Neito had been loving. Maybe too loving. It was suspicious, and Hitoshi and Denki shared glances that confirmed that the other also picked up on Neito's erratic affection.
When the hero students piled onto the busses, separated by class, Neito had even tried to bribe Vlad King to let Denki sneak onto the Class 2-B bus. When that was a bust, he had turned his attention to Aizawa. Unsurprisingly, Aizawa seemed immune to bribery, which was good for society, but bad for Neito.
"I'll host our get-togethers at my house!" Neito had tried, also putting on his best puppy-eyed look.
"That's no matter," Aizawa responded in his deep, tired voice. "Having you two over livens things up."
"Then I'll make sure we definitely meet at my house if you don't let Hitoshi and me on this bus!" he tried, stomping his foot and pointing at the bus like Aizawa might have confused which one they were discussing.
"The peace and quiet is always nice," Aizawa mused in return.
Neito saw where Hitoshi got his easygoing attitude from. Diffusing by endless agreement seemed to be his specialty. Denki's, too. And it seemed to work, evidenced by Neito sulking back to his own class's bus, Denki waving at him enthusiastically as he went. He was greeted by a smirking Hitoshi.
"I told you that it wouldn't work," Hitoshi chirped, smirking.
Neito could kiss that smirk right off his cute face. On the other hand, he liked it just fine on Hitoshi's face. It suited him well. Just maybe not when it was at Neito's expense.
"It was worth a shot!" Neito insisted, grabbing onto the handrail and swinging himself around to start climbing the steps to enter the bus.
Hitoshi followed, smiling. Everything was good. Neito had stopped acting so uptight around him and Denki, so Hitoshi considered that a win, even though Neito had been overcompensating with uncharacteristic, intense love and attention. Aizawa and Yamada were talking about adoption. The real thing. It gave Hitoshi chills every time. He didn't know why it always took him by surprise; they were his pre-adoptive family, after all. But the fact that they wanted to turn pre-adoptive into adoptive just made Hitoshi smile so wide that his cheeks hurt every time he thought about it.
Neito was just so, so grateful that his lovely soulmate and boyfriend were able to overlook his transgressions.
Denki made his way through the bus, sending a smile in Midoriya's direction. When Midoriya averted his gaze without smiling back, Denki didn't hesitate to move past his seat and aim to sit with someone else. He had no idea what he might have done to upset Midoriya, but a bus ride full of their classmates in close proximity was not the time or place to try to find out.
For the first five minutes, he had sat next to Mineta.
"You never hang out with me anymore!" Mineta whined.
"Uh… have you seen my boyfriends?!" Denki joked, shoving Mineta playfully with his shoulder.
Denki seat-hopped like a few others. Mina was known for being the best seat-hopper, though.
Denki had sat on Kirishima, much to Bakugou's chagrin.
"Don't you have anyone else to bother?" he had barked.
"You mean you?" Denki asked, feigning innocence as he stretched out so he was across both Kirishima and Bakugou's laps. With a laugh, Denki attempted, "I'll get up if you promise to leave the spice out of dinner tonight."
Bakugou had said "yeah, whatever."
Denki moved with a smile, but even he knew that there would be extra spice that night, and everyone would (rightfully) blame him.
The seat next to Iida was free, and Denki's eyes targeted in on it.
Denki had felt like he was getting faster at chasing Hawks. He was still way behind, but progress is progress. Also, he had never had this level of endurance and stamina. He sometimes wondered what would happen if he challenged Iida to an endurance competition. Speed, Iida would win, for sure. Endurance, though, Denki feels like he would have a good chance.
"Hey, Iida, buddy! Bro! Pal! Class rep! The man!" Denki listed as he plopped himself down next to Iida on the bus.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mina fling herself on top of Kirishima and Bakugou. Bakugou glared directly at him as if to say 'see what you've started,' and Denki looked away and pretended he didn't see any of that.
"Kaminari," Iida greeted simply, wondering what the electric blonde was gearing up to ask him.
"Let's race!" Denki blurted. No need for easing into it.
"I regret to inform you that it would not be a fair challenge," Iida answered, a small smile on his face.
He wasn't even smug about it, just factual. Denki found him endlessly amusing in the same way he found Todoroki endlessly hilarious.
"Not a quickness race, but an endurance race!" Denki specified, bouncing a little in his seat as he imagined it.
"That would be a more even match," Iida pondered, bringing his hand to his chin as he thought about the logistics.
When the bus lurched to a stop, everyone slid forward with the momentum at the unexpected and abrupt change in acceleration. Confused, the students began to pile toward the front of the bus. They shouldn't have made it to the training ground, yet, so they were all curious as to what made the bus stop.
Iron villain.
That's what made the bus stop. A villain made of iron.
Tetsutetsu was the first one out of the bus, running out into the street to join in the action. He knew he was in for some joking later on about how both he and the villain were made of metal, but if he could get a head start and just rush right in, then he would have something to combat the teasing with. He knew it would be harmless, but it was still fun to have ammo to keep the banter and trash-talking going. Class 2-A watched through the bus windows as he sprinted past, looked around at each other, smiled, and rushed to join him, mixing in with the rest of Class 2-B who were hot on Tetsutetsu's heels as they swung themselves into the fray. The students were only more encouraged and hyped up when Vlad King and Eraserhead, after quick consideration, shrugged at each other and let the kids have at it. They never strayed far in case they needed to intervene, but they did stand back to let the students have an opportunity to shine.
