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A new kid was joining the class. Izuku was worried, but he was as hopeful as always. He was hoping against hope that the new kid would be kind to him, and be his friend.
The voice inside his head told him that he was an idiot.
The bell rang, and Izuku had his head in his hands, barely peaking at the door as it slid open to reveal his new classmate. He had fluffy purple hair, and deep eyebags. His gakuran was neat, and he held a mug in one hand and had a black backpack slung over the other arm.
Izuku’s homeroom teacher called the boy up to the board to introduce himself.
“I’m Shinsou Hitoshi,” he said while writing out his name. He took a deep breath. “And my quirk is brainwashing.”
Ignoring the whispers that had broken out, Shinsou took the empty seat next to Izuku, and laid his head down as well. He almost looked like he was taking a nap.
Homeroom concluded, and Shinsou still hadn't woken up. Since Izuku was a kind soul, he carefully shook his neighbor awake before the next teacher came in.
Shinsou roused from his slumber and raised an eyebrow at Izuku.
The green haired boy sheepishly smiled, and automatically started signing that the first period teacher hated sleeping students. He finished, and then his eyes widened in realization. He opened his mouth to speak, desperate to reverse what he did, when Shinsou signed a simple, “ Thanks. ”
Izuku smiled wide, involuntarily. Someone else who also knew sign! Maybe- maybe the new student wouldn’t be so bad after all.
~ ~ ~
Lunch came around quickly. People were ignoring Izuku in favor of crowding around Shinsou’s desk.
“You said your quirk was brainwashing, right?” Long fingers asked.
Shinsou nodded, looking like he’d like to be anywhere else.
Long fingers laughed a little. “If I had a quirk like that, I could do so many things and get away with them. They’d never know it was you.”
Shinsou rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes shifty and uncomfortable.
The jeering was getting worse as the minutes went on. If his classmates weren’t participating, they were sneaking glances and doing nothing to stop it. Izuku didn’t want to paint a target on Shinsou’s back by being his friend, but it seemed like it was too late for that.
Izuku got out of his chair and stood up, taking a deep breath.
“Leave Shinsou alone!” Izuku shouted.
The bullies looked at the angry 5’2 Izuku, and started laughing.
“What’s the quirkless wonder going to do, look at us?”
Someone else snickered. “At least the freaks can be freaks together.”
Now, Izuku could take anything. He could sweep up the spider lilies, he could burn the newspaper clippings with quirkless suicides dropped on his desk, he could take the pain and the burns and the horror, but he wouldn’t ignore someone else about to go through the same thing.
Before he knew what he was doing, Izuku was forming a fist and punching the person who had spoken.
Everyone was silent as Izuku took in what he just did. He looked at Shinsou, who was also in shock.
“Fuck,” Izuku said as he grabbed his bag, grabbed Shinsou, and booked it to the roof.
Shinsou collapsed on the concrete as Izuku paced back and forth, mumbling.
“So, what just happened? And who are you?” Shinsou asked.
Izuku stared at Shinsou, eyes wide. “Ohmygod, I’m s- so sorry Shinsou, I’m M- Midoriya I- Izuku.”
Izuku sat down next to Shinsou and brought out his analysis notebook, scribbling notes about a hero he heard about on the news last night.
Shinsou nodded as he opened his black bag to bring out an apple. On further inspection, Shinsou’s bag had a pair of yellow goggles obviously sewn on the top.
“Are those Eraserhead’s goggles?” Izuku asked.
Shinsou tilted his head.
“I’m s- sorry for assuming anythin-” Izuku started.
Shinsou snorted. “Stop apologizing for everything. And yeah, it is.”
Izuku lit up. “Eraserhead is so cool! I always say All Might is my favorite hero because everyone knows who he is, but my actual favorite hero is Eraserhead. He fights practically quirkless. If he can do it, then maybe I can too, y’know? Oh um, s- sorry for rambli-”
Shinsou rolled his eyes. “Stop apologizing. And he’s my favorite too.” Shinsou looked up at the sky as he took a bite of his apple. “He has a non physical quirk like I do. I want to become a hero to prove everyone wrong.”
