Chapter 20: Constellation II
The past few days since they came back to school after the sports festival, Katsuki had been spending hours after school at the gyms. His usual workouts weren't enough to blow off steam, so he'd been taking advantage of the fact that he could legally use his quirk on school grounds to literally blow off steam.
It was Thursday, and Izuku hadn't been in class since Monday. That was the day they'd gotten their offers for internships. As expected, Katsuki had a ton of offers, most of them from two-bit heroes trying to look good. But, he'd gotten an offer from Best Jeanist, one of the top ten, which was more impressive than almost anyone else.
Sure, IcyHot got an offer from his dad, but he'd surprised the entire class by incinerating the paper with straight face the moment he read what was on it. Seeing him using the fire that Katsuki knew he could control so openly after the bastard had refused to use it in any of their training exercises gave Katsuki the smug satisfaction that he knew before the rest of the class. It had been obvious since the beginning of the year, but the bastard hadn't used his fire at all, which was stupid as fuck.
Todoroki had used his fire in his match against Izuku, which in Katsuki's opinions had been overkill. Izuku went into that match injured, and IcyHot just had to go and try to burn him again. What the fuck was wrong with him?
But then, after whatever the fuck had happened during that match to knock both of them out of the competition, IcyHot was sticking to Izuku like glue, and Izuku was completely fine with it.
Katsuki didn't get it. The guy was a human incarnation of an ice cube for weeks, and then he suddenly decided to be friends with Izuku…and it worked? Katsuki had been trying to get this friends thing down for way too long and it hadn't fucking worked for him.
He took a calming breath before he threw open the door to the gym. Inside, he stopped, because there was a group already in there. He recognized the third years from their sports festival, but also because he'd seen them hanging around Izuku enough to consider stalking them so he could follow them to their homes and murder them in their sleep for being better at friendship than he was.
There was a reason Katsuki spent so much time at the gym, and it wasn't just his drive to be the best, although that was a huge part of it. Working out was slightly better than assault, in the interest of not getting himself expelled.
He nodded coldly to the trio and moved to one side of the room. It was large enough that they could do their own thing. He would ignore them; they would ignore him. Unfortunately he wasn't entirely deaf yet, so he could still hear them.
"It's today, right?" the sparkly one said.
Katsuki fished his earbuds out of his pocket. If they were going to be talking, he needed noise-cancelling asap.
"Izuku said he gets out of the hospital today. They should be on their way back now," the smiley blond said.
"Think they'll mind if we meet them?"
"Izuku won't mind," a softer voice said.
Katsuki's hands clenched around the fabric of his gym shorts. What the fuck were they talking about? Had Izuku been in the hospital this whole time?
He wiped his hands on his shorts and tried to act nonchalant, like he wasn't eavesdropping with all his might. He stood and started to stretch casually, keeping alert to catch whatever the group said next.
They argued a bit about whether they should go to the gates or the infirmary, ultimately deciding to wait at the entrance to the main building. They left after that, and Katsuki could finally drop the act. He waited a minute or so, so that they wouldn't notice him leaving, then picked up his gym bag and left the building.
A rational part of Katsuki told him that he needed to stop getting so riled up over Izuku, but the determined, driven, competitive side of Katsuki, the part of him that defined him, said he couldn't just give up. He'd been a shit friend to Izuku when they were kids, but that didn't mean he couldn't do better, be better. The fact that Izuku was the kind of person that Katsuki could respect, once he stopped being an idiot was only additional motivation.
Once he got to the main building, he used one of the side doors to avoid the Big Three who were camped out at the main entrance. He considered laying wait at the infirmary, but ultimately decided against it. Izuku didn't want to see him, especially not if he was just getting out of the hospital.
Katsuki, however, wanted to see Izuku. He wanted to make sure Izuku was fine. He was also incorrigibly curious, to an excessive degree. It was part of what made him such a good student.
Dropping his bag off at his locker, Katsuki wandered into one of the empty classrooms near the infirmary. He looked at the vents quizzically.
Katsuki would have considered himself very much in shape. He was tall and lean. He had to maintain his weight carefully to make sure he could stay airborne with his explosions. The vents still looked like a tight fit.
Shaking his head, still unable to believe that he was actually fucking doing this, Katsuki climbed onto one of the desks below the vent grating. Surprisingly, it didn't have screws, just a magnetic lock. Katsuki scrambled to pull himself inside, realized he couldn't turn around inside the vents, and decided he could leave the vent open just this once.
The vents were a cramped place, and Katsuki fucking hated them. He had to keep his arms in front of himself and pull himself forward like that or risk getting stuck. It was humiliating, crawling like some shitty caterpillar.
But, he did it, because Katsuki was no quitter.
By the time he made it to the infirmary, after only one wrong turn, Katsuki's shoulders were burning from the strain.
But, if people weren't going to tell him anything, he had to get creative to find the information.
His perseverance was rewarded when he heard voices coming down the hallway. The old lady appeared from her office to welcome them. Katsuki wasn't able to see until she led them over to the beds.
Izuku was there, as expected, and IcyHot was with him. The Big Three hovered around them, and Aizawa-sensei was there, too. The part that had Katsuki confused was that Izuku wasn't the one hustled onto a hospital bed. It was the purple freak from the sports festival.
"You seem to be doing well, Shinso," the old lady said, once she had completed the exam. "You're healing nicely. Just keep resting and you'll be back to normal in no time. Avoid strenuous activity for a while, but a little light exercise should be fine."
The mindfucker smiled wanly. He was so pale it looked skeletal.
"So, we're good to go?" Izuku asked eagerly.
Recovery Girl nodded. "Just remember, no strenuous activity. That means no fighting or sparring, no racing, and no rough housing."
When she turned her back, Izuku pulled the mindfucker off the bed by the hand. "Come on! Nedzu-sensei gave you your own room. Majima-sensei said he finished setting it up. You're going to love it!"
