The sleeping teen knew where he was before he even woke up. Chemicals made his nose itch and the insistent beeping only added to his pounding headache. Despite the part of him that just wanted to fall back into the comfort of the dark, he forced his eyes to open. It took several tries but eventually, he was greeted to white.

He swallowed with difficulty, mouth full of cotton and with effort, he turned his neck to look around the room. He blinked upon seeing Aizawa, completely fine, but asleep in the chair. The man was surrounded by at least half a dozen cups of cheap, hospital coffee.

His shoulders sagged with relief and he took a moment to just watch the other sleep and take in the other. There was a scar under his eye, which was new but other than that, he looked fine. Midoriya hoped that was so.

Izuku closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and tried speaking a few times before he could get past choked sound of 'ugh.'

He winced, frowning and looked down at himself. He could feel some bandaging on his face and his hands were wrapped but his arms looked fine. Taking a deep breath and holding it in, he sat up, no air for a wince, before slowly letting it out. His eyes scrunched in pain and he gave himself a minute. Or two.

Head feeling heavy, he pulled the itchy blanket and useless sheet off him and blinked. Before blinking again.

He wasn't in a typical hospital gown, in fact, he was only in white boxers and miscellaneous bandages that littered his torso and thighs. He swallowed shakily, face pinched and something pulled but he ignored it.

He…didn't want to be here.

He reached over and turned off the machine. When he sat back, he pulled out the IV with little wince. He looked back up, sweat gathering on his brow and winced. He glanced back at Aizawa and jumped when he saw that he was awake.

"Kid."

Midoriya put a hand to his chest, "Shit."

Izuku cleared his throat, wincing at his own chopped talking. He took the cup from the other with a nod of thanks. He drank it slowly before greedily once it didn't burn his cracked throat.

He leaned back, panting slowly as he looked at the other. "So…how long was I out?"

Aizawa looked at him blankly before turning. "I need coffee."

Midoriya frowned slightly, "Get me one, too."

A hand was his response and he leaned back onto the pillow. He looked around a bit before his eyes landed on Aizawas phone. He rose a brow, glancing out the doorway before reaching over to grab it.

He whistled lowly before setting it back. He had been out for nine days. Longer then when he was shot. For some reason, that surprised him.

"Here you go."

Midoriya took the coffee and sipped. Aizawa winced as he drank his own, Midoriya snorted. The other ignored it and sat back down, silent. Izuku shrugged, not meeting the others eyes.

"I see you're fine now."

The others eyes then practically glowed with annoyance (concern) as he stood back up. "Are you kidding me, kid? What in the hell possessed you to go against Shigaraki?"

Izuku rose a brow, "Uh…was I supposed to let somebody else handle it? Thirteen was dead and you were gone. I…don't know what you would have wanted me to do."

Aizawa didn't talk for a moment. "Thirteen lived."

Midoriya nodded, looking out the window. It was easier then looking at the other. It was evening. He should have checked the time when he took Aizawas phone.

"You broke four ribs, your femur, radius and your lung collapsed. You also dislocated your shoulder and you cracked your skull. You've had a concussion but the doctors said that you'd wake up when the severity went down. Here we are."

Midoriya nodded, brows raised in surprised. He looked back down at himself. His tongue itched and he pressed against the bandage a few inches away from his navel.

"And this?"

Cause it was pretty big and to be honest, it hurt.

A lot.

Aizawas tone was flat. "Kurogiri stabbed you with a piece of rebar. Toshinori rushed you to the hospital. You almost died. Several times."

Midoriya waited for a bit more before he shrugged. His head was still swimming.

"I'm sorry? I did what I was supposed to do."

The longer the silence went on the worse his headache got. Eventually, Aizawa stood, chair falling with a clang and Midoriya winced.

"I can't deal with this."

The words struck Izuku and he barely managed to hide the hurt.

"What was I supposed to do, Erasure? Huh? What was I supposed to do!?"

Aizawa turned back to him, silent, before he walked down the hallway.

"I'm signing you out. Get dressed."

Midoriya sniffed, flinching when the door shut unkindly. He sat for a few more minutes. His mind whirled and he sat up. He pushed everything else down as he did what was asked. It was more autopilot then anything.

