It had been nearly a week since Izuku had kicked Eijirou and Katsuki out of his apartment and his life. He was doing... fine. If fine was considered as barely sleeping, eating one meal a day, and tripping over his feet so often on patrol that his partners were starting to worry, then he was the epitome of fine. 

"What happened to relaxing?" Todoroki asked one night while they were out patrolling. 

Izuku was dead on his feet, and it wasn't hard to see. Honestly, he was probably worse than before, even he could admit it. "It got hard," he mumbled. 

Todoroki's brows lowered in concern as he looked the other man up and down. "I don't think you should even be out right now." 

"But I am," he replied with a huff, trying to blink the sleep from his eyes as he scanned the road below them. Night shifts used to be his solace, but lately, they were becoming a chore. 

Todoroki didn't get a chance to respond as their comms crackled to life, and Uraraka's hushed voice filled their ears. 

"We got something you're gonna want to see. Two blocks east." 

"On our way," Izuku said back quickly, already heading in the direction she'd said. Todoroki followed wordlessly behind. 

It took them only a minute or two to reach their friends; jumping across rooftops was really a shortcut through the city. They quickly joined up with the rest of their patrol, Uraraka pointing to something on the road below. 

"It's Red and Zero," she whispered to them. "Can't tell what they're doing, though." 

Izuku's heart dropped to his stomach as he peered over the ledge and saw the two villains. They were carrying crates from a truck to an open door. He knew it was the bar they worked at, which meant there were probably dozens more villains just past the threshold. 

"What's the plan?" Sero asked in a hushed voice as all eyes turned to Izuku. 

He swallowed hard, knowing they were all waiting for him to come up with something. "There isn't one," he said softly. "We can't ambush them." 

"Why?" the tape hero asked, his brows furrowed as he glanced back down at the villains. 

"That building is a bar," he admitted, knowing he was about to be in so much trouble. "It's, uh, filled with other villains. No telling how many. If we charge in, they have backup not even ten feet away. We'd be screwed." 

"How the hell do you know that?" Uraraka asked, her eyes widening slightly at the new information. 

Todoroki turned toward him, a frown on his lips. "And why haven't you said anything about it?" 

"You guys know I get information all the time," he lied, letting it roll off his tongue with ease. It was only a half lie, really, because he did get information on villains all the time. He had informants all over the place, so it wouldn't be beyond reasoning to say he'd just forgotten to mention this piece of intel. "I guess I just forgot about it." 

"Okay, what the fuck is going on with you lately?" Todoroki hissed, pulling Izuku away from the ledge to make it harder for someone on the ground to spot them. Uraraka and Sero followed, both looking unsure between the two heroes. 

"What'd you mean?" Izuku asked, pulling his arm a little harshly from the other's grip. He didn't appreciate being manhandled, especially not by Todoroki. 

"You know exactly what I mean," he insisted, crossing his arms. "You're known for overworking yourself, but this is ridiculous, Izuku. You're so tired you almost fell off a building earlier, and you forgot to mention a villain bar? What's going on?" 

"Nothing," Izuku said solemnly, turning his eyes away from his friend. "I just haven't been sleeping well lately." 

"You're lying," Todoroki stated, bristling at the thought of Izuku hiding something important from him. 

Izuku shook his head quickly. "No, I'm not." 

"I can always tell when you're lying." 

"I'm not lying." 

"Yes, you are. Just tell us what's going on!" 

"There's nothing going on!" 

The fight had dissolved into shouts, even as Uraraka urged them both to quiet down. They didn't listen, not until a new, distinctly robotic voice spoke up. 

"Piece of advice," all four heroes' heads snapped in the direction it had come from, "if you're trying to sneak up on us, maybe don't start shouting on a goddamn rooftop." 

Zero was leaning against the small structure that jutted out from the roof that held the door. Red was perched on top of it, crouched with his elbows on his knees as he watched the spat. 

