Archive of Our Own

It didn't really start in a way that friendships usually did. 

The first day of class at UA, Hitoshi walked into the General Education room feeling pretty bummed. It’s not like his quirk did a lot against robots ! How is that fair? 

But, it didn’t really matter now. He made it into the school, at least. He can get into the hero course after the sports festival. He will be a hero. No one can stop him. Not his old classmates who called him a villain. Not his new classmates who he doesn’t know and isn’t going to try to know. He doesn’t need friends. He doesn’t need to risk them labelling him as a villain. He needs to focus on class and training so he can be a hero. 

So he walks in, slightly early, because it’s not like getting there early messes up his sleep schedule - considering he was awake most of the night anyways. A few other students are there, and a couple look like they are about to walk up to him. So, as any other socially acceptable human does, he puts his head down and walks briskly to his seat without making eye contact. Double thumbs up for Hitoshi’s social skills, yippee. He puts his head down on his desk and pretends to be asleep until class starts. 

The conversation in the room is generally excited chatter, which he tries to tune out. It doesn’t escape his notice when someone sits into the previously vacant chair behind him. His curiosity causes him to look up. 

Of all the empty seats in the room, someone had to sit right behind him? Come on , at least wait until all the other one’s are full before sitting right next to someone you don’t know, even Hitoshi understands that social construct. But no, this person sat behind him, and is currently muttering and doing what sounds like scribbling in a notebook. It’s unnecessary noise. So, Hitoshi takes it upon himself to turn around and tell the person - who invaded his personal space with noise way too early - to quiet down. 

Almost like the other boy can feel eyes on him, the moment Hitoshi shifts in his chair, the noises stop, and the head of bushy, green hair tries to become one with the desk. Wide green eyes peek up through the fringe of his hair in question and definite nervousness. He makes eye contact with Hitoshi, then instantly flicks his eyes back down, letting out a tiny squeak in response. To what, Hitoshi isn’t sure. He didn’t say anything, after all. After a moment of staring at the head still tilted down, he shrugs to himself and returns to fake-napping. Class would hopefully be starting soon. 

Class goes about as one would expect, actually, if anything, it was more normal that he expected for such a school as UA. Orientation took up most of the time, and the rest was simply getting to know the school and their teachers for the year. And then it was lunch. Now, lunch always presented a dilemma for Hitoshi. He took it upon himself to avoid all of his classmates, so sitting with one of them would be awkward. But sitting by himself would also be awkward. So, the choice is either a) suck it up and ask someone to sit at their table or b) suck it up and sit by himself. … It’s not like he even came here planning to make friends, though. He slams his lunch tray down - a little too hard - at a (thankfully) empty table in the corner of the lunchroom. 

This is fine. 

The day continues and then ends. That’s that. The next day rolls around much in the same way. He gets to school kinda early, sits in the same chair, and feigns sleep to avoid talking to people. Except, the same boy from yesterday sits behind him, again. And mutters and scribbles, again. 

Hitoshi supposes that this is where they are going to sit for the rest of the year, as per social expectation. So he’s going to have to get used to the soft droning from behind him. 

Or not. 

It’s a little hard to pretend to sleep when he’s trying to fight off his curiosity at what the boy could possibly be saying so much about. To himself, no less. It’s a little strange. So, he whips around in his chair fast enough to catch his classmate scratching away in an open notebook before it is snapped shut and shoved in his obnoxiously yellow bag that is tucked against his chest. Same as yesterday, the boy ducks his head and avoids eye contact, ceasing all noise, and making himself look small. Or, small er . He’s kinda short to begin with. Though, maybe Hitoshi is just unnecessarily tall? Doesn’t matter, he has a curiosity to sate. 

“Hey,” he says, deadpan, to get his classmates' attention. A little twitch of the other’s shoulders says he heard, but he doesn’t say anything. Deciding to just continue, he asks, “What were you writing?” This time, the ‘little twitch’ is not some much a little twitch, but an almost full-body flinch. Hitoshi merely blinks languidly at the response. 

Sure, he could possibly see himself looking intimidating, what with the monstrous eyebags and the (again) unnecessary height, but not scary enough to elicit that reaction. Unless, he somehow found out about his quirk? Is that why he’s not responding? Is he afraid of being brainwashed by the resident villain ? The boy glances up at him, and opens his mouth hesitantly as if to speak, but Hitoshi interrupts, narrowing his eyes. “Never mind. I don’t care.” And promptly turns back around. 

If his classmate is going to treat him like a villain, then he doesn’t deserve the time of day. He walks out of school that afternoon feeling a little bitter. He was hoping people would find out his quirk later rather than sooner , so at least he would be the one choosing to ignore people , not people ostracizing him for something he can’t control. He shouldn’t have expected such luck. 

