Izuku woke up early to the smell of breakfast. Nezu was a surprisingly good cook, which Izuku hadn't expected considering that the only thing he'd seen him make before was tea. But then again, he supposed that no one cooked a lot in their work office, so that made sense. He got dressed quickly and went to the kitchen to see Nezu already setting the table.

Recovery Girl: Oh he doesn't just make tea.

He smiled when he saw Izuku come in, "Good morning, Midoriya! I hope you slept adequately!"

Izuku nodded, "The bed was really soft."

Nezu laughed, "Yes, well, I have never quite understood humans obsession with a firm mattress. I know that I live a more advanced life than most animals, but you must admit there are times when humans miss the mark entirely and your bedding is one of them. I believe Aizawa agrees, considering the way he cocoons himself."

Midnight(laughing): Yeah definitely, Shou.

"He'd better be careful," Izuku grinned, "one of these days, he's going to accidently emerge as a beautiful butterfly."

(everyone laughed)

Tokoyami: No, a moth is more likely.

Dark Shadow: Yeah there's no way Aizawa-sensei would ever be anything that colorful.

"More likely as a moth." Nezu countered. "I very much doubt even his garish cocoon could impart any color to him."

Izuku laughed, "Or maybe that sleeping bag has been gradually leeching away any color he once had."

Nezu nodded sagely, "Its sins are too many to count. But don't just sit there, eat!"

Aizawa: Would you all just stop joking about my sleeping bag?

Izuku didn't have to be told twice and dug in, "So what's the plan for today?"

"Well, I suppose that depends." Nezu said. "How are your computer skills?"

"I've been trying to learn a little bit since you mentioned maybe teaching me hacking." Izuku shrugged. "But I don't think I'm very good yet."

Inko: That's still good Izuku.

"Then that's where we'll begin!" Nezu smiled encouragingly. "I'll give you some tasks to test your current ability, you're almost certainly further along than you believe, and then we'll advance into basic hacking."

Hitoshi felt like he was going to die.

(everyone snorted)

Alright, so maybe that was a bit dramatic, but after how badly he'd embarrassed himself last night, he felt like he deserved to be depressed. He hadn't even been able to get through all of Aizawa's basic tests before he was too tired to continue.

Hagakure: Relatable.

Sero: Yeah I felt like my arms would fall off after our first workout with him.

Which led him to where he currently was, trying to somehow force himself to do enough pushups to impress Eraserhead. It wasn't going well.

Gran Torino: Don't overwork yourself.

"Stop."

Hitoshi didn't need to be told twice. He collapsed to the ground and splayed out on his belly. Maybe if he stayed there long enough, he might be able to feel his arms again.

Midoriya: Yeah that's usually what happens.

Aizawa looked at the notebook he was holding, then down at Hitoshi, "You're pushing yourself too hard. You can't expect to grow stronger overnight, Shinso, bodies don't work that way."

Hitoshi groaned and rolled over onto his back, "You were the one that said I had spaghetti arms."

Aizawa gave a small smile, "Actually, I called you a stick figure, but I don't disagree with your assessment."

(everyone laughed)

Hitoshi groaned again and Aizawa helped him to his feet, "But in all seriousness, if you try to overdo, you'll only end up hurting yourself. Deku did the same thing when we first started physical training and he ended up learning moderation the hard way."

Mitsuki: Izuku!

Aizawa handed Hitoshi a water bottle that he gratefully accepted, "What happened?"

"The problem child ended up passing out and he's lucky he didn't pull a muscle." Aizawa shook his head. "Don't be like him."

Hound Dog: Yes, don't.

Recovery Girl: I don't think I can handle another one of Aizawa's children constantly getting into fights and breaking bones.

Aizawa: They're not-

Everyone: Yes they are.

Hitoshi nodded. An injury would only set him back and he couldn't afford to waste any more time if he wanted to prove he deserved his place in the hero course, "So I need to hold back."

Hawks: More like you need to understand when to stop.

"It's not so much holding back so much as knowing your limits." Aizawa said. "Knowing how much you can handle is an important skill for any hero, but for underground heroes like us it can mean the difference between life and death. You don't have a physical quirk, which means that there are some villains who are going to be a bad match-up for you. Over time, you'll develop the skills you need to beat them, but there are times in any hero's career where they have to choose to stay back and gather info instead of fighting. You're no use to anyone if you're dead or injured."

Hitoshi frowned, "I didn't think not fighting was an option."

Jirou: It's always an option.

Aizawa looked at him intensely, "Not fighting is always an option. It's your responsibility as a hero to get strong enough that it's not your only option. Take a break and get your breath back. We'll start again in a few minutes."

