Cheaper by the Half-Dozen - Little Sh*t #11 [Part 0.5]

I haven't decided yet if I want to keep this scene in the fic or not, so I'm posting it as a separate part and it may just become a "deleted scene" if I decide not to put it in the main fic

Midoriya rolled out of bed with a yawn, shivering when the cool air hit him. The mornings were getting colder every day, he was gonna have to dig out some warmer pyjamas to help him survive the early starts.

A few days had passed since their last incident with a villain attack, and Midoriya was feeling good for once. He was relaxed, he was happy, and best of all, he finally had a date with Bakugou planned – this time nothing was gonna get in their way. All he had to do was get through one more day of school unscathed, and then they’d be free to go and be stupid and sappy to their hearts’ content.

“Morning Midoriya!” Kirishima called, when he went down to the kitchen for breakfast. “Nice to wake up full-sized, huh?”

“So nice,” Midoriya agreed, laughing. “No diaper scraps around me this time, either.”

“At least they were clean!”

“Great point!”

A hand landed on Midoriya’s head, ruffling his hair lightly, and Midoriya beamed as he looked back, finding a tiny smile on his devastatingly handsome boyfriend’s face.

“Morning Kacchan!” he chirped, throwing his arms around Bakugou’s waist. “How was your run?”

“Good.” Bakugou hugged him back, and Midoriya wasn’t sure he’d ever been happier. “You get some sleep?”

“Yeah! I finally feel well-rested!”

“Can’t relate,” Uraraka mumbled from the table, through a mouth stuffed with rice. “Can’t remember the last time I got more than a light slumber.”

“Slumber?” Ashido asked. “I hardly know her.”

Bakugou rolled his eyes, but Midoriya couldn’t stop the little snort that came out of him, even though he knew Bakugou would be disappointed in him for his shitty sense of humour. Despite his disappointment, though, he still grabbed two plates from the cupboard, dishing up breakfast for them to sit and eat together.

“So this afternoon,” Bakugou began quietly. “We’ll need to get to the station by three-thirty, if we can. Next train won’t be until four-fifteen, so we’ll be stuck in rush hour and shit.”

“I can do three-thirty!” Midoriya promised. “I’ve got a change of clothes out, so we can just run back here, change, and go straight to the station.”

“Perfect.”

They’d visited the market on opening day every year as kids, and now that they were finally together, it only made sense to go back there as a couple, to walk under the fairy lights and munch on amazing street food together. Midoriya spun his ring around his finger, smiling to himself, and Bakugou shoved him lightly when he caught him fiddling with it.

“Aww, look at the cute little boyfriends,” Ashido teased. “It’s about time, you’ve only been pining over each other forever.”

“Shut up,” Bakugou huffed, his pink cheeks ruining any intimidation factor he might otherwise have had. “I married him years ago, s’fine.”

“Uh-huh, okay,” she humoured him.

“Really though,” Uraraka said with a faint smile. “It’s nice to see you both happy, especially with everything that’s been going on lately and getting in the way and everything.”

“So you two have really been calling each other boyfriend all this time without actually going on a date?” Ashido asked, leaning her head on her hand as she looked them over. “And you don’t have a problem with that?”

“We went on a date,” Midoriya protested. “Sort of.”

“Tiny Kacchan doesn’t count,” Kirishima interjected.

“Fine,” Midoriya grumbled. “But it’s not like we needed to go on dates and get to know each other before we decided, or something; we’ve known each other forever, it’s not a big deal going straight to boyfriends.”

“None of your business anyhow,” Bakugou said firmly. “Your jealousy is showing.”

“You wish,” Ashido snorted. “I didn’t mean anything by it, Mister Touchy, I was just asking!”

Bakugou rolled his eyes again, but Midoriya reached over and squeezed his hand fondly, and all his fight just seemed to seep out of his system.

“Whatever,” he said finally, taking a bite of his fish. “Not like your opinion matters anyway.”

Midoriya elbowed him lightly, but he didn’t take it back, so with a sigh and an apologetic smile for Ashido, he just had to let it go.

