"Midoriya, are you All Might's secret love child or something?"
'AM I WHAT?'
"Todoroki-kun, are you messing with me?" Izuku asked, too taken aback to laugh.
Looking at Todoroki's expression, he could tell he wasn't.
Izuku sighed, and took out his wallet.
"You see this photo?" he said, pointing at a family photo in the front part of the wallet "the man with my mom and little me is my dad, Hisashi Midoriya. He was a detective, and he died saving me and a few others from a kidnapping."
Todoroki stood there for a second before bowing slightly.
"I apologize for any offence I may have caused"
Izuku put the wallet back in his pocket with a smile "no worries, I can see why you'd ask that since both I and All Might tend to punch things…hard."
Todoroki stared at him for a second before his eyes widened.
"Could you show me the picture again please?"
"uh…sure?"
Izuku stood there awkwardly, holding up the photo while Todoroki peered at it from like 1 cm of distance.
"I've seen your father before at my house." He finally said.
"Yeah, that makes sense. He said he's worked with Endeavour a lot since his old station was near your dad's agency."
"No, I first saw him during my brother's funeral" Todoroki clarified.
"…oh."
"I must thank you, and your father." Todoroki said, with another bow.
"wow, did you learn all this bowing from Iida-kun or something? Why are you even thanking us?"
"….what do you know about quirk marriages?"
"Quirk marriages? Uh, illegal, used to make kids with strong- no way."
Todoroki nodded.
"Yes, I as well as my siblings are all products of a quirk marriage."
"Wait but, like I said they're illegal right?"
"they are. Do you really think that matters when the one doing it is the number 2 hero?"
"Holy crap."
"it was hell for the first few years." Todoroki said "Until my brother Touya died. After that, My father got worse. And then he got better."
"Better?"
"Yes. I'm not sure about the details since I was young, but your father would come to my house, and talk with my father about things. A month after my brother's death, he sat the 3 of us down and apologized to us, and asked us what we want for the first time."
Todoroki (for the first time) had a small smile on his face now.
"Your father is the reason I can call Endeavour 'father' now without wanting to punch the wall. So, thank you."
Izuku waved his hand dismissively.
"not being able to watch others suffer is definitely something I got from my old man" he said with a grin "I'm sure he'd be happy to see your growth, Todoroki-kun."
Todoroki nodded, and started to walk away.
"Wait."
He turned around, brow arched
"yes?"
"Why won't you use your fire?"
Todoroki stared at him for a second before sighing and walking back to their little alley space.
"I…promised to never use It in combat."
"to who?"
"myself"
"why?"
"At first it was out of resentment to Endeavour." He said with a faraway look "the first time I used it after forgiving him, I hurt my brother and sister because I couldn't control it at all. I haven't used it since out of fear."
"wait but if your control was bad then, wouldn't it have grown stronger by now?"
"yes." Todoroki nodded "that is true. That is why I don't want to use it; I don't want to hurt people…the way he used to."
"Forgive me if this sounds rude, especially after you've laid your life out like this to me, but I think that's stupid."
"Excuse me?"
"I understand being afraid of hurting your family, or bystanders near you. But this is a hero school, and in 3 years we're gonna be facing villains every day. You can't afford to hold back for this kind of a reason. Look at All Might, he could massacre everyone in the stands right now if he lands too hard. Does that stop him from being a hero?"
Todoroki's affronted expression changed into one of thoughtfulness before a wry smile took its place.
"You can't help but try to help people can you?"
"what can I say, it runs in the family."
"you've given me a lot to think about" Todoroki said finally "I'm not going to break that promise, but you're welcome to make me change that."
'First match of the third round : Mineta Minoru vs Hiroshi Shinso, Begin!"
"Yo!" Shinso called out as Mineta started sweating in front of him "You remember me?"
Mineta was able to squeak out a "Y-yes" before going completely still.
"Now that we have you ready" the taller teen said, pacing back and forth in front of Mineta "Hmm, what should I do? Spill secrets? Nah, from what idiot 1 and idiot 2 told me, you're a perv, so I'd rather not know. Make you hit yourself? Nah, that's not heroic is it?"
"Ah." He said with a glint in his eyes " I have it."
"Mineta. How did you get into the hero course?"
"I asked my mother." The short pervert said emotionlessly.
"And how did your mother get you in?"
"My mother is on the board of directors, so she slid out the person in the 19th slot for 1A and put me in."
"And do you know who that seat belongs to?"
Mineta struggled a bit, and Shinso glared at him and reapplied his quirk.
"Answer me."
"Y-You?"
"Yes. Now walk out of the ring while doing ballet spins."
"Hitoshi Shinso wins! What the hell did that kid even do!?"
Shinso turned to look at the commentary booth to see why Aizawa suddenly muted both their mics and see them talk about something before making a call while glancing at a short lady in the stands who bore a striking resemblance to the still spinning ballerina of UA high.
He smirked.
