#this is ESPECIALLY so for the osdd fic i am thinking about. because much like abed he views life through a lens of tv/movies | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

nyalapeno · 5 years ago

Text

Fic: Unbalanced Heart, ch.1

It’s already on my Ao3, but reposting it here to celebrate February 29.

Warnings: mentions of child abuse, vomiting and serious injury. Also, one of the main characters has DID/OSDD; it’s an artistic interpretation and I mean no offence.

Let’s go! *:･ﾟ✧(=✪ ᆺ ✪=)*:･ﾟ✧

Chapter 1 : I’m a fighter, now let me prove it

Hitoshi trudged forward on autopilot, not registering anything around him. The voices of other candidates turned into a dull buzz and the world seemed distant, separated from him by a barrier which blocked out everything but the thoughts in his head.

It was his own fault. He'd let the ease with which he'd solved the written test go to his head. Academics were his strength; he was capable of doing very well even with minimal preparation and this time he'd prepared thoroughly, studied ahead and solved a ton of mock exams, knowing that U.A. would have a more challenging written test than anything he'd ever taken. And he was right; a lot of the questions were advanced and the sheer number was enough to overwhelm even those who knew the answers. It didn't matter; Hitoshi had practiced speed-solving too and after putting the pen down he could tell his score would be above 90%, which according to the data from previous years would be enough to net him a place in U.A.'s General Education course. And then he'd stupidly let this fill him with confidence and optimism, started thinking that maybe he'd do well on the practical too and be able to get into Heroics straight away instead of being promoted from the GenEd track as he’d planned. Idiocy. It was like he'd forgotten who he was, what quirk he had, and allowed himself to float away on a cloud made of hopes and dreams like a naive, idealistic fool. Then he paid for it when the proctor explained the practical exam, reality hit and he fell down and crashed on the ground. The naive hope left him, replaced by an all-consuming numbness. He should’ve known better. Of course the teachers wanted to see students with powerful, damage-dealing, stereotypically heroic quirks in the Hero course. Of course they’d prepare the practical exam in such a way that it allowed only those students who fit this profile to shine. Of course.

Robots. It could be argued that robots had a type of “brain”, namely AI and programming, and some robots were capable of speech, but while he never got to try using Brainwashing on one to see if it’d take, he was pretty sure it wouldn't. Besides the ones in the exam were of a different type. These were designed to attack people, not talk to them.

In short, he was screwed. Not that it was unusual. Everyone who had a quirk that wasn’t typically associated with hero work was screwed to an extent. Most of the time the world of heroics refused to give them a chance, and Hitoshi got a double dose because not only was his quirk atypical, it also had an unfortunate enough nature that people automatically discriminated against him and assumed he was going to become a villain with no evidence. He hated it – the discrimination, the assumptions, the comparative ease with which people blessed with more heroic quirks could reach their goals. Goals such as getting enough points in the practical exam to be accepted anywhere other than the GenEd track. Feeling defeated, he couldn’t think of anything that could let him fight a robot. If the exam was set up in a way which allowed only students with a certain type of quirk to do well then that was that.

If only a good strategy for someone with his quirk would just fall down from the sky… Again, naive hope and wishful thinking. Still, it’d be nice.

For now he walked on, staring blankly ahead. The throng of students was moving briskly, people heading to their designated areas. Hitoshi wondered if there’ll be enough space to fit everyone. Probably. U.A. was a school with a reputation, after all. He also wondered how many students were blessed with quirks perfectly suited for this kind of exam. How many of them were now cockily thinking that they had the exam in the bag and busy coming up with ways to best show off their quirk, instead of wondering why they were even trying.

Up ahead someone yelped, then more someones yelped in unison, then there was a noise like a herd of stampeding elephants. It rapidly drew closer, chasing away the gloomy fog that had settled over Hitoshi and he blinked, coming back to himself and turning his head just in time to see a… unique-looking guy skid to a halt next to him.

The guy fell into step beside Hitoshi as though he did it everyday. “Whew, what a crowd. Hey there! You looking forward to the exam? I’m just glad I’m taking it at all,” he barreled onward, sparing Hitoshi the effort of coming up with a tactful reply. “I was supposed to be taking this other one but then I was like no, if I’m gonna get into U.A. then I’ma do it myself, not some sorta privilege thing ‘cause what the hell? I’m not Bastard, I don’t need privileges. And get this--” Hitoshi ducked to avoid a flailing hand as the other boy gestured wildly. “I somehow got the whole plot past Bastard! Didn’t notice or whatever, still don’t know how. Must be karma. And now I’m already here so he can suck it. And this is something he can spin in his favor if he bothers to think so he prolly won’t do anymore shit than he usually does. And then I’m off to school and he’ll have less time to do shit to me so all the better!” The guy gave Hitoshi a thumbs-up. Oddly enough, his face remained mostly blank the whole time but he was smiling with his eyes. “Ah, but here I am going on... I’m not used to talking to people my age, not like that anyway, the last time I did was uhhhh, actually I think never? Eh, whatever. So what’s your name?” The question was so unexpected after the rapid-fire monologue that it actually took Hitoshi a few seconds to remember what the answer was.

“Shinsou Hitoshi,” he said, internally debating the pros and cons of using Brainwashing on the guy to stop the verbal equivalent of a machine gun.

“Hi Hitoshi!” the guy casually first-named him, causing Hitoshi to choke on air. “And I’m uhhh, you can call me Shouto. Because that’s my name, I mean not only mine, it’s his name too, but there’s prolly a bunch of people named Shouto so it wouldn’t be weird for us both to be called that even if it wasn’t us.” Hitoshi blinked, having understood literally nothing from the last sentence. And the guy – Shouto – maintained a poker face so he couldn’t even tell if he was messing with him. “So. Robots! Whatcha gonna do? You got a plan?”

