I walked into the classroom for detention that day, dreading what I'd find. I knew that at least Bakugou would be present, and that alone was enough for me to drag my feet. 

To no one's surprise, the whole gang was present, even Ashido. I guess she wouldn't be stealing them away that day. Ashido and Kaminari smiled and waved me over to them. I took one look at the smug smile on Eijirou's face and quickly took the furthest seat away from their little back corner as possible. I flipped my hood up as soon as I was seated, and totally not to hide the blush on my face. What blush? I have no idea what you're talking about, I wasn't blushing at all. 

"It's cute you thought you were safe from us up here," Ashido said, making me jump slightly as she took the seat directly in front of me. The rest of the group spread out around me. Kaminari to my left, Sero just in front of him, Bakugou to my right, and Eijirou was seated behind me. Again. I shivered. 

"I told you all to fuck off and die like, three hours ago, why are you still trying?" I asked her. 

She smiled warmly at me, ruffling my hair with her hand like an older, patronizing sister. "Because, silly, Kirishima told us you were lying. Besides, Bakugou tells us to die at least four times a day. Doesn't really phase us anymore, sweetie." 

After pulling my head from her reach, I sized her up. "You're so Uraraka coded, it's freaky." 

Her eyes sparkled at the comment like it was a compliment. "That's the cute little brunette you're friends with back home, right?" 

I rolled my eyes, slouching back in my seat. "Fuck, you're a carbon copy of her." 

"Was that a compliment for me or her?" Her eyes were teasing, clearly enjoying the interaction. 

"Neither," I deadpanned. 

"You wound me, Mido." She placed a hand on her heart and faked a frown. 

I tilted my head in a reproachful manner. "Yet you keep coming back. Are you a masochist, Ashido?" 

She shot me a wink. "Wanna find out?" 

I couldn't stop the laugh that escaped me. The banter was nice after being cooped up with my own head for so long. 

Eijirou's head suddenly popped up right next to me. "I knew you were lying," he said, once again, too close to my face for comfort. Did this guy not know what person space was? 

I shot him a glare, hoping that it would cover the blush. I used my index finger to push his face away from mine. "Stay out of my bubble." I heard his chuckle, but I willed myself not to turn around. 

"Alright, now that Kirishima was proven right with a shadow of a doubt, what'd we do?" Kaminari asked, looking between his friends and me. 

I was so far down in my chair that when I let my head fall back, it thumped against the desk behind me. I stared up at the ceiling. "You leave me alone anyways?" 

"So he admits to fucking lying, great." 

I didn't even bother sparing Bakugou a glance. I did flip him off though, or at least I flipped off the general direction he was in. 

"Shouldn't we just respect his wishes?" Sero chimed in. 

"Sero," I spoke up. "You have my heart." 

"Wh-what?" I heard him stutter out, I smiled and rolled my eyes. Of course that would make him freak out. 

"Not when his wishes are fucking wrong," Ashido stated. I knew the girl had crossed her arms over her chest as she spoke. "Besides, I inked him, that means he's officially adopted." 

I actually lifted my head up at that. "Adopted?" I asked. "What're we, twelve?" 

"They act like it," Bakugou said with a huff. 

I set my head back on the desk behind me. "Says you, Kacchan." 

"Do you have a death wish or something?" The blond was angry now, or well, more angry. He seemed to live in a perpetual state of anger. 

I held my arms up and shrugged. "Put me out of my misery." 

"That'd be too easy, Deku." 

"Darn, that was my back up plan to get out of boarding school. Awe, shucks, what'd I do now?" I asked, my voice dripping with sarcasm. 

Eijirou placed his head above mine, looking down at me. I willed myself to stay calm. "You don't get caught. I thought we already went over this?" 

"You can't guarantee that, though." 

"Kirishima's parents put a tracker on him and we still never got caught," Kaminari rushed out. 

I snapped my head up in surprise only to be met with a sharp pain when my forehead slammed into Eijirou's. I groaned as I held my head and sat up. "Jesus Christ, why is your head so hard?" 

Sero snorted from my left. I flashed him a look that said he'd wouldn't be laughing ever again if he opened his mouth. He pressed his lips into a thin line. I should have known that he wasn't the one I had to worry about. 

"That's what she said," Kaminari said in a quiet and quick voice before immediately holding his arms in front of his face like I was about to pounce. 

"I'm gonna kill myself," I mumbled, sitting back in my chair. "Where the hell is the teacher anyway?" 

Ashido nodded to the corner of the room. Sitting in an extremely uncomfortable chair, was a yellow sleeping back with just the face of my government teacher, Mr. Aizawa, poking out. He was fast asleep. I wasn't even surprised. 

"He always sleeps through his detentions, that's why most people don't even bother coming," she explained. 

