Chapter Text
Izuku always hits the ground running.
Okay, that’s— that’s a lie. At best, Izuku lands, stumbles a little and maybe the ground cracks— but maybe it doesn’t, he’s been working on that he swears— and then starts running. At worst, he faceplants directly into the city sidewalk, gouging out a deep, Deku-shaped channel into the concrete.
Today looks like it’s shaping up to be a faceplant kind of day.
“Young Deku! Are you alright?!”
Izuku sits up, spitting concrete dust and— eugh, is that sidewalk gum?— out of his mouth. All Might lands significantly more gracefully on the ground next to him, hands fluttering around nervously. Izuku gives him a shaky thumbs up.
“I’m fine! I reinforced myself before I landed, don’t worry about me— All Might, the villain’s getting away!”
“Not to worry, he has been apprehended.”
Izuku looks over to the police line, where the villain with some kind of hand enlargement quirk is standing in handcuffs, dazed and confused. Izuku huffs. Of course All Might managed to arrest him and land to check on Izuku in the time it took Izuku to skid down the road like a ragdoll. Izuku will never get his head around just how fast All Might still is, even as his powers are waning.
“Sorry.” Izuku frowns. “I went too easy on him, didn’t I?”
All Might gives him a flat look. “My boy, you allowed him to swat you out of the air like a fly.”
Izuku winces. “Ah, right. My bad.”
All Might sighs, but gives Izuku a hand up. Toshinori was hesitant to allow Izuku back into the field so soon after the Hosu incident, but both Izuku and Inko insisted it would be for the best. They’ve been trying to get Izuku’s power moderation under control, to varying degrees of success. Maybe it’s the trauma of having to use his quirk to almost exclusively fight to the death for the past few weeks, but it seems like One for All has reverted back to an all or nothing level for Izuku. He either packs the punch of a regular teenage boy or he strikes with the raw power of a hurricane. There’s no in between.
“It’s quite alright, Young Deku. Perhaps we started off a bit too strong. It may be time to turn back to the Mighty Agency gym. I could call up Gran Torino if you’d like! As for right now, let’s get you to Recovery Girl. You have the rest of the week off to rest up!”
Izuku’s control of his power output isn’t the only thing to regress.
Izuku sighs. “All Might. I’m fine. Look, barely any scratches! I don’t need to see Recovery Girl.”
All Might frowns anxiously, an expression that is common for Yagi Toshinori— not so much for the Symbol of Peace.
“But, my boy, you’re bleeding!”
Izuku absently reaches up to pat his face and, sure enough, his glove comes back with a faint smear of red. Probably a scratched up cheek because, again, Izuku is not hurt.
Toshinori has been babying him, both in costume and out of it. Izuku can’t count the number of times in the past few weeks that Toshinori has knocked on Izuku’s bedroom door, offering a plate of cut up fruit, or a hotpack for his hands, or— something. Izuku is grateful, of course, but he also wishes Toshinori would tone it down. At least while they’re on patrol. It’s one thing to be fussed over in the privacy of the Midoriya-Yagi residence, it’s another thing for Izuku to be standing out in downtown Musutafu, in his Hero costume, while All Might himself fusses over him like he’s a toddler with a bloody nose.
Izuku sighs again. You almost die once and suddenly no one wants to let you out of their sight.
(Okay, twice. Wel, more like three, or four, or— you know what? Maybe the concern is a little warranted.)
And now a crowd is starting to gather because of course Izuku can’t catch a break.
“Can we just—?” Izuku falters, hit with a sudden wave of fatigue despite insisting he was fine “-- go home? Are we done here?”
All Might’s face, all deep shadows and strong angles, softens. He nods, blonde hair strands bobbing. “Of course, my boy. I’ll get someone at the agency to handle the clean up. And—”
Uncaring of the people around them snapping photos and videos and whatnot, All Might pats Izuku on the head.
“Good work today, Deku. Do not be discouraged, you were holding your own right up until the end.”
Izuku reflects on the fight, later curled up in bed on his right side, because sometimes he still feels phantom aches from when he broke his left leg catching that car the Nomu threw at him. He did well today, all things considered. Better than he has been doing. He managed to gauge his output correctly, but— something at the end had thrown him off. Maybe it was the angle of approach, or the way the villain’s enlarged hand seemed almost winglike for a moment, but something had convinced Izuku that his next Air Force blast would fire off with enough strength to shred the poor guy. Izuku redirected his blast at the last second, for fear of accidentally dismembering some average thief in the middle of broad daylight, in the most low-stakes fight of Izuku’s recent memory. The redirect left Izuku open for a hit and the rest— well.
Smack. Right off the roof of the bank, arcing over the street below, skidding to a halt and setting off every nearby car alarm in the process. Izuku thinks he might have even skipped across the asphalt like a stone across a lake.
Izuku shuts his eyes tight, disappointed in himself. He should be better. He can do better.
It’s just— he’s thinking too much.
Always a problem with him.
Opinion Editorial • Tokyo Times
Hero Intern Deku: Our Next Savior, or the Catalyst of Hero Society’s Downfall?
By Yumoto Ryobe
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It’s been a month since Hosu City was rocked with attacks from the newest villain group, the League of Villains, and Hero Intern Deku’s (unranked) takedown of the serial killer Stain, his first S ranked villain arrest. Still, many questions remained. Intern Deku himself addressed many of the public’s concerns during his impromptu press conference on the steps of Hosu General, after being treated, and yet it has been radio silence ever since.
The Pro Hero community has been split, with some Pros like Hawks (Rank: 3, Peak: 3) coming out in full support of All Might’s teenage Intern and other Pros, like Prophet (Rank: 34, Peak: 32) calling for the HPSC to revoke Deku’s license. Pro Hero media is a mess of differing opinions on Deku, ranging from idolization to condemnation. Fan clubs and hate clubs alike have popped up online. Despite his rousing speech in Hosu and his call to action, Deku has been notably absent from the public eye in any meaningful way.
With tensions high and no word from the Hero Intern at the heart of all the chaos, the question must be asked: just what the hell is Hero Intern Deku doing?
Honestly? His best.
“I think we should switch gears,” Izuku declares the next morning.
He’s fired up, all bright-eyed and filled with determination. After wallowing in self-pity last night, Izuku had finally given up on sleeping around 2 AM and had instead opted to spend the rest of his night cracking open a new notebook. Quirk Analysis vol. 8: Self Focus sits on the table in front of him, already almost a quarter of the way filled with his messy scrawl.
Inko groans, putting a cup of hot tea in front of Izuku. “What did I say about no training talk at breakfast? Can we not have one peaceful meal a day, please?”
Izuku smiles sheepishly. “Sorry, mom, but this is important!”
“Always important,” Inko mutters, laying out the rest of breakfast. “Always saving the world with you two.”
“Yes,” Toshinori comments mildly, “almost like you live with two Pro Heroes.”
Inko’s eyes narrow threateningly and Toshinori immediately straightens up.
“You’re picking up Izuku’s sarcasm,” she tsks. “I knew he’d be a bad influence on you.”
“H-Hey!”
“The heroics talk can wait,” Inko says sternly. “I made American-style pancakes and they will be appreciated.”
And they were.
But as soon as plates were cleared and cleaned, and Izuku was dressed in his school uniform, Inko in her scrubs, and Toshinori in his signature awful pinstripe suit— Izuku brings it up again.
“We should switch gears,” he repeats himself, wrestling his notebook out of his backpack. They’re in the car on the way to UA, Toshinori driving and Inko fiddling with the radio while Izuku leans forward from the backseat to talk their ears off. This is a daily occurrence. Izuku doesn’t even know why Toshinori bothers with the radio anymore, since he’s just going to turn it down to listen to Izuku ramble anyway.
“Switch gears to what, my boy?”
“Underground work!” Izuku exclaims, eyes sparkling.
Both Inko and Toshinori pause, sharing a look.
“I thought you wanted to be a combat hero. Where did this come from?” Inko asks.
“I do, but since the, uh— since Hosu I haven’t been making much progress. If you compare my progression with One for All, even accounting for technique developments like Air Force and Full Cowling ....”
Izuku rambles as he flips to a page in his notebook where he graphed his estimated percent use of One for All versus time. He graphed this by hand last night. He waits until they’re at a red light so Toshinori can glance over.
“... And as you can see, I’ve plateaued, even though in theory I should be up to 60% by now.”
