Thalia used to be a bona-fide daddy's girl. She wanted to be a hero just like her papa, the number ten hero in Japan at the time, the great Titan, Atlas, He Who Holds the World. She and Ivan did everything with him. Amusement parks, dinners, park days, sports, all of it. And he used to be a good father. He never let on that he needed to disguise himself and never took it out on them when they accidentally revealed his identity and they had to make an escape from rabid fans.

But the day her quirk manifested, Chihiro Dragomir saw something greater. A potential to become not only the number one hero in Japan, but the world. Unfortunately, that vision didn't leave room for empathy. At first, he was gentle with her training, but very quickly lost patience at her naturally low pain tolerance, which was lower than even the normal child. Shapeshifting was agonizing, and she had lost her desire to become a hero, or ever shapeshift.

Ljufvina and Chihiro divorced before his personality change for other reasons, which resulted in court-mandated visitation every other weekend. They used to see him outside of his visitation and go over there willingly, but since Thalia's quirk manifestation, everything became forced. Chihiro still tried to be a father outside of training, but it was hollow, and Thalia didn't feel loved by him anymore.

Every visit, she would shapeshift multiple times a day, sometimes having to maintain the incredibly painful action of shapeshifting for up to an hour. She would shift and shift and shift, slowly losing sight of her original form. At her worst, she would have to stare in the mirror and at a picture of herself to get herself back to normal. Some nights, no matter what she did, she didn't see herself in the mirror. There was something wrong, but she couldn't tell what. If she was lucky, she'd only have to shapeshift twenty or thirty times a weekend, but at his worst, she was made to shapeshift up to eighty times. She passed out many times, only to be slapped awake by her father. Pain became a constant, and no longer felt the way it was supposed to. It simply became a sensation like temperature and texture.

If she wasn't constantly shapeshifting, she was fighting him in dragon form. She would come home perfectly fine, but it was only because Chihiro had someone at his agency with a healing quirk. She always told Ljufvina what happened. Nothing, even horrific abuse, could keep her quiet, as she couldn't let him win. But he always managed to do so in the end, as his powerful influence and connections prevented him from getting any consequences and Thalia from saying no to visitation, because then he would blame her mom, and Chihiro told her the government would take her away. That was what kept her quiet.

This weekend was different, but worse. Because Thalia had allowed herself to get injured and failed to do more during the USJ attack, as well as the Sports Festival approaching he worked her extra hard. She shapeshifted ninety-five times. They sparred for seven hours straight with no breaks on Saturday. The pain actually hurt her this weekend, and her entire body felt useless. She felt useless. He was never satisfied with her progress, it was like he was blind to it.

Thalia laid on her bed, relishing in the first bit of relaxation she'd gotten in three days. Bygul and Trjegul were curled up next to her, ecstatic to see her return, as usual. Thalia pet both of their little heads, feeling truly grateful she had such great kitties by her side. She picked up her phone for the first time since Friday afternoon, and saw a plethora of messages awaiting her.

She'd informed everyone aside from Ochako, who already knew, that she wouldn't be reachable that weekend as she wasn't allowed to take her phone to her father's house, but they still left messages for her to see when she got back.

13:45 kirishima

Are you back yet!?

Thalia smiled down at her phone. He sounded excited.

17:34 dragon-mir

i have returned

While she waited for Kirishima's response, she went through her other messages. Momo had sent her a message in letter form, beseeching her to text her when she returned and to tell her how her weekend went. She then went on to describe her weekend, going shopping Friday night with Mina and Ochako then training at a facility her family owned all Saturday, followed by dinner with her family. Thalia felt a pang of unfair jealousy, but felt glad she was able to enjoy the weekend.

She texted Momo back, being gently honest about how it went, and did the same format as she did, matching her energy, and expressed her desire to hang out one weekend, and see that training facility her family owned. Maybe they could spar. After Thalia finished a conversation with Ochako about how her father was getting worse with training, she saw notification from Kirishima this time, and tapped it as soon as she saw it.

17:40 kirishima

lol

17:40 kirishima

So, are you available like... now?

Thalia raised an eyebrow. Her parents wouldn't care as long as she was back by dark.

17:40 dragon-mir

um

17:40 dragon-mir

well i can't say i have any other plans

Thalia flinched when she heard three loud knocks at her front door, made easily audible by her open window. Barking from her dogs resounded from downstairs. Thalia frowned, sticking her head out the window. To her shock, she saw Bakugo and Kirishima waiting outside in casual clothes.

"Kirishima? Bakugo!?" She shouted incredulously, catching them by surprise. She was more shocked, though. "Kirishima, how in the nine realms did you convince Bakugo to come with you?" They looked up at her. Kirishima was grinning and Bakugo had a neutral expression.