-

It’s been about a week and he hasn’t spoken to the boy behind him again. He’s taken to muttering less, thankfully, so at least his ‘naptime’ is mostly uninterrupted. There have, however, been times when it’s all a little too much, and he actually needs to sleep. If the boy mutters then, all it takes is a glare sent his way for him to shut up for the rest of the day. Sure, the flinch he gets in response to his glares makes Hitoshi feel a little bad, but it’s his classmate’s fault for being loud in the first place. Not that it’s really that loud. 

Fine, sue him. It’s not loud, or particularly irritating. He’s just a little upset at being ignored. 

He still sits alone at lunch. He was lucky to find a table on the first day of school, he thinks, because all the others are very full. And his is right in the back, with a nice view of the other tables, and it’s pretty small. Only four chairs, so if someone were to want to use the table too, they’d have to be a tiny group. He shudders at the thought, no thank you. 

During one lunch, out of curiosity (that’s the reason he does most things, that, or spite), he keeps an eye out for his green-haired classmate. He’d expect him to be sitting where the majority of their class does, but he never even showed up to lunch. Weird. The next day, Hitoshi looks for him again, and again , doesn’t see him anywhere. The next day, Hitoshi pays more attention before lunch. As soon as the lunch bell rings, the boy is already packed and out of his seat, rushing down the hall. 

In order to fulfill the strange interest he has in him, Hitoshi decides to follow him. He finds him sitting outside in the courtyard, bento beside him and notebook balanced on his knees. 

Okay, screw the ignoring everyone thing. He has to know what’s so important about that notebook. Writing in it is literally all he ever does besides schoolwork. So Hitoshi walks up to him without any preamble and says, “Hey,” in the same deadpan as the last time he spoke to him. The boy startles enough that his notebook flies off his knees onto the ground in front of Hitoshi. How convenient. He grabs it and the boy looks at him before eyeing the notebook he’s now holding. 

“O-oh! Shinsou-kun. Did... did you need something?” Hitoshi is honestly surprised he knows his name. It’s not like he had put any effort into remembering his classmates’ names. At all. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be his classmates soon, anyways. He’s also surprised that his classmate - he should probably learn his name, it’s only fair - is speaking to him so freely. Of course, it’s with a nervous stutter, but he didn’t not answer. Maybe he doesn’t actually know his quirk and is just really, really shy? Hitoshi honestly wouldn’t be that surprised, given the other boy’s mannerisms.

“Yeah. What’s so important about this notebook?” He glances at the front cover before flipping it open. It simply says n o. 14 . Wow, does he really have that many? Right on the inside is a name, Midoriya Izuku . Oh, cool. Now he doesn’t have to ask. 

Maybe it’s a little rude to be looking into someone else’s notebook (if the noise of protest the boy - Midoriya - lets out was any indication), but it was here and he really wanted to know. He flips through it briefly and sees words. And diagrams. And all sorts of smart things that he only vaguely understands. It’s literally just analysis, as the title suggests. 

He glances down at Midoriya, who has scrunched up even smaller than Hitoshi thought was possible, and is watching him with nervous green eyes. Hitoshi shuts the notebook and plops down in front of him, sitting criss-cross. He holds it out to return it and Midoriya just looks at him, before snatching it away and tucking it behind his legs that were curled against his chest. 

Hitoshi leans back on his arms and looks at the sky, “I really am curious though.” He turns back to the other boy, who is looking at him skeptically. 

“W-well,” he begins, “I just like to analyze h-heroes and their quirks. I just find it really interesting, and it’s pretty fun, too.” Hitoshi scrunches his nose in something akin to distaste. 

“You think analyzing is fun? It sounds like something you’d do in class, not as an activity.” Midoriya unfolds just a little bit. 

“Um, I started when I was really little. S-so I guess I’m used to it?” Hitoshi isn’t sure how to feel about all of this, and he kind of wants to make his classmate explain what the notebook is for , but before he gets the chance to, he hears the bell ringing for the end of lunch. He stands, stretching his arms up, and heads inside. Leaving the somewhat confused boy behind.

“See you in class, Midoriya.” He supposes he can put up with one person, if only because he’s somewhat unusual. Like Hitoshi, he doesn’t talk to others much unless it’s necessary, or if someone comes up to him first. Unlike Hitoshi, he usually sends them a bright smile then stutters away at a response when they do. Sure - from what Hitoshi can tell - he’s shy and jittery, but that smile can light up a room. No way he doesn’t have any friends. Yet here he is, acting like he’s some social reject and eating lunch by himself. At least Hitoshi actually looks like one. He will talk to him just to find out why he’s so much like Hitoshi, and yet not at all.

-

The next day of class proves to be futile, however. They seem to be back to not talking in class. Though, he did get a shy wave when he made eye contact with Midoriya. Unfortunately, anxiety struck and he proceeded to put his face in his arms without responding. Also he was tired, it was too early for human interaction.

