For those who started reading this story before this update came out, please go back and look at the chapters! I accident,y posted some things out of order! My apologies for the mix up. (Go back and read: Secrets and Suspicions, you're like me, An Idea and a Risk)

Shouto's heart nearly stopped when the slime villain leapt at him and Izuku pushed him out of the way. He'd been so immersed in Izuku's string of mutterings that he'd let his guard down.

"IZUKU!" He'd screamed as he was shoved to the ground.

Shouto was sure everything inside him had frozen. Izuku was drowning in the laughing body of the slime villain. His friend, who was one of the few lights in Shouto's darkness was fighting and ripping at his own throat, and Shouto was just standing there. He couldn't use his ice or risk freezing his friend along with the villain. And Shouto couldn't use his fire, he wasn't ready. But now Izuku wasn't moving and Shouto was doing nothing and he's pretty sure his breathing was picking up, and when had he gotten back to his feet?

And Shouto made his choice. He couldn't stand and watch. He wouldn't be the reason that light went out. So Shouto raised his left hand, the mantra; It's your power repeating in his head, and let his arm burst into flames.

Then came the booming laugh that echoed throughout the bridge, bouncing the sound around the small space. Both villain and teen froze. Shouto knew that laugh. He knew it because its source was the one man his father had worked half his life to overcome. Through the pothole the slime villain had come from, climbed out the number two hero.

"All Might?" Shouto heard himself say.

" Ha Ha Ha! Fear not, for I AM HERE! " Shouto watched, hand still burning as All Might made quick work of the villain, punching him with a powerful air blast that sent the slime flying in all directions.

" The villain stood no chance ," All Might boomed turning towards Shouto, " Are you alright citiz- " Shouto chose to ignore All Might and ran over to his friend.

"Come on Izuku," he muttered, checking the now redhead's pulse and breathing. He let out a sigh when he felt the steady beat of a heart in rhythm with the in and out of constant air, "you're okay. You'll be okay."

" Step aside young man and let a hero handle this! " Shouto was hesitant to let the large man anywhere near his friend, but he didn't know what else to do. Shouto chose to scoot around to the side of Izuku. All Might took the opportunity to move and examine Izuku.

A light slapping noise echoed throughout the tunnel. All Might was lightly slapping Izuku's check repeatedly. Shouto blinked in shock, what the hell kind of help was that, which quickly switched to anger.

"What are you doing!?" Shouto hissed at the number two hero, "I thought heroes were supposed to be trained to handle these kinds of situations!" Maybe Shouto was just being naïve. After all, Endeavor most certainly would not know (or care, really) how to handle anything like this.

A gasped followed by a fit of coughs stopped All Might from responding.

"Izuku!" Shouto cried out, anger quickly forgotten.

"S-Shouto?" Izuku replied hoarsely. The teen turned his head toward his friend, and his face split into a smile. "You're on fire." Shouto reared back in shock as he realized, yes, he still was very much on fire. He made quick work of drawing the flames back inside himself, effectively dousing them.

A slightly awkward cough drew the two boys attention back to the hero who was now standing tall with hands on his hips.

Shouto noticed the minute filch from Izuku when the teen recognized who was standing in front of them. That was slightly worrying.

" Yes, well. I'm out of time! Have a nice day citizens! " And then the hero was out the tunnel and blasting off into the sky. Shouto turned his attention back to Izuku, who was slowing standing.

"Are you alright?" He asked gently.

"Yea I'm fine, I think. Are you alright?" Shouto looked at the teen in shock.

"I'm fine, you were the one who was drowning." Izuku winced slightly at the mention of that, Shouto noted.

"I-I know. I just meant.. Well," Izuku looked up at him shyly, "you were using your fire."

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"I guess I was?" Izuku let out a laugh.

"You guess?"

"Well, I made the decision to try, but I didn't get that far before All Might showed up." Shouto noticed that Izuku flinched, yet again, at the mention of the hero. "Izuku… you keep flinching… why?" Izuku startled at Shouto's rather blunt question, but he'd never really been one to beat around the bush.

"It's just... He's the first hero I've met since that day with Endeavor, and…" Shotuto placed his hand on Izuku's shoulder. Because now he understood. Izuku had told Shouto about how Endeavor had taken an interest in him, and how he'd ended up in the house. He could imagine that meeting All Might, who was the number two hero just like Endeavor had been when Izuku had first met him, was something of a traumatic experience.

"I get it," Is how Shouto reassured his friend. Suddenly Izuku froze. Shouto was on his guard instantly.

"Shouto, what time is it?"

" Shit ."

" You're late," The number one hero, Endeavor, growled when the two boys entered through the doors of the agency. They'd sprinted the whole way back in a last ditch effort to get there on time. Of course, they'd ended up twenty minutes behind the time they were supposed to arrive.

"I'm sorry father, we got caught up in a villain attack. It's my fault."

"I don't want excuses boy! You've failed to meet my instructions." Shouto winced at the man's words, but still tried to angle his body in front of Izukus. He needed Endeavor's attention on him, not his friend. "We're leaving. NOW!"

The rest of that day, Endeavor forced both boys through excruciating training. Ranging from Izuku using his quirk on both of the Todorokis, to both of the teens being beaten black and blue because they failed to meet Endeavors ever growing expectations.

That night, when Shouto snuck into Izuku's cell, the first words out of his friend's mouth were: "You used your fire today."

"Yes, you said that before."

"I'm glad you did," Izuku began, a smile gracing his bruised face, "Can I see?" Shouto didn't even consider the idea of saying no. He could never deny Izuku anything. He simply raised his left hand and let a small white flame dance in his palm. "It's beautiful," Shouto's mystified friend told him, the light of his fire dancing in the teens wide green eyes. Izuku drew as close to Shouto as the chain attaching him to the wall would allow. "I hope you use it during UA.But don't let anybody except you influence that decision," Were Izuku's final words of the night. Unbeknownst to the redhead, Shouto had already made his decision when his friend had been suffocating in the body of a villain. He was going to use his fire. He never wanted to be that helpless again. But first, he needed to visit someone he hadn't seen in a very long time.