"Alright! This is going to be the only meal we cook for you, so eat up!" Tsuchikawa announced.

Kota had literally been dragged to the table by Shinsou, and Shinsou was sitting between him and Midoriya. Neither of them said a thing, looking at each other awkwardly, as they ate. Midoriya's appetite had improved, not by much, but it was a lot better since the time they were taken in by Aizawa.

Monoma sat opposite Midoriya, Kendo next to him, and beside her, Koda.

Kota's eyes were slightly red and puffy, and he was just staring at his food forlornly.

"Is he okay?!" Koda signed, and to his surprise, it wasn't Midoriya that signed back, but Shinsou, albeit clumsily and missing a few signs here and there, "Fine. Need cool down."

Midoriya occasionally glanced over at Kota, concern evident in his eyes, before quickly looking back to his bowl and stuffing a vegetable in his mouth.

The air around them was thick with tension, and aside from the sounds of utensils hitting bowls and plates, no other sounds were heard from that table. Monoma glanced at Kendo, both wanting to break the silence, but neither knowing how.

Midoriya had been there when Kota's parents had died. He had seen them die. No doubt the guilt was eating him alive and his overprotective instinct wanted him to take care of Kota, but he didn't know how to do it.

Midoriya didn't seem to notice it, but Monoma did. The way how Kota also snuck glances at Midoriya when he thought the older wasn't looking, and the confusion swirling in his mind was so obvious, written clearly on his face.

Shinsou obviously had seen it. Kendo and Koda as well. He was pretty sure that anyone else sitting at their table would be able to see it. Only the two emotional knuckleheads weren't able to see it.

Shinsou was mouthing something at him, pointing subtly to Midoriya with his fork. Monoma had no idea what he meant, and just stared at the purple haired boy like he had a screw loose, until Aizawa, being a psychic or something, came up, tapped Midoriya on the shoulder and said, "Go entertain Bakugou. He looks like he wants to kill Kaminari."

"He always looks like he wants to kill Kaminari." Midoriya muttered under his breath as he hastily picked up his bowl, before excusing himself from the table, and turned away. Aizawa used that opportunity to gesture at Kota with his eyes and a faint tilt of his head, before he pointed Midoriya in Bakugou's direction.

Kota visibly relaxed, and leaned forward, slouching. Shinsou pat him on the back.

And just like that, the tension surrounding the table disappeared.

"Is he always like that?"

"Huh?" Monoma found himself asking.

"How much of that was an act? How does he know exactly what you feel, and how to react to it to make you feel better?" Kota demanded. "How does he know it will make you feel better?! How much of that is just fake?!"

Oh. He thought Midoriya was acting.

"He's not acting." Shinsou replied. "Izu always cares."

"How can he care so much about someone he doesn't even know?!"

He remained quiet. He didn't know how to answer that, "He just does."

"Why?!"

Aizawa looked like he wanted to say something, but he was eyeing Kendo and Koda weirdly. Monoma finally got the hint, and whispered to Kendo, "Mind leaving the table for a sec with Koda?"

He gestures in Aizawa's direction, and Kendo nodded, grabbing Koda by the arm, saying, "Come on. I heard you have a pet bunny at home. Kodai loves rabbits."

She dragged a confused Koda away from the table, and Monoma got up to leave when Shinsou somehow stood up on his chair and yanked his arm back, "You stay and listen."

Monoma obediently sat back in his seat. Not just because he didn't want to incur Midoriya and Aizawa's wrath if he somehow upset Shinsou, but the expression written on Shinsou's face was one that he had never seen him before.

This was serious.

"Kota." Aizawa said softly, "Izuku cares about people. It's in his nature. It's not my place to say, but he's very protective for a reason."

"How does he know exactly what I feel though?" Kota asks, putting his arms on the table, resting his head on his arms. "How does he know what to say and react to make me feel better?"

"Izu is Akatani. So…. uh.. um…." Shinsou seemed to have wanted to make a point with that statement, but he seemed to have problems wording it, but Aizawa could tell where he was going with this.

"What Hitoshi means in that as a vigilante, he had to be perceptive in order to take down villains that were three or four times his size. Even though he's not a vigilante anymore…. His ability to read and analyse people has been and always will be a part of him."

"But why would he care about me!?"

