You stayed at the hospital another few days.

Most of your classmates came to visit you- one time even all together-
Momo and the girls bringing you tea and talking with you for a while. Kirishima and Kaminari talking your ear off, telling you how cool you looked on tv fighting Todoroki and Bakugo.

Speaking of, those two visited a lot.

Shoto came in the mornings, late at night to have dinner with you.
Nurses even let him pay to sleep in the bed next to yours since you weren't used to that.

Bakugo though...
Well.
There was always a different excuse for why he'd shown up.
Forgot his jacket the first day. Had to bring you schoolwork you missed because Aizawa made him the next. Funny those excuses always seemed to cultivate right as school ended every single day.

You never teased him about it though.
You just enjoyed his grumpy, albeit calm, company. His subtle signs of relief as the swelling in your body went down and you got a little better everyday. Even his grumbling.
Watching him do his homework and study in the chair beside you felt oddly comforting too. He probably knew that. That's probably why he kept coming back. Well, that and for his jacket, of course...

When no one was around however, it was hard to contain your will to escape. More than once the nurse had to guide you back to your room because you were wandering around, justifying your actions saying "I'm bored" or "I want to see if I can find a wheelchair and roll down the hall".

Eventually, they realized you were just fine and Fuyumi picked you up with Shoto.

Fuyumi was 19 now, so she was allowed to be there in Endeavor's stead when the doctor gave you all the debrief. You were thankful for that. Even if you were never allowed to get to know her too well, she was kind enough to take care of you when you needed it. She loved her dad, despite his mistakes, wanted reconciliation above a continued grudge, but she knew the toll his influences had on you and Shoto- on you two's relationship. She watched the festival after all.

It made her want to step up- for you and Shoto both.

So she came to see you everyday, spoke to you, tried for a relationship she'd been wanting to try for a long time but never had the courage to try for.
It was odd at first, but there was so much of Rei in her attitudes, her voice.
It was... almost familial, almost natural- getting to know her like a sister.

Least to say, once you decided you liked Fuyumi, it was hard to tear you away from her.
So she sat with you during the debrief- Shoto too obviously.

You kind of ignored the doctor as she spoke though.
Sat between Fuyumi and Shoto- childishly played with the strap of Fuyumi's purse instead of paying attention.

They were talking about your health, your physical state, what happened during the festival, everything.
You cared, but it was kind of stressful to listen to.
Easier to dissociate and think about going to shops like Fuyumi promised rather than your physical wellbeing whatever the heck that was...

Pretty straightforward injuries to report.
Severe, but not-permanent nerve damage.
Surgery had to be performed on your sinuses to take care of the bleeding.
Bone bruising, pretty much everywhere.
Internal organs were okay- in fact- it seemed like they were the most protected parts of your body- everything else sacrificed in the process.

Your ears took irreparable damage.
With the hearing aids you'd get 80-90% of your normal hearing back, but without them... well less than 10%.
Okay. Cool. No ringing then, right?

No.
The no ringing was a product of something else.

Your quirk, in its panic, destroyed many of your own tissues, put them back together, but in the process, destroyed much of itself as well.

The normal nerve endings found in any typical human being were wrapped with that third, much more sensitive and spread out nervous system so it was easy to track.
In all your past tests, with the proper stimulation, it lit up in the scans, showed your quirk was functional.

Now, however, the light was dim.
Still present, but weakened.
As if your quirk was still in a comatose state despite your body having woken.

The doctor said all those things, but you distracted yourself with Fuyumi's purse till she was done. Shoto asked if you felt okay about twenty times when you finally left. You nodded, hummed a few yeses, every time.

On the drive home, you tried not to think about it.
The fact that when you looked down at your hands, listened, focused on nothing but your surroundings... you felt nothing.

Just a shadow of the world you could once know just by existing in it.

You sighed, folding your fingers over your palm and bringing it back to your side, looking out the window.You always hated your quirk. Everything about it.But now that it felt dormant, felt weak, felt gone- well-

It seemed like what you'd fought for all along had slipped out of reach...

***

"You got a lot of offers, huh?" Shoto asked, the two of you standing at the back of the class together.

Everyone had just chosen their hero names.
Everyone but you and Bakugo at least- you who genuinely couldn't think of anything, and him who thought of way too many, way too violent ideas.

