A/N: Hey, a few quick things before we get going.

In the 3rd chapter onwards (there is 6 in total) there will be content warnings (C/W). It's nothing overly serious, but I still want to have the warnings there just in case. Also, this isn't a song fic, I just really like the song Blue Lips by Regina Spektor and wanted to use the lyrics as chapter titles.
Secondly, this has already been posted to Ao3 by me, so don't panic if you see it there.
Thirdly, I know that Momo isn't apart of the Fatgum agency, but for the sake of this fic, she is. Because, hear me out, she would fit in really well there. Give me three foodies and two hard bois, damnit!

Also, just in case you missed it in the summary, all the characters are aged up. So, class 1-A are now 3rd years, and Tamaki and Mirio have both graduated.

Also, your boi Mirio has his quirk back.

That's all I have to say for now, so enjoy and let me know what you think. I'll see you in the next chapter.

Hey Amajiki, what do you think it would be like to be a fish?"

The blond boy's voice was muffled as he pressed his face up against the glass. Beside him, his dark-haired classmate looked over. It was their last week of third grade and as a treat, their class had been taken out to the local aquarium. The two boys were currently standing in front of a large tropical reef display that was full of colourful fish of all sizes.

"What do you mean?" Tamaki asked quietly.

Mirio's face was still pressed up against the glass, causing it to fog up when he spoke. "What do you think it would be like? I think it would be fun. You get to swim all day and float around!"

Tamaki looked back at the fish. "I don't know. I've never really thought about how a fish feels." He mumbled before frowning. "I don't want to think about how fish feel, especially when mum cooks them for dinner."

The blonde boy pulled his head back suddenly, the movement causing Tamaki to jump. He could practically hear the cogs turning as Mirio's face slowly lit up with a grin.

"You could use your quirk to find out what it's like!" he exclaimed excitedly. Tamaki just stared back at him.

"You could grow gills, and scales, and a tail, and swim around! How much fish do you think you would have to eat? Maybe I can ask my dad to get us some next time we go to the beach." Mirio continued, without pausing for breath.

"I-I can't d-do that," Tamaki managed to stutter out, causing the blonde to pause. Mirio tilted his head.

"Why not?"

Tamaki looked away, heat rising to his cheeks. "I don't think my quirk works like that, and even if it did, I'm not strong enough to do that." He sighed, trailing off at the end. Mirio paused.

"Okay. We'll just have to wait until you're stronger, then you can try it out." He said finally with a smile. Tamaki smiled back shyly and nodded.

Mirio smile widened. "Awesome! I can't wait for your review," he exclaimed before turning back to the tank, pressing his face back against the glass. Tamaki went to do the same before a thought popped into his head. He carefully took the blond boy's hand and gently pulled him back, away from the tank. Mirio gave him a puzzled look.

"You don't want to accidentally fall into the tank." Tamaki explained quietly. Mirio just laughed and continued holding his hand.

Afterall, they didn't want a repeat of what happened at the zoo.

Present day

Hero work was always going to be hard and full of challenges. There would be plenty of difficult and uncomfortable situations that would push a hero to their limits. Tamaki grew up knowing this and had long since come to terms with this fact, however, that didn't mean he didn't actively try and avoid those situations.

Situations, like the one Tamaki was currently facing.

"Absolutely not." The manifest hero says firmly, or at least as firmly as he could.

Tamaki had been on duty with two of Fatgum's interns, UA's 3-A students, Yaoyorozu Momo and Kirishima Eijiro, or as they were called Creati and Red Riot, when the call came in. A large-scale bomb situation involving entire streets of heavily populated areas being held as hostages. The heroes who had found and inspected the devices had described them as "not appearing to be on a timer but impossible to take apart," and were stuck firm to major support columns and infrastructure. It was most likely the result of a quirk. An anonymous "tip" had come in explaining that the devices would be remotely detonated at 4:30pm exactly.

The call for heroes in the local and surrounding areas went out at 2:49pm.

Being short for time, many of the heroes that responded opted to help evacuate the affected areas, with the other few being sent to search for the gang's hideout in hopes of putting a stop to the the unfolding disaster. The latter of the two jobs had been the one Tamaki had received.

They were currently in a lower income area which had already been evacuated, hiding just out of sight in a small alleyway.

"But you're they only one that could pull it off," Red Riot whined beside him.

The red head was in a slightly modified version of his hero costume, all in part due to the colder autumn months. Modifications which simply consisted of what could only be described as a snug black crop top that was cut off just below his pectoral muscles, leaving the lower part of his chest and stomach still bare. Tamaki felt cold just looking at him, yet he insisted he was fine.