The ring was big enough for most people to not know what they were saying, but any capable underground hero surely would be able to read their lips to understand what they said.
And that's what he'd been counting on.
"yeesh." Izuku said with a shudder as he saw Todoroki melt his glacier "I thought we parted on good terms."
"While we wait for the glacier to melt, will Class 1A's Izuku Midoriya and 1B's Neito Monoma make way to the stage please?"
"Wait, Midoriya!"
Izuku turned to see the blonde guy from 1B make way to Izuku.
"Before we start the match, I wanted to apologize."
Izuku quirked a brow.
"for what?"
"The…incident in the hallways. I shouldn't have provoked you like that."
"Oh uh, it's all good."
Izuku was going to walk off at that, but he saw the guy extend his hand with an expectant look.
Not wanting to be a jerk, he shook hands with Monoma before going down.
"Second match: Izuku Midoriya vs Neito Monoma, Begin!"
"For 1B!" Monoma shouted before…lighting up?
"Wait is that my-"
Izuku wasn't able to finish his sentence, being forced to dodge a dash from Monoma.
"You idiot!" Monoma said, grinning like a maniac "I copied your quirk when I shook hands for you! Also, I take back the apology!"
Izuku shook his head with a smirk of his own.
"You think you've won? You haven't even touched me yet."
With a snarl, Monoma charged forward into a blur of light that would have slammed into Izuku.
If Izuku was a tree.
Izuku had to admit, he'd taken his ability to change directions as granted till he saw Iida's quirk and its drawbacks, and definitely appreciated it more now that he could see Monoma dashing around like a mad bull, only able to start and stop, but not turn.
It was only good sportsmanship that kept Izuku from saying 'Ole!' every time he dodged.
"All right, I'm done." He said finally before focusing 30% of One for all into his arm along with haki "I don't even need to go into Flow to deal with you."
"[BUG SWAT SMASH]!"
He hit the charging mass of light (Monoma) just as it got to him, and slapped him to the side so hard that he cracked the stadium wall with the impact.
"Uh…Izuku Midoriya wins."
"You overdid it Midoriya." Midnight reprimanded him.
"He's the one who copied my quirk" Izuku protested "That should be like a papercut worth of actual hurt."
The robots scraping him off confirmed the diagnosis of him not being actually hurt, and everything was resolved.
As he entered the tunnel, he looked forward to see All Might in his skeleton form.
"Bug swat Smash?" his mentor questioned in a dry way.
"it seemed accurate" Izuku said with a shrug.
"Mina Ashido wins by Knockout!"
"Tenya Iida wins due to ring out! Did I just watch a commercial?"
"Momo Yaoyorozu snatches victory from the jaws of defeat! My eyes are still burning after that flash bang though!"
"did these two seriously knock each other out? We'll do a tie breaker later!"
"…Uraraka is unable to move. Katsuki Bakugo wins!"
"Time for the Quarter finals of the 3rd round! First match, the quiet champion of his previous match: Class 1-C's Hitoshi Shinso!"
Hitoshi walked into the ring among cheers from the cheers of the gen ed class.
"versus, the guy who made an iceberg in 5 seconds! Class 1-A's Shoto Todoroki!"
"BEGIN!"
Hitoshi jumped to the side, dodging the ice before it was even made before charging forward.
Izuku grinned from the stands, understanding the strategy.
"An all or nothing gamble?" beside him, Momo questioned.
"Yep."
Down in the ring, Hitoshi ran past Todoroki after rolling past another ice barrage before sliding under another block that appeared at head level.
Now at the dual-haired teen's left side, he threw out a kick at his chest.
A kick that was caught in Todoroki's right hand, and then frozen.
He twisted his body, slamming his hand down onto Todoroki's head.
The hit landed, and Todoroki stumbled back before regaining his footing and completely freezing Shinso.
"Shoto Todoroki goes to the Semi Finals! Honestly, I don't think Shinso even tried to use his quirk there."
"Because he knew Todoroki wouldn't respond after seeing how it would work" Aizawa-sensei said "still, not even attempting to use it wasn't a good decision."
"Well then, time for the acid queen of 1-A to go against her class's very own One Punch Man!"
"Izuku Midoriya vs Mina Ashido, Begin!"
"Mina-san" Izuku called out "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Mina would have been offended, but seeing the grin on his face let her know he was just trash talking.
"Why? You afraid I'll melt your clothes off?"
"you can try."
With that, Izuku vanished from her sight, and she turned around with her hand up to spray him with acid.
But he wasn't there.
She looked back to where he had been to see he wasn't there either.
"Above you!"
She whipped her head up to see Izuku falling down with a shit eating grin and a punch ready.
She questioned if he had been the one to warn her.
And then she fell unconscious.
'Mina Ashido is unconscious due to falling broccoli! Midoriya goes on to face Todoroki!"
"Your puns make me want to have 10 more shots of concentrated coffee."
"Still haven't told me what that is by the way."
"I would need to know for that."