A/N: Featuring the kiddos and Eri and Mirio, because I love them so much ;w;

Also! If you think I'm gonna be pointlessly shitting all over Mineta just for existing, sadly for you, this is not the case. Please don't get mad at me. His assholery is going to be very toned-down here.

That night saw the entirety of Class 1-A huddled together in Iida's room, all 19 sprawled out around the room, whether curled up next to their friends or sitting ramrod straight, in Iida's case.

"Alright, class meeting has officially started at-" Yaoyorozu glanced at her watch, "- seven thirty-two PM."

"So what's the plan for finding Midoriya?" Kaminari spoke up first, reclining against a desk. He was sharing earbuds with Jirou, who was half flipping through her playlist and half paying attention. "Are we just gonna search every place in Besupin City until we find which one he's at? 'Cause that'll take forever."

"You're correct, that will take far too long." Iida nodded. "Which is why I had Hatsume of Gen Ed track down Aizawa-sensei's phone location."

"You don't actually believe that whoever has him is stupid enough to take his phone, do you?" Bakugo snarked, folding his arms across his chest.

"No, but whoever has the phone might have some clue as to where Midoriya lives," he argued back with a frown. "If Todoroki-kun is correct that the League took him hostage, then perhaps we can manage at least an area of living out of them, and we can narrow our search from there."

"Whatever happens, leave Dabi to me," Todoroki spoke up, his voice quiet and tinged with malice. "If he happens to be wherever we find Sensei's phone, run and take care of the rest. I'll handle him myself."

"Not to be that person, kero, but it's too dangerous to leave you alone to fight him by yourself, Todoroki-kun," Asui pointed out, tapping her chin with her index finger. "Remember the damage he caused during the camp incident?"

"I have to be the one to fight him," Todoroki argued, his eyes glinting. "With my ice, I'm better equipped than any of you."

"No matter what happens, we agreed to do this as a class, remember?" Uraraka chimed in, giving the boy a frown. "If we run into the League, we're taking them down together, regardless of whether or not Dabi is there."

"Hell yeah, Ochako's right!" Ashido cheered, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "We're doing this for Midoriya, remember? Teamwork is the key! There's no way we can fail if we all do it together!"

"Yeah, but without a plan, we're stuck," Mineta pointed out. He glanced over at Yaoyorozu. "What were you gonna suggest?"

"Well, first we need a way to get to Besupin City." She stated, pulling out a map from her pocket. She opened it and stuck it to the wall. She pulled a pointing stick out and tapped the end against one part of the map. "Here's where we are. And this," she circled it around an area farther east, "is where Besupin City is, approximately a two-hour train ride from Yuuei."

"If we were to get there and back before school tomorrow morning, we would need to take the bullet train, which cuts the journey down to an hour and a half," she continued. "The last train to Besupin leaves at ten o'clock PM sharp and the first one back to Musutafu departs at six o'clock AM. That gives us approximately six and a half hours of searching for him."

"Deku usually got up to jog around the time the dorms opened in the morning," Uraraka supplied. When she got several looks from her classmates, she turned red. "Wh- what? Sometimes I couldn't sleep and I would be in the common area when he walked past me!"

Hagakure giggled and Jirou jokingly raised her eyebrows at her, and she covered her face in her hands, mortified.

"Uraraka's crush aside, this should give us a good clue as to the earliest time we could run into him while we're there." Yaoyorozu gave her a smile before continuing. "If we keeps to that schedule, if we station ourselves around the city, one of us should run into him sooner or later. That's where the group chat comes in."

"Hatsume was able to find a way to disable the dorm security system for a ten-minute window around nine o'clock PM, when we would have to leave to catch the bullet train." Iida took it from there, adjusting his glasses with his thumb and index finger. "Due to the time of the bullet train departure, we would have just enough time to get back and change out of whatever you wear there and into the uniform. If you want to wear your hero costume, that's fine, but make sure that you stay alert at all times."

"Yes, class daddy," Kaminari droned, making several students laugh.

Iida's face burned red at that, and Yaoyorozu spoke up over his scolding of the smug blond, "Any questions?"

Ojiro rose a hand, and she pointed to him, relieved. "Yes! Mashirao."

