"Aren't you a pretty one?" The woman draped in black looked into the small cage strung up by a single chain.
The figure inside curled into themselves, hiding behind nothing but a curtain of silky blue hair.
The once lavish banquet hall around them had been ravaged by her raid, blood and bodies replaced the wine and whores, bullet casings and soot in place of the poker chips and coke.
Among it all was the untouched cage, no doubt a showpiece for one of the rich bastards that ate a bullet.
"Boss."
"Hm?" She turned around to face a buff man, his face masked by a mask in the shape of a triangle.
"We're done clearing up the vault. Rat was right, we're filthy rich."
She grinned. "Keep any of 'em alive?" She toed a dead body dressed in finery.
"Just the clerk."
"You need him?"
"Nah."
She dragged her thumb across her throat. Tri-angle nodded and turned around to leave – but stopped himself. "What about the kid?" He nodded at the cage.
"What about it?" She forgot about that.
"We keepin' it or…" He gestured at his neck.
"I'm not that evil."
"Might be a mercy."
She huffed. "There any others?"
He shook his head. "Maybe we dump it by some hero's agency? I say Endeavor's." He offered.
She laughed.
"...no…" Tri-angle settled his finger on the trigger of his rifle, and the 'boss' turned back to the cage. "N–no hero…"
"Little thing can speak."
"Hey kid, look at me." The child didn't respond, prompting her to move closer to the pristine cage. "Look at me." She ordered.
"Boss… I don't think–"
"Look at me." Her tone turned unforgiving – like the promise of punishment. Lo and behold the child flinched, and turned their light blue eyes towards her. They were full of a fire, a fire she recognized all too well.
She smiled. "You don't want a hero to save you?" The child didn't respond, but she took his silence as a yes.
"Boss?"
"Shut up." She neared the cage like a predator eyeing its prey, and the child moved farther away from her. "I'm no hero."
Blue eyes looked up at her, searching for the truth.
"I'm not one of these bastards either." She kicked the dead body of a fat balding man whose suit was stained with blood and food. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"I'm your salvation." She raised both her bloodied arms like a saint. "I'll take you in, and you'll never have to be put up in a cage and be paraded around like an animal." No, I won't ever do that. "I'll give you the strength to fight and kill those who've wronged you. I'll let you chain those who've chained you. You will be free." Her eyes landed on the collar snapped around the child's pale neck. "Or you will starve to death in this cage. Your choice."
Tri-angle felt a grin form behind his mask at his boss's antics.
They always chose to live.
.
.
Izuku wheezed and clutched at his chest as he struggled to look up. His gut still ached and screamed in protest when he stretched his torso upwards towards the sounds of fighting.
The man who had grabbed him had a vicious look on his face – ecstasy, fear, anger all etched into a rictus grin. "Oy oy oy! Another toy for me?!" Spit flew wildly from his mouth as he licked his lips with a long and pimpled tongue. "I don't like girls but I'll make an exception for you baby!"
Izuku's eyes darted towards his savior, a figure wearing a tight black tracksuit which accentuated the curves of breasts. Her face and hair was hidden behind a black biker helmet, its visor hiding any expression she may have had on her face. When she moved in the dark and musty alleyway, a click followed from her heels. It was the weirdest costume Izuku had ever seen.
She didn't reply to the villain's comment, instead she shot forwards with her heeled back foot, and brought her knee up with the same leg towards his gut. He quickly blocked with his arms on pure reflex, a look of shock flitting across his eyes, but he quickly regained his bearings and shoved her off just as she readied a left hook gunning for his chin.
She flipped backwards with an impressive somersault.
"The fuck?!–" He pulled out a switchblade from his pocket. "Fucking hero!" His speed betrayed his large stature as he quickly thrusted forwards – faster than Izuku could keep up with.
The hero(?) ducked underneath the blade, but received a quick blow to the top of her helmet from the man's elbow. She grunted but quickly raised her fist in an uppercut, just barely missing the man's jaw. Izuku caught the man sliding his long tongue all over her hand and coated it with saliva. Izuku remembered the burning pain on his nape– "His spit is acidic!" He shouted.
She quickly pulled away her disintegrating glove as the man tried to grab her with his free arm. Izuku felt his heart leap when he succeeded. "Caught you!"