Shinso was wobbly on his feet and held onto Izuku's arm for support. "I got a whole room?"
Izuku winked at him, fucking winked. "Believe it!"
In the background, IcyHot gently facepalmed.
Katsuki didn't know what he was expecting to happen next, but it certainly wasn't for Izuku to open part of the infirmary's wall. He couldn't suppress the gasp of disbelief that escaped him.
He immediately clapped a hand over his mouth. Izuku's head swiveled. His green eyes zeroed in on the vent that Katsuki was hiding behind and narrowed in suspicion, but Katsuki had already seen everything. Even if he was caught now, he had his information. Then, Izuku shrugged, like he was releasing tension from his shoulders, something Katsuki really needed to do himself. The stupid vent was way too fucking cramped.
Izuku and his little crew disappeared through the hidden doorway, and the wall slid closed behind them. Katsuki let out a breath of relief.
Getting out of the vent was a whole ordeal. Undercover and infiltration was not for him, that much he knew, not if it involved crawling around in vents like some kind of insect. Leave that to fucking Ears. She was tiny enough.
When he was sitting on the floor of the empty classroom, trying to get the knots out of his shoulders, Katsuki finally had the time to think over the implications of what he had heard.
He knew from his tactical information gatheringduring the sports festival that IcyHot had suspected Izuku of being in UA's care. Izuku had told him not to believe anything IcyHot had said about him. Katsuki was beginning to think that he'd been doing damage control. There must have been some truth to what IcyHot had said. To top it all off, the bastard still hadn't paid his parents a visit like he promised. Stupid villains and their idiotic plans to attack a school instead of an actually important target like a government building. He'd actually been able to get closer to Izuku before that shitshow went down and Izuku decided to close off again.
So, logically, Katsuki had figured that Izuku was living with one of the teachers or something. He knew all the buildings and shit on UA's campus, and there sure as fuck weren't any dormitories or apartments, which meant he had to be living off campus. Or so Katsuki had assumed.
Nope, Izuku was living in the fucking walls, and apparently the mindfucker was going to be joining him there. IcyHot might have already joined him there, from the looks of it.
Katsuki ground his teeth in frustration. There was no use in blowing down the walls to find out what was going on. He'd have to be more intelligent about this.
He stayed even later than usual that night, and when he left UA for the day, Katsuki's wrists ached, and his palms were raw.
*
Leaning his weight on Midoriya, Hitoshi stumbled down the passages. It was a little tight with both of them side by side. He'd known that there were secret tunnels after the sports festival, but it somehow hadn't clicked until Midoriya opened the door in the infirmary.
Honestly, everything about this was like a dream. He was a ward of UA. Eraserhead was taking him under his wing. He was being moved to the hero course. He would be living at UA with Midoriya. It didn't feel real.
He was snapped out of his stupor when Midoriya had to let go of him because they were going down a ladder.
The tunnels shifted after that. They were uniform, with rubber flooring to dampen their footsteps and dim lights to guide the way.
Midoriya stopped outside a door that looked more like a bank vault than anything else. "This is my room. Shoto's is a bit down the hallway, and then yours is after that."
Hitoshi nodded dryly. Todoroki being there was another thing he would normally attribute to him suffering from brain fever, but no, the number two hero's son was also a ward of UA, because apparently his dad was a shithead. Todoroki had described him as a bastard, but Hitoshi was willing to take creative liberties.
"We, uh," Midoriya shifted his gaze from Hitoshi to Todoroki nervously, "we did a little decorating with your room, just so it wouldn't be entirely empty. If you don't like it, you can change it."
Hitoshi allowed a smile to creep over his face. "As long as it isn't bright orange, I couldn't care less."
Midoriya chuckled. "It isn't. Bright orange, I mean."
Hitoshi had to agree that it certainly wasn't bright orange when Midoriya opened the door to his room.
It was pitch black.
Okay, it wasn't just pitch black. Midoriya gave him the rundown of the room, turning on the lights that glowed a soft yellow on the edges of the room. His bed had a canopy over it like some kind of Victorian antique, but Hitoshi had to admit that being inside it was pretty fucking cool. In addition to the bed, there were a few empty shelves for him to fill as he pleased, not that he had anything other than his sports festival medal to put there, and a small chest of drawers that held assorted sweatpants, t-shirts, and sweatshirts for wear.
He also had his own bathroom, complete with a bathtub.
"I think I could stay here forever," he admitted after he'd been around the room a few times. It was so different from any of the other places he'd had to stay. They never had space that was just for him. It was always temporary, and the feeling of impermanence meant that Shinso had never really had the chance to put down roots.
"That's kind of the point," Midoriya said softly, his hand a warm grounding presence against Hitoshi's arm.
"Can I see your rooms?" he asked.
"Aren't you tired?"
In truth, Hitoshi was tired, but if this was a dream, he wanted it to keep going. And, he kind of didn't want Midoriya and Todoroki to leave him alone. So, he shrugged off the concern. "I've been in a bed for days. I can sleep later."
They stopped by Todoroki's room first. Hitoshi had to do a double take once inside, because he had just stepped into a traditional Japanese house, complete with tatami flooring.
"He put it all in himself," Midoriya whispered in his ear. "The weekend after the sports festival, he just spent an entire day fixing up his room."
"What the fuck, Todoroki?" he said, looking around.
There were paper screens dividing the room into sections for sleeping, studying and what must have been a sitting room based on the low table and seating cushions grouped around it. Even the door had been altered so that it slid in a track instead of swung on hinges.
"You can call me Shoto," Todoroki said. He sat down on one of the cushions and flipped the switch on an electric kettle. He pulled a wooden box out from under the table and began removing the pieces of a tea service.
"Shoto, then."
