Is it just me, or is it strange that this is already chapter four. It still feels like the very beginning, but my stories usually average about 15-17 chapters long. I guess this one might take a little longer, since we're still in the opening act. I don't know. I just saw that this was chapter four and went "wow, already?" even though four really isn't that far into it. I'm probably just being weird.

In light of that, here's the fourth update. Enjoy!

My first thought when I wake is that whoever is knocking at my door is dead. Not only did I get back late, but because of that damn argument with Shouto, I couldn't fall asleep!

I jerk off the covers and stomp to the door, yanking it open and startling the girl behind it. It's Yaoyorozu again. She blinks, then flushes beet red. "Y-You should put on some clothes before you open the door!"

"It's not like there's boys in this wing," I growl. "And I've got a shirt."

"But you need to wear pants!"

"I'll put 'em on before I leave. What did you want?"

"Breakfast—"

"I'm under house arrest. I'll eat it later. Is that it?"

"I suppose…"

"Goodnight then." I slam the door and collapse back onto my bed, guessing its position by memory since the light is out. Of course, however, I can't get back to even the fitful sleep I had before I was interrupted. After a few minutes of tossing and turning, I regrettably turn on the light and go to my wardrobe. I leave my hair down today, so it lies covering my shoulder blades, and throw on a halter top with a pair of ripped jeans. This time I actually brush my teeth and wash my face before I leave.

The dorm is empty by the time I reach the dining area. I crack an egg into a pan and let it simmer, my hand automatically going to my pocket for a package of smokes. With a click of the tongue, I realize I forgot to grab one before leaving my room, and I don't have any candy on me, either. I debate going to fetch them, but the already cooking egg keeps me in the kitchen. Instead, I rummage through the pantry and locate a bag of small chocolates.

Those'll work.

They dissolve quickly in my mouth, but serve to keep my mouth busy until my breakfast is ready. Then I sit to eat. As I pick at the egg, I lean back, eyes out the window. So what should I do while I'm stuck here? Usually I go out on days I skip school. Actually, I always go out. Staying home would mean a lecture from Dad (if he was home) and nothing to do.

...so what do I do?

One part of me tells me I should go grab a cigarette and think about it while I smoke, but as enticing as that sounds, I push the urge away roughly. I can't smoke inside the dorm. Shouto has a bad enough image of me already. But wait, does that mean I have to stop smoking while I'm under house arrest? I freeze mid chew, then shake my head and continue. No, I'll just step outside. They won't shoot me for getting a breath of fresh air. I shouldn't worry about it. Besides, it's less than a week before the exam. I can afford to cut back on smoking a little until then. Dabi would probably be happy about it, too.

I try to entertain myself, I really do. I wander through the halls, opening the unlocked rooms and trying to guess which bedroom is whose. Most of them are locked, however, and the only one I'm really interested in must be one of the locked ones, so I'm soon bored again.

I really don't have any choice, do I? I'm just gonna have to sneak out.

"Ah, Kyou!"

I finish pushing open the front door and stare at the green haired, freckled boy before me.

"Mr. Aizawa sent me to check on you!"

Translation: He sent someone to ensure I didn't sneak out.

I bite the inside of my cheek and contemplate ditching this guy and letting him deal with the consequences. Considering his quirk, though, I'd probably have a rough time getting away from him if he decided to use it. Unless I countered with my own. But I'm not too keen on that idea when the smiley boy before me truly doesn't seem to have any ill intent.

"You're Midoriya, yeah?" I confirm, unwrapping a sucker I'd taken from my room during my wandering spell. The little box in my pocket pokes at my thigh, pleading to be taken out instead, but I suck hard at the candy and try to ignore it for now.

"Yeah, I'm sorry we haven't really gotten the chance to talk before now," he apologizes as he climbs the stairs to meet me. "And now that you're under house arrest, we aren't going to get to see you throughout the day. It honestly makes me pretty glad I was sent to keep you company."

So...he's the sociable type? Overly kind? He isn't quite like Yaoyorozu, not as formal, but I'm catching similar vibes. I suppose he might be bearable, if he doesn't turn out to be energetic and persistent. Either way, he's not quite what I was expecting from the guy who was able to go head to head with Shouto at the sports festival.

"Um, so," he fidgets when I don't say anything else, "what were you doing outside?"

"I don't like being caged." I step aside so he can enter. "Thought I'd open the door and air out the place. And you guys'd get mad if I smoked in here, right?"

"Yeah, please refrain from that if you can," he requests as if not smoking is an easy thing to do. I let it slide and follow him back inside, jamming in a nearby doorstop to support my earlier story. "So what have you been doing all morning?"

"Nothing much." I plop myself down on one of the couches. "So how do you plan on entertaining me?"

"Huh?" He blinks, surprised.

"You said you were sent to keep me company. So, how so you plan on entertaining me?"

"Oh, I just thought we'd talk a bit."

Hm, not bad. He doesn't seem to be a bumbling idiot, at least. I motion for him to go ahead and sit. As he does, he lets out a tiny sigh of relief, prompting me to ask, "What?"

He winces, caught. "It's just that I was a little worried you'd refuse."

"Believe it or not, I can actually function as a human being," I grimace. "I'm not just gonna reject someone requesting a conversation. Now, depending on what you want to talk about, I might reject that." I can't really blame him for his concern. Most people won't even ask me basic questions because they're afraid I'll explode, so I actually have to applaud his bravery for approaching me despite everything.

