"I can see you've been keeping up with your therapy even though Recovery Girl healed you," Aizawa said as he and Izuku circled one another, each waiting for the other to strike first. "That's good, you're probably stronger than you were before."

Izuku did is best to regulate his breathing, ignoring the sweat sticking his shirt to his body. "I have a lot of people who care about my well-being for once, I would hate to let them down."

"If you recognize that much, you'll do us all a favor and stop taking swords to the thigh. But it's true that you've got an army of people making sure that you reach your full potential," Aisawa said, one of his unsettling smiles spreading across his face. "Speaking of that, I showed Nezu your analysis of me, and he's intrigued."

"You did what?!"

In that millisecond of Izuku's surprise, Aizawa struck. After a flurry of motion, Izuku ended up with his face pressed into the practice mat.

"I think you know what I'm going to say, Problem Child."

"Never let my guard down," Izuku groaned, the words muffled.

Aizawa let off, even offering a hand to help him up. "But I was serious about Nezu. He was already curious about you, but your analysis left him fascinated."

Izuku swallowed thickly. He had come to know that the attention of U.A.'s principal was by no means a good thing. "So what does that mean?"

"It means we're done for today," Aizawa said, rolling his shoulders. "If you're up to it, Nezu has invited you for tea just about now. It's up to you whether or not to accept the invitation, but I would remind you that Nezu has been gracious enough to allow you the use of U.A. property."

As terrifying as the prospect was, Izuku couldn't deny his curiosity. "Which way to his office?"

The principal's office was impressive, but simple as U.A. in general seemed to be. The principal of indeterminate species glanced up from his paperwork when the door opened. "Ah, Mr. Midoriya. I was wondering whether or not you would accept my offer."

"At the very least I should thank you for allowing me to train on school property with school staff even though I am not one of your students," Izuku said, trying not to sound as flustered as he felt.

"I've been curious about you ever since I was approached about training you by not only Recovery Girl, but Eraserhead as well," Nezu said, motioning for Izuku to sit down. "Naturally I had also been informed about the new Provisional Police Badge program that currently has exactly one participant, and Dr. Meiji has been bragging about the pupil he snagged out from under my nose. Imagine my surprise when I learned that all of these monumental achievements belong to the same fifteen-year-old. I can't express how right Meiji is - it really is a shame that I wasn't able to welcome you into U.A. as one of our students. But no matter, it appears you're being trained properly on multiple accounts. As I'm sure Aizawa told you, I've seen your analysis of him, and I'm fascinated. Would you care for a conversation over tea?"

"I'd be delighted," Izuku said cautiously, waiting for the other shoe to drop. He'd heard too many stories about the principal for there not to be another shoe.

"I've heard about you from many people, Midoriya. You've been taken on by a number of pro heroes that wish to train you, even outside of Eraserhead and Recovery Girl, and you've taken down the Hero Killer Stain yourself. Why not try to become a hero?" Nezu asked.

"When I was younger I wanted nothing more," Izuku admitted. "But there's no way that you don't know that I'm quirkless, Principal Nezu."

"And there's no way that you don't know by now that you easily could have become a hero without a quirk," Nezu countered. "You've easily proven yourself more capable than some of our own hero course students."

"I have that confidence now, but when I needed it, there were lines of people telling me that becoming a hero wasn't a possibility, including heroes," Izuku said with a bittersweet smile. "But I like the path I'm on."

"As much as I would love it, I know I can't change your mind," Nezu said. "Just as I know that you're Meiji's protege. But I would like to ask a favor of you, Midoriya."

"Yes?"

"I'd like to get to know you better. I understand you're a busy man, so all that I ask is that you make time to have tea with me once a month. I already find myself invested in your future."

"Oh, of course! I would love to!"

The longer the conversation went on, the more Izuku found himself relaxing. He had heard plenty of stories about the unsettling feeling that came with the attention of Nezu, but Izuku felt no such discomfort. Nezu was wildly intelligent, yes, but he was perfectly kind and polite to Izuku.

Meanwhile, Nezu was becoming more and more intrigued by this child every minute. He was beginning to see the full scope of the true tragedy of U.A. never teaching Midoriya Izuku - at least not in any way they could officially take credit for. After all, it was for someone precisely like Midoriya that Nezu had allowed quirkless children apply to the hero course.

