#when has izuku even made his support gear? someone show me that

[epickiya722]

Was it forgotten that Izuku never was tech handy like that??

[lurking96]

What is your opinion about the Bakugou vs Uraraka fight in the sports festival. I really don't understand the praise this fight gets. This seems to be the fight where narrative shifts when it comes to Bakugou's character and literally feels shoehorned by the author to make Bakugou be painted as a feminist and a missunderstood characrter and hype him so much and to me it feels like it is downplaying Uraraka's merits and her resolve and making the fight all about Bakugou. I also feel the way Bakugou's respects for Uraraka is hyped by the author in the Ultra books/archives to me seems to downplay the level of respect Izuku had for her before the fight/during the fight/even after the fight. imo Izuku's respect for Uraraka as a fighter and as a person is way bigger than what Bakugou has for her.

Bakugou tells Uraraka to quit , Considering Bakugou's stats like being good in close combat, good reflex and good reaction and great in air mobility, he had many options to easily win the fight. We even see that in his fight with Izuku where he uses his explosions to move in the air easily. Yet here all he did was just stand there, went overboard with his explosions on her and was dragging the fight to hurt and destroy her instead of using the options to simply win like using his combat skills to push or thow her out of the ring.

When Pros question hiss way of fighting , Aizawa berates the pros and declares that Bakugou saw her strength and is keeping her at bay. the way the fight potrayed and Aizawa's declaration doesn't make any sense. We don't even see any inner thoughts or monologue from Bakugou about this to prove that. I feel the pros were in the right to question the way Bakugou fought. Uraraka comes up with a good plan on her own and Bakugou uses a huge explosion out of nowhere and comes out unscathed and finally decides to move his butt to attack her. Also notice here he says "time to get serious" meaning he never was serious all this time and he never saw her strength which again contradicts Aizawa's declaration.

Even after the fight he asks izuku if ihe gave her the plan which again is disrespect towards Uraraka. Its only after his ted talk with Izuku he comes to know that It was Uraraka's own strategy. And then the whole "what part of her was frail" comment doesn't seem that much convincing to me.

Uraraka VS. Bakugou. In my opinion it was very shoehorned in. We got some fake feminist reading of Bakugou out of it which is just not true. I think the fight shows something else than might have been. More under the cut as i ranted a bit.

We are very much aware that before UA Izuku didnt have any friend. Your bully is not your “Friend”. He was not popular and people weren’t around him. Bakugou also kinda acts like he owns Izuku. He can’t fathom a world where the nerd isn’t under his thumb. Part of Abuse is to isolate their victim. Call them crazy towards others. Cut them off from former friends and family. While Izukus quirklessness has stopped him from getting friends Bakugou might also have acted towards it. Might have beaten up people that got close to him or gave them warnings. It paints the fight in a different light. Uraraka was the first friend he got. Bakugou saw this and he probably did not want this. He could have beaten her quicker. But he wanted to set an example. Midoriya was watching from the first row. He couldnt stop the fight. It was a beatdown to show what happens if he befriends people. It also did not help that Bakugou saw Uraraka as an Izuku proxy. He did believe after all that the plan she used was all Izukus doing. To him he had also a free chance to beat Izuku up with this fight. This fight and how Aizawa talks is again an example of Horis “Tell don’t show”. We are told differently to what we see happens. Aizawa gets used as this logical, rational teacher which words must be true. The Pro heroes that complain are us the audience. Basically the scene saying. “Bakugou is doing great. Don’t insult him.” It makes things feel empty however. They lack substance. If we hear other characters tell how much bakugou changed but in the scenes he is still acts his old self. It just makes what they tell us be lies. It is not good writing. A waste of panels really. Around the sports festival we see the narrative shift. Bakugou gets more prominent. Gets less painted as bad by the narrative. Even though he does say and act pretty much similar to before. But characters start to pull excuses for him out of thin air. Back to the fight. Bakugou basically pulls out a bigger explosion without his support gear and just destroys Urarakas thought out plan. She used her smarts while bakugou just used a bigger explosion out of nothing. Here is the thing. We can debate long on how she would have won or that even if her plan worked she wouldnt have won. If hori wanted her to win he could have written it without much plothole. But here is the thing. She should have won and it should have been made clear that she did it by herself. This would have actually started character developement. Bakugou would have lost to someone he doesn’t see as a threat. Loose to someone without a more fighting type quirk than his.Basically a dark horse type victory. He might have slowly started to realise that he is not the best. That just because someone has a non fight quirk doesnt make them weak. Him getting booed by the audience might add to it too. People seeing him as villain. The whole kidnapping later on might work into it. Might make him look at why people believe him to be one. He might still have been a main target. Might have thrown a big tantrum after the fight that still makes the LOV notice him. Overall it might have been a start to develope him into a better character unlike the lip service of character change we got now.

[sarahjtv]

BNHA Chapter 311 Quick Spoiler Analysis: Searching For Answers

The new chapter is out after waiting 2 weeks!  I hope Horikoshi and every other mangaka had a good Golden Week!  Anyway, there was a lot of dialogue in this chapter and it was primarily focused on the Top 3 Heroes: Endeavor, Hawks, and Best Jeanist.  The last few pages had All Might and Deku in it and 2 surprise guests!  I don’t think I have too much to comment on, so this might be a short one:

The chapter starts off with Endeavor taking out a couple of villains who broke out of prison with Detnarat support items on them.  Endeavor quickly takes them out with a new Super Move called Ignited Arrow.  Well, I say new, but I think we’ve seen this move before back in the Stain Arc.  It was that fire spear that Endeavor threw at the winged Nomu.  I think that it was only in the anime and it didn’t have a name then.  Well, it does now.

Anyway, the Top 3 are trying to capture as many villains as they can in hopes they can trace back to Muscular and ultimately Shigaraki and AFO.  No luck so far though.  It’s not like finding AFO is going to be THAT easy, c’mon...     

But, of course, there are people who have lost their faith in Heroes and are now actively protesting against them picket signs and all.  The Top 3 tried to convince them that they’re still Heroes during their big press conference, but it’s clear that wasn’t enough for some people so they just leave in the Jeanistmobile.  The ironic thing is that none of these 3 are “False Heroes”  Even Endeavor, while he was still a shitty dad, was a great Hero in his own right.  Right now, the Top 3 are the last people who should be getting yelled at by the public.  

It’s a short detail, but Hawks makes sure that Edgeshot is still looking into the Liberation Front.  I’m glad to know that it’s confirmed that Edgeshot is still doing Hero work by gaining intel from the enemy.  I don’t think we knew about Edgeshot’s status before.

Another small detail: During this long talk, Hawks calls Izuku “Midoriya” and Endeavor calls him “Deku”.  They’re both treating Deku like the kid he is, but it’s interesting that they address him differently.  I think that Endeavor is trying to see him as a hero just as much as a child.  He did mentor him after all.    

The Top 3 have agreed that they should still keep their distance from Deku since they don’t want Deku to be caught with the mass media.  Endeavor comments that Deku shouldn’t be burdened anymore than he already is.  Even if all this is his idea, Deku shouldn’t have to do this in the first place.  I remember reading a comment somewhere that basically said that it was refreshing to see adult characters remind us and our Shonen protagonist that, at the end of the day, they’re just kids.  Characters like Reigan from Mob Psycho 100 and Nanami from Jujutsu Kaisen are good example of this.  I’m kind of glad to put Endeavor into this category now too.  Big improvement from the beginning when he straight up tried to intimate Deku during the Sports Fest.

As Endeavor’s talking, there’s this one panel that shows Deku presumedly when he told his idea to the Top 3.  Ngl, this panel makes me sad.  Deku just looks so serious and detached in a way.  The light in his eyes is still gone.  Someone here on Tumblr pointed out that the light in Deku’s eyes have basically been gone since he went off on his own.  I quickly went back to the last 5-6 chapters and yeah...  That light is just gone.  I honestly can’t even tell if that light was there when he woke up back in Chapter 309.  Deku’s been through too fucking much.  I don’t know if my heart can take it anymore 💔😢

*sniffle* Anyway, the Top 3 are taking about their plan in all this, the status of Shigaraki and AFO, and why they’re after OFA.  It’s basically things we already know, including why AFO needs Shigaraki, how much power Shigaraki actually needs and why (they call it “Hatred”), and how they can lure AFO and Shigaraki out.  These 3 are just putting all the pieces together into this one massive puzzle that we’ve all been trying to figure out.  There’s an interesting focus on Endeavor at one point when he figures out that Shigaraki has a “Lack of Heart” which is probably what’s fueling that Hatred to begin with.

We transition back to All Might who’s keeping track of Deku’s GPS in his own car.  All Might comments that Deku’s not getting a lot a of sleep lately.  He thinks of what Sir Nighteye said to him back in the day, that All Might should get some rest.  For one, Deku needs to get some rest.  Sleepless nights aren’t going to help this kid at all.  Second, I’m worried that Deku’s going down the same path that All Might went.  Being broken down, but still hanging on to that heroic spirit enough to keep fighting even when he probably shouldn’t.  Third, I wonder why All Might was thinking of Sir Nighteye specifically here.  I feel like All Might still has some regrets about how he didn’t listen to Sir Nighteye before he died.  I do wonder why now though?

Suddenly, Deku’s GPS signal is gone and All Might is ambushed with an explosive!  Horikoshi please don’t let this be how All Might dies!  I highly doubt he’s dead, but god I’d be mad if this is how All Might goes out.  He deserves a more ceremonial goodbye when that happens.  I’m hoping the car he’s driving his has some sort of extra shield on it like Nick Fury’s did in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Finally, we go back to Deku who’s nearly shot at by a mysterious assassin.  That assassin being the mysterious women in Tartarus who freed Overhaul!  She has a sniper rifle oozing out of her elbow and she has new gear on.  It’s also stated that she was sent by AFO himself, so Deku’s plan is actually working so far.  I wonder if her Quirk is similar to Momo’s Creation but with only weapons as opposed to almost everything under the sun.  We all thought she had an electric-type Quirk earlier, but maybe she made a taser of some sort.  IDK, I’m spitballing here.

Speaking of Overhaul, HE’S RIGHT NEXT TO HER TOO!  I wasn’t sure with the early leaks because I could only see his head and hair, but the cleaner leaks are out and that’s definitely him.  He’s sitting on the roof flappy sleeves and all.  I can’t tell if he’s conscious or not, but it’s interesting that the Assassin woman brought him with her.  I wonder what his role is going to be?  He’s not doing anything at the moment.  The Ultra Analysis book said that Overhaul’s Quirk developed somehow without his arms, so I wonder how he uses his Quirk now?  With his feet maybe?  Also, how’s Deku going to react to this?  Will he kick Overhaul’s ass again?  Will he try to turn Overhaul to a better path away from the Yakuza and villainy?  He wasn’t able to do it last time, so this might be Overhaul’s second chance.  Though I’m not sure given that he’s probably one of the biggest pieces of scum in the series.  I mean, what he did to Eri especially is straight up unforgivable.  I don’t know how Deku’s going to try to redeem Overhaul if he tries.  But, I wouldn’t put it past him if he doesn’t.        

Yeah, that’s the chapter!  It’s good to be back!  No sign of Bakugo or Shoto though😭.  I want my kids, Horikoshi!  But, I’m glad to see that we’ll get to know who this mysterious Tartarus women is.  It’s time to simp again, my dudes.  I need to know if All Might is ok and I need to know what Overhaul is going to do too.  I need to know what Deku’s going to do now too.  Things have gotten a lot more interesting now that it seems like Deku’s definitely going to encounter former Villains from the past.  

Me rooting for our Heroes and admiring our new villain 💙:  

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Alright, chapter 8! And man is there a lot to talk about here. I don’t really have any pre-content things to say, so we’ll just hop right into it today!

[No. 8 - Rage, You Damned Nerd]

I swear, this first page has a LOT to talk about on it, so I’ll go from panel to panel and do some rambling thoughts on each segment. 

First off, UA doesn’t actually handle the costumes the kids get! It’s support companies affiliated with the school that does - which makes sense, since the school has to focus on teaching their support students before letting them get their hands on actual costumes that these kids might be fighting in.

I mean, they seem to be allowed to practice on like, minor support stuff (read: Mei making Izuku his new gloves post-Nighteye or somewhere around there) but not full costuming, which is… actually a bit reassuring? But also explains some of the lag time in getting costume repairs / upgrades since they’re probably busy companies. It also explains why there probably aren’t major alterations to any costumes besides between the summer and winter variants, since it would be time-consuming to remake these costumes so regularly.

(It still doesn’t excuse some of the costumes the kids got, but that’s more on the whole ‘eye candy’ thing for readers than actual practicality, so whatever.)

(Also, I can’t get over the fact that Snipe has a support company. Fucking Snipe. Guess we know another canon or likely-canon Support teacher.)

Next we get a preview of what the kids sent in for specifications for their costumes:

We get a bit of insight into a few of the characters - as background stuff, we get Shouji, Mineta, Aoyama, and Sato. Mineta got pretty dunked on for char design and costuming, and Aoyama’s costume almost looks like a magical girl outfit like this, which honest to god would have been fantastic to see him in. More interesting (at least to me) are the other three: Ochako, Tenya, and Katsuki.

Ochako first, because that pressure point thing is interesting, and I dunno how often those actually come up in fics besides a passing mention, like. What if her support bracelets / neck piece broke during training / a mission / whatever? Would she suddenly have to fight through the nausea? By the point of current canon (War Arc) she’s probably trained enough that she doesn’t need them as much, but man, it could be an interesting little thing to explore, like, post-Kamino.

Tenya is a bit surprising, since we know he comes from a well-off hero family. Logically, this was before the whole Hosu / Ingenium plotline was really developed, so Tenya didn’t have that to fall back on, or it could be argued that the support company that Ingenium is associated with also works with UA. Alternatively, it could be that either Tenya didn’t want to rely on his family (which seems silly when they’d know how to work with his quirk best) or UA is very firm on ALL costume stuff going through them…

But then again, Katsuki. Oh god, Katsuki. What fucking support company looked at this kid and went ‘yeah we should give him a way to store more explosives AND give him bombs’ and just. Did so. Why did UA not vet that. Maybe the support company didn’t realize how strong his explosions were without the gear, but UA, man, I just. I suppose they had no way of knowing how reckless he’d be with them, but honestly, after the battle trials, they should have been fucking yoinked from him so damned fast. 

Anyways, onto other parts of Katsuki’s costume, we see he’s a fucking dork. Possibly what lowered their guard. ‘Something scary’ and ‘Dynamighte all over’. What the hell, kid. At least your designer stuck close to your design… including the huge-ass clunky gauntlets. Man, the Musketeer Trio movie poster ones are so much better looking and so, so streamlined. Works of art, they are.

Moving on, we get a bit of a flashback to ~three weeks ago, which by the calendar would be around March 20th? So a few weeks after the Entrance Exam. And Izuku is only NOW getting around to updating the quirk registry? Izuku baby seriously, how the FUCK did none of the UA staff notice the ‘quirkless’ on your application form at any point before this?

But yeah, he’s worried about his registry, so he calls Toshinori, who explains the update process. It gives the example of someone who might alter their stuff with updated information, with one or two allowed - though major ones aren’t accepted. Toshinori then says it’ll probably be okay since he started with nothing, then tries to correct himself to ‘definitely’, only to get cut off because Izuku accidentally hangs up in a panic when Inko calls out that she’s home. Haha poor Toshinori, and poor Izuku, the two anxious dumbasses. 

Anyways, moving on from that is Inko showing off the jumpsuit she made, with Izuku surprised. She admits it’s not the coolest, but she based it off of the design in his notebook (the one we saw back in chapter 1). She tells him she regrets giving up on him back then, and how he never quit regardless of her faith. She apologizes and says from there on she’ll be cheering him on with all she’s got. 

Izuku’s narration notes that it’s a symbol of his mom’s love, and that he couldn’t wear anything else, even if it’s not ‘efficient’ or ‘cutting edge’. (Or even at all decent looking.) And it’s also hinted through the present thoughts on it that it’s meant to be an homage to All Might (the smile and the hair pieces) which is just such a dorky thing.

We get to the wide-spread of hero costumes, which- wait a second.