Shoto seemed content with that and continued his work. Hitoshi still hadn't managed to get a good read on the other boy. He kept up an impenetrable neutral expression most of the time and hadn't spoken much since their first conversation when Hitoshi had woken up in the hospital, preferring to leave the talking to Midoriya, but occasionally, Hitoshi caught flashes of personality from him that let him know Shoto wasn't all ice.
"You can call me, Izuku," Midoriya offered. "Can we call you Hitoshi?"
The question hung in the air. Hitoshi had an unspoken rule born from years of experience not to get attached to his placements. He had to keep his distance and remain separate, because they never lasted. His fuck up with the Ando family was as good an example as any of what happened when he let his guard down, even briefly.
But, Izuku was already family. It had happened without Hitosi ever realizing, and somehow Shoto was included in that. The rule didn't apply to him.
"I, yeah," he said, his voice thick in his throat. "You can."
Shoto, with impeccable timing, invited them all to sit down for some tea. "Nedzu-sensei has been teaching me," he explained gravely. "Tea is good for talking." He shot Izuku an inscrutable glance that made the green-haired boy sigh and put down his teacup.
"Yeah, I know." His eyes rested on the surface for a few seconds before they flitted up to meet Hitoshi's.
Whatever Hitoshi had been expecting, it wasn't the story Izuku told him, hands fidgeting with his bracelets the entire time. It left him breathless and reeling.
He would never have guessed that Izuku actually had a quirk from how he acted, never would have guessed the history behind the bracelets that Izuku wore religiously.
He thought over the conversations he'd had with Izuku about quirks, how the other boy had been so enthusiastic over the changes he made to the entrance exam to help quirkless students stand a chance, thought about how Izuku had a quirk exponentially more powerful than Hitoshi's, and more likely to be considered villainous, and never even considered using it. If anything, it made him respect Izuku even more.
"So, um, yeah, just don't go in my room when I'm asleep, and don't touch me if I'm not wearing my suppressors," Izuku concluded. "If you're uncomfortable being too close, we can move your room."
Hitoshi shook his head. "I'm not worried about that. Your room is insulated, and Todoroki hasn't had any problems."
"I'm sorry for lying to you."
"Was it really lying?" Hitoshi wondered and realized a second too late that he'd said it aloud.
Izuku flushed. "Technically."
"Whatever. You had your reasons." All of a sudden, he was feeling much more tired, like the secret had physical weight that was pressing on his shoulders. He wasn't upset at being told. In fact, it sent a wave of warmth through his chest that Izuku trusted him enough to tell him, even if it was just because they were living together. "So, what do you guys do for fun around here?"
*
Aizawa leaned back in his sleeping bag to watch the chaos. He was glad he had postponed Nemuri's visit to his class to help them sort out their hero names. Not that he had known at the time about the mess surrounding Shinso. He had just been hoping to get the boy's transfer through in time for him to join the class. Aizawa had been planning to take him for the week of internships regardless, but he did want the kid to get to experience the highs and lows of the hero course.
The new gremlins were in a group, heads pressed together while they worked out hero names. Nemuri was not so subtly taking photos.
The whole staff had taken to their new wards like flock pf piranhas to a piece of bloody meat. Not that he blamed them for trying to spoil the kids, although he did think both Shinso and Shoto were a little confused at having a breakfast party thrown for them.
Shoto's account of his home life was appalling to say the least. And Shinso…well, he didn't even have to say anything. Aizawa knew that his coworkers were all kicking themselves for not knowing, and he felt the same. Shoto was one of his students. He should have been the first to do something, instead of just assuming that the boy had inherited Endeavour's disposition.
No one ever told him being a teacher was this difficult.
Feigning sleep, Aizawa kept one ear open to listen to his students' discussions. He made a mental note to send Kaminari to see Nemuri sometime to help with his image which he clearly wasn't confident about. Kirishima, on the other hand, had an excellent sense of the type of hero he was going to be. He wasn't all that worried about most of his kids, although…
Tenya. Aizawa risked opening an eye to look at his friend's younger brother. With everything else that had gone down that week, there hadn't been much time to visit Tensei in the hospital. He and Zashi had stopped by with Nemuri the weekend after the festival, but Tensei had been fresh out of surgery and unconscious.
He couldn't imagine how Tenya was feeling. He'd idolized his brother from a young age, and Tensei was a worthy role model. He'd reminded the boy that Hound Dog's office was open, but Tenya had refused with a blank face. Someone needed to tell that kid that being a hero didn't mean he couldn't grieve.
Aizawa couldn't suppress the hint of a smile that crossed his face when Izuku pulled Yaoyorozu into his group to consult. It seemed that the sports festival hadn't created bad blood between her and Shinso. She still lacked confidence, though. He hoped that the internships, and the opportunity to get some hands-on experience, would give her a much-needed boost.
Listening to the kids present their hero names was entertaining. While he defended the right of heroes to name themselves whatever the hell they wanted as long as it wasn't incredibly offensive, he did recognize the fact that they needed names they wouldn't regret three years from now. Not that Eraserhead was one to talk. Nonsensical as his hero name was, though, Aizawa was fond of it. He had made his reputation despite what some considered a ridiculous name, which made it all the more impressive.
All this to say, it was the hero that made the name, not the other way around. He made a note to tell Ashido she could use the name Alien Queen if she wanted to, even though Nemuri shot it down as being too scary. There was too much pressure on female heroes to be cutesy and non-threatening. Ashido didn't have to conform to all that.
Bakugo's names he didn't agree with the same way. Tenya would also need some help coming up with a better name than just his first name, but he, and Nemuri, were evidently willing to cut the kid some slack.
When Izuku took the stage, he gave his full attention.
Izuku smiled as he flipped his board around to show the class. "Arcturus: the Shooting Star Hero," he introduced himself.
Nemuri applauded him. "Space theme! I like it. Approved."
Aizawa let himself sink back into his sleeping back, satisfied. Thirteen would be pleased with Izuku's choice of a hero name. He'd been close-mouthed about his choice for ages. None of the staff had been able to pry it out of him.
