Chapter Summary: Have a good time. Recover lost calories. A bus ride and a hint of something more

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 Nine: the diner with the M on the door

Hitoshi, half hidden behind the wall of ice and lava, poked his head up to check the streets again. The remaining heroes- there were seven as Rin and Kaibara had worked together to get Kamanari to fry himself- were pulled back into a tight group. They huddled together, keeping an eye on Castle Black but clearly planning something.

In contrast to their seven, there were only five left of the villains. Kaibara had gotten caught when working against Kamanari. Shishida had gone down to prevent Tsunotori and Komori from getting caught. Kamakiri and Yanagi had gone down together. They were bound up near the heroes; their wrists were tied and they each had a bright ribbon to signify they'd been Caught.

"I wish we still had Scope's eyes," Tokage said next to Hitoshi. "I haven't heard anything from Rule Master since he put Shouto down."

"Do you think he choked him out, like with Blasty?" Tsunotori asked quietly. She looked around at their small group, clearly making the question an open one.

Hitoshi shrugged, like most of the rest of them. This group was a collection of some of the quieter kids in their class, besides Tokage. He could tell she was holding back in her chatter because she kept grumbling under her breath. The others waited quietly, listening for any sign of change.

This time, he was the first one to catch sight of Izuku. Hitoshi had a hand over his eyes to shield against the glare and was checking down one of the side streets when he saw the movement. Leaning forward, he said, "There. That's…" his voice trailed off.

Even from a distance it was clear to see that Izuku' uniform had been damaged. And that he was carrying Todoroki in his arms bridal style.

Hitoshi wanted to swallow his tongue. The closer the two got, the more details he could make out of the two of them. Izuku's goggles hung down around his neck. He stood straight and tall, carrying Todoroki in his arms like the other teen weighed nothing. His arms and chest were bare, from what Hitoshi could see, and the glimpses of his legs were also bare.

Todoroki looked like he was either asleep or unconscious. His arms were folded on his chest and his head was against Izuku's shoulder. He didn't seem to be moving or struggling in the least bit.

Izuku walked forward with a smooth, confident gait. It took a moment for the heroes to see him, but when they did they just stared in open mouth shock.

"He really is naked," Tokage whispered in awe. "Shouto totally fucking ruined his clothes. He's such a pervert."

For some reason, she turned to look at Hitoshi, "Washer, you totally can't let that pervert get away with that! Rule Master is practically your boyfriend, isn't he?"

Hitoshi's face burned. He pulled back from her, his mind reeling at her almost-accusation. "He's not. We're just friends. I swear!"

"Uh huh," She said, "And Shouto just ripped all your friend's clothes off!"

"Pervert," Komori whispered.

"Actually," Izuku said over the comm, "Half of them he burned off, half he iced off. He was very determined and a little upset. And I'm not completely naked. See?" He paused in his walk to half turn towards them, showing his side and back. His uniform was almost completely torn to shreds, creating some sort of weird short-shorts look over his underwear. Hitoshi wasn't exactly sure what was on Izuku's dark blue underwear, but he could see an edge of gold or red to them and he really wanted to know.

He leaned his forehead on the ice to cool his heated face. Friends. We're just friends. Don't hit on the traumatized guy. Don't do it. He needs friends, not romance bullshit! Which, honestly, only made Shouto's act even more awful.

"...I'm going to make him strip too…" Hitoshi said to himself. What had Izuku said before? An eye for an eye, an arm for an arm?

"There will be plenty of time for stripping later," Izuku said over the comm, making Hitoshi jump. "For now, I'd like a way up, please? The heroes aren't waiting around anymore."

Looking up, Hitoshi saw Kirishima and Ojiro running towards Izuku now. Izuku, in turn, was running to Castle Black. "Rapunzel, Rapunzel!" Izuku shouted, grinning madly. "Let down your hair!"

Tokage grabbed the strange rope that had been left behind by Izuku to help them get up. She flung it over the side, where it dangled over the pit of lava. The trick was getting to the rope itself- as the only way up into Castle Black.

Without stopping his running, Izuku put Todoroki on his shoulder. His stride seemed to lengthen even more, keeping him just out of reach of the heroes. He reached the moat and flung himself across it. One handed, he grabbed the rope, but it began to slide downwards immediately. Hitoshi's classmates yelped as they grabbed for it. Hitoshi did too. It was cool and almost slick in his hands.

They clung to it, unable to pull but able to be an anchor as Izuku pulled himself up, walking up the side of Castle Black with the rope as stability. He reached the top fairly quickly and dumped Todoroki into Hitoshi's lap. "Here," he said, "A present just for you."

Todoroki mumbled something and moved a little. "What?" Hitoshi gaped. "Is he okay?"

"Don't worry, he's just sleeping. Well, dreaming. I used a quirk on him because he was going to keep fighting and burn himself out." Izuku said. He sat on the top of the wall, shaking his foot out over the side. Red hot lava clung to his heels and toes and he flicked it off with his bare fingers. Hitoshi stared at that. He stared, also, at the way Izuku's back muscles flexed and the way he seemed to gleam in the sunlight that reflected off the icy towers.

"Now what do we do, Rule Master?" Tokage said gleefully.

"How many minutes have we got left?"

"Five or six," Rin said.

Hitoshi dragged his eyes off of Izuku to look down at the teen in his lap. He was mumbling again, frowning in his sleep. Hitoshi shifted him so he was more across the thighs and in a comfortable position. That didn't stop the frowning, but it did stop the mumbling.

