The vigilante duo have an important talk about what their plans are. Shouta is surprised. And Ochako and Katsuki get to have a fun 'discussion' in front of the class.

Ochako had hoped to slip back into bed with Izuku being none the wiser, but she should have known better. Izuku was there, sitting up, waiting patiently for her return. No judgment in his eyes, but he still scanned over her, looking for injury or anything off, the dim light of the softly glowing nightlight casting shadows over his face. She let out a sigh as she slumped over to him, falling into his arms like she often did.

He gripped her tightly, burying his face in her neck as he let out a deep breath, the warmth tickling her slightly. She could feel his heartbeat slowing…though he'd been trying not to worry too much, clearly he'd started going to worst case scenarios (much like she often did). He didn't pry though…he never did. Neither of them ever did. The rules were the rules were the rules. Better not to confront things, it never ended well.

But her talk with Hizashi had…well, it hadn't made her comfortable, but it had smoothed out the jagged edges of her nightmare enough she was willing to talk to her Izuku. "Sorry," she muttered, closing her eyes and relaxing against his chest.

"Don't be," he whispered, pressing his lips to her neck and sending shivers down her spine. "It's okay," he reassured, but internally she knew it wasn't okay. She'd worried him, and though he'd never blame her for it, she didn't want him to not understand, although she had a sneaking suspicion he knew what happened.

"Had another nightmare," she said quietly.

He ran a hand up and down her back slowly. "I guessed as much."

She paused, thinking about how to say it, but decided to just be blunt. "Hizashi talked to me about it." His hand paused on her back, making her wonder what he thought…was he upset she didn't come to him? She shifting herself in his lap, enough that her face was facing his and she could see his expression. She felt relief when she saw no judgment or anger in his expression, just a contemplative expression, almost curious. She decided to continue. "Told me some stuff about him and Shouta. Said they have nightmares too. Which…I guess makes sense."

"Yeah, they are heroes. They probably see some bad things," Izuku murmured.

Ochako nodded. "I don' think I should say what he told me, but…yeah." Izuku nodded, letting silence fill the room once more as he kept his comforting motions on her back, holding her close. She sighed, leaning into the warmth of him, feeling it soothing the chill inside her, but still.

Her conversation with Hizashi had made her reflect on where they were, what they were doing, and since she knew neither of them was getting to sleep…maybe it was time to have the talk. "Deku?"

"Hmm?"

"...what're we doin'?" she whispered.

Izuku was quiet for a moment, thinking carefully. "Honestly? I don't know." He sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "I…know what we want to do. We know that. And I don't think I can quit hunting down those bastards." Ochako hummed in agreement as he took a breath before continuing. "But…it's going to be really hard to do that for a while. Who knows how long the cops will be chasing down the bomber? How long will we be stuck here? We're going to have to start over, and our identities have already been found out. I-I don't know how we're going to get back to work."

"Yeah," Ochako breathed out. Unhappy though the knowledge made her, at least she knew he was on the same page as her in her worries. She swallowed thickly. "Since we're bein' honest about stuff…I know I said if you go I go, and that's still true, but…I don' want you to go in the first place…," her voice trailed off, arms squeezing around his waist tightly, almost bruisingly.

She felt his arms pull her closer, squeezing her just as tightly. "I-I know," he said. "The thought of losing you, it's…it's…" his voice trailed off, emotion filling his tone as he cut himself off.

"But then what do we do?" she asked, frustrated.

"I really don't know," he said quietly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. He sighed deeply. "I wish I did. We're just mooching off these two men, and…I mean, they are pretty decent people. I don't want to keep taking from them like this. And it's not like we can say no to Eri about anything apparently," he grumbled.

Ochako felt a small giggle bubble up within her at that comment. "Yer not wrong," she said, letting out a relaxed sigh as she closed her eyes and snuggled her head into the top of his chest. "I don' know what to do neither. It's annoyin'," she groused.

"Yeah."

She let the quiet surround them for a minute, before deciding to speak up. "Should…should we talk to Shouta about it? About what we could do?"

Izuku snorted. "I know what he's gonna say already. He left his paperwork out on the table yesterday. I wasn't snooping, for the record, but I couldn't help but see the forms he had lying about. The forms were for the Vigilante Reform Program."