He choked on the breath he had just taken when he hear Shoto introduced himself
"Failure: the failing hero."
"Well," Nemuri was speechless. "Shoto, is there something…else…you'd like to present?"
"Oh, that must have been the wrong one," Shoto said in his typical deadpan voice. He switched the board out for another board. "My hero name is Comet: the hundred degree hero."
"Approved?" Nemuri said, clearly thrown off her rhythm.
Jiro, however, snorted. "Todoroki has a sense of humor," the purple-haired girl observed. "Who would have guessed?"
Tokoyami nodded. "Very dark, if a little brusque."
It was a relief to see Shoto opening up like this so soon after being freed from his father's controlling grasp. Aizawa wondered why he hadn't noticed how repressed Shoto was before.
The last person to present was Shinso. He took the stage with eyes shifting to cover the whole room. He still wasn't quite at home with his new class, which was to be expected with how recent the transfer was, but Aizawa hoped he would get over it soon. He liked to foster a sense of teamwork with his class. It was a necessary skill as a pro hero, even for one as antisocial as himself.
"Echo," he announced himself, "the echo hero."
The title might have needed some help, but it was a good name. If Shinso planned on going into underground heroics, personal branding wasn't much of an issue. What was more important was having a codename that was recognizable and distinct while also not giving away too much about his power. Anyone who knew Shinso's quirk could connect Echo to him, but to someone who had no idea the name Echo didn't give away how his quirk worked.
Aizawa would have bet good money that Izuku helped Shinso with the name.
*
"Have you decided where you're going for your internships?" Izuku asked once his group was settled at their lunch table and the obligatory troupe of visitors had left them to their meal.
"You already know that I'm going with Aizawa," Hitoshi remarked and dug into his food.
Yaomomo fiddled with her chopsticks. "I haven't quite decided yet. I was thinking of interning with Uwabami. My mother was quite insistent that it would be good for me." Her mouth twisted in a worried line. Even more indicative that something was amiss was the fact that she had yet to touch her food.
"Endeavour wants me to intern with him, but I'm not going to," Shoto said matter-of-factly. He slurped his noodles like he didn't have a care in the world, which, once Endeavour was out of his life, was somewhat true.
A small smile tugged at Yaomomo's face. "It isn't so easy for me to disregard my parents' wishes. I know my mother wants the best for me, and Uwabami is a highly ranked hero. Even if she is not the type of hero I wish to become, there is still a great deal I could learn from her."
"Yaomomo," Izuku said, worry ceasing his face, "what type of hero do your parents think you will become?"
Yaomomo froze. Her eyes were fixed on her food, but Izuku got the impression that she wasn't really seeing anything.
"Because, if they think you're going to be a hero like Uwabami and that isn't who you want to be, you'll have to break their expectations sooner or later," Izuku continued. It was a difficult thing to say to a friend, and even more difficult knowing how uncomfortable she was with the idea of crossing her parents, but she was her own person, and she deserved to make her own decisions.
"Trying to live up to people's expectations is stupid," Hitoshi chimed in. He wasn't exactly the best person to talk, since the expectations on him were all negative, but the support was appreciated. "Whatever they want from you, you're better than that. You're not some pseudo-celebrity or idol or influencer. You're a badass hero with a powerful quirk."
Yaomomo blushed and ducked her head to hide behind her bangs. Coming from Shinso who had beaten her in the tournament, the praise likely held more weight.
"Then, who would you suggest?" she asked after a few seconds in a soft voice.
"Pick someone with a skill or a strength you want to work on," Izuku suggested. "You could pick a hero with a food-related quirk, or one who uses a variety of weapons, or even an intelligence hero if you wanted to play to your strengths. Or, you could work with a rescue hero, since your quirk could be incredibly useful in rescue missions. Getting experience like that might come in handy. It will also help you work on thinking on the fly and being more versatile with what you can create."
Yaomomo nodded. "I think I'd like that." Then more quietly. "Thank you."
Izuku smiled as he dug into his food.
*
With everything that was going on in the class, Eijiro really didn't want to cause another fuss. They already had a transfer student coming in who, according to Aizawa, hadn't been well-treated because of his quirk so they better not do anything to single him out in a bad way or it was detention for a week straight. Todoroki was in some weird situation with his dad. Iida's brother was in the hospital, which wasn't something that people were talking about, but the news had come out and people knew even if they didn't say anything.
Knowing everything that had been going on with Todoroki, it had been a little unnerving to see him gone for several days the week after the sports festival, even if Aizawa-sensei said it was nothing to worry about. But Midoriya had been absent, too, and he didn't have the excuse that he was trying to emancipate himself from his father.
It set off a tiny alarm bell in the back of Eijiro's mind, one that harmonized with several other alarms that his classmate had already set off.
Eijiro knew a few things about the statistics surrounding quirkless people. As low as he had been on the social ladder in middle school for his weak quirk, it would have been worse if he hadn't had a quirk at all. It hadn't happened while he was in school, but the stories of a former student, a quirkless student, who had been forced to drop out of school after severe injuries from bullying still circulated and let him know that however bad he thought he had it, it could have been so much worse.
With all the morbid curiosity of a young teenager, Eijiro had made some searches that he almost wished he hadn't. Learning about the darker side of his society had shocked him, but in a way, it had made him a better person. It had shocked him out of his self-deprecation and inspired him to do more. He had a privilege that he'd never even realized existed, and it wouldn't be manly not to use it for good.
So, when he saw the warning signs, Eijiro wasn't about to ignore them. Quirkless teens had higher rates of suicide, homelessness, and abuse. They were more likely to be victims of crimes, both of the normal variety and targeted hate crimes. As a hero-in-training, Eijiro couldn't just sit by and watch those statistics play out in real time in front of him.
