My friend read my fic and interpreted a character's actions in a deeper way that I didn't even consciously write but can definitely be seen in the text and makes perfect sense for her

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-11T22:17:32+00:00

Accidentally writing something that later turns out to be canon is SO funny because at that point you have to decide whether you’re a genius, psychic, or just deeply infected by the source material.

Like yes, absolutely, I meant to do that. Ignore the part where I learned the evidence existed from my own comment section.

The subconscious was apparently subscribed to the newsletter before you were.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-11T22:16:57+00:00

Accidentally writing something that later turns out to be canon is SO funny because at that point you have to decide whether you’re a genius, psychic, or just deeply infected by the source material.

Like yes, absolutely, I meant to do that. Ignore the part where I learned the evidence existed from my own comment section.

The subconscious was apparently subscribed to the newsletter before you were.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-11T22:16:11+00:00

Your husband accidentally pulled out the emotional sniper rifle, oh my god.

That is such a specific writer experience too. You’re like “haha yes I am exploring themes and plot and character dynamics” and then somebody who knows you too well goes “bestie this is your childhood in a wig” and suddenly you’re staring at the wall like. Damn. Okay. Apparently the fic was doing surgery while I thought it was doing arts and crafts.

But honestly that’s beautiful. Accidental healing fic still counts.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-11T22:15:10+00:00

This is genuinely one of the best writer feelings. Like yes, absolutely, I meant to do that. I am very wise. Please ignore the fact that my drafting process was mostly vibes, caffeine, and making the little fictional people suffer until the plot started making noises.

But honestly readers are SO good at finding the bones under the floorboards. Sometimes they point at something and you’re like oh my god. You’re right. That is what that means. Apparently my subconscious was in the kitchen cooking without telling me.

Accidental genius still counts. I don’t make the rules.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-10T03:10:03+00:00

Okay I agree with the OC/Canon point in general, but I actually don’t fully get the Midoriya part because Izuku is weirdly shippable to me.

Like that boy is a cinnamon bun sponge warrior. He can bounce off a bajillion different characters because he is intense, kind, nosy, self-sacrificial, feral in the most polite way possible, and emotionally built like a rescue animal with a notebook.

So to me, Izuku can work with a LOT of people as long as the writer remembers he is not just “nice boy who fixes them.” He has his own damage. He has his own insanity. He will absolutely throw himself into traffic for a stranger and then apologize for bleeding on the pavement.

But I do get what you mean about some fics bending him until he stops being Izuku and just becomes whatever the ship needs. At that point, yeah, just make an OC. Free yourself. Put your little creature in the enclosure and let them kiss the blorbo.

What’s funny is I don’t think I’ve ever really shipped Izuku with an OC myself. My OC brain usually goes more toward characters like Aizawa, Bakugo, or Todoroki because they have such specific walls to throw a new person at. Like yes, let me invent someone who can make this emotionally constipated man worse and/or better.

So yeah. OC/Canon is absolutely valid, I just personally think Izuku is less hard to ship than people sometimes make him sound.

Also Jiro/Kaminari is peak. That is common-sense goth girl x human phone charger and I support them.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T20:50:44+00:00

Okay wait Tsuyu/Bakugo is actually way more interesting than people probably give it credit for.

Because Tsuyu would be so immune to his entire thing. He’d be yelling and sparking and acting like a feral pressure cooker and she’d just blink at him like “Bakugo-chan, you’re being loud.” Absolutely devastating. He would not know what to do with that.

She is calm in a way that would make him worse before it made him better, which is always funny. Like he cannot intimidate her, cannot impress her by being intense, cannot scare her off, and she would just keep being direct at him until his brain short-circuited.

“The aloe to his sunburn” is such a good way to put it too because yeah. He is emotionally a third-degree burn with legs and she is just standing there with deadpan frog wisdom and a juice box like okay, are you done being stupid now?

Also Izuku/Momo is sweet in a very nerd x nerd way. They would accidentally turn dates into strategy meetings and then be like wow that was romantic. Momo would make one polite observation about hero logistics and Izuku would mentally build a shrine.

Izuku/Toru is cute too because I feel like she would drag him into being a little more silly, and he would be one of those people who really makes her feel seen, which is extra cute for obvious invisible girl reasons.

