A Hero's Dirty Work (Villain Deku / Vigilante Deku au)

Catch Up

1 week ago

Shoto was very, very confused. He'd been considering just joining his old man's agency in an attempt to better control his fire, and maybe try to get over his old fears. He'd visited his mom for the first time since he received his scar, and it felt like he was finally getting a handle on his life. He remembered Bakugo's words, the way everything seemed so clear and straightforward to the aggressive blonde.

"Stop making it about him."

Shoto had accidentally ended up making his entire life revolve around his father, whether he was going to hero school because he was the son of the number two hero, or limiting himself just to spite him, or any number of other things. He hated it; his life was about his own happiness, not his father's unhappiness. 

After realizing that, everything had made more sense for while. Then, All Might had told him to do an internship with this random old hero, and the only explanation was "you have potential, Shoto, but I can't tell you everything quite yet. I believe young Hamasaki may have been right about you".

So, apparently Michi was slowly inserting himself into every single aspect of Shoto's life. Not that Shoto was complaining, to be honest, but it was strange. And obviously you don't just turn down instructions like that from the number one hero, so Shoto interned with Gran Torino. Looking for the agency, he looked up when he reached the address.

That... wasn't an agency. It looked like an old brick warehouse that had been empty for a while. Shoto's confusion was only growing, but he shook his head and walked up the stairs. He knocked once, and to his surprise, the door just creaked open. Hesitating only for a moment, Shoto pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped inside. He blinked in surprise as the door opened to reveal a tiny man in a yellow jumpsuit lying facedown on the floor. A pool of red was around his face.

"Is that ketchup?" Shoto asked, confused. He was familiar with the way that blood splattered and spread on the ground, and he knew that wasn't what he was looking at. But, why was the old man facedown in a pool of ketchup? "Am I supposed to think that's blood?"

The old man looked up suddenly, a disconcerting grin on his face. "This is very concerning!" he announced, the weird smile staying firmly in place.

"What is?" Shoto asked, glancing around to make sure he hadn't missed anything.

"First-year students should not be able to tell so quickly that this is ketchup! You have had a very unfortunate childhood!"

Shoto blinked again. Well, that was blunt. It wasn't wrong, though; he nodded silently in agreement. "Are you Gran Torino?" Shoto asked. The hero bounced to his feet, his fists against his hips.

"I am! Who are you?"

"My name is Shoto."

"What?" Gran Torino asked, putting a hand over his ear and leaning forward as though he couldn't hear. Shoto frowned.

"I am Shoto," he said, slightly louder.

Gran Torino fell silent for a moment. "Who are you?" he asked again.

Shoto raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "If we can't get past the introduction stage, I'm going back to my father's agency. He's already upset that I chose someone else."

"Fine, fine. Now tell me, do you have a good handle on One For All?" the old man asked.

Shoto sighed. He was getting extremely tired of not knowing what the hell was going on. "One For All? What on earth is that?"