Chương 13: Vacation

On Thursday, he gave his report to the detective—a friend of All Might, apparently.

He recounted what he could remember, of the big Noumu, the names he heard. He got a little panicked when he brought up what exactly the Noumu did but he pulled through with All Might's supportive smile.

It was Friday afternoon when he was released home, and school was still out until Monday. Thankfully, Recovery Girl thought Izuku was healed enough where she felt confident in letting his body continue the process by itself. He was still on strict orders not to overwork himself and to keep doing his breathing exercises so his lung wasn't stressed. And he had to keep the brace on his previously shattered arm while his wrist needed to keep bandages around it just to reduce strain. She also removed the bandages around his scalp with instructions to be careful when showering or brushing his hair, but she didn't remove the stitches on his eyebrow. In other news, he was as good as… a used item off ebay. Yep!

"I should scold you, considering your track record," Recovery Girl had said, depositing a handful of gummies and a cup of pain meds in his bandaged hand. "But given the nature of the situation, I'll just let you off with a warning to be more careful. It was very admirable of you to fight off that villain like you did to save your classmate, but you're not invincible, you hear that, young man?"

"Y- um, yes, mm-ma'am," Izuku simply nodded his head, shamefully but humbly taking the semi-scolding.

"Then off you go, Midoriya. Meet me Monday morning before class just to see how your healing is going."

Izuku bowed in gratitude. "Th-thank you!"

Old People are scary...

When he got home with his mom, she kissed his forehead and sent him to bed to rest while she got dinner ready.

The silence in his bedroom gave him time to think and reflect; something that he didn't want to do. His mind was a terror in the quiet. Sinking into his bed slowly, feeling the strain in his back begin to ache a bit, the freckled boy pulled out his newly bought phone (thankfully he had a warranty on his phone so he got a replacement) and earbuds, plugging into his lofi playlist and turning the volume up. Satisfied with the tunes vibrating in his head so loud his ears were starting to do that brrv thing when audio gets distorted due to its volume, he pulled up his internet browser to a new page and on the startup page, a news article just below the search bar titled "STUDENT HEROES ATTACKED AT USJ" caught his eye and he scrolled down.

Squinting tiredly, he saw many other articles with the same subject appear the more he scrolled. Izuku grunted and exited out of the app and instead loaded up his Neko Atsume app. Aw, freaking Shadow keeps kicking Pickles off the mat. What the frick, Shadow? Jerk. What else… no new cats. Just Tubbs hogging the tuna bowl again.

The freckled teen sighed and turned his phone off, setting it beside himself on the bed and folding his hands over his chest as he stared at his ceiling. His mind buzzed while music played a chill tune. He sort of wished he could eject out of his body. His tired, aching body. Another sigh left him as he closed his eyes and reflected on the past week.

What a sucky week? Like honestly.

First it was the bad start of the day; he had accidentally looked at a photo of Korosensei and it triggered a bad reaction from him for the rest of the day, and the nosy press didn't help at all. Especially when that one reported pointed them out as some of the End Class students from that day. The poor students that had developed Stockholm Syndrome because they were defending their " monster of a teacher." If he was the same Izuku from the start of 8th grade, he's sure he would have told the reporter off. But alas, he has grown into a bigger, stronger, better person.

He chuckled to himself at that before moaning in boredom and turning his head. Sitting up, he turned to his window and pulled on the blinds to let some light in. Yeah, he wasn't getting any sleep today.

Staring out his apartment window blankly, Izuku's mind reeled back to the USJ. What he could have done better, what he could have done to not look like a fool. And that monster's tentacles…

His bandaged hand raised to his hair, bare fingers brushing over the ragged line just around the front of his crown. His stomach turned uncomfortably and he scratched just around the stitches. An irritation started itching just under his skin, in his gut and chest and he squirmed, humming before getting off his bed and searching in his closet, pulling out a small box of old hats and bandannas. Hats just looked really weird on him, so he picked a plain white bandanna with dark blue criss-crossed lines as decoration and tied it around his head. Maybe he should just wear bandannas to school to cover his shame that is poorly shaved hair.

He frowned and thought bitterly, he wouldn't have needed the surgery or whatever if that thing hadn't… Forest greens grew dim as he stared blankly at the box of bandannas and scarves, his mind leaving the present and flowing back to the USJ, to End Class. The Noumu had… tentacles.

The Noumu had tentacles.

He swallowed thickly and stumbled back in fear at the sudden image of dark tentacles and white walls and—

Izuku shook his head, focusing on the lofi beats blaring in his earphones, then decided to change the music to actual songs. He took a deep breath.

Huffing, Izuku kicked the box back into the closet and returned to sit on his bed, fiddling with his new phone. It was a good thing they were able to backup his files, but he did lose some pictures and an app, since it's been a while since he last backed up his phone on itunes.

Whatever, he had google albums that saved stuff for him, at least for the photos part. The lost app was just Pokemon Go, so that was fine.

A knock on the front door drew his attention then. "I'll get it!" he called out before pausing his music, and he left his room to open the door.

"Hey!" Izuku exclaimed when he saw Kaede, Karma, Rio, and Itona smiling happily. Kaede's hair was darker, probably her hair dye wearing out, and Rio carried a bag on her side, which Izuku wanted to ask about but he stopped when he saw the curious look on Itona's face.

"Headache?" he asked tentatively.

Izuku blinked before remembering what he was wearing and he touched it with a slanted grin, shaking his head. "Oh, uh, nah, th-they jus', um, shaved s'me o' mm-my hair and it looksss weird ss-so…"

Itona's expression smoothed out and he nodded understandingly.

"Who is it, Izuku?" Mom called from the kitchen, and he could hear her footsteps coming.

