Chapter Text
"So... Uraraka..." Izuku stood, nerves firing at thousands of miles an hour. His chest bunched up, his knees weak. This was what he had been hoping for since they left UA five years ago. A chance to finally express his love to Uraraka had come, and it was standing it front of him; wide eyed, breathing steady, smiling.
"Izuku..." Uraraka replied, seemingly just as nervous as they stood beneath bright Akihabara billboards. To Izuku, it looked like her heart was racing too, waiting for those words to leave his mouth. Her eyes stuck to him, even as cars sped past and bikes roared their way along these streets, only they existed here. It was a moment for just the two of them, enclosed in an emotional bubble that not even some remaining villain could pop.
It was time.
It was love.
"Uraraka, can we spend some more time together?" Izuku asked, nervously stumbling on his words like his old 16 year old self would've been back when they first joined UA, but now, years past, confidence had grown, and his psyche still remained as frozen in love as it had once been.
Uraraka stepped forward, her eyes glued to the ground, her chest hitching and rising with every breath. A few tears rolled down her cheeks, tumbling to the ground as she ambled towards Izuku. Her arms wrapped around him, before she buried her head into his chest. Luckily, the years had been kind to Izuku, as he now stood a good few inches above Uraraka.
And in that moment, it all came out. She couldn't go through with this. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't.
Toga flashed in her mind, deviously smiling, telling her to go for it. But she couldn't.
She couldn't let love tear her apart again, or at least the only experience of love she had ever been given up to this point. She couldn't go through that again. She knew it wouldn't pan out that way, she knew Izuku would treat her well.
But even still, she couldn't.
"I'm sorry, Izuku. I can't. We can't," Uraraka sobbed, choking back her words as her tears stained his suit.
And so, another year at UA had flown into view, the dawn of a new set of students making their mark on this world with pride, and a new chance for Izuku to make his mark on their lives as a teacher. This one would be special, as not only were his first ever first year class entering their final year, but Izuku's own adopted daughter, Eri, was entering her first year at the academy, alongside another familiar face in Kota.
Izuku sat at his desk in the staff room, stirring a coffee, reminiscing on his time here. He had made such good friends, and even had the time to fall in love, even if it never ended up working out. He wished Eri could have the same.
"Midoriya, you look awfully down for once, something happen?" Aizawa asked, pulling his chair over. As much as Aizawa wouldn't admit it, he did care for all of his students, and that included past alumni like Izuku.
"No, I was just trying to channel my inner you for the first day, might have to expel everyone including Eri if I get into the right headspace," Izuku tried to joke, but he could see it went straight over Aizawas head.
"That sort of bitchiness doesn't suit you. Trouble with the reunion, I take it?" Aizawa sipped his coffee, leaning back in his chair. He had read Izuku perfectly.
Izuku paused for a second, letting his breath catch up to him.
"I finally confessed to Miss Uraraka, but it didn't go so well," Izuku looked down to his desk, "but, I have more important things to worry about. I'm a hero, I'm a teacher. I have to keep being strong for everyone else too, right?"
"Right," Aizawa smirked, feeling oddly proud of Izuku's maturity in accepting his loss with Uraraka, "that's why you should take a look at this very interesting case that came across your desk this morning."
Aizawa slid a folder to him.
Sting Operation: Futsubuta gang, and affiliated arms dealers
Date of execution: 8th July
Hero in Lead: Lizardy
Support in lieu: Deku, Dark Shadow, Mindmelter, Ripley
Izuku's eyes widened. It would be one of the rare times he did a nighttime sting operation, and better yet, this was a request for him to join forces from another agency, one from Lizardy. Izuku remembered her from school, Tokage from class B. They didn't really interact a whole lot, but always seemed to get along on the account of both being majorly obsessed with something others found a bit weird; for Tokage it was Dinosaurs, and for Izuku it was Quirks. It was nice to know someone else could nerd out as hard as he could from time to time, so on the very few days they spent together, they usually just spoke eachothers ears away about their obsessions.
And not only that, the rest of the crew were all people he knew and trusted too. Tokoyami and Dark Shadow would for sure be the muscle for this operation, with it being at night. Ashido and Shinsou would be on preventing escape with their acid and mind control respectively, and Tokage would be on scouting, in a most likely scenario.
