Chapter Text
Izuku woke up leisurely.
There was a slight pain in his side and for a moment, brain still fuzzy with sleep, he wondered why he’d fallen asleep on his couch. He shifted slightly, feeling something cool brush against his cheek and when he managed to open his eyes through the deep haze of sleep, he winced at the light shining on his face.
Something covered the light and he frowned, blinking a few times and then cocking his head when he realized Oboro was standing there with his hand out and blocking the sun from shining on his face.
His chest exploded with warmth as the memories of the previous evening filtered back in. He smiled up at his friend sweetly.
“Sho didn’t want to wake you,” Oboro said softly, even though only Izuku could hear him. “I tried convincing him to go sleep on the bed but in case you didn’t know this already, he’s insanely stubborn.”
Izuku lifted himself up slightly and peeked behind him to where he could see Aizawa lying somewhat uncomfortably behind him. Izuku had been lying with his head in the man’s lap and, ignoring his flushed cheeks, he noted that Aizawa’s bandaged arms were lying stiffly in his lap, with one of them at Izuku’s side- as if he’d fallen asleep while bringing Izuku closer.
He wasn’t sure what to do with this warm feeling in his chest. It grew and grew and Izuku didn’t know how to contain it but he managed to shyly and quietly greet Oboro before scampering to the bathroom to compose himself.
Somehow, with these two around, Izuku never managed to actually get any work done so he determined that no matter what he would get started on his research for Oboro.
There was nothing he could do about the Takoba case right now, not until he could go back and see her face again, maybe properly this time, and hopefully run her face through a list of residents in Musutafu and a few surrounding prefectures. That was on the higher scale of illegal things he occasionally did but he wasn’t about to mention that to the two in his living room.
The Hosu case would be continued later on, this time with a Pro-Hero’s help and wasn’t that just something. Originally Izuku had started it when he came across a minor Pro-Hero that had died some three or four weeks ago.
The hero, Firelight, was a barely debuted underground hero who had been killed in a dark alley with no footage of the death. She’d had no chance to reach out for backup, and had died without seeing her murderer.
What made the whole case fishy was that Firelight wasn’t the only Hero that had been murdered like this and the MO was always the same. The ghosts that came to him were always either Pro Heroes or civilians who had seen just too much to be let off easily and had also succumbed to whatever villain was targeting heroes.
The biggest red flag in the whole situation though, and the reason Izuku was working a lot slower on the case, was that there had been almost no acknowledgement of these murders on the news and little to no records on police files, that he could see from his hacking.
Something was being covered up and Izuku had to tread carefully. The ghosts had come all the way from Tokyo, to other cities and then to Hosu and finally to Izuku- who already had a reputation among ghosts.
He’d sent them all back to those areas to keep lookout but so far there hadn’t been any news until Firelight returned about two weeks ago with another victim who had apparently seen the murderer’s face. For all the good it did, it did at least give Izuku a lead and that was why he was travelling to Hosu- apparently with Aizawa who hadn’t even heard the details of the case before insisting he would be coming with- to get more information before something bad happened.
With no other ongoing cases, Izuku was fully ready to devote his time to figuring out what had happened to Oboro.
He tiptoed to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee before checking to see what he had in the fridge for breakfast. He had more than enough groceries and he hummed, mentally deciding on a simple, traditional Japanese breakfast.
“What’s on your mind, Izu?” Oboro wandered into the kitchen, coming over to rest his head on Izuku’s shoulder to see into the fridge.
“Just thinking about work, and breakfast.” He answered truthfully. The coffee machine made a beeping noise and both of them startled slightly.
“Sho is awake,” Oboro mentioned. “He went to the bathroom and said, quite sternly, that if I followed him in there to make sure he didn’t topple over he’d find a way to exorcise me so here I am.”
Izuku snorted.
“I once had a ghost pop right out of the toilet bowl while I was getting dressed. Hardly anything phases me anymore.” Izuku replied, easily reaching out and adding another cup of coffee for Aizawa as well. Oboro laughed.
“Disgusting,” he commented. “You know, if I’m really alive out there it’s going to be kind of weird not seeing other ghosts.”
Izuku lingered on that careful word “if” and thought his reply through just as carefully as he poured the coffee.
“You won’t be able to see them anymore,” Izuku said after a moment. “You’ll feel super disorientated but I’m also basing that off of what I already know about long-term coma patients. Your case might be different.”
“What is your experience with long-term coma patients?” Aizawa asked, appearing in the doorway and this time Izuku did startle slightly, but fortunately he wasn’t holding onto a coffee mug.
