There's life and then there's death.

There are theories, but no one really knows what comes after. The promise of death usually freaks people out, most like to believe that there is something waiting for them after they take that final breath. A second, more peaceful life, perhaps, but Izuku always found the thought of nothingness appealing. To drift from the chaotic world to one of silence and peace sounded quite nice to him.

Izuku liked getting lost in things. Like the sound of his keyboard when typing out a new research proposal about a hero's quirk. Or the chatter of a stadium when the voices melded into a single hum. He liked that. Usually, life was too loud, too mundane, too invasive. It left him with earbuds in almost constantly to drown out his thoughts of those that tried to invade. If it wasn't music, it was a show playing in the background while he did homework. Anything to keep his mind from wandering too far.

He tapped a pencil against his lip, considering the submitted design from an incoming first year. It was a difficult balance to stay true to what the student wanted while also making it a functional costume. Personally, he felt that the colors were too loud and overall lacked cohesiveness with the student's quirk. Surely someone with a quirk that gave them the ability to control water would want that incorporated into the overall aesthetic.

He decided not to question the choice and instead submitted a note for a future consultation. "Midoriya!" a voice sang out.

Izuku rolled back from his chair to look at a grinning Hatsume standing in his open door. "More babies?"

"More babies!" she squealed, tossing a stuffed duffle bag into his room.

Midoriya sighed, looking longingly at his half-finished report before standing to investigate the newest inventions. "What'd you come up with now?"

She rummaged through the stained and torn duffle till she pulled out a pair of seemingly normal gloves. He accepted them gingerly not hiding his suspicion at all. Clearly annoyed with how long he was taking, Hatsume reached forward and shoved Izuku's hands into the gloves. Then she reached over to this bed, snagging the pillow and holding it to her chest, a mad twinkle in her eyes. "Punch me!"

"Wha—"

"Punch me! As hard as you can."

Izuku eyed her and the gloves wearily. With them on he could feel some structure between the layers of fabric. Even if most considered Hatsume to have a few screws loose, he trusted her designs. "Fine but if you get hurt, I'm not taking the blame."

That seemed to spark more determination in her eyes. She gripped the pillow tighter with an eager nod.

Izuku threw a punch that should've just knocked Hatsume off her feet. Instead, she flew through his open door and across the hallway to the neighboring door. Izuku blinked in surprise as Hatsume sat up with a grin, her goggles sitting askew.

"Hatsume, I'm—"

"That was incredible!" She shot to her feet and pulled Izuku's gloved hand to her face. "Even better than I hoped for a first prototype!"

"It's. . .awesome, Hatsume." He pulled the gloves off and handed them to her. "How do they work?"

That fire sparked in her eyes again. "I've been experimenting with this new synthetic material that hardens on impact." She bent over to dig through the duffle again. "I combined that with some of the material that's able to absorb kinetic energy—You know the one?—which makes the gloves roughly double the impact intended!" She shot back up with a wide grin and shoved Izuku's head into a roughly shaped helmet.

"This is baby #10367!"

Izuku shifted the helmet around. It was slightly too big and fell too far forward. "What does it do?"

"This one is perfect for patrols! It scans the opponent and uses an algorithm to determine what quirk they most likely have."

Izuku's eyes widened as the screen on his face brought up statistics about Hatsume.

QUIRK ANALYSIS COMPLETE: SIGHT ENHANCEMENT 90% PROBABILITY

"Wow," Izuku breathed watching as the helmet scanned his room while he turned. "How'd you get your hands on the code?"

"A girl has her ways," she answered coyly. "I'll come bother you more when I finish the others." Izuku handed the helmet back and picked up his pillow off the floor.

"Still doing your report?" Hatsume asked, leaning on the back of his desk chair to look at his computer.

"Yeah, it's due tomorrow and I have some proposals due, too, so I'll be up for a while."

Hatsume peered up at him in the dimly lit room. The sun was nearly set now. "Do you want company?" Her voice lacked its usual chaotic mirth.

He smiled, stepping over to flip the light on and close his bedroom door. "I'd like that actually." She grinned, pushing off the chair. "I'll get snacks!"

A moment later she was gone, leaving the door cracked for her return. Izuku sunk back into his chair heaving a sigh as he looked down at the work still needing to be done. His phone and earbuds sat on his desk tempting him, but the room was silent. He couldn't even hear his neighbors. A rare occasion.

