Work Text:
Late at night, Yuga Aoyama received at text from the contact labeled Uncle: I’m curious to know more about your friend Izuku Midoriya, particularly his quirk.
All for One’s messages always arrived in the wee hours of the night when no one else would be around, and always held a layer of plausible deniability in case anyone else saw them. Nevertheless, Yuga left his phone volume on loud to wake him up and answer the messages as soon as he received them. He sent his unwanted master a thumbs up, then deleted both messages.
Yuga had anticipated a request along these lines ever since Izuku had sprouted black tendrils. Although Izuku had tried to pass it off as a secondary trait of his quirk, that was too ridiculous to believe. Super strength had nothing to do with looking like the spawn of Cthulhu. Clearly Izuku had also received an ability from All for One—more than one ability, to be exact. As a fellow spy, Yuga made no judgement. Surely his classmate had his own circumstances and his own family to protect. Until All for One ordered otherwise, Yuga had planned to turn a blind eye. Now those orders had arrived.
It would be just like All for One to order his spies to keep an eye on each other. The paranoid old villain always watched out for betrayal. But why on earth had All for One asked for information about Izuku’s quirk? Surely he knew which abilities he’d given out? Was All for One going senile or was there another quirk-giving boogeyman loose in Musutafu?
Yuga set aside all useless speculations. His was not to question, only to obey. As long as he followed his orders to the letter, his parents would be safe. Or so he’d been promised.
With such thoughts plaguing his mind, Yuga woke up early the next morning. He headed downstairs for breakfast, trying to think up an excuse to spend time with his suspicious classmate.
Izuku was already in the kitchen. A spatula floated in the air over the stove, flipping a pancake.
As soon as Yuga entered, Izuku jumped and grabbed the spatula. “Oh, good morning! Just making some breakfast. You want some?”
If not for Izuku’s fishy reactions, Yuga would have assumed telekinesis was just the latest manifestation of his whip quirk. Instead it must be a new ability. Yuga was almost tempted to give advice to a fellow spy about being less conspicuous, but he restrained himself. “That would be lovely, merci.” He sat down at the kitchen table.
Izuku placed down a plate with a blueberry pancake. “I can vouch that these are delicious, I love all the recipes from Nana—Seventh—someone who I know.”
Whoa, this level of lying ability was just pathetic. Now Yuga knew that Izuku was somehow affiliated with All for One’s number series of Nomu. He smiled and nodded. He did not fear poison, since his fellow spy clearly lacked the skill. When he took a bite, he had to admit the pancakes were fluffy and cooked to perfect crispness. Even his mama and papa couldn’t have done it better.
“Exquis. Ah, I mean, wonderful,” Yuga said, wiping crumbs off his mouth.
“I’m glad you—stop that!” Izuku grabbed the floating pancake box and hid it behind his back.
The quirk must be new, for him to have so little control. Maybe All for One wanted Yuga to keep an eye on the situation to make sure Izuku didn’t give himself away? The best method would be to get Izuku somewhere private. “I hate to ask you for another favor when you’re already treating me to breakfast, mon ami. But would you be willing to help me with my homework?”
“No problem.” Izuku beamed. “We’ve got experts in every subject. I can’t understand why no one in the class ever lasts longer than a single study session with us.” On that confusing and worrying note, he sat down and started eating.
Studying with Izuku got strange real fast.
Izuku’s room was a mecca of All Might merch, posters covering every inch of wall space not taken up by hero figurines. An odd décor choice for a spy, but maybe it was part of his cover? Yuga sat down on a red-yellow-and-blue chair with his notebook resting on his lap.
Gesturing at his minifridge, Izuku asked, “Would you like anything to drink?”
“Canned coffee, if you have it.” Yuga accepted a can. “Merci.” He’d prepared several questions in advance to require “help” with. Flipping open his textbook, he said, “I’ve been struggling with our math homework…”
“Math, not my strong point. Give me a moment.” Izuku’s eyes rolled back in his head. His entire demeanor shifted, his posture becoming looser and his eyes flashing orange. “No problem, kiddo,” he boomed. “I love math. I never liked anything else at school, but I was a math champion. Unlike other questions, there’s always just one answer and if you follow the correct steps, you get there. Let me see your textbook.”
