Chapter Text
One day Izuku would have a conversation with Todoroki Shouto that didn’t begin with them crashing into each other, but today was not that day. At least this time he wasn’t risking being late to an extremely important meeting. There was still plenty of time for Izuku to be awkward before he was at risk of being late for homeroom.
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” he tried to joke, reaching out to steady Todoroki instinctively before catching the look on his classmates face and pulling back. “I really am sorry. I promise I’m not doing it on purpose.”
Like before, Todoroki didn’t say anything in response, simply stared at him as though Izuku was a puzzle he couldn’t figure out. Or a particularly loathsome insect that had stumbled into his path once again. It was a little harder to get a read on Todoroki than most people, but Izuku was fairly certain it was one of the two.
“Thanks for not saying anything, by the way,” Izuku knew he should stop talking, that he should just bow quickly and move along, but the words were tumbling out before he could stop them. He rubbed at the back of his neck, avoiding Todoroki’s eyes. “I mean. I know that Nedzu asked you and Yaoyorozu not to say anything yet, but thanks. For not saying anything. I don’t want everyone judging me because my mentor is our homeroom teacher, you know?”
Todoroki still didn’t respond, the silence stretching on. Was it just Izuku being awkward or were they both being awkward? Izuku hadn’t said anything weird. At least, he didn’t think he had. Nervous, he glanced in Todoroki’s direction.
Massive mistake. Izuku immediately wanted to abort that decision, but Todoroki’s eyes were locked on his. What was the statistical likelihood of heterochromia? Izuku made a mental note to look it.
“Not that I’m ashamed to be his student, obviously. Nothing like that. It would probably just makes things harder? With me being quirkless. I’m sorry, but are you mad that I ran into you? It really was an accident, I swear. My friend Mei could tell you, I don’t tend to look before I leap in a lot of situations. Turning corners one of them, apparently.”
Todoroki didn’t walk away from him, but the glare directed at Izuku didn’t lesen in the face of Izuku’s rambing either.
“Are you mad at me?” Izuku asked. “Because that seems a little excessive for something that was an accident.”
“I’m not your friend,” Todoroki finally said, and Izuku startled at the sound of his voice.
“I...I never said that you were?” The nervousness that Izuku felt trying to talk to his stoic classmate drained away at Todoroki’s sharp tone. Carefully, Izuku looked his classmate over. Uniform in perfect order, posture a little too stiff, Todoroki was the kind of person Izuku had always expected to become a recommendation student. Todoroki had talent and he knew it. He carried that knowledge like a weight on his shoulders, an assumption of greatness that even his classmates had to recognize despite only being together a day. Izuku couldn’t imagine that having someone like Endeavor as a father would have made that any easier. Were egos like that hereditary? Probably not.
“I’m not at Yuuei to make friends,” Todoroki continued, and this time he did push past Izuku as he spoke.
Izuku should have let it go at that. Todoroki was his own person. If he didn’t want to be friends with Izuku, then he could join the club. Friendship hadn’t even been on Izuku’s mind. Still though, Izuku had a habit for sticking his nose into delicate situations, and he couldn’t stop himself from calling out to Todoroki’s retreating back.
“It’s your choice,” he said, his voice loud in the quiet hallway. Todoroki didn’t turn, but his steps slowed at Izuku’s words. “But I think that’s really dumb.”
Todoroki did turn at that, eyes blazing, but Izuku pushed on before his classmate could interrupt. “Heroes can’t do everything alone. Even they need help sometimes. Look how many teams and partnerships there are? We are going to need our classmates to get through the next three years, and the relationships we form now will have a huge impact on our futures as pro heroes. I know your dad it used to working on his own but-”
Izuku didn’t realize the danger he was stepping into until it was too late. Todoroki had closed the distance between them in seconds, eyes as cold as ice. Izuku automatically started to step back, but forced himself to stand firm.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. I am not Endeavor,” Todoroki growled, “and I don’t need anyone else’s help.”
Just as quickly, Todoroki was gone, disappearing around the corner at the end of the hall and leaving Izuku to wonder what exactly had just happened.
Toshinori hadn’t made an appearance at dinner in the week leading up to Yuuei’s first day, so Izuku wasn’t sure what to expect from All Might’s appearance for the practical. It wasn’t that his absence was all that strange. He still seemed uncomfortable around them and their easy relationships, and he didn’t show up more often than not. Still, Toshinori seemed to have less of an understanding of what discretion meant than even even Hizashi, despite the secret of his quirk that he had managed to keep hidden for so long. If Hizashi had struggled to keep their relationship quiet, then meeting All Might could be disastrous.
Izuku had already started running through possible stories for why All Might would know him, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Besides a small nod in Izuku’s direction and a thumbs up, All Might didn’t do anything that could have given him away. Instead he simply gathered the class together, instructed them to change, and led them out to the location of their first practical.