The only thing better than chaotic noise was absolute silence. Not that he couldn't handle the in- between. School and social situations required that of him, but those chances when the thoughts around him were too distorted to grab his attention or there was no noise at all, were blissful.

His fingers were flying across his laptop when Hatsume returned. She waltzed in, popcorn in one hand and a pizza in the other. She wasn't gone long enough to bake a pizza though. "Another baby," she reasoned, setting the pizza and popcorn on his nightstand.

"Oh? How does this baby help the heroes?"

"My creativity won't be stifled!" she declared, taking an indignant chomp at a slice of pepperoni. "Heroes are always busy. Besides, who doesn't need pizza baked in half the time?"

Izuku rolled over to his nightstand, snagging a slice for himself before rolling back. "Never said it wasn't genius."

She grinned and flopped down into his beanbag across from the TV. "Any first years with interesting quirks?"

"This one I'm working on is a water type." He sorted through the stack of paper till he found the report from the quirk database. "They can only control liquid forms of water, so their suit design incorporates a lot of places to hold water. That would be heavy though, so it's been difficult to fit those containers in a distributed way that isn't bulky or heavy on one part of the body." He tapped his pencil against his chin again, thinking.

"I have a baby that would work perfectly for that!" Hatsume sprang from the beanbag chair and dug through the duffle. She pulled out a spidery contraption. "It's still a rough prototype but this is meant to distribute weight over the body." She handed it off to Izuku. "I was planning to pitch it to some rescue groups."

Izuku held up the spindly wireframe. "How much can it distribute?"

Hatsume shrugged, frowning at the prototype. "At this stage, only about 50 pounds."

"That's more than enough. I wonder if the costume developers have anything similar to this. It's exactly what they'll need if they plan to carry water with them." He handed it back to Hatsume. "Till yours is finished, anyway."

Hatsume flopped back down in front of the TV and turned on one of the sitcoms they'd been working their way through for the fifth time.

Izuku let the show fill the air as he typed and Hatsume pulled out a sketchbook to work on more babies.

He liked this. A lot. Just them enjoying each other's company.

They worked together in a way Izuku hadn't expected when he first met her. But Hatsume's loud and exuberant nature was able to distract Izuku's mind. She was like the music he always played, helping him focus. It was also nice that she'd sit through his rambling about heroes and quirks without getting bored or annoyed. He was just as eager to hear about her new babies.

When they met the first day of classes their first year, Hatsume had sat through his nervous chatter with unwavering attention till he was finished and then curiously asked about his quirk. He'd expected her to leave with a poor excuse after he told her the truth, but her eyes had just widened and asked if he could read her mind.

She was the first person he'd opened up to about the full range of his quirk. Instead of running, she told him his quirk was amazing and in a way became his support item.

Izuku looked over at her, laughing at the TV with a half-eaten slice of pizza in her hand, and felt his chest warm. She wasn't always the most emotionally intelligent, but she was quick at realizing there was a problem and removing him from stressful situations. He couldn't ask for a better friend.

Izuku shot up from his desk the next morning to his blaring alarm. He winced at his sore joints and stiff neck as he shut off his alarm flashing on his phone. Hatsume groaned behind him having fallen asleep in the beanbag chair. At some point, the popcorn bowl in her lap had toppled to the ground sending the leftover unpopped kerns across his floor.

"You're cleaning that up," he groaned.

She waved him off as she stood and popped her joints till her body went lax with a tired sigh. He watched her leave and then stripped off his clothes and pulled on a fresh uniform. As he was straightening his tie in the mirror, Hatsume returned, also in clean clothes but also holding something in her hands.

She set it down on the ground and hit a button. The machine buzzed across the floor sucking up the mess from the night before. "Aren't my babies amazing?" she gushed.

Izuku snorted. "You have something for everything, don't you?"

"You can never be caught off guard, Midoriya."

"You can buy those, you know?"

She looked hurt by the notion. "Mine is so much better! He has twice the suction power of any on the market and digital mapping! Just look!"

Izuku watched as the little robot paused in front of the bed's leg before moving around it slowly not missing a spot before disappearing under his bed.

"Yes, baby, get those dust bunnies!" Hatsume cheered proud tears in the corner of her eyes.

Izuku rolled his eyes, shutting his closet door, and picked up his backpack. "Move it, Hatsume, we've got class."

"My babies!" "They'll be fine—"

Hatsume spun on him, her eyes narrow with scrutiny. "You forgot that Mr. Aizawa asked us to help with his class didn't you? I need some of my babies. I'll be right back!"

