Chapter 17

The tears are just beginning to subside when Ms. Shimura pops into view abruptly in their midst, startling both of them.

"Heya, kiddo," she greets him. Her voice is light, extra-gentle when she sees his tears. "Just wanted to give you a heads-up in case you were doing something important—Toshi's coming." She claps Izuku on the back. "Hey, I dunno if I said it loud enough earlier, but you did good out there."

"Thanks," he says, sniffling. "Do you think it got your friend's attention? Gran Torino?"

"If your little brawl in the ring didn't, then the finale certainly did." Ms. Shimura chuckles. "Don't you worry about ol' Gran. He's a crotchety old bastard but he knows when he needs to shift himself. He'll turn up."

"Good," Izuku murmurs, right as he hears his teacher's familiar footsteps approach. He's still crying a little when All-Might appears around the corner, and he hears his mentor sigh as he finishes wiping his face on his arm.

"You really do cry too much, my boy," All-Might says, gently chiding. "Everything all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Izuku says. "Just got a little emotional." He sniffs one last time and stands taller. Now that he thinks of it, he does have one more order of business. "I was about to grab my cat and head home, but I wanted to ask you something."

They start walking together, Izuku heading in the direction of the room where he left Mika with Todoroki. All-Might walks at his side, hunched and slightly unsteady in his true form. "What was it, my boy?"

"How do you think I did?" Izuku asks. "Before the part where my arm broke—I know everything after that was a mess."

A smile plays about All-Might's gaunt face. "Not too badly," he says. "Not too badly at all. You have speed and power even without your quirk, and you have an eye for finding openings. That's good." Izuku nods, paying close attention. "On the other hand, you're not quite fast enough that you don't telegraph your movements. You have a tendency to swing wide—an experienced fighter could predict you just by watching your chest."

"My chest?" Izuku glances down.

"Exactly. It's not quite as much of a problem with full access to One For All—your speed and strength increase to an even greater extent. But in this world, when strength and speed and prescience and what have you are par for the course, it's better not to rely on quirks alone." His teeth flash in a grin, and he winks. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Izuku finds himself smiling back.

All-Might hangs back out of sight when Izuku darts in to retrieve Mika. Todoroki is quiet, watching him through his bangs like he isn't sure where they stand, but he looks a lot less wretched than he did before. Mika's claws catch in Todoroki's shirt when Izuku takes her back, and he mutters out a sheepish apology.

"Thanks," he says, at the same time as Todoroki says the exact same thing. He nods, tucks Mika under his good arm again, and leaves.

All-Might spends the rest of their time together carefully critiquing his fighting style, with Ms. Shimura chiming in unseen and unheard, whenever he pauses long enough for her to get a word in edgewise. Izuku listens, taking in their advice hungrily. He doesn't have anything to write with, and his dominant hand is out of commission anyway; he takes out his phone and types notes into an e-mail draft, just to remind himself so he can write it all down later. The sun is starting to go down by the time they finally part ways. Izuku trades goodbye texts with Uraraka, Kirishima, Tsuyu, and a few of his other classmates.

Iida is strangely silent, though. He must be busy with something.

Izuku is finally leaving for home, with a cat on his shoulder and Rei clinging to his hand, when a breath of cold air makes him glance back.

"Don't know what you said to him," Hino drawls. "But you actually got him to pipe down so good job. Okumura, I mean. So. Point to you, I guess." He drifts along, slightly behind and to the side of Izuku. "Oh, and you threw shade at Endeavor. Another point to you. Most people, they see anything, they mind their damn business. But you? You've got stones."

"Not really," Izuku says. "Just no shame."

Hino laughs. "Well aren't you a kid after my own heart. Nothing to say about me and my harmless little pranks, I hope?"

Izuku stops and turns to face him. "Not really," he says. "As long as you aren't hurting anyone."

"Who, me?" Hino puts on an expression of pure innocence. "Not a fly. I just like to make the bastard's life a little harder, that's all."

"And that's fine," Izuku says. "I can understand that."

"Cool. Why the serious face, then?"

"Don't get Todoroki in trouble with him," Izuku says. "If you make him angry and he takes it out on Todoroki, I won't be happy."

