When Izuku woke up, he was surprised to see a text from Hideo-the man was notorious for his

dislike of texting.

Hideo: Take the night off. I'm going to be dealing with Nite-Lite for touching you, and you aren't going to want to be around for it. It's going to be a formal reprimand.

Izuku: Sounds good. Let me know how she takes it?

Hideo: I will.

Izuku snorted, because there was the phone call from Hideo he'd been expecting as soon as he saw the text message. He slid out of the bed, gently patting Shouta when he made a muffled noise of protest and lifted his head slightly. "My boss is calling," he murmured in explanation before slipping out of the room and answering the phone.

"I hate texting," Hideo complained. "Anyway, Nite-Lite was obviously doing it deliberately to antagonize Eraserhead, and our Heroes coordinate with him and his little protege too often for her to be doing shit like that."

"He knows it's just her," Izuku said after a moment. "I won't lie and say he wasn't pissed about it, but he won't let it affect his work with the Agency-or Psyren's work either, for that matter. As a fair warning, they'll both refuse to work with her, which I think is reasonable, but they'll be able to work with anyone else just fine."

A heavy, relieved sighed hissed over the line. "Thank fuck," Hideo said with feeling. "If we didn't have Eraser to coordinate with we'd lose the edge we have over the other Underground Agencies for our takedown ratio."

Leaning against the wall, Izuku smiled to himself. He had known Shouta was a skilled Underground Hero, but hearing Hideo acknowledge that if he stopped working with their Agency their takedown ratio would drop significantly was-not surprising, but a little startling. But it also lit a feeling of pride in Izuku, that Shouta was that skilled and that someone like Hideo would admit it.

"Well, like I said, he's not planning on doing anything but refusing to work with Nite-Lite," Izuku told him.

"I agree with you, it's a reasonable request." Hideo let out a soft, irritated noise on the other end of the line. "It's something I'll make sure neither of them even have to request, actually." Hideo sounded tired. "At this point I'm running out of people willing to work with Nite-Lite," he admitted.

Sighing, Izuku slid down the wall and sat on the floor, stretching his legs out in front of him. "I think they'd be more willing to work with her if she'd just admit that she knows she's being unreasonable-even if she didn't stop. But no one wants to work with someone who seems delusional."

"I think," Hideo began slowly, "That you underestimate how much you're liked in the Agency Izuku. Because very few people want to work with someone who is willing to fucking harass you every day over who you're dating. It's one thing to make it clear she's interested if you and Eraser ever break up. What she's doing is a whole different kettle of fish."

"Agreed," Izuku muttered. "Like I said, let me know how she reacts-maybe I'm just hopelessly optimistic, but I'm really hoping this will be the wakeup call she needs to realize that it's just not worth it."

"Fingers crossed," Hideo said drily. He paused for a few moments before adding, "And Izuku? Do me a favor please."

"Of course," he said immediately. "What's up?"

"The next time anyone at the Agency puts their hands on you, you put them on their ass, OK?"

Izuku laughed and agreed before hanging up. After a while of just sitting there, he groaned and stood back up, cracking his back before heading back into the bedroom.

"Everything ok?" Shouta asked, still sprawled over more than his half of the bed.

Crawling back into the bed, Izuku shoved himself into Shouta's space as he said, "Yeah, I was just given the day off though. Apparently Nite-Lite is going to be reprimanded formally for touching me without my permission last night, and he doesn't want me there for that."

Shouta shifted just enough to curl himself around Izuku. "Good timing," he murmured. "I don't have to patrol tonight. I'd like to take you out on a date, since we both have time."

"That sounds nice," Izuku agreed. "Let me know when so I'll have time to get ready."

Shouta made an agreeable noise and by silent, mutual agreement they both went back to sleep. They'd both gotten up around the same time, and Shouta had made coffee. Sitting at the kitchen table sipping at their coffee, it was peaceful. "Do you have any plans today?" Shouta asked curiously.

"Well," Izuku gave him a playful look, "I seem to remember something about a date." He grinned when Shouta laughed. "But I also thought I'd go talk to Nedzu today, since I have some spare time."

Setting his mug down and stretching with a yawn, Shouta said, "Let me know how that goes. I'll walk you over, but Hizashi asked me to come over and help him with a few things so I won't be able to stay."

Izuku shrugged. "That's fine, I'll make sure to text you when I'm about ready to head out." He definitely didn't need Shouta glued to his hip all of the time-he understood why it was like that right now, and he wasn't mad about it. At least, not mad at Shouta , but he was absolutely not upset that he was going to go do something else while Izuku had tea and plotted with Nedzu.

"Sounds good, if I'm not able to swing by and get you I'll send someone." Shouta drained his mug of the remaining coffee and stood up. "I'm going to grab a quick shower before we head out."

