Chapter 1: Breaking Protocol The training ground assignment board showed Maddy's name in three different matchups. Someone at U.A. had decided pairing her against multiple opponents would test her quirk's adaptability. Deku stared at the board longer than necessary, which meant he was overthinking again. "It's excessive," Shoto said behind him. Deku turned. Shoto's face gave away nothing, but he'd walked over specifically to comment. That meant something. "She can handle it." Kacchan pushed between them to read the board. "Don't baby her." "Three-on-one scenarios are usually reserved for advanced students." Deku pulled out his notebook where he'd documented Maddy's quirk behaviors. The thylacine transformation gave her enhanced senses and combat instincts, but he'd noticed patterns. Stress triggered deeper changes. "When she's overwhelmed—" "Then she learns to deal with it." Kacchan grabbed the notebook and shoved it back at him. "That's the whole point of training." Shoto's eyes tracked toward where Maddy was stretching with Uraraka and Tsu. "The matchups are poorly designed." "You questioning the teachers now, Half-and-Half?" "I'm questioning the logic." Aizawa's voice cut through the argument. "Problem, gentlemen?" All three of them straightened. Deku clutched his notebook tighter. Kacchan's hands sparked reflexively before he caught himself. Shoto just looked at their teacher with that blank expression he used when he was actively hiding something. "No problem," Deku said quickly. Too quickly, probably. Aizawa's eyes narrowed. "Then get to your positions. Training starts in three minutes." The first two rounds went fine. Maddy faced off against Kaminari and managed his electrical attacks by staying mobile. Her thylacine instincts made her hard to predict. Against Tokoyami, she used speed to stay ahead of Dark Shadow until the timer ran out. Deku watched from his own training zone, but he kept glancing over. He wasn't the only one. Kacchan had positioned himself where he had clear sight lines despite being three zones away. Shoto had ice forming and melting on his right side in a pattern that suggested divided attention. Round three paired Maddy against Kirishima, Sato, and Iida simultaneously. "That's too many," Deku muttered. His current opponent, Ojiro, gave him a questioning look. "What?" "Nothing. Sorry." Deku forced himself to focus on the tail whipping toward his face. The first sign of trouble came as a sound. Not quite human, not quite animal. Deku's head snapped toward the source. Maddy was changing. Not the usual subtle shift, but something deeper. Her bone structure was realigning visibly. The stripes that normally stayed faint were darkening across her skin. Kirishima backed off immediately. "Whoa, hey—" Iida was calling for a timeout, but Maddy didn't seem to hear him. She moved on instinct, faster than her usual speed. Sato tried to grab her and nearly got his arm torn open. Deku ran. He didn't think about it. One moment he was sparring with Ojiro, the next he was crossing three training zones. Someone yelled his name. Probably Aizawa. It didn't matter. Shoto hit the zone from the opposite angle. Ice erupted in a defensive barrier that separated Maddy from her opponents without trapping her. Smart. Containment would make it worse. "Back off," Kacchan snarled at Kirishima and the others. He'd arrived seconds after Shoto, smoke trailing from his palms. "Give her space." "All of you, stand down!" Aizawa's capture weapon was already out, but he hadn't activated his quirk yet. "Midoriya, Todoroki, Bakugo—return to your zones immediately." None of them moved. Maddy was panting. The transformation had stopped halfway, which looked painful. Her eyes weren't tracking properly. Deku approached slowly, keeping his hands visible. "Maddy? Can you hear me?" She growled. It rattled in her chest like something wild. "Try not to corner her." Shoto's ice was melting strategically, creating an opening. "She needs an exit route." "I know that," Deku said. He did know that. He'd written twelve pages about thylacine behavior patterns and how they related to her quirk manifestation. "Everyone shut up." Kacchan's voice had dropped to something almost calm. "You're crowding her." Aizawa was saying something about protocol and unauthorized intervention. Deku heard it distantly. Maddy's breathing was too fast. Hyperventilation, maybe. Or her transformed state required more oxygen. He should have documented that better. "Look at me." Kacchan moved into her line of sight. "You're at U.A. Training ground. You know where you are?" The growling quieted. "That's right." Kacchan's hands were steady. No explosions, no aggression. "Nobody's fighting. You can power down." Shoto had created a partial ice wall that blocked the view from other