Chapter Text
They had been invited to a local festival after they brought home the soldiers from a base up north where they were being held captive.
It was a simple enough mission for three skilled mercenaries. And luckily they didn’t have a job for another week, so they were all happy enough to stay and join the festivities.
When the sky turned black and stars decorated the night sky, they were nearing the end of the festival. Music-filled Kastuki’s ears as they sat around that campfire. He sat on Kariage’s lap singing and clapping along as the black-haired boy’s hands wrapped gently around his waist holding him as she swayed along to the beat of the song.
Mei clapped along from where she sat on the chair next to them, grinning ear to ear as swayed from side to side. The locals danced and played instruments all around them.
Kariage stared up at him, his features illuminated by the bright flames, the corners of his mouth were lifted into a small smile.
One of the arms wrapped around his waist slipped off, the grey eyes staring back at him held an intensity that he’d never seen directed by anyone but himself. In the palm of Kariage’s hand sat a small wooden jewelry box, wrapped up in a gold ribbon.
“Kit-Kat, open it,” Kariage said softly to him, contrary to his usual gruff tone, the nickname a reminder of the first candy he’d ever had.
He raised an eyebrow at him, took the box from his hand, and looked at it for a moment studying the box, “You know you don’t have to spend your money to buy me shit. I’m not a sugar baby.” He said roughly though the small smile on his face said he appreciated the gift.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Just look inside, okay?” Kariage gave him a smug smirk reaching out to grab his cheek before he swatted the hand away. “Fine fine I’m opening it alright!?”
He opened up the wooden case revealing a beautiful gold locket, floral designs wrapped around the locket like vines, the front of the locket was embroidered with the word ‘Home’ written out in some fancy English font, the golden vines connected around the word for the extra effect. Looking up he saw Kariage holding a similar one in his hand but silver, “Mei already got her’s, she’s got one in rose gold to try and match her hair, I figured I should go basic silver. Do you like it?” The hesitation in Kariage’s question could be heard despite his nonchalant demeanor.
He looked to his side to see Mei staring back at him with a grin, though if the slightly strained look on her face was anything to go by, she was worried if he would like it too.
Deciding to be an absolute ass and keep them in suspense, he opened up the locket and held it up, trying to see it with the help of the light coming from the fire next to them, revealing the faces of Mei, Kariage, and himself. The picture had been taken the day before by an old man who’d taken the picture for free in return for saving his son, sly bastards.
They were all in various states of their usual uniform, Mei’s black tank-top, and camouflaged pants were covered in residue ash from the recent explosions from her ‘babies’ as was the uniform jacket tied around her waist, the usual goggles she wore rested on her forehead, a crack could be seen in the right eye-lens if you looked closely enough, her hands out in peace signs as she grinned at the camera. Kariage wore his jacket properly, his helmet rested on his head, as he stood behind Mei, his arm wrapped around Mei’s neck as if he was strangling her, his cocky grin ever-present with the usual lit cigarette hanging from his mouth as he looked at the camera. Kariage’s other arm wrapped around Katsuki’s waist seemingly pulling him into the photo, the blonde’s jacket was discarded somewhere, his tank-top was similar to Mei’s but cleaner and, his elbow rested against Kariage’s jaw, his other hand resting on the hand on his waist, a small amused smile present on his face as he looked into the camera.
When he looked back up at them, they were practically shaking with anxiety, ah these idiots. He allowed the amused smile to appear on his face, much like the one in the photo, “I love it.”
That night, surrounded by music and dancing, he received his first gift and found his first home.
__________
Even though growing up his mother and father were very religious and forced him to go to the temple to pray every week when he was a child. Aizawa did not consider himself a religious man, however, he believes wholeheartedly in the fact that God has made it his vendetta to fuck around with his life and make it as difficult as possible. The evidence of this theory resides in the fact that he gets little to no sleep, but whenever he does happen to doze off into dreamland, every time, without fail, something, whether it be as small as someone texting him, or as big as his house catching on fire, something always manages to wake. Him . Up .
Exhibit A, the Bear-Mouse principal decided to be a complete nuisance this morning and called him at three in the morning, for an emergency meeting. Could it not have waited another few hours, pretty sure it’s against policy to call someone FIVE hours before they're supposed to even be at work, to tell them to, ‘We need to talk, be here as soon as you can, it can’t wait.’
Now someone who’s slept more than thirty minutes would probably think that something bad is happening and rush right over there. However, he has now been awake for a total of three days and has only slept a total of two hours. So, the only thing he can think about is,
Is it possible to drive with your eyes closed?
After about ten minutes of weighing the pros and cons of a lobotomy with a steering wheel while he drove. He eventually arrived at UA and is now sitting outside the Principal’s office waiting to be called in like some grade-schooler who put gum in another kid's hair.
The comparison was truly depressing.
It was about three weeks before school started, the entrance exams had already taken place, and this year’s generation of new heroes in training was turning out to be promising.