"Cool," Izuku said, "So we just need to hold them off."

"What about our teammates? Should we try to rescue them?"

"In some cases, yeah, that would be a typical next move. Especially if we were a normal small villain group because those are usually tightly knit friends or relatives. In this case we know that it's going to end safely, so we don't need to bother. No one is actually going to jail. We won't have to stage a break in to get them back." Izuku ran a hand through his hair, sending a small cascade of ice crystals running down his back. He didn't even seem to notice them as he lifted his goggles back to cover his eyes.

"Do villains really do that?" Tokage asked.

"Do what?" Izuku asked, "Work in groups? Or with relatives? Or break into jail?"

"Yes." She said, "That."

Izuku laughed. He crossed his legs, still sitting on the wall of Castle Black. "Yeah. So I heard, anyway. Anyway…. We said they could attack once I got back, right? What do you suppose they're going to try and do?"

Rin eased closer to the edge. The roof that they sat on was icy, but the wall around them was made of ice with the cooled lava on the outer side and was high enough that they could sit or kneel and have it up to the chest. Only Izuku was in a dangerous spot, sitting where he could easily slip and fall. Hitoshi had a feeling that it would take more than a fifteen foot drop into lava to do anything to Izuku, though.

"It seems as though they are trying to find a way to cross the lava moat. It has been cooling for ten minutes after all but they're still concerned about the heat," Rin said.

"Well considering I just stepped in it and came out with lava on my toes, I'm not surprised," Izuku said. He rocked back and forth idly on the wall. "We could just wait it out…"

Tokage sighed heavily. "But that's boring."

"How are they going to tally points at the end of this?" Hitoshi asked. "We lost four, we captured Shouto here. They have four of the hostages, but we only gave them the hero ones like you said. The civilian ones were burnt up in the lava."

"That was fun," Tokage said. "Especially when they tried to stop them and Spirit possessed the bodies and made them flip out of the way."

"You make a good villainess," Tsunotori said. "The evil laughter is very well done."

Tokage flushed and mumbled, "I used to watch a lot of those old cartoons- you know the ones with Batman and his nemesis the Joker?"

"Batman?" Izuku asked, turning to look over his shoulder. "Those really are old ones. I didn't know they still aired."

"My dad's a sucker for them," Tokage said. "He has every copy of those old Batman cartoons." She shrugged, "I mean, they're okay I guess. He's technically just a glorified vigilante though, isn't he?"

"Vigilantes are tricky folk," Izuku said looking back to the heroes down below. Hitoshi edged closer to the wall, dragging Todoroki with him. He saw that half the group had gone somewhere else. Were they circling around? Going for high ground? The captured villains- their classmates- hadn't been moved. "They tend to have particularly strong morals and a willingness to do whatever they need to do to adhere to them." He put his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand. "Each one has to be reasoned with individually, whereas most heroes follow the same subset of internal morals."

"What about a villain's morals?" Hitoshi asked.

"What morals," Tokage snorted.

"They tend to fall into two categories," Izuku said. "Petty selfishness and grandiose egoism." He gestured idly with his free hand, "Once you figure out on which side of the line they sit, it's easy to, ah, deal with them."

'Deal with them' Izuku said. But Hitoshi felt a shiver run across his skin. That didn't sound right, though. The words he said didn't sound like the ones he meant. His thoughts were distracted by a sudden turning of Todoroki, though, and the young man in his lap was mumbling incoherently.

"Uh," Tokage said, "is he supposed to be doing that?"

Izuku glanced over his shoulder again. He gave a smile that had a lot more teeth than anything. "He's dreaming. I have a quirk that puts people to sleep and makes them dream about things. I mean, I can't make them dream about something specific, so it's usually what was most on their mind at the time."

"Weird quirk…" Tsunotori said. "How do you use it?"

"Oh. By kissing them. I call it the Sleeping Beauty quirk."

Hitoshi blinked. He looked down at Todoroki, who Izuku had kissed and then up at Izuku, who looked completely nonchalant about the fact that he'd kissed Todoroki.

There was a deep moment of silence and then Tsunotori whispered, "You really kissed him?"

"It's how the quirk works."

"So… What does that mean?" Tsunotori asked. She gave a sideways glance to Hitoshi who blinked at her and frowned. Why was she looking at him like that? Her next question was still directed to Izuku. "Do you like kissing boys?"

He cocked his head to the side. "Do I like kissing boys," he repeated.

"Or do you like kissing girls?" Tokage asked.

"It's just a kissing quirk," Izuku said with a shrug. "It doesn't mean anything to use it."

"What about outside the quirk?" Tokage insisted, "Who do you like to kiss then?"

"Guys," Hitoshi said. He was tempted to use his quirk to shut them all the hell up. Any more of this conversation and his stomach would turn in on itself in embarrassment. "Is this really the place?"

"Rule Master said that villains are all about fun," Tokage said. "Isn't it fun to find out gossip?"

"Is it really gossip to-" Izuku started and then he suddenly whirled around, getting to his feet. The bubbles of lava crunched under his bare feet as he leaped up and into the air. They all looked up and saw above them the gliding Tentacles holding Red Riot- or rather dropping Red Riot down on top of them.

Izuku met him mid-air, his punch colliding with Red Riot's hardened palm. "I was in the middle of a conversation, Riot!" Izuku complained. "What kind of timing is that?"

Tentacles landed on one of the spires and began sliding down it. Izuku and the redhead landed on the back end of the top of Castle Black. They grappled instantly while Rin leapt to his feet and rushed to meet Tentacles. Komori caught up two of the civilian dummies, Tsunotori grabbed the other three and they both went for the wall.

