Chapter 25

The world is upside-down for the briefest of moments, and then Izuku lands flat on his back in the grass. He's gotten better at this—landing, that is—and manages to avoid having the wind punched out of him like it was the first few times Todoroki knocked his feet out from under him. Besides avoiding serious and unnecessary injury, Todoroki doesn't really do gentle when it comes to sparring.

Not that that's a bad thing—their wounds from Hosu are scars and memories now, and neither of them need or want to be handled with kid gloves. That's not what this is about.

He tips his head back, and finds Todoroki's upside-down face watching him with minimal concern; they've sparred enough by now to figure out each other's limits, and a fairly smooth landing on soft grass falls well short of Izuku's.

"Show me that again?" Izuku says, even as he mentally runs through the maneuver. He didn't have a good view of Todoroki's footwork, but whatever it was, it was deft enough to flip Izuku like an omelette. He sits up, batting bits of grass from his hair, and rolls his shoulders as he gets back to his feet.

They're shy of evenly matched, when they fight without quirks. Izuku can hold his own well enough, and what he lacks in training and experience, he makes up for with raw strength, quick thinking, and the odd underhanded move. Todoroki still has more wins than he does, but Izuku hoards his victories jealously.

It takes two more tries for Izuku to figure out exactly what Todoroki's move is, and a third try to effectively counter it. That time, Izuku avoids the grab and twist, and wastes no time in counterattacking with a simple but effective throw Ms. Shimura once taught him. He hears a grunt of alarm as Todoroki feels himself going off-balance, and Izuku sends him tumbling to the grass before he can correct himself. By the time Todoroki catches his breath and sits up, Izuku's already diving for the notebook he left by their jackets and water bottles.

"That didn't take long," Todoroki remarks. "Toss me my water?"

Izuku does so. "Could've been faster," he replies, splitting his brain between the words coming out of his mouth and those coming out of his pen. "Certainly can't ask a villain to stop a fight to show me a move again. Thanks, by the way."

"It's good practice." Todoroki caps his bottle. "Helps to be able to demonstrate it to someone, instead of just going through the motions on my own, or…" He hesitates, and doesn't finish the thought. "I remember things better. Work out what I'm doing wrong. And it's…" His voice trails off.

Rei catches Izuku's eye, signing something with a wide grin when he looks up from his notebook. Izuku cracks a smile of his own.

"It's okay, Todoroki, you can say it's more fun this way. I won't judge."

His friend looks at him sharply. "It's training. It's not supposed to be fun."

Izuku thinks back to all the little jokes that Ms. Shimura has cracked with him (or at his expense) while showing him how to escape a headlock or throw a punch without spraining his wrist. He remembers Uraraka victory-dancing after completing a rescue exercise in class, and Iida going needlessly over the top when role-playing a victim, and Ashido shrieking with laughter somewhere behind him when she heard him whooping as he bounded through the obstacle course with Full Cowl.

"Can't relate," he says.

"I'm not surprised." It's almost a scoff. "You turn everything into a joke."

There's something in his tone—something flat, almost disparaging—that makes Izuku bristle in spite of himself. "What of it?" he asks sharply.

"You don't think that might be a bad habit?" Todoroki turns to him, as calm and unruffled as ever. "You may be strong, but that doesn't mean you should be wasting time making snide remarks when you're fighting villains." He turns back to his bottle, swishing the water inside it absently. "I'd think you of all people would take this seriously."

Izuku purses his lips to keep from scowling, because their lives have been vastly different up to now and it's not his fault or Todoroki's but Todoroki doesn't get it. "You think I don't take things seriously just because I run my mouth sometimes? Just because I try to stop and be happy with what I'm doing once in a while?"

"It's not just once in a while," Todoroki points out. "You might've caught up to Sero faster in that rescue race if you hadn't wasted energy messing around."

"Pff." Izuku rolls his eyes. "If I can't have fun pulling sweet flips, then what is even the point of having superpowers?"

