Chapter Text
Hitoshi didn’t know how he wasn’t going to make fun of Midoriya for All Might peering around the corner of Gym Alpha, staring at him. The week-old pact they had made to never make fun of each other for their mentor (something that benefited Hitoshi WAY more than it had any right to) barely felt like a deterrent. What the hell was he supposed to do? Ignore the fact that the literal Symbol of Peace was acting like a high school girl in literally the least subtle way possible? Even if just witnessing the event wasn’t hard enough on the pact, after they had decided to go back to the dorms, he was the first person the green haired boy came to.
Ranting.
It was like his mumbling had increased tenfold except it actually had focus! And the focus?
Something Hitoshi had promised not to make fun of Midoriya for. A promise he’s slowly becoming less and less sure he’ll be able to keep.
“Why was he even there anyway? It wasn’t even a class exercise, just us messing around in one of the gyms! And I can’t even say anything to him! I mean, every time I try to talk to him about this, he somehow deflates even MORE than usual, something I didn’t even think was possible! And I always have to play it off as some sort of funny thing my classmates said, but their teasing is never gonna stop if he doesn’t stop! And yeah, sometimes it’s nice to have a mentor who cares about you, but honestly? I’ve spent enough time having to deal with a worried mom as a quirkless child! And this? It’s somehow WORSE! Like I get that he wants me to succeed and stuff, but I’m also 15! I wanna hang out with friends without the topic of the number one hero coming up in ANY way but the fanboy sense!” As the boy rambles, Hitoshi finds himself thinking of Midoriya’s room, aka the literal All Might shrine. Honestly, he was just as bad as his mentor.
“And honestly, at this point it’s like… hey… HEY! Are you even listening?” Midoriya’s mildly offended voice snaps him out of his thoughts of the worth of his All Might collection. And how he’s going to convince the boy to sell it.
“God, do you talk to your other friends like that? Where’s this sass come from?” Hitoshi snarks, refusing to admit to ignoring his friend.
“Yeah, well, most my other friends actually pay attention to me!” Midoriya snarks back, rolling his eyes.
“Like them paying attention to you saying that you’re NOT All Might’s secret love child?” Hitoshi raises an eyebrow.
“Ok- well, that-“ It’s rare for Hitoshi to get Midoriya to trip over his words without his social anxiety in play. He relishes in it.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He smirks.
“Seriously, though, this stuff doesn’t usually bother you this much.” His face morphs into one closer to concern. “That, or you’re really good at hiding it, but whatever. You’ve only ever ranted to me on this sort of thing when it was something big, like Iida finally joining in on the teasing. So what happened?” Hitoshi probes his friend. Midoriya is silent for a moment.
“I don’t know.” He finally says. “It’s not actually bothering me more than normal… it’s just, y’know. Yeah.”
“I really don’t know.” Midoriya slapped his hand over his mouth, a muffled “Ok Aizawa” coming out. Hitoshi graciously ignores the small break in the pact and raises his eyebrow, gesturing to Midoriya to speak.
“Look, it’s just. Hard to explain? Before now, mentioning anything negative to anyone felt like a momentous occasion, but y’know. With you it doesn’t?” Midoriya squeaks out.
“I mean, I guess that makes sense.” Hitoshi thinks for a moment. “Is it the pact?”
“It definitely helps, but I doubt it.” Midoriya shrugs. Hitoshi stops, tapping his chin and looking at the ceiling in a fake thinking position.
“Maybe I’m hypnotizing you. Maybe I’m making you lower your guard.” He mocks. Midoriya fixes him with a look. Their friendship had officially started when Aizawa brought Midoriya in to train with Hitoshi’s quirk after he had pushed it off at the sports festival. By the end of it, Midoriya couldn’t even be affected by Hitoshi’s brainwashing and he, at the very least, felt more sure in his quirk.
“I have ghost protection.”
“How do you know I haven’t gotten stronger?” Hitoshi ignores the “ghost protection” comment. He doesn’t want to know. All of the secrets he’s found out about Midoriya have ended up with his world views changing and he doesn’t have the energy for that after trying to lift more than said boy at the gym earlier.