She shoved her sharp heel into the man's foot, the sickening sound of pierced flesh and bone filtered into Izuku's ears past the man's scream. The villain let go of her arm and she backed off from, rubbing her hand as she muttered a few curses. Izuku felt powerless and hated it. He tried to get up, but his ribs ached and pulsed with shrieking pain. Damn it!
"I'm gonna fucking kill you!" The man's tongue extended and whipped around in the air with deadly intent.
The hero brought up her arms, the unmistakable expression of defiance ran through her body. Izuku prayed to whatever god was up there to make sure she won.
The tongue shot towards her and she rocked her head backwards. The villain's saliva ran across the side of her helmet, and Izuku could hear the distinct hiss of plastic melting. "Fuck." He heard her clearly.
"Let me see your pretty little face bitch."
Izuku caught sight of the side of her head and the side of her face, an unmistakable blue stud with asymmetrical engravings on her ear, and a sharp jawline. But before he could stare any longer, she slashed her arm in an upwards motion.
Blood spurted out of the now amputated tongue of the villain, and its free half fell right before Izuku – still twitching and leaking blood. It was as if she cut through the air.
"AAAHH!" Izuku winced at the sound. Then she pulled the same arm down – and an explosion of blood followed. "AAAAAGHHHHAAAA!" The man's arm hung loosely by the tendons of his shoulder, and the grotesque sight would never leave his mind. Bone, veins, and arteries were clearly visible and pulsed in violent patterns, only to let gravity win and be torn free from the villain's torso. "GAAAHH! AGHHH!" The villain's eyes aimlessly shot around the alleyway and to his amputated arm. "AHHGGH!" He grabbed the disconnected limb with an iron grip, as if in disbelief. His eyes rolled back into his skull, as he let out breathless screams.
Izuku felt his mind go blank until only one thought remained – she's not a hero.
Something fell into his lap, and his eyes were torn away from the villain. It was a phone dialed to the police, and Izuku looked up to see the vigilante(?) jumping up the ladder attached to a building in a hurry, exposing the blue hair and a fade running across the sides of her head. And a single blue eye that was filled to the brim with a panic. He pushed the bile down his throat when he heard a voice come from the phone and quickly brought it up to his ear.
"S–s–someone's hurt!" The panic was evident in his voice.
"Please remain calm and tell me–"
"He's going to die!"
"Where are you?"
"I– I'm at…" He sputtered out the address as best as he could remember, his eyes glued to the dying villain.
That day would never leave Izuku's memory. The violence, the blood, the fear. What he never thought though – what he hadn't hoped for – was that he would meet her again.
.
.
They met eyes the second he walked into the classroom. His first day at UA, his first steps to becoming a hero. Light blue eyes met green ones, they checked each other out top to bottom. Izuku spotted the same blue studs, the same long blue undercut he had seen, the same sharp jawline, the same light blue eyes– but she didn't– he didn't have breasts.
If she– he noticed him eyeing his chest he said nothing, but he flinched when Izuku's eyes darted towards his studs and hair.
Izuku felt lightning run down his gut when the blue haired boy turned his head the other way as if avoiding his gaze, but he also noticed the calm and careless demeanor of him – as if the two had not interacted with each other at all. What? Izuku's attention was quickly wrenched away from the blue eyes when caught the familiar sight of Bakugo Katsuki yelling at another student. Though his mind still lingered on the memories of that bloody day.
.
.
Izuku had failed to catch the name of the blue haired boy, too caught up in fear of being expelled on his first day in UA. What Izuku did catch onto was the fact that he was not using his quirk – or maybe there were no situations in which he could have? He was lean and flexible, the gym uniform hiding most of his body – but Izuku had already seen it. Didn't he?
He still hadn't heard his classmate speak, but everything about him screamed her. It didn't make sense because he was a boy and she was a girl – one with very visible breasts.
Even if he was her, what was he supposed to do? The obvious and best answer to him was to tell Aizawa-sensei or any of the other teachers but he also had the burning curiosity to know if she really was him. Izuku slapped his hand against his forehead in frustration. He couldn't just assume they were the same person even if his guts were telling him just that. It didn't make any sense! One was a girl and the other was a boy–
Quirk!