“Yeah,” Oboro piped. “Other than the aging and the strength thing, what makes you so sure I’m alive out there?”
Izuku pursed his lips, gesturing for them to return to the living room. He noticed, vaguely, that Aizawa had somehow managed to tidy up and get dressed despite his bandaged arms, though he hadn’t bothered with brushing his hair since it still looked kind of messy.
He sat on the floor cushion where he was most comfortable and opened his laptop to start up before he looked up at Oboro and patted his bare arm,
“I’m well rested, my quirk is mostly passive and the more we do it the easier it gets to maintain. You can touch me wherever you feel like but skin to skin is generally easier.”
Oboro turned a bit pink but sat behind him, with his knees spread to make a resting place for Izuku’s back before laying a cool palm on the nape of his neck. Izuku shuddered despite himself as his quirk reached out to turn the ghost visible. He would never get over the little gasp Aizawa released whenever Oboro was visible, as if the man still couldn’t quite believe it was real.
“R-right, so, um,” Izuku shook his head, clearing his head as much as he could. “The last coma case I worked on was a couple years ago but the man had been in a coma for over ten years. He was twenty five when he was caught in a villain attack and his injuries forced him into a permanent coma and his ghost wandered for years thinking he was dead before he found me.”
“He had no idea he was alive and in a coma but both Shiori and I thought there was something weird about him since he was so much stronger than other ghosts. He was a lot stronger and I needed to touch his soul in order to use his quirk as well. I researched for months to find out just who he was but since I was only looking at obituaries I couldn’t find him until Hayako-sensei remembered that he was a victim in a fight that he had taken part in and that he was actually alive.”
Both Oboro and Aizawa were listening avidly, not interrupting at all as Izuku told the story. His coffee would get cold so he took a second to sip at it, wetting his throat with the bitter liquid.
“I tracked him down to the hospital where he was being kept and when he came into contact with his alive body it was like he suddenly remembered everything. He kind of glitched a bit but the moment I touched him and his breathing body they merged and a coma patient of ten years suddenly woke up.” Izuku cocked his head, looking up at them. He put in his laptop password, showing his homescreen which was a picture of a cityscape.
“Did he remember his time as a ghost?” Oboro asked in a shaky voice. Aizawa’s fingers tightened around his mug tight enough that his knuckles went white.
“At first no,” Izuku said honestly. “He was extremely disorientated but after a few weeks his memories came back through dreams and flashbacks and after meeting me again he suddenly remembered everything.”
Oboro breathed a sigh of relief and Izuku froze as he leaned forward, pressing his forehead to the crown of Izuku’s head, breathing deeply.
“Thank God,” he murmured. “I’d be devastated if I forgot all about you, Izu.”
Izuku turned red.
“It hurt you to touch his soul,” Aizawa said gruffly. “It’s not going to hurt to put him in his body again?”
Izuku didn’t look up at them immediately. He could see them in the reflection of the little screen since they were behind him.
“No,” Izuku said eventually. “No, this won’t hurt me at all,” and he turned and smiled at them warmly. “Don’t worry at all, Aizawa-sensei, Oboro, I’m not going to hurt at all when I put you back in your body so just hang in there, okay? I’m gonna find you, I promise.”
“I believe you.” Oboro said gently, squeezing his nape and Aizawa leaned forward, putting his mug down and reaching out to brush a lock of Izuku’s hair out of his eyes.
“You won’t be alone this time, Midoriya. I’ll help you however I can so don’t shoulder it alone.” Aizawa promised and Izuku’s breathing hitched in his throat, struggling around the sudden lump there.
“Thank you, sensei.” He whispered.
“Call me Aizawa, kid,” He replied, retreating and picking his mug up again, perhaps to avoid the sudden awkwardness and Izuku, unthinking, mumbled,
“You can call me Izuku, if you want. I don’t- I don’t mind.”
Oboro was beaming and even Aizawa had a smile quirking at his lips that he couldn’t quite hide.
It made the bitter lie he’d just blatantly told somewhat easier to swallow past.
❋
Later in the day, they were joined by Hayako and Shiori.
Despite his best efforts, finding information about the specific fight that had killed Oboro was actually kind of hard. Aizawa promised to get him everything he’d collected himself at the time and even mentioning that Nezu might have an easier time finding the information they needed as well.
Izuku was frustrated at the lack of footage and information but he wasn’t about to give up- that being said they were all kind of relieved by the interruption from the two ghosts. Especially Oboro, who had gotten paler and paler the more they researched his death.
