The Future Briefing Island - Shire_Folk - 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia (2024)

Chapter 1: Welcome to the FBI

Chapter Text

When Izuku Midoriya woke up, he was feeling great. Normally that would be a wonderful thing for him to wake up to, with all the times he’d woken up in hospitals or in Recovery Girl’s office, having broken his bones of his own volition or having been attacked by villains. However, waking up this morning feeling fantastic was not something he’d been expecting. He’d fought with Kachan a few nights ago, right after they’d finished the Provisional License Exam, and gotten his ass kicked by the boy with the Explosion quirk. Even though he felt he’d given about as good as he’d gotten, he still lost to the blond in the end. His injuries from that fight hadn’t been healed by their school nurse under strict orders from Mr. Aizawa, and just yesterday he’d been punched really hard in the stomach by U.A. third-year Mirio Togata. Izuku was sure that there would be a big purple bruise on his abs this morning, with maybe a tinge of green…

However, as noted earlier, he felt absolutely fine; beyond fine, even. He felt wonderful. His mind was refreshed, body completely rested and healthy without a kink or cramp or stitch of pain anywhere, and the bed felt so soft it was like sleeping on a cloud.

Wait a… this isn’t my bed! Izuku realized at last, jolting awake and upright. Again, no pain whatsoever when his abdominal muscles completed that movement. Wherever he was, Izuku was fully healed. Curtains were drawn, illuminating the room with clear sunlight, and Izuku finally took in his surroundings. This isn’t my dorm room either. None of my All Merch is here. This bedspread’s different too. It’s like something you’d expect in a five-star hotel, and my bed definitely wasn’t King-sized. He kept looking around, searching for any signs of his belongings, or something to indicate that his presence here had been a voluntary decision of his and that he hadn’t been abducted in the middle of the night. At the very least it wasn’t the League of Villains. After what happened at Camino Ward, Izuku was pretty sure that the next time he ran into them they wouldn’t be placing him in a luxury hotel, free of charge.

At least his phone was there, attached to a charging cord on the nightstand to his right. There was also a desk with a table lamp, a TV stand with quite an impressive model on it, two wardrobes, a couple of fancy armchairs with standing lamps right next to the sliding glass doors that led out to a balcony, beyond which was… holy crap, was that the sea!? That didn’t look like the ocean off the Dagobah Municipal Beach Park in Musutafu. Just where the heck was he?

A groan from off to Izuku’s left made him freeze. He wasn’t alone in the room, and that groan sounded very feminine. Did he do something last night? Is that why he was in a hotel room on an unfamiliar beach? He couldn’t have done that , could he!? His mother was going to kill him when she found out about this! She hadn’t raised her only son to be some kind of sexual deviant! No, wait! His clothes were still on; his white t-shirt that spelled “t-shirt” in kanji and a pair of black athletic shorts which he wore as sleepwear. He couldn’t have done anything immoral, then! And the groan was coming from the second bed. There were two King-sized beds in the room, and it was coming from the other one. He was in the clear!

It still didn’t change that it was a girl’s voice that had groaned with early morning grumbles. “Deku, you’re mumbling.”

Scratch that. It wasn’t just any girl’s voice. It was Uraraka’s voice. Ochaco Uraraka was sleeping in the same room as him! This had to be a dream, yeah, a dream. His mind was totally playing tricks on him. Sure, he’d completed a number of “girl” milestones with Ochaco, like “talk to a girl,” “get a girl’s phone number,” “text a girl,” or the ever-important and heart-pounding “talk to a girl on the phone,” but “sleep in the same room as a girl” was so very far ahead of him Mount Fuji was closer, and he couldn’t even see the volcano from U.A.

“Jeez, you really do mumble a lot, Deku,” Uraraka quietly commented, sitting up from her sleeping position. Izuku was frozen in place with his cheeks growing ever redder, not just from the sight of Uraraka’s mostly bob-cut brown hair experiencing some major bedhead, or from the black tank-top that she’d clearly worn to bed, but from how nonchalant she was being about the whole thing. Was she aware of what happened last night and he was the only one who wasn’t? Did Shinso suddenly come up and brainwash him and that’s why he couldn’t remember? Best to ask her, nice and confident.

“U-uhm, Ur-Uraraka… did, d-did w-w-w-weee do an-anything last night?”

Perfect! Now he could just dive back into that huge comfy bed and wait for death.

“Last night?” the gravity girl’s answer was still groggy, not all the cobwebs shaken loose. “No, I don’t remem…” her voice trailed off as she peered at him. Her brown eyes slowly gained focus as clarity came to them. Izuku could see the gears turning in her head as she became more and more aware of just where they were, and what situation they were in. Uraraka’s cheeks grew pink enough that he could see the blush from where he was standing by the balcony, and Izuku mentally started a countdown for her embarrassed outburst.

3… 2… 1…

“D-DEKU!?” Uraraka shouted, jumping up and almost rolling off the side of the bed. “Wh-what are you doing in my room!?”

“I’m not in your room!” Izuku wasn’t sure shouting was really the best thing, but Uraraka’s outburst, while expected, started to make him panic. “I just woke up here! Why were we sleeping in the same room!?”

“I don’t know!” she shouted back. “Did we do something last night!?”

“If we did, I don’t remember!”

“Well neither do I!”

“Good! Neither of us remember last night, and we were in separate beds, and we’re both still clothed, so nothing happened, right!?”

“Right!”

“Right!”

“Right!”

They stopped, each of them still staring at one another with flushed cheeks. This was one hell of a morning.

Izuku took a deep breath as Uraraka stood up from where she’d crouched by the edge of her bed, revealing the pink pyjama pants she’d been wearing, and did his best not to get distracted by how cute the getup was. “Okay, maybe we should retrace our steps. If we put our heads together, I’m sure we can figure this out.”

“Right,” Uraraka agreed, nodding. “Good idea. I’ll start. So last night after getting back to the dorms the girls and I had tea while we discussed the idea of the work study program Mr. Aizawa and Togata were telling us about this week. Then we got changed out of our uniforms and had supper at a café Yaoyorozu knew that was close to the station. After that I came back to the dorms, hung out a bit with Jiro and Hagakure in Jiro’s room, then did some homework for Miss Midnight and fell asleep.” She sighed before giving Izuku her undivided attention. “What about you, Deku?”

He looked down at his hand. “After we got back to the dorms after school, I called Gran Torino, the hero I did my internship with, to ask if he was taking students for the work study program, but he said that he was too busy working on something else to take me on for a work study before recommending that I ask if All Might could introduce me to his former sidekick Sir Nighteye.”

Uraraka tilted her head for a bit before placing her fist in her palm. “Oh yeah, that makes sense! You and All Might are pretty close after all. I’m sure he could introduce you. That sounds like a great idea, Deku! What else?”

“Well, after that I really just had dinner with the rest of the class. I have a suspicion that one of the reasons you all didn’t stick around was because it was Kaminari and Kirishima’s turn to cook, and you know how that can get.” A dead look came to his eyes for a moment as he remembered the food. Why do such a thing? What had mackerel ever done to hurt them so bad? Izuku shook his head. “After that I basically just did some weight training in my room and finished Present Mic’s assignment, then I went to sleep after browsing the hero news and forums and making some more notes in my hero notebooks. The next thing I knew, I woke up here, with you.”

The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds, and Izuku could feel his cheeks starting to burn again. “N-not that there’s anything wrong with that!”

“No! Of course not!” Uraraka hastened to agree with him. “We’re friends, after all. Sure it’s weird and all, but hey, it’s not like I’m waking up in the same room as Bakugo or something. That would have been even more awkward, ha ha.”

Izuku compelled himself to laugh along with Uraraka’s plainly forced attempt at humour, but they’d clearly gotten nowhere in answering any basic questions as to how they managed to get into this hotel room.

“DAMMIT! WHERE THE HELL ARE WE!?”

The two teens turned their attention to the door almost quickly enough to give them whiplash. The shout of an angry pomeranian was quickly accompanied by the sound of an explosion. “Wha—? Kachan’s here too!?”

“Then we’d better get to Bakugo before he tears this place apart,” Uraraka stated, giving Izuku a look that showed that they could worry about their current circ*mstances later. Izuku quickly grabbed what looked to be room keys from a sleeve on the TV stand while each of them slipped on a pair of complimentary slippers before exiting the room.

It wasn’t hard to track Bakugo down as they travelled down the hallways lined with doors with number placards on them on one side with the side opposite decorated in pillars that let in the fresh air of the outdoors and the sight of lush gardens and other greenery, solidifying the impression that they were in a resort hotel. Tracking him was a simple matter of just following the sounds of the shouts and explosions from his quirk. Other students they recognized started leaving rooms as well, joining the pair on the expedition towards Class 1-A’s Explosion Boy.

“Hey Midoriya,” spoke up the invisible form of Hagakure, clothed in an oversized robin’s egg blue t-shirt and pair of black shorts he could barely see beneath the hem, “do you know what’s going on?” While it had become a normal thing to see the rest of the 1-A boys in their pyjamas, Izuku couldn’t exactly say the same about the girls. Normally whenever they came down to the common area of their dorm building they were already dressed in casual clothes, their school uniforms, or a personal shirt and their blue gym pants. Seeing Hagakure and Uraraka in their sleepwear like this, it almost felt like he was seeing something he otherwise shouldn’t.

Trying to put those thoughts away until later, Izuku shook his head. “No. I’m just as in the dark as you are about this.”

“Well clearly Bakugo’s not too happy about it,” Ojiro clicked his tongue. “I can understand somewhat, but does he need to be so noisy so early in the morning?”

“You know Bakugo,” Tokoyami griped. “He has two volumes: angry and explosion.”

They found him on the ground floor at the base of a sweeping grand staircase, already being scolded be Iida. More people were gathering around, conversation growing louder until the entirety of Class 1-A was standing around a dolphin fountain in their pyjamas. Iida recommended that they all come forward with their recollections of the previous night just as Izuku and Uraraka had already privately done, but the results were just as inconclusive as theirs. Nobody knew how they had suddenly woken up in what was clearly a resort, and some were clearly more excited about the prospect of being here than they were concerned about whatever had happened to them.

“You’re all noisy. Calm down.”

The tired, grumpy voice of their homeroom teacher cut through the chatter and silenced them as it always did. As one the class turned towards the voice. Shota Aizawa stood there, dressed as he always did in his black hero outfit and capture scarf, looking like he hadn’t slept a wink. Despite how refreshed and energized everyone in class was feeling, their teacher still looked like the walking dead, even if he had slept just as well as the rest of them had.

“Given your state of dress and reaction, I can only surmise that none of you are aware of exactly how or why we’ve been transported here,” Aizawa continued. “Do you have any thoughts, Principal Nezu?”

Izuku blinked. Aizawa’s capture scarf started to move, and the white bear/dog/mouse-like creature who was the principal of U.A. popped out and climbed down, dressed in a pair of pink pyjamas and cap patterned with blocks of cheese. “I am sure that all the answers will be revealed in time,” the principal answered while Izuku just stared. Did Nezu really sleep in that? It was jarring. “What matters now is ensuring that we take stock of the situation, and ensuring that we are the only ones that have arrived in this location.”

“Hey! Hey! 1-A! Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Izuku joined his class in looking up at the staircase again, and quickly spotted who was calling.

“Hey Tetsutetsu!” Kirishima called up. “What are you doing here, man?”

“I was hoping you’d tell us that,” the Steel quirk user said. “Me ‘n Kendo just woke up here. She sent me to figure out what all the commotion over here was while she started poking around. Is Mr. Vlad King down there with you?”

“Vlad’s not here, Tetsutetsu,” Aizawa answered him. “Right now it’s just Class 1-A, myself, Principal Nezu, and yourself and Miss Kendo that we’ve identified as having woken up here.”

“Tetsutetsu!” Yaoyorozu called. “If you can, go bring Kendo and anyone else she’s found back here!”

“Yes!” Iida agreed. “It would be wiser for us to stick together in this situation.”

The boy from 1-B nodded. “Got it. I’ll be back with Kendo in a minute!”

Ashido elbowed Uraraka. “Gotta say,” she said quietly, “I didn’t take Tetsutetsu for the sleeping shirtless type.” Uraraka glanced around at the boys in their class. Sato and Kaminari weren’t wearing shirts either.

“Is it really that big a deal, Mina?” she asked back in a hushed tone, though there was a light dusting of pink to her cheeks. “We train with them every day.”

“I just appreciate the eye candy in its natural habitat,” Ashido replied.

“Iida, go check to see if there’s some receptionist or staff member handy at the front desk,” Aizawa instructed. “It’s unusual that nobody’s come to greet us yet. Perhaps they can explain this.”

“Yes sir! I’ll be right back!”

Minutes ticked by. Iida returned with foreboding news. No one was present at the front desk, and nobody came no matter how many times he rang the bell on the counter. Tetsutetsu and Kendo arrived and joined class 1-A on the ground floor, accompanied by Mei Hatsume from the Support course’s class 1-H. She was just as bewildered as them all, but didn’t seem too bothered by the situation. Midnight also arrived, dressed in a casual light pink t-shirt and white slacks as opposed to her hero costume.

It was only when a skeletal-looking emaciated blonde man arrived in a white shirt and green cargo pants, the true form of the now retired Number One Pro Hero, All Might, did any of their queries receive an answer.

“Oh goody! Everyone’s all together now! Finally. Took you all long enough.”

“Where’s that coming from?” Izuku asked.

“Sounds like speakers,” Jiro answered.

Hatsume pointed. “There, on the walls near the ceiling! So, am I to take it you’re the reason I can’t work on any of my babies right now?”

“Forget that! Show yourself!” Bakugo demanded, holding out his hands, firing off mini explosions from his sweat. “Get your face out here right now so you can start talking!”

“Yeesh, I knew you were violent, but I didn’t think you’d start threatening me right off the bat. Anyway, I don’t know the full story myself, but now that the group’s all here we can begin. Head on over to the Maple Theatre. Take the hallway on the first right after the front desk, then take the next left. The doors will be on the left with Japanese red maple designs on them.”

“And why the Hell should we listen to you?” Bakugo demanded with his usual subtlety.

Izuku just looked at him tiredly. Kachan…

“Because if you don’t then you won’t get answers, or food, and I’ll turn off the water and electricity. Turn this into a survival on a deserted island experiment instead.”

“Deserted island!?”

The voice seemed annoyed by the sudden shout of the majority of students. “Yes! Deserted island! Now hurry up and get to the Maple Theatre. I’ve got stuff to explain!”

“I believe it would be best if we just followed directions for now,” Midnight spoke up. “Information gathering is key when in an unknown situation.”

“Midnight’s right.” Aizawa looked over his class, his gaze lingering on Bakugo. “Stop being irrational. Let’s move, people.”

As the class followed the directions of the voice piped through the speakers, Iida and Uraraka sidled up to Izuku. “Midoriya,” Iida asked, “I’m concerned about this. You don’t suppose that Kurogiri, the warp villain, could have deposited us all on this island?”

Izuku placed a finger to his chin. “I wonder about that. While it’s certainly possible that Kurogiri would be able to warp us to and from places, if he was capable of performing something on this scale then the League of Villains would be much more difficult to deal with than it already is. If he could have pulled off something like this, then the USJ would have gone much differently, or the League could just warp themselves right into U.A.’s campus whenever they wanted to. By that extension, if Kurogiri had the ability to warp each of us out of our beds without us realizing it then we’d probably all be dead right now. One touch from all five fingers from Shigaraki and his quirk would decay our bodies completely into dust. Unless it's a different person with a similar quirk that did this. But if they meant us harm then we probably wouldn't all be here having a conversation like this right now.”

He looked up to see not only Iida and Uraraka, but Kaminari, Jiro, and Sero looking at him with disturbed or terrified expressions. “What?”

“Dude, that’s creepy just thinking about it,” Jiro answered. Sero nodded and placed a hand to the back of his head.

“Well, at least we know the League isn’t behind this,” he said, seemingly trying to find the bright spot in Izuku’s muttering. “Like Midoriya said, if they were behind it, we kinda wouldn’t be here right now, would we?”

Izuku shook his head and glanced down at his right hand. “Especially not me. At the training camp, there were a couple of villains who said I was on Shigaraki’s kill list, so the fact that I’m still here means it definitely wasn’t the League of Villains.”

“You’re on his what list!?” Uraraka yelped.

“You need to tell people things like this, man!” Kaminari said. “That’s scary!”

“I agree,” Iida added. “You should have let Mr. Aizawa know about that right away.”

Izuku blushed, putting up his hands in a fluster. “Guys it’s fine. Really. We’re all here and we’ve got Mr. Aizawa with us. Besides, that’s what the dorm system was for, right? So we could all be safe and protected on campus from the villains.”

“But Deku…” Uraraka pouted. “Hearing that they’re after you specifically, it makes me worried that you’re going to get hurt again.”

“Fat load of good the dorms are doing if this happened basically right after they implemented them,” Jiro commented dryly. “I don’t see how the administration is going to be able to sweep this incident under the rug.”

Just as Jiro finished saying that, Principal Nezu declared, “It looks like this is our destination.” He was difficult to make out, with some of the taller students and Aizawa between Izuku and the principal, but sure enough they had stopped in front of a pair of white doors with very well painted images of Japanese red maple trees on them. Shoji pushed the doors open, and the group proceeded inside. The theatre’s seating arrangements were somewhat different from a traditional cinema. The arrangement was still tiered seating as normal, but instead of individual chairs for people to sit in there was instead a large number of couches and loveseats, each of them seemingly having folding tables built into the armrests or between the seats to allow for whoever was sitting down to place items in front of them. It seemed like they could also recline, should they so choose.

“Yoo-hoo! Glad you all decided to follow directions. Man, I was not looking forward to having to rough it until you played along.”

That’s the same voice as on the speakers! Izuku turned to the right, catching sight of the speaker with his green eyes in the well-lit room. It was a woman, maybe twenty-five to thirty years old, with long bright red hair and scarlet eyes. She was wearing a black sundress and gold chain necklace, and was standing behind a laptop and what appeared to be a bunch of AV equipment.

“Yes, we have arrived,” Principal Nezu spoke up before anyone with a more forceful attitude (Izuku glanced at Bakugo, who had Kirishima’s hand on his shoulder to hold him back). “I presume that you have the answers to our questions, chief among them being how we arrived at this location.”

She shrugged. “Beats me. It wasn’t me that got you here. It’s just my job to look after you lot now that you are. However!” She cut off the rising indignation at her brushing aside how they got here with a raised comment. “I can tell you where you are. You’re on the Future Briefing Island, or FBI for short!”

The students and teachers stared at her for a solid beat. FBI, huh?

“Now I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here,” she continued. “Oh, sorry, I forgot my manners. My name’s Amahi Kamimoto, it’s nice to meet you. Now, you’re here because upper management recognized that your future’s going to get really interesting pretty soon even without intervention, and decided that it’d be a fun little experiment to see how that future would change if we showed the unadulterated version to you all.”

“You brought us here to show us the future?” Aizawa asked. “I find that hard to believe.”

“I agree,” All Might nodded. “What benefit would showing us the future have? Do you intend to have us change it? I know a man who believes that the future is impossible to change, no matter how hard you try. If we know of the future, will we even be able to alter it?”

Kamimoto nodded. “Of course. You do have free will after all. You can choose to change it, or follow the path you’re already on. You’ll have plenty of time to think it over, though. Time doesn’t work the same way here on FBI. Once we’re done, you’ll be returned to your beds back at U.A., and no time will have passed there whatsoever.”

“Oh, so if it’s not a bad future, we can just choose to leave things alone?” Kendo inquired. Kamimoto nodded again.

“If you feel that way, sure. However, just from what we know of the future of your world, there’s a lot of instability on the way. Think about what’s happened even in the past few weeks and months. The USJ, Hosu, your summer training camp, Camino, and the retirement of the Symbol of Peace.” Izuku felt a hand grasp at his heart as Kamimoto’s eyes lingered on him, a small smirk on her lips. Those scarlet eyes pierced him.

She knows! He didn’t know how, but the look she gave him, it was the only conclusion he could come to. The warmth in the room left him, leaving his body to feel a terrible chill.

“Instability breeds chaos and destruction. What happened in Camino is just a taste of what’s to come in the future of Japan’s hero-saturated society. What you will learn here may help you to change fates that have been set. Many lives could be saved, young heroes.”

The students looked around at each other. “Wait, doesn’t that sound a little too big for us?” Kaminari asked. “We’re just first year Hero course students!”

“And Support!”

“Isn’t changing the fate of Japan putting too much pressure on us?” Kaminari continued.

She wagged her finger at him. “Aha, perhaps, if we were only showing the future to you , but there are a few figures in this room who have some influence, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Ah, the principal!” Yaoyorozu gasped.

“Of course,” Kendo agreed. “And All Might. Even if he’s retired now, he still has a lot of influence and connections.”

“Yes, and with Principal Nezu’s quirk, he could definitely devise a plan to overcome the pitfalls of knowing the future to guide us forward,” Izuku added.

Midnight folded her arms over her chest, smiling slightly. “So you show us the future to give us a better chance at stopping the League, then?” she inquired. “While that does sound like an offer that’s almost too good to be true, if everything else you’ve said is so, then I don’t see any reason why we should refuse. However, I don’t trust that you’re doing this simply out of goodness in your heart. What do you get out of it? What must we give up in exchange?”

“If you intend to harm our students, then whatever deal you’re offering is off,” Aizawa declared.

“But Mr. Aizawa!” Uraraka blurted out. “What if what she’s saying is true? We could save a lot of lives!”

“The more we know, the better off we’ll be, ribbit,” Asui agreed. “Don’t you always say that information is necessary for rational decision-making?”

Kamimoto shrugged and chuckled. “Like I said, the only thing we want out of this is to see what you do, and how the future may change. Trust me when I say that the guys in upper management and I have taken a liking to you guys, and if nothing changes some of you are in line for some really tragic things to happen to you.” Her eyes glinted. “Get what I’m saying? There’s some nasty stuff coming. Not all of you are making it out unscathed. Some of you may even lose your lives in the current future. Yes, Hero students , fear, suffering, death , even, are on the way. If possible, we would like to see adorable cinnamon rolls such as yourselves avoid that and live happy productive lives saving people from villains and disasters. That’s our price, that you take this opportunity seriously, and learn something from it.”

Izuku gulped, and he could feel the tension thickly in the air. He remembered the televised fight in Camino between All Might and All For One, and what had just happened in their licensing exam. That man from the Hero Public Safety Commission had implored them to continue their training with even more zeal and diligence; that Japan needed them to be the best they possibly could. With the Symbol of Peace gone, with All Might unable to hold the line all on his own anymore, could they really manage? All For One was behind bars, but if he’d been around since the Dawn of Quirks, just how intricate were his plans? Had he planned for the scenario of being locked away? Could they still make Nomus without him?

It was terrifying to consider.

A growl attracted his attention. “Like Hell,” Bakugo spat. “I don’t need you to show me the future; ‘cause I already know it. I’m gonna be the number one hero, and I’m gonna beat the sh*t outta every last punk-ass villain that rears their ugly heads.”

Kamimoto chuckled in her throat, muttering something under her breath, and Izuku heard Shoji whisper, “285? What does that mean?”

“Jeez, just how big of an ego do you have, Bakugo?” Tetsutetsu argued. “We’re all setting out to be number one.”

“Yeah, but all you extras are going to be choking on smoke as I leave you behind! I’m taking the top spot, and don’t you forget it!”

“Your drive is pretty manly Bakugo, but try toning it down a notch, would ya?” Kirishima asked.

“And what if the future she shows us is one where you’re not the number one hero?” Tokoyami inquired. “What then?”

“Screw that noise! I’ll blast that sh*tty future sky high! Hey! Babysitter! Tell us what we need to do to show us this future you’re talking about.”

Well, that's a switch, everyone thought.

“I take Bakugo’s acceptance to mean that you’re all in agreement to seeing what the future holds?” Kamimoto asked.

Mei’s hand shot up. “Excuse me, but is this future you’re showing going to involve me in any way? Sounds like this is a big Hero Course thing and if I’m not needed can I get a workshop to make my adorable babies while the rest of ‘em are all learning stuff?”

“Of course it involves you,” Kamimoto replied, her voice turning sweet and energetic to match Hatsume’s energy. “You’re a central supporting character in what I’m about to show, after all. You make the super cute babies that the heroes will need. Seeing what sorts of villains and situations they’ll run up against is bound to give you ample ideas for support items to help them combat it.”

“Hm… good point! I shall participate. However! I still want a design studio to work on my babies whenever we’re free from these lectures! Mr. Power Loader isn’t here to kick me out. Also, I want to be able to bring all the super cute babies I make back to U.A. with me.”

“Done,” Kamimoto agreed, and snapped her fingers. “I figured you’d want something like that anyway. You’re not the type to play at the beach or pool on your free time anyway, and you’ll have plenty of that.”

“We’re getting free time too?” Ashido asked, her eyes glimmering with excitement.

“That means the pool, right?” Mineta asked. “And the beach?”

“Of course. Why put you all up on a deserted resort island if you’re just going to be cooped up in the theatre the whole time? Speaking of which, now that we’ve all agreed, allow me to lay out your timetable for the duration of your stay here.” She pressed a button on a remote, and the movie screen lit up with a schedule divided into blocks. “Now then, it’s currently just past nine in the morning. The schedule that I’ve set up is going to have you here in the Maple Theatre from ten until noon, then you’ll have an hour for lunch and come back here for another hour from one to two. I could have condensed things to shorten the timetable for your stay here in FBI, but I decided it would be beneficial to have more time to soak up what you’ll be learning. Apart from that, the time is yours. Play, study, train, start up a sizzling summer romance, have in-depth discussions and seminars on what you learn with me, it’s all up to you.”

“All right!” Kaminari pumped his fist. “This is gonna be awesome! Summer vacation 2.0!”

“Although,” Kamimoto turned her gaze towards Aizawa, who was glaring at her something fierce, “I imagine Eraser Head here is going to be putting your noses to the grindstone even after I set you free to run along and play. Even with your successes at the provisional license exam, your training camp was interrupted after all.”

One hand was on his capture scarf. “This better not be some kind of sick joke you’re playing on us,” he said as his eyes glowed red.

“Ooh, scary. I’m getting chills. But, sorry Eraser. I’m Quirkless. You can’t erase what’s not there to begin with.” Kamimoto smiled and waved to the group. “Okay! You’re all to meet me back here at ten o’clock, and be here at least ten to five minutes early, got it? We start right at ten! Don’t make me come find you if you’re late. You can find the breakfast buffet in the dining hall. Just follow the signs, and don’t be creeped out by the lack of visible staff. Anything you could want will be provided for you if you ask, though I will warn you. Alcohol will only be provided to those of age eighteen and over, so if you naughty teenagers want some booze from the bar you’re going to need to be real nice and convince your teachers to let you drink with their supervision.”

Izuku glanced at Aizawa and couldn’t describe the level of animosity he was projecting towards this Kamimoto woman. Perhaps it was best to just rush off to breakfast before he came to blows with their mysterious caretaker.

In all the rush and excitement as they headed out for food, he’d forgotten to ask why he and Uraraka were sharing a room.

The students were wowed by the spread they saw waiting for them in the dining hall as Kamimoto said. Almost anything they could want for breakfast in both Japanese and Western styles was laid out. Fish, rice, miso, pancakes, waffles, cereal, porridge, eggs, natto, bacon, sausage, potatoes, fruit, vegetables, assorted fruit juices, coffee, tea…

“This place is amazing!” Uraraka gasped, promptly fainting at the luxury.

“Uraraka! Wake up! Stay with us!” Izuku called to her, having just managed to catch the gravity girl before she hit the ground. Whether she was just playing around like she had acted when they moved into Heights Alliance or not, Izuku wasn’t going to take any chances as he held her in his arms by her shoulders. “Quick! Somebody get her something to smell! Food will probably wake her up.”

His classmates chuckled. “C’mon Uraraka, show some class,” Kaminari teased.

“Yes! Uraraka, this is just like when we moved into the dorms,” Iida scolded, arms moving in a chopping motion. “Stop playing around.”

Uraraka’s eyes opened. Izuku looked at her and sighed in relief. “Thank goodness, you’re all right. You fainted just now.”

