for those of y'all that don't know, i put the ending of the sports festival in the last chapter. i originally had it here, but it was too short compared to the beginning of the next arc i had typed out here, so i moved it- enjoy!
Thalia sat on her hospital bed, consumed with embarrassment, being lectured by her little brother of all people.
"I fucking told you! I told you it was a bad idea, that maybe it was a bad idea to drink more than twice the maximum consumption of caffeine, but you went ahead and did it anyways! How in the nine realms did the Fates ever allow me to give you that coffee!?" Ivan exclaimed as he walked back and forth in front of her hospital bed.
"Did coffee make all this happen?" Elmla asked in her tiny, cute voice, her dark violet hair tied in a braid. Thalia felt immensely bad for her, she knew basically nothing.
"It was my own actions that made this happen, Ela." Thalia sighed. "But it was a mistake, and it won't happen again." She smiled at her little sister, her assurances directed at her whole family, not just her. Her mother pinched her chin with her first two fingers.
"...I think it's time to do some research on the effects of iced coffee and what exactly it does for yours and your father's bloodline, and see what we can find to replace it." Ljufvina was surprisingly calm, one leg crossed over the other. "Caffeine is terrible for your health, especially the amount you have to consume to get your energy back. It's messing with your heart and it's giving you anxiety." Thalia's eyes lowered as she realized what her mother said was right. The anxiety was getting to a debilitating point.
"Yes, I think that would be best." Said the doctor next to her. He pushed up his round glasses. "It's not even caffeine that has the effect, its the polyphenols. When looking at your blood tests, it was clear that caffeine wasn't reacting in the way your mother said it would- but we found that there was another reaction occurring. To put it simply, polyphenols are compounds found in certain plants, such as fruits, dark chocolate, vegetables, herbs, spices, tea and dark wine. It's the antioxidants and anti-inflammatory qualities that makes it so your shapeshifting causes you less pain and therefore, less exhaustion. I can see why you originally thought it was caffeine, but the polyphenols actually give you more energy than you would get from taking in caffeine. In fact, the caffeine was holding you back a little. Perhaps if you switched to drinking a fruit tea with spices such as strawberries and cinnamon, it would still give you the same effect while being better for your overall health."
To say Thalia was in shock was an understatement.
"All this time..." Thalia breathed, "Iced coffee was... Holding me back?"
"I can print out a list of things high in polyphenol, and maybe you can use it to experiment to see what combination gives you the best effects?" He suggested, raising a hand. Thalia nodded.
"Wow, thank you! You really didn't have to do all of that extra for us." Asked Ljufvina, shocked. The doctor blushed.
"Well, we noticed it, and we just couldn't ignore it, especially for an up-and-coming pro hero like your daughter." He smiled kindly.
"This is... I'm shocked. But I'm grateful you were able to find that out. Thank you, so much." Thalia smiled back. Ljufvina stood up.
"Now, we're going to talk about the bonus I'm about to give to you and whoever helped you make that discovery." She stood and walked him out of the room. "I'll be back, okay?" When they opened the door, someone familiar was standing there.
"Iida!?" Thalia exclaimed. Both of siblings looked up.
"Sure, come right in. She's awake, and fine." Ljufvina waved him in, holding the door open for him. Iida seemed to melt with relief at the sight of her- her skin had the right amount of color and she looked healthy, the only thing hooked up to her was an IV.
"Iida, what are you doing here?" Thalia asked, surprised that he was here.
"Dragomir, why are you in the Hosu city hospital?" Iida asked her, just as confused as she was. Thalia's eyes widened.
"We're in Hosu!?" She exclaimed. Iida's eyes widened, and he looked at the door, which had just shut, so he couldn't ask Ljufvina anything. He sighed.
"I assume it's because they have better resources here than in the one in Musutafu." Iida said. "What in the world did I miss, why are you here?" Thalia paled as she realized she would have to explain her self-induced caffeine overdose to everyone.
"This idiot had me bring her a cup of coffee with nine shots of espresso in it." Ivan growled. Thalia chuckled as Iida's jaw dropped.
"Nine shots of espresso!? What were you thinking!?" Iida exclaimed.
"I was thinking I would win against Bakugo with all that energy, but it turns out that a caffeine overdose can cause heart palpitations and seizures!" Thalia grinned with a thumbs-up.
"Why are you smiling!?"
"Anyways, That's my charming little brother, Ivan, and my little sister Elmla." She motioned to them. "Guys, this is my classmate and friend, Iida Tenya."
"Iida? You're Ingenium's brother?" Ivan immediately asked. Thalia looked to Iida with a smile, expecting him to be happy to explain, but he looked downcast.
"Uh... Yeah, I am. Hey... Do you mind if I talk to your sister for a little bit?" Iida looked at her little siblings and smiled, though this time, there was no happiness in his smile at all.
"Sure..." Ivan looked up at Iida, unsure, and then at Thalia, who nodded. "Elmla, come on, let's find mom."
"Okay." Elmla took Ivan's hand and he lead her out, shutting the door behind him.
"Hey, Iida... Why are you in Hosu?" Thalia asked him, nervous.