"Dragomir! I didn't do any convincing, I just asked him if he wanted to train at your house!" Kirishima shouted up. Thalia blushed but then paled, when she realized what they were asking- but she was nowhere near as comfortable letting them know that was all she did this weekend as she was with Momo and Ochako. And... Kirishima actually managed to get Bakugo out here. She'd hate to disappoint them more than she would hate training after shapeshifting a hundred times. It'll only be a few hours.

"Uh, yeah!" Thalia shouted down, cursing herself. "Um... I'll be down in a second. Stay there!" With that, she closed her blinds and sighed. "Fuck." She muttered to herself. Hey, what's a little more, eh? It won't kill me. Thalia assured herself. Plus, I'm not training with a legacy-crazed asshole. She was in a big hoodie and short-shorts, and her hair was spikier and messier than usual, but she wanted to let them in before Safiyah and Hazel woke Nash up from his nap. She rushed downstairs and, after loudly telling her dogs to shut the fuck up, and opened the front door.

"Hey, guys. Come in, we can train safely in my backyard." Thalia waved them in and turned around, hands in her hoodie pockets. My mom's working, my little brother's in his room playing video games, my little sister's at swim practice and my stepdad's napping. His room is soundproofed, so no worries as long as you aren't screaming." Thalia said, turning to look at Bakugo at the last part. He was looking downward and ahead at her... Her legs? His eyes flicked upward and he blushed, pulling his lip up in a snarl as he and Kirishima walked in.

"I don't-" He shouted, but cut himself off once he realized he was, in fact, shouting. "...I'm not that loud." He muttered the last part, resulting in Kirishima and Thalia's snickers.

"Woah! Hey, you have dogs?" Said Kirishima as Safiyah and Hazel swarmed the two. Bakugo crouched down, letting Safiyah sniff his hand, before she licked it repeatedly. He scratched her head in return. Hazel jumped on Kirishima, trying to sniff his face.

"Hazel, get down! Yeah, sorry about that. The gray one with spots is Safiyah, and the black and brown and white one is Hazel. They're sweet, they won't bite." Thalia assured, an easy smile on her face as she scratched Hazel's back. Kirishima laughed as Safiyah jumped on his leg, attempting to sniff his face as well.

"Wow, Dragomir. This is one hell of a house. I forget that your mom is a pro hero." Kirishima said, looking up and around at the rather large house. The foyer's ceiling went upwards to the living room's ceiling which reached just below the attic. A nice, not too over the top chandelier hung high above the couch and huge TV. Arya scratched the back of her head.

"Well, it's home, I guess. Do you guys want anything to drink? We have water bottles, Redbull, vitamin waters, monsters... Just come look." Thalia led them to the kitchen and opened her fridge. The dogs followed, still keen on mapping their scent.

"D'you have Gatorade? Red Gatorade?" Asked Kirishima as he peeked into the fridge.

"Sure do." Thalia nodded as she took a Papillon-flavored Monster.

"Sorry about the short notice, by the way," Kirishima added as he opened up the red Gatorade. "We were kinda dependin' on you gettin' home a bit earlier." He took a swig of the sweet red liquid.

"Move," Bakugo bumped against Kirishima, causing him to spill a little down his face, as he reached in and grabbed a Redbull, cracking it open immediately and taking a couple gulps. He let out a loud burp and shut the fridge. "Let's get moving, slowpokes." The ash-blonde said roughly.

"Hey, dude! Not manly..." Kirishima protested, wiping the Gatorade off his face. Thalia chuckled.

"Let me get changed. My mom gave me special outfits that shapeshift with me. Like that outfit I was wearing during the entrance exam, Bakugo." Thalia said as she walked out. Bakugo blushed when he remembered.

"What's that on your face, Bakugo? Are ya sick?" Kirishima teased, pointing at his cheeks.

"Shut up, you-!" Bakugo caught himself shouting, and stopped himself. "You red-haired loser..." Bakugo muttered, looking away as he sipped his Redbull.

Thalia ran upstairs and changed into an outfit that was different from the one she wore at the entrance exam. It was still skintight as it needed to be, though the fabric for this one was thicker and less revealing than the black one. It was a two-piece outfit, a sleeveless cropped turtleneck top paired with v-seam leggings that were cropped at her mid-calves. Its design was a painted sunset consisting mostly of a pink sky and lavender-toned clouds, and it had reflective silver lines in certain places. Before leaving, she brushed the rat's nest she called hair and started to braid the sides before she stopped herself, realizing they would just fall out any time she shapeshifted anyways, and left her hair down and plain.

