Chapter Summary: Gossip never dies. Show off your quirk. Get a drink. Get into a fight. All the while: smile, smile, smile.

Villain!Izuku, Canon-Divergent.
(Warnings for: past kidnapping, past torture, past experimentation and brainwashing.)
This was co-written by kattenprinsen and is cross-posted onto archive of our own.

Chapter Four: the weight of unspoken words

The very first thing Itsuka heard when she walked into class on the last day that of that weird, weird week, was her best friend Yousetsu saying, "Itsu, that new kid is fucking weird as hell."

She sighed, setting her bag on her desk. "Good morning to you too, Setsu."

He gave her a little wave. He sat at his desk behind hers, the chair turned around backwards, with his arms crossed on the back and his chin resting on one of them. "Seriously though, did you hear what he did yesterday?"

"You mean sit down and ask Shinsou to be his friend?" She asked, because, well, that had been pretty weird. She only knew because Yui had told her all about it on their walk to the train together.

"No he and Baku- Wait he did what?" Yousetsu sat up, blinking in surprise. Twisting around in his chair he peered at the back of the room, but of course Midoriya hadn't arrived yet. Shinsou wasn't in his seat either. He had a habit of spending as little time in the classroom as possible.

"Wait, what was it you were going to say?" Itsuka demanded, "He and Baku-who, Bakugou? From 3-A?"

"Bakugou totally called him out after class yesterday," Yousetsu said, turning back around to face her, "He got right up in Midoriya's face too, shouting like the fucker he is. And then when he was about to use his bomb palm to, I don't know, Midoriya's face or something, it just… didn't work."

Itsuka stared at him. "What."

"The smoke went out. The fire didn't come. No explosion. Nothing. Just voip! Nothing." Yousetsu waved his hands vaguely. "Midoriya just put his hands up like this and the explosions didn't fucking even happen."

Itsuka sat down in her chair, very grateful that it was there. "What?"

"It was amazing," Setsuna said, leaning in from her seat. She had her hands clutched together and hearts in her eyes. Well, metaphorical hearts. She wasn't Manga after all. "He just stood there when Bakugou started yelling at him like he wasn't afraid at all. Then he made Bakugou's quirk fail and demanded that Bakugou never use it on him again!"

"He did?" Itsuka whispered. She couldn't believe it. Absolutely couldn't believe it.

"And." Yousetsu added, lifting a finger, "He totally agreed."

"What? Why? How?"

"So that rumor that they were childhood friends?" Setsuna said, "Totally true. Mina in 3-A told me that Bakugou won't let them even say Midoriya in front of them because it pisses him off so bad! They knew each other before Midoriya was kidnapped."

"Yeah," Yousetsu said, "And apparently Midoriya was calling Bakugou by some childhood nickname but Bakugou wanted him to stop. So in exchange for not using his quirk on Midoriya, he did."

"...I can't believe I missed all of this," Itsuka said, "What the hell."

Setsuna leaned forward even more, she looked like she was about to fall out of her chair, "How do you guys think he did it? Do you think he has a quirk like Aizawa-sensei?"

"Didn't anyone ask?" Itsuka asked, "Like, what happened after he got Bakugou to agree?"

"He just waved goodbye to someone and walked off," Yousetsu said. "I was too surprised to ask, plus, I mean. I haven't even really met the kid yet."

Walking past them on her way to her desk, Ibara said suddenly, "You have the chance to if you want. He was out in the hall talking to Shinsou just a minute ago. I passed him on my way here."

"With Shinsou?" Setsuna gaped.

Ibara nodded. She settled into her desk, next to Yousetsu. Brushing some of her vine hair behind an ear, she said, "Yui told me they talked yesterday, too. Or at least Midoriya talked to Shinsou."

From a few seats behind them, Yui leaned forward. She grew a couple of sizes larger, to join the conversation without leaving her seat, "He totally did. He just sat down next to him and asked to be his friend! Can you believe it?"

"I'm telling you," Yousetsu said, "The kid's totally fucking weird." He seemed to notice what kind of company he was talking to and amended, "Like, weird for a hero-student. C'mon, don't tell me none of you think he's weird."

