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Shinsou Hitoshi first found Nightingale in his first year of middle school.
It hadn’t been a great day; it never was. New school, new people, but introductions happened and everyone had found out about his quirk and recoiled. It took all of 30 seconds before the more brash turned fear to anger and ridicule, giving him the same old spiel he had always heard: villain.
He hadn’t really expected much, of course, not at this point. He stumbled home to his foster home with new bruises and rolled his shoulders, ignoring the ache that he was more than used to. He said nothing as he entered, not wanting to set off the people here either, and just trudged to his room.
He did his homework in utter silence, stomach grumbling as he heard and smelled the sound of everyone else eating below him. There was no way he’d go down there; he had learned very quickly, eat once everyone else has gone to bed. The less they saw of him, the less they thought about him, and the less likely they were to get rid of him.
It was safer that way.
By the time the rest of the house was asleep, it was already past ten. His homework was long done, and he had been playing mindless games on his phone to pass the time. Finally, he crept downstairs, grabbing a granola bar and a glass of water. Anything more and they’d probably notice.
He finished his meager dinner and laid down in bed, staring at the ceiling. It was unlikely he’d get to sleep for a while, insomnia being a bitch, so he sighed and pulled up his phone. Maybe he’d watch a few streams to wind down.
He cycled through a few different streams he sometimes watched before someone new popped up, catching his eye.
Nightingale.
Curious as to why someone would name themselves after a european bird, he opened the stream.
There wasn’t a camera, so he had no idea what this person looked like. Instead, there was what could only be… a windows screensaver. Huh. It had been a long time since those were used, but this one was the pipe screensaver, arguably the best, and it was pretty calming to look at.
The streamer was talking when he joined, and he blinked, trying to focus on what he was saying.
His voice was soft and soothing, talking about seemingly everything and nothing. He talked about heroes, quirks, things from the news, and so on.
Hitoshi could feel his eyes dropping when the boy (he sounded young) startled.
“Oh! It’s almost midnight! I think...I think we have enough time for a song before that, though. Hmm, yeah, this one .”
The sound of a music box played an intro before he started to sing.
“Wandering child of the earth, do you know just how much you’re worth?”
As the song continued, he felt himself getting more and more tired, all the stress from the day falling away. This was the calmest he felt in a while.
As the song continued, he felt it was getting farther away, and before he knew it, he was asleep.
Upon waking up, he made sure to find Nightingale’s channel and follow it. That was the best sleep he had gotten in years, and a solid 7-8 hours at that.
As he made it through middle school, Nightingale was one of the things that kept him going. He would talk about quirk discrimination, give words of affirmation, seemingly everything Hitoshi needed to hear. Every day, he’d tune in to Nightingale’s channel to feel a little better and fall asleep faster, at midnight, like clockwork. His bags started to disappear and he did better in classes, having gotten actual sleep.
In his second year, after Nightingale had gotten a bit more popular, viewers started to ask questions, asking him to talk about their quirks.
Some of them were pretty cool, and Hitoshi couldn’t help but be jealous, but Nightingale treated them all the same, gushing about each and every one, talking about how useful they could be in different situations and career paths. It was clear to anyone who listened that Nightingale wanted to be a hero, so that was the first thing he tried to apply the quirks to, but he also talked about other jobs as well, making sure that everyone was included, just like the message behind each and every one of his streams.
Finally, Hitoshi worked up the courage to ask about his own quirk.
“Oh my gosh!” Nightingale spoke quietly, but you could hear the excitement in his tone. “That’s an amazing quirk! You could diffuse hostage situations, get villains to turn themselves in, talk people down from ledges, and calm people down! So many situations are exacerbated by civilians not being cognizant enough to follow hero direction, but with your quirk, you could get around that hurdle entirely! That’s definitely a really cool quirk.”
