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MARCH 28, 2021

At first, the memories had surprised him. No one ever spoke about them, probably because having them felt so natural, but it had become his favorite part. It’s how he knew he made it before he even opened his eyes. Behind his lids, when it was dark and there was no one in his world but him, his awareness would fill itself with memories that his body had experienced. Good, bad, everything and anything was his experience too. He became a new person every time he shifted.

The first time he’d ever shifted was the best moment of his life. He could still remember that feeling in his chest, so happy it hurt, running around a house full of a family he’d always wanted, the memories he’d made with them making his heart full to bursting. The instinct to get up and run was a strange one, but he sprinted around that house until he fell to the tiled floor of an admittedly tiny kitchen, laughing like a madman. He then picked himself up and carried his body to the bathroom, where he sobbed in the shower for half an hour. It had been a long time since the first, but when he woke up in this new room, he still felt that same feeling. So happy he hurts.

He kicked his legs free of his comforter, placing his feet onto the carpeted floor beneath his bed. A grimace flashed across his face. The feeling of the coarse weave made images of his childhood home flash across his consciousness before he was able to stop them. Miles made a sound of distaste at the back of his throat, forcing them to stop. Not now, not ever. He stood and made an audible shriek at the height difference. Sue him, just last night he’d been 5’7” and now here he was 5’11”. At least he didn’t lose his balance from how much

heavier

he was. There was a mirror facing him, and he caught a look of himself. Strong arms and legs made of lean muscle looked back at him. The reflection twisted into another grimace. He knew better than to face a mirror towards where you slept. In this new reality, he was a dumbass. He realized this as memories of failed backflips and broken bones played across his mind. Maybe it was the hormones.

With a roll of his eyes, Miles shuffled over to the mirror and twisted it with his body toward the wall. He found himself staring into it a moment later, right into those pretty green eyes he had scripted himself. Wavy brown hair fell into them just like his hair did in his original reality. A fond smile took over his face at the familiar feeling, and when he caught himself, it turned into a grin. His first smile in this reality was shared with himself. He turned away, but the smile stuck with him.

It wasn’t hard to find the kitchen of their apartment, and his mother was smiling at him from over the sofa in the adjacent room. Her brown hair was cropped short across her shoulders and her hazel eyes were aged like whiskey, with creases and lines that disrupted her otherwise smooth skin. “Morning, baby,” Miles felt his insides melt. His mother in his original reality never called him pet names unless she was making fun of him, “come here,” She beckoned her son over with the wave of her hand, and who was Miles to say no.

The boy fell onto the couch next to her, uncomfortable with how much more leg he had to deal with. A hand grasped his chin, pulling his face towards hers as a kiss was planted on his cheek. He remembered this. She did this to him every morning before school, and every time he responded with feigned disgust, a scoff, and an over-dramatic goodbye to mask how much he loved to be loved. Even then, his mother kissed him every morning before he faced the world, just to make sure he knew where he was safe. This time, he smiled. There was a twitch to his mother’s face as she took in the new response, but she said nothing. Miles was grateful. Instead, she leaned over and fiddled with their radio until it landed on Present Mic’s station. Every morning at six and every night at five.

The boy stood up once again, striding towards the fridge. Cereal was familiar. He’d have cereal. “What the fuck was that?” His body froze halfway to the carton, his eyes darting over to give a side eye to the only other person in this house with that colorful language. His little brother, Sam, was sitting on the counter, barefoot hoisted up to rest on the countertop and Miles' nose flared in disgust.

“Get your nasty ass foot off the counter,” He demanded, pulling out the carton of milk and looking in the cupboard to find a bowl, “Gross bitch,” The younger boy smirked, wiggling his toes and Miles gawked in horror. Mirth crackled like a fire across his brother’s face, lighting up his sapphire eyes. Black hair fell into those eyes just like Miles’ did despite half of it being pulled into a ponytail. It was a style that Miles’ sister, the one in his original reality, wore often. The older boy couldn’t help the smile that betrayed his disgust. There were plenty of memories made from this dynamic, and it all came naturally to him. It was the same one he shared with his sister.

An exasperated, “Boys,” came from the woman just a room away, but she made no effort to even turn around. Everyone in this house had grown used to it by now. The taller boy leaned over and smacked his brother’s ankle until he yielded, grunting as his leg fell off the counter to dangle with the other one.

“Mom kissed you on the cheek and you didn’t gag,” Sam pulled a banana off of the bundle in their kitchen, deflating as he accidentally ripped two others open in the process. Miles laughed around his spoon, his brother vengefully kicking at him and missing, “What’s that about?”

“I love my family,” Miles replied flatly around a mouthful of cereal he’d never had before. Well, he had it before, but memories weren’t good references for taste, believe it or not. Sam gave him a sarcastic smile before using his teeth to open his banana, just to make Miles cringe. It worked.
 
––––––
 
Getting dressed was more of a hassle than he’d intended. He overthought the minute he opened his closet door, wondering if he’d dress “right” since he’d never dressed as a boy before. After half an hour of debate with himself, he annoyed Sam about it, fabricating a bullshit lie about caring for Sam’s opinion. The younger boy’s face had screwed up into an incredulous frown, but he’d helped anyway. It wasn’t long before Miles was reclined on his bed in a pair of black sweatpants and a red t-shirt, watching videos of Hawks in action. All that work for sweatpants and a t-shirt. Turns out it’s not that hard to be a teenage boy.

He’d been too nervous to actually try to talk to anyone outside of his family because he knew who he was closest to. Hanta and Denki were his closest friends ever since they met in elementary school. He could still remember meeting Hanta in kindergarten and Denki in third grade. There was a warmth that blossomed in his chest that told him how much he loved them, and plenty of memories that told him how much they loved him back. Even then, the idea of reaching out and talking to them was daunting.

He was going to have to get over it now because a contact named “phil swift” interrupted his very important Hawks binge. It took a moment of confusion and more daft blinking than he’d like to admit before he realized that “phil swift” was probably Hanta. Miles scoffed at the frankly lazy joke before he pressed that little green button. He turned the call on speaker and flopped back to lie on his bed. “Hanta?” He attempted to sound casual, but his voice cracked from the nerves. Shit. Hopefully, he wouldn’t notice.

“Milo!” The other boy was frantic, the voices of what must be his family muffled in the background. Miles felt his ears turn red at the nickname, even as he remembered it, mouthing

Milo

to himself. Cute. “It’s-holy shit-acceptance letters come in today!” Miles shot up at that, remembering what he had scripted months ago. His first day would be the day UA acceptance letters arrived. He’d forgotten all about it in the nerves of the first day.

“Shit, really?” Part of him felt guilty for faking his surprise, but the bigger part of him didn’t give a shit. Hanta was speaking Spanish now, probably to his grandmother. Miles remembered that she didn’t speak any other language. Hanta spoke three fluently: Spanish, Japanese, and English. The brunette remembered teaching a bit of English to Hanta in kindergarten before they started English lessons in first grade. Those memories bled into ones of Denki, talking about his new favorite books as they lazily played board games together. The blonde was, surprisingly, an avid fan of Jane Austen. What a nerd.

“I want to be on the phone with you and Denki when I open mine,” Another heavy happiness on Miles’ chest at the words, “Let me call him,” Miles couldn’t remember Apple allowing multiple different people to access a call, but this world also had people with dragon head’s and shit, so he let it slide.

Miles listened with Hanta as the phone rang for an uncomfortable amount of time before Denki picked up, “Yo,” Bastard finally woke up.

“It’s letter day,” Hanta said plainly, and Miles couldn’t help but snicker at the change in energy. On the other side, Denki let out a sound like he choked, and that was enough to turn a chuckle into a laugh.

“Already?!” Denki cried, “I thought it’d be at least a week! I’m not ready for this,” The blonde immediately broke out into whining, which was normal. Very normal. Hanta snapped at Denki to stop it, but it held no actual bite. In the comfort of his room, knowing that neither of them could see, the eldest of the trio smiled as warm as his chest felt. It would not take long to get used to this at all.

With a smile, he spoke up, “Just open the damn letter, Hanta,”

Miles was there as his two best friends in the entire world opened the letters that would determine the course of their lives. He knew that they would be accepted. Of course they were, they’re Hanta and Denki. The last year of their lives was dedicated to getting into this school. Miles has countless memories of comforting Denki as he cried over homework, watching Hanta get used to falling with a purpose, and himself lifting heavier and heavier objects using his quirk. All of that over a piece of paper and hologram.

Despite how ridiculous it was, Miles cried over that stupid piece of paper, a headache blooming against the front of his skull as more tears forced their way down his face. He cried for Hanta, for Denki, and now himself. This is what shifting was about. He was so happy that his heart hurt in his chest, fireworks of pain across his ribs every time it beat. His mother wrapped him in a hug and pulled him to her chest. She was crying as well, muttering praises in his ear that he couldn’t hear. Sam was next to him on the couch, placing a hand on Miles’ shoulder and squeezing. Again, Miles smiled. So happy he hurts.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

APRIL 11, 2021
UA was fucking huge. Miles was sure he’d never seen a building as tall as it in his life. It was a bit scary, to be honest, this huge building sat on top of a hill, looming over the town. He felt his lips involuntarily pull into a line as he stared up at it, Sam doing the same on his left. Sam had, of course, gotten into the support course at UA. The jerk had been so sure of it that Miles wondered if he’d just walked into his test and told them himself that he was in. So here the brothers were, staring up at the impossibly tall building together. Miles let out an indignant hum, and Sam replied with a similar one. “I’m gonna wait for Hanta.”“Absolutely not. I’m not walking in there alone.” Sam ordered, and the brunette felt his will to argue dissipate as a stern look was sent his way. One thing he would never get used to was changing his shoes before entering the building. Weird. He pulled out his new pair of black Vans from his bag, stuffing his admittedly disgusting pair into the tiny locker. He cowered a bit behind Sam as the younger boy pushed open one of the doors to the front. How is he going to be a hero like this? Immediately, Miles noticed the number of people in this school. He froze, suddenly feeling very out of place in this sea of people. It wasn’t until Sam snapped at him to move his ass away from the door that he shuffled to the side, just in time for another student to push their way in. In his chest, a mixture of anger and fear shake around his core. He’s supposed to be happy, dammit! Why is he so scared? Can everyone tell how scared he is? Is anyone looking at him right now? This is only the opening ceremony and he’s already a bad hero-Someone pushes his shoulder, and he flinches. It was just Sam. Stupid. “We’ll be fine,” The reassurance from someone he knows calmed him down enough to move. Clearly, his panic was enough to worry Sam, because the, usually, little asshole walks him all the way to his class. Holy shit, that door gives a gnarly first impression. “This is your stop,” There is a pause before Sam sighed heavily, pulling the huge door open himself, “Have fun, hero!” Miles’ ears flushed red, snapping at his brother to fuck off as he disappears into the crowd. Everyone past that door definitely heard him. What a gnarly first impression.“Please refrain from using profanity!” A hand chopped its way into his line of sight and Miles shrieked, ducking down so hard he slipped and fell on his ass in the doorway. Goddamn Vans. Miles looked up at the boy and freezed again. He was tall and broad, with neat black hair and blue eyes behind rectangular glasses. Miles found himself terrified again. This guy was fucking huge. “Sorry,” Miles replied lamely, still on the floor. He felt the eyes of everyone in that room on him. He decidedly kept his gaze on the boy above him until another one stood next to him. This one was significantly shorter and redder than the other, and he offered a hand to Miles with a grin. He takes it.Miles was pulled to his feet quickly, and he had little time to think about how strong this guy is before he got to talking, “Hey, man!” Okay, this is good. This guy's energy was good. “Name’s Kirishima. We had the entrance exam together. You’re the guy who can control all that crazy green stuff, right?”Miles blinked dumbly for a second before nodding his head. This guy just goes for it, huh? Okay. “Uh, maybe? Sorry, I don’t think I saw you,”Kirishima didn’t seem to mind, “Yeah, you-uh-probably weren’t able to see me,” Miles’ eyebrows furrow at the word choice.“Hold on, you're the guy that got second,” Miles' voice raises in astonishment, “That’s so cool that I was in the same exam as the guy who got second! How didn’t I notice you? Can you go invisible or something?”Kirishima’s grin is practically beaming at this point, basking in the recognition and praise, “I don’t know how I did it either. I just gave it my all! And-uh-my quirk is called hardening,” The redhead lifts an arm, a rocky texture spreading from his wrist to his fingertips, “Basically makes all my soft tissue turn hard,”Miles is silent for a moment as he admires the hardened fingers, and he swears he can see worry flash across Kirishima’s face before his green eyes light up, “No wonder you got second! You can probably tear through robots like they’re nothing! That’s awesome, man.”“Who cares, it's not like he got first!” Standing in the still open door is another new classmate, blonde hair spiked wildly and red eyes piercing right through him. Miles feels the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.“No need to be rude,” Miles mumbles, eyes following the blonde as he passes by. A sneer is sent his way as he stomps over to what must be his desk, “Did you get first?”“You’re damn right I did!” So far, Bakugo’s impression was worse than the one Miles’ had given, and the tall, blue-eyed boy immediately set his sights on the blonde, reprimanding his use of profanity. On the first day, there was already a heated argument between two students. Miles rolled his eyes before they widened as a familiar feeling overcame him.Miles could always feel Denki before he saw him. The electric blonde was always putting out some sort of electrical current that was just enough to disrupt the natural flow of electricity. It was also just enough for Miles, whose quirk also had a constant buzz in his system, to feel him coming. That’s how he knew the boy was right down the hall. His head snapped to attention and he grinned, probably looked like a madman doing so over nothing, and sprinted out of the room. He pointed at them, mouth wide open in feigned astonishment, and they copied him. “Hey, I know those guys!” Miles exclaimed, jogging the short distance to his best friends and hugging them both, “Come meet my new friend, he's super cool!” –––––– Another thing Miles would never get used to was using his quirk in school. He had memories of the years before he shifted, getting scolded and chastised by teachers over his accidental quirk use. It had always been hard to control since it wasn’t really his to have, and fighting for that control over something that felt foreign in his body was a goddamn nightmare. Not to mention how painful it was. In a very dark memory at the back of his mind, he was curled up against a small Kaminari Denki, crying and coughing up snot as pain shot up his forearms like lightning, reaching his very core and twisting it until he choked on his breath. Their mothers ran to them, sending the playground’s wood chips into the air as his mother’s hazel eyes came into view, begging him to tell her what was wrong, what was happening. Miles didn’t answer, he couldn’t because the pain had reached his head and he leaned over a hot plastic border, vomiting into the grass. He couldn’t remember what he was screaming, but he knew he had been because he could smell the bile at the back of his mouth as he remembered gulping for air to beg more from his mother as she scooped him up in her arms, hot tears running down his face.Miles supposed it was better now. He’d had a few close cases with stove tops or hot kettles, but he didn’t mind. He wondered if it was going to happen here, right in front of all of his classmates, during the apprehension test. He hoped not. His skin crawled at the idea of his new classmates seeing him at his weakest.He couldn’t help the way his nose crinkled together as Bakugo stepped to the plate. Just an hour with the blonde and he already had grown a distaste for him. Bakugo was what some would call passionate and Miles would call overwhelming. The guy had these red eyes that froze anyone to the spot the moment he gave them the courtesy of a glance. Miles swore that Bakugo was able to pick apart anyone he saw. He could practically see the gears in his mind turning every time they shared a glance. Only an hour and the blonde had already managed to settle under his skin. Bakugo might even be beautiful to Miles if he wasn’t such a dick. “That guy sucks.” He whispered to himself, receiving a side eye from the girl next to him. Yaoyorozu was a tall girl, only two inches shorter than Miles, with her hair up in a ponytail besides her bangs, which kind of made her look like a hedgehog. Miles kept that particular thought to himself. The brunette offered her a tight-lipped smile, which she politely returned, although hers was much prettier. Miles felt his cheeks warm as he stood a bit taller, snapping his eyes over to Bakugo once again. He was doing a fantastic job of making a fool out of himself today, and to all these new, pretty people in his class! Everyone in this class was so pretty it should be illegal! Miles pulled his bottom lip into his mouth, biting down. Just gotta get through this. No biggie.He was suddenly brought out of his head by the sound of an explosion no less than ten feet away from him. Bakugo had used his quirk to send the softball flying 705 meters away from them. Miles felt his eyes widen, impressed, humming his approval as his classmates perked up around him.“Whoa! This is awesome!” Miles couldn’t help but agree with Kirishima. Maybe for once, he’d actually have fun with these things. A memory of the pacer test from his original reality crossed his mind and he cringed.“Awesome you say?” Aizawa, their homeroom teacher drawled. Miles felt his hair stand on end for the second time today. “You think this is all fun and games? You’re going to become heroes in three years,” Miles couldn’t help but feel guilty. Aizawa was right. He probably always was, that’s why he was even here. Miles felt his shoulders tense. He didn’t think he was ready to be wrong. “New rule. Whoever places last across all eight events will be judged hopeless and expelled.”Okay, so, this was no longer awesome. Definitely not. Miles felt his blood run cold for the first time in his life, genuine horror running within his system. There was a competitive tension surrounding them all now, and Miles kind of wanted to run away and kind of wanted to punch someone.Then, Aizawa’s eyes met his, and Miles felt his heart fall to his ass. His eyes glowed a bright red when his quirk was activated. Right now, they were his normal black, but it was still just as terrifying. Bakugo could pick you apart, but Aizawa’s gaze sought to tear. So yeah, his heart fell straight out of his ass. Then the eyes were gone, and his breath returned to him.“He’s kinda scary,” Denki said lowly as they made their way over to the track, “Aizawa, I mean,”Miles hummed in agreement, and to his surprise, their classmate Ashido chimed in, “Yeah, I don’t know how to feel about him. And that quirk makes me anxious,” Ashido stuck out her tongue, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Miles couldn’t help but snicker at the face she pulled, trying to keep it down so Aizawa wouldn’t hear. If Ashido’s sudden involvement in their conversation was rude, neither of the boys cared. –––––– He started to feel it in his elbows as they approached the pitch again. He ignored it, the threat of expulsion loomed over his head, cradling his fear of failure in a swaddle. He snapped his fingers once, twice to try and distract himself, and Hanta noticed, “You doing okay, Miles?” Miles refused to look Hanta in the eye as he nodded. Rather than pry, Hanta let it go, and Miles was grateful. Someone else noticed the snapping as well. Aizawa’s eyes narrowed at Miles' hand before calling out, “Moore, you’re up,” Miles jogged over to the pitch, very conscious that all of his classmates were looking at him right now. He found out that no matter how many times they were going to see his quirk today, they were always fascinated by it. Miles couldn’t blame them, he was the same way. They were all so amazing.He faced the field, taking a deep breath. He could see the green glow of his eyes hit the bridge of his nose in the corner of his vision as he activated his quirk. The feeling was bizarre. It was like it was alive on its own, something within him rushing and rushing and rushing but he didn’t know what and he didn’t know where it was taking him, but it felt good. It felt amazing, actually, even the pain. This feeling pulled a smirk across his face as he centered everything around his hand, preparing to throw. When he did, he sent out a pulse of energy at just the right moment, enough to send the softball flying through the hair. He exhaled. He brought his hand up to move his hair out of his eyes and it brushed across his face-Shit. “538.7 meters,” Aizawa said flatly, but it was lost to Miles as the brunette spoke.“Godammit,” he froze once he’d realized what he’d said, eyes widening when he processed that he had interrupted Aizawa to say so. Black eyes narrowed at him. This was it. Miles was expelled. No more UA. He could give up on his dreams of being a hero now. He hoped Hanta would forgive him. “What’s wrong?”Well, Miles hadn’t expected that.“Uh-” Miles' eyes flickered over to Hanta, “My arms. They go numb when I overuse my quirk,” He pulled a hand to his face, flexing his fingers, yet feeling no sensation.Aizawa still had his narrowed glare trained on Miles. Oddly enough, he was starting to get used to it. “That’s because your quirk factor is your nerves, right?” Miles blinked dumbly, “Of course, you don’t know. I had trouble finding information about your quirk before today. It’s not in the registry,”For the second time that day, Miles’ blood ran cold. He heard a murmur ripple amongst his classmates. Shit. Oh fucking no. What did this mean? Was he kicked out of UA? Did Aizawa know -“I’ve actually…” He paused when Aizawa’s eyes narrowed impossibly further, “never been to quirk counseling.” “What?!”“Never?”“Isn’t that illegal?”“Not illegal, just stupid,” Aizawa sighed, leaning his head back and pulling out a bottle of what must be eye drops, “UA has its connections, of course. We’ll get you started tomorrow. Join your classmates,”Miles had never been more thankful to leave a situation in his life. He traipsed his way in between Hanta and Denki, his ears flushed red.“I told you to do that years ago,” Miles deflated as Hanta put a hand on his shoulder. “Now’s not a good time for me, Hanta,” Miles sighed, and his friends began to tease him quietly as Ashido took her place at the pitch. He told them sternly to keep quiet, but they couldn’t help but join their classmates' laughter as Ashido’s quirk disintegrated the softball, a loud splat landing 70 meters from her.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

APRIL 12, 2021

Miles had never been to the principal’s office in this reality, but he’d gone plenty of times in his original one. This is why he didn’t find himself too bothered sitting outside of Nezu’s office right now. He heard nothing but muffled conversation, probably about him. He thought that a school for heroes should have put more effort into soundproofing. It was early, early enough that Denki probably hadn’t even woken up for school yet. Homeroom didn’t start until 8:25, and here he was at seven in the morning, just like Aizawa ordered him to be yesterday. The door opened finally, Aizawa’s hand on the doorknob as he beckoned Miles inside.

Miles slung his bag over his shoulder as he stood, striding into the office and looking around. It was relatively empty besides a desk near the back of the room and two sofas facing a coffee table at the center. A pot of tea sat at said coffee table, steam rising from the spout as the famous mouse principal pulled himself onto one of the sofas, his legs not even dangling off the side. His principal smiled at him sweetly, and Miles couldn’t help but send one of his awkward smiles back. The guy was too cute!

“Moore, please, have a seat,” Nezu gestured to the sofa across from him. Miles sat down, his bag uncomfortably pressing against his back, and Aizawa sat next to him a moment later. “Would you like some tea? It’s peppermint,” Miles nodded his head, feeling suddenly out of place by how nicely Nezu was treating him. He felt his palms start to stick with sweat. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Aizawa watching him, which definitely didn’t help. He resisted the urge to wipe his hands on his knees.

“Aizawa tells me that you’ve never been to quirk counseling before. This is true?” Once again, Miles nodded, his lips involuntarily forming a line. “You’re not in any trouble. You’re not the first student we’ve had that hasn’t received counseling, but we require our hero course students to have their quirk on the registry. Especially when their quirk causes side effects like yours. Frankly, I’m surprised your parents haven’t taken you already,”

“It’s my fault,” Miles sighed, “I was too scared to go,”

Nezu tilted his head, “Why?”

Miles froze. How was he going to answer this? He shrugged, looking decidedly at the ground, “I was afraid of being told I could never be a hero,” Not totally a lie, not totally the truth. “I made a promise to someone. I couldn’t hear that I had to stop,” He looked up then, meeting Nezu’s eyes. The principal nodded, clearly satisfied with his answer.

“You have your first session with Dr. Maruyama this afternoon in Recovery Girl’s room. I will call your parents before then, so there is no need to worry,” Nezu took a sip of his tea, “Welcome to UA, Moore.”
 
––––––
 
After that, Miles sat with Aizawa in his classroom in complete silence, waiting for the other students. Miles was surprised when Aizawa didn’t immediately retreat into his sleeping bag for a nap. He assumed Aizawa maybe wanted to speak with him since the hero was just sitting in his chair staring at the wall. Now that nearly twenty minutes had passed, he felt stupid for thinking so.

“You’re adopted,”

Miles no longer felt stupid, but he felt very, very confused. “Um, yeah,” Miles' voice was higher than usual. He cleared his throat, “How do you even even know that,”

“Your brother,” Aizawa appeared far more casual than Miles felt, “His quirk is like your parents. Yours is entirely different. You don’t look like each other at all, either,”

“You stalking me or something?” Miles joked.

Aizawa didn’t laugh, “His quirk is something special. He’ll do well in the support course,”

Miles nodded. Sam had a mind quirk, which automatically gave him a genius-level IQ from the exertion. The brain was a muscle, after all. His actual quirk was called Stat, which allowed him to know the type, strengths, and weaknesses of anyone’s quirk at a glance. More importantly, it gave him exactly what he needed to create the perfect support items. “He’s brilliant,”

There was a pause before Aizawa turned and looked right at him. Miles felt nailed to the spot. “At Nezu’s office, you said you promised someone that you’d become a hero,”

Miles broke the eye contact, getting the sinking feeling that Aizawa had something important to say, “It was a long time ago,”

“Whoever it was,” Aizawa said as he opened a drawer to his desk and pulled out some eye drops, “remember it. This course is tough, and sometimes promises are the only thing that keeps us going,”

His mouth agape, Miles felt like he’d been laid bare by a grown adult he met yesterday. The sting of tears started at the back of his eyes, but before he could say anything, the huge door swung open. Miles felt himself jump out of his skin.

“Sensei!” Iida passionately chopped his hand through the air.

“Iida,” Aizawa said flatly.

“Early, as all members of this fine institution should be-” Iida stopped, his hand halfway through another chop when he saw Miles already sat down. Miles awkwardly smiled at him, offering a quick

good morning

as Iida moved toward his desk. If he didn’t know better, he’d say that Iida was jealous, but he did.
 
––––––
 
SUMMER 2012
 
Sitting on a rug made of a coarse blue sherpa, Miles watched as Sero clicked together legos, building a second floor to their house. Children sprinted around the room, making the most out of their recess. Outside, heavy rain beat down on their classroom's tiny window. “What do you wanna be when you grow up?”

Miles didn’t know why Sero had asked so out of the blue. He shrugged, “I don’t know,”

“Well, I’m gonna be a hero,” Sero asserted, flashing his signature smile as he snapped pieces down to form walls, “just like Spider-Man,” He mimicked the American hero’s famous hand signal.

Once again, Miles found himself astonished by Sero. Not because of his impressions, but because of how comfortable he made Miles feel. Miles Morales was his favorite hero, too, the very man he was named after.

Miles smiled at his friend before it fell, his eyes looking down at his hand as it picked at the rug, “I used to want to be a hero,” He said quietly, Sero looked up, his finger stopping their work, “but not anymore,” The last part was said vengefully, and Sero’s smile disappeared. Before the boy could ask, one of their classmates ran in between them, taking out their house. Both boys instinctively used their quirks to wrap his ankles, tripping him, earning themselves time out.

Sitting in two plush bean bags next to each other, Miles pouted as he glared at the timer, waiting for five minutes to be up. Sero glanced over his shoulder to make sure that their teacher wasn’t looking before whispering to Miles, “You should become a hero with me,”

Miles froze, clenching his fists as his eyes narrowed. He found himself unable to look at Sero, “I wouldn’t be good at it,” He grunted, “not with this quirk,”

In his peripheral, he watched as one of Sero’s eyebrows quirked up, his smile coming back, “Why not? That’s stupid,” Miles’ snapped his head toward him, glaring. Sero was unphased, “You can do anything, so do it with me. That way, you won’t be alone,”

Miles' eyes went wide. For a moment, he wondered if Sero had read his mind, if he knew that’s what he was really afraid of. He couldn’t do it alone. All the times he dreamt about it, ever since he was small, he always had someone else there with him, standing by his side. He needed someone, and Sero was willing to do that for him.

The timer went off, and Sero stood up, “Come on,” He held out a hand to Miles, who felt all of his memories bubble to the surface. There was a sting at the back of his eyes.

He’d only known Sero Hanta since he joined his Kindergarten class in January. Since then, the black-haired boy had managed to weave his way into Miles’ life. It’s not like it was hard either. Somehow, Sero always knew what to say, always knew what to do to make Miles open up. If he was going to do this with anyone, it had to be him. He wondered if Sero knew that by offering his hand, he was offering a promise. Something in his eyes told the brunette that he did.

Miles grabbed on. 
 
––––––
 
Lunch was his favorite part of the day. The food wasn’t what made it so, although a serving of Lunch Rush’s curry for dirt cheap was pretty damn good. The best part was getting an hour to do nothing but talk to his friends. He found that it was even better now that he had even more friends to talk to.

“We’re so lucky to have Lunch Rush,” Ashido was practically bouncing in her seat as she happily chewed her pork, “I’ve never eaten so well before! Don’t tell my dad I said that.”

“Stop fucking bouncing! You’re rocking the damn table!” Bakugo shouted, grabbing onto the table with both of his hands, his eyebrows falling far down his face.

“I can’t wait for it to be over,” Denki whined, laying his head down, “We have basic training after this,”

“Don’t eat too quick. You’ll get a cramp,” Miles ordered, using his chopsticks to point at Denki. He knew how the blonde could get when he was excited, “but yeah, I can’t wait to actually do something fun,”

Hanta groaned next to him, “I know right? English lessons are a pain,” Denki mumbled a

nuh-uh

with his face against the table, which Hanta promptly ignored.

“I was bored out of my mind,” Bakugo agreed.

“Hey!” Miles snapped, “Don’t hate on Mic like this!” Bakugo gawked at him, incoherently shouting at him for insinuating that he was shitting on a teacher. Miles just returned to his curry, letting it happen.

“Is Mic your favorite hero?” Kirishima was sitting across from Miles, next to Kaminari. He grabbed onto the back of the blonde's head, picking it up and ordering him to eat.

“Nah, but I listen to his show every morning,” Miles rolled his eyes when Hanta let out a listless sigh.

The black-haired boy dramatically deflated in his chair, “No, his favorite hero is Hawks,”

“Hanta.”

“Not Spider-Man, anymore,” Hanta sighed again.

“Hanta, you’re fine.”

Hanta suddenly sat straight again, glaring at Miles, although it held no actual anger, “We bonded over him! Does our friendship mean nothing to you?”

“Hawks is hot,” Miles shrugged. He heard Mina give a hum of agreement from across the table. Hanta stared at him, mouth wide open in shock.

“I still can’t believe you’d do this to me,”

“Ten fucking years of this,”

“Exactly! Ten years and you’d betray me like this. I thought we were 4lifers! I even gave you a cute nickname!”

“Cute nickname?” Ashido suddenly perked up.

“Hanta, no,”

“What’s wrong,

Milo

? Embarrassed?”

“You’re an ass!”

“You love me,” Hanta was right. “The past ten years are your fault. Remember who grabbed whose hand, Milo.”
 
