Chapter Summary: Hallway calls and conversations. Plan for a Good Time. Face off against Two Face.

Villain!Izuku, canon-divergent

(warnings for: past kidnapping, past torture, past experimentation, brainwashing)

This was co-written by kattenprinsen and cross-posted from archive of our own.

Chapter Eight: throw fire at all your broblems, bro

"And then his head just went schlooop in the back! It was bulging like a really weird growth or something."

"I saw his hair turn colors too! It just started to change like the rest of him!"

"Didn't you see how his jaw started to stick out? What kind of quirk deforms someone like that?"

"I mean, I don't like Bakugou either but he just choked him like it was nothing. I bet he wouldn't have stopped if not for the cameras…"

"C'mon he spent five years with those villains… So what if he passed the entry test! But does anyone really know if he's safe to be around?"

Hitoshi's whole body felt alternatively hot and cold. The lunchroom was flooded with chatter about the morning fights, even though it had only been classes A and B involved. It seemed that the only thing that anyone could talk about was Izuku. Izuku and his multiple quirks. Izuku and how he choked Bakugo. Izuku and Monoma's collapse.

Izuku and the way he knew so much about villains.

His stomach churned at the rumors. His hands shook so badly that when he got his tray of food, the plates clattered on it. Automatically, he went to sit by himself, as Izuku was gone from the cafeteria room and he still wasn't used to joining his classmates on his own. Hitoshi hunched his shoulders against the whispers. Somehow, it was worse to hear about his friend being called a villain than it was to have people call him one. After all, they only assumed that because of his quirk, whereas Izuku…

Well, Izuku was different. Strange. Traumatized from being with the villains. It was hard to see, because he seemed so damn cheerful all the time but…

"And that weird thing he said about the hostages at the beginning of the session?"

"Yeah! What was up with that?"

"I heard that he said civilian hostages don't matter! That villains just kill them off."

"What if he's really a villain?"

Hitoshi stood up abruptly. His chair screeching a it was shoved back from the table. It was the group directly behind him that had asked that question, and when he turned to look at them, Hitoshi noticed they weren't even from class A. The rumors had spread to other classes already, it seemed.

"Stop." He said. It wasn't the chair that got their attention, but him, speaking. The students fell silent, blinking at him. "Don't call him a villain. He isn't a fucking villain."

There was a moment where they looked at each other, quiet, but then one of them spoke, their eyes narrowed. "Well he's not a hero, " she said, "not the way he hurt Monoma."

Hitoshi clenched his fists at his side. If only he'd seen what had happened- but they hadn't even shown the recording to the rest of his group. Only the other half had seen and they-

"He didn't hurt Monoma. Monoma hurt himself."

Hitoshi blinked and looked up only to see Kirishima standing a few feet away, holding his tray. He had an uncharacteristic frown on his face. The girl and her friends blinked owlishly at him so he just rolled his eyes and said, "Monoma used his copycat quirk on Midoriya after Midoriya told him not to. Monoma didn't know what kind of quirks Midoriya has. Hell, I don't think Midoriya even knows what all of his quirks are, but he knew taking them was dangerous so he told Monoma not to do it."

Kirishima looked at Hitoshi then, his expression sad, "I know they took Monoma to the infirmary, but how is Midoriya? He looked like a wreck after it happened."

"I…" Hitoshi faltered, "Last I saw him, Blood King was taking him away to speak with. That was before we headed back in for lunch, though."

"Oh, okay. I hope he's all right…" Kirishima said. He rubbed the back of the neck, "He was…" He glanced to the other students and then lowered his voice, "Can I talk to you a second? Privately?"

After a stunned moment, Hitoshi nodded. He followed Kirishima towards the windows, where there was at least a little privacy. Turning to face Hitoshi, Kirishima said quietly, "I'm not sure how to bring this up but, after Monoma got hurt, Midoriya was holding him and whispering something… weird?"

"...Like what?"

"I… I didn't hear it very well but it sounded like he was whispering about a code? Like," Kirishima glanced to the side, brows furrowing, "he said that he broke the code by killing a hero? Do you… know what that meant?"

Hitoshi stared at him. Izuku's words- "don't kill heroes but you can kill civilians"- flit across his mind. He was quiet long enough that Kirishima looked back at him instead of out the window.

"I know that Izuku was traumatized by the villains he was around," Hitoshi said, "And I know that we don't know the extent of that damage done to him. Monoma going down really rattled him. I suspect that he might have flashed back to something that happened to him during his time in captivity." Frankly, Hitoshi was only certain about some of the words he was saying. Was Izuku traumatized? Yes. Did Monoma's injury scare him? Yes. Did he have a flashback?

