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Only a few days later, he and Todoroki were going to Endeavor's place. It would take a train ride from where Todoroki lived, so Luffy offered to pick him up on his way. Todoroki agreed, and Luffy went to pick him up, Hawks leaving him a "please don't make me look bad" note on the bedroom door. After all, Hawks admired Endeavor.

He left a note of a person sticking their tongue out with a hand making a "L" pose on the back of the paper. He left it on the front door, and then left through the window, closing it after him. He picked up Todoroki, who stoically did not seem afraid of the height at all, and they landed neatly in front of Endeavor's building, walking inside, both carrying their backpack with the contract and their hero costumes.

"I don't think I've ever actually held a conversation with him," Luffy said, really thinking about it. "I mean, he told me to go away a couple times, but that was it. I wonder why he offered it to me."

Todoroki said he might have seen how strong he was and put his petty feelings away. Luffy hoped that was the case. They were the only two who went to Endeavor, maybe the only ones who were recommended. They walked through the sliding glass doors, and Luffy looked around the busy lobby to see if he could see Ace, but he didn't. He put it out of his mind. He wasn't there to only be with Ace.

They walked through the bustling room and easily found Endeavor, since he wasn't exactly hard to miss. They both stood in front of him. Todoroki giving him a blank stare, challenging, and Luffy just standing there with a straight face.

"Shoto! You came, and Luffy, too. I had heard you transferred to a different school." Luffy nodded, but said UA was a lot better. "So you left U.A., tried some place else, and then came back?"

"No, I missed a lot of the first part of the semester due to health problems. I didn't like Shiketsu so I crammed and managed to be able to transfer back to U.A.," he said simply, to the point. Endeavor nodded, and didn't apologize. Well, Luffy wasn't expecting it anyway.

Todoroki made things even more awkward when he said he wasn't there as his kid, but to learn from a pro-hero." Luffy rocked back on his feet a little bit before the awkward moment passed, and Endeavor nodded. He walked them to his office, and asked for both of their contracts. He stamped them both, and then gave them back.

"This isn't a place to visit your brother, I hope you understand that." Luffy was surprised he knew about Ace and his relationship.

"I do. I came here because you are strong and Hawks thinks highly of you as a hero," Luffy replied honestly. Endeavor nodded, and stood up. He told them to get dressed and then meet him back there. He and Todoroki walked to the changing room. "I hope the whole week isn't going to be this awkward," Luffy said, closing his eyes to get his other glasses on and changing into his hero outfit. Todoroki's had changed and was more simple and nice to look at now. His other one, with half of it being made of ice, looked kind of… weird? But he hadn't said anything about it.

His friend said, "I can't promise that." Luffy knew that was the truth. They went back to Endeavor's office and he told them they were going on patrol. The first day, Luffy felt like an extra. He honestly didn't know why Endeavor offered him a spot when he didn't even look at him the whole time. He only was talking to Todoroki, who had told him to shut up a number of times.

It was extremely awkward, but he stayed quiet. He did tell them what would be useful things if Luffy didn't already know how to patrol, how to run a business, how to utilize sidekicks, how to choose higher ups in your agency. He really felt like he already knew all of this. That he'd been interning for many years already.

After all, he helped Hawks out a lot, carrying paperwork places, sending messages, going out on patrol. He knew all of this already. And it was boring. Boring as hell and awkward as hell. He wished he'd chosen somewhere else, truly. But there was no backing out now, the contract was signed even if Luffy wanted to just put some white-out over it and pretend Endeavor's name and stamp were never there.

The day passed slowly, and he went home dissatisfied, moping on the couch. Hawks walked in at dinner, and Luffy had already cooked it, and asked what was up with him. "I shouldn't have picked Endeavor's agency."

"Why?"

"All he did was argue with Todoroki and ignore me. Plus all the shit he told us was stuff I already knew. I should have chosen Thirteen or something," Luffy complained. Hawks pointed out he couldn't change it now. He got his food and said, "No use whining about it."