As Izuku (was it Izuku?) leaned over Yuga’s shoulder and wrote in his notebook, Yuga struggled to stay calm. What was going on? Was this another quirk? How did Izuku stay sane with so many stuffed in him? Or maybe he’d lost his mind, that would explain a lot.
In just a few seconds, math answers spread across Yuga’s notebook along with a random doodle of a buff dude lassoing an angry man in a suit. This did not look like Izuku’s usual handwriting. Yuga gulped. “Uh, thank you.”
“We’re happy to help.” Izuku had shifted back to his usual voice and eye color. “No one expects Fifth to be good at math, but he’s actually a genius savant.” In the louder voice, he boomed, “I failed every other subject in high school though.”
Yuga edged away. “Um.” He couldn’t leave this early—not even if he wanted to. The master would not accept failure. “I…also wanted to discuss The Tale of Heike. I think it would be helpful to talk to someone else before writing my essay.”
Izuku put his hands over his ears. “Yes, I was going to call you out, there’s no need to shout.” Flashing a smile, he said, “Fourth really loves literature.” He shifted again, seeming to withdraw into himself. In a soft voice, he said, “That book is one of my favorites.”
Yuga jittered and let the lecture wash over him. Why had no one hauled Izuku off to the mental hospital yet? Would he have to report to All for One that his spy had cracked under the strain of multiple quirks? Oh dear, All for One never took bad news very well.
“And that’s why only the Royall Tyler translation captures the performance style of the work—” Izuku slapped his own head, then said in a different voice, “Sorry, I’m rambling. Did you have any specific questions?”
Yuga had heard Izuku’s mumbles before. That had been different. Very, very different. In a stammering voice, he asked, “What if we talk about history instead?”
“History?” The entire room seemed to darken, the All Might figurines jittering on the shelf. Izuku sighed. “They love to talk about history, but I don’t think they’ll be much help with your homework. It turns out an astonishing amount of history has been recording inaccurately. Guys, he wants help with his homework, he doesn’t want you to accidentally make him fail like you keep doing to me. Yes, I know you’re right, but our teachers don’t.”
“Uh, it’s fine.” Yuga hadn’t even prepared any history questions. “You’ve been a big help, thanks. That’s all for now,” Yuga said as he hastily gathered up his notebook and pencils.
“Did you say All for One?” Blackness consumed the room. The only light came from the glowing eyes of the All Might figurines overhead, their fists raising as if to attack. The entire room shook. Izuku’s eyes were glowing and his hair stood on end. His voice seemed to come from the entire room: “LiAr, MuRdErEr, ThIeF, we will destroy the demon!” His image broke up like an old-fashioned TV. Through the flashes of light and static, his hair stood on end and white flashed in his mouth like a fang.
“No, I said that’s all I need for now,” Yuga squeaked in abject terror. “Dieu me protège.” Dropping his pencil in his haste, he fled the room.
Izuku called after him, “I’m happy to help with your history homework later. Just let me distract them first by putting on a hero show on the television.”
After that, Yuga decided Izuku Midoriya was best observed from a distance.
Back in his room, Yuga texted his “uncle”: Izuku Midoriya does not seem to like you. This was as close as he dared come to stating that All for One’s second spy had probably betrayed him and turned on him, judging from the display of hatred. Also, he seems very eccentric.
They all are, All for One replied cryptically. This confirms my suspicions. Continue getting closer to his quirk.
To the quirk? Not to Izuku? Yuga frowned in confusion. Something was clearly strange about Izuku’s quirk (quirks?) They…talked? Yuga longed to ask All for One, but his master never appreciated unsolicited questions.
Touching the belt on his stomach, Yuga asked his quirk, “Do you talk?”
Nothing happened. Yuga felt foolish and a bit relieved.
Yuga had perfected the art of lurking. He would wander around the school campus eating cheese, and if anyone challenged him, then he ranted at them in French about the joys of pasteurized dairy products until their eyes glazed over. The funny foreigner act always smoothed over suspicions.
At the moment, Yuga lurked outside Aizawa’s office, pretending to be fascinated with each unraveling strand on a cheese stick. Izuku Midoriya had a parent-teacher conference today, but his mother had called in sick at the last minute. For some reason, the conference seemed to be going on anyway.
