"Oh, and Deku," Kacchan called.

Izuku paused before entering his apartment complex. They'd lingered for a few minutes, unwilling to part. However, Izuku had a lot of work and analysis that he was looking forward to getting done. He and Kacchan spent most of the weekend together, and Izuku hadn't really been in any state to brainstorm in the few times they were apart. His hero notebooks beckoned him, so eventually he was forced to say goodbye to his friend.

"Earlier, during your speech, you called yourself 'a useless Deku'."

Izuku flushed. "Uh-"

"You know I've punched people for saying stuff like that?" asked Kacchan conversationally.

He smiled a bit and scratched his head. "Um. Yeah. You gonna punch me, Kacchan?" Izuku teased.

"Hmph," grumped the blonde. "If I thought it'd actually stop you from thinking stupid things like that, I'd consider it."

"Don't you think it's a bit weird to call me stupid while telling me off for insulting myself?"

"Shut up, Deku. Just- listen." Kacchan scowled and kicked idly at the ground. "I know I made up that name when I was mad at you. And so some dumb fuckers thought that 'Deku' must mean something bad, but…" Kacchan's scowl deepened. "It's in your name… it's part of you, so it could only be something good," he muttered.

Izuku's breath caught. "Kacchan…" His eyes suddenly felt wet.

"I can't believe you made me say some sappy shit like that, Deku. You know how much I hate it."

Izuku was grinning too hard to respond. Instead, he inched back over to Kacchan and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. When he glanced up at Kacchan's face, his eyes caught on the boy's lips. Oh. Kacchan just said one of the nicest things he'd ever told Izuku outright, rather than a kind-of-insult that they both knew was meant as a compliment. They were holding hands. Now was the perfect time to uh, well, kiss. The thought of it seemed impossible though. A kiss on the cheek was one thing, but lips? Izuku's eyes flickered up to meet Kacchan's. He was staring at Izuku too.

An odd feeling jolted through Izuku like a spark, and his breath caught when he saw that Kacchan was leaning closer to him. Was he…? Were they really-

A man bumped into Kacchan, jarring him enough to break the spell. The moment passed, and Izuku blushed crimson down to his toes. "Uh thanksforwalkingwithmeKacchanseeyoutomorrowbye!" he spat out, before sprinting into his building, collapsing onto the wall next to the door.

He couldn't believe that he almost maybe kissed Kacchan. He couldn't believe he ran away afterwards. Oh god. Hopefully Kacchan was inured to his awkward and hopeless self and wouldn't think anything of it. Really, why was Izuku acting so surprised? They'd held hands, and hugged, and gone a maybe-date and kissed each other's cheeks. They were practically boyf- No. Nope. Izuku couldn't even think it. There was a bang on the wall next to his ear.

"AH!" Izuku jumped and whirled around. Oh no. He'd forgotten that his complex had floor to ceiling windows next to the doors. Kacchan was on the other side, managing to look embarrassed for him but also painfully fond, simultaneously.

"Stop overthinking things and go home, Deku." Kacchan's voice was muffled, just barely audible through the glass. Without waiting for a response, the blonde turned on his heel and walked off. Izuku noticed a slight spring in his step.

Grinning ear to ear, Izuku did as he was told. Okay, so they hadn't done it this time… but maybe next time they would.

In front of him lay a notebook labeled "Hero notes for the present: Vol 1". Izuku had written in it all his observations about his fight at USJ, with particular focus paid to his battle with Noumu. He'd been too preoccupied with grief and panic to notice at the time, but there were a lot of strange things that happened during that fight. Izuku looked down at his untidy scrawl.

Odd Occurrences:

Using an underpowered Smash to create a shockwave from a distance didn't injure me nearly as badly as when fighting the zero-point robot.

I was able to reinforce my body so much that Noumu's 10% attack didn't hurt.

Noumu's force absorption stopped me from hurting myself, even at 100%.

There were tons of other observations in the book, but he kept going back to those three things over and over again. They were highlighted, underlined, and starred. Izuku wasn't exactly sure why, but he felt that if he could understand those three things, then he could tease out the secrets of One for All.

He was determined to improve beyond the limits of his body. The only thing holding him back was his physical strength, and so of course he was working hard to build muscle. Except, that was slow going, and quite frankly he may never have as huge a frame as All Might. Izuku just wasn't built the same way; he'd never be as tall as the man, for example. Additionally, developing his physique to the point where he could handle his power could take a decade. Izuku didn't have that kind of time. So instead, he went back to the drawing board. That's why he'd returned to his trusty notetaking habit to figure out how to proceed.

