Izuku wasn't sure what to do.
He was currently staring at the intricate cracks that had spread throughout the cement floor of the infirmary room. Nurse Shin stood off to the side watching them nervously as Izuku kneeled in front of a very irate Aizawa who was looming over himself and his group, minus Chieko, but joined by Todoroki, who seemed rather unfazed. As if he had already gone through this one too many times.
Izuku heard thee running patter of footsteps before Chieko's form came into view from the open door, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath.
"Is everyone okay?"
"And where were you?" Aizawa asked.
Chieko flinched as Aizawa's attention turned to her. She rubbed the back of her neck; her gaze going off to one side.
"It seemed like everyone had things under control, so I thought I'd just get in the way if I stayed."
There was a twitch in her left brow as she glanced over at them before she looked away again. Aizawa seemed to accept her answer as he turned back to them.
"I'm used to Todoroki's antics, given who was involved, but I thought I clarified your group was on probation and was to stay out of trouble."
Denki and Shinso shifted to his right, their faces guilty as they sat back straights. To his left, Kacchan sat slouched forward, his face twisted in an annoyed frown, his eyes covered by the shadows of his hair.
Hatsume was staring at Chieko, her lips turned down at the corners, completely ignoring Aizawa.
"Well?" Aizawa asked.
"We were just trying to help." Kacchan muttered.
"Then join a group. We have enough to deal with outside these walls. We can't have people bending the rules and doing as they please." Aizawa said.
His tone was icy, and Kacchan's jaw snapped shut as he took the reprimand. Nurse Shin stepped up to Aizawa, his eyes worried as he held his medic kit.
"I don't mean to interrupt, but I should really treat their wounds."
Aizawa nodded as he turned away from the group.
"Midoriya, come to my office when you're done."
"Yes, sir."
As Nurse Shin began with Hatsume, Chieko would linger over his shoulder, her eyes curious as she watched him go through the routine of disinfecting scapes and cuts. Nurse Shin didn't seem bothered by his extra shadow as he moved onto Kacchan, but began explaining what he was doing instead.
"No matter how small the scrape is, you should always disinfect the area, especially in this day and age. Even the smallest problem can become deadly if left untreated."
"Could you teach me more?" Chieko asked.
"First aid?"
"That and anything else? I had planned to ask if I could study under you to learn as much as I can, I could be helpful." Chieko said.
Izuku smiled at the surprised look on Nurse Shin's face. He knew Chieko had planned to ask him, but he wasn't sure if she would find the courage to do it. The determined glint to her eye showed the Chieko he had remembered when they first met, and he knew this would be valuable to their group should anything happen.
"I mean, I can teach you what I know." Nurse Shin said.
"Yes, please, and thank you!"
"Good job third-wheel." Kacchan said.
Izuku nodded in agreement. Kacchan was out the door without a second glance when cleared, and Izuku wished he could follow. The others must have noticed as well, because they all watched his retreating form.
"Don't worry Midoriya, we'll go check on him." Denki said.
"We'll meet in the cafeteria after your meeting with Mr. Aizawa." Shinso said.
The two left soon after, rushing to catch up to Kacchan before he disappeared down the hall. Chieko stayed behind with Nurse Shin to learn a bit more, promising to catch up with them later.
"Midoriya, do you want me to go with you?" Hatsume asked.
Izuku shook his head at the girl as he motioned her away.
"No, I'm sure he called me out alone for a reason. Join the others for now." Izuku said.
The girl nodded, unsure.
"Let me know if I need to round everyone up or not. I'd need enough time to get my equipment in case they try to keep it." Hatsume said.
She meant in case they kicked them all out. Izuku couldn't say that wouldn't be the case, but he tried to reassure her, unwilling to show that he was just as concerned about their fate here at the school so soon after joining.
"Don't worry, Hatsume, I'm sure everything will be fine."
As he made his way through the halls, Izuku tried to go over the different excuses he could come up with. He wasn't sure which part bothered Mr. Aizawa more, that they joined in the fight or that his quirk at gone out of control and almost hurt someone. It was possible he couldn't risk having someone so unstable in the school. If they asked him to leave, Izuku would agree if the others could stay.
Izuku reached Aizawa, who ushered him into the room while Midnight wrapped up the report of the earlier attacks.
"Injuries were minimal this time around, but the damages cut off our scouts from one of our supply routes. We'll need to send out a team soon to clear the pathway."
Izuku stood off to the side. There was seating closer by, but since they were ignoring him at the moment, it didn't seem right to distract them.
"Send out Mirio's team. They'll be able to carve out a temporary path for now."
Midnight nodded and headed out, but not without patting Izuku's shoulder on her way out, a smile on her face which eased some of his worries, if only by a smidge.
"Good luck." She said.
"Midoriya, sit down."
Izuku rushed to the nearest empty seat across from the older man. Aizawa said nothing right away, leaving Izuku in perpetual silence as his focused seemed taken by whatever paperwork he had left to do. Izuku couldn't read very much of it, but he could see a few images that looked similar to a blue prints scattered around the table.
