The trio begins their move in to the dorms, and learns something new about their shared Quirks! Toshinori tries to give them a hand. And Izuku has a...discovery about themselves.

Moving into the dorms was both one of the easiest things Izuku had done and the hardest. Easy, because between One For All, Zero Gravity, and his own now rather fit form, he had no issues moving any of the boxes he was taking to the dorms (no it wasn't all merch, shut up Mom). Hard because they found out something else about the shared Quirks…and he felt awful about it.

When Ochako had left to her home to pack up and start moving her own things, everything was fine at first. Himiko didn't have much to her name, so she was busy helping Izuku pack his things up as well, but the longer Ochako was gone, the more and more…off, Izuku felt. He could see in the corner of his eye that Himiko was feeling the same. They got more lethargic, more snippy…and more easily annoyed.

Which led to him snapping at his mom when she came in to check on him. He nearly snarled at her, teeth bared, eyes slitted (or so he was told), and after the brief moment of shock on her face processed in his mind he felt absolute horror at what he had done. Himiko had the same expression on her face, completely aghast at his sudden rage, and Izuku broke down into teary apologies within a single moment.

Inko had grabbed onto him and hugged him tight, telling him she wasn't mad and that was partly why she was coming to check in on them. She'd just received a call from the Uraraka's, where they mentioned how sullen Ochako had gotten once they'd been a few hours away…to the point she also snapped randomly, screaming at her father for a moment before she seemed to come to her senses. With the weirdness of the Quirk in question, it took little time to realize that when the trio were too far apart, they would get more…bitter, for lack of a better word. Himiko explained it the best, saying she felt gray and lifeless, but not until Ochako had been gone for a while. Which coincided with when she had gotten far enough away on the train back home.

They didn't have time to test the full distance before moving in, but it was a noticeable difference when Ochako came back in range. Even knowing the cause of their feelings didn't let them ignore them, and they remained rather surly and snapping with everyone but each other, even though they tried to keep it under wraps. But at a certain point, while they were angrily lugging Izuku's luggage to the dorm…they suddenly felt lighter, as if all their anger and annoyance had just vanished into the aether.

Which led to another phone call with Inko and Miu, and the two confirmed Ochako was now on the train to them, but still a good twenty to thirty minutes away. Still not an exact distance, but enough that they could clearly be somewhat separated and still function…just not too far. Still, it was a huge relief for her to be back in range, and Izuku and Himiko breathed a sigh of relief as they now could unpack without that dark haze hanging over their minds.

Aizawa had let them into the dorm and told them they could pick whichever one they wanted. They were adults and could manage whatever, dorms were dorms, the teenagers could handle themselves. So they chose three rooms, side by side, on the top floor. For some reason they all felt more comfortable higher up (Izuku theorized this also had something to do with Himiko's cat mutation, but he wasn't sure yet). Izuku took the one closest to the elevator, Ochako was going to take the middle one, and Himiko the one next to hers. Not that Himiko had anything to really unpack.

Or so she hadn't…until Toshinori arrived and pulled the two downstairs, choosing not to comment on Izuku's slowly growing hero shrine in his bedroom that heavily featured his merchandise. He spoke to them for a bit, saying he had something to tell them both and Ochako once she arrived, and when she did he quickly intercepted her to make her sit on the couch before him. Her parents had not been able to make it, but she'd been able to bring her belongings to UA by herself thanks to Zero Gravity and One For All. As soon as Toshinori had the trio sitting on the couch before them, he stood up straight and planted his fists on his hips.

"Well my young successors, it is time to handle one more thing before your move-in is finished!" he said with a wide grin. Izuku blinked, confused, as Himiko tilted her head to the side in question. Toshinori's wide smile softened slightly, shifting from number one hero to a more parental gaze as he spoke softly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a trio of small cards, holding them out to Izuku. "I already know you will protest this, but please, for once, don't. I've set aside some money for each of you to take care of yourselves. I know you're doing alright financially, Izuku, but it is still a strain on your mother without the scholarships you got, and those can vanish at any time if someone is feeling prickly. And well, we may not want to speak of it, but Himiko has nothing. And Ochako, we know about your situation as well. So this is what I intend on doing to help rectify it."

