Deku was led out of the dorms and taken to Nezu's office for the conversation they wanted to have with him. Nothing was said during the walk, but Deku noticed that Mic kept sending him sympathetic looks. Once inside the office, they all managed to find a seat: Nezu at his desk, Mic beside Deku, and Hawks and Aizawa across from them.

"Midoriya, I do have news on your father," Nezu began, his voice even and gentle. "Because of the limited time we had before the League's broadcast, we wanted to wait to have this conversation with you until after, so that you had plenty of time to ask questions."

"So who has him?" Deku asked. "If you guys found him yourselves, then he'd be in a safe house or here. Since he's not, someone else found him first. I assumed it was the League, but apparently not."

"No, the League did not find him. They… Midoriya, they discovered that your father passed away a number of years ago. I am so sorry."

Deku froze, his entire body locking up. His wide green eyes stared straight ahead at Nezu, unblinking.

"It was a heart attack," Nezu continued. "He had remarried after moving to America, though the marriage was rather short. His second wife has remarried. They never had any children. He was buried in a cemetery in America per his wife's religious customs. I will be making efforts to see if any of his assets can be transferred to you, just as I am with your mother's assets. Since you were presumed dead for some time, difficulties have arisen, but I am sure I can work through it. I am doing the same for Toga and her parent's estates."

"Principal Nezu, I don't think now's the time to talk about that," Present Mic said, eyeing Deku carefully.

When Nezu saw that Deku was still catatonic, he nodded. "Ah, yes. It can wait. Midoriya, do you have any questions for us? We will do our best to answer."

Deku swallowed thickly. "The… The League were the ones to find this out?"

"Yeah," Hawks chimed in. "I've been... Well, I was trying to infiltrate the League as a spy. Dabi was my contact, so he was the only one I ever talked to. Apparently, Shigaraki was going off the rails and when he found out your dad had died, he decided he wanted to go with the bluff tactic he pulled. He told Dabi to go find some kids to pose as your half-siblings, which you don't have, and Dabi decided he was done. I guess he draws the line at murdering little kids. So he packed a bag and skipped out. Called me and said he knew I was a spy the whole time, told me what I just told you, and said I had to pass it along. He also told me that I had to let you know that you two were even now. I guess you did something for him and he was in your debt?"

Deku nodded. "Yeah. I do that sort of thing a lot."

"I'm picking up on that. You struck a deal to stay at UA, you bargained with Shigaraki to free those people, and apparently you help criminals to have them indebted to you. Why is that?"

"People don't do anything for free. If I want something from them, I have to pay. Sometimes I just pay in advance. So wait, Dabi left the League?"

"Yes," Aizawa said, tension thick in his voice. "That means Shigaraki has lost four of his closest allies in quick succession. And instead of keeping your head down, you went and called him. Now he's going to be doing whatever he can to kill you."

"Better me than those two people."

"And what about everyone here at UA? You think he's just going to ignore them and only hurt you? You've put everyone on this campus, including yourself, in even greater danger than they already were! I thought you were supposed to be smart, Deku," Aizawa snapped. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he froze, his jaw making an audible click as he snapped it shut. "Shit, Midoriya, I don't mean that. I'm sorry."

Deku took a shuddering breath, his green eyes wide in shock. He shrugged off Mic's hand as the teacher tried to comfort him, his entire body trembling. Panting heavily, he shot to his feet. Tears welled in his green eyes, threatening to spill down his cheeks. "I didn't have to come here, you know! I could have just dropped Eri off close to the building and left! But I thought that maybe this was my chance to do better and give you guys the information you need to take down the League. So I turned myself in! You guys were the ones to suggest the rehabilitation program, not me! You decided to keep me on this campus! If I am such a fucking liability for people to be around, then throw me in jail! At least there I know not to trust anybody. Here, its a fucking mindfield! You tell me to trust the teachers and heroes here, but then you don't tell me that my dad is dead! You tell me to get along with my classmates and try to make friends, and the one time I end up working together with them to save lives, you punish us! Literally the only other two times I broke a rule were when I cursed in class and when I snuck the multitool to hero studies class. That's it! All of you always preach about how I'm not a criminal anymore and how I need to stop treating myself like a villain, but how can I when that's all you see me as!"

"We don't see you as a villain," Mic said quietly, trying again to touch the boy's arm. Deku shook him off, taking a stumbling step away.