"I can whine if I want. Oh, and I made a terrible impression for you. I told him all the embarrassing things I know about you. And your Endeavor stuffed toy," Luffy said. Hawks threw a pillow at him, telling him shut it. He caught it and grumbled, "I hope tomorrow is more interesting," into the pillow.

-x-

The next day was a night patrol, something he'd done with Hawks, but not often. He mostly took nights off because he didn't like being a busy hero, so Luffy rarely went on night patrols. So it was already more interesting. They were in Hosu, which was a weird place to choose since there were a bunch of murders or attempted murders here. Were they planning on catching him or something?

The Endeavor agency wasn't anywhere near Hosu. Strange. Endeavor was giving them advice, stuff Luffy knew. He couldn't help it, he was spacing out. When he paid attention again, he noticed Todoroki was gone. "Uh, where did he go?" Luffy wondered aloud. Endeavor grunted a rude "what are you talking about?". "Todoroki is gone. I don't see him anywhere," Luffy pointed out.

Endeavor looked around, but didn't know where he was either. Luffy went to the nearest alleyway. "Todoroki?" he called. He had no idea where he went. Why didn't he say he was leaving? That was kind of rude, leaving Luffy alone with Endeavor. He flew up in the air to look only to see a fire in the distance and some monsters with exposed brains attacking people.

"Endeavor, there are monsters in that direction! And a fire!" Luffy said, flying down and then next to Endeavor as they hurried to the scene. There were two monsters attacking people. One of them going one way and another picking up and man and flying away with him. Luffy flew up to it and kicked it away, catching the man and putting him down, telling him to run. Endeavor was working on burning the other one while Luffy tried to hold off the flying one, being the only one able to fly in that area.

It screeched at him and tried to attack, but it wasn't as fast as Luffy. It grabbed his leg and snapped it, making Luffy grit his teeth but fly higher as it reformed and went back to normal. He dive bombed it, planting it into the road, hard. But it was just fine. It looked like it's body was really strong, and fire was doing nothing to the one Endeavor was attacking.

Blunt hits and burns don't hurt it, but it had eyes. And an exposed brain. Wouldn't the brain be sensitive? And blinding it might save some time unless it was regenerative. He dropped down and held it's neck down with his knee before grimacing and thrusting his hand into the brain as hard as he could, and making a fist and yanking out parts of the brain, along with the eyes so that it was only the bottom of a head left. For good measure, he stomped down on its head, crushing any brain matter left into mush.

He tried to get the brain off of his hand, disgusted. "Endeavor, go for the brain!" Luffy shouted. The pro-hero looked over and saw the mess that was the bloody and gooey hands and the nomu's empty skull. He leaned down and wiped his hand on the pant leg of the monster, backing away and then helping people run from the area before he ripped open the fire hydrant and pushed his hands on it at an angle so it put out the burning building's fire.

Todoroki had left his mind as he tried to help. Endeavor had listened to Luffy and grabbed the head with the exposed brain and blasted fire into it, melting the brain. But that one was a little harder to take down, its regenerative powers more than the other.

"I yanked the brain out! It couldn't regenerate!" Luffy called. Endeavor thrust his hot hand into the brain, and ripped it out. Luffy had rinsed his hands in the water coming from the hydrant. Endeavor did that same.

"Where the hell is Shoto?" the pro-hero demanded, angrily. Then he looked at Luffy and grudgingly said, "Good work. We know how to defeat these things." The fire of the building was out so Luffy shoved the hydrant back down so it plugged it. "Look for anything else amiss," Endeavor ordered. Luffy flew up in the air and found another mess a few streets down. Another monster was over there.

"Endeavor, there's another one that way!" Luffy shouted, pointing in the right direction. He flew there while Endeavor ran. Luffy perched on a building and watched the pro-hero interrupt an older hero fighting it, blasting it with fire. But he didn't waste time, blasting enough for it to pause and regenerate like that before stomping on its head and then ripping out the brain and two of the four eyes.