Hino rolls his eyes. "Don't lose sleep over it, kid. I already have Suzuki on my case about that—and unlike you, I can't get away from her, and she doesn't have lungs so she doesn't need to take a breath or a break when she talks to me." He scowls. "Besides, I'm not like Okumura. My beef is with Endeavor, and his kids have nothing to do with it. And before you ask, no, it's none of your damn business, so don't ask."

"Okay." Izuku can roll his eyes, too. "Wasn't going to. I don't really care." That's not quite true, but something about Hino makes Izuku feel like being flippant. It must work, because he gets the last word, and Hino leaves him to a quiet trip home.

Mom all but tackles him when he walks through the door. He expects a worried scolding, and receives one. It's all he can do to talk her down from an absolute conniption fit when she sees the bandaging over his eye. The ghosts are a little more sedate about things; Ms. Morino and Mrs. Matsuda greet him cheerfully as he comes in, and even Kurosawa peeks out from the hallway before vanishing back to who knows where. To most ghosts, if you aren't dead then everything else can be fixed and isn't worth worrying about.

"My eye's fine," he assures his mother for at least the fifth time, as he offers what help he can with setting the table. "My face just got a little scratched up, that's all."

She huffs at him, still not convinced even when dinner is in front of them. She fills his plate for him, ignoring his protests that he can manage with one arm. "But why did you keep fighting?" she asks, her voice pitched with disapproval. "Even on the TV I could see that you couldn't use your arm anymore! Couldn't you have stopped? Forfeited before it got any worse?"

"No—well." Izuku hesitates, pretending that using chopsticks with his left hand is more of a problem than it really is. "I mean. Yeah, but…"

"Then why didn't you? It was only a contest, wasn't it? Why didn't you stop?"

Izuku pokes at his food as he tries to think of a way to explain himself without blurting out Todoroki's life story at the dinner table. Something tells him Todoroki doesn't want him shooting his mouth off about it. "You know how sometimes, when I'm talking to ghosts, I'll meet some who're… troublesome?"

She blanches a little at this. "Y-yes…?" She hasn't seen the worst of them, but she's seen how skittish he gets when the dead get pushy and mean. And beyond that, there are some things that can't and won't be forgotten.

"But sometimes—well, always—when they're like that, it means they just… need help," Izuku goes on. "Even if it's scary to help them. That's what I do, remember? Like you said… when I talk to ghosts, I can help people that nobody else knows to help." He looks down at his food again. "It was sort of like that. He needed help. And when my arm broke, I couldn't stop because I wasn't done."

She sighs heavily. "Izuku… I know you like helping people."

"Like" is probably the wrong word. He does enjoy it most of the time, and he's never regretted helping anyone before, but saying he likes it makes it sound more like a hobby than the nearly physical need it really is.

"And I'm proud of you," she goes on. "Never forget that I'm proud of you for that. And I know being a hero is all you've ever wanted. But… you can't always put others before yourself."

"Heroes have to be selfless, don't they?" Izuku asks softly.

Her hand thumps sharply on the table. "It's not about being selfish," she says, her voice surprisingly sharp. "It's just about staying healthy. It's about taking proper care of yourself so you can do things like—like leap tall buildings and rescue people and what have you. How are you supposed to do all that if you keep injuring yourself right off?"

Izuku blinks, and finds that he doesn't have an answer for that. All he has is a weird sense of deja vu before he remembers—Aizawa scolded him for this exact thing on the first day of school. And they're right—he can't save anyone if his first resort makes him one more casualty.

"I'll be more careful," he says quietly. "I promise, Mom." He feels his face flush with embarrassment. "All-Might kind of wasn't happy about it, either."

"Thank goodness for that," she says.

"He gave me some good advice," Izuku goes on. "On fighting, and stuff."

"Yes, I noticed—at the beginning, when you were fighting that boy," she says. "Who—did I hear right? Was that Endeavor's son?"

Rei growls softly, and the lights flicker. Izuku tries not to bristle. "His name's Todoroki," he says.

"Well, I have to say," his mother says. "I've never seen you fight like that."

Izuku looks up from his plate. "In… in a good way, or a bad way?"

"A good way, I suppose." She smiles ruefully. "You really held your own out there, for a while. Have you been learning that at school?"

