"Regular speech,"
"Flashback speech,"
'Inner dialogue,'
'Phone Text Chat'
Most of June passed in a blur for Izuku; he hadn't felt as empty as when they'd come back from Gran Torino's, but he had that constant buzz in the back of his head. That feeling that everything could come crashing down around him in just a moment.
Himiko helped with the feeling. Her constant presence, the way she caressed him when he shivered in the small hours of the night, and the way he sunk into the feeling of her fangs piercing his flesh. They all eased his mind, told him he was grounded, and told him he could forget everything for even a moment.
He hadn't been able to talk to All Might since his admission to Izuku. He didn't trust himself to be alone with the man, and he didn't trust the rage that seemed never to go away.
Izuku had been forced to avoid Kacchan in the same manner. Any slight shout from the boy in his direction muttered curse, or the sound of his old nickname, Deku, made Izuku unimaginably angry.
Maybe this rage had always been inside of him, hidden away behind a meek fear and a mask of admiration for a hero who had never been the person Izuku thought he was. All of Izuku's carefully hidden inner layers had been stripped away with the violence he had experienced and given to others, and then the layers beneath that had been violently ripped away with his disillusionment in his hero.
Had this been how Himiko felt when she'd realized Izuku wasn't as amazing as she had always thought? Did she have this… burning disappointment followed by this all-consuming and unfocused fury?
No. If that was the case, she wouldn't have been able to look at him like she did.
She wouldn't have had it in her to gaze so lovingly, so earnestly as she did if she felt the same way he did now. It was like there was a knot growing in size under his lungs, slowly suffocating him.
He didn't know when it had happened, but slowly, he had gone from Himiko's support system to her being his. It no longer felt like she was the one who needed blood from him, but he was the one who needed to give it to her. Like with each greedy gulp that she took, she took with it a fraction of the rage that built.
Eri and his mom were another shelter to him. Just going home, talking, eating, and spending time with them was like a balm to his soul. And when Himiko wasn't added to the mix, he could finally forget everything and everyone that weighed on his soul.
That thought made him hate himself even more.
But he couldn't hide away from his life, no matter how much he wished he could.
"Summer vacation's close at hand. Of course, it would be completely irrational for all of you to take a whole month off." Mr. Aizawa flipped through a day planner and looked up at the class, "You'll be doing a summer training camp in the woods during that time."
Himiko's familiar hands fell onto his shoulders. Her firm and excited grip made his body shudder at the familiar feeling. It was startlingly similar to the way she gripped him when she sank her teeth into his flesh.
"Did you hear that, Izu?! Summer training camp in the woods! We can hang out with everyone, do tests of courage, and go into the open-air baths!"
Izuku smiled back at her and blushed at his body's reaction, "Y-yeah! It'll be super fun."
Mr. Aizawa stared thoughtfully out at the class as everyone shouted in excitement, "However, anyone who doesn't pass the upcoming final exams… is in for summer school hell right here."
Somewhere deep down beneath a skyscraper in an unknown city, a secret hideout filled with medical devices and computer monitors was cast in ghastly shadows.
In a chair connected to all of the devices was a man whose face was a ruinous mess of scar tissue. His eye sockets were smooth and scarred over, the eyes long since destroyed, and the area of his nose had been in was just as smooth as his eye sockets.
The medical devices beeped and displayed numbers as the living monstrosity shifted forward and tilted his head to the side to eat his cheek against his fist, "the Hero Killer. I never imagined he would be caught, but for the most part, he performed as expected. Those wanting to rampage, those sympathetic to the cause, and all other sorts. That was the catalyst they needed to seek out the League of Villains. And now it's Tomura Shigaraki's job to unify them."
A short, portly older man stepped next to the medical devices, observing them carefully. "Can the child do it, I wonder? I still believe that if you came to the forefront, this would proceed smoothly, master."
The scarred man laughed mirthlessly, "Perhaps, but I believe Tomura Shigaraki is showing some sort of conviction. He had his sights set on those children, Izuku Midoriya and Himiko Toga. Speaking of those two, did our background checks on them come back without any trouble?"
The doctor went over to a desk in the corner and handed his master two manilla folders. "Of course, master. With just a few inquiries into the quirk registry, past school records, and even medical histories, we have as much on the two as we possibly can without asking them directly. But I think you'll be surprised to see what I found on the boy. It's quite the… coincidence."
Despite lacking eyes, the monster opened the boy's folder and seemed to be reading it in some way. His scarred head moved slightly as he read, and he lightly flipped to the next page. When he turned the last page, his fingers twitched at a line with a name.
