~ Third Person P.O.V ~

"But seriously guys, when the fuck did Midoriya turn into such a badass?" Kaminari asked with a tooth beaming smile.

The seven of them were all presently piled in the somewhat spacious Jeep, finally on the road again with the exception of Shinsou and Monoma in their own Jeep trailing behind them. Ostensibly, Aizawa had given the two soldiers orders to stick with the original group just in case something went wrong again— much to the others vexation on the controversy. However, they were, in fact, finding amusement from Izuku and Monoma's occurrence from before.

But could you blame them? It was quite inexplicable as well as humorous to think about a petite male such as Izuku throw a man of Monoma's height over his shoulder and intimidate him.

"I think the Small Fry has always been a badass, he's just good at hiding it," Katsuki commented from the front seat, popping another grape into his mouth. "Ain't that right, Small Fry?"

Izuku sanctioned a light chuckle to escape his mouth as he nodded his head, he too recalling the incident from a few hours ago— which brought on another series of chuckles. If anything, the curly-haired teen didn't think he had that in him, it was exciting to cogitate on the notion for a while; for he was still, even after a few hours, high on adrenaline.

Leaning back against the seat, Izuku inhaled deeply as he threw his head back— the wind rushing through his curls and past his face. Unforgiving, sultry, yet soothing Texas heat wafting down on him in spouts as he took everything in. Birds cawed and crowed overhead in the delicate blue sky and the occasional roar of a plane engine flying above the clouds— the others would always try and guess what type of model it was whenever they heard the engines go by. Despite still yearning to be back with his family . . . Izuku couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe he was getting a new one right here.

And he couldn't be any more grateful for them.

"Hey, Midoriya?"

Ashido's voice antipathetically withdrew Izuku from his thoughts as he snapped his head back up, looking at her with raised brows. "Hm?"

"Well, it's just . . . You know, since you never talk much I realized we don't know that much about you," The woman pondered out loud, the other men in the car nodding or grunting in agreement. "And I get if you don't want to share too much with us but— since we're going to be stuck with each other for a few months I thought maybe just one thing about you couldn't hurt."

The duel-haired man's eyes flickered up to meet Izuku's in the rearview mirror before he spoke. "Maybe it'll make you feel better if we all shared one thing about each other after you, hm?" Shoto offered, taking notice of Izuku's obvious apprehension.

"Or we could all go first, and you go last?" Katsuki chimed in, shooting the younger male a playful wink. "But just give Raccoon Eyes over here something, she probably will bug you for the rest of the drive if you don't,"

Upon hearing the . . . endearing nickname Katsuki had provided the curly-haired woman with, prompted a question to formulate within Izuku as his eyes darted over to Ashido. "Where did that nickname come from?" He asked.

Ashido grumbled under her breath as she slumped down into her seat, a child-like pout evident on her lips as a light hue of red dusted and adorned her features. She was never too fond of the nickname, nor was she pleased on its origin— and it was all because she got a little too drunk a few months back.

"Long story short," Ashido heaved a sigh, "I got wasted, ended up drawing on my face with pen ink I took out of the container . . . I drew little circles around my eyes." she admitted with a soft whine at the end.

"It took so fucking long for her to wash it all off her face!" Kirishima howled with laughter, holding his stomach as he recalled the amusing memory.

And so this went on for roughly twenty minutes or so, they all went around telling something about themselves followed by an embarrassing and funny story to go along with it. It felt nice to Izuku, to get to know the soldiers, and nurse, more; he hadn't had this much fun in what's felt like a long time. However, unfortunately, it was the Japanese-American's turn to share something about himself— which he was still a bit apprehensive doing. As they all looked at him, patiently waiting, Izuku inhaled a deep gulp of air before speaking.

"Uhm . . . I really don't have anything funny to tell," He admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

Waving a dismissive hand, Sero gives the boy a reassuring smile. "Eh, don't worry 'bout it we just want to know something about ya!"

". . . I'll be sixteen next month," Izuku said after a few moments, only earning dead silence and gaping stares at him.

Shoto nearly pressed his foot on the brake at such new, while Katsuki whirled himself around in the passenger seat— a conflicted expression adorning his face as he studied Izuku once more. Said male just flickered his emerald-eyed gaze from one person to the other, perplexion clear as day resting on him as he monitored their expressions. Izuku hadn't anticipated their reactions to be that way, which only added onto the utter confusion boiling inside of him.

Placing a hand over her mouth, Ashido softly gasped as she scrutinized the boy. "You're fifteen?" She asked, eyes wide and brimming with tears, "You—You're so young,"

"I thought you guys knew," Izuku chuckled nervously, eyes flickering over to Shoto. "C'mon, you call me 'kid' most of the time."

"I mean yeah but . . . That was just me being an asshole, because of how small you are— I really thought you were older," Shoto admitted, his voice so far off and distant as he continued to study Izuku in the rearview mirror.

It was silent in the car after that. Nobody said a word as the air around them began to thicken, the tension in that tight space only rising with each passing hour as they drove. The soldiers, including Ashido, were all in deep thought ever since Izuku had told them his age— it was sad. Just another reminder to them that the war going on was not only taking away the lives of adults but the lives of teenagers as well; it wasn't fair. For Shoto and Katsuki, it was just evoking how much they had in common with the Japanese-American. Sure, Izuku doesn't know that they're all around the same age, but they knew it.

For them, they almost felt sympathy for the boy. At first, they could understand why he didn't want to be there, he wanted to be back with his family— but in their minds back then he was still a man. Shoto and Katsuki thought he was a man. But it all made sense now, he wasn't one, just like they weren't; he was scared out of his mind and felt as though he had nobody who would understand what he's going through. But they do . . . to an extent of course.

By now it was nearing nightfall, they'd be needing gas soon as well as food and water. Shoto heaved a reluctant sigh as he turned onto the road that went into the city, which in return confused a few of the passengers.

"Todo, why'd you turn?" Katsuki asked as he inspected the map, "If you keep going this way we'll end up in—"

"New Orleans!" Ashido shouted with glee as she spotted the busy lights of her hometown just a few miles ahead.

"We need gas," The dull-eyed male explained gruffly, "Kaminari radio in over to Monoma's Jeep, tell him we're making a pit stop."

While the yellow-haired male did as he was told, Ashido was far too busy jumping up and down in her seat with glee as they drove nearer and nearer to the city. The bustling jazz music, and fluorescent lights beginning to make themselves known as they drove, loud laughter, and singing filling her ears— a subtle reminder that she was home. She hadn't been home in nearly three years, and damn it, it felt good to be back.

Random strangers waved to the soldiers as they drove in the streets, car horns honking like wildfire throughout the streets and flashing neon lights glowing everywhere. A bar resided on nearly every corner, friends and family stumbling out, arms linked, and smiles stretching their mouths upwards.

"Can we stay here for a little bit, please?" Ashido pleaded with the two Master Sergeants, eyes wide and pout evident on her lips. "Just for a few hours?"

Shoto groaned as he sifted through the schedule he made in his head, they'd be in Florida by tomorrow even if they did leave in a few hours. Aizawa told them to lay low for a few weeks when they got there anyway, so they technically had plenty of time— even so, he wasn't all that thrilled to stay here. Just as he was about to decline Ashido's request, Izuku's words from this morning rang through his head; he didn't want to be that 'bully' anymore.

"Fine." He said through gritted teeth, "You got five hours, none of you get lost or do anything crazy got it?"

This was going to be one hell of a night.