It's Not a Muskateers Reference!

I'm Trying to Tear The Wool From Your Eyes

When Aizawa had seen Izuku step over the boundry line by accident, he had been more than a bit worried. It was a simple mistake, one that plenty of people had made, but Aizawa knew Izuku. The problem child had a tendancy to beat himself up over making even the littlest of mistakes.

However, he had seemed happy enough as he walked out of the areana, side-by-side with Kirishima. While he could have been faking it, Aizawa was pretty sure that it was geniune, so hopefully the problem child wasn't overthinking it too much.

Yaoyorozu and Kaminari walked onto the areana, and Aizawa split his attention between their fight and his own thoughts.

While Izuku hadn't seemed too upset that he had made a mistake, which was good, Aizawa was.. concerned. Ever since All for One had come in, it had been apparant that Bakugou wasn't Izuku's rival, but rather his bully. But as time continued to go on, the situation only started to seem worse and worse.

Bakugou had caused Izuku to panic multiple times, and twice now Izuku took Bakugou's quirk because of it, despite his reluctance to use All for One. The fact that Izuku felt the need to take Bakugou's quirk was not a good sign.

Aizawa needed to take more action than he had so far. Threatening to expel his students if they discriminated against each other was a start, but it did nothing to prevent Izuku's panic.

He had contacted Inko about talking to Izuku about counselling with Hound Dog, but Izuku hadn't mentioned anything about it, and Inko hadn't emailed him since then, so he wasn't sure if she actually had or not.

He figured that he should email her again too check, and then he could go from there in those regards.

But there was still the matter of Bakugou too deal with. For starters, he should move Izuku's seat away from Bakugou, and make sure that the two of them weren't paired up in any of the exercises, whether they were supposed to work with each other or against.

Checking their files would also be a good idea, though he figured that it wouldn't tell him much if Bakugou had been accepted into UA. Asking them would probably be the better option, except he wasn't sure that they'd actually tell the truth. Izuku probably wouldn't want to get Bakugou in trouble, and Bakugou.. Well, no matter how bad it'd been, Bakugou would know that those kinds of things could get him in serious trouble.

Well, he'd work with what he had.

His eyes flicked up to the match-ups displayed on one screen, as Yaoyorozu used her wooden staff too push a short-circuited Kaminari out of bounds

++++++

Izuku wasn't sure what Todoroki had wanted to talk to him about, nor did he know why they had to go into an empty hallway hidden in-between the stands to do it.

He had hoped that he could watch Kaminari and Yaoyorozu's match, but the two of them were walking onto the areana at the same time Todoroki dragged him into the hallway, so that was out of the equation.

"You lost." Todoroki stated.

Confused, Izuku nodded slowly, before memories of their earlier conversation hit him like a brick. "I need to beat you. Do your best."

Oh.

Oh no, he's probably mad that I lost and he brought me here because he wants to fight me here instead and-

Thoughts flooded his mind as his breathing sped up, and now it was Todoroki who seemed confused. "..Do you need some water?"

Izuku shook his head rapidly, but Todoroki continued, "Are you sure? You look pale."

"N-No, I-I-I'm fine!!" Izuku replied, taking control of his breathing once more.

Todoroki didn't actually seem mad. Confused, yeah, and maybe a bit concerned, but not angry. He seemed mostly unexpressive, as he usually did. "If you say so."

"S-so um... wh-why d-d-did you b-bring me h-here?" Izuku asked.

Todoroki stared at him a moment, as if trying to decide what to say after that, "You're All Might's successor. I used to think you were his secret love child, but I guess not."

Izuku... had no idea how to respond to that last part. So, he chose not too, "Y-yeah, I-I'm A-A-All M-Might's s-successor..."

Todoroki nodded knowingly, "My father is Endeavour. I'm sure you know that he wants to be better than All Might."

It took awhile for Izuku to realize that Todoroki was waiting for a response, "O-oh, uh, y-yeah, I-I kn-know that... H-He's h-h-had a o-one sided r-r-rivalry with A-All M-Might for d-decades!!"

Todoroki nodded, "He can't beat All Might."

The way he said it made it sound like a fact of life. And honestly, it was. All Might was the greatest hero out there, and no one would be able to be better than him, not even Kacchan. It was amazing that All Might had chosen him as his successor, of all people.

But Izuku still wasn't sure where Todoroki was going with this, "S-so..?"

"Do you know what a quirk mariage is?" Todoroki asked instead of answering, although if he thought about it, it sort of was an answer.

"Y-y-yeah... I-it's wh-when t-two p-p-people m-marry i-in hopes o-of g-getting a k-kid with a s-strong qu-quirk.. I-It isn't v-very c-common, b-but it's starting to get m-more popular... D-did y-your d-dad....?" He didn't finish the question, but it seemed like he didn't have too.

Todoroki nodded solemnly, "Yes. He bought my mother from her family, and then they had my siblings and me in order to get a powerful quirk. I was... his masterpiece. I had the quirk he wanted, so he started training me. It drove my mother crazy, and she poured boiling water on my face because I looked like him."

Words were caught in his throat as he listened, but he wasn't given a chance to say anything before Todoroki continued on, "Because of that, I will not use his fire. I want to show him that I can beat All Might without his help, and I had planned to show him that by beating his successor. But you lost, so I can't do that."

There were so many things Izuku could say to that, but in the end he chose a question, "D-Do y-you want a hug?"

Todoroki stared at him in surprise, "..What?"

Embarassment creapt it's way into his mind, "Just- W-well I-I mean, h-hugs a-a-always m-make me f-feel b-better so I-I th-thought m-maybe- I-I mean i-if y-you w-want, i-it's t-totally f-fine i-if you a-aren't comfortable w-with it, just-"

"No one's ever offered me a hug before..." Todoroki mumbled to himself, before giving a small nod, "I suppose it couldn't hurt."

Izuku stepped closer to him, before wrapping his arms around Todoroki. Todoroki stiffened at first, but then he relaxed into it, hugging Izuku back.

Hugging Todoroki was... not necisarily strange, but it was different. On his right side, he felt chilly and cold. But on his left side, he was warm, almost like a human heater.

"For the record..." Izuku mumbled into his shoulder, "y-you shouldn't have to prove anything to him."

Todoroki only responded with a grunt of aknowledgement, and they stood there awhile longer before Todoroki pulled away, "You were right, I do feel a bit better. Thank you."

He didn't smile, but Izuku could swear that his expression seemed softer, and a bit less tense than before.

"Yaoyorozu Momo moves on to the semi-finals!!" Midnight called, and Todoroki grunted, "I should go."

"Right... Good luck on your match!!"