Ochako blinked her eyes open, tilting her head up to meet her boyfriend's gaze. "That stupid thing about makin' vigilantes into heroes?"

"That's the one," Izuku confirmed.

She snorted in a mirror of him. "Seriously? They think we could be goody two shoes hero students?"

Izuku shrugged. "Apparently. Weird to think of, huh?"

Ochako was going to respond in the affirmative, but she paused when she noticed it. For the briefest of instances, she saw an almost wistful expression cross her boyfriend's face, and when she stopped to think about it, it didn't take a lot to see why. With Katsuki back in his life, she knew he missed spending time with his childhood friend. That he missed his Aunt and Uncle. And the idea of being a hero was something he'd always had as a kid…much like herself.

She swallowed thickly as memories rose unbidden, that one single moment on the street where she saw everyone smiling and cheering at that hero in his bright yellow costume. Bruised, battered, and beaten, yet still holding his hand up to the crowd, smiles on their faces…smiles on the faded memories of her parents. When she'd been oh so little and she'd thought like a child, declaring she'd become a hero and help her parents. She could almost see it, what it coulda been like in another life…saving people in the light of day, a smile on her face to bring reassurance to others.

A dream she'd given up on, one she knew Izuku had surrendered as well. A dream that hurt to remember, because dreams meant nothing when the waking world was a nightmare. When she'd given up on doing the right thing and done what was needed to survive…and then when she'd decided to try and pay for her crimes by stopping the bad guys the police and heroes wouldn't.

But she wasn't a good person. Heroes were supposed to be good people. Well, supposed to. She had seen her fair share of dirty heroes and cops out there…hell, she'd snitched on plenty of them before, making these big scandals in the media that quickly got buried within a week.

She let out an annoyed sigh, burying her head in Izuku's neck and kissing it lightly, appreciating the quiet gasp he let out. "It is weird…but…" she trailed off, unsure how to put into words what she was thinking.

As if he could read her mind, he nodded slightly, leaning his head to rest on hers. "Yeah…but still…there are so many of those Yakuza bastards out there…"

"Don' some heroes try to stop them? They can' all be shitty, right?"

"I mean, I guess. I know All Might nearly crushed them out of existence before he retired, but like cockroaches they somehow survived and are coming back."

"...well, we ain' no All Might but…maybe we can still do that? In the dark? Eraser does his work in the dark, don' he?"

Izuku nodded slowly. "He does…And I know he skips some red tape sometimes. I've seen him do things that aren't technically allowed…like working with us," he said with a chuckle.

Ochako snort-giggled. "Yeah, and Ingenium was pretty nice too. He didn' give us shit for our help."

Izuku let out a deep breath. "Okay. We're just circling around it, aren't we? So I'm just going to say it. Do…do we want to talk to him about what all that means? Or at least, what our options are? Because…I don't think we're getting out of her anytime soon, and I, I don't really want to burn our last bridges here."

Ochako swallowed, clenching her fists in the back of his shirt and she gripped him tightly. A huge part of her wanted to say fuck no, to shove it away and pretend they never thought about it. And she knew he'd go along with her if she did. They could trust individual heroes, but the whole social structure behind it, heroes as a whole? Neither of them had a lot of faith in the system. And putting herself in the hands of that system, of getting involved with those sunshine hero students who didn't know shit about what it meant to live on the street…she didn't know if she could do it.

But on the flip side…she was tired. Tired of being hungry, of being cold, of being tired. Tired of being afraid all the time, worried that the next mission would mean she'd be left alone, that she'd lose everything she ever loved. Heroes still died, but they had backup, they had support systems, they had advantages neither of them had and she knew it.

"...I guess it won't hurt to hear him out?" she said, her voice lilting up like it was a question.

Izuku hummed as he pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. "...yeah. We'll talk to him in the morning then."

Shouta…had not expected this conversation. Rather, he hadn't expected it to be started by them. Hizashi had told him about the interaction he had with Ochako the night before (though he kept the details out of respect for Ochako's privacy). And apparently that had gotten the kids thinking…or at least, that atop of everything else had.

