Shinsou Hitoshi didn't know what he was doing. Having arrived extremely early to UA that morning with his dad, he now sat on the bus of said school, slowly driving into the wilderness. Apparently he had been transferred to the hero course and was joining them on their summer camp? Which, what the hell? Sure he had placed third in the sports festival, just behind and exploding Pomeranian and Shouto, but Hitoshi was still perplexed at the speed at which his Dad had uprooted him from Gen Ed. And holy fuck, the look his Dad had given him when he'd told Hitoshi that he'd be catching up to the rest of the hero course students during this camp had cued the teen into just how sore and tired he was about to be.
And yet, Hitoshi couldn't complain too much. Because he got to join Shouto and Izuku for the camp. He had a role to play in helping them get out of Endev-whore's house, even if that role was just moral support.
Hitoshi was stirred from his thoughts by the slight nudge of Izuku to his left. "Are you okay?" The green/red haired teen inquired, "You've been out of it all morning."
"I'm fine," Hitoshi replied, "Just a little overwhelmed with everything that is happening right now…" Izuku nodded his head in understanding.
To Hitoshi's right Shouto added; "It is quite a lot to process, with what's going on with Endeavor, and then you getting added to the hero course, and now all of us going to the summer camp."
"Yea, but I wouldn't have it any other way," Hitoshi agreed, quickly tucking his chin to his chest in an effort to hide the faint pink tinting his cheeks. But if the slight smile gracing Shouto's lips, and the light nudge from his left was any indication, his efforts had been in vain.
When Hitoshi finally looked back up, his gaze was drawn to Izuku, whose body had become frozen while his eyes seemed to dart from the floor to the back of the bus. Tilting his head, Hitoshi asked, "…are you okay?"
"What!? Oh, oh, yea… I just hadn't really met all of Class 1A before…" Hitoshi tracked Izuku's eyes and saw that the two teens occupying the back of the bus were a kid with a black bird head, and a scowling kid who's blonde hair looked like it had exploded.
"Yea, that bird quirk must be wild." Hitoshi said, masking the confusion bouncing in the back of his mind. Before he could question further, Izuku got pulled into a debate about powerful quirks in Class 1A by Tsu and Uraraka, who had apparently been Izuku's friends since the USJ attack.
"Tokoyami's quirk is actually called Darkshadow, which is an emitter quirk that takes the form of a physical creature that he can control. His head is just a mutation because of that." Shouto supplied in a quiet voice.
Hitoshi scoffed, "Course he has a powerful quirk," he said, thinking of all the times he had been bullied for his own 'Villianus quirk'.
"So is yours," Shouto stated, leaving no room for argument. Hitoshi, yet again, felt himself turning pink. (He'd have to visit the reason behind that sooner than he thought). In response, Hitoshi cracked a smile back at the dual-haired teen.
SSSSSCCCRRREEEETCH!!! The bus came to a startling, and deafening, stop. Hitoshi felt like his ears were bleeding.
His Dad- no, Eraserhead while at school… which he was technically still at even if he wasn't on campus? Whatever. Eraserhead stood up, a disturbing smile decorating his features as he announced entirely too gleefully: "Everyone off the bus."
Well shit. This could not be good.
Izuku had been so excited to go to camp. So excited he'd been distracted. Him and Shouto would be getting away from Endeavor. There'd be no pain for a whole week! Even longer if Nezdu's plan worked! And the cherry on top, he'd get to spend that whole week with Shouto and Hitoshi. The thought had him giggling like he hadn't in a long time.
However, half way through the bus ride, Izuku had noticed a pair of sharp red eyes focused on him. And Izuku had a whole new thing to be distracted by. Because that was Kacchan, and there was no way he could handle his old childhood bully. Not after everything that had happened to him, not after finally getting that first taste of freedom.
How had Izuku never realized that the exploding blond was going to UA? He'd been distracted.
Izuku could not spiral, he would not spiral…
'Why not just take a swan dive off the roof and pray for a quirk in your next life'
"… are you okay?"
Hitoshi's eyes blurred into focus for Izuku (who definitely hadn't been spiraling). "What!? Oh, oh, yea… I just hadn't really met all of Class 1A before…"
Izuku could tell Hitoshi was going to ask questions. Questions, Izuku was not going to visit. Not now. Not while everything might finally, actually be perfect. Izuku loved Hitoshi but he just couldn't be that vulnerable here.
When Tsu offered the switch in conversation, Izuku gladly, thankfully, took it. He steadily Ignored the red eyes that continued to stare at the back of his head.
SSSSSCCCRRREEEETCH! "Everyone off the bus." And who was Izuku to argue with Eraserhead. Standing up and filing off the bus behind Hitoshi, the teen saw the vehicle had been parked at a lookout which allowed for a view of a dense forest. And just to the left of the overlook stood two members of the Wild Wild Pussy Cats, a hero group Izuku had always loved!
Before Izuku could walk closer and meet the heroes who were beginning to address the class, the gruff voice of his teacher caught his ear. "Izuku, will you come here?"
Pausing to usher Hitoshi and Shouto forward, Izuku turned back towards his teacher standing by the bus. "Um… yes… sir?"
"No offense kid, but you aren't a part of the hero course. And even if you were, I'm not sure I'd want you doing this next bit," the teacher said with a pointed look at the exposed burns Izuku had been trying to hide. Courtesy of one flaming villain who had been angry about a certain trial.