"Some," Izuku says. "Mostly Ms. Shimura's been helping me."

"Oh." Mom sounds surprised. "Is that one of your teachers?"

With a jolt, he realizes that he's never actually mentioned Ms. Shimura to her. It's not out of any desire to keep things from her; the subject just hasn't ever come up. "Not officially," he says. "Actually, she's one of my ghosts." He pauses. "Well, not really my ghost?" With another moment of hesitation, he wonders how much he should reveal, and shrugs inwardly. This is mostly his secret, and Mom has been in on it for years already. "She's sort of All-Might's ghost, actually."

Mom's eyes widen at this. "All-Might has a ghost?"

"I was kind of surprised, too," he admits. "She was there when I first met him, and I've hardly ever seen him without seeing her, too. I still don't really know who she was—she won't tell me, and All-Might's never mentioned her. But I think she might've been a friend of his." His voice trails off. He's fairly sure she was a hero herself, and if she is and she died in the line of duty, well… that's just more evidence of how dangerous the hero life really is. "Anyway, she's pretty tough, and she's been showing me how to fight."

"Well, I'm glad she's so helpful," Mom says. "Does she know anything about… about your quirk? Your new one, I mean."

"I think so. I mean, if she's been following All-Might around then she has to. But I don't know if she can really teach me how to use it."

"Too bad," she sighs. "You'll just have to pick All-Might's brain a little more."

"Oh, I plan to. I'll try and pick Ms. Shimura's brains, too. I'll bet anything she knows something."

"Well, she sounds nice."

Izuku snorts around his mouthful. "She keeps ragging on me for being short."

Mom giggles at this, and the laughter eases her worry lines.

Elsewhere, another tired young student has a somewhat less pleasant evening.

It's late when Shouto can finally collapse into bed. Unfortunately, he's just exhausted enough to do so facedown, only to flip over with a groan of pain, both hands pressed gingerly against his face. The splint is still in place, and he's under strict orders from Recovery Girl to leave his nose alone and ice it if it starts swelling again.

He's also under strict orders to rest, and honestly he would have loved to, but after his loss today, his father saw fit to squeeze in one more training session after he got home.

Simply put, he's exhausted, though at least his aching body is finally balanced—he hurts on both sides now. Everything hurts, and it's a good thing there's one more weekend day left because it's only going to be worse tomorrow.

He's not sure where his silver medal is. Probably in the trash somewhere; the old man's pretty sore about him coming in second. But that's fine. It didn't mean much to him. He didn't really want it anyway.

There are things that feel more important to him. Like having a good night's sleep, and trying to figure himself out all over again, after today.

Like maybe, visiting his mother tomorrow.

Sleep first, if he can manage it. He's exhausted, but the thoughts in his head are tied into messy Gordian knots that may very well keep him up no matter how heavy his entire body is, never mind his eyelids.

Tap tap.

Shouto sits bolt upright on his futon. He's on his feet in half a second, cold air gathering at his right hand as he whips around to face the would-be intruder.

He sees the face watching him from outside his bedroom window, and his mouth drops open. His hand falls to his side.

It takes a moment for his mouth to start working again.

"What."

Tap tap tap. It's the sound of a padded paw rapping at his window as its owner stares at him expectantly through a single blue eye.

It can't be.

Shouto crosses the room, hesitates as he listens for any sounds indicating that his father might be coming to check on him, and finally opens the window.

It can't be anyone else. Shouto doubts there are a lot of cats in the city with one blue eye, faded calico fur, and a bright purple collar with a familiar silver tag. She steps daintily through his open window and leaps down to land lightly on his bedroom floor, before immediately turning around to rub herself against his ankle.

"What are you doing here?" he hisses as quietly as he can, which is pointless and stupid because he's risking alerting his father in order to talk to an animal that isn't about to talk back. "He'll skin you alive if he catches you in here!"

Mika seats herself at his feet and gazes up at him, and that's just not fair. A one-eyed cat should not be that cute. There must be some kind of rule that's breaking.

Shouto stares back, at a complete loss for what to do with this. When it becomes clear to Mika that there's no petting forthcoming, she turns and pads over to make herself at home on his pillow.

