Chapter Text
The excitement that came with his teacher sending him an offer still hadn't worn off by the time he stepped into the man's home. He had cooled his fanboy tendencies by the time he thanked him for the chance of a lifetime, but inside, he was far from calm. His eyes took in every detail of the man's home as he was shown around. A bad habit that he turned into a tool - or well, he had hoped that was the case.
The situation was that his teacher caught on to him doing it. Instead of punishment, he told him they would work on it. That made him even more excited - there was no way his role model gave him, of all people, a back-handed compliment. Not only did he do it accidentally, but it also seemed as if the teacher truly didn't mind his presence.
Years of hiding from the law made it difficult for Izuku to believe that others would see him differently than the assumptions of his weak self. His status only caused him to worry that they would all turn on him as Bakugo did. They'll never fix that mend, the fear consuming him as his friends added him to the group chat only confirmed it. Izuku was still scared of his past. Even with all the support from his family and friends, engraved wounds were hard to fix.
Deciding to dwell on those thoughts later, Izuku focused his time on the hell his teacher sent him through. Aizawa was a tough teacher - it made Izuku even more determined to meet the man's expectations. He's heard rumors from both his personal connections and underground about Aizawa's brutality when it came to life. Although harsh, Izuku saw the underline message clearly.
Having extra time to focus on his weaknesses was strange. He was used to seeing the UA teacher in two places. He either chased them through the alleys with the intent to capture or during their weekly meetings for the club. He often talked with the teacher to planned future events for their club - after all, everyone was doing spectacular. Their participation in the club made their hero work a little better. Despite their extracurricular activity, a lot of his friends decided to join internships to focus on those weaknesses.
All in all, they wanted to be prepared for the hell the teacher was sure to take them through. After the break, they'll be focusing on disarming techniques. They got the go-ahead to bring their work outside, so patrols around both schools would be regular to them. They couldn't actually go on patrols until they go their provisional licenses, so they came up with a safer, and barely, legal way to do it. There were heroes around these places at all times, so the crime rate was lower than any other place.
If something went wrong they had easy access to the heroes patrolling there. So they couldn't really do anything illegal. Well, at least that was what was said on paper. Aizawa made it very clear it wasn't technically Illegal unless they got caught.
He's starting to think the spectators rubbed off on him.
"You're spacing out." A bored tone interrupts his thoughts. Izuku quickly jumps to attention to look at the teacher that had him pinned down. Realizing he was done with that, he scrambles to get up and stare at the teacher.
"You leave today," He continues as if nothing had happened. "I expect you to keep up with the training. I won't be happy if you slack off for the rest of the week. Do these exercises until their second nature."
He nods his head in enthusiasm. He's not sure how, as his whole body protest against the abuse it wasn't used to. The teacher just made him happy - being his number one favorite hero for years could do that to you, he supposes.
"Go get packed. Your mom will be here in an hour," he said with a sigh.
"Yes sir!"
He rushes to his room and grabs a fresh pair of clothes. He leaps to the shower with an efficiency he had to gain with years of makeup disasters.
**
He had only taken one day to rest. After his body stopped protesting, Izuku took to the roofs decked out in his vigilante gear. He was meeting up with Hitoshi at their regular spot to patrol the area. Hero activity had been sparse, and with both their internship teachers disappearing, they didn't really have anything better to do. Besides, they couldn't let their pursuers figure out their identity. The reason he was so exhausted was not from his mentor's harsh training, but from going out even when he could barely stand.
The teal bodysuit hugged him as he jumped across rooftops. The sun was just starting to set, and he felt exhilarated. It's been a long time since he had done this - maybe at least a month? They were cutting back their vigilante hours to slowly but surely stop their acts of villainy. They were hero students, after all. Once they had the law on their side, they'll go back to these spots that were overlooked by hungry vultures. They refuse to become anything but what they are now.
He stops short of a building and waits for the familiar purple hair. After about five minutes. his boyfriend came and hugged him. They chattered for a while before a sound caught their attention.
"Wow! My own teammates against me!" Whined a distorted voice. The girl had both a spear and a sword thrown in warning at her.
"Fix your mask, Tanuki," Izuku told his teammate.
"Why are you here? You should be busy." Hitoshi glared as he collapsed his spear.
A ping of jealously ran through him. Sometimes he wished they had chosen someone other than Mei to make their weapons. She was more chaotic than all three of them combined: after all, she gave the klutz two katanas. Two katanas hung on his back because she refused to make them easy to carry. Hitoshi's spear collapsed, Torus brass knuckles could be easily carried.
To be completely honest, none of them have vigilante weapons. They needed protection since all of them present as quirkless - so they resorted to weapons. Allowing Mei to choose was a bad idea for everyone. The first time they encountered heroes, Toru tried punching someone and failed. Hitoshi had missed his throw and Izuku... Well, let's just say the heroes were not impressed with the makeshift bats.
After that incident, Mei made sure to add support to the blade. If he was going to use the weapon incorrectly, might as well make it his signature thing.
Izuku is still salty about that.
Mei knows this, she just doesn't care.
