Third person pov

Lillian gazed nervously up at Center Plaza, shifting her weight from foot to foot. Shed'd asked her dad plenty of times if the practical exam was really robots or not, and each time he'd simply given that grin that told her that hey, it probably wasn't robots. But if it wasn't that, then what was it? Even Bakugo didn't seem to think they'd try the same thing twice. UA had a style, and that just wasn't it. They were unpredictable, and quite frankly a little scary. Lillian wondered if she should've dug her grave beforehand and made the funeral arrangements. No bother. If all else failed, Neito would know what she needed.

Now that they were actually here, it was becoming pretty obvious they'd either been misled or that the practical had simply been changed from whatever it was last year. All their teachers were here. If they were just fighting roots, Lillian really didn't see why they'd all need to be here. Even Hitoshi seemed on edge, standing so close to her their arms were touching as they both tried to deduce what was going on. She'd heard him mutter four vine references in the past minute alone, and she'd muttered six. Anxiety was on high, basically. 

"Now then... let's begin the last test." It was Lillian's dad who spoke. Lillian pulled on the sleeves of her hero costume, glancing uneasily at her classmates. They were all uneasy as well, clad in their hero costumes and clearly wondering just what was up. "Remember, it's possible to fail this final. If you wanna go to camp, then don't make any stupid mistakes."

Mic glanced at Lillian, trying not to let his concern show. The Little Listener was totally spooked. She'd gotten lots of encouraging comments from her ever-growing fan base, as Mic had mentioned finals were coming up fast. Not that he needed to tell them. Summer was fast on its way, and they were all aware of what came them. He'd gotten several questions asking if Lillian would rejoin the show over the summer, if she'd be participating in any of the photo shoots she'd been invited to take part in, and such of that like. It was a bit overwhelming, but more exciting than not.

"We're so fucked." Hitoshi whispered so lowly even Lillian barely heard him, and she was standing right next to the guy. Lillian nodded. Because really, why were all the teachers here? There was absolutely no reason for it if they were going to be up against robots. She sort of wanted to cry. Just a little. It wasn't like, a big deal or anything. Just some minor panic that was maybe slowly but surely swelling into complete and total mayhem within her brain. Just the usual. It was fine. She was fine! This was totally cool and she wasn't going to cry. Not even a little. Hyperventilation? We don't know her. 

"D-Do you think we'll die?" Lillian asked in a hushed tone.

"No." Hitoshi admitted quietly. He added as an afterthought, "Whatever's going to happen will be worse."

Lillian winced at that, knowing good and well that he was probably right. She didn't like the grin on Mic's face, or the glint in her dad's eyes. Lillian vaguely wondered if it was too late to feign sickness. Maybe pretend her period started and book it. Even better, she could freeze the teachers and her classmates, and they'd never know she was gone until they tried to find her. Only then would they realize she'd wussed out. It would totally get her kicked out of UA, but she sort of felt like vomiting at the moment anyway.

"Uh... why're all the teachers here?" Jiro seemed to realize. Lillian watched horror dawn on many of her classmates faces and felt a little better knowing her pain was shared. How it hadn't hit them before was honestly a mystery to her. Were they living in their own little fairy lands where everything was sunshine and rainbows? If so, she wanted tickets in-

"I'm sure many of you have gathered information and believe you have some idea of what you'll be faced with today." Aizawa's eyes scanned the crowd. Lillian winced a bit. This was horrible and she, decidedly, wanted it to end. Her dad was looking at her too. A bad sign if she ever saw one. Mr. Mic was doing the same thing, which made things worse. Hitoshi looked ready to keel over, also not the best thing on the planet. He hadn't really had a lot of hero training. They were being pretty cruel, plunging him into the deep end like this. It was like throwing an acorn at the dirt and expecting it to not only plant itself, but to grow into a moderate sized tree within the span of a few hours as well.

"We're fighting those big ol' metal robots!" Kaminari hooted. It had been far, far too long since they'd done anything to him. Recovering from the Sports Festival had apparently been pretty hard from him. According to Mina, he'd had another small break down when he'd found out Lillian was famous. It was alright, though. They'd been a bit too wrapped up in Neito's death to do much. They'd have to change that. They'd have to change that big time. Get back in the game.

