After a few minutes of silently contemplating what new fuckery Bakugou might put him through with some actual self control involved, Izuku decided he needed some more information. "What was Bakugou like during school?" He asked curiously. "I never interacted with him in UA too much; we had different classes and I always made a point to bolt as soon as classes were over." At least until he'd made friends with Hitoshi. Bakugou had mostly stopped trying to corner him after class once Hitoshi had started hanging around and had very loudly made his displeasure known the one time he'd seen Bakugou cornering Izuku.

Shouta hummed, thinking back. "He was loud, certainly, but he was the undisputed leader in the classroom. No one else really had the sort of charisma needed to go head to head with him on that- Todoroki might have, if he'd cared enough to, but he didn't. He and Bakugou were friendly enough, which is probably why he believed him so easily. Bakugou never lied during school-he never needed to."

Izuku blinked slowly. "Strange," he murmured after a few moments. "He was always lying when we were children. To my mother about where my burns came from, to his mother about why I wasn't around anymore..." To the teachers when he'd blame Izuku's clumsiness for why he showed up in tears with a torn uniform. Bakugou had lied as easily as he breathed, but it had always been terribly obvious to Izuku-maybe just because he'd always known when Bakugou was lying, because it had always been about him.

"That is strange," Shouta agreed, a bit surprised. "I'd say maybe he grew up a bit, but if he did it obviously wasn't enough, given what he's doing now."

Izuku dipped his head in agreement, before stretching out and grabbing his now cold coffee, grimacing faintly as he slugged it back. "I'm not going to be able to get to sleep any time soon," he told Shouta. "You might as well go on to bed, and I'll stay out here and work for a little bit." If what he knew about Bakugou was now false, then he had to make an entirely new profile for him. If it wasn't for the situation he found himself in, Izuku would actually be excited about it.

Shoua frowned at him. "I'm not going to leave you out here by yourself," he said firmly. "I'll stay out here with you." He paused for a moment. "Or, better yet, you could come work in the bedroom."

Izuku frowned right back at him. "I'll keep you up," he protested. "Not only will I have to keep the light on, but I fidget and talk to myself while I'm working-there's no way you'll be able to sleep."

"You underestimate my ability to fall asleep under any circumstances," Shouta said dryly. "I'm absolutely serious, I will happily fall asleep on this couch and wake up with a sore neck before I go to bed without you tonight."

Rolling his shoulders, Izuku sighed but smiled. "Alright," he agreed. "I'll try to work in the bedroom. If it's too much for you to fall asleep, let me know, ok?"

"Of course," Shouta murmured, satisfied by his agreement. "Normally I wouldn't care," he admitted, "But your migraine concerned me. I don't like the thought of you out here by yourself if you start feeling poorly again." He paused. "I'm also not thrilled about the idea of you being out here alone in general, given that you've already been arrested once today."

Izuku groaned, covering his face. "If my name goes on a police report, it's going to get back to Hideo," he muttered. "He will never let me live it down if he finds out I was arrested."

"Normally you'd probably have a good chance of your name not making its way onto a report," Shouta said thoughtfully, "But I'm pretty sure that officer is going to make sure it does."

Tapping his fingers on the couch, Izuku scowled at the reminder of the male officer who'd been so rough with him. "I wish officers like that got more training." He sighed, leaning into Shouta. "But if I'm being honest, it probably wouldn't help matters any."

"Why's that?" Shouta asked quietly. He hadn't brought up the fact that Izuku was Quirkless-it was obviously not something he wanted to discuss, but if Izuku was the one bringing it up, he was going to take advantage of that fact and get information about why the officer had reacted like that. Shouta knew what he thought the issue was, but Izuku was the one who had actually experienced it, so he'd know better than Shouta exactly why the office had treated him like that.

Izuku frowned. "Because people see us-Quirkless people, I mean-one of two ways. They either see us as impossibly fragile and not able to do anything, or they see us as something subhuman not deserving of basic human decency." The male officer that had arrested him had fallen into the second category. His mother, unfortunately, fell into the first. "Then there are the rare people like you and Toshi, who don't see us as fragile or unworthy, but just as...people. It's so, so rare," he said softly. "And I want to make sure you know how much I appreciate it."