Izuku nodded. “I want to become a hero to save everyone who can’t save themselves. The people in the shadows.” He sighed.
The two talked about a lot of things on the rooftop on that day, and on the many days to come. They didn’t ask why neither of them ever had lunch, nor did they mention Izuku’s wince as he moved his shoulders or the perpetual bandages under Shinsou’s sleeves. A week later, the two had planned to hang out at a cat cafe that Izuku loved after school. Hitoshi was excited to see the cats, although most people wouldn’t be able to tell. He got a specific gleam in his eye and his mouth twitched upwards when he was excited.
Kacchan’s glare as Izuku walked into the classroom wiped the content smile off of Izuku’s face as he hunched into himself, head low.
Shinsou glared back openly, head held high.
The school day passed as normal, and Izuku quickly hid his analysis notebook away before the bell rang. He didn’t want notebook 10 to be destroyed, it was one of his best ones.
Shinsou raised an eyebrow as Izuku stayed in his seat. The green eyed boy gestured for Shinsou to leave, so the purple haired boy did, going to wait at the gate for Izuku.
Izuku knew he was going to be in for a beating as Kacchan looked absolutely furious . He was Izuku’s childhood friend-turned-bully.
Kacchan punched his hands a few times to get his nitroglycerin sweat going. Every explosion made Izuku flinch.
“So, Deku, associating with the new villain?”
Izuku tried defending his new friend, but something about Kacchan made all of the words close up in his throat.
“I shouldn’t be surprised, you’re a useless piece of shit who hides behind others for protection.”
Izuku knew better. He knew better, but he still stared Kacchan in the eyes as he closed in.
“Maybe, you should go with the villain and die,” he said as his explosions ripped through Izuku’s gakuran and burned the tender bruise on his shoulder that had just started healing. It always hurt more when he looked up into the rage filled, uncaring eyes. Every time, Izuku hoped that a flicker of something would go through Kacchan’s eyes. But it didn’t happen this time, and it wouldn’t happen the next time, or even the time after that.
Kacchan, Long fingers, and Plain One walked away. Izuku felt awful about not knowing the lackeys' names, but by associating with Kacchan, Izuku really didn’t care.
He winced as he carefully made his way outside to look for Shinsou. His purple haired friend was hiding in the tree just outside the gates.
“Shinsou!” Izuku called as his friend climbed out of the tree carefully. Izuku pulled Shinsou into a hug with a big smile.
Shinsou couldn’t hide his aborted flinch, and Izuku spewed apologies as they made their way to the cafe.
“Midoriya, seriously, it’s fine. Just don’t touch me unless you call out first.”
Izuku nodded, before suddenly saying, “Call me Izuku.”
Shinsou stopped, and stared at Izuku.
He could feel heat pooling in his cheeks, but he pressed on. “Call me Izuku. I don’t like my family name.”
Shinsou nodded hesitantly. “Then call me Hitoshi.” He gave a small grin.
Izuku beamed in response, but winced as his shoulder throbbed.
Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at the wound. “Are you okay?”
Izuku rolled his eyes. “Y- yes. I’m p- perfectly peachy. L- lemme just-” Izuku pulled them into an alleyway and reached into his backpack to take out his first aid kit. He quickly used ointment and bandages to cover the burn up. “There.”
Hitoshi just sighed at Izuku’s prowess at bandaging wounds while standing up and in the dark. He shouldn’t be surprised, as he possessed similar talents.
The two of them quickly found themselves at the cafe, and talked, and talked, and talked. Hitoshi was like the cat whisperer, they gathered all around him. The apologetic workers had to kick them out at six.
“So, where do you need to be?” Hitoshi asked.
Izuku hummed. “Mom d- doesn’t like me when I’m h- home, so I’ll probably look for h- hero fights. How a- about you?”
Hitoshi sighed. “My new foster family doesn’t care where I am as long as I don’t die.”
Izuku nodded in empathy as he dragged Hitoshi into another alley.
