"FUCKING TELL ME WHO GOT MY QUIRK, DAMN IT!" Katsuki nearly climbed atop the counter in rage, out of habit trying to set off explosions as a form of intimidation, but instead, he unintentionally made his forearms turn rock solid.
"A-a-as I said, B-Bakugo-san, they haven't c-come forward yet-" "WELL GO OUT AND FIND THEM, THEN!" He yelled out for the last time as his solidified arms scraped across the countertop of the receptionist's desk with an ear-splitting sound as he got down and left the building, shoving his hands down into his deep pockets as he stormed off.
Huffing, Katsuki dug his phone out of his pocket only to see he had scratched up his phone screen - again. "Damn this stupid Quirk. Whoever had it is a fucking asshole." He muttered to himself, willing the hardening Quirk to disappear with plenty of effort. Thankfully, it went away and he tried to disregard the large blemish and scroll even further down the shitty article he had found this morning as soon as his Quirk stopped working.
Nothing of use. It just said to contact the police for information.
Shitty fucking hardening shit. He was going to kill whoever stole his Quirk.
When Izuku and Shouto had exchanged numbers, Izuku was full of nerves. He still was - the two of them had forgotten to actually text each other to make sure they got the right number. Which, of course, made him feel all the more awkward to initiate a conversation.
It was eleven o'clock, so he wasn't even sure if Shouto would be awake, but Izuku's bedsheets ended up singed and he didn't want to wake up his mom and risk worrying her, so here he was; hoping that maybe there'd be some other way he could get this Quirk under control.
Squinting in the dark, Izuku typed in the number that was on a ripped piece of paper from his notebook, and began to compose a message.
allmighty: Hey Shouto-san! Are you still awake? The Quirk's been a little out of control today and I was hoping for some advice, if you're not too busy.
Drawing in a deep breath, he pushed send, then got up to rummage around the hotel room for more sheets. Thankfully, his room's closet had a few. He smiled at the small All Might emblem stitched into the corner. He never envisioned himself staying here, of all places.
His phone buzzed with a message, and he nearly jumped from the noise suddenly cutting off the silence.
uravitii: oh hello! i'm not shouto-san but if you need advice i could try helping? :
Izuku nearly dropped his phone in surprise, then compared the number he entered to the on his screen and- oh. He had messed up one of the digits. At least this person seemed friendly enough, he thought before making sure to enter the correct number and re-send the original text. He decided to reply to the stranger, however.
allmighty: Sorry! I had entered in the wrong number. I really do appreciate the offer, but this is much more complicated than I'd like…
uravitii: a quirk problem, right? sounds familiar haha. sorry for butting into your problem but you never know when advice from strangers could help, right?
Izuku felt now like maybe he could try to get some good advice from her, but debated over telling her the full truth. They didn't really have to keep all of this confidential or anything, right? He supposed it wouldn't be too big of a deal to explain the situation.
allmighty: Yeah, you're right! Essentially what's happened is that I'm one of those people affected by the Quirk swap all over the news… And I got Shouto-san's Quirk. I haven't been able to control it the best and I ended up making a mess of something.
uravitii: wow really? that's crazy, dude
uravitii: what kind of quirk does he have? hopefully nothing too destructive
He sighed, frowning a little as he bit the edge of his lip. This was exactly what he was worried about. It might not be too difficult to piece together the name "Shouto" with "fire Quirk". He'd have to go about this carefully.
allmighty: I burned my sheets while I was trying to fall asleep. I think it's tied with my emotions somehow, I was kind of stressing a little about what happened. The previous owner said to try using it every now and then to practice and expel extra energy, but I don't really know if I'm comfortable using his Quirk.
uravitii: i mean, if it were me, i'd use it! it may not have started out as yours but i don't think your friend would like knowing it's causing you trouble. besides, you have it now! might as well make use of it, whatever the quirk is, right?
allmighty: Maybe you're right… I'll need to think about it a bit more. Thank you for the advice, mysterious internet stranger!
