It took a few minutes for Deku to stop crying. In the meantime, Aizawa stepped into the hall to call Sir Nighteye to give him the update about Eri. They still needed to arrest the Yakuza, but the plan needed to be tweaked now. Mic had offered to make a new pot of tea while Vlad King went to get a blood bag filled with pig's blood to give to Toga. As he got up to go get it, Deku thought he could hear Vlad grumbling about how Toga obviously wasn't drinking enough and how her scent and color was off. Nezu went back to looking over the support gear Deku had designed, leaving the three teens sitting together.

Deku couldn't bring himself to look at the other boy. Not yet, at least. He remembered the boy a little bit from the Sports Festival: Deku had been really interested in how cool his quirk was and how cute he was. In the time since the festival, Shinsou had put on muscle, enough that he was filling out his t-shirt and the sleeves were pulled tight around his biceps. Now, he was downright gorgeous and it wasn't fair.

Deku knew how he looked. He was plain and had a boring, round baby face. His hair was messy; and not in a cool, effortless way like Shinsou. He had some muscle, but nowhere near the same amount as the hero course students: he was too underfed to build serious muscle. He and Toga were mostly wiry, thin muscles; they were built for survival and that was it. Without his mask and hoodie, Deku had nothing to hide behind, so his watery eyes and tear stained cheeks were on full display for the world to see.

Overall, he looked like a useless, blood-covered, crybaby; just like he had always been as a little kid.

"So," Shinsou said, breaking the awkward silence. "Which of you is going to go to which class, do you think?"

"I want to go to Vlad King's!" Toga said excitedly, bouncing in her seat. "He's like me, with the blood! Deku can go with Eraserhead."

Deku whipped his head up, glaring at her. "Fuck no! You can be in Eraser's class. There is no way in hell I'm going to 1-A!"

"Maybe we can both be in Vlady's class."

Nezu looked up from the pile of weapons and gear. "Oh, no, we will not be having you in the same homeroom. I believe it would be best for everyone if you were in different classes. Toga will go to 1-B and Deku to 1-A. Deku, you would benefit highly from hand to hand combat training with Aizawa. Unless you have a reason why you shouldn't be in his class?"

Deku clamped his mouth shut and folded his arms across his chest. Glancing at Toga, they had a silent argument with only their eyes. Toga was begging, with her big puppy dog eyes, while Deku was begging with his own eyes to not be forced into 1-A.

He really didn't want to be in there with him .

But there was no way he was going to say anything to Nezu. The longer he could keep them from figuring out his identity, the better. Sure, Nezu might know he's quirkless and be okay with it, but who was to say any of the other teachers would be. They could all go to Nezu and demand he leave if they found out. No, it was better to fake having a quirk until he had made himself invaluable. Then, they might not want to get rid of him. He'd just have to get to him in secret to tell him to keep his damn mouth shut.

With a final sigh, Deku nodded. "Fine, I'll go to 1-A."

"You'll like it, don't worry, man. They're a good group. Kind of loud though," Shinsou said, rubbing at the back of his neck shyly.

Deku had to fight down the blush that was threatening to flood his cheeks.

Aizawa and Mic came back into the room at the same time; Mic with a fresh pot of hot water for the tea and Aizawa with a tired expression on his face.

"Nighteye pulled me from the raid. He wants me here to handle these two and the girl. Until we know all the details of their quirks, he wants me to keep an eye on them. Shinsou, he said you could still go on the raid. You're to stick close to Fatgum, got it?"

Shinsou nodded. "Am I excused? I know I still have a couple hours before I have to leave but I might as well use this time to catch up on homework."

"Yeah, go. Don't tell any of the others about this. Nighteye will be telling everyone the basics of what happened but the other students don't need to be worrying about this while on a raid," Aizawa said, dropping to sit back down in one of the chairs. "And eat some real food for breakfast. Coffee doesn't count."

"Got it. I'll have coffee and a single grape."

"I swear, I will fail you if you don't eat a full meal."

"Two grapes."

Mic snorted and swatted at Shinsou as he walked past, making the teen grin. Deku ducked his head again, knowing he had turned bright red. Toga hid a giggle behind her hand.

When Vlad King came back, he handed Toga a blood bag with a straw poked into it. Deku thought it looked like a morbid version of a Capri Sun, but Toga seemed pretty excited. She took a big gulp and then gave Vlad a massive, toothy smile.

"This is so fresh!"

"Say thank you," Deku prompted, elbowing her.

"Oh, right. Thank you for the pig's blood! It's super good!"

Nezu poured a fresh cup of tea for Deku and handed it to him before going to rummage in his desk drawers. After a moment, he popped back out with a package of biscuits, which he sat down between the two criminals.

Toga opened it and took a quick sniff before pushing it towards Deku with a nod. While he took out one to eat, she sniffed at Deku's tea and nodded again.

"What's the smelling for?" Mic asked, sitting down beside Aizawa. He let his knee bump against his husband's in a reassuring manner.

"Oh, Deku-kun gets nervous about taking food from strangers so I check it for him," Toga said, pulling out a biscuit for herself. "I have a really strong sense of smell since I have to be able to tell when blood has gone bad. I can pick up more from blood than food, but I can still tell if stuff has been drugged."

