Chapter 42: Honey, You've Got A Big Storm Coming.
"PleASE! Please just let me kill him-"
Izuku sighed as he held Hitoshi back from trying to murder his old childhood friend. They were in the UA parking lot waiting for the rest of the class to arrive and in usual Katsuki fashion, he was early. Unfortunately for him, both Eraser and Hitoshi knew about their past and so both were sending him death glares as the boy tried to act like he didn't notice.
"No Toshi, you can't kill him. If you did, we'd have to cancel camp."
"Why aren't you mad? You should be the one trying to kill him, so why are you so calm?" Hitoshi wiggled out of Izuku's hold and took a step towards Eraser who was listening and keeping an eye on everything else. He hummed in agreement, but that was the only contribution he made to the conversation. He knew if he let himself get upset, he'd do something he'd regret, and he really didn't feel like dealing with complaining parents.
Izuku simply shrugged which made his friend groan and practically pull his hair out in frustration. "Imagine something enough times in your head and you start to lose interest. I've seen my fair share of him and our past in the times that I'm under, and I've just…stopped caring. That part of my life is over and so there's no use beating a dead horse."
Hitoshi hated when Izuku made sense. He was supposed to be the impulsive and reckless one being a vigilante and all, but he forgot just how smart the kid was sometimes. He grumbled as he crossed his arms, "I guess."
"He's still a dick though, but I have noticed that he has changed a lot. It's nice to see he trying to be a decent person."
Eraser let out a sigh, "That much is true, he has been working to be better."
"I still hate him."
"One of us has to." Izuku ruffled his friend's fluffy hair and earned a small whine as the boy tried to smack his hand away. "You're a good friend Toshi."
Once he realized that he wouldn't be able to fend off his friend, Hitoshi huffed with a pout, "Yeah, yeah…"
"Izuku."
A low voice made Izuku glance to his side and Hitoshi slightly jump from the quietness of the voice's owner.
His eyes fell onto the unmistakable candy cane head of his friend, and he couldn't help but smirk at the memory of the other night.
It was right after he had run into Dabi and Toga and Izuku was trying his best to go to sleep, but unsurprisingly, his mind was going too fast for him to even think about resting. He just couldn't stop thinking about that whole interaction.
Why were they there? Why did they seem interested in him? Did that mean that Shigaraki still wanted Izuku to join the League?
That question was answered when he showed up at the mall and forced Izuku to listen to his problems, but that was beside the point.
Mainly it was one thing that his mind kept coming back to. Dabi. The boy was a whole issue, for one, every time he thought about him, he couldn't help but feel like he knew him from somewhere and that was annoying enough, but when he accidentally brought the Todoroki name up the guy like freaked out.
It was weird. Dabi had yelled something at Izuku when he slammed him against the building, but Izuku was a little too preoccupied to really be listening, but he thought that he caught something about Dabi's father…
Father…Todoroki…
Wait a minute.
Izuku snatched his phone from his nightstand and immediately began typing in Enji Todoroki's family into the search. He had done his fair share of research on the number two hero and of course that blended into also learning a bunch about his personal life since he wasn't very quiet about it.
He remembered reading about the tragedy that was Touya Todoroki way back when. The story went that the hero's son died, but it didn't go into any details and there was no other mention of him after that.
There was however, pictures of the family still on the internet and that was what Izuku was looking for.
Come on, come on, come-
"You sly son of a-"
Before Izuku finished his words he was dialing a number that he knew would be up even with the late hour it was. The line rung once before the person picked up on the other end.
"Izuku?"
"Shoto, how sure are you that your brother's dead?"
"I-what?"
Okay, so that was an understandable reaction. Izuku probably should've thought this through before he went and outed Dabi as Touya, but he got excited okay!?
"I um, you know what," He tried to backpedal, "It's really late and you should be asleep and-"
"Izuku. What do you mean, 'How sure am I that my brother is dead?' Are you talking about Touya?"
Dang it, dang it, dang it-
Curse Izuku and his impulsive tendencies.