He could see the trio all gathering steam to refuse him, but he cut them off, well prepared. "Stop. Let me finish. Set aside your pride and hear me out. Izuku, you are my chosen successor. I am by any and all accounts invested in your success. You are my hope for the future. And through a series of circumstances, now these two young ladies are also my successors. Which means I am also invested in you," Toshinori pointed at Himiko and then Ochako, narrowing his eyes. "I want you to succeed. I want you to do your best. Setting that aside, I actually do care. I'm not a hero for fame or fortune, after all. I want to help people. And finally…it is literally a drop in the bucket. I don't use my money. More than eighty percent of it goes to charities and I still have yet to ever bother checking my bank accounts."

He let his shoulders slump and took a seat on the chair across from the trio. "I didn't hand you millions of yen, mind you. This is money to help you make your dorms more comfortable, to buy supplies for food and drink as you continue, to cover whatever expenses you need, and maybe to go out and actually be teenagers and have fun. Consider it my investment in your future. Or if you must, your wages from working for me, because by being my successors it's a similar thing!"

"...it's really not, Toshi," Izuku replied, refusing to meet the older man's gaze.

Toshinori sighed. "Maybe not, but I am just trying to impress upon you three that this is not a handout. This is me helping my successors. If you were in my position, would you not do the same?"

Silence reigned over the room as the three realized they didn't have much of an argument against that argument…except Izuku. "But um…I mean, for Himi and Chako that makes sense, b-but you already gave me so much with my Quirk and-"

"If you say one more time that I've given you too much I swear I'll…well, I wouldn't want to upset you so I won't yell but I will be very disappointed and I have been told I do an excellent disappointed dad impression!" Toshinori replied, a cheeky grin on his face as he tried to cheer up Izuku before the boy went off into another one of his self-flagellating tangents. He needn't have worried, not when the girls were there.

"Izu…stop that," Ochako sighed. She was just so damned tired she couldn't even muster the energy to argue with Toshinori about this, so she didn't bother, just slumping over until her head was resting on Izuku's shoulder, the green-haired teen shifting slightly so she could get in a more comfortable position. She was not okay with a handout and she still did not like the idea, but she had a sneaking suspicion that if any one of them refused to take it, the others would too, and Himiko clearly needed some support. She'd be fine, she managed before, but Himiko…

"Are you…tracking this?" Izuku asked, staring at the card still in Toshinori's hand.

Toshinori shook his head. "Nope. It's a gift. You choose what to do with it. I already trusted you with my deepest secrets and the source of my power…I trust you to use this for your benefit. However!" he held up one finger to draw emphasis to what he had to say next, "I want your word you use this not just for essentials, but also to actually enjoy yourselves. Go out to eat, play games, go to movies, etcetera. Even buy some merch…but don't waste it all on that, Izuku." Toshinori's grin was wide as Izuku flushed at the reminder.

"Toshinori, I really think this is unnecessary," Himiko began, but was cut off once more by the older man's deep sigh.

"Himiko, Izuku, Ochako. Please, please just let me do this much for you. I know each of you has your own problems that you're keeping close to the chest. And one final thing…this is the most manipulative thing I will say to you, but I also know it will work." Toshinori paused, making sure to meet each of their eyes one by one, narrowing his own. "...think about what you could get each other with some extra spending cash."

"That is cheating, Toshinori," Ochako growled, glaring at the hero.

"Sometimes heroes must resort to underhanded tricks to win the day!" he replied with bravado.

"...Stupid smart heroes," Himiko muttered, glaring down at the floor.

Toshinori couldn't help but grin. "I knew that'd work."

"I agree with 'Chako. That's cheating," Izuku sighed.

"And it worked, didn't it?" The quality of silence he got in response made him chuckle. Once more, he held the cards out, and grudgingly, his three successors took them. "Excellent! With that handled…let's go to the mall. I know you don't need anything Izuku, but Himiko needs more clothing, and let's get some nice furnishings for your dorms! You want to feel at home after all!"

"...we're not getting out of this, are we?" Ochako deadpanned.

"Nope!"

'Dammit,' three teenagers thought in their mind.

Izuku let out a sigh of relief as he closed the door to his dorm. Shopping with Toshinori was…an experience. One he did not intend on repeating. Izuku knew he wasn't exactly up to trend with fashion and color coordination and all that, but Toshinori was atrocious at it. And it turned out Ochako wasn't much better than Izuku was. She didn't say much about why, but she said they had better things to spend money on than fancy clothes.

