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Izuku drummed his fingers against his desk, chin propped in his hand as he stared at the clock, waiting for Mr. Aizawa to come back to class. He frowned, lips pursed and brow furrowed over his nose. The rest of the class was whispering around him, except for Kacchan and Todoroki, who both were silent and staring at the door as well – though Kacchan was trying to hide it.Mr. Aizawa had left with Mineta and Principal Nedzu almost twenty minutes ago and since then there’d been no sign of other teachers or any sort of answer. All anyone knew was that Yaoyorozu, Ashido, and Asui had all gone to talk to Mr. Aizawa before class started that morning and Mr. Aizawa had freaked. His hair and capture scarf had gone flying into the air, his eyes had glowed bright red, and he’d stalked across the room, picked up Mineta, and walked out, shouting for Principal Nedzu, who’d been the next room, to follow him.Since then, there’d been nothing. Absolutely nothing.“Hey, Mina?” Kaminari’s voice cut through the hushed whispers and everyone went silent. Kaminari propped his feet up on his desk and leaned backward, his arms folded behind his head in a much more relaxed echo of Kacchan’s current position. “What’d you even tell Mr. Aizawa? I’ve never seen him that mad. Not even during all the stuff with USJ.”“Yeah,” said Kirishima, leaning forward. He stabbed a finger toward Ashido. “Last I saw him anything like that, he was yelling at Midoriya for almost using his powers during the first class, you know, with the ball throw.” He shivered. “Even that wasn’t anything like what happened today.” Kirishima frowned and propped his chin in both hands. “I dunno, seems freaky. Awesome, but freaky.”The others all nodded and gave varying murmurs of agreement.“It’s totally crazy,” said Ashido, frowning. “I didn’t expect him to freak out like that, but I guess…” She pressed her lips together in a thin line and looked away from them all. Izuku frowned and watched Yaoyorozu and Asui’s responses. Both of them seemed to curl further into themselves, with Asui looking the most normal of the three.“His harassment went too far,” said Yaoyorozu without looking at them. She stared at her folded hands on her desk. “He attempted to break into the girl’s locker room and we had enough. We told Mr. Aizawa.” She frowned and went silent, fiddling with her hands.Kacchan snorted and Izuku saw half the class bristle.“’Bout fucking time he gets kicked out. The little freak would never make it as a pro. The pervs always get blasted,” he said. Izuku pressed his lips together. He hadn’t expected quite that, but he’d known Kacchan wouldn’t insult the girls. It wasn’t his style. The festival had proven that – from what he’d heard, Kacchan had defended Uraraka when the others claimed she was ‘frail’. At least, that was what Kaminari had told him. Uraraka hadn’t known either way. And Kacchan denied it the one time she’d tried to bring it up with him.“I wonder who’ll replace him,” said Kaminari, cocking his head to one side.“We shouldn’t talk about Mineta as if his expulsion is finalized,” said Iida. “Have some respect for the administrative process!”The door to the classroom opened and Mr. Aizawa stepped in. He said, “Mineta has been expelled. Shinsou Hitoshi will be joining us next week in his place.” He closed the door and walked up to his desk. “Any questions?”Jirou’s hand went up. “Yeah,” she said, ear lobes swinging a bit. “Can we kick his ass after school?”Mr. Aizawa’s mouth twitched, not a smile, but an acknowledge all the same. “As long as it happens off school grounds, I have no jurisdiction.” He waved them off. “Now, off to your next class. I need a nap.” He paused, then, “But if any of you need to talk, feel free to stick around. I’m well versed in harassment. I’ll help where I can.”Izuku hesitated when putting away his things, watching Yaoyorozu and Ashido as they hesitated as well. He slung his bag over his shoulder and headed toward the door, watching as Jirou joined Yaoyorozu and Ashido in heading toward Mr. Aizawa.Kacchan paused, a hand reaching out for Asui before stopping short and snapping his fingers near her shoulder.Asui looked to him and tilted her head slightly. “Ribbit?” she asked.“If you want me to blow him up, gimme the word,” said Kacchan. He dropped his arm to his side and shrugged. “Would be a good excuse to see my range on tiny assholes.” With that, he turned and kept walking, brushing passed Izuku with a lot less anger and force than usual. Izuku frowned and walked in line with Asui toward their next class, neither one saying a thing.