuku!”

The room is blinded by the biggest explosion he’s ever made.

Chapter Text

The monitor room bursts into noise as the remaining tremors from Katsuki‘s explosion finally dissipate. Even though the building is a fair distance away, the explosion was large enough to shake its surroundings. It doesn’t paint a pretty picture for those still within the building. 

“Are they okay?!“

“Someone needs to check on them!”

“Should we call Recovery Girl?”

All Might ignores the students as he leans forward into the mic, a smirk on his face, “Nice try, young Midoriya and Bakugou. However, the same trick won’t work on me twice.”

The only response is static, the cameras in the duo’s room having been destroyed in the explosion. Hitoshi feels his panic rise tenfold, pushing forward as students start to speak up.

“Shouldn’t you go check on them? They could seriously be in danger,” asks Mina, horrified by his nonchalance.

The hero scoffs, brushing her off completely, “The two of them are fine. And if they aren’t, well, then I tried to tell Midoriya that he would never be able to be a hero and this should serve as a lesson for him.”

Hitoshi distantly hears his classmates gasping in horror, but he’s already decided that enough is enough. Fueled by pure anger at this “hero” and fear for his soulmate’s life, he asks, “Hey, All Might?”

The man perks up like an over-eager puppy, “Yes, young Shins-”

He yanks on All Might’s string harder than he has ever yanked for anyone, resulting in All Might nearly buckling to the floor before resuming his standing position, still as a zombie. “Do us all a favor and shut the fuck up and get out of my way.”

“You just used your quirk on a teacher! On All Might!” Momo yells from behind him, scandalized. 

Hitoshi rolls his eyes, taking over the controls, “He’ll get over it.” He slams the button to call for the med bots before flicking on the microphone again. He pauses to take a deep breath before speaking, “Izuku, Katsuki, come in.” 

Once more, there is only static. 

“Izuku? Katsuki? Can you hear me?”

There’s still no response and Hitoshi feels tears welling up in his eyes.

“Bunny, please…”

Suddenly, a rough cough is heard over the speakers followed by a familiar groan, “Tosh???” 

Hitoshi nearly sobs in relief at hearing the blonde’s voice, “Katsuki! Yes, it’s me! How are you two? The cameras have been blown out, so we can’t see anything!” 

There’s another groan before Kat speaks again, “I think I’m fine overall. The explosion sent me back into the wall but just got bruises at most. How about you, nerd?”

Dread begins to pool in Hitoshi’s stomach as there’s no response from his other half.

“Zuku? Hey, where are you? Izuku, are you alr-” The blonde cuts himself off with a strangled, desperate yell, “Oh my god, Izuku! What have I done?! Izu-” 

“Katsuki, I’m going to be up in a minute and med bots are on the way. We’ll keep him stable the best we can until a teacher can get here.” 

Immediately, Hitoshi cuts off their communication before he can hear anymore. He has to force himself to prioritize the situation, so he doesn’t get lost in his panic. None of that sounded good, but he can’t lose himself right now. He switches to the camera viewing Ochako and Iida. Fortunately, the two of them look fine. Iida seems a bit bruised, but his armor protected him well enough. Ochako just seems a bit sick but is overall fine as she seems to have immediately made herself weightless when the explosion went off. 

“Uraraka, Iida, come in.”

The two look up, confused.

“Hitoshi,” Ochako asks, “What’s going-”

“The exercise is over. Iida, get back to the monitor room now. Uraraka, meet me on the first floor. Med bots are on their way.”

Iida looks ready to argue at first but thankfully decides against it as soon as he hears the word med bots. Nodding firmly, he runs from the room, heading right for the building’s entrance. Hitoshi watches just long enough to check that Ochako follows him out of the room before cutting the mic. 

Turning to the class, he focuses on Momo, tossing her his phone, “When the med bots get here, tell them where they need to meet us. Also, call Nezu. He’s under Rat Overlord. Tell him what’s happening.”

With that, he’s out of the room. 

--------------------------------------

Between all the rubble that Ochako has to carefully make her way through, Hitoshi and her end up arriving at the same time. Together they rush in to see a scene straight from their nightmares. Katsuki is huddled over Izuku, clearly in the middle of a panic attack. Despite saying he was fine, Hitoshi can count at least four different places he’s bleeding from. 

Izuku is out cold, his lower half covered in rubble. Areas on his arms are already red and blistering, likely to become second-degree burns at the very least. As he can feel his earlier tears finally spill over, Hitoshi stops himself from running to his soulmate’s side just barely, instead focusing on Ochako who seems ready to run to Kat. 

“Ochako, look at me,” he insists, catching her by the wrist. 

“Hitoshi, fucking let me go! I need to help Kat!”

He grabs her arms, forcing her to look at him, “Listen to me, Ocha. Right now, we need to be heroes. You need to get the rubble off of Izuku so the med bots can get to him. I will help Katsuki. ”

Her eyes well up in tears, matching his as she finally stops fighting him.

He tries his best to give her a reassuring smile, but he’s sure it falls short. “Kirby, I am trusting you to take care of my soulmate. Now trust me to do the same.”

She takes a breath before nodding at him and running over to Izuku. Hitoshi kneels in front of Katsuki, takes a deep breath before he asks, “Kat, how are you doing?”

Immediately, the blonde’s head snaps up, fingers pulling at his hair, “I killed him! Hitoshi, I kil-”

Hitoshi grabs his string and watches as the blonde falls silent, a dazed look in his eyes. Now, where to start? 

Noticing the blonde’s bare hands that are still tangled in his hair, Hitoshi takes a glance around for his gauntlets. He finds them across the room, clearly thrown to be as far as possible from him. One of them has a completely destroyed front and Hitoshi can only assume that this is the one that caused the explosion. 

He’s going to enjoy absolutely destroying whoever was responsible for them with his Dad. 

Shaking his head to clear it, the teen focuses back on his friend who’s still breathing a bit fast even under brainwashing. 

“Katsuki, I need you to remove your hands from your hair, please.”

Stiffly, the blonde obeys, his hands coming to a rest in his lap. 

“Now, I am going to place your hand on my chest, and I need you to match my breathing, alright?”

Reaching forward, Hitoshi carefully lifts one of the blonde’s hands and places it flat against his chest. Making sure to keep his breaths even, he inhales slowly before letting it out. Over and over, he repeats the process until he can hear Kat’s breaths returning to normal. There’s still a slight hitch to his breathing, but it’s a million times better than before. 

Suddenly, Hitoshi feels his string to All Might cut loose which nearly startles him into releasing Kat. Thank Kami, his dad must be here. Finally… 

Sure enough, in mere moments, Aizawa is in the doorway, and the teen nearly cries in relief. Looking at where his soulmate is, the teen really does tear up as he sees Ochako carefully floating Izuku onto the stretcher for the med bots. He looks really bad. 

Focusing back on Kat, he waits until he feels Ochako by his side before releasing him. The blonde immediately latches on to his soulmate, burying his face into her neck. 

“O-Ocha-”

She holds him close, running her fingers through his hair, “Shhh, Kat. It’s alright. He’s going to be fine. This is not your fault.”

A hand lands on his shoulder, and HItoshi turns away from the couple to see his dad standing there with his arms open. Finally, Hitoshi lets the tears fully fall, sinking into his dad’s chest, sobbing loudly. 

His dad’s hand comes up to run through his hair, “I’ve got you, Toshi. Let it out. He’s going to be just fine.”

He lets out a strangled sob, “I can’t lose him, Dad. Please, I can’t! We’re supposed to have forever. Please!” 

“And you will, Toshi. I promise- Wait, give me a second,” The man removes one of his hands to dig into his pocket real quick. 

“D-Dad?” 

He gives his son a reassuring smile, “Give me a sec, kiddo.” After a moment, he manages to pull out his phone and messes with it briefly before turning the screen towards Hitoshi. “Look, Toshi. Look at your neck.” It takes a moment for him to process the words, but as soon as the teen registers that his dad has pulled up the camera, he bursts into a fresh set of tears, burying his face back into his dad’s chest. Izuku is fine. His marks are still that familiar emerald green and violet. He hasn’t lost him. 

Aizawa gives all three teens a few more minutes before he starts to usher them back to the monitoring room. There, the rest of the class is waiting with Midnight, anxiety clear on their faces. Their homeroom teacher clears his throat before speaking, “Now, I am going to take these three to Recovery Girl’s to check on Midoriya. The rest of you will be going with Midnight back to the classroom after you have changed. If I hear that any of you gave her trouble once I get back, you will be expelled immediately.” He turns to Midnight, “Give me a few minutes to let these three change before you let them loose.” 

She gives him a sympathetic smile, “Tell the green bean that I hope he feels better soon.”

He nods before gesturing for the three behind him to follow. They make their way to the hallway outside of the locker rooms. None of the teens wait for him to speak, immediately heading in to get back into their uniforms. Hitoshi and Katsuki change as quickly as they can, shoving their jackets on as they leave, ties draped around their necks. When they make it back outside, they see Ochako in a similar state beside Aizawa. Like them, her usual neat appearance is disheveled with even her tights shoved into her bag, deemed unnecessary in order to save time.

Aizawa doesn’t bother commenting on any of their appearances though, already making his way down the hall as soon as he sees Katsuki and his son. The three teens scramble after him, Hitoshi having the easiest time keeping up with his long strides. It doesn’t take them long to reach the nurse’s office, the halls empty. 

When they reach the door, Aizawa steps aside to let his son through first. Hitoshi hesitates, hand hovering to knock on the door. He glances at his dad, reaching up to touch the marks on his neck. The usually gruff man nods softly, answering his silent question. Taking a deep breath, Hitoshi knocks three times. 

Chapter Text

“Open!”

Walking inside, the group is met with Recovery Girl at her computer and Izuku unconscious on one of the beds. What had remained of his hero costume has been cut away, leaving him bandaged and shirtless. His left leg is elevated and his right arm is in a sling. Unfortunately, this also leaves quite a few of his scars visible as well, especially on his torso area, but Hitoshi trusts Ochako to not go blabbing about them to the rest of the class. 

Recovery Girl hops off her chair, making her way over, “He’s going to be fine. I focused on his burns and broken leg, but managed to heal the arm as well. The burns should be minor, a few being first degree at most, so they’ll still need attention, but nothing like they were before. His leg is nearly completely healed, but it might be sore for a day or two, so he’ll still need to rest it. Keep his arm in the sling for tonight, and I’ll remove it tomorrow before classes. Katsuki, let me heal you before you sit down.”

Hitoshi nods before sitting at the chair beside Izuku’s bed. After a kiss and some gummies, Katsuki sits on the other side, across from him with Ochako joining him. Aizawa lingers behind to ask Recovery Girl a few more questions. Reaching for his soulmate, Hitoshi smooths out some of his more unruly curls. “Hey, bunny. You gave us quite the scare there.”

Katsuki gives a watery laugh, “You really had to show Ass Might, didn’t you? Had to get it through his thick skull that he wasn’t meant to be here.” 

Hitoshi scowls at the mention of the blonde buffoon, “Don’t know how well that worked. I had to brainwash the man to even get to the control panel. However, the class probably thinks he’s an absolute asshole now which is good.”

Ochako gives a hopeful smile, “Any chance that seeing how dangerous quirkism could be converted anyone?” 

