"Endeavor-san."
Enji immediately decided he did not like the principal Nezu's tone of voice. Being as smart as Nezu meant he often had access to data and sources others had no idea about, and it wasn't a rare occurrence that he was calling heroes he trusted, to provide them with illegally acquired information that needed quick reaction. Often too quick to have time to gain legal authority for conducting some operations. Like in that case of the horribly abused child Endeavor simply abducted from her parents, to his lawyer's despair. Luckily Enji was very bad at many things, but very good at bulldozing through legal obstacles when it came to saving people. It was one of the reasons he wasn't popular with decent citizens afraid of heroes misstepping their competences, but popular with those who advocated for a more swift and brutal way of dealing with villains. So, it was usually Enji who was getting these kinds of calls from Nezu.
"What happened?"
"Your kids are safe."
Wait, what? So it wasn't about his help? Something had happened at Yuuei?!
"What."
No.
Wait, Nezu had just told him Izuku and Shouto (and hopefully Tenya) were alright.
"Endeavor-san... I cannot even begin to express how horrified and guilty I feel that my students were endangered on my school's grounds, but there was a massive villain attack."
No.
"All our students are safe. I am calling every parent now to inform them about the situation and to ask them to personally pick up their children when it is possible."
"I- Of course." Enji's heart thundered. How could this have happened? How could Nezu have let this happen?! How could he have let Enji's kids, anyone's kids, be attacked in his school?! What about the safety precautions?! Nothing like that ever had happened during Enji's times in Yuuei!
"I beg you for your forgiveness, Endeavor-san. At the same time, I assure you there was nothing we could do to prevent it. One of the villains had a teleportation Quirk."
Fuck. No way. The worst, most dreaded Quirk, and, of course, a villain had to have it.
"How are the kids?"
"They are fine, Endeavor-san. I shall speak with you more extensively later, I promise you that, but now I have to call other parents."
Enji had so many questions but realized he could as well ask his Izuku.
"I will be at Yuuei in minutes."
"Thank you."
He called Uryu. "I have to drop out of the patrol. Call me only if something serious happens. Find someone to fill in for me."
"Of course, Endeavor-sama. Is Izuku-kun alright?"
"There was a villain attack, but he is alright."
Uryu gasped.
"He is safe."
"You... you be safe, too, Chigira-san."
"I will."
And he was off to Yuuei.
Minutes later and it appeared he was the first parent to come, as he barged into the infirmary without knocking.
"Enji-kun!" he heard Recovery Girl's voice.
"My kids."
"Next to last screen, Enji-kun." He was immediately there and gasped. His Izuku was all covered in bandages. His Shouto looked a little better, but not by much.
"Oh, God," he whispered. Was this Nezu's meaning of... right, the rat said safe not alright. He was going to fucking skin and strangle the furry. How could Nezu fucking let this happen?!
"Dad, calm down," Izuku looked at him alarmed, and Enji realized his Quirk was full on, his fists clenched. He made an almost inhuman effort to calm down.
"Hey," he said, as he sat down by his boys.
"We didn't get any lasting damage," his Shouto informed him.
His fists clenched again. They were just kids, at school. Phrases like that he expected to hear when they become proheroes, but not now! Not yet!
"And what is the damage?" he mustered all his willpower to sound as calm as possible, to focus on the most important things instead of barging out to beat up Nezu to a bloody pulp and then to hunt down every single villain who decided to attack a bloody school full of kids.
Izuku hesitated, again probably choosing the words not to upset Enji, not to burden him. God.
"I've got two broken ribs, a lot of very superficial scratches and bruises." Thank God for his Shouto, who wouldn't hide anything from Enji, worried about his feelings.
"It looks worse than only that."
Shouto shrugged. "Recovery Girl insisted on bandaging every cut and scratch I have because infection. But honestly, it's only ribs that were a bitch. Recovery Girl's Quirk made sure they're healed now."
"And Izuku?"
"I can speak for myself, dad!"
"Shouto."
"His joints were a mess, like, all of them. Also had a severe concussion, half of the ribs broken, and more bruises than normal skin. But it was a tough battle. We had to go all out or else people could have died."
Christ.
He hid his face in his hands, fingers dug into his skin, concentrating on the feeling to get a grip.
"But I'm fine, dad! Recovery Girl says we are fine! Well, will be perfectly fine in a matter of day or two!"
"Okay," he whispered. Joints were so fragile! Once damaged they tended to easily fail their owner again!
"Dad."
"I'm just glad you two are fine." Then he realized. "How is Tenya-kun?!"
"He is fine. He was sent to get help. Was incredibly hard to convince him to leave us, by the way."
"I have to thank him."
"Yeah, dad, you do that. He is beating himself up he left us."
"That was the smartest thing to do," said Shouto.
"Yeah, but you know Tenya-kun."
"I know. He thinks we sent him because we think he is not good enough to fight beside us."
"I'll speak with him," agreed Enji. Tenya bringing help probably saved them all from... ...the worst outcome. His fists started clenching again. Then it occurred to him. "What about your teachers?"
The boys went grim.
"They... really got badly damaged. Recovery Girl says they all will make a full recovery, but it will take days."
"And other students?"
"Everyone is okay."
Enji fell quiet, taking it all in.
"How did this happen? What did they look like?"
"One of them had a warp Quirk. They have opened a portal and tens of small fries came through, along with three proper villains."
"The one with the warp Quirk was called Kurogiri, but we couldn't see him because his Quirk's side effect was a dark mist."
"One was some bioengineered monster. Even All Might had trouble defeating him."
Wait, what?
"All Might was there?"
"No, not initially. Actually they attacked us because they thought All Might would be conducting that lesson."
"How do you know that?"
"They weren't making a secret out of it. They were repeating plenty of times they had come to put an end to All Might."
Shit. So hiring All Might as a teacher was a mistake in more than one respect. Now it all made sense – of course they would attack a school All Might was teaching in, and during his lesson too. With plenty of kids around it was so easy to take someone hostage or simply use them as a distraction. Nezu had really made a mistake. Enji would speak with him ab-
Wait.
"So, they attacked your class specifically?"
"Yes. Somehow they got information about our schedule. They knew we had a lesson with All Might at that hour, and they knew it was going to be held at U.S.J."
"It might have been during the media incident a few days before," added Izuku.
Ah, true, Enji recalled he had seen in the news the reporters somehow managed to get onto the Yuuei's ground. Admittedly he had not thought much about it then, knowing Nezu would be on top of things. Now he knew he should have. What a fool he was.
"Yes, probably someone had sneaked inside," agreed Enji, but when he said it out loud it did not sound right to his own ears. Something was off. How had the reporters managed to get inside in the first place? How could they get as far as to reach the main teaching building where the schedule was hung? Why go so far to get it if there were easier methods of obtaining it? Something was really off, but Enji had too little information to be able to deduce anything. All this just made no sense.
"What did the main villains look like?"
"One was the weirdest freak," said Shouto. "Silver-haired, all covered in some sort of... detached hands? I don't know if they were real or not. He called one of them 'father' and went unhinged when it was removed from him."
So, a madman. Good. Madmen made mistakes. Much more preferable adversary than a psychopath.
"He had some sort of a destructive on-touch Quirk," continued Shouto.