Probably not.

But Hitoshi's other theories were not for those like Kirishima, who nodded at him, still serious. "Our class has been told that Monoma is still alive, by the way. So if you could pass that on to Midoriya? In case no one told him?"

Hitoshi agreed.

Kirishima left him shortly afterwards. There was no reason to linger after saying his peace, though, oddly, he said that Hitoshi seemed to be a good friend to Izuku.

Hitoshi hadn't really replied, just watched him go, thinking about that. Izuku made friends quickly and easily, even without that charming smile quirk that he'd used, the class probably would have warmed right up to him. It was Hitoshi that hadn't had any friends before Izuku; Hitoshi was the one who benefitted the most from their relationship.

He returned back to his lunch, only to find that his table was no longer empty.

Kaibara grinned up at him, cheek bulging as he chewed a mouthful of food. Yudai said hello. Yanagi smiled. Even Hiryuu was there, quietly eating his lunch, only giving Hitoshi a cursory glance when he sat back down. Kaibara and Yudai carried the conversation for most of lunch, but that was fine. It was enough that they were there.

It was enough that when they finished, Yanagi said quietly, "Could you go to the infirmary and check on Midoriya? We're worried about him. The teacher's haven't told us anything but that Monoma was alive."

Hitoshi didn't have to be asked twice. He readily agreed, so long as they would cover for him if necessary. There was a free period for the next hour or so, as they digested their meals and prepared for the second wave of battles. He parted ways with his classmates at the stairs, heading to the infirmary with his hands in his pockets.

There was a bench in the hall outside the door to the infirmary. The hallway was lit well enough with fluorescent overhead lights. Hitoshi expected to have to go inside the room to find Izuku, but to his surprise, the boy sat on the bench, head lowered, shoulders hunched, clutching his phone in both hand. At Hitoshi's approach, he jerked his head up.

Hitoshi's footsteps faltered. For a second, he could have sworn Izuku's eyes glowed bright green. But then the boy blinked and they looked normal, as though it had only been a trick of the light.

Izuku took in a deep breath and sat up, "Hitoshi?"

Hitoshi lifted a hand in greeting. He walked over and, after a moment of hesitation, sat down on the bench beside him. "Are you okay?"

Izuku closed his eyes. He leaned forward again, resting his elbows on his knees. His hands hung in the space between them, phone held loosely in his fingers. "I wasn't the one who nearly died."

"That's not your fault," Hitoshi said, "He used his quirk on you. Kirishima said you told him not to."

"I could have prevented him from doing it," Izuku muttered. "I could have… but I…" He shook his head. His long hair fell in his face, the dark curls obstructing most of his face.

Hitoshi sat there, staring at the opposite wall. There was a bulletin there, but only a few flyers were posted up. One was a reminder about school holidays and upcoming festivals. Hitoshi sighed. "But he's okay. So it's fine."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Somewhere nearby there was a clock that Hitoshi couldn't see, but he could hear the rhythmic tick-tock-tick-tock sound of it. After a while, Izuku said, "He had a hemorrhagic stroke. His brain started bleeding. Any slower and he would have ended up permanently disabled."

Hitoshi turned to stare at Izuku. "A hemorrhagic stroke? What happened?"

Izuku laughed softly. He rubbed at his face with one hand. Still not looking up, he said, "So when they had the hospital run a battery of tests on me, no one really looked that closely at my brain. Or maybe they did but they didn't see this . Apparently, it's… Weird. Yeah. Weird is how the doctor put it. Too developed in some places. A little oddly shaped. But it's all brain tissue, no tumor, no swelling, nothing malignant."

Since Izuku had his head down, Hitoshi could look at it closely. "Your head is still head shaped. There aren't any hidden lumps or anything under your hair?"

Izuku laughed again, a little brighter this time. He sat up, brushing hair out of his eyes. "Nope. No strange lumps. But it's still different. They think the reason is tied to one of my quirks, and when Monoma took it, well… His brain couldn't handle it."

Hitoshi sat in silence for a while, looking at Izuku. Izuku had turned slightly towards him, but his gaze moved past Hitoshi. His fingers tightened on his phone. "So… it started to bleed instead," Hitoshi said. "I guess that makes sense."

"They can't know for sure. They can only look at the aftermath but…" Izuku shook his head. Hitoshi bit his tongue to keep from asking "but what?"

Izuku was remarkable about talking and talking but never really saying anything about himself. Whenever he brought up his quirks was the most he ever said directly about himself. Most of the time, it was regurgitated information from weird places- like Villain rules or the best way to get literally any stain out of anything. So when he did, Hitoshi tried to keep quiet and listen to him.