Hitoshi was stuck with Todoroki on his lap and an idea in his head. He took in a deep breath of air and shouted, "Oi!"

The fighting paused for a second. He gestured to Todoroki and said, "Rule Master kissed Shouto."

Red Riot gaped, "What?"

Tentacle glanced to Izuku in surprise, "He did?"

Izuku grinned at them and didn't say anything. Hitoshi smirked, feeling as his quirk overtook both Red Riot and Tentacle. "Please take a seat and put your hands, all of your hands, flat on the ice floor." Automatically, the two under his control did just that.

"Woah," Tokage breathed out. "You totally caught them."

Izuku brushed off his shoulder, even though there was nothing there to brush off or brush against except his bare skin, and walked back. He dropped down onto the ice beside Hitoshi. They both ignored the slight crack in the ice that started when he hit the floor. "Nice job."

Rin was the one who took the capture tape from the two heroes and bound their arms together. Then he sat down in front of them as if to guard them.

"...I think there are two minutes left," Komori said, settling back down. "Maybe one."

Tokage grinned. "We totally won."

Izuku put his arm around Hitoshi's shoulder. His grip was warm and solid. He pulled Hitoshi close until they were exactly side by side with nothing between him and all that bare, tanned skin but his own uniform. He cleared his throat several times, but never could quite get the nervousness swallowed down.

Before any conversation could strike up again, a flare went up and an alarm echoed over the arena, signalling the battle was over. The kids all cheered. Hitoshi quickly released their two captives from his mind control.

Izuku bent over into his lap and kissed Todoroki.

Hitoshi stared, watching as his friend cupped Todoroki's cheek with one hand, the other still resting on his own shoulder. It looked like such a soft thing. He couldn't tell if Izuku's eyes were closed beneath his goggles, but he imagined they were. When he drew back, it was slow, and his fingers trailed through the ends of Todoroki's red hair.

Todoroki himself blinked awake a second or two later. His eyes met Hitoshi's and then widened suddenly. He sat up sharply, his cheeks flushed and his head nearly colliding with Hitoshi's. It would have except Izuku pulled him back.

"What the- Where the-" Todoroki looked around wildly.

"Battle's over, Todoroki," Izuku said cheerfully. "It's time to find out who won."

"It's … what?" His voice faltered with his confusion.

Tokage, standing up, stretched her arms over her head. "I guess this was an okay end. It seems pretty lame, though. I just hung out here for like, the whole time!"

"How do we get down?" Kirishima asked as he got up as well.

"Ice slide." Izuku said. He pulled his arm away from Hitoshi as he got up. Hitoshi wasn't the only one who stared at his body as he, too, stretched and walked to the wall. He distantly heard Kirishima give a soft gasp and a whisper of, "Woah… He's so ripped."

Izuku walked as naturally in nothing more than tattered 'shorts' as he had in his actual full suit. He bent over, putting his hands on the wall and Hitoshi turned away from the sight of his ass and thighs in embarrassment. Only to confirm that yes, everyone was staring. Including Todoroki. And Kirishima. And Tsunotori too. Everyone.

Tokage was even grinning, eyeing Izuku shamelessly. Hitoshi glared at her and she glanced to him and shrugged. "What?"

There was the sound of ice forming and Hitoshi was distracted from his glaring to look and see the incredible slide that Izuku was forming. Tokage sidled over and whistled. "Look at that! It's got railing and everything. You know what this reminds me of?"

"What?" Izuku asked.

"That staircase in Frozen," she said, "Except without the stair part. The railing is incredible. How are you so good at this quirk? I thought your main on was the lava spitting! You can't be Lava Dude if you're spitting out ice like Elsa."

"Oooh," Tsunotori said, crowding close. "This looks like a lot of fun! I'll go first!"

"Send the dummies first," Izuku said instead, "Just to check. I've used this quirk a lot today so I want to make sure it'll support people before we jump on. Okay?"

"Sure," Tsunotori dumped the dummies she held onto the ice, letting them slide down. Komori brought over the other two and let them slide. Only then did Izuku wave them down. The two slid down one after the other, giggling madly as they did. Tokage followed them with a whoop of delight. Kirishima followed with a shout. Shouji went afterwards, giving a glance to Todoroki who lingered. Rin followed them. Izuku stood to the side.

"Who's next?" He asked, looking from Hitoshi to Todoroki.

"If you can use ice like this, why do you bother with the lava?" Todoroki asked instead when Hitoshi made no move to go first.

Izuku smiled, "I've mastered the ice. I haven't mastered the lava. It would be irresponsible if I didn't learn how to control my quirks. They'd be dangerous if I let them run wild whenever I got upset."

Todoroki shifted on his feet, turning his left side slightly away from Izuku. Hitoshi saw his fist tighten up as well. He gave a slight nod and walked to the slide. He took it without another word.

When Izuku looked to him, Hitoshi said the first thing that came to mind. "Why did you kiss him?" He regretted the words immediately. Wincing, he shook his head, "No. Don't-"

"Just to put him to sleep," Izuku said. "And wake him up again. Like I said, when I'm using that quirk I don't really consider it a kiss. Kisses mean something else."

"If… If quirk kisses don't count," Hitoshi fumbled through the words. Why was he asking? Why did he care? It wasn't as if kissing were that much of a big deal. "Then have you…?"

"Have I had a kiss that counts?"

Hitoshi shrugged.