"Well…it's a funny story actually," He tried to laugh it off, but he knew that the boy on the other line wasn't going to let this go. Izuku had dug this grave, now he had to finish the job. "So, I may or may not have probably ran into your not-so-dead brother who's going by Dabi now and is with the League Of Villains…"
Safe to say, neither boy got much sleep that night, but by the morning time, they were eighty-three percent sure that Dabi was Touya, so there was that.
"Oh, hey Shoto. What's up?"
"I didn't know you were coming to camp with us."
Izuku let out a small laugh as Eraser rolled his eyes behind him. "Yeah…I'm kind of being kept on a leash at the moment. With everything that happened with the hero killer and the league, Eraser's been extra paranoid."
"Basically, he needs to be babysat." Hitoshi butted in and laughed as he dodged the elbow Izuku tried to jab him with.
"I do not!"
"Tell that to your dad," His friend smirked, knowing exactly how to rile the boy up.
Izuku glared at him before exploding, "HE'S NOT MY-"
"Boys." Eraser's voice rang out as a warning, and both deflated with sighs.
"Sorry Eraser."
"Sorry Eraser."
"Please, try to behave on this trip." He scowled at the two boys, his gaze extra fixed on the green gremlin and his smug little smirk, "Especially you. I expect you to be on your best behavior. That means no dying, no fighting, no arguing, no just…whatever it is that you do, none of that."
"But those are all of the things I'm good at!"
"Tough. Now stay put, I have to go get my class together. Toshi-" The hero paused as he squinted his eyes slightly and glanced down at the boy's still bandaged wrist, "Todoroki, keep an eye on them and make sure they don't get into trouble."
Hitoshi let out a fake gasp and gawked in mock offense, "Wha-you're telling me you don't trust me to keep Izuku in line?"
"Absolutely not."
"I'm trustworthy!"
"Not around him, you're not."
Eraser turned away cutting off any further protest with the children and Izuku laughed as he patted his pouting friend's back. "He's not wrong Toshi."
"Yeah, I know…"
Izuku just laughed louder before turning to the other boy who was standing with them. "So Shoto, are you excited for-" He stopped when he saw the utter look of confusion on the boy's face. "Uh, are you okay?"
"Are you two Mr. Aizawa's children or something?"
"Not you too!"
Katsuki was walking back from the bathroom when he heard Izuku's conversation with the other two students.
He had been doing his best to avoid the boy at all costs. After their conversation yesterday, he assumed he wouldn't get the chance to see him again, so imagine his surprise when he showed up to see the boy arguing with his teacher over something stupid that he didn't pay attention to.
Thinking back, when Izuku left he did mention something about seeing Katsuki at camp, but he hadn't been paying attention, too preoccupied with his thoughts screaming at him.
Katsuki scoffed as he walked past. He thought back to the festival when he accidentally saw him and Mr. Aizawa arguing in the hall. At the time he was still in denial of the boy's existence and so he didn't allow himself to dwell on it too much, but now everything was starting to fall into place.
The boy being a vigilante that was known for working with Eraserhead, the conversation he overheard, his teacher taking a special interest in him for some reason.
It was funny; Eraserhead had always been one of Izuku's favorite heroes right after All Might. He…he was glad that the boy seemed to have found his people, God knows he needed someone. Katsuki thought back to their childhood and couldn't help but mentally kick himself. He could've been that for him, he could've been Izuku's friend and helped him through all of life's crap if he hadn't been so blinded by his own pride.
He wanted nothing more than to make it up to him, but he knew that he had no right to. The best thing he could do for Izuku now was stay out of his way.
And so that's what he was going to do.
"Alright class." Mr. Aizawa stood at the bus and the rest of the class filed around him. "Now that everyone is here, I'd like to go over a few-" The hero sighed as a student raised their hand. "What?"
"Uh, Mr. Aizawa? Who's that beside you?"
The pro glanced to the boy who was pouting as he was wrapped up in the hero's capture weapon and let out a deeper sigh. "This is Izuku Minori, he's going to be tagging along with us for the week and he's also going to be helping you all train."
