Work Text:
It started with a simple ~~not conversation~~ with Bakugou.
Izuku had asked what he could improve in his fighting style, he was expecting a backhanded comment like, ‘Try everything, dipshit’ or the likes, Bakugou turned to him and looked at him long and hard.
“Stop holding back.” was the answer.
Ok..Izuku wasn’t expecting this, “But I am no-” Izuku protested.
“Stop right there, I can prove that you are.” Bakugou challenged.
“H-how? We can’t exactly fight right now.” Izuku reasoned.
Katsuki grunted, “I don’t need you to fight. I can prove it without lifting a finger.” He declared as he started going back to his room, “Bring one of your latest stalker notebooks will ya?” he ordered as he went off.
Izuku came back with his ‘Hero Analysis for the Future no.15’ . It contained notes on the quirks he had seen at UA, most of it was about his classmates.
“This got me in it?” Katsuki asked.
“Yes...yes of course, let me just...” Izuku ducked to find Katsuki’s page, Katsuki looked over his head and read through it.
“Hah, there,” he pointed out in victory.
Izuku gave him a confused look.
“Look under the weakness section, you have written ‘9% salt water solution.’ This is also the one where you brainstorm ways to beat us, don't you?”
“Yes…?” Izuku tried.
“ Ah, there is a dot after that. You had other ideas for my weaknesses but decided to throw them away.” Katsuki celebrated.
“No...No I did not, I was out of ideas, how are you so sure?” Izuku protested.
“Because I know what ideas you had, let me list them off. 1. Try to get a deep cut on his palms, 2. Break his wrists, 3. Break his shoulder 4. Cutting his arms off will be a more permanent solution.” Katsuki listed off, ticking them off on his fingers till he had 4.
Izuku looked at the boy in horror, “I would never…” he retaliated.
“Oh but you did, look here.” Katsuki said as he produced a notebook out of his pocket, it was labeled ‘Hero Analysis for the Future no.3’.
“That…” Izuku looked at the notebook in horror
“Yes, this. The original unfiltered thoughts of Izuku Midoriya. I have always treated you like you are nothing but the truth is, Midoriya Izuku, you scare me, your true self does. Stop holding back that mind of yours.” Bakugou said as he tapped Izuku on the forehead.
“Aizawa says Ponytail is the smartest, because he has never seen your true self. She’s got nothing on you. If you wanna improve how you fight, give your brain the driving seat, your unfiltered one and let it go.”
Izuku had no idea how to respond to that, Bakugou had always been so… so closed off and grumpy around him and mom had said that he had to tone the analysis down a bit, so that it was realistic.
He was torn, he could give what Bakugou said a try, he supposed.
The day he returned to classes provided the perfect opportunity.
Shouta wasn’t sure if he did the right thing agreeing to the idea of letting Toogata fight the whole class, there were other ways, better ways to explain what a work study could do and… Toogata wasn’t the average or realistic example. Amajiki might be one but Toogata? No.
He was given special attention. Not only was Nighteye giving him work experience, he was helping the boy with academics and quirk control.
Toogata was being trained for something special. None of the other work study students got that treatment.
He had half a mind to just say no, they had no intel on his quirk nor did they have any on his skill, this boy was overkill and...he had no sense of reading the room, he just up and challenged the whole class for a brawl. Shouta knew they were gonna get beaten and badly so.
It started as expected, almost half the class down in one go. Midoriya did great, no hesitation, as expected of the boy who beat Muscular, but the rest of them- they were just not ready for Toogata or should he call him Lemillion?
He saw Toogata cruise through everyone and watched how each and every single one of them wanted to stand up, desperate to not be beaten because to most of them, being beaten meant they would be dead in a situation where it mattered.
This was just- wrong and he had allowed it to happen. Why did he do that? It was his class, he could stop Lemillion now but half of the class was still standing. Stopping him now would only mean that the ones who were downed were incapable and the ones who were standing were a lost cause.
It was the message that was being sent to all of them and he did not want it.
He remembered how just a year ago he would have encouraged something like this. It got the bratty ones under check, showed them that they aren’t the best but these- these brats were not overconfident. They were just starting to - just barely scraping back to normalcy, they deserved down time for the amount of tragedies they had faced with bravery. They deserved their wins, they did not deserve to be humiliated by the second coming of Jesus.
