I do not like writing in Shouto's POV and I am very sorry if this is quite out of character. Rest assured, I will be avoiding long scenes from his POV in the future, it's just that for this one chapter I really needed most of it to be his internal monologue. Also is the name thing getting confusing? I'm trying to refer to characters as what that person would know them as but I can stop if it's annoying.

I know some people might be a bit annoyed by how quickly events happen in this chapter. I sort of wanted to highlight the whole thing where Time Lords (Cough*The Doctor*cough) Sort of get involved in other people's business, fix things, and then don't understand why people are annoyed at them butting in. It works out for the Midoriyas here, but it won't always.

Shouto was careful to make it inside the tunnel before he started limping.

The second he was out of the view of the crowds he staggered, catching himself against the wall and grimacing against the throbbing pain in his foot.

"Here." Someone said, coming up behind him and sliding his arm around their shoulders. "You're going to Recovery Girl, right? Let me help."

Shouto grimaced at the unmistakable forest-green hair of the class president. Out of all the people it could have been. His foot throbbed again as they took a step forwards and, without his permission, his hand clenched in the fabric of Midoriya's shirt, fingers turning white-knuckled as he forced down a grunt of pain.

A hand came around his waist and then Midoriya was taking even more of his weight, the two of them making an odd-looking couple as they shuffled down the hall towards the first aid room. This close Shouto could have counted all of Midoriya's eyelashes, could make out the faint freckle that he had never noticed on Midoriya's jawline, the mottled line of claw marks dotted along one arm. Midoriya glanced up at him and Shouto's eyes darted beck up before the other boy could realise that he'd been staring.

"Hey, so, I wanted to apologise for overhearing earlier." Midoriya began. He swallowed nervously, and Shouto could feel the way that the body beneath his arm turned it into an almost full-bodied flinch. "I was looking for Kacchan, but I should have left the second I overheard what you were saying."

"You should have." Shouto grit out. The burn of humiliation when Bakugou had called his friend out still stung. It was part of the reason that he'd been so forceful in his matches. That and his father's gaze burning into the back of his skull.

"Um," Midoriya started, flicking his eyes across Shouto's face and then looking down. "If you ever need…my mum's a lawyer?" His voice pitched up like he was questioning that fact and then he scrambled over himself to explain it. "I mean, she doesn't work as a lawyer at the moment, but she's certified and everything. So, I mean, if you wanted…"

Shouto barked out a bitter laugh. "My sister tried that when she turned eighteen. No-one is ever going to rule against the Number Two. Besides, where would we go?"

"Okay, but, if you did have somewhere to go, would you leave?"

Shouto pushed himself away, staggering as he put his weight back on his foot and pivoted to give Midoriya the most scornful look that he could muster. "What the fuck do you think?" He snarled. The words fell between them, as frozen as Shouto's right side. Then he turned and stalked into the first aid room, slamming the door shut behind him.

(Outside, in the corridor, Izuku pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit speed dial.

"Hey, Mum, I need a favour.")

Xxx

"You Mother FUUUU –" Katsuki screamed behind his mask.

Next to him, on the third-place block, Vice-Prez flinched as he struggled against the chains that he had been wrapped in.

On the other side the half-and-half, pansy-arsed, smug faced little Dick! Was just staring out at the crowds like he hadn't just tossed a match because of some stupid mummy-issues. Katsuki writhed furiously against the pole and tried to kick out with his feet, his snarls only deepening when he fell just short.

In the crowds His Mum and Dad were watching, and Auntie Inko was probably fretting and Deku was probably laughing and all Katsuki could think about was the worthless little shit that had cost him his victory.

The ceremony went past in a haze. He was dimly aware of All Might putting a worthless medal around his neck. Of the crowds cheering, of being untied, and then of Deku's face.

"Kacchan!" Deku yelled, lunging at him and grabbing him into a reluctant hug. Enthusiasm and happiness, tempered with a rueful acknowledgement of his anger, brushed up against his mind and Kacchan recognised the accidental overspill of emotion that he'd become familiar with ever since Izuku stopped pretending to be normal.

"Well done, Kacchan." Deku crowed. "You did fantastic."

"Urgh." Katsuki grunted, looking away and shrugging the other boy off himself, just in time for his mother to swoop in and ruffle his hair, beaming proudly and almost shoving him over with the force of her affection.

