#Izuku Midoriya may have inspired so many but he does not inspire me.

[siflshonen]

there was a time where you said you were frustrated with izuku not understanding katsuki in the way he should’ve and how he didn’t deserve him

i was hoping so badly that he’d clean it up. tell his feelings and accept kacchan’s in return. 2 years later, and nothing really changed. my poor son :(

….

It is in Izuku that my disappointment in this manga squarely lies.

If he is what Kacchan wants to chase for the rest of his life, at least I know that he knows exactly what he is getting into. I know Kacchan’s devotion will never falter even when I think it might be better for everyone if it did. I can be at peace knowing that Kacchan is satisfied devoting himself to his dream of being a Hero and chasing after Izuku, and for his sake, I hope he is prepared for the real possibility that even if he “caught him”. he may have to come to the unfortunate realization that there’s nothing of substance there.

[harukamitsuki]

Ugghh been consuming some bnha stuff and I'm reminded of why I largely prefer fanfiction over the actual story. I have so much hate and pettiness within me. Even so, I am never going to change my mind on how much I hate how bnha is just an amalgamation of wasted potention. Search the definition of wasted potential up and there's just an image of bnha.

I remember watching it as the first season was coming about because it was made by Bones and I just have to watch it in that case. I watched episode one and was so excited.

We have our mc, Midoriya Izuku, being powerless in a world full of quirks.

His childhood friend turned bully, Bakugou Katsuki, is shown to be favoured by literally everyone and this feeds into his ego.

All Might, the number one hero, is jaded and powerless for 21 hours of the day because of a fight nobody knew existed. Izuku is attacked and helpless, but saved by All Might. All Might tells him he can't become a hero. A much needed reality check because Izuku didn't work out a single bit before then and it's so incredibly hard to fight someone who has something you lack.

Then Bakugou is attacked and helpless. Bakugou, who is so much stronger and who people love, is left useless, only able to make the situation worse with his explosions creating a fire hazard. The pro-heroes can't do anything. All Might and Izuku both hate themselves for the part they played and how useless they are. Then Izuku sees how scared Bakugou is. He runs in, inspiring All Might as he mocks himself for breaking Izuku's dream yet forgetting the core of heroism.

Then, after all is said and done, All Might goes back to Izuku. And he tells him he can become a hero.

...

Then he offers him One for All. Now, when I was watching this for the first time, I was so disappointed. You set up a powerless mc in a world full of powers and you just give him the power of the strongest hero? Great. But, I kept watching.

I watched Izuku work to get his power, struggle even after getting a quirk. I watched as Izuku finally stood up for himself and win against Bakugou. I watched as the series went on and I... I started noticing more and more missed opportunities.

See, bnha is supposed to be a zero to hero story. It's supposed to be about the mc going from powerless to powerful. But it does it so quickly. Suddenly, it's not about Izuku finding his own form of strength, or realising how being quirkless may not give any advantages but it also has no disadvantages, or even any commentary on quirk discrimination or fantastic racism or anything.

It turns into a story about controlling your power. It's not what I signed up for.

That's just one missed potential. There's so many more. Horikoshi clearly tries to make some commentary on quirk discrimination and female heroes/sexism in the workplace and entertainment over peace. There's some effort put into making a comment on how heroes are glorified and people don't see them as public workers, they see them as celebreties.

But it's never delved into. We don't see how bad people with mutant or 'villainous' quirks are treated, and we don't see how people with weak quirks are treated, or how the quirkless are treated (because the only reason Izuku was treated so horribly was because of Bakugou). We don't see how female heroes need to have a bit of allure in their personas to have any sort of support.

Yuuei is literally a camp for making child soldiers, yet there's no controversy over it? There's no such things as heroes having to take lethal action and no moral dilemmas over it? There's nobody speaking out about how Midnight flirts with students?

We have literally no information about how heroes work. We don't know how their salaries are decided, how they're ranked, how undergound heroes work. if twilight heroes are a thing, how anybody but Rock Lock feels about bringing children into adult matters, (seriously, why do people hate Rock Lock for being rightfully worried about having 15 year olds in a raid against the yakuza), we don't know how villains work and how to decide if one's a criminal or a villain.

Heck, the only laws we know of are fanon, and the canon stupid idea that you can't use your quirk in self-defense.

It's just. Incredibly infuriating.

Also, analysis as a whole is so under-utilised. Both Izuku and Shigaraki are deemed creepy for their analysis, which is such a useful tool. I mean, Izuku accurately guesses Stain's quirk, which is useful because, otherwise, they wouldn't be wary about Stain licking their blood or cutting them. Shigaraki accurately guesses the time intervals between Aizawa's blinks, which helps him a shit ton.

But is it ever used outside of these situations? No. The thing is, quirks are scientific in nature, not magic. Therefore, they're not restricted like magic is. Fire doesn't always have to be fire, it can be smoke or just heat. Ice can be water or steam. Acid can melt through anything or just be used as a mario kart banana peel.

There was so much missed potential and that's exactly why there's so much fan content.

Horikoshi leaves so much out, and everything he misses tends to be the interesting parts. He willfully explains Bakugou's quirk in detail, but everyone else? Nah. Fuck them.

I mean, let's look at Ochako's quirk.

Gravity negation. Or is it? See, if it were just gravity negation, then two things, in particular, would happen. First of all, Izuku would have fucking died when she saved him from falling. Second of all, she would not have been able to get infinity in the ball throw.

Negating gravity does not negate the forces. Therefore, when she saved Izuku from falling, he would have still been affected by the force of his fall. It would have been no different from hitting the concrete. Additionally, when she threw the ball, it kept going. Air drag would have made it so that she couldn't possibly get an infinity.

More accurately, rather than force negation as some fanfics suggests, she's telekinetically accelerating whatever she touches. She telekinetically accelerates Izuku's body to stop him falling, and does the reverse for the ball, making it so that it continues to accelerate after she throws it.

See what I mean? Because Horikoshi gave Bakugou's quirk a scientific explanation with him sweating a nitroglycerin-like substance and being able to spark it, you have to look at every quirk with scientific knowledge. He could have said 'oh, yeah, I store energy from my quirk in these gauntlets' but Hori just had to be a smartass.

By the way, because of Bakugou's explanation, it's possible that his quirk is not what is named. Yes, it's possible to have two sides of a quirk, as we see in Shouto, but Bakugou's quirk isn't explained in the same way.

Rather than his quirk being creating explosions, his quirk is more like creating sparks in his palms. Why? Well, you see. Bnha never delves into actual quirk theory, but there's more than enough canon evidence that you have one main quirk and then one or more quirk mutations. For example, Ashido Mina's quirk is secreting acid that she can manipulate the acidity and viscocity of. Her appearance is not related to her quirk at all, meaning it's a quirk mutation from her parents. Same with Tokoyami Fumikage. Quirk is Dark Shadow, so there's no need for the bird head.

Why does this relate to Bakugou? Let me explain: Bakugou explains that he recieved a mutation from his parents with his mother secreting glycerin and his father sweating acid with combustive properties. In other words, Bakugou inherited nitroglycerin-like sweat from his parents, but his actual quirk is being able to create sparks.

His quirk is 'Sparks'. Not Explosions.

Why am I ranting about this? Because bnha completely misses all of this! It makes no sense which is a shame because the concept is so interesting! But then it throws away any scraps of potential left when it becomes 'My Kacchan Academia'.

Seriously, why do people and why does Horikoshi love abusive pieces of shit so much? Why did he throw away the potential to look into Shouto and his siblings' feeling about Endeavour? Why did he make Dabi's plot all about Endeavour instead of Shouto?

It's so easy to compare the ways Dabi and Shouto handle their trauma and their ways of revenge. It's so easy to look at Dabi and think about how easy it would have been for Shouto to become like him.

Shouto was transfixed on Endeavour. Everything he did related back to his hate for Endeavour. Using his quirk, fighting, grades, social interaction, everything. His only reason for becoming a hero is to spite Endeavour. It's only because Izuku reaches out to him and saves him from his own toxic mindset that he's able to move one and do things for himself.

Dabi, or Touya, on the other hand, doesn't get that. He doesn't get that person who recognises how far he's gone, how, in trying to spite Enveavour, he's living a life centred on him. How he's jealous of his little brother for being abused and tormented.

While Shouto became a hero to spite Endeavour, Dabi became a villain.

They're both full of hatred at first, but Shouto is saved from that spiral. Izuku helps him. Dabi doesn't have that. It would have been so interesting to see these two face of as parellels, but nope. It's all about Endeavour. Shouto is nothing more than an accessory.

I understand Dabi being hung up on Endeavour, but to outright replace Shouto with the abusive flaming trashbag? No.

Also, if Horikoshi wanted Dabi to be seen as sympathetic or redeemable, don't make him kill innocent people. Don't make it so that he unlocks an ice aspect to his quirk in a life-or-death situation because all that means is that Endeavour was right to hurt Touya the way he did. All that says is Endeavour should have hurt him more.

AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON BAKUGOU.

This piece of shit bullied Izuku relentlessly for years, used his quirk on him (yes that is canon), told him to end his life, tried to assault him in Yuuei, tried to kill him, threw a tantrum at an abused kid for not being magically okay with using a quirk that reminded him of his abusive father, assaults Izuku when he tries to work together but still magically gets a pass for being carried out unconcious which Sero was failed for, and the list just keeps growing.

Oh, but my bad. He has a sad backstory. You see, he fell in a river.

[pikahlua]

What is an antagonist in My Hero Academia?

Okay, I saw stirrings of this topic rumbling about, and I just have to jump in this time. Please note that I am doing so gleefully and excitedly. This is meant to be fun.

With recent advents in the MHA story, apparently there are some who now want to call Tomura Shigaraki a deuteragonist, or even THE deuteragonist. I see why they're saying this. I think the urge lies in the potential that Shigaraki could turn on AFO and become a hero in some sense. He could join forces with Izuku Midoriya! I am here to argue that Shigaraki is absolutely not a deuteragonist, and I mean this as a good thing.

Tomura Shigaraki is an antagonist. He is the ULTIMATE antagonist. What is happening with him in the current story does not contradict that idea but enforces it.

An antagonist is a character acting in opposition to the protagonist. Right away you may say "Then if Shigaraki stops opposing Izuku Midoriya the protagonist, that would make him not an antagonist by definition!" Hold your horses, friends. I maintain that Shigaraki is an antagonist still. An antagonist is not someone who by definition must be destroyed by the protagonist just to be considered an antagonist in the first place.

Horikoshi has already set the terms for what constitutes antagonism in My Hero Academia. Antagonists are not antagonists because they fight against Izuku Midoriya; they are antagonists because they represent a large obstacle preventing Izuku Midoriya from saving someone.

Izuku Midoriya is a protagonist who exemplifies the desire to save people. His terms for victory are defined by saving people. It is this ideal that acts as the cornerstone for the story and inspires other characters to admire and follow in Izuku's footsteps.

This is why Izuku is a radical, perspective-challenging character. He is not a bland protagonist in a generic shounen manga. MHA is in many ways a meta commentary on the genre and on storytelling itself. Izuku consistently demonstrates that, in a world of comic book superheroes, defeating an enemy in a fight holds little value for him. Everything is about rescue.

To demonstrate, I shall now show you some of Izuku's other antagonists.

Now don't get me wrong. Izuku has other antagonists too, like Stain and Endeavor and Dabi and Overhaul and AFO--but those antagonists still are such in the sense that they are hurdles to Izuku saving someone.

Many of the above pictured characters are antagonists who even fight Izuku, and yet their battles culminate in Izuku saving them (or else partially saving and then punting the complete rescue to some other moment down the line if they're a recurring antagonist). The point is, they didn't cease to become antagonists the moment Izuku saved them either. Even in those moments when we see the results of their rescues, such as Shouto visiting his mother in the hospital and Inko allowing Izuku to return to UA and Katsuki rekindling his friendship with Izuku and Eri smiling for the first time in ages and Gentle joining the side of the heroes and Nagant turning her back on AFO, those moments were not the characters changing from antagonist to protagonist. They were the moments showcasing Izuku's victory and the arc's conclusion. Each of these characters serves as an antagonist for a particular story arc. So long as we're still within the same self-contained story arc, that character is still technically an antagonist even after Izuku has won. Their functional statuses as characters in a story only change when the story moves onto the next arc.

This means Shouto is an antagonist through the moment he visits his mother in the hospital for the first time because the scene serves to show us how Izuku has saved him. But then Shouto functionally changes so that he is no longer an antagonist in the next story arc. In the Stain arc, Shouto serves as a protagonist or co-protagonist or deuteragonist or tritagonist depending on how you wanna define those terms. Just because his role changes doesn't mean he isn't still an antagonist during the sports festival. He is! That change is the whole point!

So to bring this back to the ending, Shigaraki himself is an antagonist--and not just any antagonist. He is the overarching antagonist of the entirety of MHA! Because he, not AFO, represents the greatest threat to the protagonist Izuku Midoriya's ideals.

For every second Tomura Shigaraki rejects Izuku's helping hand, he threatens Izuku's worldview not just that all people have equal hearts in equal need of saving but that Izuku himself is equal to all others. This is the driving existential force that keeps Izuku doing what he does. To Izuku Midoriya, everyone is included in the whole. Everyone. Izuku included. Tomura included.

So now that Tomura may turn on AFO and may change his mindset, we don't have Shigaraki ceasing to be an antagonist. We have Izuku conquering his antagonist, that being Tomura's rejection of salvation. Tomura is becoming a person who can accept help, and that's precisely what has to happen to all of MHA's antagonists in their individual story arcs. These are the terms for the protagonist's victory. Tomura would not be undergoing this change if he wasn't an antagonist. To be an antagonist in MHA is a very important, fundamental role. We're just now seeing the resolution to Izuku's and Tomura's (or Tenko's, if you will) ultimate clash as protagonist and antagonist.

A deuteragonist has a very different role in MHA and that's a whole other post lol

[obsessive-dumpling]

If you don't mind, can I ask something from My Hero Academia? What do you think are Midoriya and Bakugou's greatest personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? What do you love about their dynamic? Sorry if you've answered these questions before.....

Also, If you don't mind me asking (again), can I also ask your top fav characters and fav moments from the series (BNHA)...? Thanks if you want to answer....

Hello! I'm so sorry, I'm not sure how long this has been sitting in my asks because I don't know about y'all, but mine is a black hole. (For real, I checked today and it said I had 8 asks but I could only see 2 and one of them was one I have been trying to delete for like ten years but it won't budge. So if you send an ask and I don't answer, know that it's due to the black hole. It will give you back to me when the time is right. I hope.) But I am more than happy to answer!

What do /I/ think are Midoriya and Bakugo's greatest personality strengths and weaknesses... There really isn't enough time and space for me to cover all my thoughts but...

Let's start with Baku, shall we? I think that his greatest personality strength is actually his charisma. *Crickets* Wait! Hear me out! Baku throughout the series is often painted into a position of leadership. In the beginning, it is thought that, that is solely based on his strong quirk. But it's not. He exhibits having that leadership quality even before him and Izuku are supposed to get their quirks. During the Licensing Exam Arc (as well as the Kidnapping Arc) Aizawa gives a whole [2] monologue[s] about this. Katsuki is a natural born leader and hero though he presents prickly. And I think the reason why is because the charisma he exudes is authentic and honest to his character and others can see that. He might be perceived as mean but he is trustworthy and he has follow through. Any joint trainings or missions we've seen him in shows that. His teammates may complain, but they don't actually question him. They trust him and his assessment, judgement, and execution of resolving a situation. Though not traditionally "charismatic", we have to give it to the man who has won "favorite character" as many consecutive times as he.

For Deku, it's much less nuanced and much more straightforward. His biggest personality strength is without a doubt his unwaivering belief in people. He truly believes the best in every single person. I don't think I need to expound on that one as much, as it is shown *waves at entire show* countless times.

Before I get into the weaknesses, I would like to point out that these two characteristics put together start to answer one of your other questions: "Why do you love their dynamic?" I love their dynamic for many reasons but when you face these two characteristics in these two different characters (who start out at odds) and make them face each other, something beautiful happens.

Izuku's unwaivering belief in Katsuki to be better, to be THE BEST, and Katsuki's unwaivering resolve to always show up as he is WITH expectation calling him to new heights, and then watching that cycle motivate Izuku to be a better version of his own self is just so....inspiring? The word doesn't feel big enough. They are the personification of an infinity symbol. ♾️ Just constantly pouring back into one another and becoming stronger for it.

It really brings back the meaning of "rivals" and what they should be. I feel like the Shonen genre has a habit of getting caught in its own equation of what makes a Shonen a Shonen and loses the meaning of what the genre was originally created to promote: rising above it all. Bakudeku does a really great job of calling out the bad points of the genre and resetting them back to a worthy messaging. We're all continuously learning and trying and growing to be the very best we can be. And that progress is never supposed to end.

With that said, let's talk about weaknesses.

Baku's is obvious: his pride. The boy ends up having amazing amount of self reflection, but it comes at the cost of having a painful amount of time for self correction. And he's still trying. And I'm certain that it is Horikoshi's vision to have him always trying and learning and growing some more. None of us are perfect, not even Kacchan of the Bakugo's. And that's, again, how it should be. Katsuki is a great character for wearing his flaws so openly on his sleeves from start to finish.

Deku's is less obvious I think: his pride. Yes, I think they both have the same downfall. Izuku's pride and arrogance does not come from the same place as Baku's. His comes from a fearless pit that allows him to throw his body around like it means nothing. Self sacrificial without the awareness. Dangerous combo. Baku has him beat by miles on the self awareness train. A strategic brain without self awareness allows him to overcome virtually all his obstacles without any consideration for the consequences to himself or those who care for him. This is a repeated theme that we see illustrated time and time again by Inko and by the end, all of his friends and Kacchan himself. Izuku's pride is arguably bigger than Katsuki's, which therefore makes it harder to overcome. To be honest, I don't think we've actually really seen this have ANY concrete improvement throughout the series as he regularly reverts to self sacrificing throughout the entire series BUT I do think it will be addressed by the end. He is, as of now, at least aware of his shortcomings.

I could talk about these two for days so obviously they are included in my last answer to your questions: top favs. So these are my favorites outside of our wonder duo (for the record all of my fav moments are bkdk):

-Hawks: I love the duality he lends to the series in bringing the question: how do you form morals you can stand on in a corrupt society? Specifically in a transitional generation (a generation between two times in history like millennials and Gen Z's (in their own rights)) while the world falls apart around you.

-Shoto: As someone who comes from complicated, multigenerational trauma, I really did not want to like Shoto or his story. I tried to get away from being a fan but honestly the ultimate move he developes and the resolution he comes up with for his own families story killed me. A flame that doesn't destroy?! Come on! He literally became peace! I didn't stand a chance!

-Koji Koda & Mezo Shoji with Spinner: Tackling the complexities of racism in modern times where people try to say it doesn't still exist. Holding everyone accountable, as they should. There is so much here.

-Tenya Iida: Define justice for me really quick. This man is trying his ducking best.

-Fat Gum: I'm so glad you're not dead! Sunshine incarnate. He makes me WANT to believe in myself.

-Mount Lady: Turn around of the century for me as a character. I love a "came in shallow but stood firm when everyone else ran" queen.

-Virtually every character in MHA because they all give the same message:

Be.

Better.

Be.

Better!

Be!

Better!

Be Better!

God all of THIS is why I love MHA. Why I love bakudeku. I know I'm going off now and I'm sorry but, it's fucking scary outside right now.

Our world is crumbling.

And I can hear man,

named Kohei Horikoshi,

who had no superpower,

but was an artist,

and used the talent that he did have to create a series,

that allowed him to SHOUT at the world to:

BE BETTER!

He wanted to create a symbol of hope.

And he did it.

And that is my absolute favorite part of My Hero Academia. 💛❤️💙

@dnana-2809-blog thanks for the ask 💛🥟

[armageddon-generation]

Might be over-doing it a bit but I feel some of the best izuocha fanfic is criminally underrated:

Multi-Chapter:

To Catch a Bunny (E)

Izuku Midoriya is the Emerald Rabbit, a quirkless young man who still managed to become an infamous underworld kingpin everyone fears. Everyone except Pro-Hero Uravity. To her he’s not a fearsome villain. He’s her little Bunny. And she will make him melt.

You know how the best fights in MHA are the stepping-stones of character arcs? The fights are conversations the characters grow and learn from. That’s how this fic treats sex. It’s always an instrument for character growth. The longing. The angst. Every interaction is loaded with so much tension and unspoken complexity. Just the epitome of Ochako being Izuku’s hero.

Laws of thermodynamics (T)

Izuku Midoriya and Ochako Uraraka have an infinite amount of love for each other. They are married by 19, parents by 21. And divorced by 26. Nana Midoriya tells herself this is not her fault. She does not believe it.

Angsty break up fic from their daughter’s POV as she grows up. It’s inspired by the author’s personal experiences and feels very real and raw, with an equal focus on Izuku and Ochako’s flaws. The way they continue to orbit and silently long for each other is so beautifully bittersweet. Very special: It tore my heart out and showed it to me, but at the same time I cannot describe the catharsis it gave me.

Building a Murder (M)

Assassins and Heroes don’t mix on principle. This makes things very awkward when Midoriya Izuku, AKA Pro Hero Aegis, arrives on Ochako’s jobsite to investigate a dead body she may or may not have put there herself.

Fascinating alternate takes on the cast- particularly Ejiro & Mina. Rveals about this darker timeline are compelling & well-paced. Angsty & violent, but the romance is heartfelt, tentative, and delicate. I cannot understate how exceptional the character writing is here. Izuku and Ochako are so layered, and assassin!Ochako’s POV is so immersive with all the specific details sprinkled in. Bonus points for great use of Lad Nagant

Bright as the Sun (M)

Pro-Hero Uravity is assigned to bodyguard reclusive quirkless inventor Izuku Midoriya

A great mediation on coping with trauma, and it goes full-on dealing with quirkless discrimination. Walking disaster Izuku is my favorite. Dysfunctional, completely absorbed in his work, forgetting to eat and sleep. This just epitomizes what Izuocha should be to me; Ochako teaches Izuku how to live while he inspires her heroic spirit. They complete each other.

