Shoto let out a deep sigh while sprawled over the living room couch.
Fuyumi looked over at him.
"What's wrong Sho? Did something happen on the server?"
"...Well, sort of. A bunch of people on it are doing… training together, and well, I know how much I get here, and I probably don't need more, and well-"
"What's the issue here, Sho?"
He paused to think about how he could explain what he was feeling
"I'm, afraid I might just be wasting their time if I join them."
Fuyumi moved in to hug him, and while he would normally push her away playfully, he was feeling sappy today, so he let her.
"Oh, Sho, you won't be. From what you told me about them, they'll love just to have you around, even if you won't learn anything. Which by the way, you probably will."
She got up to start making breakfast. "Getting other perspectives can always tell you more about whatever you're doing."
"Ok."
~~~~~~~~~~〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜~~~~~~~~~~~
Shoto made his way to the beach, feeling very nervous. Endeavor had him homeschooled, so he'd never been exposed to that many people. Being on the server had helped, but he had still never been in what was basically a crowd of people who all wanted to/expected to talk to him and that he'd talk back like a normal person, unlike in all the hero gala's that Endeavour took him to, where he was just there to learn about "preparing to be a hero".
Going to those galas had been the worst part of the job for Endeavor, so naturally, Shoto had the most fun watching him during them. One time (with the encouragement of Natsuo and the server) he had even brought a hidden camera with him and videod a bunch of awkward interactions for safekeeping.
Finally reaching the beach, he noticed Green/Melon waiting there, already doing some stretches on the sand. Suddenly all the worries that Fuyumi had talked him out of resurfaced and he wanted to bolt and run back home. This was a mistake, they'll think you're stupid and weird and find out who you are and who your father is and-
"Oiy!"
His spiraling thoughts were cut off by a nearby shout. Shoto looked over and saw that it was Boom Boom Boi, making his way towards Shoto.
"You heading to the beach?"
"Oh, em, well, I-"
Shoto made himself stop talking, took a deep breath, and tried again.
"Yeah, I was just… collecting my thoughts."
Seemingly amused, Boom Boom smirked at him and turned towards the beach.
"Well then, you and Melon can bond over 'collecting your thoughts' together once we finish for today. I'm sure he'd like someone else to join in on his 'self-doubt parade.'"
"Uh…" Shoto did not know how to respond to that.
"Are you coming? You're gonna be late if you stand there all day."
Shoto hurried to catch up with Boom Boom in the most dignified way he could without outright running.
Boom Boom looked at him, smirking, when suddenly his eyes widened a fraction in realization and he almost stumbled, catching himself just in time. The smirk returned immediately after, and Shoto would have doubted that it had ever gone if not for the fact that something seemed different about it this time.
He must have realized who I am. Shoto thought to himself with dread.
But Boom Boom just kept on walking beside him and didn't make any comment as they reached Melon. Shoto thought to himself that Boom Boom probably didn't care enough for it to bother him for more than a second. Or maybe he's just waiting to tell everyone else about me and-
"U-um, are you ok?"
Shoto was once again pulled out of his thoughts, this time by Melon.
"Em, yeah. Sorry, I was just lost in thought, that's all."
"O-oh, that's totally fine! I do that all the time," he replied.
"...You're Melon, right?"
Melon blushed, almost as if to answer his question. "E-em y-yeah, that's me… A-and who are you?"
"I'm The Theorist."
At that, Melon's face switched rapidly from several emotions, too quickly for Shoto to make out, but then it settled into a smile.
"It's so nice to finally meet you! Why don't we go and talk together about your quirk so I can make a plan, and then you'll join the rest, is that ok?"
Shoto was a bit nervous about the rapid change of emotions that had passed over Melon's face and thought that maybe Melon had probably figured out who he was, and was planning on telling him that he'd have to leave.
Well, at least I tried.
He followed Melon to a secluded pile of trash that they sat on, where Shoto could see a few others who had come early starting to warm up already.
Melon was the first to talk, with a determined look on his face.
"Are you comfortable?" Shoto nodded. "Ok, so the first thing I want to get out of the way is; I know who you are-"
The nervousness that Shoto had been feeling immediately turned into dread and sank to his stomach. That's it, he's gonna kick me out and gonna make me leave.
"-and I want to make sure that you're ok with that."
"Huh?"
"I wanted to tell you that I knew, cause I feel that it's not fair if I know and you don't know."
Shoto just sat there staring at Melon.
"I-if it bothers you in any way, I c-can tell you my real name, so we're even?"
Melon started to rub his hands on his pants in a nervous way.
"You...you don't care?"
"That you're Endeavor's son? No! Not at all! And from what you've been saying on the server about him, I think I care too much, but we'll deal with that later. Right now I want to know if it bothers you that I know? And that probably a few others will know who you are?"