He looked at his hand in disgust but burnt it off. "Find Shoto!" Endeavor commanded. Luffy got up high in the sky and flew around the block, looking everywhere before he saw blasts of fire from an alleyway, and perched on the roof to see Todoroki and Midoriya fighting while Iida and another hero were injured. He saw who they were fighting and assumed it was Stain, since he had a lot of the weapons he was said to have, and it was Hosu, where recent attacks were.

Luffy said nothing, the best thing to do was get Endeavor. He flew back, but it was many streets over. "He and two other students are fighting a villain four streets over."

"WHAT?!"

"Let me fly you there, it will be quicker," Luffy said. "They look like they're having trouble." It looked like a wound to his pride, but he put his arm up and Luffy grabbed onto it before instantly flying him to the scene. He swooped down and picked up the injured one who couldn't move. He flew him to a group of other heroes, telling them that the man was injured.

He flew back and saw Iida on the ground as well. Endeavor was taking on Stain, Todoroki helping him with Midoriya frozen, too. He grabbed the immoblie Iida. "No!"

"Shut up, you're gonna be in enough trouble as it is! What are you thinking, fighting a villain that strong on your own?!" Luffy scolded angrily. "You're lucky I saw you guys! You could have died over there and nobody would have known!" Iida still didn't move, and he shouted at Luffy that it wasn't his problem.

"Do you reserve villains now?" Luffy questioned coldy. "Don't be selfish, Iida." He picked Iida up again and returned him to his hero trainer, dumping him and then flying back to assist Endeavor. He called a question of what to do. He was shouted at to get more pro-heroes and to call the police.

He zoomed away, collecting heroes that were no longer fighting the monsters, telling them that they knew where Stain was. He led all of the heroes to the area, and soon the police were there, too. Stain was being held down by Endeavor, many burns all over his body. He was handcuffed and taken away, Luffy perched on the roof and watching with a deep frown.

Once he was in the cop car, Endeavor started berating Todoroki for leaving, how Luffy had been a hundred times more helpful in the situation than he was. Luffy hoped this wouldn't upset Todoroki. He was just following orders of the hero he was working under for now.

Then he looked behind him and saw some suspicious looking guys standing on a water tower. He flew towards them, but before he got close, they disappeared in a purple mist. He stopped, staying in place before turning around and heading back to the scene. He dropped down and asked Midoriya and Todoroki if they were okay.

"We're fine. Just a little scratched up," Midoriya said. "Thanks for getting us help." Luffy nodded and said that Iida was really angry. "Let's not talk about that part. I think he wouldn't want it to spread around."

"Okay, but you guys should still all be checked out. If he cut you with dirty blades or ones already having been covered in blood, you could get sick," Luffy said in concern. They went to the ambulance to get checked up. Iida came later, looking ashamed and humiliated.

The group of students and Endeavor went to the station to be questioned, Luffy flying there. He honestly rarely ever used cars. He landed there and walked inside and waited in the lobby for the others to arrive. When they did, he was taken in for questioning about the situation, about the attack of the monsters, and when he found the students fighting Hero Killer Stain.

Luffy went into detail about ripping the brains from the monsters. It was disgusting, and he had washed his hands with soap and water five times in the bathroom, scrubbing. Then, he flew back to the agency for his things and then back home, Endeavor dismissing him and telling him he'd done well in that situation. It was the first time Endeavor had ever said something actually nice to him. Weird. He was still a jerk, though.

When he got home, it was really late and he flopped onto the couch. "Hawks, I did hero stuff! I killed a villain and helped some of my stupid friends," Luffy called, with Hawks in the laundry room. He hurried out and demanded to have details. "I was patrolling with Endeavor and Todoroki just vanished, but then I saw there were these two monsters attacking people. It was really gross, but the only way I could kill them was to rip out its exposed brain. I had brain goo on my hands," he said in disgust.

"Don't you dare cook me food with that hand."

"I washed it! Anyways, then I found my stupid friends fighting the Hero Killer by themselves! I evacuated this one guy bleeding on the ground and my other friend who was hurt, too. He had the nerve to tell me off for getting pro-hero help and saving his ass," Luffy said sourly. "At least Todoroki wasn't mad that I got help."

