"Shouta. This is supposed to be a vacation. Relax already!" Hizashi lounged sideways across his bed in their shared hotel room, watching his friend type away on his laptop from upside down.

Aizawa rolled his eyes, not looking up from his screen. "We're here to attend the teaching conference, Hizashi."

"The conference which ended yesterday! Nedzu gave us the rest of the week off. it would be a complete waste to not take advantage of it! Right? Come on, man, when was the last time we had a break? Six years ago? Seven?" Aizawa looked up at that, opening is mouth to speak, but Hizashi continued on still upside down. "I know you're worried about Izuku. And rightfully so. The kid is like you in so many ways, including managing to get himself involved in trouble that he probably shouldn't. But you can't watch him 24/7. You'd end up killing each other, and I'd be left to deal with the mess. And that's just rude."

"Hizashi-"

Hizashi rolled over, looking at Aizawa with his chin resting on the palm of his hand. "Don't Hizashi me. You have seen that kid almost every day for the last year. Let your son have a break from dear old dad for the rest of weekend. Inko would let us know if anything was going on. What do you think he's going to do? Burn the warehouse down or something?"

Aizawa closed his laptop with a snap, groaning. "Why would you even suggest that? You do know he's going to do something so much worse now. You've jinxed it. And don't call me his dad."

"Believe in superstitions now, do you?"

"I believe in Midoriya's ability to defy all expectations and his habit for putting himself at risk. He'll do something extreme now just to prove you wrong."

Hizashi didn't look convinced, but Aizawa knew better. He thought he had seen just how little Midoriya seemed to consider his own safety during the exam against his old first years, but the past year had proved him wrong.

There were a lot of things about Midoriya Izuku that Aizawa had learned in the year they had been working together, but his ability to meet every challenge presented to him head on stood out the most. Even if those challenges weren't intentional. Aizawa had been forced to learn very quickly to be careful in his wording when giving Midoriya criticism. One misplaced comment and he would find Midoriya exhausted and overworked the next day in his effort to fix the problems presented to him.

The first time it had happened Aizawa had sent him back home without a word, thinking that it had been his fault. That maybe he had simply been piling too much work on the middle schooler's shoulders. He had spent the next week watching Midoriya closely, looking for any signs of exhaustion in his young student. At the first sign of those dark shadows lining his eyes, their schedule would need to be reevaluated again. Days went by though, and Midoriya seemed fine again. Aizawa made a mental note of the situation, but otherwise pushed it from his mind.

Until a few weeks later when it happened again.

They had been going over another series of drills and Midoriya… Midoriya was not getting it. At all. With each passing clatter of his rods to the ground, the tension in Midoriya's frame mounted. Aizawa blamed himself for what happened next. There had to have been something his student didn't pick up quickly. Being quick witted with the ability to adapt to situations could only get one so far after all, and Midoriya had no other training to fall back on. There had to be a point when the training got tougher that he would hit a wall. Aizawa should have anticipated it, prepared for it. Like an idiot though he hadn't, and his breakdown of Midoriya's faults had been as flat and stark as usual.

Aizawa had gone over Midoriya's reaction over and over again since then, wondering if there had been something in Midoriya's expression that would have tipped him off to the growing problem if only he hadn't been so obtuse he missed it. The next day Midoriya had come to the warehouse, hands blistered and bandaged, eyes bloodshot, and Aizawa had no idea how to handle it. Students looked at their teachers as if they held all the answers. Aizawa wished that were true. He had plenty of experience with students who didn't put in the effort required, but students who put in too much?

For a moment after Midoriya had arrived they simply stared at each other, Midoriya tucking his hands as close to his sides as possible as if that would keep Aizawa from noticing how badly he had injured himself once again.

"I thought we had talked about respecting your own limits, Midoriya," Aizawa said. When Midoriya didn't answer, Aizawa sighed. "Come here. Sit."

Refusing to meet Aizawa's eyes, Midoriya did as he was told. When he was within Aizawa's reach the hero pulled him down until they were both sitting, legs crossed, on the warehouse floor. He flinched when Aizawa reached for his hands, but didn't pull them back as the hero slowly started to unwind the bandages. Three layers in and Aizawa could already see the hint of blood. He kept going. When the last layer was removed he couldn't hold back his hiss of shock, eyes flying to Midoriya's face.

It was obvious that Midoriya had tried to treat his injuries himself without Inko's help. If his other hand was in the same condition, Aizawa was surprised that he had gotten his hands wrapped at all.

