Jirou

Now, Kaminari likes to think of himself as an understanding and level-headed person. It's sociability 101. In order to stay on good terms with a person, you gotta be nice, listen to their side of the story, and not lose your cool. He, Ashido, Kirishima, and Sero had all mastered this, 'cause if you're gonna be friends with someone like Bakugou, you gotta balance it out. That and he had to be smart about something.

However, right now, Kaminari could safely say that Ashido would have absolutely pimp slapped the shit out of this bitch by now if she was here and he was getting really close to doing so for her.

The head bitch laughed like a stoned hyena, the two others joining her as Jirou nonchalantly turned back to her locker and resolutely ignored them. From what he remembered, these girls were from one of the business classes, but he'd avoided them rather than flirted, because he really didn't want to deal with that sort of thing.

He'd also prefer it if they didn't talk to Jirou like that, because she was a million times cooler than them.

"Aw, did we hurt the little hero's feelings?" One of them cooed, though Jirou made no move to dignify them with a response.

"Don't ignore us, bitch." the leader warned, spinning Jirou around and looking her in the eye. Kaminari was impressed that she didn't react to the intense glare that was aimed at her. "We're in the business classes. We're the ones that make you rich."

"Wow, you missed the point." Jirou laughed. "If I'd wanted to be rich, I'd have followed in my parents' footsteps. You know, as famous musicians. What do you have?"

"Bitch, my parents are multimillionaires."

"And my best friend's parents are multibillionaires. Anything else?"

Kaminari was snickering to the side as all three of their faces went red. Jirou smirked. "Also, I could kick your asses to the moon and back if I wanted to, so I don't know why you're even here."

That's when the leader made the mistake of losing her temper, grabbing Jirou by her hair and slamming her head against the locker. Jirou didn't look hurt, only confused as to why they'd even try, but Kaminari felt his blood pressure spike and electricity crackled between his fingers, because how dare they. Jirou was so much better than any of them, and it didn't matter whether or not she could handle it. She didn't deserve this.

Kaminari was about to surge forward and knock the ever-living daylights out of them when he felt a warm hand pressed against his shoulder, pulling him back from electrocuting any of Jirou's attackers and stepping forward themselves.

The girl who had her hand in Jirou's hair was suddenly yanked away, her own head slammed violently against the next door locker with a resounding bang. The other two girls jumped, their faces turning pale with fear.

"You feel that?" Bakugou snarled. "That's how you properly shove someone's head against a locker. Trust me. I've had a lot of practice."

He tightened his grip, applying more pressure. "See? I'm even holding back. Isn't that fucking nice of me?"

Kaminari couldn't help the surge of satisfaction as the other two girls slowly backed away, looking about ready to soil themselves. The leader flailed uselessly. "Shithead! I'm telling!"

"What are you, five?" he growled, but he released her nonetheless, practically throwing her into her posse and sending them a vicious, malevolent grin. "Go ahead. See what happens."

With that, the three brats scampered off, screaming something about revenge that they all knew either wouldn't happen or would fail miserably, so with a scoff, Bakugou turned away.

"Feel free to kick some bitch ass next time, Earlobes. We both know you can."

As he disappeared into the classroom doorway, Iida yelling something that none of them could quite comprehend, Kaminari smiled at Jirou. "I didn't know Blasty was that cool with you. Congrats, man."

Jirou was quiet for a moment, an eyebrow raised and a look of genuine surprise in her eyes. "Huh."

Tokoyami

In Yagi's defense, this wasn't his fault.

It had been a normal training exercise for their heroics class, giving the students a break and leaning today's lesson towards offense rather than the usual rescue. Considering how much they'd all been dealing with due to his retirement, even a small gesture such as this seemed to lighten their spirits, and for that, he was grateful.

In order to focus on proper training instead of a couple of students taking over the whole field with just their match, the class was split up into groups of five, mostly with the goal of keeping the three class powerhouses separated.

It had been going fantastic, with many genius moves coming from students across the board, when the power had suddenly gone out.

He wasn't above admitting that he'd been startled by the sudden loud noise and the lights instantly switching off, plunging the indoor arena into darkness. Several students screamed in surprise, while others had gone eerily quiet, as if they were expecting something to go horribly wrong.

"All Might?" Midoriya spoke up beside him, green flashes of energy creating a soft glow and illuminating his body. "What just happened? Is everything alright?"