The Distance Between Us (T)

Izuku Midoriya meets his soulmate, Ochako Uraraka, at the Provisional Hero License Exam. There's just one problem: Ochako Uraraka goes to Shiketsu High School.

Soulmarks are particularly interesting with izuocha because meta-textually, as the female lead, Ochako is ‘predestined’ to be with Izuku- it's the stereotypical thing she ‘should’ do. This gimmick gives her lots of agency, and Ochako not attending UA hones their relationship to its bare essentials. It does a great job showing how much Izuku needs her. Bonus points for lots of Carmie.

I’m Feeling Heavier (Despite my Hollow Soul) (E)

Winning the war cost Izuku his dream. Isolated, depowered, and struggling with chronic pain, he quietly watches as the world leaves him behind. Until his hero arrives to help him pick up the broken pieces of himself.

Life-affirming hurt-comfort that really drills down into the after-effects of the war and Izuku's Many Issues. Lots of rich character development as the two of them lean on each other. Sweet & understated and very grounded.

One-shots

Snowed In (G) & First, Do No Harm (T)

A very sweet getting-together fic & an incredible sorta-sick fic that writes their relationship as this fascinating co-dependent spiral. There’s a sort of weariness here, casual intimacy juxtaposed with unspoken longin, that works s well. An excellent, contemplative character-study.

Photographs (E)

20 year old Number One Hero Izuku Midoriya has finally found the courage to confess his feelings to his childhood best friend, 27 year-old widower and single mother, Ochako Uraraka.

This sounds weird (and it addresses that) but what could’ve come off as sleazy and tacky is instead handled really delicately. The logline for a porno transforms into a sincere and touching love-story. Izuku being the one besotted with Ochako is a fascinating, heartwarming role-reversal. There’s such a bittersweet longing here, between Izuku’s pining and the complication of Ochako’s dead husband. The definition of ‘right person at the wrong time.’

Proud of you, always (G)

Pro Hero Ochako & Quirkless husband Izuku

Just a Bite is All You Need (T)

It all starts with a Lonely Lady Hades, a Hopeful Lord Persephone, and the feeling that one needs a friend that the other is quite happy to be.

A clever, insightful & sweet retelling of the Greek myth. A tired story with the cobwebs shaken off

A Ceiling of Stars to Guide Me Home to You (G)

Really well-characterised fluff: Izuku’s POV of Ochako is well-developed without falling back on romantic clichés, and she comes off as dynamic & layered.

Why Do You Feel So Close (But You’re Oh So Far Away?) (T)

Spoilers for after the first cour of Season 6- but this is excellent angst & nuanced character work for Ochako

I'm cheating bc these are mine, but:

Melt For You

On a stakeout together during their final summer at UA, Izuku and Ochako wrestle with the forces pulling them apart as graduation approaches.

Up, Up and How the Fuck Do you Fly This Thing?!

Spoliers for up to the first cour of Season 5

can the BNHA / MHA fandom drop some good cute izuocha fics or your favorite writers?? i just started watching

[romanceisdeadbutimnot]

Sweet Like Summer Candy

🍏

Midoriya Izuku x Reader

(pro hero deku x reader)

Word Count: 4.1 k

Warnings: Cursing, aged up characters

Reader is written with a female in mind (but i don’t use many pronouns to describe the reader and they’re referred to as partner instead of girlfriend)

Summary:

You visited your grandparents in Japan for 3 summers when you were younger, becoming close friends with the quirkless boy next door. Unfortunately you lost touch during middle school. Not to worry though, you’re here in Japan to stay and ready to rekindle your friendship, or something more. And you’re a little surprised when you realize what he does for a living

Or reader has no idea that Izuku is the no 1 pro hero

Link to ao3 here

There’s more chapters on ao3 I’m just behind posting them here :)

Ch1, Ch2 Ch4

Chapter 3: Sour Like Green Apples

“Oso, he was sculpted like a Greek god! I think he’s a model or something, all of his friends were so attractive, or had these really interesting mutant quirks.” You groan, sinking into your seat by the windows of the cafe. Oso was sitting across from you on her break sipping a mug of mocha.

“Hmm, sounds like you really lucked out, he’s rich, nice and attractive. What are your secrets?” She teases you rolling her eyes.

“I’m being serious! And then he just ran away,” You groan. “He’s hardly said anything to me since, I think he knows I like him, and is trying to let me down gently.” It was just your luck to fall in love with your best friend. In your defense, how could anyone not fall in love with him? He was perfect, sweet, attentive, caring- and damn did he look good.

“He hardly texted you before. How do you know he’s avoiding you?” Oso says. You consider her very real, very valid point. Then you shake your head.

“He usually tells me when he’s going to be this busy.” You pull out your phone to show her your exchanged messages. “The only thing he’s said since friday, was that he was glad I came to the movie and hopes that Kacchan wasn’t too mean.” Oso looks over your shoulder at the offending message.

“Who’s Kacchan?” She asks you. You flush, this was a part of your story that you deliberately left out when explaining what happened that night. You didn’t want to relive your lapse of judgment.

“He’s one of Izuku’s old friends, I actually knew him back in the day too. Anyway he called me an extra and I may or may not have started an argument with him. Boy let me tell you, his personality hasn’t changed at all. He was trying to blow me up with his quirk before his friend stopped him.” You briefly explain your encounter with the porcupine. Oso looks at you with a dawning realization. She opens her mouth to ask a follow up question, before her timer goes off alerting the both of you that her break was over. She gets up from her seat, excusing herself to go back to work. You sigh, picking up your phone to scroll through social media trying to get your mind off your dilemma. Your friends from back home were posting pictures of a fun beach vacation to Hawaii. There were a couple posts about the villian going around, supposedly ambushing heroes on their days off. Some lower ranking hero’s were badly injured from the surprise attacks, and people were getting really heated over the usage of support gear. You read some articles criticizing hero’s for their over reliance on tools, and condemning the hero’s injuries -caught off guard without support gear. You scroll by them in disdain, focusing on some journal spreads you found interesting and saving them as inspiration for later.

You occupy yourself for a little over an hour as Oso finishes her shift. You promised to walk her home today. The area she lived in had an increase in muggings. Usually her fiancé was able to pick her up, but today he had a late shift. You offered to walk her home. Her apartment was in the exact opposite direction you lived in, but you’d rather take a longer walk home at night, than leaving Oso for dead in case she really did get mugged.

Soon enough she had closed the shop for the night and you began your walk through the dimly lit streets. The two of you talk about anything and everything. She was excited to be going on a weekend away with her fiancé. He planned a trip for her as a surprise, it was really sweet, and you couldn’t help but smile seeing her gush about him. All the talk of love made you think about a certain green haired someone. You never saw him after that night, by the time you had woken up he was gone. He left a little note explaining he had work, and that he left you a fresh croissant on the counter. It was sweet how much he cared, even after you’d come on too strong. As you're walking and talking you hear what sounds like metal scraping against concrete.

“(Y/N),” Oso’s voice calls out to you, trembling. Ahead of you stood a tall man with a long sharp head of hair trailing behind him. Each strand looks like a flexible sword, dragging behind him. It scrapes against the cement causing sparks. You step in front of Oso protectively. You didn’t know what this man wanted, hopefully he’d leave the two of you alone.

“Hand over your wallet and things won’t get hairy,” he calls out to you, voice hoarse. You narrow your eyes, sizing him up. He didn’t look super strong, but you had Oso to think of.

“Leave us alone, we don’t have money on us,” You call back out to the man. Oso grabs onto your hand, you give her a comforting squeeze, but not daring to turn away from the mugger. He gives you a little huff, before bowing his head down fast, whipping his head full of blades toward you. You raise your arms in defense, feeling the use of your quirk. The impact never comes. When you open your eyes, the villain is trapped in a layer of ice, his bladed hair inches from you. You follow the path of ice, seeing a familiar set of heterochromatic eyes. This was Izuku’s friend. He looks over at you passively before turning to someone next to him. In a span of minutes, the mugger was thawed with fire, and set into handcuffs before being escorted away by the individuals who came with Izuku’s friend. When that was all said and done the dual colored man walks up to you and Oso.

“You are (Y/N) correct?” He asks you. You shudder under his cool gaze, he was no less intimidating up close than he was from afar.

“Uh yes, that’s me. Thank you for freezing that guy,” you gesture to the recently thawed mugger. He nods in acknowledgment.

“Wait, do you know eachother?” Oso leaves her stupor looking between the two of you.

“We met briefly at the movie night, this is…” you trail off looking at the stranger. You were sure Izuku had mentioned his name once, but you had completely forgotten it.

“Shoto Todoroki,” he fills in for you, his lips upturned in a small smile. Next to you Oso gawks.

“I know who he is!” She exclaims. “I mean you actually know eachother?” She holds her hand up to her head.

“Yes?” You and Shoto utter simultaneously. It seemed as though he was as confused with her outburst as you were.

“Is there a reason I shouldn’t?” You turn to your friend.

“When were you going to tell me you met a pro-hero at his movie night!” Oso exclaims next to you, before realizing how she sounded and covering her mouth. She mumbles out a quick apology to the man standing next to you. You turn to look at him, so he wasn’t a model. It makes sense though, considering he had saved you from the mugger with relative ease.

“I guess I didn’t know,” you shrug. It wasn’t your business who was a hero and who wasn’t. When you look over at Shoto he’s eyeing you again with a somewhat neutral face. Oso looks at you as if you’ve grown a second head.

“You’re so dense sometimes! He’s only one of the top pro-hero’s in the industry,” Oso scoffs at you good naturedly. You give Shoto a nervous smile, hopefully he wasn’t offended by the fact you didn’t recognize him. In your defense you hardly kept up with heros, only knowing as much as Izuku told you. It was a little odd that he hadn’t mentioned being friends with a hero before this, though you supposed he might have told you while you were spacing out.

“Well thank you for rescuing us, Shoto. It’s late so we should be going,” You grab Oso’s hand tugging her in the direction to her apartment. To your surprise Shoto escorts the two of you there, then begins escorting you home as well. You protested that he must have greater things to do as a hero, and that you lived far away. You even told him that you could handle a mugger or two no problem, but he never relented. He’d just disarm your argument with a small smile and insist he didn’t mind. You found very quickly that his icy exterior was a front of sorts. He was actually very kind, if not a bit blunt and quiet. It made sense that Izuku was friends with him, he was certainly a good listener. For all your conversational skills you eventually ran out of things to talk about on your walk back, the two of you faded into a somewhat comfortable if not a little awkward silence. Eventually you made it to your front door. You stand outside it awkwardly.

“Thank you for walking me back home,” you give him a pleasant smile. He smiley softly back at you, for a moment you're startled by the contrast. His smile was so much more delicate and calming than Izuku’s which was so warm and wide.

“It was not trouble, I’m doing it for my friend.” He tells you. You blink a couple times, startled by the honesty. So he was only doing it because you were friends with Izuku? Not because you were walking home alone on the street. As if sensing your confusion he adds “Because Izuku worries about your safety.” With that he gives you a little nod, and a small goodbye and he disappears down the hallway. You quietly let yourself into the apartment, going to draw yourself a bath. You were going to need it after the day you’d had.

The next day you spent cramped up in your home. You had the news playing in the background of your work. After your run in with Shoto you thought you might try to keep better informed, if only to make sure you didn’t make any more embarrassing mistakes with Izuku or his friends again. From what you had heard the news was rather grim this week. A hero in the top 30 had her partner murdered by the villian who was running around attacking villian’ s on thier day off. The media was blowing up with both condolences of their death, and the debate surrounding heroes in relationships. Should heroes be in relationships with civilians if it puts them in danger? Could heroes be in relationships with other hero’s or would that make workplace matters more complicated? Should heroes even be in relationships at all? The number one hero was set to give a speech in 10 minutes, you were interested to hear a hero’s take on the matter, but when some bozo started spouting nonsense about how it was unethical for hero’s to be in relationships you got so fed up you turned the tv off. You thought of Shoto, it didn’t seem fair for anyone to decide for someone what they could and couldn’t do, especially with matters like love. If Shoto wanted a relationship that was up to him and his partner to weigh the advantages and risks, it certainly wasn’t anyone else’s business.

Speaking of love and relationships, Izuku has been surprisingly quiet as of recently. He hadn’t messaged you to meet up at all, and his messages to you had been quite short. When you had asked him what was wrong he’d brushed you off stating that work had been more chaotic lately. That frustrated you to no end. Sure work was stressful, work was always stressful, and even though you were more flexible than most with his crazy hours you had your limits too. If he wanted to make time for you he most certainly could. Just a 15 minute phone call would appease you. That’s when the anxiety started eating you alive. Maybe he was trying to subtly blow you off, tell you that he wasn’t interested in you. Eventually all your turmoil sent you seeking Oso’s help. She told you to just show up at his apartment to hang out stating ‘if he’s as sweet as you say he is, he won’t be able to turn you away even if he wanted to’. It seemed like a cheap move, but at this rate you’d do anything to talk to him again.

Just like Oso had predicted, Izuku was too nice to turn you away when you showed up to his apartment unannounced with a bag filled with face masks, hair bands, nail polish and some cheap wine. He hadn’t protested much when you told him he needed a self care session because of how stressed he was with work. Was it a little petty? Yes. Did you care? Only a little.

He was quieter than usual, eyes following you around as you got everything settled. His attentive gaze was enough to send butterflies into your stomach. With two wine glasses, a pile of blankets and the tv remote you ushered him onto the living room floor, handing him a pillow to place into his lap. You set the tv on to some random channel, keeping the volume low. You silently hand him a head band, it was a soft pink with a fuzzy bow and white polka dots. He takes it from you, your hands brushing slightly, his eyes never leave yours. You place your own, lilac colored headband on your head, and he follows your lead. You reach into the bag, grabbing out the clay mask and an applicator, trying to give yourself something to do so that the silence didn’t consume you.

“Come closer,” you tell him quietly as you squirt a little bit of the mask onto the applicator. He scoots toward you, leaning forward. You cup his face in your hands. His skin was warm, and smooth. Warmth floods into your system. You lift the applicator, swiping a streak of clay across his cheek. He just stares at you with apple colored eyes. Sour apple eyes, you correct yourself, as his gaze alone picks you apart. You wait for him to say something, anything but he doesn’t. He doesn’t start murmuring about heros, or geek out about the latest support gear releases.

“Izuku, is something wrong?” You ask, searching his face for answers. You swipe more of the mask, across his face, waiting for him to reply. He blinks at you innocently. You give him a pointed look. He finally breaks your gaze.

“I’m just thinking about a lot of things,” he tells you softly. You just hum, circling his eyes in clay. You take your time painting a field of green across his cheek, covering each freckle under its foliage.

“Thinking things like what?” You ask, sweetly, as sweetly as you can muster. “You can tell me, we’re friends right?” Friends. You hated that word. He was your best friend, your childhood friend, but you wanted more. So much more than friendship, you wanted to see him when he came home from work. You wanted to be there next to him in the bleak hours of the morning, when sunlight was just peeking through the windows. You wanted him to hold you as you watched movies, and smile at you when you said something stupid. But you would settle for friends, if it meant keeping him in your life.

“You know the hero’s partner that was killed recently?” He asks you somberly.

“Yeah? What about it?” You look at him pensively, sure you had heard about it on the news, and you felt some manner of sympathy towards them, but it didn’t affect you. They were strangers to you after all. You wondered why he was bringing it up. You knew he cared about heroes, but he couldn’t really expect you to think that he was so distraught over this that he had been ghosting you.

“I’m thinking about things like that,” he tells you. You swipe the final streak of clay across his chin, then study his expression. He was looking at you with fear and worry, searching your face.

“Izuku, although it is heartbreaking, I don’t know how that relates to the fact that you’ve been ignoring me,” You sigh. He gives you a very pensive look and you snap. “I’m sorry if I was embarrassing at your class party, or if I made you feel uncomfortable. I swear I wasn’t trying to make you feel like that, you were just shirtless and it startled me. I promise I won’t do it again, and I’ll reign in my anger at Bakugou. Just please don’t ignore me without saying anything.” You finish, running a hand over your face. There was clearly something he wasn’t telling you. He looks at you pensively this time, his brow furrowed. There was a moment of silence between you.

“Here, give me the applicator.” He holds out his hands, and you pass it to him. You mean to ask, why he had dodged a response, but the thought melts out of your mind as he grabs your face. His hands are warm and calloused. He scoots even closer to you, placing his own legs on either side of yours. When he slides the clay across your skin you jolt, the mask much colder than you anticipate. He doesn’t say anything to you, completely concentrating on the task at hand. You let your gaze wander from his intense eyes, down his neck to his broad shoulders. From your vantage point you can see the various scars that criss cross his hands, disappearing under his shirt sleeves. You wondered how you never noticed them before, though you figured this was your second time seeing him in something other than a sweatshirt, and the first time you were too focused on other places. You wondered if he got them while he was being bullied. Was that why he kept his arms covered around you? Was he ashamed of them? You wondered what had happened in the years you were missing from his life. He gently swipes a thumb under your jaw, before pulling back and setting the applicator down.

“Done,” he smiles at you, soft and sweet. There was something intoxicating about it, about sitting here on the floor with him painting on each other's face masks. It felt intangible, as if the moment was already slipping through your fingers. It was your specialty though, grasping the intangible, you wouldn’t let him slip through your fingers so easily.

“Promise you won’t ignore me anymore?” You ask, softly. He gives you a pensive look before smiling.

“I won’t disappear, you’ll see me around.” He tells you. Having settled that, well settled it as much as you’d get out of the clever man, you stand up.

“Time to wash your mask off,” you tell him, extending your hand to help him up. He grabs it, not letting go on your walk toward the bathroom. He does let go when he opens the top cabinet, grabbing out two clean towels. You watch as his muscles flex and stretch in his arm. He runs one of the towels under water, before wiping his face mask off. You tentatively stand next to him, grabbing your own towel and waiting until he is done with the sink. He is close enough that you could feel the warmth radiating off him. When he’s finished you move to wipe your own face off, but he catches your hands.

“Here let me help,” he murmurs. Izuku grabs your towel while running it under water before bringing it to your face. He towers over you wiping the warm towel across your face. All your nerves set on fire, as you suddenly feel like the temperature in the room was 1,000 degrees. If Izuku notices your blush he doesn’t say anything, calmly working to wipe everything off your face. He leans into you more, smiling at you innocently. You feel every muscle in your body tense as he reaches toward you. Then he’s placing the towel behind you, turning on the water again. He says nothing as he returns the towel to your face wiping away all the remaining streaks of clay. You can’t pick a place to focus on, eventually settling for the ground as you try not to collapse.

“All done.” He steps away from you, eyes running over your body as if analyzing you. You swallow a wad of saliva. There was no way he was testing you, or was there?

“Okay, uh, I’m going to paint my nails in the living room,” you tell him, sliding between his body and the counter toward the door. He lets you pass, but hovers close to you as you make your way back to the living room. You settle yourself on the ground, leaning against his couch. He stands awkwardly off to the side of you as you examine the colors you brought with you.

“Make yourself comfortable or something,” you call out to the giant hovering next to you. “Tonight is about relaxing so just do what you’d normally do to relax.” You smile at him, but he doesn’t smile back. He eventually settles himself on the couch, sitting very close to where you were. He fiddles with the tv remote. You go back to choosing a nail color. You had brought the usual colors with you, variations of pinks and a lilac or two. You finally rifle through picking up a forest green bottle. Although you had never painted your nails green before, you had bought green nail polish the last time you were at the store in passing. You chalked it up to having a certain someone on your mind. As you look at the bottle embarrassment fills you, maybe it was a little cheesy to paint your nails the same color as your crushes eyes. You move to set it back into the bag, and grab a safe color when two legs swing over either side of you.

“Let me see that color,” Izuku asks, leaning over you to grab the bottle from your hands. Your cheeks flame in embarrassment.

“Do you like it?” You ask tentatively. Would he think you're weird for having it? For considering it?

“I like it, you should paint your nails this color,” He tells you, handing the bottle back down to you.

“Okay,” is all you can think to say, and to distract yourself from the erratic beating of your heart you swiftly start applying the first coat. He makes no move to shift away from caning you in. Instead he gets comfortable, grabbing your hands every couple of nails, to check the progress. Eventually you tell him off, citing that you’d mess up and get nail polish everywhere. You can almost feel him pouting behind you. When he resigns himself to leaving your hands alone, he takes to playing with your hair. The sensation of his fingers combing through your scalp sends shivers down your spine. Your brain argues that you should put an end to this treatment. At this rate there was no way you’d get over him. No man would ever be able to compete with Izuku, not after this. Your heart keeps you quiet. It didn’t matter if this would have to end eventually, you’d enjoy the moment -enjoy his fingers scratching against your scalp. And maybe, just maybe you could convince him to fall for you. You’re not quite sure when exactly you had fallen asleep, but when you woke up you were tucked into the blankets of his guest bedroom.

After you orient yourself, stumble groggily out into his living room making your way to the kitchen to drink a glass of water. Another handwritten note is waiting for you. It read ‘I hope you slept well, you seemed tired last night. Hey if it’s okay with you can we have a serious talk? I should have an hour around lunch.’ You feel your heart plummet. Why did it sound like he was trying to break up with you, especially after playing with your hair for an hour. You shakily grab your phone, texting him to meet you at a local park. You hoped with dread pooling in your stomach that maybe he felt the same way you did. Maybe he was just going to confess. Maybe he was embarrassed and that’s why he had been so distant lately. With a heavy heart you gather your things and head to your apartment to change out of your day old clothes.

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

Do you know how a basic story structure is designed? No?

Well, you need at least two very simple parts:

A main conflict or problem.