"What did you do to yourself, Izuku?" Aizawa asked, his voice a whisper. Blisters covered Midoriya's palm, open and raw, his skin swollen and irritated. Injuries like that were common when learning to use tools like escrima rods, but not the the extent that Midoriya's hands displayed. How long had be gone over the drills for his hands to look like this? Had he gotten any sleep at all the previous night? The look in Midoriya's eyes made him think not.

"I just wanted to get it right," Midoriya answered as Aizawa turned his hand over as gently as he could. Cuts covered his knuckles, dried blood spotting his skin.

"You're smart, Izuku. So I need you to remind me what we talked about after Principal Nedzu's test."

Midoriya seemed to shrink in on himself, but Aizawa was having none of that. "Izuku."

"You told me that nothing worth putting myself at risk like that. That I needed to take care of myself."

Aizawa lifted Midoriya's hand. "Does this look like taking care of yourself?"

Midoriya shook his head, eyes still cast down at his lap.

What could he say to this? What was he supposed to say to this? Aizawa's brain felt frozen, his chest just as cold. "You're stubborn, Izuku," he said slowly. "I should have known that this lesson would take more than one talk. Your determination seems to have overcome your good sense in this case, but I want this to be the last time we have this discussion. I will not watch you injure yourself repeatedly in the name of progress. There is a difference between pushing yourself in order to improve and what you have done, and we are not leaving here until I know that you understand what that difference is."

Feelings, and anything to do with expressing them, were not Aizawa's area of expertise, but he forced his way past his discomfort.

"Tell me, Izuku. What made you do this? What have I done that made you think this was necessary?"

"I didn't…" Izuku's voice trailed off. "I didn't mean for it to get this bad. I only wanted to practice the drill a little bit more on my own. I thought if I just tried it one more time I could get it right, could show you that I could do it, but…"

Aizawa sighed. "I want you to listen very carefully to what I'm about to say, because this is very important. Are you listening?"

Midoriya shook his head, but still didn't look up.

"Izuku."

Slowly, Midoriya lifted his head. When his eyes met Aizawa's he was shocked to see tears in Midoriya's eyes.

"You do not need to prove yourself to me. I'm not going anywhere. Okay?"

Aizawa waited until Midoriya nodded again before continuing. "What we're doing here? Your training? This is all about learning. Just like I do not expect you to treat every test like a life or death situation I do not expect you to get every exercise right the first time. I've been throwing a lot at you, but all of these disciplines take years to master. Like I said before, all I ask from you is that you try your best and pay attention to what I'm trying to teach you. You're going to struggle with things. You're going to fail. What you need to do is learn that failure is not the end. It is not a strike against your character. It is an opportunity. This," Aizawa gestured to Midoriya's injured hands. "This is letting failure get the best of you."

Midoriya started to close his hand, but Aizawa caught his fingers before he could do more harm to himself.

"Failure is a teacher you need to take advantage of, Izuku. Learn from it, but do not let it drive you to this point again. I will not watch you do this to yourself. If this happens again we will be taking a long break from your training until I know I can trust you to act responsibly, demonstration and Yuuei be damned. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Aizawa-sensei," Midoriya said softly.

"Now let's go," Aizawa said, standing slowly.

Midoriya followed after a pause. "Go where?"

"First I'm going to fix those bandages of yours. Then we're going to see Recovery Girl. I'm sure she will want the chance to tell you how idiotic this was as well. She might even heal your hands if you ask nicely."

Grimacing, Midoriya nodded again.

"After that, we're meeting Hizashi for dinner, and he's going to tell us all about his new radio show."

Recovery Girl was bound to lecture him for an hour after this injury, but at least he would have dinner to look forward to. No matter how long he spent around them, Izuku would never get tired of watching the two pros bicker like they must have been doing since high school.

"And Midoriya?"

"Yes?"

"You do know we have to talk to your mother about this right?"

"Yes, Aizawa-sensei."

"Shouta, come on!" Somehow Aizawa had missed Hizashi standing up, but he was knocked out of his thoughts by his friend jumping onto his bed. "There's a historical tour this afternoon, and an open mic night at a bar not far from there. When are we ever going to get a chance to just relax like this again? Another seven years? Izuku has managed to go this whole week without getting himself in trouble. And it's the weekend! He's probably out with Hatsume's daughter doing normal teenager stuff and getting into normal teenager trouble."

Aizawa shoved Hizashi out of his way with his foot. "That's what I'm worried about."

