Chapter 27: Two Bros~~~
"Shouta!" Mic jumped into action, taking the remaining pieces of glass from Eraser's bloody clenched hand and rushed to grab a broom and the trashcan while the other pro just stood there looking like he wanted to kill someone.
Shinso and Izuku looked at each other wearily, "Um, Eraser…?"
The hero gave no response and the two of them shot each other another worried look.
"See what you've done? I freaking told you not to tell them!"
"I'm sorry-next time I'll just let you suffer in silence!" Shinso snarked out not breaking eye contact.
"As you should!"
"That's not what friends do!"
Izuku stopped short. He had another comeback locked and loaded, but Shinso's comment threw him a bit. "You think we're friends?" He could feel his face pull into a pout and his friend groaned as he rolled his eyes.
"I thought we already established this…"
"It's different when I'm saying that we're friends than when you say that we're friends. Aww Shinso!" Caught up in his joy at being accepted as a friend to someone Izuku did something that he never did. He initiated a hug.
Well, it was supposed to be a hug. Apparently, Shinso was just as physically awkward as Izuku was and so when he stretched his arms out to the other boy and began to move closer, he panicked. Izuku, being the graceful person he was, tried to pull back when he saw the look in his friend's eyes, but ended up going off-balance instead and crashed into Shinso sending them both to the floor.
The two boys groaned, and muffled snickers sounded like they were trying to be covered up above them. Izuku sat up and realized that he had fallen directly on top of the other boy and scrambled to get off. "I'm so sorry!"
Shinso let out another pained groan as he felt the weight of Izuku push off of him. This is what he got for having a friend. "-it's whatever," he mumbled as he got to his own feet. To the side the two pros who were still in the process of cleaning up the glassy floor were doubled over in laughter.
In actuality, the fall wasn't too bad. Midoriya was light-like really light. It kind of made sense with how small he was, but even then, he had a feeling that the boy should've had some more weight to him, but that was a problem for another day. The shock was what got him more than anything. Honestly, he was just shocked that Midoriya let himself get flustered like that. He would've expected him to be really chill and coordinated being a vigilante and everything, but the guy was a complete mess.
Oh well, couldn't be helped he guessed.
Midoriya stood beside Shinso, fretting over his friend and apologizing profusely for trying to hug him and then falling on top of him. Logically, he knew that he was there, but in his mind, he was thinking.
Was this what it was to be a friend? To have a friend?
Hanging out and making each other laugh. Getting closer and learning all about one another, your likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams, traumas and tragedies. Protecting each other…
"Oh Shouta, it's like déjà vu-" Mic somehow got out in between his wheezes.
Eraser glanced between the two boys a few times before he let out a sigh, "Oh my god-" He whispered to himself earning Mic dropping to the now glass-free floor in laughter.
"Okay, you guys can stop now. I get it okay?" Izuku said in an annoyed voice, but everyone knew that he wasn't nearly as upset as he tried to sound. In fact…he was kind of happy?
It didn't really make sense. He had just run into the center of his torment as a child and the person who had abandoned him and years later told him to kill himself. He should be in literally any other mood, but he couldn't help but feel happy.
He had people who cared about him-like actually cared about him. Eraser had let him stay with him because he didn't have a home anymore. Mic had practically adopted him right along with Eraser and Tsuki. He had Shinso who actually considered him a friend. Willingly.
These people worried about him. They cared about how his day was. They cried with him and tried to comfort him. They stood by him. They fought for him. They made him feel heard and like an actual person.
…They made him feel loved.
Something he hadn't felt from anyone other than his mother in a long…long time.
"Okay," Eraserhead broke through Izuku's train of thought, "As fun as it is laughing at you two, it is getting late and I'm pretty sure Shinso has school in the morning." He looked to the boy waiting for confirmation.
He nodded frantically and Izuku could see the faintest blush appear on his cheeks. He elbowed his friend flashing him his signature smirk and received a deadpanned glare back.
