Chapter Text
Under Unlikely Wings
Walking into the staffroom had been nerve-wracking. He wasn’t sure how All Might was going to react, especially after it was Izuku himself who had practically begged to work with NightEye. He had the apology planned to the last word in his head. He’d written it down and practiced several times before walking into the room. So, when All Might had bowed his own towering, hollow frame and apologized first, everything Izuku had planned went up in smoke.
“It’s due to my shortcomings and fraught history with Mirai that you had go through such a terrible experience, young Midoriya.” All Might had murmured, his voice heavy with guilt that made Izuku’s chest tight, “I sincerely apologize for it.”
The sheer panic of trying to get the former Symbol of Peace to stand up straight had nearly fried Izuku's brain to ash. By the time he finally escaped back to the dorms, he felt like the interaction had shaved five years off his life.
It hadn't helped that the 1-A dorms were practically a ghost town. Almost everyone was packing or vibrating with excitement over their approved work-studies. Only Momo, Sero, Aoyama, and Shouto were left behind, leaving Izuku to trudge through the empty hallways and stew in his own stagnation.
By the weekend, the frustration had driven him out of the school altogether.
"You're going to get a stomach ache," Izuku muttered, staring blankly from his spot on the massive beanbag in Keigo's living room.
On the kitchen island, the Number Three Hero was currently digging a fork into a fresh strawberry pie. It had been in the loft for barely two hours, a care package Izuku’s mother had insisted on sending, and Keigo had already demolished half of it.
“Mmph? No way, this is fuel," Keigo said around a mouthful of crust. He pointed his fork at Izuku. "Besides, your mom’s a genius. This is work of art, I'm not letting it go to waste. But seriously, why not just swap agencies? Rotate a bit.”
Izuku let his head fall back against the fabric of the beanbag with a pathetic, hollow thump. He had spent almost an hour explaining how his quirk, especially OFA, wasn’t suited with any other agency. But clearly the bird hero was operating on a different wavelength. Strawberry pie wavelength.
Izuku considered if hitting the Number Three in the face with a pillow was going to elevate the headache starting to throb against his skull. “Like I said, if I knew how to overcome the limit, I wouldn’t have an issue, now would I?”
"Which limit?" Keigo asked, his amber eyes darting longingly toward the remaining slices of pie.
“Huh?”
“I mean, ya know, your quirk’s got different quirks—”
“Skills.”
“Yeah, yeah, different skills, I mean which one’s the issue?”
Izuku considered his answer. He had told Keigo the truth about his quirk but he hadn’t shared the truth about One for All. He needed a lie that kept the secret safe while still making perfectly logical sense.
“The issue isn’t a particular skill. Remember how I told you I can unlock new skills if I manage to level up?”
“Mhmmm.”
“Right. So, you know how some RPGs have the concept of a branching skill tree? Where you have different paths for different skills, and mastering certain nodes allows them to branch off, upgrade, or even combine with other branches to unlock something completely new? It’s exactly like that.”
“Huh. I see…” Keigo nodded so seriously Izuku doubted he was actually listening. In fact, Izuku would bet a serious amount of money that the hero’s mind was occupied by a fierce internal debate over whether to eat another slice of pie right now, or save it for later.
Suddenly snapping out of his thoughts, Keigo jerked his head up. “So, what’s the issue then?”
Izuku licked his teeth, his hand twitching toward the pillow. Throwing it might not cure his headache, but his palms were starting to itch for the satisfaction anyway.
Keigo hummed, nodding reflexively, before the numbers actually registered in his brain. He froze. “Right, ten per—ten what? Seriously? You’re at ten percent right now? Kid, none of the skills I’ve seen you use look like they’re capped at ten percent. What the fuck?”
Izuku sighed, pointing a lazy finger toward the acrylic swear jar sitting on the counter. “Noooo, I’m supposed to unlock a new skill I hit twenty percent, but right now I’m stuck at 10%.”
Keigo looked at him with disbelieving expression. “Your quirk isn’t fair, ya know?”
‘‘Heh. That’s what I keep telling him,’ Yoichi muttered, practically radiating smug satisfaction.
‘Which means my quirk is next on the branch, right?’ Nana chimed in, her voice bouncing excitedly. ‘Oh, I can’t wait for you to learn it!’