Yagi grimaced. "I'm not sure what's wrong, Young Midoriya, but everything should be fine."

And he meant that. He really did, but something was bothering him. It wasn't a villain attack or anything that might insinuate mass panic, but there was a small feeling in the pit of his stomach, telling him that there was something he was missing, and something important that needed his attention.

That feeling grew and suddenly, he was snapping his eyes in the direction of Bakugou's corner. Hagakure and Yaoyorozu let out twin shrieks of terror a moment later while Shouji yelled for everyone to stay clear of that area as a terrifying sound reverberated from that side of the room.

"Tokoyami's over there..." Midoriya mumbled in disbelief, his face looking pale against the soft light of OFA. "Dark Shadow must have gone out of control!"

Todoroki was on the other side of the arena, his fire burning insanely bright at his side. He wasn't nearly close enough to be of much help, but it was enough to make out Dark Shadow's writhing form in the darkness. Midoriya's teeth were grinding together as sweat dripped from his face.

"I have to do something." he breathed, crouching down and preparing to launch himself into the dark mass.

STOP HIM.

"Wait!" Yagi shouted, grabbing onto the boy's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. "Stay here for a moment. There are other students better equipped to handle this situation."

Midoriya spun around to face him, his eyes pleading. "But Tokoyami's in trouble! Maybe Yaoyorozu could create a spotlight, or Hagakure could refract the light of Todoroki's fire, or Aoyama could even-"

"EVERYBODY BACK THE FUCK UP!"

Three pairs of feet scattering and the sound of two pins being dropped simultaneously were everyone's only warning before an earth-shattering BOOM! left everyone momentarily deaf. The light from the bracers' twin explosions was near blinding, Dark Shadow screaming and flailing before retreating into itself to escape the powerful light and heat.

And then it was quiet again. Yagi released Midoriya's shoulder, allowing him to leap away and check on his friend while Yagi had to chase after him the long way.

He would be halfway across the field when the lights come back on, Tokoyami curled into himself with Midoriya and Shouji on either side comforting him.

"Bird Brain," Young Bakugou called out as he was walking away. "Not saying it's your fault, but fucking keep it together next time, will ya?"

After a beat of silence, there was a slow, shaky exhale. "I will see to that."

It was the most at ease that Yagi had felt since the beginning of class.

Satou

Kirishima stumbled into the common room with a grimace, his back flaring up with a dull but effective pain that had him flopping face-first into the couch with a groan.

The villain had been a powerful one, with a strength-enhancing quirk that gave them a lot of grief. He'd also been a calculating one rather than a brute, leading to a lot of problems. He and his two buddies had been terrifyingly good with teamwork, so the only way that class 1-A stood a chance was to separate the three of them and take them on in teams.

Of course, they'd all been separated from their teachers even before then, which didn't help matters. The only reason that it didn't cause the school problems was because they'd all had their licenses by this point and they couldn't be stopped legally.

They'd been thrown for quite a loop, but thankfully, through sheer numbers and tenacity, they'd won the day once again.

Now, after taking several direct hits from the guy, Kirishima felt like he was going to implode.

In the kitchen, Kirishima could hear crashing and banging as someone worked tirelessly inside, though the clattering didn't sound too good. A frying pan rolled out, Satou running over and quickly picking it up with a huff.

"You okay, man?" Kirishima asked as Satou ran back into the kitchen.

There was a loud huff from the kitchen. "Sorry! I was just trying to make everyone a meal after what happened and it isn't going too well."

"Oh really? Wow, that's really nice of you, man! What'cha making?"

Satou reappeared, wiping his forehead. "I was trying to make breakfast for dinner. I was making an array of different kinds of pancakes, eggs, and meats, but I only really know what I'm doing with pancakes. They're coming out great. Everything else..."

There was smoke coming out of the kitchen, Satou running in and spraying something with a fire extinguisher as Kirishima tried not to laugh out of fear of hurting his feelings.

"The hell is all this racket?" Bakugou entered the room and immediately chucked an ice pack at Kirishima's face, who took the hit easily and contently placed it onto his back.

"Satou wanted to make breakfast for dinner for everyone and is having some trouble." Kirishima chuckled as Satou yelled something incoherently from the kitchen.

"What the fuck is he trying to make in there. It looks like he opened the gates of hell."

"Eggs!" Satou yelled in response.