students. Deku noticed but didn't comment. They were all three acting on the same instinct. Protect her privacy. Protect her from staring. Maddy's transformation started reversing. It looked excruciating. Bones shifting back, muscle restructuring. She made a sound that Deku never wanted to hear again. "Get Recovery Girl," Aizawa ordered someone. "The rest of you, training is postponed. Return to the locker rooms." Nobody wanted to leave. Deku could see classmates lingering, concerned and curious in equal measure. Uraraka looked worried. Iida was already heading toward the main building, probably to find Recovery Girl himself. "Can you walk?" Shoto asked Maddy quietly. She nodded but nearly collapsed on the first step. Deku caught her automatically. Kacchan steadied her from the other side. They'd moved in sync without discussing it. "Interesting," Aizawa said. The word carried weight. Deku's stomach dropped. They'd just revealed something. He wasn't sure exactly what, but Aizawa's expression suggested he was drawing conclusions. Recovery Girl arrived with Iida. She took one look at Maddy and started tut-tutting about overexertion and poorly planned exercises. "Bring her to the nurse's office. You three, since you're already attached." The walk across campus was quiet. Maddy had recovered enough to be embarrassed. "I'm fine, really. You guys didn't have to—" "Shut up," Kacchan said. "He means we wanted to help," Deku translated. "I meant shut up." Shoto said nothing, but his hand stayed on Maddy's shoulder. Steadying her. Making sure she didn't fall. Recovery Girl's examination took twenty minutes. She gave Maddy some medication, used her quirk to help with the muscle strain, and lectured about knowing personal limits. Then she shooed Maddy off to rest in the recovery room and fixed all three boys with a look that suggested she understood far more than they wanted her to. "You care about her," she said simply. Deku opened his mouth. Closed it. What could he even say? "We're classmates," Shoto offered. "Mmhm." Recovery Girl's tone dripped skepticism. "Very concerned classmates who abandoned their own training simultaneously. Without communication." Kacchan crossed his arms. "So?" "So nothing, dear. Just an observation." She smiled. "You can visit her briefly, then I suggest you all clean up before Aizawa wants a word with you." They filed into the recovery room. Maddy was sitting up on one of the cots, looking exhausted but more herself. The thylacine features had completely receded. "I'm sorry," she said immediately. "I didn't mean to lose control like that. I've been working on—" "Don't apologize." Deku sat in the chair next to her bed. "The matchup was unfair." "The matchup was what the teachers assigned. I should have handled it." "Three against one is excessive for quirk testing." Shoto leaned against the wall but kept his eyes on her. "Especially without proper preparation." Kacchan stayed near the door, arms still crossed. "You're pushing too hard. That's when quirks malfunction." "Says the guy who literally explodes when he's angry," Maddy shot back, but she was smiling slightly. "That's controlled aggression. Different thing." They fell into familiar banter. Deku watched the way Kacchan's shoulders relaxed. The way Shoto's expression softened around the edges. The way Maddy's breathing had returned to normal. He probably looked just as obvious. They were all terrible at hiding this. Whatever this was. Recovery Girl returned to check Maddy's vitals one more time, then informed them that Aizawa wanted to see all four students in his office. Now. The walk to the administrative building carried different tension than the walk to the nurse's office. Deku's mind ran through possible explanations for their behavior. They could claim friendship. Close friendship. Except they'd reacted with protective synchronization that went beyond normal classmate concern. Aizawa's office was small and cluttered with papers. He sat behind his desk, looking exactly as tired as usual. "Sit." There were only three chairs. Kacchan remained standing immediately. Deku and Shoto took seats, which left Maddy the last chair. She sat slowly, still recovering. "Explain what happened during training," Aizawa said. Maddy started to speak, but Aizawa held up a hand. "I want to hear from the three who broke protocol first. Midoriya." Deku swallowed. "I saw that Maddy was in distress. Her quirk was malfunctioning dangerously. I reacted." "By abandoning your sparring match and crossing three training zones." "Yes, sir." "Todoroki." "Same reasoning," Shoto said. "The situation required intervention." "You created an ice barrier without authorization." "To prevent injury. Both to Maddy and to the students she was paired against." Aizawa's eyes