"Fireworks! S'mores! Here we come, camp!" Mina cheered, throwing her fists in the air excitedly. Lillian and Hitoshi grimaced. On her other side, Shoto scoffed. The boy had been quiet and calculating this entire time. Lillian was a bit surprised he wasn't with Izuku. That being said, he didn't usually hang out with Izuku when other people were there to see. Maybe it's because he didn't want his father getting word of what was happening, or maybe he wasn't one for PDA. Lillian really wasn't sure.

"Actually, this year's tests..." Lillian blanched as her father's scarf began to move. Was it sentient cancer? The man didn't even bat an eye. "...will be completely different for various reasons!" 

"Principal Nezu?!" Several people cried out in surprise, leaning forward slightly as the mammalian creature burst from the scarf. Hitoshi snorted, clearly trying his best not to laugh as Lillian denied to urge to bury her face in her hands. This was it. The very end. If it wasn't robots they were fighting, it was probably something ten times worst. Bon voyage! See everyone in hell! Oh, scratch that, Lillian was already there.

"Y-You're changing things?" Momo looked mortified. 

"The tests now have a new focus. There will be hero work, of course." Nezu proclaimed as he used Aizawa's scarf to climb down and off the man. "But also teamwork and combat between actual people. So what does that mean for you? You students will be working together in pairs, and your opponents will be one of our esteemed UA teachers! Isn't that fabulous?!"

Lillian felt her soul leave her body. Who can say where the road goes, where the days flow, only time-

"What's that I smell? An impending disaster? Maybe my upcoming failure? Who knows. At this rate, it could very well be Satan himself." Hitoshi muttered mournfully. Lillian was frozen. Pairs? Her dad knew she was best friends with Hitoshi and Shoto, so there was no way she was with them. Not to mention the fact that it was the teachers they'd be fighting. So yeah, they were Screwed with a capital S. If Lillian hadn't been sweating buckets before, she sure as shit was now. Half her classmates were the same, so she wasn't too worried about that part. They could call her out and be hypocrites if they wanted.

Her teachers were strong. There was no way they'd ever beat them in a simple two-on-one fight. Lillian could maybe, but it wasn't because she was strong. It was because her quirk literally froze things in time. That's why she was pretty sure she'd be up against Ectoplasm, or maybe Mic. Ectoplasm could clone himself, and thus surround her and whoever she was teamed up with. Mic was long range, and could stay out of sight if need be and scream her deaf. Mr. Aizawa was also a possibility, but she doubted Nezu would allow it, her being the Underground Hero's daughter and all.

Also the teaming up part. What if she got paired with someone she didn't really talk to? Like... Like Sero? Or Kirishima? They were great, with amazing quirks and a lot of passion, but she was horrible at talking to people she didn't really know! There's no way she'd be able to work with them, knowing how bold they were. With Kaminari's fear of her, she could also get placed with him. His phobia was real enough that Lillian didn't really think that would happen, but she wasn't sure what she'd do if she did.

"We're... fighting the teachers?" Ochako squeaked, mortified by the mere prospect. Aizawa held back a smile.

"Additionally, your partners and your opponents have already been chosen. They were determined at my discretion based on various factors, including fighting style, grades, and interpersonal relationships." Aizawa drawled. He watched Lillian pale further and wondered if he should offer her a jelly packet to help calm her down. The girl was fidgeting, looking over all her classmates with darting eyes. He sighed. It was only going to get worse once she learned who she'd been put with.

"For example, Yaoyorozu and Kirishima are a team." Aizawa grinned. "Against me."

That knocked Aizawa out of the running. Lillian didn't allow any relief in. All her teachers were just as dangerous and skilled as her dad was. She could be up against anyone and still bite the dust. 

"Alternatively, we have Midoriya paired with Todoroki." Aizawa noted. He'd put the two power houses together to see if they'd be willing to work together. He'd seen them talking at times, though they didn't seem too close. Lillian had also mentioned Izuku in passing. Todoroki was cool and confident, and not good on teamwork. He'd probably take charge. Izuku was nervous enough that had' either be silent, or teeter over the edge and finally speak up. "And their opponent is..."

