I managed to pump this out before Christmas :D Thank me writing A Mockery of Rebirth, it was the perfect channeling of angst I needed to write this piece.
Helps that things are going smoothly for me irl. My parents are taking to Tokoyami pretty well. Well, as well as they can, you can understand. Apparently according to them, he has taken to guarding parts of the house and charges at your feet when you disturb his territory. Fun.
His shenanigans are endless.
Mom is minding her own business folding socks and he would pick up the little sock balls ⅓ his size and struggle, wiggle, flap his wings and everything as he drags it over the edge of the table to toss it off. More often than not, on the dog's snout. Poor doggy.
He also dunks his head in my coffee and I had to wash him off. Multiple times. Don't get my poor mother started on the time she left a pan full of oily water in the sink to clean and the dumbass tried to take a bath in it. He was very pissed that he was shooed off his new bathing pot.
The other day the neighbor had their dog come over and we put Tokoyami in his cage, and since the other dog was like a terrier mix he wanted to get a bite on Tokoyami (even tho he was safe in his gigantic cage and biting at the dog from between the bars) and my parent's dog just put herself in between -she big- and physically blocked the other dog from reaching the cage.
Like, full on growling and yipping to get him to fuck off. Which he did, since he's barely heavier than one of her legs and she never was agro towards him before. We're talking about the same gigantic dog that trails after Tokoyami like a lost puppy.
….my family is weird.
"If you succeed, I'll allow you to live with your mother."
Izuku sits on it for the better part of three days.
He feels guilty to even contemplate it. Just having that proposition bouncing around his head like a caged bird longing to fly, restless. An uncomfortable weight that Styxfire for once could not gnaw away and that only grew when he was around Shouto.
Shouto, who he had breakfast with, trained with, studied with; Shouto who trusted him and was blind to the tantalizing piece of meat their father was dangling in front of Izuku.
It ate at him.
With every passing hour, the wound festered. How dare Izuku even think about going through with it, after everything he'd done with his brother? After all those years spent building trust and affirming their bond, how could he even think of betraying him in such a way?
But it was tempting.
Too tempting.
Endeavor made it clear that if he did it, if he got Shouto to accept using his flames, use Hellfire, then Izuku would have unrestricted access to his mother. He could go to her house any time he wanted. He could stay there as long as he wanted.
Maybe he could even bring Shouto too.
Izuku hadn't pushed for that, but he wondered if his father would allow him.
(Shouto always said that Endeavor listened to him, more than anyone else in this house.)
Longing tears through his system, a jolt of bitter energy that has the obsidian flames on his body flickering angrily. He misses his mother. Their visits were only once a week, or every two weeks, and always supervised, always somewhere other than her house -somewhere Endeavor could keep an eye on things.
For his own safety, his father had said.
Izuku had to wonder if it was really that. Maybe part of it, given the tendency of villains targeting the families of Pro-Heroes -but he thinks there's something else about it. He knows there is more truth to is. Despite all of Endeavor's desire of making them powerful heroes, he was possessive. Controlling.
They were his children and they were his to mold, after all. Izuku had never really had wool over his eyes regarding that.
If he had, Touya ripped the rest of it off.
So, maybe he wanted to be a little bit selfish.
Maybe he wanted to experience more than the four stone walls circling the property, or the gaudy gallas, Maybe he wanted less of his father's training and more tea at night while watching television. It felt shameful to think about it, but it had been so long, he can barely remember what he used to do with his mom.
But this shouldn't be about him!
He should take the offer. Maybe not for himself -you're not being selfish, you're not, you are not Tou- but for his brother!
He'd always hated the way Shouto limited himself, hated the way he cut off his Quirk, atrophied it out of a sheer stubborn desire to deny their father. Shouto never seemed to realize how bad it was -how he was hurting himself more than he was hurting Endeavor.
For Izuku, whose body had nearly collapsed into itself multiple times, it was mind boggling that Shouto was lucky enough to have such a Quirk, and he mutilated it.
Someday it might come back to bite him, he thinks wistfully as he lays in his fire pit, the last of the special coal being eaten away by Styxfire. His Quirk was happily gnawing at it, eager to fill up to its fullest before his first semester started.
The letters should start coming in tomorrow.
Miffed, Izuku rolls over on the ash and stares down at the stone circling around the pit, separating it from the smooth dark wood flooring of the room. The floor was covered in soot marks.
Izuku reaches out and traces the stains idly with a single finger, sucking up the remaining warmth from the ashes.
I don't know what to do anymore.
.
.
.
Two days after they get their confirmation letters, their father sends them with Fuyumi to make their train pass.
It's a quick affair. They go in with the required documents and the money, get their pictures done, and get the cards printed. Shouto's kind of glaring in his photo and Izuku think his own looks a bit too wide eyed, but he doesn't speak up about it. There's nothing to complain anyways.