––––––
 
“I forgot how boring you are,” Hanta clicked his tongue, pulling at Miles’ shirt just to have it snap back. Miles’ shrieked, pouting when Hanta laughed.

“I’m beautiful,” He grumbled, sitting down on the bench in the changing room to put on his boots. It’s true that his hero costume was nothing special. Just a sleeveless, black compression shirt and cargo pants. Miles tended to lean more toward practicality when he dressed. Besides, his quirk was flashy enough to gain attention on its own.

“Of course you are, darling,” Hanta affirmed playfully, turning back to his locker.

Miles was one of the first students that left the locker room. The only other students being Jiro and Mashirao. Jiro gave him a nod when he spotted them. He gave them a smile, “So,” he started, leaning against the wall with them, “do your ears ever get tangled?”

Jiro looked startled, like they hadn’t expected Miles to talk to them, especially not start off with a question like that. Miles couldn’t help but let his smile grow as he watched confusion cross their face. Yaoyorozu left the changing room next to them, sending a side eye their way, eyebrows furrowing when she saw Jiro’s face. Miles noticed that she didn’t stray too far, probably to listen to them. She was so cool, making sure Jiro was okay like that.

Jiro stuttered, “Sometimes, when they get long enough,” Miles' eyebrows raised. He didn’t know that they could get

longer

. Noted. “You’re weird,”

Miles' laughter was abrupt, holding his stomach as it shook. He didn’t know why it was so funny to him. Their confusion only grew as they watched him. “I actually get that a lot,” he giggled, “I just say what I want to, I guess,”

“Mhm,” Jiro hummed, “It’s not bad. I kinda like it,”

“Thanks!” A hand clapped on his shoulder, and he didn’t have to look to know it was Hanta’s.

The younger boy grabbed onto Miles’ ear, dragging him away towards Denki, “Stop freaking people out! It’s our first day,”

“But it’s fun!” Miles snapped his teeth at his fingers when he let go, and Hanta’s face screwed up in genuine disgust.

Denki laughed, “I love you guys,”

“Shut up, loser,” Miles flicked the blonde’s forehead.

For a moment, Denki looked genuinely hurt enough that Miles was about to apologize, but then his eyes narrowed, “I’m gonna kick your ass,”

“Kick it, bitch. I’m not scared of you,” That was a lie. Miles was very scared of Kaminari Denki, who could discharge hundreds of thousands of volts in an instant. He was very scared of the boy he could always feel because electricity settled under his skin, the boy who played games and laughed and cried all while not knowing what he held inside of him. Denki had always been far too comfortable with how powerful he was. It made Miles’ swell with pride and shrink in fear when he remembered for him.

“How long have you all been friends? You’re all so comfortable around each other, it's cute,” Uraraka’s voice was a sweet one. Miles had thought so ever since the apprehension test, when she excitedly complimented his ability to launch himself into the air across long distances, even though he beat her time. Uraraka was just a sweet person in general, he supposed. It didn’t fit right now with the harsh language they were using. Asui was by her side. Those two had already connected quite nicely.

“Ten years,” Miles turned away from his friends to face Uraraka completely, “of two random guys coming into my house, stealing my food, and sleeping in my bed whenever they want. It’s great,” Behind him, Denki and Hanta both let out scoffs. No denial, though, because it's true.

A determined look came across Uraraka’s face, “I hope to make lifelong friendships like yours at UA,” Well, Miles hadn’t expected her to get so serious. He smiled at her, grabbing her shoulder, leaning in and dramatically clenching his fist.

“I believe in you, Uraraka,” Hanta let out a snort. He ignored it. “Anyone would be lucky to have you as a friend,” The pink-cheeked girl gave a firm nod.

“Shall we begin, my wards?!” Having All Might as a teacher was something Miles would have to get used to. Miles had only ever seen him on TV and merchandise. He was much louder in person. “It’s time for battle training!”

In short, the class was divided into teams of two, Miles with Yaoyorozu in team C. Teams A, D, B, I, H and J had already gone. Seeing how explosive the first fight had gotten, Miles watched with bated breath as All Might reached into the drawing boxes once again, pulling out two letters.

Shit.

Team G, Denki and Jiro, as heroes against team C. He side-eyed Denki, who was already giving him an evil grin. Shit. His ass was kicked.

“Villains, please enter first,” All Might’s signature smile did little to comfort Miles. What if he screwed up in front of his entire class? Shit, he was in for it.

“Do you think Kaminari will go easy on you, seeing as your friends?” Yaoyorozu held her chin in between two fingers as they climbed the staircases, already thinking hard about a plan.

Miles shook his head, “If anything, he’ll go harder on me. Sadistic asshole. My quirk is good for defense and offense. I could create a shield around the rocket?”

Yaoyorozu shook her head, “If you spend too much energy doing that, you’ll be useless if you need to take the offensive. You’d also need to be in the room with the rocket, and I can’t hold Kaminari or Jiro back by myself. They’d take me out too quickly, you’d lose concentration defending yourself, and we’d be vulnerable. It’s better that I defend the rocket and you try to hold them back,” Miles nodded, not at all surprised that she was able to come up with a plan so quickly. She was recommended for a reason.

“What can you make?” Yaoyorozu’s eyebrows furrowed before she grabbed the hem of her costume, opening it up shamelessly. Miles yelled out, finding the camera and quickly jumping in front of her for cover.

“Thank you, Moore,” He turned around, taking in the bundle of capture tape on the ground. “Sero’s tape seemed to work last time, so why not try it again?”

They quickly got to work, stringing the tape around the room to make it harder for team G to reach the rocket. Miles was busy tying his end around a pillar when All Might’s voice yelled in his ear to start. “Moore,” Yaoyorozu slapped something into his palm. Handcuffs. “For Kaminari. He’s the one I worry about the most,” Miles nodded fiercely, taking off into the hall in search of the heroes.

He waited for the familiar buzz of Denki nearby, jumping staircases, not even bothering to search the floors he wasn’t in. There was a rumble beneath his feet and he grabbed onto the railing to stop himself from falling as the building shook around him. That must have been from Jiro. How could they do that? Miles didn’t have much time to wonder because he felt it, just in range for him to sense. He quietly opened the door on the staircase landing, and a labyrinth was before him. He cursed as he shut the door behind him. Maybe he could feel Denki, but that didn’t mean he knew how to get to him. No other choice but to wait for him.

Miles slinked around the corner, just out of sight of anyone approaching. Those two were fast. He could already feel Denki down the hall, just like he had yesterday. Green light hit the bridge of his nose as he activated his quirk, jumping out from behind the wall with his arms outstretched. It was a short-lived moment of confidence before his hands were bound together by capture tape.

“Nice try!” Denki sang, holding onto his capture tape with one hand, “Jiro could hear you coming!”

“If you wanted to tie me up, you could have just asked nicely, Denks!”

That got him. Denki recoiled, a blush on his cheeks as he stuttered, clearly not expecting that. Even Jiro stared at him incredulously. Granted, Miles hadn’t really expected it from himself either. He’d never really fought with anyone before. Hanta was probably laughing right now, even if he couldn’t hear them. In Miles and Denki’s eight years of friendship, Miles had never managed to surprise Denki as much as he had now, and he used it to his advantage. Grabbing onto the tape, he pulled hard, knocking Denki into the wall behind him. This disoriented the blonde enough to let go, setting Miles free.

The building shook again as Jiro let out another wave of sound, their ear jack pierced into the wall. So that's how. This time, it sent Miles to his knees. They attempted to run past him, but Miles threw up a barrier in front of the door. Now he just had to hold concentration.

For ten minutes.

He shook off his worry, pulling out the handcuffs and lunging at Denki. He needed to take care of this problem first. Just as he grabbed onto his wrist, Denki discharged, which should have put Miles out of commission. In the past, a good shock from an excited Denki was enough to have him groaning in pain on the floor. This time, it did nothing, and Miles was able to slap the handcuffs on with ease. It wasn’t until after that he noticed what had happened. He and Denki stared at each other, bewildered.

“Handcuffs?!” Denki finally cried, breaking the tension, “That’s dirty!”

“I am a villain,” Miles smirked, “just for today,”

“You’re also a dumbass always,” Denki was looking over his shoulder at the door, and Miles stiffened. His surprise must have caused him to lose concentration because the barrier was gone and Jiro was nowhere in sight. He stuttered out a curse, pushing himself to his feet as Denki laughed at him from the ground. In an instant he was back on his knees as another sound wave rocked the building beneath his feet.

“The hero team wins!” All Might cried over their transceivers. Miles' face dropped, Denki’s laughter dying down to giggles.

“Now please get me out of these. It's embarrassing,” Denki pleaded, and Miles sighed, picking himself up again and making his way over to his friend. The blonde flexed his fingers when he was released, even though he hadn’t been in the cuffs for long. “I kicked your ass,”

“You kicked my ass,” Miles sighed, “I do love you, you know,”

Denki grinned brighter than the sun.

The four heroes-in-training stood in front of their teacher not ten minutes later, none of them receiving any serious injuries. Yaoyorozu looked particularly squashed, blaming herself for their loss. To be honest, Miles knows it was his fault. She trusted him to protect her and he failed. He was sporting his own squashed look himself.

“Now, who do you think was the real V.I.P. this round?” All Might asked the class. Miles noted that Midoriya was nowhere to be found as he scanned the faces of his classmates. He must still be in the nurse’s office.

“It was Jiro, wasn’t it?” Ashido offered, putting a finger to her chin. “Mochan was too busy flirting and got distracted, Yaoyorozu didn’t have a plan in case someone got through the tape, and Kaminari was captured. He got distracted, too,”

Their class agreed with Ashido, ignoring Miles' sputter, “I was not flirting!”

“Exactly! Couldn’t have said it better myself! Well done, Jiro!” All Might clapped, the rest of the class following. The applause eventually died out, the class turning their attention to the monitors as the last group went in.

Jiro startled when Miles grabbed their shoulder, “I underestimated you,” He admitted, “Good job,”

“Maybe if you weren’t busy flirting with your boyfriend, you would have won,” It was intended to be a joke, Miles could tell by the way Jiro’s lips curved up as they spoke.

Miles frowned, confused, “Denki’s not my boyfriend,”

It was Jiro’s turn to frown, “But you guys use first names? And that stuff you said to him…” Miles shook his head, still blushing from embarrassment when he remembered what he said. “What?! You talk like that with your friends?”

Miles covered his face, his voice pitched higher than normal, “It just slipped out! I’m not like that!”

“You’re so weird,” Jiro snorted, but Miles didn’t sense any malice in their tone. “I’ll keep on eye on you,”

“Don’t expect me to underestimate you ever again,” Miles clenched his fists in determination. Jiro smiled at him before joining their class.

“What did you say to Denki?” Hanta saddled over to Miles’ side, eyeing Jiro curiously as they walked away. “His reaction was priceless,”

Miles groaned, sinking into his hands again, “I said ‘If you wanted to tie me up, you could have just asked, Denki,” or something like that. It was stupid,”

Hanta laughed next to him, signature grin plastered on his face. “Really?”

“I know! I just said it in the heat of the moment! Give me a break!” Miles whined, which made Hants laugh more. The younger boy liked teasing too much. Miles secretly apologized to whoever had the pleasure of dating him in the future. “I just want to go home and watch a movie. You and Denki should come over,” I collapsed onto Hanta’s side, and the shorter boy held up his weight for him. Of course he did, he always caught Miles when he needed it.

Hanta hummed, throwing an arm over Miles’ shoulders, “You have counseling after school,'' Miles groaned again, burying his face in Hanta’s shoulder and wrapping his arms around his waist. Goddammit.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

APRIL 12, 2021

This was his first time in Recovery Girl’s room, and he couldn’t help but feel anxious. It was so much like a doctor's office. He was sitting on the bed closest to her computer waiting for Dr. Maruyama to arrive, picking at the skin around his fingernails. The old hero was tidying around the room as her day came to a close, mumbling under her breath. Something about Midoriya, he realized earlier, but he didn’t ask. She looked peeved enough talking about it to herself. He had passed the green-haired boy on his way into the room, congratulating him on his win during the battle trial. Miles felt a little better knowing he wasn’t the only kid in class whose quirk didn’t suit their body. It seemed to be worse for Midoriya, who came into his quirk late and had what appeared to be no control over it. Miles shuddered as he remembered his first days with his new quirk.

There was a gentle knock on the door and Recovery Girl waddled her way over to open it. Behind the door was Aizawa and a man with blue eyes behind round glasses and sky blue hair. The unknown man was in black slacks and a white shirt with a tie. That must be Maruyama. Miles stared at him, and when the man caught him, he gave a wave. The doctor waved back.

“Shota, welcome. This must be Dr. Maruyama,” Miles' eyebrows raised as Recovery Girl used his teacher’s first name. How long had she worked here? Midoriya probably knew.

“I’m not staying long, just introducing them,” Aizawa strode in, Maruyama close behind him. Now that he wasn’t behind Aizawa, Miles could see that the doctor had a large case in one hand.

“Moore, this is Dr. Maruyama,” Aizawa gestured towards the man, who gave Miles a gentle smile.

“Hi, you can just call me Maruchan, if you’d like,” Maruyama tapped on the case’s handle. “I’ve never counseled a child your age before,”

Miles shrugged, “Should be easier, then?”

Maruyama actually nodded, setting down the case at the end of the bed, “Erasure has also been a big help. He’s very observant,”

“That’s my cue to leave,” Aizawa turned to leave, grabbing the doorway and glaring at Miles right before he crossed the threshold. “Moore,” Miles gulped, “no more flirting on the field,”

Miles flushed red, mouth hung open in shock. How did he know? Did All Might tell him?! “I was not flirting!” Aizawa either didn't hear him or didn’t care because the door shut with an air of finality a moment later. Miles figured it was the latter.

Maruyama cleared his throat, zipping open the case. Miles turned to face him, pulling one of his legs onto the bed. “I wasn’t,”

“I believe you,” A chuckle laid beneath Maruyama’s voice, and Miles pulled his lips into a tight line. He decided to focus on the case instead. Inside were two machines, one of which had a needle. Miles' eyes widened. Maruyama must have noticed because he picked up the white box. It had a screen and a wire coming out the side that connected to the needled end. “This is an electromyograph. It measures the electrical signals your nerves use when they are at rest and when they are in use. For this test, I’ll be inserting the needle into the muscles of your forearm. It's a bit uncomfortable, but not painful,”

“Needles always hurt for some reason, even when I’m relaxed,” Miles’ voice shook as he spoke. How was he supposed to be a hero when he was scared of something as small as a needle?

Maruyama nodded, “I’m sorry about that. I’ll try my best to make this experience as comfortable as possible,” He pulled out the other machine, a small hand held monitor connected to four wires. “This is an EMG machine that will be used during your nerve conduction test. One of these wires is connected to a nerve stimulator that sends out small electrical shocks. At the end of the other wires are electrodes that measure how fast your body responds to that stimulation,”

Miles remembered when his stepdad had to have these tests done in his original reality. “Isn’t a neurologist supposed to handle this stuff?”

“I am a neurologist,” Dr. Maruyama pulled a chair over to the side of the bed, sitting down with his elbows on his knees. “I specialize in counseling children with electricity and energy based quirks. Nezu asked for me because you experience pain before losing sensation completely in your arms. That means it’s most likely either of those two,”

Aizawa really was observant. They were already able to figure out this much about him and he’d only been here a day. “Oh,” He said lamely.

“Have you applied any lotion or perfumes today?” Miles shook his head, “Good. We’ll do the nerve conduction test first,” Miles thanked whatever gods may exist.

The doctor stuck the three electrodes on, two beneath his thumb and one in the middle of his palm, and held the stimulator against the inside of his wrist. “It’ll tingle a bit. Don’t activate your quirk yet,” Miles nodded, feeling the tingling sensation start right after.

“Response is all good. The nerves don’t appear to be damaged,” Miles hadn’t even known that was a concern, “Activate your quirk for me,”

A green glow illuminated the space between them, soft wisps of smoke-like vapor wrapped around Miles’ fingers before their eyes. Miles’ would never get over how pretty it could be. He’d seen it cause so much destruction, so much pain that sometimes he forgot how it behaved when he was calm. Maruyama hummed. “What?”

“There’s no response,” The doctor's eyebrows furrowed. “I’m going to get the electromyograph ready.”

Thirty minutes later, Miles was gritting his teeth through the pain as he was instructed to move his arm in different directions. He was starting to get impatient, his leg jumping with his need to get up. Finally, Maruyama asked him to activate his quirk, and they started the process all over again. He hated this stupid uniform right now. Everything was getting too hot. There was an ache beneath his skin to curl in on himself, to be away from the world, if just for a moment.

“Thank you for cooperating,” Maruyama said, acknowledging Miles’ discomfort. “I want to try one more thing before we finish up. I want to use the stimulator with the needle electrode.” Miles couldn’t help but sigh heavily. They were almost done. “Keep your quirk activated,” Cold metal pressed against the inside of Miles’ wrist again. Maruyama let out a thoughtful hum. This time, Miles didn’t ask. “Okay, I’ve got it figured out. We’ll clean you up and I’ll explain,”

Five minutes later, Miles had an All Might bandaid on his forearm and a blue raspberry lollipop. This guy was really prepared for a four year old. Miles lamented that he no longer got lollipops at the doctor's office.

“Your quirk factors are probably the ulnar, median, and radial nerves,” Maruyama started, pulling out a paper from a pocket in the side of the case. “A normal human body isn’t able to withstand the amount of energy you’re able to put out at a time. I don’t think your body relies on itself to keep up. You probably store energy you come into contact with throughout your day to day life. Electrical, chemical, maybe even nuclear means,” Miles raised an eyebrow at the word nuclear, “It means the sun. Anyway, you store this energy, where it is turned into potential energy, which you use to create the vapor-like substance.

“The most likely reason your nerves didn’t respond to the electrical stimulation is you just absorbed it,” Miles remembered earlier today when Denki shocked him. “Your eyes light up when you activate it, which leads me to believe that energy is stored throughout your body, but only expressed through your hands. I can’t explain why you lose sensation. My best guess is that your nerves aren’t developed enough to handle your quirk. Were you born prematurely?”

“I actually don't know,” Miles said, tongue blue from his sucker. “I was adopted when I was five after I was found on the street,”

Maruyama’s eyebrows raised, “Well, maybe one day we’ll figure it out. Until then, I’m going to have to restrict your quirk use. A quirk of this nature can be dangerous to your nervous system's health,” Miles physically deflated. “Maybe if you and your support team are able to come up with something, I’d allow you to use your quirk without restrictions. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take as of right now,” He sat the paper down in front of Miles. A registry form.

He named his quirk energy manipulation. Not like he was known for being creative on the spot. He left Recovery Girl’s office after an hour and a half with a fully filled out registry form. Sighing, he turned to begin his way down the hall, stopping in his tracks when he found Denki and Hanta in the chairs outside. The blonde was leaning on their friend's shoulder, watching something on his phone together. They both perked up. “Finally!” Denki stretched, spreading his arms out, “That took forever,”

“What did you call it?” Hanta asked as he wrapped his headphones around his phone.

“Energy manipulation,” He shrugged. He didn’t want to tell them about what Dr. Maruyama had said. He didn’t want to worry them. “You guys waited for me?”

Hanta looked at Miles like he’d asked the dumbest question in the world. “Yeah, you said you wanted to watch a movie,”

“You hate walking home alone, too,” Denki added, standing up and grabbing his bag off the floor. “Let’s go, I’m starving,”

“Don’t steal my Kit-Kats,”

“I’m gonna steal your Kit-Kats,”
 
––––––
 
APRIL 13, 2021

It was early. He knew it had to be as he tried his best to escape his bed without waking up either of the boys next to him. Ever since they were little, they’d shared a bed during sleepovers. It was a little harder now, considering they were fifteen year old boys, but they managed on Miles’ full bed. Right now, he couldn’t sleep, and his mouth was dry. Miles was always closest to the wall, which meant he had to sit up and shuffle off the end. There was a moment when he was sure he’d woken up Denki, but the blonde just turned in his sleep, throwing an arm over Hanta’s chest. The brunette sighed in relief, standing up and walking to his door. To his surprise, there was already light shining in the gap at the bottom. It flooded his room when his door creaked open, and Miles quickly closed it behind him to avoid waking up his friends.

He shuffled out of the hallway into the kitchen, where the light was coming from. Sitting on his usual spot on the counter was Sam, a sandwich in hand. They made searing eye contact, Sam still chewing, before Miles’ checked the time on the stove. “It’s two a.m.”

Sam hummed sarcastically, clearly not giving a shit. “No way. What are you doing up? Normally you sleep like a baby when you share a bed with your little buddies,” Miles flipped him off, feet scuffing against the floor as he made his way over to the fridge.

“I’m thinking,”

“About what?”

Miles pressed his forehead against the fridge with a loud

thunk

, groaning. “Damn counselor said I’m not allowed to use my quirk or some shit. That’s pretty much what he said,”

Sam swallowed, not appearing to be bothered at all by this news. “Why?”

Miles groaned again, “My quirk doesn’t suit my body, which sucks because my quirk factors are my nerves, so it’s too dangerous to overuse,” He held his hand up, activating his quirk and watching as it traveled through the air. “I don’t know what to do,”

Sam was staring at him expressionless, sandwich still in hand. “That sucks,” He offered. It wasn’t very helpful. His little brother unceremoniously jumped off the counter, grabbing his plate and sliding over to the entrance of the hallway with his socks. “Go to sleep, Miles,” Then he was gone, leaving Miles alone in the kitchen. The dismissive response made something like hopelessness bloom in his chest. He could care less about a glass of water right now. Leaning against the counter, he flipped the switch to the lights off.

In darkness, he made his way back to his room as silently as possible. His door creaked as usual when he entered. The street lamps outside illuminated his room just enough to cascade his friends in a soft glow. Miles crawled onto his bed, trying to slot himself back into his usual spot.

“Milo?” Hanta’s eyes fluttered open, confused and cloudy with sleep.

“Go to sleep, Han,” Miles whispered softly, laying his head on his friend's chest.

“M’kay,” Hanta was out again in an instant. Miles grabbed the hand Denki had flung over him, pressing the boy’s palm to his cheek as he sunk into Hanta. He’d always liked to be held here, it made him feel like a kid again. Here, with Hanta’s heartbeat under his ear and Denki’s hand against his face, he fell asleep.
 
––––––
 
“What sort of things is All Might teaching you?” A microphone was thrusted into Denki’s face, the reporter breaching the blonde’s space. Miles and Hanta each grabbed onto one of Denki’s shoulders, pulling him back.

“Stuff,” Miles spat, dragging his friend through the threshold of the gate. “We’re trying to get to class!”

“Is that how you’re gonna treat them when we’re heroes?” Hanta asked, waiting for Miles to tie his shoes. “You can’t be rude to the press like that, man,”

“Yes, I can be. Interrupting my walk to school. They better not be there when school gets out,”

“Don’t talk like that. You sound like Bakugo,” Denki kicked his foot.

Miles pouted, “Don’t be mean to me. I’m fragile, you know,”

“Sure,” Hanta snorted.

“I am! My counselor said so,”

“The quirk counselor,”

“Still a counselor,”

Now that he’d known him for two days, Aizawa was still just as scary. Even here in their classroom, Miles’ was on edge, wondering what his teacher’s next move would be. He wondered if a part of him would always be scared of Aizawa. In April two years from now, would he still look at Miles like he could see right through him? Would Miles still freeze to the spot every time he caught the man’s eye? He hoped not.

“Good work yesterday. I’ve looked over your evaluations,” Aizawa zeroed in on Bakugo, “Bakugo, grow up already. Stop wasting your talent,”

The idea of getting bitched out in front of the whole class sent a wave of tension crashing over them all. Thankfully, everyone had time to prepare themselves except for Midoriya, who Aizawa immediately turned his attention to, barely listening to Bakugo’s small, “Got it.”

“Moore,” Miles felt an air of finality settle around him as he prepared himself. Aizawa wasn’t just a teacher, he was a hero. He was everything Miles wanted to be, looking at him when he was at his weakest and picking him apart. Oh. Maybe that’s why he was scared of Aizawa. “learn to keep your concentration and detach from your emotions. Not every villain you encounter will be a stranger,”

For the second day in a row, Aizawa said something to Miles that turned his world completely upside down. Memories of his life before he was found on that street flooded his head in an instant. He swallowed, but the memories didn’t go down with it. He can’t cry in class. Not right now. Please don’t cry. The likelihood that he’d even see

him

again was slim to none, yet he couldn’t stop thinking about it now. He couldn’t see him again, he’d lose it. He can’t lose it like he used to.

Shifting was a strange thing. He’d shifted knowing that he’d scripted this. He should be prepared, maybe even excited to get some action. Instead, he was terrified.

Shit, he wasn’t paying attention. Aizawa had made his way down to Denki, who was given similar criticism to Miles. When their teacher moved onto Kirishima, Denki looked over his shoulder. Quickly, Miles covered his head with his hands and listened intently to Aizawa’s voice. He couldn’t let Denki know how much he’d been affected, and Miles’ state was always written across his face.

“Now, on to homeroom business,” Aizawa finally moved on, setting his stack of papers on his desk. “Sorry for the sudden announcement, but today you’ll pick a class president,”

The mention of a normal school activity lightened the mood tremendously. Half of the class jumped out of their seats, raising their hands as they volunteered themselves for the position. Miles sat back in his seat, already thinking far too seriously about this. Something in his gut told him Yaoyorozu. His thoughts took him back to yesterday, when she’d listened in on his conversation with Jiro. He turned around in his chair towards her. She flinched back, blinking at him in surprise. Miles’ head tilted when he saw that her hand wasn’t raised.

“You should do it,” He grinned at her, resting his forearm on her desk. “I noticed you listening to Jiro and I yesterday to make sure I wasn’t harassing them. That was really cool of you!”

Yaoyorozu blushed, looking sheepishly at the ground and covering her mouth with her hand, “I didn’t mean to insinuate you’d do anything,”

“No, I thought it was awesome. Little acts of heroism like that prove that you’re already a hero,” Yaoyorozu pulled away a bit from her hand, awe crossing her face. “That’s the kind of reliability we need,”

Yaoyorozu gave him another one of her beautiful smiles, and he blushed just like he did last time. “Thank you, Moore. I’ll try,”

“You can call me Miles. I don’t mind,”

“Only if you call me Yaomomo. Everyone called me that in middle school. Yaoyorozu’s kind of a mouth full,”

“Sure thing, Yaomomo,” He didn’t stop grinning, even when he turned back around in his seat. UA was full of so many new friends. Joy warmed him from the inside out. He didn’t care what anyone said. Making friends was the best part about the hero course! If it was as difficult as everyone said, he knew he couldn’t do it without them.

To his delight, he discovered that Hanta had been watching him. Miles closed his eyes, sending his best friend the brightest smile he could muster. When he opened them, Hanta had a small, fond smile of his own, rolling his eyes. Friends were the best.

“Everyone!” With his presence alone, Iida silenced the class in an instant. “Leading the many is a task of heavy responsibility! Ambition alone will not do! The position of class president demands the trust of its constituents!

“For this reason, I propose that we let this decision be decided by a vote!”

“We haven’t known each other long enough to trust each other, though,” Asui was sitting in their seat, but their arms were still bent as usual. Miles wondered why that was.

“Yeah, and everyone’ll just vote for themselves!” Kirishima talked passionately with his hands.

“Kaminari has known Moore and Sero his whole life,” Jiro added, “That gives him an unfair advantage,”

“I would never!”

“Absolutely not,”

Denki swiveled around, glaring at his friends as Jiro laughed into their hand.

“Kirishima, that is precisely why anyone who managed to earn multiple votes will be best suited for the job!” Miles was becoming very aware of just how much Iida yelled. A headache was starting at the front of his head. “Will you allow this, Sensei?!”

“I don’t care, just make it quick,” Aizawa was already retreating into his yellow sleeping bag.

When all was said and done, Midoriya and Yaomomo were tied with three votes.

“Who the hell voted for Deku!” Bakugo roared, and Miles ignored him. How were they going to settle this?

“I’ll take the position of vice president,” Yaomomo spoke before anyone could say anything about breaking the tie, “I don’t mind,” Miles brow furrowed in confusion, but she didn’t look at him.

“I know Midoriya’s got the right stuff for this!” Kirishima also yelled a lot. Miles’ headache took over the left side of his head, throbbing right behind his eye.

“And Yaoyorozu was pretty cool yesterday, analyzing the battle training and all!” Denki added.
 
––––––
 
Miles kept his eye on Midoriya as class 1A made their way through the lunch line. The green-haired boy was a couple people ahead of him, Iida and Uraraka at his side. His posture was strange, like he didn’t know if he wanted to fold in on himself or stand straight back.

“Think Midoriya can handle being class president?” He bumped into Hanta’s hip with his own to make sure he had his attention.

“Yeah, actually. He was really cool during battle training yesterday, standing up to Bakugo like that,” Hanta bumped him back, and Miles melted at the returned affection. They sat down at the same spot they did yesterday. Right now, it was just the three of them as they waited for their other classmates. “Who’d you vote for?”

“Yaomomo.”

“Yaomomo?”

“That’s what she asked me to call her,” Miles shrugged, “Ask before you do it. I didn’t mean to say it in front of other people,”

Denki hummed, “You’re already making so many friends,”

Miles lit up, “Yeah! It’s great! I love our class already. I feel like we won the jackpot with them,”

“Don’t ditch us now that you’ve made friends with the cool recommendation student,” Hanta joked.

“How could I ever? You two are too precious to me,” Miles played along, throwing his orange to Hanta. He always ordered one just for him.

Kirishima slid his tray onto the table at the same time as Ashido, sitting in their usual spots next to each other. “I’m surprised you guys didn’t vote for each other,” He started as soon as he sat down, “I was sure you would,”

“Why would I vote for these freaks?” Miles asked, but he couldn’t hide his smile, as usual. Hanta tossed a piece of his orange peel onto Miles’ lap, the brunette sputtering and flicking it off, “Get that devil fruit away from me!”

“You’re being overdramatic,” Hanta replied simply, which made Miles sputter in disbelief even more.

“You guys are so mean to each other, even though you’re all really close,” Ashido leaned against the table with her chin on her hand. “It makes me miss my friends! I wish we’d stayed close, Kirishima,”

“How long have you known him?” Denki was intrigued now. Miles wasn’t any different.

“Since we were kids. I don’t know what grade,” Ashido seemed stiffer now, like she was being very deliberate with what she said.