"No rush," Izuku murmured. "I'd like to grab a shower too, so let me know when you're done please." He leaned his cheek on the palm of his hand, yawning widely. The extra sleep had definitely helped, but he still felt a little drained.

"I will," Shouta agreed, rounding the table to drop a kiss on Izuku's lips before heading towards the bathroom.

Izuku smiled after him for a moment before shaking himself and draining his cup as well. He didn't have time to be mooning after his boyfriend, he needed to start getting his things together. A quick text to Nedzu confirmed that he was good to drop by today, so Izuku stood with a faint groan and gathered both of their mugs, washing them out quickly before setting them to dry.

Hearing Shouta call out that he was done, Izuku took a quick detour into the bedroom before heading into the bathroom. Pausing by the door, he just took in the scene in front of him for a few moments as his mouth went dry. Shouta, shirtless and barefoot, towel drying his hair.

Carefully slipping into the room after he managed to tear his eyes away from Shouta, Izuku frowned when he surveyed the room. "Shouta, have you seen my bag?" He asked. Izuku couldn't exactly take a shower if he couldn't find clothes to change into.

He didn't trust the slow smile that spread over Shouta's face, and for good reason. "I have," Shouta said. He stepped a little closer to Izuku. "Intel is pretty valuable, what are you going to give me in exchange?" He asked playfully.

Izuku arched an eyebrow, trying to bite back laughter. "I could probably spare a kiss or two," he said slowly.

Laughing, Shouta took several quick steps towards Izuku and pressed him against the wall right beside the door. "Just one or two?" He leaned in, brushing his lips against Izuku's quickly. "I don't know that only one or two kisses will suffice."

"I could probably be persuaded to part with a few more," Izuku teased with a smile, slipping his arms around Shouta's neck. "But only if the intel is very good."

Shouta grinned down at him. "Oh, it's excellent ," he promised, dipping his head down to nip playfully at Izuku's bottom lip.

A little bit breathless, Izuku laughed a little as he said, "Then you can have all the kisses you want."

"That's what I like to hear," Shouta murmured against his mouth before sliding a hand into Izuku's hair to tip his head and ease the angle for the kiss.

Izuku's fingers dug into Shouta's back a little bit as his grip tightened. He lost track of how many times Shouta broke the kiss to breathe for just a moment before diving back in for another kiss. He felt dizzy by the time Shouta pulled away for the final time. He barely pulled back enough so they could breathe, resting his forehead against Izuku. They were both breathing heavily as Izuku managed, "Since I'm absolutely certain my kissing is excellent, do I get that excellent intel one where, exactly, my bag is now?"

Shouta couldn't help himself. He started wheezing with laughter, exacerbated by the fact he was still breathless from kissing Izuku. "You do," he said after he managed to calm himself and catch his breath. "I put your clothes away in my drawers-I'm not going to make you live out of a bag."

Groaning, Izuku shoved at his chest gently. "Seriously? You couldn't have just told me that?"

Leaning down to brush another gentle kiss against his mouth, Shouta smiled at him. "Absolutely not if I can leverage some kisses out of it."

Lifting up to brush his own kiss against Shouta's lip, Izuku shook his head at him. "Ridiculous," he murmured fondly. "Budge up, I need to get my shower so we can get going." Shouta stepped back, and Izuku hid a smile as he opened Shouta's drawers to find his clothes. Shouta looked remarkably satisfied as he watched Izuku-it was sort of adorable, actually, so Izuku couldn't find it in himself to be actually irritated.

He took his shower quickly and Izuku and Shouta headed out shortly after he got dressed and grabbed his notebook from the nightstand. The walk over to UA was pretty quick-Izuku could definitely see why Shouta had chosen to live at that apartment. Shouta dropped Izuku off just inside the gate with a quick kiss, and Izuku made the trek to Nedzu's office by himself. Once he had found a semblance of peace here, and walking through the halls again by himself he found that same sense of peace and freedom flooding back.

The office door swung open-Izuku hadn't even bothered to attempt to knock-and he walked in. "Sensei," he greeted. "It's good to see you again."

"Come, sit!" Nedzu chirped, swinging his feet as he gestured towards the chair across from him, tea and cookies already set out-the tea steaming softly, and Izuku knew that when he took his first sip it would be the perfect temperature. "I was surprised to have you ask to come see me so soon! Did something happen?"

Izuku offered a wry little smile as he sat down. "You could certainly say that. I got arrested the other night." He watched for a moment as Nedzu's fur bristled with rage, only continuing when he was waved on. "We found that Bakugou was manipulating Todoroki to give him information- mostly things Hitoshi didn't think to censor, things I didn't really consider a problem either, but he saw the text message I sent Toshi saying that I was staying with Shouta and told Bakugou. I ended up arrested for trespassing, it was a whole thing ." Izuku wrinkled his nose slightly. He hated being in the middle of drama, and it seemed like that was all that was happening around him lately.