Running back downstairs, she joined the boys in her enormous backyard. A huge, grassy field littered with bare spots filled whatever wasn't the deck and the medium-sized, in-ground infinity pool decorated with a rocky grotto where there was a heater. The deck had a grill and a fireplace with crystals in its pit with seats around it along with a canopy with a tin roof over it and a dining table with seats under it. There were some deactivated fairy lights attached to the underside of the roof, along with a few multicolored lanterns and assorted wooden and metal wind chimes, ringing with the melody of the gentle breeze.

Past the pool and down a few steps was an almost bare backyard that stretched for dozens of meters. Nash had tried to maintain the grass... but it was a lost cause, especially with the dogs' digging and the training that took place there.

"Damn..." Kirishima gushed. "Tell me you throw parties, Dragomir! And if you do, please invite me!" Thalia laughed.

"I... Have never really thought of that." Thalia liked the idea of a party involving Class 1-A. "Maybe for my birthday. It's coming up in a couple of days. April nineteenth." Bakugo's eyes widened.

"Huh. Your birthday's the day before mine." Bakugo muttered. Thalia was shocked, at first, but then triumphant.

"Heh. So I'm a day older than you, huh, kiddo?" Thalia teased, causing Bakugo's calm expression to vanish.

"Shut your mouth, pint size! You don't even look older than me, short stack!" Bakugo shouted, causing both Thalia and Kirishima to burst out laughing.

"Tch. Quit your yapping and let's get to training." Huffed Bakugo, taking off his flannel and throwing it onto the wall. Kirishima followed suit and took off his jacket.

"Where do we start then, firecracker?" Thalia asked, coming up with another nickname on the fly. She noticed Bakugo's gaze didn't hold his usual glare when he turned it on her, unexpectedly.

"We all have shit we need to improve on with our quirks. I have to work on my durability, so I can practice by attacking you both with my quirk." Bakugo started, surprising both Thalia and Kirishima with his insight.

"Must've been pretty hard to admit that you're not perfect." She quipped, putting her hands on her hips. She just couldn't keep her mouth shut when Bakugo showed his soft side. Is this what it's like to be friends with a boy? Thalia thought curiously. Bakugo bared his teeth.

"I'm still better than you, stupid lamb!" He said raucously back. Thalia cackled, throwing her head back.

"Yeah, right, dandelion head." That nickname seemed to strike a nerve in Bakugo. He bared his teeth, his hands starting to spark. "Ooh, struck a nerve, did I, dandelion head?" Bakugo growled loudly and opened his mouth, but Kirishima stepped in between them with his hands up.

"Okay, okay, we should get started, guys, we're losing daylight." He said, pointing at the low sun behind them.

"Right..." Thalia began. She calmed herself and allowed herself to think. "I could try out fighting with some forms I've come up with that I haven't used yet at school."

"Ooh, what are you gonna shapeshift into, Dragomir? Are you gonna shapeshift into your dragon?" Kirishima asked, fired up. Thalia shook her head.

"Let me make something clear: I will never shapeshift into my dragon form again. I won't need it again. I can be more powerful with other forms. I'm just... Trying to find the right one." Thalia said firmly, causing Kirishima's face to fall and Bakugo's to grow confused.

"Aw, really? Why not? It's so cool." Kirishima protested. Thalia's eyebrow twitched. She didn't want to open up about that right now.

"Drop it, Kirishima." She said firmly. And he did.

"Sorry." He muttered, embarrassed. What was that about? The two boys wondered in sync.

"It's fine. What did you need to work on, Kirishima?" Thalia asked neutrally.

"Well..." Kirishima started, hardening his hand and forearm, "I need to improve on my durability as well as my strength. I can work on my strength in the gym, but here, I can work on my durability by taking attacks from you and Bakugo. I also tire if I harden for too long, so we could set a timer to see if I improve." He explained. Thalia nodded.

"Not a bad idea." The girl acknowledged, putting a hand on her chin.

"I'll try out a few new forms, Bakugo can increase his own durability by attacking, and you can build your durability by being attacked..." Thalia looked up at the two with a smirk. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Bakugo grinned.

"1v1v1?" Bakugo suggested, holding up his hand as it sparked.

"Well, it would be more of a 2v1, since I'm only defending and you two are attacking." Kirishima said.

"We can still make it into a free for all." Thalia argued, raising a hand. "I think practice against two targets will make it easier to face one target."

"Smart." Bakugo growled maliciously. Thalia had a feeling it wasn't actually a compliment, but him agreeing and wanting to fight them both at once, given how he smacked his fist into an open hand with a spark.

"Sounds great! ...Is your backyard safe for this, though?" Kirishima said nervously. Thalia waved him off.