"Well done Katsuki!" She said, almost knocking over a black haired woman that was undoubtably Vice-Prez's mother as she tried to grab him close. "First place, huh! Shame about the ceremony, but I knew you could do it."

"They'll be lining up to offer you internships." His Dad chipped in, restraining himself to a restrained hair-ruffle.

"Ah you both did so well!" Auntie Inko declared, coming out of nowhere and letting his mum drag her into the hug.

"Damn Straight!" His mum agreed.

"You as well, Izuku," Inko cheered, pulling Deku in and brushing her hand against his bare neck in a move that Katsuki almost missed, a half-grateful, half sorrowful expression on her face.

Katsuki scowled further, remembering the other thing that had ruined his victory. He hoped Spiky did make it into their class, cause the first thing Katsuki was gonna do next time he saw him was beat the shit out of him for that pocket watch trick. It would be good if he could at least pass it off as training. But it'd be worth the detention if not.

"We're going to Yamamoto's tonight." Mum explained proudly, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him in the direction of the exit. "To celebrate your first Sport's Festival. Do you need to sign out or anything or can we just go?"

Katsuki shrugged. The thought of Yamamoto's did cheer him up slightly. It was the restaurant they went to for all major events. Important birthdays, anniversaries, that one time Deku had pointed out that the landlord was in contract violation and got the rent for the whole building knocked down.

"Ah," Deku yelped suddenly, twisting away from the group, "Todoroki!" He yelled, waving furiously.

Katsuki felt a twitch developing in his eyebrow.

"Todoroki!" Deku yelled again, ducking through the crowds and grabbing hold of the other boy's arm. Todoroki turned, a sickly, sort of stunned look on his face and Katsuki felt his stomach lurch remembering what the Half and Half had said about his father. About his Father's thoughts on coming second. Then he shoved it down. If half and half hadn't wanted to come second, he should have put up an actual fight.

"We're going out to dinner," Deku explained, pulling Half and Half over to their group. Katsuki could definitely feel the dread rising. "What do you have planned for later? Are you doing anything with your family?"

Half and Half shot Deku an incredulous look. One that Katsuki could feel himself shadowing. Deku had been there while Half and Half had been spouting off about his dick-dad.

"No." Half and Half said in that stupid monotone of his. Katsuki just managed to hold back the wince. Wrong answer.

"Oh, that's too bad!" Katsuki's mum said, finally, finally dropping his arm. "Are they working?"

Todoroki shrugged and Katsuki winced again. Deku was getting that look in his eyes that got when the dominoes were lining up just right.

"Well, you should come with us." Auntie Inko said. "There's plenty of room."

"…That's –"

"A great idea," Deku cut in, grinning widely. "Yamamoto's is great, really, really great, they do an amazing Pork bowl."

"Ugh, and their sushi I to die for." Dad agreed, wiping his glasses on the hem of his shirt and peering round. "It's our treat."

"No, that's –"

Deku shot Katsuki a pleading look but it was the look of barely concealed panic on Half and Half's face that really sold him on it. He could feel the sadistic grin splitting his face in half even as he stepped forwards to loop his arm across half and half's shoulders and say;

"Yeah, come on then, I'm starving."

He started bustling Half and Half to the exit, Deku falling into step beside them and keeping up a wave of meaningless chatter that didn't give the other boy a chance to object. Katsuki kept his hand tight on Half and Half's shoulders just in case he tried to run. Though, to be frank, when Deku got a plan for you it was best to just batten down the hatches and go along with it. Deku's plans tended to be a bit inevitable.

Xxx

Enji flicked his wrist, sending the door behind him snapping closed. The office was dark. His interns and sidekicks had all gone home for the evening but Enji had needed the work. Needed something to take his mind off the anger brewing in him.

The flames of his beard burned harder and he picked a paperweight off his desk just so he could have something to smash back down onto it.

Shouto had lost.

He pressed down on the paperweight, the glass shattering beneath his palm, splinters stabbing at his skin as he dug his fingers into the wood.

All the training, all that work, and the boy had lost.

He snarled, glaring down at his hand. A flicker of movement caught his eye and he looked up. What was…he hadn't left his chair like that!

He lunged forward, hand grabbing the top of the chair and spinning in round on its wheels, fire blooming at his fingertips.