"Em, not that much? As long as no one posts something with me in it so he doesn't find out, I think I'll be fine with it."
"He?"
"Endeavor."
"We can probably do that."
"Ok."
They sat there for a few seconds, in what Shoto supposed was an awkward silence.
"Oh! Right! I forgot to ask, em, what's your quirk? Just so that I can make a plan for how to improve it as much as possible."
"It's… I can create ice from my right side and fire from my left side. I don't want to ever use my fire in combat though, to show Endeavor that I can be better than him without his power."
Izuku looked conflicted, hesitating to speak until a few moments had passed.
"Em, well, you won't be fighting with your quirk now, just training with it, and we can deal with the fighting part another time."
"Uh-"
"Anyway! Why don't we go back to join the rest? They're probably waiting for us! Haha."
Shoto felt that the quick subject change had been very purposeful, and Melon's comment that "we can deal with the fighting part" did seem a bit worrying. But Melon hadn't told him to leave despite knowing, and he agreed to make sure no one posted anything, so Shoto considered that enough of a win and let Melon drag him towards the others.
"Hey everyone! This is The Theorist, Theorist this is everyone! He asks that you please not post any pictures at all with him in them, and that's ban-worthy, so take it seriously."
"IT'S NICE TO FINALLY MEET YOU!" The person he recognized from the occasional picture as Whirlwind yelled.
"Yeah!" Cheered Gravity.
"Back to training!" Boom Boom yelled at them, breaking up the circle they had been forming to start instructing everyone on what to do and how.
No one mentioned Shoto's scar or his obvious lack of control when it came to his fire compared to his ice that day.
~~~~~~~~~~〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey, Theorist," Whirlwind said as he came up to Shoto on the way back from the beach.
Shoto felt dread pool in his gut again.
As much as he had feared that Melon would hate him, that fear was tripled when it came to Whirlwind. They had discussed for hours on the server how much they hated Endeavor, with the only other person that hated Endeavor more being Arson.
If Whirlwind figured out who he was, he'd never talk to him again.
Whirlwind caught up to him, took a deep breath-
"I'M SO HAPPY TO FINALLY BE ABLE TO MEET YOU AND WE'LL HAVE SO MUCH FUN TOGETHER!"
-and almost made Shoto permanently lose his hearing.
Shoto just stared at Whirlwind in disbelief until the ringing finally left his ears.
"What?"
Whirlwind rubbed the back of his neck at that.
"Well, you know, we talk so much on the server, and I was hoping we'd be able to hang out sometime? Just to get together and talk in person with a bunch of the others, not in a training setting and all."
"Oh, well… that sounds great. I'll… I don't know if I can, with my old man wanting to know what I'm doing all the time, but I'll… I guess I could try and tell him that it would help me be a better hero? You know, social scenarios and whatnot, but maybe I could just say-"
"You figure it out! We'll talk more theories tonight with Melon?"
Shoto felt his face turn into a smile. Ranting about theories with Melon and Whirlwind always brightened up his day, especially when it got heated and a few others joined. That and ranting about Endeavor were his favorite things to do.
Hours later, at 1 am, Shoto fell asleep feeling the best he'd ever felt in a long time.
~~~~~~~~~~〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜~~~~~~~~~~~
#ua-won't-know-what-hit-it
The Adorable WatermelonToday at 9:09 PM
And then with this schedule, we could incrise progress by 20%
And posibly also clean the beach with time to spare
Watt's UpToday at 9:12 PM
Why does that schedual not include breeks to eat?
and is tht 4 hours off sleap?
Boom Boom BoiToday at 9:13 PM
Melon, what did we talk about you making a schedule?
Are you trying to cause mass murder?
Animal LoverToday at 9:14 PM
◖ ᴥ ◗
Gaylien Today at 9:14 PM
Melon, maybe you should get off of that schedule yourself?
The Adorable WatermelonToday at 9:15 PM
…
I don't know what you're talking about
Chicken Nugget Today at 9:15 PM
That plan'll kill someone
Sleepy Boi Today at 9:16 PM
I heard death what's going on
Chicken Nugget Today at 9:16 PM
Melon's made a workout schedule that could probably kill All Might
Sleepy Boi Today at 9:16 PM
Oooooh, a month in and only now we get it?
The Adorable WatermelonToday at 9:17 PM
It would not!
Boom Boom BoiToday at 9:17 PM
How many hours are you on, Melon?
The TheoristToday at 9:17 PM
Wow it's been a month already?
WhirlwindToday at 9:18 PM
I know right?
Feels like it's only been a weak
Gaylien Today at 9:20 PM
Melon.