"Kurogiri called him Tomura Shigaraki," added Izuku.
"The varp villain?"
"Yeah."
Ah, so they actually got quite a lot of information. Good. The name (or alias) did not ring a bell, but it was a good start. And knowing what their Quirks were was even better. The government kept track of all Quirks. Enji would find the man who had dared to attack his kids and would make him pay.
"And that's it," ended Shouto.
"They were calling themselves the League of Villains," added Izuku.
Oh, so it was something more organized. Well, it was to be guessed by the very fact they had managed to gather so many villains for this one operation. So, another force to be reckoned with. As if antiquirk sects and yakuza groups weren't enough.
"So they were specifically after All Might?"
"Yes."
That also was one of the clues. Wait-
"Why wasn't he there to begin with?" asked Enji angrily.
Izuku looked at him reproachfully and Enji noticed his kid's tiniest gesture. Three fingers.
Ah, so All Might had reached his limit.
'He shouldn't have ever started this teaching bullshit,' thought Enji angrily again. 'Wasting his limit on teaching, and endangering the kids too. What a stupid foolish idiotic moron." His teeth gritted.
"Dad."
Enji sighed.
"I am glad you all are okay," he said, sounding more tired than he intended. "I am sure you proved how amazing you are," Shouto looked just the tiniest tiptoe from rolling his eyes. "and I am proud of you. Shouto."
Shouto shot him a questioning look.
"Do you have any therapist?"
"I'm fine."
"Shouto, an encounter with villains is always-"
"Oh, fine," Shouto cut in, irritated. "I do have a therapist. Haven't been seeing him for a while, but fine, I'll go, if it makes you shut up about it."
"Are you content with him? Izuku and I are seeing a great-"
"Not going to the same therapist as you, old man."
"Still-"
"I'm fine with mine, old man, drop it."
Izuku watched the exchange with a smile.
888
Enji stared at bandaged Aizawa stroking a couple of cats in his lap. Exasperation ignited (again), mixed with growing irritation.
"What the hell. You were supposed to rest. Are you completely out of your mind," he stated more than asked.
Aizawa did not answer. Enji noticed how grave and pained the younger man seemed. He did not think he had ever seen him like this.
Ah, right. His students were just attacked, in front of him, by an army of villains. Enji was so slow on the uptake of such things, sometimes.
He sat by Aizawa's side, immediately mobbed by cats drawn by his body temperature.
"Cat stealer," murmured Aizawa but Enji saw clearly the words were devoid of usual cheeky humor, just an empty filler to detour Enji from the introverted man's state.
"They are safe," said Enji. "All of them."
A grimace marred Aizawa's face. With this man always so careful when it came to showing true emotions it was a testament to a fire that had to blaze inside.
"...They wouldn't be," Aizawa finally said, after some time of chewing over his thoughts and words, with Enji patiently waiting. "If not for your kids..." There was another pause as Aizawa's unseeing eyes probably replayed today's events. "I'd be dead, Chigira. My students too, at least some of them."
A shudder overcame Enji. They had spoken more about the attack later, after Izuku came back from the infirmary, and it indeed seemed very serious, but then again Izuku was still so inexperienced and also shocked by the villains' prowess and power, Enji had assumed the relation had to be at least a little exaggerated. Hearing such a statement from a pro like Aizawa, though, was a completely different, horrifying, thing.
"I'll skin Nezu," he murmured the first thought that came to his mind.
Aizawa shot him a very angry look, to Enji's surprise.
"Do you honestly think we don't take all possible precautions?" he didn't snarl, but it was close. Enji felt contrite for letting his emotions take over and lead him to his favorite path – blaming.
"No," he admitted. "I know Nezu."
"He loves his school, his students, Chigira. It is horrible enough for him without parents jumping at his throat."
'Horrible for you, too,' thought Enji.
There was a pause, filled with cats' purring.
"Still," Aizawa finally said. "It shouldn't have ever happened. Your kids shouldn't need to... save other students. Me."
"Aizawa. You saved yourself. It is your training that saved you all."
Aizawa again took his time before answering, as if he was talking more to himself than to Enji.
"I watched them fight and... I prayed for them to stop, to hide, since they are just kids, since it's not their job yet, since fighting back was putting them in so much danger. But at the same, I couldn't help but want them to fight back since it was improving our chances so much." Another pause. "...I fucking hate myself for this."
"Aizawa."
"What kind of hero wants kids to help him, to endanger themselves."
"Aizawa, you know it's your emotions speaking, right?" Aizawa's brow rose at that. "You've been through hell, you watched your students almost getting slaughtered, so you don't think clearly now. But you know very well you were right to accept their help. You know how you trained them. You know they wouldn't stupidly kill themselves. You know they're pretty much proheroes already. It was a logical solution. The best solution."
"It was your kids, Chigira."
"I know. And I am grateful you trained them so well you all survived this. It is all thanks to you."
"Bullshit," said Aizawa, but something shifted on his face, the shadow in his eyes seemed much lighter, the exhaustion replaced the grimness. Enji felt so proud of himself. He was never the person who would know how to support people in distress.
They were quiet for some more time.
"They're really good, Chigira-san. They... wouldn't be able to defeat those villains, ultimately, but they hold their own long enough for the rescue to come. You can be proud of them. I am proud of them."
"But I'm not supposed to tell them that?" smiled Enji.
"No, actually you should. They deserve it. They really took to heart everything they had learned. Even Tenya did as he was told even though it must have been horrible for him to leave us in danger."
Enji nodded, pride rising in his heart even if the fear and cold were still dwelling there.
They stayed like that for a while before Aizawa finally got up. "Gotta go. I d-"
"You're going nowhere."
Aizawa stared at him. "Don't be stup-" he shut up promptly as Enji stood up and glared at him.
"You're not. Going. Anywhere. I will keep my eyes on you. You thought you were going to hold lessons tomorrow?"
"I'm fine, these-"
"No."
888
"Have you lost your mind."
"I have no idea what you are talking about. Also, why the hell are you up?"
Aizawa more fell than sat down on the zabuton.
"Have it, even for a split second, crossed your mind that maybe you have no right to cancel my lessons behind my back?"
"Nezu agreed."
Aizawa actually pouted, yep, that definitely was a pout, Enji was a parent long enough to be able to recognize it.
"Yes, I spoke with Nezu a moment ago," the younger man growled. "It was an interesting experience. I'm calling him to tell that I'm late because, somehow, bizarrely, my phone was gone to be found in your study under a mountain of pillows, and I hear that I have a week of sick leave because someone asked for that on my behalf."
Enji smiled serenely. "He called me a good friend."
"Overstepping the boundaries, that's what you are."
"Uh-huh. You've eaten your breakfast?"
"Why are you not at the agency?"
"I'm working from home," Enji smiled his most sincere, beaming, loving smile. Shouto once told him it looked even creepier than Aizawa's smile.
Aizawa's mood got even darker.
"You do realize my job at Yuuei is not particularly physically demanding."
"Uh-huh. Have you eaten your breakfast?"
"...you're worse than Hizashi." Aizawa got up heavily. "I shall speak with Nezu about online lessons, and don't you try to stop me."
Enji got irritated. "What part of 'you need to rest' you don't understand?"
