Shine and Wally visited the LOV the same day Iida visited Tensei, mostly just to check in, but also to have fun. Medea always seemed glad to see some sane people.

Compress and Silk took the opportunity to go on what everyone assumed was a date, since they left the house.

Shine told Medea all about meeting with the larger group. She agreed with the idea.

After that they just watched "old" movies that weren't old to Shine and Wally, and played card games...which Medea cheated at until Wally put a stop to it by switching all her cards out at high speed while she was taking a sip of water, so that she had a goofy hand. After that she behaved herself.

Medea also told them all the piping hot tea about the LOV, like Mirko's odd behavior--and Shigaraki's.

"He's been staying his room, like, all day," she gestured, "which is, you know, usual, but he'd usually come out and sit creepily for a while and listen to us talk, then go back."

"Sounds like my grandma," Shine said.

Wally snickered.

"No, but he's been jumpy about it," Medea said. "I dunno why. You know, sometimes being the youngest, sanest person here has its drawbacks. I feel weird watching these guys."

"If you need to move, you know, we could help," Wally said.

"Nah, it's not that," Medea said. "I like them just fine. I just don't know if I get them, or if they get me."

"I think teens just feel that way in general though," Shine mused. 

"Ever since Shigaraki and Mirko had their sort of fight, they've been avoiding each other," Medea said.

"I thought they were over that." Wally was confused.

"Which fight was it?" Shine asked. "I thought they fought, like, every day."

"About stupid stuff, yeah," Medea said, "but I think she's upset because he said she was reckless with Stain, and when we tried to help, she blew us off. Then she made a list of stuff to change about herself... She was gonna talk to you about that, I think, Shine-sensei. But I dunno, I think it's not as easy as making a list. It didn't work for me."

"Nor me," Shine said. "I tried it a bunch--lists of the values you have work, lists of changes to make don't. Humans are like that."

"I was never much for New Year's Resolutions either," Wally said.

"You don't need any." Shine patted his head, making him turn red.

"Don't do that in front of me." Medea pretended to gag.

"Pansy," Shine said. "We have to watch a bunch of teenagers flirting and crushing on each other every single day, and you can't handle that?"

"Well, you're paid to do that, and I'm not," Medea shot back.

"Kid has a point," Wally said. "But...am I the only one thinking this Shigaraki and Mirko thing is getting a little weird? I mean, they hated each other. Now they're nervous... Why does this sound familiar?"

"Sounds like the plot of every enemies to lovers movie ever," Shine said.

"Oh...no, you can't be for real on that." Wally looked grossed out.

"Nah...not yet," Shine said, "but at the very least, coming to understand someone you thought you'd never understand is an odd, often awkward experience. Don't you think that's why they're on edge?"

"Y'know, I kinda get that," Medea admitted, "but it's driving us all crazy. It's boring enough around here without Mirko being depressed too. You've got to cheer her up. You guys are like the doctors for all this stuff, aren't you?"

"How did I go from being the one no one takes seriously to being the one people think can solve these complicated problems?" Wally asked the air.

"You leveled up," Shine said. "Man, the boys have all got me using video game lingo... Well, we can try, no promises. But maybe it'll work out on its own, huh? People can surprise you."

"I guess." Medea was doubtful.

As it so happened, Mirko arrived at the house just an hour or so after that conversation, and they were all still hanging out. Spinner had joined them now, mostly to argue about the plot of the movie they were watching, which was his method of socializing.

He and Wally were still debating how realistic the fight scenes were when Mirko walked in.

"Hey," she said, not that surprised.

"Hi," Shine said. "Join us. We're gonna eat popcorn."

"I dunno. I'm bushed," Mirko said. 

"How's the cut healing up?" Shine asked.

Mirko touched her face. "Pretty well. I was kind of hoping for a scar--you know, add to my edge."

"Ew, why would you want a scar?" Medea said, "Freaking weirdo."

"Takes away from the cute factor," Mirko said.

"With a face like yours, sweetie, I doubt it would," Shine said dryly.

"You'd be surprised," Mirko said.

"What do you boys think?" Medea asked. "Are scars ugly on girls or what??"

"Scars?" Wally looked up. "Uh...isn't there a song about that?"

"Depends on the scar." Spinner gave a more sensible answer. 

"That's true for anyone," Shine said. "I mean, a little scar isn't much, but across your whole face, it would depend on how bad it was. But some people are into that."