"You're doing it again."

"I'm not—" Izuku stops, frustrated. "Look. It's—you're not getting it."

"Enlighten me, then."

"It's just…" He hesitates again, wracking his brain for the right words to get the thoughts and feelings out of his head. "It's not a distraction, first of all. If anything, it makes me focus more."

Todoroki looks skeptical.

"So far I've been in mortal danger twice." He stops. The slime villain—it feels like a lifetime ago. "Three times. No—four. Don't ask. And every single time, I've been on the verge of panic. It's like a wave coming in. And I'm in—I'm in the shallows, I guess, and I can feel it coming, and I know when it gets to me, I'll start drowning and I'll be no use to anyone then. So I—I crack a joke. Or I make a stupid comment. I find something—something funny. Or I find something not-funny, and make it funnier in my head. And when I do that, the wave takes that much longer to get to me. The more I do it, the longer I can… keep my head above water, I guess. Sorry, that analogy got away from me." He plucks a blade of grass, and spins it between his fingers. "I can't stop it from reaching me, but I can push it back and push it back until I do what needs to be done. And maybe if I do it out loud, I can keep other people from drowning too." Dropping the blade, he shrugs. "I mean. You sort of did it, back then."

Todoroki tilts his head. "Back when?"

"Before we started fighting Stain. I said we couldn't win, and you said we could at least make it look cool. I dunno, it made me laugh. For two seconds I stopped thinking about how likely it was that we were gonna die."

Todoroki is quiet for a moment. "I guess that makes sense."

"It's not always like that," Izuku admits with a shrug. "Sometimes I just lose my temper and mouth off. Still serves a purpose. Keeps villains talking, or… maybe if I make them mad enough, they'll go after me instead of anyone else."

"Hm." Todoroki sets aside his water bottle and gets back to his feet. "In that case, you need more practice. You're no use to anyone if a villain kills you for giving them lip."

"True." Izuku takes a quick swig of water and follows him up.

They're an hour and a half into their training get-together when Izuku starts to flag a little. It's not that he's tired (he's on his second wind, with enough breath in him to carry on a conversation while he fights) but he's vaguely troubled, or at least distracted.

"Something wrong?" Todoroki asks—in the middle of fighting him.

"Not really. Just—what you said about bad habits." Izuku feints a jab at his head, but Todoroki doesn't take the bait. "Something Gran Torino told me—" Todoroki throws a kick, Izuku intercepts and tries to throw him off balance, but Todoroki twists free and falls back into his steady stance. "—when I was interning with him, was that you risk forming weird habits if you—" Izuku makes the first move, and lands a solid hit on Todoroki's midriff that sends him staggering back. He continues the onslaught, but it's too reckless; Todoroki gets a solid hold on him and kicks his foremost foot out from under him. Time seems to slow as he feels himself fall—Izuku grabs onto Todoroki and twists, taking him down with him. "—only spar against one person," he finishes, slightly winded.

"School training probably makes up for that," Todoroki says, disentangling himself to stand again. "Once more?"

Izuku nods, and waits for him to attack. This time, Todoroki gets a good grip on him. The fight is moving a bit too fast for Izuku's coherent thoughts to keep up, but there's something instinctual about his distribution of balance and the shifting of Todoroki's weight that makes him think, I'm going to fall if I don't do something.

"Something" ends up being lashing out with his single free hand. It's a controlled jab, which is probably a good thing because he hits Todoroki right in the throat. His friend makes a strangled noise and hesitates, his grip loosening, allowing Midoriya to slip free and overbalance him—gently.

"You okay?" he asks the moment Todoroki's back touches the ground. "Did I—I didn't hit you too hard, did I?"

"Wasn't expecting that," Todoroki wheezes, rubbing the spot where Izuku hit him. "Not very sporting."

Relieved, Izuku lets some of the tension from his shoulders. "Since when I have I ever been sporting?"