shifted. "Bakugo." "She needed space. The extras weren't backing off fast enough." Kacchan's jaw was tight. "Someone had to take control of the situation." "And all three of you decided this simultaneously." Aizawa leaned back in his chair. "Without communication. Without coordinating. You just all happened to reach the same conclusion at the same time and respond with remarkable synchronization." Nobody answered. What could they say? "I've been teaching at U.A. for years," Aizawa continued. "I recognize certain patterns. The way students behave around someone they're concerned about. The protective instincts that override training and common sense." He looked at each of them in turn. "Usually it's one person who reacts that way. Sometimes two, if there's a rivalry involved. Three simultaneous responses suggests something else entirely." Deku's hands clenched on his knees. They were caught. He could see it in Aizawa's expression. Their teacher had connected the dots. "I'm not interested in your personal relationships," Aizawa said. "What you do outside of training is your business, as long as it doesn't violate school policy or affect your performance. However." He paused. "When your personal attachments cause you to break protocol during a training exercise, it becomes my concern." "It won't happen again," Shoto said. "Won't it?" Aizawa raised an eyebrow. "Because from where I'm sitting, all three of you would make the exact same choice if the situation repeated itself. You'd prioritize her safety over following instructions." He wasn't wrong. Deku realized that with uncomfortable clarity. If Maddy was in danger again, he'd react the same way. Protocol wouldn't matter. Training structure wouldn't matter. Keeping her safe would override everything else. The look on Kacchan's face suggested he'd reached the same conclusion. Shoto's expression hadn't changed, but his silence was telling. "Sir," Maddy said quietly. "They were just trying to help. I'm the one who lost control of my quirk. If you're going to discipline someone—" "I'm not disciplining anyone." Aizawa pulled out some paperwork and started filling it out. Incident reports, probably. "I'm making an observation and giving a warning. Your personal connections are affecting your professional judgment. That's dangerous for heroes in training. It makes you predictable. It makes you vulnerable." He signed something and set it aside. "I'm recommending that future training exercises take this factor into account. We'll avoid scenarios that put undue stress on any one student when it's clear that multiple students will react protectively." That was almost kind. Deku hadn't expected that. "However," Aizawa continued, "you four need to have a conversation about boundaries and how you'll handle situations like this going forward. Because it will happen again. Training at U.A. is designed to push students to their limits. Quirk malfunctions occur. Dangerous scenarios are inevitable. You need to figure out how to balance your personal feelings with your professional responsibilities." He dismissed them with a wave. They filed out of his office in silence. The hallway was empty since classes had ended. Deku's mind was racing. Aizawa had essentially confirmed that he understood their relationship, or at least suspected something. He'd given them a warning disguised as advice. "Roof," Kacchan said. "After curfew. We need to talk." "Agreed," Shoto said. Maddy nodded. She still looked tired, but her eyes were clear. "This was going to happen eventually anyway." "What was?" Deku asked. "Everyone noticing." She managed a weak smile. "We're not exactly subtle." They weren't. Deku had been documenting hero strategies and quirk analyses for years. He should have applied that same analytical thinking to their situation. Of course people would notice. The way they gravitated toward each other during training. The way they coordinated without speaking. The way all three boys watched Maddy with the same careful attention. They split up to avoid drawing more attention. Deku headed back to the dorms, his mind already working through what they needed to discuss. Boundaries, like Aizawa had said. How to handle training scenarios. What they'd do if other students started asking questions. What they were, exactly. That was the core of it. They'd fallen into this pattern naturally. All three of them cared about Maddy. All three of them had somehow ended up in her orbit, drawn by something that went beyond friendship or simple attraction. And Maddy had accepted them all, somehow. She hadn't chosen between them. She'd made space for all three in her life. Deku had read about polyamorous relationships during one of his late-night research spirals. The concept made logical sense. Multiple people could love the