With breakfast eaten and plates rinsed, the class began to gather, pulling on coats and scarves at the door to make their walk across campus. It only took them five minutes to get to the main building, but the winds that blew threw their path were biting in the mornings, and they’d all given up any bravado they’d once had about bundling up for the short trip. Bakugou tucked his gloved hand into Midoriya’s bare one, and side by side, surrounded by their classmates, they began the walk.

“Class B are out early,” Iida pointed out. “Good for them, working extra hard.”

“They’re out here a lot lately,” Kirishima said, tilting his head to the side as he considered them. “I swear I’ve seen them every morning this week.”

“Yeah,” Kaminari agreed. “They haven’t even been picking fights like they used to, it’s been so boring. Do you think their timetable changed for some reason?”

“Maybe ours is meant to as well but they’ve been cutting us some slack with everything else going on.”

“I don’t think they’d cut us that much slack,” Midoriya chuckled. “They’re not exactly known for being understanding and loving.”

“I’m sure Aizawa would have said something,” Iida agreed. “Even if it was just to warn us that it will be changing at some point.”

“We can always ask when we get to class,” Kirishima said. “Aizawa will let us know what’s going on.”

The plan was dashed, however, when they arrived to find Aizawa already awake and waiting for them, leaning against the side of his desk.

“We’re having an impromptu training with Class B today, by Vlad King’s request,” he said, the moment they walked in the door. “Put your bags away and go gear up, we’ll reconvene at Ground Beta.”

So that was it, then. They’d planned the class in advance and decided to meet on-site, while Class A were left to find out at the last moment. The students had probably thought Class A was so weird, walking straight past instead of joining them.

Midoriya hung his bag on the side of his desk, grinning when he turned to find Bakugou waiting for him expectantly, while the others were filing back out the door. He linked their hands together again, and together they followed the crowd. There was something so soft and domestic about just walking hand-in-hand that Midoriya had quickly become addicted to, and he was eternally grateful that Bakugou seemed okay with it too, that he wasn’t just begrudging Midoriya his affection.

When they funnelled into the locker rooms to get changed, Midoriya hurried to swap clothing, trying his best to minimise how much time he spent naked in the chilly room. It was one thing U.A. had apparently not thought of, when they were constructing their school – there were no heaters or air conditioners in any of the locker rooms, where they spent their time the most exposed. At least they’d thought to put them in the dorm rooms, though, he supposed.

Midoriya turned around, freezing when he saw Bakugou getting changed behind him, and smiling softly. He’d picked out his winter costume for the morning, understandably, and with his new cape fastened to his shoulders, he looked extra heroic. Everything about Bakugou just seemed made to be a hero – he had the flashy quirk, the attitude, the dedication, the drive, and everything out him just looked like a hero, too. He was the whole package, and Midoriya had never felt luckier.

“What’re you staring at, nerd?” Bakugou huffed. “Need help or something?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, just stepped forward to help Midoriya pull up his long, thick gloves, and Midoriya chuckled to himself as they worked.

“I was just thinking you look amazing in that costume,” he admitted. “The cape looks extra good with the winter costume, you look like a full-fledged hero now.”

“I am a hero,” Bakugou said stubbornly, his cheeks flushing pink all the same. “You uh, look good in yours, too.”

“Aww, thanks Kacchan!”

When they headed back outside, they found a line of their classmates just standing and staring, watching the Class B warm-up efforts going on. They looked... surprisingly strong.

“They’re looking good,” Uraraka said, apparently reading Midoriya’s mind. “Like, really good.”

Their joint trainings over the years had always been a good time, but Class A had always come out on top, in the end. They’d had a near miss the first time, but Class A had refused to come anywhere near losing again since then. This time, though... well, Midoriya was concerned.

“Do you think it’s because we’ve had so much shit going on with that asshole?” Bakugou asked quietly. “I know it hasn’t been that long, but...”

“Yeah.” Midoriya nodded. “It reminds me of the first time, when we’d been dealing with the League.”

“Exactly.”

“Alright students, gather in!” Vlad King called, waving Class A over to join the group. “We have a special training exercise planned for today, so make sure you’re close enough to hear the instructions.”