Shouta considered that for a long moment. "I can't say if I would have acted differently if I'd known you were Quirkless before we sparred," he admitted. And it burned to admit that, because he'd always prided himself on not being Quirkist. "But you had more than proven that you weren't anywhere near fragile or helpless-or unevolved, like people say." He had always hated that term- unevolved. As if Quirks were the end all be all of society.

Izuku offered him a small, sweetly amused smile. "I don't think you would have acted any differently towards me." He had faith in that, even if Shouta didn't.

"What," Shouta asked softly, "Did I do to earn that sort of faith from you?" He'd like to make sure to keep doing it, after all.

Laughing, Izuku turned and slid onto his lap, perching back on his knees. "You could have used the fact that Bakugou was coming after me to say I couldn't protect myself from him. You had every opportunity to say I wouldn't be able to protect myself, that I needed protection because I was Quirkless. But you never made me feel like any of the protection or help you offered was because of that. I never felt that you were offering me anything you wouldn't have if I'd had a Quirk, or that you thought I was weak and needed your protection."

"You don't need my protection," Shouta said quietly. "I have absolutely no doubt that, if I hadn't been around when Bakugou started this up, you would still have figured all of this out. You would still be working on a plan to deal with him, you wouldn't be hiding in a corner waiting for someone to help you-you would handle it." Placing his hands on Izuku's hips he tugged him a little bit closer. "I'm grateful that you're allowing me to help you, because I'd be a worried wreck otherwise, but you don't need my help."

Izuku couldn't help himself. Threading his hands through Shouta's hair, he held the man's head still as he rose slightly on his knees and kissed him hard. Shouta made a soft noise of surprise against Izuku's mouth before grabbing his hips more firmly and hauling him in close. "Thank you," Izuku murmured against his mouth when the kiss broke, both of them breathless.

"I haven't done anything for you to thank me for," Shouta said firmly. Then he added slyly, "But I'm willing to pretend I did if it means you'll kiss me like that again."

Izuku grinned at him, eyes bright as he said, "If I kiss you like that again I won't get anything at all done tonight."

Shouta let out a put upon sigh. "I'll add it to the quota of kisses I'm owed," he told Izuku.

"Your life is so difficult," he teased back, smile widening as he rested his forehead against Shouta's.

"It is," Shouta agreed. "I have a severe lack of kisses at the moment, I had to listen to my student mope about his not-boyfriend, and I have to go to work tomorrow and tell Nedzu that Bakugou got you arrested while you were in my apartment."

Izuku let out a surprised laugh. "I'll give you that last one, telling Nedzu about my being arrested is not a task I envy."

"You could tell him instead," Shouta pointed out.

"I could," Izuku agreed, "But I'm not going to." He smiled and brushed his lips against Shouta's again, deliberately lightening the kiss to try and dispel the veil of sheer want that had gripped him. "It's a good question to ask Nedzu, actually-why did Bakugou decide to try and get me arrested?" He sat back a bit. "I can't find any rhyme or reason to it."

Shouta bit back a grimace, but didn't lie to him. "I can only imagine that if Pro Hero Dynamite had come to the station and asked to speak with you, they would have allowed him to."

He paused, but Izuku easily picked up the thread from there. "And, of course, the entire misunderstanding could be cleared up...if I behaved myself and did what he wanted." Izuku nodded to himself. "I can definitely see where you're coming from on that." The thought of it was actually horrifying, but it made an unfortunate amount of sense. "Hopefully it ended up being more trouble than it was worth, since it didn't work out." Izuku was not at all interested in being arrested again.

Shouta frowned. "I certainly hope so," he agreed, an edge to his voice as he reached down and traced the ugly bruising starting to form on Izuku's arms.

"I bruise very easily," Izuku murmured, his gaze falling to where Shouta was tracing his fingers over the bruising.

"He should have never grabbed you that hard," Shouta returned sharply. "I know you didn't resist, so there was no reason for him to grab you hard enough to bruise. Or cuff you that tightly."

Because there were ugly circles on Izuku's wrists as well, blooming blue and purple under the red skin the cuffs had rubbed raw.

"No," Izuku agreed. "He shouldn't have."

"I'm going to ruin his life," Shouta decided abruptly, his dark eyes still focused on the bruising so evident against Izuku's skin. His eyes darted up to meet Izuku's as he added, "Nedzu will help, once I explain." He said it like a challenge, but Izuku wasn't interested in arguing about it.

