The Origin of Eclips

by Midoryia-Uzumaki13

(Not my story) In this universe, Izuku Midoriya has telekinetic control over fire, and his father never vanishes without a word.

18. 18

Chapter 18: These Embers Lie In Wait

The only reason Izuku went to sleep that night was because Nemuri stopped by on the pretense of 'checking up on him.' He should have been suspicious of her coming over at one in the morning, but the stress of the last few days coupled with his laser focus on his research meant he wasn't really paying attention when she barged into his room.

Hizashi and Shouta had come in a few times to try and convince him to sleep, and probably to make sure he was still there, but Izuku refused. He needed to find his mother, which meant it was time to stop dragging his feet about his father.

"Oh, Izuku!" Nemuri called, letting herself into his room. "Where's my favorite little student?"

"Isn't it bad to pick favorites?" he responded. Most of his attention stayed focused on his laptop screen.

"I'm just a naughty-nope, sorry, forgot how old you are for a second."

That made him glance up in confusion, but she smiled. She was out of costume, her hair up in a messy pony-tail and wearing sweat pants and a tank top.

"Don't worry about it," she said, coming over to sit next to him on his bed. "It's awfully late to be working, isn't it? And on summer vacation, too!"

"This was never a vacation," Izuku stated, turning back to his screen. He scrolled the forum he was reading, but it was mostly the same drivel from lower ranked gang members complaining about their bosses. Sometimes someone with loose lips would complain about a recent assignment, and Izuku could pinpoint the crime with a gang and get a current location. In his Alley Cat days, he'd research the location to check if there was another potential target and send it on to the police if there was.

"Well I think you need one now," Nemuri said. "So, you going to give me your laptop willingly?"

"I'm not tired," Izuku said. He was too angry to be tired. "Thanks for checking up on me though."

She pulled him into a hug. "Aw, you don't have to thank me! Just don't be too mad in the morning, okay?"

At first, he thought she meant don't be mad in general, because that had been the primary emotion he'd been feeling for the last several hours. Then he caught a glimpse of the gas rising from her arm right under his nose.

By the time he knew to struggle, it was already too late.

Xx

Aizawa took Izuku's laptop while he slept off Nemuri's knockout gas. It was a little extreme, but he couldn't trust Izuku not to do something foolish right now. If Izuku found a lead, he'd rush off without telling any of them. Aizawa couldn't risk that.

The kid was technically grounded, anyway.

It was just…really hard to punish him with everything going on. Felt a little like kicking him while he was already down. The poor kid couldn't catch a break.

"Thanks, Nemuri," Hizashi said, showing her out. "I don't think either of us would have slept if we didn't know for sure Izuku wasn't going to sneak out."

Like Aizawa was going to sleep anyway. If he hadn't desperately needed a night at home after the last few days, he would have been checking if any of his contacts knew anything about Dragon. The next few days weren't promising to be any easier, so he'd forced himself to take tonight off and try and relax. It would be his last chance for a while.

He'd still reached out to a few contacts before Hizashi stole his phone, but that had been before dinner and he hadn't argued about it.

And most of what he and Hizashi talked about all night were contingency plans for the next few weeks, so he wasn't sure if this actually counted as a night off.

"I don't mind helping out," Nemuri shrugged. "Be nice if you called at a more reasonable hour, but who needs a healthy sleep schedule, right?"

Ah, yes. Regular sleeping schedules. Supposedly those were a thing for other people.

"Sorry, we'll try and keep a better eye on the time," Hizashi said. "Thanks again."

"Anything for my two favorite boys." She winked and offered a wave before slipping out the door.

Hizashi locked up behind her, and the two of them shut off all the lights as they made their own way to bed. Aizawa probably wouldn't sleep, there was too much to worry about to properly shut his mind off, but he could at least pretend for his husband's sake.

He did end up dozing for a few hours, but only until Izuku woke up with a lot of choice words to share with them at seven in the morning.

Joke was on Izuku, Aizawa hadn't had coffee yet and everything the kid said went in one ear and out the other.

Aizawa yawned on his way out of bed, pat Izuku on the head as he passed him in the doorway, and went to the kitchen to start the coffee maker.

Izuku went quiet for a while, refusing to say a word over breakfast. After breakfast, he had the gall to ask for his laptop back.

