2

Chapter 2: Pair Up!Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The green jumpsuit showed red accents on the utility belt and shoes, while a portion of the shoulders was covered by white pads. His heavy steps made her think that his soles were metallic, as were probably his reinforced black knee braces. His hands and forearms were covered by white gauntlets that looked too big for him. Finally, a pair of sleek green rabbit ears connected to a mask with a mouthguard that resembled a wide smile.

- Midoriya's costume looks really cool... but why is it a bit scary? - Ochaco thought, frankly amazed by how advanced the designed was. 

It seemed really cutting-edge for a first draft, but the boy had shown that he knew what he was doing.

His "Nice costume, Uraraka," got her out of her head.

"Ah, yes, thanks! Yours is very nice too!" She replied as eagerly as possible. Was she being awkward? She hoped not.

"Thank you, but it's still a work in progress." She could imagine his smile under that green thing.

As All Might called them to attention, she could barely hear the boy mutter a couple of words about... Mei? Melissa? Did he already have someone to help him out with it?

Tedium.

All Might started the lottery to decide their teams.

Again.

"Team A! Aoyama and Midoriya!"

- No. -

"Team A! Sero and Midoriya!"

- Closer, but no. -

"Team A! Midoriya and Shoji!"

- Damn. No. -

"Team A! Midoriya and Jiro!"

- Not this time, sorry Kyo. -

"Team A! Todoroki and Midoriya!"

- Nope. -

"Team A! Yaoyorozu and Midoriya!"

- Maybe this- No, come on. That doesn't work as much. Stick to the plan. -

"Team A! Midoriya and Bakugo!"

- Over my cold dead body. -

"Team A! Midoriya and Uraraka!"

He mentally sighed. - Nostalgic. Sorry 'Chaco, but no. -

All Might moved again to extract names from the box. His "be sure to move them around a bit!" helped changing things up, but hell if this process wasn't the death of him.

- How hard can it be? Damn probability of 0.0026. Should I find a way to be the one picking the lots? Would that hassle be worth avoiding this hell? -

"Team A! Hagakure and Ashido!"

- Fuck. Again. -

"Team A! Mineta and Midoriya!"

- Come on... -

"Team A! Midoriya and Tokoyami!"

- You can do it... -

"Team A! Hagakure and Midoriya!"

- Alleluia. -

Breathing a sigh of relief, Izuku stepped to the side where the mostly invisible girl stood. He'd have to take his helmet off for a bit.

He kept some of his attention on the team making, as he wasn't finished yet. Not even close.

Toru saw her teammate approach and waved his way. She was used to people's brains and eyes skimming over her seemingly floating clothes by "rationalizing" them as something absurd, an illusion or a mistake. Movement made it easier for her to be "seen", she'd learned.

Midoriya got closer and returned the greeting. "Hey, Hagakure, happy to be working with you."

She grinned widely, making a victory sign with her gloved fingers. "Yeah! Let's do our best!"

Reciprocating the smile he couldn't see, his eyes shifted towards the teacher, still announcing pairs. The boy hummed along a couple of times, showing more concentration than she'd expected for apparently no reason.

"Team B! Kaminari and Tokoyami!"

"Team C! Asui and Sato!"

"Team D! Yaoyorozu and Shoji!"

"Team E! Bakugo and Todoroki!"

"Team F! Aoyama and Sero!"

"Team G! Ida and Kirishima!"

"Team H! Mineta and Ojiro!"

"Team I! Jiro and Ashido!"

"Team J! Uraraka and Koda!"

"And the first two pairs to do combat will be the following!" The man exclaimed as he took two balls from the box. "Pair G will be Heroes! Pair C will be Villains!"

She heard him hum along again, this time visibly content, and turning back to her.

"Sorry about that, I wanted to see who we may have a chance to go against. I'll have to plan this," he explained matter-of-factly, meeting her eyes with a certain reassuring expression.

"Ah, no probs. With what you did yesterday we'll be fine! It's-"

- Wait, he's meeting my eyes? -

She left her mouth hung open for a moment as her head turned slightly down and to the side. Without missing a beat, the boy bent his head to follow her line of sight. "Something wrong?"

"Uh..." she started, trying to find the words, "Midoriya, can you... see me? With your Quirk, or..." If he indeed had a Quirk that let him see... Her hands swiftly moved up and down to cover what little remained of her dignity. His eyes weren't wandering, but...

He looked surprised at the idea, then shook his head as if he found it humorous. "Me? Oh no, that's not it, don't worry. You're still one hundred percent transparent."

"T-then w- how can you-" she muttered.