"And what part of we survived because they had proper training you don't understand? It is important for them to learn as much as they can as fast as they can. We don't know what's coming from this League of Villains."
Ah, so it did bother him. No wonder, it did bother Enji too, he'd been trying to get as much information as he could since the attack. Still, Aizawa had to recover in peace.
"There are already people covering your lessons."
Aizawa stopped in the corridor. "You are a horrible person."
"Takes one to know one, Aizawa."
There was a pause and Aizawa turned to him.
"Why do you never use my name?"
Now that was completely out of the blue. "Um, you don't seem to be fond of people getting overly familiar with you."
"You're so stupid, Chigira-san, I swear. We're friends."
Enji smiled. Ai- Shouta just rolled his eyes. "You're hopeless, Enji."
"Apparently it ru-"
He heard the sound of an incoming call.
"Go eat that goddamn breakfast," he said while retrieving his phone. It was All Might.
"How are you?" he asked with no preamble.
"Ah, I'm fine. Stretched my limit to, uh, well, its limits, got a little bruised, but I'm fine."
"Izuku said something else."
There fell a pause. 'No lying to me, you blond moron,' thought Enji and glared at Aizawa who decided to stay and shamelessly eavesdrop instead of going back to bed.
"Young Midoriya was quite... shocked by the whole fight. But do not worry, I've been in worse encounters."
"Just because things can be much worse does not mean they are fine."
"But I really am fine. I'm sturdier than I look," he chuckled. Enji glared at the phone regretting it wasn't a video call.
"Uh huh."
"How is Aizawa-san?"
"Nezu already blabbered out he's here?"
"Um, we all wanted to pay a visit."
"Shouldn't you yourself be in bed now?"
There was another pause. 'You won't hide a thing from me. You all are a self-neglecting bunch of bastards.'
"I'm really fine, Endeavor-san. It is Aizawa-san I worry more about."
"He will be fine, as long as he stays in his goddamn bed!"
"Ah, say hello to Aizawa-san from me."
"All Might says hello and fully agrees with me, Shouta."
All Might actually dared to chuckle, the kettle. Then his tone turned more serious. "Endeavor-san... Your kids... They were amazing. Both of them. They are already better than many proheroes, not only with their abilities but with their attitude and quick thinking. Their actions saved lives. I couldn't be more happy and proud I chose young Midoriya to be my successor."
Enji said nothing, since he was not going to reveal to All Might how happy these words made him.
"Still, I am sorry they were endangered because of me."
"Maybe this whole teaching thing was not the best idea?"
All Might fell silent and Enji felt like an asshole. He knew the other man loved teaching his students even if he wasn't the best at it.
"I'll... I'll talk with Nezu. He offered me this position, and I thought it was a good idea. I won't last forever and sharing my experience with the younger generation while I can seemed to be a great plan back then."
Sometimes Enji was forgetting All Might had precious little time left according to Sir Nighteye.
"You can always hold online lectures or something."
"Yuuei seemed safe enough."
True. Enji sighed.
"I am sorry Endeavor-san."
"I don't blame you. I blame villains. And I expect Nezu to work on protecting his pupils better."
"Nezu is-", but Enji did not hear what Nezu was, since a voice sounding like a siren horn tore the air.
"SHOUTAAAAAAAAAA!"
Shouta closed his eyes. Enji groaned. Present Mic about to enter his home. He had feared that for years.
"Ah, you've got guests. We can talk later."
"Yeah."
"Any place I can hide?" asked Shouta.
"No."
"Damn."
Minutes later both Present Mic and Midnight were inside Enji's very own house.
"SHOUTA!"
"Shut up."
"I THOUGHT I'D HAVE A HEART-ATTACK THE MOMENT NEZU TOLD ME YOU HAD CANCELED YOUR LESSONS! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DYING!"
"It's all his fault," replied Shouta motioning to Enji who was reluctantly preparing tea.
"Mmm, not only sexy but caring and protective too," Midnight smiled at him seductively. "You're wasting yourself being single, Endeavor-san." Enji noticed she pronounced his hero name exactly like Hawks. Were those two banded together to bother him?
"Why are you even here? Who is holding my lesson?"
Present Mic grinned. "Aw, come on, the kids needed a little pause after all the trauma!"
"You see," Shouta turned to Enji. "This is why I can't go on sick leave."
Enji glared at Mic and at least the man had a decency to look contrite. "It won't happen again, I promise! But we were worried!"
"You could have just called," grumbled Shouta.
"And deny me a pretext to meet Endeavor-san in his very house?"
"Yeah, we had to check whether the old fireman is taking good care of you!"
'Fireman'? They could at least think of something more innovative, thought Enji irritably.
"So you have checked, you can leave now," said Shouta.
"Oi, we haven't even drunk our tea!"
Enji put the said tea on the chabudai. "I'm leaving you, I have a lot of work to do."
Shouta shot him a betrayed look.
Some time later Enji heard knocking on his shouji.
"Come in, Untenmaru."
"Actually it's me." Enji did not groan at the sight of Midnight, but it was only because of his amazing willpower.
"Thanks for making him rest properly," she smiled. "He has no self-regard. He won't listen to us, but he has some respect towards the very Number Two." Really?
"He's a friend and a valuable hero."
"He is," admitted Midnight, smiling warmly. "I'm glad he found his daddy," she added grinning.
"I am glad I manage to keep him down. It is a struggle."
But Midnight was staring at him.
"What?" he asked irritably.
"MIC! Our cute big fireman doesn't know the slang meaning of 'daddy'!"
"HOLY FUCK! EVEN SHOUTA KNOWS THAT!"
"Leave," growled Enji.
"Oh, no, no, I'm not leaving you without a lesson in basic terminology, I am a teacher after all," she winked.
"OUT."
888
"Dad?"
Enji tore his eyes away from the computer on which he was browsing through every site he suspected any trace of the League of Villains future moves could be hinted. Izuku looked a little nervous.
"What happened, Zuku?"
"Nothing, no need to worry, dad. I was just thinking..."
"Yes?" he smiled encouragingly.
"I am fourteen already, and I have a powerful Quirk-"
Enji suddenly did not like where this was going.
"And the fight with the League proved I could still be better..."
"Izuku. You saved the situation, you and Shouto. You are as good as you can be, no, you're much better than anyone could expect considering you're no pro and fourteen."
Izuku's face fell.
"Hey. You really did your best. Everyone survived, no one was seriously hurt. You should be proud, not guilty."
"That's... ...not really it, dad."
Enji's brows rose. If that wasn't it, then...?
"Izuku?"
His boy sighed. "I know you... decided not to... get too engaged in training. I mean, not physically. But I thought... maybe with my age and Quirk it would be okay now?"
Ah.
Enji did not know what to respond. Izuku wasn't wrong. His son was not a little child anymore, and was proving to him constantly he was on the level to be able to take a lesser villain (or prohero) if needed. So, indeed, theoretically training with his Number Two dad should no longer prove damaging physically or emotionally for him.
But Enji just could not imagine it anymore. It struck him suddenly how long of a road he had traveled if once he wouldn't hesitate to lay a blow on his five-year-old son, despite the hatred he had seen in his child's eyes, despite his wife begging him not to, and now he couldn't even begin to picture himself sparring seriously with his son who already was a teenager, student of Yuuei, who loved him unconditionally and would definitely not break if a hit landed.
