His lungs burned nicely, the sun on his skin was downright divine as he waited the last fateful minute before he could see his favorite person again.

"I—I'm not sure those are good for you," Midoriya said, trying to brush off the subject.

"Definitely." He chuckled with a cigarette between his lips. "Never start, that'll save you a lot of money."

"I didn't know you smoked," Izuku said, not quite sure where he was going with this.

"I used to smoke, then I stopped, and now I'm smoking again," he told the bean with a shrug, as said bean took a few steps away from him.

Izuku fiddled with his bag, gathering the courage to ask him something, not much of a surprise given today's events. "How is it so easy for you?"

"I'm going to need more info to answer that one," he replied, enjoying the last few drags of his cigarette.

"You helped catch a serial killer, saved a hero's life. Then you just go and break into a school—my school—to get dirt on my teachers that turns out to be Quirk supremacists. And you just do that and... go on with your day?" Midoriya let out in disbelief. "And I'm not even mentioning how you went against that mutant to protect that shop all those months ago. How... Is that... is that normal for you?"

'It was bound to happen,' he thought, scratching the side of his cheek. 'I finally have his attention—though not the kind I'm particularly fond of.'

"The answer to that is simple. Sidequests," he answered his shorter friend next to him on the bench.

"Sidequests? Like in a video game?" the boy asked, confused.

"Yes, maybe... I've never played one, but you get the idea," he confirmed as he pulled on the remaining length of his cigarette before throwing it on the ground and stomping out the ember. "Think of the time you went against the slime guy—that's a sidequest."

"You—you know about that?!" Izuku let out in shock before slapping both hands over his mouth as he became the center of attention of all the people around them. After a moment, they went back to what they were doing. "I—I didn't even tell Mei."

"It's your right to tell her or not. I only learned it was you after watching a video of a guy with green hair running toward danger," he told his friend with a sigh, wondering if he had time for another smoke.

"Wait, so you didn't know for sure if it was me?"

"Yep, you just confirmed it for me," he lied as a quick look at his phone revealed Mei should finish school in a few more minutes. "Never give your opponent the rope to hang you. Sparring with words is as much a skill as actual fighting."

"Ri-right... Going back to the subject, did you do... a lot of sidequests?" his green-haired friend asked.

"So many, I couldn't even begin to list them even if I wanted to," he revealed, not feeling it was quite the right time to clam up. Too little info would have Mei's best friend digging for any information he could on him, and even if the chances were slim he would learn anything important, he wasn't quite willing to try his luck with Midoriya. "Being an orphan with a shitty Quirk is a pathway to power many would call unnatural. Add a protective streak, and you have the perfect recipe for dealing with so much bullshit, it's not even funny. Today I did something to get your ass out of the fire. Tomorrow it might be Mei, or even someone I don't know. That's just how it is."

Izuku's frown deepened as something Takuma didn't quite get kept playing in his thoughts. He didn't look, firmly hiding his Quirk behind his mental wall.

"When I helped Bakugou, I... I felt great. I—I saved someone," the boy told him with a short, disbelieving laugh. "But you... You don't get much out of this. You don't feel... good?"

"Oh, I do. But do this a hundred times, and at some point, it all starts to blur together. Find a lost cat, give first-aid to a hero bleeding out, help evacuate an area in the middle of a villain attack. I've done all those things, and... well, besides, you know, helping someone in need, it doesn't do much for me," he revealed as he grabbed another cigarette, wishing to see Mei right now. "That's not what I do this for, even if at the end of the day I feel better for having helped, even if it's only a little."

"If helping doesn't mean much to you, then what do you do this for?" Izuku finally asked.

"Because I get to enjoy every instance of suffering from the hundreds or thousands of minds in the range of my Quirk. Is it that strange that I want someone who deserves it to suffer for once?" he asked as he lit another cigarette. "Like that Bakugou guy. One of the bullies that jumped you when we were supposed to meet at the café said his name. Maybe I should visit him, see how he likes being on the receiving end for once."

If there was one thing to say to raise Midoriya's anxiety to high heaven, it was that. "You can't!"

Takuma rolled his eyes at being shouted at. He took a drag, enjoying the nice burn of the smoke in his lungs. "Why?"

"Because you can't. Kacchan hasn't done anything to me since the slime incident. You don't have to do anything," his green-haired friend tried to downplay the situation as best he could.