Izuku tapped his pen against the paper absentmindedly. After considering for a moment, he scrawled:

Observations:

When I blocked Noumu's attack, I used way more energy than I should be able to handle, but it didn't hurt.

It's never hurt to enhance my body.

Only smashes hurt.

Izuku drew a line between Observation 3 and Strange Occurrence 3. Then, next to the line, he wrote "What is a smash?" and circled it twice.

He must've seen dozens of videos of All Might using his special attacks, and a few times in real life as well. Everyone knew that his smashes were punches so powerful that they created shockwaves, but Izuku wasn't so sure anymore. He used more energy blocking Noumu than he had creating the smash to try to blow Shigaraki away, and yet the latter broke his arm whilst the former didn't hurt. It made no sense. If a smash was just extreme amplification of his body, why was it different from using One for All to defend himself rather than attack?

In fact, Izuku recalled the first smash he'd seen in real life, when All Might defeated the slime villain. His punch had been so powerful that it breached the stratosphere and changed local weather patterns! Was that even physically possible? Previously, Izuku had no doubt that his mentor was capable of enhancing himself so dramatically, but he was starting to become uncertain. He'd seen All Might's true form... was his emaciated body really capable of withstanding such intense power on the basis of physical strength alone?

After a little brainstorming Izuku realized that all of All Might's smashes had one thing in common: they all produced shockwaves. Additionally, it wasn't the punch that did most of the damage, but rather the shockwave itself. He scratched out a quick note:

Shockwave (SHäk, wāv): a sharp change of pressure in a narrow region traveling through a medium, especially air, caused by explosion or by a body moving faster than sound.

Izuku hummed thoughtfully. Could All Might be punching faster than the speed of sound? It was certainly possible, but shouldn't a real shockwave spread out in a circular pattern? That didn't describe a smash at all. They were directional and focused, like a burst of-

Oh. Duh. It was so obvious. It was a burst of energy. Maybe physical strength alone couldn't create a smash, but One for All wasn't about physical strength, not really. It was an energy source, and why wouldn't he be able to release a burst of energy from his fist? Izuku was confident that his hunch was correct; it felt right. But why should using One for All's energy for a smash hurt more than using it to reinforce his body?

He tried to recall what All Might had told him, back when they first started training together. The man said that Izuku couldn't handle One for All as he was, that it would blow his limbs off. Izuku himself remembered thinking at first that his quirk would make his arms explode. Indeed, when he used his full power against the zero-point robot, the energy felt like it ripped itself out of him, shattering his arm and legs in the process. He made a note on the paper in support of the energy-shockwave theory then. That seemed to fit into the paradigm. However, the idea of his body not being able to handle One for All in its passive state didn't make any sense. He'd accepted it at the time, but in hindsight it was silly. Where did all that energy go when Izuku wasn't using it? It had to be stored inside of him somehow. Therefore, it couldn't be harmful in its inert state.

"Eureka," Izuku muttered.

Enhancing his muscles took energy. Using a smash released energy. But fortifying his body? That was just reapportioning his power. It was kind of like having a bullet-proof vest. The energy wasn't really doing anything; it just sat there. Theoretically there wasn't a functional limit to how much energy he could use to defend himself. Well, Izuku supposed that there would be a point where he couldn't 'grip' it in the right place, and having it snap back may rip him to shreds. Minor details. Okay, so maybe his capacity for defense wasn't limitless, but it was probably a lot higher than he'd previously assumed. Turning to a fresh page, Izuku wrote:

Short-term goals:

Figure out how to modify OfA for defense.

Satisfied, Izuku turned back to the previous pages, considering Observation 2: "It's never hurt to enhance my body." Hm. This was probably similar to the defense-concept. Izuku had never actually tried to use one hundred percent of his power to enhance his body; he'd only done so in the form of a smash. Therefore, he'd assumed that using One for All in other ways would be similarly harmful. Maybe that idea had been wrong, too. Izuku doubted that it was as cut and dried as using his quirk for defensive purposes. After all, using his energy to enhance his strength wasn't exactly passive, and muscle fibers could tear. Still, maybe his threshold was higher than he'd thought.

Well, he already knew that reinforcing his body allowed him to eke out greater enhancements to his physical strength. Maybe solving one problem would solve both. Izuku decided to list it as 1a.