Some of the workers do a double take upon seeing their names, but Fuyumi preemptively cuts off any thought of theirs to talk about it with her stony silence. She's less timid in public, Izuku discovers with surprise. Less hunched into herself, more proactive.
The same hesitation is there, the same worry that he'd always seen in her eyes, but it's muted now that she's out of the house.
And as he stares down at the seemingly innocent little card trapped between his hands, Izuku feels a mixture of apprehension and longing.
.
.
.
Ultimately, the one thing Izuku had been trying not to think about rears its head.
Kacchan.
Izuku knew he had applied for Yuuei. Inko had told him, Mitsuki had raved about it in her own letter -having, two years ago, graduated to her own after rendering Inko's letter twice it's length on weekly basis- telling him how her brat had gotten himself registered to the public Entrance Exam and was training even harder to get in.
Reading her tales of the other boy left Izuku wondering. Wondering what Kacchan was thinking, what he was like now, what he was doing. What he thought of Izuku now.
I don't remember his voice.
"Izuku."
Green eyes slid over towards the one calling his name. Shouto was sitting by his fire pit, stretching quietly.
He'd never really feared Izuku's flames. His brother was just, like that. Fearless of the fire. Not even after that night when Izuku hungered, yearning for something he could not quite define until that moment.
(Maybe he never realized how close he came to losing his life to them.)
"If you keep worrying, you'll start mumbling again."
Izuku frowns. "I hope not."
Mumbling was the one habit Endeavor had quickly taken away from Izuku. As was his nervous hand wriggling. His stuttering had gotten better over the years, but it occasionally pierced it's way through.
Outsides, bird chirped in the garden. Izuku tried to focus on their calls, on the faintest traces of heat he felt from the trees outside, distinct from the way the sun warmed the ancient bark. His thermal sense had grown a few feet since he'd first discovered it.
His eyes slide shut. Maybe he could rest a bit more-
"What are you thinking about?"
Izuku hesitates, opening his eyes. Seems like Shouto wasn't going to let it go.
...though to be honest? He wanted to talk too.
"Do you...do you remember that boy? From the letters?"
His brother hums, a gentle sound that encourages Izuku. Shouto had always been the easiest to talk to. His one constant in life -his confident. Shouto was someone he could trust to listen. Even know, with guilt clawing at his throat, it was easily to divulge his fears to his older brother.
Even after what happened the night of the exam.
"Katsuki, right?" Shouto's quiet voice reached over the soft crackling of Styxfire. "...you told me he wanted to be a Pro-Hero." His older brother continues, his nose twitching in the tiniest of wrinkles that Izuku knows is from displeasure.
Not because of Kacchan himself -but for what he wanted to be.
Pro-Heroes always incited the same reaction from Shouto. That never changed. Not quite disgust, but a certain urge to steer away that Izuku could at the same time understand and not. Because Pro-Heroes were heroes and Izuku dreamed of them since the very first time he grasped the concept.
...and yet Shouto's going to be one. With me. Using his ice.
(Not fire.)
"He's going to Yuuei." Izuku informs him, not that Shouto did not know that -he'd heard of the blond boy enough from Izuku. "He...h-he might be in our class."
Shouto pauses his exercises and gives him a look.
The kind of look he gives when he understands what Izuku's tumbling, stressed mind could not quite form with his lips, vocal cords and tongue.
"You're scared to meet him again." Shouto guesses, rightly so. The nod that Izuku makes is jerky. "Maybe he misses you too."
"I don't know." He finds himself denying, part of him bitter at the mere idea that Kacchan ever missed his presence. They hadn't been really friends, at the end.
Izuku tried to keep that away from Shouto, but his brother was smart and ultimately figured out enough.
"It's been a long time."
Maybe he doesn't remember me anymore.
Maybe like Izuku remembered him, Kacchan only had a vague recollection of him. They had bene young after all. Five, six years old. There's not much he would remember, in all likelihood. Izuku can't even remember his voice anymore. He remembers his pale, blond hair and bright red eyes. The faintest memory of his furrowed brows occasionally graced Izuku's mind, but it was a weak, feeble thing.
Things changed.
The Kacchan of before will not be the one he might, in all likelihood, meet again at Yuuei.
A stranger.
(How that hurt.)
"Izuku?"
Shouto's voice snaps him out of his thoughts, making him jerk his head up -when did he lower it? "...yeah?"
"I might be wrong," Shouto starts slowly, his mismatched eyes gaining a familiar, intense gleam. The kind of stare he used when he was examining something very carefully -and in this case, the thing he was looking was Izuku. Not good.
"-but is there anything you need to tell me?"
Izuku feels his heart stop.
His hands feel clammy. Styxfire sputters around him. It's a tell. Something Shouto was familiar with.
And that knowledge terrified him.