He got dressed into soft sweats and a hoody. He took a deep breath. There- there wasn't anything he could do about Aizawa. Not right now anyway and- he took a deep breath as he looked in the mirror. If nobody else had gotten seriously hurt, sans him, but if that was it then…

He would do it all again. With nothing changed.

Izuku sighed in resignation, finger tracing one of the many butterfly bandages lining his face before pulling them off one by one. If Aizawa wanted to be mad then…fine by him.

It- that's fine. It was all just fine.

The teen tsked, taking in his face now with no bandages. He had a cut across his eyebrow on his left eye, along with a jagged one on his lip. His eyes flitted to the other side, where there was one that went from below his temple to his cheekbone. It wasn't a flat scar, it jittered in and out like a demented version of connect the dots.

"Oh god."

He groaned, inhaling deeply and pushed his hair out of his face. It was getting long. His eyes narrowed, grabbing a strand and pulling it down. It was to his shoulders.

He looked around, hoping for something to hold his hair back before his eyes landed on the bathroom cupboard. He walked over, thigh bandages pulling as he opened it. He should have just taken them off…

His lips quirked when he found a huge white elastic from the 1980's or something. Pretty ancient. Either way, he slid it onto his wrist before pulling his hair into some sort of bun then tying it. The door was knocked on.

"You ready, Midoriya?"

Izuku eyed the door before glancing back at the mirror. He's like mini Frankenstein or some shit.

"Yeah."

He opened the door, side stepping the elder and slipped on the hospital shoes. There weren't any in the bag that the other had brought. Izuku clapped, both of them still avoiding eye contact.

"Ready when you are."

He followed Aizawa. His hand went up in some sort of gesture. "We need to stop by the pharmacy on our way home. The doctors given you sleeping pills and pain meds."

Midoriya rose a brow in confusion. "Sleeping pills? Really?"

Aizawa glared at him before his attention went back to the hallway they were walking down. "Yes, sleeping pills. You'll need them."

Izuku frowned harshly and stopped. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Aizawa took a couple more steps before he turned back to him. "I mean that you just went through a trauma and I wouldn't be surprised if you've developed some PTSD. Don't be a brat about it and just take the meds."

Izuku took a deep breath and began to follow. He really wanted to refute, somehow, but he knew it wouldn't matter to the other. He huffed, "Whatever."

The ride home was quiet. Odd, given that it was in a car when Aizawa didn't own one. When he asked he said that it was Hizashis. It explained all the stickers.

When they got to the apartment Aizawa offered to get takeout but Midoriya declined. He had school the next day. Aizawa glared but Midoriya only rose a brow before going to his room. When he shut his door, he immediately faceplanted on his bed. After a moment he pulled his pillow to his chest and looked blankly out the window.

He turned to the closet where his vigilante costume was hung up. He blinked.

Could he even be called a vigilante when he was secretly working for the police department?

He rolled his eyes at his own thoughts and sat up, walking around the bed to pick his phone up from his desk where it was still charging from days ago. There were several messages from Tsukauchi and Kio, which he almost replied to but didn't.

He stopped on one that was from an unknown number. Pulling it up, his brows furrowed. What the hell?

'Young Midoriya!

I hope you are doing well and that this message finds you in good spirits! I hope you heal well and return to school soon!'

'This is Toshinori, by the way.'

'I mean All Might!'

'But you can just call me Toshinori if you would like too.'

'Not that you have to! Just if you want! Or you can stay with All Might. Whatever works for you!'

'This is All Might Again, hope you are doing well! :}'

' :)'

'Did I do that right?'

'See you at school, young Midoriya!'

Midoriya blinked. Rereading them once before doing it again. How did the other even get his number? Thinking about it, his tense expression eased.

Tsukauchi.

The teen let out a breath of sudden (not-so-sudden) exhaustion. He threw the phone on the floor before he slumped back on his bed. He blinked, dazed and tired. He reached for something on his nightstand before an old, half empty water bottle was in his grasp. Squinting through one eye, he found the light switch and aimed before throwing. The sound was louder than he thought it would be but it was dark.

He hummed to himself in the quiet before turning on his side. He fell asleep quickly.

Without the sleeping pills.

XXX

Come morning, Midoriya dragged himself to the bathroom half dead. His skin was pale and clammy from waking up with no breath and the feeling of…something. He didn't even know what it was but it was a lot. In the sense of-

Midoriya took a deep breath and stepped out of the shower. He brought the bandages out from under the sink before stopping. He looked at himself in the mirror, eyeing the wounds as he decided what to do. Most of them were healed, mostly just sore. The only one that was still red and fresh was the one where he was impaled.