“Anyway, so you just gotta break the wall to unlock the next node, right?” Keigo shrugged, popping another piece of pie crust into his mouth. “Mhm. How did you break the last limit?”
Izuku thought about it. Because it had unlocked after the USJ incident he had concluded it was due to the fact that Berserk mode that pushed him beyond his limit. “Uh… during the USJ incident. I pushed myself beyond my limits.”
“Mhm. Fighting for your life will do that…”
Izuku hadn’t been fighting for his life. His life had been fine. His Dad’s life wasn’t. But he decided against correcting the minor detail.
“Is there any other way you to push yourself to the limit?”
“No. I’ll need someone I can fight against with my current full power. That drastically reduces the list of people I can go up against. I can’t fight against All Might. He’s way stronger and faster. He’d knock me out in a second.” And he sucks at holding himself back, Izuku thought thinking back to their semester final practical. And he’s not good at holding back either.
“Isn’t Shouto also opting out of work-studies. Can’t you practice with him? That way you both get practice. Or you could practice with Katsuki on days he doesn’t have to go for work-studies.”
“I can get Kacchan to agree, but I dunno if Shouto would agree…” Izuku pouted.
Keigo looked at him like he was stupid. “Kid, I don’t think Shouto to would say no to anything you say.”
Izuku frowned, not sure why Keigo would think so but didn’t voice his confusion. Instead, he asked, “Tell me more about the rotating between agencies?”
“I mean, work for a week or two each agency.” Keigo answered.
“I can do that?” Izuku asked. He knew some agencies took students in for a day or a week for work-studies, but was he allowed to join another right after?
“Yep… well there’s the thing with cool-down clause, but in your case, it’s beneficial for your cause you can use that time to train with Shouto or Katsuki.”
“Huh…” Izuku pressed his fingers against his lips as he thought about it. “But where should I start?”
“No offense, kid, but personally? I think you need to fix your head before you worry about your skills,” Keigo said. He set his empty plate down on the island with a soft clack. His casual attitude didn't completely disappear, but his eyes got a lot sharper. “Look at your track record. Every single time you had to break that limit and push your quirk to the edge, it was because someone was about to die. Right?”
Izuku didn't answer. His silence was immediate confirmation.
“That’s a bad habit, Izuku,” Keigo said, leaning forward against the counter. “You’re waiting until your back is against the wall to actually use what you've got. You shouldn't need a tragedy just to get your quirk to work for you.” He paused, tapping his fork against his chin for a few seconds before shrugging. “I could hook you up with Rumi for a week if you want.”
Izuku let out a strangled, high-pitched squeak. “Mirko?!”
“Yeah, why not? I think she’d be good for you,” Keigo said, completely unfazed by the teen's panic. “You’ve got a crazy strong quirk, kid, but you're too stiff. Rumi is... well, you know her. If it didn’t work the first time, she just hits it harder next time. She doesn't think about it. She just moves.”
“B-but Mirko doesn’t even have an agency!” Izuku spluttered, waving his hands frantically in the air. “She operates completely solo! She doesn’t take sidekicks, she doesn’t take interns, she doesn’t—”
“Well, yeah, because she doesn't like the paperwork cluttering her life. And you’re not going to be her sidekick,” Keigo shrugged casually, pulling his phone out from his pocket and effortlessly scrolling through his contacts. “Trust me on this. Let me talk to her; she’ll agree. You stick around her for a few days, and maybe you'll finally stop overanalyzing your own shadow.”
Izuku's brain short-circuited. First, All Might and Mirio had gone entirely out of their way to force a meeting with Sir Nighteye, which had already ended in a stressful disaster. Now the Number Three Hero was casually trying to force open the door to the newly ranked Number Five Hero. Izuku absolutely did not want top-tier pros upending their entire schedules just to handle his baggage.
“But she’s literally famous for hating stuff like this! I really don’t want to impose—”
“Shh,” Keigo interrupted, flashing a bright, utterly unbothered grin as he pressed the call button. He tapped his phone screen, brought it up to his ear, and smoothly pushed off the kitchen counter. Before Izuku could even open his mouth to launch into another frantic protest, Keigo flew up to the upper section of the loft, away from Izuku’s hearing range.
#
Twenty-two minutes.
