Chapter Text
When Izuku wakes up, he’s utterly drained and exhausted, but also somehow okay.
He feels Howler’s weight and warmth on his chest before he even opens his eyes, and he moves a hand and slowly threads his fingers through the dog’s fur. He hears Howler’s tail thump against the couch over and over and can’t help but smile softly.
He opens his eyes. It’s still dark, but when his eyes adjust, he realizes he isn’t in his own room at home, or even his room at the dormitory. He’s in the common room, lying on the couch with Howler on his chest and his friends bundled in blankets on the floor around him.
In a rush, Izuku remembers what happened, but it doesn’t startle him, or even bring down his mood. As scared as he’d been while it was happening, now that it’s over, he doesn’t dwell on it. Although he’ll probably have to talk about the microwave thing to Toshinori because he doesn’t want it happening again if he can help it.
He starts to sit up, but Howler won’t budge, and he makes a low, unhappy noise when Izuku tries to move him.
“I’m just getting some water,” Izuku murmurs, then swallows to clear some of the soreness in his throat. It doesn’t help. “I’ll be right back, okay?”
This seems to satisfy Howler, because he lets Izuku get up and doesn’t make a move to stop him. Izuku carefully navigates around and in between his friends’ sleeping figures until he finally makes it into the kitchen. He doesn’t turn on any lights, but his eyes have adjusted enough for him to see just fine.
Against his better judgement, he looks at the microwave. He doesn’t really know why he does it; it’s one of those things where he doesn’t want to, but can’t help himself. Like that unnerving feeling that someone’s following you down a hallway; you don’t want to look but you end up doing it anyway.
It’s off, of course, but he notices that the screen displaying the digital timer has been taped over several times with several different types of tape. It looks so much like a bad repair job that for a second he forgets that there’s a timer beneath all that tape.
He smiles, gets his water, guzzles it, then heads back into the common room.
He’s almost to the couch again when a voice speaks to him in the darkness. “Midoriya? What are you doing up?”
Izuku turns and meets Iida’s eyes in the dark. Iida is sitting up with his blanket beneath him, and it would seem he’s been awake ever since Izuku got up. He looks worried.
Izuku smiles as reassuringly as he can and shakes his head. “I’m fine,” he murmurs back, barely above a whisper. “I was just getting some water.”
This seems to satisfy Iida, who nods as the worry melts into relief. "I see," he says. "Sorry. I was just... a bit concerned when you left for the kitchen..."
Izuku smiles again, and instead of settling down on the couch again with Howler, he snatches his blankets off and starts slowly toward Iida.
"Mind if I move over there?"
Iida blinks, but nods and scoots over a tad to make more room. Howler gets the memo and follows Izuku over there, careful to avoid the rest of his sleeping classmates.
He sits beside Iida and within moments, they're both laying down again, side by side, with Howler curled on Izuku's chest again. Izuku looks up at the ceiling for a time in the gentle silence between them, and he has no intention to break that. His body is utterly drained after what happened earlier, and sleep has already begun to drag him back under.
"Midoriya?"
Izuku hums to let him know he's listening.
"Is there... anything we can do for you? Is there something we can do that might, perhaps... lighten the load a little?"
Izuku hums again, this time in thought.
"... Ice cream."
He hears Iida shift in the dark. "Come again?"
"Tomorrow's Saturday, right?" Sleep is nagging in the forefront of his mind again and he can't chase it off. "We should all go get ice cream."
Iida falls silent for a long while, and Izuku smiles while reaching over in the dark and patting his shoulder.
"Night, Iida."
"Goodnight, Midoriya."
Izuku is asleep before Iida finishes saying his name.
The next time he opens his eyes, it's to someone shrieking "NO WAY REALLY?" followed by several loud, angry shushes. He cracks his eyes open and pushes himself upright slowly. The blinds have been drawn back to let in the light, and he squints against it.
“Wassit?” he manages, voice fugged with sleep. Howler licks his face, and once Izuku’s eyes adjust, he’s able to fully look around the room.
“Oh great!” Sero says, throwing his hands in the air only to drop them to his sides just as quickly. “Great job, you woke him up!”
“I didn’t mean to!” Ashido amends, though it looks like the entire class is against her now. Everyone’s in the living room, packing up their blankets, and all eyes are on her. “Midori! You know I didn’t mean to wake you up, right?”
Izuku blinks at her tiredly. “Did you?”
The class riots.
Izuku looks across from him and somehow finds Shouto's eyes amidst his riling classmates.
"What are we doing?" Izuku asks, scratching Howler's head. "What's everyone so excited about?"
It's actually Iida who overhears and answers. "You said you wanted ice cream," he says simply. "So, I spoke to the teachers, and we're all venturing out to get some."