Hitoshi didn’t hear the rest, feeling an aching in his chest. On some level, yeah, he had known what Nightingale was going to say; he had told someone with an invisibility quirk that they’d be a great underground hero, or even spotlight if they wanted, despite people saying they’d only ever be a thief. He’d told anyone who came to him with mutation quirks that they’d be great, detailing all the ways mutant discrimination was wrong and how much they would be able to accomplish.
He tuned back in, having missed a good portion of the song for the night, but hearing the words in what must have been the bridge.
“They tell me luck will travel, I tell em that’s why I’ve got feet.”
Hitoshi set his jaw, determined, making plans even as he fell asleep. Nightingale believed he could be a hero. It was time to work for it. He had a year before he had to apply for UA, and he’d make it.
After all, that’s why he’s got feet.
~~~~~
Kaminari Denki found Nightingale in his second year of middle school.
Jirou Kyoka, a girl he rather looked up to, had been talking about this new streamer who ended every stream with a song, commenting how he sounded pretty good, and Denki figured he’d check it out, even if only to have an excuse to talk to her. He knew they were both aiming for UA, and it’d be nice to have a friend.
He wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of positivity.
Whoever the streamer was, they sounded young, maybe a few years older than Denki, and he was a fountain of positivity. He talked about discrimination, finding the positivity in the hard times, and how to ignore bullies. He almost sounded like he had experience, which Denki and a few of the viewers picked up on in concern, but he just brushed it off. No way a guy as nice and positive as this was getting picked on.
(He ignored the fact that he tried to be nice and positive and people still made fun of him. It was different, his quirk made him stupid. Nightingale was really smart.)
When the time approached midnight, Nightingale wrapped up, saying it was time for the closing song. Denki shifted in bed; this is what Jirou had been talking about.
“I think we’ll go with this one tonight, to remind everyone that everything’s alright! ”
The music box washed over him and he vaguely remembered a game he had played years ago.
He didn’t notice himself falling asleep as the day’s worried washed away and a feeling of calm overtook him.
He didn’t talk to Jirou about it the next day.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but he found that he liked the hour of talking before the song to be his favorite part. He just felt… better. His troubles didn’t seem as big.
He kept watching Nightingale’s streams before bed, occasionally asking a question or requesting a song. Nightingale explained in one stream that his quirk was called Lullaby. As long as it was live, if people heard him sing, they would calm down, sometimes to the point of falling asleep. It made a lot of sense, thinking about it, and he said that’s why he sang at the end. He wanted people to get a good end to a day, even if the rest of it had been hard.
“Sleep is important!” He chirped one night. “So if I can help everyone go to sleep, then I will!”
One day, he asked a question.
“If my quirk makes me stupid through overuse, what can I do…? Hmm, well, I’d try to figure out why it makes you stupid and see if there’s anything you can do to fix that. I know I looked at a quirk earlier that decreased mental capacity when the person went on a sugar crash, but they got around that by increasing their smarts while in that state. Maybe that would work for you too? Oh, but remember, you aren’t stupid! There’s no such thing, and anyone who says that is wrong! Especially if it’s a quirk drawback, that has nothing to do with how cool and intelligent you are!”
On that note, Denki decided to do some hardcore research into his quirk and electricity in general, to see if he could figure out why he went into idiot mode.
With the confidence boost Nightingale had given him, he felt like he could take on the world, and hopefully, UA.
~~~~~
Yaoyorozu Momo found Nightingale in her third year of middle school.
She wasn’t quite sure why she had clicked on the stream in the first place. She had been looking up more chemical formulas and blueprints and had somehow found herself on his stream.
She admired the breathing pattern gif, of a line that turned into a triangle, a square, a pentagon, all the way up to an octagon, before it shrunk back down to a line and started over again, before listening to what the boy was saying.
“Yeah, you should have more confidence in yourself! Things don’t have to be complicated for them to be good! It’s like they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, haha. But yeah, sometimes you just need to keep things simple. Your quirk is really cool though, thank you for sharing!”
She continued to listen as he sang the song for the night, pondering what he had said about simplicity and confidence. She looked at her open tabs full of large and complex machinery and with a soft smile, closed out of them.
