Izuku felt like he was floating, or was he sinking? He didn't know... It was an eerie feeling, yet he was so at peace with it. His mind was blank, but thoughts were running rampant at the same time. The only thing in his field of vision was Shinsou, yet at moments it seemed like he could see everything except the purple haired boy.
The only certainty he had was the hand that was placed on his shoulder. Solid and warm, despite the fact small whisps evaporated from it, despite the fact it shouldn't be able to touch him at all. The ghost of his father haunting this quirk had come to pull him from Shinsou's brainwashing once again. And with a small squeeze on his shoulder, Izuku blinked, snapping out of the trance completely.
Shinsou groaned in frustration, but he didn't have a lot of time to think about what went wrong, because now it was Midoriya's time to attack. They fought using hand-to-hand combat, but since Izuku had been training for most of his life, he easily beat Hitoshi after the brainwashing was negated.
"You okay?" Izuku asked, giving a hand to Shinsou to help him back up from the ground.
"I'm fine" the insomniac groaned.
"The more training I get in, the better my chances at making it into the hero course, right?"
Izuku smiled when he took his hand, helping him back on his feet.
Yeah, when his dad had asked Hitoshi what his goal was, he'd answered to become a hero like Eraserhead. Hisashi had promised he'd help him accomplish that and put a training regime together. He wasn't only a quirk counselor but also a quirk specialist, mind you, and therefore he knew all about the best ways to train the body for certain types of quirks. Not all that weird with his background and past quirk, but no one needed to know about that small detail.
Sparring against Izuku was one of the main things on his schedule since Shinsou needed a human being to use his quirk on. Outside of their sessions he mostly worked on building muscle and learning how to use support items. Yeah, he was really working hard... Izuku really hoped his new friend would make it in someday, Shinsou more than deserved it for all the effort he put in.
"I just don't get how you keep breaking free from my quirk. Nobody has ever done that before, let alone as consistently as you have" Hitoshi complained when they went to get something to drink.
"I don't know how it works either" Izuku shrugged, feigning innocence. He couldn't possibly tell him about the nature of his quirk, about the lingering will of his father drifting around inside of him. Definitely not when he hadn't even told his father about it.
"It's like there's a second consciousness in your head or something" Shinsou mumbled.
"I don't know, the feeling is hard to describe... It's just... It feels like something is protecting your mind, in a way? I just can't get a proper look at it without being thrown out"
Izuku frowned, staying quiet as he stared at his water bottle. Of course Shinsou had felt something... It would be impossible not to with how many times he's been brainwashed by now.
"I think we should take a break. I still have to study geography" Izuku said before Shinsou could make another comment. Exams were around the corner and that was one of his first subjects for the written portion so it was a fitting excuse.
"Yeah, I guess you're right... But hey-" Shinsou called out, grabbing Midoriya's arm to stop him from leaving.
"You'd tell me if you knew why my quirk acts up with you, right?"
"Of course" Izuku smiled, quickly feeling drowsy again. Wait what?! Shinsou-
"Tell me what's protecting your mind from my control" he quickly demanded, knowing that if he waited too long, he'd be thrown out. Midoriya was already going to be pissed at him for doing this in the first place and Shinsou truly hoped the green head would be able to forgive him for wanting to find out what could possibly be wrong with either of them. Izuku knew more than he was sharing with him.
"The lingering essence and determination of my father" Izuku answered in a monotone voice before it felt like he was slapped in the face and he snapped out of it. Fuck! Hitoshi was staring at him now and Izuku was freaking out, carefully taking a few steps back, calculating his options. Would it be best to run right now? No, he'd just chase him... He might even go asking around what he meant and that would definitely be worse-
"Midoriya, what do you mean, the essence of your father..?" Shinsou asked, confused and a little disturbed.
"Hisashi is your father, right..? Your biological father, I mean. He's... He's still pretty much alive but you make it sound like he's dead or something? And it's not his quirk, I mean, he showed me his fire breathing before so I know it's not his quirk, but what the fuck is this then?"
"Ah, uh, well, this uhm, this used to be my dad's quirk, if that makes any sense..?" Izuku tried, just digging a deeper hole for himself with every word he spoke. So he did what he always did when he was panicking: he started rambling.