Hitoshi nodded and sat at one of the benches at the edge of the small gym. There was an area in the corner for weight training and a sparring mat that Hitoshi was becoming a little too familiar with, but most of the room actually looked like a mini parkour course. Aizawa could navigate every single obstacle without breaking a sweat, but even the smallest ones still stopped Hitoshi in his tracks. He had a long way to go.

"Shouta? Are you here?"

Joke: Oh it's me!

Hitoshi startled as a woman's voice called from the hall and he looked at Aizawa for guidance on how to handle the intruder. Eraserhead's agency was independent, so there wasn't supposed to be anyone else in this building, right?

Aizawa(groaning): Not usually but certain people like to visit me.

To his surprise, however, Aizawa just sighed and yelled back, "I'm in the gym, Emi!" He turned to glare at Hitoshi, his activated quirk making him even more intimidating than normal. "If you tell anyone about her, I will expel you, understood?"

Shinso: Understood.

Mina(giggling): Yeah don't rat out Aizawa-sensei's love life to anyone.

Hitoshi nodded quickly and Aizawa's hair fell around his shoulders right as the door slammed open and a slim woman with sea green hair strode into the room. She hadn't taken long to find them, so she must already be comfortable with the layout of the agency, which meant that she'd been there before, probably multiple times.

Hitoshi's eyes widened as the strange woman walked straight up to Aizawa, the same Aizawa who had the highest expulsion rate at UA and took down any villain he came across with brutal precision, that Aizawa, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. The woman must be insane. Hitoshi didn't know what exactly he'd been expecting, but it wasn't Aizawa sending her a glare without any power behind it and her responding by sticking out her tongue.

Mic(chuckling): Oh you two are adorable.

Mei: And you're confusing extra-credit-kun so much!

The woman looked around and saw Hitoshi, who froze when she grinned and turned back to Aizawa, "You got yourself another kid, Shouta? You just can't help yourself, can you?"

Aizawa sighed, "Emi, this is Shinso, he's interning with me this week. Shinso, this is Emi Fukukado, hero name: Ms. Joke." He dipped his head further into his capture weapon until he looked a bit like a turtle. "My girlfriend."

Oh.

(everyone laughed at how embarrassed Aizawa looked)

Mirio sat on the floor catching his breath as Gran Torino did the same across from him. They'd started sparring just after breakfast, but between the old timer's Jet and Mirio's Permeation, neither of them had been able to land a single hit. It was like a massive game of tag where they were both it, but they were playing in a pinball machine. It was surprisingly fun.

Midoriya: Well at least you're enjoying it...

Mirio: Didn't you?

Midoriya: Well I got hit a lot more than you did...

Gran Torino rolled a water bottle to him, which Mirio accepted gratefully, "I gotta admit, kid, I wasn't expecting you to have mastered One for All already. Toshinori has a lot of strengths, but teaching isn't one of them. I'm pleasantly surprised he actually paid attention long enough to teach you how to use the quirk."

Dabi(snorting): Yeah about that...

"Well, actually..." Mirio grimaced.

Gran Torino looked at him suspiciously, "What?"

"I mean, All Might's been great!" Mirio said quickly. "And I'm really lucky to be able to learn from him, but... One for All actually broke my bones when I first got it. It wasn't until Sir got me a sit down with Deku that I figured out how to actually use it without hurting myself."

"Deku?" Gran Torino asked. "The analyst?"

Nejire: Yup!

Mirio nodded, "He's only a first year at UA, but he had an internship with Sir before school started and he gave me some help after I demonstrated my quirk for him."

To his surprise, Gran Torino chuckled, "So Deku really is a kid, huh? Well, I'll be. Did you know that when he first came on the scene, the prevailing opinion was that he was some retired pro like yours truly?"

Thirteen: Yup!

"Sir mentioned something about that." Mirio smiled. "Have you ever worked with him?"

"Nah," He said, "but I got so many emails about the kid that I felt like I practically knew him. Since everyone thought he was an old geezer like me, they figured we must have crossed paths at some point."

All Might: You gaslighted them didn't you?

Gran Torino(laughing): I'd be an idiot to miss that big of an opportunity!

"What did you do?" Mirio asked.

"What do you think I did?" Gran Torino laughed. "I told them, of course I knew him! I started making up stories about all these shenanigans Deku and I had gotten up to back in the good old days, but added just enough nonsense that no one could tell if I was being serious or not. When someone else would email me, I'd tell the same stories, but change one or two major things so that when people talked, no one would be able to agree what actually happened, or if it happened at all. That was a fun time."

