When Izuku Midoriya wakes up back home in his bed, he momentarily wonders if all that he thought transpired last night was merely a nightmare – a fleeting bad dream – however, his body's aches and bruises tell him differently. The worn out boy lets out a long groggy groan when pushing himself up on his cot by his elbows. He finds himself tucked in, blankets and all, and wonders if his mom had done that or .. or, he figures there couldn't possibly have been anyone else to do that for him. When the sheets are removed, Izuku sees his pajama pants are actually the symbiote still coating his body. It's a relief to know he and his new crime fighting buddy mutually managed to survive the previous night somehow, at the very least.

But when Izuku grabs at his forehead, he can't help but scrunch up his face out of frustration still, since HOW he and the symbiote survived still isn't being recollected in his foggy memories. The forest fire and fight with his foes who came back to exact revenge aside, the distance from the Wild Wild Pussycats resort to the small Midoriya household is no short simple trip to take. He has a hard time figuring out how he would have managed to crawl his way back home after taking such a severe beating. Heck, he doesn't even recall the conclusion of his fight with the Sinister Six – if he lost, then he shouldn't be here right now – he sure hopes that he won in the end. Izuku knows that he shouldn't be complaining about a saving grace but there's an unshakable unsettled feeling that he has about it that reminds him a lot of his Spider-Sense.

When Izuku shifts to set his feet down on the floor and stand up, he almost stumbles forward onto his face – fortunately for him, the symbiote stops his descent with a few webbing anchors before he can make a rough landing – slowly, he steadies himself with the help of the symbiote. Scorpion's poison must still be residually in his system. He lets out a breath that mixes in with a sigh of relief anyways. He's just glad that he's got the worst of it out of his system. The rest will pass in time. It's nothing a nice long shower won't help. As embarrassing as it may be to admit to anyone, he's sure taking a piss here and there will help with extracting those foreign toxic fluids as well. The boy blinks a few times to get the vertigo out of his vision. The symbiote assists him with taking a step forward when testing his balance from then on.

Izuku takes it slow as he goes about his morning routine. It's not like he hasn't been late to class or completely missed homeroom altogether already in the past. The slow pace also gives him some time to think more about the forest fight and what happened. While brushing his teeth, he ponders the possibility of Scorpion's stinger causing him a form of temporary amnesia about last night's events; he does vaguely remember a weird hallucination when blacking out, so maybe the stuff messed with his mind more than he thought previously possible. As he gets dressed and prepares to go downstairs for his mother's morning breakfast, Izuku recalls reading interviews with pro heroes who say they receive adrenaline rushes when on the brink of death – like how he pushed past his limits when fighting the LOV's Nomu at U.A's USJ, maybe he surpassed his potential a second time when driven into a corner – it might be like when people 'see red' while angry. These are the logical explanations that he tries convincing himself of but nothing sticks as a conclusive answer to his curiosity.

While wrapped up in his thoughts, Izuku nearly trips a second time. He catches himself on his own by putting his foot forward just before he can fall though. Or, so he thinks. Izuku pauses. The symbiote had supported him before with 'webbing' strings to prop him up. He wonders if the 'suit' that he's wearing around his legs currently possibly took control of them to prevent his fall. Which, if that does happen to be the case, then he also additionally wonders if the symbiote would have been able to control his entire body for him the previous night. Izuku looks down at himself and his co-pilot. Since the stuff is an organic living material, it just may very well have a mind of its own to act on its own.

Izuku shakes his head. He smiles, scoffing at himself, and carries on with his morning routine. That's crazy and far fetched for him to think that the symbiote could have overridden his bodily functions fully! There's no way it's possible that the symbiote could wear HIM instead of him wearing IT!

…Right?