That was a nice memory. That he remembered quite clearly. Now, at least.

Izuku let out another slow breath, hand going to the three faint circular marks from where he was shot. God, that felt like so long ago but it really wasn't. And here he was. Almost dead again.

How did he feel about that?

Midoriya tsked, pulling his school uniform on. He looked at himself in the mirror, face tense before he slowly took off the tie and undid the top two buttons. The idea of something around his throat wasn't very appealing. Despite knowing that forgoing the tie was against the dress code, he stuffed it in his blazer pocket.

He trekked the short walk to the kitchen and was surprised to find it quiet. He frowned, checking the time. Aizawa would just now be getting up now. He swallowed, feeling unsure but somehow positive at the same time. He walked back to the hall and before he could knock on Aizawas door, a note caught his attention.

So…Aizawa actually had left early.

Two hours early.

Izuku tsked, annoyed with Aizawa, this whole freaking situation and maybe, just maybe, himself. He went back into his room, grabbing his backpack where it was mostly empty before putting his laptop and charger in it. He slid his phone in his pocket and tied the familiar red sneakers on his feet. He grabbed the hospital scrunchy and stuffed the beanie in his backpack pocket. He admittedly slammed the apartment door shut as he made his way towards the train but-

He also, admittedly, didn't give a fuck right now.

He grabbed an iced coffee from one of the vending machines in the subway station before making his way to school. He paused mid-sip. Would the school even be open right now?

He shrugged, it beat being home and in bed. Actually, that sounded really nice. Why did he get up this early?

He ended up buying another coffee at the trainyard that he got off at. The walk to school was short and as he expected, there weren't any students but the cars and motorcycle that were pulled into the parking lot showed that there were enough teachers that the school should be open.

As he expected, the door was open. He walked through the hallways before he came across a quiet room that held several different stations and a lot of equipment. He set his backpack on the table and pulled out his laptop, plugging in his headphones and pulling his hair up.

He popped his mouth several times as he thought about what to work on. Aizawa hadn't mentioned any late work so he couldn't do any of that, nor did he have the desire to hunt the man down. In the silence his mind turned to the events of the USJ.

Ignoring his feelings, mental and physical, he realized that he needed to work on a lot of stuff. Pulling up a document, he brainstormed.

Falling down the stairs hurt. He needed to work on his surroundings. Come up with some sort of exercise that'll let him get it down easier. Not to say that he was bad at it or anything. But when he was in the middle of a fight, he tended to forget there was a giant staircase. For example.

The tanboes were another problem. He couldn't get a good enough grip on them. He had to come up with some sort of guard or handle. Or just something new all together. He hadn't really noticed it against Speedy and Gravity but he spent more time thinking with them then using them. Maybe it would be best to just come up with something else…

That would need more thought.

And so it continued until he had a pretty decent list. He yawned, sleep crawling back into his system but he pushed it down. Looking at the time, he noticed that he still had an hour until class started. That was great. Izuku absentmindedly rubbed his stomach. After a moment, an idea came to mind and he froze.

He pulled his headphones out before looking around. The door was shut and nobody else was here. The lights in the hallway were still off. Midoriya put his headphones back in, staring at the server screen as he gave himself a moment to not do this.

Once that moment passed, he pulled up the UA website and looked around before noticing the log in tab in the top right corner. He hummed, glancing around again before pulling it up. It was for administration only but…

He wondered.

While he may not be the best hacker in the city or anything, he definitely had experience. Not that he'd ever tell anybody. It was bad enough certain people knew that he stole equipment from a government facility. He still had no idea how he came out of that one alive.

Letting out a deep breath, he went through several hidden files and typed in several different passwords before he could open the database that he had created. Putting in whatever info he needed, he waited for it to load. Green numbers, letters and symbols came and went in a flash.

His feet swung idly before he decided to just try something. Out of all the teachers, most would be pretty good with this stuff. Passwords and Usernames, that is. The only one that he could think of who wasn't, was All Might.

He snorted, hands hesitating on the keyboard before he decided to try it. You had to have at least two tries to log in so it was more than likely that it would go unnoticed if he messed up.

