Hey everyone! Hope you're all hanging in there with Coronavirus and whatnot. I know things are tough right now for everyone, and a lot of people have no work/school, so I'm going to try to update my stories more frequently so everyone has something to look forward to, okay? :)
That aside, this chapter is dedicated to all my friends in Europe, where things seem to be the worst right now. Stay strong, everyone. And stay safe.
On another note, I'm finally quitting one job and moving over to my other job as closely to full time as I can manage. Which means I won't be working 6 days a week for much longer. Which also means more time to write and sleep~! :D So look forward to that (I know I am).
Check out my Instagram (SilvermistAnimeLover) if you wanna see my cosplays! I've got Aizawa, and I'm piecing together a Midoriya, too. (I've got fangs for Swan Dive Shouta and Viridian Izuku).
Izuku sighed as he sat in his seat behind Kacchan. The two had walked to school together that morning (Izuku had stayed the night at Kacchan's house) and they'd gotten the rare opportunity to see a Hero Debut. Though Mt. Lady did take Kamui Woods' credit, the two were still happy to shout some encouragement to the disappointed man.
As a thanks, he'd given them both autographs, which the two had every intention of keeping until Kamui made it big. Then they would sell it for some extra spending cash and use that to further their own hero careers.
School had already been in for a couple of days, and people still weren't used to seeing Kacchan and Izuku as friends. The students would send them wary looks, and the teachers weren't entirely sure how to treat Izuku, now that their #1 pupil and U.A. Hopeful was taking the side of the one student they'd been allowed to harass, belittle, and torment (obviously, they hadn't had Dadzawa come in to defend Minizawa yet).
Even fewer people were willing to push Kacchan's buttons, though. Izuku's bullying had all but stopped. Though he still got notes and threats, he was so used to them by this point that he just threw them away without a second thought. Even Kacchan didn't know about them, though it wasn't like Izuku was hiding them on purpose. He just really didn't see the point in bringing it up to anyone. They were just notes, after all, and while they did sort of hurt, he had Kacchan and his family who loved and cared about him.
Izuku looked up when the students around him started kicking up a happy ruckus, throwing papers into the air and showing off their Quirks. Oh, the teacher must've said something about them becoming heroes again.
"Yes, yes. You all have wonderful Quirks. Now, settle down please, you all know you aren't allowed to use your powers at school." He reprimanded playfully.
"Speaking of... Bakugo, you're trying for U.A., right?" He asked, drawing Kacchan's attention.
"Yeah, what of it?" He replied lazily, as several students exclaimed how hard it was to get in. "Your point? I aced the mock test, and my Quirk is well suited for heroics. I doubt I'll have much trouble with their entrance exam."
Yeah, Kacchan had calmed down a lot over the time that the two had become friends again. Even his explosive anger was mostly quelled, due to some help that his parents had offered Kacchan (they knew a great counselor who worked miracles with both anger and ego). Shouta's exercise routine and meditation techniques helped a lot, too.
His dad had decided to help Kacchan a bit in his own U.A. training. He wasn't training him per se, but he gave him a workout routine to follow to help build stamina and the like. Kacchan and Izuku would spar often, as well.
The fact that Kacchan still couldn't defeat Izuku in an actual spar (even with Quirks) helped knock down his ego, and boost his determination to do better. Izuku was grateful. Kacchan could actually fit through a doorway, now, without his head stretching the frame.
"Oh yeah, Midoriya, aren't you going for U.A. too?" The teacher suddenly stated, and Izuku twitched in annoyance as the entire class burst out in mocking laughter.
"Actually, sensei, my name is Yamazawa, now. I'd appreciate it if you used it." Izuku corrected without batting an eye. "And yes, I'm aiming for U.A.'s hero course."
"You can't get in just by studying!" One student laughed.
"As if they'd let a Quirkless thing like you in!" Someone else mocked.
Izuku ignored them. They weren't worth his time, and he'd prove them wrong soon enough.
"Pipe down, you fucking extras!" Kacchan glared. "If you wanna antagonize a future hero so badly, then do it on your own fucking time. We're here to learn shit to help us get into the school we want to get into. So if you'd mind not wasting my valuable education, I'd really appreciate it." He sent them all a threatening smile, and the class quieted down.