"Don't bother pretending. Eraserhead just played his hand. Deku. That's what he called me. Don't try to tell me he didn't mean it. I might be stupid but I'm not that stupid. And I know damn well that Nezu told the teachers to call me Midoriya; why else do all the teachers keep calling me that? Let me guess, you guys were trying to help me subconsciously separate Deku from Midoriya in my head, right?" When no one answered, Deku continued. "That's what I thought. At least the kids here have never pretended to see me as anything else. They see me for what I am: a useless, quirkless Deku."

With that, Deku stormed from the room, wrenching the door open so hard that it slammed into the wall.

"Midoriya!" Aizawa shouted after him, moving to follow.

"Let him go," Nezu said coolly. "He needs to calm down. I'll pull up the camera feed and keep an eye on him that way. Meanwhile, I think we need to have a conversation on how we treat students who have recently suffered a loss."

"Nezu, I know I screwed up. My anger got the best of me. I need to apologize."

"No, you need to sit down and listen carefully. Then, we will be discussing your history, Hawks."

"Shit, I was hoping you forgot about that."

As the four began talking, Hawks detached one of his feathers and guided it out the door. It fluttered along the ground until it finally plastered itself to the back of Deku's shoe, keeping track of where the boy went.

--

Monoma sat in his dorm, trying to focus on studying but failing miserably.

How could he focus? His sort of friend had just watched her parents be brutally murdered yesterday and apparently today, The League had threatened to murder two innocent people instead of Deku's dad. He had no clue why the League hadn't shown up with Deku's dad like they said they would, but it still had to be traumatizing to watch. Monoma had chosen not to watch, but Awase had knocked on his door after the stream ended to let him know what happened.

Midnight refused to let Monoma see Toga when he had gone to see if she was alright, but he did hear her back inside Vlad King's apartment shouting about how it wasn't fair that she wasn't allowed to go see Deku.

And so, Monoma ended up back in his dorm with nothing to do.

That is, until he heard a knock on his balcony door.

Frowning, Monoma got up and pulled the curtain back to look through the glass door. Standing on the other side was Deku, looking rumpled and bleary eyed. Without thinking, Monoma pulled the door open and let him in.

"What are you doing here?" Monoma hissed.

"I want to see Toga but I can't exactly go walking in through the front door right now."

"Did you run away from the teachers?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Am I going to get in trouble for harboring a fugitive?"

Deku snorted loudly. "That might just be the funniest thing you've ever said. No, you shouldn't get in trouble. Nezu probably watched me climb up here on the cameras and I'm pretty sure Hawks stuck a feather to me. Here, check my back."

Monoma stepped around Deku and scanned him over for a moment before he spotted the bright red feather on the back of Deku's shoe.

"Found it. Want me to get it off?"

"Nah, it's fine. At least this way there is sort of a pro hero keeping an eye on me. Then no one can really get too mad at me for running off. Thanks for letting me in, I guess. I'm just gonna head to Vlad King's and see if I can sneak in to see Toga."

Monoma shook his head. "Midnight and Vlad won't let anyone in Vlad's apartment right now. They'll catch you right away."

"Shit. Well that was the only place I could think of to go."

Frowning, Monoma glanced back out of the glass doors, checking to make sure no one followed Deku. "You can stay here."

"What?" Deku asked in surprise.

"Here. In my dorm. We can hide out here until you have to go back."

He blinked owlishly at Monoma for a moment before nodding. "Thank you. That… That's really nice of you."

Monoma huffed, turning away to hide his slightly flushed face. "It's not a big deal. We eat lunch together everyday, so what does it matter if we hang out outside of school?"

"I just mean most people would have pushed me back out their window if they saw me, forget about letting me stay in their dorm with them without a teacher." Deku paused, scoffing to himself. "Didn't turn out great for the last people to let me."

"Right, Shinsou and Todoroki. Heard what happened earlier. Is that why you ran off from the teachers?" Monoma asked, sitting down at the edge of his bed. He gestured for Deku to take the desk chair, which he did. Sitting down, he looked down at his hands, picking at the skin around his nails.

"Sort of. The teachers chewed out everyone that was involved in me seeing the broadcast and making the call. Then they took me to Principal Nezu's office and told me...they told me that my dad was dead. He died a few years ago. And then Aizawa started chewing me out again and I sort of snapped. It's just so… aggravating! No matter what I do, I'll never be seen as anything but a villain. I don't know why I bother trying."

Before Deku could continue, something soft and solid smacked into the side of his head, knocking him off balance. Looking up, he found Monoma standing over him, holding a pillow in his hands.

"Did you just hit me with a pillow?"

"Yes," Monoma snapped, lifting the pillow and smacking Deku again.

