The bus ride out to the summer camp came with a peace and silence that made Izuku's mind wander. For so long, he had felt overstimulated by the intricate web of powered cables, speckled with handheld devices and cars, that he had grown inured to the deluge of electric sensations. Now, so far from civilization, with cellphones left behind for safety reasons and other electrical devices stowed away for the ride, Izuku felt nothing but the gentle flicker of the bus's lead battery and the quiet hum of power under his own skin.

The silence of the woods surrounding the rocky path the bus trundled over made the few presences at the cliff up ahead stand out in stark relief. He couldn't tell who they were, but one presence seemed smaller than the rest. And grumpy.

Rolling his neck and stretching his shoulders, Izuku asked, "Sensei, are we expecting to meet people up ahead?"

Aizawa gave him an intrigued look. "How many do you sense?"

"Five."

The teacher frowned. "What else can you tell me."

"One seems smaller than the rest. Maybe a child?"

At that, Aizawa relaxed. "How long have you been able to do that?"

Izuku shrugged. "Don't know. It's a lot easier out here in the wilderness."

"Then we'll work on gradually increasing the electrical noise until you can work around it."

The bus groaned to a stop. The students all filed off, stretching and chatting amiably while Izuku waited for the surprise. The Wild Pussycats didn't keep him waiting long. Tiger catapulted himself up the cliff with his stretchy limbs, while Pixie-Bob rose on a column of earth with Mandalay, Ragdoll, and a child at her side.

While the heroes gave their introduction, Izuku looked around the clearing. Shelter was nowhere to be seen, and the only sign of civilization anywhere was a thin plume of smoke miles through the forest. Izuku grinned as he realized what their first test would be.

Lost in his daydreams, Izuku almost missed the kid walking up to him. Scowling up at him, Kota said, "Some hero you're going to be. You're not even listening!"

"I am capable of paying attention to more than one thing at a time," Izuku said without looking down. "I wouldn't be much of a hero otherwise."

"Oh yeah! Then pay attention to this!"

Kota kicked. His foot went through Izuku's groin. He yelped in surprise as he tipped backwards, and Izuku swiftly caught him before he could fall.

"Nice kick," Izuku said, "But you need to keep your balance. You can't go falling over if someone dodges, right?"

"Y-you used your Quirk! That's cheating!"

"I could have turned it off, but you would have hurt your foot if I let you hit me."

Kota fumed at Izuku's words and balled up his fists, but before he could charge forward, Mandalay came over and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry about that," she told Izuku. "He's been a bit prickly about heroes."

"Why would that be? Aren't you heroes too?"

Kota crossed his arms. Mandalay hesitantly looked at him and said, "It's not really something I should say. Just… be patient with him. Alright?"

"Of course. Also, should I go on ahead by myself or stick with the group? I might make things too easy for them."

Mandalay gave him a shrewd look. "Figured it out already?"

"I thought it was weird we would be stopping out in the middle of nowhere. Aizawa isn't one to waste time on things like bathroom breaks."

During their conversation, Pixie-Bob said, "Alright, kiddos! I hope you got your hiking boots on, because your first exercise is to make it to camp! It's only a couple hours away, so you should make it in time for lunch."

"Wait, we're not taking the bus there?"

"Yep! And remember, you don't get to eat until everybody makes it together!"

The students made a break for the bus. Pixie-Bob cackled as the ground gave way from underneath them. Izuku's footing also disappeared, but he remained hopping in place while he watched the rest of the students tumble into the forest.

"So, no food until they cross a forest full of rock monsters?"

"You got it!" Pixie-Bob smirked.

Izuku turned to Aizawa and said, "You have five seconds to stop me from scooping them all up."

The teacher pointedly looked around him and said, "If you're fast enough, there won't be anyone there to stop you from stuffing yourself."

Izuku grinned. "It's a race then!"

As Izuku bolted off, he heard Aizawa say, "You better hustle. I've seen him clean out U.A.'s larder in one sitting."

The Pussycats exchanged glances. Tiger sprinted off, stretching his arms and legs to slingshot his way through the trees. Izuku let him nearly catch up to him before switching from Soru to using his Quirk. In a literal flash of lightning, Izuku crossed the woods, crashing through a few stone golems for good measure, and approached the pantry. Rock monsters sprung up in his path, puppeted by Pixie Bob, but Izuku simply batted them aside and helped himself to the kitchen and the tubs of meat within the walk-in fridge.