"Not till the night. I have some time to kill before I need to be back," She explained.
"Why did you take your vigilante outfit with you to an underground heroes base?" Izuku glared through his mask. Not very effective, but he hoped she understood.
"Accident. Packed it without realizing it and almost showed it off to the hero's face."
Izuku blinked.
"Tsuchinoko please kill me," He states into the earpiece he knows his friend was eavesdropping in.
"Can't. You know I don't get my hands dirty. Besides, we all know how you get. Why can't Tanuki?"
He groans.
"Fine, since everyone is here. We have a hero killer to track down. Bakeneko had an idea..."
"Hell yeah!" Toru yelled. Her orange wig swayed in the air as Toru volunteered to buy the needed materials.
They had a vine to recreate.
**
After tossing lemons down a roof at a pissed-off adult, the three of them scattered laughing.
The hero killer threw insults at the three of them, but for whatever reason, never really chased them. Izuku felt no need to think about the hero killers' thought process. When the three of them had tracked him down the first time, Izuku pledged to not question the reasons. He simply saved a life and moved on. When Iida had come to them about it, he almost thought that the killer's spiel has some mirth of truth. He went about it the wrong way, of course, but there was something. The league wanted to chat with him, after all, so hand man saw it too.
The three kept laughing their asses off as they hopped across more buildings. They were hoping to gain a hero's attention so that they could keep their training up. They didn't have much time with Toru, her free time quickly coming to an end.
Izuku found it strange that they had gotten this far without drawing attention. Something was up, but the three of them were having too much fun to really notice.
That is until a wall of flames almost knocked them down from their current building. "What is he doing here?" Izuku whispered breathlessly after almost falling off the building.
"Whose there?" Asked the worried voice of Mei.
"I don't know. He shouldn't be - he had no interns, and he defiantly shouldn't be here," Hitoshi said eying the person of interest.
"He's here too." Toru points past the smoke.
"Turn yourselves in, Specters of the Passageway! This is an official arrest from the government," The man angrily shouted.
"Fuck. This isn't good. We need to go, now." Izuku said passed his friend's panic. They nodded and started running towards one of their escape plans for emergencies such as this.
"Guys, what's going on?" Mei tried again.
Izuku had no time to reply as they ran for their lives. The absence of heroes meant that they had fallen for a trap. Not only were they screwed, but the appearance of both the top two heroes also made the team even more panicky. They weren't playing a game anymore - the commission really had enough of their shit. Izuku should have planned around this, he really should of. Guilt crept up from the depths of his mind - if his friends get hurt because of his incompetence as a leader, he doesn't know what to do.
They were trapped. "We need to split up" Izuku wheezed out as the heroes kept chasing them. In all the chaos he didn't see their older brother figure, Keigo, Aizawa, or Yamada. That brought a few moments of relief for the stressed teen. It meant that the four of them were on a completely different mission.
"We can't-" Toru tried.
"We need to! If we all get caught, our lives are done for. Her life is done for - we can't break that promise! We promised to be heroes of our own kind, yeah? We can't lose it now!"
They shared once last glance before they all went separate ways.
Izuku prayed that Endeavor would go after him. He couldn't let his teammates get harm because of one reckless mistake. Lessons from Aizawa came rushing through his head as the storm kept destroying his nerves. Please, please go after me. Be the prideful shit that you are...
As if he was reading his thoughts, the flaming hero gave a glance towards his comrades but ultimately decided to go for the leader. Izuku kept trying to run past the thoughts but the flame hero kept his guard. The chase begins and Izuku didn't think he'll return home.
Eventually, the hero cornered him. A child watching the fight was what made it happen - the careless bastard shot one of his powerful moves. As always, he didn't care about the damage. Jumping in the way to save the child, he felt the flames consume parts of his costume.
The girl watched him in fear. "Go on home," His natural voice swept through. The mask was destroyed, his clothing melted, burns started from first degree to third. He knew he looked like shit, he could feel it. "Your mama is waiting for you."
"B-but," She cried out. "You saved me. and your hurt. B-badly. Why did yo-you save me if the good guys are after you?"
"Cause That's what I do. I save people like you, and the heroes don't like it." She sniffs.
"Please survive mister Gyokuto... I have to thank you!" She said determinedly. "I won't get to do it if..."
"Don't worry, a few burns won't kill me, and besides, ill live long enough to hear that thanks, I promise you."
"O-okay. You'll make a wonderful hero!" She says as she ran.
The hero turned up at that point and they had a staredown.
"You," Izuku hissed.
"I should be saying that, boy."
Flames surrounded them as they stayed at each other waiting for the other to move. The buzzing in his ears kept going on, and he found it hard to focus. The only thing keeping him on his feet was spite and the promise to the girl. He kept his promises.
"I hate your kind so much." Izuku states.
"I should be saying that," The flame hero repeated.
"You're all just one-liners, not caring about the lives you kill to win. I hate that, and I hate you. The hero killer was correct in purging the heroes- I just wished he had gotten you."
Teal met Teal...
The first to move was Izuku.
The last thing he remembers before blacking out. . .
Was his own name.