"Stop it!"

"No! You're being stupid! If you can't be a hero, then what does that mean for someone like Toga? Or Shinsou? Or me? People like us with our villainous quirks are always getting shit on. We're always the side characters, destined to turn to the dark side someday. At least, that's what everyone thinks of us. You are a blank slate. You can be whatever the fuck you want, especially with a brain like yours. So stop moping! Get your head out of your ass, look those pricks in the face, and tell them to go fuck themselves! Prove them wrong, got it?"

"Yes, fine! As long as you stop whacking me with the pillow!"

Monoma hit him with it again before flopping back onto the bed. "Good. Now you're going to use your big brain to help me with my English homework. I can't figure it out."

By the time Principal Nezu had finished scolding Aizawa and they had all finished deciphering Hawks' past, the sun had long since set and the dorms had grown quiet. Tetsutetsu had knocked at Monoma's door to see if he was coming down for dinner, but when the blonde had snapped at the other boy to go away, Tetsu had gone downstairs and snagged a plate full of food to leave outside Monoma's door. Hours later, when Tetsu walked past again, the plate was gone.

It was late when Present Mic walked through the doors of the 1-B dorms. A couple students were lounging in the common room when he walked in. They all looked up at him, startled to see him.

"Mic-sensei!" Kaibara said, a hint of surprise in his voice. "Is there something we can help you with?"

"Yes, is Vlad King in his apartment?"

"Yeah, he and Midnight-sensei are keeping an eye on Toga. She keeps trying to sneak out to go to the 1-A dorms."

He gave them a smile that didn't quite meet his eyes before heading towards Vlad's apartment. When he knocked, Midnight opened the door.

"Hey Zashi," she said quietly. "You doing okay?"

Mic shook his head. "Can I come in?"

She nodded, letting him in. Vlad was sitting on the couch, his eyes closed and his hand up by his face, pinching the bridge of his nose to stave off a migraine. Captain sat by his feet, sleeping soundly. When Vlad heard Mic come in, he cracked one red eye open.

"Hey, are you here to tell me what happened with Midoriya?"

"Yeah, and to pick up Midoriya. The conversation with Nezu didn't go well and Midoriya took off. We tracked him on the cameras and he snuck in here. Hawks sent a feather after him too and confirmed it. When I asked Hawks what he heard through his feather, he said Deku was talking with another boy and doing homework. I'm assuming that would be Monoma, right?"

"Most likely. If they haven't caused any problems yet, then it's probably fine to leave them for a little longer. Tell us what happened."

Mic shot a glance towards the hall. Midnight saw and gave him a smile. "Toga is asleep, if you're worried about her overhearing."

"Good. She should hear it from Midoriya," Mic said before sitting down with a sigh. "So, Shouta chewed out all the kids, you know? Gave them cleaning duty and stuff. Then we took Midoriya to Nezu's office to break the news. He didn't react too strongly at first, that is until Hawks started asking why Midoriya felt like he needed to make everything a quid pro quo, Midoriya gave us an answer that made me feel depressed, and then Sho snapped at him again for the stunt he pulled. Shouta… Shouta was an idiot. He said something he shouldn't have and Midoriya just sort of broke down. Cried and yelled at us before taking off. Nezu gave Sho a talking to before we dove into Hawks' life, which is a shit show, by the way. Be prepared for Nezu to ask for help fighting the Hero Commission. Once we got done talking, I told Shouta to go back to our place and check in on Eri while I came to get Midoriya."

"What did he say to Midoriya?" Midnight asked, eyes narrowed.

"Don't worry about it, Nemuri."

"No, you're going to tell me right now."

"Fine. He said "I thought you were supposed to be smart, Deku." I couldn't believe he said it," Mic said, his green eyes turning dark. "I told him he was sleeping on the couch tonight."

Vlad snorted loudly. "Oh, Aizawa's in the dog house."

"Damn straight he is. And he's on my Shit List right now," Midnight snapped. "I'm dumping salt in his coffee tomorrow morning and he's getting a talking to from me."

"Good. Now, I'm going to collect Midoriya and get back home. I'm going to be shortening the punishments for the kids too. Sure, they shouldn't have done what they did, but they did it with good intentions. We shouldn't be punishing kids for trying to be heroes: we should be guiding them in the right direction."

"They did call the League though, and went against the rule about Midoriya being without a teacher," Vlad pointed out.

Mic nodded. "I know. That's why there will still be some punishment. Just not nearly as bad as Sho gave them. I honestly think he was just scared."

"Scared?"