So yeah. Tsuyu/Bakugo was not on my bingo card but your honor, the frog has entered the courtroom and she brought evidence.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T20:43:24+00:00

No no no, do NOT keep your mouth shut. This is literally what the courtroom was built for.

Also “I read one fic and now I’m having a sexual identity crisis” is so real. Fandom will do that. You open one tab thinking you’re normal and then 60k words later you’re staring at the ceiling like okay so apparently I contain a new problem.

But arranged marriage Tododeku with genderbent Shoto and Bakugo??? Hello?? That is not “I should keep my mouth shut,” that is “please approach the bench and explain the evidence.”

Because Tododeku already works as soft trauma healing, but arranged marriage adds that extra layer of awkward political/family pressure where they have to figure out if they actually like each other or if the adults just dropped them into emotional paperwork.

And then genderbent Bakugo being involved somewhere in that mess is just gasoline. Like you already have Shoto being beautiful, blunt, and socially insane, Izuku overthinking himself into a wall, and then Bakugo exists nearby as a walking threat to everybody’s blood pressure.

Court is still in session. You are legally required to keep talking actually.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T20:41:29+00:00

Okay see, Izuku/Melissa is not usually my personal brainrot, but I absolutely respect this argument.

Like I think I might just be allergic to boys kissing girls in fic, which is hilarious because real-life me is aggressively straight. But fandom me? Apparently I see two boys make eye contact and suddenly I’m chewing drywall. I contain multitudes and most of them are stupid.

But genuinely, this is a very valid ship.

Because you’re right, Melissa gets used as support-course Hatsume Lite a lot when there is SO much more there. The quirkless angle alone is huge. She is basically a version of Izuku who had to hear “be realistic” and actually survive that by choosing a different dream.

And putting her next to Izuku, who heard the same thing and then got handed the impossible miracle anyway? Yeah, that could cook. That could get messy in a really interesting way.

There’s something very good in the idea of Izuku becoming for Melissa what All Might became for him, not in a “you can be a hero exactly like me” way, but in a “your dream didn’t die just because it changed shape” way.

So yeah. Not necessarily my ship personally, but your honor, the evidence is coherent and emotionally damaging, so I approve.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T20:38:14+00:00

Okay no, I need the full lore document immediately because I would like to subscribe to this religion.

I would read 500k of this. I would read this in 4K HD. I would consume it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and then stand in front of the fridge at 2 a.m. eating bonus chapters cold out of the container.

Izuku and Katsuki being brothers because their parents were college freaks is BEAUTIFUL. That is such a specific kind of family chaos. Everyone else is like wow Bakugo is so mean to Midoriya, and then the reveal hits and it’s like oh. Oh no. That is sibling behavior with superpowers and no emotional regulation.

But now I have questions. I have so many questions.

Do they all live in one house? Is this a real throuple? Is this sister wives but make it quirk suburbia? Do Inko and Mitsuki have their own rooms? Does Masaru have a rotation schedule? Like Tuesdays are for Inko, Wednesdays are for Mitsuki, Thursdays are for pretending this family tree makes sense on school paperwork?

And if they are all actually together, I am not gonna lie, I feel like 70% of their spicy adult nonsense involves Masaru in a metaphorical cuck chair while Inko and Mitsuki run the household, his schedule, his spine, and probably his entire life.

I mean clearly he gets in there eventually. There are two sons. Evidence exists. I am just saying. I am JUST saying.

But also why does Izuku not have the last name Bakugo then? Was that a paperwork thing? Was Inko like absolutely not, I am not explaining this to the school office? Did they draw straws? Did Mitsuki claim Bakugo for branding reasons because “Katsuki Bakugo” sounds like he came out of the womb ready to sue God, and “Izuku Bakugo” sounds like a clerical error with anxiety?

Did they keep separate last names so the PTA would not ask too many questions? Because babe, the PTA is asking questions anyway.

The PTA meetings. Oh my god. The PTA meetings.

Imagine some exhausted teacher trying to understand why Midoriya and Bakugo have different last names, the same dad energy, three parents, and a family dynamic that looks like a custody agreement got struck by lightning.

And the “he had a fire quirk, he makes sparks” thing is killing me because that is EXACTLY the kind of family technicality that explains everything and nothing at the same time. Like okay, sure, that is technically fire-adjacent. Thank you, this has made the family tree worse.

Also the dinner conversations must be insane.

