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Chapter Text

    Izuku Midoriya was not diagnosed as quirkless at the age of four. It was revealed that what his mother thought was a slip in her quirk control, was actually her son's own quirk.

    Inko smiled while her baby tried out his quirk, pulling various items towards him, muttering rapidly while he did so. She laughed with him when it turned out when he pulled something too large, he got pulled towards it. She knew he’d end up a hero, it was just something she could feel.

    The day their small family got the news, they took a trip over to the Bakugo’s, to share the news, and have tea. Inko and Mitsuki were high school sweethearts, but broke up after they both found love in other places. They were still best friends though. Their boys also happened to be best friends.

    “Kacchan! I got my quirk! It’s the same as my mommas! We can be an epic hero duo now!” Izuku cheered, and Katsuki nodded “Good. How are you going to use Auntie’s quirk to fight villains though? It’s kinda weak.” He replied, earning warning glare from his mother, “I can steal their weapons then fight them so i’ll have the advantage!” Izuku replied excitedly, and that seemed to satisfy Katsuki. They then ran off to play.

-

    “Katsuki, I swear to my mother, if you make your hero name King Explosion Murder, I will rip out your intestines and strangle you with them.” Midoriya playfully threatened, as the duo walked home from their school. Bakugo shoved him, “Fine, i’ll make it Lord Explosion Murder.” Midoriya shoved his head into his hands. “Do it, you won’t.” Bakugo grinned, looking like a madman. “You think I'm a coward? Dumbass, you better get ready, the best hero around is going to be fucking Lord Explosion Murder.”

     That day, school had been discussing future careers, where most of his class had been talked out of heroics, (like losers). It was fairly obvious that they didn’t actually want to be heroes though. They were stopping at a local store because Izuku’s mother needed a particular thing for dinner, when a bottle filled with a suspicious sludge popped open. 

     “Ah, two choices for a meat suit, let’s go left!” Was the only warning the junior high boys had before the sludge lunged at them, knocking Midoriya out of the way, before enveloping Bakugo.

     “Katsuki! Let him go!” Midoriya yelled, staring at the sludge where its eyes had appeared. Bakugo had begun using his quirk trying escape the sludge, “Wow! I chose a good one, this quirk is great! Now settle down, it’ll only hurt for a minute.” Midoriya inhaled sharply, this thing was going to kill his best friend. He couldn’t let that happen. And his quirk happened to be a good matchup for this thing.

     “Hey! Sludge guy! Let my friend go!” Midoriya yelled, and the villain only laughed, “Or what?” Midoriya looked at his friend, drowning in front of him. “I’ll make you.” And he pulled. The villain's eyes seemed easiest, and while it was gross, that’s the way Katsuki would have a chance to breathe. 

    The sludge villain screamed, retracting the sludge from Bakugo’s throat for a moment, and he gasped for air, and Midoriya kept pulling, now for the sludge trying to renter his friend. While the villain was distracted, Bakugo shifted to aim his explosions at the villain, not caring how it hurt his wrists.

     Bakugo slowly made progress in blowing away the sludge, while Midoriya kept the sludge from going back down his throat again, seeming to be coming more rapidly now, until a flash of yellow and blue passed them, pulling Bakugo from the sludge.

     “Worry not, my boys, for I am here.” All Might. The two wannabe heroes watched as All Might shoveled the villain into a heavy duty bottle.

      “I apologize for not being here sooner, but you two handled yourselves admirably. However, unlicensed quirk use is illegal. It will be looked over this time, as your quirks were only used in self defense.” All Might said, in a warning tone, and Midoriya looked down at his backpack, he hadn’t thought about that. But this was an opportunity he wouldn’t pass up.

     “Can you sign my notebook?” All Might nodded his head, “Of course!” Bakugo looked dumbfounded as Midoriya handed the number one hero his notebook.

     Then as soon as he’d come, he was gone.

     “Holy shit. That happened. Are you alright?” Midoriya turned to ask, and Bakugo nodded his head.

      “Auntie’s going to be pissed that we’re late.” Izuku shook his head, “Nah, she’s somehow going to know about this, and I won’t be allowed to leave the house till i’m married.” Bakugo snorted, “Dumbass.” Midoriya shoved him, “Ew you have villain on you” And Midoriya looked at the sludge in disgust.

     The two walked towards Bakugo’s house, without the groceries Inko had wanted. “You two! Why are you late? What are you covered in?” Inko immediately questioned, and Izuku looked down.

     “So, we kind of got involved in a villain attack because it attacked Katsuki, and then we had to keep him from dying, but All Might saved us so it’s fine but we couldn’t get the groceries.” Midoriya muttered rapidly, and Mitsuki walked over. “My brat got attacked? Are either of you hurt? Why wasn’t I informed?” She rapidly questioned them, and they both shrugged when asked why she wasn’t informed.

      Inko shook her head, “You two stink, go shower, we were staying over tonight anyways. I will go pick up what we need from the store, and i’ll grab your spare uniform, Izuku.” The boys nodded, Mitsuki ruffled Katsuki’s hair before he walked off, earning a grumble, “Glad you're alright brat.” 

-

     “Well, today was eventful.” Midoriya muttered from his place on the floor. Katsuki nodded his head, “You got that right, what’re you doing?” Midoriya looked up from his notebook, “Trying to figure out my fighting style, and how it’d compliment my quirk.” 

     “Plus, if done properly, I could use my quirks limit to my advantage.” That caught Bakugo’s attention, because if Midoriya tried to pull something too big, instead of it coming to him, he goes to it. “How would you do that?” Midoriya beamed.

     “I could use it to throw off my opponent’s balance, by pulling them around at different angles. I also could steal any weapons they have, but that means I need to get better at more weapons. I’m shit at knives, mediocre with bows, good with a staff, proficient at nunchucks, which will probably never be used though. Mom won’t let me learn how to use guns though, I could probably get professionally trained by a hero once we get to UA.” Katsuki nodded along, snorting at the mention of nunchucks, because he hasn’t seen anyone, hero or villain ever use those.

     “I’m just going to blow them to hell.” Midoriya chuckled, “Alright, you do you.” He replied, and continued scribbling in his notebook. 

     The two eventually went to bed, so they wouldn’t be dead on their feet the next day. They’d go to school, and everything would be the same. Ten months until they can try out for UA.

-

     Midoriya woke up, and rubbed his eyes, he walked out of Katsuki’s bedroom and pulled his spare uniform into his hand with his quirk. He went to the bathroom and got dressed, and went about his morning routine, before sitting down at the table to eat breakfast with his mother and the Bakugo’s.  

     “You two submitted your high school applications yesterday didn’t you? I know UA was your top choice, but what are your other options?”

Bakugo’s father asked, and Katsuki looked offended. “Not that I doubt that you’ll get into UA, I'm only curious.” He added, and Katsuki seemed to calm down at that.

     “I had Ketsubetsu and Shiketsu.” Midoriya says, and Bakugo nods, “Same.” They had small talk, before Izuku and Katsuki had to leave for school.

    They walk out the door, and start their walk to school, when they pass by an ally with yelling coming from it. “Villain! You were planning on brainwashing us, weren’t you?” Two guys towered over another, who seemed tired of the whole situation. They kept harassing him, not even noticing Midoriya storming towards them, while his friend watched in confusion.

     “What are you doing? Leave that guy alone!” Midoriya said, and the purple haired boy looked shocked, while the two harassing him laughed.

“Why are you defending a villain? He brainwashes people! We’re doing civil service!” The purple haired boy looked exasperated, “It’s fine.” And Midoriya fumed.

     “Alright! If quirks are all that matter, my quirk is the attraction of small objects, and your dicks clearly fit the bill, so leave him alone or i’ll rip your dick off.” Only one of the two backed off, walking away, muttering about how he’s not taking any chances with that, while the other scoffed. “Wimpy quirk to match a wimpy user.” He said, and Midoriya pulled his ear down, so he’d be at his level, “Don’t test me, I don’t tolerate assholes, so you’re going to leave him alone.” He rolled his eyes and walked away, after Midoriya released him. 

     “Thanks, nobody’s ever done that.. Well, my name is Shinso, what about you?” Midoriya turned, “Well that’s sad, and everyone wants to be a hero these days, but they do this crap. I’m Midoriya, that’s Bakugo, he doesn’t usually look like he’s going to shit his pants.” Shinso snorted at that, waving to Bakugo. “Well, i’m going to be a hero, and hopefully a good one, so people stop being so horrible to people with quirks like mine.” Midoriya smiled in response, “Me and Katsuki are too, good luck!” Then they parted ways.

      “Bitch, I didn’t look like I was going to shit my pants. Fucking nerd. Do you think you could actually rip someone’s dick off though?” Midoriya shrugged, “I don’t particularly want to find out, it’s a good threat though.” Bakugo nodded “Heh, coward.” Midoriya rolled his eyes.

     Ten more months at Aldera, then they’d start their journey to become heroes.

Applicant Name: Izuku Midoriya

School Name: Aldera Jr. High

Age: 14

Birthday: July 15, 20XX

Gender: Male

Medical History: Medicated for an anxiety disorder. Prescribed painkiller for chronic pain caused by a severe arm break at a young age. One surgery done at a young age to set broken arm.

Quirk: Attraction

Quirk Explanation: My quirk allows the user to attract objects under the size of eighteen inches in length, width, and height. It is not affected by the weight of the object. If an object is too large, the user will instead be pulled towards the object, instead of it being pulled to them. Drawbacks include headaches, and migraines with severe overuse.

Skills: Quirk analysis, archery, bo staff, nunchucks, basic parkour skills.

School History: No referrals, suspensions, or expulsions.

Chapter Text

    Ten months passed by way too quickly. It felt like they hadn’t had any time to prepare. Midoriya tucked his knee pads into his backpack with the rest of his practical exam outfit, he probably would need them, because the odds of them fighting in the exam were pretty high. It was a hero school after all. He slung his backpack over his shoulder, and waved goodbye to his mother, who wished him luck.

    It was a short walk to the train, where he did some last minute studying. “Entrance exams, huh? What school are you going for?” Midoriya looked up, it was an elderly man, with a bag from a local sweets store. “UA sir, I'm going for the hero course!” The man grunted, “Goodluck kid, i’ve heard those exams are brutal.” He walked off, leaving Midoriya to his own devices. Well now he was nervous. 

    The train ride felt short, and before he knew it, Midoriya was facing UA. He tripped. Of course he did, but as he fell, he stopped. He was hovering.

    “Hey! Sorry for using my quirk on you, but I thought it’d be bad luck to fall before the exam!” Midoriya was released from the quirk, so he turned around. A girl with short brown hair and rosy cheeks. “Thanks! I’m really clumsy, I probably would’ve broken my nose.” Midoriya says jokingly, and the girl laughs, before they part ways. He had a feeling that wouldn’t be the last he sees of her.

     Midoriya made his way into his testing room, where Bakugo sat down next to him, a serious look on his face. Present Mic tried a call and response, but that failed. Miserably.

     The test begins. Midoriya opens the packet, and the first question is math. He notices a few other examinees looking at the test confused, but he turns his attention back to the test. It doesn’t seem too difficult.

     As the timer runs down, people begin to turn in their tests, scribbling at their papers. Some look terrified, and others seem almost bored. One boy had begun crying, and left the room. Midoriya had a feeling he wouldn’t pass. The last question was an essay. There was one for each course.

Business Course: What type of business work do you want to go into? And why is UA your school of choice to achieve this?

General Studies: What career do you plan on pursuing after graduating? Why did you choose UA as the school to prepare you for this?

Support Course: What do you plan on doing after graduation? How would learning at UA help you achieve this?

Hero Course: What type of hero do you want to be, and why? Why choose UA to help you become that hero?

     That’s easy. He wants to help everyone. He wants to save people with a smile, and prove anyone can be a hero. He couldn’t live knowing he could have helped people but didn't. He began to write.

What type of hero do I want to be? The answer is simple, I want to be a hero who helps everyone. I want to save people with a smile, and as fake as it may sound, I couldn’t live knowing I could help people but didn’t. 

Like many, I want to go into Limelight Heroics. This is because I want to help people in more ways than one. Growing up, I was told a number of times my quirk didn’t fit the bill of a hero's quirk, so i’ll prove anyone can be a hero. Weak quirk, strong quirk, ‘villainous’ quirk, or no quirk. 

UA is the best choice to achieve this dream, because UA produces top tier heroes, who help people the way I want too. Heroes like All Might, who smile and put the world at ease, heroes like Best Jeanist, who show even unconventional quirks are heroic, or Gang Orca, who proves even ‘scary’ quirks are heroic. 

     Midoriya knew his response was short, but that’s all he needed. He raised his hand so one of Ectoplasm's copies would take up his exam. The first step is done.

-

     All the students were ushered into a line, where they told their exam number, and were given a slip of paper, telling them what ground they’d be taking the practical on. Midoriya was on ground five. Bakugo was on ground two.

     They were led to the locker rooms, so they could get ready for the practical. He had an hour and a half to prepare. He decided he’d go ahead and get changed, then eat lunch in his practical outfit. He’d created an idea of a fighting style, if he was up against people in the exam. But that was unlikely.

      He would be wearing a loose fit shirt and some pants he could move in with his knee pads on. He met up with Bakugo, and sat down at an empty table. They opened their lunches, and started to eat. “How’d yours go?” Midoriya asked, and Bakugo scoffed, “Easy as hell, what about you?” Midoriya shrugged, when something caught his eye.

     “Holy crap! It’s Shinso! Katsuki i’m going to say hi!” Bakugo looked at Midoriya in confusion, while he bounced off to the purple haired guy. Oh, that was when he threatened to rip those guys' dicks off. Very heroic.

      Midoriya eventually came back, Shinso in tow, who looked disturbed with the interaction. “Who are you and what have you done with the skinny short kid who threatened to rip two massive guys' er- genitals off?” Midoriya snorted, but Shinso sat with them regardless.

     “Sorry if this sounds rude, but what are your quirks? I know the ripper over here can attract things, but what are the details?” Bakugo rolled his eyes, but letting a few small explosions pop from his hands, “That’s it, but bigger. They’re pretty hot, so unless you’re a dumbass, be careful while i’m firing off.” Shinso nodded his head, holding back his comment on perfect hero quirks. 

     “Like I said, it’s the attraction of small objects, but if I ignore that, and the thing is too big instead of it coming to me, I get pulled to it. Size is really the only thing that matters.” Midoriya explained, and Shinso grinned, “That’s what she said.”

      Bakugo grunted in amusement, while Midoriya only looked offended. 

      After eating, they began to warm up for the practical, like most other examine’s. They parted ways, and walked to their own testing grounds. He took a deep breath. 

     “HELLO AGAIN! WELCOME TO THE SECOND PART OF THE UA HEROICS COURSE EXAM, NOW I WILL EXPLAIN THE RULES!”

     It was starting.

     “YOUR GOAL IS TO GET AS MANY POINTS AS YOU CAN, BY EITHER DESTROYING OR FLIPPING THE LEVER ON OUR MASSIVE ROBOTS! THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF ROCKING ROBOTS, ONE, TWO, AND THREE POINTER ROBOTS!” Midoriya followed along on the packet he was given, showing images of the robots. “Excuse me Sir! You only explained three robots, when there are clearly four on the packet! This is most unprofessional of UA!” Yelled a voice from behind Midoriya.

      Blue hair, glasses, and towering over Midoriya. He had engines in his legs, and was interrupting Present Mic. “RIGHT YOU ARE LISTENER! HOWEVER, YOU DID NOT LET ME FINISH! THAT IS THE ZERO POINTER, A TERRIFYING OBSTACLE, THAT GIVES YOU NO POINTS, SO YOU'RE PROBABLY BEST IGNORING IT!” Midoriya looked at the robot, it seemed much larger than the others. The gates began to open.

     “ARE YOU LISTENERS READY? GO!” Everyone hesitated for a moment, before dashing forward, searching for robots. Midoriya quickly found a two pointer, pulling the switch down with his quirk, on account that the robot towered over him, so the only way for the lever to move was towards him. He tallied it in his head, before running for another robot.

     He found a three pointer and a one pointer in an alleyway, with another applicant struggling to destroy them both. Midoriya decided to take down the three pointer, earning an offended, but slightly relieved look aimed his way. He offered a thumbs up, asking for confrontation that he was alright, because even if this was a test, and they were competing, he couldn’t be a jerk.

     Finding robots quickly became difficult, as people got more frantic, Midoriya had ‘stolen’ about twelve points worth away from other applicants. He had thirty seconds, and thirty two villain points. It was better than a lot of people he’d heard, so he had hope. That’s when the ground started rumbling, and everyone started running the other way.

     A towering robot, at least ten stories tall, coming towards them. He turned to leave, when he heard a yell for help. Midoriya turned back around, earning a questioning glare from the boy who’d interrupted Present Mic. It was the girl who’d helped him. She was stuck under a massive rock, right in the warpath of the zero pointer. So he ran to her.

     “Can your quirk lift this?” He asked, and she shook her head, “I overused it, I won’t be able to hold it long enough to move it.” Midoriya nodded in response. He wasn’t strong enough to move the rubble, so he scanned the robot, looking for the switch.

      Right at the base of the robots ‘neck’. He could do that, and if he couldn’t? UA has Recovery Girl.

     Midoriya took a deep breath, “I’m going to stop the robot. The teachers can lift the rubble, i’m not strong enough to move it, but I can stop the robot with my quirk, so it won’t make things worse.” He heard her ask how he'd do that, but it didn’t register, as he was deep in thought. He looked at the robot, aiming for the shoulder plate right next to the switch. It was definitely too large for him to attract, so it was perfect.

     He felt the invisible string of his quirk, and yanked, sending him into the air, towards the robot. It was terrifying up close, but Midoriya shook off that thought, gripping onto the robot for dear life. He climbed on top of it, and took the switch down with a yank from his quirk.

     And the movement stopped. “The practical exam has concluded, please make your way to the entrance, and allow Recovery Girl to treat any injuries.” Midoriya looked down, seeing the girl being rescued from the rubble. She looked up at him, before saying something to Recovery Girl, who nodded her head, saying something back. They made eye contact, and Midoriya pointed at her, sending her a thumbs up. She seemed to understand his gesture, asking if she was alright, and sent one back.

-

     “Cementoss is needed at testing ground five, we have a student stuck.”

     “Isn’t that usually a Recovery Girl and Present Mic thing?”

     “No, a student is stuck on top of a robot.”

     “Tell them to jump? The robots aren’t that tall?”

      “No, the zero pointer.” A groan came from the other side of the phone.

      “How the hell did a student get stuck on top of the zero pointer? I’m on my way.” Cementoss stood up, leaving his seat in the lounge. This was going to be a sight to see.

     The pro made his way to the exam ground, where he’ll be damned, there was a kid stuck on the shoulder of the zero pointer. Recovery Girl looked at him, “He was saving another applicant from getting crushed, because she was stuck under the rubble and couldn’t lift it.” He nodded along, listening, before touching his hand to the ground, to send a pillar to reach the boy.

     Midoriya internally fanboyed when a pillar of concrete came to rescue him from the robot, he didn’t think he would’ve been able to get down on his own, as it was hard to time descent with his quirk properly, and he didn’t want to mess up and die. The pillar came down, forming back into the road, and Midoriya stepped off. “Thank you very much! Sorry for getting stuck, I didn’t want to mess up the timing to get down from so high up and fall.” Cementoss smiled, be careful, if you become a pro, there won’t be anyone to get you down if you get stuck.” Midoriya nodded, taking the words to heart.

     He was dismissed, where he met up with Bakugo. “The hell took you so long?” Midoriya looked at him slightly guilty, “I might have gotten stuck on the zero pointer.” 

     Bakugo burst into howling laughter. “How the hell did you manage that? Dumbass, they had to come save you?” Midoriya kicked his shin, rolling his eyes, “Come on, we’ve got to go.” Bakugo did not stop laughing the entire walk to the train. Or the walk home after the train. Or at dinner.

     “How many points did you get? I got like seventy I think.” Midoriya’s jaw dropped, “Holy shit, if that’s the standard I hella failed! I only got thirty two!” 

     Bakugo raised his hand in dismissal, “You’ll be fine, most of the extras in my group were muttering about how they only got like twelve points.” Midoriya shrugged his shoulders, skimming through the UA website, looking for when acceptance letters would be released. A week. Seven days would determine his future. Hopefully he’ll get in.

-

     On the first day after the exam, he’d almost forgot that he’d taken the exam, since he’d overused his quirk, and fallen asleep the second he’d hit his pillow. 

     On the second day, the Bakugo’s came over for lunch, and ended up staying for dinner.

     On the third day, Midoriya started getting antsy, and went for a long run.

     On the fourth day, the rejection letters from UA were sent, so he celebrated with Bakugo, because they both got into general studies at least.

     On the fifth day, UA announced that acceptance letters had been sent.

      On the sixth day, Midoriya, scanned the internet meticulously, looking for evidence of any letters being sent out.

     On the seventh day, the letter arrived. 

     “It’s here! Oh my god! Mom, i’m going to my room to open it!” His mother smiled, “No matter what that letter says Izuku, you did amazing.”

     Midoriya sat at his desk, the letter still closed. It was now or never.

     “I AM HERE! IN A LETTER! I AM ALSO HERE TO INFORM YOU, IZUKU MIDORIYA, THAT YOU SCORED A HIGH SCORE OF 92% ON THE WRITTEN EXAM! YOU GOT A SCORE OF 33 POINTS ON THE PRACTICAL EXAM, HOWEVER, THERE WAS A PART OF THE TEST THAT YOU WERE NOT INFORMED OF! THE RESCUE POINTS. WITH YOUR HEROIC WILL TO HELP OTHERS, YOU EARNED 40 RESCUE POINTS, PUTTING YOU AT 73 POINTS AND SECOND PLACE IN THE EXAM. CONGRATULATIONS, MIDORIYA IZUKU, THIS IS YOUR HERO ACADEMIA.”

     He did it. Midoriya opened his room door, letter in tow, “I did it.” Inko began sobbing about how her baby was going to be a hero. Midoriya decided to read the letter that came with the disk.

Dear Midoriya Izuku, congratulations! You have been accepted into UA’s Class 1-A with a score of 92% on the written exam, and 73 points on the practical. 

Here, you will find your class schedule, hero costume design sheet, and uniform order form. 

If there are any concerns about your enrollment at UA, please check the FAQ on the UA website, then email the school, using the link on the website.

Congratulations,

• UA High School

     Midoriya looked through the letter, first looking at the hero costume form. There was an option to design your own costume, or fill out your information and let the designers do it. Yeah, he’d be designing his own.

     He was knocked out of his thoughts when his phone rang. 

     “Katsuki! How’d you do? I got in!” Bakugo scoffed on the opposite side of the phone as if it was obvious. 

     “90% on the written and first place on the practical. What were your specific scores, because they added the rescue points.”   

     “I got 92% on the written, and seventy three total points. I got forty rescue points from my stunt with the zero pointer, and just not being useless.” Bakugo grunted, “Come over, I'm going to make sure you don’t look like an idiot. With your fashion sense your hero costume is going to have fucking bunny ears on it.” Midoriya weakly defended his fashion taste, before agreeing. His mom quickly agreed, and they made their way over.

     “Congratulations Izuku! You and my brat are going to be in the same class, huh?” Midoriya nodded, happily, while Bakugo waved him over. Mitsuki let him leave, and Katsuki led Izuku to his room.

     Izuku and Katsuki ended up working late into the night, designing, and tweaking their costumes, both feeling empowered, because they had made the first step into becoming heroes. They were on the track to following their dreams.

Chapter Text

     Midoriya groaned, throwing the now wrinkled tie into his backpack, maybe Katsuki would know how the hell these things worked. He didn’t think he could be blamed, it’s not like he had a father to teach him how to tie a tie. Midoriya chuckled at his bad joke.

     He gave his sobbing mother a hug, before leaving for UA. Last time he’d walked that path, he was going to take a test, now, he was a student. His temporary ID felt heavy in his pocket, but like the smallest thing would shatter it immediately. He caught the attention of a few students, going to other high schools, some who looked jealous. 

     On the train ride, he’d decided to pull a last ditch attempt to tie his tie, when the same old man as the one he’d seen on his way to the entrance exam met eyes with him. “You’re doing it all wrong, zygote, let me help.” Midoriya reluctantly let the short man show him how to tie his tie, ignoring the man calling him a zygote. “Thank you very much, sir!” The man waved his hand in dismissal, “It’s the least I could do. Good job on getting in the hero course.” Midoriya smiled, looking at the properly done tie.

    “I’m Sorahiko Torino, I’ll help you out with that troublesome tie if you need it.” The man said, his voice sounding more rough then the previous times they’d spoken. “I’m Izuku Midoriya, sir!” The man snorted, “No need for those formalities, just call me Torino.” Midoriya nodded his head, when the train came to his stop.

     He bid Torino goodbye, and he’d waved back. It was an odd interaction, the old man had just come up and demanded to do his tie, Midoriya thought that’s what Katsuki would be like when he gets old.

      Katsuki was going to have a field day with that interaction, ‘Hah! An old guy was so tired at your sad attempts, so he did it for you!’

     The UA doorway looked infinitely larger than it had when he’d taken the exam, but now, everyone was in uniform. He passed people with no clear quirks, and clear mutations, that Midoriya had never seen. Then, he finally found the doorway for Class 1-A. It was huge, it made him think of Mount Lady.

     He hesitates, before pushing the door open, only to be greeted by the engine boy yelling at Katsuki, who had his feet up on the desk, sticking his tongue out at him. Shinso was snickering at the scene from his spot in the corner, while other students seemed shocked at the interaction.

     “You must take your feet down! This is incredibly disrespectful to the desk, and the former UA students who used it! You heathen!”

     “Well now I’m that UA student. So you can suck it.”

     Midoriya snorted, throwing his bag down near Bakugo’s desk, “Don’t be an ass Katsuki, I know you weren’t raised in a barn, what do you think Auntie would say?” Bakugo scoffed, but brought his feet down. The engine boy turned to him.

     “Hello, I am Tenya Iida, from Someii Private Academy!” Midoriya smiled, slightly amused with his sudden change in mood, “I’m Izuku Midoriya, that’s Katsuki Bakugo, he’s usually not that much of a jerk, we went to Aldera, since apparently that matters.” Midoriya reached to shake his hand, since he seemed like that kind of guy. He was, and Iida took his hand, firmly shaking it.

    “It is nice to meet you, it seems you saw more in the exam, so I admire you for that. I hope we can become friends.” Midoriya froze, what did he mean by that? Seeing something more? Did he mean rescue points? He didn’t know, so he just thanked Iida, sitting down. The classroom filled quickly, with people he recognized from the exam, and some he didn’t.

      Midoriya had begun talking to Uraraka, who was next to him, when a voice came from the doorway, catching everyone’s attention. “If you’re here to make friends, you can leave.” They all looked for the source of the voice, to find a yellow blob on the floor.

     The blob turned out to be a sleeping bag, revealing a very exhausted looking man with black hair and a scarf around his neck. Midoriya nearly combusted right then and there. Underground Pro Hero Eraserhead. Shinso seemed just as shocked as Midoriya, but they both concealed that to the best of their ability.

     “I will be your teacher for the year, my name is Shota Aizawa, or as I believe a few of you have recognized, Eraserhead. I will not hesitate to expel any of you who I deem lacking potential. I am here to make you a hero, not a corpse. Now, put on your gym uniforms.” The entire class seemed shocked by his introduction, and quickly complied with his demands.

     After quickly changing, and lining up, Aizawa made his way in front of them. “Bakugo, you had the highest score in the exam. What was your ball throw in middle school?”

     “79 meters.” He said smugly, and Midoriya rolled his eyes. “Now do it with your quirk.” Bakugo grinned madly, and Midoriya already knew what was coming.

     “DIE!” The ball launched out of their view in an instant. Aizawa turned to reveal his score, 705.2 meters. “Whoever comes in last in this series of tests will be deemed with no potential.” The class went down the line, throwing the ball, the most notable being Uraraka’s score of infinity. 

      Soon, it was Midoriya’s turn and he had no idea how he could use his quirk to help him with this. Well, Yaoyorozu did make a ball launcher that had pieces that fit his perimeters. Hopefully she wouldn’t be mad. He activated his quirk, pulling her creation to his hand, ignoring the looks on his classmates faces, this couldn’t be counted as cheating, right? He looked at Aizawa, who appeared indifferent, before loading the ball, and launching it. 889.73 meters, close to Yaoyorozu’s score. 

     “Okay, that has to be cheating right? If he has telekinesis, he should’ve just used it.” Aizawa looked at the boy who’d said with a certain look, that if looks could kill, he’d be dead one thousand times over. “No, he used his quirk with efficiency. There is no such thing as cheating in heroics, when the difference is life and death.” Midoriya sighed in relief, as he walked back to the line, after giving Yaoyorozu back her launcher, “I’m so sorry for taking it without asking, it was spur of the moment, I didn’t damage it.” She simply told him it was fine, and paid no attention to it.

      The next test was a long jump, there wasn’t much he could use to pull himself across, other than his taller classmates. Large objects never seemed to move when he pulled, so hopefully, this tall guy wouldn’t mind. He walked up to him, tapping him. “Yes?” Midoriya cleared his throat, “I was wondering if I could use you as an anchor for my quirk, since after you jump, you stay at the other side? It won’t hurt or anything!” The guy looked at him, and shrugged, “As long as it won’t affect me after.” The class went, until it was Midoriya’s turn, he pulled at the guy, who introduced himself as Shoji after Midoriya had asked to use him as an anchor. Midoriya pulled himself across without much of an issue, almost running into him, realizing his quirk just in time.

      He watched many members of the class get creative, Uraraka floating herself across, even if she did have to stop at the trash can right after. A boy with red and white hair slid across a slab of ice he’d made in the air. 

     After that, the tests got easier to come up with uses for his quirk on, if he could use it. He couldn’t use it for a few things, but he tried his best regardless. The entire class was crowded around their teacher, and he clicked his remote to reveal the list. Midoriya scanned the list, looking for his name. There. Number twelve, Izuku Midoriya. He was safe. He scanned to the bottom of the list, curious, and there was the name Toru Hagakure.

     He assumed Hagarukre was the pair of floating clothes, who was currently sobbing. “Nobody will be expelled today. It was all a logical ruse.” Hagakure’s sobbing began to stop, and the class was silent. Most of the class had a look of disbelief on his face, and Midoriya didn’t doubt he did too.

     “I wasn’t joking about expulsion though. You all have enough potential to make me think that if properly trained, you will not die on your first patrol.” Midoriya gulped, Aizawa’s expression was dead serious. He’ll do his best.

-

     The class was then dismissed to go get changed, and they talked among themselves in the locker room. The walk back to their next class seemed short, as they all sat down. It was creepily quiet, when someone they all recognized strutted in.

     “Hello listeners! I will be your English teacher for this year! You all know me as Present Mic, or as you’ll call me in class, Yamada-Sensei, but I don’t know anything about you! So what’s going to happen, listeners, is we’re going to go around the room and introduce ourselves!” Midoriya swore he had stars in his eyes. Present Mic was going to be his teacher! The first student stood up.

     “Bonjour, you may refer to me as Aoyama Yuga! I hope one day we can shine brightly together!” Said a blonde boy, who somehow sparkled in the fluorescent lights. The introductions continued, allowing Midoriya to finally put some names to faces. 

     Then it was his turn. Curse his anxiety, how could anyone like doing this? This was basically a free pass to judgment, and looking like an idiot! “I’m Midoriya Izuku! I hope we can be friends!” He introduced himself in an embarrassingly high voice. Midoriya wished for nothing but death.

