#i technically don't remember my great grandad (i only remember him being there but i don't have an image in my head)

[eggmeralda]

I need to go to my great grandparents' old house in penzance even though I haven't been there in about 20 years

[oligbia]

Rat

Chapter 3

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Requests are open <3

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The first week of classes at UA went by with ease. Hero training was intense, a current focus on strength building right now, but Mr.Aizawa was already speaking about a future plan to start working on quirk development and teamwork.  The academic classes quickly started to pick up in lessons, tests and deadlines already approaching. You found the material pretty mundane, topics you had studied before. However, like she had promised, Hado did frequently need help. 

She asked for help during Friday afternoons, a way to review the week’s materials. The two of you were seated in your living room, the Musutafu heat still brutal. Hado was sprawled out on your floor, acting as if she was about to melt. Beads of sweat formed along your hairline, you peered over your books to look at Hado. 

“Hado, it really isn’t that warm. You need to do this work before it gets late.”

Hado groaned, rolling from her back to her stomach, resting her head on her hands. “C’mon L/N!” We should at least take a break! You can’t work in this heat!”

You rolled your eyes. You had to admit to yourself, a break did sound sort of nice. “Fine, but after that we need to do things. We have a math test on Monday.” 

You hopped up, getting a few popsicles from the freezer. You brought them back, offering her a cherry one. She humed contently, taking the popciple into her mouth, licking at it. You enjoyed your own, giving into the heat. 

“We’ll start doing team ups in training soon, and I was thinking about it.” Hado’s voice was casual. She still managed to take you by surprise every time she brought up hero training. She never seemed like the kind to be thinking that far ahead. 

“What about?”

“Well, as great as you are, you're not good for combat like Amajiki or I would be.”  

You tried to hold back your displeasure. You were aware you didn’t have a conventional quirk for being a hero. You couldn’t really teach all the rats in the world combat, and rats are only so deadly. Hand to Hand combat wasn’t something you were particularly keen with, so that was out of the question. You were going to fall behind soon if you didn’t figure it out. You knew you wouldn't be a combat hero, you were best off being a rescue and recovery hero, but you still had to pull ahead in class somehow. 

“But, I think you could play an3 important role in our teams!” 

Your eyes locked with Hado’s as she bit off the end of her popsicle. You gave her a look that tried to convey you wanted to hear more. She looked at you, whispering a small ‘oh!’.

“See, Amajiki is really good at close combat. And I’m good at far away combat. But, if we are both busy, we can’t see what's happening around us. Because if we want to fight off villains while also rescuing, we need a third person, and that's you, L/N-chan!” 

You blinked, following her. She was smarter than she would ever let on, once you get over the fact she struggles with math. “Are you suggesting that I would play some kind of control center type role?”

Hado nodded, “Mhm! You are like, the one keeping us safe, while also doing the rescuing to let us focus more on the fighting! Then, if it gets bad, you can come in like backup!” She threw a handful of fake punches, pretending like she was fighting some invisible villain, eventually falling to play dead. She whispered through her pretend dead act, “See, this is when you come to rescue me.”

A small smile grew on your face, finding her amusing. You didn’t know many heroes who worked in a support hero role. Thinking on it, you suppose a hero like Mr.Aizawa or 13 are the closest you could think of. The idea wasn’t undesirable, it was probably better for you. 

“If you wanted to try it out, I think that Amajiki and his friend, Toagta, are going to go train tomorrow morning. We could always join them.” 

You shrugged. “Maybe, we need to do this week’s academics first. You can't be a hero if you flunk out of first year.” 

***

No human should ever willingly wake up before the sun is up. But, there Hado was, throwing tiny pebbles at your window at the crack of dawn. You had learned a few things about Hado in the week you’ve known her: She was incredibly stubborn, She was extremely kind, She was smarter than she let on, She was never going to understand the quadratic equation, And she was never tired.

You threw the covers off you, opening the window. The summer air was cooler now, waking you up by sending a chill up your spine. You yelled down at her as quietly as you could. “Hado! What the hell are you doing?”

“L/N, are you not a morning person?” She pouted, not appreciating her harsh language. 

“It’s…” You looked at your alarm clock, horrified, “It’s 4AM Hado! What do you want?” 

“Training with the boys, silly! C’mon, the train leaves in, like, 20 minutes!” 

You rolled your eyes. You were already awake, might as well go. You threw on some hero tee shirt and shorts, pulling a zip-up jacket over your shoulders. You ran down the stairs, leaving a note for your grandad, and left the house. 

Hado waited at the door, rolling between the balls of her feet and her heels. “C’mon slow poke! We’re going to be late!” 

Nejre linked elbows with you, pulling you alongside her. The two of you sprinted to the pretty much empty train, hopping on right before it rook off. The two of you stood together, holding into the upper rail. Hado smiled, watching the land and city pass by through the window. 

You hadn’t done any training with someone, or really much training at all. You had done some stamina training and a little muscle work, but when it came to the entrance exam, no one was really sure what to expect, so you didn't have much of an idea for what training to do beforehand. You knew that one on one training with Hado and Amajiki was maybe possible- you weren't sure either of them had any idea how to do hand to hand combat either.