For twenty-two agonizing minutes, Keigo remained on the phone with Mirko while Izuku slowly tortured his own hands instead.
He twisted his fingers together until his knuckles protested, then pulled at them one by one before starting the cycle all over again. The vestiges had long since abandoned trying to comfort him. Their reassurances drifted in one ear and out the other.
‘You could use Aural Sense.’ Banjo suggested eventually.
‘Are you kidding me?’
‘What’s the worst that could happen?’
‘I could hear them!’
‘…’
Izuku went completely still as a faint, feather-light brush of wind swept over the room. He looked up just in time to see Keigo drift over the banister and drop down onto the hardwood floor, landing without a sound. He was twirling his phone around his fingers with a lazy, triumphant grin.
“I’m going to kill you,” Izuku muttered, launching himself forward to blindly swipe at the phone.
Keigo didn't even have to look, simply leaning his head back half an inch to let Izuku’s frantic hands clear empty air. He let out a quiet, amused chuckle. “Aw, come on, kid. It’s not that deep. Besides—she said yes.”
Izuku’s foot caught on the edge of the area rug. He tripped, flat-out dropping onto his hands and knees on the floor. He slowly pushed himself up, staring. “...What?”
“Yeah,” Keigo said, pocketing his phone and leaning back against the counter again. “She’s totally fine with you tagging along for a couple of weeks. She’s heading down to Musutafu in a few days anyway—tracking some runaways or something. Said you can join her.”
Izuku stared at him, his mouth slightly open. “Huh?!”
“Well, I gave her a little scenario, and she thought it was hilarious so she agreed.”Keigo said, giving him a lazy, I-told-you-so shrug. He paused, his expression turning slightly mischievous. “Though, fair warning. She might look cool on TV, but she’s a total bully. Have fun with that.”
“I-I-I HUH?!”
“Although, since she doesn’t have any agency, the paperwork is going to be a little weird.” Keigo added, tapping his finger against the back of his phone. “You’ll need to talk to… oh wait, ‘zawa’s not here… mhm, I guess you can go straight to Nedzu about it.”
#
Izuku ran away.
Initially the plan had been to stay over at Keigo’s loft for the whole weekend, but eventually the bird hero’s antics drove him up the wall and he ran off. He complained to Inko who laughed sweetly and ask him to play well.
Him.
Him!
She should be saying that to Keigo not him!
He could still hear his infuriating laugh as he walked out of the door. Bidding him farewell, and well wishes all dramatic and sickeningly sweet. Once safely back at the Heights Alliance dorms, Izuku had tried venting to Katsuki on a call, only to get verbally crushed six ways from Sunday and promptly blocked the exact second, he accidentally let it slip that he was going to be shadowing Mirko.
It was a stark, terrifying realization: he needed to keep this entire work-study under wraps from the girls. If Uraraka or Hagakure found out he was training with their absolute idol, he would quite literally be lynched. Izuku gripped his pen tightly, seriously contemplating the logistics of strangling the Number Three Hero.
“What are you doing?”
Izuku snapped out of his spiral, blinking up from his notebook to find Shouto standing right beside the couch. The bi-coloured boy was peered down at the pages with a subdued curious expression.
“Oh! Um, hey, Shouto,” Izuku stammered, hurriedly smoothing down a crumpled page. “Just... making adjustments to the work plan Sensei gave me for the next few weeks. Preparing schedules, writing down some pre-training metrics, that sort of thing.”
He recalled the conversation he had with Hawks yesterday and decided to give it a go.
"I've kind of... hit a wall with my quirk." Izuku scratched absently at the edge of the notebook. “I need someone to spar with. Someone who can push me without completely overwhelming me.” He paused, looking at the other with hopeful eyes, “I was wondering if... maybe you'd be willing to help?”
“Why me?” Shouto asked, but it wasn’t suspicion. Just genuine curiosity.
“Well...” Izuku searched for the right words. “You're strong enough that I'd have to take the fights seriously, but we're still close enough in strength that I wouldn't get completely overwhelmed.” He laughed awkwardly. If I asked All Might, I'd spend more time unconscious than training.”
"...That's true." Shouto was quiet for another beat before nodding once. "Okay."
Izuku blinked.
"...Okay?"
"I'll help."
"Really?"
"I need to train too." Shouto answered simply. "It'll be good practice for both of us."
