Chapter Text
You were a shadow of your twin sister’s accomplishments. Obviously, that was your best friend, duh. You were nothing like her, which always triggered jokes about lying you were twins. You lacked the pink skin, black eyes, positive attitude, and graceful heroism. She was a box you couldn’t fit no matter what you discarded. Even your quirks were so starkly different people assumed you and her were just friends.
Your skin was a natural tone, but because of your quirk paler patches adorned your complexion. Your eyes were a milky blue, also pale because of your quirk. Your quirk didn’t have a specific name, but to your understanding it was a poison type quirk. The moment your fingers touched something, you could sink your poison into their skin, causing paralysis. When you were younger, the paralysis lasted a maximum of 2 minutes, but now as a third year at UA, it was at almost 70 hours. You couldn’t spray it like your sister, nor could you spray it from your feet.
You passed the entrance exam barely and that was from targeting robots and sinking your poison into them. It didn’t take people long to notice it. You were a cheap knock-off of Mina, despite being older than her by 27 minutes. This has been a theme your whole life. You weren’t even comparable to Mina.
UA was, shockingly enough, your safe space. Sure, the first year was the worst year Japan had seen in years, but the second and so far third year have been amazing. You had a close friend, Tsu, mainly because you had gotten the nickname ‘poison dart frog’. So you two were a pair of frogs.
All Might might’ve been gone but so many reinforcements came from other countries as Japan entered a dark era. UA graduates suddenly had a position to fulfill and you knew a handful of heroes who were doing just that. So, yes, All Might was gone, but peace was still a part of the country's DNA. Heroes were helping, striving to complete All Might’s wish of world peace and with All for One gone, that dream seemed more attainable. You knew you were given a villainous quirk, but a part of you wanted to join the fight and fulfill All Might’s wish.
_____
“You’re lost in thought again—ribbit,” Tsu murmurs, nudging your knee from under the table. You sit up straighter, whispering a ‘thank you’ to her. You were in the middle of a lecture, a pretty important one. Aizawa was going on about hero laws, god there were so many.
You look over and wish you didn’t. Two people in your class were still feeling the effects of All Might’s absence. His death gave lots of people a purpose, striving to be better. On the other hand, two of your classmates felt like they lost their purpose entirely. Midoriya, who was a good friend of All Might’s, and Bakugou . For the spiky blonde, it was like watching a candle get submerged in water. He wasn’t himself and you hardly saw that side regardless. His quirk was explosive, but in all the wrong ways. It destroyed him, every time he used it, he hurt himself. Midoriya’s self harming quirk could be dampened and contained, but Bakugou never knew what it was like to be weak and he had to be weak to use his quirk. Midoriya was healing though, gradually, from the help of his friends and using his quirk to connect with his old mentor.
“And in the event that a bystander harms you, you cannot use your quirk to interfere unless they are an immediate threat to you,” Aizawa continues “Now with every law is a story so this dates back to when…”
His voice drones out in your mind, your gaze tracing over Bakugou . He wasn’t loud anymore, he kept to himself a lot. He was still gruff verbally but his words always lacked bite.
“Ashido,” Aizawa calls, you look up.
“Yes?” Mina asks, looking as well.
“Not you, Mina,” Aizawa mutters looking back at you. “You’re supposed to be taking notes, there will be a quiz,”
“Sorry,” You say quickly.
_____
“What a class,” Tsu says, walking back to the 3-A dormitories.
“Tell me about it, I thought Mr Aizawa was going to kill me,” You sigh, inhaling the faint smell of flowers. The first semester was almost done, spring leaving with it.
“Momo and Kyoka want to meet up for training in an hour—Ribbit— you want to go?” Tsu asks, her hands holding her backpack straps.
“I don’t know them very well…” You hesitate “Yeah, sure,” You finalize. You mentally scold yourself, you’re not going to enjoy this but you can’t just isolate Tsu because she’s the only one that likes you.
“Okay—Ribbit,” Tsu replies. You two head into the common room, Denki is lying on the couch, a grand total of 14 phones' chargers in his mouth. Tsu bursts out laughing and you can’t help but smile.
“Holy fuck Denki—“ Kyoka wheezes, walking into the common room around the same time as you and Tsu. Kyoka laughed at pretty much anything and everything Denki did.
“That simply cannot be good for you,” Tenya remarks, walking past. Denki just gives him a thumbs up.
“Do you need me to cool you down a bit?” Shouto asks, a look of genuine concern on his face. Denki tilts his thumb down, his mouth full of chargers. Kyoka can’t stop laughing at the spectacle.
“Kyoka, we’re going to train—Ribbit—get your stuff!” Tsu calls, walking to the elevators. You follow her, just in time as your sister enters the room, lighting it up with jokes of her own.
_____
Your memories take you back. You’re seven, sobbing into your sister’s arms. Your friend had been attacked by a villain and was in critical condition.
“It’s all going to be okay,” Mina says after a moment.
“How can you say that?” You choke out.
“Because we’re going to become heroes, no girls will cry for their friends once we become pros,” Mina tells you.
“But your quirk is so much better than mine,” You sniffle.
“Hah! Stop lying! You’re way cooler than me, like, you can paralyze people,” Mina exclaims, suddenly grabbing your sides, making you laugh.
_____
“You’re freakishly spacey today—Ribbit—“ Tsu comments as you reach the floor your dorm is on.
“Sorry, sorry,” You reply. You say goodbye to Tsu and walk to your dorm room. Bakugou’s is right next to yours. You’ve wanted to be your sister your entire life, but some nights, when you hear him crying, you wish to at least have Mina’s infectious joy.
