Chapter Text
The next year or so were some of the best times in Izuku's life. It was simple, but peaceful. He did a lot of household chores(because heavens know Tomura doesn’t do shit and Kurogiri deserves a break sometimes), Kurogiri has also been teaching him how to cook. He plays video games with Tomura, and is pretty bad at them. Which Tomura tells him all about.
But for the first time since he was a little kid he was actually enjoying life. Nothing outside of the bar even mattered anymore.
Nothing did. Actually anything outside of the bar scared Izuku. So much so that he isn't even updated on what's happening outside. It was unpredictable. He was never hurt in the bar, he was always hurt outside of it. So he never left, the mere thought scared him. He didn’t want to feel pain anymore. He even had them put a tracking device at the top of his mouth so in case for whatever reason he was forced outside of home they could find him.
Sure, maybe it was unhealthy for Izuku to run and hide from anything that hurt him; to isolate himself so he wouldn’t have to feel pain ever again, but what else was he supposed to do? He is a quirkless weakling who was destined to die young the moment the doctor said ‘quirkless’.
He just wanted to actually live instead of hardly surviving. Was that so much to ask for?
He got what he wanted.
He was happy.
But nothing is constant forever.
Around ten or so months after Izuku had isolated himself from reality, Tomura became more busy, abnormally busy. He would hardly play video games or just hang out with Izuku, it was weird. Never had Izuku seen his friend so busy. He was curious as to why, but Tomura never had time to himself anymore so Izuku didn't want to bother him.
So he asked Kurogiri instead.
“Kurogiri, can I ask a question?” Izuku asked, sitting down on one of the bar stools.
“Of course.”
“Why has Tomura been so busy lately?” Izuku asked.
“Him and Sensei are currently planning an attack on UA. This takes lots of planning and they need to find a bunch of criminals to help with said attack.”
“I guess that makes sense…” Izuku said. He had a feeling that things would be changing around here.
The day of the attack came around. Izuku wasn’t participating but he’ll be waiting back at the bar with food and a first aid kit in case of injuries.
“Be careful!” Izuku told Tomura right before he was about to leave.
“I will.” Tomura told him before entering the portal that Kurogiri made.
Izuku watched as they left. He was worried, he didn’t actually know what they were doing or where they were going. He just knew that they were attacking UA and for some reason needed a lot of criminals at hand. Based on that info alone he could tell that this would be a tougher mission, so he was worried for his friends.
But there was nothing he could do about it. He promised to have food when they returned so he should make something. Izuku isn't the greatest cook out there but eggs and toast is something he can manage. So he started that.
A half an hour or so Tomura came stumbling back into the bar through a kurogiri portal. There was visible blood in Tormuras hands and knees.
Izuku noticed and got the first aid kid immediately. “Are you okay?!” He asked with worry.
Tomura only grumbled angrily in response and let Izuku patch him up. Izuku assumed that the mission didn’t go as planned based on his injuries and mood.
Either way Izuku was there for him.
Not too much later Tomura told him about some changes that could be happening in the bar.
New recruits. New people in Izuku's circle. Unpredictable people.
Izuku was scared to say the least of it. He had no idea what to expect.
Tomura asked that he wouldn’t be present during the recruitments and would officially meet them all after.
Izuku understood that he isn’t involved with the leagues affairs, but he at least wished that he knew what these people were like before he was stuck with them.
What if they didn’t like him? What if they didn’t like that he was quirkless? What if they hurt him?
Izuku was scared.
Izuku could sometimes hear Tomura and the new recruits. What was loud enough for Izuku to hear was mostly fighting though, that never brought his hopes up about these people. But he should’ve known that he couldn’t run away from bad people forever. But he at least wished it had lasted longer.
But he had to meet them eventually. Most of the recruits, if not all, would be living in the bar from that point forward. He couldn’t run away from this. So Tomura set it up so that all the new recruits would be in the bar at the same time so Izuku could get it over with.