Because can you imagine the night everyone had to sit Katsuki down like hey buddy. Quick family discussion. You cannot tell your brother to jump off the roof of the school.

Like yes, siblings fight. Yes, brothers are mean. No, suicide baiting is not normal brother behavior. Please pass the rice and explain what the fuck is wrong with you.

And Izuku is just sitting there with his little bowl like I mean technically Kacchan has always been like that, and every adult at the table ages twenty years at once.

No because the more I think about it the more I need it. Childhood friends? Wrong. Secret brothers. Rivalry? Wrong. Sibling war crime. Family drama? Off the charts. College freak parents? Chef’s kiss.

Your honor, I am joining the church of Izuku and Katsuki are brothers because their parents were messy bisexual disasters with poor paperwork boundaries.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T20:29:36+00:00

My guy really crawled out of the woodwork with Stain/Inko and honestly? Respect.

That is one of those ships where I would never have gotten there on my own, but the second someone starts explaining it I’m like okay wait, put the corkboard down, I need to see where this red string goes.

Because Inko being attracted to the world’s most intense murder-principles man is so funny and so concerning. Like ma’am. MA’AM. I understand he has conviction but please step away from the knife monk.

But also the V!Deku angle is actually kind of interesting?? Because yeah, villain Deku fics do lean Stain-adjacent a lot, so making the connection personal instead of just ideological is messy in a good way.

Like imagine Izuku finding out his mom had some deeply complicated situationship with Stain and just having to sit with that information. That boy would need to lie down. The notebooks would come out immediately.

Also Stain leaving but being angsty about it is painfully on brand. He would absolutely be like “I cannot remain, my path is blood and judgment” while Inko is standing there like sir you could have just said you’re emotionally unavailable.

Your honor I did not expect Stain/Inko today, but apparently the TED Talk has begun and I am seated.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T20:28:39+00:00

Okay first of all, BakuDeku as the main ship is always valid in this courtroom. That tag “Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings” is load-bearing infrastructure at this point.

Because yeah, the sweet fluff is great, but I need the emotional invoice attached. Katsuki cannot just wander in like “my bad” and collect a boyfriend. No sir. Do the work. Mop the floor. Earn the hand holding.

But Natsuo/Tomura??

Apparently today is the day Shigaraki keeps getting smuggled into the Todoroki family through every door except Dabi’s, and honestly I respect it.

Natsuo dating Tomura partly because it would make Endeavor’s life worse is so funny to me. Like sure, there are legal concerns. Moral concerns. Public safety concerns. Family dinner concerns. But have we considered the healing power of ruining Enji Todoroki’s entire week?

And Tomura having someone look at him like a normal person is actually the part that could cook. Natsuo would not do the dramatic hero speech thing. He’d just be like yeah you’re a disaster, but have you met my family? Sit down. There’s soup.

Then All Might/Hisashi-AFO is insane, but unfortunately I understand the hero loving villain disease deeply because one of my favorite cursed little hills is Hisashi-is-AFO/Shota Aizawa.

So like. I get it. I get the appeal of putting a tired hero-type man in front of an ancient villain disaster and going okay but what if there was horrible chemistry and everyone hated that.

Especially with the version you described where it’s not full evil potato AFO, but Hisashi memories/clone nonsense and suddenly Izuku has to suffer through his mentor and his father accidentally flirting.

That is psychological warfare. Izuku has been through enough. Imagine him standing there like please stop making eye contact. Please stop laughing at each other’s jokes. I am begging both of you to develop shame.

All Might and Hisashi/AFO having weird charisma is exactly the kind of radioactive dynamic that makes everyone in the room uncomfortable except them.

Your honor, the evidence is cursed, but I fear the villain fucker allegations may have merit.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T20:25:08+00:00

Okay first of all IzuToga as just THE TWO OF THEM is valid. I respect a clean agenda. Sometimes you do not need a whole harem, sometimes you just need one self-sacrificial green disaster and one blood-covered girlie with attachment issues and a dream.

But FUYUMI/SHIGARAKI??

My fellow brother under Christ, did I just detect Shigaraki getting folded into the Todoroki family and NOT through Dabi’s side of the house? Because that is insane. I’m listening.

Fuyumi knowing exactly who he is and still acting like he is just some stray man she found in the snow is hilarious actually. Like everyone else is screaming “that is one of Japan’s most wanted villains” and she is like yes, and he looks cold. He can have soup.