"I think if it's your style, it's okay," Wally said, "like those G. I. Joe types. It's kind of funny I don't have a scar yet, but I heal too fast for them."

"I like you without scars," Shine said. "Keeps the innocent, youthful factor going for you."

"Maybe people would take me more seriously with one, though," Wally said.

Shine shrugged, then she held out her hand and a bottle appeared in it. Spinner blinked. He didn't know they could summon things.

"I always get some of this in worlds where I fight a lot." Shine handed it to Mirko. "Vitamin E oil, works wonders, heals even old scars. Heals them up like a charm. In case you change your mind about it."

"I really don't care," Mirko said.

"Frick, take it, don't be stupid," Medea said. "I want to try that next time I get scratched."

"It helps those heal fast too," Shine said. "No cap, once I got a burn and put aloe and vitamin E oil on it for a day, next day couldn't even see it anymore."

"Really?" Medea said. "I should carry some with me, then, in case I burn someone on accident."

"Might want to wash the chemicals off first though, with your quirk," Shine mused.

"Wait, would it work on Shigaraki?" Spinner asked.

"Probably would," Shine said, "but persuading that guy to do anything that would make him feel remotely like a human again is the real task there."

"What if we told him it was to make him stronger?" Medea snapped her fingers. "Not technically a lie, right? He'd do it then."

Mirko sniffed like she doubted it.

"So, how are you getting on with Facepalm Dude?" Wally asked.

Mirko twitched, then eyed Medea and shoved the back of her head before walking out of the room.

"Wow, not a word," Shine said. "Not a good sign."

"She's onto me snitching..." Medea rubbed her head.

"Now this is why you shouldn't talk about people behind their back," Spinner said.

* * *

Mirko cursed to herself about Medea's big mouth.

Things were fine, right?

She didn't care anyway...

Of course it would have been less awkward if she hadn't had that dream the other night while she was on the sofa...something about her hair and the TV remote...

She shook her head to shake the memory free. It made no sense to have a dream like that.

She hadn't the slightest inkling it had actually happened, and she'd just been half asleep at the time, but if she had it wouldn't have made her feel less embarrassed.

Shigaraki was avoiding her anyway, which probably meant he was still pissed about that Stain thing... Well, she'd apologized. What else was there to do about it? It was too late now. Stain was dead...

And why the h--- should she care who was mad at her anyway? Everyone usually was.

[Relatable for too many people.]

Shine didn't bug her about it, surprisingly, or try to follow her. She and Wally left later, and things quieted down.

Mirko snuck back out of her room to grab dinner now that they'd cleared out. 

Shigaraki was out there, probably doing the same thing.

Awkward silence while they both realized the other person was probably trying to avoid everyone else.

Mirko, not one to back down, shrugged and marched into the pantry anyway.

Shigaraki just stood in the living space and then sat down on a chair, because he refused to act intimidated and leave the room.

After grabbing a salad and instant ramen, Mirko came back out of the kitchen.

"All yours," she couldn't resist tossing at him.

Shigaraki didn't get the nuance.

Mirko got mad at being ignored. This was stupid.

"Silent treatment now?" She looked over her shoulder. "Real mature, jackass."

That got the desired effect.

"Shut up," Shigaraki said.

"I can talk if I want to."

"Go somewhere else, then."

"Why don't you? You're the one avoiding me," Mirko said. Which wasn't true. It was mutual.

"I'm not," Shigaraki lied.

"Then what's the deal with the skulking around late at night?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I didn't want to hang out with those idiots earlier," Mirko said. 

Silence, like..."and you think I did...?"

Okay, point taken.

"You're not letting this Stain thing go," she said. "At first I thought I should just take it since I screwed up, but it's getting kind of ridiculous. I apologized. Move the frick on."

"What are you talking about?" Shigaraki had already completely forgotten about that.

"You know, the reason you're not talking to me," Mirko said. "That and your lack of social skills, but let's not focus on that right now."

"Stop mocking me!"

"Stop ignoring me."

"Well, for your information, that has nothing to do with it," Shigaraki said snarkily--and realized too late he shouldn't have admitted that.

"Oh?" Mirko tilted one ear. "Then what is this about?"

Blank stare.

Her looking at him was making him nervous... At least he thought it was nerves.

"Nothing," he lied. "I just don't like being around people."

"Bulls---. It just started out of nowhere," Mirko insisted. "Hm...and if it's not that, then it's probably something to do with Ujiko, isn't it?"