"Maybe," Setsuna said, leaning back, "But I'm not rude enough to say so."

The door opened behind them. Itsuka wasn't the only one who turned to look. Shinsou stepped into the room, noticed immediately that they were all staring and narrowed his eyes. Without a word, he walked the edge of the room to his seat in the back. Midoriya drifted in after him. He was still surprisingly tall- something about his face made it seem like he wasn't supposed to be like that- and he hesitated longer at the front of the room.

He gave a timid little smile, held onto the strap of his bag with both hands and nervously walked towards them. Itsuka stood suddenly, just as he reached her desk.

"Midoriya?" She asked, "My name is Kendou Itsuka. I'm the class president. If there's anything you need, help with work or with the school, please let me know."

Midoriya smiled at her. It was- It was- Well it wasn't as bright as the one he'd given yesterday, but Itsuka felt herself relax a little at the sight of it. She smiled back and gave a little bow when he bowed to her first. "Thank you, Kendou," he said, "I'm still getting the hang of, uh, well being able to just kind of go anywhere, you know? I got kind of lost on my way to class this morning… Got caught by 3-A, actually…"

"Ohh!" Setsuna chirped, "Were you visiting Bakugou?" She smiled, "We heard you two were friends as kids!"

The tall boy winced. "Uh. That's...one way of putting it. I guess."

"What were you then?" Setsuna asked, unperturbed by the awkwardness. Itsuka was trying to motion for her to shut the hell up, but the other girl didn't have much of a filter connected to her speech centers it seemed. "Childhood rivals? I guess if you could stop his quirk from working whenever you wanted he wouldn't really like hanging out with you, huh?"

"Didn't you fucking listen at all during yesterday's fight?" Yousetsu jumped in, "Hell, Setsuna, Bakugou said that Midoriya was…" His voice dropped off suddenly and he shifted nervously in his seat.

Midoriya gave a little smile, lifting a calming hand, "It's all right. But when I was little, I was diagnosed as quirkless. I have the double jointed little toe and everything."

"But-" Setsuna started. She was cut off by a yelp as the boy behind her, Juuzou, kicked at her chair and glared at her. "What? I'm just curious!" She scowled at him and then turned a pout to Midoriya, "You'd say something if I was bothering you, right? Right?"

"Uh…" he looked nervous again, "Who are you?"

"Tokage Setsuna!" She said cheerfully, and then introduced everyone around her. "That's Honenuki Juuzou, Awase Yousetsu, and Shiozaki Ibara. We're all really super curious about how you stopped Bakugou's quirk from working? Can you tell us how you did it? Do you know how?"

"I uh," Midoriya shifted uneasily, "I have a few quirks. One of them lets me affect the chemical makeup of a space about, uh, this big." He held up his hands, putting about the size of a beach ball between his palms. "It really only works with something like air or gas, where there's a lot of little molecules in a loose space and if it's not contained like in an open air situation. Meaning, of course, that in an enclosed space I have a difficult time sectioning out different types of chemicals. I can't really draw any in and I can't manipulate more than one type at a time, but most air is nitrogen based and flame needs oxygen to explode. I just removed the oxygen from around Bakugou's hand. His nitro-sweat can't explode even if he triggers it because once it's separate from his body, the flames need air to breathe, just like people do."

Itsuka wasn't the only one who stared at him in silence, a little awed.

Yousetsu recovered first, "And you just… You were able to do that to his hand before he struck you? But why didn't you do it the first time he hit you?"

"Oh. I wasn't ready for it then. It takes some effort to switch between quirks," Midoriya said with a little shrug. He lowered his hands again, letting them curl around the strap of his bag, holding tight like he was afraid it was going to be taken from him. He didn't seem to notice his grip on it, though. "I was focusing my attention on another one when he approached me."

"How many quirks do you have?" Setsuna asked, "What do they do?"

"A few," he said, "And a bunch of different stuff." He shrugged, "Some of it I'm still learning but the ones I use the most are my retention quirk and my primary quirk. Other than that, I'm trying to learn my fire breath one a bit better and the gas manipulation. I figure that those two would work best together, you see, because oxygen really can bolster a fire and my fire breath tends to come out, uh, funny."

