*Major Cussing Warning*

"You're gonna run into a lot of obstacles in your life, son. But I can absolutely guarantee that in the end, it'll all be worth it."

'I know, dad. But life just isn't as simple as you make it out to be.'

"Honey, you gotta get up! You're gonna be late!" Izuku's mother screamed from the first level of their house, calling to her son out of worry.

"Yeah I know, mom! I'm coming!" Izuku grabs his backpack and slings it over his shoulder, double checking and triple checking that he had everything for the day. Nodding his head in affirmation to no one in particular, Izuku walked out of his bedroom and down the stairs, not even bothering with going to the kitchen for breakfast.

Just as he was about to open the front door and head out, his mother Inko came to him at full speed, the look on her face a mix of concern and joy.

"Now you be a good boy at that academy, okay? I don't want you making trouble so early on in the year," she instructed him, fixing his grey uniform a bit, even though it hardly needed any adjustments.

Grabbing her hands and moving them to her sides, Izuku spoke,

"Mom, it's okay. I'll be fine, so stop worrying!"

"You think I'm actually capable of such a thing, hm? I'm your mother, I was made to worry. Now get to school, and go kick some ass!" She made a shooing motion as she talked, earning a groan from her slightly taller son.

"I'm going, I'm going, so leave me alone, woman!"

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"You sure you can handle shooting that thing, Midoriya? I mean, I understand that you've had past experience, but-"

"I'm pretty sure I've got this, Sensei. Thanks anyway, though," Izuku assured his teacher, grabbing the heavy weapon and expertly pointing it at the target that was at least 5 yards away from him.

Taking a deep breath in, he focused on his gun, and the target.

'The bullet will go through, Izuku. Just shoot, and it'll go through,' Izuku thought, shifting his aim about until he was satisfied with its placement. Pulling the trigger as he released the breath he had taken in, the led object plowed through the head of the target, just like he had wanted it to. Taking four more shots just to make sure, then pulling back and inspecting the gun he was given a little, Izuku smirked a bit.

'Still got it.'

"Damn Deku, you're more useful than I initially thought," a certain ash blonde teen cockily confirmed, sluggishly walking up next to Izuku and holding his hand out to him.

"Okay, there are three things wrong with what's happening with you right now, Kacchan. One, you just used an oxymoron as you spoke, considering that you called me a nickname that essentially means I'm useless, only to then say that I am not at all useless. Two, I had no idea you were smart enough to use the word 'initially' in casual conversation, so I suppose that's good on you and really not something that is wrong per say. And three, you're not getting this gun," Izuku sassed, secretly hiding the clip he had taken out of the gun in his back pocket and pointing the tip at Katsuki's chest.

Stunned by what had just happened, Katsuki faltered on what to do next for a few moments, then quickly shoved his shock down and put on his signature snarl that seemed to be his favorite resting bitch face.

"Unlike me, everything is wrong with you, Deku. So I'd be careful if I were you. Tch, give me the damn gun!" Grabbing onto the barrel of the pistol in Izuku's hand, Katsuki aggressively pulled it more towards him, trying to forcefully take it from him since he didn't feel like asking Sensei for his own.

"And I already told you, Kacchan, you. Can't. Have it!" Stepping on Katsuki's foot, Izuku managed to shake him off long enough to run over to the main group that was conversing over at the knife throwing station; which just so happened to be right next to the gun station.

"Fuck! Goddamnit, you get back here right now, you little weasel!" Angered, Katsuki lightly puts pressure on the foot Izuku stepped on, testing to see how well he'd be able to run, then deducing that he'd be pretty okay for the most part, and scrambling to go after the smaller teen.

Meanwhile, as Katsuki moaned and groaned over his bruised foot and ego, Izuku was pretty damn close to having a panic attack over at the knife station. He thought that if he was even caught by a hair strand by the madman chasing after him, that he'd be a dead man. Therefore, Izuku tried to find the best place to hide until Katsuki calmed down.

