Forest

“Alright, so what’s your plan Zuku?” Hitoshi asks, turning to his green haired friend who has been muttering a mile a minute since the matchups were announced.

“Hm, well, if Bakugou is anything like he was when we were younger then he is going to want to take us head on, and likely won’t cooperate well with Iida. Iida, on the other hand, will probably try to be logical and stay with the bomb to guard it. Oh by the way the missile is-,” Izuku pauses to reach into his jacket to grab a pair of goggles, setting them on his face and then tapping the side-, “third floor, second window from the right. These goggles are really useful, I just need a few more tweaks before they can be located somewhere that isn’t just inside my jacket.”

“That feels vaguely like cheating, no?”

“Nah, my tools are registered support items. It’s not cheating, it’s utilizing your resources.”

That gets a laugh from Hitoshi. “Fair enough. So if the weapon is on the third floor, second window to the right, we don’t have to search for it. Someone just needs to be able to get up there.”

“Right, so here’s what I’m thinking…”

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

“START!”

Class 1-A watches as the call over the speakers startles Izuku and Hitoshi out of their discussion, in which they had been going over the plan one more time to make sure they got it. Not that the class knows that, of course, given they don’t have audio feedback.

“Good luck!” Izuku calls, as Hitoshi makes his way into the building.

“I wonder why only Yamazawa is entering the building,” Sero ponders.

“Yeah, wouldn’t they be better as a unified front?” Ashido asks, eyes skimming from screen to screen in excitement to see what is to come.

“While that is sometimes a good method, it is not always the way to go about these things!” All Might exclaims, in his usual loud and upbeat tone.

There is a hum from the class, indicating that they heard him before Kaminari gasps. The class turns to see what Kaminari is looking at and they notice that Izuku has started scaling the side of the building.

“How in the world is he doing that?” Uraraka asks. “Do you think that’s his quirk?”

“No I don’t think so, kero,” Asui replies. “Considering that he has shoes on I don’t think his quirk would work like that, maybe a mechanism in his outfit?”

“Ah yeah that would make sense.”

The class watches as Izuku climbs in the room with the bomb, creeping silently towards it hoping not to be seen or heard by Iida. A quick scan of the other screens informs them that Hitoshi has already taken down Bakugou, who is absolutely raging, but they were so interested in Izuku climbing the building, that they didn’t quite catch how he managed to do so.

“That’s so manly of Yamazawa that he managed to take Bakugou down so quickly!” Kirishima shouts, pumping his fist in the air.

“Kinda sad that we didn’t manage to see how he did so though, yeah?” Kaminari says, looking at his friend.

The whole class nods in agreement, though most don’t take their eyes off the screen where Izuku has just almost managed to touch the missile and secure a win when Iida suddenly whips around, grabbing Izuku by the arm, right as Hitoshi arrives through the door. Izuku, startled by the sudden movement from Iida, who he was sure hadn’t noticed him, only manages to remove himself from the grip seconds before Hitoshi’s fist collides with Iida’s side, knocking him away. Izuku takes advantage of that movement to quickly grab the missile as Hitoshi wraps Iida up with the capture tape.

“The hero team wins!” All Might’s obnoxiously loud voice booms over the speaker, as Hitoshi and Izuku high five, and then release Iida. Who proceeds to enthusiastically congratulate the other boys on their victory.

“That was really efficient, how are we supposed to do better than that?” Sero asks quietly.

The rest of the class agrees.

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

The rest of the class does just fine. Though some matchups didn’t give anyone a chance to show what they can do. Poor Sero and Uraraka were immediately frozen by Todoroki, before they had a chance to counter. However it was to be expected that some students didn’t get to show off their abilities considering All Might decided to start with combat training on their very first day. Izuku seriously questions why that man is a teacher.

The class is talking amicably as they return to the locker room, when Izuku notices Yaoyorozu and Hagakure about to enter the girls locker room and remembers that he wanted to talk to them.

