—-

Stain's PoV
—-

The league of villains was supremely disappointing, that blue haired fool was all talk, no focus. He had no idea what he wanted, he was lashing out at anyone he hated, and that would get him killed.

So it surprised me when I received a message to meet a member of the League late at night. I just wanted them to leave me alone. I walked into the alley, prepared to kill whoever was there.

It was just the green haired child.

"I'm surprised you actually came…" He grinned

"I want you to leave me alone, I do not intend to work for that fool." I spat

"Nor do I." this caught my interest

"I am not a fan of Shigaraki, I think he is an idiot who has been promised too much power. He has no plans other than killing All Might."
"All Might is the only person deserving of the title 'Hero'"
He began to laugh.

"That's funny, I used to think that too before I saw who he really is."
I drew my katana, no one spoke about him like that in front of me.

"And who might he really be?"
"He's a broken man who destroyed my family, crushed my dreams, told me I could never be a hero without powers, and then left me on a roof to jump."

"You lie." I hissed and jumped at him

He was surprisingly fast and was suddenly behind me, but I was faster, I slashed across his face and he fucking laughed.

"I wish I was, I wouldn't be in the situation I am if I had never met him. I would have lived a normal life had All Might stayed away from my family. I wouldn't have grown up without my father, being bullied for not having a quirk. I could have had a normal life without him." He launched a couple quick kicks at me, but I had his blood now. I swallowed it and he dropped.

"You sound like a child crying for a villain All Might arrested."

"Maybe I am, but I'm going to remake hero society. I am going to destroy the hero commission, and reshape the world in my image." he smiled

"You won't be doing any such thing, because you are not leaving here alive." I went in for the kill but suddenly I was frozen

A boy the same age as the green haired child walked out of the shadows.

"I will not allow that, in fact I believe you are becoming a liability." His voice was muffled by the ice but I could see the murderous intent in his eyes.

He picked up the other boy and threw him over his shoulder.

"You treat me too well, Shoto." he smiled

'Shoto' huh.

"Now listen here, you stay out of our way. If you come into our territory again, I'll kill you." Shoto glared
"Just kill him now." he whined

"I would rather not stick around while you're paralyzed, you could end up hurt." there was genuine concern in his voice…

"Then just do it quickly."

"Ugh, fine." he set the boy down and placed his left hand around my neck.

I was still too frozen to move, is this what my victims felt?
His hand began to glow red and then everything went dark.

—-

Shoto's PoV

—-

I watched as the Hero Killer's head came off, Izuku just started laughing.

"Wow, I didn't think you would do it."

"What?" Was he messing with me again?
"It's a shame the Hero Killer didn't work out, but this gives us an opportunity to take up his cause and gain followers." I watched as his fingers began to twitch and he was able to turn his head.

I sighed and picked him back up.

"Kurogiri, we're done here, please bring us back."

I watched as the portal opened directly into Izuku's room.

Touya was waiting for us.

"What the hell were you two up to?" He growled

"Dealing with Stain, he wouldn't join us and was threatening us. So we took him out." I explained

"Stain was my idol, he's the reason I even started killing heroes."
"He was going after Endeavour next, and I don't think either of us would be satisfied with someone else killing him." I lied, I had no clue who his next target was, but this would be the easiest way to deal with Touya.

He seemed to stop and think, something I doubt he ever did.

"Fine, but we're losing an asset."
"I already have a plan." Midoriya spoke up from his bed, it's now that I noticed the slash across his face. I walked to his bathroom and picked up a first aid kit.

I was used to taking care of myself, and he was still partially paralyzed, so I began to disinfect the wound.

"And what's your plan boss-man?"
"We use Toga to impersonate Stain, we make it look like he joined us, and then fabricate a story on how a hero killed him. We make him into a martyr for our cause, and gather the followers of his ideology. It aligns with ours so it works."

"Toga can't copy quirks." Touya said flatly

"True, but she still likes blood does she not? The media doesn't know Stain's quirk, but he ate my blood and I became paralyzed, so her obsession with blood will do us a service."

"Fine, but I'm still not happy about it."
"You're rarely happy." I commented

"Oh, I'll need you to recruit as much as possible ok?" Midoriya looked at my brother

"Fine, I'm busy Tuesday but the rest of the week I'm free."

"That will work. Now if you don't mind I believe Shoto is trying to focus on my wound." he smiled at me.

"Whatever, I'll see you little psychos later, I'm gonna go home and try to cook Keigo dinner." With that he walked out of his room.