"It's my brother..." Iida plopped himself down on the seat next to her bed, his head in his hands, seeming as if he'd finally untensed himself.
"Iida, if it's too hard, you don't have to tell me." Thalia held out a hand, speaking softly, having a feeling she already knew why he was there.
"You told me about your past with your father, so it feels right to tell you what happened..." Iida assured her with a sigh. "He ran into a villain, and... He's paralyzed, from the waist down." He choked a sob. Thalia covered her mouth, shocked.
"Iida, I... I'm so sorry. At least he's still with us, right?" Thalia spoke carefully, feeling the weight of what had happened.
"Yes, but he'll never be able to use his quirk again." Iida let tears fall down his eyes. "He'll have to stop being a pro hero." Thalia clenched her fist. She knew how much his brother being Ingenium meant to him. It was a big source of his pride. She couldn't imagine how she would feel if her mother had gotten seriously hurt and had to step down.
"...I'm sorry." Thalia sighed, unsure of what to say. "...I'm here for you, I wish I could say more, but I... I don't know what to say to make it better, nothing I say will, anyways. But I'll do anything to help you."
"It's okay, Dragomir." Iida said, wiping away his tears. "You being here and listening to me is more than enough."
"Call me Thalia." She smiled. Iida looked up at her, surprised.
"Then you can call me Tenya." He responded in kind, a very brief smile lighting up his face. "So, Thalia... You said you'd do anything to help me out, right..?" Thalia paled.
"Uh, within reason." Thalia looked away, and Tenya raised his head.
"Nothing weird, but... I want to know what you define as 'within reason'." Tenya looked up at her with a hard look in his eyes. "You're the person I'm most confident would help me with this."
"As long as it's nothing weird, there's a lot that is 'within reason' when it comes to you, my friend." Thalia linked her hands together on her lap. "What is it that you need me to help you with, Tenya?"
Before Thalia was discharged, she was visited by Ochako, Midoriya, Momo, Eijirou and Mina, who had all told her how the Sports Festival went down. She was happy to learn that she'd earned third place alongside Tenya, and that she had gone kind of viral, along with Bakugo's reaction at the awards ceremony...
It was clear she needed to have a talk with Bakugo. Mostly her talking, with lots of apologies. She'd avoided texting him all weekend, more because he never texted her... He was obviously too upset to contact her directly- Eijirou told her that he'd asked if she was okay, but refused to talk about her further once he knew she was fine.
It was raining when Thalia went to school. The rain was one of Thalia's favorite things in the world. There was a sense of peace that filled her core, making her feel empty, but the good kind of empty. Free of weight or anxiety- though that was probably, in part, due to her lack of caffeine intake. In her bag was a thermos of iced blackberry tea she'd made at home, with mint, sage, cinnamon and star anise. It was absolutely scrumptious and gave her enough energy to put a pep in her step. The humidity would cause her hair look bigger than it usually was, so she left it down, enjoying how much larger it made her look. At this point, it reached halfway past her torso.
However, today, her mother had to drive her and Ochako to school.
"You know, you should get your motorcycle license, now that you're sixteen." Her mother said to her and Ochako in the car, with Elmla in the passenger seat, "You were on TV yesterday, in a very popular event worldwide. You two should be aware of the fact that you're going to get a lot of attention now, good and bad. You're already known for skating around here, so you should be prepared should anything happen. Find places to hide out and escape if you need to. And keep something on you for defense, like pepper spray." The two girls sweatdropped at the implications of what could happen, but before they got their hero licenses, it was true that they wouldn't be able to use their quirks in public to defend themselves from any fanatics.
"You guys are famous! I can't believe sissy and Chako are famous, mama!" Elmla squealed, kicking her feet wildly. Ljufvina smiled at her littlest daughter, patting her on the head.
"You know, getting a motorcycle license isn't a bad idea." Thalia thought out loud. "I could take you in the passenger seat." Ochako's eyes sparkled.
"That would be so cool!" Ochako exclaimed.
Her mother dropped the two of them off, and Elmla got to marvel at the sight of U.A. Eijirou happened to be passing by when they arrived, and the three of them walked to school together, the rain pattering against Thalia's lavender umbrella, Ochako's pink umbrella, and Eijirou's red one.
"Hey, didn't you say you were quitting caffeine?" Eijirou asked her.
"Yeah, I am. Why?" Thalia replied.
"Then why do you have a coffee in your hand?" Ochako asked her bemusedly with an eyebrow raised. Thalia looked down at the Starbucks coffee she held in her hands. She'd asked her mom to stop there, and explained to her mother what she was about to explain to Eijirou.
"It's for Bakugo..." Thalia admitted. "I won't lie, now that I don't really need coffee, I've started to hate the taste of it."
"Wow, I never thought I'd hear something like that from you." Ochako said, surprised but pleased. Thalia was glad she'd chosen to talk about that rather than the fact that the coffee was for Bakugo. Truth be told, she was kind of terrified to confront him. It had been two days, and she suspected that might be enough time for him to cool off. "I'm proud. The tea you made tastes way better, anyways."
