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Chapter Text

Aizawa lazily turned his gaze towards Bakugo. "You alright?" he asked, his eyes scanning the slouching boy for any injuries.

Bakugo eyes instantly mety Aizawa's, narrowing in question of a challenge. "Of course I am!" Bakugou scowled. "Why the hell shouldn't I be?"

Aizawa's expression remained unchanging. "Uh huh." 

Aizawa was willing to ignore the boy's temper for the moment. The quick cursory glance he gave Bakugo didn't reveal an obvious injury aside from a few cuts and bruises, as well as some torn clothing. That made him less of a priority. The situation wasn't exactly the same for the other boy present.

"And you, Midoriya?" he asked, turning his gaze towards the green-haired boy. Unlike Bakugou, Izuku's injuries were far more noticeable. The explosion-filled fight and the resultant burns led to nasty red splotches that ran across the length of his left arm. And not to mention was the bloodied face that likely a direct result of the still flowing blood flowing from his nose. Other than that, there wasn't any obvious extensive damage.

As for Izuku, he perked up upon the utterance of his name, his eyes trailing away from Bakugou and towards his teacher. "Actually," he began, his tone upbeat, "I feel fine, Aizawa-sens—"

"Sure you do," Aizawa dismissed. A quick tug on his sweater revealed his capture gear, tightly compacted and spun around his neck. After a few quick manipulations of the cloth, Aizawa had two struggling boys within the control of his capture gear. 

After a quick one-eighty, Aizawa began his trip back out of Ground Beta, dragging the boys along the road as he did so. A few brief moments of silence passed by without anyone speaking a word. However, given the situation, it wasn't long until Aizawa began to share his thoughts.

"We need to talk about your choice of weaponry, Midoriya," Aizawa scolded, ignoring the nearby swarms following in his shadow. 

"Really?" Izuku had stopped struggling at that point, content to let his teacher get away with dragging him off to whatever punishment he had planned. 

Bakugou was a whole other matter. He continued to squirm within his constraints, wriggling and tugging on the cloth that restrained him. Muffled words trailed off his mouth, but they came out as little more than indiscernible grunts and growls. Aizawa had preemptively made sure that Bakugou had his mouth covered to avoid any potential shouting matches.

"You'll have your turn later, Bakugou. I'm not in the mood," Aizawa said, tilting his head towards the still-struggling boy, and then back to Izuku. 

"And yes Midoriya, really. We do." He addressed his other student's words.

"Are you sure? What's there to talk about?" Izuku asked, unshaken. "And what does Nezu have to say about my arsenal? I know that he's been watching. I noticed around thirteen drones patrolling the area during the fight, before, and after it."

"And yet you still fought?" Aizawa shook his head. He'd deal with his student's hardheadedness later. 

"Whatever agreements and arrangements you have with the principal and what I allow in my class are two different things," Aizawa continued. "The tripwires were fine. They were tactically and strategically well placed and resourceful. The garotte too, as long as you show restraint in its use. "

"The other traps you had set up in the next two alleyways over 'just in case' were not. One wrong move and Bakugou could have broken his neck with all the flying he was doing." He ignored the spew of noises emanating from Bakugou. "And the usage of your knife was unnecessary. You could've cut too deeply during the close quarters combat, or you could have stabbed an eye out."

"The chance of that happening was substantially low," Izuku interrupted. "I was making sure to be keeping track of all of his movements. I was aiming and slashing at everything with pinpoint accuracy with my bugs, pushing him back towards the wire. Even the knife that I threw was bug guided! The only way something would've gone bad was if an earthquake messed up Bakugou's footing."

"You're not reassuring me, Midoriya."

"But it's the truth!" A surge of bugs appeared before them. Aizawa stopped in his tracks.

"I wouldn't have been throwing around knives in the first place if I wasn't sure of the risks." Izuku said.