"Sorry, kiddo, but you are still grounded from that stunt you pulled in Kamino," Hizashi said.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Izuku asked. "I have so much research to do, my mother's life is on the line here!"

"And people are handling it," Aizawa said. "Not everything is up to you."

He groaned and threw his head back. "This is bullshit. What am I supposed to do all day?"

"We have books."

Izuku was not impressed with this suggestion. "I want to go train."

"You have a broken arm."

"I don't need both arms to work with my quirk."

"Answer is still no."

"I'm going to go insane. You realize that, right? This is how I snap and go rogue, the very thing you're trying to avoid."

Aizawa frowned and shared a look at Hizashi. He couldn't deny Izuku was right, but how could they compromise here? Training was definitely out, he couldn't condone that when Izuku was this beat up. They could take him to Recovery Girl, he supposed, but he still didn't trust Izuku wouldn't run off the second he could.

"Alright, you can have your laptop," Aizawa said, "but, you have to be out here where we can see you."

"Fine."

This was ranking up there for the most he'd ever seen Izuku act his age. Mature teenager or not, he was still a teenager, convinced he knew everything about the world and positive he was the only person capable of solving the world's problems.

This wasn't what he'd been hoping the kid would learn from his classmates. Guess he should have been more specific when hoping he'd 'act his age.'

Laptop in hand, Izuku made himself comfortable on the couch. Patrick immediately curled up on his lap, and wherever Patrick went Mo followed.

And that was how Izuku did his research on the dark web, with two cats curled up on top of him.

Aizawa helped Hizashi clean up breakfast and feed the cats, occasionally throwing glances at Izuku to make sure he was still there. He even brought some of his own work out to the main room, emailing various contacts to see if they could track Dragon's current whereabouts or his next targets.

His paranoia felt justified when Bakugou showed up at their door at nine in the morning, eyes immediately looking for Izuku before he relaxed.

"Thank fuck you're still here."

Izuku scowled. "I have nowhere to go."

"That hasn't stopped you before," Bakugou spit back. He invited himself in and claimed the other half of the couch.

Aizawa didn't care enough to say anything. Bakugou would be an extra set of eyes on Izuku, which meant Aizawa could focus a little harder on the million and one things he needed to do before the dorm meeting later.

Hizashi wasn't as lax. "Your parents know you're here, right?"

"They drove me," Bakugou replied. "Dropped me off on their way to work."

So this was partially about Bakugou wanting to keep an eye on Izuku, and also partially his parents wanting Aizawa and Hizashi to keep an eye on Bakugou. He couldn't blame the parents, their kid had just been held prisoner by the League of Villains for two days. A heads up or something asking for permission would have been nice, but whatever. He would have said yes regardless.

If it soothed something in his own chest, that was his business and no one else's.

Xx

The 'Treat Izuku like a Helpless Little Kid' routine was getting old fast. He understood they were concerned, but everyone seemed to keep forgetting he'd taken care of himself just fine for over two years. He wasn't new to the game.

He didn't mind Katsuki coming over, even though he knew exactly why he was here. But he preferred keeping Katsuki where he could see him, and he couldn't deny the happiness in his gut at knowing Katsuki felt the same way.

While Izuku spent the morning reading through the dark web, Katsuki spent it on his new phone. He and his parents had gone out for it last night, but he hadn't bothered to set it up until now.

"Oi," he called.

Izuku looked up and the camera flash went off. "Why." He blinked spots out of his eyes.

"So the extras in our class will shut up." Katsuki didn't look at him as he presumably sent his picture to the group chat.

"Shouldn't we have taken one together? They're worried about you, too, right?"

"They were, but I've been answering. You're still radio silent and they're demanding pics."

He hadn't even thought about replacing his phone yet. They would probably have to do that soon, but he knew Aizawa and Hizashi were both busy dealing with the fallout of all this. Even right now, they were at an emergency staff meeting at UA, reluctantly leaving Katsuki in charge. There wasn't time to pop over to the store and deal with the hassle of getting a new phone.

A few minutes went by, and it was clear Katsuki achieved the exact opposite of making the class shut up. With eighteen people rioting in the chat, he didn't even have the chance to properly respond.

"Holy—fuck this. You answer them!" Katsuki tossed his phone at Izuku.

"I'm sure it's not…oh, wow. They really don't stop, do they?" Notification after notification rolled in.