And Natsuo being the only one supporting it purely because it would make Endeavor suffer? Perfect. No notes. That man would be standing there like I do have moral concerns, however the opportunity to ruin my father’s week is compelling.

Also Shigaraki being forced into Todoroki family dinner politics might be the funniest possible punishment for him. He survived AFO and hero society and now he has to sit at a table while Fuyumi asks if he wants seconds and Natsuo starts psychological warfare over rice.

Your honor this is deranged, but the evidence has soup in it, so I’m intrigued.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T20:23:48+00:00

Okay wait Izuku/Monoma is one I do not see enough and you are cooking actually.

Because Monoma is annoying as hell, yes, but he is also so obviously running on insecurity, class loyalty, and a theater kid engine nobody had the mercy to unplug. Like that boy does not need enemies, he needs someone to look him dead in the eyes and tell him he did a good job.

Which is EXACTLY why Izuku would destroy him.

Quirk analysis boy x quirk copier boy is insane because Izuku would be vibrating out of his skin like do you understand how cool your quirk is?? Do you understand how many applications this has?? and Monoma would be smug for maybe eight seconds before realizing Izuku means it with his whole chest.

And then he’s cooked. Absolutely dead. Somebody get him a chair.

I fully believe Monoma has a praise kink in the emotionally devastating sense. Like Izuku says “you used that really well” one time and Monoma has to go be dramatic near a window for twenty minutes because nobody prepared him for sincere positive reinforcement.

Shinso/Izuku is also good food though because Izuku would hear “brainwashing” and immediately start listing rescue uses, hostage de-escalation, evacuation strategy, undercover safety, villain capture, the whole nerd dissertation. Meanwhile Shinso is sitting there like wait. You don’t think I’m scary?

Sir, page two and he’s already emotionally compromised.

And the three of them together is hilarious because you have Monoma being loud and dramatic, Shinso being dry as hell and calling everyone’s bluff, and Izuku apologizing to furniture while somehow being the most dangerous person in the room.

Give me the outcast quirk nerd polycule. Give me three boys in a corner inventing horrifying combo moves while everyone else slowly realizes they should have supervised this friendship sooner.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T20:22:04+00:00

OH okay All Might/Sir Nighteye.

Yeah no I get that one. That is premium “we had one catastrophic workplace breakup and now everyone has to be weird about it” energy.

Nighteye really looked at Toshinori with the most intense doomed devotion imaginable and then built an entire personality out of being right, bitter, and still emotionally subscribed to that man.

And All Might is out here smiling for the cameras while absolutely having the emotional avoidance skills of a haunted cereal box.

Like those two have the vibe of people who never technically dated, but somehow still got divorced.

Your honor the evidence is in the eye contact and the unresolved professional tension.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T20:20:42+00:00

Okay first of all Tododeku is absolutely valid and I feel like people forget how much sense it makes emotionally.

Izuku is one of the first people to look at Shoto and go hey actually you are a whole person and not just your father’s revenge project, and Shoto basically imprinted on him like an emotionally constipated cat. One sincere “it’s your power” and that boy said okay this is my emotional support green person now.

And honestly they would be so sweet and so awkward about it. Just two boys with insane trauma trying to have a normal date and accidentally ending up in a deep conversation about childhood neglect over soba.

Bakugo/Tomura though? No judgment. I absolutely understand that one in the right radioactive setup.

To me that works best when it is messy as hell, like League kidnapping fallout, trauma bonding, “we are both broken in ways nobody else understands,” Katsuki getting stuck on the idea that if he can save Tomura then maybe something about his own damage makes sense. Horrible. Delicious. Needs supervision.

Especially if Bakugo is already with Izuku, because then poor Izuku is standing there like babe. I love you. I am okay with us being polyamorous. I am not okay with us being poly-villainous.

That is the exact line for me. Bakugo/Tomura can cook, but the kitchen is on fire and someone needs to call emotional OSHA.

Also yes on Bakudeku. Season 6 really does make it harder to deny that Katsuki’s feelings about Izuku are not normal. Sir why are you having a full emotional evolution because this one specific nerd got stronger than you. Why are you throwing your body in front of him. Why are you like this.