~*~*~At lunch, Izuku and a couple others from 1-A, including Iida and Uraraka, were headed toward the cafeteria when Izuku spotted Shinsou leaning against a wall and glaring at the opposite wall.“Shinsou!” called Uraraka, waving wildly. “Hey! Want to join us for lunch?”Shinsou jolted, as if he hadn’t noticed them there – odd, thought Izuku, seeing as he always seemed aware of his surroundings – and turned, a flush rising into his cheeks and his ears.“Indeed,” said Iida. “You will be a member of Class 1-A soon. It seems fitting that you would join us outside the classroom as well so we have time to bond with you and become familiar with each other.”“Or, you know, just to make friends,” said Uraraka, giving Iida an eye roll.“Sure,” said Shinsou. “Why not?” He was still tense, still flushed a bit, but the others either didn’t notice or didn’t see fit to say anything.Shinsou joined them in their walk, and, as they passed the spot where Shinsou had been standing, Izuku glanced toward the direction where he’d had been glaring. All that was there were the two doors into the main bathrooms on this level. Boys and Girls.Weird.~*~*~The weirdness didn’t stop there, as far as Izuku could tell. As the few days until Shinsou joined 1-A passed by, Izuku found himself in the company of Shinsou more and more. It was easy enough to spot the inconsistencies in his behaviour – easy enough that Izuku often forgot that no one else seemed to, if only because Izuku’s level of observation was sort of… different compared to the rest of his class. Well, except for Kacchan, and Izuku was tempted to pull Kacchan aside and see if he’d noticed anything.Before he made that decision, however, he kept watching Shinsou, just to see if he could get a bit more data and figure out what was going on.After the bit with the doors, Izuku noticed the way Shinsou avoided being the topic of conversation. He’d interrupt, redirect, make sure people addressed him directly when talking about him, if he was within earshot. That didn’t seem that weird, except that Shinsou always seemed to get tense right before he cut in, like he was scared to.Anxiety? It’d make sense. Anxiety manifested itself in all sorts of ways. Izuku’s own made him jittery and gabby, rambling on and on until he couldn’t think of anything else but how to keep talking so people didn’t say anything back. Kacchan’s made him angry and irritable, picking fights and snarling at people until they backed off and left him alone.Maybe Shinsou had a different kind of anxiety. An anxiety related to attention. Of course, that raised the question of why he would push himself into the centre of attention in those situations, but anxiety was nothing if not completely ridiculous.But that didn’t explain everything.It didn’t explain why Shinsou had been glaring at the wall. It didn’t explain why Shinsou never changed with everyone else during inter-class training. It didn’t explain why Shinsou wore his uniform a size too big. Or why he twitched when people asked if he wanted to join nights out. It didn’t—And suddenly Izuku realized just what it had to be. There was no other option that made sense.When he finished class that day, he waited for Kacchan to come out of the room; Kirishima and Kaminari were hanging out at his sides. Kacchan met Izuku’s gaze across the hall and narrowed his eyes in a silent question.Izuku pressed his lips together and lifted his shoulders up, cocking his head to one side. Kacchan nodded.It’d been a code they hadn’t had to use in a while, but Kacchan would never forget it. He was too smart.“Scram, you two,” said Kacchan, not looking away from Izuku. “We need to talk.”Kirishima glanced from Kacchan, to Kaminari, to Izuku, then back to Kacchan. “You’re not gonna, like, try and hurt him, are you?”Kacchan snorted and rolled his eyes. “After the fucking hero killer bullshit and exams, you think we’re not matched?” He gave Kirishima a withering look. “Don’t insult us. Now, get. I’ll meet you later.” He jerked his head toward the exit. With one last glance at each other, Kaminari and Kirishima headed down the hall, disappearing as they left.“Well?” asked Kacchan, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He raised his eyebrows, his eyes still narrowed and his expression skeptical and impatient in the twist of his lips and the set of his jaw.Lowering his voice so it wouldn’t carry, Izuku said, “I think Shinsou is trans.”A blink. “You sure you’re allowed to be tellin’ me that?” he asked, cocking his head to one side.Izuku winced. “I haven’t asked Shinsou, yet.”Kacchan sighed – soft and grumpy rather than frustrated – and tugged his fingers through his hair. “You shouldn’t be spreadin’ rumours, Deku. Could hurt people.”