"I'm nervous about school." Izuku swallows, the lie tasting of bile on his tongue, painful like shards of glass draggin against his skin. Quite suddenly, he finds that his mouth feels oh so very dry. His mind scrambles for a response -for an answer that wasn't what part of him yearned to say. "It's the first time I'll go since ...since I was with my mom."
The words came out after a far longer stretch of silence that Izuku was comfortable with.
Shouto regards him for a very long moment. Too long. Izuku feels jittery and off guard. Part of him wants to scream. Another wants to curl up in a ball and disappear. His brother probably wasn't realizing what effect he was causing, or that he was so nervous that cold and heat rushed and down his veins like his Quirk so easily did.
Or maybe he did.
Maybe he knew.
Maybe he knew and was waiting for Izuku's reaction.
Maybe he was waiting for him to respond with the truth.
Maybe he knew what kind of lying little monster he was-
"I see. I feel the same." Shouto finally murmurs, and part of Izuku that was coiled up so tight around his throat that he could not breathe slowly unwinds. "It...it will be my first time. That I go to school."
His brother pauses, looking away. By doing so, he misses the way Izuku digs his teeth into his lower lip.
"I'm nervous."
Izuku swallows. "That makes the two of us."
Shouto nods slowly. And without another word, he goes back to his exercises. Rolling shoulders, stretching, warming up for their sparring session with Endeavor that was due in an hour.
The silence that falls over them is not the same as before. It's stunted. More awkward.
For Izuku, suffocating.
He turns his head away from his brother, not wanting the older boy to see the guilt written on his face like a searing brand. He tries to focus on his flames, on doing small shaping exercise with the black fire but it crackles in his palms and bites at his clothes, as restless as it's owner.
Soon enough, Izuku gives up and flopped back on the ashes, letting the flames wrap around his body; a black curtain that hides him from his brother's sight.
It does nothing to alleviate his shame.
Shame was a horrible, terrible, familiar thing to drown in.
.
.
.
Maybe he should leave it alone.
Box up that promise, shove the chest into the darkest corners of his mind alongside everything else that already sat there, festering. Take the lock and throw it away.
Forget about it.
Forget about the deal.
Forget about his dreams of a small bedroom splashed with blues and yellows and the smell of herbal tea.
Do the right thing.
Do what Shouto would want.
Let him smother Hellflame until nothing remained but a tiny, atrophied flame. Until that little lick of fire turned into ashes and Shouto won and tore off that excess limb.
His brother already had one Quirk. His ice was unrivalled. His control over his power was better than Izuku's ever was.
Shouto knew what he was doing.
He preferred his ice over his flames -and frankly?
Maybe it was good for him. Maybe Hellflame wasn't needed.
After all, Izuku knew better than anyone what fire did.
Izuku, you took his arms.
.
.
.
If he could, he'll take a knife and carve it out, too.
.
.
.
A few days later, a little letter show up at the doorstep. It has the Yuuei seal on the front.
Endeavor is quick to snatch it up and call for Izuku and Shouto to meet him at the dinner table. They know better than to make him wait, so within three minutes they're out of their room and taking a seat at each other sides.
Their father doesn't join them.
Instead, he skulks around the room, eyeing the letter laying on the table through narrowed eyes. Izuku barely keeps himself from doing the same. His throat feels very dry. A letter wasn't an accurate description. It's a big, orange envelope. Izuku spies something flat and circular at the bottom.
He wants to ask, but he knows his place.
"Open it."
They do just that. Shouto grabs it, snapping the top off and letting the contents slide out onto the table.
There's two white letters inside, but Izuku's attention is stolen by the loud clink! that echoes through the quiet room as the circular thing finally comes to view. It's a disk -flat and metallic, with a circular platform on top.
Maybe a bit too curious, Izuku picks it up and twists it in his hands, examining the strange little item. A machine, no doubt -and he could spy the faintest amount of heat coming from the device.
What was it?"
"It's a projector." Endeavor's voice cuts through the silence, startling Izuku so had he nearly drops said projector. From the look on his father's face, he doesn't seem amused by that at all.
Then again, he's never amused.
Especially after the news came out two days ago that All Might was going to teach at Yuuei. Izuku had his own freakout about it. He's still not quite over it either.
"Izuku." Right. His father was still here. "The panel on top -press and twist on it to active the projection."
Carefully, Izuku sets the little machine down and does just so. Holds it with one hand, presses down delicately with his left fingers and then twist.
The projector chirps. Loudly.
Izuku can't stop the squawk of surprise from leaving him at the sound; he flinches back, pushing the machine away as a beam of light comes from the panel, which was now flipping itself up like a little cap, spilling light on the wall and part of the living room. It looks like something, but Izuku's not sure what. Most of it is lost in the living room.
Endeavor walks over and snags the machine, adjusting it on the table so the light hits the wall fully. It clear things up quickly.