That’s Momo’s initial hero costume design???? Why did Hori not stay with that??? It’s a LOT better than the stuff we’ve seen her in later! Like, sure, it’d still be improved with the main opening being her stomach and not her chest, but this still looks like actual human clothing and not a sexy Halloween costume variant of her hero uniform. Fucking hell, now I’m even more mad.

Tsuyu’s costume meets the approval of the discord server as basically ‘no changes needed’ asides from maybe the goggles being a bit bulky.

Tenya’s costume, I’m sorry, I know it’s an homage to your brother / family, but were the additional pipes really needed? Also, the helmet isn’t a bad idea since he goes fast, and bugs in the mouth/teeth have to suck, but it just looks so damned Gundam-y I can’t help but laugh a little.

Shouto… nah, too easy a target.

Aoyama is Aoyama. I’m actually a bit disappointed now that it’s not a magical girl costume, but alas, I suppose even Hori couldn’t be that brave.

Kaminari… I forgot he had that headset thingy. 

Don’t really have much else to say about anyone else, so let’s move on.

Izuku bugs out a bit about Ochako’s costume/appearance, while she compliments his more practical looks and laments not being specific, saying it’s a bit too puffy and curvy for her. Which means it’s more the accessories which seem to be her issue with it over the main costume itself? Huh.

Anyways, after All Might confirms they’re all there, he notices Izuku’s headpieces, which are a match to his costume, and has to turn to muffle a laugh for how obvious a reference it is. Tenya steps up, asking whether they’ll be doing cityscape maneuvers again since it’s the same field used in the entrance exam. Izuku thinks to himself how cool Tenya’s costume is, while All Might explains that they’re moving onto step two - indoor anti-personnel battle training!

He explains what while villain battles are most commonly seen outdoors, statistically the worst crimes and villains are more likely to be found indoors. Confinement, house arrest, black market deals… the clever villains luck indoors to avoid heroes. Which is why the class will be split into teams of two and pit against each other, heroes versus villains style!

Ah, Tsuyu. Calling him right the heck out, as expected. All Might then notes that in this scenario, the fight won’t be against disposable robots. 

This entire page is just fucking hilarious. The class and all their questions while All Might is shaking with nerves. The fucking cheat sheet he uses to try to get back on track. Him being questioned on the lot drawing, and shaking while Izuku accidentally ends up covering for him. I just. All Might was not prepared for this mess and it shows. He was doing so much better when it was the one on one stuff with Izuku.

But yeah, Izuku notes the scenario is like from a western comic plot, and he’s also the one who ‘realizes’ the lots are like when heroes from different agencies have to team up for emergencies without prior warning. 

Lots are drawn, and we have our teams:

Izuku’s so stressed out because he still can’t really talk to her, while she’s excited to be teamed up and calls it ‘fate’ that it happened. All Might draws the first two teams to participate, and… team Izuku and Ochako (as the heroes) versus team Katsuki and Tenya (as the villains). Both Izuku and Katsuki are alert from this development…

Which makes this a good point to cut off, since it’s halfway through and we got a lot of information to chew on already. Second part should be out this weekend (hopefully). 

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Hero Deku meets Singer Shouto

Hi @ire-mired, I’m your secret santa for the @bnhagiftexchange. Sorry you had to wait so long for this. I hope you enjoy this, it was really hard to pick between the ships and I hope the story was good. It’s more pre-relationship but it just worked out. I thought since I was doing singer!Shouto, I thought it’d be cool to have Quirkless Hero!Izuku as well. There’s a little easter egg from the todoshindeku story ‘Heroics and Other Things That Don’t Require Superheros’ by @thenarator if you’re interested. I hope you enjoy!

Izuku climbed out of the town car. He still felt weird about being carted around like this. Even when he was in civilian clothes, he tended to use his high air pressured shoes to hop around everywhere. Which of course is half of where all those bunny comments came from but it was easier. Public transport got crowded when they realised the quirkless hero Deku was on the same train or bus as them.

But he could keep his comments about it to himself today. Today was special.

“Deku, welcome! We can’t thank you enough for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come today.” The man waiting by the door said, once the hero was close enough. He was in a suit and seemed perfectly put together but he didn’t reek of ‘I’m-to-good-for-everyone’.

“Of course I made time. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

“The kids will be so happy their favourite hero came. You have no idea how much they look up to you.”

“That makes me very happy to hear. Shall we get started?” Izuku asked.

“Of course, right this way. And thank you again for taking the back entrance. We’re all for press taking interest in our cause, but they tend to be a bit overzealous. We handpicked a few to be inside with us. Thank you for the recommendations.”

“My pleasure.”

Izuku walked through the community centre, wishing once again this existed when he was a kid. He was born quirkless, part of the 1%. Growing up had been horrible. Bullied by his best friend (who eventually apologized and was once again on good terms with), treated horribly by prejudice teachers and neighbours, feeling like a burden to his mother, who didn’t know how to encourage him. He’d even been told by his idol All Might he couldn’t be a hero, the one thing he wanted more than anything in the world. He was surprised to later find out, that same day he met the famed hero and found out his secret, to also find out he’d once been quirkless.

“I had forgotten what it was like to wish for something as simple as someone telling me I could. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be the one to tell you that when you needed to hear it.”

All Might – Yagi Toshinori, had offered him his quirk, but in that split second, all Izuku could think of was, ‘what if I can tell someone they can be a hero?’. He’d been quirkless his whole life and it felt like if he said yes, he’d forget where he came from and everything, he faced years later. So he turned down the quirk. When he explained his reasoning, Toshinori smiled.

“Yes, I think we deserve a hero who can prove quirks aren’t everything. Would you still take my offer on helping you get ready for the exams?”

Years later, he’d made it, the first quirkless hero. He still got slander and got yelled at by bigoted people for ‘putting ideas into people’s heads’ but he felt proud of himself. He’d been put into the General Studies class and met Shinsou Hitoshi, a guy with what people considered a villain’s quirk. Together, they proved to everyone that their quirks, or lack thereof, wouldn’t make them unfit heroes. After 3 years with dealing with the League of Villains, internships and general high school drama, he and Hitoshi opened up their agency, with a few of their other class and school mates, Underdog Agency. Name being a tiny bit misleading for those who didn’t know the heroes behind it, but it fit them to a T.

Now whenever he was asked, and he could fit it in between patrols, paperwork and general heroing, he’d go to talks about quirkless kids, charity events, visit schools, anything he could to help lower the stigmatism of quirkless people and to give them a bit of hope. They could be whatever they wanted to be, no matter what anyone said.

This event, was a fundraising event held a community centre geared towards people without quirks. There was a performance stage that was live streamed, mixed in with a silent auction and him, Deku talking with all the kids and visiting people. Just his name alone was bringing in money for the centre. The main gathering area was filled with kids, who’s attention was all on a stage with bright lights all focused on one person.

Split red and white hair, enchanting dual eyes and the grace of season dancer with the voice of an angel. God, he could hear Hitoshi teasing him already.

“I didn’t know Shouto would be here.” He said, trying to sound nonchalant. He didn’t think he sold it but thankfully, the director didn’t know him well enough to guess what he was thinking.

“Well a decent number of our kids unfortunately deal with abusive households or family members. We’ve only just started getting to help these kids so they aren’t forced to be subjected to a quirk heavy view in placing them in new homes or even helping them. Shouto has always been an advocate for helping kids from abusive households, no matter what their quirk or lack thereof. A few kids had written him letters and he apparently rearranged his whole schedule to be here tonight. If you’d like, we’d be more than willing to introduce you to him?”

Introduce him to the guy whose songs have been working as encouragement since his second year after he debuted? It was like a dream come true.

“Sure.”

                                                    _____________

Shouto didn’t like heroes. Well, to be more accurate, he didn’t like top tier heroes. They got away with whatever they wanted and nothing could be changed. It didn’t matter that the small burst of courage that came over his sister to film his father’s ‘training’ and upload it had exposed the Number 2 hero and the corrupt Hero’s Commission, things didn’t change. The Commission might be scrutinized by the public, but he refused to believe they’d actually stick to their promise of being better.

It was easy to lose himself in the world of singing. His mother did it a lot, still did. After his father was gone, finally gone, he felt lost. He could have been a hero; prove he’d be better than his father but the idea of following in his footsteps filled him with so much dread. He didn’t attend school for a whole semester, trying to figure out what to do with his life. They moved closer to the countryside, away from the public eye and he’d been helping out at a local festival, lending his voice to one of the dance performances when the lady came up to him. She was on vacation with her friends but she couldn’t shut off her work brain after hearing him sing.

“An idol?” Fuyumi had asked in confusion, trying to wrap her head around the whole thing. “Shouto?”

“His voice is amazing. He’d be a trainee for a while and if the company thinks he can make it, he’d debut. How far he’ll go would be up to him, fans and the company but he’d learn so many skills as a trainee. Just think about it. You wouldn’t have to go there until next month for the monthly meeting with new recruits.”

And he did think about it. A lot. It had been his mother who eventually helped him decide. Even while still in the hospital in the city, after his father’s arrest he finally convinced himself to see his mother. She still loved him and always would.

“Would you want to sing?” she had asked.

“I guess? I’ve been doing it more often. But if I do this, what if he sees and he tries to come after me?”

“Shouto,” she said calmly. Her, the one who was still hurt from everything she had to endure from the person she called a husband. “He’s never going to come after you. you have a chance to do something you want to do. But it’s up to you. I know it’s been hard to figure out where you want to go from here, but remember, you can make your choice now. So, do you want to sing?”

So he decided to at least become a trainee. Moving back to the city was scary. He had to convince himself that his dad wasn’t going to come swoping in and lock him away. The Commission had been dragging their feet in offering any sort of support, which made him dislike them even more, even in the new era of it. But being a trainee made it easy to forget it. If he worked harder than everyone, it wasn’t because he was forced, it was because he wanted to. His siblings would still drag him away from practise if it was getting to be too much. He learned to dance and found he was good at it. He learned to speak different languages. He learned how to make friends, enemies and everything in between.

So when they said he would debut, he agreed, because right there on the stage, was what felt right to him. That still didn’t mean he liked heroes.

With his advocacy to kids in abusive homes, he met a lot of heroes who’d show up to support or even PR related. Very few of them did he actual end up liking, having to keep a smile on in front of kids, but letting his blank face take hold if the ones he didn’t like tried talking to him privately. When he heard there was a hero coming to this charity event for quirkless kids, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Bring a hero in a room full of kids who didn’t have quirks of their own? That outta be good.

He was focused on signing the books and sheets the kids passed to him that he almost didn’t see the director of the charity wave him over. Standing next to him had to be the hero, judging from his green suit and metal face guard that sat around his neck. He did notice the shoes he was wearing, red high tops. Thing was, he’d seen the same pair of shoes, in different colours, on the feet of the kids. Why would a hero wear a brand of shoes made for quirkless people?

“Shouto, I’d like to introduce you to our hero celebrity for the night, Deku. Deku, our celebrity performer, Shouto.”

“Nice to meet you.” the hero Deku said, bright smile on his face. At least it looked genuine.

“Pleasure.”

“Oh my gosh! It’s the Quirkless Hero Deku!” one of the kids shouted and before they knew it, they were surrounded by kids, most of them trying to hang off the tall hero.

Quirkless Hero? He’d never heard of him, but then again, he tended to ignore heroes in general. But at least the kids wouldn’t feel awkward with a hero flexing their quirk when they had none.

“Shouto, did you see? Deku came!” one of the younger girls said, hanging off his arm. “He’s quirkless just like us. He has a lot of support items and he’s really smart! He was able to create a plan to take down that huge crime ring, did you hear about that?”

He’d been living in a recording studio around then so not really, but he nodded anyway. The kids seemed excited and the guy seemed genuine, so clearly, he must not be that bad. He watched him talk to the kids, a huge smile on his face, answering questions just as quickly as they were thrown at him.

Shouto didn’t like top tier heroes, but it seemed that Deku wasn’t that bad. He hoped he didn’t disappoint.

                                                   _________________

Talking with the kids kept his spirits up when having to talk to adults, some of whom had some annoying backhanded comments to make about quirkless people. It was annoying some were only giving money to make themselves look better but he’d rather put up with comments then have the kids get no support and live with life just as bad as he used to have it. Shame Hitoshi couldn’t come, people tended to forget when they got full of themselves how easy it was for Hitoshi to take control and make them do things. Only minor, he was a hero after all, but then again, who didn’t have a short fuse for annoying people?

“Excuse me,” a voice interrupted. It was Shouto. His shirt had been unbuttoned a bit after his performance and his clothes were rumpled from all the kids who’d been hanging off of him. “Do you mind if I steal Deku?”

“Ah. I have to ask; you have such a powerful quirk? Why waste it singing around on stage?” one of the doners, who’d also been giving well disguised scathing comments about quirkless people – Izuku really wanted to punch him, or at least throw him out – asked.

“Maybe because unlike some people, I don’t have to flaunt my quirk to be liked. Excuse us.” Shouto said, before pulling Izuku away. “Asshole.” He muttered, loud enough for Izuku to hear.

“I was pretty close to punching him myself. Downside to doing these events, some of those guys slip through and you have to remind yourself that their money helps make the kids’ lives better.”

Shouto had pulled them to a less populated area of the room and took a seat on the floor. There were seats nearby but the dual haired singer seemed quite at home on the floor, so he sat next to him, keeping a decent distance between them. he had been able to keep his fanboying down – Toshinori would be so proud – and he didn’t want to mess up now.

“I have to admit, I was surprised to hear there was a quirkless hero. When I heard a hero was coming, all I could think was that some oversized ego UA graduate was just gonna flaunt their quirk and make some of these kids feel bad.”

“Well, some heroes have less flashy quirks, would that of been so bad?” he wasn’t insulted that Shouto never heard of him. The agency wasn’t as big as some of the others, Hitoshi worked mostly underground and even though he was good, people still liked to disregard him as a hero due to the lack of his quirk. He didn’t care. He graduated from Class A of UA, made an agency right out of school and worked with bigger heroes on missions they needed his help with. The people who mattered noticed him and he was helping kids like him to believe they could do anything.

“I guess. To be honest, I’m not a fan of heroes. I know with how much that’s being given by some of these people, they’d have to bring in a big hero but also be sensitive to the kids. How have I never heard of you?”

Izuku scratched the back of his head. “I’m 8 on the ranking list? Most of the time they tend to ignore me since I’m quirkless. A lot of people still think I shouldn’t do this without a quirk.”

Shouto looked surprised. “You’re in the top 10 and they think you shouldn’t be doing this? What are they idiots?”

“Well, I was taught by the former Number 1 and I’ve seen the pressure it puts on people, so as long as the people who matter know I’m there to protect them, that’s all that matters.”

Shouto hummed thoughtfully. “Kinda like me and singing, I guess. The guy was right, I do have a pretty powerful quirk but…” he trailed off, like he didn’t know how to word what he said next. “I didn’t want to be a hero. I wanted to be something else. So I decided to sing.”

“I know.” It kinda came out of him without permission, but Izuku was known for just going with it once he started something. “You debuted during my second year. Surprisingly, things got a lot more intense during second year, this coming from a graduate of a class singled out by the League. Your songs gave me a boost to keep pushing forward. So, I wanted to say thank you. I know you didn’t sing to you know, do that, but I’m glad you decided to do it.”

Before Shouto could open his mouth, a group of kids came rushing over, jumping on the two adults.

“Shouto, can we braid your hair? It’s so long! You said we could do it later since you had to perform.”

“Deku, is it true you wanted to look like a bunny?”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Izuku asked out loud.

“Because your hood has ears.” The child answered matter-of-factly.

“It’s supposed to be All Might’s hair.” He muttered before deciding to distract them by asking the kids their favourite things to do. The girls who came over had already made quick work ok tying up his hair with a random bag of hairties.

“Fan of All Might?” Shouto asked around the working hands. He seemed completely at ease with his head being moved around every two seconds

“Well, he was quirkless for most of his life. I found that out when I first met him and that’s what helped me decide to really try and be a hero without a quirk.”

“That’s why he’s our favourite!” one of the kids said, making himself quite at home on Izuku’s lap.

“Well I hope I can still inspire you guys to go after your dreams. Just know even if it seems like no one does, I believe in you guys. Always will.”