Class 2-B had been whining about catching up to Class 2-A in terms of real villain experiences in the classroom, so maybe this would give them what they needed and calm them down. It wasn't like Vlad King could call up some villains and schedule an attack on Class 2-B. Even if he had tried, which he swears he hadn't, the villains would think they were walking into a trap and refuse. Vlad King decided that this would be the next best thing, even if Class 2-B shared the experience with Class 2-A.
Out of all of the years they had taught at UA, though, Vlad King and Aizawa never saw their classes get along quite like their current ones. Usually, the best they could hope for would be distant tolerance of each other. Sometimes it was hostile, competitive rivalry that would carry over into their professional careers after graduation. But this playful kind of competitiveness where they also cheered each other on and pushed each other to new limits intentionally and not just as a by-product of training together… Well, they just knew that these kids would be important in the hero world once they got out there and made names for themselves.
Aizawa was actually kind of relieved. He had been knee-deep in Yakuza recon for the previous few nights, and Hitoshi was getting a little antsy after not being permitted to join Aizawa on his nightly patrols without knowing why. This would hopefully get Hitoshi back in better spirits as far as his internship was concerned. And if it would turn into positive PR for UA, Aizawa would take it. Anything to boost confidence in UA after Denki had been captured by the League of Villains right from under their care.
While their classmates kept the iron villain busy and distracted, Hitoshi tried to goad him into answering a question. It should have been a huge red flag that the villain didn't answer, but no one thought much of it. Sometimes, especially with metal quirks, the jaw can be affected in a way that makes it difficult or even impossible to speak. It wasn't the students' fault that they were not aware that the iron villain already knew about Hitoshi's quirk.
Denki stood back, shifting his weight and looking around for an opportunity to assist his friends, knowing that he wouldn't be helpful in the traditional, straightforward way because his electricity wouldn't stop the villain, and the villain might even be able to turn that electricity onto his classmates.
So, when Neito came over to copy Denki's quirk, Denki tried to stop him. He should save that space for a quirk that could actually help the situation rather than hinder it.
"Trust me!" Neito pressed.
And of course, Denki did.
Neito dragged him over to the side of the road where the guide rails were staked into the ground to prevent vehicles from driving over the side of the embankment. With intense concentration, Neito extended his arms. Just when Denki thought nothing was going to happen, the guide rail started to lift out of the ground, and all Denki could do was stare in open amazement. Neito must have found a metal manipulation quirk among the civilians that had gathered, leaving their cars in favor of watching the hero students fight.
"Pick your jaw up off the ground and help me!" Neito chastised, but he was smiling, secretly pleased that he could still amaze and surprise his boyfriend.
"An electromagnet?" Denki whispered as he moved forward, looking at the twisted coil Neito had morphed the metal into.
Neito beamed. "You got it, hot stuff. I'll push the current, and you pull. Alright?"
Denki nodded his agreement, unable to do much else, still stunned that Neito was able to pull something like this off so quickly. Not only with a quirk he never used before, but also just coming up with this plan on the spot.
Denki grabbed one side of the coil, and Neito grabbed the other. They reached for each other and grasped the other's hand, both reminded of the week before when they had supplied power to the hospital. With the changing season, it had gotten considerably colder since then, but with the adrenaline pumping, the boys didn't have time to shiver.
Neito sent a strong pulse through, Denki received it and moved it along, back to Neito, who continued to ramp up the current and voltage. Neito and Denki's hair stood on end, and they smothered their laughter and refocused on their task.
Before anyone knew what had happened, the iron villain was suddenly propelled through the air, straight into the magnet that Neito and Denki had created. With forty students and two pros surrounding the villain to thoroughly keep him occupied, he never knew what hit him until it was too late. He struggled but couldn't break free. The responding police officers had to use plastic cuffs (the metal ones flew to join the villain stuck to the magnet), but they got the job done and hauled the villain away to the cheers of the civilian bystanders.
Nothing had ever been so easy, Denki remembered thinking. He made a mental note to never think that again because it was sure to jinx everything.
The civilians, now that the area was clear, swarmed the hero students. Aizawa and Vlad King decided to let the students have their moment of fame before they would shuffle them all back onto the busses.
"Hi! Chargebolt, right?" a young man asked as he approached Denki with his hand extended.
The man had short rusty brown hair and wore an easygoing, friendly smile. Denki automatically liked him and felt at ease by his relaxed approach. He was a little taller than Denki, and quite lanky compared to the hero students mucking about, but he was nothing to sneeze at, either. He had a faded scar on his neck that disappeared under the neckline of the brown sweater he was wearing.
"That's me!" Denki greeted with a huge smile, and he surged forward to meet the man halfway, extending his own hand in official greeting.
As soon as they had shaken hands, Denki had shocked the man with a pulse of electricity. Denki withdrew quickly, his face heating up in embarrassment.
"I'm so sorry! That hasn't happened in years!" Denki realized something was wrong when he tried to turn his quirk off and it only sent more electricity shooting out from his skin. He wrung his hands in frustrated anxiety, wondering what the hell had gotten into him.
When Denki looked up to apologize again, the man's smile had morphed from friendly to triumphant.
"I haven't introduced myself," the man said, smiling even wider. With a shallow bow as to not take his eyes off of Denki, he drawled, "you can call me Full Throttle. The pleasure is all mine."