You enter your room, it’s rather plain, but posters of your favorite bands are dotted around the room, along with a large wall of polaroids. Quirk gear has an entire bookcase dedicated to it. You glance out, Bakugou is on his balcony, his palm is open and small sparkles crack in his hand. He looks at them, a distant look in his eyes.
He suddenly extends his hand, charging up. You panic, he could blow his whole hand off if he does that. You sprint to the door, slamming it open and gripping his wrist. Instantly, you sink a minuscule portion of your poison into his skin.
“What the fuck—“ He shouts, then, he blasts. You’re blown back hitting the floor of your balcony. A faint ringing is in your ears. He’s suddenly on your balcony, staring.
“Your hand was going to explode if you used your quirk to that extent,” You grumble, head pounding.
“It didn’t,” He whispers
“What…?” You groan
“My hand didn’t blow off…I don’t even feel pain,” You look at him, a spark has entered his pupils. You can’t help but smile slightly, what was this miracle? His quirk suddenly wasn’t a threat to his life.
“Try again—do another blast,” You say, getting up. Bakugou smiles, blasting another one. He winces slightly.
“Damnit,” He grits out. The poison you injected him with, the portion, should take a minute to wear off. It’s been 20 seconds.
“My paralysis…” You murmur, staring. There was no way, this had to be some strange coincidence.
“Oh yeah…your quirk. Isn’t it like, a shitty version of Mina’s?” Bakugou asks. His tone might’ve been monotonous , but the words still stung like salt in a wound.
“Yeah…nice talk,” You mutter, walking back into your dorm. What an asshole. You slip into a black bodysuit, applying your suit on top. Your head is pounding, maybe that jerk should’ve gotten his hand blown off. Your suit is simple and easy to move around in, primarily because your quirk is best suited for stealth.
_____
You, Tsu, Momo, and Kyoka are all in the training room. Pro Hero Cementos so kindly created rock terrain per Momo’s request.
“Okay, I was thinking of defensive tactics against a powerful villain,” Kyoka starts.
“Absolutely, we’ve been getting strong but so have villains,” Momo replies.
“Who’s playing the villain—Ribbit,” Tsu asks. Her ‘ribbits’ , as she’s explained, are like hiccups. They’re involuntary Tourette-like noises that she can’t control, it’s a down side of her quirk. She ‘ribbits’ more during high stress situations.
“Well…” Momo starts, glancing at you.
“Let’s take turns playing the villain,” Kyoka interrupts.
“Oh, yes, that’d be wonderful,” Momo replies. After a quick game of rock-paper-scissors, you are chosen to be the first villain. A part of you knew that Momo’s plan was to have you play villain the whole time, nature of your quirk in all, but that was normal at this point. You knew your quirk would be much more loved by a villain.
Momo, Kyoka, and Tsu all run off into the terrain. Your goal is to capture and or immobilize at least two. You start at the base of the artificial rocks, your stealth was good, excellent, actually. During internships, you trained under heroes that specialized in stealth and non-quirk combat.
You see it, Kyoka’s earphone jack. You freeze. Your footsteps would immediately be heard by her, you have to stay still. You hold your breath, waiting. You see her jack disconnect from the rock, that’s your opening. You go from behind, right to the rock she’s sitting against. You grip her shoulder, seeping in a poison that should only last 10 minutes. Kyoka shouts in annoyance.
“Sit tight!” You call back, running. You know Tsu, she took to the peaks of the terrain.
_____
“Momo—please under no circumstances— become evil,” Kyoka says after training. You all are sitting on the floor, chugging water and discussing.
“I don’t know, I think evil Tsu was terrifying!” Momo laughs, materializing a napkin to wipe her face.
“Well,” Tsu turns to you, “You literally rival the stealth of our invisible girl and you have that paralysis quirk—Ribbit,” Tsu says, looking at you.
“I guess,” You laugh softly. That was praise, and you cherished the scraps of it that were handed your way.
“No seriously, you completely read my moves,” Kyoka says, turning to you.
“Well, yeah, I could see your earphone jack,” You comment. Momo bursts out laughing.
“Okay, okay. That just tells us we have more room to improve,” Momo says between laughs.
“That feels targeted,” Kyoka grumbles but her facade drops the moment she finishes talking, laughing brewing inside her.
“But seriously—Evil Tsu was terrifying,” Momo laughs. Tsu snickers, and, for the first time in a while, you laugh along with people you could call friends.
_____
The trek back to your room feels like something a poor, tortured Greek hero would have to face. When you reach your room, you nearly fall inside it.
“I talked to Recovery Girl,” Bakugou says flatly. You nearly jump out of your skin. You stammer wordlessly, staring, he’s in your room. He’s just sitting on your bed, casually.
“Can—Can I fucking help you?” You stumble over your words. He stands, walking near you.
“…Maybe,” he says, his eyes intense, like he’s concentrating. He’s concentrating on what to say.
“Huh?” You ask, a confused crack in your voice and you’re still stuck on why he chose to be in your room. This was your place.
“I need your fucking help,” He grits out. You stare “My…My quirk isn’t compatible with me at the moment…Recovery girl says that…some—some bullshit is having an affect on my physical body, making my quirk incompatible with my body. It needs to fight something to not kill me,” Bakugou tells you, his eyes intense but the way he stumbles over his words tells you things you can’t figure out.
“Your quirk was fighting my poison instead of you,” You finish for him, realizing this is probably difficult for him to say.