Izuku fidgeted, pacing in front of the school.
“Hey, you look stressed.” ‘Seiji’ waved as ‘they’ walked to Izuku’s side.
Izuku took a deep breath, spinning to face ‘Seiji.’ “You’re late.”
“And you’re grumpy.” Deforming, Toga grinned. “I need more blood. And your arm.”
Swinging the bag off his back, Izuku huffed, bringing out the bag of blood for Toga to drink. Toga grabbed his arm, counting each white line on his arms. “You done?”
Toga nodded, now standing as Seiji once more. “Yep. Let’s go! Seiji mode on!” Toga took a deep breath, calming down and putting on a funny voice. “I’m a villain who has decided to begin a new life. I hate you all but I guess I’ll tell you a joke because your mood is bringing me down and we can’t have that.”
Laughing, Izuku covered his mouth. “Hey, you’re pretty good at that.”
“Well, of course, it is important for my Quirk,” Toga smirked, patting Izuku’s shoulder. “We should get in before Aizawa tries to kill us.”
“I feel like that ship has sailed.” Izuku scoffed, walking into the classroom and taking his seat. Annoyingly, it was a long wait before Aizawa made an appearance,
He still didn’t look great as he announced the task they would be doing today. Choosing hero names.
Izuku lowered his head, tapping his pen against the side of his head. Choosing a hero name was a lot harder than picking a villain name, not that any of the heroes knew his villain name. They had given him one themselves, ‘Puppet boy’ was the most common, it was fucking rude but it wasn’t as bad as Tomoura’s.
A couple students got up, presenting their names before they sat down, only a few actually getting accepted by Midnight who had taken over the class.
Toga fidget, walking to the first of the class and holding up her- or rather Seiji’s- hero name. “I’ve chosen Crimson the blood hero.”
“You want to call yourself by your old villain name, are you sure that is a good plan?” Midnight shook her head, making Toga pause.
“I don’t want to hide my Quirk or my past. I might have been a villain before but I am not now. I blood bend and that is what makes me strong. My past doesn’t define me, it simply inspires me to be better.” Toga smiled, as Midnight closed her mouth.
Midnight sighed, nodding to Toga as she sat back in her seat.
Smiling, Izuku leaned closer to Toga’s chair. “That was cool.”
Toga laughed a little, scratching the back of her head. “Before what… what they did, they would talk about their hero name and what they would do if they could. I thought if we were going to do this, we might as well keep in character.”
Izuku grinned, poking Toga’s cheek. “You really remembered that whole speech. Highly suspicious T.”
“Oh, like you haven’t memorised Shinso’s ‘I’m not just my Quirk speech.’”
Gaping in offence, Izuku was about to retort when Midnight interrupted their conversation. “Do you want to tell us your name, Suzuki?”
Izuku blinked, slowly standing up with the whiteboard. “Well, I was thinking of the blazing hero; Pyro Spire.”
Midnight paused, narrowing her eyes. “Is that a Flaming Spire reference? I did not peg you as a fan.”
Chuckling, Izuku scratched the back of his head. “Well, growing up a lot of people thought I was dangerous because of my Quirk but when I would see things on Flaming Spire, I knew not every fire user was bad. He was my inspiration for becoming a hero.”
Midnight nodded, letting Izuku sit back down. Toga narrowed her eyes, watching Izuku lean back in his seat.
Names came and went, each person slowly presenting their name to Midnight and seeing if she would accept it or not. Mostly not.
Bakugo was the last up, holding up the whiteboard, a single word written on it. ‘Deku.’
Izuku and Toga shared a look. They knew that name.
Midnight raised her eyebrow, waving at the whiteboard. “What is this?”
Bakugo looked down, gripping the whiteboard tighter. “It’s my hero name. Deku.”
“And why Deku? Why name yourself useless?”
Bakugo growled his palms sparking. “It’s the name I’ve chosen whether you like it or not!” Bakugo tutted, taking in a deep breath. “It’s for an old friend. He disappeared a while ago and I want him to know I still remember him.” Bakugo barely whispered the words, reluctant to let them past his lips as Midnight awed him. “Do not awe me! I am not cute!”
“That’s so sweet, Bakugo! Who knew you had it in you. Very well, I’ll let you adapt the hero name, Deku.”
Midnight winked as Bakugo cursed at her.
Izuku watched everything, his stomach twisting as the class came to a finish. Stepping beside Izuku, Toga frowned in worry. Izuku went to the familiar safe spot at the back of the school, Shinso already awaiting them.
“Hey,” Shinso smiled as he spotted Izuku, the smile instantly falling. “What happened?”
Izuku huffed, falling to the ground and groaning into Shinso’s shoulder. Toga fell to the side, leaning on her knees. “Do you think he meant that the way Midnight thought he did? That he misses you.”
Izuku paused, narrowing his eyes. “No. I think he meant it as a threat.”
Shinso at the two, confused. “What happened?”
Toga huffed, crossing her arms. “Bakugo has named his hero name Deku.” Toga paused, seeing that Shinso was still confused. “Bakugo used to bully Izuku and would call him Deku as an insult until Izuku tried to kill himself and Kurogiri brought him to us.”
Izuku glared at Toga, grumbling that she had said too much. Shinso sighed, running a hand through Izuku’s hair. “It’s okay. Your past is your past, you can now look forward to your future. As for Bakugo’s hero name, I don’t think it’s a threat or a missing you thing. I think it’s guilt. You said he saw you during the USJ. He knows you’re a villain. I think he regrets what he said to you and if you can’t be a hero, he’ll be a hero for you.”
Izuku gaped, staring at Shinso wide-eyed before he spoke. “Nope. That doesn’t sound like him at all.” Chuckling, Izuku stretched out over Shinso. “Like, do you even know him? He’s more like ‘I will kill you! Die! Die! Die!’”
Shinso snorted, laughing with Izuku. “Well, I’ve never met the guy before. Hey, stop laughing at me.” Shinso reached down, tickling Izuku’s sides, receiving a fit of laughs from the boy. “You can’t make fun of me when you can’t breathe!”
“Gosh- Toshi- you sound more and more like one of us every day,” Izuku gasped, forcing the words out between the giggles.
Shinso stopped, staring at Izuku. “Toshi?”
Izuku paused, a blush creeping on his cheeks. “Sorry, it just slipped out.” Izuku shot up, shuffling away awkwardly as Shinso placed a hand on his shoulder.
“No, it’s okay. I just… I’ve never had a nickname before.”
“Well, you have one now.” Izuku hesitated, leaning against Shinso’s shoulder shyly. “Hey, Toshi? Where did Toga go?”
Looking around, neither boy could find the third member of the party. Toga was long gone, though not without a full scrapbook worth of blackmail.
YOU ARE READING
I've got no Strings
FanfictionIzuku Midoriya was never liked. As a kid, he was ostracized and left out of everything. All he wanted to do was play. He was bullied, ignored and beat almost every day but he kept going because he was going to become a hero, no matter what everyone...
