Kacchan was staring at him like a bloodhound staring at a rabbit. Izuku knew why, of course.
Kacchan was supposed to be better of him at everything, and that included romantic relationships. Except that, right now, he was the one with a girl sitting next to him, and Kacchan was sitting next to his mom, which wasn't really a great look.
"Soooo…" Himiko had probably noticed, especially because Katsuki had been grinding his teeth together for the whole dinner.
"What's the trick Deku?" Katsuki finally asked.
"Th-The trick?"
"There is no way a loser like you got a girlfriend before me."
"I thought you didn't want a girlfriend…" Izuku replied, and Katsuki grabbed the edge of the table.
"That's not the point!"
"I feel like it is…"
"No, the point is that I don't buy you could have a girlfriend!"
"Katsuki!" His mother shouted. Oh right, their parents were there. So was his 'girlfriend' for that matter, who was looking progressively more annoyed.
"What?! Come on, it's Deku. I can't be the only one that thinks it's weird that he goes from 'I can't make eye contact with a living being' to 'I'm going to smooch this girl's face off her cranium'."
Hisashi coughed out the wine he had the bad idea of drinking while Katsuki's rant extended at the rest of the table, and Izuku could do nothing but cover his face with both hands as he started to become so red he could be mistaken for a semaphore. "It's not that…" He grumbled.
"How did you meet?" Katsuki asked.
"Uh… Her father is dad's colleague." He answered, looking at Himiko. He noticed she was starting to pass the knife over the fork to sharpen it. Weird way to show nervousness.
"And what do you like about her?"
"Uh…" Izuku looked at Himiko. He didn't know her well enough. What did he like about her? 'Her breasts', suggested his treacherous brain, before getting smothered by the tag team of his self-control and his decency. "I… I think Himiko is a great p-person because she is… She is k-kind and… a-and nice…" He stammered, under Katsuki's glare, not even daring to glance at Himiko.
"Those are generic, give me something specific nerd."
"Shut up." A voice said next to him. He looked at Himiko standing up, red as a tomato, staring at Katsuki, "You are bothering him."
Katsuki glanced at the knife and instead of backing down like any sane person would have took it as a challenge. "Oh yeah? Why don't you answer then?"
Himiko's grip on the knife tightened, something only Izuku seemed to notice as everyone else looked at the standoff between his 'best friend' and his 'girlfriend'. Hisashi and Masaru had the same dumbfounded expression on their face, Mitsuki seemed about to just jump on Kacchan and drag him away – 'Please, do it…' – and his mom was looking at Himiko in… approval?
"I… I like Izuku's bl… I mean, I like Izuku." She replied, and it was his turn to go red. Of course she would say that. Of course, they were supposed to be together after all, people would find it weird if she said otherwise. Even if it was just for the sake of the Green Valley Clan, she had to keep up the relationship. But despite all that he was still changing color like a chameleon over a stop sign.
"Why?"
"Why does it matter?! I like him, he likes me, what the hell do you want?!"
Kacchan staggered back, and Izuku wondered if the question had hit. Why did he care? Kacchan didn't care about relationships. Izuku knew that he thought a girlfriend would just slow him down, especially one that was 'an extra' like everyone else. Not only that, but given his personality was better summarized by a trash can set on fire and then placed on top of the garbage pile to be declared King Explosion Murder of the dumpster fire, he was also absolutely the last dating choice for any girl.
Not that Izuku would ever say that within earshot of him. He liked to live.
"You know, with your garbage of a personality, no wonder Izuku beat you at getting a girlfriend."
Bakugo's jaw dropped.
Izuku's jaw dropped.
Hisashi and Mitsuki doubled back in laughter.
Inko and Masaru's chuckle was the least expected reaction, though Izuku was finding out a lot of stuff he didn't know about his mom.
"W-What?!"
"I'm just saying, maybe if you didn't act like everyone around was a shit under your sole, maybe a girl would actually take the chance of 'smooching your face off your cranium'. But maybe you are just worried you would suck at it."
