Kasumi wakes. Time to go talk with her next.

The halls of UA were unusually silent as Izuku retraced his steps from Nezu's office to the infirmary. The sun was just about to set completely, only a sliver over the horizon at this point. If he looked on the opposite horizon, Izuku knew he'd be able to see the stars in the sky.

It's so weird, being here so late like this, Izuku told himself silently, looking around as he tried to keep his steps from echoing. Even during class there was at least some noise.

Still, Chiyo had texted him that Kasumi was going to wake up soon. He'd cut the meeting with Nezu off then, though it was wrapping up anyway. Izuku could only hope that Kasumi was... less aggravated. He'd never seen her calm, and he doubted he'd ever will.

All the rooms Izuku passed were dark, minimal lighting on in the building as needed. As it was, the hallways were barely lit by the sun, and the lights above his head were set to a lower power mode. It made UA feel less real, an ethereal quality taking hold as darkness approached. And yet, Izuku felt no fear of the shadows that hide around every corner or in every window.

Here, he was safe. Surrounded by the glistening walls of pristine ideals. Even though they had proven not to be as impregnable as they once seemed, the image he had of UA was stronger for it. To be breached by the enemy, and be mostly unscathed? Paradoxically to his own thoughts, it just made them more real. Solid.

Izuku found himself closing the loop, standing outside the infirmary in short order.

_I wonder how Kasumi's doing. I wonder how she'll react to seeing me. She'll probably be angry, that goes without saying. But in what way, that's tougher. _Izuku thought, shaking his head. No use trying to avoid it. If not tonight, then she'll pull me aside tomorrow to yell at me.

Opening the door, Izuku stepped inside the room that smelled of sterile tools and that faint, yet harsh, smell of medicine. It was a scent Chiyo carried with her often, so it honestly didn't faze him in the slightest at all.

A quick scan showed him Aizawa was asleep once again. This was confirmed by the almost inaudible snore that came from his teacher. It seems Chiyo had actually taken the time to put IV's in the broken man, various bags full of fluid hanging around him. Two stacks of paper sat on his bedside table, probably the papers he was grading earlier divided into what he'd finished and what he still had left to do.

The light to Chiyo's office-slash-bedroom was on, and when he knocked on the door it was opened enough for him to slip in before being shut and locked behind him.

Chiyo was standing in front of him, out of her hero uniform and into more casual clothing. Instead of her coat and one piece orange and white dress, the ageless woman had on a shirt with sleeves that reached just below her elbows patterned with pink, white and red hearts that formed a caduceus along with a pleated skirt that flowed down just below her knees. Instead of boots and thigh-high socks, the medical heroine was wearing a pair of slippers, twin snakes with tiny nurse caps on their heads. It had taken Izuku more than a few tries to make them, and by the end of it all his fingers were more than used to the sensation of being stabbed by a needle, though upon receiving the birthday gift the nurse had kissed him so much that there wasn't even a hint of scar tissue left.

Her hair, usually held up by a cartoony needle shaped hairpin in a tight bun, was flowing loose down to her shoulders, tightly tucked behind her ears. The silver strands glittered with water, a telltale sign she'd just got out of the shower not long ago. Chiyo preferred to let her hair air dry for whatever reason, but it smelled vaguely of honey and plums.

"Evening, dear." She murmured with a smile, wrapping Izuku up in a hug as she kissed him on the cheek. "How was your talk with Nezu? He didn't scare you too badly, did he?" She asked, letting Izuku return her show of affection.

"He did, at first." Izuku admitted, looking into her gold-flecked blue eyes. "But it turned out alright in the end. He even knows about my job, and is willing to help schedule things so I can keep up with demand, especially from other schools." He told her. "As usual, you were right. He's terrifying, but I know I can trust him. I didn't expect a mouse-dog-bear-whatever he is to be able to joke, either."

"Oh, he's telling jokes around you already?" Chiyo asked, disbelief obvious in her tone. "That is a surprise. Nezu rarely ever jokes unless he's with people he considers trustworthy." She ran her hand through Izuku's hair, trying futilely to smooth out some of the forever sticking out of place tufts of dark green.