"I mean," added Izuku. "I would be happy if you gave it some thought, dad. But... you don't have to do it if you really don't want to. I do have good teachers after all. But... I thought... it would, maybe, be okay, dad?"
Enji swallowed. "Okay. I... I think you might be right." The facts were his boy already had been in a life-threatening situations and what if he, heavens forbid, died or got maimed because Enji went from an abusive father to a baby terrified of his own fists? He recalled Shouto's words, 'You just jump from one extreme to another.' Maybe there was some truth in it.
"O- okay," he had no idea how he was going to pull this through, but he had to. For Izuku's sake.
888
There was nothing but excitement and thrilled anticipation in his kids for weeks before the day. They were training hard and discussing all the possible tasks and challenges with unyielding optimism. It was only when the day actually came Izuku finally started to show some nervousness.
"Hey, broccoli hero. Where is your confidence?"
Izuku smiled at him while smoothing his Yuuei uniform for the twentieth time. Enji did not comment that after this day there probably wouldn't be much left of it.
"I'm fine, dad," his boy did his best 'I'm going to totally fool you with my cuteness' smile.
"Zuku, I've known you for almost a decade."
"Well..."
"Well?"
"What if I don't win first place?"
"I don't care, Izuku," said Enji, though he was sure Izuku would win. He was the best kid that ever existed, nobody could compare to him, even his Shouto (who would obviously take the second place, by the way), Enji just knew that. "Whether you win or not, all that matters is a good fight and showing the world what you can do."
"But you won every Festival."
Ah, so that was bothering him. Enji felt relieved he had taken down his medals many years ago. He could only imagine how much pressure his kid would be under if they were still on the wall of the training room.
"So? All I did was my best, and it was enough. You do your best, and whether you win or not, all that will matter to me is that I saw you doing the best you can, showing all of them what you have learned."
Izuku still looked a little anxious.
"Zuku, you'll blow them all away with your performance. Whether you win or not, everyone will be in awe."
That seemed to be the wrong words.
Enji sighed. "Zuku, it's fine to be nervous, but don't let it get to your head, okay? You have the skills. Even Shouta agrees, and you know him."
"Well, he always criticizes me during the lessons."
"Ah, does he now?" asked Enji lightly, his face the picture of innocence and absolutely no homicidal thoughts.
"I mean, he always says I can do things even better."
'I'll beat him up to a bloody pulp and feed him to the cats.'
"You know him, Zuku. He sees everybody's potential and pushes them as far as he can. He expects more of you because you are capable of much more than anyone else. Also, have you forgotten that very All Might had chosen you?"
Bingo. Izuku smiled warmly. At least the stupid blond was of some use sometimes.
"Thanks, dad."
888
Enji had his seat in the VIP section, along with other proheroes and all sorts of businessmen – agency managers, corp representatives, journalists of big media companies – but preferred to prowl all over the stands, his excitement not letting him just calmly sit in one place.
'Do you know what that asshole did?' A message came from Shouta.
'Who?' Did All Might fuck something up before the festival? Made his Izuku u-
'He made me co-comment. I hate him.'
'I didn't know that.'
'Neither did I. Can you accidentally kill him in action?'
Enji chuckled and let his eyes move onto the commentator's booth. He waved at the black spot that probably was Shouta. Something moved, probably a small wave back, or a middle finger, who knew, with Shouta's current mood. There was another, much more frantic, move from the blond spot, probably Mic waving too, just with much more energy.
A shadow hid the sun, and moments later Hawks was by his side.
Enji smiled. Izuku was going to be so happy that all his trainers had gathered to cheer during his performance.
"Endeavor-san, did you miss me?"
"Awfully. You barely made it, it's about to begin."
"Did Izuku-kun calm his nerves?"
"I hope so."
"He has nothing to be nervous about."
"I know," said Enji proudly.
"'Thanks, Hawks, it's thanks to you that my son is going to win this. I am going to thank you wit-'"
"Will you ever get bored with that?"
"No," grinned Hawks. "Not with the VIPs?"
"No. I will be able to shout all I want from here and Zuku will hear me too." He would never admit he couldn't control his excitement enough to stay in one place, like some green kid.
Hawks smiled warmly. "You're such a good daddy."
Enji ignored him. It was for the best.
Then he flinched as Mic's voice tore through the stadium.
"HEEEY! PAY ATTENTION, AUDIENCE!"
"Must he always be that loud?"
Hawks hummed noncommittally, but Enji had the feeling it had to be even worse for him, with his sensitive to vibrations feathers, like the shouts from spectators and general noise wasn't enough. Then his all attention was again on the arena, as Mic introduced the first group of students to enter the arena.
"LET ME GUESS, ALL YOU MISCREANTS CAME TO SEE THEM, RIGHT?! THE FRESHLY FORMED MIRACLE STARS THAT-"
"How long before Shouta-san snaps and kills him?" wondered Hawks, but Enji wasn't listening, his eyes on the entrance to the arena.
"...CLASS 1-A, RIGHT?!"
And there they were, all three of his kids in front of their group of twenty students. He could tell from the smallest signs how nervous they were, even though they were doing their best to hide it. Well, he was here to support them and he'd make sure they'd know it.
"Hawks, you might want to fly away a little bit."
Hawks chuckled. "It's okay. Give it your best."
Enji inhaled all the air he could into the lungs sized proportionally to his huge posture.
"ZUKU!" he roared.
Hawks actually jumped, as tenths of people in the nearest stands.
"Okay, that's impressive," grinned Hawks.
Pretty much everyone stared at the Number Two, but what only mattered to Enji was his boys, looking at him.
"SHOUTO! TENYA!"
Both Izuku and Tenya grinned. Shouto hid his face in hands in the most dramatic way. Enji smiled, very pleased with himself, ignoring Mic's comments about overly fond parents.
"Well, you really have some lungpower there," he heard Hawks. "You must be capable of amazing skills in... certain area."
Enji turned to smiling innocently as always Hawks. He usually had not been playing Hawks' game, but with all the excitement in his veins and wonderful mood in the air he heard himself saying, "Yes, my blowjobs are the best."
They stared at each other, Hawks absolutely frozen, not even the smallest feather trembling. Finally, Enji turned away, satisfied. The brat had it long coming.
"Oi," Hawks finally found his voice. "You can't just tell me things like that."
"And you can?"
"It's different."
"Uh-huh."
"Now I-"
"Shut up, the speech is coming."
Per tradition, it was always the student with the highest score on the entrance exam that was giving the opening speech. This time was exceptional, since three students - his kids, he thought proudly - were the best, but Izuku and Shouto had decided that Tenya should do it. That also filled him with fondness – how sensitive and smart his kids were! Tenya always felt inferior to them, both sons of very Number Two, and wielders of amazing Quirks, much more powerful and versatile than his. But they always made sure to remind him he could be better than them in many important areas. They were such good friends.
Tenya walked onto the dai.
"Everyone!" he said loudly, smiling amiably and confidently. "Let us all do our best today! Let us all show the world the great heroes we will become whether through actual fighting with villains, through creating equipment that will save so many lives, or letting the hero agencies work smoothly! Let this tournament fill our hearts with pride for all we have achieved so far! Everyone, show the world what Yuuei students are made of!"