Bakugou looked extremely incredulous. "What?"

Satou's head appeared in the doorway. "Hey, gourmet eggs and bacon are harder than it looks!"

The blonde looked like he wanted to slam his head into a wall with the way he was looking at him. He probably did. "Move."

"What?"

"Fucking move." Bakugou repeated, shoving past him and into the kitchen. "The fuck is this shit!? I thought you could cook!"

"No, I can bake. There's a difference."

There was a beat of silence. "...Fair point."

There was more crashing and yelps from Satou as Bakugou ordered him to 'focus on his pancake party since it's the only thing he seems to be doing right'. Kirishima lost track of time after that, but before he knew it, the sun was setting and the rest of class 1-A was wandering downstairs with groans of pain and exhaustion. However, the glorious smell wafting through seemed to immediately lift their spirits.

There was a feast waiting for them, with every kind of pancake you could think of, blueberry, chocolate chip, strawberry, cinnamon, blackberry, and all sorts of interesting combinations that most of them hadn't even heard of, with some french toast on the side. Along with it were scrambled and fried eggs, done easy and medium, sunny side up and down, gourmet omelets with peppers and onion, bacon and sausages, and even small skillets for everyone to share.

It was a feast made for royalty, and suddenly, Kirishima was hungrier than he ever remembered being in his life.

Probably due to exhaustion, nobody noticed when Satou saved some extra french toast and cinnamon pancakes for Bakugou to hoard for himself. Neither did said blonde complain about it.

Uraraka

In all honesty, Ashido felt bad.

Another day of hero training and another day of sparring matches. Ashido had been doing particularly well today and she couldn't help but pat herself on the back for lasting long enough in the ring with Tokoyami to call it a tie and being able to stay up a solid minute against Bakugou. He'd even complimented her, so today really was a good day.

At least for her.

Walking back to the dorms, Uraraka looked ready to sock the next person who tried to talk to her. Ashido could practically see the steam flying out of her ears as she kicked the door open and stomped to her room. At first, Ashido had been confused, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

In all of her sparring matches, her opponent hadn't gone all out. First was Satou, who wouldn't hit her at full strength and ended up getting launched out of the ring. The same thing happened with Shouji, and Uraraka won once again. She was sweating from giving it her all and red from growing frustration as the same pattern continued with every opponent.

She completely snapped with Midoriya.

The poor kid probably doesn't even realize what he did, but when Uraraka realized that he wasn't going all in, she straight up rage quit, grades be damned, and stomped off, probably to avoid saying something that she would regret.

Now it was evening, and Uraraka had reappeared for the first time since then a little bit calmer but still clearly upset. She grabbed a bottle of some drink and chugged it, throwing it into the trashcan before taking another and turning around to storm back out.

"Uraraka!" The brunette nearly spat liquid all over herself at Bakugou's sudden appearance, glaring at her as she rubbed her face clean. She easily met his gaze, probably not in the mood to deal with anyone's bullshit at the moment.

"You, me, gym. Now."

Uraraka seemed to perk up at this, blinking in confusion before putting two and two together. Ashido couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as Uraraka's eyes lit up, her face glowing with anticipation.

"Oh! Okay, okay, just let me get my workout clothes! I'll meet you there! Five minutes tops, I promise!"

Bakugou didn't seem impressed, but didn't say anything further, simply grunting and making his exit while Uraraka immediately ran back up the stairs. It would be about four minutes later that the girl would nearly fall down the stairs in her rush, sprinting past other classmates milling about and practically tripping out the door.

And from there, Ashido didn't hear anything from either of them for a few hours, while playing board games with the other girls and Kirishima.

It would be late when Yaoyorozu let out a loud gasp. "Uraraka, are you okay?!"

Said zero gravity quirk user had wandered back into the common room covered head to toe with burns and bruises. There was soot in her disheveled hair and her jacket was completely singed. A light trickle of blood was dripping down the side of her face and she had both a split lip and a black eye.

And she was grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm doing great!" she chirped with genuine cheeriness. "I even learned some new moves! By the way, do any of you guys know where Deku is right now? I need to talk to him about something."

"Dorm room." Asui replied without question.

With a quick thanks, she practically skipped out of the room, humming something as she went, and Ashido and Kirishima gave each other happy, knowing looks.

"I'm glad he's making more friends." Kirishima chuckled.

"Yeah," Ashido smiled back. "Me too."

