Chapter 10: Who Are You to Me?

Uraraka skipped down the stairs that morning. She usually wasn't much of a morning person, but yesterday's excitement was still bubbling in her chest, and they still had a job to do.

"Morning!" she called out cheerily to the group already gathered in the common room.

"I think you mean afternoon," Momo pointed out with a dainty laugh.

Uraraka glanced at the clock, it was just gone twelve. "Huh." Maybe she still wasn't a morning person…

"Team blue already left," Midori explained. He was sitting between Momo and Shoto, the table covered in various bits and pieces and Shoto was organising and Momo was making copies of.

"What are you guys doing today?" Sero asked Kaminari with a yawn.

"Trying to find where the power reaches school?" Kaminari replied unsurely.

"Yep!" Uraraka exclaimed, popping the p. "Let me just brush my teeth and stuff!" and she left to do just that – she'd have brunch later.

They left the dorms as though they were just out for a walk, and not scouting the school for potential weaknesses in cyber security – if she could call it that. It helped that it was a Sunday. There were no lessons, and they didn't have to wear their uniforms. That meant that the red bands of class A weren't drawing the eyes of every passer-by – which would mainly be hero students out for a jog. Fortunately enough, none of those hero students out and about were from class 1-B, who would have recognised them regardless. Uraraka supposed that the sky was looking rather gloomy. Some rain was on the way. That was probably why there were less out than usual – not that she would know what usual looked like, because class A rarely ventured outside the relative comfort of their dorms on Sundays.

"So, what are we looking for?" Kaminari asked as they made their way across the grounds.

"Wherever the electric is – oh, there!" Uraraka exclaimed, bounding over to it.

The entirety of UA was surrounded by a large, infamously impenetrable wall. But the segment they had stumbled upon was fence instead, lined with barbed wire. There were numerous yellow stickers and signs, warning of high voltage.

Kaminari clapped his hands together with a wide smile. "My kind of place!"

"Is there a switch somewhere?" Sato asked dully.

"Probably," Uraraka nodded, "But that's not good enough!"

"We just need to turn the power off though, right?"

"Be careful," Shoji suddenly interrupted. "There are cameras here, there could be someone watching us."

"Right…" Kaminari nodded.

They started to back away, acting as casual as possible, "It would be dangerous to target this location too," added Shoji. "The voltage is much higher."

"I could take it!"

"Not worth the risk."

"Well, well, well! If it isn't class A?"

The group turned, coming face to face with three rather familiar ones, well, one in particular.

"Out for a stroll?" Monoma leered.

The Story of Team Blue

What the actual hell was he doing?!

He got thrown into this freaking school, in the wrong class, and he's never gonna get the hell out of it because of their fricking ex-convict teacher who seems to think that he needs to get along with DEKU!

And if you haven't realised yet, this is Bakugo, and he hasn't finished yet.

Because if that wasn't irritating enough, he was shut in UA with Deku, who was the whole reason he was here.

But why was Deku here? Well, it had taken a while for Bakugo to figure it out. The same seemed to go for Deku himself, weirdly enough. He thinks he's so freaking smart, but he couldn't even think of why he was here? Tsk, freaking typical.

Deku was a useless nobody – no power, no future, no nothing. Bakugo may not have seen it at first, but he was glad someone else did. Because Deku was a villain, and that was why he needed to be here. The above still applied, obviously, just now he actually needed taking down if he did something. Bakugo saves the day – they finally realise that he didn't belong in class A, and those grins would be wiped right off the faces of those class B bastards.

Only that's not what happened. Freaking Deku ended up somehow rallying class A together in some insane plot to be vigilantes and break out of UA! And Bakugo was just going along with it!

WHAT THE HELL WAS HE DOING?!

What was he doing?

Deku's the villain – he's the problem! He's the…

"You seriously think you deserve to be a hero, when you act like this?"

…villain.

"Why are you walking so slow?"

Bakugo scowled at the earphone girl, with the edgy, purple hair and too much eyeliner.

"Shut up," he snarled, shoving his hands in the pockets of his baggy trousers.

She rolled her eyes, "Is that what you say when you don't like a conversation?" she said in a mocking voice. "Shut up and shove off?"

Bakugo marched forwards to glare down at her, "Shut up and shove off."

"Guys, please, can't we all just get along?" sighed Weird Hair.

Freaking Kirishima was the only tolerable idiot in this hell hole. He was here for vigilantism and spouted some noble rubbish about it when asked – saying stuff like he wanted to be like his hero idol, stop the bullies – one thing led to another and it got out of hand, the usual. Quite a lot of class A had done exactly the same thing, Bakugo had realised. Said something about society, huh?

Bakugo frowned at his own thoughts. This place was getting in his head.

"Such tensions are no use to our mission," muttered Bird Face, with the shadow Quirk. Why the hell Bakugo had been lumped in a group with these imbeciles, was beyond him.