     Yamada-Sensei had everyone fill out an ‘All About Me’ sheet, like the ones you got in grade school, and had them play games to break the ice. It was a chill class, a breath of fresh air from Mr. Aizawa’s expulsion threats, and Midoriya got to know a few of his classmates a bit. 

     The bell rung, and they finally had lunch. The cafeteria was massive, students of all different courses and ages filled the room. The lunch was amazing, and the lines took almost no time. Midoriya ended up sitting with Uraraka, Shinso, and Iida, who’d gotten acquainted with Uraraka. Asui ended up sitting with them too, as she didn’t really know anybody. They all exchanged small talk, complimenting UA’s lunches, because they were amazing.

     “Pardon me if this is disrespectful, Midoriya-kun, but what is your quirk? It seemed like telekinesis during the quirk apprehension test, but the way you used it led me to think otherwise.” Iida asked, and Midoriya smiled, “It’s actually the attraction of small objects, I call it lure.” Iida hummed, talking about how it is a fascinating quirk.

-

     The rest of the day passed quickly, and before he knew it, Midoriya was walking towards the station. He saw students from other schools waiting on their own trains, before he got on. He thought about Torino-san and decided that he’d tell his mom about him. He thinks she’d find the whole situation amusing.

     He checked his phone during the ride, and talked to a few young kids, who were excited to ride the train by themself, which happened every year. Midoriya got off, and walked his usual path home, considering stopping to get a snack. He decided against it, as his mother was probably ready to interrogate him about his day, as she’d done every year since she started school.

     It felt like summer never happened as he opened the door, and threw down his backpack, greeting his mom. 

     “Izuku! How was UA? Were your teachers nice? Did you make any friends?” Izuku chuckled in response.

     “Sit down, I'll tell you all about it.”

Chapter Text

     Inko had loved hearing about Torino, and forced her son to bring him cookies, and an invite to come to dinner. Izuku sighed, that was his mother alright, he left the house, his tie done how the old man had shown him. He got on the bus, sitting next to Torino.

      “Good morning, I see you remembered how to do that tie of yours?” Torino greeted him, and Midoriya smiled, “Yes sir, I told my mother about you, and she insisted you come for dinner, as well as have these cookies. You don’t need to come if you don’t want too, my mom just loves meeting people.” Midoriya replied, and Torino burst out laughing, catching the attention of many on the train. 

      “Yeah, I’ll come by, I'm not a busy man, tell me about your mother now.” He asked, looking at the cookies Midoriya’s mother had made. Midoriya complied, telling him about her. “She sounds like an old friend of mine.” He had a nostalgic look in his eyes, before seeming to snap out of it. 

      “This is my number, tell your mother to send me the details on the telephone. Your stop is soon, stay out of trouble, Zygote.” Midoriya simply nodded, taking the slip of paper. They shared a silence, as silent it could get with Mr. Torino munching on his mothers cookies.

      Midoriya got off the train, walking the remaining distance to UA, where it was loaded with reporters. A microphone was shoved in his face, “Is it true All Might is teaching at UA?” Midoriya stopped, staring the reporter in the eyes, noticing the rabid look in the other reporters eyes. He wasn’t sure what to do, without being harassed by the army of reporters.

     “My best friend doesn’t know how to swim because he got too scared of swimming pools, oceans, and lakes after watching Sharknado.” He said with a monotone voice and deadpan expression, and the puzzled look on the reporters face showed that he succeeded in his goal, and let him pass.

     “Is All Might a good teacher?”

     “Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.” It worked again. Saying something completely random and off topic seemed to work.

     He eventually made his way into UA, speed walking to his home room, collapsing into his seat. Only a few people had made it past, like Shoji, Hagakure, and Tokoyami. Plenty of time passed before the classroom filled with everyone else, and their teacher. Mr. Aizawa made his way to the front of the classroom.

     “You need a class president. I don’t care how you do it, just choose a president and vice-president.” He said it before collapsing to the floor, asleep.

     The room erupted into chaos, people yelling for others to vote for them. Iida eventually got everyone to settle for own system where they all cast a vote. Midoriya voted for Yaoyorozu, because she seemed responsible in the time they’d interacted.

Midoriya- 4 

Yaoyorozu-3

     Midoriya choked, how did that happen? Well, it’s not hurting anything. “Well, I’m not sure why you chose me, but I will do this job to the best of my ability!” Yaoyorozu agreed, and they both sat down. Aizawa somehow sensed that they were done, and got up to make announcements. 

     Nothing interesting happened until lunch, where halfway through, alarms began to blare. The cafeteria erupted into chaos. Everyone flooded into the hallways, and Midoriya was pulled into the tide of panicked students, when he was shoved into the wall. “It’s just the press?” Iida seemed to have noticed too.

     “Iida, how loud are you? My voice doesn’t project well!” Iida looked up, then looked at Midoriya, “Can you get me up to that sign? They won’t pay attention! Wait, do you see Uraraka?” Midoriya looked to the sign, and looking at Iida, then looking for Uraraka.

     “She’s behind me! URARAKA!” Then in an instant, Iida was flying to the front of the room.

     “GET YOURSELVES TOGETHER, IT’S JUST THE PRESS! WE ARE UA STUDENTS, WE SHOULD BE BETTER THEN THIS!” Iida shouted, and the students quickly calmed, before everything went back to normal, as if nothing had happened.

     They make it back to normal classes, and the tension and excitement grows towards the end of the day. Their first hero training.

      “I AM HERE, TO TEACH!” The class erupts into cheers, and Midoriya rambles over his costume, and how amazing it is that All Might is teaching them. He clicks a remote to reveal cases, that hold their costumes. Midoriya grabs his, rushing to the changing room.

     His costume looks even better in person. It’s dark grey, with accents of green. His tool belt holds stuff for first aid, and some pain relief. It had armor in the areas that would be fatal if injured. His favorite part, sue him, was his cape. The official reason is because it would be harder to attack him from behind, and if he tore it could be used as bandages, but the true reason is because it's a cape. It would be his trademark, to show people that he’s here to help.

      Everyone looked like heroes, and it was amazing. All Might boomed “YOU’RE ALL LOOKING HEROIC! NOW TODAY’S EXERCISE WILL BE A HERO VERSUS VILLAINS EXERCISE!” The class began murmuring among themselves, wondering how it would work.

     There would be two heroes and villains, the villains would be guarding a fake bomb, while the heroes are trying to capture the villains, or touch the bomb. Midoriya was teamed with Uraraka, who seemed excited, and they were the heroes against Bakugo and Iida.

     “Okay, do you have any ideas? I have a few, but I want to hear yours first.” Uraraka shook her head, “No, not really, what are you thinking?” Midoriya grinned.

     The plan was quite simple. They stay together, scanning every room until they found the bomb, and then Uraraka would float Midoriya, who’d then use his quirk to pull himself to the bomb. 

     All Might announced for the first match to begin. It was fairly short, which was a trend for the upcoming matches. Then it was their turn.

     Midoriya and Uraraka entered the building, scanning every floor for the bomb, until they ran into Bakugo. “Found them, get ready, they’re probably going to split up.” He said into his earpiece, and Iida answered, not that they could hear it.

     “Who do you want to take, I know Ka- Bakugo better then you, but he doesn’t know how you fight.” Uraraka stood for a second, “I’ll handle Iida and the bomb.” Midoriya nodded, “Good luck!” Then they were alone.

     Midoriya and Bakugo both got ready to fight. They know each other better then they know themselves, so it’ll be a tough fight, but they both had to keep the other team occupied. If one of them went down, the exercise was over. 

     Bakugo’s grenade flew off his hand arm, and into Midoriya’s hand, while he lunged to catch it. “These are cool, but terrifying, so i’ll be keeping this.” Midoriya fixed it onto his arm, looking at it, then Bakugo launched an attack.

     He blew an explosion from his right arm, launching himself forward, his arm pulled back for his ever starting left hook. Midoriya ducked, opting to punch him in the stomach, and moving for some distance.

     Bakugo shook the attack off quickly, getting into a more defensive stance. “You know, you should really switch up your starting attack. It’s so predictable.” Midoriya mocked him, messing around with the capture tape provided for the exercise. Midoriya pulled himself forward, towards Bakugo, ignoring his survival instincts telling him not to attack the literal bomb.

     Midoriya pulled his mask down, before making a move to kick him, but his opponent grabbed his shoulder, before slamming him into the ground. Over the earpiece, Midoriya heard commotion from Uraraka and Iida, but he was focused on his current situation.

     “You know, these things are pretty dangerous, it’d be a shame if this explosion hit you.” Bakugo taunted, while Midoriya regained his footing, and he scoffed, “You wouldn’t dare, that’d only make the building unstable, and give Uraraka more weapons.” He then ran to attack Bakugo, dodging the explosions coming from every direction. 

      Bakugo was unaware of the pebbles his explosions were creating above them, he was also unaware that Midoriya was attacking from above on purpose.

     The back and forth fight went on, until All Might’s booming voice came through their earpieces, informing them of the heroes victory. 

     Once they got back to the outside, Midoriya high-fived Uraraka, “You noticed the rubble?” she nodded, “Yeah, Iida didn’t appreciate it.” She giggled, thinking of Iida’s exasperated tone while they were fighting.

     They talked about what happened, before All Might interrupted.

     “Who do you all believe is the MVP of this match?” A few voices butt in, but quieted when Yaoyorozu spoke up. 

     “I’d say Uraraka, or maybe Midoriya. Their communication was impressive, and they both split up based on their strengths. She admitted to probably not being able to face off against Bakugo, and was able to pick up on the debris that Bakugo created. She used the environment to her advantage, and worked with her teamwork well. Midoriya is a close second, as well as communicating well, he forced Bakugo to aim his attacks upward, creating ammunition for Uraraka to win.” The class nodded in agreement, some muttering about how she possibly noticed all that. All Might seemed to smile larger, “That is correct! Young Yaoyorozu, the MVP of this match is indeed Young Uraraka, for her admirable teamwork skills.” Everyone clapped for Uraraka, making mental notes of how to improve.

     Midoriya wished he hadn’t left his notebooks at home. He loves studying quirks, and always had, just like his father. If only he hadn’t up and left when he was eight. He’d have to get the gist of his classmates' quirks later.

     The day ended with a short critiques session, where Midoriya was told he should be relying on his quirk and fighting style equally, as he’d flipped between heavily relying on one or the other throughout the match. Katsuki had been told to work on paying attention to his environment, which Midoriya more or less agreed with.

     Midoriya left school, walking with Uraraka to the station, where they chatted about unimportant things, like what their favorite animals were. Uraraka had insisted that he call her Ochako, claiming that being called Uraraka throws her off because she lived with her parents at their business, where anytime the name ‘Uraraka’ was said, it was referring to her parents. Midoriya complied, saying that she could also call him Izuku if she wanted.

     They’d revealed who they voted for, and why, and Midoriya turned bright red when Ochako confessed that she’d voted for him.

     “Well, since you helped me at the exam, and even made sure I was alright after, you have to be a good candidate!”

     Once they got to the station, they split to get on their own trains. Midoriya sat down near Mr. Torino, who greeted him. “How was your day, Mr. Torino?” The man shrugged, “Boring, being an old man means I have lots of free time.”

     That was in fact a lie. What Midoriya didn’t know, is that the slightly odd old man he sat next to on the train, was in fact, a Pro Hero. He was retired, but decided to renew his license, because what he said was true, being old and retired was incredibly boring.

     He enjoyed the young boy's presence, he almost reminded him of a young Toshinori, except that Toshinori had known how to tie his tie. Seeing him on the train, cramming for an entrance exam had fascinated him, as the boy had been muttering some incoherent nonsense while doing so.

      It turned out that the boy was going for the UA hero course, which had him interested. It turned out that they regularly rode the same train, so he’d gotten to know the boy a little. His mother had invited him for dinner, which he agreed to, because his mother sounded like an interesting character. Despite only hearing about her, and talking for a moment over messages, she reminded him of Nana.

-

     Midoriya threw his bag down, giving his mother a hug when he come through the door, greeting her. She asked how his day was, and he told her about the break-in, and the training exercise.  

     She’d cheered when Izuku told her he’d been voted as class president, and squeezed him in a hug, promising to make him Katsudon soon as her congratulations.

     With little hesitation, she signed the permission slip for a rescue training at the USJ. Inko made sure to inform her son that Torino-san would be coming over for dinner in one week, and to find out what he likes, it was actually the day he had USJ training.

     “Well, the first time I saw him, he was holding a bag from that sweet shop with the good Taiyaki.” She nodded, writing it down, as she did every time she was having someone over for dinner.

     Midoriya got a notification from his phone, checking it, to find a message from the class leader's chat, which they had made during lunch with the other first year class reps, and the principal.

UA Student Class Representatives

Kendo (1-B):

Should we make a class chat?

Yaoyorozu (1-A Vice):

That sounds like a good idea!

Midoriya (1-A):

Yeah! I might have to search a bit for a few, but I can make one.

Principal Nedzu:

Please inform me of any classmates whose numbers you do not have, and I can help with that.

Hatsume (1-H Vice):

Okay!! Tanaka’s working on a baby right now, so i’ll let her know, I got stuck reviewing safety rules again. I know them, but Mr. Powerloader won’t admit that explosions are part of the process!!

Principal Nedzu:

I will discuss that with him, while I do agree, he probably believes that it is a safety hazard, which it could be, so I’ll have you provided with a blast proof lab.

Hatsume (1-H Vice):

Yes!! Thank Mr. Principal!

Ito (Class 1-C):

Could you provide me with my classmates' numbers please? I have not had the time to get any.

Principal Nedzu:

Yes, I will do that soon as possible.

-

     Nobody talked on the chat after that, and Midoriya got a message from Yaoyorozu asking to create the chat, so she could figure out who they’re missing.

     He had Katsuki, Shinso, Ochako-san, Yaoyorozu who’d also insisted on him calling her by her first name, or at least Yaomomo, which made Midoriya wonder if girls just liked skipping formalities. Yaomomo had all the 1-A girls, as well as Todoroki and Iida, something to do with having influential parents.

     In the end the chat had the whole class, minus Shoji, Koda, and Aoyama. They got added, and after some small talk, the chat went silent for the night. Until two in the morning. In his defense, he went down the rabbit hole of where idea of domesticating dogs came from, then lizards, and other random animals.

Class 1-A Chat

Kaminari:

Heya, sorry to bother anyone, but who knows what the actual heck is going on in the math homework?

Midoriya: 

Oh yeah, I can help you out, would you prefer a private message or call?

Kaminari:

Could you call please? I’m more of a hearing learner.

Tokoyami:

It seems you’ve reached out to the darkness for assistance, and it has provided.

Jiro:

Why does that make perfect sense to my 2am brain??

Midoriya:

Felt that, but does anyone else need help? I can multitask, it can be an insomniac study group lol

Kaminari:

Bet

Tokoyami:

While I am pleased with this offer, I currently have no qualms with the content of our education, I would appreciate a late night group though.

Jiro:

Yeah i’m down, math is screwing me over too lol

Koda:

Do you guys think I can join? I’m also having trouble with it.

Midoriya:

Yep! I’ll make a chat for it, then we can call to work on the homework.

-

     Midoriya made the chat, as he’d promised, and then made the call, that Kaminari, Koda, and Jiro had quickly joined.

     Jiro’s room was eye-catching, she had led lights, and posters covering every wall. She also had instruments in the corner that Midoriya couldn’t really see. She was sitting on the floor, a cup of what he guessed to be coffee next to her.

     Kaminari was at his kitchen table, his supplies were sprawled about in an unruly manner. He had on a hoodie, and a fluffy headband, holding his hair so it wouldn’t get in his face. 

     Koda was on his bedroom floor as well, and it looked like there was a bunk bed behind him, hinting that he probably had siblings. He looked at the camera, “It’s alright to talk, they’re both very heavy sleepers, just don’t be super loud.” It was barely above a whisper, which was still louder than they'd ever heard in class.

     Midoriya explained the homework, and it clicked for Jiro rather quickly, after her errors were explained. Kaminari was just having trouble with one step, which was critical in the thing they were doing, which is why he kept getting things wrong. Koda was just having issues in general, to which he shyly admitted that he’s bad at math.

     They worked, and eventually Koda was able to finish the homework. He’d apologized for keeping Midoriya up, but he’d shrugged off the apology saying he would’ve been up late anyways.

     Once the morning came, Iida lectured everyone for being up so late. 

      He’d met Mr. Torino on the train again.

     Shinso had begged to be added to the late night chat.  

      Midoriya had forgotten to charge his phone.

      Villains attacked, heroes defended.

      The world still spun, ever consistent, even while villains lurked, preparing for something Japan would never expect.

      Yet Class 1-A remained blissfully ignorant, studying, making friends, and looking through a rose tinted view of the world of heroes.

Chapter Text

      It was supposed to be rescue training. But now, the only people they were rescuing was themselves. 

     The day had started out so normal. He spoke to Torino on the train to school.

     His classes, and lunch were all normal. Hero ethics had been canceled, so they had more time for the USJ. The bus ride had been normal, Class 1-A talking about trivial things. And even the beginning was normal, when Thirteen was talking about how every quirk could be used in many different ways.

     Then it happened.

     The villains flooded through the portals, and they’d all been thrown through. Midoriya had almost drowned, when Asui, (Who’d insisted he call her Tsu, again with the girls skipping formalities!). He was stuck in the flood zone with her and Shinso. They were currently crouched down, trying to figure out what they were going to do.

     “Did you see a plug or anything when you saved me and Shinso, Tsu?” She shook her head, and Midoriya silently cursed. Then something clicked. Tsu was in the flood zone, and she’s literally a frog.

     The villains don’t know their quirks. They’re staying at a distance, and are in the best environment for their quirks. For all they know, they could all be over powered.”

     “Holy shit, you’re right Midoriya, but now what? I could brainwash them, but more then five at a time and my nose will bleed, and eventually, I pass out from too much strain. Either, I take one for the team or we do them one or two at a time, and they’ll definitely figure me out by then.” They all nodded in consideration, before agreeing that they wouldn’t be sacrificing Shinso. “Let’s do a run down on our abilities, ribbit.”

     They nodded, “Well, first my quirk allows me to attract small items to myself, but if I try to pull something too large, I get pulled towards it instead. My parameters are about a foot last time I checked. I’m good at a few weapons, and working on parkour.” They both nodded.

     “Well, my quirk is frog. I can do about anything a frog can. I can jump very far, about twenty meters, as well as stick to about any surface. My tongue goes about forty meters, and is very strong as well. That’s probably all that’s useful. I can also spit out my stomach, and secrete a toxic mucus, ribbit. It’s not very potent though, it just stings.” Midoriya was shocked, he knew that Tsu was very strong, and her quirk was insanely powerful. They looked over to Shinso, who shrugged.

     “My quirk is brainwashing, if I ask a question, and my target responds, I take control of them. I cannot however, make them speak or do anything requiring complex actions, such as remembering things. There’s a few sub qualities to my quirk. I’m able to figure out how to make people talk quickly, and fairly perceptive about body language. I have this voice modulator, I can use it to mimic people. I’m also a professional insomniac.” They all took in the information, trying to create a plan to get off the boat.

     None of their quirks would be super helpful in getting them away from the villains, so they’d probably have to combine somehow. If Shinso used his quirk, the villains would figure it out far too quickly. Maybe if they tricked them? Maybe have someone pretend to have a different quirk then they do, and they could protect the activation requirements for Shinso’s quirk.

     “What if we tricked them? What if we hid the requirements for Shinso’s quirk, and pretended it was something different?” Both of them looked interested. “That could definitely work.” They then got to planning. If even a single villain escaped, they’d be in danger, so they had to hide their abilities.

     The plan was decided. They pretended that Asui’s quirk was enhancement, and that she could enhance anything. Shinso was going to pretend that his quirk let him attract people, and that Midoriya could put people to sleep once they got within a specific range of him. 

     It might have been a waste of time, but it was better to be safe than sorry. The villains claimed they could kill All Might, so they had to have a plan. Hopefully it wasn’t a good one.

      Midoriya began to latch onto the villains 

small things, like goggles and shoes, pulling them towards him, while boasting about how his ‘quirk’ worked. Shinso was taunting them, and slowly catching them under brainwashing to go to shore and fall asleep. Asui was acting like her ‘quirk’ was enhancing theirs. After a moment, all the villains were dead asleep. 

     “I can’t believe that actually worked.” Shinso said, and Midoriya nodded in agreement. It was a bit of an overkill, but they couldn’t risk anything. They’d decided to see how Mr. Aizawa was doing, so they snuck over near the plaza, keeping their volume to a minimum.

     What they saw was nothing short of terrifying. The main villain, Shigaraki, was breaking, disintegrating Aizawa’s elbow. He moved from the attack, and kept attacking relentlessly, still holding the upper hand, while Shigaraki was counting.

     “38, then 32, then 27, now 26. Your hair is your tell, Eraserhead.” He lunged to attack, and they all had to suppress a gasp. “We have to do something.. He's getting hurt, for our sake.” Midoriya muttered, and Tsu looked him in the eyes. 

     “We can’t, we’ll only get in the way, unless you can come up with something from the side. I won’t let you guys get hurt, ribbit”. She said it and Midoriya nodded his head, Shinso silently agreeing. 

     “The villain, Shigaraki, he’s childish, despite how smart he is, you can tell he gets easily distracted and irritated by how he acts. Scratching his neck when he gets annoyed. He fidgets because his plan was disrupted. Midoriya, he’ll get sloppy once he’s more irritated, try messing with his shoes. You can tell, as Aizawa-Sensei has kept dominating, he’s been less steady on his feet and has progressively scratched more.” Shinso muttered, not noticing the impressed looks that Asui and Midoriya sent his way.

     Midoriya nodded his head, “Got it, think shoe laces would work?” Shinso gave him a thumbs up, and Midoriya activated his quirk, disregarding the slight throbbing in his head.

     The effect was seen immediately when Shigaraki’s shoelace began pulling towards Midoriya, effectively tripping him. He groaned in irritation, Asui and Midoriya noticing Shinso was correct with his analysis.

     Their small celebration at keeping the villain who seemed most dangerous was quickly ended when a few words came out of his mouth.

     “Nomu, stop Eraserhead.” Then the monstrous being that had been standing patiently by his side the whole attack moved at a speed none of them could register. It grabbed their teacher, and snapped his arm, causing a sickening crunch.

     The beast pinned him to the ground, when the mist villain had returned. “Has Thirteen been killed?” Midoriya’s heart skipped a beat, when the villain shook his head.

     “No, but they are incapacitated, although a student has escaped.” The villain looked ashamed, and Shigaraki scratched at his neck again. “If you weren’t our ticket out, you’d be dust. Maybe if I kill a few students, we’ll get our hands on All Might faster..” 

     He ran.

     His hand extended, reaching for Tsu’s face.

     Midoriya’s head jerked in that direction, remembering what happened to their teacher's arm. He had a nasty mental image, sometimes he wished he’d quit analyzing quirks long ago.

      Five fingers, then whatever he touched would be reduced to nothing more than dust.

     The hand made contact with her face.

      Nothing happened.

     “You really are cool… Eraserhead.” Midoriya looked to his teacher, who had blood streaming down his face, and eyes glowing red from his quirk. Then the monster Shigaraki called Nomu smashed his head into the ground.

      Shigaraki turned back to the three of them. “Who should I kill, I wonder.. Maybe one of you has some dialogue. Where’s All Might?”

      All three of them froze, they didn’t know where the hell he was. But they can’t die, not yet, they have to become heroes, they have to help Aizawa.

     So Midoriya did what he did best. Ramble, on and on. Stalling, he knew he wasn’t strong enough to take on this villain, he was on another level from the others.

     “Uh, is your dry skin a side effect of your quirk? It seems to be disintegration, but that wouldn’t really make sense with that. Is it common in your family? What about five point contact quirks, it looks like you don’t have much control on if you disintegrate something or not. Your hair color is very uncommon, is it dyed? Or is it a quirk thing? I’ve heard of that happening. Disintegration could be such a useful quirk for heroics, especially for rescuing people. Why do you hate All Might so much? Did heroes not save you or something, or was your quirk called villainous, or another reason? All Might is an extremely successful hero, so it’s odd seeing people hate him, especially when I’m constantly surrounded by people who want to be like him. We weren’t told where he is, so really, asking us is useless. Now that I think about it, you were the one who disintegrated the gate weren’t you? It seemed to have turned to dust. And your warper, what even is his quirk? It’s very odd, and what’s up with that one guy you call Nomu? Why do you think you can kill All Might?” Midoriya rambled on, earning a puzzled look from his friends and the villain in front of them. 

     “Your dialogue is glitchy, but helpful, it seems All Might abandoned his students, pathetic.” The villain walked away, and they all deflated. They’ve gotten far too lucky. The Nomu got off of Mr. Aizawa, and they ran to help him.

     Luckily, even if they didn’t have Yaoyorozu, many of Class 1-A had first aid supplies. Three of them were helping him bandage him up, so he’d stop losing so much blood.

     “I AM HERE.” All their heads jerked to the source of the shout, and saw All Might. Midoriya could’ve cried of relief, but kept his attention on their teacher.

     “Young Midoriya, Asui, Jiro, you’ve done well, but I ask for you to find shelter so you can keep on your admirable work.” He wasn’t smiling. That frightened them, but they complied.

     They didn’t listen while the fighting happened. Midoriya was trying to stabilize Aizawa’s broken arms, that were the wrong way, and Midoriya knew from experience, broken arms are bitches.

     The power behind the fight was incredible, and they were all reminded of the power of the Number One hero. All Might, the definition of power, maybe in another universe, Midoriya would have his power, instead of his own quirk.

      The fight wasn’t more than two minutes long, but felt like an eternity. 

     Then the pro heroes came. They were finally safe from the villains who’d tried to hurt them. They were all ushered from the USJ, and checked for injuries. Midoriya only had a few bruises, scrapes, and a headache, but others were much worse. 

     Thirteen and Mr. Aizawa. They were in stable condition, but Class 1-A had seen them. It wasn’t good.

-

     “IZUKU! I SAW WHAT HAPPENED, ARE YOU OKAY?” His mother sobbed, and Izuku hugged her tight, no tears fell from his eyes. “I’m alright Mom, only a few scrapes, and they’re all gone, thanks to Recovery Girl.” 

     They stayed there for a long time, as she calmed down, and then there was a knock at the door. They’d forgotten about dinner.

     Izuku opened the door, and Mr. Torino had a bag of sweets. “I saw the news, you didn’t get hurt did you, Zygote? Your little friends okay?” Midoriya nodded his head, “Just a little shaken up.” He nodded, putting the sweets down.

     “I brought these over, just wanted to come check in. Zygote, go talk to your friends, make sure they’re okay, you’re class rep. aren’t you?” He said it in an unusually calm manner, a stark contrast from his usually playful demeanor.

     Midoriya complied, going to his room, leaving Mr. Torino and his mother alone.

     “Torino-san, I'm worried for Izuku. He had talked to the villain, who escaped, what if he’s a target now? I know it’s irrational, but i’m scared. You said you mentored a boy who was like Izuku right? What would you do?”  Torino sat down, and sighed, Inko wasn’t in a good state. He could tell she wasn’t one to put this on guests. 

      In his aging mind, she kept reminding him of Nana. She was just like her. Worried for her boy, kind, and hairstyle. 

     “You make sure he has the resources to stay safe. If you're aware, at the UA Sports Festival, students get offers from pro heroes for internships.” Inko nodded her head, “Would you like some tea?” Torino nodded, before continuing.

     “Well, there’s something i’ve kept a bit of a secret, I am a pro hero. I was retired, but as I said, being retired was boring, so I came out of retirement.” Inko turned, and looked at the old man with curiosity. “I’d be willing to offer your boy an internship, if he chose it, i’d ensure that he has the skills to keep himself safe with the chance that the villains from the USJ decided to target him. In my experience, it’s unlikely, but if you wanted me too, I would.” The younger woman smiled, putting the tea down, allowing it to steep.

     “Thank you, Torino-san. I hope he chooses yours, because I know if the festival goes on, he’ll get lots of offers. Thank you. Would you still like to stay? It might take a minute though, because I got the call about the USJ while I was getting ready to start the food.” The man nodded, offering help, to which Inko declined.

-

Class 1-A

Midoriya:

Hey, are you guys alright from the USJ?

Kaminari:

Yeah, i’m a little spacey still from overdoing it, but alright.

Asui:

I’m alright, just shaken up. I didn’t think anything like that could happen.

Shinso:

Honestly, thinking back, that was terrifying.

Uraraka:

I feel like I didn’t help at all, most of you guys stopped villains, or helped with first aid, so I feel kind of useless

Bakugo:

stfu cheeks, you were the first one to help us attack that warp bastard

Uraraka:

And we all know how that turned out.

Ashido:

Plus, Raka, you were the first person to check on Thirteen.

Uraraka:

That makes me feel a little better

Midoriya:

That whole thing was terrifying, I'm glad you’re all alright.

Yaoyorozu:

Yes, that was not an experience we should’ve had, let alone as first years.

Jiro: 

Yeah

-

      Midoriya turned off his phone, to go see his mother. She smiled at him, and Torino waved, “Dinners going to be a minute, little Zygote. You helping?” Midoriya nodded, coming to help him and his mother cook.

      The food was odd, and you could tell people of different skill made it, but it was good. 

      “Well Mr. Torino is quite the character. We’ll have to have him over more often, he needs some company. I have to make sure he eats more than Taiyaki.” Midoriya chuckled at his mothers antics, but agreed nonetheless.

      Midoriya went to sleep that night, and his dreams were plagued with purple mist, a man covered in hands, and a black monster. 

      But everyone was okay. That’s all that mattered.

Chapter Text

      The day they went back to school, their class was much closer then when they’d left. That was thanks to the chat, which had caused many other chats to be created, such as:

      The Insomniac Chat, containing Shinso, Kaminari, Todoroki, Jiro, Koda, Tokoyami, and Midoriya.

       The Late Night Study Panicking Chat, containing the entire class, but most everyone had their notifications silenced.

      The Izucrew, a name that Midoriya had fought against for Iida, Asui, Shinso, Uraraka, and himself.

      The Bakusquad, with Bakugo, Ashido, Sero, Kaminari, Kirishima, Jiro, and Shinso.

      The Mutation Quirk chat, because they had all wanted one, because strengthening mutant quirks is different from emitters.

      The girls chat, for obvious reasons.

      A chat for those with ‘weak quirks’, which was mostly made so they could shit-talk everyone who said they were weak. 

      The ‘Class Genius People’ chat, made by Kaminari, who left after adding Yaoyorozu, Midoriya, Shinso, Asui, Bakugo, and Iida. They mostly used that chat to let each other know who’s helping who study.

      Then there was countless smaller ones, including one Midoriya had with Shinso and Asui, because despite their opposing personalities, they got along well.

      Needless to say, everyone’s phones were always blown up.

      The class’ calm chatter quickly ceased when a quite literally mummified version of their home room teacher walked in. A “Holy shit.” slipped out of a few people, and Tsu asked why he was back.

       “Because taking leave is impractical. Now, your fighting isn’t over.” The class erupted into chaos, that silenced with the use of his quirk.

       “We have the sports festival. The next week will be dedicated to training, throughout all courses. Today, we have Gym Gamma, get dressed.” Then they all rushed to get dressed. 

       Class 1-A regrouped at Gym Gamma, all in their gym uniforms. “Now, you all can do whatever. If you want advice, or suggestions, ask me or one of your classmates. Don’t overdo it.” And that was it. They were set loose.

      Midoriya decided to work on his quirk first, as it was the least physically draining. He was going to work on refining speeds, and coming down after pulling himself places.

      The first thing he did was some warm ups, because he’s not stupid. He’d decided to partner up with Yaomomo, because she wanted to work on her variety and speed, and she’d said Midoriya could use the things she made. Yaomomo is a literal saint.