Izuku's breath hitched at the sight of them, already knowing that Zero had been the one to speak. He'd thought they'd be safe from an ambush, seeing as Katsuki avoided their class like the plague, but as he squinted at the villains, he realized it wouldn't be as big of a problem anymore. Instead of the surgical mask with an orange 'x' across it, the blond now wore a full black hockey mask, the twin to Red's. It obscured his eyes, the most recognizable part of him. 

"Told you I'd catch ya' later," Red said with a twisted sort of glee in his modified voice, his head tilting to the side. 

Todoroki took a step forward, a sneer on his lips. "You're awfully cocky for being so outnumbered." 

"Relax, ice queen," Red drawled, hopping off his perch and landing next to Zero. "We're not here to fight you." 

"What'd you want, then?" Uraraka asked, finding her voice once again. 

Sero said nothing, his eyes narrowed as he looked between the two villains with a calculating look. 

"Word on the street is that you wanna know how we got a nomu," Red said with a shrug, leaning back against the small structure, his hands shoved in his front pockets. "Thought we could shed some light on the situation." 

"Why the hell would you want to help us?" Todoroki asked, his brows furrowed at the puzzle in front of him. "You're the one that sent it after us." 

"Jesus fuck," the redhead mumbled under his breath, turning to his partner for a moment before looking back to the heroes. "I know that, smartass. If you don't want our help, we can just leave." The two villains moved almost in sync, turning for a side of the roof. 

"Wait!" Izuku called without thinking. His voice was enough for both men to freeze, Red glancing over his shoulder. "Why do you want to help us?" he repeated Todoroki's question, a hard set to his jaw. 

Red turned, smacking Zero's arm lightly to get him to follow. "Guess we just don't like our jobs that much anymore," he said simply. 

Izuku's chest rose as he took a deep breath through his nose. That was something, definitive proof that Katsuki and Eijirou wanted out. 

"Why should we trust you?" Sero asked. 

Izuku knew there was no way his friends would ever listen to the villains. He had to do something before it devolved into a brawl. "Take off your masks," he said, shocking everyone, villain and hero. 

Red was the first to recover, shaking his head with a robotic chuckle. "Nice try, little hero, but that's not gonna happen." 

"Why not?" Todoroki pressed, shifting on his feet. "If you wanna prove you can be trusted, the best way to do that is to let us see who we're trusting." 

"No," Zero snapped, his modifier buzzing for a moment before going silent again. 

"Look, if you don't want the info, we'll go find heroes who do," Red said, pointing a thumb behind him. "We're offering it to you guys as a courtesy, since you're the ones who had to fight the last nomu. Think of it as our way of apologizing." 

Zero scoffed, leaning back against the structure like how the heroes had first found him. "I'm not apologizing for shit, that was all you." 

Red smacked his partner in the chest, but said nothing in retaliation. 

"Take the masks off," Izuku repeated. "They're never going to trust you without a face." 

"No," Red said again. 

"For me," he pleaded. He didn't care what his friends said, if the villains wouldn't show themselves, he already planned on telling them. It didn't matter either way; he was in deep shit. 

Red froze for a moment at the words, before groaning and punching Zero in the shoulder. "Call me whipped, and I'll throw you off the building," he threatened quietly. 

"Deku," Todoroki's stern voice called, catching everyone's attention. "What the hell is going on?" 

"Leave him alone, icyhot," Zero snapped. 

The nickname set off alarm bells for all three heroes who still didn't know the identities of the villains in front of them. Sero seemed the most shell-shocked. 

"What did you just call me?" Todoroki asked, the bite gone from his voice. All that was left was disbelief. There had only been one person who had ever called him that. 

Red raised a hand, lifting his mask off first to reveal Eijirou Kirishima with a scowl on his face. "Had to ruin the dramatic reveal, didn't you?" he asked, pushing his partner as he ripped off his own mask. Katsuki Bakugou looked ready to throw hands at the shove. 

"For the record, you're so whipped it actually hurts to watch," the blond snapped, throwing his mask at Eijirou. 