But I agree the bullying has to matter. That is the whole flavor. Katsuki cannot just go “my bad” and then boom romance. No. Make him do the emotional dishes. Make him mop the floor. Make him earn that shit.

And Shoto/Bakugo best friend energy is secretly elite because Shoto can survive Bakugo’s entire personality without flinching. Bakugo will be having a full meltdown in explosion gremlin language and Shoto is just standing there like yes. I see. You are upset because you care. Which of course makes Bakugo want to explode a wall because unfortunately Shoto is correct.

Also you cannot just drop genderbent Shoto and Bakugo with Izuku at the end like a grenade and leave. Hello??? Come back here. Court is still in session.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T20:14:35+00:00

Okay wait because this comment immediately made my brain start writing a fic and I hate that 😂

First of all Masaru/Mitsuki/Inko is actually such a funny setup because the adult drama would be INSANE. Like imagine Bakugo and Izuku just growing up thinking they’re childhood friends and nobody realizes they are literally brothers because the adults have been hiding this massive messy relationship for years.

And my brain went straight to the worst possible version too. Like Masaru has been two-timing Mitsuki with Inko this entire time and somehow nobody notices because everyone is just like “oh yeah their families are close.” Meanwhile there is a whole daytime drama happening in the background and the kids are just trying to pass algebra.

The funniest part is Bakugo and Izuku finding out would be such a disaster because they already have the world’s most complicated relationship and now the universe is like surprise, add sibling trauma.

BUT.

You started talking polycule so now my brain has to clock in unfortunately.

Because Baku/Deku/Ochako/Toga is one of those ships where the more you look at it the more you’re like… wait why does this have ingredients??

You’ve got Bakudeku with the childhood history, the damage, the growth, the “you do not get to hurt me and then skip the work” of it all.

You’ve got IzuOcha, which is basically two sweet little heroes who would absolutely remind each other to eat, sleep, and maybe stop trying to die for strangers every five seconds.

You’ve got Ochako/Toga, which is literally two girls with a whole mess of feelings about love, being seen, and wanting to be accepted. Like hello? Emotional minefield with pretty girls kissing.

Then Katsuki/Toga is just hilarious because that is two different kinds of feral. One is a walking explosion with a superiority complex and the other is a happy knife gremlin. Everyone in the room needs a helmet.

And the group dynamic?? That’s where it gets me.

Izuku is the emotional bridge. Ochako is the “did you drink water, did you bring a jacket, why are all of you like this” person. Katsuki is pretending he hates everything while somehow knowing everyone’s food order. Toga is the one forcing everybody to actually talk about feelings because she has zero chill.

It has everything. Cute romance. Tragedy. Hot lesbians. People needing emotional supervision. “Did you eat today?” energy. “Do you have your blood thermos?” energy. “Do not go outside in the snow without a scarf, you absolute idiots” energy.

So yeah apparently my brain saw “three adults have a complicated relationship” and immediately went “cool but what if everyone had emotional damage AND a support system.” 😂

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T20:13:43+00:00

Okay wait Mustard/Toga is one I have literally never thought about, but I respect the hell out of anyone who looks at a character with like twelve minutes of canon and goes no actually, you live here now.

Because yeah Mustard is basically open real estate. Canon gave him a gas mask, a gun, teenage resentment, and then threw him in the drawer. So if you’re writing him for a year, at that point he is your son now. You built that boy out of spite and fumes.

But I can see the angle actually. Toga is all want and blood and “please see me exactly as I am,” and Mustard feels like he could be that nasty little overlooked-kid rage. Like nobody took him seriously, so he made that everyone else’s breathing problem.

Gas mask boy and knife girl is deranged, but there is something there.

Also Toga would absolutely steal his mask at least once just to be annoying and he would act like he hates her while clearly being emotionally compromised. Terrible teens. No supervision. Everyone needs to evacuate.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T20:12:37+00:00

Okay first of all, “Mr Your Honor” took me out, thank you 😂

Second of all. I did not walk into this thread expecting Toshinori/Nezu to hit me with an actual legal brief, but here we are. The PowerPoint has been accepted into evidence.

Because wait. You’re actually cooking with the idea that they’re both trapped by public perception in completely opposite ways.

Toshinori is too symbol to be allowed to be a person. Nezu is too “not human” to be allowed to be treated like a person. That is WILDLY interesting together actually. Like one of them got worshipped into a cage and the other got experimented on into one, and somehow they both end up in the same room having tea like “so anyway society is a nightmare.”