Long story short, he couldn't find a place to hide. So, he did the next best thing. He hid behind a random tall student that was a part of the bunch at the station, and quietly asked him to act natural. He didn't exactly pay attention to who he was standing behind, but it didn't really matter to Izuku at the moment.

"Deku! I'm gonna find ya, don't think I won't!" Bakugo's booming voice promised Izuku, Katsuki trying his best to scout the area for him with his hurt foot, but not finding anything like he had hoped to. Searching the group one more time, Bakugo concluded that Izuku had probably either gone back to the classroom, or had moved stations, and went looking elsewhere, his face red from rage.

"I think he's gone now, you can stand normally, Midoriya," the boy Izuku had hid behind said, turning his way with a curious look on his face.

"Really? You think so? Oh thank god!" Izuku whispered, relieved from the news that he was given.

"Is it alright if I may ask why you were hiding from Katsuki, exactly?" the voice questioned, the teen that the voice belonged to tilting his head as he asked.

"Oh um, it's better if you don't-wait. Todoroki? Ack, I'm so sorry, I'll go somewhere else now!" Izuku mentally face-palmed for not realizing it was Shoto earlier simply because he was too distracted looking everywhere else but Shoto just to make sure he himself was safe.

He took a step away from where he and Todoroki was standing so that he could get out of the awkward exchange, but was stopped by Shoto himself.

"Hey, I don't mind if you stay. I know Katsuki can be a jerk at times, believe me, I've been his friend for years." Izuku looked back at Todoroki and narrowed his eyes at him, inspecting his face to make sure there was nothing he was hiding, before nodding since he came up empty-handed on what else he could possibly do.

"I'm also sorry that he already has an offensive nickname for you even though you two barely know each other; it's actually quite amazing how much of an asshole he can be, don't you think?" Shoto said, turning to his right and grabbing a random set of knives from there and starting to push through the crowd without a second thought.

Also grasping onto his own set, Izuku quickly followed after the dual-haired assassin-trainee.

Standing right next to him, Izuku watched as Shoto threw an especially made-for-throwing knife at a target no one was at, and accurately hit where an actual person's heart would be.

'Holy shit.'

"Damn, you're good at this. Once you master everything else we have to study for assassination, you're sure to be one of the deadliest out there. And I'm not just trying to kiss your ass," Izuku complimented, taking his shot at it and embedding one of his knives into the head of the same target Shoto threw at.

"You're not too shabby either, yeah?" Shoto smirked as he threw a second knife at the target while maintaining eye contact with him, and hit right next to Izuku's knife; straight in the damn head without even looking.

'He didn't even look at the target?! What the fu-'

"Now you try," Shoto more commanded than suggested, pointing at the set Izuku was holding.

Gulping, Izuku reached for an aesthetic looking one and slipped it out of the perfectly sized pouch it was situated in. Never having tried this before, but also not wanting to look like an absolute idiot in front of one of the only boys in his entire class he could actually tolerate, Izuku's anxiety spiked, and with it, his blood pressure.

'No! I will not look weak in front of Todoroki-kun. Not happening.'

Shaking his head to try and snap himself out of it, Izuku closed his eyes and envisioned the target he was looking at seconds before. He was going to throw the knife, square in the chest, without looking.

Izuku had full confidence that if he didn't succeed at this little stunt, he would surely get struck by lightning, get shot in the head by a stray bullet, or get stabbed by a loose throwing knife almost immediately afterwards.

And honestly, he was looking forward to it.

"Don't worry about where the knife might go, Midoriya. Just, know that it'll go where you want it to once you let it slip from your grasp. Have faith in your own abilities and your weapon's course of action," Shoto wisely advised Izuku, letting go of his monotone facade that he never let drop, not even at his own home when no one was looking, only the teeniest, tiniest of bits.

Trusting Shoto's word, Izuku pictured the target and where he was gonna hit it one last time, before raising his arm, and whipping the knife he held to the side with as much strength as he thought necessary.

Impressed, and impressed that Izuku managed to impress him, Shoto tapped the momentarily blind boys' shoulder with his fingers as a sign for him to open his eyes, with the boy complying right away.

