Again, the next morning they got up early and made their way to Nighteye's building easily. When they entered, Bubble Girl knew how they got there since the train wasn't supposed to arrive for another thirty minutes. "I made a big, long slide and we just slid our way here," Luffy explained. Nighteye found this entertaining from his look but said nothing.
The two got dressed in their costumes. The nails and spikes didn't go through the thick pockets, so that was lucky. Once Mirio and Midoriya arrived, the four were told they'd be doing surveillance and patrols. They'd split into two groups, broken into threes. Midoriya was with Nighteye and Bubble Girl while Ace and Luffy were with Mirio.
Midoriya looked at Ace and Luffy a bit nervously. He probably wished they were there with him instead of someone he didn't know and a guy who had been mean. Well, maybe he could see now that Nighteye wasn't mean.
It also might be because Nigheye knew that Ace and Luffy would be good in practice and Mirio had apparently told the boss that he wanted to teach Ace and Luffy. Bubble Girl told the newbies that they were spying on a new villain group named the Shie Hassaikai. They hadn't done anything big, but were suspicious and so they were watching them. Nighteye had a bad feeling about them, so they were watching closely.
Chisaki was the leader of the group, the number two that seemed to be doing the organizing, and that he was acting strange. There were also reports that they'd made contact with the League of Villains. Luffy scowled, and Nighteye looked at him.
"I'm fine. I swear that I'm not terrified of them," he said in a strong and firm voice. Nighteye nodded and went back to speaking. The guy, Chisaki, wore a creepy plague mask.
They didn't have any proof of him committing crime, which was why they were gray, not considered a big villain group, but obviously shady, but they couldn't do anything against them with no proof of planned or already committed any wrongdoing. They were after the tail, but were told not to get caught and don't let them suspect anything.
"Yes, sir!" the five of them replied.
Soon Mirio and the twins were walking down streets, getting recognized just by their hair from people about the sports festival. Ace and Luffy grinned and told them that it was a secret, they were heroes now, not just students. "But it makes us happy you enjoyed watching! We sure had a fun time playing. Keep safe!" they would say and turn around.
It was fun and comfortable, interacting with people as heroes for the first time. Not street rats. Mirio said they seemed like naturals at it. "Making people happy makes us happy, too. But we hope there's no problem the first time. And that Midoriya will be alright."
Mirio assured that Midoriya would learn from those two more than him. And that they would be doing most of the work today and watching the target. It's also a show of trust on Midoriya's part. "But four of us would be too big for a normal patrol. Stay with me and I'll teach you a ton of stuff!" and he started moving his arms around really wildly and so Luffy joined in and Ace just sighed, though it was of fondness for his brother.
"Now, we can't let our guard down," Mirio said, stopping his movements suddenly, Luffy as well. "The moment we put on our costumes and step outside, we're heroes, FireFist, Lu." They nodded happily, wearing smiles like they were part of their costume. Well, they were for them.
Luffy and Ace were distracted and didn't feel the child running towards them until she crashed into Luffy's side. He didn't fall but she did. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Luffy asked. Ace was focusing on the person in front of them walking their way, after the little girl. It was Chisaki. What was he doing there? Why was it them that came across him?
And who was this little girl running from him?
"You look like you need a hug," Luffy said simply. The girl didn't hug him. "How about a hand shake?" he asked patiently. "My name is Lu. I'm sorry I bumped into you, I didn't even see you!" Of course he noticed the bandages. Of course he could pretty much smell the fear coming off of him. "How about this?" he asked, putting his palms lower and facing up. "My brother always did this when I was little," he said. She put her hands on his and then gripped them tightly.
Luffy knew there was a bad person approaching, Ace knew it too. He trusted his brother to defend him while he was in a vulnerable position. "Now you know, Eri. You can't go along causing trouble for heroes." His voice was disgusting and the presence he reeked was foul.
"Eh, your name is Eri? That's a pretty name," he said kindly and she moved closer into his arms, trembling. He put a soft hand on her head, rubbing slightly. He didn't know this situation, he knew they couldn't save her without seeming suspicious to this guy that was their target. "We musn't be frightened," he said softly. "There's always an end to a dark tunnel we sometimes run through. Fear makes the dark so much worse. Loneliness is painful, but someone will always care about you. Sometimes that care will keep you going, right?"