"Not bad, future-sidekick." Luffy grinned, saying it was more interesting than the day before. "No idea how you're going to top that interest wise." The teen nodded, agreeing. But he was excited he did something helpful. "You help me on patrols. You were just a hero this time," Hawks pointed out and then went back to doing the laundry.

It wasn't an hour later that there were viral videos of him and Endeavor fighting the monsters and Luffy putting the fire out. He wondered why someone would stay there, filming, with crazy monsters around. His face wasn't shown. And his wings looked black in the darkness. People were calling him a mystery hero, wanting to know who he was.

Of course, nobody would tell the press who he was. Except then somebody made the connection with another image of him with Hawks, and said it was the same person. Well, damn.

The next day, he had some attention about the night before, because he was very recognizable with his wings. It was awkward, and when people tried to get photos with him, and said he was interning and had to go.

"If you hadn't been so selfish and immature last night, you would be getting positive attention too," Endeavor said irritably. Luffy couldn't help it, he stepped in.

"Please, don't compare me to Todoroki like that." Endeavor looked down at him with a scowl. "We're friends, I don't want to be compared like that."

Todoroki stepped in and said, "Luffy, it's fine. He's right. I'm not angry with you." Luffy relaxed and nodded, becoming silent again. "You did the right thing last night, and I'm grateful you got us help." Luffy gave a small smile of relief and then nodded.

On his way out of the agency, he ran into Ace, who was grinning at him. They were both leaving at the same time. "I saw you online! You were so awesome. I was a bit disgusted by the whole ripping out brains part, though." Luffy agreed that it was disgusting, felt nasty.

"I've washed it over and over but it still is disgusting," Luffy admitted. He asked how he liked working with Endeavor. "Not much. I mean, he did praise me for my work last night, but otherwise he's cold, like he always has been." Ace looked confused. "I've been friends with his kid for seven years, and he never said anything nice to me during that time. All he'd ever told me was to go away."

Ace frowned. "He's not very nice, I agree. But working with him pays well." Luffy confessed that he felt he hadn't learned anything from him other than his own experience he had at Hosu the night before. He already knew everything from years of being with a pro-hero. Well, two more days and it was over and they got to go back. "Where will you go if there's a longer internship?"

"Hawks. I'm not going back to Endeavor. It's my goal to work as a sidekick for Hawks," Luffy said, sure he'd already said it. Ace nodded. "What is your goal? To be a sidekick?"

They were sitting at a bench now, people passing them. "My goal… I don't know. My goal was always to find you, I didn't think much ahead of that. Now that I've found you and you seem interested in having a relationship, I guess I have to come up with a new goal." Luffy gave a small smile. Ace's goal had always been to find his baby brother, nothing else was more important than that.

"Would you ever want to be a pro-hero?" Luffy wondered. Ace said he'd considered it, but for now he wanted to get a better feel of the country and it's hero society, since he hadn't lived in Japan for many years after being sent away. "I'm happy you came to find me. Knowing that someone from my family cares about me." Ace smiled and took his hand.

"You can talk to me about anything you want, okay? And I'll answer as soon as I can if you do message me," he said with a sincere smile. Luffy nodded, giving him a smile. There was no doubt in his mind that Ace was his brother even if he had no physical proof, like photos. And he had no doubt that he had good intentions.

"I should go so I can make dinner. I'll talk to you later," Luffy said. Ace wished him goodnight and Luffy put his backpack on and then flew home, feeling happy. Ace made him happy. He didn't know what he'd been missing until he had it.

He wished Hawks had family like that. He had no family. And that was very sad. Well, Luffy hoped he considered him as a family member. A good friend, at least. He flew back happily, enjoying the sunset right in front of him.

The internships ended and Luffy couldn't be happier. Being around Endeavor was exhausting, not pissing him off but also not ignoring him so he noticed. But Luffy didn't bring any complaints against him home, since Hawks had always admired him. He wouldn't mess that up.