He had nailed the target right in the middle of its chest, and at this, a small, very small, smile took over Izuku's features, before quickly being squandered by his own self.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Alright class, that's it for today. You all did good with the practice and the pop quiz, so I'm going to let you have a free 5 minutes while I go annoy the other teachers," Mr. Yamada noisily said, walking out of the classroom with a mischievous smile climbing up his face.

It had been quite some time since Katsuki and Izuku met in the classroom again, though neither of them made a move for each other, despite Kacchan's wishes. Mr. Yamada had noticed the horrible tension between the two, and had prevented anything from happening before it could get nasty to the best of his ability. Katsuki still received a detention, however, considering he didn't exactly listen to Yamada-sensei right away like Izuku had.

Throughout the last five minutes of class, Katsuki wouldn't stop grumbling curses under his breath, internally trying his best to hold onto the grudge that he had already made against Izuku, but failing miserably.

"Will you please shut the fuck up, Katsuki? You're starting to become annoying," Shoto demanded of the teen, silently wondering what it would be like if he wasn't friends with the ticked-off ash blonde.

"Oh, fuck off, Shoto. Nobody cares about your opinion."

"They do if it's valid, y'know," Izuku corrected Katsuki, having been playing, "Biscuit Crush" for the last two minutes, and not paying attention to the outside world very well.

"Whatever, Deku," is all Katsuki had as a rebuttal, too tired to say more, yet still lacing his words with a threat nonetheless.

'I'll be damned if I let even a hint of my exhaustion show, especially in front of Deku,' he cordially thought.

Izuku snorted, but didn't say anything else, letting the matter drop as he got sucked into the destruction of the biscuits in his game.

Shoto also let the subject go, feeling as though he shouldn't push his blonde friend, no matter how much he wanted to.

After that, even while they did an experimental, fake assassination as a team, they barely talked to each other, not wanting much more interaction as a group for the rest of the day. With Izuku and Katsuki on relatively bad terms, Izuku and Shoto easing into acquaintanceship, and Shoto and Katsuki obviously still friends, even after all of Katsuki's bullshit, things were a bit rocky between the three.

And it was wearing Izuku out, especially since school was kicking his ass, and his body was sore from all the shit they had to do for the assassin classes.

"Sweetheart, dinner!" his mother called, clicking and clunking from her arrangements at the table traveling up to his bedroom and almost the entire second floor.

"Okay! Be there in a sec!" Izuku got up from the small desk that he was working on his calculus at, and changed out of the t-shirt and jeans he had been in and into a more comfortable outfit for the night.

Slipping into slippers, Izuku calmly made his way to the dining area, where his mother was waiting expectantly.

"Hi honey! How was your day? Did you kill-I mean, practice-kill anyone today?" she asked, motioning to the dinner that sat at the seat across from her.

"Uh, it was okay I guess. Yeah, I faked an assassination today. Think I did pretty good, too," he responded, sitting down and thanking her as he grabbed the knife and fork next to his plate so he could start digging in.

"Oh that's just wonderful, hun! So, tell me all about your school day! Any cute girls or boys you might be interested in?"

"Mom! Stop it! Now I don't even want to tell you about the cool thing I did for target practice!" Izuku whined, sticking a piece of his hamburg steak into his mouth with a slight pout on his face.

"No, wait, baby! I'll shut up now, just...go ahead and fill me in, yeah?" Inko hurriedly encouraged, trying to get her son to open up to her, even if it was about something as little as target practice.

Izuku yielded his eating for a moment, before slowly nodding in agreement and giving into his mother's words.

"So, I got this knife set, right? And my...someone I know in the class has his own too, right? Well..."

'Maybe, as long as my mom is there for me, and I'm there for her, life actually can be that simple, dad. Maybe, in the end, you'll end up proving me wrong.'

Thanks for reading, have amazing days/nights/weeks, I love you all, and until we meet again!! 🤍❤🧡💚

-wen_ur_actual_trash
2482 words