Izuku drew a blank as she ran off to her room. He vaguely remembered Hatsume mentioning a team up with the hero course students. "When did you tell me about this?" he asked Hatsume when she returned with a large bag on her back.

She quirked an unamused brow. "Don't tell me you spaced out again. I get that your final project has been keeping you busy, but this is just sad." She tutted her tongue in disappointment. "You were there when Mr. Aizawa asked us."

Izuku felt his cheeks flush. "Right," he grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I remember now." He'd been focused on adding notes to the student's design submission when Mr. Aizawa had stopped them in the halls to ask that they help in a training exercise.

They hurried out of the dorms and over to campus, separating after homeroom to attend classes. While Hatsume's classes revolved primarily around tech and support item designs, Izuku's classes dealt with the construction of costumes and working with Hero agencies.

Being a hero was never in his cards, he realized that in middle school, but that didn't mean he couldn't still follow his dreams. Part of why heroes are as good as they are is because of support items.

He could make hero's great. He could make costumes that would be remembered. He had the power to craft a Hero's image.

But still. . .

He couldn't help but wonder where life would've taken him if he'd held onto that childhood dream. If he'd fought harder to learn how to control his quirk instead of ignoring it for so many years.

Attending UA had been a turning point for his relationship with his quirk. Still, the progress was slow-moving. Especially since he vowed to only use it during combat training or dire situations. It felt too invasive otherwise, even if he couldn't block it out all the time—some people's thoughts were just too loud—he never actively read people's minds.

Some of the teachers expressed interest in him transferring to the hero course. Hatsume too on many occasions. He'd told Hatsume the extent of his quirk's powers, everything it could do, but he got the impression she didn't fully understand. His teachers knew even less, only that he could hear other people's thoughts. Not a lie, just not the whole truth.

Izuku pushed open the door to his next class. Sewing and Design. He liked this class. The sewing machines were wonderful background noise. He slid into his desk next to the window and pulled out his sketchbook. Even though he already submitted the costume he'd been working on last night, he still wanted to play around with the design to something he felt better fit the student's quirk.

"Midoriya, I need your help!" Two purple hands slammed on his desk. "Sure, what do you need?"

His classmate, Kiyo, waved her hand bringing over the costume she was working on. Izuku stood to get a better look. The fabric levitated in the air thanks to her telekinetic quirk.

"She requested that we add more black accents to the bodysuit portion, but I'm struggling to figure out the best design." Kiyo picked up her tablet and opened a digital sketch pad. "These are some of my designs, but I'm also not sure what material would be best. She has an acid quirk."

"Mina Ashido from class 2-A, right?"

Kiyo scowled at him. "How do you do that?"

Izuku shrugged a bit bashful. "Anyway, can't you just use whatever her bodysuit is made of?" "We don't make it anymore."

"We don't have something new?" Izuku took the tablet from her hands and opened the fabric database.

"No, we do, I'm just not sure what would be best. She wants stretch, but those are the weakest to acid." She pointed to the three fabrics she had saved. All about the same score in acid resistance, but varying shades of black, one looking closer to dark grey. "But, since it's weaker material, I need to think about where to place it on the costume."

Izuku flipped back to the sketchbook where Kiyo had drawn a couple of designs. He looked between them and the costume floating a foot away. "This new material is still stronger than the one hers is currently made of," he muttered. "We should probably put in a note for her to consider requesting an updated costume altogether."

"Oh, good idea," Kiyo said, stepping away to type the note into her computer. "I like the one with the black sleeves."

"Yeah?" She leaned on his shoulder to look at the sketch and then squinted at the costume. "Should I do the legs too and go for a leotard look?"

Izuku took the pencil and colored in the legs black. "You think that'd be removing too much of the original fabric?"

Kiyo pressed her lips into a thin line. "I could take the leg fabric and fashion them into leg warmers to go over her boots."

"That's a great idea! And it works with her theme." Izuku drew in the leg warms and nodded. "Yeah, I think that looks great."

"Sweet! Thanks, Midoriya," Kiyo said, snatching the costume from the air and the tablet from his hands.

Izuku sat back in his desk. With his final submitted he had nothing to do but relax. Something he'd rather do at home, but the sewing room wasn't so bad. Sometimes it was loud enough he could get by without turning to music to drown out external noise. Given that it was the last day for final projects to be submitted, there was plenty of white noise.

