When Kurogiri walked into his bar the morning after the Terror Twin's second arrest he found a TV pushed against the back wall. Pausing just inside the doorway, he stared at it as he tried to decide whether it would be worth it to use his quirk and simply make the offending piece of tech disappear, a knot already forming in the pit of his stomach. Kurogiri did not, to the best of his knowledge, own a television, and if one had appeared in his bar in the quiet of the night without setting off any his alarms there could only be one person responsible.

The sound of tapping drew Kurogiri's attention away from the wall to where Shigaraki Tomura sat facing the blank screen, fingers seconds away from turning the wooden table he had propped himself up on into dust.

Kurogiri said nothing as he moved slowly into the room. The short duration of their acquaintance had been enough for him to know that the villain would not be reacting well to the capture of his test subjects, despite how second rate he had believed them to be. Shigaraki's challenge had been simple enough. All Kurogiri had to do was use his quirk to break a few villains out of prison and release them into the public. Show him and the mysterious Sensei that his quirk could be useful and the outright threats that had been made against both him and his home would end. Kurogiri would officially be welcomed into theirs plans.

Shigaraki seemed to forget that it had been him that initiated their contact, not Kurogiri, but Kurogiri felt no need to remind him of that fact when the stability of his moods had yet to be determined. Unable to do anything but what he had been asked, Kurogiri had spent a night researching which villains would be best. Who would gain the attention his murderous guest seemed to crave without causing too much collateral damage. While Kurogiri didn't care too much about what would happen after his role in the escape had ended, it wouldn't do well to give the police extra incentive to track down the cause of the breakout by letting one of the more violent villains free.

The Terror Twins had been the perfect solution. As horrible as they were, their attacks had rarely ever ended in death. Psychological trauma? Absolutely. But that, in Kurogiri's opinion, was inevitable no matter who he used his quirk to give a second chance at mayhem to, and the Terror Twins had been a lot better than most of the villains Shigaraki had suggested with his twisted, cracking smile.

"You should have failed the test."

Kurogiri stopped, making sure that he was out of the villains reach, the black fog swirling around him ready to divert Shigaraki's touch at a moment's notice.

"You said the test was to get a villain out of prison without them getting caught. I let out three. That should more than satisfy the objective."

"They were captured," Shigaraki said simply.

Kurogiri waited for him to continue, but the villain continued to stare at the blank screen, fingers drumming against the wood.

"What happened to them after they were released is none of my concern. I got them out of prison and in a position to fall back into their old habits. If you wanted them to make a clean getaway, you should have specified. Given that they were second rate villains at best, I didn't see the need in drawing more attention to myself and my quirk by rescuing them from their own mistakes."

Shigaraki hummed, his hair falling into his face. If Kurogiri didn't know better, he would think the other man was pouting. "You asked about Sensei. Before." His voice came out with a whine. "He wants to talk."

Nothing good could come from this, but Kurogiri nodded-partly because he still had no control over the situation, partly to satisfy his own curiosity. The TV fizzled to life at the motion, the black screen shifting to grey snow as it crackled with static.

"Hello, Kurogiri," a voice said slick as oil despite the interference. There was a rasp to the sound, something off about the way his breathing hissed over the shakey connection. These villains seemed to know what they were doing. They wouldn't use a method like this, so unstable and low tech, without a reason. A bad signal to cover up Sensei's voice or his illness? Because that was what that problem with his breathing had to be. Kurogiri had heard people talk on oxygen before. He recognized the whir of the machines, distorted as they were. Those didn't come from a small, short term accident. Kurogiri knew two things at once and neither of them were good for him.

One-despite serious injuries, Sensei was still alive. That meant that he had the resources to not only avoid being caught after whatever incident led to his condition, but he also had the means to see to his treatment without dealing with a hospital. Hospitals mean questions, records, police. All things a villain would want to avoid at all costs.

Two-these injuries had not prevented him from leading whatever organization or movement Shigaraki had seemed to fixed on getting Kurogiri to join. Either Sensei had no one smart enough to take advantage of the opportunity provided by his injuries (in which case Kurogiri might as well march to jail himself because that would be the end result of this fiasco either way) or they were too afraid of him to try.

What kind of person could this Sensei be?

"We haven't met yet, Kurogiri, and we won't." The voice continued, drawing him out of his thoughts. "But I know all about you. Your quirk is useful, and I want to add it to my collection. So I have a proposition for you that I think you might find appealing. Help Shigaraki with his plans, work with the League, and I can have Yamamoto Kaito delivered to you the moment All Might is dead."