“Sorry Deku, I guess I was a bit overwhelmed.” She smiled as she apologized, then her whole body went rigid for a moment as she stared at him. An instant later, Uraraka had bolted out of his arms. “Right! Time for breakfast! We’re going to need lots of energy to learn about the future, so lets eat up everyone!”

Izuku blinked as he watched her, the gravity girl pumping her fist energetically in the air, joined by Ashido and Hagakure, who were also celebrating getting to do this on a private island resort. “Well she sure bounced back quickly.”

“You’ve got that right,” Iida agreed, placing his hands on his hips and giving a warm smile. “Come, Midoriya, we should follow her example and get some breakfast. Afterwards we should check the wardrobes within our rooms. Given the attention to detail Miss Kamimoto ascribed to this place, I imagine that we were provided proper clothes to change into during the day.”

Izuku nodded. “Right. Let’s do our best.” We’ve been given an unprecedented opportunity to further our training. For everyone’s future, let’s learn all we can while we’re here.

Miraculously, Izuku and Uraraka were able to make it through changing out of their pyjamas both without letting the rest of their peers know that they were sharing a room and without totally embarrassing themselves to their roommate. U.A. student uniforms were hanging up in the wardrobes, as well as the personal clothes that had been kept in each student’s furniture back in their dorm rooms. Apart from the luxury of the resort and the fact that he had a roommate, the familiarity of the routine resembled dorm life closely enough. He didn’t even think twice about having changed into his uniform, since he felt like this was close enough to a class situation to merit it.

“Plus Iida will probably nag at anyone who’s not wearing theirs,” Uraraka pointed out, to which Izuku could only agree with a smile and a sigh.

When ten o’clock came there wasn’t a single straggler as all twenty-three U.A. students and their four teachers returned to the Maple Theatre to Kamimoto’s smiling approval, only three-quarters of them actually in uniform. “Alright kiddies and teachers, get yourselves comfortable and we’ll get started. I have some notebooks, pencils, and pens up here for you to take if you’d like to take notes. Drinks are also available upon request. Water and pop for the kids, with the option of alcohol for the adults. I know for a fact at least one of you will want a drink or two either while you’re in here or later tonight while you process this.”

“Could you stop keeping us in suspense and get serious?” Aizawa asked.

Kamimoto laughed. “I am serious; totally serious.” She pressed a button on the remote in her hand and the doors to the Maple Theatre slammed shut, quickly followed by the sound of a locking mechanism. She pressed a second button and the room was rapidly illuminated by blue light before the illumination ceased. “Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let me go over some housekeeping for you all. The door is locked. It will only unlock once our two hours are up. If you need to use the toilet, there’s a door to the side right over there for you to use. Similarly, the blue light you all just witnessed was a quirk suppressor. None of you will be able to use your quirks for the next two hours while we’re in here. De-powering you is mostly for my own personal safety, since some of you have rather explosive personalities. If you’re able to survive school days without using them, you can survive a couple of hours without them as well. Now, about the future that you’re all here to witness…”

She paused for dramatic effect.

“…I’m not going to be lecturing you about it, I’m going to be showing it to you.”

“That makes sense,” Sato mumbled. “We are in a movie theatre after all.”

“So are you going to be showing us movies of the future?” Yaoyorozu asked.

Kaminari groaned. “Ah man, I hate watching documentaries.”

“Don’t be like that Kaminari,” Izuku tried to cheer him up. “Maybe they’re really good ones? Or maybe they aren’t documentaries at all?”

“Bingo to Mr. Midoriya,” Kamimoto said, clapping her hands. “I’ll be playing a show for you all, showing the events of the future, with all the things that come with it like musical score and narration of the world and characters’ thoughts for exposition purposes. And like all shows, there’s a cast of characters, mainly you all!”

She paused to let that sink in. While some of Izuku’s classmates seemed excited, others appeared to have expected this to be the case. Izuku himself began to feel that chill that had crept up his spine. If he was one of the characters in this show that they were about to watch, and it could reveal their thoughts, then…

He glanced at All Might, seeing his mentor watching him closely. Their eyes met.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Not good. They’ll find out… Everyone will… everyone will know!

“I suppose it was to be expected,” Yaoyorozu commented. “There had to be a reason why we were the ones being shown this future.”

“So we’re going to be watching a show that revolves around my class and other U.A. students, is that right?” Aizawa asked.

Kamimoto nodded her head. “Correct. Each episode will be about twenty-five minutes long, after which we'll break for five minutes and then start up the next episode. If you're following along that means two episodes an hour, for six episodes per day split four before lunch and two after. However, while Class 1-A of U.A. is the main focus, we’ve brought in the two students from 1-B you’re all most familiar with as a control group. We trust that Miss Kendo and Mr. Tetsutetsu are diligent enough to understand the importance of what they’re about to witness and put aside the inter-class rivalry. While they’re getting stronger through hard work and rigorous training under Vlad King, watching this with their peers will give them an important perspective on just how different their lives might have been if they’d been placed in 1-A instead. Also, I should mention one other thing.”

Izuku gulped as she locked eyes with him. “It’s really difficult to have the entirety of a class as “the main character” of a show. We’re not talking about a small group of four or five people here, but an entire class of twenty students. It’s not possible to squeeze in all of their perspectives all the time. So, for the purposes of what you’ll see here, the main protagonist of our story is that of a boy who started at the bottom in order to overthrow the top!”

“Ooh, I like that phrasing,” Midnight purred. “And who might this student be?”

“You’ll find out in a minute,” Kamimoto said. “Now everyone, take your seats. We have a lot of ground to cover.”

Izuku started to tremble as everyone moved down into the prepared seating. Kendo, Iida, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, and Shoji had all grabbed notebooks. Izuku was just about to as well when he felt a familiar bony hand touch him on the shoulder. “Young Midoriya?”

“A-All Might?” Izuku asked. He quickly looked around. Nobody seemed to be paying attention. “What is it?” It was a dumb question. He knew fully well why All Might was here.

“I know, and don’t be afraid,” All Might stated.

“Don’t be afraid?” Izuku asked. All Might nodded at him, and gave him a warm smile.

“It’s going to be all right, young Midoriya,” his mentor told him softly, but with a confident edge that made Izuku want to believe that it would.

Izuku felt tears welling up in his eyes. Was this really all right? Would it really be okay for everyone in class to know? “Are you sure? All Might?”

“If the secret gets out then it gets out, but there’s no finer group of students than your friends in Class 1-A, and young Kendo, Tetsutetsu, and Hatsume aren’t bad either. Just think of it as expanding the circle of trust.”

“Deku? Hurry up! We saved a seat down here for you!”

All Might proudly gave Izuku a thumbs-up and a winning smile. “Now get a notebook and join your friends. They might just surprise you.” Izuku nodded, wiping his eyes with his arm, and rushed to do just that. All Might watched his protégé go to the couch closest to the screen, which was still great seating for the presentation, then turned to look at Kamimoto. “Thank you for waiting. You can start now.”

She smirked at him. “Of course I was going to wait for you to finish with him. He is the star of the show after all.” She raised her voice as she turned back to the AV equipment while All Might went to the back left corner where the other teachers were gathered. “Okay everyone, we’re starting now!”

The chatter died down as the screen lit up, beginning a period of their lives that would flip them on their heads.

Chapter 2: The Protagonist's Origin

Chapter Text

The lights dimmed slightly while the screen lit up blue. It wasn’t too dark for them to be unable to write, but it wasn’t entirely a brightly lit classroom either. It gave the wood-panelled room and its deep red-upholstered seating a warm and homey feeling, actually. Izuku was glad for that, because despite what All Might had said, he wasn’t sure that he was ready for his secrets to be divulged to so many people so suddenly.

I suppose I’ll just have to deal with it, he thought. She said that she’d be giving us time to process everything before we went back, which means that I’ll have time to mend any relationships that get broken because of this… so long as they don’t become completely unfixable…

“...and play!” cheered Kamimoto, images suddenly replacing the blue screen.

An apartment building and leafy green trees in the gleam of sunlight. The sounds of cicadas. It appeared to be summer. Then a small green-haired boy with messy curls and a diamond pattern of freckles on each cheek. He was crying as he stared forward.

“Midoriya?” Todoroki pondered.

“You’re so cute! I just want to give you a hug!” Ashido cried out.

Bakugo scowled from the couch he sat on with Kirishima. From bottom to the top, of course this is gonna be about that nerd.

“Why are you being so mean?” little Izuku Midoriya asked. The camera zoomed out, showing him standing in front of another boy on the ground, arms around his stomach, also in tears. “You’re making him cry Kachan! If you keep on hurting him…” little Izuku shifted into a fighting stance, “I’ll uh, I’ll stop you myself!”

“So even as a young boy, Midoriya was devoted to saving people,” Midnight stated quietly. “My, how far he’s come.”

Uraraka glanced at her seat partner, Midoriya, sitting next to her and half hearing the whispering of his classmates calling him cute, and smiled. You go Deku! Standing up to Bakugo when you were so small and adorable! Kick his butt!

Child Katsuki Bakugo and two other children just stared at Izuku before smirking. One grew out big red wings like a dragon, while the other extended his fingers. “You wanna pretend to be a hero?” Little Pomeranian smashed his right fist into his left palm, sparking an explosion. “You don’t stand a chance without a quirk, Deku.”

“Such a malicious smile for a child,” Tokoyami muttered as the three kids rushed Izuku, to the startled gasps of the students.

“Bakugo how dare you!” Iida exclaimed, standing up and chopping his hand towards him. “That’s no way for a future hero to behave!”

Uraraka sank back in her seat. Guess that didn’t go how I imagined it.

“Hey! What’s the big idea with calling him quirkless, huh?” Tetsutetsu shouted. “He’s just a kid! Maybe it hadn’t manifested yet, or he didn’t know he even had it!”

“Shut up you damn extras!” Bakugo shouted. “I was a snot-nosed brat picking a playground fight. Don’t tell me none of you ever got into any! Hey! You! The Babysitter lady! I may not give a sh*t about watching some sh*tty show with Deku as the main character, but this is the past, not the future! Show us that like you said!”

Kamimoto groaned. She was glad she paused it. “First off, get over yourself. Everyone is the main character of their own story; this is Midoriya’s. Secondly, I never said that I would only show you the future, and to understand the future you need to know the past. Now cool your jets and watch the damn thing, and maybe show a little remorse for being a little sh*t.”

There were more than a few chuckles amongst the students and teachers alike as Kamimoto called out Bakugo, and while the Explosion user sat back down, he did so with a feral look on his face.

As the cicadas continued their uncaring chorus, the scene revealing a beaten up child Midoriya lying dazed in the sand of the park, the voice of teenage Midoriya began to narrate. “Here’s the sad truth. All men are not created equal. When I was four years old, I learned that some kids have more power than others.”

“A sad but true sentiment,” Nezu commented from where he sat on Midnight’s lap. “Though hopefully some of you all learned it in a way that was not so violent.”

A now adolescent Midoriya ran through a puddle on Musutafu’s city streets, dressed in the black middle school uniform of Aldera Junior High, while his narration continued. “But that won’t hold me back. If anything it pushes me to do better.”

“There’s that smile we know and love!” Ashido beamed as on screen Midoriya ran underneath the blooming cherry trees, showing that it was springtime. Izuku blushed and tried not to show it when Uraraka and Iida both showed amusem*nt at his reaction.

Asui placed a finger to her chin. “I wonder what Midoriya’s so excited about, ribbit?”

A giant villain with an angular beak-shaped head was standing on a set of train tracks, roaring. 14 year-old Midoriya stopped running, a huge smile still on his face as he watched from a distance. The image froze, outlining his form, and a caption appeared on the screen, giving his name.

“We know Deku’s name already, dammit!” Bakugo shouted. “Why bother telling us!?”

“I already told you! Exposition!”

The screen cut back to the villain, then pulled back to show he was standing on an overpass above a sign for “Tatooin Station”. Midoriya gasped from behind the police line being set up to prevent bystanders from getting too close, though there was still a crowd past the policeman with a megaphone. “Wow! That’s one huge supervillain!”

Jiro frowned. “Are the police even doing their jobs? Why are so many people getting so close?”

"It's a villain fight," Ojiro replied. "I know I always got excited when I saw one going on."

"Ooh! Looks like the show intro's starting!" Kaminari crowed. "Love that guitar riff with All Might posing!"

“Hey it’s us!” Mineta excitedly called out as the students of 1-A were shown in their hero costumes alongside their names.

“Dammit,” Tetsutetsu grumbled. “I guess this really is about 1-A after all.”

Kendo placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “We were kinda told that from the beginning, though, weren’t we? Don’t let it get to you Tetsutetsu. We can learn from this.”

“Hey, those are the villains from the USJ,” Sato pointed out.

“Don’t tell me we’re going to have to watch that happen again!” Mineta moaned.

“All Might’s fight with that Nomu!” Kirishima said. “Oh man, I can’t wait to get to that part. It was so awesome to see it up close!”

“Mr. Aizawa, you looked totally badass fighting all those villains just now,” Kaminari praised him.

His homeroom teacher shrugged. “I’m your teacher. It’s my responsibility to protect you all. I was just doing my job, but thank you, Kaminari.”

Everyone quieted down as the intro wound down to an end, showing the whole class posing in front of the school in their costumes.

“So the show is called “My Hero Academia” is it?” Yaoyorozu uttered quietly.

A hospital at night. Midoriya’s narration started up again. “The first incident was in Qing Qing City. An extraordinary child was born who radiated light.”

Some of the students chuckled at the sight of a terrified father, looking at a baby who was brightly glowing as if they were heaven-sent.

“After that, reports of people with superpowers popped up across the globe,” Midoriya’s narration continued as the screen showed examples of fire and ice quirks, and one that was either telekinesis on its own or a combination telekinesis/speedreading quirk. “No one knew what was causing these quirks. Before long, the supernatural became the totally normal. Dreams, a reality.” All Might in his hero form and costume was shown, striding down a dark hallway. “The world became a superhuman society, with about eighty percent of the population possessing some uncanny ability. Our streets look like scenes from comic books. As cities swirled with chaos and confusion, a new profession dominated our collective consciousness. It was an age of heroes.”

“It’s interesting to hear it said so succinctly,” Iida commented as the scene returned to the villain fight in the show’s “present”. “After all, this is our normal.”

“Yeah, could you imagine having to explain this to people in the pre-quirk era?” Asui added. “They probably would compare it to a comic book.”

“Good comparison, Professor Midoriya!” Ashido brightly intoned, giving him a thumbs-up.

“Although, amongst children under the age of twenty the quirkless rate is actually closer to about eight percent these days,” Yaoyorozu added. “It’s much rarer now.”

“Oh nice! Way to go, Death Arms!” a civilian cheered after the silver-haired pro hero in blue and yellow caught part of a steel electrical tower in his hands as the music swelled into an upbeat heroic tune. “The Punching Hero!” another onlooker shouted. “I wish I had a quirk that made me super strong!”

The front of the crowd was suddenly reined in by ropes of water being controlled by another pro hero dressed like a firefighter, keeping the onlookers from getting too close. “Everyone, please stay back. This area is far too dangerous!”

“Whoa! The rescue specialist Backdraft is here? He’ll make sure we’re okay!”

“Why are the police in this so incompetent?” Aizawa muttered, frowning and narrowing his eyes at the screen. “Why is someone like Backdraft doing crowd control?”

“A good question,” Midnight agreed as civilians asked about the background to what was happening. “We did see an officer earlier before the intro, but now the few that are attempting to hold back the crowd aren’t doing a very good job of it. Some officials look like they just want to watch the fight too.”

“Just some amateur. Stole someone’s bag and got himself cornered.”

The man that bystander was talking to frowned in disappointment while Midoriya inched his way through the crowd. “A quirk like that and he’s just a petty thief.”

Of course, Aizawa sighed, watching his student’s actions. Problem child heads right towards the villain fight.

A group of schoolgirls suddenly squealed as a shadow flew over the crowd. “It’s Kamui! We’re your biggest fans!”

“Man, I hope I get that kind of appreciation when I go pro,” Kaminari said, watching as the wooden hero Kamui Woods charged into battle with the giant villain.

“You said it,” Mineta agreed. “Popular heroes get all the girls!”

Kendo looked up and to her left, towards the couch where Mineta was sitting with Shoji. He was one of the students not wearing his uniform, but instead a pair of grey shorts and a purple “I (heart) Mt. Lady” t-shirt. I hope this isn’t going to be a recurring theme of his.

“Ah this is gonna be good!” young(er) Midoriya exclaimed in excitement, having finally reached Backdraft’s barrier.

“Wow, you look happy Deku,” Uraraka said, elbowing him in the side. “I guess you got a good look at the action.”

He blushed, nodding, but didn’t say anything, preferring instead to watch.

“It’s Kamui Woods!” his onscreen double declared as the hero got a stenciled introduction like himself and the others had earlier. “He may be new, but he’s making a big name for himself!”

“One look at that dopey grin and I know what you are,” stated an older man who had some kind of star-shaped antennae protruding from his cheeks and the top of his head. He grinned at Midoriya and made a finger gun as he lightly accused him of being, “A fanboy!”

“That’s our Midoriya,” Yaoyorozu politely affirmed as the audience chuckled good-naturedly. Izuku buried his head in his hands as his cheeks burned.

“That guy’s right,” Sero agreed. “He knew what you were in an instant.”

A damn nerd more like, Bakugo thought privately.

All Might smiled warmly at his successor.

Kamui Woods crouched on top of an arch above the tracks, staring down the giant villain. “Assault, robbery, and illegal use of powers during rush-hour traffic. You are the incarnation of evil!”

“Whoa, melodramatic much?” Jiro laughed.

“Yeah, the guy’s just a purse snatcher,” Tetsutetsu added, “not someone like that gas quirk kid from the training camp.”

Midnight looked at All Might. “Is Kamui Woods always so serious?”

“I’ve only worked with him the one time,” he replied as the hero on screen prepared to use his ultimate move, “so I can’t say for sure, but he took his role in the raid quite seriously.”

“The Pre-emptive…”

“Binding…”

“Lacquered Chain Prison!” both Kamui Woods and Midoriya exclaimed as the hero launched his ultimate move.

Uraraka giggled at the lighthearted intensity. “You’re such a dork, Deku,” she teased.

“Canyon Cannon!” Kamui Woods’ ultimate move was interrupted by a sudden flying kick from a giant hero who burst into the scene at the last second, knocking the villain off the overpass. She stood up in front of the downed villain, the show’s “camera” centred on the curve of her butt.

Midoriya jolted as lines of men with cameras suddenly appeared beside him. “Money shot. Money shot. Money shot.”

“Piece of cake for the world’s next hottest hero,” the giantess stated with a breezy, dismissive tone. “Hi everyone. I’m Mt. Lady, and you don’t need to worry about this bum anymore,” she greeted, winking and emphasizing her giant butt at the word.

“Money shot. Money shot. Money shot.”

“Midoriya!” Mineta yelled. “Why didn’t you tell us you were at Mt. Lady’s debut!?”

“Didn’t she traumatize you during your internship with her?” Todoroki asked.

“Not the point! She’s still hot! Pretty boys like you wouldn’t understand!”

Todoroki looked down at his hand. “I’m a pretty boy?”

“I admit, I’m with the lady who was standing behind Midoriya,” Midnight commented. “Takeyama was too forward.”

Aizawa glanced at her. “This from the woman whose hero costume in high school was just a jacket, pouches over her nipples, and a belt? You weren’t even wearing underwear.”

All Might spat out blood as Midoriya's voice narrated the role of pro heroes in today's society. “Kayama! Have you no shame!? No wonder the Diet passed that costume exposure law.”

“...all the fame and glory. Their careers depended on their ability to stay in the spotlight.” A yellow light illuminated the down on his knees tragic hero Kamui Woods, while a purple light lit up the villainous face of Mt. Lady, usurping the spotlight Kamui Woods would have received.

The students smiled as the onscreen Midoriya started muttering up a storm while taking notes on the newly debuted Mt. Lady. “Ah, so that’s what Midoriya’s always saying when he's muttering,” Kirishima said. “I was never able to catch anything before.”

Yaoyorozu nodded. “I knew you had an analytical mind, Midoriya, but I didn’t realize you were processing things that quickly. You’ve just seen Mt. Lady once and you already appear to have her figured out.”

Izuku blushed and placed a hand on the back of his head, rubbing it in embarrassment. “Oh, it’s really nothing special, Yaoyorozu. Quirk analysis is really just a hobby of mine.”

Midoriya looked up at the man who'd watched the villain fight with him, after having given the note-taking fanboy encouragement. He gave a big bright smile that illuminated the entire screen. “Yes! More than anything!”

“Aww, now that’s an adorable smile,” Hatsume spoke up, seemingly speaking for all the girls as they nodded in agreement.

“Dude!” Kaminari interjected, standing up and looking straight at Midoriya. “Stop being so cute! You’re gonna steal all the girls away!”

“Izuku Midoriya: Origin,” Iida read, turning to look at his friend. “It looks like the first episode is your origin story, Midoriya."

“Isn’t this kind of private information?” Asui asked. She looked over to the couch next to hers, where Midoriya was sitting with Uraraka and Iida. “Are you okay with this, Midoriya?”

He nodded. “It’ll be uncomfortable, sure,” he said, not quite noticing that Kamimoto had paused it on the title card. “There are… a lot of secrets I’ve been keeping from everyone about my past. But, I trust you all. And if learning about my past and our future can help save people, then I’m fine with it. Just…” he looked down, his hands gripping the fabric of his green uniform pants just by the knee. “Just promise me you all won’t judge me, or Kachan, too harshly.”

Asui wasn’t the only one staring at him after that declaration, but she turned back to the screen as Kamimoto started it up again. “Ribbit.”

From the title card, the scene transitioned to a typical public middle school, captioned ‘Aldera Junior High’. A homeroom teacher in a classroom began speaking, and the audience could see both Midoriya and Bakugo in the class, Midoriya seemingly trying not to be noticed and Bakugo lazing about disrespectfully with his feet on his desk. “So, as third year students, it’s time to start thinking seriously about your futures and what you want to do with your lives!” Midoriya furtively looked up from his notebook at his teacher. “I could pass out some career aptitude tests but…”

The teacher glared at the sheets of paper in his hand. “Why bother?” Already some students near his desk were starting to show off their quirks. One boy’s body audibly began turning into grey rock. “I know you all want to go to the Hero track!”

“Have these students no discipline!?” Iida complained, chopping his hand as Izuku’s entire class devolved into chaos of rampant quirk usage. “Quirks are not to be used while class is in session!”

That teacher’s an idiot, Aizawa thought dismissively. He has no control over his class and doesn’t seem to give a damn.

“You doing okay, Midoriya?” Ojiro asked, frowning slightly. “Your attitude here is a complete one-eighty from when you were watching the villain fight earlier.”

Uraraka glanced at Izuku as he shrunk into his seat. He had said that this would be uncomfortable, but his posture was becoming insular. “Well uh…”

“Hey teach.”

Attention returned to the screen at the sound of middle school Bakugo’s voice.

“Don’t lump me in with this bunch of losers. I’m the real deal, but these guys will be lucky to end up as sidekicks to some busted D-lister.” He laughed.

“Oh, so Bakugo’s just always been a dick,” Jiro commented while the boys’ class jeered at his insult. “Good to know.”

“Heh, no wonder nobody in our class likes you,” Tetsutetsu sniped.

“Like I care what you Class B rejects think!”

“…impressive test results,” their homeroom teacher remarked. “Maybe you will get into U.A. High.”

Bakugo looked smug as his classmates peered in astonishment. “He’s gonna try for the national school?”

“They’re right,” Iida concurred as the middle-schoolers onscreen talked about how impossible it was to get in. “U.A.’s Hero course is exceedingly difficult to get accepted into. Now that I think about it, the practical test especially is essentially rigged against applicants.”

“That’s exactly why it’s the only place worthy of me,” crowed Bakugo with a prideful look on his face as he stood atop his desk. “I aced all the mock tests. I’m the only one at this school who stands a chance of getting in. I’ll end up more popular than All Might himself, and be the richest Hero of all time!”

“How very humble of you Bakugo,” Tokoyami declared with a frown.

Young Midoriya was right, All Might thought. Kid’s got drive in spades and is prideful to a fault.

“Oh yeah, Midoriya, don’t you wanna go to U.A. too?” His teacher’s words were casual, almost an afterthought, bringing up the one other student in class who aspired to enter the prestigious institution. Bakugo’s form was stylized in white as he froze in complete shock, while Midoriya squeaked and looked very much like he wanted to disappear.

Uraraka frowned. She could hear Deku’s breath hitching in his throat. He clearly seemed to remember this day. It must have been a very important one, especially for this episode to be titled as his origin story.

The class broke into uproarious laughter while their teacher looked disinterested.

“That doesn’t seem right,” Yaoyorozu said, frowning and tapping her pen against her open notebook. “Midoriya made it, and his quirk—”

“…into the Hero Course without a quirk!”

Eyes widened throughout the theatre. Bakugo was the only one to not show any change.

“Wha-wha-whaaaat!?” Hatsume yelled while Kamimoto conveniently paused it just as Aldera Midoriya stood up in a panic.

“That’s bullsh*t!” Tetsutetsu stood up. “We saw what you did at the Sports Fest! There’s no way you could’ve done that without a quirk!”

“Yeah man!” Kaminari added, leaning forward and grabbing the railing at the head of his riser’s level. He looked down at where Izuku was sitting. “You’re like, one of the strongest dudes in our class! If they’re saying it’s impossible for you then how on earth did I get in?”

“I still wonder that to this day,” Jiro mumbled.

“So, like, are you kids gonna shut up and watch or not?” Kamimoto inquired, giving them all a completely unamused look. “We’ve got a schedule to keep and I’m gonna get in trouble if I have to keep pausing the video all the time.”

“But what those kids are saying is completely untrue!” Hagakure argued. “How can we just stay silent when they’re all making fun of Midoriya like that?”

“Yeah!” Ashido agreed. “They’re treating Midori like he’s the class clown or something! It’s not right!”

“Ugh! That’s why there are scheduled breaks between episodes!” Kamimoto groaned as she explained again. “And why you’re only watching for three hours a day! Now keep the volume on your muttering to a minimum. I may have watched all of these, like, twenty-five times, but that’s ‘cuz I still like watching ‘em!” She unpaused.

“Well actually they got rid of that rule!” Midoriya tried to defend his position in a panic. “I could be the first one.” Aldera Bakugo roared, slamming his hand against Izuku’s desk and causing an explosion from his quirk. Izuku was blown away, landing hard on his rear end while the blond raged.

“Listen up, Deku.”

Bakugo’s malice-laden voice caused the shouts of disapproval to fail in throats as they watched, unable to look away. Like a disaster in slow motion, his morbid charisma on screen held their attention.

“You’re even worse than the rest of these damn rejects, you quirkless wannabe! You really think they’d let someone like you in when they could have me?”

“Even Bakugo’s calling him quirkless,” Kirishima muttered. He was used to Bakugo, but seeing his past like this was…unsettling.

Midoriya scrambled to put distance between himself and his far more aggressive and violent classmate, holding out his hand and scooting backwards until his back touched the classroom’s back wall. “No! Wait! You’ve got it all wrong, really! I’m not trying to compete against you. You’ve gotta believe me! It’s just that…” he looked down, seemingly not daring to face any of his classmates as he confessed his dreams. “I’ve wanted to be a hero since I was little. I may not have a quirk, but I can still try my hardest, can’t I?”

Izuku felt Uraraka’s hand grasp his arm tightly. She wasn’t looking at him, but he could see the wet shine of tears in her eyes.

“Yeah, you can be a hero Midoriya,” Sato whispered under his breath with a slight nod.

If you have the will and drive it’s possible, thought Aizawa, eyes narrowed at the screen. Not all quirks can give you an edge in hero work; when I fight I’m essentially quirkless. It’s unprecedented but with the way this Midoriya of the past is, he doesn’t stand a chance at becoming the Quirkless Hero.

Bakugo didn’t seem to agree with Aizawa’s internal thoughts. “You’d never be able to hang with the best of the best! You’d die in the exams!” His image and those of Midoriya’s classmates became red-eyed and mouthed black silhouettes with jagged outlines and spiky teeth against an ominous purple background. “Defenseless Izuku!” mocked Bakugo as Midoriya flinched inwards. “This school’s already crappy. You really wanna embarrass it more by failing so hard?”

