<> Where tf are yall

"Apparently they're outside at 'the field,' whatever the fuck that is." Tommy relays. Izuku pauses his walk, seeming to shiver due to something—a memory, most likely. He doesn't ask for Tommy for help, nor does it look like a flashback, but Tommy still goes tense.

Izuku sighs, continuing his pace. "Yeah, I-I know where that is. We're near that; shouldn't take too long to get there." Tommy nods, typing:

<> Me an Izu are near that

<> We;re coming over

<> ...You sure you're fine?

Tommy scowls.

<> I am

<> Im fuckibg fine aight

<> Fuck off

<> ...Okay.

<> Do you want me to warn them about anything beforehand?

<> Dont ask questions abou waht happened this morning

<> No pity

<> Dont underestistate me

<> *Underestimate

<> And for Bakugo

<> No explosions

<> If he needs a reason it bring sup bad memories

<> Alright.

"...Tommy?" Izuku asks. He's stopped near the entrance to the dirt field, hand on the door. The new teacher assistant startles, shoving his communicator in his pocket. "You good?"

"Perfect," Tommy replies. "Just open the fucking door already."

Izuku chuckles nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "You might... not? Maybe? If you're still uncomfortable with them all. Uh—they're probably all in uniform, and I probably gotta be in one, too, so."

Tommy purses his lips. "I'm not a fucking pussy," he states. "I can handle it. Stop—stop mother-henning me. 'S condescending, like a Karen." Then, "You're not a Karen, are you? I'd have to ban you from Tari's, as well as ever interacting me again."

"Don't compare me to that," Izuku pouts, already moving away from the door and presumably towards the changing rooms. "I'm not a Karen."

Tommy narrows his eyes lightheartedly. "...That's exactly what a fucking Karen would say, Eye-zu-ku."

Izuku gives him the most distraught look he's ever seen. "Tommy. One, never say my name like that again—"

"No promises!"

"—and two: if I were a Karen, Tari would slam her toy hammer on my head before I could say anything, and you know that I know that we've seen her arm strength because she carries a lot of the supplies in the cafe. I do not want to put myself through that." Like an afterthought, he looks up and says, "I also don't have three kids yet—or blond hair."

Tommy's eyes go wide. "YET?! WHAT—"

Izuku's eyes widen, too, mouth dropping to gape at him, and he frantically starts waving his hands around. "NO!" He desperately shouts, "NO, I'M NOT PLANNING TO—"

"GO FUCKING CHANGE," Tommy orders, opening the door to the field, "I'M HEADING OUT."

"TOMMY, I—"

He closes the door before the Karen can get another word out. With a sigh, Tommy shakes his head and turns around.

He was with a Karen this entire time. How did he not notice?

Tommy blinks when he looks up, realizing that oh. Because Izuku had yelled in his denial, the entire class is looking at him. But that's fine, because Tommy doesn't need mental support at his side—he can do this shit just fine.

So he walks up to Aizawa's side, the man being semi-covered by his sleeping bag, scanning the man's class. Some of them seem to be shifting awkwardly, clearly wanting to ask something but deciding to stay silent. Mentally, Tommy makes note to give the underground hero an extra-large cup of coffee, or something of the sort.

"...Um," One of them asks. It's the same brunette who called him American. "Where's Midoriya?"

As if on cue, the Karen rushes out to the field. He shuffle into his grouped classmates, appearing next to the brunette and the one with glasses. "I-I'm here," Izuku states like they couldn't see that.

Aizawa steps out of his sleeping bag entirely, giving it to Tommy, who immediately stashes it in his inventory. Some students look at him, eyes wide in surprise, and oh, he never told them about his "quirk."

Eh. Let them figure it out.

Nevertheless, Aizawa doesn't beat around the bush when he begins with, "You all are going to start hand-to-hand combat training. Although the Sports Festival is in a couple weeks, prioritizing that you can fight in case of a situation like the USJ is vital. Like mentioned in homeroom, he—" The man gestures to Tommy, "—will help you, along with me."

"If you think you'd be better with weaponry and hand-to-hand, move towards Tommy," Aizawa orders, moving away from the blond. "If you think you want just hand-to-hand, come to me."

"If you want the weaponry only," Tommy adds, opening his inventory. He sets a crafting table next to him, "then I'll help you out with that shit, too. You don't have to do both hand-to-hand and weaponry."