"I'm sure he will," Izuku said, lips twitching in amusement. "I'm not going to fight with you over ruining his life, Shouta. The entire situation could have been a lot worse than it was if the other officer hadn't been there, and if I hadn't managed to contact you." It would have been a lot worse if it had been any other Quirkless person, Izuku knew. Very few Quirkless people had connections to any Heroes-or any connections at all, really. They would have been at the mercy of the police, and the police had very little mercy to offer those that most people considered 'an evolutionary step backwards', as he'd heard one person put it.

Shouta considered that, raising an eyebrow. "Would you like to help ruin his life?" He asked curiously.

"I would," Izuku admitted. He should probably be ashamed of that-his mother had always said he should try to educate people, not make them miserable because they didn't understand what it meant to be Quirkless-but he had long since passed the period in his life he'd made excuses for bigots. "Unfortunately I probably won't have time." He needed to create a new profile for Bakugou to try and predict what his next moves would be, and he also needed to update Nite-Lite's file and confirm if she had any technological abilities. Her Quirk allowed her to emit a bright light for a certain period of time-hence the Hero name-and it was an excellent distraction and made her a useful part of a team, but it wasn't particularly helpful for solo work. But if she could hack, that increased her threat level significantly.

"Fair enough," Shouta said easily. "I'll let you know when I start, and if you have some time you can already throw me an idea or two, or join in for a little while and then drop back out."

Izuku couldn't help the way he arched his own eyebrow at that. "Oh, you're planning on making it a whole thing ."

"I absolutely am. Making him miserable just one time isn't going to cut it for me-he needs to be miserable for the rest of his life," Shouta said.

Izuku just stared at him for a minute. "I have never been more attracted to you than I am at this very second," he said flatly. "Stop it. I need to focus, and you being vindictive and hot is far too distracting."

Shouta smirked and pulled him closer. "I don't think I will," he said playfully, eyes dark and trained on Izuku's mouth.

"Absolutely not," Izuku said firmly, lips tightening as he fought back a smile. "No more kissing, I have things I need to get done tonight."

Shouta sighed, but patted his hip in acquiescence. "Fine, fine. I'm going to go get ready for bed, I'll let you know when I'm done in the bathroom.

Letting his smile break free, Izuku leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss on Shouta's cheek. "Thank you," he said quietly, before sliding off of his lap and sprawling lazily on the couch. He

watched Shouta walk out of the room appreciatively and then let out a soft, discontented noise. He would have far preferred to continue kissing Shouta, but he really did need to get this done. Izuku was well aware that he kept procrastinating because he didn't want to think about it, but the time for excuses was over. It was time for him to put himself to work and figure out the best way to stop this before the situation escalated further.

"First and foremost," he muttered to himself, reaching for the pen and notebook he'd left out the other night, "Are they working together?" If they were, it was a problem. And unfortunately, Izuku couldn't discount it, given what Shouta had said about Bakugou being capable of being rational and methodical. If Nite-Lite and her strange obsession with Izuku could get him information, at this point Izuku had to assume Bakugou would be willing to go along with her and not explode her.

But if they weren't, that opened up the possibility of using them against each other. Izuku couldn't lie to himself, he knew he would feel immensely satisfied if Nite-Lite and Bakugou destroyed each other. The two of them working together made too much sense right now though-too many pieces fit together just a bit too neatly. Either they were working together, or one of the two were doing an awful lot of working to make it seem like they were. Chewing on the end of his pen, Izuku stared down at his pages of notes; well aware that he was still procrastinating on making his new profile for Bakugou.

"Izuku?" Shouta leaned over the back of the couch, damp hair falling forward and making Izuku shiver. "I'm done in the shower if you need it."

He sighed and nodded. "I do, actually." Izuku snapped his notebook shut, a bit irritated with his own cowardice at avoiding thinking about Bakugou. Still, maybe a hot shower would help settle his mind. Besides that, laying in bed for so long and then getting arrested had left him feeling gross.

"You already know where the towels are, and I saw you opened one of my spare toothbrushes so you're good there. Is there anything else you need?" Shouta looked at him curiously.

Izuku smiled up at him affectionately. "Nope, I think I'm good." "Want me to take your notebook into the bedroom?"

Izuku paused. This wasn't the junk notebook he kept around for random scribbling of ideas. This was his personal analysis notebook that he kept well protected. He knew Shouta wouldn't do anything to it. He knew he wouldn't. But a lifetime of training told him to keep it close, otherwise it would end up destroyed. He took a deep breath. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as he father had said before he'd fucked off to who knew where. "Yeah, if you wouldn't mind." Izuku made sure to keep his hand perfectly steady as he offered it to Shouta. "The last section is where my notes on the current situation are-if you aren't too tired, would you mind looking at them?"