He does go outside for lunch, though. He finds that it is much nicer than sitting in a crowded cafeteria by himself.

He drops his bag in front of Midoriya and sits facing him again. This time he only jumps a little bit. “So,” Hitoshi drawls, “Why do you write in that notebook?” Midoriya looks at him somewhat confusedly.

“W-what do you mean? I said that I just enjoyed it yester-“

“No,” Hitoshi interrupts, “Like, what’s it for?” Midoriya purses his lips slightly and goes back to tucking his legs up. Damn.

“It doesn’t really have a reason, anymore.” He mumbles this almost incomprehensibly, and gives his notebook a forlorn look.

“What do you mean?” Hitoshi just keeps getting more confused.

“Oh, n-nothing important!” He waves his hands in front of his face as if to dispel Hitoshi’s questions. He relents, and they spend the rest of the lunch in silence.

-

They establish a routine of sorts as the school year continues. Hitoshi will almost always find his way outside and sit with Midoriya. Usually their conversations are short and nonsensical, but eventually, Midoriya starts to open up a bit. 

(Not that Hitoshi cares if his classmate is comfortable around him. Even if watching him stop scrunching up in a ball and flinching when Hitoshi spoke too loudly or moved too fast left a sort of warm feeling in his stomach. Maybe he’s getting sick?)

When Hitoshi takes his place sitting in front of his classmate one day, he randomly shoves his notebook towards Hitoshi, who looks at him with an eyebrow raised in question. Midoriya has never offered Hitoshi a look at his journal willingly, and usually goes quiet if he’s asked about it too much. So this is a surprise.

“You were curious about it, weren’t you?” Midoriya prompts as Hitoshi takes it gingerly.

“Yeah. I thought you didn’t want me to look at it though?” His classmate fidgets for a minute.

“W-well, you kept sitting with me at lunch, and you actually seem pretty nice and, uh, you haven’t asked about… I-I mean, I don’t mind now?” Hitoshi looks at him for a second before shrugging to himself. He’ll take what he can get. He flips through it for the second time, noting a few more pages are filled, and this time asks questions about some of the things written.

Midoriya seems to really enjoy talking about heroes, so much so that it overrides his nervousness and his stutter.

“-yeah! Her villain takedown is very effective and she’s very personable as well, she doesn’t let her popularity hinder her work either!”

“What about Mt. Lady?” He points to her page in the notebook.

“She’s pretty good at villain apprehension, but she usually has some major property damage if the fight is in the city. Her quirk would be so useful for rescue, especially for natural disaster cleanup, but she’s really focused on mainstream heroics and popularity.”

“Huh.” 

“Do you want to be a hero, Shinsou? Is that why you’re interested in all this?” 

“Uh, yeah. I do.”

“That’s great! I bet you’d make an awesome hero! What’s your quirk?” Hitoshi finds himself hunching his shoulders instinctively. He’s pretty surprised that this question hasn’t come up before now, given Midoriya’s love of quirk-related things, and for that he’d been grateful. Not that he thinks Midoriya will hate him and not want to hang out with him anymore (as much as he hates to admit it, Hitoshi has grown fond of his green-haired companion), but... he definitely thinks that is what will happen. He’s just a little skeptical about bringing up his quirk after previous classmates did their best to avoid him because of it.

“...It’s brainwashing.” Hitoshi cringes back, and waits for the yelling (not that Midoriya has ever spoken even remotely loud) or for his friend (oh, crap. He has a friend that he doesn’t particularly want to lose!) to leave.

“That’s awesome! That would be so good for heroics!” Midoriya looked at him with shining eyes “You could stop hostage situations without fighting, or find nonviolent solutions to all sorts of problems. It’s amazing! Maybe I could help you practise with it?” Hitoshi blinks slowly. He doesn’t care? He thinks he can be a hero? Not only that, but he offered to help ?

“You… don’t think it’s a villains’ quirk?” Midoriya puffed up his cheeks in indignation. Hitoshi should’ve expected this. No way Midoriya, his nervous yet incredibly kind and bright friend (he supposes he has to accept it now), would care. He’s much too nice. 

“No way! Quirks can’t be villainous, it’s the person that decides that. And I don’t think you’re villainous at all.” He smiled brightly. “You’ll make a great hero!” Hitoshi feels his cheeks growing hot against his will. Stop, please. Why must his body betray him so? 

“Well what about you?” Hitoshi asks, trying to get his blushing under control. “I shared my quirk, so it’s only fair you tell me yours.” Midoriya shrinks back a little bit. Oh, not exactly what he expected. Getting Midoriya to open up was a pain, and some topics made him close off more than others. Half the time, he didn’t really even understand why. Like this. Maybe he has a villainous quirk too? Is that why he doesn’t care about Hitoshi’s? But why would he be worried about what Hitoshi thought if it’s similar?