“I’m getting chills,” Jiro said, rubbing her arms as the scene changed to another place in Musutafu just after noon. “Bakugo looked like a real monster right there.”

“Oui,” Aoyama agreed. “In fact, he kind of looked like a vil—”

“Say “villain” and I’ll blow your head off!” Bakugo roared over the on-screen scream. “I’m gonna be a hero, dammit!”

“Now, now, students, let’s not make a fuss and continue to watch,” Principal Nezu instructed. “We are here to learn from the past, after all.”

Uraraka scrunched up her nose as she looked back at the screen. She still hadn’t let go of Izuku’s arm. “Yeah, learn that Bakugo’s even worse than he is now.”

“But doesn’t that me—”

“Yell all you want, sucker; this cash is mine!”

Izuku had been about to tell Uraraka that Bakugo had gotten better since he didn’t always act that way anymore, but the voice of the sludge villain stopped him. He turned his eyes back to the screen, feeling his heart quicken with the beat of the background music as bystanders talked.

The back of an emaciated man was shown as he walked out of a convenience store, overhearing the citizens. “Remember when we didn’t have to worry about randos with quirks all the time?”

“Seriously, there’s no stopping them.”

The skeletal figure hunched for a second before his body expanded, growing tall and buff; becoming a person anyone would recognize. “Yes there is.”

“Aw sweet! It’s All Might!” Sato said.

“You know why?” the man asked as the civilians who’d been standing in front of the door suddenly became excited. The laughing sludge villain looked back, terror piercing him at the sight of All Might’s smile. “I am here!”

“I didn’t know he would be making an appearance this early,” Iida stated as the show’s title card appeared. He turned to Izuku. “That must mean that All Might plays a part in your origin, correct Midoriya?”

Izuku nodded his head. “Y-yeah. You’ll see if you keep watching.”

“So I guess that’s how he kept his secret for so long,” Sero said. “Nobody would know it was him when he wasn’t bulked out because he looks totally different.”

Back at Aldera, class seemed to have ended. Midoriya was scrolling on his phone, smiling, looking happy again.

Uraraka smiled as her onscreen Deku mentioned the morning’s hero fight. “You look better when you’re happy, Deku.”

Izuku blushed. “U-uh.. thanks, Uraraka.”

Bakugo snatched his notebook right out of his hand and stood over Midoriya with utter disrespect for the green-haired smol boi etched into his being. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, Deku, but we’re not done.”

“Just leave him alone you jerk!” Hagakure snapped.

“It’s a show, Hagakure,” Yaoyorozu reminded her. “You can’t change what happened.”

“Don’t tell me you’re taking notes on how to be a hero,” one of Bakugo’s two flunkies laughed at the sight of Midoriya’s ‘Hero Analysis for the Future No. 13’ notebook. “That’s so pathetic!”

“He’s delusional,” mocked the other.

Midoriya looked between the two and Bakugo as they picked on him. “Yeah, real funny guys. Just give it back.” Bakugo slammed the notebook between his fists, making an explosion that torched Midoriya’s pride as the boy made a distressing wail before whimpering, “That’s so mean…”

With an unsettling amount of casual disinterest, Bakugo tossed the torched notebook over his shoulder, where it flew outside the open window. Midoriya reached for it in a panic, but it was already well beyond his grasp.

“Bakugo! Your behaviour is shameful and unbecoming of a prospective hero!” Iida chastised.

“No wonder he didn’t pass the licensing exam,” Kendo muttered as others grumbled at the display. Bakugo didn’t respond to the scolding he was receiving, and tried not to be bothered by the anxious look Kirishima was sending his way. He’d been trying to teach that damn nerd a lesson and do him a favour, to get him to stop writing cheques his stupid quirkless ass couldn’t cash. Then he could sit back on the sidelines like all the rest of the useless extras and watch as he soared to the top.

Izuku winced. Uraraka’s grip was getting tighter. She seemed to catch on to the fact that she was causing him discomfort and let go. “Oh, sorry,” she whispered as Bakugo started monologuing. “Watching this, what you went through…” she clutched a fist tightly to her chest. “It’s upsetting.”

“It’s all in the past,” Izuku tried to mollify her. “I’m over it.”

“That doesn’t make it okay,” Iida sternly objected in a quiet voice only their couch and those closest to them could hear. “And you’re wrong. You’re not.”

Izuku didn’t answer.

“…garbage junior high to get into U.A., people will start talking about me like that. They’ll realize I’m legit, the next big thing. That’s not ego talking, I just know I’m good.”

Ego, one of his lackeys thought, looking at the smug expression on Bakugo’s face.

Yeah, totally ego, thought everyone, ever.

Bakugo’s hand was on Midoriya’s scrawny shoulder, giving the green-haired boy a grin with no mirth in it. Smoke came from his hand. He was causing his nitro-sweat to burn into Midoriya’s shoulder. “Here’s a little word of advice, nerd. Don’t even think of applying, or else.”

“Ouch, that’s gotta hurt,” Hatsume cringed at the sight of Midoriya’s smoking shoulder.

All Midoriya could do in response was whimper. Whether that was in pain, fear, or a dreadful co*cktail of both, it wasn’t clear, but he certainly looked frozen to the spot without an ounce of courage. The bullies started to leave, their expressions satisfied with the result. “That’s just sad,” one of them began. “I thought you at least had some fight in you.”

“He finally gets it. He’ll never be a hero. Better to find out now instead of later, I guess,” laughed the other.

Kamimoto’s eyes flew wide. sh*t! That’s here! sh*t! sh*t! sh*t! She quickly paused it just as Aldera Bakugo reached the doorway and stopped. Standing up she called out, “Okay, just a biiiig disclaimer warning here! What happens next is bad! Like, super bad! It in no way reflects the present mental states of those involved, since it was well over a year ago and they’ve had character development but… yeah, it’s pretty f*cked up.”

“Jeez, wonder how it could get even worse?” Sero asked.

“I agree,” Tokoyami stated. “This is already atrocious, especially for someone so intent on becoming a hero.”

Uraraka turned to Izuku, her face one of barely restrained outrage. “Deku, is what’s about to happen going to make me want to catapult Bakugo to the Moon?”

Izuku wanted to look anywhere but at her right now as he shrunk back into his seat cushions. Having his entire class witness what was objectively the worst day of his life was incredibly nerve-wracking, but he was at least a little bit glad for all their words of support and encouragement, and their righteous fury on his behalf. “Uh… yeah, probably.”

“Bakugo… what happened?” Kirishima asked his seatmate. He shrugged.

“I don't f*ckin' remember,” he answered.

Bakugo glanced back behind him towards Midoriya. His expression seemed kind, and actually somewhat nice. He still looked a little stuck-up, but he’d lost all the rage and condescending demeanour. “You know if you really want to be a hero that badly there actually might be another way.”

The eyes of the teachers narrowed as Bakugo spoke. Everyone held their breath. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Was he about to offer encouragement?

Bakugo frowned and tapped his finger against his chin as he stared at his younger self. What did I tell that stupid nerd again?

Izuku took a deep breath and placed his head in his hands. Here it comes…

“Just pray that you’ll be born with a quirk in your next life, and take a swan dive off the roof of the building.”

Oh right… that.

Midoriya turned around and glared at Bakugo with tears at the base of his eyes, growling. Bakugo raised his right hand up, explosions bursting around his fingers. “Something wrong?”

Midoriya froze again, whimpering in terror at the implied threat.

Kamimoto sighed as she held onto her remote, pausing it as the scene changed to the exterior of Aldera. Should have budgeted for this. I’m just going to let them vent this one.

The expected uproar of noise stopped barely after it began with just a single sound overcoming all the shouts and cries. It was the sound of the wall breaking as a fist crashed through it.

Who’s fist? All Might’s.

Not emaciated Toshinori Yagi’s, All Might’s.

All Might was standing in the aisle, his right arm extended through the wall, and he was not smiling.

Kamimoto nearly fell out of her chair in surprise. “What!? How!? The quirk suppressor’s up! A-and you don’t even have your power anymore!”

“You’re right, I don’t,” All Might replied in his rich baritone, smoke was starting to come from his form, but he didn’t seem to be letting up. “But this, this is the embodiment of my righteous fury!”

“A-All Might…” Izuku whispered, staring at his mentor and for the first time since Camino Ward, feeling fear.

The former number one Hero turned towards the student sitting in the row just in front of where he and the other teachers had chosen to sit, at the blond who slouched in the couch right at the edge of the row. All Might hadn’t said anything throughout the last several minutes of what they’d been watching, but his anger had steadily been growing. From Bakugo assaulting young Izuku when they were only four as the tyke tried to show some heroic spirit, through the obvious torment he exhibited towards Midoriya on what was clearly a daily basis, and now to this!?

“Pray that you’ll be born with a quirk in your next life, and take a swan dive off the roof of the building? Is that right? Did you truly say such a thing, Katsuki Bakugo!?”

Before the young man could answer, All Might had his face in his giant left hand and had lifted the boy off his feet into the air. The students gasped, but none of them could get a word past their mouths except Hatsume. “Uh-oh! This is intense!”

“I take back what I said the other night,” All Might declared as he held up Bakugo, the young man struggling in vain to get the newly retired pro to release him. “You aren’t fit to be Izuku’s rival; you are unworthy of being a hero!”

“All—” Nezu stopped Aizawa with a paw to his knee. There was a troubled expression on the principal’s face as he observed the scene.

Izuku shook the tears out of his eyes as he stood up from the couch. “All Might! Stop! Don’t do th—”

“Young Midoriya!”

All Might’s shout killed whatever else Izuku had been about to say.

“For once in your life, listen to your teacher and do not try to be a hero!” All Might ordered. “I did not know what I know now, Young Midoriya. I crushed your dream that day more thoroughly than any villain I ever defeated. I, your hero, your idol, placed you on the precipice of despair, and for that I am ashamed and enraged. Uraraka! Iida! Sit him down! This needs to happen.” The two named students, too stunned by the revelation of what Bakugo had told their best friend to do and too shocked by the rapidly changing events, did as they were told; they grabbed Midoriya by the shoulders and had him sit back down. Uraraka grasped his left hand, squeezing it tight.

All Might continued, somehow still maintaining his muscle form. “Young Bakugo, what your middle school self said just now is the antithesis of everything a hero should be. I heard you talking to Young Kirishima. You didn’t even remember what you said. Based on how your teacher acted when you were bullying Young Midoriya right in front of him, I imagine this incident never officially happened. That’s why you have such a spotless record from your middle school and why Young Midoriya’s has some black marks, isn’t it? Anything you did was cleared away and swept under the rug, and all the blame was imposed upon weak, little, helpless, quirkless Midoriya!”

Now even All Might’s saying Midoriya’s quirkless, Asui thought. This doesn’t make any sense at all.

What is All Might saying? Uraraka thought, squeezing Midoriya’s hand and holding on to his shoulder. Midoriya wasn’t looking at her. He wasn’t even looking at All Might and Bakugo. He was folding into himself, like a turtle trying to withdraw into his shell.

“Get your hand offa me All Might!” Bakugo raged against the titan, placing his hand against All Might’s arm. This was just like their first term finals, only now he didn’t have his quirk to help him. How was All Might doing this? How was he still so strong!? He shouldn’t have been able to keep muscle form up for more than a couple of seconds!

“You are unworthy of his friendship!” All Might shouted Bakugo down. “You are unworthy of this class! YOU ARE UNWORTHY!” All Might reared his right fist back. “TEXAAAS…”

“All Might!” “Sir!” “You’ll kill him!”

“...SMAAAASH!!!”

Bakugo staggered away from the punch as he was dropped, losing his balance and falling onto his butt on the stairs in the aisle. There was a slight pain in his cheek, but it stung more than any injury he’d sustained in his life. He looked up at the source. All Might had deflated to his true form at the moment just before impact, and the pro was looking down at him with contempt. He’d never seen that look before in his eyes, even when he’d been fighting All For One.

“But you are lucky, Young Bakugo,” All Might declared, panting. “Young Midoriya has such a kind heart. He wants you in U.A.. He wants you to change and become the hero you’re striving to become, but that can’t happen as things stand. Actions. Have. Consequences. Words have a more cutting impact than any physical blow. You may have avoided punishment for your transgressions before coming to U.A., but know this: if Young Midoriya had not hidden this so well from me in the ten months I spent training him before U.A. and I learned of it; had he told me what you’d said to him at any point before your entrance exam, or that you’d bullied him for eleven straight years, I’d have had you expelled from Aldera. You’d never have had the chance to set foot in U.A., and you’d only have had yourself and your own actions to blame.”

All Might turned away from Bakugo, and silently walked down the steps towards the front row. Everyone’s eyes tracked him but Bakugo’s and Izuku’s. Bakugo was still staring forward in complete shock, and Izuku wanted nothing more than to stare at his feet. All Might had just dropped several bombshells of information on them all, and nobody knew exactly what they could or couldn’t take from them. Did he really say all that? What in the world was he talking about?

Izuku saw a familiar pair of shoes stop in front of his. His stomach felt like lead. This was the worst case scenario. Kachan was going to have his dream crushed. He was going to lose his chance at becoming a hero, and it would all be his fault. If only he hadn’t met All Might and gotten his quirk; if he hadn’t come to U.A.; if they hadn’t all been transported to this place and agreed to have the future shown to them then nobody would have had to find out about his past like this. Nobody would…

“Izuku…”

The green-eyed boy slowly looked up at the soft voice that came into his ear. Uraraka was looking at him with determination in her big brown eyes. They sparkled with her fresh tears, captivating him. His name had come from her lips. Not the nickname she’d taken from Bakugo and spun into something he treasured, but his name. She was the first person besides his mother and All Might to have called him ‘Izuku’. Uraraka’s skin was sweaty; he could feel how clammy her hand was in his. She was obviously in just as much shock as everyone else, and he could feel her pulse racing. But still she... “Don’t defend him for this.”

“Young man.”

Izuku turned again, this time looking up at All Might. Tears were in his mentor’s eyes. He seemed to be having a breakdown. His voice started to choke. This was like the talk with Inko about returning to U.A. all over again. “I… I’m so sorry, Young Midoriya. I didn’t notice. I was with you for so long, and I didn’t see how much you had been hurt. I was supposed to be the number one hero, and I never realized how much you needed to be saved.”

All Might’s bony touch was warm, comforting, as the retired pro enveloped Izuku in a hug. It was like the one All Might had given him on the beach after he’d lost his power. Izuku couldn’t keep his own tears in check anymore, and silently let them loose. He felt safe in All Might’s arms. All the insecurities and discomfort from seeing this past and knowing what he would continue to see simply floated away as he cried into All Might’s shirt.

“He was your tormentor, and I was too blind to see it; thinking it was just some petty schoolboy rivalry. I’m sorry. I failed you. All of us who call ourselves Heroes failed you. But it’s all right now. Everything’s going to be all right, because I am here.”

Izuku wanted to tell off All Might. He didn’t want to hear him apologize. He wanted to blame himself for all of this, but instead all he could do was laugh through his sobs at All Might giving him his catchphrase. He was right. Izuku had just been keeping the wool over his eyes. Kachan had mocked, tormented, and abused him for almost his entire life. He was a victim, even though he’d never wanted to admit that fact to himself. All Might’s words just now forced him to confront that.

“There is one thing to keep in mind above all else: anyone who needs rescuing is having the worst day of their lives.”

Well, re-living the worst day of his life had to count for something, right?

Aizawa sighed and stood up. His exhale drew everyone’s attention. “Bakugo. Midoriya. After these doors unlock and we break for lunch, you two are having a talk with the four of us teachers here. This is non-negotiable. I will drag you to a conference room with my capture scarf and have Midnight use her quirk on you if I have to. Is that understood?”

Bakugo could only nod dumbly, while Izuku broke from All Might’s hug. He sniffed and turned to look up at his homeroom teacher. “Yes sir.”

Izuku’s voice was at least a little steady, so that was good.

“Good. Now that that’s settled, return to your seats, all of you, and I don’t want to hear another word badmouthing your classmate’s past actions at all. Us teachers will deal with the issue. We’re here to learn, not pass judgement. If I catch even the faintest breeze of a lynch plot over this, you’ll all be sleeping like mummified bats tonight.”

Aizawa sat back down, and the students listened to what he said, retaking their seats. All Might began to amble his way back to them after giving Midoriya another hug. Uraraka seemed to be disobeying his instructions as she got up from her seat. She wasn’t following All Might, like he’d suspected. Given the close relationship between the gravity girl and Problem Child, he assumed she’d be making a beeline to Bakugo to, as she put it, catapult him to the Moon. However, she was walking towards Kamimoto, who was still watching the scene with dinner plate eyes.

Kayama’s voice was soft as she turned to him. There were so many tears in her eyes it was hard to witness. “Don’t beat yourself up too hard, Shota.”

“Are you kidding? I’m incensed.” Aizawa’s leg was tapping up and down in unrestrained annoyance. He had so much furious energy and he had no method of channeling it. “To think, the two students I have such high expectations for, this is what their relationship before U.A. was like? And this is how I find out about it! If gods exist, they’re deliberately mocking me.”

Uraraka was walking back down to where she, Midoriya, and Iida were sitting, a big green blanket in her hands. She returned to their seats and Iida put away their trays and notebooks so that the three friends could snuggle together under the blanket as Uraraka wrapped it around them all, each getting as close as possible to Midoriya to envelop him in their warmth. It was a good move, so he’d let it slide.

Others seemed to have the same idea. He wasn’t the least bit interested in where Kamimoto was suddenly getting these blankets from, but he wasn’t about to begrudge his students doing what they needed to calm down right now. Aizawa didn’t even snap at them for the quiet muttering, because at least they weren’t talking about it.

Kirishima pulled Bakugo up to his feet and brought him back to the couch the two were sitting on. Ashido had left from where she’d originally been sitting next to Kirishima and squished in next to Asui. Tetsutetsu came over with a red blanket, looked sympathetically at Kirishima, then glared at Bakugo. “Hey.” His voice carried throughout the room. “I don’t know what kind of man you think you are…”

“Tetsutetsu…” Aizawa’s eyes bore into the Steel quirk user, “this is your only warning.”

“...but Kirishima seems to like you,” Tetsutetsu continued, trying not to hear the sharp edge in Class 1-A’s homeroom teacher’s voice. “So I’m going to assume that you were such a dick in middle school because you were a big fish in a small pond, and because everyone is a dick in middle school. It’s been seventeen months since then, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re not that big of an asshole anymore.” He tossed the blanket over Bakugo and Kirishima, then sat down in Ashido’s vacated spot to Kirishima’s right, covering his legs with his portion. “I’m not saying I’m going to be your friend, but I’ll give you a chance to prove you deserve one.”

“I don’t want your pity, you damn extra,” Bakugo muttered. His fire was gone.

“Take it anyway, you damn explosive Pomeranian,” Tetsutetsu spat back. “The world’s not fair. It doesn’t just give you what you want.”

Bakugo was silent.

Nezu signaled Kamimoto. “Alright miss. I believe we can continue now.”

Kamimoto jolted at being addressed. “Oh! Right, sure.” She resumed the show. “Damn,” she muttered under her breath. “Didn’t see that coming. This is sure to shake up the future.”

Midoriya was walking along the grounds at the base of the school, fortunately not up on the roof. ‘Idiot’ he thought. ‘You can’t go around telling people to kill themselves. What if I’d really jumped? What would he do then?’ Given the angry tone to his thoughts, it seemed like jumping was not an option he’d seriously considered.

“You didn’t?” Uraraka queried.

Izuku shook his head. “No, never,” he answered.

To everyone’s immense relief.

“Oh good,” Yaoyorozu whispered. I don’t think my heart could have taken that.

Midoriya spotted the tossed away notebook in the pond, some koi nibbling at its pages. ‘My dreams have turned into fish food.’ “That’s enough, give it back!” he scolded the fish, emotion thickening his voice. “Dammit…”

“Please tell me no one else in your class has such a tragic backstory,” Kendo said to Yaoyorozu, dabbing her eyes with the edge of the blanket.

“If we all did, our class would be really messed up,” Ojiro answered.

Todoroki stayed silent, but glanced down at where Midoriya was sitting. He seemed to be more in control of his emotions now after that hug from All Might. Midoriya…

“Mom, hurry!”

Everyone’s eyes widened as little child Midoriya appeared on screen again, big bright smile on his face, wearing a salmon t-shirt and holding onto a Silver-Age All Might action figure.

“Baby Midoriya’s back to drive away the gloom!” Hagakure cheered.

“Oh, so that’s why everyone looks at me funny when I first mention my babies,” Hatsume said, chuckling. “My bad.”

Little Midoriya bounded up to his mom, busy washing dishes. “C’mon mom! It’s computer time!”

“Already?” she asked her bouncing little man with an amused smile, and turned to turn the tap off.

“Hey Midori—”

“Say one word about my mom and I will literally break my leg kicking you out of this dimension, Mineta.”

Kaminari frowned at Mineta. “Dude. Not cool.”

Mineta held out his hands in exasperation. “I thought a dumb joke like that would lighten the mood!”

“It certainly got us thinking about how much of a perv you are,” Ashido griped. “Can’t you let us enjoy the cuteness of baby Midoriya in peace?”

Izuku’s mom finished with the computer as she stood next to the chair her son was sitting in, her voice having sounded a little worried while she humoured the boy even as she stood next to him with a slight smile. Teenage Midoriya began narrating over his younger self’s excited expression as the kid leaned forward towards the monitor. “The video I loved was an old one. Disaster footage from a long time ago. But more importantly it was the debut of the greatest hero the world has ever known.”

“Oh hey, I remember that video,” Kirishima said. “No way, Midoriya, I’m sure I had you beat. I had to have watched that thing at least twenty thousand times.”

“Twenty-five thousand for me,” Sero piped up.

“Hey, I watched it a lot as a kid too,” Sato stated.

“I did as well,” Shoji declared. “Maybe not a thousand times, but definitely at least a hundred.”

Kaminari huffed. “You guys need to get on my level. I watched that thing over forty thousand times, easy.”

All Might chuckled in his throat at their banter, and he couldn’t help but smile at the big grin on child Midoriya’s face as rousing music played over the scene of his Japanese debut. He was completely sure that no such music played on the video, but hearing this, he damn well wished it did.

“Fear not citizens! Hope has arrived! Because I am here!”

“Midoriya, you simply must stop being so cute,” Aoyama chided him. “You’re making the rest of us look bad by comparison.”

Izuku blushed and rubbed his head as best as he could while remaining wrapped in cuddles from Uraraka and Iida. Uraraka especially was not letting go as she rested her head on his shoulder. It was like they were keeping him in a nest, not that he was complaining. “I-I’m sure everyone was cute as a kid, Aoyama.”

“But not like you Midori,” Ashido beamed.

“He’s the coolest in the universe!” child Midoriya cheered. “And once I get my quirk, I’m gonna be a hero just like him!” Midoriya started to laugh in an All Might imitation after his declaration while his mom looked on in worry.

Adorable, thought Asui.

All Might placed his hand over his mouth, covering his bittersweet smile as he tried not to cry again. He really had started to take after his successor.

The scene shifted to a doctor’s office, with a bald glasses-wearing doctor with a bottle-brush mustache sitting lackadaisically in a chair. “Sorry kid, it’s not gonna happen.”

“Shows what you know!” Kaminari hurled at the screen. “Midoriya’s got a rad powerful quirk!”

Todoroki glanced at Kaminari, then back at Midoriya. Did he just forget All Might saying that he spent ten months training Midoriya? Training him for what? To use his quirk? Could he not use it because his body was still so scrawny and weak?

“Oh dear,” Inko Midoriya said, placing her hand on Izuku’s frozen back after his toy clattered to the ground from his limp hand. “So you really think there’s something wrong, then? Most of the other kindergarteners in his class have begun to show signs already.”

“So you were just a late bloomer, then, Midoriya,” Iida told his friend. “There’s no need to feel bad.”

“...you do know that’s four-year-old me up there, right? Not four squared me?”

“...powers do you and the boy’s father have?” the doctor asked.

“Nothing too special,” Inko replied, placing a hand to her cheek with a bit of embarrassment. “I can float small objects towards me and my husband breathes fire.” She moved her hand floating the dropped action figure from the ground back to her grasp from the weak telekinetic pull of her quirk. “They’re useful enough, I suppose.”

Yaoyorozu frowned. If she was still taking notes she would have started tapping her pen against the notebook again. But Midoriya’s quirk is nothing like those…

“Izuku should have already manifested one of these quirks or a combination of both,” the doctor explained. “But after viewing his x-rays I don’t think he’s going to.”

Uraraka held onto Izuku a little tighter, doing her best to not think about how close he was. He was her friend, and he was just in a bad place and needed her support, but right now she felt like she was the one needing his reassurance instead. He’d already lived through this moment, but this was her first time seeing it, and it conflicted so much with everything she thought she knew. “He’s wrong, right Deku?”

“You see, when superpowers first began appearing there were many research studies conducted, and doctors discovered a link between the bones in a person’s foot and their likelihood of developing a quirk. People with powers have only one joint in their pinkie toe. Their bodies have evolved into a more streamlined version of the human form. You can see here that Izuku has two joints in his pinkie, like roughly twenty percent of the population these days. Based on the research that’s available it’s safe to say that your son isn’t going to develop a quirk.”

The assembled audience was flabbergasted by what the on screen doctor had said. “Don’t listen to him, man!” Kaminari shouted. “That guy’s just a quack! You’ve got an insanely awesome quirk!”

“Kaminari, chill out,” Jiro snapped. “We know. We’ve all seen it.”

“Eh, that research is outdated anyway,” Hatsume said dismissively. “I’ve got an extra joint in my pinkie toe, and my quirk came in just fine anyway. New things are always being discovered!”

“Oh yeah, hey, what’s your quirk again?” Ashido asked.

Hatsume grinned. “Zoom!” She pointed to her eyes. “I can enhance my vision and zoom in my sight like binoculars or a telescope. It lets me see up to five kilometres away! I can also zoom in really close to do small detail work. It’s really handy when making my super cute babies.”

They were doing their best to distract themselves from the sad music of the rainy night after that bad news was delivered to Midoriya. They could hear him watching All Might’s debut again, but they didn’t want to. This show was a rollercoaster of emotions that they weren’t allowed to get off of.

Izuku turned his chair around and Inko’s breath hitched as the young mother started to cry. The camera turned to Izuku’s face, showing his eyes flooded with tears as he pointed at All Might’s smile. “Do you think… I could be a hero too?”

Izuku’s classmates dissolved into sobs as they looked away, hearing his mother collapse and tell him that she was sorry. Uraraka buried her face into Izuku’s chest so as not to show him her tears. “You can be a hero, Deku,” she choked out. “The greatest.”

“Yes,” Iida added, cradling Izuku’s head in his arm. “Without a doubt, the very best.”

Uraraka felt ashamed as Izuku’s hand lightly patted her head. She was trying to comfort him, but he was the one being strong and comforting her. It wasn’t supposed to go this way.

“We believe in you Midoriya!” Hagakure cheered through her sniffles. “You can be a hero!”

“An awesome one!” Mineta added.

“Damn, Shota,” Midnight whispered, removing her glasses and rubbing her eyes, “you really do have a Problem Child. He’s making me cry.”

“...My world was crumbling,” teenage Midoriya narrated over the image of his fallen All Might toy. “There was only one thing I wanted to hear.” The scene returned to the “present” as Aldera Midoriya walked home from school, holding his burnt hero notebook in his hand as he stood beneath a pedestrian tunnel with a sign saying ‘Watch your head’ above it. “I made a decision that day. No matter what anyone else thinks, I have to believe in myself, and I’ll keep smiling, just like him!” Midoriya screwed a smile onto his face, and started to laugh like All Might as he headed into the tunnel.

Kirishima wiped his eyes with his arm. “Oh man, that’s so manly, Midoriya. To keep going after all of that, I’ll follow you for the rest of my life!”

Tokoyami nodded his head, though he too had wetness around his eyes. “Triumph is born from adversity. We all must struggle through our own darknesses.”

Sludge rose up behind Midoriya. The sound made the young man stop laughing and turn around as the amorphous form of the villain towered over him.

Bakugo showed a reaction for the first time in minutes. All Might never said he saved Deku from that sludge bastard before.

Uraraka gasped and tightened her grip on Izuku’s sleeve as the sludge villain grinned manically at him. “Deku!”