He quickly took off his gakuran jacket and pulled on his favorite green hoodie. He also shed his pants, revealing warm black leggings. He pulled up his hood, and put on a black mask completing the look.
Hitoshi stared at Izuku, and then stared some more.
“Okay then,” Hitoshi said. Izuku giggled at his friend’s bewildered expression as he stuffed his uniform into his backpack.
Izuku tossed Hitoshi an extra black hoodie that barely fit the much taller teen, and Hitoshi pulled out a blue medical mask from his own bag to put on.
“So, why do we need disguises?” Hitoshi asked.
Izuku looked at him in confusion. “If we w- want to watch underground h- heroes, we need to do some illegal things. Like parkour across the r- rooftops!”
Hitoshi stared at him. “ What? ”
“I s- said , that if we’re g- going to go underground hero w- watching we need to do some p- parkour. I’ll have to teach you!”
Hitoshi nodded hesitantly. He wasn’t sure why, but something about Midoriya Izuku pulled him in, making him want to learn more.
“I’m going to grab your hand!” Izuku called as he did just that. He pulled Hitoshi to a fire escape, and helped him climb up.
“My arms hurt,” Hitoshi whined.
Izuku giggled. “We haven’t even done anything yet! Let me teach you the basics. When you’re jumping, you need to make sure your knees are bent at all times. The most important thing though is learning how to fall.” Curiously, any time Izuku was teaching someone or talking about heroes, his stutter lessened and even went away.
“Learning how to… fall?”
“Yeah. You’re going to fall, so you need to learn how to do it safely. The easiest way is to roll and disperse the e- energy.”
Izuku demonstrated by jumping like he was about to go do a belly flop, and then fell into a practiced roll.
Hitoshi took a step backwards at the uninjured Izuku. He was very worried for his own health.
Izuku gave Hitoshi a frankly terrifying grin, and Hitoshi swore that the skin on his knees and hands would never be the same.
~ ~ ~
They went out every night. They cafe hopped, and then changed into their night outfits. Hitoshi started bringing his own purple cat hoodie and took to wearing skinny jeans under his uniform.
After 2 weeks, Izuku finally gave him the okay to start actually roof hopping. It was exhilarating, but fun. On their nightly escapades, Izuku would point out every underground hero and scuffle going on around them.
It was interesting to watch, and Izuku would mumble out what moves they were using and how to more effectively take down the villains.
Hitoshi started picking up on those things too, by virtue of being around Izuku all the time. The two of them theorized together, and Hitoshi started up his own notebook. He was more of an artist though; he mostly wrote about how to improve costumes for practicality and sketched out new designs.
The two worked well together. They finished their second year of middle school, and that quickly turned into their third.
People were learning to stay away from them, since Izuku had finally gained the confidence to fight back. The two of them together were able to fight off anyone that tried to come for them. The bullies would not be easily dismayed, so they switched to barbed words and passive aggressive gestures.
They no longer brought out their notebooks during school, the fear of having them blown up or otherwise destroyed again too great.
Hitoshi and Izuku worked hard for their dream. They found a trash beach, and Izuku decided it would be a good idea to clean it up. Their muscles were always screaming, but they made due.
Sometimes a weirdly tall blonde man would watch them, and once Hitoshi told him to fuck off he never came back. It was really creepy. About two months before the entrance exam, the beach was cleared.
Izuku and Hitoshi stood on the sandy beach and screamed and cried in triumph. They completed something, and now they were stronger than ever.
Izuku glanced at Hitoshi. Shirtless sweat covered Hitoshi with a cool facade and an obsession with cats. Hitoshi who drew him pictures and made school more than bearable. Izuku loved him, didn’t he?
He was crying again.
Izuku collapsed on the sand, conflicting thoughts running through his head on loop. Hitoshi bent down to face him, tilting Izuku’s face up with his calloused hands. He smiled softly, and wiped away the tears.
“We did it Izu.”
Izuku nodded, and sniffled. “We did.”
“If we fail the exams, if we have to live life as unemployed vigilantes, we’re doing it together,” Hitoshi said as he outstretched his hand to pull Izuku up.
Izuku took the hand offered to him. “Always.”