Takuma wasn't dumb. There was a non-zero chance he'd end up in the same classroom as Bakugou. Given the little firecracker's temperament and Takuma's own, it wasn't a question of if, but when they were going to have a problem. On the bright side, he didn't feel overly threatened by a moron with an overblown ego and a chip on his shoulder.

"And that makes it okay to just let him go after all the things he's done to you?" he couldn't help but ask. "I didn't notice until he entered the range of my Quirk, but he's the one that told you to take a swan dive off the roof, isn't he?"

Izuku choked on his spit at the question. "I—I—how can you tell?!"

"I told you earlier, byproduct of my Quirk," he reminded him between smoky inhales. "I can locate someone, remember them through their emotional pattern, but some leave an imprint of other feelings. Like smoke, it's barely visible. And the thoughts that go through your head from time to time are brimming with soot, a flash of light, and a feeling of something burning."

Midoriya swallowed thickly. "I—I don't—"

"What's his Quirk?" Takuma asked, noticing students were starting to leave. Still no gremlin in sight—or Quirk range, in his case.

It took the bean a long while to deliberate. "It's Explosion. He can trigger his sweat to explode."

"Huh, that explains why I felt a mountain of frustration from him. He feels stifled and can't wait to prove himself to the world, can he?" he asked Izuku, though he already knew the answer. His friend nodded. "A big fish in a small pond, used to getting his way and unable to take no for an answer to save his life." He stated it without fishing for a response. "I give it a month before I pound him into the ground."

"Please don't," Izuku begged, his anxiety spiking again. "You know what they did to him—the teachers pushed him to do and say the things he did. It's not his fault!"

"Was he like that already in middle school?" Takuma asked, not even bothering to look as he felt rather than watched Midoriya look away. "See? The Quirkists helped, but he was already a cunt before then. Guess we'll only have to see how that pans out. But fair warning—I'm not holding back for your sake. You're Mei's best friend, for fuck's sake, and you don't upset her without me having a say in it."

Izuku said nothing more until Takuma finished his second cigarette, and Mei finally showed up.

"Gremlin spotted. Please brace for impact," he drawled tonelessly as he walked closer to the gate. This time, she noticed him from far away, broke into a dead sprint, and jumped into his arms. "I'm glad to see you—oof—"

He had to take a few steps back to handle the sudden weight from his stocky girlfriend, who then kissed him full on the mouth without a hint of shame or decorum. She backed off from the kiss and stared at him with a bright, nearly maniacal grin, her eyes gleaming with a glint he loved seeing. "Hi."

"Good afternoon to you too," he greeted her back with a kiss on her cute little nose. "Please be aware we have a guest," he pointed out, tilting his head toward Izuku.

Mei's eyes widened with a hint of blush on her cheeks, embarrassed to have missed his presence until now. "Izu, I didn't see you!"

"Hello, Mei," the boy said as Mei jumped from Takuma's embrace and hugged her best friend.

"Wait, shouldn't you be in school?" she asked, surprised.

"About that," Takuma said, not bothering to let his Quirk drop from the back of his mind. "We need to talk."

"Nope." She stopped him dead in his tracks. "Whatever is going on with you two will be learned over a cup of ice cream. C'mon, follow me, there's a good store just around the corner," she demanded, as she pulled both of them by the hand.

Takuma's eyes crossed with Izuku's as they both shrugged and followed along.

The store Mei brought them to was, thankfully, empty. After grabbing the menu, they all sat around one of the tables. A server came quickly after. "I'm grabbing the chocolate smash special," his girlfriend hummed.

"Vanilla shock, please," Midoriya asked.

"I'll grab the same as her," Takuma said, as he couldn't remember the last time he had ice cream, so he defaulted to what Mei would easily finish for him.

"Coming right up," the teenager with a face full of acne quickly said as he returned behind the counter.

"So, what did you both do this time?" Mei asked them as she leaned forward and rested her chin in her hands.

"Midoriya was studying in a school run by Quirkists and was heavily bullied all his life," Takuma stated as his cute gremlin-like good humor vanished in half a heartbeat. "And I kind of stumbled into that this morning when I went to investigate. Also, he's studying at U.A. under Nedzu from now on."

Midoriya squeaked like a dying chew toy in the mouth of a vicious dog, and Mei simply stared at him blankly for a few more seconds before she slowly turned her head toward the bean. "Explain," she said, her voice heavy with barely contained wrath.

Her mind was already on the warpath, the body just hadn't caught up yet.