Aizawa scoffs from the end of the bed, making the three teens jump, “Maybe one or two, but unlikely. It’ll take more than that, unfortunately.” Pulling up a chair beside Hitoshi, Aizawa takes a moment to look at each of them before sighing, “Alright, what happened starting from when I was pulled out because of Ass Might?”

Ochako looks up in shock, while Katsuki and Hitoshi just share a knowing look. Of course, he had something to do with it… 

“Wait, what do you mean All Mi-”

Aizawa cuts Ochako off with a loud groan, leaning back in his chair, “Apparently, the blonde dickhead got two second-year boys to cause a scene, so that he was able to take over the class. He promised nothing would happen to them, but the two idiots confessed as soon as Nezu assured them that All Might’s word doesn’t mean shit in this school. Since they told us everything, and it makes sense that they’d trust the number one buffoon, they managed to escape expulsion. However, they will be suspended for at least a week and it will be going on their records.”

The three students grimaced. While it made sense for these boys to listen to All Might, they were still dumb as hell. 

Aizawa straightens once more, leaning forward, “So, what happened?”

Knowing Kat would have to explain what happened during the exercise, Hitoshi takes the lead, “As soon as you left, All Might glanced at your lesson plan before declaring that we would be doing battle trials instead.”

Ochako tentatively speaks up, “Uh, what was the original lesson? I didn’t realize there was supposed to be something different…”

Aizawa does his best to give her a reassuring smile, but it ends up more like a grimace. “It’s understandable. I should have started by saying it from the get go, so the man couldn’t deviate. Only these three were aware cause they’ve seen my lesson plans before.” He stops, giving a heavy sigh. This whole experience seems to have aged him at least 10 years. “The original plan was to do a costume review today. If Momo and Hagakure had their original designs before Izuku, Mei, and Power Loader got to them, I could have had them change immediately and then let those three at them. The point is that you kids are in costumes you’ve never worn before with equipment that most of you haven’t even touched. That’s why I ease into it on the first day.”

Hitoshi scoffs, “That’s why I blame all of this on Ass Might. The man decided to just straight up ignore Dad’s lesson plan and instead pick one we won’t even touch till at least a month from now.” He takes a breath before continuing, “Anyways, the three of us knew something was up from the start, but we decided to wait it out and keep Nezu’s number on hand just in case. We went to change and that’s when Katsuki showed us his gauntlets saying they weren’t what he designed. Izuku looked them over and agreed, so they decided that Kat should try and bring it up. However, when we got out there, we got distracted by Ass Might being… well, an ass and singling out Izuku.”

Kat speaks up from the other side, glaring down at Izuku’s bed, “He tried to pull Izu out of the exercise, saying it would be too dangerous for him. The nerd totally shut him down.”

Shouta gives his sleeping protegee a proud smile. He’s come so far after all the bullshit he’s had to put up with. Thankfully, he’s a lot less likely to just take it now. 

“Chako and Izu ended up paired against Kat and Iida and were slated to go first until All Might decided to be a petty bitch and put Todoroki, Yaoyorzu, Hagakure, and Ojiro first.” Hitoshi sheepishly scratches at his soul marks, “I probably made more of an enemy out of Ojiro with my comments post-battle, but that’s neither here nor there.”

His dad rolls his eyes but gestures to Kat to take it from here. The blonde briefly hesitates before barrelling on, “The nerd and I decided we were going to pull one on Ass Might. Once it started, I went for him and Kirby went for Iida and the bomb. We made sure to get to a room where we knew there was a clear view of the cameras. I pretended to aim my gauntlet a-a-” He cuts himself off, putting his head in his hands. Ochako wraps her arms around him, whispering reassurances into his ear. 

Aizawa gives him the chance to compose himself and turns to his son, “What happened from what you could see?”

Hitoshi winces. Looking back on it, the duo’s trick seems more like some sort of horrific foreshadowing. “Well, Kat did his little show and All Might gave the most half-hearted attempt at stopping him. From the monitoring room, it looked like he did shoot at him as we heard an explosive noise, and the room filled with smoke. I ran to the mic to check on them, and they confirmed they were fine. The smoke had just been a smoke bomb from Izu courtesy of Mei. The two of them called All Might on his shit and then got back to fighting.” Glancing at Katsuki, who now has his head tucked into Ochako’s neck, he decides to press on. “At some point, while they were fighting, Katsuki went to actually use his gauntlet. Not at Izuku, of course! I think it was more for a distraction? Anyways, I think he knew something was wrong because he had time to scream out Izu’s name before the screens went white from the explosions. It was nothing like what they did before.”

His dad takes a deep breath, preparing himself for the worst, “And how did All Might react to this?” 

Hitoshi’s expression darkens considerably, “He thought they were messing around again despite the fact the cameras were destroyed and we felt the explosion from all the way over there. The rest of the class demanded him to do something, but he did nothing. He just laughed at our panic. So…” Here, Hitoshi trails off, reluctant to admit what he did, despite his dad already knowing. 

Aizawa finishes for him, “So you brainwashed him to get him out of the way?” At his son’s nod, he sighs, “While that is not what you should have done, considering the circumstances as well as you being aware that you shouldn’t have done that, I can understand and we’ll ignore that. Now, I’m assuming that’s when you took control and had Yaoyorozu notify Nezu. Good job on handling the situation.” He ruffles his son’s hair before turning back to the other two. 

Katsuki sighs, adjusting his head to lean against Ochako’s shoulder, “The gauntlets jammed. As soon as I pulled the pin, I could feel it get stuck. The blast built up to something far bigger than it should have, and I tried my best to warn Zuku in time.” He shudders, and Ochako places four of her fingers on his soul mark in reassurance. 

Aizawa looks downright murderous, but he takes a moment to reach across the bed and grip the distraught teen’s hand, “Katsuki Bakugou, listen to me. This is not your fault.”

“But-” 

“No. Listen to me. Somebody else fucked up, and because of that, this happened. It is not your fault, and I am going to fix it. Okay?”

It takes a moment before Kat finally nods. They all know that this won’t stop the blonde from blaming himself, but they can be here for him at the very least. Aizawa gets to his feet, gesturing for Hitoshi to follow. He stops at the end of the bed, looking back at the blonde. “I’m about to call Inko and Hisashi and let them know what’s happened. Do you need me to call your parents to come pick you up?” 

Immediately, Katsuki shakes his head, “I want to stay with Izu.”

Aizawa nods, not looking surprised in the slightest, “Alright, Ochako keep taking care of him and let me know if anything changes. Hitoshi and I have some people we need to talk to.”

The hero turns and strides out the door, on a warpath. Hitoshi takes a moment to kiss his soulmate’s cheek before following his father out. 

-----

By the time Hitoshi makes it to the hallway, his dad already has the Midoriyas on the phone, letting them know what happened. 

“-And you two should get down here.”

“How is he?” Hisashi’s worried voice comes from the phone. 

Aizawa sighs, “He’s hurt, but he’s also asleep right now. Chiyo has done what she can, and he’ll come in tomorrow for more healing.”

“And you’ll get to the bottom of who’s responsible for this?”

Aizawa straightens, “Of course, Hisashi. Trust me.” 

A sigh is heard on the other end, “We do.”

Aizawa moves to hang up the phone when another voice speaks up. 

“Shouta?”

He pauses, “Yes, Inko?”

“ Give them hell .”

Chapter Text

Power Loader feels pure fear racing through his heart as the support course’s door slams open with a resounding boom. Now he is no stranger to loud noises, especially not after he started watching Mei when she was only 8. (Her babies exploded on a nearly daily basis back then.) However, never before had he seen the door slam open as opposed to out into the hall. 

He’s frozen in his seat as he meets the eyes of one absolutely livid Shouta Aizawa. The underground hero stalks towards him slowly, followed by his equally angry son. 

Oh, I might actually be fucked…  

“Majima,” Shouta says in a deceptively friendly tone that does nothing, but raise the support hero’s blood pressure even more. He leans in, making sure to keep his voice low enough that the students in the lab won’t hear. “Would you mind explaining to me why my first-year student , Katsuki Bakugou, was given equipment powerful enough to level a building with not a second of training, no instructions provided, and not at all resembling his original design? And would you also explain to my son here why he had to watch his soulmate , Izuku Midoriya, be on the receiving end of said explosion that he only escaped due to prior training, an attempted warning, and pure luck after which my son had to calm down his soulmate’s best friend, again, Katsuki Bakugou, from a panic attack because he was convinced he had killed his best friend? Hm? Got anything to explain that?” 

Oh, I’m definitely fucked.

--------------

As Power Loader ushers Aizawa and Hitoshi into his actual office, Mei catches her friend’s eyes. 

“What happened?” she mouths.

He glances at the other two before placing his fingers together similar to how Ochako does before following them into the office, the door shutting quickly behind him. 

Mei immediately rushes back to her desk, but instead of reaching for her tools, she reaches for her phone. Her classmates can only stare in amazement as she dials someone and places the phone to her ear, impatient for an answer. She even goes so far as to turn her back on her work, striding to the door. 

“GG, what’s happening? Purple just strolled in h- I’m sorry, WHAT?! I’m on my way!” 

Mei’s classmates watch her leave the studio, definitely without the teacher’s permission before they all share a look and decide to get back to work. 

Not their business.

---------

Power Loader gestures roughly for the two to sit in the chairs in front of his desk before looking for the relevant paperwork, “First off, I must emphasize how sorry I am that all of this happened. Izuku is the last person to deserve something like this. I was under the impression you would be doing your routine costume checks and therefore, you’d have caught something like this within seconds.”

Shouta scoffs harshly, running a hand through his hair, agitated, “Yeah, you’d think that, wouldn’t you?”

Higari pauses briefly in his search, “...What happened?”

“All Might.”

The redhead grimaces, “Fuck.” Shaking his head he keeps searching through his messy desk before finally holding up a binder labeled 1A Costumes . “Here it is!”

Shouta and Hitoshi sit silently as Power Loader flips through to find Katsuki’s information, “Let’s see… Ah! Here we go… Yes, the support company had sent me a message that there was an issue on their end with the design. Something about a newer hire on their end blatantly disregarding the design… Hmm, they said they handled it and offered to send the new gauntlets, this time following Bakugou’s design. They also complimented it which I’m sure the boys will be happy to hear.” He turns to his computer, opening his email, “Now, I knew they had already been sent to the classroom, so I took the chance to email the hero teachers which are, well, you and All Might.”

Shouta groans loudly, leaning his head back, “Fuck! And I wait to look at any possible last-minute emails until the cases have been handed out!”

Hitoshi places an arm on his dad’s shoulder, hoping to calm him somewhat before turning back to Power Loader, “And did All Might respond?”

The teacher looks back to his computer where his email has finally loaded. Beneath his helmet, his face visibly pales, “Um… well…”

Shouta leans back forward, scowling, “Majima, please just spit it out. It can’t be worse than me ign-”

“He sent a thumbs-up emoji.”

-----------------

After hearing a faint scream of anger in the distance, no one is particularly surprised when Shouta returns practically foaming at the mouth. Nemuri, Zashi, Katsuki, and Izuku watch, amused, as the dark-haired man stops long enough to give Izuku’s hair a ruffle before forcing his way into his husband’s lap, muttering into his capture weapon about emojis of all things. 

Hitoshi immediately beelines to Izuku’s side, kissing the side of his head and holding him close. 

“I’m okay, kitten,” Izuku reassures him, leaning into his embrace with a content sigh. 

Nemuri gives her two best friends a moment to themselves before leaning forward with a cat-like grin, “Oh, Sho, my dear… I have some lovely news for you.”