“Don’t look so tense. I don’t mind them knowing,” Kirishima bumped her elbow with his own. “I started hanging out with the boys in our class more after I transitioned. Then, in middle school we were in completely different classes, so we just grew apart,”

“Really? It’s so cool that you guys are together again,” Denki offered Kirishima a smile, and the redhead returned it. Despite how confident he played, Miles could tell that he looked relieved. Miles and Hanta shared a look.

“I’m technically genderfluid, but I don’t really care what people call me,” Hanta shrugged, “As long as they’re not making fun of me,”

“And I’m somewhere on the nonbinary spectrum, but that stuff stresses me out, so I just say I’m cis,” Miles added.

“Me too! There’s, like, hundreds of genders. How am I supposed to pick one?” Denki cried around his mouth full of food.

“That makes six trans kids in this class already,” Miles huffed out a laugh, “I’m starting to wonder if the whole class is,”

Kirishima rubbed the back of his neck, “I was worried you guys would ask weird questions. I get that sometimes,”

Ashido gawked in horror, “Gross!”

“Aren’t we taught specifically not to?” One of Denki’s eyebrows was raised, disgust written across his face. All of them were thinking back to the gender and sexuality unit of their sex ed classes in middle school. Everyone was always explicitly advised to keep comments and questions to themselves unless they were close with the person and asked for consent. Some people just didn’t listen.

All five of them jumped in their seats when a loud, obnoxious siren roared across the campus. “Security level three has broken!” Miles had no idea what that meant, but seeing the panic that ensued amongst their third year peers gave him a pretty good idea. “All students please evacuate in an orderly fashion!”

“What’s going on? What does level three mean?” Kirishima shouted to a student running past them.

“Someone’s broken in! Come on, we gotta get out!” She replied, still running.

All five of them shared a look before booking it towards the exit. In everyone’s haste, the exit had grown into a chaotic mob. Miles quickly lost his friends in the mess, and he could swear that he’s seen Midoriya on the ground. “Everyone needs to calm down!” It was no use. Everything around him was loud, every second threatening to send him over the edge. His headache returned full-force, throbbing behind his eye. He practically snarled, standing to his full height to look for a way out. To his relief, there was what appeared to be a closet close by. Forcing his way through the crowd, not caring if he was being rude for shoving, he was pressed against the door when he finally made it. His hand grasped at the handle, turning it and falling into the closet. The door slammed shut and he closed his eyes, sliding down the door. He swallowed.

With his eyes shut, Miles didn’t know what room he found himself in, and he didn’t really care. What was curious was the familiar hum that reached his ears once he’d calmed down enough to pay attention. He had no idea why it sounded so…normal. Opening his eyes, he felt all the air leave his lungs once again. Just in time to watch it disappear, a black, spiraling void was before him. His next exhale was choked, like he’d been punched in the stomach, pressing impossibly closer to the door. Was that who he thought it was? Had

he

been right in front of him?

Close enough to touch?

Miles sunk down to the floor, staring into the space where the void had once been. They wouldn’t come back, he knew this, but he couldn’t turn away. Miles wouldn’t give him the opportunity to touch him, not even if he could hear Denki and Hanta calling out for him. The door opened a minute later, Denki standing on the other side.

“Holy shit, Miles, I thought you were gone,” Denki laughed nervously, “You missed it, man. Iida saved the day. Why are you on the ground?”

Miles didn’t answer, sucking in a breath when he finally let his eyes leave their spot to look at Denki. The blonde frowned, stance tentative. “Whoa, what happened?”

“I think I saw who broke in,”
 
––––––
 
“Sensei, I need to talk to you,”

Maybe if the circumstances weren’t so grim, it would be hard to take Aizawa seriously when his face was the only thing visible in his sleeping bag. Especially when he looked as surprised as he was right now. A hush fell over their class at the serious tone of voice. Shit, everyone was looking at him. “Let’s speak in the hall,” Aizawa nodded, the sleeping bag zipping open.

Miles wasted no time after the door shut, “When the alarm went off, everyone panicked around the exit. I went into a closet to get out of the chaos, and I saw something,”

Aizawa’s eyes narrowed, “What?”

“It was like a black portal. It was only for a second, but I know I saw it. My eyes were closed when I walked in, so I didn’t see who actually broke in. I’m sorry,” Miles lowered his head, staring at the ground.

“That doesn’t matter. Are you okay?”

Miles stuttered, “Um, yeah, I’m fine,”

“Good. I’ll tell Nezu everything. I trust your class president can handle you all for a few minutes,” Aizawa turned and walked away, leaving behind a bewildered Miles to do all of the explaining.

“What happened?"

“Where is Sensei?”

“Is everything okay?”

“Fellas,” Miles held his hands in front of him, “everything is fine. Sensei went to see Nezu. We’ll be fine. Class pres is in charge until he gets back,”

“R-Right!” Midoriya stammered at the front of the room, Yaomomo on his left. “We have to choose the other student council members, but before that,” Midoriya shook his head, righting himself, “I believe that Iida is better suited to be class president. We all saw how well he led everyone in that crisis. I think he’d be perfect for the job,”

“Yeah, sounds good to me! You really showed your stuff back there, Iida,” While Kirishima was loud, Miles also noticed that he seemed to shine every time he spoke. Who was he to hate something as passionate as Kirishima’s voice? He’d get used to it.

Iida stood, raising his hand in the air, “I will accept the job then!”

Miles smiled as his classmates cheered Iida on. That was until Bakugo turned to him, Midoriya’s seat empty so that they could speak. “Why did Aizawa go to Nezu after you spoke to him?”

Freezing, Miles tried to keep his cool. The realization came to him that Bakugo hadn’t talked to anyone in class like this before. Hearing what his voice sounded like when he wasn’t yelling, Miles thought it actually sounded kind of nice. Maybe everything about Bakugo was beautiful when he wasn’t such an asshole. “I told him something important. Nothing to be worried about,”

Bakugo raised a brow at him, “Nothing?”

“Nope. We’re good,”

Bakugo stared at him until the cheers of their classmates died down. The blonde turned back in his seat, rolling his eyes and letting out a

tch

. Miles cocked his head to the side. Was Bakugo worried? Miles never thought he’d see the day. The brunette busied himself by watching as Iida took Midoriya’s place at the front of the class. Miles drew his bottom lip into his mouth, his chest laden with guilt. He shouldn’t have assumed that Bakugo was incapable of being human. Some hero he was.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

APRIL 13, 2021
Just three more hours, Miles thought as he yawned into his hand again. He hadn’t slept very well again last night. The only reason he was awake now was his focus on Denki across the room. The blonde always buzzed a bit more when he was excited, and he had a good reason to be right now. They had more basic training today. “For today’s basic training, this time All Might, myself, and one other will supervise,” Miles could feel Denki’s energy perk up at the mention of another new teacher. Miles smiled, feeling very grateful that he hadn’t fallen asleep in class today thanks to Denki. Not that the other boy knew how much help he was.“What’re we doing, exactly?” Hanta asked, not bothering to wait for Aizawa to call on him despite raising his hand.Aizawa didn’t seem to care, “Preparing you for disaster relief, from fires to floods,”“Rescue training,” Miles mumbled. Shit. Another tough day. He couldn’t help but sigh.“I’m not done,” Aizawa said, and the entire class immediately shut up “It’s up to you whether you wear your costumes or not. Some of them are ill-suited for this sort of activity. The training site is a bit remote, so we’ll be going by bus. That’s all. Get ready.” –––––– Later on the bus, Kirishima clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You seem so down, man. Get pumped! This kinda stuff is what being a hero is about,”Miles sighed, slouching in his chair, ignoring Iida telling him to sit up, “You’re right. I’m not really the type of person that can ‘get pumped’, though,”“Yeah, you usually feed off other people's energy. Maybe it’s because of your quirk?” Hanta offered, shrugging.“Do I? I never noticed,”“You’ve always been like a sunflower. You just soak up the rays of whoever the sun is to you,” Denki added, “Someone’s quirk usually affects their personality. You can absorb my electricity and stuff. Maybe that’s it,”“Yeah, maybe,” Miles wondered if that’s how it worked when someone’s quirk wasn’t really theirs.“That sort of simple telekinesis you got is awesome! You can do a lot of cool stuff with it,” Kirishima raised one of his arms, hardening from his elbow to his fingertips, “Not like my hardening. I’m good in a fight, but it’s really boring,”“I think it’s really cool, though!” Miles sat up in his seat again. Like a sunflower, he turned to Kirishima, stealing some of the red head's energy, raising his fists at his sides. “You look unbreakable, reliable. It’d make me feel safe. That’s what being a hero’s really about!”Kirishima stared at him before his face broke out into a grin, “You always this good with words?”“No!” Miles pumped both his fists into the air, eyes closed as Denki and Hanta laughed next to him.“Stop it with the cheesy bullshit, I’m gonna vomit!” Bakugo yelled from his seat, Jiro leaning away from their spot next to him.“You!” Miles pointed dramatically at Bakugo, “You’re strong enough to rely on, but you’re so unhinged that nobody can!”Bakugo sputtered, “The fuck did you just say to me, glowstick?!”“Exactly my point,” Miles said matter of fact, a smug smile on his lips.“Yeah, okay, how about I pound you?!”“We’re here. Look sharp, now,”“Yes, Sensei!”They stopped in front of a large, domed building. Denki stopped to stare at it, taking it in before Hanta elbowed him, the blonde following the rest of the class inside. That’s where they met Thirteen, a hero known for his work on rescue missions.“There’s the flood zone, the landslide zone, the conflagration zone, et cetera,” He started, pointing to each location as he spoke. “I built this facility myself. I call it the ‘Unforeseen Simulation Joint’!”“Thirteen, where’s All Might? I thought he was meeting us here,” The two heroes talked amongst themselves for a moment before Aizawa let out a hefty sigh, “So be it. Let’s get started,”“Before we do,” Thirteen interrupted, holding up a finger, “I have one or two points. Or three. Four…” He cleared his throat, “As I’m sure many of you are aware, my quirk is called Black Hole. It can suck in and tear apart anything,”“And you’ve used it to save people in all sorts of disasters,”“Indeed, however, my power could easily kill,” The class stiffened, air tense with a newfound seriousness, “I’ve no doubt there are some among you with similar abilities,“In our super-powered society, the use of quirks is heavily restricted and monitored. It may seem that this system is a stable one, but we must never forget that it only takes one wrong move with an uncontrollable quirk for people to die,”Miles' breath hitched, thinking back to the days when he first had his quirk. The one time he’d ever hurt another person with it. “During the quirk apprehension test, you learned of your own hidden potential. Through battle training, you experienced the danger that your respective quirks can pose to others. This class will show you a new perspective! You will learn how to utilize your quirks to save lives. Your powers are not meant to inflict harm. I hope you leave here today with the understanding that you’re meant to help people,” Thirteen bowed, “That is all! Thank you for listening,”Uraraka gushed over Thirteen as Iida applauded. Miles felt determination fill his spirit, fists clenching by his hips. This is what he came to UA for, to learn to take this quirk and turn it into something good, something that was able to help people.“Great, first off–” Aizawa suddenly cut himself off. Miles cocked his head in confusion until he heard it too. The same familiar hum reached his ears in the quiet that followed Aizawa’s voice. Miles was unable to see who would come through that void, his vision obscured just so by Shoji. He refused to take any chances, and while his blood ran cold, he moved. His eyes flared bright green, arms raising as a barrier surrounded him and all of his classmates. All of them turned to him, surprise evident on all of their faces. They had no idea what was facing them on the other side of that portal.“Huddle up and don’t move!” Aizawa shouted, turning to his class and barely taking a second to process the green dome over them all. “Thirteen, protect the students! Make sure Moore doesn’t lose concentration!” Miles didn’t have it in him to be flattered by the trust Aizawa placed on him to keep his classmates safe.“I thought you told us we didn’t have to worry!” Bakugo yelled. The explosive blonde’s eye widened in surprise when he was quickly shushed by Kirishima. “Didn’t you hear Aizawa Sensei?!” Kirishima sounded genuinely angry.Miles gasped, holding out his hand to Denki, “Juice me up, babe,”At first, Denki looked appalled by what Miles just said until he finally got it and grabbed his friend's hand, activating his quirk. The barrier around them glowed more opaque, everything tinted lime green. Hanta’s face was a mixture of amazement and horror, “This is insane,”“Nobody move!” It’s not like any of them had a choice. “Those are villains!”“Thirteen and Eraser Head, is it?” Holy shit. Oh no. Miles sunk down, eyes shut tightly. He recognised that voice. This couldn’t be happening. “Miles, we’re here,” Denki whispered to him, kneeling down. One of the blonde’s hands unclasped his to place it on the left side of his face, right where Miles liked to be held. The older boy let out a shaky breath before he grit his teeth. He couldn’t get distracted. His class was relying on him. This is what being a hero is about!“According to the staff schedule I received yesterday, All Might is supposed to be here,”There was a second voice that followed that Miles had never heard before, “Where is he? We’ve come all this way, and brought so many playmates…All Might…the Symbol of Peace…is he here?“I wonder if some dead kids will bring him here?”“Thirteen, begin evacuation and try calling the school! One of these villains must be jamming the sensors. Kaminari, try using your quirk to signal for help,”“Got it!” Miles nodded, letting Denki let go,“But Sensei,” Midoriya cried, “You can’t fight that many alone! Even you can’t nullify all their quirks!”“No good hero is a one-trick pony. Thirteen, take care of them,” With that, Aizawa leaped down the stairs right towards the danger. “That was really cool, but we gotta get out of here! My barrier can move with us!” Miles called to his classmates, all of them turning and running towards the door. Their path was blocked by a black mass, and Miles froze. He was right in front of him. The barrier lost some of its strength, turning translucent. Shit. Next to him, Hanta reached out, grabbing onto the older boy's arm. Miles didn’t know who the gesture was meant to soothe.“Even you can’t stop me, Sora,” Don’t call me that. Please don’t call me that. Miles hoped his peers didn’t know Kurogiri was talking to him. “We are the League of Villains. Forgive our audacity, but today, we’ve come here to UA High School to end the life of All Might, the Symbol of Peace.“We believed he would be here today, but it appears his schedule was revised? No matter, my role remains unchanged,”The darkness wrapped around them. Breath trapped in his lungs, the barrier flickered away, terror tying tight around his core as memories flashed across the front of his mind. Not again. This can’t happen again. The boy leaped into action, sending out a blast of green light towards where he knew Kurogiri’s body would be. It made contact the same moment as an explosion was heard, and he hadn’t even noticed that Bakugo moved at all, Kirishima by his side. It felt like an ocean was in his ears, nothing but his blood rushing all around him. He could feel his chest rising and falling rapidly as his breaths came and went, but he couldn’t actually hear them.Thirteen pointed at the three boys, and Miles cocked his head to the side again. This whole not hearing thing was very inconvenient. When he came to, he was falling. He didn’t even have time to scream before he hit water. Water went up his nose, eyes stinging as he forced them open. Was this the flood zone? It had to be. He was alone for now in open water. Then, someone grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him to the surface. He coughed, waterlogged, and he groaned. “Asui,” He whispered more to himself than his classmate. “Call me Tsuyu,” They said before throwing him.He grunted as he landed hard on the deck, Midoriya running over to watch Tsuyu climb aboard. “Thanks, Asui,” the green-haired boy breathed, exasperated.“Call me Tsuyu,” They repeated, “We seem to be in trouble here,”“They know our schedule,” Midoriya thought out loud, “The simplest explanation is that they caused that media rush the other day in order to get their intel. It’s like Todoroki said, they’ve been waiting for this chance, and they prepared for it well,”“They're here to kill All Might,” Miles hissed, “How are they gonna do that? He’s invincible,”“Miles,” The boy chose not to correct their use of his first name. Might as well. “They must’ve found a way to kill him. Otherwise, why would they come here to get beaten?”Miles felt his face drop, eyes wide, “They can’t. If they can kill All Might, then…”“That brat!”All three of the green-coded teens shared a look before they rushed over to the side of the boat, looking over the water. There were about a dozen villains surfacing, swimming towards them. Miles felt his heart leap in his throat.“I’ll kill her!”“You’ll kill them , asshole, get it right!” Miles yelled without thinking, immediately regretting it when the villain cursed at him. He’d learned quite a few things about himself these past couple days. One of them was that he scolded and screamed in the face of danger, which was never as cool as it sounded. Midoriya was muttering next to Tsuyu. Miles didn’t bother trying to listen, too busy wondering how the hell they were gonna get out of this.“If they…” Midoriya stopped himself, and Miles could see the gears turning in his mind, “If there’s even a chance that they have a way to beat All Might, then we have a fight to win!”Miles' brow furrowed, “How are we gonna do that? If these guys are tough enough to kill All Might, how can we stop them?”“Look down there,” Asui instructed, pointing to one of the villains, “These guys are clearly suited for an aquatic environment, right? They must have been recruited knowing about USJ’s different environments,”“Exactly,” Midoriya interrupted, “Their intel told them that much, at least. But with all their careful planning, one odd point sticks out. They zapped Asu-Tsuyu into the flood zone!”Miles' eyes widened, the realization hitting him, “They don’t know about our quirks. That’s why they scattered us! They want to overwhelm us with numbers,”Midoriya nodded, humming in approval, “They got us beat when it comes to numbers and experience, so we have to exploit the fact that they know nothing about our quirks,”“I can jump really high,” Tsuyu offered up helpfully, “and stick to walls. My tongue can stretch to a maximum of twenty meters. Also, I can spit up my stomach to clean it,” Miles grimaced, “and secrete a poisonous fluid. I say poisonous, but it really just stings a little. Those last two aren’t really helpful. Just ignore them,”“I’m able to store energy I come into contact with throughout the day to make that green vapor you guys have seen before. I can use it to make shields, or barriers. I can also lift up to six hundred pounds with it. If I build up the energy in my hands, I can blast against the ground and push myself into the air, so I can kind of fly,” Miles said, pinching his chin between his forefinger and thumb, “but my arms lose sensation when I overuse it. After that barrier I made earlier, I probably don’t have much more to give,”“I have super strength, but it messes me up immediately after using it. It’s a double edged sword,”All of them were flung over as the boat rocked, splitting down the middle as one of the villains ripped it apart. Miles yelled, grabbing onto the hand Midoriya offered him to stop him from sliding into the water.“That boat’ll go under in less than a minute. Once you’re in the water, you’re chum!”“Shit!” Miles let go of Midoriya’s hand, righting himself. “The fuck do we do?!”“‘The moment when the enemy thinks they’ve won represents your best chance,’” Midoriya said, ignoring Miles’ confused huh . “All Might said that during a documentary interview. It’s the only way we can win!” Suddenly, Midoriya grabbed onto the railing, screaming as he vaulted over it. Miles and Tsuyu watched in horror as he lunged at the villains in the water. “Go to hell!” This kid was fucking insane.“Midoriya!” Miles finally found it within himself to call out to his friend, running over the railing the younger boy had just jumped over. There was another loud crash as Midoriya flicked his finger, sending the water outward from the impact, along with all the villains.“Moore! Tsuyu!” Miles smiled, quickly understanding Midoriya’s plan, grabbing onto Tsuyu and sending a blast to the ground. They rose high into the air, Tsuyu’s tongue darting out and wrapped around Midoriya’s waist, pulling him with them. The water rushed back to the center behind them, the villains crashing together.“Nice one, kid!” Miles called out right before they crashed into the water themselves, thankfully far away from the disoriented villains they’d left behind. “What should we do now?” He asked when they’d all found their way above the water.“Right,” Midoriya sighed, “Right now, calling for help is our top priority. We should follow the shoreline and make for the exit, avoiding the plaza altogether. Looks like Aizawa Sensei is drawing most of them to the plaza. There’s so many of them. He knew that, and he still jumped in to protect us,”“We’re gonna help, right?” Miles asked outright, wondering if they were thinking the same thing.“I’m not saying we dive into the fight,” Midoriya said sternly, “Just that we watch for an opening, and do what we can to lighten Sensei’s load,”Miles and Tsuyu agreed, starting their quiet wade towards the action. As they got closer, Miles felt his insides war within him. Something wasn’t right, he could feel it deep in his gut. He didn’t have the heart to say anything to his classmates, afraid that he would look weak. Then he spotted him.He looked skinny now, just like he always was. His hair was unkempt and gray, standing over their teacher, grabbing onto him. Miles felt his blood run cold as he watched the skin of Aizawa’s arm crack, just like theirs had all those years ago. No. This can’t be happening. It can’t be him.“Midoriya, we have to do something,” He whispered so quietly he wondered if the younger boy had even heard him.“Wait,” Midoriya, reached behind Tsuyu to grab onto Miles’ arm, “He just said he’d leave. Something doesn’t feel right…To go to all this trouble and then leave on a whim…” Miles swallowed, grounding himself with the weight of Midoriya’s hand on his wrist.The man rushed forward, arm stretching in front of him as he quickly reached the shore, reaching out for Tsuyu. Miles' head turned, watching on in horror. Memory after memory of that night came to him in an instant. Once again, he couldn’t do a thing. They were going to die in front of him, just like the rest of them. He said something, he could feel his mouth moving, but all he could hear was his blood rushing. All he could see was that night. He felt sticky all over the right side of his face just thinking about it. Then, the hand stopped, just barely touching Tsuyu’s face. It was him. It was Tenko. It had to be.“You really are cool, Eraser Head,”That was enough to snap Miles out of it, face twisting in anger as he reached out with his own hand, “Get away from them!” The blast was sudden, sending the man flying back, sliding against the ground. Midoirya flared as well, yelling as he raised his fist.“You…” Miles shuddered. He could hear the smile on Tenko’s voice. “I wondered if you’d be here. Nomu,”A shadow fell over them all, Midoriya’s punch connecting with a monster. The monster clutched onto the boy’s arm, it’s fist encircling Midoriya’s entire forearm. Miles didn’t have time to react, because he froze when Tenko moved to approach them, Tsuyu throwing her tongue out to try and catch Midoriya. Tenko’s hand was so close to his face. He wondered if this would be it. Would he die because he was too scared to move? When his blood mixed with the water, would his hands be the only thing left behind? A loud bang rang across the USJ, and once again, Tenko stopped right before he could touch someone. Miles felt the prickle of pins and needles start in his forearms. Shit, he would go numb at this rate, and he still needed to help everyone get out of here. Just two days later, he was already breaking doctors orders. He rushed forward, helping Midoriya carry Aizawa so as to not strain himself further.They’d made it a relative distance away when Midoriya looked up at him, “Moore, Tsuyu, take Aizawa Sensei for me!”“What? What are you doing?” Miles frantically asked, but Midoriya was already gone. “Shit!”“Moore,” Tsuyu croaked, “focus on Aizawa Sensei. He’s relying on you,” How did they know exactly what to say to him? He nodded, determined, before starting their way up the stairs. –––––– “Besides the one with the messed up legs, looks like they’re all unharmed,” The detective said, looking them all over.“Guess those lowlifers were spread out, waiting for us,”“Looking down on us ‘cuz we’re kids,” Kirishima nodded. Miles picked at the skin around his nails nervously. They’d taken Aizawa from him as soon as he and Asui made it to the entrance. Worry spread deep in his chest for his teacher. He hadn’t seen a single thing he’d been through. What if he couldn’t be a hero anymore? He grabbed onto Denki’s hand to stop himself from picking, and the blonde gave him a gentle squeeze.“Detective,” Asui asked, “what about Aizawa Sensei?”“Both arms were smashed to splinters. His face is also fractured,” The detective replied, phone to his ear. Miles grimaced, and Denki gave him another gentle squeeze. “Thankfully, he doesn’t have any brain damage, but his eye sockets have been pulverized. There’s a chance a chance he may suffer long-term loss of vision, or so I’ve heard,”Miles’ nose wrinkled. Was he even allowed to tell them all this? He didn’t want to hear any more. “I’m gonna go find Hanta,” He whispered to Denki, letting go of his hand.Miles found his friend leaning against the wall next to the entrance, staring at the ground. He looked up at the brunette as he approached, leaning against the wall next to him. “You okay?” Miles asked.“Are you?” Hanta snorted. “I heard you stood up for Asui. You couldn’t gotten hurt by that…whatever that thing was,”Miles sighed through his nose, pressed his forehead to Hanta’s shoulder with a loud thunk . He’d hit his head against the shoulder pieces of Hanta’s costume, but he didn’t care. Hanta would get the message.He did, wrapping his arms around Miles and pulling him into a tight hug. “Is something wrong?”Miles considered telling him everything. It wasn’t the first time he had. The threat of Hanta hating him, maybe even being scared of him, was too great, so he shook his head. He returned the hug, holding onto Hanta like his life depended on it. Maybe right now, it did.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