"So... being Quirkless hasn't been... easy?" Izuku began to say before stumbling over what to say next. "I didn't tell you because... there just wasn't a point. This morning, Takuma went to my school to take a look—"

"Find out who was doing the bullying and jumped their ass," he corrected.

"—and then, well, he found out my school was actually run by a bunch of Quirkists who... motivated the other students to bully me... not that it didn't happen before."

Mei took a long, calming breath as she turned her head toward him. "You knew?"

"About the bullying, right when he told us he was Quirkless. It's part of the course; I hoped he would tell us on his own," Takuma confessed, as Mei's hurt look twisted his gut in a way even a knife hadn't managed to do. "This morning he was more hurt than usual, so I decided it was time to deal with the problem."

"And it's been dealt with!" Izuku added after him. "I'm never going back to Alderaa. I'm not exactly sure how it's going to go for the end-of-the-year exam, but I'm sure Nedzu is going to take care of it... right?"

"Obviously, it's Nedzu. He probably already has an entire teaching plan ready for you," Takuma told the bean. The hyper-intelligent mammal was nothing if not thorough, that he knew. "Given what happened, no more bullying. Izuku is going to keep studying at U.A. while said teachers and heroes turn the place upside down. Oh, and Nedzu will absolutely flatten Alderaa as soon as he can."

"Not if I get there first," Mei spat, her leg bouncing frenetically up and down as she worked out some energy. "Why didn't you tell me?" Her accusatory tone was hard to listen to, even more so because he was the target.

"Because Midoriya asked me not to," Takuma replied with a sigh. "I would have told you sooner, but like I said, it was his choice."

"And I didn't want to be—because you were one of the few people who never judged me for it. Even if I don't have a Quirk, you never made me feel like I was lesser than you," Midoriya revealed, turning Mei's focus back onto him. "I didn't want you to know because it felt easier, and if you didn't know, maybe I could act like it never happened and forget."

"Izu," Mei whispered, mist gathering in her eyes as she grabbed his hand, then Takuma's. "You boys are going to make me gray before my time."

Takuma chuckled with a small grin. "Fair."

"I—I'm not that bad," Midoriya shot back weakly.

"I could load a drone with explosives," Mei offered, more to calm herself down than out of any actual need to act.

"The sticky one?" Takuma asked, more than happy to entertain her.

"No, the big one."

"Please, no big one, Mei," Izuku pleaded, suddenly fearful of what his best friend had in mind.

"Yes, Mei," she shot back with a Cheshire grin.

"Yes, Mei," Takuma followed along.

Izuku squeaked before a laugh escaped from Takuma's lips. Soon Mei followed, and only then did the bean realize they were messing with him.

"You two are impossible," Midoriya sighed, rubbing his face.

"You like impossible," Mei giggled, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"I do," Izuku replied, finally smiling for the first time since the Alderaa fiasco.

Takuma shook his head as the server came back and delivered their respective ice creams.

"See, nothing better than ice cream to get through betrayal," Mei moaned right after a spoonful of chocolate ice cream landed in her mouth.

"Betrayal might be a strong word," Midoriya countered good-naturedly.

Meanwhile, Takuma had one little problem. "How do I eat you?" he whispered to himself, as digging into the iced treat turned out to be harder than it seemed, and he nearly spilled the contents on the table until he grabbed the base with his free hand. "This is harder than it looks."

After a few more seconds, he finally succeeded in dislodging a piece of chocolate and eating it. It tasted fine; the cold wasn't his favorite thing in the world, but as it melted, he didn't find it as annoying. "This is pretty good," he said to himself, then noticed Mei and Izuku staring silently at him. "Something wrong?"

"Takuma... have you never had ice cream before?" Midoriya asked, as if the very idea didn't make any sense.

'I should probably not answer that,' he thought, then decided it didn't really matter.

"No, maybe? If I did, I certainly don't remember," he answered truthfully. "It's pretty neat."

Mei spluttered, half-choking on her own treat. "Bu-But I bought ice cream, we have it in the freezer! I eat it right next to you, you must have taken some at one point, right?!"

This time, Takuma shrugged. "I mean, yes? It's your ice cream, why would I take some when you love eating it?"

Mei's shock turned into an audible groan as she facepalmed onto the table. "Takuma, we are going to need to have a talk about this."

"How did you not eat ice cream?" Midoriya asked, still shocked.

Takuma rolled his eyes at the question. "Side quest."

"Oh," the boy let out as he finally understood why.

"And my brain is kinda scrambled after today. I'm starting to tire," he sighed, eating another spoonful of ice cream. "Not bad."