“Are you seriously asking me that?” Hitoshi couldn’t believe it. What sort of person asked a fellow competitor to reveal their strategy? Not that Hitoshi had one, but it was the principle of the thing.

Shouto tilted his head like a cat. “How do you ask something unseriously? I’m just curious. Not like I can use what you tell me, we’re two different people.” Which... actually made sense. Strategies were usually tailored to a person’s quirk and therefore individual. Figuring out another person’s strategy could only really be used to sabotage them, but that would be counterproductive in this exam – someone who tried messing with another person may not have enough time left to gain points, and then they both would fail. Not that Hitoshi suspected the guy of attempting sabotage; he seemed too straightforward for that.

“So. Your plan?” Shouto asked once again. Straightforward and persistent.

“Don’t have one,” Hitoshi admitted, seeing no harm in it. Not replying could actually be more harmful, as the guy seemed to be the type to pester him endlessly if his question went ignored.

“Ohh. So you’re gonna wing it? Instinct and spontaneity and all that. Is that it? ‘Cause you don’t look like the wing-it type to me, with those eye bags you look more like the type to plot and plan for ages.” Hitoshi stared at Shouto, wondering if he realized how tactless he was being. It didn’t seem like he did. He could recall him saying something about never having talked to people his own age, something believable going by his behavior, but strange and disturbing. Hitoshi could also recall vague insinuations of the guy being mistreated in some way, which was even more disturbing especially when paired with the scar on his face, but he wasn’t going to touch that with a ten-meter pole. It was entirely possible that he misunderstood due to pre-exam nerves, or that Shouto was prattling nonsense for the same reason, or maybe he was just making assumptions because of his own unfortunate past experiences.

Besides the guy was his age. If there really was something wrong with his family situation surely someone would’ve noticed by now? Especially since Shouto was so open about it.

“I don’t have a plan, but I’m not going to wing it either,” he said, trying to put the whole thing out of his mind. His companion stared at him, allowing Hitoshi to see that his eyes were two different colors. Much like his hair.

“Seriously? What’re you gonna do then? What else is there?”

“Nothing,” he said. “I mean, not much I can do. My quirk is… not suited for this type of thing.” True, to the point, and something Shouto would realize by himself if he stuck around during the exam.

“What d’ya mean, not suited? What’s your quirk anyway?” Of course he’d ask. Hitoshi sighed and shifted uncomfortably. Revealing his quirk to people who didn’t already know about it tended to end badly. Not to mention the exam was about to start and Shouto was possible competition. But he made his bed and now he had to lie in it. The guy was too persistent to let him escape. Already he was waving his hand in front of Hitoshi’s face, his eyes full of a guileless kind of curiosity with sparks of concern mixed in.

“You okay?” Hitoshi met the earnest stare. All the bad precedents and insecurities floating around his brain warred with the desire to respond to that earnestness, take a chance. Today seemed to be the day of foolish hopes. Then again this could be their first and last meeting ever, so maybe he could tell him with minimal damage? Or maybe Shouto would surprise him and take it well? No, an absurd idea, this revelation never ended well. There were rare cases of people accepting his quirk, but most would grow scared, or suspicious, or…

But this weirdo wasn’t most people, was he?

Oh, to hell with it.

“It’s called Brainwashing,” he said quietly, not wanting anyone else to overhear. “It lets me control people who talk to me.” Muscles tensing, he kept a careful eye on Shouto, looking for microexpressions which heralded a negative reaction. He might have an impressive and persisting poker face, but his eyes betrayed him.

“Oh. Cool! I knew you were a brainy type.” Hitoshi stared. That sounded almost… approving. Or rather, Shouto had all but shrugged and moved on, as if a quirk was a quirk to him. He felt the corners of his lips curl up, unbidden. Maybe some hopes were not so foolish after all. “Hmmm, so it only works on people huh? Can’t take down robots with it. But, wait… Who says you gotta take down robots, you just gotta get points. What if you like, tail someone and wait until they almost down a robot then use your quirk to freeze them? Then you finish the job and hey presto: clean, efficient and creative!” He gave Hitoshi a thumbs-up, mismatched eyes sparkling happily, apparently happy with himself.

For his part, Hitoshi could only stare in astonishment. It had not occurred to him to use his quirk in such a manner. From the moment he first heard about the robots he’d assumed that it was over, that his quirk was useless for taking down robots, that there was no way he could succeed. And it was partly true – his quirk couldn’t take down a robot. But that didn’t mean there was no way to use it in the exam. You just had to stay focused, to not give up, to think outside the box and come up with a way to use your quirk which will allow you to get enough points to pass. As demonstrated by Shouto, who’d known about his quirk for all of thirty seconds and not only accepted it, but was able to form a workable strategy.

Wait. Hadn’t he wished that a strategy would just drop down from the sky?

...Impossible.

“Hmm, but just punching these things with your bare hands? Not safe at all. I’m sure they have a weak spot or two ‘cause it’s an exam but still, defensive wounds-- wait. On the drawings the robots had limbs, right? So you can detach a leg or arm or some other part from a dead robot and use it as a blunt weapon. Efficient use of resources! And I doubt the robots are resistant to whatever material they’re made of so even if you whack one at random it’ll prolly cause more damage than a fist,” Shouto elaborated on his idea, then tilted his head again. “So. You interested?”

“What?” Hitoshi said blankly, still processing. Shouto huffed.

“The strategy. You wanna use it or not?” Hitoshi shook his head to clear it. Today he’d had more surprises and revelations that he normally did in a week, and he was only halfway through the exam. It’d left him off-balance, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. If anything it-- no, no. He’d learned his lesson about feeling hopeful after the written exam.

“It’s interesting,” he said. “But, is this even allowed? Present Mic said no attacking other competitors...”