Username: All Might

Password: Plus Ultra

Midoriya stared blankly at the screen for a moment before he shoved his fist in his mouth because holy- wow. That was worse than he thought. Izuku closed his database and popped his fingers, about to look into class 1-A because, let's be honest. He really, really needed to learn their names. Especially since they all had nine days to get to know each other. And he's had, like, three.

God. Now he sounded like he wanted to be their friends.

"Did you just hack into the UA database?"

Izuku yelped when somebody pulled out his headphones and said those words. His eyes were wide as they landed on a girl with bright pink hair, lively eyes and was in what looked like a mechanics uniform.

He shook his head, "No. I didn't."

The girl laughed loudly, turning on the lights and waved him off. "It's alright. I won't tell anybody. You know, unless you give me reason to."

A wrench suddenly appeared in her hand and she wielded it like a weapon. Izuku shook his head again, calmer this time. "I won't. I just- uh, to be honest, I'm pretty terrible with names. And I haven't been to school in about a week so…"

She nodded in understanding. A large box filled with who knows what was lifted onto the table effortlessly. "You don't want to look like an idiot in front of your classmates."

Izuku sweat dropped, "Pretty much."

The girl didn't seem to hear him and he nodded to himself. He unplugged the headphones and turned off the music however. He easily found his class and was (pleasantly) surprised that the man kept notes on each student. It didn't take long for him to memorize each name to the face.

He looked up, just in time for him to see her add the switch to whatever it is that she was making. He rose a brow, looking around the table and got a very, very loose idea of what it is.

"Why are you using a toggle switch?"

She looked up in almost confusion but it fell to annoyance when her eyes landed on him. "Why wouldn't I? It's a-"

"Liquefier, right? It's actually a pretty good idea. Especially since most nowadays they're all on generators if they use them at all. Most just deal with fires and everything if they have the quirk for it. Not to say it can't be used for anything else but, you know. A toggle switch is kinda pointless. May as well stick a light switch on it and call it good."

Her eyes narrowed and she threw the handle down, annoyed. "Well, pretty boy, in all your expertise, what would you do?"

Midoriya scoffed, lightly annoyed. "Pretty boy? Wow, uh…"

He leaned back, spinning on the stool and thought for a moment. He stopped and faced her. "I would do… a charge based button actually. Take it how you'd want, but I'd do two of them. People in fires get hot and sweaty, finding middle ground with a stick won't really be easy. Could cost lives and all that. Just a basic on and off. I don't know. You do you."

Midoriya looked back down on his laptop, not doing anything with it but rather thinking about what to do with what the other was talking about.

"It would be too easy for their costume equipment to push the stop button. How'd you fix that?"

Midoriya leaned back, agreeing somewhat reluctantly. He frowned, pulling out a notebook and started to sketch. It was rough. He really hadn't done this for a while.

"Can you make your own switches and scanners?"

The girl looked offended and he rolled his eyes, "Are you allowed to?"

The girl nodded, coming around to look at what he was doing, reluctance yet intrigue clear in his eyes.

Her eyes immediately widened, she could probably pick up on what it was but he found himself explaining.

"Make it bio-tech. It would be hard to be able to scan with heroes that wear gloves, but you only need to convince them to change whatever material is on their thumb to some sort of clear or heat suppressant material. As long as their finger is on the scanner, it'll work. Almost like a trigger in old firearms or something. But it should be small, not noticeable. I'd even throw in some sort of switch just to throw people off. People look at everything they see and try and make it work. If there's something obvious, they won't look for the hidden."

Her eyes sparkled and to his surprise, she kissed his cheek. He eyed her in somewhat discomfort but mostly amusement as she mumbled to herself. She looked back at him, tossing everything on the table away and getting a pre-cut blue print paper.

"Looks like you actually have a brain in there, pretty boy."

Izuku laughed quietly, "Why pretty boy?"

She was clearly not annoyed at the company now, even if it wasn't obvious before. She pointed to his face in several places with the end of her pencil. "You're kidding right? You look like the kids who'd ride a bike with tons of scars. You know, the one everybody wanted to fuck in the old movies."

He choked, pure laughter erupting and it was relieving. In an odd way. He had no idea when the last time it was that he laughed like this. He looked at her, actual grin on his face. "Oh my god."