This time, that silence stretched out until the phone in Izuku's hand buzzed. He jumped up to his feet as Hitoshi jolted at the surprising sound. Izuku looked at the screen an expression of pure relief flooded his features. "Excuse me for a second, Hitoshi, I need to get this." He didn't wait for a response, though, just flipped open the phone and answered it as he crossed to the other side of the hallway.

Izuku chose to stand between two windows, leaning a shoulder against it. His body was turned away from Hitoshi, his head bowed slightly, the line of his shoulders and back tense. Hitoshi held his breath, trying to listen in, but he only heard bits of Izuku's words.

"... worried about what you would say…"

"I know that… appreciate what you think…"

"Accident. It was an accident. I even told him …"

"...shima saw but he…"

"Thank you. I know you're..."

"...mention this to- right. Yeah."

And then Izuku laughed, bright and happy. He cupped his hand over his mouth to muffle it, but the sound eased the worry Hitoshi felt. Izuku turned, putting his back to the wall, and said, "Yeah, just like that. Thank you again. I'm sorry to bother you with this. What as that? Oh. Yeah. I can do that." Izuku was smiling, it was a small one, but warm. "Goodbye. Thank you again."

He smiled at his phone a he pulled it away and closed it with a snap. Hitoshi waited for a while, watching Izuku. He'd seen plenty of expressions cross the green haired teen's face over their short acquaintance and budding friendship but this one was… different. Softer, somehow. Izuku looked younger, almost.

Then he glanced up and turned a blinding smile to Hitoshi. For a second, Hitoshi as convinced that that charm quirk had been turned on him. His heart raced, his cheek flushed, he looked to the side. But no, he didn't feel any overflowing of emotion. Everything that was inside of him was twisted and muddled and strung tight like the chords of a guitar.

"Sorry about that. I had sent out a message to my, ah, therapist." Izuku said, "What were we talking about before?"

"Monoma," Hitoshi said. "What else did the teachers say about him?" Therapist? He thought, feeling a little coil of tension release in the back of his mind. Good. He probably needs someone he can talk to that he can trust absolutely not to spill his secrets.

"They said that they were going to make sure he was stable and take him to a hospital for further checkup." Izuku slipped his phone into his pocket as he walked back over. He moved in a much more relaxed way, sitting easily beside Hitoshi. "But everything looks like he'll recover. Because All Might was there to get him out quickly, and because of… I have this other quirk that didn't let it get too bad. I don't know how many or which ones he really took, but it was only the brain one that messed him up."

"...So what now?"

Izuku sighed. "Now I have to go back to class… where everyone probably thinks I killed someone today."

"They know you didn't," Hitoshi said quickly. "Class A was told that he was alive. Kirishima said so at lunch. They know you didn't kill him. And they know it was his quirk that did this to him."

"Kirishima said that?" Izuku looked wide eyed with surprise. "Oh. Right. He did show up at the end there…"

Hitoshi nodded.

Izuku smiled. "I'll have to… thank him I guess."

Hitoshi fidgeted.

Izuku turned that smile to him. "What is it?"

A dozen questions crowded for attention on Hitoshi's tongue, but the words he spoke weren't a question at all. "Kirishima heard you say something about breaking a code."

Izuku's face does a strange thing. It holds perfectly still, as if the entire surface of it transformed into an incredibly accurate mask. He's still smiling; his lips are pulled back very slightly. He has that light to his expression that usually accompanies his smile; cheeks a little rounded, freckles standing out on the tops of them, and a lightness to his eyes.

That's the strangest part, Hitoshi thinks, He froze the light in his eyes. Somehow.

And then Izuku blinks and asks in a strangely soft tone, "Did he? What did he say?"

Hitoshi finds himself repeating back the words. When Izuku asks for what he said in reply, he gives those too. It's… odd. He doesn't feel compelled to answer the questions, but it still feels like he's giving them… too accurately. As if the memory were little bits of lint that Izuku rolled over with a bit of sticky tape to collect them up just as they were.

At the end of it, Izuku is looking forward again. The sunlight from the windows must be illuminating his eyes, because they're that faint green glowing and really, Hitoshi, could you be any more obvious? You keep staring at him like you're dumbstruck and he's going to fucking notice you like him.

Izuku, swinging his legs back and forth despite the fact that it made the soles of his shoes squeak on the tile, hummed and said quietly, "Okay. I think everything will be okay." He reached over and put his hand on Hitoshi's arm. "I'm glad you came to find me and check on me, Hitocchan. I've never really had a friend like you before."