"Whatever," said Bakugo, turning away from Earphones and marching on ahead.

They were supposed to be looking for weak points in the wall around UA or something. Bakugo didn't care – he was still trying to figure out why he was following Deku's instructions.

They walked in silence for a moment before Earphones decided to speak up again.

"Hey, what's your problem with Midoriya, anyway?"

Bakugo glared daggers at her.

"What? We all know you hate each other. He said something about landing you in here himself. You a bully or something? What did Midoriya ever do to you?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you're really freaking nosy?"

"A few people," she shrugged. "Why do you think I'm here?"

Kirishima decided to step in again, "Seriously, guys, come on. We've talked about this! We don't need to pressurise anyone into explaining their past. We've all had our problems and –"

"I don't have any problems!" Bakugo yelled. "It's Deku who has –"

"Because you tormented him until he snapped?!" Earphones yelled.

Bakugo stared at her. "Why are you defending him?"

She snarled back at him, "I just want to know you. I don't get you – I get everyone else, but not you."

Nosy.

Bakugo turned and kept walking.

"Why do you call him that?" she asked.

Bakugo ignored her.

"Deku? He calls you Kacchan, and you call him Deku. I get the feeling your nicknaming skills don't have such as innocent origins."

Bakugo stopped and turned on his heel. "Deku means useless because that's what he is. A Quirkless, useless, nobody!" He kicked harshly at the ground, knocking pebbles aside that ricocheted against a tree trunk.

Earphones crossed her arms, "A Quirkless, useless, nobody, who the heroes seemed to think was dangerous enough to put in this class. I can see it. You're scared of him too."

"I'M NOT SCARED OF DEKU!"

"You are. You so are," she grinned. "You're scared because someone you thought was beneath you is suddenly more powerful than you. Because he's one of us and we're following his idea and his instructions – and you're scared enough to play along."

"Why would I be scared of him?!"

She waited for a moment, as if she wanted him to think about what he just said, "Now you're asking the right questions."

"You've become a monster."

"Maybe that's something we have in common."

Bakugo met her eyes for a moment, whilst Bird Head checked out the portion of the wall they were standing by.

"I think you're just confused," she continued, a strange compassion adhering to her voice.

"Shut up," Bakugo snarled.

She grinned.

"Shut up!" and he pushed her.

Kirishima reached forwards to stop anything from escalating, but Earphones held a hand up to him.

"I'm a good listener," she blinked at him. "Why are you here, Bakugo?"

It was strange, hearing his actual name again from the mouth of someone that wasn't Kirishima. He was so used to numbers or nicknames – so… dehumanising. He felt like part of the system – shoved somewhere he didn't belong, told to make it work, when he'd led his whole life a different way.

"I'm not supposed to be here," Bakugo insisted, like he was telling himself that.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm freaking sure! I'm supposed to be in class B!" He hit his hand against his chest with each proclamation. "I'm supposed to be a freaking hero! I'm the top of the class – the best out there! I WAS GOING TO BE THE BEST OF THEM ALL!"

"And now?"

He wavered. He didn't know how to answer that.

Jiro put her hands on her hips, "You feel like you've been lied to? Like you're nothing? Powerless? Useless?"

"No! I-I'm not –"

"You do realise you're no better than any of us, right?" She took a step closer to him. "There's no top of the pecking order – no best of the best. We're all powerless. It doesn't matter that Tokoyami could take this entire school down in the middle of the night, or that Kirishima could take the bullets that Midoriya couldn't – or that you could blow a hole in the wall of class A, if you weren't too chicken. In the end, none of that matters. Because we all know that the one who's leading us has none of that."

They all knew Midoriya had them wrapped around his pinkie finger, even if he didn't quite see it himself.

"This vigilante thing?" Earphones continued, "– it's crazy. It's so crazy, that it just might work. And maybe I want it to work." She prodded him in the chest, "Maybe you want it to work."

"Why would I want it to work?" he hissed, staring at the ground. He felt so stupid, letting her talk to him like this.

"Why do you?" she repeated. "Exactly – I bet you've been asking yourself the same question, idiot. But I can see it clear as day. You want control again – control of your own future, and UA can't give you that anymore."

She sighed, blowing a piece of stray hair out of her eyes, "Everyone else gets why they're here. Everyone else wants to make something out of it. Only you are swimming against the current, trying to get back to the life you thought you should have had. Tough luck, that life is gone. Get with the times and look up to see where the hell you're going!" She pushed him. He didn't stumble back nearly as much as she had.

With that, she huffed, turned her nose up in the air and marched on ahead.

Bakugo stared after her. The girl had guts – he'd give her that. She also may have just been promoted to the second most tolerable person in UA.

Bakugo could see how that big mouth and nosy attitude could get her into trouble. She clearly didn't just know some secrets that she shouldn't, she must have made a fuss about them too.

But whatever, for the first time since he got here, someone was finally speaking Bakugo's language.