Izuku knows that he's in no state to be web swinging his way to school this morning. Not in his current condition. So, he does things the old fashioned way and heads to the train station this time around. It helps that he doesn't have to alternate the bagged lunch that his mother packed him from web spinning hand to web spinning hand this way too. Izuku rolls one of his shoulders in an effort to get the aching there out of it. Seriously, there's no doubt in his mind that he'd have had a heck of a wipeout if he tried swinging to school today. It wasn't happening unless he wanted even MORE bruises – which isn't physically possible at this point – so he opts to continue to take it slow today.

While waiting for his train to arrive, Izuku spots a familiar floating U.A uniform and skirt. He has to blink and rub at his eyes to make sure Scorpion's poison isn't making him hallucinate again. When he sees the girl walking towards him – getting closer & closer – he realizes that she must be actually there for real. Even so, he still has to ask aloud if this is some sort of side effect to Scorpion's stinger stabbing him. "..Hagakure?", Izuku squints like he might be able to somehow see her better that way too.

Toru Hagakure puts her hands on her hips when confronting Izuku Midoriya. He can imagine a frown on her face when hearing the tone of her voice when she asks him, "Do you know any other invisible girls?"

Izuku blinks back his surprise when hearing her sound so snippy. "Fair enough", he tries to ignore the attitude that the girl is giving him and politely invites her to sit on a nearby bench while they wait, "Uh – What are you doing here? Don't usually see you at this station.."

Hagakure huffs but accepts his invitation to sit down. "I was waiting for you", her answer makes Izuku hesitate before he joins her but he winds up taking a seat on the bench too.

"Oh", Izuku scratches behind his head while trying to figure out what the heck is going on this morning, "Okay?"

Hagakure takes a moment to compose herself. She seems ready to snap at the boy at any given second and he doesn't know why. Once she calms herself down somewhat, she starts again. "I thought we could go to school together and.. Um.. talk.."

Izuku nods – slowly – but he still doesn't really comprehend what this whole 'meeting' is about. "Talk?", he nervously proceeds to ask the girl for further elaboration, "About what?"

Hagakure stops to look around the station – like there might actually be another invisible girl, or, well.. invisible person – before returning her gaze to Izuku and lowering her voice, "About what I saw at the training camp yesterday."

Izuku's eyes widen, "Ah", but he feels as though he is still missing some important pieces to this mental puzzle. Treading carefully, he slowly responds in a way that he hopes is natural. "Must have been a lot to deal with, even after what already happened with the USJ.."

Hagakure continues to stare at him. Her voice is tight – as stiff as her body's shape conveys with her school uniform – and she responds just as slowly, "It.. was.."

Izuku swallows since he's not really sure what he's supposed to say next. Eventually, he does manage to say SOMETHING. "Surprised they're having class still so soon but guess there's no point in cancelling either", he hopes to carry on the conversation with that same intended casualness as attempted before.

Hagakure hums – not a hum like it was a good thing for Izuku to say, but like one of those hums his mother makes when she sees he skipped doing his chores or homework – she then passively aggressively adds, "I guess they're a lot like some other people that like to keep up public appearances."

Izuku, still not catching on to what Hagakure is implying, has a hard time following along. He takes a guess at what she may mean by reference to what he had said about U.A continuing classes, "Principal Aizawa isn't like Nezu was."

Hagakure only confuses the poor boy even further when she tells him, "I wasn't talking about Principal Aizawa."

"Oh", Izuku looks around like that nonexistent other invisible person will tell things to him more straightly, "Then.. Who were you talking about?"

Hagakure huffs again and REALLY confuses him when she answers, "You."

Izuku slowly raises his hand up to point at himself, "..Us?"

"..You..", nobody needs to see Toru Hagakure's eyes to know that she is GLARING at Izuku Midoriya currently.

The gulp that comes from Izuku is audibly loud. "Okay.. ?", he starts to sweat a little under the pressure that he's now feeling.

Hagakure looks around – she's searching for that invisible eavesdropper again – she checks the entire station to make sure that they are alone. Then she says, "I saw..", or she STARTS to say something – she has to stop and start over while leaning forward, "I know.." – Her voice becomes an extremely hushed whisper when she says, "You're Spider-Man."