"Good point." Todoroki sits up with a grunt of effort. "You fight dirty."

"I fight smart." Midoriya grins and offers him a hand. "If you're the hand-crusher, I can be the throat-puncher."

"Fair enough." Todoroki takes his hand, then yanks him forward, plants one foot on Izuku's chest, and uses it to flip him ass over head into the grass.

"So has anyone heard what the final practical exams actually are?" Ochako asks.

They're fairly early for first period—not Iida early, but respectable. She'd run into Deku just outside the gate, and before long Todoroki had ended up unobtrusively slipping in beside them. It's taking a little getting used to, having Todoroki join them so often—especially since his fight with Deku got so intense. She still has no idea what that was about, and neither of them seem to be in any hurry to enlighten her.

Oh well. Not like it's any of her business.

"I heard something about giant robots, I guess?" Deku says, though he doesn't sound quite convinced. "I dunno, after everything that's happened, I'm not sure if a repeat of the entrance exam is the way they're gonna go. Especially after everyone pretty much rolled right over those zero-pointers at the Sports Festival."

"Personally, I'm not convinced of anything until there's an actual announcement," Todoroki says flatly. "I wouldn't put it past them to keep it under wraps and let rumors spread before they catch us off guard."

"Hmph." Ochako pouts. "At least we get study guides for the academic exams."

"It's practical, in the long run," Todoroki points out. "Heroes get caught in unfamiliar and unexpected situations all the time. Makes sense that exams would replicate it. Besides—I hear Principal Nedzu likes playing tricks."

"Logical ruses," Deku says with a gloomy sigh. "Any more logical ruses and I might as well just question reality all the time. Are we really eating lunch for an hour every day, or is it a mass hallucination? Does homework exist? Maybe everything's made up and our grades don't even matter."

Ochako groans loudly. "Ugh, Deku, no, it's too early for an existential crisis."

"It's never too early for an existential crisis," Todoroki says solemnly, and Ochako's surprised enough to laugh.

On their way to homeroom, Deku waxes lyrical about some new up-and-coming hero he saw on the news, and Ochako catches sight of Aizawa-sensei and Present Mic off to the side, standing by a closed door to one of UA's many school storage rooms. Ochako can count on one hand the number of times she's seen Aizawa-sensei before the start of class; she's always just assumed that he naps in the teacher's lounge until the warning bell. But here he is, as scruffy and sleepy as ever, while Present Mic chats with him about something she's not close enough to hear.

As they wander closer to their two teachers, Ochako wonders at the fact that such wildly different people can end up as close as the two of them seem to be. Aizawa-sensei is always so stiff and serious underneath that lazy facade, the most dour and humorless person Ochako has ever met. And yet he's friends with Present Mic, of all people. And they are friends; she can tell. Aizawa-sensei isn't just pretending to put with him, or anything. He never tries to match Present Mic's… well… everything, but he looks perfectly comfortable to stand near him and absorb all the excitement and smiles, like an emotion black hole.

Ochako finds her gaze drawn toward Deku and Todoroki, right when Deku punches the air for some reason to punctuate what he's saying, and Todoroki, blank-faced, nods like it's the most natural thing in the world.

…Huh.

The three of them pass close enough to catch what Aizawa-sensei and Mic-sensei are saying. "—and it's got to be here somewhere," she hears Present Mic mutter.

"You forgot the key," Aizawa-sensei says flatly.

"I was in a rush," Present Mic answers, methodically patting through each and every pocket on his costume. "I got called in an hour ago to help deal with a criminal who's been on my radar, and I didn't have time to double-check—"

"You pulled an All-Might."

"It's not my fault supply closets require actual keys instead of a sensible keycard swipe like the rest of this place!"

"Uraraka?" Deku taps her on the shoulder, bringing her attention back to him. "Could I borrow a bobby pin?"

She's only half listening as she digs into her pocket. "Hm? Oh. Sure, Deku, I always have extras."