Katsuki groaned and threw his head back. "I don't understand why they're freaking out. They saw us on the news. We're fine."

Izuku did his best to tame the class. Once they knew it was him texting through Katsuki and that he really was okay, they started to calm down. Marginally. It still took him several attempts to reassure them that they were fine. Yes, he was still covered in bandages, no, there wasn't any permanent damage, yes, he couldn't wait to see them either, no, he didn't want to see them today.

Bakugou

Really guys, this is sweet but we're fine. You can calm down.

Sero

I know it's Sasaki txting, not Bakugou, but I still want to screenshot this and save it forever

Ashido

LOLZ can you imagine blasty saying something this nice? XD

Rolling his eyes, Izuku handed the phone back. "All yours."

Bakugou read through the messages, groaning at the mess Izuku had left him. "Why are you like this?"

"I apparently had a questionable childhood, so that probably played a part," Izuku responded. He was already reading through forums again. There was a new one dedicated to League of Villains sightings, but so far all the sightings were months old. It was mainly people freaking out as they realized some random stranger was in the League. He screenshotted some stuff to email Aizawa, but it wasn't really relevant to what he wanted right now.

"What are you doing, anyway?" Katsuki demanded.

"Research."

"To find your dad?"

"What else?"

Katsuki tapped his thigh and asked quietly, "You're going after him no matter what, aren't you?"

Izuku curled his fingers around the edge of his laptop. "I let this go on too long. Now Mom is paying the price. He always threatened to take it out on her, but I thought…I thought I'd kept her safe. If she gets hurt, it's my fault."

For a moment, Katsuki just stared at him. "That's bull and you know it. You can't control you old man."

"Exactly," Izuku said, meeting Katsuki's red glare with his own. "I can't control him, so I don't know what he'll do to her, or when." That was why as soon as he had a location, he was going after his dad, license or not. His mom's life couldn't wait for something so trivial.

Katsuki leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. "I hate when you get like this. How can I help?"

"What?"

"You heard me, Deku. What do you need?"

Izuku analyzed him. "You're not going to talk me out of it?"

"You won't listen to anything anyone says, so I'm not going to waste my breath. Just promise to let me come along so I can make sure you don't die doing something stupid."

"Why do you have so little faith in me?"

"Which one of us is in a cast right now?"

"I didn't have time to dodge, should I have let it hit my face?"

Katsuki was not swayed. "Which one of us is covered in bandages because he jumped out of a moving car?"

"I couldn't let them get me on the highway!"

"Who got stabbed last year?"

"Okay, I admit, that one shouldn't have happened."

"You're a reckless Deku and I'm not letting you out of my sight," Katsuki concluded.

Katsuki had made up his mind, which meant Izuku wouldn't be able to change it. That would be his own waste of breath. Besides, he could use Katsuki's help with something.

"Okay, I promise to let you help," Izuku agreed. "And I do need something from you. The rest of the message your dad said last night."

Katsuki stiffened.

"You already got it, didn't you?" Izuku asked. If he knew his best friend, Katsuki would have demanded to hear the message himself to try and figure out whatever it was.

"Yeah."

Izuku practically threw his laptop on the coffee table and pounced on Katsuki. "Great! What is it?"

"Fucking-- calm down, will you!" Katsuki pushed him back. "I'm not telling you until your arm is out of that cast."

"Kacchan!" Izuku whined.

"No. I'm not letting you fight your dad with one hand behind your back."

"It's technically in front…"

"Shut up, Deku."

Izuku sank against the back of the couch. "But the second my arm is ready, you'll tell me?"

"Yeah, I guess," Katsuki said.

Izuku nodded. He'd have to make sure he was ready then when the time came. He'd only need the cast for another day or two, just until he could get to Recovery Girl. And he also needed to contact All Might again, because if the hero needed to train with him the next time he used his quirk then they needed to do that sooner rather than later.

"Can I see your phone again?" Izuku asked. All Might had given him his number before Izuku left yesterday, but he hadn't expected to use it so soon.

Katsuki handed over his phone without a fuss, and Izuku brought it with him to his room to grab the phone number from his nightstand. Katsuki followed him and leaned in his doorway while Izuku texted.

Bakugou

Hi, All Might. This is Midoriya, using Bakugou's phone. You said you wanted to be there when I used my quirk again? How soon can we set something up?