“And you’ve determined this progress, how, my boy?”
“With a formula.” Izuku gestures to the graph, even though Toshinori has his eyes back on the road.
Toshinori chuckles fondly. “Izuku, not everything can be predicted with a formula. Especially not quirk progress, and almost certainly not when that quirk is One for All.”
Izuku flips to a different page, this one filled with information about Toshinori’s progress with One for All— mainly his immediate mastery of it and a brief timeline of different Smashes. Izuku’s breakdown of All Might’s first Wyoming Smash is his favorite part of this section. He color-coded it.
“I know, but— I noticed a pattern, mostly with my own progress but also with your history, and new techniques are typically formed after a plateau. I started using my legs more after I reached a, uh, stalemate with my arms—”
“Why do you have to say it like that?” Inko laments. “It wasn’t a stalemate you were destroying them.”
“—And I started using Air Force when kicking and speed stopped being enough, so it only makes sense that now it’s time for me to try something new!”
“I see. That does make sense, but where does underground heroics come in here?”
“Well, it’s the only branch of heroics I haven’t gotten to try yet,” Izuku pauses. “Um. If you don’t count the, um… vigilantism.”
“Alleged,” Inko and Toshinori both say, out of habit.
Izuku smiles sheepishly. “Right, the alleged vigilantism— anyway, that doesn’t really count. I wasn’t really doing anything with technique, I was just kind of. Standing in front of criminals? And hoping they’d, uh, stop committing crimes.”
Inko pinches the bridge of her nose. “Everyday I wonder how we let you get away with that.”
Toshinori, graciously, decides not to comment. “That’s true, I’ve never given you any formal Underground Hero training. I suppose I’d just assumed it was contradictory with One for All. I apologize, that was an oversight on my part.”
“It didn’t occur to me either until I interned with Miruko! She’s a really flashy hero, but she can also do the whole stealth thing, too. Maybe that’s the next step I need to take!”
Toshinori hesitates. They’ve reached UA by now and Toshinori parks the car, but makes no move to exit. Inko and Izuku stay in their seats, waiting for him to say something.
“I… I think that’s a sound course of action,” Toshinori says hesitantly. “I just— I worry. Are you saying that you’d like to continue your internship with the Miruko Agency? That’s fine, but Miruko isn’t exactly known for guiding young heroes. In fact, I believe you were her first intern, and that didn’t exactly end… well.”
Toshinori finishes flatly, hands gripping the steering wheel.
Inko reaches out a hand and pats Toshinori’s, prompting him to loosen his grip.
“I know nothing that happened in Hosu is her fault,” Toshinori says. “I myself have been struggling with feeling responsible for—well, everything. But I just don’t know if I’m comfortable with you going off again so soon. I’d rather you stayed close to home, at least for a little while longer.”
“Oh, no, I wasn’t thinking about going to the Miruko Agency again. Maybe in the future, but, um. I think I’d also like to stay close to home. For now.”
Toshinori lets out a relieved breath. “Ah, good. So, then who’s agency were you considering, my boy?”
“Well….”
Izuku gestures out the windshield. Across the parking lot, Aizawa exits Present Mic’s car. Inko, Izuku, and Toshinori watch as Aizawa throws back a large cup of coffee like a shot, rips open a pack of konjac jelly and slurps it down, then chases it with another steaming cup of coffee. His expression never changes from its usual deadpan.
Inko shudders. Toshinori sighs. Izuku grins.
“It makes sense,” Toshinori concedes.
All three of them watch as Aizawa retrieves his signature yellow sleeping bag from the trunk of the car. His eyebags are visible even from all the way over here.
“I just updated his medical files,” Inko says. “He is barely holding it together.”
“That’s not true!” Izuku protests. “Aizawa-sensei is one of the best underground Pros in all of Japan. Plus, he’s my teacher, and you guys already trust him, so it’s a win-win.”
“He has a point, Inko.” Toshinori turns to Izuku. “Alright! If you can get Aizawa to agree, I will allow you to intern under him temporarily.”
“Okay!”
Yes! Izuku grins and says a quick goodbye to Inko and Toshinori before he bounces out of the car, hurrying to catch up to his teacher. Of course Aizawa will agree, he’s already training Izuku anyway.
There’s no way he’ll say no.
“No,” Aizawa says. “I’m barely holding it together.”
Izuku gapes. “But, sensei—”
“No,” he repeats firmly. He lifts his head up from where he was, slumped over his desk as Izuku hovers nearby, practically vibrating with excitement at the prospect of working for the Null Underground Agency.
“Why—?”
“Why not?” Aizawa gestures to the rest of 1-A.
Aizawa has given them a free period to work on whatever they want, but the class has mostly devolved into chaos. Jiro is remixing a recording of Bakugou’s shouting into a sick beat. Kaminari is testing the conductivity of various food items. Izuku thinks Momo might be managing a betting ring in the back corner, but for what he isn’t sure.
“You brats are the first full class I’ve had to teach in—” Aizawa’s brow furrows, thinking. “Ever. I’ve expelled part, if not all, of my previous classes. Finals are coming up and I need to figure out a way to design twenty unique assessments that factor individual quirks, varying mastery, starting points, and personal weaknesses.”
“Nineteen,” Izuku corrects gently. “Mineta dropped out, right?”
“Twenty,” Aizawa repeats. “Shinsou will be taking his final alongside 1-A, as preparation for him joining the class next semester.”
Izuku’s eyes widen. He sucks in a deep breath and opens his mouth—
“Do not yell.” Aizawa glares, eyes flashing. Izuku shuts his mouth.
“I thought he wasn’t transferring until second year?” Izuku whispers excitedly. “Does Shinsou-kun know?”
“Yes, he knows. We decided to officially confirm him for 1-A’s roster after his team-building test with 1-B went poorly—”
The corner of Izuku’s lip twitches up.
“—Which you wouldn’t have anything to do with, I’m sure.”
“Ah, ha. Nope. Nothing at all, sensei.”
Aizawa sighs. “The other teachers and I are in agreement that Shinsou should be integrated into the Hero Course as soon as possible to minimize the amount of catch-up he’d have to do. So, I will be designing a final exam for him, as well— Kaminari! Drop it!”
Izuku whips his head around to see Kaminari slowly set down what looks like a mandarin from someone’s lunch plugged into some electrical wiring.
“But, sensei, it’s science! We’re just testing the conductivity of—”
“You are going to explode fruit all over my classroom. Do this outside, if you must.”
“Did you hear that, guys?” Kaminari turns to Mina and Sero. “That’s basically permission!”
The three of them cheer.
Aizawa opens his mouth again to protest, but ultimately decides not to. His gaze slides over to Izuku.
“Do you see why I can’t help you, Midoriya?”
Izuku nods, defeated. He feels kind of bad, Aizawa’s probably dealing with a lot. He slowly slides his Quirk Analysis notebook off of Aizawa’s desk. He had taken it out when he was pitching his internship idea to Aizawa, mostly because he worked hard on his graph and he wanted to show it off. Back to the drawing board.
Izuku begins to turn away.
“Midoriya. Wait.”
Izuku perks up, turning back to Aizawa.
Aizawa gestures to his notebook. “May I see that again?”
“This? Oh, yeah, sure.”
Izuku hands it over. Aizawa flips through it, skimming through his notes. He pauses at the All Might section. Izuku has taken to writing any observations on All Might and One for All in general in vague, semi-coded language just in case he accidentally leaves his notebook somewhere. Wouldn’t want to hand over Japan’s biggest quirk secret to some random person on the subway. Aizawa probably knows enough about Izuku and Toshinori to be able to decipher most of it, though.
“Midoriya, are all volumes of your Quirk Analysis notebooks self focussed?”
“No, just this one! I don’t usually take notes on my own quirk, mostly other people’s.”
Izuku can practically see the gears in Aizawa’s head turning.
“Have you taken notes on your classmates’ quirks?”
“Oh, yeah! Probably more than anyone else’s, besides my mom’s. Todoroki-kun alone takes up almost half a notebook.”
Aizawa’s eyes flash. He tilts his head, remarkably cat-like.
“Is that so? Interesting. Midoriya, I think we can make a deal with the whole internship thing.”
“Oh?” Izuku grins.
“Yes.” Aizawa grins back, his smile wide and slightly terrifying.
“Help me design your classmates’ final exams and I’ll let you intern at my agency.”