"Well, he did say that with you, Nemuri, Musei and All Might placing your trust in me, he was willing to do the same." Izuku told the woman, feeling tears well in his eyes. "I really love you." He said, putting his forehead against hers, letting himself get lost in her eyes once more. "All of you."

"We know, Izuku." Chiyo traced her fingers along his face. "You tell us often enough, and show it every time we see you." She pulled away, though it was very obviously she was **** to do so. "As for seeing someone, Ms. Bakugo should be waking up in a few minutes. She recovered her energy a while ago, since she began kicking off the blankets in her sleep whenever I put on them on her. Given how others have responded to your quirk draining their pent up stress, it's not hard to guess her brain was keeping her asleep as it figured out how to deal with the sudden lack of stress causing hormones. But she's been getting more active, and responded better to stimuli as time has gone on."

Chiyo looked at him, and then behind her to her bed, which was currently occupied by Kasumi, the curtain she installed for some privacy pulled back to show Kasumi, snoring lightly with the blanket mostly pooled on the floor, barely covering her legs as it was. Her face, set in its natural frown, seemed less tense, less ready to turn into a snarl at a moments notice. Her left arm was resting on her stomach, having pulled up her shirt, while her right was flung off to the side, grabbing at the sheet. Her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, signifying a deep rest.

"Do you want me here, dear?" Chiyo asked softly as she stood beside him, leaning into him as he kept one arm wrapped around her waist. "It might be easier if there's a heroine here to help keep things civil, or explain things in a way only a woman can."

"Maybe..." Izuku thought, pulling Chiyo gently over to her desk chair, sitting down and letting her sit in his lap. "We'll see what Kisumi wants." He told his lovely nurse, letting his hands roam down her legs as much as his position would allow, working out the knots of a hard day's work.

...

Kasumi woke slowly, her mind gently settling into being ready for consciousness once more. Her everything was sore, but in a pleasant way she'd never known. Especially her groin. That was still sending phantom sensations of being filled to her brain.

Well, that's a new fucking sensation. Kasumi thought, mentally taking stock of her body. She wriggled her fingers and toes, clenching her hands into fists as she fought back a yawn. God damn, I feel like I fall right the fuck back to sleep.

She stretched her arms and legs, like she was on an invisible **** rack, feeling and hearing a pleasant pop in her joints from being asleep for who the fuck knew how long. And finally, finally she opened her eyes, slowly blinking away the light that began to seep through her eyelids.

"Finally awake, are you?" The voice of Recovery Girl, the school nurse, greeted her as she finally sat up, the world coming into focus. "Over here, girlie."

Bakugo turned to look in the direction she heard the woman, feeling her body heat up as she saw green.

"Deku..." The name was said without heat, without fury, as she saw Izuku sitting next to the heroine, who was in very casual clothing, watching her. "Were you watching me sleep?"

"Only for the last five minutes, kinda." Deku replied, smiling a bit. "I figured you'd want to finish our conversation from earlier."

"Wha-?" Kasumi asked before remembering all that had transpired before she woke up just now. "Oh yeah, that..." She looked at Recovery Girl, jaw clenched suddenly. She remembered her promise, although...

"It's fine, dearie." Recovery girl smiled at her with a wink. "I've been around the block a few times with Izuku as well. I know what went down, and looked after you until now."

Kasumi knew she should be mad. Furious with Deku even, trying to burn him down to his bones... But what else was he to do? Leave her back up in that room, naked and everything else for someone to find? No, the nerd had done the right thing. "It's fine, I guess." She muttered, shaking her head. "Just don't go telling anyone else, you broccoli headed fucker. Recovery girl is the one exception I'll allow, you hear me?"

"Wouldn't dream of it, Kacchan." Izuku smiled at her, standing up and walking over to stand beside her as she sat in the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Like..." Kasumi went quiet, taking stock of how she really felt.

Physically, she felt tired. She felt sore. She also felt like a million god damned dollars for some damn reason. Even though she could fall asleep if she so much as touched a pillow, she felt better than she had in a long time. Her body didn't ache with the constant strain of training, or if it did still it was overwhelmed in the good feelings and lost among the sensations.

