#the ethics of sportsmanship (how life isn't fair)

[talkativelock]

PLEASE! I need more of the stain fight! I need to know who it goes!!

Hello hello and thank you for your patience! It’s been a while. I had some stuff to get done and then I was sick which was awful but I’m back now! I hope you enjoy this continuation of The Ethics of Sportsmanship~

Part one is here, part two is here, part three is here, part four is here, part five is here.

Midoriya cries out in pain as the knife makes impact. He stumbles, falling back. He impacts the concrete of the alleyway floor hard.

“Midoriya!” There’s panic in Shouto’s veins now. Stain lands on his toes, lithe like a cat, and Shouto pours everything he has into forcing Stain back. The fire he throws in Stain’s direction has little licks of blue at the core of it. It’s so hot it burns even Shouto a little.

Stain dances back and while he’s still off balance Shouto draws upon his coldest place, the place he used to cultivate on it’s own. He forces it out at great speed, much like he did when he was fighting Sero during the sports festival, and he covers the alleyway in ice.

In theory that should stop Stain. Shouto doesn’t feel comfortable betting on it. At the very least it buys Shouto time. He ignores his own injury and rushes to Midoriya’s side.

Midoriya is curled up into a ball on the dirty ground, curled around his injury to protect it. 

“What? What’s going on?” Iida asks. Shouto ignores him.

He reaches out carefully and touches Midoriya’s shoulder, trying to pull him back so he can assess the damage. Midoriya hisses but Shouto is firm and he pulls Midoriya onto his back.

There’s a lot of blood welling up around the knife. It’s staining the blue officer in training uniform that Midoriya is wearing in a wide, wet patch. Shouto wishes he had something sharp so he could cut the cloth away and get a good look at the injury but he doesn’t keep anything like that in his first aid kit.

Midoriya squints at him. Shouto has no idea what his face is doing but it makes Midoriya set his jaw. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine,” Shouto says, his voice coming out sharp and hoarse.

“I’m fine,” Midoriya repeats with more force. He tries to sit up, pushes against Shouto’s hand. Midoriya is strong for someone so small, Shouto already knew that. It’s hard to keep him down and Shouto is forced to let him sit up or risk hurting him further.

“Midoriya,” Shouto says, maybe begging maybe reprimanding.

“I’m. Fine,” Midoriya repeats for the third time, his teeth grinding together around the words. He’s glaring now.

“You’ve been stabbed,” Shouto snaps, trying to talk some sense into Midoriya’s absolute insanity.

“Someone’s been stabbed?” Iida demands. He still hasn’t turned to look which means he’s still paralyzed. “Take him and go, this is my fight. You shouldn’t have to get hurt for it.”

Shouto is angry. He’s so angry. He’s angry at Midoriya for pushing against his body and the limitations of not having a quirk, for putting himself at risk and making Shouto worry. He’s angry at Iida for doing something this stupid, for chasing down the Hero Killer and nearly getting himself killed for some kind of revenge plot. He’s angry at himself for not being strong enough. He’s angry at the Hero Killer for killing heroes in the first place.

Midoriya stands. Against all reason or logic Midoriya stands up.

“Listen, Iida-kun, I don’t know you and I don’t really care about your feelings right now,” Midoriya says, stumbling. Shouto stands up and moves to catch him but Midoriya catches himself. “You’re being selfish. You’re going to get yourself and everyone here killed.”

“You don’t know-”

“You’re right, I don’t know,” Midoriya interrupts. “But why doesn’t matter. All that matters is what kind of hero you are with your actions.”

There’s a slam and the tinkling sound of breaking ice as Stain breaks himself free. Shouto’s head snaps are in time to see Stain’s furious look and then Midoriya is moving.

Midoriya is fast. Shouto knows this, he’s seen it again and again. He’s not superhumanly fast, not like Iida or Bakugou when he’s going full blast with his quirk, but fast nonetheless.

He’s going to die.

It happens in slow motion in front of Shouto’s eyes. Midoriya, running towards Stain. Stain, slicing with his blade. Midoriya, in the path of the sword that threatens to cut him in half.

Shouto doesn’t know what his face is doing, he doesn’t even know what his body is doing. He rushes forward but he isn’t fast enough.

Iida is.

Like a rocket Iida comes from nowhere. With a sharp kick Stain is disarmed, his sword flying through the air. Stain’s tongue reaches out and Iida grabs it. He pulls and Stain goes with it.

Shouto erupts into fire and ice and he catches Stain where he flies through the air. With his continuing burst of speed Iida chases Stain down and kicks, hard and fast.

At the same time as Stain is knocked out cold from Iida’s sharp kick Midoriya lurches forward at where Stain used to be. He his the ground and passes out.

“Midoriya!” Shouto cries, rushing to Midoriya’s side. The pro hero, Native, follows and even Iida joins them. Shouto is first, though, and he makes a blade of ice on his finger. He cuts the uniform away to see that it’s worse than he thought.

There’s a lot of blood that was under the uniform. There’s a layer of it dyeing Midoriya’s skin a rusty red and running in thick trails down the grooves between his muscles. He’s bleeding fast. Shouto doesn’t know much about blood loss, something he plans to rectify soon, but he does know that there’s a lot of blood.

“We need to get him to a hospital right now,” Native says. “Do either of you have a phone?”

“I don’t-” Iida says looking guilty and torn and Shouto ignores him, diving into his pocket with his fingers and talking over Iida.

“I’ll call emergency services,” Shouto says. “But the city is burning, it will take them a while to come.”

Native nods. “Then we’ll just have to keep Midoriya alive until then. Iida-kun, right? Help me stop the bleeding.”

“I can do that,” Shouto says, tossing Iida his phone. “My quirk… either fire or ice has to be able to help, right?”

Native’s eyes go wide. “Yeah, we can make that work. Put your hands here.”

Iida stands and stares for a moment. Shouto puts his hands where he’s told to and looks up at him. “Iida.”

Iida jumps at Shouto’s sharp voice and turns his attention to Shouto’s phone. As he calls for an ambulance Shouto looks back to Midoriya and watches blood run over his fingers as he’s instructed to push down and add ice around the blade to hold it in place and physically block the bleeding. Shouto holds his tongue, stops himself from talking to Midoriya.