"I'd be a great boyfriend!"
"Sure you would…" She put a hand on Izuku's shoulder, "Unfortunately, I have to say, Izuku is a much superior one. I guess the real Deku here is you."
Bakugo froze, his face turning redder than it was a moment ago, an impressive phenomenon.
Izuku froze.
Everyone else at the table froze.
Except for Himiko, whose grin was almost splitting her face.
Then Bakugo stood up, opened his mouth, and then promptly collapsed from his chair.
"What just happened?" Himiko asked after a moment.
"I-I think you made him so angry his brain shut down." Izuku commented, "I've o-only seen that happen once, when someone dropped a part of his All Might card collection and then a truck passed over it."
"And with that, I think we can go." Mitsuki decided, sighing and picking up her son with surprising ease, "Himiko, I love you. Izuku, you found a real woman, I'm so happy for you. Inko, I'm sorry about my son."
"Don't worry Mitsuki, I know Bakugo is… a handful to handle. Frankly, from what you told me he has been on his best behavior tonight. Although," She turned to Izuku, "I expect someone will explain why his childhood friend is acting like this?"
"He is just very… driven?" Izuku commented, as Masaru offered politely to pay and left without being able to do so when Hisashi answered he planned to cover the bill himself.
"Izuku," Himiko put a hand on his shoulder, "Tomura is driven and an asshole. If Bakugo is an asshole too, you can call him an asshole."
"I know! I just… I think he can be a great Hero."
Himiko scoffed, "More like a great idiot. He spent the whole night glaring daggers at us and then went on a tirade about our relation being fake."
"Well, it is, right?"
Himiko blinked, then blushed again, "Well, yeah, of course, we just have to pretend for the sake of the underworld society until we marry, but, well, he doesn't know, right?"
"Yes, but…"
"No buts. Bakugo is a jerk, alright? That's your girlfriend's policy." She winked, "And don't worry about him, I'm sure he won't disturb you any longer. You can become a Hero in total peace."
Izuku smiled, and could see both his mom and dad smile too. It was really nice of Himiko to think so much about his well-being. He just hoped she was right.
-x-
"Oh right, dad, I want to murder someone."
All for One raised an eyebrow at that. Himiko had been of her best behavior, according to Hisashi. And from what he had collected, his hunch that Toga would like young Izuku quickly, even if right now it was an attraction born of her love for blood, was correct. He had lucked out with that papercut, he supposed, but getting hurt was surprisingly easy, and he had figured that in a whole day he would at least bleed once. If it didn't work, he had plans to cause a small accident, but that wasn't necessary now. Of course, now he still had to be the wise adult and drive her in the right direction, so that she wouldn't deviate from the straight path.
"Alright, who?"
"A guy named Katsuki Bakugo."
"Sure, but only if you brush your teeth." He replied, nodding.
"Yay!" His adoptive daughter smiled and nodded fiercely. Man, parenting was easy. He didn't know who this Bakugo was, but if he had made his daughter angry, he definitely wasn't smart enough to stay alive for long either way.
-x-
The next day, a beautiful Monday, saw Izuku first head early to Dagoba Beach to meet up with All Might. He had one hour of planned garbage cleaning before going to school, and his father had also asked him another favor.
"A students exchange?" All Might asked, while Izuku tried and failed to push a rather large fridge to the truck. Alright, so he wasn't strong enough yet. Not that he thought he could pull an All Might and push it down like a can of soda, but the fact that after a month he still couldn't move it at all was a bit frustrating.
"Yeah. My father has two colleagues, and their children are planning to go to UA. They talked and figured us switching training occasionally might be good for both." He moved to a small desk and started to carry it away. This one, at least he was strong enough to move.
"I don't know… This training really is designed for the heir of One for All, to build your muscles up."
"Well, they assured me I would be training hard with their trainer as well." He replied.
"Well… Ah, I suppose I should allow it. I can't really offer an explanation on why I can't." He nodded, "Very well, I suppose I can accept this request. Training some more zygotes is good."
