Unsurprisingly, Neito and Hitoshi were decidedly cool about Toga having already been to Denki's dorm once before. And they understood it wasn't like he was trying to hide it; he introduced them point blank at the waterpark for fucks' sake. It just slipped his mind, which was understandable amongst all of the other crazy shit that he had already told them about.
Plus, Toga was actually kind of cool, and they both felt more in the loop now that they had stumbled upon her trying to infiltrate Denki's dorm room and heard what she had to say. They knew a little more about the League as explained to them in different terms and dialect than from just Denki alone. This should have scared them, that they might have just implicated themselves further if they were to ever be found out, but that's not how they felt then, or any time after that, either. The more tight knit they are, the harder it would be for them to ever be caught in the first place. And what would they be caught doing? Being supported in their endeavor to become heroes by villains? Sketchy, maybe, but there was no precedent for this type of situation, and it would seem counter-productive to try to make it illegal, because how and when would it ever happen again? How did it even happen that time? And what details would be included in the laws? They wouldn't have the faintest idea.
The boys were exhausted. All of the students were exhausted. Between their academic work, tactical training, and internships, the second-year hero course students were dead on their feet, moving automatically throughout their days as their minds reviewed invaluable information they learned from their experiences during their internships, and yes, even the tactical trainings, even though they were much less intimidating and stressful after having gotten some real-world experiences under their belts.
Everything had been going well for Hitoshi. He was finally interning underground with Aizawa, now that he was competent with his capture weapon enough to keep up with the hero, using their capture weapons to catapult themselves across the tops of buildings. Nothing risky like going undercover, of course, but night patrols were something completely different than the daytime patrols with Ms. Joke.
Hitoshi had taken up singing during these patrols, much to Aizawa's chagrin. He figured that he wouldn't bother Neito with his singing if it was midnight and Neito was dead asleep after a grueling day fulfilling his own internship duties.
"You're going to scare all of the criminals away with your singing," Aizawa grumbled quietly.
Despite the cold night air, they were both warm as they came to a stop on top of one of their normal lookout points. Swinging and jumping from building to building was a full-body workout after all. With a sad sort of amusement, Hitoshi thought about how Touya would have been so pleased that Hitoshi had gotten to the point where he could do something as intensive as this without being nearly as tired as he would have been previously. Planks had nothing on Aizawa's preferred form of transportation, that was for sure.
"Good," Hitoshi replied easily. "The best heroes prevent instead of just react and respond. They take initiative and are proactive."
"Or maybe they'll target us because you sang a song they didn't like," Aizawa tried next.
"Who doesn't like the popular TikTok songs?" Hitoshi asked, inserting an extreme amount of disbelief into his voice to sound dramatically flabbergasted.
Hitoshi had a theory he wanted to test out, and it was better to do it on his own. He didn't want to get anyone's hopes up on a hunch, after all. So, unless Aizawa was going to shut him up forcibly, which Hitoshi knew he would never do, knowing his past history with muzzles, he was going to continue to sing his songs until he determined if they had any effect or not.
Besides, Hitoshi knew that Aizawa had a soft spot for him. Why else would he take him into his home? Why else would he and Yamada sit Hitoshi down and ask him if it would be okay if they were to proceed with his adoption? Why else would all three cry hysterically when Hitoshi said yes and Yamada blubbered about being a family?
When Aizawa scoffed at Hitoshi's dramatics, Hitoshi retorted with, "it's not surprising, really. That's exactly how a prude would think."
It was sudden how Hitoshi immediately bolted, laughing as Aizawa chased him down, when he had been standing so calmly and relaxed just a moment before as the taunt left his lips. Hitoshi ended up wrapped up in Aizawa's capture weapon with Aizawa threatening to dangle him off the roof to use as bait for any villains unless he apologized.
"Do it! You won't!"
He would, Hitoshi discovered.
Earlier that day, Hawks had been acting differently during Denki's internship time with him. Instead of flying ahead and having Denki chase after him endlessly, they walked together on the sidewalk. Hawks showed off using his feathers to help citizens with various tasks, explaining to Denki that the hero rankings are by popularity, not necessarily who the best hero is with the most saves or the least collateral damage or anything like that.
"So how did Endeavor end up so high?" Denki asked.
Hawks smiled a sad sort of smile, not realizing that Denki was observant enough to pick up on it, or he would have turned away, acting distracted by a civilian that might benefit from his assistance.
"He's what's familiar right now," Hawks stated, trying to make a complicated and convoluted issue simpler, not because he saw Denki as not being able to understand, but to not allow this specific line of questioning to last all day. Hawks could talk about Endeavor for a long time, but he had another conversation in mind that he wanted to get to. "After All Might's… retirement, the people needed someone that they already knew they could rely on. If the charts had been replaced with all rookies, there would have been unease and hesitation across the nation. People like what they are familiar with, and no matter how callous he seems, Endeavor pulls through when he's needed."
He pulls through when he's needed for strangers but can't be bothered to show the same consideration for his own family, Denki bitterly corrected in his mind, but knew better than to say it aloud.
"Fancy something to eat?" Hawks asked when Denki remained silent. "I'll show you where the heroes go to fill their stomachs during the day!"