"Yeah. A few." Izuku said. "What about you?"

"Yeah. I guess so."

Izuku gave him a thumbs up, "Nice."

He was so casual about it. Smiling and giving him a thumbs up and being so confident in his asking- Did Izuku not feel like he felt? Did Izuku not feel- What was it that Hitoshi felt about Izuku kissing other people? Envy? Irritation?

Jealousy?

"We should go," Izuku said.

Hitoshi nodded and took the slide down. Wind whipped his hair and for a brief, dizzying second he could see the faintly glowing lava below, but then the slide smoothed out and he came to a stop at the bottom. He hurriedly got to his feet, brushing droplets of thawing ice from his clothes. He looked up in time to see Izuku sliding after him.

He landed at the bottom of the slide in a tumble, but quickly got to his feet. Izuku grinned to Hitoshi. "That was fun."

"Do you really think we won?" Hitoshi asked.

"By the point system, yes. But according to the teachers? Maybe not." Izuku shrugged. "It depends, really." Hitoshi nodded. It would come down to their teachers, after all.

All Might was the one to corral them out of the arena, grinning at them all and giving no hint to who had won. Hitoshi, surprisingly, didn't find that as irritating as it could have been. That might have been because he felt like they'd done well or maybe it was because he'd sort of genuinely enjoyed himself during the hiding and seeking and scrambling up the side of Castle Black to the sound of Tokage cackling and Tsunotori cheering for him. Or maybe it was because Izuku bumped shoulders with him, patted him on the back, and stood with him while their team gathered around them.

Kaibara complains about getting caught and Shishida bumps knuckles with Izuku over 'incredible displays of strength' or something. Hitoshi notices Kirishima looking over at them and elbows Izuku, gesturing towards the redhead.

Kirishima gives a thumbs up and says, "You look like you're doing better, Midoriya! That was some crazy castle you made there!"

"Yeah? Thanks!" Izuku said back. "It was really exhausting. I was worried you guys would find us before I finished it."

"We didn't know you had an ice quirk," Jirou says, poking her head out from around Kirishima. "Is it like Todoroki's? Or do you have a borrowing thing like Monoma, since you took Todoroki with you."

"No, that's one of mine," Izuku said. "It's really only good at building something I have a concrete image of, though, like walls or slides or rope. It doesn't work like Todoroki's, but it's similar."

Hitoshi couldn't help it. He looked over the Class A group, searching for the teen with two colored hair. He spotted him, walking at the farther edge of the group, watching Izuku. Their eyes met for a long, tense moment. Hitoshi thought Todoroki looked a little strange. Off, somehow. Not like he was afraid, but that he was… wary maybe? Uncertain?

Todoroki pressed his lips into a thin line and Hitoshi found himself remembering the way Izuku had kissed the other boy, bent over Hitoshi's lap. Izuku might not count it as a kiss but Todoroki- Izuku interrupted his thoughts when he caught Hitoshi's wrist and tugged. Hitoshi blinked and looked over.

Izuku grinned at him. "Didn't you hear, Hitoshi?"

"Mm?"

"We won!" Tokage shouts, throwing her arms in the air.

"What?" Hitoshi gaped. "We did?"

All Might stands in the center of the group, fists at his waist and grinning. "Congratulations Team D! It was an unorthodox tactic, but villains work in unorthodox ways! You managed to keep the majority of your teammates and capture several of the heroes. It was a successful strategy and grand display of teamwork!"

There were high fives given all around. Izuku's grip on Hitoshi's wrist tightened. Hitoshi felt a little smile on his face, just a little one.

"Team C, you were at a slight disadvantage from the beginning, missing your tenth member, but you performed admirably! You did not give up the fight even until the last, and used unique tactics to rescue those that you could." All Might praised them as well. "Everyone should be proud of themselves for this match."

"That was good quick thinking with your quirk at the end," Izuku murmurs, distracting Hitoshi from All Might's speech. He's leaning over, slightly, more in Hitoshi's space than he had been before. "It would have been a close call, otherwise. I think the others were lying in wait near the bottom, expecting some of us to flee."

"Thanks," Hitoshi said. Izuku had pushed his goggles back down to hang around his neck. He noticed this because he could see clearly into Izuku's eyes. They were bright green and he stood close enough he could see little flecks of gold and black? In them. Remembering the way they glowed before, Hitoshi opened his mouth to ask when a someone bumped into his back, throwing their arm around his and Izuku's shoulders.

Tokage grinned at them, "Since we totally, absolutely won, Yousetsu said he was gonna buy us some meat buns at the shop after school! Do you two wanna come?"

There was a loud growling sound that came from Izuku's abdomen. He blushed and said, "I'm in. I'm absolutely starving."

"Sure," Hitoshi says and then Tokage's sliding away again, fists in the air with a shout of "two more, Yousetsu!" and they're left alone.

Hitoshi is very aware that Izuku hasn't let go of his arm yet. He's also aware that those fingers have slid a little lower and now are half over the heel of his hand. He takes in a breath. Let's it out again.

"Hey," Izuku asks quietly, "After the meat bun thing… Do you want to get some real food? My treat."

Hitoshi swallows dryly and nods, unable to speak. Izuku smiles at him, squeezes his hand gently, and then pulls away at last, joining a conversation where someone starts asking him about how he lost his clothes and he starts talking about his fight with Todoroki.

It's like outside the infirmary all over again. Hitoshi can still feel the warmth of Izuku's hand holding his own for that brief second. He squeezes his into fists and takes a shaky breath to calm himself down. This time, without Izuku to distract him, it works.