Izuku blinked, pulling up a chair, "What did you say All Might?"
"I can accept."
"No, after that."
"Zygotes?"
"Yes, that. Why?"
"My teacher used to say it all the time. It sounds good, right?"
"No offense, but it sounds super weird." Izuku commented, putting the chair in the truck, "I think you are great All Might, really. But that is just odd."
All Might stared at him for a moment, then chuckled. "I suppose that's true. You are in good humor, young Midoriya. A bit more confident. Did something happen?"
Izuku wondered too. Since the night before he had felt a bit… lighter. He pushed the last piece of trash, a large television, on the truck, and then thought back at the dinner. Himiko was a really supportive friend, and she had even said he could be a Hero.
She had even defended him in front of Bakugo! And actually had called him better than Bakugo a few times, which was… wow. Wow.
That's when it clicked.
He had a friend. Two in fact, Masutaro had been fun to hang out with too. It was odd to think about his 'girlfriend' as just a friend, but he supposed that was an improvement too from 'stranger I'm supposed to be eloped with to avoid a street war'. He smiled.
"I-I guess a friend of mine helped me and I'm in a good mood." He replied. 'Oh, hello stutter, you are back.'
"The same person I have to train?"
"Yes, one of the two."
"Then I will gladly do that. I'm sure they are some fine people."
Izuku's smile faded. "Say, All Might, about the Yakuza…"
"Yakuza?! Where?!" All Might turned in his muscle form and started to look around, like a lion chasing his prey.
Izuku sighed. "Nevermind…"
Of course, not everything could be that easy.
-x-
When he reached school, Izuku entered the gates and walked up the stairs, walking through the corridors of Aldera and reaching his class to see something horrible. Terrible. A bit disgusting too.
Kacchan 'confessing' to a girl. Although, it looked more like he was robbing her.
"Go on a date with me!" He roared in the middle of the class, at full lungs.
The poor girl looked absolutely terrified too, considering that Bakugo had the same expression of a feral dog. "S-Sorry, you aren't my type-"
Bakugo roared again and the poor girl yelped, using the chance while he was raging to walk away and sit at her desk, which Izuku noticed was far, far away from Bakugo's. The teen looked around, noticing everyone was looking at him, and then scoffed, sitting down. Izuku used the chance to walk to his desk, and thankfully Bakugo didn't stand up or even turn around, still too busy curing his ego.
"Ohi, Midoriya?" One of the guys that usually hung up with Kacchan, Oruda, with the ability to elongate his fingers.
"Y-Yes?" He asked.
"Any idea what's going on with Bakugo? He has been acting weird." He asked in a whisper. They were right behind him, but he supposed right now Kacchan was so taken on it's own problems he wouldn't listen in.
"Yeah, I noticed."
"No, you didn't, you just arrived. The man has already hit on three girls today."
Three girls? Uh, that was bad. But why suddenly…
Oh.
Oh.
The memories of the day before rushed back and Izuku groaned in his hands, "Whyyyyy…"
Of course Bakugo had taken Himiko's words as a challenge. Of course now proving he was the superior boyfriend would become his next life goal. Of course the girls would say no, even if some of them found him physically attractive no one wanted to deal with his personality. And of course that was making him angrier, because there was no way he was the problem.
That was so Kacchan it hurt…
"So uh, any idea?"
"I think-"
"Alright class, let's start the lesson." The professor said, and that pushed the Kacchan issue from his two classmates mind as they scrambled for their seats. Izuku decided that he would keep it for himself for a while.
-x-
Surprisingly, the rest of the day went quietly. Sure, Kacchan proposed to the entire female population of the class – not hard to do, it was just six girls – and got rejected that many times, but on the other hand that meant he was too busy to come after Izuku.
Small mercies.
With that in mind, he walked back home, stopping only to eat some food on the way as usual. He entered his home to find exactly what he expected: Kurogiri, Himiko, Masutaro and Hisashi waiting in the living room.
