Disclaimer: This is purely a fan work and I own nothing

It was far later than a student would normally be back to the dorms, but dead Heroes meant detailed statements to the police force and paperwork.

Toga had left a video of what happened; Compress and Twice had been waiting for the Heroes as soon as they entered. Strategically placed clones of Twice killed the two Heroes in a sneak attack while they were in a standoff with the real deals. It had been a massacre.

Given a written pass to present to the patrolling Hero - which was Aizawa - meant that Midoriya would not be in trouble for returning to UA at such a late hour.

"No excuse though, you are expected to be in class on time in the morning," Aizawa grunted, handing the pass back to Midoriya.

Midoriya nodded, wordlessly, and trudged back to the dorms. He felt physically exhausted, but didn't think he could sleep tonight, the bodies of Centipeder and Bubble Girl haunting his thoughts every time he closed his eyes. Further still, there was to trace of Toga or Hatsume in the bar.

He felt lost as he opened the door to building 1-A but was disturbed by a faint noise from the couch. Flicking the common room lights on, he raised his eyebrows to see Shinsou snoring lightly on one of the sofas. On the sofa next to him Uraraka and Tsuyu were passed out as well, nuzzled up to each other.

"What are you guys all doing?" He asked, making the three of them jump.

"Kero...there you are," Asui yawned.

"We've been waiting for you Deku," Uraraka answered, rubbing her eyes. "We were worried."

"And you said you wanted me to brainwash you to sleep, right?" Shinsou asked. "We must have dozed off."

A small smile found its way to Midoriya's lips. If nothing else, he at least had some pretty awesome friends. "You guys… you didn't have to do that."

"You're our friend, you cute green-haired vegetable," Uraraka yawned again, her head resting on Asui's shoulder.

"We know you're going through a lot but you're not in this alone, kero." Tsuyu gave him a tired smile. "You can always count on us. How did it go today?"

Deku sighed and relayed to them what had happened: his fight with Dabi, the deaths of two pro heroes, and that he and Gran Torino were no closer to finding out where Hatsume and Toga were holed up.

"Damn… that's heavy," Shinsou scratched the back of his neck. "I'm sorry man."

"Are you going back to the agency tomorrow? I mean it's just you and Gran Torino, right?" Uraraka asked. "Poor Bubble Girl and Centipeder… I followed some of her work, she was pretty cool."

Midoriya shook his head. "Gran Torino said it was all paperwork due to the deaths. Told me to catch up on rest and school." He ran his hand through his hair. "Like I'll be able to focus..."

"Let's worry about that tomorrow," Shinsou suggested. "Get ready for bed and I'll put you under."

Midoriya Izuku's head hit the pillow, just like it had the day before, and he immediately fell into a heavy sleep.

In the next instant, he awoke on the greyscale building top from the night before, picking himself up off the pavement. As he stood up, All Might, Mirio, and Nana were all waiting for him by the ledge of the building. "I'll probably never get used to this."

"Well, we don't have much time," All Might clapped him on the shoulder. "This is Nana. The Quirk you've been using through one for all is hers."

"You mean… it's not just One for All?"

Nana let out a hearty laugh. She's pretty spry for a dead guy, Deku thought.

"Nonsense. Let me explain about my strength enhancement..."

Even within the dream Midoriya could feel his head throbbing as he processed the information. "So eventually I'll have access to all the Quirks...?"

"Mine too!" Mirio crowed. "Though it's really tricky. You can't breathe or see or hear while intangible. And your clothes fall off so everyone can see your willy."

"Can you… maybe teach me more how to control that?" Midoriya asked, baffled. Mirio had given him a brief explanation, but the details were still sketchy.

"Can't." Mirio laughed. "Time for you to wake up."

"Wait!" Nana cried out. "Before you go, I think I have an answer for your League of Villains problem. You need to retrace your steps!"

BZZZZT.

Midoriya's eyes snapped open and a wave of fatigue hit him. In the end , he only got about four to five hours of sleep; not enough to rest him after the hellacious night that had been there for him the night before. He remembered why he used to plan vigilante outings for the weekend. Yet, with Aizawa's words pounding in his skull, Midoriya rolled out of bed and threw on his uniform, haphazardly, and trudged towards classes.