His quirk! If he had the same quirk… then maybe, just maybe they were the same person! Izuku could still recall what happened that day with almost perfect clarity. She raised her arm as if she was wielding a bladed weapon, and… then the villain's tongue was severed. Then she brought her arm down… and his arm hung loose by its last tendon… blood everywhere…
"Oy." He felt something bump into his shoulder. "You alright man?"
Izuku's heart jumped when he realized he may have been muttering.
"Y–yeah I'm o–okay!"
"You sure?" Kirishima – he had heard– had a concerned look on his face.
Izuku raised both his hands, and slapped himself. Kirishima gasped at the overly manly display of passion and stepped backwards when a look of pure determination plastered itself on Izuku's face.
I will find out who you are… but before that I have to make sure I don't fail! He clenched his fists. I can't fail All Might!
.
.
After the painstaking reveal of a rational deception, Izuku collapsed straight into his bed after class. He still felt weak in his knees even after hours had passed since the test – though it was probably Recovery Girl's quirk and not him being scared… He felt a shiver run down his spine just remembering Eraserhead's cold glare. Then Kacchan's explosive outburst.
Izuku let out a pitiful sigh into his pillow. UA really is something else.
His anxiety was quelled when he realized he had even the smallest amounts of control over One For All, instead the fires of determination ran through his bones. Even though it had hurt him again, it wasn't his whole arm – just a finger. His lips curled up into a little smile at the thought, I've still got a long way to go to be like All Might.
Everyone was trying their hardest today. His mind wandered back to Uraraka and Iida and their welcoming dispositions. It's been a long time since I've had friends… His mind slowly drifted away from consciousness as it settled on a certain blue haired boy, Kitajima Ken. That was his name… 18th place…
I didn't get to see his quirk…
.
.
Their class had an outlier, meaning someone had to fight twice in the Battle Training. But that wasn't what Izuku was focused on. His eyes were glued on Kitajima Ken, and Izuku's suspicion only grew tenfold with the costume he was wearing. Most of it was incredibly simple and unassuming. A tight black jumpsuit which highlighted his slender but muscular figure with a utility belt and other smaller pouches where the pockets of his pants would be. The costume stopped just below his chin, but there was a pair of goggles that hung loose by his neck and a lump of cloth at his nape which most likely meant he could pull it over his head. His hands were left naked.
But the real outlier was the booted heels, giving the boy an extra two inches to his height. Izuku couldn't help but flinch every time he walked near him. The others commented on it, most of the boys of the class were a little surprised to see another boy rock heels. Kitajima simply replied with,
"It was heels or nothing." His voice was saccharine as he offered everyone watching him a small smile.
"That's manly bro!" Kirishima offered, and received a slap on the back from Ashido in return. "What'd I do?!"
"Stop calling everything manly!"
"Wha– what else am I supposed to say?!"
"Just give him a compliment or something like woah, nice costume dude." She deepened her voice at the end attempting to mimic Kirishima.
"It's the same thing!" Kirishima argued.
"It's not!"
"I– I think it looks cool." Izuku cut in. "It looks a lot like Aizawa-sensei's costume."
"That's what I was thinking – kero." The frog-like girl added. "Did you take inspiration from him?"
"No. It's just what someone would wear if they wanted to look inconspicuous."
"D–do you plan on working as an underground hero?" Izuku questioned.
"Sure." Sure? This was UA! Everyone here had their sights set on something!
Before Izuku could let his mind run deeper down the rabbit hole of how someone in such a prestigious school had no idea what they wanted to do, All Might called out their teams.
Izuku felt like someone dropped a ball of lead into his stomach when he heard he was going against Kacchan – but it only lasted for a moment when Uraraka walked up to him and hyped him up. He would show Kacchan that he could keep up!
But he wasn't the first to fight. That was Kitajima and Ojiro against Todoroki and Shoji. He knew Todoroki had amazing control over ice from the other day, and that Shoji was incredibly strong with the arms he could morph and grow. Ojiro had a strong muscular tail and… Izuku had not seen Kitajima's quirk yet. It was definitely an Emitter type, but nothing about his costume except the gloveless hands– gloveless hands?
Izuku shut his eyes tight, trying to recall if the vigilante had gloves or not. How could I forget?! He clearly recalled her having them on… and her using her quirk when the acidic spit melted them off. Why do they seem like the same person?!
"Deku?" Uraraka nudged his shoulder.