The train stopped at your platform, Hado flashing you her sweet smile before walking out. You followed behind her, like a baby duck following its mother. The two of you made your way to the beach, the morning sun slowly rising from the sky. 

“I’m not really sure what to expect, honestly. I think Amajiki said his friend had a really powerful quirk though.” 

You nodded, remembering Amajiki’s friend. He was the blond who frequently could be caught frequently staring at you unapologetically. You kinda remember his dark blue eyes, they were always somewhat inviting and equally unsettling. 

The two of you finally approached the beach, Amajiki’s figure able to be made out in the morning’s shadow. Hado ran before you, messing with Amajiki’s hair when she reached him, thanking him for inviting you both. You gave him a small wave, which he returned with a small nod. 

“Mirio is over there, he was stuck in something. He is probably fine now.” 

“Stuck?” you asked, confused about what someone could get stuck in at the beach at close to 5 AM. 

“His quirk- sometimes he gets a little stuck in objects.” 

Hado giggled, “C’mon sillies! Let’s go!” She locked grabbed both of your wrists, both of you being drug behind her as she wandered into the beach.

Hado and you ended up seperating from the other two, Hado walking you through how to use your upper arm as a defense from someone else’s punch. You weren’t bad at the blocking part, it was the anticipating and timing that kept throwing you off. The two of you were just taking turns at throwing fake punches at the other, quickly getting into a rhythm. 

“Do you know what you want your hero name to be? We get to pick those soon.” Hado threw a jab your way, your arm barely making it up intime to shield your face. 

You shook your head, throwing one back at her. “Not really-”

Hado shrugged as she flawlessly defended herself. She was defending herself easily but her jabs felt weaker in comparison to yours. She threw a jab at you, your arm not reaching her in time, her weak blow landing in your shoulder. 

You looked at her defeated. She moved her shoulder in circles. “L/N, you need to teach me how you throw punches. Mine are weak.”

You tossed your jacket aside. “Well, with a quirk like yours you really don't need to be able to throw punches. You have a distance advantage.” 

Hado beamed, “You remembered!” 

You shrugged, “It was a solid plan, Hado. I remember good ideas.” 

The two of you heard a large bang in the distance. Amajiki looked like he had somehow turned his arms into long strands of seaweed, trapping Togata. Except-

“Is he naked?” Hado said it before you could. Togata was most definitely naked, and he was waving at the two of you from a small confinement of seaweed that definitely did not hide more than you wanted to see. 

Hado broke into a fit of laughter as your face turned bright red. You had never talked to Togata, but you had somehow already seen him naked. 

Hado pulled you behind her as she ran to the boys. 

“Amajiki, you can turn into more than just animals?!” 

Your face was still burning red as you avoided the glances Togata was most definitely sending your way. His voice was chipper as He broke himself free from Tamaki’s comfinments. “His quirk lets him manifest to living things- plants are technically living.”

“Could he turn into a person then, like if he ate their blood or flesh or something?” Hado poked at Amajiki’s seaweed arm that was still attempting to cover Togata’s privates. 

Amajiki looked at Hado with panicked eyes and babbled about anxiously, “Why would I ever eat a human-”

Toagata pulled a pair of pants on, “Sorry about that ladies, it's hard to control my pants when I use my quirk!” 

Hado smiled innocently, somehow unphased by the very naked boy infront of her. “It's alright! My name is Nejire Hado, and this is my friend Y/N L/N! She’s a little anti-social, so you won't hear much from her.” 

You looked at the ground, mumbling. “I’m not anti-social, just uninterested in conversation right now.” 

Togata fastened the belt on his pants, “Oh well that's too bad! I’ll just have to talk to you another time!” 

You let out a “mhm” trying to be polite, but it was hard when you had just seen this kid naked. Hado didn’t seem to pick up on your discomfort. “Togata, you’ll have to ask L/N about her quirk sometime, it's really cool! Oh! And she can tell you about hero equipment! She knows all about it.” 

You rolled your eyes, “I don’t know all about it, just basic stuff. I’m able to read, I'm not a support student.” 

Togata smiled warmly, “That's still more than me. I’ve never been a good student,  that's why I wasn’t able to get into 1-A!” 

You blinked. How was he so upbeat while literally calling himself dumb?

“Well, me and L/N need to go finish up our training! We’ll see you boys later.” Hado sang the end of her statement, waving the two a goodbye. Tamaki nodded and Mirio waved frantically as the two of you wandered off to finish some training. 

When you were gone, Mirio turned to Amajiki. “Tamaki, what is L/N’s quirk?” 

“Something with rats. She’s able to control them somehow. I’ve really only ever seen her use it a few times.” 

Mirio’s smile grew into a small frown, a finger scratching his chin as he watched you and Hado throw some more punches around. 

“That seems like a neat quirk, why wouldn’t she want to develop it.”

Amajiki smiled, almost laughing. He placed a gentle hand on Mirio’s shoulder, smiling at the blond. “Not all of us are praised for our quirks, Mirio. She may still need to come around to it.”

Mirio nodded, looking at the violet haired boy. “Huh. Alright.” Mirio watched a little longer as you nailed Hado in the shoulder, frantically apologizing. He smiled softly, something about you undeniably drawing him in. “Let’s go mess around more, Tamaki. I bet if you ate some crab you could make little pinchers!”