"What– ?!", Izuku reels back from the shock that goes through him. He nervously laughs while shaking his head, "That's crazy–" His instinct is to put up an act of denial. "Really, there's no–" But he can see by the way that Hagakure crosses her arms that there is no point to the charade. He exhales and asks her, "..How?"

He can't see her do it, but Hagakure quirks an eyebrow. "You showed me yourself", she tensely tells him how she discovered his secret identity so easily. The worst part about what she tells him is the tacked on tagline question she adds at the end, "Remember?"

Izuku feels something along the lines of fear flow into him. "No.. We– I ..DON'T remember…", his head hurts while trying to think about the previous night or what any of this stuff implies or may entail.

Hagakure sees the way that Izuku is genuinely confused and starts to simmer down from her initial angry approach. The girl is capable of being empathetic while watching him struggle with what must be conflicted emotions – she knows all too well what that is like – and so she takes a more gentle & delicate approach to this conversation. "You.. Your mask peeled away like.. Nanotechnology?", she tries helping him along with his recollection while sharing her story.

Izuku looks up at her, noting her change in tone, and appreciatively offers her a small smile. "It's not nanotech but go on", he nods nevertheless to let her know that he's paying attention.

Hagakure gets hung up on the mask's functionality and guesses again what she may have seen, "Picotech?"

But Izuku shakes his head to let her know that she's not on the right track. His small smile stretches a bit out of some amusement though. She'd pout if she weren't already so genuinely upset about all of this.

"Okay, that's not as important, I guess.." Hagakure sighs and moves on. "You were in the middle of fighting Ojiro and I was about to try to.. I dunno, intervene, I guess.. And then your mask came off and I saw it was you and I just didn't know what else to do at the time but run away.."

Hearing how Hagakure came to discover his secret identity as Spider-Man makes Izuku fall further into a fearful state. He looks down at himself. At the clothes – the symbiote – that he is still currently wearing … or is IT wearing HIM? He whispers just loud enough for the organic material to hear him, "That.. Wasn't voluntary.."

Hagakure, on the other hand, is not Kyoka Jirou and lacks the enhanced hearing ability to catch what he said. She asks him to repeat himself, "What?"

"Nothing", Izuku waves it off as nothing important. He instead gestures for her to continue speaking, "Um.. Alright then.. What else did you see?"

Hagakure hesitates. Izuku can't possibly imagine there is anything else she can tell him that could be more shocking. Until she says, "Then I saw.. Kaminari."

"Kaminari?", Izuku's attention takes on a whole new direction just like that. All of his negative emotions focus and find a name to give those feelings – a target – and he asks, "What about Kaminari?"

Toru Hagakure turns away but answers anyways, "He's Electro.." It's like a pin was dropped. The station is utterly silent. She looks back towards Izuku some seconds later to ask her own questions, "You knew.. Didn't you?"

Izuku looks through the girl in front of him – literally – he stares ahead as though he's glaring at Electro and not her. He answers Hagakure with a tight tone and just as tightly closed fists, "It was a little more than having a suspicion or a hunch."

Hagakure shifts uncomfortably on the bench. "Well, it's confirmed now.." She looks away from Izuku, conflicted with her own thoughts while he stews in his.

A while later, the station begins to fill and gain occupancy. The train will be there soon and their conversation will have to end for the sake of no longer having privacy. "So..", Izuku intends on resolving this matter before that happens, "What are you going to do with this information?"

Hagakure returns her gaze towards Izuku. He can feel her eyes on him. "That's why I wanted to meet with you", she pauses and then says, "I can't hold onto something so seriously secretive like you have been doing all this time."

Izuku becomes slightly dizzy, and he doesn't think it's a side effect of Scorpion's stinger venom this time. "What are you trying to say?", his voice is a quiet whisper but just loud enough for Hagakure to hear him.

"I'm saying.. You at least deserved the courtesy to know that I plan on meeting with the school board later today", Hagakure lays it all out for him to clearly understand what she's saying.