"Y-yes?!" He spat out. Contact! He felt his cheeks heat up.
"All Might's calling us over to the monitoring room."
"R-right." He rubbed the back of his head. "Let's go."
.
.
Izuku watched the monitors as Ojiro and Kitajima shared a few words between each other – he assumed Ojiro was introducing himself and his obvious to spot quirk from the hand he offered. Izuku noticed the grimace on Kitajima's face that quickly morphed into a sanguine smile when he took the hand. Kitajima put his black tinted goggles on quickly after, shielding his eyes from the camera's sight. What? The switch was so fast he had to look around the room to see if anybody else had noticed it – but no one said a thing. What was that about?
"What do you guys think Heels' quirk is?" The boy with a black lightning bolt in his hair asked. "Didn't see it the other day." He had a lopsided grin plastered onto his face.
"His name is Kitajima Ken." Iida called out. "It is rude to call out your fellow classmates by names like that!" He did a hand chopping motion, all the while shooting a glare at Kacchan.
Kacchan scoffed and looked away.
"Has anyone talked to him?" Ashido called out. "Besides like a few words, y'know."
No one in the room said anything else – not even Iida – at least not anything about Kitajima. Not everyone was talking about him, others were interested in Todoroki.
"I didn't even see him leave the classroom the other day… maybe he's just really shy?" Uraraka piped up.
"Didn't even see him in the changing room. He must have been really fast." Kirishima added, a confused expression plastered on his face.
"I didn't really hear him speak to anyone at all." Jiro wiggled her ear jacks. "Wouldn't miss it."
Out of all of them, Izuku was probably the most curious about Kitajima Ken – for different reasons, though.
Then came All Might's booming voice, "LET THE INDOOR ANTIPERSONNEL BATTLE TRAINING BEGIN!" It echoed in the room, causing some to wince – though Izuku had gotten somewhat used to it.
His eyes were glued to the monitors as he watched Kitajima run out of the room, and Ojiro stay behind to defend the bomb.
Shoji morphed his arms into ears and Izuku ingrained the information into his mind for later use. What followed was less an application of teamwork but more the overpowering differences in quirks as Todoroki beckoned his teammate out of the building as he stomped his feet down and slammed his hand against the wall. The entire building was turned into a popsicle in a matter of seconds, and everyone in the monitoring room shivered from the cold that emanated from the frozen building.
"Oy oy oy! What kind of power is that?!"
"That was m–m–manly." Kirishima's teeth chattered against each other.
"Wha–what are they supposed to do against that?!" Izuku echoed the same sentiment as Hagakure when they watched the monitor of both Ojiro and Kitajima's feet stuck to the floor. "How're they going to break free?!"
How… Izuku clenched his fists as he watched Todoroki calmly walk up the stairs. I need more control over One For All.
"Look at Kitajima!"
His eyes snapped over to the other monitor. Kitajima had one of his arms raised.
"Is he gonna use his quirk?!"
And then brought it down, cutting clean through half of the ice surrounding his foot.
Izuku felt his heart jump up to his throat.
Kitajima repeated the action once more for the same foot, finally freeing it from the icy prison. He raised his arm and then freed the other foot.
"Woah… What's his quirk all about?"
"Maybe it's an airblade?" Yaoyorozu spoke up, curiosity brimming bright in her eyes. "It looks like it with how he's ripping his arms across the air."
Todoroki reached the same level as the bomb, his stride as confident as ever. But stopped when he saw Kitajima free. Kitajima was the first to act, bringing a hand to the utility belt attached to his waist and grabbing a black ball.
"What's that?!" Sato questioned.
And tossed it straight between him and Todoroki – in an instant the cameras lost sight of Kitajima as smoke swarmed his slender figure. Todoroki's shock was quickly replaced with a look of fear yet also determination as he stomped his foot onto the ground once more, waves of ice indiscriminately freezing the floor and walls ahead of him once more with another layer.
Everyone had their breaths held in anticipation for when the smoke finally dissipated.
No one expected Kitajima to not be frozen – but more importantly not there at all.
"Did he run?!" Mineta grabbed the balls on his head, his eyes wide with surprise.
"That's not manly!"
"Look! He's running back towards the bomb room!" Ashido pointed at the monitor following Kitajima.
Kitajima's heels dug into the ice and anchored him everytime he took a step. The threat of slipping and falling was not a threat to him.