same person. Love wasn't a finite resource. But seeing it written in academic articles was different from living it. From being part of something that defied conventional relationship structures. His phone buzzed. A message in the group chat that only the four of them used. Maddy: "See you tonight. We'll figure this out." Shoto: "Agreed." Kacchan: "Don't be late, nerds." Deku smiled despite the anxiety churning in his chest. They would figure it out. They had to. Because the alternative was trying to ignore what had become undeniable to everyone around them. He spent the rest of the evening attempting homework and failing to concentrate. His notes on heroics turned into scattered thoughts about relationships and boundaries and how to explain something he didn't fully understand himself. Dinner in the common room was normal enough. Classmates chatted about the day's training. A few people asked if Maddy was okay. Nobody directly questioned why three different students had simultaneously abandoned their matches to help her. But Deku caught Uraraka watching him thoughtfully. Iida had that expression he got when he was working through a logical problem. Even Kaminari looked like he was connecting dots, which was concerning since Kaminari usually missed the obvious. Curfew came at ten. Deku waited in his room until eleven, then slipped out quietly. The dorm building was designed to prevent this kind of thing, but students who'd survived villain attacks and war had learned creative ways around security measures. The roof access was technically locked, but Shoto had dealt with that earlier using careful ice manipulation. Maddy was already there when Deku arrived. She'd changed into comfortable clothes and wrapped herself in a blanket against the night air. "Hey." "How are you feeling?" "Sore. Embarrassed. Kind of anxious about this conversation." She patted the space next to her. "But okay overall." Deku sat. The roof gave them a view of the campus, dark except for security lights and the glow from other dorm buildings. Students were probably asleep by now. Or pretending to be while scrolling through their phones. Shoto emerged from the stairwell access, followed immediately by Kacchan. They'd arrived together, which meant they'd probably coordinated. That happened sometimes. The two of them had developed an odd understanding over the past months. "So," Kacchan said, sitting across from Maddy and Deku. "We're shit at being subtle." "Apparently." Maddy pulled the blanket tighter. "Aizawa definitely knows something." "He knows we care about you," Shoto said. He sat next to Kacchan, which left them in a rough circle. "He's leaving it to us to address." "The question is what we're going to do about it." Deku pulled out his notebook automatically, then stopped. This wasn't something he could analyze his way through. "People are noticing. Today made it obvious." "Let them notice," Kacchan said. "Who cares?" "U.A. might care," Deku pointed out. "There could be rules about relationships between students. Especially unconventional ones." "Then we check the rules." Shoto's practical approach cut through the worry. "We find out what's actually prohibited versus what's just unusual." Maddy was quiet for a moment. When she spoke, her voice was soft. "Do you want this to be public? Like, officially?" That was the real question. Deku looked at Kacchan, who was studying Maddy's face. Then at Shoto, who'd gone very still. They were all thinking the same thing. Making this official meant accepting scrutiny. Questions. Potential judgment from classmates, teachers, family. But keeping it secret meant constantly hiding. Pretending their feelings were less than what they were. "I'm not ashamed of this," Kacchan said finally. "Whatever this is." "Neither am I," Shoto added. "Though I'd prefer to avoid unnecessary drama." Deku took a breath. "I think we need to talk about what this actually is before we decide anything else. Like, what are we to each other? What do we want this to be?" Maddy smiled slightly. "That's very you. Want to define terms before proceeding." "It's practical," Deku defended. "We can't make decisions if we don't understand what we're deciding about." "He's not wrong." Shoto looked at each of them. "We've been existing in this undefined space. That worked when it was private. But if we're going to be noticed anyway, we should probably understand our own relationship." Kacchan leaned back on his hands. "I love her. You two idiots love her. She apparently loves all three of us, which is insane but whatever. That's what this is." The blunt summary was so typically Kacchan that Deku almost laughed. Except it was also completely accurate. That was exactly what this was. "I do," Maddy confirmed quietly. "Love all three of you. I know