Izuku avoided talking about Katsuki for several reasons. The way his relationship was with his once childhood friend was sort of influx, and therefore not a topic he wanted to come up. He knew questions of a different nature might turn up if Honoka picked up on his extensive knowledge about Katsuki. He used to be struggling between hating and admiring Katsuki. Hating him for the way he treated Izuku but admiring his instincts and prowess in a fight. Now he knew Katsuki was changing… slowly. Now he knew Katsuki knew his secret. And it was the fact that Katsuki hadn't told anyone about it that was making it hard for him to hate him. Honestly, he would rather Honoka have nothing to do with Katsuki. It would help keep this new part of his life and that old part of his life separate. Honoka didn't need to know any of this yet. They both needed to know more about each other first.

Which was clearly not what Honoka had on the agenda for today. He dodged and deflected attempt after attempt until they were stopped by a soft piano. Honoka pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at who was calling. The tune that played was light but a twinge sad.

"It's my master," she told him.

He gave her an odd look so she mouthed "my teacher" while she began to answer. "Hello," she focused on the phone. She seemed to already know what was coming as she nodded her head and kept opening her mouth like she wanted to say something but restrained herself from interrupting.

Eventually, "Yes master," and she hung up. She looked back to Izuku. "My master and your principal are waiting for me at the school gate."

"Okay," Izuku stood up ready to leave.

"Wait," she grabbed him by the arm.

He turned back to her so she let go.

"I feel like there are some things I have to do before I leave. You should know that right now, my master, your principal, Recovery Girl and one of your teachers are the only people who know why I came here. They'll be the only people to know the significance of your acceptance to my proposal. Please don't tell anyone else."

Izuku bit his lip. "Which teacher knows?"

"Um…" she tried to remember. "The principal was calling him by his given name. It was Toshi-something." She looked at him to see if that helped.

He seemed to relax a lit. Of course Izuku would remember All Might's real name, even if no one seemed to ever use it. He just needed to know that he didn't have to keep that a secret from his "master" of sorts. He was already keeping a huge secret from everyone else, so that he could deal with.

"Okay, what do you want me to tell everyone else?" After all, they needed to be consistent for this to work.

"About that," she started. "I was thinking that I could explain this to your friends for you. You know, the ones I yelled at. I've caused you a lot of trouble and I think it might be more believable if I say it first. I don't want to interfere with any of your relationships."

Well, it probably would be easier to convince Uraraka and Iida that he had just met this girl if she were the one to tell them. What else she'd say, he had no idea. He sent a quick text to Iida asking where he was and turned his phone off of silent so that he'd hear the reply.

"All right, come with me," he told Honoka as he unlocked the roof door. "Lock it behind us."

She did as she was told. The first time she did so without a complaint as far as Izuku could remember.

As she had no idea what he had texted or to whom, she had to ask, "And we're…?" she left it unfinished so he would get the idea.

A ping and a look down told him that both Iida and Uraraka were waiting for him in the shared space of the lobby of their dorms. He picked up his pace with a heading in mind.

"We have to hurry, don't we?"

Since Honoka didn't say anything else on the matter, he assumed she got his message.

"Um…" she quietly got his attention from behind. "What do you want me to call you?"

That gave his mind pause. Everyone but his mother, Katsuki and Uraraka called him Midoriya and it certainly wouldn't help matters if she called him anything else in front of his friends. However… she had already told him to call her Honoka. Which made sense to him as a sign of extending her full trust in light of their deal. She had let him call her that even before he had agreed to anything.

He reluctantly let his discomfort go. "You can call me Izuku."

She was silent a moment. "Izuku," she said aloud.

His discomfort immediately flooded back making him stop and turn to her.

"S-san," she chipped. It was plain to see that she didn't want to use honorifics.

"Come on," he started down another hallway. He was satisfied enough that they were now equals. He thought about why she might not care for honorifics the way any other healthy Japanese individual would. The only conclusion he could come up with was that she wanted them to be close immediately instead of with time. From a logistics stand point, things would be easier that way, but she didn't seem like the type of person that thought before she felt. If she was in a super secret program that he had never even heard rumors of, was it possible for her to have friends? Maybe not.

Outside and over the pathway through the trees led them to the doors of the class 1-A dorms. He led her in and once they met eyes with Uraraka who was leaning against the arm of a couch, Izuku stopped and let Honoka approach them herself. He was close enough to hear everything but enough space was left for it to be clear that Honoka was the one who wanted to talk to her and Iida, who turned around in a chair.