All Might

Good morning, Midoriya!

I've been cleared from the hospital, so how does this afternoon sound?

Bakugou

That sounds great! Are we going to use one of the school gyms or did you want to meet somewhere else?

All Might

Have you heard of Dagobah beach?

Bakugou

The one that's covered in trash?

All Might

That's the one. Meet me there at two o'clock

And I don't think I said this yesterday, but the fewer people who know about my quirk the better

Bakugou

I haven't told anyone!

Aizawa and Yamada are probably going to be suspicious, though.

Bakugou too. He's not letting me out of his sight right now.

All Might

You can tell Aizawa and Yamada that I chose you as my successor, but I'd prefer if we didn't say anything to Young Bakugou just yet.

It made sense, of course. The fewer people who knew about a secret the better. But Izuku really didn't want to have to lie to Katsuki, especially after the last few days. Maybe he could tell Katsuki about being All Might's successor? He'd have to tell him something if he wanted to meet with All Might alone this afternoon.

He deleted the text thread before giving the phone back to Katsuki, much to Katsuki's annoyance.

"Who were you texting?"

"All Might," Izuku replied, heading back out to the living room. "He wants to meet again this afternoon."

"Why? And what did you meet with him about yesterday?"

"I…he…um…" He should have had an excuse ready before he opened his mouth. "I can't say?"

Katsuki blinked at him. "You're keeping secrets with All Might? What the hell?"

"I…it's really complicated, and he doesn't want me to tell anyone yet."

"But you'll tell me eventually?"

"Probably," Izuku admitted. Katsuki knew him better than anyone, keeping a real secret from him for any length of time was going to be impossible, especially if Katsuki was determined to find out. Hopefully telling him that he couldn't talk about it would keep Katsuki from prying too much.

Katsuki muttered under his breath and shook his head. "Fine. When and where?"

"Um, I think he wants me to come alone."

Katsuki gave him an unimpressed stare. "Literally no one is going to let you be alone right now. When. And. Where?"

Izuku sighed and gave up. "Dagobah beach, two o'clock."

Katsuki nodded. "I can hang out nearby while you talk or whatever."

Wearily nodding, Izuku made a mental note to tell All Might Katsuki would be nearby. Maybe they could find a pile of trash big enough that his flames wouldn't be noticeable. The last thing he needed was Katsuki getting jealous of Izuku getting special training from All Might.

Xx

'Special training' as it turned out, was clearing Dagobah beach.

Izuku stared at the mountains of trash and then looked back at All Might. "Um…I kind of thought I'd be working with my quirk? Do you want me to burn everything?" He could probably use his quirk to lift some of the heavier stuff. He's never tested to see just how much weight he could carry, but he carried Aizawa, Tsuyu, and Mineta during the USJ so that has to be over three hundred pounds, if not four hundred.

"The thing about my quirk is that if you don't have the physical strength, using it could blow off your limbs."

"What?" Why was All Might only just telling him this now? Thank god he hadn't had a reason to use his quirk lately.

"You've got a fair bit of muscle on you right now, so that probably won't happen, but I'd rather keep building your physical strength." He was one to talk about physical strength when he looked like a walking skeleton and had his own broken arm.

"So, what, am I supposed to not use my quirk at all? I have to use it, I'm taking the provisional license exam in like two weeks, I need to train before that, and I need to fight my dad again…" Not using his quirk really wasn't an option.

"Ah, yes, I'd heard about your mother. But you should leave that to the pros for now."

The next person who told him that was getting decked in the face.

"But if you're taking the exam, I guess we will have to speed things up. Let's see where you're at, anyway."

"With my quirk or physical strength?"

All Might pointedly looked at Izuku's cast. "What do you think, kid? I've got Recovery Girl on speed dial, and it looks like you're due for a visit with her anyway. Your quirk doesn't involve too much physical hitting, at least, and that's the only reason I'm letting you do this today."

"So…I can use my quirk?"

"Might as well see how far we've got to go," All Might sighed. He took a few steps back. "Whenever you're ready."

Izuku nodded and took a few extra steps of his own. He had on one of his bracers, which pretty much ruined any chance he had of hiding the fact he was training with All Might from Katsuki since Katsuki had helped him slip it on.