"But why me. And why the whole 'vain' act?" Tamaki asked, cringing as he pulled his cloak around himself. "We're heroes, we already have targets on our backs."

"Because you're the only one who could pull this off, Suneater," Creati answered simply from his other side.

Tamaki gives her a look. She was also in a modified version of her hero outfit, having added a thick cloak and a slightly less revealing tank top to her look. She let out a sigh and continues.

"Look, right now we need to buy time. The heroes in this area are stretched pretty thin with the evacuation efforts, as well as having to deal with the other members of this gang. If we really have found their leaders," she motioned to the buildings on the other side of the street, "we must be careful about how we do this. We can't just go rushing in. It might spook them into detonating things early."

The gang in question, the Rebuilders as they called themselves (Red Riot had giggled at the name while Tamaki had just rolled his eyes), were a small group who up until recently, hadn't done much more than petty thievery and the occasional vandalism. There numbers were made up of mostly Stain ideologists attempting to continue in the footsteps of the Hero Killer. Or at least that was their cover story.

Due to most of the gang's activities taking place in and around the areas close to the Fatgum agency, it was no surprise to any of them when their mentor had declared that his agency would be starting an investigation into the Rebuilders.

The Rebuilders gang didn't seem to have a permanent base of operations, opting to set up temporary locations instead, moving on after each event. This was one of the first things Creati had pointed out when she had gotten her hands on Fatgum's reports.

The hero-in-training had actually been a large help in the investigation, spending hours going over the investigation's papers; making links and pointing out pattens. When asked about how she was able to figure it out, Creati had sheepishly admitted to Tamaki that she had a habit of letting True Crime documentaries play in the background as ambient sound while she studied. Apparently, she had just "picked things up." She was honestly full of surprises, and her presents at the Fatgum agency made for a welcome difference.

"Let me just go over this again, if we find any members from this gang, you want me to go out there and confront them alone and lose." Tamaki deadpanned, pulling his cowl further down. Beside him, Red Riot leans in so that their shoulders are just touching as a comforting gesture.

"Exactly!" He said with a toothy grin, "Besides, out of all of us, you're the one who has the highest rate of survivability."

"Somehow, those words don't bring me any comfort at all." Tamaki grumbled under his breath. "Letting myself be caught and taken back to their base seems counterproductive. Wouldn't just following them be easier."

Creati nodded, "it would," she began. There was a 'but' coming, Tamaki could feel it.

"But none of us excel in stealth."

Red Riot chuckled. "You got that right. I once tried to sneak back into my room after curfew, I fell off my balcony and broke Kaminari's AND Midoriya's balcony railings on the way down."

Tamaki didn't know whether to be horrified or impressed by the unintentional destructive power of the redhead's quirk.

"So that's why they added those electronic locks to our balcony doors." Creati asked, looking over at her classmate. Red Riot gave her a sheepish grin.

She turned back to Tamaki. "So sneaking is not an option. However, if a hero who fits their views were to show up and lose to them, they would most likely take them back to their temporary base of operation to make an example of them."

"And by example, you mean like what they did to…" Red Riot started before trailing off.

It had been all over the news. A low-rank hero with big potential, found strung up in the villain's previous base of operation. Before that day, all the victims of these villains had managed to either get away, survive, or be rescued.

Tamaki's stomach clenched. There was so much that could go wrong. Fatgum had trusted him to take care of the two interns, and yet here they were discussing the best way to sneak in to a serial-killer-worshipping, terrorist gang's hideout to try and delay or even stop them from blowing up a good chunk of the surrounding area.

"I hope Mirio is having a better day than I am," he thought to himself for before replying.

"What makes you so sure that they'll even see me as a target?"

"To be frank, their views are so broad and vague, I wouldn't be surprised if this was just a reason for them to kill."

"Wow. I can't help but feel like a lamb about to be slaughtered," Tamaki muttered.

"Guys, we got movement," Red Riot said in a hushed tone, causing all three heroes to quickly press themselves up against the alley wall.

On the other side of the street, two people, a large bald man and a spindly white haired woman walked out from behind one of the buildings and enter the now evacuated general store. Neither of them seemed bothered by the recent bomb threats.

In front of him, Creati shifted. Tamaki looked down at her, only to see the intern begin to pull a fully functional pair of binoculars out of her cleavage. He couldn't help but stare in amazement. Despite having worked with her for just over a year or so now, he hadn't truly had the chance to see her quirk in action up close.

He could see the similarities between her quirk and his own. Both being able to create something out of the food they had consumed.