"Funny?" Itsuka heard herself ask. "What do you mean by that?"

Midoriya gave a little smile, "We're doing a quirk exercise today, aren't we? I can show you guys it then. Class is about to start after all."

"Wait, there's still a few minutes left," Setsuna insisted, "I want to know more!"

"I'm not going anywhere any time soon," Midoriya said, "But I want to talk to Shinsou some more before class starts."

Itsuka felt her stomach drop at that. Yui had said that Shinsou hadn't talked back to Midoriya but Ibara had mentioned seeing them in the hallway… Lowering her voice, she leaned in and asked quietly, "He didn't manipulate you into being his friend, did he, Midoriya? He's got a pretty dangerous quirk, you know."

Midoriya's smile froze on his face and she had the impression that it was less of a smile and more of a baring of teeth. "We all have dangerous quirks… But we're all still here learning to be heroes, right? Shinsou isn't any different than us."

She didn't have anything she could say to that. Neither did anyone else. She turned and watched as Midoriya walked to the back of the room and sat down in his seat. Shinsou glanced her direction, meeting her gaze for just a moment, before she had to look away. She could hear Midoriya brightly greet Shinsou and ask him about their homework.

Yousetsu had to get up to turn his chair back around for class. As he did, he said quietly to her, "Hey, don't worry. Shinsou hasn't mind controlled anyone in like, a year or something, right? Midoriya will be fine."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." She agreed, but only half heartedly.

Uncharacteristically quiet, Setsuna whispered, "We'll just have to keep an eye on him. And make sure Shinsou doesn't pull anything funny. Midoriya's still pretty new to all of this regular highschool stuff. If we become his friends we can protect him pretty easily."

"Well," Itsuka sighed. It was an uneasy feeling, befriending someone for ulterior motives- even if it was to help them or protect them, "I guess."

Blood King walked in a few minutes later, so Itsuka put it out of her mind. Everything would be fine.

Hitoshi slid to a stop, panting, at the end of the obstacle course. He was one of the last to make it, spitting dust from his mouth as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. Two years and he was still near the bottom of his class as far as physical ability went. He wasn't the worst, of course, but still. Practically quirkless.

The thought made his lips twitch into something resembling a part of a smile. Isn't that what Bakugou called Midoriya? Yes. Yes it was. Where was the new kid anyway?

Making his way from the end of the line, he travelled along the outside of the course to where the rest of his class should be. Midoriya had, effectively, promised to show of his 'funky' flame breath and their Sensei, Waterspout, had said that he could after they'd finished their main workout for the day.

There was already a crowd when he made it back, although the others had gone through different obstacle courses. After all, different quirks demanded different landscapes to navigate to help build their skills. A few of the other students were scuffed up, their gym outfits scraped or pulled from where they skidded against concrete or stone.

They stood around Midoriya, who looked nervously around at them, hands flailing a little as he spoke to to Kendou and her friends. Hitoshi lingered towards the back of the group, curious but more cautious. He wanted to see if Midoriya would do that weird smile thing again. He hadn't yet, though he'd given quite a chilly expression when talking with Kendou that morning.

"Sensei," Tokage asked, "Can we please see Midoriya's quirk now?"

Waterspout sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Since everyone's done now… Fine, fine. Midoriya? Are you okay with this?"

"Well, um, yes?" He laughed nervously. "I haven't used this one very much. It's still a little. Weird?"

"Unstable weird? Or just, unusual weird?" Waterspout asked.

"Unusual." He said, "There were… complications? It's not like normal firebreath…"

"All the more reason to show it off!" That was Tetsutetsu, shouting and excited. "C'mon, bro!"

"O-okay…" Midoriya cleared his throat. "Can I have uh… Can everyone stand behind me?" He looked around for a moment and then his gaze settled on a blank part of the grounds. "Could I have some help setting up, first?"

"Sure," Waterspout said, "What do you need?"

"Tsuburaba, could you make a wall of air along here to here," Midoriya said, gesturing with his hands. "And Bondo, if you could use your quirk to make a low cement barrier? Sensei, if you could be prepared for putting out uh, small fires? The grass might catch and uh… The landscape is gonna change a bit."