"LeBron James." Hitoshi murmured under his breath. Lillian elbowed him as All Might came crashing down.

"I am here... to fight!" All Might rose, grinning that same grin and Shoto and Izuku stared with bugged out eyes. Lillian shook out her hands. 

Aizawa had originally planned to put Izuku and Katsuki up against All Might due to the hostility between the two boys. However, that animosity had dulled since the Sports Festival. It was practically non-existent, and they'd proven to work just fine together during hero training. They were quite the team. Midoriya had known Bakugo long enough that he had no issues communicating, despite the grief he'd suffered at Bakugo's hand. Putting them together wasn't rational, and thus he'd put Todoroki, someone who relied far too much on brute strength, with the self-sacrificing Midoriya to see what became of it.

"See you on the other side." Lillian said to the half-and-half boy, keeping her voice low. "That man is the definition of dramatic, but..."

"I'm fucked." Shoto whispered, staring with plain horror.

"Language." Hitoshi teased, though he too looked jittery. At least they weren't up against All Might. Lillian would no doubt die from blood loss, and Hitoshi was pretty sure the Number One hero could get out of his brainwashing without too much of an effort. And even if he couldn't, everyone had seen his quirk in action at the Sports Festival. They knew not to reply, or that they could find a way to hurt themselves to jostle out of it.

"Shoji and Hagakure are against Cementoss." Aizawa listed. Hagakure was stealth and while Shoji was too, he seemed more of the underground type. Seeing them work against someone like Cementoss would be interesting. They'd no doubt try to sneak up on him somehow, or at least let Hagakure sneak past the gate. How they did that when Cementoss could sense their footsteps through the cemented ground would be interesting. 

"Next is Lillian and Bakugo against Ectoplasm." Aizawa said. Mic had insisted he not put them together, but Aizawa thought it was perfect. Bakugo didn't work well with others at all, and Lillian had displayed hesitance to be anywhere near him in the past. His anger and brashness paired with her shyness was an odd combination. He was curious to see if his daughter would step up and try to communicate, and push for Bakugo to listen. They'd never really talked before to his knowledge, so this would be new for the both of them.

Lillian paused, rolling over what her father had just said. Bakugo had a feral grin on his face, eyes flashing as he shot a look her way. 

Oh.

Well, this wouldn't be so bad, now would it? Lillian felt the pressure resting on her alleviate considerably. Bakugo... oh my god, they'd paired her with Bakugo! This was the best day of her fucking life. Had they any idea what they'd just done? Sure, her and Bakugo didn't hang out, but he'd listen to her. She'd listen to him right back. He didn't make her nervous anymore, not like she didn't doubt her dad was assuming. She'd literally brought him pizza at three in the morning. It didn't get much better than that.

"Ojiro and Iida against Power Loader. The match after that will be you two against me, as mentioned before, Yaoyorozu, Kirishima. Next is Uraraka and Aoyama against Thirteen. Shinso and Kaminari against Nezu-" Aizawa spoke. Lillian immediately turned to look up at Hitoshi, eyes bright. The purple-haired boy felt himself grin as the electric blonde sent the tired teen a wary look. Hitoshi wasn't the one he was afraid of, but just him being friends with Lillian was enough to set him on edge.

Kaminari was slowly but surely beginning to relax. Lillian really didn't talk to him that much anymore, and the Cranberry Sprite and Big Chungus shenanigans had come to a stuttering halt. It was a huge relief, but he was skeptical. Now, he was being paired up with someone he knew Lillian had been long time friends with. The ever attractive Shinso Hitoshi was going to be his partner, and from what rumors Kaminari had heard, the guy was just as into memes as Lillian was.

"Jiro and Koda against Present Mic. Sero and Tokoyami against Snipe. Ashido and Asui against Midnight. And then of course, Midoriya and Todoroki against All Might." Aizawa finished, eyeing his daughter. Surprisingly, she had a smile on her face. Not that he wasn't glad. It was just rather unexpected seeing as she'd been so stiff she'd looked like she was about to fall over just a moment ago. Glancing at Bakugo, he looked just as dangerous as ever. No doubt ready to dive into the fight. He clicked his tongue.