Even if it's pretty straightforward and to the point, Izuku still has to keep asking for clarification, "You're going to tell them.. ?" Perhaps he's just in denial. If Spider-Man is about to end, then maybe this is part of the grieving process inbound.

Hagakure hesitates to repeat herself but does so firmly when she does, "I'm going to tell them everything.."

Hitoshi Shinso stirs from his sleepy state when the darkness in the room adjusts significantly due to Electro's returned electrical emittance. It's a soft yellow glow in the black void, like a nightlight, and it pulsates like Shinso's heart when being back in the presence of the villain. Shinso uses the light source as a way to check and see if he's still restrained by quirk suppressing cuffs. Obviously, he still is.

Electro crosses his arms, "Change your mind yet?", he seems just about as tired with all of this prisoner stuff as the actual prisoner is. Even so, Electro still doesn't cut loose his captive.

Shinso glares up at the villain and says, "Screw you", he stays as defiant as ever while he still can since there must be a breaking point somewhere between the two of them when it comes to this whole prisoner shtick.

"Don't be like that", Electro removes his mask while trying to make things personal again. Shinso won't admit it, but seeing the face underneath the villain's mask does have an effect on him. "You know.. I'm being nice here", Electro continues to play the part of a 'caring' friend – it's unclear just how much he actually cares – he warns Shinso of what might happen if this continues, "You don't want Shigaraki coming in here to talk to you instead."

Shinso sneers, "He wouldn't intimidate me any more than you're trying to", he does his best to not let the threat scare him into submission. Tomura Shigaraki – Tombstone – IS clearly different from Electro. He's not sure he wants to find out exactly how different they truly are from eachother.

"Is that what you think I'm doing?", the villain that's currently present laughs like he's not actually a villain. Maybe, by comparison, he isn't. Shinso doesn't know for certain anymore. "God, Shinso, I'm not trying to intimidate you!" Electro – with Denki Kaminari's face – works to win over Hitoshi Shinso yet again. "I want us to be on the same side so that wouldn't do either of us any good."

Shinso shakes his head, still protesting the villain's suggestive ideas. "We might have similar upbringings and backgrounds but we didn't develop the same", he's not sure if he's saying that to Electro or himself but he HAS to say it.

Electro hums while rethinking his approach and goes with a slightly different tactic, "No? I think our desired intentions have at least one thing in common."

Shinso skewers his stare. He's curious but also skeptical and scared when asking, "What's that?"

Electro grins and gives his answer, "Spider-Man!"

Shinso sits up straight at the mention of the vigilante who he is all too familiar with. "What about him?", he feels some energy return to him as he inquires about Spider-Man's involvement in all of this.

"Wow! Shigaraki was right!", Electro's grin grows bigger, "You perked right up at the mention of the webslinger!"

Shinso growls before getting fed up enough to angrily snap, "What about him?!"

"We want em squashed", Electro holds up a fist that illuminates from a surge of electrical energy, "Permanently!" The glow dies down and Electro afterwards asks, "Don't you?"

Shinso stares ahead with wide eyes. He hadn't thought about it before. He just knows he doesn't particularly support Spider-Man. "To kill him? No.. I just think he deserves a taste of his own medicine is all", he honestly doesn't believe he has it in him to take a life like that even if it is for revenge of any kind.

Electro nods along, "Torture em a little", the villain chuckles like the menace he is, "I like it!"

"Not like that!", but Shinso defensively intends to clear up any sort of misunderstanding about his intentionality. Spider-Man may have pissed him off – and might even deserve a bad day or two in return – but he's not gonna torment the guy.

Electro acknowledges this with a much smaller & slower nod. The villain pauses to think about where to carry this conversation. He snaps his fingers and points out the next best thing when it comes to his mind. "Izuku Midoriya is buddies with em, right? You'd be getting back at Midoriya too, ya know!"

