(A/N: Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I know I posted this on Friday instead of Thursday, but I figured many of you would be with your families as I am. And if you weren't, or don't celebrate the holiday, I hope you had a pleasant Thursday anyway! :D )

...

What the fuck?

When Katstuki had followed Deku and IcyHot, he only did it in hopes of finding out how the nerd knew the annoying Half-and-Half bastard. And maybe what the Quirkless Wonder had been up to while at UA. Other than staying the hell out of his way, as he should.

At first, he found their conversation irritating with Deku complimenting Peppermint boy on his wins. Which then led to them talking about feels, ugh, and other blah blah blahs. Stupid shit like that. Though he did find it entertaining that the shitty nerd called out IcyHot for half-assing his way through. As well as pushing to find out why exactly which the current-first-place thorn in his side stubbornly refused to answer.

Then Half-and-Half snapped and called Deku Quirkless. In a tone that meant the nerd will never get what it's like to have a Quirk. Which was true and something that Katsuki could understand and get behind. That is until he apologized for some reason. It confused the blonde who clicked his tongue a little louder than he intended.

Why would he apologize to the shitty nerd by calling him what he is? Quirkless. Useless. Deku.

In fact, Deku even agreed with him after a few moments of silence. Even going as far as to confirm he knew that no one expected him to amount to anything. Because what could a useless Quirkless nobody like him ever amount to anyway.

Though he didn't appreciate the damn nerd calling him a bully, clicking his tongue again in annoyance. He wasn't a bully. He was only trying to teach Deku his place. That without a Quirk he was nothing. Which the nerd said as much.

See. Even Deku gets it.

Or so he thought. Until the fucker started spouting crap about not being a waste of space and actually having 'potential'. The amount of optimism still left in Deku after all these years made him want to puke. As if some shitty gadgets and fucking doohickeys could ever replace a Quirk. There was just no way.

'But he did make it through the first two rounds using those doohickeys,' an inner voice supplied unwantedly.

Katsuki didn't want to acknowledge anything remotely resembling a fact that the Quirkless Blunder could have done anything without real natural-born power. Choosing instead to write it off as luck and having to scrape by while clinging to others in order to get by. There's just no way Deku could actually do anything. Then the fucker said something that couldn't ever remotely be true.

"I have the potential to be anything I want because I have nothing to hinder what I want to be."

Pssh. Yeah, right. No matter how fucking glass-half-full the shitty nerd thinks, Deku's glass has been empty ever since he was four and never manifested a Quirk. Ruining everything in the process. How could we possibly be a Hero duo when he couldn't ever be one without a Quirk. He would only get himself killed.

Katsuki continued to listen to the shit coming out of the fucking nerd's mouth. Somehow, whatever he said did get through IcyHot's walls and got him to talk. Crap about Endeavor using his natural power to work his way to the top, but never surpassing All Might.

Maybe his old man could never do that, but I will. I'll be the Number One Hero someday and the best out of all of them. As I was born to be.

All Might was Katsuki's idol, a strong Hero that used that strength to take down Villains and be the best. Endeavor, although not as highly, was also a Hero he looked up to because of his amount of raw power. You would think, being the son of the Number Two Hero, Half-and-Half would look up to his father too.

But he didn't and openly glared at Endeavor with an anger that rivaled Katsuki's own. He chalked it up to some rebellious phase or whatever. At this point, he didn't think he would get the answers as to how the two knew each other and planned to walk away. That is…until the bombshell was dropped.

"Midoriya, have you ever heard of…Quirk marriages?"

What the fuck?

That…that was way more than he had bargained for. Katsuki didn't know everything about Quirk marriages, but he knew enough to know they were bad. Forced partnerships that led to health complications most of the time among other things. Just bad.

Endeavor…forced a Quirk marriage? And Half-and-Half was a result of that? What the actual fuck?

Before he had planned to leave but found himself frozen in place as he listened. Hearing one bad thing after another about a Hero he looked up to for his power. A power the man used to reach for the top but also to force a marriage and abuse his family apparently. Something not heroic at all.

That inner voice tried to bring up that he was a bit of a hypocrite but Katsuki silenced it by letting the anger push it back down to nothing. As he always did.

So, this is the reason IcyHot has been half-assing this whole time? As a big 'fuck you' to his old man?

After hearing what he did, Katsuki couldn't help but agree that the ass of a man deserved it. But then again, he also couldn't help but remember that he was here to prove he was the best. And if that damn Half-and-Half bastard wasn't going to give it his all over some petty grudge, then whatever win Katsuki did get wouldn't be a complete one.