He takes it. "Thanks. Um—I should specify, I know I said 'borrow', but you might not get this back."

"It's no big deal," she assures him. "Those things come in packs of like, five hundred."

"Thanks," he says, and breaks away from the two of them.

"Deku, where are you—?"

Aizawa knows that this is going to be a Day. This is how it always starts—simple, as simple as one of the shelter cats horking on the carpet or Yamada forgetting his damn keys. It starts simple, but it starts early, and Aizawa functions on too little sleep on the best of days. He's not in the mood for a Day.

"We're wasting time," he says. "Kayama should be here by now, and we can borrow hers for—" He's distracted from finishing his sentence when Midoriya quietly nudges his way between them and steps up to the locked supply room door.

"Midoriya, what—" Yamada begins, before the boy slides a bobby pin into the keyhole.

It takes less time than it would have for Yamada to search the rest of his pockets. It's quick, efficient, and practiced. The lock clicks, and Midoriya twists the handle and tugs it open a few inches, more to test the door than actually open it.

"Excuse me," he says, quiet and polite as anything, and walks back to where Uraraka and Todoroki are waiting for him. Uraraka is looking at him like he just grew a second head. Aizawa doesn't blame her.

"Shouta," Yamada says as the kids move off. "I'll ask again, what are you teaching those kids?"

"It's a useful skill," he answers. "Besides, I didn't teach him anything. That one came like that."

Midoriya is an odd one—he knows that much. There's something about him that Aizawa can't put a finger on—and the frustrating thing is that Aizawa knows, with zero evidence and every fiber of his being, that he should be able to. It's not some nebulous feeling; there's something very concrete about Midoriya that he should know but doesn't—

"Well, this saves us a trip to the teacher's lounge," Yamada says, breaking him out of his thoughts. "And we can thank your student's tragic criminal past, I guess."

This is still going to be a Day. He can feel it.

"Did you know he could do that?" Ochako asks, the moment Deku has moved to his desk and out of earshot.

Todoroki shrugs. "You've known him longer than I have."

It's simple enough to put her friend's previously unknown skills out of her mind. They're doing combat training today, and that's enough to leave her vibrating with excitement. The class pairs off by random assignment for sparring practice—Ashido gets a stroke of bad luck and ends up with Mineta. Ochako isn't close enough to hear what he says, but Aizawa-sensei is, and he promptly has him switch partners with Shouji. Mineta bursts into tears when he finds himself assigned to spar with Bakugou.

Ochako's luck is comparatively top-tier, and she and Deku grin at each other across the mat before Aizawa-sensei has them begin.

Less than two minutes later, he crashes into the ceiling.

"Sorry!" Ochako calls up. "I tried to catch you, but—"

"It's fine!" Deku yells back down to her. Some of their classmates are starting to stare. She can hear Kaminari laughing. "It's fine, it's my own fault—just—" His quirk manifests in that green lightning she'd seen before, on the screen during the rescue race exercise. He kicks off of the ceiling, powerfully enough to bring him within reach. Ochako stretches to her toes and hops up to reach his outstretched hand with all five fingers, then darts out of the way when he lands. He sticks it, though, and it looks reasonably cool. Or it would, if he weren't already muttering something to himself.

"Want to try that again?" she asks.

"Yeah. I've got it this time."

And he does have it, if Ochako is any judge, because from then on he's a lot smarter about keeping her from grabbing him. Sparring with Deku is a lot different from fighting with Bakugou; she doubts he'll be bringing out those limb-shattering attacks anymore now that he has a much safer and more efficient way to use his quirk. (Of course, this is also a much more controlled environment than the Sports Festival was, and Ochako doubts Aizawa-sensei will be as slow to step in as Cementoss and Midnight were if things get too rough.) Either way, Deku can't drive her back and keep her at a distance with long-range attacks. Unlike Bakugou, who kept blasting her back every time she tried to get close, Deku settles for being slippery and quick when she does. It's almost infuriating, how quick he is. Ochako's back hits the mat twice before she manages to use her quirk on him again.