He was at the front of the class arguing with Kirishima about something, banging his head with a rolled up workbook now.

Ah.
It was nice to be back.

"Mhm." You nodded to Shoto, looking up at the board where all the offers from agencies were still put up for viewing.

You got the same offers as Bakugo.

Surprising.
Considering you expected to get none.
Bakugo was mad about it. Having tied with you again.
You were more suspicious of the whole thing to acknowledge that though which made him angrier.

How was it possible you got the same amount of offers as him, yet that happened?

Maybe Endeavor put in a good word, got Shoto a bunch offers and his little sidekick too.

You frowned.
At least Shoto seemed pretty oblivious to the idea.
Sweet thing.
He just thought agencies thought you and Bakugo would make a good team or something.

"You look over your list, then?" he asked, still sitting in his desk, holding the paperwork he had to fill out for his internship.

"Mhm." You hummed again, leaning back against the wall with your ankle crossed over the other, your hands in the pocket of the uniform pants you stole from Shoto. They were too big, but you didn't want to wear a skirt when you still had bruises on your legs and Aizawa didn't say anything so-

"He gave me an offer." You said, thinking of all the offers on that board, not looking away from them.

Immediately Shoto looked up from his own papers, knowing who you were talking about.
The fact that there was a sliver of irritation in your expression gave it away.

You grumbled, thinking about the letter Endeavor had given you.
He offered Shoto an internship as well obviously, but to you- the offer was different.

"Personally written offer." You added.

There was an apology in it and everything.
Still, it felt sour- sincere, but late.

You felt like you had a support system now.
Shoto and his family unattached to that man.
Pretending he didn't exist actually worked like a charm.

Sometimes when you heard him come home late you'd even pretend his footsteps were the pipes acting up and his voice when he spoke to Shoto was just a figment of his imagination.
Worked less well, because he tried speaking to you, but now you just ignored him.

"Are you going to intern with him?" Shoto asked, peering up at you from his desk. "It doesn't bother me if you do." He added and you knew he meant it.

His innocent sort of stare- the genuine growth in it- made you scoff out a smile.

"Really?" You asked.

He nodded.

"It's where I'm going."

You furrowed your brows, confused.
Internships were supposed to be an opportunity to learn about being a hero from new people, have new experiences, and so forth, why the heck was he going with his father of all people.

"You're interning with your dad?" You questioned, the surprise in your voice going right over Shoto's head.

Putting his papers down, he glanced upwards at the rest of the class, a bunch of them still congregating- talking about the agencies they were thinking of going to- all so excited about it.

He found Midoriya standing in the corner with Uraraka.
His injuries were all healed, a scar or two on his hand.
He looked genuinely happy though. Despite getting no offers.

It made Shoto remember what he said to him in the ring.
His father was his father, but-

"He's the number two hero." Shoto clarified. "If I just look at it that way, then I can learn a lot from him."

That made sense.
Sort of.
Still, the idea of his father rubbed you off the wrong way now that you were no longer afraid of him.

Having to live in his house was already stretching it.

"Good for you, Shoto." You said, planting a hand down on his hair and patting him. "Sounds like you're maturing."

He looked up, your hand smushing his bangs down on his forehead as he did.

"Is that a complement?" He asked, his eyes covered up.

You made an exasperated sort of sound.

"Sure."

"So I take it you haven't decided on an agency yet?" He asked, lowkey judging the fact that you had no papers in your hands and your avoidant behaviors were getting a little extreme now.

You avoided everything it seemed.
His dad. Understandable.
Talking about your quirk. Also understandable.

Shoto'd gone to see Rei twice already at the mental hospital.
You didn't want to come. Less understandable till he realized you didn't feel like you deserved it.

'Mom asked about you. Asked how you're doing.' Shoto said to you the night before.

You didn't answer him. Just pretended to be focused on homework you were catching up on.

'I showed her a picture of you.' He'd said. 'She almost started crying, but she was smiling, you know. You can come see her, Y/n, she wants to see you.'

'Okay.' you said, not looking up from all your textbooks. You weren't reading it though, you were focused on what he was saying on holding yourself back from asking if Rei was alright, and how she looked, and if she still resented you, and if she was just saying she wanted to you for her son's sake, and if you even deserved to see her now after not visiting her for so long, and what did she even look like now, and fuck Endeavor, and-

'You don't have to go with me.' Shoto assured you. 'You can go see her when you're ready, she'll understand.'