“Actually, using your quirk on someone if the quirk isn’t a damage-dealing kind doesn’t count as attacking that person. Says so in hero laws, it’s just unauthorized quirk usage, and in the exam every usage is authorized. Two people fighting the same robot doesn’t count either as long as they don’t hit each other. So it's all fine! And you’ll be approaching the challenge creatively, if anything you should get extra credit for that.” Shouto, for his part, should get extra credit for enthusiasm. Even though he was only coming up with a strategy for a person he’d met like a minute ago he was really fired up about it, for all that it didn’t show on his face. The left side of his head was smoking a bit, leaving Hitoshi to wonder what his quirk was.

Shouto's idea... it exploited a loophole in the rules, and discovering said loophole required outside-the-box thinking and knowledge of hero laws. Perhaps Hitoshi had been wrong about the exam being designed to eliminate students with non-damaging quirks. Perhaps this was a test within a test, U.A.'s way of checking who had enough brains and determination to persevere. After all, the world of heroics put people like Hitoshi at a disadvantage, and it wouldn't do to pass someone who couldn't deal with it. Maybe this was a taste of what being in the Hero course, among students with powerful quirks, would be like.

Maybe he was overthinking this. When something seemed too good to be true it usually was. It was equally likely that Shouto's interpretation, however logical, wouldn't be accepted by the examiners because it went against some kind of unspoken moral code governing the exam, breaking which would see you receive negative points for lack of moral fiber. Or something.

Maybe he was overthinking again. But until the exam was over he wouldn't know the truth. It was probably somewhere between the two extremes, but Hitoshi preferred to err on the negative side. It wouldn't do to get too comfortable like he had after the written exam. On the other hand, it wouldn't do to just ignore Shouto's plan on the off chance that it might get him in trouble and do nothing at all during the exam. Doing nothing was literally the only thing which resulted in a 0% chance of passing, while doing something, anything, meant he'd still have a chance, no matter how small. The choice was obvious, yet he couldn't help but hesitate...

"Hitoshi?" A hand waving in front of his eyes caused him to return to the present. "You okay? Are you plotting?"

Plotting? No, Shouto had already done all the plotting for him. He was just... waffling, really. Despite his doubts, he knew that taking action was better than not doing anything. To regret failing the exam due to making a bad choice, and to regret failing the exam because you've given up and done nothing... Both options were unpleasant, but the first one would at least allow you to look people in the eye and say ‘I tried my best’. The second was just... pitiful. The kind of thing which years later would cause you to wallow in regrets and what-ifs. Hitoshi wanted nothing to do with it. Plus, it would be rude to just ignore Shouto's efforts.

"I'm fine," he said just before the silence crossed the magical line between long and awkward. "I'm just... being paranoid, I guess," he tried to make light of his doubts in order to get rid of them. They wouldn't help him any. “I was worried that they might dock points for lack of moral fiber.” Shouto stared, looking thrown, and then his mouth twitched.

“Pfft--” he covered his mouth, then glanced at Hitoshi and lost it. “Ahahaha!” Shaking with laughter, he leaned forward, staggering a bit, poker face completely gone. Hitoshi watched him and felt his own lips curl up involuntarily. Shouto looked ridiculous, face turning as red as his hair. Well, half of his hair. Eventually his laughter died down and he straightened himself up, wiping at his eyes.

“Points for moral fiber,” he snorted again. “Yanno, this really sound like something U.A. might be shelling out. But docking? Don’t think so. How would they even justify it? Or quantify it? And there's no way they dock points for immorality or Bastard would've never been admitted in his time. But there you go, U.A. alumni and a licensed hero. Bleh! Worse than a villain, so I know they don't screen for it or someone would've caught on and put him in jail. Oh well, that's life," Shouto shrugged, but the angry glint in his eyes belied the attempt at nonchalance. "Not that you need to worry about that, you're not villainy in the least. I mean you're actually worrying about this stuff! Someone like Bastard wouldn't give two shits. You can't help that you gotta use loopholes 'cause you're disadvantaged. Your aim is to pass the exam in the cleanest way you can, not stomp all over people's faces. Nothing to feel guilty about."

"...You're right," Hitoshi nodded slowly, choosing to focus on the part of Shouto's tirade which related to him and the current events. On the inside he was reeling from the new information Shouto had casually mixed in with encouragement. For once he hadn't been overthinking things: there really was an abusive man in Shouto's life – his father? – and said abuser apparently pretended to be a hero when out in public, well enough that he had a license. Stories like this really pissed him off. A lot of people who had the heart of a hero but a weaker quirk were forced to give up their dreams, while unsuitable people entered the Hero industry just because they happened to be born with a suitable quirk. He bet this particular bastard had a flashy, powerful quirk too. Oh, bastard... now he could see where the 'nickname' came from.

“So,” Shouto clapped, bringing Hitoshi down to earth. “Strategy. Yay or nay?”

“Yay,” Hitoshi replied automatically and then almost facepalmed. Not because he’d agreed, the plan was good, but because he was copying Shouto’s speech patterns. Totally Shouto's fault, the guy kept catching him mid-thought.

“Great!” Shouto sent him a thumbs-up again. Didn’t he know any other gestures? “Looks like we’re almost there.” Indeed, a few more meters and they’d be right before the entrance to a giant complex that could only be an examination area.

“That’s really Plus Ultra,” Hitoshi was impressed.

“That’s U.A. for you, I guess.” He and Shouto walked towards the gate, sticking together automatically. Once inside they settled in for a wait, taking the time to look around. The arena looked like a city district and Hitoshi wondered what the reason was.

“Are they trying to make it more realistic?” he wondered out loud.

Shouto shrugged. “Or maybe checking how much collateral damage we’ll cause.” He had a point, heroes were supposed to be able to keep such things to a minimum. “Oh well. Just gotta be careful out there!” He punched his open palm with a fist and there was a brief flash. Hitoshi stared.