"Follow your eyes?"

Right to the heart of the matter. She nodded and spoke at the same time. "Yeah... that."

He looked around, seeing that the match was only just starting with the 5 minutes of prep time for the villains, and smiled lightly, pointing and directing the two of them a couple of steps away from the rest of the class.

"Alright, since we're teammates I guess I can give you a taste of that help I offered yesterday."

"Wait, you weren't kidding about that?" Her tone showed just how crazy she had found his claim.

"I never kid about helping out," he shrugged, content. He raised three fingers. "I can give you three reasons why I can find your eyes."

"Three?!" She exclaimed, then covered her own mouth to avoid another scream. Was it so easy to see through her power? Was her Quirk that useless after all?

"Don't worry, it's not something just anybody would be able to do," he somehow managed to quell her worries. "First: the way your clothes move, their size and the distance between them give me a solid guess about your stature. You're, I'd say, 151... no, 152 centimeters tall."

"Y-yeah." He'd got it in one.

"Then it's not that hard to imagine that your eyes should be positioned..." He raised a hand and pointed with his index and his little finger, putting them just before her widening eyes. "... around here."

She blinked twice, then confirmed his guess once again, adding a joke to try and shake his composure. "Y-yeah, just don't poke my eyes with those."

"Ah, sorry," he moved the fingers back, "but those help finding way number two. I guess you know how light works, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" She tried to sound a bit hurt. "It's my Quirk! I refract light, so I can't be seen!"

"Simplified, but mostly accurate. And do you know how our eyes work in regards to light?"

"Uh, yeah..." She knew she had read about it, but science wasn't really her forte.

"In a few words, we need light to hit our eyes to be able to see. So, if your whole body, eyes included, simply refracted light, what do you think would happen?"

She took a moment to connect the dots and remained shocked by the answer. "Wouldn't I be blind then?"

"Yep," he marked the last letter with a pop. "Then, why do you think you aren't?"

"M-my Quirk must have found a way to avoid that, of course! Maybe my eyes can partially absorb light, or I just don't need it!" She hastily replied, unsure where he was going with this.

"Mm, yes and no. Quirks don't just completely disregard physics, after all. They work around it, bend it, if necessary, play with it... but in your case it's much simpler," he smiled again, with that air of certainty that assured her nothing he said would be wrong.

"You can't make you whole self invisible. Even if it's smaller than a pin prick, you need just enough of your eyes to stay visible so that light can hit them, and you can still see." He moved those two fingers up again, stoppin before where they had been a minute ago. Perhaps not to make her uncomfortable, she thought.

"Perceiving a fraction of a pupil hanging in space, smaller than a grain of sand, would be beyond most people. But I'm not most people, 'cause I know the trick," he oscillated the hand from left to right, keeping the fingers at the same distance. "They always move as a pair."

He was closer now, squinting his eyes and looking very carefully her way. She'd never had someone so close, right in her face and staring into her transparent orbs, tilting his head from side to side.

Then, all of a sudden, he moved back, smiling as if he'd found what he wanted.

"Yep, clear as day to me. But your Quirk's awesome, I don't think you'd have to worry about that at all."

Hot. Her cheeks were burning hot. She was really grateful for her invisibility right now, as she must have been a blushing mess.

She muttered a forced "T-t-thanks." before moving back with the boy to the rest of the class as the match started.

Toru kept trying to focus on the fighting and running around, but kept failing. She saw how Ida was managing to outrun Asui while Kirishima and Sato remained in a stalemate of brute force and wills, but she couldn't pay attention to the details.

Even as the group came back to the viewing room, where Midoriya and Yaoyorozu gave a detailed explanation as of why Ida had been the match's MVP, she kept seeing green lights looking at her. Not through. At.

She required All Might's call to come out of her stupor.

"Next! Team E will be Heroes! Team A will be the Villains!"

Mina Ashido, who the day before had looked like a good first candidate for friendship, gave her a gentle nudge. "Hey, Hagakure, that's you."

Almost stumbling, she hurried forward to follow the greenette out of the door and into the villains' hideout.

As the boy preceded her up the stairs, she remembered something.

"Hey! You never told me the third way!"

He stopped for a second, turning back and rubbing the back of his head. "You're right, I didn't, sorry. But now isn't really the best time..." After looking thoughtful for a second, he showed a bit of a smug smile. "Ok, I'll tell you only if we win."

"Wha- But that's!"

"Unfair? Why? Scared we'll lose?" he asked with a strangely caring smile.

He was obviously teasing her, and she was falling for it.