Not that it was exactly as he hoped. They'd already puzzled out Nezu's plot (why did he leave his papers lying on the kitchen table instead of in his office), but they weren't lashing out. They weren't exactly jumping at the bit either, but they had been willing to sit down and ask about their options. It felt like they'd done their research though, because the duo already seemed to know all the details.

Except for when they started drilling him about what his hero career was like, and he realized that might be his in. With how much of their questioning centered around what was legal, he was easily able to tell that was one of their biggest hangups. Which, to be fair, he'd already known; the red tape of bureaucracy was one of the biggest headaches he dealt with, and well…there wasn't a teacher at UA who had a favorable opinion of the HPSC either, and he knew both of those things concerned the vigilantes.

But they listened, and he could see it. There was some interest there, some brief glimmers of the aspirations they'd hinted at when they were kids, when they were busy fangirling over All Might and Thirteen. Which…hmm. That was an idea, he supposed.

"How about this…why don't you come sit in on our heroics class for a couple days?" Shouta offered. "See what we all do, outside of the normal high school curriculum."

The two of them shared a look, and he pretended not to notice as they began rapidly tapping on one another's hand in their secret communications. After a moment, Izuku turned and narrowed his eyes. "What do you do in those classes?"

Shouta paused and thought about it, trying to remember if he knew what the curriculum was this week. The Heroics teacher was a rotating position this year, changing over every few weeks to a month, who was the one for the next week…oh, right. He nodded. "For this week we'll be doing spars on unsteady ground or in the air I'm pretty sure, while next week will likely focus on high altitude rescue situations."

"That is…oddly specific," Izuku remarked, arching an eyebrow.

Shouta shrugged. "Our Heroics teacher rotates. Most pro's are too busy to be a full time teacher, so we have a standing invitation for various pros to come in and offer their insight. They do offer their lesson plans beforehand though, so we can help them polish the concepts."

"So who's the hero then?" Ochako asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Ryukyu. You met her at the meeting at Nighteye's agency, she's-"

"The number nine hero, we know," Izuku deadpanned.

Shouta bit back a grin…Izuku was trying not to look impressed, but there was a flash of interest in the boys eyes. It definitely felt like that brief moment of fanboying in the car when All Might was brought up applied to other heroes as well, and without him having put up his massive walls so they could stay in control during the Shie Hassaikai meeting, he was letting other things slip. Bakugo probably had something to do with that too, Shouta mused. But now wasn't the time to focus on that.

"Anyways, how about it? Want to sit in on those?" he offered once more.

Ochako purses her lips. "What about Eri? She's gonna wanna be with us."

"If she's alright with it, we'll bring her along. It'll do her good to get out of the house more, and we've been working on getting educational materials for someone her age anyways," he said offhandedly. He winced internally when he saw it though…both Ochako and Izuku flinched at the education comment, and he cursed himself for not realizing there might be some shame there; neither of them had had a chance for a real education, only the lessons on the street and what they'd forced themselves to learn. It was a touchy subject he meant to address at some point, but now probably wasn't the time.

Izuku shared a glance with Ochako, the duo's eyes narrowing in an eerily similar glare. Ochako rolled her shoulders as she turned a seeking gaze to Shouta. "Can I fight Kacchan?" she asked bluntly.

Shouta blinked for a moment, before he groaned; he'd forgotten those two had been challenging each other to a fight soon as she was cleared by Chiyo…and she had been cleared. Well…probably best they got it out of their systems under supervision. He sighed. "I'll talk to Ryukyu about it." She pursed her lips, before nodding, accepting the answer for what it was. With a grunt, he stood up from his seat at the dining table. "Let me go check with Eri and see if she's okay going to the lesson, and if so, I'll come back to get you guys after lunch so you can come see." He waited for them to give him a nod, before striding off to the hallway, ready to get the day started and maybe see whether he could change their path at all.

"You…want me to let the vigilantes spar with the students?" Ryukyu deadpanned, her arms crossed over her chest as she eyed Shouta.

He nodded solemnly. "Look, I know it's unorthodox, but well…I'm hoping they are interested enough to keep asking questions about what hero classes are like."

She paused, parsing through what he said, her one visible eye going wide for a brief moment as she figured out what he wasn't saying. She glanced over, making sure that the vigilante duo wasn't within hearing distance, lowering her voice. "You're trying to get them into the program?"