Sensei nodded and the two boys Midoriya called out went to help. Together, they formed a small area that was blocked off by three low walls of concrete on three sides. Midoriya stood at the point of the triangle when they were done. He squared his shoulders, brushed his hair out of his face and took a deep breath.

What came out of his mouth wasn't flame, exactly. Hitoshi felt his mouth drop open when magma came pouring out of Midoriya like he was an active fucking volcano. It was hot, crazy hot. Hitoshi could feel it from where he stood and other students were pulling back from it automatically. As soon as the lava hit the ground, the grass burnt up into black char. It rolled slowly across the ground from the point of origin that was a human fucking being, and seeped to the edges of the triangle. It began to cool, but not before it hit the concrete and began to boil that too.

Midoriya wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, something red hot and shining on his lips, and then flicked his hand down at his side so drops of the molten rock splattered to the ground beside him and let up curls of smoke. He coughed, once, a belch of black smoke escaping his mouth, and turned to give a little smile. "See? Not exactly fire breath."

Stunned. Silence.

Hitoshi, weirdly, thought of an old kid's movie he'd seen once, a long time ago.

"...He's like Lava Girl."

"He totally is," said a girl next to him. Then she suddenly jerked and whipped around to stare at him, her eyes wide, and her vines flared around her head. Hitoshi stared at her too. That was the most he'd said to...well… anyone all year. Shiozaki took a step away from him and then another.

Hitoshi carefully closed his mouth and looked away from her. Didn't they know anything? He could activate his quirk at will. That didn't mean everything that came out of his mouth was a command. His hands tightened into fists and he shoved them into his pockets to hide that. Shiozaki quickly moved away from him.

The other kids ran up excitedly as Waterspout looked carefully over the new rock form addition to the training yard. Midoriya was bombarded with questions that Hitoshi didn't bother listening to. He didn't care. Couldn't care. His heart was beating hard in his chest. He had just spoken without even thinking about it. Was it really that much of a surprise…?

"Do it again!" came the cry.

"Add that gas manipulation quirk to it!"

"Can you make flames at all or just magma?"

"Do it again! Do it again!"

Hitoshi slunk farther back from the group. He just wanted to get a drink, change out of this stupid jumpsuit and get back to class-

"That's enough kids," Waterspout said. "3-A has the field today too. Time to head back into the locker rooms. Midoriya, are you all right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just, uh, hungry." He flushed, looking abashed, "I mean, the magma doesn't just come out of nothing… So if I could get a snack or something?"

"Ohh," said one of the other students. Tokage again, probably. She was kind of a chatterbox. Hitoshi was pretty glad she sat at the front of class. "Is that why you went to get a snack before gym?"

"Exactly. It totally depletes me if I use it too much and if I let my blood sugar drop to low, uh…. Well I just don't want that to happen." He smiles. Waterspout says he can go and he says, "I'm not exactly sure where one is, do you mind if someone comes with me?"

"Of course not," Sensei turns, clearly about to speak to Kendou, the class president, when Midoriya turns that smile to Hitoshi and says, "Let's go, Shinsou!"

Even Waterspout is thrown for a loop, "Eh?" She blinks, comically almost. Or it would be if Hitoshi wasn't blatantly aware of the fact that everyone was staring at him. The ones who weren't surprised were wary, distrusting.

Yet Midoriya walks up to him as though this is perfectly normal, and maybe in his fucked up little traumatized brain it is. Hitoshi feels a shiver crawl its way down his spine as he wonders, maybe, that Midoriya likes him so much because he reminds the weird kid of people he used to be around. Does he remind Midoriya of villains?

Because there was no way that this kid was as tortured as everyone believed. Not with a smoothness to his charm and sociability like that.

"Do you mind?" Midoriya asks him, smiling. Hitoshi wonders if this is what it feels like to be hit with his compulsion quirk. He finds himself shaking his head, almost saying "fine, let's go" before he remembers Shiozaki's horrified expression and bites his cheek to keep his mouth shut. The two of them walk away together, Midoriya all smiles and humming contentment, Hitoshi staring straight ahead so he doesn't give the other teen wary glances.

He leads Midoriya back to the building in silence. Well. Silence on his end.

