anon you and i are on the same page. you are absolutely, completely right. this is something i have believed from the bottom of my heart from the very beginning of this au.
it doesn’t take long to figure out that izuku’s version of “sleeping” is just catching a catnap in whatever weird place he deems safe at that moment, and sometimes that means walking into a classroom and seeing izuku snoozing on the top of the cabinet.
it’s sort of flattering that izuku finds class 1-a and select other people who are part of yuuei safe enough to sleep around, until they think about it too long and realize a) this implies izuku doesn’t get much opportunity to have long, uninterrupted periods of sleep, if he has to resort to catnaps all the time, and b) izuku must feel safer around yuuei, a hero school, full of people who are supposed to arrest him, than around wherever else he’d been sleeping before.
option c: izuku accidentally calls tsukauchi ‘dad.’ tsukauchi stares. izuku loses balance for a sec before finding a way to save face by being like “did i fucking stutter???” and throwing it into everyone’s face so loudly and blatantly that everyone just thinks it’s a joke again. (it’s not)
option d:
“thanks, dad. … why is everyone staring at me?”
“you just called tsukauchi-san ‘dad.’”
“what? no i didn’t. i said, ‘thanks, man.’”
“do you see me as a father figure, izuku?”
“no. if anything, i see you as a bother figure, because you’re always bothering me.”
tsukauchi enters his office, thoughtfully. he opens the drawer and removes a small, solemn leather-bound book, placing it absently on the table. he reaches out and takes up a pen. “arrested deku today,” he writes. “reason for arrest: public disturbance. details: was unintentionally defacing a public park with a truck. truck supposed to be en route the local zoo. suspect that deku was not the cause behind this mistake, but instead stopped to help catch the escaped animals, resulting in the rambunctious tomfoolery that caught attention in the first place. –
notes: deku unable to escape in his usual manner because he was wearing a green victorian-style dress. tripped over hem while hobbling away. unsure why he attempted to wrestle animals into submission in this attire. when asked, deku claimed he was not deku but instead ‘lady green,’ then requested some safety pins. – was en route to another stunt when he saw the truck? asked deku again about the dress. claimed it was fashion statement, then sank deep into thought. seems as though deku has no explanation for the dress either (a rare phenomenon) (the genuine lack of explanation, not the dress). life is a continual mystery.”
my theory is actually that izuku still hero worships all might and has a TERRIBLE celebrity crush, he fanboys hard on his social media account and everyone knows!! but izuku is too shy to actually try stalking tracking down the hero he admires most! mostly he just posts about how cool all might looked in his most recent battle, did you see that,all might is so incredible and izuku would probably die if he ever met him in real life.
one day though. one day izuku spots all might fighting a villain – and he can’t help but follow all might around, watching with round eyes as all might fights. the villain is a slippery one, and manages to slip away – and so, all might lands next to izuku on the roof while he’s looking for the villain. ah, hello, says all might; did you happen to see someone pass this way, by any chance? izuku, too awestruck to say anything, points wordlessly after the villain. all might takes off.
afterwards, izuku gushes about how he ACTUALLY SAW ALL MIGHT, he ACTUALLY HELPED ALL MIGHT, and he is just extremely happy about the entire thing but entirely too shy to actually try approaching all might again.
anyways, he’s not stupid. there are heroes he can fight, and there are heroes he can’t. most heroes have pretty obvious counters, if you think them through; but there is very little izuku can do to counter simple, overwhelming strength. if all might knew he was a villain, and all might decided to arrest him, there’s nothing izuku can do. and as much as izuku admires all might so, as much as he wants – izuku isn’t ever going to risk putting his freedom on the line like that.
but.
if yagi toshinori meets an enthusiastic and cheerful civilian boy at his favorite coffee shop – if they’ve struck a strange acquaintance, if said boy talks to toshinori about his favorite heroes and asks after toshinori’s day – well.
there’s nothing strange about two civilians being acquainted with each other.
i’d also like you to consider: instead of all might taking in izuku, strangely enough, it’s actually a combination of detective tsukauchi and eraserhead.
aizawa objects strongly to this, but somehow it’s happened anyways.
izuku probably uses his social media account mainly for taking selfies of himself in places where he should not be. locked buildings. hero offices. museums. government buildings’ record rooms. the caption is usually something making fun of the design/layout/security of the place. the most popular of these include:
izuku holding a paintball gun, winking at the camera. officer tsukauchi in the background, with his back turned to the camera. want to see a magic trick, is the caption. the picture is quickly followed by a blurry picture of izuku trying to take a selfie of himself while running away from a paint-covered and angry-looking tsukuachi
another selfie: izuku is pressing one hand to his mouth to stifle his laughter. beneath him, through the opening of an air duct, is a picture of the pro hero deathgoro, pulling open a drawer to reveal a stash of chocolates/sweets. HE HAS A STASH!!! the caption says, THAT’S SO FUNNY!!!