Shinso stifles a gasp. "Just.. Leave Midoriya out of it", he denies the thought of harming his former friend much like he turned down the idea of harming Spider-Man. Shinso shakes his head and says, "He's quirkless! Remember?" As though being rational will change the villain's mind, he does his best to appeal to Electro's senses. "He can't defend himself like Spider-Man can."

Electro smirks when bringing up the incident in which Midoriya punched Shinso at the mall, "That shiner he gave you for a while says otherwise."

Shinso looks away, unable to counter that one. "Shut up", is all that the defeated captive can say in response.

Electro sees that he's struck a nerve there with Shinso and keeps egging the other boy on, "Don't tell me it was a cheapshot!" He laughs while re-enacting the punch on an open space of air, "He got you good!"

Again, Shinso gets angry enough to shout as a form of retaliation, "I said shut up!"

"Alright! Alright! Fine!", Electro holds up his hands as a mock show of surrender. He sees he's done enough already and lets it rest. Well .. He gets one last line in first, "I just thought you'd finally had enough of being humiliated by the bug and his photographer."

Behind Electro, a warpgate from Kurogiri opens up. For all Shinso knows, those portals may be the only way in and out of here – where 'here' exactly is, he doesn't even know either – nor does he know where those portals lead either.

Electro turns to leave. As he heads for the warpgate, he intends to exit with some parting words, "Just think about it.."

But Hitoshi Shinso wills himself to try and get the last word in, "They'll notice I'm gone", he has to hang on to some sort of hope and simultaneously show Electro that he has that hope by doing so, "They'll come for me!"

Electro looks back at the other boy and confidently responds, "No.. they won't.." The villain snuffs out Shinso's hope with the room's light as he walks into Kurogiri's warpgate, "I'll cover for you in class!" And he gets the last word in by asking on that same note, "Afterall.. What are friends for?"

The U.A cafeteria is full of hustling & bustling students per usual. Every time that he visits the school's mess hall, Izuku Midoriya only spares himself getting trampled by using his Spider-Sense as a deterrent. Nobody is lenient about somebody getting in between them and their lunch, afterall.

As such, Izuku waits until most of the students have cleared out to make his move. Once a large margin of Hero Course and Gen Ed kids take their meals to their preferred tables, Izuku hurriedly pursues the one in particular that he was really hoping to talk to today. Izuku lightly taps the person that he's pursuing on the shoulder.

A boy as short as Izuku with an avian headed appearance turns around. Despite having met the Hero Course student before as Spider-Man, Izuku has to act as though he hardly knows the hero hopeful. He greets the boy as though it's their first introduction, "Tokoyami?"

"..Yes?", Fumikage Tokoyami looks the Gen Ed student up and down with a note of curiosity before returning the greeting, "Midoriya.. Right?"

"Um, yeah, that's right" Izuku lets out a nervous laugh. He didn't really think that thoroughly about this but he feels as though he may as well commit by this point and so he asks, "Do you have a moment to chat?"

Tokoyami hums while glancing around. "I suppose", he then gestures to a nearby table for them to take a seat at.

"Thanks", Izuku accepts the invitation to sit together. He smiles, both with appreciation and relief. He was worried that he was coming off as too out of the ordinary.

Tokoyami begins their conversation by asking, "What were you wishing to discuss?"

To which Izuku immediately answers, "Your quirk."

Tokoyami blinks. "Hm?", he's not overly shocked or taken aback but he is surprised and confused by the Gen Ed student's request.

Izuku realizes how hasty he was by jumping straight to the point and hurriedly gives his best excuse, "Ah – For quirk analysis!", he fortunately has an old notebook handy to support his alibi for asking about Tokoyami's quirk, "Bit of an old hobby.." In actuality, he wants to know more about Tokoyami's quirk specifically in regards to how it might relate to the symbiote.

"I see", Tokoyami doesn't think much of this request thereafter since it is common practice in a quirk filled society to disclose information about eachother's quirks, "What is it that you wish to know?"