Tiger flung the door open thirty minutes later. Dripping sweat and panting like a dog, Tiger slumped onto a seat in front of Izuku's teriyaki meat pile.

"Want some?" Izuku asked.

"Your Quirk's no fair," he grumbled.

Izuku shrugged and went back to eating. Once he finished, and Tiger had recovered his stamina, Izuku offered a spar to kill time. Tiger quickly learned that, without his Quirk, Haki, or even Rokushiki, Izuku could punch a tree hard enough to rattle its branches. Well accustomed to fighting stretchy opponents, Izuku grabbed both arms and made a bowtie knot before Tiger could react.

"Well, this is embarrassing," Tiger said as he worked to undo the knot.

"Consider it practice. Also, if you get the knot undone before anyone gets here, nobody will know about it."

Tiger made a valiant effort of it, but he was still stuck when Mandalay and the others made it back. Ragdoll bent over laughing at the sight of Tiger's tied arms, and Kota glared at Izuku like he had dumped chili flakes in his cereal.

Lunch had come and gone, and Izuku was contemplating whether he'd have an afternoon snack when his 1-A classmates finally stumbled into camp, disheveled, clothes torn and skin scratched up, looking as though they had run afoul of squirrels from the Grand Line. Mineta sank to his knees and shouted to the heavens, "Finally! Food!"

Izuku made a big show of picking his teeth. "Oh hi guys. It'll be a few hours. They didn't pack enough food, so Aizawa had to run into town."

The class looked at the empty, sauce-strewn plate before Izuku. Then at Izuku's greasy cheeks. Izuku savored the look of utter betrayal on their faces. Iida looked like he was plotting murder again, and even Kirishima was saying less-than-manly things under his breath.

Before Bakugo could try to strangle him, Aizawa came out and said, "The camp was well informed of Midoriya's appetite. Rest assured there will be plenty for everyone."

The class cheered in unison.

"After you finish making it."

Their cheers swiftly died. They looked to Sato for salvation, but Sato sheepishly scratched behind his neck. "Sorry guys. I'm a great baker, but not so hot on the grill."

In the silence that ensued, Bakugo snorted. "Fucking useless, all of you."

"Got a problem with us, Bakugo?" Jiro asked dryly.

"Yes. None of you fuckers know how to cook!"

"Then teach us, oh great sage of the kitchens."

Bakugo rolled up his sleeves. "Right. Spiky hair, you're on cutting duty, because you're the only dumbass here I trust not to cut their fingers off."

"You got it, dude!" Kirishima said.

"And anytime I say anything, you all answer with 'yes chef!' If you're going to make me do all the work, you could at least do me the courtesy of acknowledging it. Do you understand!"

"Yes chef! Right away chef!"

The class grumbled, and Mineta said, "What gives you the right to be the boss of us?"

Bakugo's palms crackled as he loomed over Mineta. "Grape bowl, you're on dish duty. Got it?"

Tears streaming down his face, Mineta stammered, "Y-yes chef!"

In short order, Bakugo had the entire class slicing vegetables, rinsing rice, and skewering chunks of chicken and beef over the grill. Bakugo tended to the marinade personally, holding a bowl in the crook of his arm, adding spices with one hand and stirring with the other, grumbling all the while about not having time to do a proper curry, and at the same time berating every mistake his classmates made.

"Icy-hot, if I wanted lumps of charcoal in the curry I'd ask your dad to save them from a collapsing bridge. You're on dish duty. Sato, pick up the slack! If those chicken pieces turn out raw I'm making you eat them."

"Yes chef!" Sato seemed to revel in the high-stress kitchen environment. Kaminari, on the other hand, floundered before a pot of rice.

"How the hell did you manage to burn the rice and have it come out as soggy mush. We're making rice, not congee!"

"I did what you said! I put the rice in the water and boiled it!"

Bakugo rolled his eyes. "Grape-bowl, congrats, you're promoted. Don't fuck this up. Kaminari, I'd put you on dishes if I wanted everyone else there electrocuted, which is growing more tempting by the second. Instead, you get to be the grape's hands."

Thinking herself out of earshot, Mina whispered to Hagakure, "Part of me really wants to hear him shouting about lamb sauce."

Hagakure went still and quiet, hoping the silent menace stalking behind Mina wouldn't notice her. Sensing the change in atmosphere, Mina turned around and gulped at the sight of Bakugo's irritated eyebrow twitch.

"Got something to say to me, xenomorph reject?"