So that's where he was, standing at the entrance of the bar, waiting for Tomura to call him in. He took deep breaths to calm his anxiety. Though it was pretty worthless. These would be the first people that Izuku saw other than Tomura and Kurogiri in about ten months. If Izuku had bad social skills before, they have to be worse now.
“Come on in Izuku!” Tomura called from the other side of the door. Izuku froze in place, oh god it was happening.
It took all of Izuku's strength to open the door and look at the recruits.
“This is Izuku.” Tomura said. “He isn’t technically part of the league or a villain but he lives here and is an ally. If you hurt him I will not hesitate to dust you.”
Izuku looked at his new roommates. They were a diverse group to say the least.
“Awwe!” A blond girl with messy space buns awed. “He’s so cute!”
“What's a weak kid like that doing here?” A very muscular man asked. “I could probably crush him without even trying.” Izuku didn’t doubt that.
“Weren't you listening, dumbass? Boss said he’s a friend.” A very scarred man said.
“He looks nice.” A nicely dressed man in a mask said.
“Whatever.” Someone in a gas mask said, based on the voice, it sounded like a boy younger than Izuku himself. That was worrying.
“Leave the poor kid be.” Someone with red hair said. “He looks terrified.” Izuku wasn’t aware that it was showing on his face but now that he knew he was a little self conscious of it.
“I-I guess I'm a bit anxious.” Izuku choked out. “I’m not too good with new people.”
“That's understandable.” The redhead said, approaching him. They let out a hand for Izuku to shake. “I’m Magne, she/her.” She smiled at him.
Izuku took Magnes' hand. “I-I’m Izuku, h-he/him.”
Magne shook their hands. “Nice to meet you Izuku.”
The blond haired girl skipped up to Izuku and pushed Magne out of the way, she extended her hand. “I’m Himiko Toga!!”
“H-Hello Toga.”
“Ah! You have such a cute chubby little face! I would love to see you bleed!” Toga grabbed and squished Izuku's cheeks.
“Tank yu?” Izuku tried to speak through the squishing. Toga just smiled brightly at him.
“Now now there little miss.” The nicely dressed man in a mask said, walking up to Izuku and Toga. “You don't want to crush him.” The man used his gloved hands to gently free Izuku from Toga's grasp. “I’m Mr. Compress.” He introduced himself. Izuku gave him a gentle wave.
“Oh! Oh! My turn!” A man in a full body suit said, running up to the group. “I’m Twice! Nice to meet you! No it’s not.” Izuku just stared at Twice, he wasn’t quite sure what that was but he didn’t want to judge. So he just smiled at him instead.
“I hope you don’t expect the rest of us to introduce ourselves like that.” The very scarred man said from the bar.
“N-No it’s fine.” Izuku stuttered.
“Good.” He chuckled. “Well, I'm Dabi.”
“I’m Spinner.” A man with a mutant lizard-like quirk said. Izuku had never seen a quirk like that before, he really wanted to ask some questions.
“Muscular.” The very muscular man said. “That's Moonfish, he isn’t very verbal.” He said pointing at this really creepy guy that izuku hasn’t noticed till now.
“I’m Mustard.” The kid said.
“Like the gas?” Izuku asked.
“Finally! Someone who gets it!” Mustard exclaimed. “It's the gas! Not the condiment!”
“I totally thought it was the condiment.” Dabi said.
“Fuck you.”
“Now calm yourselves children.” Mr. Compress said.
“Whatever old man.” Mustard shot back.
“Rude, I'm only thirty seven.”
“Like I said, old man.” Though Mustard had a gas mask on, Izuku knew he rolled his eyes.
Izuku chuckled at the antics of the league. Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad.
The league was planning another attack on UA, that's what Izuku knew for sure. This time he had a little more info on what was happening this time though. They were trying to recruit one of the students. Tomura told him because that would mean that another new person would be in the bar, and possibly staying. He didn’t even know who they were trying to recruit, he didn’t really know any of the first years in UA except Ka-
He didn’t know any UA first years.
What he did know is that there was a possibility of some of his new roommates getting arrested. And there was someone he really wanted to talk to.
Mustard.