He'd suspected already that Midoriya wasn't in a good place, but seeing how the school stepped in for Todoroki and the new kid, maybe they would do the same for Midoriya.
Eijiro also knew that it was a delicate situation. He didn't know what Midoriya's living situation was, only that Bakugo had insinuated that Midoriya was an orphan. He might have been living in some kind of shelter or with foster parents. Maybe they didn't like him and he preferred to stay away, maybe they were flat-out abusive. Eijiro had no way of knowing, and if Midoriya hadn't said anything about it, just asking him might make him clam up, which was the last thing Eijiro wanted.
An intervention. That was what Eijiro decided on.
So, the first day that Todoroki and Midoriya were back in class, the day that Shinso joined them, Eijiro hung back. Those three were the first to leave, which made his plan so much easier.
Clearing his throat loudly, Eijiro twisted in his seat so that he was facing the class. "Hey, guys, can we talk about something?"
His classmates stopped packing up, and Eijiro suddenly felt the pressure of sixteen pairs of eyes on him.
"What about?" Jiro asked.
Exchanging a glance with Mina whom he'd already talked this over with, Eijiro took a deep breath. "It's about Midoriya."
"Why the fuck do you want to talk about Izuku behind his back?" Bakugo asked viciously. Eijiro knew that Midoriya was a sensitive subject around Bakugo, but he still had to fight the urge to cringe.
"Hear him out, Blasty," Mina said. She walked over to Eijiro's desk and sat on it. Eijiro was thankful for the show of support.
"Look, I'm just gonna come out and say it," Eijiro said. "I think Midoriya is homeless."
He waited for that to sink in. Tokoyami looked thoughtful, and Yaomomo looked shocked, but Bakugo…Bakugo looked pissed.
"You've known him the longest, right, Bakubro?" Eijiro asked. "His parents aren't in the picture. He carries around a sleeping back in his backpack. We've all seen him sleeping in here some mornings, looking like he never left. And, I don't mean this in a bad way, but he's quirkless. It's totally possible that his guardians aren't taking proper care of him because of that."
"I…never thought of that," Yaoyorozu said, sounding faint.
"Isn't he like, Nedzu's student, though?" Jiro frowned. Her earjacks twirled in the air slowly like she was turning something over in his mind. "Wouldn't he have done something?"
"Yeah." Bakugo scoffed. "You think they'd let him go homeless? You think Izuku can't take care of himself?"
"I'm not saying anything like that," Eijiro said hastily. "Just, if he's not in a good place, he shouldn't have to struggle alone."
Bakugo leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Well, he's not fucking homeless."
"Just because you think he's not doesn't mean he isn't," Mina said. As usual, she wasn't afraid of poking the bear that was Bakugo. "We're worried about him."
"We would regret it if something truly were amiss and we did nothing about it," Tokoyami observed.
"I agree," one of Shoji's arms said.
Out of everyone in the room, Yaomomo looked the most disturbed, probably because she was close to him and apparently hadn't noticed anything being off until Eijiro brought it up. "Perhaps we should ask him before we jump to conclusions?"
"Right!" Uraraka nodded vigorously. "Midoriya might have something going on. It could be embarrassing, and that's why he hasn't said anything. We should consider his feelings."
Tsu, with her ever indecipherable poker face, looked carefully at everyone except for Bakugo's worried faces before she made her contribution. "I think Midoriya is being cared for, kero. He might have permission from Nedzu and the teachers to sleep at the school since he spends so much time here. He is in the support course in addition o taking advanced classes and needing to train to keep up with all of us."
Bakugo snorted. "Finally, someone with a brain."
Eijiro considered it. "You might have a point, but I still think we should look into it just in case."
"I could ask him about it…tactfully," Yaoyorozu offered, though she looked distinctly uncomfortable.
"That would be super great!" Mina exclaimed. She clapped her hands. "And if there is something wrong, we can let Aizawa-sensei know!"
"Thanks, Yaoyorozu," Eijiro said. "It would make me feel a lot better."
"This is ridiculous." Bakugo stood and swung his bag over his shoulder. "You extras don't know what you're talking about." He left after that, but Eijiro hadn't missed the fact that he had stayed for the whole discussion. He might have kept up a brusque front, but Eijiro could tell Bakugo had a heart somewhere under all the explosions and scowls.
The rest of his classmates didn't stick around much longer, many of them clearly a little rattled by the thought of a classmate going through something like that. They'd all seen firsthand the kind of hate that quirkless people had to deal with during the sports festival. The way that the crowd had stopped cheering for Midoriya as it became apparent that he wasn't using a quirk was so unmanly! Eijiro only hoped that he wasn't overstepping his bounds in bringing it up to the entire class.
Mina was one of the last to leave, giving him a cheerful smile when they parted outside the gates.
His classmates were good people, that much Eijiro was sure of. If something really was wrong with Midoriya, they would be there for him.
*
After he left the classroom and Shitty Hair's little intervention planning meeting, Katsuki didn't stop by the gym like he had the past couple days.
False as his assumptions had been, Shitty Hair did have a point in that Katsuki had no idea what Izuku's living conditions were.
He'd come to the conclusion the day before that Izuku, and now apparently IcyHot and the purple one were living in the secret tunnels that were a thing. Where exactly they were living, Katsuki had no idea. He also didn't know if his assumptions were even correct. Given his track record for making correct assumptions about Izuku, he definitely needed confirmation.
He had his work cut out for him if he was going to figure out how to get into those tunnels. He got to work taking measurements..
*
The next day after school, Katsuki felt a weird thrill of achievement when the panel slid open and revealed a passage behind it.
He was used to the adrenaline of victory in battle and the satisfaction of good grades, but this was something entirely different. It was like he had just undone a particularly difficult knot.
It certainly hadn't been easy tracking down the network of secret passages that lurked in the walls of the school. He'd measured the interiors and exteriors of classrooms, calculated the discrepancies, and mapped out where potential entrances could be. And once he'd narrowed down where the entrances could be, he still had to figure out how they opened.