"Well." Nedzu's voice was eerily calm. "I suppose this means we must step up our timeline. Bakugou getting you arrested is unacceptable . I will make that very clear, before the end of this."

Breathing out a slow sigh of relief, Izuku slumped down slightly in his seat. "Yeah. I don't want to rush it, but I...would appreciate it if we could speed the timeline up a little bit." Originally they had planned to drag things out, to slowly increase the pressure on Bakugou. Izuku wasn't opposed to still doing that, just a bit faster. He was not in a hurry to be arrested again, and he was concerned that it would come to that-or worse- if they let things drag on too long.

Nedzu visibly relaxed. "Yes," he agreed. "We certainly will speed matters up-I would suggest doing the same for any plans for Nite-Lite as well."

Izuku made a face. "I'm doing my best to let Hideo handle that," he admitted. "It's hard, but he's giving a formal reprimand today, so-well. I'd say hopefully she'll finally get the hint, but at this point I really don't think she's going to. I'm pretty sure she and Bakugou are communicating in some way or another, and I think he's feeding into her...concerns, I guess, about my relationship with Shouta."

Nedzu hummed thoughtfully. "As I'm presuming he did with Todoroki, comparing your relationship to his mother's with Endeavor?"

"I don't believe it was quite so blatant, but based on what Toshi told me that did seem to be what

Bakugou was playing on." Izuku grimaced. "I know Shouta is upset with Todoroki, but I can understand where he was coming from. He definitely should have reached out to someone, whether it was Toshi, me or even Shouta and confirmed what was actually going on, but..." He trailed off, lifting a shoulder in a half shrug. Izuku found it hard to be angry with him when he could see how Todoroki's own trauma had been used against him.

Tapping a paw on the table, Nedzu looked considering. "True, he should have reached out to someone. I believe I'll visit with him," Nedzu decided. "I'll confirm exactly what he told Bakugou, and he and I will...work through the issues that caused him to trust Bakugou without any verification."

The smile that stretched across Nedzu's muzzle was quite frankly terrifying, and Izuku was very glad he wasn't the focus of that particular plan. He wanted no part of anything that made Nedzu smile like that. "Let me know how that goes," was the response Izuku decided on.

"Oh, of course!" Nedzu chirped. "You'll be the first to know!"

Pulling out his notebook, Izuku didn't allow himself to hesitate. He'd made this decision, and he knew it was the right one even if it would make his Auntie Mitsuki hate him. Izuku handed the notebook over to Nedzu, who took it with a quickly hidden look of surprise. He very rarely handed over the actual notebook, preferring to provide verbal reports or copies instead.

"I let the fact that we were friends once blind me," Izuku began slowly. "But Bakugou has changed more than I've wanted to admit, and my old profile on him no longer fits." He tipped his head at the notebook. "This is the new profile I've compiled, based on what I've observed and some details Shouta was able to give me."

Sitting back with his tea, nibbling on a cookie, Izuku watched as Nedzu slowly paged through the profile, pausing at several points. Finally, Nedzu shut the notebook gently and looked at Izuku. "Did you notice anything...curious about this profile?" Nedzu asked carefully.

"I was wondering if you'd notice it as well, or if I was being paranoid," Izuku murmured in response, putting his teacup down carefully. "I did. It looks like a villain's profile, not a Hero's."

"Yes." Nedzu looked grim as he wrapped his paws around his own tea. "I don't doubt your profile, but this is a drastic change from when he was in UA."

"Or," Izuku said gently, "It wasn't a part of himself that he showed here." He sighed. "Bakugou always did save the ugliest parts of himself for me," he pointed out. "We didn't interact too much here, so you wouldn't have seen it."

"A good point," Nedzu admitted. "Well, now that I know what to look for, I will observe Bakugou and make sure you and I agree."

Izuku smiled at that. It was how the two of them had always solved it when one of them wasn't sure the profile the other had made was correct. Falling back into the familiar routine was a comfort, and he was confident that even if Nedzu found something different than what Izuku had seen, they could still come up with a solution.

"Now!" Nedzu clapped his paws together. "Tell me about living with Shouta. How is that going?"

Izuku grinned, and settled deeper into the chair after snagging another cookie for a conversation about his life. Nedzu was always so curious about what Izuku was doing, and even more so now

that he was dating Shouta. It was nice having someone other than Hitoshi to talk to about his relationship.

After a while of chatting with Nedzu, going from his relationship with Shouta to how work was going to how building the future client base for his freelancing analysis was going, Izuku looked at the time. "I'd better get going," he told Nedzu. He grinned a little. "Shouta wants to take me on a date tonight." He texted Shouta quickly, letting him know he was getting ready to leave.