Which is how Izuku ends up betraying his closest friends.
Ace (studying for exams) @cheatleech • 3d
its fucked up that deku gets to spend so much time with such cool pros like miruko and endeavor. what does he have that i don’t
45 retweets 67 quote retweets 98 likes
replying to @cheatleech
Yor’s gf @fightmeloid • 2d
Charisma, battle training, brains, the ability to think critically about hero society… should i go on or are you too embarrassed?
52 retweets 394 likes
replying to @cheatleech
#justiceformarco @tohalfandtohold • 2d
Not the endeavor stan asking what deku has that they don’t LMAO. for one, good taste in pro heroes
12 retweets 793 likes
“You’re being dramatic, Deku-kun.”
“Yes,” Todoroki agrees with Uraraka. They’re eating lunch outside today, since it’s nice out and the other UA students have started to leave Izuku alone after his whole impassioned ‘Symbol of Change’ speech. It’s nice, except for the fact that Izuku is betraying all of his classmates.
“I’m using my knowledge against you all!” Izuku insists. “For my own personal gain!”
“You’re just handing over your notes to Aizawa-sensei,” Shinsou says. “How bad can it be?”
Izuku levels him with a look.
“Just how detailed are your notes on all of us, Midoriya-kun?” Iida asks, a bit nervously. Iida, who had started studying for finals right after midterms ended, assuming it would just be a multiple choice exam, has been anxious since Izuku explained his conversation with Aizawa.
“Very detailed.”
“This is worrying,” Todoroki says. “Midoriya knows me better than anyone.”
“Me too!”
“It is the same for me.”
“Yeah, yeah, we were all friendless losers before this, we get it,” Shinsou grumbles. Then he insists, again, “Come on. It can’t be that bad.”
Izuku slides him a sideways glance.
“Shinsou Hitoshi has a window of time between 1 second to 45 seconds after a question has been verbally answered for him to use his quirk,” Izuku recites, mentally pulling up his entry in Quirk Analysis volume 7. “His success rate depends on the level of concentration of both him and his subject. Optimum time frame is between 5 and 10 seconds. His current record for longest hold on a single person with no physical interference is thirty-two minutes and twenty-six seconds.”
Shinsou gapes. “That’s— Midoriya, we tested that limit three days ago.”
“I know,” Izuku moans, burying his head in his hands in shame. “I update my entries very frequently.”
“Oh,” Todoroki notes distantly. “I see. We’re all fucked.”
Uraraka bursts into nervous laughter and Iida begins to scold Todoroki on language use. Shinsou stares hard at Izuku.
“Remember how I said you scare me sometimes, Midoriya? You justify my fears a little more every day.”
“See?! Betrayal! It’s fine when I’m using my notes to help you all, but here I am selling you out!”
Shinsou sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Okay, let’s tone down the dramatics. Think of it this way, at least you can give us warnings about what each of our finals will be like, right?”
“No,” Izuku says miserably. He picks up his previously abandoned lunch, stuffing noodles in his mouth. “Aizawa-sensei swore me into secrecy and he’ll know if I tell because I’m—”
“Awful at lying,” Everyone finishes for him. Even Iida chimes in.
“Okay, well—” Shinsou stops and makes a face. “Wait, why am I the one trying to be optimistic here? That’s your job.”
“Sorry,” Izuku mumbles around a mouthful of noodles.
“Don’t be.” Shinsou grimaces. “Yeah, it sucks for us but— I get it. I’d do anything to advance my training. Hell, I’d sell you out to intern for Aizawa-sensei, too.”
“I wouldn’t,” Todoroki says. “Maybe to intern under Miruko, but not Aizawa-sensei.”
“The point is,” Uraraka interupts, “that we’re not taking it personally, and I doubt the rest of the class will blame you either, Deku! We all know you’d never betray us.”
The others nod in agreement.
“Midoriya is the least likely traitor amongst our classmates,” Todoroki says.
Shinsou grins. “Okay, but who do you think is most likely? My money’s on Bakugou.”
“Yeah, definitely,” Uraraka agrees.
“Guys, c’mon, that’s mean!”
“Midoriya-kun is right, we shouldn’t gossip about our classmates!” Iida pauses. “However, I do think Hagakure-kun would be the most likely spy.”
“No, Hagakure is too obvious, given her quirk,” Shinsou adds. “It would be someone we’d never suspect, like Kaminari. Or Aoyama.”
“He wouldn’t!” Izuku protests. “He’s really nice to me, he could never!”
Shinsou deadpans. “Midoriya, everyone’s nice to you, because you’re nice to everyone.”
“Bakugou’s not nice to him,” Todoroki notes.
“Bakugou’s nasty to everyone,” Uraraka says.
“No, it’s different with Midoriya.” Todoroki considers Izuku carefully. “Worse, somehow. More personal.”
Izuku forgets sometimes how scarily observant Todoroki is.
“Anyway!” Izuku says loudly. “No one is betraying anyone! Our class is solid. We’ve trauma bonded.”
“And will continue to trauma bond!” Uraraka predicts cheerily.
Lunch passes quickly after that. Izuku manages to get over himself enough to enjoy his friends’ presence. It took a while for Izuku to become comfortable on campus again, after the mess at the USJ and then him kidnapping during the Sports Festival, but he’s slowly getting there. It’s late May, just when the rain has started to let up. The sun is shining and a cool breeze blows through every so often, carrying laughter and stray flower petals on it.
Izuku closes his eyes and tilts his face towards the sun. For a moment, all is right in the world.
Somewhere, a guard mistakenly leaves a newspaper in a little girl’s cell. She picks it up, brushing long, dirty white hair out of her face to see. She traces her scarred, bandaged fingers over the letters on the page, gazes curiously at the freckled, smiling face on the paper.
She sounds out the name, softly.
“De…ku?”
apatheticrobots reblogged gulaabjamoon
dragondancer403
[GIF set of Deku footage from various news stations and fan-recorded fights. In all of them, Deku catches sight of the camera and flashes them a peace sign, even mid-fight.]
Hero Intern Deku + his inability to not throw up a peace sign
hauntinglyblu
lmao truly our generation’s hero
8,294 notes
#deku #omg look at the immediate regret in the second one #and the awkward little smile when he realizes he’s still fighting someone LMFAOOO #he’s so endearing
Something has been bothering Izuku for a while.
Listen— Izuku doesn’t believe in ghosts. But he’s also pretty sure he’s being haunted.
Or, he’s pretty sure his brain is being haunted? The inside of his head? Can someone’s thoughts be haunted?
He knows it started the first time Shinsou used his quirk on him. At first, Izuku didn’t really think much of it, just figured it was a side effect of the mind control. The space that Izuku’s consciousness goes to when Shinsou puts him under is ethereal and a little spooky, but also familiar in a way that Izuku interpreted as just something his mind makes up to fill in the gaps when he’s being controlled. They trained for weeks, with Izuku regularly entering that mindscape before Izuku really stopped and started noticing things.
For one, there’s the fact that he isn’t alone. Izuku has been calling the others ghosts, but only one of them really looks recognizably like a full person; it’s the one that seems to be vaguely shaped like a muscular woman in a cape. The others seem more like… echoes? Or like Izuku is viewing them through a pane of frosted glass.
Today, Izuku has decided to sit down and record all of his experiences, because now his haunting has physical symptoms. He’s sectioned off a new area in his notebook dedicated to studying One for All and has been writing down his haunting incidents all night. He’s labeled this section “One for All: Ghost?.”
So.
Izuku has been able to predict the future.
Izuku frowns down at his notebook. No, that’s not right.
He crosses out the line he’s just written and thinks, absentmindedly chewing on the end of his pencil. It’s not that he can predict the future, because it’s not clear like how Nighteye describes seeing ahead with his quirk. Izuku isn’t really sure what to call the phenomenon he experiences. It’s not that he knows what’s going to happen, it’s more like… like something in his head going “uh oh.”
It usually happens in the middle of fights, while he’s patrolling. He’ll be walking around, or hopping across rooftops, and a sudden chill will go down his spine. His vision goes the faintest bit blurry before coming back sharper somehow, like a camera lens refocusing. In that moment, Izuku swears he can feel every cell in his body standing at attention.
And then— through instinct alone— Izuku will duck. Or step to the side, or swing— and it will be the exact movement he needs to avoid a blow or a projectile.