She was looking at him with wide eyes. "I know what it's like to feel fear. But you know what helps combat that? This," he said and pointed to his smile. She had tears in her eyes and grabbed his chest. He felt so bad they had to leave her, but he vowed to himself to help her. Someway he'd come back for her.
He wasn't fooled into thinking they could save everybody at any moment. While he focused on Eri the other two focused on Chisaki. Mirio was doing most of the talking, Ace was recording every single move this man made so they could analyze it later. He thought of it like writing in the log book. Jotting everything down so he could look at it later.
Mirio said they had to get to the lunch shift, and Luffy was going to stand before Eri grabbed him tightly. "D-Don't go," she whimpered.
"Don't leave us!" Luffy's young voice called as their parents drove off, dumping them in an unfamiliar place in the rain.
Luffy grit his teeth, and took her hands, squeezing them tightly with an encouraging smile on. "Remember, fear is your biggest enemy. Don't let it consume you, there's always a brighter day," he said softly. "We have to go now. I hope to see you again some day," he added happily, pressing his thumb into her palm and making circular motions.
He stood up feeling like scum, leaving someone scared, hurt and clearly abused. Chisaki was leaving him and Ace behind. Well, Chisaki would be taken down and this girl would be saved. He was sure of it. Everyone can be saved.
"Eri, come now. I don't want to scold you again and you don't want that either, right?" Chisaki asked, voice still light and fake. He was saying if she didn't come back he'd beat her or something else terrible.
Ace took Luffy's hand and Eri was shaking. Luffy pointed to his smile and her mouth twitched just slightly, but was unable to smile. We're sorry both if them thought.
"That was the best move to do. If we'd pressed anymore, it would have been suspicious. Your kindness hopefully helped her. We'll ask Sir what to do." The two nodded and took hands again. Their smiles weren't so bright, but they still had to be that way. That was their goal as heroes. They won't be able to save everyone, but losing their cool and not making them smile would be a failure as well.
"I'm sorry, Lu. We both know that's what we had to do," Ace said. Luffy nodded, saying he knew that. But he didn't have to like it. "Having this job will be hard. At the very least, we know what failing our first person in need is." He scoffed bitterly. "First person and we have to abandon her." Ace put his arm around his shoulder.
They were both upset, and Mirio said he was sorry that was their first outing. They weren't supposed to run into them and didn't know about Eri. "We could tell he was bad news even before he showed up. Luffy put himself in a vulnerable position knowing I'd protect him. You did your best to help her in the moment."
Luffy nodded, saying all that you can is be your best. "I want to save her when we take down Chisaki. I want to be the one who gets to her. I want to keep my promise that a light will always be at the end of the tunnel. I know that's not true all of the time, but I would rather give false hope than confirm that there was nothing left for them but pain and suffering."
Ace said he felt the same. And Mirio did, too. They didn't know Eri's situation or who she was to him, but she was scared of him and covered in bandages. So she was not in a good situation. Of course not, not when you're so scared you're shaking. When they met up with the other three, Nighteye apologized for not using foresight on them to see what would happen. Midoriya asked if they were okay.
"Yeah, it was just hard. She was really scared, and I tried to help the only way I could, but we couldn't save her." Midoriya asked how he helped her. "I was kind," Luffy replied simply. "It can go a long way for someone who feels hopeless.
Mirio said they'd gotten a little information. That Chisaki had a daughter, or at least claimed Eri was his kid. It was the only good thing about that day. Midoriya asked why they couldn't just save her. Ace and Luffy didn't reply, just silently holding hands. "It would blow our cover. Haste makes waste. You can't save anyone or everyone with just good intentions," Nighteye said. "I'm sorry that your first mission ended up like this. There are plenty of people out there to save."
Ace said, "We know. We're just... not as happy as we were before we left." Luffy nodded.
"There's nothing we can do about it right now, but hopefully I can prove to Eri that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I don't want my words to end up a lie," the younger twin said. Nighteye said that was the best case scenario. He told them to go home for the night. And there was no work day tomorrow. "You're all still students, you won't have work every day of the week."