Kurogiri could see Shigaraki's twisted grin from where he had turned in his seat to watch. He knew that this Sensei, whoever he really was, had to be watching his reaction somehow. But there was nothing he could do to keep from flinching back at the sound of that name.

They really had done their research on him it seemed.

"You have him?" Kurogiri asked, looking at the screen as it fizzled. He shouldn't even be entertaining this idea. Working with this League, trying to kill All Might. The only person likely to die from this attempt was him, and Kurogiri honestly didn't have the time for that at the moment. Nothing good could come from continuing to host Shigaraki, from working with this villain. Kurogiri was too pragmatic to want to share in the spotlight that their actions would inevitably fall under, and he had no desire to see the Symbol of Peace dead. But Yamamoto...If helping Shigaraki meant having Yamamoto gift wrapped and hand delivered… That villain was the only reason Kurogiri had stuck around this town as long as he had.

Sensei had to have known that. Kurogiri wasn't enough of an idiot to not realize he was being manipulated. And there was something about the way that the mysterious villain had said 'collection' that made him nervous. If he wasn't going to have a choice in the matter he might was well get something out of it.

"Alright," Kurogiri said, and the words felt like a puzzle piece latching into place. "I'm listening."

To say that his family had not been please by his most recent run in with danger would be an understatement.

Getting kidnapped? That hadn't been Izuku's fault. And the test? While Aizawa had pointed out a few places where Izuku hadn't been as concerned for his safety as he should have, the overall danger hadn't been something he could help. But this? Izuku and Mei could have stayed out of the way and let the professionals handle the situation. They hadn't been in immediate danger. They had, in fact, searched that danger out themselves.

His mother, Aizawa, and Hizashi had made sure he knew why every single one of his decisions at the mall put both him and Mei at an unnecessary risk. Nothing Izuku said would change their minds.

"It's not that we don't think that you are capable of helping, Midoriya," Aizawa had said. "Hizashi and I both know better than most just what you are capable of. But you were outnumbered, without your gear, without weapons. You may be trained to fight under those circumstances, but Hatsume isn't. She could have gotten hurt or you could have gotten hurt trying to protect her."

"Think about what could have gone wrong," Hizashi continued. "You had a sound plan, but you had no back up. No chance to call for any help."

"Your biggest strength is your ability to read a situation, but you can't act as if what you've inferred is fact. You had no idea if they would respond to your distraction the way you wanted, and you had no plan in place for if they didn't. You and Hatsume could have been killed. You could have gotten the hostages killed.

"What were we supposed to do?" Izuku had asked. "Let them-"

"Yes." Aizawa interrupted, his voice a quiet lightning strike. "That's exactly what you were supposed to do. You are a student, Midoriya. You are still learning. Or are as arrogant as those students I expelled last year? Do you think there isn't anything else for you to learn?"

Izuku had seen that expression on his mentor's face before-eyes blazing, mouth drawn in a tight line- but it had never been directed at him. He stared at Aizawa, eyes wide, as the hero continued.

"I have told you from the beginning, Izuku, that you have potential. That I am not going anywhere. But if you continue to put yourself in danger like this then I will not be able to continue your training. You're lucky that nothing bad happened here. You may not be so lucky next time. I do not put my students in situations they aren't prepared for, and part of that is making sure they have a fully functioning sense of self preservation. If you are unable to show enough self control to manage not throwing yourself into life threatening situations, then I have failed as your teacher."

Izuku would have taken a step back at Aizawa's tone if the tight grip of his mother's hug hadn't kept him firmly in place.

"You cannot do this again," Aizawa said. "I understand that this is the first time you've been in a situation like this since we started, but you know the rules. Until you have your provisional license, you are not to get involved in villain attacks where it can be helped."

Aizawa took a step forward, and Inko reluctantly let go of her hold on Izuku so that Aizawa could pull him closer, hands gripping his shoulders as he made sure Izuku looked at him as he spoke. "I will not see you get hurt because of this. We will not be having this conversation a third time. Sometimes the circumstances are outside of your control, but you do not go looking for danger. Not again." And then Aizawa pulled Izuku into a hug almost as tight as his mother's.

Anything else Izuku had planned to say in his defense withered and disappeared as Aizawa continued. "Do you know how worried I was when you called me and I couldn't call you back? How worried your mother was when I had to call her to ask where you were?"

"I'm sorry," was all Izuku could think to say around the lump growing in his throat. He was only surprised that it had taken this long for him to start crying. "I am so sorry."

"So don't do it again."

