It was close to midnight at Midoriya's apartment, and he was resting in his study (bedroom). He was ordered by Naomasa to take a few days off to recover, the police department would take care of the cases. He was to spend time with the kids and the interns, and not to train his body.

He finished analyzing Todoroki's quirk, and made notes to inform the boy of what he could do to better his fighting style. He smiled, knowing he was to see improvements in the already powerful boy.

knock knock*

"Hm?" He was taken from his musings and looked up. "Come in."

In walked Tsuyu, who was playing with her hands nervously. She had her phone in her pocket, and she looked at the ground, whispered croaks emanating from her throat

Izuku looked at her with concern. "What is it Tsuyu? Are you ok?"

He patted the space next to him, which was his bed, and smiled. "It's okay, Tsuyu, you can tell me what's on your mind." He was in counselor mode now.

Truth hesitantly took him on his offer and sat on the cushioned area. She continued to play with her hands even sitting down.

"Tsuyu?"

"Do you think I'm going to be a hero?"

Izuku paused. This conversation was not heading where he thought it would. "Yes, I do. What's bringing this up?"

It was a long couple of minutes before the girl answered. All the while, Izuku waited patiently.

Tsuyu sighed before speaking, as if she was scared to take whatever weight that was on her chest off. "It's just that, what happened with Stain, I became a liability, and you got hurt, very very badly, ribbit. I also went down very easily, after a few scrapes. I'm not strong enough to fight in battles, ribbit."

"Yet."

The simple response lifted Tsuyu's head to meet the vigilante's. Izuku smiled reassuringly. "You may think you became a liability, and you were, but you were trying to save someone. The other students stopped out of fear, but you? You continued on, and almost reached the victim. Without you, Mr. Iida would have died by the hands of Stain. And you went down by a shuriken to the neck. Not many could survive such an attack." He placed a hand on her shoulder, and squeezed lightly. "Yet, you did. Your bravery and drive to save someone in that situation is a piece of the puzzle that forms a hero."

Tsuyu was crying, tears flowing out like a waterfall. She was wrapped in a hug by the counselor, and she continued to cry.

It was relieving for her to let all this out. All the doubt and stress she placed upon herself seemed to vanish slowly, and eventually she stopped. Looking at the counselor, she smiled. She parted from him and looked at the floor, a small blush forming.

Izuku was glad she let it all out. Sometimes people just needed to do that. He recognized when someone placed doubt upon themselves, and she looked like she had been struggling for a while.

He smiled. "Better?" She nodded. "Good. Now, it's late. You don't want to oversleep." He had a variety of team building exercises for the students to do, since he couldn't do anything stressing on his body. He was excited.

Tsuyu nodded. "Yes sir." Just before she left, she gave him a peck on the cheek, and blushed.

"Thank you, ribbit." Her voice was a mere whisper. She bolted out of the room, leaving a confused and blushing vigilante in her wake.

Izuku sighed. Maybe she just wanted to thank me.

Little did he know, it was more than that.

(Four days later)

The rest of the internship week passed like a blur. So much happened for the vigilante: Hosu, team building exercises, and Eri's first quirk usage.

He was so proud of her. What happened was that Eri finished a bowl of american macaroni and cheese, and she desperately wanted more, only for her horn to grow just a bit and make more macaroni appear. Izuku was stunned, and immediately got to thinking about her quirk and what it did.

He contacted Recovery girl and Aizawa, and met them both at the high school, where they tested her quirk. He had some theories, but he wasn't too sure.

"Eri, I want you to make this Apple core turn back into an Apple."

Eri just sat there, in focus, but after a few minutes, she grew frustrated. "Agh!!!!"

The heroes had to shield their eyes. After a moment, the light diminished, and the heroes and vigilante let out a gasp of surprise when they saw the apple.

It was more a lack of an apple.

Izuku walked to his daughter and picked up an apple sprout. He rubbed his chin in wonder. "Is it possible you send an object into a state of the past?"