At first, he thought his battle instincts were simply improving. It’s to be expected, after all, the more field experience Izuku gets, the better hero he’ll become. Muscle memory, and all that. But, it really is uncanny how confident and precise his movements are in that moment. Almost like it’s not him moving at all.
Izuku doesn’t only feel it during fights, this, ghost sense, or whatever it is. He gets it from people sometimes, but usually it’s more of a vaguely bad vibe. Like his body is telling him not to trust someone.
Izuku lists down everyone he’s gotten the ghost vibe from. He doesn’t have any proof that these people are untrustworthy, and he doesn’t immediately notice any connecting factors. This list is varied: a few police officers, a random passerby, even people Izuku knows like Aoyama and Monoma and a few students in Gen Ed. Although, Monoma only triggered Izuku’s ghost sense when he’s actively being a piece of shit.
Izuku sighs.
It doesn’t make any sense.
There are other weird things going on with Izuku’s quirk. Like sometimes, Izuku will instinctively lash an arm out, as if he’s wielding some kind of long-ranged weapon like a chain or a whip. Izuku has never trained with long-ranged weapons like that, so it can’t be muscle memory. Or, sometimes, when he’s using One for All to jump across roofs, he swears he hovers midair for longer than he should. If Izuku hadn’t spent the last year learning how to land safely and softly with his quirk, he might not have even noticed.
Izuku writes all of this down in his notebook as the hours tick away. He’s hyper focused up until— he’s not. Abruptly, Izuku realizes he has a craving for shrimp rice crackers.
There are no shrimp rice crackers in the apartment.
He checks the time. It’s 1 AM, but he knows that Sasaki-san’s little corner store is open 24/7. He could… well, he really shouldn’t leave the apartment this late, right? Toshinori already set all the alarms, and it would be a hassle to disarm them and then rearm them, plus he’d have to pass both his mom’s and Toshinori’s room on his way down the hall, and it really is super late, he shouldn’t wake them up, right?
But he wants shrimp crackers.
Really badly.
He eyes his window.
Fifteen minutes later, Izuku is standing in the chip aisle of Sasaki’s Conbini, clad in a big hoodie, a beanie, and a face mask. The fluorescent bulbs wash the store in the kind of bright white light that almost hurts your eyes. It makes the colorful chip bags look oversaturated.
Izuku gathers up a variety of snacks, including his beloved shrimp crackers. Sasaki-san gives him a look as he scans through the mountain of Izuku’s purchases— Sasaki-san doesn’t give a shit that Izuku is Deku, which is why Izuku loves his convenience store, but he is definitely judging Izuku on his sodium intake right now. Izuku pays and gathers up his bounty, ready to hurry back home so he can feast.
Izuku almost knocks right into someone coming in, just as he’s leaving.
“Oh— sorry!”
“No, my bad, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
The other person, an older guy, steps to the side and—
This is wrong. Izuku feels… wrong.
Izuku stops, the door half-way open. He distantly notes the sound of the bell above the door chiming. He instinctively wants to reach out and grab the man’s arm, to stop him from coming into the store. His arm twitches, but he purposefully stops himself. If this is his weird ghost-vibe thing… What happens if he doesn’t act? What is it even telling him?
Izuku blinks. His eyes focus on the man.
The man’s back is to him. He approaches Sasaki-san at the counter. Izuku watches for a moment, taking in every detail about him. Medium height, athletic build, dark brown hair.
“Hello!” The man says brightly to Sasaki-san. “I’m robbing you.”
He pulls out a pocket knife and flicks it open.
Izuku blinks, stunned at the audacity.
“Uh,” Izuku says, stepping fully back into the store, “no, you’re not.”
The man whirls around, surprised. “You– I thought you left!”
“I didn’t. Obviously, um, can you put the knife down, please? You really shouldn’t—”
The man darts out a hand and grabs Sasaki-san’s collar, pulling him almost over the counter and bringing up the knife threateningly. “Stay right there, kid. And hands up.”
“Hey! Hey, alright!” Izuku drops his chips. “Be careful! Sasaki-san is a national treasure.”
Sasaki-san rolls his eyes. Amazing. Not even being robbed at knifepoint phases him.
Well. It’s probably because he knows he owns Deku’s favorite convenience store.
Izuku assesses the situation. If he uses 20%, he can get across the room and in between the knife and Sasaki-san before the robber can even register Izuku moving. But, Izuku doesn’t have the best control at 20% and there is the risk of him literally running into the robber’s knife. Most likely not, but— Izuku really doesn’t want to accidentally stab himself tonight. He already knows he’s going to be in big trouble when he gets home.
“Good kid. Now, just stay there, while I—” the man stops and squints at Izuku.
Izuku looks back. This is as good a time as any, he gets ready to power up.
“Hold on. Kid, take off your hat.”
“Uh, what? You want the hat? I mean it was, like, ¥600, it’s not expensive—”
“Shut up and take the hat off!”
Izuku does.
The man looks harder at him. “Take your mask off.”
Again, Izuku does.
The man pales. “Shit. You’re Deku.”
“Haha, yup. Hi?” Izuku smiles nervously. “Just your friendly, neighborhood hero intern.”
Izuku begins to power up, but before he can move the man is releasing Sasaki-san and dropping the knife. He takes several steps back.
“Fuck! Sorry, shit, I’m not— I'm not robbing him anymore! Look, I’m unarmed, please don’t fight me!”
Izuku blinks. In a flash, he’s across the room, standing in between the man and Sasaki-san, the knife now folded back up and tucked securely in Izuku’s waistband. The robber screams when Izuku moves, startling back so hard he knocks down a display of postcards.
Sasaki-san sighs. “You’re cleaning that up, Deku.”
“Ah, yes, sir.”
“I’m not resisting!” The man shouts. “I’m so sorry, Deku, I swear I won’t try to steal or anything again!”
Izuku frowns. “Don’t apologize to me, apologize to Sasaki-san.”
Izuku doesn’t want to deal with arrest paperwork, especially since he technically wasn’t working under any Pro’s supervision. He ends up just depositing the guy in front of the nearest police station and calling it in as an anonymous tip. Sasaki-san and the robber agree to keep Deku’s name out of the investigation, and Sasaki-san’s security cameras in the store only caught the back of Izuku’s head. Thank god. For once, everything works out in Izuku’s favor.
He does feel a little bad about, apparently, being so scary that a would-be-thief literally surrendered at the sight of him, but that’s something to unpack later. For right now, Sasaki-san is safe, the robber is with the police, and Izuku has some shrimp crackers to devour.
By the time Izuku gets home, it’s almost 3 AM. He skips the fire escape and simply powers up and jumps up to his window, grabbing the sill with one hand. He swings up his convenience store back and tosses it through the window, then pulls himself up.
Yes! There and back again successfully undetected.
Knock knock.
“Izuku,” Toshinori’s voice comes through the door, “I know you’re awake. My boy, it’s late, you should really—”
Toshinori opens the door and stops in his tracks.
“Um,” Izuku says from the open window.
Toshinori stands there, looking at Izuku frozen half-way out the window, the after-effects of One for All’s lightning still dissipating.
Toshinori blinks.
Izuku blinks.
Toshinori sighs, a deep and heavy disappointed-dad sigh.
“Inko,” he calls down the hallway, “it’s happening. He’s becoming a rebellious teenager.”
Izuku’s jaw drops.
“Yagi-san, I can’t believe you told on me!” he hisses.
Toshinori gives him a flat look. “As one of your parental figures, did you expect me not to, well, parent you? My boy, you were sneaking out.”
Inko materializes in the doorway next to Toshinori. “Izuku was sneaking out?”
She looks murderous.
“No!” Izuku squeaks, still crouched on the windowsill.
Inko raises an eyebrow. “Izuku. You're sneaking out.”
“In, technically!” Izuku defends, climbing down from the window. “I was sneaking back in!”
“That doesn’t make it any better.”
Now both Toshinori and Inko are looking at him sternly, arms crossed in matching poses. It would be funny if Izuku wasn’t in trouble.
“What were you doing? Date? Party? Drugs? Or—” Inko narrows her eyes at him. “Young man. You snuck out to fight crime.”
It’s not a question.
Izuku hesitates. “...Would you believe me if I said it was a party?”
Inko doesn’t say anything. Izuku folds immediately.
“I didn’t go out to fight crime, it just kind of happened!”