The monster laughed.
The sound was like a thousand nails scraping across a thousand chalkboards. The sound sent a shiver down the doctor's spine, making him grin madly at the cackling faceless monster.
"Interesting! You have certainly chosen a very interesting ally! Very well, you will have them, Tomura Shigaraki!"
"Are you doing okay, Izu?"
Himiko looked down at him worriedly from her position on the bed, and Izu smiled tiredly up at her from the floor, where he worked dutifully on some homework they'd been given.
She absentmindedly brushed a stray strand of her hair from the side of her face. She'd been leaving her hair down when they were at Izu's apartment since he said he liked it when it was down, but that didn't make it any less annoying when it got in the way.
"As okay as I can be. It's just… it seems like this anger never goes away. It just sits under the surface, waiting to break free. Like there's a caged animal in me, and it's been starving all my life. And now that it's had a bit of meat, it knows what it's missing," Izu let One for All crackle to life, the excess energy sparking along his fingers as he held them up to the light, "and now it fights tooth and nail to try and escape the cage anytime it sees an opportunity to feed."
He clenched his fist as if to smother the light above.
Himiko gazed at him, her eyes alight with fervent understanding. "You just described the way I felt every day before we met again. For days on end, I would stay up trying to fight off a hunger that wasn't actually mine, trying desperately to ward off the urge to just give in and finally drink my fill until I was drowning in blood."
Izu let One for All dissipate, and he turned his gaze to her. He looked at her like a man adrift at sea, looking out at a landmass whose shores were too far to discern but which he hoped would hold his salvation.
"How did you live with it?"
Himiko shifted down from the bed and sat in his lap, "I had you. The entire time we were apart, every second, minute, hour, and day was spent thinking about you. That was the only way I could stave off my own howling and bloodthirsty caged animal."
Izu sighed, resting his head against hers, "And now I let you take my blood, so you don't have to worry about it anymore, right?"
She wished it was that easy. If it were, then she wouldn't be tracing her fingertips across his jugular, feeling the pulse beneath, imagining what he would look like covered in blood and bruises. Images of Izu, battered and beaten by Nomu, were conjured, and her heart sank rather than soared.
'I'm the only one allowed to make him like that.'
She immediately felt awful at the thought for a mixture of reasons. The first reason was that it was the instinctual reaction her father had beaten into her, and the second was that no matter how much Izu allowed her to do to him, he would never be comfortable letting her go as far as she wanted.
But even if she couldn't cut him all over, bite every last inch of exposed skin, or leave him a bruised and gasping mess, it didn't mean she wasn't happy getting what she did. Him allowing her to bite and drink her fill and her own internalized fear of seeing Izu hurt by others so often kept her caged animal at bay.
But how long would that last?
She was scared to find out.
Himiko buried her face in his neck and shuddered, "I wish, Izu. I wish."
After hearing her response, he remained silent. His fingers combed through her hair, fixing any stray locks and calming her nerves.
Moments like this were when her inner demons were quietest. There was no drum of her heart, no intoxicatingly intense lust for blood, only peace.
But her own thoughts always crept in when peaceful moments like these popped up. She couldn't shelter herself in thoughts of blood, gore, and entrails. She couldn't hide from herself.
'What if Izu kills someone because of me one day? What if he goes against everything he stands for, and that breaks him? Am I that selfish? Would I let Izu ruin his own beliefs because of me?'
She drew her legs up into Izu's lap and shivered in fear at the thoughts, but what made her shiver even more was the thoughts she had in response.
'Good, Izu would be all mine then. No one would be able to take him from me ever again.'
Izu shuddered against her as he hugged her even tighter.
"Papa?"
Izu's head shot up from Himiko's shoulder, and he looked over at his bedroom door wide-eyed, "Eri!"
The little girl walked over slowly, her bottom lip stuck out in a pout and her eyes watery. It seemed she was learning some bad habits from the easily teary-eyed Midoriya's, "Are you sad?"
Izu smiled tiredly at the girl and held his arm out to her, inviting her in for a hug, "I'm fine; nothing a hug with my favorite girls won't help."
Eri's big smile spread across her face, and she lunged in between the two teens, burying her face in their warmth.
Himiko smiled, 'This isn't so bad, at least, sharing with Eri.'
"Alright, now that the educational portion is done, let's begin your practical exam," Mr. Aizawa looked out over the entire class in their hero costumes. "Of course, it is possible to fail this exam. If you want to attend the training camp, then don't mess this up."
"Sure are a lot of teachers here," Jirou remarked.