"Scared of his students getting hurt. Losing a student to a villain attack is his worst nightmare. For the kids to conspire and call a villain was probably terrifying for him."

Midnight was still glaring from her seat. "I'm still pissed at him."

"Oh, that's completely fair. Now, can one of you show me where Monoma's room is? I have no clue where it is."

Vlad nodded, clamoring off the couch. "Back in a second, Midnight."

The two men left and went up the stairs to the second floor. Vlad led the way to Monoma's dorm and knocked loudly. When there was no answer, he sighed, pulling a key from his pocket.

"This boy will be the death of me," he grumbled, unlocking the door with his master key.

When the pair peered inside, a startling, and rather touching, sight was laid out in front of them.

Monoma was sprawled out on his bed, his normally pristine hair in disarray and his mouth hanging open ever so slightly. Deku was draped over a small beanbag chair, his head tilted at an odd angle. Books were open in his lap, but they weren't textbooks: they were comic books. An empty plate sat between the two boys with a set of chopsticks and two pencils resting on top. Food was stuck to the ends of the pencils, having obviously been used as makeshift chopsticks. The lights were dimmed, though not fully turned off.

Gently, Mic bent down and placed a hand on Deku's shoulder. Deku woke with a gasp, throwing himself off the beanbag and away from Mic. Monoma snapped awake immediately, a sneer already plastered on his face.

"Here to yell at him some more?" Monoma asked, glaring at the teachers.

"No, I'm just here to take him back to the 1-A dorms."

"Why? So Eraserhead can be a dick again?"

Deku struggled up to his feet. "Leave it, Monoma. There's no point arguing with them."

"You can't stand up for yourself. If you do, you get punished and could lose your spot at UA, meaning you have to worry about jail time. If I stand up for you, the most I get is a disappointed look from Vlad King." Monoma paused and gestured at Vlad. "Yeah, that look right there."

"Why are you like this?" Vlad asked, glaring at the blond teen.

Monoma grinned up at him. "Like what, Sensei?"

"Come on, Midoriya, time to get you back home. Thanks for hanging out with him, Monoma. I appreciate it," Mic said as he put an arm out, gesturing for Midoirya to head out the door before him.

"I didn't do it for you. I did it for him. Contrary to popular belief, Deku is a nice guy and I like hanging out with him."

Deku startled at that. "You do?"

"Obviously. If I didn't, do you think I'd let you come in here?"

Smiling slightly, Deku nodded. "Yeah, you make a good point. Thanks. I like hanging out with you too."

Monoma huffed and then flopped over on his bed, rolling so his back was to them.

Deku snorted and stepped out of the room, the teachers following. Mic and Vlad bid each other farewell. Vlad tried to say goodbye to Deku, but the teen had his head ducked, avoiding eye contact with either teacher. Mic then led Deku out of the dorm building, the pair making their way back to the 1-A dorm.

The walk was silent, uncomfortably so. Halfway to the dorm, Mic paused and sat down on a bench, gesturing for Deku to sit down with him. With narrowed eyes, Deku slowly sat, keeping distance between himself and Mic.

"I've changed your punishment, just so you know," Mic said, breaking the silence. "You'll still need to help Shinsou and Todoroki with cleaning and fixing Shinsou's dorm, and you'll have to help the others clean the dorm building, but you'll be able to go to the 1-B dorm to see Toga and Monoma in a week. I'm telling the other kids the same thing in the morning. Shouta went overboard with the whole month-long grounding thing."

"You're just doing that because you feel guilty."

Mic shrugged. "I do feel guilty, but I don't think it's the reason, or the only reason, for why I'm changing the punishment. I think Shouta panicked and overreacted."

Scoffing, Deku shook his head. "Oh, cuz he's scared I'm going to bring death and destruction to the school?"

"No, he's scared of losing a student. You're one of his students, so he is scared of you getting hurt too."

"Why's he so scared of that? Did he lose a student before or something?"

"Thankfully, no. He… We lost our… friend, when we were students. His name was Oboro Shirakumo. He was an amazing guy. Really funny and sweet. He would have been a great hero, one of the best. But there was an accident when we were on our work studies. A building collapsed and some rubble hit his head, killing him. We… we don't think he suffered, at least. We think he died on impact. The whole thing messed with all of Shirakumo's friends but it messed with Shouta the most. He shut down for a bit and when we finally got him out of his funk, he was… colder somehow. It's been years now and he's closer to what he used to be but it's still hard sometimes. He is always scared of a student, or as he says it, "another kid" dying on his watch. No matter what any of us say, he won't believe us that it wasn't his fault." Mic paused, taking a wet, shaking breath. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Sho that I told you about that. He doesn't like talking about Shirakumo in the first place, and if he found out I was talking about him and Shirakumo behind his back, he'd be pissed."