it's complicated and weird and probably not what any of you signed up for—" "Stop," Shoto interrupted. "None of us are here by accident." "Yeah," Deku agreed. "We chose this. All of us." They sat in silence for a moment. The night air was getting colder. Deku wished he'd brought a jacket, but moving to get one felt wrong. This moment mattered. This conversation mattered. "So what now?" Maddy asked. "Do we tell people? Keep hiding? Find some middle ground?" "We figure out our boundaries first," Kacchan said. "Like Aizawa said. How we handle training situations. What happens when one of us is in danger. Whether we're gonna keep breaking protocol every time something goes wrong." "We can't promise not to react protectively," Deku pointed out. "That's not realistic." "No, but we can be smarter about it," Shoto said. "Today we all responded simultaneously. That's what made it obvious. If we'd coordinated better, taken turns, made it look less synchronized—" "So we're talking about being better at hiding it," Maddy said. "Not actually changing our behavior." "Can we change it?" Shoto's question was genuine. "Any of us?" Deku thought about seeing Maddy lose control earlier. The immediate panic. The absolute certainty that he needed to help her, regardless of training protocols or teacher instructions. Could he override that instinct? Should he? "I don't want to change it," Kacchan said. "I want to be better at managing it. There's a difference." "Agreed," Shoto said. Maddy looked at Deku. "What do you think?" "I think we need to accept that we're always going to prioritize each other's safety," Deku said slowly. "But we can work on doing it in ways that don't completely disregard our training. Like Shoto said—coordination. Communication. Being strategic instead of just reactive." "And the public part?" Maddy pressed. "What are we telling people?" Kacchan shrugged. "Nothing, unless they ask directly. This is our business." "But if they do ask?" "Then we tell the truth," Shoto said. "We're together. All of us. If that's a problem for them, it's their problem to deal with." Deku pulled out his phone and started typing. "I'll research U.A.'s policies on student relationships. There has to be documentation somewhere. If we're not actually violating any rules—" "Of course you're making a research plan," Maddy said, but she was smiling. "Someone has to be practical." They talked for another hour. About what they'd say if questioned. About how to handle training scenarios better. About whether they needed to tell their families. That last topic was complicated. Deku's mother would be accepting but worried. Shoto's family situation was a nightmare he didn't want to navigate. Kacchan's parents were apparently already suspicious after he'd mentioned Maddy too many times during a phone call home. Eventually the conversation wound down. They'd resolved some things and left others undefined. That felt appropriate somehow. This relationship had developed naturally, without clear planning or structure. Maybe it would continue that way. "We should get back before someone notices we're all missing," Shoto said. They stood, gathering their things. Maddy folded her blanket carefully. Kacchan stretched, joints popping. Deku put away his notebook, which now contained several pages of relationship notes instead of hero analysis. "Same time next week?" Maddy suggested. "Check in on how things are going?" "Works for me," Kacchan said. "Agreed," Shoto added. Deku nodded. Regular meetings made sense. They could assess their situation, adjust their approach, make sure everyone was on the same page. They split up to return to their rooms separately. Less suspicious that way. Deku took the stairs slowly, thinking through everything they'd discussed. They hadn't solved all their problems. But they'd acknowledged them openly. That was progress. His room was exactly as he'd left it. Homework scattered across his desk. Hero costume maintenance waiting to be finished. All Might posters watching from the walls. Normal things. His normal life. Except his life wasn't normal anymore. He was part of something unprecedented at U.A. A four-person relationship that defied conventional structures. And tomorrow they'd have to navigate that reality under the watchful eyes of their classmates and teachers. Deku changed into sleep clothes and climbed into bed. His mind was still active, running through scenarios and possibilities. How people would react. What questions they'd face. Whether they could actually maintain this relationship while training to be heroes. His phone buzzed with messages. Maddy: "Thanks for tonight. Love you guys." Shoto: "Sleep well." Kacchan: "Stop overthinking and go to sleep, nerd." Deku smiled at his phone. Yeah. They'd figure this out. Together.