"There's this super cute parlor downtown!" Hagakure tells him as she bounces over. "All Might and Aizawa-sensei said they would take us there today!"
"If you want to," Kirishima speaks up. "We won't go if you don't feel up to it. There's always another day."
Izuku looks down at his hands for a long moment. His wrists are still bandaged; he's never looked at them, but he's willing to bet the electrocuting shackles brought a lot of permanent damage. More scars.
He lifts his head towards his friends again, and this time he smiles.
"It's fine. I would love to go out with all of you. Ice cream sounds really nice right about now."
They return his smile tenfold and go right back to bustling around, gathering blankets off the floor, going to their rooms to get dressed, the likes. Izuku goes to get ready himself, and he ends up grabbing his teal hoodie from his closet. It has the words "I'm dead inside. And outside" on the front (a custom birthday gift from Mom), and he pauses in the bathroom to take a good long look at himself in the mirror.
His hair is still mostly white. That hasn't changed. But the dark rings beneath his eyes aren't as stark as before. He's not sure he'd notice them at all had he not known beforehand that they were there.
He takes in a long breath and lets it out before leaving. Howler is right at his heels, and Izuku decides, for today's outing, he'll leave the vest off. He wants Howler to be able to relax and have fun today. He definitely deserves it.
Izuku meets his classmates downstairs once they're all ready. Iida does a headcount, and once he's sure everyone is there who's supposed to be, he and the rest of Class 1-A, plus Howler, head outside.
Toshinori and Aizawa are outside already, waiting for them, and Izuku can’t help but meet Toshinori’s eyes the moment they disembark. Toshinori returns the gaze and soon after, he returns Izuku’s smile too. There’s been something of a rift between the two of them ever since Izuku shared his testimony; the first thing he wants to do is break that wall as soon as possible. There’s no way they could possibly move on with such a block between them.
Howler bumps his nose against Izuku’s hand, and Izuku snaps out of his daze and smiles. “I’m okay,” he promises. “I’ll be okay, don’t worry.”
Howler doesn’t look convinced (or, about as unconvinced as a dog can look), but he doesn’t bother him further, and Izuku loads into the bus with his classmates. Aizawa gets behind the steering wheel and Toshinori takes shotgun. Iida coordinates everyone’s seating positions, and within moments they’re speeding down the road, off U.A.’s campus and towards the ice cream parlor downtown.
Izuku’s arranged seating position ends up being right beside Uraraka, who looks out the window at the buildings as they pass. Izuku opens his mouth to speak, but changes his mind at the last second. She notices.
“What’s up?” Uraraka asks.
“Nothing really.” Izuku shakes his head. “Just, y’know… thinking about some stuff, I guess.”
She doesn’t seem any less curious. “What kind of stuff?”
“I dunno, just…” Izuku pauses, trying to find the right way to put it. “It’s just nice to be able to do this, y'know? It…” He twists his shoe against the floor of the bus for a moment. “It helps me feel like things are going back to normal.”
Her eyes soften, but her smile is as bright as ever. “If that’s the case,” she says, poking him on the shoulder, “then I guess we’ll just have to do it often. That’s just how it’ll have to be, I don’t make the rules.”
She’s always had a contagious smile, and before long he finds himself smiling, too. Howler's tail thumps the floor at his feet.
"Thanks, Uraraka. I'm... I'm really glad to have you as my friend. You've been nothing but awesome and amazing even through everything, so... thanks for putting up with me."
She beams at him, brighter than ever. "Of course!" she says excitedly. "It's more than just putting up with you, Deku. You're one of my best friends. I'm just as glad to have met you."
He laughs loosely and rubs the back of his neck. "Thanks, Uraraka. That means a lot."
Her smile doesn't fade, and neither does his. It’s not much later afterwards that they reach their destination and disembark. Howler stays right by his side the entire time, bouncing excitedly. Izuku is glad to be able to take Howler with them as just his pet. If the ice cream shop isn’t animal-friendly, he’ll just sit outside. Howler has supported him through all this, and he deserves a break just as much as the rest of them.
“Oh, I can’t believe we’re actually doing this!” Ashido gushes, bouncing around happily. She spins on her heel with drama to make a ballerina jealous and faces the group. “Let it be said that I will be judging you all heavily on your ice cream tastes!”
“Wait, seriously?” Sero says, wide-eyed.
“Of course!” Ashido says, like she could never imagine doing anything else, ever. “Tally ho, everyone!”
“All ice cream is valid,” Satou says under his breath for only a few to hear.
Izuku nods. “It’s all dairy nice.”
“Oh for the love of god, Midoriya.”
Izuku cackles. Some join him, some make sure to keep their distance. Izuku has a presence in the class, and if they stick too close there’s no way they won’t end up joining him sooner or later.