"Oh, for sure. My family usually trains our quirks back here. You should see my stepdad. He's pretty incredible, I'm honestly surprised he didn't wanna be a hero." Thalia assured him. "Plus, my mom's Gypsy. She can quickly regrow the grass from some surrounding energy. So we're fine as long as we don't destroy the deck or the pool or anything like that. Just keep it to the grass, got it?" They nodded.

"Alright, back up and then I'll say when we start." Bakugo said. They backed up, and Bakugo slyly let the tensity boil for a few seconds, his grin slowly growing as he looked back and forth between them, before he signaled the start with a pow! from both hands.

"Now!" He shouted. They charged. Kirishima's skin turned to stone and Thalia changed into a bus-sized anaconda and slithered forward.

"Ack!" Kirishima cried out at the sight of her as she hissed.

They all raced toward the middle, and Bakugo and Thalia both focused their attacks on Kirishima. She decided to treat Kirishima as her main objective, and Bakugo as an annoyance in this battle. She lashed her tail toward Bakugo, flinging him away, and her head shot toward Kirishima, who only defended himself with crossed arms above his head. Thalia snatched him up from the ground and threw him to the ground. She looked around for Bakugo, and felt him running up her huge neck. When she turned around, she was greeted with an explosion to the face, which caused her head to be thrown back and hit the ground.

Let's try another one, Thalia thought as she watched Bakugo attack Kirishima, battering him with explosion after explosion. This time, she shifted into an African elephant. She blew air out of her trunk, a terrifyingly loud honk! sounding behind the teens, who turned and looked up at her with horror as she charged them with an evil grin. Thalia laughed maniacally as she stood on her hind legs and attempted to crush Kirishima and Bakugo. Bakugo shot himself out of the way with an explosion and Kirishima simply crossed his arms above his head again and fell quickly beneath her foot. He cried out in effort and pain, but he managed to push her foot away. Granted, it wasn't nearly her full body weight put on him, but that was still higher than average strength for a fifteen year old.

While she was still in shock at Kirishima's strength, Bakugo flung himself at her flank and shot explosions at her side. She trumpeted a cry of shock and fell into her human form, feeling too large to defend herself. Bakugo didn't waste a second and kept going at her, and instinctively, Thalia shapeshifted her arms' texture into a crocodile's, and his explosions had little to no effect.

"Woah, I've never done that!" Thalia shouted over the sound of the explosions, her eyes wide with awe.

"Great, now DIE!" Bakugo screamed as he lobbed a larger explosion than usual at her, causing her to be thrown back, before he went after a recovering Kirishima, who crossed his arms again, defending himself from Bakugo's relentless attacks. Thalia took advantage of her air time and shapeshifted again, this time into a massive fox-nosed bat. She swooped down and knocked Bakugo into Kirishima with her talons, and held them down with her talons.

"One... Two..." Thalia began counting, but Bakugo blasted her off, and she was flung back once more. She became frustrated, and shifted back into human form, realizing the bat form wouldn't do much, trying to think of what else she could shift into, but Bakugo didn't give her even a second to think. She somersaulted to the left as Bakugo flung himself toward her, and the explosion she dodged flung him the other way. He slid on his feet and launched himself at her, a hand aimed at her face. Thalia met him in the middle and grappled his arm, aiming it upwards, and kicked him in the chest, causing him to land back. Thalia didn't think to shapeshift when Kirishima came at her with a raised fit that she was unable to dodge, smacking her right in the face.

"Ooh, I'm sorry, Dragomir!" Kirishima cringed at himself as Thalia hit the ground and wiped the blood from the minor scrape he gave her. She only giggled in response, the adrenaline getting to her.

"It's okay, Kirishima, I can get you back!" She put a hand on the ground lifted her knees, and her legs shot toward Kirishima's shoes, kicking his heels just below his ankles so as to remove his balance but not hurt any joints, and he slammed to the ground. Thalia got up and, of course, Bakugo was hurtling toward her like a missile. She managed to land a right hook on his cheek just in time, which stopped him in his tracks. Bakugo was shocked by the force behind her punch and Thalia took advantage of that to land two hits on his chest and kick him in the stomach, all in quick succession. The wind was knocked out of Bakugo, and his eyes were wide, shock evident on his expression.

Thalia bounced on her toes, fists by her face, and she was suddenly back in middle school, fighting someone because someone made a sly comment about her or she heard someone talking shit about her because of her appearance and broken, accented Japanese.

"Say that again!" Thalia shouted aggressively, glaring down the kid that had said some out of pocket shit about Ochako. He had a black eye, and he was missing a tooth. Thalia had a split lip, a bruise on her cheek, and her hair was ruined. The two of them were surrounded by all the kids in her class, including Ochako herself, whose expression was crinkled in horror. A desk was overturned, and some of them were crooked. "Bacraut! Say it again!" The black-kid before her grinned and spat blood on the ground.