“I, uh, don’t have a quirk.” Huh. Who would’ve thought? Hitoshi had kinda assumed he had a mental quirk of sorts, like himself. Like something to do with intelligence. “I’m quirkless.” Midoriya reels back as though he’s expecting to be hit. When it doesn't come, he looks back up to Hitoshi with a strange expression.

“Oh.” That just makes his analysis all the more impressive. Hitoshi has never met a quirkless person before, but he has heard that they were usually bullied worse than even those with villainous quirks. Well, screw them. Midoriya didn’t care about his quirk, so Hitoshi shouldn’t care about his lack of one. “Do you want to be a hero too?” The boy in front of him chuckles humourlessly. 

“I can’t be a hero.” He sighs quietly. “I accepted that a long time ago, but that’s okay! I can at least help you become one.” Hitoshi shrugs, deciding not to push the issue. He needs all the help he can get. 

-

Now they started talking in class, and not just at lunch. Midoriya was still plenty shy and nervous, but he was getting more outgoing as time progressed. Hitoshi thought that he was probably an extrovert that just happened to be really shy, since one they got to know each other more, he became very… easily excitable. 

Especially about quirks.

And thus starts their training. Once Midoriya became used to the fact that Hitoshi really didn’t care about his quirkless status, he opened up a lot more. Immediately diving into talking about how Hitoshi’s quirk worked, the requirements, how he can improve. It was a little overwhelming.

At one point, Hitoshi had gotten one explanation (besides being quirkless, or maybe because of his quirklessness?) as to why he always seemed nervous in class.

It was just after school one day, and they had taken to walking to the train station together. Midoriya was rambling about whatever was on his mind at the moment, while Hitoshi tried his best to keep up and not zone out. They were just out of the school gate, when Hitoshi heard someone scream,

“DEKU!” Hitoshi rolled his eyes, turning to see an angry looking hero student. He rolled his eyes again (hero students think they can do whatever they want), and turned to make a snarky comment to Midoriya. His words died in his tongue, however, when he saw Midoriya’s face. 

He had grown a shade paler, and his eyes were wide and darting around. His hands were shaking where they clutched his backpack straps in a white-knuckled grip. He looked… scared.

But why?

Hitoshi’s question was answered a second later, before he could even ask, when the blond hero student who yelled had reached them, slammed Midoriya into the wall outside school by his shoulder, and started shouting at him.

“Why the hell are you here, Deku?” The hero student’s eyes were narrowed into slits, lips pulled back in a menacing snarl. 

“A-ah! Kacchan!” Midoriya began to frantically wave his hands in front of his face. “I’m just in General Studies!” Kacchan narrowed his eyes even more, and leaned in to further tower over Midoriya, forcing him to shrink back as far as he could into the wall.

“Like they’d let a damn quirkless freak like you in, Deku!” The blond seemed to grip his shoulder tighter, and Hitoshi caught a whiff of what smelled like smoke. Midoriya let out a tiny whimper, and Hitoshi decided he’d seen enough. He’s experienced enough bullies to recognise one, and he wanted to be a hero , dammit!

The hero student (ha, how ironic), Kacchan (though that name was much too cute for a feral rat like him), hadn’t seemed to notice Hitoshi at all. Apparently, he was too hell-bent on scaring Midoriya into… what? Hitoshi wasn’t sure exactly. 

“It’s not very heroic to intimidate other students, you know,” Hitoshi drawled in the most deadpan voice he could muster. Kacchan whirled around from where he was breathing down Midoriya’s neck to glare at Hitoshi, who had to suppress the urge to flinch. He was taller than the hero student, however, so he drew up as much height as possible and raised an unimpressed eyebrow. 

“Who the fu-“ His face went lax, and Midoriya scrambled out of his grip immediately. Before Hitoshi could order him to go tell someone what he just did, his friend grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards the train station. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Midoriya! Who was that? We need to tell a teacher!” Midoriya didn’t even slow down as he spoke,

“I don’t want you to get in trouble for using your quirk on him!” Hitoshi’s brain stuttered. Crap. He’d been too focused on helping his friend that he’d forgotten he used his quirk. On another student. A hero student.

“Oh, crap,” he whispered as they finally reached the train station. After catching their breath for a moment, Midoriya turned to him with a guilty expression on his face.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” He fiddled with his hands, “I really hope you don’t get into trouble since it’s not your fault at all! It’s my fault for provoking Kacchan, he told me not to go to UA, but I did anyways but I hoped he wouldn’t care since I’m just in general studies but it seems like he hates me more -“

“Hold on,” Hitoshi put a hand up to stop the rambling. “Slow down. Who is this Kacchan ? And why does he hate you?”

“O-oh.” Midoriya fidgets some more. “His name is actually Bakugou Katsuki, I just call him that. Since, well. We were friends a long time ago, but then-“ His breath hitches. Hitoshi scowls, knowing where this is going.