She wriggled her brows teasingly before turning back to the paper. "Bet you have a bunch more, too. If I were straight I wouldn't have gone for the cheek."

Midoriya laughed again, clutching his stomach at her bluntness.

"So, what's your name? Not in support, which sucks. You already have more creativity and genius then my whole class and that includes Power Loader."

Izuku hummed, amused. "Midoriya Izuku. Heroics. 1-A."

She tsked, "Hatsume Mei, support. Obviously. Seriously sucks you aren't in support though."

Midoriya shook his head, shutting down his laptop. "I did a bunch of stuff like this when I was a kid. I used to analyze this shit like crazy."

She made a sound of disagreement but teasing. "Like what? Little robots out of mint cans?"

Midoriya nodded, deciding to roll with this. The girl already knew he hacked into the UA server. This couldn't be worse then that. "Actually, yes. And those are fun, by the way. Mine was a boat. But no, I was thinking more like an AI system. You know, the small things."

The pencil smacked down to the table as she gaped, "No way! How old were you? I always wanted to make one!"

Izuku hid his smile behind his backpack before he set it down and his smile dropped. "I don't know. I think I was ten? Eleven? It was so long ago."

She let out a shriek and hopped on the stool across from him. "How did you do it?"

Izuku made a noise as he thought. It was pretty hard to explain after all. "A lot of trial and error. I ended up actually taking a lot of software from laptops or downloading what I didn't have before I put it all on a motherboard and connected it to a live feed that was stored in an old motorcycle helmet that was sanded down."

She blinked before laughing, "Why would you need that? What feats were on it?"

Izuku ignored the first question. "Uh, night vision, obviously. I included thermo, a camera, audio and hooked it all up to an old flip phone."

She gaped, "No way! When you were ten? I was stuck on cars and games! And you were playing with AI ware? How is that fair?"

Izuku snorted but before he could talk, she pointed at him, victorious.

"And I totally called the bike!"

He gaped, "I was ten! I haven't ridden a bike! I can't even drive a car!"

She smirked again, "But you want to."

Midoriya opened his mouth to rebuttal but it closed with a defeated sound. She only laughed, blatantly checking him out. "Dude, you can totally pull off the leather too. You should get a tat too, you know. All or nothing."

Midoriya shook his head. "I could not pull off leather."

She gaped, almost scandalized, "Uh, yeah! You can!"

Midoriya shook his head, "I thought you said you weren't straight."

She looked at him like he was stupid, "Dude, I like boobs but I'm not blind. You are hot."

Izuku felt his cheeks get warm and checked the time for something else to focus on. He was surprised that class started in only twenty minutes.

"Oh my god, you don't see it."

Midoriya didn't respond and the other face planted on the wood before standing and going back to the blue print. "Boy, this is just sad."

Izuku looked at her annoyed, "Thank you. For this review, and everything, I should get to class."

She moaned, looking up, "No, don't leave me! I need to bounce ideas off of you and tell you how beautiful you are."

Izuku snorted, "I thought you said I was hot."

She shrugged, "You can be both, with your freckles you can totally pull off a dress but damn, you in leather? Mmm. Ooh! I know! What about a leather dress?"

Izuku rolled his eyes, giving up. "Whatever, I'll see you around, Hatsume."

"I'll find you at lunch, pretty boy! You can't escape me!"

He grinned over his shoulder, "Find me if you can."

The determination in her eyes would freak him out if he was sure that she wouldn't be able to find him.

"I'll find you, Midori!"

He shut the door behind him and headed towards his own classroom. He wasn't the first person in there and to his pleasure, he knew their names.

See, breaking into highly illegal servers could be used for good.

As much as he would love to say hi to them all. All meaning, Iida, Yaoyorozu, Todoroki and Koda, he settled for a nod. He had used just about all his social patience with Mei.

"Midoriya-san! You're back! Are you sure you shouldn't be resting?"

"Midoriya, I am very glad you're back but you are breaking the dress code and I cannot allow that. Please dress to the proper standards before I ask Aizawa-sensei to write you up."

Midoriya blinked mildly surprised at Iida before he nodded, "You're absolutely right, Iida-san. But I still have… seventeen and a half minutes until school officially starts so… I'm really not breaking any rules."

There was a small snort from behind him and he didn't know if it was Koda or Todoroki. He didn't care to check.