APRIL 13, 2021
Even sitting around the coffee table in Hanta’s living room, playing Uno, Miles found himself on edge. He’d been on edge ever since he saw Tenko. Screw him, he hadn’t seen him in ten years. Just a couple days ago, he thought he would never see him again. Then he just showed up, and Miles was wondering what that meant. Was this all part of some greater plan, or was Miles just paranoid? He didn’t think he could trust his gut with this one.“I will physically pick your scrawny ass up and toss you out our window if you put down another draw four,” Hanta threatened, but Denki did so anyway. The black-haired boy did not throw Denki out a window, of course, but the sigh he released was a borderline growl. Miles chewed on his lip.“Is it just me,” He finally blurted out, voice an octave higher than normal, “or do you guys feel like today was just the beginning?”Both of his friends froze, staring at him like he’s grown an extra head. But this was it. He’d broken the comfortable atmosphere, and there was no going back. This was a question they couldn’t ignore.“I don’t think so,” Hanta tone was cautious, like he didn’t want to poke a sleeping bear, but all his friends were doing it.“Is it really eating at you that much?” Denki asked, setting his cards down to give Miles his full attention. “I don’t think there’s some,” The blonde waved his hand, “bigger picture. Probably just some idiots trying to get All Might, like usual. It was bound to happen, right?”“I guess,” Miles mumbled, picking at the carpet. He didn’t know if he really wanted to say what he was about to, but he did it anyway. “Remember when Aizawa told me that I might encounter someone I know, that not every villain will be a stranger?”He was silent, watching his friends' faces as they went from confusion to disbelief. “You knew someone?” Hanta asked, eyes wide. Miles forced himself to nod.“I’m not telling you who, but I knew them,” He inhaled sharply, “a long time ago. Before I met either of you,”The other boys shared a look. Miles shook his head, “It doesn’t matter,”“It does, though,” Denki’s eyebrows were pulled together, “I’m really sorry you had to see them like that, whoever it was,”“Yeah, you don’t have to worry about telling us stuff like this,” Miles' lips pulled into a tight line. As always, Hanta knew exactly what he was really worried about. “We’re never gonna hate you, or anything, if that’s what you're wondering. You’re our best friend,”“Yeah!”For the second time that day, Miles seriously thought about telling them. That was until Akio, Hanta’s little sister, ran into the table, sending their cards everywhere. –––––– 
APRIL 14, 2021
Basic training was canceled the next day. Something about recuperating after a traumatic experience, which, yeah. Miles guessed that was about right. They were in homeroom, Iida at the head of the room, ordering them all to sit. They all already were. The door flung open just a minute before the bell, Aizawa stood behind it, completely covered in bandages besides his eyes and hair. “Morning,” He said, which made Miles frown. If that was his teacher’s attempt at being casual, he was doing a pretty shit job.“Glad to see you doing well, Sensei!” Iida replied. Miles let out a genuine laugh before he was able to stop himself. Yeah, okay.“My welfare isn’t important,” Miles begged to differ, but he didn’t dare argue with Aizawa, of all people. “because your fight is far from over,”The brunette groaned, face falling into his hands. What fucking now? The hero course was already a bitch to be reckoned with. Miles silently wondered if he was a masochist for doing this to himself. Crossed the whole fucking multiverse just to get bitched out by high school .“UA’s Sports Festival is fast approaching!” It was such a simple thing that Miles considered that, maybe, he was dreaming. Everything they went through yesterday, and not even twenty-four hours later, they were talking about UA’s Sports Festival. Of course he knew what that was. It was one of the biggest annual events, millions of Japanese households watching every year. His own father forced his family to sit through it. He hadn’t actually thought about the fact that he’d be a part of it. He’s sure that if his dad wasn’t on a business trip, it would have been the first thing the man brought up after getting his acceptance letter.“We just had that villain attack. You sure about this?!”“It’s necessary to demonstrate that UA’s crisis management protocols are sound. Compared to past years, there’ll be five times the police presence,” Aizawa’s eyes narrowed, “Our sports festival is the greatest opportunity you’ll get. It’s not going to be canceled over a few villains,”Miles blinked up at his teacher. He wasn’t used to villains being treated as something so incidental. Is that how he would think of them in three years? Miles' lips formed a tight line. In three years. This sports festival would be his first. It was the first time he’d get to make an impression on actual heroes! He’d never been scouted for anything before. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to implode. “They’ll be looking to hire us as sidekicks after we graduate,” Kaminari turned to Jiro, “and a lot of those sidekicks never manage to go solo. They’re sidekicks forever,”“That’ll be you, Kaminari, you dunce,” Jiro chuckled, and Denki huffed.“Naturally, you’ll gain valuable experience and popularity if you’re picked up by a big-name hero,” Aizawa interrupted, “but your time is limited. Show the pros what you’re made of here, and you’ll make futures for yourselves. You’ve got three chances. If you’re hoping to become a hero, this event is one you can’t miss!”No biggie.  –––––– Lunchtime finally came, and with it the opportunity to gush over the upcoming event. Miles deflated in his seat as he listened to his classmates group together behind him.“This has got me so pumped!” Kirishima exclaimed, fists clenched as usual.“If we show our stuff here, that’s one big step towards going pro!” Hanta joined in.“I know right?!” Miles shouted, sitting up, “It’s so much pressure!”“What are you so worried about?” Denki clapped Miles on the back. “You always get so worked up about this stuff, and then you never fail. You’ll be awesome!”“What if I go numb in front of everybody?!” Miles sank down again, “Nobody’ll want me then. I only have three chances to get this right!”“Exactly!” Hanta grabbed Miles’ hand, looking intensely into his eyes, “You can’t ruin it because you’re scared! We both made a promise, and I can’t do my part if you’re not there with me!”Like always, Miles was a sunflower taking in the rays of his best friends, the suns. He squeezed Hanta’s hand, eyebrows furrowing as he nodded. –––––– “What’s the hold up?” Miles called out to Uraraka before he noticed the ocean of people on the other side of 1A’s door. He froze, feeling half of the group's eyes snap to him after he made noise. Bunch of vultures. “Whoa, what’s that about?”“They’re scoping out the competition, duh ,” Bakugo answered, shouldering past Miles. “We’re the kids who survived a villain attack. Makes sense they’d want a look before the sports festival. No point, though. Move aside, extras,”Miles’ eyes narrowed at the back of Bakugo’s head, “Don’t make us look like a bunch of jackasses!” Bakugo turned his head enough to make sure Miles could see him roll his eyes. “I’m serious, dude!”“It’s true,” A head of purple hair made its way through the crowd, taller than everyone else there. Miles gulped. “We came to get a look, but you sure are modest. Are all the kids in the hero course like this one?”“I promise you we are not,” Miles said, getting a feeling he was ignored.“Gotta say, I’m a little disillusioned if this is what you’re offering,” The boy finally made it to the front, his eyes the same shade of purple as his hair. Great bags rested under his eyes, hair untamed, fanning around his head. He kind of looked like a mop, Miles realized. “Those of us who didn’t make the hero course are stuck in general studies and the other tracks. There’re quite a few of us, you know,” Miles blinked. What was this guy getting at? “Depending on the results of this sports festival, they might consider transferring us to the hero course. I understand the reverse is also possible for you,”Oh. Oh no. Miles' eyes widened, stiffening. He hadn’t considered that. The purple kid continued, “For a general studies kid like me, this’ll be the perfect chance to knock you off your pedestals. Consider this a declaration of war,”Something about this guy made Miles’ skin crawl. He sent a side eye to Denki only to find that the blonde was giving him one as well. They both felt it. Weird.“Hey! I’m from class 1B, next door!” There was another boy pushing his way through the crowd, sharp teeth on display as he yelled. “Heard you guys fought some villains, wanted to find out more, but all I’m seeing is this arrogant bastard!” Miles grimaced. “You better not make fools of the hero course at this thing!” For the first time, but certainly not the last, Miles felt himself connected with the whole of class 1A when they all turned their heads to stare at Bakugo. Those glares turned to looks of horror as they all watched Bakugo shove the purple kid to the side.“Wait, you jerk, what’re you doing?” Kirishima sounded genuinely angry, “Thanks to you we’ve got a whole mob of haters now!”“I don’t give a shit,” Bakugo called back, and Kirishima recoiled. “I’m heading for the top. Why should I care?”“Tch,” Kirishima was practically shaking with admiration, “So straight-forward and manly,”“Nuh uh,” Miles pointed at Bakugo, “Not manly. He just made us look like a class full of dickheads!” He threw his hands in the air, turning to the door. “Excuse me, I’ve got a game of Uno to settle!” To his surprise, the sea of people outside parted down the middle, allowing Miles to leave.  –––––– 
APRIL 21, 2021
“Don’t make a big deal out of it,”That was the first thing Miles heard when he opened his bedroom door. Sam was on the other side, black fabric in hand. Huh.“Um,” Miles stammered, “Okay?”“I made you something,” Sam said, ducking under Miles’ arm into his room. The shorter boy took it upon himself to sit in Miles’ desk chair, making himself comfortable. “It took a fuck ton of time, more than I thought, but I did it,”Miles sat on the end of his bed, “Made what, exactly?”“These,” Sam said, as if Miles was supposed to know on his own. He held a pair of gloves, one in each hand. “I want you to try them on, see if they fit,”“Before anything goes on my body, I would like to know that they do, if you don’t mind,” Miles insisted, grinning when his brother groaned.Sam waved his hand, “I don’t feel like explaining it in detail, but the combination of the compression and the sensors on the inside should stop you from going numb. Should also eliminate any pain,” Awe spread across Miles’ face. “I said don’t make a big deal out of it!”“It is a big deal, though!” Miles was smiling, standing up to take the gloves from his brother, “You’re my hero,”Sam sputtered, blushing furiously, “D-Don’t call me that dumb shit!” He threw the gloves at Miles, growing even more upset when the brunette caught them with ease. “I just…” Miles raised a brow, pulling on the gloves. “I don’t like that you’re in pain,”At that, Miles began to cry, rushing towards his brother to hug him. Sam never got like this, even with their mom. What a rare gift, to see this side of Samuel. Miles was nine inches taller than the other boy, so when he wrapped up his brother in a hug, he covered him completely, keeping him safe against his chest. More tears formed in his eyes when his little brother hugged him back. Samuel might not be his biologically speaking, but he was Miles’ all the same.  –––––– 
MAY 4 2021
Was it odd that he felt more confident when his arms were covered? The gloves Sam made him reached almost all the way up his arms, stopping just half way up his bicep. Maybe it was something he’d learned from his original reality? He had scars on his arms there. Maybe it was the way they perfectly hugged his arms, showing off the definition of his hard work. It made him feel more masculine. It’s not like he was insecure, but he felt damn good right now, like he could tear apart anything in his path.“So manly,” Kirishima had said when he showed off his new equipment to his class. Miles beamed. It felt so good to be a man. He didn’t expect to like it so much. He was a girl in his original reality, and he’d never had a problem being called a girl. Something in him shined when everyone saw him as a boy. It felt great to be called Miles. No matter. He can’t go having a gender crisis in the middle of the sports festival.He, Hanta, Denki, and Kirishima shared a table in the prep room before the sports festival. They were playing Uno once again, because Denki had snuck in his deck. They were all becoming well aware that Kirishima was a menace when it came to card games. “I’m gonna cry,” Miles said flatly when the redhead placed down another reverse, forcing him to draw from the discard pile until he got a god forsaken red card. All three of his friends laughed at his growing anguish when he was ten cards in and had yet to find a red. “My birthday is in two days and this is the treatment I get,”“Remind us one more time, we almost forgot,” Hanta snickered, and Miles kicked him under the table. The brunette yelled in triumph when he threw down a skip. Hanta deflated, spreading out his legs, which took up about half the space under the table. Tall bastard.“Is everyone good and ready?! The event’s about to begin!” Iida called out to the class. Everyone at their table gave him a thumbs up, only giving their class president half their attention.Denki sighed, throwing his cards face up, “Let’s call it a day, boys. We gotta get out of here soon,” The other three groaned, but complied, handing in their card to the owner.“Midoriya,” Todoroki was kind of an enigma. He didn’t socialize with their class, he never raised his hand, and he never spoke. At first, Miles thought he was just shy. That was until the day he finally gathered the courage to say something to Todoroki and he was deliberately ignored. Miles knew that the boy had heard him. They were right next to each other in the lunch line, for god's sake. After that, Miles had steered clear of him, afraid of receiving more rejection. But as he spoke, nobody in the room could stop themselves from listening. Sue them, his voice was a rare one to hear.“Todoroki?” Midoriya looked shocked that he was addressed by someone so powerful, “What is it?”“Objectively speaking, I’m stronger than you. More capable,” Okay. What the fuck. “All Might’s got his eye on you, doesn’t he? Now I’m not about to pry into why that is, but I will beat you,”Miles' eyes flickered over to Denki across the table. Again, Denki was already sending a side eye his way. Kirishima stood, placing a hand on Todoroki’s shoulder, “Hey, man, why pick a fight now?! We’re about to go on–” The redhead stopped when his hand was shaken off. “I really don’t care. I’m not pretending to be anyone’s friend, here,”Miles couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped past his lips. He inhaled sharply, closing his eyes and accepting his fate. When his eyes opened, everyone was looking at him, including an icy glare from Todoroki, “You’re being ridiculous,” Miles decided to be honest. No use being polite.“Am I?” Todoroki’s eyes flickered between Hanta and Denki. Miles’ eyes narrowed. “Yeah, you are,” Miles pushed himself out of his seat. “You waltz around here acting like you’re any better than us because you're strong. At the end of the day, that doesn’t mean shit,”Todoroki scoffed, “What do you know about what matters? Sitting around, playing cards with your friends?”“That does matter, actually,” Miles took a step forward, gesturing to the boys at the table, “I’ve got people that have my back, people I can rely on, people that love me. Who do you have to take care of? Who takes care of you when you get hurt?”“I don’t need anyone to take care of me when I’m hurt,” Todoroki was getting more intense. Sunflower he was, Miles soaked it all up.“Oh, really?” He cocked his head to the side, looking over the younger boy's face. “What about when you got that scar?”“Miles, stop,” The voice was stern, angry, and it belonged to Sero Hanta. Miles couldn’t remember the last time he’d made Hanta genuinely upset. He huffed through his nose, collapsing into his chair. The room was completely silent. Todoroki was frozen to the spot, like he couldn’t believe what was said to him. Shit. Guilt crawled up Miles’ throat. He opened his mouth to apologize.A knock broke them out of it. Iida opened the door, “We’re leaving,” The class president’s voice was quiet. God, Miles hated that he’d done this to them all. He was the last one out the door, pulling it shut behind him.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Stepping out into the arena, Miles was immediately overwhelmed. He thought about reaching out for Hanta’s hand to ground himself, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t be too welcome right now. But Present Mic was yelling over the speaker, thousands of heroes were gathered to judge him, and he was surrounded by people who weren’t too fond of their class. He wished he hadn’t fucked up as bad as he had. Then he felt like shit because he only felt bad now that Hanta was mad at him. He was such an asshole.He was probably looking pretty pathetic right now, because that purple-haired guy was side-eyeing him. Miles stared back until he looked away. “Why the fuck are you drooping?” Sam snapped, taking his place beside Miles.“I made Hanta mad,” Miles sighed, “and I said some shit I shouldn’t have,”“When do you not,” Sam joked, but Miles didn’t laugh. The younger boy grabbed his brother’s gloved arm, poking and prodding, “Everything working?”“I told you, they’re perfect,” Miles smiled down at Sam, “Thank you, again,”“Yeah, whatever,” Which meant you’re welcome. “Perk up, hero. This is your moment,” Miles would try his best.Standing on the stage in front of them all was Midnight, the R-Rated Hero. For a second, Miles thought that she was topless until he saw that her natural skin wasn’t as pale as the very thin top. He’d known her for two weeks, and he still did a double take every time he saw her.“Pipe down!” She yelled out to the crowd. “Your student representative is from class 1A, Katsuki Bakugo!”They’re fucked. Miles groaned, pulling his hand down his face. Sam raised a brow, but didn’t ask any questions. Miles didn’t talk about Bakugo a lot. Every time he did, Sam was the one who initiated it. Bakugo was quite popular among the other classes, and not in a good way. The blonde climbed up the stairs to the microphone, hand in his pockets the whole way. Miles' lips formed a tight line, preparing himself for whatever was about to come. “The athlete’s oath…” He paused, “Make no mistake about it. I’m gonna win,”Miles exhaled, deflating as his peers went into an uproar around him. Today was shit already.“You’ll all make great stepping stones, I’d say,” With that, Bakugo stepped down the stage straight into the currently very angry crowd.“Now,” Midnight interrupted, “without any delay, let’s get the first event started!” She gestured dramatically towards an empty screen. “These are the qualifiers! It’s in this stage that so many are sent home crying every year!” Miles swallowed. “And the fateful first event this year is…this!”‘Obstacle Course Race’ flashed on the previously empty screen. Miles looked down at his shoes. Vans. Goddammit. An idea came to him, and his eyes widened as he stood up straighter. “What is it?” Sam asked.“Can’t tell you, but it’s gonna be awesome,” Miles said, sending his brother a determined look before jogging over to the starting line.“Racers to your positions,” Miles was near the front, right next to the boy from 1B with the sharp teeth. He mumbled something. The brunette ignored him, focusing on the long track in front of him. The memory of that rainy day in first grade came back to him, the feeling of Hanta’s hand in his. His eyes narrowed, his gaze intense. He made a promise, and this would get him one step closer.“ Remember it. This course is tough, and sometimes promises are the only thing that keeps us going, ”Inhale. Exhale. Remember.“Start!”Miles blasted against the ground. With pain no longer holding him back, he could do anything he wanted. It made him giddy, smiling as he focused his quirk on the soles of his shoes, allowing him to run along the wall, avoiding the chaos below. When he reached the end, he sent another blast behind him, sending him flying forward. Ice coated the ground, freezing half of the students to the spot. Thank god he’d avoided that.Miles had never used his quirk without being in pain before. Sure, he’d been training the past week with these gloves, but he hadn’t done anything intense with them yet. He felt alive, adrenaline fueling him to push forward as he sent another blast to the ground to keep him airborne. Now that he was able to just feel, he felt fucking great. All this energy was almost too much to handle, even though he was spending it, and his only outlet was the huge smile on his face. How powerful could he be when he wasn’t holding himself back? Guess he’d find out soon.Behind him, Bakugo was catching up and he turned just enough for the blonde to see his smile. He almost missed the huge robotic arm swinging towards him, but he dodged just in time. “Shit!” God, Miles, there are kids watching. He wasted no time taking out the robot that swung at him, lifting it into the air and sending it crashing down, parts of it flying past him. He created a barrier behind him, making sure that none of the parts hit his classmates. It wasn’t until after that he realized he probably shouldn’t have done that, but whatever. Also that these things were definitely heavier than six hundred pounds. Holy shit.Dozens of zero-pointers from the entrance exam were in his way. Miles grunted and rolled his eyes, deciding to make up for his instinct to protect by blasting his way over the bots, leaving everyone else to deal with them. Not even Miles himself had seen this side of his personality before. The side that got downright nasty in a competition. Not even during Mario Kart nights with Denki and Hanta.He was in the lead now, and his pulse raced against his chest. A twinge of anxiety sought to spread, and he snuffed it out, turning it into motivation. He couldn’t break now. His dad was watching, everyone in Japan was watching. Aizawa was watching. That last one was the most important to him, but he’d take that to his grave.The crash he heard behind him shook the ground, but Miles didn’t stop to look. He had to keep going. The familiar crackle of ice spreading chased after him and he jumped, narrowly avoiding the ice seeking to catch him. There was another familiar sound close behind. Explosions. Don’t look, keep running. In front of him, another obstacle quickly approached. A ravine with stone circles connected by tight ropes. Miles leaned forward, running as fast as he could, energy building up in his palms. Right as he reached the edge, he sent it all towards the ground, clearing half of the ravine in an instant. He couldn’t even hear anyone else around him, he was so focused on what it felt like to fall knowing you were able to catch yourself. No wonder Hanta loved it so much. The smile still hadn’t left his face. So happy he hurts. He let out a whoop when he landed on the other side of the obstacle, stumbling a bit as he did, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t stop running.He hadn’t expected his quirk to be this powerful, but he wasn’t complaining. He wondered if a camera could capture how he was shining. At least, that’s what it felt like; shining from the inside out. This is what shifting was about. Feeling alive again, regaining his power. If everyday was like this from now on, Miles would be unstoppable.The boy spared himself a glance behind him, chuckling a bit when he noticed how far he was in the lead. That was until there was a blast underneath his foot, sending him somersaulting forward. He actually rolled across the ground, landing on his back and coughing up dirt. He rolled over, holding himself on his elbow as he blinked debris out of his eyes. A moment was spent processing what had happened before he started laughing. An arm pressed against his diaphragm as his stomach quaked with it, explosion and cursing growing closer. Miles pushed against the ground to stand up. “Stop laughing,” He told himself, but he was still giggling. At this rate, Bakugo and Todoroki would catch up to him. For some reason, he didn’t care. The fact that he was ahead of them for so long was insane enough. He giggled again before he started running, creating a barrier beneath his feet so he didn’t set off any more mines. The two strongest boys in his class had caught up with him, and he was still smiling. The finish line was so close. They were almost done! For the second time that day, an explosion shook the earth under his feet. Midoriya was in front of him in a second. Miles started laughing again. He couldn’t help it, he was so full of adrenaline. Midoriya was now in the lead, sending his scrap of metal down on another mine. Miles cursed as dirt and dust clouded around him, but he pushed through. The bigger part of him hoped that Midoriya would win. Miles sat behind him nearly everyday. He hadn’t missed how hard the green-haired boy worked. It was borderline obsessive, honestly. The older boy bit his lip, pushing himself a bit more for this last stretch. He was right behind Midoriya, so close.He crossed the finish line right after his classmate. The brunette forced himself to keep standing, grabbing onto Midoriya’s shoulder. The younger boy tensed under his hand, but Miles didn’t have it in him to care much. “That,” He panted, “was so cool, dude. Good fucking work,” Midoriya blinked at him before smiling, “Thanks,” Miles smiled back, letting go of his shoulder.Miles walked over to a wall, leaning against it as he panted. He wasn’t even worn out. Scripting he had a high stamina came in handy. No, Miles was emotionally out of it. He’d never been able to use his quirk like he had today. It was kind of scary, how much he was capable of that he didn’t even know about. He finally calmed down enough to stop smiling. A shadow fell over him, and he opened his eyes. Denki and Hanta were standing over him.“What the fuck,” Denki started, a grin on his face.“What was,” Hanta pointed towards the exit, “that! I didn’t know you could do all that. That was crazy. You got second!”“I know,” Miles was smiling again, “It felt like flying. I was flying, Hanta,” The brunette grabbed onto one of each of his friends hands, squeezing. “You really were,” Hanta mumbled, looking up fondly at Miles.Things fell silent for a moment. “I should apologize to Todoroki,”Hanta nodded, “I agreed with you in the beginning, but you took it too far mentioning the scar.” The black-haired ran a hand through his hair, a nervous tic. “I’m sorry for getting mad at you in front of everyone, especially after you said all that nice stuff. Probably made you feel bad,”“I was scared, actually,” Miles admitted, “You never get mad at me,”Hanta chuckled, and Denki sighed, “I love you guys,”This time, the other two responded by wrapping the blonde up in a hug, gushing over him. Denki let out a boyish laugh, and Miles melted. They almost forgot they were surrounded by people outside of their class.“The top 42 from this qualifying round will move on! But for those who placed lower, don’t worry! We’ve got another way for you to show your stuff!” The top forty-two runners were huddled around the stage again, listening to Midnight. This time, Miles was standing happily in between his best friends, resisting the urge to grab each of their hands. Ashido had taken it upon herself to yell at them about PDA earlier, so he was trying to cool it down. “Now, on to the second event! I already know what it is, of course…Dying in suspense?!” Not really. “Next up is this!”‘Cavalry battle.’ Miles’ lips pulled into a line, head tilting to the side. What does that even mean?“Participants will, on their own, form teams of two to four members each and get into a horse-and-rider formation! The rules are fundamentally the same as those of an ordinary cavalry battle. Snag your opponents headbands while guarding your own, but with one exception…each of you has been assigned a point value based on your ranking in the last event! Your individual point values start at five, at the bottom. The student who took forty-second is worth five points, forty-first is worth ten, get it?” Midnight paused, a smug look on her face, “But our first place winner is worth ten million points!”Thank fucking god he lost. The tension hit them all like a bag of bricks falling from ten stories, and it was all centered around poor Midoriya. Everyone turned to look at the first place winner, air buzzing with intense determination. Miles didn’t believe in god, but he sent a silent prayer to whoever was on Midoriya’s team.“The match will last fifteen minutes,” Midnight continued, “Each team’s points are determined by its members. The rider will wear a headband displaying the total number of points. Until the match ends, compete to grab each other’s points and maintain the ones you have. Any headbands you grab must be worn around the neck or higher. Remember, the more headbands you got, the harder they are to manage!“Most importantly, even if your headband is taken, and even if your horse formation is broken, it’s not over ‘til it’s over! Quirks are allowed, so it’ll be a brutal battle! However, it’s still a cavalry battle. Maliciously attacking another team with the intent of making them fall will get you a red card, and that means you’re out of the game! You’ve got fifteen minutes to form your teams! Get to it!”Miles blinked, trying desperately to remember everything she said. “You know what I’m thinking?” Denki sounded excited, “We split up,”Miles recoiled, staring at his friend, “What?”“We’re always together,” Denki shrugged, “I want all three of us to do this together, but I also want to be my own, you know?”Miles’ gaze softened, “I think you’re right,” He searched the crowd around him, eyes landing on Midoriya, who had no one on his team yet. He was a goddamn masochist. “I’m going for Deku,”Hanta barked out a laugh, “Yeah, you’re fucking insane,” The lanky boy walked backwards, sending a peace sign to Miles. “I’ll try Bakugo. Have fun,”He flipped Hanta and Denki off as a goodbye before jogging his way over to Midoriya. In the time it took him to get there, Uraraka had already joined him. Awesome. “Hey, Mido,” The nickname came out of nowhere, but Midoriya didn’t seem to mind, “can I be on your team?”The viridian hued boy was silent for long enough that Miles thought he’d say no. Then Midoriya started crying, puddles forming on the ground underneath him. Miles blinked. Okay.“Are you okay, dude?” Miles' voice wavered, not sure how he’d upset the other boy.“I’m fine!” He did not sound fine. “I think you both overestimate me, though,”“No way,” Miles shook his head, holding up a clenched fist in determination. “You beat us out there with nothing but your brains. You were incredible! You’ve been incredible since the beginning of the year, at least to me,”“Yeah!” Uraraka joined. “We’ll do everything we can to protect you because you deserve it!”Midoriya started crying again.“We need one more, unless you think we can do this with just three people,” Miles spun around, looking for a lone person. When he reached a full circle, there was a girl standing there, very close to his face. He shrieked, ducking down. Just like on the first day, he fell on his ass. Goddamn Vans. The girl didn’t seem to notice, leaning over Miles’ body to get in Midoriya’s face.“Team up with me, Mr. First Place!” She reminded him of Kirishima the first time they met. Forward and authentic. “I’m Hatsume Mei, from the support course! I don’t know you, but I could be useful to someone in your position. Joining with you means I’ll be right in the spotlight! And my super cute babies will be seen by the industry big shots. They’ll have to take notice of me and my babies!”Miles righted himself, dusting off his gym uniform. After he literally rolled in dirt earlier, he didn’t know why he bothered. Midoriya and Hatsume made fast friends. Miles and Uraraka shared a look. Guess they’d found their fourth. –––––– “Your fifteen minutes are up. Time to get started,” Midnight said as she stretched on stage.Miles took a deep breath from the front of their formation. He chanted his purpose over and over in his head. Shield the headband. Push other teams away.Protect them from Denki.When Midoriya had heard that Miles was unaffected by Denki’s Electrification, he looked like he could have kissed him. Denki was a force to be reckoned with, and it just so happened that his closest friend was one of the only people here that could stop him. Wild.“Let's do this!” Midoriya yelled as the match started. Already, the three teams closest to them were heading their way. A strange sensation crawled up Miles’ legs. When he looked down, he found out it was because he was sinking. They all were. “Midoriya!” Miles grunted.