A way to solve the problem or conflict.

If you can to add another part, it can be:

The consequences of that problem solving.

It baffles me that people doesn't know yet that they can't possibly understand the theme or major point of MHA / BNHA without studying Shigaraki Tomura along with Midoriya Izuku.

Why? Because from those two characters the plot and the theme of the story are built. Shigaraki is the personification of the problem, while Deku is the personification of the will to solve the problem.

But first, what do I believe is MHA / BNHA theme anyway? That answer is easy: violence.

Think about one of the first interactions in the whole manga, the panel where Bakugo bullies Deku and throws his notebook out of the window. That scene is really really important because it contains the basis of the whole manga, it sets in your brain how the story will follow:

A kid fails to understand and see another kid because he's filled with violence, to the point he doesn't care what type of damage he's causing. The other kid wants to react violently, but fails to do it. He doesn't know how to explain himself or make the other see him from his own point of view, so he goes home, not giving up on his dream.

MHA / BNHA is the story of how people can learn to break the chain of violence that drives a society in order to stop generation more violence. Ah, do you recognize which speech I'm referring too? Hold on for a little longer, we're getting there.

Now, after being told he couldn't be a hero by All Might because he didn't have a quirk, Deku saved Bakugo anyway, proving that the concept of hero in that society was not the best. A hero doesn't need to have quirks (related to violence) to save someone. It's not only about the fights, but about saving the heart of the other people, inspiring them to do better.

Of course we see Deku adopted the violent ways of the heroes once he starts attending UA. By inserting himself in that society, Deku needs go to its very core to understand the problem. That's why the Bakugo vs Deku battles are so important, or why the plot furthers through fights and violent confrontations instead of simple talks.

Do you know who's the one who actually breaks the society view and shows Deku that violence can't be fought with violence? Take a guess.

Shigaraki Tomura.

Yeah, like I say, if you want to know what this manga is about, don't get distracted with the story or the setting, you need to pay attention to the characters who are explain almost to the reader what is going on in their world.

Tomura's first speech is the very foundation of this story. He says that they, in the mha /bnha universe, live in a society ruled by violence that has fallen into a never-ending cycle. Violence generates violence that generates violence.

He proves his point with his mere existence.

But there's a sub-point, a thing that allows violence to exist in that universe : lack of communication or poor quality communication.

Or, how I like to call it, the inability to see the world through the other's eyes.

This inability is what makes of Endeavor an abuser, for example. He failed to see the world from other perspectives and drowning on his own beliefs, he refuses to accept a version of the world that's not what he thinks.

When All Might and Deku first met, All Might failed to see Deku through his own eyes and for that he didn't understood the kid had a hero heart at first.

Or in the case of the League of Villains, the heroes keep failing to at least consider their perspectives of the society they live in, and that's why they'd rather see the members of the League as monsters and villains than humans hurting and victims seeking validation.

You can see how in the course of the manga, the UA kids and Deku learn how to see the world from new perspective, specially from little kids' points of view, because they are not used yet to the way society works. Again and again, Deku has the opportunity to peak through the villains and victims eyes. Horikoshi builds a whole path Deku has to walk before reaching the final battle, when he's gonna need every bit of experience he got.

Now, the breaking point from Deku, the moment he had enough experience to finally understand what was happening or at least begin to do so, what's his battle with Shigaraki Tomura on the War arc.

Please note how a conversation with Izuku was what gave Shigaraki a clear goal of a thing to focus on, and note that Tomura does the same for Izuku, because then again, the are the two more important characters in the whole narrative. Every other character is a version of the conflict and the solution or they are the consequences, where we get to see what a violent society generates.

It's because Izuku had had so many battles that he could stare into Tomura's, pass the society prejudices (the villain), and find what used to be Shimura Tenko (the victim). In that moment, like he did many times before in minor cases, he broke the violence against violence ritual the hero system normally uses. It didn't last, but that's not important. Deku looked back at the way he'd been through and found that never once he tried to stop the villains by trying to see from their point of view. Instead, he followed the pro-heroes behaviors and stayed happy with just putting them on jail.

He was failing as a hero, because they were also people who needed help.

Turns out the answer was not in the heroes all along, but in the villains, specifically with the League. They were very loud about what they wanted and what they thought was wrong, but heroes refused to listen and instead discarded their opinions as stupid beliefs. Now, please note how people like Stain didn't have the same treatment, because they were obeying the rules of their society at a certain level.

You may not like Shigaraki Tomura, you may not like the League of Villains, but when it comes to breaking down Horikoshi's writing and story, you need to admit their importance and the depths of these characters. And even more, you can pretend to guess what will happen in the manga by blindly ignoring the main villains. You're just doing exactly what Horikoshi criticizes on his writing.

In the end, bnha / mha is about how we as a society need to learn how to properly communicate to stop generating conflicts that could be avoided, and it's also about how violence is never a satisfying answer because it is not a complete answer at all, it's only a prolongation of the problem.

[collisiondiscourse]

on the wonder duo (part 1)

(BNHA Analysis Post Ahead! This isn’t explicitly romantic, but it is an analysis of the relationship between the two most popular characters in BNHA--Katsuki Bakugou and Izuku Midoriya. Split into two posts because I realized that this was gonna be long as HELL)

yall ever think about the fact that the wonder duo is perfectly set up in so that bakugou and deku together are the better version of all might?

bc like. ive been thinking.

everyone knows the win to save and save to win parallel. How they are supposedly two halves of a whole perfect hero (which, previously, was defined as all might)

but ever since bakugou and deku started working as one—growing together to win AND save and continuously reminding each other that they shouldnt try to do things alone, ive realized that its BECAUSE theres two of them that they surpass all might. its not a case of deku and bakugou both being 50% of an ideal hero, but rather i think that they are 100% of what all might SHOULD HAVE BEEN from the very beginning.

as early as the AM v AFO battle in kamino, we see the effects of all mights flawed existence. the fact that he, the greatest and supposedly infallible symbol of peace, was destroyed—society had begun to collapse. there was suddenly no pillar to hold people together and the impacts were so severe that even in the latest chapters of mha it keeps on getting worse. the truth is, all mights biggest mistake was the burden he placed on his own shoulders

with bakugou and deku... its different.

its different for them because down to their attributions, they seem like two halves of a whole person.

i think that the wonder duo are going to surpass all might because of the fact that they work together.

@bakugoukatsuki-rising @svpercraigus @tybee​ @isaustraliaathing​

(batshit crazy and conspiratorial essay under the cut !)

1. Complementary Colors

I’d like to first preface literally everything I say by the fact that I am not an expert analyzer or literary major in any way. I am literally just some random fan on the internet who has wayyy too much time and looks wayyy too deep into things, but here we go!

A common thing we see when we talk about bakugou and deku is the way they are... sort of an inverse of one another.

Down to the design of their features and the way they move, Deku is the obviously softer of the two. There’s an intentional contrast between the two of them, in the way that Deku’s drawn with round shapes and curvy hair and the way Bakugou is literally all spikes and half-mast eyes and rough muscles. Bakugou’s movements too are languid and showy, with the way he leans when he walks and splays his legs and kicks open doors. Katsuki, in a casual sense, is loud and dramatic. 

Deku on the other hand s finicky. He jitters when he walks and he’s often fidgeting and mumbling. Comparatively, the aura he radiates is energetic and frenzied, even self-conscious to a point unlike Bakugou’s calm and confident movements.

the point is, there’s a clear difference in how either of them are designed and what exactly they are supposed to represent. They utterly complement each other down to the way they behave and even their main colors (red-orange and blue-green) being literal complementary colors.

Now, moving to my more ungrounded points, this is quite a bit of a stretch so I’ll try as much as possible to make sense of these with hyperlinked sources because. yeah.

Down to their names, I think Deku and Bakugou both symbolize something deeper. I think that the way Hori expresses characters and what they’re meant to do is something that we have to pay close attention to when we talk about the Wonder Duo’s rise to success.

Izuku Midoriya (緑谷 出久), as some of us may know, does have an interesting meaning when broken up. According to a lovely fan translation of his name, ‘Izuku’--while not an actual name used commonly in real life--means to ‘Come out’ or ‘Long time’. ‘Midoriya’ on the other hand means (Midori) ‘Green’ and (ya) ‘valley’. The translator further pointed out that his first name ‘Izuku’ could be a reference to him being the first legendary hero to come out of the long-running All Might Era. (or, if you’ve been reading @/bakugoukatsuki-rising’s posts, the first significant anime protag in a long while to come out as queer, ppfft)

but that isn’t my focus right now.

We know that Hori LOVES telling stories with names, and more often than not in the BNHA universe, names alone tell us a lot of things about the characters. When referring to Izuku’s last name, Midoriya, it’s important I think to step back and realize that hey, maybe there’s something more to Green Valley than just the fact that his motif is all green.

After searching for a lil on the specifics of green valley, I’ve found out that across many cultures, the colour green and valleys in general tend to represent life. From dream analysts, to Christianity, and even old Taoist teachings, valleys are seen as areas of fertility and escape. They are seen as safe havens and often escapes for people to come to after running away from bad circumstances.

(Sound familiar?)

Deku, in essence represents life and peace. He represents being the “salvation” that the world in BNHA needed. To me, it sounds like Horikoshi is trying to say that he is the long-awaited hero in the sense. The one that people can feel will create a society that feels safe for everyone after years of All Might just saving people from themselves as a band-aid solution.

On the other hand, we have Katsuki Bakugou (爆豪 勝己), who’s name we commonly know means (Katsuki) Winner and (Bakugou) Explosion Master. He is essentially, the champion. The power. His name means success and power and all the things that make up winning.

When putting them side by side, it then becomes increasingly... interesting to me how their names almost perfectly slot into All Might’s save to win and win to save mantra, and how they are both quintessential parts to what made All Might as a hero.

2. Hero Too!

Now, I’m not even gonna really TOUCH much of what happens in canon. If you want me to do a step by step breakdown of their arcs in regards to the plot of manga and anime, feel free to send me a gratuitous ko-fi tip so I can pay for the headache I get after trying to organize my thoughts into word vomit.

What I WILL talk about on the other hand, is the subtle shift both of them slowly have in regards to how they look. Bakugou and Deku, while growing up, seem to have MANY many parallels--but before I elaborate on all of that, I wanna talk about something else.

Detour: Deku’s Red Shoes 

We all know the iconic symbol being Deku’s red shoes. For all his life, save for some outfits like his hero one, we see Deku more often than not wearing his signature red sneakers which have become a running joke in fandom.

But the funny thing is, in Japan, red shoes seem to have an interesting connotation.

In 1922, a popular Japanese nursery rhyme was written, called “Red Shoes”. The interesting part to me about this song was the symbolism that, in my tiny pea-sized brain, I could connect to the story of BNHA.

The story goes that there was a little girl with red shoes named ‘Kimi’. She was from Shizuoka prefecture (which, if you didn’t know, is most likely where Musutafu supposedly is) and was raised by a single mother. When she was young, her mother had to entrust her with a foreigner under the impression that they would give her a better life in America. The stranger is a man named Charles Hewitt (who was described to have blue eyes) and supposedly took her away. 

The singer of the song (supposedly the mother, but some argue it was written from the perspective of a childhood friend) believes that Kimi is happy and living a better life away from them, when the reality of the situation was much worse. The young girl with red shoes in actuality had Tuberculosis, and thus the foreigner whom she was entrusted to had left her to fend for herself and eventually left her to go to America while she died alone and orphaned.

“When I see red shoes, I think of her.”

A very interesting story with very interesting implications indeed.

-

Anyway, moving on to the more... “nuanced” and connected parts of this section, I have every reason to believe that Bakugou and Deku were simply MEANT to be working together down to how they dress. Now, I’d like to discuss their hero costumes.

At the start of their series, using these godawful pics for reference, it’s clear to see that neither of them seem alike in any way--reflecting the dissonance in their relationship at that point in canon.

ough. deku why. (yes we know why its because you love your mom you stupid little bunny <3)

Anyway, we see an immediate gap in how the two of them are. Deku’s first costume is one that reflects how he treated his dream of being a hero. He was still in that childlike idolization phase, the one where his dreams and aspirations were hinged on pure feelings and inspiration from All Might. Katsuki on the other hand was a lot more tactical--professional to an extent. The gap between their respective development with their quirks is something that is clearly felt in every fashion decision they’d made.

(Notice how Deku’s green is a lot brighter and less like the green accents Katsuki has all over his costume.)

As time progressed however... their costumes changed. The colors, the silhouettes, the practical functions, most things.

(Deku’s Gamma Costume and Bakugou’s Winter Costume used respectively)

we begin to notice a few similarities.

As the show goes on and we see more evolutions of their costumes, it almost seems like they begin to look like a matching pair. Deku’s green grows darker and almost teal in nature, while Bakugou’s orange is veering towards red territory. This is important to note because red-orange and blue-green as I said earlier were complementary colors as compared to simply orange and green. The minute shift is something I really wasn’t quite sure was intentional, but something I find interesting to pick up nonetheless as the colors they used to accent their costumes begin to match up.

Secondly, I think and important thing to note is silhouettes. The way that both Bakugou and Deku’s costumes are designed follow a lot of parallels that typically we don’t see with the rest of 1-A. For one, they both have a combination of tight long-sleeved tops with a bulkier set of bottoms. They also share the use of utility belts and metal pieces typically worn around their necks. Deku has his bunny-eared hood that mimics All Might’s hair, while Bakugou has his orange and black explosion ear-pieces that mimic his own quirk.

i don’t think any other people in class 1-A match each other as subtly yet strongly as these two. Uraraka and Deku and Bakugou and Kirishima do come close however.

“But Codi, you fucking knob!” I hear you plea. “This is such a reach and tells us practically NOTHING!” And yes, I’m inclined to agree with you! You’d be sort of right in the idea that this is a reach. Maybe I am looking too much into this, and maybe it really isn’t that deep--but I do think that them subconsciously matching outfits means something quite brilliant.

In the way that their costumes are designed, each aspect of either outfits have a very logical explanation. The changes were strategic and made with their fighting styles vividly in mind, so what that tells me is that BECAUSE these costumes are so complementary or similar in nature (Bakugou’s reinforcing his arms while Deku reinforces his legs), these two are implicitly showing the audience that their combat styles are complementary as well. 

The evolution of their design choices and similarities tell us that even unknowingly, their minds line up in strategy on the battlefield--a clear exhibit for why they would be INCREDIBLY POWERFUL as a Hero Duo to begin with.

When I look at their hero costumes side by side, I see a mirror. I see the way that these two are reflections of each other and are strong where the other isn’t. The point I see in BNHA repeatedly is that EVERYONE HAS A WEAKNESS. Nothing is infallible, regardless of how hard you train or how powerful your quirk is. Everyone will always have a weakness, but the significant difference I see when fandom discusses the future of Pro-Hero Society is that the new generation is finally raising itself to be RELIANT on each other. 

Observing their fighting styles and the simple use of their quirks, its obvious that they are indeed two parts of a whole hero. Bakugou, who’s quirk emphasized his arms and hands and the power that comes from it, while Deku who’s quirk now emphasizes his legs and lower body and the way he’s always running to save people.

IN CONCLUSION:

As they become heroes, it is easy to assume that if nothing else, Bakugou and Deku will cover each other’s weak spots (especially when you consider the way Deku probably won’t be able to keep using his arms with the way both the anime and manga are going...) (also chapter 285, anyone?)

-

Part Two: Interactions, OfA

kofi || commission details

[hermadnessmacwrites]

Why Do You Feel So Close (But You’re Oh So Far Away?)

Major manga spoilers in this fic

Rescue missions aren’t the sprint that combat missions are, Ochako is quickly learning. Rescue missions are a marathon. And, yes, time is still an important factor, but on her track, endurance—of her body, of her mind, of her spirit—reigns supreme.

The fact of the matter is, Ochako's tired. She's tired, on so many levels, but mostly she's tired of this limbo. Her life is on hold. No matter how she chooses to fill her time, Ochako knows she's just biding time: waiting for another attack, waiting for the cities to be put back together again, waiting for school to start.

Waiting for Deku to wake up.

—x—Day 1—x—

"Oh Deku," Ochako breathes, taking in the sight of the boy before her.

Visiting Izuku in the hospital isn’t a new experience, but he’s truly outdone himself this time. Thick, white plaster encases each of his limbs. Even if he was conscious, Ochako thinks Deku would struggle to move the heavy weights. That's probably the reason for the pulley system keeping each appendage suspended off the mattress. Either that, or the medical staff doesn’t want to put any more stress on his shattered bones.

Ochako's stomach, already sensitive from a full day of using her Quirk, rolls. Why does it always end like this? Too much first-hand experience with Deku's injuries means she doesn't have to imagine the damage hiding underneath the plaster. Flashbacks of blackened flesh and the unstructured movement of boneless arms parade through her head like a horrifying slideshow.

It's the USJ all over again. It's the summer training camp. UA's entrance exam. Their first Hero training—Stain.

Why does it always end up like this?

No matter what choice she makes. No matter how she tries to help him, somehow Ochako always ends up...here. Standing in front of Deku's hospital bed.

She's tried to support him.

She's tried to save him.

She's tried to stand beside him.

She's tried to hold him back.

She's tried to trust him.

But still…? Still this. Still standing in this acoustic tile room that smells like dead flowers and antiseptics. Still listening to the insistent electronic beeping and counting breaths. Still absolutely powerless to keep him safe.

The worst part is Ochako can't even be mad at him. She understands why he did it. Her first proud moment as a hero wasn't the result of a conscious decision. Seeing Deku writhe in pain during their match with 1-B—Ochaku just moved. Pure instinct drove her forward to protect him from hurting himself. Long before she had any plan on how to make that reality, Ochako was airborne.

And, yeah. Maybe it was reckless. Those charged black whips were a completely new phenomena at that point—a variable that could have panned out badly for both of them. But Ochako looks back at that memory and smiles because—that's it. That's what it feels like to have no regrets. To know that she may have put herself in harm's way, but her actions made a difference for someone else.

And Deku has made a difference.

It's easy to miss from the outside. In the aftermath, in the hospital, most people see an injured first year and shake their head. Rash, they think. Careless. Another young boy drowning in the deep end.

Maybe there's a kernel of truth in that. Maybe Deku has taken on more than he can handle. If that's true, though, it's only because he could see others buckling under the strain. Because Deku looked at a situation with that brilliant, tactical mind of his and thought, I might not win, but I can help.

How can Ochako not find that inspiring?

Heroes step up when there's a need, they've been taught. Well, it turns out that sweet, stammering Deku has a spine of steel to go with that heart of gold. Armed with an unyielding moral compass and double-edged Quirk, he's proven more than ready to rise to every challenge thrown this way. It’s amazing. He’s amazing. And as scary as it can be to watch Deku shatter against his upper limits, watching him chase his dream of becoming the Number One Hero has pushed motivated Ochako into her own Plus Ultra moment more than once.

But, even still…

...Ochako just wishes Deku didn't see himself as such an acceptable sacrifice. He matters. It matters that Deku is destroying his body for them. It matters that he's laying here in this damn full-body cast.

Tears escape onto her checks. Ochako lets them fall unhindered. Deku, of all people, would understand the need to cry right now. Her chest is full, tight, with a mess of contradicting emotions. She's proud of him. She's furious with him.

She's terrified.

If this isn't the first time, then logic says it won't be the last, either. There will come another night that Ochako stands at the foot of his bed and wonders how many more times can his body take this abuse?

How many more times will Deku get back up?

A soft knock sounds on the door before it creaks open slowly. Ochako hiccups in surprise. Drawing the back of her hand across her nose, she hastily tries to piece herself back together for whoever has just walked in. 

"Young Uraraka?" A large, warm hand lands on her shoulder. All Might. "The hospital staff just informed me that visiting hours are over. You should go get some rest."

"R-right!" Ochako’s voice sounds thick even to her, so she tries again. "I'll go—I'll go do that, then."

Moving slowly to give her stiff muscles a chance to wake up, Ochako makes her way to the door. Once there, she can’t resist pausing to look back at Deku one more time. The slow rise and fall of his chest is the only solace she can take from his broken and bruised form. Ochako’s hand tightens on the doorframe, lips drawing into a thin line. She hates this.

“Young Uraraka.”

Ochako’s gaze snaps from her friend to the emaciated man standing next to him. Electric blue eyes burn intensely from within their sunken depths. She instinctively draws herself up taller under his gaze.

“Young Midoriya will get back up,” he promises in a voice that rings with the power and conviction of the former Number One Hero. “I have full confidence he'll come out the other side of this experience as well."

As well. Because this is far from the first time Deku has been bed-bound in a hospital. The thought leaves a bitter taste on her tongue, but Ochako manages a wane smile around it anyway. The amount of confidence All Might has in Deku is heartening. It takes a special kind of person—a special kind of hero—to catch the eye of the former Symbol of Peace. Does Deku know how much faith his idol has in him?

It feels necessary to answer a declaration like that with one of her own. She nods sharply at her teacher and lets the hard-edge of her determination shine through her eyes.

Read the rest of this fic on ao3

[kurokoros]

some like it hot (1/4) | todoroki x reader x bakugou

Rated: T (bakugou’s dirty mouth, sexual humor)

Words: 9.3K

Pairing: shouto todoroki x fem!reader x katsuki bakugou

Summary: A Charity Fundraiser leads to you going home with not one, but two of the most popular Pro Heroes of your generation. They say some like it hot, and you certainly aren’t complaining.

AKA: a totally not self-indulgent threesome fic

AN: Well, this isn’t what I was expecting to write, but here we are! I was just planning to write a pwp threesome fic but now there are feelings involved, and this is my life now. Also available on AO3. Ask to be added to the tag-list. Chapters will be weekly until completion! Thanks in advance for reading! Note, this does start with a flash forward.  A note: the reader does have a name used only in dialogue because I hate using “Y/N” in fics. Both names are puns. “Yuna” = Y/N, and the kanji in “Hikai” means “fire time”.