"No." Shigaraki certainly wouldn't have thought of that.

"Well, then what is it?"

"Why do you care?" Shigaraki tried a different tactic.

It kind of worked. Mirko didn't really have an answer.

"Well, because it's weirding everyone out." She fell back on the standard one. "They think something's wrong. It's scaring them."

Why should they all care if he was avoiding them? Shigaraki thought to himself. Nothing was threatening them right now.

"I just don't feel like it," he said stiffly. "There's nothing to worry about."

Mirko decided enough was enough. Setting down her food, she came closer, making Shigaraki more nervous than before.

Especially since she got close enough to look him right in the eye, not 10 cm away. [5-6 inches for y'all Americans.]

"There's definitely something you're not admitting." She scrutinized him closely. "You guys always have your secrets."

Shigaraki swallowed because this was making him feel jumpy. He leaned away. "Stop it."

"What? Is this making you uncomfortable?" Mirko taunted. "I wasn't going to punch you. Get over it." She twitched her ears.

Not the reason he was nervous... Why was he nervous? 

Because he never got this close to someone unless he was going to kill them, usually--the LOV being the occasional exception, but still.

"Are we interrupting something?" Compress's voice startled them both.

Mirko jumped back so fast she almost tripped.

Compress and Silk were standing in the doorway from the outside.

Silk was looking at them quizzically, with a sly smile.

Compress was clearly grinning under his mask.

"Oh, don't mind us. Carry on," he said dryly

Mirko couldn't think of a way to explain what just happened, so she flipped Compress off instead. "That wasn't anything. You just walked in at an awkward moment."

"Awkward for you, I'd say," Compress said.

Silk tugged his arm. "Maybe we should leave them alone."

"Actually I was just leaving anyway," Mirko said, picking up her food. "Whatever, you all can go jump off a bridge for all I care."

"You want us to die?" Compress said.

"It can be a small bridge," Mirko said. "Why would you just assume it's a high one? That makes you a moron, Compress." She left her room in a huff.

"Touchy," Compress remarked. "Well, people like her never do like to be caught in the act."

"Is a one woman act, from all I can see," Silk said. "Is she scaring you, Boss?"

Shigaraki regained the power of speech. "Of course not. She just wanted information that's all. You know Heroes--they're nosy."

"That's what that was, huh?" Compress said, slyly.

"Darling, shush," Silk said. "If Boss says is nothing, is nothing. You know rule. Anyway, who would try something out in open like this?" She took off her coat. "Well, is late. Good night." She walked away.

"Women are so odd," Compress said. "They have these odd ideas about sparing people's feelings, don't they?"

Shigaraki didn't know what he meant by that.

[Obviously this is Compress just being sexist. I don't think Women are more sensitive to others than men, personally.]

"What was that about?" Compress said. 

"She was asking why I was avoiding her." Shigaraki was clueless, naturally, or he wouldn't have told Compress, of all people, that.

"Oh my." Compress tapped his chin. "This is getting serious."

"What do you mean?" Shigaraki assumed he meant a problem was coming.

"Next she'll be saying you're ignoring her," Compress said.

"She did say that." Shigaraki was still dense.

"Oh no, it's gotten bad, then," Compress said. "She's angry at you, right?"

"Yeah, for some reason."

"Women are just so unfair, aren't they? They make it so hard to understand what they want," Compress said. "And that woman especially...such a tsundere... Well, you know what you have to do."

"No," Shigaraki said.

"Stop ignoring her," Compress said.

"But I'm not," Shigaraki said. "It's just that..." he hesitated, "I think I'm sick or something."

"Oh, well," Compress backed up, "in that case, maybe you should get checked out by Ujiko. Wouldn't want us to catch anything... You should just tell her that."

"I feel sick around her," Shigaraki said.

Sick meant nervous, jumpy, and too warm sometimes...not nauseous, but he didn't really think about the difference.

"I see," Compress said. "I don't know if Ujiko can cure that...though I'm sure that old b-----d would try." He kind of muttered the last. "Well, in that case, I think the only cure it to build up an immunity. Most people, though, if they have what you have, feel worse when the person isn't around. It's like some cruel irony."

"Well, I don't feel anything then," Shigaraki said.

"Give it a while," Compress said dryly. "Well, best of luck with that. I'm going to bed." He left the room, whistling cheerfully.

Shigaraki was no more enlightened than before.

[Hmm...yeah, this is where not knowing what positive feelings are really bites you in the butt, doesn't it?