Aizawa’s voice drifted through the oak door softly: “Yes, I appreciate that you have the ability to mitigate Midoriya’s bone-breaking habit when you take control. But you make it difficult for me to grade his performance.”
Izuku protested, “I don’t have a habit!” Then there was silence. Or was there? Yuga thought he heard a noise, like a bee humming. After checking no one else was coming down the hallway, he put his ear to the door.
Aizawa said, “Yes, you make a decent point—he’ll need to learn how to access you in real-world scenarios when switching quickly will be a matter of life or death. The problem child will certainly get himself into plenty of those situations before he even graduates. I’ll allow you during training sessions. Though you should know Vlad King has filed a complaint with Nezu. Try not to terrorize Class 1-B too much.”
A strange sound drifted on the wind, like half a dozen people laughing in unison. The noise rattled Yuga’s bones and left him cold all over.
Wearily, Izuku said, “We’ll do our best. They’re just very easily terrorized.”
Aizawa continued, “I’ve talked it over with the other teachers, and while homework help is acceptable, using you on exams is definitely cheating. What? Oh, fine, I suppose we can talk about Midoriya’s strengths now. Anything is better than commenting on my ass again.”
Driven by both his orders and a suicidal curiosity, Yuga pressed his eye to the keyhole. Aizawa and Izuku sat alone at a round table. Then Yuga blinked, and he saw…something. Shadows around the table, but unnaturally bright. A flash of colors his eyes could barely see. Fang and wing. Energy lancing through the air, hotter and stronger and more painful than his laser quirk even at its worst.
Gasping, Yuga leapt away from the door. He ran all the way back to his bedroom and buried his head under his pillow. It took an hour for his racing heart to calm down.
Other classmates could be valuable information sources. Especially for someone who never wanted to go near the subject again. Yuga didn’t want anyone to know about his interest in Izuku, so he kept waiting for the strangeness to come up organically in conversation. His results were…mixed.
Shouto Todoroki kept asking if anyone wanted to help him investigate the haunted U.A. student…except he thought that Hitoshi Shinsou was haunted. No one volunteered. Aoyama was not interested in helping either. If there were two students at U.A. with supernatural powers, then he’d rather avoid the one he hadn’t been ordered to spy on.
Lately, whenever Katsuki Bakugo acted particularly abrasive, insulted people, or failed to do his dorm chores in a timely fashion, the explosive boy winced and rubbed his hair as if someone had struck him upside the head. Several times, Yuga spotted Katsuki punching at thin air.
There was only one conclusion for Yuga to draw: the haunting was spreading! He redoubled his efforts to stay away from Izuku during his investigations in case the contagion was transmitted by close proximity. After all, Izuku and Katsuki were childhood friends.
During a training exercise, Katsuki released an explosion a bit too close to another student’s head. Aizawa shouted at him, but Katsuki didn’t seem to hear—because he was running across the field screaming as if being pursued by the damned. “Ow! I said it was an accident! Ow! I’m learning better control, okay? Ow! No one asked for your involuntary five stage redemption plan, you shitty scar-faced rip-off of me!”
No one besides Yuga said anything about this, so he didn’t either. People only commented on how Katsuki had been politer lately. It also seemed like his usage of his quirk was improving and his control becoming more fine-tuned.
Once Yuga caught Kyouka staring in Katsuki’s direction as he tussled with thin air. She was trying very hard not laugh. He sidled over to her. “Uh, do you…see that?”
She whirled around. “Nope, I see and hear nothing. Don’t even joke about that. There’s nothing there at all.” She crossed her arms for emphasis. Lowering her voice, she whispered, “Don’t let on that you notice them. You do not want them to pay attention to you. And you definitely don’t want to provoke a resurgence of The Second Vestige Shipping War.”
Despite having no idea what most of those words meant, Yuga decided Kyouka was one of the smartest people in class. Hopefully he wouldn’t accidentally get her killed betraying everyone to All for One.
Another day, Hound Dog sidled up to Yuga while he was trying to avoid a panic attack after his latest supernatural sighting and gave him an envelope. It contained an invitation to a Ghost Haunting Victims Support Group. Yuga didn’t dare attend for fear Izuku might be there.