"Alright, Earphones –"

She whipped around with fury in her eyes, "Either you call me Jiro, or I start calling you Kacchan."

Ignoring the worried looks of the other two, Bakugo started walking ahead beside Jiro. "Alright, Jiro – where do you think we're heading, huh?"

"Oh, this whole vigilante thing? Yeah, we're all gonna get arrested."

Bakugo almost laughed, "Then why the hell are we doing it?!"

"For fun?" she shrugged. "I don't know – I kind of want to see what happens. And being a semi-hero sounds pretty cool to me."

"Yeah? Well, I'll be a better fricking vigilante than you."

"Yeah right – you'll be caught way before me."

"Is that a challenge? Because I always win."

"Whoever wins shuts up and shoves off whenever the other says so."

"Freaking deal."

"Hey, guys…" Kirishima suddenly interjected, "What's going on over there?"

The four of them stopped and looked to where Kirishima was pointing. Just up ahead was another group of their classmates, with Round Face the gravity girl, the electric Dunce and two other extras that Bakugo honestly didn't know the names of. Speaking to them, were three bastards from class B, headed by the king bastard – with the annoying copy Quirk.

Said Copycat caught Bakugo's eye as he stormed over, "Ah, and more clowns join the fray."

"The hell did you just call me?" Bakugo snarled.

"What do you want, Monoma?" asked Jiro, now standing by Round Face's side.

"Well –" just the way he said that made Bakugo want to punch him in the gob – "I couldn't help but notice a few strange happenings recently… Right after one of your fellow, um, classmates, was failed after essentially letting an army of villains into the school, and almost getting one of my friends killed! Now, it's not hard to miss the giant hole in your classroom wall, and then I see a strange group of you wander out of the dorms, soon followed by a second – do you see my thought process here? Well, Tsuburaba, Sen, and I, decided we, the heroes, would check it out. Wouldn't want you letting any more of your kind into UA, now would we?"

Your kind?!

Bakugo gritted his teeth, knowing from the way that Copycat leered at him, that he knew he'd hit a nerve.

Not long ago, Bakugo would have retaliated by stepping away from his classmates, yelling about how he wasn't one of them – he wasn't a villain – he wasn't part of this. But now…? Now, he didn't know for sure.

And strangely enough, it was in this moment that Bakugo recalled the words of Mr Aizawa, back on the very first day of term:

"You will graduate when I believe you understand why you ended up here – and when you can see a better path to the future."

So… why was he here?

"YOU'RE THE VILLAIN – LOOK AT WHAT YOU'RE DOING!"

And Bakugo grinned.

He took a step forwards and dared to look that hero scum right in the eyes as he said, "Our kind, huh?! Bet you like trying to beat us down, call us names – makes you feel better about yourself. You know why?! Because I've been there! I'm the best of the best! I'd wipe the floor with any of you losers and don't you forget it! But I'm here because I wasn't acting like a freaking hero – and I got labelled as a villain. Well, who's the villain now, huh? Because it sure isn't any of us! Look at what you're doing and think for a second! If that's even possible in your case, Leech."

Said leech blinked – whatever he was expecting Bakugo to say, the reality was far from his estimation. "What did you just call me?"

Bakugo jabbed him harshly in the chest, like a certain someone had just done to him, as he said, "I called you a leech, because that's what you freaking are. Someone who sucks up to the heroes and prances around in a fancy-dress rental like it's a fricking catwalk. Someone who leeches off other people's powers because you don't have a real one of your own?! Do ya, Copycat?!"

One of the extras stood in between Bakugo and their leader, "Hey, back off, hypocrite. Does trying to beat us down and call us names make you feel better about yourself?"

Bakugo crossed his arms – maybe it did a little.

"Two steps forward and one step back," Jiro huffed behind him. "At least you're going somewhat in the right direction."

"What the hell does that mean?!"

Kirishima sighed, "Look, guys – we don't need this to escalate any further. Let's just all go our separate ways – this doesn't need to end with anymore conflict."

"You still haven't answered our question," added the second extra. "What are you doing out here? Next to the power supply?"

Right, yeah, that.

"You were the one who ambushed us!" Dunce-face exclaimed, electricity sparking at his fingertips.

There was a sudden clap of thunder overhead, which made Jiro screech and Round Face jump several feet into the air.

"…That wasn't me," the idiot (you know which one) decided to remind them.

Bakugo stared at him, "Yeah, no sh–"

"We should all head back to the dorms," Kirishima interjected nervously, glancing up at the storm clouds.

"I agree," Bird-Head nodded, "I do not appreciate the sudden darkness of this day."

"R-Right…"

The bird was the first to move, eager to get back to the light of Heights Alliance, but Leech reached out to grab him by the arm and stop him in his tracks.

"We're not done here," he hissed, and Bakugo knew those words he'd spat at the Copycat must have made their mark. "What is almost half of class A doing out, halfway across the school, by the mains power supply on a Sunday afternoon?"