Hitoshi felt his ears burn as he nodded back. The place where Izuku put his hand felt heavy and warm, as though there was much more weight or significance behind the gesture than a simple touch. He didn't speak because he couldn't but Izuku didn't seem to mind.

That hand slid down his arm to the top of his hand. Izuku squeezed, once, before letting go and getting to his feet. "It's still lunch time, right? Should we go back and get some before it's all gone?"

Hitoshi nodded and got to his feet. He put his hands in his pockets, ignoring the way the right one felt warmer than the other, and followed Izuku away.

Group A of Class A crushed Group B of Class B when the roles were reversed in the afternoon match.

Izuku watched the match with a frown on his lips and his hands in his lap to keep from biting his thumb out of anxious habit. Before the matches had even begun, he'd worried about his classmates for one simple reason.

All Might and the other teachers had decided that Todoroki and Bakugou would switch places on the teams. It went unsaid, but Izuku figured they didn't want to see what kind of retribution the blond would attempt on Izuku- especially after the Monoma event.

Izuku could have convinced them otherwise, might have tried to even (it wasn't as though Bakugou could do anything to him after all) but they were switching him out with Todoroki.

Beyond a few glances of acknowledgement between them, Izuku still hadn't been able to address the teen with two quirks. And with what he had Wolfhound and the others doing out in the world… He needed to make contact soon.

So he kept his mouth shut and his quirks to himself and instead witnessed the way Bakugou, given the free reign to use his quirk to his fullest, decimated any hope for the Class B students. It was, in simplest terms, a slaughter.

Bakugou's fury was visible to everyone. It crashed and crackled in the air around him, burning with incredible intensity. He was utterly ruthless and his actions gained him more than one instruction to tone it down from the supervising teachers. And though he barely co-operated at all with his team, they were successful in saving the civilians and rounding up the villainous acting Team B.

While Teams C and D left the observation room, in thoughtful, somewhat cowed silence, Teams A and B were brought off the field. Several students had minor injuries, mostly from Team B and mostly due to Bakugou. Izuku stood off to the side, watching his classmates go into the observation room- those who were not being taken to the infirmary- and kept quiet at Hitoshi's side.

Awase caught sight of him and split off from the others suddenly. He trotted over to Izuku, his expression serious. "Bakugou broke Itsuka's arm," he said instead of a greeting. His dark eyes were hard as steel as he stared at Izuku. "They're going to let him get away with it because it was a training exercise and because she can get it healed up pretty quickly, but he did it on purpose, Midoriya."

Izuku blinked at him and cocked his head to the side. "You've all spent much more time around Bakugou than I have. Surely you know how dangerous he can be."

"You're the one who wounded his pride by choking him out the time before. It should have been you who he got revenge against," Awase said, frowning even more. "We're behind you in giving him what he deserves, but-"

"An eye for an eye- An arm for an arm?" Izuku suggested with a small smile. He tucked his hands behind himself and looked thoughtfully up to the sky. "I can't break Bakugou's arm for you- I'm not fighting him because of the switch- but I can promise something else."

"Yeah?" Awase asked, glancing over his shoulder. Most of the others had filed away now. Hitoshi and the other eight on Izuku's team were watching and listening to their conversation.

"Team A crushed you," Izuku said matter-of-factly. "I can make sure Team D crushes Team C. Even out the score that way."

"We shouldn't purposefully hurt anyone," Yanagi said quietly. "Even if we are pretending to be villains."

"All right," Izuku nodded to her. "We'll go for shock and awe. And humiliation." He looked back to Awase. "Is that enough for now?"

Awase shrugged. "We're going to have to work on a strategy for Bakugou later. For the Sport Festival."

"I look forward to that," Izuku said honestly. "Tell Kendou that I hope she heals quickly and well. I apologize for antagonizing Bakugou, but nullifying him as quickly as possible is always the best option."

"Yeah. Ain't that the fucking truth," Awase said as he stepped away. He gave them a nod in goodbye and, sticking his hands in his pockets, walked away to join the others. The attention he was getting from the others of Team D refocused on Izuku.

Tokage gave him a toothy grin. "So, Midoriya. It seems you're the boss again… What have you got in mind for your new villain team?"

Izuku turned his gaze back up to the sky and said, thoughtfully, "A villain's primary goal, beyond survival, is to have a good time, right?" He got a few mumbles of assent. "So… let's have fun with it… Here's what I have in mind…"

"Shouto?" The voice in his ear was a breathless Ashido. "Have you seen any of them? We've covered the entire eastern border and there's nothing."