The students start shuffling about. Izuku immediately comes over to him, making grabby hand. With a sigh, Tommy grabs an iron staff from his inventory and shoves it in the other's hands, watching the way Izuku's eyes brighten.

"You're training solo, bitch," Tommy declares, lightly bonking his fluffy head with a playful grin. "I gotta teach everyone else. Go an'... try to mimic the movements of pro-heroes you wanna fight like over there." He gestures to his right, where it should be mostly unoccupied for this period. "Mix up the styles or blend them together, but make it unpredictable overall."

Izuku grins, saluting playfully. "Sir, yes sir!"

When he moves off into the area Tommy motioned towards, Tommy finally gets to see who's come to his side. That'd be... pink hair, red hair, floating clothes, the brunette, frog, ear-plugs, octopus, rock head, bird, and... Bakugo.

Shit.

"Alright," Tommy huffs. "Names. You already know mine." He adds, "pronouns, too."

Frog tilts her head. "Say yours too, kero," she requests. "You didn't say your pronouns."

He blinks. "Shit, sorry. I go by he and him."

The brunette is the first one to share her name, more open than the others. "I'm Uraraka Ochako. She and her, please!"

"Ashido Mina!" The pink-haired girl exclaims, looking pumped. "I use she and her!"

"Kirishima Eijirou!" Red Hair follows, equally excited. "He and him!"

"Hagakure Tooru," the clothes say. "She and her."

"Asui Tsuyu," Frog says. "Please use she and her for me, kero."

"...Jirou Kyoka." Ear-plugs murmurs. "She and her, as well."

Tommy hears Bird mutter something; all he can catch is "mad" and "banquet." "Tokoyami Fumikage." Bird soon utters, just loud enough for him to hear. "I use he and him."

"Shoji Mezo," says the octopus. "He and him."

"...Bakugo Katsuki," the explosive asshole says. "He and him."

Finally, Rock Head hesitantly signs, Peony. He and they, please.*

Peony for his name, huh?

Tommy blinks. Before he knows it, his hands are raised, and he's saying, "Whoever wants to do just weaponry go to my right, and whoever wants to do both, my left." His hands follow seamlessly afterward, articulating each word in JSL as his mouth helps "Peony" discern the kanji.

Peony looks like he's about to cry.

In the end, they don't. He's on Tommy's right, along with Jirou, Shoji, and Uraraka. Which makes Ashido, Kirishima, Hagakure, Asui, Bakugo, and Tokoyami are on his left.

"Stay there," he orders, saying the same in JSL before opening his inventory. He gets some wood out, jumping to place a block under him. A few gasps ring out around him, but Tommy ignores them in favor of making a short one-block wall between the two sides. He then places one oak plank block on the right side, and one cobblestone block on the left.

"Right, you're the oak side," he points towards that group. His finger moves to the left. "You're cobble. This is so that we don't have confusion, aight? I'll make something better later."

They all say some sort of agreement besides Bakugo, who just shoves his hands in his pockets and huffs. Tommy nods. "Oak," he says, opening up his inventory. With a tap, five iron bars fall to the ground. Tommy made sure that these were relatively lighter than the usual ones. "Grab these and get an understanding of their weight. Twirl 'em around, toss 'em in the air, do shit—so long as you familiarize yourself with them, that'll be enough." He relays the same to Koda, who's still teary-eyed.

"Cobble," Tommy starts, moving over the short barricade and to their side. He makes sure that the Oak group is actually doing shit before turning to the Cobble group. "Cobble—you all are fighting against me so that I can get a grip on your fighting prowess. No Quirk usage whatsoever, besides for mutations. Even then, limit using them as much as possible, alright?"

He doesn't wait for an answer and points to Hagakure. "You first."

Hagakure huffs, not in annoyance. She walks up to him, taking no fighting stance.

Tommy raises a brow. "You're that fuckin' confident?"

"Kind of," Hagakure simply states. "I do martial arts. Different than Ojiro—the tail guy—in the way that he does aikido and I don't."

Tommy's never had to deal with a martial artist before.

...Ehh, he'll be fine. He'll adapt.

"Alright," Tommy says. He doesn't really get into a fighting stance either; if Hagakure's serious about this, she'll know where his weak points are immediately and try to utilize them. Then, he can up the ante a little. "Come at me."