"You're making tea instead?" Eijirou asked. "Doesn't that still have caffeine?"
"Nah, not if you use the right stuff. Tea leaves are caffeinated, but you can make teas without tea leaves. Blackberries, cinnamon, mint, sage and star anise are caffeine free. But they're all high in polyphenols, which is a type of chemical compound that reacts with my cells and heals the damage that comes with shapeshifting." Thalia explained to them as they stared with wide eyes.
Ochako and Thalia kicked their skateboards up and picked them up as they arrived at the entrance. They remained silent, taking in the information. Thalia scratched the back of her neck.
"...The doctor that took care of me after I passed out said he and his team did some blood tests and noticed that caffeine wasn't what was triggering the reaction to make my cells heal faster, it was polyphenols. My mom gave them a huge bonus for it, they kinda did it outta the goodness of their hearts." The girl explained as the three of them shook off their umbrellas and placed them in the basket, and their skateboards in the tall locker. The rain had actually washed all the dirt off of them, so they actually looked pretty cool in there.
"Uraraka, why are you taking a picture of your skateboards in the locker?" Midoriya's voice made the three of them jump.
"H- Hi, Deku!" Ochako laughed and blushed as she whirled around, and Thalia and Eijirou exchanged raised eyebrow side eyes. "Just 'cause they look pretty. They're usually kinda dirty." She stood up straight.
"Oh, well, I guess they do look kinda cool." Midoriya observed.
"You think so?" Ochako smiled. "Let's get up to class."
"Yeah, sure." Midoriya nodded, then turned to Tenya, who Thalia hadn't even noticed was there due to his massive green poncho. "One sec... So, Iida, um-"
"If it's about my brother, don't be concerned." Tenya interrupted him. He took off his hood and smiled at him. "Sorry if I made you worry. Everything'll be fine." Thalia eyed him, and his strong facade fell for just one split second. Rage and duty flickered in his navy blue eyes, and he nodded at her.
"Morning, Dragomir. It's nice to see you back and healthy." He smiled. She smiled back. It was clear he didn't want to put either of them in an awkward position.
"Good morning, Iida. Thanks." With that, Tenya turned and walked away. Once he was up the stairs, Ochako spoke up.
"Did anyone else get a weird vibe from him?" She asked. Midoriya opened his mouth, but Thalia stood and closed her locker.
"Nope. He looks fine to me." The horned girl said nonchalantly. "We had a talk yesterday, he'll be fine." She smiled casually and turned. "Let's go to class, shall we?" Ochako, Eijirou and Midoriya exchanged confused looks.
"It's so weird that people recognize us from TV!" Mina said excitedly. "Everyone wanted to talk to me on my way here." Whatever was said after that blended away into static when Thalia noticed Bakugo in his seat.
Thalia was hoping to make it to class before Bakugo did so she could leave the coffee there for him, but it looked like she had to confront him before it got cold. He sat crookedly in his seat, glaring at the wall and probably just thinking while he waited for class to start. She bit her lip, unsure of whether she wanted to do this in front of everyone else, but she reasoned that he was pretty isolated from the louder students. Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward and walked to the side of Bakugo's desk.
He looked up at her as she approached, with wide eyes. He immediately straightened.
"You're okay." Bakugo looked relieved, a very, very strange expression to see on the boy's face. Thalia handed him the coffee before he could realize he was angry.
"Hot chestnut cappuccino." She said quickly. He took it, looking down at it, then up at her, a blush on his face. "I'm fine. It was a... Um... A caffeine overdose." There goes Bakugo's smooth face. It crinkled with anger and he placed the coffee cup on his desk before standing up so roughly his chair was pushed back.
"A caffeine overdose!? That's the real reason you lost?" Bakugo shouted, so loud that the whole class went silent. Thalia immediately turned red with embarrassment.
"I- I've learned my lesson! I've switched to caffeine-free drinks that still help me!" Thalia tried to assure him... And the whole class worriedly, but it was as if the Fates were trying to make up for her strings being cursed with misfortune, Aizawa walked in before anything else could be said, and she was forced to dash into her seat in front of him, feeling the steel of Bakugo's glare on her back.
"I'll explain more later." Thalia whispered. "...If you want." She was unsure if he'd even heard him, but she guessed she would find out later.
"Morning." Said Aizawa tiredly. She noticed the bandages had been taken off of his face, and he had a scar under his eye.
"Good morning, Aizawa-san." The class chorused.
"Kero. Aizawa-san, you don't have bandages anymore. That's good news." Tsu stated optimistically, a finger on her chin.
"The old lady went a little overboard with her treatment." Aizawa scratched his cheek. "Anyway, we have a big class today. On hero informatics." Thalia gulped. Welp, better get prepared. I hope it's not a pop quiz. She thought, sweatdropping. At least she studied up a little at the hospital. "...You need code names. Time to pick your hero identities." A bunch of Thalia's classmates jumped up and cheered, and she was filled with instant relief, taking a sip from her thermos.
"This is gonna be totally awesome!" Shouted several of the students. Aizawa activated his quirk, and everyone was immediately back in their seats.
