Chapter Twenty-Six

Shouto woke to a strange, repetitive warble vibrating through the room.

His eyes snapped open and for a moment the pale walls and gentle yellow curtains confused him. Then he'd remembered. He wasn't at home anymore. He was in the Midoriya's spare room. He never had to go home again. He sat bolt up in the bed, eyes automatically going to the folder that he had left on the bedside table the night before. It was still there. This was real.

He slides his feet out of bed and into the guest slipper that he had been offered last night. He frowns at his attempts to make the bed. The sheet is still crumpled, and the pillows look oddly flat. Then he picks up the empty glass of water by his be and slips out into the hall, making his way to the kitchen to wash it up.

The apartment is nothing like his father's house. It is smaller and yet, somehow, seems to contain more than his old home ever had. It is tidy, but there are things everywhere. Thick textbooks line the hall, piles of tattered second hand copies piled up against the walls where they had over-spilled from bookshelves. Engineering textbooks. Art books. Biographies. A 'how to' guide to basket weaving was tucked beneath a heavy stack of law books and an anatomy book was slotted onto a shelf between half a dozen cook books.

The kitchen spilled over into a lounge and dining room. On the table a spool of wire, a variety of bolts and a screwdriver had been left scattered over the wood next to an odd metal thing that looked a little like the unholy offspring of a toaster, microwave and TV. A small, old fashioned box television had been left on one of the chairs and Shouto could clearly see that the back panel had been taken off, and the insides had been gutted.

There was an odd shaped rack abandoned on the draining board, a variety of those plastic tubes that Midoriya was fond of propped up inside. The colours were new, midnight blue and glowstick orange. One of them had split open, acidic yellow foam had frothed up out of the crack and swallowed up the notebook that had been left nearby. Shouto could just about make out Midoriya's distinctive scribble on the rare flash of paper that could till be seen.

"Oh, Todoroki."

Shouto flinched at the voice, almost dropping the glass but managing to catch it in time.

"I didn't expect you to be up yet." Mrs Midoriya continued, swooping in and plucking the glass from his hand. "I'll deal with that, do you have any plans for the morning?"

Shouto shrugged, shuffling his feet slightly and feeling very out of place in this kitchen with his borrowed pyjamas and guest slippers. Mrs Midoriya was already fully dressed, her hair firmly tied and slicked back out of the way.

"Do you want something to eat? I can do omelette if you like? Or toast?" Mrs Midoriya moved past him to the sink, stacking the glass into the dishwasher and frowning at the mess the beakers had made of the draining board. Shouto braced himself for anger, his father would have been furious if any of his siblings had made such a mess, but Mrs Midoriya only leaned closer and squinted.

"He messed up with the separation fluid." She mused. "The chemicals have combined by themselves. That might be a problem." She prodded the foam and hummed thoughtfully when her finger sank into it. "Consistency's off too. What do you think?"

It took a second for Shouto to realise that the last bit had been aimed a him. "I don't know Mrs Midoriya."

"Call me Inko."

"What is it supposed to be like?"

"Ah." Mrs Midor – Inko wiped her finger clean on a dish towel and tugged at he notebook until it pulled free with a disturbing slurping sound. "It's one of Izuku's recent experiments. For rescue gear. He says he was inspired by a boy in your first class. One with sticky hair?" She looked peered at Shouto questioningly.

Shouto shrugged. He vaguely remembered a boy with purple balls on his head getting expelled on the first day.

"Anyway, he's trying to get the foam to expand into a soft rubbery substance to catch people who fall or may need to jump from tall buildings. The First batch was too hard, the second just fizzed and the third's reaction was too slow to be useful. He's having trouble finding chemicals that aren't too flammable." Inko explained. "He's going to be really annoyed that this one didn't work. He was convinced that he'd got it right this time."

Inko sighed and turned away. "Well, if you want to go get dressed, I can fix us up something for breakfast, Izuku won't be awake for ages, yet."

Twenty minutes later, Shouto and Inko were sitting at the table behind empty dishes when a loud thump and then a litany of curse words came from Midoriya's birthday.

Inko giggled. "Language." She called.

There was a hurried rustling behind the door and then it slammed open, a half dressed Midoriya tumbling out and attempting to tug a shirt over his head.