"To complete the exam, you'll have thirty minutes. In order to win, your objective is to put these handcuffs on your teacher. Or you can win if one of manages to escape from the combat stage." Nezu chirped. Lillian looked down at her hands. She didn't have firepower on her side, but he did. She was essentially backup material. Defense, if you would. He was without a doubt offense. And she knew they'd be kicking some serious ass.

Bakugo couldn't stop grinning for the life of him. In training, he and Lillian had never paired up. She didn't often times participate in quirk VS quirk battles due to the nature of her power. She could just freeze whatever she looked at. Instead, she focused more on prolonging the amount of time she could keep something still, improving her stamina, and dodging. A lot of times she was with Uraraka. Lillian got to improve her dodging, and Ochako got to throw rocks at people and try to tackle her freckled seatmate.

They were directed to the waiting room where they could strategize, and shown the area where they could watch the monitors to view the fight occurring. Lillian chose to hunt down Bakugo, while Hitoshi slunk over towards the twitching Kaminari. Shoto had no issues going off to find Izuku, grinning from ear to ear like some sort of mad man. Honestly, Lillian was a little concerned for All Might. If her dad had really chosen all the pairings by his lonesome, he needed some sort of reality check. The fact that she put her and Bakugo together? Amusing. Cute. Izuku and Shoto? Holy mother of fuck, she was going to laugh herself into stitches.

"So, looks like it's you and I, Freckles." Bakugo grinned down at her, red eyes glinting. He and Lillian, paired together. The day truly couldn't get any better. 

"I was afraid I wasn't going to pass." Lillian admitted. Bakugo's sharp retort was cut off by a near murderous grin forming on her own face. Bakugo felt his heart beat a bit faster. "Can't say I'm too worried now."

Bakugo wondered if it would be weird if he hugged her. He decided not to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aizawa would be damned if he didn't watch his daughter's performance against Ectoplasm. It's how he found himself in the viewing area with Recovery Girl, Midoriya, Todoroki, Shinso, and Uraraka. They were all curiously looking up monitors. Hitoshi had this shit eating grin on his face, and Todoroki was shaking his head in a manner that was bordering on sad. Aizawa raised an eyebrow at them as he came to a halt, glancing at Bakugo and Lillian as they readied themselves.

"Did you really put those two together?" Hitoshi snorted. Aizawa frowned at the near amused accusation in his tone. "That was a huge mistake." 

"Did Present Mic not warn you?" Todoroki raised an eyebrow. The man had been there when they went out to ramen, and had seen first hand that Bakugo and Lillian were reasonably comfortable around each other. Sure, Todoroki had left almost immediately, but he was absolutely certain they'd displayed some form of friendship at the very least in the Voice Hero's presence. The blonde not warning Aizawa didn't seem likely.

"He did. But he's always had a soft spot for Lillian. Bakugo is brash, and doesn't work well with others. Lillian needs to learn how to communicate even with people of that nature." Aizawa noted. Uraraka and Midoriya both nodded, but Hitoshi and Shoto continued to stare at Aizawa for just a moment longer. This poor, poor man. He truly had no idea the proverbial Kraken he'd just released. Ectoplasm had no idea what was about to happen. Hitoshi felt sort of sorry for the guy. Shoto was sure this would be an excellent start to their little group's winning streak. Shoto didn't plan on failing, and he was certain Hitoshi didn't either. Neito would be fine as well, surely.

"Team Bakugo and Lillian. Practical exam. Ready? Go." The robotic voice announced. Aizawa held his breath. He really needed to put his surname on her records. He watched the camera zoom in on their faces. Bakugo, surprisingly, hadn't moved. He was the type to charge ahead and attack the issue with whatever firepower he could muster. Instead, he turned to Lillian. There was no audio, but he was grinning.

Lillian smiled back and held up her fist. Bakugo bumped his against it without hesitation, his other palm crackling and sparkling in a way that Lillian didn't even flinch at. Immediately, one thing became abundantly clear. 