“Alright,” Aizawa says, calling the class back to order, “here’s how we’ll do things. We’ll be sitting at the outside tables and taking people in two at a time to keep the mayhem to a minimum. And we will decide who goes first and what two people go together.”
The students don’t object. They head down the sidewalk for a little while, ignoring the looks they get by passersby. Izuku swears someone points out his white hair and identifies him as the “kid from Kamino,” but he pretends not to notice it.
It would seem someone does notice it, though, because Yaoyorozu slides further back in the group to flank him.
“What’s up?” Izuku asks.
She must’ve read his face, because she says in a quiet voice, “Don’t get hung up with the labels people put on you. They aren’t worth your time.”
Izuku blinks at her. She’s one of the people in the class that he’s never really interacted with much. But she had come for him, with the others, at Kamino, and that means something. And, like Iida, she probably feels responsible for the class, being vice-president and all.
Izuku smiles and nods. “Thanks. I’ve gotten pretty good at ignoring stuff like that, but, yeah. Thanks for… looking out for me, I guess?”
He doesn’t really know what to say, but she seems to understand where he’s coming from, because she smiles, nods, and turns to face the group again. They don’t speak to each other again, but Izuku finds it somewhat easier to tune out the voices of the passersby around them.
Howler gives his hand a happy little nudge, and that’s the breaking point. Izuku smiles.
The parlor is located in the city’s plaza by the mall, but not a part of the mall. There’s a courtyard outside, with loads of tables and benches. Despite that it’s a Saturday, there are little to no people in sight. It’s a good thing.
Izuku leaves Howler with Shouto when it’s his and Iida’s turn. They go with Aizawa, away from the courtyard and into the shop. The inside is no busier than outside, and a big part of Izuku is thankful once again. Given his lack of presence, it can be difficult to get around large crowds.
“What are you getting, Midoriya?”
Izuku frowns, cradling his chin while he looks at the menu. “Lemme think…”
“Don’t pick just based off a pun.”
“I won’t I won’t, promise.”
Iida raises a brow at him skeptically, but keeps it to himself. He orders a straight vanilla while Izuku gets a caramel drizzle and a dog-safe vanilla for Howler, and once they have their ice creams, they head outside with Aizawa to rejoin the rest of the class.
It isn’t long before everyone has one. There’s such a broad range of flavors and toppings between the large group, half of which Izuku didn’t even know existed. Uraraka and Todoroki rejoin their table with green tea-flavored and sherbert respectively, and Tsuyu’s actually looks like it has flies in it. Izuku doesn’t ask.
“This is really nice,” Uraraka says, smiling and scooping a bite onto her spoon. “I’m glad the teachers were so on-board with it.”
Across from her, Iida nods. “As much as I like to spend the weekends studying,” he says, “this is quite nice, also.”
“You’re kind of weird, Iida,” Tsuyu says, her spoon still in her mouth.
Iida spins to face her. “What makes you say that?”
“No normal person does schoolwork on the weekdays!” says Ashido. She’s sitting beside Tsuyu with an ice cream that looks to be about the same color as her skin. “I get doing homework on the weekend, but why would you keep studying?”
Iida looks personally offended, but he composes himself. “Well, Ashido,” he says, straightening his glasses, “at least I do study.”
“OOOOOOOO,” says Uraraka and Izuku at the same time.
“Didn’t know you had it in you, Iida,” says Tsuyu.
“Awww, you guys are no fair!” Ashido complains, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m doing my best, okay!?”
“I could always help you if you need it,” Shouto says flatly. “I know you’ve been working with Yaoyorozu, but I don’t mind.”
“Well, that’s sweet of you,” Ashido says, still pouting, “but I’m gonna have to say no. You can be kind of boring sometimes, Todoroki.”
Shouto blinks. “Boring?”
“Yeah!” says Ashido. “Y’know, you’re just a typical straight-A student! You’re a great guy, believe me, but nothing exciting ever happens with you.”
“What do you think, Thermostat?” Izuku says, turning to him. “Are you just gonna take that?”
“I’m not sure,” Shouto says, and he looks back at Ashido. “What exactly do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know, something cool!”
“How cool would it be if I froze your feet?”
Uraraka chokes and has to turn away sharply to hide her coughs and laughs. “O-Oh my gosh,” she manages, barely able to get the words out. “I can’t tell if you’re threatening her or trying to make a joke.”
Izuku opens his mouth.
“Midoriya.” Iida points his spoon at him. “Don’t you dare.”
“What?” Izuku questions, frowning. “Why do you guys always assume I’m gonna make a wisecrack or something?”