As he began to explain the task, Midoriya wrapped his arms around himself to keep warm. His arms and legs were warm enough, with his gloves and leg armour, but the wind seemed to go straight through his jumpsuit and into his torso, chilling him to the bone. He was gonna have to start wearing a thermal shirt underneath for class, or maybe talk to Mei about some heating options he could turn on and off easily as needed. Maybe he could get something like Todoroki’s vest that heated and cooled him as needed – that was pure support gear that didn’t use his quirk, right? He’d have to ask.

“Alright, go form your teams and start planning your strategy.”

Well, shit. He probably should have been paying attention. He glanced across at Bakugou, relieved to get a little nod in return, the two of them splitting off from the rapidly dividing group.

“Who else you reckon we grab?” Bakugou mumbled.

“I don’t know, who are you gonna work best with?”

Bakugou narrowed his eyes, but they didn’t have time to argue about it – if they waited too long, they might not even get a team together.

“Oi, Shitty Hair!” Bakugou called, jerking his head slightly to call him over. “Bring her with you.”

With an amused smile, Ashido and Kirishima headed their way, and Bakugou looked at Midoriya for his approval. It was too late to ask anyway, Midoriya thought, since he’d already called them over – though he supposed Bakugou would have no qualms about saying ‘never mind’ the moment they arrived. Thankfully, Midoriya was more than happy to work with the pair – well, he would have been, if he knew what they were supposed to be working on.

“So the biggest issue is we’re not gonna know where the hostages are, right?” Ashido asked, and Midoriya bristled – there were hostages involved? “What’s gonna be our best move to find them in a hurry?”

“Deku is probably the fastest.” Kirishima pointed out. “Do we send him off to scout the area right at the start?”

“He has no real vision when he’s going super speed,” Bakugou said, shaking his head. “I say we split up and take a quarter each, presumably there’ll be a hostage in each area so we can find one each and extract them.”

“What if we run up against more than one person from the other team?” Midoriya objected – he could at least extract that much about the situation. “Why not pairs?

“Pairs sounds good,” Kirishima agreed. “If we find a hostage, we can split up if we want – one person can escort them out while the other keeps looking for the next hostage, then we can meet up again after extraction.”

“That still runs the risk of getting jumped while we’re split,” Ashido pointed out, grimacing. “Maybe we play it safe rather than focus so much on speed?”

“Maybe.” Midoriya hummed to himself, thoughtful. “What happens if we’re too slow, though?”

“Yeah, we don’t want to risk the other team getting there first.” Bakugou sighed. “We’ll come up with a signal. We can split up, and if we run into someone else and can’t take them out alone, we use the signal to call for help.”

“What kind of a signal?”

“I dunno, fire your quirk straight up in the air?”

“Sounds good,” Kirishima said with a laugh. “How do you want me to do that, bro?”

Bakugou sighed, pinching at the bridge of his nose, and Midoriya gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Let’s just go with the pairs,” Midoriya said firmly. “Worst case scenario, we get two hostages out and they get the other two. We can either go fight them for it, or we tie with them at the end.”

“I don’t want a fucking tie.”

“Then we’ll fight them for it!” Kirishima grinned, shooting him a thumbs up. “Sounds like a plan!”

“Fine,” Bakugou said reluctantly. “Deku, go with Pinky. She can keep up with you the best.”

“Sounds good,” he agreed, smiling fondly – he knew how hard it was for Bakugou to admit that someone else could do something better than him. “You and I can search from above while Kirishima and Ashido stay below us, that way if anything happens, the other person can jump in immediately.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Kirishima clapped Bakugou on the back, ignoring the glare he got in return. “We’ve got this, buddy!”

When their turn came, they headed for the side of Ground Beta they’d been assigned to start from, with Kirishima and Bakugou staying at the closer end, while Ashido and Midoriya ran toward the other end to get in place. As they waited for the gong to start them off, Midoriya gave Ashido a sheepish smile, glancing back to make sure they hadn’t been followed.

“So I kinda zoned out during the instructions,” he admitted. “Is there anything special I should know?”

“That’s not like you! But no, you should be good, it was pretty brief. Both teams are competing to get the hidden hostages out first, but considering the other team villains, so we need to get to them before they do.”

