Jpx099 - Unfortunately, the former. Execution by public reenactment of certain myth.

Guest - It's raining everywhere, sob, sob.

Miqila - In all honesty, I'm increasingly dissatisfied with this fic myself, mostly because too many things are thrown in as practical off-topic in other scenes, described not even with characters dialogue but by off-handed 'thoughts' or by the narrator. If I were to rewrite this fic, though, it'd probably get twice as long and the sidecharacters would get more time in the spotlight. A bit too late for that and I'm certainly not signing up for something this massive.

I disagree on IzuTsu being ewww, although I get where it came from. Yes, Tsuyu is rather 'childish', but what's the saving grace of that is imo the fact that she IS biologically an adult AND it's not a one-sided relationship. Hell, I'd say that currently Tsuyu is the one that's giving more to the relationship that Izuku. She lacks common sense and has serious linguistic problems, but emotionally she's clearly mature enough.

Imo Ties that Bind and Exiting the Stage are my best written fics, with DoA and CtE being the second league.

(***)

Enlightening at least some people in the coast guard turned out to be carrying some benefits after all, it turned out. Kugo Sakamata contacted Commissioner Aizawa (through Hawks) that they might have located a ship used to smuggle goods for the Shie Hasseikai.

Which, in turn, meant that it MIGHT be regularly visited by Kurogiri and that there was a chance to draw the warper into a trap. Or, alternatively, at least throw a wrench into whatever smuggling operation was going on.

In the end, they had to wait for a few more days for the ship in question to show up nearby, clearly heading towards the general area of Musutafu. They spent that time doing their normal day-to-day work (and training)... and making plans.

In the end, the special task force (very serious words for a group of volunteers, even if superpowered) for the operation was to be composed of Defiant, Kappa, Singularity, Eclipse and Earworm. Plus, of course, Kugo Sakamata and his SST.

The plan was a bit… weird, though.

(***)

Izuku Midoriya had some very mixed feelings about his first trip to the sea. Oka Mariner was a very fine boat, yes. But it was still way too shaky for his taste. In short - he got a very bad case of seasickness.

It was very non-heroic. At least he managed to avoid vomiting, because that would force him to take his helmet off and… well, he was still hiding who he really was. Worst of all, it clearly worried Tsuyu who was all around him because he felt bad. Which, in turn, made him feel emotionally bad because Tsuyu was worried.

Was he being overprotective? Then again, who could look into those black eyes and NOT feel a surge of desire to protect and cherish Tsuyu? Overhaul? That probably concluded the list.

So he remained (a bit) overly protective. Even despite the fact that the girl in question had a job, a stable income, and several incapacitated criminals in her work history. It made things alright to him.

They also decided against Eclipse warping them to their destination because her warps were… well, not very stable once you left the land. It required consistency of air and ground (especially between the point of entry and exit) to work. Sea was a bit… Well, it wasn't.

Eclipse was there to deactivate Kurogiri's warp quirk with her presence. Defiant in case they caught more than they could swallow, Kappa and Earworm for support.

Tsuyu was wearing her hero uniform. For the first time ever. It wasn't exactly cute, but it was functional. Pretty much a bodysuit with some flippers. Colors of black and dark green dominated the entire design.

It wasn't exactly cute, but… it was rather… fitting. Izuku, after some intense fighting, managed to pry his eyes off her. She has, naturally, noticed the attention and seemed to be vaguely amused by it.

Amused and happy.

She also ribbited at him when he mentioned that this really wasn't a good moment to go talk with Ochaco. It was a new type of ribbit. Prolonged. Modulated. Accompanied by not just intense but also hostile stare. Actually rather intimidating.

He really wasn't sure how to deal with that sort of ribbiting, so he decided to surrender unconditionally and go have that talk. Instead of having to face his girlfriend's wrath. Besides, it really was a high time to have it.

Ochaco was taking full advantage of her quirk making her sense of balance much better. No seasickness to deal with. She was on the deck by the railing, observing the sea which… well.