Midoriya fills the air with odd, odd things. He went through the same obstacle course as some of the other enhanced kids, although his quirks weren't for mobility, and did fairly well. While running the course, he apparently was aware enough to keep an eye on anyone else he saw, and recounts the curious things to Hitoshi as if he actually cared about his classmate's quirks.

The rambling is distracting enough that Hitoshi almost forgets that Midoriya has been at the school for less than one school day.

He clenches his jaw, wanting to ask, "How do you know everyone's quirks already?" But his learned silence is a hard habit to break. Besides, he can think of possibilities on his own, keep an eye on Midoriya and figure out the most likely option over time. Unfortunately, he had weeks of time to spend observing Midoriya. The boy showed no sign of moving chairs to any other part of the classroom and was, infuriatingly so, determined to continue this charade of friendship.

They reach the locker rooms before the others and Hitoshi, out of habit, keeps his eyes forward and changes as quickly as he can. He's done just after Midoriya, who smiles again at him and asks, "Are there vending machines or something? A school lunch store that's opened before lunch?"

Hitoshi sighs. He motions for Midoriya to follow and for half a second he's certain the other boy will say "No. I'm not going with you until you say something." Hitoshi hasn't had that kind of forceful "friend" yet, but it was only a matter of time. But he doesn't. He just follows and this time, when he talks, it's about the television shows he's discovered in the last few days.

They find a vending machine easily enough and Hitoshi stands to the side as Midoriya orders a snack and a drink. "Do you want anything?" He asks, coins clinking in his hand, "It's the least I can do, making you walk around with me on the campus." Again, a little smile.

He smiles a lot, Hitoshi thought as he pointed to one of his favorite drinks. Midoriya buys it and hands it over. They lean against a wall and drink together. Class changes while they're doing that and they can hear a classroom down the hallway get loud. Hitoshi doesn't realize that this spot is a direct route between the third year classroom and the locker rooms until he hears all-too-familiar shouting.

3-A is headed down the hallway, chattering excitedly as any class of students would. 3-B is taking a different route of course, they're headed toward a different extra curricular class and will go back up to the classroom proper just before lunch. He chose this vending machine not only because of its selection, but because of the placement. The fewer people who saw him with Midoriya, the better.

He had forgotten about 3-A.

3-A has not forgotten about him. Or Midoriya.

"Izuku-kun!" Is the cry and very suddenly there is a girl, bubbly smiles and cheerful tones and bouncing footsteps running right towards them. "It's you!"

Midoriya smiles to her too. "Hey, uh, Uraraka."

"Please!" She said, "Call me Ochako! We're friends, aren't we? And now we're yearmates too! Although you should have been a classmate! Why didn't you try and get into 3-A?"

"Well, 3-A didn't really have the space for me," He said, "And the teachers weren't a good match."

"We have All Might as a teacher!" she said, "He's amazing!"

"Yeah, but Blood King is pretty cool. And Waterspout is good for managing my quirk." Midoriya shrugged. He still leaned against the wall next to Hitoshi, who had yet to even be acknowledged by this Uraraka.

As if she could tell he was thinking that, she turned her attention to him, "And you! Stealing away Izuku-kun from us-"

"Ochako," Midoriya cut in, cheerful. Hitoshi felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Was he the only one who heard the ice in his voice? "Shinsou is my good friend. He didn't steal me away from anyone, either. I wanted to be in 3-B."

"Good friend?" She pouted, "But you call him by his last name, don't you?"

"When Shinsou wants me to use his first name, he'll let me know." Midoriya said, "But that doesn't change the fact that I consider us good friends."

Hitoshi drank from his can in silence. His gaze slid past the girl, who kicked up less of a fuss at that, and to the other kids of 3-A who walked past. There was Monoma, tilting up his nose a few degrees more just because a 3-B kid was around. And a few others looking over in concern, not at Midoriya, though. To him. Iida was one. Tokoyami another. Asui gave them both a quick, curious glance before slipping up close to Uraraka and saying something about being late to class.

Todoroki, though, he was looking at Midoriya strangely. Hitoshi couldn't read the expression, but it seemed conflicted. As though different desires pulled at Todoroki with enough strength that he couldn't quite cover it up.