You started crying then, banged your head into your notebooks and just cried for a while.
Shoto rubbed your back, tried to comfort you silently as he did.
If anyone understood how you were feeling about the whole thing it was him after all.

Eventually, Fuyumi came home, Natsuo visited from college.
You guys all spent some time together.
It was nice.

Back in school now, you tried to think about all that.
But it was difficult to break out of the 'avoid everything and shut up' pattern you'd delved into.
Shoto was just trying to make sure you did.

"I got the same list as boom boy, except for Endeavor, so Aizawa didn't make two copies. I have to look over with him." You said.

You had to make a decision.
The fact that Shoto wasn't breaking his stare at you meant he knew that too.

"I'm thinking the number three hero would be cool." You mumbled, trying to give it some thought.

"Sounds logical." Shoto concurred. "That's the second best choice you have."

"Okay, yeah, but he also seems... strict."

"Hm." Shoto hummed, a tad confused on why that was a good thing. "You tend to talk back a lot, don't you think a strict authority figure will only make that habit worse?"

"Shhhh-" You shushed him- the bastard- making good points like that- how dare he? "Look, my point is, I don't think he offered me a position because of your last name." You said, honestly thinking the only reason you got all those offers was because Endeavor put a word in. "I think he realized from watching the festival I have issues with my quirk and wants to show me how to control it. I've read about him, he's organized, efficient, fearless. Maybe he could teach me about all that stuff, I don't know."

Shoto nodded, understanding what you meant.

"That's good." He said, flipping through his papers. "Your side of the room gets messier every year."

He got a bonk on the head for that.

"Ow." He said, a few seconds after.

"I'm not deaf unless I take my hearing aids out, dingus."

"Apologies."

"Goodluck filling out your paperwork," You said, starting to walk towards the front of the class. "I have to go wrestle mine away from boom boy."

"Please don't antagonize him, he's already loud enough today." Shoto whined.

"No promises." You winked back at him, hands behind your back, walking to the front of the class with no intention of doing anything but.

"Oh, Katsuki-kun." You said, a nauseatingly, deceptively sweet tone occupying your voice as you snuck up behind the boy.

Bakugo was hunched over his desk, scowling at the many names on the sheet with pro hero names- most of which he'd never heard of, nor was impressed by.
At the sound of his name on your lips with an added suffix, his hands fisted papers, crinkling them.

"Stop calling me that." He ordered, voice gravely from the back of his throat.

You grabbed your chair and swung it around so that it was facing his desk.

"Why?" You asked, again with a tad of mocking cutesiness to the tone.

"I don't like it."

"Why?"

"Go away."

"No."

When you took a seat, Bakugo growled in irritation- already pretty annoyed that Kaminari and Kirishima had taken seats next to him too.

"What do you even want?" His tone was less than pleased, but the annoyance in it made you smirk internally.

"Nothing." With that you plucked the papers sitting spread out on his desk and started reading.

"Then why'd you say my name!?"

"No reason."

"I'm gonna kill you."

"Mhm, mhm," You ignored him, looking through the names since apparently you'd have to pick a place to intern too. "Oh, look at this agency!" You pointed, showing Bakugo. "They're near a gas station. At least they won't be bothered by the fact that you smell like car exhaust."

Kaminari snickered behind his hand, Kirishima cringing at the frown forming on Bakugo's face.

"Sometimes I wonder how you're still alive." Kiri whispered.

"Me too." Bakugo joined in, staring you down. Instead of indulging him, you gave a humming, smug little smile, planting your chin in your palm like he often did. You knew he hated it and by the smoke coming out of his head, he wasn't going to stop hating it anytime soon. "And Kirishima stop whispering!"

Oh yeah.
Over the past few days in class, Bakugo'd been a bit louder than usual, a bit more deaf too.
You didn't really notice, but others in class were complaining about it.
Kaminari would be telling you a story and Bakugo would scream at him to be a little louder from his desk, as if he was interested.
Even during class, sometimes the teachers wouldn't be loud enough for him.

'Teach! Speak up would ya!?'

Funny he never had that issue before.
Also he only ever asked people to be louder when you were listening too.