"Any words of advice about using your power?" Izuku asked. He'd never been this nervous about using his quirk before.

"Clench your buttocks and yell Smash in your heart."

…He had no idea what to do with that advice.

"Alright, here goes nothing." He activated the brace, shooting a small stream of fire in front of him.

It took almost no effort to hold it in a ball over his hand, and he glanced back at All Might in confusion. He was expecting this to be harder; All Might had certainly sounded worried about it.

"Try throwing it with a punch."

"Okay…" He slid a foot back in the sand, drew his arm back, and hurled the fire forward. "Smash!"

It definitely felt different. There was a recoil he wasn't used to burning up his hand, and the fire obliterated a solid path through a refrigerator and an old junk car.

Izuku blinked. "What?"

"Alright, congrats, you didn't blow off your arm," All Might said.

His poor hand begged to differ. The skin was blistering and shiny. He couldn't even curl his fingers because of the burns.

"That was…" He didn't know what to think. It usually took a lot more effort to make his fire strong enough to burn through something that cleanly, and he hadn't burned himself with his own fire since he was a kid.

"One for All has been stockpiling power for nine generations," All Might said. "And it works differently for each user, especially with their quirks."

"So basically we have to figure it out as we go?" Izuku summed up. If it was different for everyone based on their quirks, then All Might being quirkless before wasn't going to help him with his pyrokinesis. He was probably going to need to train with another fire quirk.

His first thought was Endeavor, since the man literally walked around with flames all the time. But considering Endeavor was about to be the new number one hero and he didn't particularly like Izuku, that seemed like a bad idea all around.

His son, on the other hand, was conveniently in Izuku's class and didn't hate his guts.

He looked down at his burned hand again. Before he could train seriously, he needed to figure out how to not burn himself so badly. It'd be pretty useless if he could only train a few shots at a time. "How do I control it so it doesn't rebound so badly?"

"How to put this?" All Might asked himself. "Say at full power, you have a hundred percent, right? At the moment, a hundred percent will blow off your limbs. You used…maybe twenty, twenty-five just now."

"So I have to hold myself back more until I'm ready?"

"Yeah, basically."

This was a really inconvenient time to be doing that. He had things to do, damn it, he couldn't just ignore everything while re-learning his quirk.

Not only that, but it was going to look really suspicious to everyone in class when he was suddenly a lot stronger. How was he supposed to explain that?

"Um, how am I going to explain my strength boost to everyone?"

"Blame Kamino," All Might said. "You don't have to give details, just say that's when it happened. They'll make their own guesses and assume it was traumatic, so they should leave you alone."

It was a perfect alibi. People would probably think he'd been used as a lab rat for something, but as long as he didn't have to give details, it would probably be fine.

"Guess I should probably get you to Recovery Girl now," All Might said, digging in his pocket for his phone.

"Is that all the training we're doing?" Izuku asked. They'd barely been here for half an hour. He'd worked with his quirk for less than five minutes.

"With your hand busted up, there's not much else we can do. We can come back tomorrow. I'll draft up a workout schedule for you to do on your own time, and we'll focus on your quirk when I'm around. Once things have calmed down, we'll make it a regular thing to come back here and clear the beach."

Izuku nodded, asking more questions about the finer points of controlling One for All. It hadn't hurt him until he'd used Smash, so maybe it was more complex than he thought.

All Might answered what he could, but Izuku still felt like he was missing pieces of the puzzle. It wasn't All Might's fault, it seemed like their experiences were going to be vastly different concerning One for All, but it did leave Izuku floundering to find his footing again.

Katsuki flipped out when he saw Izuku's hand, and the knowledge they were on their way to Recovery Girl barely mollified him.

Recovery Girl also had a few choice words for Izuku and All Might, warning them not to make this a regular thing.

Her quirk also fixed up Izuku's broken arm and some of the road rash, and he went home in far fewer bandages. The fact did not go unnoticed by his caretakers.

"I thought you were meeting with All Might," Aizawa asked.

"I did," Izuku defended. "He took me to Recovery Girl while we were out."

"Are you meeting with him about what he discussed with you before the training camp?" Hizashi asked, cautious eyes glancing at Katsuki.

"Yeah," Izuku confirmed.

Both men took deep breaths and glanced at each other.

"What? You know what the fuck this is about?" Katsuki demanded.

"It's…not our place to say," Hizashi said.