That statement did lead to all the kids jumping on him in happiness, sending him tumbling back. He saw Shouto smiling down at him, still looking amazing with his messy hair.

                                               _______________

The silent auction was coming to an end and he and Deku had been asked to announce the winners. To keep the kids from distracting them, they waited in a small office not far from the main area.

“So, what does Japan’s first quirkless hero when he’s not advocating for quirkless people?” Shouto asked, shaking his head as he pulled out all the messy braids.

“when I’m not heroing? My best friend Hitoshi takes me to all these cat cafes and I take the chance to try out all the match au late they have. I remember I had this amazing one on I-Island. I’ve been trying to find one just as good since.”

“Well, the ones they have at the café at my company’s building are pretty good. You should come by.” The singer took in the hero’s surprised face. He wasn’t into heroes, but this one was one of the decent ones, even a really good one. “remind me to give you my number later and when you have time, I can show you. plus, their cakes are to die for.”

“Shouto, Deku, we’re ready for you.” the director called before the hero could give an answer.

The singer sent a smile over his shoulder, enjoying how red the hero had become. He did get Deku’s number by the end of the night, plus his name.

Izuku. Hmm, maybe he’d get to call him that more often.

[gemstoneconstellations]

Request: Two Nerds for the Price of One

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

Wordcount: 2142

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

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

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

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

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

“The vintage costumes!” You squealed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Kats-”

“Her’s too.”

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

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

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

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

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

“Katsuki, no.”

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

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

~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He hummed, nuzzling your hair. “Sure.”

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

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

~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~

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

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

“___?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Huh?!” you both yelled in shock. 

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

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

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

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

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

[whatsup-danger]

not ready to make nice

chapter one: all these things i hate (revolve around me)

character(s): Bakugou Katsuki

word count: 2057

tags: canon divergent, bakugou pov, canon typical violence, nightmares, panic attacks, bullying, suicide mention, introspection

synopsis: After being kidnapped by the League, Bakugou starts to look at his life more critically. He reflects on why he was taken in the first place and starts to seriously consider whether he's really meant to be a hero or not.

This is my attempt at a fix-it fic and a character study of Bakugou. In both the manga and in fandom, Bakugou's experiences are typically glossed over (much like a lot of other things, but that's a different topic for a different day), and I have a hard time believing that both being kidnapped and told he'd make a good villain didn't shake him to his core. He's strong, yeah, but he was also 15 when it happened. Even the strong break, and I want to explore that (and many other things) with him. Also, some could possibly consider my characterization of Bakugou as.... out of character. But honestly? I'm writing him the way I truly believe him to be and how I think he'll beocme, and I won't let anything influence that. So thank you for coming to my TedTalk, and uhhh, here's my attempt.

Katsuki didn’t expect the aftermath of being kidnapped to be so damn hard. He couldn’t sleep without dreaming of being pulled into the awful blackness of the damn portal villain’s quirk, of being back at the League’s hideout. He couldn’t close his eyes without seeing Shigaraki, seeing his hands, the disconnected ones all over his body and Shigaraki’s own two that could utterly destroy Katsuki, wipe him from the face of the Earth. It was terrifying. It was fucking with his head, making it hard for him to concentrate. More than anything, though, he just couldn’t stop thinking about why the League kidnapped him in the first place.

A villain? Him?

Katsuki’s only ever dreamed of being a hero, being the best. And he was, wasn’t he? Everyone said so. His parents, his teachers, his friends—they all agreed on this one thing: Bakugou Katsuki is fucking awesome, and his quirk is the coolest.

Hell, even Midoriya, the fucking nerd that he is, could see how incredible Katsuki is. And the guy was never shy with his praise. Katsuki has never been able to get him to stop singing his praises, no matter how many times Katsuki told him to and no matter how poorly Katsuki treated him.

But… That was it right? The way he treated Midoriya Izuku was, to put it nicely, not very heroic.

And well, on some level, he’s always known that the way he treats Midoriya is extremely unheroic, but he could always justify the way he treats him to himself. Midoriya was quirkless but still wanted to be a hero, which was funny at first, but it got more and more annoying and downright outrageous the older they got, and Midoriya still made no attempt to accept that he would never be a hero. The nerd wouldn’t even try to work out, to make himself strong enough to even defend himself. How could he ever hope to be a hero if he wouldn’t even try to get stronger? It wasn’t in the books for him, so Katsuki looked at everything he ever did or said to Midoriya as a reality check, as him helping Midoriya to see that his dream of being a hero was only that—a dream.

And yeah, sure—maybe Katsuki overreacted when Midoriya got into UA with some all fucking powerful quirk that he couldn’t even control. But his anger was justified in every way. He thought Midoriya lied to him about being quirkless. Learning the truth about how he got his quirk didn’t really do much in helping him get over that anger, but he just couldn’t handle the fact that Midoriya had a quirk and didn’t even fucking tell him.

So yeah, Katsuki treated Midoriya like shit, but he thought he was justified in his anger toward the damn nerd.

But then—then Shigaraki tried to recruit him.

He can’t stop thinking about it. Ever since he got back, the nightmares have been fucking him up. They are all he can think about most of the time. They’re making him re-evaluate every damn thing he’s ever done in his entire life, everything he’s said.

And he tries to think about other shit. He really does. He throws himself into his training and his studies. He trains so hard that it’s impossible to focus on anything but the burning of his muscles, the way his body moves. He studies so much that he feels he could recite every mind-numbing reading assignment given to him. He even gives his peers more attention when they talk about whatever bullshit thing it is that has their attention at the moment—not that he’d actively show that he’s actively listening to them. But—he can only distract himself for so long before he has to go back to the quiet of his room.

And when he’s alone—well, that’s when his thoughts become a hell of a thing to be alone with. It’s when he can’t help but focus on the fog surrounding him, the one he wants so badly to say rolled in after the kidnapping. But he knows he can’t, knows that the fog was there long before that, thick and gray—suffocating. It’s when he’s alone that he realizes that maybe—maybe Shigaraki’s upheaval of Katsuki’s life only forced some of the fog to clear a bit, forced him to actually look at himself and see what he’s on his way to becoming, whether he wants to become a villain or not.

And that? That’s the most terrifying thing of all.

Katsuki wishes he could remember a time when he and Midoriya were ever really, truly best friends. Truth is, though, that he can’t.

The way his parents tell it, they were inseparable from birth until he got his quirk and Midoriya didn’t. And even then, Katsuki knows that he and Midoriya were still together more often than not, but…. Well, just because they were always together, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they were actually friends, does it? If you ask Midoriya, he’ll definitely tell you that it did. But Katsuki—well, Katsuki feels differently about it.

He knows he wasn’t always a little asshole to Midoriya the entire four years that they actually did get along—videos and pictures in both the Bakugou and Midoriya household can prove that—but he very clearly remembers deciding Midoriya was useless before they found out he was quirkless. He was a crybaby and weak and always so afraid. More than anything, though, he remembers being perpetually upset with the way Midoriya insisted on trying to help him every time Katsuki got hurt, as if he actually needed the damn help. They both knew he didn’t, but Midoriya kept insisting he did, even when he was always the loudest one praising how awesome and capable Katsuki was. It pissed him off to no end, so he called him Deku, useless, and he picked on him, encouraged others to do the same. Still, Midoriya stuck around.

And when they turned five, and Midoriya never got his quirk, well, that was it for Katsuki. Midoriya was Deku, and nothing Midoriya did or said could change that. Katsuki started to treat him worse and worse as the years went on and Midoriya still insisted he’d become a hero. His anger grew with every extended hand and offer of help from the weak, quirkless kid that just wouldn’t leave him alone. His words grew to be harsh and cut deeper with time, and his fists hit harder as he got stronger. Still, though, Midoriya stuck around.

And that, well…. No matter what his parents or Midoriya say, that’s not friendship. Friends don’t hit each other. Friends don’t tell each other how worthless and weak they are.

Friends don’t tell each other to take a fucking swan dive off the roof.

And looking back, that was a whole new low for him, wasn’t it? He managed to justify it then. He told himself over and over and over again that he was just helping the nerd see what he refused to believe.

And yet, that same very day, Midoriya still tried to save Katsuki from the sludge villain. Katsuki said the worst thing he had ever said in his entire life, and Midoriya still tried his hardest to free him from the gelatinous asshole when the damn pro heroes wouldn’t even come near him. He had no quirk, no support gear, nothing—nothing but a backpack, his hands, and such a strong desire to help that bordered on insane.

After everything that Katsuki had ever said and done to him, and Midoriya still risked everything to help him. The most fucked part? Katsuki couldn’t even thank Midoriya for what he tried to do.

And still, when asked how they know each other, why they have such an insane history, Midoriya still tells everyone that he’s just Kacchan, his childhood friend. And that? How Midoriya can say such a thing and actually believe it is so far beyond Katsuki that it might as well be a whole galaxy away.

Katsuki’s been here before. He’s seen this room a million different times, lived this scenario a million different times. But something feels…. weird about this time. Shigaraki and his cronies are still there, sure, but he can’t help but feel as if something—or someone—is lurking in the shadows this time.

And fuck if Katsuki doesn’t have killer senses because, of fucking course, he’s right.

Every League member in the room steps to the side, and out of the shadows of a doorway that Katsuki only vaguely remembers being there in the real hideout, a hooded figure steps into the light. He pauses for one second, hands in the pockets of the black hoodie he’s wearing, head down so as not to reveal his face. Then, faster than Katsuki can even wonder who the hell this guy thinks he is, he’s right in front of Katsuki, right hand wrapped around his throat. His left hand comes up, pulls the hood off of his head, and reveals himself—though, Katsuki really wishes he didn’t.

The man choking Katsuki is an older version of himself. His mouth is turned down at the corners, his brow furrowed, and his eyes are far more violent than Katsuki’s ever seen before. He opens his mouth to speak, and Katsuki closes his eyes and starts to fight back, tries in vain to break free of the death grip his doppelganger has on him. He wills himself not to hear whatever this fucked up version of himself is going to say. He hears it anyway.

“You think your dumb ass was ever going to be a hero?” Katuski can hear the venom of his own voice, wonders if this is really how he sounds when he yells at people. “You seriously thought that your sorry ass was ever going to be good enough to make it to Number One? You’re fucking pathetic.” He lifts Katsuki out of the chair he was sitting in, and Katsuki starts to thrash in his grasp to try to break free. The other Katsuki speaks again. “You’re nothing, kid. Fucking worthless.” He slams Katsuki down onto the floor, brings his other hand to Katsuki’s neck and squeezes tighter. “You’ve never been good enough for anything you’ve ever gotten, and you’ll never fucking amount to anything.”

Katsuki jolts awake, hands clawing at his throat to free himself from a grasp that isn’t there. He’s sweating, chest heaving. His throat is dry, and he knows he’s breathing, but he still feels like he’s suffocating. He doesn’t know what to do, how to stop the bone-deep panic that’s set in and won’t let go. He pulls his knees up to his chest and rests his forehead upon his knees, eyes wide and still breathing heavily.

In the months since the kidnapping, he’s had nightmares about it almost every other night. He works himself to the bone to try to avoid them, and sometimes he can, but more often than not, he wakes up in a cold sweat with a scream stuck in his throat. But this time—this is the first time he’s had this particular dream.

He’s dreamt of Shigaraki turning parts of him to dust, Toga cutting him and becoming him, Dabi unleashing his blue fire on him. He’s dreamt of himself fighting back and losing every single time. But this? What the hell is he supposed to do with this?

Katsuki’s breathing has finally evened out a bit, and he sits back against the wall, head tilted to look at the ceiling. He closes his eyes but opens them again almost immediately when he sees himself looking back at him, extreme hatred pointed directly at him. He brings his hands up to grab at his hair and pulls.

Before he can be pulled back into the panic of the dream, he jumps out of bed and puts on pants comfortable enough to run in and steps into his sneakers. He’s out the door and down the stairs before he knows it, doesn’t even know what time it is. All he knows is that he needed to get out of that room, needs to be moving. He doesn’t want to think anymore.

He doesn’t want to think about anything.

[hey-hamlet]

BNHA AU Ideas: True Might

Also on AO3! 

TL;DR:  Powers don't make the hero - passion does. Luckily for Izuku and Toshinori, this is something the quirkless have in droves.

AKA: All Might is a quirkless vigilante, One for All isn't a quirk that exists and 1A gets a whole 3-week buffer before villain's start kicking their face in as opposed to the 3 days of canon.

Basically: Quirkless!Vigilante!All Might and Quirkless!Successor!(gen ed) UA Student!Midoriya. It’s a riot.

Yagi is stupid strong, his only form in this AU is basically Muscle Form from canon, but he’s a little less ridiculously cut. Not quite chubby, but huggable. This is mostly because he A, isn’t a celebrity that needs to have a marketable image and B, he really likes carbs.

He’s not exactly a vigilante by choice, in his day and age quirkless kids weren’t permitted to apply to UA, either gen ed or heroics. When Nezu got the job, that all changed, but it was a solid decade too late for Yagi.

He’s admittedly a little bitter about it, but he refuses to do anything but his best. He might be a little snippier with Pros than he really needs to be but oh well.

Katsuki and Izuku are utterly enamoured with this crazy vigilante that just doesn’t lose, refuses to back down from a fight even when he’s outmatched, and somehow coming out victorious anyway, rescuing everyone. They have a tense relationship, but often find time to get together and just ramble about how cool All Might is, share theories and dissect his fights. It’s not uncommon for Katsuki to have been hurling abuse at Izuku during class, only to show up at his house after school with a backpack full of snacks and a notebook full of questions.

Izuku knows most of what Katsuki does is to keep his status in the school. If he showed pity to a dumb quirkless runt he’d be painted with the same brush. This doesn’t make what Katsuki has done right! Only Izuku doesn’t blame him because he’s way too forgiving.

Izuku is the smartest person Katsuki knows and vice versa – they are each other’s measuring stick. Katsuki shows Izuku bravery, Izuku shows Katsuki determination.

Episode 1 goes as it does but you see a real flash of regret when Katsuki tells Izuku to jump off a roof because they are kinda-sorta friends. Izuku looks so betrayed. We meet the slime villain like before, All Might saves Izuku and 100% doesn’t expect the kid to fanboy about him and ask for two autographs – one made out to a “Kacchan”.

“Can someone quirkless be a hero?” “The whole world will be against you. Most places won't even give you a shot – no matter how good you are. You’re better off picking something else.”

Izuku is crushed but he does understand. All Might leaves and Izuku trails off kinda hopelessly. He follows the sounds of explosions without meaning to.

It’s Katsuki! He’s dying! Like usual at this point lmao. Izuku rushes in much like canon, All Might shows up, pulls Katsuki free and slams a dumpster on the slime villains head before making a speedy getaway. The police rip into Izuku but Katsuki actually defends him. “You were doing fuck all while I fucking died – don’t knock the only asshole who tried.” Izuku quietly slips him the autograph before running off the scene. Katsuki cries because Izuku got that for him even after he was such a fucking bastard that day? He can’t bring himself to be a dick to Izuku again, even only for show.

All Might finds Izuku and he's like “Sorry I was an ass I was being a dick because I had low self-esteem – I’m quirkless. If you’ll have me I’ll make you into the best hero the world had ever seen

Izuku, obviously, says yes please!

Also, hypermobile Izuku with joint braces as support gear because just let me project please my arms are killing me ( I wrote this a while ago and yes. My arms are still killing me - yes even now). He gets them after All Might sees him miss a dodge because his ankles rolled beneath him. They support his joints beyond the normal range of strength, letting him do some crazy pivots and handsprings, making it easy to support all his weight on a single-arm with very little strain. They can also lock in place, lessening muscle fatigue if he needs to hold onto something for ages and preventing injury if he’s pushing against something. Produced by David and Melissa Shield and imported through Nighteye Heroics.

Is support gear illegal for civilians to own? Yes! But medical equipment isn’t so if you can just convince people its medical not support you can get away with a lot.

Yagi has no weapons himself, other than the random shit he picks up and swings at people, and has little support gear other than a communicator, panic button, and a whole lot of zip-ties.

Izuku should probably have weapons but I’m struggling to think of anything other than war fans because how cool would that look? Because Shonen they would also have the ability to create powerful downdrafts that would give a boost to a jump or dodge.