“On it! Turn away for a sec!” Midoriya replied, pressing the button that activated the jetpack. They were lifted out of the muck into the sky. Jiro’s earphone jack’s chased after them, but with a flick of Miles’ wrist, they were dealt with.They landed on solid ground, Hatsume already ranting with Midoriya about her inventions. Miles sighed. He begged for these fifteen minutes to fly by.They were charged by Shoji and Tsuyu next, but they were easily avoided with Miles’ quirk. Bakugo lunged at them next, but he too was blocked by one of Miles’ shields. The real trouble came when they faced off with Team Todoroki. It was a mighty group. Iida, Denki, and Momo with Todoroki as their rider. Miles hardened his gaze, glaring at Denki. “Bring it, asshole,” Miles mumbled. Denki brought 1.3 million volts of it, but Miles’ barrier was enough to stop it from touching them. It’s not like Todoroki was an idiot. He knew that Miles would be able to get out of this. That move was to get rid of the other competitors. Any teams that had been nearby were fried, disoriented, and battered. Miles smirked, “Smart bastard,”“You curse a lot!” Uraraka yelled at him, as if that mattered right now.The next five minutes of his life were spent dodging and evading Todoroki’s team. Miles was panting now, this time from actual exertion. He briefly wondered where his brother was. He wondered where Hanta was. He definitely knew where Denki was, because he’d been avoiding the bastard like his life depended on it. Then, almost too fast to see, Todoroki’s team rushed forward, and the ten million headband was gone.“Charge them!”Their team obliged, Miles at the front as they ran straight towards Todoroki. Midoriya surged forward, grabbing onto one of the headbands. A pause. “It’s the wrong one! We’ve been tricked!”“Fifteen seconds remain!”Miles let go of Midoriya’s foot, trusting Hatsume to keep him up, to hold out his hand, tugging one of the headband free from around Todoroki’s neck. It quickly flew to him, Todoroki turning his head to shoot him a glare. There was an explosion as Bakugo entered their little arena, but it was too late. “Time’s up!”Bakugo ate absolute shit, falling face first into the ground. Miles would have laughed if he wasn’t so tired.“In first place, Team Todoroki! In second, Team Bakugo! In third, Team Shinso!”Miles opened his fist, eyes lighting up at the number underneath. Six hundred and fifteen.“In fourth, Team Midoriya! These four teams will proceed to the final event!”Midoriya began to cry again. –––––– Once again, Miles was overwhelmed. This cafeteria was significantly smaller than the one at UA, barely able to hold all of the first year students. Miles had to hold a place for them all while Hanta got his food for him. Thankfully, they were able to sit in their usual spots. Miles and Hanta next to each other and Ashido, Kirishima, and Denki across the table. The blonde was talking around a charger, power bank in hand. To his right, a figure pulled out the empty chair and sat down. The brunette turned his head and grinned.“Sam!” He exclaimed, resisting the urge to throw an arm around his brother’s shoulders. Nearly a month in school and his new friends had yet to meet his pride and joy. “Kirishima, Ashido, this is my brother,”The black-haired boy crossed his arms over his chest, slouching in his chair. “Hey,”“Hey!” Kirishima sounded much more enthusiastic. “What should we call you? Calling you both Moore would get confusing…”“Sam is fine,” One of his hands reached up to his hair, playing with the loose strands that escaped his ponytail. He was nervous.“Why haven’t you joined us for lunch yet?” Ashido was as bubbly as ever. Sam visibly shrunk in on himself. “Moore talks about you all the time,”“Not all the time,” Miles blushed.Ashido ignored him, “You’re in the support course, right? That’s how you made those gloves,”Sam nodded, “I usually eat in Powerloader’s room,” He tugged on the hair wrapped around his finger. “I don’t really know anyone else here, so…” Sam finally let go of his hair to gesture vaguely to Miles.“Aren’t you going to eat anything?” Ashido pried, and Sam bristled. Alright, change the subject. –––––– The last thing Miles expected to see when he left the bathroom was Todoroki on the other side. Leaning against the wall on the other side of the hall, glaring at the door. He’d been waiting for him.“Todoroki,” Miles startled, “You scared the shit out of me,” The other boy didn’t reply. Miles sighed, taking a step forward. “I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have riled you up right before a big event, and I shouldn’t have brought up your–”“You’re never going to beat me again,”Todoroki’s voice was monotone as usual, but there was an edge to it that Miles couldn’t identify. He dared to look up into his classmates eyes and was pinned to the spot by the intensity. He refused to give into his body’s demand to blink. “What?”“I’ll admit, I underestimated you,” Okay. “Always distracting yourself with your friends, moping about the classroom, treating this like it’s all some kind of game,” His eyes narrowed. “Thinking you’re better than me because you’re not scarred,”Miles took a step back, shocked. “That’s not what I think at all!” He waved his hands in front of him. “I’m not here to fight with anyone, man,”“Why do you even bother?” Todoroki pushed himself off the wall. He was shorter than Miles, yet he managed to make the brunette feel infinitely smaller. “If you’re not here to fight for it, what are you even doing?”Miles supposed he could have said something about his promise. Maybe he could have told Todoroki about that rainy day in the classroom after time out. How amazing it felt to know that somebody wanted to be by his side forever. Instead, his eyes softened. “Have you had to fight for everything you have?”If anything, Hanta had fought for him . He tore into Miles’ shell like a badger to a beehive, and when he saw how ugly it was inside, he loved it anyway. That boy was the person who taught Miles how to have a family again, how to trust someone enough to take their hand. Denki loved him even when he screamed and cried and broke things right in front of him. He’d stayed, even after all the ugliness inside of Miles revealed itself. They were the moon, and Miles was a moth. Small and fragile and beautiful, and utterly, completely, hopelessly in love with the thing that promised him light every night. He never had to ask. He never had to earn a thing. They loved him, even though he was nothing in comparison to a butterfly.Miles watched Todoroki’s face morph, surprised before he forced himself to settle back into that nonchalant facade. That was all it took to let Miles know he was right. “You know,” He paused, knowing that he shouldn’t say it. He opened his mouth anyway. “if you let us, 1A could be something you wouldn’t have to fight for,”Jadynn, the person he was in his original reality, had scripted that he forgot everything when he shifted. When he was here, he didn’t know the plot. He had no idea if what he was saying was right. He didn’t know if class 1A would someday be a family, even to him. But he had to trust them. Leaving your reality just to be a part of something wasn’t done on a whim. Jadynn spent time and energy to get here, and he wasn’t going to spoil it by being scared. Todoroki didn’t have that same reassurance. He’d been born into this, and he had no way of knowing if it would get better.Todoroki responded in a way that Miles had expected. He turned and walked away towards the arena, clearly done trying to talk. What had he wanted from him anyway? To intimidate him? Miles sighed and made his way back to his friends so that they could head to the arena together.“You took forever,” Denki said after they’d all put their trays away. “and you were moping when you came back. What happened in the bathroom that was so depressing?”“I ran into Todoroki. I apologized, I think?” Miles wrinkled his nose.Hanta raised a brow, “How do you not know if you apologized?”“I don’t know. It was weird,” His friends just stared at him, confused. “I'll tell you guys about it later. We need to go,”Present Mic’s voice rang across the stadium, “Between the sixteen members of the four winning teams, we’ll have a formal tournament! A series of one-on-one battles!”The brunette side eyed both of his friends, wondering if his battle would be with either of them. That would be a bit unfair, since they knew every way to get to him. The screen lit up with an empty bracket. Midnight spoke up from her place on stage, “The matchups will be decided by drawing lots. Once that’s settled, we’ll move on to the festivities and then the tournament itself! It’s up to each of you sixteen finalists whether or not you participate in the fun. I expect some of you would rather take a breather and save your strength. Now let’s start with the first place team-”Ojiro raised his hand, “Excuse me,” The other fifteen students turned to him. “I’d like to drop out,”“What?” Miles spoke in unison with at least half of the people there. “This is your chance to get noticed by the pros!” Kirishima ranted passionately.“I have no memories of anything happening during the cavalry battle. It’s probably his quirk that did it,” Ojiro pointed towards the purple-haired boy. Miles realized that he still didn’t know his name. “I know this is a great opportunity, and I know how stupid it must seem to throw it away. But everyone else made it here by their own strength, yet I’m standing here, and I don’t even know how or why. I just can’t take it,”“Ojiro!” Miles called, shaking his head. “This is your chance to show them what you’re made of! They’ll ignore you otherwise,” The last part came out quiet, but Miles could see Hanta staring at him in bewilderment. The bigger parts of Japan were more inclusive, but there was plenty of hate. It was no secret that those with mutant quirks were at a disadvantage. Miles had seen it first hand plenty of times, being by Hanta’s side. But to acknowledge discrimination in front of a stadium full of people who did fuck all to stop it was unheard of, no matter how quiet.“I’m talking about my pride here. I don’t think it’s right,” Then Ojiro offered a smile, reassurance for Miles, who knew he didn’t deserve it. “I know what I’m doing, Moore,” The brunette nodded, accepting his classmate's decision.“I can’t remember anything either. I wanna withdraw too!” This was a boy Miles didn’t recognize. He briefly wondered if he was Shinso. “This is a contest of skill. Letting someone who didn’t do anything advance…doesn’t it defeat the whole purpose of the sports festival? Isn’t it even against the rules?”Kirishima was shaking from the weight of their words, “So manly…”Midnight tilted her head back, a shadow falling over her face. “How callow…” Her whip cracked through the air, hair whipping around her face as she moved. “I like it! Shoda and Ojiro have officially withdrawn! Replacing those two will be members of team Kendo, who took fifth,”“If it’s gonna be like that,” A girl with ginger hair and blue eyes spoke, hand on her hips, “shouldn’t it be them instead? I mean, we were immobilized the whole time. But they were giving it their all. They kept what they had until the very end,” She looked to Tetsutetsu, smiling, “Don’t worry, we’re not colluding or anything. This just feels right,”Tetsutetsu was a lot like Kirishima. Tears formed in his eyes, face twisting in disbelief, “You guys!” Turns out class 1B was just as close as 1A. “So be it!” Midnight appeared ecstatic, basking in the youthful naivete of her students. “Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki bring us back up to sixteen competitors!”They all drew their lots, Miles resisting the urge to shriek when he got the number one. He sighed in dismay, watched as his name flickered on screen under the first bracket. Moore James. His nose wrinkled in distaste. Even he forgot that Miles was his middle name half the time. His name flickered next to Shinso Hitoshi. He tilted his head to the side. Another unknown peer. Someone in class 1B, maybe? His skin prickled and shoulders tensed when he felt the presence of someone very close behind him. “Moore James. That’s you, yeah?” A deep baritone. Miles knew exactly who it belonged to. A voice as admittedly nice as that one sticks with you.Swiveling around, Miles was met with indigo eyes with dark bags underneath. He opened his mouth, and something furry slapped over it to stop him. Ojiro’s tail. He turned to his classmate, brow raised in confusion. Behind him, Shinso huffed out a laugh. “Don’t answer him,” Ojiro was stern, staring down the purple-haired boy. Okay. –––––– Miles followed Ojiro into one of the prep rooms. He couldn’t help but admire the other boy's tail as they walked, forcing down the urge to grab onto it. The blond hair at the end was probably fun to play with. For the past month, Denki had used it to fidget in class, and Ojiro didn’t seem to mind. The door shut behind them with a loud bang, and his train of thought was broken. He sat down with Ojiro at one of the tables. “So what’s up with Shinso?”Ojiro sighed, “I think he has a mind control quirk,” Miles' eyes widened. Those were rare. “Before the cavalry battle, he asked me for my name, and I don’t remember anything after I answered. And during the obstacle course, he had four people carrying him the whole time,”Miles hummed, “That makes sense. So he can only get control if you answer him?” “I think so. I just wanted to warn you,” He paused, “You’ve been really affectionate with Sero and Kaminari the whole day. He’ll know exactly how to get you to crack. You’ll need to be ready for whatever he says. You can’t let it get to you,”Miles nodded, “Thanks, man. You didn’t have to tell me this,”“Of course I did,” Ojiro said, slightly surprised, “You’re my friend,”“I am?” Miles' voice raised in excitement, “Man, I have so many new buds. I feel fucking great,”“We can tell,” Ojiro smiled. It fit his face nicely. “You’re not hard to read,”Miles grinned, “I never tried to be! I’m not good at saying how I feel, so it’s better that everyone can just tell,”Ojiro shook his head, “That’s not true.” Miles’ head tilted. “From what I’ve overheard, you always say what you mean. It’s admirable, the trust you put in all of us not to judge,”Tears stung Miles’ eyes, grin falling from his mouth. He was a very self aware person, most of the time, and he knew that his friends understood him. Still, it was nice to hear that another person was putting in the effort to get to know him. When he smiled this time, it was soft, appreciative. “You’re a good guy, Ojiro,”“You too,”Miles' eyes flickered down to the tail on the ground, and Ojiro snorted, lifting it onto the table. The brunette couldn’t stop the happy squeak he let out, clapping his hands before his fingers dove into the fluffy hair. For a minute, neither of them spoke, Miles twisting bits of hair between his fingertips contently.“You’re autistic, right?”Miles froze, eyes finding Ojiro’s face. The blond flinched when he saw the look he was given. “I’m sorry! It’s just that you have ADHD, and the two usually go hand in hand. And the way you act when you’re happy. I was curious,”The brunette blinked as his friend rambled. Was he? “I’m not upset, Ojiro. I’ve just never thought about it before. You’re actually the first person that’s ever brought it up to me,” He turned his attention back to the tail, braiding a couple strands together. “Do I act like it?”“Yeah,” Ojiro pinched the bridge of his nose, “I’m so sorry I just said that out of nowhere, it was rude,”“I don’t mind,”There was another long silence before Ojiro spoke up again. “I’ve heard UA is really good at making sure accommodations are met. Since you have ADHD, it shouldn’t be hard to get them in writing,”Miles drew his bottom lips into his teeth. It wasn’t like he thought that neurodivergent people shouldn’t have accommodations. They were the only reason Denki got into UA. It was just his own brain telling him that he didn’t deserve them, that he was somehow weaker if he accepted help. He didn’t tell Ojiro this. Instead, he nodded, giving a quiet thank you.When they both left the room, the last thing they expected to find was a certain boy with purple hair on the other side. Ojiro immediately bristled. “Moore, let’s talk,” Miles' eyes narrowed, and Shinso rolled his. “I’m not going to use my quirk,”The brunette shared a look with the blonde by his side before nodding, sending his friend off. When they were alone, Shinso turned and walked away, gesturing for Miles to follow him. He jogged to his side, walking in unison down the hall.“Where are we going?” He asked, tilting his head.“The vending machine. I could use a coffee,” Shinso was far too casual. Miles furrowed his brows.“Do you need something?”Shinso didn’t answer, leaving Miles a few feet away, pulling out some yen from his wallet in front of the vending machine. Okay. If Miles wasn’t confused before, he would be now. He leaned against the wall on his shoulder, waiting for Shinso to reply.Shinso finally spoke, his coffee clattering to the bottom of the machine, “People like you make me sick,”Miles recoiled. What the fuck? He pushed himself off the wall, curious as to where this was going.“You’re one of the lucky ones,” He continued, popping open the can, “You have a quirk that people like to look at, one that’s good enough to make you a hero,” He took a sip. “You don’t have to try. You’re able to hang off your friends like an idiot as much as you want. You said you and the rest of your class aren’t like that arrogant ass, but you are. All of you are,”Miles stepped forward, leaning into Shinso’s face, “You have no idea what you’re talking about,”“I don’t?” Shinso was smirking, “I’ve seen plenty of you to know exactly what I’m talking about. Your quirk is strong enough for you, and you know it. Everybody looks at you and thinks about what a great hero you’ll make, how hard you must’ve work, but you haven’t,”“Don’t act like you know fuck all about me,” Miles seethed. “You have no idea what I’ve been through,”“You’re right,” Shinso hummed, “but you’re not exactly hard to get a read on,”Miles shook his head, taking a step back, “Is this what you wanted? To get me wound up? That’s it?”“Partially,” Shinso shrugged.“Motherfucker,” Miles dragged his hands down his face. “Fuck you. I’m going,”“See you, James,” –––––– Inhale. Exhale. Steady yourself. Except it was hard as fuck right now, knowing that half this stadium was staring him down. Picking his every move apart as he approached Shinso on the tournament’s ground. In the distance, Hanta and Denki were cheering for him, and he tried his best to not stuff his face into the palms of his hands. Embarrassing assholes.“The first match! Stiff as a board is Moore James from the hero course versus Shinso Hitoshi from general studies!” Shit. If Present Mic could see how anxious he was, everyone else could too. Could everyone see right through him?Present Mic went on to explain the rules, and Miles took the opportunity to take a deep breath. Steady yourself. No one is looking at you. “Nervous, James?” Shinso jeered, and the brunette’s eyes snapped open to glare at him. Hard to convince yourself that no one is looking at you with this asshole around. “Don’t be. It’s not like you have much to worry about,”“Now let’s get this thing started!”“Unlike blondie up there. How did that moron even get into the hero course?” Shinso glowered. Miles blinked, remaining uninterested. “This is what we were talking about, James. They’ll let anyone in, even dumbass monkeys who would pass up an opportunity like this,”Miles had enough, surging towards Shinso with his fist tight. The other boy dodged it, face breaking out into a grin. Admittedly, Miles was not great at hand-to-hand combat. But he was going to win this, and he was going to do it without his quirk. Besides, how much better could someone in general studies be to him?Apparently much better, because a second later, Shinso went in for a punch of his own. Except his was successful in its pursuit, colliding with Miles’ temple. The brunette grunted, stumbling a bit. “Not using your quirk, huh? Gotta admit, I’m surprised,” Miles growled, wrapping his arms around Shinso’s torso and pushing him towards the edge.The purple-haired boy grabbed onto his shirt, picking him up and flipping him onto his back. The guy did not look as strong as he was. “Why don’t you show everyone that powerful quirk you got in action? Thanks to my quirk’s nature, I couldn’t enter the golden gates. You wouldn’t get that. You’re naturally blessed,”Miles grabbed onto Shinso’s ankle, pulling him down with him, his head hitting the ground with a painful thud. If Shinso wanted to fight dirty, Miles would be right there with him. He made a move to stand, but Shinso was quicker, grabbing onto his wrists and pinning them by his head. “You people,” Shinso spat, his head blocking the sun, “born with your awesome quirks, getting to follow your dreams!”Realizing the position they were in, Miles drew his leg up and kicked at Shinso’s ribs, blushing. Who pins someone like that on live television? His mom was watching this! There was a sickening crack and Shinso yelled out, grip loosening enough to let Miles escape, standing up. Reaching down, he grabbed the back of Shinso’s shirt, using it to throw the other boy out of bounds. Shinso skid across the ground, almost falling off the edge.Ignoring Present Mic’s call of his victory, Miles strode over to Shinso, grabbing his jaw in his hand and forcing him to look into his eyes. “I worked my ass off for this,” He said lowly. “Maybe learn to stop being a dick and you’ll earn your place,”Shinso blinked before his mouth spread into a grin, “Anything for you, kitten,”Miles recoiled hard, flushing bright red, “The fuck did you just call me?!” Not even a second later, his mind went blank. He came to shortly after, having let go of Shinso’s face.Shinso laughed, wincing as he held his side, “Just wanted to prove…” He didn’t finish, pushing himself to his feet. They made their way back to the center of the stage. “What an uneventful start!” Present Mic sounded joyful despite his words. “Put your hands together for our fierce competitors!” Miles bowed to his competition as the crowd erupted with applause. When he stood, he looked over at the other boy. Shinso’s jaw was clenched, glaring down at the ground. “Shinso,” He was tentative with his words, “why do you want to be a hero?”The boy turned away sharply, “We don’t get a say in who we admire,”Miles watched him leave, his mind grasping for something to say, something to reassure him. He couldn’t think of a thing. Not with this quirk under his skin. “You were awesome out there, Shinso!”Both of the boys in the arena looked up towards the voice. Shinso’s classmates were leaning over the railing, grinning down at him.“You had us on the edge of our seats!“You’re the best of us general studies guys!”“You did just as well as the rest of them!”A murmur spread through the crowd. Some expressed their interest in Shinso’s quirk, others their disdain that he wasn’t already in the hero course. Miles blinked, eyeing the back of Shinso’s head. “They’ll consider transfers to the hero course depending on the results here. Remember that, Moore,” Shinso stared at him over his shoulder, gaze intense, “Maybe I failed this time, but I’m not giving up,” He turned back to stare down the exit hallway. “I’ll show them I’ve got what it takes to make the hero course, and I’ll become a greater hero than all of you,”Miles smirked, tilting his head up, “You fucking better,” His mind was seized for another moment.“It’d be easy to mess everything up for you now. Promise me you won’t lose in a sorry way out there,”“I won’t,” “You should have learned by now not to respond to me,” Shinso shook his head, making his way down the hall. “Don’t know how you held out for so long,” –––––– Believe it or not, watching Kirishima practically fight himself was boring as shit. Miles was slouching in his chair, eyes lazily switching from one to the other as he and Tetsutetsu threw punches back and forth. That was until Midoriya tapped on his shoulder, notebook in hand. “What did you name your quirk?”Miles blinked, “Um, energy manipulation,” Midoriya nodded, scribbling something in his notebook. “What are you doing?”The green-haired boy froze, like he’d forgotten that people could see him, “Just some quirk analysis,”“Really?” Miles sat up, leaning over to look at what Midoriya had written. “About me?”“About all of you, actually,” Midoriya stammered, “Your quirks are all so interesting,”“That’s so cool, man. I had no idea you were into that stuff. What do you wanna know?”Midoriya looked at Miles like he hung every star in the sky as he asked every question he could think of, writing down each answer with a quick hand. –––––– Now, watching Uraraka and Bakugo’s fight was far more entertaining. Miles had a wide grin on his face, eyes glowing green. Sometimes that happened when he got too excited.“That was awesome!” He yelled when his explosive classmate returned to them.“Rough match, huh, villain face?” Hanta joked, and Miles swatted at his chest.“You do great at playing the bad guy, Bakugo,” Tsuyu's finger was in its usual spot, pressed against their cheek as they spoke.“Shut the hell up, all of you!” Bakugo replied, stomping past to take his seat next to Jiro.“No, really, nice job blowing up that delicate little girl,”Miles leaned in his seat, glaring at Denki, “Did we watch the same shit?” Denki froze, not used to being on the receiving end of Miles' anger. “She did fucking great out there. She was an absolute beast. Fucking amazing,” Bakugo hmphed as he managed to make sitting down aggressive, one of his legs in the air and arms crossed.“She might be the one you’re in the ring with next year, so I’d suggest you stop thinking about her as some frail little girl right now,” Miles pointed at the blonde as he spoke.“Nothing frail about her,” Bakugo muttered, and Miles nodded fiercely.“And you,” He turned his attention to Hanta, “All these so-called heroes are bitching at him for treating a woman like an equal. The least we could do is treat him like the hero he is. He’s one of us!”“I don’t need any of you to fucking hold my hand!”“You’re right,” Hanta sighed, “I’m sorry, Bakugo,”“Fucking shut up, I don’t give a shit!” Bakugo barked, “And we’re not heroes yet, dumbass!”“It’s called manifesting!” Miles called back passionately, standing up with his fists pumped in the air. “I need to piss!”“Go piss, girl,” Denki and Hanta replied in unison.To get back to his seat after, he had to pass by Recovery Girl’s temporary room. Miles yawned, eyes flickering over when the door opened. He did a double take, stopping in the hall to make sure he saw correctly.Sitting on one of the beds, holding up his shirt to inspect a deep purple bruise over his ribs, was Shinso. The door closed, and Miles was alone in a dark hall. It would be quiet if it weren’t for Present Mic’s voice in the distance, calling out Shiozaki’s win against Yaomomo. He’d missed a match. Todoroki and Hanta were next. He shook off his surprise and found his way back to his seat, giving Hanta a nod of encouragement on the way. –––––– “Hey, popsicle,”Hanta groaned, slumping in his seat next to the very boy that teased him. “So you can rag on me, but not Bakugo?”“Yeah, you get it,” Miles rested his arms on the back of Hanta’s chair. His heart warmed when Hanta leaned into it, resting his head against his forearm.“As long as none of you say ‘good try,’” He grimaced, “Made me feel like everyone just expected me to fail,”“We didn’t,” Denki said, and Hanta huffed out a laugh. “We’re serious, Han. We know you. We see how hard you work,”“You and Todoroki are both in class A,” Miles added, “That means you’re just as good as him, right?”“Not really,” Hanta laughed, “Thanks,”“I love you,”“I know,”They watched as Mina slapped an acid-filled hand across Sam’s face, the boy immediately giving up, walking out of bounds himself with his shoulders raised in disgust. –––––– “My ass was kicked from the start,” Denki was resting on a hospital bed, waiting for his turn to receive a kiss to his broken wrist. One of Midoriya’s attacks sent him out of bounds, and in an attempt to break his fall, he broke his wrist. “Me against Midoriya? Who thought of that?”“Nobody, we drew lots,” Miles said, and Denki waved him off.“You should probably get back out there. You’re up with Kiri next,” Hanta pointed with his thumb over to the door.“Not until my favorite boys can watch me,” Miles said.“Don’t keep them waiting,” Denki waved his unbroken hand around. “It’s you and Kirishima. He’s melee and you’re long range, right? This fight should take forever. I’ll get healed up and come watch”“You’re such a nerd,” Miles snorted, “I didn’t even think of that,”Denki pushed against his chest lightly, “Get off my sick bed and go fight for me,”“It's hardly a sick bed,” Miles said, walking backwards towards the door, “Your wrist is broken. Talk about over dramatic,”“Get out!” –––––– At the center of the ring, Miles found that he was starting to get used to all these eyes on him at once. Thank god, because he felt like he was going to die this morning. This time, Kirishima was facing him, a smirk on his lips and his brows furrowed in determination.“Don’t go easy on me like you did with Shinso,” The redhead smirk split, sharp teeth peering through.“Start!”Kirishima lunged forward, which Miles had expected. He threw up a barrier, arms crossed in an X in front of him. What he didn’t expect was for the redhead to break through it in one punch, fist hardened. The barrier flickered away as it was broken, and Miles barely had time to react before Kirishima grabbed the front of his shirt. He pulled, and Miles was sent to his knees in front of him.“You really shouldn’t talk about your quirk in detail right before a fight,” Kirishima jeered, fist hardening once again. “Someone might overhear,” The fist connected with his nose, and he felt very bad for that kick he gave Shinso earlier today.Kirishima let go of him and he flew back onto the ground. His nose was bleeding, pouring actually, blood dripping onto the concrete ground beneath him. Blood from his nose drained into his mouth. He spat. He couldn’t see through the water in his eyes. Lifting a hand, he sent a blast to Kirishima’s chest. The redhead skid dangerously close to the edge before he hardened his feet, digging his heels into the ground and effectively destroying his shoes.Miles pushed himself up, waiting for Kirishima’s next move. He had to breathe through his mouth. What had Kirishima meant? He wasn’t even around when he was talking to Midoriya. Who told him?“If my nose is broken, I’m gonna be pissed,” He rasped, the taste of copper filling his mouth.Kirishima smirked again, lunging once more. This same old song and dance continued for far longer than Miles liked, somehow failing to send Kirishima out of bounds every time. The brunette growled in frustration as he watched the boy’s hardened fingers dig into the ground, holding himself in place against another blast.“Ready to give up, yet?” Kirishima called. Is that what he was trying to do? Fucker. “It’s okay if you’re a little tuckered out,”“Fuck off,” Miles spat. “Careful, Moore, your mama’s watching,”God, Miles could kill him. Nothing was fucking working and there was no way he could hold up against Kirishima in melee combat. In his moment of thought, Kirishima took the opportunity to surge towards him, headbutting his chin with his hardened forehead. The brunette flew back, landing very painfully on his back. He rolled onto his side, groaning.“Moore, is out of bounds! Kirishima wins!”Miles didn’t even have it in him to care much. His hand touched his chin and came back red.“Good fight,” Kirishima was standing over him, holding out his hand.Miles stared at him for a second before wiping his chin, covering his palm in blood, and grabbing onto his friend's hand. He smiled at the sigh of resignation that Kirishima gave. “You broke my damn face, asshole,” –––––– Miles held up a bloodied tissue to his nose, trying his best to be tender with it. It was broken, just like he thought, and the slightest touch made him feel like he’d ignited. Recovery Girl was waiting for him to calm down and regain some stamina before healing him. There were some interesting match-ups. Bakugo vs. Shiozaki and Todoroki vs. Ashido. He hoped he wouldn’t miss them, but he could already see how they would both go. The old lady laid a fat kiss on his cheek a couple minutes later and he was sent off. The bathroom was his next stop, hoping to wash off the blood from his face. He winced when he looked into the mirror. His busted chin was healed over and his nose was no longer broken, but it appeared he didn’t have enough stamina to heal the bruising. Not to mention all the blood. Dark splotches laid under both of his eyes. Dried blood made its way from his nose all the way down to the neck of his shirt, staining it an ugly brown.“You fucked me up,” He said, even though Kirishima couldn’t hear him. He scrubbed at his face before leaving the same bathroom for the third time that day, making his way back to his friends.His walk was interrupted by the sound of something falling from high up a vending machine. It was Shinso, getting his second coffee of the day. Maybe. Who knows how many he had before this.