“Is it All Might’s death or a week-long vacation for me?” comes Aizawa’s muffled reply. 

She laughs, “No, my dear alley cat. You have a new pair in your class.”

“Wha- FUCK!” Shouta straightens quickly in shock, accidentally slamming his head into Zashi’s chin. 

“Sho, that hurt!”

“Sorry, Sunshine. Now, what the hell are you on about, Nem?”

She rolls her eyes, grabbing two ice packs from the freezer, “Take these, dorks. Anyways, just as I said, you now have your fourth mated pair in your class.”

His dad looks lost at the information, so Hitoshi takes the chance to jump in, “Who are they?”

“Mina Ashido and Tooru Hagakure. The two girls were so happy.”

Izuku’s eyes light up, “I’ll have to ask them how that works later. A soul mark on someone who isn’t visible? That’s fascinating!” 

Aizawa checks back into the conversation, looking like he’s officially done with the day, “You know what, I’m just going to ignore that for now. Your parents already come by, kid?” 

Izuku nods, smiling, “I managed to reassure them that everything was fine. Mama says family dinner tonight. She’s already kidnapped Denki, Ocha, Rin, Awase, and MeiMei.”  

His mentor grimaces at the upcoming chaos of dinner with eight teenagers, “Well, that sounds… lovely. They were fine with you staying?”

Izuku leans further into Hitoshi’s hold, giving a sheepish grin, “Mama and Papa kinda understood my need to be close to Toshi right now.” 

Zashi coos at the sight while Aizawa stands with a nod, “Alright. I’ll just get an all-clear from the old lady and then we’ll be on our way.”

Chapter Text

After saying their goodbyes, Mic is driving the five of them to the Midoriyas for a nice albeit chaotic family dinner. Izuku is burrowed into his boyfriend’s side while holding his best friend’s hand. Up front, Aizawa is ranting to his husband. 

“Of all the absolutely dumbass and dangerous things this idiot could have done! Not only did he put Izuku’s life in danger, which is bad enough as it is considering all the quirkist bullshit he’s already put the kid through, but he was also putting Ochako, Tenya, and Katsuki in danger as well! It’s quite frankly a miracle that the first group was able to complete their turn without incident. Well, aside from the near frostbite to Hagakure and Ojiro which I will be having words with Todoroki about.” 

Zashi nods as he changes lanes, “Yes, moonlight. Also, remember to give Yaoyorozu some credit as well for her quick thinking. Anyways, when it comes to All Might, unfortunately, you still can’t punch the man.”

Zawa sinks into his seat with a pout, “I think I could make it look like an accident…”

“I’m sure you could, sweetheart.”

His husband springs up once more, his fight renewed, “Also, the fucking gall of this man to just disappear afterward??? What the hell was that?! Probably ran like the coward he is!”

“Yes, I’m sure he was terrified-”

“Or maybe his time was up for the day,” a sleepy voice speaks up from the backseat. 

Immediately, Zashi slams on the brakes, sending everyone in the car jolting forward. While the three teens in the backseat groan in pain, he quickly pulls over to the side of the road. As soon as the car comes to a stop, Aizawa removes his seatbelt and whips around to face the backseat while Zashi remains frozen in the front, “What did you say, Hitoshi?!”

His son stares at him wide-eyed, looking absolutely terrified, “I- Uh-”

“Hitoshi, how do you know about that?” 

The teen looks around him, unable to speak as he meets Izuku’s confused and worried gaze. 

“I-” 

“Starlight,” Zashi speaks from the front, “I need you to tell us. Please. ” 

Hitoshi swallows, trying desperately to hold back the urge to cry. His hand rubs at his neck, seeking comfort from his soul marks, “All Might offered me his quirk!” Complete silence meets his words, so he rambles, trying to fill the space. “I mean, I said no, of course! But h-he kinda didn’t accept that… He kept insisting, saying that I had to take it s-so I said I would think about it.” 

His father faces forward once more without a word, taking a moment to breathe. He sighs, putting his seatbelt back on, “ Hizashi, turn the car around.”

The blonde does, speeding back to the school. Hitoshi tries to catch Izuku’s eye, but the teen is determinedly looking down. Dejected, he faces the window, trying not to think about what this might mean. 

-------------

When they make it back to UA, the group more or less follows a once again livid Aizawa to Nezu’s office. The man doesn’t even wait to knock, instead slamming open the surprisingly unlocked door. All Might is talking with Nezu in his shrunken-down form and Hitoshi hears the shocked gasps from both Katsuki and Izuku behind him. 

The number one hero stumbles to his feet, making the poor decision to walk closer to a feral Aizawa, “E-Excuse you, this is a private meet-” Aizawa doesn’t give him any more time to speak, socking the hero in the jaw, sending him flying back. Nezu continues to calmly watch from behind his desk as All Might pulls himself up, “What the-”

Aizawa lifts him by the front of his shirt, quirk activated, “How dare you try to force my son into accepting your fucking quirk!” 

The man pales, “Y-Your son?”

Zashi takes the chance to reach forward and place a calming hand on his soulmate’s shoulder, “Sho…”

His husband releases All Might with a disgusted scowl on his face, “Yes, you fucking prick. My son.”

From the ground, the blonde finally gets the chance to see the teens that stand behind the two heroes. His eyes land on Hitoshi, gaze hardening in an instant, “He told you.”

Aizawa scoffs, “Yes! As he should!”

Slowly, All Might gets to his feet, everyone silent as he does so, waiting for what he’ll possibly say next. 

“Well, that’s disappointing.”

The underground hero rears back as if struck, “Ex-fucking-cuse me?!”

Japan’s top hero sneers, staring directly at Hitoshi as he says, “His clear inability to keep a secret paired with his… shameful misuse of his quirk earlier shows he is unworthy of my power in the first place as well as the chance to become a hero.”

Hitoshi stumbles back, curling into himself as the words hit home. While he could give less of a shit about this man and what he thinks, his words have somehow managed to find their way straight to his heart. Distantly he feels a hand gripping his shoulder, but he can’t recognize who it belongs to. 

As his husband goes for All Might again, and his son begins to shut down with Katsuki trying to help him, Mic decides it’s time to intervene. “Katsuki?” The blonde teen looks up, worry clear on his face. Behind him, the hero hears the clear crunch of a broken nose. “Take the other two out into the hall. We will come out when we’re done.” Turning back to see All Might struggling to his feet with blood pouring from his nose, Mic’s voice turns icy, “The adults need to have a talk.”

----------------------

As soon as the door shuts behind them, yelling can be heard from the office. Katsuki guides the other two further down the hall and waits for them to speak, knowing this is definitely something that they are going to need to talk out. 

Hitoshi is quick to break under the silence, “Izuku, listen-” 

His boyfriend rounds on him, anger clear on his face, “Why didn’t you tell us?! Why didn’t you tell m- No, it didn’t even have to be me! Clearly, your parents already knew about the man, so why couldn’t you tell them?! Do you not trust us to be there?! To help you?!” Izuku goes quiet, taking a step away from Hitoshi. He swallows harshly, “Do you… Do you not trust me?” 

Immediately, Hitoshi tries to reach for his soulmate, but Izuku evades his grasp. “No, bunny, listen to me! It’s not any of that! It’s just-”

“Just what , Hitoshi?! What?! Was it some messed up sense of pity or something? Some sort of guilt that you couldn’t accept because your poor soulmate didn’t have a quirk? Yet here you are being offered a second one by the Symbol of Peace no less! You wanted to accept it, but you just couldn’t! Was that it, Hitoshi?” 

Now Hitoshi is the one to step back, tears filling his eyes, “I- I’m sorry, Zu… I- I swear I didn’t mean to h-hurt you.” He lets out a choked sob before turning to walk even further down the hall. Whether to give himself a moment or Izuku some space, Hitoshi slides down a wall to sit on the floor. 

The green-haired teen resolutely turns away, trying to get his own tears under control. His best friend punches his shoulder lightly to get his attention. As soon as he looks over, Kat signs, “Nerd, what’s really wrong?”

The other opens his mouth to respond, but closes it instead, already recognizing the familiar soreness in his throat. He looks away, rubbing at his nose before another poke forces his attention back on the blonde. Scowling, he lifts his hands, “What do you mean?”

Glaring right back at him, Katsuki’s signs are sharp and quick in response, “I get that you are upset. You have every right to be upset about the situation as a whole, but don’t you dare take it on Toshi, your fucking soulmate. I get that your emotions are still going haywire from earlier, but the troll doll didn’t ask for any of this shit. If anything, it sounds like Ass Might just ambushed him and he was terrified.”

There’s a long moment of pause before Izuku lets out a huge sigh, “I was an asshole, wasn’t I?”

Katsuki grins, “A huge one.”

Izuku glares before clearing his throat. “Why do you have to be right?” he mutters, voice crackly. 

Katsuki rolls his eyes, shoving him toward a water fountain, “Because somebody needs to have the brain cell here. Now go drink something and then fix things with your boy. I’ll update your parents on what’s happening.”

Chapter Text

After a quick but desperately needed trip to the water fountain, Izuku slowly makes his way to Hitoshi’s side, sliding down to join him on the floor. The green-haired teen takes a deep breath before speaking, “Toshi-”

“I’m sorry!”

Startled, Izuku turns to face his boyfriend’s earnest gaze, taking note of how red his eyes are from crying, and he feels his heart break. 

“I’m so sorry, Izuku! I didn’t mean to keep it from any of you, especially you! You have to believe me! Please!”

Izuku feels the tears building once more as he gathers his soulmate in his arms, holding him tight, “Oh, kitten, no! No, I’m sorry! None of this is on you and I never should have taken my frustrations out on you. I am so sorry, Toshi.” 

Hitoshi wraps his arms around Izuku’s middle tightly, breaking into tears once more, but luckily in relief this time. 

“Also, fuck All Might! You did everything right earlier especially when he was so insistent on doing nothing! Thanks to you, everyone got out safely, especially me. You’re already a hero, Toshi. You’re my hero!”

“I’m not-”

A throat clears causing the two to look up, “Just take the compliment, Eyebags. You did great, seriously.” 

Instead of saying his usual smartass comment, Hitoshi just smiles up at his friend before burying his face into Izuku’s neck. The teen giggles at the tickling sensation on his neck before pulling his boyfriend back out.

Izuku shifts so he can better face Hitoshi and holds his soul marks gently, “Feeling better?”

His boyfriend leans forward to kiss the tip of his nose, “A lot, yeah. Thank you.” He glances up at Katsuki, “Both of you.”

The blonde’s cheeks redden, “Yeah, yeah. Anyways, get up. Sounds like they might be done screaming in there.”

Sure enough, the door slams open, and an angry Aizawa storms out followed by Zashi. Immediately the two run over to their son, holding him close to make sure he’s alright.

--------------------------

Once everyone has had the chance to get their hugs in and catch their breath, the group is once again in the car, finally heading to the Midoriya’s house. Hitoshi and Izuku are cuddled close in the backseat while, beside them, Katsuki is texting his own soulmate an abridged version of what’s happened. They hate having to lie to the others, but this is, unfortunately, a national secret. Up front, Aizawa and Zashi look ten years older in their exhaustion as the dark-haired man grumbles about stupid oafs who don’t know how to listen to anything other than their own ego. 

“So how’d it go?” Kat asks, putting away his phone. 