Shouto didn't roll his eyes but the temptation was very real. He was using them to keep a careful eye on his surroundings. He was the only one on their team without a pair. "It's been three minutes, Pinky. Look insidesome of the building."

"Dude," Jirou said over the comms next, "I've been checking each floor and I'm not hearing a peep. They're either in another area or dead. I should be hearing heartbeats or breathing or talking or something."

"Northern border is clear too." Came Ojiro's voice. There was a waver to it, like he was anxious as well. "Tentacle, have you caught anything?"

"There is something in the center of the area that is giving off light." Shouji said. "I'm going to higher ground to locate it."

"I'm on the ground headed that way. Invisible girl is with me," Kirishima said. His breath came over the sound of the comm, the steady puff that alerted the rest of them that he was running. Shouto listened in silence, still walking down the street, searching the buildings around him for any sign of movement. After a minute or so, Kirishima spoke again. "Holy fuck."

"Oh my god," Hagakure said only a second later. "How did they make that?"

"Isn't the cement guy on the other team?" Kirishima said in disbelief.

"What is it?" Ashido asked, excitement making her voice higher and faster. "What is it? Where is it?"

"It's in the center of the buildings, all right." Kirishima said.

"My god," Shouji muttered. "I'm on the roof just south and… What the hell?"

Shouto started to run.

His feet hit the concrete ground as fast as he could make them go. Racing down the pavement, he took the corner sharp and nearly skidded into a lamp post. Dodging around it, he navigated to the center of the arena while Kirishima described what he saw in confusion.

"Right so, it's… like a castle? Or a fortress? And I think it's… I have no idea what it's made out of. But it's circular and is that fucking ice sticking out the top? What is-"

"Red Riot watch out!" Hagakure shouted. "What is that?"

"Use your words people!" Jirou snapped. Everyone was running. Everyone was anxious.

Shouto arrived on the scene about the same time as Ojiro. He stumbled to a walk and then a stop, gaping at what sat in front of him.

In the center of the arena, where there had been a makeshift park, there was a newly constructed, well, fortress was probably a good word for it. Maybe. There were ten foot tall walls of bizarre black bubbling. Inside the black it looked like there was faint orange glow, like they were lit with hellfire. Rising above these walls were several icy white spires. There were five of them in total rising up in glittering spirals to sharp points at the top.

There was a ditch or moat dug around the building, which, for its impressive and weird look, wasn't all that big after all. Shouto stepped closer, but Hagakure reached out for his arm, stopping him from getting too close.

"It's a moat," she said, "made of lava."

"I can see that," he replied dryly.

"Is that ice?" Kirishima asked, pointing up to the spires.

"It looks like it." Shouto said. But they didn't look like any ice he made. His was raw and jagged in appearance. These ones were sculpted. It looked like the scalloped roof of a castle's spire. Shouto just didn't have that kind of intricate control of his quirk. There wasn't any need for it.

"...Is that … did Midoriya do that?" Hagakure asked. "I mean, none of the others used any sort of ice quirk before and the lava pool is definitely his."

"Uh, speaking of which," Kirishima said, "It's cooling. Do you think we can cross it?"

"Are you insane?" Shouto asked. "It might be cooling on the surface but it's clearly still heated in the center. Step on it and your foot will go right through the crust and melt off." Kirishima backed away another step from the moat.

"Besides," Ojiro said from a little farther off. "I just walked around and there's no way inside."

"Heeeyyo, heeeeroes!"

The five of them looked up towards the call. At the top of the wall there was an icy platform- with railing, Shouto noticed absently- and on that stood one of Class B's 'villains'. She had dark hair and green scaling on her uniform. Shouto identified her as Lizard Lady, aka Tokage. She waved both hands over her head and grinned down at them with a mouth of sharp teeth.

"Do you want to play a game?" She called out, hands cupped around her mouth. It was a bit unnecessary, as she was decently loud enough.

Out of the corner of his eye, Shouto saw movement and looked over to see the other four members of the team arriving. Ashido waved back to Hagakure, but Jirou's attention was up at the building and the girl on top.

"Oh good, you're all here! So we can start playing!"

"This isn't a game," Kirishima called back. "We're here to kick your villain ass and bring you to justice."

The girl bent down and pulled up a dummy. She held it over her head, and called back. "Play my game, heroes, or all my friends will escape and all your precious civilians will die!" She threw her head back, laughing maniacally.

"Ohh, she has go the laugh down pat." Hagakure whispered. "Nice." She brought her hands up, shouting back, "What's the game, villain?"

"Hide and seek!"