===

Hagakure almost floors him in the fifteen minutes the fight lasts for. Almost, mostly due to a few reasons: she isn't as fast as him, Tommy sometimes catcher her off-guard enough to disrupt her rhythm a little, Tommy's used to fighting invisible people, he's more experienced, and her reaction time's slower.

Whatever fucking martial arts she does flows well and is pretty, though. Each move is calculated almost perfectly, easily transitioning from one to another, formless. It's different in how he fights, wild and unpredictable. Hagakure used palm strikes, take downs, and even controls his elbows to refract or stop one of his hits. They also occasionally caught him off-guard, and the lot of circular motions with her arms and wide stances with her legs that could've easily hit him were a pain in the ass to handle—but it works wonderfully.

"What... the fuck's that called," Tommy asks, a little out of breath. He's towering over Hagakure a bit, the invisible girl laying on the ground in defeat with his foot lightly pushing her down on her sternum.

"Liu he ba fa," she says proudly, clearly more out of breath than him. If Tommy could see her, her grin would probably be sharp and boisterous. "Otherwise... otherwise known as water boxing. It involves a lot of smooth, flowing movements, and it's one of the... one of the most sophisticated forms of internal kung fu."

Tommy grins right back, taking his foot off and offering his hand. "You're gonna fucking level cities with that and a weapon like a bo staff."

Hagakure beams at him more, presumably. "That's the plan, sir!"

After helping her up and ordering her to get water, Tommy looks towards the others who are watching him with a sort of awe, respect, and fear. One of them—Kirishima—mutters a revered, "That's... so manly..."

Tommy snorts. He asks, "Who's next?"

===

Kirishima goes up next. It's a bit disappointing when he can't put up as much as a fight as Hagakure, but eh. That's what school's for, innit?

"You charge in when you attack," Tommy observes, "which isn't necessarily bad—on most occasions. Your Quirk, what is it?"

"Hardening," Kirishima reluctantly admits, raising his arm. It suddenly bulks up, the exterior turning into that akin to the side of a mountain.

"That's probably why, huh." Tommy tilts his head, "You're used to doing single charge attacks that knock your opponent down due to sheer force or the texture of your body. Sorry, but that's not gonna fucking work in the hero world—especially with those who barely give a rat's ass about it."

Ignoring Kirishima's crestfallen expression, he continues, "It's far too predictable and open. Brute strength may have been enough, sometimes, but in this more advanced time? You need brain to go with your brawn. Your weaknesses are letting your arms and stomach do all the heavy-lifting, not focusing on anything that may happen to the rest of your body, as you presume your arms and stomach can take all the damage. That can lead to an easy ki—hit by the neck, where a pressure point lies, or to your sternum, which can knock the breath outta you, or the back of your knees, which can ruin your balance." Each weakness he lists Tommy gestures, angling his hand to demonstrate.

"Essentially, even with your strength, if your opponent is physically stronger, you are already weakened, or there's simply not someone covering you, you have a disadvantage with your current style." Tommy brutally summarizes.

"However, you have brain with your brawn, unlike most people—you just don't know how to use it while you fight." Kirishima starts beaming at him. Tommy can't stand it, so he looks to the side. "With hand-to-hand training, you can easily utilize your Quirk to your advantage, creating attacks that hit, and hit hard like a fuckin' truck. With blunt weaponry, you can act like it's an extension of your arm—or maybe a sword? Or if someone like Aizawa erases your Quirk, you'll know how to adapt and do a counterattack. Basically, with hand-to-hand combat training and a weapon, you can make up for most for your weak points."

"Maybe you'd be better with heavier weapons, eh, big guy?" Tommy muses, walking over to his crafting table. He quickly crafts a dull sword, adding a bit of weight to it to make it more like a broadsword. It's made of wood and he's dulled it a lot, so it shouldn't hit too hard...

Tommy moves back over, easily setting the wooden, blunt broadsword into Kirishima's hands. Like an afterthought, he gifts two light iron staffs, too. The other barely buckles with the weight, instead looking at the weapons with awe—oh, Prime, those aren't tears, are they?

"Keep those an' practice a little," Tommy says, looking away pointedly. "See which one you fuck with more, like the Oak side. Once I'm done with the rest of your group I'll help you out with balance an' such. Go, uh..." He points to another unoccupied area, "go over there, so that you don't harm anyone. Don't let go of the broadsword if you're swinging it, you hear me? And when Hagakure gets back, give her one of your staffs."