Tsuyu takes a spoonful of ice cream. “Because that’s kind of what you do, Izuku-chan.”
“... Fair enough.”
“Okay,” says Shouto, looking around, “does anyone care that Ashido called me boring.”
“I didn’t say you’re boring all the time, I just said you don’t do a lot of exciting things!”
“What kind of exciting things would I do?”
“I don’t know, something daring!”
“Like what?”
“Heck, I dunno, go put salt on your ice cream or something! Do something interesting!”
Shouto stares at her for a long, hard moment.
And then he gets to his feet, grabs his bowl, and is gone.
“WAIT IS HE FOR REAL? I WAS KIDDING!”
“You can’t kid around Shouto,” Izuku says, shaking his head. “And you really shouldn’t dare him, either.”
Shouto does, in fact, return with salted ice cream. He makes eye contact and maintains it as he puts his bowl on the table, takes a seat, and takes a bite. Ashido looks terrified.
“You two are just scheming now!” Ashido accuses, looking just about ready to vault herself out of the bench. “I can’t believe you actually agreed, Todoroki! Has Midori-chan really been that bad of an influence on you?”
Shouto’s face doesn’t change. “It doesn’t taste bad.”
“That’s not the point!”
“You sound pretty upset,” Izuku says, resting his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his knuckles. “One might even say that you’re…” He straightens a pair of make-believe sunglasses, “in salt ed.”
“MIDORI-CHAAAAAN.”
“No,” Shouto says, shaking his head, “I think she’s salty.”
“Ayyyy!” Izuku says, snapping gun-fingers at him.
Shouto gives him what is probably the most unenthusiastic gun-finger he could ever ask for. “Ay.”
“Schemers!”
They fist-bump.
“Stoooop!”
“You lot certainly sound lively,” says Toshinori, and Izuku and the others lift their heads as he makes their way over. He pats Howler on the head when the dog moves to greet him. “Mind if I sit with you?”
“Oh, of course!” says Iida, already scooting over to make room. “Ashido, Tsuyu, move over some.”
The two oblige, and Toshinori takes a seat beside Iida, across from Uraraka, Izuku, and Shouto. On the ground under the table, Howler licks his wrapper clean.
“Iida, Todoroki and Midori-chan are ganging up on me,” Ashido whines, dropping her head onto the table. “I don’t even know why I’m sitting with you guys.”
“Actually, this really isn’t bad,” Shouto says, stirring his ice cream again. “You should all try it.”
“I would encourage you to not abuse your daily sodium intake!” Iida interjects, punctuating it with a swipe of his hand. “Why in the name of sanity would you put salt on your ice cream?”
“It’s not bad.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Izuku meets Toshinori’s eyes from across the table, and when Izuku smiles, Toshinori returns it wholeheartedly. It’s such a small moment, but Izuku can feel the tension in his chest melt away like ice. There isn’t a rift between them. There probably never was one. They’ll be okay.
“Can I sit with you?”
Toshinori turns toward Izuku, standing in the aisle next to Toshinori’s seat on the bus. There’s an empty spot beside him.
“Oh, certainly, my boy,” Toshinori says, scooting over so Izuku doesn’t have to climb over him. Izuku smiles and sits down beside him with a quiet thank you. Howler settles down on the floorboards beneath them.
“Everyone in?” Aizawa calls from the passenger seat.
“Everyone is accounted for!” comes Iida’s booming voice a couple rows back. Aizawa gives a nod to the driver, and they’re zooming down the road in no time at all.
A silence falls between them even as the rest of the students laugh and talk behind them. Toshinori looks down at his hands, folded in his lap, and wonders if maybe he should say something. There’s nothing uncomfortable about the silence between them. There’s never been anything uncomfortable between him and Izuku. He doesn’t understand why he’s hesitating.
“Is something wrong?” Izuku asks, watching him. His eyes are drawn, and he looks exhausted and worried.
“Ah, no,” Toshinori promises, shaking his head. “Just thinking is all.”
Izuku turns away, looking down at his hands. “You know I’ll be okay, right?”
Toshinori’s head whips around, and he doesn’t know how or why Izuku has always been able to read him so well. After a moment to gather himself, Toshinori smiles gently.
“I know, kiddo.” He can’t tell who exactly he’s saying it to, or whether it’s meant to reassure Izuku, or reassure himself. “I know.”
“So.” Izuku scoots a little closer so he can lean over and rest his head on Toshinori’s shoulder. “Try not to worry so much about me anymore. I’ll be okay.”
Toshinori inhales deeply, and a part of him knows that he’ll never really stop worrying about this boy, but… at the very least, he can try to hold his head up high for his sake.
He brings an arm around Izuku’s shoulders and draws him closer. “That’s a hard promise to make, my boy, but… I’ll do my best.”