Inko pinches the bridge of her nose. Toshinori sighs, disappointed.
“Young Izuku, we’ve talked about this,” he says.
“You literally have a license so you don’t go back to vigilantism.”
“I wasn’t—! I was just getting snacks, I swear, and then this guy walked in and threatened Sasaki-san, and I couldn’t just do nothing!”
“That’s— okay.” Inko takes a deep breath. “I know that it’s not your fault that happened, just— I wish crime happened around you less.”
Izuku relaxes.
“But,” Inko says sharply, “that doesn’t mean you’re not in trouble.”
Izuku straightens up again.
“Izuku, you need to tell one of us if you’re leaving the apartment. What if you had gone missing, and Toshi and I didn’t know when you left? Do you know what I would have done if I came in here and you were gone? I would have called literally every hero in the city.”
Toshinori nods. “We would have had a search party ready in 30 minutes.”
“I’m not going to trap you in the apartment, Izuku,” Inko continues, softer. “You can go out for snacks or— even parties or whatever. I trust that you’re old enough and mature enough to make good choices, you just need to tell one of us. I’m terrified that one day you’ll just be— gone.”
Izuku feels bad now. He hangs his head, properly chastised. “Sorry, mom. I-I won’t do it again. Promise.”
Inko nods. “You won’t. Now— do we need to worry about seeing you apprehending a villain on the news tomorrow morning?”
“Did you call the agency to report it?” Toshinori asks. “I’ll have them change the paperwork so that All Might signed off on the arrest so you don’t get a strike on your license for acting without a Pro.”
“Ah, no?” Izuku smiles sheepishly. “I just called in an anonymous tip and asked Sasaki-san and the thief to not tell the police it was Deku?”
“Oh, Izuku,” Inko says, pained, “an anonymous tip on a conbini robbery? You really are going back to your vigilante ways.”
“Well,” Toshinori sighs, “that, at least, makes things a bit easier for us. And you're sure the thief won’t say it was you?”
“No, he won’t. He was actually kind of scared of me? I didn’t threaten him or anything— we didn’t even fight!”
Toshinori raises an eyebrow. “He surrendered at the mere sight of you?”
Inko catches sight of the look on Toshinori’s face. “Toshi! Don’t be proud of him, he’s in trouble!”
“Right, right. I will save it for tomorrow, but— I am proud of what a symbol of justice you’ve become, my boy.”
Izuku tries not to beam. He fails miserably.
“Alright,” Inko moves to leave, “it’s late, so I’m going back to bed. Enjoy your snacks. Try not to stay up too late, Izuku, you have school tomorrow.”
“I won’t!” Izuku says, as his mom and Toshinori close the door to his room.
(Izuku ends up spending the rest of the night updating his notebook about his maybe-haunted quirk. In the morning, Inko sighs at his eyebags, but doesn’t comment. Toshinori sneaks him an extra cup of coffee.)
MSBY black jackals’ #1 fan @bokutoheyheyy • 43m
I was watching some deku fight footage compilations on youtube and bro… has anyone else noticed that he’s kinda unhinged lmao
2 retweets 23 likes
replying to @bokutoheyheyy
Adler’s #20 <3 @kageyamaluvr • 12m
Dude…..ur JUST noticing…..
3 retweets 45 likes
howls moving studio apartment @softiehatter • 4h
Not to be fucked up but like… I was thinking about it given all the attacks and everything plus the life expectancy of Pro Heroes… Deku’s life insurance must be through the roof right?
78 retweets 560 quote retweets 352 likes
replying to @softiehatter
jmart rights! @magarchivist • 2h
bro that’s so dark the kid is FIFTEEN omg 😭😭
3 retweets 4 likes
Izuku’s father came back to visit him exactly once.
Izuku remembers it in vivid detail. He remembers his mom making him breakfast, remembers the gentle way she set his food down in front of him, the bowl hardly making a sound as it touched the table. In her softest voice, she told him his dad was coming to see them. Izuku, brain half-focussed on planning out his day to minimize bullying, absentmindedly asked when he was coming.
The corners of Inko’s mouth tightened. “Tomorrow,” she said.
Midoriya Hisashi arrived in a taxi straight from the airport in the late afternoon. Any hope Izuku had about his dad coming to stay were immediately squashed when he saw that Hisashi only had a tiny, carry-on suitcase with him. The Midoriyas had an awkward dinner, and then Inko asked Izuku to go play in the living room while she and Hisashi talked. Izuku was going to try to eavesdrop, but something in his mom’s body language made him hesitate. He sat in the livingroom and pretended to read his newest All Might book until Hisashi called him into the kitchen an hour later.
“Come look at all the things I brought you from America!”
“Where’s mom?” Izuku asked.
Hisashi half-grimaced. “She’s getting some papers from her room. Here, come sit with me. You’re going to love these sweets.”
Izuku remembers sitting at the kitchen table, legs swinging, toes barely brushing the floor, as his dad paraded a long line of American snacks and trinkets in front of him.
“Isn’t this cool, Izuku?” Midoriya Hisashi asked him, holding up an action figure of some American Pro Hero. “I bought it just for you.”
It was like Hisashi’s voice was coming from underwater. All Izuku could hear clearly was the sounds of his mom crying in the other room.
Hisashi leaves that same night. He seems put out by Izuku’s lack of enthusiasm for the various things Hisashi bought him in an attempt to save their fading relationship.
“I’ll get you better things next time,” Hisashi promised as he left.
There was no next time.
One week later, Japan’s number one Pro Hero moves into the Midoriyas’ building.
(Unofficial) Official Deku Fan Club
▼ information
# rules
• # introductions
# roles
• # welcome
Dismage (admin) 02/12
🎉Welcome to the (Unofficial) Official Deku Fan Club discord server! 🎉
This is a server by and for fans of the Hero Intern Deku. We do discussions, sightings, merch reviews, and pretty much anything you can think of relating to Deku. Our goal is to create a welcoming and supportive community for Deku stans!
Before you get started with us:
💚Please take a look at the # rules channel for our server rules.
💚Introduce yourself in # introductions
💚You can give yourself roles (including pronouns, buying/selling merch, analyst, etc) in # roles
If you need any help navigating the server, head over to # server map or feel free to ask someone in # general . We’re all here to lend a helping hand, as Deku would say!
💯982 💚763 🌱243 👍116
Dismage (admin) 02/12
💚Permanent Server Invite:
https://discord.gg/39281dw
👍45
For the first time in a long time, Izuku is taking the train.
Since having his secret identity forcibly revealed to the world, Izuku has been banned from using public transportation by pretty much every adult in his life. He understands why— if being All Might’s intern didn’t paint a big enough target on his back, the League of Villains essentially publicly declaring him their number one enemy did the trick— but the lack of freedom has been chafing at him. Izuku misses the days when he’d take the subway all over Musutafu, chasing hero fights or visiting merch shops, or sometimes, admittedly, looking for trouble. It’s really a miracle that Izuku didn’t end up with more vigilantism charges than he did.
But today, Izuku has managed to convince Toshinori and his mom to let him take the train by himself to Hawks’ agency.
It’s surprisingly easy for Izuku to slip through the masses unnoticed. He guesses that he isn’t particularly recognizable when he’s not wearing his hero costume or UA uniform. All he really had to do was put on a face mask and a pair of sunglasses and he’s practically invisible. Just another teenager on the subway. He makes it to the agency building without any fuss.
Izuku has never actually been to Hawks’ agency— affectionately nicknamed The Nest due to how many other bird-like heroes he’s employed as sidekicks. When Izuku interned under Hawks, he was working out of Endeavor’s Agency temporarily, since The Nest is located in Kyushu. Hawks has recently opened up a branch of his agency in Tokyo, which he’s calling The Roost. Izuku has decided to pay him a visit to thank him for his mentorship over the past few months, and to hand deliver some gifts from his agency.
“Hello, welcome to The Roost! What toucan we do for you?”
Izuku blinks at the receptionist.
“Hi,” Izuku says. “I’m, um, here to see Hawks?”
The receptionist smiles kindly. “Unfortunately, Hawks doesn’t take walk-ins from civilians, but if you’d like I can—”
“Oh! Oh, no wait, I told him I was coming! I’m, uh—” Izuku ducks his head, a little embarrassed. “I’m Deku?”
He takes off his sunglasses and face mask. The receptionist lets out a small gasp, which just makes Izuku even more embarrassed.