“Stay there,” Native says, standing up. “I’ll go secure Stain.”

Shouto stays, keeps pressure on Midoriya’s shoulder, and hopes that Midoriya lives long enough for Shouto to talk to him again.

If you enjoy my work consider donating to my lock spends more time writing fanfiction fund.

[talkativelock]

More Quirkless Gen Studies Izuku! Maybe the Stain fight or the aftermath? (I figure Gen Studies kids get internships too, just not hero ones. Maybe he was interning with Naomasa or another Hosu police detective.)

*pulls my Ethics of Sportsmanship notes down from the virtual shelf and blows dust off them* oh man, it’s been a while~ And the stain fight too~ Aa, I hope you enjoy this my friend~

Part one is here, part two is here, part three is here, part four is here.

Iida isn’t doing well.

Shouto isn’t exactly sure what to do about it. He knows it’s happening, he can see it in Iida’s eyes and the set of his shoulders. Iida himself seems to be under the impression that he’s fooling everyone but Uraraka keeps throwing him concerned looks when he isn’t looking. Shouto, for his part, can only watch and wish he had any idea what to say.

Midoriya would know what to say. If Shouto was on better terms with Midoriya he would ask but Midoriya wouldn’t talk to him after their match at the sports festival. Shouto doesn’t get very many opportunities to speak to students in the General Studies department so he’s left with nothing except a squirming in his gut and a growing concern for the look on Iida’s face.

Shouto knows that look from the mirror. It’s a look that speaks of hurt and anger to the determent of all else. Shouto used to wear that look while he tore himself down to spite his father.

It’s not a good look.

There’s nothing he can do about Iida’s expression now, though, Shouto has to focus on himself and his own survival. There was only one real choice for internship and that was Endeavor. Shouto has to tread carefully, to learn all he can from the number two at his place of work before forging his own path. His father is pleased that Shouto chose his hero agency but Shouto is just grimly determined.

Shouto and his father head to Hosu, the last known location of the Hero Killer. What they find there is a city burning.

The streets are pandemonium. Police are out in force to try to contain the panic and heroes throw themselves ineffectually against the power of the nomu, because apparently the one at the USJ attack wasn’t the only one. Shouto’s father jumps into the fray and he is, well, he’s much less ineffectual.

It’s during all this that Shouto sees it. A flash of green curls across the way.

There’s no reason to believe that Midoriya is the only person in the world to have green curls. In fact, Shouto would bet quite the opposite. As the person, whose dressed in a uniform that looks similar to the police but not, runs away from the fight and away from the evacuation point Shouto can’t help but feel like it is Midoriya.

If Midoriya is here then that means that Midoriya is about to throw himself into danger. 

Shouto ignores his father calling for him and ducks around a few sidekicks. He builds himself an ice slide to take him over a burning car and gives the nomu the heroes are trying to wrangle a wide berth. Midoriya, because it has to be Midoriya, ducks down a side street. Shouto follows as best he can.

Midoriya is fast. Shouto already knew he was fast from the sports festival but most of that wasn’t simple running. Now that there are no crazy obstacles Shouto can appreciate just how fast Midoriya really is. Shouto doesn’t fall behind but he’s not gaining on Midoriya as quickly as he would like either. 

At one point Midoriya stumbles, stuttering in his stride, before pinwheeling his arms and rushing down a side alley. Shouto pushes himself faster, worried that he’s going to lose Midoriya here. When he gets to the mouth of the alleyway what he sees makes his blood run cold.

Pro Hero Native and Iida are on the ground, both bleeding. Midoriya is currently wrestling with a man who matches the description of the Hero Killer perfectly.

Of all the stupid, reckless things for Midoriya to do engaging with the Hero Killer has got to sit near the top of the list.

Before Shouto can do much more than absorb the scene Stain gets a boot in Midoriya’s gut, pushing him off with a sharp shove. Midoriya is thrown back, landing flat on his back and rolling away with the momentum of it. Stain pulls a blade in a flash.

“Who the hell do you think you are, kid?” Stain spits, pointing it at Midoriya’s prone form.

“Midoriya,” Shouto shouts as a warning, panic rising in his throat. He takes a few steps forward and flings his fire at the Hero Killer, who is forced to dance backwards or suffer burns.

Midoriya sits up, looking a bit dazed from his fall. “Todoroki-kun?”

“Todoroki-kun?” Iida repeats, sounding strained. His face is turned away from Shouto and for whatever reason he doesn’t seem able to turn his head back.

Shouto’s first order of business is to get reckless people out of the line of fire.

“More kids,” Stain grumbles. “What, is there a field trip nearby?”

Shouto ignores him and concentrates. The ice spreads along the floor of the alleyway in a thin layer before building into an incline, sliding Native, Iida, and Midoriya back Shouto’s way. Native and Iida just kind of go with the flow but Midoriya scrambles, trying to find purchase on uneven ground. 

When he’s gathered everyone to him Shouto turns his ice into a wall, separating them from Stain.

“Oh, I see,” Stain says from the other side. “You’re Endeavor’s kid, huh?”

Shouto’s blood runs cold at the sound of Stain’s voice, amused and cruel.

“Weaknesses?” Shouto rasps. He’s mostly talking to Midoriya and his uncanny analysis skills but any response will do.

“It happened when he cut us,” Native says. “My body just stopped responding.”

“It can’t be the cut itself,” Midoriya says, sounding breathless as he pulls himself to his feet. Shouto has a weird urge to demand that he stay down. “Those blades are store bought and can’t have anything to do with his actual quirk. It probably has to do with blood. He may not need to interact with the blood beyond just looking at it, which would make things difficult. We should try not to get cut.”

“Easier said then done,” Shouto sighs.

“What are you doing here?” Iida demands. “Leave, this is my fight.”

“You don’t seem to be doing a lot of fighting right now,” Shouto replies, miffed.

“Hey, Iida-kun, right?” Midoriya says. “Uraraka-san’s friend?”

“I… Yes,” Iida says.

