#the only reason midoriya was quirkless is just to have a big contrast to how powerful he becomes

[kewltie]

[Season 2 - complete] re:kasumi

01.

With hands on her hip and a frown, Kasumi chides, "You're so old and yet you behave so childishly. I want you to sit here and think about what you did, daddy, while I check on Midoriya-san."

Katsuki scowls, opening his mouth to argue, but her quelling glare quickly shuts him up.

02.

"I only have one daddy in this world and while I like you a lot, Midoriya-san, you're replaceable," Kasumi says with a smile on her face in sharp contrast to the knife edge of her words. "He doesn't get volatile for no reason."

Izuku's heart is deservedly cut a thousand times.

03.

After 17 grueling hours of labor, it finally ends.

"You did well, Midoriya-kun," the nurse comforts. "It must be a relief to hold her in your arms now."

Izuku smiles numbly, feeling the enormous weight of this small life he's now responsible for. "Yes," he lies. It never came.

04.

"Does it get easier?"

"No." The nurse quickly changes Kasumi's diaper with deft fingers. "But you’ll have your friends and family to help."

Izuku thinks of his mom sick in bed, Katsuki thousands of miles away, and the alien being in the crib; he's not alone, but it feels like it.

05.

"She has your eyes," his mom says. She doesn't have the strength to sit up, so she can only observe from her bedside, but her smile is clear. "I can't wait to hold her."

These words failed to bear fruit because Inko passed away three weeks later. Izuku's heart breaks for the second time.

06.

"Your mother was smart enough prepared everything before she died," the social worker says. "I won't lie, it's going to be tough from here, but you and the baby will be okay."

Izuku looks down at Kasumi in his arms as she giggles and spits bubble, and he feels nothing at all.

07.

Kasumi's cry pierces his ears. She’s been inconsolable and nothing he did could calm her down.

"What do you want from me?!" Izuku demands, feeling raw and exposed.

He's losing it, but even more so it's the realization that he doesn't know how to love her and it devastates him.

08.

"What you think?" Kasumi twirls around and dips to a curtsy.

"You're going on a field trip, not a fashion show," Katsuki says dryly. Pauses. "Change the top, the color washes out your complexion. Wear something blue, it makes you cute."

She pouts.

"Cuter." His eye twitches.

09.

"Here at our institute, we don't define ourselves by our quirks and let it limit our dream," the guide says.

"Even if you're quirkless and want to be hero?" Kasumi presses to the scandalized gasps of her class.

Their eyes meet, green on green. "Yes." He smiles warmly at her.

10.

"Does your dad not approve?"

Kasumi crunches up her face. "He doesn't like it."

"Oh," he says.

"Daddy said if I ever became a hero, the world won't be safe because I'm too reckless and hotheaded," she continues.

"Oh," he says again.

"But what do you think, Midoriya-san?"

11.

"The QUnited institute is a fraud." Katsuki sneers. "They try to sell you hope and dream, but not everyone can achieve it. I shouldn't have let you gone on that trip."

"Daddy," Kasumi smiles sweetly at him, but it's sharp and cutting, "you big dummy head! You don't know anything!"

12.

"We may be three goals down, but we still got this!"

"This match doesn't even matter," one of her teammates mutters. "We already made into the playoff. We can stand to lose one game."

Kasumi snaps her head toward him, bristling. "Do you often talk with your brain turned off?"

13.

"Gonna cry now?"

Kasumi bites her lip even as her eyes burns with frustration, so Katsuki lowers the passenger side's window and she pokes her head out, letting out a scream before retreating back into the car.

"Better?" he asks, amused.

She sulks. "I won't lose next time."

14.

"How long are you staying mad?"

The closed door of Kasumi's room responds: "Forever!"

Katsuki rolls his eyes. "I'll just give away the katsudon I made tonight then."

A beat, then he hears the scrambling of feet and the door opens. "I guess I can postpone our war for one night."

15.

"Does she think I'll surrender to her whims just because of our blood relation?" Katsuki hisses. "I have all the resources while she's scrambling for scraps. This war of attrition is in my hands."

Ejirou frowns in confusion. "Are we still talking about your fight with Kasumi?"

16.

"What does she even have to prove?!" Katsuki snaps, gesturing the wall of accolades that Kasumi has earned. "She's fine without a quirk."

"Maybe she doesn't want to settle for fine." Mina shrugs. "She's the daughter of the most famous hero in Japan, that's a lot of pressure."

17.

Izuku's eyes widen in surprise. "You're back."

"My daddy is weak stuff." Grinning, Kasumi flashes a victory sign. "He eventually caved and let me joined your facility."

He smiles back at her, hesitant and a little shy. "I honestly thought I wouldn't get to see you again."

18.

"Quirks are amazing, but they're still tools," Midoriya explains. "Tools humanity were gifted with, so you're not born lacking just because you're quirkless. If you want to become a hero, then I'll give you all the tools to succeed."

Kasumi's eyes are alight with a renew fire.

19.

"I have judo on Monday, Tuesday is ballet, Wednesday is reserved for soccer, and piano is Thursday. So, I can only see you on Friday." Midoriya frowns. "Don't you have any time for yourself?"

Kasumi purses her lips. "I'm Dynamight's daughter, I can't be seen idle and useless."

20.

"Do you have kids, Midoriya-san? You seem pretty good with them."

A pause, then, "No."

"So, you and your partner don't want kids?"

"I don't have a partner," Izuku clarifies with a tinge of suspicion.

"Ah," Kasumi's eyes gleam with an impish twinkle, "you're single then."

21.

Midoriya Izuku. Head researcher of QUnited. Quirkless.

Kasumi's pen stops as she gives it a thought before jotting down more notes. She hums, carefully scanning through the profile until she's satisfied and put it away among the files of Katsuki's other marriage candidates.

22.

"I'm not looking for another parent," Kasumi says coldly, eyes narrowed. "I'm only interest in securing my daddy's happiness. So, tell me who are you to him?"

"I like to think we were something once," Izuku says, smile strained under her interrogation, "and then I ruined it."

23.

"Little monster," Katsuki hisses, storming into the room, "you think you can ground me even though I caught you still wetting the bed when you were eight?!"

An unsettling silence, then a screech of horror, "Daddy, I'm in a meeting!" while Izuku tries and fails to stifle a smile.

24.

"And you." Katsuki turns to him, seething. "Deku, shut your fucking trap."

"Kacchan—" He reaches for him, but Katsuki roughly brushes him off.

Watching all this go down, Kasumi lets out a loud gasp, scandalized. "You and Midoriya-san—?! Oh my god. Did he dump you, Daddy?!"

[bibibbon]

I remember hearing that horikoshi focused on making the manga be something like a modernised tale from a comic book which explains why he tries to make things so clearly cut black and white but ends up failing and creating a very grey society that has a lot of mixed MESSAGES.

I made a post about MHAs horrible mixed messaging and how that ended up really destroying the series but it doesn't help that horikoshi is somewhat of a hypocrite when it comes to his wiring because he uses the villain characters to criticise something in society but then uses horrible hero characters to praise the same thing he was once criticising.

Another thing that MHA really lacks is the world building. You can argue that the MHA universe is supposed to be our universe just with superpowers but with that comes a lot of interesting concepts that are dismissed, not discussed or developed enough and clearly rushed. For example quirkless discrimination only somehow happens to izuku midoriya and we never really focus on how that has impacted him or what other quirkless people went through.

Stain was a great villain and he could of added a whole lot more to how morally grey society is and how horrible it was the same goes for overhaul and the hero comission but stain is the only character that gets some sort of spotlight when it comes to this and it isn't even enough 🤷‍♀️. Unpopular opinion but stain is a big part as to why iida's character arc was so good because it actually developed both iida and the world building to a certain extent.

Iam not an all might hater but personally speaking I would of loved if all mights character revolved a bit around him being both a victim to hero society and being the reason as to why hero society is so down in the trenches and sucks so badly 🤷‍♀️. I think it would if added more depth to him and would of been 100X better then introducing the iron might or quirkless hero all might plot point because if ANYONE SHOULD OF BEEN A QUIRKLESS HERO IT SHOULD OF BEEN IZUKU MIDORIYA!!!!!

Iam still saying that Enji todoroki should of never been redeemed and him not being redeemed would if helped the narrative so much more by (1) having the todoroki arc actually focus on shoto and the family (2) him becoming a worse person could been greatly contrasted to bakugo who is trying to change (3) would of had him be a symbol for the corrupt heroes in society (4) would of given more complexity to hawks character.

UA not properly teaching children to be heroes is another fascinating factor as it could of just been UA is a bad and corrupt school/facility that could of contributed greatly to the story. This could of really helped the world building and you could of had aizawa (who sucks and got ruined to be hori's mouthpiece) be the one to try and help the children and for the children to realise this and change how horrible the system is especially izuku and others characters who have faced systematic oppression for things they cannot control

Currently I doubt a lot would change after the final war arc I feel like horikoshi wouldn't make a new system but uphold the oppressive and horrible system presented in MHA (low-key reminds me of harry potter)

Oh and don't get me started on how much of a cancerous annoyance bakugo is there is no point for him to be attached to Izuku's character or for him to do or achieve the things he actually did. I stand by the point that bakugo should of actually faced proper challenges/concequences for his actions and should of spent the entire series trying to change and become better while having an accomplishment of working together with another person and hero to defeat a villain. ALSO CHANGE BAKUGOS REASONING FOR BULLYING IZUKU THAT STUFF SUCKS!!!! I still can't believe that the only reason he picked on izuku and gave him all that trauma was cos he thought that izuku was too good like that's some great A+ bs it makes more sense in the story to have him start to bulky izuku after izukus lack of quirk and he does it because of societal expectations and his ego but no that's not what we get and somehow the abuser rules the story yet again

The longer BNHA goes on, the more I start to ask this question.

Is this a story worth telling?

It brought up some interesting things to think about like what it really means to be a hero and if villains really are evil or people that society failed.

But then comes the muddled messages, characters that barely do anything significant other than to be plot devices, the overhyping of one character that ruins the purpose and development of the main character, and the inconsistencies and conclusions that characters come to that makes little to no sense.

Then you just have a story that just goes NOWHERE!

Because let's be honest, how much will society actually change by the end of it all? How will it treat quirkless and those with less than stellar quirks? And will they actually allow people like Bakugou to become heroes all because they "try really hard"?

Hi there, @theloganator101 First off, thank you for the question.

Also, TLDR.

Long before, I had made a somewhat similar post, talking about the same points. What makes a hero a hero? Because it's more than wearing a cape and punching issues and problems into submission. Bad guys simply go to jail and rot till their dying breath. And why is the world of BNHA so black and white? So 'this is good and this is bad'? We have a very compartmentalized version of human society. But you and I both know very well that human nature, human social interactions are the most complex and difficult things to understand. And even though I had seen these flaws in the series much earlier, I was still forgiving of the author because I genuinely thought he would eventually come around and explain why things are they way in the BNHA verse. But that NEVER happened at any point in the series so forget about Hori addressing these issues now because BNHA as a whole doesn't matter.

It's a no brainer to say that the job of a 'hero' is to save the day. But what about those who are the victims of school bullying? (cough cough BkDk is a totally normal and a healthy relationship, you're just a homophobe if you dont ship them) or those who had to keep their voice and entire existence heavily suppressed because your marriage was just a means to an end? (Endeavour is a loving husband, a doting father and a hard working hero) What about those kids who are victims of child abuse, child neglect and discrimination? (the Todoroki kids, Shigaraki, Toga and heck, even low key Spinner grew up in loving and healthy households). The Creature Rejection Clan was created to combat racism and All Might, someone who's name itself reduced crime in Japan by a half simply by existing, did NOTHING against the CRC. I thought 'heroes' were meant to protect the weak and deliver justice to the evil doers irrespective of who or what they are. I thought that's what's really meant to be a hero, to be defenders of mankind. Because lets face it, what's the difference between a villain who kills and a hero who abuses his family members on a physical, mental and an emotional level? What are the required criteria to judge these very two damnable actions with a bias attitude?

Which brings me to another question: Why are the students at UA high only taught martial or physical training? Don't they have special classes where they have to moral education classes or something along those line? Besides the rigorous physical training they need to fight against heroes, they have normal, regular-degular academic curriculum. These so called heroes-in-training are well educated in the art of understanding the topography of a battle field but the system has FAILED to educate the kids to understand why villains are the way they are. The entire system, the root itself, the very foundation of the hero society, FAILED to protect what they claimed to be. People like Toga, Dabi, Overhaul, Spinner, Shigaraki, Twice, Stain, Magne, are all nothing but the products of the hero society, the actual end result of this superficial, celebrity-like lifestyle of hero worship. But many fail to see beyond the stars and shimmers of this artificially constructed world.

The above points are heavily tied to Stain's ideologies. He didn't put up arms and struggles against the hero society for nothing. He knew what he was doing.

This may not be the answer that you're looking for but the way I see it, the MHA story shows us a horrifying representation of our already dark and twisted world but that's where it stops. It wants to do nothing with it because the story doesn't know where to go with it and how to go about doing it. It started something it couldn't finish. It created issues it couldn't solve. So the plot choose a different path to tread upon: focus on the popular people from the hero society who are highly questionable and romanticize their words and actions. It doesn't matter if you faced quirk discrimination or worse, became a butt of ridicule for not having any quirk at all. So long as a bully has given a half baked ''apology'' and works hard to be a hero to satisfy their own ego, it's all good at the end of the day. Self worth issues, self inflicted bodily harm, lack of self worth received by the victim (definitely NOT Izu because Bk treats him with utmost respect and comradery), all melt away due to the power of 'apology' and friendship. It teaches us that celebrity worship, fake sense of heroism, the desire to be the top at the expanse of others are to be treated with normalcy because the show must go on no matter what. The other message is that it's ok be a wife beater and a bully so long as you're doing it for heroism, name, fame, recognition.

Our priorities in the MHA universe are all messed up. We don't even have an inkling of a thought about how Izu feels about quirkless discrimination and the manga is wrapping itself up. So all the answers we can provide ourselves with regarding the matter will be head canon.That's why the main message of the story is that it fails on so many levels in terms of writing a morally upright story. The main hero of our story is nothing to offer, no words of hope and encouragement. That's the other message it has conveyed to us. I'm not saying this, the manga has proven to us time and again what i just said. The other thing it hammers home is the fact that, so long as you're a hero, your unjust behavior will be swept under the rug by your school and higher authorities. The message that MHA time and again conveys is that it loves hypocrisy and double standards. These are the solid reasons as to why the plot cannot logically and cohesively march forward.

"With great power comes with great responsibility" and the MHA verse failed to understand this concept by becoming the very thing the villains are condemned for in this series. That, my friend, is the general message of the story. That, my friend, is the moral lesson of the MHA verse.

#MHA critical thinking #bk is a bully #Izu deserved better #Izu is the protagonist not Bk #Izu matters Bk doesnt #Hori cant write shit

[s0fter-sin]

i think a cool ending could be midoriya forcing one for all into shigaraki/afo and bc of the amount of power from unlocking all the quirks, it causes the quirk singularity theory to come true and the quirks all destroy themselves, leaving shigaraki and midoriya quirkless

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 305: Worst Intervention Ever

Previously on BnHA: Shinomori, whose name took me an entire week to memorize, was all, “nice to meet you Deku, I’m ten feet tall, do you want to know how I died?” and without waiting for an answer explained that he kicked it from old age at forty thanks to good ol’ OFA. Deku was all “wait a minute, then how come All Might, who’s fifty-five and is definitely dyeing his gray hair, is still alive?” First and Shino were all, “we really have no fucking clue but we think it’s cuz he’s quirkless, JUST LIKE YOU!” So basically, since quirkless people don’t exactly grow on trees these days, Deku is probably going to be the last user of OFA. The chapter ended with Nana being all, “psst, Deku, about my grandson. Uh, can you kill him?” which is sure to lead to a very interesting conversation this week.