"Jus' s'me ff-frien's!" he called back before gesturing the four to follow him in. He held his hand out for Kaede, and they went to the living room where his mother greeted them all with delight. "What're you g-guys doin' h..here?"

"Oh, did you all come to visit Izuku? How sweet of you!" she cooed and then rustled around the kitchen after offering everyone something to drink and giving them all juice packs. "Dinner will be ready soon! You'll stay for dinner, right?"

They agreed they would, which pleased both Midoriyas.

"So, Izukun," Rio began, sitting on the end of the couch while Izuku and Kaede sat almost snuggled together on the other end. Karma grinned at the interaction while Itona just took a seat on one of the side chairs to Izuku's left. The freckled boy raised a brow at the blonde, eyeing her side bag suspiciously. Rio laughed as she reached for it, opening the clasp. "Relax, will you? It's just a gift!"

"Gift?"

"Yeah, it's your own little fursona," Karma leaned forward as Rio pulled out a green rabbit plush wearing an All Might costume. Actually, it looked exactly like a rabbit-version of Izuku wearing an All Might hoodie.

The freckled teen raised a brow at her and she narrowed her eyes at him threateningly.

"Okay, do you have any idea how expensive faux fur is? Take it, you ungrateful brat!" she broke and started laughing toward the end as she threw the doll at him, who was also laughing as he caught it.

Karma smirked at her. "Careful there, Rio, you're starting to sound an awful lot like a certain Professor B-"

"Vić!"

Itona turned to Izuku. "Izuku, that literally sounds exactly like-"

"Nope! It has th''vuh' at th' begi- b-beginning. Totally different."

"You know what we need? Let Izukun say-"

Izuku threw a throw pillow at Karma's face.

"ANYWAY," the curly haired boy eyed Karma, not at all being subtle with his amused smile. "Wh- uh, why the… the…" Wonderful that the word flew out of his brain in that exact moment, so instead he just gestured at the Izuku rabbit. The Izubbit. The Rabbizuku. Bunzuku. Eh. He'll come up with something better later.

"It's a Get Well Rabbit!" Kaede excitedly explained.

("Also your new government assigned fursona," Karma added in the background. Izuku ignored him.)

"We all wanted to get you one, but Rio told us last second, so instead we made you a card," Itona added as he pulled out a rabbit-shaped card.

Izuku took it and his expression fell when he saw the crossed out words. It was basically a fertility "congrats on the baby" card, but the words were scribbled out and replaced with "Get well soon!" Karma looked way too pleased with himself and Rio was biting her lip while twitching her eyebrows and pointing his eyes at Kaede. Izuku's look of absolute judgement and card-shaming never left his face as he held Karma's stare and opened the card. Oh, yeah, wonderful. Aside from multiple names written on half of it, there were little bunnies in the opposite empty corner and two of them were colored green and drawn over with curly green hair and green pigtails. Oh, and look, over the two bunnies read, "Just Tie The Knot Already."

Very subtle.

"I hope you knnn-know I'm- I'm puttin' th-thiss'in the b-blender."

"Awww, please don't!" Kaede whined playfully as she leaned against him. "I poured my soul into drawing those wittle runny babbits!"

"It's sa- ss-signed Su-Sugaya."

"Okay, so I had to commission it, but that's a well spent 500 yen!"

They all laughed and Izuku put the mini-zuku in his lap before they calmed down. "Th-thank you guys. Oh- he-hey, where's Nagi?"

Rio leaned on the arm of her chair, grinning proudly. "He's getting his name changed today."

Izuku sat up. "What?! To- wh- h- whe- wh-wh-what?!"

"Relax, Izukun!" Karma waved him off. "His surname. With the old hag losing custody and all that, Tatsumi-san's changing his name to his. Nagisa seemed preeeetty pumped."

"Yeah, I'm excited for him," Kaede sat up straighter.

"Stick it to the old people," Itona cooly added as he reached for the juice pack on the coffee table and taking a slurp from it. He paused, then readjusted, "The mean old people."

"I'd like to stick just her," Rio scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Like what a witch? Had the nerve to come to our lil' restaurant and everything, all apologetic and crap, too. Like, for real?"

Karma stayed quiet while Izuku and Kaede nodded. It felt a little dreary after that so Izuku started up again, "Well, at, um, at leas' he's gon' get his dad's, uh, um, his dad's nn-name."

"True," Itona nodded.

"So, Itona," Kaede started. "How's school goin'?"

"Creative conversation starter," he replied without missing a beat before leaning back in his seat and taking another sip from the juicy. He shrugged. "It's nice. Harder. People are very interested in quirks and all I have to show for one being there is some severed up stems, but at least I have Yoshida and Hara."

"No kiddin'," Karma raised a brow. "Wait, did Terasaka change his school option last second without telling us?"

Itona nodded. "Him and Okano."

"They're both going to the same school?"

Itona shrugged. "I just know they're not at any of the schools the others are at."

Izuku hummed, nodding before remembering something. "Oh, are we, um, gon' do th' thing… um… t'morrow?"

"The thing?" Rio raised a brow before it clicked. "Oh, the thing! Yeah, we're still on. Will you be okay for it?"

He hummed and nodded before calling for his mother. "Ma! Ev'ryone's gon' go t-to the mall t'morrow, can I go?"

"Will there be a chaperone?" she called back. "After this week, don't think I'll let you kids just go alone by yourselves. Who knows what sort of trouble you kids will get into."

"Oh. Uh." He looked to the others, who all shrugged. "Dang, okay, um… ca-can Tosssh- uh, Toshinn-nori come?"

"Who all is going?" Mom poked her head out of the kitchen.

Rio answered, "Just us, Nagisa, and a few others from school."

