Izuku couldn't decide whether he was more nervous or excited for his lesson with Aizawa that day. Knowing that Aizawa trusted him enough to allow him to add another element to his training comforted him, but he had no idea what to expect. Aizawa had given him no hint at what this additional training would include other than that it involved an unspecified weapon and that he needed to let his mother know he would be staying an hour later than usual.

The entire walk to the old warehouse, making sure that he took the route carefully outlined by Aizawa on the chance he was being followed, Izuku wondered what the hero had planned for him. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't imagine himself fighting the way Aizawa did. The scarves fit him in a strange way, but Izuku knew that they wouldn't be right for him. Not when he couldn't eliminate quirks in the same way as Aizawa. There would be times when Izuku wouldn't be able to avoid fighting against villains whose quirks he couldn't figure out in time. Whatever Aizawa had planned, Izuku knew he would have chosen it with that limitation in mind.

"Midoriya," Aizawa started the moment Izuku entered the building. "Do you know what your greatest advantage is going to need to be as someone without a quirk?"

"Knowledge?"

Aizawa's responding grin was full of teeth and wide eyes. It would have been intimidating if Izuku hadn't gotten to know the hero over the last few weeks. "Good guess, but not quite. Knowledge is important, but it means nothing if you can't do anything with it. What you really need is options. And that is what our focus is going to be on today. I've started you with some basic hand to hand techniques, but you're going to need as many other tricks up your sleeve as possible if you're going to make this work. Today we'll be starting on another one."

Reaching into his bag, Aizawa pulled out two metal rods and placed them on the table in front of him. "Have you ever heard of a martial arts style called Eskrima?"

Eskrima? Why did that sound so familiar? And the rods…"A comic book?" Izuku mumbled to himself.

"What?"

"I think I've heard of it before, but I don't remember the details. Something from an old comic book?" Izuku stared at the rods, struggling to remember. "Definitely an old one… a series from before quirks appeared. Why can't I remember?"

"You read comics that old?"

Izuku laughed nervously. "The ones published before quirks had heroes who didn't have any special powers or abilities. Superheroes were just in fiction then so…" He explained, rubbing at the back of his neck as he avoided looked at his teacher. "Stories like that stopped being published when people gained actual superpowers though. I didn't read a lot. They're really hard to find, hardly any of the stories can be found whole, but there was one I liked...His uniform was blue and black? He fought with weapons similar to those." Maybe he should try to track down those old comics. There might be a few other things he could take some inspiration from.

Aizawa held back a sigh. Of course his hero obsessed student had read those old comics, trying to find himself in fictional character while everyone was telling him his dream was useless. That gave him a thought, but he pushed the idea aside for the moment.

"Eskrima is a weapon based style of martial arts originally from the Philippines. I started studying it before I attended Yuuei. As you know, I eventually decided to change to my current tactics because of the limitations of my quirk, but I still kept in practice." Aizawa explained. "Knowing what you remember from those comics and looking at these tools, why do you think I chose this style for you?"

Izuku looked at the rods again for a moment before answering. "The distance your scarves allow you works primarily because you can nullify that person's quirk. I can't do that, and I can't counter their quirk with my own. When dealing with some quirks, emitter types especially, the only way I can effectively deal with them is to get in close. Also, those don't look heavy, but they're solid. Training with them would help improve my general upper body strength which would help when I have to fight without them. It will also make sure I'm just as coordinated with my left side as my right?"

Aizawa nodded. "That is true. They also allow the wielder to have greater control for more precise movements. You have the potential to be fast, Midoriya, and that will work in your favor if you continue to improve." Izuku beamed at the hero's praise. "We won't be stopping your regular hand to hand sessions, but will work on incorporating this as well. Each method will benefit from your knowledge of the other, and when you've got a solid basis on this we'll see about what else we can add to your arsenal."

He would have to do some more research when he got home, but Izuku could see why Aizawa thought this would be a good fit for him.

"Also," Aizawa said, making sure that Izuku looked at him before he continued. "I am adding another condition to these sessions. No more chasing after villain fights."

"I-"

"No." Aizawa said firmly. "I talk to your mother, Midoriya. She tells me things. I'm not teaching you so you can go off and be a vigilante. If that's what you want, these sessions end now."

"I wanted to gather data on their quirks," Izuku said softly, "that's all." Aizawa talked to his mother? Izuku had no idea they had talked since the day Inko had given her permission for him to train, and the thought made him suddenly anxious.

"If you want to watch their fights, I can get the video for you. But running off every time there's an attack isn't safe. What did I say about sending kids off into situations they aren't prepared for?"

"That you don't make a habit of it?"

"You've gotten better in the last few weeks, but you aren't ready for that. The goal here is to get you into Yuuei. Until then I don't want you going anywhere near a villain unless you just happen to be there, and if that's the case you leave as soon as it's safe for you to do so. If you feel like you really need something else to occupy your time, I can always assign you more work. Got it?"

"Understood, Aizawa-sensei!"