Today on BnHA: Nana And The Gang are all “so, Deku, how can we put this delicately. The thing is, we’re pretty sure that AFO really fucked my grandson up, so on the off chance you can’t save him, how would you feel about, you know... [throat slitting gesture].” Deku is all “idk you guys, I kinda feel like he’s really just a traumatized child at heart and he’s in a lot of pain and stuff and so I should try to help him.” The Vestiges are all “BUT WHAT IF YOU CAN’T” and Deku is all “BUT I WANT TO TRY, DAMMIT” and the Vestiges are all “well when you put it that way, we, uh, were just testing you, so congrats, you passed!” The chapter ends with First being all, “ANYWAY SO WHY DON’T YOU TWO SHY BOYS STANDING OVER THERE IN THE SHADOWS COME SAY HELLO” before we CUT AWAY FOR ANOTHER WEEK, goddammit.

seriously, Nana

just... have you met Deku?? look, if you really want Tomura dead, just sic him on the U.A. first years and tell Shouto and Honenuki that it’s a training exercise

oh my god lmao

we’re too far away to see Nana’s face here so I will just assume that she turned and is staring DIRECTLY INTO THE CAMERA for this one line lmao. “I just wanted to clarify in case anyone felt inclined to take my dialogue out of context and spend an entire week complaining about it”

oh my god?! are you all purposely trying to make me sad??

someone stop me before I launch into an impromptu rant about all my Tomura feels. WHY IS NOBODY STOPPING ME. oh my god but yes, exactly. he’s just in pain all the time. this is exactly why I think Tomura has such high redemption potential even though so far he seems to lack so many of the redemption arc essentials such as feeling remorse, wanting to change, and taking responsibility for his actions. the reason why I’m willing to overlook all that in his case is because Tomura has essentially had zero agency his entire life. AFO molded him into a killer by making sure he was in constant mental agony, and making it so that the only thing that even slightly relieved that agony was killing peeps. like, please don’t think I’m making excuses for him or anything, but if you take a child and manipulate their existence to make it virtually impossible for that child to grow up as anything other than a killer, and basically never give him the chance to be anything else, then no shit he’s gonna be a killer?? he’s basically never had the choice not to be. it’s never been an option for him. anyways I feel like I am EXPLAINING MYSELF SO BADLY but nonetheless I am prepared to die on this hill

anyway so now Nana is all “that’s a rhetorical question btw because Our Hearts And Minds Are One so we can feel everything you feel bro.” so yeah, that’s interesting

now Banjou is getting started on the “let’s try and talk Deku out of wanting to save Tomura because it’s insane” part of their OFA Mystical Space Void Reunion agenda

look, Banjou, I feel you, I really do. you guys don’t think it’s realistic that Deku can defeat Tomura without killing him. so if it’s a choice between killing Tomura vs letting Deku and everyone else in the entire world die, then duh, you think Deku should kill him. I get it! and if this were a real life mass murderer I’d totally agree with you. but the problem is that this isn’t real life, this is a sympathetic shounen villain with a tragic past who might as well have FUTURE REDEMPTION ARC RECEIPIENT stamped on his forehead at this point

so First is all “look, there’s absolutely no doubt my brother has fucked this kid up good and proper by now”, which, again, fair

though, that’s kind of exactly my point though. everything that Tomura is, everything he’s done, he’s done because of AFO. AFO has so effectively shaped his personality and his worldview by this point that it’s all but impossible to penetrate that. he’s AFO’s puppet. but the problem is that rather than treating him like a victim, you all are treating him like a casualty. like he’s already a lost cause. but good luck trying to convince Deku of that

WHOA WHAT, RANDOM SUPER-IMPORTANT AND BIZARRELY UNRELATED EXPOSITION DROPPED IN JUST LIKE THAT??

way to still not reveal Sixth’s name, btw. THE PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW, DAMMIT. but also so this confirms something we basically already knew already, which is that not even AFO can steal OFA. it literally can’t be taken away by anyone unless the owner wills it. SO SUCK ON THAT AFO YOU EGG

(ETA: so I have no idea why this was omitted from this translation, but apparently the Sixth’s name was revealed as “En”, which is obviously not his full name but at least it’s something. also he most likely has a fire or smoke-related quirk based on the kanji used, 煙.)

so Banjou is saying that Deku’s “lack of an iron will” could be a disadvantage against AFO. hahaha what?? Midoriya “I’ll break all of my bones without blinking an eye just to protect someone” Izuku lacks an iron will? do tell

he says this is going to be a test of Deku’s determination. well yeah, no shit. but just not in the way you guys think

OH HELLO AGAIN

darker hair again here! but I don’t trust the contrast in these scans at all after last week. his coveralls are way darker than they looked before too, and you can clearly see he’s standing in the shadows now

(ETA: yep, once again the raw shows that his hair is considerably lighter than what’s shown in these scans here. although there’s no mistaking now that his hair is consistently being colored in this slightly darker shade, and it’s not just the lighting.)

anyways lol First was saying something about how AFO can’t steal OFA, and they’ve spent all this time cultivating it as the ultimate weapon against AFO, and blah blah blah. go on then, keep lecturing

NANA GODDAMMIT NONE OF THIS IS YOUR FAULT

girl what?? you did everything in your power to protect your family, and AFO, fucked up man that he is, targeted them anyway. there is one person and one person only to blame for what’s happened to Tomura, and that potato-faced asshole needs a good kick in the balls

NANA GODDAMMIT DON’T MAKE ME COME OVER THERE

SO HELP ME GOD!! I WILL GIVE YOU THE BIGGEST HUG YOU’VE EVER HAD!! THAT IS A THREAT

so now Nana is all “I’m just going to call my grandson a Thing to ensure that fandom has only the freshest, grass-fed no-hormones-added discourse this week”

I don’t even need to drop into the tags to know exactly which specific people are going to respond to this, and what kind of posts they are going to write lmao. everyone’s all caught up in the “that thing”, and meanwhile I’m over here completely hung up on this “nay” that’s appeared out of NOWHERE you guys. look at that. she really said “NAY”

Nana, my love, my dearest, I feel you girl I really do. but he’s not an unforgivable manifestation of pure evil, Deku is exactly right actually, he’s a boy in pain. you guys need to stop questioning Deku’s shounen protagonist instincts here and just let him work his sparkly magic. “let’s try and convince Midoriya Fucking Izuku that he can’t save someone” is a plan that is NEVER going to turn out well you guys

“DEKU GODDAMMIT WHAT IF WE CAN’T SAVE HIM” lmao it’s like an intervention

“DAMMIT DEKU JUST ADMIT YOU HAVE A SAVING PEOPLE PROBLEM!”

RED ALERT IT’S ANOTHER CLOSE-UP OF THE BACK OF MISTER TWO BON CLAY’S HEAD OMG

(ETA: I was too distracted with freaking out about Two and Three to really appreciate how ridiculously handsome First looks in this panel. but on my second readthrough it stood out so much that I had to go back and add an extra bullet point just to talk about how hot he is. look at him. wtf.)

THAT IS DEFINITELY AN UNDERCUT. THE PLOT THICKENSSSS. also those are fucking exhaust vents on Mister Three’s neck. MISTER THREE COULD YOU POSSIBLY BE RELATED TO THE IIDAS, PLEASE TELL ME YOUR SECRETS I’M DYING OVER HERE

so now Deku is launching into what will undoubtedly be a “saving people problems require SAVING PEOPLE SOLUTIONS” heroic counter-speech!

I mean, they can already feel the “lol nah I’m gonna try and save him” feelings running through him lol. ~OuR hEaRtS aNd MiNdS aRe CoNnEcTeD~ and all that. this is just a formality, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love a good shounen protag speech

oh wait hold up, do you mean to tell me that the whole “hearts and minds are connected” thing I was just mocking just a paragraph ago actually allowed Deku to feel what Tomura was feeling?? like literally feel it??

YET AGAIN these Tomura feels are pounding on my front door you guys?? they just will not quit?? people my house is already full of feels, does it look like I need you to sell me any more of them?? -- what do you mean, they’re free??

AW YISS THAT’S IT DEKU. THAT’S SOME GOOD SPEECH RIGHT THERE

I appreciate the contrast here between the Douchebag Triumvirate of Overhaul, Muscular, and Stain versus the Misguided Twosome of Gentle and La Brava. never let it be said that Deku doesn’t know the difference between a redeemable villain and an unredeemable one

OH NO -- OH MY GOD

someone please help me I need directions to the OFA Spooky Galactic Nebula Realm in this fictional Japanese manga land. it’s not on google maps. I need to give these two babies a big hug and wrap them up in a blanket and treat them to some McDonalds Happy Meals please help

other things: (1) ENDEAVOR CHILLING OUT IN DEKU’S “PEOPLE I HOLD DEAR” PANEL LMAO NEON DISCOURSE EXTRAVAGANZA, (2) “ONE FOR ALL IS A POWER TO SAVE, NOT TO KILL” I’M ABOUT TO CRY DEKU I LOVE YOU SO MUCH HOW IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE TO FEEL ALL THIS LOVE, (3) [SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE] THERE’S YOUR MOTHERFUCKING IRON WILL!!!!!!!! -- I’m sorry, please don’t call security, I’ll be good

I just randomly remembered that Deku is still saying all of this in his muffled “FMMPHHMMPHMM” voice and I’m somehow cracking up lol. so actually it’s a very good thing Their Hearts And Minds Are Connected, otherwise they’d no doubt be all, “...what?”

(ETA: so I completely missed this on account of it literally not being visible in the scan at all, but in the raw you can clearly see Baby Kacchan and Baby Shouto fanboying over All Might in two of these panels, and excuse me, ma’am??

thank you very much Deku for including them in your montage, particularly since you’ve never seen Baby Shouto before lol. amazingly accurate image you managed to conjure up, all things considered.)

SDKFJLSKHG -- AS IF ON CUE???

HE’S SO ADORABLE HELP?? Trippy Space All Might looks like he’s about to cry, and First is all “don’t crack a smile... you have to be Firm and Serious here... dammit, don’t smile” omg

anyways! YOU GO DEKU. “MY QUIRK MY RULES, BITCHES” damn, son

KLJLKKHLG TRIPPY SPACE ALL MIGHT LITERALLY ACTUALLY IS CRYING ALL MIGHT HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME

“I JUST... [CLENCHES FIST] REALLY LOVE SAVING PEOPLE” FUCKING HELL LMAO THIS IS THE WORST INTERVENTION OF ALL TIME

Deku is literally all “sure, maybe I’ll have to kill him, but have you guys also considered, MAYBE NOT??” it’s no use Nana he’s too powerful

LMAO FIRST

“like I’ve been saying this whole time, you should definitely try saving Shigaraki Tomura.” “but, uh... First, didn’t you just -- ” “shut up”

(ETA: clearly it’s not just his brother who inherited those smooth-talking genes.)

so now Deku has turned back into a sixteen year old and his clothes have gone missing again. just OFA things

dskljdlsklgk

yes... sure... “testing” you...

HEY

FIRST OF ALL, DAMN YOU HORIKOSHI YOU MADE NANA CRY. even if I’m pretty sure they’re actually tears of happiness/relief. and SECOND OF ALL, “TELL MY BOYFRIEND I SAID HI” DJSKDLKJJL ANYWAY MAYBE GRAN, NANA, AND MR. SHIMURA WERE IN A THROUPLE

[SCREAMS]

WHY WOULD YOU END IT THERE?? WHY WOULD YOU END IT THERE!!!!!

(ETA: and two-to-one odds that we cut away to some other scene once they finally start to turn around next week. I’M CALLING IT NOW. giving myself a week to brace myself for the rage.)

fucking hell. well if anyone needs me I will be adding Horikoshi fucking Kouhei to the list of irredeemable villains, peace

[shoutaaizawas]

Hi! I saw requests where open and I had a small idea. How about The fake dating AU with Izuku and the prompt “I think I’m in love with you.” If it’s okay, please and thank you!

thank you for the request i hope you enjoy!!

↳ izuku midoriya x reader → ❝wedding date❞

event: au prompts summary: you and midoriya are childhood friends and you’ve been in love since high school, before you can stop yourself you offer to be his date to his mother’s wedding to make his mom happy. word count: 2,663 tags/warnings: fake dating, fluff, weddings a/n: okay i think toshinori/inko is super cute so don’t mind me fitting them into this

In hindsight, this was a bad idea but they say hindsight is 20/20. You probably should have seen this coming in the first place.

Izuku Midoriya had been your best friend since you were both kids The first day of Kindergarten you were riding or die. You had been through everything together and were always there for each other. You had both been quirkless at the time and bonded over it. You would always stick up for him and he would do the same for you.

Things had changed when you went to high school. You had both planned on going to UA and you did but you had expected Midoriya to be in the general ed classes with you not in the hero course. It was hard being away from your closest friend but it didn’t stop your friendship. You were so happy for him that he had a chance to follow his dreams.

That wasn’t the only thing that changed, as you got older your platonic feelings had turned into romantic ones. It was hard being so close to someone you cared about so much but your friendship came first and you wouldn’t risk it to be selfish. It was easier to tell yourself he could never like you like that, how could he when he had so many amazing girls that he could date in the hero course? Izuku never looked down on anyone in general education but why would anyone from the hero course date someone who wasn’t a hero?

Once you graduated you pursued your career in the behind the scenes of pro hero work. Izuku was quick to establish himself as an amazing hero and quickly opened an agency himself. You were the first person he told and the first person he hired.

It was a usual Friday night eating takeout in his office trying to finish up all the paperwork from the week. You laugh at a story he tells you from patrol. It’s nice, it’s familiar. Izuku is tall and manly now but it still feels like when you were kids hanging out at his house playing with his All Might figures.

“My mom won’t say it but I know she really wants me to bring a girlfriend to the wedding.” He sighed. You smile but feel a sting of pain at the thought of a girl on his arm.

“I’m sure you can find one, I’m sure there’s a line around the block already.” You tease.

“She doesn’t want just some random girl, she wants me to be dating someone seriously.” He explained. “I know she just wants to see me happy but I would rather go alone. It’s her day though, I don’t want to ruin it.”

“Why don’t you take Uraraka?” You offer, it makes you sick to say it but your his friend and it’d be wrong to withhold advice. You knew she always had a crush on Izuku, honestly, you thought they would have dated by now.

“No, I don’t like her like that.” He said.

Looking back you wish you had used your brain for once and thought it through before opening your mouth.

“Why don’t we go together?” Your blood turns to ice as the words come out before you can stop it. Stupid! What if he catches on that you like him? What if he’s upset that you offered? What if he laughs it off?

“Really?” He asks, one eyebrow raised.

“Uh, yeah. You know I’d do anything for your mom.” You say. While that’s true what you wanted to say you would do anything for him.

“I mean if you don’t mind. I think that would make her really happy.” He said with a shy smile.

“It’s a date.” You say with a smile but you mentally slapping yourself.

That’s how you ended up here, getting dressed for Izuku’s mother’s wedding. It was an event you had already planned to attend considering you were practically part of the family. You had even helped her pick out the decorations and her dress. You loved Inko.

You were excited for her, she deserved a husband that would love her and take care of her. Izuku’s father was never there for either of them, they both deserved more and they finally had it.

Who would have ever thought that Izuku’s step-father would be All Might? Well, Toshinori Yagi as you knew him now.

It made you laugh, you could imagine telling a young Izuku where he would be down the line. You could practically see the excited boy in front of you if you thought hard enough. When Izuku was having a hard time getting through things you always told him everything would be alright. You were happy that you were more than right about that.

“Bunny!” Izuku called out as he entered your apartment. You rolled your eyes at the nickname. You had loved bunnies as a kid, they were your favorite animal. You even had one as a pet. What Izuku didn’t know was that the reason you loved them so much was that they reminded you of him. “Are you ready?”

“Almost, just putting my earrings on!” You said as you put on the jewelry. You looked yourself over in the mirror admiring the dress Inko helped you pick out. It was Izuku’s favorite color, something you hadn’t consciously done. It was flowing and beautiful, perfect for the beach-side wedding.

Straightening the dress you walked out into the living room. You stopped as you caught sight of Izuku. He wore a classic black tuxedo with his hair loosely gelled back, stray hairs framing his face. Your heart nearly stopped at the sight. At the same time, Izuku stared at you.

“I-”

“You loo-”

Both of you spoke at the same time, stopping as you realized that you were talking over each other.

“Sorry, go ahead.” He said rubbing the back of his neck.

“Zuzu you look so handsome.” You teased him with the nickname you had given him as a child.

“You look stunning.” His words were so genuine that you nearly froze.

“Thank you.” You said with a smile. “We should get there soon, so we can help out with the last minute stuff.” You said looking at the door.

“You’re right, let’s go.” He said turning to leave.

The location they picked was beyond beautiful. A green cliffside overlooking the waves. As you walked in with Izuku it looked like things were nearly done. You were able to help with setting up some small details but before you knew it guest were arriving.

You took your seat next to Izuku in the front row. Toshinori stood at the arch waiting for his bride to be. You smiled at the retired hero. It was nice to see two people who deserved a respite from the lives they lead to find each other. They made each other happy and it warmed your heart. You could see Toshinori’s smile from your seat.

The sun was setting behind the arch leaving the sky looking almost fake with its beauty.

The music started and everyone stood to watch Inko enter. She looked beautiful in her white dress, tears already welling up in her eyes as she walked down the aisle.

Looking over at Izuku you saw the tears welling up in his eyes as he watched his mother. Without thinking you reached over taking his hand in yours, threading your fingers between his. His calloused hand was so much larger than yours, a big contrast from when you used to drag him along to the playground as children. You pressed your shoulder against his, even though his tears were happy you couldn’t stop the urge to soothe him.

As Inko approached Toshinori taking her place beside him, Izuku looked over at you. His eyes moved down to your connected hands before glancing back up at your eyes. There was a look on his face you couldn’t place.

Everyone sat down and you were shocked when you let go of his hand only for him to keep your hand close to his. You glanced at him but didn’t question it. He probably was just trying to stay in character.

The wedding was a moment you were so happy to be a part of. Their vows made you tear up not that you would admit it even if Izuku did see it happen. After everyone made their way to the reception area. The sun that was setting now was gone leaving the last lights of the day.

Everyone made their way to the new couple giving their well wishes to them. You and Izuku decided to wait a bit before going over, grabbing some champagne to ease your nerves.

“I told her already.” He said. “That we were going as a couple.” He clarified.

“Oh, good. It’d probably be pretty awkward to drop that on them now.” You said.

“Yeah.” He said. “She was really excited.”

That made your heart drop. What would you guys do after today? Pretend to date whenever you were around his mother? Or did you let her down quickly and say things just felt better as friends? This was a bad idea how could you have been so stupid to do this.

Before you could consider the repercussions of your actions Izuku was pulling you along to his mother and new step-father.