Six-arms came to Bird-Head's aid and pushed the Leech away, towering over him menacingly with one set of arms crossed, and the other four held ready to deck him.

"This is all just a big misunderstanding!" Round Face tried. "We're all here by coincidence, honest!"

"Like I'd believe you," hissed one of the sidekicks as the rain started to pitter-patter down on their heads.

"Hey!" Jiro snapped, "That's not on! Leave her alone she didn't do anything!"

"You're just making this worse!" Kirishima exclaimed, "Just let us go. Stop trying to play hero in situations that you don't belong in! Trust me when I say it'll only make things worse!"

"And that's the difference between us and you," the extra continued.

Leech picked up where he'd left off, "We'll be real heroes and this is our school, which we are protecting from the likes of you. Tell us the truth of why you're here, and I won't have to test your friend's Quirk against you."

All eyes flickered between Bird-Head and the Copycat.

"No, no, no – you don't know what you're doing!" Kirishima exclaimed, and now it was Bakugo's turn to stop him from running any closer.

"Tokoyami's Quirk is dangerous you can't use it!" Round Face added as they all started to back away. "Not in this storm!"

At those words, the rain seemed to grow heavier, or maybe Bakugo was only now really noticing it. And it was dark.

Not once during their time at UA, had Bird-Head's Quirk grown wild. Even at the USJ, he'd somehow kept it under control. Perhaps he was a little better at it than implied by the stupid warning signs pinned up next to every single light switch in the dorms.

But Copycat had none of his experience.

That smile of his returned, now he believed he had the upper hand. But if the Quirk gained strength in darkness, it must have been weaker in the light. And that was where Bakugo had the advantage.

"Tell us the truth," he insisted, holding out a hand that a dark, oozing shadow began to wrap itself around.

"You can't threaten us!" Jiro barked. "Besides, we weren't doing anything! Listen to Uraraka!"

"Maybe I should call Mr Aizawa…" Kirishima whispered to them.

"No," Bakugo hissed in reply, "it's freaking fine, leave it to me."

Leering from the back of his high horse, Leech dared to release the Quirk, and from behind him, stepped a perfect copy of himself, coloured a deep, black purple, with gleaming gold eyes, eerily similar to that warp villain from the USJ. Except this Dark Shadow was just that, shadow, rather than the fog that billowed around the teleporting bastard.

"Nice, very nice," said the leech, examining the shadow that blinked back at him.

Bakugo noted Round Face messaging someone on her brick phone (the only reason Bakugo hadn't blown his up already was because it was freaking impossible), and this could mean only one thing – Dry-eyes was on his way and Bakugo would rather fail class A than be stuck in detention cleaning class B's plates for a second time.

Ok, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but class B was so FREAKING ANNOYING.

How did Mr Aizawa manage to make Bakugo fear being in detention more than expelled?! It was like making a dog fear being called bad more than going to the kennels.

His teaching method could only be compared to fricking puppy training!

Hell, even the number system fitted in.

WHAT WAS THIS SCHOOL?!

Whatever, he now had the chance to beat someone up – and with a Quirk which had a fundamental weakness to light. Perfect.

"Bring it on!" Bakugo snarled, shifting into a fighting chance, palms cupped, ready to summon his firepower.

But then he felt the water trickle down his forehead, and quickly realised that despite the blatant disadvantages of the shadow Quirk, Bakugo's own power had more immediate problem – rain.

His nitrogenous sweat was suddenly diluted and now utterly useless. The rain was growing heavier by the second and he couldn't even ignite his explosions. Shoot! He shouldn't have spoken out so quickly.

Luckily, (he can't believe he's considering this lucky), Kirishima slid in between them again, hardening his skin with his unbreakable ability. "Stop! Deactivate the power – we don't want a fight – you don't know this Quirk!"

Copycat let out a slight laugh as he raised both hands in mock surrender, "Ok, ok – I know I intimidate you, but there's no need to be scared! All I ask is that you tell us the truth of why you're here, that is all."

"I'm not freaking scared of you!" Bakugo yelled, Kirishima holding out an arm to stop him from coming closer, but there was no need.

Without warning, the shadow lunched, it's arms now blade-like as he slammed into Kirishima, who managed to protect Bakugo, but only just.

"Monoma, calm down!" called out one of the extras, who was just as shocked as everyone else.

"That wasn't me!" Copycat insisted.

His shadow was still seemingly attached to his feet, hovering before him with a sadistic grin, growing larger as the storm grew stronger.

"Stop it!" he called out to the shadow, but it didn't listen to him.

With learnt reflexes, Kirishima ducked and rolled out of the way when the shadow struck again. By this point, Bakugo had backed under the shelter of a tree, trying the best he could to dry off his hands.

"How do you control this Quirk?!" the idiot who copied it yelled.