You can honestly say this wasn’t what you were expecting to happen tonight.

Chilled fingers follow the curve of your spine, starting at the base of your neck and trailing downward achingly slow. The hitch in your breathing is loud, and Shouto’s lips curve into a barely there smile against the back of your head. Deftly, he slips a finger between your shoulder and the pretty dress you’re wearing, teasing the soft skin there before you let him brush the fabric aside.

The straps of your dress slide down your arms teasingly, and a pair of narrowed, ruby red eyes immediately drag down your body, appraising you as more of your soft skin is revealed. Katsuki licks his lips as the silky fabric pools around your feet, expression nothing short of greedy as he watches the two of you, though he doesn’t move. Not yet. You shiver under his gaze and the icy kiss that Shouto presses against the side of your neck. Hands drag down your sides to grasp your hips, the difference in temperature between the two making you gasp and squirm, but Shouto holds you firmly against his chest.

The boys lock eyes over your shoulder. A silent agreement.

“All right, angel.” Katsuki’s voice is deeper than usual, and startlingly calm. “Be a good girl and moan for me an’ Icy Hot.”

Shouto huffs at the old insult, but then his teeth drag down the column of your throat and you do exactly as Katsuki demands, much to their amusement.

Chuckling to himself, Katsuki’s eyes rake over you again, taking in the lacy lingerie previously hidden beneath your dress, and the strappy high-heels that do little to keep you from being dwarfed by their heights. You swear his fingers spark as he grasps the front of his dress shirt, popping the buttons one by one. Patiently, Shouto’s left hand draws small circles against your hip, his right skimming the smooth skin of your stomach, trailing higher and higher until he’s grasping your chin between cold and calloused fingers.

They look at you like they want to devour you.

And you plan on letting them.

One Week Earlier

“Midoriya!” you snap, throwing open the door to the Pro Hero's office and letting it slam against the wall with a loud crack. Izuku’s head snaps up in surprise, big, green eyes locking with yours, and the intern sitting across from him releases a rather undignified squeak at your sudden intrusion. 

Immediately, a grin spreads across Izuku’s face. “Oh, hey, Hikai—”

Your narrowed eyes and the manila folder pointed in his direction are a warning, and he shuts his mouth quickly.

“Don’t ‘hey’ me, Midoriya. I’ve told you at least a dozen times now to give me the list of agencies you want contacted for the charity gala next week. We need it finalized by the end of the day, or I swear...” You leave the threat hanging as you place your free hand on your hip, but you get the point across easily enough.

Realization dawns on Izuku’s face. His eyes widen further if possible, his mouth dropping open into a silent “oh” as his neck begins to flush. Across from him, Izuku’s intern Seiji Nakamura shifts awkwardly and glances between the two of you, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else as you chastise Deku, one of the top rising heroes of the new generation.

And chastise you will. Deku may be the Pro Hero, but you’re the one that runs this shit show.

“But, I thought…” Izuku trails off suddenly and rubs the back of his head, a sheepish look on his face. 

You quirk a brow. “Thought what?” Your heel stops tapping against the floor impatiently when he sends you the best puppy dog look he can manage at twenty-three, which shouldn’t be nearly as effective as it is considering you’re both adults now. “Midoriya, just how many agencies were you planning on inviting this time?”

“... All of them?”

In response, your eye twitches. You highly consider smacking yourself with the folders still clutched in your right hand, but settle for pursing your lips at the pleading look he’s still sending you, hope shining in those big, green eyes. Even Seiji looks baffled by Izuku’s reply, blue eyes half-hidden behind a shaggy mess of dark, curly hair.

Honestly, you can’t say you’re all that surprised by the overzealous answer. After working with Izuku for three years and counting, it’s certainly something you’ve come to expect, though you can’t help but wish he would tone things down just a little. But Izuku has always had the most uncanny way of connecting with people and inspiring them, you included, and already, you find yourself thinking up ways to make this work in less than a week.

Ever since he opened his own agency three years ago, Izuku has always been adamant about including everyone in these charity events, despite any tensions that may exist between certain Pro Heroes. Somehow, he manages to curb any animosity with his sweet nature, flitting around between different groups of people and putting smiles on everyone’s faces. You’d think that was his quirk if you hadn’t seen him in action before.

Shaking your head, you level him with a tired look. You’ll have to call in a few favors. “You’re going to give me gray hairs someday, you know that?”

Izuku’s smile widens. “You’re the best, Hikai!”

“Don’t you forget it.”

You cross the short distance to his desk and set down the folders. His brows furrow and his head cocks to the side in confusion as he glances between you and the mysterious files. Casting a glance at Seiji, you decide to keep things vague. “These are the files you requested about the activity in Utapa. They’re ordered by urgency. Tsukauchi wants your answer by Friday at the latest.”

If Izuku is surprised, he manages not to show it. “Thanks, Hikai. Is there anything else?” 

“Your meeting with Ground Zero and Shouto starts in an hour. Would you like me to just let them in?” The as usual remains silent.

Seiji perks up at the mention of the other Pros, just as popular and respected as Deku himself. When his eyes widen, you’re reminded that the previous meeting between the three Heroes was cancelled due to the recent disaster that destroyed much of the eastern coast. The last two weeks since Seiji joined them had been busy for everyone between rescue operations and a small spike in criminal activity, but things have finally begun to return to normal.

Nodding, Izuku offers you a smile. “You know how Kacchan is,” he says simply, making you roll your eyes. 

Don’t you ever. Katsuki has been an absolute pain in your ass for years, always yelling and swearing and storming into Izuku’s office even though the polite thing would be to wait for permission. You’ve grown used to it, of course. It wasn’t easy coming to terms with the fact that you were friends with the huffy blond in high school on account of him being a reluctant extension of Izuku, but since then, you’ve grown to appreciate his friendship. He’s calmed down a lot over the years you’ve known him, and he begrudgingly weaseled his way into your heart after the two of you crushed the rest of his former classmates in beer pong.

At least Shouto is marginally more polite, if not closed-off and occasionally a little too brash, though he always means well. You’ve grown used to that, too.

In either case, you can’t say you mind the eye-candy.

“Though,” Izuku continues suddenly, an uncharacteristic flicker of mischief in his gaze, “I’m sure they’ll want to stop and talk to you first. It’s been a few weeks since they’ve been here. They probably miss you.”

You snort, momentarily forgetting about Seiji sitting beside you and blatantly ignoring Izuku’s comment, even as you feel yourself flush. “It hasn’t been that long,” you tell him, neglecting to mention that you recently went out for drinks with Katsuki and Kirishima and managed to snag a quick lunch with Shouto between the craziness of last week. Though, judging by the look in his eyes, Izuku must already know. 

With that, you straighten and clear your throat. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some phone calls to make.”

Izuku’s amusement doesn’t fade as you stalk back out the door and close it behind you with a gentle click.

It’s nearly an hour later during a lapse between calls that you sigh and drop your head into your hands, silently lamenting your choice in career up to this moment. As much as you enjoy working with Izuku and other Pro Heroes, you could stand a few less calls with old men that think you don’t know how to do your job.

So far, you’ve barely made a dent in the amount of calls you have to make for this charity event. To have everything ready in less than a week will be a challenge, but you always have liked a little last-minute pressure. With the evacuations and rescues done, all that’s left is to provide financial support to those devastated by the recent tsunami, and that’s where you come in. You may not have a combat-oriented quirk fit for a Hero, but this is something you can do.

Leaning back in your chair, you stretch your arms above your head, relaxing for just a second before you have to make your next call. In the meantime, you glance at the report you’d been thumbing through earlier, a copy of Izuku’s statement from the last villain he fought. Just another thing you need to finish this afternoon.

You look over the file quickly, hardly hearing the tell-tale click of Izuku’s office door opening and closing. 

Absently, your eyes flick away from the report as you hear the scuff of sneakers against the tile, catching sight of the newest addition to Deku’s Agency.

Izuku’s intern, Seiji, hesitates as he passes your desk, glancing at you out of the corner of his eye as he fidgets with his costume gloves. Momentarily, you’re reminded of how adorable and awkward Izuku was when you first met during the start of your second year at UA, and an unwitting smile curls on your lips.

“Can I help you, Nakamura?” you ask, pausing midway through the report laid out across your desk.

The teenage boy startles at the sound of your voice, eyes wide as he rips his gaze away from the clock. You press your lips into a tight line to keep from snickering with immediate understanding.

There are thirty minutes left until Katsuki and Shouto are supposed to meet with Izuku.

“Ah! No, everything is fine, Ms. Hikai!” he hurries to tell you, waving his hands in front of him frantically. Big, blue eyes meet yours as his face flushes with embarrassment that’s practically a carbon-copy of the expression your boss makes when he’s flustered. If you didn’t know better, you might think the two were related, though, you suppose that’s why they get along as well as they do.

Izuku isn’t exactly selective about taking on interns from UA, but you’d be blind not to see how easily the two of them clicked after they first met. Seiji Nakamura is only a first year, not the top of his class by any means, but with the same drive and determination that you saw in Izuku nearly a decade ago. It’s only his third week interning under the Pro Hero Deku, but already he’s improved greatly, becoming a welcome addition to the Agency.

You won’t be surprised if Izuku decides to take him on as a sidekick after he graduates.

Seiji shuffles his feet and casts another wistful glance at the clock, and you decide to take pity on the poor boy. 

“Did Deku send you home for the day?” you ask, despite knowing the answer. You peer at him out of the corner of your eyes, pretending to go back to your reports. 

Slowly, he nods. 

“Good. Then you can help me finish filing the last of these reports.” You reach for another file. “What?” you continue when he gapes at you. “You didn’t think hero work was just beating up criminals, did you?”

“No, Ma’am!” he’s quick to sputter out, flushing all the way to the tips of his ears. 

You grin. “Well, then you can help me with this for a few minutes.”

Seiji nods, eyes shining with familiar determination, and it isn’t long before he’s plopped onto a chair beside you, carefully filing a stack of reports sitting on the corner of your desk while you alternate between doing the same and making another series of quick phone calls.

It’s during another lapse in these calls that Seiji peeks at you over the top of the file he’s reading. “Ms. Hikai?” he asks, suddenly bashful again as he rubs the back of his head. “How long have you known Deku?”

Barely glancing up from your paperwork, you hum in thought. “Almost eight years now. We met as second years at UA.” Fondness tugs at you as you think about that time and everyone you’ve met as a result of a single random selection.

Seiji’s head tilts to one side curiously, his brows furrowing slightly. “But you weren’t in the hero department.”

“No, I was in the business department. Top of my class too,” you can’t help but tack on. His eyes widen at the new information. “At the start of our second year, the faculty wanted to create more unity within the student body, so students from each class were paired together for a group project. Midoriya and I just happened to be in the same group.” Your lips quirk upward as you reminisce, and you find yourself telling Seiji more than you meant to. “I already knew who he was, of course. Because of the previous Sport’s Festival and all of the trouble his class was constantly getting into. Though, I definitely wasn’t expecting to end up working at his Hero Agency eventually.”

You’d been working freelance half-way across the country when you got the call from Izuku about the agency he was opening and the offer of a job. You practically had to uproot your entire life at the time, but you would have been an idiot not to.

“Did you ever want to be a Pro Hero?”

Pausing, your eyes narrow as you think it over. “Doesn’t everyone?” you counter, only half-joking. “Honestly though? Not really. I’m happy with my job. I always knew I wanted to work with Heroes, not be one.” Glancing at the clock, you can’t help but sigh when you see the time. With a barely smothered groan, you grab your work phone off your desk and frown when you see the next name on your list.

Dialing the number, you start preparing for a major headache later. 

“Mr. Fujikaze!” you greet as soon as he answers the phone. “This is Yuna Hikai from Deku’s Agency. I was wondering if I could have a word with you?”

“Mr. Fujikaze, I would appreciate it if you didn’t shout at me,” you state calmly despite the irritation threatening to creep into your tone. “I understand that this is short notice, but if you would please listen—”

You’re cut off by a snide retort you don’t bother listening to. Beside you, Seiji blanches, having grown startlingly pale over the duration of your conversation. Almost immediately after giving your name, the conversation took a sour twist. You were expecting it, given your previous experiences with the surly man, but that doesn’t make it any easier to tolerate.

You catch the tail end of some quip about him thinking Deku would hire a “more competent secretary,” and it takes a startling amount of willpower not to hang up on him right there. He knows damn well that you aren’t just some secretary. “Mr. Fujikaze, once again, I understand your frustration, but it’s important that you inform Nightwalker of the upcoming event. As a former Pro Hero, the show of public support would be instrumental towards—”

Another round of spiteful remarks makes you sigh. You’re so engrossed in the man yelling at you over the phone that you don’t hear the ding of the elevator until a loud scoff draws your gaze towards it. Seiji’s head whips around as well, his eyes widening comically as he realizes who’s there.

“You got stupid Deku’s interns doin’ your job now, sweetcheeks?” a familiar, gruff voice teases you. Heat licks up your spine as your eyes lock with ruby ones, a cheeky smirk already spreading across Katsuki’s face. To his right, Shouto shakes his head, but makes no comment when he sees you on the phone.

Ignoring them for the moment, you hold up a single finger to silence Katsuki’s next smartass remark. He grumbles something under his breath that you don’t catch, clearly put out by your easy dismissal.

But like Izuku said, neither one makes a move to head directly into his office, waiting patiently—if you could ever call Katsuki that—for you to finish your phone call.

“Sir, I understand—if you would let me finish—” You purse your lips at the mocking voice that cuts you off again. “Yes, I’m aware that Nightwalker is—” You yank the phone away from your ear as Mr. Fujikaze raises his voice again, this time louder than before. Loud enough for the two Pro Heroes standing across the desk to hear him.

Shouto’s heterochromatic eyes narrow and you swear the temperature drops sharply as he clenches his jaw. He takes a small step forward and you shiver, but before he can say anything, the phone is being ripped out of your hand.

“Bakugou!” you snap, glaring up at him in exasperation.

“Oi, dickhead!” Katsuki barks into the phone, taking a step back before you can grab your phone again. Your gaze cuts to Shouto for help, but he pretends not to notice, doing absolutely nothing to stop his companion’s irritated tirade. “Don’t fuckin’ yell at her just because she’s better at her fuckin’ job than you! And you work for a Pro? Fuckin’ pathetic.” 

Fujikaze’s stuttered response is cut off with a click.

“Bastard,” Katsuki practically snarls, glaring down at the now silent phone like he’s thinking about exploding it into tiny pieces.

Utterly unimpressed, you roll your eyes and hold out your hand for your phone, fingers wiggling impatiently until Katsuki huffs and drops the device onto your waiting palm. “As eloquent and to the point as always, Bakugou. And how many times have I told you to stop with the pet-names while I’m working? This is a professional setting, you know.”

He snorts and crosses his arms. “Bastard had it comin’, sweetcheeks,” he says, blatantly ignoring you. Asshole.

“You realize I’ll just have to call him back and apologize for that, right?” you ask, one eyebrow quirking slightly. A hint of amusement curls at your lips despite everything, and a familiar, pleasant warmth floods through you as he stares just a little too long.

“Whatever,” Katsuki grumbles, looking far too pleased with himself for telling someone off.

Instead of arguing with him further, you turn to his quieter companion. Your smile only widens when you find him already staring back. Shouto’s mouth curves up slightly at the edges and he nods, casually slipping a hand into the pocket of his dark jacket—which looks sinfully good on him. Neither of them have any business looking that good in casual wear, you think, trying not to stare at the collarbones revealed by Shouto’s plain v-neck or the biceps Katsuki has on display.

If you didn’t know better, you’d think they were doing it on purpose.

“Hikai.” It’s a simple greeting, more formal than Katsuki’s because you’re both working, but there’s something overwhelmingly soft about the way he says it. You’ve always liked the way your name sounds on his lips.

“Todoroki,” you say in return, the ghost of a smile flickering across your lips as you tease him. “How many times will I have to tell you to call me Yuna?”

Mirth flickers in those blue and gray eyes. “At least one more.”

Katsuki snorts, but by the time your eyes flicker back to him, he’s already frowning down at the nervous child seated beside you. “Who the hell are you?” he asks bluntly, as if he’s already forgotten that Seiji is Izuku’s intern who you’re positive that either you or Izuku have mentioned to the grouchy blond before.

You don’t notice the look that Shouto sends Katsuki.

“Don’t be rude, Bakugou,” you chastise, clicking your tongue at him. He doesn’t even pretend to look apologetic.

Luckily, Seiji doesn’t seem discouraged by the attitude. He practically scrambles out of his chair after the Ground Zero addresses him, nearly dropping the files he was going through before the two Pros stepped in. “I’m Seiji Nakamura, Mr. Ground Zero, sir!” he sputters out, reaching across the desk with one hand for Katsuki to shake. “It’s nice to meet you!”

You smother a laugh at Katsuki’s bewildered reaction to Seiji’s excitement, the high-schooler rambling slightly as he gushes about both Pro Heroes, much to your amusement.

Shouto cuts Seiji off gently. “Sunspot, correct?” At the wide-eyed look and quick nod from the teenager, Shouto hums in thought. “You did well at the Sports Festival,” he says. “It’s unsurprising that Midoriya took you as an intern.”

“You too,” Seiji says stupidly. A look of horror spreads across his face. “No, wait, I didn’t—I mean—obviously, you did well in the Sports Festivals a few years ago, Mr. Shouto. And I’m sure that Mr. Deku would have taken you on as an intern as well, but—”

He’s out of breath, and his face is starting to turn a rather dashing shade of scarlet by the time you place your hands on his shoulders, gently guiding him back onto his chair. You haven’t seen him this much of a jumbled mess of nerves since the day he first met Izuku. At least then the two of them were able to gush about each other. 

“Deep breaths, Nakamura,” you murmur in Seiji’s ear, giving his arm a quick squeeze.

“Right,” he chokes out. He glances up at the amused pros and grabs another stack of reports, quickly burying his face in them to hide his flushed cheeks.

Yeah, he’s definitely Deku’s intern. While Shouto looks almost fond of Seiji’s Izuku-like ramblings, there’s a glint in Katsuki’s eyes that has your hands immediately going to your hips. “Don’t even think about it, Bakugou,” you warn him. “I won’t hesitate to kick your ass.” You know that look. And you’re not going to let him make fun of some poor kid.

He scoffs loudly at the threat. “Like you could.” He looks you up and down slowly, a cocky smirk on his face, and you shudder at the way those red eyes drag across your form shamelessly.

“Wanna bet?” you challenge teasingly, silently glad that your heels are giving you just a little extra height right now. “You scared, Ground Zero?” you continue when he chuckles under his breath.

Katsuki braces his arms against the top of your desk and leans forward until he’s in your face. “I’d like to see you try, short stuff,” he says, low and a little husky, and for a second, you think your brain might short-circuit. 

Forcing your gaze away from Katsuki’s teasing one, your eyes end up finding Shouto. He’s standing a little straighter than before, dual-colored brows furrowed as he stares at Katsuki with a flicker of irritation that disappears as soon as he feels your gaze on him. Those icy eyes flicker to you, unintentionally pinning you in place. Your breath catches.

Clearing your throat, you pull away from the magnetizing gaze as white hot electricity buzzes through you. “Midoriya is ready whenever you’d like to go in,” you inform them, hoping your voice sounds even. “He knew you were coming, so you shouldn’t need to knock.” With that, you reach for your phone again, debating if you should call back Fujikaze now or wait until he’s possibly calmed down.

Katsuki doesn’t let you get far. “Some assistant you are,” he drawls almost lazily, slipping a hand into his pocket. “Not even gonna let him know we’re here?”

From the corner of your eye, you see Seiji watching the three of you intently, his blue eyes jumping rapidly from you to Katsuki to Shouto in fascination. There’s a quip about Katsuki just wanting to stare at your ass on the tip of your tongue, but you bite it back, not wanting to taint the poor intern’s virgin ears. Besides, you have to remain at least somewhat professional, even if these are your friends.

You glare at Katsuki as you shift out from around the desk. Your heels click against the tile floor as you walk towards Izuku’s office. Behind you, their steps are quieter, muffled, but still recognizable. Katsuki’s self-satisfied smirk is something you can practically feel against your back.

Knocking twice on the door before opening it, you pop your head in just in time to see Izuku gazing almost wistfully at an All Might action figure before he flushes and quickly shoves it back into the top drawer of his desk. You’re sure the amusement shows on your face when you tell him, “Ground Zero and Shouto are here to see you, Deku.”

His eyes light up when he sees the men standing behind you. “Kacchan! Todoroki!”

“What did I tell you about calling me that? Fuckin’, Deku,” Katsuki grumbles as you step out of the way to let him through. He’s glaring at Izuku half-heartedly, much to Izuku’s amusement, and you roll your eyes as you twist on your heel to return to your desk while the longtime rivals start to argue playfully.

You gasp as you nearly crash into Shouto’s chest, the Hero closer than you thought. A big hand reaches out to steady you as you wobble on your heels, his palm gripping your waist in a firm, yet gentle, hold. His touch is hot even through your dress, and you inhale sharply at the deliciously warm contact.

“Careful now,” he murmurs, voice deeper than usual. Izuku and Katsuki’s bickering seems muffled by the quiet lull of his voice. Humor flickers in Shouto’s eyes and, very carefully, he shifts you so that you’re almost blocked from looking into Izuku’s office. “You wouldn’t want to fall.”

It takes a second too long for you to find your voice. “You’re right,” you say a little breathlessly. He’s so close that you can smell his cologne, light and fresh, though you can’t quite figure out what it is. “Bakugou would never let me live it down.”

He doesn’t laugh, but you’ve known him long enough to recognize the amusement in his eyes. Slowly, and so gently that you almost don’t notice, his grip tightens on your waist.

“Oi, hurry the fuck up, Icy Hot!” Katsuki barks when Shouto hesitates too long in the doorway.