"Is she a moaner, or is she a screamer?" He said, slow and drawn. Thalia screamed and charged him again, ramming him with her horns, overturning the desk behind him. Some of the students gasped, and some cheered.

"Someone get a teacher!"

"Holy shit!"

"She rammed him!"

"Thalia-chan, please stop!" Cried Ochako.

The uncontrollably angry preteen threw a punch at her felled opponent, and he returned with a swing of his own...

Thalia was snapped out of her flashback when Kirishima punched her in the cheek, causing the skin on her cheek to break further. Kirishima's expression switched to one of instant regret when Thalia just fell down to her side, holding her face, expression one of shock.

"Oh, shit! Dragomir, I'm so sorry!" Kirishima hissed, his gray stony skin quickly regaining its color as he covered his mouth, eyes wide. Thalia looked at her hand, seeing the blood, and laughed.

"Dude, that was awesome." Thalia praised, righting her posture. Kirishima held a hand out to her, and she took it, allowing him to help her back to her feet. "You totally caught me off guard."

"Bro, that looks like it hurt. Are you sure you're fine?" Kirishima fretted.

"Yes, I promise, I can handle a punch in the face, I've been through much worse." Thalia assured him, which, ironically, did nothing to assure him.

"Huh!?" He exclaimed. Thalia sweatdropped. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.

"I've, uh, never fought someone like that in my human form before, though." Thalia fudged, looking away, "I've only trained to fight as some sort of animal, really."

"Well, damn, that was pretty good." Kirishima raised his eyebrows, convinced. "Maybe some of that animal training translated over-"

"What the hell was that?!" Called Bakugo, jumping up to his feet, recovered finally from his shock. Thalia turned to him with amusement.

"Hah! Never been knocked on your ass before, kiddo?" Thalia chuckled. His head was angled to the side, his teeth bared and his eyebrows crinkled.

"You don't fight like you've never fought before in your human form. You can't lie to me, I'm not stupid." Bakugo got close to her, looking at her accusingly. Thalia, surprised by his assertion, stepped back. "I know what an inexperienced fighter looks like and that was not it. You have an automatic and correct fighting stance, and your reaction time is too fast. If you really couldn't fight outside of shapeshifting, then you wouldn't have let yourself get caught in human form."

By now, the sun was getting low enough to turn the sky orange, and Bakugo's skin was illuminated by the golden light, his vermillion eyes filled with accusation glowing beautifully. He's gorgeous. Thalia cursed herself as soon as she heard the thought in her brain.

"There's no way this is the first time you used those moves. I used to fight people often, I know what I'm talking about." Bakugo continued, snapping Thalia out of her thoughts. Thalia swallowed, her vision growing distant. Kirishima stared at them both, confused.

"Hey, there's no need to get nasty over it, Bakugo. If she says she's never fought someone like that before, then we should be-"

"No, he's right." Thalia's voice was quiet and downtrodden, and it caused the two of them to stare at her, eyes wide and eyebrows high.

"I knew it." Bakugo said. He pointed at her. "So what is it, huh? Are all kids from Norway born knowing how to fight? Or are you in a secret fighting ring? Or did you get bullied in middle school?" Thalia looked more and more upset as he kept prying, her eyes snapping wide and her head whipping to face him with an enraged expression neither of them had seen on her before as he said the last statement. Kirishima looked uncomfortable.

"Hey... Bakugo, maybe you shouldn't push her. It's rude to pr-"

"You're right, Bakugo." Thalia interrupted him, pushed to her limit. The two of them looked at her, surprised. "I was bullied in middle school. Elementary school, too. By stupid," Thalia took a step toward Bakugo, "Ignorant," Thalia took another step toward Bakugo, causing him to take a step back, "Idiots like you!" Thalia shoved Bakugo with her last statement, so roughly that he lost his balance and toppled over on his ass, only able to stare dumbly up at her. "I would get beat up if people learned of my religion or where I was from because they assumed I would be able to fight back. Not only that, but I also got beat up for not knowing Japanese well, and for having an accent. I spent my entire elementary and middle school years learning to fight and defend myself, and... Eventually..." Thalia took a step back, recalling her later middle school years before she straightened up. "I began starting the fights myself. Over shitty things like rumors and gossip. Dudes who think with their dicks and blatant racism. I started going harder on them, until... Until I hospitalized someone. Some people. And, uh... One of them can't have kids." Thalia's voice got quiet at the end, and she turned away from them, unable to handle their absolutely floored expressions. "I won't talk about why, but... Yeah." Thalia remembered why she was even talking about this, and she turned her gaze around on Bakugo. Both Bakugo and Kirishima flinched at the sudden movement. "That's why I know how to fight, Bakugo."