"This is related to the pro hero draft bits that I mentioned the last time we were in class together." Aizawa said as his hair slowly fell down. "Normally, first years don't have to worry about the draft yet... Not until their second or third year, actually, but your class is different. In fact... By extending offers to first years like you, pros are essentially investing in your potential. Their offers can be rescinded if their interest dies down before graduation."
"So what you're saying is we still have to prove ourselves once we're recruited?" Hagakure asked from behind Midoriya.
"Correct." Aizawa acknowledged, nodding at her. "Now, here are the totals for those of you who got offers."
Thalia widened her eyes and gawked when she saw that she had 4,983 offers, more than even Todoroki and Bakugo, who had 4,123 and 3,556 offers respectively. After that, it was Tokoyami with 360 offers, Tenya with 301 offers, Kaminari with 272 offers, Momo with 108 offers, Eijirou with sixty eight, Ochako with twenty offers, and Sero with fourteen offers. Aizawa pointed his thumb to the board.
"In past years it's been more spread out, but there's a pretty big gap this time." He observed.
"Gah! That's no fair." Kaminari whined, his head falling back.
"What in the nine realms..?" Thalia breathed, shocked to the core.
"It's probably like that because you can shapeshift into anything, Dragomir. So not fair." Kaminari pouted.
"Thalia, this is amazing!" Ochako exclaimed, bursting with excitement and moving Tenya back and forth by his shoulders.
"What about the real star, moi?" Aoyama complained.
"Why is Todoroki above Bakugo, and Dragomir's above them both?" Jiro questioned, confused.
"Yeah, that's the opposite of how they placed in the festival." Eijirou's eyebrow was raised.
"I- I'd like the answer to that myself..." Thalia gaped.
"They probably weren't excited to have to work with a guy who had to be chained up at the end." Sero said dully, motioning to Bakugo.
"If I scare a pro, they're just weak!" Bakugo shouted angrily.
"That's amazing... You must be proud." Momo turned to Todoroki.
"Those offers are probably because of my father." Todoroki muttered, unfazed. Thalia's shock and excitement faded as she realized that was also probably why she got the bulk of the offers- and with a glance at Tenya's solemn face, a sense of duty sobered her up as well.
"Despite these results, you'll all be interning with pros, got it? Even those of you who didn't get any offers." Aizawa assured those who didn't get any offers, and she heard a few breaths of relief.
"So, we're all interning?" Asked Midoriya.
"Yes. You already got to experience combat with real villains during the attack on the USJ facility, but it'll still be helpful to see pros at work. Up close and personal, in the field." Aizawa affirmed, getting the class excited with his words despite the flat way he delivered them.
"And for that, we need hero names!" Sato exclaimed.
"Things are suddenly getting a lot more fun!" Ochako exclaimed with a smile. Thalia wished she shared their excitement, but she felt really quite pressured.
"These hero names will likely be temporary." Aizawa assured them, causing Thalia to flood with relief. "But take them seriously, you're-" The door sliding open cut Aizawa off.
"You'll have hell to pay later." Midnight's confident voice rang through the room, and Thalia brightened.
"Midnight-san!" A few classmates, including her, exclaimed happily. Thalia's brightness was dampened slightly when she realized it was mostly boys happy to see her.
"What you pick today could be your codename for life." Midnight told them, though Thalia was sure half the boys didn't even hear what she said. She could barely hold back a groan of annoyance, but decided she shouldn't focus on that, and be happy that Midnight was there to help them. "You must be careful, or you'll be stuck with something utterly indecent."
"Yeah, she's got a good point." Aizawa agreed, his tone unchanged. "Midnight is going to have final approval over your names." He bent down and picked something up from inside his podium and showed the class a yellow bag- his sleeping bag. "It's not my forte. The name you give yourself is important. It helps reinforce your image and shows what kind of hero you wanna be in the future. A codename tells people exactly what you wanna represent." As he spoke, Thalia was given a stack of dry erase boards. She placed one on her desk and turned around to pass them Back to Bakugo. "Take All Might for example." Bakugo took them from her and passed the remaining three back to Midoriya with an annoyed look. Thalia giggled at him, and Bakugo scrunched his nose and narrowed his eyes at her, and she stuck her tongue out at him before turning back forward.
Time to get serious... Thalia thought. Nine realms, I actually haven't put any thought into this. She tapped her chin a few times with her marker, taken from her scaly purple pencil bag. The Shapeshifter? I mean, it's what I do. What could be more clear than that? Ooh, I think I like Shapechanger more. It's one of Loki's names, and my religion is important to me. Plus, only those that follow my religion or are enthusiasts will realize the double meaning behind it. I think I like it. Short and simple, I never really liked the mouthful names, anyways. Plus, we were given these dry erase boards a reason, instead of some form to turn in and be approved. They'll think I'm cool if I explain the double meaning! Little puffs of air exited Thalia's nose and a teeny blush covered her cheeks, proud of herself.
