Ticked Off [Boku No Hero Academia]

CLOCKWISE [3/3]

Yeah babey, I managed to get this accidental third part done in a week!!

Uhh take care of yourselves, please. I love you lots and I'm super glad you exist and I'm proud of you for making it so far (:

Thank you for (almost) 140k reads and 6.8k votes!! Incredible!!! Enjoy these 7k words!

also, out of curiosity... how did you find this fic?

Discord server, if you slithered here from Eden just to sit outside my door: https://discord.gg/DSBF4dP

~

Shouta had half-expected the UA gate to slam down when he guided Echo through them, but nothing happened. Now that his mask was back on, all of his Midoriya-typical anxiety was concealed once more, every step confident and posture self-assured. He had reattached the mechanical jaws and slipped his gauntlets back on, and if it wasn't for the chunk of broken feather impaled in his side, everything would've seemed normal.

It seemed like he'd thought of everything when it came to separating his two personas. Aside from the obvious faked Quirks, he had been careful to initially only speak when necessary, and even when he did, he made sure to change his tone, speech patterns, and regional dialects to throw people off the trail. Shouta remembered the same question he'd asked both Echo and Midoriya, not really believing that the kid was the vigilante but still unable to rid himself of the nagging suspicion. Whilst Midoriya had responded with nervous rambles and stutters, Echo had been gently teasing and quietly confident – the stark contrast had successfully dampened the rest of Shouta's doubt. Even the kid's movement was different: Echo generally strode along at a leisurely pace, head lifted and shoulders relaxed, but Midoriya tended to trot and rush everywhere, hunching down and avoiding eye contact.

The kid was a good actor, Shouta would give him that.

Since it was so late, no-one was out to see them trudge through the corridors. Shouta had given Nedzu a heads-up of their arrival, and although the principal merely responded with a slightly ominous smiley face, the teacher had faith he would be in his office. He wasn't even sure if Nedzu even had a residential area for himself, or if he just had a nest somewhere in one of the filing cabinets in his office.

It was probably better not to know.

"Are you mad?" Echo – Midoriya – asked quietly.

Shouta frowned, glancing sideways at the kid who looked like an odd spectre in the hallway lights. "No. Why?"

"It just feels like I'm about to be murdered right now, so I'm preparing myself," the vigilante – student - admitted, sheepishly spreading his gauntleted hands to motion at the dimmed corridor.