“So if we have a hostage and run into the other team, they’re going to fight us for the hostage,” Midoriya said, nodding. “That makes sense.”

“Yeah! But if we safely escort the hostages out of bounds, they’re safe.”

“And the hostages are training dummies again, I assume.”

“They never specified. I have a feeling they might not be.”

“Oh. Huh.”

“We’ll find out!” she grinned. “So, straight ahead at a moderate pace, searching for any sign of a hostage as we go?”

“Sounds good. You check in the windows, I’ll check rooftops and alleyways.”

“Deal!”

Finally the gong sounded, and Midoriya launched himself into the air. He knew he’d be more visible there, but at least if someone engaged him, Ashido could keep searching unimpeded. Logic dictated that they’d find a hostage approximately in each quarter of the zone, and from the way the teams prior had emerged one or two people at a time, he suspected that logic was pretty sound. In theory, that meant they could get a solid rescue out of the way before they ran into anyone else.

As time went on, though, Midoriya started to worry. He hadn’t seen anything from above, and Ashido was yet to change course, by the time they reached the opposite end of Ground Beta. He tried not to show his nerves as they turned around, moving a few streets over before they began their next lap, but he suspected Ashido was feeling it too.

When their second lap finished with no sign of life, Midoriya dropped to the ground, halting Ashido in her tracks.

“Does something seem off to you, too?” she asked, as soon as he looked over at her.

“Yeah. Do you want to make a potentially stupid move?”

“Always.”

“Let’s go right for the middle of the grounds. Keep an eye out as we go, but I think we aim for speed.”

“Sounds good to me!”

Together they turned, and Midoriya launched himself again, scanning their surroundings as they moved, but mostly just aiming for the middle in a blur of buildings. At the dead centre of Ground Beta was a bigger building than the rest, and Ashido didn’t have to ask before she headed for the front door, glancing up to make sure Midoriya was landing on the roof before she entered. He found an open window to swing through to get his own access, and sure enough, he heard faint voices beneath his feet.

As quietly as possible, Midoriya crept down the stairs, cursing the creaky hinges when he slowly opened a door. Four little faces peeked up at him, and Midoriya stopped to stare for a moment – he’d expected real people, after Ashido’s comments, but kids? Who the hell had decided it was okay to involve kids in their training?

A thought nagged at the back of his mind, but he refused to let it surface, refused to entertain it for even a moment.

“Hey there,” he said softly. “My name is Deku, I’ve come to take you home!”

Ashido caught up quickly, and when she met Midoriya’s eyes, she looked just as concerned as he did.

“Do you think they’re—”

“I think we should get them out,” he cut her off, immediately feeling guilty for it. “Anything else doesn’t matter.”

“I wish the others were here to help,” she said with a sigh. “If the other team shows up, we’re screwed.”

“Do you think if I shot my quirk straight up in the air, they’d recognise the signal?”

“Probably?” she laughed. “But I think it would bring everyone else running, too.”

“Okay, then how about this – You stay here with them, I’ll run off to a different spot to signal them, and when everyone converges on us, you can escort the kids out.”

“And if they recognise the trap and don’t come for you?”

“We’ll rush back to you as soon as we meet up, to help you out.”

“Okay,” Ashido said slowly. “But you take the kids, and I’ll go signal. If you get attacked alone, you’ve got a better chance of managing.”

Midoriya pulled a face, but Ashido brushed him off when he started to object.

“I’m not saying that in a bitter way,” she assured him. “Your quirk is better suited to multiple targets than mine.”

“Okay,” he conceded. “I don’t agree, but if you feel better about it that way, I’m okay with it.”

Ashido hurried back out the front door to find a spot, and Midoriya ushered the kids out after her, doing his best to keep them herded into a small area in front of him, where he could see what they were doing as they went the opposite direction.

A booming voice echoed down the street, and Midoriya whirled around, dark energy bursting from him to surround the kids and keep them close. When vines tangled around his feet he knew he’d screwed up, had let them distract him too much and not see the other students coming. He raised one hand in the air, shooting a stream of black whip as high as it would go, his other hand bursting with green lightning as he prepared himself to fight.