His hand slammed into a barrier, pain stabbing into his knuckles as he staggered backwards, eyes narrowed on the figure reclining in his chair.

"Oh no," The figure drawled, "Don't mind me. By all means, continue with your temper tantrum. Pretend I'm not even here."

Enji snarled furiously, fingers curling into claws. "You have made a mistake Villain –"

The villain laughed, shook out her long blue hair and crossed her leg over her knee. Her face was hidden by a painted mask but somehow he got the impression that she was rolling her eyes at him.

"I am NOT a villain." She said, "I'm just a concerned citizen looking for an audience with the," Here he voice turned into a sneer, "Number Two hero."

Enji growled. "Make an appointment with my secretary." He said. "I'm busy."

"I see that." The woman said, her mask tilting in the direction of the dented doorframe and then moving down towards the shattered paper weight. "But no. I don't think you really want me to leave. I have something that I think will make you waive your standard procedures."

The woman reached into the pocket of her ridiculously oversized pirate's coat and pulled out a thick folder. She placed it on the desk in front of her, angled so that Enji could see it.

Offended and Off-foot at having to act as a supplicant inside his own office, Enji snatched up the folder and flicked it open. He was expecting reports on a villain group, possibly another fool woman claiming to have borne his child. Instead he got facts and statistics. Numbers on his rescues over the years, and pictures of him at crime scenes.

Fire flared and then the folder was ash.

The woman shrugged and reached into her pocket, pulling out another, identical folder. She flipped through it idly.

"I believe you were on page four?" She asked, passing it over, "Truly fascinating stuff. Did you know that you have the highest collateral damage of any hero in Japan? And I'm sure that the newspapers would be very interested in hearing the number of hushed up manslaughter charges against you. Something about excessive force?" She mused.

Enji's hand twitched, but he remained still, mindful of the forcefield still around the woman. He forced the anger down, clinging to a manufactured calm as he flicked through the rest of the folder. It went back to the very early days of his career, police reports and witness statements that his lawyer had paid people not to mention. Even those payments were in there, accounts of witness tampering and bribery. There was even a section on his family. On the necessary training that he had given his children but twisted in a way that made it seem…For what was perhaps the first time in his life, Enji went cold.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"Back of the folder."

Enji flicked through. Tucked into the back were several documents, he scanned them frantically and then dropped the folder onto his desk in shock.

"You can't be serious."

"I am." The lilted humour that had been in the woman's tone for the whole conversation had finally left. "I want you to sign the medical rights for your wife over to your daughter. I want you to agree to the support payments and I want you to sign the emancipation documents."

Enji shook his head. "I won't."

The woman sighed. "Well, that's a shame. I know how much being Number Two meant for you. It'll be a shame to see it taken away."

Enji glanced upwards at the security camera. "Blackmail is illegal. So is vigilantism. Do you really think that they'll believe your word over mine?"

"I was never here." The woman laughed. "The cameras won't have any footage to prove otherwise. Even if you do somehow figure out my civilian identity, I can assure you that I am currently eating dinner in a very public place, surrounded by some very solid alibis. You, however, are a public figure. Do you really think that the source is going to matter once those papers hit the internet?"

The folder was crumbling in Enji's hands. He thought about setting this one on fire too but the woman no doubt had copies. "He's my son." Enji said.

"Well," The woman leaned forwards, head cocking to one side as she folded her hands over her crossed knees. "I guess it comes down to this. What is more important to you? Your son, or your reputation?"

Enji growled lowly in his throat, fingers twitching as he imagined wrapping them around the woman's neck. Then he picked up a pen.

Xxx

Shouto fiddled with his napkin, rolling the fabric back and forth beneath his fingers.

The food had been delicious, and the Midoriyas and Bakugous had filled the meal with light chatting, and raucous laughter. They had seemed to have no problem snatching food off each other's plates or scraping food they didn't like onto someone else's.

They'd tried to include him in the conversation, clearly reading off the script of questions that you were meant to ask your son's classmate. About school and family and how the tournament had gone. At one point, Mrs Midoriya had started chiding Midoriya about the hover boat thing that he had made. Something about how the engine was attached? And how the flight could have been much more sustained if he'd done something or other to the oil?

Mr and Mrs Bakugou had laughed and started their own conversation, stating that 'those two were impossible to stop once they got started'.