An overwhelming cheer erupted from both the students, hero, general, and support courses alike, as well as from the stands. Enji, of course, was the loudest of all, he was sure and proud of that.
Soon Midnight, who was the judge of the freshman part of the tournament, explained the first stage. It was an obstacle race. Interesting. Enji was sure his kids with their particular Quirks would win it easily.
And he wasn't wrong. The first thing Shouto did was fly in a perfectly straight line using his left side, a feat not as easy as it was for Enji, who did not have to think about balancing like Shouto, who could only use one leg and hand for it. When he got ahead he dropped down to slow everyone down with his ice. Nasty. Enji approved wholeheartedly. In real life it often wasn't only about getting away from a dangerous villain, but also about hindering a pursuit or fighting back.
Tenya might have had a problem with using his Quirk on the ice if this was the first time meeting a user of this kind of ability. But they had been training fighting on slippery surfaces since Shouto joined them. Now Tenya instead of making the mistake that would be running, let his engines just propel him while he was sliding.
Izuku... Izuku was doing something weird, actually. With OfA he should have been able to put behind the slick path in a couple of giant jumps, but instead, he was carefully crossing it not using the Quirk. What was wrong? Did he accidentally come in contact with some sort of a Quirk-canceling ability? Izuku never mentioned anyone with a Quirk like that in his class or among other people he had met in the school, but anything could be possible with that many different students. Well, knowing his boy, he had to have a serious reason. Well, whatever the case it was only the first stage, so all that mattered was for his boys to simply pass it.
But before the students got anywhere farther the giant robots – ah, of course, Nezu loved his robots – blocked the way. That did not worry Enji. They had faced them already during the entrance exams after all. Shouto immediately froze some of them, and in such a way that it actually became a hurdle for others, rather than making their lives easier. His kid was so smart! Tenya simply sped among them nimbly avoiding wasting any time with unnecessary fighting. Izuku, still for some reason wasn't using his Quirk and fought robots, admittedly very effectively thanks to years of Quirkless training, with a piece of metal he had grabbed. That slowly started to worry Enji. Had something happened? Or was he afraid to show the world he had a Quirk so similar to All Might's? Was he afraid a villain would recognize it? But he had never mentioned to Enji he wasn't going to use OfA during the festival. What was wrong? Or maybe he simply wanted to do things Quirkless? He needed to get to his boy after this stage.
The next part was a canyon with plenty of tightropes. His Shouto was in the lead along with Tenya close behind, some kids from the support, and, wait, was that Katsuki? It was. Since he was among the leading students the cameras showed his face clearly. He had thought it might be him when the cameras showed the whole class entering the stadium, but he couldn't see clearly since the blond was hidden behind his other classmates. Why didn't Izuku tell him Katsuki was in his class? He needed to speak with his boy. Knowing Zuku, he probably again kept something from Enji. Was Katsuki a reason why Izuku did not want to use his Quirk? Enji's fists clenched.
Meanwhile, Shouto easily moved past the canyon, followed by Katsuki and kids Enji did not know. Tenya was left a little behind since he couldn't move with his engines as quickly on a tightrope. Izuku was even more behind, among the bigger group, but when he reached the ropes he actually managed to run on one of them without losing balance, showing everyone the effects of being trained by the most professional heroes. The cameras even showed him, Mic commenting on Endeavor's son's skills.
Finally, they reached the last part that appeared to be a minefield. A breeze for Shouto who used his fire to propel himself through the air again, but a particularly huge explosion shot Katsuki near his boy, and another one threw Shouto off balance and to the ground where a mine sent him sideways. Enji growled quietly. Katsuki would not let his boy win easily, wouldn't he? Well, it was to be expected, but it still was irritating. 'Show him what you're made of, Shouto!'
But it wasn't easy. His boy smartly tried to evade a time-consuming fight and just fly towards the finishing line, but Katsuki wasn't going to have it, throwing explosion after explosion at Shouto, barking something at his boy, probably to get him irritated and cloud his judgment. And it did work – finally, Shouto turned to the blond and attacked him with all he had. Knowing Shouto's abilities this fight wou-
A gigantic explosion tore through the air as a green-haired figure flew through air using a large piece of metal to protect themselves. What? Izuku? His Izuku fell on the ground and then deliberately jumped at another mine, but the jump wasn't random, it was very carefully calculated so that another explosion flew him even closer to the finishing line, leaving behind Katsuki and Shouto who were in the lead so far. The cameras showed rage on Katsuki's face and surprise turning to a proud smirk on Shouto's face as Izuku continued to rocket towards the finish. Both boys dropped their scuffle to pursue Enji's youngest child, pushing their Quirks to their limits, but Shouto could not achieve a comparable speed with the need to carefully balance himself, and Katsuki's Quirk seemed to have started to take a toll on his body, resulting in Enji's precious broccoli boy winning the stage Quirkless.
Enji roared even louder than before to Hawk's loud laughing and clapping.
"Your son is truly something else!" shouted Hawks.
"HE IS THE BEST!" bellowed Enji proudly. Izuku searched for him with his eyes and started to wave frantically. Only the shreds of decency stopped Enji from bouncing in the spot like a child while he was waving back and shouting Izuku's name. Then he recalled his Shouto took the second place and started to shout and wave at him too, to the teenager's obvious irritation.
"Let's not forget our Tenya-kun, fourth place is great too, with such fierce competition," Hawks reminded. True. Enji searched for Tenya, to find him, of course, visibly disappointed with the result. With his particular Quirk he had to be particularly despondent.
"TENYA! AWESOME!" Tenya stared at Enji surprised, but his face was immediately brightened with a smile seeing Enji's frantic waving.
"I think they might remove you from the stands soon, Endeavor-san," chuckled Hawks.
"This is a goddamn tournament, if those fuckers don't know how to cheer it's their problem!" spat Enji not feeling a shred of remorse for people's eardrums. Hawks just grinned at that.
Soon everyone was back in the stadium and the results were officially announced, followed by Midnights' explanation of the next stage, the human cavalry battle. Damn, Enji had taken part in one during his second year and he hated it, since he was even worse at working with people then, than he was now. At least his boys were used to cooperating with each other so it would be easier for them... ...right? He frowned as he noticed something was wrong. Shouto was discussing something with Tenya, his face displeased; Izuku was also obviously trying to persuade the brunet to something, but Tenya just stood there, with his arms crossed, irritated, the most mulish face Enji had ever seen on this usually obedient boy. Finally, Tenya shook his head for the last time and simply turned, walking away. Izuku looked worriedly at Shouto and Shouto shouted something at Tenya, something Enji couldn't hear. That made Tenya freeze, while Shouto angrily stomped away.
"Well, that could be expected with Tenya's... attitude," commented Hawks rather sympathetically.
"He can be so... inflexible sometimes," admitted Enji.
"Nah, it is something else."
"It is something else combined with stubbornness."
Hawks gave him a look and turned away with a little smile. Yeah, Enji knew Tenya was similar to him in some matters.