He went off and used the bugs as a demonstration. One swarm held a knife, mimicking — albeit in slow motion — the move Izuku had earlier employed. The bugs carried the knife through another swarm that had opened a hole for them to fly through. The knife was then carried along, moving past an assortment of bugs formed together as a clone, and completely missed it, the clone dodging. Five fireflies lit up on the clone, one on each limb and one on the head.

"As you can see," Izuku began, "given Bakugou's reflexes, he would have had ample time to dodge. The fireflies represent bugs that I had on him, which allowed me to predict his movements."

Aizawa narrowed his eyes. He hadn't noticed it until now, but Bakugou's head had suddenly been swarmed by a group of loudly buzzing insects. It was likely that Izuku didn't exactly want the boy to be hearing all of this, which explained the phenomenon. Aizawa decided to use the opportunity for what it was.

Izuku continued. "As you can see, the trajectory of the knife, which can be distinguished with the trail of bugs forming a dotted li—"

Aizawa swiped at the knife, taking it in his grasp and pocketing it. He walked forward through the swarm, not caring for the feeling of hundreds of thousands of little creatures tickling against his skin.

"You were using fireflies as eyes, weren't you?" Aizawa asked.

Izuku did a double take. "Huh?"

"Under that cloak of your's," he said, almost a whisper. 

"That was fairly clever, given your age at the time. At first I thought it was somebody with a mutation quirk or someone using tech. I never would have thought of bugs. They explain how you are able to disappear so quickly when I was chasing you that night. You weren't even physically there."

Izuku eyes shined in delight. "Oh yeah! Right… Heh." He cleared his throat.

"I actually was. There, I mean. I was having dinner with my mom in a nearby restaurant. I saw you running across the rooftops with my own eyes. It was pretty cool and nerve-wracking at the same time." Izuku tilted his head. "You wouldn't still happen to have that cloak, would you?"

"Police evidence locker," Aizawa answered. "And you should remove that swarm from around Bakugou's head now," Aizawa mumbled. "As is, everything else will be for all ears until we reach Nezu's office."

"Huh?" Izuku stuttered. It took him a moment to refocus himself. "Oh! Right!"

The swarm swiftly left Bakugou's immediate area. It didn't take long for Aizawa and Izuku to be bombarded with a series of grunts and muffled words.

"We're going to have to check those burns of yours as well," Aizawa added.

Izuku face contorted in confusion. "Burns? What b— Oh yeah! I honestly forgot those were there."

Aizawa groaned. It was too late at night to be dealing with this nonsense.

It was an hour or so later that they finally arrived and set foot before Nezu's office. The delay could be attributed to the quick detour they had made to Recovery Girl in UA's onsite infirmary. While the healing was generally quick, it was Recovery Girl's scolding of both Bakugo and Izuku that had taken so long. 

Bakugou and Izuku had both gotten an earful from the elder lady, and had promised to — under the threat of not leaving the room — be good for at least the rest of the night. Neither of them had exchanged any words since then, and their relatively tame behavior was what convinced Aizawa to let them walk by themselves. 

"Go ahead," Aizawa heeded to Izuku, motioning towards Nezu's office.. "He's already waiting in there for you."

Ignoring the piercing gaze of the cross armed, sitting form of Bakugou, Izuku went ahead and pulled open the oversized door to Nezu's office.

"Uhh… Principal Nezu, sir?"

The mouse-dog-bear thing popped up from behind his desk. "Ah, Midoriya! Come in, take a seat. We have some things I'd like to discuss.

As he went to sit, Izuku noticed how — like before — a kettle of tea had already been brewed beforehand. It was the single largest thing on the desk, and caught Izuku's attention more than the principal himself.

"It's Jasmine this time around," Nezu informed. "Would you like a cup?"

Izuku nodded, and Nezu readily poured him a cup. As he finished, the two settled down in their seats and took a few sips at their tea.

"That was quite a show you gave us, you know," Nezu said. "Both you and Bakuugo are excellent fighters in your own rights."

"Uh, thank you, I suppose."