“You’ll stunt your growth,” Miles sang. He had no idea if that was true. Screw him, he wanted to fuck with the guy.Shinso sent him a glance over his shoulder, not even surprised to see him. “I’m tall enough. You look like shit, by the way,”Miles snorted, “You should see the other guy,” The ‘other guy’ was perfectly fine. Not a scratch on him. Bastard.A silence hung in the hair between them. Maybe he should have continued his way back to his seat, but he didn’t. Shinso didn’t do anything either, just holding his coffee in his hand, making no move to open it. Miles wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what.“Why didn’t you use your quirk against me?”The question startled him. Miles blinked, standing up a bit straighter and thinking very hard about what to say. Considering what he’d said in their fight, Shinso didn’t usually give the time of day to kids like Miles. People with quirks that made it easy for them. But here he was, giving Miles the chance to speak with him. Even if he hadn’t meant him to take it seriously, Miles did. The brunette bit on his bottom lip.“It was a decision I made on the spot,” He started, “I wanted to prove to you that I got into this course because I deserve it,”Shinso nodded, but Miles continued. “I also wanted to make sure you knew that you don’t need a quirk like mine to win,”There was another pause before Shinso inhaled, “I’m going to make it into the hero course. That’s a promise,”Miles smiled, “I hope you’re in my class,”Shinso let out a tch , leaning against the vending machine as he finally cracked open his coffee. “I’m not trying to make friends,”“Okay,” Miles walked over the the vending machine, leaning against it with Shinso, “but just know that I have tons of them, and I was still able to beat your ass,”“God, you did,” Shinso winced, “Your legs are powerhouses. You broke two of my ribs,”It was Miles’ turn to wince, “Sorry,”“Don’t be. Thank you, for not going easy on me,”“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Miles smiled down at the boy. “You called me kitten,”Shinso groaned, smacking a hand over his face, “Yeah, I did,”“On live television. In front of my damn mother, you naughty bitch,”“Please just let me forget it ever happened. I’m begging you,”Miles didn’t know how long he talked to Shinso. It must have been long enough, because Iida and Midoriya were going at it in the ring. Looks like he’d enjoyed his conversation a bit too much and completely forgotten about the tournaments. “What took you so long?” Hanta asked when he took his spot next to him.“You look rough,” Denki whistled, “Hey, Kiri, take a look at your work,”“You don’t have a concussion, do you?” The redhead asked. His question was genuine, and Miles couldn’t even pretend to be upset with him.He shook his head, “Not this time, but I probably should have one. And I was talking to Shinso, that’s why I took forever. Don’t make that face, Han, he’s nice,”Hanta snorted, “You’re lucky I love you, because I’d laugh in your face right now otherwise,”Miles swat his chest. His own tightened with adoration. Never in any reality had someone said ‘I love you’ to him like it was easy. As if loving him came naturally. A smile settled over his lips as he pressed further into his seat. A few minutes later, Midoriya won the match. –––––– The matches between the four finalists were quick ones. Bakugo was able to break through Kirishima’s hardening with enough hits. Denki and Miles shared a side eye when the two-faced teen immediately burst into flames when prompted by Midoriya. All that talk about not using his left side, and one sentence from a green-haired masochist tore it all down? Okay.Miles had to admit that he cringed the most when Midoriya’s arms were completely wrecked from the fight. He’d never tried to push himself past his limits. He always stopped using his quirk right after going numb. What would happen if he did? Hopefully nothing like Midoriya, who bled all over the concrete from the extent of his injuries.Watching people fight was boring, in Miles’ humble opinion. But he had to admit, he was curious to see how this last match would end up. Present Mic called the start, and Miles couldn’t help but perk up with interest.Todoroki leaned forward, a mountain of ice manifesting in front of him. Miles felt a flicker of disappointment that the match was ending so early. Turns out a month knowing a guy doesn’t mean you know him at all, because Bakugo had already thought of a way out. A loud boom that could only come from the one and only followed shortly after the manifestation of ice, blowing clean through to the other side. The blonde dodged another attack from half and half by propelling himself into the air, grabbing a fistful of red hair as he arched over the other boy.Bakugo landed on his feet, tossing the other boy across the stage, who stopped himself by forming another wall of ice. When the blonde lunged again, Todoroki caught him by the forearm with his left hand. Rather than igniting his left side, he threw Bakugo into the wall of ice. Wiping the corner of his mouth, Bakugo smirked, his face dark. “I ain’t good enough for that?”Todoroki didn’t reply, and Bakugo responded to his silence by setting off the sweat on his palms. “You’ll regret making a fool of me! I’ll fucking kill you! I’m taking the first to end all firsts! There’s no point in winning against some half-assed punk! No point if I can’t do better than Deku!” Miles blinked. It wasn’t the first time any of them wondered what had happened between Bakugo and Midoriya that warranted such a vicious rivalry. “So if you’re not trying to win, get the hell out of my face!” Bakugo raised his fists, preparing to go at Todoroki again. “Why’re you even here, you bastard?!”The blonde surged forward. Todoroki appeared nailed to the spot, and Midoriya stood, “Don’t lose! Come on!”That was enough. Todoroki was ablaze, flames licking off his skin into the air as his eyes narrowed at his opponent. Bakugo smiled dangerously as he erupted, an explosion bright enough to leave spots dancing across all of their visions. Miles stood, eyes wide in awe. He grabbed onto the railing for support as he waited for the smoke to clear.When it did, they were all able to see Bakugo flat on the ground, an unconscious Todoroki lying against broken pieces of his own ice. The blonde pushed himself shakily to his feet, “Hey,” He shuffled over to the other boy, grabbing onto the front of Todoroki’s shirt. Behind them, Midnight ripped open the sleeve of her costume, pink fog seeping from her skin.True to character, Bakugo resisted the effects of her quirk to yell, “Stop messing around! Not like this! Not like…” He collapsed onto his side, eyes shut tightly in a restless sleep.Midnight raised her arm, “Todoroki is out of bound, so…”  Her arm swung down, “Bakugo is the winner!”The stadium erupted in cheers. Miles was silent, knuckles white as he gripped the railing. Something felt off. He swallowed. “And that concludes our contest! The first year winner of UA’s Sports Festival is Bakugo Katsuki of class A!” –––––– This shit had to be illegal.Bakugo was tied to a pillar on the first place podium, a metal contraption over his hands to prevent him from using his quirk. His arms were unable to move since they were held together by the same cuffs used on apprehended villains. Both the cuffs and the metal box were chained to the floor beneath him. Perhaps the most noticeable of all was the metal muzzle over Bakugo’s mouth. The half of his face that wasn’t covered was wild, eyes completely glazed over with feral rage. Bakugo rightfully thrashed against the restraints, somehow managing to use every curse imaginable with just his movement alone. “Now, let’s move on to the awards ceremony!” Midnight cheered. Miles couldn’t take his eyes off Bakugo. Was he the only person who had a problem with this? He finally tore his eyes away from the caged boy to survey the rest of his class. Fortunately, all of them shared matching looks of horror and surprise.“Presenting the medals this year is you know who!”“I am here with the medals!” All Might landed in his signature pose, cutting Midnight off. All the adults were being far too casual with this. Was it stupid that he was so bothered by it? Was this normal? The very thought of being the one on stage, chained and caged, in front of a stadium full of people made Miles nauseous. He made a mental note to check on Bakugo after this. Something told him that standing up for him in front of a stadium full of people would be just as bad.“Congratulations, Kirishima,” The redhead bowed to take the medal, “You made your opponents desperate enough to engage in close combat, but you cracked under pressure. Hone your strength and you will prosper,” Kirishima nodded, visibly moved, accepting the hug from their teacher.“Todoroki, kid, congratulations,” Todoroki bowed just as Kirishima had done, taking the second place medal. This time, All Might spoke quietly enough to keep the conversation just between the two of them. All Might gave Todoroki a hug as well before he faced the beast.“And finally, Bakugo! You lived up to your promise. Wonderful!”The muzzle was removed and sure enough, Bakugo had a lot to say. “This win doesn’t mean shit. Doesn’t matter what anyone says. If I don’t recognize it, then that medal’s just garbage!” “In a world that’s constantly graded on a curve, there aren’t many who can continuously be on top,” All Might held up the medal, “so accept this! As a wound even! So you don’t forget!”“I told you I don’t need that junk!” Bakugo seethed. When All Might moved to place it over his head, Bakugo leaned it back, the medal’s band catching on his nose. The explosive blonde opened his mouth to speak, and the medal snapped into it, pulling on his bottom teeth.“Well, these are your winners!” All Might turned to face the crowd of students. “But hold on. Everyone here has the potential to be standing up here, as you all witnessed! Competition! Encouragement! Pushing each other to climb higher and higher! The sprouts of today will grow into the heroes of tomorrow! In that spirit, let’s have one final cheer!” All Might pointed towards the sky. “Everyone say it with me! One, two, and…”Everyone in the crowd called in unison, “Plus ultra!”“Thanks for the hard work!” All Might said instead.“We’re supposed to say ‘plus ultra’, All Might,”“Oh right…it's just that they all worked so hard…”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“In light of the festival, you’ll have tomorrow and the next day off,”Miles happily tapped his fingers against his desk at the words. It had been forever since he’d gotten a day off on his birthday. “Scouting reports and such from the pros will be waiting for you here after the break, so look forward to that as you enjoy your time off,”The happy tapping slowed to a stop.It was a short meeting in the classroom. They were dismissed not long after, and Miles made his way to Bakugo’s desk. The medal was still in between his teeth.“Hey,” Red eyes snapped to his green ones, and Miles was struck with the realization that he had never really had a conversation with Bakugo. He cleared his throat, “that was fucked up,”Bakugo just stared at him. Miles blinked back. “I mean, you’re an ass,” Bakugo’s eyes narrowed impossibly further, “but you don’t deserve to be chained up like some kind of animal in front of a bunch of people who call themselves heroes, you know?” The brunette refused to go through another awkward pause, opting to walk away as soon as he got out what he wanted.“Ready to go, Milo?” Hanta asked, having just observed Miles and Bakugo’s interaction with amused interest. Miles nodded, joining Hanta and Denki’s side to walk home together.Bakugo’s eyes were trained on the back of his head as he left. –––––– 
MAY 5, 2021
It was an awkward vacation. Wednesday and Thursday off, one day of school on Friday, just to have the weekend right after.Miles thought about this as he chewed on the end of a pencil, watching his brother mess with something at his desk. The older of the two enjoyed spending his time in his little brother’s room. Something about being in the same room but doing different things worked really well for them. Sam cursed under his breath and Miles huffed. “I don’t know what to do,”“Draw something,” Sam said plainly, half way ignoring Miles.“You’re very helpful,” Miles sighed. Part of him wished that he hadn’t scripted that they had no homework. Maybe then he’d have something to do. But he knew that his dumbass would have failed if he had to do homework for a school that only the top two percent got into.Sam cursed again, louder this time, clearly done with fighting over whatever he’d been working on. His chair spun around, and Sam’s arms were crossed over his chest, blue eyes half lidded in contempt. Miles beamed at him just to make him annoyed.“You know you can always be honest with me, right?”The question confused the brunette, whose face fell in confusion. “Uh, yeah? Why?”Sam pursed his lips, “Mom’s been talking about not letting them stay overnight anymore,” He grabbed the edge of his desk and pushed, sending his desk chair spinning. “She thinks you’re all dating, and I’m starting to wonder, too. And honestly, with the way you all hang off each other, I wouldn’t be–”“Hold the fuck up,” Miles dropped the pencil to the bed. Sam caught the footboard of his bed to stop himself from spinning. “We’re not,”The black-haired boy raised a brow, and Miles’ eyes widened. He hoped the heat in his face didn’t show. “We’re not! I’m being serious,”Sam snorted, “You might need to ask, to be honest, make sure they don’t think that,”“Why would I?”Sam hummed playfully, lazily kicking against the ground to send himself into a slow spin around. “You guys share a bed when you’re together. You cuddle all the time. They call you an affectionate nickname that I came up with, by the way. Don’t know if you remember that. All three of you say I love you like it’s nothing. And you’ve seen each other naked, apparently, which a new thing I didn’t need to know about,”About a week ago, Hanta said something along the lines of ‘it doesn’t matter, I’ve seen you naked’ in front of the entire Moore family. Miles should have killed him then. He was definitely blushing bright red. “I’ve known them for ten years! That’s years of locker rooms and sharing the baths, you freak,”“I was in the same gym classes as you guys and managed to never see any of your junks,” Sam was still spinning, but Miles could tell from his voice that he was smirking. He threw the pencil at him and missed. The younger boy laughed. “You’ve kissed Hanta, too. You told me,”Miles’ lips formed a tight line, “When we were in elementary school,”“How cute is that?” Sam cooed. Make no mistake. No matter how sweet his voice was, Miles knew he was mocking him. “Little elementary sweethearts. I could vomit,”“We’re not dating. Tell that to Mom next time she asks,”“It’s not just her, you know,” Sam’s chair slowed to a stop, “Everyone else is wondering, even if they don’t say it,”Miles gawked. He had no idea people were looking at them like that.“You don’t need to be ashamed about it, if you are,” Sam was looking into his eyes. It’s not often that he was sincere, but he was right now. “Mom and Dad wouldn’t care, you know that. They love both of those idiots more than us,”“I know,” Miles’ voice was soft, picking at a loose thread in Sam’s comforter. “You would be the first person I’d tell if I got a boyfriend. Trust,”Sam rolled his eyes, “Right back at you,”“Love you, Sammy,”“Don’t say that dumb shit to me,”Now that he’d been made aware of the situation, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Did he do this to himself? When he shifted, it was usually in order to date someone, but this was two people! He’d never thought about polyamory before, much less being part of a polycule. One thing he did know was that he had always wanted friends like this. Denki and Hanta showed him true love. You weren’t meant to seek unconditional love through friendships. That was something your parents were supposed to give you. Christine and Eric Moore did a fantastic job, but something about Denki and Hanta made Miles’ chest fill with light. Was that normal? He’d never felt like this before, not with anyone.Light filled the hallway between the front door and the living room as both of his best friends entered the apartment without knocking. Miles was at the end of it, leaning against the wall. Hanta had done them the courtesy of texting right before they showed up. Both of them set their overnight bags in front of the door. Hanta knelt down to take off his shoes while Denki kicked them off in the general vicinity of their shoe rack. As the blonde skipped over to Miles, the black-haired boy rolled his eyes, picking up Denki’s shoes and setting them next to each other. So, Miles was becoming very aware of his friend's mannerisms right now. Like how Denki always smiled sweetly when he saw Miles. Or how the blonde always wrapped his arms around Miles’s shoulders or neck when they hugged because he liked to be held around the waist. How he sighed, nice and happy, when Miles’ arms wrapped around him securely. How his hair was right up against Miles’ nose, and he could smell cherry scented shampoo, because Denki enjoyed smelling sweet. Suddenly, all of these things that Miles never noticed before made themselves aware, and everything that came naturally to him fit like a shirt size small. “Happy birthday,” Denki said when they’d let go. Miles already missed the smell of cherries. He didn’t even like cherries. Just like how he hated the smell of oranges more than anything until about a month and a half ago, when he’d first shifted here. When he first met Hanta, who had orange juice with almost every meal. Fuck.“It’s not my birthday, yet,” He replied. Without thinking, his hand came up to brush Denki’s bangs away. When Denki turned to pick up his bag and bring it to Miles’ room, he asked himself why he’d done that. The answer made his breath catch in his throat. He wanted to be able to look at Denki’s face. “Where are you?” The question along with the arms wrapping around his waist brought him out of his head. Hanta preferred to have his arms around the other person's waist, Denki liked it when he was the one hanging off of someone’s neck, and Miles just liked to be held. He didn’t care how it was done. They were the perfect group. Absolutely perfect.“Hey, Milo, get out of that pretty head of yours,” Hanta pressed his nose into the crook of Miles’ neck. That did it. Miles was completely grounded, aware of every second that his best friend was pressed against him. Pretty. Call me pretty. Do it again. He finally returned the hug, arms engulfing Hanta’s shoulders. For a glorious moment, it was just them in this hallway, in this room, in this world. He squeezed, and the other boy inhaled. Was he smelling him? Holy shit. Part of him hoped that Hanta was.“What’s up? We just got here and you’re already somewhere else,” Hanta pulled away enough to look at his face, keeping them tethered together by the hands on Miles’ sides. The hands on Hanta’s shoulders were shaking, just slightly. Miles had never forgotten how to speak before. Never, in any reality. But there was a first time for everything, and he was looking into black eyes on a beautiful face, completely unsure how to get his tongue to form words.“I…” He trailed off, inhaling deeply to steady himself, “I don’t know. I’m thinking about something,”“Wanna talk about it?” Miles shook his head, and Hanta pressed no further.Hanta patted his cheek and made his way to Miles’ room with his bag. The brunette slumped against the wall, sighing. He brought his hands up to his cheeks and felt how warm they were. They both pressed into his eyes as he covered his face. One talk about everyone thinking they were dating, and Miles was a wreck? God, he was a loser. Though the kitchen had been silent the whole time, he found that it was definitely not empty. Miles turned to go to his room and was nailed to the spot by his mother’s gaze. They stared at each other for what felt like eons before Miles ducked his head down in embarrassment, shuffling over to his door.“I brought my switch. If you forgot yours, Hanta, I’m killing you,” Denki declared once Miles shut the door. The blonde made his way over to Miles’ bean bag, like usual, to claim his spot for the night. As if anyone would take it from him. It’d been his for five years. He sat in the damn thing more than Miles.“That was one time a year ago,” Hanta whined, pulling his switch out of his bag and flopping down on the bed. He wiggled around until his back was to the headboard.“Minecraft or Stardew?” Denki asked, “Your choice, birthday boy,”“Stardew,” Miles replied, climbing onto his bed and sitting against the wall. Hanta uncurled his legs to drape them across Miles’ lap and the brunette nearly choked on his breath.They played for hours, making it through two seasons. They made the executive decision to finally make their way through the skull caverns in search of prismatic shards when they reached winter.“We need two more if we’re all going to get a galaxy sword and have one left for the bundle,” Miles frustrated, cursing when he accidentally placed a bomb down and took damage.“It’s twelve already. Let’s do it tomorrow,” Denki called back, his character swinging his sword wildly at a serpent. “If we pass out in these mines, I’m blaming you,”“Oh my god, fine,” Miles huffed.Hanta snickered, “This game is meant to be relaxing,”“I’m relaxed,” Miles defended right before he was hit with a serpent and died. When he came to in Harvey’s clinic, he’d lost all eighty-nine of his spicy eels. Miles inhaled, closed his eyes, and flopped over. Hanta cooed at him, and the brunette didn’t have it in him to be angry at the teasing tone. Especially when he felt long fingers raking through his hair. He hummed happily, wrapping an arm around Hanta and burying his face in his hip. “You done?” Miles nodded. Neither of his friends asked any questions. Hanta handled it for him, directing his avatar to bed after his own and turning off both of their switches. The black-haired boy leaned away to set them on the nightstand, fingers stilling for a second. A second too long. Miles hummed again, annoyed and petulant. He glared up at Hanta, nose crinkled. “Yeah, yeah, I know what you want,” Hanta smiled fondly, returning to his spot and continuing his finger’s rhythm. Miles closed his eyes again.The boy against the headboard must have beckoned the blonde to join them because the bed groaned under Miles’ ear as another body climbed up. He didn’t have to open his eyes to know what position Denki assumed. He was curled into Hanta’s side, one of those long arms across his shoulders, large hand toying with the ends of silky blonde hair. Miles felt a soft hand rest against his left cheek, right where he liked to be held. Being touched just for the sake of touching. Before he could think about it, he turned his head enough to kiss the palm of it. It was warm against his lips.This was not normal. Not by a long shot. This was something other than friendship. It had to be, because Denki did not react like Kirishima or Ashido would have. The blonde huffed out a laugh, mumbling something to himself with a joyful lilt to his voice. Miles opened his eyes slowly and was graced with something gorgeous.Denki was looking down at him with something between adoration and fondness. The wretched ceiling light was off as always, but the lamp on Miles’ nightstand was on. Half of Denki’s face was cast in the blue light of evening coming in through his window, the other just as golden as his heart. His cheek, round with boyish youth, was smushed up against Hanta’s shoulder. Hanta, who’s head rested on top of Denki’s, eyes closed as he focused on playing with their hair. His usual smile was gone, replaced with a serene beauty that took Miles’ breath away.When had he started seeing them this way? Did they look at him like this, too? Something inside of his chest right next to his heart longed to know. Two absolutely gorgeous people were in front of him, in his room, on his bed, and they were his best friends. His eyes stung with tears, and he blinked in surprise.“Why are you crying?” It wasn’t urgent. It wasn’t frantic. Denki asked it softly, like anything louder than that would break Miles. His thumb rubbed against Miles’ face and the brunette softened further, vision blurring even more. Hanta’s eyes opened to inspect, both of his hands pausing their work.Miles laughed wetly, “I just feel so safe right now. It’s bizarre,” He sniffled, hiding his face against Hanta’s thigh. “Don’t stop, Han,”Hanta didn’t.Time seemed to stop. Miles allowed himself to drift away, his mind hazy and perfectly fine. Nothing mattered right now except for Hanta’s fingers diving into his thick tufts of hair and Denki’s hand resting upon his cheek, occasionally rubbing a spot just beneath his eye. This was it. This is what he wanted for his birthday. He realized that this entire time, nobody had made fun of him. Nobody had pushed him away. Everything was comfortable and warm, and both of them wanted to hold Miles as much as he wanted to hold them. Tears made their way out of his eyes as he quietly cried, soaking into Hanta’s sweats. He didn’t seem to mind.Wherever he was drifting up to was the closest thing to heaven that you could find on earth. Utterly, completely safe.There was a knock on the door. Denki grunted as he stood up to answer. Miles placed his own hand on his face to replace the warmth. He didn’t bother listening to what was said. Besides, Denki would tell him.“Dinner,” Denki told them simply, reclaiming his spot and swatting Miles’ hand away. “It can wait,”“What if we’re hungry?” Hanta grunted, and Miles smiled. Secretly, he loved to listen to their bickering.“Suffer,” The blonde breathed out. They could hear the smile in his voice. “I’m too happy right now,”“Oh, yeah,” Hanta was also smiling. Three happy boys cuddling on a bed. “What do you think, Milo?” Miles shook his head. “Don’t feel like talking?” A nod. “Okay,”Both Denki and Hanta were familiar with this side of Miles. Sometimes, Miles hated talking. Even making noises. Of course, they didn’t mind. They’d learned how to read Miles like their favorite book to compensate for it and always gave him what he needed. Because they were perfect bastards. Right now, Miles was silent because he was in some sort of state between asleep and awake, and breaking it to reply to a question as unimportant as ‘are you hungry’ felt like a carnal sin.“Five more minutes–” Denki poked Hanta’s side, “Okay, ten more minutes, and then we need to eat,”All Miles did to reply was nod, pulling Hanta closer and inhaling that sweet orange scent. His parents didn’t care about eating together, as long as everyone in the house ate, so they’d be fine. Miles could appreciate every second of their ten minutes.“Hey, Milo,” Denki prompted when it ended. Miles exhaled heavily and opened his eyes, blinking sleepily. “Come back to me,”“I’m here,” He stretched, and his limbs felt like they were made of pudding. As if his very soul had left his body and just returned to it. He pushed himself up to sit and gave himself a second to get used to it. “Right here,” Hanta didn’t object when Miles grabbed his wrists and pressed his hands against his face. They were always cold, and it helped to ground him.Both of them gave Miles the courtesy to ground himself fully before they left the room and faced other people. Turns out Miles was hungry as shit and he’d been too out of his head to know. His mouth was dry, too. Apparently he’d been breathing through his mouth.His mother had already retreated into her room and Sam was at the table, a bowl of spaghetti in front of him. It was normal to Miles, but he knew it was not to either of his friends. So was using forks. His parents were from America, and they liked to hold onto that culture. Which was just bits and pieces of other cultures, but he digressed. All of their households were so different. Miles was western, Hanta was Columbian, and Denki was Japanese. He’d never had such a diverse group of friends in his original reality. Probably because he lived in small town Missouri.Miles went to retrieve a bowl and was called off by Hanta, who knew he was still on the borderline between out of it and down to earth. The black-haired boy got both of their helpings for them while Denki got his own. The blonde sat next to Sam and Miles sat across from him, thanking Hanta with a smile when he sat down his bowl in front of him.“Your hair looks like shit,” Sam said as they prayed over their food.“Hanta was playing with it,” Miles shrugged. Sam arched a brow at him, but didn’t say anything else.When they were done, Denki demanded that he and Sam play Mario Kart together. The shorter boy groaned, but made his way to the living room to boot up the game. Hanta and Miles held back in the kitchen, leaning against the island together and watching them play.“What even happens to you?” Hanta asked. Miles’ eyebrows furrowed, confused. Hanta clarified, “We always end up cuddling when we’re here, and you always go who knows where,”Miles shrugged, “Don’t know. It’s like I’m floating. Feels nice,”“It must,” Hanta hummed, “You’re blushing,”The brunette huffed, “Well, don’t say we cuddled so casually,”“No?” Hanta was grinning cheekily, ready to tease away. “But we did. You embarrassed?”“No!” Miles said a little too frantically, “I just…” He groaned, covering his face with his hands as Hanta laughed.“That’s okay,” Hanta bumped into his side with his own. “It’s cute,”Miles gasped lightly, face hot, “Don’t say that stuff,”“Why not, Milo?” Hanta teased, “Because I think you like it a bit too much,”“Hanta,”“I saw how you looked at me when I called you pretty, earlier,” Hanta hummed thoughtfully, “I hope you don’t think I was joking,”Now, what on earth did that mean? Miles removed himself from the palms of his hands to look at Hanta. Bastard wasn’t even looking at him, watching the match between Sam and Denki.Miles stammered before he found his voice again, “You think I’m pretty?” That inner voice came back once again. Pretty. Call me pretty. Do it again. Hanta nodded. Miles wasn’t having any of that. “Say it,”He finally looked at him. Miles could tell that the other boy was studying him, taking in his expression before he indulged him. Hanta watched as Miles drew his bottom lip in between his teeth. Then, quietly, “I think you’re very pretty, Miles,”Maybe this was the part where others would have kissed him. Would have grabbed at the nape of his neck as they pulled him in, fisting his hair in between their fingers. Would have tasted him, citrus and tea leaves and all. Would have felt his large hands on their hips, their waist, their face. But Miles didn’t do any of that. Instead, he grinned like a schoolboy who had been called pretty by their best friend and went back to watching the TV.“I think you’re beautiful. Always have, I think,” Miles said after a full minute of silence. Hanta didn’t say anything, but a pretty pink settled over his cheeks and the tips of his ears. How courteous of him to prove Miles’ point right after it was made. –––––– Hanta had gone to bed already, curled up in Miles’ bed. The other two boys were still awake, wasting the night away by watching TikToks on Denki’s phone with his volume at one. Denki was in Miles’ lap on the bean bag, far too small for them to sit side by side. Definitely normal friend things. He fit so perfectly on top of him. Miles felt like he was going to suffocate from how much he was enjoying it. “Should we go to bed?” He mumbled into Denki’s shoulder. The time at the corner of his phone read 11:28. If they wanted to have any hope of waking up at a sound hour, they should head off now.Denki was not known for his rationality, “Nah,”“I think we should,” Miles hummed. Denki sighed, turning off his phone and throwing it somewhere to their right. Confused, Miles opened his mouth to ask why he hadn’t started a squabble over it, like he always did. Everything at the tip of his tongue was reduced to an oh when Denki turned in his grasp. The blonde shoved his face into the crook of his neck, curling up on top of Miles like he was his own personal futon. His legs were straddling Miles’ hips, and the brunette froze. What the hell does he do now? “Denki?”Nothing. “I hope you don’t think we’re leaving Hanta alone. You know he gets cold,”Denki sighed against his skin, and goosebumps followed. “Do you like Hanta more than me?”Well, Miles was wide awake now. He tried to pull back to get a look at Denki’s face, but he held onto him tightly. Miles could feel how anxious he was, electricity buzzing wildly. How long had he been worried about this?“Denks, of course not. What brought this up?”Denki flopped over to the right, letting go of Miles. They were so close together, noses almost touching, legs tangled together. Miles tried not to get lost in it all. Denki was so pretty, especially when the light hit his eyes the way it was right now, making them glow like golden honey.“It’s just that you guys have all this, like, history? I guess? You both just have this connection that I’ve always felt separate from. You’ve known him longer, too,” Denki looked so small right now. Miles hated it. “Sometimes, I can’t help but feel like I’m third-wheeling a bit,”“Did you feel that way today?” Miles asked.“A little? When we were eating dinner,” Denki shrugged.“Denks,” Miles replied softly, reaching up to move the hair out of Denki’s face. There was a drawn out silence after that as Miles thought about it. Did he like Hanta more? Of course he didn’t. “I just love you both differently is all. You both just need to be shown in different ways,”“How so?” Goddammit. Miles blushed, resisting the urge to hide his face in embarrassment. Now he had to say it out loud.“Like, Hanta needs it to be more obvious. He needs affection, even if he won’t admit it. Why do you think he always sleeps in the middle?” Miles cleared his throat and swallowed. Denki was watching him so intently. His face felt like it was on fire. “But you’re happier when someone does things for you. Tutoring you, getting you drinks, helping you clean. We both do those things because we love you,”Denki’s face was dusted pink as Miles spoke. He reached in the space between them, and Miles took the hint, clasping his hand in one of his own. “I didn’t know you…” Denki stopped, eyes leaving Miles’ face.“Eight years is still a long time, Denks,” Miles smiled, “They’ve been the best, you know. Because we’ve had you,”Denki laughed, like he always did when he was overwhelmed by something. “I know you, too. You’re always going on about love languages and all that. Yours is physical touch and words of affirmation. I just see you all over Hanta all the time, saying things to him, and I think you do it because it’s easier with him,”“Do you want me to do those things with you more?” Miles asked. He couldn’t help the wicked smile that overtook his features when Denki blushed bright red.“Don’t look at me like that,” Denki scolded.“So that’s a yes?”“Do not make me say it,”“Alright,” Miles yielded, spreading out his fingers. Denki did the same, their hands pressed together. Denki’s hand was only a little bit smaller than his, just enough that the third knuckle of his fingers could curl over. It lasted for only a moment, both of the boys watching their hands pressing together, before Miles tilted his to the side and curled his fingers back around Denki’s hand. The blonde did the same. They were always in sync.When they were close like this, Miles could feel everything. It was so much different than when they were apart, separated by hallways or whole entire rooms. When they touched, he understood what it was like to be Kaminari Denki, a live wire. So powerful and alive . “You’re amazing,” Miles whispered.“No you,” Denki replied.Miles laughed, rolling on top of Denki. The blonde’s shriek broke into laughter when Miles stood up. Denki scrambled to loop his arms around his neck as Miles’ hands grabbed onto the back of his thighs to hold him up.“Hanta,” Miles kicked the bed to jostle the younger boy awake. Not the best way to wake up, but oh well. “Scoot,”“Wh’th’fuck,” Hanta slurred, rubbing his eyes.“Denki’s sleeping in the middle,” Miles said, as if Hanta wasn’t half asleep.“Kay,” Hanta sighed, wiggling to the edge of the bed. He threw Denki onto the spot in the middle before he crawled over to his usual place by the wall. “Thanks,” Denki said when Miles collapsed onto a pillow.Miles hummed, “You’re welcome. Lay down,”Denki did so, and Miles wasted no time slinging an arm over his stomach. –––––– 