“Aww, honey!” Inko cooed as you both approached. She pulled him into a big hug nearly crushing him despite the height difference. As he did so you gave Toshinori a side hug, congratulating him as well.

“Congratulations, mom.” He said as pulled back smiling at his mom with tears in his eyes.

“Thank you, sweetie.” She said. “I should be saying the same to you too. I’m so happy for you both, I never said it but I always knew you two would end up together. I’m so happy you finally realized it.”

“Heh, yeah. I thought they would have figured it out a lot sooner.” Toshinori joked. Inko smacked his arm gently giving him an endearing look.

“It doesn’t matter I’m just so happy,” Inko said.

The wave of emotions that hit you was too much. You could feel yourself disassociate, it felt like everything around you was a blur. You could barely hear them talking in front of you. This was bad, you shouldn’t have done this. They were so happy. They had always thought you two should be together. How could you ever tell them, how could you ever move on to anyone else?

“Bunny?” You could hear Izuku’s voice muffled. It snapped you back to reality. “Are you okay?”

“I just need some water.” You lied, giving a smile to Toshinori and Inko before walking away as fast as you could without looking more suspicious.

The crowd around you felt so loud. You needed to get away. You made your way away from the reception back towards the cliffs the ceremony had taken place. You found a secluded spot in the darkness, the only light from the full moon glinting off of the ocean waves as they crashed down.

Taking a deep breath of salty air you felt better now that you had some distance but it didn’t remove the feelings in your chest that felt like they were suffocating you.

“Bunny,” You heard Izuku’s concerned voice from behind you. “Are you okay, why’d you run off?”

“Izuku this was a bad idea.” You said looking at him. “How are we supposed to tell your mom? We tell her that we lied? We tell her that it didn’t work out? I didn’t think this through.”

“Bunny, calm down.” He said, placing his hands on your shoulders. The weight of them brought immediate comfort.

“I feel so bad, Izu.” You said, your eyes filling with tears.

“What if we didn’t do any of those things?” He said looking down at you.

“What?” You questioned confused.

“We don’t tell her, we don’t break up.” He said.

“I don’t understand. If we keep pretending we’ll just dig ourselves in a bigger hole. Once the media finds out-”

“That’s not what I’m saying.” He interrupted. “What if we dated for real?”

“Y-You,” You stuttered out. Was he saying what you thought he was saying or were you just hearing what you wanted to hear so badly?

“Bunny, I-” He paused to take a deep breath, his right hand moved from your shoulder to the side of your neck. “I’ve had feelings for you for a long time, feelings that you don’t have for someone who’s just your friend.”

“Izuku-” You breathed, trying to wrap your head around it.

“I-I love you, I have for a long time.” He admitted. “The only reason I said yes to this was because I thought that maybe if we pretended for a night it would give me enough courage to tell you how I really feel.”

“Izuku-”

“If you don’t feel the same, please don’t feel obligated. I’ll tell my mom the truth about all of this and we can try and pretend it didn’t happen-” He said, his tone turning from sure to his usual rambling.

“Izuku!” You finally stopped him. “I feel the same way, that’s one of the reasons this was so hard. I couldn’t stand the thought of being so close to a relationship with you but so far away.”

“Oh.” He said.

“I’ve loved you since high school, I just never thought you’d feel the same. I mean your a pro hero, one of the best now. Why would you want to be with someone like me?” You admitted the insecurities that had plagued you for so long.

“How could you think that? You’re my best friend, you’ve been with me through everything. You were with me before I had a quirk before I was a hero and you’re still here being the most caring person in my life. How could anyone ever compare to you? No one comes close.” He said.

You didn’t consider yourself a crier but you couldn’t stop the tears that ran down your face. For so long you thought you weren’t good enough but here the love of your life was telling you no one could ever come close to you.

“Bunny, please don’t cry.” He said looking down at you were tears in his own eyes. He wiped away the tears that ran down your face. “I love you so much.”

He pulled you close, fingertips brushing the side of your face he looked down at you intensely with the green eyes you loved so much. It felt like the world stopped around you like all the breath had left your lungs.

“Can I kiss you?” He murmured softly as he leaned down towards you.

“Please.” You said, he didn’t hesitate meeting your lips with his own. Your arms wrapped around his neck pulling him in closer. One of his hands stayed at your neck while the other held your waist.

It was hard to let go of him, you had gotten everything you ever wanted in just a few minutes. But this wasn’t your night and you didn’t want to take Izuku away from his mother’s wedding.

Walking back hand in hand you felt like you were walking on air. Music played and people were on the dance floor, twirling in their partner’s arms to the melody.

Izuku looked down at you with a big smile, pulling you forward onto the dance floor. He wrapped his arms around your waist and your hands moved to his shoulders. He couldn’t resist leaning in for another brief kiss.

Dancing the night away, enjoying drinks and food in honor of the newly wedded couple felt like a perfect way to begin a relationship and would always stick in your mind as the best night of your life. That is until it was your time to walk down the aisle.

taglist:  @sugarmaplewings-fics @lilkiwisfinest @ewwis @kandy1410 @moonlightaangel @winnies-headcannons @bakugousidehoe @paintedr0ses1 @toobsessedsstuff @spellboundxizi @ourladyofseijoh  @x0doodlebug0x @katsushimaa @mooncademia

[midoriyashotos]

Anguish of the Quirkless

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Relationships: Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shoto (could be platonic... though I ship them a lot lmao)

Characters: Midoriya Izuku, Todoroki Shoto; MENTIONED - Bakugo Katsuki

Summary: Izuku doesn’t explode.

But burn after burn, he can’t take it anymore.

AO3 / Fanfiction

A/N: I had no reason to write this other than the fact I’ve been really angry and I needed to write something down.

I guess this is technically my first Tododeku fic? But like, it isn’t the focus here, so interpret it the way you want (if you can). I hope this didn’t turn out to be too OOC, though.

Please be aware of the tags and disclaimers below. Be safe. <3

TRIGGER WARNINGS - childhood trauma, past bullying/abuse and injury

*NOT BAKUGO/BAKUDEKU FRIENDLY!

--

Izuku doesn’t explode.

If anything, he’s more than scared of explosions. The explosions that silence him, that burn his tongue and his arms and legs, and the notebook of his fanboyish train of thought. The blasts that keep happening no matter how far away he is.

So no, he doesn’t explode. He probably can’t.

--

Though every time he stares at the blond spikes of his classmate, Izuku is sickened by a cocktail of years of combustions.

Maybe he does admire the beauty of the explosions when far away. Depending on them, they can actually be quite beautiful when done for the greater good. But when he’s so near, to try to reach them, Izuku gets injured. It’s probably his fault to begin with.

But even with patience and care, Izuku is always exploded back to where he’s been stuck in since he was four.

Izuku is always behind Katsuki. He can’t go around him and walk away. He can’t push him aside, he can’t as much as talk to him. Katsuki will forever be a wall, a minefield that will remain activated until the end of time.

And most importantly, Izuku can never explode back.

He hates explosions, after all.

--

The flaming blend of feelings, however, reach his mind at times he should be feeling okay.

The image of himself exploding Katsuki, of yelling at him, beating the crap out of him sickens the young hero to no end.

But it replays in his head still, even when they’re not fighting and instead having fun with their other classmates. Izuku stares at Katsuki for mere seconds and the thoughts come to him. The freckled boy swallows it all back, until it comes to haunt him at night. Until the burns sting his arms and his heart.

Izuku has tense nights, yet he never explodes. Ever.

--

You’d think Izuku would be happy here. He is happy, though, to be where he’s dreamed of for so long.

But each day that passes, he seems to get worse, he’s sick and tired and angry, and the combustions are closer to his heart. The fantasies become more violent, they’re disturbing. Izuku stains his hands, massacring the remaining of blond hair and hateful red eyes.

Izuku could never take blood from someone. It’s awful – he’s being awful. What would others think? What would everyone else think? All Might, his mother, his friends?

Izuku knows he can cry, but what about the rage? What about the ticking bomb inside him? The bomb that might be close to destroying all around him?

He can’t let anyone see.

Least of all Katsuki.

--

Thankfully, U.A. owns several gymnasiums for the students to train. Few, though, are somewhat left aside due to the new ones, but they don’t really close them. His classmates don’t seem to use them either, as far as he’s concerned.

Izuku finds the classic training tools, including several, big punching bags – different from those you see in common gyms, obviously. They’re able to take up a lot more damage, useful for physical-focused quirks.

He prepares and attacks. Holding it back, Izuku knows to be careful, to protect others. He hates explosions. He hates hurting others.

(All everyone has ever done was hurt him. Why? He was powerless. Quirkless. Deku.)

(That’s why he reclaimed the name, to transform it into someone who could be trusted, someone who could never hurt.)

Izuku kicks, dodges, as if in a real fight. He gives the bag mercy. Probably unnecessary.

(No one gave him mercy.)

(Midoriya Izuku, a boy who could never do wrong, who did nothing but exist.)

(He was exploded like no one ever was.)

The boy’s hands shine red with One for All, as do his eyes. The punching bag absorbs the power, becoming harder to punch and overcome. Izuku continues to spare it, to no avail.

(No matter what he does, he’ll continue to be blasted on the face.)

(Whether he’s powerless or not. The explosions will punish him until he’s gone.)

It’s then that the bag’s energy turns against him and blows him away, Izuku falling back and failing, once again.

It’s all too familiar.

Izuku roars.

He advances with his all, at the same speed as Gran Torino’s, but with a rage unknown to others. A rage from no hero. Heroes don’t feel hate, only towards evil – yet never, never to this extent. With revenge comes nothing. No hero should be selfish.

(This doesn’t come from a hero. It comes from… a boy? A monster?)

And Izuku is attacking the bag with no barriers holding him back. The second time it attacks, Izuku doesn’t let himself fall again. He returns at full speed and destroys the bag. He’s yelling this entire time, his throat hurting yet he’s far from quitting.

“WHY?!” Izuku demands from the bag. “WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME?!”

As always, he gets no answer, only blows and ignorance. And he’s punching it again.

The red of the bag infuriates him, it’s all he sees, and he wants to eradicate.

All those years, all that time never fighting back, never looking for solutions after years of rejections; they all come back to stab him again.

You’re useless.

Pathetic.

You need to deal with it.

“You RUINED MY LIFE!” Izuku screams, eyes shut but red, dams overflowing. “AND YOU DON’T EVEN CARE!”

Despite his cries and punches, they’re not moving, they’re not listening. When have they ever? When?

“I HATE YOU!” Izuku yells, his most disliked words. He’d never say to anyone.

“I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!”

“I

HATE

YOU!!! ”

 CRASH!

He yelps at the force thrown back at him. Smoke enters his nose, painful coughs echoing.

When Izuku looks back, he gasps without making a sound.

He didn’t destroy just one bag – it fired back and damaged the other ones, now abandoned on the floor.

And even then—

Izuku growls and punches the floor, this time without any power left.

He’s still burning.

It doesn’t matter. It never matters.

Now everything smokes and suffocates him, and he’s crying the most he’s ever did.

That’s why he hates explosions.

--

Izuku doesn’t go to Recovery Girl, nor does he tell anyone. He hopes Aizawa-sensei never finds out what he’d done. He looked for cameras and, thankfully, found none.

He lies to his friends he trained in the woods and got a little ahead of himself. As a response, Uraraka tells him to be careful and Iida insists Quirk training should be balanced for him, as a hero in training. Two important statements, of course.

Todoroki, however, observes.

It’s the most he does. Todoroki watches and sees all, barely saying much. He reads people like no one else does. He was the first to realize something would go wrong with Iida, when the latter had wanted to seek his brother’s almost assassin.

This is different, though. So much different.

Izuku ignores it the best he can.

--

Late at night, he can’t sleep. The green-eyed boy sneaks in the kitchen, to grab some tea to make. His classmates seem to have healthy sleep schedules, especially when exams are out of the scene.

So slow steps take him off guard, and Izuku hides his arms under his sleeves.

“Midoriya.”

He sighs deeply. “Oh, Todoroki-kun… it’s just you. What’s up?”

Todoroki shrugs. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Oh. Me neither.”

“Hm.”

Todoroki is doing it again, he can tell. Watching him. (Judging.)

Izuku hates being watched – he’s watched the entire time.

The tea doesn’t take much longer to be ready, so Izuku barely bats an eye to Todoroki and makes his way to the stairs.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he mumbles.

“Wait, Midoriya—”

“What ?”

Izuku regrets the moment he hisses, but he’s so tired.

“Just…” his classmate hesitates. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

Todoroki’s tone has… softened.

Izuku doesn’t turn around.

“… Good night, Todoroki-kun.”

--

The days go by like usual. It’s like nothing happened. No one has found out, or so he hopes.

Todoroki hasn’t talked to him since that night. Or well, Izuku tries to avoid looking at him for too long in the first place. They have lunch together with the rest, but there’s no direct contact at all.

Todoroki isn’t the kind of person you can make excuses. He reads into your tone, he knows something is wrong. While Izuku’s relationship with him has definitely improved since the Sports Festival and Stain, he still finds that aspect of him a little intimidating. Because Todoroki, in contrast, is hard to read most of the time.

Izuku might as well be avoiding him. Of course, he’s polite when Todoroki has a question or when he asks for a favor. Though he rejects the suggestion they train together in the next day. Mostly, because Izuku’s wounds still sting, and he refuses to go to the infirmary.

At last, Izuku finds himself going to the old gymnasium, with no intention to seethe like before, even if the urge screams in his brain. It looks… the same, on the outside. As for the inside…

Instead of the gray smoke and destroyed reds, Izuku stops as soon as he catches white strands connected to wine, fire red. A fire that doesn’t explode, but fire, nonetheless.

Izuku’s veins fill with One for All, and before he goes Full Cowling to get as far away as possible, he’s less than lucky to expose himself.

“Midoriya?”

Nononononono—

Even though Todoroki isn’t using his Quirk, Izuku feels like he’s frozen by his giant ice spikes, caught to explain himself.

Why on earth is Todoroki here? Does he also know this spot? Oh, of course. Todoroki often trains alone but Izuku never knew where. Oh my god.

There are no words shared or spoken, least of all whispered. Izuku can’t bring himself to look up. There’s only shame to be shared. No one was supposed to find out and yet he just revealed himself. Stupid. Idiot!

A step.

“Midoriya…”

Izuku shakes his head.

“I know what you’re going to say.”

Todoroki stops. “What?”

“… that I’m supposed to be a hero, right? That I shouldn’t have done this? I- I know I shouldn’t have.” Izuku clenches his jaw and his fists, to contain the trembling rage. “I shouldn’t be angry.”

The fallen punching bags stare.

“But I didn’t know what to do with this anger. It only kept growing and- and it keeps growing inside of me, these thoughts, this scream in my throat,” Izuku spits out without much thought. “I’ve been hurt my entire life and I hate- I hate hurting people back, I hate wanting to hurt them, but I hate them, too, I hate-!” For a moment, he bites back the poisonous name, yet he can’t take it anymore, he’s tired of being silenced by the explosions.

“… I hate Kacchan. I hate that he always explodes me in the face, I hate that he used to go after other kids, too. He always explodes and hurts people, and he doesn’t give a shit.” Izuku’s tone is wet, soaked with weight. “He doesn’t give a shit about me, he still hurts me no matter what I do, and I’m sick of it. And god, all I want is to punch his fucking face and scream, because he never cared about making me cry or burning me at all, he- he doesn’t care! And I don’t know why I still do, why I even try to communicate with him! Nothing I do is enough for him!”

Izuku observes the multiple layers of old wood under his feet, each second finding new details, new splinters.

“This is why I don’t explode. Why I never burst out. I-I don’t want to hurt anyone… but I’m still so angry, Todoroki-kun. I’m only feeling worse than before.” The freckled teen pathetically dries his drowned face. “It’s like nothing is ever going to get better.”

The temperature is a bitter cold, despite the sun outside.

Izuku cries like that boy he’d known in Middle School, the one that would weep to himself in the shadows after getting burned on the face.

“W-What should I do?” He asks to no one.

It’s, again, a question without an answer.

Except…

His arms are taken by two hands that slowly pull up his sleeves, revealing the wounds from the hazard. The hands brush against his blistered skin as gently as possible. One hot, the other cold, but equally mindful.

“I think…” Todoroki whispers, “you need someone.”

Izuku’s face is close to the piercing gray and blue eyes, the ones who always read him… but not in judgment, he realizes. They read each sentence, each word of himself and take it to their heart, hopefully to come up with a meaningful response.

“Because then… who will protect you from the explosion?” Todoroki questions, his right hand reaching Izuku’s left.

The question is one he’s never considered. Izuku makes sure no one gets hurt, and maybe he’s successful at that, yet…

Todoroki’s face is close enough for their heads to touch, some of his red and white bangs touching Izuku’s forehead.

“It’s okay to be angry, Midoriya.”

“You’re… not mad at me?”

“Why would I be?”

“I don’t know,” Izuku gulps, “I feel… disgusting.”

“I understand. But you’re not disgusting. You were hurt.”

Izuku’s mouth quivers. “I don’t want to hurt anymore.”

Todoroki’s hands move from his arms to his shoulders, pulling him forward. Izuku shivers.

He’s…

Todoroki has never hugged him before.

Sure, they’ve gotten so far as friends. But after all this time, they’ve never touched each other; least of all Todoroki, who is, reasonably, a more reserved person.