Aizawa didn't show it, but he was thoroughly impressed. With proper training, she could help the aging process of many and of those with cancers, she could even take cancer cells, and if Midoriya is right about this, prevent them from developing if they were sent so far in the past the victim would take preventative measures to ensure their health.

While Aizawa thought up a storm, Izuku grinned at Eri. "Look at that! Your quirk! I'm so proud of you." He chuckled when Sri tackled him with a hug. Even if she was quirkless, she would be loved all the same.

After a few more tests, the duo left, Izuku promising his daughter ice cream.

A week went by since the end of the internships, and it was Izukus job to keep up with the mental stability of all the first years, as well as correcting any behaviour that endangered anyone. So far, he dealt with four second years ago felt a fight was necessary, and a third year who was discovered stealing from other third years and some first years.

He sat in his office, organising files by classes and types of quirk. He didn't like being organised, but if it helped keep things in order, then so be it.

After a meeting with Hound Dog, he was in disbelief of a new role: Quirk Analysis training. While he did something similar in the Sports Festival, it was more voluntary, to see if quirks really could affect mental health.

Now, it was his job to analyze that, and to work with students separately.

He sighed. It was inevitable in his eyes that he take up this role. He was just surprised at how long it took to consider him for it. At first, he questioned why All Might or even Aizawa didn't do the job, but Nezu quickly turned that idea down and insisted he do it, thanks to his talent for the craft.

He grumbled how little free time he'd have, but took the job anyway. Why not do something he already loved? He also received a nice raise thanks to this, so that was lovely as well.

A pat on the shoulder interrupted his thoughts. Looking up, he saw a frowning Aizawa, who was rummaging in his scarf for something.

Izuku smiled. "How can I help you, Aizawa-" he was cut off by an item being handed to him.

Beads of sweat formed when he accepted the juice box. "Um, thanks? But why?"

Aizawa nodded. "I noticed you looked more stressed than usual at the briefing, so I thought to give you this. It helps me when I need a stress reliever, and it contains several antioxidants, so it'll benefit you." A ghost of a smile brushed past his face. "If you need more, just let me know. Just don't have me run out, then I won't supply you anymore." He walked out, closing the door silently.

Izuku chuckled. "I think he's warming up to me. I'll have to buy him something in thanks." Sucking through the straw, his eyes widened at the cornucopia of flavour that entranced his taste buds. "Holy shit! This is good!"

He definitely needed to find out the source of the juice. It was delicious.

"Ooh! Sir Aizawa was nice for once!"

Izuku swivelled in his chair to the source of the voice, eyes narrowing. Seeing nothing, he relaxed, then faced towards the door, the normal position.

He jumped when a tall blonde boy stood in front of him.

"Gah! Who are you and what are you doing in my office?!" He grabbed a katana from under his desk, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"Mirio! Why must you scare him like that?"

Izuku immediately turned his head to his right, his eyes meeting those of a teenage girl with periwinkle hair.

"How did you enter my office?"

"G-guys, I don't t-think he likes you barging in like this."

Izuku turned his head to the left, where a shy Tamaki stood facing a wall. He relaxed. "Oh, Tamaki, it's you. Can you explain who these two are and how exactly you three barge in without me knowing?"

The periwinkle one jumped onto Izuku's desk and looked him in the eye, a giant smile on her face. "I can answer that! Mirio here permeated through the door while you were distracted, and then Tamaki and I walked in! Pretty cool sneak attack, huh?"

Izuku backed away as much as he could from the bubbly one, and looked to Tamaki for confirmation, which he gave. Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Alright then, now please introduce yourselves. I already know Tamaki from our sessions, and speaking of which," he turned towards the timid one. "Have you been eating? You look awfully thin."

Tamaki nodded.

Turning back towards the other two, he waited for the girl to finish Looking around the room. "Well?"

Snapping out of her musings, she smiled. "I'm Nejire Hado! The big blonde one is Mirio Togata, and the adorably quiet one over there is Tamaki, as you already know."

Izuku nodded. So Nejire must be the girl Tamaki was talking about.