"Hmmm, why not ask Nagisa's father to come? Tatsumi-san is nice. And yes on Toshinori, you all need multiple eyes. I know how you kids get." She dipped back into the kitchen.

"Huh… welp," Rio sank into her chair.

"Drats, no shenanigans then, huh?" Karma grumbled.

"We'll ask Nagi about it later, then. A-And maybe I can get um…" Kaede hummed, tapping her finger on her chin as she thought.

"Two adults are enough, right?" Itona asked. The others shrugged.

Izuku bit the inside of his cheek. "Mom, can't you, um, c-come too?"

"Ah… I don't know, Izuku. Hmmm… I suppose I could come. Would you kids be okay with that?"

"The more the merrier."

"We don't mind."

"We love you, Mamadoriya!"

Izuku looked at Kaede at that. She just laughed and threw a pillow at him.

Mom giggled at their responses. "Alright, alright. I'll come then. Izuku will let me know the details. Dinner's ready in ten, by the way!"

"Okay!"

---

Dinner was over and everyone had gathered in Izuku's room for privacy while they spoke. They had yet to acknowledge the elephant in the room, dodging the subject of the USJ like it was a contagious disease. Instead, they spoke about different things.

"When are we going to visit Korosensei?" Kaede asked when conversation died down. She sounded solemn.

Izuku rubbed his arm and looked away; Karma and Rio glanced at each other with grimaces, and Itona simply blinked. Finally, Karma leaned back on the floor with his hands under his head and sighed.

Rio hummed, looking uncertain. "We could visit this weekend?"

Karma shook his head. "Too soon."

"Nn-next… next weeken'?" Izuku prompted.

Karma just shrugged, staring at the ceiling. The four others traded glances and decided to drop the subject. Izuku turned and reached for the green gift rabbit on his bed, humming.

"You should name it," Kaede grinned, pointing at it.

"Name it wha'?" Izuku raised a brow.

Rio brought her phone out and took a picture before sending it to the group chat. "We'll hold a poll."

"Ss… s-seriously?"

Itona nodded, taking his phone out and opening the group chat. "Yes, absolutely."

Rio and Kaede giggled while Izuku just stared dumbfoundedly at them. He shook his head. "Unbelievable."

---

Saturday rolled around after a Friday night movie marathon of old Pre-Quirk meme movies (The Bee Movie was a hard pill to swallow, honestly). Soon enough, it was well past 11 and Inko didn't feel comfortable with sending the kids home in the dark (even though Itona was more than capable of calling his dad to pick him up, but naaah, he didn't want to leave), so Izuku and Inko brought out some sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets and they were all spread out in the living room floor and on the couch.

In the dark, none of them actually slept. About an hour was spent with giggles and pillow throwing after a distasteful joke was spoken. If asked how Izuku ended up sprawled completely across Kaede and Itona, Karma and Rio would just shrug and look away in ignorance. They also wouldn't mind if they were asked for a copy of the photo; Mamadoriya already had one to put in her wallet.

They woke up to a pancake breakfast, and then were ushered out hurriedly when Rio and Karma started chanting "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" to Izuku and Kaede; Itona was only mildly interested if they would or not (They traded pecks on the cheek but only after Mamadoriya left to get ready herself). Everyone was excited for their day in the city. Well, the mall, but that was besides the point.

(Also, it may or may not have been Pokemon Go Community Day and Izuku may or may not have had ulterior motives in choosing the Kiyashi Ward Mall as their Vacation Day location)

Finally, the clock hit 11:30 and Izuku and his mom were ready to hit the road, Izuku still sporting the bandana after feeling to uncomfortable with the "bald spots" and definitely not enjoying the idea of a combover. Nagisa's father was the one who came to pick them up since they didn't have a car, so Mom slid in the passenger seat while Izuku sat right next to Nagisa.

Nagisa spotted the green rabbit head popping out from the flap of Izuku's backpack and his snakes tilted their heads. "Is that what Rio sent in the group chat?" he smirked.

"Oh, this?" Izuku grinned shyly, pulling the doll out. "Heh, ye-heah, um, Rio got it ff-for me, and w-wants me t', um, nn-name it."

Nagisa's chuckled a bit before Tatsumi-san greeted the two. "So, boys, are we ready for a super-duper awesome spectacular day today?"

"Dad, you sound like a dork."

"What, when I say dad things? What about… Okey-dokey-smokey?"

Nagisa hit his own face and let out a loud groan. Izuku laughed as he tucked Mini-doriya back in his bag.

Mom turned to Tatsumi then. "So I heard Nagisa's officially a Tatsumi!"

Tatsumi nodded. "For the second and final time, hopefully, haha! They say 'third time's the charm' but I'm more partial to 'twice is the dice.' See?"

Nagisa groaned again. "Daaaaad, that's so cheesy, oh my god, " he muttered the last bit as he looked out the window but Izuku caught that smile on his dainty lips. Mom laughed too.

"That's so nice! I'm happy for you both," she glanced back at Nagisa a bit, smiling. Izuku grinned at his friend too, and he was pleased to see the blue-haired boy's lips stretch in such a wide smile, his cheeks turned red. For the first time in weeks, his eyes were bright and alert—happy.

Yeah, Izuku was happy for Nagisa.

---

When they arrived at the mall, Nagisa and Izuku had begun coordinating with the others on where to meet up, along with Ritsu as their glorified map. They were heading into the food court when they were called out.

"Nagisa! Izuku!" the voice of… Isogai! They turned toward the sound seeing him, Maehara and Megu approaching.

"Hey! You're all here!" Nagisa greeted as they all exchanged side-hugs.

"Of course," Megu nodded and her smile softened. "Izukun, I'm so glad you're alright. Both of you."

"Yeah, seriously, you gotta stop giving us heart attacks!" Maehara slapped his hand on Izuku's shoulder. "We will not hesitate to sic Sumire or Ryoma on you guys."