Satisfied with her answer, she scribbled it down neatly on her dry erase board and decorated it with little doodles of a dragon, a t-rex, and had just finished up a doodle of a wolf head when Midnight raised her hand and broke the silence.
"Now students, who among you is ready to share?" She announced. Thalia turned around, and noticed a good lot of them were panicking. She chuckled to herself.
"Guys, why are you panicking? Why else would we be given dry erase boards?" Thalia said quietly, given the current silence, targeting Eijirou in particular- whose jaw had dropped and had literally lost a bit of color in his face.
"G- give me a break!" Eijirou hmphed and crossed his arms. Before Thalia could offer to bite the bullet for them, Aoyama was already on stage.
"Hold your breath!" Aoyama held his board up halfway. "The Shining Hero..." He held his board up high. "My name is I Can Not Stop Twinkling!" He announced to the class proudly. "Mon amie, you cannot deny my sparkle." It was obvious he was expecting applause or something similar, but Thalia, along with most of the class, just stared blankly. Well... You definitely can't deny that... Uh... Sparkle. Midnight took the board from him.
"It'll be better this way." She turned the board around with her corrections. "Take out the 'I' and shorten the 'Can Not' to 'Can't'."
"It's stunning, mademoiselle." Aoyama agreed, pointing at the board. Something about him made her so uncomfortable.
"She likes it!?" Thalia picked out Jiro, Kaminari, Midoriya, Ochako and Sato's voices exclaim the same thing. "Also, you're not really French, are you? That's just an act." Sato continued, though his odd accusation was ignored. Thalia got up and picked her board up off the desk, determined to go this time. She was a little eager, but when she looked at everyone, she got a little nervous.
"Uh." She started, showing her board to the class. "I chose Shapechanger. Just by itself, nothing else. I chose it because it's... Well, it's what I do, but it's also one of Loki's names. I don't know if you all know, but I follow Norse religion, he's the god of mischief, and he can shapeshift."
"I love it, Thalia!" Ochako jumped out of her seat, earning her a big smile from Thalia and the disappearance of her stage fright.
"Everyone knows who Loki is, have you ever heard of Marvel?" Kaminari muttered. Thalia glowered at him.
"You are thinking of a fictional character." She crossed her arms, firm with her tone, which caused him to cringe.
"People still genuinely practice Norse religion?" Sato asked, skeptical. Thalia pursed her lips.
"Yes, just about everyone in my mom's side of the family have practiced Norse religion for literally thousands of years, since they were vikings." She rebutted.
"Alright, alright." Midnight raised her hands. "You're a firecracker, I love it." Midnight's compliment made Thalia blush. She likes that I'm argumentative!? I usually get reprimanded for it... "Shapechanger may sound a little bland or scary at first, but I am a huge fan of the double meaning behind it!" She squealed. "Plus, it represents your quirk perfectly, straight to the point! I love it! Thank you, Dragomir." Thalia grinned and walked to her seat with a pep in her step, pleased with herself.
"Okie dokie, let me go next!" Mina said, taking her board and flipping it over enthusiastically. "My codename: Alien Queen!"
"Hold up, like that horrible monster with the acidic blood!?" Midnight's horror shocked Thalia- she was about to jump out of her chair the same way Ochako did! "I don't think so." Mina walked back to her seat, embarrassed, holding her board facing herself.
"Dang it..." She muttered.
"Kero," Tsu raised her hand. "I think I've got one, okay if I go next?" She asked timidly.
"Come on up!" Midnight pointed at her and smiled encouragingly. She walked up, holding her board to her chest.
"I've had this name in mind since elementary school. Rainy Season Hero: Froppy." As Tsu said that, Thalia put her hands on her cheeks and smiled downwards.
"Aw, I love that." Thalia told her, earning her a teeny blush and a closed-eye smile.
"That's delightful!" Midnight gushed. "That makes you sound approachable. What a great example of a name everyone will love." The class looked a lot more comfortable now as Midnight accepted Tsu's hero name. Some stood up and pumped their fists, shouting to go next. Eijirou ended up running up there and placing his sign down on the podium.
"I've got mine, too!" He said excitedly. "The Sturdy Hero: my name is Red Riot!" Thalia clapped her hands lightly.
"Nice pick, I like it!" Thalia said, which earned her a bigger grin from the boy.
"Red Riot?" Midnight said, her eyebrows and a finger raised. "Interesting. You're paying homage to the Chivalrous Hero: Crimson Riot, yes?" Eijirou looked a little surprised he was clocked so easily, and scratched the back of his neck.
"Yeah, that's right. It may be kind of old school, but some day, I wanna be just like he is, Crimson is my idol!" Eijirou admitted proudly.
"Hm... If you're bearing the name of someone you admire, you have that much more to live up to." Midnight warned him slyly. Hmm, she has a point. I guess I have Loki to live up to, now, Thalia thought, looking distantly at the window. I'll bet I'll be able to represent a Norse god just fine. With their blessings, of course. Thalia added the last part as she turned her eyes up to the ceiling- past that, to the sky- to where she believed the heavenly realms to be.