It's a projection.
A reel.
"Hello there!"
Of All Might.
Izuku's too mortified to make a sound.
Oh no.
This wasn't part of the plan.
His father keeps to himself but the flaring of his flames and the way his clenches his fists is more than enough for Izuku to press against his brother's side for comfort. Shouto doesn't outwardly react, but Izuku's thermal vision picks up a rise of temperature within the left side of his body.
Warmth always comforted Izuku, so he allows himself to relax, Styxfire leeching gently on that excess warmth. It settles him long enough to focus back on the projection in front of them.
All Might was standing in front of a window that seemed to be overlooking the campus, his smile was just as infectious as it was in person. A person with lesser control and without the Number Two Hero practically breathing down their neck -Endeavor was standing right behind him, from the thermal sight his arms were crossed and his flames were flaring like mad- would have smiled along. Not Izuku.
Not right now.
"Hello Todorokis! I hope you're there too, Enji!"
A low, hissed grunt of irritation reached Izuku's ears. Clearly his father was not amused.
"Right, let us begin!" All Might exclaims, hands on his hips. He was wearing an oddly bright yellow business suit with stripes. .Oddly, it suited him. "It was decided that we should make one projector for you two -and truly it's a marvelous idea! Todoroki Shouto-"
At his side, Shouto sits up even straighter. Izuku's own heart lurches. It was now or never.
"-your score speaks for itself! You came second place in your physical examination with a 19.4 second total! Combined with your written test result of 97%, that places you third in place for the Recommendation Exam at 81 points!"
Shouto got in.
Shouto got in.
Izuku felt a lurch of joy within his chest. Combined with All Might's laugh he wants to smile, but his brother's lack of outward physical response at the announcement that he was accepted into one of the highest rated Pro-Hero schools in the country-
Wait.
All Might said third. And as Izuku thinks that, he feels the heat coming from his father rise. It's a small, tiny change that only someone with a thermal sense would pick up. Given how careful Endeavor was about using Hellflame within the confines of his very flammable home, it said something.
This wasn't good.
"Young Izuku! I must say the start of your physical exam had me worried-"
Izuku can physically feel his father's stare at the back of his head but he holds still and silent. Not good.
"-but you managed to surprise even me! From the last of the pack, with 12.5 seconds you had the shortest completion time amongst all the candidates!"
Oh. That was surprising.
He knew that for his group but he hadn't seen the rest of the candidates compete -did he really have the shortest time? He came third in the group!
"Needless to say, you have done very well my boy! Your score of 98.7% in the written portion also helped! Truly impressive! That secures you second place in the Recommendation Exam with a total of 83 points!"
Izuku feels himself deflate. Second spot? How did he manage that?! He was fast with Styxfire but did he really clear it that quickly?
Wait. If he got that score, he came in second place, that meant one thing -he passed.
He got in.
He's going to Yuuei.
Izuku knew it was more than a possibility -he'd trained since his Quirk first appeared, it was expected of him to pass -but the overwhelming tidal wave of emotions that hit him right there and then was unexpected. A shuddering breath leaves him and he slumps the tiniest bit in his seat, his grip on Shouto's hand almost iron tight. Not that his brother seemed to mind it.
In fact, he was squeezing back.
"The rest of the information is included in the package -alongside your school badges! Please take care to read over everything carefully and don't forget your badge at home, otherwise the gate won't let you in! With all of that said-"
All Might grins, the kind of smile that Izuku recognizes immediately. It's his hero smile. The smile he'd seen as a little boy on television -the same smile he gave him when he was a little child and strayed from his father's side.
A true hero's smile.
"Congratulations! This is your Hero Academia!"
.
.
.
His father storms off not too long after.
Neither of them blame or try to stop him. They know better -and frankly, they are relieved when he stomps off, likely to work his rage off in the training rooms or bury himself under paperwork.
When they're certain he's gone, Izuku takes his letter and his badge and so does his brother -but in a moment of yearning, he snags the projector too.
Shouto says nothing.
They part when they reach the sleeping quarters. Shouto seemed to need his own space and Izuku was relieved by that fact.
He wanted to be alone right now too.
The letter and school badge are left on his study desk; Izuku heads for his mattress, not even bothering to turn the light on in the darkened room. His familiarity with the space and his Quirk guided him. The projector was still in his hand when he finally sat down on his bed, tucked tight against his chest by an innate, stubborn force.
It's still warm.
A warmth that Styxfire is quick to leech away.
Izuku sighs. It's late. His bedtime is approaching. He should be under the covers and getting ready to drift off. Doing otherwise was unproductive to his tight schedule.
And yet, he can't find it in himself to set it down.
He curls up under the thick covers, the little metal disk still in hand. In the dark, he traces the edges of the device. Izuku doesn't dare try to figure out how to activate it again. Maybe it was a one time use. He doesn't know. And he can't find it in himself the will to try and check if there was any truth in the matter.