They nodded and headed back to the agency where they changed out of their hero outfits and put the cases in their backpacks. The walk was silent before Ace and Luffy told Mirio goodbye and climbed up the stairs, even in the rain. This time, Luffy's slide had railings to keep him from falling to the side. It didn't feel like Ace was holding onto him since Luffy was sitting on a solid surface. By the time they got back, both were soaked to the bone. Ace dried them off and then went to their rooms. It was a day with no school, so they hadn't missed anything.
They went straight to bed.
The next day wasn't good for Ace and Luffy. Luffy the most. They just sat at their desk quietly. Hakagure asked what was wrong, how their internship day went. Luffy said, "Couldn't save the first person who needed us. We can't say anything more." The class settled, and they said they were sorry.
"It's fine. It's not over, we'll save her eventually. Let's not talk about it anymore," Luffy said with an air of finality. Ace was sitting with his desk pressed to Luffy's. Ace quietly asked if he was okay. Luffy nodded, said he was upset but it made him determined. "Turn something bad into something good, huh?"
Ace smiled and nodded. "That's a good rule to live by. Let's add that to our list," he said with a bright voice. Luffy nodded, taking a couple calming breaths before the content look returned. They wouldn't abandon her for good. They'd help her and bring down Chisaki, even if it was only child abuse. That was still a disgusting crime.
The day went slowly, but they got a lot done. They asked all of their teachers if there was any work they could complete in advance since they'd be missing school more often. They returned to the dorms with a pile of papers and books.
"The hell?" Kaminari asked. "What's all that?"
Luffy spoke from behind his pile. "Homework." The students inside shouted, "WHAT?!"
"We won't feel good if a bunch of homework piles up on us while doing our work studies, you know. Better to get it done ahead of time than procrastinate. Midoriya, you should be doing this, too," Ace said. They both made their ways to the elevators and up to their room, where they spent the next six hours doing everything they could do before they were both exhausted and the piles were substantially smaller. Then they made logs of the day like Nighteye had shown them how. Then they went to bed, a mess all over the floor of papers and pencils and textbooks.
The next morning, they forgot there was no work to be done that day. "Well, crap," Ace mumbled, looking at the mass of completed homework and classwork. "Man, we got so much done we won't have much left to do, huh, Lu?"
Luffy was on his side, hugging his pillow with a dazed look. Ace asked if he was okay. "Ace looks like a watermelon from right here," he mumbled. Ace blinked twice. How the hell did any part of Ace look like a watermelon?! Then he burst out laughing and smacked Luffy on the head, making him wake up more.
"Hey, why'd you hit me!?"
Ace said, "You told me I looked like a watermelon!"
"Who said that, you don't look like one at all."
"You said that, you moron!" Ace said and both of them erupted in laughter. Despite how stressed they were about the Eri situation, they could still laugh. "C'mon, let's get all this stuff organized. Maybe since we've done all our work we could go visit Gunhead. Since we're going off campus for hero studies, does that mean we can't go off for other reasons?"
Luffy hmmmmed. "I'd like to ask first. I'm not Midoriya and like getting myself in hot water all the time." Ace admitted that was true and they put all of their finished class materials in their backpacks. They still had a lot to do until they were set for the next two weeks worth of class and homework.
They ran down the stairs, feeling bubbly. Maybe today would be a good day. Luffy made a smoothie and Ace made a protein shake to eat on the way, since they wanted to get there early to ask Aizawa when others weren't there and they might interfere with the answer.
When they reached homeroom a lot of others were already there. "What's up? Apparently Luffy thinks I look like a watermelon," Ace said conversationally.
"In my sleep," Luffy grumbled. Ace pointed out his eyes were open. "You're mean," he said. But they were both in good spirits.
"Hey, hey, you two aren't the only ones who have been in the news for good stuff! Look, Tsu and Uraraka got in the news for helping as sidekicks. And Kirishima is super popular, too!" Hagakure cheered. Luffy and Ace put their heavy bags down, and went to look at their phone screens. Luffy grinned, happy for them. Ace was grinning as well, and saw the seething Bakugo. He still didn't have his provisional license.