MAY 6, 2021
When he woke up, Denki was facing him as he slept. His face was pressed against his chest, one leg thrown over his thigh, the other shoved between his legs, an arm over his waist. Hanta was on the other side, spooning him. Miles’ hand was against Hanta’s back, as if he’d pulled them both closer in his sleep. They were all sticky with sweat despite the covers bundled at the end of the bed.Golden light was coming in through the window, distorted by the blinds. Miles indulged in the image before him, eyes wide and flickering between his friends. He was so fucked. As quietly as he could, he did his awkward scoot off the bed and left his room to use the bathroom. Then he made his way to the kitchen to grab anything he could find because he was ravenous. He came across a package of Sam’s favorite granola bars, and, because he’s the worst, he took two. The living room was dead as sleep, but the door to his parents room was open, the light in their bathroom was on. And, because he’s the worst, Miles decided he would like to annoy his mother right before work.Pressing his ear against the door, he didn’t hear any water running from the shower. He knocked, and listened to the footsteps that approached. His mother’s makeup was half done and her heatless curlers were on. Didn’t stop Miles from thinking she was beautiful. “Hanta and Denki are still asleep,” He said in English. All of his family used English when it was just them. She nodded, returning to her spot in front of the mirror. Miles took that as an invitation, skipping into the room and nearly falling on his ass when his socks slid on the tile.“Careful,” His mother reminded. The air was still stuffy from a shower, one of the mirrors fogged over. The brunette boy lifted himself to sit on the counter of his father’s sink. It was much cleaner and it made sense. Eric Moore was out of the country most of the time.They sat in comfortable silence as Miles ate his second granola bar. His mother leaned in close to the mirror as she did her liner, which caught Miles’ eye. In moments like this one, he realized how much he looked like her. The way her nose crinkled when she received a compliment. How her eyes darkened when she was angry. Her eyes looked green in certain lighting. Right now, he could see that the shape of her cheeks matched his almost perfectly.“You’re really pretty, Mom,” He said through a mouthful of food. Sometimes, he caught himself hoping that he would be as beautiful as her, forgetting that she wasn’t biologically his. It’s not like he remembered his bio mom at all. Tenko was the only person he remembered from his family. Christine was all he’d ever known as a mother.She scrunched her nose at him with a smile. The same smile that belonged to Sam. “Thank you, baby,” He grinned. “I heard Hanta call you that yesterday,” Grin dropped.“We’re not dating,”“I didn’t ask,”Miles pulled his lips into a tight line, “You were going to,”“Sam tell you that?” She shook her head. “That kid. Look, I’m not going to ban them from sleepovers,”“Oh my god,”“I don’t care what you do, as long as you’re safe,”“Mother,”“Because you’re growing into your own person, and I don’t want to be the parent that tries to act like I have any control over what you do with your partners–”“We’re not dating!” Miles exclaimed, his face red. “Miles,” His mom snorted, “I’m no fool,” Her hand darted out to pinch at his cheek. “My baby is falling in love!”Miles recoiled, swatting at his mother’s hand, “Stop it!”His mother chuckled, picking up the brush she used to blush her cheeks and resuming her work. Miles picked at a loose thread in his sock. His voice was small when he spoke, “It’s scary,”The boy decidedly looked at the ground rather than his mom, but he could feel her staring at him. “Miles, look at me,” He couldn’t stop his eyes from wetting when he looked up at her. “Oh, dear, you can’t tell, can you?” His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Couldn’t tell what? “That’s okay. Don’t worry about it, baby,”They sat in silence until his mother finished her face, beckoning him out of the bathroom. After he received his usual kiss on the cheek, he told her to have a good day and locked the door when she left. He sighed, forehead thudding against wood. Denki was awake, rubbing the sleep from his eyes when Miles walked back in. He smiled lazily when he noticed Miles return. His hands outstretched towards him, making grabby hands. “Come,”“I’m right here,” Miles snorted, ignoring how his heart hammered for a few beats. Denki groaned, “Come back to bed. You’re warm,”“You're so whiny,” Miles teased, but he did as he was told.“I’m an acquired taste,” Denki hummed, latching onto Miles with all four of his limbs. “Where’d you go?”“Hong Kong,” He replied, and the blonde kicked him. “The kitchen, idiot. Where else would I go?”“I heard you talking to your mom,” Miles stiffened. “What were you talking about?”He inhaled, “Nothing,” He swallowed, hugging Denki tighter. “Just my birthday,” Against the skin of his neck, Denki smiled. “Happy birthday,”“You almost forgot,”“I just woke up,”Miles felt a hand rest upon his side, “What are we doing for breakfast?”“Morning, Han,” “I already ate,”“Ate what?”“Two of Sam’s granola bars,”“Okay, I’m making us actual food,” Hanta sat up, popping his back as he stretched.“Want us to join you?”“Nah, I’m good,” Hanta stood from the bed, making his way to the door. “Believe it or not, sometimes I need a break from you two,” Both of the boys on the bed gawked in offense as Hanta snickered.When he left, Denki demanded that Miles play with his hair while they waited. The waiting lasted for approximately five minutes before both of them got bored and made their way to the kitchen. Hanta was in front of the stove, light from the window pouring in. His hair was still rumpled from sleep. Miles tried to stop himself from noticing how cute he looked.Denki made his way over to their friend while Miles sat down on the counter directly behind them. The blonde hugged Hanta from behind, looking around his arm to see what he was making. “Tamagoyaki?” Miles perked up.Hanta nodded, ears going red, “Don’t make a big deal out of it,”The brunette grinned, “You know how much I love it,”“Yeah, it’s your birthday,”“You love me,” Miles sing-songed, hopping off the counter to join Denki in hugging Hanta.Hanta raised his hands into the air, “Alright, everyone off of me. I’m cooking,” –––––– “I’m being dead serious,”Denki rolled his eyes, “It’s twelve p.m. on a Thursday, and you wanna watch Beautiful Boy”Miles scoffed, collapsing onto the couch with his arms crossed. “I like being sad,”“It’s your birthday. We’re meant to be happy,”Miles gagged, “About what? My impending death?”“Alright, you’re being ridiculous on purpose. We’re watching Cars,”“Hold on,” Hanta held up a hand, “Compromise, boys,”“How the fuck are you gonna find a compromise between Beautiful Boy and Cars?” Miles couldn’t hide the humor in his voice.“You want to cry, and you want Pixar,” Hanta pointed to each of them as he spoke, “Let’s watch Wall-E,”For a moment the other two just stared at him in awe before Denki spoke up, “You’re a brilliant man,”Hanta shrugged, playing up his confidence with a wide grin, “It’s hard being the smart one of the group. But damn, it is nice to be surrounded by people who are easy on the eyes,”“Oh my god,” Miles muttered, punching Hanta’s arm when he laughed.“I mean look at me,” Hanta continued, “I’ve got one on each arm,”“Your flirting’s awful,” Denki shook his head, but his ears were tinted pink.“Is that what I’m doing?” Hanta tilted his head to the side, raising a brow at Denki.Denki sighed, “Don’t act like that,”Miles found himself staring at the interaction next to him, ignoring the movie starting on the TV. Hanta hummed, leaning closer to the blonde. His grin would look the same as always to anyone who didn’t know him. But both Denki and Miles did. Hanta was in the mood to tease, and he could be relentless. “Would you like me to be straightforward?”“You know what, Hanta?” Denki rose to the challenge, turning his head, face dangerously close to Hanta’s. “It would be real nice if you could do that for me,”“Gays, please,”The foreign voice popped the bubble, and all of them flinched. Sam appeared completely unbothered being on the receiving end of three glares. Maybe they would be more forgiving if he was actually funny.“I watch Dance Moms on that couch. No kissing all over it,” Sam waved his hand as if to shoo them and retreated back to the hallway. –––––– It’s not that Miles hated his birthday. He loved having an excuse to have all of his friends time for two days. No, what he hated was this part.They were at the table, singing him happy birthday. He was flushing because this shit was embarrassing as hell. Sure, it’s nice that you get cake after, but all this undivided attention on him was too much. He doesn’t even know why it’s a problem. He can get over being on live television in front of the whole of Japan, but he can’t just smile pretty for his mom’s home video of his sixteenth birthday? He’s the worst son ever. Denki pulled him to the side, snapped a party hat on his head, and snapped a photo of them. Their smiles had bits of chocolate cake stuck in their teeth.“I don’t understand why you guys are so into this,” Miles said once the festivities died down. His friends and him were on the couch again, the news playing on the TV. Because Denki was an old man who enjoyed watching the forecast.Denki hummed, “Into what?” He picked up his second slice of cake with his fingers to eat, chocolate icing on his fingers.“My birthday,”Hanta snorted, “Because we love you,”Miles waved his hand, “You guys tell me that all the time! I don’t need a party to know that,”“Birthdays are about, like, celebration right?” Denki added, mouth full of cake. “We’ve survived another year together,”“I guess,” Miles mumbled, trying his best not to grimace. “Chew with your mouth closed,”The blonde leaned into his ear and sped up his chewing instead. Because we love you .Miles swallowed, turning his head around the room to make sure neither of his family members were still here. Hanta and Denki both held a questioning gaze on him at his sudden movement. He blushed, forcing his mouth open, “Are we dating?”Absolute silence.“It’s just that,” Miles began to ramble just to fill it, both of his friends staring at him with wide eyes. “Sam said everyone thinks so because we act like it. And maybe we kinda do? I’ve just known you both for so long and all this stuff we do feels natural and normal, but now that everyone is telling me that it’s not, I don’t think it is–”“Calm down,” Denki interrupted. Miles' mouth snapped shut.There was a long pause until Hanta spoke up. “We’re not,”Miles felt something in his chest snap, and he didn’t know why. A reason floated to the forefront of his brain, and he quickly popped that bubble.“Right,” Miles cleared his throat, face bright red. Shit. He made it weird.“It’s just,” Hanta sighed, “We’re all really close. We’ve been through a lot together and known each other for a long time. That’s it,” He was stiff, robotic. Like he’d thought about this before. Why had he thought about this before?“Right,” He parroted.Hanta laughed, but it was forced. “None of the stuff we do means anything like that. We just…” No move was made to finish his sentence.“Right,”Silence revolved around them until Denki turned off the TV, insisting that they head off to bed. When it came to be the morning, all three of them acted as if the conversation hadn’t happened. –––––– 
MAY 7, 2021
He felt stupid now. He felt stupid when he woke up. He felt stupid on their train ride to school, even when he was distracted by a group of elementary schoolers telling Hanta he made a good effort. He felt stupid now, sitting on a bench, changing his shoes. Why the fuck had he asked that? Everything should be weird now. Denki and Hanta shouldn’t be touching him, or looking at him, or joking with him because he made things weird. But they are. They’re acting like he never asked any stupid fucking questions, and its making him a little bit sad and a little bit angry and he doesn’t know why he cares so much. Was his mom right? Is he–“Mochan!”Miles nearly banged his head on the edge of his open locker door. It’s Ashido, wearing a pink poncho over her uniform to keep it dry. Adorable. She thrusted a small package under his nose, and he leaned back to look at it. It was a small square wrapped in green tissue paper with white polka-dots, tied together by a shiny white ribbon. He gingerly took it from her, turning it in his hands. She beamed at him, bouncing on her toes. “Open it!”“What is it?” He asked, pulling the bow loose. “Your birthday present,” She answered. He paused his unwrapping to look up at her in disbelief. “I know it’s not your birthday anymore, but–”“You got me a gift?” Miles felt like he was going to cry, which was a bit ridiculous.Ashido snorted, “We’re friends. Of course I got you a gift,”Tears were welling up in his eyes as he tore the paper back. Under it was a keychain with a set of red wings. Some Hawks merch. Miles awed before he wrapped Ashido in a hug. “I love it!”The pink girl was giggling, “It’s just a keychain. I saw it and I thought of you,”At that, tears were falling down his face. “You’re the best, Ashido,”“No crying right before class!” She scolded. After they’d made their way to their room, Miles sat his bag down by his desk with his new keychain attached. As usual, five minutes before the ball rang, he made his way over to his desk and sat down. There was a tap on his shoulder. Surprised, he turned to see Yaomomo with a subtle blush on her cheeks..“Forgive me if this makes you uncomfortable,” She started. Miles furrowed his brow. “I got you a gift,” She reached down into her bag and pulled out a small square. This time, it was decorated with white wrapping paper. To have his classmates go through the trouble of wrapping his gifts made his heart soar.He received it like the precious cargo it was, unwrapping it right there. That made Yaomomo’s blush darken, but she didn’t object. Miles almost laughed when he saw what it was. The same keychain he got from Ashido. He managed to hold it together. He really did appreciate it, and it would be going on his bag as well, even though he already had one. “Thank you, Yaomomo. Don’t worry about making me uncomfortable. This is awesome,”The girl looked relieved, and Miles smiled at her before he made a show of clipping it on his bag. On the opposite side of the other one, of course.The door to the classroom flew open. Aizawa was on the other side, free of bandages.. Everyone sat down instantly.“Morning,” Aizawa said simply.“Good morning,” They all called back.“Good to see your bandages off, Aizawa Sensei,” Tsuyu piped up, and Miles nodded his head in agreement.“The old lady’s treatment was excessive,” Aizawa replied, scratching a spot under his eye. “But never mind that. Today we’ve got hero informatics class, and a special one at that,”Miles bit his bottom lip and braced himself for the worst. He could tell that the rest of class was doing the same.“You’ll be coming up with your hero aliases,”The room practically erupted as nearly everyone in class stood up, chattering with excitement. Ashido literally jumped out of her seat. Miles exhaled in relief. At least it wasn’t a pop quiz on hero law.“But first…” Aizawa’s hair floated around his face as he activated his quirk, a warning for them to settle down. “concerning the pro draft pick I mentioned the other day. It’s based on who the pros think will be ready to join the hero workforce after another two or three years of experience, so you could say that it’s a way for them to show interest in your futures.But there’s ample time for their interest to wane before you graduate, and any and all offers can be arbitrarily revoked. It happens quite often,”Hagakure raised her hand. Or at least Miles thought she did. “So if we’re picked now, that just means there’ll be higher hurdles in the years to come?”“Yes. Now, here’re the complete draft pick numbers,” Aizawa pulled back the chalkboard covering the class A draft pick totals. Miles made a choked sound and sunk in his seat. His name was fourth in line with three-hundred forty-seven offers. He felt like he was going to vomit as he wasn’t even in the number one spot. That honor was Todoroki’s, who had four-thousand one-hundred twenty-three offers. How do you even pick from that many? How was he going to pick from three hundred?!“There’s typically more of a spread, but our top two stole most of the spotlight,” Aizawa explained.“They’re in a whole other league!”“These pros have no eyes for talent,”“Didn’t they get first and second backwards?” Kirishima wondered aloud.Hanta replied instantly, “Guess they were just scared of the guy who was literally chained to the winners’ stand,” He didn’t even flinch when the explosive blonde yelled at the back of his head.“How come you’re not up there?” Miles asked Midoriya. “You did a lot better than me,”“I might have scared them away,” Midoriya replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.Miles' face went blank as he remembered Midoriya bleeding all over the concrete, using his already broken fingers to break down Todoroki’s ice. He grimaced, “Probably, man,”“With that settled, whether you were picked or not, you will have a chance to work alongside the pros. It’s true that you’ve all experienced more than most, but seeing the pros in action and taking part yourselves will still be worthwhile,”“That’s where our hero names come in!”“This is really getting fun!”“They’re only tentative,” Aizawa reminded them, “but you still want to pick something appropriate,”“Or else you’ll know true hell!”The entire class whipped their heads towards the door. Sure enough, Midnight was there in all her R-Rated glory. “The nickname you pick now may be what the world ends up calling you. That’s happened to plenty of pros before,”“Yes, true enough,” Aizawa said, leaning down to pick up his sleeping bag. “Midnight here will be assessing the sensibility of the names you pick. I’m no good at that. What future do you see for yourself? The name you choose will bring you closer to cementing a certain image because names are capable of reflecting one’s true character. Like with All Might,”Two white boards were passed to Miles, and he handed one to the girl behind him. He stared down at the board, as blank as his mind. Now that he thought about it, he’d never given his hero name any thought. He was always so focused on Hanta that he forgot that he also needed a name. How stupid.Wait. Hanta.Miles called out for the boy as quietly as he could, who turned to him with a raised brow. The brunette beckoned him over and Hanta got up to do so. “I don’t know what my name should be,” He admitted.Hanta snorted, “Are you serious?” Miles flushed. “Dude, that’s the one easy thing about this class,”“I know,” Miles lamented, groaning. “Help me?”The black-haired boy rolled his eyes. He leaned against Miles’ chair as he thought. “You know how Denki was really into Greek mythology a couple years ago?” Miles nodded. “With your quirk, you should go with Hecate. She’s the one who’s all about magic and chaos,”Miles gaped at him. How did he just come up with these things on the spot? “You’re a brilliant man,”Hanta grinned, leaning down and plucking the marker from Miles’ hand. “I try,” He uncapped the marker and wrote it down on the board for the other boy. Energy Hero: Hecate.  –––––– “Your internships start in a week. I’ll be handing out personalized lists to those who were drafted. You may choose from among those who scouted you. For those who were not drafted, the list I just passed out contains forty agencies that are willing to accept interns. You will choose from that list. Each has a different specialty and region. Give your choice some thought. Your submissions are due this Monday,”Miles took the thick stack of papers from Aizawa, giving a quiet thank you. “Holy shit,” He squeaked when he scanned the first page.“What?” Denki asked, coming over and sitting on Miles’ desk. “Hawks Hero Agency,” He read aloud. The blonde’s eyes widened. Miles covered his red face with the paper.“You sure that’s a good idea?” Hanta asked, a teasing grin on his face. “I mean, how are you gonna do a thing when you’ll be ogling at Hawks the whole time?”“Hanta!”“You’re really up there, huh? He’s a top three hero,” Denki whistled, “Make sure you don’t get blinded by that spotlight,” He reached out, pinching the bridge of Miles’ nose and shaking his head. Miles huffed, swatting his hand away.“Even if I could leave you guys behind, why would I?” He stressed, “You’ve both already started thinking I’m better than you. Trust me, I’m not,” He really wasn’t. It wasn’t a matter of modesty. Miles knew his quirk was strong, but he also knew its origins. If he ever gathered the courage to tell them, they would know exactly what he was. Nothing but damaged goods.“Stop thinking so loud. I can see it all over your face,” Denki flicked his forehead.“Just because Hawks scouted me doesn’t mean I’m going with him, anyway. To be honest, I’ve never really thought about what kind of hero I want to be,”Hanta hummed, “I think I’m going with Kamui Woods. His quirk kind of works like mine, right?”“Yeah, that makes sense,” Miles mumbled. “Hawks is in a big city, so he encounters big shot villains. That’s kind of intimidating,”“Remember when you literally yelled in a villain's face three days into school?” Denki snorted.“That was different,”Denki rolled his eyes, “Miles, I watched you lift a robot into the air that weighed like a hundred tons like it was nothing,” Because he’s adorable, Denki started listing his points on his fingers. “You were smiling the entire race while holding first place. When you ate shit, you laughed about it like the entirety of Japan wasn’t watching. The first thing you did when you lost was congratulate the winner. You were the only reason your cavalry made it into the finals–”“Alright, enough, I get it,” Miles interrupted, face red.“No, you don’t,” Denki sighed. “You’re selling yourself short. Hawks wants you because you’re fast and smart enough to keep up with him,”“I am?”Once again, Denki rolled his eyes, “You’re no longer allowed to brag about how self aware you are,”Miles paused, “Should I go for it?”“If you don’t put him down as your first choice right now, I’ll fry you,” Denki deadpanned.Miles shook his head fondly, putting his pen to paper. –––––– In his defense, he hadn’t expected it. At all. Did that excuse his reaction? No. When he heard another person pull out the chair to his right and sit down, he expected it to be Sam again. But that didn’t explain why all of his friends suddenly stopped talking, staring at whoever it was. Miles turned to take a look and recoiled. “Holy fuck,”Bakugo looked about ready to murder him. “Got something you wanna fucking say, Buttercup?”Miles couldn’t contain his laugh, “Buttercup?”“Yeah, the Powerpuff Girl, idiot,”“You watch Powerpuff Girls?” Miles couldn’t stop laughing now.Small explosions set off in Bakugo’s palms in disapproval. “No, I’m fucking sixteen years old! Fuckin’ Deku watched that shit when we were brats,”“What?” Denki exclaimed. “Are you like…best friends turned rivals?”“Fucking annoying asshole,” Bakugo muttered. Miles didn’t know if it was directed at Denki or Midoriya. “Our moms have known each other for eons. I’ve known him longer than you’ve known these two morons,” He pointed at Miles and Hanta with his chopsticks, who both gawked in offense.“Do we all have a childhood best friend we still talk to?” Mina hummed, placing a finger on her chin.“I am not friends with that shitty nerd!”“Yeah, and we aren’t really childhood friends. We weren’t that close,” Kirishima added.Mina huffed, pouting. “Rude,”Since there was a person between them, Hanta had to lean against the table to look at Bakugo as he spoke. Miles leaned back a bit to make it easier for them. “Why did you join us today, Bakugo? It really is a pleasure, but you’ve never honored us with your presence until now,”Bakugo groaned, but it edged on a growl. “Fuckin’ extras crawling all over this place. I tried eating in Eeyore’s room, but that sparkly fuck kept trying to talk to me,"Hanta grinned, and Miles knew he was going to tease. The brunette rolled his eyes. “And we’re not extras? We’re better than Aoyama?”“Are you dense? Do I have to fuckin’ spell it out?” Bakugo directed that murderous glare to the boy on Miles’ left.To his credit, Hanta didn’t even flinch, still grinning as he lifted his hands in surrender. “No, no, that’s fine,” When they’d all finished their food, Mina offered to take all of their trays for them. “You said you’re sixteen earlier,” Miles remembered after she’d walked away. “Did we miss your birthday?”Bakugo huffed, “Not like I wanted any of you to know. This class is full of stupid fucking idiots,”“You mean the classmates that you’ll become heroes with? That want to be friends with you because you’ll be spending the next three years together?” Miles raised a brow, unimpressed.Bakugo rolled his eyes as Kirishima perked up. “That reminds me,” The redhead fished in his pocket before pulling out something dangling on a chain. “Happy birthday, man!” Miles held out his hand to take the gift. When he pulled it back, he nearly laughed again. The same exact keychain a third time. He had no idea he was so easy to shop for.“Yeah, this is going right on my bag,” He chuckled, and Kirishima beamed. Poor guy had no idea. “Hey, Hanta, Denki, come with me back to class. I wanna show you something,”Miles stood up and began to walk, trusting that his friends were following. They passed Ashido on her way back to their table and he waved with the hand that didn’t have the keychain dangling off his fingers. She gave them a questioning look, but didn’t stop them to ask.The classroom was nearly empty besides Aoyama, who was finishing up his…whatever that was. Miles could swear it was mostly cheese. He sent a polite wave before he beelined for his bag.“You made us walk all the way here so we could watch you put it on your bag?” Denki was clearly not impressed.“No, I brought you here because I have a predicament,” He hoisted his bag onto his desk, the other two keychains jingling. Both of them just stared at the scene in front of them before their eyes filled with understanding. And then humor. “How do you already have two?” Hanta asked.“Ashido gave me one this morning and Yaomomo gave me another before homeroom,” Miles snorted. “What do I do with three of the same keychain?”His friends shrugged. “If I may,” All three of them jumped in surprise, turning to Aoyama. The sparkly blonde dabbed at his mouth with a napkin before he stood. “I couldn’t help but overhear. You wish to come up with a solution that will save the hearts of all three of your friends, yes?” Miles' neck was stiff as he nodded. “The answer is simple, mon ami. Just wear one at a time, and all of them with believe it is their own,”Miles clicked his tongue, “That’s actually…very obvious. Thanks, Aoyama,”“De rien,”Miles removed each of the keychains, then had a crisis because he didn’t want to show favoritism through which one he showed off. This made Hanta pluck them out of his fingers, mixing them up behind his back and handing a random one to Miles. The other two were put into the useless tiny pocket on the side of his bag for safe keeping.“Mochan, there you are,” Another voice joined them, one that each of them were familiar with enough not to jump. Miles set his bag on the ground and greeted Midoriya with a smile. The longer it went on, the more he was starting to enjoy this new nickname, even though Ashido had invented it to tease him.“What’s up?”“I wanted to thank you for what you did at the sports festival,” Midoriya was cheerful, excitedly reaching into his pocket and presenting his friend with a gift. A fourth keychain. Denki turned away, slapping a hand over his mouth to stop his laughter. Hanta swatted at his shoulder, but he was repressing a laugh of his own. Midoriya didn’t notice the display, too focused on Miles. “If it weren’t for you, our team wouldn’t have made it to the finals. I hope you know how important it was that we did. What happened between Todoroki and I…I owe it all to you,”It was such a sincere thank you that Miles couldn’t even imagine laughing right now. Not to the green-haired boy's face, at least. “Anytime, Mido, really. I’ll always have your back,” His green eyes flickered over to Denki, who was leaning against Hanta’s desk, shoulders shaking.Midoriya smiled. It was one of the brightest things Miles had ever seen. Then he bowed, and Miles choked on air, clutching the keychain to his heart. When Midoriya stood, he gave a short farewell and an excuse involving Iida before he jogged out of the room. There was an ugly laugh from Denki that moment he was out of sight before it dissolved to his usual one. The brunette flushed on his friend's behalf, glaring at the blonde.“Don’t laugh! It was sweet!” Miles exclaimed, which just made Denki laugh harder. “It’s not that damn funny!”From his seat, Aoyama shook his head.The fifth and final keychain was from Ojiro. He caught all three of them at the gate after school, handing Miles his gift with a short thank you for saying something at the sports festival. Of course, it was for his birthday, but it was also for…being a good person? Miles didn’t know how to take that, so he just thanked his friend before they went their separate ways. Unable to help themselves, Hanta and Denki teased him about it on the train ride home. In retaliation, he pulled out the remaining four trinkets and clipped them onto each of his bag's zippers. Two of them were in just the right spots to clink together, and Miles smiled fondly. He didn’t care if it was stupid.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