“One minute Toshi!” Izuku says to his friend, running away and leaving him standing there looking mildly confused, before he makes his way into the locker room, figuring Izuku will catch up to him.

“Hagakure, Yaoyorozu!” The two girls turn to look at him, as he runs up to them. “Can I talk to you real quick?”

“Of course Midoriya, what do you need?” Yaoyorozu replies.

“I wanted to talk to you two about your costumes actually! Yaoyorozu, I can’t help but notice that yours isn’t really protective at all, not to mention it seems you are unnecessarily exposed. Hagakure, am I correct in assuming that you aren’t wearing anything except those gloves?” When Izuku says that he notes Hagakure's gloves start flailing, likely showing her embarrassment with the question. “If that is the case, there are plenty of materials that can make you stay invisible without you being naked. Not only are you likely feeling rather uncomfortably exposed, it’s dangerous to be so unprotected, not to mention the troubles you will have when it gets colder out. I wanted to offer to help you redesign your costumes! If you come down to the support labs after school today, Mei-Mei and I will be there! If today doesn’t work we can also arrange another time of course!”

“Thank you so much Midoriya! That is very considerate of you!” Yaoyorozu replies, once she is sure that Izuku is done talking. “You are correct that my costume isn’t exactly what I had in mind. I relinquished creative freedom to my support designer, alongside an explanation of my quirk, but it seems I was let down. I greatly appreciate your offer to help, today works perfectly for me.”

“Yeah! Thanks!” Hagakure’s gloves are waving around excitedly, as she does her best to display her excitement. “Being exposed like this is awful, even though I know you guys can’t actually see me. I am also free today!”

“It’s no big deal really!” Izuku says, slightly bouncing in excitement at the idea of getting to design costumes and support items for his classmates. “I’m honestly just glad you guys are willing to let me help! We should get changed now, but I’ll meet you guys in the lab after school then!”

Izuku immediately runs off to the locker room, and Hagakure and Yaoyorozu turn to do the same, engaging in a conversation about how they hope to change up their hero costumes.

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The rest of the day goes by smoothly, and Izuku gets the chance to make a few new observations about his classmates. For example, Kirishima has a habit of calling everything manly and it was slightly off putting until Izuku realized that Kirishima’s idea of “manly” isn’t exactly the social norm. He made that discovery when Mina was fixing up her makeup, and Kirishima commented on how manly it was. He made the same comment about Uraraka’s handwriting. As well as Izuku’s analysis when he accidentally went on a tangent about Yaoyorozu’s quirk. Izuku is pretty sure that manly just means cool in Kirishima-talk.

He also noted that Kaminari seemed to flinch minutely whenever Kirishima called something about him “manly.” Izuku was starting to get an idea of what was going on there, but wasn’t going to say anything until Kaminari decided to. Finally, he noticed the way Todoroki behaved. The boy was extremely reserved and blunt, yes, however Izuku also noticed how hypervigilant he was. His eyes always moving, always scanning for threats, never once did he relax. Not even hunching down in his chair like most of his classmates did during their longer classes. Izuku would have to monitor that because it was definitely concerning.

Now that the school day is over, Izuku is excitedly clambering through the vents with Hitoshi right behind him, as he rambles about ideas for changes to all his classmates' hero costumes. Peeking his head out of the vent, Izuku finds that no one except Mei and Power Loader are left in the lab.

“Hey Mei-Mei!” Izuku shouts, dropping down and getting straight to business. “I have two classmates stopping by soon for our help redesigning their hero costumes! I thought maybe we could design some new support items for them as well! I think I’m gonna ask my classmates to stop by in pairs until we get through all of them because some of their hero costumes are simply disasters.”

“That’s a good idea Zuku!” Mei says without missing a beat, unlike Power Loader who startled aggressively at Izuku and Hitoshi’s sudden appearance. “Who’s coming by today?”