Aizawa lets out a growl, “Horribly. The bastard has outright refused to stop teaching and insists that today’s ‘incident’ was everyone’s fault but his. I know the fucking commission is the one making the calls here, but I wish Nezu was able to just fire him already.”

Zashi takes one of his hands off of the wheel to rub his husband’s shoulder with a sigh, “However, Nezu will be taking action to make sure that nothing like this happens again. There will always be a teacher with him in classes now, and an extra one on hand in case of emergency.”

“Babysitting duty during our planning period,” Aizawa mutters out. “Fucking fantastic.”

His soulmate nods, “Unfortunately necessary after the stunt that he pulled today, being the entire reason Sho had to leave in the first place.”

Having been unconscious earlier, Izuku sits up, alarmed, “What? How?!”

Zashi grimaces just thinking of the poor fools that had believed the man, “Yep! He got two second years to stage a fight and ‘conveniently’ lose control of their quirks which, of course, pulled Sho away. They agreed after he promised that there would be no repercussions.”

Shouta scoffs, “Which there will be without a doubt. While I’m not about to expel them for trusting the Symbol of Peace, Nezu just settled on barring them from this year’s sports festival and suspension from their internships for the moment for actually thinking that this was at all a good idea. Also, for not going to another teacher about it.” 

“Not to mention that they indirectly helped in causing your absolute train wreck of a class as well as Izuku’s injury.”

Aizawa nods, “Nezu is hoping the two punished will spread the information to their peers about how All Might left them high and dry when it came to being punished.”

Hitoshi pulls Izuku back to his side with a pout, “Well, hopefully, they’ve learned their lesson. I’m glad we won’t have to deal with Ass Might on our now. One time was more than enough.”

Izuku groans, hiding his face in his boyfriend’s neck, “Ugh, I don’t want to think about that dick anymore. I just want to get home and eat some of Papa’s katsudon.”

--------------

Izuku has a wonderful time celebrating the first real day of classes surrounded by his loved ones. Some are related by blood, others found along the way, but every one of them is loved just as fiercely as the next. 

The adults make plans, talk about their kids, and generally just take the chance to relax as much as they can, trusting each other to help contain the chaotic teenagers. The teenagers in question forget about their responsibilities for the night, forget about quirkist assholes who want to stop one of their own from being his best self. 

Instead, Mei and Izuku are huddled over Katsuki’s grenade blueprints and thinking of alternate ideas to better streamline his costume. Rin and Ochako are trying their absolute best to stop Awase from driving Kat insane. It involves a lot of creative uses of their quirks that have been parent-approved. Ignoring everyone else, Denki and Toshi sit across from each other on the couch, sending one another memes and pictures of cats. Toshi is also giving his best friend advice on how to handle his Pops, who has offered the blonde his mentorship. 

It’s amazing how just one night of happiness can take away all worries one has, how it makes you forget all the bad in the world, even temporarily. 

--------------------

In a different part of Japan, three figures sit in silence. A man, seemingly made of smoke, cleans glasses behind a bar. Sitting at the bar with a newspaper is a pale young man covered in hands with a hulking mindless beast looming beside him. The other two wait as the young man slowly makes his way through the paper. 

Finally, he sets it down, an article on UA visible on the front, “Have you seen this? All Might’s a teacher now.”

The TV on the bar crackles to life, “Are you ready, Tomura Shigaraki?”

Shigaraki turns to the TV, the barest hint of a grin visible behind the hand on his face, “Yes, Sensei. UA won’t know what hit them.”

Behind the bar, the smoky man’s grip tightens on the glass in his hand. For some reason, just the name of that school has been causing twinges of pain in his head recently, each more painful than the last. 

The voice from the TV carries on, neither the speaker nor Shigarkai noticing his predicament. “Good. Kurogiri will assist you with whatever you might need.”

Kurogiri hesitates for the slightest second before responding as usual, “Of course, Master.”

The TV shuts off with a click. Shigaraki glances at the beast beside him before returning his gaze to the newspaper he has set aside. Alongside the article, a smiling image of All Might shines bright. Carefully, Shigaraki moves his right hand, slowly placing each of his fingers on the image of the hero. “Tell me, Symbol of Peace…” He sets down the final finger, “Are you ready to die?” In mere seconds, the cheerful grin turns to dust. 

Chapter Text

The next morning, all of them are up early to meet at the Midoriyas. Even Shouta is awake and functioning since Nezu sent them a heads-up about the press swarming the school today. It’s up to him and his husband to do crowd control and make sure the students will be able to make it to class on time. 

Oh, goody…

“No.”

Katsuki gives Shouta his best bitchface, one hand on his hip and a singular eyebrow raised, “Yes.” 

The man rolls his eyes, “Get in the car before I make you.” 

“I’d to see you try, hobo.”

Zashi places a hand on his husband’s shoulder, stepping forward, “Okayyy, let’s just take a moment to breathe…” He looks to the teen still giving his husband bitchy looks, “Why do you want to walk? We have enough room to drive you two.” 

Katsuki sighs, as if all the world is against him, “The reason hobo man is actually up is cause the press is gonna be swarming the gates, right?” At Zashi’s nod, he continues, “W ell, let’s just say that I want the chance to share how I’ve been influenced by Ass Might because we all know that’s the reason they’re there. They want to get any information they possibly can, and being the nice, benevolent person I am, shut up, Hitoshi , I am willing to give it to them.”

Ignoring his son’s snort, Shouta raises a single eyebrow, “And Izuku is okay with this?”

Katsuki grins, knowing he’s won, “Unlike the rest of you, the nerd is perfectly aware of how much discretion I can have considering my parents are world-famous fashion designers. He knows that I’ll be able to say what I have to say in a perfectly respectable way.”

Shouta continues to stare him down before suddenly groaning in defeat, “Do not do or say anything that will make me have to expel you.”

“Deal.”

“… Or start a lawsuit.”

This time Kat is the one to groan before nodding his head, “Fine…” 

Five minutes later, the husbands leave with Hitoshi and Izuku while Katsuki and Ochako start walking to the school. 

Gravity Whomst?

should i b concerned??? (≖_≖ )

Green Bean

dw he knows what he’s doing. Trust him 

Hitoshi glances over at his phone, “You’re really not worried at all?”

Izuku grins, “If Kat can make the people of Paris believe he’s an absolute angel, Japan will be nothing.”

“Paris?!” Toshi chokes out. 

Up front, Zashi and Zawa also look shell-shocked at this information. The green haired teen giggles like the chaos gremlin he is, and Aizawa regrets more and more each day introducing him to Nezu. 

“We’ve told you that the Bakugous are world-famous designers before. Kat literally told you not even ten minutes ago. They’re constantly on trips to fashion weeks all over the world. When we were younger, they’d take us if we didn’t have school.” His voice gets quiet for a moment as his face turns more solemn, “It was their way of giving us a break from dealing with our classmates…” A moment passes before he clears his throat, forcing a smile back onto his face, “Obviously, we had to deal with the media and press a bit.”

Zashi takes the chance to look back at him when they hit a red light, “Wait, does that mean you two can speak more than just Japanese?” 

Izuku rubs his nose nervously, switching to English, “Is now a bad time to tell you that Kat and I won't be learning anything in your class?”

“WHAT?!”

“Zashi, focus! Problem child, explain!” The teen opens his mouth and Aizawa glares, “In Japanese, you delinquent.”

Izuku rolls his eyes, muttering out, “Killjoy…” He lets out a sigh, “We’re basically fluent in English and French. We also know bits of Italian, but he’s better at it than me.”

Toshi stares at his lap, still in shock, “I don’t know how to feel about this…”

Izuku leans towards him with a cheeky grin, “Je veux passer ma vie avec toi, chaton.”

His boyfriend immediately turns redder than a strawberry causing Aizawa to burst out, “No! No! Absolutely not! I already have to deal with the press this morning! I am not dealing with teenage hormones too. Both of you, quiet and hands to yourselves until we drop you off with Chiyo!”

-----------

As the couple makes their way to the front gates, Ochako can already see the press crowding in. She nervously taps at Kat’s arms with her fingers, creating a nonsensical beat, but the blonde just shoots her a reassuring smile. He gives the hand he’s holding a quick squeeze, “It’ll be fine, reine.”

Her cheeks burn a bright red as she covers her face, “Stop it!”

Her soulmate grins, still pulling her ever closer to the gates, “I wonder if Eyebags turns this red when Iz- Actually, knowing the nerd and his modesty, the poor bastard probably doesn’t even know. Anyways, time to greet the vultures!”

Slowing to a much more casual pace, Katsuki allows the press to quickly swarm them. 

“Excuse me! What’s it like learning from All Might?”

Ochako can only watch with a mixture of fascination and horror as her boyfriend’s demeanor shifts into an approachable yet professional one. He smiles, “Surprisingly, we haven’t actually learned much. Then again, he is the number one hero, not the number one teacher.”

The press around them lets out a few laughs, seemingly entranced. Behind them, Ochako sees a few grateful students taking the opportunity to sneak past. 

One of the reporters shoves their microphone in her face, “Tell us what the Symbol of Peace looks like in front of the class.”

The brunette laughs nervously, very unprepared for this, “He looks quite big and um… very muscly?” 

The reporter gives her a deadpan look as Katsuki smoothly steps in front of her, letting her hide her face in his back. “Sorry, she’s a bit nervous. She’s not very used to the media asking her questions as she’s just trying to get to class.” Some of the reporters around them flinch as the thinly veiled stab at what they were doing, but the teen continues on. “As for how All Might looked? Well, he made it quite clear that he was sticking to the notes he made. He was very reliant on them, and as students who are still learning, it provided a very familiar image.”

A different reporter speaks up this time, “What else can you tell us about All Might: the teacher?”

Katsuki grins, letting loose a slight laugh. Ochako really doesn’t understand how he’s making himself seem so charming right now. It’s terrifying and she just wants her brash boyfriend back. 

“Let’s just say, he’s providing a very fresh perspective. Sometimes I have to remind myself that with all his hero work, he’s had no time to experience real teaching. He insists that he’s ready though and doesn’t need another teacher there to supervise him.” 

By this point, even some of the reporters are starting to look concerned at the man’s lack of qualifications. It appears that All Might’s lack of experience wasn’t exactly common knowledge. 

After a brief pause, a more daring reporter takes the chance to shove his mic into the blonde’s face, “There’s a rumor going around that there’s a quirkless kid in the hero course. Is this true?”

Instantly, Kat’s eyes harden even as he maintains his smile. He leans into the mic, making sure it’ll pick up his words clearly, “Yes, and, as a classmate of theirs, I can say that they are one of the best people there hands down. Regardless of what people, especially new teachers, might believe, they belong there just the same as everyone else. Now, if you don’t mind, we really do need to get to class.”

He slips an arm around his soulmate’s shoulders and strides through the crowd to the school. As they pass through the gate where Zashi and Aizawa are keeping guard, he smirks. Mic gives him a quick high-five while the dark haired hero gives a nod of approval. Looks like he’s not getting expelled after all. 

Ochako pokes him in the side lightly, “That was lowkey terrifying. Please never do that again.”

Katsuki smirks down at her, his normal brash personality thankfully back, “Unfortunately, shit like that is a big part of the hero biz, sweetcheeks.” He takes a moment to kiss the tips of her fingers with her soul marks, “At least for us limelight heroes.” 

Ochako pouts before suddenly brightening. Slipping out of his hold, she skips ahead, giving him a teasing grin, “I’m telling Zu you said he’s one of the best.”