Nedzu stood as Izuku did. "I'm glad you're happy," Nedzu said, his voice warm and fond. "I was concerned, after your graduation, that you would close yourself off. I can't tell you how pleased I am that it isn't the case."

Standing and taking a few steps around the desk, Izuku slid to his knees and hugged a surprised Nedzu. After a few moments, Nedzu hesitantly hugged back. Izuku had never been physically affectionate-he'd still been traumatized by the physical assaults of his middle school years, and physical contact had caused panic attacks. "Thank you," Izuku said as he pulled back. "Thank you for being there for me, even now after I've graduated. I wouldn't be half the person I am now if it wasn't for you."

"You've always been my favorite student," Nedzu said quietly.

That was Nedzu's way of returning sentiment, and Izuku knew that so he just smiled and stood up. His phone vibrated, and a quick glance at it had his smile widening. "Shouta's on his way back over. I'll go ahead and head up towards the gate."

Nedzu patted Izuku's hand briefly. "Have a nice date."

Izuku made his way towards the gate, hands shoved into his pockets and just enjoying the walk. "Hey," he greeted Shouta when he saw the other man already waiting just inside the gate.

Looking up, Shouta smiled at him and shoved off of the wall he'd been leaning against. "Hey," he repeated back, brushing a quick kiss over Izuku's cheek in greeting before wrapping an arm around his shoulders as they started walking side by side. "Do you have anywhere in particular you want to go?"

Humming in consideration, Izuku thought for a moment. "Not really." He laughed a little at Shouta's soft noise of irritation. "We could go see a movie, or we could grab dinner? There's a newer restaurant that just opened up a few blocks down that sounds pretty good."

"I think Nemuri mentioned that." Shouta looked thoughtful before nodding. "That sounds good, actually. Dinner, and a walk afterwards?"

Izuku made an agreeable noise. "There's a park pretty close by, we could walk around there for a bit after dinner?"

"I think we have a plan," Shouta said, sounding pleased as they reached the restaurant. They were seated quickly, and the host seemed to be someone who recognized Shouta-they were placed towards the back in a corner, where Shouta could see the entire restaurant easily without having anyone at his back.

They settled in and ordered, and Izuku sat back and just watched Shouta for a long moment. At some point, he was going to ask if they could consider Izuku not moving out after Bakugou and Nite-Lite were handled. Not yet, he hadn't quite found the words he wanted to use, but at some point he was going to ask. Izuku didn't see Shouta saying no, but he wanted to be prepared just in

case. "Did you and Hizashi finish what you were helping him with?" Izuku was curious, he couldn't lie.

Shouta sighed. "He wanted me to help him rearrange his living room. Again ." He looked entirely aggravated. "Which is why he didn't just tell me what he wanted help with earlier. I definitely would have said no, this is the third time this year he's asked me to help with that."

"I-I feel like there are only so many ways you can arrange a living room," Izuku said slowly, fighting down a smile.

" You would really think so ," Shouta nearly hissed, before taking a deep breath. "But it's done, and I told him to not ask me to help him with that again for at least six months."

Izuku gave him a sympathetic look. "You're going to be sore tomorrow, huh?"

"I'm a Hero, I have a demanding training routine and I'm incredibly physically fit." Shouta gave him a flat look. "And yet, somehow, moving furniture makes me feel like I've never used a single muscle in my life until I tried to lift a damned couch."

Tipping his head back, Izuku laughed. "I helped Toshi move," he managed after a moment. "I definitely understand what you're saying there." He'd been sore for days afterwards.

Their food came out quickly, and they both tucked in. Izuku had been more hungry than he'd thought, and Shouta had obviously worked up an appetite from moving furniture. Shouta handed over his card when the waiter came over. "Are we going to fight about this?" He asked when he saw the odd expression on Izuku's face, a bit amused at the thought that their first fight might be over buying dinner.

"Nope," Izuku said firmly. Shouta had made it clear multiple times that he didn't mind paying for their dates-Izuku suspected that he might prefer to do so, honestly-and he knew his own discomfort was stemming from how their relationship had started. Izuku wasn't going to start a fight over something like that. "I'm sure we'll have something far more interesting to have our first fight about," he added wryly.

Shouta laughed. "I'm sure we will," he agreed, standing up once he'd signed the receipt.

Standing at the same time, Izuku slid an arm around Shouta's waist as they walked out of the restaurant and headed towards the park. It was quiet and peaceful when they reached it, the paths empty of people. "A walk in the park in the moonlight," Izuku murmured playfully. "Are you trying to seduce me?"

Shouta pulled him a little closer. "Is it working?" He asked, his voice a little rough. "Because I would really like to take you to bed."

Before Izuku could answer, crackling explosions broke the silence from the trees lining the path.