"Says the one who took off his mask, too!" 

In a flurry of movement no one expected, Sero launched himself at Katsuki, wrapping the villain in a tight hug. "You're alive! Holy shit, you're actually alive." 

"Get the fuck off me, tape face!" Katsuki growled, shoving at the hero, who stumbled back in mild awe. "Obviously, I'm alive. Didn't pink cheeks tell you?" 

Everyone glanced back at Uraraka, whose mouth opened and shut a few times before she could find the words she was searching for. "I kept a secret for the first time in my life," she mumbled, her wide eyes turning to Izuku. "How- How long didn't you know about this?" 

"First time I fought them," Izuku quietly admitted, suddenly ashamed of his own actions. "Kacchan makes it really obvious." 

"That was weeks ago," Todoroki said in a dull voice, but his eyes were blazing with fury. Izuku recognized the look, automatically shrinking back from him. "You knew who they were for weeks? You've been hanging around them, inviting them to your apartment, knowing who they are and what they're capable of, for weeks?! What the fuck is wrong with you, Izuku?" 

A leg swiped Todoroki's feet from under him, and a hand pushed his chest back until he landed against the hard roof with a thud. Katsuki kneeled over him with a sneer on his lips. "I can still kick your ass, halfie. Lay off him." 

"Kacchan!" Izuku exclaimed, quickly moving to pull the blond off by his arm. "That's not how you get them to trust you." 

"I don't give a fuck if they trust me, you do, and that's all I need," he huffed, glaring down at Todoroki as he climbed back to his feet. Once the other hero was standing, Katsuki's eyes moved to Eijirou. "I fucking told you we should have just cornered him." 

"We should arrest them and bring them in for questioning," Todoroki hissed, his narrowed eyes locked onto Katsuki. 

"They're trying to help us," Izuku argued, stepping in between the two. 

"For all we know, they could be setting us up!" 

"We know him, Shoto," Izuku urged, taking a step back and closer to the blond behind him. 

Todoroki's eyes snapped to Izuku, a hard set to his jaw. "I knew a high school bully who leaped at the chance to hurt anyone he could get his hands on." 

"We already talked about this," Izuku snapped, getting fed up with Katsuki's past being used against him. "You know that people change." 

"I changed," Todoroki corrected, his voice raising just a touch. "I got better and became a hero. What sort of growth could he have possibly had while becoming a wanted criminal? He's done nothing but destroy everything he touches for the past decade! He's a villain, Izuku. What part of that don't you get?" 

"Why?" Sero asked suddenly, redirecting the attention to him. "Why'd you become a villain? There was no one in our class who was more determined to become a hero, besides maybe Midoriya. How the hell did you end up here?" 

Katsuki scoffed at the question, glaring at the ground beneath him and saying nothing. 

"He won't tell you," Eijirou offered with a sigh. "I don't even know." 

"Figures," Todoroki spat. "What? Can't even admit you enjoy what you do?" 

"I don't!" Katsuki shouted back. He took a breath, looking at Izuku with a hard look in his eyes. "Deku, you know me and my family. I fell off the face of the earth, didn't you think it was weird my mom never filed a missing persons report?" 

Izuku's breath hitched at the question as Sero whispered, "No fucking way." 

"Did... Is Mitsuki responsible for this?" Izuku asked quietly, taking a step toward the blond in front of him. 

Katsuki shook his head once. "It doesn't matter, just know I didn't want this, okay?" 

Izuku grew quiet for a moment as everyone watched him carefully. "I'm gonna kill her," he whispered finally as the first sparks of One For All crackled to life. "I'm gonna fucking rip her apart," this time, it came out as a snarl, his anger bleeding out of him like an open wound. 

"No, you're not," Katsuki said in a stern voice, smacking the hero lightly in the back of his head. It snapped him out of his daydreams, and the lightning surrounding him vanished as he blinked owlishly up at the blond. "That's not why we're here anyway." 