That pissed him off. Any win other than a fight fought with each side's full power was something he could never consider a true victory. He needed to prove he was the best. Prove that everyone who said he would be an amazing Hero was right. Prove to them, his parents, Deku, but most of all…

…prove it to himself.

...

Hitoshi had followed the angry Pomeranian as he in turn followed Izuku and Todoroki. The purple haired teen stuck to the shadows and took advantage of corners and doorways to stay out of sight. Whatever Izuku was up to with Todoroki wasn't his business. But Bakugou following them as if it were his business was what drove the brainwasher to follow as well.

Up ahead, he saw his friends turn another corner into a tunnel that led to outside of the stadium. Bakugou continued down the hall and stopped just before the corner, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets.

Well, at least he's not totally inserting himself into their business. But the eavesdropping isn't much better.

Stopping at his own shadowed corner, Hitoshi remained mostly hidden while still keeping an eye on the blonde. From where he stood, he could sort of hear the voices of his friends but was far enough away that he couldn't make any sense of the words muffled by distance. But again, what they were talking about wasn't his business. Bakugou was.

Following people was not a habit of the purple-haired teen usually practiced. But this involved Izuku. The first person who ever said his Quirk wasn't villainous. The first person to ever believe that he could be a Hero with a Quirk like his. The first person to be his friend.

Izuku was someone who had literally stumbled into his life and had suddenly become a very important part of it. His words that day had turned Hitoshi's thoughts about his own Quirk completely around. Years of everyone calling it a Villain's Quirk didn't completely vanish, of course, but the belief of this random boy had helped him more than he could ever express in words of his own.

So, he would be damned if he let anything happen to his friend. Especially when it came to Bakugou. As their friendship had progressed, Izuku and he had exchanged stories of the discrimination they had experienced growing up. Hitoshi for his not-actually-villainous Quirk and Izuku for his lack of one.

Hitoshi felt that Izuku tended to down play aspects of the bullying he had received due to his friend's forgiving nature. But there was one element of the greenette's accounts that kept coming back again and again. A certain explosive element by the name of Bakugou Katsuki.

His friend had told him tales of how his once childhood friend had changed when they were four. That the blonde's already fiery personality had evolved and became as explosive as his Quirk, especially when Izuku never developed one of his own.

Izuku said he didn't really understand why Bakugou had stopped being his friend or why he was so adamant about telling him he couldn't be a Hero. All he knew was that after the blonde learned he would never have a Quirk, the older of the two seemed to have turned all that fiery anger to him.

From what Hitoshi had heard, it seemed to him that Bakugou was one percent evil and ninety-nine percent hot angry-ass gas. Or that his anger level was unusually high for someone of his dick size. Not that he knew for sure or anything, but the guy seriously oozed tiny dick syndrome. Acting as if that by yelling loud enough, everyone would have to listen and follow what he says not matter what. Which, as it turned out, had been how the explosive teen's school life had gone with his followers of 'extras' including students and teachers alike. Letting him get away with anything as he understood it.

The bullying had started as physical with Bakugou using his Quirk as well as his fists on Izuku and inspired others to do the same. But the physical attacks had stopped once Izuku started taking self-defense classes and learned to stand his ground. So, the physical turned to verbal.

'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.'

Whoever said that was an idiot. Hitoshi knew from experience that words can hurt you just as much as any 'sticks' and 'stones' could. Words may not cause bones to break, but they can inflict just as painful wounds and leave just as unpleasant scars behind. New words could treat those wounds and sooth those scars, but they would never truly and fully heal just like any physical injury. His own were slowing getting better with Izuku's help, along with their other friends, and Hitoshi hoped that it was the same for his friend.

Which led his thoughts back to the task at hand. Keeping to the shadows, Hitoshi eyed the weirdly-quiet blonde as the other stood there with his hands in his pockets and listened in on a conversation that had nothing to do with him. Hitoshi couldn't really hear anything and only had Bakugou's expressions to tell whatever tone his friends' talk was turning.

For a while, the angry Pomeranian stood there with the usual scowl on his face. But then, his expression turned to one that Hitoshi could only think to describe as horror. What the hell were his friends talking about to make Bakugou look like that?

It wasn't too long after that, that Bakugou schooled his face back to his typical glare and stormed down the hall. Hitoshi pushed himself further into the shadow he stood in and watched the explosive teen stalk by, unaware he was being watched. Wafts of burnt sugar filled the air as he trudged by which Hitoshi knew was due to his Quirk. The blonde was out of sight by the time Hitoshi saw his friends entering the corridor.