After a few moments, Shinso broke eye contact and sighed, "It is getting pretty late. My family will probably be wondering where I am…"
Izuku's smile soured into a frown at the thought of his friend's family. He only knew the little bit that Shinso had told him himself, but even so, his blood boiled. It wasn't fair that he was having to go back to a home where they didn't love or appreciate him. It hurt…it was lonely. Izuku knew.
"You could always just crash here for the night, as long as your parents don't mind. It would be no bother to me and I'd honestly rather you not go out this late." Eraser added a moment later, taking his and Mic's dishes to the kitchen.
Shinso shot Izuku a look that screamed panic and hope at the same time. But Izuku was too busy being fake offended, "Do you really think that I'd let my friend walk home alone at night? It's dangerous! I've already had to save him like three times!"
"It was two times, and I don't need your protection."
"Uh huh," Izuku gave his friend a 'really?' look and then turned back to where Eraserhead was washing some dishes in the sink and Mic was putting the trash away. "But I am all for him staying the night. Who knew that you could actually have good ideas?"
Eraser glanced up, his eyes slicing into Izuku before returning back to his task. "I really don't care, it's whatever you boys want. Although, I do have school in the morning as well, so don't stay up too late being loud."
"Oh my god, you are such a dad," Mic called from the living room gathering his things.
"Get out of my house."
"Apartment!"
"Whatever!" Eraser yelled back as Mic was dancing out of the door after giving Izuku a goodbye hair ruffling and when he received a nod of approval, he gave Shinso one too.
The plan was to watch a few movies and then figure out sleeping arrangements, but that apparently wasn't necessary as both boys ended up falling asleep half-way through the first movie.
Izuku woke up first. His body flinched as he shocked himself awake-another nightmare. At least it wasn't a loud one that woke Shinso up.
He looked at the sleeping boy-who had half of his body hanging off of the couch and one of his legs draped over Izuku-and smiled to himself.
This is nice…Izuku thought. He had never had this before.
The tv was still on so he carefully reached over to grab the remote to turn it off and repositioned himself to try to fall back asleep. And surprisingly enough, he did. He awoke hours later to the sound of his friend waking up rather than the trauma of his past and it was…nice.
Shinso grumbled as he came back to the conscious world, already complaining about how tired he was. Wow, he and Izuku really were meant to be friends, huh? They could be sleep deprived buddies!
He groggily opened his eyes and saw Izuku smirking at him. The kid looked ridiculous; his hair stood up in every direction, his eyes were barely staying open, he had some drool on the side of his mouth, and his face was covered in indentions from the side of the couch.
To be fair, Izuku probably didn't look great either, but he knew that he didn't look too different from what he usually did.
"Ugh-" Shinso groaned as he turned onto his back and rubbed at his eyes, "Don't look at me like that this early. I need some time to be able to deal with your bs."
This caused Izuku to let out a giggle as he stood up and stretched his arms above his head. "That's fair. I'm going to go brush my teeth while you finish waking up. Feel free to bother me when you're ready."
"You got it," He gave him a tired thumbs up and collapsed his head back onto the couch.
Eraser had already left for school. He always got there early because he was a teacher and all so Izuku rarely saw him in the mornings unless he was up because of one of his nightmares.
He finished brushing his teeth and he even managed to somehow make his hair look like less of a rat's nest before he went to the kitchen to find a sticky note on the bar counter.
That was something that had become a regular occurrence. Every morning Izuku would find a note from Eraser, giving him updates of what food was in the house, when he expected to be home, and if he had any plans that he needed to know about. It was nice, the thought that Eraser cared enough to leave him a note every morning. Not exactly something he would've expected, but something that he was pleasantly surprised about.
Izuku had just finished pouring himself a bowl of cereal when Shinso stalked into the kitchen. He still looked dead, but at least he looked like a better kept zombie that fixed their hair and brushed their teeth.
"Don't say it, I know I look like crap."
Mouth full, Izuku replied, "I wasn't going to say anything."
"Yeah, right." He made his way over to the pantry to pull out another box of cereal, the kind that Eraser really likes and joined Izuku at the bar. "I've gotta stop by my house before school so that I can grab my uniform."