Short-term Goals:

Figure out how to modify OfA for defense.

Explore limit to strength. Increased by ↑ defense?

Satisfied with that, Izuku moved on to the toughest, but most important problem. Smashes were his greatest potential strength, but also the most unobtainable. A smash was essentially a pure expression of power, energy that he could channel through himself and expel out in the form of an overwhelming attack. It was his one-hundred percent, and there was no way to prepare his body for it other than the slow, grueling work of strengthening himself the old-fashioned way. Izuku wasn't opposed to that. In fact, he was practicing the air-chair exercise while writing these notes! However, he needed ways to become stronger now not years in the future.

Hm. He glanced at Odd Occurrence 1 again. Clearly he'd been able to decrease the power of his smash and hurt himself less. It still wasn't functional in battle, though. Sure, he hadn't been debilitated, but he couldn't rely on a strength that broke his bones. For a smash to work, he had to let his energy out of his body, and until he was strong enough, the only way was to break his body apart. That was less than ideal, and Izuku refused to be satisfied by an inferior product.

Izuku turned his attention back to the most interesting, yet most baffling Odd Occurrence. Why hadn't his smash against Noumu torn him apart? He thought that he might have put all of the pieces together. Enhancing his body didn't harm him; building up energy didn't harm him. It was the release that wrecked things. He'd been so close to Noumu… Had Izuku punched the monster before he'd let go of his smash? Had Noumu absorbed his energy before he could even release it from his body? That would explain why even his strongest smash hadn't harmed him. If that was true, then all he had to do was figure out a way to let the energy out of his body. Right now it was ripping through him however it could manage. Was it really just a matter of getting strong enough to withstand the backlash? Could he hack it somehow, by creating channels to direct the energy?

He was getting so worked up that his hands were getting sweaty. Distracted, he put the pen down and wiped his palms on his pants. Ugh. He hated sweaty… But- if sweat. Slowly, Izuku raised his hands in front of him and stared at them like they held the key to the universe's mysteries. "Oh my god. Sweat!" exclaimed Izuku. Of course! His body already had pathways from inside his body to outside. They were tiny, microscopic even. It would be extremely delicate work, threading all that energy through those tiny pores in a way that didn't rip him apart. Izuku laughed delightedly. How ironic. He might be able to manage a facsimile of his greatest attack, not through overwhelming force but rather through immaculate control.

Izuku studied his knuckles, brow furrowed in concentration. Did he even have sweat glands on his knuckles? He doubted he'd ever be able to channel tons of energy through such tiny openings, so his concept would probably work better if he could use lots of pores simultaneously. It was kind of like Kacchan's- Oh. A manic grin worked its way onto his face. Oh. Oh man. Kacchan was going to be furious. Izuku had been so focused on using punches to perform his smashes because that's how All Might did it, but there was no reason to limit himself that way. After all, the highest concentration of sweat glands on a person's body was at the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet. Izuku giggled at the thought of how Kacchan's face would look when he saw Izuku basically copying his quirk.

He was getting ahead of himself though. Izuku wasn't sure it was even possible. Well… there was only one way to find out. Izuku googled a cartoon diagram of skin and sweat glands to help him visualize.

His hands trembled slightly before he forced himself to calm down. The familiar hum of his Full Cowl surrounded him, and his bedroom was bathed in its light. Slowly—ever so slowly—Izuku cautiously focused his energy to the palms of his hands. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to imagine the power pooling just under the topmost layer of his skin. Once he got that under control, Izuku visualized the energy finding his sweat glands, leaking out- not bursting, or flowing, but gently floating like steam from a pot. It took a while, long enough that he began to fear it wouldn't work, but eventually Izuku felt a brush of air against his face. It was slight enough to be mistaken for a shifting breeze if he weren't indoors.

Izuku dropped his arms to his sides and stared at the wall in absolute astonishment. That… it had barely been anything, but it was proof. He could do it. He could do it. Delighted, Izuku leapt to his feet and danced around his room cheering. He was still a long ways away from making it into a full-fledged attack, but soon enough, it could be. Izuku returned to his desk and stopped in front of his desk. He picked up his pen with a trembling hand and added one more line to his notebook.

Short-term Goals:

Figure out how to modify OfA for defense.

Explore limit to strength. Increased by ↑ defense?

Master your smash.