….but still, his hand remained wrapped tight around the metal disk.
And he can't close his eyes.
I'll be a Pro-Hero.
The thought bounces around his head, a echoe that refuses to go quiet.
I'm going to save people.
Styxfire rumbles within his chest, sated and fed.
.
.
.
(That night, his dreams are filled with snow.)
.
.
.
Nevermind if Izuku wanted it or not, the day arrived.
Part of Izuku wants to dig his heels in. Maybe scream, too. Maybe curl up in a ball within hardened Styxfire and just sit there till the end of time. He'd absorbed enough energy to at least do it for a few weeks.
But while he was thinking about the logistics of becoming a hermit within his own home, Shouto was already dragging him through the front gates and towards the train station, just a short ten minute walk away from the house.
Barely any words are exchanged between the two of them. Shouto is stone. Maybe he's as nervous as Izuku felt.
He might be.
Izuku will never know. For as good as he'd become at masking his own facial expression, Shouto was twice the master.
He had to learn how to do it from someone.
They're at the station not before long; one moment he's outside the building, the next Izuku finds himself amidst a veritable sea of individuals.
Despite the fact he'd gone to do his train card with Fuyumi, this was the first time he experienced public service.
Izuku's instantly terrified.
It's even worse when they get on the train. There's a lot of people in the cabin. A lot. They push and pull at each other and they are so close it's terrifying, their heat signatures almost overwhelming in their numbers. Izuku's not sure he's been around so many people before.
And they were all civilians, likely.
Without training.
Helpless.
And he's sitting there, a bomb waiting to go off.
The anxiety that came with that realization gnawed at him. He shouldn't be here. He shouldn't be in public. There's so many people and he knew intimately how his Quirk reacted with so many possible sources around. This was the last place he wanted to be.
I trained, a small, miserable part of him whispers as he holds Shouto's hand tighter, trying to keep his breathing calm and even. His expression is blank, a carefully crafted mask only his brother could rival, but his stomach kept doing flips and if it could just stop-
I did everything I could. I spent years on my Quirk. I'm good.
The person at his right coughed. His back collided against Izuku's shoulder and he barely fights back the wince.
I'm not going to lose control.
He knew this. He believed it. He's spent so long working on making sure he could never hurt someone again. He'd molded his entire self around that iron tight control over his Quirk, an ability grown out of years of training, of his father's teaching and the memories of what could happen if he slackened the leash even the slightest bit-
….and yet there was a part of him that wanted to leave.
Now.
Frustrated, angry, Izuku gnaws on the inside of his left cheek. Why was this all coming back now?!
Part of Izuku knew the answer. He just didn't want to admit it.
Not even to himself.
(I don't feel ready at all.)
.
.
.
Izuku's a bit of a nervous wreck about not missing their train stop.
Which of course, meant that Shouto was the one who noticed they were reaching their stop because he got lost in his own head and it was again, Shouto, who valiantly pushed his way through the horde of people and gets out on time before the door closed.
Leaving the train and the train station behind in exchange for wider, open streets was an instant relief for Izuku. He tries not to push people out of the way on his way out, but he can't fully fight off the urge to dive out into the open.
Out of the station, out of that stupid dreaded cabin, he can breathe again.
Izuku ends up leaning against a lamp post outside the station, mind terrifyingly blank and Styxfire feeling like a lead anchor in his chest. Shouto's presence is a familiar comfort at his side but not today, unfortunately. He stares down at the dirty pavement with wide eyes.
Then he notices it.
Were his knees shaking that badly?
"Izuku."
"I'm-" He stops himself before he can let out that one phrase his brother hated the most. He can feel Shouto's hand on his back, right next to his backpack. "...just give me a moment." Izuku ends up breathing out.
Shouto's silent for a moment. "Too much?"
Trust his brother to know right away.
"Y-yeah." Izuku wheezes as he straightens his back, brushing out any speck of dirt that might be on his uniform. "I wasn't expecting...that many people. Too much heat."
"...me neither."
Izuku blinks at the quiet admission. He closes his eyes. Breathes out. Tries as hard as he can to box it all up and shove it away.
Standing straighter, he turns to his brother. Shouto's expression was calm and guarded, but there's a worried softness in his mismatched eyes that Izuku liked to think only he could spot. Shouto's hand hasn't left his side yet.
"I'm good now. We can go." He finally murmurs, just loud enough for the taller boy to pick up.
Shouto slowly nods.
And off they went.
Through the familiar streets, past that one bakery -they eye it for a moment before they both silently agree that their stomachs are not up for the challenge- up the hillside and towards the shining gates of Yuuei. It looked a lot bigger than before.
….and it was also swarmed with people.
People with cameras.
Oh no.
