Third person pov

Finding Denise is slowly beginning to seem like an impossible task. Every day that passes without so much as a glimpse leaves the trail just as cold as it was when they first realized he was gone, if not even more so. Kit is certain he'll resurface at some point, it's just a matter of when and where. Until then, Kit is content to search for him. He's not about to give up even if Denise can't talk, is hideous, and is kind of useless. If your dog went missing would you ever give up trying to find them?

He's not trying to de-humanize Denise by any means. It's just that... well, is Denise even a human to begin with? Tenya definitely doesn't think so, and Kit is inclined to side with him. And not just because he's hot and could crush Kit's head like a melon with his thighs. That doesn't mean Denise has any less worth than the rest of them. He's loved! Practically their child, he's so helpless on his own! Kit's determined to track him down.

Besides, breaking Rei out would've been far harder without his compliance and physique. Rei seems to agree if her eagerness to assist in the hunt is anything to go off of. Dabi's frothing at the mouth. He's tried no less than twelve times to convince her to simply not. It's fucking hilarious and Kit revels in it. Tenya's not here to stare at him disapprovingly and tell him to be amiable, so he's going to laugh his ass off to his heart's content. Smugly. 

Present Mic had agreed to keep an eye out. Mentioning Denise had mostly been a diversion to divert his attention from Kit's socks onto other things, but he'd still hoped something would come from it. Nothing so far. Yeah, it had only been a few days, but come on! Heroes were resourceful and... fuck, Kit didn't know. They walked around, they saw shit. Denise definitely qualified as 'shit' if you asked him. God, he was so nasty looking. How were there no photos of him on a Reddit forum yet? 

"I don't think he's in here." Dabi scowled, looking visibly disgusted as Kit nudged the rapidly-cooling body with his foot. Shoeless, again. He'd gotten some of those early 2000s, knee-high converse monstrosities in hopes they'd stay on. News flash: they did not stay on at all. They're gone and Kit has no fucking clue where they went. They were there and then they weren't. It's like the second he takes his focus off of them, they vanish. 

"Well of course not, dear." Rei said placatingly, as though she hadn't just encased half the building in a solid block of ice. The distant wail of police sirens reminded them that they should probably get going. Rei didn't appear worried, dyed brown hair braided intricately down her back. She looked like some sort of sherpa-clad, arctic, Xena warrior princess. Kit had no idea how she does it, honestly. Women will never cease to amaze him. "This is a child trafficking operation. Denise is certainly not a child."

"He might be. Not sure who would ever want to traffic him, he's so goddamn ugly, but I'm not here to discriminate." Kit nudged the body a little harder, eyeing it. Definitely dead. He deserved it. Kit had no idea how these people had gotten so many children out of China but he hoped they burned for it. The dozens of terrified eyes trained on them made rage burn low in his gut. "Can't say I regret it either way. Denise would've wanted this carnage."

Dabi gave him a look. Probably because Denise has the mental capacity of an electric kitchen mixer and only wants to eat household appliances and light fixtures most of the time. Kit just beamed brightly, not bothering to say another word on the matter. Their hunt for Denise had taken them nowhere fast. There was no word of him. It was as though he'd never existed! It's not like he wasn't recognizable. Someone, somewhere, must've seen him. He was too big and too grotesque in appearance to slip by without being gawked at.

If Tenya were here, he'd probably be having a conniption. Kit had already sworn Dabi to secrecy, threatening half-heartedly to fire him if he dared spill the details of their little escapades. Sure, Kit hadn't outwardly promised not to get into trouble, but he had implied he wouldn't! Tenya's dream was to be a hero and Kit would be damned if he distracted him from it. Poor boy was too chivalrous for his own good. He'd likely keel over if anymore news of Kit's illegal activities reached him whilst he was in class, unable to do anything about it aside from stew in perpetual agony.

"Whatever, you little psychopath. Can we get out of here already? I already told you I didn't want to be wrapped up in your shit." Dabi scoffed, because he's a dick. Kit hummed a bit. It was true-- the only reason Dabi was here was because Rei was. Him caring about his mom was cute! If only he weren't such a little bitch about it. "Don't you have other shit you can do? Like, I don't know, be normal and do your schoolwork? Or whatever bastards like you do."

"Touya, be nice! Kit's just looking for his friend. Besides, we've done a good thing here." Rei chastised. Kit grinned gleefully when Dabi's irritable look turned to a more cowed one. Oh, the power of a parent. Kit wouldn't know it, sad little practically-an-orphan-at-this-point boy that he is. "Why don't you two run along, then? I'll make sure these babies get to safety. Maybe the press will catch me on the way out!"