“But I don’t think it’s just a hunch,” protested Izuku, picking up the unspoken question. He clenched his hands into fists, scowling a little bit. “He doesn’t use the locker rooms; he scowls at the bathrooms; he wears his uniform too big…” That last part got Kacchan’s attention.“Like me,” said Kacchan, finishing the sentence.Izuku nodded. “Like you,” he agreed. He bit his lower lip, worrying it through his teeth. “I don’t know, Kacchan. I’m worried about him. We do a lot more training than general education does. I don’t want him to be uncomfortable.”“You sure Shinsou’s a he?” asked Kacchan, raising his eyebrows. He folded his arms loosely across his chest and leaned back against the wall behind him.“He does the same stuff we do,” protested Izuku, thinking of everything he and Kacchan did – together and separate – to try and argue his point. “The too-big uniforms, the different ways of wearing them to hide stuff. He stands like we do too – the shoulders, the stance. All of it.” Izuku bit the inside of his cheek, forcing himself to lower his voice because if Izuku accidentally outed himself and Kacchan he knew there would be hell to pay.Not because Kacchan would be angry at Izuku, because Izuku would be in the same position, but because he knew Kacchan would be angry at himself and the whole world.“Fuck, Deku,” muttered Kacchan, shaking his head. “You think it might go the other way? Could be a girl and just tries to hide the masculine.” Kacchan raised his eyebrows. “Baggy hides the angles. Ties accent the chest if you wear ‘em right. Slump of the jacket makes shoulders look thinner instead of broad.” He shrugged. “You ever think of that?”Izuku bit his lip, worrying it until he tasted blood. He cringed. “I don’t know,” he confessed. “Maybe…” Another option. Something occurring to Izuku that hadn’t before.“What if he’s neither?” asked Izuku. “I mean, he plays so far into both ways of hiding, and he’s always upset about gender stuff in general – the girls made a joke that he could join them for girl’s night because he’s so good with hair and he freaked. But the guys joking that he’s one of them makes him all stiff too.”Kacchan had the same expression as Izuku – realization dawning. “Fuck, you’re right,” said Kacchan, shaking his head. “Fuck.” His fingers sparked against his jacket, igniting for a brief second. “You figure I would’a noticed.”“Should we ask?” asked Izuku, looking up at Kacchan. He chewed more on his lip, aware that he was dangerously close to ripping it wide open. It was hard to care. “I mean, he’s not exactly alone coming to 1-A. Maybe… maybe he’d come out if…”Kacchan’s expression went dark. “You want to tell him about us.” It wasn’t a question, despite the phrasing. There was a hard edge to Kacchan’s voice that made Izuku swallow hard and remind himself that they’d come a long way since middle school. Their rivalry was still strong, but in this, they were united.“About me, at least,” said Izuku, rubbing his upper arm with the other hand. “You don’t have to, but I think it’d help.” Izuku forced himself to stop gnawing on his lip. He was getting sick of tasting blood. “But it’s your choice.”There was a long silence. Longer than Izuku thought he and Kacchan could hold without going at one another. That silence stretched, for one minute, then two, then three. Izuku said nothing, simply waited for Kacchan to give him some sort of signal.No one came by in the halls. Kirishima and Kaminari did not return. Everyone seemed to have gone home. Well, almost everyone. It was Friday, after all. Everyone wanted to be back where they were supposed to be.But Izuku knew Shinsou was still around, in the music room. He(?) always stuck around after everyone else. Maybe alone was the only time Shinsou could be himself.“Fine.” The word was soft, though thoroughly frustrated. Izuku started at it, looking up at Kacchan with wide eyes.“Fine?” he echoed, blinking owlishly.Kacchan growled. “Don’t look so surprised, Deku.” The shift on the name made Izuku know Kacchan was using the name to refer to the hero and not the victim. A strange separation, since Kacchan snarled and sneered them both, but he’d known Kacchan long enough to hear the difference. “We’re heroes. We put ourselves on the line to help people, even if it could hurt us.”He shrugged, but it was as carefully constructed as his words. Anxiety and fear laced his entire body, tightening his jaw, narrowing his eyes, and clenching his fists against his covered biceps.