It was obvious the two of them saw her in a completely different light. They were silent for only a few beats, but it felt like minutes to Thalia. Without realizing that she hadn't given them any real time to respond to something like that, she turned her back on them, hiding behind her thick hair and hugging herself. She screwed her eyes shut, embarrassed.

"You guys should go home. It's getting dark" Thalia said, her voice small and a little hoarse. The air was getting cooler, and she felt it against her bare arms. It contributed to the naked feeling of having revealed a dark side of herself that she desperately tried to bury, that Bakugo had dug up and laid bare for the two of them to see.

"Wait, after all that, you think we're just gonna... Go on home?" Kirishima asked her, crestfallen, almost offended. Thalia cringed at herself.

"Stupid lamb..." Bakugo grunted as he stood up. Thalia's eyes opened wide when she realized the two of them were standing next to her. Thalia looked up at Bakugo, and he shattered her negative emotions with an expression of incredulous confusion. "Why the hell are you embarrassed about that? Most girls just let themselves get hit and scream and cry, or try to pull hair and slap." Bakugo paused when he realized what he was saying, and he looked away, embarrassed. "Some girls have tried to square up with me in the past. Whatever!"

"I think what he's trying to say," Thalia looked up at Kirishima as he spoke, a calm expression on his face, "is that you're not less of a person because you had a rough past. More specifically, and I'm sorry if this is insensitive, this is what he was saying-" Kirishima raised his hand, his palm facing her, before turning it flat horizontally, "...But you shouldn't be embarrassed about being a fighter, especially since you're in hero school, and you kind of deal in fighting now." Thalia looked off into the distance, calmer now that she had heard their assurances. Now that all of her negative emotions were gone, and her muscles untensed, she felt a heavy wave of relief.

"I hurt a lot of people, you guys..." Thalia's voice sounded weak, making a noise that was between a sob and a laugh, lifting an arm to hold half of her face, willing her tears away.

"So what, Dragomir? From what it sounds like, every one of them deserved it. What was it you said to that Grimace bastard at school on Friday? Something like, 'I won't touch people that don't deserve it'?" Thalia blushed as she remembered she did, in fact, say that. But she felt compelled to repeat what her guidance counselors and therapists told her.

"But-"

"'But it's wrong to hurt people, no matter what you think'." Bakugo took her words right out of her mouth, but in a high-pitched, mocking fashion. Kirishima couldn't suppress a snort.

"Dude, you heard that, too?" Kirishima cackled. Thalia looked to him with shock.

"You, too!?" Thalia gasped. Kirishima shook his head.

"I wasn't anywhere as bad as you rascals." He grinned playfully. "They told that to anyone that got in any sort of physical squabble. Hearing that from more than a few people growing up probably nailed that in'ta your noggin."

"The only reason those limp-dicked or saggy-tit bitches-" Kirishima and Thalia laughed at his insults, "-tell anyone that is because they don't want the violence. They don't care about why there's fighting, they just want it to stop, which means they always blame the person that threw the first punch." Bakugo turned to Thalia with a deep look in his eye, as if he were speaking from his core, and Thalia felt struck by lightning. Her heart skipped a beat. "Now, it's literally our job to beat people up that deserve to be beat up. Do you get it now, you stupid lamb?" Thalia chuckled, drying her eyes with a fist, only then noticing the blood on her knuckles. It reminded her of her old days, but now...

Now I'm kind of... Proud of myself. I was a kick-ass kid, wasn't I? Thalia looked up at Bakugo, a genuine, grateful smile on her face.

"Kirishima, Bakugo..." Thalia wanted to express her gratitude for what they'd said, but she felt awkward. She didn't know how. "Um, do you want to stay for dinner? My mom's probably already cooking."

The two teen boys gave her mildly surprised looks, eyebrows raised.

When they walked back in, Ljufvina was still dressed in her hero costume- a bodysuit reinforced with metal plates, multiple shades of sea blue and green with a v-neckline and navy blue cargo pants that ended in a shimmery turquoise. A utility belt hung over her pants, multiple gadgets and a handaxe of her own attached. A translucent half-poncho, half cape surrounded her shoulders and ended just below her thighs. On her wrists were dark blue metal vambraces that were designed to hold resident energy for her to use when she was working. When she was on the job, they had glowing orange hex designs, but right now, it was just blue. Black combat boots covered her feet, laced with blue shoelaces. She was halfway up the stairs when they walked in. The dogs barked at Bakugo and Kirishima, swarming the two again. Ljufvina looked at the three with a confused expression. Oops, Thalia had completely forgotten to shoot her a text.

"Yoooo, it's Gypsy!" Kirishima squealed at a frequency almost too high for Thalia to hear, stars in his eyes.