Rei looks far too excited by the prospect. Kit cackles-- rather evilly if you ask Dabi-- and obliges with gusto.

~~~

Shoto Todoroki didn't approach on the first day, or second, but he did hover on the outskirts of Izuku's peripheral like a wraith. He was always lingering in the corner of his eye. Izuku wasn't sure if he was waiting, observing, or a bit of both. It was terrifying no matter why he was doing it. Not as terrifying as their new teacher, whom Izuku had parsed out to be Eraserhead, the underground pro that was onto Kit, but he digressed. 

"Tell him I said hi." Kit had requested brilliantly when Izuku told him. After a mental breakdown of a first day, Tenya had been astonished to come home to find that... nothing had happened. Kit seemingly hadn't done anything. No news reports on the elusive vigilante 'Socks', no having to bail him out of jail, nothing. Even Izuku was skeptical, especially after eyeballing Dabi's singed clothes and watching Rei empty her boots of melted water and ice chunks. Clearly something had happened, but they were being tight-lipped about it.

There were a few sightings of Rei, but the lack of mention of Kit left Tenya foolishly hoping that she'd been out on a solo act. Wishful thinking, but ignorance was bliss and Kit seemed to know that if his disarming smiles were anything to go off of. Tenya let himself sink into it and decided not to question it too hard. He felt stressed enough to implode, and any reprieve would be taken happily. Even if it was fake and he knew it. 

"Literally why would I do that?" Izuku had responded. Kit had chortled, collapsed into Tenya's lap, and that had been that. He hadn't brought it up again. Todoroki didn't approach, Izuku continued to pray he didn't, and the world went round. It was surreal. He was a UA student. He was training under All Might, the greatest pro hero of all time. Was his life even real at this point?

The USJ was a towering structure that Tenya snapped several subtle photos of. Him being class president was something Kit had cooed over endlessly, leaving his boyfriend infinitely prideful of his position. The brunette had laughed uproariously when he heard Izuku landed it at first, sending himself into a wheezing fit he'd cackled so hard. Offensive, but not unjustified. The notion of Izuku being in charge of literally anything was rather horrifying. A recipe for disaster.

"Class prez on his phone during school hours? I never thought I'd see the day!" Kaminari crowed obnoxiously as Tenya sent the photos of to Kit, all of them amply labeled to avoid any confusion, of course. Iida shot him a look that immediately had the blonde's mouth slamming shut in startled surprise. Izuku choked on something like a laugh. "I mean, uh. I'm sure you're doing very... academic things."

"Academic, sure, that's one way to put it." Izuku murmured under his breath. He was lucky they weren't by the staircase anymore. Iida likely would've shoved him back down it otherwise. Goodness, Kit really was rubbing off on him, wasn't he? That sounded wrong. Oh, no! Him thinking that was even further proof that it was true! Perhaps it wasn't a bad thing? Nothing about Kit was bad, arguably. 

Aizawa called for their attention, the teacher's hard gaze drifting over his students grumpily. He was a capable instructor, but Tenya couldn't help the coil of tension he felt around him. This was the pro who'd seen Kit in that alley, had saw that he got stabbed, was firm on his belief that it was him he'd seen fighting and not some other, random teenager. This wasn't a good thing considering it was likely Kit was still going out and about. Though he was doing it to valiantly search for Denise, that didn't mean he wasn't going to get into other trouble. The thought of him getting caught made panic rise unbidden in his chest.

The inside of the USJ was even more impressive than the outside. It made the reality of his position in the hero course seem all the realer. It inflated something in Tenya's chest, made him swell with pride and a healthy dose of excitement. Kit would've thrived in this class. He was too resourceful not to have-- Tenya is certain. He could've eased his way into the Hero course with a smug smile and fair amount of self-satisfaction, and UA never would've known what hit it. Tenya wished he had joined him. He guessed he'd have to settle with telling Kit all about it later.

"A shipwreck. A landslide. A fire. A windstorm. Et cetera-- I created this training facility to prepare you to deal with different types of disasters." Thirteen opened her arms grandly, and Tenya got the impression that she was probably smiling beneath her helmet. Tenya couldn't blame her. Getting to see and share something like this with the upcoming generation of heroes had to be adrenaline-inducing, even as a seasoned pro. "I call it the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. But you can call it U-S-J!"

The excited tittering of 1-A made Thirteen puff up all the more. Tenya wondered what zone he'd be sent into. Where would he be best? He really wasn't sure. Kit would know exactly where he should go. That, or he'd send him somewhere he'd be awful just to snicker when he struggled. That seemed like a very on-brand thing for him to do. He again found himself wishing he was here. His talents were being wasted. Utterly wasted! 

"All Might's missing." Izuku hissed under his breath as their classmates marveled. Tenya glanced down at him with a frown and cocked brow, glancing around. Yeah, definitely no seven foot wall of muscle in patriotic spandex. Why Izuku was stating the obvious, Tenya didn't know. "He's supposed to be here. I think he got twigged."