There was Endeavor’s son, Todoroki Shouto, no doubt the kid was a talented fighter with his quirk. He was probably trained by his father along with other martial artists.
Uraraka Ochako, her quirk could control gravity , if that's not an impressive quirk, he doesn’t know what is. She already had pretty decent control over her quirk and would be a great rescue hero.
Kaminari Denki was the human embodiment of everyone’s favorite character Pikachu in the old show Pokemon. A powerful quirk indeed, but the fact that using his quirk turned him into a vegetable didn’t exactly help but it was something he could work on.
Yaoyorozu Momo, her quirk could create any non-organic thing from her body fat. She seemed to have a good head on her shoulders and had decent control of her quirk.
Tokoyami Fumikage’s quirk Dark Shadow, the easiest way to describe the kid’s quirk was a demon possessing his body. Tokoyami has a long way to go in controlling his quirk.
All that being said, most of the kids this year were impressive and had great potential to be great heroes, these selected few just happened to catch his attention.
Then there was the curious case of Izuku Midoriya, a kid with a quirk that was the carbon copy of All Might’s, with seemingly no idea of how to use it. It was a curious situation indeed. Apart from his inability to use his quirk without breaking a limb, the kid seemed to throw self-restraint and preservation out the window and rush into danger without a second thought. In short, he was a walking hazard.
“Aizawa?”
Principal Nezu’s voice cut him out of his musings, the bear-mouse stood by the door with a grim face, beckoning him inside. Aizawa stood, walking past the Principal and into his office.
As soon as he stepped foot in the room the atmosphere went from grim to downright depressing. Aizawa sat down at the table and was met with All Might’s equally grim face. It was odd seeing such a face on the public figure, even when the odds were stacked against him the man was always seen smiling, symbol of hope and peace and what-not.
The depressing face on the symbol of peace told him one thing, that whatever was happening could have catastrophic consequences.
It took a full thirty seconds for Nezu to break the silence and start speaking.
Apparently, All Might was an even bigger fool than Aizawa gave him credit for. The hero gave away his quirk to some random quirkless middle schooler who certainly hadn’t lifted a single weight in his entire life until recently if the fact that the kids arms were just starting to gain muscle was anything to go by because he tried, and failed to save one of his classmates from a sludge villain.
Among the many many questions that Aizawa had at the ready, there was one that just had to be answered.
“What on God’s green earth were you thinking?” Aizawa growled, aiming his usual dead eye glare he reserved for his most problematic students at the American flag hero.
“Young Midoriya is a fine young man with the heart of a hero! I have no doubt that he is going to be an extraordinary hero! I don’t understand why everyone is against this! Should we not give this child who wants so desperately to become a hero the opportunity?” Standing up from his chair, the eight-foot-tall skeleton gestured around with his hands.
Aizawa sighed leaning back into his chair, brushing his long black locks of hair back with his hand. “It’s not about the fact that you did absolutely no background check on this kid before giving him one of the most powerful quirks in quirk history, although that is something that makes me second guess if you should be the number one hero, much less teach heroes in training. It’s about the fact that you gave one of the most self-destructive quirks to a kid who lacks even the most basic self-preservation instincts, he’s going to end up in a body bag or worse by the end of the year!”
“What can be worse than being dead?”
“Ever heard of Christopher Reeve?”
“I sincerely doubt that-“
“ENOUGH!” The bear rat shouted, slamming his hands on the table. The pair went quiet immediately, sitting back down as Nezu calmly sat back down in his chair, placing his hands together.
“While I do agree with the obvious need of assessing All Might’s ability to teach-“
“I don’t-“ All might began to object before a stern glare from Nezu cut him off and he lowered his head.
“That is unfortunately not the reason I have brought you here today.” He paused for a moment letting it sink in before taking on a more serious tone.
“We have received a message from the Hero Commission and although we are not sure why we are sure about the fact that the League of Villains has set their sights on this school. Now I believe the pro-heroes staffed here are more than equipped enough to handle this group of ruffians. However, due to All Might’s deteriorating health and now the fact that the inheritor of his quirk is now at the school, the Commission is not willing to take any chances and has enlisted the help of a group of individuals to make sure of the survival of our young heroes in training, which we both agree is imperative to the future of society as we know it.” Nezu detailed with a calm but serious tone.
Aizawa felt his blood go cold at this information, why would the league attack them, and why now? How did the Commission even come across this information?
“So what heroes have the Commission enlisted the help of?” All Might’s voice cut him out of his thoughts.
“These people are not heroes…” Nezu stressed, passing three brownish files into the middle of the table.
Aizawa reached out grabbing the file sitting on the top.
“Then who are“ He cut himself off seeing the information on the file, his blood turning to pure ice.
All Might gave him a look before grabbing a file for himself, if the similar reaction to the file was anything to go by, Aizawa was indeed not hallucinating.
“They’re mercenaries.”
This is going to be one hell of a year.