The hug is far from awkward, nonetheless. It’s… good. Izuku has never been hugged like this. Even with the crime scene of his anger right there for Todoroki and everyone else to see… the red-and-white-haired boy chooses to hold him.

(After all, he’s also a boy. A boy afraid of his thoughts. Afraid while no one knows.)

Izuku returns the contact, his face somewhat under Todoroki’s chin.

“I’m sorry Bakugo is a piece of shit.” He adds quietly, “Well, more than he already is.”

That manages to attract a miserable laugh.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not.”

Izuku hums, not up to protest as he melts in his touch. He could never have imagined Todoroki to be this… comfortable.

The permanent smell of smoke and dust does eventually bother him, so Izuku suggests, “Want to get out of here?”

“Sure.”

And they leave the gymnasium behind, hopefully their secret will be left alone.

Todoroki takes Izuku to a tree, the leaves green like the latter’s hair. There’s enough of a shadow to cover them from the sun, from the burning flames far away. Todoroki helps a little with the burns, his ice the most soothing Izuku has felt.

Until the sun sets, their hands are intertwined, scars only they know.

[stardustryewriting]

Forgiveness isn’t easy

Summary: Midoriya accidentally reveals, that he was told to kill himself once. Bakugou seems to feel more guilty than originally expected, so they decide to talk it out.

Or: The author was pissed Bakugou's suicide taunt was never talked about in Canon, so she wrote a fix-it-fic. Sort of. 

Also on AO3: here

Also, also I kinda messed with the timeline. But since this is about the interpersonal relationship between Izuku and Bakugou, it’s not too bad.

Lunch breaks weren't the most exciting part of a hero's day. Fighting villains was of course, taking the number one spot, in that perspective. Going on patrol, rescue missions and even filing reports were also decidedly more important events in a hero's work life. Lunch breaks were at the very bottom of the list. (Not that there was an actual official list. Just the one in Izuku's notebook.) 

Still, Izuku couldn't really complain about being allowed to share his lunch with the other interns from other companies, most of which were his classmates (among them the three upper-class men known as the big three). Sitting in a big circle hearing them share stories of all kinds of life events while enjoying some semi-good food was a highlight of the day. A much needed highlight after the bummer that was finding out they weren't allowed to sit in the meeting. 'Don't worry about it, just a regular checkup on what everyone last heard from the league of villains', he heard FatGum assure Kirishima and Tamaki. Which was more than they had gotten from Endeavour. He just warned them not to stick their noses into other peoples business. 

And while Izuku was disappointed at first, listening to Uraraka enthusiastically telling a story from her middle school time more than made up for that. He loved seeing her happy. Also seeing how relaxed everyone was, big smiles, talking about insignificant stories was so peaceful. A much needed calm contrasting their usual hectic life. Just sitting back, listening to Kirishima chime in, telling them about similar stories he had, while watching Todoroki who listened very attentively, soaking up information he was never able to get because of his upbringing, calmed Izuku in a way he never quite thought possible. Just existing, listening, laughing, vibing. He was truly happy. Of course it wouldn't last long. 

"What about you Deku? Any great stories from middle school?", Uraraka asked innocently, big eyes full of excitement, as if she was expecting some wondrous adventures. Kirishima also smiled brightly, leaning a bit towards him, eyes shining. Todoroki shifted so he was facing Izuku more and Tsuyu next to him quirked an eyebrow questioningly. Only Bakugou stiffened, barely visible and shot him a look like a warning. Don't you dare, Deku. That's none of their business. Izuku was sure, had Bakugou actually said what he thought out loud, he would have used more swear words, but he got the gist even without them. 

"Not really. To be honest, I was a bit of an outsider in middle school. So I did nothing great or fun at all", he stuttered, gesturing wildly with his hands in the process and trying to get them to leave it alone. He could feel the heat in his cheeks, it got worse with every word he said. He was sure they were beet red right now. That wouldn't help his case at all. 

"Nah. I don't believe that", Kirishima interjected, conforming Izuku's fears. Kirishima let himself fall back on his butt supported his upper body on his arms, palms flat on the roof and smiled mischievously at Izuku, "I bet you got up to some great adventures and you just don't want to share. Were they embarrassing?" He winked at that and then laughed at his own joke for a second. 

Izuku could feel himself trembling. He could feel the slight shake in his legs, not bad enough to be obvious yet, but it would be soon, could feel his heart rate spike and the sweat flowing more. Even worse, he could see Bakugou grinding on his teeth, his stare getting worse by the second and he knew it would become a metaphorical death stare soon. A few months back, before he even started UA, he would have been afraid of it becoming a literal death stare. Old Izuku would have run at the thought of that. And while he wasn't that Izuku anymore - wasn't the crybaby Deku anymore, but instead was the Deku that never gave up - he still wasn't too keen on provoking Bakugou. He could face him, could go toe to toe, but he would rather not. Not unless there was any real need to. And there wasn't any right now. 

"It's alright, you know. We won't laugh. None of us were their best possible version in middle school", Uraraka coaxed him gently, mistaking his silence for embarrassment instead of the mortification it really was. Izuku didn't know how to answer that. He couldn't lie to them. They were his friends, they were always honest with him and they deserved at least as much in return. But he also couldn't tell them the truth - that Bakugou and his friends had bullied him relentlessly from the age of four until the end of middle school - so he decided on the middle way. A half truth wouldn't hurt anybody. (In retrospect, this was probably his biggest mistake, ever.) 

"No really. I was bullied quite badly by some kids. I don't like to think about it", he said, trying his best to keep up his smile, so Uraraka wouldn't feel bad for asking the question. She did regardless, of course, because this was Uraraka and she was as loving as they come. But Izuku tried to reassure that no, he wasn't mad she asked and no, she didn't bring up all the bad memories again and no, he didn't consider her a bad friend because even though he hinted at it occasionally - when there was no way around it in a conversation - he never stated it outright so she couldn't have known. Yes, Uraraka was still his friend, he wouldn't end their friendship over something insignificant like that, was said more than once too. She really took this to heart. 

"What exactly do you mean when you say 'bullied'?", Todoroki asked, after Uraraka had somewhat calmed down and while Kirishima and Tsuyu both went to shut him down ("You can't just ask something like that, dude" and "That's really impolite, kero") Izuku was just glad at least something was normal. Todoroki being out of the loop on everyday teenager stuff, as sad as the reason behind it was, was their measurement for a normal day. And this might still stand a chance at being another normal day. 

"Ah, you know, the usual. Having things stolen, being mocked and called names, being told to go kill myself, being shoved around and beaten. Normal bullying stuff." 

"Being told to go kill yourself?", Uraraka, Kirishima and Tsuyu exclaimed simultaneously and very loudly. Loud enough to have everyone look at them. There went the chance of this being another normal day, Izuku thought sadly, while trying to think of a way to diffuse the situation. He had done it again. He let something slip that should have never been known by another soul and the fallout was enormous. He could see Mirio walking over to them and he really didn't know how to explain the situation to his upper class man. He didn't even know what to say to his friends, who were still staring at him, silently demanding answers but also with much more pity in their eyes than Izuku could stand. He was sure Uraraka was about to cry and he felt the pressure behind his own eyes announcing the arrival of his own traitorous tears. But he wouldn't. He wasn't the Crybaby Deku anymore, after all. 

"What are you guys on about? You're louder than normal", Mirio inquired gently, after he arrived in their little circle. He came to stand behind Uraraka and let his eyes wander shortly over every member of the group, before they landed on Izuku. Mirio mustered him a bit more thoroughly as if he was checking in on him wordlessly. Izuku nodded and tried to show a reassuring smile. He knew he failed even without having to look at Mirio,could feel himself shaking so much that it just had to be obvious by now. Not that suppressing that reaction would have helped him. Not now, when he was already so deep in this situation. So instead he did his best to swallow around the lump that was ever growing in his throat and took as deep a breath as he dared without it being too obvious. He tried to answer Mirio and hated how much his voice was shaking, despite his best efforts to calm down. The tears weren't far away anymore, and he hated that too. He wasn't the Crybaby Deku anymore. 

He refused to be the Crybaby Deku any longer. 

"It's fine, we just shared some old school stories and I have some not some not so pleasant memories. We try to be more quiet, promise." 

"Bullshit", Kirishima exclaimed loudly and it took an awful amount of self-control for Izuku not to flinch. He couldn't, he told himself, not anymore. "A stolen pen or some taunting words that's a not so pleasant memory. Being told to kill yourself is just all messed up, dude. That's wrong on so many levels." 

"Yeah. That's not something you just gloss over so easily", Uraraka agreed immediately in a voice that left no room for argument. Not that Izuku would have known how to argue with that. They all took it much too seriously. It wasn't like Izuku had even considered it. At least not for long. 

"It was just once guys", he tried again to calm them down once more, "I don't think he even thought about it too much." And really Izuku can't help his eyes looking at Bakugou for even just a second. Bakugou, who was uncharacteristically quiet ever since that discussion started. 

"If I may", Todoroki interjected carefully and Izuku couldn't decide if he was happy about this or not, "what exactly did they say?" So definitely not happy about this. If anything that was even more cause for concern. How should he answer this? Honesty was off the table. Being honest would mean admitting to being quirkless. He couldn't possibly do that. 

"I, ah-. I mean… You see. I mean they said… Uhm-"

"Jump off the roof and hope you'll be born with a better quirk in your next life." 

All of their heads snapped towards Bakugou so fast that Izuku worried for their necks. He himself couldn't face his oldest classmate even though he knew he should. He wasn't a coward anymore, he should be able to face Bakugou. But he couldn't. Instead he kept his head down and played with his fingers hoping that the attention was off of him for good. 

"Oh yeah", Kirishima said suddenly, brightly, as if he forgot the weight of their topic for a second, "You and Midorya were in the same middle school, right. You know the guy who said it?" And there it was again, the heaviness that had taken over their lunch break, seeping back into Kirishima's voice. 

"I did it", Bakugou said with a tight voice, as if bracing himself for the worst. That got Izuku to glance at him. He wished he didn't. Those tight, hunched shoulders, the careful looking eyes, the tension in his body - as if he was ready to run as soon as the need arises - looked so wrong on Bakugou. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see his friends surprised expressions, as if none of them could believe what they just heard. Of course they couldn't. They knew of Bakugou's explosive temper and the harsh way he worded everything. It was attributed to him being insensitive. Not to him being a bully. 

"What? That's a really bad joke", Kirishima said, tone more pleading than anything else. Please tell me you're joking hanging in the air between them, unspoken. The others seemed to hold their breath, the uneasy silence between them stretching until it became unbearable. Until it was hard to breathe. Izuku couldn't stand to look at it any longer, he wanted it to be over. He had to say something. Anything. He needed to end that situation. Bakugou was faster. 

"It's not a joke. I said that and then I went off laughing", Bakugou confirmed, sounding way too calm in Izuku's ears. Almost resigned. That couldn't stand. 

"Dude-", Kirishima mumbled weakly, leaving the word hanging in the air, as if he wanted to say something else. He wanted to, Izuku was sure. But much like everyone else, he had been shocked into silence. There were a million things to say, all of them tumbling over each other in Izuku's head. 

It was such a long time ago. 

It hurt then, but I'm over it. 

It was mostly a joke, I'm sure. 

I knew Kacchan long enough to know it wasn't meant like that. 

It's fine now, I promise. 

What he said instead was: "I only considered it for a week." It was decidedly the worst of all the things he could have said. It was enough for all of the heads to turn back towards him, still way too fast and he could see Uraraka considering what she wanted to say to him for that, could hear the gears turning in her head. Just as much as he could feel Kirishima getting defensive in his stead.Over him. He decided he needed to be faster than both of them. 

"I mean, it wasn't that bad honestly. I knew Kacchan long enough to know how he was. The bullying had been going on for long enough already that I didn't even take it that seriously. It wasn't even that bad", he could feel this spiralling more and more out of control with every word he said, so he decided to just be silent instead. He was obviously only doing more damage. 

“Please don’t make a big deal out of this”, he pleaded, finally, because it was obvious he wasn’t getting himself out of this situation anytime soon. 

“Make a big deal?”, came the incredulous reply - from Bakugou, which surprised everyone including Bakugou himself - while everyone turned their heads yet again, “I told you to kill yourself, hell, you just said you considered it and now you’re saying they’re making too big of a deal out of this? You really are just a shitty nerd.”

“Maybe”, Izuku answered quickly, because he felt more than he saw, that everyone was getting ready to defend him once again, “but the past is in the past. I’d like it if it remained there.”

Bakugou seemed to consider him for a while. Then his eyebrows drew together making the infamous angry crease on his forehead. Something which Izuku knew firsthand meant he was ready to blow up. He didn’t. Instead Bakugou looked around, shrugged his shoulders and quickly left the group with just a mumbled `Whatever`. 

No one tried to stop him. 

They all turned to Izuku, eyes full of worry, stumbling over themselves and each other, while similarly trying to assure he was fine, as well as trying to advise him to talk about his experience to someone. Izuku promised he was alright, that he would look for help, if he felt like he needed it and that there were no more suicidal thoughts in his head. The last one was a half-lie, that he mostly told them to reassure them. Thankfully, no one questioned that too deeply, only Mirio looked as if he didn’t believe a word Izuku said. 

Mentally he prepared himself for a long afternoon. 

____________________

He was both right and wrong. While the afternoon did drag on for what seemed like forever, thanks to a combination of boring patrouille with no incidents and a look into what a hero’s paperworks look like, he hasn’t felt any tension between himself and Bakugou, which was the main thing he feared. 

That was of course mostly, because Bakugou avoided him like the plague, when he could. He went on patrouille with one of Endeavor's sidekicks, instead of them, chose another sitting space for the paperwork than he and Todoroki did and even worked a bit overtime, to avoid having to go home with them. When he was forced to interact with them, because Endeavor explained or showed something and he required all three of them to be present, Bakugou treated him very normally. Which meant hostile and with demeaning nicknames, but no one could point out the difference. 

It made Izuku tense. He always expected a big explosion, figuratively or literally, to be around the corner. Like the smallest thing would set Bakugou off and then all of them would suffer the consequences. But it never came. Bakugou’s personality provided some smaller emotional explosions, which all of them were used to by now, but the big one was missing. 

Izuku didn’t know if he was supposed to be happy about that. He kind of wished it would just go off, that Bakugou would just throw it at him, so they could be done with that. Of course, he couldn’t say it to Bakugou like that, that would set off an entirely different, completely unwanted explosion, which would help no one in the end.

Izuku had considered if the potential consequences were worth another fight with Bakugou. Fighting was how Bakugou communicated the best with Izuku, it has been since they entered U.A. - probably even before that, if Izuku considered everything. So maybe another fight, to help Bakugou with sorting through and expressing his feelings, would be worth another house arrest. Then again, no one guaranteed him it was really just house arrest and not expulsion, he would be facing. 

So, no fight then.

Still, he needed to find a way to either talk to Bakugou (unlikely) or just make the other blow up in his face (more likely). He would’ve liked to ask for help, but the only one in Endeavor’s agency who knew what happened on that roof was Todoroki. And while Todoroki was a treasured friend that Izuku wouldn’t want to miss, interpersonal relationships weren’t really his strong suit. So asking Todoroki for help was out of the question.

He pulled his phone from under his pillow, to sort through his messages, trying to figure out if another one of his friends would be helpful. Iida had sent a message, stating that Uraraka had informed him of what happened on the roof and offering to listen, if Izuku wanted to talk to someone. Uraraka and Tsuyu had both sent messages, asking if he felt alright, and he sent them some short, reassuring answers, because he still felt bad about everything that happened. 

At the very top of his chats, however, were some messages from Kirishima, that Izuku was hesitant to read. Because while Kirishima was defending him in the moment it happened - and Izuku knew he was too nice to ever blame him for anything that happened on the roof - he was still Bakugou’s friend. His best friend even, probably. (If Bakugou had something like that, which Izuku wouldn’t know.)

What could Bakugou’s best friend have to say to someone, who complicated their entire situation?

Logically, Izuku knew Kirishima was probably just checking in on him too, maybe even trying to lighten the mood with some absurd fun facts, or bad jokes he’d gotten from Kaminari. He knew Kirishima wouldn’t even dream of blaming him. Still, he hesitated to open the messages. What if Kirishima said something about Bakugou? Would that be good or bad in his current situation? Then again, Kirishima might be the only one who could help him understand Bakugou in his current situation. 

Uraraka was too emotional, she would be mad at Bakugou and she would encourage him to some “righteous fury”. Tsuyu never really liked Bakugou, she always thought he was too loud and too rude, so she never really tried to get to know him, beyond the surface level they needed to work together. Even then, that barely worked. Iida had too strong of a personality, he clashed with Bakugou in the past because of it. So really Kirishima was his best bet. 

Taking a deep breath, Izuku opened the seven unread messages.

Hey Midoriya, read the first, I hope this thing on the roof didn’t get to you too badly. 

I tried to get Bakugou on the phone and over text, but he doesn’t respond to me. 

Or to anyone else really. Must be a sign he feels bad.

Maybe you could try talking to him?

Only if you’re up to it of course. If not, no worries. Knowing Bakugou, it’ll fade eventually, anyways.

Anyway. If you wanna talk about anything, know I’m here. I’m not too great with advice, but I’ll try. 

Really, you shouldn’t be facing this alone. 

