"Suzuki! Look! Look at what I made!"

Izuku looked down at Yui, the seven-year-old child he was tasked with taking care of while her father was off getting his degree and earning money.  She was holding up another one of her arts and crafts projects.

It was a pile of glue and popsicle sticks with a few pieces of uncooked macaroni for variety.

Izuku smiled down at the young girl encouragingly and pulled her into his lap. "Amazing job, Yui! I love it!"

The girl's ponytail jumped around as the girl bounced up and down in excitement. "It's you! This is the head! And your hair was suppose to be in this spot but it fell off, so you don't have hair now."

Yui nodded to herself sagely, as though this was a wise thought to have. Maybe it was for a seven year old, I don't know.

Izuku threw his head back as he chuckled. "I love it, Yui. It's a perfect resemblance."

"It's yours now!" The girl declared, thrusting the misshapen mess into Izuku's arms before jumping off of his lap and running of to make another horrifying contraption that I simply cannot condone. Izuku then turned his attention back to the four-year-old twins who were lying on the ground staring intensely at the cartoon playing on a TV.

After the two ran around screaming and tackling whoever was in reach (Mainly Izuku), the two had finally exhausted their tiny human bodies and we're now collapsed on the ground. Had their breathing not been so obvious, Izuku would have worried that they were dead.

In case any of you would like clarification on, do not worry, they weren't dead. The children were quite alive and happy.

After Yui, Hina, and Yuna's parents returned home from their responsibilities, Izuku returned to his own home. Or, at least, the place most like home that he had at the time.

He arrived to find Todoroki working on homework for his hero training course. It had something to do with strategy, according to Todoroki's disgruntled ramblings.

"I hate this," Todoroki stated as he glared at his work menacingly. "How do they expect me to complete this? It's not possible. There is no way a hero with these stats can beat a villain this overpowered."

Izuku laughed and walked over to where Todoroki was working on the kitchen counter. "Aw, come on. It can't be that bad."

"Yes, it can," Todoroki deadpanned.

Izuku looked over Todoroki's shoulder and immediately his eyes lit up. He turned to Todoroki.

"I know how to do this! It's pretty tricky, so I can't blame you for not understanding it. All Might probably assigned it to you as a challenge question to see if you could do it and he was most likely not going to grade it. That sounds like something he would do. So, basically the thing to remember in these situations is to always. . ."

Izuku droned on and on. I won't bore you with the details. If you really want to know the equation and it's answer, feel free to write a letter to the author (me) once you finish this book. I can answer any questions you may have.

Todoroki listened closely to the villain's explanation on hero strategies, and after a few minutes found to his great surprise that Izuku was correct. "How do you know this? You haven't been to school for almost half of the year."

Izuku struggled to come up with a reasonable response. Finally, he said, "Strategy and analysis have always been my specialty. I wrote in my notebook for years, I guess it's only natural that information would stay with me."

"I guess that makes sense." Todoroki nodded.

Izuku breathed an internal sigh of relief. He was glad that Todoroki was not about to question him more. It's not that the truth behind Izuku's improved strategy skills was bad, it was just that it would ruin the mood. Also, Izuku was trying his best to leave that life behind, so why would he bother bringing it up? So what if Izuku was shut in a dark room and forced to strategize for days on end in order to come up with battle plans for the villains? That was all over with.

It was done.

There was no point in bringing it back up.

Mr. Sato's house was beginning to look more and more welcoming as Izuku visited. The cracks in the cement of the steps were filled, the door was reinforced, the windows were no longer covered with a tarp from the inside, and the grass was cut uniformly. Despite the house being more welcoming, the main inside was still as disgruntled as ever.

He never spent much time talking with Midoriya. He would come outside and tell the teen what to do, then he would walk back inside the way disgruntled old men do. Mr. Sato never left his building until Izuku was done, which was when he would give the ex-villain his pay then proceed to slam the door shut again. Izuku learned very quickly that the door slamming was his cue to exit the premises.

The old man's solitude continued to bother the teenager, so the boy came up with a plan to do what he did best:

Be as annoyingly kind as possible.

If necessary, be nosy.

Whatever it takes.

Izuku thought this was a pretty solid plan. Something Izuku had been told before was that he has a tendency to force people who don't want friends to unconsciously be friends with him. It had worked with Todoroki, and it had worked with Shinsou from the General Department in class 1-C.( No joke, it's kind of terrifying how easily Izuku could charm people. I have a theory it has something to do with how often he cries. But you didn't hear that from me.) Surely his talent could work on Mr. Sato as well. Izuku was confident, and Inko's encouragement only spurred the teenager further.

"Hello!" Izuku waved as the elder man exited his home. "How are you today?"

Mr. Sato grunted.

Well, at least that was better than nothing.