But his Izuku approached Tenya again, trying to convince the boy once more, while Shouto was watching them with a clouded face from far away, a brown-haired girl, the one with some sort of gravity Quirk, by his side. Tenya started to gesticulate wildly to Izuku's quiet voice and persuasive countenance, then finally, he let his arms drop and fell quiet. Izuku laid his hand on Tenya's shoulder and the other boy gave the tiniest nod. They both went back to Shouto and the girl, Shouto giving Tenya a clear stink eye. Enji wondered if he needed to speak with the boys later. He was an adult after all, and he knew what damage low self-esteem could do to you. But it was always so hard to convince a teenager, with their whirlwind of emotions and the belief they knew better than adults, like adults hadn't been in their place once. Enji sighed. Or maybe he should let the boys sort it out themselves, among each other?
"Looks like the crisis has been quelled," smiled Hawks. "Izuku-kun should be a mediator, not a hero."
"A hero needs to know how to mediate too," replied Enji, even though he was the last hero to be called when mediation was needed.
"We all have our strengths and deficiencies, but Izuku-kun is good at everything. Truly a versatile little genius."
"He isn't perfect."
Hawks stared at Enji. "Who are you, villain?! Why did you steal Endeavor-san and not share him with me?!"
Enji rolled his eyes watching his kids discussing the strategy for the battle. "I mean, he can be so stubborn."
"That's a teenager for you. And trust me, he is a golden kid compared to some."
Their discussion had been cut when Midnight reminded them the time for preparation was coming to an end. His kids decided Shouto to be the rider which was a very sane decision considering he could freely use his both hands for long-ranged attacks. His eyes searched for Katsuki. As expected the blond too was the rider in his team, with a boy with tape Quirk and some kids whose Quirks Enji could not recall as horses. He wondered how the boy with such a difficult, rebellious, self-concentrated character could have gone that far – enter Yuuei, and the very hero class, and to be able to beat Tenya, a boy trained by the best heroes. Apparently, Katsuki had to have traits Enji would not expect of him – merely riding the talent he obviously possessed would not be enough. He had to be a dedicated hardworker, undaunted by the challenge and effort. Who could have guessed. He recalled the scene from the first part of the tournament, the fight between the blond and his Shouto. Was that Katsuki whom Enji knew? Emotional, angry, jealous, uncaring about others? Or was it simply a smartly thought of ruse to have a chance to temporarily cripple Shouto who otherwise was unrivaled with his perfectly honed ability to fly through the air? Was it the same with Izuku? Did Katsuki tell him something impactful enough to make his boy stop using his Quirk and grant Katsuki an actual chance of winning this? Normally Enji would not suspect the blond to be smart enough, but a fool would not have come this far.
Probably.
He jerked out of his thoughts as the battle began. As suspected, everyone decided to hunt his boys' team, which would grant them an easy win. Hah! Naive fools! His kids together were unequaled, and even Katsuki's little mind-manipulation techniques could not change that.
The gravity girl immediately used her Quirk and Tenya used his engines to immediately raise them high into the air. It was a risky operation – moving in zero gravity wasn't as easy as one might judge from the movies, but while Tenya moved them from below, Shouto corrected their position from up. It worked perfectly well. As expected of his boys.
A girl from one of the teams shot her hair, vines actually, after them, just to get them reduced to ashes by Shouto. The same happened with the tapes of the boy in Katsuki's team, to Katsuki's fury. In other circumstances Katsuki would be able to reach them, propelling himself with his explosions, which, admittedly, was an amazing and incredibly difficult to implement technique with this particular Quirk, but the rules of the battle were forcing him to stay with his riders. The boy could forget about the great confrontation with Shouto and Izuku. Enji watched the blond roar and snarl and spit all over everyone in anger, and he wondered if he had not judged him too high, after all.
Then an incredibly precise shot took out one of Tenya's engines and the whole team lost control over their movements for a moment, as the shot's energy sent them slowly spinning and Tenya was switching himself to balancing using only one engine. Enji frantically tried to find a source of it. Who could-
"It's that girl from support," Hawks immediately provided.
And yes, the winged brat was right, noticed Enji as another shot tore through the air. Shouto reacted immediately, trying to protect them with ice, but he was too slow. That girl definitely had the talent to show in the Festival – equipment the support was allowed to use had to be made by them, and whatever was the gun she had created, it was powerful and precise.
Now both engines were gone, and his Shouto had a distinct problem to keep them all balanced.
Then something shot from the direction of the support girl's team again, but this time it was a chain ending with a sharp arrow-like point that Izuku caught in his hand. It was probably meant to bring them down, but now, that it did not lodge itself in any risky part of the body, Izuku could simply drop it.
"GOOD JOB, ZU-"
Enji's voice drowned in the noise of the gigantic electric discharge that traveled from the team's rider to Izuku. All the teams paused.
Fuck. It was to bring them down, yes, but not in the way Enji thought.
A silence fell.
Tenya, Shouto, and the girl started to fervently talk to Izuku.
Wait, shouldn't the current hit them too?
Izuku grinned and showed the whole world a proud happy thumb up, even though his skin was clearly smoked and bruising.
Right, One for All could control electric impulses in one's body. Well, it probably was not meant to deal with that amount of volts, but it somehow managed to diminish the damage and not let the current spread to the rest of the team.
"ZUKU!" Enji roared again, pride bursting through every cell of his body, his Quirk burning happy and bright.
888
Enji beamed.
"Hello, All Might-san," Hawks beamed too.
All Might shot them with their trademark grin. "Young Midoriya is doing GREAT! You both have to be so proud of him!"
Ah, right, they might not be completely alone here, in those corridors bustling with people, so All Might had to keep this demeanour.
"We are very proud," agreed Enji, not breaking the eye contact for one moment. "And we want him to know that."
"Of course! I shall tell him i-"
"I don't think we understood each other," said Enji as he let his smile turn into a teeth-baring grimace, his Quirk licking his face menacingly.
Hawks grinned even wider. "All Might-san, don't be such a martinet! A loving single parent wants to encourage his precious son! No decent hero should stand between them!"
All Might got visibly nervous. Good.
"Endeavor-san," he started quieter, in a voice sounding much more like Yagi than his oafish alter ego. "You know kids shouldn't be both-"
"ARE YOU SAYING I WOULD BE A BOTHER TO MY ZUKU?!"
All Might was taller than Enji, but he visibly shrank before Number Two.
"Endeavor-san, please, let us not make a scene!"
The problem was Enji honed making scenes into art during his whole life, since at some point, to his surprise, he realized shouting and stomping indeed could open a surprising amount of doors. People apparently preferred to just get it over with than to be on the receiving end of Endeavor's indignant lengthy roars.
He inhaled all the air he could into his lungs.
"ONE WOULD THINK WE SHARE A QUIRK, ENDEAVOR!"
Enji did not jump, but it was a close call.
"Ah, Mic!" Hawks smiled widely. "Long time! Hello, Eraser Head! May we see Izuku?"
"Sure," Present Mic grinned back. Enji glared at All Might. "If it will keep Endeavor from making everyone around deaf."
"So this is a privilege belonging only to you?" grumbled Enji.
"Yep."
"Thanks for nothing, All Might," spat Enji mercilessly, as they all went after Mic, to All Might's visible guilt and Aizawa's muttered words about being surrounded by grown-up children.
Minutes later they all were in one of the corridors near the preparation rooms. Mic knocked on one of the doors.
"HEEEY, LISTENERS! ARE ENDEAVOR'S PRECIOUS LITTLE CHICKS HERE?!"