Now that she mentioned it, Izuku was also starkly aware of that fact. In fact, there was one teacher for every two students.
Izuku didn't like the implication of that.
He had been hoping to face some robots like Kendo from class B had told them they would be. They hadn't been doing any practical training since that race they'd had when they all returned from their internships, which hardly helped Izuku blow off steam.
He wanted to hit something hard, but he couldn't do that against another person, and certainly not their teachers.
He silently hoped they were just here to give them all a pep talk.
"Knowing you guys, you probably asked around. You might think you have a vague idea of how this'll go—"
Mr. Aizawa was cut off by Kaminari, who shouted excitedly along with Ashido, "It's a robot rumble, like the entrance exam!"
"Fireworks! Curry!! Truth or dare!!!" Ashido jumped in place excitedly next to Kaminari.
Suddenly, Principal Nezu burst from underneath Mr. Aizawa's capture scarf; his paw was planted into the side of their teacher's head, tilting it to the side, "Not quite!! Various circumstances have demanded a revision of the exam format! Because of the recent rise in villain attacks, from now on, we'll focus on real battles with flesh-and-blood opponents. That being said…you students will be paired against and fighting one of the teachers you see here."
Izuku paled at that.
He didn't want to fight anyone, not with how out of control his emotions had been recently, and certainly not with a burning ache in his knuckles. He wanted to just fight some stupid robots so that he could punch and kick to his heart's content. So he could just lose himself in the feeling of letting it all out.
Izuku shook his head furiously, 'no! Go away, stupid, violent thoughts!'
Mr. Aizawa stepped forward, "Your pairings and assigned teachers have already been decided. Each of you was paired up with either a teammate you wouldn't synergize well with or against a teacher who would be difficult for you to face with your skill sets; in some cases, both of those stipulations are true."
He smiled tiredly at the group, "First, Yaoyorozu and Todoroki will be facing me. Then—"
He turned to Izuku, and for a fraction of a second, he knew exactly who he would be paired with. There was only one person Izuku couldn't and wouldn't work well with against any teacher, no matter who they were.
"Midoriya, you're with Bakugo, and your opponent—"
A hulking shadow fell over both of them from behind. Izuku turned around at the exact same moment and looked up in terror and annoyance at the last person he wanted to face.
"—Will be me!" All Might towered over them, his muscular form far larger and menacing when he knew it would be used against him rather than to protect Izuku, "You'll have to work together to win, so come at me, you two."
Izuku grit his teeth, and his knuckles popped as he clenched his fist. Why did it have to be these two? Not just Kacchan, but he also had to do this stupid test with All Might as his opponent?
Sure, he wasn't exactly happy with the man or the principal for basically leaving the safety of his class and Himiko up to a guess, but he didn't want to hit the man. Kacchan, on the other hand…
'No,' Izuku shook his head and tried to drive the thought away. He might have very complex feelings about the other boy, too, and he might have even gotten into a few fistfights with him, but he couldn't just get into another during the practical.
"Toga and Sero. You two will be paired against Midnight."
Himiko didn't acknowledge the matchup; she just came over to Izuku and took his hand in hers. The sharp metal of her clawed gloves scrapped the back of his hand and sent a shiver down his back, "will you be okay with that blond asshole?"
"I—"
"Who the fuck are you calling an asshole, you fanged cocksucker!" Kacchan shouted, cutting Izuku off. Apparently, he had heard what Himiko said.
Himiko glared at him, "I'm calling you an asshole, asshole! Now, are you going to shut up, or do I have to cu—"
Izuku pulled her away from Kacchan hurriedly. The last thing he wanted was for his girlfriend to claw the other boy's eyes out.
"I'll be fine, Himi-chan. Somehow." Izuku smiled down at her and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, "What about you? Are you sure you'll be fine against Midnight? She's a good counter for you."
Himiko let out a huff and pocked her chest out in pride, "I'll have you know I beat her super easily during my exam to see if I was qualified enough to enter U.A. I'll have her beat lickity-split!"
He hoped she was right. It would be nice if at least one of their exams went off without a hitch. Izuku was sure he would either fail because of Kacchan's stubborn pride or because of his own hesitance to fight another person at the moment. Even if it was All Might.
The bus ride down to their testing site was tense and silent. Izuku sat closer to All Might, but he was still in the middle of the bus, a good distance away from the pro hero at the very front. Kacchan, on the other hand, sat at the very back of the bus, glaring and muttering to himself.
"Uh, maybe you two should play a word game… or something," All Might looked back at them in worry but quickly turned back around when Kacchan glared at him, and Izuku gave him a worried look.