Odd to think that the man made of shadow was at this point just a normal sight. Oh god, was he losing his grip on reality?
"Alright Izuku." His father said, "You are going with Kurogiri while I take them to the beach, is that alright?"
"Uhm, actually dad, running to the beach is part of the training."
Masutaro and Himiko audibly sighed, while his father frowned, "Well, it is only three kilometers away… I suppose a short run won't hurt. Very well."
"Can't be worse than my teacher's training." Masutaro commented, and Izuku shook his head.
"I assure you it's a lot harder than other training routines I found online."
"I assure you that so is my master."
"We'll see if you think that later." Izuku quipped, knowing full well that was a bet he was going to win.
"Same for you." Masutaro replied, and Izuku couldn't help but think that for once he would be taking it easy.
"Bye dad." He added, and they both froze. It was the first time in over a month that Izuku spoke with him normally. The man grinned and Izuku couldn't help but worry a bit. Was he already forgiving his dad for hiding who he really was?
Before he could think about it more, he landed in a large training room with no window. The walls were lined with swords, knives, and more training gear. Most of the weapons were made of wood, but a few were of actual metal, though, he hoped, dull. On his side, he found Tomura Shigaraki.
"Oh joy, the heroboo is here." The man grumbled, rolling his eyes, and when Izuku went to greet him he raised his hand, "Look, I'm only here to look over you for the time being. Fucking hero wannabe making me waste time when I could be doing my daily pulls. They just released a new skin…"
"Look over me? Does that mean you are the trainer?"
"No, I am." Izuku turned to see a man wearing a red mask that covered completely his face. Under it he wore a bulletproof vest colored in black and red, red pants, and had his black hair fashioned in a ponytail. Izuku felt the person was somewhat familiar, but with his face covered he couldn't really tell. "My name is Stendhal. I will train you today. I expect you to behave appropriately."
"Y-Yes sir." Izuku replied, his eyes going wide. Stendhal had been a vigilante a few years before, but then he had gone silent. Did he retire to become a trainer for young Heroes? Or did he join a criminal group? That didn't seem in character from the scrap of news Izuku had found.
"Good. Pick up a weapon. Sword or knife, you are free to choose." The masked man stood up and observed Izuku as he picked up a training knife, "You know, miss Shigaraki is a knife user, while Mustard… well, not what we are working on today."
Izuku looked at the knives, wondering why Toga needed one. Thinking about, he had never asked about her Quirk. Probably something that required a blade. Did she have Blood Control like Vlad King? It was possible. Or maybe she could control missing body parts? But that seemed a bit extreme…
"Begin." Izuku had one second to process the words before he had to bend down to dodge a knife to the head. He winced as the wooden weapon grazed his brow.
"Shouldn't we start on a count?!" He asked.
"Who has ever heard of a villain that starts on a count?" Stendhal asked.
"Uh, good point."
"Thank you." And the man threw another wooden knife, hitting him in the chest. Izuku winced at the pain. "You just died by the way." He pulled out another wooden knife from somewhere on his back, and Izuku decided he had really underestimated Mustard's advice.
-x-
"Hello, young z… young ones!" Toshinori Yagi said with a smile as Izuku's friends appeared at the beach, panting for running the three kilometers from Izuku's house. He nodded, giving them a few moments to breath and turning to Hisashi, who was panting too.
"It's nice to see a father so dedicated." He commented.
"Ahah, yeah, that's me, totally dedicated as a father…" The man mumbled, before taking a breath, "Well, they are in your care. I take they will also run back home?"
"That is correct."
"Very well then. Thank you, mister Yagi." The man replied, turning around, before blinking and sighing. "Ah, I forgot, no car." He pulled out his phone and started calling, Thosinori assumed, his chauffeur. All Might chuckled and turned to the teenagers.
The girl had black hair and grey eyes. Her face also reminded All Might a lot of someone, but he couldn't quite piece together who. He wondered if perhaps he knew her father.
The boy was a bit leaner than Izuku, and a bit shorter too, though clearly a teenager. He had bright blue hair and purple eyes, a combination that was quite common.