Shota Aizawa had made a huge mistake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their pattern was pretty simple. They communicated well with one another, so all Lillian had to do was freeze them, and then Bakugo would blast them. She also ended up jumping on his back temporarily while Bakugo shot them both off and onto the second level, escaping a small group of five clones. Ectoplasm was using them sparingly, they both noted. That was fine. If Lillian could get eyes on him, they could stop him easy. Other than that, this whole thing was just a huge laugh.

Ectoplasm's clones could appear pretty much anywhere. There was little to no indication of where they'd pop up next, leaving Lillian and Bakugo to stand back to back. Lillian would freeze the one's behind him while he took out the ones in front, and then they'd flip and he'd take on the one's she'd stilled while she, once again, frozen any of the new ones. It was systematic and simple, and left them both with the ability to chat idly as Bakugo fended off the clones with brute force. They were sturdy, but not that sturdy.

"I can't believe those fuckers paired us together." Bakugo cackled, blasting another clone that Lillian had frozen. They weren't at all concerned with the time it was taking them to get to Ectoplasm. The man's clones seemed to be getting a bit more frantic as they were easily taken down. "This is a fucking breeze with you and I. They can't even get close."

"M-Match made in heaven, right? Maybe hell? Guess none of th-the teachers realized." Lillian laughed. Bakugo felt his cheeks flush slightly as she shamelessly kneed one of the clones in the groin, causing it to snap from her control and stumble back with a howl. Lillian winced slightly, blinking again as another clone dove or her with a well aimed kick that stopped a few inches short of its target. She backed up as Bakugo blew him up. 

"Yeah, well this is a walk in the park because of it." Bakugo grumbled, clearing his throat slightly. Whatever. Wasn't his fault Mr. Aizawa didn't know he and Lillian were friends. In fact, Bakugo was her best friend. Way, way better than those other losers she hung out with. He was probably bashing his head in just thinking about this. The both of them, working together and shit. Maybe they'd see how well he and Lillian worked together and pair them up more. That... would be nice. Or something. No that he wanted that to happen or anything in particular of that... nature... and stuff...

They found the original Ectoplasm, and he was frozen before he could even move. Lillian immediately felt woozy, prompting Bakugo to hurry it up. Ectoplasm was a lot more powerful than his clones, which only had a portion of his vast capabilities. The explosive blonde didn't hesitate to cuff the guy, who was released not a moment after. Ectoplasm stumbled forward slightly with clear confusion as he processed what happened. Lillian felt herself smile.

She'd been pretty worried about the exam, but she had to wonder if they'd have to redo it. It was pretty obvious they'd been put together on the assumption that Bakugo would be a dick and Lillian would be a pansy. They never talked in class, and Lillian hadn't mentioned the teen to her dad since moving in. Lillian didn't see how it would be fair of them to have to redo it with separate partners, but she also could see that they'd ruined the point of the exam with their relationship that wasn't exactly a secret, but they just failed to mention.

"Team Lillian and Bakugo have passed the final!" The robotic voice from before exclaimed. Bakugo grinned, holding up his hand. Lillian didn't hesitate to smile back, slapping hers against it as Ectoplasm congratulated them on their win. Maybe Lillian would have had a bit more trouble if paired with someone with a non-offensive quirk, like perhaps Hagakure, or Hitoshi, but Bakugo made up for her lack of fighting skills. She froze, he took down. It was that simple. Aizawa had assumed Bakugo would run off and get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of clones or something, but they'd done just as they were supposed to. They'd worked together. 

"They're... friends?" Aizawa asked distantly, brows furrowed. 

"Oh man." Hitoshi grinned. "You have no idea."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Enji Todoroki!" Tsukauchi grinned widely, eyes glinting. "You are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you do or say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney as well, if you so choose."

"What is the meaning of this?!" Endeavor stood as officers and other pro-heroes entered the office, flooding it to the brim. Sansa stepped forward with a pair of quirk-suppressing cuffs, cat ears twitching uneasily at the sight of the angry man before him. Endeavor was not happy, and god dammit he had questions. First his son had vanished, and then he'd dropped into the Number Three spot. After that, he'd been notified that his wife had somehow gotten out of the hospital. How that was at all possible, he hadn't a clue.