Still, Kirishima wasn't too focused on anything Bakugo was saying.

Shifting your attention to the anxious- if a bit disorganized- friend across from you, you gave Kirishima a little cock of the head.
Poor thing seemed overwhelmed.
He got a bunch of offers too, but unlike Katsuki-kun, he was so grateful for all of them, he felt it was ungrateful to reject anybody.

"Hey," You said lightly, waiting for the boy chewing on his lip to look up at you. "I like your hero name Kiri." You smiled. "Very manly."

Immediately a look of joy appeared on his face, a giddy little laugh escaping his throat.

Red Riot suited him.
Made him seem tough yet extremely fanboy-ish, which he was.

"Thanks!" He exclaimed. "You decided on a name yet?"

"Nope." You admitted, sinking back into your chair and plopping all the papers in your hands down.

You hadn't read a single name on the list for real.
Just scanned over them and hoped eventually Shoto would have to step in and make the decision for you.

That was selfish though.
Plus he'd probably end up choosing his dad because that was the most 'logical' choice.

Yeah he's the number two hero, but that didn't mean you didn't imagine him getting run over by a truck whenever he was around. If your quirk wasn't incognito, you might've actually been able to make that happen- No. Bad Y/n- He was Shoto's dad.
And he wasn't that bad- yes he was- Oh jesus, you just had to pick a place already, but you didn't want to.

The moment you stopped looking at the papers, Bakugo peered over the top of his at you.
He squinted, made a bunch of grumbling noises at the something he was unhappy with then retreated back behind his papers.

"Katsuki, we don't speak 'grumpy noises'." You said, a bit annoyed with the judgmental look in his eye.

"I didn't say anything!" He yelled, smashing the papers down.

"Yes, that's exactly my point."

"He's probably just cranky his hero names got denied." Kirishima interjected, apparently not fearing of death either.

"You're probably right," you agreed, looking back at Bakugo and offering, "Maybe if you changed it to President Explosion Murder?"

"At least I actually came up with a name! What the heck did you do, huh!?"

You squinted at him, locked your jaw, crossed your arms defiantly.
The two of you looked like toddlers pouting at one another over a recess squabble.

"Sorry, I don't have your level of creativity." You mocked. "Tell me, what narcissistic title should I add in front of Atomic and should I add Murder or is that more your thing?"

"Alright, listen!"

Just as Bakugo pushed his chair back and got to his feet, you grabbed at your ears, looked him dead in the eye and turned the knobs on your hearing aids till they were completely off.

The sheer look on his face was worth it.

"Y/n."

Someone said your name then, but for obvious reasons you didn't heat it.

Kirishima and Kaminari had to still their laughter, Kiri proceeding to tap your shoulder a few times and point over your head.

When you looked, Aizawa was standing there.

He seemed pretty unaware of what was going on and frankly didn't care.

He wasn't wearing bandages anymore, still some scarring around his eyes.
Probably meant his power was affected a bit.
Still he seemed in better shape, especially from up close.

Was a shame that your quirk wasn't really working.
You couldn't feel his heartbeat or blood pressure.
With your hearing aids off there wasn't even a shred of any information you could use.

Turning the knobs you winced as your ears rang then everything went back to normal again.

Looking up at your teacher, he reached his hand out, the mask he'd given you before in his palm.

"You forgot this at the festival in one of the waiting rooms." He said, waiting for you to take it.

"Thank you, sir."

"Mm." He nodded, starting to walk out of the room again. "Rep. Watch the class for a bit, I need to grab something from the teachers' lounge."

"Yes sir!" Iida quickly responded.

Aizawa walked a bit slower than before to the door.
Had a slight limp.

Something in the way he stalked away, the sight of his back and his hair down made you remember a time when you were younger- when he was younger too.
He walked the same way after a fight.
You remembered that.
Sored and probably tired.

Although the last time you saw him walk that way he had a scarf wrapped around his hand.
Like a semi-broken memory begging you to get up and follow him out the room.

Once he was in the hall, you pushed your chair back, not even listening to whatever Bakugo was currently yelling about. Thankfully, Iida was too busy ordering him to calm him down to realize you were walking out the door too.

When you got out there, it was pretty much an empty hallway, except for the slowly distancing body of your teacher.