A mischievous smile appeared on his face, and he nudged Tamaki, who had walked to the desk. "So you and her, huh? She's the girl you were talking about taking out and-" he was cut off by a sharp jab to his ribs. He laughed softly when he saw Tamaki's irritation that was paired with a hard blush.

Nejire giggled. "Well, we're not official, yet, but if only he could be brave enough to ask me out. He knows I'll say yes~" she hummed the rest, causing Mirio and Izuku to laugh.

Izuku turned to Tamaki. "What are you waiting for? She already likes you, and stated it right now. Just ask her." He continued laughing when Tamaki turned back to the wall.

He looked towards Nejire. "You're not going to ask him?"

"Nope!"

"That's how it's going to be then? Tamaki, you better ask her soon. That's an assignment!" He sighed when he heard the timid student grumble.

He looked towards the other two. "Alright, why exactly are you here? I don't exactly have a lot of free time."

Mirio grinned. "We wanted to see who the new counselor is! Well, you're not exactly new, but we wanted to see a real vigilante!"

"So that's what this is about?"

Nejire smiled. "He also wants to fight you."

"Nejire! I wanted to say that!"

Izuku chuckled at the blonde's despair. "It's alright, Mirio. I'll take you on."

Mirio smiled. "Really?"

"Yep, just after I pick up the kids from their babysitter. Then I'll duel you."

Nejire's mouth dropped. Mirio and Tamaki rolled their eyes. They knew the cat of curiosity would come out at some point.

However, Izuku wasn't prepared, nor expecting this.

"You have kids? How many do you have? Do they like making friends? How old are they? What are their quirks? Do they have any quirks, or are they like you? What are their names? Do they-"

Izuku silenced her with a raised hand. "In order. Yes, I have kids. They love making friends. They're both six. One has a water manipulation quirk, the other we haven't named yet. They're adopted, so they're not quirkless. Their names are Kota and Eri."

This seemed to satisfy Nejire's curiosity. Mirio walked up to her and lifted her off the desk. "Well, I guess we should be leaving, so I look forward to our battle! Where shall we have it?"

Izuku smiled. "Gym Gamma. I look forward to it. It was nice seeing you, Tamaki, and it was nice meeting you two." They waved and left the room, and Izuku finally relaxed.

They're an interesting group. I wonder how long Tamaki's known them?

"So I see you've met the Big Three."

Izuku fell out of his chair. "Holy Fuck." He glared at the intruder, who turned out to be principal Nezu. "How many times are people going to surprise me like that?!"

Nezu laughed. "Not enough times, it seems. It looks like the students got well enough with you. That's good."

Izuku rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, now please, let me work. I have to call in my first student and it's not even noon yet." Nezu laughed and walked out, humming a tune on the way. He stopped and looked over his shoulder. "How's your romance coming along, Izuku? Go on any dates with young Kodai?"

"Get out!"

"I'm going to take that as a no, but surely, with her being your intern you must have made a move, no? Or did you already make a move on other girls? You're quite the playboy in our midst."

"Principal Nezu!"

Nezu walked out laughing, leaving a blushing Izuku in the room.


"Mr. Todoroki."

The youngest of the Todoroki siblings sat up in his chair, ready to answer any questions thrown at him...

"How are you feeling since the Sports Festival?"

...except this one.

Shouto wasn't one to talk about feelings, or even expressing most of his. He mostly sat in class stoically, refusing to let even a moment's weakness from showing.

He refused to allow anyone to help. Habits die hard, as the saying goes. He was trained to fight, not interact with others and make friends.

This training began to crumble during his internship.

He thought back to the Festival, about how his team believed in him, and were willing to be friendly towards him out of just being good people and them legitimately wanting to be friends, instead of trying to be connected with his father.

He thought back to the internship, in those team building exercises, where he was a supporter of a teammate, and his teammates supported him.

It felt oddly great to him.

He looked at the counselor, and smiled softly. "I feel better being free, being with my siblings."

Izuku nodded. "That's good. Now, you told me some very personal information during the Sports Festival, do you remember?"