So the entire trip ended up being Himiko having to show them what clothes actually looked halfway decent on them. Not that Izuku felt like he needed any, but apparently his childhood friends didn't think his joke t-shirts were as funny as he did no he wasn't salty about that at all. Ochako said she didn't need more clothes either, but Himiko said if she was being forced to shop, they had to join her so she didn't feel awkward so…there it went.

And then the furniture. Once again, no one could rely on Toshinori to pick something out that actually looked good, so it came down to the trio picking things they liked. Izuku got to skip this, since he did have a nice desk from home along with plenty of merchandise, but Himiko needed a full kit and Ochako, though she protested, also needed a lot more in her room. Which worked out, because they managed to convince her to get a real big, nice, comfortable bed they could all sit on when hanging out. Since her room was in the middle, they'd already silently agreed her room would be their hangout spot. (Also a little bit because Izuku's merchandise was a bit much, and Himiko, once she found the plushie shop, may have gone a bit overboard on plushies.)

But now, he was alone, late at night and about ready for bed…or so he told the girls. There was something he needed to check on, and he didn't feel comfortable talking to them about it, at least…not yet. He stood in front of the mirror that hung on the back of his closet, just standing in his underwear as he stared at himself for a moment. Thanks to the work he'd put in with Toshinori, he was fairly fit. Honestly, he was a little bit proud of it, but he didn't think he could ever admit that out loud. He ignored the scars littering his torso, the starburst burns on his shoulders and chest, the ones he knew were on his back, mostly just focused on…him.

And that was the crux of the matter, wasn't it? When he'd turned into the girls, he'd been…confused. He expected to feel awkward, but he didn't. Part of him figured this must be a side-effect of Transform, since neither Himiko nor Ochako seemed bothered by turning into him or any of the teachers, but it got him wondering about how it…didn't bother him? But it also didn't make him feel better.

He knew about trans people, of course he did. There were transgender heroes, like Tiger, who he'd always admired for his great rescue work with the Pussycats. But he dismissed that thought pretty quickly. He didn't feel like he was a girl; the problem was he didn't feel like he was a boy either. He thought about it after he had been training with Transform and for some reason, he just…didn't even know what it meant to feel like one gender or the other. It didn't make sense.

He'd never cared much for gender roles or clothing, to be fair. Skirts looked like fun, if he was being honest, but he didn't overly care. He liked simple clothing, so he tended to stick to shorts and t-shirts, but he didn't overly care about what clothing was considered masculine or feminine. The more he thought about it, he wondered if he'd ever even considered the difference. It never meant much to him, the whole gender thing, and he'd always just thought that was how everyone felt, but now, he wasn't so sure.

Which led to him needing to do this test, alone, in his room. Transform had been changed by One For All, and now he wanted to test and see if it had changed in a way he'd thought it might. He took a deep breath and pulled his wrist up to his mouth, nipping at it with his teeth to rip a hole in it. He sucked up the blood, wincing as he realized that his own blood did not taste great, but he wanted to test something…and activated Transform, with a very specific mental image in his head. If he was right about what Transform could do when under the influence of One For All…

The gray sludge he was used to seeing when Transform ended quickly seemed to wrap itself about him, and as he watched in the mirror, it became him…but more of a her. His face softened, his hair lengthened, shoulders and hips rounded. His chest became more pronounced and he could feel the other changes taking hold, changing him into…well, a female version of himself. Part of him was elated that his experiment worked! He could change shape into alternate variations of himself! But that was only part of him…the other part felt differently.

To his frustration, it felt exactly the fucking same. This didn't make sense! Maybe Transform stopped dysphoria, but he still didn't get why it didn't have some effect! He should care, shouldn't he? With an annoyed huff, he dropped the transformation, ignoring the sludge as it pooled onto the floor, knowing it would dissipate in mere moments. He slumped into his desk and decided research was needed. He wasn't transgender, he was pretty sure of that at this point, but he didn't feel like he matched his birth gender either! So…he'd ask the internet and see what it said. A few links in, he saw a number of comments about people not feeling like a man or a woman, and he clicked into them for more information, reading further down the page and…

Oh.