“Yaoyorozu and Hagakure! Yaoyorozu is the one with the creation quirk, it allows her to create any object as long as she understands it’s molecular structure. Hagakure is the invisible one! She’s currently naked as her costume which is simply unacceptable.”

Before Mei can reply, the door to the lab is opened and the two girls walk in.

“Hey!” Hagakure calls out. “Nice to see you again, Hastume!”

“Hello you three,” Yaoyorozu greets, nodding politely.

Hitoshi waves a lazy hand from his seat in the corner.

“I have so many ideas!” Mei yells excitedly. “Yaoyorozu, please put your hero costume on so we can see it. However, considering you don’t really have a hero costume, I don’t need to see yours Hagakure. I have an idea though! There’s a material that we can use for a costume that can be woven with your hair and allows your quirk to activate within the suit. However, unlike your real quirk, it can be turned on and off! That way, not only will you be able to go fully invisible, without those gloves, you can also be visible when necessary.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Izuku agrees.

“That’s really possible?” Hagakure asks, sounding very surprised. “I was told that going without clothes was my only option.”

“Hagakure, who was managing your costume, may I ask?” Power Loader pipes up from his place at his desk. “I would like a name so I can have a strongly worded discussion with them.”

“Oh, um, I’m not quite sure Sensei but I can let you know when I get the chance to check.”

“Yes, please do. I have some business to attend to, I’ll be back eventually. Hastume, don’t burn the place down.”

Mei waves him off as she returns to talking. “Anyways yeah, so if we could get some of your hair we can get right on that! The suit could be ready in just a few days if all goes smoothly! I would also like to discuss some possible support items for you considering your quirk isn’t designed for combat.”

“That would be great!”

As Hagakure and Mei excitedly discuss support item options, Izuku notices Yaoyorozu re-entering the room, now in her hero costume.

“Hey Yaoyorozu, would you mind telling me the issues that you personally have with your costume?”

“Of course Midoriya. I just think that it is rather impractical. This belt is bulky and unhelpful, the shelf makes no sense, and it isn’t, um, supportive, in the way I need it to be.”

“Yeah I assumed. I was wondering how you would feel about a sports bra and shorts combo? I think it makes the most sense, because it leaves skin exposed which I know that you need for your quirk, however it will be more comfortable and supportive. We could keep a general belt idea, but make it a lot smaller, and it could carry support items and food. I have a feeling your quirk utilizes your body’s resources, so having food on you would probably be smart.”

Yaoyorozu agrees, and the two get to work on the redesign.

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

“Bye Toshi!” Izuku yells, parting ways to head home. He is extremely pleased with how productive his and Mei’s time with Hagakure and Yaoyorozu was, and is very excited for their new costumes to be ready for use. However, since the school day is over now, he wants to go visit Dabi and Himiko. It’s been quite a while since he last saw them.

He stops by home, putting all his stuff down and changing into what he wears when going out as Forest. He figures that he can just stop by the League’s bar, even if they aren’t there at the moment they will be eventually.

Izuku expects a busy bar. Maybe Dabi and Himiko messing around. Maybe some low level villains lightheartedly harassing each other. Probably Kurogiri at the bar, as always. What he does not expect is to find Dabi and Toga being threatened by a crusty guy with a hand on his face. Nor does he expect a group of four other villains he hasn’t seen before to be sitting together at the bar. He certainly doesn’t expect the bar to be completely empty otherwise. Most definitely he doesn’t expect absolutely no one to notice his entrance. He wasn’t exactly being quiet. Luckily, Kurogiri is in fact at the bar, so that’s something Izuku got right.

However Izuku adjusts quickly to the unexpected situation, and so it is only moments after that Izuku’s only concern is that his two friends are actively being threatened. He watches for a moment, noting how the hand guy holds his hand in a manner that implies he doesn’t use his pinkys very often. Likely a five-finger activated quirk then. He can work with that.