"And I'm going to have a serious discussion with that man about timing," Aizawa muttered, dragging a hand over his face.

"Speaking of ill-timed things," Hizashi interjected. He picked a small box off the table. "We picked up a new phone for you while we were out."

"Oh, thank you so much!" Izuku took the box. It wasn't the latest model or anything, but it was more than enough for him.

"Fucking finally, you can keep the class off my ass then," Katsuki muttered.

"Yeah, I'll set it up after dinner," Izuku promised.

"Are you staying for dinner, Bakugou?" Hizashi asked, already moving to see what they had in the fridge. There wasn't much; Izuku and Aizawa weren't supposed to be home for another week and a half, and no one had gone food shopping yet.

Katsuki looked torn, frowning over at Izuku.

"I promise I'm not going anywhere." Izuku rolled his eyes. No matter how badly he wanted to, he couldn't run off to find his mom with his quirk so volatile and unpredictable. Plus, he still didn't know where to go.

"I'll head home, then. The old hag will probably throw a fit if I don't."

He stayed for a little longer before going home, and Izuku offered to help cook dinner to bide time before his guardians interrogated him.

It was a rough stir fry, pulled together from forgotten frozen vegetables in the back of the freezer that didn't necessarily pair well with each other, but it was good enough.

They'd barely sat down before the two were on him.

"So. All Might decided you'd be his successor?" Aizawa asked point blank.

"Yeah. He uh, decided during Kamino."

Hizashi stabbed a piece of broccoli with his chopstick. "What in the world made him think you foolishly risking your life would make you a good successor?"

Izuku stabbed his own snow peas. "Maybe it wasn't as foolish as you think? Maybe other people realize I'm plenty capable."

"I'm not saying your heart isn't in the right place, but you've only got one term of school under your belt—"

"And two years of field work," Izuku pointed out. He chomped down on his pepper and nearly spat it out. He hated peppers.

The face he made broke the tension, and Hizashi smiled and shook his head. "You're still just a first year. You're young. And I don't want to see you get hurt."

"That's why he did it now, so he can train me," Izuku countered. "It's not like he's going to announce I'm his successor tomorrow. He's going to work on training me for a while."

"Well, that's something, I guess," Hizashi admitted.

"Besides, you were pretty sure I was cut out to be a hero even when I was running around doing it illegally. Why is it so hard to believe someone else thinks I can be the greatest one?"

He wanted to be the best, of course. Everyone did. But thanks to his father and unorthodox middle school years, he had a hard time believing he could be like All Might. He'd be a decent hero, for sure, he trusted that. But a Symbol of Peace? Or future number one? That was a lot harder to believe of himself.

Someone else believed in him, though. And that…that was incredible. Maybe he hadn't been the first choice, maybe someone else could do it better, or faster, but…All Might passed on his legacy to him. And he wasn't taking it back, even when Izuku offered.

"Kid makes a strong argument," Aizawa said. He picked up a piece of mushroom. "And there's nothing wrong with some extra training."

Was this where Izuku should warn them about the developments in his quirk? He should probably warn them, right? That would be the smart, responsible thing to do, especially when he's trying to prove they can trust him.

He opened his mouth to say something, but Aizawa beat him to it by telling him about the dorms. They'd be ready by the end of the week, and then his class would be back in full summer training mode, so the whole class will be ready for the license exam.

"By the way, you'll have to be registered for the exam under your real name," Aizawa stated

"Oh, that makes sense. Will the class find out?" At this point, when his father already knew where to find him, keeping it a secret was a moot point.

Aizawa shrugged. "I can't think of a particular reason they would, but the exam is different every time, so it's hard to say. And if you want to show off the new license, they'll probably notice."

"Right…"

"Should we…" Hizashi started, but then he switched to sign language. Izuku had picked up some sign in the last year, but he wasn't fluent or good enough to read when Hizashi signed that fast.

Aizawa grunted. "Yeah, we should warn him about that."

"Warn me about what?" Nothing good ever came from sentences like that.

"You said the League thought of recruiting you before, when you were Alley Cat, right?" Hizashi asked.

"Yeah…"

"That means they know who you are, and they have your real name," Hizashi went on. "We don't know if they'll do anything with it, but they could easily put out that information to try and hurt you or UA."