“He got his quirk and you didn’t?” Midoriya nods tearily. “And he decided he was better than you.” It’s not a question, but Midoriya nods again anyway, wiping away the tears that escaped from his eyes. 

Hitoshi hates people like that the most; the self-righteous assholes who think their better than everyone else because of their stupid, perfect quirks. 

Speaking of quirks, Hitoshi recalled the smell of burning. Looking at his friend's shoulder, he could see a small patch of charred fabric when that jerk burnt through Midoriya’s uniform, leaving reddened skin.

“Do you need any help with that?” Hitoshi gestured to the burn. He didn’t ask if Midoriya was okay, because obviously it wasn’t, even if he was used to it. Midoriya sniffled, 

“No, I have stuff at home and an extra uniform.” He looked up with a watery smile, “But thank you.” Hitoshi’s ears grew hot. 

“Yeah, whatever.” He looked away. “Just be careful, okay?”

They became closer after that.

-

Hitoshi had started quirk training with Midoriya about a week before the sports festival. He wished he’d gotten more time to practice, but, y’know, becoming friends with his classmate was pretty difficult in Hitoshi Standards. But, he was significantly less worried than he had been before. Midoriya was smart. Like, really smart. And he was able to come up with ways to use his quirk that Hitoshi hadn’t even thought of before

“So, you want to get into the hero course?” Midoriya had a pair of chopsticks in one hand and a pencil in the other, notebook and bento splayed on the ground in front of him. Was he ambidextrous?

“Uh, yeah. If I do really well in the Sports Festival I might be able to transfer in.” Midoriya hummed.

“There’s only been one case where that’s happened, ever, at UA.”

“With Eraserhead, I know.” Midoriya looked up at him, eyes shining.

“You know Eraserhead? I’ve not met anyone else who knows about him! I mean, it makes sense, given he’s an underground hero and works really hard to conceal his presence in the media. But he’s just so cool! He fights basically quirkless, yet his capture rate is really high! He’s my favourite!” Hitoshi blinks slowly at the sudden word-vomit.

“Yeah, he’s my favourite too.” Hitoshi smiles slightly. “I’m sure people thought his quirk was villainous, but he still became a hero.” Midoriya reaches over and grabs his hands, startling him with the sudden contact. 

“Then let’s work extra hard to get you into the hero course, Shinsou! Then you can be just like Eraserhead! You’ll be a great hero!” Hitoshi just stares nonplussed at the completely unabashed look on his friend's face. Before he realizes what he’s done and immediately lets go, face turning bright red and making his freckles pop against his cheeks.

“Oh, uh, sorry.” He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly as Hitoshi just continues to stare in a moderately baffled state. “I just think you’ll be great!” Hitoshi breaks out of his stupor to snort at the unfounded confidence.

“Alright.” He shrugs. “What’ve you got for me then?”

-

“So, have you ever tried to implant memories?” 

“What?” Hitoshi asked, somewhat startled. They were supposed to be working on some homework for their English class at the library. They had an exam soon. 

“Like, after you brainwash them. Do you ever make them forget or remember it incorrectly?” Hitoshi glanced over to where Midoriya was still filling in an English worksheet while asking about Hitoshi’s quirk. What the heck.

“Uh, I don’t know? I’ve never really tried.” Midoriya hums in affirmation, filling in the final question of his homework, then turning to face Hitoshi.

“Try it on me!”

“What?” He feels like most conversations with Midoriya consist of him asking ‘what?’ a lot.

“Try it on me. If you can change memories like that, then you can make people forget your quirk after you use it on them. This way, people won’t know how your quirk activates and you can trick more people!” Midoriya was smiling brightly at him.

“No, like, you want me?” He pointed to himself. “To brainwash you.” He pointed to Midoriya. “On purpose?” He raised an eyebrow. Talking about his quirk was one thing, which he was very grateful for, but actually practicing it on him? 

“Yep!” Midoriya’s already big eyes widened. “Oh, unless you’re uncomfortable with using it? Sorry for assuming! You don’t have to, but it would be really helpful to practice before the sports festival. Since you’re definitely going to have to use it then if you’re going to win.”

“Midoriya, it’s fine.” Hitoshi rubs his neck in an awkward gesture they seem to share. “Just surprised me, I guess.”

“Okay! If you’re sure, try ordering me to forget being brainwashed.” Hitoshi thought for a moment.

“Okay. Ready?”

“Yep!” Hitoshi grabbed onto the thread of his quirk. Midoriya’s face went blank, his eyes growing dull and smile disappearing completely.

Hitoshi dropped control.

Midoriya blinked a few times before frowning. “I don’t think it worked.” Before he could start muttering and writing in his notebook again, Hitoshi stopped him.

“I, uh, didn’t try?” Midoriya frowned for a moment longer before a realization crossed his features.