Izuku read through all of them, more than once while trying to process everything Kirishima had said. Bakugou wasn’t only avoiding him, he was avoiding all of them. Did he feel bad, like Kirishima said? Izuku knew that his middle school time was a mostly unpleasant memory for him, being bullied and deliberately excluded, not having a single friend. Most of his teachers were annoyed with him, because he constantly came to try and talk about the bullying, so he eventually stopped talking to them outside of class matters. Which meant most of his interaction with other people were classes, being made fun of and his mum. 

It was a lonely time.

Bakugou, on the other hand, had been the king of the school ground. He was academically smart, like Izuku, but unlike him he never bothered the teachers, so he was pretty well liked with the staff. Their peers always thought his quirk was super cool, so they willingly followed Bakugou everywhere he went and easily joined in teasing Izuku. No one batted an eye when teasing turned into bullying and Izuku didn’t even recognise it himself, until long after middle school was over. Even now, he didn’t like calling it bullying. 

Was Bakugou really feeling bad about that time? Did he hate his middle-school-self, as much as Izuku hated his?

Maybe, he should take the help Kirishima had offered, between the lines.

Hey Kirishima, he began texting, I promise I’m fine. I’m a lot tougher than I look, after all. But about talking to Kacchan. I think that’s a great idea. How do you think I should approach that?

____________________

An hour, and several text messages later, Izuku found himself standing in front of Bakugou’s room in Endeavor’s agency. It was the one at the very end of the hall, right across from Todoroki’s room and next to Izuku’s own. He never knew Endeavor had bedrooms in his agency, but now that information was permanently engraved in his mind. (And in his hero notebook). It wasn’t particularly helpful in his current situation, tho. 

Izuku took a deep breath, reminding himself of Kirishima’s encouraging words and knocked on the door. He heard shuffling from behind it and a string of curse words way more colorful than Bakugou’s usual. Just then, Izuku remembered that Bakugou always went to sleep early and was probably already in bed, when Izuku decided to come over. His timing couldn’t have been worse. Maybe he should just go and pretend he was never there.

 Just as that thought entered his head, the door creaked open. Bakugou was wide-eyed when he recognised Izuku for only a second, before his trademark annoyed expression took over his face. So much for just vanishing before Bakugou could see him. Not that he would’ve actually done it. 

“What?”, Bakugou grumbled annoyed, but thankfully not looking like he had already been asleep. Actually he wasn’t looking at Izuku at all, which was out of character enough that Izuku was actually worried. 

“I wanted to talk about...”, the roof? Not really. It had started it all, but it wasn’t anything controversial. The roof-situation was pretty straight forward, even if all his friends acted like it was the big thing of the day. “...middle school.”, he finished lamely, because he figured that would be a way better starting point. At least there was some actual conflict there.

“Yeah, because it started in middle school”, Bakugou murmured sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Nonetheless, he turned and walked back into his room, leaving the door open. Izuku figured this was as much of an invitation as he would get. Not trying to look for a fight, he just scrambled quickly and wordlessly into Bakugou’s room.  

Looking around, he realised that while Bakugou might have not been asleep, he must have been trying. The covers were thrown back and messed up and the pillow looked like it had been laid on. So he did disturb Bakugou. He couldn’t help feeling guilty.

“You wanted something”, Bakugou reminded him, not as unfriendly as usual, but also not nicely. It was accompanied by a glare that told Izuku he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. Too bad, Izuku would take as long as he gets. 

“Yeah”, he drawled, trying to figure out how to phrase this best, “what do you mean, when you said it didn’t start in middle school?”

“I never said that”, Bakugou was quick to correct, sitting himself on the ground in front of his bed and crossing his arms in front of his chest. He leaned back against the bed, glare permanently on Izuku, as if he was trying to figure something out. 

“You implied it”, Izuku answered easily, trying to muster a reassuring smile, but thinking better of it. Bakugou would probably take it as Izuku thinking of him as weak and that would start another fight. Izuku was trying to end a fight, not looking for a new one. 

“So what”, Bakugou said defensively, looking away from Izuku for real now, and instead staring at the floor. 

“When did it start for you?”, Izuku inquired, trying to find a balance between being careful, to not sound accusing and not being too careful, so Bakugou wouldn’t take it as Izuku making fun of him. Talking to Bakugou has always been a balance act for Izuku.

Bakugou mumbled something that Izuku didn’t understand, then drew his legs to his chest, wrapping his arms around them and putting his face on his knees. He looked strangely vulnerable like that, so very not-Bakugou, that Izuku was convinced he hallucinated for a second. He pinched his leg to make sure he wasn’t. That was new. 

He moved to sit beside Bakugou, before he could think of whether that was a good idea or not. With his back against the bed and his legs outstretched on the floor, Izuku looked over carefully, to determine if Bakugou was okay with that. The other looked at him funny for a moment, but didn’t say anything against it, so Izuku figured it was okay. There was still an arm length of space between them anyways. 

Regardless, Izuku felt like this was the closest he got to Bakugou in years. 

“Can you repeat that?”, he asked carefully keeping the careful tone out of his voice to not patronise Bakugou. He knew that would only make things worse.

“I said it stated, when I refused to take your hand”, Bakugou repeated, sounding annoyed, but some other way than normally. Izuku, for his part, was mostly confused.

“What?”, he said like an idiot. 

“When we were, I don’t know, maybe six”, Bakugou explained and now he sounded like he normally sounded, when he was annoyed at Izuku, “I fell in that river and you offered me your hand to help me out. I thought ‘Why is that quirkless idiot looking down on me’. I was such a stupid child.”

“I wasn’t looking down on you”, Izuku provided, because it was the only clear thing on his mind. Bakugou still thought about that? That was so long ago, even Izuku barely remembered that day.

“No shit”, Bakugou barked out, laughing humorlessly at the entire thing, “It spiralled from there. I antagonized everything you did as you looking down on me and I began hating you from there.”

“And then it reached its peak in middle school?”, Izuku asked, unsure if he read where Bakugou was going with this right. 

“And then it reached its peak in middle school”, Bakugou conformed tonelessly, like he had no more power for any emotions other than resignation. 

“Wow”, Izuku breathed, looking away from Bakugou and staring at the wall instead. That was a load of information and he had no idea how to process any of that. Bakugou thinking he looked down on him, when it was really the opposite? And then, he had been antagonising Izuku for that long? He got that Deku was meant to be an insult, but he always thought it stemmed from ‘Kacchan’ being taken as too cute by Bakugou, not from actual hatred. That was a lot to stomach. 

“What did you mean when you said you considered it?”, Bakugou surprised him by asking, Izuku expected to be thrown out, actually. 

He didn’t actually know how to answer this. He would love to lie to Bakugou, saying that he just mulled it over in his head, but that felt wrong. Bakugou had been honest with him, so he deserved honesty in response.

“Did you know that one of the staircases was always unlocked because of potential fires? I figured out a way from there to the roof. I actually made it on top of the railing one afternoon. I was just standing there, looking over the courtyard and thinking ‘Maybe I will have a quirk, next time’. I almost took the step, and then I remembered Mom would be all alone, inconsolable and I backed out. I thought of myself as a coward then, but now I’m glad.”

He didn’t dare look at Bakugou, even when he heard the other’s breathing hitch. Knowing he was so close to ending it all, actually scared him still to that day. 

“Shit”, Bakugou breathed, sounding like he had trouble swallowing and Izuku laughed humorlessly.

“Yeah shit”, he agreed, lifting his eyes to look at Bakugou and finding the other boy already staring at him. He had tears in his wide-blown eyes, looking like he was on the verge of a panic attack and Izuku was trying hard to remember the breathing exercises they learned in the theoretical rescue class. Luckily he didn’t need those. 

Bakugou caught himself, looking away from Izuku and slouching against the bed again.

“You almost killed yourself. And it was my fault”, he said, still sounding breathless, but appearing a lot more calm overall. That was, until Izuku saw the single tear sliding down Bakugou’s cheek. 

“No, it wasn’t”, he hurried to say, hoping to provide some solace to Bakugou, “Being quirkless is a lot worse than just some bullying. Not having the prospect of being a hero took almost as big a toll on me. And there were plenty other things.”

“Bullshit”, Bakugou yelled and Izuku cringed, glad that Todoroki was a heavy sleeper. Bakugou would’ve woken him up, “I put the idea in your head. I started the whole mess. Hell, I’m responsible for ‘Deku’.”

“Deku is my hero name, you know?”, Izuku reminded him, trying to diffuse some of their newly acquired tension.

“Yeah, whatever the hell that’s about”, Bakugou shrugged, not paying him much mind. Like he was trapped in his own thoughts and if his facial expressions were anything to go by, those weren’t pleasant. 

“It’s symbolic”, Izuku provided, hoping to ease some of the burden, “It’s supposed to symbolise that I’m not the old crybaby Deku anymore. I’m Deku, the hero. I’m there to help people and I’ll never give up, no matter the obstacles. It means that I’ve learned from my past, but it doesn’t define me.”

“That’s sappy”, Bakugou said, trying to suppress a sniffle. 

“Yeah, maybe”, Izuku agreed easily, fondly remembering the day Uraraka gave a new meaning to the name, “but it’s also true. I’m able to work with you, because I’m not overly attached to the past anymore.”

“S’that also why you’re able to forgive me so easily?”, Bakugou asked sarcastically. 

“Yep”, Izuku said grinning, popping the ‘p’ to emphasize. He apparently had caught Bakugou off guard with that answer, if the wide eyes and the silence were any indication. They looked at each other silently for a while. Izuku gave Bakugou space to figure out what he wanted to say, while Bakugou just seemed overwhelmed with the situation as a whole. 

“You shouldn’t”, he concluded eventually, looking away from Izuku once again, “I was shitty and you should hate me.”

“I told you before didn’t I?”, Izuku was intensely looking at Bakugou, as if he could will the other to return his gaze, “The past is in the past and I’d like it to stay there.”

Bakugou scoffed at that, looking at Izuku challenging, and Izuku already tried to find where he went wrong. He knew this could only end in a fight, it always did with Bakugou. This whole talk had been way too peaceful and Izuku made the mistake of indulging in it, instead of being careful. 

Bakugou surprised him, when instead of challenging him to a fight, he just said: “Okay. I think I can do that.”

Deku blinked once. Twice. Trying to figure out if this was some sort of joke at his expense, again. 

“Just”, Bakugou began, interrupting himself to take a deep breath. He let go of his legs, to stretch them in front of him like Izuku did and then turned to face him better. He scooted a bit closer, leaving only half an arm length between them, so Izuku could now reach out to him, if he wanted. He wanted to, but he didn’t want to ruin their new-found peace, so he held himself back. 

“I’m sorry, for everything”, Bakugou pressed, after taking a deep breath, stubbornly staring into Izuku’s eyes. It wasn’t the best apology Izuku’s ever gotten, but considering who was in front of him, it was a big step in the right direction. So he smiled at Bakugou, as a sign he accepted the apology. 

He had a feeling Bakugou would have a much harder time forgiving himself than Izuku did. 

[linkspooky]

Mirio Togata: Hero of Another Story

In honor of season 4 let’s do a Mirio Meta! One of the most interesting things about Mirio is how he’s introduced as another potential successor to All for One. From his introduction alone we are asked to compare him to Deku but he seems entirely different. Mirio is self confident, outspoken, extroverted, and has recognition from the entire school. Meanwhile Deku is constantly trying to earn hi splace, has a mumbling habit, introverted, and despite being the successor for All for One only got to the top eight in the Sports Festival, has trouble securing internships, and still does not show the same intense urge to rise to the number one spot as Bakugo does. They are even colored differently, Deku is a characterthat usually is shaded in heavily while Mirio is depicted mainly in whites. 

Mirio is so complete a character on his own, he really seems like someone who should be the protagonist instead of Deku. This is a clever bit of foiling on Horikoshi’s part. Let’s explore that under the cut. 

1. The Deku and the Cooler Deku

Mirio is introduced as someone who shares the same goal as Deku, to save as many people as possible, but is otherwise better than him in every way. A better, cooler Deku. In a way that makes you ask, why isn’t this guy the main character of the story? Unlike Deku who is continually struggling and falling short we see Mirio, and always confident optimist who never seems to break. 

This is a point of comparison the story is asking us to make ourselves, by bringing up the fact that Mirio was once going to be a sucessor for All for One too. That if All Might had not run into Midoriya that day, it could have so easily been the other way around and Mirio could have been the main character of this story. 

This also comes at a turning point for Deku when he’s starting to define who he is and what he wants to be as a hero other than blind admiration for All Might and a want to be just like him. It’s a challenge to Midoriya’s identity. He now has to defne himself, because there is somebody who closely resembles him but not only that but as a better him he makes Midoriya superfluous. The question asked by this arc is would everything have been better if Mirio inherited All for One? Why is Midoriya the protagonist of this story?

Midoriya is asked to define himself, whereas Mirio already knows who he is, and what he wants to be, which is why he’s much more confident of a character in comparison. 

By appearing as Deku’s total opposite, (defined by his self confidence where Deku is nervous and always second guessing himself) Mirio acts as a classic literary foil shining light on Deku’s character. (Quite literally because his name is Lumillion).

In literature, a foil is a character that shows qualities that are in contrast with the qualities of another character. The objective is to highlight the traits of the other character.  What we observe in literature very often is that a foil is a secondary character who contrasts with the major character to enhance the importance of the major character. [Literary Devices]

Mirio and Deku are as different as Night and Day, yet at the same time they both wish to become heroes for the exact same reason, they both feel the overpowering urge to save the people in front of them. This was the quality that All Might recognized in Deku in all people and the reason he decided to make Deku his heir, but in this arc we see this is not a quality unique to Deku. 

Mirio is closer to All Might than Deku. He even physically resmebles him more, he has blonde hair in the same style, is more physically built, and shares the same habit of always smiling. 

By presenting Deku with Mirio, the person who has far more qualifications to be the main character of this story than he is. The better Deku than Deku is. Deku is forced to reclaim this as his story. The opening narration starts out with this is my story of how I became the greatest hero. It’s not enough to just exist as the main character, Deku has to learn to take control of his life so that it can become his story. 

Because the alternative is being denied everything who he is, and all of his struggles. Deku usually has an attitude that he did not accomplish anything on his own, that he was given All for One and given support by the others around him which prevents him from standing out in the same way MIrio does, but in this instance Deku is finally fored to acknowledge his own efforts and that this is his story even if he received help along the way. 

2. Mirio is what Deku Could be as a Third Year

The reason we follow Deku instead of Mirio is because stories are about development, not just following a cool character around when they’ve already reached their goal. Mirio exists in the story to show the kind of person Deku could grow into. That is why Mirio is the main character of another story, for us his story has already been told and we only see him after he has crossed the finish line.

Mirio, like Deku burned out on his first Sports Festival and did not make it far enough to stand out as a student. The Mirio of one year ago is a lot like where Deku is now. If we had met him then, then he would have been challenged to grow the same way Deku is now.

The Mirio we see now is what Mirio dreamed about being a year ago, most likely all of his life. Unlike Deku, he’s no longer dreaming about becoming a hero, he sees himself as a hero. He’s completely self confident in that identity. 

The more we learn about Mirio though, the more we see he was not always like this. In fact he spent most of his life being a loud mouth wannabe loser, with none of the talent to back up his completely unearned confidence in himself. 

The way he’s introduced he seems to have an amazing untouchable quirk completely suited for being a hero, the same way Bakugo’s explosion quirk made him a prodigy. Until we learn he was born with a quirk he could barely control not suited for hero work at all. 

In a way the Mirio of the past resembles Deku a lot more, he was someone continually told he was not suited to be a hero, and that none of his efforts would make him equal to those who were better qualified. What Nighteye told Deku that he’s useless because he can’t produce results right now as he was, Mirio was told over and over again by other people.

Which is the ultimate inversion of his comparison with Deku, and what Deku needs to learn the most. MIrio does not think he’s strong, in fact he never once thought he was strong even after he reached the position of being the big three. Mirio is just not afraid ot be weak, and accepts his weakness over and over again in a way Deku cannot yet because he loses all self confidence when he thinks himself weak. 

True strength doesn’t come in always being strong all the time like All Might was. Mirio’s confidence comes not from becoming so strong that he doesn’t feel weak, but rather accepting that he’s weak and continually challenging himself. In a way not only is he a more developed Deku, he’s also an inverted Bakugo who is so terrified of being weak he constantly terrified and belittled Deku because he could not accept his own feelings of weakness. 

Mirio is a challenge to the idea that being strong is just training your quirk, and being the best fighter all the time. Mirio’s strength is just knowing how weak he is, and being okay with that. He’s emotionally strong in a way that a lot of heroes with strong quirks aren’t because they cannot stand the idea of being weak, or not being the strongest in any way.

Which is also, what could be Deku’s greatest strength as a hero. That he knows what it is to be weak, and struggle with his own weakness, and because of that he understands the weakness other people feel and their struggles. He can relate to them on a personal level, and help them find their strength. If Deku were to learn to stop being afraid of his own weakness because his lifelong struggle as a quirkless person is a deepy relatable thing to many of the characters in the series then he could master it in the same way Mirio has.

Because Mirio is just Deku but a little older. He’s someone who dreamed of being a hero all of his life, and struggled with it because he had a quirk not suited immediately for hero work. He’s someone who would have completely burned out and failed at being a hero if someone had not seen his potential.

He’s also living proof that hero society’s value of strong quirks that are good for defeating villains in a flashy way is so wrong, because if a good teacher had not found Mirio and taught him how to properly utilize his quirk then he would have fallen through the cracks of the education system. He shows that any quirk can be brought to its proper potential with the training.