"How is ice cream only 'not bad'?!" Mei half-shouted in disbelief. "It's the best thing ever made; it even has chocolate in it!"

Looking at the scoop of ice cream and then back at his girlfriend, there was only one thing he could realistically say to that. "You taste sweeter."

Mei imitated the sound of a choking parrot while Midoriya hid his face behind his hand. "I'd say it's fine, but I'm not a big fan of anything too cold," Takuma added, ignoring the plight of all around the table.

Midoriya peeked between his fingers, a hint of laughter escaping despite himself. "You really don't have a filter, do you?"

Takuma shrugged, the corner of his mouth lifting in a slight grin. "Why bother?"

Mei, recovering from her momentary fluster, shot him a playful glare. "You're lucky you're cute."

"I know," Takuma replied, leaning back in his chair.

Her grin was infectious as she then had a realization about something. "Wait, you both were at U.A., right?!"

"Yes, we were," Midoriya replied, playing with his spoon. "We met most of the teaching staff, Takuma had to give a deposition to help with... Alderaa."

"And you asked all the heroes in that room for autographs, right?" she asked with a hint of hope in her voice. "Right?"

Takuma, in that moment, did the only thing that made sense. "I wanted to, but Midoriya thought it would have been in bad taste." And threw Midoriya under the bus.

"What?!" the bean choked. "We both forgot!"

Mei gasped. "You did?!"

"He did," Takuma confirmed, leaning his head toward Midoriya.

Who then glared at him before taking a spoonful of ice cream. "You're right, Mei, ice cream helps with betrayal."

Takuma gasped in turn as Mei smiled like a loon. "Betrayal!"

"Betrayal!" Izuku shouted in turn.

"Mercy," Takuma deadpanned as the two started giggling.

They enjoyed the rest of their ice cream in middling peace as Izuku started listing all the heroes that were in the room with them. Takuma already knew about some of them. Besides Snipe and Hound Dog, he pretty much had everyone's number. Snipe was supposedly a hero used to leading in emergencies, coordinating most other heroes, clearing channels, and diverting efforts to the right places at the right time. Hound Dog was the student counselor and overall therapist of the school. His career as a hero was as bland as could be in comparison—multiple arrests, few villain fights. Nothing much to report.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Izuku asked, not quite sure where the situation was heading.

"We could go to your house. Now that the situation has calmed down and we're less likely to receive an unexpected side quest, it would be safer to get you home now," Takuma offered. Given that Izuku's absence from school must have been dealt with by either his mom or the U.A. staff, the risk of walking into trouble was lower than earlier today.

Being paranoid had saved his life enough times that he never doubted the little voice in his head that whispered ideas to him. Not going to Midoriya's place too soon was one of those little whispers.

"We could. Mom sent me a message; she's coming home early," Izuku told them.

"Then to Mamadoriya we go," Mei declared, right as she handed Takuma a credit card.

"I don't know the pin?" Takuma asked, accepting that Mei wanted him to pay.

"It's eight-three-three-nine," she told him with a mischievous grin, then grabbed another card and went to the counter to pay.

"Heh?"

"Mei has two cards?" Midoriya wondered.

"Seems so, but why would she give me one?" Takuma wondered as he looked over the metallic black and silver card.

"Alright, we're done here," his girlfriend said as she came back. "And yes, I got you a credit card, in case you need anything."

Suddenly this card felt too heavy for his taste. "Mei, I—"

"Anything," she stated again.

"But I can—"

"Anything!" she stated again more forcefully as she brought her face closer to his with a challenging look. "And I better see a purchase before the end of the week, or we're going back shopping for so much clothing you will never be able to wear them all," she threatened him before kissing him on the nose.

His jaw worked aimlessly for a second as he fumbled on what to say. "You are..."

"The best I know!" she cut him off again. "Now let's go, I've been missing Mrs. Midoriya's cooking."

Takuma gasped in turn. "I am not good enough?" he asked, wielding the full power of his puppy eyes.

Mei's grin lasted a second before she crumbled. "It is, I'm sorry, please stop looking at me like that," she pleaded as fake mist started to build in his eyes.

"Betrayal," was all he said as he stood up and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you."

"Let's go!" declared Midoriya, who was feeling incredibly awkward at the display of affection.

"Onward!" Mei shouted as she joined him outside, Takuma right on her trail.