Mustard has to be really young. Younger than Izuku. And Izuku is like fifteen. Maybe sixteen, he hasn’t really been keeping track of time. The fact that he was so young really worried Izuku. Just thinking of the things that could drive such a young kid to villainy scared him. Not only that but he had also been avoiding the rest of the group. He was really worried for this kid. So Izuku wanted to talk to him before their attack in case he got arrested.
Izuku walked up to the room Mustard was staying in. A room that he left less than Tomura left his own. Izuku took a deep breath before knocking on the door.
“What do you want?” Mustard's annoyed voice came from behind the door.
“It’s me Izuku, I want to talk.”
“Fine.” Mustard grumbled.
Izuku carefully opened the door and entered the room. Closing the door behind him, he looked around the room. It was pretty empty but they all moved in only a few days ago, so it was expected.
“I wanted to come check up on you.” Izuku said, not knowing how to explain his almost unprompted worry for the younger boy.
“Why?” Mustard asked. “I’m fine.”
“Well sure but I have been a little worried about you.”
“Why though. I’m fine.” Mustard insisted.
Izuku took a deep breath in. “It’s just you're so young, way too young to be a villain and you’ve been isolating yourself from the rest of the group. Both of which kinda being red flags that you're not okay so I felt that I should check up on you.” Izuku rambled.
“Oh, of course. This is about my age.” Mustard grumbled.
“It’s not like I think you're not capable or anything. I'm just worried. You're so young.”
“You can't even be three years older than me.” Mustard pointed out.
“That's why I'm so worried!” Izuku said. “I’m only like fifteen and I ran away! But you're younger than me and a villain, which is arguably worse. I'm just worried for you because I know what it's like to have a shitty life and have no one there for you.” Izuku confessed.
“Have no one there for me..?”
“Well I kinda just assumed that you are not used to having anyone there for you, you seem so against the idea of relying on other people and asking for help. Or at least that's what I think. But I don't really have any right to assume what your life is like.” Izuku sighed. “I just want to be there in case no one else is. I know how nice it is to have someone be there for you after being on your own for so long.”
Mustard sat there, probably thinking about what Izuku said.
“Well I'll let you think about that.” Izuku said, headed back to the door.
“Wait.”
Izuku turned back around to face Mustard. “Hmm?”
“Thank you.”
“Anytime.” Then Izuku left the room.
The day of the attack came. Izuku was nervous, really nervous. He knew the league had a whole plan and everything but that didn’t stop izuku from being nervous. He was scared of losing his new friends.
When the time came to leave Izuku insisted that he have a first aid kit and food handy when they returned. The majority of the league seemed grateful, which made Izuku happy.
Tomura was sitting on a bar seat playing on his phone when they left. For whatever reason, Tomura wasn’t a part of this mission. It calmed Izuku's nerves when he learnt that. Tomura will be safe at home.
Izuku took a deep breath to calm himself then began working on some food.
~
Mustard walked deeper into the forest, he needed to get somewhat close to the camp to affect as many UA kids with his quirk as possible.
Mustard took a deep breath when he got to his destination and activated his quirk. He hadn’t even been a villain for a year and never had he done a big attack like this. So he was pretty nervous. But he had his gun at hand so he shouldn’t have to worry so much.
The gas spread and became thicker around Mustard. He really hoped that his job would be easy and that no one would find him. But he isn’t so lucky. After a while he felt two or three people coming towards him.
He sighed and took out his gun. “No matter how amazing they’re quirks are.” He pointed his gun at the person who was the closest, specifically the gas mask they had on. “They’re still human.” Then he shot it. The gun shot was loud and seemed to hit something hard, but Mustard could have sworn he hit the person.
Mustard got a better look at the person, he was made of metal. “Ah right, there's a hardening one. No matter, let's just see how long he can hold his breath.” He thought.
Mustard just kept on shooting the kid, hoping his hardening will weaken with time and get this over with.
Mustard rambled some nonsense to the hardening kid then pointed his gun at the girl he was with. But the boy had a very heroic spirit and jumped in front of her right in time so she ouldn’t be shot.