Todoroki nodded.

"Do you still feel that way?" Izuku pushed. He knew the dangers of closeted depression, and he knew when it started taking an effect on individuals. He experienced it personally before.

Todoroki was silent. "Promise not to tell?" His voice was a whisper, sounding like it'd break if not spoken softly.

Izuku nodded.

"I still have those thoughts, the words of my father hammering into me, and the words of my mother when she burned me."

Izuku nodded, just listening.

"I still feel as though I'm becoming my father. My anger amplifies sometimes, and I just feel so, so irritated at others." His voice dropped. "I feel like I'm being stretched out. I feel lost, in the dark, and I can't help but feel empty during the night."

After his lament, he sat, quiet, and played with his hands, creating a small icicle in his palm.

Izuku nodded once again, and smiled reassuringly. "Listen, Mr. Todoroki. It's normal to feel this way. Depression isn't something to take lightly and hide away completely."

Todoroki looked at the counselor, surprised. "It's...normal?"

Izuku nodded. "It is. Especially with your upbringing. I'm glad you told me, now we can find a solution."

"But what can I do?"

"For one, talking helps. Normally with patients, I'd tell them to try exercising, or eating well, since that triggers endorphins to create upbeat and happy hormones. However, that isn't the case for you, since you're training to be a hero.

"For now, just start interacting with others more and go out and have fun, or as much fun as you can. If not, invite some friends over and spend time with them, have a movie night at my place. I can provide snacks and the movies."

Todoroki blinked. "You'd do that?"

Izuku smiled. "Of course. They can even stay the night. You are my guest, after all, and I'd hate for you to be lonely. That might be a trigger for your depression, actually."

Todoroki nodded. "Okay."

"Alright, is there anything else?"

Todoroki nodded. "Are you and Momo a thing? She keeps going on about you and I want to help you."

"I meant about you personally!"

The dual user smirked. "You've kissed, haven't you?"

"Alright, this session is over!"

"You can even put the moves on her during the movie. I won't stop you."

Izuku groaned. "Thank you Mr. Todoroki."

Before Todoroki left, he turned towards the counselor. "Do you really think this will help? Having friends over?"

Izuku smiled. "Yes I do, Mr. Todoroki. I think this would."

Todoroki nodded. He walked out, closing the door behind him.

Izuku sighed. He now had to look into movie snacks. He didn't even say when it would be. I guess I'll ask him after school.

In the next few sessions, it went as well as he thought it would. The typical "I don't feel powerful as I should be" kind of session. For the most part, the first years were progressing through their classes at a normal rate, despite it being so early in the school year.

He did have students that had some mental health issues, and he walked them through some exercises to help them.

The next student was tricky, though.

"Bakugou Katsuki. How are you doing today?"

He only received a glare paired with silence.

"Did your internship go well?"

More silence.

"How's your mom? Is she doing well? I wanted to ask you if I can have tea with her sometime. I remembered she used to be a fashion designer at one point so I want some pointers on my uniform design."

More silence.

Izuku grew irritated. "Listen, Bakugou, I-"

"I'm doing fine."

The curt answer cut Izuku off, and the vigilante nodded. "That's good. Now, how did your internship go, since you're talking now."

"It went great."

Izuku arched a brow. "Oh? Well, I'm pleased. I'll ask Aizawa how it went since you're not keen on speaking to me."

Katsuki leaned forward. "You don't have to do that."

"Really now."

"Yeah, I'll talk."

Izuku nodded. "Good, good. Now, let's start with the usual. Tell me what's on your mind."

After a minute, Katsuki looked at the counselor. "I'm sorry."

"Oh! I said to say what's on yo-"

"No! Really, I'm sorry. For everything I did to you, all the bullying, all the names, the scars I put on you." He snarled. "As much as it pains for me to say it, what I did was wrong, and I'm sorry."

All this was said with his head lowered.

Izuku blinked, surprised. Fuck, what did you do to him, Aizawa?