Answer the question.
Sleep-Deprived WatermelonToday at 9:23 PM
I
I have something burning in the freezer goodbye
Chicken Nugget Today at 9:23 PM
Boom Boom, I will personally pay you to sneak some sleeping pills into his food
Boom Boom BoiToday at 9:23 PM
Already on it
I'll still accept donations though
~~~~~~~~~~〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜~~~~~~~~~~~
Touya was lounging on two egg pillows, attempting to talk Toga out of drinking animal blood to see what would happen, and trying to add a third egg pillow to his pile when Hawks came in.
"Hello." Touya greeted him distractedly.
"Hey Crispy! How are you?"
"Good, trying to stop Uwupire from drinking animal blood."
A short silence fell upon them, followed by Hawks' wings shifting in a way that Touya learned meant Hawks was nervous.
"Well, why don't we play a game, huh? What do you think about that?"
Touya looked away from his phone to stare at Hawks suspiciously. He was acting weirder than usual.
"Don't feel like it right now."
"I haven't even told you the name of the game yet! It's called hide the homeless-looking guy in my apartment before my caretakers come and find you."
Touya jumped up immediately.
"Someone's coming?!"
"Yeah, I totally forgot that it was today, but they come every like once a month to 'check up on me' and if they find you here they might maybe kill you and/or take you into custody."
"And/or?"
"You can never know with them. Now let's hide all of your things."
They sped around the apartment, taking all the small things that could hint at someone other than Hawks had been living in the apartment for the last month. The apartment filled up with the sound of running feet and flying feathers whizzing through the air.
Finally getting all of his stuff into a pile, Hawks led him to the roof, where he opened up a hidden door to what looked like a secret stash full of things that Touya couldn't make out as he was quickly shoved in with the door closed behind him.
As the minutes past by, and Touya's heart rate finally calmed down to manageable levels, he took the opportunity to look around and find out what Hawks kept in his super-secret stash (he'd already found the secret stash, and it was just a list of the most terrible bird puns written on a napkin).
What he found horrified Touya to his core.
A few minutes after that, Hawks opened the door.
"Ok, the coast's clear-"
"Is this entire pile just coupons for chicken nuggets?"
"...Some of them are also for free drinks."
The sound of paper burning was drowned out by Hawks' scream.
~~~~~~~~~~〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜~~~~~~~~~~~
Ochako couldn't stop herself from crying; she was too happy.
Her parents came over to hug her, probably confused at the pile of wrapped presents that had brought her to tears.
Ochako couldn't believe her friends; they had all been so nice, even though she had barely been with them before summer had ended and she couldn't come as often to the training.
And-and now all just got me birthday presents and-
She burst into another bout of crying and laughter, promising to herself she'd get them all back for this.
At U.A. She added, unbelievingly.
~~~~~~~~~~〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜~~~~~~~~~~~
Inasa laughed as he launched Melon into the air again. This time Melon flailed less (still did it a lot, but less), and he seemed to have gotten semi-used to it.
When Melon gave him the thumbs up, he hurled him through the ice rings that he and Theorist had made. Melon had managed in the past few times to grab onto the rings, but Inasa had learned from his mistakes.
Melon flew through the center of all the rings, trying to grab at them, but every time coming just short of it.
Everyone had stopped to watch them, so Inasa was determined to give them a show. Every few rings he would make Melon do a loop-del-loop and on the last one a double.
They all cheered when Melon landed into their ever-growing clearing amongst the trash piles. Melon himself was shaking a bit, but he was smiling like All Might had just said he liked his shoes.
"That. was. Amazing.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
He looked at Inasa, and the smile only grew more, somehow.
"You were so good! Your control was amazing and you never let me touch the rings! And Theorist! How you made those rings with Whirlwind was so cool! Making him shape sand with his wind and then covering the sand to get an ice structure? Genius! Oh my god, you guys would be so terrifying together, with your wind enhancing both his fire and ice and-"
"Are you guys gonna do that again? It was so cool!" Gaylien interrupted.
Melon turned to Inasa.
"I'm up for it if you are."
"LET'S DO IT!"
Right before he lifted Melon up into the air, Inasa caught a glimpse of Boom Boom whispering into Theorists' ear, with a manic grin on his face.
Inasa was sure that whatever they were planning was fine.
Until Melon almost rammed straight into a giant block of ice.
And another.
And another.
By the time he was back on the ground, Melon looked like he wanted to both kill Theorist and collapse. He opted for the second one.
Boom Boom fell over clutching his stomach, laughing and struggling to take pictures with his phone.
~~~~~~~~~~〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜~~~~~~~~~~~
Hitoshi was staring at his bedroom ceiling, trying to sleep, when the question popped into his head.