"Mr. Aizawa." You called, running to catch up to him.

Shit.
You didn't really know what to say.
But you wanted to talk to him for some reason.

He turned around, stopping once you were across from him.

"Uh- y-you told Shoto you had to speak to me." You said, swallowing, not sure where to look when you spoke to him. "At the hospital."

He nodded, hands in his pockets.

"It can wait." He answered, the dismissiveness in his voice causing you to furrow your brows.

He was usually efficient about things, dismissiveness was his nature, but there was something more avoidant about his tone.
It made you angry for some reason, like he was deliberately steering clear of speaking with you.

That anger calmed your nerves.

"Why didn't you write me up?" You asked as he started to walk away again.

It was his turn to furrow his brows.

"Why would I?"

You put both your hands out, motioning at your legs as if it were obvious.

"I'm wearing pants. They're not even my pants."

"Yes I can tell." He conceited, the fact that the hems fell over your shoes and you had to poke a hole in Shoto's belt to get it to stay up above your waist. "But that's not exactly worth the paperwork."

You frowned harder at him.
Like a bratty child not getting their way.
He didn't take the bait.

You crossed your arms.

"If you don't like paperwork then why did you get me all those internship offers."

This time it worked.

Aizawa's brows rose for a fraction of a second, but you caught it.
He didn't say anything for a bit.
Didn't even deny it.

Just waited for you to say something else.

You scoffed.

"So it was you." You said in a whisper.

Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose with a tiresome sigh.

"I didn't get you all those offers." He said. "Many of them wanted you and Bakugo both. Something I would strongly advise against by the way."

Yeah, that probably wasn't a good idea given how you'd probably antagonize each other the whole time. You also tended to forget that if you and Bakugo actually worked together and had better control of your quirks you could probably make something as powerful and destructive as an atom bomb.
That was appealing to a lot of agencies.
It also frightened them enough to want to teach both the responsibility of such powers.

But still, individually you struggled to understand your value.
This was the first time you'd ever been introspective without Shoto attached to the idea.
What other strengths did you have than being a punching bag exactly?

I'm smart. You thought. Because it was true. Intelligence, in the end, is just a measure of how willing you are to be educated and use the cognitive skills you do have, better them, work for them. Okay. I'm smart. What the hell can I do with that?

"Why would agencies want me at all?" You mumbled, asking both Aizawa and yourself, looking down at the ground in a sulk. "What did you even say?"

"That you're one of my best students." He said, the words catching your gaze as you turned your chin back up to him. "That you have things to learn, but I know you and I know you deserve those opportunities. I know you'll be grateful for them."

Oh.
Well now you kind of felt like a bitch for being upset at him earlier.

"I'm not entirely sure what was the cause of your outbursts during the festival, but it seems we finally figured out your quirk acts on your emotions. The more vulnerable they make you, the more your quirk wants control."

He observed you well during the festival.
Even had to stop your quirk at the very end.
When you and Todoroki fought it was too quick and difficult to understand what was going on. No one but Bakugo even could've predicted what would've happened. Only reason he knew was because he experienced it head on. Because he cared enough to notice those things about you.

Aizawa spoke to him after the festival.
After scolding him for his own outbursts during the awards ceremony and his obsession with winning, they spoke about you.

Shota wasn't stupid.
He saw the way the kid looked at you when he thought nobody was looking. There were some normal, expected, teenage-boy lusty side-glances. Nothing as obvious as Kaminari or Mineta, but sometimes when you made him mad or turned around Aizawa caught his eyes flicking down to the hem of your skirt.
Aside from that, there was less expected, more curious aspect to Bakugo's attitudes.
You'd earned his attention early on. Earned his respect with it as well.
Ever since the festival though, the teacher noticed concern in his student. Concern that could almost be mistaken for care. He'd move his head out of the way more during note-taking, ask the teachers to speak up during lectures even though the majority of the class could hear them just fine.

When they talked about you Bakugo seemed to think pretending he didn't give a shit was the best way to go. He did say one thing that stuck in Shota's mind.

'She shouldn't be using it for other people.' Other people. He meant Todoroki. Maybe Endeavor. 'Her quirk. She's strong without it, but they either don't know that or don't care.' He said the whole thing with an ugly, bared teeth frown the whole time. 'Why are people so stupid!? All that quirk of hers does is protect her, of course it's gonna get scared when she's in danger. Those idiots just gotta stop making her feel like some kinda weapon then she'll act like herself, it's so simple! Why haven't they figured that out yet!? It took me like two seconds!'