"Years of training and discipline…" Bird-Head muttered, gawking at the looming shadow. "And even then, we were deemed dangerous enough to fall into UA's program. You can't simply control Dark Shadow – it has a mind of its own… You are nothing but its host."

The shadow had been listening. It stopped attacking Kirishima, now blinking at the bird as it mulled his words over.

"Then send your shadow to attack that one!" the other extra ordered.

"And risk having two on the loose?!" Sparky cried. "Are you crazy?!"

"Turn it off, Monoma!" yelled Kirishima.

"Sen – let me copy your Quirk to cancel this one out!" said Copycat, lunging for his friend.

But the shadow wasn't having any of it. It darted back to its host to try and stop him, but not before the two hero students had managed to brush fingertips with each other.

Bakugo thought that was that then – he'd been furiously trying to wipe the water off his hands with the underside of his shirt for nothing, but no matter, because Leech's plan didn't seem to work.

The shadow flickered in and out of existence, like he was trying to turn the Quirk off and replace it with the extra's ability, but the sentient power was turning itself back on.

He was now wrestling with it on the floor, as it engulfed him completely, trying to cover his whole body and take control – like a parasite on the leech.

Bakugo let out a cry of frustration, "We need light – that'll kill the shadow! Hey, hero sidekicks! Do you have your freaking phones?!"

They didn't even bother taking offence, and one scrambled to their back pocket to bring out their phone and activate the flashlight. This idea was good for roughly a second, before the shadow lashed out and the phone soon lay by a nearby tree, smashed to pieces.

"Sparky – make us some light with your Quirk!" Bakugo tried.

"What?!" he exclaimed, "No way! It's soaking wet and I haven't used my power for a couple of days! I could fry everyone here and the school's power source!"

With no other ideas, there was only one more thing left to ask, "HOW LONG DOES THE COPYCAT QUIRK LAST?!" Bakugo barked at whoever might know the answer.

"Five minutes!" said one of his goons – the one not mourning the loss of his phone.

If it weren't for the fact that it was far from the heroic thing to do, Bakugo was up for just leaving him there until his Quirk wore off. Served him right for picking a fight with the wrong people.

And of course, this would be the perfect moment for Mr Aizawa to skid around the corner and cancel the Quirk out.

But no.

Because Round Face didn't contact Mr Aizawa, she decided to message –

"Midoriya!" exclaimed most of the group when he appeared from the gloom of the trees.

Bakugo was ready to die.

Anyone but Deku. It could have been literally anyone but Deku.

But OF COURSE ROUND FACE MESSAGED DEKU!

Deku stood and stared at the sight before him, a shocked look across his dumb face.

"Monoma copied Tokoyami's Quirk and it went wild!" Kirishima explained.

"18!" yelled one of the hero extras (hey, they looked too similar for Bakugo to bother separating the two). "You've gotta take his Quirk!"

"Take his…? You mean Honenuki didn't –" Deku started before his eyes widened with some kind of realisation. He gritted his teeth, "R-Right!"

And like a freaking martyr, Deku charged forwards at the raging shadow, that had already given Kirishima a fight and had easily destroyed the extra's phone with one movement (not that that's particularly hard to do. If it were one of the brick phones, Bakugo would have been more impressed).

There was a higher chance than usual that Deku could have finally bit the dust, but whatever god was really out there, decided that the idiot still hadn't completed his purpose of driving Bakugo utterly insane.

Perhaps Bakugo could have described this more heroically, but he's not going to, because he hates Deku's guts and this was Bakugo's story, after all.

So, maybe there was a little bit of screaming, some mild injury and perhaps a touching moment when the hero took the hand of the villain and it suddenly became incredibly unclear which way around it was meant to be.

Regardless, there were now two idiots lying in a puddle of mud in the middle of a storm, one looking scared out of his mind and the other with a new gash to add to his never freaking ending collection (Bakugo ignored the fact that said collection was mostly his fault).

The extras helped the freed leech to his feet, whilst Kirishima came to Deku's aid. They all surrounded him asking stupid questions like, "Are you ok?!" and other sappy remarks hailing his bravery that Bakugo didn't pay any attention to.

"What were you thinking?!" Deku yelled at Copycat as the latter caught his breath. His two goons were still helping him to stand. "You could have seriously hurt yourself and everyone here!"

Copycat pulled an arm away from one of the extras and pointed at him, mouthing something whilst he struggled to get the words out, until he finally managed, "Y-You – you give me – give me my Quirk back!"

Deku scowled and crossed his arms, "Maybe you can't be trusted with it."

The only reason Bakugo was going along with this was because it scared the wits out of Copycat, and not because it gave Deku any sort of power.

"You threatened my friends, copied a dangerous ability that you had no knowledge of, and then when everyone told you to stop, you kept going!" Deku continued to yell, his voice cracking at the end in obvious frustration.

The bastard used to be so meek and irritating. Now he was abrasive, opinionated and even more annoying.