Izuku pondered. This team had muscle to work with, professionals in scouting and escape prevention, so what was he there for?
"Mr. Aizawa, I'm a little confused on why they would need me here. This team seems pretty well rounded?" Izuku asked, trying to connect some dots where he could.
"Simple, one of the Futsubuta gang have a quirk that can change objects they touch into extremely bright, white hot versions of themselves. They need an ace to hit that guy before anyone else, to allow Tokoyami and Dark Shadow to do their thing. Did you seriously not read past the front page?" Aizawa lectured. He knew that this was just the way Izuku worked, thinking more about the strengths of a team. After all, it is very rare for the oppositions quirks to be known before a raid.
But, wait a second, that date was today?
"This is a big sting for us, if you are to accept. So I will give you leave once your homeroom initiation is complete to study up ready for nightfall," Aizawa added.
"But what about..."
"Don't worry, I have already gotten this approved by Nezu and Mr. Yagi. Get out there and do what you do best, it'll be good therapy for you."
Izuku sighed, he knew Aizawa was right. There was nothing better for him right now than helping those in need, or stopping those who could put everyone else in danger.
He flicked through the pages, taking in just a small amount of information before he made his decision. The stakeout would start at 8pm, in a warehouse lot just outside of the Chiba Prefecture. There were plans for a major stolen support item deal between the Futsubuta gang; probably the most notorious gang currently still operating since the Shie Haisakai and the League of Villains disbanded, and an arms dealer the heroes in Tokyo had been tracking for months.
Izuku let out a happy smirk once he turned through the next few pages, seeing detailed breakdowns for all of the heroes in attendance. These weren't just any breakdowns, though, these were breakdowns he had become all too familiar with. Stamped with "One for All Foundation" in the bottom, these were the open source hero network breakdowns Izuku himself had worked on. It was the first time he had seen these in another agencies case files.
"You're right, sir. I will help my fellow heroes tonight!" Izuku slammed the case file shut, bursting to life from his chair like a whole new life had been injected into his veins, although, that could've been the extra strong coffee Aizawa had given him instead of his regular strength this morning.
"Atta boy," Aizawa smirked.
Izuku took a deep breath, winding down for a second. Nightfall had just begun to creep over the east of Japan, taking Tokyo in its throes second by second. He sat, perched on a rooftop just outside of the aforementioned warehouse district in Chiba, waiting for his teammates to arrive.
This had been one of his first proper outings in a while, after taking a short break over the summer, and was one of his first night-time gigs in what could've been years. Well, except from a few impromptu foilings on the average gas station robbery.
"First one here huh, and you didn't even think to let us know you were coming?" Footsteps approached from behind him, along with a familiar snarky voice.
Izuku turned around, Tokage was the first to join him, likely to get here early and set up where she needed to scout.
"I'm sorry, Tokage, I don't have your number, and it skipped my mind with today being initiation at UA and all," Izuku replied.
"Ah, teaching and getting back up to 4th in the Hero rankings, someone's a busy guy," Tokage nudged his elbow playfully, "must suck for your wife though, though I'm sure you take pretty good care of her."
"Erm, what wife?" Izuku looked puzzled. Outside of a date or two here and there, he hadn't ever pinned someone down for more than a few weeks.
Tokage skirted closer, their hips now touching as she leaned in to show Izuku her phone.
"See here, **Deku proposes to Uravity in the middle of Akihabara, to a resounding, tear-filled yes?**" Tokage read out, kicking her feet like a teenage fangirl, "or how about this one, **Deku and Uravity finally tie the knot in Akihabara?**"
Tokage smiled from ear to ear, jesting like a K-Pop fan finding out her two biases had gotten together and were madly in love. Izuku couldn't help but to look to the floor, his shoulders dropping in defeat.
"I... Uh... That wasn't a marriage proposal. I did ask her to go on a date with me, but she said no. She was crying because she felt bad about rejecting me," Izuku mumbled, seemingly shrinking where he sat as he did.
Tokage reached her arm around him, trying to comfort him the best she could in the moment. She could feel him shaking a little beneath his hero costume, only slightly, like he was holding it in, but noticeable enough.