She didn't have seasickness yet was clearly doing something completely on her own. Away from others. She didn't hang around the less fortunate of her compatriots. She didn't try to talk with the crew members (then again, captain Selkie and the others were still trying to process the results of the meta-ability presentation, so they probably weren't exactly… sociable at the moment). She was just standing there, in her hero uniform. Alone.

That wasn't normal.

"Uraraka." Izuku decided to sneak up on her from behind, because he was almost certain that if she saw him approach, she would quickly pretend that she was busy doing something and couldn't talk with him. "Do you have a minute?"

He was in his hero uniform too, of course. It was a bit of a doozy to walk around with, especially when he had to visit the toilet, but… keeping their identities hidden was important. Even Tsuyu's outfit had a helmet.

This also allowed them to have a talk without anyone in the vicinity knowing. No one was there, as far as Izuku thought, but he was aware that the SST guys had a good hearing. Probably better than his. He wouldn't even notice that someone was overhearing the talk.

"Errr… yes?" Uraraka replies. She is … well, it's rather clear that she isn't exactly happy about it. "About the mission? I'll be alright, you don't have to worry about me."

She wasn't going to play a big role in this. She wasn't even going to leave the Oka Mariner. Unfortunately, this meant being (technically) left almost alone aboard it. Alone with the crew. Sure, the chances of them trying something fishy were abysmal, but…

…it made for a potentially good way of dodging the problematic subject.

"No, it's about… well, you." Probably 'us' to a degree, but… Izuku would rather not have 'us' in that subject. He had enough relationships to last him a lifetime, both literally and metaphorically. "Uraraka, I'm worried about you."

He has absolutely no idea how to even start this talk. He isn't even sure if he has the moral right to be worried about her. He was worried enough about himself nowadays. Shouldn't he start from dealing with that before trying that with the others?

"You don't have to." She cuts back. "I'm doing fine." No, she wasn't. But she was going to deny that to hell and back. Why were people so damn complicated and so prone to refusing help? Refusing and not even looking for i…

… he really shouldn't be complaining about that. He can feel Counselor Inui's death stare from here.

"No you aren't." Izuku replies. "I know that you are drinking when no one's looking." It's pretty much the strongest weapon he has when making her admit that there was a problem involved. Having to use it right from the start was a sign of how bad things were.

"Tell Mei to stop sticking her nose in other people's business." Uraraka replies, looking away from him.

What? Why was she…

"Mei?" Izuku ended up blinking at her a few times in shock, although due to the helmet being there this fact was lost on her. "Tsu said that she keeps smelling alcohol on you. She's worried about you."

Mei had to run into Uraraka drinking and… why didn't she tell anyone?! Did she fail to notice that this wasn't normal behavior? Or did she… forget? That actually sounded like something that she'd do, honestly.

Using Tsuyu against Uraraka was underhanded, but it was her weakness. Mei was her friend, but… Tsuyu was something a bit more. Best friend. Platonic life buddies. The emotionally closest person out there (at least for Uraraka, Tsuyu would most likely argue that Zuzu was closer to her, probably accidentally wounding Ochaco in the process).

"I…" Uraraka pauses for a second, clearly realizing that she fucked up. "... look, it's no one's business what I'm doing in my free time with my own money, alright? I'm doing my job, shouldn't that be en…"

"Uraraka, I don't want you to be doing your job." Izuku found himself interrupting her words. He couldn't bear them for even a letter longer. "I want you to be HAPPY. You clearly aren't, so…"

He pauses, hoping that she'd cooperate with him. She refuses.

"I'm doing fine." She replies after a few seconds of silence. Her hands are on the railing, thankfully the ship is a bit too big to get influenced by her quirk. That or she remembered to keep one finger off. "It's nice that you think that I'm important enough for you to bother having that talk, but… You don't have to."

She isn't making it any easier for him, isn't she?

"Uraraka, that's bullshit and we both know it." Izuku decides to be a tiny bit more pushy. "You are isolating yourself from your friends and focusing on work. Yes, you are saving people, but you're going to run yourself into the ground sooner or later. Heroes deserve to be saved too, you know?"

And the longer that talk continued, the more certain he was that she needed saving too. A lot. But she was clearly refusing to admit that.

"Maybe I don't." She says quietly, looking away from him.