“Shouto?” It felt odd to use his first name, but he had no other choice – Shouto never revealed his surname. Besides, the guy was first-naming him too so they were even.

“Yeah?”

“What is your quirk, anyway?”

“Right, I never told you.” Shouto held out his left hand, palm up. “It’s this.” With a quiet whoosh, a tiny fireball appeared over his hand, then disappeared in less than a second.

“Fire, huh?” Hitoshi studied Shouto, thinking about all the privileged kids he’d ever met, with their flashy, powerful quirks. Fire manipulation undoubtedly made Shouto a part of that group. Usually he ended up disliking kids with such quirks, but was self-aware enough to admit that part of it was prejudice born out of resentment, and part was just a reaction to those kids’ prior dismissive treatment of him, or in some cases downright bullying. But Shouto hadn’t dismissed him and wasn’t discriminating or tooting his own horn. Not to mention the Bastard issue… Hitoshi just couldn’t dislike him. Mostly, he thought of how energetic and vibrant and free-spirited the guy was, and that fire suited him.

“It explains why your head started smoking before,” he said, for lack of a better and non-cheesy response.

“It did?” Shouto patted his head, belatedly. “I didn’t notice! Good think it didn’t set off the fire alarm.”

“We’re outside,” Hitoshi reminded him. Shouto tilted his head.

“Fire alarms don’t work outside?”

“...never mind.”

Soon enough, Present Mic spoke to the gathered students, giving some additional information about the exam. Most of it was just recap of the stuff already said after the written exam and the rest was fancily phrased encouragement with a side of taunting, but everyone listened intently. Hitoshi noted that Shouto’s eyes were sparkling happily throughout the speech. Was he that excited?

“And GO!” the pro hero finished. Hitoshi barely managed to blink in confusion at the abrupt ending when his wrist was seized in an iron grip and pulled, dragging his body sideways.

“Oof!” he tripped on his own feet, but was able to right himself quickly thanks to the force puling on his arm. It was Shouto, running full tilt towards one of the fake alleys between the fake buildings and pulling Hitoshi with him. “What the--”

“You heard him, go!” They ran into the alley. “No time to waste!”

“I know how to run without you holding my hand!” Hitoshi complained.

“I know, but-- Oh, I heard something!” Letting go of Hitoshi’s wrist Shouto pivoted on his heel, dashed into a side alley and disappeared from view. Due to the momentum Hitoshi ran forward a few more steps before skidding to a halt. Feeling off balance in more ways than one, Hitoshi ran back towards the side alley.

“Oi, wait up!” He was answered by a distant whooshing sound, followed by a screeching of metal and a loud crash which echoed off the walls. Hitoshi shook his head and ran forward. In the back of his mind he wondered what he was doing. This wasn’t how he imagined his exam going. Not that he’d had a clear idea, but the reality was like a roller coaster. Losing hope at finding out what the task was, meeting Shouto and getting a bit of that hope back, reaching the stage of the exam and being dragged along at his companion’s pace… A day ago, even an hour ago, if you told him he’d be teaming up with another student who knew his quirk and accepted it, Hitoshi would laugh. Inconceivable. But it was happening, and it was making his heart beat faster and a warm, bubbly feeling he couldn’t name rush through his blood.

He could hear noise from all sides, shouts of other students echoing from adjacent alleys and loud, metallic booming from the direction where Shouto had been headed. The alley veered left so he turned the corner, ran forward a few more meters then skidded to a stop with a stifled curse when the image in front of him registered. The exit of the alley was blocked by a robot! He tensed, preparing to – what, fight it? Bare-handed? Absurd – but then he realized that the robot couldn't attack him. It couldn't do much of anything because, as a second look at it revealed, it no longer had limbs. It was large, one of the ones which looked like a mountain with legs... or without, as it was. Cautiously, he approached the robot. It was twitching, visibly trying to move but unable to, so it just sort of shifted in place like a giant metal spider with its legs cut off. When he got almost close enough to touch the robot there was yelling from behind him and he glanced back to see a guy who'd taken the same path Hitoshi had, running full tilt towards the robot, apparently unable to see it from behind him.

"Stop!" Hitoshi called out, preparing to use his quirk if necessary. The guy snorted.

"Like hellaaAAAH!!" The initial protest gave way to fear in a blink of an eye, the guy’s face blanching in horror as he turned on his heel and ran back the way he came. Hitoshi blinked. He must've seen the robot but failed to realize it was incapacitated--

Boom!

Years later he would still maintain that no, he did not shriek when the robot suddenly landed in front of him with a huge crash, thank you very much. It didn’t matter what Shouto said he’d heard, obviously all the noise from collapsing robots caused some auditory hallucinations. Anyway. After his heart attack had passed he realized that was what had freaked the guy out; he must've seen the robot flying through the air. From where it landed it wouldn't have hit either of them, but panic could mess with perception. And who threw robots anyway? Rhetorical question, he knew exactly who.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he yelled in the direction the robot flew in from. There was no doubt Shouto was behind this. There was no response apart from more crashing and banging and screeching of metal. "Hello?" A dull boom and the ground shook as though something large fell over. He could feel irritation giving way to concern. "Shouto?"

"What?" Never mind, the irritation was back. Took him long enough!

“You alright?” he shouted back.

“Yeah! But the robots aren't!” Which was kind of the point, so it sounded like Shouto was doing well. And he was wasting time. He glanced at the remains of the second robot, in pieces after the crash. Hitoshi walked over and picked up one of the parts which looked like a cross between a giant claw and a baseball bat. It was lighter than it looked and covered in soot on one side. Weapon acquired, he returned to the still-alive robot. What could its weak spots be? Most likely joints, bare wires and any gaps in the plating through which you could get at the internal wiring. And the red, glass-like hemisphere could be a weak point too. It would be realistic, most creatures died after being skewered through the eye and this was clearly the robot’s equivalent thereof.

