Face Me Like An Idiot

17

"D-Decipher!?" Iida yelped in shock.

"Oh," Izuku glanced down at him, eyes filled with something between disappointment and dread. "I forgot you were here…"

He was really out of it.

The greenette inclined his head to the far end of the alleyway, sighing in relief when he found the previously introduced injured hero– who he finally bothered to recognise as the pro hero: Native– thankfully out cold.

Abruptly, a knife was hurled towards his direction, forcing him to instinctively flip out of the way to avoid being punctured. Although he could heal practically instantly, he did not want to risk giving Stain even the tiniest bit of an opportunity to paralyse him, albeit temporarily.

"How rude of you, Stain," Izuku pouted, placing his hand on his chest to further emphasise his hurt feelings.

A muffled groan from Iida made the Mafia boss return his attention to the hero-in-training. "At least try to be patient, Iida. I will reprimand you about this at a later date."

The greenette settled on harshly kicking the teen in the head, most likely causing a concussion, and effectively knocking him unconscious.

"You know, Stain, I never figured you would work with the League of Villains of all. Honestly, I am disappointed, and quite offended." Izuku proceeded to babble on casually, as if he was chatting with a long-lost childhood best friend.

"I don't work with them. They tried to add me to their ranks, but their ideals are blunt and meaningless to me. I have no reason to follow their regulations." Stain snarled, posture tense as he tightened his grip on the katana he held threateningly. "Also, I don't remember you being so talkative."

Izuku chuckled, voluntarily making himself appear childish to throw the villain off. "Oh, I didn't mean to bring upon such an impression!" The boy faked a convincing guilty facade, sheepishly fumbling with his fingers and averting his gaze. 

"Tch. You're starting to get on my nerves, kid," Stain fidgeted with his katana, briefly drawing Izuku's attention to it. In all honesty, the greenette had thought that Stain should have attacked him by now, considering the man's obvious short temper.

It's either he doesn't want to hurt a kid, or he doesn't want to get in trouble with the Mafia. Given that he attacked Iida earlier, it is definitely the latter.

Tension rose as he and Stain glared at each other, both holding a similar fire in their eyes. The atmosphere dropped drastically. The longer Izuku stared into the Hero Killer's fierce ruby irises, the more he had the urge to drop to his knees and clutch his stomach in his desperation to throw up.

Where is Mietto when you need her?!

Just then, before either of them could properly react, Stain jumped from his spot as scorching orange flames replaced him. Izuku's emerald gaze landed on the familiar sight of candy cane-coloured hair, which he had recognised practically immediately.

"Todoroki?!"

"You have to be more specific than just a location, next time, Midoriya. I was almost late." The statement caught the greenette by surprise. Location? But I had only sent that to–

Oh. That had explained Mietto's unreasonable tardiness…

Izuku was really out of it.

In all honesty, Shouto did not know what to expect when he had received a text message from Midoriya while he was helping civilians to evacuate. What could the greenette possibly want?