"You most certainly do." Izuku decides to voice his disagreement. "Everyone does."

He is certain that she is giving him an odd look from under her helmet. Odd or perhaps hostile. The helmets make things more complicated than they have to.

"Really?" She asks. Something in her voice made it sound like she was trying for mockery, but failed. "Would you say the same thing to Overhaul?"

And that was a supremely good question. One of those that aren't really answered until the matter isn't purely a hypothetical case. All that Izuku can do is say what he thinks he would say in such a case.

"Yes." He replies. "If he has given me a very believable reason to think that he wasn't going to return to killing people afterwards, I'd still help him. It's unlikely to say the least, but…"

It's a random mental connection. Something in her voice, something in her words, something in Tsuyu's assessment of Uraraka, something in their past interactions… things just clicked together all of a sudden.

He paused for a split second before speaking again.

"Uraraka." He says quietly. "You killed someone, didn't you? That's why you hid in that forest."

She looks away. The silence grows awkward at first. Terrifying then. But finally, after what feels like an eternity, Uraraka speaks.

"If I say yes…" She says quietly. "... are you going to arrest me?" There is a slight trembling in her voice. Perhaps understandable.

Izuku didn't expect the question she asked earlier to turn much less hypothetical so quickly. How does he answer that question? How does he sum up all the emotions (from worry about her to feeling of betrayal) that are now filling his mind?

He has no idea. But he has to do it.

After another subjective eternity, he finally arrives at the conclusion.

"I won't." He replies.

"What?" This took her off-guard. This time her head is clearly facing him, but what's her facial expression underneath it is a mystery to him. "You can't be serious! I'm a monster, I deserve a lifetime in prison and not…"

"Uraraka, do you remember that day when the firefighters called you in for the first time?" He cuts this festival of self-hate quickly. It hurts to listen to Uraraka Ochaco describe herself with words like that. "That house fire in northern Takoba."

"Y…yes?" It takes her off-guard. "Why do you…"

"You saved someone." He says. "Got a girl out of the burning building. Firefighters wouldn't make it in time. You couldn't stop smiling for days. You almost cried out of happiness after you got back to the headquarters."

"How's that…"

"Uraraka." He cuts in again. "I refuse to believe that someone who was this happy because they managed to save someone is a monster. Whatever happened was either not your fault, they pushed you into doing that… or you clearly regret it and want to turn the new leaf. Neither of these three options makes me want to arrest you."

Silence. She must have forgotten to switch her communication off because he can hear her heavy and fast breathing. He gives her the time. He has no idea what else to say now. He… he just isn't doing well when serious talks are involved. Occasionally he manages to say just the right thing, but… it's mostly just him speaking his mind.

Sometimes it works.

"Why?" She eventually says again. Izuku has no idea how to interpret her voice. "Why are you so… nice?! Why are you… why are you trying to help me so much? Why do you care? Why?!"

How should he reply to that? Say something sufficiently heroic (and not entirely incorrect)? Like 'the times are bad enough already, not being nice would only mean making things worse'? Or…

No. Uraraka deserves the truth. She has finally opened up a bit to him. A tiny bit, and only after he proved to be on the right trail, but… not doing the same would be… it's not how a hero should be.

He approaches the railing next to her. He tries to ignore her sudden flinch - was she afraid of him? It hurt, deep inside. Even considering the subject of the talk.

"Bakugous have… had a son." He says, not looking at her but instead at the sea in front of him. His voice sounds… bitter? Defeated? Resigned? He has no idea. Uraraka, perhaps, does. "We were childhood friends for a while. Until he started to believe that he was literally the best and most important person ever. Courtesy of our stupid teachers trying to use him to make their school famous. He started to bully those he saw as inferior to him. Like me."

She is listening to him in silence. He knows - well, he is almost certain - that his painful backstory is nothing when compared to hers. But she probably realizes that him finally mentioning all of that… well, that 's meaningful. So she says nothing. Doesn't storm off. Instead, she listens.

"For him, I was always Deku. The useless one. The worthless one." He keeps talking. His eyes aren't on Uraraka. He is looking past her, but at nothing in particular. "Others… well, teachers didn't care about it, almost openly agreed to all of that, some even joining the bullying. So many other students joined it too. I was told to kill myself many, many times. I can't count how many times I considered following that advice. But eventually I didn't."