Aizawa

Aizawa's about ready to smack the kid.

Today had been a rough day, with constant parent complaints, dealing with property damage, and a severe lack of sleep. Mic had been doing his best to not scream in his ear today, but it didn't seem to help much. Not even the excess amount of coffee he was downing was helping him.

So the moment the last class ended, Aizawa was a little more excited than usual to just get home, get some more caffeine, get a bunch of super comfy blankets, and just curl up somewhere to hibernate.

Of course, he walks out of the teachers' lounge only to be met with the explosive problem child.

The underground hero scrutinized the kid, noticing how antsy and uncomfortable he seemed to be, but he still stood his ground, blocking both Aizawa and Mic's exit.

After a tense staredown, Aizawa huffed. "Bakugou, if you have nothing to say, then please move." He'd sounded a little bit snappier than he'd meant, but he was really tired. Present Mic simply put his hand on his shoulder to keep him calm.

Bakugou shoved his hands in his pockets, glaring holes into his shoes. "I-... I need you to wait."

"Excuse me?"

"Just fucking wait here for a moment. Just a couple minutes, tops."

"Bakugou, you aren't making any sense and I've been feeling unnecessarily impatient today." Aizawa said coolly, rubbing at his temples. "Please explain yourself, because I know you don't just do things without reason."

Bakugou growled. "I don't- I fucking- Just wait, okay?"

This would go on for five solid minutes, Aizawa and Bakugou verbally running circles around each other as Aizawa tried to understand his reason for being there and Bakugou refusing to answer him directly.

And then, with one glance at the clock, his body relaxed. "Nevermind."

"What?"

"It's nothing."

And he just walked away. Aizawa had never been this confused and weirdly concerned in his life, because he had absolutely no clue what the fuck just happened.

"Maybe you can talk to him about it tomorrow?" Mic reasoned.

"I suppose." Aizawa huffed, thankful to finally make his way back home.

Of course, he'd be seeing him again that night, because he had to return to the dorms shortly after.

They were just turning onto the highway when they'd spotted heavy traffic. On the radio, there was news of a horrendous accident that had taken place a long way down the road, so the traffic would probably not let up for a while. Several heroes were already on the scene and not requesting backup, with eight confirmed deaths and several casualties.

They took a different route and drove back to the school in complete silence, all the way until they reached the gates and Present Mic released a heavy sigh.

"If we'd left earlier..."

"I know."

Entering the dorms, the common room was empty except for one lone figure. A familiar mess of ash blonde appeared from on the couch, staring at him intently before slowly stretching like a well-rested cat and standing to leave.

"Kid," Bakugou stopped, watching Aizawa as he let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "What was that?"

Bakugou's brows furrowed as he looked away, staring at nothing for a moment too long before turning back. "Ask All Might. He knows more than me."

Aizawa simply watched as the kid disappeared from sight, shaking his head as he went to find his own spare room.

Yeah, he'd definitely have to talk to All Might about that.

Utsushimi and Yoarashi

"So, you actually drink black coffee?"

Bakugou glared at Sero dangerously before going back to his drink. "Black as my soul."

Sero could barely contain his laughter when Kaminari nearly choked on his latte in response, Jirou patting him on the back.

It must have been an interesting sight, seeing all twenty of them stuffed in one of Musutafu's Herobucks coffee shops and just generally having a good time. It had been the girls' idea, taking everyone out to just hang. Not like usual, when they all split up and went their separate ways. All of them, altogether, making a scene.

Sero had to agree with Ashido. It was the best idea and the worst idea.

"So," Sero started. "What movie are we going to see again?"

Ashido shrugged. "Don't remember. It looked really bad, though."

"Yay, dumb horror movies are manly!" Kirishima laughed.

"Of course you'd say that." Kaminari chuckled, taking a straw and trying to steal from Jirou's mocha. It didn't end well.

"Duh." Bakugou responded. "Who doesn't like making fun of bad horror films?"

Ashido suddenly leaped up onto her chair, startling a few nearby people. "AN OUNCE OF HUMANITY STILL EXISTS WITHIN HIM!"

"BACK OFF, HORNS!"

A wave of laughter erupted from the other side of the room, Iida shouting something and Midoriya rambling some incoherent nonsense, while other customers gave them all odd looks. Outside, Aizawa looked like he legitimately wanted to just keel over and die while Present Mic laughed about something else entirely and slapping the poor man on the back.