Izuku smiles gently, and Toshinori can’t help but return the gesture.
Getting Howler an ice cream turned out to be one of Izuku’s… well, not bad ideas, but not optimal ideas, because from the second they walked into the dormitory to the second the sun went down, the dog was ten times more hyper than any toddler Izuku had ever seen.
It was alright, though. His friends played tug-of-war with one of his ropes, and while they let Howler win, it definitely helped burn off some of that energy. And not just Howler’s energy, but the students’ energy, too. After having such a bright day follow such a horrific incident, they’re all a little frazzled.
“Hey,” Sero says, snapping his fingers, “we should all get together and play a game!”
Despite her claim of being exhausted moments ago, Ashido shoots upright, eyes wide and hands clutching the edge of the couch. “A GAME!” she repeats loudly, then springs to her feet with a wild grin. “That sounds like a great idea!”
“We haven’t eaten dinner yet,” says Iida, like they should care a great deal about that. No one really seems to.
Izuku slides up to him and bumps their shoulders together. “C’mon, Iida, we can eat dinner afterwards. A couple games won’t hurt.”
Iida frowns at him, but sighs heavily and shakes his head. “Alright, I’ll give,” he says, though he doesn’t seem happy about it.
It doesn’t take long at all for the rest of them to agree to it and gather in a circle on the floor of the common room. Howler sits by Izuku’s side, and Kouda reaches across and pats him on the head every now and then. Even Bakugou has joined them, sitting in between Kirishima and Kaminari, who are on the side farthest from Izuku for no specific reason.
“Okay,” Hagakure says, rocking herself back and forth (probably, it’s hard to tell since it’s just her clothes), “what should we play?”
“Truth or dare?” Sero offers.
Tsuyu shakes her head. “Too extreme,” she says. “In this group, I think that would be a very bad idea.”
“How about a card game or something?” suggests Kaminari, looking to Yaoyorozu.
“That would work,” Yaoyorozu says, tapping a finger to her chin, “but with a group of this size, you’d need at least ten decks. I feel like that’d get disorganized very quickly.”
“How about Mafia?” says Uraraka, waving a hand in the air. “I used to play it with my friends in middle school, it’s pretty fun!”
“I feel like that’s a better game for a slightly smaller group,” says Jirou. “We’d probably have to split into two separate teams if we wanted to go with that.”
“Ah, good point…” Uraraka taps her chin. “Huh. This is tricky. Does anyone else have any suggestions?”
A couple other titles get thrown around. A couple board games are suggested, but the group is simply too big for that to be a viable option. Very few board games are suited for a group of their size, and besides, there aren’t many people in the group who actually brought bored games from home.
“What about you, Shouto?” Izuku asks at length, bumping his knee against Shouto’s. “Do you have any games you wanna play?”
All eyes go to him. Shouto looks down thoughtfully, cradling his chin in a hand. Eventually, he lifts his head towards the rest of the group.
“Hide and seek,” he says.
A silence falls.
And then Aoyama cheers, “One two three not it!”
A chorus of “not it!” s chorus from the group until Kaminari is left as the last one to speak up. He sighs, but no one else is daunted by it.
“Count to twenty!” says Yaoyorozu. “We’ll set a couple ground rules here and now: no running, no tackling, Quirk use is fine as long as it doesn’t cause harm to you, others, or the building, everyone must stay out of their personal dormitory, and the ‘It’ person has fifteen minutes to find everyone before we declare winner.”
Tokoyami raises his hand. “Can I make a suggestion?”
Yaoyorozu nods. “Of course.”
“Let’s shut all the windows and turn out all the lights.”
Izuku snaps his fingers. “Revelry in the dark.”
Tokoyami nods solemnly. “Revelry in the dark.”
“As long as everyone is responsible,” chimes in Iida with a wide swipe of his hand, “then I have no objections! Kaminari, you can start counting as soon as all the lights go out.”
Kaminari gives him a thumbs-up. Izuku turns to Howler. “You wanna hide with me, buddy?”
Howler barks, Izuku laughs, and he and the others head around the room, flicking off light switches and turning off lamps. Howler does his part, bouncing against the wall and bopping light switches with his nose. Once darkness completely engulfs the dorm, Kaminari starts counting, and everyone scrambles to hide.
Kaminari walks down the hall all by himself. He’d been allowed one finger light considering he’s ‘It’ this round, but it’s hardly enough light for him to see where he’s going, let alone actually find anyone.
He swallows thickly and keeps moving onwards.
“G-Guys listen,” he stammers, breath hitching, “I know it’s like half the fun of playing in the dark but please don’t jump out and scare me, I’m gonna pull a Midoriya and astral project if you do—”
“BLAGH!”