Time for the leap of faith. The most painful part of this confession. The thing that he absolutely hates talking about, even thinking about. Because it always messes him up. He misses Ayako so much.

"My adopted sister did." He says, and he can swear that he can feel Uraraka's gaze on him intensify. "She tried to defend me one time too much, they started picking on her as well… I genuinely think that Bakugou had a crush on her, and like a little asshole child he was, he picked on her twice as much because of that. Eventually he either made a move and didn't take no as an answer but she never told us about it, or she had enough of it in general, it's not like Bakugou would tell us the truth about it. So she killed herself."

Or, and that was the one option he was too terrified of to even think about, she decided that if she did that, the scandal would ruin Katsuki… and save her adoptive brother. No one else even tried to do a thing about it. Even Izuku himself, being the childish fucking idiot himself, didn't try to fight back for real.

If he had a bit more spine, a bit more smarts… he always downplayed the bullying in front of his mom to not worry her. She was having it hard enough, doing her best to support not only her son but also Ayako. A war orphan that somehow found her way into their family.

If he actually wasn't an idiot, they would change the school long before it came to that. Even if the school was the only one in the area. Even if they had to move elsewhere with their limited funds. They would have probably ended up in some complete slum, but at least they would be in that slum together.

He blamed himself for that. He was always going to blame himself for that.

"And then I broke." He continues. He isn't crying (yet), but probably only because it wasn't just him thinking about this again. It was him trying to help Uraraka. Even now, he was only doing his best when others were involved. "I just… I just couldn't do it anymore. I finally accepted that I truly was a Deku. That I failed. That I failed Ayako. So I pretty much hid in my room, only pretending to be alive. Escaping to fictional worlds, especially those with superheroes. Because superheroes actually could save people."

Not to mention them being able to actually face their enemies. Their problems. The one thing he never could do.

"And then, instead of continuing to vegetate until the day when my mom passes away, and then dying out of hunger, I developed a superpower." He continues. He wants to get it over with. It's… it's probably the first time ever that he actually opened up to someone to this degree. It's neither Tsuyu nor Mei. He has no idea why. It's just… He just started it, and then… then things continued on their own. "After all that reading about superheroes, I could actually become one. The world has given me a second chance. And I'm not going to waste it. I will never again fail someone close to me. And that includes you, Uraraka."

Dying simply feels preferable to going through this pain again. It was as he told Rabbit. The pain never ended, he just… learned to live with it. And even that only after he developed a literal superpower. After he began to save people, something that was his personal emotional painkiller. Something that lessened the pain for some time.

He was so happy and enthusiastic right after that (at least until his meet-up with Overhaul) because he practically rebounded after years of emotional catatonia. He threw himself into that, like a starving man suddenly facing a platter full of food, not thinking about anything else. At least until he began to realize that he bit more than he could chew.

His mom was probably alright with letting him go like that. Because for the first time in years, she wasn't sharing her home with a zombie wearing her dead son's face. Izuku would be overjoyed and supportive (even blindly) as well.

And from then on, things continued to escalate. The Network now included close to two hundred people. Two hundred people that for some reason believed in his dream. That believed in him. That were ready to risk their lives for his cause. To a reasonable degree, yes, he doesn't exactly expect them to get willingly martyred. Most were simply trying to help (or wanted to get a steady pay), but…

His responsibilities grew. Much faster than his ability to bear them. It just… he just wasn't ready for it. When he started, he imagined his whole career to be pursuing some small-time criminals while keeping his distance from anyone seriously dangerous. Then Eri happened,

then the Network began to grow, then the police were involved and…

He doesn't know if he can take all of that. But he knows that he has to. Once again, because he refuses to fail people again. Even if it kills him.

Uraraka stays silent for a few more seconds. It was… she clearly didn't expect that outburst. That confession. Then again, neither did he. It just happened.