a few minutes later izuku puts up a link to a crowdfunding site in order to “buy a chocolate for deathgoro.”
izuku, in a darkened office that has obviously been closed for the night. “now, i’ve come to understand that some people send fan mail to endeavor – but for some reason, endeavor rarely responds,” he says, pulling a batch of letters out of a recycling bin. “so i’ve taken it upon myself to answer these letters myself. – i have some fun, you get some answers, endeavor doesn’t talk to anyone – everyone wins! now let’s see… ‘dear endeavor, i really admire your battle skills’… etc etc etc…. ‘where did you learn how to fight?’” izuku sets the card down and folds his hands solemnly. “the truth is,” he says seriously, “endeavor is an alien. from outer space. his family was killed by shapeshifting monsters whom he’s dedicated his life to fighting. he has hunted the last of them here, to japan, and he’s very close to reaching his goal of avenging his family…which is why he doesn’t have time to pay attention to his family or make friends or answer these letters. i’m sure you understand. at any rate, if you would like to learn how to fight like endeavor, you could always try–” an orange light flares behind him. “what are you doing?” demands a furious endeavor. “oh shi–” the camera shakes, izuku is laughing shocked and hysterical as he takes off, and the camera goes black.
is he dead? someone comments. he managed to post the video. obviously not, someone else says. maybe it was posthumous. like, carried out in his will, someone else says, which sparks a long debate until izuku posts a selfie of himself hanging out in a cell in the police station – TOTALLY by choice, of course, and having nothing to do with him breaking into endeavor’s mail earlier.
and occasionally, it’s just something like a picture of the city from the top of the tallest skyscraper in the city, with the nighttime sky spread above. something quieter, and more peaceful, like maybe there is someone behind that bold celebrity persona who just wants… well, who knows what he really wants?
misc. social media shenanigans:
izuku tagging heroes or law enforcement in his pictures
izuku poking fun at various high-profile individuals, which prompts some very strange but very fun dialogues
izuku vagueblogging about possible stunts he might pull in the future…
izuku vagueblogging about other high-profile heroes/villains/etc
izuku avoiding any questions pertaining to himself whatsoever, and if he does answer them, only in a joking way. who is he, really
“whoops, almost left my phone unsecured. that sure would have been bad :eyes emoji: :eyes emoji: ”
how did izuku bypass security, indeed. i’m pretty sure izuku could break in, he just might not be able to do that undetected. that’s not his concern, though, he mostly just wants to raise hell for the hell of it. the first time izuku breaks in, he calls the principal as he does so ( “hey, this is [izuku’s villain name here] but you can call me deku!! just to let you know, i’m breaking into yuuei right now to visit bakacchan, but i’ll be out of your hair in a jiff.” ) and gets chased off the premises by aizawa.
every time he breaks in, he calls the principal, actually. he doesn’t really have to – the security system would detect him and notify nedzu anyways – but it doesn’t take long for nedzu to realize that it’s a gesture of good will. an “i mean no harm” message, if you will. in fact, izuku is quite nice about the whole thing – he never tries to hack the system, and he (usually) stays in sight (when not setting up some kind of trap). nedzu wouldn’t call deku “not a threat,” but perhaps he can say he “has no ill will to the students.” he’s curious, and he does some digging.
“ah, [izuku’s villain name here]? he’s…something,” says tsukauchi. “he stole my coffee machine the last time he was here, but he replaced it with a small cabinet of alcohol with the instructions for a molotov cocktail taped to it. i don’t know.”
“he’s been showing up at yuuei quite a lot recently,” nedzu says. “is it worth the time to try and stop him?”
“no,” says tsukauchi immediately. then, “it’s easier to let him do what he wants. i have been trying to arrest him for years and it never works. he seems to have taken a shine to your school; he won’t do it any permanent harm.”
“he is a villain,” nedzu reminds tsukauchi.
tsukauchi sighs. “i know. but he…how do i say this? he’s compassionate, and he cares. i think he might have been a hero if he wasn’t raised a villain, but… well. the first time i met him, he reverse pickpocketed me and gave me ten dollars he just stole from the bank. what’s the point of stealing from the bank if you only take ten dollars? i don’t know. he’s weird, but he doesn’t do irreparable damage. he even helps sometimes.”
“helps?” nedzu queries.