"Why didn't you wake me up!" He yelped, the words muffled behind a wad of cloth as he finally found the neck hole. "I'm gonna be late."

"It's a half day." Shouto said, taking a sip of his tea. It was delicious. He had no idea what the blend could be but was tangy and sweet and completely alien.

"Not for class." Midoriya shrieked shoving his feet into his bright red shoes and grabbing for the toast that Inko held out with a quiet thanks. "For the beach."

"Oh," Shouto frowned, "Bakugou said something about a beach last night."

"It's where they train." Inko explained, There were water bottles and fruit packs in the fridge that she was pulling out and stashing in Midoriya's school bag, perfectly timed so that she was placing it in his hand just as he finished tying his laces and stood back up. "Would you like to go with them? Katsuki did invite you, after all."

"Yeah, come along!" Midoriya chirped. "It'll get Kacchan off your back about yesterday and we'll be heading off to school after so you can come with us. You do have a spare uniform in your locker, right?"

Shouto nodded. He'd already texted Fuyumi. He'd be heading over to pick up his stuff after school. Their Dad was going to be at some meeting all afternoon so there'd be no chance of Shouto running into him.

"Cool! It's not far." Midoriya said, leading the way out of the building, with a nonchalant 'bye mum, love you' tossed over his shoulder.

"Bye Mrs Midoriya, thank you for breakfast." Shouto said, bowing slightly and chasing after Midoriya before he could get too far away.

"It's Inko, dear." Followed him out of the room.

Xxx

"…So, we decided to finish cleaning up the beach before we took the entrance exam, just like we'd promised to do. We got it done just in time…"

Katsuki cracked his knuckles in anticipation as he heard Deku's voice echoing down the road. He glanced up. The Half and Half loser was with him. Good. Katsuki hadn't known what Deku was planning when he dragged the other guy to dinner last night, but he'd been texted an update as soon as they got home.

He grinned nastily as the other two made their way down onto the beach. "Deku. Candy cane. Glad you showed up."

Deku rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, I'm late. Get over it."

Katsuki grinned wider and caught sight of a familiar length of chain half hidden behind Deku's shirt collar.

"It's Todoroki." Half and Half interrupted.

Katuski rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Over that now."

Deku sighed, although Katsuki had no idea how Deku thought that this was going to go.

"Okay," Deku announced, dumping his bag and his jacket on the sand. "What are we doing? Sparring? Everyman for himself? Tag-team?"

Katsuki grinned and let his eyes fall into a half-lidded smirk, rolling his neck back. "Me vs. Him. No Quirks, no half-arsing it. Just us deciding who's best."

Half and Half squared up. "Fine." He snapped curtly.

Deku sighed and plopped back own onto the sand, fishing one of his doodads out of his bag and fiddling with it. "Okay. Everyone ready? Three, two, one, start."

Katsuki cackled and lunged.

Xxx

"He cheated."

Izuku sighed. The other two had been so busy trying to beat the hell out of each other that he hadn't had a chance to spar either of them. He'd wound up doing laps of the beach just so that he could say he'd done something.

"He didn't cheat." He said, ignoring the way that Kacchan puffed up in offence next to him. On his other side Todoroki was radiating enough smugness that you didn't need to be a telepath to sense.

The three of them slid into class just before Aizawa did. The teacher shot them an unamused look but, technically, they were in their seats before he came in.

"Hello class," Aizawa started. "Congratulations on your showing at the sports festival. We have received the intern nominations and will be handing them out today. Remember to pick your internship carefully. This is an incredible opportunity to learn and you should make sure that you are getting the best out of it. Don't just pick someone because you're a fan."

The aura in the room changed, people puffing themselves up in anticipation. Izuku frowned, he wasn't sure who would have picked him. Sure, he made it into the tournament, but he was knocked out in the first round. Plus, he hadn't used his 'Quirk' that anyone could see. It didn't matter how good you were, agencies tended to see your Quirk first, your performance second. Look at his middle school. He'd had the highest grades, solid Phys Ed scores and the backing of their most powerful classmate and people still scoffed at the idea of him getting into UA.

"But first," Iuku wasn't the only one in the class to tense at Aizawa's procloamtion. The teacher knew it too. He dragged out the pause, letting everyone get nice and worried before he continued. "You will be choosing your hero names."