Yaoyorozu cleared her throat behind her hand, amusement dancing in her eyes. Iida glanced between the two of them nearly scandalized but he simply didn't have the words. The raven headed girl stepped up to his desk.

"Are you sure you're alright to be here, Midoriya-san? I'm sure any teacher will let you call home if you wish."

Midoriya nodded, "I will keep that in mind. Thanks."

She sent a concerned smile but took the dismissal politely. Iida still stuttered a few feet away before the door opened and in walked Bakugou. Izukus eyes widened slightly when he met narrowed eyes.

Bakugou walked towards him determined and Izuku mentally braced himself.

Bakugou stopped right in front of him, eyes blank. "You're coming over for dinner. You missed it over the weekend."

Izukus mouth opened and closed a couple times causing the other to raise a brow. Midoriya finally found his tongue. "Ye-yes. Sure. I will definitely do that."

The blonde nodded in satisfaction and sat in his own desk right next to him. Midoriya pursed his lips, fingers tapping on his thigh and ignored each wince the action brought. He reached into his backpack and pulled out his beanie before pulling it on.

"That is also against the dress code, Midoriya-san."

Bakugoa groaned, "Will you shut the fuck up, four eyes? Let the kid be. It's freaking cold outside."

Iida couldn't argue with that. He fell (softly, of course) into his own seat with a sigh.

Midoriya glanced at the blonde and nodded. He got a nod in return but the blonde then pulled a big pack of papers out of his bag. It fell onto the greenettes desk with a thud.

"They're notes. Every class but heroics. That's just an overview of what we did for each period but you're a nerd. Enjoy."

Midoriyas lips twitched as he read through the first page fleetingly. The scrawl was done nicely with surprising neatness. He glanced at Kastuki who was rereading his own notes and sure enough, the handwriting was messier.

He huffed, realizing that the other had actually wrote this all down for him in his own free time.

"Thanks, Kacchan."

His voice was quiet, not heard by anyone but the two of them. The blonde paused before shrugging and didn't meet his eyes. "Your welcome, shithead."

Midoriyas snort was definitely heard by everyone but nobody asked. The class began to fill, most if not all of the other students stopping by to talk to him. When class started, Aizawa didn't so much as look at him.

Midoriya told himself it didn't matter. Classes passed and Izuku felt himself getting more and more tired. When lunch hour came, he was planning on ignoring everybody and taking a nap. He had been getting looks from many of the other students, and he didn't know how to feel about it especially since nobody had talked to him, save for that morning.

He was about to pass out, to be honest. He was almost, almost tempted to stop by Recovery Girls office to get some meds or maybe even sleep during lunch. It seemed it wasn't going to happen when he saw a flash of pink and a smirk. Not a moment later he was dragged away, back to the classroom he was in that morning.

"Nice to see you again, Midori. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't even try and hide."

She sounded put out but Izuku didn't have the energy to apologize.

"I'm tired."

She nodded, studying him shortly. "Yeah, you look like shit."

Izuku hummed in agreement. "Has anybody ever told you how nice you are?"

She shook her head, "Nope, never. Where's your food?"

Izuku held his hands up blankly. "Don't have any."

She glared at him and forced him to sit in a stool, setting her own food down in front of him. "Eat."

Izuku leaned away, "I'm fine, Hatsume-"

"Shut up and eat. I can't talk to you about any ideas if you pass out."

The boy rolled his eyes and hesitantly looked at the food. He knew that the food was decent and Food Rush was the only cook on campus for a reason but he didn't know if he could stomach it.

"Just take small bites. Don't kill yourself over it."

Izuku sighed, deciding to hell with it and ate it. He was able to swallow without gagging, so it was edible at least. That was good. Mei reached over and took a fry, Midoriyas lips twitched and he pushed it closer within her reach. Middle point between them both.

"You were in that class that got attacked during the field trip right? The USJ? You the same kid who saved everyone?"

Izuku chewed and swallowed, looking at the other dryly.

"If you look at it that way, then yeah. I am. But I managed to get my ass handed to me."

She shrugged. "Not much you can do about it. People say that you stared down the big bad and took down a giant."

Surprisingly, that wasn't far from the truth. Midoriya didn't go any further into it specifically.

"Where'd you hear that from?"

"People from 1-A, so it must be true. They also say you got thrown around more or less."

Izuku bit into the apple, studying her. She wouldn't bring this up without reason.