"Thanks, Shouto!"
"Mm."
Izuku immediately flipped to a clean page.
"Okay, first things first—we'll need a training schedule... Can I see the booklet Eraserhead made for you?"
Shouto sat down beside him without another word.
"We'll also need somewhere we can fight without interrupting classes."
Izuku nodded, already writing.
"Training Ground Gamma should work... though I'll have to check if it's available."
"We'll need a teacher."
"Right." Izuku scribbled another note, the tip of his pen scratching aggressively against the paper. "Someone has to supervise us." He paused, the pen hovering as a small frown pinched his brow. "Mhm, I don't think Vlad King-sensei could do it. I heard a lot of Class 1-B students opted out of work-studies to focus on school training, so he's completely tied up with them. And the second-year hero course students are away for their off-site regional deployments, which means their combat instructors went with them..."
Izuku sighed, capping his pen as he mentally went through the rapidly decreasing number of faculties.
“What about All Might?” Shouto suggested.
Izuku immediately shook his head. After the semester finals, Izuku had asked his Dad if he could train one-on-one with All Might and the man had flatly refused that for as long as he’s within the premises of UA, All Might cannot supervise or train another student with the presence of an primary hero trainer. Izuku explained the reason briefly, no reason not to since Shouto already knew about his relation with their homeroom teacher.
“We can’t ask Present Mic Sensei for the same reason. He isn’t licensed to supervise hero training.”
“Midnight Sensei?”
"Occupied," Izuku sighed, slumping his shoulder. "The second-year support department students started their advanced aesthetics project this week… it’s basically them re-designing the costumes of existing Pros. I went to Power Loader yesterday because my escrima rods needed some repair, and he said Midnight is currently tied up acting as a consultant and live model for three different design teams. She won't be second semester finals.”
“…Izuku… why do you know the schedules of all the faculties?”
Izuku blushed, embarrassed. It wasn’t his usual hero-tracking habits! It’s just that, he was familiar with four of them on a familial basis, he spent the lunch-break ever so often with All Might, and the rest he usually over-heard while he went to the staff-room or through the mouths of Hizashi, Nemuri or Keigo.
“Oh! We can ask Ectoplasm Sensei!” Izuku chirped. “The third-year students have work-studies as well so the third-year faculties would be free! And we can ask Snipe Sensei as well!” He jotted down their names immediately, like failing to do so would mean they won’t be available either. “I’ll have to ask for Principal Nedzu’s permission as well…”
The sudden look of concern felt awfully out of place on Shouto’s usual neutral face, “…is that… safe?”
Almost immediately, his dad’s warning popped in his mind. "His strategy and analysis lessons are one thing, kid. But if Nedzu EVER offers to supervise your physical combat training... I need you to promise me you will turn around and run as fast as you can"
Izuku looked at Shouto sincerely, “I will try my best to make sure he didn’t suggest supervising us.”
#
Izuku matched the address to the location for the n’th time, fearing the words on the paper would change at the last moment. He looked up and around, matching the landmarks once more. The trepidation of meeting the Rabbit Hero was slowly enervating his sanity with each passing minute.
‘No one; I repeat: absolute no one, asked you to come an HOUR earlier.’ Yoichi snapped. The bubbling anxiousness in the teenager’s mind weighing down on them almost suffocatingly.
‘You don’t know that! Wha-what if I had gotten stuck in traffic?!’
‘It’s a Saturday!’
‘Well… still! It’s good to be early!’
‘An hour early is—'
‘Yoichi,’ Nana chastised gently as the First vestige’s frustration was further adding to the teenager’s addled mental state. ‘Izuku, honey, breathe. You’re going to get yourself sick before you even meet her.’
‘I just-’
‘We know, kiddo. We know,’ Nana reassured. The feeling of her cool hand running against Izuku’s scalp was awfully soothing. It was wonder to none of the vestiges, that despite everything, if there was one thing the boy never learnt was how to take goodwill without fretting over the obligations. Overtly so, at times.
Izuku let out a long breath, closing his eye and deliberately willing his body to relax. He didn’t mean to be so stewed over it, but he had only met the hero fleetingly on two different occasions. In both those occasions, he had done very little except for greeting her or sharing his name.
He really wished Keigo could be here with him. But the Bird Hero had refused clearly.