I glared at Bakugou. "You didn't bother letting me know that?" 

His arrogant expression was starting to annoy me. His cocky smile pissed me off. Definitely did not give me butterflies. Maybe if I just keep telling myself that, it'll actually work, I thought miserably. "Had to corner you somehow." 

"You're a bastard," I muttered at him. 

"Takes one to know one," Ashido said, giving me a pointed look. 

I sat up in exasperation. "Yeah, but I'm actively trying to get you guys to hate me, he's trying to keep me in your friend group, do you see where some wires might be crossed?" I asked her. 

"Bullying is his love language, leave him be," Ashido defended, causing the blond in question to protest. "Shush, I'm trying to clean up your mess," she snapped at him. 

To my shock, he actually sat back with minimal grumbling. 

"Damn, you guys are actually serious about this, aren't you?" I asked them, looking at each in turn and settling on Eijirou. 

"Look at that, the nerd finally pulled his head out of his own ass," Bakugou snorted. 

"You're not helping our case," Eijirou said with a sigh at his best friend. 

I didn't bother looking at the blond, keeping my eyes on the redhead that I knew wouldn't lie to me. "Are you guys serious but my mom never finding out?" I asked him, not breaking eye contact. 

"Yes," he said, his signature smile on his face. 

I sat back in my chair again, letting out a deep breath. "Thank god, I never would have made it to graduation." 

"Does that mean the bet's back on?" Ashido asked hopefully. 

"No," responded simply. She looked crestfallen before I continued. "There's no need for a bet, if you guys can keep my mom in the dark, I'll hang out with you until graduation." 

Ashido and Kaminari cheered, but quieted themselves when the sleeping Aizawa grunted. 

"But I thought the whole point of the bet was that you wouldn't be able to keep up with us? What is that's still true?" Sero pointed out, genuinely curious, his head resting on his hand. 

"He'll be just fine." To my surprise, it was Bakugou who said so. I looked over at him and for a second it was like we completely understood each other. Something clicked, and I wore a small smile. 

"Whoa, what changed your mind, Bakubro?" Kaminari asked, suddenly very interested in our exchange. 

"Don't call me that, dunce," Bakugou replied in annoyance. 

"You didn't answer the question," he said back with a frown. 

"You don't need to know, shut the hell up," Bakugou snapped back. 

"If you guys really want me in your group, they deserve to know," I said with a sigh. 

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to face Eijirou behind me. "You sure? You seemed pretty fucked up talking about it yesterday." 

His concern was adorable. He must not have realized how many times I'd had to retell the story. It didn't phase me too much anymore. 

"That was just because of my mom, retelling the same story for a millionth time doesn't bother me," I reassured. 

"Seriously, what the hell did you do back home?" Sero asked, his curiosity getting the best of him. 

"Ran around with some drug dealers and accidentally blew up my school's gym," I admitted. Best to just rip off the bandaid. 

"What-" Sero said. 

"The-" Kaminari joined in. 

"Fuck?" Ashido finished. 

Did they rehearse this? I asked myself. 

I shot a questioning glance at Bakugou. He waved me off. "They do it all the time, it's their favorite fucking party trick or something." 

I settled into my seat, seeing that we still had about forty minutes left of detention, and told them the full story, just as I had last night. 

By the end of it Ashido was trying to cyber stalk Shigaraki to ruin his life (even though he's already in jail), Kaminari was bouncing around torture method ideas  with her while she worked, and Sero was just in stunned silence. 

Ashido and Kaminari shortly followed him when they found something online. Their sudden quietness was worrying. 

"What?" I asked, leaning my forearms against my desk to try and see what was on her phone. 

"Did you.. know about this?" Ashido asked carefully, flipping her phone to face me. 

The headline read, School Bomber Escapes Prison, Law Enforcement Left Baffled.

My eyes widened as my brain worked on overtime. "I, uh, I need to- I need to make a call." 

My phone was out of my pocket, in my hand, and dialing Uraraka's number before I even realized I'd reached for it. 

She picked up after two rings. 

"Izuku! I was just thinking about yo-"

"Did you know?" I asked, cutting her off. 

"What? Know what?" 

"That Shigaraki isn't in fucking prison anymore," I hissed at her. 

The line was silent for a moment. Then she sighed. "The cops called our parents the day they found out." 

I nearly shattered my phone in my hand. They had to have called my mom. They cops tried to pin the whole thing on me at first, before they knew about Shigaraki. I was the primary suspect and the one who turned on him first. I fucking testified against him in court. 

Through gritted teeth, I tried to take a deep breath. "And you didn't bother to mention it to me?" 

"I thought you knew! They even called my parents and I wasn't even involved, I figured you were the first one to know. I just thought you didn't want to talk about it," she admitted, trying to defend herself. 

