Chapter Text
After the Final War, none of the classmates had many chances to meet up. It was work, mostly, once in a year they did a class reunion but there hadn't been one where they all managed to come. Unconsciously Midoriya had categorized them in his head according to who saw who more often. Uraraka and Tsu saw each other often, so did Bakugo and Todoroki but their meet ups weren't as friendly as the girls'. Shoji and Koda were almost always together, just like Denki and Jiro who started dating a couple years after their graduation. Hagakure and Aoyama was also a category, and he remembered Kirishima once telling him he and Bakugo would meet up every now and then. Although he remembered the first couple years, when they would be always seen side by side. Guess relationships changed.
Now, as he walked to Todoroki's agency he realized they all were going to be together finally, four year after Todoroki and Yaoyorozu's unexpected marriage. He laughed whenever he remembered, the two explained to their friends it was a marriage of friendship, to stand strong together. The media had dug the new couple and the two played their role well (being unbothered).
He was greeted by a trainee on the door. The trainee guided him to where the others were. as they walked, Midoriya couldn't help but wish their reunion wasn't work related. Although it wasn't exactly a reunion since there were going to be other heroes too.
The trainee opened the doors to a spacious meeting room. the faces of the people in the room lit up once he entered.
"Midoriya!"
"Deku!"
Kirishima and Denki were the first to catch him in a hug, Uraraka, İida and Tsu coming right afterwards.
"Hey guys, god it's been so long!" He quickly wiped a tear, hugging back Mineta who was now a bit taller (just above his crotch, thank fuck.) "Sorry about the wait, I got stopped by a crowd and-"
"We get it, you're popular," Bakugo grunted before giving him a half hug.
When the crowd around him cleared, he saw the rest of the room. A couple pro heroes were scattered around the big square table, All Might (who was getting closer to hug him), Aizawa, Hawks and Shinso were sitting together in one corner.
“Hello, Midoriya Shonen!” All Might hugged him tightly, even though they were together just the day before.
“Good to see you made it, Deku.” Shinso smiled from afar.
“I’m very happy to see you all,” the other said when his eye caught someone else. “Monoma! It’s been so long!”
“Oh, you know how being the main hero is,” Monoma pushed his hair back. “I barely have time for my fans.”
Midoriya laughed. It was good to see the parts that didn’t change.
“If you all miss each other this much, meet up.”
“Oi Shota, don’t act cold-hearted now as if you weren’t tearing up ten minutes ago!” Present Mic nudged the other.
“Alright, now that everyone is here, I would like us all to take a seat. You guys can continue your reunion after, right Midoriya?”
He smiled and sat next to Todoroki and Bakugo. “Of course,”
Shinso leaned to the table, “First, I want to thank Todoroki for allowing us to meet here. Everyone here is heroes who fought against the worst, so you will all be understanding if I cut short. We didn’t want this meeting to catch the eye of the media, so gathering here to make it look like a reunion was a better idea than meeting in the agency I work for or Hawks’ agency.”
Hawks looked around, especially eyeing the old UA students. “We know you’re all trying to find the peace and order you deserve after the Final War, but the worst will always come looking for the best. I know you all are understanding of this.”
“Of what, exactly?” İida interrupted.
“Of being dragged into a secret mission.”
“Yey, just what I’ve been wanting,” Denki tried to murmur.
After a second of silence, Shinso continued. “My old classmates and senseis already know, but I am currently working for a secret mission that branches all over Japan. I can’t explain completely, but I will try as much as I have been allowed.” He rubbed his eyes and made direct eye contact with Midoriya. “The heroes who investigate the darker side of our society, the underground heroes I work with, is noticing a new pattern starting to form.”
Midoriya felt a shiver run down his spine. Was it all starting again? Shinso continued, still looking at him.
“As the number of villains keep on increasing, and the amount of hero needed changing, the sense the heroes had is slowly fading away, too.”
He looked where Shoji and Uraraka were sitting. “Unless a hero has a very unique way of helping people, or is very popular, they’re slowly fading. Uh. No offense.” He added looking at his hands. “And, well, these things aren’t very nice to say out loud but there is a hierarchy among heroes.”
Midoriya looked at the shelf behind Shinso. Around a big tv there was many of his friend’s merchs. All Might and Endeavour plushies, Red Riot’s calendar, Yaoyorozu’s notebook, even Dynamight’s toy.
“It never got addressed a lot before, because there was… real threats. But now, the heroes are talking about it, and not just about the hierarchy but also about the justice system. They are… criticizing it.”
“Thought you were gonna cut short,” Jirou said. “These types of heroes always existed, did they not? It’s jealousy, mostly.”
“Yeah, I never get them, I mean…” Sero shrugged. “If you want to be higher on the hierarchy just… do it?”
“Well sure, but you see,” Shinso laid back on his chair, “The thing is until now they were just babbling. They weren’t paying small villains to go off killing civilians.”
Midoriya’s breath hitched. The room fell into a dead silence.
Mina broke it. “…What?”
“There is someone… Or some people, who are implanting an idea, and these heroes are taking it-”
Aoyama leaned to the table. “Who? And whats the idea, exactly?”
“We don’t know if it’s the heroes themselves who came up with this brilliant idea or if there is another factor/person behind it.” Hawks answered. “We can tell there is a criticization of the system, but for what and what do they want instead, who knows.”
“Why would they hurt civilians?” Midoriya half shouted.
Aizawa straightened up. “Peace isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. It takes time but soon you’ll all learn… that not all heroes become heroes to be heroes.”
“Theyre working with villains, causing accidents or deaths. Theyre trying to create scenes where the hero has to do unethical… villain like things.”