As Sero turned to take another sip of his fruit drink, two figures wandering by caught his eye. They looked familiar, an extremely tall and built guy and a busty girl with a stoned expression. After thinking about it for a moment, it suddenly dawned on Sero just who he was looking at. Or at least, he recognized the girl.

"Hey, Blasty," he said, tapping on Bakugou's shoulder. Red eyes landed on him and he pointed a thumb out the window. "Ain't that your lady friend from Shiketsu?"

With a raised eyebrow, Bakugou looked where he was pointing, his eyes slightly widening in recognition. "The hell are they doing here?"

He stood up, squeezing by the others and slipping out the door. After a quick word with Aizawa, he approached them.

"What's Bakugou doing?" Jirou asked, leaning over a fried Kaminari.

"He knows them both, I guess." Sero answered, scratching his head.

And apparently, he knew them well, because as soon as the girl saw him, her face lit up. Without hesitation, she practically body-slammed him, earning what looked like a string of curses and death threats as he stumbled back from her momentum. A moment later, the big guy had approached him with a face bright enough to rival the girl's, slapping him on the back as soon as she let go with enough power to have him nearly hacking up a lung. Sero heard Jirou and Ashido laughing hysterically.

A moment later, Bakugou reappeared inside, the two visitors following him. "Oi, Half n' Half!"

Todoroki's head appeared above the crowd, his eyes widening at the sight of the new arrivals while said people seemed to light up all over again at the sight of him.

"It's good to see you, Todoroki!" the big guy practically yelled, while the girl winked at him.

"Alright, Candy Cane, here's what's going on." Bakugou stated, the girl choking at 'Candy Cane'. "Camie and Baldy were with some of their classmates from Shiketsu, who ended up ditching them like a bunch of assholes, so now they're coming with us to that stupid movie, got it?"

Todoroki nodded along easily. "Sure."

"Well, they seem friendly." Kirishima commented with a smile.

"Dude, it's the hot chick from the exam!" Kaminari suddenly exclaimed after coming to his senses, immediately being smacked by Jirou.

"Yeah, and it looks like she's friends with Blasty, 'cause he invited her and the big guy to hang out."

"Oh, sweet!"

"It is sweet!" Ashido cooed. "Dynamite's even making friends outside of our class! Isn't that exciting!?"

Sero had to smile at that. "Yeah, I guess he is. Wonders never cease."

Todoroki

It was surprisingly difficult to keep the volume down when he really wanted to stomp down the halls with enough force to break his foot through the floor. Suddenly, he kind of understood why Bakugou was so loud.

Taking a deep breath, Todoroki stepped into the elevator, jamming his thumb against the ground floor button and leaning against the wall. It was a quiet ride down, the sounds of the elevator's descent being his only ambiance.

He couldn't possibly understand why, but conversations with his father had suddenly become a lot more difficult.

Their relationship had become so much more complicated after the man had started trying to turn things around and 'atone' as he'd put it. His sister was thrilled, always going on and on about how they might actually be able to be a normal family for once in their lives, while his mother just seemed to be cool with it, willing to try and move on just a little too easily for his own personal liking.

On the other side of the fence, his brother wanted nothing to do with him. No matter how much their father might try, Natsuo would have absolutely none of it, because how dare he think that he can just come back after everything was said and done and pretend that everything was fine.

And then there was Todoroki himself, who was constantly finding himself in a weird sort of middle ground. On one hand, he really didn't want to forgive him. After everything he'd done, he didn't want to just stand there and be okay with it like Fuyumi or his mother.

And yet, when he'd been nearly killed by that strange nomu, he'd felt his heart stop dead in his chest.

It was all so confusing, especially when he decided to start calling him every once in a while to ask how he's doing. How he's doing? He's really confused is how he's doing, so please don't call while on an international business trip and it's three in the morning back at home, dad.

The elevator dinged. Todoroki looked up to see that he was already on the common room floor. With a sigh, he stepped out of the elevator, quietly making his way to the couches, only to be startled by another presence.

"Why are you here?"

Bakugou looked up at him with tired, angry eyes, quickly looking away. "Why the fuck do you care? I should be asking you the same thing."

Todoroki simply stared. On one hand, he really didn't want to deal with Bakugou right now, but at the same time, the opposite couch happened to look really inviting at that moment.