"Of course," Shouta said, carefully tugging the notebook out of Izuku's grip. "I'm not too tired at all for that. I'll read it while you're in the shower..." He hesitated. "Unless you'd prefer for me to wait until you're out?" Shouta had seen Izuku's concern over his notebook, and waiting for him to be done in the shower to read it wasn't a problem.

"No," Izuku rubbed his face, irritated with himself. "I'm just being stupid and overly emotional tonight. I'd appreciate it if you'd read it, and then I might have some questions for you about Bakugou either tonight or tomorrow while I'm working on his new profile-make sure you let me know if you're too tired," he added. "I'm not opposed to waiting." He was really, really not opposed to waiting. Izuku was not looking forward to realizing how badly he'd messed up by

building on Bakugou's old profile instead of creating an entirely new one. He'd even told Bakugou 'people change'.

"I think you've had a long, stressful day today that is the cherry on top of a long, stressful couple of months," Shouta said softly. "You should give yourself a break. I certainly don't know of many people who could handle everything as well as you have been."

Listening to Shouta, Izuku found himself pulling out of his spiraling thoughts. Mentally taking a step back, he even agreed. It had been a long, stressful period of time that was only getting worse. "You're right," Izuku sighed, standing from the couch and cracking his back. "Being kind to myself is something I struggle with sometimes," he admitted lowly, "So the reminder is appreciated."

Shouta moved around the couch to pull Izuku into a warm, loose hug. "It can be hard," he agreed. "Sometimes it's difficult to remember that, even while you think you should be handling things better, someone else is watching you thinking you're doing better than they could have ever imagined."

Resting his forehead on Shouta's chest, Izuku just stood there and enjoyed the easy affection that Shouta was always so quick to offer. "Thank you," he said as he finally took a step back, Shouta's arms falling away easily. "It really is appreciated." He grimaced then. "But I really do need a shower, I feel disgusting."

"Yeah, police cars are definitely not the most sanitary of vehicles." Shouta made a disgusted face in remembrance. He still held that particular incident over Hizashi's head whenever the man tried to convince him to go out drinking.

Izuku snorted. "I'm going to need the story behind that face, because it looks like it's hilarious ."

"Not," Shouta said precisely, "At the time." He smirked then. "But yeah, it's pretty funny now. Remind me later and I'll tell you all about the poor life decisions Hizashi convinced me to make. It's why we decided as a group that he's not allowed to make any decisions ever again."

Shaking his head and laughing, Izuku headed towards the bathroom. He hadn't been in a position to really enjoy the far better shower Shouta had the last time, so he took his time to enjoy having actual water pressure and warm water that didn't turn freezing in five minutes. "I'm in love with your shower," he announced as he walked into the bedroom, toweling his hair dry as he started to dig through his bag one handed for something to sleep in.

"Note to self," Shouta deadpanned, "I could have seduced Izuku by letting him take a shower in my apartment."

Izuku looked up and grinned. "I mean, I don't want to say I'm that easy, but...yeah, probably." He laughed as he ducked back out of the room to get dressed, dropping the damp towels in the laundry basket as he came back into the bedroom before crawling into the bed and settling beside Shouta. "So, thoughts?" He asked, tipping his head towards the open notebook on Shouta's lap.

"You have a talent," Shouta said honestly. "I'm incredibly impressed by this. And you're right; the possibility that makes the most sense is Nite-Lite and Bakugou working together now, even if they didn't start out working together."

Izuku smiled slightly. "I'm glad it made sense when I put pen to paper on that." It was an issue he'd worked hard on with Nedzu-sometimes his stream of consciousness rambling had intuitive leaps on paper that didn't make sense, so he'd had to work on writing out exactly why and how he

made those leaps. "I don't think they started out working together-Hizashi said Nite-Lite probably saw the stress from Bakugou and jumped on the opportunity to insert herself in my life, and I think he's probably right on that. But I do think they're working together now."

Shouta nodded along. "I agree, it makes the most sense. And hopefully, with both of them working together, when one of them slips up we'll catch them both out." No one was perfect, and they were bound to slip at some point-it was just a matter of catching them when they did so.