He covers his face—carefully, so as not to press his injured nose—and ponders his life and his choices that have led up to this moment. It's official. He's lost control of his life.

Sleep is, sadly, postponed. Shouto fumbles out his phone, and realizes belatedly that he has no idea how to contact Midoriya.

Luckily, both class reps traded numbers with everyone shortly after the election. Text messages to Iida yield no results, but he gets lucky when Yaoyorozu gets back to him and offers up the phone number without asking for too many details.

[11:28] Shouto:

Where is your cat right now.

[11:29] Midoriya:

??????

[11: 29] Shouto:

This is Todoroki. Do you know where your cat is right now.

[11: 31] Midoriya:

no??? i've been looking for her for like an hour, she slips out sometimes.

wait why

[11:32] Shouto:

Photo sent.

[11:32] Midoriya:

??????!!!!!???

[11:32] Shouto:

Midoriya why is your cat commandeering my futon.

How did your cat find out where I live.

[11:33] Midoriya:

that

is an excellent question that i dont know the answer to

i am so sorry wait this isn't going to get you int rouble is it??

[11: 34] Shouto:

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure he's done with me for the day.

My door has a lock so at least if he tries to bother me in the morning I'll have time to hide her or get her back out the window.

[11:35] Midoriya:

i am so, so sorry about this.

[11:36] Shouto:

Just text me your address so I can bring her tomorrow morning. I'll be there by 8.

Midoriya does so, and Shouto turns back to the interloper sprawled comfortably over his pillow. Thank God she isn't making too much noise. He carefully locks his door. His father won't be happy if he tries to open it, but he'll be a lot less happy if he barges in and finds Shouto hiding a cat in his room.

"You're causing me a lot of trouble," he mutters as he sits back down on his futon, legs crossed. Mika responds by climbing into his lap and making herself comfortable in the V of his left leg. Resigned, he pets her. "Weird cat. Guess that makes sense, if you're Midoriya's." She purrs at him, and he wonders if she recognizes her owner's name.

In the end, he's forced to share the futon. There's no arguing with a cat, especially a small, very soft cat sprawled over the left side of his chest and dulling the bone-deep ache with a steady purr. She's mostly hidden by the comforter, and his bedroom door is locked, so that's about all he can do for precautions. At this point, he's too tired to care.

There's an upside to this. As it turns out, it's impossible to stay awake with a cat rumbling softly on his chest.

Shouto almost wakes up to a gentle, rhythmic pressing against his chest. It's not quite enough to wake him fully; the feeling is muffled through the comforter. He stirs, still mostly asleep, until the pressing stops, and a light headbutt to the chin brings him around. His eyes flutter open for a moment, only to stubbornly shut again.

The paw on his cheek is much more insistent. He opens his eyes, and finds Midoriya's one-eyed cat staring at him from inches away.

The moment she sees he's awake, she's immediately rubbing her head against the side of his face, rumbling softly all the while. Shouto knows his classmate Kouda can talk to animals, but he doesn't need a quirk like that to hear Get up, get up, in her insistent purring.

Still, getting woken up by a cat is a new experience, and it's certainly a better one than getting woken up by Endeavor abruptly opening his bedroom door, or knocking imperiously.

He sits up, all but dumping the cat into his lap in the process. She doesn't seem to mind, and continues to get underfoot as he gets up to change into fresh clothes. He checks his phone; his alarm's set to go off seven minutes from now. Apparently, Mika has other plans for him.

His body still aches from the previous day, though not as much as he was dreading. The worst of it is in his ribs and his still-healing nose, but at least he isn't tearing up with every move—he used to do that early on in his training.

Once dressed, he scoops up the thankfully quiet cat and deposits her on the other side of his dresser. Then, listening carefully, he unlocks his door, cracks it open just enough to fit his head through, and checks the hallway outside.

Muted footsteps reach his ears, but they don't alarm him; the sound of his sister's approach is vastly different from his father's. He'd much rather Fuyumi catch him than Endeavor; she keeps her mouth shut.

"Morning, Shouto." Fuyumi yawns as she pads down the hallway. "Coast is clear—dad went out early today, so you're in the clear."

Shouto physically sags. "Oh thank God."

His sister pauses, blinking at him. She considers him for a moment. "Okay, what did you do?"