Which is why what NIghteye says to Deku is so wrong. He says Deku never should have gotten the chance to inerhit All for One, even though he knows that Mirio was once like Deku, a useless try hard who could not do anything until he was taght to be better by Nighteye himself.

3. Mirio’s Flaw

In the end what dooms Mirio is exactly what Nighteye said would make him a better successor. Mirio shares All Might’s flaw that he will completely destroy his own body in order to save someone. Even if Mirio could climb to a similiar spot as All Might, it would be like producing a second All Might. 

This is what happens when All Might’s number one fanboy raises you as a sucessor. More seriously though, Nighteye saw what happened to All Might when he completely destroyed his body saving people and defined himself entirely by his use to others. 

Yet, Nighteye himself even after being a witness to that tragedy did nothing to correct that flaw. My Hero Academia is after all, about the failures of the previous generation. Due to Nighteye’s failure as a mentor, Mirio ends up losing absolutely everything he had gained from three years of hard work. His mentor, his quirk, his recognition as a hero.

Mirio’s strength comes from acknowledging his own weakness, and yet at the same time he suffers from the same complex as All Might. He can never cry or feel down on himself because he must always force himself to smile, even if he’s beaten half to death, or even if his mentor just died twenty four hours ago. It’s his inability to have any regard for his own feelings as he always puts the feelings of others first that led to his own self destruction, and not only did Nighteye not fix this quality, he actively encouraged it because at heart he wants to see All Might the way he was in his prime again instead of facing that All Might was a heavily flawed hero to begin with. 

The steps to Mirio Togata’s fall are all steps All Might would have taken. He ran ahead and fought the villain on his own, rather than waiting for backup and fighting as a team. He destroyed his own body to save Eri. He kept fighting Nighteye alone even after his body was broken. This was all heroic, but at the same time it was heroic at the cost of himself. It’s the same reason Deku breaks his bones, or All Might fights with half of his organs missing. 

Here we see again, Deku suffering fmor the same flaw I mentioned above. He does not want to make this his story, he wants to believe that none of this was his own effort, and he did not accomplish anything on his own because he’s using a borrowed power. That if anybody other than him had inherietd the quirk it would have been better, because Deku the walking inferiority complex is just the worst, most insignificant person on earth.

Which is why Mirio’s flat refusal is so important. Deku’s trying to make himself out to be a worthless person is just another form of running away. He needs to face that this is his own story, and that he cannot become Mirio or All Might.

He does not want to be them either, because Mirio and All Might’s complete selflessness is what destroyed both of them in the end. Deku is challenged not to become them, but to overcome their flaws and become someone even better than just All Might 2: electric boogaloo. 

[mysterylover123]

BNHA Rewatch: Season 1 Episode 7 “Deku vs Kacchan”

 mysterylover123

Here. We. Go!

Backstory time. (I guess this episode is all about Deku and Kacchan, BTW, so no corner this time. Too much stuff would be in there). Deku recounts their past together. The phrasing is different in different translations. I like how honest Deku is about his rival’s character - how he’s not necessarily “good” or “evil”, but became kind of an asshole after developing his quirk. Also, cute!

More below the cut

Poor Iida, BTW. Saddled with the Worst Teammate Ever. (at least right now. Contrast point: JTA Bakugou)

Though Deku isn’t much better! Sure, get rid of Uraraka! it’s not like you’re fighting a powerful opponent or anything! Not like that Zero G couldn’t solve this problem easily! (You just really wanna mono y mono him, don’t you Deku?)

Deku being strategic! (Why isn’t Bakugou considered captured then and there? All Might said! Capture tape! Shouldn’t that have…oh never mind, who cares. Fight!) 

Here we have the explanation as to why Deku tells Kacchan about his quirk: Kacchan thinks Deku’s been lying to him. And the thing is, he…well, has. Not his whole life, but he has lied to his mom, and presumably via sin of omission, to everyone in his middle school (and UA), including Bakugou. Which Deku is fine with - for everyone else. Because it’s All Might’s secret, and it’s understandable, and Bakugou later reprimands him for telling even him. But that’s the thing. Deku doesn’t feel comfortable lying to Bakugou, and Bakugou alone. For some reason.

Yes, he has a good, rational explanation of why he didn’t work with Uraraka and let her go off to fight Iida. But he immediately undercuts it by reminding us that he does, in fact, wish to fight Kacchan himself. Again, why Filler!Deku is so scared of meeting Kacchan’s challenges head-on when he’s been fully committed to being his rival since Episode7/Chapter 9 is beyond me.

I kinda like how Bakugou has no Tragic Backstory or reason to be the way he is beyond being told his whole life that he’s better than everyone else. It’s such a perfect deconstruction of that Main Hero mindset - you see this same setup in so many other stories, where the Chosen One hero is told from a young age that he’s Destined for Greatness or whatever. And he’s always a perfect cinnamon roll. Instead of the kind of person that treatment would really create. Basically, someone like Bakugou.

More adorable/mean flashbacks. (It’s like watching South Park. They’re so mean but the art style is so cute!) I like how Deku, even LilDeku, doesn’t take shit from Kacchan. He talks back. And he never stops following him around.

Ah, the defining moments. Deku is declared Quirkless and therefore worthless (somebody hug him!) Then the creek incident. This scene is so cute, and it starts this big  visual motif throughout the series pertaining to these two: Deku’s outstretched hand. (one translation I heard of “The Day” translates the line right before they fight in the OP as “reach out and finally take my hand”, which is perfect). But yes, there is this long buildup for Bakugou to one day cast aside that pride, realize that Deku just wants to help him, and Take. That. Hand.

Iidaraka! This scene is so hilariously funny. If I wasn’t already in love with this series before, this moment  clinched it. Iida pretending to be a villain, complete with monologuing (I bet the dub was intentionally referencing The Incredibles there.) Cute Iichaco moment here, I love how he cracks her up. (Though Iida also makes the mistake of taking it too easy on her here. He doesn’t go for the knockout punch and loses for it. Thankfully a certain hothead does not make that same mistake in the sports festival.)

This freaked me out hard the first time I saw it. It’s such a hit. Like damn, how is Deku even alive now? The way it’s animated is so brutal! Though there is an explanation for the giant gauntlets and Bakugou’s quirk that makes a ton of sense here though; Hori even explained how his parents’ quirks made the power later on! It’s all so well thought out. 

So again, this also freaked me out the first time around. He looks fucking crazy (And I loooove crazy characters. Deku the Absolute Madman and Bakugou’s crazyface are a big part of why I watch this series). But later on this gets a callback when All Might is talking about Bakugou “smiling in the face of a wall”, compiled with his smile when facing Uraraka and All Might. So this puts Deku on the same level as those two, the only two opponents Bakugou truly respects. Well, well. :) 

BTW the second of the two manga chapters this episode is based on is called “Breaking Bakugou”. Just a funny bit of trivia. 

Uraraka’s main character flaw at this point, her general lackadaisacal attitude and lack of willingness to just jump in and take initiative, shows up in this arc, and she makes her first step towards overcoming it. She’s inspired by how much Deku wants to win to Go Plus Ultra. I think Uraraka is a character who tends to mold herself after the people around her (her parents, Deku, even Bakugou post Sports Fest briefly), hence why Toga is her Evil Counterpart. This is her flaw, that she doesn’t quite know who she is outside of copying others, and what she needs to overcome. 

We get some comedy as Bakugou gets jealous of Deku ignoring him again. Notice me you damn nerd! You idiot baka! 

Kirishima’s first impressions of Bakugou are all so terrible. It’s hilarious in hindsight since they end up BFFs, but he really thought Bakugou was a reckless asshole the first time around. Also Todoroki’s first line is talking about how Bakugou is smarter than he looks. So let’s enjoy some of my personal headcanon, namely that if Kiri has a crush on a member of Wonder Duo it’s actually Deku, and for Todoroki it’s actually Bakugou. Yes, the reverse of what everyone else thinks.

This fight is so damn brutal. Bakugou pays Deku back in kind for bodyslamming him. Of course, I loved that Deku was planning something that whole time (I knew, first time around, when his dialogue with Uraraka was muted, that he had a plan up his sleeve. And what a plan it is!). But still, watching him get beaten up this badly is hard to see.

Now the big buildup moment. Deku confesses the truth: He wants to beat Kacchan because he thinks Kacchan is amazing. Bakugou thinks Deku is looking down on him, which is such a weird way to twist Midoriya’s behavior - but makes sense if Bakugou, deep down, knows that Deku totally can. And Deku, he just wants to surpass him. As he puts it later on, his image of Victory. 

YOU SAY RUN. Drink! As an aside, All Might has a very interesting role in the whole Deku vs Kacchan thing. Not only is he the reason for their conflict (each idolize him/wanna be like him in different ways), he also perpetuates it willingly here by not stopping the fight. And he does so because he wants to support Deku. Which is interesting. All Might has some perception into Midoriya, and he comments here that this is the most pumped up he’s seen Deku. Bakugou brings that out in Midoriya, and that’s why All Might is, overall, rather supportive of them mending their friendship, ending up as Wonder Duo, the best heroes who Win and Rescue. Because Deku needs that  challenge in his life to amp him up. To keep him going. 

And now Deku’s plan. I’m not sure if the Entrance Exam bit counts, because at the time he didn’t know how badly his body would be effed up, but this time he does. So I’m calling it: The first instance of Absolute Madman Deku. My favorite Deku moments are always these bits, where he does something so crazy and brilliant and self-destructive that it shouldn’t work, but because he’s also clever, it totally does. And with Uraraka’s teamwork, the Hero Team wins! 

We end on a moment between Deku and Kacchan, where Deku (pulling the first of his true Crazy Eyes faces) tells Kacchan that he was not, in fact, looking down on him, and only holding back because he’d be hurt. And the anime adds, from the Manga, Kacchan looking kind of shocked about what he’s seeing, maybe even a little guilty/horrified by Deku hurting himself. What an ending!

So the first time around, after watching the first four eps day-by-day at work, I had a weekend where I binged through the rest of Season 1, so my first impressions of the rest of the season aren’t as clear to me as those first few episodes. In hindsight, I think this is one of the best episodes of Season 1, and one of the first that really started fleshing out these characters into the complex little tragic heroes they are today. It’s all just glimpses of the surface; little to indicate how much is really lying beneath. But it’s important, nonetheless, as an early indicator. 

Best Girl of the Episode: Mina Ashido!

Ranker: Favorite BNHA Fights (So Far)

10. Deku vs Kacchan 1

This is my favorite fight of S1. I love the strategy that Deku uses. 

9. Deku vs Muscular

So hard to watch. So much pain. The tears the joy. Everything.

8. Todoroki and Momo vs Aizawa

Momo needs more fights. But she and Todoroki make a great tag team.

7. Deku and Kacchan vs All Might

As do Wonder Duo. Fighting All Might is just cool. Character Development!

6. Deku vs Overhaul

Season 4 is going to be Lit.

5. Hero Killer Stain vs UA Students

Such a multilayered fight. Three great fighters  vs one unstoppable villain.

4. Uraraka vs Bakugou

Absolutely astounding. Full of surprises and emotional and cool.

3. Deku vs Todoroki

An absolute tearjerker and unbelievably brutal. Cannot watch without getting nervous.

2. Deku vs Kacchan Part 2

Partly the animation, which is so beautiful it should be in the Louvre. But also the fight itself. Of course. Strategy, emotion, Deku and Kacchan. 

Hon Mention: The Movie’s Class A and All Might vs Metal Villain, All Might vs Nomu, Todoroki vs Bakugou, all the Beta Sports Fest fights, Jiro and Koda vs Present mic, Tetsu and Kendo vs Mustard, Deku vs Gentle and La Brava, Endeavor vs high End.

1. All Might vs All for One

4 words. “Now it’s your turn.”

[gnomaad]

tododeku villain au?

these are rough notes of the main plot - obviously there will be subplot involving other characters and time for tododeku and feelings to develop but this is the main gist of my idea? honestly it’s messy and a little bit wack.

Villain TodoDeku Au!

main character trivia.

- quirkless midoriya izuku. inko (mother) ends up killed during a villain attack, due to all might’s recklessness.

- age 20

- ‘morihana’ meaning forest flower.

- given a quirk by all for one; can make any kind of flower with any kind of power - tends to prefer poison which he applies to dual knives he received from his mentor.

- works with the league of villains.

- another reason for choosing the villains - he is gay and in the hero world it is not accepted.

- trained by hero killer stain.

- green tie, white shirt, ripped jeans, dark green vest, black gloves - piercings, bracelets. occasionally red lipstick (depending on how he feels).

- todoroki is already a pro hero - only uses his ice as a hero in this au.

- age 20

- apart of his father’s agency, hasn’t reconciled with his mother, has a ‘dead’ look in his eyes that izuku finds rather attractive (izuku is a fanboy)

- apart of the team hunting the elusive ‘morihana’.

- simple life, avoids people, has no friends or people he truly trusts

- still abused by his father - hasn’t seen his family since he was a child

- his hero name in this au is ‘blindice’ - given to him by his father due to him being blind and ignorant in his father’s eyes.

background info.

- hitoshi shinsou is a villain in this au; his villain name is ‘scape’, inspired by dream scape. he infiltrated ua but actually works closely with izuku.

- legally, ‘izuku midoriya’ is deceased. during the villain attack, his body was not found, assumed to have been crushed and lost during this event. he was saved by the hero killer stain, and once deemed worthy, trained to become his successor.

- todoroki has villainous tendencies that come from his desire to destroy his father - a dark look to his expression, deemed not very hero-like.

storyline!

this takes place as a series of events throughout the bnha timeline (kinda??) ((ish??)) (((not really???))).

act one

+ izuku midoriya, age 15, returns home from middle school, his spirit damaged. his favourite hero, all might, refused to save him from a villain attack. once quirkless izuku managed to escape it’s grip, giving his supposed hero time to trap the sludge, he asked his hero if he could ever be a hero. all might says no. he did not show hero spirit and had no quirk. the boy returns home with tears in his eyes, dropping his bag and turning his attention to his mother who was cooking his favourite dinner, katsudon. “welcome home izuku!” with a smile was the last thing he saw of her, before a large piece of rubble broke through their ceiling, crushing inko midoriya in an instant. izuku screamed, his mind snapping. bullied, betrayed, he cannot stop screaming and shaking. anxiety takes over, causing the boy to crumple to the floor hyperventilating, unable to see. a warmth touches his skin.

+ the hero killer stain had fallen in with the rubble, using it as his disguise to get away from the number one hero. he had seen the boy crumple to the floor, looking down, seeing the severed hand of the boy’s mother, holding a ladle. he pitied the boy the boy, in realising that the heroes of current had taken the life of another innocent. stain picks the boy up, escaping with the passed out child. he decides that this boy will become his successor.

+ he trains izuku in using dual knives, the boy’s stunted growth would make it difficult to use a sword but he was perfect for fast, quick attacks. midoriya showed great dedication, becoming an intimidating force of rapid attacks. he decides to seek out the league of villains by the time izuku is 20. izuku takes a liking to tomura shigaraki  and vice versa.

+ stain incapacitates ingenium, and is later attacked by the younger iida. during this attack, izuku watches from the roof, only to see stain momentarily frozen in his place. his attention is drawn to the back up, shouto todoroki. the darkness in his mismatched eyes, his strong physical form, his deep voice, the whole mystery around him had izuku giggling from the rooftop. deciding to get involved, he throws one of his knives at him, testing his reflexes and getting more excited as he sliced the pretty scar on the side of his face. blindice is frozen by stain, who scolds izuku for interfering with his work.

+ midoriya approaches todoroki, running gloved hand down his chest. todoroki is paralysed by his deep, emerald eyes even without the other villain’s quirk. he can’t help but find the sway in this short villain’s walk tempting, the soft yet manic smile on his lips, the innocent looking freckles contrasting with the slight bags under his beautiful eyes - it only made them stand out more. he had never seen this villain before, frozen as the boy caressed his body. “blindice, funny that you’d find me here, without even intending to find me!” izuku giggled, todoroki’s mind clicking with realisation. morihana. the quirkless villain. he reached to freeze the boy only to find himself literally paralysed.

+ midoriya finds the soft expression in shouto’s eyes too tempting as he leans up to press a kiss to the corner of the hero’s lips. the chill that ran down the hero’s spine was too tempting to him - seeing the ice cold hero with a chill made him ecstatic. izuku steps away from the hero, skipping with a little wink. he made his way back behind the hero killer, barely dodging with his fast reflexes as ice catapults stain into the air. a yell of recipro burst, and stain’s unconscious body atop a glacier. the green haired boy’s eyes widen. his mentor had been beaten. he turned to run, only to be frozen on the spot. ingenium, the other pro hero were also unconscious, due to blood loss.

+ todoroki approached the green haired villain. he grabbed him by his collar, tugging him closer as his eyes narrowed. “i don’t do favours.” he muttered. conflict was clear in the taller male’s eyes. izuku tilted his head coyly, a pout tugging at his plush lips. was that lipstick? the ice hero glanced behind him, then above him before unfreezing the villain. “go.” he mumbled, gesturing to the back of the alley. midoriya blinked in surprise, furrowing his eyebrows. “why are you letting me go?” todoroki only glanced towards the hero killer, then back to the greenie. “i’m supposed to apprehend you but at this moment in time, the hero killer is a bigger priority. you’d just slip away the first moment you get, after all you did avoid us for so long. that and… i have a feeling i’ll be seeing you again soon.”