Toogata was doing things the smart way, he was using the sheer lack of intel on his quirk to his advantage, taking down the ranged ones first and then going after the melee ones, ignoring or sometimes just passing through the only actual threat, Midoriya.
Midoriya was getting more and more frustrated, more and more desperate as he failed to defend his friends and they kept falling one after the other.
After 3 full attacks Toogata had everyone down, everyone who was not as desperate or reckless, everyone who wasn’t as strong and determined, everyone who didn’t have the sheer amount of pain tolerance that one of his children did. Everyone who wasn’t Midoriya.
He was hit twice in those 3 attacks while being passed through multiple times. Most were down after one single punch, but not Midoriya.
Toogata was not so well trained in hiding his true emotions. He smiled to look like he was excited but he wasn’t. There was twitch in his eye, it was ever so fast and was hidden but Shouta saw it. He was scared, he had not expected anyone to stay standing after his punches.
Shouta looked towards Midoriya, he had looked desperate just a moment and looked like he was going to launch a reckless charge that would lead to his ultimate defeat but his stance changed to a relaxed one.
He started to take a few deep breaths and then did something no one saw coming, he smil- No! Grinned.
He shifted his stance to a fighting one but not one that suggested he was going to be the one who threw an attack. Instead he tilted his neck and gestured to Toogata to come at him.
Now this was either too cocky or too stupid. None of it was like Midoriya. He was more of an upfront fighter and also one who respected his opponents. Was leaving him with Bakugou alone for 3 days a bad idea?
Toogata accepted and went underground, Midoriya smirked, rather than being alert, he simply moved 2 steps to his right. He heard a breath hitch beside him, it was Amajiki, Nejire’s usual chatter which he had shifted to background noise was silent all of a sudden. Aizawa did not know why.
He had his answer the next moment. Toogata came up with force but was completely baffled when his first hit missed, he went for another as soon as he recovered but Midoriya rather than attacking him, dodged again and distanced himself from the 3rd year.
Toogata came to a stop, he chuckled and started, “You got lucky there, let’s go again.” Toogata disappeared without warning and Midoriya walked. He literally walked to the exact spot Toogata had disappeared from and put his hands in his pockets and rested his stance.
Toogata came up 3 steps to the left of where Midoriya was. He completely missed, he went for a punch behind him but he had just hit air.
“Guess you got unlucky there, Senpai.” Shouta inhaled sharply, he heard his thoughts being voiced by Todoroki,
“Is Midoriya taunting- Toogata senpai?”
Toogata turned around, his usual smile gone. He went underground again and Midoriya took 5 steps backward. Toogata came out 4 steps ahead of where Midoriya should have been if he had stayed where he was.
Toogata got some distance as he let his quirk rest. He wasn’t relaxed though, he just was unsure of where to go now.
Midoriya called him out on it, “What’s the matter Senpai? Where is that smile now? I dodge one attack and you look so hopeless.” Midoriya cooed.
“I will get you this time.” Toogata retaliated.
“Oh but where will you go? Your quirk isn’t exactly invisibility or invincibility, neither is it teleportation. Your appearances aren’t instant, you’re travelling fast but not with the speed of light. ” Midoriya smirked.
“I had a theory when I saw you taking out the ranged ones first. Thing is, they were a threat, one that you had to deal with, so your quirk wasn’t invincibility. You just seem to let things pass through you and that got me thinking, if my hand can pass through you, why can’t air or light? you can’t exactly see or breathe when you use that quirk, can you?”
“You’re just predicting where I would go and since you have failed to predict correctly for so many times, you’re doubting yourself. Even now you just have one thing on your mind, where will I be next time, will I be on the right, or will I move to the left, I can also move forward or I can return to my previous position?” Midoriya kept taunting as Toogata disappeared and appeared on Midoriya’s right.
“Oops...I guess I forgot to mention the option where I can just keep standing here and make you look like a complete idiot. Heh.” Midoriya let out a dry chuckle.
Mirio looked horrified. The viewing stands were completely quiet while Amajiki watched with horror and Nejire was quieter than she had been all her life.
“What the fuck?” Jirou spoke out and those were exactly Aizawa’s thoughts.
What. The. Fuck.
Aizawa had known Midoriya was a tactician but this... this was on a whole different level. How was he making a fool out of the alleged next number one hero? And...so ...so easily?
Amajiki felt a shiver go down his spine. It looked like the initial attacks from Mirio were just...just him being scrutinised and dissected and this Midoriya kid had Mirio figured out in under 10 minutes.