"What do you want?"

Mei leaned against the table and only looked somewhat guilty. "I wanna see your set up. First years aren't allowed to work on student equipment until second year or by invitation."

Izuku rose an amused brow. "And you want me to invite you."

She nodded eagerly. He sighed, finding himself hungry now that he had food in front of him. He didn't reach for much more, since it wasn't his to begin with. Midoriya folded his arms and tucked himself inwards.

There were things that he wanted to change with his costume. He already knew that. He knew that any altercations had to be approved through the school. It would be easier if he knew the person doing it. Mei most likely knew the process anyway.

But at the same time, Mei was smart. That was clear within the first five minutes that he had met her. If anybody was likely going to connect things that had to do with him, it would be her. But…

Whatever. She saw him hack into the school server which could have him expelled. If she were to find anything out, she'd most likely find it more entertaining than anything.

"Fine."

She almost started cheering but he held a hand up.

"But," He interjected. "I decide what happens with my stuff. You can make it, but the end product is approved my me. I don't like surprises. Deal?"

She nodded, squealing quietly for a minute. She then dug through her backpack and pulled out a note book. She flipped through it.

"Alright, I was looking through your file and saw a few things that I thought I could fix."

Izuku took a small sip from the juice pouch to refrain from smiling.

"Are you allowed to do that?"

The girls smile dropped. "No. But you aren't allowed to hack into servers either. UAs especially."

Midoriya nodded, looking down. He didn't have anything to say against that.

"Ok, so your-"

Come the end of the day, Midoriya was dead tired. Ready to pass out tired. Ready to fall into an early grave tired. However, Bakugou was waiting outside for him and didn't look to be going anytime soon. He messaged Aizawa, already knowing that he wouldn't be getting a reply. He sighed, pocketing his phone and resigned himself to a few more hours.

"You up for this, nerd?"

Izuku nodded, rubbing his eyes. "I'd really like to just get it over with. No offense. How far is it to your house?"

Katsukis response was quick. "Only twenty or so minutes by train. Dinners already made though. You still like katsudon?"

Izuku snorted, looking at the other in surprise. He didn't comment on the others surprising act of kindness, knowing that the other will take offense. He had a reputation after all.

"Of course."

The rest of the walk was quiet. Katsuki was tense, like he wanted to say something but didn't. Izuku never pushed, already drained and knew that tonight would be even harder.

They were walking off the train and through a somewhat familiar neighborhood. Izuku yawned once more, eyeing the other through the side of his eye.

"Can I ask who you're texting?"

The response was both flat and automatic.

"Shitty hair."

Midoriyas lips twitched, "Ah. Red, Tape or Pikachu?"

Katsuki looked up, almost seeming confused. "Red. You call him Pikachu, too?"

"It fits," Izuku defended lightly.

The blonde snorted, sliding his phone away. "So does shitty hair. The kid has to put fifty cans in a day."

Midoriya hummed, "Maybe. You didn't have to stop you know."

Katsuki shrugged. "Conversation was over anyway."

"Your over or actually over?"

Katsuki had a smirk on when he responded. "I say when a conversation is over, how about that?"

Midoriya groaned, "That makes you an ass, you know that?"

The other only shrugged, stopping when they came to a house. Midoriya whistled.

"I forgot how huge this place was."

Katsuki nodded, gripping his backpack tighter for a minute. "You sure about this?"

Izuku glanced at him, bouncing at the balls of his feet. For now, he was filled with nervous energy more than anything.

"As I'll ever be. Lead the way."

Izuku followed, the other throwing the door open without hesitation.

"I'm home, hag!"

Midoriya winced, taking his shoes off and setting them on the respective mat. He rubbed his arm uncertainly and followed Bakugou further into the house.

"In the kitchen, brat!"

Midoriya stopped, coming to a large table that could be seen from the kitchen. Masaru, older but still having the kind and patient aura that Izuku thought he had imagined as a kid was still there. Mitsuki's face was still harsh, eyes kind but teasing. She didn't look a day younger then he remembered.

The pan clattered to the counter and the woman took off the oven mitts, leaning against the large island and just studied him. Midoriya would feel weirded out if he didn't have the sudden urge to bawl. He managed, barely.

Mitsukis red eyes softened, her voice barely a whisper.

"Kami, kid. You grew up, didn't you?"