"Uraraka said you confronted them – said that you thought they were up to something? Why? You should have just told a teacher if you thought something was wrong! Everyone being here together is a coincidence – and the two groups were clearly just having separate, civilised conversations and then you just swooped in. Well, what can I say? You heroes are always so quick to start a fight," he snapped, spitting words like venom. "I've told you before and I'll say it again. We don't want to be here. But we are, tough luck! This is our school as much as it is yours, whether you like it – or we like it – or not!"

Silence fell over them all for a while, finally broken by a bright flash of lightning, and the rumble of thunder that soon followed.

"We need to get back to the dorms," Deku sighed. "Are you ok, Tokoyami?"

"Dark shadow is currently secure, yes," the bird nodded. "Although I agree, we should not stay out here for any longer than necessary."

"Maybe you should go to Recovery Girl for that cut, Midori," Round Face fussed over him.

"I'm fine," Deku insisted. He had a large cut across his cheek, running from just below his mouth, up to the top of his right ear. A freaking stupid volume of blood oozed from it, quickly washed away by the rain.

"Just give him his Quirk back, man," sighed one of the sidekicks, whilst the other retrieved his broken phone.

Deku turned and glared at them whilst the rest of the group began to make their leave, "You can have it in five minutes." And before they could complain, Deku started to walk away, saying, "Safest to leave it for a while to make sure you don't still have Tokoyami's Quirk when it comes back."

They didn't say another word against it, and class A disappeared into the trees, leaving the other three behind. Oh, and Bakugo, who had simply been watching the entire ordeal, catching Deku's eyes once or twice whilst the events unfolded.

"What do you want?" snapped Monoma, rage dripping from his expression.

Bakugo shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away.

"Are you proud of being with that psychopath, huh?!" Copycat shouted after him, held back (and up) by the sidekicks. "You will always be villains! You'll never wash it away! Class A will follow you for the rest of your life and there's nothing you can do about it! You can yell all you want about being better than us, but when it comes down to it, you will never make the cut!"

Bakugo simply ignored him and stomped off, refusing to meet the eyes of his reflections in the growing puddles around him.

He stopped before Heights Alliance, the happy-go-lucky name of class A's prison-like dorm building, and he gazed up at the sky. Fat raindrops came drip-dropping down. Such a simple force could wash away everything that made him powerful.

He looked back at the dorms, and at the warm light flowing out from them. Bakugo could just see their silhouettes as they probably fawned over Deku, shoving a plaster on his face.

There were a million other things Bakugo could have thought of, standing outside in the cold and rain – but Bakugo wasn't the one to dwell on such things.

He walked back inside and went for a shower.

The Story of Team Green

Shoto didn't know exactly what he was doing in this group.

Across Saturday and Sunday, Midoriya and Yaoyorozu had been hard at work, poking and prodding at Mineta's old phone, and muttering about the mechanisms that made it up. Shoto had no hope in understanding what they were doing. He saw lots and lots of tiny little pieces with immense detail, all held together on a slab of plastic, perhaps ironically, coloured green. Shoto moved the pieces around on the table, keeping them neat and organised because that was all he could think of to do.

Although Yaoyorozu tried her best to copy it and create a new phone, she concluded that she simply couldn't produce a working model without months and months of practise, and extensive research on the topic. This was something that, without internet or access to any books (if they asked, it would be suspicious, and they doubted there would be such a specific book hidden somewhere in the library), that seemed an impossible feat to complete in the span of two days.

Instead, they began work of resetting Mineta's phone. They'd lost a lot of time from experimenting with the first idea, but it didn't seem like they needed nearly as much to complete their second task.

Shoto would describe what they did – but he had no idea whatsoever. He hovered around the two, feeling a little stupid whilst he picked up on the occasional word that made sense, but not in the sentence that they was used in. When Shoto dared to ask what was going on, the two seemed very supportive and tried their best to explain, but dumbed it down to such a level that Shoto felt ashamed for not understanding after three attempts, and so began blindly nodding despite knowing nothing.

Look, Shoto may have often been called a bright kid, but he wasn't exactly the smartest in the class. Two years off the grid hadn't done any good to his education. How he wasn't bottom of the class, was beyond him, especially since he didn't bother trying at all in the first week or so.

Perhaps Shoto was just a look out – Midoriya did say they needed one per group. But Shoto didn't know what he was looking out for. They never dared to tinker with the phones in plain sight of any of the teachers, and therefore left all of their work at the dorms. Mr Aizawa was still badly hurt from the USJ incident and spent far less time watching over them like a hawk from the corner of the common room, leaving them free to do what they wanted.

There were no cameras inside the dorms, perhaps because this would be considered an invasion of privacy, or maybe because they had never been given a reason to do so before. Shoto could also definitely see previous year groups destroying the cameras the moment they were given the chance, and UA would have soon given up on replacing them. Not that they didn't have the budget to – UA was well known for having far more money available than they probably should. Shoto heard rumour that this was mainly down to a combination of revenue from the Sports Festival, as well as a certain mouse-like Principal with an intelligence Quirk, who had a way with the stock market.