"Hei Thalia, hvem er disse to?" Ljufvina asked in their native language.

"Hei, mamma. Dette er vennene mine, Bakugo og Kirishima, de er i klassen min. Vi er akkurat ferdige med treningen. Kan de spise middag her før de drar?." Thalia responded, pointing at them respectively. Kirishima grinned and waved, while Bakugo just stared, his usual glare replaced with a neutral expression, nodded at her, and leaned down to pet Safiyah's head. Ljufvina smiled and nodded.

"That's fine." Ljufvina switched to Japanese. "No problem. Hey, Thalia told me about you two! My husband's making hamburgers. There's sure to be enough for you. I'll tell him to make some more." Her mother continued upstairs, "I'll be right back down, I just need to change out of this." Thalia turned to them, grinning.

"Alright!" Kirishima exclaimed, pumping his fist. "Was that Norwegian? That sounded so cool!" Kirishima's praise caused Thalia to smile, flustered, and look away, not used to compliments like that.

"Oh, uh, thanks. We didn't say anything bad, I just forgot to tell her you both were coming over, and she didn't know who you were, then I told her you were in my class and then asked if you could stay for dinner." Bakugo had an eyebrow raised.

"You talk about us?" Thalia's face became very quickly bright red.

"Uh, um. Only the normal amount. What? You don't talk about your day to your parents?" Thalia rambled, flustered by his single sentence. Nine realms, what is wrong with me, why can't I speak like a regular person?

"Man, your stepdad makes pretty good hamburgers! Thanks for having us for dinner, man." Kirishima said with a grin.

"Yeah, they were alright." Bakugo muttered, his hands in his pockets, a small smile on his face.

"Hey, you guys." They both turned to face her, their eyebrows raised. Thalia was clutching the door frame, her chin angled toward her neck. She looked up at them, a small smile on her face.

"Thanks for coming over. I... Kind of needed it, after this weekend. Feel free to come back anytime." Thalia said. Kirishima glowed with a grin.

"Of course, dude. We're friends now, I'm happy to help." He sent her a thumbs up. Bakugo huffed and looked away, his cheeks a bit pink.

"Yeah, whatever. My old hag is gonna whip my ass if I'm not home soon." Said Bakugo, turning away and stepping down the front porch's stairs. Thalia followed him outside and stopped on the porch beside Kirishima.

"Old hag!?" Kirishima screeched, horrified.

"Hey, don't get abducted, okay? I'll see you both tomorrow." Thalia smiled, waving.

"Yeah, I could beat up anyone that attacks me anyway." Bakugo growled. Thalia's heart jumped when their eyes met.

"I wasn't too worried about you anyway!" She shouted back. I just can't help myself, can I?

"And you were worried about me!?" Kirishima exclaimed, looking hurt. Thalia rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.

"Just be safe, you two. See you tomorrow!" She said, smiling.

"You didn't answer the question!" Kirishima cried as he walked away. Thalia smirked, knowing full well he would be fine, but making fun of him was fun.

When she shut the door, Thalia let the emotions she'd been pushing down run free. I... Don't think I hate Bakugo? She didn't want to think further without consultation. She video called Ochako as she ran up the stairs. After two rings, her best friend answered, dressed in pink pajamas and laying on her bed with a green face mask on, her bangs tied upward.

"Thali-chan!" Ochako's high-pitched voice greeted her cheerfully. "What's up?"

"Chako-chan..." Thalia trailed off as she stood at her doorway, her two kitties staring up at her, tails pointing upwards. "I... Think I can tolerate Bakugo." Ochako's face morphed into one of shock, confusion, and a little bit of disgust.

"Whaaa!?" Ochako's voice went down and up a whole octave.

"L- Let me explain!" Thalia held up a hand, walking past her cats and placing her phone on her vanity, changing into a black t-shirt and yellow-and-black flannel pants as she spoke. "Kirishima and Bakugo came over out of the blue today when I got home. I guess Kirishima and I became friends after USJ, and asked Bakugo to go with him." Ochako listened with wide eyes. Thalia tied her hair up into a bun as she continued, "And apparently he didn't have to convince Bakugo to go with him."

"Huh!?" Ochako exclaimed, a short, loud noise. "You'd think Bakugo would need bribing to hang out with people. Hey, wait a second- I was just on call with Midoriya, why don't we have him join? Maybe he'll have some real insight."

"You read my mutha'fuckin' mind!" Thalia smacked a knife hand into her open palm with every syllable. Ochako laughed, and her camera jiggled as she texted him and added him to the call. His phone rang only once before he answered, greeting them with an awkward wave.

"Uh, hi, Dragomir! Hi, Uraraka!" Midoriya greeted, sounding nervous.