The latter option won out.

Todoroki stared at his hands for a long moment, ignoring the other presence in the room. He could feel Bakugou's glare burning through him, giving him the urge to shudder.

"You just gonna sit there trying to set things on fire with your mind?" Bakugou snorted.

Todoroki scowled, but didn't look at him. "No. My father's just an idiot."

Bakugou became oddly quiet at that, leaving them both back in silence. Whether it was awkward or not was beyond him.

And then, after what felt like hours, Bakugou spoke. "So's my mom."

Todoroki didn't look up at him, but he continued. "Bitch flies off to Paris for an overseas modeling job and thinks she can call me whenever she very well fucking pleases, and then calls me an asshole for acting so ungrateful. I'm trying to sleep, hag!"

He huffed loudly, and Todoroki finally looked at him. "And it's not like I actually hate her or anything, and I know she cares, but she can be so- Argh, she's just the worst sometimes! Selfish-..."

He took a slow, deep breath and laid down on the couch, covering his eyes with his forearm. "Drives me up the fucking wall."

Todoroki doesn't remember asking about his family life. Neither him, nor Midoriya, now that he thought about it. He wasn't sure where the question even came from, but a thought crossed his mind, a memory, a passing comment, and suddenly the words just came out.

"Has she ever hit you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"What? That's how I was raised."

He said it so easily that Todoroki visibly startled. He stared at him, looking for any hint of pain, sadness, frustration, something, anything.

Nothing.

Ah. That made sense.

And somewhere in the back of his mind, something seemed to open up. This idea appeared in his mind that even though it couldn't possibly have been, by any stretch of the imagination, as bad as what he went through, maybe, just maybe, he could understand, even if it's just a little bit.

So he spoke. "Yes, my father is doing something similar. He's been calling me more often, actually, ever since he started trying to make up for my childhood... You see..."

…

All Might

When All Might was sad, everything was wrong, thus were the rules of Midoriya's world.

So, when All Might came to class with hunched shoulders and a lowered head, Midoriya's heart shattered into a million pieces, because after everything that the man has done for the world, he didn't deserve any sadness.

The day was a slow one, with Midoriya seeking out All Might every chance he got, trying to find ways to cheer him up, whether it be him doing something good or something funny happening. However, no matter what he tried, from homeroom classes to heroics lessons, nothing seemed to be working, and he hated it.

Even as the day came to an end, nothing seemed to be helping, and it was making him nervous and more prone to crying than he already was.

Finally, the school day ended, and Midoriya felt even more exhausted than normal. All Might walked off rather quickly, Midoriya following after him in a hurry. Could it be about the whole thing with Sir Nighteye? Was it losing his powers, or just Kamino Ward in general? Was he remembering his old master? Did he feel useless? The higher the number of possibilities, the more Midoriya's heart broke. How did he do it? How was All Might able to deal with all of this all by himself with a smile on his face?

He shouldn't have to.

Standing outside of the teacher's lounge, he watched as the deflated All Might sat heavily on a couch, putting his head in his hands and just sitting there, quietly, and it was one of the worst things that Midoriya had ever seen in his life.

He heard footsteps, and Midoriya looked up in time to see Kacchan staring over his shoulder at the sad scene in the teacher's lounge.

They shared a look, and it was a moment that Midoriya would never forget. It was a moment where, for a single second in time, they understood each other.

And then Kacchan slipped past him, boldly walking up to the man that was once and still is his idol, his hero. All Might looked up at him, immediately putting on his hero facade and straightening his back to sit upright.

"Is there anything I can help with, Young Bakugou?"

Kacchan was quiet for a long moment, staring him directly in the eyes, and Midoriya watched as All Might's shoulders slowly sagged back down.

"I've learned..." Kacchan stated slowly. "That heroes are allowed moments of weakness." His eyes hardened. "I learned that from you."

With All Might sitting down, his figure slouching over as heavily as it was, for that moment, Kacchan was looking down at him. "Practice what you preach."

There was a long moment of silence where both All Might and Midoriya tried to fully understand what had been said. It was like a bolt of lightning, striking at the highest peak.

And All Might took a deep breath, put his head back in his hands, and let himself break, if only for a moment. Kacchan sat down next to him, not making any movement to comfort him. No, he just sat there, and let his presence be known.