"Yes, actually. Gordon Ramsey called, he wants his kitchen rants back."

"Did you just compare me to that jumped-up British twat?"

Jiro smugly cut in, "That's awfully rich coming from someone who has every Hell's kitchen episode memorized."

"Your sauce is boiling over."

Hearing the truth in his words, Jiro cursed and rushed the pot off the burner. By the time Mina thought to say something, Bakugo was long gone, ordering Shoji to dice the onions smaller with notably less fire and insults in his voice.

The only person Bakugo left entirely alone, even after having his affection for a particular British chef aired out like dirty laundry, was Izuku. Watching the bustle of the kitchen, Izuku neatly inserted himself amidst the cutting boards. He lacked practice with knives, but raw strength and intangible fingers meant he could slice and dice with reckless abandon.

Bakugo walked over and froze mid-step by Izuku's cutting board. He glanced between the pile of mangled garlic pieces and Izuku's dull knife.

"Is there something wrong?" Izuku asked coolly.

"Did Aun- I mean, your mom teach you to dice garlic?"

"She did, but this way is much faster."

"It's also blunting the knife and wrecking the cutting board."

Izuku glanced past the pile of garlic and noted the long gouges in the bamboo slats. Mashed garlic pressed itself into every crevice.

"I'll be more careful then."

Nodding, Bakugo stiffly turned away and went back to assembling the curry. He accepted Izuku's pile of minced garlic without further complaint, dumped in canned tomatoes and spices, then stirred in the meat and a splash of cream.

"This looks a lot redder than I was expecting," Kirishima said. "Isn't curry normally brown?"

"Japanese curry is," Momo pointed out. "Bakugo had us make an Indian version."

Everyone scrambled to tidy up the last of the dishes and grab a plate. Shoji doled out the scoops with spare arms while he spooned his own curry into his mouth.

Izuku, remembering Bakugo's fondness for reckless amounts of spice, cut his curry with an extra splash of leftover cream. Everyone else got to enjoy the full brunt of Bakugo's gastronomical masochism. Some, like Kirishima and Iida, stoically weathered the inferno on their tongues. Others ran for water, and the wisest among them sought out milk or yogurt. Yet, even dairy proved powerless before the assault of cayenne and chili powder upon the tongue. Despite that, everyone cleaned their plates, and a few even went back for seconds.

Panting from the exertion of forcing down his third plate, Kirishima patted his face with a paper towel and said, "Sheesh, Baku-bro, how do you handle that much heat?"

Bakugo snorted. "It's called flavor. Not my fault none of you know how to season your food."

Ojiro thumped his tail on the ground. "I've tried death spice challenges milder than that. Are you sure there isn't something about your Quirk that kills your sense of taste?"

"His sense of hearing, absolutely," Izuku said. "But not sense of taste. The doctors checked for that."

Bakugo rounded on him. "No one asked you, De- Izuku."

Izuku raised an eyebrow at that. Bakugo had spent a lot of time avoiding him, but this was the first time he heard him forcefully keeping himself from using that old childhood nickname. Izuku might have commented on it if they were alone, but with everyone around them, he instead elected to pretend he hadn't noticed.

"I have embarrassing childhood stories as well if anyone wants to hear them. On his fifth birthday, when he still didn't have good control over his sweat, he tried to grab a chunk of his birthday cake and-"

Bakugo lunged. Izuku thought about letting Bakugo pass right through him, but that felt like cheating. Instead, he ducked under Bakugo's hands, grabbed him by his collar and the back of his shirt, and slammed his belly onto the table. Bakugo scooped up a glob of half-eaten curry and blasted it into Izuku's face. The resulting food explosion stung Izuku's eyes and blinded him long enough to wriggle free.

"When we were seven, Izuku got so excited over a limited edition All Might figure at Christmas that he-"

Fast as lightning, Izuku shoved a plate of curry into Bakugo's face. While he choked on rice, Izuku swept one leg out from under him, twisted his arm behind his back, and kept the palm pressed against his skin.

"At school, he heard that you could split an apple by holding your finger over the stem and whacking it with your forehead. When he tried, he forgot to account for his sweaty fingers, and-"

Bakugo planted his feet on the table and flipped himself over, taking Izuku with him.

"He got a new pair of All Might underwear for his sixth birthday and didn't like that no one else could see him. So, on the subway-"

A swift elbow to the gut had Bakugo wheezing. Catching him in a headlock, Izuku wrestled his arms to the side and said, "When we were little, Bakugo wanted to know if real worms tasted the same as gummy worms. So, he dug a whole bunch of them out of the backyard and-"

"You tried them too!"