Izuku flips to a blank page in his notebook and clicks a pen so that he can write. "Your quirk .. it's sentient, right?" This is his chance to secretly get some advisement in regards to the symbiote – or so he hopes.

Much to the boy's surprise – and benefit – Tokoyami's sentient quirk takes that as a cue to introduce itself. Dark Shadow emerges from Tokoyami's stomach to shout, "Don't sound so scared about it!"

Tokoyami gestures for his quirk to calm down, "Dark Shadow is sentient", but doesn't lose concentration on his conversation with Izuku, "that is correct."

Izuku marvels at Tokoyami's quirk while analyzing it firsthand. "So then.. Hopefully it's not overstepping but we've heard that you may have – lost control of Dark Shadow? – during your camp trip", he recalls the most recent villain attack incident with U.A's Hero Course all the while.

Tokoyami looks mildly ashamed but does do Izuku the favor of elaborating a little, "..Dark Shadow has a mind of its own and can become .. 'unruly' .. when within darkness" He pats his sentient quirk on the head as he says, "It's not necessarily about control but about a mutually agreed upon set of rules."

Izuku leans forward while asking for more details, "And those are.. ?"

"You sure are a pushy fella", Dark Shadow stretches out from Tokoyami like a shield in the way of Izuku. It's defensive like a loyal guard dog – or maybe more than that.. A friend.

"Don't mind Dark Shadow", Tokoyami calms down the sentient quirk before readdressing Izuku, "But yes.. those rules are a tad bit personal" Tokoyami shrugs while sharing what he can. "As with any sentient being, it's important for us to have a personal relationship."

Izuku nods along while whispering, "A form of symbiosis.."

If Tokoyami had apparent eyebrows, they would be raised. "That's certainly a way of looking at it", he instead strokes the pointed end of his beak with some form of contemplation.

Izuku closes the analysis journal that he was using when he finishes taking notes. "So you have conversations with Dark Shadow about boundaries then", he summarizes his takeaway from the talk with Tokoyami.

"Essentially so", and Tokoyami agrees that they are on the same page as to how he manages his quirk. It's surface level and merely just the essentials but it's a good general consensus.

"That can be oddly helpful..", Izuku surmises to himself about the situation & the symbiote. But realizes that he's still sitting in a crowded cafeteria while doing so. "I mean – thank you – for sharing", Izuku quickly excuses himself to mull over what it is that he's learned.

The cot is as considerably comfy as her bed back home – and that's saying something – but even if it weren't, she wouldn't complain. There's something about staying overnight in U.A's infirmary that Momo Yaoyorozu doesn't mind. For one thing, there's a much welcomed atmosphere of privacy. She's able to spend time flipping through her favorite novelette without the distractions of her parents or even classmates.

As though she just jinxed herself for thinking such a thing, the blinds beside her bed are pulled away without much of any form of notice. The school nurse, Recovery Girl, smiles sweetly at Yaoyorozu once the thin barrier that was made of sheeting is removed. "Dearie, you have a visitor, if you're feeling up to it."

"Oh.. Sure", Yaoyorozu sits up a little straighter as she closes her book. It's to be expected that someone would come by to see her. She's quite frankly surprised that nobody paid her a visit sooner. If not family, then she surely would have expected some classmates to stop by.

Recovery Girl nods before she turns to go into the hall and grab the girl's visitor. "I'll send him in shortly", what she says on her way out makes Yaoyorozu confused once left momentarily alone.

"..Him..?", Yaoyorozu was thinking Jirou or one of her girlfriends came to see her but to hear that it's a boy requesting to be let in comes as a surprise.

Even more shocking than that is which boy it is that has come to see her. Katsuki Bakugo strolls into the infirmary with an awkward uncertainty that she's never seen the typically angry blonde convey before. He's got his hands in his pockets and his head down.

"You're the last person I expected to see", Yaoyorozu has no problem admitting aloud what it is that she's thinking about the strange situation.

Bakugo looks up at her and huffs. "And why's that?", he's grumbling but there doesn't appear to be any actual anger apparent in his tone or demeanor.