"The nomus," Uraraka said, switching the topic effortlessly. She and Katsuki had a weird, mutual respect thing back in high school. It had faded when she thought he had willingly ditched all his friends, but Izuku could tell that it was repairing itself as she got more and more of the story. 

"There's only nine left," Eijirou revealed. "They're a bitch to produce and cost a fortune, so the supply is low, but... they're not like the ones the League had. Most have near-human intelligence, and at least three have Katsuki's and I's quirks." 

"How did they manage that with you two still alive?" Izuku asked, really wanting an answer to his question that had been bugging him for a week. 

Eijirou shook his head, a frown tugging the corners of his lips down. "I don't know, and I don't want to know." 

An uneasy silence fell over the group, each thinking of the worst possibilities. The heroes had faced enough nomu in their lives to know this was bad. If the one that they took down last week was only the beginning, they needed to start planning, and they needed to start now. 

"Come back with us," Izuku said suddenly, causing all attention to turn to him. Multiple pairs of eyebrows rose at the request, but Izuku was only watching the two villains in front of him. "We can take you into protective custody, arrange immunity, you won't have to worry about villains or heroes anymore-" 

"Iz," Eijirou cut him off and closed the distance between them in two quick steps. 

Uraraka took a step back at the proximity, but Todoroki slotted himself in the little space left between the smaller hero and the redhead. Eijirou scowled at the sentiment, only for Izuku to be the one to push the Todoroki aside and throw his arms around the villain. Eijirou hesitated for only a second before tightly holding the hero to his chest. 

"Just come with us," Izuku pleaded in a hushed voice, only for Eijirou to hear. "We can protect you." 

"We can't do that, little hero," he mumbled into green curls. 

"We're guard dogs, Deku," Katsuki said in a gruff voice as he moved from his spot to stand next to Eijirou, one rough hand landing on Izuku's hair and forcing the hero to look up at him. "People go fucking ballistic when their pets go missing." 

Izuku shook his head slightly, green eyes flashing between the two men. "I can't just- I can't leave you here." 

A soft smile tugged at the corners of Eijirou's lips at his concern. "We'll be fine, Izuku. We've been doing this for years." 

"Ratting on your bosses and spilling secrets about their weaponry to pro heroes?" Izuku asked with a raised brow. He knew they could handle being villains, he'd seen it for himself. His concern was someone finding out what they had been doing up here and turning on them. 

"They're not gonna find out, stop your whining," Katsuki scolded, but his tone was still light and withheld any sort of bite or malice. 

"Do you..." Eijirou trailed off, suddenly unsure of the question. He glanced over to Katsuki before speaking again, "Do you want us to stop by your place tonight? Then you can see for yourself that we're fine." 

"Yes," Izuku breathed without a second thought, clinging to the redhead tighter. He didn't want to let go. 

"We'll see you in a few hours, then, nerd," Katsuki said with a small scoff, ruffling his hair before taking a step back. "You idiots gotta get out of here, and we need to get back. Before they send someone else out looking for us." 

"Fine," Izuku conceded, separating himself from Eijirou with a sigh. 

"You can't say shit about us to anyone else," Katsuki stated, his red eyes looking over every hero in turn. "The more people that know, the easier it'll be to get back to our bosses. Spoiler alert: not all of your precious heroes are as clean as you think they are." 

Uraraka let out a small gasp at the insinuation. 

Izuku's wide eyes looked between the blond and redhead. "Are you serious?"

Eijirou shrugged one shoulder, his other hand moving to the back of his neck. "Why do you think we needed to flag you down? You're the only hero we trust, Iz." 

"Well, fuck," Sero said with a breath, a hand carding through his dark hair. "That... doesn't make anything easier." 

"No, it fucking doesn't," Katsuki agreed with a vaguely amused chuckle. "Keep it to yourselves, and maybe we'll all get out of this alive." 

Sero shook his head, sharing a look with Uraraka. "I definitely do not like the sound of that."