He gestured to the map. "What if we don't find him there? What if he just happened to drop in to help out and dipped?"

"He mentioned getting groceries for his mother, and I happened to ditch Endeavor for long enough to tail him." Todoroki answered, glancing over at the boy. "If he indeed didn't live close by, he would've gone to another store, but he went in and came out with bags of food. That must mean he lives in the city."

"So if you tailed him, why didn't you figure out where he lives yourself?" Tokoyami asked.

"Somehow he must have realized he was being tailed, because he disappeared," the dual-toned boy replied tiredly. "I looked away for one second to see what street I was on, and the next, he was gone."

"If they are in cahoots with the League, then perhaps the void one teleported him away, kero," Asui mused. "I wouldn't put it past them to confuse us. Still, I wonder why they would bother to help Midoriya-kun..."

Todoroki shifted, and at that moment Uraraka caught his eye for a second. Something glinted there, something secret.

"What do you know, Todoroki?" She asked, catching everyone's attention. When he looked up again, his expression was as neutral as it usually was, with no indication of what he'd been thinking at all. "You look like you've figured out what it is."

"It's just a theory," he spoke carefully, ignoring the quiet groan that Bakugo let out in reply. "But something doesn't sit right with me about the timing. Think about it: we were alerted to All For One breaking out of prison on the same night that Midoriya disappeared, right? And Hagakure overheard from some of the teachers that All Might went into hiding in one of the school's bunkers, right? What else could it possibly mean?"

"So you're saying All For One came here, took Midoriya, and just bounced?" Mineta spoke in disbelief. "For what? To keep him as a hostage until they could get one of us?"

"Shigaraki always did target Midoriya specifically after we rescued Bakubro," Kirishima hummed. "Remember the mall trip?"

"How could I forget that?" Uraraka shivered. "He totally had him by the neck. So what, he took Deku to lure us out? To get Aizawa-sensei?"

"No." Todoroki shook his head. "If he had, then no doubt someone from the League would have gloated about it. They would have directly sent us a message about having him in hopes of luring the staff away. But they didn't. My theory is..."

He looked directly at Bakugo. "Do you have any recollection as to the identity of Midoriya's father?"

Bakugo startled for a second upon everyone's eyes going to him. "Don't ask me that mess, Auntie Inko never said shit about him." He grumbled, closing his eyes. "He left years ago, so long ago that I can't remember what he looks like. I doubt Deku would, either."

"Hm." Todoroki's eyes narrowed. "So my theory could be correct. Somehow, he broke out of Tartarus and made his way to Yuuei campus, only to retrieve his son and leave."

The room was quiet for a split second, and then chaos started.

"Wait, you think All For One is Deku-kun's father?" Uraraka's mouth gaped open. "But that's- that's impossible!"

"Yeah, you really think All Might would let him take Midobro with a lie like that?" Kirishima echoed with a frown. "Not to mention, wouldn't the staff know about that beforehand?"

"It begs the question as to why he made it into Yuuei in the first place," Ojiro hummed. "Unless no one knew his true identity."

"SHUT UP," Bakugo barked, and everyone stilled at the sight of his angry face. "First off, I highly fuckin' doubt that Deku knew his identity beforehand, otherwise he would have said something to someone. He probably would've let it slip to me in the past, even, and I didn't even realize it until you said it right now. Second, do you honestly think that Yuuei would've let him in if they knew that his fuckin' dad was damn All For One? The only thing they knew was that his quirk was fire breathing and that he was overseas. That's what Deku told me, that's what Auntie Inko told me, that's what my parents told me. Otherwise they're the best damn secret keepers I've ever seen in my entire damn life."

"What makes you so sure that Midoriya would've said anything to you, Bakugo?" Iida asked, raising an eyebrow. "At the beginning of the year, I was certain that you hated him."

"I did hate- ugh, whatever!" The boy growled. "Look, the point is, I was... really damn obsessed with becoming a hero when I was in middle school. Who the fuck wasn't?" he muttered as an afterthought before continuing. "If he knew who his dad was, he wouldn't have wasted his time trying to suck up to me and he would've fucking stayed away, because his stupid damn self-confidence is non-existent and he wouldn't have wanted me to be associated with him because of his dad being a villain if it meant it would hurt my chances at getting into Yuuei."

