We're almost done! Three more chapters to go after this one and man oh man am I excited to get to them. There's a scene in the next chapter that I know you guys are going to scream over. I promise this is the last of the HEAVY plot stuff. From here on, after this chapter, most everything is just wrap up and fluff.

Remember to check me out on my blog ibelieveinahappilyeverafter to see everything else I write and all the ways you can support me and my work!

And, in case you needed a reminder, they all will live happily ever after. I promise.

Enjoy!

"You're fucking kidding me." Nemuri's blunt words caused a gasp from one or two teachers, Shouta unable to place who they were since his full attention was trained to the breaking update on the television in front of them. "Who cares! The students can't hear me swearing in here and, pardon my language, but this feels like it deserves the fucking swearing!"

Shouta couldn't bring himself to speak, but he was in absolute agreement. He had gone to the staff lounge to try and avoid Nemuri and her crusade of getting him to eat a proper lunch, but he hadn't expected her to run in and turn the news on with a look of panic on her face. Shouta had thought that the League of Villains had made some sort of declaration or attack, but instead he had watched as a national news site showed footage of Present Mic in trouble.

"Oh, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck. Is he really risking everything to save a group of orphans?" It was a trope only seen in media these days, but there it was. Present Mic, Yamada, was fighting a group of villains that were attempting to steal a group of orphan children who were hardly old enough to have quirks. He was trapped, unable to use his quirk, and had been outed on national television, and still he was about to risk his life to be… a hero. "Why the fuck is this guy such a hero?!"

"You're quite right, Kayama-sensei." Nedzu stood in the doorway to the staff lounge, eyes trained on the television with a calculating expression that had Shouta half hopeful and half worried. "Present Mic is a hero I've had my eye on for quite some time, actually." There was no pause or emphasis on the word hero. It was stated as nothing more or less than a simple fact. Shouta felt like he could slump in relief.

"Looks like he won't be anything much longer if they don't figure out a way to help him," Sekijiro muttered, arms crossed as he drew their attention back to the television. Shouta couldn't argue with his view. No matter how the odds were calculated, they weren't good.

"Exactly! As heroes ourselves, shouldn't we provide as much support as we can afford to send out of the school?" Nedzu had a sharp look in his eyes as he looked to Nemuri and then to Shouta. His gaze stayed on Shouta once it was there. "I expect you two to bring him back safely."

Shouta didn't wait for Nemuri's response, only giving Nedzu a sharp nod before he was racing out of the room and towards the parked cars outside. As much as he would like to just run until he was there, it was more logical to take Nemuri's car - although he might drive off without her if she didn't hurry up.

"Not all of us can run at the speed of light, Shouta!" Nemuri didn't waste any time in unlocking her car, diving in and starting it before Shouta even had his door closed. "Seatbelt."

"He could be fucking dying right now, Nemuri, and you're concerned about seatbelts?" Shouta grunted as he was shoved back in his seat, seatbelt clicked around him and a phone shoved in his hands before the car was tearing out of the parking lot.

"News app. Now. I know the area, but not the exact destination. Let our agencies know we're both in route to the destination, too." Nemuri's instructions were quick, clear, and calmly stated - which was more than Shouta could say for himself. He knew that while he was experienced in situations like these, he wasn't experienced with the fact that it was the man he was in love with that was in danger.

Sending out the messages to their agencies with clumsy fingers and fighting with the app for a moment, Shouta chose whatever news station Nemuri had saved at the top, a burst of static blasting through the phone before words were coming through. "-and it seems like the fight has truly started in earnest! I am always one to give our heroes the benefit of the doubt, but the new hero Present Mic, who appeared only within the past few weeks, seems to be struggling with his opponents. It's twelve against one, Japan, and the odds are not in the hero's favor."

"Fuck," Nemuri hissed, the car speeding up. Shouta would have been panicked at Nemuri's driving in any other occasion, but now he could only feel grateful. "Swipe right and there's video."

"I'm not sure I want to see this." It was a whispered confession that contained a million things Shouta would always be too scared to voice. Instead of pointless words of comfort, though, Nemuri reached out and gripped his arm, squeezing tight.

"Swipe right, Shouta. We owe him that much." The words Nemuri left out rang clear in the cramped car. We owe it to him to watch.

"-talking with other pro heroes on the scene who have informed us that there is no reliable way to deal with the quirk in question that has created this domed shield around Present Mic and the children they are after. Attempts at breaking the shield and digging underneath the street have both been executed and both have been met with failure."

The footage that was being streamed was shaky and filled with static at some parts, but it gave a clear enough image as to what was happening. The news reporter was off to the right of the picture, the focus on the jade, transparent shield that was trapping everyone inside. There was a burst of movement from inside, Shouta counting at least three bodies on the ground and knocked unconscious before his attention was drawn to a laughing figure with a wild smile.

"Come on! Is that the best you villains got?!" Yamada's voice was crystal clear - no doubt an effect of his quirk. It was likely his quirk was slipping where he was so used to using it when things became this dangerous. Shouta knew, though, that Yamada had already done the calculations. His quirk would be of little use during a fight like this. "I thought you wanted to kill me! Well?! I'm still fucking standing!"