On Tuesday afternoon, All Might was leading Class 1A's calisthenics course. It was basically glorified P.E. All Might essentially acted as their drill sergeant for two hours, and if they were lucky they'd tackle an obstacle course. Today, however, was an unlucky day where instead they just had to run until they dropped, do pushups until they dropped, situps until they dropped, etc. Izuku's speech the morning before seemed to have really motivated his classmates, though, because they were giving it their all. Even Aoyama and Jiro—who normally groaned about physical exercise and only did it grudgingly—were pushing themselves beyond their limits without complaint. All Might was practically glowing.

For Izuku, the workouts were nothing special. He'd had a lot harder before joining Yuuei, and then with All Might's personal attention. The man was definitely a demanding taskmaster, so it was a lot easier when his attention was split between nineteen- Izuku gritted his teeth. Eighteen students. Unfortunately, Izuku didn't want an easy workout. He wanted to push himself, so he ran longer, and fought harder than his classmates. Before USJ, he'd been really impressed when someone beat him at an exercise, but now he took it as a challenge. That led to some intense competition with a few of the boys in class, but Izuku figured that it was a good thing.

Izuku felt good during cool-downs. He'd pushed himself as hard as he could go, and even though he wanted to do more, he knew that rest and down time were important. He'd get stronger by taking the occasional break than he would running himself into the ground.

"Midoriya, could I speak with you for a moment?" All Might asked.

Izuku blinked, but dutifully stood and followed his mentor to the edge of the training field, so that they could talk without being easily overheard. They were still in eyesight of the class though (it'd be horribly irresponsible for All Might to leave them unsupervised, after all). All Might placed his hands on Izuku's shoulders, beaming down at him proudly.

"My boy, word has made its way around the school about what you said in your homeroom class yesterday morning."

Blushing, Izuku looked at the ground. It was one thing to stand tall and accept Mr. Aizawa's praise, but this was All Might who was the coolest hero ever. "I-I just realized that you were right. Everyone was being so hard on themselves, and I was afraid- uh. I wanted to save their hearts."

All Might lifted one hand and gently tipped Izuku's chin up so that he met the man's eyes. "What you did was no small feat, young man. You brought your class back from the brink of despair, and gave them hope again. You made them wanted to do better, to be better. More than that, your actions have spread like wildfire. You've raised the spirits of the entire school. Everyone—students and teachers alike—see how determined you all are. How can we tremble in fear and sorrow when the children who faced the worst of it refuse to cower?" All Might's gaze was as fond as Izuku had ever seen it. "Your actions were those of a true hero."

"All Might," rasped Izuku hoarsely. He struggled to contain his tears. Hadn't he decided not to go around crying all the time like a little kid? He sniffled and wiped at his eyes. "I… I couldn't have done it without you. Any of it."

"You're wrong." All Might shook his head. "I helped you along the way, made it easier, perhaps. But you would've become a fantastic hero with or without my quirk. Of that I am certain."

Izuku wasn't entirely certain he was still breathing. Was this a dream?

"Anyway, I'm sorry for springing this on you. I should've waited but I was afraid it would be a while before we could get a moment alone." All Might looked like he wanted to say more, but was conscious of their unideal location. "We should return to the others."

Izuku took a few deep breaths and pulled himself together. Right. There'd be plenty of time to bask in the glory of his greatest hero saying those things once he was safely home. Hopefully no one saw all of that.

Except, when he turned around, he saw that everyone in class was blatantly staring at them. Oops. Most of them had enough shame to turn back to what they were doing once they realized they were caught, but some of them were unapologetic. Ochaco met his eyes with a thoughtful smile, and Sero stared at him wide-eyed.

"Eheh. I guess I really shouldn't have been singling one student out," All Might muttered to himself.

"It's okay," Izuku comforted under his breath. "They'll get over it I'm sure. By the way, I think I figured some stuff out about One- uh. You-know-what. You think you could help me out later?"

"Hm," All Might hummed. "You'll have to come up with an excuse for young Bakugo, but I have a private dojo in the suburbs."

Izuku stared at him. "A what?"

All Might appeared to be somewhat bashful. "Ah. Well, being the Number One hero, I am er, filthy rich."

"Oh." Izuku wasn't sure why he didn't think of that before. Of course All Might was loaded. He got the most amount of money from the government, plus a large cut of the proceeds from his promotions and memorabilia. "Okay. How should I get there?"

"I'll give you an address," promised All Might. "Meet me there after school."