Izuku noticed a notification coming from the actual Shouto, so he closed out of that conversation and opened the new one.
tdrksho11: Good evening, Midoriya-san. Have you practiced using it? You should do so in a controlled environment.
tdrksho11: You wouldn't want to burn anything, if you decide to use the fire. The ice would be a better alternative.
allmighty: ...No, I still haven't. It doesn't really sit well with me to use a Quirk that's not mine, let alone one at all.
allmighty: I'm Quirkless. People might see this as an opportunity for me, but I guess I just don't want to get my hopes up. I would need to give it back eventually, of course.
allmighty: That, and this Quirk just doesn't belong to me, Shouto-san. It would feel wrong.
His heart seemed to drop at the next text, however.
tdrksho11: Have you ever considered that I might not want it back?
More flames flared up at Izuku's left side, lighting up the entire room and setting the newer sheets on fire. Panicking, he dropped his phone to the floor, and brought his right arm to his other side, trying to douse the flames with the ice, but he only ended up making ice chunks that melted and made a puddle on the floor. He ran into the shared bathroom and turned on the shower as cold as he could, then jumped into the stream of water.
Still in his pyjamas, Izuku sunk into the coldness of the bathtub, holding his head in his hands as he tried to take in the Quirk owner's words. The water continued to pour down on him for a good minute, and after feeling like the fire was fully doused, he shut off the water.
His mother was walking down the hallway, yawning, as he came out clutching the pile of his wet pyjamas while wrapped in a towel.
"Sweetie, is everything alright? It's late at night - why were you in the shower?" But before he could reply, she peeked over his shoulder and saw the burn marks on his bedding. "Oh, Izuku… Haven't you talked to Shouto-kun about this? There has to be some way you can get better control…"
Her bringing this up brought a whole new wave of guilt upon him, both from worrying her and from being reminded of the comment Shouto had just made. "Y-yeah, mom, I was just texting him, actually… He said to try using up some extra energy, but…"
His mother brought him in close for a hug, and he felt his eyes well up with tears.
"Izuku, it's okay to use it. I wish you would understand that. There's no reason to feel guilty when you have Shouto-kun's approval - no, suggestion to try and deal with this. He knows you aren't trying to abuse it or keep it to yourself. You have nothing to fear, honey." She pulled back, perhaps even close to tears herself as she reached up and wiped the corner of her son's eyes clear. "You're too kind for your own good."
Izuku sniffed and nodded, giving his mother another quick hug as he fled back to his room, not trusting his wavering voice to speak when he was upset like this. He picked up his abandoned phone to see a few messages from Shouto, and the unknown advice giver. He unlocked his phone to Shouto's messages for now as he took it with him to their kitchen, grabbing two mugs with All Might's face from the cupboard.
As he nabbed two teabags from the pantry, he read over the messages:
tdrksho11: It's difficult for me to explain, and maybe you wouldn't understand. But being Quirkless wouldn't be a hindrance on me. It may just be the opposite.
tdrksho11: Honestly, Midoriya-san. I'm in no rush to get that Quirk back. I'm going to enjoy having a break from it.
tdrksho11: It's showing you went offline. Have a good night.
Izuku wasn't sure what to think of Shouto's words - how could he possibly want to be Quirkless? Maybe he didn't have much control over the Quirk either and had grown tired of it? He couldn't be sure, but if that were the case…
Izuku didn't mind holding onto the Quirk for now, then, if that's what he wanted.
He placed his phone down gently on the counter and looked down at his hands - then to the kettle on the stove filled with water from earlier today. Carefully, he reached for it, flinching as if he would burn himself when the cool metal hit his palms. Izuku closed his eyes and concentrated on the image of a flame - but not a big one! - and tried to infuse that into his grip.
He set the kettle on fire.