It's a forty minute bus ride from the school to the street that Izuku says has the best restaurant in the entire district. Hitoshi spends most of that trip reading through a homework textbook while Izuku drowses. They both have to stand for half the ride, but Izuku's grip on the handle above his head is firm and his head only barely rests on Hitoshi's shoulder. They're still in their uniforms and at first they're not the only students on the bus. As time goes on, though, Hitoshi notices that they get more and more looks as there are fewer and fewer students and more and more… well…

It's not that the people around them are adults, it's that they don't seem much like office types. Only one in five has clothing similar to what his mom would wear to work- a suit or pencil skirt- something professional or even business casual. Most of the others who get on or off wear casual clothes with signs of lots of wear.

At one stop, five or six people that are, at best, no older than highschool students get on. One of them, taller than the others and with dark wild hair, glances over to them. He does an obvious double take at the two of them, eyes widening slightly. Hitoshi holds still, looking back at him. The guy is at the front of the bus with his group and most of them have to stand too. It isn't their clothes that makes Hitoshi stare, or even just the fact that he's staring at them-

It's the guy's skin.

Hitoshi goes to Yuuei, so he's seen plenty of people whose quirks have made them look a little odd. There's Bondo, Shishida, Fukidashi and Kamakiri in his own class, for one, and Tokoyami, Ashido, Shouji and Kouda in Class A that all look different because of their quirks. But the difference here is that they were clearly born looking like that and this guy…

It looks like parts of his skin were burned badly, or just… scarred somehow. There are stitches or staples that keep the differing pieces of skin together and where it isn't red and rippled it looks almost too pale. Hitoshi's not entirely sure which part of the skin is the original part; the pale skin around his eyes or the red that runs down his throat?

The guy stares and stares at them, silent. He responds to his friends when they talk to him, but he doesn't look away for more than a second. The hair on the back of Hitoshi's neck stands on end.

He jumps when he hears Izuku huff out a heavy sigh and lift his head. Hitoshi glances back at him only to see him looking at the man with the weird skin. Izuku arches an eyebrow, just one, and gives the man the mildest expression of curiosity that Hitoshi's ever seen. The man abruptly turns away from them so Hitoshi can't see his face.

Tiredly, Izuku yawns and leans his cheek on Hitoshi's shoulder as though he didn't just intimidate a weirdo on the bus with an arched brow.

Hitoshi lets out the breath he didn't know he held and relaxes, slowly. He looks down at his book again and gets back to reading.

He's just reached the end of the chapter when Izuku wakes again and nudges him. "Here's our stop."

They get off together, Izuku hitching his bag up higher on his shoulder. They're two of a handful that get off, but the man with the scarred skin isn't around- neither is his group. Hitoshi looks around, feeling a little nervous. He's never been in this part of town before, hasn't ever heard of these streets or these shops. He doesn't go out much, doesn't know how exactly to get back home if he were stranded here.

Izuku takes his hand and tugs him along, preventing him from standing there, stiff from worry and unmoving. "C'mon," he said eagerly. "It's this way. Seriously, this is the best place in town."

Hitoshi curls his fingers around Izuku's, grateful for the contact. It's a solid, warm grip and strong, too. Izuku is just very strong, Hitoshi's come to learn. If he doesn't watch his strength he tends to do things like snap pencils or dent doorknobs. It's a little scary at times, but he's never turned that strength on Hitoshi or anyone else so-

The restaurant they end up in front of has a bright red awning above it, but that's not what makes Hitoshi's thoughts about Izuku's hands cut off. It's not even the gaudy, bright gold M painted on the door. It's the look on Izuku's face.

He's grinning like a little kid- he even looks a little younger again- and Hitoshi is reminded of the phone call, of Izuku's joyous laugh, of the way he seemed to catch sunlight behind him and absorb it into his body, only to turn around and let it radiate out in smiles like this.

Oh my god, Hitoshi thinks numbly as Izuku drags him into the restaurant by the hand, I am in such serious trouble. This crush has gotten way out of hand.

Hitoshi wants to laugh because while that is, indeed, very true, it's also truth that Izuku is still holding his hand.

They get three feet into the diner before they stop dead in their tracks.

Izuku grins. Hitoshi gapes.

Every inch of the place is well lit and gleaming. There are booths and tables and a counter, just like any other restaurant. There's a really tall young woman with incredibly long legs and a nametag that says Hostess with the name Ami written beneath it. It's the theme of the place that has frozen Hitoshi in his place.

There is All Might memorabilia everywhere. Posters, framed autographed pictures, news paper clippings and more cover the walls. There are at least three life sized cardboard cutouts around the room that he can see and everything is themed in red and gold and blue from the tablecloths to the napkins to the fucking floor tile.

Hitoshi looks at Izuku, who has stars in his eyes. Ami, their hostess, smiles and greets them. "Just two?" She asks. Her eyes flicker down to their held hands. Hitoshi tries to let go but you can't let go of Izuku's hand, it seems. He just keeps holding on without you.

"Two," he confirmed. "A booth please."

She nods and smiles. "This way." Then it's Hitoshi's turn to tug Izuku after him as they're lead to a booth.

Izuku finally lets go to sink down into his seat. Hitoshi sits across from him and looks pointedly around before meeting Izuku's eyes. "So this is the best diner in the whole city, huh."

Izuku has the decency to flush and his hands flutter restlessly in front of himself. Hitoshi hasn't seen much of this side of Izuku, but occasionally a bit of the fanboy creeps through in class. "The food is really good, Hitoshi, and so is the service! I just… It just also happens to be the biggest All Might fan hangout?"