"Ok… moment of truth," Midoriya muttered as the phone, now reassembled, slowly turned back on.

He and Yaoyorozu high-fived when several previously hidden options reappeared on the screen.

"Are we just going to do the same to the other phones now?" Shoto questioned. He probably shouldn't have used the word we since he had nothing to do with this.

"Not quite yet!" Midoriya replied, grinning from ear to ear at his accomplishment. "First we need to make sure that what we've done to this phone won't be picked up by any kind of sensor… And more importantly – whether the teachers can read messages sent by this phone or not."

Yaoyorozu turned on her own phone to compare the two screens. "Hm, perhaps all the groups set up here, including the individuals, for example, messages between numbers 20 and 18, are in fact group chats, and the teachers are included, but hidden from sight."

Midoriya nodded slowly, "Right… and we have no way of making new group chats or editing the groups. So…" he picked up Mineta's phone again and started making his way through the settings. "Ok – yes! Yes, look – Mineta sent a couple of messages to Kaminari a while back – and see?!"

"Oh, it is a group!"

"Yeah – Mr Aizawa's in there, and Midnight – and I'm guessing that's Principal Nezu's contact!"

Shoto just blinked and leant over their shoulders whilst they experimented messaging Midoriya's brick phone with some mockingly angry messages from Mineta's. If one of the teachers were somehow able to read them, they wouldn't be suspicious that they had Mineta's phone, since the messages seemingly came from him.

They were extremely pleased when the message was received on Midoriya's phone, from the contact named 19, except in a different chat location (Shoto didn't know what he was talking about) to… where it was before…?

Oh well, they seemed happy about the result, so, Shoto was too.

"Well… do you think it's safe to tamper with the other phones now?" Yaoyorozu asked Midoriya.

He hesitated, "…Yes – yes, I think it is. To be honest, I'm still surprised we didn't just wipe all the data off Mineta's phone!"

"Me too! I thought it would just result in a factory reset. You're quite proficient with technology, Midoriya."

"T-Thanks."

"You can reset my phone next if you want," Shoto offered. He needed to give some input somehow.

"Are you sure?" replied Midoriya.

Shoto simply nodded and slid it over.

The two of them were far quicker at the process a second time around, even though there was one small slip up, and they feared they'd accidentally broken it or something. Regardless, not long after, Shoto was handed his phone back, now fully operational.

"I guess mine should be next?" Midoriya supposed.

Yaoyorozu shook her head, "Perhaps leave yours a little longer. Just in case yours has extra security on it. Mr Aizawa was quite aware of your ability to tamper with these phones."

"R-Right, good point. Um, yours then?"

"Ok, but would you like some tea before we –"

"Shoto, I wouldn't if I were you."

Yaoyorozu stopped, blinking at Midoriya's words before turning her head to Shoto to see what he was doing. Shoto blinked too, and the phone on his lap blinked back at him, the black cursor against a white screen, waiting for a number to be dialled in.

Midoriya barely looked up from Yaoyorozu's phone, which he'd already started taking apart with the various sized screwdrivers she'd made for the task. "What would you even say?"

Shoto faltered. What… was he doing? Who would he call? Who would he speak –

Dabi.

He… wanted to speak to Dabi. He was the only family he could rely on, right? He'd taken him away from Father – away from that danger. He was safety – he knew the truth behind Endeavor and the poison that was this country's heroic system. When Shoto finally got out of UA, Dabi would be there for him.

Right?

But what would he say?

Hey, Dabi – why did you leave me behind? Why did you never come to rescue me?! You did the first time – you got me away from Father. Why didn't you do it a second time? Why did you leave me to his grasp – to UA's?!

This place was messing with his head!

Shoto didn't know right from wrong anymore – and he had been so sure.

He existed to take up his father's mantle and become a heartless hero like him. But Shoto had taken control of his own destiny when he went with Dabi, who had done the same. He was going to shake the foundations of this society and become anything but a hero – he'd make Endeavor regret what he did to his mother.

But he was thrown into UA – he'd been through so much in such a short space of time and met so many weird and wonderful people. And now… what was he doing? Thinking of leaving UA not to return to Dabi, but to become… a vigilante?

He didn't… he didn't like what Dabi was. Shoto had seen too many horrors at his brother's hands and he… didn't want to be a part of that – he never did, he just… didn't feel like he had much of a choice. It was hero, or villain – black and white – wrong or right – no in-between.

But then these people turn around and say that he can be both – and that they'd be there too.

Now Shoto wasn't sure at all.

He often looked in the mirror and saw two halves never meant to be whole. He brushed his white hair to cover his red side and hide the scar from view. He tried to banish his father from his life – completely erase him. For Shoto had two Quirks – his mother's ice, and his father's fire, forced together. But he refused to use the fire. Never. He would not utilise Endeavor's power – he didn't need it. He took one look at what it did to Dabi and it… it scared him.