This time, he snags her arm before he can float all the way up to the ceiling. Dangling in the wrong direction, he flashes her a bright smile. "High-five me?"

"Only if it means I won," she retorts. Instead of answering, he pulls her arm for leverage and reaches for her hand. With a yelp, she realizes what he's doing and curls her fingers into a fist. Undeterred, he clings to her wrist and tries to pry them loose. "Deku!"

"It's not over until I'm on the ceiling!" He's almost laughing—oh, that does it. Ochako digs into her week of training with Gunhead and struggles with him, fighting to twist free, but he keeps catching her and going for her hands again.

Finally, he gets a hold of her wrist, and she slips up and grabs him back with all five fingers. Deku yelps as gravity returns to him and tries to correct himself, but all this accomplishes is making him land perpendicular to her rather than in a more compromising position.

Not that that stops Mineta from howling with utter glee, before Bakugou blasts him halfway across the room. If someone had told Ochako before now that she would ever feel genuinely grateful to Bakugou for something, she would have rolled her eyes.

Sero and Iida are close enough to see it, and they actually have to pause their spar because Sero is laughing too hard to put up a proper defense, and then Iida is too busy scolding him for it to put up a proper offense.

"—highly disrespectful and unprofessional! Sero—Sero please, we mustn't waste time better spent training!" Sero's almost crying.

Aizawa-sensei strolls up as Deku apologizes profusely and Ochako climbs to her feet, rubbing her head where it struck the ground. It feels bruised, but she doesn't feel dizzy enough to worry about a concussion.

"I'm fine," she says for the fifth time within a minute, either to Deku or to their homeroom teacher. "I just landed weird."

Aizawa checks her pupils for a moment before agreeing with her, and then everyone's attention is arrested.

Todoroki and Ojiro's fight is getting a little intense; fighting with people nearby must mean that Todoroki can't unleash his quirk the way he would normally want to, so he's forced to fight in close-quarters against the one person in their entire class who's insanely good in close quarters.

Todoroki's insanely good, too, so it makes for a pretty close match. Other pairs are pausing to watch, and Aizawa-sensei doesn't tell anyone to get back to their own practice. He probably figures they can learn something from watching them fight. Ochako leaves off rubbing her sore head and tries to; sparring with Gunhead was great, but she wasn't with him long enough to learn moves like this. Deku is just as intent as she is. She sees his fingers twitch at his sides, like he's writing imaginary notes.

The match gets crazy close—so close that for a moment, Ochako is sure that Ojiro is going to knock Todoroki off his feet. But at the last minute, Todoroki lashes out, Ojiro chokes, and a second later he's landing on his tail on the mat.

Beside her, Deku makes a noise that sounds almost like a laugh.

"Sorry." She's close enough to hear Todoroki's sheepish tone.

"Wasn't expecting that," Ojiro wheezes.

"If you need to go to Recovery Girl, go," Aizawa tells him.

Ojiro gives a thumbs up. "I'm fine."

"Hey, come on, man!" Kirishima calls over, glaring at Todoroki. "Did you seriously just punch him in the throat? That's a cheap shot, Todoroki!"

"Keep in mind that most villains aren't above moves like that." Aizawa-sensei raises his voice so that everyone can hear—by this point, the whole class is paying attention. "You aren't here to learn a sport; you're here to learn how to deal with villains. And in a fight, you perform how you practice. If you practice expecting your opponent to fight fair, then you won't last long. Besides—" His eyes glint. "There's no such thing as fairness in a fight for your life. If underhanded tactics are necessary to save lives and end a conflict before more people get hurt, then swallow your pride and use them." He looks to Todoroki. "That being said, this is still only training."

"I was being gentle," Todoroki answers.

"He really was." Ojiro's on his feet again, rubbing his neck, but he looks okay. "I could tell. Still caught me off guard."