Shyly, Midoriya tiptoed into the room, closing the door behind him to avoid any unwanted attention, and sheepishly walked over to sit down on All Might's other side. Being the emotional person he is, he immediately let out a sob, hugging his hero tightly and crying into his shoulder, because that was how he made his presence known.

And there they stayed, just the three of them. A hero, his successor, and the boy's greatest rival against the world, with Japan's biggest secret resting on their shoulders. So for now, they let themselves be weak.

Because tomorrow, they would be stronger than ever.

Midoriya

Uraraka was not proud to admit that she'd absolutely panicked.

She couldn't even imagine whose bright idea it was to let Deku and Bakugou intern at the same agency, but she was pretty excited about it since she was with them as well. It would be an amazing learning experience, at least for her, and she was looking forward to training and growing alongside two of the people that she looked up to and tried to catch up to.

They'd gone out patrolling with a couple of sidekicks on the third day of their internship when they'd come across a plot to set off a bomb in an apartment complex. With no choice but to act, Uraraka had gone with one of the sidekicks to deactivate the bomb while Deku and Bakugou went with the other to fight the villain.

It might have been one of the most intense experiences of Uraraka's life, being so close to such a dangerous object while her senpai worked tirelessly to disarm it. It was like a breath of air after being underwater when it was successfully deactivated with three seconds to spare. For a moment there, Uraraka thought that it might actually be over.

There was crackling over the radio, the other sidekick's voice coming through loud and clear. "Two villains outside bombsite! It's me and two interns! Need immediate backup!"

The sidekick with Uraraka tuned in. "Bomb diffused! We're on our way!"

Adrenaline continued to surge through Uraraka's system as she and the sidekick rushed back out of the building, dust picking up all around them as the battle raged on. Apparently, there were even more villains than just two, but more heroes were appearing to help as well. It seemed like everything was under the heroes' control. Everything was fine.

And then there was a clang, the sound of metal hitting flesh, and Deku screamed like a man on the brink of insanity.

A chill ran down Uraraka's spine at the sheer animosity behind it, and she could only assume the worst. Sprinting through the dusty battlefield, she dodged and weaved around different fights between different heroes, sidekicks, and villains in search of her two classmates, her friends, as her heart threatened to beat right through her chest.

And then two bodies were thrown in front of her and nearly sent her flying. She tripped anyway.

The green mop was easily recognizable, shivering and refusing to move from on top of the other person, the black and orange suit giving away his identity. Deku looked up at her wildly, only recognizing her a moment later. His movements were frantic.

"I fucked up!" he says breathlessly, startling Uraraka with his language. "I fucked up really bad, Uraraka!"

Uraraka's heart dropped into her stomach, dreadful understanding washing over her as she crouched down to their level, Deku moving off of his frighteningly motionless childhood friend. Bakugou's exposed stomach was turning disturbing shades of black and purple and blood was freely flowing down his face, originating from a nasty gash on his head that had Uraraka cringing.

She was not proud to admit that she was panicking, her airway constricting on her and tears pooling in her eyes.

Deku's head snapped to the side, eyes zeroing in on something and sharpening like a predator.

"Stay with him."

And Deku was gone, taking off screaming and body-slamming a villain with a metal projectile quirk at full speed. Both of them disappeared into the dust, the only evidence of their struggle being the green electricity that cut through the foggy air every other second.

A cough pulled Uraraka back to her injured classmate, and despite their dull color, she'd never been happier to be looking into those red orbs.

"The hell..." he mumbled. "Where's...the shitnerd?"

"He's fighting the villain." she responds with a watery smile. "He's, uh, he's kicking his ass."

Bakugou seemed to accept that response, nodding his head before wincing. "So long as he watches his own back next time. Moron..."

"Hey," Uraraka said, gently patting his cheek. "Stay awake. You probably have a concussion."

He only hummed as the dust finally cleared, the heroes standing victorious once again. In the distance, Uraraka could see Deku, breathing heavily and standing triumphantly over the form of the fallen villain. Heroes were quick to run over and take the villain into custody, Deku watching them intently until he was completely out of sight.

As it turns out Bakugou's injuries looked far worse than they actually were, much to both Deku's and Uraraka's relief. Deku was spouting apologies for being so careless, at some point slipping about remembering the shooting incident, and Bakugou was quick to shut him up.

In the end, everything ended alright. Everything was fine.

Uraraka couldn't agree more, nor could she be more thankful.