Probably doesn’t get them until later and needs to train with them.

In this AU, One for All isn’t a quirk. Rather, it’s a role, passed from quirkless person to quirkless person, the only people who can’t be hard countered by All for One. They tend to be vigilantes, crime lords or hero managers, doing their part to foil as much of All for One’s plans as they can, through whatever means necessary.

It’s a role with a pretty high fatality rate.

No one knows All Might is quirkless other than those close to him, they instead think he has a strength quirk. He’s the most prolific vigilante in Japan and is almost as much of a household name as canon All Might. More divisive though, with most people decrying his vigilante status when he could ‘easily make a respectable hero’. He’s also pretty brutal with his takedowns of some villains, leading a lot of people to call him an unregulated brute. Still more call him a villain which, legally he would be - were he using a quirk.

Nighteye is his contact in the heroics industry, gives him loads of inside info that’s typically not something he should be passing on. He’s still close with David Shield. Nighteye imports any costume parts he needs from David and leaves them at various pickup points for Yagi.

He went to college with David in America after Nana died; America having a quirk blind admission process helped - but he’d have gotten shit talked a lot if people didn’t just assume he had a strength quirk. Dude was and is crazy big.

David was one of the only people that knew he was quirkless

OH FOR FUN; Nighteye was also going to this American college and that’s where he met All Might. The three of them became the world’s strangest group of friends and may have lowkey done some slightly illegal vigilante work around the campus and surrounding town. They had a reputation for getting no sleep ever and being the most mismatched set of people

Secretly Smart Jock, Business Man with a Touch of E-boy, Science Hipster. They all tumbled into class together with varying levels of alive-ness. Nighteye and David were very much not morning people.

UA! It’s a ride. Izuku fails the practical but he’s not shocked – he was prepared for this.

He actually got like 30 hero points? But they refused to admit him on hero points alone due to his ‘deficiencies’. They don’t exactly tell Izuku this but Aizawa was there and he was furious.

Gets into 1C with Shinsou, Shinsou fuckin hates him on sight for reasons best known to him (It’s bc he was so god damned cheerful he just – assumed Izuku had a quirk. I love Shinsou but he’s more than a little judgemental). Izuku is like smiling through the pain because he just wanted to make a friend his age – Katsuki barely counts.

He sits with him at lunch and makes friends-ish with the hero kids who dragged Katsuki along, meets Ochaco again. She’s upset he didn’t get in – especially after he tells her he apparently got 30 points. The whole table gets mad on his behalf and hes embarrassed and happy.

Like day 2 he’s leaving gym and someone is like “Oh LMAO it’s Deku – he was in the year below me at Aldera. Only fuckin quirkless kid in the whole school; can’t believe he got into UA.” He turns to Izuku. “Who’s dick did you suck to get in you - ?” And Shinsou just decks him. He grabs Izuku – who is super confused fyi – and s p r i n t s. They have to stop after a while because hes having a panic attack and Shinsou doesn’t know what the fuck to do and he’s mad and upset and the sunshine boy is sobbing –

Aizawa shows up, having seen the (end of the) altercation and is ready to expel some gen ed kids he can’t legally expel – until he sees the two kids from the entrance exam he was interested in – including the quirkless kid who should have gotten in. Well he’s much more willing to hear them out.

100% requests expulsion on those 2 2E kids because that’s Discrimination and they should know better as second years. Nezu grants it because those 2 were di ck s

No USJ because no All Might – stuff like that will come,,, later : )

Sports Fest! Izuku and Shinsou kick ass, Aizawa is Watching. All Might may have gotten in as a crowd member with Nighteye and a visiting David and Melissa and they are cheering on their sun son. Also, Nighteye is going to go cheer on Mirio so he just got a pass to attend all 3 days of the sports festival. He’s just buying snacks on the second day because he’s never talked to one of the second years in his life.

Shinsou and Izuku make it to the tournament. Izuku has been training pretty seriously with All Might for a while now and hes a very good fighty boy. Makes it to the 3rd round of the tournament where he loses to Iida. Shinsou makes it second where he loses to Katsuki. Izuku is like “Iida might you be Ingenium’s brother or something?” “Yes, I am!” “OH MY GOD I LOVE INGENIUM ISN’T HE THE COOLEST” “YES MY BROTHER IS AMAZING” Shinsou is just watching while faintly amused.

[mattzerella-sticks]

Heart Eyes, Motherfucker (ao3 link)

Izuku knows that where Mei goes, trouble follows. And what Mei creates, will ultimately come back to bite him in the ass. Which is why he's wary when she comes to him, seeking help for an assignment. But when she describes her latest creation - a camera that can capture what a person is thinking - he believes there isn't any reason he should be afraid. By helping her with this, there isn't a way for it to blow up in his face.

That is, until the wrong person's photo is taken, exposing something that he would've liked to keep hidden.

           Izuku gently sets the camera down, careful not to trigger a hidden mechanism that might, quite literally, blow up in his face. The memory of Mei Hatsune’s last gift is still fresh in his mind, how the tiny, innocent earbuds exploded once he connected his phone to them. It sent him to Recovery Girl’s ward, and then for the remainder of the week Izuku couldn’t hear anything. Wariness lessens the blow from Mei’s frown, her disappointment palpable at how he didn’t immediately accept her camera. She’s gotten ahead of herself. “I’m not saying no,” he starts, choosing his words carefully, “I just want to know what it is before I do anything.”

           “It’s a camera,” Mei tells him, “It takes pictures.”

           “Is that all?”

           “Well, they’re pretty good pictures…” She taps her chin, eyes spinning wildly as she navigates the labyrinthine puzzle of her thoughts. Her expression shifts, a wide grin that almost splits her face in two like the sun breaking through dark grey and shining bright. “They’re actually better pictures than you’d get from an average camera! After the modifications I made to it –“

           “Yes, modifications!” Izuku interrupts, jumping into the fray before she shifts the conversation elsewhere. “You admit you’ve played around with it?”

           She huffs, a dial shifting inside that changes her mood again. Now, she’s offended. “I don’t play around with tech. I create. I improve. I succeed, Midoriya.”

           “Sorry, sorry…” He chuckles, rubbing his head, “That’s not… what I’m trying to ask is – this is an invention of yours, yes? Is there anything it does besides taking pictures?” Izuku thinks, trying to string together a more thoughtful question then ‘will it blow up?’ “Are there any tactical advantages to the camera?”

           “Of course!” She says, roughly snatching the camera. Izuku flinches, then sighs in relief seeing how it stayed silent despite her brusque movements. “It’s something I’m working on for a class assignment. They want us to create gear that can help heroes proactively take down villains, to keep casualties and damage to a minimum!”

           “And your idea was… a camera?”

           “It’s not just a camera,” she scoffs, holding it up and quickly snapping a picture of Izuku. He blinks, blinded by the flashing light. As he rubs his eyes, he hears the mechanical whirr of a photo being produced. “It uses the latest retinal technology combined with my own, copyrighted, software to capture not just a person’s face… but also what they were thinking of at the moment the photo was taken!” She waves the photo, Izuku’s face becoming clearer and clearer as time passes. “They say the eye is the window to a person’s soul, yes? Well now that really is the case!?” She laughs with shameless glee, drawing other students’ attention towards them in the sort-of-crowded cafeteria. Izuku’s face glows a deep red, especially when he catches sight of his photo.

           It’s his face, but there’s a marked difference between what he expected and what he sees. Instead of green eyes, Izuku finds two bomb-like pupils have replaced his irises, their fuses short and lit. This makes sense, as he thinks about it. Between the seconds her forefinger pressed on the shutter, Izuku’s only thoughts were ‘don’t explode’, chanted repeatedly.

           Mei studies the picture, snorting. “And this is why I want you to have it.”

           “Me?”

           “Every time I take someone’s picture,” she says, handing him the camera again, “they only show bombs!” She produces an immeasurable number of headshots from her pocket, each person’s eyes like Izuku’s. “I keep telling them that it’s not that kind of equipment, but they don’t trust me. I mean, I get it, but how am I supposed to score the highest marks if my experiments keep producing the same result! How can I learn from the data when it’s all the same!”

           Izuku understands her plight, reminded of similar struggles. It’s been forever since he was reminded of his first few days, where no one wanted to spar with him, afraid they might hurt him or encourage Izuku towards injury by using his quirk. Luckily that didn’t last long. If he failed at convincing his classmates at that time, Izuku doubts he would be where he is now. The only way to grow is through constant trial and error, whether human or machine.

           “Okay,” he says, “I’ll help.”

           Mei claps, thanking him while she speeds off and out of the cafeteria. Izuku watches her along with the remaining students, beads of sweat staining his forehead. His gaze trails from Mei’s exit to the camera in his hands. He studies it more closely than earlier, since he’s certain it won’t combust. Izuki then fiddles with the camera, shaking it, and accidentally takes a selfie that nearly blinds his left eye.

           He rubs that blurry eye while the camera prints the next photo, Izuku grabbing it immediately. Waving it around, Izuku uses his right eye to see what his left might express. Mei would be happy if she had stayed, since there’s a small camera that sits in the middle of his iris, and not a bomb. Izuku tucks the photo into his backpack, alongside the camera as he stands. There’s barely anyone in the cafeteria, the stragglers leaving him behind, meaning Izuku has a few minutes to get to class. He races to Aizawa’s room.

           The camera remains hidden for the rest of the day. Izuku dare not show the others yet, waiting for a perfect moment he can snag the most amount of people.

           Today’s weather helps, rain clouds hanging overhead herded all students indoors. After their final class, Izuku and his friends sped down the path to their dorms in a frenzy. All rushing to beat the rain that would inevitably fall.

           Thunder rumbles, announcing what will come. Izuku jumps over the threshold exactly when the first drop hits.

           “Well,” Mina pouts, leaning on a nearby wall, slipping off her shoes, “I guess we’re stuck here for the day.” Everyone nods in agreement, going about their usual ritual, trading in shoes for slippers. They begin moving deeper into the dorms, rumbling with plans for how to spend this rainy day.

           Izuku hurries to the front of the group, bag tight in his arms. “Actually,” he says, loudly enough he interrupts his friends’ conversations, “since we’re all here, I was wondering if you could help me with something – well… help me help Mei with something –“

           “Mei Hatsune?” Iida asks, a sickly pale sheen blanketing his features, “No – no, whatever it is – no.”

           “Iida,” Izuku sighs, “You haven’t even heard what it is I have to say!”

           “I don’t need to!” And, from how the rest of his friends appear similarly distressed, they don’t either.

           He works fast, removing the camera and showing it to them. “It’s nothing too crazy, or dangerous!” he tells them, “She needs pictures of people for a school project.”

           “That sounds… almost normal,” Mina says, stepping to the front of the group, joining Izuki. She snatches the camera from his hands, frowning at Mei’s camera. “Too normal for a support class project.”

           “Well, there’s more to it than that,” he explains, leaning in close and tapping at the lens. “She modified the camera, so that it takes pictures of what a person’s thinking.” He shows them his picture, with the camera reflected in his iris. “I was thinking about the camera when I hit the capture button, and that’s why it’s in my eye!”

           “So, the thoughts are shown in the eyes?” Mina asks. Izuku nods. “Cool…”

           Iida clears his throat, drawing the focus back to him. “If that’s all the camera does,” he starts, tone frigid enough Izuku shivers because of it, “why does Mei need you taking the pictures?”

           “Oh she… doesn’t have enough time,” Izuku laughs, lying, rubbing the back of his neck. He feels slightly bad, but reasons that if he told them of Mei’s problem, it might make some of the others experience similar issues. “I offered to help because, well – it has been a bit of a lull, hasn’t it?”

           “It has,” Mina agrees, looking through the viewfinder at her classmates, “And this is the perfect thing to spice things up!” She crouches low, at eye level with Mineta. “Say cheese!”

           “What -”?

           She slams her forefinger on the shutter, a loud click washing over the group. Mina impatiently pulls the photo free, waving it around with one hand while the other bars Mineta from advancing. His protests are ignored, Mina waiting for the picture to develop. Once it does, her concentration slips. She laughs, Mineta overpowering his limp arm and dashing past her towards the kitchen, overshooting them. “It works!” she announces, showing the others her photo of the smaller hero.

           Izuku steps into view, turning away from the photo in his next breath, cheeks red with shame.

           Mineta awkwardly smiles, a friendly thumb raised and peeking above the border. His eyes, however, were obscured by two pairs of large breasts. Izuku stared at one set, nipples pointed directly forward, and lost his nerve. He wasn’t alone, Iida and Momo equally uncomfortable. The others visibly appear awkward, yet don’t look from Mineta’s face.

           Tsuyu is the only student unfazed. Her head skews to the left as she squints for a better look. “The quality of the photo, kero, it’s amazing. They look almost lifelike.”

           “I think that’s enough,” Uraraka rushes forward, taking the photo of Mineta from Mina. She throws it upwards, steepling her fingers so it will float to the ceiling and stay there. “Why don’t we see what everyone else is thinking?”

           “Can we wait a few minutes?” Denki laughs, “At least let us burn that image out of our minds.” Everyone joins save Mineta, who flexes his hands on the bumps atop his head, gaze locked on the floating photo. Izuku drags him away from it, following everyone to the kitchen where they can prepare dinner and play with the camera. He makes a note to retrieve the photo later, and to draft an apology for Mei.

           When everyone feels ready, they continue using the camera.

           Izuku will admit, he wasn’t sure if he might succeed in helping Mei. His friends, dependable as always, proved Izuku’s doubts were misguided. Even Iida allowed a few pictures of himself, profiles of his brother or Aizawa swimming in his eyes. “We have that test coming up,” he growls, jabbing at their teacher’s face, “It’s a big one, I want to do well!”

           “You will do well, like always…” Kyoka holds the camera, glancing around the room for the next victim. There’s already a steady pile in the center of the table they commandeered, and a few more pictures floating above them. Mineta thought of little else, apparently. She nudges Denki, who sits beside her, “I’ve got an idea…” She whispers to him, an evil glint shining in her gaze.

           Denki timidly agrees, hesitance a striking feature on his face like the black bolt zigging through his blond hair. He stands, moving a safe distance from everyone else. Izuku watches like the rest of their group, perplexed, until a tiny spark erupts from his palms that soon becomes a storm much like what rages outside their dorm walls. Izuku glances at Kyoka’s excited and expectant face; he understands.

           Kyoka hits the shutter, then bowls over from laughter with how Denki dances in place. Izuku grabs the camera from her, helping develop the photo by shaking it. When it finally bleeds onto the small rectangle, Izuku breathes a laugh out his nose. There’s nothing replacing Denki’s eyes save static common on broken television sets. “Weirdly enough,” Shoto says, stationed behind Izuku at one shoulder, Tsuyu next to him, “I think that’s what he looks like without a camera, too.”

           They take a few more photos, learning a bit more as they go. Izuku brought his notebook out and took notes halfway into their trials, keeping track of observations to give to Mei. Like how the thoughts importance can affect size, proven with how Kyoka’s whole face was eclipsed by her guitar, and – when asked about her grades – two, tiny ‘F’s floated in Mina’s. There were also bugs the class managed to find, one being that the camera couldn’t pick up on invisible people. Toru, unfortunately, was excluded by the nature of her quirk. They tried including her, asking her to think of her face. Momo theorized that, since Toru can see what she looks like, if she thinks about that then everyone can see what she sees. The camera didn’t recognize Toru and failed to capture her thoughts. It did create thoughts for objects with face-like shapes. An accidental click by Shoto caught part of the stove, and because of the dials, the camera treated it like a face and ascribed two cacti-like stickers on them.

           “Who knew science could be so fun!” Denki cheers, showing off the latest photo to the group. Eijiro grins proudly, Crimson Riot’s manly figure posing in his eyes. He was surrounded by stars, another feature they discovered during the process. The camera adds symbols to better express thoughts, giving context to them.

           “I’m glad you feel this way,” Iida says, clapping him on the back, “Maybe you can take this energy and apply it elsewhere in your studies!”

           “…They’re not as fun.”

           Their group starts laughing, except it’s cut short by a slamming door. Everyone’s heads whirl towards the source of the noise. Izuku hears a low, growling string of curses that get louder with each stomp. It’s no surprise when Katsuki rounds the corner, especially since he’s the only one of their class who hadn’t been with them.