“As much as I’d like to… I can’t, ‘zuku. I’m sorry. No matter where, if Rumi and I are seen together it’s definitely going to make the news. And she specifically told me she didn’t want her presence blasted on the news before the mission was over.”
Which, yes, did make a lot of sense. Hence why Izuku had been unable to refute it. It still didn’t mean he didn’t want a familiar presence to ground him.
“Iridescent?”
Izuku lurched away, spinning around fast enough his shoes squeaked against the pavement. Turning he found a woman, slightly shorter than him, dressed in a tight white tank top and loose, stonewashed jeans. Long, snowy hair cascaded past her waist, and a colorful silk scarf wrapped around her head. If Izuku hadn’t already seen her before, there was no way he would’ve guessed she one of the Top Ten Heroes.
She was eyeing him up with an unbothered, calculating glare, resting one hand on her hip while she popped her knuckles with the other.
“Heh. Nice reflexes, kid.” She huffed, tilting her head to eye him up some more. “Yer Midoriya, right? We’ve met before.”
“Ye-Yes, Midoriya Izuku. It’s nice-nice meet you again, Miss Mirko.” Izuku stuttered out. He couldn’t believe she remembered him! Holy Shit, he was going to vibrate out of his skin at this rate.
“Drop the formalities. Makes me sound like an old lady,” She scoffed, waving a dismissive hand before turning on her heel and jerking her chin towards an alleyway. “Move it. We’re on a timer.”
“Go-?” Despite his confusion, Izuku collected himself and followed after the Hero. “Where are we going?”
“Chasing down five punks who thought they could stir up trouble in Aichi and slip away,” Mirko grunted, a feral, eager grin tweaking the corner of her lips. “Bastards managed to run away the last time. I’m gonna smash into the concrete today.”
Once the work was present, Izuku almost reflexively fell into gear. His trepidation and nervous melting away as his brain immediately started keeping a mental track of the villains they might engage.
“Do we have their Quirk profiles or visual IDs yet? If they’re grouping up, they might be planning a defensive bottleneck—”
Mirko cackled, hopping over a barricade. “Look at ya, ready to jump straight into the meat grinder. Huh. Alright, ears open, greenie… Here’s what these bastards can do…”
Once she finished a brief run-down of the villains, Mirko shared her action plan—though Izuku severely doubted whether “Grab ’em, smash ’em” could legally qualify as a plan.
Tracking the group to their rendezvous point proved easy enough. The criminals had picked a decent spot: a sparsely populated corner of the city with just enough foot traffic to blend in, surrounded by open alleyways that offered easy escape routes.
What they hadn’t accounted for was the terrifying speed of the Rabbit Hero—or Izuku himself. Mirko easily knocked down two with her power kick. When then remaining two of the villains tried to bolt, Izuku snagged them instantly with Blackwhip.
Seeing how fast and efficient she was, Izuku briefly wondered how they had managed to run away in the first place. He got his answer a second later.
One of the larger men Mirko had floored managed to push himself back up and activate his Quirk. In a split second, a cloud of suffocating, dense fumes of smoke erupted between them, completely cutting off their line of sight. Izuku gasped, his Ki-enhanced senses immediately assaulted by a pungent, foul odor. His eyes burned and watered uncontrollably, and his nose went instantly numb, throwing his perception into chaos.
‘Miss Mirko’s quirk…’
"Mirko-san?!" Izuku called out, his voice sharp with reflexively borne concern. He unwittingly let out a soft whine as he his eyes burned and throbbed due to the smoke. "Are you okay—?!"
Before he could even finish the sentence, a powerful gust of wind swept through the alley as Mirko casually dispersed the remnant haze with a single, sharp whip of her leg.
Through the clearing air, two of the villains could be seen scrambling toward a fire escape, assuming the smoke screen had bought them enough time to make a clean break. But despite coughing and doubled over from the fumes, Izuku relied on his ears. Tracking their heavy footsteps through the haze, he lashed out with Blackwhip once more, immobilizing them.
"...Got 'em."
"Yeah." Mirko replied, though her tone was off.
Izuku winced, squinting through his tears to look at her. She didn’t look angry, but she didn’t look pleased either. Just... unamused.
Once Izuku dragged the bound villains closer, Mirko walked over and brutally knocked them out one by one to ensure they stayed quiet.