Luffy gushed, "That's amazing, I'm so happy for you! Maybe now it won't be just me and Ace known in class 1-A. We can all share the popularity." The others grinned and agreed. Ace, Luffy and Midoriya hadn't said anything about their first days. Especially Ace and Luffy. Plus, it was a secret investigation, they couldn't tell anybody.
Aizawa walked in, but there were still a few moments until class started. It was shocking that he was there before and not at the exact time class started. They walked up to him and asked if they were allowed to leave campus to see Gunhead. That's because they'd finished that weeks' worth of work.
"And why did you do this?" he asked. Luffy said they misjudged and had just not wanted to get behind in work. "Turn all your things in here, but stay for homeroom. You are not allowed to leave campus, only for work studies. But I see no issue in you meeting him at the gate, you just can't leave."
Ace and Luffy deflated. "Do you know when we'll be allowed to go home?" Aizawa said he didn't know. They nodded sadly and took out their packets of finished work and put it all on the desk to the side.
"Everyone, calm down," Aizawa said simply. Everyone did, and the classroom was turned silent. Ace and Luffy had done their work for the day, so they got to leave early. They went outside the class and sat on a bench. Luffy gripped the fabric over his knees and clenched his teeth. He felt really bad about Eri. Did she think he thought of her as just some disposable girl? Or did she feel the kindness and encouragement he tried giving her? To tell her to hang on before help comes. He tried to give her strength, but he didn't know if it worked.
It was bad to have the first test be the one it was. It would have been best if he saved a little kid who lost his mom. Instead of an abused child from a villain leader that they couldn't help. "You okay?" Ace asked quietly. Luffy chuckled brokenly.
"I'm okay. I'm not feeling good, but I'm okay. I just hope we find her and help her soon. I feel bad about it. I know it was the right thing to do in the moment, but still, it was wrong to leave her when she needed us. She needed a hero, and she didn't get one," Luffy replied, clenching his hands. He took a deep breath.
"But I can't let the negative feelings overwhelm me or I'm useless at everything else, would make things more inefficient," Luffy said quietly.
Ace leaned his head on Luffy's shoulder. "I didn't expect for it to begin like this," the older said. Luffy nodded in agreement. "But no matter what happens, we do everything together," he said firmly and took Luffy's hands. "Promise?"
"I promise. Why don't we call Gunhead and see if he can meet us at the gate? We can at least talk to him, even if we can't visit home. So they called him on Ace's phone, but got his voicemail. Neither of them were surprised, but a bit disappointed. He skyped with them about the adoption, but it was underwhelming and unsatisfying. So they agreed to postpone it until they could walk in and out of the courthouse together, as a family.
The pro-hero was all for that if the twins wanted it. They had something to look forward to, though they didn't know when that would be at all. The league of villains was still hiding in the shadows, making it unsafe for students to return to normal life. They would be sad to leave their classmates, as it was like having sleepovers with their friends, but they did miss complete privacy.
A quiet and isolated place to practice and spar instead of on the lawn in front of all the windows. They weren't interesting enough to watch anymore, but it still wasn't fun to not have any privacy. And after hours, they couldn't leave their dorm area, so they could go nowhere to practice on their own.
They were sitting by the gate, calling Gunhead periodically so they might be able to catch him at just the right moment. They were surprised to look up and see Midoriya walking over. "Hey," Luffy said with a smile. The other didn't smile back. "What's wrong?"
Midoriya looked down. "Do you not feel anything?"
Ace put his phone in his pocket. "What do you mean?" Ace wondered.
"You're smiling and laughing when some little girl is out there being terrorized by a villain," he said coldly. He looked at them in anger. The twins never thought he would at them like that. He didn't even look at Bakugo like that when he was bullying him.
Luffy scowled. "What, do you think we're happy about what happened? You weren't there. It was us who had to watch her leave into the shadows, knowing full well how powerful and evil Chisaki was."
Midoriya asked, then, "Why are you able to laugh?"