“What have I told you about staring at that laptop screen all day, Izuku?” Hayako scolded immediately. “Have you three been lazing around here all day? This just won’t do!”
“Hey now,” Izuku defended. “Aizawa is bandaged like a mummy right now, what on earth would we be doing but lazing around?”
Aizawa lifted a brow but said nothing.
“Come on, Izuku, don’t tell me you aren’t bored shitless staying at home and doing nothing.” Hayako threw himself down on the coffee table, sinking through his laptop. “It’s been weeks since we last trained. Come out and train with me, little hero.”
“Yes!” Oboro shouted, startling Aizawa just as Izuku said sternly, holding a giggling Shiori’s ears shut, “Language!”
“What’s going on?” Aizawa asked comfortably, staring at Izuku and the ghost he could see.
“Hayako-san wants Izu to train. I want to watch and see what he’s really capable of!” Oboro announced, before backtracking, “As long as you’re capable! I don’t want you to push yourself too much, Izu, you just got out of the hospital.”
“I’m fine,” Izuku assured. “I just thought getting into UA would mean not having to do the Devil’s Playground again.”
Hayako cackled.
“You’re my student before you were his,” Hayako gestured to Aizawa. “I get first dibs on your training schedule, kid. And I decree that you’re healthy enough and you need some practice.”
Izuku rolled his eyes, scratching Shiori’s hair tenderly.
“Are you going to join me this time, Shiori-chan?” He asked and the girl wrinkled her nose and shook her head.
“Absolutely not,” she declared. “But is Miss Midnight gonna be there? I want to see her again!”
“Are Nem and Zashi free?” Oboro wondered out loud. “I bet they’d love to see you training.”
“They’re working today,” Aizawa shook his head. “Nezu has all the teachers gathered to go over safety procedures and tighten security as much as he can. I’m supposed to go in tomorrow afternoon to get brushed up on security and meet with Bakugou and his parents.”
Izuku blinked. For a second- a glorious second- he’d completely forgotten about Bakugou’s existence. Hayako pulled a dark face.
“Ah yes, Bakugou.” he scowled. “What are you going to do about that situation?”
“He’s asking what you’re planning on doing with Bakugou.” Izuku translated the silence Aizawa was hearing. He couldn’t help but nervously fiddle with the sleeve of his shirt.
He’d had a lot of teachers over the years just completely ignore Bakugou’s behavior and while he knew that Aizawa was different there was still a small part of him that was bracing himself for those same words- “He has so much potential, De-Midoriya, just stop getting in his way!”
“I want to expel him,” Aizawa said bluntly. Izuku choked slightly. “I really want to expel him but unfortunately it’s not fully up to me.”
He sighed, swirling his coffee cup- it was his third cup- as he gathered his thoughts.
“Bakugou went way too far and his behavior and attitude are completely unacceptable but we can’t just expel him because, for all that he was out of line, it’s UA’s responsibility to double check the equipment used in these battles. The fact of the matter is that his gauntlets were insanely overpowered and that was a misjudgment from our Support Department,” Aizawa explained. “There was no reason those gauntlets should have been able to store up enough nitroglycerin to cause a kill-shot like that, so we do have some responsibility in that case.”
“He’ll be on probation for this, though. His seat will change so that he’s further away from you, Mi-Izuku,” he stumbled over Izuku’s name, and both Hayako and Shiori sent Izuku an amused expression at the use of his name which made Oboro stifle his snicker. “As well as being informed that any further aggression towards you will have him suspended to General Education or expelled, depending on his transgressions.”
“Does that seem fair?” And Aizawa leaned forward, gently brushing his fingertips against Izuku’s shoulder. He barely contained his shiver.
“Th-that’s more than fair, sens-ah- Aizawa, it’s more than most teachers have done, so thank you for- for taking it so seriously.” Izuku whispered. Hayako just scoffed, muttering something rude under his breath about the explosive boy who had been the cause of more than a few of Izuku’s injuries growing up.
Hayako stood up and clapped loudly.
“Alright, enough of this depressing and curiously lovey-dovey atmosphere-!” -both Oboro and Izuku choked at that- “Let’s get to training!”
Izuku just groaned, knowing there was no getting out of it.
❋
The Devil’s Playground was a mostly undiscovered warehouse that belonged to Hayako and once he died ownership of the building had gone to his sister, who Izuku had met and liked fairly well. They occasionally met up whenever she wanted to chat with her brother and she’d agreed to keep the building as it was so that Izuku could train there.
The warehouse wasn’t super far from Izuku’s apartment but considering Aizawa’s health, they took the train there and arrived within twenty minutes.