"Good. Then we can get started." Carefully placing the metal rods back in his bag, Aizawa pulled out two sets that were nearly identical to the first except for the fact they were made of wood.

"Catch." He said simply before tossing a pair to Izuku.

Thanks to his previous lessons Izuku managed to grab them without fumbling, a definite sign that his hand eye coordination had gotten better at least. Testing their weight, Izuku couldn't help but grin. Something about this just seemed right to him, like a puzzle piece had suddenly clicked into place. Their lesson hadn't even officially started yet, but Izuku could tell that Aizawa had made the right decision.

"Move over to the mats, Midoriya, and let me see your grip."

For the next half hour, Aizawa slowly worked Izuku through the basics, explaining how to properly hold the sticks and correcting his positions as Izuku went through the stances he had already learned.

"It's important to remember that these are weapons," Aizawa said when they were finished. "If you aren't careful you're just as likely to hurt yourself as you are whoever you're fighting. Learn how it feels to hold them. To move them. You need to get comfortable enough with them that they feel like extensions of yourself. Figure out what feels awkward and what feels right."

"I think I'm going to like this." Izuku said, his voice quiet. Despite meeting with Aizawa several times over the last few weeks and all the training and studying that came with it, it seemed to finally be sinking in that he was really doing this. Aizawa believed in him, that Izuku had known before. It had been the added boost of self confidence he needed to stand up for his dream at school, after all. But this…

Izuku's grip tightened on the rods. It felt like he was taking his first true step towards being a hero today. One more trick up his sleeve, Aizawa had said. One move closer to Yuuei.

"Copy me through this next sequence."

"Yes, Aizawa-sensei!"

It wasn't until the lesson ended that Izuku remembered the other reason he had been worried about their training session that day. "Um..Aizawa-sensei?"

Aizawa glanced at his student to see him pulling restlessly at the straps on his backpack. A backpack Aizawa was surprised to notice wasn't the red, blue, and yellow one he had grown accustomed to seeing Midoriya with. Was that.. Was that bag supposed to be based off of him? When had Midoriya gotten it? Aizawa hadn't even known there was merch modelled after him. The other big heroes, sure, but Eraserhead? He certainly wasn't popular enough to warrant that kind of thing, and that was the way he liked it.

Oblivious to the shock he had just given the pro hero, Izuku continued. "M-My mother was wondering if you would like to have dinner with us tomorrow?"

Aizawa blinked slowly, reminiscent of a cat, before repeating, "Dinner?"

"You don't have to," Izuku said, his words blurring together as he continued to pull on his bag. "No pressure, or anything, but we're having dinner-well we have dinner every night- but um… do you want to come eat dinner with us?"

"I..Yes."

"Um.. Good! I'll let her know! What's your favorite food, by the way? I'm sure she'll want to know."

"Katsudon." Aizawa answered with the first thing that came to mind.

"Great! See you tomorrow, Aizawa-sensei!"

Aizawa stood alone in the warehouse long after Midoriya had left.

"He changed his bag," he said to himself, and the words seemed to echo in the empty room.

Bakugou was pissed and once again stupid, useless, quirkless Deku was the cause. When he realized that something changed with Deku, Bakugou felt confident that it wouldn't take him very long to figure out what exactly had happened. It was Deku. How complicated of an issue could it be?

To his frustration, finding out the truth turned out to be harder than he expected. His first attempt-outright asking the dumbass what the fuck was going on- had failed spectacularly. Deku had stuttered nonsense that meant nothing to Bakugou, and rushed into the classroom where he couldn't be interrogated. Eraserhead had been the only word Bakugou could pick out of his garbled mess, and he had zero clue what it meant. It had to be a hero name, he guessed, but it didn't belong to any hero Bakugou was familiar with. What kind of name was Eraserhead anyway? Surely if Bakugou hadn't hurt of him, he wasn't anything special. And Deku had chosen him over All Might.

The next attempt had been to try to follow him. Normally, Bakugou didn't like sneaking around. His quirk was loud, and Bakugou's volume tended to match it. Asking Deku clearly hadn't worked though, and he needed answers. So stalking the hero obsessed loser it was. He watched as Deku gathered his things after classes and headed down the street and quickly ducked after him, making sure he kept out of sight.

Only Deku managed still managed to ditch him in their neighborhood- something that shouldn't have been possible since Bakugou knew those streets just as well as he did. Deku had done it on purpose too. It was obvious the moment he realized he was being followed, a quick pause in his steps as he attempted to act normal, the fact that he started walking just a little bit faster.

Bakugou had accepted, reluctantly, the fact that he would have to try again now that he had been made, but he turned the corner after Deku and his classmate had been gone. How he had pulled that off, Bakugou had no idea, but it pissed him off just thinking about it. If he needed more evidence that there was something going on, that was it right there.

If only he could figure out what it was.

Aizawa stood wrapped in his sleeping bag, bored, as his homeroom started. The current batch of first years he had been assigned were all around unimpressive, and it would have made things a lot easier for himself if he had just expelled them all the first day. Not to mention safer for those idiots.