Hitoshi pulls his phone out of his pocket. "I have to document this for my blog," he says. "No one will believe me otherwise." He turns in his seat, taking some pictures of the room around them before lifting his phone up and saying, "Do you want to be included or not?"

"Sure," Izuku laughs. He throws up a peace sign to Hitoshi, who takes the picture. He then starts working on the post itself, forgetting entirely about the menu that Izuku starts to read through.

The waitress that comes by gives them a bit of a tired smile and asks for their order. Hitoshi guiltily looks up from his phone; his menu hasn't even been touched. Izuku flips open his own and points to a section, saying "One of everything from there, please."

The woman looks at him and blinks. Izuku meets her eyes, grinning, and after a minute she blinks. Straightening up a little, she clears her throat and looks to Hitoshi, "And you, sir?"

Hitoshi blinks. Sir? She hadn't been nearly so formal just a second ago. "Uh… I haven't…" He looks quickly at the section that Izuku pointed to and saw that about half of those plates look interesting in one way or another. "Just some extra plates. We'll share."

"Of course. Thank you." She takes their menus and quickly hurries away.

Izuku leans an elbow on the table, eyebrows lifted, "We'll share?" He repeats back, smiling slightly.

"You can't possibly eat all that yourself. And this way I get to try several things instead of just the one." Hitoshi ignores the twisting in his belly that tells him sharing plates of food is something special. It isn't. He does it with his siblings. He figures friends do it too.

"What? You think I'd order all that and not be able to eat it?"

"You'll burst trying."

"I'll have you know I have an elastic quirk," Izuku sniffed, "I can eat as much as I need and never burst."

"But do you really need all of that?"

Izuku nodded, "Absolutely. Do you know how many quirks I ended up using today?"

Hitoshi shook his head. Of course he didn't. He only knew, for sure, that Izuku had a lava quirk, the gas manipulation quirk, some sort of brain related 'primary' quirk, an ice quirk and the kissing quirk. He wasn't a hundred percent positive about the smile-charm quirk but… only because HItoshi hadn't really noticed it again since that first day or two.

"Like, ten or something. A lot of them. So I'm absolutely ravenous."

Hitoshi frowned a little. He'd been hoping for a list of sorts, but didn't feel it was a good idea to pry. He huffed out a 'whatever, sure,' and ducked his head down to finish his post. Izuku put his other elbow on the table, his chin resting in his hands, watching.

The first thing the waitress brought them was a milkshake for Izuku and soda for Hitoshi. He accepted it happily, though there was a weird thought in his mind of "Did you hear Izuku order these drinks?" that he couldn't quite shake. Izuku closes his eyes in utter contentment as he sucks down the milkshake.

His hands cradle the base and his lips seal off the top of the straw. He sucks down half of the milkshake with his eyes closed, barely stopping to breathe through his nose, while Hitoshi watches with wide, wide eyes. Izuku lets go of the straw with an audible sigh of pleasure and a glowing smile.

Hitoshi's thoughts veer off to the side and hang a left right into the gutter. He clears his throat, tears his eyes away and drinks his soda with a tight throat. He hears a shifting of cloth, sees Izuku moving a little and looks up to see the other teen adjusting his sitting position.

It's one of Izuku's weird habits. (He has a lot of them. Hitoshi takes notice but tries not to say anything- he doesn't want to make Izuku self-conscious.) He doesn't like to sit with his feet touching the floor for very long. So even though his legs are long and often he's got no space on his chair (like in their school desks) he tucks his legs up and sits cross-legged.

Hitoshi notices this one a lot, maybe the most, and it always makes him wonder.

Izuku stirs his straw around and around in the bottom third of the milkshake that's left. He looks up from it, his eyes bright. "Want to try some? It's good. Chocolate flavored."

"...sure." Hitoshi shrugged.

Izuku pushes the milkshake over and Hitoshi takes a sip. It is pretty good, actually. A rich chocolate flavor of ice cream that slides easily down his throat. He licks his lips and pushes it back. As he does so, a strange white mist opens up at one side of their booth. "What the-"

"That's the way they serve the meal here," Izuku said gleefully. "The servers do drinks and stuff because they can spill, but the food comes out like this." He gestures towards the small white circle of mist. Hitoshi's eyes widen as bowls of food come out of the misty portal. Izuku takes them quickly and starts placing them around the table. "Anything look particularly good?"

Hitoshi reaches out and slides one of the bowls closer. "Yeah. Do you care if i just-"

"Go ahead, pick and choose. I'll eat whatever you don't." Izuku gestures over the table's surface.

"Yeah right," Hitoshi says with a roll of his eyes. As more and more plates come through, he becomes more and more confident that there's no way Izuku can eat all of that. "You know what? Before you touch any of this, I want to take a picture."

"For your blog?" Izuku asked, grinning as he squeezed another bowl into a corner. "Sure. Want me to pose again?" The misty portal finally vanished, ending the stream of food.

"Sure," Hitoshi said. He slid out of the bench and stood up to get the best picture. He took some of just the table and then a few with Izuku grinning over it, holding chopsticks in one hand and an empty bowl in the other. Just before he sat down, though, there was a tap to his shoulder.

Hitoshi turned to see a blond young woman standing next to him. Her face lit up with a toothy grin as she saw his face. "It's you! It's really you!"