As usual, Shouto ignores him, still staring down at you with a look in his eyes that makes you shiver. The tip of his pinky brushes against your hip and you find yourself leaning into the gentle heat. His eyes rip away from yours as he clears his throat. Shouto glances behind you suddenly, and you follow his gaze to the intern still sitting behind your desk, awestruck and grinning like an idiot. You place a delicate hand on his bicep, drawing his attention away from the giddy teenager with a soft squeeze. “Something wrong, Shouto?”

His gaze snaps back to you as quickly as it left, and those mismatched eyes almost steal your breath as they jump between your own eyes and the fingers curled around his upper arm. Swallowing, he glances at Seiji once again.

When he does speak, his voice is low. Shouto’s breath tickles the shell of your ear, and you can hear the nearly imperceptible tinge of humor. “Is that Midoriya’s secret love child, or something?”

Barely smothering a giggle, you shove him towards Izuku’s office as you shake your head. His lips twitch into a barely there smile.

“Yuna,” he calls you back before you can slip away, the sound of your name on his tongue making heat curl through you. Shouto is as shameless as Katsuki in the way his eyes drag down your body, taking in every inch of you like he wants to commit everything to memory, and you can practically feel the path his eyes take like it’s a physical touch. By the time his eyes find yours again, your chest is tight with something you don’t want to put a name to. “You look beautiful today,” he tells you in a voice barely above a whisper.

Only then, does he let you go. Shouto’s hand falls back to his side, but the heat from his palm is still burning into your side, like fire left in his wake. Your hand slips from his arm just as slowly, trailing down the length of his arm so that your fingers brush before you let him go.

Shouto looks like he wants to say something else, but he shakes his head and offers you a small smile and a nod before stepping into Izuku’s office and walking over to his friends.

You close the door behind you, a shaky sound leaving you as you lean back against the solid surface. 

Seiji is staring at you with wide eyes, his mouth open in a small “o”. When he realizes he’s been caught, he yelps and grabs the nearest file on the desk, opening it to a random page.

“Something wrong?” you ask.

“Nope!”

The rest of the day was a blur. Before you knew it, your paperwork was done, and it was time for you to leave, though you stayed to chat with Izuku a moment before leaving. His smile was tight all afternoon after Shouto and Katsuki left, and it stayed that way until the moment you stepped out the door. 

You could hear the yelling earlier, mostly from Katsuki, of course, but you were surprised to hear a harsh edge to Shouto’s voice as he responded, even if you couldn’t make out what they were saying. At that point, you sent Seiji home, and the meeting between the three Heroes ended soon after, much earlier than usual.

Katsuki stormed out first, cursing under his breath and stomping towards the elevator. He barely spared you a glance as he left, but for a second, you thought his gaze softened when he saw you. Shouto was quieter as he left, a tightness around his eyes, but he nodded at you before disappearing after Katsuki.

Izuku didn’t mention whatever argument they must have had, and you didn’t press. It was none of your business.

You’re barely out of the office before your phone is ringing with the obnoxious tone that you reserve for one person. Fishing your phone from your purse, you’re quick to accept the call without a second thought. “Hello, Mina,” you greet the bubbly woman calmly as you cross the street.

“What are you wearing right now?” she asks, ignoring your greeting entirely. 

A bemused frown slips onto your face, and you sigh. “Mina…” you trail off with a shake of your head. A small part of you wants to ask why she’s curious, but a larger part says it’s better not to question it. Mina has always been a little eccentric, which is something you’ve always loved about her, but sometimes it can be exhausting.

She giggles. You can practically picture the grin on her face. “I bet it’s something sexy,” she teases. “You aren’t wearing anything naughty, are you?”

“I just got off work,” you remind her, assuming that’s why she chose to call now. “What do you think I’m wearing?” Absently, you glance down at the plum colored dress you’re wearing: form-fitting and pretty, but still professional. Izuku isn’t strict when it comes to dress codes, but you have more than just your own image to worry about.

She scoffs. “I’ve seen your office clothes. It’s definitely something sexy. Not that I’m complaining, of course.” You hear the tell-tale sound of Mina flopping dramatically onto the nearest piece of furniture and roll your eyes. She sighs loudly. “Midoriya sure is lucky to get to see your pretty face every day.” 

Your lips quirk into a smile without your permission. “Is there something you want or are you just trying to proposition me?”

“I mean if you want to…” she trails off suggestively.

A snort escapes you. “I don’t think Kirishima would like that very much,” you say, reminding her of her longtime boyfriend. The two have been dating since their third year at UA and are disgustingly cute together. Besides, you’d hate to be a homewrecker.

“He doesn’t have to know.” Mina giggles, only to stop abruptly with a gasp. “Oh! Better yet, maybe he could—”

You cut her off before she can finish the thought. “I’m hanging up now.” 

It’s an empty threat, but Mina reacts immediately.

“No!” she whines, dragging out the word as long as she can. “I’ll behave!” Her try at sincerity is offset by the torrent of giggles she’s unable to smother, and you find yourself grinning as well. “Yaomomo wanted me to call and make sure you’re still on for tonight at her place. We know you’ve been busy with work and the charity event you’re planning for Midoriya, so if you can’t make it tonight, we totally understand, girl.” She pauses. “But if you cancel, Ochako and I are going to break into your apartment and kidnap you anyway.”

“That’s not very heroic of you, Pinky. Eraserhead would be so disappointed.” Frankly, you’re surprised Mina’s class didn’t send him into early retirement. “What was the plan for tonight again?”

“Movies, wine, and talking about boys. The usual.”

Perfect. That’s exactly what you need after… whatever it is that happened today. “You know what? That sounds great right now.” 

Mina squeals. “Yay! Great! I’ll let Yaomomo know right away. What time do you think you’ll be over?”

You hum as you head for the train, trying to estimate the time. “Probably an hour? I have to drop off some files at home and change, but that should be it.”

“Perfect. Tsu got held up with Sirius—you know, wedding planning and all—and Toru has a date tonight, so it’ll just be the five of us.”

You grin. “I’ll bring the wine.”

It’s a few hours later when you find yourself squished onto a couch with Ochako and Kyouka, pleasantly tipsy as you listen to Mina dramatically recount the events of her recent date with Kirishima that somehow involved a one-hundred-and-twenty count pack of crayola crayons, an elderly chihuahua, and a leopard-print shower curtain—you’re a little afraid to ask the logistics of it all—when your phone vibrates in your pocket for what must be the fifth time tonight. 

Finally resigning yourself to check your messages, you wiggle just enough to fish your phone out from under you as the conversation shifts to Toru’s date for the night. The newest message makes you smile immediately, a simple text from Izuku telling you to have fun tonight with too many emojis and exclamation points that you know the rest of the girls must have gotten, too. There’s also one from Iida reminding you to drink responsibly that has your eyes rolling, but it’s the last two notifications that make you freeze.

Shouto and Katsuki’s names make your stupid heart flutter on sight. The messages are virtually the same: have fun, be safe, and call if you’ll need a ride home after. You choke up as you glance over the texts again, your entire chest feeling uncomfortably tight, like there’s a sudden weight curling around your ribcage and squeezing. You blame the wine. The texts are nothing out of the ordinary. You’ve accepted rides from both of them before so tonight shouldn’t be any different.

But it is, a small part of you says. It’s different for you. But you’ve known them both too long to fuck up a perfectly good thing.

“What about you, babe?” Ochako leans over Kyouka to poke your arm, jolting you back to the conversation. “Any men in your life we should know about?”

With that thought in mind and the welcome distraction, you turn off your phone and shove it back into your pocket without responding, even though you know it’ll just make them worry. “Hardly. You know I don’t have time to date right now.” It’s not exactly a lie with how busy you’ve been, but it’s certainly not the main reason. “Besides, I’m not interested in anyone,” you continue.

Kyouka’s expression is sly when she glances at you over the rim of her drink. “That’s not what I heard from Denki. Apparently he saw some pretty interesting things last week. A lunch date, perhaps?”

“Kaminari is full of shit,” you remind her. Already you can feel a flush creeping down your neck. You didn’t know anyone saw you and Shouto. Not that it’s a big deal. Just two friends grabbing lunch. Nothing else.

On the other couch, Mina sits up with a loud gasp. “Wait, which one are we talking about? Bakugou or Todoroki? You’re such a player, Yuna!”

“Todoroki,” Kyouka says before you can protest. “But you’re right, Mina, Bakugou definitely likes her too.”

You roll your eyes. “He does not.”

Ochako leans forward to look at you, shaking her head. “Izuku seems to think Bakugou genuinely likes you.” Her smile widens mischievously. “Apparently, he’s very honest when he’s drunk.”

“Eiji told me the same thing,” Mina chimes in.

“Bakugou wants to fuck me, there’s a difference.” You only sound a little bit bitter when you say it, and the girls see right through you.

“I mean, you aren’t wrong,” Kyouka agrees begrudgingly, looking at you out of the corner of her eyes, “but he definitely likes you more than that. If you two just wanted to screw, I’m sure you would have done it by now.”

You make a face at that but can’t disagree as you reach for your wine glass, downing most of it because you’re definitely going to need it. A part of you hates that she’s right. You certainly could have had some hot, casual sex with Katsuki in the past. He’s never been shy about flirting with you, even if he used to be a hell of a lot worse at it, and you’ve never done a thing to deter him, but one or both of you have always backed off before it can get any further than that, unwilling to risk it. Katsuki is hot, sure, but not hot enough for you to sleep with your friend if it won’t go anywhere.

A low hum from across the room catches your attention. Your gaze flicks to Momo, who’s been quiet so far. There’s a contemplative look on her face, her eyes narrowed in deep thought and her lips set into a firm line. “As does Todoroki,” she says eventually. “We’ve all seen the way he looks at her.” Momo doesn’t elaborate at all, but Ochaoko, Mina, and Kyouka all nod like they know exactly what she means.

Mina looks at Ochako. “Didn’t Midoriya say they hugged today?” she asks, like you’re not sitting right there across from her. “Right there in front of his office? In front of his intern?” She glances at you then, mockingly scandalized. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“It wasn’t a hug,” you argue immediately. “It was…” you trail off awkwardly, trying to find the right word, but nothing better comes to mind. You can’t exactly explain what happened without making it sound like he cradled you in his arms while you felt up his biceps. “It wasn’t a hug,” you repeat as you cross your arms, pointedly not looking at any of them.

“Aww, you’re blushing!”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“So, which one would you rather see naked?”

That last one makes you nearly choke on your drink. “Mina!” Your wide-eyed look makes her cackle. She throws her hands up defensively at your glare. Kyouka and Ochako are already snickering at your expense, and you glare at them too. At least Momo has the decency to look scandalized by the unprovoked attack. Some friends you have.

“It’s a fair question!” Mina tucks her feet beneath her, cups her chin, and pretends to think, weighing her options. “Personally, I think I’d rather see—”

You groan. “Please stop talking.”

Kyouka shakes her head as she pulls her phone out of her pocket, glancing over a text quickly. “What would poor Kirishima say if he heard you thirsting over his friends like this?”

Mina shrugs. “He’d probably talk about their manly physiques.”

“Shit, you’re right. You got me there.” Kyouka sighs and sends a text before sliding her phone back into her pocket. She stands up suddenly, stretching her arms over her head and looking a little more flushed than she was a minute ago. “I’ll be back. Denki wants attention.” Carefully, she maneuvers around your legs, heading for the hallway. 

“Don’t have phone sex in the bathroom again,” you call after her.

She flips you the bird.

Momo stands as well. “And I should go check on the brownies.” For a second, you swear she looks pointedly at Ochako, but then she smiles and claps her hands together and the moment is gone. Momo glances at her seat companion. “Mina, would you accompany me to the kitchen?”

“What? But I—”

“Shut it, Pinky,” Kyouka snaps from out in the hallway. 

Mina pouts but allows Momo to pull her out of the living room and across the hall, the pair speaking in hushed whispers.

The sudden silence is heavier than normal. You glance across the couch to where Ochako is still sitting.

Ochako tucks her legs beneath her and looks at you from the other end of the couch. Her eyes are narrowed and there’s an unfamiliar pensive look on her face as she looks you up and down. You meet her stare with one of your own and cross your arms, daring her to say what’s on her mind now that the two of you are alone.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Ochako clears her throat. “You know,” she starts in a slow drawl, “Izuku told me something interesting today.” When you groan, a grin splits across her face, making her look very much like the cat that got the cream.

“Please, don’t,” you beg, downing the rest of your drink. You glance over your shoulder with a wince, suddenly glad that the other girls are gone.

Ochako continues as if you didn’t speak. “He said Bakugou and Todoroki have been having a…” she trails off, searching for the right word, “disagreement, so to speak. Apparently, things were a little tense during their meeting today.” Her mischievous smile disappears. “They’ve both been flirting with you for ages, you know. You can’t say you haven’t noticed either. Neither of them are exactly subtle about it.”

“I know.” You sigh and rake your fingers through your loose hair, fiddling with the rim of your empty glass with your free hand. Your own expression sobers and suddenly you wish you had another shot in front of you. “What am I supposed to do, Ochako?” you ask so softly she can barely hear you. “I don’t want to lead either of them on, but…”

You clam up before you can finish, already knowing how ridiculous you’ll sound once you say it out loud. It’s not something you’ve ever admitted to any of the girls, despite how often they tease you about the two powerhouses from their class.

“But?” Ochako prods gently, like she knows exactly what’s on your mind.

Another sigh. You set your glass down on the coffee table and curl your legs towards your chest, absentmindedly fiddling with the sleeve of your sweater. “I like both of them,” you say bluntly, grimacing as the words spill out. “I really do. And I know that makes me sound like some indecisive teenager going through an angsty phase—and I’m not going to sit here and whine and wax poetic about them, but they’re both great guys. You know that. They’re both intelligent and funny in their own ways. They’re great Heroes. Bakugou is… well, he’s Bakugou, but he’s charming in his own way. Todoroki is the same way. And, I mean, I’m not fucking blind, you know? They’re ridiculously hot, and it’s kind of unfair.” You finally force yourself to look at Ochako who looks caught between sympathetic and amused. “I’d be lucky to date either one of them.”

She reaches out to pat your arm, her lips quirking upward. “I think they’d be pretty lucky to date you too. You’re pretty hot yourself.”

You laugh in disbelief. “Thanks.”

Ochako shuffles closer to you, taking Kyouka’s abandoned spot and pressing her shoulder against yours. “So, what do you want to do? You know we’ll all support you either way, right?” 

The reassurance brings a small smile to your face, and you nod before dropping your head to rest on her shoulder. “I mean, I was just planning on eating ice cream, crying, and avoiding making life altering decisions for as long as possible.”

“Yuna!” Ochako giggles and shoves you off her shoulder. When you whine, she sends you a mock disapproving look. “Be serious!”

You smother a groan, wanting nothing more than to shove your face into the couch cushions and avoid this conversation entirely. “What do you want me to say, Ochako? That I’d like to let both of them have their way with me?”

An excited squeal from behind you makes you flinch in your seat. With wide eyes, you whip around on the couch. Horror shoots through you as your eyes lock on an ecstatic Mina, Momo and Kyouka hovering in the living room entrance behind her. 

“I fucking knew it!” Mina gasps, clapping her hands together and practically jumping up and down.

You sigh and drop your head back onto Ochako’s shoulder. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” you murmur.

She pats the top of your head gently.

Mina skips around the edge of the couch and flops down dramatically, already whipping out her phone as Momo and Kyouka settle onto the other sofa across from you, small, matching smiles on their faces. They’ve never teased you as openly as Mina or Ochako, but just because they haven’t said it out loud doesn’t mean they haven’t thought it.

“You’re being dramatic, Mina,” Kyouka says, folding her arms behind her head on the back of the couch. “It’s not like she was very good at hiding it.” She smirks at you, and you flip her the bird, making Ochako giggle.

Momo remains silent but has to politely cover her mouth with her hand to hide a smile.

Mina waves Kyouka off with a flick of her wrist. “Eijirou owes me twenty,” she tells all of you excitedly. Wiggling in her seat, she pulls her phone out of her pocket, excitedly beginning to type.

You lurch away from Ochako with a horrified gasp. “You are not telling Kirishima about this!” Mortified, you nearly lunge across Ochako’s lap to slap the cellphone out of Mina’s hands, to which she whines loudly. Mina pouts but makes no attempt to grab her phone off the floor.

The glare you send her is half-hearted; her smile comes back full force.

“So, when you say you want them to have their way with you, are we talking separately, or, like, at the same time? Because, to be honest, that’s totally a sandwich I wouldn’t mind getting between.”

Ochako snorts, Kyouka rolls her eyes, and Momo looks particularly scandalized at Mina’s comment.

“I’m too sober for this,” you murmur, shifting on the couch so that you can toss your legs over Ochako’s lap. Blindly, you grope for one of Momo’s throw pillows on the floor. Maybe it’s not too late to smother yourself with it. Frankly, you’d take death over the turn this conversation is taking. You’re loath to admit how much you agree with Mina on the whole sandwich thing—and you know what, maybe you have had enough to drink tonight.

The thought must be clear on your flushed face because Kyouka sends you a knowing look. “Definitely at the same time,” she says.

This time you go through with the smothering plan. The poor pillow is crushed against your face, muffling your words when you ask, “Why am I friends with any of you?” Obviously, you know the answer. These ladies have been with you for the better part of your young adult life, and you wouldn’t trade any of them for the world, but sometimes you really want to strangle them with your bare hands.

Ochako pulls the pillow away from your face and tosses it aside with a smile, making you pout.

“Bitch, you love us,” Mina jokes, throwing you a playful wink.

Kyouka leans forward, resting her chin against her palm. “Besides, who else would put up with your dramatic ass?”

“Kyouka,” Momo chides despite her growing smile.

Ochako giggles and reaches out to poke your cheek. “We do it because we love you.”

Still pouting, you sigh. “I know.” Despite their teasing, you know they only want the best for you, and you appreciate that more than you’d ever be able to put into words. “You guys are the worst. I love you, too.”

“So…” Mina trails off purposefully, pretending to be engrossed with something on her phone—probably Kirishima. “You never answered the question, my dear.”

“Which question is that?” Right now you’re desperately hoping that playing dumb will work. As much as you’d like to continue dissecting your love life—or lack thereof—you can think of at least a dozen things you’d rather be doing. And that short list includes letting Mineta suck on your toes.

“Personally, I’d like an answer to which one you’d rather see naked, but admitting you want to have a threesome with two of the sexiest Pro Heroes of our generation is also acceptable.”

One of your eyebrows quirks upward. “Just of our generation?”

“Aizawa is a fox.” The other girls protest in varying degrees of disgust and Mina crosses her arms. “Why are you booing me, I’m right!”

You bite back a smile as Kyouka pretends to gag. “I have to agree with Mina on that one,” you confess, only half joking. You turn to said girl. “Tell us more about your hot fantasies about Eraserhead.”

“Hey now,” Mina jabs a finger in your direction. “Don’t think you can wiggle out of this one that easily, missy. You’re not distracting me this time. I demand answers about your little love triangle.”

“If I play dumb a little longer will you drop it?”

Mina bats her eyelashes. “Not a chance.”

Suddenly, your mood sobers more than you were expecting. Maybe it’s the wine finally getting to you, or the text messages you’ve been ignoring, or the way that as soon as Shouto and Katsuki stepped into your office today you felt an undeniable warmth flood through you. Just seeing them made everything feel just a little bit better. And now that the girls have started to pry into those feelings, you don’t know if there’s any going back for you. No more ignoring that little feeling in your chest until it goes away.

“Can we please not talk about this tonight?” you ask. The question comes out far softer than you meant it to, and the other girls frown when they see the expression on your face. You can only imagine how pathetic you must look right now.

They exchange a few looks before four pairs of eyes settle back on you, a mix of thoughtful and reassuring.

“Yuna,” Momo calls your name gently, idly playing with her fingers in her lap. She waits for you to look up before she continues. “I’m sure we already know the answer, but…” Another pause. “Do they both make you happy?” The look in your eyes gives you away, and she nods slowly, pondering something else. “In that case, could you be happy with both of them?” A faint blush creeps across Momo’s cheeks but she doesn’t break eye contact with you.

Your frown only deepens. “Momo, what are you—oh.” It hits you a moment too late, and you blink at her stupidly. “Oh!” For a second, you think your entire body is about to combust, and Ochako reaches over to pat your hand as your mouth moves soundlessly.

Kyouka isn’t quite as tactful. “She’s saying just date both of them, you loser.”

You point a finger in her direction. “First of all: rude and uncalled for.” She rolls her eyes. “And I don’t think it’s that simple, Kyouka.” In theory it might be the easiest solution, but already you can think of at least fifty different things that could go horribly wrong if you were to ever bring that up in conversation. Having worked with Heroes for the last three years, you know how the media likes to gossip, and you’re sure they’d have a field day over the Heroes Ground Zero and Shouto being in relationships, let alone with the same person. 

Kyouka doesn’t seem to agree. “It is if you want it to be.”

“Are you saying you have experience with this kind of thing?” Ochako asks, brow furrowing.

“Hell no. You think I could handle two of Denki?”

“Seriously though.” Mina reaches out and grabs your ankle, tugging to get your attention. Her grin is blinding. “Girl, think about the sex. The stamina! Let me tell you, if I didn’t have Eiji—”

You tug your ankle out of her grasp. “You think about my sex life way too much, Mina,” you inform the bubbly girl. She’s certainly not wrong, but you’re not going to be the one to tell her that. Between you, Ochako is biting her lip like she’s trying not to laugh, and you jab a finger into her side, making her yelp. “But fine. I’ll bite. Hypothetically, if I did just… date both of them, don’t you think that would be a disaster?” you ask, glancing at the rest of them. “This is Katsuki and Shouto we’re talking about. They don’t exactly play well with others, let alone each other.”

Nevermind that the two have been friends since high school, there’s still very much some weird friendly rivalry going on between the two of them. The last thing anyone needs is for it to become decisively less friendly. 