“You’ll make a perfect skinsuit for me to hide in, kid!”

“Oh, I can’t watch this!” Jiro shuddered, covering her eyes as the sludge villain charged Midoriya, suffocating him as he tried to force himself into the teenager’s body.

“This is nuts,” Kendo said. “Just how much more pain did you have to suffer, Midoriya?”

“It gets better soon, I promise!” Izuku declared, even as his onscreen counterpart was choking and futilely trying to pry the fluid villain off of him. “I-I know it doesn’t look that way, and yeah, this was one of the worst days of my life, but it’s also one of the best! If it shows everything I think it’ll show, you just have to keep watching. So look forward to it. There is a bright light in all of this. After all, I’m here with all of you now, right?”

Some of his class looked apprehensive as the villain told Midoriya he was “a real hero to me, kid.”

A soft voice said, “Okay then.”

The students and teachers looked to the one who had spoken. Todoroki. “If Midoriya asks us to trust him that this gets better, then let’s trust him, and watch.”

“I mean, sure,” Sero commented. “But…”

“That sludge villain calling him a hero after all that stuff we just saw,” Sato added, “that’s some dramatic irony right there.”

Midnight beamed in pride. “Ooh, that’s a sharp boy.”

‘No way, this can’t be the end,’ Midoriya thought as his vision started to fade, eyes catching sight of a drawing of a hero in his notebook. ‘Somebody… help!’

The manhole cover within the tunnel flew up into the air.

Hope appeared in the students, and All Might couldn’t help but grin to himself. Now it was time for his entrance.

The sludge villain turned around, and his eyes widened in shock, mortified at the sight in front of him. The camera panned to the side, revealing…

“All Might!”

“Have no fear, you’re safe.” He stomped his foot down, dust rising from the concrete as the first bars of the same heroic music from his debut video started up with the introductory strings. “Now that I am here, that is!”

“Deku, you were saved by All Might!” Uraraka squealed. “Your favourite hero!”

“Keep it down!” Kamimoto scolded her as All Might ducked under the goo villain’s attack. “This part’s awesome!”

All Might dodged the second attack, and wound his right fist up. “TEXAAAS… SMASH!” He threw his fist forward, a torrent of wind blowing the sludge villain away.

“I can’t… hold… together!”

His fluid body scattered, leaving Midoriya free of the villain. His eyes barely fluttered open, consciousness still fading from having suffocated from the villain’s brutal attack. ‘Is that… All Might?’

Midoriya’s vision went black.

“That was amazing, All Might!” Tetsutetsu cheered along with most of 1-A.

“Such a manly entrance!” Kirishima crowed. “He’s the best!”

“He saved you Midoriya,” Koda spoke up. “That’s really amazing!”

Izuku blushed and rubbed the back of his head bashfully. All he did was get saved by All Might, but yeah, it was pretty amazing, especially seeing it like this.

“Wow, you managed to save the boy with just the wind pressure from your punch,” Kayama purred. “Impressive stuff, All Might.”

The screen came back, showing All Might repeatedly slapping Midoriya’s cheek. “Hey! Wake up! Hey!”

“And then you pull this…” Aizawa sighed. All Might had the decency to look sheepish.

“Really, All Might,” Nezu chided with a light-hearted chuckle to his tone, “you should know better than this.”

Midoriya’s eyes opened fully, taking in the sight of All Might standing over him. “Thought we’d lost you there.”

He screamed.

Most everyone started to laugh at Midoriya’s reaction. “Yeah, I’d probably do the same if that happened to me,” Hagakure said bashfully.

Ojiro scratched a finger along his cheek. “I mean… it is All Might we’re talking about. Waking up to the number one hero standing over you.”

“And being a total fanboy like Midoriya,” Sero agreed. “Heck yeah, I’d be screaming too.”

“I didn’t mean to get you caught up in my justicing. Usually I pay more attention to keeping bystanders safe, but it turns out this city’s sewer system is pretty difficult to navigate!” He laughed.

“Well it’s not like he would have known the sewer system as well as the villain,” Kendo reasoned.

“Yes, that villain probably would have lived in the sewers,” Yaoyorozu agreed.

“Anyway, you were a big help. Thank you. I’ve captured the evildoer!” All Might posed, showing the villain contained within the two plastic pop bottles that had been in his shopping bag. Stars and stripes appeared all over the screen.

The class was still laughing. The mood had gone from dark and depressing, to inspiring, to tense horror, to an awesome rescue, and now to a campy comedy mood in a matter of minutes. They really needed the over-the-top campiness of All Might’s hero persona in this situation to readjust themselves.

‘The most amazing hero of the entire world, All Might,’ Midoriya was still freaking out. ‘The real thing. In the flesh. Standing right in front of me. He looks so much cooler in person!’

Uraraka had let go of Izuku, only because she was holding her sides because she was laughing so hard along with the others. She couldn’t help it. After all this, she needed to join in on the teasing, and maybe Midoriya needed it too, just teasing. Not any kind of vicious mockery. “Yeah, he’s way more muscley in person than on T.V., right?” she elbowed Midoriya in the gut under the blanket as a lens flare lit up All Might’s smile, and he laughed back.

Aizawa smiled under his capture scarf.

Midoriya shook his head clear as he realized something. “Holy crap! I need to get an autograph! I’ve got a pen around here somewhere!” He gasped, catching sight of his Hero Analysis notebook. “Please sign my notebook!” Midoriya picked it up and opened it. All Might had already done his best John Hanco*ck, his signature covering two whole blank pages of the book.

Again, Midoriya screamed.

Even Bakugo and Todoroki started to laugh at Midoriya’s fanboying. What could they say? It was amusing.

“Welp! I’ve gotta get this guy to the police so they can take care of him,” All Might said, patting the pocket in his pants where he’d secured one of the bottles with the villain. He turned away from Midoriya. “Stay out of trouble. See you around.”

Midoriya broke out of his fanboying moment. “Wait, you’re leaving already?”

“Pro Heroes are constantly fighting time as well as enemies,” his idol answered as he limbered up.

‘He can’t go yet,’ thought Midoriya. ‘There are still so many questions I have to ask him.’

Izuku slapped his palm over his face. Uraraka and Iida started and looked at him in shock. “Deku!?” “Midoriya!?”

“What is it?” Uraraka asked, concerned.

Izuku laughed at himself. “It’s nothing, just… this is where I do something really dumb.”

All Might launched into the sky in a powerful jump. “Thanks for your continued support! Huh…”

Midoriya had latched onto his legs.

The laughter started up all over again.

Aizawa groaned. “Problem Child…”

“That was very dangerous, Midoriya,” Iida scolded. “You should have thought before you did something so insanely reckless.”

“My idol had just saved my life Iida, and I’d been having a really, really bad day,” Izuku countered, somehow managing to laugh. “I couldn’t just let him go!”

Uraraka wiped a tear from her eye. “Deku, you’re crazy.”

Shoji placed his hand to his mask-covered chin. “How did his facial muscles do that?”

All Might coughed, a bit of blood leaking out past his clenched teeth. ‘sh*t!’

That sobered the crowd up. Hatsume tilted her head. “Hey, uh, is All Might sick?”

“We saw what was presumably his skeletal form bulk up earlier,” Todoroki reasoned. “But this is the first clue the show is giving us that something is actually wrong with All Might.”

All Might and Midoriya landed on the roof of an office building. Midoriya looked like he might pass out again or turn into a zombie, whichever was more natural. “I just saw my whole life flash before my eyes.”

All Might pressed his fists to his hips. “Not a very smart move,” he firmly stated to get his scolding across. “Bang on the door for a while, someone will let you in. Now, I have to go. See you on the flip side.”

Jiro raised an eyebrow and stared at All Might on screen. “Dude? For real? Did he just say that?”

“...one second!” begged Midoriya.

“No! I don’t have any time.”

“I have to know!”

“Sorry kid, it’s not gonna happen.”

The students tensed up. “Hey uh,” Mineta began, “so this is when Midoriya asks All Might if he can become a hero, right?” The short teen looked around. “That’s what this was building up to, after all.”

“It certainly seems so, ribbit,” Asui agreed.

“C’mon, ask, ask!” Ashido encouraged the onscreen Midoriya. “This is your origin story!”

‘Sometimes I do feel like a failure; like there’s no hope for me. But even so, I’m not going to give up, ever!’ Trembling, Midoriya looked up at All Might as the top of the pros walked towards the edge of the roof. “Is it possible to become a hero even if I don’t have a quirk?”

All Might stopped.

“I’m a normal kid without any powers,” Midoriya continued. “Could I ever hope to be someone like you?”

The music swelled as All Might half-turned at his words to look back at Midoriya. “Meeting All Might was a dream come true,” Narrator Midoriya stated. “A real miracle. Standing in front of me was the hero I’d idolized most of my life. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that chance encounter would change the course of my future.”

And ending theme started, showing the notebook open to a drawing that most now somewhat recognized, the original depiction of Midoriya’s hero costume.

“Aw man!” Ashido whined. “That’s how it ends?”

“It’s a good dramatic stopping point,” Ojiro pointed out, “but I agree, it is vexing.”

“Come on! I want to know what All Might said!” Tetsutetsu complained.

Kendo glanced over at him. “You’re really getting into this, Tetsu.”

Kamimoto stood up, pressing a button on the remote, skipping the rest of the outro. “Okay, we’ve gotta make up for lost time because of y’all’s shenanigans. I really should have expected that, though. I’m skipping the outro and intro for the next few episodes to make sure we finish in time. If you need to pee, use the bathroom now! We’re skipping ahead to the next one right away.”

Chapter 3: The Sludge Villain Incident

Chapter Text

The Maple Theatre had four levels to its seating, arranged in a slender semi-circular fashion like a college lecture hall. The entrance to the theatre was at the top left of the room with no seating at that level, stairs going down to the seating at either side and with a presentation area in front of and below the big screen. Kamimoto’s AV area was at the far right at the top, just in front of the door to the toilets. Each level had three couches intended to seat three people, and two loveseats meant for two, for a total combined seating of sixty. The number of U.A. students present were twenty-three, and with their four teachers that made twenty-seven, just under half the available seats. That left room for some students to sit on their own, if they wished.

Todoroki and Aoyama were the only two who had decided to do so.

At the end of the first episode, before Kamimoto could start the next, there was a quick but intense flurry of activity as some of the furniture was moved around. Izuku could only watch as the couch he, Uraraka, and Iida had been sitting on in the middle of the front row had the adjacent loveseats, and far couches on the left and right ends all moved to press up next to theirs to form an uninterrupted line of seating. On the row behind him the same thing happened, with all the furniture being pushed together and moved closer to the guard railing between levels, so that the whole thing looked almost like a mass of couch designed for thirty people. Most of the students piled in between one of the two, with only Todoroki, Aoyama, Bakugo, Kirishima, and Tetsutetsu abstaining. Todoroki and Aoyama both sat on their own on the third level, though they were in adjacent seating to one another, while Bakugo, Kirishima, and Tetsutetsu were on the far left couch on the third level, the two redundant quirk users keeping the Explosion boy company. Immediately behind those three sat the teachers, with Principal Nezu on Midnight’s lap.

The principal watched Bakugo’s demeanour closely. He had not interacted much with him, but had watched the footage from the boy’s combat training and the finals at the end of the first term, when he and Midoriya had had to face off against All Might. The boy had drive, talent, determination, and pride. He certainly had the raw combat ability and power to face almost any villain and succeed, especially when honed with future training and experience. Bakugo could certainly be a contender for Number Two (since with Midoriya’s pure heart and One For All at his command he would clearly rise to become the new Number One), once the students went pro. Unfortunately, he did not have the heart yet.

And now All Might, the unassailable Number One, had shattered his pride, unequivocally declaring that he was unworthy of the title of “Hero”.

The boy had resisted the call of the League of Villains before, but now they were going to need to pay even closer attention to his fragile psyche.

“Don’t worry Midori,” Ashido said, leaning over Asui and Uraraka to wrap her pink arms around Izuku’s neck, “we’re all here for you!”

“Yes,” Yaoyorozu agreed. “While we may not be as close friends with you as Uraraka is, please know that all of us will do whatever we can to support you.”

“You’re stuck with us,” Mineta said with a nod.

“Yeah,” Jiro added. “Class 1-A sticks together.”

“We’ve got your back, bro,” Kaminari insisted, giving him a thumbs-up from the next level.

Izuku smiled through the wetness in his eyes as Ashido let go. “Thanks everyone, I’ll do my best! Just remember, the story does get better, though it’s going to start getting pretty crazy soon.”

“So what happened before wasn’t crazy?” Uraraka asked, giving him an incredulous look. “Deku, you’re gonna start scaring us.”

He smiled. “No spoilers, but yeah, crazy. And, uh, I’m going to end up doing something dumb, just so you’re aware.”

Iida laughed. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t do something crazy, Midoriya,” he stated. “But knowing you, it’ll probably also be something heroic.”

“Yeah,” Uraraka agreed. “Stupidly heroic is kinda your thing, isn’t it?”

Izuku felt like a lot of blood had been rushing to his cheeks today as he nodded.

Kamimoto raised her voice from the back. “Okay! Let’s get this show on the road! Episode two, here we go!”

Little Midoriya watched All Might’s debut video.

“Still precious!” Hagakure cheered as kindergartener Midoriya laughed like All Might.

The doctor shot down his dreams with a succinct, “Sorry kid, it’s not going to happen.”

Sero shook his head. “Jeez, I understand recaps, but we just want to hear what All Might said.”

Aldera Midoriya stood on the roof with All Might, about to ask the question. ‘Even if I’ll never have superpowers…’ he thought, and Bakugo’s words from earlier that day when his teacher casually revealed he wanted to go to U.A. too burned through his ears. ‘Even if everyone thinks I’m useless…’

“I’m sorry, Izuku,” Inko sobbed as she hugged her heartbroken child. “I wish things were different.”

‘Mom, that’s not what I needed you to say. Couldn’t you see?’

Uraraka held onto Deku’s wrist, swallowing the lump in her throat. This was still hard to watch. It seemed like everyone in Deku’s life had either deliberately or unintentionally worked to stamp out his dream of being a hero. Yes, he was sitting here next to her, but watching this made her heart ache for him.

I was supposed to put these feelings away, she thought, but seeing everything Deku went through, he’s even more amazing.

‘Despite everything, I still dream, and I have to know!’ He looked up to All Might as the pro walked away. “Is it possible to be a hero even if I don’t have a quirk? I’m a normal kid without any powers; could I ever hope to be someone like you?”

All Might steeled his expression into neutral. This episode was going to hurt, and it would surely impact his standing with the students after witnessing everything that Young Midoriya had gone through in his life up to this point. He only hoped that Young Midoriya was telling the truth, and that after he left him on that roof the boy truly didn’t have any thoughts of… ending it.

All Might stopped and half-turned to look back at Midoriya. “Without a quirk?” A jolt of yellow light flashed across the screen, and All Might jerked in pain.

“All Might?” Kaminari asked, looking on in worry as All Might hunched over, steam beginning to swirl all around his body.

“Oh no,” he whispered to himself. “Dammit! Not here!”

The screen returned to Midoriya, who was looking down despondently after finally asking his question, rambling on and trying to explain himself. “People think I don’t have a chance; that not having any powers makes me some kind of weakling. My classmates like to make fun of me. But you know what, that makes me want to prove them wrong. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve thought that saving people was the coolest thing you can do.”

His current classmates’ eyes were widening as Midoriya rambled into giving himself a pep talk, his eyes brightening and his smile returning to his face. Izuku placed his head in his hands in embarrassment. Looking at this again, he was so unobservant. His friends were asking the screen if All Might was okay, since the sight of him smoking was still so new to them they hadn’t realized that this was what happened every time he dropped out of muscle form yet.

“I want people to see my fearless smile and feel safe, and be the kind of hero everyone in the world looks up to. Just like you.”

The steam faded away to reveal All Might’s emaciated body standing right where Buff Might had been a few seconds ago. Midoriya’s face screwed up in shock as he wordlessly screamed in surprise.

“You knew!?” Uraraka gasped. Heads twisted and looked at Midoriya while Kamimoto started fast forwarding.

“...yeah, I kinda knew all along,” Izuku admitted, smiling sheepishly and glancing down at the green blanket.

“Did anyone else know?” Kendo asked.

“Just the teachers,” Izuku replied, “but I’m pretty sure the teachers knew that I knew about All Might.”

“What makes you say that, Midoriya?” Yaoyorozu asked. “Since almost nobody knew before Camino, why do you think the teachers would be aware of you knowing his secret?”

“The USJ,” Izuku answered. “After Shigaraki and Kurogiri warped away… actually, I think I’ll just wait until we get to that point.”

“Midoriya!” Ashido whined. “Tell us now!”

“Respect his decision, Ashido,” Iida reprimanded her. “Although I personally would like to know now, if we’ll see it anyway, then there’s no point in rushing it.”

“Phooey…”

Aizawa looked at All Might. “We never told Midoriya that we knew he knew about your time limit. How do you think he figured it out?”

All Might returned his look as Kamimoto stopped fast-forwarding through the intro, now showing the Tatooin Shopping District. “Ah, because of Cementoss. He blocked off both Midoriya and myself from the rest of the students and didn’t react to Midoriya having seen my true body. That’s probably how Midoriya deduced it.”

Zooming in on an alley in the shopping district, a pop bottle with green fluid inside of it suddenly opened a pair of eyes within the fluid.

“The sludge villain!” Tetsutetsu shouted. “How’d he get there?”

“It was probably Deku’s fault,” Bakugo answered, though he wasn’t shouting. “All Might had him loose in the pockets of his cargo pants, and then Deku hitched a ride. The bottle probably fell out when All Might was trying to push the damn hero nerd off.”

“Yeah, that’s probably when it happened,” Izuku admitted. He looked up at Bakugo. “For uh… for what it’s worth, I’m really sorry about that, Kacchan.”

Bakugo gave him the stink-eye for a moment before looking back at the screen. He and his two Aldera lackeys had come on screen. “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

Uraraka blinked while the rest of the students seemed a little stunned. That was… rather tame of Bakugo.

“Weren’t you and Midoriya good friends back when you were kids?” one of the peons asked Bakugo as the teen held a soft drink can he’d just finished draining the contents of.

“Yeah, you were a little harsh with him today,” said the other.

“Well, at least it looks like those two had a conscience, ribbit,” Asui remarked, Uraraka and Hagakure (invisibly) nodding.

“It’s his own fault for getting in my way,” Bakugo rationalized, kicking at the bottle in front of him. It slammed against a pole, the top popping off and some of the sludge spilling out.

“Yeah,” Jiro drawled sarcastically, “because sitting quietly in his own desk is totally getting in your way.”

“Shut it, Lobes!”

“And he’s back,” Tokoyami muttered.

Bakugo flashed back to what Midoriya was saying earlier at the start of school, about how he always wanted to be a hero since he was a little kid. “I may not have a quirk, but I can still try my hardest, can’t I?” His flashback ended, and Bakugo scowled as he gripped the base of the can.

“Someone’s gotta teach that worthless nerd how the world really works,” he growled, exploding the can. He threw the can away, saying, “I hate it when he talks heroes.”

Kirishima looked at Bakugo. It didn’t make sense. He was in the Hero Course. Why wouldn’t he want to talk heroes? Sure, Kirishima doubted that anyone in their class was as much a hero fanboy as Midoriya, but everyone had to have at least one hero as their idol and inspiration. He thought of asking Bakugo, but the slightly narrowed eyebrows and frown on his face as he reclined back on the couch made him think better of it. Maybe after they were done for the day he’d try to bring it up.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea. We should go to the arcade.” Bakugo looked at the toadie of his who suggested that. “Get your mind off it, y’know.”

“..fine,” Bakugo agreed.

The other spoke up with a bit of a sleazy tone. “Or we could sneak into the bar at the station. Pick up some ladies?”

“These guys are only fourteen, right?” Uraraka asked. “Isn’t that, like, a super dumb move?”

“They can only try it ‘cause they’re so tall,” Mineta griped. “Wish I wasn’t so short.”

Izuku smiled and tilted his head awkwardly as Bakugo immediately shot that idea down. “Well, nobody said they were the brightest.”

“So Bakugo was only concerned about it getting on his record?” Sero asked.

“Kind of a dumb reason if you ask me,” Jiro commented.

Both of Bakugo’s ‘friends’ reacted to something behind him, and Bakugo turned around to the sludge villain rising up. “Perfect! I like a skinsuit with some fire!” The teen’s eyes widened in what could be taken to be fear.

“Whoa,” Sato said. “Was Bakugo actually afraid?”

“The Hell I was!” Explosive Pomeranian violently denied as the title card popped up. “Any one of you losers would have wet your pants and died if you were there!”

Episode 2: What It Takes to Be a Hero

Midoriya screaming on the rooftop was where the scene cut to.

A few people couldn’t help but chuckle or giggle. “Damn, Midoriya,” Jiro laughed. “Were you screaming that whole time? You must have some lung capacity.”

“I suppose that is how anyone would first react to seeing what you truly looked like,” Kayama said with a faint smile as she looked at her colleague.

Midoriya was freaking out as the camera panned up with a close-up of All Might’s weakened form. “I… wait… who? What happened? You deflated!”

His classmates were laughing again, and Izuku tried to hide in his seat and keep the grin from his face. Yeah, yeah, watching him react like this was pretty funny.

Midoriya looked right and left. “Where’d All Might go? You! You’re not him! You’re a fake, an imposter!”

“He really didn’t think it was you?” Aizawa asked.

All Might grinned. “Well, would fourteen year-old you?”

“I’m not a fair comparison, but that’s a fair point.”

After sighing, All Might opened his mouth. “I assure you that I am All Mi—” his words were interrupted as blood poured out of his mouth.

As Midoriya freaked out again, Asui looked up. “Are you okay, sir?”

“I’m quite all right, or should I say, All Might, Young Asui,” he replied. “That’s normal for me. You’ll see why in a sec.”

Kamimoto groaned and smacked her head on the back of her desk chair while Aldera Izuku shouted that that was impossible. “And I thought we weren’t going to get to that joke until season 5.”

“You know how guys at the pool are always sucking in and flexing and trying to look buff?” All Might asked, pointing towards an animated visual aid as he wiped his mouth. “I’m like that.”

“So you’re trying to say that you going from tiny to buff is just flexing?” Mineta shouted. “What kind of monster muscles do you have, All Might?”

“No, I’m dreaming…” Midoriya uttered, looking like his soul was leaving his body after his entire world was knocked off-kilter.

Uraraka giggled. “I guess I’d look that way too if I ever learned what Thirteen actually looked like under her space suit.”

“...all obstacles and wins the day with a fearless smile,” Midoriya pronounced with a wobbly voice, as if trying to reassure himself of what his truth was. All Might sighed.

“There’s plenty of fear behind that smile,” he revealed. The man sat down by the railing near the edge of the roof and looked calmly at Midoriya.

The levity died down. They could all tell that what All Might was about to say was going to be serious. All Might himself sighed and got his face back into neutral. The words he regretted with all his heart were coming up soon, but given the way things turned out in the end, perhaps those words were necessary. For Izuku to still act like he did, even after his hero told him ‘no’, it proved that he truly did have the heart necessary, that he was the only one who could ever have become his successor.

That didn’t make what he did to the poor boy any less cruel, though.

“I’m counting on you to keep your mouth shut. Don’t go talking about this online or telling your friends.” Midoriya looked at All Might as the hero said that, still unsure, and then there was the quick sound of fabric moving and the middle-schooler flinched in horror and disgust.

All Might was shown sitting, lifting up the left side of his shirt. A gruesome scar was about halfway up the left side of his chest, lines of scar tissue like a spiderweb of pavement cracks leading out from it.

None of the students had seen that scar before, and it caused them to gasp or clutch at their mouths as their stomachs turned.

“All Might…” Ashido whimpered.

“There’s a villain that could do that to him?” Mineta whispered.

“That’s… unreal,” Shoji was at a loss.

“No,” Uraraka squeaked, while Iida uttered, “All Might, you can’t.”

“Pretty gross, right? I got this in a big fight five years back. My respiratory system was basically destroyed, and I lost my whole stomach. All of the surgeries have pretty much worn me out, and it can’t be fixed. Right now I can only do hero work for about three hours a day; the rest of the time, this is what I look like.”

“Only three hours?” Kendo asked. “How did he manage to teach us all day then?”

“Five years ago?” Midoriya asked. “So does that mean it was the fight with Toxic Chainsaw?”

“Wow, you know your stuff,” All Might replied, impressed.

“I would just like to point out that only Midoriya could pull off an All Might fact like that from the top of his head,” Jiro stated.

“Really?” Tetsutetsu asked.

“Yeah,” Kirishima replied. “Whoever has Midoriya on their team on Hero Trivia nights basically always wins by a landslide, so we’ve kinda banned him from playing.”

“Most of the world has never heard of this fight,” All Might explained. “I did everything I could to keep it under wraps. I’m supposed to be the guy who’s always smiling, right? I’m the Symbol of Peace. People everywhere have to think that I’m never afraid, but honestly, I smile to hide the fear inside. It’s just a brave face I put on when the pressure’s high. This job isn’t easy.” Midoriya was hanging on to every word All Might said. The number one hero looked back at the young man in front of him, giving him a very serious expression. “Pro heroes are always having to risk their lives. Some villains just can’t be beaten without powers.”

“He didn’t…” Uraraka whispered, her body turning to ice beneath the warmth of the blankets. She shook her head, not wanting to hear All Might’s next sentence.

“So can you be a hero? Not without a quirk.”

Kayama turned her gaze to All Might, the retired pro’s stony expression not meeting hers. “You told him that?”

“All Might,” Aizawa grumbled, “you have some serious explaining to do.”

Ashido held her hand up by her mouth. “No way… Midori… he said…”

“After everything you’d been through, to hear him say that?” Sero questioned. “Right to your face?”

Bakugo was silent. After hearing All Might say those words to Deku, he thought he’d feel some form of vindication; that everything he’d done to keep Deku down and in his place as a worthless bystanding pebble on the side of the road was justified, but instead he just felt empty.

He hated it.

Forcing himself to snarl, Bakugo snapped, “Serves you right, ya damn nerd. Even All Might said your Quirkless ass was useless!”

“That’s not what he said, Bakugo,” Todoroki rebutted. “If you listened properly, you would have heard All Might tell Midoriya to be a police officer. They also have an important and difficult job, but without the usual dangers of fighting the deadliest villains.”

Hatsume leaned forward to look directly at Midoriya’s couch as All Might nearly reached the roof access door. “That’s fine, Midoriya! You’re pretty smart. Come to the Support Course. We’ll make all sorts of babies together and we don’t care about quirks.”

“Hatsume!” Iida gasped.

She giggled. “C’mon, it’ll be fun! We need hero-obsessed brainiacs in there!”

“You do know he’s in the Hero Course already, right?” Tokoyami asked.

“He can always transfer!”

“...I suppose that’s true…”

All Might stopped at the door to the roof access. Fortunately it was unlocked. “It’s not bad to have a dream, young man. Just make sure that your dreams are attainable, realistic, understand?” He walked through the door, closing it behind him.

Izuku could feel Uraraka shaking next to him. She seemed almost as angry now as she did earlier whenKacchan had been bullying him. “All Miiight…” he heard her growl under her breath. Realizing that she was about to do something dumb, Izuku placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Uraraka, wait. Don’t blame All Might for this!”

“But Deku,” she whispered, looking at him, eyes once again wet, “you heard him. He smashed your dream.”

“But he was right,” Izuku reasoned. “And he didn’t know me. He didn’t know my story. I was just some random quirkless fanboy who wanted to be a hero. All Might didn’t want me to walk a path that could very likely kill me. He was trying to protect me.”

She frowned at him, and slowly turned her attention back to the screen. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

The insides of All Might’s pockets dropped from limp fingers as he stared out the stairwell window at the smoke rising in the distance. “Not good.”

Midoriya was still standing outside in the same spot he’d been in when All Might left him just seconds ago. An explosion sounded in the distance, and the teen looked up to see a cloud of smoke. “A villain? I wonder which hero will show!”

Aizawa narrowed his eyes. There he goe—

“Some villains just can’t be beaten without powers,” Midoriya stopped, a conflicted expression on his face as he remembered the words All Might had just spoken to him. “So can you be a hero? Not without a quirk.”