The location looked familiar, a closed in area with towering buildings, hanging pipes, and dusty streets. It wasn’t the same arena, but the two had clearly been built following the same basic design. Two years removed from that test against Aizawa’s former students, and Izuku still hated the bitter sting of that close lose. He had been so close to winning, so close to proving them wrong despite his limited training, and he had lost at the literal last second.
It was ridiculous to feel bad about that situation. Nedzu had designed it on purpose so that everything in the test was against him. He shouldn’t let it get to him after all this time. Still, he knew that if he were to face that same challenge now the results wouldn’t even be close to the same. Izuku hadn’t been able to see it himself at the time, overwhelmed as he felt facing that challenge, but Aizawa had been right. Those students hadn’t taken the program seriously, and it would have only ended in disaster if they had remained as they were.
When they finally reached their destination, All Might stood across from them, watching everyone appraisingly. Izuku wondered what it was like for the rest of the class having the number one hero acting as their instructor. He could imagine easily enough what his reaction would have been if he were a normal student, if he hadn’t had Aizawa for the last two years and didn’t know the truth about All Might’s personality. The persona he wore as All Might couldn’t be called fake, but now that Izuku had the chance to get to know him a little better, it wasn’t difficult to see the parts of his personality that he exaggerated as All Might. A little more cheerfulness, a little more confidence.
Maybe, Izuku thought, this was his true personality. Not exaggerated, just who he would have been all the time if his injury had never happened. Izuku was in the unique experience out of his classmates to see both sides of the hero, but that didn’t mean that he was in any better position to judge. Aizawa or Hizashi were sure to know. They had both known All Might for much longer, but asking them didn’t seem like an option. One, because he didn’t think Aizawa would appreciate the questions about Toshinori. He couldn’t argue with his appearance at Inko’s for dinner, but his mentor still held a significant amount of annoyance for the way Toshinori had approached Izuku.
Izuku also didn’t think that it was really any of his business. There was a fine line between being curious about something and invading someone’s privacy, and Izuku didn’t want to cross it. Asking about the effects that injury had on Toshinori seemed like a solid line. If Toshinori wanted Izuku to know more about what had happened or his life before his injury, then he would tell him. Otherwise, Izuku was fine letting his curiosity surrounding the subject die.
“I would have preferred for you all to use this practical as a chance to test out your hero costume,” All Might said, drawing Izuku’s attention back to the fact that he was actually in class at the moment. “Unfortunately, it will be some time before those are ready. They still have another round of reviews to go through before they can be sent to production, so if you haven’t sent your updated forms to the safety office, please do so as soon as possible. The sooner everyone turns those in, the sooner you can get started practicing with your costumes!”
“Now!” All Might gestured to the buildings around them. “I’m sure you are curious about what we will be doing today! This practical has been designed as a test of sorts to let me know where you all stand in terms of strategizing and the practical use of your quirks. In teams of two, you will enter this building behind me. One pair will act as the villains while the other will be playing the heroes. Inside this building is a model missile. The villains’ job will be to guard the missile until the allotted time has been reached signifying the missile’s successful launch. The heroes’ objective will be to freeze the timer by touching a hand to the model, preventing the launch from occurring. Simple enough, right?”
There was a small murmur of agreement, but otherwise silence. Izuku could guess at what they were thinking. This was the kind of test they had been expecting from Aizawa the day before. A chance to show off their quirks to their classmates. They hadn’t taken Aizawa’s test as seriously as they should have, but the tension after All Might’s explanation was heavy.
“Your partner and opponents for this exercise will be chosen at random.” All Might waved a hand to the box beside him. “We’ll be choosing names between each round, so don’t worry about when you’ll be going. Now, I’m sure you’re all tired of hearing me talk. We might as well get onto the real fun,” All Might said, reaching into the box. “Our first villains will be...Ojiro and Hagakure! And our first heroes….Todoroki and Shoji! Villains, your time starts now!” The two ‘villains’ startled at the sudden start, but headed into the building without comment.
To keep things fair, there was no way for the rest of the students to watch Ojiro and Hagakure’s preparation, so Izuku turned his attention to Todoroki and Shoji. Shoji’s quirk was one of the most interesting to consider the application’s of. Quirks that manifested as some kind of physical change weren’t that uncommon, but most of them were like Ojiro’s. Extra appendages or strength modification. The ability to replicate specific organs though? No two quirks were alike, but Izuku hadn’t heard of anything even similar to what Shoji could do. There were so many questions Izuku wanted to ask him, but he doubted Shoji would appreciate a complete stranger bombarding him before they had even had a real conversation.