“You won’t know unless you try,” Momo offers encouragingly, ever the pragmatic one. 

Ochako nods. “Yeah! What’s the worst that could happen?”

“I’m left heartbroken, alone with fifty cats, and branded a harlot on national television if anyone finds out,” you say, completely deadpan. So you’re dramatic, it happens. “Oh, I could also lose my job.” That’s probably less likely than the others. You’re pretty sure Izuku would cry if he had to fire you.

Mina scoffs loudly. “Oh, please, we would never let you get that many cats!”

“Besides,” Ochako says, beaming down at you and clapping her hands together, “you’ve got us! We’ll support you through all of your bad decisions, no matter what!”

Kyouka and Momo nod encouragingly, both wearing small smiles.

The conversation keeps buzzing through your mind, and you take your bottom lip between your teeth. Your thoughts stray to the unanswered texts in your back pocket and Katsuki’s crooked smile and the heat of Shouto’s palm sinking into your side.

With another sigh, you lean into Ochako and allow her to wrap her arm around your shoulders. “I know,” you murmur against her shoulder as she strokes your hair. “I’ll think about it.”

[gemstoneconstellations]

Request: Two Nerds for the Price of One

Summary: What do you do when you have two crushes? By Bakugo’s logic, find a way to date them both of course. (Bakugo/Reader/Midoriya)

Wordcount: 2142

A/N: this is a request from AO3. I hope this okay. I don't generally write poly fics cause I primarily write only about things that I have experienced or been in a similar situation, and I never been in a poly relationship so how it works is still something I'm learning about.

You ran as fast as you possibly could down the hall to class 3-A, slamming the door open harder than you intended. But you couldn’t help it! “Izuku! Izuku! Look at this!” You hopped over to Izuku’s desk, holding a flier out in front of you, unable to hold still.

“I can’t read it when you’re jumping all over the place ___chan,”  Izuku giggled at you as he grabbed a hold of the paper. He gasped when he read it and started vibrating in his seat as well.

You plopped yourself at the empty desk in front of Izuku, resting your chin in your hands on his desk. “There is a sale of limited first generation hero merch with a chance of winning free tickets to the grand opening of the Hero History Museum! We have an opportunity to learn about some of the first vigilantes that changed our society and created the hero occupation! These are the people that inspired heroes who inspired heroes that inspired us!”

You grabbed both of Izuku’s hands in the air, your fingers interlacing. He smiled back at you, just as excited. “The first quirks to be recorded in history! Laws we have now were shaped by them!”

“The vintage costumes!” You squealed.

Izuku nodded with you and both of you yelled out happily, “New heroes to learn about!”

The two of you were kindred spirits. In first year, you took one look at his hero costume and knew instantly who he was inspired by. As a fellow fan of All Might and his amazing costumes, it was your duty to intervene when Hatsume tried to change the looks of his costume. That girl may be a genius when it comes to inventions, but as a designer she just threw things together. When she made Izuku new arm supports, you jumped in to adding some All Might esthetics. 

Izuku was so thankful, it led to the two of you talking and finding out that the both of you were major hero otakus. It was so nice to have someone come over to your dorm room and not instantly judge you for the amount of hero memborbila you had. 

You continued to gush. “Soon, you’ll have merch for sale and a museum with all the great things you’re going to do! I’m going to buy all of them! I’m your number one fan!”

“___!” He tried to pull his hands away to hide his blushing face, but you locked your fingers with his.

“Nope, no hiding Izuku! Take my compliments like the hero you are!” you laugh happily, making Izuku turn into an adorable strawberry, not noticing the eyes watching the two of you intently.

“There’s two of them,” Bakugo mumbled, leaning against Kirishima’s desk as he watched you and Deku gush about some hero nerd crap. “Two fucking nerdy ass Dekus.”

Kirishima chuckled to himself as he finished the assignment he’d forgotten was due next period. Thankfully, Bakugo is more lenient when it comes to helping with homework now. “Midoriya has really come out of his shell. He’s made some good friends outside of our class now.”

Bakugo starred as the two of you got up to walk out of the classroom. He tilted his head to get a better view. “I want to bite his ass.”

“Kats-”

“Her’s too.”

“Ew. Here, take my drink since you're so thirsty.” Kaminari thrusted an unopened juice into Bakugo’s chest jokingly.

Bakugo hummed, crossing his arms. “I’ve decided.” 

Kirishima and Kaminari looked up at him, waiting for him to explain further as Bakugo paused to take a sip of the drink. “I want them both.”

Kaminari burst into a fit of laughter, holding his stomach, while Kirishima looked at him in horror. “What? No!” What the hell does his bro have planned?!

“I'm gonna make them both mine.” The ash-blonde just nodded in affirmation.

“Katsuki, no.”

The bell rang; the break was over and Kirishima hadn’t finished his homework! “Shitty Hair, I’m doing it. One way or another, their asses are mine.” Bakugo quickly wrote down the answer to the last question on the assignment before making his way to his seat, a suspicious-looking grin on his face.

“Well at least we know Bakugo has a type.” Kaminari leaned back in his chair, grinning as Kirishima sighed, giving up on trying to contain the chaos that is Bakugo Katsuki.

~

You groaned, completely depressed. Izuku and you had had a lot of fun at the hero merch sale; you’d both been able to buy so many items you never seen before. Of course Izuku bought everything All Might there. But when you two went up to the cashier, you were sadly informed that there were no more tickets. The museum was also sold out; you’d found out too late about the event. You lazily sketch out a new hero costume design for a first-year that needed more complex material for their quirk when a shadow hovered over you.

You looked up in time for a hand to slam down on the table and a body leaned in close to you. As you clutched your pencil to your chest, Bakugo smirked a few inches from your face. “Hey Nerd Number 2. What’s got you fucking moping?”

“Uh...I um…” You were completely tongue tied, heart pounding in your chest.

He just chuckled at you; you weren’t sure if it was a good sign or if you were about to be murdered. “I assume it has to do something about this?” 

Two yellow strips of paper were thrusted into your face, “Hero Origins Exhibit” written on them. You gasp and reach out for it to see if it was real. He rudely dangled them above your head, out of reach. 

“How’d you get that?!” You shouted. How on earth did he get two when you couldn't even get one?!

“I have my ways. I’ll give you them if you want...,” you nodded excitedly. “...but there is a price.”

Your eyes were locked on those tickets. Whatever it is, be it some gear or money, you’ll do it. If it means you and Izuku can go together to the museum. “What is it?”

He grabbed your chin with one hand, making you look at him. “You go on a date with me to the museum.”

Your breath hitched for a second as your brain translated what he’d just said. Date?! “Huh? Me and you? But I promised that I’d go with Izuku…”

Bakugo leaned in more, his nose grazing against your cheek as his lips made their way to your ear, and huskily whispered, “Then don’t tell him. How about if you agree, I’ll make sure Deku and you can go to the museum together. He’ll never have to know.” He bit at your lobe and then kissed the sensitive skin underneath. A shiver went down your back as he kissed your neck between words. “You want to see him happy, right?”

“Just one date?” You were completely melting in the palm of his hand.

He hummed, nuzzling your hair. “Sure.”

“Okay…” You dreamily whispered. If this is how he treats you, maybe it won’t be that bad...

The moment you agreed, he let go of your face. You blinked at his receding back, awakened from the dream-like state his warmth had put you in. “Good. I’ll text you the details later. And don’t be fucking late.” He threw you one more smirk over his shoulder before leaving the Support Course classroom. What….what just happened?! The shocked look on your classmates’ faces was all the evidence you needed to prove that, yes, that did just happen.

~

“Kacchan, I can’t believe you got these! You’re amazing!” Izuku was practically squealing on the common room couch, holding the tickets in his hands. Bakugo was sitting beside him, an arm resting on the back of the couch behind the smaller boy,  bodies pressed right up against each other. 

Bakugo had been casually instigating more physical contact over the past year so Izuku didn't even bat an eyelash as he leaned in closer. “I know. Now about the price for them….” Bakugo pulled the tickets from Deku’s hands gently as he whispered into the nerd’s ear, making him blush deeply.

“Kacchan! You want what?! But I promised…” Izuku fidgets with his hands in his lap, mumbling and slowly falling into the depths of his mind.

Smirking, Bakugo firmly wraps his arm around Izuku’s shoulders, practically pulling the other boy into his lap. “Don’t worry, I know about your little nerd best friend. I got connections and I could get you two to the museum. If you make it worth my while, Nerd.”

Bakugo tried not to chuckle when he felt the nerd shiver; gotcha. Izuku held up a pinky to Bakugo shyly. “Okay, if you promise?”

“Of course. I’m not a fucking liar, Deku.” He links their pinkies together, pulling their hands to his face to kiss Izuku’s. 

He heard the nerd loudly swallow before launching to his feet. “Okay…okay. Deal, Kacchan! Thank you for this!” Bakugo watched his nerd escape to his dorm room with an amused and triumphant smile on his face.

Kaminari and Kirishima watched the entire situation play out, in complete disbelief. They walked over to Bakugo as he texted on his phone. Kaminari flipped himself onto the couch to sit beside the other blonde, looking to see he was texting you where to meet up on Saturday. “This can’t possibly go well.” Kirishima sighed from behind the couch, leaning on his elbows as he read the text as well. When did he become the voice of reason in this group?

“It’ll be fucking fine, Hair-For-Brains,” Bakugo snorted, waving a heart filled text from you up, bragging as Bakugo does.

Kaminari laughed, actually enjoying watching his bro finally make a move. Leaning back with his arms behind his head, the electric blonded asked, “How did you even manage to get tickets and they didn’t?”

“Easy. Bribe the cashier to tell them that they didn’t have any more tickets while I bought three.”

“So glad you are on the heroes’ side.”

~

You waited in front of the museum, messing with your hair and clothes every five seconds while looking at your reflection in a shop window. The girls in your dorm had helped you decide on your outfit. In fact, you’d pretty much had a miniature fashion show in your room. You sigh to yourself, mumbling, “What are you doing ___?” Going on a date with Bakugo Katsuki was not what you had planned.

If there was anyone you were more likely to go on  a date with, you’d expected it to be Izuku. Oh Izuku…he’s so sweet and the two of you can geek out on a whole other level together. You wish he was going to the museum with you. But Bakugo did promise that he’d make sure that you guys got to go together for going on this date….maybe it won't be so bad.

“___?”

Your head whipped over to the side. “Izuku?”

Izuku came over to you, wearing skinny jeans that you’d bought him and an open flannel shirt over one of his regular shirts that said, “t-shirt”. You swear one of these days, you are going to burn all those shirts and buy him a whole new wardrobe. “What are you doing here?”

“Simple, I invited you both here.” Bakugo strolled up to the two of you, smirking with his hands in his pockets. You and Izuku look back at each other, confused.

“Uh…but I thought….” You fiddled with your hands, not sure how to say it in front of Izuku. This is so embarrassing.

Izuku didn't hesitate though. “Isn’t this a date?”

Bakugo just smiled proudly. “You are right, this is a date. All three of us.”

“Huh?!” you both yelled in shock. 

He sighed, leaning in as he placed a hand on each of your shoulders. “Really, do I have to fucking spell it out? I like both your nerdy asses.”

“Kacchan, you should have just asked one of us out at a time if you were confused about—”

“Not confused. I just don't half-ass.” He spun both of you around, his arms resting around your shoulders as he steered all three of you towards the museum entrance. You were completely at a loss as Izuku looked like he was going to continue to protest. 

“If I chose one then I would only be able to give the relationship half of my attention since I’d still like the other. So I’m gonna sweep both of you off your nerdy-ass feet.” Bakugo left no room for argument. 

You looked back at Izuku, his face was as red as your face was hot. Both speechless, you were only able to go with the flow of Bakugo Katsuki.

[freckledoriya]

“dead girl walking” (izuku midoriya x reader fic)

WARNINGS: smut (18+), mentions of alcohol, aged-up character

SUMMARY: The number one villain has given you a death notice. How will you spend your last hours to live? (Inspired by the song “Dead Girl Walking” from the musical Heathers). 

WORD COUNT: 2.2k

LINKS: ao3 | masterlist | ask box

TAGLIST: since this is smut, I didn’t put my usual taglist. if you’d like to be notified when I post spicy content, let me know! 

AUTHOR’S NOTE: this is my first time really writing smut so I apologize ahead of time if it’s bad!! thank you to everyone that’s been really encouraging about me doing this, especially @gallickingun​​ 💕

The chilly night air passes through your spine like an ice cube going down your back. It has only been an hour since you received your death notice from the city’s number 1 villain, the words “tomorrow, 8AM, you’re dead” scribbled in ink on a piece of folded paper. Since receiving the threat, you did your heroic duties: reported the incident to police and strategized how to take down this villain. You were confident in your abilities as a hero, but the gnawing thought that this might be your last night alive would not rest. After all, every hero in the city that received this death notice previously had fallen victim to the villain’s deadly ways. From a purely statistical standpoint, you were a dead girl walking.

So several shots of strong alcohol later, here you stood outside an apartment, home to the number 1 hero, Deku, a.k.a, Izuku Midoriya. Izuku worked for the same hero agency that you did, and since joining, the two of you became quick friends. And that’s all you saw him as for a long time. A friend. But as patrol partners, it wasn’t uncommon for you to be witness to his many fangirls that came with the territory of being the number one hero. When you started to notice yourself feeling a twinge of jealousy as one of them shamelessly flirted with him, you knew things were going south. 

Ever since that first time, you couldn’t help but steal glances and “incidental” touches during your patrol rounds. Izuku Midoriya had captured your heart, no doubt about it. Maybe it was the way that he so selfishly put himself before others, or the sheer amount of passion he had for being the best hero possible. When you thought about it, his passion is what you found most attractive in him. Not that the luscious green waves, adorable freckles, and beautifully sculpted body didn’t do it for you, but his passion... if he could have that much passion for doing his job, you could only imagine the kind of passion he would have for a significant other. And the amount of passion he’d have during… other things.

You couldn’t help but have those sinful thoughts when it came to Izuku. He was so wonderfully naive. You often took joy in seeing how much you could make him blush and stutter when you’d say slightly suggestive things (he practically choked to death when you commented on how well his new hero costume fit him in certain areas). But at the same time, you’d have to stop yourself from drooling when watching Midoriya fight, seeing how tough and almost feral he’d get. Both things made you want to dominate and be dominated by the hero. 

So after your fifth (or sixth?) shot, you realized that dying without making that fantasy a reality would be a crime. And heroes are supposed to fight crime, right? 

You contemplated this as you climbed up the stairs to his apartment and knocked softly on the door, wobbling back and forth slightly as the alcohol coursed through your veins. Hearing footsteps approaching from inside, you start to wave to the door’s peephole, knowing that he was way too cautious to just open up the door to anyone so late at night. 

The door creaks as he cracks it open. “H-hey!” Midoriya stutters and clears his throat. “Is everything okay? It’s pretty late…”

You flash him a bright smile. “Everything’s great! May I come in?”

“Uh, sure!” he says as he opens the door for you. 

As you walk into his apartment, his scent hits you like a train. What you wouldn’t do to pounce on him right then and there, run your hands through his hair, moaning and panting in his ear as you beg for more. 

“Are you sure everything is okay? You look like you’ve been drinking and I know-”

“Shhhhh,” you say as you quickly close to space in between you two, putting your finger to his lips. 

The sensation of your body pressed up against his causes Izuku’s eyes to widen and his face to heat up. He’d never admit to it, but your presence is intoxicating to him. Every time you’re near him, he feels his chest tighten with feelings. And when he goes home alone at night, laying in bed staring up at the ceiling, you’re all he dreams about. He dreams about you under him as he grinds against you, getting the chance to feel every inch of your skin beneath his finger tips. He hates himself when he wakes up thinking of you like that. He likes you way too much to jeopardize your guys’ relationship. But now, with your face just inches from his, you’re just too tempting.

“W-what are you doing?”

You smile and give him a knowing look, as if to communicate through eye contact that “I’ve decided I must ride you till I break you.” Wrapping one arm around his neck, you pull him closer to whisper in his ear. 

“Izuku,” you say as sultry as possible. You whispering his first name in his ear gives him goosebumps. “I want you.”

Without warning, you smash your lips into his, kissing him with so much force, you’re surprised he stays standing. Midoriya immediately tenses up, unsure how to proceed. He wants to kiss you back. So badly. This is everything he’s ever wanted and more. But what if he does something wrong? What if he goes too far? Can he really trust himself to not lose control around you? What if-

“Stop thinking so much,” you say, pulling away from the kiss. 

You look him in the eyes lovingly, trying to show that you understand. Because you do. You’re terrified right now. If it weren’t for the alcohol running through your veins, you would have never had the courage to do this. But you’re here now: face to face with the man you’ve pined for for what seems to be forever. Both your hearts racing at what feels to be a deadly pace. It just feels… right. 

“I think you’re beautiful,” you say, confessing your feelings. “I know you’re always trying so hard to be everyone’s hero, but you matter too. The world filled with villains is unfair and cruel, but for tonight, let’s keep it locked out there. In here, it’s beautiful. Can we make this beautiful?” 

You hold your breath as you wait for his response, searching his green eyes for an answer. But having you this close to him, Midoriya can’t think straight. He can’t begin to rationalize or think logically about the situation. All he can think about is wanting to claim you as his own and having you become undone beneath him.

“Th-that works for me-” he squeaks out. 

The second you hear those words pass through his lips, you’re back to kissing him. But this time, Izuku gives in and kisses you back, tentatively at first. You reach your other hand up to run your fingers through his hair, tugging slightly at the ends. He lets out a quiet moan in response, egging you on to repeat the action. 

He pulls away only to lead you into his bedroom. Gently pressing you up against his wall, Midoriya gets to work kissing your neck, inhaling your intoxicating scent as he does so. He’s under your spell, no doubt about it. And the sensation of his lips lightly peppering kisses up and down your neck is enough to drive you mad. 

“Don’t hold back,” you whisper, wanting to experience Izuku Midoriya let loose. “Make me yours.”

Your wish is his command as he swiftly picks you up and places you on his bed. He hovers above you for a second, admiring your raw beauty, shocked that a woman like you is underneath him, panting and yearning to be touched by him. He runs his shaking hands over your body, hooking his thumbs beneath your shirt. Looking at you for the go-ahead, you nod your head and allow him to begin to undress you. He presses hot kisses down your body till he gets to your pants. 

“Can I-”

“Yes,” you reply eagerly. “I’m all yours.”

He easily slides your pants off of you and quickly gets to work, unhooking your bra and taking off your underwear.

“You're overdressed,” you comment, tugging at his top. 

He blushes and chuckles as he shyly takes off his shirt, revealing his beautifully sculpted body. You run your hands over the planes of his chest, feeling his many scars beneath your fingertips. He starts to shrink away, obviously embarrassed by the marks, constant reminders of times he went too far or failed to keep a villain at bay. But before he can pull away too much, you grab and pull him close to you so that he’s practically laying on top of you. Rather than assuring him with words, you kiss him tenderly, showing him just how much you adore and worship him. 

He smiles before standing up to remove his pants and boxers. You lick your lips as you watch him strip, eagerly awaiting what he holds in store for you. He grabs a condom out of a dresser drawer and slides it on himself. And once he’s completely naked in front of you, you beckon him towards you, loving the way he mindlessly follows your instructions. 

Midoriya climbs back on top of you. He gazes at you as he awaits direction on what to do next. Taking charge, you gently guide his hand down to your cunt. 

“A-already so wet for me?” he asks, seemingly unable to comprehend the effect he has on you.

You help guide his fingers into you, the sensation making you gasp. “This is what you do to me.” 

He begins to pump his fingers in and out of you, relishing in the way you moan at the sensation. As he curls his fingers inside of you, he uses his thumb to graze over your clit, seemingly playing your body like an instrument that he’s mastered. 

“Izuku,” you whine. “I want to feel you inside of me.” 

Midoriya smirks, seemingly gaining some confidence after seeing how easily undone you become at the mercy of his fingers. 

“Patience,” he says, chuckling. “I want to make you feel better than you’ve ever felt.” 

With that, he quickly replaces his fingers with his mouth. You gasp at the sudden sensation of feeling his mouth between your legs.  

Izuku begins flicking his tongue against your clit as you moan at the intense pleasure. It feels amazing, better than it has any right to feel. But you haven’t touched him yet, and that just won’t do. You pull his face up to kiss him so you could return the favor and start stroking him, smiling at the way his breath hitches when you begin to pick up your pace. 

“Fuck me,” you beg. “Please.”

With your voice sounding like that, begging like your life depends on his cock being inside of you, you don’t need to tell him twice. His lips meet yours as you feel him line up to your entrance. He slowly slides into you, and both of you let out a gasp. After allowing you to adjust to his size, Midoriya begins to slowly rock his hips.

“Mmmm,” he moans. “You feel so perfect.”

“Izuku,” you say breathlessly. “Harder. Fuck me harder.”

You hear him grunt in response as he picks up his pace, thrusting into you harder, fucking you into the mattress. 

At that moment, you don’t care about villains or death threats or even being a hero. You’re in bed with Izuku Midoriya, and he’s moaning and whispering sweet nothings in your ear as he makes you feel like the only girl in the world, nothing like the dead girl walking you felt like at the start of the night. 

His hips start stuttering and you can tell by his breathing pattern in your ear that he’s coming close to finishing. Just the thought of Midoriya finishing inside of you is enough to start to push you over your own edge. 

“Izuku!” you scream. 

“Louder,” he says roughly in your ear. “Please. Say my name louder.”

You do as he commands, screaming his name as he slams into you.

“F-fuck, Y/N, you’re amazing,” he breathes.

Hearing the naive Izuku Midoriya curse and saying your name as his cock is buried deep inside of you is enough to make you finish. Waves of pleasure rock through your body, and the sensation of your pussy pulsing around his cock sends Izuku over the edge as well.