"Smart idea with Toga posing as Stain, I'm sure she'll be excited." I dabbed antiseptic on, he hissed in pain

"Mmmm, yea, it'll give her something fun to do."

I grabbed small butterfly bandages and began to piece the slash back together, my hand lingering on his cheek when I finished.

He may be using me but I liked it, maybe he actually cared. Either way there was something about him that I couldn't deny liking.

"Thank you Shoto, I don't know what I would do without you." he leaned into my hand.

I leaned forward and kissed him, but it was different than the ones before.

It felt more intense.

He grabbed my shirt and pulled me closer to him, I guess he wasn't paralyzed anymore.

I had only ever done this with Izuku and I was just going through this blindly. But I wanted to keep it going so I pushed it farther.

I felt his fingers dig into my shoulders, I was just following my instincts at this point.

"Shoto," He pulled away. Did I do something wrong?

"Yes?" my voice was barely a whisper,

"I like you, a lot. But I need to focus on planning right now, could we continue this in a bit?"
I felt a wave of relief, I didn't do anything wrong… "yea, I like you a lot too. Is there anything I can do in the meantime?" I smiled

"Could you get Toga for me? I want to explain everything to her."
"Sure thing."

"I appreciate it."
I don't know what it was about him, but something drew me to him. Maybe it was gratitude, for saving me from my father. Maybe it was the fact that he was the first openly queer person to show any form of interest in me. Maybe it was because that's what he wanted me to do, whatever it is, I know that I'm in too deep to care now.

He mattered to me, I could only hope I mattered to him.

—-

Dabi's Pov

—-

I waited for Keigo to get home, I tried my best to follow an online recipe for fried chicken, but the crust was a lot thicker than I was used to, it took a couple tries to even get it to cook all the way through. I actually managed to get a few good pieces done. It looked similar to KFC but a bit darker in color.

I pulled out my phone and fired off a few texts

Hey let me know when you're five minutes out. I made dinner.

When are you free to go grocery shopping?

What do you want in the next few weeks? I want to try cooking more, I think I did an alright job today.

This life was so domestic compared to work. I walked to the bathroom, locked the door, started to run a bath and pulled off my projection rings. The marred purple skin in the mirror made me sick to my stomach. I hadn't been able to keep the burns clean when it happened. They got infected and it's one reason why they progressed so quickly.

I sank into the bathtub and watched black and gray pool around me. I hated how quickly my hair faded, Midoriya said it was because I didn't use permanent hair dye. Who even knows the fucking difference?

The warm water actually felt nice on the parts of my body that still had decent nerve sensitivity. I stayed like that for a while, I looked at my hands to see my fingers wrinkles and noticed the water was starting to turn cold. Not that it mattered, back when I lived with my siblings I would use my quirk to keep the water warm for us.

I got out and dried myself off, my hair looked like an ash gray. No longer the black that "Dabi" rocked. It would be a pain to recolor it.

I picked up the rings and placed them on each hand, and check my phone

Hey about to land.

Not sure about groceries, but excited to try your cooking!

Let's talk about it over dinner.

I slung my towel around my waist and looked back at my reflection. I looked like my ideal version, if I hadn't been raised by my father, if he hadn't been a piece of shit, maybe I would look like this normally. Maybe I wouldn't be damaged goods.

I walked out of the bathroom towards the bedroom to find my fiancé lying face down on our bed. I crept over to him and could tell something was wrong.

"Hey, you okay love?" I placed my hand on his shoulder

"I just spent the last few hours interviewing Tensei. I don't know why the commission made me do it, sure I know the guy but we were never particularly close. Would've made more sense for like Midnight or Present Mic to do it, they went to school together."

"I'm sorry love, I'm sure it was hard seeing him like that."

"It was, but it's part of my job as a hero." He sat up and hugged me, it hurt. Pressure on my scars was always uncomfortable.

But I wrapped my arms around him, Keigo was a very physically affectionate person, and I couldn't complain. As uncomfortable as it is, I had spent so long without it, it was nice.

"Regardless of that, it's shitty they put you in that situation." I ran my fingers through his hair

We stayed like that for a while longer, finally he pulled away from me.

"Hey let's go eat okay? I'm curious to try what you made." He stood up and swept me off my feet

"Keigo, I need to get dressed!"

"No you don't," with that he walked us into the kitchen.

He set me down and I pulled the chicken I made out of the warmer

"Holy shit marry me." Keigo looked over my shoulder

"I already am dumbass" I set the food down on the table and watched as he used his feathers to gather drinks, plates, and the other American style side dishes I had made.