MAY 16, 2021
“You’ve all got your costumes, right?”Miles nodded with his classmates, holding up his case so his teacher could see it. “Good. Don’t drop them. Ashido, stop doing that. All of you, be on your best behavior. Now, go,”With that, they split apart. Just one minute later, Denki’s train arrived and nearly half the class joined him. Apparently they were all going to the same station in Kofu to transfer. Miles blanked as he stared at the map on the wall of the railway stations with the realization that he’d never navigated one on his own. Every morning, he blindly followed Denki and Hanta, trusting them to get them all to school. “Jesus fucking Christ,”Hanta got the message, joining Miles’ side to stare at the map. “You’re going to Fukuoka,” It wasn’t a question, but Miles nodded. “You’ll need to take that train to Hiroshima where you’ll transfer,”Miles nodded again, determined. “Cool,” A pause. “When?”“I don’t know,” Hanta shrugged. “Not like I’ve ever taken that train,”“This is great,” Miles deadpanned. “I’m gonna do great,”“If this is meant to be a pep talk, it’s not a good one. You have your ticket, don’t you?” “I have a pass, Hanta, you know this,”“Do you need help?” Both of them turned to see Shoji, one of the few students still left behind.“Yes, please,” Miles deflated in relief, not caring if he looked like an idiot. He’d barely talked to Shoji, but he got the feeling they wouldn’t judge him. “I’m an idiot and I don’t know how this works,”“You’re not an idiot,” Shoji said casually, like it didn’t give Miles a reason to live for the next six months. “The train should get here in an hour. It’s two hours to Hiroshima and one to Fukuoka from there,”Miles wrinkled his nose. Trains in this reality went so fast. Still, three hours on a train did not sound appealing. “I can’t believe half of my first day is going to spent on a train,”Hanta sighed, “So sad,”“Asshole,” Miles scoffed, “Kamui is in Musutafu! You can literally walk there after you see me off!”“And what a long walk it will be,”Miles cursed at him before he turned to Shoji with a small smile, “Thanks, Shoji,” He tilted his head to the side, “How did you know?”“I’m from Fukuoka. I go back every other weekend to see my mom,” Shoji seemed hesitant to say what they did next, “I’ve been living in a hotel since the start of the year, because of the distance,”Miles' eyes widened, “Alone?” Shoji nodded. “You were alone after the USJ?” The taller one stiffened, clearly uncomfortable with this line of questioning. The brunette’s eyes softened. He remembered going home after what happened, falling into his mother’s inviting arms for a hug right after he walked through their door. She had left work just to be there for him when he got home. Did Shoji have no one? Did they return to an empty hotel to process it all alone? Miles felt like he could cry. The only thing that stopped him was the look on Shoji’s face, like they were trying to find a way out of this conversation.“That’s a long way,” Hanta continued, “Should be twenty thousand yen just to get to Hiroshima,”Shoji nodded again, and an awkward silence fell over them. Shaking his head, Miles made a decision, “I’ll give you my pass every Friday, that way you can visit her every weekend,” Shoji made a move to object, and Miles glared at him, though it wasn’t malicious. “I’m not arguing. It’s, like, four thousand yen to get a ticket from Musutafu to Tokyo. I’ll pay it, we’re good,”By ‘I’ll pay it’ he meant his father would pay it, but one phone call to explain would be enough. The man was a huge softy. While Miles wouldn’t normally exploit that, he was going to today. His family could afford it. Shoji had only mentioned their mother, which gave Miles the idea that their father wasn’t in the picture. Not only did she have to pay UA’s tuition on a single income, but a hotel in Musutafu along with the train tickets for her own child to visit her. Did Shoji have siblings? Was their mother just as alone as they were, separated in completely different parts of Japan? If her quirk was a mutant type like Shoji’s, she might have a hard time finding work out there. There were barely any laws in Japan that protected people with mutant quirks. Most likely, she lived in an apartment, which meant she also had to pay rent in one of the biggest cities.“Moore,” Shoji’s voice interrupted his train of thought. He came back down to earth, teeth pressing into his bottom lip and feeling very guilty. It was clear that Shoji didn’t want anyone to worry over them, and Miles made it obvious that he was. “Thank you,”That was enough to calm Miles down, who fixed a smile onto his face for the sake of his classmate. “No problem,” There was a pause again as a train rode into the station, deafening them. They waved to Hagakure and Ojiro as they departed. “I’ve never ridden a train alone before,”“You won’t be alone,” Shoji said. “Tokoyami is interning with Hawks as well. Did you not know?”Miles shook his head, craning his body to the left to look where Shoji’s dupli-arm was pointing. Tokoyami was on one of the benches, a pair of headphones over their head.“They’re so private, even with stuff like that,” Hanta observed, “Neither of us knew, and we sit next to them,”“They didn’t want everyone fawning over them, I suppose,” Miles guessed, shrugging. They gave Shoji their farewell’s when their train pulled into the station, and Miles stiffened with a realization. “Hey, Hanta,” The other boy hummed. “Can I borrow your headphones?”Hanta turned his head to Miles, face completely deadpan, “I won’t have them for a week if I do that,”“How on earth am I gonna stare out the window and daydream on the train if I don’t have headphones?” Miles huffed, and Hanta rolled his eyes. “Come on, a little sympathy here? It’s three hours,”The black-haired boy groaned, pulling out his phone to unravel his headphones. “If they are covered in your ear wax, I will never speak to you again,”“Gross, Han,” Miles wrinkled his nose, taking the headphones from his friend’s outstretched hand. “I’m a big boy. I clean my damn ears,”“A big boy who can’t remember his headphones,” Hanta raised a brow, a teasing grin on his mouth. The brunette glared at him.They claimed one of the benches as they waited for his train to arrive. They were pressed together shoulder to knee, Miles’ head resting on Hanta’s shoulder as they shared the headphones. They were listening to their shared playlist with Denki, which was an amalgamation of all their favorite songs. It was terrible, and so old that none of them could pinpoint who added what. Some chaotic combination of their western taste with a few songs in Japanese or Spanish. The slower songs were always from Miles, but he was the genius that added the song they were listening to now. She Wolf by Shakira. That one had been particularly popular with all three of them in 2016.“You’ve got five minutes,” Hanta reminded him quietly. Miles hummed in acknowledgement. From his spot on Hanta’a shoulder, he could smell oranges. He stuffed his nose into the other boy’s blazer, inhaling deeply. “Are you smelling me right now?” His tone held no true disgust, so Miles didn’t let up, nodding.“You always smell like oranges,” He mumbled into the blazer.“You hate oranges,”“Not when it’s your smell,” Miles exhaled, laying his head down again. “They’re good then,” Hanta didn’t reply. She Wolf faded into Bedroom’s In My Head. “I added this one,”“I can tell,” Hanta snickered. Miles felt his friend’s head finally lean over to press his cheek into the top of Miles’ head. “You like this depressing stuff,”“Shut up,” Miles chastised, poking Hanta’s thigh. “Try actually listening to what’s said instead of just hearing the sounds,”“Okay, emo,”“Hanta,”“I’m listening, Milo,”They got two minutes into the song before Hanta spoke again. “Were you…” He paused, sighing and picking up his head. “Were you depressed in middle school?”“What a question to ask someone three minutes before they get on a train to go two hundred miles away, Why are you asking?”“The songs you add now are a lot happier than they used to be,” Hanta answered. “Your favorite song is that one that was in the Spider-Man movie. Sunflower, that’s it. Used to be anything made my that one band with the guy covered in black paint and the shirtless one on the drums,”“Do not bring up my twenty one pilots era, Hanta, please,” Miles covered his face while Hanta laughed. He thought about it long enough for the song to bleed into Bit By Bit. That was definitely from Denki. In his original reality, he was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and ADHD. But he’d scripted that he didn’t have depression here. He wanted to spend his time actually being a functional person. As much as he loved UA, it was virtually impossible to succeed if your depression affected you the way it did him. Skipping school. Ignoring assignments. Basically just laying in bed all day thinking about what a shit person you were for laying in bed all day. When Miles was here, he’d never be depressed. At least not because his hormones decided to fuck themselves up. He was still able to experience depression, like reaching the tenth anniversary of a traumatic event.“How long have you thought about it?” Miles asked.“Couple years,” Yep, he was right. That’s when the tenth came up.Miles sighed, “Don’t worry about it, man. I was going through something,”“‘Going through something,’” Hanta blinked at him, unimpressed.Miles lifted his head off of Hanta’s shoulder, pulling the headphones out of their ears and wrapping them around his phone. “I had a life before I met you, Hanta,” He said, forcing his eyes down to the ground. “I didn’t just sprout from the ground in a park. I was put there…Things happened to me, and two years ago was ten years ago. So, yeah, I was going through it,”Hanta was silent as Miles managed to stuff his costume case into his backpack. He didn’t want to have to keep track of two bags. “You’ve had that scar since before I met you,” Miles froze. “Was that what happened?From the tip of his heel to about an inch below his knee on the back of his left calf, Miles had a scar. When he was younger and smaller, it looked like he was made of porcelain, dropped and cracked. Damaged goods. As he grew, it grew with him, stretching with his skin. Denki said it resembled a tree. Hanta said it looked like Lichtenberg figures. Miles preferred that nothing be said about it at all. It was an ugly reminder of that night, sticky with sweat and blood and vomit.“Yeah,” It was breathy, uninhibited, vulnerable. The world around him was suddenly so much darker. “It is,” A train screeched into the station. Miles swallowed, turning to Hanta. “I don’t want you to worry about me anymore. I love you,” And he leaned in, planting a kiss on Hanta's cheek. He’d never done it before, and his face was probably glowing red, but seeing the other boy’s reaction made it worth it. He was staring at Miles, bewildered, the tips of his ears and his cheeks a nice shade of pink. Miles stuck his tongue out at him to tease before he jogged over to the open car doors.“I love you!” He called out. The brunette beamed. The inside of this train was a far cry from the one he took to school every morning. On his usual train, seats lined the walls, handles dangling from the ceiling to hold onto if you were standing. This train had rows of three seats on each side, most of which were empty.“Moore,”Miles nearly jumped out of his skin, whipping around to face Tokoyami. “Jesus Christ, you can not do that! I didn’t even know you were behind me,”“I’m sorry for startling you,” Tokoyami apologized. “I wanted to ask that we sit together,”Miles raised a brow, “Really?”“Of course. We are going to the same place, after all,” Maybe it was the fact that they had a bird head, but it was very hard to tell what emotion Tokoyami was trying to convey. Miles had no idea how they felt about sitting next to him. It was a bit unsettling.They claimed a row of seats for themselves, Tokoyami taking the seat by the window. If they were assholes for using the middle seat for their bags, Miles didn’t care. He’s the one that had to sit on this train for two hours in his uniform.Thirty minutes into the journey, he jerked the headphones out of his ears, growling in frustration as he tugged his blazer off, tossing it onto their bags. Was it just him, or was this train just a tad bit too warm? His leg bounced as he tried to steady his breathing. The train was rushing, the sound of it chugging along deafening. His tie felt like a noose. He nearly choked himself trying to pull it off, tossing it with his blazer. Some metal song could be heard through Tokoyami’s headphones. The lights were too loud. Did that even make sense? There was an itch on his back that he couldn’t quite scratch. His belt was digging into the skin on his abdomen. He could feel the hem of his boxers rolling up his thigh.It was like he could feel every single one of his hairs all at once. He grunted, leaning down to shake his hands in his hair to get rid of the feeling. That worked well enough. He exhaled, his cheeks puffing.“Are you okay?” Tokoyami had apparently been watching Miles fidget and shift in his seat for the past thirty minutes.He sighed, “I’ll be fine. Just need to get off this goddamn train,”“We have another hour,” They reminded him. Miles' head thumped against the back of his seat. Was it weird that he wanted to take all his clothes off and burn them? Right now, he wanted absolutely nothing to be touching his skin.He gave his friend a thumbs up, eyes closed, “Listen to your music. I can handle it,” Tokoyami nodded, sliding his headphones back in place.Miles picked up his phone, taking out Hanta’s headphones and sticking them in a pocket on the side of his bag. His first instinct was to call Sam. That also happened to be the only other person he was close to that was at school right now. Miles decided that he didn’t care, not even bothering to check the time to make sure it was a passing period.The call was picked up immediately, “You’re lucky I’m in Powerloader’s room and he’s cool about this. What do you want?”“I am going to lose my shit,”“You always say that and then you never do,” Miles had no idea why he always called Sam when he was like this. His brother was not known for being immensely empathic. But his voice was home.“I am on a train. Everything is loud. My clothes are being bad. I want to lay naked in the rain and seep into the ground to never been seen again,”Sam hummed, “Okay. What am I supposed to do about that?”The brunette sighed heavily into the phone, “I’ve told you, I don’t want you to do anything. I just need someone to listen,”“And I’ve told you I’m not good at listening,”“Then let me listen to you,” Miles offered, pressing his phone into his shoulder with his cheek. “Tell me about your day,”“Miles, it is ten a.m. I have barely any day to talk about,” Sam huffed into the phone. He sounded just like their mother when she scolded him. Miles did not dare mention that.“That’s okay. Talk to me about anything,”There was a pause before Sam spoke up, “You know who’s been on my ass lately?”“Who?”“Hatsume!” No one would expect it by looking at him, but Sam talked a lot of shit. “She won’t leave me the fuck alone. Keeps looking at my fucking work over my shoulders and giving me advice I never fucking asked for. It’s pissing me the fuck off,”“I can tell. You just used the word fuck in all of those sentences,” Miles was nearly laughing. “Isn’t she in your class? In the room you’re in right now?”“I don’t give a fuck. It’s not like I’m trying to be nice to her. If anything, I’m being downright mean,” Sam growled.Another thirty minutes passed with Miles just listening to Sam gossip. If they could get past the difference of their personalities, Sam and Ashido would make great friends. He had no idea there was already so much drama in the support course.“And I’ve been strung out of my mind ever since the sports festival,” Sam huffed into the phone.“Why?” Miles asked, and when Sam didn’t reply, “Did something happen?”There was a sound like Sam was switching the phone to his other hand. He sighed, “I think my quirk is fucked up,”Miles couldn’t stop himself from laughing, “What? How can that even happen?”“I was bored, so I was using it on people who were fighting,” Sam had switched into something more serious. He was actually worried about this. “Have you noticed anything…weird about Midoriya’s quirk?”The brunette furrowed his brow, “I know that he came into it super late? Like only a couple months ago,”Sam paused before he sighed, “Fuck it. This is gonna sound weird but I need you to believe me,” Miles nodded even though the other boy couldn’t see him. “When I activated my quirk and looked at Midoriya…I don’t know. I couldn’t read a thing. They were all, like, on top of each other,”“Whoa, whoa, wait,” Miles waved his hand in front of him, as if his brother was able to see the gesture, “What was on top of each other?”“I think Midoriya has like five quirks or some shit,” The idea was so outlandish that Miles barked out a laugh. “Miles, I’m being serious! You didn’t have to see it. It was way too chaotic for it to just be two or three. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I’ve never seen anyone with even two!”“Sam,” Miles said, a fond lilt to his voice, “Sammy, that’s impossible. His body would literally explode,”“Do not patronize me,” Sam hissed, “And his body does explode, remember?”Miles grimaced, “I think we all do,”“Right,” Miles could practically hear Sam’s fierce nod on the other end of the call. “Remember the night in the kitchen, when I had a sandwich? Well, I used my quirk on you, and it was fucked up then. I think something’s wrong with me,”Miles’ eyes widened, something cold rushing into his chest, “What?”“Yeah, you know it shows me the name of the quirk and the name of the user,” Sam was casual, having no idea the effect his words would have on his brother. “Your name isn’t the one I saw. It was–”“Do not tell me,” Miles’ voice was stern, and Sam immediately shut up. There was silence on the line for what felt like a lifetime, both of them processing the shock of the switch in tone. When Miles found the courage to break it, his voice wavered, “You can’t tell anyone that. Not Mom. Not Dad. Not Denki or Hanta. Never bring that up ever again,”“Miles…” Sam’s voice was a mixture of confusion and caution, “What’s going on?”The brunette didn’t answer. Instead, he hung up, feeling the world closing in on him. –––––– The station at Hiroshima was bustling with people. So many people. If Miles could have everything his way right now, for the noise to stop and the shoving to stop and people to just stop, he would. But he was just a kid standing on a platform next to his classmate with a bird head. And the worst part is that neither of them had any idea when their next train would get here.“I’m gonna lose my shit,” Miles muttered, and Tokoyami looked at him in alarm. Right, they never talked. They had no idea that Miles didn’t mean he was going to kill everyone in his general vicinity. “I can’t fucking…” Miles tugged on his hair hard enough to hurt. “I can’t fucking do this,”“Moore, calm down,” The brunette let out an ugly laugh at that. “We won’t miss our train,”“You don’t know that,” Miles wailed, pressing his face into his hands. Another person bumped into his shoulder and he wanted to scream. The urge to hit himself was growing, and he desperately tried to taper it down. “It’s so fucking loud. I can’t think,” His head snapped up, tears in the corners of his eyes. “And everyone keeps touching me,” He sunk down, crouching in the middle of the station.Tokoyami sputtered in surprise, reaching out a hand to grab Miles’ shoulder before they stopped themself. Hands over his ears, Miles tried to regain his composure when there was a tap on his shoulder. He looked up to Tokoyami, who was holding out his headphones. “They’re noise canceling,”Gingerly, Miles took the offer from their hand, sliding them over his ears. Miles sighed, standing up to his full height. “Sorry,”“Do not be,” Tokoyami’s voice was muffled, just like the rest of the world, but it was unmistakably theirs. “I understand,”Deciding not to ask what that meant, Miles stood next to them as they figured their shit out on their own. He couldn’t even handle a train station on his own. So embarrassing. He would have felt bad if it weren’t for Dark Shadow popping out to help Tokoyami.Eventually they sorted it out, Tokoyami beckoning Miles to follow him. They led them to a bench, and Miles sat down with them, pulling off one side of the headphones to ask a question. “How long?”“Fifteen minutes,” Miles’ eyes snapped down to look at Dark Shadow, who had been the one to reply. He stiffly nodded at the creature. Talking to an extra dimensional being in someone’s stomach. Weird. “You’re staring,”“Oop, sorry!” Miles sputtered, blushing, “I, uh…I’m getting used to you,”Dark Shadow narrowed her eyes, “Why am I something to get used to?”“Dark Shadow,” Tokoyami scolded, trying to rein in his stomach demon.“No, it's a fair question,” Miles agreed, looking down to Dark Shadow once again, “I’m not used to there being two people in one body,”Dark Shadow blinked at him, “You recognize me as my own being?”“Well, you are, aren't you?” Miles tilted his head, confused. “You talk and think differently than Tokoyami. You’re clearly not the same person,” Both of them stared at him in disbelief and something clicked in his head. “Do people treat you like some kind of pet?”“Something like that,” Dark Shadow spat bitterly.“That’s stupid,” Miles hummed, “She has her own pronouns and shit. Isn’t that enough to acknowledge her sentience?”“She doesn’t have a brain,” Tokoyami added, “She doesn’t have muscles or blood. No heart of her own. She’s nothing but shadow with feelings,”Miles clicked his tongue, “Well, Dark Shadow, you’re human to me,”“‘Kay,” Dark Shadow retreated back into Tokoyami’s stomach.There was a comfortable silence between them for a while, both of them unwillingly to break it, until one of them was.“It must be nice,” Miles said quietly enough that he wasn’t sure Tokoyami heard him over the roar of a train coming by. But when he opened his eyes, they were looking at him to continue, listening intently. “You always have a friend. Another half. You’re never alone,”“Perhaps Sero is like your Dark Shadow, then,”Miles felt his face heat up, but he chuckled anyway. “I’m more like his. I was so different when I met him. Kind of like nothing but shadow with feelings, like you said,” Miles closed his eyes, leaning his head against the wall behind them.“I saw your exchange before we got on our first train,” Tokoyami said, and Miles furrowed his brow. What was he talking about? “When you kissed him,”Miles scoffed, “When you say it like that, it sounds more damning than it actually is. I kissed him on the cheek,” They just stared at him. “I just felt like it! It doesn’t mean anything,”“You know,” Tokoyami crossed their arms, leaning back against the seat with Miles. “if the three of you keep behaving as you are now, you’ll have a lot of trouble finding a partner later on,”The brunette snorted, “I didn’t take you for a gossip, Tokoyami,”“I am full of surprises,”Their train soon pulled into the station, and they both stood from their comfortable positions on the bench. This train was similar to the last with rows of two seats instead of three. They found a row for themselves, bagging their backpacks by their feet. Miles’ travel companion turned to him, “Does talking help?”“What?”“On our first train, you called someone when you started getting stressed. Does talking help you through it?” The boy nodded slowly. “You can talk to me, if you’d like,”Miles blinked, processing this act of kindness, “Do you know your birth time?”Tokoyami blinked back, processing this seemingly random line of questioning, “I can ask my dad,”“Excellent. I paid, like, four thousand yen for an app that gives you in depth birth chart readings and we have an hour,” –––––– Fukuoka was the largest city on the island of Kyushu, the fifth largest in the entirety of Japan, the capital city of the Fukuoka Prefecture. Second only to Tokyo when it came to the level of villainy. Some of the biggest, baddest villains found their domain here, some reaching level A on the ranking. It was a wonder that anyone chose to live here. It housed three million people after all, surpassing Osaka and Nagoya.So why the fuck was its train station empty?Three million people, and not a single one on the platform awaiting a train. Tokoyami and Miles are the only people who exit. They both take in the scene before them as the empty train rides away, their clothes flapping in the draft. When it's gone, everything is quiet. Too quiet. Miles purses his lips. “Should we just…” He trails off, gesturing to the stairs out of the subway. His classmate nods, and they walk side by up the stairs and into fresh air for the first time in hours. Both of them stop in their tracks when they notice that the street is empty as well. The city is practically dead at noon. “This is weird,”“Very,” Tokoyami agrees.If you told Miles that the next second he would have the air knocked out of him by Hawks himself, he wouldn’t have believed you. But he did, because the number three hero flew into them at full speed, moving them just in time for a large chunk of debris to land in the spot they were standing. How did he not hear that coming?Both of them were dropped off in an alley, away from the roar of whoever sent it their way. Hawks backed away just enough for Miles to see his face, and the brunette flushed bright red. Holy shit. He was right next to Hawks. I mean, sure he has an internship with the guy, but he didn’t think he would get this close. “You two must be the scouts,” Hawks greeted, as if he wasn’t in the middle of a fight right now. The blonde stood, outstretching his arms. “Welcome to Fukuoka! I would love to chat, but I am fighting for my city right now. I’ll only be a minute, I promise,” With that, he was gone, so fast that neither of them could watch him leave.Miles blinked, trying his best to tame his blush, “Oh my god,”To his credit, Hawks really was only a minute. But he wasn’t the one who came to collect them. That was one of his sidekicks, Talon, who was able to grow sharp talon-like nails in an instant. Hawks had already zoomed away to a different part of the city in search of another crime. Miles’ green eyes lingered on the group of sidekicks cleaning up the mess.Hawks Hero Agency was inside of one of the tallest buildings in Fukuoka. Apparently, he shared it with a couple other companies. The agency was, of course, on the top five floors, and he had access to the roof. Miles wondered how often he took advantage of that. After a long elevator ride up to the forty-second floor, they entered what appeared to be a lobby decorated with red couches and the occasional plant. What really took his breath away was the wall practically made of windows with a view of the city. His heart stuttered at the thought of what it must look like at night.“Stay away from the second floor. That’s business. Third floor is the gym. Sidekicks usually live in the quarters on the top two floors,” Talon informed, tossing a key to Miles, who fumbled to catch it. “You’ll both be on the fourth in room six,”The brunette stuttered out a thank you, sharing a look with his classmate before they made their way to the stairwell. Another thing he would never get used to was how fit he was. They made it up two flights of stairs without so much as sweating or slowing down. Insane.“They didn’t tell us to suit up,” Miles said when they reached the third floor landing. He spared himself a glance into the gym. It was not full of your usual equipment. Instead, it had rows of large, padded mats. He shrugged, “Are we even doing anything important today?”“It’s possible that they believe we won’t be very useful. We just finished a three hour trip,” Tokoyami guessed. Miles hummed in acknowledgment.He sighed, “Man, it would suck if I got sick. Who knows what kind of germs were on those trains,”“Don’t think about it too much,”They entered a hallway on the fourth floor. On one side was another wall made of windows, the other was lined with doors. It felt a bit too much like a hotel. Miles kind of hated that. Even more so when they opened the door to their room. Immediately when you entered, you nearly ran into a coffee table in between another red couch and a TV. Right next to the TV was a door to what must be the bathroom. Just beyond that was a bed. Singular. “No way,” Miles deadpanned, walking a bit further into the room so that Tokoyami could take it all in. “Absolutely no way,” He flung his backpack into the corner, flopping onto the couch. At least it was comfortable. Miles groaned, running a hand down his face. “Wanna rock, paper, scissors or something?”Tokoyami finally reacted, sighing as their shoulders deflated in resignation. They nodded. They won. Miles made himself comfortable on the couch. Hawks called for them hours later, after they’d both sat in their room awaiting instructions. He’d returned fine and well, like he always did, standing in the lobby with a sidekick at his side, collecting data and filling reports. Not a single scratch or blemish in sight. Miles was astonished, he always was.“Hey, birdies,” He spoke casually once again. Miles thought about how it felt to be so powerful, so fast , that you treated every situation like it was a cake walk, whether you were debriefing with a couple teenagers or in the middle of battle. “Sorry for the wait,”“Definitely longer than a minute,” Tokoyami was bitter, and the brunette to their right pulled his lips into a tight line. Luckily, Hawks laughed it off, “That’s what it is to be a hero. You’ll understand when you’re older and all that, right?” The hero flopped onto one of the couches, looking at them over the back. “This is my first time taking interns. Congratulations,” Neither of them replied to that. “First days a bust, I get it, but get excited. Tomorrow you two are coming on patrol.”Miles gulped, which did not go unnoticed by the number three. “Scared, birdy?” Miles involuntarily wrinkled his nose. The blonde laughed, “Don’t worry. First times are always the scariest. It gets better,”God, he hated when adults talked to him like this. The brunette finally found a string of courage within him, and he grabbed on, tugging with all he had. “You’re scared,”The winged man cocked his head to the side. With his glasses off, they could see the true color of his eyes, a piercing golden gaze that narrowed on Miles, “What?”“We’re your first, so you’re just as scared as we are,” Miles shrugged, “Scared we’ll slow you down?”Something between glee and mischief overtook Hawks’ features, “Hit the nail on the head, Miles. I can call you Miles, right?” He vaulted over the couch, approaching the pair. He looked a lot taller in photos, but he was a solid 5’7”, maybe 5’8”. Miles tried to not let that get to his head. “It’s a nice name,”“Um, thanks?”Hawks hummed thoughtfully, eyes flickering around the younger boy's face. What was he looking for? The blonde then turned away sharply, waving them off. “Gym’s free to use whenever you need to blow off some steam. Head off the bed. We’ve got a big day tomorrow, team,So they did, because they were good students. The climb to the fourth floor was silent, as was the room as they took turns in the bathroom to shower. It wasn’t until Miles went to turn off the lamp that Tokoyami spoke.“Don’t,” Miles froze, staring at his classmate for an explanation. “Dark Shadow is harder to control in the dark,”Miles lifted a shoulder, “Want me to be honest?” Because he always asked that right before telling someone something. “I’m scared of the dark,”Dark Shadow popped out from under the blanket, “Of me?”Miles laughed, “Terrified,” –––––– 
MAY 17, 2021
This fucking sucks. That was the mantra of the day. It started off on a couch he barely fit on, so hungry that he couldn’t think about anything else because they didn’t have dinner the night before. Worst part about that was that he had no idea where to find something to eat. People lived here. There must be a place to make food. But nobody thought to tell the two growing boys they sent to bed with no dinner. Then, because he’s an idiot, he was too anxious to ask anyone where to find food, so he nearly went on patrol without it. That was until Talon overheard his stomach, which was embarrassing as hell, and directed them to the kitchen on the same floor as the lobby.Patrol was a bust, which sucked all kinds of ass because he’d been so excited to actually get started. The excitement died a very painful death, a murder filled with anger and sadness and, oddly enough, self loathing. So stupid. He actually thought this internship would be fun, that he’d learn something. This was the number three hero, his favorite hero. Surely, he’d learn a thing or two. Instead, he was running around Fukuoka, chasing after said hero, cleaning up his messes.Tokoyami was at his side, panting with him. The brunette winced and pressed a hand to a pinch in his side. Talon took in their haggard appearance, “Yeah, sidekicks are mostly on cleanup duty. Hawks is just too quick. But he says this way is the most efficient,”Miles narrowed his eyes at the sidewalk, evening out his breathing and trying his best to will away the pain.“This can’t be it,” Tokoyami huffed.Miles shrugged, exhaling roughly, “I think it is,”To that, Tokoyami didn’t reply, beginning their run after the hero. At the end of the day, they sparred, and Tokoyami won best two out of three. That was the only fun Miles remembered having. –––––– 
MAY 18, 2021
When the next day was the same as the one before, Tokoyami was visibly upset. The normally stoic, collected teen was irate. It served to unease Miles, who was not used to this side of his classmate at all. Scared him enough that he didn’t argue when Tokoyami ordered him to follow them to the lobby.Hawks was in his usual spot at the end of the day. That was on one of the couches while one of his sidekicks collected that day's data for the books. The dark teen stopped just in front of it, Miles not far behind him.“Why did you choose us?” Blunt, straightforward., not usually Tokoyami’s style. They were about being cryptic and all that. The blonde pulled himself up to look at them over the edge of the couch, much like the first day they spoke. He held up a hand, a crimson feather pinched between his index and his thumb. “‘Cuz we’re birds of a feather!”Both of the teens blinked at him. “Is that meant to be funny?”“I’m twenty percent serious,” The feather zoomed out of his fingers back to its place on his wings. “And half of me just wanted to chat with a kid from class 1A about those punks who attacked you guys,”Miles narrowed his eyes, “The League of Villains?” The hero snapped his fingers, agreeing, “Seriously?”“Only twenty percent,” Hawks echoed, and Miles wanted to tear his head off. “Wouldn’t you know it? There you two were. Skilled, sharp, cream of the crop. Two fellow birds who could keep up with me,”“Excuse me?” Miles deadpanned, because he was the only one in this room right now with nothing bird-like.Hawks clicked his tongue, “You said it first. ‘It felt like flying. I was flying, Hanta.’ You most certainly were, birdy, it was impressive,”“We don’t know anything about the League of Villains,” Miles interrupted, mostly because he was blushing. “They attacked, we won,”A finger waggled in the air, “I need the details, birdy,”“Stop calling me that,”“Why?” Hawks' tone was teasing, mischievous, something dangerous. The brunette’s face screwed up in apprehension. “I thought you’d like it. Your keychains are cute, by the way,” Oh no. Miles’ eyes widened, mouth snapping shut into a tight line as he flushed darker. The blonde winked at him before turning his attention to Tokoyami, who answered all of his questions about USJ with a monotone voice.“Miles,” Both of the students stopped in their tracks, halfway turned around to head back upstairs, “hold back a minute. I wanna chat,”Sharing a look with Tokoyami, Miles resumed his previous position behind the couch, Hawks looking over the back at him. The sidekick was dismissed, and it was only the two of them in the lobby. A new air settled in the space between them. Teasing, mischievous, something dangerous. Miles hung onto that last word. Looking into Hawks eyes, he could see something dark brewing at the back of the blonde’s mind. Heroes were two people. Their hero selves and their real selves. Was this it? Was this the real Hawks, still trying to hide behind a persona? It couldn’t be if Miles could see it.Did Hawks want him to see it?The blonde raised his elbow on the back of the couch, nesting his chin in the palm of his hand. Those golden eyes flickered over Miles, and the boy couldn’t help but feel like he was exposed. Predator and prey. He pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth. “Did you know,” Hawks drawled, sounding like he was having all too much fun, “that the Public Safety Commission almost got a hold of you?”Miles startled, “What?”“When you finally showed off that fancy quirk to your social worker, they practically salivated over your file. Lucky you found a family right before they could get their paws on ya,” Hawks tilted his head, “Real lucky considering you had no one but Himura to stop them,”“How do you know…” Miles trailed off. After he was found in a park alone, he’d been placed under the custody of the government. Himura was his social worker. The social worker he hadn’t seen in eight years. Something dangerous.“You’ll understand when you’re older and all that,” Hawks repeated. The blonde stood up, circling the couch as he spoke, “You’re a weird kid. Found in a park one November morning by Midnight herself,” Miles nearly took a full step back. He didn’t even remember that. “No shoes. No parents. No name,” Hawks was in front of him now, and Miles felt impossibly smaller. “Until you did have a name. Miles. Except no kid named Miles has gone missing in Japan ever. Weird, huh?”Silence spanned between them. Miles swallowed. What was he getting at? What did he want?“It’s okay,” Hawks was smiling, eyes closed as he clapped a hand onto Miles’ shoulder. He squeezed, and the brunette wanted to recoil from the grip. “You don’t need to tell me who you are,”Miles stopped breathing. What the fuck did that mean? Part of him knew. He wished he didn’t. He’d rather live thinking no one knew. Not even his own mother knew. He yanked his shoulder out of Hawks hand, whipping around and moving as fast as he could without running to the stairwell.The sound of heavy breathing bounced off the walls as he made it up one flight before he collapsed on the landing of another. Knuckles white from his grip on the railing, Miles realized that in his attempt to steady his breathing, he’d stopped altogether. He was supposed to be better than this. Heroes weren’t supposed to have anxiety attacks over a little chat in a stairwell hours away from home. His breathing wouldn’t calm down, so he did the one thing he was good at. He called someone for backup.Trying to navigate his phone was difficult with his numb fingers, but he managed to find his way to Denki’s contact. The phone rang as usual, because Denki took forever to answer calls, but eventually the blonde picked up.“Yo,”Just the sound of his voice brought the tears, and Miles laughed wetly into the phone. Pathetic. “Hey, Denki,” There was a pause, “Are you crying?”Miles nodded before he remembered that Denki couldn’t see him. “Yeah. I’m crying in a stairwell,”“Did something happen?” Denki immediately sprung into that ‘fix it’ mentality, just like Miles expected.“Someone said something to me, about the day I was found. Freaked me out,” He exhaled shakily, “They knew things I didn’t even know about that day. And then…” He didn’t finish, because his breath started to pick up at the thought. “I miss you guys,”There was another pause, and Miles knew exactly why. Denki smiled, and then he felt bad for smiling because his friend was crying on the phone, and then he started to overthink what to say. It was nice to be able to predict what came next. Nice to know exactly how a person worked.“I’m a mess, Denks,” He closed his eyes, head thudding against the rail. “I really am,”“Milo, stop,”“I flipped out and ran away when someone brought up my past. That’s loser behavior,” He shook his head. “I’m a mess, and I’ve dragged you and Hanta into it,”“I dragged myself into it eight years ago,” Denki laughed, “You think we couldn’t tell that you’re fucked up? We were kids, but we weren’t idiots. We could see it,”“Why?”Denki groaned on the other end of the phone, “Because you’re a good person. You’re fun to be around. You make us happy. We love you. You know this,”That just brought more tears to Miles’ eyes, “Awe,” He sniffled. “That’s really sweet,”“You’ve heard it before,” Denki’s voice was fond. “I’m going to be with you for the rest of your life, you know,”Miles snorted, “Good thing you like me,”“I sure do,”The brunette was about to question his friend's chosen tone of voice when his phone vibrated against his ear. Midoriya had added the majority of class A to a group chat. Out of all the people in class, Miles never would have expected Midoriya to be the one to create the group chat. He didn’t have much time to dwell on that because Midoriya did not waste any time before he sent the first text. His location. What the fuck?“Hey, are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Miles asked.“Uh, yeah. Did you see that it’s a random alley in the middle of Hosu?”“The fuck is Midoriya doing in Hosu? Isn’t he meant to be in Kobe?”Three flights up, the door to the stairwell opened with a bang. From his spot, Miles could see Tokoyami leaning over the railing. “Moore, are you there?”Miles called back, “Yeah, man. What’s up?”“It’s the news,”The bird-headed teen left without explaining further. Miles cursed, “I’ll call you later, Denks,” They shared a farewell before he hung up the phone and continued his journey up the stairs, hastily wiping under his eyes.The door to their shared room was open, the light of the TV shining against the windows. “What about the news?” He took one glance at the image on the screen and froze. Hosu was ablaze. Not just with fire, but with monsters. From the air, they could see the nomu on the ground, lines of heroes fighting back against them.“There’s so many of them,” Tokoyami whispered.“Shit,” Miles mumbled, “Midoriya’s in the middle of that mess,”The reporter pressed her face against the window, “What’s that? Get a closer shot!” The cameraman followed her order and zoomed in the direction of her line of sight. On top of a water tower were two figures. One with gray, shaggy hair and another made of wispy shadows. Miles gasped, face paling. He knew it. He felt it after the USJ and he should have trusted his gut. That was just the beginning. –––––– 
MAY 19, 2021
The next day would have probably been as monotonous as the one before if it weren’t for the new villain in town. New villain everywhere, actually. Hero Killer: Stain. Dude already had merch and everything. Based on the few things he’d heard about him, Stain would not like that very much. Letting your little kids run around with the mask of a killer on their face. Gross.Perhaps more troubling was the fact that Midoriya didn’t respond to any of class 1A’s attempts to contact him. Because seriously, what hero sends their location to a group chat full of fellow students and just ghosts everyone after? On the plus side, they had a class group chat now. Thanks to the hard work of Ashido, everyone had been added, and Miles found that his phone was constantly alive with something new.Kirishima was one of those people who sent photos of whatever he was doing. Apparently, Fourth Kind didn’t like fun, so they’d strictly been quick selfies with Tetsutetsu when the hero wasn’t paying attention. Last night, Denki sent them all so many TikToks that Jiro threatened him with dismemberment. All of them were surprised that Iida hadn’t been the one to do so, in a much nicer way, considering he’s all about going to bed on time. Koda sent a photo of thier bunny as a greeting, responded to their oohs and awes with a smiley face, and nothing else. Miles had never had such an active social life. It was bizarre. He had about four friends in his original reality. Now he had nineteen.All these new discoveries of his classmates filled his heart with fondness. He would have to thank Midoriya next time he saw him. Even after he watched the fit Denki was throwing right now.
denks
i deserve itmido needs to get his punk ass in this chat and make me an admin
jiro 
Literally what have you done to deserve special treatment
denks
im pretty and funny and a good person
blond bitch
Could have fooled me.
denks
fuck you
hanta
There are children in this chat, Kaminari Denki
denks
be on my side, ass
milo
What a mouth “No flirting in the chat, please,” Tokoyami begged from their spot on the bed.Miles snorted, “Why does everyone keep saying that?”“What do you mean?”Miles strained his neck to rest his chin on the arm of the couch while laying down at the same time. “Even my own mother says I flirt with them,”Tokoyami stared at him for a full minute before they shook their head, “I didn’t know it was possible for a person to be so unaware of their own feelings,”“Excuse me,” Miles snapped, “You are such a nasty little gossip,”“You’re trying to turn this conversation around on me,” Tokoyami deadpanned, “All of us thought you three were partners when we first met. We stopped because Jiro found out you weren’t,”Scoffing, Miles rolled his eyes, “Bunch of losers, this entire class,”“You don’t really believe that. We make you feel ‘warm and mushy inside,’ as I recall,”“Ass,”“Confront your feelings. The real ones,”“I cannot believe I am actually entertaining this conversation with you of all people right now,”“You’re right. You should talk about this with Sero and Kaminari,”“Tokoyami, I will lose my shit on you. You sound like my little brother,”Tokoyami sat up in bed to stare at him again, “You’ve had this exact conversation before with an entirely different person?” Miles just glared at him, which was confirmation enough. “Something is wrong with you, Moore,”“Nothing is wrong with me!” Miles exclaimed, pushing himself to sit up. His chest felt heavy. It always did when he talked about this. “Maybe a little…” He looked into the eyes of his classmate and groaned. “I can’t believe you’re the first person I’m gonna tell this to,”Quietly, “You’re my friend, Moore,”The brunette sighed, “I think I might have a crush on them, which is the first time I’m saying that out loud and now I’m gonna freak out,” His hands were warm against his nose as he pressed his hands to his face. “I’m gonna fuck everything up,”“Moore–”“Yes, I am,” Miles interrupted fiercely, “I always fuck it up,” He did. No matter what reality he went to, he found a way to fuck up whatever relationship he found himself in. It must be a generational curse or some shit. His mother in his original reality has been married three times, for god's sake, and now he was just going to repeat her patterns  Except it was one thousand times worse, because he loved Hanta and Denki like he’d never loved anyone before, and he couldn’t fuck it up. He wouldn’t let himself.A silence enveloped them for what felt like eons, the world dark from the press of his hands against his eyes. Slowly, he dragged them back into his hair, tugging slightly. Green eyes stared up at the ceiling, as if it had any answers.“Moore,” Tokoyami called, and Miles turned his head to meet their eyes. “It’ll be fine,” His mouth opened, but his friend didn’t let him get a word in. “Your friendship is hard to come by. Even if they don't return your affections, it won’t end,”Miles swallowed, “What if they do?”“Love them the way you have been. It’s worked so far,”“That’s so cheesy,”“I am full of surprises,” –––––– 
MAY 23, 2021
“Safe travels,” That was the first thing Hawks said to them when they came downstairs with their bags. The next thing he did was approach them both with his hands in his pockets. “Teach ya anything useful?”“No,” Blunt, as always. Miles didn’t even try to stop them.Hawks smiled, “Yeah, I figured,” “You figured?” He spat, eyes narrowing.The blonde shrugged and said nothing more. The guy was awful at goodbyes.“You know,” Miles tilted his head, his face hot with anger, “you did teach me something. Three years from now, I’m not gonna be some little bitch that follows another man around, cleaning up his messes,” Swiftly, he turned away, throwing up a peace sign over his shoulder. “See ya, Hawks,”Tokoyami followed him into the elevator, where he promptly crouched down and held his head in his hands as soon as the doors closed. “I can’t believe I just talked to Hawks like that,”“You have a three hour train ride to think about it,”“Five,” Miles added as he righted himself, “I have to wait for the train to Tokyo for like an hour,”“Joy,”“Truly,” –––––– Sure, the layover between his trip to Tokyo from Musutafu was a long one, but it had its perks. Like how as he waved Tokoyami off as they left the station to be driven to Shizuoka, he heard his name being called. Like how when he turned around, he saw both of his best friends waiting for him on a bench. Like how Denki smiled that same sweet smile he always did when he saw Miles. His heart filled with light.“How did it go?” Denki asked when Miles took his spot in between the both of them.“Don’t meet your heroes,” He sighed, and both of his friends launched into questioning what on earth that meant. Miles was smushed on a bench between two of his best friends in the middle of Japan, and he decided that out of all the realities he could be in, this is the one that was meant to be.