Now, in an empty classroom, with the entrance yawning before him, Katsuki felt that his work had paid off.
He ducked inside and let the panel slide closed behind him. The light inside the tunnel he found himself in was dim, but his eyes adjusted quickly. As he walked, he catalogued how the walls of the tunnel changed, allowing him to guess when he switched from being in a classroom to being in the hallway to the cafeteria.
He wandered for longer than he would have liked. Now that he was in the tunnels, he wasn't sure where he was supposed to go. They were even more maze-like than he had anticipated, and there were areas he hadn't been able to map out that were now open to him.
Passing by what he was pretty sure was the staff room for the second time, Katsuki noticed something. There were glow-in the dark stars on the left side of the tunnel. Initially, he'd assumed that they were just decoration, but they were mostly in the main passage. And they were consistently on the left-hand side. Almost like a trail.
Fuck it. He didn't have any better ways to navigate.
Fingers trailing over the raised edges of the stars, Katsuki followed them until he came to a ladder that led underground. Finally, he was onto something.
He had only been walking for a minute or so when he came to a door. It was heavy and metal like it was built to contain something dangerous, which meant Katsuki obviously had to open it.
He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but the room that he stepped into wasn't it. Izuku had said that what Todoroki had said about him being an agent trained by the school wasn't true. Still, Katsuki had kind of thought that if Izuku had a room at the school, it would be some kind of dorm room or that it would look like a repurposed classroom.
The room was unmistakably Izuku's. Granted, Katsuki hadn't been inside Izuku's room in more than seven years, but still. There was less hero merch and the decorations were more tasteful. The clutter was the same.
Katsuki felt like an intruder. If his old hag found out that he'd snuck into Izuku's room without his permission, she'd chew him out for terrible manners. For the first time in his life, Katsuki thought that maybe there was something to the concept of manners. He knew at that moment that Izuku definitely didn't want him in his room.
Did Izuku want him in his life at all?
And of course, because the timing couldn't have been any better, there were voices in the hallway outside. Katsuki caught IcyHot, Mindfucker, and Izuku. It was a little eerie that there wasn't an accompanying sound of footsteps.
The door was still open, and for a few seconds Katsuki considered shutting the door and hiding, but that wasn't his style. He wasn't ashamed. He'd confront Izuku right then and there and get some answers.
He could tell when the group outside saw the open door because they stopped talking among themselves. He ignored the way his heartbeat spiked, and his palms grew damp with sweat.
Izuku poked his head in the door first, and his eyes widened when he saw Katsuki standing in the middle of his room. He ducked his head out of the room again.
"It's nothing to worry about, guys," Katsuki heard Izuku say. "I'll see you in a bit."
Then he was slipping inside again. The door hissed softly as it closed, and the lock fell into place. Perhaps in another context the sound would have been ominous, but Katsuki had never felt physically threatened around Izuku. Mentally and emotionally, yes, but Izuku was too much of a hero to hurt anyone. That much Katsuki was sure of.
Once it was just them, Izuku stared him down. In the dim light of his room, his green eyes shone with caution. He was dressed like he had just been to the gym, in shorts and a sleeveless mockneck. His hair was a mess, too.
"Bakugo," his voice was steely sharp but carefully controlled, "what are you doing here?"
"I came here to find you," Katsuki answered truthfully enough.
Izuku frowned, the lines on his forehead puckering. "You could have done that during the day. We have class together. So, why now?"
Instead of answering, Katsuki looked at a corner of the room. "You know, Shitty Hair thinks you're homeless."
"His name is Kirishima."
"You knew who I meant though."
Izuku let out a bark of a laugh, more of a scoff really, sharp and disbelieving. "Right. I forgot. It doesn't really matter to you what it means."
An uncomfortable feeling bubbled in Katsuki's chest, compressing his lungs. "Whatever. I figured you had to be living somewhere around here so I took a look around. You happy?"
"And what made you think you had the right?"
Katsuki let go the death grip he had on the edges of his blazer unconsciously. "You weren't exactly keeping it a secret."
Izuku rolled his eyes. "And yet no one else has snuck into my fucking room, Bakugo."
Katsuki tsked. "Not my fault the extras are stupid."
"I shouldn't have bothered," Izuku said. He walked further into his room, making sure to shoulder check Katsuki as he walked by him. "Well, you know where I live now. You can go."
Katsuki recognized the dismissal, but he wasn't done. Finding out where Izuku was living hadn't been his only objective. "You were absent," he noted, then added a guess, "taking care of the mindfucker."
"His name is Shinso. You can use it." Izuku had his back to Katsuki and was sorting through a stack of papers on his desk.
It wasn't a negative. "He's staying here with IcyHot, isn't he?"
"You gonna break into their rooms, too?"
"Didn't break in. You left it unlocked."
"My bad," Izuku snapped, a raw edge in his voice. "I'll make sure to lock you out next time."
"I don't fucking get it."
When Izuku didn't answer, Katsuki continued, "What is it about them?"
That got Izuku's attention. He turned to look at Katsuki, eyes narrowing as he looked him over. "Are you…jealous?"
"No," Katsuki denied. He wasn't jealous, he was just confused, and Katsuki hated being confused. "IcyHot was an asshole, all he wanted to do was beat you, and now you're best friends. What the fuck is up with that?" It didn't make sense. Izuku whom Katsuki couldn't manage to get an actual fight out had fought IcyHot no holds barred and then made friends with him. Why the fuck wasn't he willing to do the same with Katsuki? What was so different about them?
"What is this really about?" Izuku demanded. "I like Shoto because he's a good person. Is that so hard to understand?"
The air was thick with unanswered questions, and rather than clear the air, Katsuki decided to add to it. "Fight me. For real, this time."
Izuku looked at him in exasperation. "No."