She fumbled with her hands to mask her unease. "O-of course not. But Bakugo and Todoroki are strong. Weren't they third and fourth yesterday? I was almost dead last..."

He caught one of her hands, making her stop. "And I've got a plan. But come on, Hagakure, where is that energy you were showing off earlier? I need my teammate at her best."

Damn that reassuring smirk of his.

"Fine," she grinned, baring her teeth. "Hold onto these for me then. I'm getting pumped up." She slipped the glove off, leaving it in his fingers, before swiftly repeating the process and throwing the other one on his head as she passed by.

"Come on, we don't have all day!" she shouted as she hopped on one leg, taking off one shoe at a time.

He was good, but two could play that game. First, she'd win, and then she'd... do something about that smug smile of his.

"Hagakure, stay on my arm when the match starts," he said. They had reached the room that contained the "nuclear weapon" and were hatching a plan of sorts.

The girl stood silent for a moment, her left shoe moving slightly tip down and heel raised.

- Aaand she's blushing again. Dammit Izuku, why can't you keep yourself in check? -

"W-Why?"

He sighed. "Todoroki can create and control ice, and we don't know what his limit is. What if he can envelop the whole building, or coat the entire floor and encase our feet? We'd be sitting ducks. And you're basically naked, Hagakure; I don't want you to freeze into a statue if that happens."

- Perfectly reasonable, yeah. What was that thing I could... ah, yes. -

"And, I thought that sitting on my arm would be less weird than sitting directly on my back," he added while showing a mix of polite contrition and endearing awkwardness. Present an even worse alternative to make the first offer look more palatable. Works wonders.

"Ok, ok, it's fine! You're not wrong, that ice stuff he did yesterday is scary," she agreed, getting mentally ready for the trial. She hadn't stopped moving her feet in embarrassment, but she could be reasoned with. "So, how do we approach this? They're both very strong, I don't think I could hold a candle to either of them."

- Just wait a couple of months... No, stop, we're at square one now. -

He put his helmet back on, nodding at her assessment.

"Yeah, we shouldn't just be looking for a direct confrontation, we've got to make use of your talents. Say," he pointed towards the pair of shoes left unworn a few steps away, "we can use those, right?"

Shoto stepped forward, staring at the building.

He could see that his teammate was seething, quivering for the desire to enter the lair and destroy the opposition. Uncouth, but he probably had the firepower to back it up.

Still, there was an easier way to finish this without a hitch. Bakugo could run in and do his stuff, for all he cared. After he'd secured the win.

"Start!"

"Stay back."

As soon as he heard their teacher's voice, Shoto pressed his foot down, sending a wave of ice towards the structure. Pavements, walls and ceilings, nothing would be spared from being encased in a thick layer of cold crystals. And with that, he had won in less than a minute.

"What the hell did you do, Peppermint?!" the blonde growled.

"Win," he replied, stepping inside.

Bakugo snarled, moving past him while pushing his shoulder. "That rat bastard may be useless, but you're dumber than you look if you think this is gonna stop him, Strawberry Latte."

He frowned. This Bakugo was getting on his nerves. "Just go capture him if you're so sure."

"I don't take orders from you, Snowflake!" the blonde screamed, this time shoving him forward. "Hurry up!"

Shoto cursed his luck in pairings as they reached the third floor. There, in the wide room just to their left, was the bomb and its two guardians.

Midoriya was clearly struggling, as he must have been kneeling by the door when Shoto had attacked, and was mostly stuck to the ground. Hagakure was standing closer to the bomb, her shoes showing some of her trembling as she cursed at him. "D-d-damn, i-it's c-cold, T-todoroki."

"My fault, sorry. Just let me-"

As he stepped forward, moving into the room and past the greenette, his word went upside down. He felt the ground hit his back first, realizing he had been grabbed on the wrist. On his damn left side.

"DEKUUUUUU!"

He heard Bakugo scream and an explosion coming from the stairs. Upside down, Shoto saw the blonde charge and go for an admittedly fast lunge, only to be countered and pushed to the ground as well.

"Right hook, predictable as always," the other huffed before taking a step back. Sparks of green lightning enveloped his form.

"Heroes, you've taken your sweet time." The greenette smiled, with a completely different expression from the fake contrite one he'd just shown. "Let's take this somewhere else."

Midoriya stomped, hard, on the frozen floor. Shoto and Bakugo had just moved to get up, and now they were all falling.

"Midoriya!" he heard Hagakure call from above, as the girl had stayed away from the collapsing area.

"Protect the bomb! I'll be fine!" The boy replied, moving just in time to defend himself from another explosion.