“I’m sorry, Iida-kun,” Midoriya says. “I’m not going anywhere.” As he speaks Stain clears the ice wall. He almost seems to hover suspended in the air, his scarf flaring out behind him like demonic wings carrying him down to destroy them. “I don’t know what your deal is but I’m going to help save you.”

Stain pulls a handful of throwing knives, glinting in the light from the moon and the fire Shouto is still wrapping around his left side. 

“Midoriya, get down,” Shouto yells, reaching in Midoriya’s direction and trying to bring up some kind of ice barrier to protect them. He catches two of four blades on his ice wall and one of them is knocked aside after tearing a line of pain on his forearm. 

The last one buries itself in Midoriya’s shoulder.

Alright I’m going to have to cut this one off here because length, sorry. Please forgive me for the bit of a cliffhanger, there’s never a good place to stop mid action sequence.

Part six is here.

If you enjoy my work consider donating to my lock spends more time writing fanfiction fund.

[talkativelock]

In the Enthics of Sportsmenship I feel like Izuku is the physical embodiment of "Become a Hero or a least die trying"

hskjdfkhs That’s basically true. No one believes in Izuku so as far as he’s concerned anyone who tells him he can’t is a quitter. If he wants it bad enough and works hard enough he’s sure that he’ll be able to be a hero.

Or, you know, die.

[talkativelock]

Aaah I forgot to ask you something about the ethics of sportsmanship au. If izuku didn't know Iida, how did he know Iida was in trouble? Also, a completely unrelated question: A lot of my friends think Haikyuu has a lot of queerbaiting (having 2 same-sex characters with "gay interactions" but never becoming a canon couple). What do you think about that? -ranting anon (ajsjkdh sorry for bothering you so much)

Hello again my friend~ Don’t worry about bothering me! I love to hear from you~

Izuku wasn’t tracking Iida, he was tracking the Hero Killer. He knew the Hero Killer would be in the area for the same reason Iida did; the Hero Killer follows a pattern. Much like in canon he pieces together that the Hero Killer will be away from the fighting and starts searching out of the way places away from the nomu. It was luck that he found the fight before Iida could be killed. Izuku was looking for Stain in the hopes that he could help to save whatever hero Stain was going to target next.

As for your unrelated Haikyuu question...

Basically all Shounen stories have the same feel to them as Haikyuu when it comes to ships. The genre often revolves around deep male friendships which can be very easy to view as romantic. However, generally speaking queerbaiting is something that is done intentionally by “the author” in order to get more queer viewership. A deep platonically written friendship that fans are viewing as queer does not queerbaiting make. Generally speaking, anime is more likely to see queerbaiting type stuff in official merch than in the show itself.

I do not personally feel baited by Haikyuu. I don’t feel like Haikyuu ever promised me with the text that I would get some queer romance. I feel like Haikyuu thrives off of it’s solid cast and their Intense Codependent Volleyball Friendships which make for great shipping but I’ve never felt Haikyuu was actively building towards a canon queer romance before dropping off. It’s not Sherlock, which told us over and over again that the main characters were so gay very very gay look at how gay they are everyone in universe knows they’re gay and brings it up all the time how dare you think they’re actually gay.

I don’t know, queerbaiting brings to mind a malicious intent to take advantage of queer fans’ desire to be represented for profit without any intent of follow through and I don’t get that vibe from Haikyuu the show (official merch is another story). It’s not enough to be “some gay subtext but not canon gay”, it has to be trying to sell us something while looking down on us. That’s queerbaiting.

But I guess it is up to each person how gay tilted the power of friendship looks to them before they start to feel baited and how much baiting they’re willing to put up with before dropping a show.

I hope you found my perspective at the very least interesting.

[talkativelock]

The new Ethics of Sportsmanship part was amazing! Thank you for blessing us with such a lovely chapter! I love that Midoriya helps people with their problems by throwing himself headfirst into every dangerous situation he can find, but I think that Todoroki is going to have a heart attack one of these times. Wonderful writing, as expected from our lovely Lock! ♥︎

Aa thank you so much! I’m so glad to get back into writing ficlets for you all again~ I thought I would get more done during June and the first half of July but I guess not...

I’m so glad that you enjoyed the new Ethics of Sportsmanship part! I’m really glad that I was able to (mostly) resolve the Stain fight. Also, Shouto is really starting to lose his mind when it comes to Izuku and Izuku’s tendencies to throw himself into danger. Somehow getting himself involved in every dangerous situation from canon even as they get more dangerous while also being quirkless is, uh, distressing for Shouto to say the least.

Thank you so much for your kind words and for reading~ Here’s some Shouto doing his best fighting Stain for you~

[talkativelock]

Hello! I absolutely LOVE The Ethics of Sportsmanship, Aizawa has to be so done with Izuku's antics and I can only imagine the look on his face when he gets another report of Izuku injuring himself again.

I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! Since Izuku is in general studies Aizawa doesn’t get the normal everyday reports of Izuku injuring himself. He does, however, get reports whenever Izuku injures himself in a situation that also involves Aizawa students and Aizawa thanks the universe every day that he isn’t technically responsible for the kid (but who is he kidding?? he’s responsible for every kid)

Thank you so much for reading, my friend~

^live reenactment 

[talkativelock]

The ethics of sportsmanship is amazing!!!!!! You’re a wonderful writer!!!!

Aa thank you so much my friend! I have a lot of fun with The Ethics of Sportsmanship and I’m so glad you’re enjoying reading it~! Thank you so much for your kind words on my writing, too~ You’re wonderful~

[talkativelock]

Let Ethics of Sportsmanship Izuku meet up with Mei and get some badass equipment please! I want scenarios like Shouto arriving at school one day to find Izuku zooming around with a jet pack while Mei chases after him. It'd be great!

LMAO That would be quite amusing and Izuku and Mei do know each other. Only time will tell what happens with that I guess.

[talkativelock]

I hope Izuku will survive!

He’ll be okay, my friend~ I wouldn’t kill my boy (unless I was bringing him back to life a la the reincarnation series) I just might.... maim him a bit? Izuku’s a survivor!

Poor Shouto, though. He doesn’t know that.