"I…" She eventually tries to speak. Her voice is shaking. "I want to… I… Please. Give me some time. I want to… I want to tell you the truth, it's just…"

He isn't the only one with painful memories that are hard to vocalize, it seems. It took him almost three months to vocalize his own. So he understands.

"It's alright, Uraraka." He says. His eyes are closed under the helmet, the tears slowly leaking through them regardless. "I'll wait for as long as I have to. We'll wait for as long as we have to. Just… please don't be so hard on yourself. We won't cast you away. You don't have to hide from us. We're your friends, alright?"

"A…alright." She manages to get out a shaky reply. Judging from the tone of the voice, he isn't the only one crying under the helmet.

(***)

"Ribbit?" Tsuyu decides to ask him for the results immediately after he shows up within her line of sight.

"I… It was…" There were still some tears streaming under the helmet, and all the complicated emotions were still there. He struggled to form an answer.

She, naturally, understood everything from that small fact (she seriously must have had some minor empathy quirk, even if that was impossible according to their understanding of the meta-abilities) And she immediately swept in to hug him.

She didn't ask any further questions. She realized that whatever happened between him and Uraraka, it was a step in the right direction. She focuses her entire being into emotionally consoling her boyfriend.

Izuku, it seems, isn't the only overprotective person in that relationship. Then again, it works. That's the important thing. They both needed that.

He should probably share the Bakugou Katsuki/Ayako Midoriya bit with Tsuyu. Not now, but… Tsuyu deserves to know. Mei too. He shouldn't be hiding those things from them. They didn't have secrets, so neither should he.

Telling Uraraka about his past might have been a breakthrough for Izuku Midoriya. He can only hope that it was also a breakthrough for her.

(***)

"Alright." Kugo Sakamata announces to the people gathered in front of him. "We're going through the plan one last time."

He is… well, a bit confused. He is certain that he isn't the only one that's being confused with all those recent changes to the world. The meta-abilities. Selkie was taking it particularly hard.

He is allowing barely trained young adults (practically teenagers) to participate in the SST operation. In fact, he is letting them play a major role in it. The amount of things that can go wrong with that is just staggering.

But he doesn't exactly have any wiggling space in that because he read through the villain database. If they run into Kurogiri, he'll escape easily. If they run into Dabi or Carnage, his entire team will be annihilated. And they don't even know what the ship is carrying around exactly.

What a fucked-up time to be a part of the law enforcement.

His men are probably tired of repeating the whole stuff over and over again, but hopefully, just HOPEFULLY, none of the kids will mess anything up. At the very least they seem to be listening intently.

He'd absolutely hate to have any of them die. Just as much as he'd hate to lose one of his men.

Ugh.

(***)

The plan was rather simple. They had to approach the ship silently and avoid detection. So, once they confirmed that the smuggler ship entered the Japanese territorial waters (heading towards Musutafu), they approached it… but stayed out of eyesight.

Then, once the nightfall came, they began to prepare their boarding operation. It was going to be… a bit original.

Stage one was Uraraka using her quirk on the SST boarding party and the heroes that were supposed to take part in the operation. Not enough to make them completely weightless, but just enough to make them much lighter. Once that was done, they all boarded one of Eclipse's surfaces.

Then, Izuku used his quirk to move both the surface and the people on it towards their destination. Quietly. Right over the sea surface. It's dark, they are wearing dark clothes and they move in complete silence.

Basically speaking, this is a perfect way to quietly board a ship. There is practically no chance for the opponents to detect their presence before they reach their destination. The only thing that could somehow save them would be through some sort of human-detection quirk. That or someone for some reason being on the deck and looking at just the right direction at just the right time.

And even then, they wouldn't have a lot of time to act.

Thankfully, no one was there.

The SST and heroes disembarked from the Eclipse' surface that she promptly unmade. A quick signal through the commlink to Uraraka and their weight returned to them.

It was time for some action.

(***)

It really puts Izuku's protectiveness towards Tsuyu in a perspective, hmmm? Not saying that she's his replacement Ayako (who, btw, is a minor OC in Ties that Bind and probably a major one in Exiting the Stage), but... it might be slightly implied. It also puts the fact that he almost broke after Marunake Ward fire when she and Uraraka almost died in front of him in a perspective, to be honest.