Midoriya Izuku had never been known for staying out of trouble. His interests in heroes made it common for him to try to maneuver his way to the front row of fights, or try to spot heroes in or out of costume. Sometimes he even saw smaller heroes, like the current ninety seventh hero, the Art Hero : Meraki, in the mall.

(They gave him an awkward smile and an autograph when he complimented their quirk and thanked them for their hard work.)

Once or twice, he saw lesser known villains grocery shopping and going about their day, acting like they've never robbed a bank, or tried to commit a potentially deadly act against someone they despised, or someone they didn't know.

Yet, he never expected a villain to target him for any reason. He's a ten year old kid - a quirkless, school kid who rarely talked to anyone outside of his mother and Kacchan; she does wants him to start talking to other kids eventually, though.

Why would a villain want to attack me? He wondered, fully aware that wondering why wouldn't change the fact that he was currently paralyzed, with someone in a white T-shirt, jeans, and wearing an All Might mask large enough to cover their face standing in front of him. He had taken the long way home in order to avoid Kacchan, something that was starting to become frequent, when he suddenly couldn't move a muscle. He couldn't twitch, he couldn't speak. He could barely breathe.

His reminiscence was interrupted by the sound of them cackling loudly.

"Oh man." They said. "The look of fear someone gives me when I use my quirk is always priceless, but I wish I could get a photograph of yours, kid." They walked forward and lifted him off of the ground, letting him hang on their back, despite how his arms were frozen in a bent position. "Sensei's gonna be so happy I got ya' without any issues."

They started to walk in the opposite direction of Izuku's route home as they continued. "Maybe he'll even let me meet the kid he's training - damn, I really hope he does."

Who's Sensei? What do you want from me - I haven't done anything. Well, maybe a few times I ignored someone if I stepped on their toe, or never gave someone their pencil back, but I don't think I ever gave any of my teacher's too much trouble. For a brief second their quirk wore off and he was able to open his mouth, but they reactivated it just as quickly. Oh god, really? I can't even speak!

His eyes - the only thing in his body that was able to move - drifted shut. I can't fight back. He thought. I can't do anything -

"What the fuck?!"

Izuku's eyes snapped open. A thick layer of ice had appeared on the ground below, encasing the villain's body. What the heck?! Where did that come from?

"Let them go." A new voice ordered. Their voice was deep and oddly calm, and then all of a sudden, Izuku was able to move again.

The first thing he did was gasp for air, his eyes squeezing shut as he heaved. His eyes and lungs were burning. He tried to shake himself free to no avail. Izuku managed to turn his head enough to see that the villain's arm that gripped his legs was frozen.

"Don't worry." The newcomer's arm - their left - is suddenly visible, the glow of a small flame lighting up the area around them. "I'll get you out of here and call the police."

He gives them a shaky grin that he isn't sure they can see. "Thank you so much."

He paused for a moment, clearing his throat as he found himself being grabbed from behind and pulled out of the villain's grip. He turned to look at the person, who seemed to tense up. They wore a black sweatshirt, their hood pulled over their head; their left sleeve was singed, revealing another shirt identical in color to their pants. Their eyes were barely visible, but Izuku could tell that one of them was blue.

"What's your name?" They asked.

"Midoriya - Midoriya Izuku." He replied, stuttering as his body continues to tremble involuntarily.

They didn't immediately respond, and Izuku began to awkwardly shuffle in place.

"Nice to meet you; I'm happy you're safe." They said finally, hesitating for a moment before continuing. "I hope I see you on the field with me someday."

Izuku's eyes lit up, a smile slowly growing on his face. "I hope so too - thank you." He bowed deeply, and the person gave him a small smile before starting to turn away, pulling out their cell phone.

"I'm calling the police, but I'm in a sticky situation." They said as Izuku stood back up. "Can you make it back to your house quickly on your own?"

He nodded, but then his mouth opened almost involuntarily. "Wait a second, please."

They stopped moving, and Izuku briefly wished he had a quirk that allowed him to teleport away back to his house. After a moment, they turned their head back around. "What?"