As they tussled, a capture scarf bound them both up. "We just got here, and you're already misbehaving?" Aizawa said from behind them.

Izuku shot back a cheeky grin. "Were you expecting any different?"

"From students of U.A. and future professional heroes, yes. Midoriya, Bakugo, you two clean everything up. The rest of you may head to the hot springs."

Many cheers went around the tables. Kirishima gave Bakugo a commiserating clap on the back as he walked off, but neither he nor Izuku felt too regretful at being left behind.

"Do you think Mr. Hobo realizes that I can't do hot springs? I sweat explosives for crying out loud!"

"I can't either. Standing water makes me weak. I'd drown if there wasn't somebody holding me up." Izuku pointedly kept his hands out of the sink while he dunked the dirty dishes into the soapy water.

"Bullshit. We had that kiddie pool back when we were little. Didn't seem so weak when you were splashing me."

"It's a recent development."

"Like the lightning, super speed, flight, super strength, and all the other B.S. your 'Quirk' does. The 'Quirk' you didn't have your whole childhood."

"That's the one."

"The one you got by eating a fruit a pirate gave you in another world, if your stories aren't completely made up."

Izuku put a dish down. "I don't remember mentioning that."

"You didn't. But you did mention Devil Fruits giving other people powers. And you also mentioned how they make it so you can't swim."

"You were paying attention."

"Of course I was. One day you were normal, and the next, you came back tall, tan, covered in scars, and built like a German tank. You kicked ass and didn't take shit from anybody, not even the principal. I thought maybe you got hit with a Quirk, or you were somebody else pretending to be you."

Bakugo gathered up empty cans and bags lying around and shoved them into the garbage. "I thought those stories were bullshit to cover up everything wrong with you, so I paid attention. I tried to catch you in a lie, hear you contradict yourself, but no matter how ridiculous and far-fetched your stories got, you always kept them straight. I started noticing things. The scars line up with the fights you go through. You know about first aid and giving stitches. You didn't even blink when all those villains showed up. Even your fighting style is weird, monkey-boy said so himself."

"Are you going somewhere with all this?" Izuku asked next to a stack of immaculate dishes.

"You may have gotten a bullshit power dumped into your lap. I got one too." Bakugo let crackles dance in his palm. "It doesn't mean shit. I'm still going to beat you and be the number one hero."

Izuku turned to examine his former childhood friend. Part of him wanted Kacchan back, wanted to rekindle that friendship he thought they had throughout their childhood. But he remembered all too easily what Bakugo had done ever since they both learned he was Quirkless, and he remembered how real friends treated him.

"You'll have to beat me first."

Abusing Soru a bit, Izuku blitzed through his half of the cleanup and left the picnic tables with a thunderclap. Even if he couldn't enjoy the hot springs, Izuku decided he would at least join his classmates. He arrived just in time to see Mineta scaling the wall dividing the two halves. Forming an electric knife between his fingers, Izuku flicked it and sliced the spheres he was climbing with, sending him plummeting back into the springs with a thunderous splash.

"Hey, what gives!" Mineta shouted when he splashed back to the surface. "I was almost there!"

"If you want to see them naked, be man enough to ask them politely, and man enough to take your lumps if they decide to hit you for asking."

Kirishima scratched his head. "I'm not sure if that's the manliest thing I ever heard or completely wrong."

Izuku shrugged. "That's what Sanji would always say. Of course, he always wanted a Devil Fruit to make himself invisible, so he might have been a hypocrite too."

"Hey, no fair!" Mina shouted. "You're telling pirate stories without us!"

"Want me to come over there instead?" Izuku asked.

"Well, if you tell us one of your best stories…"

From the other side of the wall, Izuku heard someone getting dunked underwater. Jiro shouted, "Ignore her, she does not speak for the rest of us!"

"Hey, I'd be fine with it!"

"Of course you would be! You're invisible!"

"You all realize that Mina and Midoriya are both joking, right, gero?"

"They are?" Momo asked. "Well that's a relief. I thought I'd have to make swimwear for everyone."

"You're being sarcastic, right?"

"Beg your pardon?"

"You're… not being sarcastic. Gero."

"Well," Izuku said, crouching down next to the steaming water, "I guess I can't tell that exciting of a story if someone's going to miss out. I suppose there was this one time we stopped on an island with hot springs?"