+ with that, he watches as the green themed villain disappeared from his sight. He could only sigh. time to take care of the hero killer.

+ izuku meets shigaraki again, deciding to join the league of villains now that he had nowhere to go and shigaraki is eager to accept him.

+ upon tomura’s request, all for one welcomes izuku by giving him a quirk - flower garden. he had chosen it due to izuku’s given villain name by the media, and izuku found it rather fitting. izuku can create any type of flower - medicine, fire, ice, poison, anything he felt like, from the palm of his hand or anywhere on his body. when trained, he can also create vines due to it being tampered with by all for one.

act two!

+ people tease todoroki for the lipstick on the corner of his mouth, asking about his new girlfriend. todoroki blushes so hard his left side lights up a little. he didn’t want to be laughed at.

+ todoroki and iida are praised for taking down the hero killer, endeavour boasting about his son being a true successor but could have done it faster if he had used his fire. iida has some doubts, actually having seen todoroki release the green villain. their interactions seemed… odd for a hero and a villain. it bothered him. todoroki makes the report, speaking to the press. he tells the press that they have made no progress on finding morihana - which iida knows is a lie.

+ todoroki takes a beating from his father, for going against his wishes. todoroki ends up wandering the streets, his throat blooming with purple from his father’s grip, his stomach sore and breathing ragged. at least he could say it was from his fight with the hero killer, imagine what the media would say if he told them the truth. he ends up in a bar, ordering a drink from a shady looking guy. quite literally.

+ he doesn’t look up when someone sits beside him, a soft voice speaking to him. “it’s a little rude to ignore your date, y’know?” the familiar voice has him snapping his head up from his hood to come face to face with the villain he had let go, nearly three days before. “date?” his voice croaks, startled and a little confused. midoriya nods, sipping from his own bright pink drink. was that glitter? the smaller closed his eyes, glittery purple eyeshadow on his eyelids. damn it, he’s so pretty. morihana licked his lips, leaning into the hero’s personal space. “you’re in the big leagues, little hero. and you didn’t notice you walked straight into the fox’s den? that’s okay. come with me.” for some reason, todoroki followed the villain out the back, only to be pushed into an isolated room. the door shut behind him, his own self being slammed against it. lips met his. they do things, midoriya covering his skin in lipstick, and love bites over every bruise inflicted by his father. he finds peace in the calming green of the villain. maybe villains weren’t so bad? what if it wasn’t so black and white?

+ todoroki wakes up the next morning in the bed of the villain he was supposed to be hunting but he found himself okay with it. glancing at the mop of green, the smaller leaning against the hero’s chest as he hugged onto his waist, his leg thrown over the icy man’s hips. cute. he had no idea how he ended up in this situation, only meeting the boy three days before. was this even normal? of course it fucking wasn’t, his first time having sex was with not only a villain, but someone he didn’t even know! he sat up, running a hand through his hair. the villain next to him stirred, he turned to meet emerald green eyes staring softly up at him - a soft smile tugging at his soft lips. fuck it. todoroki caged the smaller with his body, the soft giggles music to his ears as he had his way with the smaller, first thing in the morning.

+ once he returned back to his office, his mood was obviously different. it freaked the rest of the heroes out. he didn’t even flinch when bakugo yelled in his ear. he smirked at people’s jokes, adding his own dry, witty humour. he even winked as the girls at reception giggled flirtatiously. midoriya was definitely rubbing off on him.

+ he checked his emails, and then his phone, only to find a text from a new contact. ‘i took the liberty of adding myself to your phone, mister hero. come see me any time, you put all the others to shame ;)’ - midoriya. ah, so that was his name. he’s spent the night with him and didn’t even bother to learn his name. it was then that he realised he had slept with a villain on the wanted list. but he couldn’t bring himself to be mad - if his dad ever found out, it’d be a big fuck you to him.

+ todoroki only rolled his eyes when kaminari, sero and mina saw the purples and reds on his throat, trailing down to his collar bones. he only shrugged when they asked to see the rest, unzipping the top half of his hero jumpsuit. it was odd to interact with people - was midoriya really rubbing off on him after one night? he barely knew him yet couldn’t get him out of his mind. he didn’t even realise his back was covered in scratches, or the fact that his father’s bruises had blossomed into beautiful flowers against his skin thanks to midoriya. so that’s what he was doing. morihana definitely suited him.

+ he goes on patrol, fights some villains - part of the team being the one and only izuku midoriya. they only smile at each other, something that catches iida’s attention is todoroki’s smile. they engage in combat, dancing around each other. todoroki gets angry when midoriya requests him to use his fire, lashing out of their little dance with the intent of really hurting the villain, only to have the villain yell at him. “It’s your power! Not his!” and with that, todoroki lit the whole street ablaze with his dazzling fire. all the heroes and villains look at him in shock. it was almost as if he was reborn, emerging from the ashes as a phoenix. the way his fire danced, casting a warm hue over izuku’s pretty features had his heart skipping a beat. izuku’s smile was different from his usual, crazed, manic one. it was warm, and everyone saw it. todoroki guided his fire like a second nature towards the villain, the other dancing around it towards the hero. he slashed the hero across the chest, making sure to only graze him, as he did, blindice made sure the angle was hidden enough as he leaned into ghost a peck to the villain’s lips. they bounced away from each other the whole thing being recorded now, on live t.v. but iida had seen what no one else did. he’d noticed how they were familiar with each other’s movements. he’d seen the kiss. and all he felt was betrayal.

+ iida steps in and apprehends midoriya, to which izuku’s warm eyes turn to todoroki, fear covering his usual expression - it shatters todoroki’s heart but there was nothing he could do.. was there? he steps in to try to take custody, iida refusing as he tightens his grip on the villain, the smaller letting out a blood curdling cry.

+ izuku is imprisoned for questioning.

act three!

+ izuku is questioned, he refuses to answer. todoroki and iida have to watch as the small villain is tortured for answers on the league of villains. this has todoroki questioning everything. it wasn’t right to torture anyone it was.. villainous.

+ his identity is kept hidden from the rest of the world so far, until they had answers. izuku decides he’ll only talk if todoroki is the one talking to him. suspicious, they throw izuku into a cell with quirk proof glass.

+ he faces the icy hero with a smile, reaching a bloodied hand to press against the glass. todoroki notices his nails had been torn off, making the hero wince. he listens to izuku’s story, his expression dropping.

+ midoriya shakes his head, tears rolling down his cheeks as todoroki’s hand presses against the glass, opposite izuku’s. the door bursts open, iida pulling the icy hero away

+ iida scolds todoroki. “i don’t know what’s going on with you todoroki, but you need to focus on your job. you are a hero. you need to stop fraternizing with a villain. a murderer! it is your responsibility to ensure the safety of the innocent! protect victims!” this has todoroki’s expression darkening, nodding as he steps away.

+ todoroki has made his decision. he turns back around, his hand covered with ice as he moves, his hand encasing tenya iida’s face. all he can see is the horror on his expression as he freezes his partner’s body. “If they don’t thaw you out in time, there will be serious brain damage.” he uttered nonchalant. he had always been treated as a villain. an obstacle. a tool. his ice had been melted by a damaged soul who had no one to turn to. he was just like todoroki only he saved himself. he didn’t pity his existence but decided to fight for something when he was abandoned. they didn’t even bother to look for him. todoroki melted through the cell, using his ice to shatter the wall. he pulled midoriya from the cell, throwing him over his shoulder.

+ he could see the horror in his father’s expression as they confronted him. a dark smirk tugged at the usual blank expression on his own face. he stomped a foot down, freezing everything in his path.

+ he escapes with midoriya, taking him back to the bar he had stumbled upon previously. he meets an unexpected face. touya todoroki - or currently dabi. this was the right choice after all.

+ as midoriya is recovering, being taken care of by everyone at the LOV, todoroki tells him about his father and they decide to make it their mission to take down endeavour and all might, even if it kills them. real heroes needed to step up instead of a corrupt system.

+ romance stuff: todoroki and midoriya slow dance in the bar and it feels like a real family. they all drink together, izuku never leaving his side, giggling as touya told him stories of younger todoroki, before his father had taken ahold of him. they got to know each other better, and something started to blossom between them - though they knew that the day their eyes met for the first time. izuku admits to missing his mother and his father figure, stain, and wished they had both gotten proper funerals.

+ todoroki moves into midoriya’s apartment (despite them all having rooms at the bar, izuku still wanted his own space away from toga). izuku and him have dinner together, and they both learn that villain and hero is just a dumb label and they talk about the future. midoriya realises he’s fallen in love as the man tells him that he will go wherever midoriya does.

+ midoriya cries; he hadn’t been left behind again. his mother was murdered by a hero, his father figured murdered by the police’s torture, his childhood bestfriend turned him away and bullied him for the sake of popularity - izuku had been quirkless after all. todoroki admits to being alone all his life, but felt of a higher purpose, necessary now that he had izuku.

+ soft confessions!! bathing together due to izuku’s still healing injuries, soft kisses, hand holding, play fighting. gentle gentle gentle babies!! <3

+ training together, lots of flirting.

+ media in frenzy about how the great blindice had become a villain, everyone in fear. LOV makes an announcement, blindice was no more. making his debut as a villain on live tv (yknow what izuku’s like, dramatic and theatrical) they just had to hack into the network and broadcast something themselves! todoroki had decided to use his real name, ‘shouto’, as a big fuck you to his father.

+ in the broadcast, it was clear as day how much shouto had changed. dressed in a crimson button up, black vest hugging his chest, sat on what looked like a throat. a dark glint in his eyes as he smirked, another male in green draped over the back of the throne - wearing lipstick?!

+ after the broadcast, merch and other things to do with shouto and morihana started to be released. it appeared people liked the idea of a hero turning into a villain. the publicity brought others to join LOV.

FINAL ACT!

+ tododeku and big brother touya break rei todoroki from the hospital, forging documents for the woman to be taken into fuyumi’s custody. natuso and fuyumi are shocked to see the eldest and youngest todoroki siblings working together as villains yet their actions seemed.. heroic? their family tells them they will support them no matter what and were glad to see their oldest brother alive and well, and their youngest finally flourishing and having expression and seeming.. alive.

+ hitoshi shinsou meets up with them and joins the LOV. with his quirk, they hatch a plan to capture endeavour, record him as they use shinsou’s quirk to make him confess to all of his villainous acts and let the law deal with him.

+ fight! fight! fight!

+ iida confronts them and calls them traitors to all that is good. bakugo recognises izuku, yelling how he should be dead. they all end up fighting. kacchan is paralysed by one of izuku’s flowers - he questions on how he has a quirk. izuku gets pissed off, using his vines to lock around them all - using the thorns on them to poison all of the heroes.

+ todoroki is gay *omg das my boo look at him go the fuq what a pretty little flower ugh i love one broccoli look at his lipstick so yummy wow look at those ABS!* < todoroki’s head.

+ the endeavour plan happens, they win yippy doo, endeavour is arrested

+ izuku confronts all might, tells him about the days after school and then how when he arrived home, the hero was responsible for murdering his mother. all might has a breakdown and his true form is outed, he runs away.

+ “you said i couldn’t be a hero. you never said anything about me not being a villain.”

+ todoroki get’s protective when bakugo runs his mouth at midoriya.

+ LOV takes over the city

+ villains win in this au wahoo!

+ izuku and shouto have dinner with the rest of the todoroki

the end

or something?

[via-val]

Okay, so recently it has been brought to my attention that some people get confused with the characters and OC’s in pushing each other to the limits, since there are so many of them. I wasn’t aware of this being an issue, nevertheless I’m glad anon pointed it out, this way I can create a character log and keep y’all updated with the new arrivals and so on!

I’ll start listing under the cut. ^w^

First off,  Ryōmen Utsukushi-sa. She is the first OC to appear and does so halfway through chapter one. She has pastel pink eyes, white and pink hair that resembles that of a fairy, hollow bones and a pair of big feather-covered wings that, when fully developed, will grant her the ability to fly. She has a sweet tooth and publicly humiliated Midoriya because Katsuki shoved Nakisakebu, a friend of hers. Her name means two-sided beauty, referring to her backstabbing yet charming personality. She has yet to come back.

Nakisakebu makes a brief appearance as well, although she isn’t that important. She gets shoved by Bakugou at lunch and then plots a way to get back at him by humiliating Izuku. Her name means weep.

On that same chapter, Shinrai Dekinai makes an appearance. He looks pretty much like a human bumblebee, with clear wings, dark, wide eyes and a pair of antennas on top of his head. He is quite fluent in English and turned his back on Izuku upon learning that the latter was quirkless as he doesn’t appreciate people lying or hiding this from him. His name is supposed to mean something along the lines of “this can’t go well.” Foreshadowing? Maybe.

Chapter two greets us with the presence of Kiru Tsume, better known as Shitty Tygra Knockoff. He doesn’t really stand out, just a common boy with the appearance of a tiger and sliced pupils. His quirk makes him part Tiger and allows him several feline-like abilities. His name is just a word play on the word “kitsune” which means fox in Japanese.

Matsuoka Akiko makes her first appearance on that same chapter. She is a young woman with pale skin, grey eyes and long ebony black hair, often referred to as a yokai because of her scary appearance. She co-owns La Parroquia de Veracruz and is a happy woman with a bubbly personality. Her name means bright, in reference to her happy personality. Her quirk, Whim, allows her to know what people want/need and tell them apart. As a child she was bullied and holds grim memories of her teenage years and school, reason why she decided to drop out of uni, quit out of her job as a waitress and help her internet best friend start his business.

Mateo Flores is a mexican boy with pastel pink skin and slightly darker pink hair. His eyes are a deep violet and he has a pair of flashy fangs that can rarely be seen since he is shy and doesn’t tend to smile as much as Akiko. He is the original owner of La Parroquia de Veracruz and his quirk, Flavour, grants him the ability to make literally anything taste like glory. His name means decisive. He settled down in Japan just after graduating high school and opened a café, hiring his ibf Akiko as a waitress and also business partner.

Takane Hikari worked as a receptionist the first time she appeared in the story, back in chapter two. She currently works as an intern for a big Support Company and resides in Hosu. Her hair is cyan, short, curly and her eyes are an icy blue. Her quirk, Splatter, although quite useless makes up for a good party trick as she can eject paint from her body. Her name means light.

Kirishima Iwao is a buff, tall man with dark skin and even darker hair. His eyes are a light shade of blue and his quirk, Rock, gives him a thick skin. However, can unharden his skin and make himself soft for a couple of minutes. He works as a trainer in a local gym. Because I’m an uncreative little shit his name literally means rock.

Kirishima Mio is a petite woman with dark hair and sharp, shark-like teeth. She has scarlet red eyes and works as a detective in a nearby precinct. Her name can either be interpreted as beautiful or saint. 

Now let’s skip to chapter three. The first to make an appearance here is Bakugou Tsuki. She has white short hair and red eyes that match with a beautiful tanned skin. Her quirk, Ember, lets her set random things on fire and then manipulate the embers. She loves to tease her grandsons and is a single mother. Her name means to thrust.

Yasu Nagisa is Inko’s mother. She is a kind yet untrusting, strict woman with green hair, orange eyes and teal skin. Her quirk, Levitate, allows her to make things fly with a simple glance. Her name means shore.

Yasu Ryuu is Inko’s father. He has blonde curls, blue eyes, and prominent freckles. Unlike his wife, he is a happy-go-lucky kinda guy with a quirk deemed best suited for villany by most people. Appearing allows him to have any object appear on his hands by just knowing what it looks like and its location. His name means dragon.

Chapter four presents us a brand new set of OC’s. First off, there’s Hazuki Kisumi, a boy with dark hair, blue skin and navy blue eyes. He has gills on either side of his neck and fins on both his calves and forearms. His name means mist, like the vague mist that can be seen on the shores at sunrise. His quirk, Introduction, allows him to know how a person would like to be approached. He is quite shy and has a slippery tongue.

Then we have Yamazaki Hiroko, a woman that looks like a triceratops all the way from head to toe. She has broad shoulders and three horns atop her head. Her skin is dark and covered in golden scales, along with her muscled tail. She has dark cocoa hair and partially heterochromatic eyes that go from amber yellow to emerald green, although her prettiest feature are her pair of glassy red lips. She has a flirty personality and likes to joke around. Her name means tolerant and her quirk, Mixing, allows her to mix about anything and everything and make it right. Is she a bartender? Mad scientist? Only time will tell.

Shiozaki Fuji is a short woman with vines for hair and a characteristic stoic face expression. She works as a receptionist in NIK and her quirk grows flowers from her hair. Her name means mountain and she is related to Shiozaki Ibara, student from class 1-B.

Daichi Yuu is an old man with a quirk that allows him to literally blend in with his surroundings. He is the principal at NIK, a responsible adult with a successful career in quirk analysis and quite a lively character. His name means intellect. 

From there we skip all the way over to chapter six, where Ai Chiasa makes her first appearance. She is Shouto’s personal chauffeur and her quirk, Teletransporting, is self-explanatory. She has purple skin and peach coloured hair that match with a calm personality. She enjoys pop culture way too much and loves the Todoroki like if they were her own children. Her name means a thousand mornings.