He focused on sketching out designs for water quirks. There would be more in the future after all. "Midoriya, Hatsume is asking for you," Kiyo said, poking him with the end of her pencil.

Hatsume grabbed his arm, barely giving him time to grab his bag before dragging him out of the room. "We gotta get there before the heroes!" she ordered, pulling him into a jog.

"Hatsume, slow down. The gym is right next door."

There was a wild spark in her eyes that filled him with dread. "We're playing the villains!" "I feel like you're way too excited about that."

She skidded to a stop outside of the training gym tugging him close by the tie. "Show 'em what your quirk can do."

"I—But—"

She pulled him closer, their foreheads pressed together. "You don't want revenge?" She grinned. "Even a little bit?"

Izuku gulped but had to admit it was tempting. Class 2-A had a reputation after all. It'd be nice to knock them down a few pegs. "We're the villains?" But it also went deeper than that.

"We're the villains and Mr. Aizawa said to give them hell."

Right, because they'll be entering their third year. Almost fully-fledged heroes. Still, he doubted Mr. Aizawa worded it that way. "I'm gonna regret this."

"Great!" Hatsume dragged him by the tie into the gym. He pulled it from her grip and straightened it as they approached the two teachers talking at the entrance of the training course. A small-scale city.

Mr. Aizawa and All Might greeted them. "Thank you for helping us today," All Might said, giving Hatsume a leery look.

"Don't mind her, she's rabid," Izuku apologized, shoving his overly excited friend away. "What do you need us to do?"

Mr. Aizawa smirked, never a good sign. "We're going to have you two playing villains. You'll have a couple of fake hostages to guard in one of these buildings. The objective for the heroes is to save the hostages and civilians while the bombs placed around the city go off."

"Hostages and bombs?" Izuku questioned, trying to figure out what their backstory as villains was. Aizawa nodded. "The bombs are just a ploy to distract the heroes from the hostages you've taken." "Oh, so they're gonna have to choose between the bombs and saving people?"

"Precisely," Aizawa nodded. "This assessment is on their teamwork and strategy."

Izuku felt his heart race in his chest, thundering against his ribs. Working with heroes was always so thrilling. Usually, he was just taking the opportunity to spar with them after school, even in their combat class they didn't interact with heroes. This would be a great opportunity.

"One more thing," Aizawa said, getting their attention. "These students will be licensed heroes in a year. Don't underestimate them. Don't hold back either."

"You want us to use our quirks?" Izuku asked. He hated how nervous he sounded, but he'd never used 100% of his quirk in a fight for fear of giving the true range of his abilities away. From his peripheral he saw Hatsume glance at him probably wondering the same thing as him: Would he get overwhelmed? One way to find out.

"If you don't, you'll be doing a disservice to them," All Might said. "Use everything you've got."

Hatsume elbowed him with a determined smile. He mirrored it, grasping her hand. "We'll be the best villains."

"Perfect," All Might said, clasping his hands in front of him. "I'll take you two to the hostages, while Eraserhead gets the class ready.

Just as they turned a corner and headed down an alley, they heard the gym doors open and chatter

fill the air. It faded though as they kept walking.

"That should do it," Hatsume grinned. "Give 'em hell, babies!"

Izuku rolled his eyes with a fond smile. Their 'hostages' turned out to be Midnight and Cementoss. "Why are your two the hostages? Wouldn't it make more sense if we were?"

Hatsume paused her tinkering to also hear the answer. Midnight smiled. "They've fought us before several times. It'll be good for them to fight quirks they're not familiar with. We're also here to evaluate them."

That made sense but Izuku was still filled with unease, torn on what to do. Reveal the full range of his quirk or continue as he had been. If he could control it anyway.

He had countless notebooks filled with breakdowns of quirks and how they were used. Izuku had a good idea of how his was used, how dangerous it could be, and the consequences that came with it —that being the main reason he didn't use the full power of his quirk. Villains were so twisted and mentally broken. Everything turned out fine. The villain stopped fighting and turn themselves in, to the heroes and police's surprise, but Izuku was left with the aftermath. He couldn't handle that every day.

He sighed, rolling his shoulders to release the building tension. Hatsume offered him his metal staff. Only about six inches long before he pressed a button that extended it to six feet. He spun it around, working through a few moves.

"Alright, decoy bombs and booby-traps are in place!" Hatsume said into the walkie-talkie to Mr. Aizawa.