"I accept the challenge." Eijirou's confident voice broke her out of her train of thought. He went to sit down, but despite the excitement earlier, no one else seemed ready to go yet. Thalia turned halfway to Kaminari when he hissed under his breath.
"Man, I still haven't been able to think of anything that's cool enough." He lamented. Jiro tapped his shoulder, and he turned to her, who had a marker twirled in her amp. Woah, it's prehensile!? Thalia thought.
"Hey, I've got one." Jiro told him in a certain tone that made Thalia prick her ear up. "How does Jamming-yay sound to you?" Kaminari lit up.
"Oh, it's like Hemmingway, who wrote A Farewell To Arms, right? You're clever! I like it!" Kaminari said excitedly. Damn, he reads? That's surprising information. Jiro giggled.
"No... It's because even though you're powerful, you always..." Her shoulders shook as she held in a bigger laugh. "Jam your brain!" She finished with a higher-pitched voice, and Thalia couldn't help but let out her own laugh. Kaminari's expression crinkled and he raised a fist.
"Oh come on, Jiro, quit messing with me!" He shouted, irritated. Jiro's joy was unblemished, however, as she stood up and presented her name next.
"I'm the Hearing Hero: I'm Earphone Jack." Jiro stated proudly. Thalia raised her eyebrows.
"That's sick." She complimented, which caused Jiro to blush a teeny bit with pride.
"Now that's a good one!" Midnight pointed at her. The rest of the names passed by in a blur.
"The Tentacle Hero: Tentacole." Shoji's rare voice announced his name. Thalia nodded thoughtfully.
"Oh, I like what you're doing with that." Midnight nodded. "A nice portmanteau."
"The Taping Hero: Cellophane." Sero announced. Thalia started to regret not adding a title to her hero name.
"That's on the nose, good work." Midnight gave him a thumbs up, and he blushed.
"Martial Arts Hero: Tailman." Ojiro raised his tail as he spoke.
"No surprise with that one, I guess!" Midnight gave him a thumbs-up.
"I'm The Sweets Hero: Sugarman!" Sato said.
"I love it, it's perfect!" Midnight gushed.
"Pinky!" Mina shouted determinedly, raising a fist. Thalia felt a little upset, Alien Queen was sick.
"Love it, make those looks work for you, girl!" Midnight liked the name this time.
"The Stun Gun Hero: I am Chargebolt!" Kaminari announced next, patting his sign. Thalia nodded, that was a pretty cool name. "Electric, don't 'cha think?"
"Makes me all tingly!" Midnight agreed, and Thalia was unable to hide her slightly weirded out expression.
"The Stealth Hero: Invisible Girl!" Hagakure announced.
"That really suits you!" Midnight accepted, raising a hand. "Now come on, who's gonna step up next?" Thalia smiled as she noticed Momo nervously make her way up next.
"I hope that I can live up to this name..." Momo said as she presented her board to the class. "The Everything Hero: I'm Creati." Thalia's lips made an 'o' formation, and she clapped lightly.
"I love that!" Thalia told her.
"Creati-ve!" Midnight put her hands together with a big smile.
"Shoto." Todoroki had only written his name, earning him confused looks from the class. Midnight stepped up to him.
"Just your name?" She asked, looking down at his board then to him. "Is that it?"
"Mhm." He agreed. Thalia blinked, but Midnight was cool with it, so he sat back down.
"Jet Black Hero: Tsukuyomi." Tokoyami held out his sign, and Thalia nodded approvingly. Appropriately wicked name, that makes up for the last one.
Koda was up next, but he didn't speak- just blushed as he just held up his sign, and it read "Petting Hero: Anima".
"Yup! All about it." Midnight stuck her thumb up, and Thalia couldn't help but agree. It was cute. Finally, Bakugo's chair lurched from behind her and he slammed his board on the podium in such a way that Thalia was genuinely shocked that Aizawa didn't wake up.
"King Explosion Murder." Bakugo said, baring his teeth. Like the others, Thalia nodded approvingly, not even fazed.
"I'm gonna say that one's a little too violent." Midnight vetoed the name, to Bakugo's behest. He dropped the board as he shouted.
"Huh!? What d'ya mean!?"
"Why don't you be Explosion Boy?" Eijirou suggested.
"You shut up, weird hair!" Bakugo aimed his shout at his friend.
"Or Sparky?" Thalia giggled, unable to help herself. She heard Jiro cackle, and they shared laughs.
"You shut your mouth, lambchop!" Bakugo switched his anger to her. "Why don't we go outside and I'll show you exactly why murder's in my name!?" Thalia only grinned at him as he snatched his board up and plopped back down in his seat. She leaned back in her seat.
"For the record, I actually think it's a good name. Just tweak it." Before Bakugo could shout at her, she turned and straightened her seat, and he was left clenching his fist and baring his teeth before sitting back as the next student went up to say their name- when Thalia realized it was Ochako nervously walking up, she perked up with wide eyes, giving Ochako a thumbs up as she turned to see her. With a nervous smile in her direction, she flipped her board around, showing letters written in a cute bubble font.
"This is the name I thought of- Uravity." Ochako presented. Thalia jumped up from her seat and clapped.