Excepting a few, most of this group seemed to view the exam as the hard part and were content to sit back and relax. No matter what he did he couldn't seem to get it through their thick skulls that being a hero was danger. There were consequences for having that much responsibility.

"I'm giving each of you a profile on your quirk. Given you've had your abilities most of your life, and my consultant only had a few minutes you should already know all of this. If there's information new to you, then you better rethink your priorities. You have five minutes before we leave for your next practical. Don't waste it."

The exercise, as expected, was a complete disaster. None of these students knew how to work together, and they couldn't get over their own egos to figure out how to do it. They had potential, they wouldn't had gotten into Yuuei if they didn't, but they had refused to live up to it. Aizawa needed a break. After dismissing his students for the day, all he had to do was grab his stuff from the staff room and drop by his apartment before going to dinner at Midoriya's.

"Hey, Shouta!" A loud voice called behind him.

"Hizashi."

"Excited to see me as always, huh Shouta," Hizashi said, slinging an arm over his friend's shoulder. It was a sign of their friendship that Aizawa didn't immediately shove him off.

"Highlight of my day," Aizawa responded, but his tone lacked its usual biting edge. Hizashi grinned.

"So what's this I've heard about you getting analysis from a consultant?"

"That class is so unprepared. Thought it would knock some sense into them if they realized they didn't know everything. Didn't work. Those kids think so much of themselves they aren't willing to listen."

"But still, a consultant? Where did you even find one?"

"Can't tell you that."

"But Shouta! I'm curious!"

"Maybe I'll tell you eventually," Aizawa allowed, finally shrugging off Hizashi's arm.

Hizashi sighed, holding up his hands as he shrugged. "I'll hold you to that then. Now, super secret consultants aside, I've just gotten the newest season of that show I wanted you to watch. Want to come over tonight? We can marathon it! Bring Marlo!"

Aizawa knew Hizashi would overreact to his next words, but his friend knew him well enough to know when he was lying. "I can't. Plans."

Hizashi stopped, grabbing Aizawa and pulling him to a halt as well. "Plans? What kind of plans? Oh, Shouta! Are you going on a date?"

"Not a date." Hizashi was never going to let this go. "I have...a meeting with that consultant. They owe me a few more profiles." Technically true. Midoriya did have a few assignments due that night that Aizawa was going to pick up while he was there.

Hizashi pouted. "You need to do something fun every now and then, Shouta! This weekend we're having that marathon." He pointed at Aizawa sharply. "Don't make me call and leave a message on your machine! Marlo's a smart cat, he knows my voice. If I can't bug you enough to agree, you know he definitely will of he doesn't see me."

"This weekend." Aizawa agreed.

Hizashi shot him a thumbs up. "I'll let you get going for you meeting then."

"Was this really a good idea, Mom? Inviting Aizawa-sensei over for dinner? I mean, I really appreciate what he's doing, but I don't want him to feel like he has to come over."

"I don't think Aizawa-san is the kind of person to agree to something he didn't want to do," Inko said soothingly, as she finished getting dinner ready. "He likes you, Izuku. He wouldn't have agreed to train you otherwise. Besides, I'm sure he could use a good meal. All of his hero duties, teaching at Yuuei, training. He's a very busy man. The least I can do is offer a small comfort as repayment."

"I just-"

Inko smiled, giving her son a gentle hug. "I know, Izuku. You take after me in that we both tend to worry about things outside of our control. I haven't know Aizawa-san very long, but he's a good person. He isn't going anywhere, and it's about time we get to know him better outside of being a pro hero. I have a feeling that he's going to be around for a long time." She kissed the top of his head. "Now go set the table. Aizawa-san should be here any moment."

Izuku gathered what he needed, pausing at the kitchen door. "Thanks, Mom."

Still smiling, Inko turned back to the stove. Yes, she had to get to know the man who had inspired such confidence in her son. Inko hadn't seen Izuku so happy in a long time, and she would never be able to repay Aizawa for being the reason.

Asahi tapped the communicator wrapped over his ear, turning it on. "Rave?"

"Did you find something?" His brother's voice came through muffled by static. Asahi had been trying to follow Aizawa for weeks with no results. Knowing the he worked at Yuuei had helped, but their security system was too good for Rave to crack, and Aizawa's paranoia about being followed made it difficult for him to be… well… followed. It's not paranoia if it's true and all that.

The hero had finally made a mistake though, and Asahi had tracked him down to a set of ordinary looking apartments. Aizawa paused outside the doors, waiting for a minute before a middle school aged boy with green hair appeared to let him in.

A kid. Aizawa was meeting a kid?

"Rave, I think I've got it, Eraserhead's weakness. You aren't going to believe this."

Across town Rave smirked as his brother relayed the news. With Eraserhead's weak point found, it was finally time to move forward with their plan.

AN: Sorry I didn't post this yesterday, but I'm going to be moving updates to Saturday from now on. I update my other BnHA story on Wednesdays, so updating a day later will give me a little more time to work on this.

Thanks to everyone who commented on last chapter!

Next week: Rave and Asahi's plan get put into action

Let me know what you thought!