Some of his classmates whispered to each other as they approached, until Kacchan said something back. It must've been really cutting, considering how the offenders paled and fell silent. Izuku furrowed his brow. That scene seemed familiar; Izuku recalled how ruthlessly Kacchan used to suppress any rumors or gossip that spread about Izuku during elementary and middle school. It was odd to see here, though, since he was fairly certain that all of his classmates liked him. Izuku doubted that people like Sero, Ojiro, and Kaminari would make fun of him. Maybe they'd just annoyed Kacchan some other way. Regardless, all the whispers stopped when he got back to the group, though the glances didn't (nor did Kacchan's glowers). Izuku was worried for a moment that Kacchan was annoyed at him, but the boy sidled up to him immediately and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, heedless of how gross and sweaty they were.

Kacchan was being… really defensive. That kind of concerned Izuku. "Were they making fun of me?" he whispered.

The blonde looked genuinely surprised. "The hell? Those extras practically worship you, Deku. Nah they were just being fucking idiots, 's all."

Frowning, Izuku decided to just let it drop. Maybe they'd been teasing Kacchan? It didn't really seem right but he didn't want to press the issue just in case.

Regardless, even though everyone was weird, they weren't cruel at all to him. Everyone patted him on the back or joked around with him, as usual… they just glanced at him a bit more than he was accustomed to. Izuku figured that it wasn't a joke at his expense, then. Whatever. They'd settle down eventually. Maybe they were in awe of him being singled out by All Might or something.

After the last bell rang, Izuku found himself chatting with Iida and Ochaco as he waited for Kacchan to finish asking Mr. Aizawa about one of their assignments. It wasn't until Kacchan joined them that he realized he still needed to tell the boy that they wouldn't be going home together.

"Uh, Kacchan… I'm not, uh, going to go straight home today," said Izuku nervously.

Kacchan rolled his eyes. "Where are we going then?"

Izuku cringed. "Um. It's just. Er. Me."

They stopped walking. Ochaco and Iida also came to a halt, looking horrifically awkward next to them. Kacchan stared at him for a moment before asking in a surprisingly level tone of voice: "And what is it that you're doing."

A million lies flashed through his head. Izuku knew it'd be useless though; Kacchan would see through him in an instant. He was already looking a bit hurt. Izuku didn't want to imagine how bad Kacchan would feel if he blatantly lied about where he was going. "I… actually asked All Might to help me with something. I have a new technique that I want to test out," admitted Izuku. Ugh. No one should trust him with secrets.

He'd expected Kacchan to be upset, or maybe jealous, but he was surprised. Instead Kacchan's face immediately cleared and he nodded. "Okay, text me when you get home, then."

Startled, but not willing to look a gift-horse in the mouth, Izuku smiled. "O-okay Kacchan. I will!"

Strangely enough, when he turned to Ochaco and Iida, he found them staring at him. Ochaco's eyes narrowed.

"Say, Deku," mused Ochaco. "You and All Might are pretty close, huh?"

Somehow, Izuku managed to both tense up and freeze completely at the same time. "Haha wh-what? Why would you say that? I don't think so. Do you think so Iida?" Izuku didn't give Iida a chance to respond. "No way. Me and All Might are just like… student and teacher. Definitely no other relationship than that."

"It's only that he seems really fond of you, you know? More than a teacher would feel for a student. Did you two know each other before Yuuei?"

Izuku went completely bug eyed. "A-a-are you- are you s-suggesting that he's d-doing something inappropriate?!" He wasn't sure if he was more shocked or angry on All Might's behalf.

"What? No!" Ochaco seemed legitimately taken off guard. "I didn't think that at all. It's only- come on, Deku. You two aren't subtle. It's obvious that-"

"Shut the fuck up," hissed Kacchan. Izuku's jaw dropped. Kacchan was- Kacchan sounded genuinely angry. This wasn't annoyance or the quick-to-light but quick-to-burn-out rages he was prone to. No, Kacchan was shaking, furious in a way that Izuku rarely saw anymore. Even Ochaco seemed to realize it, shrinking back slightly. "Did you for one goddamn second think that if Deku has a secret, it might be for a good fucking reason?"

By the end of his sentence, Kacchan's voice had loudened a bit, and he visibly reigned himself in. When he continued his tone was barely above a whisper. "You saw firsthand that All Might has enemies who are desperate to kill him no matter the cost. Can you imagine what they'd do to All Might's-" He cut himself off, pursing his lips.

What? Had they somehow realized that Izuku was All Might's successor? But that was ludicrous! There was no record of a quirk that could be passed from person to person. How could they possibly have imagined it? Even Izuku wouldn't guess something so far-fetched. It didn't make any sense, but it was the only thing he could think of.