       Once he was satisfied with his process, he decided to sit down and work on some analysis, and potential uses for his quirk, and others in his class. One thing still stood, could Yaomomo create water? Or air? It isn’t alive, so could she? It would really up her power, and make her incredibly effective as a rescue hero. Why does his quirk pull him towards things if it’s too big? Can Hagakure turn people invisible if they hide behind her? Or if she hugged him?

       He decided to find the easiest answer first, and called Yaoyorozu over. “Hey, Yaomomo, could you create water, or air with your quirk?” She lifted an eyebrow, smiling. “Yes, I’d like to use that ability to create water bottles, but I have some difficulty switching formulas that quickly.” Midoriya swore an explosion went off in his head, that is so stupidly overpowered.

       “Could you use it as an attack? Like a water blast?” Yaoyorozu nodded, “I could, but it’d be impractical, when I could use less lipids for a far more powerful attack.” Midoriya thanked her for the information, before she left. One mystery down, way too many to go.

       To satisfy his analytical mind, he decided to figure out why his quirk pulled him to things that were too big. That didn’t happen with his mother, and has nothing to do with his quirk. So, it was time to dive deeper.

      There was a chance that it was a proportionality thing. The bigger he got, the bigger his range was. So, maybe if he made himself take up more or less space, his range would change. He grabbed a ball that was just past the max size he could pull. This was probably going to look incredibly stupid. It didn’t answer his actual question, but it could help something.

       He huffed up, making his chest bigger, puffing his cheeks out. This definitely looked ridiculous. He pulled, bracing to be yanked forward. Then the ball hit him square in the chest. “HELL YEAH!” Half the class turned to see what caused his sudden outburst. “Oh, uh, sorry, I figured out a weird thing with my quirk.” He felt his face turning a bright shade of red. His classmates either didn’t notice, or were nice enough not to mention it. 

       After mentally recovering from that embarrassment, he wanted to try the opposite, making himself as small as possible. He focused his quirk on the ball that was the maxed out size he could pull, and used his quirk. He was yanked towards the ball. This was something he could work with. Midoriya grabbed his notebook, flipping to his page with practiced ease.

After some experiments, it turns out, my quirk works on some sort of proportional aspect. The more space I take up, (being bigger) I can pull larger things towards myself, and the opposite works as well. 

I need to see if this works with how my mothers quirk works as well, and look into our family tree, to find any possible explanations for this. 

Right now, I think that the reason that my quirk pulls me towards anything outside of my parameters towards it, is due to the proportional rules that there seems to be. This makes me wonder, is there a point where I cannot use my quirk? Where is the point where I cannot latch onto something? If there’s a largest point I can pull something, is there a smallest? 

       Midoriya put down his notebook, biting his cheek. This was exciting. He looked at the time, he should start working on his climbing now. After some looking, Midoriya found a building he could use for practice. He signed his name on the board in front of the building, signifying that he was training with it, before walking to grab some fall mats. Just in case.

      He eyed the building, searching for things he could grab onto with his quirk to pull himself up. Window sills were the easiest. He latched onto the nearest one, and pulled, repeating the process as he scaled the building, before he reached the top. Now for the scary part. To get down, he had to carefully time when to activate his quirk to soften the fall. If he miscalculated, or missed by a second, he’d fall. Hence the fall mats.

      This is terrifying. Midoriya took a breath in, and leaped, pulled on the window sill, which slowed his falling greatly. Then he released his hold, letting himself fall at full speed once more, just passing the second window when he let his quirk latch onto it, pulling him upwards, and almost suspending him in the air, before he dropped his quirk again. The process repeated another two times before he had two feet on the ground. Midoriya exhaled in relief. 

      “Nice work, but your method is impractical. Try only using your quirk on the second to last, and last window sill. It’ll not only reduce chances of quirk overuse and decrease the likelihood of messing up the timing on the more critical last ones. It is also faster, it’s illogical to take a second longer than required, especially when lives are on the line..” Midoriya turned to see his teacher standing there, arms crossed. “I’ll try that, sir!” He nodded his head in approval, watching for him to try again.

      He scaled the building once again, and he made eye contact with his teacher, who nodded. Midoriya silently prayed to every deity to exist, before jumping off the building. He took his teachers advice, only pulling at the second to last, and last ledges. He landed, before exhaling a breath he did not realize he was holding.

      “Better, remember to breathe though. You’re tense, and that’s only making it harder. Keep doing that, and try other buildings too, until it’s second nature.” Then, he was gone, probably to help other students. That definitely helped. So he did it again, and again. 

      Eventually, Midoriya felt confident enough to move the fall mat, and it seemed even easier. Before he knew it, a hour had passed, meaning he had to switch buildings so someone else could use it. Midoriya looked down, to see Uraraka and Asui waiting patiently. He went down the building, and greeted the two of them.

      “That was cool, ribbit. Could we use this building now though? Your time is up.” Midoriya nodded, “Yeah, good luck you guys!” Then they parted ways. Midoriya went looking for another building he could use to keep working on his descents with, and ended up sharing one with Todoroki, who was simply doing some conditioning. 

      Todoroki was an odd character to say the least. He was quiet, withdrawn, but incredibly  strong. He didn’t speak, unless spoken to, but all signs pointed to him being very smart. Midoriya was taking a water break, when Todoroki approached him.

       “Midoriya, objectively I am stronger than you.” Midoriya looked at him, rubbing his neck, “Yeah, I mean, a lot of people in our class are. Not that you’re weak or anything, it’s just true.” Todoroki looked at him, his face expressionless.

      “However, you are skilled in analysis, and I would be a fool not to take advantage of such an opportunity. I would appreciate it if you gave me some tips. I don’t really care if you don’t want to, I won’t force you, but it would be stupid to not at least ask.” Midoriya almost blue screened. This is awkward.

       “Yeah, I can give you some analysis if you want! Nobody actually knows your quirk though, so if you want quirk analysis, you’ll need to tell me.” He nodded in response. “My quirk is called Half-hot, Half-cold. I can create ice from the right side of my body, and fire from the left. I do not use my left side for personal reasons.” That’s a strong quirk. That is a stupidly strong quirk.

       It’s almost suspicious how perfect that quirk is. Midoriya nodded brushing aside that thought, taking note of the malice Todoroki seemed to hold at the mention of his fire. Son of Endeavor hates fire? That’s not odd at all. Midoriya tried to shake off his thoughts.

      “Well, your long distance attacks are great, but it looks like they obscure your vision, which could be detrimental against a fast opponent.” Todoroki nodded, taking mental note, while Midoriya continued.

      “I can write it down if you want, so you don’t have to try and remember my rambling. Sorry if this is overly personal, but why don’t you use your fire?” Midoriya asked, hoping he wasn’t pushing it, but Todoroki only touched the birthmark on his face.

      “Have you ever heard of a quirk marriage, Midoriya?” He asked, and Midoriya nodded his head, not liking the image being put in his head. It made sense.

      “My father, Endeavor, is jealous of All Might, and knows he’ll never be better then him. So he bought my mother, and kept trying for children until he got the perfect quirk. Mine.” Midoriya scowled in disapproval, no child should think of their father with such malice. “He trained me, from the day I got my quirk. I don’t have a single memory where my mother is smiling. She tried her best, but he had too much power.” 

      “One day, she lost it, she called my left side unbearable, and poured boiling water on my face.” He lifted his hair, to reveal more of the scar, that Midoriya had foolishly believed to be a birthmark. “I don’t blame her though, she apologized and tried to fix what she’d done. But then the bastard stuck her into a hospital, and I haven’t seen her since. I will never use his power.” Midoriya clenched his fists. This was unacceptable.

      “I hope he rots in hell, nobody deserves that. Why did you tell me this though, you could’ve just told me to screw off.” Midoriya asks, barely keeping his anger in check. The number two hero, an abusing asshole.

      “Because I think you are the only one in the way of my goals. I will become the number one hero, without his quirk.” That was a shock. Todoroki thinks that he’s the only roadblock to this self destructive goal.

      “That’s a dumb goal, Todoroki. It’s your quirk, no matter what that bastard tries to tell you. You are the sole owner of your quirk, and i’ll tell you that until you believe me.” Todoroki only shook his head.

      “You will not stop me. Thank you for your help though, Midoriya.” He nodded in response. That was a lot of information. He knew that if he ever met Endeavor, he’d have some words for the man.

      In the meantime, he’d train, and tame his rage into power.

-

     The week went by fast, and before Midoriya knew it, he was leaving for the festival. Torino-san had somehow gotten seats for him and his mother in person, and Midoriya was incredibly excited. 

      On the train ride, without Torino to keep conversation, his mind drifted to his conversation with Todoroki. He’d help him. No matter what. The Sports Festival happened to be the perfect means to do so. 

      Midoriya scrolled through his phone. The sports festival was already trending on every social media platform. 

      This was his chance.

Chapter Text

      The nervous energy that filled Class 1-A was unreal. Everyone was jittery, and talkative, especially as they were led to the locker room. Midoriya himself was on edge, he had to prove himself, as the Class Rep, he had to be a good influence for the class. 

       Todoroki spoke up unexpectedly, and the room silenced. “Midoriya, as we’ve discussed, I am objectively more powerful than you. However, I will not make the mistake of underestimating you. I will defeat you.” The tension the room held was almost crushing, and Midoriya straightened his posture.

       “You’re right, you shouldn’t underestimate me. I’ll be giving it all i’ve got, so you better return the favor, Todoroki.” The two seemed to have an unspoken understanding that nobody else understood. This was going to be a hell of a festival. 

       “Hey, you guys are up! Just come this way.” The tension almost completely left the room, still lingering like a candle that had been blown out. “Well, let’s do our best!” Uraraka cheered, and Class 1-A walked out.

      The stadium was massive, and filled with people cheering. Midoriya walked with his head high, trying to seem more confident then he felt in his uniform. Present Mic’s commentary did not make him less nervous. “ IT’S CLASS 1-A, THE FAMOUS FIRST YEAR CLASS THAT HAS ALREADY FOUGHT VILLAINS AND WON! LET'S HEAR IT FOR THEM !” Then the crowd somehow got even louder.

      Uraraka leaned over and whispered, “This is crazy! Is this what being a pro is like? I hope I can still work well under all this pressure!” Midoriya nodded in agreement, commenting on how pro heroes probably have less of a crowd then this usually. Unless you’re a top hero that is.

      The rest of the first year classes were called out, and before long, they were all crowded together. “Now, a speech from our first year representative! Katsuki Bakugo!” Bakugo shoved his hands in his pockets, seeming to part the crowd.

      He walked onto the stage, glaring into the crowd. “I’m just going to say it as it is. If you don’t put your best foot forward, I'll win without breaking a sweat. We’re here to prove ourselves, and that’s what i’m here to do, may the best man win.” The crowd was silent for a moment.

      Then they burst into applause, some of the other courses seeming pleasantly surprised. Midnight smiled, “What an arousing speech! Now, time to announce the first round!” She then gestured dramatically to the screen above her.

       It appeared to be a large wheel, and it began to spin. After an unnecessarily long time, it stopped, and Midnight began to shout. “The first challenge our students will face today is an Obstacle Course!”

      The R-rated heroine explained the event, and it seemed simple enough. The students were ushered into a narrow tunnel, and Midoriya was suddenly feeling claustrophobic. 

      “ 3… 2… 1… GO! ” That’s all the warning before the door opened, and the ground iced over. Midoriya’s eyes darted around, searching for something to use his quirk on. His search was futile, so he cleared the ice manually. 

      Once he cleared the tunnel, he was met with a sight he had mixed feelings with. Zero pointers, at least fifteen. On one hand, it was easy for him to clear, on the other, it reminded him of the entrance exams. Embarrassing.

      Midoriya took a breath, before grabbing a plate on the shoulder of the closest bot, then he launched into the air. Bakugo passed him, propelling himself with explosions, and he noticed the smirk on his face as he passed.

       “ THE EXPLOSIVE KATSUKI BAKUGO TAKES AN EARLY LEAD, FOLLOWED CLOSELY BY IZUKU MIDORIYA !” Present Mic shouted, causing a roar of cheers to erupt within the audience. Midoriya had only cleared the second of at least five he’d have to get over, when they all froze. 

       “ WHAT A DISPLAY OF POWER FROM SHOTO TODOROKI! IT’S LIKE THEY DIDN’T EVEN PHASE HIM !” That made sense, then the robots began to rumble. That wasn’t good.

      “ The strategy Todoroki showed here was impressive, making an advantage for himself, and an obstacle for his opponents. ”

      “ WHERE'S YOUR ENTHUSIASM, ERASER?”

      “ Dead, along with my hopes and dreams .”

      “ WHAT A SOIL SPORT! ”

      With a new motivation, of not dying, Midoriya scaled the robots, faster than he knew he could. The robots were fairly easy, when he was met with a steep drop in the ground.

      He heard Present Mic explaining the level. “ THIS IS THE PIT OF DEATH! STUDENTS HAVE TO CLEAR IT WITHOUT FALLING IN, OR THEY WILL LOSE !” Midoriya studied the hole in the ground. There was cables they could walk across, or they could fly over it if they had the ability too.

      Asui hopped onto a cable without hesitation, muttering about how this seemed to be made for her. A pink haired girl, who was obviously from support, had a main character moment if Midoriya had ever seen one. Midoriya stood there like an idiot. He’d taken a piece of metal from a robot, because maybe he could put it to use, and he could.

      Midoriya took a breath, praying he wouldn’t embarrass himself, and stood on one of the cables, holding the metal in front of him. Then he pulled himself towards the pillar. The metal acted as something stopping him from losing balance. 

      It went well, and bit by bit, he made his way across, focused on nothing but crossing the cables. He stepped onto the solid ground and sighed in relief, before taking off running for the next obstacle. 

       It’s a freaking minefield. This has to be illegal somehow!

      Midoriya begins carefully stepping between the mines when he gets an idea. An incredibly stupid idea, but an idea nonetheless. He takes hold of a few mines, pulling them closer before shoveling them into a pile.

      “When I did, my tombstone better say that I went out with a bang.” Midoriya muttered to himself, before putting the metal plate in front of himself like a sled, and jumping on it.

      Within moments, he was speeding through the air, rapidly clearing the field. “ IZUKU MIDORIYA IS SUDDENLY CHASING FOR FIRST PLACE! WILL HE BLOW AWAY THE COMPETITION ?” 

      Midoriya smiles, even as he loses speed, and some height. He throws himself off the metal plate, using his quirk to slow the fall. He caught the remains of the robot, slamming it in front of him to detonate the mines in front of him, before breaking into a dead sprint. 

       Fifth place. He’d done it. 

      Midnight smiled, “Now, this next challenge is a cavalry battle! What you must do, is father as many points as possible.” Midoriya nodded along, interested.

      “You all will be assigned a point value, going up five, unless you are our winner! Bakugo, you will have ten million points! This is the chance for the bottom to overthrow those on top!”

      Midoriya was amused at how this challenge was made for him, gathering as many points that were on headbands as possible. It’s like they want him to win. The moment they were given time to create teams, many members of his class approached him. Is this what being popular is like?

       “Hey, Tokoyami-kun, do you want to join my team?” The bird boy looked at him, before nodding his head, “Yes, thank you for inviting me.” Midoriya beamed, this was perfect.

     Tokoyami followed Midoriya, and his quirk made conversation, despite how annoyed the user seemed about it. “Izuku! Can I join your team? I see you’ve got Tokoyami, between our quirks, we’d be great!” Midoriya smiled, nodding his head, “Okay, we need at least one more person. I think we should take a risk.” Uraraka nods, seeming ready for whatever could come her way.

      Midoriya walked towards the girl from support class 1-H, Hatsume Mei, according to Present Mic. “Hello, I’m Izuku Midoriya, would you like to join my team? Your support tools seem like a great asset.” The girl looked at him excitedly.

      “Yes! You made quite the spectacle when you blew yourself up! You’ll be great for showing off my babies!” Midoriya choked, her what ?

       Midoriya sighed in relief when she pulled out a box of support items. That made sense. Hatsume went on a tangent about her babies, and they decided on which to use.

      A jet pack, which Hatsume seemed thrilled about using.

     Hover boots she’d recommended to use with the jet pack.

     Then a grappling hook.

      Their team, including Midoriya, Uraraka, Hatsume, and Tokoyami had a plan. 

      Midoriya would be the rider, as it was easier for him to get headbands that way. Hatsume would be wearing the hover boots, because she was the one who knew how to operate them best. 

      Tokoyami and Dark Shadow would be on the sides, it was amazing how Dark Shadow could be tangible at will, and the strategic prowess he possessed. Dark Shadow would be holding Midoriya up, while simultaneously acting as defense for their team.

     Uraraka was the front horse. She’d be floating everyone but herself, and she’d also be wearing a different version of the hover boots, that were synced with Hatsume’s.

      Hopefully it’d do the trick. Midoriya thanked the world for his mothers quirk. Another strategy they had was that Midoriya was wearing the jet pack. He could take off the grab headbands, or protect theirs, and then Tokoyami would use the grappling hook, which he’d grab onto. 

      It’d taken lots of convincing for Hatsume to let them remove the claw. 

      Before they knew it, time was up, and they had to assemble. Midoriya climbed on top of his teammates. 

     “HEY! GET READY FOR THE SECOND ROCKING ROUND OF THE UA SPORTS FESTIVAL!”

      “3.. 2.. 1.. START!” Then it began. absolute chaos. Most teams made a beeline for Team Bakugo, leaving Midoriya time to snag some headbands. He was only able to grab two, because his classmates were wary of his quirk. 

     “IT’S ALREADY AN ALL OUT BRAWL! TEAM MIDORIYA HAD ALREADY TAKEN TWO HEADBANDS, AND TEAM BAKUGO IS EASILY DEFENDING THE TEN MILLION!” Present Mic yells into the mic, causing Aizawa to groan. 

     Midoriya noticed more teams turning their attention to his team, and they kept grabbing more headbands. Right now they were in second.

     “Let’s see what 1-A is made of!” Then there was a tap on Midoriya’s back. He turned come face to face with a blonde boy. He went to use Midoriya’s quirk on the headbands he’d collected, but Midoriya pulled them back. 

      A copy quirk. That’s both incredibly problematic, and incredibly cool. That meant he didn’t know the counteract of his quirk. 

      Midoriya smirked, handing the headbands to Dark Shadow. “Why don’t you try again?” The blonde boy chuckled, “I wonder, is telekinesis or a shadow stronger?” 

      Then he face planted onto the ground, being pulled in the direction of the headbands. “Well- uhm, team Monoma needs to reconstruct! While he is down, he is not allowed to make an attempt for any headbands!”

      Midoriya secured the headbands they’d collected back around his head and neck, while they ran towards their next target. Team Todoroki. Ten million points. 

      After narrowly dodging an explosion, they began their assault on team Todoroki. “So, we’re running in, getting the headband, then escaping to the skies?” Tokoyami confirmed, and Midoriya nodded, as they got closer.

      “Hello, Midoriya, I should’ve known you’d come for the ten million. Unfortunately, that can’t happen, Kaminari?” Kaminari smiled widely, before beginning to shout.

      “Guys, we need to go up! Watch your faces!” Midoriya shouted, then they took off, as Kaminari released his attack. “Up we go!” Hatsume cheered, while the rest of the teams looked at them with shock.

      “IT SEEMS THAT TEAM MIDORIYA HAS TAKEN TO THE SKIES! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS, ERASER?“

     “Their strategy is smart, they hid this advantage until it was crucial to use. Now, they’re taking Midoriya’s quirk to their advantage.” 

      Midoriya smiled, before looking at his teammates, “Ready for the win? Can you watch our blind spots, Dark Shadow?” The shadow nods, and he prepares. They lower down slightly, and Midoriya sends his hand out, focusing on Todoroki’s headband. Ten Million.

      The headband flies from Todoroki’s hold, and towards Midoriya, but just before he was able to grab it?

      “HAH, THANKS FOR THE HEADBAND!” Midoriya cracks his knuckles, “Get the grappling hook ready, I will not be leading this team to failure.” Then Midoriya took off with the jet pack.

      “ WOAH ! BOTH MIDORIYA AND BAKUGO HAVE ABANDONED THEIR TEAMS, NOW THAT IT'S BEEN DECLARED LEGAL!”

      Midoriya smirks, and grabs the headband from Bakugo, before pulling the grappling hook to his hand. “Thanks, Katsuki!”

      “ 3..” Midoriya was yanked back to his team.

       “2.. 1! TIME IS UP! CONGRATULATIONS TEAM MIDORIYA!” The stadium erupted into applause, as Midoriya was lowered to the ground. “Great job, you got my babies so much attention! Now, I can use even more in the next round! Congratulations, Greenie-kun, you have an ally in Hatsume Industries!”

      “Thanks for lending me your abilities! All of you are so amazing!” Midoriya thanked his team extensively, as they were ushered to one side of the field, so that they could see the match ups.

      Midoriya scanned for his name.

       Midoriya Izuku vs Yaoyorozu Momo

      He’d better prepare, Yaoyorozu is a force to be reckoned with.

Chapter Text

     During the break they were given, Midoriya took the chance to grab his notebooks, because if he wanted to get some analysis, this would be the perfect time. The class group chat had been relatively quiet, other than some congratulations, or questions about preparation rooms. Midoriya was walking towards the bleachers, when a hand was placed on his shoulder.

      Todoroki, who had a serious look on his face. “Please come with me, I want to talk.” Midoriya nodded, following him.

      Eventually, they were in a secluded tunnel near the field. Todoroki looked at Midoriya, seemingly glaring into his soul.

      “You made me use his fire. For a moment, when you took my headband, you made me use it.” Midoriya decided, Todoroki did not think that was a good thing. 

      He continued, “My old man, Endeavor, is here. I will not give him the satisfaction of using his quirk. You are more than a rival. You know the truth.” Midoriya nodded.

      “Endeavor is a bastard, you never deserved that, however, you say I am your rival. Rivals give each other their all, which you are not doing.

       I’m not saying you shouldn’t hate Endeavor, but you’re only messing yourself up by doing this.” The two hero students stood in silence, “I’ll see you in the semi-finals, Todoroki.” He nodded, and they parted ways.

      Midoriya sat down in his assigned preparation room, and turned on the TV. He was the second fight, but first? Todoroki vs Kaminari.

      The outcome of this fight was obvious. Todoroki would win without breaking a sweat. Kaminari would shoot off his biggest attack, Todoroki would block it, then capture him in ice.

      “ THE ICE KING OF 1A, SHOTO TODOROKI VS THE ELECTRIC DENKI KAMINARI! A BATTLE OF THE ELEMENTS, WILL KAMINARI CHARGE THROUGH? OR WILL TODOROKI MAKE HIM FREEZE IN HIS TRACKS?”

      “ Are you serious? Puns?”

      “3.. 2.. 1.. FIGHT!” Then the fight goes as Midoriya predicted. Kaminari immediately started shouting his attack, which is counter intuitive, but incredibly cool. Maybe Midoriya should start naming his attacks?

      ‘I could call threatening to rip someone’s penis off ‘enticement’, because I'm tempting them to stop whatever they're doing.’ Midoriya snorted at his thoughts, looking around, forgetting he was alone. 

      “ WOW! IT SEEMS TODOROKI HAS DEFEATED KAMINARI WITH EASE!” It was already over? 

       Midoriya saw Tokoyami passing by, and Midoriya wished him luck, and Tokoyami nodded seriously. Before long, Midoriya heard Present Mic’s voice through the speakers once again. 

      “ FOR THE SECOND MATCH OF THE THIRD ROUND, WE HAVE HANTA SERO!

      DON’T UNDERESTIMATE HIM, HE’S A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH! ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FIELD IS FUMIKAGE TOKOYAMI, WHO’S SCORED HIGH ON THE FIRST TWO ROUNDS!”

       Midoriya watched as Midnight let them begin. Sero would not be winning this fight, especially now that he knew the true power of Dark Shadow. He could definitely lose to Sero, if he was careless, but even with the limited interactions they’d had, Midoriya knew Tokoyami wasn't careless.

      Tokoyami's quirk was incredibly interesting. A bird mutation, and an emitter, that was sentient. Midoriya had only heard of a few other quirks like that, but has never met someone with one.

       Part of him wanted to tear apart the quirk, and learned how it worked. Test its weaknesses, its strengths, how it originated, how Dark Shadow thinks. “Could Dark Shadow be weak to light? Because shadows disappear in light. Would it kill Dark Shadow? Does Tokoyami truly have a bird head? Does that mean he can’t see glass? Does Tokoyami have a sensitivity to light?”

      “Hey, uh, you're about to go on, Midoriya, right?” Midoriya was snapped out of his thoughts, and nodded in response, walking to his side of the field. He had to fight Yaoyorozu. He knows her quite well, so he’s fairly confident, but there was always that ‘what-if?’

      He stood at the door, waiting for his cue. “ FIRST, THE ALLURING PRESIDENT OF CLASS 1-A, IZUKU MIDORIYA, WINNER OF THE LAST ROUND!” Midoriya walks out, smiling while people cheered for him. It was almost surreal, they were cheering for him!

      “ THEN THE VICE PRESIDENT OF 1-A, THE INCREDIBLE MOMO YAOYOROZU!” Him and Yaomomo made eye contact, putting their connections to each other aside. “Begin!” 

      Midoriya rushed towards his opponent, who created a shield, and a sword. Midoriya faltered when he saw her sword, he made a mental note to learn how to use one. “ WOW! YAOYOROZU HAS CREATED A SHIELD IN A SWORD, IS SHE REALLY ONLY A STUDENT? SHE’S LIKE A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR!”  

       Yaoyorozu runs towards him, rapidly approaching. Midoriya dodged her attack, pivoting to the side, before pulling her shoe with his quirk, throwing her off balance. Midoriya focuses on the fight, rather then what’s happening around him.

      Yaomomo is being weighed down by her gear, so Midoriya knows he’s got more speed then her. He’s also more agile.

      Midoriya makes his move, pulling himself towards his classmate with his quirk, grabbing her shield. “ MIDORIYA STEALS YAOYOROZU’S SHIELD!” Yaoyorozu whips her head his way, and Midoriya smiles, because he no longer needs to be wary of her sword.

     Before he could even think, he’d charged towards Yaomomo, pushing her out of bounds, while she was trying to think. “MIDORIYA WINS! PUSHING HIS OPPONENT OUT OF THE RING WITH HER OWN CREATION! HOW CLEVER!”

      Yaoyorozu looks heart broken. “Good match, Midoriya-kun.” She says, holding out her hand, her sword left forgotten on the ground.

     Midoriya shakes her hand. “Great match, you were so clever! It took a while to figure out how to get close!” She smiles in response, nodding her head. 

      “I’ll best you next time!” She replies, a determined look solidifying in her being. 

      “I’m counting on it.”

       “WHAT A GREAT SHOW OF SPORTSMANSHIP FROM BOTH COMPETITORS!”

       “It turns me on!” Midoriya and Yaoyorozu turn to look at their teacher who seemed oblivious to the awkward energy she’d created. Or maybe she just didn’t care.

—

     Midoriya sat next to Bakugo in the student section of the bleachers. “Nice match nerd. Saw that you couldn’t take her stuff so you improvised?” Midoriya nodded his head, pulling out his notebook.

      “Holy shit, you still have that damn thing?” Katsuki looked shocked, and Kaminari looks over, intrigued.

      “Mido-bro! What’s that?” Kaminari asks, and Bakugo scoffs.

      “Izuku’s been keeping quirk analysis notebooks since he could pick up a pencil. They’re freaky, but smart.” Kaminari looks at the notebook with wide eyes, flabbergasted.

     “That must be the actual bible. Bakugo, complimenting something?” Midoriya snorted, and handed the notebook to Kaminari, inviting him to read it.

      Kaminari read his notebook with wide eyes, “Holy shit! Midobro, you’re a genius, I could never!” Midoriya squeaked, turning a bright red when he blushed. 

     “I mean, I've been working on my analysis skills since I was five! So it makes sense that I'm good at it! Don’t put yourself down!” Kaminari rolled his eyes, telling him he’s wild.

      Midnight swatted her whip, announcing the start of the match. Shinso versus Shiozaki.

      It was obvious, Shiozaki, from what he’d seen, is incredibly religious, and easy to take advantage of. She didn’t stand a chance against Hitoshi, no matter how much brute strength she had.  

      They spoke for a moment, then Shiozaki turned and walked out. Not much more interesting than Iida’s fight before Tokoyami and Sero’s.

      Bakugo got up, heading to the student prep room, but not after Midoriya and Kaminari wished him luck.

     “How do you think this next match is going to go down?” Kaminari muttered, only half expecting Midoriya to answer.

      “Definitely Ashido, not only is she skilled in close and ranged combat, she has less drawbacks to her quirk.” Kaminari nodded along.

      “Makes sense, she’s real good.” Then the match began, Ashido’s quirk is incredibly interesting. The ability to secrete acid.

      The way she uses it is also genius, as mobility, and different from what many would expect. Even if she wasn’t top of their class in academics, she’s still a genius in how she used her abilities.

      The match quickly concluded, Ashido knocking Aoyama out with an uppercut. Ashido would definitely get her fair share of offers.

      After Bakugo left, it was as quiet as it could get at the UA sports festival. Midoriya continued to write in his notebook. Shinso walked towards the two of them, sitting in the seat next to Kaminari. “What’s up, Ripper?” Kaminari looked at Shinso, puzzled while Midoriya groaned.

      “Please drop that, I beg of you.” Midoriya uttered, sighing dejectedly. Kaminari looked perplexed.

      “Ripper? Where’d that nickname come from?” Kaminari pressed, and Midoriya rolled his eyes, poorly feigning annoyance.

      Shinso grinned, remembering the day they’d met. “The first time we met, some assholes were trying to beat me up, and Ripper here, threatened to rip off their dicks if they didn’t leave me alone.” Kaminari choked on air, looking at Midoriya.

      “This guy? This one here? No way!” The electric user was dumbfounded.

      “Yep, I believe his exact quote was ‘Alright! If quirks are all that matter, my quirk is the attraction of small objects, and your dicks clearly fit the bill, so leave him alone or i’ll rip your dick off.” Shinso quoted fondly, and Kaminari doubled over cackling, attracting attention from other courses.

     After they’d collected themselves, the group realized the next match was about to start. This one was comical, Kirishima xd Tetsutetsu, they practically have the same quirk, and use it very similarly to one another.

      “This is going to be a draw.” Midoriya unconsciously muttered, as the two began to throw punches. They were perfectly matched, until what Midoriya predicted came to pass, even if not in the way he expected as they knocked each other out at the same time.

      Next, it was finally Bakugo’s turn. After Kirishima and Testsutetsu were carted off, Bakugo and Uraraka walked onto the ring, both with their resolute gleaming in their eyes.

      Midoriya studied the both of them, Bakugo was stretching his wrists, he only does that when he knows an opponent will be difficult.

      Uraraka didn't have a single trace of her usually bubbly self, it was replaced by an unwavering, determined expression.

       “ THE FINAL FIGHT OF THE QUALIFIERS! FIRST, WE HAVE A GIRL YOU CAN’T HELP BUT TO ROOT FOR, OCHACO URARAKA!” The crowd burst into applause, only quieting when he continued.

       “THEN, WE HAVE THE EXPLOSIVE KATSUKI BAKUGO, WHO’S PROVEN TO BE A FIERCE OPPONENT!” As if on cue, Midnight counted down, and the match begun.

      Uraraka sprinted towards Bakugo, before being knocked back by an explosion. The explosion threw up dust that had been residing on the field, leaving the explosion user blind.

      For a moment, the telling blue UA sports uniform emerged, and Bakugo blew it up, revealing her diversion.

      The crowd was screaming, as Mic commented on the mindblowing match. Uraraka had been so close, but was blown away.  