The heavy silence stretched to where Izuku's legs shook with the nervous jitters. He would prefer to get on with it so that he could apologize and beg Aizawa for another chance. At least to plead his case, but it wasn't until Todoroki joined them that Aizawa finally acknowledged Izuku's presence. The other boy was silent as he sat down in the empty chair beside him, his face cooled without giving away any outward emotions.
Aizawa didn't waste any time as he pinned his gaze towards Izuku, who flinched at the sudden attention.
"I'm just going to get to the point, then. Do you know the man you confronted earlier, the one that goes by the name Dabi?"
Out of all the things that Izuku had predicted, that was the last question he had expected.
"Uh, no, I've never met him before today. I only recognized him from the video feed, when All Might…"
The words choked him as he tried to say it, but Aizawa nodded, giving Izuku the out to be released from the burden of voicing it.
Aizawa's gaze lingered on him, the gears turning as he most likely was deciding if Izuku was telling the truth.
"Fine, I'll choose to believe you for now, but the facts remain that you and your group have broken the rules after only a day."
"I'm sorry, but… we just wanted to help."
The sigh that left the older man was rough and tired, with a burden that Izuku had understood all too clearly recently.
"I get wanting to help, but that doesn't justify breaking the rules whenever it suits you. This place is being held together by the thin threads of order that we implanted early on. We can't risk anyone rocking the boat or it will all topple over."
A heavy guilt washed over Izuku even if he didn't regret helping overall.
"I'll see about joining a group then and I'll make sure the others don't over step while they're here." Izuku said.
Aizawa nodded, but Izuku didn't move from his spot as the older man continued to look at him.
"You have a unique quirk. It would be useful, but you don't seem to have full control of it. That could be dangerous to any team you join."
Izuku's fist clench around the denim of his jeans, but he does his best at keeping eye contact with Aizawa, unwilling to give away how true his words are. He's sure that the man will question him further, but his words came out calculated as if giving Izuku time to process what he was saying to him.
"I think you would be best if I train you on how to control your quirk."
"Thank you, I had planned to join one of your classes…"
Aizawa held his hand up to stop Izuku.
"No, I don't mean joining a class. I want to bring you into my team while I train you. I'll expect you to join out on the field in return."
He handn't expected that, if he joined Aizawa he could finally receive the proper training to get All Might's quirk under control, but the issues that had popped up with his quirk made him doubt Aizawa could teach him without being told the truth of his quirks origins.
Then there were the voices.
"Can I take time to think about this?" Izuku asked.
Aizawa looked surprised that Izuku hadn't agreed on the spot.
"Some of us had planned to join your classes together, so I just would rather speak with them first before I make any permanent decisions."
"They're welcomed to join in your training but what I have in mind for you is for will be different. Take your time thinking it over and get back to me on your decision." Aizawa said.
Izuku looked over to Todoroki, who was sitting silently during their conversation, neither interested nor confused by his presence in the office.
"Is he here because of your question about Dabi?" Izuku asked.
"Todoroki has been helping me with my missions for his own reasons, but currently we're less worried about Dabi and more concerned with the Yakuza he was fighting against." Aizawa said.
Aizawa grabbed some files he had been looking over and moved them closer for Izuku to take. The blueprints from earlier were at the top, showing the structure of a large estate.
"Although you haven't agreed to join, I wanted to mention what you would help me with. I hope it goes without saying that what we talk about today doesn't leave this room?" Aizawa asked.
He nodded in agreement. Izuku could agree to that much unless it concerned his group directly.
"This estate is the blueprints to the Yakuza's current hide out. We've heard rumors they may possess something that AFO is interested in. We don't know what it is yet, but we plan to infiltrate and retrieve it. If we're lucky, it could be something that could take down AFO."
"Why are you telling me this? Wouldn't it be dangerous to trust me so early on?" Izuku asked.
Aizawa smirked as he stood up from his desk. Izuku followed suit, his gaze unsure but curious about this new information handed to him.
"Call it a mutual benefit for now." Aizawa said.
As he escorted him out of the conference room, Todoroki followed them behind silently.
"Todoroki will take you to the cafeteria. If you're ready to accept my offer, just look for him and he'll bring you to my team's next meeting." Aizawa said.
When the two were alone, Izuku glanced over at the mismatched haired boy, who stared back at him curiously.
"So you're going to show me where the cafeteria is?" Izuku asked.
"Just follow me."
There was an awkward silence between them as they made their way down the unfamiliar hallways of the school. Izuku wasn't sure what it was about Todoroki, but he didn't find him unfriendly, just odd.
"So you're helping Aizawa with this mission?" Izuku asked.
"It's mostly getting information at the moment, its nothing too dangerous if you ignore the Yakuza part. I don't know what if they really have anything that could benefit us, but if it gets me closer to Dabi, that's all I care about." Todoroki said.
Dabi had been the badly scarred man that had Izuku had seen on the building. His blue fires had been something else, but Izuku could see the dark hatred Todoroki had for the older boy.
"Dabi is your brother?" Izuku asked.
"Only by blood." Todoroki said.