"I'll give you one minute to get into position and then the buzzer will sound."

"Roger that!" Hatsume clipped the walkie-talkie back onto her belt and motioned Izuku to follow.

Once at the top of the building, they walked to the edge of the roof and looked to the entrance of the city. The group of hero students were an indistinguishable blob by the gate. "We should split up and get away from here," Izuku said. "There's a girl with a quirk that can listen to sounds. They'll probably split up: one group for the bombs and another to find the hostages."

"Oh, smart!"

Izuku barely stifled a yelp when Hatsume grabbed him by the armpits and used her jet pack to shuttle him across the city. "You stay on this side and try to trick them. I'll guard the hostages with my jet pack, so she won't hear me walking around."

Izuku stumbled from her grasp, nodding. "Yeah, that could work. We'll do that for now. If something happens, contact me."

"You got it!" she grinned, flying back to the hostage building.

The buzzer sounded slamming another wave of anxiety through Izuku. He fumbled down the fire escape missing rungs on the ladder more times than he'd like to admit. "Deep breath," he muttered, pulling the detonation remote from his belt. The small screen lit up with a map of the city and he selected the one's closets to the hostages planning to lead them away with more blasts. The center- city ones would cause the most damage as well making it harder for the heroes to move.

A moment after he hit the red button there was a series of booms and tell-tales sound of metal crashing. Another deep breath and Izuku took off running in the direction of more bombs and away from the hostages. He pressed the communicator in his ear. "I detonated the ones closest to the hostages," he warned, skidding around a corner as he heard voices. "Avoid as much movement as possible, they'll be close for a while."

"Got it," Hatsume whispered back. "And, Izuku?" "Yeah?"

There was a pause. "You've been working really hard on your quirk. I just—I want you to use my babies one day."

Izuku felt his throat tighten. "I'll do my best," he promised, meaning it. He took that resolve and focused on it. If Hatsume believed he could be a hero, he'd trust her, at least for today.

With a new determination, Izuku pulled out the detonator setting off a few more bombs. He ran to a random building, jumping through the glassless window. The empty building would stand as a decoy hostage hideout. He ran to the fifth floor and then into a random room.

Hatsume had planned for their villain escapade unlike him and was able to prepare a few babies for the occasion. Like a hologram projector so that it looked like their hostages truly were in the empty room. Even a few easily placed booby-traps to really sell the illusion. Just in case.

After a minute he set off a few more bombs, tapping his foot impatiently. They sure were taking their time. He moved to the window taking care not to be in full view. There were supposed to be civilians around the city too that the heroes would have to help. Probably tucking themselves into the rubble caused but the bombs before calling for help.

"We'll find the villains."

"Hell yeah, Baku-bro. Who do you think it is this time? Midnight, maybe?"

Izuku watched as the trio of heroes walked towards the building. He eyed them with suspicion safely from the darkness as they stopped and considered the decoy building. "You sure this is the one Jiro was talking about?"

"Shut up and search the building."

"You could ask nicer, ya know," the one with yellow hair whined following behind the redhead. Hardening and electricity, if he remembered correctly. This wasn't going to be easy. He'd have to use the element of surprise.

"Shut up. I'll start from the top."

Izuku ducked away from the window as Bakugo blasted up the roof. Clutching the staff, Izuku moved out of the room going across the floor. Three wasn't so bad. He could handle that as long as acted quickly.

There were footsteps and muffled voices approaching. Izuku crouched into a defensive stance, staff ready. All he need was to see them.

"Who the heck are—" the redhead—Kirishima?—was saying.

"Stop," Izuku ordered. They both paused with slightly confused expressions on their faces. "You

searched this floor, there's nothing here. Leave the building."

They about-faced and continued down the stairwell to exit the building. Izuku watched them go chatting about how Jiro must've been wrong. It'd be easier to deal with one hero, so he hurried up to the next floor.

Bakugo was walking the hallway peeking into rooms as he passed muttering about slow idiots.

In the small space, Bakugo wouldn't be able to use large explosions, but it wasn't ideal for Izuku either. He frowned. Maybe he could lead Bakugo up to the roof. That might work. Or he could capture Bakugo in a net. That would be funnier.

He stepped out in front of Bakugo surprising the young hero.

"Deku?" he smirked, glancing around like it was a joke.

Izuku scowled at the old nickname.