The two shivered before chuckling. Izuku stuffed his hands into his pockets, grinning sideways with a tilted head. "Well, y'know mm-me!"

"Yeah, unfortunately."

They turned around to see Katsuki and Kirishima approaching. Izuku glanced around to find his mom, only to watch Mom and Auntie Mitsuki hug in greeting, their loud, joyous voices matching in the mumble of the mall cafeteria.

Kirishima waved happily. "Hey, bro!"

Maehara stepped forward, a hand on his hip. "Who're these dudes?"

Nagisa noticed his three friends' stances—they were untrusting. Nagisa couldn't blame them, but he smirked anyway.

"Oh!" Izuku put his hands together and turned back toward his friends. "Th-this's B-Bakugou Katsuki! Wait, wha- what're you, um…"

Katsuki shrugged. "Your mom called up mine and invited her to the mall, so the old hag dragged me along. I dragged Spike along 'cause I didn't wanna hang out with losers alone all day."

"Aww, you don't think I'm a loser!" Kirishima cooed, a hand on his chest then snickered when Katsuki tried to punch him but missed. "Haha! Anyway, I'm Kirishima Eijirou!"

Introductions were made, and Nagisa thought Isogai and Maehara both had an expression as though they approved of Kirishima, which amused the snake boy immensely. Then he blinked when an arm went around Katsuki's shoulder and Karma stood behind him with a snot-eating grin.

"Well, well, look who decided to join the club. Here to pick up chics or just loiter like a cool guy?" Karma teased, then laughed when Katsuki aimed a punch at his face, but the cheeky horned teen ducked out of the way then swiveled away and next to Izuku. He was holding a smoothie in his other hand and took a sip through the straw. "Wassup, nerds."

Katsuki bristled. "What the hell did'ya just call me?! Don't pin me in with those a—"

"God, you are so cringey," Karma interrupted.

Isogai nudged him. "Cringe culture is dead!"

The redhead gestured to Katsuki dramatically. "Then how do you explain this abomination?"

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!"

Izuku stepped between them both, his own smoothie in his hand. "SS-STOP FIGHTING, YOU BOTH ARE P-PRETTY!"

Nagisa snorted and Karma's expression looked as though he just flatlined inside, while Katsuki looked about ready to pour some drinks on everyone. Kirishima and Maehara, meanwhile, looked like they wanted to pour some drinks out for everyone.

Thankfully, that was when Kaede, Itona, and Rio showed up, all with some sort of drink in their hands. Kaede and Itona had their phones out and plugged into portable chargers that were tucked into their sweater pockets with Rio carrying a backpack styled for all three of them, it seemed, decorated with a plethora of buttons. Izuku's eyes glittered and he made a run for his girlfriend, arms pulled back in a rather iconic ninja-run. Kaede noticed the determined glare in his eye as he charged forth and she rivaled it with her own, rushing at him with the same speed and form before they both collided in a spinning-hug.

"Oh oh oh! Watch the drink!"

"Oops!"

They broke apart with a laugh and Kaede brought her phone up, showing Izuku all the Pokestops in the mall, the other green-head gasping and taking his own phone out to play Pokemon Go with her. They both seemingly left the second plane of existence to enter their own shared headspace with just them and the one hundred fifty seven copies of eevees and meowths.

Nagisa shook his head in amusement as Rio and Itona approached. Itona nodded a greeting while sipping on his pepsi, and Rio waved at the others, exchanging side-hugs with her fellow End Class members, then she greeted Kirishima and Katsuki. "Hey guys, I didn't know you both were coming?"

Katsuki rolled his eyes and Kirishima slapped his hand on his blond friend's shoulder. "Yep! Midoriya-san invited Bakubro's mom to come and then he invited me to come!" he ignored the threatening growl coming from Katsuki's throat, and instead turned his attention to Itona, grinning widely. "So who's this dude? I'm Kirishima Eijirou! Nice to meetcha, man!"

"Itona," the snowy-haired teen merely answered, then returned to his pepsi straw and lowering his gaze to his phone. "Oh, there's a raid starting soon. Nice." With that, he turned around and went back to Kaede and Izuku who were walking around in circles on their phone, assumingly waiting for the nearest pokestop to reset.

Kirishima watched him go with two blinks of puzzlement before turning to Nagisa, who shrugged.

Isogai chuckled. "Itona's a bit of a cryptid."

"Yeah, he, Izukun, and the Jersey Devil over here." Maehara gestured his chin at Karma, who was fiddling with a bunch of bracelets in his horns when he paused.

"You said my name?"

Maehara rolled his eyes while Katsuki, Kirishima, and Megu all stared.

"What're you doing?" Rio raised a brow.

"Horn fashion is very important, Rio," was his only response before continuing to bedazzle his horns with various bracelets and necklaces coiled around them.

Maehara sighed and gestured back to the UA students. "See what I mean?"

"Hey, guys!!" suddenly Uraraka's voice brought all of their attentions up, behind her followed by Tsuyu, Iida and Kaminari. She stopped just short of their little group and gestured to the electric blond. "Look who we bumped into!"

Maehara, Isogai, and Megu exchanged glances while Nagisa and Kirishima beamed. "Hey, guys! Hey, Kaminari!" the redhead greeted.

"You got dragged along, too?" Kaminari smirked painfully.

"Haha, yeah, but it's cool. Bakugou said—" he paused to look around. "Hey, where'd he go?"

"Pompom-Pup went to the Pokesquad back there, mumbled something about Pokemon nerds being more fun or whatever," Maehara gestured with a nod of his head and a smirk of his lips.

Kaminari's eyes lit up and he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "You guys play too?!"