"Are you kidding me," Jirou said with a sigh. "What is with this team? First the punching Monoma bit and now this…"

"What are the rules?" Hagakure called. Shouto eyed her, wondering how the hell she became in control of the group. That was just nonsense. She was a stealth hero, not a combat one…

But then again, hide and seek might be right up her alley.

"Rule One! Castle Black is base! If a villain is inside of it, you can't catch them! I'm already here because we thought nine on nine would be most fair," Tokage said, holding out one finger. She slung the dummy over her shoulder as she spoke. "Rule Two! For every villain you capture, you get one of our ten captives. Conversely, for every villain that makes it back to base, a civilian goes into the Pit!" She laughed again, hefting the ragdoll over her head and then tossed the dummy into the lava moat.

Shouto reacted instantly. The doll was supposed to be a civilian, after all, and he was supposed to save them as the hero. That was what heroes did.

Racing forward, he swung his right hand out. Ice flared out from his fingers, reaching out to catch the dummy. Before his ice could capture it, though, it twitched mid-air. The movement threw the ragdoll off to the side. He stretched his ice to reach, but it wasn't enough. The ragdoll fell into the lava and instantaneously caught fire.

Tokage gripped the railing with her gloved hands and shouted, "Follow the Rules, Shouto! If you break the rules, then I'm gonna set the Rule Master on you!"

Shouto narrowed his eyes, "What kind of villain name is the Rule Master?"

"That would be mine, Shouto."

Shouto jumped and spun around. That was Midoriya's voice. It was absolutely his voice, and it sounded like it was right in his ear but-

He was only surrounded by his classmates. "Where are you?" He asked, "Show yourself!"

"Shouto? What?" Kirishima looked at him but Shouto was searching the surrounding buildings and then- there. At the top of that one. Dark hair and dark clothes and-

"They can't hear me, Shouto~" Midoriya teased. Shouto felt a shiver run down his spine. It was such an intimate sound. He could almost imagine the breath of the other teen on his ear. "Only you can."

"What do you want?"

"Play the game," Midoriya said, "Come and find me." And then he stepped back and out of view. Shouto gripped his hands into fists and grit his teeth.

Tokage held up a third finger when he looked back to her. "Rule Number Three! The villains will hide until the ten minute mark of the scenario! After that they will attempt to return to base! The Rule Master will only return after all the others have made it back or have been captured! Once he returns to the base, then and only then can the heroes attack Castle Black! Any questions?"

Ashido waved a hand, "Yeah! What if we catch the Rule Master?"

Tokage laughed. "I heard that he'll grant the wish of anyone who manages to catch him. Any wish at all. Not that it matters, of course, because no one can catch him. Not Blasty. Not Ditto-head. Not Icy Hot. And certainly not you, Space Queen!"

"Wow, she went from cool villain to bitch, real fast," Hagakure muttered.

"I'll take Rule Master," Shouto said immediately. He turned on his heel and began walking towards the building he'd seen Midoriya on top of.

"Wait! We haven't agreed to the game!" Ashido said.

"Yeah," Jirou added, "And you going alone isn't really the best idea against him. Is it?"

"You think you can take him?" Shouto asked. "He's the one who built that." Shouto gestured to the monstrosity that was 'Castle Black'. "I'm the only one with a quirk that can come close to matching his."

"It's not about matching quirks," Ojiro said, "It's about outsmarting him."

Shouto gave him a flat look and then gestured at the castle again. "He built that. He probably came up with the rules and helped hide all the others and you want to try and outsmart him? No way. But that much use of a quirk, of at least two quirks has got to wear him down. Tell you what. You all go hunt the other villains and I'll hold him off. When you manage to catch yours, find me." With that said, he walked away.

He was out of earshot but not comm range when he heard an unidentifyable voice mutter, "Jeeze. He can be just as bad as Bakugou sometimes."

Shouto grit his teeth and kept walking. He didn't need them to become the greatest. He could do it on his own with his own quirk just fine.

Midoriya waited for him at the farthest corner from the center. He'd left little trails- a couple drops of cooling lava at one spot, some crystals of ice in another- all the way to this location. He leaned against the side of a building with one shoulder, a slight smile on his face and his goggles over his eyes. Shouto stopped when he saw him fully because he could swear there was something green and glowing beneath those tinted glasses.

"I'm here," he said. "I'm playing the shitty game."

Midoriya grinned, "Are you upset, Shouto? Usually you seem to keep your cool better than this."

"Stop calling me that," Shouto snapped. He narrowed his eyes, lifting his right arm in preparation for a fight.