Staying hidden, Hitoshi saw Izuku pause and sniff the air. Probably also smelling the left-over odor of Bakugou's Quirk he guessed knowing the greenette's observant nature. Watching the shorter of the pair wave off the taller one's concerns as they continued down the hall, Hitoshi waited until they were closer before he revealed himself.

"There you two are," Hitoshi said as he stepped out from around his corner.

Izuku jumped slightly at his sudden appearance and said, "Oh, H-Hitoshi-kun! Hey! Were you l-looking for us?"

Hitoshi noticed that they had immediately stopped holding hands once he had appeared, but he didn't say anything.

"Yeah, I was," he said, turning around as he beckoned them to follow and then started to lead the way to the cafeteria. He could hear the other two following him. "Mei and the others went ahead to get a table. Let's grab some grub before lunch is over, yeah?"

"Of course!" Izuku chirped behind him while Todoroki merely hummed a reply.

So, together they walked through the halls with Hitoshi walking slightly ahead. As the trio walked, the three passed some small talk back and…well, not really forth. Mostly it was Izuku muttering about the Quirks he had seen and theories of how one student would fair against another in the coming battles. From time to time, Todoroki and Hitoshi would make a small comment, but for the most part it was Izuku doing the talking.

As they walked, Hitoshi would glance back every so often and see that they weren't holding hands per se but their pinkies were linked. But again, he never said anything. It wasn't his place to comment on Izuku and his not-his-boyfriend friend seeking a small comfort like that. It was actually kind of adorable to be honest. Especially paired with the small smiles they would trade with each other.

Maybe I should start a betting pool to see how long it takes for them to get together officially? Though, taking both of their either obliviousness or denial, it could still be quite a while. I'll have to talk with Mei about it later.

...

Once they got closer to the cafeteria, Izuku and Todoroki shared a look and one last comforting squeeze before letting go of each other's pinkie. It wasn't out of discomfort that they didn't hold hands, or fingers, in front of others, but more out of a want of privacy. It was something special between him and his friend that they mutually wanted to keep to themselves for the most part.

After standing in line, they arrived at the front and ordered their food. Although Izuku loved katsudon, today he went for something lighter and nutritional but still delicious and opted for a lunch of cooked fish, rice, and miso soup. Hitoshi and Todoroki both ordered cold soba, the former because he just felt like it and the latter because it was his favorite.

Izuku, as well as his growling stomach, was looking forward to eating after fighting so hard to make it to the third round. However, after they got their food, the greenette found himself distracted by something he overheard before settling down to eat. That something involving a certain perverted grape boy who was scheming something or other. Specifically, something involving the girls of 1-A from what he overheard as the three passed by the short boy talking to Yaoyorozu and Jirou, both with trays in hand.

What is he up to?, Izuku thought as he strained to listen as they passed by.

"…you're a class rep so I figured you knew all the girls are required to participate in the cheer competition after lunch," the small boy said.

"That's odd," Yaoyorozu said, brows furrowed in confusion. "No one told us about this before. Are you sure?"

"Maybe you forgot or something," the shorter boy said with a shrug, turned around to point across the room at something. "But apparently all the girls have to wear uniforms like those to compete in it."

Following his finger, Izuku saw he was pointing at some foreign cheerleaders in matching outfits. The greenette then turned back only to see something that raised a red flag in his mind. With his back to the girls, they couldn't see the disturbing look on the pervert's face. But Izuku could. And he didn't like it. That doesn't suggest anything remotely close to good intentions. Breaking away from his small group, Izuku headed over to the girls.

"Excuse me," Izuku said, catching their attention as he walked towards them. The girls looked surprised at his sudden appearance though recognition dawned on Yaoyorozu's face. "Where did you hear that the girls had to participate in a cheer competition?"

The girls looked confused at that information while the shorter boy sent him a glare as if to say 'why are you trying to mess this up?'.

"I heard if from Aizawa-sensei himself," he sneered. "So, unless you want to get the girls in trouble, I suggest you butt out of this."

"But why would Aizawa-sensei tell you instead of Yaoyorozu-san who is, as you said, a class rep?" Izuku challenged, brows furrowed and hands wishing he had his escrima stick with him to use on the other boy again.

"Because I, uh," the shorter boy started, obviously trying to think of a plausible explanation on the fly. "He was in a hurry a-and told me to pass the reminder along." A slightly smug look spread on his face at the quick lie.

Yeah right.

"Well, I've studied the past Sports Festivals and having the girls participate in such an event has never come up," Izuku retorted, trying to channel his inner Aizawa to look as stern as possible. "Plus, if all the girls are supposed to compete, where are the uniforms they would be required to wear?" He looked down at Mineta's obviously empty hands.