“Oh, well if you don’t feel comfortable, we really don't have to-”

“I want to try it!” Hitoshi interrupted much too loudly. He cursed himself, before continuing quieter. “I want to try, it was just weird seeing you like-” He waved his hands around. He couldn’t really put into words how seeing Midoriya under his quirks’ control made him feel, but it wasn’t particularly good. This was his first friend in a long time, and people always hated him for his quirk. He’s lost friends because of his quirk. Hitoshi supposes that some of the irrationality that Midoriya would hate him is back, even though he gave explicit permission to have it used on him.

Midoriya just gave him a lopsided smile in response. Hitoshi felt warm.

“Okay,” He breathes. “Let’s try again.”

-

Midoriya was lying on his stomach on Hitoshi’s bedroom floor, swinging his feet absentmindedly, while scribbling in his notebook. Hitoshi, for his part, was draped over his bed, head hanging off and watching his friend upside-down. 

It was the weekend before the sports festival, and Hitoshi had built up the courage to invite Midoriya to his house for their usually quirk training (they usually stayed at school in the library or went to a nearby park), to which his friend responded with an excited ‘yes,’ and began bouncing with anticipation. 

“I haven’t been to a friends’ house in ages ,” he had said, completely unaware of how depressing that sounded.

So anyways, they had decided to come up with a few plans to keep Hitoshi’s quirk as mysterious as possible, since it lost its effectiveness if people knew about it.

“What if you pretend the activation requirement was something else?” Midoriya asked, twirling a pencil between his fingers.

“Like what?” Hitoshi’s head was starting to hurt from how he was laying, but he was too lazy to move. The pencil moved to tap his chin in thought.

“Like… touch? A lot of quirks are touch-based, so it’s not too far-fetched.” Hitoshi was still a little confused, so he slid off his bed like a limp noodle and flipped onto his stomach to look at the notebook. He was facing Midoriya, so the words were upside-down, but he could mostly read it.

“How?”

“Well, instead of just speaking to someone then activating your quirk when they respond, touch them and talk to them. That way they can’t be sure if it’s touch or voice activated.” Hitoshi hummed agreeably. Midoriya looked up and seemed to just notice how close Hitoshi was to him, because he turned bright red and immediately looked away, stuttering,

“A-and it might be good to have a few different fake activations, to make it even more difficult to tell.” 

“Oh?” Hitoshi drawled, ears suddenly, inexplicably hot. Midoriya looked back at him through his lashes, flush still painting his cheeks.

“Yeah.”

-

The day of the sports festival arrived much quicker than Hitoshi wanted it to. He felt so nervous, he was surely going to be sick. Midoriya was rattling away at his side as they entered the stadium to begin the first round.

“-depending on what the first stage is, we might could work together. Since I’m not trying to win, I wouldn’t mind helping you get ahead. Plus, there’s no rule saying you can’t form alliances. It’d honestly be a good thing, though it’s less showy for you. What do you think?”

“Huh?” Hitoshi snaps himself out of his downward spiral to look at Midoriya, who’s staring up at him in anticipation. “What?” Midoriya pouts,

“You weren’t listening, were you?” Hitoshi chuckles awkwardly.

“Uh, no. Sorry.” Midoriya pouts for a second more, before reaching up and patting Hitoshi’s shoulder comfortingly, switching to a bright grin.

“Don’t worry. You’re gonna be great!” His smile is nearly blinding. 

“Ugh,” Hitoshi says, putting his hand over his friend's face, a smile tugging at his lips. “Too bright.” Midoriya pulls the hand off and the pout comes back.

“Rude.”

-

Eventually, Midoriya is able to tell Hitoshi his plan. He predicted some sort of mass elimination stage to be first, like a race or an obstacle course, and he was right. Seriously, how is he so smart? So, they worked together for the beginning obstacle course, sticking together and managing to get placed within the people who move on.

The next stage is team-based (another accurate prediction) so they work together again. This time, however, they enlist the help of two hero course students as well. They pair up with a girl with a gravity quirk who’s nearly as cheerful as Midoriya, and a bird-headed guy with a sentient shadow. These hero student’s quirks are crazy. 

Hitoshi was pretty opposed to the idea, but they actually seem okay. Not like a certain blond hero student, however…

Speaking of the blond rat, he seems to seriously be out for Midoriya’s blood. Apparently pissed that the ‘quirkless loser’ (his words, not Hitoshi’s) had the gall to go to UA and make it past the first round. Oh, and he remembers Hitoshi using his quirk, too, and decided to add him to his hit list. Great. Though, Hitoshi can’t bring himself to regret stepping in when he did, even if it means he’s got an explosive jerk on his tail.