"Nee-san—"

"Look, just tell me what you did so we can come up with a good alibi before he gets home."

"I didn't do anything," Shouto says acidly, and at that moment he feels claws catch in his pant leg against his calf. Before he can get another word out, Mika scales him like a tree trunk and perches on his left shoulder.

Fuyumi blinks again, and then bursts out laughing.

With a sigh, Shouto straightens up and opens his door fully. He can feel Mika vibrating on his shoulder, her tail curling against the back of his neck. "I can explain," he says, once Fuyumi isn't laughing too hard to listen to him.

"Oh, please do," Fuyumi giggles, her hand pressed to her mouth. "I want to hear about this."

"For some reason, one of my classmates brought his cat to the Sports Festival," he says. "Though—considering the circumstances, I guess she followed him. I don't know. I wasn't paying attention."

"Naturally." Fuyumi's voice shakes with held-back mirth.

He doesn't bother glaring at her. "After all the events were over, he dropped his cat in my lap and vanished for about fifteen minutes before coming back for her. And then last night, she showed up at my window."

"Aww, you've been adopted." Fuyumi steps closer. "Is she friendly?"

"I think so," he says, remembering how she she tried to take a finger when Endeavor came too close.

But Mika lets Fuyumi pet her, and his sister is instantly charmed. "Oh aren't you pretty," she says softly. "Poor thing, what happened to your eye?"

"And anyway, I need to take her back," Shouto finishes. "If he calls or comes back, don't tell him where I am."

"Of course." Fuyumi smiles, and steps aside when he moves past her to get his shoes. "Hey, Shouto?"

He looks back. "Yeah?"

"I'm glad you're making friends."

"…I wouldn't go that far," he says. It's hard to consider someone a friend after you've nearly beaten each other into unconsciousness, without feeling presumptuous.

Thankfully, the trip isn't too far, and Mika behaves herself on the way. She's pretty content to glue herself to his left side and purr. A few people on the train compliment "his" cat, and he's frankly too emotionally tired to correct them.

He sends a text to Midoriya when he's nearly there.

[7:25] Shouto:

Are you awake? I have your cat.

He half expects his classmate to still be asleep; it's almost seven-thirty by now, and he's well aware that not everyone is willing to get up early on a Sunday. But no, Midoriya answers promptly.

[7:25] Midoriya:

yes! thanks for doing this! and again im really sorry i have no idea how she found you

Shouto double-checks the address to make sure he's at the right building. It's… normal-looking. He's not sure what he expected. Midoriya was normal-looking, too, but that didn't stop him from turning out to be… well, Midoriya. He's never been to a classmate's house before, and the fact that his first time is going to be this particular classmate under these particular circumstances is… he's not sure how to describe it. Or how to feel about it, beyond "unreasonably nervous". Still, he walks up the steps to the right door and raises his hand to knock.

A feeling takes him, like cold air on the back of his neck. Behind him, the steps creak, and a soft whispery noise reaches his ears. There's a feeling he gets whenever he's not the only person in a room, and he's getting that feeling now. He tenses on instinct, and looks over his shoulder to see who's sneaking up on him.

No one there.

He shakes his head, annoyed with himself. Why is he getting skittish in broad daylight in a perfectly good neighborhood like this? Just because Midoriya's a little odd doesn't mean he lives in a haunted building or something. Mentally shaking himself, he knocks.

The door opens, and Midoriya stands there with his arm still bandaged, and what looks like fresh gauze on his face. The shadows under his eyes are deep and dark, though Shouto's pretty sure that's how they normally are.

"Hello," Shouto says, and Mika wriggles in his arms until he carefully holds her out.

"Hey. Uh, thanks." Midoriya hooks his good arm under his cat and takes her back. "And—sorry, again."

"It's fine," Shouto says. He's lost count of how many times Midoriya has apologized to him. "My father left early this morning without noticing her, so… no harm done."

"That's good." Somewhere within the apartment behind Midoriya, a door slams. His classmate barely bats an eye, tosses a cursory glance over his shoulder, and shrugs.

"Is this a bad time, or…?" Shouto's voice trails off.

"Nah, that was a draft."

"Oh."