I doubt Ujiko would be much help here, though. Guy's probably a total perv.]

* * *

As if all this wasn't enough excitement, at the end of the week, the DJs and their crew were set to return to the other world they'd been going to.

Their full team was now made aware of this, and some of them were a little curious about it...but no one else wanted to go. It was definitely not for everyone.

Aizawa's chief concern--other than disbelief that they'd taken his students out of world without telling him--was who would supervise the class while they were gone.

"Summer vacation just started, Aizawa," Shine said. It had. "The kids might be mostly staying here for it, but surely, with no papers to grade, you can handle it. It'll be a few weeks, and the kids will be coming back for a day or so in that time, so as not to miss too much time here. Bring us news of it too."

"Why won't you be back?" Aizawa said.

"If we came back the mission would end," Wally said. "We're kind of the keys to the door, as it were. It would disrupt the flow... Basically we could end up returning months or weeks later and Gaara specifically asked us to be there consistently."

"And this Gaara is a...king, you said?" Aizawa said.

"Kage...like a king, but of a village of ninjas the size of a small country," Shine said.

"Right...and this road trip is going to be safe?" Aizawa said.

"Safer than Hero training," Wally said.

He was going to regret the irony of those words in the months to come in the other world, if he only knew it.

"I still don't like it," Aizawa said, "but since there is no stopping you from doing it, I'm resigned to it. I can't control how the kids spend their summer...unfortunately."

"Thank goodness for that," Shine said. "We couldn't do this without them, especially Momo. She was super popular over there. Hardly anyone there is nice or gentle."

"Bakugo got on with them too," Wally said. "Apparently being a tough jerk is normal there."

"Shoto impressed them with his power and Dabi with his...street cred..." Shine mused.

"And if someone catches you sneaking out a known criminal who's supposed to be on house arrest for at least a few more weeks, you'll be committing a felony," Aizawa said.

"Now, Aizawa," Shine said. "Where in your law does it say an inmate cannot go out of the world for a trip? And technically, it is community service."

"Loopholes will not save you from the law," Aizawa said.

"They always do," Shine argued. "Now, I think we're about ready to go. Don't worry, like I said, it's just a few weeks. We'll be writing letters and checking in, and if you need any advice, feel free to ask us."

"But why do you need to split missions anyway?" Aizawa argued further. "Why not finish this one and then go?"

"Because...these kids are special," Shine said, "and they needed this training, I guess. Or we needed their help... I seriously think every single one of us was necessary to the mission. Somehow, the ninja there understand them. It made it smoother... Who's to say, Aizawa? You can't limit God and how he does things. And they were all going to take the summer off anyway, so we didn't rob you of them."

"Which, as I understand it, is because they all started dating and wanted more time alone," Aizawa said, "which was your fault."

Shine and Wally shrugged. "So if they want to have a semblance of a normal life, who are you to stop them? Emi promised she'd help you out with the ones who are staying here, since she's totally off for summer," Shine said soothingly. "How was your date, by the way?"

"I don't want to keep you," Aizawa suddenly changed tactics. "Just bring them back in one piece, or I'll kill both of you."

He walked away.

"Aww, he does care," Wally said.

"I assume he meant he wants us to come back in one piece also, then..." Shine said. "You know, despite my brave words...I do feel kind of extra responsible. Going out of world never feels like a normal thing to do with students...though it's happened on accident a few times to me--but not on purpose."

"They'll be fine. They did great before." Wally patted her shoulder. "They have to start some time, and they're always too busy here with school to do a lot of field training. It's a valuable opportunity for us to show them how we do things differently."

"Right, you're right," Shine said, squaring her shoulders. "I'm worried about Rumi though... I know she's not gonna write to me."

"Yeah, I can't see her doing that...but Medea will keep an eye on her," Wally said, "and Miss Joke will too. How much trouble can she get into in three weeks?"

Shine gave him a look.

"Don't answer that," Wally said. "Happy thoughts. We'll be hanging with our new, adopted kids and travel a new country instead of being stuck in a school, and you'll have that gem Sasuke to work with."

Shine made a face. "That's going to be challenging even for me."

"You could always let Dabi or Shoto rough him up if he's too difficult," Wally said.

"Wally! Just--go pack!" Shine said.

"Already did," Wally said. "You blinked."

Shine swatted him. 

* * *

The trip, as a matter of fact, ended up lasting 6 weeks. Each week there was about a month in that world.