Thought that prematurely, Aizawa sighed as he watched Midoriya slowly and despondently head to the door to walk down the stairs.

“Aw man,” Kaminari rubbed his hands, watching All Might struggle to hurry through the streets to the scene, “this music’s intense. It’s giving me the creeps.”

“That’s how you know it’s good,” Jiro replied.

“Yes, it does fit the scene well,” Iida agreed. Opposite him, Uraraka stealthily grabbed Midoriya’s hand under the blanket.

“No matter what All Might said,” she told him quietly, giving his hand a soft squeeze. “I believe you could have become a hero, even without a quirk.”

Izuku felt a lump in his throat, but didn’t answer her. The worst was over now. Everything would be going uphill from here.

Ashido looked between Midoriya and Uraraka, and started grinning like a cat. Oh, I see, Ochaco. It was Midori after all.

Civilians in the Tatooin shopping district were screaming as they tried to run away. Flames danced on the ground as the signs of shops collapsed. Death Arms and two other pro heroes that hadn’t been introduced by name arrived to survey the scene, standing behind a pair of police officers. The sludge villain was in the middle of the street, surrounded by flames and looking quite monstrous as he held Bakugo in his fluid body. The camera zoomed in on Bakugo, struggling against the bonds that held him.

“Bakugo!” Kirishima yelped.

“I’m here, dumbass,” Bakugo reminded him.

“Yeah, but…”

“Just shut up and watch. It’ll take more than that sludge bastard to stop me.”

“How dare you prey on a child!” Death Arms shouted as he leapt in and punched the villain.

“Way to go, Death Arms!” Sato cheered, pumping his fist.

Jiro cracked a smile. “That’s gotta hurt. Death Arms’ punches are like wrecking balls.”

“But the villain’s made of goo,” Hatsume pointed out, “so his fist’s probably just going to sink right in.”

Just as Hatsume said, Death Arms’ punch sunk into the body of the villain, and he looked at it in surprise as he tried to pull back out. “What the hell is this? Some kind of goo?” The sludge villain lashed out, whipping Death Arms back. The Punching Hero slammed into the shutters of a closed shop, his back and shoulders denting them with the force of the impact.

“Brute strength will not be the solution here,” Tokoyami said with a frown.

“But All Might’s the hero who saves the day, right?” Mineta asked. “And he’s all about brute strength! We’ve already seen him do it!”

“Hang on, Mineta,” Kirishima reminded them. “There was also that kid who ran out just before All Might showed up.”

“Stay back or I’ll snap his neck,” the villain taunted the heroes.

Bakugo wrenched his mouth free from his captor, roaring in anger. “You picked the wrong guy to mess with! I’m gonna send you back to whatever sewer you crawled out of!” Explosions came from Bakugo’s sludge-covered hands as he struggled against the villain’s hold. “Let me gooo!!”

Large blasts rocked the shopping district, Bakugo doing everything he could to break free.

Kirishima clapped Bakugo on the shoulder. “Hey man, good job. That’s really manly of you.”

“The hell are you talking about, sh*tty Hair?” Bakugo asked. He gestured back up at the screen, where it was showing him still being captive. “See, it didn’t do anything, just dried him out a little around my palms.”

“Yeah, but not everybody could struggle against him like that,” Kirishima reminded him. “Remember what happened when he found Midoriya? He was being suffocated and taken over in a matter of seconds.”

“Don’t compare me to that quirkless weakling,” Bakugo huffed. “You can’t compare a stick of dynamite to a toy water pistol.”

“...quirk like yours under my control, I can take All Might down with one punch.”

Yaoyorozu sighed. “He’s certainly overestimating Bakugo’s explosions. He and Midoriya fought All Might for their final exam.”

“They did?” Kendo asked, surprised. “What happened?”

“Bakugo’s explosions barely phased him. With this Bakugo still in middle school it’d be even less likely to even scratch All Might.”

The crowd began cheering as Mt. Lady made her way to the scene, but the pro had to stop as a distraught expression took over her face. “My only weakness!” she lamented, withdrawing her spandex-clad foot. “I need at least a two lane road if I’m going to make my way through here!”

“So… shrink?” Jiro suggested. The hearing hero in training looked at Midoriya. “She can shrink and go giant at will, right?”

“From what I’ve seen, yes,” Izuku replied. “But this was the same day as Mt. Lady’s debut. I don’t think she’s an U.A. alumnus, but the school she went to definitely didn’t teach her how to apply all the uses of her gigantification quirk to their fullest. And even if she had shrunk, she still would have needed to go giant again, and I’m not sure if she can modulate her size or her metamorphosis is basically “go giant or bust”. If this situation was a problem for her then she probably could have spent more time as a sidekick or stuck to a rural area, since being in a crowded city like Musutafu with lots of small shopping districts and alleyways is…”

“Ah,” Kendo whispered to Yaoyorozu, “so this is the famous Midoriya mutter in action. I’ve only seen him do it once before.” Yaoyorozu giggled.

Backdraft was busy trying to put out the fires that had sprouted all over the district due to Bakugo’s explosions. “I’ve got my hands full here. Where are those fire trucks? Can you guys get to him?”

“Can’t get a grip on his weird body,” Death Arms answered, standing in front of Slugger. “Plus that kid’s quirk is causing explosions left and right!”

“This is a shutout,” Slugger stated, watching the villain carefully. “We’ve got to rally and knock him out of the park somehow.”

The villain got a better handle on Bakugo and lashed out at the heroes again, Slugger and Death Arms dodging out of the way. “It’s no good! None of us have the right quirks to stop a villain like this!”

“We’ll do damage control until someone with the right powers shows up.”

“This is disgraceful,” Aizawa muttered, glaring at the screen as Backdraft and Kamui Woods continued fighting the fires and getting civilians to safety.

Kayama nodded. “Yes, there does seem to be a fair amount of wasted effort.”

“Yes,” Nezu agreed. “Rescuing the hostage should be their top priority above defeating the villain. While Death Arms may not have the strength to defeat the sludge villain on his own, he should be strong enough to wrest Bakugo from his grasp.” Nezu climbed off of Midnight’s lap and stood on the back of the couch, hopping over the railing. “Miss Kamimoto, may I ask you to pause the video for a minute?”

The red-haired woman almost fell out of her seat in a fluster with a quiet shriek. “Oh! Sure, Principal Nezu! Of course. We may end up running over time, though, but sure.” She tapped her remote just as All Might arrived.

The students craned their heads or turned to look up at the principal as he climbed on top of the railing, standing on the metal barricade with perfect balance. “Listen up, students, I’ve just thought of a wonderful assignment for you all.”

AN ASSIGNMENT!?

Oh God, this really is going to be like class, Kaminari realized.

He’s really going to spring homework on us like this? Tetsutetsu thought.

Nooo!!! I wanted to go swim in the ocean! Ashido mentally cried.

Smiling at their shocked expressions, Nezu held up a paw. “I will allow this to be a group project, based on those people you are currently sharing seats with. Given the situation currently presented, with a villain made of an uncertain goo who has taken a child with an explosion quirk hostage in a crowded shopping district, and with the heroes we have seen present, Death Arms, Backdraft, Mt. Lady, Kamui Woods, Slugger, and The Hero Formerly Known As Prince; please devise a strategy for how to rescue the hostage and/or defeat the villain.”

“Seriously?” Uraraka exclaimed. “You’re asking us to come up with a strategy when even the pros couldn’t?”

“Why are you complaining, Uraraka!?” Kaminari retorted. “You’ve got the walking Hero/Quirk Encyclopedia Midoriya and the class rep in your group! Midoriya, you’ve gotta come to my couch! I don’t want to fail in front of the principal again!”

“The strategy that the heroes chose of waiting for someone with a more “suitable” quirk to arrive is also a viable strategy,” Aizawa stated. “If you are honestly stumped, then you can choose that one. As All Might said earlier in the episode to Midoriya, some villains cannot be beaten without powers. If your quirk isn’t suitable to fight the villain you’re up against, then choosing to retreat or work damage control and work within your abilities isn’t a bad idea.”

“I look forward to hearing your solutions to this problem when we return from lunch before starting the last two episodes on today’s list,” Nezu said. “Have fun.” He turned back to Kamimoto. “You may continue, Miss Kamimoto. I apologize for the disruption”

“Oh no,” she said, waving him off, “it’s fine. That’s the kind of thing this whole deal is for anyway.” She resumed the episode, several of the students now panicking internally as they watched the episode continue.

All Might gasped as he caught sight of the sludge villain through the crowd of onlookers behind the police line. ‘Must’ve dropped him in the air. I was distracted, worrying about my time limit. I can’t believe I made such a rookie mistake after lecturing that kid about what it takes to be a hero. I’m pathetic!’

Hearing All Might’s thoughts like this was like a sting to Izuku’s heart. Learning that his idol blamed himself for this situation was more difficult than he could bear. “No! It was my fault, All Might!”

All Might chuckled and turned a warm eye to him. “No, Young Midoriya, this one’s on me. I’m the pro; you were a middle school student. Letting myself get distracted is my mistake, not yours.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Midoriya,” Iida encouraged him. “All Might is correct. As difficult as it is to accept, you must let others take responsibility for their own mistakes or actions. You cannot shoulder the burden of blame entirely on yourself.”

“Iida’s right,” Uraraka agreed, still holding Deku’s hand and giving it another reassuring squeeze. “Besides, we need that big brain of yours to focus on a strategy for beating the sludge villain!”

Aldera Midoriya walked down the street, eyes focused on his hero notebook and missing the anxious looks of the other people on the street walking in the opposite direction. The screen showed a close-up of the page opened on his hero notebook as Bakugo’s friends’ voices echoed in his mind. Kamui Woods’ page was open, showing his notes on the hero on the right and a drawing of him on the left. He flipped the page, revealing a spread of Mt. Lady and his current notes on her.

“Hold up! You can draw Midori?” Ashido exclaimed.

“That’s really impressive,” Aoyama said while Izuku nodded. “I’d hope your drawing of me catches my sparkle.”

“You only saw Mt. Lady once and you drew a picture of her that good?” Kaminari asked. “That’s some serious talent.”

“I told you guys, it was just a hobby,” Izuku replied, blushing as he suddenly started receiving praise. “I’m really not that good at it.”

“What are you talking about?” Hagakure asked. “Those drawings are amazing, Midoriya! I never knew you had that kind of hidden talent.”

Tokoyami nodded. “Do not sell yourself short, Midoriya,” he said. “It is quite a skill. Look at Midnight.” Izuku did as he said.

Midnight was staring at him, smile wide and eyes big and bright. She held out her arm and gave him a big thumbs-up, as expected of his hero art history teacher.

Uraraka could only stare at the notebook as the page flipped over to All Might’s signature. So… Deku thinks Mt. Lady is sexy, huh?

Tears were in his eyes as he closed the notebook. ‘Even All Might said it. A hero needs a quirk. Don’t cry, dammit. Deep down, you knew this all along. You’ve just been avoiding reality. That’s why you were trying so desperately to prove yourself wrong.’

“So that explains it,” Aizawa muttered.

“Explains what, Aizawa?” All Might asked.

“Why Midoriya wasn’t actively doing anything to try to become a hero despite his quirklessness,” he answered as Kayama and Nezu looked at him. He could see Tetsutetsu and Kirishima glance back at him, but he didn’t care if they heard his rationalization. “Not all quirks are exactly physical manifestations. Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, and Togata of the Big Three in 3-B come to mind. None of them have quirks to give any sort of enhanced physical strength or direct means of fighting a villain. Any of them would be going into combat against a villain at an inherent disadvantage, especially if they had a combat oriented quirk like Bakugo’s. Uraraka compensated for that by learning martial arts from Gunhead, Yaoyorozu from expanding her mind to create what’s necessary for the situation and training with weapons she can create, and Togata through intense physical training and experience from his work study with Sir Nighteye. If Midoriya truly wanted to be a hero even without a quirk, he could have trained his body and learned martial arts or became skilled in weapons. At least then he could have attempted the entrance exam with at least some confidence and pride.

“However, this Midoriya,” he narrowed his eyes as the onscreen Midoriya watched helplessly at the back of the crowd, “he convinced himself deep down that it wasn’t possible to become a hero without a quirk, and his “hobby” was just an escapist fantasy against the reality he had constructed. Likely influenced by his environment. Being called “useless” every day for eleven years probably reinforced the internalized belief that it was impossible to become a hero. Becoming a hero fanboy and analyzing their quirks because it was something he could never be and never have was probably his only way to attempt to rage against the truth he held in his heart.

“Which now brings the question,” Aizawa continued, still staring at the screen as the show revealed Midoriya’s and All Might’s self-deprecating apologies to the abducted Bakugo. The students were watching with apprehension, all except for Bakugo, if his prediction was correct. “If he’s fourteen now and still quirkless, when did his quirk manifest? Given the context of the scene, Midoriya was likely the child that will run in in a few seconds. Is this when he first discovers he can use Superpower?”

‘Someone… a real hero will come soon,’ Midoriya prayed, his hands covering his mouth to try to prevent the sickness in his throat from escaping. Bakugo, straining against the sludge villain, cast his eyes out, for once showing the depths of the fear he was truly feeling, and met Midoriya’s for just an instant. He choked on his breath.

Midoriya’s notebook dropped to the ground right before it showed the youth running right at the villain as the music swelled.

“Deku!” “Midoriya!” “Were you nuts!?” “Midoriya!” “Go Midori!” “This is crazy!” “Holy crap, Midoriya! That was you!? That's so manly!” “He’s going to kill you!” “You're insane, Midoriya!” “Midoriya!”

“No you idiot!” Death Arms yelled after him. “Stop! You’re going to get yourself killed!”

“And I was right,” Aizawa stated.

“You’re smiling,” Kayama teased.

Aizawa hid his mouth behind his capture scarf. “Prove it.”

‘Deku?’ Bakugo realized, his fading vision just barely catching sight of the boy racing towards him.

'What am I doing? Why am I running? Why can’t I stop!?’

“And it’s official,” Ojiro teased with a faint smile. “Not even Midoriya understands Midoriya.”

“That’s ‘cause Deku’s got the heart of a true hero, through and through!” Uraraka praised, watching with a smile. I bet this is when his quirk finally comes in!

‘What do I do? What would a hero do right now?’ His mind flashed to the notebook he’d dropped, to the page with Kamui Woods and his notes on the hero’s ultimate move. ‘Page 25! Right!’ Midoriya swept his backpack off and threw it at the villain, the open zipper letting its contents spill out. “Take this!” His All Might pencil case struck the villain in its eye, eliciting a yelp of pain from the monster. That distracted him enough for Midoriya to get close, and the boy started scrambling with his arms, trying to dig the fluid away from Bakugo. “Kacchan!”

“What the Hell? Why are you here!?”

“Saving your life, duh,” Jiro answered.

“Do you really have those notebooks memorized, Midoriya?” Sato inquired.

“Sorry, I know it’s weird,” Izuku said bashfully.

“You only think that because Bakugo bullied you for it,” Uraraka disagreed.

“Yeah man,” Kaminari agreed. “And if you hadn’t, old Explosion Boy over here may not be here.”

“Shut your trap, Sparky,” Bakugo retorted. “I was just fine.”

“...know! My legs, they just started moving!”

“You are something else, Midoriya,” Ojiro said with a half-hearted chuckle.

“I don’t know why I did what I did,” Narrator Midoriya stated as the words that had put him down or discouraged him flashed through his mind. “Maybe it was the look on his face.”

“Kacchan…” Midoriya answered with a wobbly attempt at a smile and empathetic tears flooding his eyes. “I couldn’t just stand there and watch you die!”

All Might gasped.

“GET THE HELL OFF ME!”

All Might’s body slowly started to expand, steam pouring off of him, like his body was rejecting what All Might was forcing it to do. ‘I have to do something, no matter the cost!’

Everyone was watching with rapt attention, some of them holding their breath. The scene was intense, the music filling their ears and their hearts as the pressure was high.

“Just a little bit longer kid,” the sludge villain told Bakugo, trying to get him under control again. He returned his attention to Midoriya. “And I’m done playing with you!” He raised one thick slimy tentacle, prepared to squash the scrawny teen.

“Save the boy!” Death Arms shouted as he and the other heroes finally lunged forward. “This thing will kill him!”

“Deku!” “Midoriya!”

“Oh my,” Kayama giggled. “The kids sure are getting excited, aren’t they?”

“This kid…” Aizawa grumbled.

The villain’s arm sung down and an explosion filled the street, obscuring everyone’s view. The smoke cleared, Midoriya on the ground and decidedly not crushed by the villain’s attack.

“I really am pathetic.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Sato crowed as the screen showed buff All Might standing above Midoriya, blocking the sludge villain with his arm.

“I told you the traits that make a great champion, but I see now I wasn’t living up to my own ideals!” All Might broke his arm free from the sludge villain’s appendage he’d blocked. “Pros are always risking their lives!” All Might declared with blood spewing from his mouth. He grabbed Bakugo, ready to rip him free. “That’s the true test of a hero!”

“Damn you, All Might!” shouted the villain as he tried to attack the Symbol of Peace.

All Might countered, rearing his fist back for an uppercut while getting Bakugo to safety. “DETROOOIT SMAAASH!"

His punch blasted apart the villain’s body, scattering the sludge everywhere as the wind pressure knocked almost everyone back. Mt. Lady struggled to keep the bystanders all safe in her arms as gale-force winds battered them all. The music that had started when Midoriya ran in ended, everything calming down.

“All Might’s the greatest!” Mineta shouted, his cheer just one of many at the conclusion to the battle. Uraraka was rocking Izuku back and forth in excitement, eyes still on the screen. Kirishima wrapped his arm around Bakugo’s shoulders and neck.

Rain started to fall. Everyone looked up, commenting on the rain and how the clouds were moving. Death Arms dropped his gaze to All Might, the mighty pro standing tall and wiping his mouth with his chin. “Holy crap… he changed the weather.”

“But now the clouds will cover up his shining sparkle,” Aoyama said.

“Such power with a single attack,” Tokoyami stated.

“Aw…” Hatsume pouted. “Not one of my babies has that kinda power.” She started giggling under her breath. “Guess I’ll just have to try harder!”

The students’ hearts swelled with admiration as All Might’s theme music started up again as the hero raised his fist in victory and the crowd began cheering. It was over with a single punch, but it was a phenomenal thing to witness. Watching it happen in the format of a show just made the event resonate even more with them.

“Midoriya, I’m getting curious,” Asui spoke up as she turned to him. “You were just in a seriously stressful situation. We know how strong your quirk is. If it was going to manifest, wouldn’t it have been now?”

“Well, uh, this was still about ten months before the entrance exam,” Izuku replied. “I had it by the time of the exam, but me telling you now would just spoil things.”

“So you’re saying you got into even bigger danger!?” Uraraka gasped. She started shaking him. “Deku! Are you a trouble junkie!? Stop giving us all heart attacks!”

“You moron! Do you have a death wish!?”

The class looked away from him at Kamui Wood’s scolding voice.

Midoriya flinched under the gazes of Kamui Woods and Death Arms. “There was absolutely no reason for you to put yourself in danger like that!”

“I got chewed out by the heroes, big time,” he narrated, “while Kacchan was praised for his bravery.”

Todoroki frowned as the other pro hyped up the boy’s quirk and told him to become his sidekick, leaning back while folding his arms over his chest. “Iida, Midoriya.” The two looked back at him. “Wouldn’t you say that this qualifies as uncertified quirk usage?”

Izuku looked back at the screen, watching the pro praise Bakugo. “Hey, you’re right. This is bullsh*t!”

“Deku!” Uraraka gasped. She wasn’t the only one. Hearing something like that come from Midoriya’s mouth was unprecedented.

“Language, Midoriya!” Yaoyorozu scolded him.

“You’re not allowed to swear!” Ashido complained. “You’re too pure!”

“No, I agree,” Iida stated, folding his arms. “The disparity between Bakugo’s experience and our own is striking. It reeks of hypocrisy.”

“I think I’m missing some context here,” Hatsume said.

“The Hero—“

“Talk later!” Kamimoto snapped. “This part’s really important!” Frowning at their attendant’s instructions, the students returned their attention to the screen.

‘...send him a message through his website when I get home,’ Midoriya decided, walking home from the incident and determined to apologize to All Might for his reckless action, since the hero was still surrounded by reporters.

“Deku!”

“Bakugo?” Shoji asked. “What’s he doing there?”

“Seeing how he told Midoriya to jump off the school roof I doubt it’s to thank him for trying to save his life,” Kendo predicted.

Bakugo was shaking as he started to talk, bringing a vitriolic expression to his face, like he even hated what he was telling Midoriya. “Listen, I would never ask for a weakling like you to help me. Don’t think you can look down on me! Huh, Got that!? I was fine by myself. You’re just a quirkless failure who won’t even cut it as a rent-a-cop. You didn’t help me; you did nothing! Don’t forget it!" Bakugo turned around and started angrily stomping away with a sulking pout and a parting bark. “I don’t owe you anything!”

“It’s kinda telling that that reaction’s not surprising at all, ribbit,” Asui said.

“Indeed,” agreed Tokoyami with a sage nod of his head.

"Dude! He risked his life to give you a few seconds of breath before All Might swooped in!" Tetsutetsu barked. "Was a simple "thanks you crazy idiot" so hard?"

"Shut up you damn extra."

Tetsutetsu grunted. "I've gotta say, though, fighting through all that was gutsy."

‘...actually did anything to help today,’ Midoriya thought with a small smile, ‘but at least I tried. Guess now I should get back to giving up on my dreams.’

Uraraka frowned and opened her mouth, but before she could…

All Might zoomed onto the scene from behind an alley! “I am here!” The man’s theme music started up again as Midoriya once again began freaking out at the sudden appearance of the Number One in the billboard charts.

“All Might! Where’d you come from? How’d you get rid of all those reporters?”

All Might laughed in reply. “I stand for justice, not sound bytes!”

Kayama smiled and looked at him. “Oh really?”

“That’s a shocker,” Aizawa commented with a sarcastic deadpan. As All Might flexed and then instantly deflated, spewing blood, the students’ reaction was mixed. Some laughed, some looked concerned, and some were torn between whether they should be worried or should laugh.

“Sir, you don’t suppose there’s a baby I could whip up to help you with that?” Hatsume asked with a big grin. “I’ll gladly take on an extra credit project!”

“Thank you, Young Hatsume,” All Might replied, “but it’s all right. I have it handled these days.”

All Might wiped away the blood from his mouth with his hand. “Young man, I came here to thank you, but also to discuss your question from earlier.” Midoriya looked up, surprised by the words All Might said. “If you hadn’t told me about your life, if you hadn’t run into that fight, I would have been a worthless bystander watching from the crowd. So thanks.”

“Oh! No!” Midoriya’s hands flailed as he tried to turn it down. “It was my fault he was there to begin with. I got in the way of your hard work.” The boy looked away meekly, uncomfortable being praised when he figured he was at fault. “I wasted your energy, and, not to mention, your time.”

“Mido—”

“Shh!” Izuku interrupted Iida with a raised finger. Iida looked back.

“I’m not done,” All Might countered. “You told me you didn’t have a power. So when I saw this timid, quirkless boy try to save a life, it inspired me to act too.” Midoriya brought his gaze up to All Might’s face, and truly saw the serious expression of his hero.

“There are stories about every hero,” stated the awe-inspiring man in front of him. “How they became great. Most have one thing in common.” The show flashed back to Midoriya bursting through the crowd to rush the sludge villain. “Their bodies moved before they had a chance to think… almost on their own.” Midoriya gave a soft gasp at the words All Might said. He could almost see it coming, the words he’d so desperately wanted to hear for his entire life.

“C’mon, All Might,” Sero urged.

“Say it!” Ashido began to quietly cheer, bouncing her fists up and down in anticipation. “Say it!”

“For some reason,” Midoriya narrated, the boy’s body trembling with pent-up emotion, “I remembered my mother’s words in that moment.”

“I’m sorry, Izuku. I wish things were different.”

Clutching his chest, Midoriya’s body started to fold inwards as tears overcame him.

The students were crying as well. Izuku couldn’t hold back his own tears. Revisiting this moment, one of if not the greatest moment of his life, he was almost biting through his bottom lip as he tried to contain himself.

“And today… that’s what happened to you.”

Kayama dabbed at her eyes. The soft emotional music was causing runny eyes, noses, and sniffles throughout the theatre for all but the most hardened and stoic.

So only Aizawa, Bakugo, and Todoroki were not blowing their noses.

Kirishima wept. “Oh man, this is so manly… All Might.”

“You did good, All Might,” Nezu said, patting him on the knee. “I don’t normally react like this, but…”

Framed by the setting sun, All Might standing in front of the boy wracked with emotion, his weakened form making the effect even more meaningful, since it was coming from the true form of the man who knew the dangers of being a hero, and not the persona he publicly displayed. “Young man… you too can become a hero.”

Uraraka and Iida both wrapped Izuku in a hug as the three friends sobbed, so emotional at hearing the words the green bean in the centre had longed to hear all his life being said to him by the greatest hero in the world. A faint smile came to Todoroki’s lips and he started clapping, and soon almost everyone was clapping and cheering.

“Midoriya’s saying something!” Hagakure shouted, her extended sleeve revealing that she was pointing back up at the still image on the screen.

“…a reality. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that this is the story of how I became the greatest hero.”

A vein popped in Bakugo’s forehead. “THE HELL YOU ARE, CHOSEN ONE!” he raged. “I already told you that I’M going to surpass you!”

Izuku set his face into a bit of snarky determination as Kamimoto sped through the outro. “And I told you that I’d go even higher than that! This just proves it!”

“OH HELL NO! I’m gonna blow whatever future this show shows us away! I’ll be the indisputable top hero of all time!”

“Keep dreaming, Kacchan,” Izuku fired back, rubbing his nose.

Aizawa glanced between the two like he was watching a tennis match. Midoriya’s giving him sass? This is a new development.

Kayama sighed with pleasure. “Oh I just love youthful enthusiasm like this.”

“You okay?” Kendo placed her hand on Yaoyorozu’s shoulder as her fellow Uwabami intern clutched her head.

“Midoriya!” she snapped. “I still don’t understand. We’ve watched two episodes so far, and even though it’s all been a single day’s events, we still haven’t seen when you manifest your quirk. When did you get Superpower?”

“Yeah man,” Tetsutetsu said. “It’s gotta be sometime soon, right? We all saw that crazy power you had at the Sports Festival.”

Midoriya looked up at the screen, “Well it should—”

“Too late! No time! Starting now!” Kamimoto shouted, interrupting Midoriya before he could even say it should be coming up any minute now.

Chapter 4: Izuku Gets Super Buff Once All Might's Through With Him

Chapter Text

A bright red star illuminated the foreground, a figure that was clearly All Might standing in front of it, causing his form to be shadowed in black as his shadow stretched out across the scene. Midoriya’s narration began as the show did a close-up feature and visual representation of his popularity via merchandizing. “The world’s most popular hero: All Might. Age: Unknown. Quirk: Unidentified.”

“Now that I think about it,” Kaminari wondered, “do we even know All Might?”

“True,” Kendo agreed. “Hearing it from an über-fan like Midoriya, didn’t we just take All Might for granted?”

Kayama giggled and looked at her seatmate. “Really, All Might? Not even letting people know your age?”

He coughed.

“I never really thought about it before,” Iida brought up as a graph that showed the drop in national crime rates of Japan was displayed, “but seeing such empirical evidence of how All Might’s presence truly was a deterrent to crime is inspirational. We must all work hard to live up to his example.”

“Class rep’s getting fired up,” Mineta teased.

“‘Course he is,” Sero chuckled. “He saw a graph.”

Izuku and Uraraka weren’t the only ones who giggled as Iida felt embarrassed.

“They don’t just call him the symbol of peace,” Narrator Midoriya praised as a small flock of doves flew past a statue of All Might in a random city, “it’s what he is. And this pillar of justice said to me…”

The scene changed to an artistic depiction of the end of the previous episode, a deflated All Might standing in front of a kneeling, sobbing Midoriya as the hero’s voice stated, “Young man… you too can become a hero.”

Todoroki watched as onscreen Midoriya wept while the words of his detractors and doubters echoed in his mind. Midoriya… our circ*mstances are nothing alike, but you really had it rough too. I’ll need to thank you again for meddling.