Hitoshi's pretty sure he's never seen her before. He'd probably recognize the hairstyle or the oversized sweater or the way she swings her fists up and down excitedly in the space between them. He'd definitely recognize that shining, euphoric look in her eyes and that big, broad smile. "Excuse me?"

"Nekonaptsune!" She cried and Hitoshi feels the blood drain from his face. That was his- "You're him, aren't you? That's your blog?" She bounces on her toes, way too excited. "I saw you post pictures of the diner and I knew the diner so I came to say hi and to see you in person for realsies!" She spoke quickly, too and abruptly turned to look at Izuku. "And you too! You're the boy he blogs about, aren't you? You're Izu-kun!"

Izuku has his cheeks stuffed full with food. A noodle hangs from his mouth. He holds a bowl near his face and chopsticks hover in the air mid serve. "Mmmg?" He cocked his head to the side.

"Uh," Hitoshi cleared his throat. "Who are you?"

"My name is Himiko!" She said excitedly. "I follow your blog! I've been following for a while because your cat pictures are sooooo cute! Oh! Do you mean my url? It's himi-himechan. Here, I'll show you my blog!" Hitoshi blinked, reeling a little bit. He's never met any of his followers in real life before. He didn't even think any of them lived around here but … here she was…

She pulled out her phone and, after a few button taps, brought up her own blog. It was- Pink. Very pink. And not just the background. The pictures were also pink but in a very different way.

Villains have television too. Izuku's voice rose up in the back of his head, soft and dark. It made Hitoshi shiver.Television, phones, internet, blogs… He feels a little queasy as he looks away. "You follow my blog for… the kittens?"

"I love the kittens," Himiko says with complete sincerity.

"Ah." Hitoshi has no idea what to say to her.

Izuku cleared his throat. "Do you mind, Himiko-san? We're trying to have our dinner?" He gestured with his half empty bowl. Hitoshi belatedly realized that it was his second. The first was empty in front of him already.

"Ooh I'm so sorry! I just wanted to get a picture if I could? You see my friend will be so jealous that I got a picture with you two!" She beamed at Hitoshi, holding her phone tight in both hands, "We're following all your adventures in love, Neko-san."

Hitoshi flushed, "It's not- That's just a-" He looks at Izuku, who has his mouth full again as he looks curiously back. "It's just a tag I use for some of my posts. I'm not having an adventure in love."

Himiko pouted. "But-"

"Himiko-san," Izuku said, his voice chilly but so polite, "That's enough. Thank you for coming to say hi."

She looked down at her shoes and mumbled, "No picture?"

Her expression was miserable. Hitoshi had a hard time connecting this bubbly, excitable girl with that gorey blog he'd seen. He winced, realizing that he didn't actually know if she was a villain. She just might… be interested in that kind of stuff for some other reason. "One picture," he said, quietly. It was… probably worth it, the way she lit up and grinned at him.

She threw her arm around his shoulder, pressing her cheek against his and held up her phone. "Smile, Neko-san!" He did smile. She smelled like something sweet- candy or something- and was warm where she held him. Himiko took the picture, looked at it on her phone and then gave an excited giggle. She pressed a glossy-lipped kiss to Hitoshi's cheek before dashing away, waving her phone above her head and cheering excitedly.

Hitoshi blushed. They were getting a lot of bemused stares by the other patrons and it made him blush even worse. He slid back into his seat and sighed heavily. Izuku held out his bowl where there was a tempura shrimp resting in the bottom.

"Here," he said, "Help me finish this off, okay?"

Hitoshi rolled his eyes and reached out with his chopsticks. He popped the shrimp into his mouth and ate it. Swallowing, he said, "That was actually really good."

"It all is. Seriously, dig in!"

With a nod, Hitoshi did just that.

The sun has gone down by the time they make it back to the bus stop. They sit on the bench with a few other people, waiting together in relative ease. It's too dark to read his book, so Hitoshi's just scrolling on his dash, checking today's updates and the notes he got on the All Might diner. Not many of his followers are super into the hero, but they've all been following his posts on Izuku so he's got plenty of disbelieving comments on the insane amount of food that Izuku ate.

Izuku sits next to him, and if Hitoshi thought it was a bit cute when Izuku was drowsing on the bus on the way there, he was so, so mistaken.

His friend is completely out of it, leaning against Hitoshi's shoulder with his hair in his face and his hand fisting Hitoshi's sleeve. He snores softly, his mouth slightly open and Hitoshi's pretty sure Izuku is going to start drooling on him but he doesn't want to move Izuku and wake him up.

It's been a long day and a crazy one. Izuku's been at the center of it all and Hitoshi knows how much it sucks to not be able to get decent sleep. So he just sits there, his arm slowly going numb from the weight of Izuku's head as they wait for the bus together.

When it finally rolls up, Hitoshi wakes Izuku awake and helps him get to his feet. Izuku's heavier than Hitoshi remembers, but considering he ate half his body weight in food, that's not really much of of a surprise. Izuku blinks awake and follows Hitoshi onto the bus, where they find a seat near the back together.

There are only a few other people on the bus- though there were ten or so at the stop waiting, only another pair get on at the same time as Hitoshi and Izuku. Hitoshi notices them looking at Izuku and his heart races a little, remembering they're in a strange part of town he's never been and Izuku is dead to the world.

Protectively, he puts his arm around Izuku's shoulder and holds him close to his side. Hitoshi ignores the way his face heats up as Izuku snuggles against him, muttering something unintelligible. They're still in their school uniforms, and Hitoshi is acutely aware that all the commuters are long gone. The people who are on the bus now remind him more of that group that he'd seen before, the ones accompanying the man with the scars and staples in his skin.