With Tokoyami (the bird dude) as their rider, and Midoriya’s nearly-perfect plan, they manage to keep a steady amount of points the entirety of the round and move on in fourth place. Midoriya had warned Hitoshi to keep his quirk as much of a secret as he can, whether it be the actual quirk of the activation requirements, so he used it sparingly and always did something to throw people off. Turns out, as they’d discovered from a quirk training session, people will remember being brainwashed if they know about it previously. But, he can make them forget what happened while they were brainwashed, which can be useful. 

When the brackets for the one-on-one fights come out, Hitoshi has to fight the urge to punch someone. 

“You have to fight Bakugou ? Are they freaking serious?” Hitoshi was hoping that he would fight Bakugou immediately to make sure that he got nowhere near his friend (he doubts that the idiot could restrain himself from answering if Hitoshi were to insult him), but now he gets to fight him after Midoriya does. Assuming Hitoshi wins the first two. And Midoriya's is literally the second match.

His friend, for his part, looks anxious but somewhat determined. 

“I know I won’t be able to beat him,” Midoriya bites his lip as a show of his nerves. “But at least I’ll be facing my fear? And he can’t hurt me too much, since all the teachers will be watching?” Midoriya doesn’t sound very assured, and Hitoshi hates to concede, but being at school (they were right outside of the gates, literally anyone could’ve seen them) didn’t stop him before.

“Sure.” Hitoshi says, unable to voice that aloud and risk Midoriya panicking. “Just be safe, alright?” Midoriya nods.

“Good luck on your first fight, Shinsou!” He hesitates for a moment before giving Hitoshi a quick hug, then running away to the prep zone. Hitoshi bluescreens.

-

Hitoshi watched with bated breath as his friend deftly dodged explosion after explosion. During all of their training, they hadn’t focused a lot on the physical aspect aside from the occasional runs together (‘Being strong physically is just as important as being strong mentally, Shinsou, but I won’t be much help. Maybe we can learn together?’), but Midoriya was surprisingly quick for all his small size and ability level. 

Hitoshi could hear the yelling from his place in the stands, and he felt his skin boil with rage as an unnecessarily huge explosion clipped Midoriya’s side (it was aimed head-on, but he had managed to get out of the direct blast radius, thankfully), sending him sprawling out of bounds with blistering flesh and a bleeding face.

The match was called with Bakugou the winner, obviously , Hitoshi heard some people say, but it had lasted longer than most assumed. 

Rushing to the infirmary before his match, Hitoshi was met with a bandaged, sleeping Midoriya. Recovery Girl shooed him out a minute after he came in, saying he needed to sleep off the healing he had done. Hitoshi relented, and went to the prep room for his match. He had to win, if only for his friend’s sake. He would get to fight Bakugou and he would win .

His first math was surprisingly easy. He went up against a pink hero course girl who shot acid out of her hands. She had no idea what his quirk was, so she stayed at a distance from him, but didn’t hesitate to talk. At one point when she slid past him on some slick acid, he swiped his hand across her shoulder before activating his quirk and making her walk out of bounds. Hopefully it would look touch activated.

He got away with only a few minor acid burns from when he hadn’t dodged fast enough, and went to Recovery Girl for some ointment and bandages. Midoriya was awake and smiling when he arrived. Apparently he had woke up soon enough to watch his fight on the screen in the infirmiry.

“Shinsou! You were awesome!” His green eyes were shining brilliantly, even with one partially hidden behind the bandage wrapped around his head.

“Thanks.” Hitoshi sat awkwardly on the edge of the bed next to his, as Recovery Girl tutted around him with the burn cream. “Are you okay?” Midoriya waved him off.

“Totally fine. Recovery Girl is amazing! It hardly hurts anymore!” Recovery Girl huffed in exasperation as she smeared something over Hitoshi’s shoulder.

“You kids always go way overboard during these things!” She looks directly at Hitoshi. “You make sure Midoriya here takes care of those burns, alright? They were bad enough that I couldn’t heal them all the way without depleting too much stamina.” She shakes her head. “Make sure he comes back once school starts again so I can check on them.” Hitoshi nods fervently over Midoriya’s protests. 

“Of course, ma’am.” The old nurse pats him lightly. 

“Thank you, deary. You're a good friend”

-

Hitoshi wins his second fight much in the same way as his first one - he’s against a guy with a hardening quirk who responds to him almost immediately - though this time pretending the activation is a complex series of hand movements. The redhead is out before he can get a single punch in. Then comes his fight against Bakugou.

The blond had won every fight almost as brutally as his first one, so Hitoshi is not surprised when he walks into the arena already cussing him out.

“You’re that damn Deku’s friend, right?” He asks with a scoff, before Midnight even calls the start of the match. “You must be a loser too, huh?” Hitoshi rolls his eyes, and the match begins.

“Not as much of a loser as you.” Hitoshi snaps his fingers several times as Bakugou launches himself across the arena with explosions firing behind him.