"It's uh, it's complicated a-and I'm not supposed to talk about it but I guess I'm already talking about it, aren't I? Ha, oh fuck, I'm so screwed... Dad is gonna be so disappointed again and Aizawa sensei is probably going to suspend me or even worse and I'm not even-"
"Hey, hey, hey, breathe, it's okay" Shinsou said, grabbing his arms and trying to ground him.
"Take it easy, one step at a time, okay?"
"Yeah, okay" Izuku nodded, tears slipping past his eyes as he took a deep breath.
"Nobody is supposed to know, but I didn't always have my quirk. I was born quirkless and my dad gave this quirk to me, that's why a small part of him is still connected to it. Please promise me you won't tell anyone about this"
Hitoshi blinked. Okay, that was a lot to process... First of all, Midoriya was born quirkless. The guilt that came with hearing that sucker punched Shinsou in the gut. All the shit he said during the sportsfestival... Ah fuck, he'll have to apologize for that. Secondly there was the fact Hisashi had somehow managed to transfer a quirk to his son. Shinsou didn't know something like that was even possible. He'd never heard of it, anyway, and he understood why this had to remain a secret.
"So Hisashi gave you your telekinesis quirk somehow...and a part of his spirit is connected to it so you have that now and it pulls you out of my brainwashing" Shinsou repeated, wanting to make sure he was understanding this right.
"He protects me" Izuku confirmed.
"But, uh, my quirk isn't just telekinesis... I-I guess it's better to just come clean with everything right now so uhm do you have a minute to talk about this in my room?"
...
"Oh my fucking god, are you kidding me?!"
"It was an accident Kacchan!" Izuku whined, shielding his head with his arms as Katsuki started hitting him.
"You're fucking useless! Can't leave you on your own for a damn minute!" he complained while he beat his best friend. Shinsou recently discovered they have quite the unique relationship, All For One did little to change the image he had of them.
"And what is this bullshit about your dad hah?! Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this?!"
"I'm not even sure what it is myself! A-and I haven't told dad about it either!" Izuku yelled back, frowning as Katsuki glared at him.
"You're a fucking idiot, Deku" Katsuki deadpanned, turning towards Shinsou afterwards.
"And you better keep quiet or I'll make sure nobody will ever find your body"
"As threatening as always, Bakugou" Shinsou sighed with a small smile.
"So who else knows about this?"
"Uhm, well, my family, Kacchan, Kacchan's parents, uh, oh Aizawa sensei and uhm Todoroki-kun too" Izuku explained.
"And now you too, of course"
"Wait, Aizawa sensei knows about this?" Shinsou asked with wide eyes.
"But you said the heroes would arrest you if-"
"All Might is an annoying bitch and Aizawa sensei is a rational fucking person" Katsuki interrupted, irritated by this whole situation.
"So no, he isn't going to arrest Deku since he knows that moron wouldn't hurt a fly. Others probably won't be so chill about it"
"Right..." Hitoshi sighed.
"Nobody's going to hear anything from me, I promise. But Midoriya, you seriously need to talk to Hisashi about this"
"Insomniac is right, go talk to your old man" Katsuki stated.
"I will" Izuku whined as the blonde pulled him up from his chair.
"Right now" Katsuki added, dragging the green head along with him.
"Kacchan!" Izuku complained, struggling in his hold but clearly not using his full strength. Maybe he was just scared to hurt his friend? Shinsou didn't truly understand their relationship, but he knew those two cared about each other. They only wanted what was best for each other and he was pretty sure they loved each other, if only in a platonic manner.
After they talked to Hisashi about it and the man explained some more stuff to Shinsou, Izuku begged him to stay quiet about this towards Aizawa sensei.
"He will kill me if he finds out! Please don't tell him you know!"
"Don't worry, I won't say a thing" Hitoshi answered with a small smile.
"You better" Katsuki grunted, acting all stubborn and angry yet Shinsou could see he was worried too. Yeah, they're good people... People who didn't deserve to be targeted by hero society, to hide away who they really were. Shinsou understood that kind of struggle. It was a common theme going around here, in this home for troubled children. Yeah, looks like he finally found a place where he fit in perfectly.