Izuku wants to plant his feet and stop. Shouto has other ideas -he can feel it in the way his brother speeds up.
I'm not trained for this.
"W-wait!"
Nope, Shouto was likely thinking. The bastard. Because his brother grabs onto his backpack tight, pulls him against his side, and barrels right through the mess, determined to get them to their class on time despite the fact they were early. And Izuku, not graced with their father's height as Shouto is and weighing about 45 kilos soaking wet, can only duck his head alongside him and try not to die.
It's chaos.
People are shouting over their heads and their bodies are so close Izuku feels like he's going to combust. And the rapid fire of their question wasn't helping -a female voice shouts right into his left ear, making him flinch into Shouto's side:
"Hey, hey you there! You have the school uniform on, are you a first ye -wait!"
No, Izuku thinks a bit hysterically, feeling like his heart was about to burst out of his chest. I'm sorry I know that you're just doing your job but no no no-
They're through. Izuku blinks up in time to see the arching gates of Yuuei looming over their heads before Shouto gets them on the other side. Not...not the start he would have wanted, or anything akin to what he was expecting, but glancing back in time to see the hoard of journalists standing at the gates like a wall of warm bodies, Izuku takes what he has.
It could be much worse.
Shouto relinquishes his grip on him and steps away, giving him room. They both silently brush their uniforms off of any debris they might have gained during the scuffle. Izuku doesn't even try to admonish his sibling for shoving him into that pit of death. As much as he wanted to think he would have found a better, more dignified way to get through, Izuku knew what he would have actually done.
Stand there like an idiot for the hour or so that it would take for the mob to disperse.
They make their way into the main building, following the instructions on small layout plans of the campus that sparsely decorated the hallways. There's a big Welcome! sign at the main entrance inside, a banner that sprawled over the entirety of the massive room like a cloud.
Given how early they were, only a scant few dozens of teenagers were ambling about, their peach and green colored uniforms marking them as students of Yuuei. Most of them looked a lot older than Izuku and Shouto.
Are they second and third years? Izuku thinks as he observes a trio of teenagers loudly talk to one another.
One was an absolute monolith, his short golden hair gleaming under the lights as he talks to a girl with flowing light purple hair while shielding a shorter, darker haired boy from her exclamatory remarks. She was excitedly chattering in return, flailing her arms around-
-and then her eyes shift quicker than lasers to land on Izuku. She makes a loud oooooh, tiny ickle first years! and waves so hard part of him was expecting her arm to fall off.
Surprised, Izuku squawks. Shouto tugged him towards the stairs leading to the second floor and he all but flails to go after his sibling.
They reach their assigned classroom in no time. From the number on their school badge they are in Class 1-A, and the large, bright red mark on the ridiculously tall door was quick to mark it as such. Izuku inspects it as they get closer and closer to the door, torn between confusion at its size and wonder.
How tall were some of the students to require such a big door?!
He wants to stop before they go in, but Shouto's grip keeps him from stopping. And so far too quickly for Izuku's comfort, they're inside the classroom., amongst their fellow students -tneh very same people Izuku will be around for the next three years.
They're one of the firsts, from the looks of things.
A boy with multiple arms was quietly talking to what looked like a boy with a ...crow's head? The glossy black feathers gleamed under the lights and his beak was a soft yellow. Not quite a crow then. But close. And there was another boy sitting next to the six armed boy -this one had a tail! And the other one next to him had purple eyes and one of the silkiest looking blond hair Izuku had ever seen.
At the far end of the classroom near the teacher's desk there was a floating ...uniform? Oh. Oh.
She's invisible!
Izuku turns his gaze on the rest of the class, quickly scanning through the rows. There were so many -twenty seats in total not all filled yet but still. It was a lot to take in-
"Bonjour!" Izuku nearly jumped at the sudden voice. It's the blond boy with purple eyes. He's eyeing them up and down. His gaze connects with Izuku and holds as the boy winks. "Here early too, are you?"
He was expecting him to talk. Izuku smiled as much as he could.
"H-hi."
The blond sighs. It's almost drama -wait, it is dramatic. "My name is Aoyama Yuga. What's yours, petit?"
Izuku blinks. "I'm Todoroki Izuku-"
"Hello there!"
Izuku's snap from Aoyama to the newcomer -oh he was tall.
He had dark blue hair and dark grey, bluish eyes. The short crop of his hair, the cut and the way the lower half of his pants was adapted to let what looked like engine tubes peak through made Izuku realize quickly enough that this was an Iida.
Izuku quickly racks his brain for the name. His teachers had taught him about the current ranked heroes and the old Pro-Hero families so he should be-
Wait. His eyes nearly widen in surprise.
Oh.
It's the tall boy from that night when he last saw All Might in person -Tenya Iida, the youngest member of the Pro-Hero family!
