Discord Server, if you wanna see me type "ah fuck, the sun" every five seconds as i look directly at the sun, like a dumbass: https://discord.gg/DSBF4dP

~

"So," Oni drawled, something in his modulated tone making Aizawa tense suspiciously. "How's your class?"

"You trust him enough to tell him about your class?" Present Mic raised his eyebrows, peering over the top of his tinted glasses in surprise. "Wow. I'm amazed – I think he'd just knock out anyone else who asked. He must really like you, Oni."

"Both of you, be quiet," Aizawa huffed, pressing his knuckles against his temple as he glared down at the street.

"Oh, come on, Eraserhead. I want updates on your favourite class." The white eyes on Oni's helmet squinted in a mischievous smirk, and he didn't even flinch under the intense glare aimed his way.

"We're supposed to be surveying the area," the man ground out frustratedly, his shoulders squared with irritation at his two talkative team members.

Oni raised a finger before flashing away, blurring through alleys before leaping back onto the roof a few seconds later and settling himself on the ground. "There's no-one here."

"Well, all the kids are getting along well. They're all smart and talented. Bakugou could do with some anger management lessons, but there's no denying he's improved since the final exams with Midoriya, and they seem to have been on better terms the past couple of days. Speaking of Midoriya, that listener..." Mic shook his head in amazement, a genuine grin pulling at his mouth. "I've never known anyone quite as incredible. Not only is he powerful and motivated, he's also calm and friendly, as well as impressively studious and intelligent – really, all he needs to do is get better control of his Quirk and he'll be the perfect hero. He inspires and motivates his classmates in a way I've never seen before, and I'm so glad he chose to come to UA."

"He's also a massive trouble-magnet and a pain to deal with," Aizawa deadpanned, his lips pressed into a thin line as his patience was tested.

"Don't pay attention to him! He adores that kid," Mic said in a stage whisper, leaning over to Oni, only to get pushed to the floor by Aizawa, but he was quick to roll onto his stomach and contentedly beam at his friend. "Actually, I've mentioned the changes Midoriya has caused amongst the students, but I forgot to talk about the influence he's had on the staff. All Might absolutely loves the little listener, and I've even heard rumours of Midoriya being All Might's secret child. Nedzu himself seems interested in the student, and he's even commented on the kid's cleverness, which is a true testament to how exceptional Midoriya is."

Under the helmet, Oni's cheeks were hot with a blush. He hadn't expected Mic to go off on such a biased tangent, and he wasn't sure what to do with himself in the face of such direct praise. The boy shifted his position nervously, sliding into a sprawled kneel across the concrete roof and trying to act as if he wasn't about to spontaneously combust from embarrassment. Aizawa had a smug little smirk tugging at the corner of his lips, seemingly staring right through the helmet and taking great joy in the kid's suffering.

"He's like a little ray of sunshine," Mic admitted with a chuckle, his tone growing quieter and more fond. "But, I think the person he's had the biggest impact on... is this grumpy cat here." He pointed up at his friend, who instantly grew apprehensive once more. "I don't know how Midoriya does it, but he seems to see right through the angry facade. I've never seen him falter even once under Shouta's scary glare – I've known this guy for years, and he still terrifies me sometimes! And... Well, I'm really glad the little listener is so influential, actually. Shouta's been working himself half to death to try and help this class succeed, but this is the happiest I've seen him in a long, long time. He won't admit it to anyone, but I can tell he adores Mi-"

Strips of fabric tightly wound around Mic's head, effectively cutting off the remainder of the sentence, but it was too late: the damage was done. Oni was staring up at Aizawa with big eyes, silent tears spilling down his cheeks inside his helmet. Of course, he suspected that his teacher might've been a little fond of him, but to be told outright that the boy had actually made him noticeably happier...

"Wow, t-that kid, um... He sounds g-great," Oni choked out, trying not to sound like he was sobbing uncontrollably.

Mic tugged at the capture weapon until it loosened, a frown creasing his forehead. "Are you crying?"

"No," he lied in a shaky voice. "I'm just... really glad Aiz- Eraserhead is happier. He deserves to be happy."

Aizawa loosened up, deactivating his Quirk and briefly making eye contact with Oni before glancing back down at the street. Mic stared at Oni for a moment before gazing sideways at his friend, nodding his sincere agreement.

*

Evening was drawing close, darkening the sky and quieting the streets. Eraserhead and Oni had some spare time to patrol, dancing through the dusk in silence and managing to stop a few petty criminals. Since his televised fight with All Might against All for One, villains were a lot more cautious around the new, mysterious hero, and despite his spooky appearance, civilians were more than happy to see him go by.