How much can Melon know with his quirk?
Well, he did say once when Red had the flu before he even had any symptoms of it, so definitely on the molecular level-
Wait, if he can see inside a person's body, then does that mean he can also see-
Hitoshi couldn't finish the thought, his mind already flashing to all the times that Melon had blushed at seemingly random moments and refused to be near anyone until he calmed down.
Hitoshi cracked up while trying to stay as quiet as he could so as to not wake up his cats.
~~~~~~~~~~〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜~~~~~~~~~~~
ARSON(ist housewife)Today at 1:47 PM
What do y'all want for Christmas?
I'll burn out a silhouette of it in wood and send it to your address
Gravity Is Such a DownerToday at 1:47 PMThat's so sweet!
Are you doing the same for Chicken Nugget?
ARSON(ist housewife)Today at 1:48 PM
No
He's getting homemade chicken nuggets
Gaylien Today at 1:48 PM
You're so sweet, Arson
ARSON(ist housewife)Today at 1:48 PM
So thatif he says a single bird pun while I'm making any of them I can burn them right infront of him
Gaylien Today at 1:49 PM
Nvm, I take back what I said
Chicken Nugget Today at 1:50 PM
Why do you do this to me?
ARSON(ist housewife)Today at 1:50 PM
Because I love you 3
And if you ever say those in public you'll be burned to death
It's just how the world works
Chicken Nugget Today at 1:52 PM
Like you could burn me alive
I'm too hot for you to light on fire
ARSON(ist housewife)Today at 1:52 PM
Oh don't worry, I've got some non-gay friends
I can call them up anytime
UwUpire Today at 1:53 PM
I have been summoned OwO 3333
I am pan and ready to burn :fire: :fire: :fire:
Chicken Nugget Today at 1:54 PM
Oh no
But wait, you could still be attracted to me, no?
UwUpire Today at 1:54 PM
Do you like blood :blood: ÒwÓ?
Chicken Nugget Today at 1:57 PM
Em, no?
UwUpire Today at 1:57 PM
Not interested UwU
Get ready to get torched 3:fire:
ARSON(ist housewife)Today at 1:58 PM
We have to wait till he confesses or acts again
But when he does
:fire: :fire: :fire: :fire:
UwUpire Today at 1:58 PM
:fire: :fire: :fire: :fire:
Chicken Nugget Today at 2:00 PM
...I'm sleeping with a fire extinguisher from now on
~~~~~~~~~~〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜~~~~~~~~~~~
Keigo was sitting on his perch when Pickachu sent another picture, this one he took of him, Melon, and Theorist. He wasn't posting it on any social media, only on the exclusive "going to UA" group, so Keigo was fine with it.
They all looked so sweet, this was it. He couldn't not show them off to someone. That someone being the only person he could show them off to; Touya. It still felt weird to know and call him by his first name though, and Touya agreed with him, so even though they both knew each other's first names, they still called each other by nicknames.
"Hey, em, Scorchy," Touya shot him an unimpressed look, "wanna see some of the kids?"
"Was that a question?"
"No, it's a demand, they're too cute for you not to see them; now here's a bunch of pictures of them working out and goofing around."
Keigo shoved his phone into Touya's face and started scrolling through all the pictures.
Touya laughed at most of them but froze at one. It was one of the few ones with Theorist in frame. Theorist didn't want any pictures of him to be posted, just in case his abusive father somehow found out about it. Because of this, he probably avoided getting into a lot of pictures just so that he wouldn't have to burden his friends. Keigo felt bad for him, and really wished he could do more for him.
In the picture Theorist was smirking, sending an iceberg at Melon, who looked like he was frantically trying to dodge it. His scar was in full view.
Touya started to shake, and tears had started to fall from his eyes. His hand was almost crushing the phone.
"What happened? Are you ok? Wha-"
Touya whispered something.
"What was that?"
After a long pause, he said it again, and Keigo had to strain to hear it.
"That's my baby brother."
~~~~~~~~~~〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜~~~~~~~~~~~
Izuku was getting tired as he snuggled closer to Whirlwind. They were both watching an All Might movie that Izuku had seen a hundred times but loved, and Whirlwind had never seen.
The window was open to let in the air since the AC system was broken for a bit, so Izuku just used Whirlwind's massive body to shield him from the cold air.
Izuku yawned again and started to nod off.
"Hey, Whirlwind, do you mind if I use your lap as a pillow just for a bit?"
It came out a bit slurred, but apparently understandable enough because he agreed.
Just before he dozed off, Izuku could tell that Whirlwind's face was really flushed.
~~~~~~~~~~〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜~~~~~~~~~~~
#gay-panic
WhirlwindToday at 11:10 PM
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH