Izuku let out a small, muffled groan when his pillow moved. It was way too early for him to get

up, he could feel it in his bones, exhaustion still weighing him down. Wait. What?

He paused, his foggy head clearing a little bit. Pillows were not supposed to move. Prying his eyes open, exhaustion weighing him down, he shifted to look at what was causing the movement. Shouta glanced down at him, his expression soft and fond as he took in Izuku's sleepy, confused gaze.

"Morning," he murmured down at him, lips curving in a small smile.

Blinking in confusion, Izuku yawned and stretched slightly, enjoying the warmth Shouta seemed to radiate. "Morning," he rasped back, the memories of the previous evening trickling back slowly. Ah, that was why Shouta was in his bed. That made more sense than the idea that Izuku had already managed to get him in bed for real.

"It's about time for me to head out," Shouta murmured. He had clothes he could change into at UA, which is why he was able to sleep so long. And quite frankly, it was the best night of sleep he'd had in quite some time.

Izuku huffed slightly, but obligingly shifted over just enough to let Shouta get up. He then promptly scooted back over into the warm spot Shouta had left on the bed. "Plug my phone in, please?" He asked, voice slightly muffled by the pillow he was burying his face in.

"Of course," Shoua said, his voice amused as he watched Izuku bury himself in the blankets. "Do you need another alarm set?"

"No, I set the alarms I needed last night," Izuku said, turning his head just enough to enjoy the sight of Shouta moving around in the soft morning light. It was a domestic scene in the same vein as the night he'd done the dishes, and it left a warmth in his chest. Not only did he need the alarm set for when he needed to get up for work, but he also needed to call Abe-San to set up a good time for an emergency session, so he had to set multiple alarms to try and make sure he wasn't late for work.

"Good," Shouta said, quietly gathering up his things. "I'll text you later." He paused. "Let Hideo know what happened with Bakugou. He needs to make sure that if any collaboration is needed with Limelight Heroes, Bakugou shouldn't have contact with you."

Izuku sighed softly. "Yeah, you're right. I need to make sure he's aware of what's going on."

And hopefully, between Nite-Lite and Bakugou, Hideo wouldn't decide Izuku was more trouble than he was worth.

Shouta frowned. "If there are any issues, let me know," he requested softly. "There shouldn't be, but I know you had some issues with Nite-Lite, so if she becomes a problem about this, I can handle it so Hideo doesn't have to."

After a few moments of consideration, Izuku finally said, "That's something you'll need to take up with him. I don't want to step on his toes when it comes to disciplining his Heroes."

"Fair enough," Shouta said easily, moving to the bed to drop a quick kiss on the top of Izuku's head. "I'm headed out, have a good day."

"You too," Izuku said quietly, before snagging Shouta's hand quickly as he moved to leave. "Hold on, let me..." He trailed off, lifting himself up on one hand to reach towards his beside table. He hissed sharply when he propped himself up on his hand, the wrist the Bakugou had injured the previous night aching sharply at the sudden addition of weight.

Shouta frowned, dropping to a knee by the bed and reaching out to Izuku. "May I?" He asked quietly.

Izuku nodded, shifting and sitting up, grimacing when he relieved the pressure on his wrist. "I didn't even think about it last night," he murmured. "I was...distracted," he finally settled on.

"You had a literal panic attack," Shouta murmured, carefully examining the injured wrist. "I think you can be forgiven for not being at your best." His frown deepened as he traced the very distinctive burns that littered Izuku's wrist. "Bakugou put his hands on you," he said flatly.

"He did," Izuku said quietly. "I think I'll need to go to the doctor," he admitted reluctantly. He hated going to the doctor.

"Talk to Hideo," Shouta said after a moment. "I'm sure he'll let you use the Agency doctor."

Izuku relaxed slightly. "If he will, that would be ideal." A lot of doctors wouldn't treat someone who was Quirkless-there were too many anatomy differences, they said, that could cause an issue. Even for something as simple as a potentially sprained wrist and some burns, he was sure they would direct him to the Quirkless Clinic-which had a significant waiting list if it wasn't an emergency.

"I should have noticed," Shouta said, his fingers trailing gently over Izuku's wrist and hand. "I'm sorry."

"If I can't blame myself, I feel like you can't either," Izuku said drily. "You had to chase Bakugou out of my apartment, you literally punched him in the face for me, and then you brought me down from my panic attack and spent the night to keep me safe." He smiled then. "Trust me, you did more than enough." He shrugged. "Besides, I wouldn't have been willing to leave my apartment last night. I was at my limit."

"I understand and even agree with that intellectually," Shouta agreed slowly. "I'm having a harder time of it emotionally."

"Well," Izuku murmured, shifting his had to thread their fingers together briefly, "I'll be more than happy to remind you." He paused, before nudging Shouta to the side, remembering what he was doing before they'd gotten distracted by his injury. Izuku dug through his bedside table for a moment as Shouta stood up, before coming up with the item he was looking for. "Ha!" He said

triumphantly. "Here, lock up behind yourself." He handed Shouta his spare key.

"Are you sure?" He asked slowly, remembering how Izuku had mentioned that he didn't have people over often at all.

Izuku shrugged, dropping back into the bed. "I trust you," he said simply. "You having a key- being in my space-it doesn't bother me." Not like it would with most people. Hitoshi had a key as well, but no one else did-not even his mother. He had made a decision, once he had moved out, that only people who didn't cause him stress or anxiety would be welcome in his apartment and he had stuck to that.

Hitoshi hadn't ever used his key, preferring to swing down and open the window to avoid tracking in general nastiness, but him having it was a huge show of trust and appreciation that he'd acknowledged the importance of. Shouta acknowledging that same importance showed that, just like Hitoshi, it was a good decision to give him a key.

"Thank you," Shouta said, quiet and grateful. "I'll be sure to lock up behind me."

Izuku lifted up briefly to accept a light kiss, and then he dropped back down and promptly went back to sleep as Shouta made his way out the door. The previous evening's situation-and all of the emotions-had left him exhausted, so he was hoping a few more hours of sleep would help him out a little more.

The beeping of his first alarm woke Izuku up again, and he groaned, rubbing dry, gritty eyes. He actually felt a little worse now than he had the first time he had woken up. He probably should have just gotten up then. But he had things he needed to get done, so he dragged himself out of bed, turned off his alarm, and went to the bathroom to splash cool water on his face to try and wake himself up a little bit more. A quick phone call to Abe-San had an emergency therapy session scheduled for a little later that day, before his scheduled shift at the Agency, and a quick call to Hideo had a meeting scheduled with him during his shift as well.

Finally, Izuku called Hitoshi. "Hey," he greeted quietly when the phone was answered.

"Izu!" Hitoshi's voice was unusually loud and slightly frantic. "What happened last night?"

Izuku winced. "Shit, I totally forgot to let you know everything was alright. "I'm sorry Toshi, it was a whole situation ."

Hitoshi huffed, voice quieter now. "I gathered, since I don't think you've sent an SOS text since our first year when Bakugou cornered you in Gym Beta. What happened ?" He repeated the question.

"Bakugou, of course," Izuku muttered, so tired of the blonde. "He-I forgot to lock my door after I came in, so he came in and scared the hell out of me. Talking about how he's the only one who can make me cry, and all sorts of weird shit." He grimaced. "It was weird as hell, Toshi, I don't even have the words to tell you how strange the whole conversation was."

"What. The. Hell." Hitoshi's voice was incredulous. "That-Izu, that's a hell of an escalation and so fucking illegal ."

Izuku hummed, frowning slightly. "I don't know that it is that much of an escalation, actually. Or at least something that, if I'd been thinking, I shouldn't have expected. He's been by before, when Shouta was here, and he tried the door but it was locked that time. I wonder if he would have come in on us that night if it hadn't been."

"Izu, I don't even have words for that," he admitted. "If he wasn't a Limelight Hero, I'd suggest reporting this shit to the police, but the media attention on it would be ugly."

"Yeah," Izuku agreed tiredly. "But..." He sighed. "I'm going to try, because I know Shouta will want me to, but I'm Quirkless and I can already see how it's going to go. Not to mention if he was arrested the media attention on me could ruin my career in Underground Heroics." And moving to Limelight Heroics as an analyst would be an option, but it would be pretty iffy if he'd reported a Limelight Hero for stalking and breaking and entering, as well as assault.

"Ugh." Hitoshi made an utterly disgusted noise. "This is some bullshit. So we either figure out a way to make him leave you alone, or we murder him and hide the body, since reporting it probably isn't going to help."

Izuku burst out laughing. "Yes, those are absolutely our only two choices," he agreed, still giggling slightly. He glanced at his bedside clock and sighed. "Alright, I have an appointment with Abe-San, so I have to let you go. I just wanted to let you know that I was doing alright." He grinned slightly. "But we have to get breakfast or something soon, because I have got to tell you about the shit Hizashi was saying. I thought Shouta was going to punt him off of the roof."

"Seriously?" Hitoshi's voice was surprised. "He's always way more patient with him, Midnight- Sensei and Ingenium than he ever was with us."

"Yeah," Izuku laughed, "But you'll get it when you hear what he was saying. Like, Shouta and I both get it, but something about the way he said it really pressed every button Shouta has I think."

Hitoshi snorted. "Well, that was sufficiently mysterious to make me clear out some time after patrol one morning. Let me know when you're free," he said.

"Well," Izuku said thoughtfully, "I'm free tonight if you are. Shouta has something to do early tomorrow for Nedzu, so we won't be seeing each other tonight."

"Shit," Hitoshi muttered. "I actually have a date with Shouto after patrol." He hesitated. "I could probably cancel..."

"Nope," he said immediately. "You're absolutely not canceling. Go on your date, and call me afterwards and let me know how it goes. You and I can get together another time," Izuku promised him. "You and Todoroki don't get a lot of time together." The perils of having almost exact opposite patrol shifts, unfortunately. Izuku was glad his shifts mostly lined up with Shouta's. Watching Hitoshi struggle to find time with Todoroki was bad enough, having to do the same thing would sap him of every ounce of patience he possessed.

"Appreciated," Hitoshi said tiredly. "I'll let you know when I have some time off."

Izuku laughed quietly. "You do that, and I'll make sure to make some time for you, alright? Shouta will understand if I have to reschedule with him, I'm sure."

Hitoshi snorted faintly. "Maybe. I've never seen him in a relationship, but I got a hell of a lot of warnings when people thought that he and I were dating right after I graduated."

"What?" Izuku laughed again, deeply amused. "You never told me about that!" He grinned, dropping back onto the bed and getting comfortable. "You have to tell me everything, I've got to see if you heard the same shit I've been hearing."

"Yeah, it was the weirdest shit ever, OK?" Hitoshi's irritated huff hissed across the line. "I got so many warnings about how possessive he is, which was wild."

"Oh, same," Izuku said. "Which I totally don't get, because he hasn't been unreasonable in any way," he admitted.

Hitoshi was quiet for a long moment. "Sure," he said. "But Sensei is an adult with self control, he's not going to be bad romance novel possessive, you know?"

"Ok," Izuku said slowly, "So explain it to me. I haven't seen anything I'm uncomfortable with at all."

"Well, I wouldn't expect you to," Hitoshi said. "You might be independent, but you also communicate very clearly. You don't play any sort of games with the people in your life." He paused before admitting, "I got the details about his previous relationships from Midnight-Sensei after we got drunk together, if you want them." There was absolutely no shame about that in his voice, which made Izuku smirk a little bit.

"I don't feel right about that," he said after a moment of consideration. "I'm not worried about it, so I feel like that should come from him if he wants me to have that information-if I get too curious, I'll ask him," Izuku decided.

"Fair enough," Hitoshi said easily before continuing, "I had so many people pull me aside and ask me if we started dating before I graduated-which was so insane, Sensei would literally never touch a student."

"Ok, X-Ray asked me that exact same thing!" Izuku exclaimed. "I get that there are some sketchy people in this world, but seriously!" He grimaced. "He also asked me if I felt safe in my relationship, which was sweet I guess, but still super weird."

"Fuck," Hitoshi laughed sharply. "I got asked that same thing. I know people have a better opinion of Sensei than that, I can't believe they ask that sort of shit." His voice was disbelieving.

Izuku sighed, staring at his ceiling. "Probably because he's dangerous," he said after a moment. "In a way that I don't think a lot of people think about, but they realize it instinctually-so they want to make sure that he's not dangerous in a relationship, I guess." It was hard to put into words, but there was an edge to Shouta that a lot of Heroes didn't have, and it made most people reasonably cautious around him.

"Huh." Hitoshi was quiet for a moment. "That makes sense, actually. I know Sensei is dangerous-I know it more than most people, actually, since he trained me personally and not just in classes." He was quiet for another few moments. "He's dangerous like you are. He's smart, in a way people don't like to think about-he's able to out-think people like you can, but he also has the added bonus of being able to erase non-mutation Quirks, which is terrifying for most people."

Izuku hummed in agreement. "And he doesn't rely on his Quirk, which a lot of people don't understand." He laughed suddenly. "And, having sparred with him, and I can say that physically he's fucking brutal in a fight, which ups the danger factor by ten." He paused. "Wait, did you say I'm dangerous ?" Izuku asked, startled by the thought.

"Uh, yeah?" Hitoshi sounded like he was questioning Izuku's intelligence. "Do you think I call you terrifying on a regular basis for my own amusement?" He asked. "Not only can you kick my ass, but you're so smart it's scary, and Sensei obviously agrees. You don't see things the way I do, the way most people do." Hitoshi paused for a moment. "Izu, sometimes you say things that give me a perspective I would have never even considered before, because the things you think about don't even occur to me. If you don't think that makes you dangerous, I don't know what to tell you," Hitoshi finished drily.

"Well," Izuku managed after a moment, his voice a little rough, "That was quite the speech Toshi. Thank you," he said, clearing his throat. "And no, I never thought about the differences between how I think and how most other people think." He sighed softly. "Probably why people think I'm creepy, huh?" He asked quietly.

"Hey!" Hitoshi's voice was sharp. "I don't want to hear any of that. You're not creepy-I tease you sometimes, but I don't actually think you're creepy. Wait," his voice turned suspicious. "Is that why Sensei asked why you're so quiet when you're walking? Do you stop yourself from talking?" He demanded.

Izuku winced. "Well." He hesitated before sighing and admitting, "Yeah, I stop myself from mumbling. It's fine when we're having a conversation, but when he stops talking it's-" He stopped and sighed again. "It's a problem," Izuku said. "I care about what he thinks, so I try to stop myself from mumbling since everyone-besides you and Nedzu-thinks it's creepy as hell."

"Izu." Hitoshi sighed. "I can pretty much guarantee you that Sensei won't care about your muttering." There was silence for a moment, and just as Izuku was about to say something, Hitoshi continued. "Actually, I think he'd be...pretty upset to realize that you've been holding part of yourself back from him."

"Probably," Izuku agreed tiredly. "I'll work on it." He huffed a small laugh. "I have a few things to work on, actually." He felt his lips curve into a faint smile. "Being in an actual relationship is different."

"Imagine that," Hitoshi drawled. "An actual relationship is different than the booty-call relationship you had with Shindo Yo. Shocking ."

"Shut up," Izuku laughed. "Go kiss on your boyfriend-" He rolled his eyes at the small noise of protest Hitoshi made. "Fine, your not-boyfriend, whatever, and get out of my hair."

"Whatever," Hitoshi laughed as well. "Have fun with therapy and work," he said cheerily, laughing more at Izuku's grumpy huff.

"Yeah yeah," he grumbled, before his voice softened a little. "Talk to you later."

Hanging up, Izuku just laid on the bed for a while, staring at his ceiling. Finally, he dragged himself out of the bed and got dressed for his emergency therapy session, packing his bag for work as well just in case the appointment edged too close to the start of his shift.

He went to the police station first, and while they took a picture of his wrist, and took a report of the incident, they were very dismissive. One officer even told him, after seeing the red Q on his ID that identified him as Quirkless, that he should be grateful for a rising Hero to be showing such intense interest in him. It was about what he had expected, if he was honest, so he didn't find himself too upset over it. As usual, it would be up to Izuku to find what justice he could for himself-and he wasn't actually unhappy about that. He would have liked for the police to do their jobs, of course, but Izuku wasn't opposed to having the opportunity to handle the issue himself. Or have Shouta help him handle it-he was pretty sure Shouta would grab that opportunity with both hands.

As usual, his therapy appointment was an exercise in extreme masochism and an emotional bloodletting all at the same time. By the time Izuku walked out of the building his eyes were red and irritated from tears, and he had to sprint to make it to work on time. Hideo wasn't super strict on times, especially with support staff, as long as all the needed work got done, but Izuku hated being late with a passion.

He dropped his bag by his desk as he sat down, sighing when Nite-Lite immediately made her way towards him. "Can I help you?" Izuku was pleased when he managed to make the question sound mostly neutral instead of irritated.

"You've been crying." Her voice was pitched to carry, and she sounded almost smug as she stared down at him.

"Yes," Izuku agreed flatly, leveling an unamused look her way as her smile faded. Nite-Lite had expected him to protest or get embarrassed, obviously. Too bad for her that Izuku had accepted the fact that he was a crier a long time ago.

"For fucks sake," X-Ray sighed from the doorway of Hideo's office, looking exhausted. "Nite- Lite, leave him alone."

Nite-Lite glared. "Why should I?" She challenged. "Obviously his boyfriend upset him, I'm just being a good friend and seeing what's wrong." The way her lips twisted as she spat out the word 'boyfriend' made Izuku's eyes narrow. Here was the thing. Izuku was well aware that most Underground Heroes-the good ones, at least-had a set therapist that they saw on a regular basis. He was in no way ashamed of admitting that he was in therapy.

So, fingers tapping slowly on his desk, he told her, "Actually, I was attending an emergency bloodletting-ahem, I mean therapy-appointment. It was rough."

Izuku wanted to laugh at the struggle he saw on her face. It was obvious that she wanted to take the bait he'd left dangling so thoughtfully, but she was also aware that nearly every person in the room went to therapy on a regular basis. Maybe it was unkind of him, but Izuku was more than willing to give her enough rope to hang herself now. It was surprising how she had completely run through all of his patience with her in just a few days. Izuku had always thought he'd had more patience than that.

From behind X-Ray, Hideo sighed. "Nite-Lite, go do something that doesn't involve harassing the analyst who has saved me a fortune already with your medical costs."

X-Ray paused, glancing back at him. "What?" He asked, sounding almost offensively surprised.

Hideo arched an eyebrow. "Do you people think I employ Izuku for fun?" His gaze swept over every hero that had congregated once Nite-Lite had started speaking. "Just in the time he's been here injuries have gone down thirty five percent. Every time he consults on a case injuries are less severe and in some cases nonexistent." He glared. "Do you people know how long it had been since a large takedown of a group of villains had no injuries in this Agency before he started? Because I do, and it's fucking shameful."

"I had no idea," X-Ray said quietly, shocked gaze shifting to a blushing Izuku. "I'm sorry," he said to Izuku. "I thought, since you're dating Eraserhead, that you were hired as a favor to him."

"For fucks sake!" Izuku snapped, temper sparking abruptly and making everyone in the room jump. "Do I seem like the kind of person who would date someone for fucking favors ?" Nite- Lite was slowly shifting back, her smug expression completely replaced by caution. None of them had ever seen Izuku lose his temper before, and the only one enjoying it was a slightly gleeful Hideo.

The man who had hired him had told Izuku time and time again that he was too nice, and that he would get taken advantage of if he didn't learn to say no. Watching Izuku finally lose his temper was the cumulation of months and months of little irritations piling up and the Heroes he worked

with pushing the envelope a little more every time they spoke with him. Besides, that made no sense. He'd been clear that their relationship hadn't started until after he'd started working there. Did people just ignore everything that came out of his mouth?

Still smirking, Hideo said, "Izuku, if you're ready for our meeting we can have it now."

Lips pressed tight in irritation, Izuku nodded shortly, grabbing his bag with a sharp movement as he stood. X-Ray quickly moved out of his way, and Izuku made his way into the small office. He still felt like he was about to breathe fire, but having a few minutes away from everyone else would give him a little time to calm down. "Thank you," he said after Hideo had settled himself on the other side of the desk. "I know you probably have other things you need to do today."

"Well," Hideo said mildly, "You aren't really the type to ask for a meeting unless it's something important, so I figured I should make some time for you."

Izuku sighed, and then explained everything that had gone on so far with Bakugou. He quietly avoided the fact that he and Shouta had originally been faking the relationship, and it was pretty easy to talk around given that they had been fake dating for, like, two days before Shotua had decided that faking the relationship wasn't something he was interested in. "I'm not asking for any sort of-" he waved a hand, "Special treatment or anything. I just want to make sure that if we have to work with him for any reason, I'm not assigned to him." He paused. "And I also wanted to see if I could see the Agency doctor?" He showed his injured wrist to a displeased Hideo.

Hideo grimaced. "Yeah, go to the doc after our meeting. He'll take some pictures too, just so we can have some documentation about what's going on. I'm sure the police were fucking useless, as usual." Hideo was well aware of how many officers treated Quirkless people. He sighed. "And we also have to make sure that Bakugou doesn't start lurking around causing problems," he pointed out.

"Well, I don't think he knows where I work," Izuku said slowly, thinking back and trying to remember if he had ever mentioned it around him. "I typically don't talk about where I work so much as I explain what I do."

"That's good," Hideo murmured, leaning forward and steepling his fingers under his chin. "Hopefully we can avoid any unpleasantness here." He snorted. "Beyond Nite-Lite and her endless nonsense, of course." He smirked faintly then. "I can definitely see why you asked me if you were doing something to cause this, though. Nite-Lite and Dynamite both starting this up at the same time would raise concern for anyone, I think." Hideo paused, looking curious. "Why is Dynamite so obsessed with you? He was in the Hero course, you were in Support. Did you two even interact at all?"

"Oh." Izuku blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry, I thought I'd mentioned-he and I grew up together. We've known each other for years, but the, ah, romantic interest from him is very recent."

"Huh," Hideo grunted, frowning. "Weird. Well, thanks for letting me know. I hate being blindsided by shit. I'll keep an eye out for him, and make sure that there's no issues if he does work with us." He cocked his head to the side. "How likely do you think that is?"

Izuku grimaced. "It's definitely not out of the realm of possibility. He's a Sidekick at Best Jeanist's Agency."

"Well, shit," Hideo scowled. "We work with his Agency a fair amount, actually."

That was probably why Shouta had asked him to let Hideo know about what was going on, Izuku

realized. "Well, it's a good thing I told you I suppose," he said drily, far more relaxed to know that Hideo was going to try and make sure he didn't have to deal with Bakugou here, at least.

Hideo sighed at him. "Yes, it is. Was there anything else, or can I start making plans to avoid working with Best Jeanist in the near future?"

Standing up, Izuku offered him a genuine smile. "That was everything. Thank you," he said quietly. "I really do appreciate it."

"Whatever," Hideo snorted, waving him off. "Go analyze something and leave me be."

Izuku obeyed, heading out of the office with a far more relaxed gait than he'd entered with. Nite- Lite had disappeared, hopefully to go patrol and leave him alone for the rest of his shift, and everyone else was either preparing for their own patrols or working on paperwork for previous patrols and cases they'd assisted the police on. Izuku sighed in relief as he headed towards the doctor's office. Tonight was looking to be peaceful.