"Are we supposed to wallow in regret every moment of every day? Why are you acting like we're terrible people?" Ace asked in a hurt voice. Midoriya was looking down again, balling his fists. "Haven't the teachers and pro-heroes said it all the time? You can't get overly emotional or it will harm others you will be saving. We want to be good heroes, we want to follow the rules. We know you don't mean to break them and have good intentions, but we don't let our emotions consume us as best as he can."
"I just don't understand it. How you can even pretend to be happy," he said in a quiet but harsh voice.
Luffy asked, "All Might smiles no matter how tragic something is, doesn't he? He smiles to give other people hope. You admire him so much, I don't know how you don't know this." He wasn't trying to be mean. "You're his favorite disciple, aren't you?"
"Don't talk about All Might with me," Midoriya said in an angry voice. Luffy and Ace didn't know what to think about how Midoriya was acting. Why was he so angry at them? "I know he should have chosen someone else, someone better. You're always the better ones, there's always someone better."
Luffy glared. "I thought you wouldn't be one of those to shame us for being diligent and successful."
"How is complimenting 'shaming'? You guys are great at everything, of course people are going to be jealous or compliment you!" Ace and Luffy knew something had happened, he wouldn't usually talk like this. But it was hurting having him treat them so rudely, so harshly. It wasn't who he was.
"Are you jealous?" Ace asked.
"I thought it was Bakugo that I needed to overcome. He was always the stronger one of the two of us. Always. I didn't recognize it until a little while ago. You guys are the ones I have to overcome now, you and everyone else. I'll be the top hero."
Luffy said, "What, so you're gonna ditch us because you don't like we're stronger?! You admire Bakugo and he was terrible to you for years!" Midoriya said that at least he didn't pity him. "You think we're friends out of pity?"
Midoriya said, "It was always like that. You were always the one protecting me. Telling me things that weren't true. You can't be a hero without a quirk! After I got a quirk, you stopped talking to me!"
Ace said it wasn't the quirk that pushed them away. "You lied to us. Multiple times, knowing how much that hurts us."
"I'm not going to tell you everything going on at all times!"
Luffy had angry and hurt tears on his face. "I'm not going to argue with you anymore. If you send us such feelings of animosity, that shows what you really think." He sniffled once before running off. Ace sent him a look of anger.
"You better not let this attitude continue at work. We won't be the ones who get fired if you show emotions like this. Being the number one hero doesn't just mean being the strongest. You should know that," Ace said and then ran after Luffy.
"Lu, wait up!"
-x-
"Luffy, it's dinner time. Don't let him scare us off like this. I'm hurt as well, but we can't let this bring us down. We… We were drifting apart for a while. This was inevitable, I just didn't think it would happen like this." Luffy nodded and wiped his runny nose, throwing the covers off of him.
Luffy said firmly, "We're always the bigger person." Ace nodded, and the two of them left their room, holding hands. Now they wished they weren't so close to Midoriya's room. They passed him in the hallway, not making eye contact. They saw his slouched shoulders.
He asked, "Can we talk again?" quietly.
Ace said, "Not tonight," in a hard voice, and then they walked into the kitchen. They found someone had cooked dinner, a pasta dish that Ace and Luffy hated making but loved to eat. It was awesome once the others started to like to cook meals for everybody. Now they had shifts between meals. It ran pretty smoothly. They also drew slots to see what the majority wanted for dinner.
Gunhead hadn't called them back yet. It worried them and saddened them. Just a little. Did he forget about them? They tried not to think like that. "Hey, do you know what's up with Midoriya?" Kirishima asked.
Luffy said, "We got into an argument that wasn't resolved. We're not gonna talk about it and slander him." The table was shocked, and said they'd never seen Luffy and Ace argue except when Ace was a mess after Luffy's kidnapping. The brothers shrugged their shoulders. "We don't let people walk all over us, even if they're friends."
Everyone was quiet for a bit, the air awkward. But then people started talking again, and Ace and Luffy could be silent without feeling they were being analyzed. They finished dinner earlier than the others and went to bed.
Midoriya might seem out of character but this takes place after learning All Might was going to die sometime in the possible near future and that he was not going to be the one chosen to OFA. And then Ace and Luffy were the first people he saw afterwards.