“Okay,” said Izuku, beaming. “Let’s go talk to Shinsou.”“Still here?” asked Kacchan, cocking his eyebrows. Izuku was kind of impressed at all the ways Kacchan could raise them without doing it the same way twice in a row. He also noted that Kacchan had dropped pronouns for Shinsou.Probably a good idea, until they knew for sure what Shinsou’s were.“Music room,” said Izuku.With a shrug, Kacchan pushed off the wall and started down the hall, obviously expecting Izuku to follow him. Izuku did, jogging to catch up and then pushing to a fast walk to keep up with Kacchan’s long, slouching strides.Together, the two crossed the school, heading up a level toward the music room, where Izuku could faintly hear piano music. He and Kacchan shared a look, one part curious and one part confused, before pushing the half-open door the rest of the way open and stepping into the room.At the piano, Shinsou played music, fingers sliding across the keys with a sort of ease that only came from years of practice.Abruptly, Shinsou stopped playing and turned to look over at the two of them. Shinsou scrambled upward, ducking partway behind the piano, eyes wide.“What’s going on?” asked Shinsou. Kacchan said nothing. Izuku took a deep breath, well aware that he ran the risk of being controlled to answer said question – Shinsou was scared, not a villain, despite what people liked to think, and seeing as Kacchan and he were never together, and seeing as they had barged in with serious looks, the fear was definitely valid – and spoke.“Are you trans?” he asked. Shinsou flinched. Okay. Not the best way to start that. But he could recover. He knew he could. “It’s just. I’ve noticed some things about you since we all started talking, like how you don’t like being referred to as a guy or a girl, or how you hesitate with the bathrooms, and you don’t change with everyone else – or when you do, you’re always really nervous and twitchy. And…”Shinsou was shaking.“Deku.” Victim, not hero. Kacchan calling him an idiot with one less letter. Izuku clamped his mouth shut. Yeah, maybe he hadn’t approached that well. But he’d never been good at asking blunt questions.“You wouldn’t be alone,” Izuku managed. “I’m… I mean… we…”“We’re trans,” said Kacchan, biting out the words with a sort of practiced ease that was only given away by the set of his shoulders and the grind of his teeth. “Trans guys.” He shrugged, entire body tense. “So.”Shinsou stared for a long moment, eyes watering and entire body trembling. “Really?” A whisper, half desperate, half disbelieving, as if Shinsou expected this to all be a joke. “Really?”Kacchan gave a terse nod. Izuku beamed.Shinsou collapsed against the piano, a hand raised to hide the steady flow of tears that slipped out.Kacchan didn’t move. Izuku darted across the room and dropped to his knees, reaching out to pull Shinsou into a hug.“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” babbled Izuku over and over again. “We didn’t mean to upset you. We just wanted to help.” He stroked Shinsou’s hair as Shinsou clung to his jacket. “We just wanted you to know you could be you and not be scared.”“I…” Shinsou’s voice cracked. A pause, a frustrated growl. “I’m not a guy. Or… or a girl, either.”Izuku nodded. “Okay. That’s okay. You’re allowed. You’re okay.” He pressed his face into Shinsou’s hair and kept talking – low, comforting words that probably meant nothing, but seemed to help anyway.“So, what are we calling you then?” asked Kacchan. He raised both eyebrows and slouched toward them both, his eyes still stuffed in his pockets.Shinsou lifted away from Izuku’s shoulder and rubbed away the tears that remained. “Um…” A hesitation, a hard swallow, an encouraging smile from Izuku. “They/Them? I’ve… I’ve always liked those ones best.”Kacchan nodded. “Easy,” he said, with that sort of dismissive tone that left no room for question. Izuku liked that tone, in truth. It was the same one Kacchan had used when Izuku had first come out as a boy, and the same tone Kacchan had used when Izuku finally managed to barter a mostly-truce between the two. “You wanna tell 1-A or you just want it to be us?”Shinsou looked at Izuku, who beamed widely at them. Coming out was always hard, but he thought that, maybe, having him and Kacchan – him because he was Shinsou’s friend and Kacchan because he could argue most people into submission – would help.Shinsou swallowed hard, throat bobbing visibly. “Do you think they’d be okay with it?” they whispered, looking from Kacchan to Izuku and back again.