The madness had even spread to class 1-B. Neito Monoma had been spotted carrying around Ouija boards and candles. One afternoon while walking past the 1-B dorms, Yuga spotted their common room through the half-open window. Monoma sat surrounded by a circle of candles and hand-held mirrors on all sides to capture all angles. A sweet smell drifted off the burning incense sticks. He had his eyes closed and he was chanting in a garbled mix of English and Pig Latin.
Yuga squeaked.
Cracking one eye open, Monoma said, “It’s very unfair that Class 1-A has all the ghosts. If you’d just lend us one then I wouldn’t have to keep trying to trap one.” He gestured at the beeping box at his feet.
Yuga fled as if being pursued by ghosts.
But when Yuga reached the 1-A Dorm building, an even spookier sight awaited him. The door opened on its own, and two black cats strolled in. Yuga gaped, trying to figure out if it had been the wind. The day was clear and sunny, without any trace of a breeze.
Slowly, Yuga stepped inside. He hastened for the stairs. A sound from the kitchen drew his attention. An open tin of tuna floated to the floor next to the cats. In the flash of an eye, Yuga glimpsed the glowing outline of a rail-thin white-haired man as he petted a cat.
Yuga ran up the stairs and all the way to his room, then locked the door. His heart hammered. He took deep breaths until he felt less like he might pass out.
A message waited for him on his phone from Uncle All for One: What have you found?
Alas, All for One was not known for his patience. An answer must be given, and he’d better make it good if he didn’t want any veiled threats made about his parents. Yuga fiddled with his belt as he tried to think of what to say. If he mentioned the Second Vestige Shipping War, All for One would think he’d lost his mind. Even Yuga wasn’t shameless enough to bring Katsuki Bakugo into this when he’d been directly responsible for the loud-mouthed boy being targeted by the League of Villains in the past. He didn’t want to get Monoma into trouble with All for One for trying to steal the ghosts the villain apparently coveted. Such a crime might be punished with death. And Yuga really, really didn’t want to be ordered to attend the Hauntings Support Group.
Finally, Yuga typed: One of the ghosts has white hair and likes cats. Gods, that was lame. He trembled, hoping he wouldn’t be punished for such nonsense.
A string of random characters was sent in reply, as if All for One had mashed his phone excitedly. Dare Yuga hope his tormenter had a stroke? He waited with baited breath, gazing at the dots on his screen indicating a message in progress.
After a moment, All for One replied, Excellent. I want a picture of him. Track down every cat in the area. He’ll pop his head out to pet them. Then he’ll be mine!
Yuga gaped at his phone in disbelief. Exactly what was going on? Either All for One’s second spy had betrayed him, or Izuku was a rival with the same ability running around stealing quirks, or Izuku was some unholy eldritch being. And All for One only cared about cute cat pics?
U.A. was full of semi-stray cats invited in and tended to by Aizawa. Yuga spent a week feeding them and gaining their trust. He encountered several more floating object incidents. Despite his fears, he stuck around long enough to snap pictures. Alas, ghosts apparently didn’t appear on camera. He did capture a floating cat treat. It looked like a bad photoshop job, but sending it to All for One got him effusive praise…and demand for more.
Thus Yuga roamed the streets around U.A. at night, because he hadn’t been able to spot any of the usual cats around the dorms and All for One had texted him twice today insisting on updates in an impatient tone.
A growl made Yuga turn around. But instead of a cat, he saw a stray dog pawing at a rubbish bin. He nearly turned and left, before he heard a mewl. A terrified black kitten crouched on top of the trash can, nearly blending into the night.
Yuga would prefer if neither animal got hurt, so he reached into his bag full of cat treats, looking for one that might appeal to a dog.
Before he could act, a blur with white hair shot past him. Eri screamed, “Cat Protection Squad!” She was wearing a miniature Deku cosplay with a black mask over her eyes. Wait, her eyes—were they glowing? Her hair stood on end. A green shadow swirled around her. Yuga dropped his phone, accidentally snapping a picture.
The dog ran away, startled by the blazing colors. Eri high-fived thin air. Then she coaxed the kitten to drink some milk, her eyes normal again.
Yuga gaped from his place partly out of sight behind a lamppost. Should he…do something? Tell Aizawa that his adopted daughter was running amok as a cat vigilante and also possibly haunted by ghosts? In Yuga’s experience, no one at U.A. was willing to talk about the ghosts. On second thought, Aizawa would probably be proud.