"Don't tell me you're the villain," he snickered. "Where are the hostages? I know you've got them hidden here somewhere."

Izuku shrugged with a half-smile. "You'll have to get through me to find them." "Don't be an idiot, Deku."

Izuku ignored him, instead, he activated his quirk and charged. He dodged Bakugo's attacks, knocking back the hero mostly with the element of surprise, but he'd take what he could get. Izuku shoved Bakugo's hand away a second before an explosion knocked Bakugo off balance. Izuku used that opening to snag the hero in a capture net. Definitely funnier.

"What the hell!" Bakugo trashed in the netting setting off explosions to burn it. Izuku didn't bother telling him it was fire-resistant. "I'm gonna fucking kill you!"

"Heard that one before," Izuku said, waving his hand dismissively as he headed towards the stairwell. When he got outside he finished detonating the remaining bombs and then headed back towards the real hostage building. He'd catch any heroes getting too close.

He stumbled to a stop when a giant explosion went off behind him. He picked up the pace.

"Hatsume, what's the status?"

"No heroes yet," she responded, voice still an eager whisper.

"I'll keep it that way," he promised. He stepped out into a street he heard voices coming from. A group of six heroes were walking towards him but they slowed to a stop.

"You're not a teacher." It was Ashido, wearing the updated costume. Talk about a last-minute deadline.

"Observant of you," Izuku rolled his eyes strolling closer to the heroes. His eyes shot to Todoroki. Ice was coming. Izuku dodged the attack struggling to come up with a plan. They were too close to the hostages for comfort.

"Who are you?"

Izuku opened his mouth to answer but paused as the boy's thoughts entered his mind. Don't answer

that one. He lifted his staff and went for an attack. Dodging so many attacks was easier when he knew what was coming but he still struggled. And it was clear the heroes were getting aggravated.

"Aren't you a support student?"

Izuku nodded surprised by the thrill he was getting. Reaching into his utility belt he pulled out three capture net bombs and threw them at the closest heroes. They fell to the ground fully encased or tangled up. Three left.

Dodging tape, fire, ice, and punches wasn't any easier. Their thoughts flooded into his head. Their frustration, confusion, and actions.

"Stop!" Izuku shouted fully exhausted. He leaned forward on his knees panting and the three standing heroes relaxed.

"What are you guys doing?" Ashido shouted struggling against the net and the acid slowly eating away at it.

"Everyone, stop," Izuku ordered looking pointedly at each of them, mentally digging into their thoughts. "Stay here till the buzzer sounds."

It wouldn't last forever. It was simply an order, one of them was bound to ask why they were waiting, and then they'd return to their mission. Still, it would give them time.

Izuku skidded to a stop as a rampaging Bakugo landed in front of him. He gulped and raised his weapon. There were still eleven students unaccounted for and he was nearly spent. He lowered the staff using in to lean on instead.

"Oh, no, you're not giving up now, shithead!"

"Stop," Izuku ordered a moment before Bakugo blasted towards him. Pops crackled in the blondes' palms. "Hatsume, how much time is left?"

"Twelve minutes," she answered.

Izuku groaned. Bakugo was a fire type surely he had water. "You got any water?" he asked. "Why would I—"

"Please don't argue, I'm tired," Izuku whined, stepping up to Bakugo to search his belt. "Bingo." He tipped back the small container shaped like a grenade sighing happily at the cool water. "Thanks, Baku-bro," he grinned, watching as Bakugo's eyebrow twitched. "You sure are fighting me."

"I'm. . .gonna. . .kill you," Bakugo ground out through clenched teeth.

"You do, don't you?" Izuku mused, fighting the urge to dig deeper and find out why. "Stay here, will ya?"

Izuku walked back to the hostage hideout rubbing his temples in a poor attempt to rid the growing headache. Hatsume was pouting when he entered the hostage room. "What's wrong?"

"I haven't been able to use any of my babies!"

"I must admit, you two are doing better than expected," Cementoss said looking between them curiously. "What are your quirks?"

Hatsume grinned. "I can see up to 5 kilometers. My babies are the real stars." She shot a glare at Izuku. "But somebody is hogging the spotlight."

Izuku ignored her. "Mental manipulation," he answered. That was the best way he could describe it.

Midnight's eyes widened. "You can mind control?"

Izuku nodded feeling himself blush. "Yes." He ignored the way Hatsume looked at him. Not quite disappointment, but something similar. An explosion rocked the building. "There, now you can test out your babies."