"Of course! I'm merely recognizing your talent as it is! Just the same as to how the police force does. But…" he stretched the word, "I'm impressed. I didn't think that you'd take my advice so quickly."

Izuku blinked. "The thing about fighting?"

"Mhm." Nezu nodded. "Normally, I ignore these sorts of things when they occur between students as long as nobody got extensively hurt and the outcome is mutually beneficial. Final judgement falls to me what happens in the aftermath."

"However, since I'm not the only party with your interests in mind, I'd have to report this due to your involvement with the police." He held up his paw. "But I'm willing to let this pass for now. It needed to happen sooner or later, after all. This is just another check of the list for your development."

"My development?" Izuku questioned.

"What? You didn't think that I'd allow for your volatile hostilities to persist, did you? The animosity held between you and Bakugou isn't a very healthy thing."

Izuku huffed. "But I don't even care all too much about—" 

"Are you sure you want to finish that sentence?" Nezu interrupted. "Because we both know that deep down, you still care. You still hold some hate in him, for all the things that he's done to you."

Izuku paused. It took a moment for him to bounce back.

"Then why keep him here?" he rebuked. "Why attempt to sway such a lost cause after knowing everything that he's done?"

Nezu smiled. "Lost cause? No no no, Midoriya. Nobody's a lost cause if you try hard enough to help them. In fact, the fight you two just had did wonders in improving your relationship."

Izuku's expression flattened. "In case you didn't notice, he was still looking at me in utter disdain just a little bit a while ago."

"Leftover adrenaline," Nezu explained. "And proof of your bias. Give it the night for his mind to clear. The change will definitely be noticeable. His hostility will be reduced, quite drastically so. And he'll even have a newfound respect for you."

Izuku held back his urges for any harsh wording or swears. "You really think that?"

Nezu nodded and took a sip of his tea. "The rest will be solved in time. This is but the first step. At the end of it all, you'll just be bitter rivals. And maybe, just maybe, you could be friends."

"I can't really see that happening, sir." Izuku muttered, drinking his tea.

"Oh, it will." Nezu's brows rose in amusement. "Trust me."

Silence reigned for a long minute, Nezu happily drinking away as Izuku looked on in frustration. He filled his cup back up himself before he spoke again.

"What exactly are you trying to do here?"

Nezu looked abashed. "Me? My, what could I ever possibly be trying to do? It's not like I coerced or forced you into anything, Midoriya. I merely allowed things to occur as they were set into motion."

Nezu swiveled in his chair, arms spread out. Izuku ignored the principal's quirky actions and waited for him to continue.

Nezu continued to speak as he continued to spin in his chair. "Your situation was already a volatile one; a powder keg, waiting to ignite. I simply took advantage of the situation and made sure you were under the watch of somebody who cares."

Nezu stopped, facing head on and looking Izuku in the eye. "All I want is to see you succeed, Midoriya. No tricks, no ulterior motives involved. That is all."

The principal turned in his chair again until he faced the window, his back to Izuku. A good thirty seconds of silence and a waiting Izuku broke as Nezu spoke again.

"That was a dismissal, Midoriya. Call in Bakugou on your way out."

"Oh!" Izuku laughed, "Right, right. Okay, I'll go."

Izuku rose from his seat, exiting the office without a spare glance. He was met with two gazes, each on the opposite sides of the spectrum that radiated anger and disinterest.

A simple gesture of his head had Bakugou rising up, his gaze not letting up as he walked past Izuku and into Nezu's office.

Once the door clicked shut, Izuku was left alone with the calculating gaze of his teacher.

"Sit down, Midoriya. Let's talk." A thin smile formed on Aizawa's face. "I've been thinking up some extensions for a couple of your punishments. I'm sure that you'll find them quite appealing."

Izuku sighed. It seemed that he wasn't out of the woods just yet.

"I want you two up and early so you can begin your cleaning duties. I don't care that it's already half past two in the morning. I want you two up as the sun rises. That'll be before five."