Megu smiled. "Only the cryptids over there, really. There are some others in our class that go crazy over Go, but…" she shrugged.

He nodded sagely before bouncing on his heels, eyeing the group of green, white, and yellow. Then he tiptoed forward, pointing to the four. "Hey, I'm just gonna- y'know- yeah… Nice meeting you dudes and dudette!" Then he bounded toward the group with his phone waving around in the air. "HEY! SOMEONE BATTLE ME!"

Iida cleared his voice after they watched the group open up and consume the blond into their ranks. "Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you! I am Iida Tenya!"

"Oh! And I'm Uraraka Ochako! You must be…"

"Isogai Yuma," Isogai raised a hand with a dip of his head.

"Maehara Hiroto, the pleasure's mine," the ginger took hold of Uraraka's hand all princely and winked at her. Megu pushed his face away, her other hand gestured out to take each of their hands in greeting.

"I'm Kataoka Megu, any friend of Nagisa and Izukun's are friends of ours," her voice was thick with amusement.

"I'm Asui Tsuyu, but call me Tsu, kero." The frog girl's smile was wide on her froggy face, Nagisa couldn't help but wonder if she was genuinely liking these new people she was meeting.

Nagisa gestured to Izuku's group behind them. "Itona and Kaede are back there with them. I'm sure you'll meet them sooner or later."

They watched as Katsuki pumped his fist with a throat victory scream of, " HELL YEAH!! TAKE THAT, YOU STUPID FIRE CHICKEN! I AM THE MASTER OF THE FLAMES!!"

The snake-haired boy stayed quiet for a moment before shrugging. "I think later would be a safer option."

"Hopefully!" Iida nodded. "Well, then! What is in our agenda for today? Book shopping?"

Maehara laughed sharply, striding next to the blue-haired teen and leaning on his shoulder, ignorant to how he practically morphed into a stone statue at the gesture. "Man, you UA kids are already stock-full of knowledge, how else did you get into that school? Lighten up a tad! Life's short, you know?"

"Hiroto, stop spreading your 'life is short' propaganda," Megu shook her head while Kirishima laughed and joined in beside Maehara.

"Nah, I dig that!" the redhead leaned on the other side of Iida. "Forget book stores, man! Not that books aren't manly, but we're at the mall , dude! Don't they have, like, an arcade or something?"

Isogai pulled out his phone. "Um, let's see. I have the map pulled up, uh… Yeah, they have a- oh! They actually have one of those classic arcades here!"

"Oh, we have got to visit that place!" Uraraka bounced.

"Then can we visit the shops after?" Megu pulled on Rio's sleeve a bit.

"I'd like to buy something too, kero," Tsu added, her finger on her chin. "I promised my little siblings that I'd get them something today."

"Sure, I don't see why not?" Rio smiled as Kirishima and Maehara both sighed in defeat.

Iida put his hand to his chin. "I would also like to buy some more school supplies."

"You're missing the point," Rio and Maehara muttered with a wry smile.

They paused in their conversation as they started hearing chanting come from behind them. When they turned, they saw Katsuki standing in front of Kaede, aggressively tapping and swiping at their phones with Itona, Kaminari, and Izuku chanting, " GO! GO! GO! GO! "

Then Katsuki screamed in frustration with Kaede jumping in the air with a loud " YES! I AM YOUR QUEEN NOW! BOW BEFORE ME, PLEB! "

Katsuki fell to his elbows and knees, clearly in distress. Izuku laughed loudly as he grabbed his girlfriend by the waist and lifted her in the air, spinning her around while Kaminari and Itona awkwardly and lamely consoled the obviously butthurt Katsuki (or at least tried to, seeing as neither one really wanted to touch him in case he blasted them sky high).

Uraraka covered her mouth as she stifled a sudden laugh.

Nagisa grinned with his own snicker and he glanced at Karma whose own smile was wide and borderline wild in some sort of sadistic glee. Oh, he liked watching their girl beat down that arrogant sucker. The blue-haired boy turned back to the group then. "So it's agreed? Shopping first, then we play?"

Isogai bounced. "Oh! Hey, there's a trampoline place down the street too!"

Kirishima gasped and started tugging on Iida's sleeve like a child. "Dude! Dude! Dude! We have to go!!"

"Didn't someone just say that about the arcade?" Karma raised a brow with his amused smile, cocking his head to the side.

"I did, but I'm totally with Kirishima on that! We have to visit the trampoline place!" the gravity girl started bouncing on her feet before slowing down as realization dawned on her and she grew solemn. "Oh, I don't think I brought enough…"

Rio nudged her shoulder with a knowing expression, waving her flower-designed wallet. "Hey, don't worry. I've gotcha covered."

Her eyes widened and she shook her head. "What? No, there's no way I could let you…"

"Hey, don't worry about it! I've got plenty!" Rio winked at her then. " Trust me, alright? We don't let our friends hangin'. 'Sides, we're here to have fun!"

Uraraka kept her gaze locked on the blonde's, seemingly searching for something in her eyes before a warm smile raised her cheeks. "If… If you're sure, Nakamura! Thank you so much!"

Maehara wrapped his arm around Uraraka and Rio's shoulders then. "You better get used to being pampered by us, kids. Us End Class kids never let a broke friend stay broke, you hear?!"

"Oh, so you guys are seriously from that E class in Kunugigaoka?" Kirishima cocked his head, genuinely curious and perhaps slightly alarmed. Nagisa's stomach churned but thankfully, Isogai and Maehara picked the question up swiftly and without hesitation.

"Yep!" Isogai nodded.

"Not bad for a bunch of End Class students, huh?" Maehara put a finger gun to his chin, shooting out a dazzling grin while his other hand held up on his hip. Isogai smacked the back of his head. "Ow!"