“Am I not watching the news or something? I can’t remember one time I saw something like that…” Denki looked around for affirmation. The many faces of his classmates were on his side.
“The public cant stand another wave of fear any time near. The Final War’s wounds are still healing so we try to keep it a little far from media. Which is the opposite of what those heroes want, by the way.” Hawks said.
“The seeds must have been planted much, much years ago.” Present Mic added. “Maybe during the Final War, or with Stain. Maybe much before, perhaps it was a side plan of All for One’s.”
“Spinner’s book probably helped, too.”
“To get the idea, we need to talk to one of them. But we cant talk to one of them before we get them to admit that they are… well, one of them.”
Midoriya frowned.
“Are there any… suspects?”
Aizawa, Shinso, Present Mic and Hawks clearly became uncomfortable by the question. But it was an inevitable one, too.
“We don’t want any of you to become paranoid or lose your trust towards any of us.”
“That would never happen, sensei!” Hagakure jumped.
Aizawa gave a little smile then frowned. “One hero we have. We know she has a major role in a couple of cases but we have no accountable evidence.”
“But we do know.” Said Shinso, in a voice that said experience.
“It’s Ryukyu.”
“What?” Yaoyorozu’s voice was low.
“It is important that none of you ever show her that you know this, ever. Currently we are acting like we don’t know anything, and it is important that you all do the same. To Her, or the others.”
A couple more names were told, all were known heroes, who they had fought together but thankfully none were as close to the 1-a students as Ryukyu. Then the four told some of the things these heroes did, Hawks then had to explain, as Bakugo said, why couldn’t they just blast their heads off.
“We need to get to the center, we must figure out why and how it all came to this, before these heroes start to get louder. So, now coming to your role: we want you all to reconnect with your old intern places. Work with them or go for a coffee, that’s up to you. Talk with them and the other heroes in their agency. But talk. If they say something off, let us know. If you see someone acting weird, let us know. And our heroes will be doing the same to the said heroes.”
“This is so up in the air.” Tsu said. “How can we search for something when we don’t know what it is?”
“You’re completely right, Froppy but its all we have for now.”
Aizawa joined. “Besides, you’re all smart kids. I know you’ll figure out how to do your part, very quickly.”
He gave a genuine smile that made his ex-students smile too. Midoriya looked at his friends. While most looked concentrated on the task, some had fury in their eyes while some anxiety. Some of them, understandingly, were more relaxed than the others since their old mentors were already in the room. Bakugo was one of the calmer ones, with Best Jeanist sitting beside Monoma and Vlad King. Uraraka was frowning, looking at an empty seat she probably wished Gunhead sat. Kirishima’s dead silence and scrunched up face also explained enough.
“We need you all to be ready. For anything. Sabotages, sudden attacks, even an operation in the near future. Something like we did against Overhaul is possible.”
“It all depends on how fast we find the source of the idea.” Shinso sighed. “This new balance that’s growing, its something that could corrupt society’s entire perspective of heroes. This is nothing like villains. Theyre not villains, somehow. Although it’s not the perfect term, but these are anti-heroes.”
“That does not match, at all.” Monoma said.
“We cant call them villains, son.” Vlad King said.
Present Mic let out a laugh like huff. “I think we can. Call them terrorists, even.”
“Lets make sure it all stops before media starts arguing about this.” Aizawa cut the argument short. He turned at Hawks. “Did we forget anything?”
Once the meeting ended, Mina offered to continue the reunion but it was very spontaneous, they couldn’t do it. As he was talking to All Might and Shinso, Midoriya noticed the old Bakusquad gathering up and he figured they’d hang out together.
But as they were talking a strong hand on his shoulder turned him, and he was face to face with Bakugo.
“Kacchan?”
“Hey, its been a long time since we properly hung out. You free? My mom said shed like to have you for dinner.”
Midoriya smiled ear to ear. “Id love that.” His eye caught a redhead right by the door, that turned at looked at them, only looked, didn’t wave or call out.
They left once they said their goodbyes to everyone. Bakugo had his car, so that they wouldn’t get stopped by people. It worked better than walking.
Midoriya still lived with his mother, he didn’t see sense in moving out. Bakugo on the other hand had moved out once he turned twenty, which was very supported by his mother. He knew the family, they probably saw each other rarely. That could also explain how happy Mitsuki Bakugo was to see both of them.
The food was great, so was the Bakugos. After eating and talking all together, Bakugo took Midoriya to the garden. He offered him Soju and they sat on the garden chairs and watched the night sky.
“We should be seeing each other more often.”
The bugs were chirping.
“All of us should, Katsuki.”
Bakugo smiled, something he started to do more often as the years passed. They’ve been inside with his parents for hours, and they had talked about almost everything. Almost.
“It doesn’t sound realistic to me.” The green haired continued.
“But it does make sense. It’s a matter of time for it to catch the eye of the media.”
“I just… Why? What is the logic behind it? Why would they hurt civilians?” Bakugo’s answer was to tighten his grip on his bottle. Midoriya turned to face him. “And… the fact that it might be the people we know? I don’t think any of us can handle that.”
Bakugo’s face darkened and Midoriya stopped talking. The blonde man was looking at the ground, a look on his face Midoriya coulnt explain.
“Izuku. There is something I… probably should have told to Shinso. Or Aizawa sensei.”
The other listened.
“I think there might be others too who didn’t find out about these heroes like this. Its not that important but if there is. I want to believe they were like me and didn’t exactly comprehend- now I don’t even know if I can say this.”
“Katsuki.”
Bakugo turned at him with a look of fear Midoriya hadn’t seen in a very long time.
“It’s about Kirishima. Please don’t- please let me explain.”