Izuku smiled. "Bakugou, please look at me." When the ashen blonde looked up, Izuku continued. "It's ok. I forgive you. What you were was entirely your fault, but the school system didn't change anything. I hope you've changed how you act towards your classmates, though."

Katsuki shuddered at the cold shoulders he received.

Izuku nodded, noting the shudder. "It is going to be hard to make friends in that class, but not impossible. Remember, you still have people from other classes, you can try 1-B for a start."

Katsuki nodded, his brain in thought.

"Is that all for me, Katsuki?"

Katsuki hesitated, a flash of sadness in his eyes, but I left as quickly as it came. "Please, call me Kaachan, like you used to."

To say Izuku was surprised was an understatement. Holy shit. Seriously, Aizawa, what did you do?!

Izuku cleared his throat, his gaze softening. "I'm sorry, Katsuki, but I can't." Katsuki nodded, his face downcast. "While I forgave you for your treatment of me from years ago to now, scars still run deep. It will be a long time until I see you as an equal, even after you graduate from here."

Katsuki silently nodded and walked to the door.

"If that's all, Katsuki, please bring in the next student."

The explosion user nodded and shut the door behind him.

Izuku was already dialing Aizawa.


He tried. He tried so hard.

Bakugou Katsuki walked back to his homeroom class in thought. His training with Aizawa changed his attitude from explosively violent to just angry, and his behaviour was altered as well.

No longer did Katsuki threaten those who breathed in his direction, but he analyzed a situation before acting with violence.

He was one step closer to being a hero people admired.

His classmates noticed too. While they still walked on eggshells around him, they did appreciate the lack of threats made to them, no matter how empty they were.

His language was still the same, however.

He still resorted to others that didn't matter to him as 'extras', and he still kept his nicknames for the classmates.

One step at a time, Aizawa said. It was a mantra at this point.

Katsuki wasn't an idiot. He knew he had an issue, but he didn't pay attention to it before the internship. His pride always grew the better of him, and his ego was inflated, especially during middle school.

Aizawa quickly took to correcting the explosive behaviour.

The internship wasn't one that Katsuki would forget.

After hours of heart wrenching documentaries of history and of the quirkless, Katsuki wanted to apologize to Izuku right then and there.

He was shown videos about the quirkless population committing suicide due to bullying.

He was shown documentaries about major events in the past, such as the holocaust, which showed people being tortured and murdered just for being different.

Katsuki didn't want to be one of those numbers that committed the acts of violence.

Aizawa knew it would change him, and as always, Aizawa was right.

Another aspect of his "training" was fighting powerless, much like how Izuku fought him powerless for the majority of his childhood up to when he moved.

Being pummeled in the head repeatedly does something to you.

Even after the development of his behaviour, he still had work to do, but he felt that his language was more a permanent thing due to his mom's very similar language.

At least he wasn't acting on any violent tendencies.

Don't get him wrong, he still had his violent thoughts, but it was more along the lines of actual thoughts, not anything verbal.

In short, Aizawa could probably change the prison system if he wanted to.

Katsuki felt disappointed that he couldn't restart a friendship with the quirkless counselor, but making friends outside his class would be a start.


"Aizawa, what the fuck?"

The homeroom teacher stood in front of the counselor, a little confused. "You wanted to send him to prison for the week, I had a better solution. The better solution worked."

"I could see that, but making him feel like he's a Nazi?! Based on what you're telling me, he actually felt like he's one of them. I don't know if I should be horrified or impressed."

Aizawa chuckled. "He's going to come around, I know it."

Izuku sighed. "You might be right, or you might have haunted his dreams for the rest of his life. Only he'll know."

Aizawa walked to the door. "Yeah, only he'll know." He left, leaving the door open just a crack.

Izuku looked at the clock. It was around 5:00, so classes were coming to a close for the day. He groaned, only having gone through a quarter of the student population of first years, which was great, but it was going to be a few more days until he was done with the post internship interviews.

He stretched, grabbing his keys. He knew his day wasn't done.

He was curious as to what Mirio's quirk was and how it worked, as well as the third year's skill level.