"He's really fast even in those large heels. He must have put a lot of practice into it!" Iida was impressed, he would never be able to balance himself like that with his quirk.
"Is he going to free Ojiro?" Uraraka smiled at the display of teamwork.
"Two on one sounds a lot more winnable, especially against Todoroki!"
"Not if he keeps icing the hallways." Kaminari pointed out. "He iced the entire building. They don't stand a chance."
It's the same. Kitajima swiped his arms up and down in a quick manner when he reached the room, instantly freeing the surprised Ojiro. They shared a few words and Ojiro grinned. The same quirk! The same quirk that nearly killed a man! One that amputated someone! Kitajima handed Ojiro the same smoke bombs he had used earlier, and the two darted out of the room.
"They're leaving the room?!"
"Todorki doesn't know where the bomb is, and Shoji isn't there with him." Yaoyorozu cut in before anyone could say it was a bad idea. "Shoji was the scout and he left him behind. His ploy to freeze the entire building would have been a good plan had Kitajima not been able to free themselves. Now all it's done is left him in a scenario where he has to fight both of them on his own."
Iida nodded and added his two cents. "If he had coordinated more with Shoji and not gone in on his own, they could have avoided this ever happening."
"That's correct! Teamwork makes the dreamwork!" All Might raised his thumb.
A silence followed.
All Might rubbed the back of his head and went back to looking at the monitors.
Ojiro seemed to struggle running on the ice for a moment, before he quickly used his tail to act as a counterweight helping him keep his balance.
Normally Izuku would have noted the inventive use of Ojiro's quirk, but his mind was stuck on Kitajima's quirk.
Asui pointed at a monitor, "They're splitting up." Ojiro ran in a straight line path where Kitajima had pointed him off too, while Kitajima broke off into another corridor.
"They're going to corner Todoroki!" Kirishima realized.
The icy boy moved at a slow and careful pace, having to rely on his own ears for information on where his opponents were.
"Why doesn't he just ice the building again?" Mineta asked, his brain still struggling to comprehend the power difference between his and Todoroki's quirk.
"He might have reached his limit." Yaoyorozu bit back her words when Todoroki did just that – but only the floor they were on this time.
"Look at Ojiro!" Sato pumped his fists.
He wasn't falling for the same trick twice. Ojiro coiled his tail when he noticed the second layer of ice forming on the floor just ahead of him. He jumped.
"Is he using his tail as a–"
But his tail reached the floor before the rest of his body, and pushed downwards even as ice coated the muscular tail. He flew across the hallway and even shot out his legs to kick the walls to propel him even further.
"SPRING?!" Kirishima had a ferocious grin stretching his cheeks. "That's so badass!"
Ojiro slid on the fresh ice when he landed, but he quickly adapted to the added weight of the ice on his tail and went straight back into running.
Kitajima seemed to get caught again, and the ice was far more potent as it crawled up his legs and to his chest.
Kaminari grinned, "Looks like he's–"
Kitajima cut even through his costume, exposing part of his legs as he freed himself from the ice once more.
"Nevermind."
Ashido questioned. "What is that quirk though?" Izuku felt his conviction and fears come to light with every use of it. The more of it he saw the more his mind flashed back memories of that day. "It seems cool as hell!" Ashido's golden eyes lit up at the usages. "He's just doing arm motions and things are breaking apart!" She imitated the same motions Kitajima used.
A biting cold steeped in Izuku's gut, one that wasn't because of Todoroki's ice. I have to tell All Might. I have to tell someone! Izuku looked up to his mentor, to his classmates – all with looks of surprise and shock, but none fearful and questioning. No one else knew.
"Deku." Uraraka noticed his growing distress. "Are you okay?"
"I– I'm." Could he tell her? "I–" He might be wrong. He might be getting everything mixed up. One was a girl after all. It didn't work. "I'm okay." Izuku might be wrong about it all. He was going off year old recollections anyways, he could just be mixing up the details just because they have a similar quirk.
I have to ask him. Or do I talk to All Might? To Aizawa-sensei? I have to tell them… We can't let a vigilante… or even a villain get away with what he did! What she did. I don't know. But I want to know!
"They're closing in on Todoroki."