They stand there awkwardly for a few moments. Shouto can't stop shooting glances at Midoriya's bandaged eye, and Midoriya keeps looking at Shouto's face, too. His nose is still in its splint. He feels unreasonably skittish, being here. The atmosphere feels tense and heavy, and Shouto wracks his brain frantically for a way to excuse himself. Maybe if he'd practiced this on the way and come up with a working script in his head, it wouldn't have been so awkward—

Midoriya snorts with quiet laughter.

It takes Shouto by surprise, and he can only stare openly as Midoriya tries and fails to hold it back, and then resorts to snickering quietly into his cat's fur.

It's a moment before the outburst subsides. "Sorry." Midoriya clears his throat and coughs, but the corners of his mouth are still twitching. "I just—we really messed each other up, didn't we?"

Shouto blinks at him. "And that's… funny?"

Midoriya sobers. "Well… maybe not. It kind of is… if you think about it."

"Oh." Shouto stares. Is this a good time to leave?

"I mean—" Midoriya shuts his eyes. "Okay, look. I just wanted to say that, um, things got a little… personal. During the match. And, um." He cringes a little. "I said some things that were probably kind of, um, hurtful? Like that thing about you, g-getting in on a recommendation, a-and that was a really… not a good thing to say? So I don't really blame you for losing your temper, it was completely—"

"It still isn't good to lose my temper during a fight," Shouto interrupts him. "And besides, you didn't say anything that wasn't true."

"I-I guess." Midoriya gives Mika's ears a scratch. "Still felt kind of wrong to say it, so… yeah." His eyes flicker up to Shouto's face for a moment. "Um, are we… cool?"

"What?"

"I-I'm just asking, because, you know, like I said we really messed each other up, and I'd rather it didn't, um… make us… enemies or anything." Midoriya shifts from foot to foot.

"I don't think of you as an enemy," Shouto tells him. Maybe a rival at one point, but… now he's not so sure. It makes his head spin, trying to balance between not being the person his father is, and making his choices without thinking of the old bastard at every fork in the road.

"Oh. Uh, good." Midoriya lets Mika climb onto his shoulders. "…Do you ever have free time after school?"

The question catches him off guard. "What?" Shouto blinks. "Well… sometimes, yes. Mondays and Wednesdays are usually active for pro heroes, so my father's too busy to pull me into a training session. Why?"

"Want to spar?"

Shouto gapes at him.

"I-it's fine if you say no!" Midoriya says quickly. "I was just thinking… well, I'm pretty new to, um. Fighting. And I'm learning, but, y'know, practice makes perfect and everything, and you're really good at it, so maybe… you could… help me?" He looks a little less eerily pale, but only because he's flushing with embarrassment.

Shouto raises an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure?"

His classmate shrugs. "Should I not be?"

"We might get in trouble for training without supervision."

Midoriya looks at him like that's the densest thing Shouto could have said. "Not if we don't use our quirks."

"True." It takes him a little by surprise, hearing that. His father's spent so much time pushing him to strengthen his quirk that practicing fighting without it is an odd thought.

Could be useful, though. Aizawa-sensei can't be the only one out there with quirk-disrupting powers.

"My arm should finish healing up pretty soon," Midoriya says. "So maybe, if you're interested?"

"All right," Shouto says.

Midoriya's eye lights up. "Really?"

"Sure." Shouto shrugs. "I could always use the practice." Low-stakes practice, he thinks. Without the constant pressure to meet the old bastard's standards.

It would be a relief.

"Oh, cool!" Midoriya grins at him. For the first time, it looks like an actual smile, rather than a thin disguise over something deeply unsettling. "I'll, uh, I guess we'll talk more about that later, but, thanks. And thanks for bringing my cat back."

"It was no trouble." Shouto steps back, seeing a chance to end the conversation smoothly. "I'll see you in class."

"Yeah. See you around, Todoroki."

The door shuts gently behind Shouto as he leaves. Something cold brushes by him, like an errant breeze. It almost sounds like a whisper by his ear, or several, but when he looks around, there's no one there.

"Hey, come on," Izuku scolds Rei gently when she comes back inside, and the air shimmers with her susurrant laughter. "Leave him alone—it's not nice to tease someone who can't see you.