[talkativelock]

Your Ethics of Sportsmanship au, I love it! I wonder about All Might though? Like, is he aware that that one quirkless kid he told needed to think realistically has been throwing himself at multiple serial killers and bombs like a well-meaning madman?

Thank you so much! I’m so glad you are enjoying it~

All Might is like... vaguely aware? During the USJ attack he was made aware by the fact that Izuku nearly got himself killed in the square that Izuku had made it into UA. He also watched the Sports Festival. He’s not so aware that Izuku is just... throwing himself at serial killers with no regard for his well-being. Toshi severely underestimates Izuku’s self-sacrificing determination in this AU so he’s kinda under the impression that Izuku is going to learn all he can from Yuuei and maybe follow his advice and become a policeman? He’s considered introducing Izuku to Tsukauchi but he keeps being distracting by Things.

Thank you so much for reading, my friend~

[talkativelock]

@axalion

Hello~! Thank you so much for the kind words~! Your reply made me super happy and I thought I’d tell you how great you are~! Which is very great. You are great.

I’m so glad you enjoyed The Ethics of Sportsmanship and I hope you enjoy any further writings of mine you read~ Speaking of, though... I have to give you an extra thank you. It’s thanks to this reply that I realized that I never linked part 5 of that AU to the rest of them. So thank you. I will be fixing that next. If you’re interested in part 5 of that au you can read it here.

A family story revolving around the child of the number one hero being quirkless could be very interesting~! I hope you continue to develop it! I sure would like to read it someday.

Have a wonderful day, my friend, and thank you again~!

[talkativelock]

Imagine quirkless Izuku (with other General Studies kids) volunteers to be “rescued” durring USJ training, only then the USJ attack happens! Izuku ends up with Shouto (and Tooru) in the landslide zone and is surprisingly helpful. (Does Shouto have a crush? Probably...)

skjdfhksjdhf okay so like I spent a really long time thinking about how this would work and I came up with multiple possibilities/povs/ways of writing this and this is the one I decided on. (also rip tooru honestly poor invisible girl) (also this is long rip)

The darkness spreads out, raking through Shouto’s hair like a strong wind. The entire situation feels like a strong wind, really. He’s trying to hold onto the ground and then he’s being lifted up and he’s biting back curses because he should have frozen himself to the floor. The next time Shouto gets a good look around he’s falling through the air and the ground is rushing up to meet him.

He does curse then, a quiet “shit” hissed between clenched teeth. He’s not very good at this, it’s something he’s been working on, but now is the time to put up or shut up.

Shouto builds ice from his hand. Normally the ice builds across a surface from his point of contact with it but by the time he touches the ground it will be too late.

The ice bursts out from his skin and it’s cold. He can feel the heater in his costume kicking on so that he doesn’t have to use his flames. He reaches out and he’s not very far from the ground when his ice makes contact. It spreads and builds and he barely catches himself on it, using it like a slide. He doesn’t really have the time to get his feet under himself so he rolls instead, coming to a stop at the end of his makeshift ramp in an undignified heap.

Well, that wasn’t so bad. At least he knows it is possible and he can work on making it look less… terrible before he does it in front of other people.

“Uh, were you supposed to fall from the sky?” A voice asks.

Shouto looks up to see a boy probably around his age. He’s buried in the mud, just his curly green head and one arm sticking out. He’s blinking at Shouto and Shouto blinks back because if this guy is a villain he’s an extremely bad one.

Shouto gets to his feet. “Who are you?” he asks, just to cover his bases.

“I’m a victim,” the boy says, gesturing vaguely at himself with his free arm. Then he winces. “Oh man, middle school flashbacks.”

“Victim of what?”

“Landslide,” the boy says promptly with a tone of voice that implies that he believes it’s completely obvious. “Well, that or- you know what we’ll just go with landslide.”

He must be a victim for the exercises they were supposed to be doing before the villains attacked, which means he’s probably a Yuuei student from another department and not at all cut out for combat. Shouto frowns and tries to figure out how he’s going to get back to the others with dead weight, not to mention the question of how the villains think they could possibly kill All Might. He can’t just abandon a non-combatant here, All Might would never do that, but he doesn’t know how many more students are buried in the mud.

“Are you the only one?”

The boy is looking at Shouto with wide eyes. “In this section. No one else wanted to be buried in dirt.” He looks down at himself. “I’m starting to think Aizawa-sensei is a sadist.”

Shouto’s lips twitch against his will. This guy is something else, but Shouto doesn’t have time to have a conversation. He walks up to the guy and crouches, putting his hand to the dirt and spreading ice down deep into the earth.

“Listen to me, villains have broken into the USJ and they intend to kill All Might.”

The boy stares at him. “You’re kidding.”

Shouto stares back. “Do I look like I’m kidding?” he asks, confused.

The boy’s wide eyes get impossibly wider. “Nope, you’re totally serious, got you.”

Shouto frowns at him but it feels like the ice is deep enough so he can’t respond. Instead he concentrates. He has to do this carefully or he could hurt the boy.

The ice engulfs the boy from the feet up. He yelps but Shouto doesn’t pay him any mind, building on the ice until the boy is completely protected. Only then does he thicken the bottom, forcing the iceberg he’s made above the surface.

“Oh my god,” the boy says. Shouto ignores him and puts his other hand where the boy’s chest will be and centers himself. He breaths out and with it comes the heat that melts the ice, freeing the boy.

“Holy shit. Warning would have been awesome,” the boy says flapping damp arms around. Shouto can now see that he’s wearing the school gym uniform.

“Come on,” Shouto says and he turns to walk away.

He hears the boy’s quick footsteps as he catches up. “So, uh, I’m Midoriya Izuku. What’s your name?”

Shouto frowns. “Todoroki Shouto.”

“Oh, cool.” Midoiya says. Shouto can see him bobbing his head out of the corner of his eye. “So what’s the plan, Todoroki-kun.”

“Return to the others, discover why the villains think they can kill All Might.”

“That’s, uh, straightforward.”

“Yes,” Shouto says simply.