...
Midoriya watched from the sidelines as his classmates gave it their all in training. It sucked to not be able to train with his peers, but his training ban would be lifted tomorrow so he wouldn't have to suffer like this much longer. It's almost been two weeks since the internships, after all, and he hadn't acted out even once! Aizawa could see that too, knew how eager his student was to get back to training. That somehow made telling him this so much harder.
"Exams are approaching soon, I hope you've been studying" Shouta started, doing his best to ease into the conversation with small talk even if that wasn't his strong suit. Izuku frowned, noticing something was off right away. Aizawa sensei had never spoken to him during the training exercises he had to sit out so far and it was weird to start doing so now.
"...Yes, the class is organizing a lot of study sessions so everyone stays on schedule" Izuku answered anyway.
"We're all really excited about summer camp so it's great motivation!"
"That's good to hear" Aizawa nodded, knowing the threat of leaving the ones who failed their exams behind always worked to fire up the slackers. It was all a logical ruse of course, but his students didn't need to know that. Yet.
"Have you been preparing for the practical as well?"
"Hard to prepare for something if you don't know what the test is going to be" Izuku shrugged.
"Certainly not when I'm not allowed to train at school. But I heard some people say something about robots? Apparently that was in last year's exam"
"It won't be robots this time around" Aizawa sighed, already dreading Midoriya's reaction to what was coming next.
"You'll be fighting pro hero teachers in teams of two students"
"I thought you weren't allowed to tell us about the practical ahead of time?" Izuku asked, clearly suspicious. Something was going on and he already knew he wouldn't like it...
"The only reason I'm telling you this is so you can mentally prepare yourself. I know you have...difficulties when facing All Might" Aizawa stated, making Izuku's eyes go wide.
"No, please don't tell me-"
"I'm sorry, but the other teachers agreed on this arrangement" Aizawa told him as Izuku's breath hitched.
"I didn't want to put you on the spot like this kid. Believe me, I tried to put you against anyone else but the power balance just didn't work out. We didn't want to set up anyone who was guaranteed to fail, after all"
"Who's my teammate..?"
His question was barely a whisper. If Shouta had the courage to look away from the rest of his students and catch a glimpse of Midoriya, he would be able to see him struggle not to freak out. But he didn't, he kept overviewing the training exercise, not allowing his eyes to slip away for even a second.
"Bakugou. I thought you could use the familiarity and it worked out when dividing the teams. Do you think you'll be able to work with that?" he asked. Izuku's mouth was dry, still trying to comprehend what Aizawa sensei just told him. He'd have to face All Might during the practical exam... Kacchan would be there by his side, but he knew the ash blonde would be too angry to think rationally. He'd want to protect Izuku and put their objective at risk in the process. They'd have to come up with some kind of strategy ahead of time to prevent that.
"Yeah, uhm, that would work" Izuku muttered, his eyes subconsciously falling on the ash blonde as he blasted his way through the sky to land another attack on Kirishima.
"Do you want me to inform Bakugou about this as well?" Aizawa asked.
"N-no, uhm, I'll tell Kacchan, it's no problem" Izuku quickly stammered out. Aizawa simply nodded, ending the conversation.
Normally Izuku wasn't so bothered by the silence. It was a good opportunity to observe his classmates and analyse their movements and skills from the sidelines. If he ever muttered, Aizawa sensei hadn't pointed it out. But now he couldn't focus on his classmates anymore and the silence was all consuming. Like pressure he couldn't escape. Izuku would have to fight All Might...
He'd have to face him even after all the things he did. Principal Nezu knew he had it out for him so why did he ever agree with this?! It made no sense! But then again, UA had always been reckless with everything they did... The hero course wasn't for the faint of heart, no, this was all about survival of the fittest. Valuing strong quirks above anything else.
Izuku didn't agree with that ideology, knowing how many people in this society suffered from it. Knowing that the kids that end up at the Midoriya home could've had a normal life if things had been different. If society hadn't let them down... He took a deep breath, clenching and unclenching his hands as he calmed himself down.
There was no way he'd lose to All Might. No matter the challenge, he would win this thing and he was sure Kacchan would agree without a shred of doubt. Yeah, they just needed the right strategy.