After that, not much had changed. Aizawa had backed off their physical training for the next week, much to Izuku's dislike. Instead, his mentor made him review case after case where civilians had gotten involved in villain fights and made the situation worse, picking apart where each and every one of them had made their mistakes. The smug look on Aizawa's face really drove his point home, although Izuku refused to forget the emotion the usually stoic hero.

The grounding that followed the incident had been extended to a month when Detective Tsukauchi stopped by the next day to personally check in with Izuku and mentioned the fact that he had been briefly knocked unconscious by All Might's blast. The detective had watched him silently over his mug of tea as Izuku reluctantly repeated the story that he and Mei had fabricated, making sure to add a few details that he hadn't before. The way he had felt when Kell had stood in front of them, eyes blazing. His fear that Mei had been hurt in the blast. Bits of truth mixed in with the lies so that his story didn't sound like an exact retelling of what he had said the day before.

Tsukauchi's face still had that same unreadable expression as Izuku talked, but he didn't ask any more questions, and he didn't accuse Izuku of lying which made his breathing a little easier.

One month flew by and the end of his grounding came with an increase of his training once again. Aizawa, in an even greater show of frustration than the year before, had expelled his entire class, leaving him much more free time than before. The next month passed in a haze of school, training, and meetings with Mei. (Her mother had actually been proud of her creativity under pressure. Mei had not been punished for her part in the distraction.)

Two months since the attack on the mall and everything had fallen back into the patterns of the last year. Until Izuku glanced at his calendar and realized that the demonstrations had snuck up on him much faster than he had thought. He should have had more time. He definitely should have had more time, but the calendar didn't lie. The meeting with the other recommendation students had arrived.

The morning of the meeting, Izuku paced back and forth their small apartment, waiting for Aizawa to arrive. The hero had taken one look at how nervous his student was the day before and decided that he would take the train with Izuku to the school instead of meeting outside the gate like they had originally planned. Izuku couldn't express in words how relieved he had been that he hadn't had to ask, but he thought Aizawa had gotten the message from the way he had immediately teared up at the suggestion.

There was a knock at the door, the sound of the lock turning. Izuku whirled, stopping mid step as Aizawa stepped into the apartment. He took one look at what Izuku wore, the corner of his mouth twitching, and said, "Your mother is a menace, Midoriya."

Inko had wished her son luck and made herself scarce before Aizawa arrived. Probably because of this exact reaction. A present had been waiting for Izuku when he woke up that morning, and once he saw it he knew his mother wouldn't want to be there to be called out on it. Izuku had just been planning on wearing one of his old tracksuits to the demonstration but his mother's gift was so much better. Simple, but not subtle at all, the new tracksuit had been black, two thin yellow lines running down the legs and circling his wrists. Izuku wouldn't be taking his belt or any of his supplies with him to the meeting, but he could imagine what the completed picture would have looked like.

From the look on Aizawa's face, it seemed the purpose of Inko's gift hadn't been missed. Izuku knew he should have been embarrassed, knowing that the other recommendation students would see him dressed in an imitation of his mentor's usual outfit, but he refused to be shamed. Aizawa was his hero, and although they weren't planning on telling the rest of the students once classes started there would be no hiding their connection from the other recommendation students. Let them see who his sponsor was and think twice about underestimating him.

Aizawa sighed, but he didn't ask Izuku to change. He counted that as a win.

In the end it was a good think that Aizawa decided to escort Izuku to Yuuei's campus. The moment they stepped onto the train, Izuku started running through what he knew about the other students he would be meeting today. He wouldn't have to fight them-today at least- but he wouldn't put it passed Nedzu to have some added twist to the meeting. The principal seemed to take great joy in throwing the people around him off balance. Izuku wanted to be as prepared as he could be.

"Midoriya," Aizawa said, bringing Izuku back to his surroundings. "The stop."

In a daze, Izuku let himself be led from the station to the school. The buildings towered over him, the gates just as intimidating as they had been when he first entered Yuuei's campus over a year ago. Unlike that first time though, and every time he had been there since, he didn't allow himself the time to appreciate the sight. A test. This had to be a test.

The slots had been all but finalized. The demonstration was the last part of the process. They were just supposed to explain their quirks, show them off a little. That was it. A justification for why these students had been selected for a spot. But Nedzu could never let them do something that simple, right? The previous test had had so many layers. One test for Izuku, another for the first years, evidence for the board… Everything the principal did had a purpose. What could he be hiding with this?