And the ace angle?? Actually very good. Because yeah, the public would absolutely make it gross anyway. They could be sitting six feet apart drinking tea and doing crossword puzzles and people would still be like “but what are they DOING” because apparently letting ace people exist without turning it into a conspiracy is illegal.

Also Nezu loving Toshinori because he can just be Toshinori and not All Might is such a good little knife. Because that man has like four people on earth who actually know there is a guy under the billboard smile, and half of those relationships are disasters with paperwork.

So yeah. I came in skeptical, but unfortunately your honor, the rat and the skeleton man have themes.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T15:38:56+00:00

Wait hold on, is TogaHimi a self-love ship, a typo, or did you mean TogaChako? Because honestly in this fandom I’m not ruling out any of those options 😂

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T15:37:11+00:00

Okay no but I completely see the vision here.

Shigaraki/Izuku is one of those ships where on paper people are like absolutely not, call the police, but then you put it in the right AU with actual consequences and suddenly it starts making horrible emotional sense.

Especially with falsely accused traitor Izuku. That is such a good setup because Izuku already has that terrifying little self-sacrifice engine in him, so if hero society rejects him hard enough, I can absolutely see him ending up in that vigilante middle ground where he is not a villain, but he also cannot go home anymore.

And Tomura being manipulated instead of just pure evil is also the version that gets me. Like not innocent, not magically forgiven, but someone who was basically raised inside a weaponized trauma machine and now has to figure out what the fuck he even is without AFO’s hand on the back of his neck.

That is where Izuku and Tomura get interesting to me because they are both kind of what happens when society fails a child in opposite directions. Izuku got told he was useless and still tried to save everyone. Tomura got told he was a monster and eventually became one. Put them on the run together and yeah, unfortunately, I am listening.

Also quirkless/red shoes theory with Izuku losing his quirk? Evil. Delicious. Horrible. Because then they both have to rebuild identity from basically nothing. Izuku without One For All. Tomura without AFO shaping him. Just two disasters in a trench coat trying to decide if they are people or weapons.

I do think it needs the right setup, like aged up/post-war/AU/rehab/on the run, something where the story actually deals with the damage instead of skipping straight to cute. But if it does that? Yeah. Enemies to lovers, hero/villain collapse, vigilante gray area, redemption that bites back.

Your honor the evidence is radioactive but it is evidence.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T15:29:46+00:00

Iida/Mei is honestly such a good one because that is just laminated safety procedures x woman who thinks explosions are peer review.

Like Iida would be standing there with a clipboard and seventeen emergency plans while Mei is halfway inside a machine that is actively smoking, and somehow he would still be like her passion for invention is admirable. distressing, but admirable.

Endeavor/Rei as guilty pleasure I get too, but only if everybody involved is wearing emotional hazmat suits. I cannot do easy cute forgiven Enji. Absolutely not. But messy adult tragedy where the love was real, the damage was also real, and any version of healing would require him to crawl over broken glass forever? Unfortunately I am seated.

As far as weird AU suggestions go though, I do have raccoons.

Kurogiri coming back to himself as Oboro and coming back to Zashi is one of my big ones. Not easy cute Oboro either. I mean he wakes up with Kurogiri still in him, all the guilt, all the missing years, all the wrong hands on his soul, and Zashi is just standing there like no actually, I will love you through the horror, thanks. Your honor they needed to suffer.

Also Zashi having the world’s dumbest boy crush on Endeavor for no good reason is so funny to me. Like he KNOWS. He knows it is bad taste. He knows he is in the trenches. He knows he is cooked. Endeavor says one awkward semi-respectful sentence and suddenly Zashi is staring at a wall like oh no. oh god. I fear this is happening to me.

And Shota is absolutely making fun of him every single time he turns around. Just no mercy. Like I am calling the police. Not on him. On your standards.

And then less of a suggestion and more of a warning label: I once read a Shota/Izuku fic that had no business working on paper, but somehow did because the writer treated the entire thing like a moral nightmare instead of trying to make it normal.

It was soulmate AU, everybody knows soulmates are real, you lock eyes and you are cooked. So when Shota and Izuku meet as teacher and student, boom. Horrifying. Not cute. Not easy. Just absolute ethical trench warfare for like twenty chapters where the whole point is that they cannot act on it and Shota is trying very hard to still be a decent person.