To my surprise, though, my glowering response earns a beaming smile out of him. "Thanks for being willing to talk. I don't really mind what we talk about. You can go ahead and pick."

I flinch. I appreciate the gesture, but what am I supposed to say? How's the weather? I toss it back to him. "I don't really have anything I care to discuss, so go ahead and ask whatever it is you want."

"Then how about we talk about our previous schools? Where did you go before you transferred here?"

I slide the sucker to the other side of my mouth. "I dunno."

His eyebrows furrow in confusion. "You don't know?"

"I only really went there once or twice," I shrug. "I hated it, so I didn't go back."

"Your parents let you do that?"

"My dad's always busy with work. He didn't have the time to reprimand me."

"What did you do with all that spare time?

"I walked around town, read, studied, hung out with a friend, whatever kept me entertained." When I see the surprise on his face, I snicker. "You expected me to say something like I hung out with a gang or something, right?"

"Well, kinda…"

How honest. "Well I did interact with those sorts of people from time to time. I practiced Taekwondo, too, when I could. It was mostly self-taught, though."

"You taught yourself martial arts? That's amazing!

This time, it's my turn to pause in surprise. Then I smile, twisting my sucker around in my mouth. "Well, I was instructed on the basics when I was young. I just continued my learning on my own when I couldn't go to the dojo anymore. What about you? Who taught you to fight?"

"It was mostly just instruction here."

"You're aiming to be a hero, but waited to start training until high school?" I scoff, disbelieving. Somehow I doubt that level of experience would allow him to fight on equal footing with Shouto.

"Well my quirk didn't appear until right before, really. I'd always wanted to be a hero, but I didn't have a quirk, so I never really thought… I always told myself I could do it, but I think part of me doubted it, so I never really started training myself."

At this point, I've stopped paying attention to the candy in my mouth. Wow...quirkless for so long? Even with a quirk, heroism has always been far out of my reach, but that…

"How lucky," I finally say. "It might've been late, but you developed a seriously useful quirk."

"Haha, you know about it? I guess you would. That means you watched the sports festival, right?"

"Me and the entire country," I nod.

"With this quirk, I can finally make my lifelong dream a reality. I'm going to chase it and catch it. That's one of the things I really love about this school. Everyone here wants to be a hero for one reason or another, and we're all ready to fight to make it happen. You want to be a hero too, don't you?"

I don't respond. Instead, since we're inside the dorms, I add a second sucker to my nearly disintegrated first one. It hardly helps kill the urge to grab out a cigarette, but I need something to distract me, and the clashing tastes of watermelon and rootbeer do help a little.

Midoriya apparently takes my silence as a prompt to change the subject, because the next thing he asks is, "So, you and Todoroki used to be friends."

I unintentionally crunch the last of the smaller sucker, taking a moment before I confirm, "Yeah. We've been through this already, on my first day."

"I was just wondering," he ventures, "what exactly happened between you guys. You said you weren't getting along anymore."

I glance out a window. "You don't need to be worried about it."

"I know it isn't really my place to butt in." His hands clasp in in his lap, and a vague discoloration catches my eye. One of his hands is covered in scars. "It's just, Todoroki is my friend, and I know he's gone through some hard places, so I hope that you and him can patch things up. I think it would be good for him to reconnect with an old friend."

I sigh, deciding not to mention he sounds like a worried parent. "Listen, Midoriya. Nothing happened. There was never any fight between us. We've just been separated for awhile, and people change. Neither of us is the little kid we used to be when we played together."

"But then why—"

"Excuse me, I'm gonna go light a smoke."

I leave before he can continue whatever it is he's asking, taking out the little package in my pocket once I've stepped out the door. I toss the unfinished sucker in the bushes. Placing a cigarette between my lips, I try to snap on the lighter. It takes too many tries until I've finally got a flame, but even when I do, the fire shakes enough to make lighting the stick a challenge. I curse, forcing my hand to stop shaking just long enough to get it lit. I suck in a deep breath of smoke and squeeze my eyes shut.

This is ridiculous. I know it is. I only said the truth, and it's a truth I knew even before I came to UA. But knowing it doesn't make it any better. I knew this was a possibility, but somehow, I still expected Shouto to treat me the same. I still thought he'd smile and tease me and laugh with me, still thought he'd seek me out to talk with… I shouldn't have expected it. We were kids back then, and the world and its opinions were nothing to us. It only makes sense that he would learn to act like this.

That he would learn that I'm to be avoided.

Especially with that bastard Endeavor breathing down his neck.

I breathe in another hit of nicotine and hope it's only my hands that are shaking so the guy sitting in the dorms behind be can't see just how much my own words have rattled me.

It's kind of nice to see Megumi in a civil conversation where she's not explicitly hostile. We've seen it before with Dabi, but I feel like there's some notable differences between those two conversations. Like, she's friends with Dabi, but Izuku is mostly a stranger at this point. On another note, some of you finally left some comments! Thank you so much! Reading them was absolutely delightful! It's always so interesting to hear what you guys have to say, and I'm glad you all like the ShoutoxMegumi I've set up. Sometimes OCs don't fit with their partner at all, so that's always a worry while writing. I hope I can continue to write true to their characters.