I shivered as I noticed the open balcony door and my lack of clothing became more of an issue, "Kei, if you're gonna insist I don't get dressed do you mind shutting the fucking door?" I asked irritated

"Oh shit, sorry. I just thought you'd be fine with your quirk."

"Yea, but the heating bill is not controlled by my quirk is it?"

Did he know something? Normally he would make these jokes but he seemed nervous about something.

I watched as one of his feathers closed the door and fell to the floor.

I smiled and we went on eating. We are in silence mostly, with only a few occasional compliments on the food. It made me miss Fuyumi and my times cooking together.

"So, I had to stop in at work today, before the hospital."

"Okay? Did something happen?" I set my utensils down on the table

"Since I didn't go in the other day when they called, I have to work on Tuesday."

MOTHERFUC—

"Damn, they keep you on a really short leash huh?"

"I'm so sorry Asahi. I promise I'll make it up to you."

"You bet your ass you will." He grimaced, what was he not telling me?

—

Bakugou's Pov

—

I was reading over Deku's notebook looking for any evidence of what he was going through. This one still had blank pages, so my guess is he was still working on this one when he went missing.

I heard three knocks on my door, and Kirishima poked his head through. It had been three days since the sports festival, and we had been hanging out a lot more recently, and it was nice. He was denser than a rock but I guess that made sense with his quirk.

"Bakugou, do you mind helping me with the math homework we got a few days ago? No matter how hard I try I just can't get it right."

"What the hell dude, I've gone over it with you multiple times. Fine, get in here." I sighed and put the notebook down

"Ah thanks dude, I really appreciate it!" He walked in with his notebook, calculator & pencil.

"Okay what are you having an issue with?" He sat down next to me and flipped open to the second page of work

"Um, I can't for the life of me understand how to read these fucking curvy graphs, like the calculator is already confusing as hell, and then I can't remember how to know if the graph is positive or whatever it is."

"You're a visual learner right? I'm surprised that the graphs are giving you the most trouble."
"Dude, I'm just shit at math." He laughed a bit

"No excuses, Shitty Hair." I hit his arm

"They aren't excuses, my mom used to withhold dinner until I finished my homework, and it would be pretty late by the time I would get the math work done, and at that point all the dinner was put away and I had to go to bed." he looked down

Shit.

"Who the fuck lets their child go hungry? That fucking inhumane." I growled

Sure my mom was strict, but she never made me go to bed without food, she always pushed me to be the best. Was it a crushing weight? Absolutely but it was to push me to be better.

It was to push me to be better…

"I dunno dude, it's how I grew up." He looked confused

"Still, it's shitty you went through that."

He just smiled and we went on through the work. I showed him how to set up the problems on the calculator, and he slowly started to grasp a bit of it.

"Okay, so in all honesty I just need to put these into the calculator correctly, and it'll draw the graph for me?"
"Basically, your issue isn't the work per say but more the technology that goes into it."
"Damn, I'm just glad I don't have to do this all in my head, like how the fuck did people come up with this shit and not have a calculator." Kirishima smiled

"Maybe they have more room for brains than hair." I grinned

"Hey, my hair is cool." he grinned, his hair was down for once, rather than spiked up. It looked better like this.

"Whatever dude," I looked at my clock, 9 pm. No wonder I was so tired

"Sorry, it's probably past your bedtime huh?" he teased

"Yea it is. But it's okay."

"You sure? I can leave."
"It's fine."

I just liked having him around

"Okay, thanks again for all the help dude. You're probably saving my grades." His sentence was punctuated with a loud growl from his stomach

"Kirishima, have you not eaten today?"
"Shit, sorry dude. Didn't mean for it to be so loud, old habits die hard I guess."

I sighed and grabbed his arm and hauled him out of my room and down to the dorm kitchen, no one was around at the moment and I sat him down at the counter.

"I'm gonna break that fucking habit." I growled grabbing ingredients for a quick meal

"You don't have to do that dude." he waved his hands out in front of him

"Look, you clearly have issues, but I'll be damned if you continue to go to bed hungry when we have training everyday." I put a pot of water on the stove and worked on cooking an egg to go with some instant ramen.

I started chopping some veggies and threw some spam into a pan with some oil.

"Thank you." it was quiet, but I grunted in acknowledgement

It was silent between us as I finished cooking and plating for the both of us

"I thought you usually don't eat this late?" Kirishima looked at me in confusion

"I have cheat days, besides I don't want to sit here doing nothing while you eat."
"You're staying?"
"I'm making sure you finish that shit." I sat next to him

We started eating but I liked the way his eyes lit up, "Dude, this is so good."