"I'm going to take the silence as a, I don't know," Midoriya continued.

Shoto looked up for a moment to see him well into the process of fixing the phone.

"Y-You need to stop looking at yourself as the son of Endeavor," he said.

Shoto's head snapped up. He could feel the fire burning beneath his skin – he pushed it down. "What?"

"Well, that fact just seems to rule your life," Midoriya sighed.

At this point Yaoyorozu awkwardly stood up and shuffled past. She picked up the empty pot of tea and scurried over to the kitchen to refill it.

"It does not," Shoto snapped.

"It does. Tell me one thing that you've done – ever – that wasn't a direct consequence of your dad."

He hesitated. What did that even mean?

Realising Shoto didn't quite understand, Midoriya added, "For example… you didn't try at all at the beginning of term because you didn't want to show Endeavor that you cared. You… left with Dabi because you wanted to get away from him. You fought heroes on the streets to stay away from him. You agreed to take part in this vigilante thing to spite him. Anything else?"

Shoto simply stared, mouth slightly agape.

Midoriya finally looked up for a moment, "Have you ever done anything because you wanted to – and your dad wasn't even part of the equation?"

"I-I…"

And then there was silence again – for a good two minutes at least. Yaoyorozu didn't reappear in the meantime, and Shoto could just hear her chatting with Mina out of sight.

"…I helped you at the USJ," Shoto finally answered.

Midoriya stopped fiddling with the phone.

"I stayed, and I helped you get to Mr Aizawa, or whatever you were doing," he shrugged. "Endeavor had nothing to do with that."

Midoriya nodded, "T-Thank you."

"You've already said this."

"I know – but… thank you. You gave up your chance to escape to help. For… F-For just a moment, you forgot about him – E-Endeavor, that is."

Shoto's eyes drifted back to his phone. It still waited patiently for the phone number. Still staring at it, Shoto continued, "But I was thinking about him," he realised.

"How come?"

"My… my Quirk – I never use my fire."

"…Because you think it's your father's, right? Yeah – you only ever use your ice. I knew you could use both."

Shoto frowned, "What do you mean, think it's Father's?"

Midoriya shrugged, poking at Yaoyorozu's phone again. "Well, it's not, is it? Do you think my lack of a power belongs to the distant relatives that I kind of inherited it from?"

"Um… no."

"Exactly? A-Any power I may or may not have, belongs to me, and no one else. All of Tsu's family have frog-like Quirks. Does her Quirk belong to them?"

"…I –"

"No. No, it doesn't. You've got a duel ability, Shoto, and that's amazing. But it's not two separate powers, one from your mum and one from your dad. It's one Quirk; you've inherited a combination and you're just not using half of it. Like, err… you use both eyes? Even if one looks like what your mum's probably do and the other from your dad… Actually, you kind of cover half your face so maybe that wasn't the best example…"

Shoto just watched him attack the phone with tweezers and a small metal toothpick whilst he mumbled.

"You need to stop approaching situations and thinking, oh, what would Endeavor want me to do here, and then doing the opposite. Just do whatever's best for you, whether he'd be happy with that decision or not. S-So… stop doing everything to spite him, and start doing it despite him."

Shoto picked up his own phone again and glared at the blank screen, mulling the words over in his mind.

"Um, and that goes for Dabi too," Midoriya suddenly added. "You try to act like you don't care about what anyone thinks – but you do, a lot. Does this make any sense? I've been told that I kind of spew loads of words at people when they actually stop to listen to me and they hardly ever make sense so if you don't want to listen then I completely understand should I just stop talking now?"

Shoto smiled. He turned off his phone and put it face down on the table. "You make sense to me."

Midoriya blinked at him for a moment and then visibly relaxed, "Oh, ok, good. Just tell me to shut up if I –"

The conversation was cut short by the prompt beep from Midoriya's phone. Shoto was a little worried that they'd been caught tampering with them for a moment, before he glanced over his friend's shoulder and spied a message from Uraraka.

[Uraraka - 18] Help! We were just out for a walk and Monoma confronted us! He thinks we're up to something! We're by the power source to the school, not far from the dorms. He's copied Tokoyami's Quirk and it's getting dark!

Midoriya bolted upright upon finishing the message. He shoved his phone in his pocket and charged towards the door.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Shoto offered, startled by the suddenness of the development as he stood up too.

"No! That could just make things worse!" Midoriya retorted, pulling on his bright red shoes in a hurry. "Wait for me to come back before you do anything more with the phones!"

And with that, he disappeared.

Yaoyorozu walked back over to Shoto, glancing between the unfinished phone, the empty seat, and the door that had just slammed shut behind Midoriya.

"Um… where did he go?"

Shoto shrugged, "To yell at someone."

"…Oh, ok. Um, would you… like some tea?"

"Yes please."