An explosion slammed the door open.
"THEY ARE NOT!" roared Katsuki. It was an impressive roar, admitted Enji, a fellow specialist in the field. "AND I THOUGHT WE'RE NOT ALLOWED TO MEET WITH ANYONE! BUT APPARENT-"
"Hey, hey, chill, bro, like you'd wanna see your folks here," grinned a boy that Enji recognized from Katsuki's team.
Katsuki sputtered something incomprehensible.
"Midoriya and Todoroki are in the next prep room, Mic-sensei," informed them the well-behaved - unlike Katsuki - boy.
"You're a traitor, Kirishima!" They have heard Shouto's voice from, indeed, the next room.
"SHOUTO! ZUKU! TENYA!" shouted Enji happily as the door opened revealing his Izuku, the grinning winner of both stages of the Sports Festival. "YOU ALL HAVE DONE SO WELL! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU! ...and where is Shouto?"
Izuku chuckled as he pointed at the boy with the shirt over his head obviously pretending he wasn't there.
"Shouto," Enji pouted a little. "I just want you to feel supported."
Shouto put his shirt back on and glared at Enji. "You behave like a child."
Enji ignored Aizawa's approving grin.
"Zuku," he turned to the other boy. "Is everything okay with your Quirk?"
His Izuku turned a little sheepish. "Yes, I just- I know it might seem weird... but I wanted to go as far as I could Quirkless. To... you know, show people you can go far. But I'm going to use it when I have to, dad, don't worry!"
Ah, so that was it. He noticed the eternal grin on All Might's face turning into a more genuine, soft smile. Stupid old sap.
"You both are so stupid," Enji heard Shouto's mumble.
"Shouto!" This was Tenya now. Shouto just shrugged.
"Okay." If this was how Izuku wanted to do it, if it was his little ambitious goal, Enji was not going to chastise it. "Well, keep working hard, all of you. I am very proud of you three."
888
"I don't remember when I was so... joyful last time," admitted Enji, eating the nuggets Hawks had bought as they waited for the first fight of the final part of the tournament. It was his Izuku vs some boy from the general whose Quirk Enji had not noticed even once so far. Was it a Quirk simply not really useful? Or was the boy Quirkless? It would be interesting. Would Izuku use OfA against a Quirkless opponent? Probably not. Still, it was nothing to worry about. Izuku fought Quirkless better than most heroes Enji knew.
"That's good. It's good to derive joy from whatever you can, Endeavor-san. This would be an incredibly dark world otherwise," Hawks in an almost singsong tone, like he wasn't spurting some wisdom shit you could find on those memes on the internet.
"Yeah," admitted Enji as he took another fry from Hawks.
"You know, there is this very long tasty looking fry, which we could sh-"
"No. Ah, it is starting."
The arena prepared, both boys were entering it now. It was the first fight of this stage and Enji found it fitting it would be Izuku to open it with his winning match, leaving a lasting impression on everyone. The boys faced each other, and the general boy - Shinsou was apparently his surname - started to talk to Izuku. Enji couldn't hear the words, of course, the cameras conveying only images, but judging from Izuku's reaction it was to rile his boy up. Not a stupid strategy, but it wouldn't work on a boy so well prepared as his-.
But his Izuku rushed angrily towards Shinsou.
Oh, well, it wasn't like the other boy had any ch-
And suddenly stopped in his tracks, his face turning empty.
Oh.
Oh no.
No.
Of all the Quirks.
Izuku turned his back to Shinsou and started walking towards the line marking the fighting arena.
No.
Enji hid his face in his hands.
This was so unfair. Why did his boy have to get matched against a mental Quirk? These were the worst Quirks, hard or sometimes impossible to protect against and break out of. And he had been working so hard!
"Hey," he heard Hawks' consoling voice.
No, there was no 'hey', no consolation, this was so fucking unf-.
The sudden blast from the arena made him tear his hands away. The floor under Izuku's feet, one foot specifically, was all cracked, and Izuku was facing Shinsou again.
What? What did he do?
Izuku charged towards Shinsou, his leg clearly hurting him, to the other boy's surprise and irritation.
"He stomped with such power that it had broken the concrete. I think the leg too."
Christ. But a part of Enji, probably stupid and childish, recalled his own Festival, when he too was fighting with no regard for his own health, ready to sacrifice everything to win, to prove to himself he was good enough to become the Number One once. Was it wise? Probably not, it was only a sports event, and your health should be a priority, but... But Enji understood his boy so well and his heart was reaching out to him.
The boys engaged in a physical fight, and despite the huge disadvantage the broken leg was, Izuku overpowered Shinsou aptly and quickly, throwing him out of the line in no time.
"ZUKU!" roared Enji while Hawks started to clap.
Midnight announced Izuku's win and the boy was immediately mobbed by paramedics who forced the boy to walk out with them. Enji himself would have rushed out to them if the second match wasn't of his Shouto.
"I'll send some feathers in and tell you the situation, Endeavor-san," said Hawks, seeing Enji's face, torn by emotions.
Enji felt truly grateful. Hawks might be an annoying brat, but he was a good friend, no denying that. Then their attention was back at the arena, where Shouto was facing off with the tape boy, the one from Katsuki's team. The boy was smart, he attacked his Shouto with tapes the second the match started, knowing his only chance against the user of two such powerful Quirks was to drag him out of the arena before he could react.
But it wouldn't work with his Shouto, who effortlessly burned down the tapes and then moved towards his opponent for a physical confrontation with a challenging smirk on his face. The other boy, Sero, grinned back, and they started fighting. It was a little longer than in Izuku's case, his Shouto not having that many years of training Quirkless to his advantage, but still, Sero had no real chance against a boy trained by Endeavor, Eraser Head and Hawks. Soon the win was Shouto's and both boys parted with a shake of hands and satisfied faces.
With an almost impossible effort, Enji forced himself not to shout but waved instead, and his Shouto actually smiled at him. Just for a split of second, not the biggest smile, but it was there, it wasn't Enji's imagination!
"Hawks!"
Hawks grinned. "I've been telling you, Endeavor-san, he doesn't hate you."
Enji felt such powerful emotions bursting that he couldn't help but release them in hugging Hawks tightly like he did not know better.
"Oh my God, I'll pay your Shouto to smile at you more often!" Hawks beamed even though his joints cracked dangerously in the bear hug.
The next fight was of the electricity boy who had challenged his boys' team in the previous stage. Enji thought that with this kind of Quirk he would go through the fight unscathed, but apparently, Enji had underestimated the other Quirk, and the girl with the vines for hair won the fight with surprising ease.
And then, finally, the third of his boys appeared, the one he actually kept his fingers crossed most, since he knew how much it meant for Tenya to prove himself he wasn't worse than Shouto or Izuku, and how nervousness and low self-esteem could affect you during the fight, especially in front of so many people. His opponent was the support girl, Hatsume. Again, a very unlucky match, like in his Izuku's case – the support could have literally all the items they wanted as long as they were designed by them. Which meant Tenya had no idea what to face. And this girl had already proven her inventions were reliable and powerful.
Midnight announced the beginning of the match and Hatsume grinned wildly.
"HELLO, MY DEAR HEROES AND SWEETEST MANAGERS OF SUPPORT COMPANIES!" Everyone heard Hatsume's voice.