"You think I'm trying to hurt you?" Katsuki pressed, and he didn't miss Izuku's subtle flinch. It hit him with all the force of a punch to the gut. "I told you I'm fucking different. What I did back then wasn't right, but you're different now, too. We can finally fight on equal terms. You don't seriously think I'm the kind of person to hurt people for the fun of it?"
Katsuki felt like he couldn't breathe while he waited for Izuku to respond. His voice nearly stuck in his throat, but he forced the last few words out.
"I want to be friends again. Is that—"
"I don't know, Bakugo! I don't know!" Izuku cut him off, a panicked look on his face. "One minute, you're trying to be a better person, the next you're trying to beat me into the ground like nothing has changed. What am I supposed to take away from this? And now you're just pushing yourself into my life. If what you're saying is true, and you really want to be friends…" Izuku's voice broke, "I don't believe it. I can't."
"I'm fucking saying it, aren't I? I've been trying this whole damn time," Katsuki spat out, interrupting Izuku's rant. "I'm not gonna be an asshole to you anymore. I thought I told you as much at the start of the year."
"But what have you done to prove that?" Izuku's voice was strained. He ran his fingers through his hair, tugging at the long strands. "I keep trying to believe you, and you keep doing stuff to prove otherwise. You do something that could be interpreted as trying to help me, then you turn around and attack me. I don't fucking get it."
Katsuki flinched at the accusations.
"It's like you just want to fight me, that's all you've ever tried to do. I'm…I'm flattered that you think I'm strong enough to be a challenge to you, but…I don't want that."
The tears were streaming down his face now in true Midoriya fashion. "I don't want the only reason we interact to be because you want a sparring partner. I don't want you to only respect me because I'm strong enough to take your punches now."
Was that what Izuku thought of him? Katsuki tried to think back through their interactions. Had it all been fighting? He'd tried to invite Izuku over, but that had never happened. Their friendship was a weed-choked garden scarred with violence, and despite his best intentions, Katsuki had somehow forgotten that the strength Izuku had, the strength that had first earned him Katsuki's begrudging respect, was his ability to be steadfast in the face of violence. He wasn't like Katsuki, explosive and volatile, with that type of strength. He was strong like steel, unbreakable, unshakeable. And Katsuki had taken that to mean he was a sword not a shield.
"You've always been strong," he said. "I should have realized that sooner."
Izuku raised water-logged green eyes to meet Katsuki's gaze, and for a long moment, Katsuki thought that maybe there was some understanding between them.
But then the eyes turned hard. "Get out," Izuku said, the edge in his voice evident despite how badly it shook. "Get the fuck out, Bakugo." His eyes flashed with an unmistakable threat, and Katsuki…Katsuki didn't even consider fighting.
"Fine," he bit out. He turned and walked away, his usual swagger absent. With every step that took him away from Izuku, the space between them stretched tauter and tauter, like a rubber band about to snap. It was going to hurt like fuck when it finally did.
He turned when he reached the door. "In the sports festival, that was supposed to be us, and you know it."
"Out!" Izuku spat venomously, and all of a sudden the hairs on the back of Katsuki's neck stood up. He felt threatened. Afraid even.
He had the distinct impression that he had been locked in the room with Izuku, not the other way around. Relief washed over him when he opened the door, and he had an escape route.
He was only halfway through the door when Izuku called out to him again.
"I don't care how strong you think I am. If that's all you care about, then there's no point."
Katsuki pulled the door closed behind him. He walked through the tunnel blindly, not sure if he was going the right way or not. When he had been walking for a few minutes, and had no idea where he was, he stopped and sank to the floor with his back against the wall.
His heart hammered in his chest. Fuck. He could feel the anger at how the conversation had gone down simmering beneath his skin, but he pushed it down even further. There would be time later to scream and blow something up. A better time. A better place.
He fished around in his pocket and pulled out the emergency pill capsule he kept on himself at all times. After he took the medication, he lay there slumped against the wall while he waited for it to take effect and his heart rate to go down. Then, he stood and found his way back out. When the door of the passages closed behind him, he had a feeling he wouldn't be going back in any time soon.
*
Izuku felt sick to his stomach.
He sank to the floor, back against his bed, head between his knees and tried to push down the years old mess of anger and grief and loneliness that he shouldn't have been bothered by after so long.
He didn't know what to do with a Kacchan that said one thing and did another. He wanted to believe him. He really did.
But, a Kacchan that only respected his strength was a Kacchan who hadn't changed at all from the kid he had been.
Izuku put a hand to his collarbone, over the old burn scar covered by his shirt. There were so many good things about Kacchan—his intelligence (he was the only person to have found the tunnels on his own), his power and the way he used his quirk in so many ways, his charisma (that he was criminally underusing. Seriously, if he just stopped scowling and swearing for a few minutes, he would be immensely popular, just like he had been when they were kids). He had an intense drive to be the best hero he could be that never flagged.
Izuku missed the way Kacchan had been so certain they would be heroes together when they got their quirks. The sting of the betrayal when he was left behind was something that even a decade couldn't dull.
Kacchan reaching out to him, being interested instead of ignoring him, it felt like everything a younger him had wanted, but Izuku wasn't his younger self anymore. He was older, stronger, and he knew better. Kacchan needed to understand that it wasn't his strength that gave Izuku worth as a person. Izuku had been rejected by Kacchan when he was at his worst. Now, at his best, Kacchan acknowledged him, but it was meaningless because of the hypocrisy.
He wished, not for the first time, that they had met for the first time at UA, that there was no history between them to mar what could have been good friendship, because Kacchan was exactly the kind of person he looked up to. He was the kind of person who gave 110%, who never gave up. He was smart, strong, capable, and he never slacked off. Izuku could look in his eyes and see the same fire that burned in his own soul.