Katsuki’s grin turns feral, “Don’t you fucking dare tell the nerd anything.”

She pulls her phone out from behind her back and hits send, “Oops?”

She takes off running, giggling as she hears him give chase.

--------------------

From high above the courtyard, All Might watches the press stopping incoming students. 

“Since my first choice ended up being such a failure … I’ll just have to find someone else.”

In his pocket, his phone rings making the man roll his eyes. Pulling it out, he hits ignore immediately, “I do not need your help with my successor, Mirai. ” 

Shoving his phone back into his pocket, the hero scours the crowd for potentials. It takes a few minutes, but eventually, an excitable blonde boy manages to catch his eye. He’s talking happily with two other boys that the hero recognizes. 

“Hmm, engaging personality and a friendly face…” 

Pulling his phone back out, he looks at the roster from class 1A. It was the only one that he had gotten the chance to teach which made things much easier. 

“Let’s see… strong quirk and low scores which means he’s dumb and easy to convince. Yes, you’ll do quite nicely, Denki Kaminari.”

A sudden slam brings All Might’s attention back to the gate. It seems Eraserhead had officially cut the press off. The blonde rubs his still bruised jaw, remembering yesterday. 

“You don’t want me to teach? Fine… Have it your way, Aizawa.”

Chapter Text

“Due to yesterday’s events and his completely incorrect response to multiple students in danger, All Might will no longer be teaching your hero class on his own. If you do not see me or another teacher with him for the class, please notify one of us immediately.”

A few of the students seem concerned, but after the way the number one hero had acted the day before, no one seems quick to argue the decision. 

“Now, sorry to spring this on you, but I forgot to have us do this yesterday…” Most of the class tenses up, likely expecting another test. Izuku and Toshi shake silently with muffled laughter. Aizawa sighs, already done with these two.  After this morning, Katsuki is his new favorite. 

“You guys need to pick a class president.”

Within seconds, a majority of the class is jumping out of their seats, waving their hands in the air. 

“I wanna be president!” Kirishima yells out. 

Mina is practically buzzing as she shouts, “I wanna be a leader!”

Aoyama smirks, hand one of the first to shoot up, “Oh, you mean the position that exists for moi?” 

Jirou is surprisingly one of the calmer ones, simply raising her hand, “I wanna do it as well.”

Notably, Hitoshi, Izuku, and Katsuki haven’t spoken up or even raised their hands. If anything, the three of them are doing everything they can to not be noticed. Izuku goes so far as to sink into his seat, with only his eyes and unruly curls visible.

“Quiet down everyone!” a voice yells out. 

Seeing that it’s just Iida, Izuku turns to the other two, whispering, “Based on his whole shtick, he’s about to suggest a vote, thinking that offering such a good idea will guarantee him more votes. It won’t but solid effort. Regardless, pact that none of us vote for each other?”

His boyfriend and best friend share a look before nodding firmly, “Deal!”

-------------------

“How in the fuck did I win?!”

“Shinsou, language.”

Beside the purple haired teen, Izuku and Katsuki are absolutely losing it. Since the moment it was determined he would be vice president at the very least, the two haven’t stopped laughing. Hitoshi gives the two a withering glare, but they barely even notice. 

“Kitten, I swear! I didn’t vote for you!”

“Wasn’t me, Troll Doll.”

Groaning in defeat, Hitoshi trudges his way to the front to stand beside his vice president, Yaoyorozu. Even his dad is giving him a shit eating grin as he announces, “Here’s your president and vice president.”

The tired teen rubs at his soul marks, uncomfortable, “Honestly, I don’t feel too comfortable being the president. I’ll think it over during lunch whether I’ll just switch roles with Yaoyorozu.”

Iida nods in approval, “Of course! Such an important decision must be well thought out.”

---------------

Hitoshi holds up a coin, showing his friends, “Alright, so heads, I’m president and tails, I’m VP.” He immediately turns and pegs an unsuspecting Monoma in the head with the coin before turning back to the others, “Well, damn. Guess I’m leaving the country then.” 

Denki sighs, “Wish I could have gotten it instead…”

Hitoshi face plants into Izuku’s shoulder, muttering out, “Well, if more people than just me had voted for you then maybe you would have.”

Denki’s eyes tear up, and he immediately latches onto his best friend in an octopus hug, “Aw, bestie!!!”

“No! No! Away, demon!”

Mei, Awase, and Rin walk up, barely blinking at the two’s shenanigans. Awase turns to Izuku, pointing at Hitoshi, “Sup, what’s his deal?”

Izuku laughs, “He’s mad because our classmates ended up voting him for the class president, and now, he has to decide whether he’ll change to VP when realistically, he doesn’t want either position.”

Rin winces, familiar with the teen’s antisocial personality, “That’s rough. We pretty unanimously voted for Kendou as ours with Honenuki as her VP.”

Mei shrugs, wolfing down her food so she can get back to the lab faster, “No clue who’s ours is. Wasn’t paying attention.”

Katsuki grins at a finally free Hitoshi from across the table, “I think you’ll do just fine personally.”

Attempting to fix his hair, the teen glares, “Press X for doubt, olive of my eye.” Katsuki opens his mouth, but Hitoshi cuts him off, “I know what I said, you sour patch bitch.”

The blonde shrugs, “Fair enough. Anyways, I promise we didn’t vote for you. I think there’s better options than you, and I think I know who the nerd voted.”

Izuku nods, “Yeah, I went with Yaoyorozu. She’s still a bit ignorant, but she’s learning without complaint and underneath her lack of confidence lies a very intelligent and level headed person.”

Katsuki smirks, “Thought so. I voted Chako. Realistically, the nerd would be the best choice despite how much he doesn’t want it, but I agreed not to so I went with my better half.” His girlfriend smiles at that, kissing his soul marks. 

Toshi isn’t satisfied though, “Ocha, Denks, did you betray me?”

Ochako grins, “Nah, I voted for Kat. Mainly because of his absolutely terrifying press voice this morning.” She affectionately pokes at the same spot she had just kissed. 

“Aw, love you, too.”

Denki bats his eyes at Hitoshi, “I voted for you, bestie.”

Immediately, bread is thrown at his face with a shout of “BETRAYAL!”

“NOOO! No! I’m kidding! I voted Izu I swe-”

The sound of an alarm pierces the air causing Izuku, Hitoshi, Mei, and Katsuki to immediately straighten. 

Ochako covers her ears, “What the hell is that?!”

“Security level three has been breached. All students, please evacuate in an orderly fashion.”

Katsuki and Hitoshi start pulling the others up from their seats as Izuku explains, “It means that someone or something has gotten onto campus without permission. This hasn’t happened in years. We need to get out of here.”

Katsuki scoffs, glancing towards the horde of panicking students, “Easier said than done… There’s no way these people heard the orderly fashion part of the announcement.”

Hitoshi rolls his eyes, “We can bring a calmer alarm up with Nezu later. Let’s get into the hallway at least. Shorties, grab onto somebody tall. We’re shoving.”

Izuku immediately grabs onto his arm, “Try to get to the windows. I want to see if anything is happening out front.”

He nods before setting off. The others follow with Katsuki and Ochako holding tight to one another, Rin offering Mei his arm, and Awase swinging his and Denki’s hands. It takes a bit of effort, but they aren’t hero students (and one support kid) for nothing. After many jabbed elbows and knees in unfortunate places, Mei and Izuku are finally able to get access to the windows in the hall. 

“Mei, what can you see?” Izuku asks, pulling out his phone to check for messages from Aizawa or Nezu. 

She zooms in with her quirk, “Don’t bother with the hobo. He and Blondie are dealing with the press. Seems they got in somehow. Wonder if one of them actually had the balls to-”

She stops talking abruptly, and Izuku looks at her, alarmed. “Mei? What is it? What’s wrong?”

She looks back at him, completely serious, “Izuku, we need to get to Nezu now.”

“Fuck, okay.” He turns back to the others. “Change of plans. Ocha, I need you to float Kat and Awase up there. Awase, you’re just gonna be there to hold onto him and the wall. Kacchan, we’re going to need that angelic voice of yours to tell everyone to get their shit together.” 

Katsuki gives Awase a suspicious look, “You better not drop me, you ass.”

He leers at the blonde, “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”

“Focus!” Izuku snaps before turning to the other three. “You guys will be trying your best with crowd control.”

As soon as everybody nods, he takes off with Mei for one of Nezu’s secret passages. The last thing they hear before the passage closes is Katsuki yelling out, “Hey, assholes! Everything is fine, so calm the fuck down already.”

-------------------

They wait in the hallway, lost in their thoughts and conflicted over what they have to do. A text notification sounds, startling them into awareness. Looking down, they realize it’s their signal to go. 

Quickly, they round the corner, headed for the teacher’s lounge. Just as their fist is raised to knock on the door, the alarm goes off as promised. The door is wrenched open and they come face to face with Midnight. 

“What are y- Never mind, get in here. Don’t let anyone in here. Staff will have their IDs. We’ll send up an Ecto clone to check on you, but you should be fine.”

With that, they’re pushed inside, and within mere seconds, they’re the only one in there. Not wasting a single moment, they run over to the desks, looking for the one that belongs to Toshinori Yagi. They have no clue who that is, but All for One picked him by name. 

It takes longer than they’d like, but they manage to find it. Luck seems to be on their side for once, and the schedule they had been asked to find is sitting right on top. They quickly snap a picture with their phone before stepping back near the windows, spinning to face outside. 

Just as they come to a stop, the alarm turns off and the door opens. They turn, meeting the eyes of Ectoplasm, unsure whether this is a clone or the real hero. 

“S-Sorry, I was told to wait here?”

Ectoplasm nods, walking in, “The other teachers sent me. What was it that you needed?”

“O-Oh, right. Uh… I needed another worksheet from P-Present Mic sensei. I realized that I had left mine behind- at home, I-I mean!” 

There’s a moment of silence where the hero gives them a long look, and they can feel everything falling apart. Before they can freak out too much, he receives another nod, this time towards the door.

“Get going. Lunch will be over soon. I’ll have Present Mic give it to your homeroom teacher later.”

“T-Thank you,” they stutter out, giving a hasty bow before practically running from the room.

Chapter Text

The bell rings, and Aizawa clears his throat to get his students’ attention, “Alright, quiet down, gremlins. I believe Shinsou has a decision to make.”

All eyes turn to the violet-haired teen who coughs awkwardly, standing, “Right… Well, I decided that I’m going to hand over the position of prez to Yaoyorozu. She got the second most votes, so it’s only fair instead of randomly choosing one of you. Then, I guess I’ll take the position of VP. Yeah…”

With his piece said, he sinks back into the chair, glad to be done with that. Some of his classmates look confused though, especially Iida. 

“But why would you give up such a prestigious position?”

Hitoshi rolls his eyes, “Well, I’m going to be underground, so…”

Still, people look confused, but their teacher decides to bring the attention back to himself. “Moving on, for those of you who were not aware, the press were the ones that sent the school into shut down today. It appears that one of them decided to get bold and use their quirk to let the others in. We are letting the police handle the matter from here. Thank you to those of you who helped keep everyone calm.” He gives Katsuki a look, “Even if you did it in your own unique ways…”

The blonde just grins, giving the man a salute. 

“That is all for class announcements. Midoriya?” The teen looks up from his notebook. “Nezu would like to see you after the final bell.”

Denki grins at his friend, “Ooooh, somebody’s in trouble.”