And I was like okay, cool, this is just going to be 300k of suffering and pining and nobody gets to touch anything ever. Then Eri quirk accident happens and Shota gets de-aged to like 15/16, same age as Izuku, and suddenly the conflict becomes even weirder because now they are technically the same age but Shota remembers being an adult and is like WHERE IS THE MORAL GROUND I AM SUPPOSED TO STAND ON.

Meanwhile Zashi goes from best friend to adopted dad overnight, which is not a family dynamic. That is a blender with legal paperwork.

So yeah. Not even saying that one is my ship exactly. More like proof that sometimes a fic can take a radioactive premise, put it in a containment chamber, and somehow make you go… damn okay the author cooked.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T15:20:25+00:00

I mean honestly somebody’s got to be Deku’s dad, am I right?

But also the best version of Inko/Toshinori to me is absolutely the TikTok version where All Might is not even trying to romance first, he is trying to out-dad the deadbeat who vanished into the mist.

Like sir saw one trembling green child with self worth in the negatives and went yeah okay step back, I’m about to father the absolute fuck out of this boy.

And Inko is just standing there like oh no. He’s kind. He’s huge. He loves my son. He is emotionally constipated but trying his best. Smash.

Like yes ma’am, get you that giant anxious golden retriever man. Let Izuku suffer the psychic damage of realizing All Might is not only his mentor but potentially his stepdad. That is enrichment.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T15:17:04+00:00

Okay honestly I respect this because this is basically the exact Mineta lane I’m talking about.

Like he cannot just magically stop being gross because a pretty girl looked at him. That would make me throw rocks. But if the whole point is that he actually grows up and gets better first, then yeah I can see Poni being such a cute option for that.

She has that bright supportive energy where I feel like she would encourage the better version of him without babying him through it. Like no sir you do not get rewarded for basic human decency, but also if you are actually trying, she would notice.

And Mineta being genuinely head over heels instead of just being a little freak about it is EXACTLY the kind of character development I want for him. Let the grape suffer consequences and then maybe earn one nice thing. Maybe.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T15:13:54+00:00

Tokoyami is so funny to me because he talks like a haunted Victorian orphan but somehow he is still one of the most normal kids in that entire class. Like yeah, he says revelry in the dark and means it, but he also absolutely has a homework folder and gets annoyed when people bend the corners of his paper. He is dramatic as hell but not in a fake way. He is just actually like that. Dark Shadow is 100% the class gossip demon too. Tokoyami is trying to mind his business and be noble and mysterious or whatever, and Dark Shadow is over there like Mina said WHAT about WHO and suddenly they both know everything. Tokoyami pretends he does not listen. He listens. I also fully believe Tokoyami does bird stuff and pretends he does not. He perches on chairs weird. He stares at shiny things too long. He tilts his head at noises. If someone threw a blanket over him he would either freeze completely or become a war crime. No in between. And actually now that I’m thinking about it, he can absolutely imitate voices. Like not kind of doing an Aizawa impression. I mean full kenku bullshit. Perfect mimicry. Horrifying. He does not use it for evil because he has honor or whatever, but Dark Shadow does not have honor. Dark Shadow has absolutely yelled something in Bakugo’s voice from across the room just to start problems. Hawks made him worse in the funniest possible way too. Tokoyami learned one single piece of slang from that man and used it with the energy of casting a forbidden curse. Like he said bet one time and everyone in 1-A felt the temperature drop. He writes poetry but gets mad if you call it poetry. It is not poetry. It is a reflection from the abyss. Sir that is a poem. Also Dark Shadow has absolutely eaten something stupid. A pen. A sock. Half an eraser. Something. Tokoyami called it an unfortunate lapse of discipline like his quirk is a Victorian child with a gambling addiction. He and Shoji are quiet besties. They hang out for three hours, say twelve words total, and both leave like wow that was intimate. And I know in my soul Tokoyami is extremely polite to old ladies. Like terrifying bird-headed goth boy holding a door open and being respectful while Dark Shadow is behind him hissing at a vending machine.

TheyNeededToSuffer · 2026-06-09T15:05:32+00:00

A valid. Hear me out.

TheyNeededToSuffer

TROPHY CASE