[When I wrote the story, I counted the days they were there just so I'd know. It amounted to about 6 months. Took almost the same amount of time to write it, too. It's my personal favorite fic that I've written, next to this one. They're kind of tied.]

For the first two weeks, the messages they sent were pretty standard: stories of incidents, a few fights, and nothing too spectacular.

Shine's letter to Miss Joke contained more complaints about how difficult the new students were, especially Sasuke. But she would also mention small successes.

Miss Joke sympathized.

For the summer, most of the class stuck around UA to do bonus training, which the staff had set up at the school this time. A lot of them did summer internships also, so the teachers had more free time.

Aizawa spent some of it taking Eri to places he hadn't gotten to take her yet, like theme parks and other fun things. Miss Joke often tagged along because she had nothing else to do...and Aizawa wanted someone who could take Eri into "girls only" places, as he didn't ever want her unattended after what happened before.

Mina also finally got around to asking Kirishima to go out with her...with a little help from Jiro and Hagakure and Kaminari. And Hagakure and Ojiro also started going out.

[Sorry, didn't have time to fit these ships into the general narrative, but if you all want to request bonus content, I may make a short fic of the in between scenarios sometimes that I could include it in. Otherwise, it's just the ships I decided to work on for this story. Sadly, I can't do every ship with the same amount of detail or this would be 1000 chapters long.]

All in all, Aizawa, learning from his mistakes perhaps, gave the kids a bit of an easier time for that first month of summer break.

Medea's therapy visits were getting less frequent, but the school had accepted she'd pop by, and she hung out with class 1-B a lot while they weren't training. It was a good way to get to know the school well for when she'd want to start coming.

As for the LOV, they didn't do much for the first two weeks. They could have taken advantage of the fact that the DJs would not be around to stop them from doing anything evil...but oddly, they seemed to have the idea that would be unfair to them.

And in the wake of Stain's death, public favor was kind of suspicious of them. They thought it might be best to keep lying low till the fan rage died down.

Compress and Silk used the time to get out of the house more, and Silk seemed to be adjusting to switching sides...but there were times she still acted like something was bothering her, and she would never say what it was. Compress had a feeling she wasn't just going to settle in without more effort...but nothing he said would get her to talk.

Spinner...hung out with Kitsune a few more times. She was true to her word about not selling them out. But she had no leads on Stain's killer.

Shigaraki continued to avoid Mirko like crazy, and she just ignored it for a while. Then she got called away on a mission and was gone herself for over a week, doing different things.

Medea said she liked getting a vacation, but in reality, she missed her sorely. At least she could go hang out with her new friends now though.

The LOV felt that things had changed an awful lot for them. In some ways they no longer felt like Villains.

But strangely, most of them didn't mind. Toga was bored and complained a lot and was moody.

But Spinner and Twice didn't really care that it was quiet. It was even nice not to fear for their lives constantly.

Compress would have been bored, but the chance to hang out with his girl was a welcome one to such a new beau as himself.

Shigaraki would have been bored also, but the issues with Mirko distracted him plenty, and the rest of the time, he was simply trying to find leads on Stain, the Originals, and anything that might explain some of the mess.

But no sources turned up, no matter how many people he tried.

And Dabi even wrote them some letters, mostly to show off about how cool it was to be in another world...but some of it was quite mind boggling. And the stories he had were...odd. 

He was making new friends, it would seem, even if most of them were younger than him. And he had a kind of tempestuous camaraderie going on with a girl named Temari, who was closer to his age.

[Not a ship, btw. I liked Shikatema just fine. Dabi and her do have a hilarious brother-sister dynamic though. I think people forget she's actually 20 by the end of the War, so they are both young adults.]

Things were destined to pick up, though, around week three of their absence.

[But that's in the next chapter.

For now, what are you all thinking of this?

I'm sorry for the time skip, but it was absolutely necessary to get this story done by 300 chapters. And a lot of this is just filler like stuff, and I don't usually write filler.

A lot of arcs for the Hero kids and Dabi do happen in the other story. You'll be able to kind of follow it in this one just so their development makes sense.

Since I left off canon, it was the best way to have them do training without adding a bunch of stuff that won't fit with the MHA's story line very well, so it was kind of brilliant.

Anyway, we'll be focusing most on the LOV for the time skip arc, so I hope you're ready for a lot more Villains.

And yes, it will be painful. Sorry not sorry.]