Momo would keep listening to Nightingale, she thought.
~~~~~
Tokoyami Fumikage found Nightingale in his last year of middle school as well.
His friend, another person with a mutation quirk, had talked about the streamer, saying that he talking about quirk discrimination, confidence, and generally reinforced positive messages. Not exactly the kind of thing Fumikage was incredibly interested in, but he found himself finding the stream on a particularly rough day.
He let the calm and soothing words wash over him, feeling his feathers smooth down. He spoke of quirks, current events, and how to deal with bullies. Fumikage wasn’t really paying attention to the words themselves, simply burying himself in his blankets and letting the voice wash over him.
When it came time for the song , the low and slow melody washed over him and sent him to sleep, more at peace than he had been in a long time.
The next day, he looked up nightingales, the bird, feeling curious about the moniker. As it turned out, the nightingale was a plain looking bird in the european area that often sang at night, to avoid competition, as most birds sang during the day. Despite poet tendencies to portray the female as the one singing, it was most often the male bird that did the singing. They had a repertoire that was more than impressive, being able to produce over 200 unique songs.
He decided he would keep listening, for his bird brother. He understood the desire to belong to the night.
Plus, Dark Shadow liked him.
~~~~~
Uraraka Ochako found Nightingale right before she went to UA.
She had to move away from home and was already missing her parents greatly. All alone, barely anything to her name, having just scraped by to UA by helping that green haired boy.
She tuned in just in time for the song .
She didn’t really get what it was about, maybe a cactus, but she felt the longing and loneliness in the song, so poignant with her own, and she cried.
By the end of the song, she felt the feelings wash away, feeling calm. It would be alright. She could call her parents at any time, and they loved her.
She was living out her dream, going to UA, and despite it all… someone lives here.
She slept, dreaming of songbirds and heroes.
~~~~~
Todoroki Shouto couldn’t remember when he had found Nightingale.
He had accidentally put it on (don’t ask him how, he still didn’t know) in his hazy state after a particularly bad training session, and the voice washed over like soothing water.
He wasn’t able to pick out the words, but the smooth tones spoke of quiet confidence, no stutters, just the flow of words, and he felt his pain dull enough for him to dress his wounds.
As he managed to focus more, he managed to pick up the words.
“..and you’re more than your quirk anyway! Sure, it’s a cool quirk, but even if other people don’t think that, you’re still your own person without it. Thank you for the question, that was really fun to think about.”
The streamer kept talking about something or other, but Shouto had tuned him out, pausing to think on those words.
He was more than his quirk?
That was all he had been born for, his quirk, a perfect mix of his mother’s and father’s, so to think he was more than that seemed almost blasphemous.
He liked the idea.
He listened as the boy began to sing , signalling the end of the stream, and Shouto startled. It was almost midnight? He had gotten incredibly distracted, if that was the case, but he didn’t know if he really minded.
No, he probably didn’t.
He found himself tuning in when he could find the strength to do so, and the stress and pains of the day’s beat- training seemed to wash away with the smooth and calming voice.
He smiled softly to himself. He already liked Nightingale, he could tell, and suddenly the booming voice of his father didn’t seem as important.
~~~~~
Kirishima Eijiro found Nightingale around the same time his classmate, Ashido Mina, had stared down a villain.
He was shaken and cursing himself for his inability to move, to be a hero like he wanted to be, for not stepping up and defending them.
He was looking for confidence boosters, knowing he had to shape up if he was ever going to be a hero like Crimson Riot, when he found Nightingale. He saw people asking questions and the calming and enthusiastic voice was more than happy to answer them.
“I think one of my favorite heroes is Midnight, or maybe Ms. Joke? Not for the reason most people probably like her, of course, but because her quirk is like mine. It’s not very flashy, but it’s usable to help protect people, and that’s all I really care about! Oh, why Ms. Joke? That’s because she also has to use her voice! I guess you could say I also like Present Mic for that reason, but if I’m going to be a hero I’ll probably go underground, and Ms. Joke is underground. But yeah, my quirk may not be flashy, but it doesn’t have to be to be cool, or used for good. Just like some of the quirks we’ve talked about before!”