"They, uh, ran out," Mineta said, sweating nervously slightly. "So, she would have to, uh, make some with her Quirk!" He smirked at the end as if his reasoning wasn't to be questioned.

Not to be questioned, my ass!

"But if they wanted the girls to participate in the event, wouldn't they have provided enough outfits to include them?" Izuku challenged further. "Seems off that they wouldn't since it's 'required' like you said and that they would expect the girls to make the uniforms themselves. Especially since they would have no idea that one of them had a Creation Quirk that would allow them to do so."

Izuku turned his attention to the girls.

"Doesn't that seem odd to you?"

The girls shared an inquiring look between them, then turned again to look at Izuku and Mineta. The greenette could see the uncertainty in their eyes, unsure if to believe the short pervert or not. After all, it was Mineta. But if Aizawa had said something…

"I agree with Izuku," Hitoshi called out from behind him. Seems he and Todoroki had followed after him rather than moving on to the table. Izuku smiled. It felt nice to know his friends had his back.

"I as well," Todoroki added, sending a hard expression down at the shortest teen. Izuku was his first real friend, but since they both came from prominent families, he had enough of a friendship with Yaoyorozu to be angry. Trying to take advantage of her or anyone else like this was wrong. "Perhaps we should confirm with Aizawa-sensei and see what he has to say."

Mineta started sweating buckets under the hard glare before sputtering out some crap about a misunderstanding and quickly ran away. The girls and Izuku let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Saving someone again from the pervert?" Hitoshi asked with a teasing tone.

"Apparently," Izuku huffed. "At this point, it's getting tedious. Though at least this time didn't take a taser."

"Taser?" Jirou questioned, brow quirked curiously.

"He's the one who shocked Mineta off my back when he used his Quirk on me during the Obstacle Course," Yaoyorozu explained and then sent a grateful smile to Izuku. "Thank you again, by the way."

"I-It was no trouble," Izuku replied with a blush.

"Oh, so, does that make you Hiro?" Jirou asked.

"Eh?!" Izuku exclaimed.

"You really are terrible at keeping secrets, aren't you, Izuku?" Hitoshi snarked, causing Izuku's face to redden more as he focused his attention on his food tray.

"It's not his fault," Jirou interjected, looking a bit shy herself. "My, uh, Quirk is a listening type and I tend to hear things that most people want to keep secret. I have a lot of practice not sharing what I've heard because they're not my secrets to tell."

Izuku perked up at the new tidbit of information about her Quirk to which Hitoshi rolled his eyes affectionately.

"Anyway, I overheard enough hints here and there to guess that you're Hiro," Jirou continued with a shrug. "Plus, your voice is exactly the same. But like I said, it wasn't my secret to tell. The only reason I brought it up is because I knew these three already did." She gestured to Yaoyorozu, Todoroki, and Hitoshi.

"Oh! Well, um, thank you for keeping it a secret," Izuku said, smiling with cheeks still slightly pink. "I really appreciate it. I'm Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet you." He gave a small bow of his head.

"Jirou Kyouka. Likewise," Jirou replied with her own small bow and smile.

"Alright, enough with making new friends," Hitoshi interjected with an exaggerated huff. "You're catching them like Pokémon. I'm starving and my food is getting cold."

"But you have cold soba like me," Todoroki commented with a quirked brow. "It's supposed to be cold."

Hitoshi gave the bi-color teen a deadpan look before abruptly turning around to find where Mei and the others were sitting. Todoroki glanced at Izuku questioningly who simply shrugged in reply. The taller boy let out a curious hum before following after the purple haired teen.

Izuku made to follow as well but was stopped by a poke to his shoulder. Turning around, he saw it was from one of Jirou's earphone jacks and that she had walked closer to him while Yaoyorozu seemed to be looking for a place to sit.

"What is it, Jirou-san?" Izuku asked.

"I…um…I didn't just overhear you were Hiro," Jirou said quietly, earning an inquiring look from him. "I, uh, I know. About your…about your Quirk status…"

Green eyes widened at that reveal, first in shock and then in fear. What does she think me? Wait, if she knows that, does she know that I…does she know I want to be a Hero?

Sensing his panic, Jirou quickly said, "I'm not judging you on it at all! I just wanted you to know that I knew and that I won't tell anyone that either."

"Y-you won't?" Izuku asked, the beginnings of tears in his eyes from his panic.

"No, like I said, it's not my secret to tell," Jirou replied with a comforting smile. "It's yours."