           He should have, judging by the damp state of his clothes.

           “Bakugo, woah,” Eijiro jumps up from his seat, “what happened?”

           “Stupid umbrella broke on my way back from the gym,” Katsuki yelled, throwing his smoldering umbrella across the room. “Cheap things… don’t know why my mom insists on buying these if they keep breaking all the time.” He glares at them, dripping onto the floors. “What are you losers doing?”

           “Well, we were –“

           “Forget it, I don’t care.” Katsuki brushes past them, a trail of water left in his wake. He enters the kitchen, still in view, but completely ignoring them as he roots through the fridge.

           “If you don’t care, why ask?” Uraraka mutters, sinking into her seat. She and most of the others return to their own worlds, treating Katsuki with the respect he showed them. A few differ, namely Izuku, Mina, and Eijiro. They continue watching Katsuki move about the kitchen.

           Mina holds the camera now, stroking the shutter button. “He’s obviously interested,” she says, “otherwise why would he ask?”

           Eijiro sighs, scratching at his temple. “Who knows? A lot of what he does, doesn’t make sense half the time. You should know that by now.”

           “If only we knew what he was thinking…” The camera rises instinctively.

           Izuku offers a weak chuckle, forcing the camera down with his hand. “Good luck with that. Kacchan will break the camera before you can even take the photo.”

           “Then I won’t do it,” she huffs, handing the camera off to Eijiro. “Kirishima here will.”

           “Me?”

           “Yeah, you,” Mina says, “Who else besides you would Dyna-meathead even allow in his personal space long enough to snap it?” Izuku agrees with her, absentmindedly nodding along with her rebuttal. “It’ll be easy. Go up to him, ask for a photo, then take it and bring it back here.”

           “But…” Eijiro looks from her to Izuku, “but… what if he breaks the camera?”

           Izuku shrugs, “I think it’s safe to say we have enough photos for Mei to use in her project, even if Kacchan ends up breaking it. Besides, that’s a sort of prototype, she’s looking to make a digital one – and I doubt Mei would send me off with that if she didn’t have copies of what was important.”

           That, and an encouraging smile that would rival All-Might’s, give Eijiro the courage to try. He winks at both him and Mina, scurrying around the counter that divides the dining area from the kitchen and into Katsuki’s bubble of personal space. Katsuki doesn’t flinch, chewing on a protein bar while Eijiro asks him a question. Katsuki yells at Eijiro, calls him an idiot, but doesn’t deny his request. Eijiro beams, holding the camera up and takes the photo. Thanking him, Eijiro returns to the group with both the camera and developing photo.

           “Give me! Give me!” Mina wrangles the photo free from Eijiro’s fingers, bouncing in her seat from the anticipation. The others show muted interest, curiosity piqued once Eijiro succeeded.

           “Damn, it’s just a fucking photo you rejects…” Katsuki joins them, leaning on the counter a fair distance away, “If you get all happy over that then I’m scared for what the future of heroes is gonna look like.”

           “It’s not a simple photo, Bakugo,” Iida tells him, finger raised as if he were giving a lecture, “it’s a special one from a camera modified by a support student. Apparently, it can take pictures of what people are thinking about.”

           “What –“! Katsuki chokes on his protein bar, hacking and disappearing behind the counter. Izuku startles, concerned, about to check on him. Suddenly Mina screams at his side, and Izuku’s attention is diverted.

           “I can’t believe it!” Mina cackles, “Ah! AH! Bakugo, Bakugo… you try and act so tough but you’re just a softy on the inside, aren’t you!”

           Izuku can’t see the photo with how wildly Mina flails, and he is the only one. Everyone else had their own chance to look at the photo, all varying degrees of shock rippling across their faces. Eijiro appears the most affected, shoulders shaking, a hand clutched tight over his heart as he wobbles on his feet. He might faint on the spot but couldn’t look happier about it. Soon Mina calms enough for Izuku to grab the photo from Mina. He sees what’s on it and is struck into the same stupor.

           He cannot see Katsuki’s eyes. They’ve been smothered by two gigantic hearts, cartoonish in their design with how they sparkle and glow. Worse, for Katsuki at least, two faces were nestled at the center of these hearts. On the right eye, Eijiro’s teeth are on full display with a large smile. On Katsuki’s left, Eijiro winks.

           Mina knocks her chair to the floor in her haste, uncaring how it topples. She dances, singing, “Bakugo likes Kiri… Bakugo likes Kiri…” After circling the table, she throws herself onto Izuku’s back, “Midoriya, remind me to thank Mei for giving you that camera!”

           “Mina, I –“

           “Fucking… Deku…”

           Time slows. Izuku inches his head to where he heard what sounded like gravel being dragged against asphalt, and where he feels sparks dust his cheeks. Katsuki recovered at some point, protein bar forgotten in embarrassment and anger. These emotions, needing an outlet, latched onto Mina painting the target on Izuku’s chest. He launched himself over the counter towards him like a lion would its prey. And only in the infinitesimal moment before certain death could Izuku notice his utter doom. He certainly can’t react or defend himself. Izuku, with his brief reprieve that grows shorter and shorter, can only muster a single thought.

           It’s hard to describe. But if someone were to take a photo of his face, with Mei’s camera, they’d see a skull in both his eyes.

[kerosene-insomniac]

To Be So Lonely

Pairing: Bakugou Katsuki x Midoriya Izuku

Warnings: Violence, mature language, homosexual behavior, alpha/beta/omega dynamics, major character death (not bakudeku)

Word Count for Chapter: 1,701 words

Summary: Midoriya Izuku has always wanted to be a musician. Something about the lyric working with a melody to convey his feeling just made his heart race. After his father died when he was three, Izuku has always relied on his mother. She worked two jobs to care for him and always supported his dreams. But when his mother is diagnosed with breast cancer just after he graduated high school, Izuku has to shift his focus. 

Now he’s working two jobs and takes care of his mother with the help of his gay neighbors. In an attempt to learn self-defense, Izuku takes a few classes at a local gym. It’s there that he meets Toshinori Yagi, an older beta who used to be a professional heavyweight boxer. Yagi notices Izuku’s potential and encourages the small omega to eventually go pro. So, in order to make more money, Izuku eventually agrees.

Bakugou Katsuki has only ever wanted to fight. Orphaned as the young age of four, Katsuki has been fighting to live for his entire life. Fighting is all he’s ever known. After fighting underground for a couple years, Katsuki is noticed by Todoroki Enji. The older alpha takes him in at 19 and names him the official successor of his legacy (especially since all of his actual kids hate him). 

Now, Katsuki is 25-years-old and the professional heavyweight champion.

In a whirlwind of events, Katsuki meets Izuku in the unlikeliest of places. He watches the small omega perform and can’t help it feel extremely protective and absolutely enamored with him. The older alpha gets to meet him and say goodbye without even learning the omega’s name. Katsuki isn’t sure that they’ll ever meet again. 

That is, until Katsuki officially meets Izuku at a professional lunch with his manager’s rival.

{OR}

The one where Katsuki is a professional alpha boxer with arrogance issues and Izuku is a stubborn omega that’s way little too reckless with his well-being. 

With a wacky cast of characters (including three idiots, a manly best friend, a traumatized bastard with daddy-issues, and many more) absolutely hell-bent on getting them together, neither men can seem to catch a break

{0.3} Special

“There was something beautiful about his scars, something lovely about his fallibility.”

― Grace Curley

K A T S U K I

“Square your shoulders.”

Katsuki ignored the monotonous voice and delivered three jabs to the blue punching bag in front of him. Honestly, he’s imagining the bag as Todoroki’s stupid face.

Stupid.

Fucking.

“You look tense. Maybe you would like some soba-“

Katsuki growled and dropped his stance, whirling around to face the other alpha. “Shut the fuck up, Icy Hot! Focus on your own bullshit!!”

Todoroki blinked, sipping his tea. “It’s not as entertaining.”

It’s been two days since Katsuki’s adventure at the bar. For some odd fucking reason, he can’t stop thinking about a certain freckled nerd and the bandages on his hands. To make things much worse, Shinsou has been ignoring his attempts at contact.

Now Katsuki’s training at his manager’s professional gym. He’s been with this manager for six years and wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon.

However, his manager’s son definitely makes Katsuki consider leaving.

“Stop pissing me off.” Katsuki grumbled, turning to face the punching bag again.

Todoroki chuckled, but the tone was still indifferent. “You’re the one getting mad, Bakugou. You should control your emotions better.”

Katsuki scoffed, using his forearm to wipe sweat from his brow. “Shut the fuck up. At least I don’t have a meltdown every time someone boils water.”

“You should come up with better comebacks.”

That was enough to make Katsuki freeze.

“I have enough survival instincts not to tell you. Stick to the shitty nicknames.”

Katsuki swallowed thickly, blinking multiple times in an attempt to snap out of his daze. Now, thanks to Icy Hot, his mind was preoccupied by freckles, green eyes, and the smell of chocolate cherries.

His mind had been a muddled mess since that night.

“Bakubro! You good?”

Katsuki snapped out of his daze again and locked eyes with a worried Kirishima. The other alpha was watching him with obvious concern.

He nodded. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound so sure.” Kirishima murmured, glancing at Todoroki. “You have a tournament tonight, so we can’t afford you overworking yourself.”

Katsuki immediately bristled at the alpha’s tone, his eyes flashing angrily. “Stop looking down on me, Shitty Hair! I don’t need your fucking pity and I don’t need your concern!”

Kirishima didn’t even flinch. “There’s no need to be so defensive…”

“Fuck you, I’m not defensive!”

“You’re just proving my point!”

“Fuck your shitty point!”

Todoroki, who simply watched the interaction with bored eyes, finally cleared his throat and made both alphas freeze. “Perhaps this is about the potential celebrity that’s supposed to be at the tournament?”

Katsuki’s eyebrows furrowed. “Hah?!”

“All Might is supposed to be involved in the tournament.” Todoroki murmured, pursing his lips.

That was enough to make Katsuki’s nerves much worse.

Todoroki ignored Katsuki’s gobsmacked expression and focused his gaze on the laptop in front of him. “Father had been raging about it for days. Apparently Toshinori has chosen a successor.”

“No way!”

Kaminari’ s voice echoed throughout the gym as he raced towards them with Mina and Sero hot on his heels. If Katsuki wasn’t so shocked, he would’ve yelled at the lot of them for running inside.

Yagi Toshinori, or All Might, had been a famous boxer back in the day. He was best known as the beta who took on an alpha heavyweight champion and won.

He was easily Katsuki’s favorite boxer.

Toshinori had retired years ago and disappeared from the public eye. He didn’t come to tournaments and definitely wasn't associated with the community. So the idea that he had chosen a successor was mind-blowing.

If anything, Katsuki felt jealous.

“Bakugou? You look pale.”

Katsuki snapped out of his daze and glared in Todoroki’s direction. “Do you know who his successor is? What’s his weight class?”

Todoroki hummed, looking at his laptop again. “According to the website, his name is Izuku Midoriya. Light Heavyweight.”

“He must be a beta.” Kirishima murmured thoughtfully.

“Actually, it doesn’t say.”

Katsuki stood up a bit straighter at Todoroki’s words, his heart thudding in his ears. “It doesn’t say? Everyone is required to list they’re secondary gender when applying.”

Todoroki shrugged. “It only lists his name, weight class, and type of fight. There’s no picture or mention of his gender. Apparently this is his debut tournament, but he’s been underground for the past year.”

“Is he boxing?” Mina asked, obviously invested.

The alpha sighed indifferently. “Kick-boxing. Honestly, I’m more excited to meet the beta who kicked my father’s ass.”

Katsuki huffed to himself and focused on the punching bag again. He wouldn’t be fighting All Might’s mysterious successor, but he had the urge to show him who’s boss.

What could be so fucking special about Izuku Midoriya?

********

I Z U K U

“Parry or guard, Deku!”

Izuku huffed and guarded his face with his forearms. He was sweating wildly as Uraraka directed high kicks towards his face. The green mouth-guard between his teeth was clenched tightly as he concentrated.

Uraraka had been doing this much longer than him, so her skills were a little more precise and powerful.

But she also takes a second to get her bearings after kicks or jabs.

Izuku waited a split second after her last kick to pull his left leg back and swing it to hit Uraraka’s torso head-on.

Uraraka gasped on impact, caught off-guard.

That’s all Izuku needed.

In quick succession, Izuku delivered three jabs and ultimately finished with a right hook to take down his opponent.

Sure enough, Uraraka collapsed on the mat.

Izuku straightened his stance, panting wildly as he used his wrists to maneuver the head gear off of his curls. He was sweating like a pig, dressed in a form-fitting tank and spandex shorts.

Uraraka was panting as well, spread eagle on the mat. “That was good, Deku. Wasn’t expecting a roundhouse kick.”

“I can’t let you win every time, Uraraka.” Izuku huffed, chuckling lightly.

Before the female omega could respond or even think of a witty response, a gruff and familiar voice spoke first.

“Excellent job, my boy.”

Izuku glanced to the side, where two betas had been watching the sparring match. Shinsou was one of them, sipping on what looked like iced coffee. The other, however, was Izuku’s teacher and close friend.

Izuku bowed, his face hot. “Thank you, Toshinori-sensei.”

“Your reflexes have improved quite a bit.”

Uraraka sat upright, humming in agreement. “Compared to yesterday, Deku managed to study my reflexes and react accordingly.”

Toshinori grinned, leaning on his cane as he walked over. “I noticed that as well. He’ll need that skill, especially since all the alphas tonight will try to crowd him and get a solid hit.”

“They'll have to catch me first.” Izuku muttered, wiping his brow.

The blond beta chuckled at his response. “That’s correct, my boy. If you stay light on your feet, then it should be fairly easy.”

Izuku nodded, still slightly out of breath.

“However, we do need to discuss something.”

This doesn’t sound good.

Izuku’s eyebrows furrowed in obvious confusion, his stomach already churning with anxiety. Toshinori looked serious and stressed, which was a tell-tale sign that something was wrong.

“Endeavor reached out to me today.”

Endeavor?

Izuku shared a glance with Shinsou and Uraraka. “What did he want? I thought he only reached out to try and challenge you to a rematch?”

Toshinori’ s mouth twitched slightly. “He’s very intrigued with the fact that I’ve been training a successor. He’s offered us a chance to train at his gym and spar with his successor.”

“Why would he do that?”

The elder beta shrugged, smiling lightly. “I think it might be his way of sizing up the competition. Personally, I think it’s a good idea.”

Izuku cringed. “Endeavor’s gym is full of raging alphas with pride issues. I really don’t want to put up with courting requests or the assumptions that I need extra assistance from them.”

“But he has access to better training gear.”

The green-eyed omega sighed, his boxing gloves feeling heavy on his hands. “I’ve heard of his successor, sensei. From what Shinsou has told me, he’s loud and aggressive in or out of the ring.”

Uraraka, who was watching the conversation, rolled her eyes. “Just give him an attitude adjustment, Deku.”

“It’s not that-“

Shinsou, who had been listening silently, effectively cut him off. “You’ve already met him, Izuku.”

What?

“No, I haven’t.” Izuku murmured, hopelessly confused.

The purple-haired beta chuckled, placing his iced coffee on a table before approaching them. “He’s the alpha who insisted on walking you home after kicking Dabi’s ass.”

And just like that, Izuku couldn’t breathe.

Hell, he couldn’t even process the information.

Blondie, who Izuku had pushed to the back of his mind, was nothing like Shinsou’s description of Endeavor’s successor. He was rough and loud, but he did make any move to attack him.

However, Blondie did assume that Izuku was helpless.

This can’t be the same-

“Deku, you’re mumbling again.”

Izuku froze, his skin immediately reddening as he glanced around the room. “Oh. I didn’t realize that I was….”

Shinsou raised an eyebrow at Izuku, grabbing a gloved hand and beginning to unlace the wrist. “I guess he made an impact on you, too. He won’t stop harassing me about your wellbeing, you know.”

“What?” Uraraka screeched, making everyone else wince.

Izuku sighed, ignoring the nervous flutter in his chest. “He probably thinks I need protecting. How does he know that you’re friends with me?”