It brought a joyful bloom of warmth to his chest to know that he was appreciated, although Aizawa was a little irritated upon realising that the whole 'dark persona to drive people away and keep a low profile' had gone to waste the moment the kid had thrown himself into a very public battle. Oni still kept it up to the best of his ability whenever a stranger initiated conversation, as well as attempting to keep to the fighting styles of other Pro Heroes to try and maintain what remained of his facade.

They leapt across another rooftop, movements fluid and muted, running as lithely as cats. Aizawa suddenly halted as he saw a figure on the next rooftop, only to let out a ragged sigh of exasperation. Oni stepped to one side and peered past him, barely suppressing his amused chuckle when he noticed the iconic curved spike of blond hair that belonged to the Pro Hero, Present Mic. The man visibly perked up when the duo hopped onto the roof, and his lips pulled back in an exuberant grin as he slapped both of them on the back.

"Why are you here?" Aizawa asked shortly, rolling his coffee-black eyes at his friend.

"Can't I drop in and visit my best friend forever and help out on patrol with his scary little sidekick?" Mic exclaimed, rapid poses following each phrase, only to pout at the blunt 'no' he got in response.

Oni's eyes squinted in a faint frown as he crossed his arms. "Don't you have your radio show tonight?"

The hero suddenly looked quite sheepish, poking his fingers together and speaking unexpectedly quietly. "Midnight and Mt. Lady are fighting again. They're terrifying."

Oni bit back the urge to laugh while Aizawa looked ready to fling his friend into the stratosphere. The sound of breaking glass literally shattered the meek silence, and all three heroes were on alert, not even needing to exchange a glance in order to simultaneously sprint off in the direction of the ruckus. Alarms wailed and barked orders grew louder as they approached.

Eraserhead took point, crouching at the edge of a rooftop to assess the scene. Oni and Mic flanked him, focusing on the destruction.

From what Oni could tell, there were three villains who had decided to rob a fancy jewellery store, and one of them had forgotten to disable the alarms. One was large, over seven feet tall with some sort of Quirk that gave them the head of a rhinoceros, and he was lugging along great sacks of loot like they weighed nothing. Another was skinny and average height, but had a dinosaur-like crest along his spine, with leathery skin stretched taut between bony spikes. The third was the smallest, with metal glinting on her fingertips as she fiddled with her hands, nervous under the yelling of the dinosaur villain.

A choked sob came from inside the store, and Dino made a growl of frustration, stomping inside across glittering glass shards and coming back out with the desk clerk, who was trembling. Aizawa muttered a plan to the two others before he and Mic jumped down, looking ready to fight. Oni flattened himself to the roof to stay out of sight before activating his Quirk and darting to the next building, landing softly then hopping down to the street to grab the hostage as he flashed past.

"Is there anyone else in the building?" Oni asked sternly once he dropped the man off further down the street.

"N-no, just me. There m-might be a few p-people on the night shift in the other s-stores, though," he stuttered out, shaky on his feet but standing strong nonetheless.

"Thanks. Call the police, if you can." Oni nodded shortly before dashing back to the stand-off.

He shot over unseen, managing to swipe the bags of stolen goods from Rhino. The surprised noise of confusion was priceless, and the villain spun around, staring in confusion before he finally noticed where his loot was. Oni leaned nonchalantly against a wall, the sacks slumped at his feet, and he offered a sarcastic little wave.

"Sorry, was this yours?" He inquired innocently, although through the voice modulator it sounded a lot more unsettling.

Rhino's beady eyes darkened and he lowered his head, immediately charging blindly with heavy footfalls. Aizawa and Mic took their opportunity, diving in and starting to handle the other two villains. Oni wanted to dodge at the last second and make the villain slam into the wall, but he was also mindful of keeping property damage to a minimum – he wasn't Endeavour, after all.

He sidestepped and grabbed the man's bulky arm, tugging hard enough to make him change course and stumble back into the middle of the street. Rhino took a moment too long to right himself and gained a knee to the chin, causing him to reel away with a choked cry of pain. Oni's kneecap throbbed and he decided that it was probably not a great idea to hit an animal with notoriously thick skin, and instead changed his tactics to focus on his muscular human body, twisting smoothly and getting in cheeky jabs.