Izuku grumbled in the hero's hold, "You didn't have to tie me up-"
"So, we're just going to act like I didn't see you trying to sneak away? Don't forget, you're still grounded."
"Yeah, yeah…"
Katsuki's teacher scoffed, "Anyways," He finished going over the basic schedule they'd be following and some camp rules before he allowed everyone to start piling into the bus.
The bus ride was long and Izuku was exhausted. He was still recovering from his last death and not sleeping at all last night didn't help in the slightest. So, it wasn't too much of a surprise to find him sitting beside Hitoshi absolutely knocked out on his friend's shoulder.
Hitoshi didn't mind. It was a normal occurrence for him to be used as the boy's pillow with how tired his quirk made him. Plus, the boy enjoyed the physical affection. He didn't get much affection at all at home and so being friend's with Izuku who was very touch-deprived and affectionate was a huge shift, but a good one.
After a couple of hours, the bus stopped for a bit of rest and the class filtered out onto the cliffside they had pulled over at.
The view was breathtaking. As far as the eye could see was just forest and the steady breeze felt amazing in the warm summer season.
Most of the class went to the edge to get a better look. Izuku sluggishly walked off of the bus yawning and before he could join them, he was grabbed by the scruff of his shirt and held back. Looking up, he was met with Eraser's sly smirk, and he just knew that the hero was up to something. This was too suspicious to be a rest stop.
His thoughts were confirmed when two women in bright cat costumes jumped out of nowhere and announced themselves as the Wild, Wild Pussycats.
Izuku recognized them. Actually, there were very few pro heroes that he didn't know at least a bit about, but he remembered his rescue hero phase and how cool he thought their team was. Only, it seemed like it was only the two of them. He wondered where the other two members were.
The girls explained that they owned this entire plot of land, including the massive forest and the pieces began to click in Izuku's mind as he suppressed a laugh.
That laugh couldn't be held in though when Pixie Bob slammed her hands into the ground and sent the entire class tumbling down the cliff as Hitoshi screamed at Izuku and Eraser for being traitors.
"Kittens who don't make it to camp by lunch don't eat, good luck!"
"IZUKU!" Hitoshi screamed out and Izuku had to literally double over as he laughed while Eraser snickered above him.
"Be-better get going Toshi, wouldn't want to be out here all night!"
"Izuku, I hate you so much right now-"
"Oh, stop complaining. I'll see you at the camp."
And with that, the boy joined 1-A as they all made their way through the forest while fighting the dirt monsters that Pixie Bob created.
Izuku turned to Eraser curiously once he finally stopped laughing, "Why didn't you send me down there with them?"
Eraser simply shrugged, "It'd be too easy. Plus, you're still grounded."
"I-" He tried. "Fair."
Izuku took the bus with Eraser and the two cat heroes to the camp where they were staying. Pixie Bob continued to hit class 1-A with monster after monster as she talked up a storm with Eraser who looked less than thrilled to be the receiver of her high energy.
Mandalay was nice. She introduced herself to Izuku and tried to make some small talk, but the two of them soon fell into comfortable silence until they finally made it and hopped out.
Pixie Bob explained that Vlad King, along with the other two members of their group were with the 1-B students and would be joining them as soon as they were finished with them. In the meantime, Mandalay gave Eraser and Izuku a short tour of the camp and briefed them on what they would be doing this week.
The first thing on the agenda was to make lunch for the students once they arrived. Pixie Bob had to focus on keeping 1-A busy, so she didn't help all that much, but Izuku was more than happy to pitch in.
Honestly, he had never tried to cook before. When he was younger, mom would always be the one to cook and then after she died, he didn't really have money to go out and get a bunch of groceries. Even with Eraser, the pro made all of their meals and so Izuku never got to learn.
Luckily, Mandalay was more than happy to teach him and Izuku found himself hanging on to her every word and admiring the maternal nature she gave off.
Was he incredibly deprived of affection and just craving that kind of motherly attention? Probably, but that was something that he could just keep to himself.