"I, um." His breath catched in his throat, and he coughed as his gaze dropped. "I was just wondering what your hero name is - if you have one, of course. Then again, I know some heroes don't like to share it while they're out of costume, or if they don't want to make their debut yet, and I wouldn't blame you if you decide not to debut now. Or maybe you're a vigilante, and you don't want to make yourself very known-"

Izuku cut himself off when they started to chuckle. It was low in volume, and sounded slightly restrained - as if they had only just begun to learn how. He looked up at them to see them staring at him - their blue eye now completely visible, along with some strands of red hair - with a small, yet fond, smile. "You can call me Shouto." They turned around again and their voice dropped in volume. "Have a good night, Izuku."

His eyes widened in slight surprise at the use of his first name before he gave Shouto a hum in confirmation. Shouto. He thought. What an interesting hero name.

Izuku tried to remember every detail about the encounter with Shouto and the villain as he made his way home, but his brain didn't seem to want to comply. At first he forgot what Shouto's voice sounded like, and then what he looked like - what color were his eyes again? He wondered.

He made it back to his house not long after and told his mother that he had forgotten something at school, going straight into his room afterward. Shouto. He thought to himself again. His name was Shouto. His name was... His train of thought halted for a moment, his eyebrows furrowing together. Shouto! I need to remember that. I need to, so I can look him up later on.

"Izuku, honey." His mother called less than a minute later. "I finished making dinner!"

"Coming!"

When Izuku returned back to his room, he hummed in confusion. The name 'Shouto' was written large enough to cover almost the whole page. He stared at it blankly before he ripped the page out.

I wonder why I wrote that.

Todoroki Shouto.

Something about his first name seemed familiar to Izuku. Have I ever met another Shouto before? He thought. It didn't ring a bell, but maybe he'd known someone with that name when he was younger.

It didn't matter though, he decided not long before their match. Not long before he screamed at Todoroki and let himself focus entirely on him, hoping to help him see what was right in front of him.

"It's your power, isn't it?!"

Todoroki looked at him, dumbfounded, before he bursted into flames, and Izuku assured him afterward that he doesn't regret his decision to speak up.

They exchanged numbers after the Sports Festival ended, and they eventually moved in together not long after graduating from UA.

It was 19:34 when the door of the apartment opened. Izuku stood up from his seat at the dining room table, the paperwork he needed to finish for his agency forgotten for the moment.

"I'm back." Shouto says, breathing heavily as he shut the door. He leaned on the wall for support as Izuku walked over.

"Hey, Shouto." Izuku smiled sympathetically. Must've been an intense day. "Do you want me to reheat something for you to eat?"

Shouto nodded, eagerly taking off the shoes he wore. "A villain made me go back ten years - I'm exhausted."

Izuku groaned, walking to the refrigerator and grabbing a water bottle. "Again?" He asked. "Didn't we put Clockwork back into jail last weekend?"

Shouto gave him a hum in confirmation and started to walk to the back of the apartment, pausing to grab the water bottle. "Oh, yeah." He started. "I ran into ten-year-old you. One of All for One's old minions had you - Freeze, I think they called themselves that a few years back." He turned around and continued his walk to his bedroom, leaving Izuku blinking rapidly.

Oh. He thought. So that's why I thought his name sounded familiar.

He walked into Shouto's room five minutes later, only to find him asleep on his bed, arms lazily wrapped around one of his pillows. He must've thrown on the first clothes he could grab. Izuku thought - a Deku T-shirt that he bought to 'support Izuku and his agency', and black sweatpants.

Izuku laughed quietly. I'll wake him up at 20:00. He decided, a small smile on his face. Tiptoeing back out, he shut Shouto's door, absentmindedly humming a random melody as he walked away.

I hope you all enjoyed this! I may do a partner fic of this in Shouto's POV, but it wouldn't be for a while if I do.

Also, shout out to Kevindxy . tumblr . com, who was the beta reader for this fic. Thanks again! :

My tumblr is insertbnhapunhere . tumblr . com. Thanks for reading!