She felt really warm, too. And her traitorous body wanted to touch Deku's again for some damn reason!

Mentally, she felt... peace? Her hands weren't itching to blow something up, for instance. Nor was she clenching them into fists constantly. Her mind felt clear, and she found herself focusing on Deku's dumb face, counting each of his freckles. She could look at him without wanting to blow that small smile off his face. He was still an annoying Deku, but it didn't instantly make her fly into a rage seeing him standing there. It was... a really really odd, new and novel experience.

I always thought that hippie shit was just them talking out their **** addled asses. Kasumi rubbed a hand down her face. "I feel really... really relaxed." She finally said.

"He really is something else, isn't he?" Recovery Girl gave the girl a knowing smirk, making Izuku look to the side slightly in embarrassment. There was no blush on his face though. "Most every girl he's been with has felt roughly the same way their first time. Even the ones with a few notches on their belt before."

Kasumi grumbled meaningless noise, but eventually sighed. "Yeah, I guess he really fucking is. At least he's not lying about his quirk." The girl shot him a glance, but quickly turned away as she crossed her arms.

"Thanks, Kacchan!" Izuku beamed, and damn her heart for beating a little faster!

"Shut up, Deku." She felt good, not feeling the need to attack him. Weird, but good. "You said something about continuing our conversation from earlier?" She deflected, trying to get away from the subject that made her tingle in ways that were still so new to her. "I remember one thing. Now that I can think clearly, I noticed you slipped up when you were making me promise not to say anything to anyone about what we talked about."

"I did?" Izuku asked, getting a sharp nod from the ash blonde. Izuku thought back, wondering what he could have said that would be considered a 'slip up' during that whole thing?

This is serious enough to need you to actually promise me. Promise me that you won't even breathe a word of this outside this room without my say so, and only to people that I approve you talking to about it. You need to promise me that, on everything that you stand for, on your dream even, that if I tell you what my quirks are, you do not tell a single soul anything.

__You need to promise me that, on everything that you stand for, on your dream even, that if I tell you what my quirks are, you do not tell a single soul anything.

__If I tell you what my quirks are, you do not tell a single soul anything.

__My quirks

__Quirks

Quirks

"Oh, oh!" Izuku realized what Kasumi was hinting at. "Ah, no. That... that wasn't a slip up." Izuku told the girl, who looked confused upon this declaration. "If I was going to tell you anything, Kacchan, I was going to tell you everything. Making you promise on your dream, the thing you've spent your whole life working towards, meant that I couldn't half ass it. I'd have to give up my own dream if I did." He told her, his voice filled with the conviction he felt in his words. "We both want to be heroes, Kacchan. Even if we have different Ideals of what a hero should be, different reasons, in the end we'll still be doing our best to help people. So I owed it to you to have the same resolve. And if I didn't tell you now, you'd never trust me again."

Kasumi held his gaze, the fire in his eyes shining bright through his tears. He meant what he said, just as she meant what she promised.

Always trying to try and one up me, aren't you Deku? Kasumi surprised herself by laughing the tiniest bit, a fluttering in her chest that she did not understand. She met Izuku's eyes again, the fire shining brightly but confusion seeping in. She flicked her eyes in Recovery Girl's general direction, raising an eyebrow when she reconnected their stares.

"No, it's fine if Chiyo's here. She already knows what I'm going to tell you. And she can tell you if I'm lying or not if you don't trust me." Izuku said, looking at Chiyo with a nod that was returned with grave seriousness. "It's pretty unbelievable, so I can understand if you wouldn't believe me. I still don't believe it sometimes."

"Just hurry up, Deku." Kasumi hurried him along, her voice mostly flat. "What else could you tell me that would top all the other shit you've told me today?"

"Well, you remember how I said I was trained by All Might?" He asked, getting a nod. "Well, It wasn't for no reason. All Might is... was looking for a successor."

That news rocked something in Kasumi, not in a good way either. It was something deep, primal, that was shaken by the news. Someone needing a successor meant they were either retiring, or they were dying. They wanted someone to continue the work they'd done, someone that they chose as best to continue doing whatever they couldn't.

All Might was either retiring... or he was dying.