"Why do you keep pissing me off!?" Bakugo screamed before getting pushed back.

The three of them landed on the second floor, the remaining pieces of rubble rolling and clattering everywhere.

He had been careless, but he wouldn't repeat the same mistake. Shoto took a second to take in his surroundings, then focused back on their adversary. "It's two against one now, Midoriya. I don't know what you were thinking, but you won't come out of this on top." 

The other just shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I won't know if I don't try."

He tried to strategize. "Bakugo, I'll take the right, you-"

"I don't take orders from you!" The blonde repeated, jumping forward and engaging with a kick to the head.

The white-and-red-haired teen grit his teeth. He just had to get matched with two of the most insufferable in the class, didn't he?

He moved as well, only to be met with his teammate flying in his face, used like a long weapon, as the greenette swung him from his caught ankle. They both flew back, stopping their movement with their Quirks.

"Two against one doesn't mean much if you get in each other's way," Midoriya said, provoking.

Bakugo was looking more and more on edge. He was too unstable to collaborate with. He'd have to use him as a distraction and go for the upper floor.

Just as predicted, the blonde shot forward again, his explosions creating a chaotic distraction.

Shoto ran, growing a pillar beneath his feet to get the necessary momentum. He saw that Bakugo had changed his strategy: instead of going for the front, he used a blast to jump over Midoriya and catch him off guard from the back. Which could, theoretically, have worked. If only the other teen wasn't keeping himself ten steps ahead.

The green-eyed boy spun on his toes, grabbing a hold of the rabid teen's arm just as his second explosion was forming in his palms. Another 90° of movement in a quarter of a second, and the blast was redirected towards Shoto himself. The pillar burst apart, sending him to the wall and back at square one.

He got up, feeling his composure starting to crumble.

Bakugo was still shouting and keeping up the barrage without missing a beat. "Here's your beloved right swing!" He hit Midoriya's elbow, and by the looks of it, it hurt. Still, the blond kept going, grabbing the other's arm and launching a series of blasts to make a full revolution on the spot.

"YOU. ARE. BENEATH ME!" he howled as he pivoted and slammed down his target.

But once again, he didn't account for a counter. Midoriya simply copied part of his last move, grabbing the screaming teen's arm. After taking a hold of stable ground, he brought Bakugo down to his level. The icy surface cracked under the slam.

The blonde grunted, trying to push himself off the ground.

Shoto couldn't sit still and wait. Midoriya was a far greater threat than he'd imagined. But he was still fit for fighting.

Serious at last, he dashed forward, launching a series of mid-ranged icicles against his enemy. Unsurprisingly, they were easily dodged. But they were bringing the foe right where Shoto wanted him.

Now in close range, the two-colored-haired boy attacked with the martial arts knowledge that had been drilled into him since young age. He could see the focus in those green eyes as he parried each blow, shaking off the cold crystals trying to subdue him. He upped his ice output, but that didn't seem to suffice.

Was he shedding off the ice by trembling? How fast was he doing that?

All of a sudden, All Might was yelling something through their wireless transceivers.

"IF IT DOESN'T HIT HIM, HE WON'T DIE!" Shoto heard Bakugo scream as he pulled off the pin from his left bracer.

Shoto felt a kick to his stomach, pushing him out of the blast's path. Hitting the wall took the air out of his lungs.

As the smoke cleared, with more daylight coming from the brand-new hole in the building's side, he heard Midoriya speak as his ears stopped ringing.

"You're amazing, Bakugo," he muttered, as the green flashes seemed to grow in intensity, "but you're out of control. Playing the crazed beast ends here."

"YOU'RE LOOKING DOWN ON ME, FUCKFACE!? HUH!?"

They both shot forward, crazy eyes versus pure determination. Bakugo's last blow was stronger and faster than his previous ones, but he still couldn't avoid being read like an open book. The most he could manage was reducing Midoriya's sleeve to tatters. A punch to the stomach made him fold, and a swift movement brought him down, hands on his back. It didn't take much longer for the capture to end.

- Was he knocked out? Dammit. -

Grunting, Shoto stood up. He was shivering. He had gone overboard.

But he still had a chance. Now with the explosive menace out of the way, he could outpace Midoriya. Bringing forth as much power as he could manage, he would-

"I'd stay seated if I were you, S- Todoroki," the greenette breathed out with a white puff of air. The fight had clearly taken a toll on him too.

"It's not over. I can still go on," he replied. His teeth were clattering, but he had endured worse.

"Not like that, you can't," the other sighed. "You must be freezing. Wouldn't you feel better with some of your fire?"