Yaoyorozu sets her novelette aside while addressing her unusual visitor, "No offense but you don't strike me as the sentimental type" It's not like she was expecting flowers and a card but she doesn't see him showing much of a concern for her well being either.

The blonde boy scoffs, "Guess that's cause I'm not.." His eyes roam to the hospital monitors, which might be arguably contradictory to what he's saying, but he doesn't ask about her health even after doing so.

Yaoyorozu hums while returning his analytical stare with her own. Curiosity killed the cat but she must still have at least eight of her nine lives left still, and so she's willing to bite. "So why are you here then, Bakugo?"

Bakugo frowns like the question was an offensive one. Yaoyorozu knows better though, since the boy's brash personality wouldn't allow him to refrain from making a retort if it actually were. Bakugo stands there a moment longer before he decides to sit down at her bedside.

Seeing that he needed to take a seat in order to prepare himself for what he has to say, Yaoyorozu raises her eyebrows, "That serious?"

Bakugo looks away. It must actually be that serious. "When I saw you in your cat getup and found out about your double life, I couldn't help but wonder… why?" His voice is distant. It's almost as though he's asking himself the question rather than her.

Yaoyorozu has had enough of sharing her past with people for the time being, and so she answers with just as distant of a response, "Why does anyone do anything?" The Wild Wild Pussycats and Spider-Man were on a need-to-know-basis but Katsuki Bakugo of all people isn't someone she'd be so willing to spill her secrets to.

Bakugo notices the way that she hides things from her and his frown deepens, "Don't dick me around."

Yaoyorozu sighs over the boy's vulgarity. "I don't get what you're asking me", she figures an alternative method is to only share what it is he asks about specifically if that'll placate him for the time being.

And that tactic may as well work since Bakugo's frown fades. "You just.. Behaved so differently", he inquires about what he saw with genuine interest, "Why?"

"The anonymity of a mask?", Yaoyorozu shrugs since she herself didn't think much of it, "I just felt that I could finally be myself personality wise."

Bakugo blinks. He has a hard time believing it's something so simple. "You really gave that much a damn what people thought of you?", he was never much of a people pleaser to be able to understand that but he tries to for the sake of what it is he wants to learn for himself.

"My parents sure did", Yaoyorozu's response kinda helps with that – every kid wants to make their mom & dad proud afterall – he can tell this runs a little deeper than normal though. She comes from a wealthier background where that sorta thing mattered and that shows when she explains herself, "I didn't have to worry about being 'lady-like' or having proper etiquette as The Black Cat" If Katsuki Bakugo can't understand that, then he wants to at least understand the last thing that she says. "Momo Yaoyorozu was the mask."

Bakugo flashes a grin while he jokingly jeers at her, "So you AREN'T a prissy bitch?"

"I'd like to say I'm not", Yaoyorozu smirks in return and he can kinda see what she means by having a totally different personality when comfortably not herself just by that smile alone.

Katsuki Bakugo sits with that for awhile. "The real mask was you, huh?"

Izuku Midoriya departs from U.A's rooftop in a single bound. "Okay.. So.. Ground rules", who comes back down to land on the side of the school is a symbiote suited Spider-Man.

He navigates the wall of the building with a slow crawl. As he scuttles along, he continues to talk aloud. "No more controlling our body when we're unconscious or asleep", though this time feels different from when he usually talks to himself.

This time, he hopes that there's somebody – someTHING – listening to him. And not just a random rooftop's gargoyle either. "And definitely no more making huge decisions like doing identity reveals to people without mutual consent", he chastises his intended audience more than he'd typically come down on himself during times like these.

"Got it, symbiote?" Because, for once, he has some external part of himself as Spider-Man to actually blame for the mess that he's in. Though, when he stops to pause and consider things, it does seem a little silly to do so. He sighs while pinching the strange substance of skin that covers his arm like a glove, "Talking to a costume…"

When the silky suit responds by producing tiny tendrils – the tentacles wrap and curl around his fingers – he's reminded that it's not just a costume he's currently wearing. The symbiote IS alive and sentient. And it can understand him if the way it's trying to reply to his rant is something to go off of.