Suddenly Midoriya’s hand is fisted in Shouto’s sleeve. Shouto looks down at it and then up at Midoriya and seriously considers freezing Midoriya’s hand off of him but Midoriya isn’t looking Shouto’s way. With a jerk Midoriya pulls Shouto behind a large rock and it’s only Shouto’s surprise that allows it.

Shouto glares at Midoriya’s back as Midoriya peeks around the far side of the rock their hiding behind but Midoriya doesn’t notice, probably because he’s not looking at the person he dragged back here against his will. His hand is still in Shouto’s sleeve and Shouto really wants it gone, if only because it’s making him feel hot all over which is never a good thing.

Midoriya ducks back behind the rock and puts fingers to his chin. “Villains,” he says thoughtfully.

Shouto feels his eyes go wide and he brushes Midoriya off his sleeve so he can look around the corner. Sure enough, there’s a small group of villains a little ways down the landslide. There’s too many for Shouto to take out in one shot, not with Midoriya here as an easy target. They seem to be looking for something and if Midoriya would just stop muttering he’d be able to hear them.

He ducks back behind the rock to glare at Midoriya but Midoriya doesn’t seem to see him. Maybe it’s part of his quirk because he’s deconstructing the villain’s quirks just by their outfits, listing their probable strengths and weaknesses like it’s nothing. That’s really useful. It’s a shame he’s not in the hero course.

After a few minutes Midoriya stops and turns to Shouto. He eyes Shouto critically and says, “How much ice can you produce and how well can you aim it?”

“Something like a cubic meter per second,” Shouto says, feeling two parts self-conscious and one part amazed, “and fairly well.”

Midoriya nods. “I’ve got an idea.”

Instead of explaining it, though, he peeks back around his side of the rock. Curious, Shouto turns and peeks around his side. Now that Midoriya isn’t muttering he can hear the villains. They’re looking for an invisible person, apparently, which means that Hagakure is here too, not that she can be found if she doesn’t want to be.

Then, as Shouto watches, Midoriya goes running straight for the villains. They shout at each other, calling attention to him, and Shouto curses under his breath. What the hell is Midoriya thinking? 

Midoriya veers to the side, drawing the villains away from the rock they were hiding behind. The villains, like absolute idiots, give chase and as soon as all eyes are away from the rock Shouto runs out and lets loose the largest, most panic fueled wave of ice he’s produced in a while.

He’s careful not to freeze Midoriya even though he really wants to just so that Midoriya doesn’t go running off and getting himself killed. Each of the villains is encased in ice one by one and by the time the one closest to Midoriya turns to see what all the shouting is about Shouto has him trapped too.

Midoriya jogs back to Shouto, taking the long way around so he doesn’t get that close to the villains. “Wow, I think that was faster than one cubic meter a second.”

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Shouto demands. “What kind of quirk makes you think you can run off like that.”

Midoriya looks down. “Oh, I’m quirkless.”

Shouto stares at him and his heart does some complex movement that hurts and probably has a name, Shouto just doesn’t know it.

If you’re looking for more part two is here, part three is here, part four is here, part five is here, part six is here.

[talkativelock]

That Quirkless Gen. Studies!Deku AU I. AM. IN. L O V E (yes Shoto, I know, me too). You wrote it real nicely; if that will have any continuation or a possible fic group, I am so down for it!!

@crispykrimi @genderfluidragon @ethones

shkdjfhskjdfh yall are so awesome I’m so glad you liked it. It ended up being Extremely Long because I wanted to do so much with it and I will admit that after going to bed last night I was plagued with thoughts of how the rest of the story would go. Speaking of my thoughts….

@ladysunami

HOW DID YOU READ MY MIND???

Without further ado I give to you… more quirkless!Izuku and the Shouto who is maybe falling in love with him??? first ficlet can be found here.

After the USJ attack Shouto is fairly certain that Midoriya Izuku has a death wish.

First there was the fact that he was completely okay with Aizawa burying him in dirt and trusting students he didn’t even know to rescue him without hurting him. Then there was the crazy stunt he pulled in the landslide zone with the villains. After that Midoriya repeated a similar strategy with another group of villains closer to the square and Shouto made it very clear that if he did it again Shouto was going to freeze him to the floor and leave him there so that he can’t get himself killed. Midoriya had stuttered and promised to be more careful, which wasn’t reassuring at all.

Then came the fight with Shigaraki, the Nomu, and All Might, in which Midoriya threw himself into danger and nearly gave Shouto a heart attack in the process. The villains that they had already faced were small fry, pathetic weaklings who could barely call themselves villains. Shigaraki and the Nomu were far more dangerous but Midoriya barely seemed to give it a second thought. It was maddening. Only Bakugou’s quick reflexes saved Midoriya from disintegrating in front of Shouto’s eyes like Aizawa’s arm.

After that Shouto had said goodbye to Midoriya, not sure if he wanted to see Midoriya again every day for the rest of his life or never see Midoriya again, and that had been that. At least, until the Sports Festival.

The moment some purple haired boy from the General Studies department mentioned that they could be transferred into the hero course if they did well enough Shouto knew immediately that Midoriya was going to be trying every reckless thing to win.

When Shouto freezes the entire gate at the beginning of the race he hopes to put more students out of commission but all of class 1-A, most of class 1-B, and a small number of random kids from the General Studies and Support departments manage to avoid the ice. Among them, a green head of hair that makes Shouto’s heart beat harder as if it knows that it’s going to get a terrifying workout in Midoriya’s presence and wants to be prepared.

Shouto freezes the robots and lets them fall behind him, shouting a warning over his shoulder and hoping that Midoriya listens.

He doesn’t see Midoriya again for the rest of the race. He’s completely focused on Bakugou and their fight for first place so when several mines go off behind them he doesn’t think much of it. That is, until he hears the screaming coming from the sky.

Shouto and Bakugou both look up and Shouto feels his heart do something complicated and painful because he knows that hair, he knows that face, and he knows that scream.

Midoriya rockets through the sky on a flying carpet of his own making. It looks like part of one of the robots from the beginning of the race. Midoriya is screaming bloody murder and Shouto can only wonder what stupid plan he has for landing.

“Deku, you bastard,” Bakugou yells, abandoning Shouto to chase the green streak Midoriya makes above them. 