"Wonderful, marvelous, show-stopping!" Thalia exclaimed, embarrassment out the window for her friend.
"I love that!" Midnight said genuinely, leaning her face on two hands. Ochako sighed a breath of relief as the class applauded her and she sat down. "To be honest, choosing names is going by faster than I thought it would." Midnight observed, staring at the clock. "All we have left is young Bakugo, who needs to rethink his," Bakugo fumed behind her, "Aaand Iida... Oh yes, and Midoriya, too."
After a few moments, Tenya walked up there and presented his first name as his hero name. He was looking slightly to the side, as if uninterested. Thalia pursed her lips- he had told her everything his brother had said. I guess he's not ready to take up the name yet, or at least announce to the entire class that his brother is stepping down and that the name is his, now. However, this might be a little difficult to explain to Midnight.
"You're using your first name, too?" Asked Midnight uncertainly. He didn't say anything and just sat down. Thalia bit her lip, feeling dampened. "Okay.. Well, Midoriya, are you ready?" Midnight asked, moving on quickly as Tenya walked quickly back to his seat.
"Oh! Uh, yeah." Midoriya walked up and flipped his board, and messily scrawled on his board was "Deku". Aw. That's Ochako's nickname for him. However, the class was silent.
"Really, Midoriya? You sure about that?" Asked Kaminari.
"Yeah, man, remember, that could be your name forever." Eijirou said. Thalia could see why they felt that way- 'Deku' literally means 'useless'. But Thalia knew the meaning behind the name.
"Right. I used to hate it." Midoriya said. "But then, something changed. I guess... Someone taught me that it could have a different meaning. And that had a huge impact on how I felt." He smiled. "So... Now I really like it. 'Deku': that has to be my codename." His smile widened, albeit nervously, and he looked up at the class. Thalia's hand covered her mouth, and she looked at Ochako, who was bright red- but she looked really happy and proud. However, behind her, Bakugo was seething. She decided not to say anything out of fear of upsetting Bakugo further, but she offered him an encouraging grin.
"Well, all right then, if you're sure." Midnight shrugged. "Bakugo, have you come up with a better name yet?" The boy in question growled and picked up his board before presenting essentially the same name to his class.
"Lord Explosion Murder!" He shouted.
"That's basically the same thing." Midnight deadpanned, slumped slightly.
"Not enough tweaking, Bakugo." Thalia said through giggles.
"Now that everybody's picked out their hero names, we can go back to talking about internships." Aizawa said, his sleeping bag only halfway off. "They'll last for a week. As for who you'll be working with, those of you who are on the board will choose from one of your offers, everyone else will have a different list." Aizawa raised a sheet of paper and began talking about it, but Thalia was zoned out.
Under other circumstances, she would be pretty excited, but she was thinking about what Tenya had talked to her about while they were in the hospital. She barely noticed when a pile of papers was handed to her for her to pass back until she felt a ball of paper hit the back of her head.
"Hey, lambchop, pass the papers back, already!" He snapped, snapping her out of her trance.
"S- sorry." Thalia murmured, handing the papers back to him. He snatched them out of her hand, then looked like he regretted it, then handed the papers back with a scoff. Obviously, he wasn't in a good mood, and it made Thalia a little nervous to talk to him, but she had to get it over with. Tearing the corner of a paper in her notebook, she wrote: 'meet me on the roof before you leave' and passed it back to him before turning around without seeing what he did with it.
"Turn in your choice before the weekend." Aizawa said as him and Midnight left the room.
"We only have two days!?" Eijirou exclaimed, shocked.
"Yeah, so you'd better start now." Aizawa said with a final glance over his shoulder. "You're dismissed."
It was lunchtime, and Tenya had approached her.
"Hey, let's go for a walk." He asked, his usual pep missing from his voice. Thalia knew exactly why, and nodded, before getting up to follow him. She felt some stares in their direction before she left, but she wasn't concerned in the least.
"Let's head to the library. In an isolated corner, so no one can hear us." Tenya whispered as they exited earshot of the classroom.
"You act like we're planning a bank heist." Thalia snorted. Tenya gave her an intense look.
"This is serious, we could get into a lot of trouble." Tenya whispered firmly. Thalia looked into his eyes.
"I thought you were unafraid of the consequences?" Thalia asked him quietly as they turned a corner.
"That's right, but I'm worried about anything or anyone getting in our way." Tenya hissed back. "If people hear us, that could get us in trouble, and we'd be stopped before we even began." Thalia nodded, agreeing with his way of thinking. They scanned their student IDs and entered the library, walking around silently until they found a round table against the corner of the back of the library on the second floor, hidden behind some bookshelves and right next to a big window. Sitting with their backs against the wall, they took out their lunches and the both of them placed their offer lists on the table.
"Now, let's start by looking at what offers we have in common, then, out of those, which ones are based in Hosu city." Tenya said quietly. Thalia nodded and the two of them started scanning their papers and writing down those they had in common. In total, twenty-eight agencies had extended offers to them both- and out of those, there were only three located in Hosu city.