He gently pulls out and lays beside you, the two of you breathing heavily. Izuku looks over at you and can’t help but be entranced by the blissed out look on your face. He would hate to admit it, but he’s imagined before what a sight you would be after sex, but nothing compares to the real thing. You’re positively glowing. And why wouldn’t you be? The fears of villains, ominous notes, or your fleeting morality seem miles away from you now. Izuku has effectively made the whole town disappear, and all that’s left is a satisfying ache between your thighs and a smile on your lips. It’s beautiful. 

[princessmuffinart]

Orcaverse Masterpost

I haven’t shared my MHA Nextgen updates here in a while! Here we go! ✨

EDIT: THESE BIOS ARE OUTDATED. Updated info on them here!

Orca Bakugou

Don't put yourself down! As Papa says, you're all sorts of BeautyCool!" Orca is The daughter of Bakugou and Kirishima and her quirk is Combustion. When shes nervous, she can explode herself and the area around her. Basically, shes a ticking time bomb of anxiety. Unlike her Dad (Baku) and Papa (Kiri) , Orca isn't loud or brash. Shes shy and content. She also scares easily and does NOT do well under pressure.  Yet, she is  quick to motivate anyone. She loves the feeling of seeing others happy. Kirishima dubs her "Baby Shark". (Kacchan, holding her as a newborn: "Oi! Shitty hair! Orcas aren't sharks!" Kiri: "She is still my baby shark, Katsuki! She can be our little whale shark!")

Orca was born blonde like Katsuki! (He really said copy and paste). Later, she begged for it to be pink, so she can match both her parents. 

Orca’s hero name is The Explosion Hero: Cherry Bomb.  Her dad’s are her biggest inspirations.  Orca hero name was a combination of both her dad’s. Red Riot + Dynamight = Cherry Bomb! She, of course, interns at the Dynamight Hero Agency.  —

Apollo Midoriya "Listen. Hero work is important. We must stay vigilant and- ...you aren't even listening, are you?" Apollo is the son of Uraraka and Deku and his quirk is levitation. As he does so, a pink aura similar to Ochaco’s forms around his target. He learned later, that he could float himself as a supermove.  Apollo is focused a LOT on the status quo and believes to follow the rules to a T. Hes practical, and may have a tad of OCD. He collects Hero figurines and when Apollo was a toddler, Deku gave his old All Might onesie to Mars. The pictures are hanging on the wall with pride. Young Mars got along well with "Big sis" Eri, who interned at the Deku Hero Agency! Apollo’s first friend was Orca. Izuku finds that ironic.  Apollo, when not hero training, hangs out with friends, eats too many toaster pastries and plays Puzzle games until dawn. His hair is mostly in a ponytail. (With the exceptions of his hero costume and sleep of course.)

His hero name: The Space Hero: Gemini

His costume looks like an 80s synthwave superhero and he didn’t care. He made sure it was as space themed as possible.  Apollo first chose the Uravity Agency as his internship, but moved to the Tailman Agency when Ochaco told him he wasn’t obligated to pick a family agency.

—

Felicity Sero

“You wanna dance? Well, I wanna tango!”

The beautiful daughter of Mina and Sero. She met Orca at a dance class (ran by none other than her mother, Pro Hero: Pinky) and the two became fast friends!   Her quirk is NonStick Tape Rhythmic Ribbon, in which she can form non sticky tape ribbons from her hands and use them as a weapon. ...Or just her graceful dancing!  (As you can tell, Felicity renamed her quirk. She remade it into something she felt proud of. She took her father’s quirk, but it’s NON stick tape? She felt upset and it felt unfair. But her mother told her to not be ashamed, but find the beauty in your quirk.)

She and Mars have unsubtle crushes on one another. Her friends call her out on it a lot. 

Felicity’s hero name, the Dancing Hero: Rhythm Girl

Taking her love of dance, she uses it innher fighting technique. Her hero outfit is based on a ballet leotard. Felicity interns at NejireChan’s Hero Agency.

Felicity is outgoing, passionate and reads one too many romance novels. 💕

—

“It’s pretty shocking to see me! Ha! Get it? GET IT!?” DJ Kaminari (Denki Jr.) DJ. is the entergetic son of Denki and Kyoka Jiro. His quirk is dubbed Outlet. He can absorb all electricity like a sponge and when he’s full he can shoot it all back. Too much makes him short circuit though. He lets out a small “whee” when short circuited. He’s a huge fan of music and memes. He will literally quote thousands of vines daily. He’s all about the fun! 

DJ had jam sessions with his mother and father as a kid. Kyoka taught him Hero too and he sings it to himself a lot. He owned a little toy guitar and “wrote songs” a lot. Jiro once sang one of his little “masterpieces” to him. The lyrics were all over the place, going from “fast race cars” to “the dinosaur goes rawr”. Little Junior was so proud and hoped it’d be on the radio! DJ was a late bloomer and was afraid he’d be quirkless for a long while. He didn’t get signs of his quirk until about 8 years old.

DJ’s hero name is The Electric Hero: Lightning Rod. His hero costume has two plugs that help him store more electricity. He interns at Lemillion’s Hero Agency.

—

Nightengale Takami (Gale)

“You say ‘stop screeching’ like it’s a bad thing.”

Nightengale is the daughter of Hawks and Mirko. She’s a bit older than the rest. Hawks took a long while to settle down with Rumi. 

Her quirk is similar to her father’s but a tad weaker. She is capable of flight and fighting with her feathers. Her quirk was dubbed “sparkle wings” due to the shimmer her wings give off. This also went into her hero name.

Her wings are highly senestive and she has a tendency to screech and flare her wings upout in defence. 

Gale spends her times singing (she can’t), dancing (this she can), baking cookies, and watching her mother fight. She bonded a lot with Fumikage and though he, second to her parents, was so cool. She may have had a little celebrity crush on him as a young kid. 

Wing details. 

Gale’s hero name is The Sparkling Hero: SparkleWings

Her hero outfit is pink, pink, pink! She sports pink eyeshadow as she gets older and learned a supermove that causes her eyes to glow and her wing span grows. She quickly selected the Tsukuyomi Agency to intern in!

Gale has only one fear. Seperation.  She had a hard time making friends and as usual, was watched closely by her parents. (Hawks is NOT letting his “mini feathers” have the same childhood that he had.) Gale was prone to putting herself out there too fast and not knowing the meaning of personal space. 

And thats how she go herself in her first romantic relationship, that didn’t go so well. Both she and Arroyo (son of Gang Orca) were both troubled and needed a place to distract from thier own insecurities and, in Arroyos case, daddy issues.  Arroyo was put under a lot of pressure by his father. With that, he learned to hide that with manipulation. He let Gale feel like she belonged, even though he was only dating her to boost his own self pride. It was a really rough breakup. 

Arroyo’s quirk, by the way, is Waves. Can create water and basically ride it.  His hero name is The Long Fin Hero: Whirlpool. 

There are more, but let’s focus on heroes.  Lastly, the Todoroki Twins.

Ignitus (left) and Blanche (right). Both share a creation quirk like their mother (Momo). Iggy’s is Fire Creation and Blanche’s is Ice Creation. 

Iggy is more laid back and stoic. while Blanche is more serious, and takes things too far sometimes. Iggy has his moments of anger when things get to competitive. Of course, Grampa Endeavor took favoritism to Ignitus than Blanche, causing her to hate him. Shoto saw this coming a mile away.

These two are works in progress! ✨

— 

Now everyone is all caught up on the Orcaverse! (Changed from galeverse since Orca is more of the focus now)

[queenangst]

A Collection of Fic Prompts

These are all genfic/non-romantic fic ideas that I (and some of my friends) came up with in a game where I write a summary for a fake fic title. Some titles have multiple summaries. You can view my tag ‘fake fic asks’ to view the original asks. 

My blanket permissions for prompts apply: Please credit and link me on Tumblr (@queenangst)/on AO3 (achievingelysium). If possible, link to this post/original post. Feel free to use these as prompts or inspiration for any creative work such as fic or art, and feel free to adjust or adapt them to your liking. I’d love to see them!

Please reblog if you like these!

I may end up using some of these in the future (marked with * if you’re interested), but all of the prompts are free for you to use if you’re interested. 

Below the cut is a categorized list of the summaries, by characters/themes, including: 

All Might, Izuku, OFA, and AFO

Midoriya Hisashi/Dad for One

Shimura Nana

Quirklessness

Aizawa, Present Mic, and Shirakumo

Teachers

Dekusquad

Izuku & Bakugou

Izuku

Bakugou

Todoroki Family/Dabi

Eri

Class 1-A

Misc.

All Might, Izuku, OFA, and AFO 

Once Upon a Time

Quirk reversal canon rewrite AU. All Might is a hero with a mysterious Quirk: one that can take and give away Quirks at will. With this Quirk and multiple Quirks given willingly, All Might defeats villains easily. When he meets the strong-willed Midoriya Izuku, he offers Izuku a Quirk and a chance to be a hero.

One for All has been searching for a successor—and his brother’s Quirk, All for One—and finds one in the volatile Shimura Tenko, now Shigaraki. Combined with the power of Decay, Shigaraki’s new Quirk can level mountains and destroy cities.

Izuku has always wanted to be a hero. With a new Quirk and a new enemy, he can be.

Shatter the Sun

All Might walks into a fight he doesn’t expect to come back from. Fueled by rage and grief, he ignores every warning Nighteye has given him and takes down the villain who killed his predecessor… All for One.

All Might limps out of a fight he hadn’t expected to come back from. He defeated his enemy, but it comes with a cost.

And then he wakes up again on the same day, All for One still waiting for him. Each time All Might defeats him. Each time the day restarts. Again and again. All Might had been prepared to fight All for One for the rest of his life, but this is something entirely different.

i’ve been found (but i’m still lost in the morning)

When Toshinori passes on the torch to his successor, he only wishes Nana were there to see it. When Izuku begins dreaming of the past wielders, he begins to feel the weight of the legacy he carries on.

All for One may be gone, but in the wake of his defeat, both Izuku and Toshinori struggle to find their place in heroism and at home.

Cross the Delta

All Might takes Izuku on a road trip in America, and their relationship deepens from mentor and student to father and son.

if only you'd listened

When Izuku complains of headaches and strange dreams, Toshinori doesn’t think much of it beyond offering what comfort he can and painkillers. After all, it’s exam season, and his students are stressed; the common room is loaded with energy drinks and textbooks alike. Izuku also confides he thinks there’s something wrong with his Quirk, but having unlocked two more, Toshinori is under the belief Izuku is simply adjusting.

Then Izuku starts sleepwalking, sometimes with One for All. And there’s the time he almost doesn’t wake up at all, and when he finally wakes up he doesn’t seem like he has control of himself.

Because the closer Izuku has been getting to One for All, a connection has been forming with its other half—with Toshinori’s greatest enemy, All for One.

kiss your fist and touch the sky

After his retirement, All Might is no longer the hero he used to be. But Class 1-A still seems to think so, and quietly All Might begins to learn how to save people in smaller ways.

lead me down the styx

OFA!AU. When Nana dies, a piece of her remains within One for All—just as the other holders have before her. Every time a holder comes close to death, they see their predecessors.

All Might sees his mentor again in dreams a few times, but he thinks they’re just that: dreams. The first time Izuku sees the ghosts of One for All, he’s just nearly broken himself beyond repair. The next time is when he takes a hit meant for someone else. After the next Izuku realizes there’s a pattern, that the ghosts he sees out of the corner of his eye are real and getting stronger, and there’s something they want to tell him.

I Have No Plans to Die Today

Alternating POV. Half is All Might desperately trying to hold on to the remains of OFA as he fights AFO because after all these years he finally has things to live for again. Half is Bakugou trying to escape his captors, not knowing if anyone’s going to rescue him, equally desperate to fulfill his dream of becoming a Hero (from @happi-tree​).

Your Heart In Your Hands

In a world where every year on the day you first meet you see a vision of you and your soulmate’s future together, Izuku and All Might meet under a bridge—and Izuku begins to see a future where he can be a hero.

Bonus notes from my tags: #pl bkdk soulmates bk was scared of the future #tho the future vision is limited i think so bkdk doesnt see anything after ua until after dk meets am #bc that future wasnt quite set in stone

The Aftermath

All Might wakes up in a hospital alone. He has lost his stomach, though perhaps more painfully, his most trusted advisor and sidekick. He has nothing, and no one. And his time with One for All dwindles.

But he keeps going—and meets one Midoriya Izuku.

A story told backwards in six parts, from loving Izuku to meeting him to those lonely years before.

Once Upon a Time

Fantasy AU. The Tale of Two Brothers is known throughout the kingdom, a myth passed down through the generations to explain why Magicks exist. No one expects the story itself to be true, least of all a young Magickless boy on the run from his tormentors. But now? Well, now, Midoriya Izuku knows differently (from @happi-tree​). 

Midoriya Hisashi/Dad for One

But That Was So Long Ago*

Time can’t erase an absence, a person who was never there. Ten years after Midoriya Hisashi goes overseas for business, he re-enters Izuku’s life—not just as a father, but as a vigilante, chasing a lead for a villain with connections to the League. Working with Hellhound, who can manipulate fire and smoke, Izuku begins to notice his new ally’s strange similarities to the father he’s constantly arguing with at home.

You know what family means to me, Hisashi? Resentment

Midoriya Hisashi drags his son Izuku on a short surprise trip to America, where Izuku is separated from his friends as Hisashi teaches him about his business. Izuku is left miserable and angry about the life Hisashi is trying to force him into. What’s meant to be family bonding and their already fragile relationship quickly falls apart, and all Izuku wants is to go home.

Eternal Slumber

In his second year, Izuku and All for One begin to share dreams. Izuku’s afraid All for One is both the person he thought and not, and they seem to share more similarities than Izuku expected.

A Dad For One fic.

In the Flesh*

Right after Izuku enters U.A., Midoriya Hisashi abruptly returns from business overseas, taking an interest in his son’s new Quirk and committing himself to his family again after years apart. Izuku feels uncomfortable with the stranger he calls “Dad,” but stays quiet seeing how happy his mom is when he’s home.

Yet as the school year progresses, Hisashi’s story seems to have different holes. Research into his dad’s business leaves Izuku with dead, outdated links; any questions Izuku asks about work go unanswered; and still Hisashi presses Izuku about his Quirk, driving a wedge between them.

Hisashi’s Quirk is fire breathing—but Izuku accidentally discovers he has a levitation Quirk, too, and more after that. A breakthrough in research connects Hisashi to the address of an old, run-down bar. And a story Izuku’s mentor All Might tells him, of a villain who can take other people’s Quirks, leads Izuku home again, to one Midoriya Hisashi.

Shimura Nana

Oddity Amidst Time

Shigaraki travels back in time and meets his grandmother, Shimura Nana.

Remembrance

Nana’s legacy is a line of death that becomes before her and goes on after her. But what if things were different?

When Nana fights All for One, she wins. Still, the danger of All for One’s lasting influence remains, so Nana makes the decision to leave her son alone as she continues to fight villains and train Toshinori into the Symbol of Peace he wants to be.

Kotaro is the only regret Nana’s ever had. She spends her days wondering what might have been until she meets two siblings who share her smile—and her last name.

if i die young

At the end of his life, Gran Torino gets a chance to travel back in time to when Nana still lived, and the two of them have a conversation about life and loss.

Quirklessness

Out of the Fire

Izuku reflects on how many micro aggressions he dealt with as a quirkless person that evaporated with OFA (from @wildinkling​).

You get used to things, even if sometimes you shouldn't

All Might has carried One for All for a lifetime, and he’s nearly forgotten what it was like to be Quirkless, much less understanding how different Quirklessness is treated in society today. After Izuku confides about what his childhood was like and now navigating life after being a pro hero, All Might begins to spend more time looking for ways to help Quirkless youth feel less alone, fighting a villain of a different kind.

Do Not Go Gentle*

When pro hero—and Eri’s big brother—Deku saves her and sustains life-threatening injuries, Eri does the only thing she can think of. In desperation, she pushes her power and rewinds him, leaving Deku not only young but Quirkless again.

For Years I Have

Midoriya Inko, and coming to terms with a not-Quirkless son, her love and fears for him, and the mistakes she’s made.

Battles are First Lost in the Mind

At fourteen, Midoriya Izuku gives up on his dream of being a hero. He puts away his notebooks and resigns himself to a quiet, Quirkless life.

Four years later and as a new graduate from U.A., Kacchan swallows his pride, apologizes, and asks Izuku for help taking down the villain Shigaraki, hoping Izuku’s analytical skills can turn the tide.

Izuku isn’t sure, but in the end agrees; and four years after giving up he’s presented with his dreams in reach and an entire former class telling him he can be a hero.

changing the subject again and bite your tongue (until it bleeds)*

Midoriya Izuku never talks about being Quirkless, or about Quirklessness. No one would understand it. No one wants to try. The topic rarely comes up, until a new semester begins and there’s talk of a new, Quirkless student in Gen Ed looking to transfer into the Hero Course.

Then Quirklessness is all anyone wants to talk about. Now something Izuku can’t avoid, he struggles to deal with his own past, the piece of his trust he hasn’t extended to his friends, and a look into a life that might have been his.

Aizawa, Present Mic, and Shirakumo

when there’s blood in my ears, i’ll hold you closer

Present Mic had always had a rough time controlling his quirk. The day he finds out about Oboro, he slips. Aizawa is always there to comfort him (from @tolerantbean​).

It’s getting hard to breathe under here with you, my dearest nemesis

The villain Present Mic has a Quirk that could level buildings and cause a lot of destruction. The hero Eraserhead is one of the few people, if not the only person, who can stop him.

At the end of the day, Hizashi and Shouta are best friends, carefully tending to each other’s wounds and never speaking of either heroes or villains. Until a bigger problem forces them to work together.

an empty mirror only shows what's left inside*

Time loop AU. A few days after Shirakumo’s death, Shouta wakes up to find his best friend is alive again. Time has reset—and now Shouta finds himself racing to save Shirakumo this time.

It doesn’t work. Days pass. And the loop starts again.

A mystery forms in the pieces of a strange doctor, a missing body, and discrepancies in the local newspaper. As Shouta fails again and again to save Shirakumo, he must try to figure out why he’s caught in a time loop… and what seems to be happening to Shirakumo after his death.

Come Around (Your Song is Calling)

Hizashi has always known that he and his best friend Shouta are soulmates. It’s why they work. It’s why Hizashi can see the glittering thread that ties them together when no one else can, and in the deep silence when he touches it he hears music.

Shouta goes missing. The bond goes silent. But Hizashi refuses to give up on his friend—not now, and not ever.

shades of blue*

After graduating, Aizawa Shouta isn’t where he wants to be. His decision to go underground is a lot different than most of his peers, and with everyone busy planning debuts and looking for agencies, Shouta feels isolated. The reminder that Oboro doesn’t get to be a hero follows him, yet at the same time the Hero Commission sends Shouta somewhere his Quirk and his youth will be useful—to help infiltrate and take down an illegal Quirk fighting ring.

Unable to confide in Hizashi about the mission or his struggles, Shouta continues to work alone, distance straining his relationships. Pitted against kids only a few years younger than him, each of whom begins to remind Shouta of Oboro, and fighting to keep his head above water, Shouta must keep his secrets close to him or lose it all.

they’ll think of me kindly

It’s easier to think of society in black in white, in heroes and villains. But Aizawa Shouta doesn’t do easy, and Kurogiri—Shirakumo Oboro—certainly isn’t making things any better. In a bid for information and to return Kurogiri to the person he once was, the investigation team brings in a specialist with a Quirk that allows for two people to be temporarily joined mind-to-mind. To experience each other’s thoughts, emotions, and memories with the danger of losing themselves.

Shouta’s scared if he goes in he won’t come back, but he’s also desperate to reconnect with the friend he’s convinced is still in there. Kurogiri consents to the connection. And after deliberation, Shouta does, too.

Together, they’re not just hero and villain, but somewhere in between as Shouta looks for the memories that have been hidden from Kurogiri and relives a few of his own.

Teachers

to die like a martyr (is no way to live)

All Might is beginning to learn to live again, redefining a path of self-destruction after retirement and meeting Midoriya, when he sees his co-worker and friend Aizawa heading down the same lonely path he was on. Reaching out, All Might and Aizawa form a friendship and struggle together so they may continue to teach their students, and to live as people and not just heroes.

Dekusquad

holding you up (while the world crashes down)

Five times Izuku comforted his friends, and one time they comforted him.

Izuku & Bakugou/Platonic BKDK

Do No Harm

Bakugou goes missing when he’s seven. Years later, Izuku still believes he’s alive and out there.

He is—as a Nomu that falters when Izuku recognizes him and calls him “Kacchan.”

for you know my demons, and i know yours*

Izuku and Katsuki parted ways after a mission gone south a long time ago and their relationship soured, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not still drift compatible. A Pacific Rim AU.

let’s start with the past in front

Pro heroes Ground Zero and Deku are sent back in time to when they weren’t the friends they are now, forced to deal with conversations they never had, their younger selves’ broken relationship, while looking for a way home.

Memories of the Dead

Midoriya Izuku’s funeral is held in the summer. They bury an empty casket and look around at all the faces who have outlived him.

Katsuki goes. There’s a lot of reasons he attends Deku’s funeral—for Auntie Inko, for All Might, for Deku himself. Katsuki was the last to see him alive. They’d shared breakfast the same day Deku disappeared.

But Katsuki doesn’t go to Deku’s funeral because he’s dead. Katsuki goes with the hope and gut feeling that he’s alive.

Izuku

Your Claws Rend Flesh

Midoriya Izuku has never been allowed to stay out past sundown. He always comes home early to his mother, the only person who he won’t hurt when he transforms into a monstrous beast.

His new Quirk and U.A. complicate things, to say the least.

Bonus notes: There’s a reason why Inko is so protective of her son, and resistant to him being a hero.

can you hear me?