The air seemed to hum slightly. Yuga felt a chill, a strange conviction that someone—or something—was looking at him. Muttering “Merde,” he picked up his phone and fled.
Later, Yuga sent the blurry photo he’d captured with Eri’s face cropped out. The green blur made All for One very, very excited. He demanded that Yuga return to the same spot the next morning and try to get more pictures. A stray cat was unlikely to be in the same spot. Yuga was pretty sure Eri had taken the kitten with her. But there was no arguing with an immortal supervillain with the maturity of a toddler.
The latest supernatural encounter had left Yuga’s nerves completely shot. Not for the first time, he regretted ever getting a quirk as he crouched behind a trash can gazing at a passing cat and holding out his phone camera. This one was a calico, and he saw no sign of ghosts yet.
An inky blackness crept toward his feet. Yuga shrieked and dropped his phone again, adding a new crack. But wait, this shape looked thick and real. “Don’t scare me like that, Dark Shadow…” His words trailed off. The shape forming was too tall and humanoid to be Dark Shadow.
Eyes glowed toxic green. A voice like a million bees hummed, “You’ve been spying on us, haven’t you?”
Yuga gibbered and stepped on his phone. A line like a scar flashed across the ghost’s face. His voice became deeper: “Creeping around taking pictures. You’re probably working for him.” An eon’s worth of hatred spat out behind that one word.
The ghost was changing rapidly, shifting between different body shapes, sometimes sprouting an extra limb and other times waving whips. Yuga wanted to run, but the creature had him backed against the wall and his legs wouldn’t work. The ghost shifted into a shorter shape. “You’re just a kid, so we’ll give you a chance. Believe it or not, I started working for All for One when I was even younger than you. He picked me up off the streets. Once upon a time, I trusted him. But you have nothing to gain going down this dark road. I don’t know if All for One got to you through charm or threats. Either way, he’s lying. He’ll use you for what you’re worth, then throw you away. He cares about no one except himself. You have no future working for him. We’ll give you a week to do the right thing and confess to your teachers. They’ll go easy on you if you come to them voluntarily. After that, we’ll have to tell Ninth.” The shadows wisped away like ashes on the wind.
Yuga regretted ever being born, much less obtaining a quirk.
A million times, Yuga stared at his phone and considered texting All for One. But he feared the ghost (ghosts?) had made a good point. If he admitted he’d been revealed as a spy, his cruel master might simply kill him and his parents.
A million times, Yuga started walking toward the principal’s office planning to confess. His parents had attended U.A.’s last parent-teacher conference with no trouble. He could get them over to safety if he pretended to have another one. But then he remembered the pictures he’d seen of Tartarus, and his heart shook. He could pick that for himself, but what about his parents, who still kept insisting on staying loyal to All for One?
Maybe he could do nothing. Would a ghost actually be able to tell anyone about him? Surely the school wouldn’t take the word of a creepy eldritch being. His indecision left him in knots and unable to sleep at night. There were only two days left before his deadline.
During a training exercise, Yuga became so distracted he completely failed to pay attention to his surroundings. He was playing the role of a hero guarding a box of Trigger while the students designated as villains tried to steal it. Staring off into space, he didn’t even notice one of Momo’s canons coming at him.
“Look out!” Izuku screamed, tackling Yuga to the ground.
In the distance, Momo wailed, “I’m sorry, I thought he’d dodge!”
Izuku crashed into the box. It appeared U.A., in its genius and unusual safety standards, had used a real box confiscated from criminals and formerly storing Trigger. There was just enough left to release a small puff of gas directly into Izuku’s face.
For a moment, everyone froze. “Merde!” Yuga shrieked.
Izuku giggled. He floated off the ground, his eyes gazing sightlessly. Thick smoke billowed off of him and tiny black tendrils writhed against his skin. Green electricity arced over his body. Though his mouth did not move, sound echoed around him:
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh this power!”
“We can do anything! We’ll crush All for One like an ant.”
“We’ve transcended. We’ve become gods.”
“Yeah, I think we might be kinda high right now. HahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAaaaaaaa…”
Izuku’s neck twisted at an unnatural angle. In his own voice, he said, “Oh, dear, I don’t think I can control them any longer. You should run.”