"I'm trying to get them to see they have options," he corrected. "They asked me about it this morning, but they still seem resistant to the idea. I'm hoping I can show them what options exist, and well…I want them to see what their life could be like. Seeing other kids their age, training to use their Quirks to help people…I mean, they did help people after all. Deep down, they are good kids. They want to help. They just…don't trust the system. Can't say I entirely blame them."

She pursed her lips, but let out a puff of air as she couldn't find it in her to disagree. "Yes, that is an understandable position to hold. Still…isn't it dangerous to have them fight the students?"

Shouta chose his words carefully. "There's no denying they are strong, and though they aren't professionally trained they've learned a lot on their own. But, this class is also full of a lot of strong kids who have worked their asses off. I think they can hold their own."
Ryukyu arched an eyebrow and asked wryly "Which ones? The hero students or the vigilantes?"

"Yes."

She snorted at him, relaxing her posture. "Well, if you're certain."

He nodded. "I am. And in fact, one of the matches is already set."

She arched an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Bakugo and Ochako have been raring to get into a match since Izuku introduced them to one another. I figure it's best to let them get it out of their system."

She seemed taken aback. "But I thought he was Izuku's childhood friend. Wouldn't they not want to fight?"

Shouta snorted. "I don't quite get it, but I think she wants to prove to Bakugo that she can protect Izuku, and I think he wants to test her. It's weird. They snipe at each other like they hate each other, but Izuku is convinced they are becoming best friends."

Ryukyu accepted his response. "Well, I suppose we should tell the class then."

The irony was not lost on Shouta. The class had, understandably, mixed reactions. Most of them were confused at the idea of fighting the vigilantes, a few seemed excited, Ida decided to dump an entire books worth of rules and regulations for UA spars on the duo…But Bakugo was immediately in Ochako's face, demanding his fight, and she was happy to return his challenge.

And now he had two very excitable teenagers who wanted to beat the ever loving shit out of one another. He sighed internally, but at least they were doing it in one of the open training grounds. Less chance of them taking out a supporting wall or something.

Ryukyu had them take their positions across from one another as she stepped forward. "Alright. As a reminder, the fight ends when one of you concedes or I say it is over. No pushing past that, understand?"

"Yeah yeah," Bakugo replied, waving his hand dismissively.

Ochako snorted, her arms out at her side as she bent forward slightly. "Got it, Ryukyu."

Shouta watched Izuku out of the corner of his eye, seeing the green-haired teen with a soft smile on his face as he looked at the two of them, a twinkle of excitement visible. He was holding Eri up, her arms wrapped around his neck as she stared at the two teenagers before her, hesitant but seemingly entranced.

Mina stepped up next to Izuku and leaned over slightly, her arms crossed behind her back. "Sooo…you're not worried?"

Izuku blinked, looking back at her. "Worried about what?"

"About her getting hurt. Blasty's one of the best in class, you know."

Izuku smirked. "Of course he is, Kacchan was always going to be one of the best…but she's got this."

Mina looked like she wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Ryukyu calling out the start of the fight. Shouta made sure to turn his gaze to watch closely.

Bakugo's left was back, blasting into the ground as it launched him forward towards Ochako. He knew that the blonde teens move was a feint…Bakugo was aware of how Ochako's power worked, no way he'd get in close enough for her to grab him, and that was evident in how he quickly changed directions, dodging Ochako's swipe and flipping to her back, aiming his hand towards her unguarded back.

And that's when Shouta noticed it. It was almost impossible to see, in the flare of Bakugo's explosions and the smoke already starting to cloud the battlefield, but…there was a brief, tiny shimmer of the air behind her…and her smirk didn't fade. Bakugo's explosion erupted into her supposedly unguarded back, and the flash of light, smoke, and heat making him have to squint to see.

He expected to see her flung forward, probably kipping up onto her feet to return to the fight since he knew she'd never be taken out by a single explosion. But instead, as the smoke began to drift away, he could see Bakugo's hand, still outstretched…stuck in midair, as if it were trapped in some sort of vice, and Ochako's back entirely unblemished. Shouta arched an eyebrow…Of course. He knew it. That one moment in the hallway, where she'd brought everyone to their knees before bringing the ceiling down…she'd been tricking everyone into thinking she had to touch things to use her power, but nope. She clearly could do it at range, and that was evident as she spun about, one hand gripping Bakugo's arm.