But Nana's words rang through his head. Retrace his steps?

"Midoriya!"

Midoriya's eyes shot open for the second time that morning, head against his desk. The class president stood over him looking concerned. His head shot straight up and he heaved a sigh of relief that Aizawa was asleep in their homeroom as well. "Sorry Yaoyorozu, I..."

"I heard..." Momo replied, softly. "About what happened last night. I understand. I just didn't want you to be asleep when English begins."

Izuku rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Right. Thanks!"

But the hero could hardly focus. His mind kept wandering back to what Nana had told him.

Even sitting down at lunch, he wondered what steps he had to retrace.

"Hey Midoriya, kero!"

"Hey Tsu!" He greeted as she, Uraraka, and Shinsou sat down next to him.

"What have you got on your mind?" Shinsou asked.

Midoriya sighed. "Well. I've kind of got a lead on where Hatsume could be but I can't figure it out."

"Oh? What is it?" Uraraka asked.

"I have to retrace my steps." Deku shrugged. "But that's so vague, I'm not sure what it could mean."

Tsuyu's eyes widened, though Uraraka and Shinsou looked perplexed. She didn't say anything for the rest of lunch, but as they were walking to class, Midoriya felt his phone buzz. She had sent him a message:

-Meet me at Ground Beta after class.

"Why did you want to meet me here, Tsu?" He asked as he met her at the training grounds.

"Well, I didn't want to tell Uraraka about your past, and I wasn't sure if Shinsou knows, but I think I know what your lead means, kero."

Midoriya's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"Well, think of the first two places she sent you: Right near where you took down the Sludge Villain and then the theater where you took down Stain, kero," Asui explained, "She's dedicating this whole mess to you."

The words sunk in and Midoriya covered his mouth with his hand. "Of course… she's obsessed with me. Trying to prove her dedication. How did I miss that?"

"Well..." Asui croaked, looking to the side. "I think you're too close to this one, kero."

"Too close?"

She nodded. "You're so emotionally wrapped up you can't step back and see the big picture. When I saw you fight those clones the other night, it was cool and terrifying at the same time. But I'd never seen you get so scary, even when you came close to killing the Sludge Villain."

Midoriya frowned, sitting on the bench near the entrance of Ground Beta. "I never meant for her to find out about me being a vigilante. But she caught me. And she insisted on helping. I..."

Days worth of tension and emotions rose to the surface and Midoriya pushed down a sob. "She's in danger. Because of me."

Tsuyu crouched on the ground in front of him. "Kero. Can I ask you something?"

Midoriya looked up at her, though tears. "Go ahead."

"Do you think she ever once regretted being your partner?"

Midoriya let that hit him. It was a simple question but… no.

Hatsume had always been an eager listening ear and an eager mechanic, be it for vigilante equipment or Official Hero gear. They succeeded together and he always saw her as his partner, no matter what he was doing. A team.

Midoirya wiped his eyes. "You're right, Tsu."

"I usually am. I'm good at emotional support, kero."

Her frank response made Izuku laugh. "Well, if we have Stain and the Sludge Villain sites down, the next one would be the hospital where you and I rescued Tokoyami."

"Well… we have plenty of daylight to kill. Let's go scope it out now?" Asui suggested. "We're licensed Heroes now. Maybe we'll luck out."

She offered Deku a hand and he took it to stand up. "You're a great friend, Tsu."

Tsuyu beamed. "You're pretty great too, kero."

Midoriya took some time to make a few tune ups on his suit and restock in the Support Lab before hopping on the train with Froppy.

"Uraraka will be in the area ready to call in backup, kero," Froppy whispered.

"Did it take her any convincing?" Midoriya asked.

"She wasn't exactly sure why we had to go here, so I just told her you and Hatsume had done some Support work ever over the summer. She seemed to buy it, kero."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Maybe we should let her in on it when this is all over."

Once in the city, they stopped a few blocks away from the condemned hospital and scaled a few buildings to get a good look from a distance. "You really think they would set up in the exact same location?" Midoriya asked.

"Kero, it stopped being a crime scene a few months ago and no one is going to pay to keep watch on a rickety old building." Asui answered.