“Wow, did you guys hear that scream?” whispers Ochako, tucked away in a cramped hall closet with Yaoyorozu and Jirou.
Jirou nods. “Sounds like another one of the girls got scared. Hopefully they aren’t as close to us as they sound.”
Kirishima cackles, and Kaminari pants and gasps and fights for his breath. He points the flashlight accusingly into Kirishima’s laughing face. “That wasn’t funny!”
“You screamed so loud you sounded like mic feedback,” Kirishima wheezes, hardly able to contain himself. “I wish I had a flashlight just so I could see that look on your face…”
“You could’ve killed me, you jerk!” Kaminari snaps. Kirishima still hasn’t stopped laughing, and that doesn’t change.
“... Okay. Okay look at that and tell me why the heck that’s fair.”
“I mean,” says Kirishima, rubbing the back of his neck, “Yaoyorozu did say that Quirk-use was totally allowed, y’know?”
“But,” Kaminari gestures helplessly, “how are we gonna find him if he’s a freaking ghost?”
Before them on the floor in the hall is Izuku’s empty body with Howler curled up beside him, looking far too pleased with himself.
“... Okay, hang on.” Kirishima whips out his phone, squinting against the light. “Okay, let’s try something…”
“What is it?” Kaminari intones, shoulders slumped. “It’s not gonna work, dude, there’s no way you can track him.”
“But he’s a strong spirit, right? Which means…” Kirishima must find what he’s looking for, because he flips around the phone for Kaminari to see. Kaminari squints against the light for a moment, too, but when his eyes adjust, he sees that Kirishima has pulled up his phone filters. Kaminari’s image in the screen has a pair of dog ears.
“You seriously think we could pick up Midoriya on that thing?” he asks, frowning.
Kirishima grins. “You could try!” he says. “Anything’s worth a shot, don’t you think?”
At this point, roughly five minutes in and no closer to finding anyone else, Kaminari is desperate enough to try. He takes Kirishima’s phone from him and leads the way down the corridor.
They find Sero next pretty easily. He’d taped himself to one of the ceiling fans in the common room and crossed his fingers that they wouldn’t look up. They find Tsuyu doing a similar thing, only she’s in the kitchen on top of the refrigerator. There’s still several kinds of duct tape plastered over the digital clock of the microwave. They find Satou hiding behind the couch as well as he can considering his bulking figure, and Todoroki somehow managed to build an ice perch for himself in the highest corner of the room. Still many more classmates to find and not nearly enough time with which to do that.
“Okay okay okay, we have to be close to finding Midoriya unless he’s just screwing with us and hiding in the wall,” says Kaminari, leading the group onwards. “Which, honestly that’s probably the most Midoriya thing he could do right now so I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“Watch him scare us or something,” says Sero, nudging Kaminari on the arm. “You have the highest pitched scream I’ve ever heard, dude, and some part of me wants to both tape your mouth shut, and hear it again.”
Kaminari sighs. “Jerks,” he mumbles, shaking his head. “Anyway, we’ve gotta find Midoriya sooner or later. He’s kind of the dude to look out for in games like this—OH HOLY CRAP THE FILTER TURNED ON! MIDORIYA! WE KNOW YOU’RE THERE! SHOW YOURSELF!”
Izuku seems to materialize out of the thin air in front of them, his entire figure glowing bright as day, and through the filter on Kirishima’s phone, there’s a pair of dog ears on his head.
“Smart thing using the filter,” Izuku says, grinning. “I was hoping you’d give up.”
Unfortunately, there’s not much more to be done; Kaminari’s time is up shortly thereafter, and the first person to be found—in this case, Kirishima—takes his place as ‘It.’ Everyone scrambles to hide, and this time, Izuku takes Howler (and his body) with him.
They don’t play a ton of rounds. Everyone is still worn out from the day before and today’s endeavor, and after a couple more goes and a couple more scares, everyone is just about ready to turn in for the night. Izuku changes into one of his favorite t-shirts (one with yet another ghost pun on the front) and heads downstairs to take Howler out to use the bathroom before heading to bed.
Except when he arrives, he finds his classmates gathered in the common room, ready for bed, spreading blankets and pillows all around the floor again.
“What are you guys doing?” Izuku asks, making his way over. Howler trots right by his side and sits when Izuku draws closer. “Don’t you wanna sleep in your own rooms?”
“We thought it’d be fun if we all slept down here together,” says Shouto, a blanket tucked against his chest with both arms. “Plus, Iida thought it might be a good idea to keep an eye on you for another day or two just in case.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” Izuku says, but it kind of feels like a question. Or some kind of false reassurance he’s giving himself. Judging by their faces, his classmates don’t buy it and honestly, neither can he. He sighs. “... Or, we can just. Sleep down here again tonight.”