The strange hold on his arm broke as she touched it, but she completed her spin, bringing the blonde up and over and moving to smash him into the ground. But Bakugo wasn't one of his best students for nothing. He lashed out with his foot, snapping into her shoulder and forcing her to release him in time for him to blast the ground from beneath him, doing a quick backflip in midair to reset.

She didn't give him time to relax, rushing forward, keeping low to the ground. As he reoriented and did a sweeping explosion towards her, she dropped to her knees, skidding across the ground and digging her fingers into the cracked concrete beneath her. A pink flash of light and she brought her hand up in a mirrored sweeping gesture, dozens of small chunks of concrete and tar flung towards Bakugo, the blonde diving to the side and letting off a small blast to destroy the approaching rubble.

He skid to a stop on the far side of the road, as Ochako leapt up and back to her feet, spinning about to face him. He grinned, teeth bared, eyes wide as he crouched, his hands sparking. "Guess you got some moves, huh?"

"You ain' seen nothin' yet, Kacchan," she shot back, her own smile wide.

Bakugo slammed his hands together with a loud bang! "Alright, let's end this then!" he roared, staring her down.

"Read my mind," she shot back, her fingertips shimmering with pink lights. Bakugo began to spin in place, firing his explosions rapid fire and lifting off into the air. Shouta knew this move pretty well…Bakugo's favorite supermove, his Howitzer Impact. It was everything a limelight hero wanted…flashy, explosive, and for him, surprisingly useful. He'd practiced it a lot, and it was effective. Shouta wondered how Ochako planned on dealing with it, especially as he wasn't sure if she knew what it actually did.

And then he saw it. The smirk that crossed her face, the twinkling on her hands, and the way she lifted her hands in front of her…and the tiny pink flash behind Bakugo. His eyes followed that flash, keeping the fighting students in his peripheral, enough to see Bakugo about to land the blow and Ochako pulling her hands towards her, as if pulling on a rope or something of the sort…and he saw as the entire broken storefront behind Bakugo exploded out of the wall and slammed into the blonde, sending him careening off course and into the street with a loud crash.

Ochako nimbly danced to the side, spinning about on one heel as she rushed to Bakugo. She dove atop him, quickly snatching his hands up and crossing them over one another, pointed down at his own back, pink lights shimmering on her hands as Bakugo let out an annoyed grunt, the press of gravity holding him down.

She tossed her hair with a smug grin. "That good enough for you, Kacchan?"

"Yeah, yeah," he managed to huff out, annoyed. "Get the fuck off me already!"

She snorted, hopping up to her feet and releasing her hold on him. She offered her hand to the teen, the blonde letting out an annoyed grunt but taking it, letting her pull him up to his feet. He stared at her with narrowed eyes. "Okay, how the fuck did you do that?"

"When I threw all that stuff at you earlier, I made sure a small piece of it hit the buildin' behind you, so I could tag it with my Quirk!" she said with a bright grin. Bakugo nodded, accepting her explanation…but Shouta didn't. He wanted to check on the video later, but he was pretty sure all the rubble she'd thrown had been blown up by Bakugo. Hmm. Something to consider. She was keeping something to herself about her power, this wasn't the first time she had a convenient explanation for something she did that didn't seem to fit into her 'touch' requirement. He just wasn't sure what. He could see why she'd want to keep her full abilities under wrap, but even then, trying to hide just the fact it could be done at range seemed…odd. A weird hill to die on.

He shook his head. Either way, she'd proven herself, and the class was now very much intrigued…and all eyes turned to Izuku, wondering who he'd be sparring with.

Izuku wasn't paying attention to anyone, currently congratulating his girlfriend, and also looked like he was gently teasing Bakugo, the blonde rolling his eyes and playfully shoving his childhood friend away. Shouta at least could be happy that it looked like the kids were getting along better…

And then Izuku turned around and pointed. "Hey, Todoroki, right? Wanna spar?"

Shouta could only think one thing…'ah shit.'

Sorry about how long this chapter took, it's been a difficult few weeks for writing for me, but hopefully I can get back on a more regular schedule.