However, the blonde’s smile immediately drops from his face when Jirou decides to take this as an invitation. “Yeah, he probably is. Maybe he’ll finally be expelled,” she laughs. 

Iida huffs, “While I don’t believe he should be expelled, it would be for the best if he were moved to general education.”

Though Ojiro nods in agreement, most of the class avoids looking at the two, either unsure how to handle the outright negativity or foaming at the mouth with rage. Izuku pushes away from his desk, chair screeching against the floor loudly. “Not like it is any of your business, but I actually had this meeting with Nezu sensei already planned. He needs me to help with a security issue seeing as I am his personal student, so I’ll be going now.” With that, he strides towards the door. 

Iida stands to protest, “Wait, you can’t leave! The bell hasn’t-”

The second Izuku’s foot crosses the doorway, the final bell sounds, signaling the end of the school day, and Izuku is gone. 

Momo looks at her watch, confused, “The bell is early by eight minutes?”

Aizawa collects his things, giving one of his signature creepy grins, “Looks like Nezu has decided that class is dismissed. Jirou, Iida, if I hear things like that from you again, you will be the ones moved to gen ed or expelled. Have a lovely afternoon.” 

With that, he too, is out the door. 

-------------

Getting young Kaminari alone is much easier than All Might thought it would be. He finds that students almost look right through his smaller form, allowing him to listen in without issue. The pink skinned girl of their class is excitedly talking about how the angry blonde is going out with his girlfriend for dinner with both their parents. That takes care of two. His failure somehow ended up as the vice president of 1A and is currently meeting with the president in the library. One more. Finally, the useless one will be with Nezu alongside Aizawa and the other teachers. Bingo!

Thankfully, it only takes a few minutes for the hallways to clear outside of 1A. Checking quickly for any stray students, All Might transforms into his hero form and strides confidently into the room. Kaminari is sitting at Aizawa’s desk, spinning in the chair with his phone charger in his mouth. After waiting a few moments for the teen to notice him, All Might clears his throat. 

Immediately, the teen straightens to his feet, the charger dropping. Then he registers All Might and instantly sits back down, “Oh, it’s you.”

What could he possibly mean by that? Whatever, that’s just how teenagers are these days. I can fix that in no time. 

“Young Kaminari, I’ve been meaning to talk with you.”

The teen glances up at him briefly before looking back down at his phone, “Pass.”

“I’m sorry, what?!”

Kaminari glances up once more, and when he realizes that he hasn’t moved, the student sighs and places his phone down. “Look, All Might. I don’t know if you’re aware, but we were literally told during homeroom that we can’t be near you without another teacher present. As you can see, we are the only ones here, so I can’t talk to you.” With that, he picks up his phone once more, settling into the chair.

All Might gapes for a moment or two before shaking his head in disbelief. Apparently, he has his work cut out for him with this one. But how to handle this…

Well, he’ll find out regardless once he becomes my successor.

“Kaminari?” The kid raises his head distracted and All Might releases his hero form. The phone clatters to the desk as Kaminari is the one to gasp now. “I’m afraid that this is a matter of national security.”

“Wh- Wha-?”

“Don’t you want the chance to be more powerful?”

“I-”

“To be able to defeat the worst of villains with ease?”

“H- Hold o-”

“To have the number one spot practically handed to you?!”

“Hell no!” 

All Might startles out of his signature pose, spraying blood at the blunt response, “What?”

Kaminari sighs, reaching for his phone once more, “Look, I don’t know what this is all about, but I am just fine where I’m at. I don’t need to be more powerful. My blackouts hurt enough as is. I definitely don’t need to be the face of heroism. One, that sounds like too much pressure, and, two, the pomeranian would kill me. I like living, thanks! Now, great talk, and don’t worry. I’ll keep quiet about whatever this is.” He makes a vague gesture toward All Might’s smaller form. “Now, if you don’t min-”

“What if I could help you protect everyone you love? What if I could give you something to ensure they would never be harmed?”

At this, the boy visibly pauses and All Might knows that he’s got him hooked. 

“For example, take the break-in today. How many of your friends could have been hurt? Your teachers and classmates? I could help you protect all of them."

Kaminari shrinks back into the chair, rubbing at his arms nervously, “The break-in? W-Wasn’t that just the press?”

All Might leans in closer, smiling when the other instinctively does the same, “I’m going to let you in on a little secret, but you can’t tell anyone. I can trust you, can’t I?”

The hero student nods, hesitant, “Of course.”

“The break-in today? It was a deliberate attack.”

---------------------

Izuku stands between Aizawa and Mei, alongside the rest of the staff. The destroyed gate looms before them, an ominous message to all. 

Nezu walks closer, paws behind his back as he inspects the rubble, “No ordinary reporter could have done this. Someone clearly instigated this. Is this a new evil hoping to start a war?”

His question hangs in the air, unanswered, until Mei startles, “There!”

She points at the tablet in Power Loader’s hands, the one they had been using to comb over the security footage. Wordlessly, Izuku bends slightly down, allowing Nezu to climb onto his shoulders for a closer look.  

On the screen, a hooded figure seems to pass through the distracted and angry press, almost invisible. Despite being denied entrance hours before, they still are calling to be let in. The hooded figure waits a moment, almost as if waiting for a signal, before reaching forward and placing their hand on the gate. Instantly, it begins to disintegrate at an incredible rate. Within a minute, the barrier is gone and the reporters had found their way in. 

“They aren’t moving in…” Izuku says, confused. Sure enough, on the screen, the hooded figure merely lets the press rush in around them before turning and walking away. Power Loader follows them through the school’s cameras before the figure vanishes down a nearby side street. 

Aizawa looks to Nezu, tense, “Either they did this just to show they could or…”

The principal nods, worry clear on his face, “Or they were just a distraction for something else.”

----------------

By the time they finish at the gate, Hitoshi has texted that he and Momo were done, so he was heading back to 1A. Mei and Izuku run into him right outside the door while Zashi and Aizawa grab their things from the teacher’s lounge. 

“Glad that didn’t take too long. Hope Denks hasn’t decided to mess with anyone’s desks while he’s been waiting.”

“Purple, you just gave me a wonderful idea.”

Izuku glares at the two, “No, Mei or I’ll get Power Loader to restrict your lab hours. Toshi, how could you betray me like this?”

His soulmate just gives him a grin similar to his dad’s before opening the door, “Denks, we’re back!!!”

The blonde inside doesn’t respond, causing the others to share concerned glances. 

“Denki?”

The blonde shakes his head suddenly, focusing back on his friends, “Oh, hey guys! S-Sorry, guess I got lost in thought…” Denki turns to grab his things, desperately hoping they won’t mention him zoning out. When he feels Izuku’s hand on his arm, he knows it is in vain. 

“Denks, are you alright? You know you can tell us anything, right?”

Denki sighs, and for a moment, he really considers it. He doesn’t trust All Might in the slightest, but looking at his friends, the man’s words about protecting them strike a chord. These people mean everything to him, and if he could somehow help them, he would. He opens his mouth to tell Izuku everything when All Might’s whispered warning to not tell anyone flashes through his mind. 

Maybe it’s better not to tell them…

“Denki?” Hitoshi asks from his other side. 

Their friend shakes his head again, snapping out of his thoughts with a guilty smile, “Sorry! I just really feel bad about that comment I made about you being in trouble, Zuku. I didn’t mean for Jirou and Iida to latch onto it like that.”

Izuku smiles, “Don’t worry about it, Pika! I know you didn’t mean anything by it.” He reaches forward to bring the blonde into a hug. Over his shoulder, Izuku shares a look with his soulmate who nods. 

Why does it feel like there’s something Denki isn’t saying?

Chapter Text

All Might keeps his smile up for the public while he groans internally. Despite already delaying his commute by three hours and setting a new record for villains caught in that time, it seems he’ll still be able to make it to 1A’s hero class. He isn’t even teaching anymore, so what’s the point of showing up? If only, there were a reason he could use to not come i-

A scream is heard in the distance, and All Might sets off with a grin. 

Unfortunately, it’s only a hit-and-run, and he’s able to stop the runaway driver in less than five minutes. As he hands the man over to the police, he strains his ears for even the slightest call of distress. Waving at his fans, he nearly gives up before he overhears two officers. 

“A hostage situation the next town over is requesting help!”

Maintaining his signature grin, All Might turns to the one who spoke, “Where?”

---------------------------

The bell rings for hero training and 1A quiets down, looking up front towards Aizawa. 

“For today’s hero training, we’ll be joined by another instructor who specializes in what we’re focusing on today.”

Immediately, hands raise in the air and Aizawa nods to Sero. 

“What will we be doing, sensei?”

Turning to the board, Aizawa picks up some chalk, “We’ll be starting to prepare you all for disaster relief, so that you’ll be able to help out with anything from fires to flooding.” Stepping away, he reveals ‘RESCUE’ written on the board. 

Immediately, a majority of the class breaks out into whispers. 

Denki winces, “Rescue, huh? Sounds like we have a tough day ahead of us…”

Mina pouts lightly, “Totally… But we got this!”

Kirishima shakes Denki’s shoulder from behind, “Exactly! Come on, Kami-bro! I can’t wait!”

Other students continue until Aizawa glares, sending out an aura of doom and gloom, intimidating all but three of his students, “I wasn’t done speaking.”

Everyone quickly shuts up. 

Their teacher sighs, already exhausted, “ As I was saying, it is up to you whether or not you wear your costume.” He clicks the remote to reveal their cases. “Problem child, Power Loader gave me yours this morning, so it’s up here. Bakugou, Hatsume also dropped off your new gauntlets along with some other surprises.”

The blonde gives a feral grin, causing everyone except Izuku and Hitoshi to lean away, wary. 

“Some of you will find that your initial costume designs have some faults in them when it comes to this type of training. That’s normal. After all, you’re at school for a reason. Just keep them in mind, and if needed, I will provide forms for you to submit to support for modifications when we get back. Now, we will be taking a bus to the training facility as it’s a bit of a drive, so go ahead and get ready.”

With that, Aizawa steps into his sleeping bag, asleep in mere seconds. The teens rush for their cases, chatting excitedly as they make their way to the locker rooms. 

----------------

Katsuki is practically strutting ahead of Hitoshi and Izuku as some of the other boys ooh and aah over the new gauntlets fixed up by Izuku and Mei. The new support items are far less bulky, more streamlined in their design, and less likely to bring down a building accidentally. For all the showboating he’s doing now, his friends know none of their classmates would believe that Katsuki had made Izuku, Mei, and Powerloader each triple-check the new gauntlets to be sure nothing was possibly missed. The previous ones had done their job in thoroughly traumatizing the teen, and he wasn’t taking any more chances. 

Regardless, Katsuki’s showing off gives Izuku and Hitoshi time to plan without being overheard. 

“So how are we going to deal with the blonde oaf?” Hitoshi asks. 

Izuku groans, pulling his soulmate’s arm over his shoulder, “I don’t know anymore. I feel like anything we plan, Ass Might is going to find some way to mess it all up regardless…”

Hitoshi hums, “Yeah, he’s annoying like that… Should we make a plan with the others?”

Izuku mulls it over, looking over their classmates. Ochako is giggling with Mina and Hagakure while Denki is pestering Kat with Kirishima and Sero. Sure, Kat had told Chako the bare minimum, but there was no reason they should ruin their fun. He shakes his head, “We can keep an eye on him just fine. Anything he tries, you know they’ll jump in regardless. Let them have their fun.”