As the clock ticked down to the real start of the test, Shoji glanced between his new partner and All Might. To Izuku, it looked as if Shoji was on the verge of saying something, but every time he seemed to convince himself that he should, he would glance at Todoroki and cut himself off. Where Shoji’s nerves were obvious to anyone who cared to look, Todoroki still stood with the same impassive mask that he always seemed to wear.
And it was a mask, Izuku thought, or something very much like it. Otherwise, what had that conversation been about earlier? People didn’t go around declaring that they didn’t want to make friends for no reason at all. Even Bakugou, who Izuku felt sure he would always use as a measure of prickliness, had friends-wanted friends. He hadn’t had the time to reflect on everything that had happened in the hallway, but he would eventually.
“Five minutes are up!” All Might announced. “Heroes, the countdown to the launch has begun!”
Todoroki and Shoji entered the building, and Izuku wished that they were allowed to see what happened once the round officially started because one second they were staring at a boring building, simultaneously thinking that they had imagined this test being a lot more fun to watch when ice erupted from every opening on the second floor. One second the building was clear and the next it almost exploded with the force of the growth, sharpened points peeking out of every window, their jagged edges glistening in the morning sun.
Izuku jumped with the majority of 1-A at the sound of the crack, as All Might whistled appreciatively. Almost as soon as they had settled from that shock an alarm sounded, a green light flashing over the entrance to the building. “And that would be the end of this round. The heroes have saved the day!”
A moment later, Shoji exited the building alone. He looked shaken, but uninjured. “What happened?” The redhead-Kirishima, Izuku thought his name was-asked when Shoji was close to their group again. Kirishima looked at Shoji concerned, noticing the way that their classmate was shaking. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I didn’t have the chance to do anything,” Shoji said, face pale. “As soon as we saw them and the missile in one of the rooms on the second floor, he froze them in place...I thought I was going to get caught in it too, but it was so controlled. Todoroki’s in there now, thawing them out. I don’t think they were injured by it either.”
“He froze them in place!”
“That’s insane!”
“As expected from a recommendation student!”
Izuku wondered what they would say if they knew that he was also a recommendation student, but that was just him being petty. He glanced at Yaoyorozu. His fellow recommendation student smiled when she realized he was looking at her and inclined her head towards him. They had both gotten details about the recommendation students as part of the demonstrations, but it hadn’t gone into much besides the basics. There was a difference between knowing that Todoroki could control ice and the fact that he had taken over the entire floor of a building in a second. Izuku and Yaoyorozu would both have to step up their game if they were going to keep up with him.
“Don’t worry, young Shoji. You will have another opportunity to show what you can do,” All Might said, laying a hand on Shoji’s shoulder. “This is only the first exercise of many.”
“All Might-sensei,” Izuku asked, mentally wincing as All Might looked in his direction with eyes too wide. Quickly, Izuku hurried on. “Will be be able to watch the footage from everyone’s rounds later?”
“Yes, Midoriya, my boy. Tomorrow’s class will be devoted almost entirely to breaking down the footage we are gathering today.”
Izuku nodded. If Todoroki could freeze someone in place like Shoji said, then Izuku would need to come up with some kind of counter for that. He might be able to set the charge in his rods, and hit the ice, but that wouldn’t always work depending on the thickness of the ice and the limited amount of charge he was allowed to work with at the time. Maybe Mei would have some ideas. If not, he was sure that her mother would be happy to help.
When Todoroki, Ojiro, and Hagakure finally exited the building, All Might moved them along to the next one in the line. “I had several buildings set up as possible tests,” he explained to the group. “Another teacher warned me something like this might happened.” Todoroki had apparently melted the ice enough to get their classmates free, but hadn’t done anything about the ice that covered the rest of the floor. It would melt on its own, but there was no way for them to continue the testing in that building as it was.
Once they reached the new building, All Might reached into his box and pulled out two more names. “Our next villains are…Bakugou Katsuki and Uraraka Ochako!”
Izuku knew that Bakugou wouldn’t be too pleased with having to play the role of the villain, but what he hadn’t expected was the exasperated expression on his face as the friendly girl who had greeted him in the classroom the day before moved to his side.
“Well, would you look at that, Bakugou-kun. It seems like it’s your lucky day,” Uraraka said grinning, the tilt to her head as she looked at her new partner giving Izuku the impression that she knew exactly what she was dealing with and wasn’t accustomed to backing down easily. If Bakugou had finally met his match in one Uraraka Ochako, Izuku wanted to be her new best friend. Her smile was oddly reminiscent of Mei’s, although a little less evil scientist and a little more sweet. Suddenly, Izuku had the overwhelming urge to introduce the two of them.
Those plans would have to wait though. Izuku would need to talk to Uraraka, but his train of thought was broken when he heard All Might call his name.
“And our heroes….. Midoriya Izuku and Iida Tenya!”