"She can also pick up the smell of blood easier. That's why she didn't have to sniff at the stuff Vlad King gave her," Deku said before gulping down the tea. He scarfed down about five biscuits before he picked up the first cup of tea that Nezu had given him, which had long gone cold. He shot a glance to Toga, and when she nodded, he drank that down as well.

Aizawa frowned even further, his brows furrowing with concern. Mic and Vlad bore a similar expression, watching the kids eat.

"When was the last time you two ate?" Mic asked.

"I was about to ask the same," Aizawa said gruffly. "Was also going to ask why you were concerned about your food being drugged. Did something happen?"

Toga beamed at him, laughing. "It's such a funny story! So, like, the first week after Deku moved in, he -"

Deku lunged and slapped a hand over her mouth, which only made her laugh harder.

"Shut up, Toga! No one wants to hear that story! And stop licking my hand, you know damn well it isn't clean."

"Uh, actually, I think all of us would like to hear it," Mic said, looking even more concerned.

Toga knocked Deku's hand off before sticking her tongue out at him. She turned back to Mic, looking borderline crazed.

"Okay, so, Deku moved in and during the first week, we went to hang out with everyone else. We wanted Deku to meet the broker we usually worked with so we could get some gear for him and so Deku could get some jobs, you know? Well, the broker brought some dudes for Shiggy to meet, so it was kinda crowded and stuff. Deku was drinking a soda and someone slipped some sort of drug into it. Pretty sure the dude thought it was my drink, but whatever. Deku drank it and he got soooo high. Like, obviously he didn't mean to, but he did. And we didn't realize until he started talking about his childhood and stuff, which, like, Big Sis and I had told him not to talk about that stuff, so it was weird that he was. Then, he full on hugged Dabi! Started saying how warm and toasty and snuggly Dabi was. I pulled Deku off before he got burnt and the broker kicked out the dude that slipped him the drug, but it was hilarious. After that, Deku made me check all his food."

Toga broke off into laughter while Deku was blushing and pouting.

"That story is so embarrassing. Why do you always try to tell people about it?"

"Because you get all red and it's so funny!"

It was only then that the two realized no one else in the room was laughing. Toga and Deku blinked at them in confusion.

Toga, having spent years around criminals and villains while living on the streets, was used to these sort of stories being a source of comedy, while Deku was just used to being mocked. They didn't understand why the heroes didn't find it funny.

Mic and Vlad looked green in the face while Nezu was frowning, a small slant to his brow over his beady black eyes. Aizawa looked stricken, his hands balled into tight fists.

"So, you're saying a man tried to drug you, but instead drugged Deku? And the only repercussions the man faced was being made to leave?" Vlad asked, his voice quiet.

"Well, yeah. I mean, it wouldn't have been the first time someone drugged me. It happens sometimes. Big Sis or Dabi would keep an eye on me and make sure I puked it all back up so it wasn't, like, a big deal."

Deku nodded. "Yeah, and the one time I caught a guy trying to drug her, I took care of it. Why are you guys acting weird?"

"You do realize it isn't normal to get drugged, right?"

"I mean, for heroes like you guys, sure. But for girls like me, it's normal. The other girls my age that I would meet on the streets always told me I was lucky I only got drugged and always had people I could trust with me. Deku always says how I need to be better about checking my own stuff like I check his, but I forget a lot."

"And some people like boys," Deku said with a shrug. "Toga's found my drinks and food drugged more than once."

Without saying a word, Mic stood and walked out of the room, the door slamming forcefully shut behind him. Vlad pinched the bridge of his nose, taking measured breaths while Nezu stared into the depths of his tea cup. Aizawa was the first one to speak, his voice thick.

"And the last time you ate? You didn't tell us that."

"Oh," Toga said, pulling her straw out of her mouth. "The Yakuza offered us some food but they gave us weird vibes so I would sneak out and get food for us sometimes. We eat just fine."

She then shoved an entire biscuit into her mouth and crunched on it happily.

Deku nodded along with her words. "Yeah, we eat fine. I mean, it's probably not as much or as nice as what you guys eat but everything combined is probably like, one to one and half meals a day. It's less than what we had before we left home but it's better than what a lot of other people get."

"We just didn't get to eat today, or I guess it's yesterday now, or the day before. I wasn't able to go out and get stuff and then Overhaul was showing us what he was doing to Eri and then we had to pack up and get her out of there, so we just didn't have time."

Mic came bursting back into the room and dumped an armful of jelly packets, fruit snacks, and miniature bags of pretzels on the table, all of which were sealed. They scattered across in a clatter, making Deku jump in surprise and Toga flash her teeth, as though she was being threatened.

"Eat."

"What the hell, Mic, did you completely wipe out my stash?"

"They're hungry! And this stuff is prepackaged, so they can trust it!"

"They need real food!"

"Oh, so when you eat it, it's 'real food' and 'a complete meal,' but when I feed it to kids, it's not? Hypocrite."

Deku narrowed his eyes up at Mic.

"Why are you being nice to us?"

Sighing, the teacher gave him a small smile. "You guys are kids. I can't let you go hungry and I don't want either of you worrying about being drugged, okay?"

Deku kept glaring as he picked up one of the jelly packets. Breaking the seal, he held it out to Toga, who took a quick whiff and nodded.

Deku guzzled it down within seconds.