He didn't expand more on the topic and Izuku had the sense that he shouldn't ask, which led them to fall back into silence. When they reached the cafeteria, Todoroki stopped Izuku at the door.
"Don't forget, you can't tell your group what we talked about."
"Don't worry, I'll edit out the sensitive parts when I talk to them." Izuku promised.
As they parted ways, Izuku made his way over to his group that were already halfway through their meals as something captured their attention in the distance. Izuku followed their line of sight where he noticed Kacchan stood with Ochako, their words too quiet to reach his ears as.
"What's going on?" Izuku asked.
Denki glanced over towards him, a grin twitching at the corners of his lips. He leaned closer to Izuku, who had yet to sit down.
"We're making bets on what they're talking about, but the current theory is that Baku is getting a confession."
He inspected, noticing the way the two were standing rather close to each other. Ochako was smiling up at Kacchan, but Izuku didn't have a good angle to see the blond boy's face.
She seemed rather awkward standing next to Kacchan, her glances shifting away or looking down, but Izuku knew Kacchan could look rather intimidating to others.
The others chattered away around Izuku as he observed their opinions always seemly centered on the idea that they were possibly an item.
He wanted to tell them to shut up because it wasn't fair to assume things when they didn't have all the facts.
"I wonder if they'll start dating right away. I mean, Ochako's such a cute girl, there's no reason for Baku to refuse." Denki said.
"Maybe she'll soften our grumpy Pomeranian." Shinso said.
It was some time after Ochako's face shot up at Kacchan with an excited glee that Izuku realized he was already halfway towards them before he could stop himself.
"Midoriya, what are you doing? Come back!?"
Denki's panic cries for him to come back bounced off his ears, but it was too late to turn back as Izuku made eye contact with Kacchan, who had turned around to notice him coming towards them.
"Hi Midoriya." Ochako said.
"What are you talking about?"
Izuku realized too late that he hadn't greeted her and Kacchan's brow raised at the blunder, but it did not incline Izuku to correct himself at this point. His chest felt tight, and he just wanted to return to the security of their group, Kacchan in tow.
Ochako didn't seem to notice anything was off because she was smiling just as wide as before.
"My team leader saw Katsuki on the field earlier and offered him a spot on our team. He just agreed to join us!" Ochako said.
Katsuki.
Not Bakugou but Katsuki.
Izuku made some kind of noise, like a whooshing as the air left his lungs. Kacchan's brow dipped, lowered as he eyed him warily. Izuku tried to cover it with a nervous chuckle.
"Wow! That sounds great." Izuku said.
Katsuki scoffed, somehow annoyed, as he locked an arm around Izuku's neck and pulled him back away from the smaller girl.
"I'll meet up with you later, pink cheeks." Kacchan said.
Ochako looked on, confused, as Izuku walked backwards awkwardly to keep from falling back into Kacchan. She waved at him and Izuku did his best to return it as his other arm held onto Kacchan's in an attempt from being choked.
"Six a.m! I'll see you then! Bye!"
"Yeah, Yeah." Kacchan said.
"I can walk by myself, Kacchan let go!" Izuku said.
His legs were stumbling, trying to walk backward, but Kacchan didn't let up as he dragged him all the way back to their table before dropping him rather roughly in a random seat.
"What was that for?" Izuku asked.
"Because you're an idiot, that's why!" Kacchan yelled.
The others snickered, used to the two when they bickered. Izuku glared up at the blond, unsure of what had set him off this time, but unwilling to say anything about it either. Chieko was the one to cut the tension as she moved a tray over to Izuku.
"Here Izuku, how about eating something?"
It ended there, much to Izuku's relief, as Kacchan dropped in the chair farthest from him, unwilling to look his way. The irritation was easy to see on his face as he crossed his arms stiff against his chest.
"Now that every is here, Midoriya, what did Aizawa say?" Hatsume asked.
"We'll talk more back in our room, but we can stay. But it'd be best that everyone join a group for now. He offered to train me so I can help." Izuku said.
The food was good, as he shoveled a spoon full into his mouth. He wasn't sure exactly how much he could tell them, but admitting that they wanted him to help seemed safe enough for now.
"Will he take anyone else interested in training?" Shinso asked.
Izuku nodded as he swallowed and Denki patted the purple-haired boy's shoulder in congratulations. Shinso smiled, relieved by the news.
"I'll be joining Ochako's team. Pikachu, you'll be joining too." Kacchan said.
Denki looked over at home in surprised.
"Wait, why do I have to join?" He asked.
"So I can keep your dumbass out of trouble. Also, their team leader was interested in you too." Kacchan said.
Denki sighed, but otherwise didn't look disappointed with the arrangement.
"So then, Ochako wasn't confessing?" Denki asked.
Katsuki glared before slapping the back of Denki's head, making the boy fall forward a bit.
"Idiot. Who the hell said anything about confessions?" Kacchan yelled.
The yellow-haired boy pouted as he rubbed the back of his head. Chieko chucked as everyone settled in to finish their food, but not before leaning closer, her hand covering her mouth.
"Hey, Denki. Don't forget, you owe me three chocolate bars."