As they walked up to the building, Izuku thought about the obstacle course he was about to perform again, idly listening to Shiori chattering Oboro’s ear off.
The course itself was demanding. It featured several pillars of varying length and indents in the coarse cement to grip on. There were slopes for climbing, and sliding depending on the situation and direction, as well as monkey bars and ropes to guide him on the path. For the most part it seemed like a normal obstacle course but Izuku’s least favorite part of the whole thing, other than the huge tank of freezing water he had to wade through, were the booby traps.
After years of doing the course he was mostly used to the occasional burst of flames, acid, or knives that would rain down on him at randomized intervals, but they were still annoying to deal with.
Izuku let them into the building and smiled slightly at the noises of surprise from Oboro and Aizawa.
“Where on earth did you get the budget for this?” Aizawa wondered and Hayako scowled.
“I’ll have you know that before my vigilante career I was an excellent hero lawyer, where do you think I got all my victims?” He retorted and Izuku laughed even as he gave the answer to Aizawa, who just rolled his eyes.
“Is that a water tank?” Oboro asked interestedly, floating upwards to get a better look. “Jeez, that looks frigid. I think there are ice cubes in there.”
“Hayako-sensei’s sister maintains the place,” Izuku explained. “It’s an actual course so there are a few people who use the place for recreation so there’s a team maintaining it but I have first call on using it since Hayako is my teacher.”
“Go get ready, Izuku, don’t worry about your boys here, we won’t make mischief.” Hayako said, in a tone that clearly meant they would make mischief but Izuku ignored this in favor of slipping to the bathrooms to get changed.
Since he would be swimming he’d bought clothes appropriate for working out and getting messy as well as a change of clothes for after as well. He made quick work of changing and went out hastily to interrupt whatever nonsense his ghost friends were telling Oboro. Fortunately Aizawa couldn’t hear because he arrived just as Shiori was regaling Oboro with the story of how Izuku had gotten stuck in the laser section on his first try of the course.
“Shiori, please stop trying to embarrass me,” he begged. “You’re a terrible influence, you know,” He said to Hayako who looked unrepentant.
Oboro snickered.
“Alright, let’s get started! Izuku, send your sensei over here to the viewing deck while we ghosts make our way there!” Hayako ordered, dragging Shiori, who grabbed onto Oboro, and taking them to the observation deck.
“The ghosts are all gone to the observation deck,” Izuku told Aizawa a bit awkwardly. He’d never actually been alone with the man before, usually Oboro was there too but now it felt like they were really alone and Izuku didn’t quite know how to be. “I can show you the way there.”
Aizawa fell into step with him easily.
“Is this course safe?” He asked dubiously and Izuku coughed.
“Uhh, it can be dangerous for people who aren’t trained but if you’re asking if it’s safe for me, well, I-I was trained here, sensei, so it’s not dangerous for me.” He said factually and Aizawa smirked.
“You’re going to blow your classmates away when we let you loose on the courses at UA, aren’t you?” He said rhetorically and Izuku blushed, resisting the urge to push the man playfully, considering his bandages. “I look forward to seeing your abilities, Izuku. You’ve already impressed me but I have no doubt you’ll continue impressing me.”
Izuku was so pink he was sure he might pass out from blood to the head.
“I-I’ll certainly try, sensei.” he murmured.
“Aizawa,” Aizawa corrected sternly and Izuku pressed his lips together and shyly mumbled his name back to him obediently. “Good.”
Izuku was kind of relieved to reach the observation deck and shove Aizawa inside with an embarrassed shout of,
“Just wait there with the ghosts, Aizawa, Hayako-sensei is strong enough to start the course so I’ll come find you when it’s over!”
And then he was gone, streaking back down to the start of the course and trying to calm his racing heart. Over the speakers, Hayako’s voice crackled- Aizawa would probably just hear static- to life and Izuku could hear his amusement plainly,
“Focus on the course, loverboy, I’m not going to go easy on you so you better give it your all today, kid!”
Izuku wished he could show his sensei where to stick it but instead of lifting the fingers he wanted to, he showed two thumbs up towards the deck and faced the course, taking a deep, steadying breath.
“Ready-”
Izuku had done this millions of times. He was familiar with the terrain and while the traps were random he had faith in his abilities even though he was doing this quirkless. He’d beat the course more times than he’d lost it but all of those times…
“Set-”
He’d never had two people he respected so much watching him. His heart was racing and more than anything he wanted to make them proud. He wanted to surprise them and look in their eyes afterwards and find pride shining there.
“GO!”