Izuku may or may not have laughed.
After that, school went relatively smoothly, and Izuku found himself quickly falling into step with Kacchan as they walked back to his house. "So, do you think that rumor about the entrance exams having giant robots is true?"
"I don't know." Kacchan mused. "It'd certainly be interesting."
"I'll need to up my game, then." Izuku nodded resolutely. "I can't just Analyze and Nullify a robot, I'll need to analyze and destroy." He let a very Eraserhead-esque grin spread over his lips, causing Kacchan to shudder.
"Please don't do that. You look terrifying. Like Uncle Shouta."
Izuku laughed as they walked under a bridge. A quiet sound on the edge of his hearing made his instincts scream at him, and without a second thought, he shoved Kacchan to the side.
A moment later, he was surrounded by green slime, and he couldn't breathe. Fuck! Not this shit again! The muffled sound of Kacchan's voice reminded him to calm the fuck down.
This wasn't his first time in this situation, and he couldn't count on All Might magically showing up to free him like he did a year ago. (Seriously, what was with him and slime villains?!)
He forced himself to calm the fuck down, and reached a sluggish hand up, a smirk on his face even as his lungs screamed at him and his brain attempted to panic.
"To think I'd find such a perfect invisibility cloak! What a lucky day! Now I'll be able to escape that bastard. Thanks kid, you're my hero." Black encroached on his vision as he continued to reach up. Almost there... "What're you doing kid?!" The villain had an edge to his voice as Izuku's grin grew into a terrifying thing that'd make his dad proud.
"Stop! Kid, no!" The villain tried to expel him.
Izuku's hand wrapped around something solid, and he pulled.
A moment later, Izuku hit the concrete, precious oxygen filling his lungs as he coughed violently. Kacchan was at his side, rubbing his back looking pale, but Izuku leapt to his feet quickly, ignoring the way his head spun.
The villain's eyeball was held firmly in his right hand.
"Geez, can't you slime villains leave me alone?" Izuku asked casually through heavy coughs, loosening his Capture Weapon, which he wore at all times. (Detective Tsukauchi got him a warrant to wear it all the time, due to the kidnapping incident—they were still working on getting Yuki approved as his Hero Partner candidate). "First a purple one attacks me last year, and now you? Wouldn't happen to be related, would you?"
"Purple...? You mean you're the brat my brother tried to kill before he was arrested by All Might?!" The villain looked abruptly angrier, even with bloody slime seeping from what Izuku assumed was his eye socket.
"Guess I'm just unlucky like that." He sighed with a shrug as he casually tossed the eyeball up and down like a ball. He was scared, but he had to stall for time until his parents arrived. He knew Kacchan had called them the moment the villain showed up, and they were most assuredly already en route to their location.
He just had to make sure nobody died before then. He was still too shaky and weakened from oxygen deprivation to run any real distance, and he knew Kacchan wasn't about to leave him to go get help from nearby heroes.
Plus, Kacchan had been attacked and almost killed last year by the purple slime, so he knew that the explosions would do nothing.
He and Kacchan shared a look, a plan forming silently between them. They nodded together, agreeing on a course of action.
Izuku felt it coming before he actually saw anything. He immediately rolled to the side just as a new wave of slime hit the ground where he'd just been standing. Kacchan fired off a few explosions as he also dodged, drawing the villain's attention.
Izuku didn't waste a moment of time. He saw the opening, and with the villain unused to his sudden loss of depth perception, this may be their only shot.
Kacchan fired off several explosions to cover the fact that he threw something from his backpack to Izuku. He expertly caught the pocketknife and ran at the villain on silent feet. He'd never been more grateful for the experience he'd gained from those patrols.
The slime never heard him coming. A moment later, the villain's only remaining eyeball was split in two, and Izuku wasted no time in leaping back, using his Capture Weapon to pull himself to the other side of the bridge. Kacchan was by his side a moment later, a matching smirk on his face.
"Izuku!" A familiar voice called out, and he resisted the urge to look towards the source. He couldn't risk looking away from the enemy, after all. That was a rookie mistake that Izuku wasn't about to fall into.
A familiar Capture Weapon shot out, snatching him and Kacchan and pulling them back into the sunlight and into Shouta's worried arms.