He squinted and frowned. Of course, it was this again. They wouldn't understand. "I refuse to use my left side."

Why was he looking at him with that much pity? What gave him the right?

"Fine," he shook his head, "but you won't get anywhere by half-assing things, Todoroki."

He stumbled another step. He was cold. Was something grazing his skin? His sleeve?

"Shut up and fight," he growled, his composure gone and forgotten.

Midoriya raised an eyebrow, looking up and then at his torso. "You're so cold you haven't even noticed, have you?"

Shoto blinked. Looking down, he could see that both of his arms and torso were caught by a white tape. He looked back, only to find the white rope dangling from nowhere.

"Both Heroes have been captured! The villain team wins!" came All Might's shout.

"Sorry, Todoroki," Hagakure teased with a smirk in her voice, "but I had a bet to win."

Asking himself what the hell she was talking about, he let his eyes close as he fell backwards.

As four bots placed Todoroki and Bakugo on stretchers to visit the infirmary, Toru jumped over to Midoriya with her hands in the air.

"We've won!" she cried out in delight.

He raised a hand and met her high five. While her hands were still gloveless. Weird.

"That was some great acting back there," he laughed heartily, "I don't think they suspected a thing."

"It was fun!" She joined him with a giggle.

"I'm sure it was. Todoroki's face when he realized was priceless."

"Mm-hmm," Toru hummed as they stepped out to return to the viewing room. After putting her costume back on, she went back to her previous inquiry. "But enough about that! Come on, now you've gotta tell me!"

He smiled and shook his head lightly, leaving the room. "It's nothing incredible. You see, when I use my Quirk all of my body can get enhanced, senses included."

"So your eyes get so good you can see through invisibility?!" she almost screamed, covering herself as her hands permitted.

"No no!" he waved his hands, "I swear, stop putting words in my mouth T- Hagakure!"

She pouted. "Fine. Then how?"

He relaxed and sighed. "I guess you could call it a sixth sense. I can 'sense' where your eyes should be, even when you're moving around."

"Oh." That seemed almost subpar when compared to his previous explanations.

"I told you it wasn't something incredible," he said, shrugging. Then, he waited in place for a moment, thoughtful. As he turned, he wore an unreadable expression.

She stopped walking as he stared at her, as he stepped closer once again, inspecting... her eyes?

"W-what now?" she asked, holding back some growing embarrassment.

"Oh, nothing much. It's just that... you've got a beautiful eye color, Hagakure. Violet, seafoam, and yellow chartreuse, pretty unique."

And he turned his back to walk away.

Leaving her face to burn again.

Scratch that, her whole body was on fire.

- How can he walk away after saying something like that?! -

Now she was more certain than ever that he could see her! How else could he have done that ! She didn't even know what color her eyes were!

"How the hell-"

"I never said there were only three methods. I've got my secrets," he chuckled. "But I'm not lying, I really can't see everything. And, I'm really offering you some extra help."

Was everything a joke to this guy?! How could he shift from that seriousness, to that thoughtfulness, and then to that carelessness?!

And why did a part of her feel like that was ok?!

"You're really weird, Midoriya," she opted for something that could break his poise. Fat chance.

"You're not the first to say that. So?"

She breathed in and out. As dumb as the idea was, this guy had shown to be more capable than anyone else in her life until that point. He had, somewhat, seen her. 

And Toru would do anything to understand how.

"Fine!" She cried out, putting on a brave face, or tone. "But I expect you to actually show me how to get better! If you're all talk, people will wonder why you're haunted for the rest of your life!"

He laughed heartily as their hands shook. "I'll be sure not to let you down."

Damn that reassuring smile of his.

"Come on, we still have a lot of trials to judge. We can talk later. And we'll do something about that costume of yours. How the hell did someone approve a costume that basically leaves you naked, I can't believe this damn society."

Following the mumbling mess of a teen that was Midoriya Izuku, Toru felt confused but not regretful of her choice.

Notes:

Yes, Izuku's second trick to see through invisibility comes from ExU: Calamity. It's honestly my favourite description of how to work around the spell, Brennan is a genius.

Also, newly edited because we finally know what color Hagakure's eyes really are.

To anyone that may say that Izuku is too OP and that dealing with both Katsuki and Shoto is too much... it's not. The two aren't capable of collaboration as they are now, and this Izuku knows more about them than they do themselves. And it wasn't a "no hit run" either, he just knows his limits perfectly, and he's already over 5%.

Leave a kudo or a comment if you like!

Thank you for reading! 'till next time!