     Midoriya noticed a pebble floating, as Uraraka repeatedly charged at his childhood friend. When he looked up, he was in awe.

      This was genius. Midoriya watched the match, as well as Uraraka’s stash of stones and rubble.

      “WHY IS HE TOYING WITH HER? JUST FINISH IT!” A voice from the audience yelled, and Midoriya sent the person, who was somehow a pro hero a dirty look. The crowd began to agree.

       “If you’re actually a pro hero, and haven’t noticed what is happening, you should consider a different career path. He hasn’t finished her, because he can’t. She’s been a challenging opponent, and if you can’t see that, you should turn in your license.” Midoriya smirked at his teacher's commentary, then Uraraka pushed herself from the ground, a feral grin on her face.

      Midoriya could see her mouthing something, then something he could easily read came.

      ‘ Release.’

      Her final attack rained down like a meteor shower, and Midoriya thought it might be the end for Bakugo. He aimed his hand to the sky, then released the single, most huge explosion Midoriya has ever seen from him.

      Then Uraraka passed out.

      “ BAKUGO WINS!”

      The qualifiers were over.

Chapter Text

     During the intermission, Midoriya decided to visit Uraraka to see how she was doing. He knocked on the door, waiting for her response. She called for him to come in.

      “Hey, Ochako! I wanted to come check on you, you looked pretty beat up after your fight. You were amazing though, and your final attack was so smart, even if it didn’t win, that was incredible!” She smiled, her eyes looking red, as if she’d been crying, although she acted completely fine.  

      She smiled, “I’m doing great! Recovery Girl healed all my bruises and scratches. Guess I underestimated Bakugo though.” Uraraka rubbed the back of her neck, awkwardly laughing.

      Midoriya chuckled, “You and me both, i’ve known Katsuki since we could walk, and I didn’t know he could make an explosion that big.”

      Something about her lightened up at the comment, and Midoriya mentally cheered. They talked for a moment, when Uraraka’s phone went off. “I’ve got to take this! It’s my dad!” Midoriya nodded, giving her privacy to call her parents. 

      After leaving Uraraka, he went to the snack room, where he’d find his next match up. UA provided a snack and refreshment room for students still in the running. Midoriya looked at the screen, displaying names for match ups.

Find Third Round Matchups and Preparation rooms here. (Students are not required to stay in preparation rooms)

Todoroki vs Tokoyami — Field gates

Midoriya vs Iida — Student preparation rooms 1&2

Ashido vs Shinso — Student preparation rooms 3&4

Kirishima vs Bakugo — Student preparation rooms 5&6

Check the listing regularly to ensure you make it to the field in time, it’d be embarrassing to be late to your own match! Help yourself to some snacks in the meantime.

      Midoriya scanned the listing, if he won, he’d be facing Todoroki. He had to help him, so he had to beat Iida, no matter how close they were.

      Green eyes met red, and they both nodded, silently agreeing to do their best. Iida smiled, turning to head to his prep room. Midoriya grabbed an apple, before heading to his own prep room, to watch Todoroki’s match.

      Midoriya allowed himself to fall into his seat, looking at the screen. Present Mic was going over a summary of the festival so far, while Aizawa filled in any gaps.

       “NOW, WE HAVE TWO MORE COMPETITORS! WE HAVE THE ICE KING FROM CLASS 1-A, TODOROKI SHOTO. FACING OFF AGAINST HIM,WE HAVE FUMIKAGE TOKOYAMI, THE SHADOW LORD OF CLASS A!” The two of them entered the field, as the crowd erupted with cheers after the break.

      Midnight waved her whip, “Begin!”

      In the blink of an eye, Tokoyami was in an iceberg. He broke out with little difficulty, with the aid of his quirk. The match would be interesting, as the two now had little room to work with. 

      Midoriya watched as two of the best students from their class battled, until a miniature glacier appeared, shoving Tokoyami out of bounds, despite the protest Dark Shadow had made.

      If he was honest, Izuku was slightly disappointed with the match, if Todoroki had only used his fire, it would’ve been over much quicker.

      Midoriya walked to his side of the field, smiling at Shinso as he passed, who was helping himself at the snack table. Midoriya noticed Shinso turning his attention to the screen, but paid no mind to it, electing to focus on his task.

      He had to beat Iida. It’d be easier said than done, because Iida possesses immense speed and power. His fatal flaw though, was his inability to play dirty, something that was as easy as breathing for his opponent.

      The plan was, Iida would definitely go for a frontal attack, so he could yank on Iida’s engine, tripping him, so then he’d be able to evade attacks.

      The gates opened, and Midoriya stepped onto the field at the workers cue. “ FIRST, WE HAVE THE BOY WHO WON’T TAKE ANYTHING BUT VICTORY, MIDORIYA FROM CLASS 1-A!” Midoriya’s cheeks turned red as the observers cheered, making it hard to keep focused.

       “ FACING OFF AGAINST HIS CLASS REP, THE UNSTOPPABLE TENYA IIDA!”  Iida walked on, his posture screaming confidence, that Midoriya could only dream of having.

      “ YOU’VE HEARD OF UNSTOPPABLE FORCE VERSUS IMMOVABLE OBJECT, BUT THIS IS A MATCH OF TWO UNSTOPPABLE FORCES!” Then, Midnight signaled for the start of the match.

      Iida charged at Midoriya, arms stretched out, and in response, Midoriya activated his quirk, and yanked. Iida stumbled, but recovered easily, smiling at Midoriya. He said nothing, but Midoriya knew exactly what he meant.

      The two played a game of cat and mouse for a bit, when the game turned in one of their favors. Iida grabbed Midoriya’s shirt. 

     “IIDA HAS GOT MIDORIYA STUCK, ONLY A FEW STEPS AND IT’S OVER!”

      Midoriya smirked, digging his heels into the ground, causing Iida to stumble, before he pulled Iida full force with his quirk, maneuvering himself to kick Iida, sending him out of bounds. Iida looked at Midoriya, seeming disappointed, but nodded at him.

      “Good match, Midoriya, that was a good move, but next time we face off, I won’t fall for that trick.” Present Mic announced Midoriya as the winner, but they paid no mind to it as they walked out of bounds. 

      Midoriya passed many people, some he knew, but many he did not, who congratulated his victory against Iida. Midoriya thanked them, but secretly wanted to run back to the student lounge.

      The next match would be fairly predictable, but him and Iida had dirtied the field. UA wanted to keep it pristine, even if the next match would only mess it up again. Shinso versus Ashido would be over fairly quick. Shinso would probably get Ashido to slip up, and speak, knowing her, but that was only if he could evade her acidic attacks.

—

     Shigaraki Tomura was perplexed, Sensei usually didn’t bother to watch the herolings Sports Festival. He seemed awfully interested in one NPC he’d told him about, but it made sense once he told him why.

     Izuku Midoriya, Representative of Class 1-A, and apparently his biological son. According to Sensei, before his first fight with All Might that had severely wounded him, he’d wanted to try and get closer to All Might, parading as Hisashi Midoriya, professional quirk analyst.

      He’d planned to become close to All Might's agency, and take him down from within. So he started a family as cover, and took Mrs. Midoriya’s last name, and even had a child. Then after he successfully put his brother's quirk to rest, finally ridding his memory of those thieves, he’d probably fake his death and leave the family.

      Not that Shigaraki himself knew that, he only knew the first half. All For One’s attention had been captured by his son when he’d blown himself up, in only the first round. His risk had been calculated, but he’d taken the bargain either way, allowing him to end in fifth place.

       The boy seemed smart, from what he’d gathered, watching him defeat his competitors with an efficient strategy. It reminded the ancient villain of himself in his youth, determined to succeed, using any means to do so.

      His successor, Tomura, seemed focused on other students, namely Hitoshi Shinso, and Katsuki Bakugo. Tomura had never really appreciated the brains behind a plan, so it made sense he’d gravitate towards students who were so powerful. He himself found himself fascinated by students like the pink haired girl, Hatsume, Yaoyorozu, and his own son.

    All for One carefully observed, although he was content with watching them all, he was looking for one student. The successor of One For All. All Might was an oaf, and would never become a teacher unless it benefited him, and All Might does not have countless quirks, so he could not be a hero forever, could he?

      None of the first years had the quirk, he could tell, he always could with One For All. Either the man hadn’t passed it, or his successor was an older UA student, which he’d hadn’t already eliminated, as he hadn’t checked the quirk registry recently.

      The next match was between Hitoshi Shinso, the boy with a powerful brainwashing quirk, and Mina Ashido, a girl with an acid quirk. Tomura had seemed interested in Shinso, so he watched the match. He could barely focus over the voice heroes commentary, but Shinso had won in the end. How the quirk activated was still unknown, unfortunately.

      It looked like voice activation, which was impressive, especially for the boy being a hero student. Most children with quirks like his ended up dead, or with their dreams crushed by his age. Fascinating.

      During the break, All for One had decided he wanted to know more about the boy who was his biological son, so he pulled some strings. 

      Izuku Midoriya, his birthday was July 15th, and his quirk was the attraction of small objects, officially called Lure. The drawbacks were interesting, if he tried to use his quirk on something too large, he’d be pulled to it instead. He had no record, it was spotless, and he had pristine grades all throughout his schooling.

      His sources described him as confident, but not in a cocky way, friendly, selfless, smart, but anxious at times. He was close with Katsuki Bakugo, Hitoshi Shinso, and Momo Yaoyorozu. Sometimes he’d mutter at a speed that nobody could comprehend about random things, and had a hobby for analyzing quirks.

      All for One smirked at the last one, the boy was definitely related to him. Sometimes, children inherited traits related to their parents' quirks. Such as Izuku’s infatuation with quirks. Some kids would find a hobby in writing, when their parents had a language quirk. Things like that.

     The villain was drawn from his thoughts when Tomura’s voice rang through a speaker. “Sensei, watch this match, look at the blonde one.” All for One ensured Tomura he’d pay attention.

      Present Mic announced the next two competitors, Katsuki Bakugo, the blonde Tomura was referring to, and Ejiro Kirishima.

      It was a compelling matchup, a quirk perfect for defense, against the perfect quirk for offense. It would practically be a battle of will. Bakugo was viscous, but Kirishima matched him in will. He wondered which boy would come out victorious.

—

      Midoriya watched, apprehensive as Bakugo and Kirishima exchanged blows that only continued to increase in power. For a moment he caught a glimpse of something he hadn’t seen in forever. 

      From the moment they could play on their own, Bakugo always took the lead. He used to be aggressive, and downright mean at times. As they aged, the two of them leveled out, and they saw each other as equals.

      For a moment, Midoriya saw the boy he’d seen when he was young. Kacchan, the brave symbol of victory, who stood up to bullies twice his size, and wasn’t afraid of anything. 

     Then Kirishima was blown out of bounds. Midoriya was reminded of his childhood friend, and how they’d changed. He realized, nothing had really changed, Bakugo was still his best friend, his symbol of victory.

     Midoriya pushed the thoughts aside, deciding to go congratulate his friend.

      He also needed to prepare for his next match, which was soon.

Chapter Text

      “You want to be a hero? Your quirk is kind of weak Midoriya, how are you going to compete with people like Bakugo?”

      Midoriya looked at Todoroki with determination alight in his eyes like fire. Fire Todoroki refused to use.

       Todoroki had began their match with a massive glacier that Midoriya had pulled himself on top of. 

      “Use your fire, Todoroki!” Midoriya yelled down to his opponent, who only shook his head.

       The boy in question, scowled. “You of all people should know, I will never use his power.” Midoriya huffed in annoyance, remembering the conversation he’d had with Endeavor prior.

      Midoriya started his walk over to his side of the arena, when the air around him suddenly heated up. “You, you will be facing my Shoto. Make sure to give him a good challenge, this will gauge how I need to train him.”

       His conversation with Todoroki came to mind. “You do realize you and Todoroki are two different people, right?”

      Endeavor nodded, “Obviously, what do you take me for? He will be better, with my training, and his quirk.”

      “Obviously, but I think there’s a disconnect here. Shoto will be an amazing hero, but that has nothing to do with you. He isn’t you, or any version of you.” And with that, Midoriya walked away, silently panicking, because he just told off a pro hero, that could kill him and leave no evidence.

      He was only slightly disappointed that his mind drifted to that last part.

      Midoriya slid down the glacier, lunging at his opponent, who dodged with ease. “I actually saw your father earlier, do you want to know what I told him? He isn’t you, and when you’re better than him, he will have nothing to do with it, do you hear me?” 

      Todoroki sharpened his glare, sending more ice towards him, threatening to capture him. “You don’t hear me, I will use only my mothers ice, and I will still be better than him.” Midoriya groaned, pulling himself back on top of a spike of the glacier, taking a loose piece as a weapon.

      The two continued to fight each other, Midoriya failing to yell sense into his opponent. His hands and knees were spotted with ice burns, making it seem painful to even move them. Suddenly, Midoriya yelled from across the remaining open area they had.

      “Look at me Todoroki! You haven’t put a scratch on me yet! You said you’d give this fight your all, and I only see half your power! Fight me properly Todoroki!”

      “I refuse to use his power, Midoriya.”

       “When will you open your eyes! It’s yours Todoroki! It’s yours! Your quirk, not his!”

       Even with the yelling of the crowd, the world went silent for the two of them, then Todoroki burst into brilliant flames, smiling.

       “You’re odd, Midoriya, helping your opponent.”

      An explosion rippled through the arena. Midoriya faintly realizes he’s hit a wall, before losing consciousness.

      Izuku Midoriya was out of bounds, Todoroki wins.

      The crowd was in awe, clapping and cheering loudly, even after they’d left, and the arena was prepared.

—

     Katsuki Bakugo was not an ‘approachable’ person, even as a kid. According to the Quirk Doctor, he had inherited traits from his fathers quirk, combustion, which essentially gave his child anger issues. This was known from a young age, and his constant anger caused many kids to not want to be friends with him, until his quirk came in that is.

      Then there was Izuku. The boy had walked up to him while he was on the swings, and asked if he liked heroes. Then, he invited him to play heroes with his friends. Eventually, Katsuki was integrated into their friend group.

      Midoriya had been a constant in Katsuki’s life since that day. After he’d gotten his Explosion quirk, most of the other kids started to follow him, treating him as the leader, forgetting he was the outcast at one point.

      But not Izuku, never Izuku. Nothing changed when he got his quirk between the two of them. As they grew older, he realized Izuku was impossible.

      He always thought of others first, defended people who wouldn’t defend themselves, and was kind without letting people walk all over him. He was everything Katsuki was missing. He passed the opportunity to win, just to help somebody who didn’t want it, but desperately needed it.

      Katsuki never understood why Izuku admired him, when he was practically perfect.

      Bakugo shrugged off those thoughts, and pushed open the door to the infirmary, where his best friend sat, being lectured.

      “You need to be careful young man! Frostbite is no joke!” Midoriya apologized frantically, when he noticed Katsuki’s presence in the room.

       Bakugo huffed in amusement, “Yeah, frostbite is no joke, Izuku.” Midoriya groaned at his teasing tone. He walked further into the room, sitting in the chair next to the bed Izuku was seated on.  

       “Nice match, you gave Icy-hot a run for his money, I thought you’d win for a hot second. You would’ve beat him if you didn’t fuck yourself up so much.” Midoriya nodded, smiling sheepishly.

       “I know, but I had to help him!” Bakugo shakes his head. 

      “The arena is almost fixed, you should probably go, good luck!” Midoriya chirps, pointing to the arena.

      Bakugo turned to leave, but stopped before he walked out the door. “Thanks, but I won’t need it.” Then he closed the door.

      After a few more minutes, Recovery Girl came and told him he could go back with his friends, and to take it easy for the rest of the day. While walking to the student section, Midoriya passed Shinso, wishing him luck before their match.

      Midoriya sat in the empty seat next to Uraraka, who congratulated him on his match, even if he’d lost. “I’ve never seen Todoroki use his fire! I almost forgot about it, how’d you get him to use it?”

       He shrugged, “Something I said must’ve gotten him too, it was hurting him, not using his fire.” Uraraka nodded, fiddling with her fingers.

      They sat, talking about trivial things, when Present Mic came in over the speakers. “WELCOME BACK LISTENERS! COMING BACK FROM OUR BREAK, WE HAVE THE MYSTERIOUS HITOSHI SHINSO FROM CLASS 1-A. FACING OFF, THE BOMB DOT COM, KATSUKI BAKUGO!”

        The two both walked onto the field, both radiating confidence from their being. Midoriya readied his notebook, prepared to write down everything.

       Midnight started the match, and Bakugo shot across the arena, powered by his quirk. The two began to engage, Hitoshi with some one sided conversation, and Katsuki with explosions.

       “I don’t know if Hitoshi-kun will be able to win this! His quirk in itself is stupid strong, but only if his opponents can’t avoid it. Katsuki however, is both physically stronger and knows how to evade his quirk.” Midoriya mumbles, while his friends watch the match in front of them tentatively.

       Midoriya watches two of his closest friends fight tooth and nail. He knows it won’t be a short match because both of them are the two most stubborn people Izuku has ever met. 

        Shinso continues to fend off Bakugo’s ferocious attacks to the best of his ability, while simultaneously trying to capture him in his quirk. The audience roars with excitement, wondering which of the boys will succeed, and beat the other.

       The fight continues for only a bit longer, only ending when Bakugo releases nothing short of a monster blast. Midoriya wondered where that came from.

       Eventually, the smoke clears, and Midnight nods, “Shinso is KO’ed, Bakugo wins.” The watchers applaud, and Midoriya smiles, bittersweet, as both of them were his friends. He’d known one of them had to lose.

—

       Hitoshi knew the odds of him winning that match were slim to none. But, he had to try his best. He’d already done better than he expected, his goal was make it to the third round, which he had done!

        Then it hit him in the face harder then Bakugo’s finishing explosion.

        He’d gotten third in the UA Sports festival. Out of 220 first year students, he was in the top four.

       Holy shit, he was in the hero course. Thousands of applicants and they chose him of all people. Him! He wondered if this was why Bakugo was always so confident, he had his shit together. It probably registered to him that he was a top hero hopeful in the country.

       Shinso looked where he started, from the ‘Villain boy’ getting beat up in the alley, to a hero student, at the most prestigious school in Japan. Hah, take that career counselor lady!

       He walked out of Recovery Girls office, and towards the student section. A few random students congratulated him, even if he hadn’t won his match. 

       The short walk to the area where his classmates and friends were sitting went by quickly. He went up behind Midoriya, poking him in the back of the head. “Hey, Ripper what’d you think of the match?” 

      Midoriya whipped around, almost taking out Hitoshi’s finger with how fast he’d moved. “You did so well! Katsuki’s full of surprises today, isn’t he!”

       Shinso shrugged, sitting down next to him, taking the seat Iida had previously occupied. He’d left in a hurry, saying there was a family emergency. Hitoshi wasn’t close to Iida like Midoriya was, but he still hoped everything was alright.

—-

       Tenya Iida was no stranger to anger. He felt anger when he’d failed at anything, or when he disappointed his family. He felt anger when some kids in his class broke his glasses a few years back.

      The emotion he felt now was not anger. It was righteous fury. How dare Stain hurt his brother. Tensei was a model hero, Tenya clenched his fists at the thought.

      This would not do, Stain needs to be punished. Tenya’s nails dug into his palms, and his hands shook. 

       When he thought about his brother, telling him to take his hero name, his mind was made up. The Hero Killer will die for what he’d done to Tensei.

       That’s what heroes do, right? They get rid of villains.

      Although he knew this was not the path he should be taking, Iida couldn’t find it in himself to care. The hero killer deserves to die at the hands of someone affected by his crimes. Blood would be on his hands, but it would be worth it. Nobody else’s big brother would be hurt.

      Somebody had to get blood on their hands in order to protect everyone else.

       And if it had to be him? So be it.

       Tenya knew if he told anyone, they’d try to stop him, so he put on an indifferent expression. A cool facade to hide his red hot fury. So he smiled to his parents the best he could, and was polite to the hospital staff, even if he wanted nothing more then for them to leave him alone.

       He had two days off, so he had to make the most of those two days. Stain would not survive his next encounter with Ingenium.

       Stain had a pattern, he killed two heroes in every city he went to. It was embarrassingly obvious, and he’d be in Kyushu next, probably targeting Hawks. He’d be in Hosu for another month. His next attempted murder should align perfectly with Tenya’s internship. All he had to do was find an internship in Hosu.

        Tenya didn’t bother to watch the rest of the festival, he could always watch a recording later. Part of him hated that the only thing he could feel was his anger.

         Stain would feel his wrath.

Chapter Text

The second he made it home, he was tackled into a hug by his mother. 

“Izuku! I’m so proud of you, even if you didn’t win, you did so well! Let me see your medal!” Inko cried, shaking her son who fought back his own tears of happiness.

Inko sat him down on the couch, and began to question him about the whole thing. Izuku answered happily, showing her his third place medal. “Next year, it’ll be gold.” He said, causing his mother to pull him onto another hug.

“I’ll be holding you to that sweetie, i’ve got to have something to tell all my friends about.” She teased, “Tell the girl, Uraraka, that her fight with Katsuki was amazing.”

Izuku smiled, nodding his head, causing his mother to laugh. “You’ve gotten so big and strong, and to think you used to be small enough that I could pull you with my quirk.”

“You go put on something more comfortable, i’ll start on dinner. We’re having soba.” Inko instructed her son, who left to do just that.

She looked at the medal on the table, the number three engraved into it. Her son had earned that, and she was so proud of him. Mitsuki and her had watched the festival together, where they cheered together.

They’d originally planned to have dinner together, but then Katsuki won, so they decided to bring him to his favorite restaurant. A family dinner.

—

As he walked to the kitchen for a glass of water, Tenya was suddenly assaulted by the increasingly familiar heat of anger, blossoming in his chest. Tensei would never be able to walk to get a midnight glass of water again.

After they’d come home from the hospital, Tenya’s parents hugged him, praising him for handling this so well. They also complimented his sports festival performance. And to think he was at a silly school event while his brother was fatally wounded.

Tensei was stable, and insisted that Tenya and his parents go home to get some sleep. They ate takeout that night, his mother unwilling to cook. His friends had all texted him, concerned about him leaving early, but he responded politely, saying there was a family issue, and that everything was fine.

That was a lie, nothing would ever be fine again. Stain’s death would barely compensate for the lives his brother would’ve been able to save, had he not been injured. 

Tenya looked around at his usually pristine room, and a small part of him was ashamed. Saying that murder wouldn’t fix anything, to go hug his mom, and fix his room. That voice was shut away after the image of Tensei, bound to a hospital bed wormed it’s way into his thoughts.

He had three days off to recover from the festival, and those days would be solely dedicated to training. He couldn’t be weak if he wanted to kill the Hero Killer.

The mere thought of that monster made him more angry then he already was. He wanted to break something, anything really. Tenya sat on the floor, back against his bed, then put his head into his hands.

His brother, Tensei was hurt because of Stain. He’d never be able to do what he loved again, he wouldn’t even be able to walk. All Tenya felt was rage. Stain would pay. He’d never hurt another hero.

—-

Sleep didn’t come that night, but Tenya still went about his usual routine. He went on a run at four in the morning. His mind was quiet for the first time in days, even briefly during his run. 

He got back to his house at around seven, where his parents were waiting for him. They were going to see Tensei. The youngest Iida quickly showered and changed, before they traveled to the hospital.

“I want you to be Ingenium.” He said, with such a resigned look in his eyes. Tenya couldn’t. That was Tensei’s name.

“Brother! You still have so many people to save, there’s a way you could be a hero still! Right?” Tenya attempted to reason, but his brother smiled, despite the pain he was undoubtedly in.

“My version of Ingenium is finished. I won’t be a hero if I can’t give everything I’ve got. Become Ingenium for me, Tenya.” He said, and Tenya clenched his teeth together. Tensei had given up. Tensei would never kill someone, so he couldn’t be Ingenium.

The thought of Stain made his blood boil. He’d have his revenge, for all the heroes who could no longer help people.

—-

The next two days went by fast, and before he knew it, he was getting ready for school. He saw Midoriya, who asked if he was alright. Part of him wanted to tell Midoriya everything.

Instead he said he was fine, and insisted they get to class. Midoriya seemed skeptical, but obliged anyway. 

Tenya greeted his classmates, and sat down to prepare. Mr. Aizawa made himself known, and made an announcement that could not have been more ill timed.

Hero names.

—-

Class 1-A buzzed with excitement as Midnight came in, lecturing them about being careful when choosing their hero names. Bakugo seemed smug, Asui was nervous, not that anyone could tell, with her cool demeanor.

Aoyama went first.  

“I Cannot Stop Twinkling!” He said, and Midnight smiled sheepishly.

She began to make some edits, changing Aoyama’s name to Can’t Stop Twinkling. Still weird, but to each their own. Asui went next, she went with the Rainy Season Hero: Froppy. Everyone loves it, it was adorable!

As everyone went, some got shot down, like Ashido being Alien Queen, Sato being Sugar Man, Ojiro being Tailman, and Hagakure being Invisible Girl. Some were odd, but most of them were great.

Bakugo strutted to the front of the class, a smirk on his face. “Blast Hero: King Explosion Murder God Dynamight.” Midoriya’s jaw dropped, and Midnight winced.

“Is there a reason?” She asked, and Bakugo scoffed.

“Izuku said I wouldn’t, and what better way to comfort civilians than to show them I never lose.” Everyone in the room was at a loss for words.

“How did he make that sound okay?!” Midnight approved the name, and Midoriya decided to go next.

“Traction Hero: Lure!” Midnight passed the name, smiling. Midoriya sat down, exhaling with relief, because he knew it’d get passed, but there was always the risk of it not happening.

The class eventually finished creating their hero names, some nervous they’d hate it in the future. Iida and Todoroki had just made their hero names, just their first names, which was odd. Hopefully they could change it if they wanted to.

Midnight left the room, leaving Class 1-A to their own devices for a moment. They talked about their hero names, and inspiration for them, when their home room teacher emerged from his sleeping bag. “Now that that’s done, as you know, the sports festival is there to help heroes find students to scout for internships.

The class listened attentively, “Usually it’s a bit more spread out then this.” He clicked a button, the the projector lit up.

Todoroki Shoto: 

3976 Offers

Bakugo Katsuki:

3843

Tokoyami Fumikage:

1532

Midoriya Izuku:

1034

Shinso Hitoshi:

987

Tenya Iida:

546

Uraraka Ochaco:

374

It then faded into many other students who’d gotten a few offers. Midoriya stared at the board, gaping like a fish. “Have fun combing through these, you have a free block to figure things out.”

Aizawa chuckled, as if remembering something entertaining, before sitting to do some work.

Midoriya went to the front to grab the rather thick stack of internship offers. He had some from a few rather notable heroes. 

However, one stuck out to Midoriya.

“Gran Torino?!” He choked, looking at the paper again. Midoriya checked the contact information, it was Torino-sans number! He turned, and elbowed Bakugo.

Bakugo startled, before giving Midoriya a shove back, “What the hell was that about?”

Midoriya shoved the paper in his face, “This is Torino! The bus guy! Remember I told you about him!” Bakugo’s eyes widened, and he huffed out a chuckle.

“Take that internship, or I will, I want to see how this plays out.” He said, and Midoriya nodded.

“Roger that, King Explosion Murder!” He replied, adding a teasing tone to the last part.

The rest of the homeroom flew by, and throughout their other classes, they began to prepare for finals, which would be happening in about two months. But all Midoriya could think about was the internship coming his way.

—-

Class 1-Angels

The Alluring Izuku Midoriya:

I’ve decided that Yamada Sensei’s sports festival introductions for us should be our usernames. I will die on that hill.

The Fierce Ochaco Uraraka:

I agree

Explosion King of 1-A:

Ig

The Alluring Izuku Midoriya:

Where are u guys going for internships???

The leader of team Asui:

I’m going to Selkie! I’m hoping I can get something valuable there

The 1-A Ice King:

I’m going with Endeavor.

The Alluring Izuku Midoriya:

Really? Why?

The 1-A Ice King:

To gain better control over my flames.

Goddess of 1-A:

I’ve decided to go with Uwambi.

The Fierce Ochaco Uraraka:

I got an offer from her too! I decided to go with Gunhead though!

The Alluring Izuku Midoriya:

That’s a great idea!! Now that I think about it, you’d be unbeatable hand to hand! Which Gunhead specializes in?

The Fierce Ochaco Uraraka:

That’s what I was thinking!

The King of Darkness:

I decided to go with Hawks.

The Alluring Izuku Midoriya:

You got an offer from Hawks??????!!!

The King of Darkness:

Yes.

The Fierce Ochaco Uraraka:

That’s so cool!

Explosion King of 1-A:

I’m going with Best Jeanist.

Cryptid of 1-A:

I got an offer from Aizawa Sensei. I'm going with him. What about you Midoriya?

The Alluring Izuku Midoriya:

It’s a long story, but it turns out a family friend of mine is a hero?? But he’s like 60?? So obviously I had to go with him.

The Leader of Team Asui:

Valid tbh, I’d be curious too.

Electric Wonder of 1-A:

O shit Yamada Sensei is here

Electric Wonder of 1-A:

I forgot to study

Electric Wonder of 1-A:

I’m going with this underground lightning hero, I’ll probs be able to learn a lot from her.

Turbo Speed Tenya Iida:

I will be going with Manuel.

Chapter Text

The weeks passed, and before he knew it, Midoriya was on his way to his internship. His mom had seemed to be hiding something when he told her about Torino. Maybe he was just paranoid.

Midoriya would be on the same train as Todoroki and Iida, who were going to be interning near him. Maybe they’d see each other! Aizawa lectured them, before they were dismissed. But Midoriya had something else on his mind.

Iida. His brother had been attacked by the hero killer, Stain. He’d been acting differently ever since. He was worried about him. Midoriya jogged up to Iida, Todoroki following him closely, as they’d become friends? 

“Hey Iida! I just wanted to let you know, you can talk to me, if you need too.” Iida stopped in his tracks, and turned to Midoriya.

“Thank you, but it is quite unnecessary.” Iida repeated, as if he’d said it a thousand times before. Midoriya frowned.

“You can talk to me too if you too. I know we’re not close or anything, but I do know that look in your eyes.” Todoroki slowed down, and he just kept walking.

“I promise I’m alright. I’ll see you both later.” Iida sped up, leaving him and Todoroki behind.

The two made eye contact, unspoken words between them. Iida was definitely not okay. Hopefully he wouldn’t do anything rash.

Midoriya sat on the train, preparing for the long ride ahead of him. Todoroki sat across from him, surprisingly. He cleared his throat, “So, Midoriya, uhm, how have you been?” 

His mother had said that was a good way to start conversations with friends. She’d been happy when he told her about Midoriya, and he thought that Midoriya was good company, so maybe being his friend wouldn’t be the worst.

Also it’d make his mother happy. That was good. Shoto liked seeing his mother smile. It was much better than the old memories, where she was also sad and crying.

“Erm- I’m good, Todoroki! Thanks for asking, how about you?” He replied, seeming confused, which baffled Shoto.

He brushed it off, and answered his classmate's question, “I’m doing well. Thank you for asking.” The conversation quickly tapered off after that. Maybe he’d said something wrong. His mother had mentioned that he tends to be a bit blunt. Maybe he should find out what Midoriya likes. That could help.

Shoto put down his phone, “What is your favorite food? I like cold soba.” Midoriya smiled, and turned off his own phone.

“I like my mothers Katsudon, it’s my favorite, other than that, probably ramen,” Todoroki nodded, he was never allowed to eat food that wasn’t on his fathers plan, so he never had his mothers cooking. There must be something special about it. “Why cold soba?” Midoriya asked him.