Hatsume squealed and pulled her capture gun from her belt.

Bakugo appeared in the window almost snarling. "I'm gonna kill you."

"You keep saying that—" Izuku easily dodged a blast "—but it sounds to me like you're all talk."

The group of six Izuku stopped earlier came up the stairwell. Even with so little time left on the clock, Izuku doubted they could beat seven heroes—no doubt the rest were on the way—but they could still give them a run for their money. He looked back at Hatsume and gave her a nod before rolling out of the way.

She cackled, firing her net gun at the group of heroes. The ones that avoided the capture set off the traps. Some getting stuck together with goo, others tripped up in wire and nets.

"Help! Help us," Midnight called dutifully.

Izuku leaned on his staff surveying the chaos. "Aren't you guys supposed to be third years? Almost anyway?" He scoffed at the group. "Big bad 2-A, brought to their knees." He dodged a blast from Bakugo. Left, right, then left kick. Bakugo's boot hit his chin by a hair, the thick tread scraping his skin and drawing blood. Izuku hissed as he wiped it off on the back of his sleeve.

"Bakugo, get to the hostages!"

"No, you don't want to do that," Izuku said, catching Bakugo's attention. "You want to fight me." He didn't even have to convince the hero, not when he wanted to do something so easily.

"Bakugo!"

The call went ignored. "Someone get to the hostages!"

Izuku wasn't sure who was shouting, he was too focused on avoiding Bakugo's rampage. Even though he knew every move Bakugo was about to make, Izuku struggled to find the energy to dodge leaving him with bruised ribs and burns. Where was that damn buzzer? Vaguely he wondered what the teachers were thinking. Their little camera was situated up in the corner; all over the mock city, too. Maybe Izuku should've cared more about the pounding migraine distorting his senses, but as his adrenaline pounded, he only thought of Hatsume's words.

He didn't even care when one of the missing eleven heroes crawled through the window and got to the hostages. He and Hatsume had accomplished their goal.

Izuku rested against a wall, a rag Hatsume had pulled from her bag and soaked with water across

his eyes while she packed up her babies.

"A resounding success!" she declared.

Izuku gave her a weak wave to talk quieter.

"Right. Sorry," she whispered. "You were awesome! I guess those extra sparing sessions paid off." Izuku managed a grunt in reply.

"Here." Hatsume slid on a pair of dark sunglasses. "These should help while we walk to the entrance."

He followed her wishing he were in bed. "This was a bad idea." "No success without failure," she chimed happily.

"Am I just an experiment to you?"

She shrugged. "Only with the best interests in mind."

Izuku narrowed his tired eyes knowing he should be upset but not having the energy to be. The exit was just up ahead. Aizawa, All Might, Midnight, and Cemetoss were all talking, but they stopped when he and Hatsume got closer. Class 2-A nowhere in sight.

"What the hell was that, kid?" Mr. Aizawa asked, stepping forward. "Your quirk is listed as mind reading."

"Yep." That is what he wrote when he signed the acceptance paperwork. His head throbbed making him wince. "Can I go to Recovery Girl?"

"No," Aizawa said, his brows pinched clearly furious. "You've been hiding the full extent of your quirk."

Izuku frowned. "I've never really used it. This was a good opportunity for me, but I seriously overdid it."

Hatsume patted his back comfortingly.

Aizawa scowled. "Fine, but this conversation isn't over."

Izuku leaned back on the nurse's bed sighing as the headache dissipated and the throbbing stopped. Recovery Girl nodded to Mr. Aizawa as she left the room.

"Why?" Aizawa asked. It was just the exhausted teacher by his bed now. Hatsume had run off to take her babies back to Power Loader's shop. The traitor.

"I don't like using my quirk."

Aizawa narrowed his tired eyes. "Explain."

Izuku looked away. "Every quirk has a price, right? Well, mine's a lot to handle, so I've always avoided it." He snorted. "In school I let people believe I was quirkless."

Aizawa sat at the end of the cot, face unreadable. "Why is it hard for you to handle?"

Izuku eyed the teacher wearily. "I can get into people's heads and manipulate their thoughts. That's how I got those students to walk away or stop fighting." He fidgeted with the edge of the sheet on the cot. "People don't like their thoughts being heard," he muttered, "I don't particularly like hearing them, but some people are so loud I don't have a choice."

"I still don't understand."