Bakugou, it seemed had only invited Shouto to the meal so that he could stab his knife suggestively into his plate and glare at him. The first words he actually said to Shouto came at the end of the meal, shortly after Mrs Midoriya had offered to drive him home.

"Beach. Tomorrow." He had gritted out before they left, glaring past him at Midoriya who clearly seemed to get something more out of the interaction because he nodded.

"Come on." Midoriya said, "We're parked over here."

"Oh." Shouto said, following along. The warmth of dinner had already drained out of him. He would be home soon. His father would want to know why he lost. Why he had refused to use his left side. He could already feel the 'training' that he would be put through when he got back. Made worse by the fact that he hadn't returned home straight away to deal with it.

The Midoriya's seemed to pick up on some of his tension. They didn't say a word as they got into the car, merely driving along in silence, the glow from streetlights and buildings cutting through the darkness of the car like a knife as Shouto stared mindlessly out of the window.

He had thought that he could win with just his ice.

He had thought that he could win.

The car slid to a smooth stop and Shouto finally looked up. This wasn't his house.

"This isn't my house." He said. They had pulled up by the side of the road, mostly abandoned and nowhere near where Shouto lived.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that," Mrs Midoriya said. "I just need to pick something up real quick before we take you home."

With that she undid her seatbelt and slipped out of the car, leaving Shouto alone with Midoriya in a dark car. Shouto tensed, hand going to his seatbelt. He had been warned about the risks of being the Number Two's son all his life. If this was a trick…

The car door slamming snapped him out of it. Mrs Midoriya was back holding a medium sized box flicking the car light on and twisting round in the front seat to give it to him.

"Here," She said. "This is for you."

Shouto frowned, still not entirely unconvinced that this was a trap. It was definitely weird either way. There was a tension in the car that you could have cut with a knife, making the hairs on his arms stand on end, and both Midoriyas were staring at him with a laser focus as he lifted the lid.

Inside was a thin manila folder and Shouto flipped it open, almost dropping it as he caught sight of the words on the first page and his hands went numb.

"What is this?" He managed to ask through the buzzing in his head.

"Emancipation papers, forms passing power of attorney for your mother from your father to your sister and a legal contract stating that your father will deposit an allotted weekly sum into your and your sibling's accounts weekly to cover living expenses." Mrs Midoriya explained, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry for not discussing it with you before-hand, but Izuku said that you might need them."

Shouto shook his head. "Where," His voice cracked, and he licked his lips and started again. "Where did you get these? How did you – my father would never agree to –"

He trailed off gaze drawn back to the sheet of paper signing his mother's medical rights over to his sister. He traced her name gently with his finger. It had been so long.

Mrs Midoriya laughed, the sound soft and gentle, exactly as she was. "I have friends in high places." She explained, her lip curled slightly as if in private joke when she mentioned her 'friends' "They managed to get this rushed through tonight while we were eating."

"Oh." Shouto managed, staring at the documents. If these were legal… He looked at Midoriya. "Why did you do this?"

Midoriya shrunk back. Rubbing a hand nervously against his hair, eye pinching together like he felt guilty. "Er, yeah, sorry I know you don't really know me or anything…" He started, rambling and waving his hands in time to his stumbled speech. "It's just, when I overheard…what I overheard," He trailed off and glanced at his mum, Shouto was abruptly wildly grateful that Midoriya had clearly not told his mum exactly what Shouto had said. "you said that if you could leave you would so…" Midoriya trailed off again with a shrug, gesturing helplessly at the papers in Shouto's hands. "I know it was an overstep, but…you seemed kind of sad?"

"You don't need to do anything right now." Mrs Midoriya took over, "But if you like you can stay over at ours for a couple of nights, or we can find you a hotel, and we can go over to your house and get your things. Or, if you don't want to go back, we can send someone. Then we can help you find an apartment? If you like?"

Shouto swallowed. There was something burning hot and heavy behind his eyes, but he hadn't cried in years. He bent forwards, crouched over the papers and blinked furiously, glad for the dim light of the car. He should have been angry. Should have been furious at the invasion of privacy. Of them getting involved in his and his family's business. But all he could see was his mother's name, black on white. All he could feel was relief.

Another car drove past, the car bathed in golden light for a brief moment before it moved on.

"Yeah." Shouto croaked. "Yeah, I'd like that."