His luck ran out as Rhino seemed to finally get his bearings, slipping into a dangerous fighting style that implied he wasn't as inexperienced as the boy had previously assumed. Punches became harder to dodge and Oni had to be careful where he landed, lest he end up impaled on the grey horn. Half of his attention was centred on his two teachers, who seemed to also be realising that the villains were actually more than the low-life criminals they'd originally expected. Mic was struggling a little, since full use of his Quirk would be very destructive in such a small area, but that wasn't to say he was lacking in close combat skills. Aizawa was only able to erase the smallest villain's Quirk and stop her from moulding her metal fingertips into various tools and weapons, leaving Dino to rampage violently after the sharp fin on his back had cut through some of the capture gear when it encased him.

Oni returned his focus to his opponent just in time to dodge, wincing as a punch grazed over his ribs and knocked him a little off course. He landed lightly on his toes, already springing back up and pulling Rhino away from barrelling straight into a wall before any damage could be done. While his Oni costume had a decent amount of support for his arms and legs, it wasn't nearly as much as his Deku outfit, which meant he had to keep his hits a lot softer than he would've liked for fear of inflicting permanent damage on himself once more. Rhino whipped around suddenly, dropping his head and slamming it into Oni's gut at full force, knocking the wind from his lungs and sending him flying down the street, accidentally bumping into Dino and sending them both to the ground.

He picked himself up with a heavy huff of breath, pointedly ignoring the vaguely concerned gaze of Aizawa, who changed his focus to the small villain while Mic yelled at Rhino as quietly as he could manage to attract his attention. The boy rolled over and slipped into a low crouch, taking a moment to analyse his opponents as he heaved air back into his body, watching silently as the villain rapidly bounced back to his feet with a snarl. Oni squinted and threw a cautious punch, deliberately keeping it obscenely gentle.

Dino turned his back and the crest on his spine duplicated and snapped in two, folding out like a shield over his body and taking the force of the punch. Despite how careful he'd been, his knuckles still stung with pain upon impact, but at least he'd confirmed his hypothesis that the fin was made of tough stuff, likely immune to all sorts of damage. However, its weakness was that it only covered his back and some of his arms, which left his head and legs exposed and vulnerable.

Oni swiped out a leg, pushing his heel into the back of his knees and then spun around with an elbow, slamming it into the side of his skull as he toppled. He didn't expect the villain to still be conscious after such a brutal hit, which made the hands grabbing his wrists almost entirely unexpected. Dino flipped him into the air with a dangerous growl rumbling in his throat, tugging him down so he crashed against the concrete with such force it cracked, only to lift up the boy once more and throw him up with a whistle.

Oni barely shifted his position in time to dodge the sudden blades that slashed at his torso, stretching out from the small villain's fingers after Aizawa had blinked. The swords sliced through his reinforced costume, leaving gashes along his sides that were deep enough to be worrying, and suddenly the weapons were retracted when his teacher reactivated his Quirk and firmly wrapped her up in thick ribbons of capture gear – possibly a little tighter than necessary.

Mic let out a startled yell as he leapt to the side. Oni's eyes widened as he saw a blur of angry grey charging towards him. He couldn't drop back to the ground fast enough and there was nothing to springboard off of, so he was left to face his fate that came in the form of a rhino-man. The best he could do was grit his teeth, draw back a fist filled with One for All, and wait for the inevitable.

There was a blast of wind as fist and face connected, but Rhino barely faltered in his momentum. He dipped his head and Oni could only see the sharp horn that was rapidly approaching his skull, and a second later his malfunctioning visor was filled with spinning scarlet skies and blurry buildings. A heavy pressure jammed against his temple, jolting as he landed heavily, and error messages scattered over the screen, burning brightly into his dazed gaze as he tried to collect his thoughts.

Something thudded heavily to the ground nearby, but even the tiniest movement of his head made the deep dent in his helmet press even harder against his face, in danger of causing serious damage if it pushed any further. The air was warm and getting increasingly more stuffy, and the malfunction report informed him that the oxygen filtration systems were offline, meaning he was going to slowly suffocate unless he deactivated the helmet to let it repair itself. It would've been an easy choice if there weren't three villains and one unsuspecting hero nearby, all of whom he wasn't inclined to reveal his identity to in case it had adverse affects.

His hands automatically moved to his throat as he tried to gasp in a breath, feeling fainter by the second and starting to panic even though he was trying to take slow, measured breaths. Figures stepped into his flickering display as he clawed at his neck, chest practically pulsating as his instincts overrode logic, his entire body screaming at him to breathe.

"Kid? Kid, you okay?" Aizawa's voice was disjointed in his ears, drowned out by the gasping.

"I don't think he can breathe!" Mic cut in, hands ghosting over the helmet with no way to take it off.

Sweat was trickling over Oni's skin as the air grew humid with carbon dioxide. His fingers trailed up to his ears before he forced them to still, glancing between his teachers with apprehension.

"Just deactivate the helmet. Only Hizashi can see you. It doesn't matter," Aizawa snapped, kneeling down.

Darkness eased into the edges of the boy's vision and his body felt distant. His heavy arms dropped back to the concrete.

"No, come on. It's programmed to respond to you and you alone. If you suffocate and die because of your own stubbornness, I will find a way to revive you just to expel you for your stupidity." Cold hands pressed around his wrists, forcefully dragging his own hands up to the buttons. "Press it. I swear to god, kid-"

Oni squeezed his eyes shut and pushed the button. He fell limp, relaxing as refreshing air washed over him, taking in ragged gasps and coughing out the oppressive feeling in his lungs. A delirious giggle rose, unbidden, to his lips, and he raised a trembling palm to his face, swiping away sweat before tangling his fingers in his hair.

"Holy shit," Mic said softly in English, and oh, yeah, that's what he had been worried about.

The boy hesitantly cracked open his eyes, the relieved smile faltering at the stunned expression of his teacher. Aizawa looked faintly troubled but kept his attention on the kid, nudging his head to examine the wound across his temple before assessing the gashes on his sides. Izuku delayed the inevitable by dazedly peering around, noticing Rhino collapsed a little beyond him, while the other two villains were unconscious and securely tied to a pole.

"Midoriya... but... You're a kid." Mic's green gaze hardened into a glare and he pointed accusingly at his friend, who cringed marginally. "He's a kid, Shouta! Why is a kid fighting with us?!"

"There are..." Aizawa bared his teeth in a grimace as he tried to find the right words. "...extenuating circumstances that are entirely justifiable."

"I don't care! This is a teenager! One of your students! He should be kept safe at UA, so why've you allowed him to fight villains when he's already been through enough?!" Mic's voice had dropped to an icy hiss, so far removed from his light-hearted personality that it was actually terrifying.

"He'd have found a way to be out fighting anyway, and I'd rather he'd be somewhere I can keep an eye on him rather than out getting himself killed without me knowing!" Aizawa shot back in an equally cold tone, his hands clenching atop the boy's shoulders.

"Mic-sensei, please don't be mad," Izuku said softly, lightly pushing against the overbearing grasp of his teachers to sit up with only minimal pain and dizziness.

"I'm not mad," the man immediately assured in a gentler tone, offering a tight smile as he looked at the kid. "I'm just worried that my best friend might've lost his mind, because in what world is it okay to let an unprepared kid fight and – oh god, you went against that big villain, All for One. Oh my god, little listener. That shouldn't have happened. I'm sorry for not looking out for you enough."

"That was a failure on our part," Aizawa agreed bitterly.

"It wasn't," Izuku denied, offering a guilty sort of grin. "Even if you knew what I was planning, I would've found a way to escape. I don't regret helping All Might-san."

"Okay, I'm getting the feeling that I'm missing something here. How the hell did you face off against a villain that All Might struggled with? Last time I checked, you could barely control your Quirk. And... You're so fast. I've never seen you move that fast. Maybe I'm the one who's lost his mind..." Mic removed his tinted glasses and rubbed at his eyes tiredly.

"Can you walk, problem child?" Aizawa asked, one tense hand still on the kid's shoulder.

Izuku glanced down at himself to assess his injuries before pushing himself to his feet in tandem with the adults, both of whom appeared concerned that he'd collapse at any second. He paused before reactivating his helmet, relieved to find that the worst of the damage had been repaired and he could breathe again, despite the sizeable dent in the side. His body still thrummed with the adrenaline from the fight, which made it easy to nonchalantly hop back up onto a rooftop when he heard the sirens approaching. The civilian was gone from the scene, and Izuku hoped that there weren't any cameras to catch his face, because that would be rough- his over-protectivr teachers would definitely take care of any footage, though.

Sensing his doubt about revealing his secret, Aizawa cocked an unamused eyebrow. "Hizashi might have a loud mouth, but he's certainly better at keeping secrets than you are, kid."

"Wait, how many people know about... whatever this is?" Mic shook his head in disbelief, green eyes wide behind his glasses.

"Let's get back to UA," he muttered after a beat of expectant silence. "I'll explain everything when we get there..."