"It's your hero name, isn't it Shouto? If I'm talking directly to you, shouldn't I be using your name, Shouto?" Midoriya said, stepping away from the wall. He rolled his shoulders, lifting his arms above his head to stretch them out. "Don't you like the way I say your name, Shou~to?"

"We are the only two people here. It is unnecessary to keep calling me by name."

"No need to get all steamed up about it," Midoriya said. He approached slowly. Shouto's gaze flicked to his hands, but they were relaxed at his sides. Then they went to his face again, but he was just smiling, relaxed. "Are you here to capture me, Mr. Big Time Hero? Or just stare at me?"

He gestured to himself with one gloved hand, "I'm well aware that my clothes are rather tight fitting, after all, I've been getting quite a few looks, but I thought you were here to stop the big bad villain I've become."

"Sounds like you're having a little too much fun with this," Shouto muttered. Midoriya now swung his hands at his sides. He wasn't slowing down. He was still advancing. The ground between them was quickly disappearing.

The hair on the back of Shouto's neck stood on end.

Midoriya gave a little huffing laugh and that was all the warning that Shouto got. In the next instant, Midoriya was in the air above him. Shouto lifted his arm protectively, ice forming instinctively, but his eyes were locked on the boy in green in the air above him.

It was like that day at EUSJ all over again. Midoriya seemed to hover in the air, green from his hair to the glow of his eyes to his uniform. Except this time his scared face was a maddening grin and he held a fist up. And he jumped from his own power and-

Shouto's ice met Midoriya's fist in a shattering of crystals and a forced grunt from his lungs at the hit. He skidded back. There was so much more weight behind Midoriya's punch than he had expected.

"No one said you can't have a good time while you're on the job, Shouto," Midoriya said, landing on his feet. He flexed his hands and lifted them up like a boxer. "Play with me. I want to see what'll make you burn."

Shouto grimaced. He drew his ice around him like armor and a spike. "In case you haven't noticed, Rule Master,my quirk is ice."

"Said the son of Endeavor and Marzanna."

Shouto's blood turned to ice in one second and then flared hot, burning like an ember as his anger curled, unbidden in his chest. "What did you say?"

"Said the son of Endeavor" Midoriya held out his left fist. A curl of dark flame encircled his knuckles. "AndMarzanna." He held out his right fist. Ice formed along the backs of his fingers like knuckle dusters. "What do you say we pair your two quirks against mine? Or do you want to keep pretending that the only blood that runs through you contains ice?"

It was hard to catch his breath. Shouto knew that some people knew- you couldn't be the son of Endeavor, the second highest ranked Pro Hero without people prying into your own life too. He even knew some of his classmates that knew. Endeavor breathing down your back at every sport festival kind of made it impossible to ignore. He was literally on fire most of the time.

But almost no one knew the hero name of his mother. Hell, he hadn't heard it since he was younger, since his sister had told him stories that their mother had told her. Marzanna had only been active for a few years before Endeavor had swept her off her feet and into the hell that had become her life.

She had been incredibly skilled with her quirk, or so he'd been told. Her dedication to the craft was akin to any sort of prodigy in their field. She was like an artist with her ice and yet was as dangerous with it as Endeavor was with his flames.

For Midoriya- a teen formerly held captive by villains for five years- for him to know his mother's hero name-

"Ah," Midoriya said. The pleasure in his voice made Shouto blink. Then he had to blink again because there was smoke around him and where had that come from? "There it is."

Shouto looked down to his left arm. Flame crawled across his uniform. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the curl of red-orange fire on his face, where his red hair should have been. His horror wasn't enough to shut off the quirk and he didn't have time to fully process it before Midoriya came at him again.

Instinctively, Shouto blocked with his dominant side. Midoriya shoved him back again, making him stumble. Just how strong is he? He wondered as he caught his footing just in time to block another punch. Each strike came wide and just slow enough that Shouto always saw them coming. Is he playing with me? Is he not taking this seriously? He narrowed his eyes at Midoriya.

"Come on," Midoriya taunted. His fist was encased in Shouto's ice but he didn't seem to even notice, "Fight meseriously, Shouto. If you don't use one hundred percent of your ability against me, I'll never even break a sweat."

"You will if I turn up the heat!" Shouto snapped. His left side's quirk was hardly controlled- he used it so, so rarely after all- that when he struck, open palmed, against Midoriya's chest, the fire blossomed out in a gush of heat and flame. His eye widened as he realized what he'd done, as he watched Midoriya's uniform catch fire.

Midoriya broke away from his icy hold and danced back a few steps. His clothing burned but he didn't even look down at it. With the hand that was wrapped in fire, he pulled at the ruined top of his jumpsuit and grinned. "That's a little better. Now bring it."