But he's All god damn Might! The part of her mind that looked up to the man even still raged. How the fuck can he just retire! What the fuck could do the strongest human alive in?

_Moron! _Another part of her, the one that tried to be as rational as possible, roared at her. Even if he's All Might, he's still a fucking human like us! If he wasn't, why the fuck would we even try to be surpass him? But beyond that, why the fuck would he pick the fucking DEKU?!

"Why, in the fuck, would All Might choose you?" She asked, feeling a spark of anger in her chest once more. "At the time, everyone thought you were quirkless. What the fuck did you do to impress him so badly he thought a quirkless idiot like you could take his place as the number one hero?" She grit her teeth, looking away from Deku.

"Because he saw potential." Chiyo cut into the conversation, making Kasumi look at her with the intensity of her explosive fists. "If I let Izuku try to explain, you two would be here until morning, and you should both be heading home soon." The nursing heroine admonished them both. "And you probably wouldn't believe him otherwise. All Might saw the spark of amazing potential in Izuku who, despite being quirkless, shared the same ideals as he did. And when Izuku ran in to help you, despite the pro heroes there that day being either too busy or just lacking the brains to mix their quirks together in order to pull you from the clutches of the slime villain, All Might knew he had to give that kid a chance. And here we are, nearly a year later." Chiyo finished explaining in short order.

Kasumi stared at the woman before her for a moment, before looking back to Izuku. "That doesn't explain why you said quirks, Deku. Hurry up and just say it!" She said, frown deepening.

"Sorry, sorry." Izuku apologized with a small smile. God, could the idiot stop smiling for once? "When All Might decided I was worthy of being his successor, he gave me something else. His Quirk."

Oh, there was the rage that wanted to make her explode the sheets in her hands. She was wondering if it would come back. "What?" She bit out, trying to **** down the anger. Recovery Girl was right there, and everyone knows you don't piss off the white mage. "How the fuck does that even work? Even if you didn't have a quirk before, how can he just fucking give away his damn quirk anyway?"

"I don't actually know the mechanics of it myself." Izuku sighed, rubbing his head. "But it wasn't even All Might's quirk before, either. He got it from his predecessor, and them from theirs. Counting me, Kacchan, there have been nine holders of this quirk. One for All..." He said, pulling on the quirk and pushing it into his arm as he rolled up his sleeve.

The green lightning sprung from his arm as it began to glow orange, red lines tracing his veins. Steam began to rise from the appendage, and swiftly pink lines spread across his arm as well, intersecting with the red.

"It's another stockpile quirk, but one that can be passed on." Izuku said, the arcs of green dying as he let go of the quirk. "All Might, and at least the holder before him, thought of this quirk as a sacred torch to be carried on by each generation, nurtured and grown more powerful than the last. I don't even know what it is that powers it though." Izuku sighed, rolling down his sleeve as the quirk returned to dormancy inside him. "So, Kacchan, that's what I meant when I said I would tell you about my quirks." He looked into her eyes once more, waiting.

Kasumi held his gaze for one minute. Two. When neither of them would give under the pressure, Kasumi spoke without breaking eye contact. "Is what he said true?"

"It is." Chiyo said, leaning towards the young woman. "Izuku's done nothing but tell you the truth. I've known All Might since he was a student here, and I've been one of his confidants for years now. The muscle head couldn't lie if he wanted to, anyway, and neither can Izuku."

"Whatever..." Kasumi scoffed, still not breaking the contest between her and Deku. "I guess it was a stupid move on my part to assume this idiot could ever trick me." She felt her face flush a bit, which fed into her rage once more. "But this doesn't change anything, Deku!" She shouted, her stare intensifying into a glare. Less intense in anger, but with all her determination at the forefront. "It doesn't matter if All Might himself chose you as the person to succeed him. I'll still surpass him, and if he think you'll be better than him, I'll just have to blow his expectations out of the water." She grinned wildly, the fire in her soul that burned solely to challenge and be challenged, to train and fight and win flaring up wildly. "So you better not hold anything back, you understand me?"

Izuku felt his emotions well up, but the tears he wanted to shed were evaporated with the fire that lit in his chest. This was the closest Kasumi had ever gotten to encouraging someone, and as far as he knew he was the first one to get that from the girl. "You got it, Kacchan. I haven't slacked off for a year already, why would I start now?"