Mustard giggled and rambled more nonsense to the hero student to piss them off. He was having fun.
The metal boy ran up to Mustard but he shot him before any other contact was made. Mustard noticed how he was softer than before. Mustard rambled on even more while shooting the boy and even kicking him on the floor. The girl got mad at him and ran after him, but mustard dogged easily because of his gas. But the girl enlarged her hand and hit Mustard. He winced.
The girl used her large hands to blow away the gas, leaving him at a disadvantage. The gas was thinner and he knew that detecting their movement would be harder, if not impossible. He knew that this was their opportunity to strike.
Mustard was out matched, he knew that. And he figured that any moment he would be attacked. Normally he wouldn’t care. His will to live has been shitty all his life. He could just let himself get caught but,
“I just want to be there in case no one else is.”
Izuku. Izuku wanted him to be okay. Izuku cared for him. Izuku wanted him to come home.
Mustard wanted to see Izuku again.
Mustard ran. He didn’t want to be caught. He was out matched and needed to run. So he ran. The steel boy started to follow him and tried to hit him, and did. But Mustard didn't get the full punch because he was running, but his mask was slightly broken. He needed to go. So Mustard ran till he couldn’t breathe. He went back to where they came from and found Dabi and Twice doing who knows what.
He should be safe now.
Izuku was done with cooking, now he was just waiting for the others to get back. He had the first aid kit right in hand just in case. Like always, he was nervous. But less nervous than he thought he'd be.
A familiar black and purple portal opened in the bar. Izuku perked up and saw Mr. Compress enter first. He had a marble in hand which he assumed to be the student they kidnapped.
Mustard was the last one to enter. He looked the worse. He was panting, his mask was broken, his head had a bump on it and was scraped a bit. Izuku immediately took the first aid kit and pulled Mustard over to a bar stool so he could get a closer look at the wounds. Mustard winced when he cleaned off the wound but never complained.
“What happened?” Izuku asked.
“Some dumb kids found me and one of them had a quirk that could take my bullets. He chased me and punched me.” Mustard grumbled.
“Well I'm glad you got back in one piece. I noticed Muscular and Moonfish didn’t come back so I'm glad you made it!”
“I’m kinda glad they didn’t make it back. I didn’t like them.” Mustard said.
“Yeah me too.” Izuku admits.
While Izuku was helping Mustard the others were restraining their captive. Izuku noticed that the yelling from the captive had turned into muffles so he assumed that they were probably muzzled.
“How are you feeling?” Izuku asked Mustard when he was done.
“Better…” He mumbled.
“That's good. It's been a long day, how about you get some rest.” Izuku suggested. Mustard mumbled a “mhm” before heading upstairs.
Izuku decided it was time to finally confront the captive. Izuku wasn’t exactly excited but last time he met new people it didn’t go too badly so he hoped it would be the same this time.
He sucked in a deep breath and walked over to where the captive was being held. He saw them struggling an immense amount and got more nervous. They look aggressive.
Izuku sucked up his fears and walked forwards to face them. His fear only grew as he got closer.
When he got close enough to see the captives face everything stopped. The captive, Kacchan, stared him back.
Izuku took a step back, this couldn’t be happening.
“I-I need t-to go.” Izuku stuttered before turning on his feet and running upstairs. His heart was beating impossibly fast. He never wanted to see that face again, but there he was, in his home, his safe space. Nothing was supposed to come for him here. He was supposed to be safe. But there he was.
Izuku slammed the door to his room then slid down it, starting to hyperventilate. His mind was thinking any coherent thoughts anymore. It was all panic. He hadn’t felt like this in about a year. He just wanted safety.
Izuku must've fallen asleep sometime during his panic attack because the next thing he remembered was Tomura knocking aggressively on the door behind him.
“Izuku let me in, I know you're not okay.” Tomura’s groggy voice came from behind the door.
Izuku took a moment to wake up before moving and letting Tomura in.
“What happened?” Tomura bluntly asked.