Shouto curses under his breath and freezes the mines, abandoning the careful approach. This makes a path for those behind him but if he doesn’t hurry Midoriya will hit the ground and die because he’s quirkless and incapable of thinking more than one step ahead. Shouto has a quirkless brother so he knows that these things are not mutually exclusive, it’s just a special Midoriya trait that is going to send Shouto to an early grave from heart failure.

Once the mines are frozen it’s easy to keep pace with Bakugou. They’re both keeping their eyes on Midoriya as they try to catch up to where he’s losing altitude, but Shouto is sure they have different reasons.

They reach Midoriya just as he starts to reach the ground. Shouto is trying to think of a way to save Midoriya from death without giving up any ground to Bakugou when Midoriya plants a red sneaker clad foot on Shouto’s shoulder and slams his piece of robot armor into the ground so hard it rattles Shouto’s teeth.

There’s barely a split second for Shouto to reach for Midoriya, wondering what the hell he thinks he’s doing now, and then there’s an explosion.

Midoriya goes flying off of Shouto’s shoulder and Shouto feels panic set in because he can’t see anything through the pink smoke. Midoriya could have miscalculated and thrown himself into something hard enough to become permanently injured. He could have been grabbed by Bakugou and is now being blown up by something far more deadly than Yuuei’s landmines. Any number of things can happen to a quirkless boy with a death wish and most of them are less than good.

Shouto runs forward, trying to get clear of the smoke, and that’s when he sees Midoriya. Specifically, Midoriya’s retreating back as he clears the minefield and starts on the home stretch.

With an irritated growl Shouto chases him down with a single-minded intensity. Midoriya could have died. Without a quirk what kind of landing plan could Midoriya have possibly had? If it wasn’t for Shouto and Bakugou chasing him down he would have been a smear in the dirt. Shouto’s lungs burn but he doesn’t care. Behind him he can hear explosions that probably belong to Bakugou but he can’t bring himself to be concerned with Bakugou while he’s chasing Midoriya’s back.

Midoriya gets first place but Shouto is barely a second behind him and too angry to slow down. As Midoriya’s run starts to turn into a jog Shouto grabs a fist full of his uniform and skids to a stop, pulling Midoriya in front of him so he can shake some good sense into him.

“Midoriya, what where you thinking?” Shouto pants out. Midoriya’s wide green eyes are too close but Shouto doesn’t care. “What was your landing plan?”

“Uh,” Midoriya says meekly. “I didn’t really have time to make one. I just figured that I’d improvise?”

Shouto shakes him by the front of his shirt. “You could have died! Again!”

“Todoroki-kun?”

Shouto is too angry to stop now. “Do you know how many times I’ve woken up in the middle of the night since the USJ from a nightmare where Bakugou is too late and you died because of your own recklessness?”

“You dream about me?” Midoriya asks, voice full of wonder, and Shouto registers what he’s said. Their faces are too close to one another so Shouto releases him and takes a step back to get some distance. He’s still breathing heavily and his face is so hot he’s worried that he’s accidentally lit himself on fire.

“That’s not the point.”

Midoriya opens his mouth but before he can say anything Bakugou is there, shouting curses and setting off little explosions and Midoriya flinches and reels back so hard he falls on his ass in the dirt. Bakugou is dragged away by Kirishima a minute later, who apologizes cheerily while Bakugou calls them all names as he goes.

In Bakugou’s absence the silence is deafening, even with the crowd still screaming. Shouto looks down at Midoriya and Midoriya looks up at Shouto.

“I’m going to take you out of the running in the next event,” Shouto says, “so that you don’t pull something else stupid and get yourself killed.”

Midoriya stares at him for a moment, completely slack-jawed, and then his expression hardens. “I’m not going anywhere. Even though I’m quirkless I’m going to find a way to be a hero.”

Shouto grits his teeth, imagines Midoriya disintegrating before his eyes or splitting apart like a watermelon on the ground, and turns away without helping Midoriya to his feet.

If you’re looking for more part three is here, part four is here, part five is here, part six is here.

[talkativelock]

Real quick because it was driving me nuts; the rest of the part I intended to write for the Quirkless!Izuku au that I’ve been doing but couldn’t fit. I also call this story The Ethics of Sportsmanship (How Life isn’t Fair) which means that I’m in trouble because once I name something it grows into a larger story that goes on ao3. I guess at some point I’ll be cleaning this up and doing rewrites on it.

Part one is here, part two is here, part three is here.

Midoriya beats the other General Studies student easily. Apparently Midoriya is familiar with his quirk and the best ways to counter it. Shouto destroys Sero in combat and feels terrible about taking out his irritation on someone who has never been anything but kind in class.

Shouto passes the rest of the round thinking about his match with Midoriya. Midoriya knows the ice side of his quirk fairly well, they talked about it at length during the USJ attack and Shouto wouldn’t be surprised if Midoriya has his own observations to add. Shouto has the advantage of overwhelming power to Midoriya’s complete lack of it. He has no idea how Midoriya plans to win but he also knows that Midoriya won’t give up.

They stand across from each other in front of the entirety of Japan and Midoriya’s determined face reminds Shouto of the anger he saw Midoriya show before Shouto explained his past except more tempered.

“Midoriya,” Shouto greets as Present Mic does introductions.

“Todoroki-kun,” Midoriya greets back.

“Sorry about this,” Shouto says, because he really is.

Midoriya’s determined face gets more intense and then there’s no more time for words because the match is starting.

Shouto produces a large wave of ice, similar to the ice he produced during his match with Sero. There’s so much of it that it blocks his vision and he breathes out frost as he straightens up to examine the large iceberg. He can’t see Midoriya inside of it but he doesn’t have time to be concerned that he’s hurt Midoriya because the boy in question punches him in the face from his left side.

It isn’t hard enough to do much more than push Shouto back but it still hurts.

“Don’t be an asshole,” Midoriya cries, and then he punches Shouto in the ribs.

Shouto turns, bringing his right hand up to grab hold of Midoriya and freeze him in place but Midoriya is light on his feet. Shouto has no idea what kind of training someone without a quirk does but it must focus on dodging because he’s a slippery fighter.

