Welcome back, my friends! I hope you're ready for another angsty chapter!
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Call Me…Deku
Chapter 21
Bakugo sat in the back of the school bus with his friends, his eyes focused through the window as he contemplated what he'd witnessed the day before. As Inko had explained to All Might, he'd already told her everything he knew about what had led up to Izuku's decision as a way to help her understand what caused such a tragedy. He'd never expected the Pro to show up at the Midoriya residence though.
He was still unsure of how he really felt about All Might. Katsuki had adored and idolized the man his entire life, only to have his expectations dashed when he realized that Izuku's fragile hold on his dreams had been crushed by something he'd said.
But part of him knew that he shouldn't hold it against the Pro. Even if All Might had told Izuku that he couldn't be a hero, it was probably coming from a good place rather than out of cruelty—unlike himself.
Had he and so many others not bullied Deku for his quirklessness, being told 'no' by the Number 1 Pro might not have been so much of a blow for him. His mind wanted him to forgive All Might for the one-time faulty decision, especially since he trusted that the man had tried to remedy the error within an hour of making it. Still, Katsuki couldn't help but feel irritated that his teacher was low-key hitting on Izuku's mom.
"Maybe what I thought was happening actually wasn't…" he contemplated, rubbing his face in frustration. "It's not like I really have a say in who Auntie has the hots for anyway… But Deku might get pissed if he were to find out… Maybe he already knows though? If it turns out I'm just crazy and my mind is making him up, then he knows what I know and if he's a spirit or some shit then wouldn't that give him some omniscience of some kind?"
"BAKUGO!" Kirishima shouted, finally pulling his attention away from his own thoughts.
"Ah? What the fuck is it? I was trying to think!"
"It appears the bus is stopping here," Todoroki explained. "You should focus so that you don't accidentally die before making it to the training camp."
Shinso chuckled at the lightning that seemed to zap between his boyfriend and Katsuki, amused by the continued tension between them. "I'm not just siding with Shoto when I say he's right, Bakugo. Aizawa has that look on his face again."
Shinso sat down in the hot spring next to Shoto, unable to resist flickering his eyes over to his boyfriend every so often… though he wasn't ogling the dual user this time. Instead, he was trying to figure out just what in the hell was going on with Todoroki.
During the entire time they'd fought their way through the forest after getting off of the bus, Shoto had been almost protective of Bakugo, putting way more effort into keeping the mud creatures away from him than anyone else—even Shinso himself and his quirk wasn't suited for combat against anything non-sentient.
Between Katsuki's quirk and his relatively vicious disposition, he did just fine, but that didn't seem to be good enough for Todoroki. Hitoshi wondered if maybe the incident at the mall had shaken his love up more than he'd initially let on, but couldn't understand why it might have.
Todoroki had always seemed to have ice water for blood during stressful situations so it didn't make sense for something like that to have caused him this much turmoil. He scootched a little closer to him, grateful that their relationship style was subtle enough that people hardly noticed, if at all.
"Babe… Tell me what's bothering you." He whispered.
"Nothing, Hitoshi… I've already told you that I'm fine."
Shinso wasn't convinced in the slightest, easily able to see how Shoto tensed at his presence, visibly shrinking into himself like he couldn't bear to be touched. He hadn't seen his boyfriend this uncomfortable around him since the start of the school year. "Have I done something to upset you?"
"No! Of course not!" Todoroki exclaimed, his voice rising to just below what would gather unwanted attention. "I'm… I'm just…"
Shinso reached his hand over through the water and clasped his lover's fingers gingerly, adding more pressure when Shoto didn't pull away. He rubbed his thumb over the boy's knuckles, giving him an understanding smile even though he was so out of the loop.
"Alright, Shoto." He cooed, "I'm sorry to have pestered you. I know you'll tell me when you're ready."
Todoroki finally looked over guiltily, doing his best to relax so that he wouldn't worry Hitoshi any more. "You're too good to me; I don't deserve someone like you…"
The brainwasher shook his head in disagreement and covertly brought their hands up to his lips, kissing them sweetly. "Whatever it is… we'll get through it."
"I hope so, Hitoshi… I really do." Shoto thought dishearteningly, though outwardly, he simply nodded and did his best to smile.