“this is off the record,” says tsukauchi, “but [izuku’s villain name] saved some of our deep cover agents, once. he…well, it certainly isn’t legal. but he’s intervened where neither heroes nor police can, before. and i can’t tell you how many times i’ve been investigating a case and some important information mysteriously gets stuck to the bottom of my desk with gum.”
that seems to be the general consensus from the heroes: deku is a chaotic, destructive villain, but no one has ever been permanently injured or killed by his attacks. “and even his attacks seem more like highly elaborate pranks,” midnight tells nedzu. “he attacked gang orca’s office after it suffered a large-scale villain attack, once, but it was mostly just confetti and a very sparkly game of dodge. then he gave gang orca an amateur attempt at a wedding cake. the office chased him off, but they seemed happier afterwards.”
nedzu thinks about it, and he watches deku as he tricks yuuei students into fighting smarter and harder. interesting indeed.
the next time deku calls to tell nedzu he’s breaking in, nedzu says, “why not stop at my office for a talk, first?”
there is a pause.
“do you have tea?” deku asks.
“quite an excellent selection,” nedzu says, and laughs.
“i’ll be right there,” deku says cheerily, and hangs up.
the discussion is enlightening. deku never manages to sit still for more than a minute before his attention starts wandering, consumes three cups of tea, and pulls out something that looks a bit like a gutted clock’s innards to fiddle with during their talk. (he also starts to take apart nedzu’s clock before nedzu stops him, at which point he puts the thing away.) nedzu gets the impression that deku is trying to behave, which is really quite entertaining.
“you may visit yuuei,” nedzu says, “but i have some conditions.”
“sure,” says deku. “it’s your turf, right? that’s fine.”
nedzu smiles. “excellent,” he says. well, he was expecting more resistance than that. deku really is strange. “first – no harming the students, physically or psychologically.”
deku has climbed onto nedzu’s desk and sat himself there in the time it took to say that. “are you sure? is that like, a rule rule? is no fighting allowed?” he looks disappointed. so very disappointed, and he has a truly splendid pair of puppy-dog eyes.
“no permanent harm,” nedzu clarifies, and is amused by the way deku lights back up.
“okay, can do!” deku chirps. “what else?”
they hammer out some ground rules. no excessive property damage; no interrupting a lesson more than twice a week, and not for the same teacher in the same class. things like that. overall, a very productive session. nedzu offers izuku a yuuei ID before he goes, but izuku pulls a face and waves him off, citing the fact that he hates paperwork. the ID isn’t even paperwork – it’s a card – but izuku is not dissuaded.
probably for the best, nedzu thinks, amused. he peels the tracker disguised as a sticker off the ID. no sense in wasting resources.
he’ll keep an eye on things, but as long as yuuei students remain unharmed, he’ll do nothing else.
—-
or, the one where izuku respects nedzu for reasons unknown, and nedzu is amused and takes advantage of this, and nedzu also sits back and enjoys the show.
@thatartistwithapen submitted: We all know that chaotic!Izuku would have done this before he left school. And no one would know until many years later.
i’m not even sure chaotic neutral villain izuku even attended school, but if he did, this is definitely something he would do.
my approximate understanding of izuku’s background (so far) is that he disappeared when he was like? eight years old? when katsuki finds him again, izuku has no memory of katsuki or his mom; he seems to find it absolutely hilarious that katsuki thinks he’s someone called ‘deku’ (“It means useless? That’s hilarious. I’ll take it.” and he gleefully introduces himself as deku to everyone associated with Katsuki thereafter).
not sure if he actually is part of the villain alliance and its nefarious schemes. mostly he just seems to be here to have a good time. probably would help out the person who asked him for help first. likes people on both sides. izuku probably functions more like a wild card than someone firmly in the villain alliance camp. fond of shigaraki, though, even though shigaraki seems to loathe him with every fiber of his being.
i think yuuei and class 1-a all know he’s categorized as a villain, but since no one can figure out what to do with him and no one has managed to hold him in a cell for more than 3 hours yet, izuku ends up freeloading at yuuei a lot. aizawa stops chasing him away at every opportunity after he sees izuku giving students tips on fighting in crowded conditions.
( “so, what kind of villainous things have you done?”
“mm, i don’t know. mostly i just do what i want to do, like everyone else.”
“have you ever killed anyone?”
“no.”
“stolen stuff?”
“haha, yeah, that’s my favorite.”
“destroyed public property?”
“yeah, a lot.”
“terrorized the general populace?”
“not on purpose. does vandalism count?” )
as far as villain!izuku goes, i think either a) his father, midoriya hizashi, kidnapped him and raised him a villain; b) his father is all for one, but izuku is a free spirit and sort of diverged from AFO’s goals, so AFO just turned his attention to shigaraki instead; or c) AFO picked izuku despite being unrelated to him, and izuku also skipped out on his villain alliance plans anyways.
Cheloneuniverse 