Midoriya's bare chest didn't show a single singe mark on it. It was broad and well muscled and caught Shouto's eye a little too long before he made himself look up to the teen's face. I'm going to wipe that smug little expression right off his face…

"Fine." Shouto said, "It's not like my shitty old man is going to find out anyway." He let the fire kindle along his arm and side. He flinched whenever it flared to hot or the flames licked too high, though. He wasn't used to it. He still hated to use it, still hated the man who it reminded him of but he… he had to have Midoriya take him seriously.

He had to hold him off. He had to give the others time.

He had to beat Midoriya so the damn kid would talk to him instead of taunt him and he could ask who told him about Marzanna and why.

Shouto had never fought against anyone like himself-

He'd trained with his father, but the man's fire was nothing like Midoriya's. Endeavor threw flame at every problem like burning it to ashes was the best solution. Midoriya's flame was white hot at his knuckles and existed nowhere else. It was so hot that the flame retardant gloves he wore were burned clear through.

He'd trained a little with his sister too, but she'd never used ice like this and that had been years ago now. Shouto's jagged ice spears or traps seemed shoddy in comparison to Midoriya's pointed knuckle-dusters or the literal daggers he threw. They were solid enough, well enough constructed that Shouto had grabbed one in desperation and threw it back at Midoriya. It had felt just like a slightly too-cold knife in his hands. It was incredible.

Shouto had never fought against anyone so ridiculously overpowered.

Midoriya took flame hits to the body like the fire was no more than slightly-warmer-than-normal air. It parted around him like water around a stone. Midoriya broke through each layer of ice like it was damp tissue paper. It shredded under his touch. His clothing, on the other hand, did not fare well. After his top, he lost his flame glove and then his ice glove. At some point, Shouto iced his goggles so he yanked those down to dangle around his neck.

Flame took the right pant leg. Ice ruined both his shoes.

It wasn't until Midoriya was tearing the ruined tatters of his left pant leg to out of his way that Shouto realized he was, effectively, causing Midoriya to strip down to nothing. He was bare from shoulder to waist and from upper thigh to the soles of his feet.

And he didn't even seem to care about it.

Worse still, he did notice that Shouto noticed.

"Hey Shouto," Midoriya said, snapping his fingers and then pointing to his face, "My eyes are up here."

Guiltily, Shouto's head jerked up. They stood a few feet apart, panting for breath. He was simultaneously proud of himself for causing Midoriya to have a sheen of sweat across his skin and mortified because he couldn't stop staring at it. "Did you not prepare your uniform for your quirks?"

"I did," Midoriya said, "I said a simple jumpsuit with flame repellant cloth. I got exactly what I asked for."

"Why only repellant? Why not resistant? You're mostly naked!" Shouto regretted saying that instantly because his comm lit up with people exclaiming various forms of "What the hell?" in his ear. He winced.

"If you didn't want to see me naked," Midoriya said with that aggravatingly teasing tone of voice, "Then you should have been more careful, Shouto. After all, I was kind enough to not burn holes in your uniform." He gestured to said clothing. True, there were scorch marks, but no significant burns. With a grin, he tapped his ear and added, "Ohh, my team is not pleased with that. They're scandalized that the great Shouto is a pervert hero."

"I am not!"

"No need to feel ashamed, Shouto," Midoriya said. "Interest in the attractive bodies of your peers is a healthy part of one's sexual development."

Shouto's fire surged up around him, riding high on the embarrassment he felt. He struggled to contain it, but couldn't manage it. The fire was out of his control- he'd been using it for too long and was growing tired. He hadn't anticipated using both it and his ice quirk. But he couldn't stop now. He couldn't-

Midoriya cocked his head to the side for a moment, "Repeat that, Washer? Oh? Really? Excellent." His gaze flicked to Shouto and he shrugged a shoulder. "Sorry, Shouto. Playtime is over. It's time to return to Castle Black."

"No. I won't let you-"

His words cut off suddenly. Between one and the next, Midoriya went from several feet away to in his face. His fingers were cool as he cupped Shouto's cheek. Shouto's heart hammered in his chest. He's so close- He's so dangerous and he's so close-

"Shouto," Midoriya whispered, leaning in, "This was never about you letting me do anything. Don't you recall? I'm a villain. I'm the Rule Master. My game. My rules. And it's time for the next game."

"What are you-"

"Sweet dreams, Shoucchan." Midoriya said before pressing his lips against Shouto's.

He noticed they were strangely cool against his own and then Shouto didn't notice anything at all.

TBC