Todoroki cleared his throat, “It is simply superior to hot soba. I feel that it’s more refreshing I guess.” Midoriya chuckled, saying that he’d have to try cold soba after a workout to see if it was as refreshing as he said.

Shoto liked that. They continued to banter, throughout the ride going through random topics. Shoto found it much more enjoyable than his fathers rambling. Midoriya tended to ramble a bit as well, but his wasn’t annoying, and wasn’t about the same thing every time. It was nice.

“Where are you going for internships, Midoriya?” He decided to ask, and an amused expression grew on his face. 

He smiled, “A hero called Gran Torino, it’s actually funny because he’s a family friend, but I didn’t know that he was a hero. He gave me an offer, so now I’ve got to go interrogate him about it.” Shoto let a small smile across his face, that was pretty amusing. Someone he knew turned out to be a hero! That was an entertaining concept, like if he discovered that his driver was actually a clown. 

Shoto decided to ask how he met this man, curious as to how he didn’t know such a fundamental piece of information. It turned out that Midoriya had met him on the bus on his way to entrance exams, and they met a few times after that. Apparently his mother had forced Midoriya to invite him to dinner. Then they’d become friends. Midoriya’s mother sounded like a great woman.

“So, Todoroki-kun, you mentioned having siblings! Can you tell me about them? You spoke of them quite fondly.” Midoriya asked, and Shoto nodded.

“Shoto is fine, I don’t really like my last name, plus it frequently messes me up, as I have siblings. They are named Natsuo and Fuyumi, and I have a brother who passed, Touya,” He began, and Midoriya listened attentively, seeming to soak up every detail.

Todoroki racked his memories for some things about them, “Fuyumi is a teacher, at an elementary school, and Natsuo is in college to become a doctor.” Midoriya beamed, asking what grade Fuyumi taught, what kind of doctor Natsuo wanted to become, why they wanted to do their respective jobs, and what college Natsuo went to. That in itself was already more than father had ever asked at their weekly family dinners.

Fuyumi taught kindergarten, and Natsuo was going to become a pediatrician, one of the few doctor professions that doesn’t require you to have a quirk. He went to a local university. He told Midoriya all that, and he looked interested in what he had to say. “Do you have any siblings?” He decided to ask, and he shook his head in response.

“No, but I think Tsuchans siblings consider me as their brother.” Midoriya snickered, and he didn’t really follow. Midoriya seemed to pick up on that when he continued.

“Asui’s younger siblings, we’ve met up a few times outside of school. I’m there enough, and green isn’t exactly a common hair color so they’ve decided we’re unofficial siblings.” Midoriya tells him, fondness evident in his tone.

“I didn’t know you two were close.” He replied, and Midoriya responded by telling him after the USJ they became closer. It made sense, they were close together, and Shinso as well. They were in the same zone, his mind filled that part in.

Midoriya checked his phone, “Wow, it’s been an hour! I didn’t realize that, I think I’ll be getting off soon.” Todoroki nodded, agreeing, had it really been an hour? Then as if on cue, the train stopped, and Midoriya recognized it as his stop.

As he gathered his things, he waved to Todoroki, “Bye! Hope your internship goes well, Shoto!” Then he was gone. Shoto found himself saddened by this, and where’d they’d been sitting suddenly felt less warm, a warmth he hadn’t noticed was gone.

—-

Midoriya walked towards the building on the address, wondering if this was where Torino was always talking about going too when he left. It looked abandoned from the outside, but he went in regardless.

Torino was on the floor. That was a bit much. “Erm- hello Mr. Torino, I didn’t know that you're a hero?” He forced out the greeting, and he popped up.

“I absolutely am! Now, I’ve got another Zygote coming this way, so go unpack in the guest room upstairs, and let me play my prank.” He ordered, and Midoriya decided to comply, wondering who else would be coming. He wandered to the room upstairs, and saw that there were two futons set up on opposite sides of the room. Midoriya heard the door open, and decided to listen in on the prank.

“Oh! Erm, are you okay, sir?” That was what he heard, before Torino popped up screaming, and the other, who he guessed was a boy shouted, startled. He then started laughing. Midoriya decided he could probably go back down now.

Midoriya didn’t know what he was expecting when he walked down there, but the winner of the third year sports festival was not it. “Oh hey! You’re Midoriya right? Third place, right? You did really well!” He said, while Midoriya frantically tried to put his face to his name on the festival.

Mirio Togata. That’s it! “You’re Togata right? Great job! You used your quirk so efficiently! Is it some sort of teleportation? Or the ability to make things intangible?” He asked, and the boy nodded.

“It’s called permeation! Originally I could only permeate myself, but after some intense training, we discovered I could use my quirk on other objects!” He smiled, and Torino scoffed.

“Nah, don’t feed him the usual story, I actually think he could help with this whole thing.” Togata looked surprised, looking at Midoriya with wide eyes.

Midoriya thinks that he should not know about this. All Might’s own quirk is a hand me down, starting from the greatest villain in history. And now Togata has it. Also his old family friend is a pro hero, and one of the few people who know this secret.

He kind of wishes he’d taken another internship. Curse his curiosity. He forces that feeling down.

“How do you think I could help?” Togata smiles, and Torino does too.

“You’ve got a sharp mind. How do you think he could improve? I’ll have you watch us spar, don’t worry though Zygote, you’ll get some too.” He said, and Midoriya smiled. He could do that. Torino sent them to go change into their hero costumes.

They closed the door, and both pulled out their costumes. “So! Attraction of small objects, huh? That’s such an interesting quirk! How were you flying though? During the sports festival?” Togata asked him, and Midoriya laughed nervously.

“Oh! It’s a weird effect of my quirk, if something is too big for me to pull, I get pulled towards it. So I can use that for flying. I get quirk exhaustion a little faster if I do it a lot, but it’s worth it for the mobility.” Midoriya replied, and Togata nodded.

“Now that I think about it, our quirks would be a cool match up! You can make objects intangible, and I could pull them, granted they’re small enough then boom! Surprise projectile!” Togata smiled, nodding.

“You’re right! That’d be a cool strategy! Timing would be difficult though! I wonder that if since I make things intangible, they technically take up no space, so do you think it’d work within your parameters?” Midoriya’s eyes widened, 

He pulled part of his costume on, “We’ve got to try it! I bet Mr. Torino would let us!” Togata looks confused, but nods, matching Midoriya’s energy.

“How do you know Gran anyways? He was All Might’s mentor, but how do you know him?” He asks, and Midoriya laughs.

“I saw him on the train while getting ready for entrance exams, next time I saw him, I was struggling with my tie, and he demanded that I let him do it,” Midoriya said, and Togata chuckled.

Midoriya continued, “I told my mom about him, and she demanded I invite him for dinner, then he just kind of became a family friend.” Togata laughed, telling him how cool that was.

They finished getting ready, and made it back to Torino’s main room. He smirked, a look Midoriya was only slightly unfamiliar with. It reminded him of when he demanded to let him tie his tie. 

“Now, Mini Zygote, grab some paper from the table, and take notes while Big Zygote fights me. Then you switch.” He said, and they both nodded. Togata began to stretch, when Torino shot towards him. “REAL BATTLES DON’T HAVE PREPARATION TIME!” He shouted, and Togata fell beneath the floor, while Torino shot around the room.

Midoriya watched them fight. Torino was obviously holding back, and was taking advantage of Togata’s blind spots. It was impressive. Togata tried to counter him by making his leg intangible, but he only swung his other leg around, and hit Togata twice as hard. 

He then came down to the floor. “What did you get, Mini Zygote?” Midoriya smiled, and held up his notes.

Togata needed to guard his blind spots better, even if he was intangible, he could still be caught off guard. 

He also needs to work on being unpredictable, if someone tried, they could track where he’d come from, something both Midoriya and Torino figured out how to do.

Then, he just needed to utilize One for All’s power up better. He did well, but not as well as he could’ve done.

He nodded with approval, then told Midoriya that it was his turn. He gulped. 

Torino vanished from Midoriya’s sight, and he cursed. He pulled himself towards the ceiling, but was hit by a powerful kick to the arm. Midoriya tried to track him as he darted around the room, even crushing his microwave! 

He launched towards the wall, and Midoriya quickly registered that he needed to duck. He dropped down and tried to use his quirk on Torino.

Midoriya elected to use it on his shoe, in that split second he had, to try and avoid being kicked. He activated his quirk, and yanked, launching himself to the side to avoid him. 

The man only chuckled, launching himself against the couch, and towards Midoriya. He let out a noise that sounded like a squeak in surprise. He decided to dive under the coffee table to buy some time. “You’ll have to do better than that!” He shouted, and Midoriya made a decision. 

He used his quirk on the table, pulling himself up to it, as Torino kicked it. He clearly faltered for a moment, but before Midoriya got a chance to attack again, after rolling out from under the table. Torino was on top of him.

“Impressive, for a first year I mean. What’d you have, Big Zygote?” He asked, while Midoriya caught his breath.

Togata said that Midoriya needs to work on thinking on the go, which he agreed with. He also needed to work on getting physical hits in. Once again, he agreed, but it’d been difficult to even think with how fast Torino was.

Gran Torino gave both of them his own criticism, and they both went again. They waited for further instruction after, when his stomach rumbled. “It’s time for dinner. Big Zygote, there’s some Takoyaki in the freezer, and Mini Zygote, there’s some food from your mother. Heat them up.” They both nodded, and Torino left, telling them he’d be back soon.

They ate dinner, and Midoriya decided to check his phone. Togata appeared to be doing the same.

— Class 1-Angels—

Gravity menace:

No because why is Gunhead so great-

Jack child:

Really? He seems terrifying

Gravity menace:

Yeah!! He’s so nice!! 

Responsible child 1:

My internship with Uwambii, is not what I expected to say the least.

Electric disaster:

That sucks, Yaomomo:((

Responsible child 1:

At least Itsuka is nice. 

Gravity menace:

That’s good at least!

Explosion menace:

Jeanist straight up did my hair. Wtf.

1 image attached

Mini me:

When I say I snorted-

Explosion menace:

Stfu eyebags.

Responsible child 3:

Honestly I did too. I didn’t know you could look that civilized.

Gravity menace:

Wongeingjejc TSU

Jack child:

Tsuyu savage hours ig

Explosion menace:

I hate all of you.

Magnet disaster:

Weren’t you telling your mom about how much you loved our class two days ago??

Explosion menace:

I can and will shave your eyebrows.

Rock boy:

Fourth kind rocks!! Pun intended

Jack child:

Go off

Magnet disaster:

Slay ig

Sugar boy:

I’m sorry I can’t get over these freaking nicknames-

Mini me:

The fact that he forgot to change the name on the files. I love that he has nicknames for all of us

Responsible child 3:

Honestly. Idk if I should be happy or concerned.

— Mom—

Big magnet:

Hi Izuku! I miss you already<3 I hope you’re having fun and learning lots!

Little magnet:

Yep! I miss you too! I’ve learned stuff already! Have a good week mom<3

— Shoto—

Izuku:

Hi Shoto!! I hope your internship is going well!!

Shoto:

Thank you. I also hope that your internship goes well.

— Iida—

Midoriya:

I hope your internship is going well!!

—-

Midoriya watched as his message got left on read. “Hey Togata, how can you tell if your friend is about to do something incredibly stupid?” He asked, and Togata sighed.

“I wish I could tell you, it’s mostly gut feelings I guess,” He replied, and Midoriya groaned. “Why do you ask?” Togata finished and Midoriya shrugged.

“I’m worried about my friend. He’s usually not one to do things irrationally, but he’s been acting differently.” Midoriya supplied, and Togata nodded.

He spoke up again, “All you can do is be there for him.” Midoriya agreed.

“What’s your hero name by the way? I was curious.” He tacks on, Togata chuckles.

“I’m Lemillion, for the number of people I’ll save! Can’t save everyone, but I can shoot for a million! What about you, Midoriya?” He inquired, staring at the ceiling, which had some suspicious stains on it.

Midoriya smiled, “That’s so cool! I’m Lure, the attraction hero! I bet you’ll get a kick out of my best friend's hero name, bet you can’t guess what hus is.” He challenged, and Togata laughed, accepting the challenge.

“What’s his quirk? And who does he admire?” Togata asked, trying to figure out about him. 

“Katsuki Bakugo, his quirk is Explosion, he sweats nitroglycerin, which his hands can ignite, and create explosions. His greatest role model is All Might.” Midoriya answered, and Togata nodded, clearly thinking hard.

Togata guessed, “Ground Zero?” And Midoriya shook his head, telling him that his guess was wrong.

“His hero name is King Explosion Murder God Dynamight.” Togata burst out laughing, and Midoriya himself couldn’t contain his amusement. 

Once Togata stopped laughing, he asked why Katsuki would choose such a strange name. “In middle school, I bet that he wouldn’t, and he in fact, did.” That sent Togata into another laughing fit. 

They eventually went to sleep, ready to train the next day, even if they were both hurting all over. This week would be good!

Chapter Text

The day that followed their first night with Gran Torino was like the last. Togata and Midoriya decided to test if Midoriya’s quirk would work with Togata’s.

It did. What ended up happening is that when Mirio permeated an object, Midoriya was able to use his quirk on it, no matter the size, until he released his quirk from it. That was interesting to learn. Technically it didn’t take up any space, so he could use it.

Gran seemed impressed with the development. Tonight, they were going on patrol, which was exciting. They were nearby Hosu, which was near Iida and Todoroki. Hopefully they’d see each other! Right now, they were sparring with each other. Safe to say, Midoriya had gotten very familiar with the floor of Gran Torino’s agency. He was 98% sure he could taste the shoes of anyone who’d been here.

Their mentor left to go grab some groceries, leaving Midoriya and Togata to their own devices. They sat on the ground, both catching their breath. “So, why do you like analyzing quirks, Midoriya?” Togata asked, and Midoriya shrugged, he’d always liked picking apart quirks. It always came naturally to him.

Togata ended up on a phone call with some of his friends, the other members of the big three. Tamaki Amajiki and Nejire Hado, the respective second and third place winners of the sports festival. Midoriya sat there awkwardly while Togata introduced him to his friends. It looked like Amajiki felt the same way. They were both at their work study agencies. Togata had decided to come here, so he could get a different viewpoint with One for All.

—-

Shoto was bored. All he’d done this whole internship was listen to his father ramble, and train. It felt like he hadn’t been taught anything. He was still trying to get used to using fire again, but it was getting better.

Burnin was the closest to him in age, and was okay company, she reminded him of Bakugo. It wasn’t in a bad way though, it was more of how abrasive she was. Not as bad as it could’ve been. Yesterday had gone by so painfully slow; minutes had felt like hours.

He kept in contact with Midoriya, who was at an internship with one of the big three, Mirio Togata, which was pretty interesting. Shoto scrolled through his messages from Midoriya, when he got another, asking what he was doing.

Izuku:

Hi Shoto!! What are you doing?

Shoto:

Nothing really, I’m having lunch.

Izuku:

Nice! What are you having?

Shoto:

Just a bento

Izuku:

Sounds good!! I’m having some udon

Shoto:

That’s nice. How are you and Togata doing?

Izuku:

Just hanging out right now! We’re going on patrol later which is exciting!

Shoto:

That’s cool. I am too, later though.

Izuku:

Nice!! Also Togata says hi!

Shoto:

Tell him I say hello as well.

Unknown Number added you to ‘Untitled’

Unknown:

Hii!!

Unknown changed Unknown to Nejire-Chan

Nejire-Chan:

Ok! So Mirio kept talking about his first year buddy, so I wanted to add you!! It’s only Mirio, Tamaki, me!! 

Mirio Togata changed Mirio Togata to Lemillion

Lemillion:

Nice! Midoriya, could you add your other friend?

Izuku Midoriya:

Yeah! Also should I make my nickname my hero name?

Lemillion:

Yeah!

Izuku Midoriya added Shoto Todoroki to ‘Untitled’

Izuku Midoriya changed Izuku Midoriya to Lure

Shoto Todoroki:

What is this?

Lure: 

Just a chat, Togata is in it, he wanted to meet you:D also make your nickname your hero name!

Shoto Todoroki:

Ok

Shoto Todoroki changed Shoto Todoroki to Shoto

Shoto:

Hello Togata.

Lemillion:

Hey Todoroki!! How are you? Second place, right?

Shoto:

Just Shoto please. You are correct.

Nejire-Chan:

Nice! I didn’t place until my second year-

Tamaki Amajiki:

Who won our first year again?

Tamaki Amajiki changed Tamaki Amajiki to Suneater

Lemillion:

I think it was Shidori?

Nejire-Chan:

That sounds right!

Nejire-Chan:

First years! How’d you choose your hero names?

Lure:

My quirk is the attraction of small objects, so Lure!! It sounds pretty cool so yea

Shoto:

It says everything they need to know.

Suneater:

That’s cool

—-

Shigaraki watched a recording of the UA Sports Festival. Something about Hitoshi Shinso fascinated him, he had to be treated so badly growing up, with a quirk like his, so why was he a hero? Izuku Midoriya fascinated him nearly as much. Sensei’s son, who took after him in a few ways. 

His hands made their way up to his neck, and put down the pictures he had of the both of them. They were odd. Definitely not NPC’s. Quite a few members of the UA party weren’t NPC’s, like Eraserhead, All Might, Shinso, Midoriya, and that Bakugo boy. They were not like the others. Sensei’s son had mostly above average stats, except for his knowledge stats, the best one almost being on par with Sensei.

The Bakugo boy had incredible strength and speed stats, which made up for his charisma, and his knowledge stats were nothing to laugh at.

Hitoshi Shinso’s stats were mostly boring, but he didn’t fit into the profile properly; his strength was nothing impressive, but he could control anybody, a party member or not. Almost like an extra stat, and a good one too.

Sensei’s stats were all maxed out, except for his health stat, which All Might messed up. How he hated All Might, he wanted All Might to die. The number one hero made him itch so badly. He couldn’t wait until he was able to get his hands on All Might. Society would crumble, and Sensei would rebuild it as he saw fit. It would be so much better than the society that didn’t save him.

They always told him to wait for a hero. But a hero never came for him, but Sensei did.

Kurogiri tapped on the bar in front of him, grabbing his attention. “Tomura Shigaraki, there is a worthy recruit to your League. The hero killer, Stain.” The man scoffed, but nodded nonetheless. A misty, purple portal opened, and a man clad in knives walked through.

Stain made a sound resembling a growl before he spoke, “You have an offer for me, but first, I want to know your conviction,” He began, passion seeping within every word he spoke. “Personally, I believe that all heroes are fakes. All they want is fame and money. All of them, except for All Might. All Might is a true hero.” Shigaraki scowled, scratching his already battered neck.

“There are no heroes. I want them gone.” He said, and Stain’s nose wrinkled in disgust. Suddenly, Shigaraki was on the floor, pinned by a knife, one of the Hero Killer’s.

He then lunged for Kurogiri, who then fell to the floor faster than the eye could see.

Stain pulled his knife from Shigaraki’s hand, “There is a seed of conviction within you, I will allow it a moment to grow, but if it fails, you will be culled.” 

Then he left. Leaving Shigaraki and Kurogiri on the ground as if they were garbage someone had neglected to throw away.

Hatred bubbled in Tomura’s stomach, leaving the pain in his hand and shoulder obsolete. “I hate him. I hate that Hero Killer,” He muttered, but his voice raised to a shout, “I want him to be dust.” 

That had happened days ago, and Tomura was ready. He’d get payback on that Hero Killer first. Then he’d dust him, after stealing all his attention. The nomu were ready.

—-

Hours passed, and Midoriya felt his excitement rising. He got to go on patrol, this was the next step to becoming a hero! Togata sat next to him on the train, they were both on their phones, when the train jolted.

Everyone’s attention was now ready for whatever would happen next. The car burst open, and Midoriya saw something he recognized easily.

A nomu. His eyes widened, and he shouted to his mentor. 

“Gran! These are Nomu! They’re genetically modified, and really strong!” Midoriya shouted, standing from his seat.

His mentor nodded sharply, “Stay together brats.” Then he shot off. Midoriya and Togata locked eyes, and nodded, an unspoken agreement made between the two.

Togata shouted, his voice projecting far louder than Midoriya knew it could, asking about who needed help off of the now ravaged train.

Midoriya’s eyes shot about, looking for ways he could help the situation. “Lemillion! You get to the other side, I can use my quirk to get civilians across to you!” He nodded, attention captured with the use of his hero name.

He walked towards the closest child, and smiled. “My name is Lure! I’m training to be a hero, I'm going to get you off of this train! Where is your mom?” The boy pointed to a fatigued woman, who appeared to be pregnant. 

Midoriya then instructed the child to hop onto his back, which he quickly did. Togata wasn't too far away. He could do this. “This might be a little scary, close your eyes if you need to!” The boy squeezed his eyes shut, gripping Midoriya a little harder than before.

Then he jumped. Well, not really, that was a bit of an exaggeration, he activated his quirk, pulling him towards Togata, who helped the young boy off of his back, spilling praise of how brave he was.

The process continued, until better suited pro heroes arrived. Midoriya sighed in relief, he was strong, but some of these people were a bit outside of his capabilities. He cringed at the thought, that was a really rude thing to think.

“Let’s go find Gran!” Togata shouted at Midoriya, who nodded, and they wandered through the now ruined city. The very sight made Midoriya nauseous. The amount of lives that are getting messed up right in front of him.

They passed Manuel, and Midoriya heard five words that shook him to his core. 

Five words he never realized he feared so much.

Five words he really didn’t want to hear.

“Tenya! Where did you go?” 

He stopped in his tracks.

Stain was still in Hosu. Iida. He had to find Iida.

Lemillion noticed his stop, and looked at Midoriya, concern bubbling within him. 

“We need to find Tenya. He’s probably doing something incredibly stupid, we need to find him.” Togata nodded in understanding, and followed Midoriya, who was now frantic.

Their conversation from the first night of the internship came to mind.

“I’m worried about my friend. He’s usually not one to do things irrationally, but he’s been acting differently.”

“All you can do is be there for him.”

This wasn’t what he expected at all. But he ran with Midoriya regardless.

He followed Midoriya through what seemed like countless alleyways, then they stopped. The breath got caught in his throat.

There was a boy on the ground.

The Hero Killer was above him.

A hero slumped over. Togata couldn’t tell if he was dead. 

Then Midoriya ran.

“Tenya Iida! You dumbass, give me your status.” Tenya didn’t move an inch, but he shouted.

“Don’t let him cut you! I’m fine, but stay out of it!” He shouted, anger Midoriya didn’t know Iida was capable of lacing his voice, “This is my fight.” The hero killer laughed at Iida’s proclamation.

His gaze met Togata, then Midoriya’s. “Leave. I have no business with you two. I will cull these fake heroes.” He hissed to them, paralyzing them. 

Everything within Togata told him to run, but he knows full well what will happen if he leaves. 

He activates his quirk, falling below the surface.

Midoriya shakes his head, and holds out his hand. “Then I have business with you.” Stain’s knife flew from his hand, landing in Midoriya’s.

Stain growled, and Iida once again shouted for Midoriya to leave. 

Togata resurfaced not a moment later, on the other side of the villain. “This is your last warning heroes. Stop meddling.” Stain warned them, pulling another weapon from seemingly out of nowhere.

“I’ll take my chances, I wouldn’t be a very good hero if I left people to die, now would I?” Togata said, grabbing Stain’s attention.

All they had to do was stall.

Chapter Text

Togata, Midoriya, and the Hero Killer were in a stand still. 

He had two hostages, Iida and Native were both stuck, unable to move.

Maybe it was because of his experience with villains, or maybe it was the lack thereof, but Midoriya made a move. 

He shot himself towards Stain, knife in hand. The villain looked shocked for a second, as Iida yelled out for Midoriya to not let Stain cut him.

Then his trajectory changed, and he went between Stain’s legs, meeting up with Togata on the other side.

They met eyes, both trying to watch the villain. Blood continued to pool below Iida. 

“Can you hold him off, Lemillion? I can get them out of here.” Midoriya asked, and the older boy nodded.

He smiled before vanishing, “Easy as pie.” 

Midoriya watched them fall into combat, and he ran to Native, who was slumped against a wall. “What are your injuries?” He asked, keeping an eye on the killer as much as he could.

“I’m fine, but even if I could move, I couldn’t walk. Both of you two run, he only wants us.” The hero replied, and Midoriya shook his head.

“I’m going to get Tenya out of the way.” Then Midoriya ran off. 

It felt like an eternity before he made it to Iida, but he did it. 

In reality it’d only been two minutes.

Iida protested as Midoriya grabbed him, to take him away from danger. To that, he ignored the other boy.

“Lure!” Midoriya whipped around, Togata had been hit, he was on the ground. He’d held off the hero killer on his own for two minutes.

That was longer than any pro hero had ever lasted. All reports mentioned how it’d been over in an instant.

He ducked under the knife flying at him, and pulled it to his hand, once he was out of immediate danger.

“Alright kid, here are tips for working with knives. I’m glad you’re taking the time to learn how to use multiple weapons, it’s a good technique. Make sure not to ignore hand to hand combat though, sometimes weapons aren’t available.” Aizawa stared down at Midoriya, who held the rubber knife in his hand as if it was made of glass.

Within seconds of their first sparring attempt, Midoriya was being stopped. “One, hold the knife properly, you’ll cut your finger off if you’re not careful.” He adjusted his grip, and it even looked more practical to the outsider observer.

Midoriya adjusted his grip on the weapon, noticing the grooves in the knife that were made by the villain himself.

Part of him wondered if lives had been taken with this knife.

“Two, don’t extend your arm all the way, that leaves  it vulnerable. Use your other arm to guard your chest, neck, and stomach. You don't want to offer your unarmed hand as some shield.” Aizawa left a small mark where he’d hit Midoriya with the fake knife. He took in all the information, he’d need it as a hero.

He tapped Midoriya with the knife again, “Three, don’t try getting in close with a knife, it's mostly about staying out of the way. Most of the fight will be you dodging.” Midoriya nodded again, preparing to go again.

Aizawa counted down, then ran at him. He smacked the knife out of Midoriya’s hand, and he looked at him, “Can’t have a knife fight without a knife. Try to disarm your opponent if possible, which is pretty easy for you.”

The Hero Killer lunged, and Midoriya jumped back, going for distance. He pulled the Hero Killer’s knife out of his hand again, but released it, he didn’t need another knife. 

Midoriya then ran at him, even though he’d pulled out another knife. Midoriya dodged the first slash, if barely. The blood rushed through him, and he clenched his teeth. 

The Hero Killer aimed to land an attack, and Midoriya dodged it. Then for a split second when his eyes met Togata’s, his wrist began to sting.

He barely had time to look at his wrist when his body quit working. He caught Stain pulling the knife from his mouth. The knife fell from his hand. The villain reached down, and grabbed the knife from where Midoriya had dropped it. “I will cull those fakes. You and the other boy may live for now.” 

Midoriya wished for his body to move, but it didn’t work. He could only watch as the villain approached Iida. “May your death bring upon a better world.”

Fire blasted through the alleyway. “Midoriya, I got your message.” 

He didn’t think he’d ever be so glad to hear Shoto’s voice. “The hero killer, huh?” Shoto muttered, and Midoriya shouted back to him.

“His quirk keeps you from moving, I think it’s ingestion, don’t let him get close!” Midoriya shouted, and Shoto nodded, then stomped his right foot. 

Stain vanished, then the ice split into multiple pieces. “Another child…” He murmured, “Well, don’t block your line of sight against an opponent who’s faster than you.” The man added, and Shoto scowled.

“Don’t let him cut me? Thanks for the advice.” He said, sending a wall of ice to defend his side. “Can you use your quirks?” Todoroki shouted, Midoriya clenched his teeth.

“Yes, but it'd be difficult not to hurt somebody or myself in the process. Do you want me to try anyways?” He answered, but Shoto only shook his head.

He sent a blast of fire towards the man, “That’s alright, I think I can hold him off for a moment.” 

Midoriya tried to force his body to move, but it was futile.

He watched Todoroki for what felt like an eternity. A stray piece of ice flew at him.

 Then he flinched.

Togata seemed to move as well. “I can move again, Lure, how about you?” He stood up, and fell into a fighting stance. Midoriya himself did the same.

“Damn… I guess they’re type O” Stain muttered, and it all clicked in Midoriya’s mind.

It was blood type, wasn’t it? 

Midoriya heard the villain chuckle from behind him, and he once again felt the sting of a cut. He had to act fast. 

The pull of his quirk was a relief, when the knife flew from the villain’s hands. His hands shook, and Togata dropped below the ground, resurfacing to punch the temporarily disarmed killer.

“All of you, leave, this is my fight! I must become Ingenium” Iida shouted, but before Midoriya could respond; Todoroki yelled in response,

“This isn’t the Ingenium I know, if you want to be a hero, get up and fight.”

Those words struck something in Iida.

He’d been so blind.

So, so blind from his rage. He was just like the person he sought to destroy.

‘This would not do, Stain needs to be punished.’

‘Fake heroes have no place in this world, they need to be purged.’

‘Somebody had to get blood on their hands in order to protect everyone else.’

‘My hands are stained with the blood of fakes.’

Tenya was just like him. He grew nauseous at the realization. 

Everything in Tenya wanted to move. 

He couldn’t be like that villain.

He twitched.

Tenya knew he should be in terrible pain. He felt nothing though, as he shot towards the hero killer.

Midoriya had saved him. He didn’t deserve it, he should be dead.

He needed to be a hero.

It was clear now.

This is what Tensei would want. He’d want him to save Midoriya, Todoroki, and this Togata guy. 

Togata didn’t even know Tenya, but he still was giving his all to save him.

Now he had to repay the favor didn’t he? He couldn’t be useless. 

The four heroes in training gave it their all, and then some. Failure wasn’t an option here, lives were on the line. 

Despite being outnumbered, the odds weren’t in the heroes favor, one hit and they were done for.

A few minutes passed, then luck turned over to be on their side.

Togata struck a solid blow. Then the villain fell to the ground.

Then it was silent, rather than the heavy breathing of the heroes in training.

After that, it was almost mundane, “We should disarm him, in case he wakes up.” Todoroki muttered, and Togata nodded.

“Lure, you’ve got first aid stuff, right? I’ll find something to restrain him, Shoto, you call the pro heroes.” Togata instructed, and his underclassmen complied. 

It seemed luck was in their favor once again, as Togata had found a rope someone had thrown into the dumpster.

—-

“Injuries? How are you all doing?” Midoriya asked, Todoroki shrugged, 

“I’ll be fine, some cuts on my arms from when he was trying to cut me, and he nicked my shoulder.” He replied, and Midoriya nodded.

Iida spoke up, “He stabbed my shoulder, and my other arm. I’ll be okay for the time being though.” 

“Iida, that doesn’t sound okay, get over here and let me look at it, actually, let Togata look at it, since he probably knows more.” Midoriya scolded his classmate, who shook his head. 

“Midoriya, what are your injuries? You were here before me.” Todoroki asked, eying Midoriya for injuries.

“I’ll be fine, he got a good slash at my wrist, since I took his knives, I’m guessing he didn’t want the police to have his finger prints or something.” Midoriya muttered, as he kneeled down next to Native. He’d gotten stabbed and needed help as soon as possible.

Togata came back, and began disarming the Hero Killer.

It was almost comical how many knives he had.

Despite Togata’s thorough examination, the Hero Killer still had one knife in his possession.

Footsteps rapidly approached, the pro heroes had finally arrived.

“… Is that the hero killer?”

“What? Someone call an ambulance!”

Midoriya and Togata were kicked in the head simultaneously.

“You zygotes! I told you both to stay on the train!”

“Actually you told us to stay together…”

That garnered another slap for Midoriya.

Luckily, he was alive, and the Hero Killer hadn’t killed anyone.

“DUCK!”

Midoriya felt the ground disappear from below him.