The beta shrugged. “I was out with Denki and his friends that night. We went to the bar you perform at and Bakugou basically started drooling.”

“He’s sounds proper infatuated, Midoriya.”

Izuku groaned at Toshinori’s teasing tone, using his newly freed hand to rub his face. His bandages felt rough on his skin, but it was nice. “Not you too, sensei. I’m sure that this Bakugou person is just looking for a boost to his ego.”

Toshinori chuckled, obviously amused. “Be that as it may, I already accepted Endeavor’s request. We’re having lunch with them before the tournament.”

“I don’t remember agreeing to that.”

His teacher grinned. “I didn’t give you a choice, my boy.”

*********

[rosebloodcat]

I got up today and had an epiphany about BnHA.

The world of bnha is one where Prof. X's methods won, but Magneto's ideals were taken to heart.

Xavier and Magneto are the opposing sides from Marvel's X-Men, and as such the characters who've done the most in introducing me to how having super-powers appear could effect people socially, politically, and personally. And the extremes that things could be taken for each side.

Xavier believes in a world where Mutants and Humans can live together peacefully, and his Institute is all about taking in young Mutants and teaching them to use and control their powers to they can live normal lives. In the beginning he was also very much about helping his students learn to hide their powers too.

And he was a civil leader when Mutants were forcibly brought into the open and tried to help fight for their equal rights. (Pretty sure? It’s been a while since I read/watched X-men)

Magneto, on the other hand, believes Mutants are superior to normal humans (to the point of referring to Mutants as 'Homo Superiors' instead of 'Homo Sapiens') and that they should live separately. He fully believes that if he can't force people to treat them as equals, then Mutants and Humans can never coexist.

He runs the "Botherhood of Mutants" which is full of the young (and adult) Mutants who either agree with him, or just hate Xavier's side.

Xavier teaches all the mutants he finds as a normal school, but he also teaches them to control their powers and to use them to protect people if they have to.

I'd even say Xavier's school would have been considered the first Hero School to exist, if it wasn't for the fact that he wasn't actually trying to teach them to be heroes.

But Xavier is also firmly against the abuse of their powers. At first it's because mutants were still trying to remain hidden, but also because a mutant could do a lot harm to a normal person if they weren't careful.

It's a perfectly logical stance, right?

Magneto also teaches his Brotherhood how to use/control their power, but he never teaches them to hide it or to avoid harming others with them. In fact, he (sort of) encourages it.

He tells them to embrace their powers fully and themselves by extension. But most of the Brotherhood is basically his personal army in fighting for the "Freedom" of Mutants.

While reading bnha, I can see Xavier's methods and beliefs on the surface.

"Only use your powers to help people. Never use them for selfish/dangerous reasons. If another person with powers is causing harm, you must use your own to stop them. You mustn't use your powers on people without them. If your powers are too harmful/dangerous, you must learn to not use them or find a way to practice them safely."

Even with all the DC-type superhero themes slapped on top, it's really easy to see that a lot of Xavier's policies/lessons line up with bnha's.

Until we get to the Quirkless people.

That is where I see Magneto.

Quirkless people are the unspoken second class in that world. They are treated like shit. Talked down and belittled at every turn.

Always second fiddle to the people with quirks.

Even if we say Izuku's school was an exception in terms of severity, they showed the base mindset that society had developed about people without powers.

And I think that's why so many people are so quick to hate Bakugo.

Everyone else hides their bias behind a veil of worry (sometimes fake, sometimes real), but he doesn't.

Society has the same views about quirkless people as he does, he's just the loudest person who doesn't try to sugar coat it.

On the surface, everyone says the things Xavier did. But underneath? Those opinions have been twisted until they matched Magneto's views.

"People with powers being able to do a lot of harm" was twisted into "People without quirks are weak."

And there is a villain with that exact mindset.

All for One

The guy who could take and give away quirks to everyone and who forcibly gave his "pathetic" quirkless brother a power.

He also lived in the shadows of society for, like, 100 and some years? (I remember he was there for the early quirk era but don't remember how long ago that was in the manga)

More than enough time to plant people/ideas to try and shadow rule the world.

Or, at the very least, twist it so that everyone thought like he did about quirkless people.

(Basically, I'm saying he was the Magneto of bnha and probably secretly twisted things to make the world terrible for quirkless people.)

Continuing on the point I was actually getting to, that's actually the biggest problem with Izuku trying to be a Hero.

No one would ever actually allow a quirkless hero to be a thing.

Even though there are heroes who's quirks had nothing to do with their fighting skills (Sir Nighteye and Eraserhead/Aizawa), they at least have quirks. And people with quirks are "stronger" than people without them.

Even if he convinced Nezu let him into UA's hero course (by either the entrance exam or by transferring after the sport festival), no one would take Izuku seriously.

They would be shuffling him away or pushing him behind them because "That villain has a powerful quirk, Deku! You could get hurt!"

The people he tried to rescue wouldn't take him seriously. Because he doesn't have a quirk, and quirkless people are "weaker" than quirked ones. Who would want to be saved by someone they felt was lesser than them?

And honestly?

A lot of fans believe it too.

Izuku is always being given powers in fanfics. Even if he's not given a quirk, he still has to have powers.

Because only people with some kind of power can fight a powered person.

It's amazing, in a way.

Fans go on and on about how amazing Izuku is and how he could totally be a hero despite being quirkless if someone just gave him a chance! And then in the same breath they say "So I gave him magic/had him get experiment on/find powers that weren't related to quirks so he can be a hero now!"

I've fallen for it too.

And it feels a bit like we've missed the point.

They say they want him to be the "First Quirkless Hero" and then give him some kind of superpower to fight quirked people with.

Quirkless means no powers, and you gave him a power.

You have just voided your own statement.

There is only 1 exception that I seen to this.And that's the people who have Izuku Batman/Ironman it.The ones that have him go ape with support gear to combat not having actual powers, and those are the only ones where I'll believe them about Izuku becoming the first Quirkless hero.

(I think I lost the point I was originally trying to make. Lemme back track a smidge.)

I was first going into the X-man thing to say that Izuku's problems weren't just a lack of a powers. It wasn't just people thinking that trying to be a hero when he had no powers would get him hurt. He couldn't be a hero because no one would believe he could actually help them. Any attempt he made to help would have people either shrugging him off, or panicking and making things worse.

And this wasn't just true for being a Hero. Being a hero just seems like the main one because it's the thing Izuku wants to be the most.

This would probably hold true no matter what profession Izuku wanted to take part in.

If Izuku said he wanted to be a doctor to help people, everyone would say he'd get ignored for everyone with medical/healing quirks.

Disaster relief? He's get passed over for people with helpful quirks.

Search and Rescue? People with useful quirks would get prioritized.

Police? He'd be lucky to get out from behind a desk.

Hell, he could probably say he wanted to be an accountant and everyone would tell him that "A quirkless loser like you is too stupid to get a job like that."

(Though probably not in those words. Unless they were Bakugo.)

Basically, the world as a whole would see him as lesser for not having a quirk.

The cards would always be stacked against him.

All because he was born without powers.

And a lot or people seem to ignore that.

[nissakii]

"You can be a hero!" - The Strongest Hero BNHA Game Review

We’re so used to watching our favorite characters fight their battles and anime as we cheer them on relentlessly. We are always on the sidelines and hope they succeed in their endeavors, but we are never in the stories ourselves.

That has now changed with the new mobile game that came out recently based on the popular anime Boku no Hero Academia by Kohei Horiskoshi.

Welcome to: Boku no Hero Academia - The Strongest Hero.

Today, a week after the global release of the game, having played a little and explored some of its features, we will dive into what the game brings to the table, the mechanics of it and what you can expect!

Makii and I worked together on this, especially since we are both fans of BNHA and love to delve deep into these kinds of reviews.

So to start off, this game has had its global release on the 19th of May 2021 and was published by Sony Pictures Television for the US and by A PLUS JAPAN for the EU already on the 18th of the same month.

Many people have pre-registered for the game release beforehand in hopes of snagging rewards, and only quickly enough the first million downloads were established in a matter of days. No wonder at all, since BNHA is one of the most popular new generation anime. There is a huge fan base surrounding it who are eager to play the game.

Before the global release was initiated, it was released by the chinese studio Xin Yuan on December 3rd 2020, which resulted in many people using VPNs and emulators to experience the charm of ‘The Strongest Hero’. No wonder the game downloads skyrocketed when it was released globally in english (more languages such as german and french coming soon), it was recorded that the players had problems getting into overloaded servers, but those problems were quickly managed.

If you have no idea what the anime or manga of BNHA is about but are still interested, let me give you a quick synopsis.

In a world where 80% of the population are born with mutant abilities called “Quirks”, the job of the superhero became more than just a fantasy in comics. Now, the police are second rate as everyone looks up to the heroes who support and save the world.

Izuku Midoriya, also known by his nickname ‘Deku’, is one of the few Quirkless humans but still admires hero-work like nobody else.

Until one day the tables turn and he ends up with his own new power, now ready to go to renowned U.A. highschool for heroes to become what he always wanted to be: someone who saved lives with a smile on his face.

Now in this game, you are the one who steps into the shoes of a young aspiring hero who wants to climb up the ladder of success and defeat all villains in your way while protecting your people.

Are you stoked now? Let’s find out more!

The Game:

Advertised as an action MMO-RPG, The Strongest Hero brings not only one but multiple different player modes that you can enjoy alone or with friends online!

Firstly, it’s an immersive story-telling game that lets you relive the actual plot of the anime Boku no Hero Academia so spoiler alert for the ones who haven’t watched it yet, this game will be dealing with the Deku’s story throughout it all.

It starts off with the first episode of the anime, showing us recaps and recreations of the anime but in the game-animation with small bits of interaction to refresh our memory on the fateful incidents that made Deku a true hero. With this retelling of the story, avid watchers of the anime can enjoy everything again from a new perspective, and new people with no knowledge of BNHA can still enjoy the game just as much.

It was even mentioned that the story campaign will be dealing with the contents of season one to three so far, with more already in planning.

So the developers made sure that the game is not only catered to its original fanbase, but to everybody out there!

Now with Deku as the first person you play as, we fast forward to Izuku who is more advanced in his skill set, as he already uses his original ‘shoot-style’ and One for All Full Cowling. You’re now a provisional Hero who just got his license, working for your own agency and completing missions all around town, meaning there is a little skip between the beginning of the game and where you actually start in Honei City.

The open-world is huge and leaves all sorts of possibilities to explore as you not only defeat villains, but also talk to the citizens and maybe even collect trash to fulfill your duty as a hero. Not only Deku is at your disposal, but currently a lot of other class 1-A students will soon fall into your hands! As Toshinori was released as a hero in the last update on May 26th we can assume that there are more to come.

Game modes:

Single player: As previously mentioned, the game will immediately lead you through the single player story campaign, as you try to keep the city safe and sound by defeating villains and completing missions.

There are next to the main-story missions the daily missions in which you ensure the city’s prosperity to get more rewards daily.

With this mode you can play with a multitude of skills and combos and the handling on the phone is very pleasant. With a left joystick on the touchscreen and skill buttons on the right you can activate the swift and powerful attacks that we already know from the anime.

There are also multiple things to do as a single-player as you can collect your daily supplies in several missions which you will need for training your hero, enhancing your gear and more limited to 20 runs for each supply with several difficulties.

Hero trials, commissions and even more features are all available despite being alone keeping you busy for a while, as some don’t even need stamina to fulfill since stamina limits the player in the missions they can do.

And if that is all too much action you can simply explore the city on your own and search for special items on your way.

This is extremely interesting for the ones who like to play at their own pace and alone to enjoy a mix of story-telling and hack n slash combat.

PvP: Contrary to the first mode, if you’re more interested in actually playing against others, ‘The Strongest Hero’ won’t disappoint in its Player vs. Player mode.

Even here we have multiple ways to play, as the Arena takes on a more classic 1 vs 1 feel in which you can defeat other players similar to other fighting-games, or the Super Co-Op battle which allows you to play 3 vs 3.

Soon we will also know what the mysterious War Zone Co-Op entails, as that feature is still to be launched.

Other Co-Op features are also the Agency assessment, the joint operation and Emergency.

Emergency shows us more of the work of a hero, in which you suddenly trigger an event that is of urgent matter and has to be completed with a team of other players quickly. Time runs out, and it is all about the true work of a hero where you have to act quick!

There is truly something for everyone in here

Not just an MMO:

Truly, this game is a lot more than just an MMO, even though its open-world is a huge part of it all.

To get your preferred heroes and play them, the game has a gacha system in place for you to pull for your luck!

Deku is in the player’s repertoire from the start, and his skill-set is very dynamic and swift with less damage but a lot more speed. His comments are just as loud as in the anime, and if that doesn’t give you any satisfaction do not worry! Every hero has his own fighting style and can be explored by playing the missions in which you will quickly deploy Denki Kaminari and Kirishima Eijiro.

The game differs between three types of heroes: Speed, Power and Technical as the three examples Deku, Kirishima and Denki already represent each respectively.

There is also knowledge that there will be Pro-heroes and even some villain characters in the mix.

The skills range extremely from heavy handed to swift or long to short range attacks. Just as varied as the fighting style is, we have beautiful animations that display the Quirks and many possibilities to use them.

Done with all the fighting? Look at the adorable dorm feature in which you can earn more stamina and organize a dorm room for your heroes. You can even make their chibi-versions run around in that room and catch a break from all the hero work.

Although the story might pester you with it’s orange glowing button in the upper right corner, you can just ignore everything and explore the gorgeously crafted open world environment(in most cases).

Yes, you can even walk up buildings!

Of course there is an autofinding feature to briskly get you to where your missions lead you, but if you so desire you can look at the urban starting world and walk around.

Since everyone else will have Deku as their first hero as well, it is incredibly amusing to see all the other Deku's running about.

The starting setting is true to the anime and shows us urban and modern Japan, with a strong hint of technological advancement.

The preset graphics on SD will give you the ability to walk around smoothly, but if your phone can take it, I urge you to at least try to up the graphics to a better resolution. The scenery is truly mesmerizing, and the art style as well as the visual effects have a huge appeal.

It’s even nicer to look at for the ones who haven’t seen enough of the BNHA universe in the anime, because now there are an abundance of regions to explore and the developers have made sure to give us a lot of eye candy.

“You” can be a Hero!:

After all this technical talk, why should you play this game?

First of all, from what I have witnessed as an excited anime watcher and manga reader, the story is catered to include the player.

It’s a lot more different than just watching Deku go through the world, you are actually responsible for how the mission turns out. It’s exhilarating to see characters from the anime like Kamui Woods and Mt.Lady talk to you and ask for help, as they are characters we didn’t see all that much in the anime. It gives the impression to be needed and included which is a great asset!

A hero doesn’t stray away from any work, so yes you will have to pick up trash from time to time or just talk to people to assess situations! Still, there are a lot of cameos of other characters like Hatsume Mei who takes care of your support gear.

Second of all, there is a lot of freedom for you.

From all the different game modes and mechanics to the story and even the split up Co-Op modes, you will have a lot of possibilities to explore and find why you want to play the game.

One thing is for certain, the gameplay has something for everyone and gives adequate rewards to you for every mission or task you clear. Features get unlocked gradually through playing the story and leveling up, which keeps the player on their toes.

One mission quickly leads to another, and it seems there is no end to what you can do, especially in the beginning of the game.

Sadly, that is also one of the drawbacks I will have to mention.

Due to the immense freedom and possibilities, the game bombards you with a lot of information. As a first time player, it’s probably that you will get overwhelmed by the forceful approach of the tutorial, but after a while it definitely gets a lot better in my opinion.

My personal highlights are the gacha system as I love to collect and work to pull my favorite characters, the story as a fan of the franchise and the co-op because I love to play the game with friends. So far I haven’t had the ability to actually play with others, but from what I’ve seen it all has a lot of potential.

Even though we’re talking about a free-to-play game, since stamina is one of the necessities to play missions etc, it is very scarce and often drives one to want to buy it, which is why the game leans towards a pay-to-win game. Still, with a bit more patience and some hard work everything is playable for free.

All in all, I shall conclude that The Strongest Hero is an honest and great attempt at making an anime based game which held a lot of expectations from the fanbase.