"Good. And..." Kasumi hesitated, a bit of her fire sputtering out as she realized what she was going to say next. And then it roared back once again, the anger at herself for hesitating in the first place making her charge ahead with reckless abandon as the fluttering feeling returned. "And I still expect you to do your job when I ask for it."

"I... huh?" Izuku seemed confused by her declaration, though Recovery girl not so discreetly hid a smile.

"You heard me, Deku." Kasumi growled out, the fluttering in her chest spreading to her whole body. "Your job is to help heroines and heroine students relieve stress. Well, putting up with you, let alone the rest of those extras in class, is going to be stressful as hell. So, I expect you to do you god damn job when I need it, got it?" She glared even harder at him. "And if you tell anyone but Recovery Girl... and I guess slut teacher would know about it because it was her fucking class," Kasumi growled, but once again couldn't make herself rage at Deku for it. "I'll..."

Kasumi found herself floundering a bit. Deku was technically a government employee. His ID was proof of that. If she seriously threatened him with what she was about to ("I'll explode your dick right off your goddamn body!") she could very easily get in serious trouble. That, and it would seriously stop his job, and all the heroines that were using Deku like her would probably have a problem with that. She was sure of herself, not stupid. It would make her a lot of unnecessary enemies in heroics, ones that could stop her dream as easily as All Might could stomp her flat in no time at all.

"I'll... I'll never use your services again!" She grabbed at the first thing she could think of.

"Um..." Of course Izuku would take time to process that. He hadn't expected anything like that from the girl he'd known all his life. It was the exact opposite of what he'd have expected from her in fact!

But when he did, his smile lit up the room. "You got it, Kasumi. I'd never tell anyone who didn't need to know anything."

"You'd better not, Deku." Kasumi found herself mumbling that, blushing and feeling her body heat up at the memory... what she could remember, that was. Deku was good at his stupid job, she could admit that. "And don't think this makes us friends, either. It's just your damn job as man-whore to help heroines, pro or in training, okay? And it lines up well with what Midnight's going to teach us alongside Art. So you're going to help me with those lessons. I can't have any weaknesses for heroics and..." She looked absolutely pissed to admit this. "You've got experience I don't have."

"Of course, Kacchan." Izuku obliged the girl, still smiling widely. She was right, in a way. "I'll be there, as long as you ask." Izuku told her. Although, I'll have to try to rework my schedule even more to account for... tutoring, I guess?

Once more, he had to thank his quirk for making him not need sleep.

"What fucking time is it anyway?" Kasumi asked, looking up at the clock. Her eyes grew wide as her hands began to smoke and spark. "DEKU! Your stupid quirk knocked me out all day!"

She flew out of the bed, taking note that she was dressed in a new uniform finally. She idly wondered if Deku was the one who dressed her before blatantly ignoring her own question. That wasn't important.

"It's not his fault you were running on rage for who knows how long, Girl." Recovery girl defended her man. "Now far be it for the school nurse to tell you that being stressed to that capacity isn't healthy, but you were looking at having some kind of medical issue if you kept up like you were. While I doubt you'd have had a stroke, it still puts a lot of strain on your heart and brain to deal with that much anger. You need to relax a bit, girl, before you seriously injure yourself." The nurse said, though less in defense of Izuku and more in the fact it was her job. "I can and will do with you as I'm doing with Aizawa if need be. You can certainly be a great hero, but only if you don't burn out getting through school first."

Kasumi fumed, but nodded. "Tch, fine. I'll try to calm my ass down." She glanced at Deku out of the corner of her eye. "Deku can help with that too, I guess."

"While that's certainly one thing," Recovery Girl told the girl, cackling in the back of her head. Her man just had that charm, didn't he? "It's not the only thing. But I'll let you figure it out, for now. If you want any ideas, you can come ask. Hound Dog isn't the only one trained in psyche help. He's just specialized in it." She said, making Kasumi nod slightly. "Alright, now why don't you two get on out of here. I'd like to get to sleep, and you have to get home before the last train leaves the station."