Izuku, a few years after his pro hero debut, lands himself an injury that keeps from work for a while. Seeing Izuku unsure of what to do, the Wild, Wild Pussycats invite him to spend summer on their property in the woods to recover and recuperate; and, of course, as an excuse for Kouta to see his hero.

He’s happy to slow down, spending time learning to take care of himself, and to enjoy the woods. As he gets his strength back, he hikes often with Kouta, until one day they’re separated when a storm hits. With only a set of walkie talkies connecting them, the two struggle to find each other and shelter, before anything worse happens.

5% luck, 20% skill

Principal Nezu takes on Izuku as a student.

Bakugou

Out of the Fire 

Bakugou as Gordon Ramsey... (from @aizawa-wears-crocs​). 

Snap

Katsuki is hit with a Quirk that dulls physical and emotional feelings. At first it seems fairly harmless to his friends, until he gets hurt and his reaction is much different than anyone expects.  

lead me down the road less traveled

When he’s young, Bakugou Katsuki decides what he wants to be when he grows up: a villain.

And Katsuki always gets what he wants.

Todoroki Family

the dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had

There’s a ghost haunting the Todoroki mansion. Rumors say it drove Todoroki Rei insane. Shouto has never seen it himself, has only heard footsteps in the hallway sometimes, but one day he discovers the stories are true—and the ghost is someone he knows, his own brother.

The Fire Within You

Scared of the Quirk he’s inherited from his father, Midoriya Izuku runs away from home after a terrible accident. And though the police and his mother search desperately for Izuku, someone else has found him first - an older, scrappy boy whose Quirk is similar to his own. Dabi takes Izuku under his wing, and their meeting lights a fire that may never have started otherwise.

violets are blue | blood is red

Todoroki Rei has been receiving flowers from her husband. At least, that’s what Shouto believes until she goes missing. The key he has to find her is the blue flowers on her windowsill and a tenuous connection to a villain: Dabi, whose motives remain unclear yet who seems to have a particular grudge against the number one hero.

Arsonist's Lullaby

Here is one secret few people know about the Todoroki family: Todoroki Natsuo is Quirkless. He had no power over fire nor ice, and his father never speaks of his Quirkless son—or his dead one.

Studying health and welfare, Natsuo keeps his head down and his anger simmering. He’s no hero like Shouto. Without a Quirk and with too much resentment, Natsuo has never considered the life of heroics or anything related to it—that is, until a strange encounter where bleeding, dangerous villain Dabi asks Natsuo for his help.

Natsuo doesn’t know why he helps Dabi, nor does he understand why Dabi doesn’t seem to want to hurt him. But one encounter with the villain turns into more, until Natsuo realizes one day he understands Dabi better than his own father Endeavor. He doesn’t get why Dabi cares so much or why he feels safe around him. When Dabi offers to help Natsuo leave his life behind, Natsuo is faced with a choice… and his own family.

When the Glitter Fades

When Todoroki Shouto is hit by a mysterious Quirk, he drops, unconscious. Though his friends worry, there seem to be no visible effects. No damage. Nothing wrong.

But as the days pass, Todoroki just… doesn’t wake up. He’s caught in a neverending dream that shows him his own deep desires—his family, whole again and happy. And he doesn’t want to leave.

Digging Dreams Out of the Fire

Moments of recovery between Todoroki Rei and her son Shouto.

Eri

when there’s blood in my ears, i’ll hold you closer*

Even after Overhaul’s defeat, there are still villains looking for more Quirk-erasing bullets, and for the girl they come from. When Eri is nearly kidnapped, Aizawa makes the difficult decision to take Eri temporarily into hiding with him. But their safe houses aren’t as safe as they’re supposed to be either, and Aizawa begins to suspect that the Hero Commission has reasons to want Eri, too.

take your medicine

Aizawa Eri did not like doctors. This was a fact. Eri had also never received proper vaccinations in her very short life. Luckily, her big brothers Mirio and Deku are there to hold her hand, even as she begins to spiral in the waiting room (from @happi-tree​).

Other Characters of Class 1-A

Now You Don’t

Traitor!Hagakure AU. Class 1-A deals with their friend Hagakure’s mysterious disappearance, sharing their favorite stories of her and hoping for her safety as the search parties continue to come back empty-handed. Meanwhile, Tooru contemplates if going to the League was the correct decision - or if her new Sensei only sees her as another tool (from @happi-tree​).  

My Grand Plan

Hagakure Toru is surprised in her second year when she’s approached by a support and hero management firm that promises they will make people pay attention to her, but soon she accepts the offer to work together. But soon Toru realizes the firm’s support gear, plans, and inviting environment seems to cover something suspicious. And when they ask Toru for more information about her classmates and school, she begins to wonder if the support is for heroes or for villains.

visual (invisible)

Toru’s internship is drawing to an end, and though she’s grateful for the experience, she’s glad to be heading back to normal with classes and lunch with her friends without looking over her shoulder all the time. Not that anyone sees her, anyway, if she doesn’t want them to.

On her last day, she takes a bullet to the shoulder, and that’s when things fall apart.

They can see her. Toru’s friends, her classmates, her teachers: they can see her. It’s Toru’s childhood dream come true, all her prayers to the distant stars in the dark of night, her birthday wishes. No more going unnoticed. No more being invisible. No more of people looking right through her.

But it comes at the cost of her Quirk. Lost, unsure of her next steps, Toru has to figure out what it means to finally be seen when she’s been invisible her entire life, and what it means when she can no longer hide anything to anyone—or to herself.

balloons can’t make you fly

Five times Uraraka solved her problems by making them float, and one time she didn’t need her Quirk for it.

Don't ever tame your demons, but always keep them on a leash

When the Hero Commission gets involved with concerns about Hitoshi entering U.A.’s hero course due to his “villainous” Quirk, Hitoshi suddenly drops out of U.A. entirely, leaving his friends and teachers concerned about where he’s gone.

If the Hero Commission is law, Hitoshi makes the decision to defy it, taking a more direct approach to chasing his dreams: vigilantism.

Do you trust yourself?

Yaoyorozu Momo is supposed to be perfect. She is a recommended student, has a powerful Quirk, and comes from a family with a history of heroics.

But for all of her expectations, Momo knows she has one weakness: a crippling lack of confidence. But Momo’s friends and mentors are happy to teach Momo to trust herself.

A Momo-centric fic that spans her years at U.A. and her first steps as a hero.

Ignorance is Bliss*

Maybe Kyoka shouldn’t have been listening to Midoriya and All Might’s conversation, but she was curious. She ends up hearing more than she should—but not quite enough to get the full story.

Struggling to come to terms with “All Might’s legacy” and a connection to the villain who destroyed Kamino, All for One, Kyoka asks her classmate Todoroki for help unraveling a secret. The two form an unlikely team and friendship as they begin looking for the truth: about All for One, All Might, Midoriya, and the ties that bind them together.

Fear the Anger of a Kind Soul

There’s a bit of an unspoken rule in the dorms. Don’t mess with Uraraka.

Mineta tries. The story starts with him trying to sneak into her room, and ends with an expulsion, a few holes in the ceiling, and a social media post gone viral.

Dissociation Potion

Todoroki, in a spur of bad-decision making, makes a drink he found browsing social media.

It’s not pretty.

A Siren's Call

AU—Jirou Kyoka is an up-and-coming singer, known better as JACK!, pursuing her dreams in music after graduating. Her fast track through school and constant work leaves her lonely. Though she won’t admit it, she’s on the path to burnout; even as her fanbase grows, Jirou feels like no one really listens to her.

After performing at a Hero Gala, there are suddenly more eyes on her than usual, including villains. When she’s attacked, pro hero Creati saves her, and they become friends. Creati, or Yaoyorozu Momo, introduces Kyoka to more pro heroes; suddenly Kyoka has friends her age who like her music but more importantly like her.

Not everyone approves of Kyoka’s new friends, especially not her manager. Rumors start on social media. And a dangerous accident almost threatens to tear Kyoka’s friendships apart, but she’s determined not to lose the people she’s come to care for.

dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight

One by one, students at U.A. disappear overnight. No one knows where they’ve gone, or what happened.

Tension grows as parents panic, investigation turns up nothing, and the teachers search desperately for their students. That is, until Aizawa discovers a calling card left behind, half-hidden, on which is carefully written: Let’s dance.

What’s revealed is a Quirk trafficking ring—targeting powerful Quirks, with no better to choose from than the most prestigious hero school in Japan.

Cross the Delta

Asui Tsuyu knows even at the young age of seven that her froglike features make her an oddity amongst her peers. She tries to let their jeers and taunts slough off her like water, but they seep under her skin instead. A Hero with a Mutant Quirk helps her to see differently. Asui Tsuyu will become a Hero, oddity or not (from @happi-tree​). 

Miscellaneous

Revenge of the Roses

A non-deadly Hanahaki fic in which characters try to get each other to fall in love without falling in love back.

They’ve got a deadline: exams, when Hanahaki will get them out of it. They’ve got dates planned.

And, well, it doesn’t seem to be working. (Either the characters stay as friends and end up doing really nice things for each other, or they’re both falling in love. Oops.)

Run If You Can

Tensei’s hero career is— well, it’s over. There’s no wheeling around the fact, but that’s okay; he knows Tenya will be a great hero following in his footsteps and carrying the legacy of Ingenium.

It’s just that some days Tensei wheels down the hospital halls and realizes he’s become of the people that needs the saving, not the hero anymore. It’s just that some days he gets a call from the office or a bouquet of flowers and feels worse for the well wishes, not better. It’s just that some days he remembers it’s all over, and he’s one of the tragedies.

He doesn’t regret Stain. He doesn’t regret standing up to him, or lying in the street bleeding out knowing he might have saved someone else. But he doesn’t know what to do now.

There’s no running when you can’t run anymore.

[were-all-going-to-hell-goodbye]

Hey! How would each member of the dekubowl (and Midoriya himself) react to dicks (*coughEndeavorcough*) saying that Aizawa is a bad teacher and shouldn't be one after do many attacks?

Phew! This took a bit! But I’m pretty happy with it!! To the people who sent in asks, I’m doing them in the order I got them.

Izu my baby: My child is pulling out all the receipts. He’s bringing up death tolls, destruction of property, likeability, his piece of shit personality. Now we all my Izu is smart, but he’s not Nedzu, and he only knows a few facts about the Todoroki family, but he does have years of reading and participating in online forums about the disappearances of Endeavors wife and eldest son, not to mentions the large scar on Todoroki’s face that came out of nowhere when he was a child. Oh yeah, Izuku could bury that wannabe and smother his flames whenever he liked. (Sorry, got a bit vindictive towards the end there whoops)

Bakugou: He gave Endeavor a big ‘ol “FUCK YOUUUU” and the look on that bastard’s face was fucking priceless. It was a mix of “Excuse me???”, “Excuse YOU!” and “Whose sassy scary small child is this????”. 10/10 would see again. Then Bakugou was like “You heard me you dim piece of shit. I don’t give a FUCK who you are, all I know is you’re not All Might, nowhere even close and he can’t even insult Aizawa like that, you number two brain dead motherfucker.” I’m sorry, some of you have never seen the number 1 piece of shit get cussed out by an angsty teen and it shows.

Kirishima, Denki, Sero: Denki my baby, had a panic attack and was on the verge of short circuiting himself. The USJ traumatized him. Anyway, Denki firmly believes it’s because of Dadzawa that he and everyone he cares about lived, so the idea of losing him caused him to panic. Kirishima was in charge of calming him down because not only was my pika-baby discharging like crazy, but Kirishima has the best hugs, all big warm and comforting. Don’t think he wasn’t staring Endeavor down like he was something to stomp beneath his feet though. So Sero, enraged not only because he did that to Denki, but he wants to know who THE FUCK ENDEAVOR THINKS HE IS?! Dadzawa is the best hero they have ever had to joy of learning from and Endeavor had no right to criticize him when his own children hated him. (Nedzu in his office “👁️👄👁️”). 

Tokoyami and Shoji: We all know he’s not the type to yell at people, and Dark Shadow is weak to light so he doesn’t really do anything other than give vague death threats that Endeavor doesn’t really understand but will keep him up in night wondering if that first year really had a Bloody Death Sword or- Anyway, so Tokoyami really depends on his buff boyfriend to make sure the message gets across. Shoji is staring. Endeavor. Down. Not moving a muscle, not making a sound, not blinking, holy shit is this kid even breathing what the-. He’s just staring. And of course, in his head he is cussing Endeavor out, like, 20x the amount Bakugou did, he’s just not the type to talk when he doesn’t need to. His glares on point though. 

Momo and Mina: Mina went off immediately, she doesn’t know much about Todoroki’s home life and she may not be the smartest but she does know that Izuku hates him, and if her muscled bean doesn’t like a hero, then that hero’s shit. She does not hesitate to tell him so either, called him a piece of shit right to his face and how she can’t wait for everyone to get their heads out of their asses and realize that he doesn’t even belong to be the number two hero, or a hero at all. Momo needed to compose herself first because never has she wanted to immediately hurt someone before, just for a few words. As soon as those words had left him, her mind was already pulling up internal blue prints of various weapons that she trained with from a young age to use. Once she composed herself, she had to think about everything that made their teacher someone to admire so she just wouldn’t end up cussing the man out, which goes against how she was raised. Once Mina had finally calmed, Momo slowly walked up to Endeavor and after pulling on a flame-resistant glove, slapped Endeavor in the face for the complete and utter bullshit that he just spewed. Aizawa-sensei was a man to look up to and inspire to be like when one got older. If it wasn’t for his faith in her, Momo would have the confidence she has in herself now, she wouldn’t be as comfortable with her intelligence as she was now if it wasn’t for him. She wouldn’t trade Aizawa-sensei for the world. (Mina was definably recording the whole thing because she has this sixth sense for recording at the perfect moment).

Iida and Shinso: You would think Iida would be there so Shinso wouldn’t make Endeavor do anything illegal with his quirk, but nope! Shinso was definably there so Iida would attack the number two hero. He has a reputation now, lmao. Iida compares Endeavor harshly with like any other fucking hero. Some honorable mentions are Ingentium, Muriko, All Might, Hawks, and Best Jeanist. (I feel like Endeavor wouldn’t like Best Jeanist). Shinso definitely goes off saying how physical quirks are shit and how even someone like himself could beat him. And that get Endeavor angry and he’s like “well then show me” and Shinso’s like “Really? Your giving me verbal permission to use my quirk on you.” And endeavors like “Of course! Your baby quirk can’t do shit to me.” And then Endeavor punched himself in the face.

Todoroki: “I am not you. I will never be you and I will never want to be you. I want to be a hero that mom would be proud of. One that Natsuo won’t hate, one that doesn’t give Fuyumi nightmares. I want to be one that Touya would ask for help. I don’t want to be the kind of hero that causes hate and rage and despair everywhere I go. I don’t want to be you. 

“No matter how many times you “train me” or yell at me, or threaten me I will never be you! I would rather die than be you! I want to be the kind of Hero that Izuku looks up to, the kind of hero Aizawa-sensei will hear about and think of how far along he helped me go. Because it’s because of Izuku and Aizawa-sensei that I will ever become a hero that I will be proud of. 

“My name is Shoto from UA and I want to be a hero that others feel safe when they see me. And that hero will never be based off of you. I will stand beside Izuku and Eraserhead and I will make sure people are safe, because that’s what heroes do.”

[kewltie]

the nerd and jock cliche, where bakugou is a frat boy on an athletic scholarship and deku is the clumsy nerd but nothing is whatt it seems because bakugou is all the professors' fav honors student) and deku is on a first name basis w/ the campus police because he keep getting arrested for various illegal actions around campus.

deku feels extremely passionate about the environment and civic duty etc and wants the world to care as much as he does!!! so he get tangled up in various issues around campus and caused all sort of problems even as he fixes them. katsuki is the v v tired bf who has to bail him out lol

ppl knows midoriya izuku before they even met him because he's famous around campus for his many colorful 'deeds' and that one time he released frogs from the biology building in protest of finding out that the school dumping their waste in the restricted woods. he's a good student but he got a rebellious streak a mile wide. rules are good only if they serve the betterment of society otherwise deku usually said fuck it which is the most hilarious thing to katsuki because izuku gets stupidly shy trying to hold katsuki’s hand but he has no problem getting right up in a bully face before getting someone punch him lol /o\.

Katsuki is the campus golden boy: stellar academic records, incredibly athletic, and tho he's blunt and prickly the school hold him high esteem because he get shit down without raising hell over unlike izuku. esp the profs because he's their star student w/o fail but he got a major flaw—his bf who all the profs dread and begrudgingly loves!!

izuku is small in size and soft in heart, but he got the soul of a harden soldier who never came back from war because he somehow always find a cause to fight for as though he cant stop fighting or he'll die. it just means he loves and cares too much for you, me, everyone, and the world!!! katsuki knows that well enough, that's why he doesnt stop izuku from doing what he does. also, because he thinks it's fucking funny to see his smol bf go up against giant foes like that sleezy sexist fuckboi in their chem class to pharmaceutical company with clenched fists. katsuki's life is just perfect growing up: good school, good friends, and annoying but supportive parents who let him have free reign so when he met izuku in their first year in college, this kid w/ the bleeding heart & bruise fist, his life got royally wrecked and he loves it.

izuku makes his life 200% more interesting with all the often weird and/or troubling things he get up to. katsuki's life was perfect but boring af until izuku steamrolled into it and fucked it up the only way he knew how—izuku may starts fight but it is katsuki who ends them. While izuku loves katsuki absolutely. he thinks katsuki is the raddest person on earth because he never hesitates, if he wants something he'll go for it w/o fail, wont even consider anything less. They actually met before this, but katsuki doesnt remember the boy he'd saved years back and now inspired.

izuku's life was a series of compromise from the ticking time bomb in his chest (literally) to the unfairness of the world because he's either too frail, too much, or too diff to ever be accepted properly but katsuki doesnt give one iota drop of fuck about it when they first met as kids. He’d moved at his pace, uncompromising and unknowingly saved izuku during one of the worst times of his life. So after finding out his savior's name, izuku cant stop looking at him and LOOKING UP TO HIM. izuku tries desperately to emulate katsuki’s no nonsense attitude just so he can have a drop of that fearless determination because he got only one life, however limited it is to save ppl, help the world, to do something and be w/ katsuki.

He’d followed katsuki to his college, reinvented himself, and finally caught the heart of the boy he'd secretly loved. he's living his life to the fullest now, no hesitation or regrets now. if he die today... he would be ok w/ it because he did everything he could. katsuki would be proud.  EXCEPT izuku fights for everyone else but not for himself and katsuki once he realized all the secrets izuku have been hiding he's gonna kill him and reminds him that he isnt a one person army and that katsuki too will go to war for him so DO NOT QUIT! DONT GO GENTLE INTO THE GOODNIGHT.

Heres the thing: izuku was born with a weak heart that he inherited from his father, so he spent most of his childhood in and out of hospital. in one long hospital stay, he met another boy. blond hair, a scowling face, and a mean mouth. he'd broke both of his legs playing a game w/ his friends. they were not the only kids of the same age in the hospital but izuku was too quiet and too shy to get along w/ the other kids and katsuki didn't want to be trap in a hospital and certainly didnt want to make any new friends so ofc izuku found katsuki interesting right away.

he was drawn to katsuki's strength and his determination because even he was wearing a cast and told that he won't be able to walk in till a couple of weeks but he WANTED TO WALK SOON AND SO PRACTICE AND PRACTICE. everytime he fell he got up again and made forced his away to be better. izuku never met such a brazen soul before so he stuck close to katsuki even though katsuki ignored him and yelled at him to go away everytime but izuku persistent eventually paid off. katsuki tolerated him by his side, insisting he can't be friend w/ someone who pussyfoot around.

"just because you're sick shouldn't stop you from doing what you want. there are more to life then the four walls of your hospital room!" it's the kind of things kids who don't fully know the consequence of his actions would say but izuku took that to heart, BE BRAVE LIKE KACCHAN he thought to himself.

They’d only known each other for a few weeks before katsuki was eventually released, but izuku never forgot that boy or his vows, "when you get better, come and find me and we'll play again!" he said it was as though izuku's doesn't have a hole in his heart. LITERALLY.  and he didn't watch his father die of the same disease!! look, izuku may be young and his mom and nurses coddle him but izuku knew ppl like him dont live long. there was an expiration date and he had been living w/ waiting for his heart to give out,,, but then katsuki came along!

now, with renewed interest in life izuku tried to get better and underwent several surgeries to aid his heart and maybe keep his alive just a little longer. he took HIM YEARS AND YEARS to finally be able to live some semblance of a normal life, but he still that same hesitant boy underneath all that bravado. when he tried to find katsuki again, katsuki had not only thrive outside the hospital but he was living his life to the fullest—excelling in class and in sports and he always surrounded w/ friends and ppl even though he put a fuss about them. all the while izuku was healthier now, stop relying on the hospital but he remained ever stagnant because while he was removed from the hospital and all that entailed, death still clung to him and he still hold reservation about himself, the world, and what it mean to live.mthe next time they meet, izuku promised that he would change for the better so katsuki would turn his way!!! because right now izuku wouldn't be able to stand equal to him and he couldn't face katsuki w/ the way he was now so when they meet again izuku would be a diff and better person

so HE WORKED SUPER HARD ON HIMSELF and his studies to get into the same college as him, pleading his mom to let him go to a school far away and that he would be v v v careful about his heart meds. izuku put his life on the line for this chance to change himself and be someone worthy. so it's not that izuku IS FEARLESS AND BRAVE, but it's that he's so terribly scare of dying that he's risking his one SINGLE life to live however he please right now because he doesn't know how much longer he has to live. he wants to do everything he could with w/e time he has left.

izuku is the way he is now because of katsuki and his fear of losing out on happiness if he never seize the chance for himself. it's,,, not a good prospective but its what keep izuku going and going even when his heart sends him back to the hospital again w/ katsuki glaring down at him.