He'd been so focused on his father, he'd hardly even thought about that. "Oh. Can we…do anything?"

"We probably can't stop it," Aizawa admitted. "And unless they have solid proof of you being Alley Cat, they can't claim it's anything more than a rumor."

"Rumors can be just as bad," Izuku said. If the rumor went far enough, it could even impact his application to be a hero. It didn't have to be true for people to talk.

"Nedzu is building an alibi for you, faking some documents that claim you've been in special protection for the last few years. If the League does try and leak that info, we've got statements ready to go to defend you."

Izuku took a deep breath. "Okay. Is there anything I need to do?"

"Keep your head down and stay out of trouble."

He rolled his eyes. That was what they wanted him to do anyway.

Having a heads up about this was nice. It gave him time to mentally prepare for his classmate's reactions, which he honestly cared about the most. He'll probably have to deal with the press, too, so knowing in advance would let him get the worst of his anxiety about it out of the way.

It did mean that was all he thought about the rest of the night, and his plan of warning his guardians about his quirk slipped his mind.

Of course, that meant they had no objection when he asked to spend the day training with Katsuki, since the two of them would be out doing home visits about the dorms. They even let the two of them into one of the gyms at UA, which meant Recovery Girl was that much closer.

Izuku was hoping they wouldn't need her. He knew he had to take it slow, and he just wanted to work on his basic control today, none of the smashes All Might wanted him to throw. He'd brought half the first aid kit from home, which earned him a raised eyebrow from Katsuki when he saw it. Katsuki didn't say anything about it; he'd seen Izuku's hand the day before.

He worked through a normal workout first, jealously watching Katsuki blow through the same routines with so much ease while Izuku's arms trembled.

After an hour, Izuku moved to the center of the room to work on his quirk.

"Alright, nice and slow," Izuku muttered, activating his braces.

Like the day before, it was easy to control the small flame he pulled out. It took far less effort to control it. On a whim, he held his hands stiffly at his side, relying solely on his mental focus to direct the flames around him.

"Is my basic control easier because my ultimate limit is so much higher?" he muttered to himself. It was the only thing he could think of. Imagining his powers like a sliding scale, it was like the scale had just been extended dramatically with the enhancements One for All provided. The level he'd been at before was now much closer to the start of the scale, falling more into the easier section.

He wanted to try another smash and try controlling the percentage better, but he was wary of attempting it without All Might. Despite what everyone else thought, he didn't purposely want to get hurt.

While he debated whether or not it would be worth it, he sent the small flames around the gym, testing his new control. He had it loop around the rafters, and when he accidentally skated across the metal he realized he could feel things with the fire. It was hard to tell, sort of like something brushing up against his own hand, but he'd definitely felt something with the fire.

Well. That was something he could explore on his own. He pressed the fire against the concrete and the glass windows to see if they felt different. They didn't, but he wondered if he'd be able to notice with more practice.

"Hey, Kacchan?" Izuku called, sending his fire towards him.

Katsuki looked over from where he was doing handstand pushups. "What?"

"Can you kick this for me?"

"The fire?"

"Yeah, I want to see something."

"You better not freaking burn me." He nudged the little fire ball with his foot, careful to keep his balance.

Izuku felt the jolt in his hand. This was absolutely fascinating. If he could learn the difference between objects and people, this would have amazing possibilities in search and rescue missions.

"Hold still for a second," Izuku said.

"The fuck are you doing now?"

"I'm not going to burn you, I promise." Izuku directed the fire back to Katsuki, lightly pressing against his arm.

Katsuki neatly brought his feet back to the floor and stood upright. "Seriously, what are you doing?"

"Fascinating," Izuku murmured, soaking up the sensation. It was warmer than when the fire touched the concrete or the glass, not enough so that he felt comfortable relying on it, but definitely something to work on in the future.

"What?" Katsuki growled. He held his arm out an angle to keep the fire away from his clothes.

Izuku pulled the fire back. "I can sense things with it."

"You're just figuring that out?" Katsuki demanded.

"It's new! I've never done that before!"

"What do you mean it's new?"

"Exactly what I said! My quirk has been weird since we got back, I don't know why," Izuku lied. It was close enough to the truth, and it should satisfy Katsuki for now.

"Weird how?" Or maybe it would do the exact opposite of satisfy him.