The immersive factors are amazing, the animations are top tier and the possibilities seem endless. At the end of the day it’s a game that is playable regardless of how much time you have due to the auto-play-function in many features and can be enjoyed in your personal way.

I hope you enjoyed our take on reviewing the game and give it a shot! If you have played it already or are planning to, please leave your personal impressions in the comments!

What a Co-Op teatime! Hope to see you again!

SUUMASHU!!

-Nissa & Makii

[nobodywritesthings]

Some more random bits of trivia about With Great Power

Part 1

Might as well just… put this here.  Spoilers below!  I ended up talking a lot about the villain side of things.

All for One uses a quirk he refers to as “Clothing Swap” to replace Izuku’s hero gear in Chapter 1.  For some random reason, I made a description of the quirk that ended up in my notes, though it never became relevant again.  Here it is: Clothing Swap: The target may have any article(s) considered to be “worn” swapped with any other article(s) the user has seen them wear previously. The user may choose themselves as a target. The swap may be uneven - a hat can be swapped for a full outfit, leading to someone really overdressed, or a full outfit for a hat, leading to the opposite - but “nothing” is not an option for either side of the swap. Objects in pockets or similar places of holding may be transferred into similar places in the new outfit, if available; otherwise they will stay with the clothing they were originally in. See that part about the user needing to see the target wearing the clothes previously?  All for One’s been stalking, and Izuku would’ve been able to guess almost immediately if he heard the details of that quirk.

Speaking of my notes, I tend to name the random fic ideas I write down in order to keep them easy to reference in my notes (or head).  I don’t always use those names for the finished product.  I liked the reference to the quote, “With great power comes great responsibility”, that I ended up going with for WGP’s story/chapter titles; but I actually came up with that theme after the majority of the fic was done.  For most of the writing process, I kept it filed under “Kingmaker AU”.

All for One’s threats to Izuku in the first chapter were something of a bluff.  If Izuku refused to listen, All for One would’ve been in quite a pinch - he certainly didn’t want to kill or Noumufy Izuku, and he had the feeling that “lock him in a vault and make him listen” wouldn’t work any better here than it did with his brother.  He did have other plans in case getting Izuku to agree to parley failed, but he was massively relieved when it worked.  (Izuku’s threat in Chapter 10, on the other hand, was definitely not a bluff.)

Gigantomachia saw the resemblance between Izuku and All for One the moment Izuku opened his mouth - not just in the contents of Izuku’s self-introduction, but Izuku’s voice itself.  As seen in canon, he has a very dramatic emotional reaction to hearing All for One’s voice; and while Izuku’s isn’t an obvious match, he could hear similar notes.  This was helped by the fact that Izuku was very tired and decided to start making threats, and was consciously using All for One as a model for those.  Gigantomachia’s easy initial acceptance of Izuku was mostly down to this (”He speaks with the voice of my Master”).  Of course, Izuku’s speech about not proving himself to everyone who asked did make something of an impression on its own merits.

As for the rest of the villains, Shigaraki and Kurogiri were the only ones close enough to All for One to notice Izuku’s resemblance to him (or care; if Dabi had any suspicions, he kept them to himself).  It took a few days after Izuku was left with the dictatorship for Shigaraki.  Kurogiri, on the other hand, noticed years ago - but decided it wasn’t his place to wonder about it, so he didn’t.

None of the villains guessed that Izuku was a close relative of All for One’s.  They all thought, at best, that he was some distant relative who All for One had taken an interest in and who happened to suit his plans.  They were immensely surprised by All for One’s choice of successor.

Shigaraki and Kurogiri got emails after All for One disappeared, too, not just Izuku.  All for One drafted them beforehand, as well as a few alternate versions for theoretical scenarios that didn’t happen.  Shigaraki’s gave him some sarcastic advice on how to make nice with the new Overlord, which worked surprisingly well.  Kurogiri’s included advice on Izuku’s preferred coffee brands, which also worked surprisingly well.

All for One had discussed a few things with Gigantomachia beforehand and so didn’t bother with an email - namely along the lines of, “I’m planning to make someone else the Supreme Overlord in my place.  Do what you want, but your life will be short and painful if he doesn’t stay in one piece.”

Shigaraki and Kurogiri spent most of their free time after All for One disappeared trying to track him down.  Izuku won their loyalty over time - or more accurately, having gainful employment and being surrounded by decent people while trying his best to behave himself helped Shigaraki feel less inclined toward villainy, and Kurogiri appreciated being given a fair chance at all.  However, Shigaraki in particular had many questions for All for One, and Kurogiri followed his lead.  Gigantomachia them helped out for a while, until…

Gigantomachia saw Izuku’s “father’s” signature, and realized he might’ve accidentally stumbled upon a secret that All for One would be happy to kill half of Japan over.  He smartly refrained from telling the other two, and pulled back somewhat on his assistance in their search.

When Gigantomachia met “Hisashi” in person for that trip to America, he sent a panicked text to Shigaraki that he wasn’t offering any more help and that they should stop going behind Izuku’s back if they truly valued their lives and limbs intact.  This sparked their decision to bring their research to Aizawa while Izuku was away.  Yagi’s assumption that they were afraid of Izuku’s reaction was entirely legitimate, but that wasn’t the full reason for their choice of timing.

One more note about Gigantomachia: When Izuku had his panic attack in Chapter 5, the reason Yagi showed up was because Gigantomachia made a beeline for his office and told him that the Supreme Overlord needed his help.  Yagi ran.

I honestly didn’t expect for the villains to take up so much of the fic (or this trivia).  I also was hoping to have more of Aizawa and Class 1-A in the story.  But since criminal rehabilitation ended up being such a focus, the villains ended up being particularly relevant.  I’m still a tiny bit annoyed about it.

How much did Inko know about Hisashi?  He tried to give her a similar story to the one he gave Izuku once he returned.  However, she knew him and his views well enough that she managed to get out of him that he wasn’t “working with villains” entirely under duress, and that he had done a few things to earn the enmity of “people who were after him”.  She was surprised when Izuku made All for One tell her the truth about his villain identity, but less than Izuku expected.

I don’t usually have soundtracks for my writing - I’ll put on whatever music I feel like listening to, or even nothing, depending on my mood.  However, for Chapter 10, I wrote most of it while listening to “Devastation and Reform” by Relient K on repeat.  I think it fits the self-inflicted tragedy that is All for One’s existence pretty well, and helped me capture the right tone for his side of the story.

Alright, a cheerier note is in order.  Originally, Chapter 6 (now the Social Media Chapter) was an utter slog of exposition that made me despair.  I ended up scrapping it and rewriting it as a social media interlude that communicated the stuff I wanted it to communicate, but I ended up cutting along with it a draft of the scene Hatsume’s video refers to.  Y’know, the one where Izuku sets an attempted assassin on fire.  It was indeed accidental - she was hounding Izuku to let her make the perfect Supreme Overlord outfit, and had shoved an ordinary-looking watch at him when the assassins showed up.  He threw the watch at one of them and it exploded.  Hatsume got yelled at by a tired Izuku afterward for endangering the paperwork he’d have to fill out all over again.

In the Discord conversation where I mentioned the initial concept of this fic, someone proposed a scenario in which Izuku starts crying in the middle of the UN because some representative was being an asshole about how Japan was being handled, and then everyone else would jump in to go, “Nice going, Rick, you ruined a perfectly good Supreme Overlord, now he has anxiety.”  I therefore decided that I would indeed make Izuku cry at the UN.  This was how the UN chapter came to exist.  Of course, in my version, the tears were because of the support Izuku got, and the good guy was named Rick.

Izuku setting someone on fire was also a concept I got from my favorite Discord server.  Several other people had Izuku setting people on fire in their stories.  I decided to join them.

Finally… you know how I abbreviated “Supreme Overlord” to “S.O.”?  Yes, I’m aware that the abbreviation usually stands for “Significant Other”, and I decided to go with it because I thought it was funny.  And a good way to embarrass Izuku even further.

I think that got all the major trivia and a few minor bits too.  Though I probably can dig out other things from my brain if people have questions; my askbox is open.  Otherwise, I’ve got a new prospective writing project in the concept stage, so I’ll switching mental gears off of WGP, I think.

[solena2]

Hey y’all so I watched a YouTube video that I think was wrong, and as you know it’s illegal to be wrong on the internet, so I wrote a response!

Video is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8LF_KkrCJs

Spoilers for BNHA, in both the video and my response (which I wanted to put in the comments on the video, but apparently YouTube gets pissy about copypasting? Anyway)

Also, probably watch the video before reading this, since a lot of this is a direct response to the points they brought up.

—

I’d like to preface this by saying that you’ve made some valid comments, and that I understand where you’re coming from here.

My Hero Academia is, overall, a story about amazing people with amazing powers doing amazing things, and it’s difficult to see where someone with no power at all might fit in to this, which is the main emotional conflict Izuku faces throughout his childhood, that fundamental dichotomy between his wanting to save people, and his (assumed) inability to do so without a quirk.

But My Hero Academia is also a story that likes to repeatedly assert that anyone can be a hero. From Aizawa with his non-physical quirk, who primarily uses support gear to defeat enemies many times stronger than him, to Shinsou, whose quirk is seen as villainous, who would likely have to fight against other heroes as often as he would villains thanks to the prejudice that’s positively dripping from BNHA’s world.

So I’d like to explain why I disagree.

First, you begin the video by talking about the people who claim that Izuku’s getting a quirk ruins the story. I would like to make it clear, right off the bat, that I don’t hold this view. I believe that while Izuku having a quirk weakens the impact of the story and cheapens a lot of its messages, there is still undoubtedly a story there to be told, and one that is worth telling.

The reason I believe that Izuku receiving One For All weakens the story is because BNHA is all about the consequences of the kind of society wide prejudice that exists within its world. Every villain the characters face and every problem they overcome is one spawned by the very status quo they’ve spent their childhoods dreaming of upholding- the hero system.

Stain exists because heroes are held in awe by the general population without truly being worthy of it, treated as saviors despite being little more than glorified cops, which spawns anger and resentment from people intelligent enough to see past their facades.

Dabi exists because pro heroes are allowed to get away with just about anything so long as they’re covert about it, and in fact might have grown up to be a hero himself if Endeavor had been held to a higher moral standard by those around him, or had been appropriately punished for his behavior.

All For One exists because “strong” quirks are revered, and those who hold them are taught early to take what they want by force.

Shigaraki exists because those with “unpleasant” quirks are reviled and held in disgust by the general population, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation by outside forces due to their lacking support systems.

I could go on, but I’m sure you get the point.

In my opinion, BNHA has always been centered around the society quirks have created and the consequences therein. I dare you to find a major character arc that doesn’t intersect with the universe’s social issues in some way.

Thus, I believe the message that BNHA attempts to convey would be significantly stronger I’d Izuku had remained quirkless, demonstrating once and for all that quirks and heroism aren’t so intertwined as it might seem.

Instead, it shoots itself in the foot, saying repeatedly that it’s not a quirk that makes a hero, but rather their spirit, while at the same time leaving it implied that the most important character of all would never have been able to help people if not for being given All Might’s power. (Again, it doesn’t ruin the story, but it does hamstring the core message somewhat.)

You say here that Izuku getting saved by All Might is the only reason he became a hero at all, being “saved from his fate of irrelevance”.

This is… Not something I agree with, to state it politely.

Izuku was planning to attend UA’s entrance exam long before he met All Might. Given that he is, you know, Izuku, I don’t think any amount of shittiness from Katsuki would have deterred him from trying. In fact, trying despite the odds against him making it seem idiotic to do so is one the largest parts of his character.

The way you speak of needing to give him a “resilient streak” for him to keep trying despite All Might’s discouragement implies that he doesn’t already have one wide enough to suffer through 14 years of being told he’d never make it as a hero. With how much he’s already pushed through by the time the story even starts, I really doubt All Might would succeed again breaking his will any more than anyone else has.

You say that Izuku’s arc is all about facing the guilt of having reached his goals purely through chance while so many others remain downtrodden.

That’s valid, and I agree.

You also say that this is not a character arc he could have had without One For All, which is not.

Merely being the first quirkless person to make it into UA would likely start this, as he would definitely still have to get through the exam on rescue points, which could feel unearned to him, what with his massive case of imposter syndrome.

Thus, it would still be entirely possible to give him the same overall character arc he has in canon, and it might in fact end up even more pronounced, due to all the discrimination he’d face from the general public.

You say that for this Izuku to continue, even despite All Might’s rejection, he would already have to have the sense of self worth such a character arc eventually gives him.

This is not the case. There are many instances in real life of people pushing past impossible odds and still not feeling as if they deserve to have made it to the other side. In fact, what would likely happen is that he’d try to be a hero anyway and then feel guilty for attempting it even after being discouraged by his hero.

So no, he’s not Naruto, because the personality changes you propose wouldn’t actually be necessary to give him a fighting chance as a hero without a quirk.

The next big point you make is that it would be difficult to give Izuku the standard shounen power crawl without a cool quirk.

You’re correct that technology would have a difficult time stacking up to One For All without feeling like an asspull, making him a Mary Sue, or needing to give him a seemingly infinite array of gadgets, a la Batman.

Notice I said difficult, NOT impossible. While it can be much harder to turn technology into a realistic way to fight superpowered villains, it CAN be done.

Not to mention, there is already a character in BNHA who does it and does it well.

Aizawa doesn’t have a combat oriented quirk, instead fighting almost exclusively with the use of his capture scarf, using which he is shown to be able to take out upwards of ten villains, depending on where you want to pull from. I really don’t think it would be so unrealistic to give a quirkless Izuku something along these lines.

Not that we even need to. We can have Izuku beating villains without the use of any technology he couldn’t buy for himself. (At least in a place with lax safety laws, which I imagine his world likely is due to how pointless it would be to heavily restrict the purchase of things like guns when there are people running around who can shoot glaciers from their hands)

Ninety percent of villains are as vulnerable to getting shot as a normal human. If that’s too violent and bloody for the tone of the show, there are dozens of ways to beat the villains with things like hairspray flamethrowers, slingshots, and traditional weapons (just look at Stain). While quirks certainly are powerful, they aren’t perfect and every ability has a counter, even if it’s not always immediately obvious.

This eliminates the problem of him needing to get his tech from somewhere entirely. (Which is almost a con, because Mei needs more screentime, man)

Actually your point of possibly making Izuku a “super genius” reminds me of something else. Izuku has an almost supernatural ability to identify and counter quirks. Gee, I wonder how that could be useful in a possible plot line where he’s unable to rely on being able to smash his way through problems…

You say that if Izuku getting a quirk is an issue for BNHA, giving him overpowered tech would be a problem as well. Though I already solved this problem by proposing less tech heavy solutions, I’ve decided not to skip over this point because it seems like the right place for me to bring up a piece of context you may be missing for why some people are so against Izuku being given a quirk.

Let’s talk about the disability angle.

Now, as someone with mental disabilities myself, I’m not exactly unbiased here. I’m not going to deny that I have a knee jerk reaction to any story that gives a character a disability (or something analogous within the setting to a disability, like quirklessness) and then “cures” it while implying that they never would have gotten anywhere if their disability had persisted. This is actually why I took so long to get into the BNHA fandom, since I saw a loose outline of the plot and immediately went “oh hell no”.

I did end up joining the fandom in the end, simply because I’m almost certain that this parallel was unintentional.

Anyway, the reason why giving him an overpowered quirk and giving him overpowered tech are so different from a lot of people’s perspectives is that giving him tech doesn’t erase his “disability”. If you give a quirkless Izuku powerful tech, he’ll still be quirkless, with all the hurdles and challenges that implies. (Especially the discrimination related ones) Meanwhile, giving Izuku a quirk removes the disability entirely, as well as most associated difficulties.

I’m sure you can see why one seems so ableist, from a disabled perspective.

You say that you would likely run out of ways to meaningfully progress his tech, in a series as long as BNHA likely will be by its conclusion, but I’d like to point out that this is just as much of a problem with superpowered media. It’s very common in shounen for power progression to feel like more and more of an asspull as the story progresses. Thus, you solve the problem in the same way, by relying more on clever use of what the hero already possesses than you do on creating a new application or ability in every fight.