(everyone giggled)

Kaminari: What a prankster!

Recovery Girl(sighing): I have no idea whether to feel sorry for them or not.

"That's awesome!" Miro laughed. "I bet you've gotten a lot of angry emails since people realized you were messing with them."

"That's the best part!" Gran Torino said. "Everyone just assumes I'm a senile old man, so no one can get mad at me, because I must have just misremembered. You can't use that trick yet, but trust me when I say it's the best part about getting old."

Hagakure: Huh remind me to do that when I'm older.

Vlad: Oh boy.

Katsuki tried not to explode as he ended up on his back again. So far, his internship with Mirko had consisted of a lot of sparring, which was a lot of fun, don't get him wrong, it's just that he was starting to get tired of losing. Every time he ended up on the ground, he had to fight against that gut feeling that he was worthless because he hadn't won, and he was sick of it. The Mutt's voice rang in his ears, reminding him that Mirko was a top ten pro and he was a first year student, so obviously she was going to be stronger than him. Reminding himself of that didn't make the feeling go away, though.

Hound Dog: You're getting better at least.

Mitsuki: Yeah you haven't immediately exploded, Katsuki.

"Let's take a break." Mirko said, helping him up.

"I can keep going." Katsuki growled before he could help himself. He needed to prove himself... wait, no he didn't... ugh, this sucked.

Tamaki: Poor Bakugo.

Mirko chucked, "Nah, your head's someplace else, that's no fun. You hungry?"

Katsuki shrugged, "I could eat."

"That's what I want to hear!" Katsuki followed her into the kitchen and she opened the fridge. "Here, have a carrot."

Bakugo: I'm not a rabbit!

"I'm not a rabbit!"

"Well I am, so deal with it!" She tossed him a carrot, which Katsuki snatched out of the air.

Endeavor: Do you eat anything other than carrots?

Mirko: What? They're tasty.

Hawks: Rumi you need to eat other vegetables too you know-

Mirko: Like you eat other meat other than fried chicken?

They ate in silence for a few minutes before Katsuki broke the silence, "How'd you get so strong?"

Mirko thought for a minute, "A lot of practice, mostly. My quirk doesn't hurt either, though growing up, I thought it made me weak." Her voice took on a high pitched, mocking tone. "Oh, it's the cute little bunny! Be careful not to spook her or she'll run away!"

"You got bullied?" Katsuki tried to bury his guilt as he remembered what he did to Deku.

Mirko: I'm starting to wonder who didn't.

Mirko shrugged, "Kids can be mean, what are you gonna do? Joke's on them, though, cause what they didn't know was that a cornered rabbit will do what it takes to survive. I'm not a coward, never was, but I also had to learn what strength really was."

Katsuki froze, "What do you mean? Strength is strength, isn't it?"

Kirishima: No it's not.

Mirko rolled her eyes, "Any meathead can learn to punch hard. You see all these thugs with strong quirks that think they're all that, but when push comes to shove, they're no better than someone quirkless, because most of the time, it's about strength of will. Physical strength is gonna do squat when you've been fighting for hours and feel like you're about to pass out. It's not gonna help when lives are on the line and you're against a villain that's a bad quirk matchup for you. Sometimes, strength is about fighting to save that one last person, especially when you feel like you can't."

Uraraka: Like Deku.

"But what about being the strongest?" Katsuki asked. "You're high up in the rankings, so aren't you trying to be the best?"

Mirko: Nah.

"The best?" Mirko scowled. "#@$(* that! It doesn't matter if you're the strongest, Blasty, it matters that you're strong enough to fight when it matters. The best?" She scoffed. "If you're focused on being better than other heroes, that's kinda a #@(* move to the people you're supposed to be saving. A hero needs to be strong above all else, but it isn't a competition, it's a matter of life and death for both you and the people you need to save."

(everyone looked pointedly at Endeavor who seemed to be thinking about something)

Katsuki stared at her as he processed what she'd said. Strength wasn't about being the best, it never had been. He'd had it all wrong for all these years. Strength was about always being willing to fight for what mattered and being able to keep fighting when it felt like he had no chance of winning. It was about being the strongest that he could possibly be, not about being stronger than Deku or Todoroki. If he was strong enough to fight when lives were on the line, then that was what mattered and the only person he needed to compete with was himself.

Inko(smiling): He's learning...

Katsuki stood and threw away the green part of his carrot, "Alright then, Bunny @$*(#, I guess we better get back to work so I can really be strong when it matters."

Mirko grinned, "That's more like it! Now pretend I've got a hostage."

Bakugo: Oh come on don't just cut away now!

Jana(going to the next chapter): We'll get back.