Looking down at you, Aizawa felt the sudden urge to pat your head.
You were as oblivious as your brother sometimes, as stunted, of course you had trouble understanding your own emotions.
He never liked Endeavor. Thought he was kind of a dick to be honest, but he never expected him to fail so miserably at being a father to his kids, to the one he adopted too.

Bakugo. Shota thought. Sadly, not everyone values her self as much as you do.

"I shouldn't have encouraged you to use your quirk during the festival without knowing more about it." He said to you, "But at an agency, they could start to teach you about quirk experimentation, controlling your emotions during tough situations, things like that-"

"It doesn't matter anymore." You interrupted him, the dismissiveness in your voice confusing him. Realizing he didn't know yet, you stuttered, not exactly knowing how to put it into words, "I don't- um- I don't feel it anymore." You tapped at your ear, trying to talk about your quirk. "I thought it was just gonna last for a bit, but it's been two weeks since the festival and it still hasn't... come back."

When you woke up, everything happened so fast, but there was a definite change to the way you perceived your surroundings. Before, you'd walk into a room and the first thing you'd notice was the pressure, the amount of people in the room, the balance of different gases, things that were inherently sensory. Now, it was the light, the voices, the normal things, normal people noticed.

Something was so freeing about that.
So worrying too.

"Have you told anyone?" Your teacher asked.

You shook your head no.

"Why not?"

You shrugged your shoulders.

Truth is, you'd never made decisions before and when something wasn't important, Endeavor wouldn't listen so you sort of just learned to keep things to yourself.
Shoto asked how your quirk was feeling the order day, but you just shrugged your shoulders then too.
Didn't know how to tell him you didn't know if it even existed anymore.

"What does Endeavor think about the whole thing?"

You growled at the name, turning away and sulking again.

"Look, I know this is none of my business, but he is still your guardian- legally and-"

"It was him, ya know." You interrupted your teacher again. Didn't mean to disrespect him, but he didn't know, so why not tell him. "My outburst." You clarified, thinking back to the moments leading up the fight with Todoroki, all the things you said about one another, the words that felt crafted by the experience he bestowed onto you.

You smiled.

"It was ten years in the making and he was the one building it all up." You shook your head in a disbelieving sort of way. "Do you not hear him when he talks about his own child?" All the memories of calling Shoto a 'successful breeding project', you a 'lucky one'. How he'd driven his first child to death, ignored his other children because they didn't inherit the quirks he wanted them to. You locked and unlocked your jaw, still a lot of pent up anger in that department.

"Shoto's starting to forgive him, I think, at least tolerate him now, but I just can't. Now that I don't feel so controlled by him anymore, I don't even know what to do. Do I stay in the hero course? I want to be a hero- I think- I wanna help people, I don't want anyone to go through that shit I did as a kid, but can I even do it? I don't know." You grabbed at your hair, these past two weeks all freeing, but at once worrying just as the absence of your quirk was.

You knew you wanted to be your own person.

But everything was so difficult to decide.
There wasn't a path to head down.
There wasn't even a scarf to hold on and follow in the dark.
There was nothing...

You shuddered, your shoulders slumping in defeat.

Aizawa didn't know what to say.
He looked down, and for a moment saw a little girl dressed in dirty, dust-ridden clothing wandering the streets all by herself. Her hair was matted, grey with the rubble, dried blood drawing a path down her ears and neck. Her eyes were lost just as they were now.

When you looked up at Aizawa you saw the light cast around his shoulders in that dark street illuminated by nothing but a street lamp and falling dust. The scarf around his neck was different now, but he was the same person. Older, more tired, but there was still a kindness in his eyes that made you want to stay standing.

You scoffed out an angry sound- choked by your frustrations.

"Why didn't you take me?" You asked, the question he'd been waiting for a long time to come finally falling from between your lips.

He shut his eyes, suddenly finding difficulty in confessing.

"I was twenty-one years old." He said, his volume low, almost ashamed. "I didn't have any experience with kids, or teaching, or anything. I don't have a family or a partner." He went on, "You wouldn't have met that kid in there, either." He cocked his head at the classroom, talking about Shoto.