He'd gotten a note of some sort claiming he'd been divorced from her. That wasn't a good thing. Less control that way. That Lillian girl was ruining his reputation by speaking about things of which she had no real knowledge of. As much as it angered him, he knew he couldn't go after her. Instead he had to focus on his apparent ex-wife. He'd had no idea how she'd gotten a judge to agree to the divorce, but she had.

He'd looked for Rei, but could only assume she was with Shoto. She shared guardianship with him. It was something he couldn't take away from her now that she was out of the hospital, even with all the people he knew in high places. They'd both have to meet before a judge and hash it out, and Rei would never do that. So he was resigned to the fact that he couldn't take Shoto out of UA in order to get him to come home and instead hired a few private investigators to try and find the woman.

Issue was, Rei didn't seem to be going outside much, if at all. He'd tried to follow Shoto, but the boy had begun going to that damn Midoriya kid's house after school, and sometimes to that purple-haired kid's instead. Whether or not he stayed the night varied. He'd also begun to go to a different apartment recently, this one seeming to belong to Lillian. Endeavor secretly hoped that maybe they were together by some chance. Their quirks combined could be ultimately powerful, especially if Shota Aizawa's was thrown into the mix.

Yet now here he was, about to be taken into custody.

"You're under arrest. Domestic abuse against a minor and against your spouse, as well as child neglect, bribery of public officials, unnecessary obstruction of property, need I go on?" Tsukauchi smiled politely. Endeavor grit his teeth, a vein popping out on his neck as his entire body tensed. "Come along quietly. I've got a date to get to."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chad glanced at Eri and Vlad in the back seat. Both of them looked perfectly happy back there, Eri trying to teach Vlad how to play Uno despite not fully knowing how to herself. He let out a sigh, glancing down at his slushie. Was he a good enough dad for this? He drove around and delivered fast food, sure. He was a good shot when it came down to it and had an odd abundance of firearms from his Call of Duty phase that took a realistic turn, not to mention that whole gang thing from before now. 

He was quirkless, at the base of things. He was taking down the Yakuza, and all that was fine and good, but could he really raise Eri? He wasn't sure if even having Vlad around her was a good idea. The creature had been docile and nothing but polite so far, save for his inability to open doors, windows, and such of that like. It wasn't his fault. It just hadn't clicked in his brain yet. But really, Chad had done nothing more than punch the thing in the head. That was it! He'd punched it in the head and was hoping for the best.

"Do you guys want another dad?" Chad asked. Co-parenting was an option. He didn't have the heart to give Eri up. Good dad or not, she was his kid now. Absolutely nothing could change that. It was just a matter of whether or not he was good enough long term on his own. If he and another dirt bag could combine forces, because let's face it, Chad was pretty low on the scale due to his lack of a quirk, then maybe Eri would grow up to be semi-decent. 

"Will he be nice?" Eri asked curiously. Chad shrugged.

"I mean, probably." Chad's eyes wandered, landing on a guy in a black hoodie that had Present Mic's logo emblazoned on it. He was leaning up against a wall not far from where they'd parked, looking through his phone. His hood was up, but Chad could see black hair, piercings. Staples too? Guy was pretty scarred up, but Chad could vaguely make out the shape of his jawline if he squinted. And those legs. Daddy? Probably. The scarring made his age hard to determine, but Chad was making no complaints. It was worth a go! If he was a rapist, murderer, drug dealer, or all of the above, Chad was armed with several guns and far, far too many knives.

"Okay!" Eri chirped. Chad nodded swiftly, popping open the door and leaning out. The man's head immediately shot up as the golden-eyed individual took a long slurp of his drink. It was loud and obnoxious, and incredibly lengthy. Dabi stared as Chad continued before pulling back and gulping it all down, gasping for air briefly after. His eyebrows raised as the man cleared his throat and looked at Dabi with the most serious expression the scarred individual had ever seen.

"Alright." Chad slid on some sunglasses as Dabi's eyebrows raised higher. "Get in if you want to live."

Dabi really had nothing better to do anyway.