Now that he knew he was safe, Izuku allowed his legs to give out. With a violent series of coughs and hacks, slime fell to the asphalt in large heaps. Oh, wow, that was gross. He felt a warm hand helping him heave it up as Pa incapacitated the villain with a loud yell.
After a few minutes, he sat back and looked to see Shouta, Hizashi and Nana Chiyo. "Come here, Dearie, and let me have a look at you." Nana said, looking at both of them.
"What happened?" Hizashi asked as he used a specialized piece of Capture Gear to gather up and hold the unconscious slime villain.
"We were walking home from school." Izuku explained, after taking a long drink from the water Nana had handed him. She continued to check him over as he spoke. "And I heard the manhole cover open. I just reacted. I'd seen similar enough situations on patrol before, so I moved Kacchan out of the way."
"Yeah, and he got caught for it." Kacchan glared, and Izuku shuffled his feet. "And my explosions did nothing, just like last year. First thing I did was send you guys that SOS. Zukkun somehow reached up and snatched the villain's eye out of his head, which made him spit him out."
Shouta, despite himself, snorted. Izuku tried not to grin as he caught sight of the disembodied eye sitting not too far away. For a brief moment, he had the oddest urge to ask his dad if he could keep it—just to see his reaction.
"I knew Kacchan had already contacted you guys, and I didn't feel like I could run to a more populated area, so I tried to keep him busy. Turns out, he's the brother of that slime villain that attacked me this time last year." Izuku paused. "Actually, now that I really think about it, it was a year ago today."
"What the fuck?" Kacchan blinked. "You're right. OW!" He rubbed the back of his head, glaring at Nana Chiyo. "Sorry, Nana. But seriously, what the heck is up with your cra— cruddy luck?" She nodded approvingly as she finished tending to Izuku and moved on to Kacchan.
Izuku shrugged. "No idea. Maybe this date is cursed? I'll probably just stay home next year." He decided.
"I'll excuse your absence in advance." Shouta noted, as Izuku continued the explanation.
"So then Kacchan and I came up with a plan, because we knew we couldn't capture him, get away from him, or defeat him, but maybe we could keep him from hurting us? So Kacchan distracted him with his explosions and tossed me his knife, which I used to take out his other eye."
"Then you guys showed up." Kacchan finished. The three adults stared at the two kids in disbelief.
"I want to ground you so badly." Shouta growled. "But it wasn't your fault. You both did exceptionally well in this situation. I'm proud of you both. Scared shitless, but proud."
Izuku beamed. He knew his dad only wanted to ground him to keep him close by because this was the second time Izuku had ever been attacked by a villain (if you didn't count the kidnapping or the Alley Incident).
"Not even a hero yet, and my son already has enemies." Hizashi muttered despondently.
"There, there. I'm sure he'll gain more soon enough." Nana Chiyo patted his back.
"That doesn't help!"
Izuku and Kacchan looked at one another, before they burst out laughing. Izuku smiled. Today wasn't so bad, after all. And unlike last year, he was able to keep his wits about him and save himself instead of relying on someone else to do it. It made him feel good, and was solid proof of just how much progress he'd made.
"Izuku. Katsuki." Shouta spoke up, and the two looked up curiously. "You've both got ten months until the U.A. Entrance Exams. I'm stepping up your training. Izuku, you'll be patrolling with me twice a week, now, and I won't stand for falling grades."
"HAI!" He vibrated in excitement.
"And Katsuki, I'm going to write up another training schedule for you. You'd better follow it to the T, am I understood?"
"HAI!" Kacchan looked just as excited.
"Good." Shouta nodded.
"But for today, let's all go get ice cream~!" Hizashi jumped in, a massive grin on his face. "We can even have Tsukauchi-san join us, since we need to go drop this guy off at the station anyways. After all, today makes one year since Shouta and Zuku met, right? So that's plenty of reason to celebrate~!"
"All right!" The two boys cheered. Izuku felt himself fill with an excited energy. U.A. They had less than one year, now. With luck, and hard work, this time next year, he'd be a student there. He felt the grin spread across his face for the third time that day, making Kacchan and Hizashi shudder. He locked eyes with his dad, matching grins meeting and growing. I'm ready.