“The hell you-” Bakugou stops moving right as he’s about to punch Hitoshi, and he lets out the breath he was holding. He really didn’t want to be punched by this jerk. He can vaguely hear Present Mic announcing in the background as he forces Bakugou to walk out of bounds, and just like that, he wins. 

He can hear Midoriya cheering for him in the background, as he’d been released from the infirmary to sit in the stands, and Hitoshi catches his eye with a manic grin. Midoriya’s smile is huge and bright as he waves both hands in a congratulatory gesture. Even if he lost the next round, he was tied for third. That had to be enough to get a teacher from the hero course to notice him.

In all his excitement, he had released Bakugou from his control. The blond was now yelling and exploding - in the most literal way possible - at his loss. Hitoshi vaguely saw him being restrained and knocked out by Midnight’s quirk, but he paid it little mind. He was too focused on bright and lovely green, green, green.

- 

He ends up losing the next round, but he can’t find it in himself to be upset. Todoroki (he knows that name, at least) had beaten him since he refused to answer. Todoroki went on to win, anyways, so there’s that. 

Hitoshi received his medal from All Might himself ( All Might! Come on .), and is met with an incredibly excited Midoriya right afterwards.

“Congratulations Shinsou! You were so awesome!” His friend was bouncing on his heels, face practically glowing with pride. “There’s no way you won’t get into the hero course now!” 

He was right, of course. With Eraserhead (yep, that Eraserhead) offering to train him for the hero course soon afterward.

He was gifted a second hug when he told Midoriya, and one of his brightest smiles yet.

-

He had been training with Eraserhead for a few days when the pro had brought up Midoriya.

“Midoriya?” Hitoshi asked.

“Yeah,” Erasedhead, call-me-Aizawa-sensei, said. “Is he your friend?”

“Oh, uh yeah. He’s in general studies with me.” Aizawa looked thoughtful. 

“You said someone helped you practice your quirk and come up with strategies for the sports festival. Is that who?” Hitoshi nodded, unsure where this was going. Aizawa just hummed, before starting training. 

-

About a week passed when Midoriya met up with Hitoshi right after his training ended, as they had planned to hang out over the weekend. Aizawa hadn’t left yet, and walked up to where they were talking. Midoriya was saying something about this cool quirk he had seen when he noticed Aizawa come over. And, well,

“-oh my gosh it’s Eraserhead! You didn’t tell me he was the underground pro who offered to train you!” Midoriya looked up at Hitoshi, betrayed, who just snickered at the expression.

“I thought your reaction would be funny, what can I say?” Midoriya stuck his tongue out at him, before turning to Aizawa who was watching with a somewhat amused expression.

“Eraserhead-san, oh my gosh I have so many question! Is your scarf robotically or biologically connected to you? When you use your quirk and it levitates, are you controlling it? Or is it like your hair and potentially part of a secondary levitation quirk? If it’s robotic do you control it through electronic brainwaves? And is it somehow integrated into your system like an extra limb-” Midoriya dissolved into muttering that neither Hitoshi nor Aizawa could understand. 

The pro looked a little dumbstruck when he interrupted him.

“Kid, how do you know all that?” Midoriya squeaked and slammed a hand over his mouth, stopping the torrent of words.

“I, uh, guessed?” Aizawa gave him a deadpan look.

“You guessed ?” Midoriya nodded. “You just happened to guess almost entirely how my capture scarf - which was created specifically for me with nearly top-secret technology - works?” Aizawa looked appalled.

“Um, yes?” Midoriya was starting to shrink a little into himself, now that the excitement of meeting his hero had run out. Oh hell no, Hitoshi thinks as he instinctively grabs Midoriya’s hand to comfort him. No way he’s letting him get stressed out, Aizawa has proven to be trustworthy. Midoriya turns pink and glances between their joined hands and Hitoshi’s face, which he stubbornly refuses to acknowledge is probably the same color as Midoriya’s, but at least his friend is distracted from his anxieties.

Aizawa looks on with a somewhat knowing expression that Hitoshi distinctly does not like, before continuing. “Not mad, Kid. Just surprised. And impressed. You got an intelligence quirk or something? Shinsou told me you helped him with his quirk, too.”

“I, uh-” Midoriya is back to being anxious, but Hitoshi squeezes his hand. He trusts Aizawa. He knows that Midoriya has had bad experiences with teachers, Hitoshi has too, but Aizawa isn’t like them at all. He tries to convey this to his friend with a look, and something must get across because he steels his features and continues. “I’m quirkless.” Aizawa pauses for a moment, looking a little surprised, before nodding.

“All the more impressive, kid.” Hitoshi smiles at the confused-but-happy look on Midoriya's face, and nudges his shoulder. 

“Told you.” Midoriya grins, eyes green and shining.

“You sure did.” Hitoshi grips his hand tighter as Aizawa looks between them, something resolute crossing his features.

“Say,” he says, looking at Midoriya critically. “Do you want to be a hero?”