"And it's scheduled to come down next week," Midoriya agreed. "If Toga was planning to bait me into something soon, this would work short term." A few buildings away, he pulled his helmet on and zoomed in towards the entrance. Unlike last time, there was no Twice monitoring the outside of the building. He switched to thermal scanning but he was too far away to pick anything up.

He was about to switch gears when his phone began vibrating in his pocket. Whipping the device out, his eyes widened. It was another message from Toga. Asui saw too and looked over his shoulder as he played it.

He opened the videolink, hands shaking, to see that the psychopath was live streaming. "Good afternoon Zuzu!"

Midoriya maximized the video on his phone and looked in the background, but the angle she held her camera at only showed blue skies behind her. She's out in the open.

"You know," Toga pouted to the camera, "That was really mean, you and your little succu-butt trying to break the rules. But I guess love is a game played without a rule book, isn't it?"

The camera flipped, showing Hatsume tied to a chair in a similar way to the first video Toga had sent to Midoriya a few days back. They looked to be on some kind of roof. "You know, Midoriya, this is where I first actually met you! Of course, I didn't know what you were really like then. You and your disguise."

Toga approached Hatsume, who, despite her glare, couldn't hide the fear on her face. "You know Zuzu… you really made me and my friends mad that night! We had won something from your little school and you stole it! That's pretty mean. Don't you think it's fair if I… took something away from you?"

Toga kicked the chair holding Hatsume and it was knocked towards the ledge of the building they were on.

In the distance, Midoriya could hear the scraping of wood against gravel.

Midoriya looked up at the hospital. "They're on the roof!"

No one needed to be told twice; the heroes left their perch and headed towards the building. All the while, Midoriya watched the video, as Toga loomed over Hatsume, whose back was against the crumbling ledge of the hospital rooftop.

The villainess cackled on the video. "I'm waiting for you, Zuzu! Where our first date was! Come here so we can rid the world of this pink shitstain once and for all!"

As they approached the hospital, Midoriya deployed his spider legs and began scaling the side, but was stopped as Asui wrapped her tongue around his waist and yanked him back down to the ground.

"What are you -?!"

"Kero, Midoriya I have a plan!" She scowled. "Don't get too close, you don't see the big picture."

Deku took a deep breath. "Okay. You're right. What's the plan?"

Midoriya Izuku leapt up the side of the hospital, hoisting himself over the ledge with his spider legs. At the opposite edge of the building, Toga had leaned the chair holding Hatsume against the crumbling ledge. "TOGA!"

As the villainess whipped around, her eyes wide with excitement. Now, Midoriya knew better to say, "let her go," when a bad guy has someone on the edge of a building, so he slowly approached, and said, "Hey, let's move away from the ledge, okay?"

Toga shook her head furiously and beckoned the heroic boy over with her index finger in an attempt to be coy. "Nope! Wow, you got here fast! Come on Zuzu! You want her?"

Midoriya crouched down, ready to spring forward.

"Come get her!"

Toga turned, kicked the chair over the ledge of the hospital, and stepped away laughing as Midoriya darted over with Full Cowl. He completely missed the small disc that had been hidden under the chair, and as he stepped on it an electrified cage materialized around him. He smacked into one of the bars, getting zapped and flung on his back. He sprang up and used an explosion from his gloves, but the steel bars held fast.

Toga cackled, clapping her hands, and jumping up and down on the balls of her feet. "Oh Zuzu. You're so predictable! Just how I like 'em, cute and stupid."

Midoriya turned around and took off his helmet, and chuckled, to her surprise. His laugh grew to match her own. "You. Idiot."

Toga's face fell. "What...?"

"At what point did you think this would work?" Izuku's look turned hard. "What were you going to do next? Tie her to the railroad tracks? Twirl a mustache and say, 'nyeh-heh-heh?'"

"What are you saying...?" Toga growled.

"I'm saying, your act is lame, and if you think you can just break me so I'll fall in love with you, you're even dumber than you look." Deku smirked. "No matter what you do, I love Hatsume. You're just trash that I'm going to put in the dump."

Toga's lip twitched, her eyes welling up with tears. She let out a small giggle. And another. And another, until they grew into a laugh, blowing out into a full cackle. "No. NonononononoNO!" Toga pulled a knife from her skirt, giggling. "That's NOT how this love story ends. If you don't love me after I turned that whore into pavement grease, then you… you just have to be punished."