Ojiro was practically face to face with Todoroki, and the latter raised a glacier of ice towards the tailed boy – to which he replied by shattering it into hundreds of pieces with his large muscle, and threw the smoke bombs straight at Todoroki. The icy boy raised a pillar of ice to block the projectile from reaching him, but it didn't matter. The smoke enveloped Todoroki this time – but not before he raised another pillar to freeze Ojiro from top to bottom, leaving only his head free.
"No way Ojiro's getting out of that one." Kaminari thought the fight was over then and there. Two on one against the powerhouse maybe – but not one on one.
Then Kitajima appeared from the hallway in Todoroki's blindspot – and the side of his body that couldn't produce ice. From beyond the smoke he grabbed Todoroki's left wrist, and quickly maneuvered to twist the boy's arm behind his back and shoved him into the cold icy floor. Before Todoroki could react and generate more ice Kitajima twisted the arm, causing the boy to shriek in pain and curse as Kitajima dug his knee into his back.
Kitajima raised his other booted heel – using the knee on Todoroki's back to keep himself anchored – and shoved it into the boy's right thigh. Everyone in the monitoring room winced and let out audible gasps. Izuku in particular turned as pale as a sheet at the sight.
The force wasn't enough to pierce anything but it would leave a nasty bruise. Kitajima was relentless, and even pulled in his right arm behind Todoroki's back at an uncomfortable angle. The message was clear – had Todoroki tried anything he'd break the boy's arm.
All Might saw the loss as clear as day, and gave the villain's their win when the timer had finally run out. Shoji had just come up the stairs to see his teammate brutally pinned down, a look of disappointment and anger was visible to everyone watching.
Izuku would shelve the emotions swirling in his gut. He had to focus now. He needed to fight and win against Kacchan. Then he would figure out who Kitajima Ken really was.
.
.
After getting swarmed by his classmates and friends for his destructive match against Kacchan, telling the explosive blonde that the quirk was given to him… he finally left to go look for the boy that wouldn't leave his mind. He caught Kitajima heading straight to the gates with no one around him. For a moment Izuku wondered why, as everyone had talked to him right after his match and he was as friendly as they were. So why did he isolate himself?
The question burned at the tip of his tongue, but that wasn't what he wanted to ask the boy about.
"Kitajima!"
Kitajima stopped in his tracks, and turned around – the same sanguine smile plastered onto his face. "Midoriya?" His voice was sweet and sing-songy, his eyes bright and happy. "What's up?" For a moment Izuku felt all his doubts about Kitajima wash away – but only for a moment.
"I– I wanted to talk to you about something…"
"Yes?"
"Um…" Wait, I didn't think at all about how to go about this! "I… Saw you around a year ago."
"Oh?" Kitajima tilted his head as confusion flitted across his eyes. "Did we talk or something?"
"No. It was… It was when you…" Izuku wondered if being direct was a good way to go about the issue. "An alleyway, where I was grabbed from behind. The villain had acid saliva and a long tongue – I-I saw you when part of your helmet melted off."
Kitajima blinked rapidly at the words. "What?"
"I saw the side of your face – and your hair. The blue studs you were wearing, but now you're wearing silver ones. B-but they were the exact same ones, the ones that had tiny little asymmetrical circle engravings on them. I even looked for them online everywhere – sketched it out… But I couldn't find it…"
"Uh… I don't know what you're talking about."
"A–and you used the same quirk you used today. To amputate the villain, and sever his tongue. I know it was you. You even used heels the same way today! When you shoved it into his foot! Into Todoroki's thigh!"
"Midoriya." Kitajima frowned. "I think you're mixing me up with someone else."
"I'm not!"
"I have no clue what you're talking about."
His brows furrowed. "But your quirks were the exact same! The way you fought was the same too!" Izuku leaned in closer to him.
"Calm down." Kitajima took a step backwards.
"You were just wearing a disguise! I know it now!" Izuku felt his gut alight with righteous anger. "You were disguising as a girl so that no one would ever know it was you!"
"A girl? I'm not a–"
"But your face is the exact same!" Izuku took a step forward.
"Midoriya, can you just step aside–"
"I can't! It's been on my mind for a whole year! How could you brutalize someone so easily?! His screams are still stuck in my ears! I had to try and stop the bleeding – t-there was so much blood everywhere! You cut his entire arm loose and just left! You could have killed him! An aspiring hero would never do anything like that! Doesn't it weigh on your mind?! Aren't you just a villain? I don't know how you got into U.A. but I'll make sure a villain like you won't get away with what you did!"