Izuku, as quietly as he can, reaches into his sleeve to grab a knife, and down to his belt to grab a gun. Once he is ready, he moves quickly to the other side of the room and in front of his friends.

“Hey hey hey! What’s going on here?” Izuku asks in a fake upbeat tone, head tilted to one side in a way that gives off a level of innocence that does not match up with the weapons currently being held expertly in his hands.

“Who is this NPC?” Hand guy says in a scratchy voice, looking frustrated with Izuku’s appearance.

That’s all it takes for Izuku to realize exactly who he is face to face with. “Ah, nice to meet you Tomura Shigaraki. If you would kindly stop threatening my friends I would appreciate it.” Izuku’s smile doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Stupid NPC! Get out of my way, you are messing with my plans!” Shigaraki reaches out, evidently with the intent of dusting him, but Izuku was prepared for that.

“Stop moving.” Izuku hisses in Shigaraki’s ear. The boy is now behind the young adult, holding the gun to his head. “I don’t enjoy violence, but I am certainly not above it. I don’t even have to kill you to incapacitate you, you know that right? A five finger touch quirk? Easy enough. Remove a finger. I’m sure my knife is sharp enough. In fact, I know it is.”

The entire room has stilled, not that there was much movement before, but any that accompanied his sudden arrival is certainly gone now. In fact, to Izuku it feels as if the whole room is holding their breath.

Shigaraki is seething, and clearly doesn’t take Izuku’s threat seriously enough. As he turns to face the teen, hand still moving with killing intent, Izuku shifts his finger to place it on the trigger of the gun. The movement catches Shigaraki’s eye and the moment of hesitation that follows allows Izuku to slam the man backwards into the wall and slice his pointer finger with the knife, before stabbing the knife into the wall, pinning Shigaraki’s shirt with it. Izuku fully ignores Shigaraki’s cry of pain as he quickly removes his finger from the trigger, and safely places his gun back in it’s holster.

“Really sorry about that Shigaraki. However, that was a rather stupid move on your part. I did warn you after all. You’re just lucky I’m nice, and you didn’t completely lose that finger.” Izuku leans forward and rips the knife from the wall, startling the man who is cradling his cut finger. “You won’t be so lucky next time, I promise that. Don’t try to touch me again.”

Shigaraki growls, but quickly leaves the room. Izuku turns around, wiping the small amount of blood off his knife and putting it back in it’s sheath.

“Anyways, what was that about?” Izuku asks, looking up to the faces of seven shocked individuals. Well, six and Kurogiri, who’s face of smoke was as impassive as ever.

“Boss man was mad that we refused to murder some guy he didn’t like,” Dabi says finally, moving to ruffle Izuku’s hair and he rolls his eyes. “Good to see you again Forest, it’s been a hot second.”

“Forest! That was so cool, oh my goodness!” Himiko exclaims, running up to give him a hug. “I mean we could have handled ourselves. But still! So cool!”

“Hi Himiko, I missed you too.”

Himiko laughs and runs to the bar to ask Kurogiri for a drink, and Dabi and Izuku follow.

“Hello. I don’t believe we have met.” Izuku says to the four new villains at the bar.

“We haven’t, though I’m sure we have all heard plenty about you if you really are Forest.”

“The one and only,” Izuku laughs, turning around to give them a good view of his well known jacket.

“Well nice to meet you. I’m Magne. That’s Spinner,” they say pointing at a guy who clearly has a lizard quirk. A guy in a tight mask is introduced as Twice and a man in a top hat and black and white mask is introduced as Mr. Compress.

“Alright. Pronouns?” Izuku says, wanting to make sure.

This seems to soften up Magne, who suddenly has a slight smile, “Mine are she/her. They all use he/him.”

“Good to know,” Izuku grins back. “So, what are your quirks?”

For villains, they are surprisingly careless with that information. Not that Izuku cares, as it gives him the chance to learn and analyze four new and interesting quirks.

Izuku heads home that night with four new connections, new knowledge, and maybe a new enemy.