...the one he couldn't even muster a word out when Iida tried to initiate a conversation. After staring at his brother. Without even trying to hide it.
Iida didn't seem to remember that encounter. He looks between Izuku and Shouto and grins politely.
"My name's Iida Tenya! I'm from Soumei High School!" The way he waves his arms had to hurt ...right? Izuku's completely hypnotized, following the moving hands with his eyes. It was even worse than that night at the galla. "It's good to meet you-"
"Todoroki." Shouto interrupts, his bland tone cutting right through Iida's speech. Izuku sees it coming but he still winces on the inside. "Todoroki Shouto. And this is my brother, Todoroki Izuku."
Iida pauses, nodding. "Oh, I understand-"
Aoyama makes a soft noise from his seat, interested. "Ooh, you're Endeavor's kids! You must be the riske child, right?" The boy interjects, smiling at Izuku who doesn't really need to understand what he was saying to understand the tone of it.
There's good reason to believe Aoyama doesn't really mean anything about it, but Shouto sees it otherwise with the way he drags Izuku away without even an excuse me. Izuku tries to apologize, but he's too red in the face by his brother's rude actions to make anything other that a warbled goodbye!
Aoyama shrugs and looks away, quickly losing interest.
The students that were already there stared a bit as Izuku found his assigned seat right in front of Shouto. It's kind of embarrassing how they don't seem to try to hide it. The only one who does is Iida, and he's practically prowling up and down the front of the class like he's waiting for another unsuspecting student.
Is this how schools worked?
Izuku's on the fence if he likes it so far.
He sets his backpack by his desk and sits down. There's a girl not too far from him sitting at her own desk, purple hair bouncing with each small tilt of her head as she listens along to music from her headphone-
Wait.
Izuku tries not to squint, but he just noticed that the flesh-colored cable connected to her phone wasn't connected to her headphones at all -because there wasn't any. It was connected with the lower half of her ears. Far from the strangest Quirk he'd seen, but it was...unique.
Wonder how she uses it in combat….
Stomp. Izuku's head snaps towards the wall separating the room from the hallway. Footsteps? There's a thermal signature on the other side of the wall. Human shaped.
And loud.
The footsteps are stomping but the shadow coming in through the fogged window wasn't that tall. Certainly not to be an adult and it wasn't very heavy looking either-
Slam!
The door is practically thrown open with enough force to make it rattle on its hinges.
For Izuku, the world goes from too fast to standing still.
It's been years. Years. And yet the moment he spots that shock of blond hair, the name rises up from the depths of his mind like a tidal wave, sweeping every other thought away but one word.
Kacchan.
The young teenager standing at the doorway was a far cry from the small boy Izuku remembered, but he was unmistakable. He's tall, a bit broad shouldered, the Yuuei form hanging baggy on his body like it's one size bigger than it should be. There was no tie in sight and a dark blue bag was hanging off his shoulder.
Kacchan's narrowed eyes swept across the room, disgruntled and sullen like he's not happy to be here -and then they land on Izuku and he goes very, very still as well.
Izuku barely dares to breathe. Kacchan seemed just as surprised to see him here -his brows are narrowed in a way that suggested displeasure, but his eyelids had flown wide open and he was frozen in place at the door. Just like Izuku could barely budge from his seat, so were his feet rooted in place.
Were his eyes always that red? Izuku can't find it in himself to do anything but stare. He might have done it for the following hour, scanning everything he could see about his childhood friend and cataloguing it for future comparison to what scraps he could remember of
...but then a tiny, confused female voice echoes out behind Kacchan, hesitating:
"...are you going to move…?"
Kacchan jolts like a startled snake. It makes Izuku jump back in his seat. The blond looks back, face twisting into a snarl as he barks. "Shut up! I'll go in when I want to!"
Izuku startles. Kacchan's voice was low, rough like gravel with a bite to it that he wasn't expecting but didn't feel out of place. Kacchan had never been soft spoken when they were children, that Izuku remembered vividly. So why would he now?
The girl at the door -short, brown hair and a rounded face- makes a frown at his explosive reaction. "Hey! Mind your manners!" She complains. "It's only the first day!"
To make things worse, at the sight of them Iida charges up to greet them. Izuku can already see where things were going to go before the tall boy opened his mouth.
"Hel-"
"Stuff it." The sound that left Kacchan's lips was something an angry cat would be proud of. "You're fucking loud."
"How rude!"
"-and a prude." The blond replies without missing a beat. "Fuck off, cookie-cutter."
Iida splutters. Kacchan just walks past him.
Izuku tenses up as the blond walks closer and closer to him -Kacchan was tall, nowhere near Shouto's height but he was much bigger than what he remembered. Then again, it's been nearly seven years since they last saw each other so the memory of a short, fluffy haired, wide eyed boy grinning like the world owed him as he commanded his own little troop of friends was a far cry from the person standing before him now.