The class stampeded away. Except for Yuga, who’d gotten his pants leg stuck on a shard of the box. He grunted mindlessly and yanked on his leg.
And except for Aizawa, who strode forward and chopped the floating boy on the head. “Knock it off, problem child. You’re scaring Aoyama. If you don’t get down on the ground in five seconds, then I won’t show you where the U.A. cats hide any longer.”
The darkness pulled back under Izuku’s skin. He landed on the ground and hung his head. “Sorry.” He turned a brilliant smile on Yuga. “Are you all right?”
Yuga clung to Aizawa’s leg and sobbed in abject terror.
Lying on a bed in the nurse’s office, Yuga devoured a cheese stick and some calming tea. A buzz came from his phone. Slowly, checking no one else was in the room, he took it from his pocket and squinted at the repeatedly cracked screen.
With complete lack of subtly, All for One had written: I’ve ordered my doctor to create a trap for containing ghosts. I will deliver the box to your house in a few days. Then you will bring green-eyed ghost to me.
Yuga shrieked, “I quit!” and threw his phone at ground.
Sitting in the chair before the principal’s desk, Yuga said, “My parents will be arriving at U.A. within the hour. In the meantime, I’ll tell you everything I know about All for One.”
Nezu pressed his paws together. “This is excellent news. We should be able to use you to lure All for One into a trap. Why did you change your mind and turn yourself in?”
Yuga’s lips twisted into a maniac smile. “It turns out there are scarier things in the world than All for One.”
OMAKE TIME!
Omake: An Early Clue
Izuku: Drat, another study partner ran away.
En: Was it just me, or did that kid seem so jumpy, it was almost suspicious?
Izuku: You lot do that to everyone.
Banjo: I didn’t notice anything except how great we were getting along with the kiddo.
Hikage: Fifth’s version seems inaccurate, but I’m too socially inept to be sure.
En: Maybe. Let’s keep an eye on that one.
#
Omake: Misunderstandings
Yuga: Master, why are you after Midoriya? Is it because he has the All for One ability so you see him as a rival?
All for One: What, did One for All stockpile my quirk too? I knew my brother would steal anything not nailed down!
Yuga: What?
All for One: What?
#
Omake: More Reluctant Spying
Yuga: I’ve been ordered against my will to ask if you’ve been able to successfully trap any ghosts.
Monoma: Excuse me? Class 1-A already has seven and a half ghosts and you want even more? Greedy!
Yuga: What if I could get rid of some of our ghosts if you help me?
Monoma: Excuse me? You expect me to backstab my new friend Midoriya? This competition is fair and square! Also, no matter how big a fan you might be, you don’t want to get between Midoriya and Misty Might. Trust me.
#
Omake: The Conversation Take Two
Monoma: I’ll have a ghost trapped any day now. Class 1-B’s ghost will be even cooler and spookier than all of Class 1-A’s ghosts combined. Maybe we can get Crimson Riot.
Yuga: I can’t believe you want them.
All for One: Bring me a ghost.
Yuga: I can understand even less why you want a ghost. Do you realize you’ve left a lot of people in the afterlife very unhappy with you?
All for One: It’s my brother’s ghost.
Yuga: Okay, but are you telling me that your brother, who had to live with you longer than anyone, doesn’t want you dead?
All for One: I prefer you more scared and less sassy.
#
Omake: Teacher’s Pet (Pun Intended)
Aizawa: Aoyama, I’m on to you.
Yuga: I surrender unconditionally, take me to Tartarus.
Aizawa: You’re trying to steal the affection of the local cats from me! The stray cats are mine to feed and play with. It’s bad enough I have to share with a ghost, I’m not sharing with three people. Get your own cat. In fact, please do. I’ve already filled out all the paperwork to request a dorm cat. Please take this to Nezu and pretend it was your idea, because he’s tired of hearing it from me.
Yuga: …
#
Omake: Endless Suffering
Yuga: I’d like to report a student who needs to be committed to a hospital for his own good.
Hound Dog: If this is about Midoriya again, his mental health is not a problem. The ghosts are the problem. Hauntings are outside my area of expertise.
Yuga: No, it’s me. Please take me away.