And no, I can think of several ways to beat both Dabi and Shigaraki without “science magic”. Obviously, neither of them are immune to bullets, though again, that’s probably a bit too quick for this show. You could take down Shigaraki if you could numb his hands somehow, or if you protected yourself with something made of many interlocking parts, like chain mail. You could beat Dabi if you used something like a taser, if you could get close enough to use it. You could also just find a way to outlast him, since he’s not immune to his own fire. Maybe bring some gasoline?

I’m going to skip over the points you make while talking about setting, since I don’t believe you’d have to alter the setting to make a quirkless Izuku feasible.

I will talk acknowledge one point you make while discussing setting simply so I can say: inequality and societal imbalance do not require much, or even any, actual disparity in ability to both exist and be prevalent enough to disenfranchise huge chunks of a population. Just look at how autistic and ADHD people are treated for that. (Or gay people, or women, or the Poors(™)...)

In conclusion, your opinion is valid but I think you lack knowledge of where most of this criticism is actually coming from, which isn’t something you should be ashamed of.

I think the reason mine and your opinions are so fundamentally different here is that we’re coming from very different places, and our thoughts on a piece of media like this are always going to be shaped by our environment.

Thank you for reading.

[gothfoxx]

My Hero Academia, any pairing, prompt: A and B are tasked to work on undercover mission to infiltrate a gala. They have to act as a couple to go in.

My apologies this took so long, I couldn’t decide what pairing to use. Then I realized lol rarepair duh!

The Gala was apparently about raising money for underprivileged kids with weak or non-existent quirks. A noble cause for sure but as their agency found out it was a front for a black market, a black market for selling pre WW3 art. The invitation they were able get a hold of had been for a couple who had been arrested quietly for buying stolen paintings online earlier in the month. It was the only reason the hero’s found out about this Gala in the first place.

Hero Deku and hero Phantom Theif had been chosen for this mission in account that they were still new and their civilian identities were relatively unknown by the public. To get into character the young heroes had been living as the men they were going as, living in their apartment, ordering from the same restaurants, wearing the same brands. They even dyed their hair to match the couple’s.

On day 1 Neito had set some ground rules, it had sounded reasonable to Izuku until the other pulled a whiteboard from his bag with the rules already written in red ink.

No hugs or kisses unless it’s to save the cover

Clothes are changed in the bathroom only

There must be a pillow between us while sleeping

Only use pet names other than dear for emergencies

No talking about the weather

NO ROMCOMS

Izuku could understand the first three rules, even if the third would be hard since he was a snuggler. The fourth rule was smart if they needed to warn each other without alerting anyone who might be listening in. But the last two were just weird, the weather was off limits? What if a storm looked worrying? Did earthquake count as weather? There were so many questions.

On day 3 Izuku found out the reason for #6 when he came in to the living room to find Neito yelling at the tv where two actors were kissing on screen. “Why would you forgive that lying cheating bastard?! He slept with your mother and then said he was working late ON YOUR BIRTHDAY!” Izu turned around and went back to the bedroom. Next to #6 he added an exclamation point.

On day 5 Izuku woke up nice and warm with a solid weight against his chest and knew he messed up on rule#3. As gently as he could he unwrapped his arms from the other’s waist and scooted back to his side of the bed. He felt bad but he couldn’t help that over the years at U.A. he got used to clinging or being clung to during sleep overs. 1-A had gone through a lot of trauma together and sometimes safety was found in knowing that others were there. He just hoped it didn’t happen again.

It happened every morning after but Neito slept through the extraction every time.

on day 6 they had a close call when during their trip to the store down the street villains held the establishment at gunpoint. Without their gear and because they couldn’t blow their cover the heroes were useless to do anything but wait on the dirty floors. Izuku fidgeted and mumbled anxiously as the thugs paced the isles demanding money and valuables. One stopped next to them, “Shut him the fuck up before I blow his pretty head off!” Snarled the lady with goat eyes as she aimed her weapon at Izuku’s (currently) purple head of curls. Doing what he could, without pissing the villain off, Neito pulled Izuku’s shaking form on to his own lap. “It’s okay sweetie, I have you” he hushed, hoping the use of rules 1&4 would pull the other out of his panicked state. It kind of worked. Instead of trembling and whispering the purplenett buried his head into Neito’s shoulder, breathing through his nose heavily.

An hour later they were giving their statements to the police, Izuku still clinging onto Neito like a lifeline.

On the morning before the Gala, or day 9, Neito woke up first. Something had tickled his nose and the sensation pulled him from sleep. Tucked under his chin was a mess of bedraggled purple curls, the owner of which was snoozing peacefully on Neito’s chest like he belonged there. And if his heart skipped a beat at the thought of seeing this every morning? No one would have to know. So after adjusting his position so that his partner’s hair was no longer in the way he drifted off to sleep.

Later in the day while Izuku was reading on the couch a weight leaned against him and the two would wordlessly tangle themselves so they both could read the scientific journal in comfort. If they spent the day like that no one would be the wiser and they didn’t have to tell. Dinner that night was homemade for the first time since the mission started, Neito was impressed by Izuku’s prowess in the kitchen. “Thank you for dinner dear, it is lovely.” He complemented with a tender smile that made the purplenett turn into a red flustered mess of flailing limbs. Neito wondered if green would look as pretty with that shade. “It’s nothing special! I cook all the time! I can cook for you again if you want!” Oooh, now they both were red messes.

They agreed to getting together after the mission, Izuku making dinner and Neito making dessert.

The evening of the Gala had them rushing around the apartment getting ready for the support team to bring them their gear. They still hadn’t gotten ready for by the time the knock came, “fuck-COME IN” Izuku calls throwing the last of the takeout containers into the trash. He could never live down the shame of having guests over to a disorderly house, even if they weren’t exactly guests and this wasn’t his home. The team let’s themselves in as he rushed into the bedroom, “Sorry about the mess!” Is all they heard as the door closed behind the purple blur.

On the bed were their complimentary tuxes set out in meticulous order. Seeing them out reminds Izuku that as soon as Neito is done in the shower he’d have to jump in. Trying to save time Izu whipped off his shirt and pj pants and tossed them into his laundry basket. Just as he realized that maybe he should have left his pants on the bathroom door opened and for the first time in Izuku’s life his brain stopped running a mile a minute. Steam rolled out, gaining a heavenly glow from the soft yellow on the light fixtures. The figure standing in the holy light was striking with a waxed chest, chiseled abs, and a trail of soft blond hair leading to his- “Deku shut up! Good lord, this is why we have rule two!” And that’s how Izuku learned that mumbles out loud even with his brain powered down and mouth worryingly dry. “You broke it too!” He shot back covering his eyes and turning to face a wall to avoid more awkwardness.

The team apparently heard everything because when Neito headed to the living room to get his under armor and ear piece they were all giggling. Taking the towel he was using to dry his baby blue dyed hair and flinging it over a chair he set them with a hard glare. “If you have time to be making fun of us then you have time to be working, let’s get to this.” He gritted out walking to the closest support member. They all shut up after that and helped him suit up. By the time he was done Izuku had joined them and was finding it hard to meet anyone’s eyes. With gear taken care of the team left them and headed back to HQ near the Gala.

“Can you stop acting like the world is ending because you had a Chargebolt moment? I’m a underground 18+ hero, it’s not the first time someone accidentally said something about how I look.” Neito sighs, he didn’t like the way it felt like Izuku wanted to run from him. They had to act like a couple for just a few more hours dang it, all this would be for nothing if they were awkward together now! “Though no one has called me a angel before, usually it’s unsavory or outright foul descriptions. It was nice, so please don’t feel so bad. It’s fine.” He reassures, it’s then he notes the disaster that is supposed to be a tie around his partner’s neck. “Dear come here and let me fix that for you.” He beckons.

Instead of walking over Izuku freezes up and looks at Neito with tears budding in the corners of his eyes. Before he could ask what was wrong though Izu asked with a watery voice, “People say things about you juss because you are an 18+ hero? That’s h-horrible! Have you reporded ‘em? D-do I need to punch ‘em for you!”. And that was probably the sweetest thing anyone outside of 1-B had ever said to him. He stepped closer and wiped Izuku’s tears away and started to fix the poor tie. “It’s not anymore we work with dear, it’s just so scummy thugs and those media hounds that did the same to Midnight. But you’ll be the first to know if I need someone punched.” The tie was one correctly now and the pinched look was gone from his partner’s face, the tears still threatened to spill over but that would be okay by the time they got to the Gala. “Let’s go be heroes.”

The raid on the Gala went textbook with only a few injuries on the heroes’ side. Dozens of pre WW3 art and documents were recovered. Their agency was praised for its efforts and for not losing any of the criminals or items. Their agency in return gave them time to readjust to living at home before they would be put back on patrol. It was customary for those who have gone undercover even for a small mission like theirs.

“Dinner was amazing! I’m so glad we agreed to do this.” Neito gushed, sipping the glass of wine he was holding. They were on the coach, watching a home improvement show with a team that specializes in apartment living, curled up in a loose bundle of warm clothes and limbs. “I’m glad too, that pie you made was so good! I could just gobble it all up!” Izuku laughs. He was going to miss this, heck he missed Neito for the last two day. Living alone hadn’t been this hard before even after high school when he went from sharing space with 20 people to 0. It was weird that you could become so used to someone being in your life so fast. It’s not like they coul-

“My lease is up in a few months. Would you maybe want to look for a place with me? S-so we can split the rent for a nice p-place. I mean the places near the agency are expensive for one person but if there’s two of us then it won’t be so bad an-“ Izuku started to rant before he was silenced by Neito putting a finger against his lips. “Yes. I’d love to share a place with you” he assures. “But we have to get a softer bed, theirs was so hard.” He adds with a seductive smirk. Well he was right, green was a cute color for that shade of red.

Rule #5 is because awkward small talk is the worst and Neito would rather sit in silence than try and force a conversation.

[bendyquirk]

@admin: r u gonna write ofa au dave details ?

OOC: so here's what goes down for this au alright! :3 buckle up everybody cause i have put a LOT of thought into this one XD  like nana and torino dont meet toshinori at all and toshi goes off to be like one of the first quirkless heroes so he's also like an underground type of hero like aizawa. sunshine man gonna batman his way into being a hero! so the fight with afo we see in that small short animation when toshi had to go to america at the end of his year at u.a still happens but its torino fleeing to america with nana in tow as she barely survives the encounter with afo there so they are there for a few years while she recovers her strength and does hero work there but she can't use ofa at its max anymore due to injuries. so she and torino have the serious discussion of passing it on so in case afo follows after them then the quirk would be safe for the time being. her meeting david was by pure chance, she was looking for someone to fix her hero costume and they just happened to run into each other. hearing about the work he's done she asks him to fix the costume and they become friends in a way like how toshi and david were and david making gear for nana to make it easier for her to use ofa and not aggravate injuries to incorporate it into her hero costume design. remember how i mentioned like afo coming after nana and torino? well he does end up coming after them to america after time has passed with david and nana getting to know each other and this time afo makes sure nana wont be able to make it. so david ends up finding her pinned under rubble and bleeding out. david trying to slow the bleeding so he can get her out and get help but nana just forces david to eat her hair so that ofa is passed onto him. like david wasn't even THOUGHT of to receive the quirk but nana knows she wont make it so david will have to do for getting the quirk which like until confirmed i also headcanon that one of the quirks in ofa is a durability type of quirk. cause for toshi to know that the quirk would rip izuku apart if his body wasn't ready was for it to happen to one of the previous user so i'm saying it was either black whip or the user before nana when they find out that happens. and the durability quirk is what saves david's body from being pulled apart when he inherits ofa because his body aint nowhere near ready to get that kind of power. so after david eats her hair nana tells him to go find torino to tell him what happened and he will help him from there, giving him a soft smile before she passes on, leaving david to go find torino with her torn and beaten cape in his hands to explain what had happened. torino helping david with learning how to control and use ofa once his body can handle it and he has light blue sparks coming off of him when he uses it as he finishes up with his college stuff which will help him with making his own hero outfits and support gear if needed. they would find out about the other quirks earlier on which i see david being able to adapt to black whip rather easy because of his bendy finger quirk. and because ofa amplifies the quirks of the previous users like it could amplify bendy fingers to where he could use it on his whole limb or the entire body even. 1- Pass On/Stockpiling 2- ??/speed or quicker react time? 3- ??/endurance? 4- Danger Sense 5- Black Whip 6- ??/ durability? 7- Float 8- Quirkless/Bendy Fingers in David's case 9- Quirkless/ For Izuku  this being me filling in the blanks on the other possible quirks until confirmation so like the years pass with david honing ofa and unlocking the quirks inside of it, getting stronger and becoming the number one hero in this case, his hero name being 'shield' off his last name. david being the kind of hero that knows the current system society has sucks and wants to show that nobody is above the consequences of their actions. like if he ever found out about what enji did then he would make it his mission to make sure that he pays for it like 'this is one thing this society wont sweep under the rug' and that's if enji followed the same things that he did in canon with him in this au.   now we are getting to the fight with afo and david and david legit would do far more damage to afo then toshi did. he's smarter, got access to the other quirks, smaller which makes him a harder target to hit for afo and david would make sure afo is dead.

like afo seeing this is going to be a serious fight when seeing david like this at some point during that fight the only words leaving david being "YOU WONT ESCAPE THIS TIME" Of course david wouldnt escape from the fight unscathed, not injured to the point toshi had been but still pretty messed up none the less. like to make this be dark and showing how far david was willing to go to make sure afo didnt escape this time was afo had got one of david's arms caught and was rushing towards him with an attack to kill but didnt see David then using black whip to not break his caught arm but SEVER it by crushing it and yanking himself free the rest of the way with his other arm using black whip to move out of the way.   david would still continue to do hero work after making sure afo is dead and he's recovered, not letting the fact he's down an arm slow him down at all. he has a prosthetic arm made he could use easy he just never does because he hasn't been slowed down by the loss at all. then things would play out a lot like they would in canon with david saving izuku from the hentai villain (sludge villain from epsidoe 2 & 3 cause we all know what it looked like there is why i call them that) and izuku asking if he can be a hero david not being harsh with it like toshi had with saying no he can't but is still going to be real with izuku on it like   David: wont lie to ya kid some villains just can't be beat without powers but i wont say it's impossible to be a hero without a quirk. a quirk isn't what makes a hero it's what they have in here that really is what makes a hero *pointing to his heart* i mean i got bendy fingers for a quirk pretty lame quirk compared to all the others out there but look at how far i got. if someone like me can make it in this society of heroes then you can find a way to make it work for you so like things would stay close to canon but with obvious variations to the story with david being the holder of ofa cause he wouldnt have a time limit on the use of it like toshi did.   david would be better equipped to help izuku better once the quirks start appearing because he's experienced them himself and would bring torino in to help much sooner, most likely during the training for the u.a exams. izuku definitely being horrified along with the rest of the class when they would discover how david lost his arm cause they'd know he lost it to a villain but they did not expect david doing it to himself and like he'd be like aizawa in a way with being a teacher, not wanting to crush the kids dreams halfway but also is going to be real about how things will be in this line of work so he would be in the middle of like aizawa and mic in terms of how he is teaching being real like aizawa but also trying to keep spirits up like mic does.he'd immediately be stepping in when the first bakugo vs deku fight got heated like it did just getting black whip to separate the two of them which would probably get some respect from bakugo because he would be the first one to seriously stop his actions towards izuku which nobody else has really done thus far.   david just slapping him on the back of the head with black whip if he goes too far or actively yanks him away from izuku like 'you listen here the world doesnt fucking revolve around you loud mouth! look youre going to have to accept that theres always going to be someone better then you but that gives you room to improve and be even better then before as long as you have something to motivate you' And that gets almost instant respect from Katsuki Allows him some more critical thinking. david taking time to focus on bakugo outside of class to work on himself and improve because mental health is always important to him so if any of his students need it he'll be right there.   helped Izuku with his confidence and self-sacrificing issues,being right there for iida when his brother gets hurt with the stain incident, Help Shoto with his own issues/smack sense into Endeavor. moment he sees mineta trying some pervy shit like 'get the fuck out of this class and out of this damn course until your actually ready to act like a decent person and not some horny dog' pointing to the door. david being the hero that will say nobody is above consequences and will make sure that people are heard regardless of if they’re hero or villain.