A resounding crack burst through the sky, and Shiozaki went flying from wherever she’d been hiding, a shower of shattered concrete following in her wake. Midoriya’s head whipped around, and when he saw the arrogant smirk on his boyfriend’s face, everything was right again in the world. He tore his feet free of the now-limp vines, Monoma ran toward him, apparently giving up on the distraction tactic, but Midoriya just turned to face the kids, bending down to their height to look them all in the eyes.

“This is gonna be scary, but I’ve got you. I promise.”

His black whip tendrils wrapped around them, keeping them secure in his grasp, and Midoriya didn’t even look back as he began to run. He built up some speed then hurled himself into the air, withdrawing his whips to keep the kids close and try to provide them with some comfort. Out the corner of his eye he glimpsed a projectile shooting past him, but before he could divert his course, another explosion knocked it out of the sky. He glanced back this time, to see Ashido and Kirishima fighting off three off the Class B students, keeping them from advancing. The fourth one had made an attempt to pursue Midoriya, but Bakugou had been right on his heels, protecting him from what their opponents had in store.

When they neared the Ground Beta gates, Midoriya dropped back to the ground, setting the giggling children back on their own feet. He hauled open one of the big doors, hurrying them through, grimacing when the door began to fight back. He glanced back to see rocks and rubble levitating, firing toward him at an astounding speed that left him no time to counter, and he knew dodging would leave the children exposed as they ran the last few metres through the gates. He threw his arms in front of his face to protect himself, bracing for impact, but with the sound of a tidal wave rushing toward him, a wall of acid erupted, dissolving the rocks on contact. He glanced over to see Ashido’s exhausted face, shooting her a quick grin before the gong sounded again, and the Class B students abandoned their efforts to steal their rescue.

“Amazing,” Midoriya said breathlessly, when Ashido hobbled toward him. “You’ve been practicing!”

“Yeah,” she laughed weakly. “I’ve been trying to learn some moves from Todoroki’s ice, but apparently I don’t have nearly the stamina he has.”

“You’ll get there!” Midoriya assured her. “That was super cool!”

They filed through the gates to cheers from their classmates, but all Midoriya could do was stare at Vlad King and his frustrated expression, not even looking at the four kids he’d sent into the middle of a mock battle. He opened his mouth to say something, but a much louder, angrier one cut him off at the pass.

“Children?” he demanded, stomping up to stare Vlad King right in the eyes, despite being practically a foot shorter. “What the hell? You seriously thought it was okay to put a bunch of kids in there, where they might get hurt, or worse?”

“You’ll have to protect children a lot, if you become a Pro,” Vlad King told him, completely uncaring. “You should have faith in your skills to protect them, and make smart decisions to avoid endangering them.”

“In the real world, yeah, obviously! That doesn’t mean you put them in a stupid simulation and risk it! Get a bunch of short dudes and put them in diapers for all I care, but actual kids is crossing the fucking line!”

“They’re from the Help Us Company, this is their job and they’re trained to do it.”

“How much do you think you can train a child that age?” Midoriya blurted out. “Because I’ve had a lot of experience with kids lately, and I would not put any child in that arena.”

“They all have quirks with some sort of armour or invulnerability.”

“And?!” Midoriya asked, stunned that he even needed to say it. “You think a child has enough control over their quirk, especially in a scary situation, to use it effectively?”

“Midoriya, Bakugou, go get changed,” Aizawa cut them off. “We’ll talk about it later.”

“Are you seriously on his side?!” Bakugou insisted. “I can’t—“

“We,” Aizawa repeated, glancing over at Vlad King this time as he said it. “Will talk about this later.”

Bakugou deflated, some of the anger seeping out of him, and nodded faintly as he headed toward the locker rooms. As he passed the group of kids, he stopped to check on them, making sure everyone was unharmed both physically and mentally, before he continued.

“It’s okay,” Midoriya assured him, when the door swung closed behind them. “I was thinking exactly the same things. Honestly, with more curse words. You did well.”