The couple that he saw looking at him and Izuku sit in the middle of the bus where Hitoshi can see them in profile. The man is tall, tall as All Might, probably, and wearing a dark jacket. His hair is shaved short around the sides and back, while the top is dark blue and longer, sweeping over his face. He has his legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankle and his arms across the back of the bench on either side. Conversely, the girl at his side is smaller, sitting with her legs crossed on the bench. She's in bright clothes, a white jacket over a baggy red shirt that hangs down to her thighs easily. Her hair's done up in a pair of buns that do nothing to hide the bright pink and blue hue.

She's the one talking to the man, her voice low enough that Hitoshi can't pick it up over the rumble of the bus.

They don't look over once they're settled on the bus, though, which eases Hitoshi's mind a little. He pulls his phone back out to scroll and blog, wasting time while Izuku sleeps on his shoulder and against his side like a warm lump. It's weirdly comforting and Hitoshi keeps bouncing his leg in nervousness, wondering if it's reallyokay to be sitting like this with Izuku. After all they're friends but they're not… more than that. And yet, here he sits, holding onto him, letting Izuku sleep on him, watching out for him…

Was this a typical friend thing? Hitoshi didn't have much experience with friendships outside of the few he'd had in middle school and those with his siblings. He knows for sure that he doesn't feel the same way towards Izuku as he does his siblings but…

He does care. Definitely does care. He cares more than 'just friends' too. And he doesn't really have anyone he can ask without getting really embarrassed.

So he does his best not to think about it.

Instead, he takes a selfie with the sleeping Izuku and, after about five minutes of back and forth thinking, he uploads it to the blog with the tags: Adventures in Love, look who sleeps with their mouth open, he snores too, ate abt twenty plates himself nd is going to sleep it all off now, growing boy needs him some zzzs.

He immediately regrets posting it because his dash explodes with comments on how cute they are and endless questions asking him about his date. Huffing out a breath, he shoves his phone into his pocket and sit, staring at his knees.

Izuku stirs at his side about ten minutes later. Hitoshi looks up and his eyes lock with those green glowing ones. And they're definitely, one hundred percent glowing. There's no denying it. Not this close. Not in the back of the bus like this. Not when he can see the shine of them flickering only inches away.

"Your eyes," Hitoshi says without thinking about it. "They glow. Is that..?"

"A quirk?" Izuku asks, blinking slowly and then yawning. He shrugs, which feels strange under Hitoshi's arm, but he hasn't lifted his cheek up from Hitoshi's shoulder, so it's not like he can take it off. "Yeah."

"Oh." Hitoshi's curiosity gnaws at him. "Which … What does it do?"

Izuku watches him silently for a while, long enough that Hitoshi opens his mouth to apologize for asking. Izuku isn't smiling. He looks so serious it's a bit eerie. Hitoshi's sure that he's offended him, somehow.

"A couple of different things," Izuku says, cutting off Hitoshi's beginning of an apology. "You noticed the glowing eyes, didn't you?" He asks it like a question but it doesn't really sound like one. It sounds like Izuku knows what he saw and why he's asking.

"Yeah. But they don't always glow."

"Right," Izuku agrees, "It's a… an observation quirk, of sorts. My eyes catch information as I look around at things and then after enough information is gathered, they stop noticing so much and my brain processes it."

"The brain thing," Hitoshi says, making the connection to their conversation in front of the infirmary. "The quirk isn't just in your eyes but your brain, too?"

Izuku nods. His eye slide closed for a second or two and then when they open again, they're no longer glowing. "It's my primary quirk. The one that I was … born with. The one that makes me, me." He says that with a funny smile and a bit of a breathless laugh; his gaze slides down and away.

Even looking away, Hitoshi can clearly see Izuku's eyes. They're green and so, so bright. But this close he can see gold around the outer edges of the iris; little flecks of it that catch the light a little sharper than the green itself. And there are black flecks too, closer in towards the pupil, but not the pupil itself. That's still a regular round shape.

"They're pretty," Hitoshi says.

Izuku looks at him and smiles.

The bus comes to a stop, jerking them both forward as they were unprepared for it. Izuku blinks and looks around. "Oh!" He sits up, sliding out from under Hitoshi's arm. "This is my stop."

"It is?" Hitoshi says dumbly. He feels a lot colder as Izuku stands up. "Oh." He looks out the window but doesn't recognize where they are.

"Hey, Hitocchan?"

Hitoshi's head snaps back around to look up at Izuku. His friend smiles at him and leans down. He rests one hand on the cushion beside Hitoshi's head balancing himself as he ducks his head in and-

Warm lips brush against Hitoshi's cheek so close to his own that if he had just turned his head in the slightest way they would have touched. Hitoshi's heart jumps into his throat at the spark that he feels from Izuku's mouth on his skin. Izuku draws back slowly, saying, "Thanks for coming with me tonight. I appreciate it."

"Yeah," Hitoshi mumbled. "You're welcome."

Izuku hitches his bag higher on his shoulder and then turns away. He gets off the bus with a casual little wave, one that Hitoshi returns without thinking about it.

The doors close behind him and Hitoshi sits there, blinking, hand touching his own cheek for a long time. Eventually, he blinks and looks around, aware that he hadn't been alone, but none of the other passengers are looking at him.

It's another block before Hitoshi realizes that the two he noticed before, the man in the hoodie and the young woman in white, have also left the bus, though he can't remember seeing them go.

TBC