Eijiro touched the scar above his eye, thinking about his own quirk. This kid didn’t have a flashy quirk either (something to do with his voice and sleep, probably) but he was going to be a hero.
That was pretty manly, he thought to himself, and he could respect that.
So what was stopping him from doing the same?
On that day, Eijiro made a promise, to Crimson Riot, to himself, and in part, to Nightingale.
He was going to be a manly hero who protected people, even if his quirk wasn’t flashy.
Because that was ok.
~~~~~
Kouda Kouji met Nightingale on the first day of school.
He was surprised when the small green haired boy was also mute, and was very excited when he also spoke sign language. He wasn’t the only quiet one in the class, of course, with the tall purple haired kid, the boy with a raven head, the tall boy with many arms wearing a mask, and even a few others, but being able to talk to someone was really nice!
It only took about five minutes for the boy, Midoriya Izuku, to recognize him.
“Wait,” he signed, “BirdoAndYoshi?”
Kouji jolted. That was his name that he used to chat on streaming services.
“Yes, that’s me.”
Midoriya smiled big. “Your quirk is so cool! I know I kind of already said, but the ability to talk to animals? I’m really jealous, it has so many applications! I can see why you got into UA.”
It took Kouji a full, blush-filled minute to piece things together.
“Wait, are you Nightingale?”
Midoriya startled and nodded sheepishly. “Don’t...don’t tell anyone. It’s good to meet a fan, though.”
Kouji was fairly confused as to why the boy was mute. He had heard him speak every night for over a year now, even sing. He signed as much.
“Ah...Explosion, um, Bakugo,” he had to fingerspell the name, “never really likes it when I talk. Because of my quirk, it calms him down, even when I’m not singing, and he feels like I’m manipulating him. Better to just not speak.”
Kouji felt a pang of sorrow. Another person mute because of fear of others, albeit for different reasons. He steeled his resolve for one of his favorite streamers and cleared his throat.
“If,” he whispered, “if I speak, will you try?”
Midoriya looked shocked before he beamed again, eyes shining.
“Yes,” he whispered back, “I can try.”
~~~~~
Jirou Kyoka prided herself on her sense of hearing. Heck, she had a quirk for it, if she wasn’t good at distinguishing sounds, she wouldn’t have made it into the hero course in the first place.
That’s why when Midoriya Izuku started to get confident enough to speak, even if it was just above a whisper, she had the feeling she had heard his voice before.
Now, she knew he was local, and she and Kaminari (who had started to get cool, not short circuiting as much) were not, so it wasn’t like they would shop in the same areas so she would hear him then. In addition, he sounded familiar , and not “I heard him once in passing” familiar, but “this is someone I’ve heard speak a lot” familiar, which was decidedly weird.
It wasn’t until she heard him laugh quietly at something Asui had said that she was able to place it.
“Holy shit,” she muttered.
“Hmm?” The girl next to her, Momo, glanced over with a soft smile.
“Nothing, just realized something.”
She wasn’t about to out him as Nightingale, after all. She hadn’t been the most avid listener, but she had listened to him sing often enough. There was a whole subreddit dedicated to the various songs he had sung, and she went there for music inspiration occasionally. He was a good singer, and picked good songs to boot, some of them not well known in the slightest, and she could appreciate someone with indie tastes.
But that didn’t explain why he didn’t talk.
She had heard a few of his earlier streams, of course, and had seen the highlight reels from some of his more popular ones, and he didn’t seem shy. Then again, he had never shown his face, using screensavers and flowing gifs instead, so maybe he just didn’t want people to know.
When Kirishima was talking to Kaminari about Nightingale, she couldn’t help but watch the small green boy go still, chuckling on the inside.
When it was time for the battle trials, she got paired against him, which proved to be… a nightmare for her.
A quiet hum permeated the building, something only her enhanced ears could hear, and before she could stop herself, she slid against the wall, dead asleep.