"I don't know what you're going on about!" Kitajima clutched his backpack straps tighter, his eyes darting around. "I never did any of that!"
"It was you that day!" Izuku jabbed a finger towards Kitajima. "It was you! I know it was!"
"Don't!" Kitajima flinched, and Izuku saw him quickly shut his mouth.
"Don't what?!" Izuku felt his blood boil – he had never felt like this before. Never this angry. "What were you going to say?!" This time his finger grazed Kitajima's chest.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" He slapped Izuku's hand away. Kitajima's calm and friendly expressions were gone – replaced with wide eyes and heavy panting.
Izuku felt all his anger wisp away, and he backed off from Kitajima. What am I doing?
Kitajima looked feral. Like a rabid dog waiting for Izuku to make one more move before he decided to tear his throat out.
"Just–" Kitajima took a deep breath, his eyes still locked onto Izuku's. Kitajima's voice was cutthroat, a stark contrast from his usual cheery undertones. "Just don't touch me." In an instant that intense aura disappeared when Kitajima turned on his heel. "And I have no clue what you're talking about. It isn't exactly uncommon for people to wear heels or have blue hair, now is it?"
Izuku stuttered out a few incomprehensible sounds, something between an apology and a weak denial.
"Just leave me alone." Kitajima marched off towards the gate.
What have I done?
.
.
His heart beat like a machine gun against his ribcage. It took every ounce of willpower he had in his feeble mind to keep himself from lashing out against Midoriya. He knows. It chanted like a mantra in his mind, except it served only to fuel his fear. He knows! Ken's feet moved on autopilot on the way back to the tiny apartment he'd have to call home.
But I revealed nothing. He has no proof, another part of his mind forced its way into his sporadic thoughts. But he might have– he's going to tell the heroes! He fisted the hems of his uniform. Fuck! I didn't leave anything behind – the phone was just a burner. He can't have anything. The studs can just be a coincidence. His memory can't be perfect and it doesn't matter. So what if they're the same? He saw a girl that day, it wasn't me! Damn it!
The one time! The one time he went out of his way to do good! I can't fail! I can't get caught! He grit his teeth so hard he was sure someone next to him would think he chipped a tooth.
Ken's face twisted and turned until there was nothing on his face. You have been through worse. This is nothing. Just breathe. He did as he commanded, detaching his mind from the torrent of emotions that churned in his heart – it was as if he had flicked a switch.
He was Kitajima Ken, a student at the prestigious school UA. He fought Endeavor's child and won while pushing himself to his limits, he was friendly to all and quiet. Not like Koda, Ken was more distinct. He as dumb but easygoing like Kaminari, he wasn't as confident as Ashido, he wasn't as outgoing as Kirishima, as nosy or timid as Midoriya, or as prideful and loud as Bakugo.
He was Kitajima Ken, subtle and friendly. Loud enough to be remembered, quiet enough to go unnoticed. That was who he was. That is all I need to be.
Just stay cool and focus. This is nothing. Why am I overreacting? Is it because he touched me? Am I that weak? I can't be, I'm not weak. I'm strong, stronger than everyone in that class. A little touch is nothing. I have to focus, I can't let my thoughts go astray. I'm strong!
He stood outside his tiny apartment, key dangling between his fingers.
Sever these feelings, tear them apart. It repeated like a mantra. I don't need these feelings. They won't serve me and I won't serve them. I won't be chained, I can't be.
Ken entered the dull homely abode. A short few steps and one would find themselves in the kitchen, living room, and his bedroom. A single window and warm lightbulb were his only sources of light. He dropped the schoolbag near the small cardboard box he used as a table and dropped to the floor, resting his back against the wall.
Do I avoid him? Would it make it more obvious? Maybe it wouldn't, maybe he thinks he made me uncomfortable and will choose to leave me alone. It would work even if I avoided him – I'll just have to play on that. Deceive him.
He moved lazily, stripping himself sans his boxers on the floor and undershirt. He felt hunger gnaw at his stomach, but quickly closed his eyes and laid his head on his school bag before he had time to think about it, covering his nude form with UA's blazer.
Deceive them all.