"Y-Yeah!" Kirishima sniffs, moving to the area. He uses his forearm to presumably wipe his tears, and it lowers, his fist clenched in... happiness? Maybe? "Thank you, sir!"

Tommy sighs. "Next."

===

"You're overly reliant on your Quirk most times because of your fighting prowess," Tommy comments, Tokoyami slumped over with his Quirk, which he now knows as Dark Shadow, of which uses it/its pronouns, limply hanging close by. "I get why you'd want to come over to learn both blunt weaponry and hand-to-hand. Your speed and reaction time needs a little work, too."

He grabs a light iron staff from his inventory and tosses it towards Tokoyami. Dark Shadow, though weakened, catches it with ease, the metal between its beak. "Practice twirling and swinging with this without losing balance or it getting in the way of Dark Shadow." Tommy instructs. "It might seem easy since y'all seem pretty synced—your teamwork is gold, by the way—but getting used to a staff in your fighting isn't so simple. Since you're more nimble, try practicing a little with Kirishima? And maybe spar? Your vastly differing builds will combat each other, giving you both advantages and weaknesses that you both need to figure out how to utilize and counteract respectively."

Tommy pauses. "Make sure Dark Shadow's alright first, with all the light an' shit. If it can eat and regain energy from food, I have regular apples?"

Dark Shadow perks up. Then, it zooms towards him, making grabby hands at him. Tokoyami's feathers poof out as he turns to the side. "Gimmie! Gimmie-gimmie-gimmie-gimmie—"

Tommy flinches, but quickly regains his composure as he backs off. He nabs an apple in his inventory, tossing it towards Dark Shadow. It grabs the fruit with its beak, swallowing it whole with a delighted sigh, before following its host with a happy little smile.

"If you need more I have some!" Tommy calls out with a grin. Dark Shadow straightens again, but before it can turn around, Tokoyami gives it a light smack on its head. It seems to pout by its posture, sulking by Tokoyami's side as they move away.

===

"You're used to long-distance shit, right?" Tommy asks, wiping his arm. It still feels like it's wrapped by Tsuyu's tongue...

Tsuyu, who'd been on the ground moments earlier, nods, raising a finger that ends up lightly poking her cheek. Tommy hums in response.

"You're well-versed in that," he compliments. "Your aim's fuckin' insane, and so is your ability to use the terrain to your advantage. Are you good at, like—at settin' up shit or something and waiting?"

The girl looks up in thought. "...Yes," she decides.

"You'll have to consider asking the support department about traps, then, 'cause you'd be damn good at settin' and using them," Tommy grins. "But I'm getting off topic."

"I think you an' Tokoyami would be good at covering each other," he decides, grin fading into a passive, thoughtful expression. "With both of you learning weaponry and hand-to-hand, you'd both be all-rounders. If both of you could cover each other, or work in sync... that'd be beneficial to both of you. Try double-teaming once or twice to see if I'm right, Asui, or maybe spar against each other as you learn. For now, though, try helping each other with balance and familiarizing yourself with the staffs." Tommy tosses a staff to her.

"Right, kero," she says, her tongue whipping out to catch it. Once it's in her hands, she adds, "And please, call me Tsu."

Tommy blinks as the girl leaves. "Alright... Tsu."

===

"...You aren't used to any of this, huh." Tommy states, looking at Ashido, of which is sprawled on the ground. It... it only took Tommy a few hits to get her down.

She laughs sheepishly. "Uhuh!" How the hell's she still enthusiastic?

Tommy sighs, helping her up. "You seem to hold yourself well, I'll give you that. As in, your center of balance looked good, and you seem quite flexible. You'll be able to dodge easily with hand-to-hand combat training, and maybe with a staff as well... Wait, d'you do gymnastics or whatever?"

Ashido laughs again. "Yep! How'd you know?"

"Your balance 'n' shit," Tommy responds, still thinking. "Maybe... you can try incorporating weaponry into gymnastics? 'Specially as a half-support—like those long pole things or whatever... if we can get you something like that you can launch yourself with, or at least utilize..."

His head snaps up. "What's your Quirk?"

...Ah, Aizawa should've given him a student roster with all their Quirks. Would've made this shit easier.