The last two words were filled with the power of his quirk – not enough to cause ricochet, but enough for one of the villains to stumble before Yamada was following it up with a punch that hurt - something Shouta knew for a fact. The car jerked and swerved past an intersection and Shouta took a moment to realize they had, most likely, almost died, but too much of his attention was focused on Nemuri's phone to truly care.

"It seems we've been given an update, Japan!" The news reporter was speaking clearly but quickly, something Shouta appreciated considering the circumstances. "Our researchers have managed to track down Present Mic, true name Yamada Hizashi, and discover the specifics of his quirk."

"I can't believe they're just using his fucking name like that! That's so reckless considering he never released it himself and-"

"Are you just incapable of shutting up at important moments?" Shouta saw Nemuri's mouth open and, instead of letting her continue, Shouta turned up the volume on the phone as loud as he could.

"-devastating effects! Records state that, at the time of his birth, he was able to reach 170 decibels with his scream - a level loud enough to rupture eardrums. While it's a powerful quirk, Japan, it's also too dangerous for this situation. Other pros are in agreement, from those we've managed to get statements from. If Present Mic uses too much of his quirk, the ricochet could hurt not only him, but the children he's protecting-!"

"You can do it, Present Mic!" The cheer came from a high pitched, almost distant voice. The camera swerved in a dizzying motion before focusing on the group of children that were hiding behind Yamada, but… Something was different.

"Yeah! Take 'em down, Mr. Hero!" There were less children than Shouta had first counted back in the staff lounge.

"It seems the children are cheering on the hero trying to save them! And, if I'm not mistaken, it seems like they've taken matters into their own hands, as well!"

"What? What are they doing?" Nemuri must have turned the car because Shouta had to bite back any noises as his side slammed into the door. At least the speed meant they would be there soon even if a few years were shaved off Shouta's life. "Shouta- Are the kids okay?"

"They're fine." Shouta tapped at the phone, pulling the video up into full screen and narrowing his eyes. The children were clever, at least. "One of them seems to have a quirk that moves concrete. They formed a hole in the street and are all getting into it."

"Yes! You go you clever little shits!" Swallowing a surge of nausea as the car bounced, Shouta decided that he would not look out the windows. Plausible deniability might be of use after they dealt with this situation.

"-possession of a quirk that has allowed him to manipulate the concrete road under the children's feet and form a sort of bunker for them to hide in- Hold on. It seems as if the child who did this is saying something to Present Mic…"

"-safe! You can fight without having to worry about us!" The child disappeared into the hole he had created before the concrete shifted like a wave and closed most of the opening. They weren't completely sealed, but it was enough to be out of the way and no longer in danger of being hit - by the villains or Yamada's quirk. Yamada seemed to realize it, as well.

"What do you think? Kids are a lot smarter than I was at that age!" Yamada's smile was wide, but it was dangerous. A deep breath in, a steady stance, and Yamada didn't hesitate. He had been wrong in saying his quirk was a villain's quirk, but Yamada had never lied about it being powerful and dangerous.

Just as the villains began covering their ears, the footage cut out. There was a single second where Shouta felt like the world, and his heart, was completely still and silent. There was no sound, no footage, and it was almost as if time had frozen.

"What just happened? Shouta? Fuck- Okay, where's the site? Did you find out?" Rattling off the address that he had seen on the news app, Shouta finally glanced up to see that they had almost arrived. Nemuri had the sense to put on the flashing lights that she had stolen from a police car, at least. "Okay, we're almost there. Don't worry, Sho, our idiot is a smart idiot. He'll be fine."

Shouta had always had a difficult time with words, but for once, for a single moment, they came so easily. "What if he's not?" Yamada's quirk was powerful and destructive, but he was in a position where it would hurt him just as much as it would his enemies. "He's not a pro, Nemuri. He's never trained for situations like this."

With pro heroes, a lot of it was training and thinking of creative uses for one's quirk. It was decades of shadowing other pros, learning the business from the ground up, and failing over and over again until those fails became rare. Yamada didn't have that. He didn't have the training. He could fight, but he had never been forced to think on what to do when facing multiple enemies and being unable to use his quirk as fully as he could.

"He's not a pro, but he is a hero." Nemuri's voice was quiet, but it was as steady as a rock. Shouta couldn't begin to explain how grateful it made him. "With pros, we rely on them to do their job and do it well. With heroes, though… sometimes we just have to have a little faith."

A burst of static erupted from the phone and Shouta's gaze snapped back to it, sucking in a sharp breath when he saw just how bad it was. While over half of the villains were on the ground and unable to move, Yamada was swaying where he stood, blood streaming out from under his headphones and a few other places on his body. It was the harsh panting, however, that made Shouta realize that Yamada's speaker system was on the ground and broken into pieces.