Ochaco looked horrified. "O-oh, of course. That was… that was really careless of me. Obviously if you've kept… it a secret, you had a good reason."

Izuku just stared at them blankly. "Um. R-right. But, uh, I definitely don't have any secrets."

"Of course," Ochaco agreed, still looking apologetic. She ruined the illusion by winking and miming zipping her lips. "I promise that this will be the last time you ever hear any rumors about… uh, you know." Izuku actually didn't know, but he was getting accustomed to the fiery determination that occasionally appeared in his friend's eyes. Ochaco could be really intense when she wanted to be.

He made the mistake of glancing at Kacchan, which immediately caused him to deflate. The boy was still seething. Izuku winced. "Uh, Ochaco? Iida? Do you mind going on ahead? I'm going to, um, talk with Kacchan for a bit."

"Of course not, Midoriya!" Iida said enthusiastically. He lowered his voice to what may pass for a sotto voice from him, but was still fairly loud by everyone else's standards. "As you know, I hail from the prestigious Ingenium line of heroes myself. If you ever want to talk to someone who understands-"

Iida's voice was muffled by Ochaco's hand over his mouth. "Like I said. I'll make sure no one hears any rumors," she promised sweetly before dragging the protesting boy off. Kacchan looked slightly less like he wanted to murder her.

"I was just trying to be helpful!" cried Iida.

Izuku chuckled uncomfortably as his friends rounded the corner. When he turned back to Kacchan, it took him a moment to gather up his courage. "Um. Kacchan… are you mad at me?"

"What?" asked Kacchan. "Don't be dumb. None of this is your fault," he said gruffly. Kacchan stepped into Izuku's personal space, close enough that their foreheads were almost touching. The past weekend had shifted their dynamic somewhat. Izuku had spent most of the time reaching out to his friend, constantly comforting himself with little touches and cuddles. It seemed to have popped their personal bubbles, at least for each other. "It's just that those damn extras are being idiots, not thinking about what the hell they're doing. They're going to get you into trouble."

Izuku knew that Kacchan liked being close to him, too, but the boy was really bad at being the first one to reach out. Therefore, Izuku took a chance and leaned in, resting his forehead down against Kacchan's shoulder. It didn't take long for Kacchan to wrap his arms around Izuku. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

Kacchan sighed. "It's not your fault. I was pissed that you kept such a big secret from me, but I get it. You know you can trust me though, right?"

Izuku nodded, a motion that ended up being more like nudging his forehead against Kacchan, given their position. "I trust you more than anybody." Of course, he still had no idea what he was supposed to be trusting Kacchan with. He wanted to ask but his secret was hanging dangerously in the balance. Izuku didn't think that he could continue denying his relationship to All Might if Kacchan spoke with him about it directly.

All Might had explained to him just how grave it would be for the world to learn of the truth of their ability. The most powerful quirk in existence, and it could be transferred between people? Everybody—hero and villain alike—would hound Izuku for the rest of his earthly existence. It would put everyone he cared about, including himself, in unspeakable danger. It was too important a secret to risk, so for now he'd play along with Kacchan and Ochaco and hope that it didn't blow up in his face.

"Hey! You two!"

Izuku jerked upright in shock. Midnight approached them, winking lasciviously. "As much as I appreciate your youthful spirit, maybe try taking your passionate love away from school grounds? It's time for students to go home."

"O-o-o-of course. Yes. R-right, Ms. Midnight, sir- UM. I mean, ma'am! Midnight ma'am!" Izuku gulped, certain that his face was redder than a tomato.

Kacchan rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Deku. Try not to let your head explode." Still, the blonde's cheeks were dusted with pink. "I'll walk you to your train."

After the two of them went their separate ways at the station (and after Izuku pecked Kacchan's cheek, making an old lady coo about 'young love'), Izuku stared pensively out the train window. Somehow, his classmates had gotten the impression that there was something more to his and All Might's interactions than just that of a student and teacher. He was wracked with worry that his secret was becoming common knowledge.

There was still a chance that he was wrong, and that his classmates didn't know about Izuku being All Might's successor. But… if that was the case, then just what was it that they thought they knew? Izuku supposed he'd just have to find out. He only hoped that his real secret would be safe in the meantime.

A/N: So what do Izuku's classmates think is up with him and All Might? Go back and reread the USJ chapter, and I bet you'll find it.