"Shoto? Hitoshi? They both know?" I asked. "Iida?" 

"Yeah," she mumbled. "They know." 

I didn't bother saying goodbye as I hung up. I dropped the hand holding my phone into my lap and stared blankly ahead of me. My mind was trying to wrap itself around this new piece of information. 

"My mom knew," I finally said. The group was quiet. "I testified against him, I didn't tell you guys that part." I looked between the group. "I stared him dead in the eyes and told the jury every illegal thing he'd ever done or involved me in." 

I couldn't read their expressions, I had no idea what they were thinking or feeling. If they were even thinking about anything or if their minds were racing as fast as mine. 

Like I was on autopilot, I lifted my phone back up and clicked on a different contact. It's barely had time to ring before the call was answered. 

"Iz?" 

I felt my eyes water and almost had to choke back a sob before I could answer. "Toshi, he's- he's gonna kill me." 

I heard shuffling on the other end. "He's not going to fucking touch, alright? You moved across the country, he'll never find you, okay? You don't have to worry about that. I promise, Iz." 

I looked between the people sitting before for a split second before I climbed to my feet and walked out of the room. I didn't think any of them would follow after me. I made it two steps down the hall before my back touched a locker and I was sliding to the ground. 

"What about you guys? Are you guys gonna be okay?" I asked in a quiet voice. 

"We're going to be just fine. You took the fall for all of us,  he doesn't even know we were involved," Shinsou said in a sooth voice, clearly worried I was about to have a panic attack. 

I let go of the breath I had been holding. 

"I take it, your mom didn't tell you?" he asked, his voice soft to not spook me. 

"Why would she? She still thinks I'll go running back to blow something else up," I muttered bitterly. 

"The move didn't change anything?" he asked in surprise. 

I laughed harshly at the question. "My phone died while I was hanging out with friends. She threatened to send me to boarding school because they had tattoos, which meant they were delinquents or twenty five and trying to kidnap me." 

"Damn," he said and I could hear the smile in his voice. "Look at you, falling in with the wrong crowd all over again." 

"You know me, I'm addicted to trouble." 

"So?" he asked. "Delinquents or do I need to kick someone's ass for trying to kidnap you?"

I laughed at the question. "Definitely just delinquents. Delinquents that won't leave me the hell alone, but harmless otherwise." 

"Say the word and I'll be there tomorrow to kick their asses," Shinsou said, completely serious. 

I shook my head, a smile on my face. "Not necessary. Besides, they're... big. I don't know if you'd be able to take them," I teased. 

I heard him sigh. "You've always had a thing for tall guys with tattoos, huh?" 

The call went quiet, and it wasn't a comfortable silence. I didn't know how to respond after hearing from Uraraka how much our break hurt him. I didn't even think it was that serious. 

"I'll talk to you later, okay Iz? I got some homework to do," he said, clearly trying to abort the phone call. 

"Yeah," I mumbled. "Talk to you later." 

Our goodbye hung in the air for a moment before he hung up. 

"Who was that?" Ashido's teasing voice snapped me back to reality. I looked over at the door and found her and Kaminari peaking their heads around the frame to look at me. Bakugou was leaning against the other side of the doorframe, his arms crossed as he stared down at me. Eijirou sheepishly appeared between them. "I tried to stop them," he admitted. 

"And it worked terribly," Sero said with a smile, slapping the redhead's shoulder. 

"Sorry," I said, climbing to my feet and brushing myself off. "I just needed a voice of reason, I guess." 

"You're all good bro!" Kaminari said with a smile, straightening up. "Sorry for eavesdropping." 

I shrugged. "I'm used to it at this point." I looked pointedly at Eijirou and Bakugou, the blond not seeming phased at all while his friend at least had the decency to look ashamed. 

"So now we're protecting you from your mom and a psycho bomber? Fucking great." Bakugou rolled his eyes, walking back into the classroom. 

Everyone followed after him, eyeing me to see how I'd react. "I didn't ask you to protect me from anyone. Everything that's led to this moment in time was entirely you guys." I crossed my arms while staring him down. 

"Bakugou's just being Bakugou, ignore him," Ashido said, grabbing my arm and steering me back to my previous seat. "Did you have anyone else you wanted to call?" she asked genuinely. 

I shook my head. "Iida would tell me I did it to myself, and Shoto would probably just laugh at me for taking this long to find out," I said with a huff. None of his friends back home seemed too worried about Shigaraki. Maybe I was just overreacting?

"Great friends you got there, Deku," Bakugou said with a snort of laughter. 

I smiled sweetly at him. "Better friends than you are, Kacchan." 

He took a deep breath through his nose and looked over at Eijirou. "I'm gonna to punch him." 

"No you're not," the redhead said with a laugh.