Creati caught his eye and flashed him a smirk.

Oh?

OH

Tamaki's cheeks burned as he quickly looked away. In an instant, thoughts and voices were swirling in his head. He must have looked like a creep. He hadn't meant to do that. How could he have not realised where he was looking. She must think he's-

"Hey, relax," Creati said softly. "You aren't the first person to see them, and you probably won't be the last."

"I didn't… I-I wasn't… your q-quirk…" he managed to stammer out. Red Riot, who had looked away to begin with, chuckled beside him.

"It's okay, I get it. Besides," she began, adjusting her top back into place. "I'm sure Lemillion's are a lot more your type."

If Tamaki's face was hot before, it was on fire now. "Oh great" he thought to himself, "Fatgum had taught her how to banter."

Creati lifted the newly made binoculars to her eyes, looking across the road to the general store.

"Plus, while I already know neither of you would look at me like that, I trust you." She lowered the goggles and hands them to Tamaki. "They match the descriptions of two of the gang's leaders from the report, the villains Paralay and Ingrain."

He lifts them to his eyes and looked. Beside him he can hear Red Riot half whisper, "I trust you not to stare at my tits too, Yaoyorozu." Creati snorted.

Through the store windows, Tamaki catches a few glimpses of the suspected villains. They're both wearing mismatching "civilian" clothes that look as though they had seen better days. Tamaki lowered the binoculars and looked back at the two interns.

"I didn't really get a good look at them," he admits. "However, this area has already been evacuated, all roads in are closed. So, the fact that these people are here is reason enough to be suspicious," he explained, handing the binoculars over to Red Riot's eager hands.

"Correct," Creati affirmed with a nod. "The tip mentioned this area, but no devices have actually been found. If that truly is them, then their base mustn't be too far from here."

"And where their base is, is where the remote detonation device must be." Red Riot added with a grin, lowering the binoculars. He scratched his chin in thought. "So, just to refresh, what were their quirks again?" he asked looking over at the other two heroes. "You know, so we all remember."

"You didn't read the reports, did you?" Tamaki replied with a questioning look.

"What, of course I did," the red head gasped quickly, grasping his chest in mock shock.

Creati raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, so I got about three pages into the second one and fell asleep." he huffed. "I did skim the rest on my phone on the train ride over to the agency." His shoulders slump and he looked away.

Tamaki sighed and put a hand on his shoulder before the study hero could go full "kicked puppy mode", as Fatgum liked to call it. "Look, it's fine. But we send out reports for a reason, Red."

That seemed to cheer him back up.

Quickly checking to make sure their targets were still occupied, Tamaki looked at the two heroes.

"We know that there are two people in charge of the Rebuilders gang who go by the names Paralay and Spearhead. Those two in the store appear to match the descriptions of Paralay and they gang's muscle, Ingrain.

From what we have been able to find, Paralay's quirk is touched based, allowing her to paralyse those she touches. We aren't too sure on the limitations or the duration, however, you theorised it might be concentration based, Creati."

She gave him a nod.

Tamaki continued, "Ingrain is a bit more well known. His quirk is called Steadfast. It allows him to fuse two items together without causing any physical abnormalities. Items that are fused take on characteristics of the thing they are fused to. He is most likely the one responsible for planting the devices and why they cant destroy them. His quirk's effect lasts up to three hours, or until he cancels it himself.

We don't know if Spearhead is in the area, if we had more time, I would suggest we double back to check, but we don't. However, he hasn't been sighted as of late, so it could be possible that he is at their base of operations. He has an unnamed transformation quirk that allows him to turn his arms in to elongated rock-like points." He looked up at Red Riot, "if he shows up, we'll leave him to you."

Red Riot gave him a wide toothy grin in return. "You can count on me."

Tamaki nodded at him. "So, lets go over this plan one more time."

This was going to be a nightmare.

Ten Minutes Later

By the time the two suspects had walked out of the general store, Tamaki had positioned himself up on the roof of the building next to it. He watched them start to make their way down the street, the white haired woman carrying an overstuffed shopping bag while her colleague was unwrapping an ice cream. He sighed and adds shoplifting to his small list of Reasons to confront them, even if there was a chance they weren't the targets.

The name was a work in progress.

He stood up and had a quick look around at the empty street below. Red Riot and Creati were nowhere in sight.

"Good", he thought to himself, before taking a deep breath and manifesting a pair of brown duck wings. He stepped up to the edge and spread his wings wide. The targets had almost made it to the end of the street. He took another deep breath before he kicked off the roof.

"Show time."