"What- what do you mean?" However, before his teacher could respond, the sound of teenagers screaming in shock answered his question. Izuku watched- in quiet confusion and surprise- as Pixie-Bob (one of the Wild Wild Pussy Cat heroes) used her quirk to crumble earth from underneath Class 1A, causing them all to fall into the forest below.
Izuku took a hesitant step towards where everyone else had just fallen. These heroes wouldn't hurt the class, Izuku told himself. They weren't like Endeavor. Izuku trusted Mr. Aizawa.
"Shouto? Hitoshi?" Izuku called out, peering over the edge where the two boys had disappeared from. His eyes found Shouto who was helping Hitoshi stand and brush off the dust that had settled. "Are you alright?"
"We're fine." Shouto answered.
"No we're not!" Hitoshi said in a mock angry voice, "I'm in so much pain from that fall," the teen threw a dramatic hand to his head, pretending to faint into Shouto.
Shouto, who had alway struggled with sarcasm, scrunch up his brows, "You are?" He asked in concern.
Opening an eye, Hitoshi patted the dual-haired teen on the head, "No not really," the boy reassured, then moving his eyes up to the left of Izuku he said "but that wasn't a very nice welcome."
"This is a camp meant to improve your skills as heroes. And that training starts now," Mr. Aizawa responded to Hitoshi's barb.
Pixie-Bob bounded up next to Izuku. "You have three hours to get to camp! But it won't be that simple! First you'll have to make it through the beast forest! Good luck!" With that, monsters made of rock began rising from the forest ground. Before Izuku knew it, and with a quick salute goodbye from Hitoshi, Class 1A had scattered into the surrounding brush.
Izuku… wasn't really sure what to do now. "Time to get back on the bus, problem child." Izuku smiled at the nickname. He'd never really had a nickname before that wasn't riddled with hate and pain. And while this one may seem like an insult, Izuku could tell it was said with affection. Hitoshi had reassured him of that fact.
Nodding, Izuku took one last look at where Shouto and Hitoshi had disappeared from his sight, before turning around and taking the two steps up into the bus.
The bus ride to the summer camp was actually super fun for Izuku. Pixie-bob and Mandalay joined Aizawa and him and so the entire ride there Izuku got to pepper the heroes with excited questions about their quirks and work as rescue heroes.
However, when they did make it to the camp, which surprisingly only took 35 minutes, the Pussy Cats had to go and set up for when Class 1A arrived, leaving Izuku and Aizawa alone.
The awkward silence stretched on. "Um.." Izuku started.
Looking down, Aizawa's eyes softened, "Yea, kid?"
"Uhm, could I ask you about your quirk?" If Izuku had been looking more closely he would have seen the faint smile grace the tired teacher's mouth.
"Sure, problem child."
Shouta Aizawa had not been expecting the barrage of questions one Izuku Midoriya could produce about a single quirk. Especially considering how little the two knew about each other. But some of the questions the kid produced were genuinely making Shouta rethink some of his hero training.
"Does your quirk work in reflections? Like in a mirror?"
"No."
"I know you can't use your quirk on mutations, but does your quirk work on people who have both emitter and mutation quirks? Oh! Like the bird kid… um Tokoyami!"
"It works on the emitter portions but still has no effect on the mutation aspects."
"If you wink back and forth to keep your eyes lubricated, could you technically never stop your quirk?"
"…I don't know."
And on and on it went. Yet, Shouta couldn't even be mildly annoyed because it was endearing, nice even, to see the kid who had seemed so frightened and scared in Nezu's office a few weeks ago, look so alive and full of energy.
Eventually, Izuku's questions came to a stop. "Thank you for answering my questions, I know… I can get kind of excited and annoying."
"Course kid, and it's not annoying, it's actually impressive. You've got a good head on your shoulders. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise," Shouta said, ruffling the kids hair. He pointedly ignored the misting of said kid's eyes.
A calm silence rested comfortably between the two.
"…Before Endeav-," the kid flinched, "..before everything…when you saved me from that fire I couldn't control my quirk. But…you didn't care. You made me feel like my quirk- like I was worth saving. I know it was just a young kid projecting on their only hero, but you made me feel like I could be strong enough to do anything, even… even when things got really dark. So… thank you Mr Aizawa. For helping me then, and helping me now."
Shouta didn't know what to say. He'd always known that being a hero had an effect on people, but to hear such a sincere confession from someone so young and hurt by the world. To hear a confession from a kid he considered his own.
Shouta bent down to look Izuku in the eyes. "Kid. Izuku," Shouta placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder, "thank you for telling me. You are so strong, and I'm so proud of you-" before Shouta could finish, the man felt two skinny arms wrap around his torso, and a head burry itself in his chest. Shouta found his hands gently reciprocating the hug. "You did good, kid. You're doing good… and call me Aizawa.
When Hitoshi, Shouto, and the rest of Class 1A finally made it out of the forest, it was dinner time. Izuku laughed at the state his friends were in.
"Don't laugh," Hitoshi said, "this was literal hell."
Izuku turned curiously towards Shouto to see what he thought. Shouto just shrugged. Izuku giggled again.
"How dare you both betray me like this!" The purple haired teen cried.
"Stop being so dramatic Hitoshi," Aizawa said. Hitoshi opened his mouth to refute, however Aizawa beat him to it. "We're done for today, so get some rest, and be ready for hell in the morning." With that, the teacher turned on his heel and disappeared from view of the rest of the class. Izuku giggled at Aizawa's antics.
"Why are you laughing!?"