"Drive faster, Nemuri." At the confused noise, Shouta tightened his grip on the phone. "His support equipment is busted." He needed that. Yamada needed that speaker to regulate and control his quirk.

"What dramatic fucking irony." The entire world seemed to be silent and all Shouta could hear was Yamada's voice. "It's funny, don't you think?"

"And what, Yamada Hizashi, should I be finding funny?" Going off of what Yamada had already told him, Shouta could safely assume that the man who had just spoken was the main Trigger dealer in all of their other cases. A dealer who worked for the League of Villains, as well.

"All of this! Here we are fighting because the entire world thinks I'm some fucking hero!" Oh, Yamada… "Why would anyone think I would have wanted to be a hero when heroes abandoned me and other kids like me!"

"Is he… monologuing?" Nemuri sounded skeptical, but Shouta realized what he was doing the second Nemuri asked. Present Mic was a show-off that loved to talk and grandstand and stall. Yamada was trying to buy time until the shield ran out or until a hero who could help was on the scene. He was trying to stall… but every word he said sounded like the truth.

"He's buying us all some time." With these villains it wouldn't last for long, but if Yamada was careful, then he could make it last just long enough.

"My quirk manifested the day I was born. I gave a scream loud enough to destroy the hearing of both my birth parents and the doctor there and they gave me up the same day. Ah, well, I can't really blame them, though." Yamada's stance was loose and uncaring, a twisted little pout on his face as he shrugged and sighed. "What parents would want such a destructive monster, after all?"

"Am I supposed to find it within me to care about your dark childhood, then? I can guarantee you that guilt is not something I much feel."

"Hey, hey, listener, you're talking to the one and only Present Mic, here! Guilt's never been a part my style, ya hear!" His voice was loud and boisterous and, when the camera was zoomed in, a green tint dulled his colors, but not the look in his eye. "I'm just letting you know that your little party here ain't enough to bring me down. What's there to fear from you?

"What the hell is there to fear from someone like you when I was muzzled and forced to keep my mouth shut to prevent my voice from ever being heard until I was thirteen."

"Oh, Mic." Nemuri, who had bonded with Yamada so quickly and had found a new best friend, has a voice that was filled with nothing except soft horror, and Shouta knew his own voice would sound exactly the same if he could find the breath to speak. He had always known that Yamada had a rough childhood. All the signs were there that he had been abused, but to hear it said quietly and with so much venom… It would have been better if it was screamed.

"There were no heroes around to save me. There were no fucking heroes around to save people like me. There's never any care towards those with the quirk of a villain. People like me are lost and thrown away and shoved to the back and told over and over that our quirk is for no one except villains. There were no heroes, then.

"There didn't used to be heroes who tried to save those lost in the shadows." Didn't used to be…? Oh, Yamada. There could be only one hero he was talking about and Shouta felt like he had lost his breath all over again.

"I do so hope these words of yours have meaning, Yamada Hizashi. They're soon to be your last." The villains were moving forward again and the pros and news reporters on the scene were dead silent. Shouta glanced up just long enough to see that they were almost there. A few blocks, at most, and Shouta would be able to help and Yamada would be safe.

"Meaning, huh? How about this, then… I'm not a villain, but I'm not a hero or a vigilante, either. I've made peace with the fact that there's no hope for someone like me. That doesn't mean I'm just going to stand aside and let these children lose their smiles, though. I can't- I can't let them go through the same shit that happened to me. So, you know what?"

Yamada adjusted his stance, looked to the villains that were trying to kill him, and gave a smile that was as bright as All Might's. "If a hero can't help them, then I'm the next best thing, aren't I?!"

Shouta could hear Nemuri's tears as the Yamada sucked in a breath and screamed, the footage cutting out completely. Shouta felt like his breathing stopped along with the footage, but he didn't let it stop his body. The second the car jerked to a stop, he was out the door and running down the streets, Nemuri right behind him as they dodged the police barriers, ignoring whatever yelling followed them.

The only yelling he could hear was Yamada's. A loud, high-pitched shriek that would have no doubt rendered the entire street deaf if that shield wasn't in place. If the man wasn't hard of hearing before, then he certainly would be after this. Shouta felt like his heart was near ready to pound its way out of his chest as the screams seemed to get even louder.

Then the screaming stopped and Shouta felt his heart stop along with it. Shouta was only absently aware of Nemuri talking to the pros on the scene as they reached the site, but all he could see was broken concrete where children were hiding, a group of four pinning down Yamada, and the sight of blood everywhere. Yamada was grinning, though.

He was laughing, and grinning, and looking straight at him. He was looking at Shouta. "Hey, asshole!" It would have been a shout at any other time, but as it was, it sounded like a whisper. With the chaos that had broken out, it was a miracle at all that Shouta could hear Yamada's words, cracked and broken and so quiet as he yelled at the Trigger dealer who was looking a lot less calm.

The man looked enraged, and Yamada looked happy as he laughed again, lost, quiet, and broken words let out for the world, but given to Shouta, "What happens when your trump card over there has his quirk erased?"

Shouta didn't hesitate.