Eraser helped to show Izuku how to do some things as well and it seemed like every five minutes the two were arguing about something or other. Not actual arguments, just affectionate bickering like they do. If Mic were here, he'd probably make a dad comment that would send both of them off about how they were not father and son, but thankfully, Mandalay was respectful enough to keep her thoughts to herself, which was ironic considering her quirk.
At one point, another person entered the room, but Izuku was so focused on what he was doing that he hadn't taken much notice of them for a while.
It was a kid, young, short, and he looked incredibly pissed for some reason.
Izuku frowned. Why did he seem so upset? Against his better judgment, he broke away from what he was doing and walked over to where the kid was brooding against the kitchen wall.
"Hey, my name's Izuku. What's yours-" Izuku crouched down to his level and held his hand out in greeting but cut himself off when the kid went to punch him in his nuts. Thankfully he didn't get very far before Izuku's instincts kicked in and caught the boy's fist. "Well, that's not very nice."
"Shut up." The kid snatched his fist away from Izuku and crossed his arms with a huff. "Stupid kid, what are you even doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with the other losers training to be a hero or whatever?" He muttered under his breath barely loud enough for Izuku to hear.
The boy let out a short laugh and ran his hand through his hair. "I gotta say kid, you pack quite the punch, even if you didn't actually hit me."
"Don't you dare look down on me."
Oh, where have I heard that before? Izuku sighed at the memory of his childhood friend. "Believe it or not, I was actually being genuine that time. You should be honored; that doesn't happen often."
He scoffed and sent a glare at Izuku. "What kind of hero are you anyway? I've never heard one of you losers be so sarcastic."
Izuku put his hand over his chest as his heart squeezed at the compliment. "Thank you!"
"It wasn't a good thing!"
"It's a good thing to me. I strive to be as sarcastic and annoying as possible, so you saying that means that I'm doing something right."
The kid stared at Izuku for a few seconds, his mind seeming to buffer at his words. "You're a weird guy, you know that?"
"Oh, he knows." Eraser interrupted, still working on making the food.
Izuku turned to send a small glare at the pro who met it with a smirk and Izuku just stuck his tongue out at him. "Look kid, I'm flattered that you seem to think I'm some hero, but I'm not."
"You're not training with the rest of those idiots?"
"Nope."
He seemed to take this new information in for a moment before looking back up at Izuku and giving him a slight hum. "Then what are you doing here?"
Izuku chuckled and jabbed his thumb back in Eraser's direction, "I'm grounded, and he forced me to come to help with his class."
"He your dad or something?"
"Nah, he's just like that." Izuku caught Eraser rolling his eyes out of the corner of his eye and saw Mandalay smiling at the clear relationship between them. She was glad that Eraser had found someone who he genuinely cared for. The two had known each other for a while but this was the first time she had ever seen him care for someone so unconditionally, almost like a child.
She lightly shook her head at the thought. No matter how much those two denied it, their relationship went past just mentor and student or whatever it was. She just wondered when they would finally admit it.
"So, you gonna tell me your name or not? It's kinda rude to not introduce yourself back to me, but you did also try to punch me, so it's not like that's the rudest thing you've done so far-"
"Kota."
Izuku gave the kid a small smirk. Aw man, this kid was going to be a pain, he just knew it, but he also knew that he liked him already. "Nice to meet you Kota. Now, are you gonna help us cook or just stay brooding against this wall?"
"I'm not brooding!"
"Do you even know what that means?"
"Listen here you little-"
Izuku laughed at the boy. He reminded him of a time in his life that made his smile soften with a tinge of sadness. Kota, he acted a lot like Katsuki when they were young and still friends. Something about that sent a ping through Izuku's chest as he looked at the child chopping vegetables beside him.
He was a good kid, he could tell, but he was hurting. That anger, it was a mask, and it made Izuku wonder what had happened to make him like this. What had taken that childish light out of the boy's eyes? What had ripped away his happiness and replaced it with so much bitterness and pain?