“Of course,” said Izuku, firmly. The only person he could think of that wouldn’t be was Mineta, and seeing as Mineta had been expelled, that wouldn’t be a problem anymore.“I’ll blast anyone who isn’t,” said Kacchan, scoffing.“You’d do that for me?” asked Shinsou, staring up at Kacchan with wide eyes.Kacchan scoffed again. “Idiot,” he said, but his tone was half-fond, which was an accomplishment unto itself. He held out one hand to Shinsou and Shinsou took it, allowing Kacchan to pull them to their feet.“Where are we going?” asked Shinsou, looking down at Kacchan.“To fix your uniform into something that doesn’t make you wanna cry,” said Kacchan, releasing Shinsou’s hand and heading to the door. “Come on. We got shit to do before Monday.”Smiling at Shinsou, Izuku led them out of the music room, blathering on about 1-A and safety and all sorts of other things. Shinsou didn’t talk much, but they seemed pretty okay with everything, and Izuku took comfort in that, at least.~*~*~On Monday morning, before class started, Izuku wasn’t sure who was more nervous – himself or Shinsou. Shinsou was waiting at the front of the room with Mr. Aizawa, not saying a word and staring at the floor, and Izuku was jittering in his seat, gnawing on his – scabbed, slightly bloody – lower lip to try and calm his nerves.“Relax,” said Kacchan, leaning back in his seat and scoffing at Izuku when he jumped. “No one’s gonna touch ‘em.” The shortening of the pronoun didn’t escape Izuku. In the loudness of the pre-bell classroom, the shortening could be mistaken for ‘them’ or ‘him’, a calculation that Kacchan had no doubt already figured out.Izuku caught Uraraka and Iida giving him a weird look, as if they couldn’t believe that he and Kacchan were actually talking instead of snarling at one another. Izuku only offered them a wobbly smile and a shrug. He didn’t pretend to understand the truce they had, he just knew that, no matter what, that truce had always existed, in one form or another, when it came to matters of gender.The bell rang, and everyone fell into their seats – the seat behind Izuku empty and waiting for its new student.Mr. Aizawa stood at the front of the class, his hands in his pockets. “All right, class. As you know, with Mineta gone, we had a spot opening. It seemed only appropriate that the most qualified student from general education should get the position.” He nodded to Shinsou. “This is Shinsou Hitoshi. He’ll be joining us from now on.”Shinsou cleared their throat. “Actually, Mr. Aizawa.” A hesitation. A deep breath. A trembling in their shoulders. “My pronouns are they/them, not he/him.” Shinsou flushed, ducking their head as their face turned bright pink.“Ah,” said Mr. Aizawa, a slow, soft smile spreading across his face. “My apologies. They will be joining us from now on.”Shinsou gave a little smile, perking a bit. The new uniform seemed to be helping as well. With the jacket lengthened and the shoulders changed, Shinsou’s figure was much more classically ambiguous, and it seemed the long jacket took the place of the skirts the girls wore – although Shinsou still wore the dress pants.Kacchan had done well with the alterations in the short amount of time he’d had to do them.“They?” echoed Uraraka, tipping her head to one side.“Problem, round cheeks?” asked Kacchan, voice gruff but not angry.Uraraka shook her head, waving her hands in front of her. “No! Not at all! Just wanted to be sure.”The other students nodded and murmured in agreement.“Diversity is an important part of any education,” chimed Iida.“I think it’s super brave!” said Ashido, clapping her hands together.“And totally ma- awesome,” said Kirishima, correcting himself and punching a fist into the air.“If you ever wanted help with make-up, if you wanted to experiment with it, I am happy to help,” chimed Yaoyorozu.“Or clothes!” chirruped Hagakure.The others all chattered and exclaimed in excitement. Shinsou beamed and took their seat behind Izuku, whispering a ‘thank you’ as Mr. Aizawa called the class back to order.And once the class was in order, Kacchan looked over his shoulder at Izuku and the two shared a small smile and a quiet fist bump. Kacchan didn’t say anything, but Izuku knew he was just as pleased by the turn of events as Izuku was.Together, they were going to make sure Shinsou had the best experience UA, and 1-A, had to offer.