Hitoshi nods, muttering, “Incoming…”

Looking up, Izuku sees Yaoyorozu approaching the two of them hesitantly. It’s unlikely she’s going to try anything, so he smiles, encouraging her closer. 

She strides up, clearly putting on a false air of confidence. Izuku hopes she can gain some real self-confidence soon because she’s an absolute powerhouse between her quirk, intelligence, and creativity. 

“Midoriya, Shinsou, if I might have a moment of your time?”

They nod and she focuses on Izuku first, “Midoriya, I believe this is long overdue, but I apologize for how I responded to finding out about your quirk status… or well, the lack of, I guess? Regardless, that and the way I have acted since. My own ignorance on the matter is no excuse, and I should have behaved better. If you would be so kind, I would appreciate it if you could direct me to sources that reliably speak about quirklessness as opposed to the overall garbage produced by quirkists. Once more, I apologize most profusely, and I am proud to call you one of my classmates.” 

Izuku can’t help his eyes watering up at the genuine apology from Yaoyorozu, “I- Thank you. I really appreciate you apologizing. And…” He turns to Toshi who nods, “Toshi has your number so I’ll send you some stuff through him.”

She nods, excited at the prospect of gaining more knowledge, before turning to Toshi. She clears her throat, “Now, I was wondering if my vice president has any suggestions on how we should have people sit? Should we have it by class number or name? Do you think people will prefer one over the other? What if some want it one way, but the others don’t? How should we-” 

Toshi cuts her off, looking alarmed, “Hey, hey, it’s cool. How about we just let people choose where they want to sit? I think they’ll especially love it if you tell them that.”

She pauses for a moment, clearly having not considered this secret third, but grins happily at him, “Thank you, Shinsou! That’s a wonderful idea.”

She runs off, telling other students the plan. By the sound of Iida’s almost scandalized gasp and Shoto’s intrigued hum, having everything in perfect order must just be a rich kid thing. 

--------------------

Izuku isn’t quite sure how Asui managed to convince Aoyama to switch places with her, but now she sits with him and his friends in the back of the bus while Aoyama is beside the soulmate he’s been shunning for the past week or so. As much as Iida irritates him, he’s glad Aoyama is giving him a bit of a chance as opposed to ignoring him for Izuku’s sake. 

Still, he isn’t surprised when she speaks up a few minutes into the ride. 

“Midoriya,” he turns to the green-haired girl perched on the edge of her seat and staring at him. “I have the habit of speaking my mind.”

Hitoshi snorts from beside him, “Oh goody.”

Izuku elbows him hard in the side, “I see.” 

She nods, “If you don’t mind, I have some questions to ask you.”

He prepares himself for the worst even though part of him hopes this is a precursor to some form of an apology like Momo, “Go ahead.”

“What is it that you are hoping to achieve by trying to become the first quirkless hero? Aren’t you scared of getting hurt? Isn’t it more dangerous for you considering you don’t have a quirk?”

“I don’t see it that way. In fact, some could argue it’s more dangerous with a quirk considering how much people rely on them. They fall back on it as easily as they breathe. Without that safety net there, I’m not constantly relying on something that can be taken away from me at any moment.”

Mina leans forward from behind Asui, “What do you mean? How could it just be taken away?”

Izuku raises an eyebrow, “Need I remind you who our homeroom teacher is just as a start? But you might also be fighting a villain who is the perfect counter to your quirk. You could also just be in a situation where it might do more harm than good, so you don’t know how to function without it.”

Mina sits back, looking thoughtful, “Oh… I never thought of it that way.”

Izuku nods, “Yeah, most people tend not to. Not that most people would be using their quirks as often as heroes anyways. But as for your first question, Asui, I’m also trying to show other quirkless kids, or just anyone really who has been told they can’t do something because of some stupid prejudice, that they in fact can be whatever they want to be as long as they are willing to try and put in the hard work.”

Kirishima grins widely from beside Asui, “That’s a super manly way of looking at things, Midobro! You’re really inspiring!” He looks down at his arm almost wistful as he activates a small part of his quirk, “ I wish I could turn my own power into something inspiring like that… but I guess I’ll just have to make do with my simple hardening quirk. I mean, nothing flashy about it, but it works well in a fight.”

Hitoshi leans forward, balancing his chin on Izuku’s shoulder. “Thankfully not everything is about flashiness then or else underground heroes would be out of work.”

Hagakure leans in now, “Underground? Didn’t Sensei mention something about that on the first day?”

Izuku nods quickly, eyes shining bright, “So the heroes that you see on TV and in advertisements and during the day, well those are called daylight heroes or limelight. They’re meant to be the face of heroism for the public. They tend to be the ones that handle the bigger, more immediate threats though unders can be called in. On the other hand, underground heroes avoid the media the best they can and work best during the night. They tend to take on the more shadier cases like drug busts or human trafficking, the type of things where you can’t just run in swinging. There’s also twilight heroes which are basically the grey area between the other two.”

Hitoshi smirks, “Underground is what Izuku and I are aiming to be. We’ll gladly leave daylight to Goldie here.”

Kat grins viciously from behind Izuku, “And you better believe that I’ll fucking dominate it!”

Sero huffs out a laugh, “You sure about that, man?”

Ochako holds her boyfriend back as he lunges for the other boy. “You fucking doubting me, Scotch Tape?!” 

“Kat, calm the hell down!”

“Man, why’d you have to set him off?”

Aizawa glares from up front, “We’re here so shut it.”

Excitement rises throughout the bus as people look outside. 

“Oh wow, it’s huge!!!”

“It’s so cool!”

“Hurry up! I wanna get inside already!”

Mina and Hagakure let the infectious energy overwhelm them and push through the others to get out faster, accidentally knocking Asui off balance as she’s about to step into the aisle. Kirishima immediately reaches for her, one hand catching her wrist and the other steady on her back. The two freeze, staring down at his hand on her wrist that’s just out of Izuku’s sight. 

Katsuki huffs impatiently, “Hey, what’s the hold up? Some of us would actually like to get out of this bus.”

Kirishima jumps back, cheeks burning hot as he messes with his hair nervously, “Sorry! Um, a-after you, Asui!”

His previously black soulmark on the palm of his hand is now a candy red and moss green. Stepping fully into the aisle, Asui’s wrist matches and she smiles at him, “We can talk later. Also, call me Tsu.”

Kirishima’s cheeks are nearly as red as his new mark as he nods quickly, “Of course, Asu- I mean, Tsu!” 

They all make their way off of the bus where Denki and Sero immediately pull Kirishima away, thumping him on the back and congratulating him loudly. 

Ochako looks after the three boys, smiling, “What’s that make now? Five pairs in the class?”

Izuku nods, “That feels like a lot. Remind me to ask Zawa later if he’s had this many before.”

Katsuki shrugs, “Maybe everyone here is just paired off? Maybe the remaining losers should just all touch.”

Hitoshi winces, “I don’t think that came out anything like you wanted it to, sweetie.”

Katsuki’s face heats up, “Listen here, you-!”

“Midoriya,” Asui calls out before the two can kill each other. 

Izuku turns, curious, “Yes, Asui?”

“I’m sorry for my words from before. I think what you’re doing is really inspiring, and if you’re okay with it, I would like to start over.”

He smiles, glad to have another classmate supporting him, “Of course. Oh, and congratulations.”

She nods in thanks before wandering off.

Hitoshi links their fingers together, looking after her, “That’s the second classmate today who’s apologized. Think you’ll get anyone else?”

The four of them glance towards Iida, Todoroki, Jirou, and Ojiro. 

Katsuki shakes his head, annoyed, “I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

Chapter Text

After giving the students some time to talk amongst themselves, Aizawa eventually ushers them inside the USJ, leaving the students in awe at what’s before them. The building is huge with clearly separated zones all gathered around a central plaza. Thirteen is standing off to the side, obviously proud of the building. 

They clear their throat, gaining the students’ attention, “There’s the flood zone, the landslide zone, basically a zone for every disaster or accident that you could imagine. I designed and built this facility alongside my soulmate. I call it the Unforeseen Simulation Joint!!!” 

Immediately, Izuku and Ochako latch onto one another, shaking each other back and forth. 

“It’s the Space Hero: Thirteen!”

“They do their best work in rescue scenarios!”

“I love them!”

“They’re one of my favorite heroes!”

As two of his gremlins continue to lose their shit and try to convert everyone to the religion of Thirteen, Shouta makes his way over to his fellow teacher. Their blushing is nearly visible through their helmet, overwhelmed by the kids’ appreciation, so the dark-haired man clears his throat to get their attention, “Thirteen?”

The other hero startles, focusing on Shouta, “Sorry, what did you need?”

“Where’s All Might?” Shouta asks, glancing around. “I thought he was meeting us here.”

Thirteen shuffles their feet, visibly nervous, “About that, senpai… All Might called earlier to say that he had reached his limit during his morning commute. He’s also stated that…” They hesitate again, looking away nervously. 

Shouta tries his best to remain outwardly calm even as he internally cusses the oaf out in at least three different languages. 

This is not Thirteen’s fault. We do not shoot the messenger.

He takes a deep breath and slowly releases it, “Yes? What else did he say?”

Thirteen gulps before pushing on, “He said that since he’s being shadowed by other teachers anyways, we should be perfectly fine.” 

------

“Hey, Troll Doll?”

“Yes, bacon to my berry?”

“... Your dad is radiating murder again.”

Izuku and Hitoshi immediately turn to look at Aizawa who is in fact radiating murder. Thirteen looks very afraid, but thankfully, Eraser isn’t focused on them. No, instead, he’s crouched on the ground with his face in his hands and likely praying to every known deity for somebody’s death. 

Izuku winces, “Sh- Should one of us go over ther-?”

Without looking at them, Shouta raises an arm to sign the letter h.

Together Izuku and Katsuki shove him forwards.

“Good luck, kitten.”

“It’s your funeral, eyebags.”

He stumbles to a stop with a glare before continuing towards his dad, “Thanks a lot, you two…”

Thankfully, by the time he makes it to his dad’s side, the man is standing once more. 

“Hito, please let the problem child know that he won’t have to deal with Ass Might today as his pettiness has decided not to teach.”

His son smirks, “Damn, so we’re actually going to be able to learn something?”

Thirteen lets out a giggle as Shouta shoves Hitoshi’s head away, “Go, brat.”

He waits long enough for Hitoshi to start walking away before motioning Thirteen forwards, “Let’s get started.”

Thirteen walks closer to the students, bouncing on their feet excitedly, “Before we begin, I do have one or two points to go over. Well, maybe three… or four…” They start counting their fingers before Aizawa clears his throat. “Oops, sorry, as I was saying, I’m sure many of you are aware that my quirk is called Black Hole. It can suck in and tear apart anything.”

Ochako raises her hand, excitedly, “You’ve used it to save people in all sorts of disasters!” 

Thirteen nods, smiling with their eyes, “Indeed, Uraraka.” 

“ They know my name!!!”

They kindly continue over Ochako’s subsequent freak out about them knowing her name. “However, my power could easily kill. I’ve no doubt there are some among you with similar abilities, quirk or no quirk.” A somber feeling fills the air as the space hero speaks. “As you know, in our superpowered society, the use of quirks is heavily restricted and monitored. To the point that other dangers are left unchecked, despite this system seeming to be a stable one. We must never forget that it takes only one wrong move, whether by an uncontrollable quirk or other means, for people to die. During Aizawa’s physical fitness test, you came to learn of your own hidden potential. Through the… battle trials, you saw some of the dangers that your abilities can pose to others, even teammates. This class is here to show you a new perspective. Today, you will be learning how to use what you can do to save lives. You are not meant to inflict harm, so I hope you leave here today with the understanding that you are meant to help people.”