Izuku froze. Aizawa kept talking, bringing in Midnight to judge the names and hand out whiteboards and markers but Izuku couldn't focus on that. He was vaguely aware of Iida and Ochako looking at him in concern but he couldn't bring himself to shake it off and pretend to be fine.

Names.

How could have not have thought about it.

He accepted the whiteboard with cold fingertips, placing it onto his desk with a solid click and staring at the blank whiteness.

How could he choose a name? Here? On this planet? With no family to bear witness, no parents to sing his name into the stars.

He wasn't sure how long he stared at the board but then Aoyama was standing at the front and declaring himself The Twinkling Hero. Then Tsuyu became Froppy and Kirishima became Red Riot and Kacchan's attempt to become Killing-Death-Splosion was firmly voted down. And Izuku's board was still empty.

Momo became Creati, Ochako Uravity and Iida became Ingenii in homage to his brother.

"Okay, is that everyone?" Midnight asked, clapping her hands together.

"Deku hasn't gone." Uravity chirped and Izuku winced, taking a page out of Shouto's book and just scribbled his name across the board, holding it up for inspection.

"Really?" Midnight pouted. "Are you going to be okay with just your name? At least Shouto says something about Todoroki's quirk."

Izuku shrugged, slipping back into his seat and waiting for the lists of hero agencies to be passed around to them.

Ground Zero squinted at him in concern when he didn't say anything. It wasn't one of the 'days' that he'd become accustomed to looking out for, so he was probably wondering what was going on. Izuku wasn't really a name that Izuku had chosen any more than mum had chosen Inko, any more than a Time Lord masquerading as a human might call themselves 'John Smith'. This, choosing a Hero Name. That felt different. That felt like a proper choice.

"Izuku."

Izuku bit his lip. His mother and father's names had fit them so well. Had matched perfectly who they were. Even Mum, she'd picked one that perfectly summed her up. She'd chosen when she was only a few years older than he was now and she had been so sure.

"Midoriya."

Sometimes he thought he might choose a Gillfireyan name. But then, how would he explain that to people? Unless he picked a word that was also found on earth. But that was so restrictive.

"Oy, Deku." A kick to the back of his chair jolted Izuku out of his contemplation and he blinked to see Shouto, Uravity, Ingenii and Ground Zero all crowded around his desk. As usual, Ground Zero had been the one to kick him.

The rest of the class was leaving and there was a list of agency names on his desk.

Izuku blinked again and then blushed furiously, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Ah, man." He said. "I zoned out, sorry about that."

"Are you alright, Midoriya?" Ingenii asked, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "It is unlike you to be so untethered. Particularly considering the internships."

"Ah, yeah." Izuku winced, "Sorry, Ingenii, sorry you guys." Ingenii preened at the use of his new name. "I guess I just didn't sleep much last night."

"Me and Iida were talking about going to get coffee or something to celebrate." Uravity offered, flicking her short hair over her shoulder. "We were wondering if the rest of you wanted to come along."

She flicked a glance at Shouto as she said it. He hadn't really spoken to many people in the class before so his suddenly showing up to class with him and Ground Zero must have been a bit of a shock. Still, she was taking it in her stride. Not even hesitating to include him.

"I'm sorry." Izuku winced, scooping up his list and stashing it safely in his bag. "Me and Ground Zero promised to help Shouto with…"

"I'm moving out." Shouto picked up as Izuku trailed off. "I plan to move closer to the Academy and Midoriya and Bakugou agreed to help me move my things."

"Really?" Uravity said, shooting Ground Zero a faux startled look.

"I can be nice." Ground Zero snapped. Hair bristling at the implied insult.

"I didn't say anything." Uravity protested, pressing the pads on her fingertips together in pretend innocence and ignoring the way that Ground Zero puffed up to explode. Then she turned to Shouto. "Can we come?"

Shouto blinked. "Why?"

"It sounds like fun. Besides, none of us have really hung out outside of class before." Uravity explained. "We should get to know each other better, Iida agrees, right Iida?"

"Indeed." Ingenii puffed his chest forwards and thrust his arm in front of himself. "Besides, if Midoriya has not been sleeping well it is out duty to help. Sleep is a requirement of the growing body."

"Exactly." Uravity decided folding her arms across her chest and nodding decisively. "Plus, it sounds like a good workout."