"Thanks, my dad taught me how to cook when I was younger. I'm glad you like it."

I made sure he finished all of his food before starting to clean everything up.

"Hey let me help you," he started on drying the dishes and putting them away

We walked back to our rooms in comfortable silence, I walked into my room and grabbed his stuff.

"Thank you for all your help Bakugou." he smiled

"Yea, whatever. It's no big deal."
"It means a lot to me though, so thank you." he suddenly leaned forward and kissed my cheek. I felt a hot flush spread through my whole body "Goodnight!" he waved and entered his room.

I stood there dumbfounded.

What the hell was this feeling in my chest?

—-

Deku's PoV

—-

I sat doing research, Toga had been excited to mimic Stain and was quick to have Kurogiri teleport her to obtain his body. It was good no one had found it yet. Surprising but convenient.

She was in her room happily draining all the blood she could from him.

I could hear her singing accompanied by wet squishing noises.

Suddenly my door was thrown open, and quickly collapsed.

"Who the fuck said you could contact Stain." Shigaraki barged in

"Don't get mad Shi-shi, I think this will work well in our favor." I shrugged

"That's not the point–"
"Yes it is. You failed to get him on our side, so I tried again. It didn't work out so we eliminated him. Toga will pose as him and gain followers to our cause. Then we stage that a hero killed him. I'm thinking we have a hero who is not in the top ten, but loved by the public."
"Don't think you're being sneaky. You're going behind my back with plans and undermining me." He placed his hand around my neck, not all five fingers, but he was trying to threaten me nonetheless.

"You don't make it challenging to do so. Might want to work on that." I laughed

"If you think you are going to take my future you are wrong."
"Please, the only reason you're not dead is because my father likes you. Has use and hopes for you. Once that changes you're dead."

"I should just kill you now."
"Please, I can't kill you for the exact same reasons you can't kill me. All for One is the only thing keeping us from ripping each other's throats out."

"Whatever you're planning won't work." he dropped his hand from my neck and I punched him in the gut

"Just you wait Shi-Shi, we'll see where everyones' loyalties lay soon enough." I smiled

He stumbled and flipped me off.

"This isn't over Izuku." He walked out

"No, but it will be soon."

I went back to my research.

Toga walked in

"Izu, what are you up to? Tomura looked mad walking out of here." She giggled

"Just having a dick measuring contest apparently." I joked

"Ooo, who won?" She leaned on me

"I think I did, but if you ask him I bet he'll say the same thing."

She laughed again and looked down at my computer before I could close it.

"Did you really google 'how to kiss better'? You're so cute." She ruffled my hair

"Shut the fuck up, like you've ever kissed anyone." I shoved her off of me

"I have, thank you very much, they are usually dead. But I have kissed a few living people." Toga smiled

"Sounds about right." I smirked

"So is there something between you and scarface?" she laid down on my bed

"Yea, we like each other, no labels yet though."

"Awww, it feels like watching a little sibling grow up."

"Shut up, you're only like a year older than me." I glared

"Ooo, scary. Anyway I finished storing 's blood. Though I wish I had gotten to meet him when he was alive…" she whined

"Couldn't be helped, he was going to kill me." I explained

"But you didn't even let me see you all bloodied up." she was now hanging half her body off the bed frowning

"Next time, if you really want to." I rolled my eyes

"You're the best Izu!" She shot up

"So anything else you need?" I looked over at her not moving from my bed

"Not really, I'm just bored and want to know any gossip you may have."
"I don't really keep up with gossip. I just talk with Mayhem, Shoto, train and plan shit out."

"That's boring though! We need to go out!" She grinned

"And do what?"

"Let's go see a movie! It's late so I'm sure like no one is around, we could have Kurogiri teleport us right into a theater, we just hop around until we find a good one."

"Why not, that sounds like fun." I popped my back and grinned

"Any movie you wanna see? Or just luck of the draw?"

"Let's go luck of the draw." I pulled a hoodie on and a face mask.

"Yay!" I watched her slowly morph into another person, some random teen around our age.

We walked downstairs to see Kurogiri working at our private area of the bar, Dabi was working the public half.

"Hey Giri, could you teleport us to this theater?" Toga asked, pointing to her phone. When had she looked that up?

"I don't see why not, but don't be out too late, I shall await your return message. Don't get caught either." He opened a portal and sent us on our way.

"I'm so excited! I wonder what's playing?" She smiled as we walked to our seats.