Midoriya stays on Shouto’s left side and every time Shouto turns Midoriya circles him. He’s not just on Shouto’s left side but he’s also staying slightly behind Shouto so that he can’t get a good look at what Midoriya’s doing. Shouto takes two more punches to the ribs, still not strong enough to do any damage, before he’s had enough.

Instead of turning to the left to try to catch Midoriya where he can see him he spins to the right and throws his arm out behind him somewhat blindly. Midoriya makes a cute squeaking noise in surprise when Shouto’s fingers brush skin and he has no idea what he’s touching but he freezes it as much as he can before Midoriya pulls back. 

There’s a foot on Shouto’s lower back and he’s kicked forward before he can regain his balance from his spin. He does a somersault and whips around to see that he’s frozen Midoriya’s right cheek and jaw.

“Cold,” Midoriya says, rubbing at the ice with one hand like he might be able to melt it off quickly.

“That’s the idea,” Shouto replies, sending another wave of ice Midoriya’s direction.

Once again, Midoriya is surprising. He jumps over the wave of ice. It’s short enough this close that Midoriya clears it easily, jumping straight for Shouto. He’s aiming for Shouto’s left side again and Shouto isn’t fast enough to get out of the way or turn his body. Midoriya grabs his left shoulder, gets his feet back under him, and does the same throw he had used on Shinsou.

This time Shouto gets his right hand on the back of Midoriya’s uniform. He freezes it as much as possible, giving himself a jumping off point to freeze Midoriya completely the next time he can get a hand on Midoriya’s person, before his back makes contact with the concrete and the wind is knocked out of him.

Shouto slaps his right hand to the stage and spreads ice in Midoriya’s direction. With the wind knocked out of him it’s hard to control and Midoriya dodges it easily but it buys Shouto time. 

“Stop holding back,” Midoriya says and when Shouto sits up he can see that Midoriya’s expression is still determined anger. “I’m quirkless, with power like yours you should be beating me but you’ll lose because you can’t even be bothered to actually try.”

Shouto grinds his teeth together. “I told you.”

“Don’t make excuses,” Izuku spits and something that sounds like hurt is edging into his voice. “Don’t look down on me.”

Shouto surges upwards, hands outstretched to grab Midoriya and end this once and for all where Midoriya can’t dodge but Midoriya dances backwards and rips his half frozen jacket off as he goes, throwing it in Shouto’s face. By the time Shouto gets the fabric out of his vision Midoriya has run back to Shouto’s left side and he’s bringing his fist up to punch Shouto in the face again. Shouto jerks his head back and Midoriya’s fist almost grazes his nose. All Shouto can see is tan skin and he grabs it with his right hand and encases it in ice.

With a jerk Midoriya wrenches his arm out of Shouto’s grip. It’s completely frozen now but that doesn’t slow Midoriya down. He spins, lashing out with his frozen arm and hitting Shouto in the back of the head with his new ice block weapon. Shouto curses.

“This isn’t everything you can do,” Midoriya cries, dancing back and out of the way of a the plain punch Shouto throws at him with his left hand.

“I’m not going to use his fire,” Shouto growls, turning to face Midoriya fully.

“It’s not his, it’s yours.” Midoriya says back. They’re both just standing in the middle of the ring now and Midoriya’s green eyes seem to swallow Shouto’s entire world. “It’s your quirk and if you won’t even use it then what’s the point of trying to become a hero?”

Shouto thinks of Midoriya, quirkless and doing everything in his power to become a hero. He thinks of All Might and the words he had forgotten until just now. He thinks of his mother. 

He bursts into flame.

Midoriya smiles and to Shouto it looks a little crazy. His eyes reflect back Shouto’s fire, highlighting the golds in the green and making them look stunning. 

“Amazing,” Midoriya says quietly but somehow Shouto can still hear him. “Beautiful.”

Shouto wants to tell him that he’s wrong, Midoriya is the beautiful one, but that seems inappropriate. Instead he says, “Don’t smile. You’ve lost.”

“No,” Midoriya says. “I’ve won.”

Shouto’s heart skips a beat because Midoriya was doing this on purpose. Midoriya was trying to make him feel this way, powerful and heroic and complete.

Midoriya rushes him again but with fire blanketing Shouto’s left side there’s nowhere for Midoriya to strike. Still, he manages to melt the ice encasing his arm on Shouto’s fire before Shouto traps his feet. He builds the ice up Midoriya’s legs to his waist because he isn’t taking anymore chances with Midoriya’s tenacity.

Before the match is called Shouto looks Midoriya in the eye. “Thank you.”

This time Midoriya looks away. “Don’t thank me.”

Shouto opens his mouth to ask why but Midnight calls the match and the crowd loses their minds.

Need more? Part five is here, part six is here.

[talkativelock]

Shouto's going to try to talk quirkless Izuku out of doing the 1 on 1 fights after they finish up the cavalry battle, isn't he? (Since he won't be dragging him off to ask if he's All Might's love child for obvious reasons). Not sure why Shouto would spill the backstory though... Maybe Izuku gets fed up and says something to the effect of "You keep going on about my lack of a quirk, but you actually have a quirk and yet you only use half of it!" making Shouto feel he must explain.

It’s that time again. Time to do as requested and continue a series that a lot of people seem to really love. I hope you enjoy the continuation of Shouto and Quirkless!Izuku.

Special thanks to the requesters; @sassytherivergoddess @5ft @asexualkittyclaws @interstellarmonkeys @ladysunami

Part one can be found here, part two can be found here.

When Midnight announces that the winner of the footrace is going to be worth ten million points in the cavalry battle Shouto can’t help but wonder if Yuuei is trying to kill Midoriya. Maybe he’s messing with fate. Still, he has a compulsion to try.

During the team building phase everyone avoids Midoriya like the plague. He’s approached by someone from the Support Course first, who he seems to agree to team up with tearfully. Next he goes to the purple haired boy and only other General Studies student in this part of the competition. They argue and they don’t end up teaming up. After that Shouto loses sight of Midoriya when Kaminari distracts him.