He experimentally swung the robot leg around like he would a baseball bat, took a deep breath and let it out. Then, before he could overthink it he hefted the bat – er, robot leg – over his shoulder and let it swing, hitting the eye dead on. He expected to maybe crack the eye; instead, with a sound like breaking glass, it shattered into a million pieces. Hitoshi blinked. A weak point indeed. With an electric whine, the robot fell still – apparently destroying the eye meant an automatic shutdown.

The robot was down.

He’d taken down a robot.

A part of him couldn’t believe it was real, even with the evidence in front of him. It felt like he was dreaming... but he quickly woke up at the sound of something large whizzing through the air, followed by a deafening clangor which made him wince, a shiver running down his spine. Shaking off the feeling, he studied the KO’ed robot. It was only partially blocking the exit of the alley, there was a fair bit of space on the right. Hitoshi squeezed through it and was faced with four more twitching, limbless robots, two scorpions and two mountains, stacked like a misshapen pyramid and blocking the view. He shook his head. He should probably be annoyed but instead the image made him think of his cats, who’d sometimes slip away and bring back small rodents or birds as offerings, some of them still alive. Trying valiantly not to imagine a cat-eared Shouto carrying robot scorpions in his mouth, he attempted to distract himself from his own brain by smashing more robot eyes. That done, he circled around the corpses to find Shouto and entered a disaster zone.

The moderately-sized square area bordered by buildings on all sides was covered in downed robots. They were in varying states of dismemberment, some of them half buried in the ground, and quite a few were smoking. The air was gray from the billowing smoke and he could see fire in some places, though what was burning was anyone’s guess. Surely not metal? Hitoshi stared at the scrap heap in disbelief. The place looked like a fire tornado had rampaged through. How had Shouto managed to wreak such destruction in… actually, how much time had passed? He wasn’t sure.

"Hitoshi!" Shouto accosted him, jumping out from behind the closest robot corpse and nearly giving him a heart attack. "You done?"

"Yeah," he shrugged. He was beginning to realize that interacting with Shouto required chill and nerves of steel. "I see you're done too," he added, eyeing the piles upon piles of metal which were once robots. How many, he couldn't say.

"To be fair, a bunch of them just fell into traps when they tried to rush me and then they were sitting ducks," Shouto explained and shepherded him towards one of the side alleys. All three of them seemed to be blocked off by conveniently placed robot corpses. "Traps! They're really testing us here."

"It is an exam."

Shouto ignored the snark and jabbered on. “And then a guy swung in on some tape that grew out of his arm and snagged one robot and threw it! It fell somewhere near you.” Hitoshi blinked, rapidly reevaluating his initial idea of the robot being thrown by Shouto via a bastardized version of a rocket launch. So it was some Tarzan wannabe instead? “Then he swung away, didn’t want to inhale all the smoke I guess. Still, it was smart, I didn’t think of moving over the buildings. Here, there’s space to squeeze through.” Having reached the alley by now, Shouto threw out this non sequitur and promptly crawled through the gap between the robot and the wall. Deciding to just go with it, Hitoshi quickly followed.

"Now let's go look for others!" Once again, Shouto grabbed his wrist and began to drag him off. They ran through the alley, which was fortunately free of robots.

“Others?"

“Sure! You still haven’t tried your strategy,” Shouto reminded him as they reached a square, much larger that the one they’d just left, with wider side alleys and much more chaotic. A wild crowd of contestants was moving around frantically, people shooting off blasts from their quirks, arguing over who saw which robot first, almost coming to blows before recalling that fighting other contestants was forbidden and running off, bumping into already downed robots… Pandemonium.

“Strategy,” Hitoshi muttered, trying to focus. The idea was sound, but challenging to put into practice in the chaos that was the examination site. He needed to find a good target, someone focused enough to realize he was speaking to them and to respond-- wait, he could see someone. A girl with poofy brown hair was tapping robots, causing them to rise and float in midair at a moderate height. There were already a few robots floating on each side of her, and she was adding more. He ran towards the girl, aware of Shouto following behind. The second she noticed him, he struck.

"Is that a gravity quirk?"

"What?" she blurted, then her eyes glazed over in a familiar manner.

"Don’t move," Hitoshi said and eyed the closest robot. They weren't floating that high up and his climbing was better than his aim. He had extensive experience in scaling jungle gyms, trees and the like to escape from other kids. From higher ground he could still hear what they were saying about him if they stood close enough, but they usually left him alone quickly. Maybe they disliked having to look up at him in order to insult him. Anyway, he eventually became a pro at hoisting himself up on jungle gyms and branches, a special skill acquired through necessity. The girl, or maybe someone else, had already defeated some robots, and the metallic bodies lying on the ground could serve well as a cross between a ladder and a platform. So Hitoshi placed his makeshift weapon on the ground, swiftly climbed onto one of the robots, then jumped up, getting a hold of the closest floating one and hoisting himself up on it. The whole thing barely took a few seconds. A good result, but less so when taking into account that he likely didn’t have much time.

"Catch!" Shouto had thrown the robot part up in such a way that it was easy to catch it in midair. Hitoshi didn't even have to ask him to do it. He was beginning to understand why some heroes worked in teams. He quickly found weak spots to aim at. From atop the robot the angle was a bit awkward, but he was able to attack successfully after adjusting his stance a little and KO the scorpion. There was no time to waste, so without thinking much about it, which could cause him to over-analyze and start freaking out, he jumped from one robot to the next. Considering that the robots were hovering in mid-air and held up by a quirk it seemed like it would be a challenge, but actually wasn't that much different than jumping from rock to rock to get across a river. If anything it was easier – robots were much larger than rocks and they weren't treacherously slippery due to water and erosion. The height was a problem, but only a mental one – on a technical level there was no difference between jumping from robot to robot on ground level and in the air, as long as one didn't freak out and fall.