"Man," Sero remarks, loud enough for most of the class to hear. "Who would've thought Todoroki could fight dirty? Necessary or not, fighting like that's pretty shady for a hero."

"That's what I told him," Todoroki says, shooting a withering look at Deku.

"Wh—no." Deku almost sputters. "No—no, you don't get to call me out for a cheap shot right after you used it and it worked."

"Wait, what?" Ochako turns to him, confused. "I don't remember you throat-punching him in the Sports Festival."

"It, uh." Almost instantly Deku goes from comically incensed to sheepish. "Wasn't in the Sports Festival."

"We spar after school twice a week," Todoroki adds.

"What?!" Bakugou roars from the other side of the room, loud enough that Deku startles like a rabbit.

"I-i-it's good practice," Deku says.

"If you're all done discussing your classmates' work ethic, and no one needs to visit the nurse, then you can return to your assigned training," Aizawa-sensei breaks in before the discussion can continue. His brow furrows, and he looks from Deku to Todoroki. "As for you two, keep in mind that there are rules in place regardless of whether or not school is in session, and breaking them—"

"We don't use quirks," Midoriya cuts in. "It's just hand-to-hand."

"Good. Continue, everyone."

Ochako tries to focus on the rest of the class. It's not as easy as it should be, with the gears turning in her head the way they are.

The moment school is done for the day, she packs her things hastily and waits for Deku to do the same. She thinks at first that they'll probably have to track down Todoroki, but once again Deku's new friend falls in with them. Ever since the Sports Festival and the week of internships, their trio of her, Deku, and Iida has become a quartet with Todoroki along.

The moment they're all occupying the same physical space, she speaks up.

"I want in."

Deku gives her an owlish blink. "Huh?"

Ochako takes a deep breath. "On your after-school sparring thing. When do you guys get together?"

"Um. Mondays and Wednesdays, usually? Sometimes weekends." Deku looks taken aback. Honestly, it's like he doesn't even know her.

"Okay, look, I understand if it's your thing, like your two-person manly bonding sessions, but if it's okay with you, I'd like to get in on it too." Ochako bounces on the balls of her feet. "I only have one week of combat training outside of what we all do in class together, and I want to do more. When I look at you guys and Bakugou and Ojiro and everybody, I feel like I'm falling behind, and I want to catch up. So I want in. If that's okay."

"It's okay with me," Deku answers readily. "Todoroki?"

"I'm fine with it." He blinks. "What… what was that about manly bonding?"

"Now—wait a minute!" Iida breaks in. "Are you all quite sure this is safe? The reason why institutions like UA exist is that there are rules in place, and our classes have structures and regulations to help enforce those rules and make sure proper safety procedures are observed. Unsupervised training carries risks—"

"You could always come along," Todoroki interrupts. "If you're that worried about it."

"Yeah!" Deku brightens. "I bet we'd get a lot more out of it, with four of us."

"W-well—well I—" For a moment, Iida looks almost flustered. "I suppose—as class rep, I do have a responsibility to make sure my fellow students are properly observing rules and regulations… if I'm not unwelcome, I'd be happy to."

"Plus, final exams are coming up," Deku adds. "It could be like a study group for hand-to-hand combat."

Apparently, the magic words are "study group". Iida goes from hesitant to thoughtfully eager in the blink of an eye.

That Wednesday, Izuku meets Todoroki at the park where they usually spar. He's within ten feet of their meeting place when he stops, jaw dropping.

Todoroki, Iida, and Uraraka are already there. So are Ojiro, Kaminari, Jirou, Yaoyorozu, and Kirishima, with Bakugou standing beside him looking fully prepared to blow up the first person who speaks.

"Heya!" Kirishima greets him, and Bakugou miraculously doesn't try to explode his face. "We heard something about a study group for hand-to-hand combat?"

Baffled, Izuku glances at Todoroki, who can only offer him a helpless little shrug. At his side, Rei clutches her stomach and laughs.