"You need it." Ground Zero snapped and the air around them went instantly cold.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Uravity snapped back.

Ground Zero shrugged. "You weren't at the beach. I had to spar with this loser."

"I thought that was just build up to the sports festival. I didn't realise you wanted to meet up after."

"That's because –"

"Okay!" Shouto interjected before the argument could get any worse. "You can help."

"Wonderful," Ingenii announced making another of his slashing arm movements. "Will we need to stop at the stop and pick up boxes on our way or…?"

Shouto shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets. "My sister said that she'd leave some in my room."

"Great!" Uravity bounced over, hair flying and grin on her face. "Lead on!"

Xxx

Ground Zero cornered him on the train.

They had got caught up behind a crowd and separated from the others in what Izuku was starting to suspect was a deliberate move.

"What's going on Deku." Ground Zero hissed, crowding him into a corner so no one around could hear them. They got a few odd looks for it but Ground Zero didn't seem to care.

Izuku winced. "Is it noticeable."

Ground Zero looked at him like he was depriving a village somewhere of their idiot.

"You spaced out during class, you put no thought into your hero name when you put thought into everything," Ground Zero listed. "And you keep calling people by their hero names which was cute, maybe the first time but is going to get weird pretty quick."

Izuku winced. He hadn't realised he was doing it. "You think it was cute?"

Ground Zero – Kacchan – growled at him and he dropped it, swallowing and looking down at his shoes. "I didn't mean to." He muttered. "It's just instinct. On Gallifrey you choose your name and once you've chosen that is your name. No-one ever calls you by what you were known as before."

Kacchan winced. "Well, knock it off. It's odd."

"Yeah." Izuku sighed.

"Is that why you didn't pick a name?" Kacchan asked.

Izuku winced. Kind of. "Names were important on Gallifrey. My name isn't Izuku. My Mum's name isn't Inko."

Kacchan blinked in shock and Izuku forged on before he could think to speak.

"No-one but my blood or my spouse will ever hear my true name." Izuku explained. "Mum. Her name. It's not that far off the name she chose on Gallifrey. Mum I mean, not Inko. It's why it doesn't hurt to call her that. Guardianship and protection and love. But we are the last. Do I chose a Gallifryan name to honour my people that no one here will understand? That might put the only family I have left at risk?"

Izuku swallowed hard and then continued. "I want a name that will honour my people. My planet. But then, our names are supposed to be a promise, an oath, a description. How can I have a name that holds my future while still keeping to my past. I am one of only three of my people left in all of time and space. There will never be more. How can I choose a name that will ever be as important as that?"

There was silence. Well okay, that was a lie. The carriage was filled with the bustle of ordinary, everyday people. But it felt like there should have been a silence. After a confession like that.

"I thought." Kacchan's voice cracked. He was never good at emotional stuff. Not unless he could shove a gruff exterior over it. "I thought that you and your sister where the only ones left?"

Izuku shook his head. "No." The words fell like stone into the carriage. "I don't know who it is. But there was one more that survived. That stood outside the destruction."

This close Izuku could see Kacchan swallow. "How do you know? I, mean, if you don't know who survived, how do you know they did?"

Izuku swallowed. His face did something. He wasn't sure what. He just felt it twist. "Because." He began. The words dragged from him. He closed his eyes. He didn't want to watch the words fall. "They caused the destruction."

"What?" The snap-crack of Kacchan's voice was almost a comfort in its familiarity. "How – what – I thought you said there was a war?"

"There was." Izuku agreed, opening his eyes. "There was a war. And we won."

Katsuki shook his head. "That doesn't – you said – you said you lost?"

If it were any other topic Izuku might have laughed. Instead he just nodded. "We did. We lost and we won."

"How?" Katsuki asked, his voice raw, the spikes of his crayon-yellow hair were starting to wilt. "How can you win and lose?"

Izuku's eyes were starting to burn but the rest of him felt cold. Very cold and very far away. "We won because our enemies burned." Izuku explained. His voice cracked on the next part. "We lost because we burned too."

Oblivious to their conversation, the announcer chirped out the name of their station, the doors sliding open. Izuku slipped through them, leaving Katsuki staring after him, mouth gaping and eyes raw with borrowed horror.