This satisfies them, and Izuku lets Howler outside and grabs his blankets and pillows from his room. After all that’s happened, he really doesn’t mind this arrangement one bit.
Soon enough, this finds them all on the floor on their blankets and pillows, staring up at the ceiling. Izuku is in between Uraraka and Iida with Howler flopped over his chest, snoring contentedly.
“We should put something on the ceiling,” says Kaminari, and in the darkness, Izuku sees his arm raise to point upwards. “Some star stickers or glow-in-the-dark paint or something.”
“Are you saying it’s going to be a regular habit of ours to sleep on the floor?” Tsuyu asks, though it’s poised as more of a statement than a question.
“I’m just saying it’d be cool!” Kaminari defends, a smile in his voice. “Besides, who’s to say that’d be so bad? I don’t really mind sleeping down here on the floor as long as we don’t have school the next day.”
Izuku can’t help but smile. “I don’t mind, either,” he agrees, nodding. His fingers stroke through Howler’s fur gently and rhythmically. “Actually, that might be kind of fun.”
“I don’t got a problem with it,” says Kirishima across from him, “but honestly Midoriya you’ve spent a good half of your life lying on the cold hard ground so I’m not sure you deserve a say in this.”
Izuku snorts. “Rude.”
“As long as we clean up afterwards,” says Yaoyorozu before the banter can go on, “then I don’t have any objections to us sleeping down here more often. Iida?”
“No objections to speak of granted everything is done in an orderly manner,” says Iida. A couple cheers go up from the group, but are quickly stomped down by Bakugou, who snaps that he’d been trying to sleep. After that, no one feels like getting into a fight with him and settle down for the night.
“... Hey,” says Hagakure suddenly, voice quiet but loud enough for all to hear, “do you guys ever, like… think about what we’ll be doing once we graduate? Like, right now we’re here, and we can sleep downstairs together and play hide and go seek and go out for ice cream, but… five years from now, where do you guys think you’ll be?”
“I mean, I was kinda hoping I’d be able to travel more,” comes Sero’s voice. “I could be one of those heroes who doesn’t really stay in one place for very long, y’know? Doesn’t really have a specific place to call home, always stays on the move, never settles down—”
“Usually,” says Tsuyu, “people like that are called ‘hobos.’”
Sero hurls a pillow at her. “You know what I mean!”
“It is rather interesting to think about,” says Shouji. Izuku hadn’t really expected him to speak up, since he’s usually one of the quieter ones. “Honestly, if we can all make it through school alive and someday become heroes, I’m not sure it matters what we’re doing. So long as we make it.”
“Yeah, I kinda feel like that, too,” says Uraraka, nodding. “But, if we’re talking smaller things… then, I really wanna get my parents a mansion. Someday. Or, at least a house that’s worth their while. They’ve done so much for me and they’ve worked so hard their whole lives. It’d be awesome if I could just… let them spend the rest of it in luxury.”
“I guess just becoming a hero that people could look up to is all I want to be,” Shouto speaks up, voice soft but confident. “I never really had anyone to look up to when I was young, and if I can be that for some other little kid, then I want to.”
“I want to make my brother proud,” Iida says, “and become the kind of hero who does whatever they can for the good of the people.”
“You guys are so freaking noble,” Kirishima weeps, voice thick. He sniffs, and Izuku can’t tell whether he’s trying to be dramatic, or if it really is just like that. “For me, I just wanna be a hero who doesn’t back down from anything. To be someone who isn’t afraid to do whatever it takes to save people.”
“What about you, Midoriya?” Jirou pokes his foot with her toe. “Where do you wanna be in five years?”
Izuku pauses for a moment, humming under his breath.
“I mean, nothing immediately comes to mind,” he says, stroking Howler’s fur. “I guess I just… never really thought about it. I always knew I wanted to be a hero, but I never had a very clear picture of the future.”
“Yeah, I getcha,” says Kaminari, “but, I mean… if you had to have a picture, what would it be? What do you want your future to look like?”
“And we’re talking small details,” says Ashido. “Specifics. Which means you can’t just generalize it with some heroic stuff or something.”
Izuku thinks about this for a long, silent while. Then, even though his friends can’t see it in the darkness, he smiles.
“... I guess being able to show people that it doesn’t matter what kind of Quirk you have would be pretty cool,” he says. “I grew up my whole life thinking I was some kind of monster. So I guess if I was able to show people that you can still be a hero with a Quirk you aren’t exactly proud of… that’d make me pretty happy. I really want to just be able to help out all the people I can, but if we’re talking small things, then… yeah. That’d be enough.”