His eyes widened with a flash. Meddling? Wait, if this is Midoriya’s story, then it’s going to show the Sports Festival, and likely our chat. All of Midoriya’s secrets are being divulged, so it’s likely that my own will be too. He glanced back to his left at the teachers. I don’t want this to become a big deal. Maybe I should tell the faculty before we get to that point.

“I needed someone to tell me that, and then… the person I admire most in this world did. Honestly, part of me never thought I’d hear those words, much less from him.”

Here it comes, Izuku thought, gulping. He trusted his classmates; he really, really did, but he couldn’t help but sweat and get nervous. He’d never had any real friends before, besides Kacchan, and he hadn’t even been a real friend since they were four. His quirklessness and Kacchan’s charisma and forceful personality had prevented that from happening. While they’d all been supportive so far, would they turn on him now? Would they think that him being given his quirk by All Might was his way of cheating his way into UA?

Ninety-nine percent of him said that those thoughts were rubbish, but the problem was that he was too busy listening to the one percent that said it was possible that he’d lose everything he’d gained since starting UA in the next few minutes.

Uraraka felt the hand she was holding tremble, and she smiled slightly while giving it just a light squeeze.

All Might held out his hands and proclaimed, “I deem you worthy of my power. My Quirk is yours to inherit.”

Uraraka’s hand clenched. She, like many others, had her eyes resemble those of a fish as the words All Might just said stuck in her brain. What…? In...herit?

Izuku surgically removed his hand from Uraraka’s grip and leaned forward as Kamimoto didn’t just fast forward through the intro, but this time completely skipped it. He tried to catch Yaoyorozu’s eye. It wasn’t hard. Almost everyone had turned their gazes to him. It almost felt like during the Sports Festival after his one million point value had been announced. Izuku gulped. This was a secret he had been keeping for so long, it only having been shared with Kacchan, Recovery Girl, and the principal. To say that he was nervous was the understatement of the century. After all, this was the nature of All Might's, now his, quirk. This was like a national security level secret. All Might didn't even tell him if people in government or the Hero Public Safety Commission knew the truth.

But he could trust this group of freshman students, his classmates, with this. They'd been nothing but supportive since they started watching. Uraraka’s gentle squeeze of his hand a moment ago had given him at least a little courage. These weren't the bigoted jackasses he'd gone to school with all his life. They were all UA students, dedicated to being heroes or making support items to make heroes better. He knew all about their quirks. It was only fair that they learn about his as well. “Well… uh… so there you have it.”

“There we have what!?” Ashido exploded. “That can’t be right!”

“WHAAAAAAAT!?” Hatsume shouted. She was on Midoriya in an instant. “You just got a lot more interesting, Midoriya!”

“Back off!” Uraraka kicked her back, and Hatsume laughed manically.

“Inherit?” Todoroki asked. “So was I right? Is All Might really your father?”

Ashido’s reaction he’d been expecting. Todoroki’s… “That’s where you took that!? Todoroki, let it go!”

Izuku didn’t even want to think about Hatsume and Uraraka’s take on it yet.

Midoriya, still fresh from his rampant crying at hearing his dream receiving the validation it had needed for more than a decade, looked at All Might in utter confusion. “Wait, what do you mean inherit? Inherit what!?”

Kaminari was on his feet as All Might laughed. “That’s what I want to know!”

“You should see your face right now,” he guffawed. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna force this thing on you.”

The All Might in the room wasn’t doing much better at keeping his laughter down. He’d come to peace with this before the first episode had even aired. Now just watching the reactions of the students to hearing it was taking him right back to Young Midoriya’s panic and bewilderment. Now he understood why the other teachers loved messing with the kids so much.

It didn’t alleviate the hole Aizawa was boring into his skull with such an intense stare, but he had Kayama and Nezu between them, so it was all right. Nezu was laughing too, but Kayama was looking at him as well with a painted smile. She wasn’t saying anything, and it was creepy, but just not as threatening as Aizawa’s murderous glare.

The hero lifted his left hand to the sky, index finger pointed straight up. “Listen well, young man! This is your choice! Do you wanna accept my awesome power or not!?” The hero leveled his finger at Midoriya, the effect somewhat marred by him spewing blood and slightly choking on it near the end.

“This is crazy!” Mineta screamed, holding his head in his hands as middle school Midoriya was having somewhat of a similar breakdown. “How is this even possible!?”

Kaminari reached over the railing, placing his hands around the back of Midoriya’s neck. “Midoriya!” he shouted, beginning to shake his classmate without choking him. “Superpower’s just a similar quirk to All Might’s, right? You don’t actually have his power, do you!?”

“Kaminari!” Uraraka shouted just as Jiro scolded, “Cool it! You’re gonna break Midoriya!” The purple-haired rocker roughly grabbed the electric type and yanked him back onto the couch.

Wiping the blood away, All Might continued. “There are a couple of things you should know about my abilities.”

The students went silent. Uraraka had both her hands on Midoriya’s shoulders as she had half-risen from her seat. The blanket was pooled around their feet, and Izuku could tell that she was probably seconds away from having the same kind of freak-out that she just chastised Kaminari for having.

“Journalists always guess that my quirk is super-strength or some kind of invulnerability. When people ask in an interview, I always make a joke and dodge the question.”

“Now that he says it straight, yes, All Might does do that,” Iida realized, frowning. “Also, Uraraka, calm down. You’ll break Midoriya’s shoulders.” She squeaked, blushing, and quickly sat back down. Her hands fumbled to pull the blanket back up. It wasn’t strictly necessary anymore, but it was comfy.

“…Symbol of Peace is just a natural-born hero, like any of them.”

“But I’m not. There’s nothing natural about my ability.” All Might held his hands out to his sides for dramatic flair. “I wasn’t born with this power. It’s a sacred torch that was passed on to me from someone else.”

“Are you kidding me?” Kaminari exclaimed.

“Unreal!” Kirishima was also on his feet, hands grasping the railing in front of him. “He wasn’t born with his power?”

“Someone gave you this quirk?” Midoriya asked. “No way…”

Kamimoto grinned as she leaned forward in her seat, ready to watch the ensuing chaos. She’d pause it, just for a few seconds, and maybe record the freak-out on her phone.

“Yes way!” All Might responded as the wind blew around them, buffeting his shirt and briefly revealing the scar on his side. “And you’re next. I can give you my abilities.”

“And… pause.” Kamimoto giggled.

“Are you freaking kidding me!?” Kaminari shouted again. “Mi-dor-i-ya!!”

“Uh! Yes?” squeaked the green-haired successor.

“Dude! You nearly kill yourself and the top hero just rewards you with ultimate power!?” He clenched his hands into fists as he hung his head, body shaking. “I am so freaking jealous right now.”

“How is this even possible?” Yaoyorozu queried, hands on her head as she shook it slowly left and right. “All Might, the Number One Hero, had a quirk that can be given from person to person. That’s why he’s in that form practically all the time now. That’s why Kamimoto said he didn’t have his quirk anymore. It wasn’t just injury from fighting that villain in Camino, he literally did not have it anymore because he gave it to you!”

“Deku, do you really have All Might’s power?” Uraraka asked.

Izuku pulled himself out of the turtle shell he’d been trying to become and gave her a faint smile and a nod. “Yeah, it’s all true. All Might gave me his quirk.”

“I guess I was right, ribbit,” Asui said, staring at him. “Your quirk wasn’t just like All Might’s, it was All Might’s.”

“But All Might still didn’t break his bones every goddamn time he used it!” Kaminari screamed. “What’s up with that?”

Jiro grit her teeth and tried to move her jacks, but while the muscles still moved her quirk wouldn’t extend far enough to jab into Kaminari. “Would you calm down already!?”

“He has a point,” Tokoyami calmly agreed with a nod. “Great power that breaks you in exchange is awesome but useless.”

“Yes! We should be rational about this!” Iida said, standing up and chopping his hand down. “This is clearly a monumental discovery about Midoriya’s powers. While I admit that not being trusted with the secret of my friend’s abilities shames me, I can understand why we were all kept in the dark about it. Since we now know that All Might, or by extension Midoriya, could transfer his power from himself to another, we must be careful with this information.”

“You mean…?” Mineta probed.

“Us knowing the secret doesn’t actually put us in additional danger,” Todoroki rationalized. “If word that All Might’s quirk can be passed on and it’s now within Midoriya gets out, Midoriya would be targeted.” Uraraka gasped and looked back at her friend. “It’s likely that villains after the quirk may target his friends as well, but they would do that whether we knew or didn’t know about his abilities. Actually, this is a benefit for us.”

“What do you mean?” Sero asked. “Isn’t ignorance kinda bliss?”

“I mean—”

“Okay, you all got over the freakout faster than I thought,” Kamimoto declared, interrupting Todoroki. “We’re gonna continue now. Click.”

“Wait! Hold on!” Midoriya blurted out. “This is a lot to process!”

“Yeah, you’re tellin’ me,” Sato almost wheezed out. “This is…”

“Here’s the Midoriya mutter again,” Kendo gasped.

“…the idea of passing on a quirk or inheriting it just doesn’t make any sense to me I’ve never heard anything like that before powers are supposed to be unique to each individual I mean since the first superpowers nobody’s ever been able to just give someone else their power like a present that’s crazy!”

“His mind is a wonder,” Tokoyami softly intoned.

“Now that I can follow along, yeah,” Ojiro agreed. “It’s like he’s taking everything we’re feeling and putting it into actual words.”

“Stop nerdin’ out!” All Might blurted out, finally getting Midoriya to stop his muttering.

“Yeah Yaomomo, stop nerdin’ out!” Ashido said, making the black-haired brunette splutter and blush while Kendo giggled next to her.

All Might flourished as he directed Midoriya. “You’ll just have to adjust your reality and accept this new truth! I can transfer my quirk to someone else, and that’s just one facet of my secret abilities.” The ‘camera’ got a close up of his face and extended hand, light seeming to form in it as his hair and shirt became illuminated and were billowed by it. “The true name of my power is…”

“Superpower!” Ashido declared.

“…One For All.”

“One… For… All,” Midoriya repeated.

“One… For… All…” the students echoed.

“Phooey,” Ashido muttered. “I think Superpower’s a cute name for it, and it fits the bill.”

One For All? Kayama thought. That’s cute and noble, like The Three Musketeers.

“Yes!” All Might spoke, the camera zooming into the black sclera of his eyes. Dramatic music began to play as a star of white light streaked forward, striking a star of blue light. “One person improves the power, then hands it off to another person. It continues to grow as it’s passed along.” All Might’s words facilitated this depiction of his quirk, growing with every new holder as the streak of light impacted a red star, then green, orange, purple, and magenta, before surging forward and finally connecting with a bright yellow light with a great flash. All Might’s face and hand were shown again, the man closing his fist over this shining ‘power’ in his hand. “It is this cultivated power that allows me to save those who are in need of a hero. The truth behind my strength.”

“Wait, how many times was what?” Kaminari asked.

Iida held his hand to his chin. “If my estimation based on that visual is correct, then All Might was signified by the eighth point of light, the yellow star. That would then make Midoriya the ninth holder of his quirk.”

“Hey that’s right!” Izuku said, pumping his fist enthusiastically. “Good eye, Iida!”

His onscreen double wasn’t so energetic at the moment. “But why would you choose to give me a gift like that?”

“Yes, All Might,” Aizawa said, uttering his first words since the episode started, “why?”

“I was on a long hunt for a worthy successor, and then… I watched you jump into action as the rest of us stood idly by. You may be a quirkless fanboy, but you tried to save that kid. You acted like a hero.”

“Yeah, All Might sees it,” Kirishima said with a big grin on his face. “Even when he had nothing, Midoriya jumping in was so manly.”

“Yeah, doing something crazy like that took guts,” Tetsutetsu agreed.

He is a hero, Uraraka thought proudly, while All Might laughed, telling Midoriya to stop crying.

“Midoriya, not crying?” Jiro asked aloud with a smirk. “Sorry, All Might, but that’s not happening.”

“Maybe I should have gotten my quirk from Ms. Joke instead…” Midoriya muttered loud enough for Jiro to hear.

“Ha! Now that’s a joke!” Jiro laughed. “Good one.”

Midoriya wiped away all his tears, rose to his feet, and gave All Might a look of determination. “Okay, I’ll do it! Yes!”

All Might grinned. “No reluctance. That’s exactly how I figured you’d respond.”

“And you gave it to him just like that?” Aizawa inquired. He cracked his knuckles while continuing to glare at All Might. “I think we need to have a little conversation on what’s appropriate, All Might.”

“Of course not! Give me some credit here, Aizawa! Listen, the boy’s narrating still.”

“…All Might’s power turned out to be no easy task, as I’d soon find out.” As Narrator Midoriya finished speaking, the episode’s title card appeared.

Episode 3: Roaring Muscles

“Are we getting a training episode?” Tetsutetsu asked. He punched his hands together. “All right, get hype!”

The title card cut away to a large rock with the words ‘Dagobah Municipal Beach Park’ written on it in what appeared to be white chalk. A caption reading ‘Two days later – Early Morning’ appeared as they heard Midoriya grunting. It cut to Midoriya in a white t-shirt and blue jeans, straining against ropes while All Might sat crouched on top of the refrigerator the youth was attempting to pull. Surrounding them were piles of junk and refuse.

“That doesn’t look like the beach,” Ojiro said. “We’ve been there.”

“Yeah, but that beach was a total dump a few years ago,” Hagakure said. “I’m glad the city cleaned it up.”

“Hey, hey, hey!” All Might called out to Midoriya, far too amused for the liking of the boy struggling to move the fridge. “It’s pretty comfy up here on this fridge. How are you doing down there?” Midoriya slumped onto the sand, defeated.

Uraraka tried to withhold her giggles. Objectively, it was a funny sight, even if she thought All Might was being mean.

“I ask you again,” Aizawa said, and this time he had a hand on his capture scarf. “What were you thinking, All Might?”

Scary!

“People move these every day, you know,” All Might reminded Midoriya, “and most of them don’t even have any super strength.”

Midoriya pulled his face out of the sand and turned his head to look at the hero. “Well yeah, but there’s an extra six hundred pounds with you sitting on top of it.”

“Six hundred? Dragging through the sand?” Shoji asked. “Jeez. That’s rough.”

“He wanted to start big,” All Might said, loud enough for his voice to carry. “But look at those twigs! I had to convince him to be more reasonable somehow.”

“Makes sense,” Sato agreed. “Man, Midoriya, you used to be a toothpick.”

“Great, much better,” Midoriya sarcastically sighed to All Might’s declaration that his muscle form was down by forty pounds as the camera zoomed out to reveal just how much trash was surrounding them.

“That smile was so cheeky,” Izuku grumbled, folding his arms together. Uraraka, Asui, Ashido, and Iida had to struggle to hold back their laughter. Midoriya’s petulance was just adorable.

“Why do you have me dragging trash across the beach anyway?” Midoriya asked.

All Might laughed and held up his red smartphone. “Take a look at yourself,” he told the boy as he took pictures. “You’re not ready for my power.”

Midoriya looked up, tears already flooding his eyes. “But I thought you said that I was worthy!” The young man hung his head down while on his hands and knees, wailing in despair and betrayal.

“You were way too high-strung, Midoriya,” Jiro teased.

“I was eager, can you blame me?” the successor replied.

“I’m talking about your weak body,” All Might clarified, still snapping pictures as he walked towards him.

“Clearly,” Aoyama commented. “They’re just not compatible.”

“Aoyama!” Iida reprimanded.

Midoriya turned to look up at All Might as he explained further. “My quirk, One For All, is a whole lot to handle. The combined physical abilities of everyone who’s ever used it creates a hurricane of pure force. An unprepared body can’t fully inherit it.”

Not just the students, but even the teachers winced as they were treated to a disturbing visual of Midoriya’s head, arms, and legs, breaking off of his torso like he’d suddenly been subjected to a medieval execution method, but with the word ‘KABOOM’ stylized around the broken body.

“Your arms and legs would shoot off if you tried to.”

"Voilà," Aoyama stated, flicking his wrist towards the screen. “Not compatible.”

“Okay, not quite as jealous now,” Mineta said. Kaminari and several others nodded.

“Deku…” Uraraka groaned, placing her forehead in her hands. No wonder he was breaking his bones all the time. His body physically couldn’t handle the power it had been given!

“...whole trash thing is really some kind of hardcore gym workout,” Midoriya reasoned, looking up to All Might, “and you’re my trainer.” The pro gave him a big smile and a firm thumbs-up.

“So that’s what he meant when he said he trained you for ten months earlier,” Todoroki realized. “All Might trained you to prepare your body to inherit his quirk.”

Midoriya nodded, earning the impressed looks of more than a few of the students. “Oh man, being personally trained by All Might himself, I’m so jealous” Kirishima asserted.

“That had to be some pretty serious training,” Ojiro commented.

“Yeah, it was,” Midoriya agreed, a smile returning to his face. He cast his eyes back up on the screen.

All Might was looking up at the fridge, having been telling Midoriya about the research he’d been doing the previous night. “...used to be beautiful, but it’s been a total mess for the last few years.” He raised his fist towards the edge of the fridge and gave it a light tap from his knuckle, which crunched it and caved the device inwards around ten centimetres or so.

Hagakure yelped, “What! He just tapped that and it broke! How powerful is he? How powerful are you!?”

“Questions for later,” Izuku muttered, trying not to blush while he decided to sink back into the couch.

Uraraka reached out to ruffle his hair while his onscreen version talked about how the beach had gotten so full of trash in the first place, and then realized what she was doing. Blushing, she grabbed her right hand with her left and pulled it back.

“Disgraceful!” Iida commented. “The trash should always be disposed of in the proper manner as designated by the officials.”

“Yeah, they messed up the beach!” Ashido agreed. “It’s a really nice place!”

“But if it was still a dump when Midoriya and All… wait, don’t tell me!” Kendo gasped.

All Might walked to the back of the fridge and placed his right hand on top of it. “Heroes these days are all about showing off and capturing flashy villains.” The refrigerator made a metallic crunching noise as his meaty palm slammed on top of it. “Things were different before quirks,” All Might told the boy, his arm moving as he pressed down on the fridge, it easily compacting under his strength, “service was what mattered. Heroes back then were people who served the community, even if it was kinda boring!”

He finished his commentary by finally crunching the fridge Midoriya had so vainly (with All Might’s added weight) been trying to pull into a pancake of metal, rubber, and plastics. The rising sun gleamed out over the ocean in front of the two, highlighting All Might in a brilliant silhouette. “You will restore the coastline for this entire section of the beach. That is your first step on your path, young man, towards being a hero.”

“So it wasn’t the city!?” Hagakure exclaimed as the camera once again showed the mountain of trash behind Midoriya. “That was all you, Midoriya!?”

“That’s amazing, Deku!” Uraraka praised him.

“So that’s where those muscles came from,” Hatsume giggled.

“But… there’s so much!” Midoriya exclaimed. The camera zoomed back even more, showing even more huge piles of trash devastating the beach. “That’s impossible!”

“No freaking way,” Sero gasped, giving him a lopsided smile from his seat in the row above. “There’s no way I would have managed that. I’d have quit halfway through.”

“Just how Plus Ultra did you go just trying to get into UA Midoriya?” Kaminari wailed in disbelief.

“A lot more than you, apparently,” Jiro commented.

“Damn,” Tetsutetsu grumbled while All Might asked Midoriya if he wanted to get into UA high school’s hero course. “I’ve gotta find a gym somewhere in this place once we’re done at two. Midoriya’s making me look bad.”

“I’m with you there,” Ojiro agreed.

“Okay, all in favour of hitting a gym or something once we’re done say ‘aye’!” called out Kirishima.

Nearly all of the boys, including Bakugo, simultaneously agreed. He’d been silent for a while, just watching with narrowed eyes. If this was what the nerd went through just to even, as All Might had said, be given a chance to stand in the ring, then he was going to need to learn and absorb it all, and turn that knowledge into power.

He’d be damned if Deku climbed higher than him!

Midoriya held a fist close to his chest, looking down as he talked about his dream. “It’s a long shot, but still. I’m gonna shoot for the moon. UA”

“You’ve got a lot of spirit, fanboy!” All Might jovially praised him. He turned his back to Midoriya to look out over the ocean. “But! As I’ve mentioned before, Hero-ing isn’t easy to do without a quirk. It’s not fair, but that’s the reality.”

“But a hero’s job is to combat that unfairness and overcome it,” Uraraka countered, turning to look up at Aizawa, “right, sir? That’s what you said on the first day of class.”

“That’s a good sentiment to teach,” Midnight said as Aizawa nodded at his student.

“And UA is the hardest hero course to get into,” All Might continued. “So that means…”

“...that I have to prepare my body for your quirk really fast!” Midoriya answered. “UA’s entrance exam is in ten months!”

“You still managed that all in ten months, Midoriya?” Mineta asked. “You… you’re too hardcore…”

All Might turned back around, suddenly holding a ream of paper. “Not to worry, kid. I’ve got you covered! With the help of my handy ‘Aim to Pass: American Dream Plan’. Follow this to the letter and the beach will be cleaned up just in time! I also detailed every other aspect of your life while I was at it.”

Aizawa turned his penetrating gaze away from where All Might was hiding behind Kayama. The Number One Hero, the most popular hero in Japan, with tons of merchandise and a huge media personality, instilling in his successor the values of boring humble community service work? And he wasn’t just giving his quirk to Midoriya and letting him run with it, the man had a method, a training plan, and had clearly thought this through. Maybe deep down he had All Might pegged all wrong?

“Whoa, your day started at four in the morning,” Ashido commented.

“Yeah, that’s some schedule,” Sato agreed. He glanced over at Midoriya. “Did you manage to keep to it?”

Izuku rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little uncomfortable. He didn’t want to lie. “For the most part, yeah.”

Ashido looked shocked. “Did All Might at least leave time for hanging out with your friends?”

“Did it look like Midoriya had any friends in the last couple of episodes, Ashido?” Mineta pointed out.

Izuku flinched, but Mineta wasn’t wrong. Without friends, Izuku hadn’t needed to make up any excuses or find ways to get out of social obligations. All he’d ever done for years was come home and browse hero forums, news sites, and do research on pro heroes to study their quirks, fighting styles, and equipment. Training had put a dent in that, but it hadn’t cost him any relationships, since he hadn’t had any to begin with.

“Salt in the wound,” Tokoyami uttered. And then, the training montage of Midoriya’s “ten months of absolute hell” began, set to a funky musical score that kicked off with a drum beat and getting Kirishima, Tetsutetsu, Kendo, Ojiro, Shoji, and Sato pumped up. A number of the students chose this opportunity to get out from under their blankets and get drinks from Kamimoto as they half-watched while listening.

“That’s actually an effective way to train,” Kendo said, watching and hearing Midoriya’s thoughts as he hauled around a tire. “All the trash would have different sizes and mass, so it would be a great full-body workout.”

In Midoriya’s civics class, while his teacher droned on about the Building Standards Act’s amendments after quirks became commonplace, Midoriya started mumbling into his notebook as he prepared a “Proposed Independent Training Menu” for himself, trying to finish a week ahead of schedule.

“Oh dear,” Nezu commented. “That’s not going to end well for poor Midoriya. All Might, did you really let him push himself too hard?”

“He hid it well, until his body tanked,” All Might answered. “But once I realized it I got him back on track.”

As everyone in class barring Bakugo stared at Midoriya and his incessant muttering, the teacher used his quirk to detach his hand and send it floating over to the youth. He chopped Midoriya on the top of the head with a loud, “Hey! Midoriya!” The young man held his hands to his mouth. He’d bit his lip and it hurt. “I know you had a run-in with a villain,” the teacher scolded as his classmates started to giggle, “but pull yourself together, kid. If you really want to get into UA you might actually have to know something.”

‘Oh right, I’ve gotta study too.’

Hatsume groaned as the montage continued. “Oooh, watching this is making me feel so inadequate! C’mon, ladies! We’re hitting the gym later too!”

“Why?” Jiro asked. “We don’t have super strength quirks, and why do you care? You’re in support. You won’t need to fight.”

Hatsume laughed. “Just because I don’t have to fight doesn’t mean I don’t need mechanic muscles!” she declared, flexing her arm and showing off her nicely toned biceps. “I need them to make even bigger and stronger babies!”

“Just because you don’t have the power to crush a refrigerator with your pinkie doesn’t mean you can neglect your physical fitness, ladies,” Midnight reminded them.

“Now this is a manly montage,” Kirishima declared.

“In anything if you want to go...” Tetsutetsu started,

“From just a beginner to a pro...” Kirishima added.

“You need a montage,” they joined in manly harmony as Midoriya was shown carrying All Might on his shoulders opposite the setting sun. “Even Deku gets a montage!”

“And now we have Team America,” Kamimoto sighed. “I blame All Might with that “Aim to Pass: American Dream Plan” of his.”

Cut-in to Midoriya lugging a safe on his shoulder and chasing after All Might down a lane in late autumn, the pro standing on a Segway.

“I wonder why it’s stopping here,” Aoyama asked.

Midoriya’s vision faded, and he collapsed.

“Deku!” Uraraka gasped. “Were you okay?”

He didn’t meet her gaze, and Iida answered. “I see. That independent training menu you came up with. That’s the culprit.”

All Might said just as much. “The “Aim To Pass: American Dream Plan” was created with your body in mind. It was fine-tuned to ensure your progress was swift but manageable. Which means,” All Might narrowed his eyes at his protégé, “you haven’t been sticking to it. You’re overdoing things; that’s gonna have the opposite effect of what we want!” All Might reprimanded him.

“Ribbit…” Asui croaked, watching Midoriya lie on the dirt in front of All Might.

“I have to work harder…” the boy struggled to get out as he still tried to force his unwilling body to move, “or I won’t stand a chance against the other applicants.” All Might gasped, watching him will his broken body to move while his voice strained against the pain of overexertion his muscles were likely screaming at him. “I don’t just want into UA, I want to excel! I want… to be like you!”

“This is so manly, Midoriya,” Kirishima cheered, manly tears coming to his eyes as his voice caught in his throat.

“I want… to be the greatest hero in the world!” proclaimed the young man, getting up to his elbows. “So I’ll keep on trying,” he declared as it revealed his face, covered in dirt, snot, sweat, and tears and screwed up in both pain and drive, “until I’ve got what it takes to do that!”

“The others are right,” Tokoyami said with a smile and a bowed head. “You certainly excel at making us look bad, Midoriya. All right. Count me in. I’ll meet you all in the gym.”

As All Might flashed back to the words Midoriya had told him on the roof, Uraraka’s gaze left the screen and turned instead to look at the young man beside her.

There was still a lump in her throat from what Mineta just said that she couldn’t swallow away. Deku had been going for years without anyone in his corner, not even his mother, so once All Might came along and told him that he had the potential to become a hero of course he would throw himself headfirst into that. Not having any friends probably made that easier. Even now that he’d made it to UA he was still charging full steam ahead. He was always training, always striving to do better and improve himself, to become the greatest hero. Seeing what he had gone through, just how far he was pushing himself to achieve his dream…

Uraraka felt tears coming to her eyes unbidden, and hastened to wipe them away. What’s this feeling in my chest? What am I supposed to do? Stupid Ochaco! You decided to put these feelings away. Push them away, lock them down! You just admire him, that’s all. Deku’s so driven, he doesn’t have time for you to distract him with your baggage. He never even had friends before coming to UA, so just be his friend, nothing more! He can’t afford… getting too close…

She tried to swallow the ball of lead down again. “Uraraka, are you okay?” Deku had asked her that question.

She wiped her eyes again and sniffed. “Yeah, I’m fine, Deku,” she answered. “Just, seeing your ten months of Hell montage was… so inspirational, it’s getting me fired up!” She clenched her fists and looked at the screen, anything to not look Deku in the eyes. If she did right now, she wasn’t sure if her heart could take it.

Is this what heartbreak felt like?

Asui and Ashido looked closely at Uraraka’s expression before sharing a look with one another. This was going to require investigation.

All Might’s truck door slammed on the pre-dawn morning of February 26th, Midoriya’s voiceover narrating, “And suddenly, it was the morning of the exam.”

Aizawa’s eyes flared, incredulous fury returning in full force. “You cannot be serious…”

Midoriya screamed.

“Oh no!” Kaminari gasped.

“You okay, Midoriya?” asked Sato.

