Licensed Villains

Apologies

Izuku blinked at the phone number scrawled across the top corner of the page, then at Shinsou, then back again. A small smile stretched across his lips as he touched the ink briefly with his fingers. An olive branch. So much for not making friends, he supposes.

He spent the following minutes watching 1-A intensely. A boy with tape shooting from his elbows-- Sero, he believes his sheet says-- swings over and under pipes faster then anyone, his agility clean and precise. A different boy with several arms struggles to twist around some of the pipes and is beat out by a girl with acid who decides to slide across the metal with the application of her quirk. It's entertaining, but not a lot of change from their old styles.

"That Froppy girl is looking a little better," Komori notes as she comes to rest her arm on Izuku's shoulder. She points to the girl in question, Izuku's eyes shifting to watch her. She does look better, he can admit that. "She's using her tongue more."

"And is less hesitant. Look at the way she leaps without slowing down," Izuku tacks on.

Komori cocked her head to the side, her bat ears twitching. "Huh. Yeah, she is. Kaseki needs some more of that fearlessness."

On que, Kaseki groaned, plopping himself down on the ground criss-crossed. He put his head in his hands, mumbling, "I hate this. When can we do some real action instead of just hearing you two rant."

"When you put on your big boy pants and get into the hero course like Shinsou," Komori answered, kicking him lightly. He gasped and slapped at her shoe. Watching with interest, Izuku was yet again reminded how close the two are.

He's jerked out of his thoughts as Kaseki shouts, "Hey Midoriya, isn't that your girl?"

He sputtered, feeling heat rise to his cheeks. He waved around his hands, nearly dropping his clipboard as he protested, "She's not my girl! We're just friends."

He didn't have to look to know they were talking about Uraraka. When he did look, he was happy to see she hadn't exaggerated about the skills Gunhead taught her. Over her intern, she'd hardly texted him, having been to busy, but on the way to school from the train station she'd explained it all. As he watched her run towards the obstacle courses end, he could see how much faster her reflexes were, dodging pipes that came out of nowhere and avoiding classmates.

"We know she's not, Midoriya. We're just teasing," Komori joked, bumping her hip into his.

"Besides," Shinsou said, grinning in a way that was far from comforting, "if anyone's yours it's Todoroki."

His ears and cheeks burned more than before as he tucked his chin in, letting the longer of his curls fall into his face. Kaseki howled with laughter from his spot on the floor. Izuku heard a loud oof!, likely Komori kicking him again, having pulled her arm off him to do so.

"What? It's not like it's wrong? Have you seen the way he stares at him?" Kaseki snapped. Komori sent him a glare as Izuku sank even more into his embarrassment. He's well aware that his feelings for Shouto aren't subtle. Subtlety isn't a Midoriya trait, at least that's what his mom says. Even now he's aware of it as his eyes travel back to Shouto standing with the rest of his class. He's always pulled back to him.

The only comfort he has is that when he does look, occasionally Shouto glances up at him where their class is stationed behind the glass of one of the buildings (for safety purposes Mic-sensei claims). He'll stare, brows pinched together and head tilted. Then, he'll shake his head and look away. Izuku's not sure what to make of it.

"Leave the poor guy alone," Onishi said as she approached their huddle. He sneaked a look at her earrings. Blue ones mean Asami Onishi, red means Yui Onishi. Asami Onishi grinned, flicking at the back of Kaseki's head. Her grin is catlike in the sense it ran shivers up Izuku's spine, no matter whether her intent was kind or not. She jerks her head towards the current group running through the course. "Heard that one's going by Ingenium now."