He smiled. It was good to see his protégé had some friends.
"Hello again kids!" He said, "My name is Toshinori Yagi, and today I will train you both. Any questions?"
"Uhm… Why do you look like a meth addict?" the male asked, and Toshinori laughed, coughing a bit of blood in the process. Both kids eyes went wide and the teen turned toward the girl, who was staring. Uh, well, nothing surprising there, seeing someone puke blood was not common.
"Ah, sorry." He said, cleaning his mouth with a handkerchief, "I assure you I'm not a meth addict, young… Uh, I'm afraid I don't know your name."
"Oh, I'm Masutaro Saiko." The male said. He smiled, and took his hand.
"Well, young Masutaro, years ago I was wounded in a villain attack. I survived, but unfortunately some consequences have haunted me since. Do not worry, I can definitely handle your training, as Izuku will have certainly said." He turned to the girl, "And you are?"
"Himiko." She said, shaking his hand.
"Just Himiko?" He asked, puzzled.
"Oh, right. I should give my full name."
-x-
"Sir, may I ask a question?" Mr. Compress asked, while helping All for One change the respirator's oxygen tank. Apparently, All for One managed to pull off a maskless attire for a few hours, but after that he needed to be hooked back, hence why he spent most of his time sitting at the PC.
Wow, he really was Tomura's father.
"Of course. What is it, Compress?"
"I understand that with that Noumu we have changed Himiko and Masutaro's appearance…"
"And their DNA too. The Noumu acts on someone's genetic code to change the expression of certain genes, so their DNA is slightly different too. At worse, they would pass as distant cousins of Himiko Toga and… whatever Mustard was called before."
"I see. Well, I was just wondering, their Quirk didn't change, right?"
"Correct."
"Then how are we sure no one will be suspicious?"
"Well, you see, for young Masutaro he can simply claim his Quirk is rather common. Gas users aren't exactly rare, even among Heroes, just look at Midnight. Is not like it can't be a coincidence he shares his power with a minor that is currently running from home."
Compress nodded, "That is true, but then what about Toga? That rat is smart, he will probably not be distracted by a bit of documentation when he finds himself looking at her. And considering Himiko's quirk is transforming, even the DNA test turning out negative might not work. And even if he had no proof, he could at the very least bar a suspected serial killer from attending his school."
All for One nodded, "That is true, Compress. But as Tomura would say, I 'big brained' this."
"Please never use that term again…"
"Why? According to Tomura, that term is very po…"
"Don't finish that sentence!" Compress shouted. God, this was his fault for talking back to All for One when he had said that he should spend more time with his son. He never thought suggesting in turn that he should spend more time with Tomura would do this. He wasn't ready to hear his boss, the Symbol of Evil, say 'poggers'. "Anyway, you… 'big brained' this? How?"
"Well you see, I dangled at Nedzu's face a little mystery that will make him way more curious about her fake past than her real one, so to speak. So much so he will want to have her in his school no matter what." He grinned, "Let him hunt a fake family history in the gentle way the Principal and the Heroes are so proud of, all while the serial killer solution collects dust."
Compress raised an eyebrow behind the mask. "Uh. That makes sense, I suppose. What did you do?"
"I gave Himiko an interesting name and appearance. Did you think black hair and grey eyes were a coincidence?"
-x-
"I'm Himiko Shimura sir, nice to meet you!" Himiko said extending her hand in greeting.
Toshinori's mouth rained blood all over it, sputtering wildly as his eyes went wide.
She decided she really liked Izuku's teacher.
(xx)
If you thought I was talking about Himiko or Izuku, you clearly didn't read the chapter's title.
Just to note, I'm not bashing Bakugou in this fic, this is just me poking fun at how much of a bastard he is at the start of canon. Man went a long way since, and I will acknowledge that in this fic too. But everyone starts somewhere.
Dad for One is also back with the best joke he has ever pulled on All Might since he killed Nana. Hilarious and truly a big brain move.