By the time she was woken up by an apologetic Midoriya, she had already lost.
“Damn, green bean,” she chuckled, “sing me to sleep, just like usual, huh?”
He froze.
“Relax, I’m not going to tell anyone, songbird. They’ll figure it out eventually, especially since it feels like most of the class watches.”
He blinked at that, going beet red. She just laughed again.
“Come on, let’s go divert suspicion.”
~~~~~
Shouji Mezou, like Jirou, figured him out before most of the class. Fumikage had introduced him to the streamer, saying he spoke well of mutation types and was soothing to fall asleep to, so when he heard Midoriya speak, he instantly realized he was Nightingale.
He tested the waters to see if Fumi knew, but based on how he spoke to the boy at lunch, Mezou doubted it. Still, he respected the boy’s privacy. He had things to hide as well, even if they were, perhaps, a tad more horrifying than being a semi popular night time streamer.
He watched in the battle trials as Jirou slumped against the wall and nodded solemnly. Enhanced hearing meant they’d pick out the singing before other people and fall victim to the calming and sleepy effect far faster than anyone else. Mezou was just glad that he wasn’t Jirou’s partner, or they’d have lost instantly.
She still didn’t win, of course, since it was now a 2v1 and Aoyama, while he had a strong quirk, was not prepared to fight against both Midoriya, who apparently had combat training, and Iida, who was incredibly fast.
He noticed Midoriya was a bit more relaxed around Jirou, like he was around Kouda, and figured she must have told him she knew. She caught his eye and he slowly winked. She paused for a moment before grinning and winking back.
~~~~~
Aizawa Shouta first truly met Nightingale at the USJ.
Shouta had heard of Nightingale, of course, from his husband. Someone with a voice quirk in the streaming scene who talked about issues in society and was a positive influence in general, Hizashi wouldn’t shut up about him.
Shouta hadn’t listened to him at all, however. He always streamed during the times when he was patrolling, and he didn’t make it a habit to distract himself on patrol. In the daytime, he had no reason to want to listen to a streamer, no matter how much Hizashi liked him, having far too much work and far too little sleep.
The trip to the USJ was supposed to be normal, just some nice rescue training, but then a swirling purple mist vomited several dozen villains and that plan went out the window. Shouta told Thirteen to get the students out and rushed forward, determined not to let the villains near any of the kids.
He wasn’t a one trick pony, of course, but when the main villain, covered in hands, brought out a giant monster, he felt a little outclassed, especially when it slammed him into the ground.
And then a voice pierced through the haze of pain.
“As a child, you would wait and watch from far away…”
He strained to raise his head to see Midoriya shaking, but looking the villain directly in the eyes as he sang slowly.
The monster slumped to the ground.
“And you, you’d lay awake at night and scheme, of all the things that you would change, but it was just a dream.”
The hand villain paused, looking at the monster in confusion. “A Jigglypuff…?”
“Here we are, don’t turn away now, we are the warriors that built this town!”
The villain swayed on his feet before slamming his hands over his ears with a growl, trying to block out the noise.
Shouta watched as various students looked at Midoriya like they were seeing him for the first time, shaking in his boots and singing to villains. Todoroki and Shinsou, in particular, looked like they had just seen God.
Shaking themselves out of their trances, noting how they weren’t falling asleep, the gathered students immediately went on the offensive, locking down the villains that had been taken out, including the monster.
“From dust.”
With several hero students on his ass, the disintegration villain had no choice but to occasionally take his hands from his ears, and each time he did he slowed down a little more, until the portal villain came back with narrowed eyes, seeing the predicament. He quickly tried to remove the source of the sound, only to be attacked by literally everyone.
Shouta was helped up by Asui and Shinsou and All Might crashed into the USJ, other teachers not far behind.
“Here we are, don’t turn away now, we are the warriors that built this town!”
With the teachers there, the students were able to back off, getting to safety.