"That... does make sense," Uraraka hummed, her brow knitting together in thought. "I doubt he would have even tried to get into Yuuei if his dad was known to be a wanted villain, because the chances of Yuuei finding out would make it impossible without them keeping tabs on him at all times."

"See, even Round Face gets it." Bakugo gestured to her with one hand and ignoring her irritated glance. "That's beside the point. I thought we were planning on a way to get him back, Class Rep. Stop wasting time on who his dad is and plan."

"Well... put, I suppose," Yaoyorozu sweatdropped at his intense stare and cleared her throat. "Right! Midoriya's dubious parentage aside, we need a plan of attack. If we go with the phone plan, we need to keep some on standby in case we run into him while there, but I really think that we ought to just station ourselves at certain vantage points through the city and spot him that way."

"I agree with Yaomomo," Ashido agreed. "It'll take too much time if we try to fight the League, and they're probably expecting to get tracked anyway. Didn't Vlad King-sensei go investigate that himself yesterday?"

"He did, and came back empty-handed." Iida confirmed, adjusting his glasses again. "So that plan is out, but if we run into any of the League we can keep it on the backburner."

"Alright. Each of us will need our phones to quickly text the group if one spots Midoriya." Yaoyorozu held up her own phone. "Are all of them charged? Once we leave for the train, the only source of electricity will be Kaminari, if he consents to being used as a charger."

"Only if he doesn't fry his freaking brain this time," Bakugo muttered.

"Yeah, it's whatever I guess," the boy shrugged, looking up from Jirou's phone. "Just gotta be careful not to use too much at once."

"I'll be handing out binoculars when we go, so you don't have to worry about sight issues." Yaoyorozu continued. "So let's start with this street here..."

"Mirio?" Eri's small voice made him pause in his act of tucking her in. Her bright red eyes looked up at him in concern, "I didn't do anything bad, did I?"

"What makes you think that?" He asked gently, sitting down on her bed again.

"I healed that guy with my quirk," she said, looking down at the blankets with tears gathering in her eyes. "And he took Deku... was that bad?"

Mirio's face softened, and he gently lay a hand on her head. "Eri, don't worry. You did absolutely nothing wrong," he said firmly. "What you did was very nice, and I'm proud of you using your quirk selflessly like that. If All Might was accepting of him taking Deku away, then nobody can tell you that it was wrong, okay?"

"But... but why did he leave?" Eri begged, looking up at him with unshed tears. "Was I a bad girl? Is that why Papa left too?"

"Eri," Mirio sighed, his smile slipping off his face. "Deku needed to get away from campus for a little while, remember? He promised that he would come back for you. Deku keeps promises, doesn't he?"

"Y- yes," she sniffled, wiping her eyes. "Like when he promised to find a home for that stray kitty, and Papa took her in... or when he promised that he would teach me how to make caramel apples, and... and he did..."

"Your papa loves you, Eri, and so does Deku," Mirio soothed, his smile reappearing. "Don't doubt that for a second. He'll come back soon."

"You promise?" Her voice was so tiny and scared that it made his heart hurt.

"I promise," he nodded emphatically. "Now you need to get some sleep, okay? Your papa will be home before you know it too, and you can surprise him with hot chocolate."

"Okay," she nodded glumly and settled in against the pillow, her silver hair fanning around her. She looked up at Mirio and whispered, "Good night, big brother Mirio."

"Good night, Eri," he squeezed her shoulder and smiled, seeing the white-and-gray cat (affectionately named Soba by Todoroki) hop up on her bed and curl up at her feet. "I'll see you in the morning. Be a good girl for Kayama-sensei."

She nodded, closing her eyes.

Mirio got up and quietly left the room, his heart growing heavy and his smile falling with every step. As soon as her door was shut, he sagged against the wall, closing his eyes for a moment.

"Midoriya-kun, I hope you're alright," he murmured to himself as he opened his eyes and kept walking. "For Eri's sake, please come back soon."

A/N: GIVE ERI A HAPPY ENDING 2K21

PROTECT THE BABIES PLS

Big Brother Mirio rights, ofc. I adore his, Eri's, and Deku's dynamic so so so much, you don't even know.

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