All Might dashed forward from the parking lot before stopping at the sight in front of him. Midoriya was uninjured, and was standing shirtless on top of a pile of trash that had been dragged into the corner of the parking lot. His scream was not that of pain, but of triumph as his sense of pride and accomplishment overwhelmed him.

All Might’s theme music started up again as his eyes widened. “Hey, hey, holy crap kid!” He gasped in disbelief as his gaunt, sunken eyes took in the beach in the crisp light of the winter dawn. Immaculate. “You even cleaned up outside the area I told you to. Seriously!”

“It really was just Midoriya!” Hagakure shouted. “We have Midoriya to thank for a whole beach everyone can enjoy!”

“That looked intense,” Todoroki commented. “You worked hard. Good job.”

“Holy… stinking…” All Might transitioned into muscle form as his excitement surged within him, “super crap!”

“Super crap is right!” Jiro laughed. “You totally showed those ocean currents who’s boss, Midoriya.”

The boy teetered and fell from his perch on top of the trash pile towards the beach. All Might was at the base beneath the retaining wall and caught the boy in his arms. Voice filled with pride at his protégé’s accomplishment, he smiled broadly and said, “Excellent work.”

Midoriya smiled in his mentor’s arms, spent but fulfilled. “I finished everything, All Might. I did it. Do you think I’m ready now?”

“Oh you bet he’s ready!” Uraraka cheered.

Chuckling, All Might replied, “Yeah. You did good kid. I gotta say, I’m impressed! I knew you had it in you, but this is beyond!” The hero stood Midoriya up and placed his phone in front of Midoriya’s eyes. “Look at this.” The boy looked at it uncertainly.

It was the picture All Might had taken when he’d first started. “It’s you, crying, ten months ago!” The hero teased him. “Look how far you’ve come. Such improvement.”

Uraraka wasn’t the only girl who blushed as the camera panned down a close-up of Deku’s muscular body, but she was definitely the most conflicted. Deku was attract—no, he was hot, and seeing his body displayed like that, with defined pecs and abs for days reinforced it. Mina’s wolf whistles, Kirishima’s cheers for Midoriya’s manly body, Miss Midnight calling him a sight for sore eyes, Iida’s congratulations, Kendo’s praise for his accomplishment, Hatsume’s mad giggling about muscles and all the others… they all made her feel a swell of embarrassment that she wasn’t sure where it was coming from.

The gravity girl tried to sneak a glance at Deku’s face to see if he was enjoying the attention, but he was blushing up a storm at it all instead and hiding his face in his hands. Uraraka pouted. Stupid Deku, you’re not allowed to be both hot and cute. It’s not fair.

After All Might heaped praise on him that it was looking like he’d be able to fully inherit his power, Midoriya looked down at his hand, voice cracking with emotion. “All Might… do I deserve this? Are you sure?”

“Heck yeah, you deserve it, Midori!” Ashido cheered.

“Yes,” Uraraka agreed, nodding and trying to ignore the maelstrom of feelings for the boy next to her that were messing up her insides. “You’re going to be a hero, Deku.”

“You put so much time and energy into helping me…” His tears began to cloud his vision as he continued to question his own self-worth. “How did I end up so lucky?”

All Might laughed at his question. ‘Are you really worried about that after all these months?” he thought. The boy’s idol clapped him on the back. “It was your hard work that did this, not mine. Now, for your reward, Izuku Midoriya” All Might’s theme swelled louder as it grew into the climax.

Midoriya stood up straighter, removing his tears. “Yes, sir!”

Sero grinned. “Aw here we go!”

Shoji nodded. “This is exciting.”

All Might plucked a hair from his head as he stood before his successor. “Someone told me this once: there’s a difference between being lucky and deserving. One’s an accident, the other, a reward. Never get the two confused.”

“All of you should remember those words,” Nezu agreed.

Bakugo winced as he heard All Might say that to Deku, and scowled. Not even an hour ago, the retired pro had held his head in a vice-grip and shouted to his face that he was unworthy. Did he not think that he didn’t work hard too? Did All Might think that all of his efforts were f*cking worthless compared to Deku’s? Both of them had met All Might, but Deku was the lucky one to have met the pro first. Bakugo had f*cking earned his spot at UA, no matter what All Might said!

“Take that to heart, young man.” All Might held the hair towards the boy. “This gift, you earned it with your own valiant efforts.” Midoriya looked at his hero in utter awe.

“I’m getting goosebumps,” Tetsutetsu said, lifting his drink to his mouth.

His awe gave way to determination as Narrator Midoriya stated, “And so, I held out my weak, quirkless hand...and grabbed the future.”

All Might held out the hair, the image on screen lighting up purple in a way that did not fit the hero’s theme music at all. “Eat this.”

The Steel quirk user wasn’t the only one who made the mistake of taking a sip of their drink at that moment. Choking, coughing, and spit-takes enveloped the assembled audience. As All Might told Midoriya he needed to swallow some of All Might’s DNA in order to transfer the power. Bakugo suddenly felt some form of sick superiority, and he laughed. “You had to eat All Might’s hair to get his power? HA! No wonder you suck at using it!”

“Bakugo,” Todoroki called out, “you don’t seem surprised at all about any of this.”

“Of course I’m not surprised you idiot! I already knew!”

“What!?” Kirishima exclaimed. “You knew!?”

“Of course I knew!” Bakugo roared. “Why do you think I kicked that nerd’s ass the other night?” He calmed down slightly as everyone gawked at him, but his superior smirk remained. “I’m surprised none of you idiots figured it out. Deku can’t lie to save his life.”

“DNA transfer, huh?” Iida asked. His eyes widened. “Wait!”

“Midoriya!” Todoroki shouted.

“Stain!”

“No, no, it’s okay guys!” Midoriya said, holding up his hands and gesturing to both his seatmate and the one two rows behind him. “One For All can’t be taken by force. I have to will it to be transferred.”

“Oh…” Uraraka said, a knot in her chest she didn’t know was there unclenching. “Well that’s a relief.”

“Yeah,” Ashido commented. “I was worried that swapping spit would transfer the power over. Good to know that lucky girl’s not going to have her limbs explode by accident.”

Midoriya and Uraraka both had their heads turn into tomatoes. While Uraraka shouted, “MINA!”, steam poured off of Midoriya’s face as he fainted.

“…kiss… a girl…”

“Midoriya! Midoriya, get a hold of yourself!” Iida called out to his friend. “Ashido! Apologize!”

“Wow, Mina, you broke Midoriya, ribbit.”

Midnight giggled. “My, she sure is forward.”

“Ashido, please refrain from teasing Midoriya further,” Yaoyorozu sternly advised her. She placed a hand up to her lips. “Although… that is good to know…”

Mineta and Kaminari were weeping tears of jealousy. “Mi-dor-i-ya!!!”

In all the commotion, few of the students had been paying attention to the screen. Kamimoto hadn’t paused it for them to settle down this time, somehow a little too entertained by the proceedings caused by Ashido’s kiss comment. Aizawa, though, ignored the tomfoolery of his students and paid attention to the way Midoriya had nearly jumped out of his skin after Bakugo threatened to set him on fire.

This was now ten months after the incident with the sludge villain and Bakugo’s “joking” attempted incitement of suicide. True to Midoriya’s words earlier, he hadn’t seen anything to indicate that he had ever contemplated it. If he was going to, it probably would have been on the roof of that office building right after All Might had crushed his dream of being a hero and forced him to face reality. The earlier scene in the classroom, where Bakugo had deliberately ignored Midoriya as he mumbled his way into receiving his classmates’ teasing while concocting his ill-conceived independent training menu, and this current one were more in-line with what he’d observed since the boys had been placed in his class.

In his own way, it seemed that the sludge villain incident had forced Bakugo to begrudgingly respect Midoriya just the smallest amount. Hopefully their upcoming talk wouldn’t be as arduous as initially expected.

‘Ever since that day, Kacchan’s been taking it easier on me,’ Midoriya thought to himself as he watched his classmate stride towards the entrance. He sighed. ‘I guess I was just scared out of habit.’

“It does make sense,” Yaoyorozu grumbled with a foul taste in her mouth. Bakugo’s actions towards Midoriya conditioned him into such fearful behaviour. It will take time and effort to remove that conditioning.

Midoriya shook his head, bringing him back to the here and now. ‘But I’m not defenseless anymore,’ he reminded himself, looking up at the great H-shaped building that was UA and the logo above the wall in front of him. ‘Yeah, I have to remember all the work I’ve put in.’ His legs shook with nervous excitement. ‘Thanks to All Might, I’m actually going to be a hero!’ As Midoriya took his first step forward to his bright and glorious future, he tripped over his own feet. ‘Or I’ll just die.’

The few who were still paying attention to the screen instead of the comedy playing out in the front row laughed, but then everyone started watching the screen again as a brown-haired girl was shown standing next to the frozen and floating-in-midair Midoriya, her hand outstretched to touch him.

“Are you okay?” she giggled.

“Ochaco!” Hagakure gasped as Midoriya started freaking out at having gravity’s effect on him removed. “It’s your first line!”

“What!?” she whirled back towards the screen, seeing her smiling face up there with her hands together, releasing Midoriya from the effects of her quirk.

“I stopped you with my quirk. I’m sorry I didn’t ask first, but… I figured you wouldn’t mind me catching you.”

All Midoriya could do was stare back at her, gobsmacked.

Kaminari snorted. Jiro too.

Uraraka made a frustrated noise as she held a smile. “Isn’t this all like, way nerve-wracking?” Midoriya seemed to try to say something, but the only thing that made it past his lips was vague, unintelligible splutterings. “Well,” Uraraka continued, “guess I’ll see you inside. Bye!” She gave him a friendly little wave as she skipped off towards the entrance.

“So Ochaco was the first person in our class you met, huh, Midori?” Ashido teased, a big sh*t-eating grin plastered on her face.

Midoriya did his best to ignore her and the blush on his face, before all the blood drained from it as he looked at the expression the him on screen held. My thoughts, oh crap!

‘Holy whoa, I just talked to a girl!’ he internally screamed. A caption then appeared, reminding the viewers that Midoriya *Didn’t actually talk.

The laughter of all of his classmates drowned out the weird, crazed laughter that the boy himself had done. “Might want to try actually talking next time, Midoriya,” Sero ribbed.

“Real smooth,” Jiro added.

Uraraka’s cheeks tinged pink again as she glanced at the horror-struck look on Deku’s face. Watching this show was turning into a colossal mistake; the most supreme challenge to her decision during the exam. “Um, I… wasn’t the first girl you’d talked to before, right?”

Deku looked down at his knees. “Well, uh, when you’re the hero-obsessed quirkless freak chasing an impossible dream who gets picked on all the time, especially by the biggest personality in school, not many people talk to you; especially not girls.” Uraraka felt her anger rising again, and oh yeah, a mistake had been made; she just wasn’t sure if it was her decision in the exam to put her feelings away or to learn all of this about Deku. “So, yeah, you really were the first girl I talked to, even though I didn’t actually say anything until the first day of class, and thank you. You were also my first real friend in about ten years. And even after hearing about my quirk, you still are, so thanks. It really means a lot to me.”

Iida was listening in too, but he felt like this was something more between Midoriya and Uraraka, so he kept out of it, and tried to pay attention to the screen showing Present Mic explaining the practical. Midoriya fanboying over the voice hero was an easy enough and wholesome distraction.

Uraraka took a deep breath as she finished hearing what Deku had to say. All the anger inside of her wasn’t doing her any good. She needed to dispel it somehow. Maybe she wasn’t thinking straight, but she wanted to prove to Deku that she was on his side, and would continue to be on his side, no matter what. She was probably damning herself in the long run, but she needed to do this now before he started insulting himself again. “Deku. I’m going to hug you.”

Izuku went red. Hu—HUH!?

Uraraka didn’t give him any time to react. She just placed her arms around his neck and shoulders and hugged him. Izuku’s heart raced as he heard her sigh in his ear. This wasn’t the first hug he’d gotten today, but something about this one just felt different from the others. It only lasted a few seconds, but those seconds seemed to last for tens of minutes. Uraraka didn’t say anything, but it was like her hug was saying things she didn’t trust her voice to say to him. To him, that simple hug told him that he wasn’t alone; that she accepted him completely, secrets and all.

Uraraka pulled away, smiled, then directed her full attention to the screen. Izuku could see her cheeks with their cute pink pads turning even more pink, and another thought came to him. Uraraka… smells nice.

He caught Ashido and Asui staring at him. Izuku gasped and buried his face in his hands. Why were girls so confusing!?

Kayama was practically squealing with delight as she squirmed in her seat next to Aizawa, and the Erasure Hero swore he could hear the rat in her lap cackling under his breath. “Youth is so wonderful, don’t you agree, Aizawa? Those darlings are cute together.”

“No comment,” he muttered, using his capture scarf to hide the fact that he was totally not smiling, not even the slightest, at the heartwarming display of Uraraka’s compassion and care for the Problem Child she’d befriended. “Just so long as they’re both committed and prepared to make a hero relationship work.”

“You know, that’s your problem,” Kayama said, placing her hand on his shoulder. “You’re scared of commitment. That’s the only reason you and f*ckukado haven’t hooked up.”

“No, we haven’t ‘hooked up’ because she annoys me like no one else on this planet does,” Aizawa retorted.

“That’s love, Eraser.”

“You have a skewed definition. You’re just as bad as Hizashi sometimes. Thinking of children, how are you going to react when you see your daughter in action and hear her thoughts?”

Kayama faked a pout and placed her hand to her cheek. “Oh dear. Little Momo’s going to be so embarrassed. I’d love to see her expression when she figures it out.”

All Might did a spit-take, though in his case there was a little more blood involved. “What!? How come I didn’t know of that?”

“Pot, meet kettle,” Aizawa deadpanned as Present Mic called on Iida, the future class rep concerned about him not having mentioned the zero-pointers.

“I didn’t take my husband’s name when I married,” Kayama told him. “It’s not a monumental secret, but it is just a slight misdirection. That way my profile, which does not reveal my marital status, still lists my name as Nemuri Kayama if you dig deep enough, not Nemuri Yaoyorozu.” She turned and gave fond smile to the ponytail girl in the front row. “It helps to give her a little bit of anonymity, I like to think.”

Completely unaware that the teachers were currently discussing her, Yaoyorozu turned to look towards her class rep. “Iida, perhaps in future it would be best if you adhered to the sentiment of “praise in public, punish in private”. You can see how much your admonishment of Midoriya affected him.”

“Yes, I see that,” Iida said with a tense expression on his face. He clutched his fist while clenching his teeth. “I admit that I was nervous, but that was no excuse for calling you out like that. Midoriya, I must apologize.”

Izuku waved his hands as Iida stood and bowed at ninety-degrees. “No, no, it’s fine, Iida, really. Just so long as you try not to do it in the future, it’s cool.”

“Yeah, Iida’s dressing-downs aren’t fun to be on the receiving end of,” Asui commented. Tokoyami nodded.

“That’s all I got for you today,” Present Mic finished his explanation. “I’ll sign off with a little present: a sample of our school motto. As General Napoleon Bonaparte once laid down, “A true hero is one who overcomes life’s misfortunes.”” Present Mic sounded smug at what he just said. “Mmhmm, now that’s a tasty sound byte.”

“He referenced Napoleon?” Yaoyorozu inquired. She frowned. “Why do that? I mean, yes, he was a great political and military leader in Europe, but he also made the critical mistake of campaigning in a Russian winter, something he and his army never recovered from, and was then ultimately defeated and died in exile. He also hated the monarchy but then hypocritically became an emperor. Why reference him?”

The students all looked at Yaoyorozu, and she looked around at all of them, a clueless look on her face. “What? Was it something I said?”

How does she know that? Thought the majority of her peers.

“But… but Napoleon is a national hero…” Aoyama muttered under his breath, not having the fortitude to formally object to Yaoyorozu’s criticism of the first Emperor of France.

Present Mic tried to get the students in the auditorium fired up with a “Plus Ultra!” but nobody joined in with him, silence reigning throughout the room as Midoriya nervously held his exam papers. “Good luck!” he finished off. “Hope you practiced hitting more than just books!”

The scene cut one of the fake cities being used as battle centres, the students for this group next to the bus that had taken them there. A caption for ‘UA High School Hero Course Entrance Exam Battle Center B’ appeared on the screen as Midoriya stood at the back of the crowd.

‘Well…’ he thought, ‘this is it. Time to put ten months of training with All Might to the test.’ The camera panned over the two students whose names he didn’t know, but were Iida and Uraraka, in front of all the other applicants. ‘Time to give it my all. Iwillbecome a hero, just like I always dreamed.’ He trembled with anxiety despite the determined, confident tone he’d just given himself. ‘I won’t let myself down!’

He reached up and gave himself a good smack on each cheek with his hands.

The screen showed his notebook and the first iteration of his hero costume as the opening lines of the outro song started.

“Oh hey, we get to watch it now?” Kaminari asked, leaning forward with surprise. “That’s new!”

“Yeah,” Kamimoto said. “I checked and I think we’ve made up just enough time to have you start watching the intros and outros again, as well as the previews.”

“Previews?” All Might asked. The redheaded woman nodded.

“Yup! The next episode previews,” she stated. “Oh, this one’s fun, by the way. It’s done by Midoriya and Uraraka.”

The two mentioned students yelped in surprise. “We-we’re doing the preview?” Midoriya asked. “But how?”

“Yeah!” Uraraka agreed. “I don’t remember recording anything like that. I didn’t even know there was a show about us!”

Kamimoto waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it! It’s just some actor with a quirk that’s great for voice acting mimicking your voices for the production. Upper Management didn’t actually abduct you in the middle of the night, had you record a script, wipe your memories and put you back in your beds none the wiser.”

That answer didn’t seem to appease anyone in the room, but the outro ended, All Might’s theme started up, and title card for the preview came on screen.

“UA High’s entrance exam is here,” Midoriya’s voice narrated as short second-long shots from what they were about to see, including images of Bakugo, Iida, Midoriya, Recovery Girl, and Uraraka in a middle school sailor uniform appeared, “and every one of us wants a spot at this prestigious school. The question is, will I be able to get through the practical with the power I only just received from All Might?”

“Let’s do our best on the exam today,” Uraraka’s voice encouraged him.

“Huh?” Narrator Midoriya reacted. “Who are you? Holy crap, it’s that girl I talked to!”

Jiro snorted again.

“Next time,” Midoriya said, while Uraraka declared with bubbly energy, “Start Line!”

“I, Ochaco, will try hard not to puke during the test,” her voice promised.

“Go Beyond…” Midoriya began, with both finishing together, “Plus Ultra!”

Ashido clapped her hands together, a massive smile on her face. “Oh my gosh, that was adorable!” She whipped around and raised her right hand while pointing at herself with her left. “Kamimoto, Kamimoto! That sounds like fun. I wanna do one! Can I? Please? Please tell me I get to do one of those previews.”

Kamimoto frowned and looked up at the ceiling. “Huh? Actually, I can’t remember if you get to do any of them Ashido. Most of them are done by Midoriya, sometimes All Might. Occasionally another student joins Midoriya, but I can’t remember one where it’s another student doing the whole preview by themselves. I don’t remember most of them. I know the one right before the obstacle course for the Sports Fest has Bakugo join him, and during Internships Tsu gets a chance, but I honestly don’t remember you getting one, Ashido.”

“Ribbit, I get one?” Asui asked, pointing at herself. “Also, why did you call me ‘Tsu’?”

“You tell everyone to call you that,” Kamimoto answered. “It’s a big running joke the number of times Midoriya stops himself from saying your last name instead. If you don’t want me to, just say the word.”

Asui tilted her head, “No, that’s alright. You don’t seem like a bad person.”

Ashido pouted and rounded on Midoriya. “Midori! Stop hogging the spotlight in your own show. I wanna do a preview!”

“I swear, Ashido, I have nothing to do with this!” he defended.

“It’s your story, Midoriya!” Kaminari accused. “And you’ve got All Might’s power? What’s up with that!”

Kamimoto looked at her phone’s clock. “Anyway, you’ve got about three and a half minutes before I start your last episode before lunch,” she called out to them. “If you need to use the bathroom, now’s your chance without missing anything!”

Uraraka blushed and stood up. “Oh, right. Sorry, Deku, excuse me.”

“Oh, sure!”

“Be quick!” Iida called after her. “You don’t want to miss evaluating our performances in the entrance exam!”

With the hubbub of the end of the episode, almost nobody noticed the floating uniform that followed Uraraka up the stairs.

Chapter 5: What Happens When You Make CON Your Dump Stat?

Chapter Text

Ochaco splashed some water on her face and looked at herself in the mirror, a slight frown and worried brown eyes looking back at her. Her cheeks didn’t have their usual shine to them, a side effect of her eyes just not being filled with the happiness and pep that were normally in them. Ochaco sighed. She hadn’t even really needed to go anyway, she just needed to get away from Deku, even just for a couple of minutes, to try to reset herself.

“What am I even doing?” she mumbled, rhetorically seeking answers from her reflection in the mirror.

“What are you doing, Ochaco?”

The sudden voice of her classmate startled the bejeebies out of her as Ochaco nearly flipped around, hands grasping at the countertop behind her. If her heart wanted a restart, it sure as heck got it! Standing in front of her was the floating school uniform of Toru Hagakure, the invisible girl. “T-Toru!?” she gasped, face going completely red. “N-nothing! I’m not doing anything at all! Why are you here?”

“I followed you,” Toru answered, “and I just wanted you to know, Mina’s probably going to try another interrogation as soon as we’re let out for lunch, just so you know.”

Ochaco started to sweat. She didn’t like the sound of that. She really, really , didn’t like the sound of that at all. “An interrogation?”

“You like Midoriya.”

Ochaco froze. Toru’s words were neither an accusation, nor a question. They were a simple statement, said with the bluntness Tsu usually held. But Ochaco wasn’t ready to confront such a statement head-on, not like this. There was only one thing she could do, the same thing she’d been doing since the finals: deny. Deny, deny, deny! Even if it made her feel like her heart was being crushed. “Wha-? No I don’t. Don’t be silly, Toru. Deku and I are just good friends, that’s all.”

“Ochaco.”

She blinked. It was probably a good thing she couldn’t actually see what Toru looked like, because the sympathetic tone of voice when paired with whatever soft expression the girl had probably would have killed her if she’d been able to witness it.

“It’s okay.”

The lead in Ochaco’s throat returned and she sniffed as her vision clouded, eyes growing wet. She couldn’t look at Toru as she dropped her gaze, and rubbed her wrist over her eyes to wipe away the moisture. “I’m fine, really,” she lied, and plastered a horribly fake smile on her face as she brought her face back up.

“I smile to hide the fear inside.”

“It’s not like that at all. Deku’s just super amazing, y’know?”

“I have to work harder than anyone else to get in.”

“Seeing all that stuff he went through just to make it to UA is super inspiring.”

“You’d never be able to hang with the best of the best! You’d die in the exams!”

“I’m sorry, Izuku.”

“Take a swan dive off the roof of the building.”

“Can you be a hero? Not without a quirk.”

“Whatever feelings I might have, they don’t matter. He’s going to reach his goal, so I’ll support him, all while reaching my own dream of being a hero. No time for distractions.”

“I want… to be the greatest hero in the world. So I’ll keep on trying, until I’ve got what it takes to do that!”

Ochaco kept smiling even though her heart was tearing itself apart with every word she said and every word remembered.

Toru sighed. “Come on, let’s go back. You know, I was hoping you’d say something before Mina and the rest of us corner you at lunch, but since you didn’t your punishment will be even more severe!” Toru turned around and started to walk out. Ochaco followed her, her expression frozen.

Punishment? Whatever, I can take it!

No you can’t, you idiot! Stupid Ochaco!

The two girls had just barely made it back into the theatre when they heard the music start up again and Midoriya’s narration.

“Shoot!” Hagakure whispered. “Hurry!”

“…UA, the school with the best hero training course in the world.”

“You know,” Hatsume commented as Hagakure returned to her seat beside her and Uraraka rejoined Midoriya and Iida on the couch beside theirs, “it’s kinda funny that it’s in Japan instead of someplace like America. They practically invented the concept of superheroes.”

Midoriya’s narration was over panning shots of UA’s entrance and the students entering to take prestigious school’s entrance exam walking up to its doors. “...similar programs out there, but they don’t hold a candle to UA’s, which is why it’s almost impossible to get in.” The background music rose as the shot changed to a massive fist clenching audibly, the fist of All Might. “The school’s alumni list is a “who’s who” of idols. All Might, the most famous pro there is.” Said hero posed with strength and the charisma of his pearly white smile.”

“Heck yeah!” Tetsutetsu cheered.

“That shot does make me look good,” All Might said with a proud grin.

“The legendary peacekeeper with the most wins under his belt,” Midoriya continued as he introduced the next pro, a man with a fiery disposition and theme. “The Fiery Hero: Endeavor.”

That introduction’s not wrong, Todoroki thought with a slight frown, but I’ve never known the old man to smile for the cameras like that.

The screen switched from the redheaded man with a beard and mustache made of literal flames to a sleek blond man grooming his hair into perfect order.

Bakugo’s eyebrow twitched. Kirishima and Kaminari were both grinning at him like a couple of idiots.

“Not to mention the denim-clad award-winning marvel, Best Jeanist.” UA’s golden logo upon the arch of the school’s gate became front and centre. “Graduating from UA is basically a requirement if you wanna be a great hero.”

“I think young Midoriya is overhyping us a bit too much,” Kayama said with a blush as she placed her hand to her cheek.

“Now, now, Kayama,” Nezu returned, “one must take pride in one’s institution, and the boy is right. UA’s hero course has consistently produced fine and upstanding heroes who perform admirably after graduation.”

“This was it,” Midoriya narrated as it showed his timid face in his middle school uniform walk through the gate, “the first step towards achieving my dream of becoming a pro.”

“Oh man,” Kaminari said as the intro started. “I know we already saw this the first time, but that guitar rif is awesome.”

“You’ve got that right,” Jiro agreed.

Kendo placed a hand to her chin. “Seeing it again now after watching the last three episodes, you can really see how it teases the relationship between Midoriya and All Might.”

Ashido grinned. “Hey, has anyone else noticed that Uraraka and Iida are the first people in class to be introduced in the intro? They’re even before Bakugo.”

“Hey, I hadn’t really noticed that before,” Sato said, eyes widening.

“Well, we are Midoriya’s friends after all,” Iida reasoned. “If the show is about him, it only makes sense that those closest to him would be shown pretty early on.”

Iida, you’re not helpin’! Uraraka thought, deliberately keeping her mouth shut as she watched the screen. And what kind of pose is that?

*click*

The noise turned some heads towards Ashido, who was holding up her phone. She’d apparently taken a picture of the ending shot. “What? I wanted a picture.”

“Ooh, send that to me!” Hagakure requested.

“Oh, by the way,” Kamimoto stated as the screen switched to an overview of the numerous battle centres, “the episodes you’ve already watched will be available on V.O.D. on the TVs in your rooms, so you can rewatch and review what you’ve already seen at your leisure.”

“That’s excellent,” Iida remarked. “Being able to study what we’ve seen with more control and attention to detail will surely help us cultivate our understanding of the past and take lessons from it.”

“Don’t use that as an excuse to slack off here,” Aizawa cautioned them.

“Yes sir!”

Midoriya was sweating and trembling with nerves as the other applicants in his battle centre marvelled at the scope of their testing facility. He flashed back to Present Mic’s presentation earlier.

“Like your application said, today you rock’n boys and girls will be out there conducting ten-minute mock battles in super hip urban settings. Okay, okay. Let’s check out your targets.”

“We already know this!” Hagakure pouted. “We just saw it!”

“It’s still good review, though,” Ojiro stated, “and three of us here never took the hero course entrance exam.”

“...points based on their level of difficulty, so better choose wisely.” Mic’s presentation shifted to a representation of a video game. “Your goal in this trial is to use your quirk to raise your score by shredding these faux villains like a mid-song guitar solo!”

“Okay, this is it,” Midoriya told himself as he came out of his flashback to the parameters. “A mock battle.”

“Did Present Mic have to be so on-brand with his explanation?” Yaoyorozu wondered.

Jiro grimaced. “Yeah, it was kinda annoying.”

“Don’t tell him that to his face,” Aizawa warned them. “You’ll hurt his feelings.”

“Hey,” Mineta pointed while patting his seatmate’s leg. “Shoji, look! You’re up there.”

“Yeah, and so is Aoyama,” he said.