The villain snarled as he slid back into a portal, making direct eye contact with Midoriya. “I’ll remember this, Jigglypuff. Next time, there will be no time for singing .”
Like a puppet with strings cut, as soon as the villains were gone, Midoriya collapsed to the ground, gasping for air like he had forgotten how to breathe. He was immediately helped up by Kaminari, Jirou, and Yaoyorozu, who had come from the landslide zone relatively unscathed.
Yaoyorozu and Kaminari, he noticed, looked almost starstruck, while Jirou just smiled softly.
He passed out before he could think more.
At least the kids were safe.
~~~~~
Midoriya Izuku decided to go by Nightingale during his first year of middle school. He wasn’t really thinking when he made a streaming account, but he knew that he wanted to have something, somewhere, where he could talk, even if it wasn’t about anything at all.
School had never been nice, not with Bakugo.
He still wanted to be a hero, after all, and Bakugo didn’t like that.
“What are you going to do,” he scoffed, “sing them to sleep?”
Izuku thought of Midnight and Ms. Joke. “Y-yes?”
Bakugo and his cronies just laughed, like it was a good joke, and Izuku was left with destroyed things and burned skin.
He didn’t talk much in school. It just drew attention. Even when he wasn’t trying, his voice had a calming effect on people, and someone as angry and volatile as Bakugo didn’t like having his emotions messed with. No one did, for the most part, and teachers were happy to look the other way when kids with stronger quirks picked on the boy who could sing you to sleep.
So it was better to just keep quiet.
It was easy enough to learn sign language, knowing it’d make him less of a target and still let him talk to people. Plus, he rationalized, Bakugo would eventually go deaf, and having someone, even shitty Deku, to talk to would make things easier for him.
But sometimes it wasn’t enough.
Sometimes, he wanted to yell and scream and force everyone to listen, to force them to hear him, so he made a streaming account, just to be able to talk .
He picked the name Nightingale on a whim; it was a bird that came out most at night, it was plain, and it could sing.
Just like him.
He had a grand total of four viewers that first stream, which was four more than he had expected, and had decided to end it with a song. He really enjoyed singing, and didn’t get to do it much, so why not?
He chose the lullaby his mother used to sing to him, the Wanderer’s Lullaby, and by the end, muttered a “goodnight” and went to bed.
He didn’t expect the view count to steadily increase throughout middle school, and he certainly didn’t expect people to start asking him questions and requesting certain songs. He was more than happy to talk about specific quirks, of course, loving them, and learning new songs was always fun. It became routine for him. Start the stream at 11 pm, go until almost midnight, sing a song to send the viewers to bed. He knew the effects of his quirk, of course, and poured every calming bit of it into the songs he sang.
He had a few hundred viewers every night by the time he had gotten into UA.
One of the things he talked about, of course, was being more than your quirk, so he had taken his own advice to heart and worked out, knowing he would need to be strong, fast, and smart to beat all the people with physical quirks, like Bakugo.
When he actually made it in, he couldn’t believe it! Of course, Bakugo seemed incredibly annoyed, but that was his default state, and the Quirk Apprehension Test firmly solidified that Izuku belonged there, having landed solidly in the middle without using his quirk once.
When Kouda figured out who he was, he blushed deeply. He hadn’t expected anyone in his class to be viewers. Bakugo always went to bed way before Nightingale came on, so there was no worry of him ever finding out, but he was deeply flattered that someone he knew and spoke to liked his streams.
He even had a sign buddy!
He got along well with the other quiet members of the class, like Shinsou, Tokoyami, Shouji, and Asui. They never expected him or Kouda to talk, even though both of them were trying. Uraraka was also quite nice, and was more than happy to drive the conversation when Izuku just wanted to be quiet.
During the battle trials, he found out Jirou knew who he was as well; what were the chances that two of his viewers were in the class with him? And she was really nice! They would talk about music over text, now that they knew, and she found him some really cool songs he hadn’t heard before. He tried recommending songs, but she had laughed and showed him a subreddit dedicated to his singing and he just about died on the spot. Apparently, some people listened to his streams the next day, when they were more awake, so he technically had a lot more viewers than he thought, and that almost scared him.