"Oh yeah, where do you go anyway? You're a high schooler, right?"
Shinso nodded and finished chewing before answering. "UA." He said it so nonchalantly as Izuku had choked on his cereal and was having a coughing fit.
"You…you go to UA?"
His friend looked at him with his eyebrows raised, "Yeah? You good…?"
"Why didn't you tell me?!"
"I thought I just did-"
"No! I mean before! This is so important, I can't believe that you go to UA, the most prestigious hero school in the-"
Shinso scoffed and took another bite, "It's not like it's a big deal or anything, I'm just in the gen ed course."
"It is absolutely a big deal! Even for the general education students, it's hard to get in due to the written exam. You must be like mega smart!"
"Eh, not really. And even if I was, it didn't do anything to get me into the hero course." His words were bitter. Bitter and sad.
"You tried for the hero course?" Izuku tilted his head.
"Yeah, but my quirk wasn't any good against those stupid robots, but my test score was good enough that I was still able to make it into the gen ed course. The plan was to work hard and try to transfer into the hero course, but the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it sounds. I mean what could someone like me even do anyway-"
Izuku gaped at his friend bitterly moving his cereal around in his bowl. "Excuse me, you are not allowed to be so negative. I thought that I taught you better than that!"
"We've been friends for like five seconds."
"Still! You are not allowed to talk bad about yourself like that." Izuku crossed his arms, staring Shinso in the eye.
The boy met his eye and took up the challenge, "Uh huh…and this is coming from the suicidal maniac who hasn't had a good thought about himself in his life?"
"Okay listen-"
"It's whatever. I mean, they were right, weren't they? Everyone who told me that my dream was impossible?"
"No."
"Midoriya-"
"No! No, that's not true, I will not let that be true. You want to get into the hero course? Fine. I'll help you."
This time it was Shinso who choked on his cereal. "You'll what?"
"I'll help you transfer. Believe it or not, but I'm actually a pretty capable vigilante."
"No, no I couldn't-"
"I didn't ask."
The two boys stared each other down. Both trying to make the other agree, but Shinso underestimated just how stubborn Izuku was.
As expected, it was him who broke first with a sigh, "Fine! Fine, I'll let you train me."
Izuku clapped his hands excitedly and let out a laugh of amusement.
"But I hate you."
"Sure you do…"
Shouta stomped through the halls of UA.
It wasn't an unusual sight for him to be grumpily making his way to his classroom or the teacher's lounge, but anyone would be able to tell that this was more than his usual grumpiness.
He tried his best to calm down and keep his thoughts to himself last night for Izuku's sake. He knew that if the kid knew what he was thinking that he'd tried to stop him and feel like anything that might happen would be his fault. So, he opted to go to bed early. Mic caught on to this quickly and took his leave casually. Shouta would have to thank him for that later.
Despite what other's assumed, Hizashi could actually be extremely subtle and quite when he needed to be. He just chose to be loud and out there. He like it like that.
Once he finally made it to his classroom, he b-lined for his desk and pulled out the class roster. And right there, staring back at him was the name that he had been both hoping and dreading to see.
What was he supposed to do? Yes, Bakugou was his student and yes, he did have a certain authority and responsibility to keep the boy in check, but how could he approach this issue? Go to him and accuse him of being the reason why some kid killed himself? A kid that he wasn't even supposed to know or know that he knew.
That would take a lot of explaining and a lot of lying if he didn't want to out Izuku as being alive. And if he did figure out the Izuku was alive, what would the kid do? Try to find him? Torment him? Get him to attempt again?
No. Shouta couldn't take that chance. He didn't have many options and it irritated him. He hated being backed into a corner and forced to wait for something to play out. It was the same thing with Conductor, if Shouta had his way the hero would be in the hospital striped of his license, his reputation, and his freedom.
Of course, that was a bit too much to ask for when they were accusing him of killing a dead kid who just so happened to be a very much alive vigilante who was supposed to be dead.
Oh my-this was all too much.
Fine. He would have to keep an eye on Katsuki Bakugou. And believe him when he says that the kid will wish that he had never caught his teacher's attention.