Izuku looked up meeting Aizawa's dark eyes. "I don't just hear thoughts, I experience them. Sometimes that's a lot."

Aizawa sat back. "I see, so that's why you avoid using it."

Izuku let his eyes close. "Honestly, that was the first time I've pushed myself with my quirk." He smiled wistfully. "Kinda surprised myself."

"More than yourself, kid." He stood and looked back at Izuku. "One more question: Why aren't you in the Hero Course? A quirk like yours would be very useful in the field."

Izuku frowned. "Well. . .I think I'm too selfish for hero work." He stood from the bed and pulled his shoes on. "I've stopped a few villains before, back when I still thought I could be a hero. . ." he trailed off tying his laces. "I don't think I could do that again," he muttered.

Behind him, Aizawa sighed. "Think about it."

"You're not the first teacher to try and convince me to transfer courses, Mr. Aizawa. Besides, this is our third year. Seems kind of pointless to transfer so late."

"It wouldn't be easy, but I think you could do it."

Izuku stifled a groan. "Why do you care so much? I'm telling you; I'm not cut out to be a hero."

"I don't believe that, Midoriya, neither do any of the other teachers." Aizawa stepped around the bed, his face stern, but there was concern there too. "You need help with your quirk regardless. Clearly, it overwhelms you."

Izuku pulled his backpack on. As tempting as it was. . . "I like my classes. I like working with quirks. I'm not a hero," he said again. "But thanks for the concern."

"Midoriya."

He paused in the doorway. "Yeah?"

"I'll tell the other teachers that you don't want to be added to the Hero Course, but I can't promise anything."

Izuku spun on the teacher. "What are you talking about?"

Aizawa stared back blankly, unfazed by his anger. "As I said, we're concerned with the power your quirk holds. Ultimately it will be up to Principal Nezu, but Midnight and Cementoss are very concerned, especially after watching the street footage."

"So, I don't get a choice in this?"

Aizawa sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "If Principal Nezu decides that it is in your best interest to be transferred to the Hero Course, then no. I get that you like designing costumes, but you could still do that in university or with an internship." His brows drew together. "If that is what

Principal Nezu decides, I'll make sure you can continue with hero support after graduation if that's what you want."

Izuku considered it. Joining the hero course always felt like a far-off dream. Learning what the entrance exam was had been the final blow. His quirk was useless against robots. He sunk in on himself upset that a part of him wanted to say yes. Maybe it was bigger than he wanted to admit.

But. . .

"When will they decide." "In a few days probably."

Izuku nodded, accepting his fate. "I didn't mean to lie to anyone," he apologized, voice small and timid. "I just like to forget it exists. I won't lie, it felt good fighting like that, but villains. . .they're different." He flinched when Aizawa set a hand on his shoulder, it was gone a moment later a look of concern flashing across Aizawa's face.

"Go home, Midoriya. We'll talk again later."

Izuku nodded, bowing quickly before hurrying out of the school.

Izuku fell asleep as soon as he hit his bed. He woke at two in the morning, still dressed in his uniform and on top of his sheets. He groaned into his pillow before pushing himself up. After changing he headed down the hall to Hatsume's room. She never locked her door, so he entered her dark room with no announcement.

"You're finally up." Hatsume sat at her desk, goggles in place, some new baby before her. Izuku sunk to the floor by her chair and rested his head on her thigh. "Yeah, I really overdid it."

Hatsume shrugged, turning back to her project. "No progress without tests. What did Mr. Aizawa say?"

"He wants me to transfer to the Hero Course."

His friend stopped her tinkering, pushing the goggles up her forehead. "Really?" "More like, he warned me I might not have a choice."

"There have been students who transferred in their third year before, ya know." Izuku craned his head to look up at her. "You've researched this, haven't you?"

"Did you know you've had a 30% increase in overstimulation-induced panic attacks this semester?" she asked, voice soft. Izuku felt his face flush. "I'm worried about you. You need people to help you."

"I-I have you," he said, brushing her off.

Hatsume picked up the baby she was working on. "My babies work best with multiple sensors. Without them, they can't figure out their environment or do what they're supposed to do." She set the project down and picked up the soldering iron. "Right now, I'm you're only sensor, so you're not functioning a peak performance."

Izuku scowled into the darkness hating that her analogy made sense. "But I'd have to change dorms."

"Like that will stop me from bothering you."

Izuku smiled at that. Maybe he could do this. He could try this hero thing, at the very least to prove that he couldn't be one.