Hitoshi killed the second scorpion and was still standing on it when it began to shake. Not in the twitchy manner typical of legless robots tottering on the ground, but in a way which indicated that the poofy-haired girl was losing control of her quirk. Deciding not to risk it, Hitoshi looked down the side of the robot. The distance to the ground wasn’t that big, but just to be safe he slid down the scorpion-like robot’s tail like he would a tree branch, hanging down from it before letting go. He dropped to the ground, then quickly ran a few steps forward to avoid getting squashed by a falling robot. And not a moment too soon – they were beginning to really wobble.

"Whoo, congrats!" Shouto materialized next to him. "That was great! You're more athletic than you look," he continued. Hitoshi stared at him. Nope, still didn't look like he realized how he sounded. Oh well, if Shouto meant it as a genuine compliment Hitoshi would take it as one.

"Thanks," Hitoshi raised his hand for a high-five. It was silly, but he'd always wanted to exchange this gesture with someone other than his dad, who didn't really count. The floating robots chose that moment to fall down, crashing loudly against the pavement and shaking the ground a bit. It paralleled the state of Hitoshi's mind as he took in his companion's reaction. Shouto did not quite flinch; it was more like a sudden tenseness, all his muscles locking in the initial stages of fight-or-flight reaction. He seemed to have stopped breathing and his alert eyes were glued to Hitoshi's hand watching it cautiously, unblinking and with dilated pupils. Feeling ill, Hitoshi lowered his hand. Did Shouto really think--

"Hey!" the poofy-haired girl's shout broke him from his stupor. "What did you do? The proctor said no fighting!"

"That's why I didn't fight you," Hitoshi replied automatically, half of his mind stuck on what just happened. "I just used my quirk on you. Which wasn't forbidden."

"Wha-- but--" the girl spluttered faced with this bit of logic. "Argh!" She rushed off, apparently abandoning the argument in favor of getting more points. The girl had one of those round, friendly faces, and while Hitoshi knew appearances can be deceptive he really would have preferred to target someone who was obviously an unscrupulous asshole. Because, all logic aside, targeting the round-faced girl made him feel like an unscrupulous asshole. Especially after the high five fiasco.

"So,” Shouto distracted him. “What was that earlier? With the hand?" He no longer looked so wary. So he knew Hitoshi wouldn't… Good. It must've been a reflex, Hitoshi understood those. He tried not to contemplate why Shouto would have this reflex, not wanting to feel anymore sick than he already did.

"Raise your hand like this," he chose to explain instead, demonstrating with his own. Once Shouto complied, he firmly clapped his palm against Shouto's. "It's called a high five. Ever heard of it?"

"Once or twice," Shouto slapped his palm against Hitoshi's in a double high five. Atmosphere cleared, they both winced as a loud, static screech took that time to reverberate across the training ground.

"Two minutes left on the clock!", Present Mic informed them through the speakers. Hitoshi noticed that Shouto's eyes began to sparkle happily in response.

"You sure look happy to be done with the exam," he pointed out. Shouto blinked.

"Huh? No, I just--"

Boom. Alarms began to howl and the ground shook.

"What the hell?"

"Hasn’t been two minutes.”

"Wait. Didn't he say that there's a fourth type of robot and that right before the exam ends--"

Boom. The ground shook again, and something metal appeared in the distance over the top of one of the buildings.

It moved.

People started screaming and running in the opposite direction, which just happened to be where Hitoshi and Shouto were standing. Thinking fast, they ran towards one of the downed robots and jumped on it to not get swept away by the crowd.

"That's the fourth type? It's taller than the buildings, I thought it'd be smaller."

Hitoshi shrugged. "It is what it is." The thing was humongous, but also slow from what he could see. There was no need to run around like headless chickens. At this point he was more likely to get trampled by a fellow competitor than by the robot.

"Didn't look that big on paper," Shouto complained.

"Of course it didn't-- oh shit," now that he was standing in an elevated spot Hitoshi could see the whole area. "Look!" There was rubble everywhere and on the ground, pinned by what seemed to be the largest piece, was the round-faced girl from before. Hitoshi clenched his fists. "Why won't she float it?"

"Maybe she can't twist around enough to touch it."

"Damn it." A weight settled in Hitoshi’s chest. Was it his fault? Did his mind control cause her to be unable to use her quirk to save herself now? Was she injured? Would she even have gone that way if they hadn’t met?

"Hitoshi?" Shouto poked him in the arm. Hitoshi flinched and stared helplessly at the crowd in between them and the girl.

"How am I supposed to get there?" He'd get trampled two steps in, and then the girl would get trampled by the giant robot and they'd both be turned into paste. He could feel the onset of panic but couldn't help it. This was an exam! Why wasn't someone helping her? Stopping the robot? Where were the proctors?

“Not a problem, follow me," Shouto tugged his sleeve and crouched down. "Okay people, OUTTA THE WAY!" the bellow was followed by a blast of fire cutting through the air above the contestants’ heads. People screamed and jumped to the sides, some patting their hair and glaring even though no one was hit. "Come on!" They jumped down and ran through the space which had cleared in the wake of Shouto’s flamethrower-like move.

"Nice one." The method was questionable, but it had worked.

"Somebody has to save our skins!" They reached the girl in a few seconds. She was struggling, trying to get out from underneath the boulder but was immobilized almost completely and all she could do was wiggle around. Something knocked into Hitoshi's shoulder.

"Oof!" gasped the something, which was actually a green-haired guy.

"Ow," Hitoshi muttered.

"Oh!” the girl gasped, gaze zeroing in on Hitoshi's face. Apparently she remembered him.