"He cares a lot. Especially for people facing similar problems as he did." Monoma sighed, "Growing up without an ideal quirk, yet trying to do good in the world isn't easy. It's in his nature to worry about people he cares about. It's nice, comforting at times, even though it may seem like paranoia, but a little worry goes a long way."

"Why would a complete stranger like him bother with me!?" Kota was that close to yelling out of agitation.

Shinsou just stared at him blankly.

"Izu just cares. No one, not even he himself knows why." Shinsou tilted his head to the side, shrugging, "That's how he found me."

Kota just looked at him in confusion.

Oh yeah. He mentioned that he was adopted before dinner….

"Izu found me in the streets. My mom didn't want me cause my quirk is bad. Everyone didn't want me cause my quirk is bad. I… I didn't want anyone to take me because I thought my quirk was bad. Then Izu just came along, took me to his home, took care of me even though no one took care of him. He just cares about people. That's just who Izu is."

"My parents chose their jobs over me!" Kota hissed, "They cared about me. And they still left me alone!"

"Izu chose me over everything else." Shinsou slumped forward. "I…. I had a teacher. She…. She locked me in a cl…closet for the whole day. It was dark. I couldn't see anything." Shinsou looked like he was having trouble speaking, but he still pressed on, "Izu…. Izu came and saved me. But then… I couldn't sleep because it was so dark at night and there was no one at home that cared and it reminded me that I saw stuck in there in the dark and no one wanted to let me out and I couldn't move and couldn't get out and the door was locked and I was so scared and - "

He coughed, and Aizawa settled down on Midoriya's chair, carefully patting Shinsou's back. Shinsou looked close to tears, and pulled his knees up to his chin, trying to find some kind of grounding before he continued. "Izu knew. He quit being Akatani for me."

But Kota knew there had to be more to the story. He had literally seen Akatani on television, getting beaten up on live television before Sosaki or Tsuchikawa turned off the television, and another purple haired kid…..wait a minute….

"Wait! You.. him….. Television..!?"

"He got hurt because of me….. I… I don't…"

Shinsou didn't want to speak anymore. He just curled up on his chair, and clutched his shirt, tears pooling in the corners of his eyes. He hastily wiped them off, and Aizawa took a sharp intake of breath.

Monoma quickly got up from his seat to fetch Midoriya. Aizawa gently ruffled Shinsou's hair, and Shinsou looked up at Kota.

"You're lucky. No one wanted me until Izu found me."

That statement just ended up leaving a bad taste in Kota's mouth.

What was right?

What was wrong?

Was being mad at his parents for doing their job right?

Was hating heroes because his parents died right?

Was hating Midoriya, and everyone else for wanting to be a hero wrong?

Kota didn't know anymore.


Kota gently pushed open the door to the room the boys were sleeping in. He quickly identified where Midoriya and Shinsou were, but when he tried to step into the room, he paused. Something in him, some small part of him that still didn't sit right with befriending Midoriya, stopped him.

He hated heroes. His parents were heroes. But they ditched him for their job. They choose being heroes over him. That was the stand he took.

But now, he no longer knew what was right, what was wrong.

He shut the door softly, and Midoriya carefully opened his eyes, peering at the door.

He knew it was Kota. He saw him. He wasn't able to sleep, and had tried to guess who it was.

It wasn't any of his classmates, or any of those from 1-B. They were all in the same room, and Midoriya hadn't been able to sleep at all since they shut off the lights. He just stayed as still as possible, not disturbing Shinsou, who was curled up by his side. None of them had woken up.

It wasn't Aizawa, for sure, based on the gait and the sound of the footsteps. They were too light to be an adult. Which meant it was a kid. And Shinsou was right next to him, so by the process of elimination, it had to be Kota.

He shut his eyes as Kota opened the door, straining his ears to listen to Kota breathing over the snores of his classmates. He was giving out an aura of confusion, and Midoriya really wanted to just rush over and help him figure things out. Losing his parents at such a young age definitely messed up so many things.

And that was his fault. He wasn't fast enough. He wasn't strong enough. He had been there, so god damned close, but yet, he failed.

Because of his failure, two heroes were dead.

Because of his failure, two parents were dead.

Because of his failure, Kota ended up as an orphan and had developed a jaded view of the world, and because they were his parents, he also had a cynical view of heroes.