Denki never thought that he would actually get anything out of the internship from Hawks specifically. His sidekicks and other supports? Absolutely. But not Hawks himself. It surprised him when Hawks decided to walk along beside Denki and surprised him even more by having lunch with him. Denki knew he wasn't going to suddenly sprout wings and fly, so he figured that Hawks, despite offering, wasn't really interested in Denki.
True to his word, Hawks showed Denki his favorite restaurant that has private rooms to host heroes looking to get out of the spotlight for an hour while they eat and recuperate. Even the wait staff seemed entirely unaffected by Hawks's number two status, easily bantering with him when he would say something snarky, wearing easy-going and relaxed smiles and not working hard to impress, but just working while having a good time, whether they were interacting with the number two hero, a second-year hero student, or a nobody tourist that they would never see again.
Hawks continued to make small talk with Denki in between ordering and receiving their food, but as soon as their waiter left them, closing the door behind him, the mood and tone of the conversation switched drastically.
"Can you tell me anything about the time from when you were taken by the League of Villains from the training camp to when you were rescued by your friends at Kamino Ward?"
Denki choked on his food, grateful that he had the self-control to not spit it out onto the hero he was interning under. That would have been catastrophic.
Denki opened his mouth to tell him no, but Force Majeure's quirk kicked in like a charm, charging forward to block any noise that might escape that would be able to answer Hawks's questions. It took him by surprise after not kicking in for so long. In the beginning, with all of the questioning from heroes, police officers, and even therapists, he was constantly rendered speechless. After they all gave up trying to find out what had happened to him after he had seemingly gone back to his normal self on his own, Force Majeure's quirk had lied dormant in his mind, waiting to be sprung again at a moment's notice. Her quirk really was so cool.
"No, then," Hawks answered for him, sitting back against his seat. "I heard that you might be under Force Majeure's quirk, but I had to make sure."
"Why?" Denki asked.
"Confidential," Hawks answered bluntly.
It wasn't like Denki could argue; he had nothing to bargain with, and even if he did, he wouldn't have given away any information about the League. Besides, Denki figured that any hero might take up the opportunity to find out more about a growing villainous group who had recently began to break seemingly random other villains out of police custody. If anyone made the connection that it was the villains involved with three specific second-year students at UA, no one had voiced it so far. If anyone did make the connection, they would probably think that the League of Villains were just still keeping tabs on Denki, to make sure that Force Majeure's quirk was still working or even to find an opportunity to get their hands on him once again.
When Denki gets back to his dorm building that evening, he's absolutely exhausted, even more so than after chasing Hawks around for hours at a time. Being around Hawks's energy was pretty awesome because Denki felt like they were pretty similar once you get past the whole flying thing being the most important to Hawks, but the added pressure of the line of questioning about the League of Villains and Force Majeure's quirk making a reappearance had Denki worried, filled with anxious energy that immediately fled once he entered the familiar space of his dorm building and saw some familiar faces. The anxiety left, his mind deciding that he was safe once again, and he was just about to head up to his room when the front door banged open.
"Kaminari!" Tetsutetsu yelled, looking around the common area frantically with wide eyes.
"What's up?" Denki asked, turning back around and taking a step forward, immediately concerned with Tetsutetsu's urgency.
"It's Monoma!" Tetsutetsu rushed. "He's been hit by a quirk. Can you please come help?"
And just like that, Denki was filled with so much energy once again that he couldn't even imagine the feeling of ever being tired before. He didn't have to answer; anyone would have known that the answer was yes. Denki and Tetsutetsu rushed out, running full speed toward the Class 2-B dorm building.
Upstairs, a teenage boy sighed, completely exhausted, emotionally drained. Going to school as a hero student while also working with the League of Villains was very stressful, the balance incredibly delicate.
"So, tell me again why you decided to run through the common room crying," he demanded.
"I told you already," Toga insisted, irritated that he wasn't listening. It wasn't that he wasn't listening though, it was that he didn't understand because nothing she was saying was making sense. "I was upset about Magne and needed to talk to Kaminari."
"To the boy you literally kidnapped," he clarified, hoping that Toga might see reason.
"Uh-huh. Like I said, we're friends. Best friends, probably."
"Yeah, sure," the boy dismissed. "But that doesn't excuse your reckless behavior, Toga," he stressed, trying to get her to understand that her rash actions had consequences for others and made his situation riskier. "I had to cover for you, you know? It wasn't just me who saw you run through crying. The study group thought that Kaminari must have fought with his boyfriends."
"He's practically their third soulmate," Toga insisted dismissively. "They never fight."
"Which is why your emotional outburst was such a problem," the boy explained, feeling like the discussion was going in circles. He didn't have the time or energy to find out exactly what Toga knew about the soulmates, and he really wasn't that surprised. The League of Villains had their hands in a lot of pies. "If you had run into Kacchan or Kirishima, you would've risked exposing yourself and getting caught. And what if Shinsou or Monoma saw you and you didn't accurately act exactly like Kaminari? They spend every free moment with each other that I think they'd be able to tell if something was off."
"Oh, they sure did!" Toga informed, and he picked up some awe in her voice. "Right away, too!"
"… What?"