A train ride later, Izuku and Mei were arguing as nicely as a bunch of passionate nerds could, which meant they were gently and kindly near to the point of jumping at each other's throats...with words. Besides that, there was not much to say so far; he had taken a step back and spent his time on sentry duty, checking around everywhere as they closed in on the house. Inko and All Might were inside; said woman was bouncing between the Wrath of a thousand suns and utter fucking misery at the thought of what her son had to go through.

'Fair.'

"Takuma, is my mom...upset?" the bean asked him with some nervousness as he kept rubbing his hands together.

"She is very much upset," he confirmed to Izuku's dismay. "Not at you, obviously."

Mei patted her best friend on the back in a gesture of support. "I'm sure everything is going to be fine, and if it's not, we can still blow shit up!"

'Ah, Mei, never change.'

"Ho-Hopefully this won't be necessary," the bean said as he closed in on the house. Then, after a quick deep breath, he opened the door. "Mom, I'm ho—oof—"

"My baby!" Mamadoriya shrieked as she embraced her son with her eyes full of tears. "Are you okay?! Did they hurt you?!"

All Might sweat-dropped behind the woman as he seemed to have been trying to calm her down for some time now.

"I-I am fine, Mom, really, today was...fine," the bean downplayed as usual.

"I'm sorry, I thought it had stopped when I went to talk to the staff in middle school," Inko continued with tears building in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me? I-I-I could have done something, anything. I could have taken you out of school if I had known it was this bad!"

Izuku flinched and looked away. "I didn't want you to worry."

Both Midoriyas started crying as Takuma moved behind Mei so as not to have to witness the spectacle. He already felt exhausted from today; he wasn't very keen to bring his own trauma into the mix. His girlfriend wrapped her arm around his as she looked upon the scene with a mix of envy, sadness, and hope. She wanted the best for the bean; no surprise there.

The teen and his mom's hug lasted a long time as they both tried to comfort each other. He wasn't exactly sure how common it was to hug one parent, given that he didn't have any, but Mei and All Might were both willing to give them all the time in the world, so he followed along in waiting.

"Oh, I'm so sorry you've been waiting in the doorway for some time," Inko then said after the moment had passed.

Moving next to Mei, he then smiled at the woman. "It's okay, ma'am, we don—"

"Thank you both," Inko said as she embraced him and Mei in a hug that made him freeze.

Too close to the woman, he had to wield his Quirk to keep every stray thought and emotion from spilling into his head.

"It's a pleasure to help!" Mei was quick to reply as she returned the hug, while Takuma was desperately fishing for help with his eyes.

"Mom, Takuma isn't a big fan of physical contact!" the boy told his mom, who thankfully let him go as he took a step back, far from anyone's grasp.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" the woman said.

He felt a bit dizzy. "It's okay, you didn't know," he let out between breaths.

"Takuma's Quirk takes a lot out of him," Mei helpfully informed them as she wrapped her arm around his again. "Some days are better than others."

"And since I had to take a look at the teaching staff, it took more out of me than usual," he added with a reassuring grin for Mamadoriya's sake.

The woman let out a sigh of relief before she bowed to him. "Thank you for what you have done for my son."

Takuma blinked owlishly before he looked toward Midoriya, who looked away, embarrassed at having been the center of so much attention.

"It's been my pleasure, ma'am," he replied, not quite sure how to go about dealing with this.

"Yep, Izu is safe with us," Mei declared with absolute certainty.

"I am glad the situation has been brought to our attention; as we speak, the teaching staff is being arrested and questioned," All Might informed them all. "You have done more for Young Midoriya than...I dare say even myself."

"A-All Might, you—"

"Please, Young Midoriya, let me speak," the pro kindly demanded as the boy stopped speaking. "There is no acceptable reason for me not seeing the state you were in and the struggle you were facing. It is a shame for me to call myself a Hero when I couldn't even see the trouble my very own protégé was going through," the Hero added then. He bowed. "For that, I am deeply sorry; I shall endeavor to be a better teacher and Hero."

Takuma groused internally. 'Fuck, he can take accountability for being blind,' he commented, surprised that the Symbol of Peace could even manage that.

"Then I know perfectly how you could start to better yourself," Mei stated with both hands on her hips. "Have my baby!"

Takuma facepalmed, as did Midoriya. Inko blushed, and All Might froze.

"Alright, Midoriya, you explain; we're going home, se y'a!" Takuma quickly said right as he grabbed Mei in a princess carry and started to run for the heel.

"Wait, I can make him a supersuit!" his girlfriend tried to say as she fought for freedom. "It's going to be my cutest baby ever!"

"Next time!"