Midoriya stood atop the cliff that looked out over the training camp, examining the layout of what was sure to be the most devastating attack the League of Villains had ever attempted. Toya stood slightly behind him, quietly allowing his young boss to strategize their next move.
"It would be foolish of us to attack while the students are grouped together… especially with all of those Pro's right beside them" Izuku voiced, "It's better to wait a couple of days so that their guard is down."
"I agree, Deku," Dabi responded. "The Vanguard Action Squad is prepared whenever you see fit to deploy us."
"Heh… There's quite a lot of unhinged individuals in your troupe. Are you sure you can keep them in check?" Midoriya chuckled as he turned to his comrade.
The man blinked at him lazily but nodded, mentally sighing at some of the people under his command. The only one he was truly concerned about what Muscular, but, hopefully, the deranged criminal wouldn't be too unruly.
"And you, Deku?" Toya questioned. "Is everything set on your end?"
"I'm always prepared, Dabi. I've already come up with plans for every scenario I can think of, and I believe that as long as everyone does what I want, or at least as I predict, the plan will go smoothly." He responded.
The fire wielder nodded and stepped up closer to the edge, peering down at where his brother was staying for the week. He couldn't make him out at such a distance, but he could imagine how tense he was just waiting for the chaos to start. For as cold as Shoto could be, being a double agent was stressful.
"So, just to be clear… What is the ultimate objective of this mission?" he asked.
Deku hummed thoughtfully, a mischevious glint forming on his face. "Well, I suppose the overarching goal is to shake the general populations' trust in the current heroes… You know, really make them question whether or not they can keep citizens safe when even their pupils are targets."
"Sounds easy enough." Dabi drawled.
Midoriya grinned dangerously, so ready to finally put his plan into action.
~Time-Skip: Night of the Attack~
Todoroki internally sighed in gratitude as he was randomly paired with Bakugo for the Test of Courage, grateful that for once he seemed to be having good luck. As he waited for the rest of the students to be paired up, he texted Deku the information, knowing that this was the perfect situation for the attack to occur.
His job was simple; all he had to do was pretend to do his best at 'fighting off' the enemy until he was 'captured' along with Bakugo. Seeing as the blonde was his partner, he could protect him from any truly harmful attacks and still do as Deku wanted.
Shoto's only concern was what could potentially happen to Shinso during the scuffle, though he tried to push that out of his mind. As if by another miracle, Kirishima had been paired with his boyfriend and he knew that the redhead would protect him with his life because that's just the kind of 'manly man' thing he would do.
As long as those two stayed away from the main battle area and could hide from the poisonous smoke quirk he knew one of the V.A.S. members possessed, they'd be fine.
He walked along the path next to Bakugo, his senses heightened for any sign of his true comrade's presence. The blonde beside him looked bored and irritated like always, truly unworried about the other students' attempts to frighten him.
"Oi! Stop looking at me like that." Katsuki grunted.
"I'm looking around you, Bakugo." Todoroki sighed.
"Tsk. You afraid one of these extra's is actually going to scare you in front of me?"
Shoto rolled his eyes and chuckled lightly, taking at least a little pleasure in how oblivious the blonde was. "Sure, Bakugo, that's what I'm up to. My vigilance couldn't have anything to do with training for future missions in enemy territory or something sensible like that."
Katsuki growled in irritation, unable to say anything without making it seem like he hadn't realized the true reason they were participating in such a ridiculous game. He ended up snorting and tossing his head aside, only to freeze when the scent of smoke and some other odor hit his nose.
"Todoroki…" he breathed, tension building in his body. "You fucking smell that?"
Shoto calmed himself internally, ready for the assault that had apparently just begun. He heard the tiny earpiece he had crackle, his brother's voice coming through.
"Sho, there's a clearing in between you and the camp's center… Bring Bakugo there."
"Bakugo…" Todoroki voiced once he'd received his directions. "We should head back to camp; If villains have found our location, it's unwise for us to be so far from help."
"Ah? What the fuck, Icy-hot!" Katsuki hissed. "We aren't some fucking weaklings that need to be protected! I say we attack these fuckers for even considering showing their faces here."