Neither Izuku nor Bakugou spoke up against Aizawa, content in letting the man speak as they walked back to their dorms.

"Bakugou." Aizawa turned his gaze towards the boy in question. "You'll be joining in on Midoriya's daily runs. Since you're the aggressor in all this, you get some extra laps. Eight-five laps per day."

Aside from a repressed growl, Bakugou didn't say anything back to his teacher.

It didn't take long for them to reach the doors of their dorm. As they did, Aizawa switched his attention towards Izuku.

"You're already on a thin enough line as it is, Midoriya. I don't want to see you slacking off at all, you hear me?"

"Of course, Aizawa-sensei." Izuku nodded.

Aizawa nodded back. "Good. Now, in you two go. You'll want to be sleeping soon if you want to wake up on time."

Nobody was up and about in the common room this time around — Izuku had preemptively checked with his bugs. Unfortunately, Spurt was up to what he was doing last time, albeit with less messy results even if he had progressed faster than he had than last time. The only caveat Izuku was grateful for was that the room was cleaner than last time. A quick mental flick of the switch had Spurt frozen and stopped in motion of his activities.

As Izuku and Bakugou went inside, Izuku allowed himself a four to five foot gap between himself and Bakugou. Both of them climbed the stairs in relative silence, Izuku watching Bakugou as he furthered up the stairs and out of his sight.

Once he got to his door, Izuku slowly pushed it open, taking caution that he didn't topple the tower of books stacked up against the door.

"Told you that I'd be back earlier," Izuku announced into the room. He walked over to Spurt and made sure to pluck the repurposed coat hanger from coconut crab's claws. "Not this time, little guy."

Izuku let go of his sway over the coconut crab, leading to Spurt looking around in confusion until his stalks set themselves onto Izuku. With a nod to himself, the crab crawled his way back into his closet.

Satisfied, Izuku slumped into his bed, ignoring the mess Spurt and a couple other bugs made of the dorm. Izuku could start off his cleaning chores with his own room, after all. Plus, he'd get to see the supposed fruits of Nezu's labor in a couple hours. So there was that. 

It didn't take long for sleep to take him.

Izuku awoke with a groan. The alarm blared a shrill noise, something which shit off as a guided beetle hit the snooze button. The sun was nearly upon the horizon, something that Izuku could attribute to the natural instincts of some of the bugs in his range.

He wasn't necessarily dreading the day; it wouldn't be too different from usual, after all. Not since he had begun waking up early since that fateful day with the police. As is, he'd only be losing an hour of sleep with the new restrictions.

And so, after a few minutes rest, Izuku arose from his bed and made his way downstairs to begin his punishment.

Izuku found Bakugou already down there cleaning away. Surprisingly, he didn't spout out any disdainful words or shouts of defiance upon the sight of Izuku. Bakugou merely looked Izuku's way for but moment and went back to work. 

"Looks like your principal is on to something. I've got to say, he really knows his stuff."

You really think that?

"Mhm. I've had a similar experience in the past, after all. Though, your situation is a bit more tame than mine was."

More tame than him trying to brutally fight me to unconsciousness?

"… Yeah. Bakugou's a lot more tamer."

Huh.

Izuku set about on his cleaning activities, picking up a cloth to start. However, he stopped himself before he began and considered the exact rules of the punishment, recounting Aizawa's words in his head. Izuku eventually decided that Aizawa probably wouldn't mind if there were some helping hands take part in the cleaning, as long as they were all still being remotely controlled.

Izuku was ultimately confused when his waking classmates screamed in utter terror upon finding hordes of bugs taking part in cleaning duty.

They really had nothing to worry about; all the bugs he was using were completely sanitary, after all.

Notes:

So, it looks like I'm taking up executive control and writing the Valentine's chapter. I've been waiting for a tiebreaker, egging it on and hinting at it, but it never came. Oh well. Apologies for all of you who didn't want it.