“My mistake! Right, let me just—”
She reaches into a drawer in the reception desk and takes out a keycard.
“We pre-programmed an access card for you, at Hawks’ request. This should allow you access to most of the building. Hawks’ office is on the top floor, and I already let him know you’re on the way up.”
“Okay, thanks, I’ll just, uh.”
Izuku awkwardly scuttles away. He fumbles with the keycard scan on the elevator twice before it reads. He gives the receptionist, who has been watching him this entire time, a dorky little wave before the doors close.
The elevator is entirely glass. One of its walls is a view of Tokyo, and Izuku suspects that there might be some kind of mechanism to allow the glass panels to pop out so Hawks or any heroes with flight quirks can take off out the window. Izuku wonders how reinforced the glass is. Maybe he should ask Toshinori about potentially installing something like this in the Mighty Agency.
Although, making it easier for Izuku to fling himself off of high buildings is probably not something Toshinori would approve of.
The elevator comes to a smooth stop at the top floor and requires a second scan from Izuku’s keycard before the doors open. They open up directly into Hawks’ office. It’s a large, circular room, with floor to ceiling windows running all along the walls. In the center is a large desk— more like a series of desks— housing what looks to Izuku like way too many monitors. It reminds him a lot of Miruko’s office.
Standing at the window near his desk is Hawks. He turns towards the door when Izuku comes in.
“Deku!” Hawks greets him, “how’s my second favorite intern?”
Izuku sputters, thrown off guard.
Hawks laughs. “I’m kidding!”
Izuku recovers. He rolls his eyes, pretending to be mad. “You’re not. Tokoyami told me all about how much fun he had during his internship week.”
“Fine, fine, my favorite non-bird intern. There. So, how have you— ooh, is that for me?”
Hawks makes grabby hands at the package in Izuku’s hands. Izuku hands it over and lets Hawks coo over the new Deku merch line things Izuku has brought him. They chat for a while until Hawks gets bored of comparing Izuku’s merch to his own first merchandise line.
“Alright, kid,” he says, “why are you really here?”
Izuku chokes.
“C’mon, I know you didn’t come all this way just to deliver some t-shirts— which I love, by the way. How can I get my hands on the ones your parents wore at the Sports Festival, though? You know, your mom offered to make me one.”
Izuku ignores the last part, face burning as he recalls the embarrassing handmade monstrosities Inko and Toshinori wore to the Sports Festival.
“I, uh, just wanted to ask how you’re doing?”
Hawks gives him a vaguely amused look.
“Is that so?”
“I mean, yes? Like, besides the whole Hosu thing are you…?” Izuku hesitates, he doesn’t wanna sound condescending, or like he’s prying, but— “Are you okay? Like is everything with the… uh, Commission okay or…?”
Hawks tosses him a winning smile. “Just peachy, kiddo! I even got the Commission to give me time off.”
Hawks winks, and Izuku gets the feeling that he’s being lied to. Izuku hopes the HPSC aren’t punishing Hawks for what he’s been saying in support of Hero Intern Deku. Then again, the HPSC has never needed a real reason to punish Hawks.
“Okay, just, you know. If you, uh, need anything… I have files. Ready to go.”
Hawks hums, amused. “Do you now? Well, you hang on to those.”
Izuku shifts. “But, if they’re not giving you missions, then–”
“Not yet. It’s not the time, but hang on to those files, yeah? I’ll let you know when me and my people are moving, but for now just sit tight. Go to the mall, watch a movie, do fun shit with your friends instead of trying to overthrow a highly corrupted government agency, alright?”
Hawks ruffles his hair and Izuku ducks away, laughing.
“My friends’ idea of fun is overthrowing government agencies.”
Hawks laughs, delighted. “So there is hope for today’s youth!”
“Right. So, I mean if you’re not being assigned anything would you still— if you, you know, knew about any upcoming missions…?”
“There it is.” Hawks grins smugly. “What, All Might doesn’t want to give you anything high profile so you came to your cool, older brother mentor instead of your dad mentor?”
“I just—” Izuku bounces on his toes. “I just wanted to know? I mean, I’m starting a new internship soon so it’s not like I could help, but— I don’t know. No one tells me anything anymore.”
Hawks hums. He turns back to the window, eyes scanning the Tokyo skyline for a moment. Izuku follows his gaze. It’s getting close to sundown. Real hawks can’t see in the dark, but Izuku wonders if Hawks’ quirk allows him to. Does the skyline look the same at night? Can Hawks still see for kilometers around?
“I did hear about something,” Hawks concedes. “I don’t know much, but I know it involves a lot of heroes. The HPSC has been prepping for months, but I’ve been kept in the dark so I doubt I’ll get to know any more than that.”
Izuku nods. He pauses, then gives Hawks a small, shit-eating grin.
“Guess you’ve been… grounded.”
Hawks blinks. Then bursts into laughter.
“I knew you had a pun or two in that big brain of yours!”
Izuku chuckles.
He’s a little disappointed, honestly. He doesn’t really know what he was expecting, but he’s been feeling… restless. In between the reprisal of his vigilante ways the other day and the lack of progress with his quirk training, he thought he’d just do something. Even if it was just keeping tabs on any potential big missions. He really misses Miruko and the way she absolutely did not give a single fuck about how old Izuku was, and would just tell him whatever high-profile missions she had on her docket regardless of clearance level.
“How’s Miruko?” Izuku asks Hawks. “I haven’t heard from her since after the Hosu incident.”
“Miruko’s— I don’t know, somewhere,” Hawks says dismissively, waving a hand. “Probably bullying a carrot farmer into a lifetime supply, or saving the world or some shit, whatever. She’s not texting me back from any of her 6 phones, and if she doesn’t reply by tonight then I’m watching the next episode of our show without her.”
Izuku blinks. “Oh… I hope she’s okay.”
“She’s fine, she’s practically indestructible. She could lose her left arm and break both her legs and she’d still be out there bagging multiple S ranked villains a week.”
His tone makes it seem like Hawks is joking, but Izuku firmly believes that all of that is true. Izuku opens his mouth to ask Hawks if he can let Izuku know when Miruko’s back on the radar, but he’s interrupted by a series of alarms and beeps from Hawks’ computers.
“And, that’s my cue.”
Hawks leans over his desk and taps a few keys. Then he slips on his goggles and moves back towards one of the windows.
“If you’ll excuse me, I have a minor police chase to assist with. How glamorous,” Hawks says, rolling his eyes. “You can see yourself out, right?”
Izuku nods. Hawks fiddles with something on the seemingly seamless pane of glass at the window and a panel swings open on invisible hinges, like a door. Izuku was right. He’s willing to bet that Hawks could probably escape to the skies from pretty much any point in the building.
“Thanks for dropping by, kid. Let me know if you need a, uh, reference? Or something, for your resume? Do they still do that these days?”
Izuku blinks. “I don’t know? This is my first job.”
Hawks laughs, stepping up to the ledge. “And what a hell of a first job, huh? Alright, I’ll catch you later, Deku. Be careful, stay in school, don’t talk to reporters and all that jazz.”
Hawks pauses right before stepping off.
“A word of advice, kid,” he says, face half-turned to Izuku, “they may love you right now, but don’t get too comfortable. Public opinion can change in a flash.”
Izuku nods. “Oh, I know.”
Hawks chuckles humorlessly. “Right. Of course you know.”
And then he’s gone.
The Nest: the FLYest agency in Japan @HawksAgency • 56m
Huge thank you to @DekuOfficial and everyone at @TheMightyAgency for the gifts! @HawksOfficial was thrilled to take Deku under his WING, and we hope to FLOCK together soon!
[Image: A picture of an opened PR package featuring all the items in the newly released official Deku merchandise line, as well as a few All Might themed items.]
6.2k retweets 283 quote retweets 34.2k likes
replying to @HawksAgency
Magneto was right @fuckyoucharles • 34m
God the hawks agency needs to fire whatever social media intern is in charge of this twitter account because these puns are truly awful
34 retweets 75 likes
replying to @fuckyoucharles
Hawks Agency: the FLYest agency in Japan @HawksAgency • 32m
Would you say our puns are…. fowl? ;)
56 retweets 9.2k likes
r/TIFU
↑↓ 4.6k
Posted by u/batsythegroundedbat
TIFU by tweeting Deku hate/anti-Deku sentiments
Okay so, the tweeting actually happened about 6 months ago, but it’s all come back to bite me today. I (27 M) have been trying to get a job in heroics journalism since I graduated about five years ago. I’ve been working for a few smaller magazines and local papers, but my career goal was always to land a spot on the press team of an actual hero’s agency and be able to do work from the inside instead of just reporting with public knowledge.