He could tell how much you two meant to each other after all.
But from the look in your eyes, that wasn't enough.
It made sense.
It was true.
It was logical.
But it didn't sit right with either of you.

"Hey." He said sternly this time, wanting the disappointment in your expression to fade. When you met his gaze, he went on."Ever since you walked into my class, there hasn't been a moment I'm not proud of what you've become... And there's not a day that goes by where I don't regret not having stayed in your life when I should've."

Your eyes were wide now, blinking up at him as if he'd just said such a wondrous thing.
No one had ever told you they were proud before did they?

Shota sighed again, running a hand through his hair before reaching out to plant his hand on your shoulder and pull you into him.

The one-armed embrace surprised you.
Reminded you of Bakugo's hug at the hospital only this was more... maternal than anything.
More of trying to make up for lost time than comfort you in anyway.

He was warm.
His hero outfit kinda uncomfortable against the skin of your face-his scruffy hair too.

"You've come so far." He said, truly meaning it. "Don't let it go to waste because you don't know where to go from here." He pat your back, up and down once or twice. "It's gonna be okay, Y/n. We'll figure it all out in time."

The fact that he said we instead of you made your chest cave.
Endeavor never said anything like that before. To you or Shoto.
You started to realize that biological lineage is nothing.
It's the way you care for someone you have the bravery to take responsibility for.

"Thank you." You mumbled into his chest, truly meaning it too. "You need to cut your hair by the way."

"Alright, take it easy, I'm still your teacher." He said, letting his hand fall as you tugged away again.

"Okay." You blinked up at him. "Sensei, you need to cut your hair."

He put his hands back into his pockets, frowned at you again.

"Well, you certainly turned into a little smartass didn't you."

"Did you just notice?"

"Get back to work. You gotta settle on your hero name by the way."

You grumbled at that assessment.

"You have till the end of the period."

"Fine, fine. Can I tell the class I got a hug!?"

"Do it and I'll write you up for the pants."

You chuckled at that, watching him start to walk down that hallway again, seeing him as a twenty-one year old with a scarf around his palm and a kindness glinting in his eye as he disappeared down the hall...

"What are you looking at?"

"Bah!"

You spun around, realizing someone was suddenly standing next to you, swinging your fist at the air reflexively.

The boy next to you's eyes went wide and suddenly he put up a thick stack of papers that blocked your attempted punch in front of his face.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Bakugo yelled, the hallway still thankfully empty enough for no one to witness that.

Sighing out a relieved breath, you let your hand fall as you bent down and grabbed your knees.

"You startled me." Your reasoning didn't satisfy him.

Bakugo stared down at you, now swinging the stack of papers around so much it was making noise through the air.

"SO!?" He nearly yelled loud enough for your classmates to hear. "You gonna try and punch everyone who ever walks up behind you now!? Some people might actually be slow enough for you to hit you idiot, be careful!"

"Sorry." you mumbled, not really paying too much attention to what he was saying.

"Anyway," He grumbled, the weight of the sheets now resting in his arm as he stuck his hands in his pockets. "Couldn't you pick up on my car exhaust?"

Aw. Did you hit a nerve?
At least it was nice to see him use his sense of humor- the one that somehow only reared its head when you two were alone.

"I was just kidding." You cooed, crossing your arms. "Iida smells like car exhaust. You're on a fine line between petroleum and cheap cologne."

"I don't wear cologne!"

"You probably should."

No, he shouldn't.
You liked his smell.
His shampoo and his house, it reminded you of his room.

"Did you pick an agency?" You asked, watching his knit brows and pouty face as he shuffled through, trying the seperate the stack. "Still going through the stupid list. I had to make copies."

He made you a copy so you two wouldn't have to share, that's why he left the classroom.
It was a polite gesture, although more likely that he just wanted you to stop distracting him and go back to your own seat to look over the names.

You wondered why he hadn't asked or even mentioned the coincidence of you and him having the almost an identical list of offers. Maybe he didn't like that his worth as a potential hero was being measured beside someone else's. It's hard being compared to someone else just because you two have the potential to do well together.

Welcome to my world. You thought, watching him intently as he struggled to seperate his and your list.