A nomu. That wasn’t good.

A pit appeared within his stomach as the ground got further away. He couldn’t use his quirk, because this nomu had its claws in his stomach. It’d tear him apart.

For the first time that night, Midoriya was scared . He watched the pro heroes scramble, when Stain stirred, then he was in the air, and Midoriya was on the ground, “This society overgrown with fake heroes, and villains who wave their powers around idly… They should all be purged.”

The wind was knocked out of Midoriya as he landed. The Hero Killer had saved him?

“There is only one hero who will kill me. All Might is worthy.” The tension made it impossible to move. 

A great ball of fire appeared, and Midoriyama recognized it as Endeavor. He was going to attack the hero killer. While Midoriya was under him. 

Death by Endeavor was not an optimal situation. Thankfully, Torino had stopped him.

“Just try and get me, you fakes.”

His knife fell to the ground.

“He’s unconscious?”

It seems at that moment, the Hero Killer: Stain was the only one who stood to fight his opponent.

Chapter Text

Midoriya sat in his hospital bed. “It’s a miracle we survived, i’m pretty sure the only reason we’re alive is because he wanted us alive.”

“Yeah, we’re very lucky.” Todoroki uttered. All four of them were in one room, all in their own corner. Midoriya had been lucky, the attack that’d paralyzed him had barely missed an artery. In short, it would’ve been bad if he’d been cut there, he would’ve passed out quickly from blood loss.

Iida wasn’t so lucky. He had permanent nerve damage in his left arm, from being stabbed. It would require surgery to fix, but he’d declined.

“Surgery? When are you going to get it done?” Togata asked him, trying to cut the tension in the room. Iida shook his head.

He looked up from his arms, hidden by thick casts, “I’m not getting the surgery done, at least not yet.” Midoriya scrunched his face in confusion.

“What? Why?” Iida looked down to his arms again.

“I have much to learn. The hero killer was right. I am not yet a true hero. My arms will serve as a reminder of that. Only once I become a hero Tensei would be proud of, I'll get the surgery.” Iida explained with a passion in his voice, and suddenly, Midoriya found that his confusion turned into understanding.

The room was quiet, other than the light conversation. The doors then opened, “Oh great, you’re all awake.” Gran Torino, a man Midoriya recognized from the USJ, and a man with a dog quirk, who introduced himself as the police chief.

He cleared his throat, “First and foremost, I'd like to thank you all. The hero killer killed and injured many heroes, and thanks to you, many heroes have been saved.” Midoriya sensed a but incoming.

“However, what you all did was extremely illegal. Only one of you has a provisional license, which is vigilantism.” The man said, and made a noise that resembled a bark at the end of his statement.

“That’s stupid. If Iida hadn’t shown up, Native would’ve died, and if Midoriya and Togata hadn’t shown up, they’d all be dead.” Todoroki shouted, and Midoriya’s head whipped his way.

“So it’s okay to break the law if it goes in your favor?” The silence following was deafening.

“You damn mutt!” That was the most emotion Midoriya had ever heard from Todoroki. He put his arm out to try and stop him, as he was quite literally about to fight the chief of police.

Luckily, he stopped, but Midoriya could see his clenched fist and unsteady breathing. Shoto was pissed. “That doesn’t change the fact that you don’t have hero licenses. We could release it to the public, but uproar would come, despite the good deed you’ve done. Because you are not licensed heroes.” 

Togata and Iida nodded thoughtfully. Shoto was still fuming in anger. Midoriya huffed, that was wrong, but he knew sometimes, it was better to let things go.

“So we’ll give the credit to Endeavor.” Shoto tensed again, and that’s when Midoriya decided letting go could be dammed. They just didn’t want it getting out that students defeated him. 

So Izuku did what he does best, and talked, “Actually, there is a rule that students can fight with permission from their mentor in the case of an emergency.” He recited, remembering the contract he’d signed carefully. “And even in Iida’s case, we signed this when we got into UA, in a life threatening situation, only for self defense.” Midoriya continued, and he faintly noticed his mentor smirking.

“Togata is a provisionally licensed hero, which, as this was an emergency, made his actions completely legal.” Midoriya stopped to breathe, and noticed the other occupants of the room staring at him with wide eyes. “Did you guys not read the contract?” 

As Midoriya watched them all shake their heads, he decided they were idiots. They were just going to take that? The chief huffed, “I see, I will be looking over your contracts to confirm that information. Even if your actions were within the law, try to leave it to the pro heroes next time.” Then the man turned and left. Tsukauchi soon followed, leaving only Gran Torino.

He walked over to Midoriya, and whacked him. “That’s for getting hurt, I promised your mother I’d teach you to protect yourself.” Something in Midoriya sunk. His mother was probably worried sick, even if he was okay now.

Guilt pooled within Midoriya, a steady stream, like a leaky faucet. He nodded his head, and picked up his phone. Even if he’d already done it, Izuku needed to call his mom. She was probably shaken up.

It definitely wasn’t that he was shaken up from the whole thing.

Not at all.

Before he could even scroll to his mothers contact, his phone rang.

Katsuki.

He definitely knew.  

Midoriya clicked the answer button.

“IZUKU MIDORIYA, WHAT THE HELL?” Midoriya heard the distinct shout loud and clear, even if the phone hadn’t even reached his ear yet.

“Hi Katsuki..” He replied, carefully bringing the phone up to his ear.

Izuku promptly regretted that decision as the phone shouted into his ear again, “DON’T ‘HI KATSUKI’ ME! I SAW THE NEWS! AUNTIE WAS WORRIED SICK!” He cringed at the statement.

“I’m sorry.” The pool of guilt, previously like calm waters, was disturbed, becoming infinitely more present in his mind.

They were all worried about him. Heroes don’t make people worry, that’s not what they do. He had to become stronger.

He idly listened as Katsuki shouted into his ear, and he accepted it. He deserved to be yelled at for scaring the people he cares about.

“Hey Katsuki, I’m going to call my mom.” He said, and waited for Katsuki’s response before hanging up.

Midoriya sighed, then scrolled to his mothers contact, then clicked call.

It picked up almost immediately.

“Izuku! Are you alright? Why’d you call?” She asked him, and tension within him subsided.

“I’m alright, I just wanted to call you! How are you doing?” He asked, and that released tension grew again. What if she wasn’t upset anymore, but mad at him? She’d told him to be safe.

“I’m doing alright Izuku, how are you and your friends? Is the food at the hospital okay?” His mother acted the same as usual. She wasn’t traumatized or anything. Midoriya exhaled in relief.

He leaned against a wall, “I’m okay, no lasting damage done. My friends are also recovering nicely, according to the doctors. The food is about as good as you’d expect it to be.” Midoriya smiled, he was lucky to have his mother.

“Well, let me know the second I can come get you. You know how my boss is, I’m sorry I can’t come visit you.” She apologized to him, and Izuku felt his smile fall into a frown.

“It's not your fault that he hasn’t gotten laid in forty years, I’m not alone here, so I'm not lonely if that’s what you’re worried about.” He said, and he heard his mother choke on the other end of the line.

“Izuku! Watch your mouth! You’ve been spending too much time with Katsuki!” She lectured him, but it lacked any real severity.

They talked for a while, and it was nice, there had been almost no downtime since the sports festival, even if this wasn’t the best circumstances. After they hung up, Midoriya wandered around the hospital and talked to a few people. He took after his mom in that aspect, he was an extrovert, and always has been.

Eventually, he made it back to his own room, and was greeted by Shoto. “Hello, Izuku. How are you feeling?” He asked politely, and Midoriya smiled in response.

“I’m doing better, how are you?” Shoto shrugged.

“Could be better. My old man has been trying to contact me.” He said, and Midoriya frowned.

He took a deep breath, trying to release some of the annoyance that had suddenly pent up within him, “Tell him to suck it, you’re recovering right now.” Shoto tilted his head at him.

Shoto shrugged, “I would if he had my contact information.” Midoriya burst out laughing at that, because a mental image of Endeavor begging Shoto for his number was now stuck in his head. “What’s so funny?” He asked, and Midoriya sobered up.

“The mental image of the number two hero begging a fifthteen year old for his contact information is overly entertaining to me.” Shoto himself smiled at that as well.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a minute, as the events of the night before played through Midoriya’s head, when he realized something. 

Togata’s quirk is passed through DNA.

The hero killer licked Togata’s blood, which is DNA. 

The color drained from Midoriya’s face as he texted his upperclassman.

Little Classman:

Hey Togata random question, have you used your quirk since yesterday??

It took a few minutes for him to reply.

Bigger Classman:

Nope! Haven’t had a need to, so I haven’t! Why do you ask?

Little Classman:

Your quirk is transferred through DNA right?

Bigger Classman:

Yeah, why?

Bigger Classman:

Oh! No it’s fine, Stain couldn’t have my quirk, it can only be transferred if I intend to transfer it.

Little Classman:

Oh okay, I was really worried for a second. 

Bigger Classman:

Yep! One for All is 100% mine still! No need to worry :-)

Little Classman:

Thanks:)

Midoriya put down his phone, exhaling with relief. Shoto was staring at him, obviously confused, “Are you alright?” He asked.

“Yeah, I just realized I left my homework at home, I'll have to do it all over the weekend.” He replied, and technically it wasn’t a lie, he had forgotten his homework, and would have to cram it.

“Oh, I have mine if you don’t want to do it, you can take a picture or something.” Shoto offered, and Midoriya smiled.

“Sure, if it’s not any trouble.” He shook his head, and grabbed his bag, handing it to Midoriya.

He took the pictures, before handing the bag back to Todoroki, “I didn’t take you as one who’d let people cheat off of you.” Midoriya mentioned it, and Shoto shrugged, tucking his bag away.

—- 

“It’s good to help your friends.” Well, that’s what his mother had said, it was like how Midoriya had helped him use his fire.

Shoto watched Midoriya smile, and it made him happy. He'd helped Shoto so much, and usually, he was very awkward for some reason.

He was glad he’d gotten there in time to help Iida, because he knew what it felt like to be drowning in hate. It was a feeling that Shoto didn’t miss at all. At first, he’d thought that it gave him a purpose, but now, he knew that was no life he wanted to live. 

At least Iida would realize that a world of anger wasn’t one worth living in. Perhaps their internships weren’t a complete failure, Izuku had established connections with upperclassmen, and Shoto had gained better control over his fire, even if it had to be his old man.

Shoto decided that he’d stay, since apparently, Mrs. Midoriya’s boss wouldn’t let her leave to pick up Midoriya, and he wasn’t discharged yet because he must have a parents signature. Unfortunately for him, Gran Torino was only there as backup, he couldn’t get Midoriya discharged.

Iida was going home, to recover, and to visit his older brother. 

Togata had left already, as his injuries were minimal.

So it’d just be the two of them, that was nice. He never really got to talk to Midoriya outside of important matters, so it’d be different.

Chapter Text

When Midoriya finally saw his mother after a long week of waiting, there was no shortage of tears. It’d been released to the public that it’d in fact been four hero students who took down the hero killer, even if they hadn’t been named.

Midoriya himself wasn’t mad about that, in fact, he’d opted out of having his name mentioned. He didn’t need that kind of attention right now. 

It’d been a long week, but Shoto had been great company, and they’d both learned some more about each other. He introduced Shoto to his mother, and she loved him, as she did with everyone. It took a special kind of mess up to get his mother to hate you. 

Shoto had been picked up by Fuyumi, because as usual, Endeavor was too busy for his own kids, even his masterpiece. Fuyumi and Mrs. Midoriya became friends very quickly, which Shoto expected, knowing Fuyumi, and with what he’d heard about Mrs. Midoriya.  

They rode the train back towards home, and Mrs. Midoriya invited both of them over for dinner. Fuyumi accepted, even offering to help cook, which Mrs. Midoriya accepted.

The two talked about unimportant things, and Midoriya cleared his throat. “I’m letting you know now, my mom will interrogate you for your favorite food.” He said it, and it almost sounded like a warning. Why would Midoriya be warning him?

Shoto checked his phone, as he and Midoriya’s conversation had fallen dead. He opened a game, and started playing. It was nice to have a phone that he could choose the apps with. He’d hadn’t gotten one until he got into UA with the purpose of contacting Endeavor, and only that. Of course he didn’t listen to that, and downloaded as many games as he wanted.

—-

They made it, and walked to the Midoriya household, where Mrs. Midoriya happily welcomed them in. Midoriya led Shoto to his room, where they wouldn’t be in Mrs. Midoriya and Fuyumi’s way.

So, the two began at dinner. “You know, Fuyumi, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to cook. I’d like to get to know you, I've heard a lot about Shoto.” 

Fuyumi shook her head, “No, I enjoy cooking, I’d love to hear about you more, because I've heard about Izuku.” Inko smiled, they were going to get along well.

“What do you do? I’m a lawyer at a local firm.” Inko asked, tying her apron.

Fuyumi smiled, “I’m an elementary school teacher.” She replied, and Inko hummed in interest.

“What school?” She knew how elementary students could be, Inko could never be a teacher, she was patient, but she had never been good with children.

Fuyumi chuckled, “I teach for the kindergarten program at the daycare near the yen shop.” Inko gasped.

“No way! That’s where Izuku went to kindergarten!” Fuyumi smiled.

“It’s a small world I guess!”

——

Midoriya and Todoroki sat awkwardly in Midoriya’s room. “I knew you liked heroes, but this is a lot more than I expected.” Shoto tried to start a conversation, and Midoriya chuckled.

“If you think this is a lot, you should’ve seen how my room was when I was younger, there wasn’t a surface without All Might’s face on it.” He replied, and Todoroki nodded. He didn’t doubt that, as Izuku seemed to like heroes a lot. 

Both of their phones buzzed with a text, “It must be the class group chat.” Midoriya picked up his phone.

Class 1-Angels

Barge Cholt:

Finals are very soon and I am very unprepared. Someone help. Please.

Alien Queen:

I also need help, I forgot finals are in like, a week-

OxiClean:

I would be glad to help! What are you two having issues with?

OxiClean:

Who changed my nickname? Why OxiClean?

Barge Cholt:

You, Midobro, and Todoroki took out Stain, therefore, oxiclean, because oxiclean gets rid of stains.

Tide Stain Remover:

You know, I'm not even mad, I can help too if you want.

Snow White:

I could use some help in english, I'm struggling a bit.

The Taper:

same, english is literally glorified gibberish, there is no reason for to too two. that is excessive.

Tide Stain Remover:

Oh yeah, those are stupid, I can help though

Ear:

I can help in english too, math however-

OxiClean:

It seems our entire class needs to brush up on some studies, maybe we could meet up to study.

Barge Cholt:

yes. i would love that. please.

Snow White:

Where should we meet up?

Goddess:

We could have a class study group at my house! We have room, tea, and plenty of food! 

The Taper:

The goddess strikes again.

Goddess:

Actually, my parents have a work meeting, if you all wanted, we could have a sleepover, it’d be fun, and we could get plenty of studying in, without worrying about curfews!

Tide Stain Remover:

That’s a great idea! Even if you can’t sleep over, it’d be a good bonding thing, especially because we have no idea what the practical holds, and teamwork might be a part of it!

Barge Cholt:

bet, when, where, and what do i need to bring.

Bubbles:

Sounds fun!! I’d be down for sure!

OxiClean:

That does sound like a good idea.

Clorox:

I’d have to ask my old man.

Alien Queen:

Sounds great! I don’t want you to be alone this weekend:)

Bubbles:

Class sleepover!! We should play games!

Barge Cholt:

uraraka i like the way you think.

Goddess:

I’ll send you all the address, I’ll provide snacks, just bring whatever you need to study with, a pillow, and a game if you want! 

—-

“Sounds fun, I didn’t have anything planned for the next few days, will your sperm donor let you come?” Midoriya asked as he put down his phone.

Shoto shrugged, “He’ll let me if I leave out a few details. He works with the Yaoyorozu’s sometimes, not sure how, but he likes them.” Midoriya smiled, it’d be fun.

—-

Midoriya approached the Yaoyorozu household, and it was safe to say, it was massive. Absolutely huge. Actually, huge was an understatement. Hesitantly, he clicked the button on the gate, then a voice came over the speaker.  

“Name?” It asked, and Midoriyama cleared his throat.

“Izuku Midoriya.” He said, and the gate opened, allowing Midoriya to walk in.

“Miss Yaoyorozu tends to stress herself out when she has guests, make sure she has fun, Mr. Midoriya.” The voice said, and Midoriya nodded, that was his job as class representative after all, inside and outside of class. Make sure his classmates were happy.

The walk from the gate was a bit long, but that was to be expected, since it wasn’t intended for pedestrians, it was meant for a car. What it was, however, was awkward. Eventually, he made it to the door. He raised his fist to knock, but the door opened before he had the chance.

“Hello, Midoriya! Glad to see you!” Yaoyorozu beamed, and Midoriya returned her greeting.

“Glad to see you too! Thanks for having me, you can call me Izuku though, if you want, since you let us call you Yaomomo.” Yaoyorozu smiled, nodding, gesturing for him to come in.

If Midoriya had thought the outside was big, the inside was huge. Ashido, Iida, Sato, and Jiro were already there, and it made sense, because minus Ashido, they were all the more punctual members of their class. Katsuki was never late, but didn’t really make an effort to be early either. Aunt Mitsuki had taught him to be punctual. 

Izuku however, took after his mother. He was at least thirty minutes early to everything; because what if he needed to turn around? What if the train schedule changed and the train was leaving earlier than usual? What if there was a villain attack? What if he actually had the time wrong? What if he had the wrong address?

Basically, he was over prepared, it’s better to be early than late anyways. Or maybe it was just the anxiety disorder. It was probably the anxiety.

Midoriya walked over to Iida, who wasn’t wearing his uniform, and despite being stuck in the hospital with him, it was still weird to see his classmates out of uniform. “Hello, Midoriya, it’s nice to see that you made it!” Iida greeted him, and Midoriya smiled at him, 

toeing his shoes off, putting them in the pile that had already been created.

“Hey Midoriya! Did you bring any games? I brought my switch, and Snakes and Ladders!” Ashido put her hands on Midoriya’s shoulders, and leaned on him. 

He kicked his bag, “Yeah, I brought Jenga, me and Katsuki used to play it tons, I kind of want to see if I’m still the best at the game.” Ashido giggled, before practically launching herself off of him.

Slowly but surely, the rest of Class 1-A filtered into the house. Yaoyorozu clapped, and gestured for them to follow her into the other room.

Simultaneously, all of their jaws dropped. It was practically a walk-in blanket fort. “I know that regular studying is boring, so with some help, I made this for while we study!” Yaomomo chirped, not noticing the group's complete shock. “Let’s start studying, what do you guys like? I can get the staff to make some food! Or we can order out if you want, whatever you want, courtesy of the Yaoyorozus.” She added, sitting down on one of the pillows in the fort.

The studying actually was quite productive, which came as a surprise to Midoriya, who low key believed that they’d get nothing done. 

“Midoriya! How are you and Yaomomo good at every subject?” Kaminari dramatically cried, flipping down on the ground, suppressing a groan after landing weirdly.

Midoriya blushed, “I’ve had a lot of help! I used to suck at english.” He said, to which Kaminari grunted.

“So you are human then- Help me up please, I’m stuck.” He replied, and Midoriya reached his hand out, grabbing Kaminari’s that was reaching for him.

After some time, everyone agreed that they were tired of studying, even Iida, which said a lot. So they relocated to yet another massive fortress, in another room.

 Kaminari, Kirishima, and Ashido were huddled up in a corner, but nobody thought much of it.

Until there was a pillow launched at Katsuki’s head. He whipped around, “Who did it? Fess up!” Kaminari giggled at the threat, holding a pillow.

A battle cry escaped Bakugo as he launched the pillow back at Kaminari, who was nailed in the face, as well as knocked back by the impact. 

It turns out, they were trying to start a pillow fight. However, Katsuki Bakugo does not start fights, but he will absolutely finish them.

“Why did you throw a pillow at Bakugo?” Todoroki asked, looking puzzled at the action. The other occupants of the room stared at him, as if the answer was obvious.

Midoriya sighed, “He was trying to start a pillow fight, it’s not an actual fight, like a silly spar.” He explained, and Shoto’s face turned to one of understanding.

“I see,” Shoto confirmed, looking at his own pillow intensely. “Why are we using pillows?” 

“It’s not an actual fight, so you don’t want to hurt your friends, Todoroki.” Midoriya explained, and Ashido was baffled.

“Todobabe, don’t take this the wrong way, have you never had a pillow fight?” She asked, leaning towards him as he shook his head. “Well we should have one, just to culture this boy!” Mina shouted, gripping her own pillow, smacking Jiro in the head with it, as she’d unfortunately been sitting next to her.

Jiro whipped over, jumping up, “Okay, this is on! I’ll have you know my friends always had to beg for mercy!” She brought her own pillow down on Ashido, who yelped in surprise.

A pillow launched at Kaminari, with a feral laugh from Bakugo, “You should’ve known better.” He said, and despite it being a pillow fight, Kaminari found a shiver going up his spine. 

Kaminari grabbed Kirishima, pulling him in the way of Bakugo’s barrage of pillows, “Oh come on bro! Not cool!” He shouted, ducking down to get out of the line of fire.

Soon, for one reason or another, the pillow fight turned into an all out sleep-item brawl. Blankets, slippers, pillows, and sleep masks were all sacrifices in the battle.

It went silent when Midoriya used his quirk on a nearby pillow, “Hey! That’s cheating!” Kaminari shouted, pointing an accusatory finger.

However, instead of apologizing, Midoriya only chuckled, “There is no cheating in war.” He swung the pillow, nailing Kaminari in the side. 

Then, from behind Midoriya was an ominous presence, “Oh, so that’s what we’re doing?” The voice questioned, a hint of amusement in their voice.

Midoriya turned around to find Shoji, holding a pillow in each of his six arms. Kaminari burst out into nervous laughter, “Oh, hell no!” Midoriya shouted, activating his quirk once again, flying towards Jiro, which led to him only being hit once.

Soon after, Shouji began to dominate the fight, able to hold six pillows at once, he’d been holding himself back for the sake of fairness. 

Shoto found himself enjoying the fight, which was a first in his life. Fights always involved being hurt, and his life being on the line. But this? It was a game, there was no malice behind any of the attacks.

Oh how his old man would hate this.

So he picked up another pillow, and swung blindly at someone.

Chapter Text

Tomura Shigaraki sat at the bar, stirring his drink. It wasn’t alcoholic, Kurogiri refused to give him alcohol after The Incident , but stirring drinks was fun. The TV remained on, and all it covered was that darned hero killer, Stain.

The very thought of that man made Tomura itchy, him and his dumb ideals. Him and his stupid obsession with All Might. There are no true heroes. They must all be destroyed. 

Stain this, Stain that, it made him sick! Why weren’t they talking about his nomu? That stupid hero killer was all that anyone cared about. Why did they care about that stupid hero killer? What made him different?

“Tomura, I have a plan for you, since I understand you’re upset about Hosu.” The other TV in the room buzzed, no video, as usual. Shigaraki turned to listen, Sensei always had good ideas. “The world is under the impression that you were working with Stain. You could use that to your advantage.” He said, and Shigaraki grunted, he didn’t want to be associated with that stupid man.

He had to listen to Sensei though, Sensei has the highest knowledge stat for a reason. “You don’t have to tell these recruits that you don’t actually support Stain’s ideals. You let them think that, and mold them to your vision.” Sensei said, and Tomura nodded, it made sense.

“I see, thank you Sensei.” He said, glancing back over at the TV with the news on it. Those hero students from UA were a real thorn in his side. It’s a shame that they’re heroes, since many of them would be excellent villains.

Well, it wasn’t too late for them to change parties, was it? Tomura grinned madly, that was a great idea, and the hero society would suffer. He’d finally get the attention he deserved.

“Sensei, I know what my next move on these heroes will be,” A laugh echoed through the room. “Some of these hero students, personally tutored by All Might, should switch parties. We would utilize their abilities much better.” 

The bar was nearly silent, the only noise in the room being the low humming of the television. “Excellent idea Tomura, I am here to help you grow into the symbol of fear. So, tell me exactly what you’d like to do.” Kurogiri was now paying attention to the exchange, Tomura thinking, his eyebrows drawing in, as he itched his neck. “How about we find you some recruits first, it’ll be more beneficial to plan then, when you have an idea of the skill sets of your allies.”

Tomura nodded, “You’re right, it’s hard to plan a battle if you don’t know the stats of your party. Thank you Sensei.” 

This plan would work, the USJ was flawed. It was better to have a small group of elites, rather than a bunch of weaklings. That’s what the USJ had taught him. Now he knew better, Tomura would bring hero society to its knees.

He’ll destroy the heroes, and everything he hates. They’ll be turned to dust by his hand. 

His neck stung, and he pulled away his hand to reveal blood underneath his nails. Tomura groaned, he’d done it again. 

So he went to the bathroom, and cleaned it off like Kurogiri had taught him. It would do his plans no good if it got infected.

—-

Tomura’s plans were finely timed, in All for One’s opinion. He’d been wanting to meet his son for a while now, to see the young man he’d grown into without his influence. Not only that, but he wanted to scale where the boys' analysis abilities were at. All for One had a natural talent for analysis, due to his quirk, but Izuku Midoriya had no such thing. But according to his sources, he was quite skilled in his own right.

He spun in his chair, as he was connected to life support, courtesy of that oaf, All Might. The ancient super villain chuckled, as that rare fantasy of the man chasing after him, organs sprawled about. Humanity was most dangerous when cornered, because without evolution, they were nothing more than another animal.

In his long life, he’d seen that time and time again. People who were experiencing mortal fear always became more dangerous. Sometimes they were able to push past mental blocks, sometimes they became reckless, which made them infinitely more dangerous. 

All for One’s favorite kind of change though? 

That was when someone was so scared, or so close to death that their quirk changed. 

Awakened.

Quirk awakening allowed someone to do things they couldn’t do before. 

Someone with a weak levitation quirk suddenly being able to soar.

Someone who with their quirk could summon one animal suddenly being able to summon the animal kingdom to protect them.

Someone with a five point quirk being able to activate their quirk without five fingers.

It made All for One smile, because the best part was that it was so unpredictable. It was never certain what would happen when a quirk awakened. It fascinated the man.

Part of him wondered what would happen if his quirk was forced to awaken. Maybe he’d be able to steal quirks from a distance, or create a quirk. He’d never find out though, he was too powerful to be put in a situation like that.

The only one who’d even come close to defeating him couldn’t do it, All Might. Every other user was child’s play, and so would the ninth. He was the Bogeyman, nobody could truly defeat him.

He was like the head of the spider, even if the head was cut off, his legs would carry his will. The memory, and the fear of him would never disappear. In fact, it’d only become stronger. Without a mentor, Tomura would grow to new heights of power, his already raging fire of hatred would have its flames fanned.

Once Tomura had allies, he’d be unstoppable and bring this ugly society down. This world disgusted All for One, its reliance on All Might, the unwillingness to see weakness within the man. He’d waited patiently for the day he’d kill All Might, to take revenge for what damage the man had caused All for One.

Soon, he’d finally be able to take back what is his. One for All, it would finally become his again the moment he found All Might’s successor. He was already fantasizing how he’d make the successor hand it over.

Maybe he’d keep All Might alive long enough as a hostage to force the ninth thief to hand over the quirk, then kill All Might in front of them.

Perhaps he’d just kill All Might, and when the successor inevitably came to take revenge, he’d capture them, and torture the quirk out of them.

Or maybe he should revert back to the first idea, but with the ninth’s family and friends. Watch them beg for mercy, but kill them all in front of the ninth.

That was the very least the thief would deserve, but he’d leave them alive though, depending on how annoying they were. Maybe All Might would choose a successor that wasn’t as annoying as his predecessors. That was wishful thinking though.

—-

Tomura stared unamused, a wannabe emo guy, and a psychotic teenage girl. Giran looked like he had some dialogue, so maybe they aren’t as useless as they look.

“Hi! I’m Himiko Toga! I heard you knew Mr. Stainy, I love Mr. Stainy! I want to kill Mr. Stainy!” She chirped, and Tomura looked over to Giran. This kid was insane, and that said a lot coming from Tomura.

Giran chuckled, “Don’t be deceived, this girl is the suspect in a series of grisly murders, where all the victims were left to bleed out.” Tomura looked back over to the girl, maybe she wasn’t as useless as she looked, even if her charisma stat was low.

Tomura stared at the edgy guy, “And you?” He asked, and the guy shoved his hands into the pockets of his ragged jacket.

“I’m going by Dabi for now,” He said, and Tomura seethed in annoyance.

“I want your actual name, not a silly moniker,” Tomura said, and the guy shrugged, a smug look on his face.

Giran put his hands up, shrugging, “Don’t count Dabi out either, he’s taken Stain’s ways to heart.” That was even worse. He didn’t like this Dabi. He wanted ‘Dabi’ to be dust.

He lunged to attack, and Dabi went to do the same. Tomura’s attack didn’t hit though. 

Kurogiri.

“Wait, Tomura Shigaraki, even if you don’t like them quite yet, they would be excellent additions to the league.” He hated that Kurogiri was right. Tomura removed his hands from the portal.

He scoffed, that didn’t mean he had to be happy about it, “I’m leaving, they can stay for now.” 

As Shigaraki walked out, Dabi whistled, “He has a temper, doesn’t he?” The girl next to him swung her legs absentmindedly.

How good was this girl actually? Dabi threw his fist to punch her, and to his surprise, she caught it with ease.

“What was that for?” She looked at him, letting go of his hand. Dabi smirked, maybe she was less insufferable than he thought. Most of the time, people just freaked out, and cried or something.

Dabi shrugged, and crossed his arms, “Consider it a test, you passed.” He said, watching her reaction.

Toga shrugged, “Well that’s a weird test, could you not test me though? I don’t feel like getting punched.” She said, pulling out a knife from her jacket, looking at it as if she’d never seen it before.

He’d probably join, Shigaraki seems like a guy who knows what he wants, even if he acts like an overgrown child. Dabi could respect someone who knew what they wanted, besides, even if he didn’t actually follow Stain, Shigaraki didn’t seem like someone who’d object to killing Endeavor.

Call it instinct, he could tell what some people would allow, or hated.

Dabi knows it’s reliable.

He got it from his dear old dad after all.

—-

Shoto walked into class, just like every other day, except for the fact that finals were today. It was a bit nerve wracking, but he knows what he’s doing, so it’s fine. It was odd though, because today everyone was as early as he was. Usually, Shoto was one of the first to class. He guessed that it’s because of finals though.

The room filled up until the bell rung, and Mr. Aizawa came in. He lectured the class on the rules and regulations of the exam. It was frankly just boring. 

He noticed a few people struggling, but knowing them, they wouldn’t fail. Shoto had faith that they could do it.

Except maybe Kaminari.

But that time they spent studying wasn’t for nothing, so maybe he wouldn’t fail.

Then again, he did spend most of it helping Jiro with english.

He’d be fine, he’s not a dumb guy, he just has trouble remembering stuff sometimes.

After a whole day of exams, they got to find out what the practical was. Some people had asked upperclassmen about it, but with their classes luck, it wasn’t going to be the same.

Mr. Aizawa stood outside of Ground Beta, “Who knows what the practical is?” He asked, and for a moment Shoto had hoped that it’d be a normal practical.

“We’re going to be fighting those big ol’ robots!” Ashido shouted, pumping her fist into the air. Then the principal popped out of Mr. Aizawa’s scarf.

No, they weren’t that lucky.

“Actually, it will be changing this year! Instead, you’ll be fighting the teachers!” The mouse, bear, dog, thing chirped. Was he part bird? 

Their teacher cleared his throat, “You will be paired up based on multiple factors. So, listen carefully for your pairs.” He said, before clearing his throat.