I recently applied for a press team position with a certain well-known hero agency. Very big deal. I was really excited when they asked for an interview and I’ve gone through 3 rounds of interviews, a screening to see if I’d work well with the current team, and the last part was supposed to be a background check (a lot, I know, but again, this agency is a very big deal). All the interviews went well, to the point where it pretty much seemed like I had the job, all that was left was waiting for the background check to finish.
Well. They found my twitter account. It wasn’t hard, I literally have my full name in my display name. Stupid, I know.
Back when the whole USJ League of Villains attack first happened I tweeted some pretty insensitive things about Deku. I thought I was being edgy and different by not immediately becoming Deku’s number one fan, and I figured my analysis of his fighting style during the attack was what you’d expect from a hero reporter, but looking back they were pretty bad tweets. I asked a friend for their unbiased opinion and they literally said “You tweeted all that about a 15 year old fighting for his life?” and that really opened my eyes to how bad they were.
Anyway, the agency found them and I guess decided that they didn’t want someone with those opinions representing their company. I can’t even blame them, since I know the agency has worked with/has a good relationship with Deku.
TL;DR I tweeted Deku hate and lost my chance at my dream job. Be careful what you post on the internet under your full name.
Comments
↑↓ ViciousDunker 1.2k points
Dude, please tell me the agency you’re talking about isn’t the Mighty Agency. Please tell me you didn’t try to apply to Deku’s literal agency knowing full well that you hated him LMFAOOO
↑↓ batsythegroundedbat 🎤 54 points
I’m pretty sure I can’t disclose which exact agency I applied under but, whatever, they’re not gonna hire me anyway. Yeah, it was the Mighty Agency.
↑↓ ViciousDunker 294 points
Oh my god. Found your twitter BTW (same user, and you seriously didn’t like, delete the tweets or even take your name off the account?) and yikes! There’s analysis, and then there’s straight up telling a kid in a life or death situation that he’s stupid for not doing xyz. Did you not, like, consider the fact that they wouldn’t want to hire someone who clearly hates one of their heroes?
↑↓ loidforgers2ndwife 873 points
wait is this legal? they can seriously throw out your application based on your opinions?
↑↓ ViciousDunker 56 points
It’s not like their opinion is something dumb like pineapple is good on pizza or something, OP literally tweeted really nasty shit about an active hero intern that’s also a literal teenager. A company can decide that they don’t want to employ someone who behaves like that online. Plus, from OP’s reply, it looks like he tried to apply to work at the Mighty Agency, and there’s a pretty good chance that Deku will take over the agency once All Might retires, so.
Izuku’s ghost thing is starting to really bother him.
Since that night at the conbini, Izuku has been noticing the correlation between his ghost-thing and bad things happening. He’s been trying to study it but it’s just too unpredictable, and most of the time Izuku doesn’t even notice he’s done it until half a day later. He’s asked Shinsou to practice using his quirk on him, but everytime Izuku tries to focus while he’s in his little ghostly headspace, everything just goes all hazy.
Except for the ghost with the yellow gloves.
Izuku doesn’t know how he knows she has yellow gloves— he doesn’t think he can see colors in the ghost space, but if he thinks too hard about anything to do with it his head starts to hurt. But he knows that her gloves are yellow. He can vaguely remember some facial details— in fact, he feels like he can picture the faces of all of the ghosts, despite the fact that he knows he’s never been able to look at them directly.
Huh.
It’s not much, but it’s something. He might as well try to investigate, especially if it has something to do with his quirk.
He told Toshinori about it— the weird bad vibe sense, not the ghosts— but he had no ideas as to what was going on. For Toshinori, One for All has always been straightforward. Punch. Smash. Power down at the end of the day. End of story.
So, one day after school Izuku tags along to the police station while Toshinori is visiting Detective Tsukauchi. While the adults chat, Izuku goes to find the police sketch artist.
Thirty minutes later, Izuku leaves the sketch artist’s office. He gave them his best descriptions of his ghosts, and they said they’d call him back when they could get around to his request, after they were done with their work for their ongoing cases. Izuku makes a note to follow up in a couple weeks if he doesn’t hear back, and then goes to join Toshinori in Detective Tsukauchi’s office.
He pops his head around Tsukauchi’s half-opened door. “Detective?”
“Izuku!” Tsukauchi smiles warmly, gesturing for him to come in. “Hey, kiddo. Toshinori just stepped out for a bit to get us some coffee. Sorry, but it looks like you two are gonna be here for a while. We have a lot to talk about.”
“Oh, okay. Did you need the Mighty Agency’s help with a case or something?”
Tsukauchi hesitates.
“Could you close the door?”
Izuku cocks his head to the side, curious. He closes the door.
“It’s about All for One,” Tsukauchi says.
“Oh! Right, I… right."
Izuku was so caught up in his own bullshit over the past few months that he completely forgot about the centuries old supervillian whose evil plot involves destroying Izuku, personally. Right. That little detail.
“Sorry, I said I would help you and Yagi-san out with that.”
Tsukauchi waves away his apology.
“It’s fine, you’ve had a lot on your plate.”
“Is there a lot going on?” Izuku asks.
Tsukauchi nods.
“My investigation has been ramping up recently. A lot has happened, but Toshinori’s been too busy to come to the station for an update, and we don’t like discussing things like this over the phone. Too much risk.”
Ah, right. Toshinori has been busy keeping an eye on Izuku.
Izuku’s guilt doubles. Tsukauchi notices.
“Don’t sweat it kid, it’s a closed investigation. Toshinori told me specifically to not tell you about it unless you asked.”
Izuku frowns.
“But, I mean,” Izuku starts, “it’s kind of my responsibility, isn’t it? As the current One for All holder?”
Tsukauchi looks at him, concerned. “Izuku, no. No, it is not your responsibility. Don’t put that on yourself, kid. Toshinori and I are handling it. We don’t even know if All for One survived his fight with Toshinori and anyway— your only job right now is to learn, okay? Go to school, train, make friends. You’re fifteen, just relax for now, okay?”
“Almost sixteen,” Izuku says childishly, before realizing he’s proving Tsukauchi’s point. First Hawks, now Tsukauchi. Maybe Izuku should stop ignoring the people telling him to slow down.
Tsukauchi changes the subject to Izuku’s schoolwork at UA and they chat until Toshinori comes back with coffee. They spend the rest of the evening with Tsukauchi, until Inko calls to tell them to invite the detective to dinner. Izuku watches the way Toshinori positively glows while Tsukauchi and Inko are tag-team teasing him. It hits Izuku suddenly that Toshinori doesn’t have a lot of friends.
In fact, now that Izuku thinks about it, Toshinori probably didn’t have any friends that weren’t involved with his hero persona until he met Izuku and his mom. It makes Izuku sad, that someone as kind and brave and gentle as him went so long without a genuine friend. He must have been so lonely.
Izuku is really glad that Yagi Toshinori— not All Might, Toshinori— moved into the apartment below him all those years ago.
r/AskReddit
↑↓ 12.8k
Posted by u/swifthunter
People who have been rescued by Pro Heroes, what’s something surprising about meeting them?
Comments
↑↓ omm-iateglassonce 8.2k points • 45 awards
I was rescued by Deku during a bank robbery 2 months ago (selfie proof).
Hear me out: he’s absolutely terrifying in real life.
I was a bank teller. A team of six villains rushed us during peak business hours and the bank was pretty full when we all got taken hostage. One of them had some kind of knife/sharp objects quirk and was using it to threaten me and my co-worker into unlocking the vault for them while another one of them filled cases with cash, and they had the rest of the hostages gathered in one corner, guarded by the other 4 villains. Again, it was very busy at the bank that day so there were a ton of hostages, and the room was pretty noisy with the villains yelling and people crying.
But everything went silent when Deku showed up.
I don’t know how he got inside the bank. When I came back out from the vaults I just remember there being this moment when the air went completely still and I just had this strong, instinctual fear crawl up my spine. It smelled like ozone.