Both of Izuku's friends just stared at her, not having expected the girl to return with Izuku.

Honoka bowed to them. "I am so sorry for my attitude earlier. Both towards you and towards your friend. No matter how I felt, I was out of line." She raised her head and looked at them. "Since you had to witness that I feel that you have a right to an explanation. My name is Ishise Honoka and I'm studying as an apprentice to become a doctor. I came here to ask…" she paused. "Midoriya-san if I could do a case study on his condition in relation to his quirk. I had never met him before, I'd only read about his repeated injuries. Reading about them and seeing the results of them are a bit different I guess," she fidgeted with the hem of her top. "I'd never seen anyone with scars like that from something that wasn't an accident or inflicted upon them by someone else… Again, I'm sorry." She bowed again.

She seemed to want to get out of there as soon as possible with the pressure of Uraraka and Iida's gazes. She turned sharply and tried to speed-walk out of there. She had just barely made it past Izuku when she stopped hearing Uraraka's voice.

"Deku-kun, did you accept?"

Izuku gave her a wobbly smile not knowing what she was thinking. "Yeah," he told her the truth.

"Then it's okay," Iida replied.

Uraraka nodded. "Your face looks fine, so if you're okay with this, I'll accept it."

Iida stood up, "But if I ever think you're being stupid, I won't hold back on telling you."

Izuku smiled at them. They wanted to protect him and that made him happy. They were his friends. They trusted him to know what he can and can't handle, and they had his back when he felt he needed to go beyond his limits.

"I'm going to walk Ishise-san to the front gate," he told them.

They nodded. "We'll wait for you," Uraraka said as he walked Honoka out the door.

"'Kay," he waved.

Once they were clear of the building, Honoka looked up at Izuku. "Thanks for all this, Izuku-san." It seemed they had made a silent agreement to called each other by their given names only in private. Something he appreciated more than he'd ever tell her.

"Well," he thought about simply accepting her thanks at face value but it didn't feel right to him. "I actually think it's worth all the trouble you've given me. You've convinced me. I had no idea that this sort of thing could be available to me. I've been struggling for a long time now with how I can use more of my power without killing myself. In every desperate situation, I've found a way to make it work but it's cost me a lot that I'll never get back. I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to either overcoming this or really losing something irreplaceably important. I still intend to overcoming this on my own, but if you make it easier for me to get there, if there's less risk in the long run, I consider that a step in the right direction. So, thank you too."

Honoka looked away from him. He couldn't tell what she was feeling with her face turned away but he felt like he didn't need to know.

"Yes, there are some things that you need to do alone, but being a hero isn't one of them. Overcoming your weaknesses isn't one of them. I can't do any of those things on my own," she said softly.

He smiled. That wasn't exactly what he had meant, he knew these things, but her saying them to him so quietly made him happy. "Sure," he said.

The same man who had been waiting with Honoka at the dorm doors was waiting with the principal at the school gate. While they were still out of earshot, Honoka stopped them.

"This is far enough. I don't want to get in the way of any plans you may have over the weekend, so I'll see you on Monday after school if that's all right?"

Izuku got the sense that Honoka was trying to figure out where she stood in his mind. He didn't want to let it be that easy for her. He nodded.

"Okay," Honoka nodded back.

He watched her as she met up with her master. She stood by him like she was comfortable there as they talked to principal Nezu. They gave back their visitor passes and Honoka handed back the key to the roof. Principal Nezu didn't seem at all surprised and Izuku smiled at that.

He didn't have plans for the weekend other than to train. He would have more time to think about this and to think about Honoka. And now that he thought about, to explain Honoka to his other classmates who were bound to ask. The other thing that was weighing his mind was his own quirk. She was going to share hers with him even though it was top secret and could make her vulnerable. Should he share his? All Might would probably say no. Heck, the rational part of his mind said no. Perhaps he'd give it some time. After all, she did say partners for life. If that was indeed true, he felt like he would owe it to her long before then. For now, he didn't want to consult anyone about this. He wanted to wait and soak in the idea himself. Or avoid it knowing that unless he told her, she'd never even know he had been keeping that kind of secret from her.

A/N: I'm actually pretty glad that some people like this so far. Mostly because it's nothing like what I usually write. Thank you for reading!