Izuku was scared to answer. Tomura knew about this ‘kacchan’ that Izuku told him about. But they had never met before. There was no way that Tomura could’ve known that he was Kacchan but if Tomura knew he would probably kill him.
“Well, it's just Kaccha-” Izuku stopped talking as Tomura stared him down. He didn’t need to say anymore for Tomura to understand.
“That kid’s Kacchan?!” He said, angerly. “I'll kill that motherfucker for what he’s done.” Tomura said, scratching his neck and turning around to probably kill Kacchan.
“Please don't!” Izuku grabbed onto his arm. “It's fine, I swear.”
“But it's not!” Tomura yelled. “I promised you that you'd be safe here then i brought him to you! He's an asshole and needs to be put in his place!”
“It's not your fault, you didn’t know.” Izuku said.
“But I should've. I should’ve put two and two together.” Tomura mumbled.
“It's okay. Just dont kill him.”
“He deserves it.”
“I know you feel that way but he doesn't deserve to die.” Izuku insisted.
“Fine.” Tomura grumbled. “But he makes one wrong move and he's dust.”
Izuku just sighs.
“I’m going to check on Mustard.”
“Whatever.”
Izuku walked over to Mustard's room and knocked on the door. “It's me Izuku. You up?”
A small “mhmn” came from the other side of the door.
“I just want to check up on you.”
Izuku heard a bit of shuffling before the door opened. “I’m doing good.” Mustard said.
“That's good! I'm glad you're doing alr-” Izuku was cut off by the ground intensely shaking and the loud noises coming from below.
“I think the building is going to collapse! We need to get downstairs!” Izuku yelled. He grabbed Mustard's hand and ran downstairs.
Downstairs was chaotic. The wall had caved in, Kurogiri was passed out, Kacchan was free, and there were so many heroes there.
Izuku couldn’t think, this was too much. Everything he’d work so hard to build was crashing down in front of him. The league was fighting, the heroes were trying to get Kacchan, but all Izuku could do was stand there frozen.
His mind was in chaos and he could hardly tell what was going on. A hero, Best Jeanist he thinks, got Kacchan. All might was there fighting this guy Izuku had never seen before. Then the league was gone. He doesn’t remember when they left but they suddenly were not there anymore. His panic worsened.
His home was destroyed, his family was gone, he was surrounded by heroes, it was noisy, and everything was broken.
His eyes made their way to Kacchan. He was with Jeanist and pointing at Izuku, his mouth was moving so he was probably saying something. But Izuku couldn’t hear him. Jeanist used his strings to get Izuku. He was stuck. He tried to struggle but Jeanists strings were too strong. But he was panicking too much to properly think so that didn’t stop him.
The next few hours were a blur. He remembered only bits and pieces. Like being taken away, Kacchan talking to him, heros talking to him, being handcuffed, being brought to a police station with Kacchan, and then being put in a holding cell. He hadn’t talked at all during this time, nor had he understood anything anyone else said.
He just wanted to go home. He wanted to see Tomura, Kurogiri, Mustard, and the rest of the league. He didn’t want to be here. It was unsafe, unpredictable. He’ll be hurt, he doesn’t want to be hurt. Why does life like to hurt him so much?
A few hours later a familiar soft voice made its way into his ears. He looked up and focused his eyes for the first time in hours. Familiar green hair in a bun, familiar sad smile, familiar teary eyes.
Mom.
He hasn't seen his mother in so long. She was crying and speaking to him, but he couldn’t understand the words she said. She hugged him. He was crying. He didn't have the energy to hug her back. He just wanted to go home.
His mother stayed there for a while, but when she found that he was mostly unresponsive, she left the room more teary than when she entered. And he was alone again.
“Izuku.” Tomuras voice said from behind him. Wait.
“Tomura??” Izuku whipped his head around to see the league standing in a decayed wall. They came back for him.
Izuku leaped into Tomuras arms. They were here. He could be safe again. They were here.
Quite a few of the league members made a mess of the police station while Tomura carried him to Kurogiri portal to bring him home.