Hitoshi glanced to Midoriya, to see if he noticed and, ah. Yeah. He definitely had. He was giving a bright smile to the ice user and Hitoshi felt… odd looking at that smile. It was as if water were being poured from a pitcher beside him, close enough that the spray of droplets were hitting his skin. Midoriya was directing that smile to Todoroki, but Hitoshi felt just a hint of what it carried.

Curiosity. Gnawing at his gut like an animal. Poking at him until he turned to really give his attention. Suddenly, his tongue felt lighter, like he really could ask those questions he had with no repercussions at all.

Hitoshi held his drink can to his lips and kept it there. He wasn't about to talk. No way. No how. The look passed, as Todoroki did, and though Midoriya turned his attention away, Hitoshi saw the other student glance back over his shoulder twice before he left sight.

The entirety of 3-A had almost passed by the time Bakugou appeared. When he stood across the hall from Midoriya, he stopped and stared hard at him. He visibly grit his teeth, lips pulled back like the snarl of a dog. Hitoshi held perfectly still. Bakugou was pretty damn merciless, even when it came to his fellow heroes in training. And there was nothing but bad blood between the two of them, as Bakugou thought his brainwashing quirk pretty despicable.

If he knew about Midoriya's smile, would he feel the same way about him? But a glance from between Bakugou to Midoriya told him that it wouldn't matter much anyway. There was no love lost between those two at all.

"Looks like you found your own nerdy kind, Deku," Bakugou sneers. "The ex-villain kid hanging out with the villain-quirk kid? Don't you think you're both in the wrong fucking place? You don't fucking belong here."

"Hey," Midoriya said suddenly to Hitoshi. He offered the bag of crackers he had bought, "Want one? They're pretty good."

"Deku!" Bakugou takes three steps towards them, "I'm fucking talking to you, asshole!"

Hitoshi looks Midoriya dead in the eyes, hoping he has some sort of fucking plan that he's using, and takes a cracker. He bites it in half. It is the loudest sound in the hallway.

Midoriya smiles at him. "See? Tasty."

Hitoshi nods.

"I am going to grind you into the fucking dirt," Bakugou growls, "You little piece of shit Deku!"

"You know," Midoriya says, light and conversational, "The last person who called me Deku, I mean, last I heard, right? Before you? He died." He took out one of the crackers himself and held it between his thumb and first two fingers. "They caught Tsubasa with me and he screamed that a shitty little Deku like me should just fuck off if I knew what was good for me…" He was looking at the cracker he held. It was shaped like a little animal. A panda? Or a horse? It was hard for Hitoshi to tell.

"You fucking-"

"Do you have any idea what they did to him? How much he screamed and screamed?" Midoriya slowly lifted his gaze up from he cracker. "They took his body and pumped it full of chemicals and stripped all his skin off. They broke him," he snapped the cracker in half. "And then put him back together again. But it was too late. They couldn't salvage anything but his wings." He tossed both halves into his mouth and chewed them with thoughtful slowness.

Bakugou stared, his face pale. His hands were fists and they lowered to hang limp at his sides. "...Why...What?"

Midoriya licked crumbs from his fingers and then said, "I just thought you'd like to know what happens to people who call me Deku." Smiling, he pushed off the wall and took a step towards Bakugou, "So please don't do it again, Bakugou."

Hitoshi's eyes widened as he saw Bakugou take a step back. Almost instantly, he took it forward again, as if to pretend he never went backwards at all. "You little fucker," Bakugou snarled, "You didn't even try to help him did you? You're the reason Tsubasa got caught and killed? Aren't you?"

It's a low blow and one that hits. Hitoshi sees it in the way Midoriya's face drops his little smile and his eyes go wide. He lifts his chin and stares Bakugou down. In his hand, the can he's holding crunches and the juice spills out. His fingers curl and curl inwards until the sound of crushing metal stops and his knuckles are white. "You know nothing about what happened that afternoon, Bakugou," Midoriya whispers.

The vicious look on Bakugou's face fades into something guarded and definitely afraid. He brings his hands up as fists defensively. It's not a stance Hitoshi has seen before and he's glancing around, looking for the best place to go if they start actually fighting in front of him. He doesn't trust for a second that Bakugou won't use his quirk and there are several large windows in this hall. That's a lot of glass that could go flying at any second.