"Hi. Rescue team to the res...cue, oh shit," Shouto pointed towards the robot. "It's heading this way." They all stared at it in mute horror.

"Run!" the girl snapped out of it first. "It's an exam, I'm sure-- I'm sure--"

"No!" the new guy yelled, determination shining in his eyes. "A true hero doesn't leave anyone behind!" Then he grabbed the edge of the boulder and began to push it up. Or trying to, it didn't even move a millimeter.

"Okay, all together," Hitoshi heard his own voice say. He was pretty sure he was operating on pure adrenaline at this point. His heartbeat was echoing in his ears and in his throat and the edge of his field of vision was oddly blurry. He and Shouto also took hold of the boulder and heaved, but even with the three of them it wasn't enough.

"It's getting closer!" New guy parroted after Shouto. The robot was slow due to its size, but they were immobile. It would reach them soon.

"I can stall it," Shouto said. "It's just... Hitoshi!" He moved closer, speaking quietly. "If you wanna talk to me again force me to use fire!"

What?

"What?" Hitoshi stared. What was he going on about? Was it really the time? Shouto didn't answer, his eyes were closed and he appeared to be concentrating. And then there was a subtle change coming over him. His posture, the set of his shoulders, the tilt of his head... and his aura, which suddenly seemed different, colder.

Then Shouto moved his right hand.

Krrrr!

Hitoshi felt his jaw drop. A sheet of ice spread across the ground, starting at Shouto’s right foot and instantly covering the distance between them and the robot. Without stopping, the ice climbed up its legs, then up its torso, thickening as it went and eventually encasing the robot in a makeshift glacier up to its neck.

Ice. Shouto used ice. But his quirk was fire manipulation! So it wasn’t possible. Was it?

Shouto turned towards the girl. “Are you injured? Any broken bones?”

“No, I’m only pinned--”

“Good, because we’ll have to run,” Shouto turned to Hitoshi and Hitoshi’s breath caught. His eyes... they were cold and dark. Emotionless. Nothing like before. “I will use ice to lift the boulder, prepare yourselves.” Quickly, Hitoshi grabbed the girl’s wrists and she grabbed his. Everyone was very aware of the crackling sounds coming from the giant robot’s direction as it tried to free itself. It was slow but strong, and the ice was cracking steadily, more and more pieces falling on the ground and breaking with a sound like shards of glass. Shouto placed his right hand against the debris under the boulder. With a creaking sound, it iced over and thick columns of ice began to form, lifting the boulder as they grew. “I can freeze the robot again if needed, but I’d rather not have to,” Shouto spoke over the tense silence, reassuring them. He had a point, Hitoshi would rather just get out of here too. The ice spread quickly and the second there was enough slack Hitoshi pulled, the girl helping as much as she could, and then she was free. They both stumbled, but righted themselves quickly by leaning on each other.

“Let’s go-- oh!” the girl gasped and pointed at the giant robot. Filled with dread, Hitoshi turned, expecting to see the robot ice-free and already upon them. In truth, while it had shaken off a lot of the ice it wasn’t free yet, and in the worst case Shouto could just re-freeze it like he said. On the other hand, the sight of the new guy (who, he now realized, had disappeared somewhere around the time Shouto lifted the boulder) flying through the air like a cannonball, heading for the robot’s face, was completely unexpected. The three of them froze, staring at the impeding train wreck.

Boom!

The boy and the robot collided, the thing’s head bursting open, and the whole robot started collapsing like a house of cards. Hitoshi briefly remembered that eyes were the robots’ weak point, but had no time to analyze with the shower of metal debris falling towards them. Along with the boy, who seemed to be unconscious going by his limp stature. The girl let out an anxious gasp and Shouto frowned.

“I can’t stop his fall with ice, it might--”

“I’ll do it!” the girl said, already running forward, heedless of the falling debris. She skidded to a halt and looked up, then bit her lip. Hitoshi half expected her to float up towards the guy, but maybe she couldn't use her quirk on herself?

“Here,” Shouto moved his right hand and a narrow strip of ice whooshed across the ground, reaching the girl’s feet and extending upwards, not freezing her but fluidly turning into a wide, icy platform which carried her up. It rose quickly like a dangerous, open elevator. The girl was able to keep her balance and kept looking towards the falling boy. When he was almost next to her she jumped off, grabbing him with one hand and slapping her own cheek with the other, activating her quirk. They began floating slowly downwards, Shouto using the time to transform the platform into a makeshift umbrella, spreading icicles outwards from the top to catch or push away the pieces of debris which could hit the duo. Hitoshi kept his eyes on the girl’s face which was turning pale, then a pale green, then just green. He ran towards the pair and jumped up, grabbing the girl’s shoe and pulling them both downwards. It barely took a second and was easy because they weighted as much as a feather. The moment they were on the ground the girl canceled her quirk, leaned away from them and retched. Hitoshi felt like joining her when he saw the state the green-haired guy was in. He was… a mess was putting it mildly. Three of his limbs were so damaged that they were shapeless, like bags of meat. How many breaks did it take to end up in such a state? Hitoshi had no idea what the guy’s injuries looked like on the inside, and didn’t want to know.

And, despite what they'd assumed before, he was still conscious.

How.

Shouto knelt down next to the green-haired guy. He placed his right hand on his shoulder and a thin layer of ice-frost formed over the damaged limbs, a mixture of a cast and coolant. The girl was turning towards them, wiping her mouth. It seemed she was felling better.

"Once the exam is over, a medical team should be dispatched. When they make the announcement I will--" there was a crackling sound. Shouto paused. They all looked down at the green-haired guy who was trying to move the limbs Shouto had iced, causing the noise. The broken limbs. In which the bones were probably in pieces the size of a button.

"What're you doing?" the girl panicked. "You shouldn't move!" He shouldn't be able to!