Things were different.
The Kacchan he remembered was not the Bakugo Katsuki he saw now.
He might as well be a stranger.
..and that tiny, lonely little thought hurt.
It's only made worse when Kacchan tosses a single glance his way, practically turning up his nose at him before he flops down in his seat and slouches back, kicking his feet up on the desk in a way that had Iida letting out a sound that wouldn't be out of place from a cat that had its tail stepped on.
It's very obvious that Kacchan wanted to ignore their very existence.
Especially Izuku's.
He tries to hide the way his shoulders drop at that knowledge. He knew Kacchan must have had conflicted thoughts about seeing him but…
...he kind...expected something. And a big part of him wanted to say something, but in front of everyone?
It was like a noose was wrapped around his neck, cutting off any sounds.
He can't talk even if he wanted to.
Izuku forces his gaze away from the blond, masking his nervousness behind a calm, blank mask. Just like he learned from his brother. He could put this aside. Kacchan didn't look happy right now. He didn't seem like he wanted to be anywhere near him and while it hurt, Izuku had to accept it.
Maybe he could talk to him. After class. Or right after school. Father came home late so a few extra minutes wouldn't go unnoticed.
Maybe.
Noise coming from the front drags his attention away from those lonesome thoughts.
It's the brown-haired girl Kacchan had blocked from coming in. She seemed to have completely disregarded Kacchan now that he was farther away; she was now talking amicably with two new students by the door -one with the brightest shock of red hair Izuku had ever seen and a girl with bright pink hair and skin. Her sceleras were black and her irises a sharp yellow, almost golden.
He forces himself to focus looking at his new classmates. The shock of seeing Kacchan was still there, a sharp burst of cold that dug its claws into his psyche and refused to let go. The apprehension of being around so many new people that he would have to be around constantly for three years-
Izuku blinks.
What is that.
A blob of warm was creeping up slowly behind the excitable grown haired girl. Izuku tracks it through the wall, partially fascinated by its slow progression and worried that none of the students chattering at the door noticed it yet.
What was that?
Movement comes behind him, a familiar heat and cold combination that was unmistakable after so many years. Shouto spotted his reaction pretty quickly -he'd learned early enough what faces Izuku made when he notices something was off. His brother keeps quiet, but directs his attention towards where he is looking.
Izuku follows the blob, watching it make its way through the hallway with slow yet determined wiggles. None of the students at the door seemed to be any wiser to it. The brown-haired girl was chattering away and the two others were listening avidly, talking so fast and so comfortably with each other even if they seemed to have just met.
And then the blob stops.
Wiggles a bit more.
Then;
"If you came here to chatter, you can just leave."
The brown haired girl goes stiller than a statue. Both the pink girl and the boy with the fiery red hair do the same. They look like Kacchan. Well, the fish. Their eyes are wide and their mouths are gaping.
The pink girl screeches.
"What the f-"
"Keep it down."
Her mouth snaps shut so hard that Izuku hears a clack. He can't see her face, but he doesn't miss the way heat rushes up to her face. Izuku knows enough to imagine she must be blushing like mad.
The stranger wiggles up with unexpected grace, revealing himself to be almost twice the girl's height. The sound of a zipper being used reaches Izuku's ears and moments later, the strange mysterious yellow carapace falls off -it's a sleeping bag, Izuku realizes suddenly.
Revealed, the man slouches at the doorstep in all of his glory.
...he doesn't look very impressive.
Tired, worn out. Dark hair. Red Eyes. One piece suit and what looked like a grey scarf around his neck. It was too long though. Far too long. Too much to be just an accessory. And the way the light bounced off it didn't make it look like it was wool or something natural -no, it had to be a synthetic fiber. Actually, it had very little sheen to it. Like glossy metal.
Wait.
Was that some form of equipment-
Then it clicks inside Izuku's brain.
Eraserhead.
Their teacher was Eraserhead.
Warmth flooded through his body at the realization. If there was someone who could teach him -more than his father, more than All Might -it was the man who was able to make render him Quirkless with just a gaze.
For the first time in a long time, Izuku feels an overwhelming sense of relief.
Maybe this won't be that bad after all.
Congrats Endeavor. You gave your kid even more anxiety. 10/10 Touya would be proud of the emotional abuse.
So, Kacchan. Bakugo was actually pretty difficult to set up this chapter. I didn't want to show him too much -the main point of this chapter is Izuku's MASSIVE FUCKING GUILT COMPLEX. Did I say that loud enough? Yes I did. I hope. MASSIVE goddamn guilt complex that Endeavor just made worse by asking ONE thing. Thanks, dad.
Kacchan's going to be the main focus of next chapter. That's a given.
I'll leave it up to you to theorize if he'll even let Izuku talk to him.
Next Chapter:
Eraserhead decides to throw his students headfirst into a test. Property damage inbound.