“Oh, have you? Then can you knock me out for a couple hours to sleep tonight? It’s my rest day and sleep is always the worst on those nights.” Oh, that BITCH!
“You- okay, look, I know I sometimes do that for Tokoyami but-“ Maybe the tripping over words is funny when Midoriya does it, but it is NOT when Hitoshi does it.
“But he has you convinced his quirk forces him to have a different cicada rhythm than us, right? You ever actually check that, by the way?” Midoriya interjects, smirking.
“He is not lying!” Hitoshi has checked this, actually. After him and Midoriya had fucked around with his quirk, they had figured out that he could ask question and get truthful answers while they were in their brainwashed state. It’s how Hitoshi had found out the names of Aizawa’s cats. And that he had them.
“You know, he could just THINK that. Doesn’t mean it’s true.” Hitoshi stops. Midoriya makes a good point. Fuck.
“Look, this is besides the point! Even if I have gotten stronger, haven’t you?” Hitoshi deflects. Hard.
“Again, besides the point! Can you knock me out?” Hitoshi rolls his eyes.
“I won’t if that’s what you’re asking.” Midoriya gasps.
“Why not?!” He whines.
“Because if I have to suffer from insomnia, so do you!” Also, most of their best discussions come up at 3 am on school nights but that feels rude to point out.
“Wait, so you haven’t asked Aizawa for some sleeping powder from Midnight? He’d probably get some for you, y’know.” Hitoshi gasps.
“PACT!” He shouts, trying not to imagine himself actually asking Aizawa for a sedative.
“I’M BEING SERIOUS!” Midoriya shouts back, affronted.
“And I’m not asking my mentor for powder made from the body of the 18+ R rated hero!” Hitoshi is horrified by the idea. Yes, he’ll just go up to his mentor and ask for literal fucking drugs. Drugs produced by Aizawa’s friend. Right.
“Then hypnotize him to do it!”
“Look, it’s another thing I absolutely will not do!” He briefly considers putting his fingers in his ears. Anything not to listen to Midoriya make plans for him to solicit drugs from his pro hero mentor.
“You’ve brainwashed Aizawa before. Don’t lie to me.” Hitoshi gapes at Midoriya.
“In TRAINING!”
“Then why do you have pictures of his cat on your phone?” Midoriya snarks.
“How do you KNOW about that?!” Hitoshi knows he’s never told Midoriya that. He knows it. There’s no fucking way.
“So you admit to brainwashing Aizawa outside of training?” Midoriya’s eyes glint.
“I’m adding a new rule to the pact!”
“Nope! Not allowed! Pact already made and agreed to! Answer the question!” Midoriya says grinning sharply.
“Answer mine first!” Hitoshi shot back.
“I asked first!”
“You were either on my or my mentor’s phone. Answer!” He demanded.
“Hey! I’ll have you know, I asked Present Mic!” Midoriya says like he’s fucking innocent.
“That BITCH! Oh, I’m so telling Aizawa.” Hitoshi says in triumph.
“After I saw the pictures on your phone.” Hitoshi stares. “After stealing it.”
“You motherfu-“
“And then I stole Aizawa’s phone to get more cat pics and noticed that particular thread was deleted from his phone.” Hitoshi gapes.
“YOU ABSOLUTE BI-“
“Wanna see the pics?” Midoriya grins an evil looking grin. Fucking gremlin.
“DO I WANT TO- of fucking course I do! But I’m still telling Aizawa.” He threatens.
“You can tell him about Mic, but any more than that and I won’t share these pictures with you.” Bargaining. Of course Midoriya was bargaining.
“You ASSHOLE!” Hitoshi hisses.
“We’ve got a deal?” Midoriya smirks.
“A deal? Oh fuck off- yes, of course we do! Now! Show me!”
And so, for the next two hours, Midoriya and Hitoshi looked over cat pictures, pact still intact.
For now.