"Hey dude, that's her loss. Tell you what, you remember that place that serves really good burgers just down the road from UA and is open until like 4am? Lets go there after we wrap up this raid, talk about it some more, yeah?" Tokage offered, smiling, but holding back a bit of worry behind her lips. She hated any of her fellow class men being upset, but especially now. She always thought Izuku was sweet, and to hear he got rejected by someone everyone knew he liked for a few years just sucked.
Izuku leaned back, a huge weight dropping from his shoulders.
"Oh man I love that place, I take Eri there all the time. She's really big on American food ever since she met Pony's little sister in middle school," Izuku replied.
"No shot, are they both in the same class at UA?"
"Both in my class, 1A, sat next to each other too, and so is Kota, if you remember him?" Izuku added, his tone lightening up by the moment.
"Oh, that little boy who lived with the Pussycats? Yeah, I remember him! Thought he hated heroes after what happened to his parents?" Tokage questioned.
"Well, he did, until I put the villain who murdered them 10 feet into the side of a cliff when the League of Villains attacked us," Izuku giggled.
A whole group of footsteps approached behind them, with Ashido, Tokoyami, and Shinsou arriving on scene just at the right time.
"You two seem rather chummy, did we miss the raid already?" Ashido teased, staring at Tokage's arm still wrapped behind Izuku's back.
Tokage quickly slid her arm from behind, turning slightly red like she had just been caught in a much worse act with him. Izuku coughed, trying his best to remove that implication from his mind as well, before he turned into a steaming pile of blush too.
"Shush you, we were just catching up, it's been a few years since I last spoke to him," Tokage turned to Izuku and winked, saving them both from the embarrassment.
"Jeez, I was almost gonna congratulate you for breaking that dry-streak you've been on since leaving UA. What's it been now, 4 dates not showing up and like 13 others that went pretty badly even after they showed up?" Mina teased, sticking her tongue out at Tokage.
Izuku hadn't heard anything about Tokage's pretty rough love life, I mean, he didnt really snoop into anyones love life unless they told him about it, so that was pretty surprising news to him. After all, it wasnt like Tokage was an eyesore, or particularly hard to talk to. She was, at least to Izuku, pretty much as good as it could get.
"Eh, they just can't handle the uber instincts of my uber autism, people don't like dinosaurs like they used to. Anyway," Tokage nudged Mina, "Lock the fuck in petal, company just arrived."
Two blacked out Mercedes Sprinter vans pulled around the corner, pulling into the exact warehouse they had been scouting out. Both sets of doors closed, leaving them to talk away from prying ears.
"Shit, can't get a visual on them, we might need to move in closer," Shinsou remarked, squinting as hard as he could through his binoculars.
"Don't even worry," Tokage lifted up her hair to reveal her ear missing, "I already have an ear in there, I can hear if they expect us coming."
All five of them huddled close, ready to operate, ready to take back the stolen support items.
"Alright, here's the plan," Tokage started, pulling out a map she had prepared beforehand, drawn on in what seemed to be bright red sharpie, "There are only these two exits, the van exit and the door around back. What we need to do is make sure both of them are covered so that Deku and Dark Shadow can infiltrate the window right over here."
Tokage pointed to a sunroof clearly on the map, Tokoyami and Izuku both nodding along, with Dark Shadow fist bumping Izuku over Tokoyami's shoulder.
"Me and Shinsou can cover the back door, and I'll keep listening out for movement towards either door, and Mina you can cover the van door, make sure to apply your acid to the ground outside of it so they slip and slide if they try to escape. There are currently five perps in there, so we need to come back five for five," Tokage continued, making sure everyone on the team knew the plan inside out.
All five of them nodded, they knew the plan was solid. If they executed this correctly, there were no holes in their plan at all.
"Damn girl, you sure the tactician over there isn't rubbing off on you?" Mina still teased, wiggling a little, readying herself up for the raid.
"Shush Pinkie, now, let's go," Tokage replied, patting the backs of the two to her sides, before breaking the huddle.