"You worry too much. He'll be fine, and like I said, Inko will let us know if there's any trouble. I know you didn't leave Izuku a lot of work. He's bound to be enjoying his week off. This way you have something to tell him about other than that boring old conference."

"This conference was important, Hizashi," Aizawa tried to argue, but he closed his laptop with a snap. "What time does the tour start?"

Hizashi grinned, jumping up and shooting Aizawa double thumbs up. "That's more like it! Now go get ready! There's this market I want to stop at on the way-they have these candies that I know Izuku is going to love, and there's this store that has those dishes that Inko collects and-"

Aizawa fought against a smile. Hizashi never changed. And he was probably right. It was only two more days. Surely Izuku would be fine.

"Izuku!"

Izuku turned, pulling his earbuds out as he did. "Mei! I thought you were never going to show up! We said we were going to meet up half an hour ago!"

Mei laughed as she stopped beside him, fidgeting with the goggles she always wore sitting on head. "I was working on a project for Mom and lost track of time. Sorry, Izuku."

"Do I get to at least see this mysterious project you've been working on since it kept me waiting?" Izuku asked, elbowing her gently as they started to walk towards the station.

"Maybe when it's done. I've still got a lot of work to do on it before it's ready for its first test run," Mei answered. "But it should be interesting. Did you realize I'm right yet?"

"I think you mean did you realize that I'm right yet."

Mei sniffed, lifting her chin. "I see we remain at an impasse."

"So it would seem," Izuku answered, adopting her serious tone. The effect was ruined by his grin though.

On the rare occasions Izuku was able to accept the fact that he actually had a real friend for the first time in his life, he was always still amazed at how different his relationship with Mei was from his relationship with Bakugou. He had realized the truth about Bakugou and what he thought of Izuku a long time ago, but he had never had anything real to compare it to. Now he did, and the difference was striking. Izuku only wished that he and Mei already went to the same school. School had been different since the exam, but the fact that Izuku was alone hadn't changed at all.

Bakugou though...For reasons that Izuku couldn't fathom, he had stopped interacting with him entirely. He didn't speak to him, didn't mess with his stuff anymore, and he must have spread this new order around because none of Bakugou's normal followers so much as looked at him. It was almost as if they have collectively decided that Izuku didn't exist anymore. He would have preferred this if it hadn't been for the fact that he could still feel Bakugou watching him when he thought Izuku wasn't looking. Whatever was going on though Izuku wasn't curious enough, for once, to disrupt the peace by asking why.

For weeks after the exam Izuku had been on edge, waiting for Bakugou to strike. It wasn't like him to keep his thoughts to himself, and Izuku was sure that whatever peace he had gained wasn't going to last. Weeks turned into months though, and although Bakugou was his usual explosive self around everyone else his attitude towards Izuku didn't change. Izuku could only wonder how that would hold out once they were both attending Yuuei. There was no doubt in his mind that Bakugou would be there as well. Izuku would simply have to hope that Bakugou wasn't put into Aizawa's homeroom as well. If he was, well, Izuku would worry about that when it became a problem. At least he wouldn't be alone again. Aizawa would not allow any of Bakugou's nonsense in his class, that was for sure.

Izuku wished that he and Mei could be in the same class at Yuuei too, but that wouldn't happen unless Mei suddenly decided that she would rather be a hero and an inventor.

"What's with that expression, Izuku?" Mei asked, slipping her goggles on as she leaned in to look at his face. "Got lost in that head of yours again?"

"Just thinking about somethings. School. Yuuei."

"Bleh!" Mei made a face. "I'm excited about Yuuei too, but that's ages away! And it's the weekend! Don't waste our precious free time by thinking about stressful stuff like school!"

"I guess you're right."

"There, there, Izuku," Mei said, patting him on the head. "I'm always right. The sooner you learn that the easier this will all be."

"You know you love me arguing with you." Izuku brushed her hand off his head she she moved her goggles back to their usual position.

"I do. I really really do. Except when you're wrong. Which is always. Now let's get going before we miss our train."

"Hey, whose fault is that?" Izuku demanded, but he smiled. A day at the mall with Mei was just what he needed. No training, no worrying. Perfect.

He should have known that nothing in his life would ever be that simple.

AN: Sorry this chapter is so late. I actually finished it Friday, but then decided Saturday I didn't like it and rewrote the whole thing. Works much better this time around.

To answer a few questions about the last chapter:
The character Mei and Izuku were arguing about at the beginning of last chapter was Jason Todd.
Marlo does have a quirk, but he's the only one out of Aizawa's four cats.

Thanks to everyone who commented!