At first Izuku didn’t know how they found him but then he remembered the tracking device on the roof of his mouth. He was glad he had that implanted.
The home he was brought back to wasn’t very nice. According to Tomura, Sensei had been captured and without their main source of money they had to make do with what they had. Izuku didn’t mind. As long as he was with his family he didn’t care where they lived.
The next little while was nice. He got to know a lot more of the league. He made nice small talk with Magne, who was seriously the nicest one there. He played unsafe games with Toga, who promised to never hurt him. He teased Mustard, who got easily flustered. He laughed as Tomura and Spinner argued about video games. He got to understand Twice's split personalities better. He sat in comfortable silence with Dabi. He watched some of Mr. Compress’s magic tricks, which always blew him away.
Overall, it was nice. He felt his sense of peace and security was back.
Though they say nice things don't last for a reason.
One day Twice brought in this one guy, his name was Overhaul. He was rude and he,,,
He killed Magne.
Izuku had to watch as the friend he just made was blown to bits, blood was everywhere. He could still smell it. Magne was dead. Next was Mr. Compress’s arm. But Izuku was worried that he would die too.
Izuku mourned Magne. him, Toga, and Twice knew Magne the best and mourned her the most but the rest of the league could feel her missing presence too.
They hardly had time to mourn though, not until they were thrown into the next thing. Toga and Twice were chosen to work for Overhaul, even after he had killed Magne.
The peace and security was gone again, and for much longer this time.
His spirit spent most of its time five feet behind his body. He was never truly there. He had heard that they’d gotten their payback on Overhaul for killing Magne and taking Mr. Compress’s arm, which was nice. But he would’ve been happier if he were fully there.
They moved a lot. They never stayed in one place like they did in the bar. They were on the run. They spent lots of time in old abandoned buildings and stolen cars with Spinner's risky driving.
One face that became more and more common around the league was, surprisingly, a hero. Hawks. Izuku had heard of Hawks before. He probably wrote a journal entry on him. Not that he really remembers. He didn’t really have anything against Hawks but something about him was off.
He didn’t trust him.
Some group kidnapped Giran. Izuku can’t remember the name of the group. The league got into a fight with them. Toga told him all about how she used the quirk of this one girl she really liked. Izuku was proud of her. But it didn't really show on his face.
Dabi got into a fight with Endeavour. For whatever reason, Dabi really hated Endeavour. Not that Izuku really liked him either but Dabis hatred seemed personal. Izuku never pushed it though, Dabi was a secretive guy.
Kurogiri was captured. It was hard functioning without him. They really relied on his portals and guidance. It was hard without him.
Tomura had been a lot more absent lately. Apparently the doctor was doing something to him. He didn’t like that.
Hawks betrayed them. They got into a big fight with the heroes. So big that it was called a War.
Hawks killed Twice.
Another one gone. Izuku mourned him. But he wished he was able to cry more. But he hasn’t been feeling much of anything for a while.
Sensei escaped tartarus. Apparently there was a huge breakout. Now they had him on their side again which made things a bit easier. But Tomura was still gone.
Tomura came back. But he was very different. According to Dabi he fought the number one hero from America and won. He was happy he won, he really was. But eversense the doctor started doing things to Tomura they had been getting more and more distant. He just wanted to talk like they used to.
Izuku looked into Tomuras eyes. Tomura was very different from when they first met. Back when he was walking home in the rain, when Tomura was kind enough to give him an umbrella. He missed that Tomura. But that Tomura was gone.
“Tomura.” Izuku's rough voice croaked out. He didn’t speak very often anymore.
“What.” Tomura snapped back at him.
“Kill me.”
Tomura looked at him. Not with confusion or sorry. It was a blank stare.
“Sure whatever.”
He felt Tomuras cold hands on his neck. He started to decay immediately.
He got his answer.
The Tomura he once knew would never do this. He would never hurt Izuku. But that Tomura was gone and Izuku didn’t want to live in a world without him.
He had been alive for too long. It was about time he got his well deserved rest.
He just wished he could say goodbye to the Tomura he once knew.