"One point... just one point..." the guy mumbled and tried to move again. Something in Hitoshi snapped. After the fighting and the guilt and the rescuing and magic quirk switches and personality switches and giant robots exploding and determined green-haired guys injuring themselves to the point where their limbs turned into paste, he was on his last nerve and it was just too fucking much.

"Are points more important than your health?!" he yelled.

"I..." the guy tried to respond and his eyes glazed over.

"Shut up! Don't move!" Hitoshi ordered and watched him fall still. "Fuck." He wiped his forehead. It was covered with cold sweat.

"Good thinking," Shouto commended. Then he tried to say something else, but it was drowned out by a piercing screech from the sound system.

"Ladies and gentleman, the entrance exam is henceforth OVER!" Present Mic’s voice rang out over the square. "Our medical staff will now--"

"There you go," Shouto nodded. "As I was saying, injuries this severe should be prioritized. Stay here while I alert them,” he ordered and promptly ran off. Hitoshi took a deep breath. Damn it all. He was here to take an exam, not play paramedic! He glanced at the girl who was staring at the green-haired guy, aghast. He did look pretty horrible.

"You okay? No lasting damage?" The girl blinked and stared at him.

"...he didn't even get one point?" she asked incredulously. Hitoshi stared at her with equal incredulity. Was insanity contagious? Or were they both in shock? He could hear footsteps and glanced up to see Shouto, along with... yes, that was Recovery Girl. Wow. The girl seemed similarly awed despite her worry while the guy, still under the influence of Hitoshi's quirk, could only glance from one of them to the other, eyes being the only body part he could move. The icy casts over his limbs were still intact. Hitoshi wondered if the cold was helping with the pain.

Ice. Besides the initial shock he'd felt when he first saw Shouto wield the element, he hadn't wondered about that – there just wasn't time with all that was going on. But now his mind got hung up on it. Shouto's quirk was fire! He'd seen him use it several times. What was with the ice? With the personality switch that happened at the same time? There was also Shouto’s vague forewarning...

Shouto and Recovery Girl reached them quickly. Hitoshi was pretty sure the examiners who'd been watching did basic triage and sent help where it was needed the most, and the healing hero had simply bumped into Shouto on her way towards her designed patient. It didn't really matter, he was just glad that help was there. He stared at Shouto who knelt down next to him, at his dual-colored hair – red like fire and white like ice. He recalled how his head only smoked on the left side – the red side, how he only used his left hand to create fire and used his right to create ice.

"--you to cancel your quirks?" he heard Recovery Girl say. Apparently he'd missed something.

"Of course," Shouto placed his hand – left hand, Hitoshi noted – on the green-haired guy's shoulder. With a hiss the makeshift ice casts disappeared without a trace, turning directly to water vapor. Despite his earlier inattention Hitoshi got with the program quickly and canceled his quirk as well. Unlike Shouto he didn't have to do or say anything, the deactivation was purely mental and required him to 'abandon' the connection. That done, both boys stepped away to make room for the professional, while the poofy-haired girl watched the treatment, concern mingling with curiosity on her face.

"He'll be fine now," Hitoshi said, partly to reassure himself, partly because he honestly thought so. Recovery Girl's quirk was legendary.

"Course he will. At least physically, dunno about his ego," Shouto said. Hitoshi turned his head so fast he almost got whiplash. "Then again lives matter more than egos, yeah? Anyway Recovery Girl’s awesome, look, his limbs’re already looking bett—erk ! Hitoshi, your face looks scary!” Yeah, the post-exam adrenaline crash mixed with the Shouto situation left him wired and angry and entirely done and he felt more than a little crazy and it was probably showing on his face. A lot.

"You don’t say?!" he hissed at Shouto. The one he'd initially met, with lively eyes set in a blank face. With a fire quirk and machine-gun-style prattling and casual speech patterns.

"Uh... heh," Shouto muttered nonsensically. “Hello again!”

Hitoshi goggled. “Again? What the hell happened here?”

“Ah, yeah. I should explain, huh?”

“No shit!”

“I can do that,” he agreed easily. “The question is, if I told you the truth would you believe me?”

Hitoshi heaved a sigh. This was the ‘to try or not to try’ thing all over again. If he left without hearing Shouto’s explanation and seeing this strange story to its conclusion he would end up forever wondering what would’ve happened. “Shouto.” He ended up sounding more like ‘you dumbass.’ “I saw you do something that should be impossible. So if your explanation also sounds impossible I can accept that.”

Shouto studied him for a moment, then eye-smiled. “You’re something else, you know?”

“Don’t call me a thing.” Shouto seemed about to protest, but then realized he was just sassing and settled down. Nearby the green-haired boy, who seemed to be doing a lot better thanks to Recovery Girl, was slowly standing up. Recovery Girl had moved on and could be seen passing out candy farther away. The girl was still hanging around, looking relieved at the boy’s recovery but unwilling to approach. Maybe she felt too awkward. The students who didn’t need medical attention were slowly heading back to U.A. to get their phones and bags and all the stuff they’d been told to leave behind before the exam started. It didn’t happen that long ago, but to Hitoshi it seemed like a lifetime had passed. As for Shouto, they’ve only known each other for… a little more than ten minutes. Hitoshi was surprised when he realized this. The brief time was eventful so it felt longer. He shook his head to clear it. What a crazy day. Shouto, the source of the craziness, stood next to him, waiting for him to gather his thoughts.

“So,” Hitoshi caught his attention. “Everyone’s leaving… Walk and talk?”

“Sure.”

"Then let's go."

Together, they headed towards the main building. They didn’t know it at the time, but that day was the first chapter in the story of how they became great heroes, and the best of friends.

#fic:unbalancedheart #shinsou hitoshi #todoroki shouto #bnhafic

0 notes