"Th-thank you," Izuku said, giving her a wobbly smile in return.

"No problem," she said as she turned to join Yaoyorozu who had found a table. Izuku moved to join his friends as well before she added one last comment. "By the way…"

Izuku glanced back at the punk purple haired girl, head tilted slightly in curiosity.

"…I think it's really cool that you want to be a Hero. Seems you're already acting like one though. Keep up the good work."

He couldn't help the deep flush of red that sprouted on his face as she snorted jovially at his reaction before leaving to sit with her friend. In a daze, Izuku crossed the room and sat in the seat next to Todoroki as was tradition by now. Hitoshi sat in the seat on his other side.

"You alright there, Mido?" Uraraka asked, as Todoroki took Izuku's hand under the table and giving his own inquiring squeeze.

"Y-yeah, I'm, uh, I'm alright," Izuku said, breaking out his trance from the anchor that was Todoroki's hand. He returned the squeeze with a smile before letting go so he could eat. "So, how do you think the ongoing battles will go?"

With that subject put forth for discussion, the group consisting of Mei, Hitoshi, Iida, Uraraka, Tsuyu, Todoroki, Izuku, and also with the addition of Tokoyami and Kouda, talked about their own theories of the possible outcomes. Though not going too into their own Quirks in case they faced any of those sitting at their table. They may be friends but it was still a competition.

As everyone talked, Izuku sat there enjoying his fish, rice, and miso soup, marveling at the number of friends he had now. The warm feeling in his chest made all those years of loneliness seem ages ago and he couldn't help but smile.

A sudden pressure on his knee made Izuku first look down to find a warm hand there. He then follows the hand to the attached arm up to his friend's face on his right. Todoroki silently asked if he was really alright with a slight squeeze to his leg. This was the first time he had ever done that so it caused Izuku to blush a little more than usual, but he gave his concerned friend a reassuring smile in answer. With a nod from the taller boy, after a comforting pat he let go and went back to his soba.

Todoroki-kun sure does love soba, Izuku thought as he chuckled to himself, cheeks still a bit pink. I wonder…

"Hey, Todoroki-kun," Izuku said, grabbing his friend's attention mid bite. He chuckled again at the sight of noodles hanging from chopsticks in front of the bi-color teen's open mouth as he quirked a white brow to show he was listening. "Some Quirks are fueled by what people eat or drink. Like Iida-kun drinks orange juice to fuel his Engine Quirk or Satou-kun eats sugar for his. I was wondering if that's the same for you and soba or if you just really like it."

Todoroki sat there thinking, bringing the noodles into his mouth where they were then hanging out from between his lips with the ends resting in the zaru sauce. Then he slurped the noodles up before answering simply, "Yes."

"Yes? To it fueling your Quirk or to you just liking it?" Izuku asked.

"Yes," Todoroki replied again, preparing another bite.

Izuku looked at him in confusion for a second before brushing it off and chuckling with a smile. Todoroki can be silly at times. But that's ok. He deserves to be able to be silly. Especially with how he grew up. The greenette reflected on what he had learned from his friend about his upbringing. He finally had the answer as to why he didn't use his left side, but knowing how he had been treated growing up left a sour taste in Izuku's mouth. And it wasn't from the food he was eating.

So, he won't use his fire to spite his father, Izuku thought as he continued eating his fish, chewing each bite carefully in thought. I get it, but I also don't. Todoroki-kun keeps calling it 'his' fire as if that part of his Quirk was his father's. But it isn't. Why doesn't he realize that the fire that comes from his left side is his own? Maybe I can make him realize it myself…

Izuku side-eyed his stubborn friend as the other continued to slurp up his precious cold soba. Todoroki was a mostly silent addition to their table, but Izuku could tell he enjoyed eating with them. Grey and blue eyes watched the others, absorbing whatever topics were passed back and forth, sharing his own comments between bites when he felt it necessary. It was a far cry from the first time Izuku had interacted with him, a figurative and literal cold shoulder.

I'm happy he's more comfortable around us and that he wants to be his own kind of Hero. But refusing to use his left side, to use a part of him, will hinder him more and more as time passes. I need to get him to realize that his fire isn't, nor will it ever be, his father's. That his left side is a part of him and he will never be his own person until he accepts it. Well…he may be stubborn, but so am I.

With a new kindling determination, Izuku finished eating his food with vigor, getting a few quirked eyebrows from those at the table. But he paid them no mind. He would help his friend realize that his fire was his own. No matter what it takes.

...

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Notes extension: post/635956350094049280/chapter-41-sports-festival-lunch-time-with