"Like sensing touch through it, for one," Izuku said. "And the recoil yesterday burned me."

Katsuki frowned. "Why is it acting up? Did something happen that you're not telling me?"

"No, of course not!" Izuku said, maybe a little too quickly. "Hey, make an explosion, I want to see how that feels!"

Katsuki very rarely needed an excuse to set off one of his explosions, so he was all too eager to let himself be distracted. They essentially played a weird game of tag, where Katsuki chased after Izuku's fireball and tried to explode it.

They stopped when Izuku's vision blurred from overusing his quirk, lying on the floor in the middle of the gym. Neither of them had any injuries, so Izuku considered today a win.

He was sore, but in that post-quality workout kind of way. It was the good kind of sore. He felt better about his quirk, too. It didn't seem so out of control like it had the day before. He could still work with this, as long as he was careful.

Which meant… "Hey, Kacchan?"

"What?"

"What was the rest of the message?"

He grunted. "Wondered when you'd ask me again."

"I was distracted last night," Izuku admitted. "So?"

Katsuki sighed and sat up, prompting Izuku to do the same. "You have to promise me you won't go running off, alright? You're not alone in this."

"I promise," Izuku rushed. He'd said as much before. Did Katsuki have that little faith in him?

Katsuki still looked him over for another few moments before nodding. "Your father said that when you're ready to be a family again, you'll know where to find the Dragon's hoard."

Izuku blinked. "That's it?"

"Don't you know what it means?"

"No!" Izuku exploded. He jumped to his feet and started pacing. "What the fuck is the Dragon's hoard?" He'd expected the clue to be much easier than this. What did his father consider his hoard? Their family? His empire? Money?

Izuku tore at his hair. Was he missing something? Maybe that hadn't been the whole clue. Maybe Masaru hadn't realized he needed to pass on some other piece of information. Or maybe his father had mentioned something the other night? Was Izuku supposed to piece together several hints? He didn't even know what the other hints were!

"I thought it was like a secret code between you two or something," Katsuki said.

"No, we never had anything like that," Izuku admitted, still frantically pacing. If he didn't figure this out, he was never going to see his mother again. "Gah, I need to research."

He sprinted over to their stuff, gathering it as quickly as he could. Out of habit he checked his phone before sliding it into his pocket. The number of notifications made him pause.

Almost three dozen from the class chat, which wasn't that out of the ordinary. A few messages from Todoroki, which was a little unusual, since Todoroki almost never texted. What had Izuku's attention was a text message and a missed call from Aizawa, which was never good.

Aizawa

Don't leave UA. Some blog already posted about you being Midoriya and the son of a criminal. Reporters are swarming the gates. STAY THERE. I'll be there in an hour.

It had been sent twenty minutes ago.

Katsuki read over his shoulder and growled. "Damn vultures."

"Why now?" Izuku whined. He had so much to do, he didn't need this on top of everything else.

Katsuki pulled out his own phone. "Least we don't have to worry about your location being leaked, since that ship is long gone."

That was the only silver lining. If this had happened a week ago, Izuku would be panicking about his father finding him. Now, it was more annoying than anything else.

"I can't believe it was a conspiracy blog that posted this," Katsuki muttered. "It never would have gotten any attention if we weren't all over the news already because of the fucking League."

Izuku sent a quick reply text acknowledging Aizawa and turned to the rest of his notifications. He wasn't ready to see if his class had picked up on the article yet, so he ignored the chat for now and looked at Todoroki's messages.

Todoroki

Hey, just a heads up but there's an article going around about you.

I'm not sure if it matters at this point.

The class isn't handling it well. I can tell them to leave it alone if you want?

His messages had been sent a few hours ago, not long after Izuku and Katsuki had started training. He must have been one of the first ones to find the article then.

Katsuki swore at the group chat. "Can't they mind their own business for once?"

"Do I want to know how bad it is?"

"Pinky shared the article. Mostly everyone's just demanding one of us show up and confirm or deny it."

"Should I tell them?"

"You should wait for Aizawa and see what the plan is, Deku."

Izuku groaned. More waiting. He hated waiting. It gave him too much time to overthink things.

Why did everything have to happen at once? Couldn't he focus on his dad and saving his mother before dealing with the media fallout? He didn't even know what to do about either situation, so he didn't know which one he should prioritize.

He just…didn't know what to do, anymore.