It was Ashido and Kaminari versus Principal Nedzu.

Hagakure and Shoji versus Snipe.

Iida and Ojiro versus Powerloader.

Him and Yaoyorozu versus Mr. Aizawa.

Sato and Sero versus Midnight.

Aoyama and Uraraka versus Thirteen.

Asui and Tokoyami versus Ectoplasm.

Jiro and Koda versus Present Mic.

Shinso and Bakugo versus All Might.

Midoriya and Kirishima versus Cementoss.

Midoriya and Kirishima were the first to go. They made their way to the entrance, discussing a plan as they walked. 

“We should just go straight forward! He’s not good at close combat like we are!” Kirishima suggested, and Midoriya stared at him blankly.

He sighed, “I’m pretty sure that’s the point. Cementoss-Sensei is a lot more experienced then us, so he probably knows how to handle close combat fighters,” Midoriya explained, and Kirishima nodded in understanding. “That’s probably what they expect us to do, and besides, he can’t be bad at close combat, he literally has everywhere as a weapon.” Kirishima stood silently for a second.

“Ugh, you’re right! How would we get the cuffs on him? He could just make a shield!” Midoriya groaned, nodding his head. This would in fact, be difficult.

Chapter Text

Midoriya and Kirishima stood idly for a moment, “Hey you can break concrete right?” Midoriya asked, and the other boy nodded. “I think I have a plan.”

The red head hardened his fists, hitting them together, “Lay it on me!” He shouted, smiling. Midoriya nodded, taking a breath before he began talking.

It was really a simple plan really, Kirishima and Midoriya would attack Cementoss, passing the handcuffs between the two of them until they could get them onto him. Kirishima could break concrete pretty easily, with his quirk, and Midoriya had the mobility to avoid getting caught. Even if he was caught, they were in a massive concrete city.

Whenever Cementoss activated his quirk, it affected all the concrete around him, turning pliable for him. He could control if the concrete that captured them would become easier to break out of, but that was unlikely, since even in a softer state, most people could not break concrete.

Midoriya’s quirk would hopefully be strong enough to yank him out of the concrete if needed, while their teacher wasn’t paying attention to him.

The question was if it would work. Hopefully it would. It’d be really embarrassing if they couldn’t, plus they wanted to go to the summer camp.

It really depended on if the man had his guard up.

With that, the two ran into the exam grounds, signifying the start of their final exam against Cementoss. 

The siren buzzed, sending a spike of adrenaline through the students. They froze when they came face to face with their teacher.

“For today’s exam, you’ll be fighting the teachers.” Mr. Aizawa smirked, Ashido and Kaminari blanched.

Hagakure gasped dramatically, “So our upperclassmen lied!” She shouted as the principal of their school popped out of Mr. Aizawa’s scarf.

“Nope! That is what the exam has been for the past few years, but due to recent events, things must change!” The USJ automatically came to mind. Shigaraki, the Nomu, Kurogiri, and the portals. It was all still far too fresh on most of their minds.

Hosu and Stain came to a select few students’ minds instead. The fear of death had been so real, even if they weren’t being directly targeted. 

In Midoriya’s head, fighting against a villain with his own knife, which had to have taken  multiple lives came to mind. That same villain who saved his life later on in the night. The nomu that nearly took him away to god knows where. 

That’s why they were changing the exams. To make them stronger.

Midoriya froze, stunned by the change in aura from his teacher. It was so unnatural, seeing the man who was usually the one helping him as his opponent. It was off putting in so many ways.

“Let’s do this, Midoriya!” Kirishima said from beside him, who clearly was also affected by the change in behavior. Midoriya nodded sharply, pulling out the handcuffs. All he had to do was get them on.

Cementoss stomped, and countless walls of concrete appeared between them. If they weren’t in a fight, Midoriya knew he’d be freaking out.

Well, he was freaking out, just for a different reason. “Tag, I’ll bring you up, try to drop down onto him.” Midoriya said, and Kirishima nodded, slinging his arm over Midoriya’s shoulder to grab on.

He activated his quirk, and the two of them flew up, landing on a building near them, Kirishima tripping as they landed. 

As soon as he regained his balance, he ran towards the pro hero, hardening his skin, and jumping towards their teacher without hesitation. Midoriya himself drew himself to a balcony on the other side of the road, closer to the battle, and out of their original spot.

Once he landed, he turned around just in time to see Kirishima get caught in a wall of concrete, “Midoriya! Tag!” He threw the cuffs into the air before they could be caught in the concrete. 

Midoriya’s heart skipped a beat, and he pulled on the cuffs, leaping into action while Kirishima freed himself.

“Teamwork will be a virtue in this exam. Going solo is not an option,” Poweloader said, and the class nodded nervously, “You and your teammate will have to assess your strengths and weaknesses in order to pass. Sometimes, an opponent is badly matched to your abilities, and you may need backup. So in order to pass this exam, you can run, or put these handcuffs on your opponent.” He held up a pair of handcuffs.

Sero cleared his throat, “Is it really okay to just run away?” He asked, and Powerloader nodded his head, crossing his arms.

“Sometimes, in the real world, it is necessary.” He said with a confirming tone, but the idea felt dirty to most of the class. Running from the problem had never been an option for their class, so of course it felt wrong.

Midoriya met eyes with Kirishima, and they made an unspoken agreement that they wouldn’t be running away. Maybe for different reasons, but they definitely agreed.

Kirishima refused to cower away from a fight ever again, he wouldn’t be weak. Never again.

Cementoss followed Midoriya’s trajectory pattern with ease. Their strategy was a good one, they trusted each other's strength, and ability to do what needed to be done.

These two in particular had been paired together against him because they both specialized in close quarters combat. That much was obvious, as they were both trying to get in close. They were also paired together in hopes that Kirishima would take notice of Midoriya's ability to create a plan, and work on that in the future. On the other end, they hoped that Midoriya would take on some of Kirishima’s confidence, since he tended to be timid with his actions, even if he knew they were the correct ones.

Not that it was a bad thing, but there are plenty of scenarios where heroes need to trust in their choices outside of only planning. So far, it seemed to be working pretty well.

Midoriya and Kirishima threw the cuffs to one another, taking turns when the hero was left open for the other to cuff him. 

The two with every tag, synced up to their actions more, every second, they became a more formidable opponent. Ten minutes had passed, leaving twenty minutes for them.

Red and green zipped around Cementoss, and with his impaired mobility, it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep up. Midoriya nearly got the cuff onto him, but had to pass it off to Kirishima. He locked the boy in a mound of concrete, bringing the number of opponents down to only one.

He sent an attack towards Kirishima, who threw the cuffs. It was game over, since he’d caught Midoriya, and just threw his capture tool. 

Cementoss stomped to capture Kirishima in a wall of concrete, but then cold metal clamped around his wrist.

“Midoriya and Kirishima pass the final exam!”

He turned around, looking for the block he’d made, only to find it torn open. How had Midoriya done that without hurting himself? He had a feral grin spread across his face, and his hand was still clamped on the other side of the cuff.

Kirishima ran towards Midoriya, and high fived him, both of them bright with excitement. “Good job, both of you, your strategy was smart. Your teamwork was also very good. You’ll have some critiques later on though.” He told the two of them, and they only seemed to beam more.

They walked off, talking about the match, and the highlights of what happened. 

Once they returned to the observation room, both boys were congratulated for passing their exam. Just as soon as they got back, the next group went.

Most of the matches went by smoothly, most groups winning, with the exception of a few. Kaminari and Ashido were a brilliant example of one of those exceptions.

Other than the two of them, Sero and Sati failed their exam. Now the question was, how would Bakugo and Shinso do against Japan's number one hero?

—

Katsuki Bakugo was no pussy. He didn’t run from a fight, he never has, and never will. Even if he was fighting his lifelong idol, All Might. 

In his humble opinion, All Might was the definition of strength. He could change the weather with a single punch, run faster than the eye could see, he’s never lost a fight.

He glanced at his partner, Eyebags. Definitely one of the better partners he could’ve gotten, he wasn’t stupid, was good at fighting, and wasn’t a coward. Eyebags has never backed down, not at the USJ, where apparently got the read on Crusty so they could keep him from hurting Sleeping Bag Sensei.

“I’d rather eat my grenades than run.” He declared, and Shinso nodded his head.

His partner smirked, “And I'd eat my scarf before we ran. What’s the plan?” Bakugo smiled, almost ferally. They discussed their plan, counting out ideas, and making new ones.

The horn blared for them to enter the testing grounds, readily waiting for whatever was to come for them. Shattering sounds flooded through the streets.

“We’re going to die.” Shinso chuckled nervously, and Bakugo elbowed him.

“Nah, Izuku will kill you if you die.” He said, and Shinso nodded. It was go time.

Despite all of his common sense telling him to run away from the chaos that was the number one hero, he ran towards the root of the destruction taking place. Shinso was gripping his scarf, and had his voice modulator secured over his face.

Katsuki was almost glad he got sweaty when he got nervous, because that just meant more ammunition. He just had to remind himself of that. That was progressively getting harder to do as they started hearing All Might’s yelling.

Blonde hair intruded Katsuki’s vision, and he blasted, a large one at that. He dove out of the way of the slowed attack, thanks to the waits their teachers had to wear, in order to give them a fighting chance.

They rapidly assaulted their teacher, but he dodged the majority of their attacks with ease. Finally, Katsuki got the perfect attack, that both hit him, and stirred up enough dust.

“Wow, number one? Really? This is so easy!” All Might didn’t respond to the taunting, and both boys cursed internally. They had to try again.

The attacks were brutal, All Might threw Bakugo into a building, and Shinso damn near broke his spine. All the observers cringed at the exchange.

When the two met eyes, they unanimously decided that it was time for Plan B. At the first chance, they darted, having to ignore All Might’s jeering. 

Most people who held even a shred of self preservation would have just surrendered. Heroics just happened to be a profession where self preservation was not on the list of requirements. Katsuki Bakugo and Hitoshi Shinso, who had been taunting someone who could crush a car with one hand, but not hold back for ten minutes now, were excellent examples of that.

Eventually, the two boys emerged once again, Shinso held three mini grenades, and wore Bakugo’s gauntlets. Again, most heroes do not hold a shred of self preservation. Bakugo is immune to his explosions, Shinso is not. But they were in it to win, heroes won to save, and saved to win. A good hero would do that by any means necessary.

All Might boisterously laughed, “You think that’ll be enough to stop me? Let’s see it then!” He shouted at the two teenagers, who felt a chill going up their spines at the challenge.

Without a second wasted, they both leaped forward, Bakugo letting a large explosion loose from his quirk, Shinso throwing two of his three grenades. 

Shinso made a quick prayer to whatever god was up there, if there was one, and pulled the pin on the grenade of his left wrist, and jumped. 

He flew through the air, going at a speed Shinso knew wasn’t possible if he was running. The ground grew closer, and so did the exit gate. Landing was difficult, but he didn’t let that stop him, going on foot towards the exit, while Bakugo propelled himself with explosions.

The gate grew closer and closer, then a gust of wind passed Shinso. Blonde hair intruded his vision, “Shit!” He muttered through clenched teeth.

Hitoshi threw the last of the grenades he had, then pulled the pin on his right wrist, letting it go off in the pro hero's face. He felt minimal guilt for it. 

However, it didn’t work again, and the hero grabbed his leg, “You should’ve spared your ammunition more carefully!” All Might declared, and Shinso grinned, chucking a grenade he’d kept hidden in his scarf at the hero.

A massive explosion. All Might dropped Shinso, who then met eyes with Bakugo, who’d just released a colossal explosion to save him.

Then they made the final sprint to the gate. 

“Bakugo and Shinso pass the final exam!”

Hell yeah. They passed.

But was there really any doubt?

Chapter Text

The class talked among themselves, most of the conversation being about the exam. 

“What do you guys think the most badass moment of all the exams was?” Kirishima asked, “Mine goes to Shinso throwing the last grenade, then Bakugo making a huge ass explosion right after!” He said, and there were a few nods in agreement.

Uraraka seemed to shake with excitement, “I liked when Izuku cuffed Cementoss! He looked so shocked, I was surprised too!” She chirped, and Midoriya turned a deep shade of red at the praise.

“Definitely Yaomomo and Todoroki using Aizawa-Sensei’s scarf against him! That was so epic!” Kaminari mentioned, and Midoriya nodded in agreement with his statement.

Shoto shrugged, “I agree with Uraraka, that was very cool.” He said, garnering a few odd looks, as he usually didn’t contribute to conversations in class.

Eventually, the conversation shifted to other things, when their teacher finally entered the room. 

“Sero, Sato, Ashido, and Kaminari. You all failed your practical exam,” All four students wilted in shame. “However, nobody bombed the written exam too badly, so you can all go to the camp.” The class erupted into cheers, the loudest coming from the students who’d failed.

He cleared his throat, signaling for the class to quiet down, which they complied, not wanting to test their luck. Their teacher passed out thick packets, which contained their critiques from each match and where they needed to improve. The class paired up into their groups from the exam, and read over their corrections and compliments.

They had critiques from each teacher, including Principal Nedzu, which fascinated Midoriya to no end, being able to see how his principal’s brain worked. The smartest creature in the world, human or animal.

Midoriya scanned over his critiques, most of them discussed self preservation being important, or that he wouldn’t be able to break out of some materials. That kind of irritated Midoriya, because he knew he’d be able to get out of the concrete, because Cementoss Sensei tended to lose focus, letting his guard down against students, especially because he didn’t have the raw power to break out of concrete. It made sense though, some people didn’t notice that. 

Except for one.

Your exam was truly a great one to watch! Nice job in noticing that Mr. Cementoss lets concrete under his control soften slightly when he’s unfocused! You took advantage of that fact multiple times, leading to your passing the exam! The plan you made was smart, and worked well, if slightly inefficient, because villains tend to cause more and more damage as they feel threatened, so it’s best to end a fight fast. Another note, try to come up with a more subtle way of passing a crucial supply, even if your plan was designed for him to not get his hands on the cuffs. Hypothetically, if he didn’t know that you had cuffs, it would be best to keep it that way, maybe try more subtle signs. In conclusion, you and Kirishima-kun did very well, resulting in your high score.

-Principal Nedzu

Pride had welled up in Midoriya when he saw that, Principal Nedzu had complimented his plan! He took the critique about ending fights quickly to heart, because excess damage was never good. He thought about the USJ, and it made sense, Shigaraki had become nervous and wanted to cause more damage as the heroes gained the upper hand.

The rest of his scores felt lackluster, since he’d been praised by the principal himself, while most of his other classmates only had critiques. It wasn’t much of a surprise that he had cameras in the planning room, because that was probably part of their grade as well. Midoriya and Kirishima ended up with a 96% on their practical, which was the highest score of the practical in their class. After them was Bakugo and Shinso, who’d gotten a 95%, so it was incredibly close.

After homeroom, they were dismissed, as they got to go on break after receiving their scores. Even if Midoriya loved UA, it felt like a breath of fresh air to go on break. Nothing to worry about for a full two weeks until the training camp. He was excited to go hang out with his classmates for a full week, getting stronger and making good memories.

“You’re coming over today, the hag told me, so you want to change then go to the arcade or some shit?” Bakugo asked, and Midoriya shrugged, putting his phone away while he considered.

“Yeah, sounds fun! You want to go to that sketchy one for middle school's sake?” Midoriya replied, and the other boy snorted.

He looked at Midoriya, “You mean the one we both almost died at? Pretty sure they banned us after that one.” He said, and Midoriya scrunched his nose in confusion.

“First off, we don’t talk about the cinnamon incident, Katsuki. Secondly, I've been there since then, it’s fine.” He replied, and Bakugo rolled his eyes, and shrugged, muttering something incomprehensible to his friend.

Once the train reached Izuku’s stop, he got off, and started on his walk back home. In middle school, he could barely imagine getting into UA. He’d been set on it, but the idea had seemed so outlandish, with a quirk like his. So many people had tried to push him away from his dreams of being a hero, but every time, he’d refuted them with a display of colorful language and sheer willpower.

There’d always been a part of him that thought he’d never be a hero. But here he was, top of his class at UA High School. The events of the year felt so far away, but so close. It was hard to believe that the USJ had happened ages ago, but at the same time, it felt years away. As he approached his house, he thought about the day he met Torino-san. A strange old man who’d asked what exam he was taking. It was fascinating how many events that simple everyday exchange led to so many other things.

Right now, he just has to have some fun with Katsuki, and focus on training. He could dwell on those thoughts later.

—

The School Family Chat

Wine Aunt:

Okay guys, me and a few other people have been talking, we should have a class trip to the mall to get stuff for the camp!

Cool Cousin: 

Ooooo! Yeah! I need sunscreen! And a new pair of gloves, I wore through my old ones. I can come!

Mom:

There’s a few things I need to get as well! I’d love to come!

Grumpy Grandad:

Yes! I need to get some items as well!

Wine Aunt: 

Alrighty! Trip is official! Mall tomorrow! 

That Cousin (You know the one):

I can come! There’s totally some stuff I need to get!!

Mom:

It’s been a while since i’ve gone to the mall!

Cool Cousin:

I’m so excited!! I love hanging out with you guys outside of school! It’s so much better!

Grumpy Grandad:

This shouldn’t be a leisure trip! You need to make sure you get the things you need!

Fun Uncle:

really living up to the grumpy grandad- arent ya?

Fun Uncle:

i can come B)

Grumpy Grandad:

I’m only saying not to forget what’s important!

That Cousin (You know the one):

It’s okay guys, you can have fun, and remember to get what you need-

Sweet Grandpa (Hard candy giver):

I can come! I need some more food for my bunny:)

Emo Cousin:

Yeah, I can come too, I need a new duffle bag-

Wine Aunt:

This is gonna be so great!!!

That Cousin (You know the one):

I’m excited!

Scary Grandma:

I can come too ig.

Fun Uncle:

OMG WE GOT BAKUGO TO COME

Fun Uncle:

THIS IS GONNA BE LIT-

Emo Cousin:

We’re literally going to the mall-

Fun Uncle:

shush.

—

Katsuki scoffed, putting down his phone. Izuku and Auntie Inko had gone home for the night a few hours ago. It was getting late, but it was a break, so it’d be fine if he woke up late. Him and Eyebags had done well on the practical, second best score in the class. Izuku and Shitty Hair had the best, even if Izuku had probably made the whole plan. It took two to carry out a plan though, so it made sense.

He groaned, it was time to get to bed, he was tired from the day, even if he hadn’t done much. As per his routine, he shouted a good night to his mother, who shouted right back. It was finally time to relax after this first semester of hero school.

It's always been common knowledge that Katsuki Bakugo was going to be a hero. One of the best. That much had been obvious since his quirk came in. The power to create explosions from his palms with a nitroglycerin like substance, down to the aspect that he always smells like carmel. It was an unfamiliar feeling, not being the best, not being a mile ahead of everyone.

Maybe if he was a little less mature, it’d bother him, but it didn’t. It excited him. Katsuki loved a challenge, a chase, something to work towards. That’s why he loved All Might. The man wasn’t powerful, he was power. In short, All Might was the perfect person to surpass.

Some people were dejected by failure, but not Katsuki. Failure fanned the flames that always raged within him, that told him he’d be the best, all he had to do was work a little bit harder. He’d be a hero everyone could look up to as an example of what a hero should be, he would win every fight, and save everyone. The moment Dynamight made it onto the scene, everyone would know they’d be okay, because Dynamight doesn’t lose.

This time next year, he’ll be top of the class. Mark those words, he’ll do it, and graduate top of the class too. He’ll be the best hero he can. All Might won’t be able to hold a candle to him once he gets stronger.

Katsuki woke up later than usual, at 9:30 but it was fine since he was on break now. It was a weird feeling, that just hasn’t gone away over the years, being on break. He scrolled through the chat, to see what he missed, and learned they were to meet up at noon. Plenty of time to get ready, so he started getting ready. The hag had to go into work today, an unusual occurrence since she usually worked from home, and Katsuki made the decision to skip breakfast to instead get a snack at the mall later. He’s never been much of a breakfast person, but his mother always insisted he eat something.

“Good morning, Katsuki, you’re up late aren’t you?” His father greeted him, and the younger shrugged.

“Went to bed late, it’s break anyways, so it doesn’t really matter. I’m meeting up with Izuku, and a few other people in my class at the mall today, at around noon,” Katsuki said, looking at his father, who appeared a bit shocked, “We’re getting stuff for the training camp, most of us have stuff we get, bug spray and stuff.” He finished, and his father nodded.

He cleared his throat, “I’m glad you’re getting out more, since you didn’t like most of the people at your middle school,” The man smiled, “How much money are you going to need? Since it’s for school I'll cover it for you.” He said, and Katsuki shook his head.

“It’s fine, I just need a container for the chemical neutralizer. Do I need to pick up more of that too? Or did you or Mom pick some up?” Katsuki asked, and his father nodded.

“No, your mother said she’d grab some on her way back from work. She’s scared we’re going to burn the house down.” Masaru chuckled, and Katsuki snorted.

The room fell into a comfortable silence as they both went about their business. Katsuki had always gotten along with his father better, with his quiet demeanor cooling Katsuki’s loudness. He’s where Katsuki got the ability to secrete his explosive, nitroglycerin like sweat from, so they’d always bonded over not being allowed by a campfire, and other things that were a result of having explosive sweat.

The two of them needed a chemical neutralizer because all nitroglycerin needs to explode is a little bit too much friction in the washing machine, then all hell breaks loose. That was not a desirable situation, so they purchased a chemical neutralizer to put in the washing machine where other people would put a fabric softener. It was an odd thing, but quirks are odd as well, so nobody could really talk.

Before he knew it, Katsuki was on his way to the mall. After texting his old man that the train had arrived just fine, he looked for the rest of Class 1-A. He found them quickly, because his classmates weren’t exactly what most would call subtle. Not at all.

“Yay! Everyone’s here!” Pinky shouted, bouncing around, “Let’s meet back up in an hour, then we can go get snacks!” She said, pointing to the large clock in the center of the mall that’d just struck 12.

He met eyes with Izuku, “I’ve got to get some neutralizer, go get your crap, and we’ll meet up to find a new duffle for you. I don’t trust you to get a decent one.” He said, and Izuku jokingly saluted, before turning on his heel and walking away. Katsuki himself also turned to walk towards the store where he could find what he needed.

“Wow! You were in the sports festival! Katsuki Bakugo right? So cool!” Someone slung their arm over Katsuki’s shoulder. He whipped his head over to see who it was.

Oh shit.  

Katsuki recognized the man's face immediately, and his fingers locked around Katsuki’s neck, only one staying up. His quirk came to mind. Decay, anything Tomura Shigaraki touches with five fingers turns to mere dust. Four of those fingers currently gripped Katsuki’s neck.

“Tomura Shigaraki.” He bit out, refraining from insulting the man who quite literally held Katsuki’s life in his hand.

“Correct. Now, wipe that look off of your face, we’re old friends. Make a scene, and I'll kill you. I just want to talk.”

This wasn’t good.

“What do you want to talk about?”

Chapter Text

“Glad you’re feeling agreeable, Katsuki Bakugo,” The villain said in a sickeningly sweet tone. He chuckled, “I just want to ask you a few questions, the most promising of the U.A. hero course must have some good answers for me.” Shigaraki said, and Katsuki shoved his hands into his pockets. He was sweating, and blowing up would not be optimal right now. Civilians were at risk, not to mention Katsuki’s neck.

“Just remember, I put my finger down, and my quirk starts with your flesh, then muscles, and bone. Then you’re nothing but a pile of blood and dust.” A chilling reminder from Shigaraki told Katsuki the delicacy of the situation he was in. He couldn’t fight, that fact pissed him off to no end.

The mall bustled with energy, laughter, and conversation. One slip-up, and all of this was in danger. It was a constant reminder that he had to be incredibly careful.

Instead of doing what he wanted, which was to run, and fight, and beat this guy into the ground, he huffed, “Okay then, shoot. I haven’t got all day, and I doubt you do either.” He scowled, being with a villain wasn’t good, especially when a hero inevitably showed up. All that’d happen, is that he would be a hostage, a burden on the heroes. That wasn’t what he was here to do. 

The villain chuckled, and Katsuki felt a chill running through his spine, “Tell me, hero, what is the difference between me, and the Hero Killer? Hosu, everyone talks about what he did, and not me. Why is that?” A wave of tension seemed to freeze every muscle in Katsuki’s body. At the very least, Shigaraki wasn’t ‘asking’ him to give the villain information about UA.

Maybe there was a reason Tomura Shigaraki didn’t need to ask Katsuki Bakugo for information about U.A.

Katsuki took a deep breath, he had to watch his mouth, this man, this villain wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. “It’s probably because Stain has a purpose, one he’d stated. It’s also one that many people can get behind, since the fear of not being saved is real in this society,” He said, half expecting for whatever being disintegrated felt like to begin, but it didn’t, so he continued, “What makes you different, is that you’ve only stated that you want to kill All Might, and disrupt whatever peace there is. People don’t understand you. That’s why they don’t give you attention.” Katsuki finished, and the villain broke out into laughter, terrifying laughter.

That was when Bakugo realized he was in the presence of a maniac. The man laughed, and Katsuki’s blood pressure began to rise with each sinister cackle.

The cheerful, light mood of the mall starkly contrasted the dark energy that Shigaraki was creating, it was honestly a wonder nobody had reported this odd behavior yet. Part of Katsuki begged for someone to report this, and get him out of Shigaraki’s grasp. It was for the better that they didn’t right now though. He just had to play it safe for the time being.

Maybe it was just him, but it felt like Shigaraki’s grip on his neck was growing tighter, suffocating. His hands unconsciously moved towards the hand restricting his airways.

“Now now, hero. I see it now. It’s All Might. It’s always All Might. This society needs to be purged of everything. How can these idiots feel so safe? How can they smile so easily?” He monologued, his grip on Katsuki’s neck still increasing. “I understand now! It’s all All Might’s fault!” Shigaraki laughed.

He couldn’t breathe, with Shigaraki constantly  increasing the pressure on Katsuki’s neck. He couldn’t breath, his head was starting to feel light. This wasn’t good, he was about to pass out. He was going to die if he didn’t loosen up soon.

“What’s to stop me from killing all these civilians right now?” Shigaraki asked, and Katsuki futilely tried to gasp for air.

The man slightly reduced the grip on his neck, even if it was still suffocating, he could speak now. “The heroes will stop you. Even if I die, many will come. They’ll stop you.” It came out raspy, but the point still stood. Shigaraki couldn’t go on a rampage without resistance.

“Perhaps, but how many people could I kill before I'm stopped? Ten? Twenty? Fifty? A hundred?” Bakugo cringed, he was right, unfortunately so, how could he stop this villain? What could he possibly do?

Shigaraki muttered to himself, and Katsuki sat there powerlessly. It was terrible. The man’s grip was only tightening once again. He was suffocating. 

Part of Katsuki thought he was going to die right there. He couldn’t though. He was going to be a hero. Even if he couldn’t right now.

He felt like the opposite of a hero right now, even if this was what was preventing the villain from going on a rampage. Heroes stop villains.

“Katsuki? Who the hell is that?” It was Izuku. Shit. This wasn’t good. He knew Izuku wouldn’t hesitate to jump in, but despite that realization, he mentally cheered. 

Izuku had to stay away before shit really hit the fan. “It’s fine, the old hag’s friend wanted to meet me. Go ahead.” He tried to rasp out, when the realization hit Izuku, and Shigaraki released his throat.

Both of them froze in confusion that he’d given up so easily. But the man turned back as he left, glaring at the two boys, and if looks could kill, they’d both be six feet under.

“I’ll be going now! Don’t follow me, you weren’t hurt this time, but you may not be so lucky the next time we meet.” The villain said, slinking away. Katsuki fell into a coughing fit, now that he could actually breathe again.

His friend ran over, patting his back to help him get over the fit. “We’ve got to get you to the police. Did he hurt you? I’m so sorry for leaving you.” Izuku rapidly said, waiting for Katsuki to get up, and catch his breath.

“I’m fine. Bastard didn’t hurt me. I couldn’t do anything though because of his shitty ass fucking quirk,” Katsuki muttered, still trying to catch his breath. “I’m beating his ass if I ever see him again.” He added, and Izuku nodded. It was obvious to him that he was mad and upset. He was definitely beating himself up over the fact that he hadn’t been there.

Katsuki knew that if Izuku had been there, he probably would’ve gotten hurt, or civilians would’ve gotten attacked. Either way, it wasn’t a good scenario. It was for the best that it’d only been Katsuki and Shigaraki.

They walked to the police, who questioned the both of them for hours. Izuku was done before Katsuki was, but he refused to leave before him, and it wasn’t like his mother could come on such short notice. It was dark by the time they were both allowed to leave. A dark bruise had already appeared on his neck where Shigaraki had held a dangerously tight grip. That reminder pissed him off, that he’d been practically useless.

Even if multiple officers had assured Katsuki he did the best possible thing in that situation, he still felt like a failure. Shigaraki still escaped. A murderer was still walking free.

The fire raging within Katsuki only grew more powerful though. Tomura Shigaraki wouldn’t evade justice again. Not if he was on the scene. 

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you.” Izuku said from his seat next to Katsuki.

He shook his head, “If you were there, more people probably would’ve gotten hurt. I probably would’ve gotten off with a bit worse than just a shitty bruise if you were there.” He replied, and Izuku grumbled something to himself. A car pulled up, which grabbed both of their attention

The door opened, and out came Mitsuki, who was sprinting, darn near knocking the door off of its hinges, Inko not far behind.

She locked her son in a hug, “You little idiot, you had me so worried. Please tell me you’re okay!” Mitsuki cried, and her son nodded his head. It was a scare for everyone involved.

Inko also hugged her son, asking about what had happened, as she’d only been told that her son was involved. She didn’t know much of anything. For all she’d known, Izuku was severely injured. The rational part of her had known they would’ve told her if he was hurt or dead, but she had to worry. It was a mothers job, after all.

Before they left, Katsuki still seemed bothered about something. “Why do you think Crusty said that next time I won’t be so lucky?” He asked one of the officers who’d questioned him about the incident.

“It likely didn’t mean anything, meaning that it was just his hatred talking.” He replied, but it didn’t put Katsuki’s thoughts to rest. Shigaraki had attacked their class once, who was to say that he wouldn’t do it again?

The ride home was silent, as Izuku caught the class up on what had happened, and why the mall had closed so suddenly. Everyone was understanding as to why Katsuki didn’t exactly feel like talking. 

Katsuki felt the dull throb of the bruise left on his neck, apparently he was very lucky that there wasn’t any lasting damage. It made sense, since during the encounter, he’d been convinced that he was going to either die or at the very least pass out.

His throat still felt scratchy, as if he’d tried to swallow sand paper, or something of the sorts. He needed to be stronger.

He worried his mother, the old hag hadn’t been so worried about him in ages. Katsuki knew he had to get stronger. How would he be the hero he wanted if he didn’t?

The flames within him roared, because one day, whether it be soon, or in fifty years, he’d be able to reassure someone with his sheer presence.

“Don’t worry, I’m the strongest.” One day that’s what he would say to someone, and it wouldn’t be a lie. It’d be the reassuring truth. One day, he wouldn’t be stuck waiting idly for someone to come rescue him. One day he’ll be the one doing the rescuing.

All he had to do was work a little bit harder. Then his mother wouldn’t worry, and neither would his old man. If they had to worry about anyone, they’d have to worry about the villain. He wouldn’t worry Auntie Inko, or Izuku. 

Was Katsuki a strong hero in training? Undeniably.

Did he still need to get stronger? Of course. He wouldn’t be strong enough until it was obvious to everyone that he was the strongest, that he was the one you knew you could trust.