"Yo, Midoriya." Thalia picked up her phone as she walked to her bathroom through the walk-in closet. "You know Bakugo well, right?" He seemed flustered by the question. Thalia put her phone down against the mirror wall on the bathroom counter.

"Uh, yeah, I've known him since elementary school, why?" He asked. Ochako took a sip out of her water, and Thalia began washing her face with a cotton ball and some micellar water.

"How do you think he would answer the door if Kirishima appeared and asked if he wanted to go to Thalia's house to train?" Ochako asked him. Midoriya raised his eyebrows.

"Uh, I think he would shut the door before Kirishima even opened his mouth." The boy replied, scratching the back of his head.

"Then tell me why he and Kirishima showed up at my house, not even thirty minutes after I got back from my dad's house." Thalia looked at him incredulously, and his expression mirrored hers.

"Whaa!?" Midoriya made the same noise Ochako did earlier. Thalia threw her hands up and let them fall down to her sides, tossing the dirty cotton ball in the trash.

"My reaction exactly!" Ochako cried, bringing the phone close to her face. Thalia told him about all the things that transpired that afternoon while she put on and took off a face mask, resulting in some more crazy noises and expressions from both Midoriya and Ochako.

"I... I can only imagine this happening, if... If, like, Kirishima promised him a billion yen, or... Or maybe he wanted to see Gypsy? This is completely unprecedented." Midoriya admitted to her. Ochako's face mask had been taken off as well, and all three of them were lounging in their respective beds. Both of Thalia's cats were curled up by her shoulders. "Maybe..." Midoriya blushed, and shook his head. "Never mind. It's just that... I've never ever seen him treat someone with respect, besides his mom maybe once or twice, and even that's rare. Maybe you gained this weird definition of respect at USJ."

"Huh." Thalia said, kind of surprised by his words. "Well, I feel kind of bad, now. I don't know if I can fully respect him, even if he was pretty chill with my family, once I take past actions into account, especially how he treats you, Midoriya." Midoriya looked touched at her words.

"Well, for what it's worth, it wouldn't make me feel bad if you were friends with him, just as long as you treat me the same as you always have." Midoriya assured her, scratching the back of his head, a neutral expression on his face.

"You could be a double agent for us!" Ochako cackled. Thalia grinned.

"Yeah, I think I'm cool with that. I'm still gonna call him out when he's being a piece of shit, though."

"I think it's better that way, you're the only one that can actually get him to shut up." Midoriya and Thalia laughed at Ochako's words.

so i completely revamped this chapter. i added a bunch to the beginning for better exposition (i think) but left the beginning mostly untouched but then completely rewrote the fight scene and deleted several scenes after and then added the video call scene because i got better friends and it turns out that usually when you're super good friends with someone, you video call them often, even if you're not a phone call person- and i am most certainly more of a texting person, i think that's a given when you can write better than you can speak, but i feel like i don't have to worry about needing time to find the best words to convey what i mean because it's really easy to do that without a dictionary when i'm talking to my best friend.

i wanted there to be some romantic progress in this chapter on both parts but i also wanted to make it feel natural and i have no idea how i kept readers after this chapter before lol, i just hope i actually made it better and i'm not as delusional as i was when i was younger and more inexperienced, thinking i was hot shit... this is the age loop, isn't it? i'm gonna think i was acting like hot shit now when i'm 25... and... and then...

ANYways, let me know if y'all want Norwegian translation down here, i'm thinking about it, but i don't know if it's necessary. and please let me know if i've gotten anything wrong, i'm not a native speaker and i'm using google translate, and the words were changing around a bit more than i was comfortable with. also i want to be clear and let y'all know that i know that norse religion isn't a norm in Norway, or anywhere for that matter, but it's a norm for me and for Thalia's mother's side, as it was their choice to pass down and continue the practice of the religion.

reviews

guest: Question could 1 of the class 1 c students be and animal cause only next is the only animal in the animal 2 if you include monster cat in the manga also don't make Them jerks
my friend i am afraid i barely understand your review

TheSmartOne: Hello again as you know new chapter new animal fact

Fact:The opposum can is resistant to poison since it has special protein so it can be bittin by a rattle snake yet still A ok not only that it has been know to sometimes it cane toads witch are poisones to its skin so it's not poison immunity it's more poison resistance so super powerful poison will kill it
...i will be using this. thank u so much bro

M: Love this! Hilarious chapter! Love the text chats! Glad Bakugou and Kirishima came over to her house to train! So happy that they had dinner with her family! Love Thalia being a good friend to Kirishima! Adore Bakugou and Thalia moments together! Literally laughed out loud for majority of the chapter! Looking forward to the next chapter!
aw im so glad you enjoyed the chapter M :)

edited 11•10•21

edited 11•20•24

word count: 7,717