"Whoa..", Izuku marvels at the symbiote upon receiving a much needed confirmation of his questions about its nature & properties. Already, he's reconsidering having another conversation with Tokoyami to better understand what it's like to have a partner of this caliber.

In the meantime, Izuku breathes out to release his admiration. "Alright, cool.. Now that we got that cleared up.." He and the symbiote still have work to do as Spider-Man before anything else though, "Let's do this."

The costume camouflages the vigilante. Spider-Man descends to one of the school's lower level windows. From there, he's able to peer into U.A's teacher lounge where Toru Hagakure is meeting with a bunch of teachers – that double as high class pro heroes – and he does well to eavesdrop from his hiding spot.

The meeting seems to be mid-conversation when Spider-Man starts listening in. Principal Shota Aizawa has a grave expression on his face – which is nothing new or unusual but still – he leans back behind his desk while asking Hagakure, "Are you sure that this is what you saw?"

"Yes", Hagakure is resolute and firm in her response when she says, "I'm sure of it."

Spider-Man nearly flees right then & there. He worries that he's too late. Hagakure may have already told the teachers what she saw. She did essentially warn him about outing his identity back at the train station if telling them 'everything' includes him as Spider-Man.

Izuku's anxiety over the situation only increases when Present Mic makes a particular comment. "Who would have thought one of our own students was hiding such a secret from us", it's more of a disappointed realization of a statement than a genuine question.

"And we've all had regular interactions with this boy as well", Aizawa agrees with his friend's sentiment when it comes to retrospect on relationships and how certain revelations may affect things moving forward.

Hagakure sulks when she sees her teachers are just as broken up about what she saw as she is, "I thought he was my friend.. I should have realized it sooner myself that he's not."

All Might walks into view from Spider-Man's window looking glass to console the invisible girl. "Don't blame yourself for not noticing, Hagakure" The hero rests a huge hand on the girl's shoulder. And then adds, "Denki Kaminari fooled us all."

"Kaminari..", Spider-Man mutters aloud the name that was spoken from within the teacher's lounge. It was Kaminari that Hagakure told the teachers about. Not him.

Or, at least, not yet.. "And Kaminari is the only person that you saw?", Aizawa asks a question that causes Izuku's heart to race.

Hagakure hesitates to answer. And Spider-Man would swear by anyone that she looks directly at him through the window when she hesitates – perhaps she has a way of seeing something invisible since she's invisible herself, he wonders – the girl gazes away from the teachers until she gathers herself enough to answer them. "Yes.. There's nobody else here with secret identities as far as I can tell", she doesn't disclose Spider-Man's secret identity to them.

"Then it's time to enact a plan", Aizawa nods when following the lead that he's been given in regards to there being a traitor at U.A. It's something that he and the other pro heroes have been waiting for, "We're going to follow Kaminari back to the base of the League of Villains."

Spider-Man squints from outside the lounge's window. He's been waiting for this longer than they have. It's an opportunity to stomp Electro AND the rest of the league. So, he plans to follow them all on this raid operation.

AUTHOR NOTES

I'll try and spare you all from heaps of author notes this time. Let's just jump straight to review replies!

SilverSoulmmc: That's a fair point! Sometimes even if it's just one civilian thanking him, Spidey does need that occasional reminder that it's worth the hard work & effort that he puts in, so I'll try and give Izuku some more minor victories in the meantime whenever possible.

CapoPerk: The big moment with AFO is upon us in the next chapter! I'm hoping I do it justice for your expectations!

Sebas602: Whoa, that's a big review! I appreciate you taking the time to express and share all your thoughts and I'm especially thankful that it was all good things you had to say!

Lastly but not least, in case anybody wants to view the fan art by Alandrws, that's now posted & shared on ArchiveOfOurOwn!

~Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood author!