It wasn’t until the USJ that he considered really putting himself out there.
He had been scared all his life of talking to people, of opening his mouth, but when the monster slammed Aizawa-sensei into the ground, he couldn’t sit back and do nothing. So, he opened his mouth and sang.
The great hulking beast was the first to fall, mind not built to resist his quirk like most people were, and he managed to keep going even as the hand villain started to grow agitated. Somehow, his voice managed to remain firm, with barely a shake or a stutter. He could almost hear the chorus of voices that usually accompanied this version of the song, backing him up and giving him support.
When the fight was finally over, he collapsed to the ground, not having the strength to hold himself up any longer, completely missing any voices around him until Jirou, Kaminari, and Yaoyorozu gently led him out of the building.
He could feel Kaminari buzzing with energy beside him, but the boy managed to hold himself back from saying anything. Yaoyorozu was more contained, but she did also seem rather happy.
Izuku wanted nothing more than to sleep.
~~~~~
Bakugo Katsuki found out who Nightingale was the next day they were in school after the USJ attack.
Deku was the last one in the classroom, still five minutes before homeroom, as everyone else had gotten there, buzzing with anticipation. As soon as the nerd opened the door, that energy erupted.
“Dude!” Shitty Hair spoke first. “You’re Nightingale?”
The nerd looked taken aback before blushing and nodding, looking away bashfully. Tch, whatever the fuck this was about, if it concerned the nerd, it wasn’t important.
Katsuki was not prepared for the excited cheers that erupted from 90% of the class.
~~~~~
Izuku felt rather overwhelmed. It seemed like almost everyone had heard of Nightingale, or was an avid watcher, save for Aoyama, Iida, and Sero, all three for different reasons.
“Oui,” Aoyama flipped his hair, “I have heard of you, but did not seem more than highlights the next morning. Your streams ran much too late, and I needed my beauty sleep!”
“I agree,” Iida chopped the air, “sleep is very important, but I did not hear of you before now! I apologize!”
“Haha,” Sero scratched his head, “I listened a few times, but it wasn’t really my vibe. I did watch the highlights sometimes, though!”
Other than them and, of course, Bakugo, it seemed like everyone else watched him, some of them religiously.
“Seriously, dude!” Kaminari was brighter than a lightbulb, “You helped me so much! I think I’d still be short circuiting if it wasn’t for you!”
Izuku blushed and shook his head, squeaking out, “I’m sure you would have been fine,” and 6 different people chuckled.
“And that,” Jirou said, “is why no one but me could figure it out until USJ. You sound nothing like you do on stream.”
Shouji nodded. “I noticed as well, but there are similar speech patterns and your laugh is a pretty good giveaway.”
Shinsou banged his head on his desk. “I was there since your first stream, I sit behind you in class, how did I not know?”
Izuku patted him awkwardly on the shoulder, and the boy shot up, grabbing his hand and looking at him seriously. “Without you, I would never have gotten any sleep. I probably wouldn’t be here. Thank you.”
He tried to deny it, but many other people spoke up as well.
“You taught me to have confidence and keep it simple!”
“You taught me that everything’s alright!”
“You taught me I’m never alone!”
“You taught me I’m more than my quirk and what my father wants me to be.”
“You taught me that I’m not stupid!”
“You taught me that I could be a hero. You believed in me, even if you didn’t know me.”
He looked around at his classmates with wide eyes. He had done that? For them?
“But I just...talked.”
Shouji put a hand on his head. “And that was enough.”
Izuku thought for a moment before smiling, eyes wet. “Yeah, I guess it was.”
“That’s wonderful,” Aizawa drawled from the door, startling everyone, “but it’s time for class now.”
There was a pause before the class grinned almost as one.
“Yes Sensei!”
As Izuku sat in his seat, he smiled. Nightingale the streamer hadn’t just been for him.
And neither would Nightingale the hero.