"Holy shit that hits the spot, I'm so jealous you still live at UA, just five minutes from here," Tokage said between scoffs, sauce rolling down her chin like she had no worry of anyone watching, The plan had gone perfectly, from start to finish. Deku took out the main threat to Dark Shadow, and Dark Shadow pinned two more to the wall through Deku's smoke screen. The other two tried to get out the exits, but good coverage from Tokage and Shinsou on the back took out the main arms dealer, whilst Ashido's acid caused the last perp to slip across the concrete into a pile of pallets, rendering him caught on the spot too. Only a few bruises here and there between them to show for it, but otherwise, a perfectly executed plan between them all.
Izuku leaned forward, dabbing a small napkin on Tokage's forehead where she had gotten a small cut.
"That burger ain't running away from you, y'know?" Izuku joked, making sure to get the rest of the drops of blood from her forehead as she continued to eat, "and hey, worst case you can always hit me up whenever you're craving this place, if it isn't at madness o'clock I can bring Eri too!"
"Oh my god, how is that little gremlin? Is she still really shy? Do you have any pictures?" Tokage put down her burger, her eyes glowing already. She never really knew Eri all that much, but she had seen her in school a few times when she came to visit Izuku and the rest of Class A.
Izuku took out his phone, scrolling to an album called "Eri" in his photos app, handing it to Tokage. She scrolled through, seeing what must've been four years of memories since Izuku left UA and officially adopted her. There were a few images that really stood out to her; one of what seemed to be Eri's first day at Izuku's apartment, putting up posters on her wall just like her adopted dad of all her favourite heroes. Then there was another where they were sat together on a Ferris wheel at a carnival, with Eri cuddling up to a huge T-Rex plush they had won together. And finally, a video of Eri opening her acceptance letter to UA, which came with the unmistakably shaky camera of Izuku darting towards her at full speed to hug her.
"She's so cute, and you're a really good dad, Izuku, but what's with the big purple T-Rex plush?" Tokage asked, smiling from ear to ear at how cute the whole collection was.
Izuku scrolled down in the album to a video from just before the carnival, opening it for Tokage to watch. She saw Eri pinning up a few more posters in her room, including a poster of Lizardy, herself, fresh from the infamous "Tokyo Terrors" night raid that saw Lizardy and some others take down a whole gang of 20 people.
"So, she likes me as a hero too huh?" Tokage grinned, leaning forward, resting her chin on her hands, looking awfully proud of herself.
"I mean, of course she does, you're awesome Tokage. You and other night crew members do all of the hardest work whilst people like me get all the praise," Izuku replied, digging in to his fries.
"You can call me Setsuna, y'know, I mean we've known each other long enough and there's no need for the formalities," Tokage added.
"Anyway, enough about me and my dad life, what was up with you and Mina earlier? Seemed pretty unbelievable if you ask me" Izuku asked, trying his best to not make the conversation all about him, as it always seemed to be.
"Oh, y'know, some people see me as some sort of perfect pedestal with no personality. They just see the lizard hero with a big ass and a snatched waist and think that's all there is to me," Setsuna replied, looking a little glummer going into her love life.
"Well, they're missing out. Do you remember that time our classes had a sleepover in third-year and Iida kept telling us to quiet down because we kept talking about dinosaurs and heroes for hours whilst everyone else was trying to sleep?" Izuku replied, smiling soft at her.
Tokage immediately fired back up, a smile returning to her lips once again.
"Oh hell yeah I do, can't believe we never really had much other interaction after that. That was fun, one of the better days in UA for sure. Stress-free, rambling to a nice guy about what I enjoy, what wasn't to like," Tokage replied, relaxing her shoulders, before reaching for her phone, "Speaking of, we should do this again, especially if you bring Eri. Here, add your info in here and I'll text you later tonight."
Both of them continued to ramble through their meals, catching up on all the stories they missed out on over the past few years. Izuku ranting about some of his favourite operations, and memories with Eri, and Tokage ranting about her trip to a zoo overseas, and a few funny things criminals tried to say after being handcuffed by her.
And before they knew it, they had to leave as 4am rolled over, and the restaurant closed for the night.
**Unknown Number**
Hey Izuku, It's Setsuna, Thank you for all the help tonight
Let me know if you wanna hang out again sometime
Gnight 💚
**Izuku**
Of course Set
I'll ask Eri in the morning when she wants to next go somewhere and I'll let you know!
Rest well💚