Nagisa chuckled then looked up. "Okay, seriously, what's the game plan here?"

"Hey! Izukun! Kaede! Guys! Head in, we're planning!" Maehara called the little nerd group and they all groaned collectively before nearing.

Karma counted everyone in his head, even adding the three parents before tapping his lips. "We're missing one."

Kirishima raised a brow. "There's more?"

Karma shrugged. "Mamadoriya said she wanted some adult eyes on us, so we called a family friend."

Izuku and company arrived, gave the necessary introductions again, and the entire group went toward the parents while discussing their plans. There was some debate on where actually to go, Katsuki being the loudest protester in the shopping bit before Mitsuki slammed her fist down on his head and effectively shut him up with her fruit smoothie in his mouth (he looked like he really wanted to continue protesting but he kept the straw in his mouth as he angrily drank the drink). Finally, they all agreed they would shop a few select stores relatively nearby before hitting the trampoline place and then the arcade if they had time.

Thankfully, they ran into Toshinori before they entered the first store and those from class 1-A gawked at the man.

"Wait, you're that student teacher!" Kirishima shouted.

Toshinori took it in stride, grinning happily as he waved at them. "Hello, kids!"

"'Hello, kids'?! That's all!?" Kaminari dragged his hands down his face. "Dude, I'm tripping right now. You guys know him?!"

The End Class members all nodded and Izuku strode beside the blond hero. "It's'a… um, long ss-story, um, heheh."

They stared a bit longer before Tsu started, "We have time."

Izuku deflated, sputtering and giving a " I'm slowly dying inside" expression before Maehara laughed and waved it off for him. "We can explain some other time.

"Yeah, for now, let's hit the stores!" Rio waved around her wallet again. "Come ooon, my wallet's huuuungry!"

"Yeah- hey, you get those pins from Hot Topic?" Kaminari pointed at the backpack behind Rio, who turned half-way to show the bedazzled and pin-adorned bag. No space was spared with every ounce of space covered with either sparkly beads or fandom or hipster pins.

"Oh, yeah! I did, they have really good deals on pins, you know?"

Uraraka pointed down the mall hall, spotting the black and white sign of Hot Topic. "Let's go then! I want some pins too!"

"Holy crap, wait, we might need to take turns going in then," Kaminari muttered somewhat nervously. This was a large group after all.

Rio smacked her forehead. "Oh, snap, you're right."

Isogai stood in front of them all. "Okay, how about this: anyone who doesn't care about going to Hot Topic, raise your hand."

He raised his hand along with Megu, Iida, Kirishima, Itona, Tsu, and Kaede. Izuku gasped at his girlfriend. "You don't… care?"

She smiled weakly. "Ah… ahah, um, i-it's not that I don't care! It's just, um… We go, like… every time…"

Izuku let a crocodile tear slip out and Kirishima, Iida, Uraraka and Kaminari all took a step back in surprise. Kaede covered her eyes and quickly looked away.

"NO! YOU'RE NOT GETTING ME THIS TIME!"

Izuku's expression flattened out pretty quickly, his eyes dried and bored, a pout making him look bratty as he crossed his arms. "Meanie."

Itona poked his cheek. "You've gone soft."

Those unaccustomed to the antics of Izuku and his famous brokenhearted baby-doll eyes routine were absolutely flabbergasted and Kaminari leaned in to Tsu as he whispered, "Holy crap, Midoriya is metal."

She merely blinked in response, staring wide-eyed at the curly-haired teen. So metal.

Katsuki threw his hands up then. "WHATEVER! Let's just get on with it, alright?! God, I wanna get to the freakin' trampoline place already. Does anyone have a charger? Pokemon Go freakin' killed my phone."

Rio nodded, flipping her backpack to her front as she used her quirk to zip it open, hand reaching in to grab a portable charger and extra cord. She tossed the bundle to the ash blond. Iida stared and she met his flat gaze. "What?"

Suddenly flustered, he quickly turned his expression away. "Nothing! My apologies."

Rio grinned cheekily.

---

The Hot Topic groups were settled and they bought and messed around with the nerd stuff they found in there. Izuku was not at all surprised when Katsuki bought himself a Team Valor symbol snapback.

Kaminari scoffed at it, commenting, "Dude, Team Valor? Team Instinct."

"Team Instinct is full of idiots who would touch exposed wire if Spark said Zapdos demands a sacrifice." Katsuki's voice was as dry as a desert. Damn.

Kaminari opened his mouth to respond before pausing, getting only an "Ah—" out before slumping and lowering his head. Ah. Katsuki won.

Itona didn't miss his mark, adding without turning back as he looked at the Bleach shirts. "Team Valor is full of arrogant God Complexes and will never hesitate to threaten the burn someone's house down if they don't bow to them."

Katsuki gave a gasp and began to retort before Kaede piped up. "Oh yeah? Well, Team Mystic's full of 8th Grade Syndromes who think solidarity and egotism is cool and edgy!"

Itona sharply turned his head at that, Izuku's head popping out from across the store before maneuvering around customers and merchandise to get to them. Then he grabbed Kaede's shoulders. " You're Team Mystic!"

Kaede grinned cheekily and lifted her phone, where it was opened to her trainer page—and there it was, her character RoombaKn1fe, with Team Valor's symbol behind her. Izuku gasped and jerked back, his hand over his heart in… disgust? Shock? Terror? Katsuki couldn't tell, but this was a moment of betrayal for sure.

Kaminari put his hand over his mouth. "Top Ten Anime Betrayals…"

Katsuki whistled, somewhat impressed, and that loss to her from before didn't sting as much as before. "That's a power move right there. Ballsy though, Pigtails, very ballsy…"

"Sometimes, decisions need to be made, Izukun," Kaede closed her eyes. "Sometimes hard… very hard decisions need to be made."

