Chapter 6: I Totally Assaulted A Guy With Beans

Chapter Text

The three of them had been walking home Tuesday after school when Shinso, keeping his eyes firmly on the ground, invited them over. The nervousness in his voice wouldn't have been detectable to someone who hadn't spent years learning to pick up on any emotion no matter how well hidden when he said, "My foster dad has been bugging me to bring some friends over. So if you guys are free tomorrow you can come over for dinner or fucking whatever."

Wow Shinso has been spending far too much time with Kacchan was Izuku's first thought. His second was that his friend was clearly nervous about inviting them over and was trying to make it seem like it wasn't his idea and wouldn't bother him if they rejected the idea. If anyone knew how much courage it must have taken for Shinso to invite them, it was Izuku. So he smiled brightly, "That sounds like fun, Kacchan and I will be there for sure!"

Katsuki shouted indignantly, "Don't just accept for me, Deku! There better be spicy food, Eyebags." Shinso made a valiant effort to hide his grin, but both boys saw it.

That's how they ended up in this situation. Shinso had led them to his house, telling them that he'd been with his foster dad since about a year before UA, the man had helped him train for the entrance exam, having been a fitness nut in his younger days. Shinso admitted he probably would have ended up in general studies if he hadn't gotten that training. He worked from home, doing something in accounting that paid well. His name was Yagi and that name tickled something in the back of Izuku's mind, but he was trying to focus on what his friend was telling them.

It wasn't until the man came into the front room to greet them as they took off their shoes that Izuku realized why the name seemed familiar. He was looking at a tall, skinny blonde who wore a matching expression of shock to Izuku. Yagi Toshinori. Izuku remembered every Zero he'd ever given a new life to. Late at night when the glares of his classmates flashed in his mind and made the voices of his middle school bullies loud inside his head, he flipped through his binders and reminded himself that he had given all those people hope so it doesn't matter what anyone says. So he remembered when he'd shipped the package full of Yagi's new identity through the ZNetwork's delivery system. (Packages and messages passed from Zero to Zero across the country if the contents were to sensitive to risk being lost in the mail). He knew Yagi recognized him from his ZNetwork picture.

He remembered the man in his late thirties, just barely avoiding being homeless and working in terrible conditions to pay his bills while making visits to the quirkless clinic almost weekly for an illness they didn't have the resources to treat. Hundreds of times Izuku had reread the heartfelt message he'd received months after Yagi Toshinori relocated (apparently to the same city Izuku lives in) and could finally receive treatment from a proper doctor. The treatment he needed could only have saved him if he had gotten it when he did, so close to too far into the illness. Izuku had saved him and he'd decided to use his good fortune to take in foster kids who needed the chance he'd been given.

They stared at each other just a second too long before they were able to hide their shock. Izuku could tell Shinso had noticed and his brain was working overtime trying to figure out an excuse. Thankfully, Yagi ushered them into the house, got introductions, and offered them snacks so Shinso didn't have time to question it yet. They were sitting on the couch, Shinso watching Izuku while Katsuki looked between them, trying to figure out the source of the sudden tension.

Yagi came back into the room with a tray of tea and cake, shooting them a blinding smile. "I was surprised to see you here young man!" Izuku smiled at the man, hoping he had come up with a story that would make sense for their reaction to each other. "Shinso, do you remember months ago when that thug tried to mug me?"

Shinso blinked, confused. "You mean when that guy pulled a knife on you and some teenager threw a can of beans at him and shouted about a pervert until everyone was looking and the mugger ran off?"

Yagi nodded eagerly, "I never managed to get my young savior's name before he disappeared, it was your friend Izuku here!"

Izuku rubbed the back of his head, feigning embarrassment. He remembered Yagi thanking Phoenix, a Zero info broker who'd been in the area and recognized a fellow Zero, on the website that night. "Yeah, I couldn't just let that guy mug someone, but I didn't want to stick around to talk to the cops because they really don't like people like me and I didn't want to get charged with assault."

Shinso seemed to accept the story, "That makes sense. Yagi has a minor emotional manipulation quirk, so he understands the discrimination people with 'undesirable' quirks can face." He turned to his foster dad. "Izuku's my quirkless friend I told you about."

It warmed his heart to hear Shinso call him a friend. Yagi handed him a slice of cake. "I was so excited to hear there was a quirkless hero student. I'm sure you'll give hope to many quirkless people all over. Just like Shinso here is inspiring all those with 'villain' quirks, I know he inspires me."

Red faced Shinso groaned and hid behind his hands. Katsuki chuckled, poking the other boy in the ribs, "Hear that eyebags? You're an inspiration."

Shinso smacked at Katsuki's hand and the room filled with playful banter and teasing until Yagi got up to start dinner and the boys moved to Shinso's room. It was decorated in muted colors with a few hero posters on the wall as well as a picture of the three of them that Izuku had bullied his two unenthusiastic friends into taking the first time they hung out after school. They were all seated on Izuku's bed, Shinso smushed in the middle wearing a matching scowl to Katsuki while Izuku smiled brightly and held up a peace sign with one hand and the camera with the other.

Izuku was grinning when he pointed at the photo. "You printed it out! It looks so good in that frame."

Shinso was blushing again, "It's not a big deal, I just didn't have any other pictures with friends and I had a frame so…"

"You know, that was the first picture I took with a friend that wasn't Kacchan. It's still my phone screen picture." Izuku didn't want his friend to feel embarrassed about liking a picture with friends and he wasn't shy about the fact that he had so few.

That helped Shinso relax. He smiled at Izuku, "That was my first picture with any friends."

Katsuki scoffed, turning away to hide the blush both boys totally didn't see. "Yeah we're all losers with like two friends. More importantly, is this a fucking Wild Wild Pussycats poster? What are you, a furry?"

Tension broken, they spent the rest of the time before dinner arguing about the best hero groups. It was a relaxing night with easy chatter over a delicious meal. It would have been a fantastic night if Izuku's mother hadn't called right as the dishes were being washed. Not thinking anything of it and being elbow deep in soapy water, Izuku had Shinso answer it and put the call on speaker so he could see what she wanted.

Inko's frantic voice made everyone freeze. "Izu, sweetie, are you on your way home yet? Please tell me you're still at Shinso's house."

He pulled his hands out of the water and grabbed a towel, "I'm still at Shinso's. What's wrong?"

There was a shaky sigh of relief from his mother. "Someone told the press that there's a quirkless hero student. They leaked your name. There's a picture and everything, I don't want you taking the train home. It's bad, honey. Mitsuki is coming to pick you boys up."

Izuku's heart was pounding in his chest. He knew this would happen eventually, the school had made all the hero course students sign an agreement to not discuss their classmates' quirks but that would only keep it under wraps for so long. He'd hoped it would take longer. It wasn't that he couldn't handle what people would say, but there were bound to be people who hated the thought of a quirkless kid trying to be a hero enough to turn violent. He couldn't stand the thought of having to defend himself and then being arrested for assault. The times his mother had tried to press charges against bullies and teachers only for the cops to try to pin the blame on him had taught him that standing up for himself could go horribly wrong.

Shinso's hand on his shoulder shook him out of his spiraling thoughts. Izuku agreed to stay inside until Auntie got there and they ended the call. The room was quiet, everyone present knowing exactly how badly this could end for him.