When Izuku's steps slowed, Aizawa grabbed onto his sleeve, tugging him towards the room where they would be meeting the other students and their sponsors. They stopped outside the door, Izuku taking a long, shaking breath. Through the window he could see the other students.

Two girls stood against the opposite wall, their hair pulled up in high, matching ponytails. Yaoyorozu Momo's mother, her face drawn in a pinched expression, stood behind her daughter with a hand placed firmly on her shoulder. From the look on Yaoyorozu's face, she didn't seem to appreciate the constant reminder of her mother's presence, but she carried on the conversation anyway.

Kendo Itsuka nodded along with whatever Yaoyorozu said. Izuku could see her sponsor, her uncle who went by the hero name Brick Force, standing close by talking to who could only be Honenuki Juzo and his sponsor, Jet Stream. Izuku would recognize that skull like appearance anywhere.

Endeavor stood as far away from the other sponsors and students as possible, arms crossed as the flames on his face flickered. His son was nowhere to be seen. Izuku had followed Endeavor's career when he was younger, curious about the man who had openly challenged All Might's position as the Number One Hero. As he had gotten older though, the interest had faded. The flames on his face weren't a side effect of his quirk, Izuku had learned, but something the man did as a constant show of power. Izuku had seen people like that before. People who felt they needed to demonstrate their strength as a continual reminder that they were not to be messed with.

Izuku didn't know what Todoroki Enji was compensating for, but it must have been fairly significant if he needed to wear a reminder of it on his face for the world to see. Bakugou's childish tantrums were nothing in comparison to the storm Endeavor always seemed on the edge of flying into. Maybe, if he hadn't been on the verge of a panic attack, he would have laughed.

"Midoriya," Aizawa said. "Look at me."

Izuku forced his eyes away from the window-from the people he was about to stand in front of and announce that he was quirkless, the people who would no doubt be wondering what Nedzu had been thinking when he invited him there- and watched as Aizawa moved to block the window.

"Take a breath, Midoriya." The hero waited until Izuku had done so before saying, "And again."

"They aren't going to understand," Izuku said finally, when he managed to regain his voice. "They're going to show off their quirks, and I'm going to just stand there and do nothing."

"Not nothing," Aizawa corrected. "Maybe they aren't going to understand, not now, but that's their problem. Not yours. All you have to do it say what we talked about. Anyone who has a problem with that can talk to me."

He would never know what he did to deserve a mentor like Aizawa Shouta, but Izuku had never been more grateful than in that moment. Because he knew how this was going to go. The school and the people might have changed, but everyone always had the same reaction when they found out he was quirkless. The same pity, the same look of borderline delight at the opportunity to offer their condolences. Izuku wouldn't put it passed any of the sponsors to use his safety as an excuse to ridicule him.

Izuku should have been used to it, but the thought made his breath slip away from him again. Over a year ago Izuku had told Aizawa that he didn't let his quirklessness define him, and here he was losing his composure over having to talk in front of eight people.

"Hizashi wanted to speak with you before the demonstration, but he's not allowed in the room since he's not a sponsor." Aizawa said. "He asked if you would meet him in his office. We won't be starting for another half hour. Take this chance to breathe. I've got some paperwork to finish for this, but I'll be waiting here for you when you get back. Okay?"

Izuku could only nod, his heartbeat pounding in his temple. Hizashi. He could find Hizashi.

"It'll be alright, Midoriya," Aizawa said, opening the door. "Now. Hurry on."

Hizashi. Izuku could find Hizashi. Aizawa's words of comfort were always appreciated, but what Izuku needed right now was a distraction. Hizashi would be more than pleased to provide one.

The visits to Yuuei's campus had been few and far between, but it had been enough to memorize the location of both Aizawa and Hizashi's offices. It wasn't that far from the room the demonstrations were set to take place in, and he walked as slowly as he dared with the time constraint, still in a daze. He needed to concentrate, needed to get his head back on straight. He was Midoriya Izuku, hero in training, and he would not let a few pros and their students intimidate him. He had been training almost a year and a half for this and he would not-

Izuku saw stars as he slammed into something the moment he turned the corner, and he threw a hand out to catch himself as he landed on the hard, tiled floor. Pain raced up his arm, and Izuku couldn't hold back his wince. From the sound of it, whoever he had run into had found themselves just as off balance as he had.

"I'm so sorry," Izuku rushed to say, lifting his other hand to touch where their heads had collided. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was-" The words stuttered to a halt when his vision cleared and he saw who was sitting in front of him. The red and white hair was unmistakable.

Izuku had run straight into Todoroki Shouto.

AN: Thanks to everyone who commented on the last chapter!