Izuku mirrored Kaminari before closing his own eyes in pain and a tear fell out. "I can't… b-believe this… All this time… w-wassit all jus'... a big lie?"

Kaede put her hand on his shoulder. "A lie? No. It was always real to me, Izukun. But people change, my love."

Kirishima poked his head out from the entrance of the store. "What are you guys do- Midoriya, are you okay?! Oh my gosh, what is happening. "

Izuku had the same pained expression as before, more tears falling but he nodded anyway. Katsuki and Kaminari traded glances while Itona turned back to shirt picking.

Finally, the freckled boy opened his gaze and looked his girlfriend in the eyes, determination written on his face and he held her hands. "I-I won't give up on you! I know Team Mm-mystic is s-still in you, ss-somewhere…"

He brought her closer to him, and Kaminari almost lost his freaking mind, silently bouncing and holding onto Katsuki while the ash blond just watched with a mind-blown expression of what the hell is going on.

Kaede's cheeks flushed and she looked at Izuku with a soft expression. "Izukun…"

Uraraka, Tsu, and Rio poked their heads out from the entrance behind Kirishima while Karma and Nagisa leaned out from behind the aisle beside them, Karma's horns now adorned with several slap-on bracelets all unbeknownst to him (Ko and Roka both had rather cheeky glints in their eyes). Itona just folded a shirt and put it back on the shelf.

They drew closer and closer, lips almost touching, right there ready to—

A hand caught between their faces, their lips kissing skin that wasn't the others and Nagisa started choking loudly on air in the background. Izuku and Kaede squealed in shock, tumbling back to see Iida with his hand sticking out and clearly marked with Kaede's lipgloss on his palm.

"Ii-Iida?!"

"Midoriya! I am very ashamed of this behavior! Such lust is not appropriate for our age!"

Kaminari started wheezes as he held onto Katsuki, who moved a step away when the electric blond started to slip to the floor. "OH MY GOD!"

Meanwhile Karma was trying to slap Nagisa's breath back to him when he wouldn't stop coughing or laughing, AKA killing himself slowly. "RIO, HE'S ACTUALLY DYING THIS TIME!"

Rio came in with her Handy Dandy Backpack, unzipping it and taking out a waterbottle with Nagisa's name on it before making the wheezing boy take a sip to calm himself.

Uraraka's face was marked blood-red with wide, moon eyes taking up half her face. Tsu and Kirishima poked her cheeks before she toppled over and the two looked at each other. "Hide the body?"

Tsu nodded. "You read my mind, kero." They both started carrying the gravity girl from her legs and arms away to the nearest chair. The adults were still chatting away and not paying attention to the children, which amused Tsu with the irony of it. They both started fanning Uraraka's face, which was as hot as a furnace and she was muttering to herself incoherently. Megu was soon at their side, helping fan the girl while Maehara filmed the chaos that unfolded in the Hot Topic.

---

"Well, I'm never allowed in that Hot Topic ever again," Kaminari mumbled as they walked the sidewalk toward the trampoline place. At least he was able to buy some pins.

"We were all banned from that Hot Topic, Kaminari," Nagisa pointed out. He bought himself some slap bracelets that he shared with Izuku that they used to slap onto Karma's horns when the other would distract him. Karma also bought him some chinese-styled hair bun covers based off some character called Chun Li? Whatever, it was meant for Ko and Roka whenever they needed to be kept in buns for whatever reason.

"Not us!" Isogai frowned. "I was in the bathroom, I wasn't even anywhere near that scene! What even happened?"

Maehara nudged him. "Don't worry, dude, I got it all on video."

"How did that all start again?" Rio raised a brow. She was sporting three new pins on the straps of her backpack (she couldn't fit anymore on the main bag).

"RoombaKn1fe broke up with BunMight99," Kaede replied as if that explained it all. She had a bandana to match Izuku's, but it was Team Valor themed.

Izuku sniffled, his head downcast, his previous bandana traded for a Team Mystic themed one. "We were Team Mm-mystic , K-kaede…"

Kaede smiled sweetly and knowingly as she pat his head. "I know. It's okay, sweetie."

"So, uh… I was wondering, you guys are dating… right?" Uraraka raised a brow, appearing almost sheepish.

"Oh, yeah! I guess we are, huh?" Kaede glanced at the freckled boy, who straightened up at the question.

"Hm, yeah, we've… dated, r-right?"

Kirishima raised a brow, turning back. "What? You don't even know?"

Kaminari looked aghast at that. "Midoriya, dude, what the hell?! You don't just ask that!"

Izuku just shrugged. The two groaned with an added Katsuki Groan behind them. Karma interjected between the two greenheads. "Not gonna lie, they kinda just happened."

"What'dya mean, just happened?" Kaminari squinted an eye at that. "Damn, wish I got me a girl that just happened . Geez."

Izuku shrugged again, quirking his lips to the side. This time Kaede copied him.

Maehara sighed longingly. "We all do, man. Me especially. Women just aren't into the exotic anymore, I guess."

Rio kicked him from behind. "No, they're just not into womanizing scumbags like you."

The ginger groaned with a loud whine at the end as he caught himself. "Whyyyyy... How come Izukun's never teased like this?"

Isogai pat his friend on the back. "Izuku's not a womanizing scumbag, man."

"Yuma, you traitor."

Nagisa grew a haunted expression then. "Izukun's done worse than womanize, though."

They all stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to stare at him. Silent. Waiting for an explanation.

Without blinking, he continued with a dry voice. "He taught my dad how to dab."

Izuku and Kaminari burst out laughing suddenly, with Izuku waving his hand at the other. "Nonono, wait, watch th's, watch thi— HEY, TATSUMI-SAN!"

Nagisa's dad's head popped up from behind the group. Izuku dabbed.