This never happened with Mirio. He was always clinical and unbeatable like the sun- but this kid had just put an eclipse to it.
Mirio did not give up though and that was far from the only move in his arsenal. He went for a direct hit and Midoriya, rather than dodge or block ....took it and then grabbed the hand that hit and flipped him.
He went for the eyeball crusher, but again, was thrown off to the other end of the training grounds by the kid who had upped the power output.
Green lightning crackled around him and his eyes seemed to glow, the same colour as his hair.
Mirio landed a hit and Aizawa heard a collective intake of air.
Midoriya had a shadow on his eyes and Aizawa thought he was unconscious but he looked Mirio in the eye and smirked .
"I can take your punches." Midoriya staggered as Mirio's fist landed another hit.
"I have endured broken bones, senpai, multiple at once." He kicked Mirio in the shins, spitting out the blood from his mouth as he moved.
A pause. A breath from the opponent.
"I have a lot more in me." He narrowed his eyes as the golden boy of UA dropped through the floor.
He turned around, knowing exactly where the next hit would come from, "I can do this all day." He craned his neck, narrowly missing another punch with a smile.
The entire time, he was watching as Mirio's lack of oxygen intake drained him. He looked to the third year heaving on the floor, gasping for breath.
"The question is… Can you? Or are you out of power already?” Midoriya said as he tapped the very tired Mirio on the forehead as he collapsed from the lack of oxygen.
Izuku was ecstatic, this...this feeling of accomplishment was just way over what he had ever felt.
Letting his brain go for what it wanted, felt so...so liberating. Like he had removed age old shackles he hadn’t known he was bound by in the first place.
Katsuki had done this impulsively, thinking that the nerd would just keep the brainy stuff to the fights. Welp, every demon has a downside and Izuku using his unfiltered brain had some too.
Tch.
He didn’t care what the nerd did as long as he wasn't holding back.
Nejire and Tamaki followed Mirio to the infirmary, none of them believing what they had just seen. How was a first year able to beat Mirio so easily?
Most of the class had to make a trip to Recovery Girl
and Aizawa had to make one to Hound Dog… and one to the bar.
Fuck it, he needed alcohol to down what he had just seen. A cynical Midoriya.
No matter what, he had never imagined the boy as anything other than being a ball of sunshine. He was very akin to All Might, how had he done a complete 180 and turned into this scary mix of Nedzu and All for one?
Was Midoriya always like this? Was he secretly a pokemon that just evolved? If Nedzu hears about this, will the world live to see another day?
Aizawa went to sleep with all questions and no answers.
Shouta’s class of problem children wasn’t doing any better than him. They looked as hung over as a 16 year old could.
Toogata still came up with a work study offer for Midoriya, the poor soul, he had met the devil himself and still thought he was an angel.
Shouta’s faith in the evil godly powers of Midoriya was proved to be correct when he heard from the underground community that Nighteye was sporting a black eye and was being sued for illegal quirk use.
He landed a work study offer with Fat Gum afterwards.
Turns out the whole taskforce against Overhaul was in vain. Midoriya and Lemillion were enough to save Eri.
Midoriya took the fight outside while Eri clung to him like a lifeline and Shouta just- just barely saw a glimpse of the monster that Midoriya would become once he reached his potential.
That settled, All Might took Midoriya to a meeting with All for One. The villain lost his quirk after that and Midoriya started pulling new ones out of his ass whenever he liked.
Midoriya was very suspicious, but he was somehow always able to make Eri happy.
Shouta did not approve of Eri being all quiet and ‘how do I smile?’ for anything they did and giggling like a mad girl when Midoriya showed her a video of Overhaul getting his hands cut off.
Oh, yeah. The league had sent a video to the Apocalypse child and were somehow completely under his control, and were suspiciously doing all the illegal things Midoriya was not allowed to do.
Shouta did not care these days, Midoriya was the devil who had risen from the depths of hell and with Nedzu as his mentor, he was already making strides for world domination, he wasn’t kidding, one day he had just poked around when Nedzu and Midoriya were having what they called ‘analytics class’ when he saw it on the board.
“Plan for world domination no.83”
Mic did throw Shouta on a loop when he pointed out the possibility of them just playing a prank on him. Aizawa did not know and honestly speaking, he didn’t want to. He didn’t get paid enough to deal with this shit.