"Stop calling it that. Have some respect. Did he not take the time to train you for months on end? He's the whole reason you're here." Tenya muttered harshly. All Might being a dilapidated pencil of a man was still hard for him to wrap his head around, but he was an amazing hero despite that. The gravity of his sacrifice wasn't something Tenya could fully comprehend. It was likely nobody would ever be quite able to. Izuku and Kit calling his unfortunate tendency to deflate 'twigging' was the biggest one way ticket to hell Tenya's ever seen.  "I'm sure everything will be fine. If he needs rest, he deserves rest."

"I'm not saying he doesn't." Izuku said, sounding a tad scandalized. Thirteen was going on about the dangers that came with having a powerful quirk, and the present risk of accidentally hurting someone in the process of trying to help. Valuable stuff, Tenya was sure. He'd love to soak it in if Izuku would just shut up for a second. "God, why're you in such a bad mood today? I'm supposed to be the snappish one."

Tenya's answering glower made Izuku roll his eyes. Ugh. Izuku swore the tension in his friend wound up tighter and tighter the longer he was away from his disgustingly sappy relationship. Tenya had always been a stickler about rules, but it had gotten ten times worse since coming to UA. Like all Kit's work getting him to loosen up had faded away and left behind-- well, this. A strained, mini-adult prone to snapping. He was like an overworked office employee. It was literal, actual agony.

He wasn't entirely unapproachable. He was cordial with their classmates at the minimum, but Izuku was familiar and easy pickings. It didn't help that Izuku now had the confidence to snipe back. Normally the green haired boy bounced his wit off Kit's unwavering shield of shitheaded-ness, but he wasn't here now. Not to receive Izuku's attitude and not to soothe Tenya's. God, they were so pathetic. How was it that they were beginning to slowly cease real-people function without him? This wasn't sustainable!

Before Izuku could make a retort that would probably get him another death-glare, the pressure in the USJ suddenly dropped. The temperature cooled noticeably enough that everyone seemed to collectively shiver, even those who ran naturally hot. A pervading sense of 'oh no, this isn't right' seemed to wash over the group as a whole. Tenya tensed, straightening considerably. He glanced down at Izuku, but all the freckled teen could do was grimace uselessly back at him. He didn't know either. Was this normal?

"Whoa, what is that thing?" Kirishima asked suddenly, standing on his toes and leaning forward to get a better look. The facility's massive fountain sputtered to a halt, which was somehow more foreboding than anything else. Tenya swallowed thickly, hands curling into fists as everyone's attention was drawn. Something was happening. "Wait, has training started already?"

There in the center of the USJ was... well, a trio of giant black holes. Rimmed in miasmic purple, Izuku felt his heartrate begin to climb as people began to steadily pour into the plaza. Tenya felt clammy, sweat beginning to bead the back of his neck as he took in the expression on his homeroom teacher's face. This was not supposed to be happening. It wasn't planned, and it certainly wasn't a part of training. His mind flashed back to the break-in the day before, remembering Kit's raised eyebrows when he'd brushed it off after telling him. Fuck.

"Stay back!" Aizawa snapped harshly, hands flying to his capture weapon. Several members of 1-A backed up at the tone, fear spiking. Aizawa was brusque and snappish, but he hadn't raised his voice at them even once. "This is real. Those are villains." 

And yeah, they most certainly were. Some had costumes, some were dressed like ordinary people. They flooded the area, quirks whirring and faces filled with malice. Tenya'd never seen such a large gathering of villains before, not on the news and certainly not in real life. It was astonishing, the gravity of it. What was going on? Of all the places to attack, a class of twenty first year students not even past their first week of school seemed... moot. Unless they weren't there for them. But why else?

Tenya and Izuku watched in a state of mute horror, the former idly wondering how it was possible that he was getting into more trouble than Kit was despite being at school. His boyfriend would never let this go. Tenya could hear it now. 'You think me walking around without shoes on a public road is dangerous? At least I didn't get attacked on a fucking field trip my third day into school!' It was going to be a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. 

Before Tenya could turn on his heel and try for the door, Izuku's hands darted out and grabbed for his arm. The Iida grunted as he was bodily yanked, Izuku's face full of astonishment and... glee? Why was he happy? Tenya stared at him, utterly perplexed. Did he want to die? Had Kit influenced him too much? Tenya tried to follow his gaze. Had...

Wait. Wait, down there. There was no way, was there? Was that really--

"Oh my god!" Izuku shrieked, the joy in his voice drawing the stunned attention of their classmates and teacher. Izuku thrust his finger forward, positively exuberant. It was a bold contrast to the stutter he usually sported when he spoke up to anyone but Tenya. Tenya felt his jaw drop. He shoved his glasses further up his face, unbelieving of what he was seeing. "Denise!"