Tatsumi dabbed right back.

Katsuki and Nagisa almost cried. (Katsuki and Izuku later learned that Tatsumi then taught not just one other mother how to dab, but both mothers and Toshinori. Izuku's never cried harder in his life.)

When they got to the trampoline place, they were all delighted to learn there was trampoline dodgeball in one section of the building. Izuku, Katsuki, Karma, Kaede, Maehara, and Rio all glanced at each other with the subtle intent to kill while Kirishima looked on with innocent wonder, and they all filed to play the next round. Meanwhile Iida, Tsu, Kaminari, Uraraka, Isogai, Megu, Nagisa, and Itona were all satisfied to play a weird game of tag and hide-and-seek in the main trampoline and ball-pit. Nagisa had to keep his snakes in buns (he tried to find the irony in having to use the covers Karma bought him but found he couldn't be bothered) just so they wouldn't be jostled around this way and that whenever he bounced high.

The round of Trampoline Dodgeball began—the only rules being no headshots and no using quirks (yes, even most mutations (multiple limbs were okay for catching the balls or getting hit but no throwing them, only two designated hands at a time)). Karma, Katsuki, Kirishima, and Maehara were on one end while Izuku, Kaede, Rio, and Toshinori were on the other.

(Yeah, Toshinori was dragged in to play by the kids. He felt as though he would perhaps regret this decision.)

Katsuki grinned wildly at the opposing team, body lowered in a position that screamed athlete while they waited for the ref to start the game. "You nerds are going down."

"Big talk for a dude who lost to a Flareon!" Kaede sneered.

Kirishima gaped at him. "You lost to a Flareon?"

"Yes, I lost to a FLAREON! Leave me alone!"

Karma shook his head as he tsk'd at the explosive teen. "You lettin' a little girl trash talk you like that?"

Katsuki turned to him. "You be quiet, y- WE'RE ON THE SAME TEAM!"

The horned teen just shrugged nonchalantly. "Hey, sometimes I just can't help myself."

Izuku muttered to Rio, "Honestly, if-ff Karma doesn't winn th's, I'll eat mm-my shoe."

"Izukun, no…"

The whistle blew and both teams took off for the dodgeballs. Katsuki grabbed two of them and shot them like bullets at Izuku and Kaede, who squeaked when they just barely dodged them. Rio shot one that just barely passed by the ash blond's face.

"HEY!"

Rio shrugged lamely before giving a laugh and jumping over another ball that flew right under her legs. It was pretty tight for the first five minutes. Toshinori almost got out several times but ended up getting Karma out (Izuku groaned, "United Ss-States of d-dammit…"). Izuku got out with a hit in the gut by Katsuki the moment before he got Kirishima out. Rio got Maehara out, then she got out by a hit to the knee by Katsuki as well.

Then it was just Katsuki and Kaede.

The final showdown.

This battle would decide the true victor of the Team Valor kids. It all depended on who would hit who with a red foam ball…

Kaede narrowed her eyes as the ref reset the arena, setting the balls in a line between them. Katsuki flexed his fingers while Kaede cracked her neck side to side.

"You know you only won 'cause your Dragonite already wore out my Typhlosion."

"Yeah? Maybe so, but I was still faster than you at using her third move."

"Bullcrap. My Typhlosion should have easily destroyed your stupid Flareon with his High Jump Kick."

"Too bad he didn't, then, huh?"

Karma, Kirishima, and Maehara both went Oooohhhhh at the exchange. Toshinori gave Izuku a bewildered expression, breaking out into a sweat at all these foreign terms. Then the whistle blew and they charged at the balls before jumping back and going wild with the handfuls they managed to grab.

It was a tight match, each having their own amazing dodging styles—Izuku was kind of itching to write down his observations but was too enthralled in the match to move as they watched balls fly across the trampoline area and just narrowly miss one another.

And they were going hard . No punches were pulled, they were even aiming for their heads. Kirishima looked sick. Izuku was getting lightheaded. Children started crying behind them. Toshinori was hypnotized by the zipping and zooming the dodgeballs were doing—he didn't even think either of them could catch the balls even if they tried.

Then finally a ball shot straight to Kaede's lower stomach and a guttural cry of, "GOD, MY UTERUS!" was kicked from her as she doubled over.

It was silent.

Breaths were held in the suspense before finally, Kaede raised her hand holding the very ball Katsuki threw and she caught.

Cheers rang out, the children stopped crying, Izuku felt tears well up from his eyes and Katsuki screamed in pathetic defeat as he collapsed to the floor of the trampoline, facedown. "DAMMIT!!! NO!!"

Kaede ran to Izuku's arms as she cheered, then turned around to laugh at Katsuki's face as he walked out of the caged trampoline, a ghostly look in his eyes. "BOW TO YOUR QUEEN, PLEB!" she shouted.

Katsuki lifted his haunted gaze to her, a look of absolute rage, terror, and sincere loss before he closed his eyes and dipped his head. "You… You gave it… all you had… you didn't hold back or pull any punches… and I respect that…"

Then he walked down the ramp to the adult's table where he sat in defeat drinking a soda his mom bought.

Kaede, still in Izuku's arms, blinked and Toshinori couldn't help but give a half-hearted laugh that kiiiind of sounded somewhat terrified. His hands came down on both of their heads, though he was more gentle with Izuku. Cheerfully and with pure sincerity, the blond hero commended them saying, "Your generation absolutely terrifies me!"

From somewhere in the trampoline arcade, they heard Iida's high pitched scream of terror.

Later they learned Uraraka, Megu, an Tsu teamed up to find Iida who had somehow convinced the ballpit attendant to allow him to hide against the inside wall of the ballpit while the three seekers attempted to find him.

Oh, they did.