"What do you need me for today?" The boy asked, way too excited for a kid who was about to perform menial tasks.

"My sink drain is stopped up. You need to clean it out."

I don't think I need to tell you how awful it is to clean out a drain, but for those of you who are lucky enough to have not done so, I am willing to explain.

Cleaning out a sink drain is disgusting because not only are you pulling out rotten food (or hair, if it's a bathroom sink.) from the drain because people just decided to not properly clean their plates, but also because you may find stuff in there that will haunt you for the rest of your life. I once pulled out a chunk of something so slimy and indescribable that I may or may not have destroyed my sink in a fit of rage.

So, now you know why unstopping sink drains is foul.

And you know what Izuku says to the old man who knowingly appointed the teen with such a horrendous task?

"Will do, Mr. Sato!"

An hour later, Izuku grimaced as he stood in front of a kitchen sink so old and abused it looked as though it had survived a war. Barely. Next to Izuku on the counter, there was a sizable pile of disgustingness that had been pulled from the drain. The gloves Izuku had been wearing were not going to last much longer; there were signs of holes beginning to rip in the cheap, transparent plastic.

"I'm done!"

The old man walked into the kitchen and inspected Izuku's work. Mr. Sato seemed surprised when he turned on the sink and the water coasted fluidly down the drain, as it was supposed to.

"Hmm," Mr. Sato, ever the somber man, grunted in approval.

Izuku sighed to himself internally. Was this man only going to respond to Midoriya in monosyllabic sounds that represented monosyllabic words?

That was when Izuku heard it.

"I guess you did good, kid."

Needless to say, Izuku was ecstatic.

When the previously green haired now black haired boy returned to the place he had been calling home for the past while, he was in a mood that made him as animated and jovial as he had been when Todoroki had first known him. Before everything that had happened. This made the dual haired teen feel contented that the boy who had helped Todoroki figure his life out was finally able to feel the happiness he deserved.

Izuku deserved the world, in Todoroki's expert opinion. I also believe he deserves the world. Then again, maybe even more than that.

The two boys decided to celebrate Izuku's progress with Mr. Sato with a movie night. Izuku was determined to make Todoroki watch all the Izuku's favorite childhood movies, and Todoroki didn't mind. It was interesting to watch what movies made little Izuku happy. Except for The Fox and The Hound. That movie internally scarred Todoroki beyond repair.

Todoroki settled down with Izuku on the couch and grabbed the remote. When the T.V. flickered on, it showed the two teens a news story.

The news anchor was saying, "There has been a lot of talk since the mysterious lack of incidents caused by the infamous villain Deku. Some believe that it is because he is dead, while others are saying that he is plann-"

Todoroki quickly switched the T.V. to another channel. Izuku didn't say anything about it.

It was best not to acknowledge these kinds of things.

The two boys watched a movie about some kid named Harry who was a wizard. That's as far as Todoroki could understand before Izuku laid his head on Todoroki's shoulder and the poor hero's brain short circuited.

When the movie was over, it was dark out. The only light in the room was the light from the T.V., which was illuminating the boys' faces in shadows.

Todoroki went to stand when Izuku lifted his face.

Those forest green eyes were so close.

Todoroki didn't know what to do, so he just kind of stared at Izuku, as though in a trance. He had never felt the urge to kiss someone as much as he did a that moment, which confused him greatly. Izuku was his friend. Why did he feel this way? Why wasn't Izuku moving? Surely he was feeling uncomfortable. Todoroki had to have been staring at him for at least a solid thirty seconds by now.

Izuku's eyes were beautiful in a way that Todoroki had never noticed any other person's eyes to be before. They told a story, and Todoroki was reading that story like a book. Izuku looked so tired and sad, deep down. But he also seemed... a little happy. It was only a little, but it was there. As though slowly but surely, a little more of the Izuku that Todoroki used to know was coming back.

"Shoto," Izuku said. Todoroki could feel the other boy's breath on his cheek. "Why are you staring at me?"

Todoroki was a simple man. He never really saw the point in lying, unless it was important for his job, so he said, "I want to kiss you."

Izuku was mildly shocked, but he did not move away. "Why?" He asked.

Todoroki shook his head. "I don't know."

Izuku hummed, and appeared to be deep in thought for a few moments.

Then Izuku pressed his lips against Todoroki's.

It was only a quick peck. Nothing special. However, there was something about it that made Todoroki's brain explode. His mind was doing a lot of that around Izuku lately.

As soon as Izuku pulled back, he stood and stretched, as though nothing of importance had occurred. "Well," he said, "I'm exhausted, so I'm going to sleep now. Good night, Shoto. Don't stay up too late."

And with that, Izuku calmly left the room.

"Good night, Izuku," Todoroki called after the boy with the forest green eyes.