Deku's eyes had grown round, staring over at Mic's silhouette. Mic kept his face turned up towards the sky, looking at the stars in the dark sky. His green eyes tracked a slow moving cloud, a glassy quality to his gaze hinting at unshed tears. Slowly, Deku turned away, looking down at his hands.

"My mom died in a collapsing building."

"I know, little listener. I did my research. I'm really sorry that happened. Did you ever read up on how it happened?"

"I… I was there. I saw it."

That caused Mic to finally turn to look over at Deku, his mouth hanging open in surprise. "What?"

"I was there. I had been doing homework across town and was listening to coverage about All Might's fight with a villain. Then, the villain started heading towards my place. I ran across town on the rooftops and stuff, trying to get there in time to warn my mom or something. But by the time I got there, the building was down. It was too late. I freaked out and tried to run in to find her but Shigaraki grabbed me and pulled me into an alley. He told me it was pointless, that there was no way my mom was still alive. And then he pointed out that I'd have to live with my dad, if child protective services could find him, or I could end up in foster care. Even if I had chosen to live with my dad, I would have ended up in foster care because apparently my dad has been dead for years. But, since I'm quirkless, foster care would be a nightmare for me. The abuse and neglect could have easily killed me. I'd have had to run away eventually. So when Shigaraki offered to let me come and stay with the League, I agreed. It was the safest option, you know?"

"Midoriya, I am so sorry. I'm sorry that you saw that and I'm sorry you saw the League as your only option," Mic said. He shuffled a little closer when he saw the way Deku's eyes were glittering with unshed tears. "Can I give you a hug?"

Deku jerked in surprise. "Why?"

"Because you look like you need a hug and I want to give you one." Mic opened his arms, giving Deku the chance to move in or move away. After a moment of hesitation, Deku threw himself forward with a sob, burying his face into Mic's chest as he wrapped his arms around the teacher. Mic hugged Deku tightly, running a soothing hand up and down the boy's back, humming a quiet tune as Deku cried.

Hiccupping, Deku turned his head just enough to speak. "I just feel so fucking alone."

"I know you do. Losing both your parents like this at such a young age has to be hard. But you need to remember that you aren't alone. You have Toga, who I know you see as family. Monoma is obviously a friend and I can see Shinsou and Todoroki being considered friends as well. And I know you and Bakugou have a bad history, but it looks like he is trying to atone, since he and his friends helped you with sneaking to Shinsou's dorm. You must have made a good impression on Sero, since they agreed to help too. They aren't typically one to do much to get in trouble, so it says a lot that they were willing to put themself on the line to help you. We can't forget Eri, either. She looks up to you, you know. And I know you might not think it right now but Shouta and I care about you. We want you to be safe and we want to see you become a hero. You have a lot of people in your corner, Midoriya. You just have to remember it, okay?"

Sniffling, Deku nodded. "Is Aizawa mad at me for yelling and running out?"

"Hardly. He wanted to run after you and apologize. We had to make him stay so Nezu could tear him a new one. And then after, I chewed him out. Tomorrow, he's going to catch hell from Midnight. Oh! That's another person that likes you! Midnight definitely has a soft spot for you and Toga."

That got a low chuckle from Deku. "Really?"

"Yep! She loves rebels and you and Toga are the epitome of rebellion," Mic leaned back a little to look down at Deku. "Feeling a little better?"

"Yeah. I'm ready to head to the dorm."

Mic nodded before giving Deku one final squeeze before letting him go. The pair stood and continued to the dorm building, the silence less tense. When they entered the apartment, they found Aizawa sitting up on the couch, dressed in pajamas and looking worried. As soon as he saw the pair of them, he jumped up from his seat.

"Midoriya, I'm sorry. I should never have said -"

"Stop," Mic snapped, fixing his husband with a stern look. "Not tonight. You can apologize in the morning."

Aizawa obediently nodded, sitting back down on the couch. Deku looked at the blankets and pillows piled beside the couch with curiosity.

"What's with all that?" he asked, pointing.

"Shouta is sleeping out here tonight," Mic said stiffly before stalking off down the hall to his room, closing the door behind him.

Deku gave Aizawa a slightly sympathetic glance before scurrying off to his room, glad to finally be able to rest in the privacy of his own room.