“I can’t believe they would let kids do that,” Bakugou mumbled, dropping heavily onto a bench. “Not just the school, though that’s bad enough, but the company. I can’t even begin to think how many simulations like this they run, and they’re endorsing kids doing it. What if they have shittier heroes, next time? What if the participants start fighting before they find the hostages, and end up trapping them in a demolished building or something? There’s just so much that can go fucking wrong.”

“I know,” Midoriya agreed quietly, sitting down beside him. “At least Aizawa seemed to agree.”

“He didn’t even say anything.”

“He wouldn’t, not in front of everyone. But I saw the look on his face, I saw how unimpressed he is. There’s not much we can do, not until we graduate at least, but maybe Aizawa can make a difference.”

“He fucking better.”

When they’d gathered themselves and changed back into their uniforms, they headed out to rejoin the group, getting a few whispered reassurances from the classmates they stood with. Class B seemed oddly dejected, and it didn’t take a genius to realise they’d lost – whatever the final score had been, it was clearly in Class A’s favour.

“You guys started earlier today,” Yaoyorozu pointed out kindly. “You were already tired, I bet it would have been a draw, otherwise.”

Midoriya expected Class B to get fired up, to declare war on them or make challenges like they usually did, but they were all strangely quiet, more interested in looking at their own feet than in listening to the attempted reassurances.

“What’s going on with you guys?” Kaminari asked bluntly. “You’re not yourselves today!”

“We’ve been working extra hard,” Kendou admitted. “Ever since the accident, we’ve been out here every morning and every night, trying to improve for next time, so it doesn’t happen again.”

“What accident?” Midoriya asked, glancing around at his glum-looking schoolmates. “Was this while I was... indisposed?”

The entire class seemed to tense up, and Midoriya immediately regretted asking, though he noticed half of his own class looked just as confused as he did.

“When they were escorting the villains out of the forest,” Shinsou began slowly. “They accidentally let him slip away.”

A spark of recognition shot through Midoriya’s brain, and he glanced over at Bakugou, then back to Shinsou again.

“That’s when it happened, right?” he asked. “They sounded the alarm and we ran to help, but we never made it.”

“He slipped out of our grasp.” Monoma practically spat the words, refusing to look at Midoriya. “He must have hit you on your way in, we found you in the street when we were pursuing him.”

“Is that what you’re all so fuckin’ depressed about?” Bakugou asked. “Newsflash, asshole, he got away from us too. And the authorities. And a fucking prison. And you’re beating yourself up over this shit?”

“He’s right,” Kirishima said with a weak smile. “We’ve all screwed up with this guy. You weren’t the first and I doubt you’ll be the last.”

“You’ve just got to use it as motivation,” Yaoyorozu added. “It’s great that it got you all working hard, but you have to do that without hating yourselves for it.”

“And you’ve all improved so much!” Uraraka nodded enthusiastically. “It hasn’t been this close in a long time, you had us scared for a while there!”

“There’s no hard feelings,” Midoriya finished. “Really, it’s okay. We’re all happy and safe!”

“We’ve all been trying to be extra nice.” Kendou laughed awkwardly. “We didn’t want you to hate us. Monoma went out and bought extra balloons, just in case they help again.”

“Did you give them to us?” Midoriya asked, a grin tugging at his lips. “I woke up with a pile of them in my room and didn’t know where they’d come from, but there were photos of Kacchan playing with them!”

“Yeah, well,” Monoma said with a huff. “He wanted them, so.”

“Their kid-selves forgave you after the cake and balloons, if that helps,” Todoroki offered.

“Cake and balloons fix everything!” Midoriya agreed, elbowing Bakugou lightly. “Right, Kacchan?”

“Don’t fuckin’ shove me, I already said it’s fine!”

“Honestly,” Midoriya continued, ignoring his protest. “I’m just glad I woke up in clean diaper scraps. It could have been much worse.”

Class B laughed at that, and Midoriya felt oddly triumphant for cheering them up – that was part of being a hero too, right? Helping people out when they feel down?

“So say it, for us,” Kirishima prompted, grinning. “It’s not a joint training exercise if you don’t say it.”

Monoma finally looked up, a hint of amusement in his eyes, even though it didn’t translate to the rest of his expression.

“We’ll get you next time, assholes,” he said, a little softer than usual. “You just wait and see.”