Their testing area was a huge model city behind a concrete barrier. The buildings were large, but they didn't seem to be any larger than the tallest building, which was maybe ten stories at most. Izuku wondered if Cementos was the one who had to make these model cities.
'It must be tiring.'
"Now, this," All Might gestured at the city on the other side of the fence, "is where we will fight."
"Uh, fight? All Might, you can't expect us to actually fight and win against you. I mean, Kacchan and I are strong and everything, but…" Izuku trailed off; the unaddressed tension between him and Kacchan was all the explanation All Might needed.
"Already planning for failure before going in, young Midoriya? Allow me to explain fully! Your objective is to either get these handcuffs on me or have one of you escape from the stage. You can't just hop the wall at random, though; you'll need to leave through the exit gate specifically. So you see, it's not just your combat ability that is being tested, but your decision-making! Although, I suppose you think that being faced with pro heroes, your only option is to run." All Might pulled out four pairs of what looked like wrist and ankle weights, "That's why we had the support course develop these ultra-compressed weights! These bad boys weigh me down with a whole extra fifty percent of my body weight. It's a tried-and-true method of slowing movement and draining stamina."
All Might closed the weights around his wrists and ankles, then muttered under his breath, "Shoot! It's heavier than I thought."
Kacchan snarled and leveled a glare at the number one hero, "trying to bring this fight down to our level or something? That's insulting."
Izuku's spine tingled at All Might's grin, "We'll see."
They were given a five-minute head start to find their way to the middle of the stage. From there, they would wait to hear the call to begin.
Izuku paced back and forth as Kacchan pulled his gloves on tighter. He wanted to start forming a strategy, but no matter what he could say, he knew Kacchan would just ignore it.
That didn't mean he couldn't try, though.
"Kacchan, what should we do? We need some kind of a plan if we want to escape."
Kacchan's glare burned a hole through Izuku and made him tense up, "the fuck do you mean 'we'? I'm going to fight. All Might, that bastard is taking me lightly; I'm gonna let him toy with me for most of the thirty minutes, then I'm gonna let him have it and beat his ass."
The loudspeaker above sounded like Recovery Girl's voice; apparently, she would be monitoring the fights. "Everyone in position? Let's begin the final exam for U.A. High's first-years! Ready… Go!!!"
Kacchan stomped forward, his boots grinding hard into the asphalt as he went.
Izuku followed after him, 'You asshole! We can't just split up and do whatever we want. Weren't you listening? All Might said we'd need to work together.'
He wished more than anything he could just tell the boy he was being an arrogant, pigheaded idiot, but he knew that wasn't the way to approach Kacchan, "I-I really think we should avoid a fight with All Might. You're strong, Kacchan, but… be honest, you can't beat him."
Kacchan stopped his angry march, his shoulders shook, and Izuku prepared himself for a string of curses and expletives about where he could shove things. But none of that came.
Just a sudden and painful punch to the side of Izuku's head. The grenade-shaped gauntlets the boy wore dug painfully into Izuku's cheek and opened a thin gash along his cheekbone.
Kacchan glared hatefully down at Izuku; his eyes were wild and frenzied, "stop talking. Do you think you're all that? Well, it's pissing me o—"
Izuku lunged at the boy, his fist slamming into Kacchan's face. They tumbled to the ground, a tangle of limbs and flailing fists, "fuck you! You fucking tantrum-throwing baby! Do you think everything fucking revolves around you?!"
He slammed another fist into Kacchan's face and pulled him up by the straps of his costume, "why does everything have to be a fight with you?" Izuku punched him in the face again, "Is this what you want?! Me to be pissed the fuck off?! Well, that's what you got!"
Kacchan slammed a palm into his chest, and an explosion sent Izuku along the road in a painful and bone-jarring tumble.
"You got some fuckin balls doing that shit, Deku! You gonna fight me without all your dirty fuckin tricks? Well, I'll tell your ass right night, you're dead!"
Before Kacchan could take another step, the city in front of them suddenly exploded. Buildings blew apart, and gales of wind buffeted them both. From the plumes of dust that had been kicked up, the hulking form of All Might emerged.
His sunken shadowed eye sockets glowed with the power of One for All, making his eyes gleam ominously, "Who cares about keeping this town intact?" All Might's wide, toothy grin looked far more ominous as he stood in front of them, "Infighting already, boys? That just won't do. How are you meant to stop a rampaging villain if you can't even keep your own emotions in check? If you intend to treat this like any other test, you're both going to have a very bad time because I'm… a villain."