Suddenly the screen lit up, and suddenly All Might's face was smiling at me.

"Is this the fucking All Might documentary that was supposed to come out?" I stared

"Oh this should be good." She cackled

We were the only two in the theater.

The movie began with some lies about how he was born into a family with powerful quirks, but he was weak as a child.

"Propaganda!" I yelled at the screen

"Boo, skeleton ass bitch!" Toga yelled

It was honestly therapeutic.

We continued watching the screen and suddenly the world faded to black.

"Nephew." I saw the image of the first user in front of me.

"What do you want? Trying to get me to betray my father?" I glared

"He's just using you, he's not capable of love."

"Even so, I don't really care. If he betrays me I'll just kill him."
He sighed and dragged his hand over his face.

"What makes you think you can do what the rest of us failed to do?"

"I'm not afraid to kill, unlike the rest of you. If I have to kill my father I will, it won't matter if I have his powers or not." I smiled

"I want to know why you feel the way you do about heroes." my uncle stares at me

"In all honesty my whole life I wanted to be one, but growing up without a quirk, the whole world looked down upon me, treated me as a worthless being. Those given power are revered for it, it's not fair for those who are weak."

"The goal of heroes was to protect the weak."
"And they've failed, why do you think there are so many villains in the current era? It's because society has failed us. We need reformation, but there will be no change without the destruction of the current system. That will not happen without blood."

"How can you be sure of that?" he asked

"Because I've seen it first hand. No matter how I tried to bridge the gap, be a productive member of society. No one wanted me around, not even my mom believed I could do it."

"Even so, not everyone in society is like that."

"Not everyone sure. But enough that I want no part of it. I want change, no society needs to change, and it won't under the current regime."
"You really believe that don't you? I'll try again another time."

I faded back to reality and Himiko was staring at me.

"You okay?"
"Yea, just an annoying conversation."
"You have voices in your head too?" She asked excitedly

"Well, mine are the voices of the previous holders of my quirk."

"Oh, mine are mainly voices that talk about blood, or ." she giggled

"I see, so what's the movie lied about so far?" I snickered

"Well they talked a lot about this David Shield guy, he apparently helped All Might while he was working in America. Know anything about him?"
"Yea, he's a super important scientist who helped found I-Island."

"What's that?"
"It's a moving island that a bunch of scientists live on, they have a lot of important technology there." I explained
"Wanna take it?"

This caught me off guard, and I grinned, "Not yet, but maybe soon."

We laughed together as the credits rolled, it was a terrible movie, but it gave me so many ideas.

—-

Dabi's PoV

It was Tuesday night, and I was bored. Keigo was working, and therefore so was I.

I was hanging out in my usual spot when I heard footsteps coming towards me.

A hero or a new recruit?
"Heyo, you're part of the league right?" My body froze at the voice

"What's it to you?"
"I'm interested in joining." This was a trap, did someone realize and send him?

"I'm sure you are hero, now get out. I have no business with you." I started walking away but was stopped by a wall of red feathers.

"Aww come on, don't be mean." I turned to see my finance standing there

He stiffened, this was it.

"You look familiar, do I know you?"

"Maybe you chased me down for murder, who knows." I smirked. Just fucking leave, don't make me fight you…

"Oh now I know! I saw you recruiting two other villains." he smirked

"Then why are you here?" I glared

"Like I said, I want to join the league. I want to change our society, and I think we could benefit from a partnership."
"And what makes you think we would even want you?"
"Because I can get you access to classified information."

"I'm sure you can, but why should I trust you?" it was hard keeping a straight face

"I can prove myself, I don't care how long it takes, or what I have to do."
Interesting, he says anything but who knows how far he's willing to go.

"I might have a few ideas." I grinned

"What is it?"
"Get me the coordinates of Tartaros."
He faltered

"Why would you want those?"
"Ahh ah. That's for me to know, if you're serious about this you'll trust me."
He pulled out his phone and began to type, then he tossed it to me. On it was a map, I snapped a photo of it and threw it back.

"I'll be in touch Hawks."

"When?"
"You'll find out."
"Shouldn't you give me your contact information?"
"No."
With that I walked away, my heart was pounding out of my chest. He didn't recognize me, thank the gods.

I walked away and left my fiance to his own devices.

—-

I turned this chapter out faster than I thought I would.

I was debating what to do with Stain, and in the end I decided to eliminate him before the Hosu incident.

Also I know this is a very domestic chapter, but it's important for story building I think.

Anyways, happy new year!