Today was an anomaly. The incident with Shigaraki at the mall was an anomaly, and would never happen again. Nothing like it will ever happen again. The reason? Soon he’ll be too strong for any villain to dare try to pull a stunt like that.

But for now, he had to get to sleep. His mother had volunteered to go get what Katsuki had originally needed from the mall, so his day was completely open tomorrow.

—-

That morning, when he woke up, when Katsuki decided to check his phone, he awoke to a text from Kirishima.

Shitty Hair and Bakubro

Shitty Hair:

Hey man! I know you’re still recovering from the shit at the mall, so I get if you don’t want to, but most of our class is going swimming at the U.A. pool for some last minute training if you’re interested!! We’ll be meeting up at the gates at 11:30 in the morning on Saturday until 4:30!! Everyone is going to be there! Let me know if you’re coming!!

Bakubro:

Yeah, sure. Do I need to bring anything? Food, or shit like that?

Shitty Hair:

Nope! Iida offered to bring food and drinks for everyone!! All you need to bring is yourself, a towel, and some sunscreen!

Bakubro:

Okay. I’ll be there.

Shitty Hair:

Hell yeah! See you there bro!

Katsuki put his phone down, and stretched out, before rummaging through his drawers for his swim trunks. They were at the very bottom of the drawer, since swimming just wasn’t something he did often.

His mother came into the room, “What are you looking for?” She asked, and Katsuki held the trunks up.

“Class is going to the U.A. pool for some last minute training before the camp. It’s better than staying cooped up all day,” He said, and his mother’s face shifted to one of concern, “It’s UA, nobody’s going to come. If you really want me to stay home, I'll tell them that I changed my mind.” He said, but she shook her head.

Mitsuki leaned on the doorway, crossing her arms. Of course she was a bit worried, Katsuki had a bruise on his neck from a villain. A villain who with one touch could’ve taken her son from her. UA was safe though, and being cooped up all day, like he said, wasn’t going to help anything. So she shrugged, “It’s fine bud, I'm still a bit shaken up from yesterday. Could I bring you there though?” She asked, and her son nodded in response. Relief bloomed in her chest, and she smiled.

When the time came, they loaded up into the car, and set off to UA. The ride was devoid of conversation, but the radio kept the car from being in silence. Mitsuki looked into the car mirror, Katsuki was on his phone again. In middle school, that was an uncommon occurrence, since Katsuki hated all his classmates other than Izuku. Once she thought about it, she realized she didn’t know anything about Katsuki’s friends. Other than Izuku.

“Who’re you talking to? Girlfriend?” She teased him, and he shot a dirty look Mitsuki’s way, but she only chuckled, “Boyfriend? I won’t judge.” The boy rolled his eyes, turning his phone off.

“No, my idiots were blowing up my phone. Apparently one of them didn’t realize we were going for training.” He said, and Mitsuki huffed in amusement.

They stopped at a red light, “Your idiots, huh? Tell me about them.” Mitsuki huffed, amused with her son's antics, that was very him to say, and she knows exactly where he got it from.

“Sparky’s the one who didn’t realize we were training. Kaminari, that’s his name. He’s a dumbass, but he works hard,” Katsuki answered, and Mitsuki smiled, her son had always admired hard workers, especially since he’s such a prodigy, good at most everything he tries. “Shitty hair, Ejiro Kirishima, he’s the one who invited me. He’s probably my favorite person to spar, since his quirk is a natural counter to mine, hardening.” He continued, and Mitsuki quirked up at that, she didn’t expect that. She could tell that he definitely cared for those two more than he let on.

That’s just how he is, and that’s how Mitsuki was too. She’s the one he got it from, after all, “Ears, Kyoka Jiro. She’s got a decent taste in music. Then Racoon Eyes, Mina Ashido, and Tape, Hanta Sero. They’re my idiots.” He finished as they pulled into the UA parking lot. He got out, and thanked her before walking towards the pool area.

Once they suggested a race, Katsuki smirked. Everyone looked pretty serious, they were gunning to win. That was good, because he was too.

—-

Chapter Text

It was five in the morning, the asscrack of dawn, the Devil’s hour, and UA’s first year hero course was getting ready to leave for a training camp.

While Midoriya appreciated being able to train, he detested the fact that he was forced to be awake at five in the morning. That had to be some kind of war crime. Nobody looked particularly excited about this crime against humanity, until Uraraka started chanting, “Who’s excited for camp! Camp! Camp! Camp!” Kaminari and Ashido joined her chant, seemingly forgetting how tired they’d been before.

However, such cheerful energy did not come to Midoriya at such awful hours of the day. After a few minutes, Mr. Aizawa loaded them all onto the bus. Objectively speaking, it was quite the boring ride. No interesting sights, and it was crowded and hot on the bus. At least with Class A, boring is not a trait they have, so the bus was lively, despite the early hours of the morning.

Eventually, the bus settled down, with an exception of a few at the back who kept up the energy. Most of them held casual conversations, including Midoriya and his seatmate, Todoroki. Usually on trips Bakugo would claim the seat next to Izuku as his, but Kirishima had asked (begged), for them to sit together, to which the other reluctantly (gladly) agreed.

“No, seriously, Best Jeanist has stated multiple times that his costume is entirely functional. It is known that he prioritizes public appearances, but what does that have to do with his mouth?” Shoto explained, and Midoriya shook his head.

He sighed, “It could be multi-functional, it’s more denim to work with, because his quirk works best with denim. As you said, he prioritizes appearance, and that’s a good way to do it,” Midoriya argued, “I highly doubt that it’s because he doesn’t have a mouth. How would he talk?”

Shoto tched, shaking his head gently, “You think too small. My guess is that he’s an alien, and that his ‘quirk’ is actually an alien power, to telepathically control microscopic alien organisms that live in fabric, that also thrive in denim.” He put air quotes, and Midoriya groaned.

“There’s no evidence!” The boy cried, dropping his head into his palms, “Why would they live in denim? Wouldn’t they die?”

Shoto shook his head, “The microorganisms hate chlorophyll, but once it is dead, live in denim cotton holds high amounts of cellulose, a common carbohydrate on alien worlds, which the microorganisms consume the most,” The boy explained, and Midoriya nodded, it did actually make sense as to why the organisms would live in denim at least. 

The bus came to a stop, “Bathroom break, come on.” A very, very, very, exasperated Mr. Aizawa revealed, as the bus door opened, and the class filtered out of the bus.

However, Class 1-A was not met with a bathroom. They were met by two pro heroes, who Midoriya quickly recognized as Pixie-Bob and Rag Doll, members of the Wild Wild Pussycats team! 

But there was no bathroom to be seen. Luckily, Midoriya didn’t really have to use the bathroom.

“Hello! I’m Pixie-Bob, at your service, with the Wild Wild Pussycats!” Then they proceeded to do a thirty second introduction routine, excessive in Midoriya’s opinion, but he admired the commitment to the bit.

Kaminari raised his hand, “I thought we were going to the bathroom?” The feline themed heroes laughed, crossing their arms, and their own teacher smirked.

‘Oh dear. That is not a good smile. It’s a trick, isn’t it?’ Midoriya felt his face blanch, as the hero crossed her arms.

She checked the watch on her wrist, “It’s about 10:30, kittens who don’t make it to camp, over there,” she pointed towards a mountain in the distance, “By 12:30 don’t get lunch! All this land is ours, so you can use your quirks,” Pixie-Bob chirped, “Good luck!”

The hero stomped, and the earth began to shift under the class’ feet. Chaos ensued as everyone tried, (and failed) to make it back to stable ground. Before he knew it, he was on the ground.

“Guess we’re walking.” Ojiro huffed, brushing the dirt off of his clothes.

The class nodded in agreement, “I guess straight through is our best bet,” Yaoyorozu figured, “We better get going.” 

“At least it can’t get worse than this.” Kaminari mused, and many disgruntled members of Class 1-A agreed.

Then the ground started shaking. Before they knew it, Class 1-A was face to face with a monster covered in mud, just their luck.

“Please be calm! Leave us alone please!” Koda shouted, to no avail, which was odd. Was it not an animal?

Pixie-Bob could do some wild things with her quirk.

While dodging a dirt clump, Midoriya shouted, “It’s Pixie-Bob’s quirk! They’re dirt clumps!” Then without any hesitation, multiple people attacked the beast with their full fury.

Izuku tore apart monsters, Katsuki blew them sky high, Shoto froze them so others could destroy them with ease, and Iida kicked them. Together, they tore through the majority of the woodland beasts that Pixie-Bob created.

Even with all their class tearing through the dirt monsters, it did not take two hours to get through the forest.

It had taken no less than seven hours of blood, sweat, and admittedly a few tears to get through the Beast’s Forest.

Izuku had never wanted to maim a pro hero more than in that moment. He was tired, his arms hurt, his legs hurt, his head hurt, it’d be faster to name the things that didn’t hurt. The exhaustion was bone deep, coming in second to only that one time he’d pulled five consecutive all nighters. (Don’t ask, because what happened in those five days stays in those five days.)

“Wow! I thought it’d take you kittens a lot longer!” Pixie Bob chirped, to which she received no response.

Kaminari cleared his throat, “Wait, who’s the kid?” Midoriya turned to where his classmate was pointing, and he’ll be damned, there was a kid, no older than seven.

He had black hair and eyes that were far too angry for a kid his age. His arms were crossed, while Mandalay walked over to him, “This is my nephew, Kota!” She said, and she gestured to class 1-A, “Say hello!” Kota rolled his eyes.

“Stupid wannabe heroes.” He muttered, and Midoriya’s jaw was on the floor. Why was this little kid so jaded? What had happened?

So naturally, he walked up to the kid, maybe he could figure out why he was so angry. He approached the boy. “I’m Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you, Kota-kun.” The boy clenched his fist.

Oh hell no.

Midoriya side-stepped as his fist flew forward, right to where his family jewels would have been if he hadn’t moved. He hissed, “That was almost bad, please refrain from punching me in the future.”

Kota huffed, and stomped off. Well that sure went well. Splendidly even.

That’s a lie.

After that fun interaction, they were served the most delicious food that has ever graced Izuku’s taste buds. He ate until he couldn’t eat anymore. Then, they finally got to bathe, and pass out. It’d been such a long day, and Midoriya already could feel that this camp would help him in his journey to becoming a pro hero. One who’d show that anyone can be a hero.

—-

A deck of cards collapsed from the pyramid they’d been carefully piled to stand in.

“I just don’t get it…” Shigaraki muttered, disintegrating the card that had been in his hand. “How did he do it? It took me months with no progress, but Sensei did it so easily.” He drawled, and the villain made of mist shrugged.

From the television in the corner, a sinister voice chuckled. “I have my ways, Tomura. I am here, if only to help you.” The voice said reassuringly. Tomura nodded, pushing himself up. He was a leader after all, and what kind of leader didn’t check on those he led?

Tomura strolled into the room where his league hung out when they weren’t doing their own thing. He sat next to Mr. Compress, one of his favorite recruits, he sat surrounded by cards with strange drawings on them. It must be some weird magic thing. Compress believed in that kind of stuff, and Shigaraki wouldn’t deny that it had to have some kind of merit.

Dabi however, insisted it was all how you perceived the cards, and that there was no way it could be based in fact. Those two argued a lot, but they did both have a knack for showmanship, which kept anything from becoming too turbulent. It was almost ironic, since the only one in the league other than Compress he’d willingly speak to was one Himiko Toga, another believer in Mr. Compress’ readings.

“What are you reading for?” Tomura asked, noting the setup, he does this one a lot, the future.

The man chuckled, “I’m seeing how our attack will play out. Would you like to see?” He asked, and Tomura nodded, turning his attention to the five cards Compress has in front of him. 

He flips the first card.

The moon. It was upside down though, but the man didn’t correct it. It must mean something.

He flips over the next card.

Ten of swords.

The Tower.

The Hierophant.

Compress whistles, “A lot of the major arcana.”

He flipped the final card, and chuckled, “Well would you lookie there?” The man chuckled as he put the card down.

The fool.

Chapter Text

Well. 

This camp was not fun. Not at all.

Okay that was a lie. Hanging out with friends all day (even if they were all training) was nice, and he got to see a different side of his friends even if he hated this training—

Even if they had to cook their own dinner. (Okay, that was also pretty fun, especially because he knew how to cook)

But today? Today would be fun. Today was the Test of Courage.

Oh how things would go terribly wrong.

He just had to survive one more day of this torturous training. Then a night of fun with his friends. Maybe he could get Kota to warm up to him in some way.

Kota.

His parents were killed by Muscular, an A rank villain who was still on the run. A villain who’d killed three pro heroes and fatally wounded another four. 

Kota’s resentment towards heroes was so valid, but so strong. It would surely hurt him in the future. What if he refused to let someone save him? Or what if he got swayed to the side of villains who would try to take advantage of his anger.

Izuku could not let that happen, not under any circumstances.

Kota didn’t have to love heroes, but hating them was a different story.

The whole concept was foreign to Izuku, because he loved heroes, and was always surrounded by people who also loved heroes. It seemed unreal that someone could hate All Might or Hawks.

Therefore, he didn’t know how to help. So for now, he brought Kota dinner to his ‘hideout’ and offered himself up to listen. Of course Kota quite angrily assured Midoriya that he didn’t need his help, but the offer was still up.

Kota ignored him, but that was to be expected. He had a few days, hopefully it’d be enough.

—-

As the sun set, energy in camp began to grow. Everyone was ready for the Test of Courage. Even Yaomomo, (Who was a known hater of horror), was excited for this night. It was the halfway point, what they’d been working towards all week.

The mood in camp was more cheery than it’d been in days. Everyone was excited to prove their bravery. 

Unfortunately though, everyone who’d failed the exam had to do remedial lessons during the Test of Courage. Midoriya felt bad, because all of them had been the most excited to prove their bravery.

What was going to happen, was that they were going to split into teams based on classes, and the goal was to scare the shit out of whatever pair was passing.

Mandalay pulled out a hat, and told them all to draw numbers. Midoriya glanced at his number, and then towards his classmates, who were already pairing up.

He pushed down the voice in his head that was already panicking.

Tsu had a different number.

Shoto had a different number.

Why was he the only one left?

“Fuck.” He cursed, realizing the truth. There was an odd number, and Izuku had drawn the short straw. Or the largest number.

When he showed Katsuki his terrible luck, he snorted, “Of course you’d be the one to have to go alone,” Midoriya groaned, of course he’d rub salt in the wound, because right after, he revealed that he was partnered with none other than Shoto Todoroki.

Two of his best friends were cheating on him with each other. 

“Bakugo, you should switch with Midoriya.” Shoto requested, and Izuku himself snorted. Katsuki did a double take.

“Just should I do that, Icyhot?” Shoto shrugged in response, muttering that it was worth a shot.

A few minutes later, it was their turn to reenter the Beast’s Forest, leaving only two groups, then Midoriya.

It would be completely fine, he’s seen tons of scary things, like villain attacks, his mom angry, Aizawa-Sensei angry, Katsuki’s morning hair, and plenty of horror movies Katsuki forced him to watch.

Everything would be completely fine, and then he’d get to scare Class 1B so bad they’d piss themselves. To be quite frank, he was looking forward to messing with Monoma, who’d been on Midoriya’s last nerve for a while now.

He felt for the daggers Yaomomo had made for him, that would be used to maximize his scariness. A knife being flung into the tree directly in front of you was pretty piss-your-pants worthy in Midoriya’s opinion.

Then smoke started to rise from the trees. 

“The League of Villains has been spotted.”

Shit. 

In hindsight, this was a great place to attack a bunch of teenagers, it was remote, and the students greatly outnumbered the teachers. There was no All Might to save them, or UA staff to scare all the villains. 

In right now sight, this was really, really, really bad.

They were split off, communications shoddy at best, and with no idea who their enemies were.

Mandalay was frantic, “Kota! Where’s Kota!” 

The mountain. His secret hideout, “I know where he is! I’ll go get him!” Mandalay said something, but Midoriya was already running.

There was no indication about what villains were here, or where they were, so he had to hurry. Every tool in his arsenal was used to speed up the process in which he got to that mountain. If Kota got hurt, it was on him.

When Midoriya made it, he saw Kota first. Then someone else, someone tall, towering over both of them.

The wind blew, to reveal a horribly scarred eye, and a wide smile.

Izuku recognized that face. Kota certainly recognized it too.

They were standing face to face with Muscular.

He pulled Kota behind him, “Muscular.” He bit out, when the villain moved.

The man was fast, alarmingly so, and before he knew it, Izuku was colliding with the mountain, his phone flying out of his pocket in the process. It shattered against the mountain, rendering it completely and utterly useless.

Midoriya bit back a curse, he couldn’t call for help now. It was just him, Muscular, and Kota.

And he’d kill himself before Kota got hurt. He reached into his pocket, and there was one dagger left, all the others had fallen out on his mad dash to Kota.

The odds weren’t great. It was Midoriya, a first year hero student versus a serial killer who’d killed multiple pro heroes. Fantastic.

The situation felt jarringly similar to Hosu, but with just a few glaring differences: nobody was coming, and Muscular certainly didn’t want to leave him alive.

Last time Midoriya was face to face with a villain, he was playing on easy mode, but this time? It had been bumped up to hard.

He grabbed his knife, letting the cover fall to the ground, and Muscular laughed, “That little thing? Against me? Just who do you think you are, kid?” Despite the throbbing in his head (which likely was the start of a concussion), Midoriya advanced on Muscular. Kota was shaking.

“Kota, it’s going to be okay.” He reassured, trying to sound braver than he felt. Privately, he wasn’t too sure that it would be, but Midoriya would save Kota, or die trying. Kota Izumi was not going to meet the same fate as his parents. Ideally, Midoriya wouldn’t either.

Muscular apparently found Midoriya’s promise amusing, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Hero.” He spit the word hero as if it was a curse, and Midoriya felt himself stiffen.

“I haven’t made a single promise I don’t intend on keeping.” He lunged towards Muscular, all of his thousand thoughts converging into one.

Protect Kota. Stop Muscular. 

He had to keep Muscular from getting the jump on him. The man was bigger and faster, but he wasn’t as smart as Midoriya was. In theory, it would be easy, but he only had so many tricks, and Kota was still vulnerable. 

Izuku ducked under Muscular’s leg, aiming to slash his achilles, but to his misfortune, the man didn’t even flinch, “Oh you’ll have to try harder than that, Hero! My muscles are so thick and form so fast, you’re just a little mosquito to me!” Midoriya scrambled to a stance Mr. Aizawa wouldn’t tear him to shreds for, eying the villain carefully. 

Then Muscular moved, presumably to backhand him once again, so Izuku dropped down, and activated his quirk for the first time this fight. He stabbed deep into the muscle on his leg, trying to drag it through his flesh.

A foot met Midoriya’s torso, and he once again went flying, losing his only weapon. Midoriya heard a grotesque crunch as he slammed against the mountain. Thankfully, it didn’t create the burning pain that surely should’ve erupted the moment he’d collided with the mountain.

“You’re a fast one aren’t you?” The villain monologued as Midoriya dragged himself up, ignoring the throbbing of his head, “Too bad it isn’t enough, i’ll kill you, and then the small fry over here!” He sauntered towards Midoriya, the smirk on his face showing just how easy this fight was. Just how weak Midoriya was to him.

Midoriya shook his head defiantly, “Everything is going to be alright!” He extended his arm, which was drenched in blood that could’ve belonged to either one of them. His dagger flew back into his hand, leaving its place in the rubble. “You hear that? You will not get through me!” Midoriya spat, blood spilling with his declaration.

Muscular shouted in amusement, “You’re a real hero, aren’t you kid?” Midoriya limped back in front of Kota.

“Kota, when I say so, run as fast as you can, and don’t look back.” He looked back at the kid, who was on the verge of tears. 

“But, you’re all beat up! He’s going to kill you, don’t be stupid!” Kota yelled, but Midoriya only nodded, smiling at him. A promise made without words. 

He turned away from the villain, who appeared all too amused at the situation, “It’ll take more than this to kill me. I swear Kota, go find Mandalay, and I will see you there, alive,” Muscular approached them, “Go Kota!” Midoriya screamed.

Kota turned and ran. 

Midoriya pulled himself towards Muscular, which was debatably the worst move he could’ve made. The man grabbed him, slamming him into the mountain, knocking the wind out of Midoriya. 

“You’re too weak kid, you really tried, didn’t you?” He shoved Midoriya further into the ground, despite the numerous attacks he was launching. Stabbing, slashing, tearing, it was all useless. The villain didn’t even flinch. He may as well be attacking a wall.

Muscular needed to get off of him. He couldn’t breathe.

Midoriya’s quirk was useless, if he tried to pull himself out, he’d tear himself apart. Muscular needed to get off of him. There was nothing he could use.

Midoriya stabbed blindly into whatever muscle was smothering him. He was going to die here.

He felt the rock below him crack, or maybe it was a rib. He didn’t even get to say goodbye.

Midoriya needed to get out. 

Muscular needed to get off.

The muscles engulfed his blade, so he was trying to just hold them off now. 

The ground cracked beneath him again. He wouldn’t die here. 

His friends were waiting for him.

Kota was waiting for him.

Mom was waiting for him.

Katsuki was waiting for him.

Midoriya’s arms burned in protest. They were practically touching his face. He was going to be crushed.

Muscular needed to get off.

Darkness was closing in around the edges of his vision. He still couldn’t breathe

Then something within him switched, like a lever he’d never felt before.

Get off.

Muscular got off of him.

Midoriya gasped, the weight of the villain finally off of him. He mustered the strength to sit up, coughing up a glob of blood, looking for Muscular, who was embedded in the mountain, obviously unconscious. 

How…? How had he done that? Midoriya scanned his surroundings. There was nobody else around.

He had a hunch, he activated his quirk on the villain again, wanting to repeat what he’d done.

The villain pushed further into the mountain.

That was not Izuku Midoriya’s quirk.

Izuku Midoriya’s quirk was the attraction of small objects. It was strange.

But he didn’t care all too much, because he was alive. Muscular had spectacularly failed at killing him. Or maybe he was just in shock.

Muscular given him some sort of power up, his quirk could do things it couldn’t do before.

Midoriya made his way down the mountain. He had to find Kota and Mandalay, and tell them what was happening. He’d promised.

So he walked away from that fatal battle, beaten and bloody, but victorious.

Chapter Text

‘The villains are after Hitoshi Shinso! Shinso, please stay away from villains, and make your way to camp!’

Mandalay’s voice rang through his head, and Midoriya scowled. Of course they wanted Shinso, it was probably because he had a ‘villain’ quirk. What assholes.

He sorted through the forest, until he found a familiar clearing, with some familiar faces.

“Midoriya?” He whipped around, and Mr. Aizawa’s eyes were wide with concern.

Kota bit his lip, tears clearly threatened to spill, “You’re okay!” Midoriya smiled.

“I told you it’d take more than him to kill me. I’ve got to go though, I have to find Hitoshi.” But Mandalay grabbed him by the shoulder before he could run off.

She glanced over at Aizawa, who shook his head, “Midoriya you’re going off pure adrenaline, you need to get back to camp.” He shook his head.

“I’m fine. My friends might not be, I have to find them, I can still fight.” Midoriya argued, and Mandalay relented, loosening her grip.

Aizawa glanced at him, “You find him and go straight to camp. No detours. No fighting if you can help it. Don’t make me regret this, Midoriya.”

“Why would you..?”

“He would’ve gone either way, but if he’d gone without permission, he’d go and find every single one of his friends, or die trying.”

—

Midoriya sprinted into the forest, when he was yanked down.

“Quiet. It’s Dark Shadow. Tokoyami’s lost control.” It was Shoji.

He nodded carefully, “We need to find Hitoshi, Katsuki, or Shoto. Any of them could stop him.” Shoji shook his head.

“Dark Shadow’s gone mad, attacking everything,” He held up one of his limbs, to reveal a bloody stub, “Don’t worry, it was just a duplicate, but not everyone is me. Bakugo and Todoroki are down that way, so what do you want to do. I’ve been stuck here”

Midoriya nodded, “I’ve got an idea.”

“What is it?” He asked, glancing towards Dark Shadow.

“Are your arms okay? Can you use your quirk? We need to cause a diversion, so we can lead him around without getting caught.” Shoji nodded, extending his arms, “That should be okay, right? You know Tokoyami better than anyone.” 

He nodded, “This should be sufficient,” Then he paused, “Do you need me to carry you? What happened?” Midoriya shook his head.

“I’m fine, but I got into a fight with Muscular, so we need to be careful, because if they have more villains as strong as him…” Midoriya trailed off, the last part of his sentence remaining unsaid, but they both knew what he was thinking.

Things wouldn’t be great if every villain was on Muscular’s level.

Shoji nodded, “Stay right behind me then, Dark Shadow will catch on if you’re too far from me.” He warned, and Midoriya nodded, standing up, ignoring the wave of dizziness and nausea that came with it.

Dark Shadow was a terrifying quirk, Midoriya had deducted that much on the first day of school. A sentient quirk that became more powerful, and more dangerous in the dark, was terrifying.

But now that he was being hunted by it?

He didn’t think he’d ever see Dark Shadow the same way again.

It felt like forever that they’d been running, and part of Midoriya feared that they’d left the area. He couldn’t see in front of him, but Shoji could, so hopefully they’d come across them soon.

“Light! We need light!” Shoji yelled suddenly, and then Midoriya knew they’d found them. Thank goodness.

He hacked up more blood, but hastily wiped it off of his hand to avoid questioning from his classmates. There wasn’t time to be injured. They wanted Shinso, and they would not get him. 

Dark Shadow took out one of the villains rather brutally, but the two of them said that they couldn’t have done it working together, because they could’ve set the trees on fire, more than they already were. Other than a few scratches, they both looked like they were unharmed.

Conveniently, Shinso had been nearby, so he was with them too now.

Together, there was five of them against who knew how many villains. 

All they had to do was get to camp. 

The forest was eerily quiet, other than the crackling of wood set ablaze within cyan flames.

Then they heard a shout.

Uraraka was pinned by a girl with messy blonde hair, and a knife in her hand, and Asui was just about hanging by her hair.

Midoriya used his quirks newfound ability to shove her off of Uraraka, to which he got a number of odd looks. He promised to explain later.

“We’re on our way back to camp, so that the pros can protect Shinso.” Shoji explained, and Asui deadpanned.

“Shouldn’t he be with you if you’re protecting him?” She asked, and the group all looked increasingly confused.

“What are you talking about? He’s right— What the?” Shoji cut himself off, looking around, “Where’s Midoriya? Tokoyami?” His voice grew panicked, as everyone began to look around.

A chuckle came from the trees above, “I’ve taken them with my magic,” A man in a dark yellow cloak, wearing a black and white mask held three marbles, “Their talents are wasted on the side of the heroes, you see, so we’re going to give them a stage they can truly flourish on!” Bakugo clenched his teeth.

“Give them back!” He yelled, panic seeping into his voice, though the only person who’d notice it was locked inside some creep's quirk.

He began to move, leaping through the trees as if it were child’s play.

The man laughed, “Well that’s an odd thing to say! They don’t belong to you!” Todoroki sent a glacier of ice to attack the villain, but the attack was in vain, as it didn’t even affect him.

“I’ve acquired our targets, get to the rendezvous point for the finale!” He said in a comm that the hero students knew was likely connected to the other villains. 

They had to follow the villain.

Whatever it took.

That was three of their classmates, these villains wouldn’t win. They’d lost once before to Class 1-A. 

If they had any say in it, the villains would lose again.

“Asui, wrap up me, Shoji and Todoroki, then Uraraka float us,” Everyone’s attention was caught by Bakugo’s sudden use of their names. It was no surprise really, but it somehow solidified the gravity of the situation. “No gravity to slow us down. Then when the timing is right? Let us fly.”

The small group agreed to the plan readily, and prepared for takeoff. “Are you guys sure about this?” Uraraka asked, Todoroki and Shoji nodded.

“So get on with it, they’re getting further and further by the second.” With a single touch, they began to float. 

Tsuyu raised them into the air, and as promised, flung them in the direction of the villains. 

Like bullets, the teens shot forward in pursuit of the villains who’d taken their friends.

The panic of the magician villain when he realized they were following was like music to Katsuki’s ears.

‘Good.’ He thought, ‘You should be scared.”

And when they caught up to him? Landing on him, knocking the guy over felt like they toppled an impossible tower.

They were winning now, they’d underestimated them again.

The fire within Katsuki burnt a little brighter with the realization. All the villains looked stunned, “Where are they?” He smiled ferally, trying to copy his teacher's own grin, because he’d die before he admitted it, but the hobo was terrifying.

However, unlike the first villains they’d fought, these ones didn’t hesitate. The first to attack was a man in all gray, he had some sort of modified tape measures that sliced solid ice like a hot knife through butter.

The group would have to be careful of them. 

A man with a patchwork face blasted cyan fire that even being near it was hotter than Todoroki’s own fire, or the hottest of Bakugo’s explosions. 

He pissed Katsuki off, because the way he held himself, as if they’d already won, he was so relaxed of all things. He stood there, attacking them with a lazy smirk painted across his face.

Katsuki Bakugo disliked a lot of things, but he hated when people just assumed they were superior just because they had a strong quirk.

Part of it was because it reminded him of who he used to be.

When he’d gotten to UA, he’d been convinced that it was basically just a formality for him, so he could just run through and win. His classmates woke him up to reality real quick, Izuku included. Katsuki had never payed real attention to his friend’s growth, even if they were close friends, he’d always just been convinced that he’d win if he really tried.

So he was shocked when the guy who he’d grown up with, laughed with, and cried with, someone he thought he knew inside and out began to destroy him in training.

When Katsuki was just learning how to flap his wings, Izuku was figuring out just how high he could go without straying too close to the sun.

Before they knew it, the marble villain had escaped the ice, rejoining his teammates. A portal opened, and the villains wandered towards their own portals.

Their group grew more frantic, trying to get a handle on the marbles that their classmates, their friends, were trapped inside. 

Shouji smirked beneath his mask, holding up the marbles, “Got you,” The members of Class 1-A looked at the boy in amazement, and the patchwork villain grumbled.

“We can’t leave without them,” The magician chuckled, snapping his fingers, and pulling up his mask.

The marbles Shouji held turned to chunks of ice of the marble villain stuck out his tongue, revealing three marbles, “Looking for thes-“ A beam of light smacked him in the face.

There, Aoyama stood, trembling in fear. The marbles went flying, Shouji managed to grab one, which turned into Tokoyami.

Shinso appeared near the villain who called himself Spinner, who quickly pulled Shinso into a chokehold. He was clearly disoriented, it was evident in his hesitation to begin struggling against the villain.

Bakugo watched in horror as Midoriya appeared, he was in bad shape, and the villain with the fire quirk wrapped his fingers around his best friend's throat. His eyes widened as he ran towards him.

The villains turned and left, one by one, with Shinso eventually being dragged through, despite his fighting. Midoriya locked eyes with Bakugo, and he reached out. They almost locked hands, but a blaze of fire damn near hit Katsuki in the face.

He had to block the flames. Katsuki raised his arms in defense, but was blasted backwards regardless. But everything hurt, the world burst into pain, and before long everything fell into darkness.

They had failed.

—

A chill ran down Midoriya’s spine as he felt 

fingers wrap around his neck. He was dizzy, like he’d just been thrown around like a baseball, then dropped into another universe.

The last he remembered, they’d just grouped up with Uraraka and some of the others… Then he was here.

Izuku looked up, and met eyes with a terrified Katsuki, who was sprinting towards him. Then everything clicked into place. He was in the hands of the enemy.

A wave of fire erupted in Katsuki’s face, and a cry ripped from him, “NO!” Midoriya was dragged through the portal, and into a dingy bar, with several villains surrounding him.

“Compress, Kurogiri, put them to sleep,” He saw purple, then the world fell away.