Because he failed.

But he knew he couldn't do anything. Kota was uneasy around him. He could only wait for Kota to make the first move.


They were all woken up at five thirty in the morning the next day, all except for Midoriya. Midoriya had apparently been up since three in the morning, nursing a cup of coffee in the common room as Shinsou lay on a futon on the ground, sleeping on his lap.

It was chaos. Kan and Aizawa had just barged into the room, apparently, Aizawa just grumbling at the kids to wake up and Kan, being the more competitive one, had yelled at everyone to wake up.

Kaminari ended up shocking some people, Tokage had panicked and split into thirty parts, and Tsuburaba had accidentally created an air barrier and smacked his head into it when he bolted up to a sitting position. In the end, it was approximately six in the morning when they started to exit the building into the forest, only to find Midoriya drinking coffee with a completely tired and deadpan expression on his face, his eye bags even more prominent than usual.

Then, they revealed what they were going to be doing. They would be developing their quirks, pushing themselves past their old limits to make them stronger.

Bakugou was forced again and again to plunge his hands into boiling water, before creating explosion after explosion. Todoroki had to constantly use his fire and ice to regulate the temperature of the water in the tub he was sitting in. Tokoyami was stuck in a dark cave, with a rampaging Dark Shadow screeching, and Kuroiro was in the same cavern training the range of his quirk against Dark Shadow. Sero was stuck shooting tape out of his elbows continuously, and Iida was just running all over the place to improve his speed and stamina.

Rin, Tetsutetsu and Ojiro were fighting each other, and Kaminari was running his electricity through a large capacity battery so he wouldn't short out so easily. Yaoyorozu and Sato were eating as they used their quirks, Awase was welding everything Yaoyorozu made together at a breakneck pace, and poor Koda was trying his best to yell.

Aoyoma was firing laser after laser into the sky, and Uraraka was tumbling down a cliff in a giant inflated balloon like structure to try and reduce the nausea. Asui was climbing a cliff face, Ashido was constantly firing acid and Jiro was strengthening her earphone jacks by hammering them against the cliff. Shoji and Hagakure were sparring to improve their quirks.

Tokage was constantly pulling herself apart and putting herself back together, and Kamikiri was forming blade after blade, hacking away at the vines that Shiozaki kept on making. Kaibara was hammering away at another cliff side, using his quirk. Fukidashi was constantly yelling out onomatopoeia after onomatopoeia, and Komori was growing fields and fields of mushrooms on everything.

Kodai kept enlarging and shrinking trees, rocks, and Tsunotori was hammering at them with her horns, breaking them into smaller pieces and giving Kodai more things to work with.

Bondo was continuously making glue, and Yanagi was trying her best to levitate as much of it as possible, passing it to Tsuburaba and letting him use his Air Prison to transport it to Honenuki, who softens the ground and mixes the glue in with it.

Shishida, Shoda, Monoma, Kirishima, Kendo and Midoriya were having a five way battle. Shoda practising the timing for his Twin Impact to deal the most damage, Shishida was trying to mow down the smaller and more nimble students. Kirishima was using his hardening to defend from both Shishida and Shoda, Kendo was practising her mobility with her enlarged hands and Monoma was just copying everyone's quirk and trying to lengthen the time he could use each quirk for. Midoriya was just dodging everything, practising how to attack and defend from a multitude of different opponents.


At last, at dinner time, they finally found something that Midoriya wasn't good in. Was downright horrible in, even. Studies, he was perfect. Quirk analysis, genius. Fighting, explementary!

But cooking?

Bakugou could only stare in utter disappointment as Midoriya burnt the entire bowl of vegetables, again.

"How do you even do that?!" Bakugou demanded, pulling Midoriya away from the fire after he utterly burnt and charred the fifth bowl of broccoli. "It takes forever to even cook vegetables. How the f-... how do you even turn them into… charcoal!?"

"I can't cook!" Midoriya whined, as Shoji pulled him over to chop the carrots instead, "The last time I tried to make fried rice, the stove exploded!"

"The fuck, Deku!? HOW -"

Bakguou found a knife embedded in the bricks that made up their stove, and Midoriya grinning at him creepily, as he chopped up carrot after carrot without even looking at the chopping board, "Kacchan, what did I say about swearing?"