Just need her a little closer.

"You… you WILL love me, Zuzu."

Midoriya smirked. "Make me."

Toga stepped forward and Midoriya sprang towards the bars. It only needed to work for a second.

Best as he could, in mid air, he activated Mirio's Intangibility, phasing through the bars and leaving his suit behind. At the sight of Izuku's nude body, Toga froze up, anger forgotten, and squealed with delight.

The world flashed back into Midoriya's vision as he deactivated the Intangibility. Ugh. I never want to do that again.

But per his plan he was sailing right for Toga. Channeling 20% of his One for All into his arm, he landed a direct punch between her eyes. She went skidding across the roof, knocked unconscious.

"Kero, are we all clear, Deku?" Called a voice from the side of the building.

"Yeah, she's down." He called over to the roof.

He blinked and looked down. "NO WAIT DON'T COME BACK UP YET!"

But it was too late. Tsuyu came crawling over the side of the building, Hatsume wrapped up in her tongue, and set the captive girl down gently on the roof. But as she saw that Deku was, in fact, still naked, she yelped and covered her eyes. "Midoriya you were supposed to warn me!"

"SORRY, SORRY, SORRY, JUST GET THE CLOTHES!"

Eyes still closed, Asui coughed up Midoriya's casual clothes from her stomach. He quickly threw them on and untied Hatsume from her chair. The pink-haired girl collapsed into his arms as Asui used the robes to restrain the unconscious Toga - but only after checking her for anymore hidden blades.

"Hatsume?" Midoriya asked, shaking her limp body. "Come on, talk to me!"

"She's okay, kero," Asui answered. "She just passed out when she began falling. I caught her pretty quick."

The two waited in silence as the police arrived with EMTs, who loaded Hatsume up on a stretcher to take her to a hospital, and apprehended Toga. Gran Torino arrived, looking haggard, and wacked Midoriya in the knee with his cane.

"I had a feeling you wouldn't stop working but don't do something so foolish without consulting me!" Gran Torino scolded.

Midoriya bowed. "S-sorry..."

"That said..." He looked to Midoriya and Asui, "As licensed heroes, looks like you did a good job. Villain captured, no property damage, no casualties. So, I'll let it slide. Well... what are you waiting for?"

Deku tilted his head curiously. "Sir?"

"Go!" The old man ushered towards the EMTs who were carrying Hatsume's stretcher downstairs. "I'll finish up here. You two have other places to be."

Asui and Midoriya bowed in thanks and took off down the stairs.

"Toshinori would pick someone just like him," Gran Torino groaned.

"Izuku...?"

Midoriya's head shot upwards. He had fallen asleep in the hospital room, next to Hatsume. Behind him, Tsuyu and Uraraka were on a bench in the room, snoring loudly. That could only mean...

He looked to see Mei, eyes weary but open, looking towards him. He sprang out of his chair and wrapped his arms around her neck, being careful not to hit any of her IV tubes. "Mei!"

Weakly, she hugged him back. "Took you long enough, Deku Scrub."

Hatsume could feel tears against her cheek as Midoriya held her tightly. "Mei, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Stop apologizing, you dork," Mei sniffled as well, not holding back her own tears.

Deku pulled away. "No, the whole time we've been partners, I fought so hard to make sure you never got hurt. I never stopped worrying about you. I'm sorry I made you a target."

Mei sighed and pulled him down to kiss his forehead. "Shut up."

"What?"

"How many times do I have to tell you I knew what I was signing up for?" She smiled at him. "Every time you go out to patrol on work study or even when we were knocking over bars for information, I worry about you, too. But you know what? The whole time, I kept going because I knew you would save me."

"You did?"

Mei nodded. "I never had a doubt. I've always believed in you, Midoriya Izuku. I love you."

"I love you too," he sniffled.

"Besides," she grinned, "now we've both saved each other."

Izuku laughed, wiping his eyes. "You're right. You're the best partner a hero could ask for."

"Well, good thing I'm all yours, isn't it?" She nuzzled against him. "Thanks for always pulling through for me."

It wasn't long before they fell asleep like that. And in the morning, Uraraka and Asui quietly left them that way.