“Stay down,” she grunted, bringing her heel down hard on the back of the last struggling villain.
She paused, taking a moment to review the scene. The first time she encountered this guy in Aichi, the smoke screen had caught her off-guard. This time, while she still didn't have a direct counter to the smell, she had been ready to push through the disorientation and chase them down on foot. She’d fully expected to hunt at least a couple of them across the rooftops after handing the rest to the cops.
Instead, the kid had wrapped the whole thing up in seconds. She didn’t know the fine details of Izuku's Quirk, but from the way he was still struggling to breathe, the smoke had hit him just as hard as it hit her. Yet he’d adapted instantly, using those black tentacles to shut down their escape route without missing a beat.
"Hmm." Mirko tilted her head, locking her red eyes on him as she folded her arms.
"You lost maybe..." She paused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "...two seconds." She paused, her gaze hardening as she looked at Izuku. "Didn't matter this time."
Izuku frowned slightly, still wiping at his watering eyes. "...But?"
"But next time?" Mirko tapped the side of her head with a heavy knuckle. "Don't."
"But Miss Mirko—"
"If I'm standing, I can handle myself," she cut in, jabbing a thumb squarely into her own chest. "My problem.” Then she pointed at him. "Yours is making sure the idiots don't get away. We’re Pros out here, kid, not civilians checking up on each other. I work solo for a reason—real heroes don't waste precious seconds worrying about backup when the target is running. Fix your priorities."
Izuku swallowed hard, the weight of her words sinking in. He straightened his back, ignoring the lingering burn in his lungs, and gave her a firm, single nod. "Right. Understood."
After the local precinct arrived and secured the five villains in heavy Quirk-suppressant restraints, Mirko finished stamping the incident report with her signature. As the last police cruiser pulled away from the curb, she turned back toward Izuku, who was still making quick notes in a small pocket memo pad.
She watched him for a beat, her sharp red eyes lingering on his posture.
“Hey,” Mirko grunted, folding her arms over her chest.
Izuku immediately snapped the notebook shut, looking at her. “Yes, Miss Mirko?”
“I told you to drop the 'Miss,' didn’t I?” Mirko hissed before rolling her eyes and shaking her head. “One last thing about earlier. I’m not keeping on top of everything that happens at UA, but I know enough to know you understand what happens if you hesitate in the field. If you’re going to work in a squad, you have to trust that your partner can handle their own damn mess without you holding their hand. If you can’t do that, then you’re better off fighting completely alone.”
She gave him a sharp, searching look to let the words settle, letting the gravity of the lesson hang in the air. Then, just as quickly, the serious air around her disappeared. She grinned, a wide blinding grin stretching across her face. Wild. Feral. Almost terrifying.
“Which brings me to the fun part!” She clapped a heavy hand onto Izuku’s shoulder, the force of it making his knees buckle slightly. “I’m stuck in Musutafu for another week wrapping up paperwork on this cartel. And since Hawks said you needed some actual field experience instead of sitting in a classroom...”
Her grin widened, sharp teeth gleaming under the sunlight.
“...congratulations, kid. You’re under my wing till I leave.”
“Re-Really?” Izuku stuttered out, eyes wide with disbelief.
“Yep.” Mirko nodded. Then she leaned in, whispering, “Though I don’t really know all about the paperwork… do I need to sign a lot of forms?”
Izuku immediately shook his head, “No-no, just two.”
“Thank goodness,” she huffed, then slapped his back hard once more.
“Oof!” Izuku grunted, stumbling forward from the sheer force. He was sure his back now bore two bright, hot red hand marks.
“Bright and early tomorrow, five in the morning! We’re doing endurance runs until you puke, and then we’re hunting down whatever lower-tier punks are stupid enough to be out past sunrise!” Mirko cackled loudly, spinning on her heel and tossing a casual wave over her shoulder as she bounded up the side of a building, vanishing over the rooftop in a single leap. “Don’t be late, Greenie!”
Izuku stood frozen on the sidewalk for a long moment, staring up at the empty roof ledge where she had been standing a second ago. He slowly raised his hand, looking down at his notebook, then back up at the sky.
Rabbits are supposed to be prey animals… right?
Cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck. Maybe I should just given up on work-studies all together...