The light from the hall window cast a comfortable shadow around his frame. Made you realize he'd gotten a bit bigger since the start of the school year- probably trained for those 12-15 hours a day he thought he needed to compete with Shoto. That nice shape to his shoulders was still there, the curve to his arms showing beneath his blazer.

You'd seen his arms bared before.
Never connotated them with something like wanting to touch them before though.
There was a curiosity in you now that your quirk wasn't functioning.
You couldn't feel his heartbeat from afar.
Made you want to touch him, feel it for yourself.

When he relaxed like that, he looked so ethereal.
Like he was thinking about other things than winning or being a hero or beating up Deku.
Just trying to separate a list and figure out how to use a copy machine.

Made you smile a tad.

Made you realize you missed him.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"Huh?" You got caught, looking back up from his arms and to his face.

"Urgh." He grumbled, thinking you'd just spaced out. "What do you want!?"

You blinked, trying to come with an excuse.
Then you realized, you hadn't asked in a while.

"Where's my plane?"

Bakugo's face contorted uglily.

"Your what?"

"My plane. Did you fix it yet?"

"Your plane?"

"My plane." You reiterated. "It's mine. You gave it to me."

"Oi." He breathed, throaty and deep, like he was trying to be intimidating as he took a step closer. Would've worked had you not just imagined him yelling in the copy room because he couldn't figure out the printer. "Let's be clear, it's mine. I'm just lending it to you."

His face was close to yours.
Now that you knew what it looked like up close, something you reflexively wanted to lean closer.

You resisted that urge and just smiled, shrugging your shoulders.

"Whatever you say."

"Keep being annoying and I'm not giving it back at all."

"But you're annoying too, doesn't it cancel out?"

As you said that his face softened from its frown. His head tilted back a bit, exposing his neck as he rose a single brow. He caught your eyes flicking down to his lips, then back up to his eyes.

"You think I'm annoying?" He asked, like a genuine question, not an ounce of grumpiness or anger behind it.

"Uh. Yeah. Don't you?" You kidded.

He looked at you then.
Focused on your face, like there was no purpose but to just... look at you for a second.

"What?" You questioned, for some reason getting flustered by it. "Why are you staring at me? I'm not even smiling."

You never blushed.
Never.
Never when you teased him or he got mad.
Never.

What the heck was this?
Why did your face feel hot now?

He was standing nearly against you, but he'd been this close before, even closer.

The only difference now was he was starting to smirk.
Smirk at the rattled look on your face.

Leaning in closer, he whispered, "You kiss everyone you think is annoying like that?"

Your eyes went wide.
That was new.

Since when was he the one doing the teasing?

in the corner of his mouth as he suppressed that grin, his teeth showed.
Maybe he was remembering it.
How rough yet gentle it'd been.
Your hands in his hair, the smoke hiding you both from the eyes of millions.
How you reached up, mashed your mouth to his as if you'd done it a hundred times before.

There was deception in the act, but he knew the beginning of that kiss was real as ever.
Sure, maybe you got caught up in the emotions of it, but there was so much affection built up in the act.

He forgot something though.
Forgot that for someone he found so annoying and a pain in the ass, he sure gave his share.
When he moaned into your mouth that sigh of relief and wrapped his lips around yours forcefully, there was no mistaking it.

You cleared your throat awkwardly, biting your lip at the memory, whispering back, staring him in the eye, "I could ask you the same thing."

Bakugo's grin didn't fade.
He just scoffed at the assessment, planting the papers against your chest.

His fingers pressed just above them, waiting for you to not let them fall. Once you held onto the stacks, his fingers grazed your collarbones over your shirt.

You almost stepped backwards, but as soon as you felt the electricity of his touch he started walking past you.

"Strata." He said, a part of you still dazed by how firmly he'd pressed those papers against you.

"Hm?"

He looked back at you over his shoulder.

"Those things are still off or what? Your hero name. It should be Strata."

Your brows knit together in confusion.

"Strata means... First? Right? We learned that in our language class."

"Do you never pay attention?!" He grumbled. "It means the first point of change." His face softened again as he looked down at the ground thinking back to something he didn't have the courage to remind of- something he seemed nostalgic aboout.

Wiping his face with his sleeve he started walking back into in the classroom, whispering before he opened the door, "That's why it's called the Stratosphere."