Heroics and Other Things

Chapter 22: Take Care

It was hard to believe, but the trip to the Nighteye agency, the sting operation and the fight with Stain had all happened on Tuesday, and by Wednesday afternoon Recovery Girl had seen them all back on their feet. Thursday dawned almost surreal in how ordinary it was, and all four of the students were able to return to their internships. Iida and Shouto walked out of the hospital in their UA uniforms and in the company of their mentors, to make the trek back to the Hosu agency and start a patrol right away. Hitoshi and Eraser took a cab to the train station, the better to avoid the public eye until they were back in Musutafu, and Izuku and Mic snuck out the back.

Reporters had tried repeatedly to get into the hospital since Tsuragamae had released the police department's official statement. Some of them were still camped out front when Izuku and Mic were smuggled out through a service entrance, but thankfully none of them had thought to look for Mic's car. Manual had kindly driven it over late Tuesday night, and it was parked out back in the inpatient parking lot. As he shut the passenger side door Izuku breathed a sigh of relief, grateful they hadn't been waylaid.

Mic hadn't coached him on how to give a statement following this debacle, which Izuku could only assume meant that Mic had no intention of letting him anywhere near the press.

"Hell of a way to spend the first half of your internship, huh 'lil listener?" Mic said as he craned his neck to look behind himself and backed out of the parking space.

Izuku made a small noise in the affirmative, watching his mentor to avoid looking out the window. Mic's hair was still free of gel, thrown into a loose bun at the back of his head, and he'd swapped out his orange shades for an ordinary pair of glasses. Izuku himself was back in his hero costume with his hood up, obscuring his face, and he privately thought they could have walked straight out the front door without being recognized.

"This win is going to put you in the spotlight," Mic warned as they circled around to the street in front of the hospital. Izuku wasn't looking at the cluster of reporters, but he didn't hear a clamor go up, so he assumed they had passed by unnoticed.

"I accept that," Izuku said carefully. "I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to assume responsibility for the other interns. Anyway, being in the spotlight was always the plan."

"Didn't think it would happen this soon though, did you?" Mic asked dryly.

"No," Izuku admitted. "I know I'm not really ready-"

"You're not," Mic agreed flatly, then glanced at Izuku with a raised eyebrow. "That's why UA is going to put the full force of its weight behind keeping the press off your back."

"What are you going to do?" Izuku asked nervously.

"The administration is preparing a blanket statement reminding all news sources that the school can and will prosecute any members of the press found harassing its students," Mic said. "This has been a standing policy with UA for a long time, but we're going to remind everyone it's still in effect, and will be enforced."

Izuku swallowed. The last thing he wanted was for someone to get in trouble just for talking to him, but he supposed that he couldn't help what other people did. He would just have to keep himself out of public spaces to avoid presenting the temptation.

"You can't be taking the train to and from school anymore," Mic went on. "A member of the faculty is going to be driving you from now on. It'll be me when I have time, but I think most often it'll be All Might."

"All Might's going to be driving me to school every day?!" Izuku squeaked, voice going a good octave higher than normal.

"He said you know about his skinny form," Mic said, then spared Izuku a curious look. "Not sure how that happened, but if you know then it should be obvious he has the most excuse for dipping out of hero work for a few hours a day."