Shoto shook his head as he stepped in front of the enraged blonde, forcing them to make eye contact. "You and I don't have our licenses yet; we can't legally fight anyone without express permission from Mr. Aizawa. In any case, other students might need assistance that we could provide should we run into the enemy and have no choice but to defend ourselves. Think about Kirishima and Hitoshi… They were behind us."
Bakugo glared at his friend, but ground his teeth and nodded. He fully believed that Todoroki was simply trying to sway his decision so that he could go and protect his boyfriend, but, he did make some decent points.
"Alright, fuck. Let's go…"
Shoto and Katsuki took off running, cutting across through the loop they had been following and heading straight for the center point Dabi had spoken of earlier, the blonde completely unaware of how many villains were circling the area.
Shinso and Kirishima coughed as they struggled through the dense poisonous fog that had permeated the area, their lungs burning as every breath they pulled in weakened them. Still, it hadn't taken them much time to come to the conclusion that they needed to find their friends/boyfriend.
Instead of heading back to camp, they were both desperately trying to get to the spot Shoto and Katsuki should have been at, hoping to meet up with them and then return as a group.
"I can't breathe…" Eijiro gasped, the lightheadedness he was feeling building with each step. "We won't make it at this rate."
Shinso nodded in agreement, and grabbed his arm, leading him off of the trail and away from the more heavily affected area. They could both hear screams from their classmates, but couldn't see them in the mist. Whatever was happening, they knew it must be bad.
"Shoto is with Bakugo… If what Shigaraki said was true, he's likely the target of this attack." Hitoshi huffed, his chest aching with worry. "Remember? He said he'd see Bakugo again soon."
"Shit!" Kirishima gasped, "You're right... Oh man, now we really need to get to them! They were the farthest group away from camp when this started, right? That means they're the farthest away from help from the Pro's."
Hitoshi attempted a reassuring smile even as he swayed a little on his feet, dizzied by the poison already flowing through him. "Come on Kirishima… This is Bakugo and Shoto we're talking about… They'll probably have all of these bastards tied up with a big bow by the time we get to them."
Eijiro seemed to brighten at the thought, but it was only minimal. While both the dual user and the blonde were powerful, their enemies were unknown. It could very well be that the budding heroes were outclassed and just didn't know it yet. But they couldn't give up hope.
All they could do was push forward and do their best to help the people they cared for.
Midoriya stood with Muscular on the cliff, his eyes covered with enhanced vision goggles Mei had created for him so that he could see what was happening from so far away. It looked like everything was going mostly to plan.
Todoroki and Bakugo were heading to the clearing just as instructed, and the V.A.S. was wreaking havoc all along the trail as well as at the camp itself, keeping everyone who wasn't vital to the mission busy.
"Let me at them, kid. I want to kill something."
Deku crossed his arms, wanting to ignore the criminal's continued whining. Muscular was one of Shigaraki's picks for the mission—a man that Midoriya would never have allowed to come otherwise. "Be quiet."
Muscular snarled in displeasure, his quirk vibrating to be unleashed. "I didn't join this circus just to watch other people have my fun!"
Izuku tilted his head, eyes bouncing around to see how each battle area was fairing until he landed on the camp once more. Aizawa was exiting the building having already taken down the clones Twice had made. He watched as a clone of Dabi attacked the pro without success, finding inspiration in that failure.
"You're completely right, Muscular." Deku cooed sweetly. "It's so wrong of me to keep someone like you out of the fun. You see over there? That big building?"
"Yeah!" the man sneered excitedly. "What of it?"
"Why don't you go down there and cause a ruckus. It would seem those Pro's are causing our forces some trouble."
Muscular sped off, leaping through the air to the area Midoriya had pointed out and landing just as Dabi's clone disintegrated. Izuku smirked, knowing full well that the villain's power came from his quirk and not intelligence.
Against an opponent like Aizawa who was able to erase his quirk, he'd struggle and likely be bested… especially with other Pros and some of the students around to support the scruffy man. It didn't take long for his prediction to come true, Eraserheads power stripping Muscular of his abilities so that Vlad could plaster him to a wall.
"It's almost time, Kacchan…" He whispered. "I can't wait to see you…"
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Ahhh so, this has been fun! My best friend in the whole world has agreed to let me dorkishly read my story to her so she can tell me if it's shit, so, watch out world! The dynamic duo is here!