What?
"AH, YES, I KNOW YOU ALL ARE WONDERING HOW CAN YOU HEAR ME SO WELL ON A STADIUM SO BIG WHEN I DON'T HAVE A LARGE SOUND SYSTEM ON ME?! THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE! THIS LITTLE BABY I WEAR ON MY NECK CAN TAKE OVER ALL THE NEAREST LOUDSPEAKERS! ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL WHEN A VILLAIN IS TRYINH TO SPREAD PANIC AMONG PEOPLE!"
What?
Hawks started to laugh. "Oooh, she knows well what she wants to get from this festival! Everyone is surely going to remember her and her inventions!"
Damn. Tenya needed a fight, not... this.
Apparently, Tenya agreed since he started to shout indignantly at Hatsume.
"OH, BUT IT IS A FIGHT, MY DEAR HERO STUDENT! COME AT ME WITH ALL YOU HAVE SO I CAN SHOW OFF EVEN MORE OF MY BABIES!"
Cameras showed Tenya staring at the girl as if she lost her mind. Then he shouted some more.
"BUT I AM SERIOUS. COME ON, TRY AND SEE IF YOU CAN EVEN TOUCH ME."
Tenya looked very angry, shouted some last words, and then rushed. The girl did not move until the last moment when she avoided him easily.
"IIDA FAMILY'S QUIRK IS AMAZING, BUT IT WOULD BE EVEN MORE AMAZING WITH THE SET OF MY HYDRAULIC ATTACHMENT BARS THAT WILL LET EVERY HERO EVADE FAST VILLAINS WITH NO SWEAT!"
No sweat? Bullshit. She did manage to evade Tenya, but she would still be sent into the air by one of his punches. But Iida did not punch her. Was he having trouble fighting someone who did not take this as a serious fight? Or was he simply checking her natural reactions and experience in actual fighting?
"TENYA!" roared Enji. "SHOW HER!"
"AH, YES, NUMBER TWO! I WILL GLADLY SPEAK TO YOU ABOUT A NEW COSTUME OF YOURS THAT WOULD DISSIPATE THE INCREASED HEAT OF YOUR BODY, ALLOWING YOU TO USE WHITE FLAMES FOR A LONGER TIME!"
Christ.
Hawks was laughing out as loudly as if all this was the best thing he had ever seen.
Tenya rushed again this time with a very precise punch to her face launched at the last moment, but it hit the screen that suddenly protected Hatsume's face.
"AND THIS IS MY NEWEST INVENTION, A HELMET WITH A SCREEN REACTING AUTOMATICALLY WHEN AN OBJECT OF HIGH VELOCITY APPROACHES YOUR FACE. IT CAN STOP MOST OF THE BULLETS AND LOWER THE KINETIC ENERGY OF THE MOST ADVANCED ONES!"
Enji sighed with relief as he saw the familiar look of concentration on Tenya's face. He no longer let his emotions rule him, he was analyzing and searching for the weaknesses. The obvious one was that she relied on the support gear, a great one, admittedly, but any experienced hero could see her own fighting abilities did not seem to be too high. So if Tenya could get h-
Tenya simply turned his back away.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Tenya said something back, shrugging, and started walking towards the marking line. Wha- Ooooh.
"Smart," agreed Hawks.
Enji grinned too. Tenya was always the purest, rules-abiding, most honest boy in the world, who simplu loathed deceptions and tricks. But apparently, their training did teach him better.
Hatsume rushed after him, so Tenya activated his engines to rush towards the line encircling them. She did have some sort of engines on her legs too, which let her easily catch up with him when he was just by it.
...using her own velocity to throw her out of the line was child's play for someone who had such extensive training in fighting as Tenya.
"TENYA!" roared Enji happily.
Hatsume looked irritated. She probably wanted her show to last longer. Well, her loss. Literal too, smiled Enji.
He sat back relaxed, knowing that all his three boys passed, and leisurely watched the next battles pass by – a girl with some sort of a... vibration based? Sound based? Mutation Quirk beat a boy with a laser Quirk; a user of the most bizarre Quirk Enji had ever seen defeated Yaoyorozu girl in a battle that ended much quicker than he anticipated judging from what he had seen from both these kids in previous stages; two kids with practically identical Quirks ended up in a draw that had to be resolved with an arm wrestling match; and finally came the last fight, the fight Enji was almost as eager to see as his kids' battles. Katsuki's match.
His opponent was the gravity girl, Uraraka. She was a part of his boys' team and he noticed them cheering wildly for her. Was she friends with them? Or were they cheering only because they wanted Katsuki to lose?
"Hmmm, not the best Quirk to have against explosions," commented Hawks. "But I always like to bet on the dark horse."
Enji said nothing to that. He had watched Katsuki's previous performance with interest and it was obvious the boy was one of the most difficult opponents to draw.
The match commenced and Uraraka smartly rushed to gain the advantage of fighting in zero gravity, but Katsuki simply used his Quirk straight into her face. Dust and smoke obstructed visibility, but Enji was sure he saw the girl- YES, she misled Katsuki and attacked him from behind! Very smart, very quick! His boys knew who to choose for their team!
But Katsuki was quicker. Unbelievably quick. It really showed how hard the boy must have worked to gain such a keen spatial awareness and nimble movement. Another explosion pushed Uraraka away. He heard the tiniest sigh from Hawks. Yes, the girl was great, but Katsuki was better. She attacked and attacked, and she got hit by explosion after explosion. The stands started to boo Katsuki.
"The hell is that," growled Enji.
"You know, not nice to hit a girl?"
"The fuck? This is a battle tournament! She'd hate it if he went easy on her!"
Hawks grinned, "True," and his eyes went up. Enji followed them.
"Ah," he realized.
"Yep, I told you to bet on the dark horse."
Moments later Uraraka finally clapped her hands and the shower of debris fell on Katsuki. The whole stadium went perfectly still for a split second, breaths drawn, but immediately the largest of explosions tore through the air, shattering the fragments of concrete into dust and sending Uraraka away.
Shit. An explosion that powerful probably harmed her en-
The girl stood up, on shaky legs, all bloodied, breathing heavily.
"Holy," admitted Hawks. Enji nodded. These two were something else. Just like his kids.
The girl made a step towards Katsuki.
And then she collapsed.
The stands were silent.
"...I don't think we need to worry about the future generation," smiled Hawks.
"No," agreed Enji.
Notes:
For this fic I decided to use the manga translation by Gliblord, since it seems most faithful to the Japanese version (am really impressed btw).
As you see, some things went differently here. You might wonder why Shouto is using his fire, but remember, things never went as far as in canon here, Shouto's mum did not scar him (wanna bet one day I'll forget he has no scar here? I am 100% sure I'm gonna mention the scar somewhere, knowing me XD), she did not end up in hospital, and Enji's training with him was rather short. Also, Shouto is not as angry as in canon, so he didn't go all that hard on poor Sero. Also, Tenya's not wearing Mei's babies, because he is smarter than that here, with all the ruses Aizawa and Hawks provided them during their training. Also, I haven't described it, but USJ attack went much better than in canon, with Izuku being bamfaf here, so Aizawa does not have his Quirk harmed as in canon, but things were still quite serious.