Half the male audience groaned. "Come on!" Kaminari said. "That's boring!"

"Hey, boring is nice sometime! That was right after the island with all the kung fu mantises. I was covered head to toe in bruises, and Luffy still had his arms and legs tied into a ball."

"Wait, kung fu mantises! You never mentioned those."

"Were they giant mantises?"

"No, regular size. They can throw a mean punch though." Izuku shivered. "There were hundreds. But, that's a different story. I'm telling you about hot spring island."

More groans went around the hot spring. Izuku let his toes splash a little bit in the water. "Those hot springs were incredible. Perfect temperature, nice rocky shelves to sit on, and they even had bubbles trickling out from the bottom."

"Are you sure those bubbles came from the spring?" Sato cheekily asked.

A resounding chorus of boos came from the other side of the wall. Sato flung some water up and over the wall and got a few shrieks in response.

"It was bubbling before we got in, so I would sure hope so. But anyways, there we all were, buck naked, clothes strung out in the trees, all relaxing in the springs, when every bird on the island suddenly took off into the sky. That got us on edge, which was a good thing, because otherwise we might've missed it when the whole island started to shake."

"Dude. Was the whole island a volcano?"

Izuku smirked. "We were just starting to leave when a giant column of magma shot into the sky."

"Wouldn't that be lava?" Iida corrected.

"Sure, lava then. Some of the crew managed to grab their clothes on our way back to the ship, but I was a little more concerned with dodging the giant boulders raining down from the sky. We made it all the way back on board when I realized I was still in my birthday suit and all my clothes were swimming in lava." Izuku shuddered. "I had to borrow Luffy's clothes for a month, and let me tell you, I never lost so much as a sock after that."

A devilish idea came to mind as he wrapped his story up. Discreetly forming a fist behind his back, Izuku asked, "Did you all feel that?"

Everyone went alert. "Feel what?"

Izuku waited a few seconds, then said, "Nah, must have been my imagination."

Just as everyone started to relax, Izuku faked a sneeze and punched the ground hard enough to rattle the stone around the hot springs. Everyone shot up and said, "What was that? Hey, you felt it too! Oh god, are we on top of an active volcano?"

Shoji gave Izuku a bland look while everyone else started evacuating the springs. When they saw he hadn't moved, Shoji wriggled an ear sticking out from his extra limbs and said, "Izuku's pranking us."

"What? Really? How did he do that?"

Izuku held up a dirt-coated fist. Everyone groaned and turned back to the springs, only for Aizawa to arrive. "Good, you're already getting out. It's time to get some sleep. You all have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

With those ominous words, Eraserhead disappeared back into the night. Grumbling under their breaths, the 1-A students got dressed and ready for bed while Izuku watched the stars. Living in Musutafu meant he never got to see the stars anymore, like they would back on the Going Merry. It all looked wrong. The stars seemed distant and dimmer, and even the moon had lost its luster. But for all this world seemed lesser than the one he had left, he still felt glad to be back.

Maybe he didn't entirely belong anymore, not with his strength and what people thought of it, but if his classmates proved anything, it was that he could make a place for himself here. The stars might be different and the moon smaller, but it was still his home.

A/N: literally the day after I posted the last chapter, I got an accepted offer. Hallelujah. All the document submission is finally out of the way, and now I'm just waiting for the appraisal. The house isn't perfect – it'll need work on the roof, siding, and basement wiring, but it checks all my boxes, it's five minutes from work, and it doesn't have any major defects (that the inspection caught). I can't wait to park inside an actual garage for the first time since I've owned my own car.

Gamelover41592: "Epic work on this chapter and while I would be doing another surprised emoji at the bottom but this time I have to ask, what made you decide to do the raid arc this early?"

Bardothren: Main reason I rushed the raid arc was because I couldn't come up with a way to make Overhaul a credible threat to Izuku without giving him One-Piece style abilities, and giving those to Stain was already a stretch. That, and I also wanted Nighteye to interact with Izuku sooner for plot reasons.

Greer123: "I wish you luck house hunting."

Bardothren: I certainly got it! :)

CriticaofRandomness: "Mei will soon️ use the time machine again hopefully. I yearn for Sanji getting to see modern ingredients and cookware"

Bardothren: I'm pretty sure Sanji would say that stuff's for casuals, and he'd have conniptions over the microwave.

That's all for today. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go back to stressing out over being responsible for an entire ass house.