But running from a fight… Was that what he was here to learn? As a hero?

He licks his lips and opens his mouth, "Hey."

Automatically, Bakugou snaps, "What?"

To Hitoshi's surprise, Midoriya responds too, "Shinsou?"

Immediately, their faces relax, tension draining out of them.

Hitoshi's heart is beating like a drum in his chest, heavy and loud and almost painful. He blanks for a second, almost forgetting how his own quirk works. It's been so long, at least a year, since he's used it like this. He addresses Bakugou first, because he can see Midoriya's hand twitching in a weird way and that seems like all sorts of bad. "Bakugou, you have class right now. Go join your classmates in the locker room. When you're there, walk into the door frame to break out of your trance."

Bakugou turned on his heel and began to walk without a single look back. Taking a breath, Hitoshi let it out in a sigh. He kept his distance from Midoriya, who's eyes had half closed but hadn't left him yet. Midoriya watched him, even in his trance.

"Midoriya," he began, keeping his voice steady, "Calm down. He's gone now. He can't hurt you with his words or his quirk. Take a deep breath and let it out, slowly. Do that five times." He watched as Midoriya obeyed him, breathing in and out. His chest rose and fell, taking in more air than Hitoshi thought him capable of. When his hand had stopped twitching and he had done all the breaths commanded, Hitoshi released him from the mind control.

Midoriya blinked, once, twice, and then rubbed his hand over his eyes. He muttered something under his breath that sounded almost like, "God, what a callback that was…" and then seemed to shake his whole body. While he had been controlled, both the snack and the crushed can fell to the ground. He bent over, scooped them up and then turned to fully face Hitoshi.

Stiffening, Hitoshi waited for… something. He wasn't sure what.

What he got was a smile. A bright one, though there wasn't any push of emotion along with it. "Shinsou," Midoriya said, "Thank you." Then he looked at the can in his hand and laughed, "I should probably get some paper towels to clean this up or something… Is there a bathroom around here?"

He lifted his hand, pointed, "That way. I-" and suddenly all those months of silence and control over his tongue meant nothing because the words were all tumbling out, "I just used my quirk on you. On you and Bakugou. Midoriya, I can't believe you're just okay with that. I could have done anything to you!"

"You could have," Midoriya says, "But do you know what you did?"

"What? I- Of course I do. I was right there I just-"

"You helped me." Midoriya laughed, gentle, and for once Hitoshi didn't feel like someone was laughing at his expense. "You were a hero, Shinsou. My hero. You saved me."

Hitoshi's heart lodges itself in his throat. He doesn't think he could speak even if he wanted to now. His hand drops to his side and he just stares. Stares at those sincere green eyes looking back at him. At the smile that fades into a serious expression. At those curly black locks that frame his face so well. At this tall young man with who knows how many quirks, with strength to turn a metal can as thin as a string, with everyone trying to befriend him, help him and-

"That's why you're here, isn't it?" Midoriya's voice seems oddly gentle, as though he's the one who is coaxing Hitoshi out of a panicked state. "That's why you went to Yuuei in the first place. The most difficult Hero school to go to. The one that produces the highest quality heroes around. That's what you wanted to be, a hero. More than anything else, you wanted to be a hero."

Midoriya smiles at him, "Right?"

In a daze, Hitoshi nods his head. "Right." He can't quite… wrap his head around it. Around the whole thing. From beginning to end, from the vending machine to the girl to Todoroki to Bakugou to him using his quirk to this, right now. He can't quite figure out how he got to this point until-

"Shinsou?" Midoriya asks.

"Yeah?" He blinks and looks up. When did he start staring at the wall? Nevermind. That didn't matter. What did Midoriya want?

Midoriya holds out his hand, the one that isn't sticky with juice, and asks, "Want to be friends?"

This time, Hitoshi doesn't even think about it, doesn't let himself think about how people will react, whisper, stare. It doesn't matter. Won't matter. Midoriya will be there.

He took Midoriya's hand and said, "Call me Hitoshi, please."

When Midoriya beamed at him then, there wasn't any room left in him for regret.

TBC