The conversation goes on for another solid hour. Long enough for everyone to talk about their hopes, their dreams, their setbacks, and their determination to plow those setbacks into grounds with which to move forward. Izuku doesn’t remember closing his eyes, but he drops into sleep peacefully, surrounded by the voices of these friends who have become like family.
He doesn’t have a single nightmare. Not a single flashback. Not a single death sequence. For what feels like the first night in a very long time, he sleeps.
The following week finds Izuku standing by the shrine he’d built what seems so very long ago, standing just as simply as it’d been the day he constructed it. It’s surrounded by flowers and candles of people leaving things not only for the ghosts at Kamino, but also for the loved ones they’d lost and will never forget.
“... Well. I made it.”
The shrine doesn’t answer, but it doesn’t need to. Izuku smiles, glances down at Howler, then lifts his head again.
“Honestly, I didn’t think it was possible,” Izuku says, shaking his head. “I thought things were just gonna go downhill from Kamino, but… everything’s been pretty good lately. I started talking to a therapist. Kaminari and I are still getting along. It’s…” He looks down, this time at his hands. “It’s taking a lot longer than I’d hoped, but… we’re making progress. We’ll get there someday.”
Howler nudges him. Izuku pets his head as both a comfort to the dog and to himself.
“... Thanks for everything,” Izuku says, and even though he’s smiling, his eyes sting just a little. “I know I’ve already said it once before, but… yeah. Thanks for all the encouragements and thanks for everything you did. I know you’ve found your peace and all, and… I just wanted to let you know that I think I’ve finally found mine, too.”
There’s no response, but some part of him can still feel them. Not physically, but through memories, through encouraging words, through jeers and laughs and precious, precious moments. They’re gone, and they aren’t coming back, but he’ll never forget them. Never in a million years.
“Thought I might find you here.”
Izuku turns and glances over his shoulder at Shouto as he makes his way up the hillside. Izuku smiles gently, nods, and turns back to the shrine and the ocean. He doesn’t think the sunset has ever looked more beautiful.
Shouto steps up beside him and follows his gaze. For a while, there’s a calm, serene silence between them, broken only by waves as they crash up against the stones below the cliff.
At long last, Shouto speaks. “... This semester has been… pretty wild.”
Izuku exhales sharply. “Pretty wild?”
“Okay no, it’s been absolutely insane.”
“That’s more like it,” Izuku says, still smiling. “Although, it’s brought a lot of good things, too. I think it was worth it.”
“Really?” Shouto turns to him this time, and Izuku meets his eyes. He looks startled. “Even after…” His eyes shoot towards Izuku’s wrists just long enough to be noticeable; Izuku still keeps them bandaged, just in case. “You know.”
“Well, yeah,” Izuku says, shaking his head. “I mean, yeah, it sucks, and I’m pretty sure it’s still gonna suck until I… get over it, someday, I guess, but. Like I said. A lot of good came out of everything, too. We took down All For One, the ex-holders got the chance to find their peace… and we’re alive, too. I don’t know about you, Thermostat, but I’m excited about what the future holds.”
“Really?” Shouto says.
Izuku nods. “Even if it’s even crazier than everything we’ve been through so far.”
Shouto turns away again to watch the horizon for a while longer. Eventually, Izuku sees him smile.
“... I guess I’m excited, too. Spearmint.”
“Gah.” Izuku shoves him playfully, and Shouto laughs. “Seriously though, you can’t really call me that anymore.”
“Wintermint.”
“Wintermint—” Izuku laughs, too, but shakes his head. “Y’know what, actually? That works.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, definitely. I mean.” He runs a hand through his hair, mostly white with bits of green on the tips. “Sure, this sucked, but y’know, we’re past that, now. It doesn’t bother me.”
Shouto studies his face, and when he finds no lie, he smiles. “Well, only if you’re sure—oh hang on a second.”
He steps forward until he can reach out and thread his fingers through Izuku’s hair, brows knitted together. Izuku frowns.
“What is it?”
Shouto doesn’t answer, but a moment later, he steps back and lowers his hand back to his side. “Your hair, Izuku.”
“Yes, it’s white.”
“No, I mean—the green. It’s growing back.”
“Wait, really?” Izuku runs his hand through his hair again, as though he could feel the colors. “Are you serious?”
Shouto nods. “It’s just a bit at the roots for now,” he says, “but, it would seem you’ll be Spearmint again soon enough, Izuku.”
The extent of what this really means doesn’t hit him for another long second, but when it does, his eyes burn and his face is split with a wide, bright smile.
“What do you know,” he says, looking down at his hand and shaking his head. “Guess the future really does show promise, doesn’t it?”
Shouto returns the smile, and Izuku thinks it’s the brightest, most honest thing he’s ever seen. “In more ways than one.”