And then there was this sharp cracking noise and suddenly all 6 of the villains were cuffed and incapacitated in the middle of the bank lobby. Deku had pinballed his way around the room and taken everyone out before we could even register what was going on. He ended up pretty close to me as he was powering his quirk down and I just remember him half-turning to me with this really unsettling green glow in his eyes and I just about shit myself.
Then he asked if I was okay, and police and other heroes were flooding into the bank to take care of everyone and everything was normal again. Deku smiled really wide at me and told me I had done a good job of remaining calm.
But yeah. He’s terrifying when he uses his quirk. I don’t know how every villain that comes in contact with him doesn’t just lay down and surrender immediately.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s probably the sweetest kid I’ve ever met. He was really nice after the situation was under control and didn’t even mind when we all basically flooded him with selfie and autograph requests. He was so humble, too, and he even complimented me on my Miruko phone case and we had a mini chat about her merch line.
Anyway, he’s probably my new favorite hero now.
↑↓ awbrustyeh 873 points
Woah, first of all: glad that you didn’t get hurt! This post reminds me a lot about that one post from a while back about how unsettling All Might is in real life. He always seems so cool and heroic when I see him on the news, but I guess it makes sense. With a quirk that powerful of course he’s a little scary.
The rest of the week passes by peacefully. Izuku’s schoolwork has become less overwhelming, probably in an effort to give the students relief while they prepare for finals. Aizawa has decided that their practical final will take place at the end of term, like usual, but he’s moved up the date of their written exam so they don’t have to try to study for both at the same time.
News that Izuku is involved in 1-A’s finals has spread to the entire class. Izuku was half-expecting them to turn against him. He was prepared to once again be everyone's least favorite classmate. He wasn’t expecting the levels of bullying that he experienced at Aldera, but he didn’t think everyone would still be his friend. The most he’s gotten is some friendly teasing and a few desperate pleas from Kaminari for a warning on what his exam would be like.
Before Izuku knows it, it’s the Friday before he’s due to start interning with Aizawa. Class 1-A ended the school day doing training exercises out on Field Beta with Thirteen, so after changing, Izuku heads back to the 1-A classroom to ask Aizawa if he needs to prep anything for Monday.
He runs right into Shinsou in the doorway.
“Watch where you’re going, loser,” Shinsou says.
“Shinsou!” Izuku grins. “Hey, haven’t seen you all day! Are we still training together tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I guess if I have to,” Shinsou says, he wasn’t the one that planned it last week. Then he stops and thinks. “Oh wait, shit, no. I have to do a group project with some classmates tomorrow.”
“Aw, that’s fine, we can reschedule! Have fun tomorrow.”
Shinsou grimaces. “I won’t, but thanks.”
Izuku’s ‘Friend-In-Need’ alarm bells go off. “Is everything… okay?”
Shinsou shrugs. Izuku’s eyes narrow.
“Are they bullying you?” Izuku asks, with all the righteous fury of an avenging angel.
Shinsou snorts. “What, are you gonna beat them up if I say yes?”
“Well,” Izuku says, morals conflicted, “no, but— I’d do something! I don’t like bullies.
Shinsou rolls his eyes. “It’s fine, dude. They just don’t like me, but they’re not aggressive or anything. It doesn’t matter since I’m transferring anyway.”
Izuku looks him over for injuries or any other indication that Shinsou’s downplaying the situation, but he doesn’t find any. He decides to believe him, for now.
“Is that what you were talking to Aizawa-sensei about? Your transfer?”
Shinsou considers him for a moment, then his face slides into a knowing smirk. “Sure, Midoriya. That’s what we were talking about.”
Izuku stops.
“Why do I feel like there’s a joke I’m not in on?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he says, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Shinsou steps out of the door of the classroom and begins to walk away.
“That’s just gonna make me worry more!” Izuku calls after him.
Shinsou doesn’t say anything else, so Izuku cuts his losses and heads into the classroom.
Aizawa is seated at his desk, a veritable mountain of papers surrounding him. He must be grading the essays on water rescue that 1-A turned in a few days ago. He looks up from his grading. Seeing Izuku in his doorway seems to age him another 10 years.
“Midoriya. To what do I owe the displeasure?”
Izuku smiles and goes to stand in front of Aizawa’s desk, nonplussed.
“Hi, sensei! I just wanted to ask if there was anything you wanted me to do before Monday?”
Aizawa sighs. “This could’ve been an email.”
Izuku doesn’t say anything, just continues to smile patiently.
“Alright, ground rules,” Aizawa says tiredly, pushing his grading away. “If you’re going to intern under me, you’re going to do exactly as I say. No going rogue. I don’t care if Hawks or Miruko let you do whatever, Underground Hero work is different, alright? Don’t say anything, just nod if you understand, save your questions for the end.”
Izuku nods.
“You can’t tell any of your classmates about the work we do. Most of it is top secret. I don’t care if you talk about your patrols with All Might, but I don’t wanna hear a word about our missions. Got that one?”
Izuku nods again.
“Alright. Next rule: no more getting stabbed.”
Izuku has to speak up, that rule’s just unreasonable. He’s basically asking Izuku to break this one. “Aizawa-sensei, I don’t think I can—”
“You can’t what, Problem Child? Not get stabbed?”
“Well, historically— uh. No.”
Aizawa sighs heavily. “Yeah, I know. Fine, not a rule, just a desperate request. There is a very long list of people that would be very upset with me if I let you get stabbed under my watch, and I am scared of none of them except for Inko Midoriya, so. Spare me from a painful death at your mother’s hands, I have cats to look after.”
Izuku grins. “Don’t worry, sensei, I’m sure Present Mic and Midnight will take care of your cats.”
Aizawa grimaces. “You’re picking up Shinsou’s habit of talking back. I miss when you were terrified that I’d expel you. Alright, go home. I’ll send your first day details, including more safety guidelines, to your agency.”
“Okay, thank you, sensei!”
“Oh, and Midoriya? We’ll talk next week about planning your classmates’ finals.”
Izuku nods.
True to his word, Aizawa sends all the necessary information to the Mighty Agency. Izuku talks to his manager, Katayama Mizuki, about clearing his patrol shifts with All Might and switching his timesheet over to Aizawa’s agency, the Null Underground Agency. Aizawa sends him a general schedule overview, and a few tips and things he needs to do before they start. They’re going to be patrolling at night, typically, on weekends except for the first week, which Aizawa seems to be treating as some kind of orientation.
Izuku has an essay on the history of underground heroics due on his start day. Leave it to Aizawa to assign him even more homework.
Izuku manages to get it done, and he hands it in to Aizawa on Monday morning. The day passes quickly and before Izuku knows it, Toshinori is dropping him off in front of a nondescript brick building in the heart of downtown Musutafu. It’s short and squat, and has been disguised as some kind of generic leasing office. It’s a far cry from Hawks’ glass skyscraper in Tokyo.
“Be careful, my boy,” Toshinori says as Izuku exits his beat up Toyota. “Call me if you need anything.”
“Okay,” Izuku says. He’s learned his lesson about saying things like ‘I’ll be fine’ or ‘nothing can go wrong.’ “I’ll see you at home.”
And then Toshinori drives away. Izuku readjusts his grip on the briefcase containing his hero suit and enters the building.
It looks just like a leasing office, on the inside. It actually looks remarkably similar to the leasing office of the apartment building that Izuku, Inko, and Toshinori used to live in before they moved. The floor is a slightly grimy tile that might have been white at one point but overtime has faded into a faint yellow. There are fake plants in pots in the corners of the room, and the most uncomfortable looking waiting chairs Izuku has ever seen. They’re probably uncomfortable on purpose, so no one sticks around if they just happened to stumble in. There’s an elevator on the far side of the lobby, opposite the front doors, and Izuku can just about make out a directory. Right, the Null Agency is home to a couple other underground Pros, beside Aizawa. Izuku will have to investigate who else later.
“Problem child.”
Izuku turns his attention to the reception desk, where Aizawa is standing in his hero costume, next to–
Uh.
Standing in the middle of the Null Underground Agency lobby, in a brand new hero costume, is one of Izuku’s closest friends.
“Shinsou-kun?”
Aizawa turns to wave Izuku over. “Good,” he says. “You aren’t late.”
Izuku continues to gape. “What are you doing here? You’re also interning—? How did you get Aizawa-sensei to—?”
Shinsou grins.
“Midoriya, who do you think is designing your final exam?”