apathy

a game of leap frog

Tsuyu swipes away the bubbles obscuring her vision as she rockets through the water, all but racing a villain to the person that has just dropped into the flood zone with her. Midoriya, easily identified due to his red jacket that is definitely not one of her classmates' hero accessories, isn't flailing in panic, even when it's clear he's also spotted the shark-like villain gunning for him. He kicks towards the surface and almost, almost, makes it. At the last second, the villain snags his ankle, yanking him back down. A piece of purple plastic goes floating up to the surface in Midoriya's place.

Tsuyu makes it there not a moment later, wrapping her tongue around Midoriya's waist and kicking off the shark villain's head, ignoring the bit of drag Midoriya creates as he dangles behind her. The two of them break through the surface of the water near the boat, with a large gasp for air from Midoriya. Tsuyu wastes no time raising Midoriya out of the water and gently throwing him over the guardrails before climbing up the side herself. When she throws one leg over the railing, Midoriya is shaking his head to rid his hair of unnecessary water. The motion stops as soon as she hops down onto the deck.

"You okay, kero?" She asks as he lurches up to his feet, shivering visibly. Unlike her hero uniform, his clothes have no insulation to protect him from the freezing flood zone water, so it's no surprise he looks a little worse for the wear. His barrette is floating somewhere in the pool, so his dripping bangs hang in his eyes until he rakes them away with a small frown. "I'm Tsuyu Aisu, kero. Call me Tsuyu."

"Izuku Midoriya." Midoriya introduces again, moving to look over the rails while rummaging through a pocket on the inside of his jacket. He pulls a yellow barrette from one and pins his bangs back with mixed success as he scans the ring of villains. 

"If these villains have found a way to kill All Might, we should get back and try to get word to the school, kero." Tsuyu steps up next to Midoriya, only to have him grab her wrist and drag her away from the edge just in time to avoid the brunt of a ship-shattering wave splashing up and spilling over the deck. The boat tilts dangerously, a gash now running through the middle and allowing water to come rushing in.

"Oh these dumb motherfuckers—" Midoriya hisses to himself, letting go of Tsuyu and sliding down the deck with such reckless abandon that her heart skips a beat. He latches onto a doorknob before he can go careening into the water, gritting his teeth. Tsuyu sees the sign announcing the room a supply closet when he throws the door open, wedging his foot against the frame for leverage. He leans into the closet to get something, then leans back out with his arms full, obviously looking for a way to get back up to where Tsuyu is standing. She decides to take pity and retrieve him with her tongue again so he doesn't slip.

Midoriya dumps two jugs of bleach into her arms and gets to work unscrewing the caps of the other two while explaining his plan to dump the chemicals in the water. That will make the aquatic villains retreat and give them a window of opportunity to escape. When she agrees that it sounds like a solid plan, he pauses fully, then shakes himself out of it. The ship shudders violently under their feet, groaning as it shifts. Midoriya grimaces and carefully makes his way to the diagonal rail, Tsuyu following to catch him if he falls.

Midoriya plants himself firmly, setting one bottle against his foot, and swings the other bottle in an arc, sending out a wave of bleach. A chorus of shouts rises from the water as Midoriya dumps the rest over the side, chucking the bottle afterwards. He picks up the second bottle, ready to repeat, but stops.

"They're scattering." He reports with a considerate frown. Tsuyu glances over and sees villains swimming a good ways away, watching them warily. "Right. They don't know your class' quirks, so they're being cautious. I guess we have an extra bottle of deterrent then. Lucky us."

After a glance at each other, Tsuyu wraps her tongue around Midoriya's waist for the third time that day, frowning slightly when she feels he's still shivering, and then launches away from the shipwreck. Midoriya dumps his open bottle of bleach on villains as they fly overhead, then opens and uses another after they slosh onto the shore.

"You should probably take off your jacket, kero." Tsuyu says when they pause to catch their breath. Midoriya blinks like he's just remembered something and digs into the front pocket to withdraw his phone, soaked. The screen, when he tries to turn it on, flickers valiantly then shorts out. Midoriya gives it such an exhausted look of betrayal that Tsuyu feels bad for him.

A loud noise comes from the plaza from which the whole ordeal had started, distracting the both of them from Midoriya's phone. Tsuyu frowns.

"Ah, right Aizawa-sensei... He's fighting that huge group of villains..."

"There's way too many for him to not be wearing himself thin." Midoriya says, starting towards the plaza without looking back to see if Tsuyu is following. "Eraserhead works with smaller groups or one on one."

"You're not suggesting we jump into the fray, are you, kero?" Tsuyu questions, jogging lightly after him. Midoriya shrugs and keeps going. Tsuyu sighs at his lack of an answer and follows.

Midoriya leads her to the edge of the plaza, where the two of them are partially hidden by bushes, then draws short. Tsuyu peeks around him and has to put a hand to her mouth so she doesn't gasp at the sight of a hulking beast pinning her teacher against the ground, pulling on one bloody arm.

"You like my little pet? It's called a Nomu, and it was designed to kill All Might." The villain covered in hands calls from his place safely away from the action. Midoriya twitches, and when Tsuyu pulls her eyes off the Nomu, she sees him glaring at Handy, gripping the handle of their last bottle of bleach tightly.

"Stay here." He hisses, springing from their hiding spot and running across the plaza before Tsuyu can get a word in edgewise.