"The Normal Hero: Manual. How do you feel about him?" Thalia pointed at the name on their list. Tenya nodded.
"That's the most inner-city-based hero agency, I think we'll have the best chance with him." He said solemnly, his eyes dark with vengeance. Thalia nodded gravely.
"Then we'll choose..." Thalia circled the name on her paper. "Him."
"This weekend, let's do research on Stain and come up with good plans to take him down." Tenya clenched a fist. Thalia nodded.
"Sounds like a plan- wanna come over to my place?" She asked him. Tenya nodded.
"All right. I'll walk with you on Friday." He confirmed. They started packing their things up, as it was almost time for the next class. Time was passing quickly- and it was getting closer and closer to the time Thalia had told Bakugo to meet up with her. With problems attacking her on both sides, she let out some of her inner struggles with a sigh. Unexpectedly, Tenya wasn't too consumed by his drive for vengeance to let that sigh slide.
"You know, I won't hold it against you if you back out. This is-"
"No, Tenya. I told you I'd help you out, and friends don't back out- much less warriors. Odin would have no place for me in Valhalla if I were to back down from anything." Thalia assured him. "So I never back down." She looked away, conflicted. "What I'm truly worried about, if you were wondering, is Bakugo." Tenya was glad to get his main objective out of current thinking and blinked at her as he shouldered on his bag.
"Bakugo? Why are you worried about him?" Tenya asked.
"Well, you do realize that his reaction at the Sports Festival was partially my fault. I screwed myself over with the caffeine overdose before I realized that wasn't even what helped me gain energy in battle, and our fight was ruined. I literally almost died of stupidity. He has every reason to be upset with me, I just... Don't know if he'll decide that I'm not worth the worry or not." Thalia let it all off her chest, and Tenya listened silently.
"Well, he treats you completely different from the rest of the class, even today, while he was supposedly 'mad' at you." Tenya told her calmly as they made their way out of the library. "I'm sure you still mean something to him. Maybe if you talk to him today, you'll reconcile." He suggested. They exited the library and headed back to their classroom. Thalia sighed again, scratching the back of her head.
"That's the plan. I asked him to meet me on the rooftop before he leaves, but I don't even know if he'll be there." Thalia told him.
"Well, I think he'll be there." Tenya assured her as they turned the corner. "From an outside perspective, it looks like he values you a lot as a friend. He's gentler to you than he is with everyone else, even Kirishima." Thalia soaked in his words, feeling a little better as they walked in the classroom.
"Thanks, Tenya." Thalia smiled before walking back to her own seat. Again, some eyes were on her, including Bakugo's glare, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Her mind was far too clouded with bigger stressors for her to care.
The sun was setting, and already it was time to go to the roof. Right after class ended, she went up to the roof and noticed that thankfully, the fenced-in roof was empty. She chose the closest corner to the door and plopped her bag down, deciding to browse her phone while she waited for Bakugo. To her surprise, she didn't have to wait any longer than a few minutes before the door slammed open and Bakugo showed his face.
"So? What is it, lambchop?" Bakugo closed the door behind him. "You wanna beg for forgiveness, or something?" When he turned back around, Thalia was standing up and facing him.
"Something like that." Thalia admitted, looking to the side before looking back to him. He stood there expectantly, waiting for her to speak. "Look... I realize now that I really screwed myself over with that caffeine overdose. When I was at the hospital, I learned that it wasn't even caffeine that reacted with my cells to heal them faster after shapeshifting, but polyphenols." Bakugo's eyebrows widened, and Thalia trusted that he understood her. "I was under the impression that the nine espresso shots wouldn't have any negative effect on me because of my quirk, but... Yeah, you saw how that turned out. I'm really sorry. I know you wanted to take me down properly while I was in my dragon form, and I'm really sorry if I made you worry more than necessary. You..." Thalia bit her lip, feeling really awkward. She looked away as she spoke further. "Really mean a lot to me. You're someone I can respect and depend on, and I don't have to worry about you getting hurt or me hurting you because you're tough, and I don't wanna lose you as a friend. So... Again..." Thalia looked back up at his stunned face. "I'm sorry."
It was silent for a few torturous beats, but Bakugo remembered how to use his mouth rather quickly.
"Uh..." Despite remembering how to use his mouth, his brain didn't seem to have anything loaded. No one had ever apologized so genuinely to him before. His face was rosy. "Um... Thanks, I guess..." He scratched the back of his neck and looked away. "'M not mad at you. Well. Kind of. But it wasn't on purpose, so I kind of get it." He looked at her directly in the eyes. "Now that you're actually using your dragon form, you better not overdose on caffeine next time we rematch, got it, lambchop?" He pointed at her, and Thalia smiled brightly, never so happy to hear a challenge.
"Sure, Bakugo. Anytime."
author's note
yes, that's right guys, thalia is an accomplice. her and tenya are gonna be the duo that is smart on their own but when in proximity they erase each others braincells. anyways, i hope i made bakugo's quiet moments not out of character, please let me know if yall have any advice or criticism, it will be well taken and i'm not afraid to make some edits to make the story make more sense or flow better.
see ya
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