Viral Video - "Yakuza Boss Aerial Battle?"
Panicked knocking is the first thing that wakes Izuku up on this otherwise normal weekend morning.
He springs from his bed fully awake at the possible emergency, rushing to open his door to be met with a disheveled Uraraka. Her hand falls to her side and what ever she is about to tell him is decidedly not good.
"There's a video."
Of what?! He internally panics. So much had happened in the past few weeks it could be anything. Unreleased footage of the raid, Sir Nighteye's funeral, some scandal he could apparently be unaware of, anything.
"V-video?"
Uraraka leads him down the hall to the elevator. "Ashido was scrolling through her feed -"
The elevator dings open to reveal a half-asleep Kirishima, brushing his teeth dazedly (did he forget he still had his toothbrush? Izuku didn't blame him for being so out of it, especially with recent events so fresh in their minds). The spiky-haired teen grunts a "Good morning" with half-closed eyes as the elevator shuts behind them.
It jostles downward and Uraraka continues. "It's from a few blocks away, you can't really tell who's fighting. But..."
She looks him up and down, lips drawn tight. He twitches in urgency and the elevator slows to a stop at the common area with an obnoxious 'ping'.
"You have a very distinct fighting style..." She trails off.
There could only be one fight she was talking about, and although it was common knowledge now among his classmates that he (along with Uraraka, Kirishima, and Asui) participated in the Yakuza raid, they still weren't allowed to talk details about the experience.
Fine by them - Nighteye's funeral had not even been more than a day ago and it was still raw.
Maybe it wasn't too bad. She said that he couldn't be distinguished. Only people who were close and knew how he fought could tell, right?
Bakugou stands over Ashido's shoulder as she replays the video. Kaminari sits to her left, and Iida greets them from where he eats his cereal at the kitchen table.
Izuku can't muster up even looking at Iida from where he's frozen between the threshold for the hall and the common area, his eyes locked on where Bakugou stands. Only those who were close and knew how he fought - Bakugou would definitely know.
Maybe it wasn't too late - maybe he hadn't watched enough of the video. Maybe Izuku could just go back to bed and pretend this video wasn't real. People were supposed to have been evacuated - but maybe cameras were just that good nowadays.
Kirishima sidles up next to Bakugou to look over Ashido's shoulder. His tooth-brushing remaining on autopilot.
"Is this that new video by Kamui woods?"
An explosion rattles from the little speaker, and Bakugou hisses "Son of a bitch."
"I thought his mom was a birch?"
"Shut the hell up!"
Bakugou leans forward, and Izuku catches the faint "-tear down this entire world-" and he knows that voice, had heard it frequently throughout his nightmares the past few nights. Kirishima seems to recognize what he's seeing too as all sleep fades from features and he snatches the phone from Ashido.
Both Ashido and Bakugou lunge for the phone and Kirishima tips backwards. Uraraka, leaping forward to grab it, spins on her heels and hurls Ashido's phone where it slows to a stop near the ceiling.
Izuku knows it was pure panic driving her, but he still can't help feeling impressed.
Dread seeps to his toes - it was all in vain. Bakugou whirls to glare at him, where he's remained frozen at the hallway entrance the entire time. Izuku, head tucked to his shoulders, whirls on his toes back to the elevator where he repeatedly, frantically, presses the up button.
"What the hell is that?" Bakugou points.
From where it gently spins, the phone continues to play the video. He can just make out the shape of a distant, disfigured villain midair, green lightening dancing around it. Rapid bursts of shock-waves crackle from the speakers.
One for All seeking an outlet for its overwhelming power, his arm crying out with each strike and shattering Overhaul's monstrous body into nothing. Eri, rewinding him like it never happened in the first place.
Uraraka moves to block Bakugou's view, arms held up placatingly. Kaminari and Ashido watch on from their spots on the couch, Ashido now more interested in the drama than her floating cell. Iida sets his bowl on the table and makes to intervene, but Kirishima beats him to the punch.
"C'mon guys, you know we can't talk about the details."
"So it was the Yakuza boss." Why couldn't Bakugou go to bed late and rise late like every other normal teenager?
Uraraka squeaks, and suddenly Izuku remembers he wasn't the only one there. Wasn't the only one who didn't want to talk about it. Sir Nighteye had laid dying in her arms, and he couldn't imagine what that was like. Izuku, from his perspective, had gotten off lucky.
"Enough, Bakugou!" Iida finally intervenes. "We should be respecting their orders to keep quiet."
Kaminari - whom seemingly had never heard the phrase "curiosity killed the cat" - speaks up, "Yeah, but - that was their boss, right? And that was Deku fighting him!" He turns to face Izuku, excitment rushing his words, "That was totally you, wasn't it? Why were you fighting him? The raid is already over -can't you tell us anything?"
"Sorry - I, uh-"
Izuku fidgets by the (slowest ever) elevator doors, keenly aware of how Bakugou storms up behind him.
"You gonna explai-"
"Good morning, students." Aizawa, hair tied up and still in his own sleepwear, interrupts. "You weren't thinking about digging out confidential information from a recovering hero-in-training, were you?"
The words are sharp, and even though they are directly pointed at Bakugou, Izuku ducks his head. The elevator arrives unnoticed.
"Recovering?" Bakugou questions, turning to appraise him. Aizawa paces closer, and Izuku can't help the immediate relief of having this situation taken from his hands.
"Yes. I'll remind you that we were recently attending a funeral. Heroes get hurt. You don't need to be adding pressure to that." The words act to instantly cow Bakugou.
His lips do a weird squiggly motion and he huffs, dropping all intentions of what Izuku believes was about to turn into an interrogation or brawl. Maybe both. Bakugou turns, sending the crowd gathered there (when had Todoroki and Ojiro arrived?) scattering.
Izuku sighs out, ever thankful for his teacher's perfect timing. Class tomorrow was going to be awkward. The talk with All Might, and heavens above - if she found out - his mom, were going to be even worse.
The video ends with a faint explosion, and the quiet reminds Ashido her phone was still floating far out of reach. At less than three minutes long, the video (the fight itself while Eri had clung tightly to him, while he had accessed 100% of One for All) was not monumentally long.
It was shocking - how brief it actually was.
Aizawa remains with him in the hall, looking down at him with his own perpetually tired eyes. Maybe, once they were done here, they could both go back to sleep.
"We'll be needing to go to the station to handle this."
Maybe not.
Thank you all for reading!
Quarantine really works to help creative inspiration. This is my first contribution to the BNHA fandom, idk if I'll do more. I have an idea for a short time travel fic (cause I'm such a hoe for that trope, I'm not ashamed) but I'm still halfway through my other time travel FFXV fic chapter. I'll see how that goes first. This was just something to stretch my fingers so to say and test out the waters of this fandom.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed! Thanks again for reading and stay healthy! :)