When the time came, Nezu reluctantly let the boy go. He was already formulating subtle topics of conversation for next month to learn more about the boy. Midoriya was bright and genuine, and he had a rare strength of character. He was completely selfless in his desire to help people. Indeed, on more than one occasion Aizawa had muttered about the boy getting himself killed. But Nezu knew how quirkless people were treated, especially the ones who refused to stay in the shadows.

Nezu felt a strange kinship with Midoriya Izuku, he supposed. The boy bore so many of those signs of someone used and abused by humans, many of those signs that Nezu himself once bore. How the boy was so free of hatred and anger was a mystery, though. If such a creature did exist, surely it deserved better than this world.

A knock sounded at the open office door where Aizawa and Chiyo stood. "You called for us?"

"Ah, yes. Come in, please! Come in," Nezu said brightly. "As you two know him best, tell me a bit about Midoriya Izuku."

Meanwhile, Izuku sneezed on his walk home.

"Bless you."

"Thank yo- Hey! Shinsou! I haven't seen you for a while!"

The purple-haired boy looked just as exhausted as ever, but he half-smiled. "If you would stop sacrificing limbs to stop serial killers than maybe we could find time to hang out."

"It was only one time, and I had limited options," Izuku said defensively. "You people act like I have a secret quirk that causes me injuries."

"I'm just screwing with you, Midoriya. Really though, I haven't seen you for a while with your gimpy leg and whatnot."

Izuku scratched the back of his head. "Recovery Girl took pity on me and healed me, but she also made me promise to go through physical therapy before I was allowed to spar again. Today was my first day back with Aizawa, and I'm going back to the dojo on Monday."

"I would say it sounds like you've had some spare time lately, but I know you've just over achieved as usual."

"I wouldn't call it over achieving-"

"What?" Shinsou asked, amusement clear in his eyes. "You only added another thirty pages to your analysis of Eraserhead, and then you finished high school just because?"

"I still have a term and a half left of high school," Izuku muttered. "And I analyzed a lot of people, not just Eraserhead."

"So you took it easy," Shinsou said, completely deadpan. "Midoriya, it pains me to say this, but you need to get out more, have some fun."

"I have fun!" Izuku protested. "Just last week we had a birthday party for Officer Kondo at the station."

"I mean fun that doesn't involve people a decade older than us."

"But Mori is only -"

"No, Midoriya. First of all, he hates you. Besides, if anything Mori is anti-fun."

Izuku thought before grumbling, "Okay then, what do you suggest I do for fun?"

Shinso had the audacity to shrug without looking up from his phone. "Don't ask me, I haven't had fun in years."

"Well then it sounds like you need to go and have fun just as much as I do! What do your friends do for fun?"

"Bold of you to assume I have friends."

"Well, I know Ojiro trains, and Iida… also trains," Izuku said slowly. "I'm assuming that training isn't counting as fun."

"Nope."

"Isn't the mall supposed to be fun? People seem to go there a lot."

Shinsou wrinkled his nose. "The mall? Where hundreds of troglodytes that think themselves superior to you and me flock? Surely this is not the mall that you speak of."

"You're being dramatic. Tomorrow if you're free, we can go to the mall for a while and when we get bored, we can go play video games at your house." The two stared one another down before Izuku added, "If the mall is awful, I'll pay for lunch."

A slow smile spread across Shinsou's face. "I believe we have a deal, Midoriya."

"No super expensive sushi!"

The two parted with plans to meet the next morning. Izuku was absurdly excited. He had no idea what to do at the mall, he had only been a handful of times with his mom, and that usually consisted of her shoving various clearance clothes at him in a desperate attempt to get him to wear something other than his "t-shirt" shirts. He doubted this would be like that, but he was going to the mall with a friend. This was even more exciting than the time he'd gone to the arcade with Ojiro.

When he got there, Izuku barrelled right into his house, and upon finding Inko asked, "CanIgotothemallwithShinsoutomorrow?"

Inko blinked. "Say that one more time, slower."

"Can I go to the mall with Shinsou tomorrow?"