From the recommended exam we have Fudo Daiki, local pervert and wielder of Nightcrawling, a quirk that allows him to use dark areas to teletransport from one place to another. He has neon bright hair and a sly smile and his name means brightness, a contrast to how his quirk works. We also have Shinju Nyoko whose name means gem treasure. She is a bubbly girl with dark skin and an afro. Her quirk, Space, allows her to bend constellations, stars and such at will.

Last but not least, chapter seven brings what I believe to be the last OC’s from this batch. For starters we have Nakamura Harumi, whose name means springtime beauty. She has medium-short, long cocoa hair that match with a pair of brown eyes and grey skin. She is smart yet shy, has a weird liking for the sun and is very trusting of others. Her quirk, Host, makes her the best at organizing events and such.

Then we get introduced to Interi Hiro, a boy with white hair and pastel purple eyes. He is related to Interi Saiko, a girl from the anime-only filler Provisional License Exam episode in season three. He is a carefree guy, although he can be a little bit bitchy when out of soda since that means he can’t use his quirk, I. Q., properly. His name means abundant.

Ryoko Seina is a girl with dark skin, orange hair and bright red eyes. She is a nice person, although prone to get anxious easily. Her quirk, Moonlight, makes her extra productive at night time and she can also expand her limbs thanks to her father’s genes. Her name means innocent and she is a sweet person.

Natalya Ivanova is an elder Russian lady and the homeroom teacher for Class 101 in NIK. She is a strict teacher and likes to make fun of her students, all in good-hearted nature.

Ito Miya is the second highest ranked student in NIK. She has purple skin, pastel pink hair that’s shaved in one side and curly on the other, a scar along her right cheek, freckles and a pair of brown eyes that get hidden underneath black frames that she doesn’t really need. She has three piercings on her left ear to match Kaoru’s and a pair of demonic purple wings that flutter each time she gets excited. Her quirk, Spotlight, allows her switch the attention from herself at will. Her name means wings.

Finally, we have Watanabe Kaoru. He has tanned skin and ash brown hair along with a cute lil’ mole on the upper right part of his lips. His eyes are a vibrant green deep enough to rival Izuku’s and he has a set of three piercings on his right ear. He needs glasses and so he wears a pair of thick-rimmed frames at all times, his name means fragrance. His quirk, Handsome, allows him to morph into what people find physically appealing as long as he meets the requirements (i. e. he can’t grow boobs to appeal people who are into that). He also has a driver’s license and is a long-time friend of Miya. 

And I think that’s it! Here you can find a couple of visuals I created, just in case things are a bit unclear. You can also message me and I’ll answer your doubts to the best of my ability! <3

[the-writing-on-the-statue]

...That’s not what I expected from the Villain Speech, and it raises so many questions.

And partly I want to go - so why is that an excuse to try and murder kids? You’re just excusing yourself from the severity of your crime, really - I mean, All Might is doing his best to knock the villains into next week (and for the mooks he already did that), but at least he didn’t try to murder kids.

But then I stepped back, and thought about it. I really thought about it, especially in the context of this story’s world.

All Might is the ‘Symbol of Peace’.

The man who can change the weather by punching hard enough. He’s pretty much the walking equivalent of a nuclear bomb, and is one of the most devastating superheroes in Japan, if not the world.

And this man is considered the Symbol of Peace.

God, what does that say about this world? Violence is glorified, violence is praised - when it is used within the confines of heroism.

Look at the entrance exam, and Bakugou’s score - hell, just look at Bakugou, really. That boy scored the highest on the exam, out of participants presumably from all across Japan, all simply because he could destroy the highest number of robo-villains. Not a single goddamn rescue point, not a single inkling he gave a shit about anything other than blowing stuff up, and yet he still shot right to the top of that damned exam.

(And another part of that is how the idea you can get ‘rescue points’ isn’t even mentioned by the exam people! We the watchers don’t even know it’s possible until the end of the show to get rescue points. It’s never even mentioned. 

Because it’s not considered as important as destroying ‘villains’ is, in that exam.)

And throughout his life, Bakugou has been lauded and praised for his Quirk, even those his massive anger issues and willingness to bully others to the point of abuse cannot have gone completely unnoticed. 

The first time we are introduced to Bakugou Katsuki is when Izuku is defending a boy who was injured because of Bakugou’s Quirk. Bakugou was young, then, not more than six probably, and already he showed how very little he cared about what should be the first rule of heroism: protect the weak. Instead, he used his Quirk, abusing it shamelessly - as he would continue to do until well into the show starts - to hurt other people.

Was he ever chastised? Was he told that he needs to work on his powers, and use them for good? Was he ever told that that’s not how a hero should act? Was he ever told to use his anger for good and that he could use it to help other people? 

Was he ever told no, explicitly?

No. He was lauded and praised and told what an excellent hero he’d be instead, from childhood, even. When he spoke of going to the best school for heroics in Japan, not a single person thought he probably wouldn’t be able to get in. Not a single person stopped and said that maybe a kid who willfully abuses those considered weaker than him, maybe this kid who throws his Quirk around to make himself feel stronger - maybe this kid needs to learn some discipline and compassion for others before we started letting him train to become a Hero.

(Hell, not even at UA did anyone stop and say okay, Bakugou just tried to fucking murder Midoriya during the training simulation, and good god his anger issues are astounding, we need to get him some goddamn therapy asap. And I’m not holding up hope that anyone will, tbh!)

And now, I’m not saying that All Might is Bakugou, or drawing a parallel between them in any other way. (I have a really hard time imagining All Might, even as a probably angry Quirkless kid, doing 1/2 of the abusive things to someone else that Bakugou does to Izuku.) And All Might has done good, and I’m not claiming that he doesn’t. One of our very first looks at him comes from when he saves people during a disaster.

But Bakugou (and his Quirk) is violent. And All Might’s power is violent. Very much so.

They both have power meant for stopping villains dead (or making them very dead). There’s no room for subduing them peacefully, there’s no room for their powers to get someone to stop without a fight. There is no room for even the idea of not fighting.

And yet, they are praised. 

Bakugou is told what an excellent Hero he’d be. He’s told he’ll be the best.

All Might is lauded across the country as the compass to which all other heroes should aspire to, to which all children should want to become. He is called the Symbol of Peace, and it is shown how many criminals have been stopped/halted by either him or his rise to fame.

But, and I wonder about this: what about an ordinary criminal? What about people who steal some change from the corner store, or a person who shoplifts some food, or any of the minor criminals who very likely have to exist - because the Shigarakis and Noumus and Kurogiris of the world are far and in between. Because the villains with the ‘flashy’ and ‘big’ Quirks would likely be far and in between themselves. Because a lot of criminals aren’t just big rolling robots, big hunks of metal who cannot feel who do not have loved ones, whose only desire is to destroy-

What happens if one of them runs into a hero? Say the hero can’t temper their blow enough not to kill them. Say the hero is lauded for doing so, or they’re popular enough that they can’t have a ‘bad mark’ on their record, so it’s covered up, because obviously this man stealing some candy bars was a ‘threat to the public’ or something. (There are a thousand and one circumstances that could happen, and I’m not smart enough/well-read enough to think of them all. but you get my point!)

And maybe it’s not All Might, but there are other heroes, aren’t there? Other veteran heroes, likely with Quirks that utilize destructive forces in their own right - just look at the Fiery Santa Claus (Endeavor, was it? The guy with the horrendous fire-mustache). That’s a fucking deadly ass Quirk. That’s a Quirk that could very, very easily kill people. How’s a guy like that going to stop a pickpocket, or whatever, peacefully?

Then those criminals - well, they might have families, right? Those families or those friends (probably just as poor as the criminals) see the Heroes being lauded for the death of that criminal, contrasted with images they’ve seen all their lives, of plenty of Heroes not caring enough about doing good in places that aren’t profitable for them/don’t show them to the media.

And then more villains arise, out of hate or rage or grief or a simple need for money - because you can’t tell me there aren’t plenty of people who become villains for the money, especially when the option to become a Hero is presumably right there.

(But that’s a whole other rant, on economic inequality and the stagnation of lower classes for the benefit of the upper class and this post is already long enough as is.)

Shigaraki’s right, no matter what reasons he may have for saying it.

All Might isn’t a Symbol of Peace - the man is a nuclear deterrent. He’s not Nelson Mandela, because I’m pretty sure Nelson Mandela didn’t have a fucking warhead he could churn out whenever he needed to dispense justice.

(I’m not saying that the oppressed violently uprising against their oppressors is a bad thing, that’s not my point at all. I’m not of the mind that believes that punching a Nazi is a bad - unless you don’t use proper technique and protect your hands, in which case don’t do that until you have training - you know.)

What I am saying is that All Might lives in a world that glorifies violence. He influences that, even as he acts against criminals.

Here is the hero to which everyone must aspire to!

But he, like all other Heroes, goes after the symptoms - not the source.

(and people die and people suffer while the world goes on, and they look up and whisper why. Why did my father/son/daughter/wife/friend. Why do my children go hungry. There’s anger in those questions, anger that drives people to do stupid things, to strike out at a world that has no use for them.

and then they die, and others rise up, wanting to hurt as they’ve been hurt.

and it doesn’t end.

It doesn’t end until someone stands up and says no. Says, this isn’t working, says, we need to do better.

Even if for the wrong reasons.)

(I wonder why so many people followed Shigaraki, really.)

[spicynbachili1]

Review: My Hero One’s Justice

My Inexperienced Naruto: Final Hero Storm

Have you learnt My Hero Academia? How about Boku no Hero Academia? Should you’re conscious of the blockbuster manga and anime collection, that goes by both a type of names, then My Hero One’s Justice may simply be the combating sport for you.

Should you’re by some probability not conscious of it… properly, it’d nonetheless be the combating sport for you, although at that time you may should ask your self how a lot you just like the Naruto Final Ninja Storm collection.

My Hero One’s Justice (PS4 [Reviewed], Xbox One, Nintendo Change, PC) Developer: Byking Writer: Bandai Namco Video games Launched: October 26, 2018 MSRP: $59.99

[Observe: This overview might comprise spoilers for the My Hero Academia anime.]

On the off probability that somebody is confused concerning the reasonably awkward title, this sport is certainly the English launch of My Hero Academia: One’s Justice. Regardless of the shenanigans  that precipitated this awkward re-branding could also be, they haven’t affected the sport beneath in any method I can detect. Followers can relaxation assured that they gained’t must report this sport to the @bootleg_stuff Twitter account. Then once more, it’s onerous to make that mistake when you really see the content material. The sport’s so marinated in My Hero Academia that it virtually assumes gamers have, at minimal, seen a big chunk of the anime collection.

For the completely uninitiated, although, the setup is fairly easy both method. Within the close to future, human society has gone superhuman, as most individuals are actually born with a superpowered means, or “Quirk”. The change has led to the rise of a brand new kind of celeb civil servant: the crime-fighting Professional Hero. Chief amongst them is All May, the ultra-strong “Image of Peace” and mentor to collection protagonist Izuku “Deku” Midoriya, a hero-obsessed fanboy born “Quirkless”. Deku is chosen by All May to inherit his energy (a mighty Quirk referred to as “One For All”), and enrolls into U.A. Academy, the premier instructional institute for aspiring professional heroes. There he meets his classmates, and makes some enemies, notably the League of Villains, an delinquent group led by a murderous jerk named Tomura Shiragaki, and “All For One”, a strong supervillain and All May’s arch-nemesis.

All of the above is just about coated within the opening crawl, after which the marketing campaign mode leaps straight into the center of the second anime season, overlaying occasions as much as concerning the center of the third season, with principally no deviation past barely remixing circumstances to permit for extra brawling. In any other case, it is a straight retread of what is gone earlier than, that includes many of the principal Hero Academia forged. To pad issues out a bit, the identical occasions might be performed from the Villains’ perspective, placing gamers answerable for characters comparable to Tomura, Dabi, Himiko Toga, and even All For One himself. Future characters, like Shoto Todoroki’s dad, Endeavor, and an alternate model of Deku utilizing his “Shoot Type” combating strategies, have been introduced as DLC downloads.

Marketing campaign phases might be replayed to satisfy problem targets and unlock new customization choices for multiplayer. A extra distinct “Mission Mode” imposes stricter circumstances, a primary Coaching mode supplies an area to observe, whereas an Arcade mode rounds out the single-player choices with a fast six-match run in opposition to AI opponents. Multiplayer-wise, primary on-line matchmaking, foyer, and native versus choices are offered, however event modes or the form of community-boosting measures that extra severe fighter followers may want are absent.

There’s lots to get foolish with for My Hero Academia followers, although, because the in-game foreign money store can unlock all method of customization choices, together with alternate voice strains for intros, alternate win screens, participant profile flairs, and alternate colours and equipment for the in-game fashions. It is nowhere close to as strong because the character creators for the likes of Tekken 7 and Soul Calibur, however for those who ever needed to battle because the bird-headed Tokoyami whereas carrying an enormous masks of his personal head on prime of his precise head, that is undoubtedly the place to be.

It is also the place to be for those who’ve been jonesing for an additional combating sport within the mould of the Naruto-based Final Ninja Storm video games. For all intents and functions, the core mechanics of My Hero One’s Justice so carefully mimic Cyberconnect2’s landmark anime fighter that I would consider you for those who instructed me this was some type of My Hero Academia-themed whole conversion of the latest PC version of Final Ninja Storm four. And that is not a nasty factor in any respect, since these video games are amongst my favourite fighters of all time.

Just like the Final Ninja Storm titles, One’s Justice is an input-light fighter with Three-D motion set in a big area. Characters can transfer round freely, in addition to use numerous auto-aimed ranged and melee assaults to shut the space and arrange air juggles. Regular assaults and “Quirk Specials” are simply accessed on the face buttons, and inputs hardly ever get extra difficult than merely pushing the stick in a route and hitting a key. 

Filling an excellent meter lets a participant toss out a “Plus Extremely” assault, which usually is available in two varieties that take up a number of “fees” of the tremendous bar. For youthful gamers and people who need a better time, an “auto” mode will robotically string collectively primary combos, permitting gamers to only hammer the assault button repeatedly. Tellingly, this the default “Regular” setting, with a barely trickier “Guide” mode letting extra superior contenders make the most of cancels and different enjoyable stuff.

Although the inputs are principally uniform throughout the roster, each character behaves pretty otherwise based mostly on their Quirks and different traits. Deku and All May are pretty simple energy fighters, however Bakugou works finest when he can nook his opponent and feed them a gradual weight loss plan of explosive demise. Tokoyami, who can name out a shadow-like buddy to battle with, can assault from two instructions without delay, whereas Todoroki, along with his dual-mode ice and hearth powers, works fairly otherwise within the air from how he does on the bottom.

That stated, even combating pretty brain-dead AI opponents in story mode shortly surfaced a number of the annoyances of fight. The reliance on homing assaults and air juggling makes the combating really feel a bit floaty and unresponsive, and just about everybody has too few methods to interrupt out of a combo as soon as they get caught in a single. Bar a “counter” assault that has an uninterruptible animation, many fights simply boiled right down to who may stun-lock their opponent lengthy sufficient to land an excellent.

In the end, the combating in My Hero One’s Justice feels prefer it lacks the fine-tuning and extra elegant qualities of the Final Ninja Storm video games it cribs from. Additional, some facets simply do not look proper within the context of the supply fiction. Byking’s legacy, making high-flying video games like Gunslinger Stratos and Rise of Incarnates, reveals itself in simply how a lot of the sport might be performed within the air. Jumps and dashes commonly take characters floating excessive into the sky, even when only a few within the roster even have the flexibility to hover. In a number of the phases that characteristic a ring-out mechanic, it was hilarious to see two characters simply dashing and double-, triple-, quadruple- and quintuple-jumping to combo one another off of the protected floor. It was like the sport was inadvertently channeling Smash Brothers at instances, and sadly not in a great way.

That being stated, it does get the spectacle proper elsewhere. The sport appears beautiful, and in contrast to many combating video games, takes the aesthetic enchantment of a super-fight simply leveling the zone critically. Although solely beauty, there is a stage of consideration given to environmental destruction within the sport that I discover completely joyful. Over the course of a spherical gamers will flip locations like clear metropolis streets, immaculate school rooms, peaceable houses, and the frontage of U.A. Academy itself right into a charred, smoking wreck. The sheer quantity of particles flying round and oddly weightless ins and outs being knocked about by the shockwaves, explosions, and super-powered hammer-throws is sufficient to make my base mannequin PS4 flip its cooling followers on full blast (it seemed like I used to be enjoying subsequent to a vacuum cleaner). Bar a couple of noticeable drops when a whole lot of hearth or particle results on display screen, the sport moved at a excessive, pretty constant, framerate.

How a lot you get out of My Hero One’s Justice will doubtless rely on how a lot you take pleasure in both My Hero Academia or how a lot you want a extremely accessible, style-over-substance fighter. On condition that we reside in a time with a seemingly unprecedented variety of completely improbable anime fighters, that is perhaps an enormous ask for some. In the long run, the sport’s greatest sin could also be not embodying U.A.’s “Plus Extremely” spirit, and easily settling for being an honest, handsome combating sport tackle a well-liked anime franchise.

[This overview is predicated on a retail construct of the sport offered by the writer.]

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      My Hero Academia: One’s Justice reviewed by Josh Tolentino

6.5

ALL RIGHT

Barely above common or just inoffensive. Followers of the style ought to take pleasure in it a bit, however a good few will likely be left unfulfilled. How we rating:  The destructoid opinions information

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