In another life, maybe, he would have tried to be on the same team as Midoriya to take advantage of Midoriya’s tactical mind to win but his second goal for the game is to take Midoriya’s headband as quickly as possible in order to remove the target from Midoriya’s back. He can’t do that and win if Midoriya is on his team so he builds his team from classmates and resolves to focus on winning first and removing Midoriya from the game second.

After the planning period is over Shouto’s eyes find Midoriya again, sitting atop Tokoyami, Uraraka, and the Support Course girl. Shouto prepares himself and makes it his mission to take care of Midoriya’s team as soon as possible.

He doesn’t get the chance.

As soon as the game begins Midoriya’s team takes to the air where the only one who can touch them is Bakugou with the aid of his explosions, only for Bakugou to be knocked away by Dark Shadow. Shouto has Kaminari disable most of the field and he freezes them in place, taking several headbands on his way past for insurance. Much like the footrace, Shouto chases Midoriya down from the ground while Midoriya flies through the air. 

It takes over half of the allotted time for Shouto to finally corner Midoriya in a field of ice. His support items are broken, which Shouto thinks means that he’s won. Of course, Midoriya is tricky.

Midoriya seems to have noticed that he only produces ice from his right side and he keeps to the left, stopping Shouto from freezing him in place. Kaminari is out of commission and every time they get too close Dark Shadow pushes them back. Midoriya buys time until there is only a minute left and Shouto is getting desperate to remove Midoriya from the games. Iida comes through at the last second with a frankly terrifying burst of speed and it seems like Midoriya’s team will end the game with zero points.

What Shouto did not expect was for Midoriya to rush them. Midoriya’s team is still coming at him from his left side and Iida is in the way of his right. Iida can’t move, apparently, which leaves it up to Shouto to protect their points for the last ten seconds.

Dark Shadow seems to be everywhere and Shouto can’t take to the air like Bakugou. Dark Shadow keeps up the pressure and Shouto tries to dodge without falling and he sees Midoriya’s hand out of the corner of his eye. With a sudden panic, the sudden overwhelming thought that they will lose at the last second, fire erupts from Shouto’s left side. Midoriya’s hand snatches back and Shouto’s first thought is that he’s burned Midoriya. He forces the fire down with disgust, both at himself and his father, but then he feels a tug at the bands around his neck and turns his head in time to see Midoriya make off with three of them.

Shouto turns, reaches out to try to snatch them back. He hears Bakugou’s war cry before Midnight calls time and Shouto is frozen with his hand outstretched towards Midoriya, who holds just enough points in his hands to move on to the next round.

When Iida, Yaoyorozu, and Kaminari let him down he can only stare at his hands, specifically his left one which lit up with fire the moment he was cornered.

“What was that?”

Shouto looks up, feeling a little lost. Midoriya stands in front of him but Shouto isn’t sure when he got there.

“I’m sorry?”

“The fire,” Midoriya clarifies. “I didn’t know you could make fire.”

“Didn’t you?” Shouto wants to ask, but instead he says, “I can but I don’t.”

“You can but you don’t,” Midoriya echos. Shouto doesn’t respond to that, he just looks back down at his left hand.

It feel like a long time, or maybe it’s not time at all. Shouto looks at his hand and thinks about fire, about his father’s pride, about the promise he made to himself. He’s so lost in thought that when Midoriya grabs his wrist, his left wrist, he flinches from the sudden sensation. When he looks at Midoriya’s expression he sees something in it that he doesn’t want to argue with and he lets Midoriya drag him from the stadium and through back hallways until Midoriya has pulled him to a quiet place.

“What does ‘I can but I don’t’ mean?” Midoriya asks him.

“My quirk is half-hot half-cold,” Shouto admits, “but I don’t use my flames because of my father.”

Midoriya stares at him for what seems like a long time and then says with something like anger, “You don’t use half of your quirk because of your father?”

So Shouto explains to Midoriya about Endeavor and Shouto’s childhood. Midoriya’s face goes from angry to slack with surprise to open with horror. When Shouto is done he feels drained and he walks away from a Midoriya who is too stunned to respond.

He wonders if Midoriya will ever talk to him again or if he will only think of Endeavor whenever he sees Shouto from now on and feels a new level of hatred for his father rise up within him. Midoriya is crazy to try most of the stunts he does without a quirk and yet, somehow, some part of Shouto is starting to respect that insanity and want Midoriya to respect him in turn. Losing to the shadow of his father makes his blood boil.

He finds out later that the third game is a simple one-on-one tournament and that if he and Midoriya both win their first matches they will fight each other.

Aa, I couldn’t fit the entire Midoriya vs Todoroki match in here with everything else or it would be way too long for the dashboard. I know what happens, though, if that makes anyone feel better? No? Didn’t think so.

Sorry this part is so boring.

If you’re looking for more part four is here, part five is here, part six is here.

[talkativelock]

OMG THANK U FOR MOAR GEN STUDIES!DEKU (now The Ethics of Sportsmanship) AND IT?? BECOMING A FULL CHAPTERED FIC?? MY HEART CANNOT--Also snorting at the Borrowed Shower ficlet, it definitely fits within The Wooing ficverse (Shoto you poor, poor boy). And that Nutcracker AU? Holy heck yo u got me, take my heart and feels I AM ALL OVER THE PLACE BUT PLZ LEMME SAY YOU'RE JUST. AMAZING. okktnxbai

skdjhfkjshdfkjshd omg hi thank youuuu,

It make take a little bit of time for The Ethics of Sportsmanship to be finished and posted. I hope you can be patient with me for more content on that front~ I want to take some time to write a bit of backstory and then fill in some gaps and let things be a little less rushed. It will take some time, especially since I have a lot of other projects going on right now too.

Ahaha the Borrowed Shower fic. I can’t believe the response it’s getting. My fiance actually… came to talk to me about it… which he doesn’t do with my ficlets so much. I guess I didn’t realize that we were all that thirsty?

Aa I’m glad you liked the Nutcracker au I actually have feelings about it it’s very fairy tale. 

slfhksjdhfkshfd I’m so glad you’re enjoying my ficlets. Now that I’m back from dinner I’m going to try to get a whole bunch done so look out for those coming to you very very soon~!

(also you’re the amazing one