She began blinking again, but this time it was blinking tears from her eyes. "Of course you can! My baby, going to the mall with a friend."

There were quite a few tears shared between the mother and son, and later that night Izuku could hardly sleep for excitement. For a day he was going to be a normal teenager at the mall with a friend.

That said, Izuku woke up absurdly early Saturday morning. He knew Shinsou would never stand for being woken up at this time, and the mall wasn't even open yet, so Izuku found himself running to the Police Station. He could say hi to whoever happened to be on duty.

Smiling at the thought, Izuku slowed to a jog, and then a walk when he got to the front entrance into the station. He would need to shower once he got home, and then he could -

"Ugh, it's the golden child. Of course you just get up and go for a run at the crack of dawn, because Midoriya actually has his life together. Well you listen here, you little twerp. People only like you because they feel bad for you. Stain probably -"

Mori was cut off when Sohma slapped a hand over his mouth. "Don't pay attention to him, Midoriya. He's a little bitter about having the graveyard shift, and sleep deprivation brings out a different side of him - it makes him honest."

"At least he's finally off meter maid duty," Izuku said, moving to the water cooler for a drink.

"Saito's got a betting pool on how long that lasts," Tamakawa said, emerging from the staff room. "I'm giving him a week."

Mori wrenched Sohma's hand from his mouth. "Why are you even here, kid? I swear you're here more often than I am, and I'm paid to be here. It's pathetic, don't you have friends?"

Sohma tensed, ready to send Mori to the corner, but Izuku just laughed. "I'm actually going to hang out with a friend later today, I just woke up early and had time to kill. Besides, I love being here, don't you?"

The more Izuku spoke, the more Mori looked like he was about to explode. "I need either more sleep or more caffeine to deal with this brat."

While Mori sat in his corner (of his own volition), Izuku enjoyed tea and donuts with the other officers. Saito brought donuts to the station at least weekly to "keep up their image."

Izuku stayed like that even after Sohma and Mori finished their shift - he simply made more tea and enjoyed it with Sasaki and Kondo when they came in, and later Tsukauchi.

Sasaki fought Tsukauchi for the last of the fritters before asking, "So Little Midoriya, how's the Police Academy treating you?"

"Oh, I'm learning tons!" Izuku said excitedly, eyes shining. "And since the Stain incident, the other students have been leaving me alone."

Kondo paused, her tea cup halfway to her lips. Her eyes were extra frosty as she asked, "They've been messing with you?"

"Oh, nothing as bad as middle school was," Izuku said blithely. "Mostly they would just ignore me, but a few people claimed that I was too young and a waste of resources. One of them found out that I was involved in multiple cases that made the news and tried to convince people that I just wanted to be famous or something."

"Why didn't you tell anyone about this before?" Sasaki demanded, her wings fluttering anxiously.

"It's no big deal," Izuku said quickly. "Really, it's nothing. I was used to dealing with worse in Middle School. Their teasing means nothing if it gets me to my goal. Besides, now I've got all of you guys standing behind me, along with real friends. I couldn't possibly complain about any of that."

Izuku stayed and chatted until it was almost time to meet Shinsou. He waved goodbye before racing out the door - if he hurried, he would have just enough time to shower.

Once Midoriya was definitely out of earshot, Kondo made eye contact with each of her coworkers. "We're going to drop in on some of those Police Academy trainings, aren't we?"

"Right after we shut down his middle school for neglect," Tsukauchi said, already scribbling notes. "Midoriya is too stubborn to name names, but I'm sure I can find something."

While those people at the police station began plotting, Izuku was practically skipping home. It had already started off as a wonderful day, and now he was going to the mall with a friend. What could go wrong?

A/N: I was going to skip over the mall scene, but then IDEAS! I got so excited about writing that scene that I finished this chapter in like two days? I also needed an excuse to include Nezu, because I find him a really intriguing character. It was all going to be one chapter, but it felt better separate, so have some fluff.

On a different note, my friend Kit has changed her mind. She wants to keep the fanny pack around as long as I officially change it to the "Save My Fanny Pack" instead of the "Don't Rape Me Kit," but she can pry the fanny pack out of my cold, dead hands. Kit has also begun referring to this story as "Detectidoriya" and I can't unhear it.