Until I Wanted to Change

Chapter 9

It took Izuku a moment to work up the courage to activate Fire Dragon, but when he did, he did it without taking a gulp of air as if he were planning to drown directly after. Of course, he doubted Hitoshi would see any issue with him taking a breath before he let Fire Dragon slither over his skin. Why would he, when it was natural to take a breath before doing anything relatively dramatic? But it was Izuku's way of proving his mastery over Fire Dragon, even if it was only for himself.

Because, as the stench of smoke settled into his nose, a smell so powerful it glued itself to every fiber of his being, he didn't even wrinkle his nose. Instead, he focused on the pain of his claws digging between the little scales along his palms and the dampness of the grass under his talons, which was slightly muddy from the rainstorm that had passed through that morning. He focused on the sound of the bird warbling in the tree branch just above him and the sight of Hitoshi studying him skeptically.

"So... should we start?" Izuku asked. When Hitoshi just shifted his stare to a glower, Izuku averted his eyes. The sunlight filtering through the leaves, most of which were still a bright green but a few were yellowing, was more interesting anyway. It felt wonderful on his scales, too. It felt wonderful, but at the same time, it was about to put him to sleep. He needed to find something more uncomfortable to keep him from passing out where he stood. "I wasn't sure what you wanted to do... I thought we could spar with our new weapons, if you wanted, or I could do more flight training, maybe? I'm just starting to get the hang of sharp turns, and twisting in the air, and the other day, I even managed to do a flip without crashing, so that's pretty good..."

"'S spar," Hitoshi said. His voice was muffled behind his binding cloth, which he'd already wound loosely around his neck. His artificial vocal cords were nowhere to be found, but Izuku assumed Hitoshi didn't feel the need to bring them. "First."

"Oh. Oh, yeah. No reason we can't do both," Izuku said, laughing lightly.

He wanted to smack himself, partially to wake himself up, mostly to punish himself for sounding like an idiot. Luckily for him, his freckles-turned-scales in his dragon form were concentrated just under his eyes, where the dark green-blue could hide the bags under his eyes. Now, in his human form, they were far worse than Hitoshi's. Without Fire Dragon activated, he could hide them with a little drugstore concealer, which he always kept in his first aid kit. It worked surprisingly well for hiding minor injuries or sleep troubles from his mother. And now, the same could be said for his class. Although Hitoshi was likely the only one paying attention. Of course, luckily for Izuku, Hitoshi wasn't the most observant person in the world.

Hopefully, he wouldn't need to use it much longer. The little bottle was nearly empty. But, after the day before, when he'd used Fire Dragon with no outward reaction to its smoke for the first time, he didn't think he'd be needing it anymore. The night before, he'd been able to rest as properly as his body was normally capable of. It was an exciting thought. Hopefully the same would happen that night.

Any night when he didn't spend an hour or two on his balcony was an exciting one. Especially when his balcony time was becoming less helpful and more a reminder that he shouldn't be there, shouldn't be alive, should give his Quirks to someone more capable and step off U.A.'s roof. But he knew he couldn't, because he'd made a promise to Mr. Hinoiki, and Kota looked up to him, and Mandalay believed he could become a hero, and Mr. Aizawa was giving him another chance. There were people who believed he could be a true hero. And nobody else should have to bear Quirk Transfer.

And, once he became a hero, he'd have no reason to feel the way he did anymore. How could he not enjoy life then?

"Out'a three," Hitoshi said.

Three rounds? Hitoshi sure was suspicious.

"Got it," Izuku said, nodding once.

And then they began.