Izuku wanted to fight him and measure himself against an opponent that was truly of the same caliber as himself. In that moment, when Kacchan had thrown down the gauntlet, Izuku had the urge to throw off his suppressors and fight with all his power. It wasn't the urge to destroy. He'd felt that before, and it wasn't the same thing. He wanted to be free, to let his quirk take control of the battlefield. And he'd wanted to do it with Kacchan, someone he knew wouldn't back down and would match him blow for blow.
It was kind of the same thing with Hatsume, but in the support department. He wanted the same thing with one of his hero course classmates. While he had good friends, none of them had that same spark that let him know they were on the same wavelength. Yaomomo, Shoto, and Hitoshi were all amazing people, but with them…they all had goals that they wanted to achieve by becoming heroes. Yaomomo was trying to make the best use of her quirk and fulfill a sense of responsibility, Shoto had been doing it because his father made him and now because it was a childhood dream, and Hitoshi had a point to prove. None of these were bad motivations. But, it wasn't quite the same.
Kacchan wanted to be a hero, the same way Izuku did, and it hurt that someone who shared the same dream couldn't see eye to eye with him on the important things.
Until Kacchan learned, Izuku wasn't going to have anything to do with him. That was the rule he would have to follow.
He wondered why Nedzu-sensei had let Kacchan get as far as he did. Had it been for Izuku's sake or an attempt to get Kacchan to realize what he had wrong? He'd have to ask about that.
A knock sounded at the door, then it swung open.
"Izuku?" Shoto asked, concern written all over his face. He'd changed into pajamas, the kitten ones that had quickly become his favorite. He wore an All Might t-shirt, his own personal brand of humor now that he didn't have to worry about Endeavour throwing a fit at the mention of the Number One Hero.
Hitoshi entered after him and frowned. "What happened?" He looked cozy in a huge black hoodie and…purple kitten pajamas. Izuku would have to ask the teachers who was responsible for that.
He wiped his wet cheeks with the hem of his shirt. "Just an unpleasant conversation," he explained. It was the understatement of the century. That conversation had been the emotional equivalent of open heart surgery.
Hitoshi glanced over at Shoto. There was an unspoken exchange, then Hitoshi looked back over to Izuku. "We can go, if you're not up for movie night."
Izuku shook his head and got to his feet. "No, I think that's what I need right now." Distraction. "I'm gonna take a shower. Make yourselves comfortable."
One hot shower later, he was curled up on his bed next to Shoto, Hitoshi having taken the bean bag. They were watching Naruto again, Shoto's pick. Hitoshi had already seen it, but he didn't have a problem with watching it again.
"Did you know I'm Gaara?" Shoto announced once the episode was underway.
"Mm, I think I can see it," Hitoshi drawled. "Kind of unfair of you to take the one with insomnia though when that's totally my thing."
"His father sucks," Shoto defended himself. "My father also sucks. And, he fought with Rock Lee, and Izuku is Lee."
"Not Naruto?" Hitoshi quirked an eyebrow. "He's got all that main character energy going."
"Lee fights without using external chakra," Izuku pouted. "It's perfect."
"And he's green," Shoto offered.
Hitoshi nodded sagely. "Clearly, I forgot to take into account the all-important aspect of the color scheme. Orange might not be your color, but I still think Naruto suits you better, if we're assigning characters. He's even friends with Gaara, and gets into a fight with him, so it still fits."
Privately, Izuku didn't mind the color orange all that much, but he wasn't about to give them more ammunition.
"Consider this," Hitoshi said, getting into it. "Adopted by his teachers, victim of hate crimes as a child, incredible power sealed away."
"It's kind of different."
"You're ruining his theory," Shoto complained. "I think it's excellent. You're even friends with the strong girl in support who has pink hair. It all fits."
"Then who does that make Hitoshi?" Izuku asked, curious, but also desperate to deflect.
"Well, since we're going by color scheme, I guess I have to be…" Hitoshi had to think it over. He wrinkled his nose. "Orochimaru? Ew, no!"
"Shikamaru," Shoto suggested. "The Shadow Possession is similar enough."
Izuku let the chatter flow around him. It was comfortable. With his friends like this, all of them with some kind of scar, he didn't have to worry how they saw him. He didn't have to worry about conflicting beliefs, or memories with jagged edges. He could just sit and listen o all of his classmates being compared to fictional characters, and how Aizawa-sensei was just like Kakashi except he had two super-powered eyes instead of one.
If he were to assign characters, and if he were to agree that he was Naruto, well, he knew who his Sasuke would be. At least he didn't have to worry about his Sasuke leaving the village and turning into a villain.
*
On the counter of the bar, Tomura shuffled his photographs around. In the background, Kurogiri polished a glass, his yellow eyes gleaming softly under the bars dim yellow lights. Tomura squinted at the pictures through father's fingers. There was the purple-haired kid who had betrayed his team. Anyone ruthless enough to do that would make a great villain. He had a powerful quirk, too. He'd make an excellent card. Lots of attack power.
Then there was the blond who'd exploded everything in his path during the second round. The destructive ones were the best. He'd been angry during the medal ceremony. The heroes had to force the medal onto him. That rage—Tomura understood it. It was what set villains apart from the rest of society.
The last was the green-haired kid. Tomura scowled at the picture. He didn't give a flying fuck about the kid, and he certainly didn't want to recruit him after what he'd done to the nomu Sensei had given Tomura, but Sensei had said he was the most important. Tomura didn't like the way he had said it, but Sensei's word was law. They'd retrieve the little brat if that was what he wanted.
Speaking of people Sensei wanted him to recruit that he didn't like, they were supposed to be meeting someone tonight. It was the reason Tomura was sitting at this dingy bar in the first place.
Kurogiri set the glass he had been cleaning down on the counter with an audible click as the clock struck the hour. He was painfully punctual about everything. "I am going to pick up our guest," he announced.
In answer, Tomura hunched over the counter even more.
What was the point of destroying everything he hated if he didn't get to destroy the people he hated the most?