He instantly changed the image in his mind to freezing cold ice, and miraculously seemed to find a good balance. The plastic handle had chunks of ice coming off of it, but it seemed like he was boiling the water inside, and he didn't feel any heat on his palms at all.
Shakily, Izuku poured two cups of boiling water, placed the tea bags inside, and waited, fidgeting as he let the tea steep. There were no patches of frost on his skin, no sparks coming from his fingers, no feeling of overflowing elemental energy he seemed to sense every time he lost control. He hardly did anything, but he already felt better.
As he waited, he decided to text Shouto back, and noted with a small frown that he had gone offline as well. He must not have late nights like Izuku does.
allmighty: Sorry. I had it flare up but everything's fine.
allmighty: I think you're asleep now, but I wanted to thank you, Shouto-san. I got advice from you, and my mom, and someone else, and I think I understand a bit better. It still feels… wrong of me, but I tried using the Quirk to heat up tea, and I think I feel better already!
allmighty: Your Quirk must be surprisingly versatile for lots of little situations like this.
allmighty: Sorry, I'll let you get to sleep now. But thank you for the advice and the conversation, Shouto-san.
As he stirred in both his and his mother's preferred sugar and cream amounts, he was surprised to note he was added to some sort of… group conversation…? It was named "CONSPIRACY THEORISTS?"
alienqueenx: YO! Hey everyone! This'll be where we discuss all the crazy shit going on and try to figure out what to do with ourselves lol
uravitii: thanks mina! i'll be in here alot i think
Izuku was horribly confused and assumed he must have been added here by accident, presumably by "uravitii" since he didn't notice anyone else he knew being in the conversation. He backed out of it and went into his conversation with the stranger, eyes wide when he saw how many messages there were.
uravitii: no problem! glad to be of help
uravitii: actually, i might as well tell you. i kinda freaked out when you told me about that because, well. I'm one of those quirk swap people too? a couple of my friends were affected too but all three of us don't know who our "partners" are so we've been on the hunt
uravitii: i'm glad you found your partner tho!
uravitii: i just told my friends that i found you - i explained to them that you already found your swap partner so it's impossible for you to be one of theirs, but they're insisting on making a group chat.
uravitii: now that i think about it tho that actually seems like a good idea. we can help each other and try to work this whole thing out! i'll add you to it as soon as she makes it, ok?
He wasn't used to getting so many texts. As he read through theirs, he noticed more notifications coming through from the group chat. Izuku felt his heart pounding from nervousness. He glanced over at his arms and thankfully saw nothing wrong. Breathing in a slight sigh of relief, he read over the new messages as he handed one of the mugs to his mother before heading back into his room.
riotcrimsonriot: Guys. Go to bed. You'll be tired in the morning if you're up late, and you're always complaining about how tired you are!
alienqueenx: Aww, Kiri-kun! Let us have some fun, won't ya!?
uravitii: guys, stop arguing! that new person i mentioned is here
alienqueenx: :O Oh hello!
They were waiting on him to answer, it seemed. Gulping, Izuku pulled up his keyboard and began to type a response. Thinking at the back of his mind, he doesn't even think he's ever been in a group text before.
allmighty: Hello! I guess you're also part of the swap, right? It's good to meet you all. My name is Izuku Midoriya.
Seconds after he sent his message, he saw another bit of text that he wasn't accustomed to:
Several people are typing…
Chuckling quietly, Izuku texted the three of them for many hours into the night before falling asleep clutching his phone tightly in his hand. When his mom came to check on him in the morning and found him half hanging off his bed but still holding onto his device, she had to hold back a warm laugh. She hadn't seen him like that in a long time.
A/N: Please be sure to join the Discord server if you'd like to chat about the fic or BNHA in general with me and others! 3
We'll also have sneak peeks to future chapters and you get access to updates as soon as they're ready!
You can find the link on my profile, or use invite code Vgyj9NX