Thirteen bows, signaling the end of their speech, “That is all! I thank you for listening!”

The students burst into applause, feeling more motivated than ever. 

Aizawa step forward, “Great, now let’s begi-” He cuts off suddenly, sensing something down in the plaza below. Looking over his shoulder, the hero is confused for a second about what exactly set him off before he sees a misty black portal form. Slowly, someone reaches out from within the inky mass and a face covered with a dismembered hand appears behind it. Shouta can only watch in horror for a moment before turning back to his kids, “Huddle up and don’t move!”

Izuku, Hitoshi, and Katsuki immediately get into serious mode, starting to pull their classmates towards the building’s exit. 

“Guys, get over here,” Izuku hisses, grabbing onto Asui and Aoyama as he passes. 

“Shouldn’t we-”

“Iida,” Hitoshi snaps, “Get your ass over here and shut up!”

“What the heck’s that?!” Kirishima asks, “More battle robots? Like during the entrance exam?”

Katsuki yanks him backwards, “Get back, Shitty Hair!”

Aizawa pulls down his goggles, “Those are villains!!! Thirteen, protect the students! Problem children, the three of you help Thirteen! Everyone listen to Thirteen and the three of them!”

---------

Down below, Kurogiri looks at the teachers and students near the entrance. “Thirteen and…” He hesitates, looking closer at the underground hero. Something about him is familiar, but he shakes his head, “Eraserhead. According to the staff schedule I received the other day, All Might is supposed to be here…”

Beside him, Tomura looks back and forth erratically, clearly upset at the absence of the number one hero, “Where is he…? We’ve come all this way, Kurogiri! And brought so many playmates… Where could All Might… the Symbol of Peace… be?”

His eyes settle on the students as Eraserhead rushes to the stairs, “I wonder if some dead kids will bring him here?”

Chapter Text

Too late, the seriousness of the situation is sinking in for Izuku’s classmates as a mass of villains floods out of the portal. 

“Villains?! No way!” Ojiro yells out, stumbling backward into Aoyama. 

Yaoyorozu runs to Thirteen’s side, “Sensei, aren’t there intruder sensors?”

Thirteen nods, pulling her towards the doors, “Yes, of course. Higari insisted. They don’t seem to be working, though, so one of them must be affecting them. We’re far from campus, so the faster I get you out, the safer you’ll be.”

“Thirteen!” Eraserhead calls from the top of the stairs, quirk already active, “Begin evacuation code Yellow! You’re right that one of them must be doing something to jam the sensors. Denki!” 

The blonde starts, fear clear on his face, “Yes, Sensei?”

“I need you to try and use your quirk to signal for help. You’re the only one who might be able to get around the other electric type.”

He hesitates for a brief moment before nodding resolutely, “Got it!” 

Shouta prepares to launch himself from the stairs, but he is stopped by someone grabbing his arm. 

“Zawa,” his problem child hisses at him, “You know you can’t fight them alone!”

“Izuku, I-”

“DAD!”

The two freeze, Shouta looking at Izuku, shocked.

The teen’s face is red, but he pushes on, determined, “Against that many… even you can’t take them on your own. Please, let us help you.”

Shouta turns quickly, placing his hands on Izuku’s shoulders, “Izuku, trust me to be the best hero I can be. Part of that ensures getting you out of here and to safety. That is my priority. Now, you, Toshi, and Kat are to help Thirteen get everyone out. I am trusting you three with this, kiddo. I know you can do it.” 

He waits long enough to see his problem child nod before looking over his shoulder to his colleague, “Thirteen! Take care of them!” 

With that, he leaps off the top of the stairs and right into the fray. 

A majority of the villains gathered have apparently never heard of him, which he takes full advantage of, capture weapon already whipping out and eyes blazing red. 

-------------

Izuku runs back toward his classmates, refusing to even consider how his mentor might be doing against the villains. 

“Kurose! We need to get Denki and Iida out!”

“Midoriya!” Iida yells, affronted. “You shouldn’t cal-”

Izuku yanks him towards Denki, “Honestly, Iida, I couldn’t give less of a shit right now.” He turns to Denki, making sure the two boys are holding each other’s hands. “Denks, your job is to stay with Iida and get out of here. As soon as you’re out of range of the blocker, contact Nezu.” 

“I won’t allow that.”

In front of the exit, the same shadowy mass that had let the villains in looms before them. Thirteen places themself in front of the students, staring the villain down. 

“Greetings, we are the League of Villains. Do forgive our audacity, but we’ve come to UA today to…” The figure flickers ever so briefly before continuing on, “... end the life of All Might, the symbol of peace.”

Gasps are heard, but the villain continues, more focused on his own thoughts, “We were under the impression that All Might would be here today, but… it seems his schedule was revised?”

Izuku nudges Katsuki, touching his neck subtly. The blonde nods, showing he’s seen it too. Izuku takes a step closer to Toshi as Kat prepares to move. 

“No matter,” the villain continues. The dark mist begins to extend out even further. “My role remains unchanged. My focus is the children.”

Katsuki chooses that moment to rush forward, but unfortunately, Kirishima comes in from the side meaning Kat has to slightly redirect his explosion at the last second, barely missing the redhead. 

“Betcha didn’t see that coming!” Kirishima crows.

Izuku’s eyes widen in alarm as the villain sits up from where he was thrown to the ground. He starts to step forward but Toshi grabs his arm, pulling him back. 

Thirteen reaches for the two instead, “No! Get bac-”

“Begone!” The villain’s voice rings out, and in mere seconds, the darkness overwhelms them. 

----------

Izuku’s eyes shoot open in alarm as he suddenly registers the sensation of falling. Sure enough, he’s above the floodzone, the water getting closer by the second. He barely has enough time to cover his face before he slams into the water with a loud splash. 

His mind races, desperate to reorient himself. A teleportation quirk! Good support, but not a main. Just who’s in charge here? And how did they know All Might was going to be here? What is-

“There you are!” Izuku’s eyes widen in alarm, fear shooting through him at the approaching villain. “It’s nuthin’ personal kid, but say goodbye!!!” 

His jaws open wide, but before he can swim forward, Asui slams into his face like a bullet train. Izuku has just enough time to register Hitoshi’s limp form under her arm before Asui’s tongue shoots forward, wrapping around him, and she shoots out of the water. 

As they surface in front of the flood zone’s boat, Hitoshi breaks out into wet coughs, “Fuck, that was horrible…”

Asui carefully lifts Izuku, letting him drop onto the deck with a light thud. He coughs the water out of his lungs, getting to his feet with a groan as he makes his way to the railing. He sees Asui talking with Hitoshi, pointing up but his boyfriend shakes his head. Reaching for his capture scarf, Hitoshi whips it upwards, wrapping it around a railing before pulling himself up as quickly as he can. Once he’s halfway, Asui climbs up the side of the ship, joining Izuku. When Hitoshi gets within reach, the two green-haired teens yank him onto the ship to safety. 

Asui lets go immediately, giving the two soulmates a chance to look each other over.

Hitoshi grips Izuku tight before taking a small step back, “Are you okay? Asui got there in time, right?”

Izuku nods, tears in his eyes as he looks over Hitoshi’s Persona Chords, “Yeah, all good! Are you? I’ve never been more relieved that your quirk doesn’t work with electrical signals.”

Hitoshi kisses him gently on the nose, smiling, “All good, bunny. How are your sticks?”

Izuku releases him to check his support items, letting out a sigh of relief, “Not the worst 'cause they were in their holsters, but I’ll wipe them down.”

The two take a moment to catch their breath before turning to face Asui. Izuku smiles, “Thank you, Asui.”

She tilts her head with a smile, “Call me Tsuyu. Now we seem to be in trouble here, and Aizawa sensei said to listen to you guys. What’s the plan?”

Down below, villains gather around the boat, waiting for their next move, but Izuku ignores them for now, instead looking towards the USJ entrance where he can just barely see the misty villain’s form. “They knew our schedule which means that’s likely what they were after when they caused the media break-in. Not only have they been waiting for this chance, but they prepared well for it. Unfortunately, Ass Might decided he was going to skip today…”

Hitoshi grimaces, “As much as I hate to defend the asshole, do you think they really have something that can defeat All Might?”

Tsuyu blinks at him, “They must have figured out a way to kill him if they’re willing to risk coming here.”

Izuku nods, “She’s right… Or, at the very least, they believe they have, and I don’t doubt they’ll do whatever it takes to make sure the number one hero arrives. If they have something that they think can defeat him, it can definitely hurt us too, so we need to focus on surviving until All Might gets here.”

Hitoshi’s eyes widen in realization and he smacks his hand against his forehead, “Oh no…”

Immediately, Izuku turns to him, alarmed, “What? What’s wrong?” 

Shinsou sighs in frustration, “I meant to tell you after Thirteen was done talking to us. Da- Aizawa told me that All Might isn’t coming.” He glances at Tsuyu before focusing on Izuku again, “He ran into some scheduling issues with hero work and lost track of time this morning.”

As the villains surrounding them become even louder, their threats more aggressive, Izuku’s stomach sinks as true fear begins to set in.

“Fuck.”

--------------------------------

Hagakure groans lowly in pain, trying her best to stay quiet, as she lands hard on rocky terrain. She rolls a few feet before coming to a stop, already feeling cuts and bruises forming. She tried her best to avoid the mist villain, activating her suit’s invisibility, but he had managed to snag her anyway. Blinking, all she can see is that she’s managed to land near the bottom of a hill. Vaguely she hears the sound of one of her classmates before feeling a familiar cold rushing closer. Using the last of her strength, she lifts her arms to deactivate her suit’s invisibility. Just before the darkness takes her she assumes that it must have worked as the cold suddenly stops and Todoroki sounds far closer than he did before. 

---------------------------------------

Katsuki grits his teeth, arms bruised from landing hard in the ruins area. 

That could have gone better…

“Ow…” 

The blonde looks behind a larger piece of rubble, seeing Kirishima gripping his head in pain. The redhead slowly stands, dusting himself off, “Where are we?”

Katsuki starts checking over his new gauntlets, suddenly glad that Mei could get them done so quickly, “We’re in the ruins zone. Let’s go. The faster we get moving, the faster we get back.”

Kirishima rubs his hands together, looking around nervously, “I hope Tsuyu is alright.”

Katsuki looks up from his gauntlets, a singular eyebrow raised. 

The other teen hurries to correct himself, “A-and the others, of course! I hope everyone is alright!” 

Kat glances at the other’s hands, his red and green soul marks shining brightly, “Nah, I get it. She’s your soulmate after all, and the two of you just touched.”

Kirishima gives a nervous but thankful grin, “A-And Uraraka is yours right? Aren’t you also worried?”

Katsuki shrugs, starting to make his way towards the door, “Sure, but not too much. Honestly, I think these villains will regret even messing with her in the first place. She’s a badass.” The sound of others approaching forces the blonde to retreat to his classmate, trusting the other to have his back, “However, we’re going to first need to get through these fuckers if we’re going to get to the others. Just keep frog girl in mind and try your best to keep up.”