“Isn’t my sparkle just dazzling?” Aoyama asked, reaching out with his arm and giving his wrist a little flick as he struck a pose. “Midoriya even noticed my belt. He has a keen eye.”

Midoriya’s eyes zoomed in on Uraraka’s back, the brunette in her tracksuit having a hand placed up to her chest while she seemed to be focusing herself.

Ashido grinned.

‘Hey, it’s her!’ Midoriya realized. ‘The nice girl I met at the school gates! The one who kept me from falling.’

“Yeah, Uraraka sure is nice, isn’t she, Midoriya?” Jiro asked, smirking as she glanced down at him.

With very wooden movements, his whole body creaking as he moved, Midoriya thought, ‘I should probably thank her for helping me back there.’

Uraraka frowned. That’s funny. She didn’t remember Deku thanking her.

A hand dropped onto Midoriya’s left shoulder, distracting him enough to stop him. He turned around and yelped. Iida was standing behind him, giving the young prospective student a stern look.

“Wow, Iida,” Kendo giggled, “you sure scared Midoriya a lot that day.”

“She looks like she’s trying to focus on the trials ahead,” Iida stated as the scene showed Uraraka taking deep breaths and patting her chest. The camera returned to Iida’s face as he scolded Midoriya. “What are you going to do? Distract her and ruin her chances to succeed?”

Iida bit his lip. “I apologize, Midoriya. I know I was nervous, too, but that’s no excuse.”

Izuku waved his hands in front of him, just like his past double was doing, as the other applicants on screen started to write him off. “It’s fine, Iida, really! You were just looking out for Uraraka is all.”

“Yeah, but you buttin’ in like that made Deku even more of a nervous wreck,” Uraraka pouted. “I appreciate you thinkin’ of me, Iida, but I honestly coulda used the distraction. Talking to someone would have helped my nerves a lot more than bein’ by myself.”

“Yeah, sounds like you were the one ruining someone else’s chances to succeed,” Kirishima called down with a grin. “Not very manly of you, class rep…”

“Again, I apologize!” Iida stated.

“Right! Let’s start!” Midoriya and Iida both looked up at Present Mic’s shout. “Get moving! There are no countdowns in real battles!”

“Wait, that’s how yours started?” Kaminari asked. “That’s a little harsh.”

“Yeah, Cementoss gave us a countdown in ours,” Tetsutetsu said.

Aizawa sighed. “Ah, Cementoss.”

“Yes,” Kayama agreed. “It’s like he doesn’t enjoy messing with the students at all.”

“I believe it’s because he’s too inspired by All Might here,” Nezu said. He turned his head to look up at the retired pro. “You probably would have given them a countdown too, wouldn’t you?”

All Might flinched. “Well, it is just an entrance exam…”

The panicked look on Midoriya’s face as he shouted in his mind, ‘I’m already behind!’ almost matched the one on Uraraka’s as she moved at the back of the pack of examinees, all of them seemingly more focused and driven than visibly nervous.

“See, Iida,” Uraraka pointed out. “I was way nervous. Talking to someone I at least recognized, even in passing would have helped out a lot.”

“Uh-huh,” Asui agreed, “I’m sure talking to Midoriya would have calmed you down.”

Uraraka nodded. “Right! Thanks Tsu—not you too!” The perpetual blush on her cheeks went even pinker as blood rushed into the capillaries covering the rest of her cheeks.

Ashido giggled while Tokoyami muttered, “So noisy. I’m trying to watch.”

“Hey, wait up! Save some villains for me!” Midoriya shouted as he chased after them all while a fun upbeat music track started. The title card came up.

Episode 4: Start Line

“Just like Ochaco said in the preview!” Ashido declared with pep.

“It sucks that we’re probably not going to see how our exams went,” Jiro lamented.

“Yeah, but considering how Midoriya was at the start of term,” Ojiro added, “I did always wonder how he actually made it in.”

“I guess we’re gonna find out,” Sato said, folding his hands together under his chin.

‘I have plenty of time,’ Midoriya reasoned as he ran through the streets of the battle centre after the others. ‘I’ll catch up to them. After all…’ he flashed back to the Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, ‘I’ve got All Might’s power in me.’

“Yeah right,” Bakugo mocked. “You had his power but not a single clue how to use it, ya damn nerd!”

“Bakugo!” Uraraka snapped.

Izuku placed a hand on her shoulder. “No, he’s right. I didn’t know how to use it at all. But I do now, and I’ll keep getting better at it until I can say “I am Here,” and be the greatest hero in the world.”

All Might felt his chest swelling with pride.

“Before you do that,” Sero teased, pointing at the screen as Midoriya swallowed All Might’s hair. “You might want to stop making faces like that.”

Izuku blanched, seeing his expression while chuckles and giggles arose around him. Oh, right.

“Yeah,” Midoriya answered All Might’s question on if he’d swallowed it, “but I don’t feel like anything’s different yet.” His mentor laughed.

“Well, of course not! Your body has to process the hair first. Hm...” He looked up at a digital clock standing nearby, showing the time to be at a quarter past six in the morning. “It should kick in after two, maybe three hours.”

“But the exam was in three hours!” Mineta exclaimed.

“At least the written one,” Shoji stated.

“Yeah, the practical was a few hours after that,” Sato agreed.

“Process it?” Yaoyorozu wondered. “All Might, you mean that the acids in Midoriya’s stomach would need to break down the hair enough for him to start actually absorbing the quirk factor within your DNA, correct?”

All Might nodded. “That’s about right Young Yaoyorozu.”

“Then what would happen if a different exchange of DNA had occurred?” she asked. “Say, Midoriya was given a blood transfusion, or swallowed your saliva as Ashido proposed earlier?”

All Might’s eyes widened and he rubbed his chin. “Hmm, I hadn’t considered that. Likely faster for saliva, and probably almost instantly if he were to receive some of my blood.”

Uraraka spotted Ashido attempting to get her attention and glanced at the pink-skinned horned girl. “Hey, Ochaco, Midori,” she stage-whispered. “About how fast do you think the power would transfer if you do this ?” She made a circle with her thumb and index finger in one hand and used the index finger of her other to repeatedly enter and exit the circle.

As the two teens’ heads exploded at the implications, falling back or slumping forward on their couch as their souls left their bodies, Asui stared at Ashido. “Mina, that’s gross.”

“Midoriya! Uraraka!” Iida yelled.

Yaoyorozu was blushing as she scolded the cackling prankster, while Kendo giggled to herself. Their class seems fun.

“The physical backlash of One For All can be intense,” All Might advised Midoriya as the boy prepared to head home to prepare for the exam. “There’s no time to go into the fine details, but, take note.”

The scene changed back to the present, Midoriya running through the exam site as All Might’s words echoed in his mind. “You have to prepare yourself before using this quirk. So I want you to clench your butt cheeks, and yell this from the depths of your heart.”

Izuku’s soul couldn’t come to the phone right now, so he was very glad that he wasn’t cognizant enough to hear just how much laughing and giggling erupted from his schoolmates at All Might’s instructions to “clench his butt cheeks” before using his quirk. Kirishima, Sero, and Tetsutetsu particularly seemed to find it hilarious, even moreso when Midoriya encountered a one-pointer robot and froze completely.

“Midoriya vs Sludge Villain,” Sero started to tease, “‘Why am I running? Why are my legs moving? Why can’t I stop!?’”

“Midoriya vs One-Pointer,” Tetsutetsu joined in, doing his best Midoriya imitation (which wasn’t flattering), “‘Why aren’t my feet moving? Why am I frozen? Why can’t I start!?’”

A few of their classmates giggled, but Kirishima gave a big thumbs-up. “Well he’s sure come a long way from that now.”

Aoyama bid Midoriya adieu as he ran off after saving him from the one-pointer that had been about to crush him.

Izuku slowly regained his senses and looked up to where Aoyama was sitting. “Oh! I’m sorry, I never got a chance to thank you for that, Aoyama.”

“De rien, mon ami,” Aoyama replied with a wink and a sparkle.

Kamimoto looked at the blond boy with confusion from her position. She could just barely see him beyond the back of his blond head, but even so she was able to see the sparkling shards that had mysteriously appeared around him. Even outside of the show he does that? How?

Midoriya ran further into the city in search of robots he could destroy for points and arrived in a wide street where a veritable buffet of robots were being destroyed by all the other applicants with their quirks, the faux villains falling left and right. ‘Her again!’ he thought as he saw Uraraka run by in front of him. She placed her hands against the villains as she ran past them, activating her quirk on them with a slight flash of pink from the pads on her fingertips. Her quirk floated the faux villains up into the air.

Placing the fingertips of her hands together, Uraraka called out, “Now, release!” The robots started crashing back to earth around her as the brunette panted, getting short of breath. “Okay, that should be at least twenty-eight points!”

“You go, girl!” Ashido cheered.

“Yeah, nice job,” Shoji said with a nod as Midoriya freaked out that Uraraka had that many points already. “I’d wondered whose quirk was making the bots float.”

Iida’s legs shredded apart a two-pointer with a ferocious and fast kick to its abdomen. “That puts me at forty-five!”

“How’d he get so many?” Midoriya wondered, the pressure starting to get to him.

“Hey, nice job, Iida,” Kaminari praised.

“Yeah,” Hatsume agreed. “Your kicks are pretty tough, Legs, if you were able to break solid steel with them.”

“It’s because of my quirk,” Iida explained. “Because I have actual engines in my calves, my tibia, fibula, and the bones of my ankles and feet are basically as tough as a highly durable steel alloy.”

Midoriya was looking all over as more robots were destroyed with the other applicants arguing over them while calling out their point totals.

“Hey, uh, you’re not doing so hot there, Midoriya,” Sato pointed out.

“Yeah,” Mineta said. “Even I’d gotten some points at this stage.”

“Same here,” Hagakure agreed with what some could assume was a nod given the slight shift in her uniform. “Though I wasn’t destroying mine; I was disabling them by flipping a kill switch on the back.”

“They had those!?” Izuku asked, seeing his panicking face played right back at him. “I wish I’d noticed that during the exam, not that it would have helped much.”

The scene cut away from Midoriya’s despairing belief that he would fail and revealed a monitoring room. The principal’s voice spoke over a number of screens showing close-ups on individual applicants and the carnage of the destroyed faux villains. Somehow Aoyama had spotted the cameras recording them and was looking right at it. “Clearly, the examinees have no idea how many villains are present, or their locations.”

“Oh, is it time for my debut now?” Nezu inquired, his tail swishing against Kayama’s body as he leaned forward a little.

“Some use information-gathering abilities to plan out strategies,” he observed as it showed Shoji using his dupliarms to search. The scene shifted to Iida skidding against the asphalt. “While others rely on speed to pull ahead of their peers.” Aoyama was shown again next, destroying a villain with his navel laser while posing for the camera, again, somehow knowing exactly where it was. “Of course, remaining calm under pressure can be a huge advantage.”

Bakugo grinned as he saw himself show up, standing in the wreckage of destroyed faux villains with his hands smoking from his quirk’s power. “Ooh, looking like a total badass there, Bakugo,” Kirishima said, holding out his hand for a fist bump, which Bakugo provided.

“Damn straight I am,” he agreed. “That’s why I was the one who placed first in these exams.”

The voice of Midnight started to hum. “I’d say this year’s group looks promising.”

“Oh, and they certainly are,” Kayama agreed with herself, looking down over the students assembled in front of them.

“Judging the exam is always an interesting experience,” Nezu stated. “Every year, we never know what we’re going to get.”

“And every year we irrationally weed out competent children whose quirks don’t work well against robots,” Aizawa grumbled.

Snipe pressed the button labelled “Yaruki Switch” kept behind a glass case. “Let’s see how they react.”

Yaoyorozu furrowed her eyebrows. “Real test?”

Iida watched intensely. The moment Midoriya understood the meaning of the test more than me. I should observe his actions and thought processes closely, if I want to become a better hero.

Jiro shivered and grasped her arms, beginning to rub them. She wasn’t the only one who did as the music became ominous and the cities started to shake. “Oh boy, not these things again.”

Uraraka was holding a hand to her mouth to try to keep down her nausea as all the examinees in her area stopped what they were doing, turning towards the source of the rumbling. She and Iida both gained tense expressions, with the gravity girl’s face revealing more fear than Ingenium’s younger brother’s. Glass windows shattered as giant wheels carried something past buildings, and Midoriya became covered in the shadow of something truly gigantic. He gasped as he looked up.

Towering above him, mechanical hands grasping the roofs of buildings at least nine stories tall and still dwarfing them in its size, was the zero-point robot. It crushed one of the buildings in its grip, sending concrete and rebar falling to the ground.

“Eeek!” Ashido squealed, yanking her blanket up over her eyes. “That thing’s still scary!”

“Oh yes!” Yaoyorozu realized. “From the obstacle course!”

Ojiro began sweating. “I’m so glad the one in my centre was nowhere near me, and we weren’t required to take it down.”

Sato nodded. “Yeah, could you imagine having to do that?” Koda shook his head from next to him.

“Anyone who would would have to be crazy,” he said timidly. “All I could do was run.”

“However,” Tokoyami brought up, “Snipe said that this was ‘the real test’. What were they testing us on, I wonder?”

Midoriya looked like he was about to faint from terror at the giant robot looming menacingly over him. ‘Isn’t this a little extreme?’ his internal voice roared with all the volume of a field mouse.

Tetsutetsu frowned as the zero-pointer punched the road, sending up a great cloud of dust and wind that buffeted the examinees and had them screaming in panic. “Gotta say, I’m starting to wonder how Midoriya even made it in. It’s not like just anyone can fight the big one, but it wasn’t worth any points anyway, and he’s sitting at zero right now.”

“Yes,” Todoroki agreed. “Clearly Midoriya passed and made the cut, so what happened?”

Bakugo narrowed his eyes as he sat up and leaned forward. That was an excellent question.

Midoriya fell onto his butt as his legs gave out beneath him. The terror from that punch and the robot’s presence had him even more paralized than when the one-pointer had appeared in front of him. “Now things get interesting,” All Might’s voice came through as he presumably watched the proceedings.

“You were watching us, sir?” Kirishima asked, to which All Might nodded.

“Yes, but I wasn’t a judge at the time,” he answered. “Not all of my paperwork had been processed yet.”

“A person’s true character is revealed when they’re faced with danger.” Iida ran past Midoriya along with all the other fleeing applicants, the scene slowing down to show his concerned face as he looked at the frightened boy immobilized with fear, before he shut his eyes, turned away, and continued running.

The students all gasped as they saw Iida’s actions. “You… you just left him there, Iida?” Kendo queried, her hand to her mouth as she tried to connect the action she’d just seen with the reputation of her fellow class rep.

Iida bit his lip. “I have no excuse for my actions,” he answered. “I prioritized saving myself and seeking villains that were worth points. For that, I am ashamed.”

“Wow,” Kaminari said. “Not that I blame you, Iida.”

“Yeah,” Sero agreed. “That giant robot showing up outta nowhere was something else.”

“This is a disaster!” Midoriya exclaimed, tears of terror fleeing from his eyes as he tried to scramble away, not able to even get to his feet. “I gotta get away and find some smaller villains!”

“A smart choice, given the circ*mstances,” Tokoyami agreed. Asui nodded with a quiet ribbit.

Present Mic posed from atop his tower, shouting, “Less than two minutes remaining!”

Midoriya looked up in shock, still without a point to his name. “What!? Two minutes!?”

Bakugo’s furrowed brow deepened as he watched intently while Deku flashed back to scenes from the previous episode of his intensive training. Deku, how the hell did you get enough points to squeak in with two minutes left when almost all the villains had been taken out?

A leg in a black tracksuit was stuck underneath a pile of concrete at a weird angle. The owner tried to move it, and cried out with a loud, “Ow!”

Ashido peeked out from the blanket. “Oh no! Ochaco!”

Midoriya stopped trying to get away when he heard her, and turned to look.

“Uraraka!” shouted a number of people, a thrill of fear running through them as they saw the precarious situation the girl was in, trapped with her leg caught under a pile of rubble as the sounds of the approaching zero-pointer intensified.

The girl in question had been silent since Ashido’s last bit of innuendo, and she brought her legs up close, wrapping her arms around them while burying her chin behind her knees. She remembered this part. She’d never forget it for the rest of her life. The pain of the rubble pressing against her stuck and broken leg, the fear as the monolithic zero-pointer approached her…

...and the awe at what came next.

Uraraka tried to get up, sweating and struggling, but she seemed to be in too much pain or too weak from having used up her stamina already to escape from her situation.

Midoriya watched her struggle vainly, a look of horror on his face while others continued to run away.

Jiro perked up. “Hey, I recognize this track.” She gasped as her eyes widened. “No! Midoriya, you idiot!”

“I’m sorry I didn’t ask first,” Uraraka’s voice played through his head as he remembered her smiling at him at the gates. “I figured you wouldn’t mind me catching you.”

“Don’t tell me…” Sato gulped.

Koda placed his hands to the side of his head. “You actually fought that thing!?” he screamed.

“Well if it’s to save sweet miss Uraraka…” Aoyama trailed with a knowing grin.

Midoriya got to his feet, rushing towards the zero-pointer!

“I still think the test is irrational,” Aizawa said as the drumline kicked in. “This show is making Midoriya look too good.”

All Might’s voice spoke over the action again as Midoriya approached the zero-pointer. “There are no combat points rewarded for taking on the humongous villain, but there is…” the scene slowed, showing an x-ray through the pants of Midoriya’s tracksuit as his legs became filled with power as they tensed, “...opportunity; a chance to shine!” Midoriya jumped, vanishing from sight as he shot through the air with the wind pressure blowing the dust cloud away.

Uraraka gasped as she turned her head while the wind blew through her hair, watching Midoriya’s sudden display of power as he rose to face the villain.

“Holy crap, Midoriya!” Hagakure whispered.

Cementoss’ eyes grew wide while Ectoplasm leaned forward. “To show what you’re really made of,” continued All Might while all the teachers watched his screen. Midoriya started to growl as he pulled his right fist back, the power of One For All coursing through his right arm and his tracksuit tearing away while his muscles bulged with insane amounts of power. He shot between the fingers of the zero-pointer as it tried to stop him, heading straight for the giant robot’s massive head. “So clench your butt cheeks, kid…”

‘...and yell this from the depths of your heart!’ Midoriya remembered.

Nobody even had time to juvenilely snort about the butt cheek clenching instruction, too intent on watching what Midoriya was doing. Uraraka was madly blushing as she tried to hide her face behind her knees, but still kept her eyes on the screen. This was the moment when she knew he’d be a great hero.

When he became her hero.

‘SMAAAAAASH!’ Midoriya roared in his head through gritted teeth as he punched the robot. The metal face caved inward with a flash of flame from an explosion right at the point of contact, and the whole machine fell back, the head crumpling and breaking apart as explosions started to wreck havoc on its massive frame.

“With one punch!?” Kaminari shrieked.

“No way…” Kendo whispered, her face and many others nearly the same as the ones of Uraraka’s, Iida’s, and the other applicants onscreen.

“No way…” echoed Tetsutetsu, “...now that was gutsy.”

“So manly…” Kirishima agreed.

Mei giggled madly. “Such power…”

All Might grinned from within the viewing room. “That’s right.” More explosions riddled the zero-pointer robot, running all the way down its spine as it shattered into pieces. “Show who you are. Embody what it means to be a hero.” Nezu was almost jumping up and down in his seat next to All Might, celebrating the destruction of the zero-pointer.

Kayama smiled. “Now that was a fun and surprising moment.”

“Nothing is nobler,” All Might declared, “than self-sacrifice.” The screen pulled away from them to show Midoriya hanging in the air, his right arm extended from his punch and looking a sickly dark pink while blood ran from his fingers, the skin from his knuckles down having been blown away.

“Oh, dude,” Sato winced. “That was a totally awesome punch, but…”

“So this is the start of the saga of broken-bones Midoriya,” Sero chuckled as the episode’s break card appeared.

Uraraka swallowed and held her legs tighter to her chest, doing everything she could not to look at Deku. She’d started to realize it before, but now it was unmistakably presented for her. Deku’d just gotten his quirk only a few hours ago. He’d never had a chance to try using it before. He hadn’t even been able to score a single point against any of the robot villains they were supposed to be taking out. Then she gets caught underneath the rubble and he jumps into action, and breaks his body with overwhelming power he can’t handle as he saves her from the giant robot.

She hadn’t known him at all. Uraraka had barely remembered stopping him from falling near the school gates, but Deku had remembered her clearly. She was the first person his own age to have treated him nicely since everyone around him had manifested quirks and he hadn’t. She was the first girl to have given him so much as a smile and the time of day in over a decade. Even Iida, who he was now also best friends with, had called him out during Present Mic’s briefing and chastised him when he’d just wanted to thank her for helping him out earlier.

He had nothing , and still he blew up his legs and arm to save a girl he only knew as “that nice girl who talked to me”. He was worthy of being a hero. All Might needed to correct his earlier statement.

Bakugo wasn’t the only one who wasn’t worthy of Deku.

Eyes downcast, Uraraka slowly placed her feet on the ground and grabbed the green blanket she’d originally brought to their couch after All Might’s outburst at Bakugo during the first episode. “Uraraka…” Deku’s voice reached her, anxious concern laced throughout his tone, “...you okay?”

Bundling the blanket up in her arms, she nodded, quietly answering, “Yeah, I’m okay. Can I just… finish watching from another seat for now?”

The two stared at her for a moment as onscreen Midoriya flashed back to the sludge villain incident. Iida’s face returned to normal first. “Though I don’t know your reasons, sure, Uraraka. If you need some space right now, then we’d be happy to give it to you.” Deku smiled and nodded.

Uraraka felt like the smile she gave them both was treasonous poison as she wordlessly thanked them and headed up the right-hand staircase to the fourth level. The eyes of her peers and teachers bored into her as she left the oppressive warmth of her friends’ couch to sit in the cold solitude of the unclaimed one opposite the teachers, and wrapped herself up in the green blanket. She could still hear the screen just fine through the fabric that blocked her sight, and prevented anyone from witnessing her tears. From here she could even somewhat overheard Mr. Aizawa chastising All Might and the principal for not informing him as Deku’s teacher that the entrance exam had been the very first time he’d ever used his quirk.

Uraraka breathed in. It still smells like Deku…

Izuku shared a look with Iida. “Do you know if anything’s going on with Uraraka? She seemed upset.” His friend shook his head as he listened to Midoriya’s internal thoughts. Iida faintly smiled.

Of course. Midoriya didn’t realize there was anything else to the test after all. No, it just wouldn’t be Midoriya if he’d jumped in to save Uraraka for selfish reasons like impressing the judges. He saw her in danger, and now that he had the power to save her, he used it. Midoriya, there is still much that I can learn from yo—

“I hope you didn’t do anything, Midoriya,” Hagakure growled, interrupting Iida’s thoughts.

“Yeah, if you hurt her I’ll kick your ass,” Jiro agreed. “Chosen One or not.”

“What?” he yelped. “Why would I-?”

“Just one minute left!”

Midoriya realized he was still in an exam at Present Mic’s shout, and reminded that gravity still existed as he started to plummet back to earth.

Mineta had his hands on the side of his head. “How did a fall from that height not kill you, Midoriya?” he asked.

Izuku scratched his cheek, blushing and glancing back up at the green burrito that was Uraraka. “Well, uh…”

I still haven’t thanked Uraraka for saving me that day. As soon as I get the chance, I should do so.

‘...landing should be a piece of cake, right?’ Midoriya asked himself as his horribly broken limbs flapped in the wind during his descent.

“Of course he didn’t have a plan,” Aizawa grumbled.

“...right, right, right, right!’ He looked back at his legs, noticing just how they were moving, and made a shocking realization. ‘I’m broken!’

“Jeez, All Might wasn’t kidding when he said the backlash was intense,” Kaminari said.

Todoroki nodded. “Midoriya’s body was only barely able to handle the power. If he was any weaker, his limbs probably would have been blasted off of him instead of simply breaking.”

“You may have moulded your body into a proper vessel,” All Might’s words earlier that day flew through Midoriya’s mind, “but you did it in a hurry, so be cautious. The physical backlash of One For All can be intense.”

“Um, is anyone else getting sick looking at the way Midoriya’s arm’s moving?” Hagakure asked. Yaoyorozu had one hand over her mouth and the other pressed to her stomach as she nodded. Hatsume, Ashido, Mineta, Aoyama, Ojiro, and Koda were also looking pretty green around the gills. Uraraka wasn’t even watching, the blanket wrapped around her head. She couldn’t bear to see it.

‘I can barely contain this borrowed power,,’ Midoriya chastised himself as the mental image of a trembling wine glass filled to the brim began to vibrate against a high frequency noise, ‘even after ten months of training!’ The wine glass cracked.

“Now that’s some good mental imagery,” Kayama said.

“So why did he go for something like an egg in a microwave?” All Might sighed.

‘...way ahead of myself attacking that giant villain!’ Midoriya’s self-directed rant continued. ‘I’m acting like a pro, when I don’t even have enough skill to be a sidekick!’

“At least he recognized his weakness,” Aizawa sighed.

“He’s just taking his first steps,” Nezu stated. “It’s always a wonderful thing seeing children learn to develop and harness their quirks, but it’s quite another to get to witness it when an adolescent is going through the same things as those in kindergarten.”

As Midoriya continued to fall, Kirishima winced and softly asked as Midoriya reached the height of the tallest buildings. “Hey Midoriya, just how much pain were you in back then?”

“I don’t really remember,” Izuku answered. “I think all the adrenaline was blocking out most of it, but I’d still broken both legs and my right arm in multiple places, so it was some pretty intense pain, but I’d sort of built up a pretty high pain tolerance so I was able to fight my way through it.”

‘There’s gotta be something I can do!’ He thought of All Might. ‘A Detroit Smash!’

“You were planning on using it again!?” Yaoyorozu yelped. “No! Midoriya! You were already horribly injured!”

‘It’s the only chance I’ve got to survive.’

“I guess he’s not wrong,” Kendo commented.

‘My legs and my right arm are broken, so just one option. I can do this. But if my timing’s off then I’m toast. Even if I live I’ve got zero points! And if I break my left arm too, there’s no way I’m gonna pass the exam!’

“Dude, you were still thinking about the exam in that situation!?” Kaminari shouted. “Stop being so hardcore, Midoriya! You’re gonna get yourself killed like that!”

Kaminari has a point, Kayama agreed.

Midoriya screamed as he fell, his left arm reared back, ready to unleash his power in one more smash to keep himself from dying. Waiting for just the right moment, he held back, the music building up as his fall became deadlier and deadlier.

Uraraka peeked out of the blanket.

A resounding ‘SMACK’ echoed from the screen as a hand slapped Midoriya in the face, wearing a black and white wristband. Time slowed as the camera revealed a frazzled, panicked, pain-filled Uraraka on top of a piece of destroyed robot, the gravity-nullifying girl the culprit.

Relief washed through the watching students while Ashido leapt up from her seat. “O-CHA-CO!!!”

Midoriya’s descent slowed to a stop until he was floating just above the pavement. Uraraka urged her fingertips together, straining as she overused her quirk to keep both Midoriya and the robot piece she was riding aloft. “A-and… release.” Both dropped to the ground with fleshy and metallic thuds, Midoriya now no more harmed than he was after he punched the zero-pointer into oblivion.

Uraraka sighed in relief before her stomach declared a revolt. She was only able to hold it back for a second. The camera changed to a view from behind her, to avoid showing the actual act, and a deluge of rainbow sparkles emerged as she retched.

The audience… stared.

“What!?” Uraraka yelped.

“Um, what?” Jiro asked.

“Uraraka… you don’t actually barf rainbows, do you?” Sero asked.

“What!?” she repeated. “No! No I don’t!”

“Oh my, that’s adorable,” Kayama giggled.

“What’s adorable Miss Midnight?” Tetsutetsu asked. “Because this just doesn’t make sense.”

“Think about it,” she replied. “The story’s main character is young Midoriya, correct, so a lot of this so far has been seen from his viewpoint. There are then two options. Either this was an act of Upper Management that Kamimoto mentioned getting crap past the censors, or Midoriya’s mind saw young Uraraka as someone like an angel from on high sent to save him; an angel who happens to barf rainbows.”

Uraraka yelped and covered her head with the blanket again while Izuku tried to do the same using his arms. Neither of those things could prevent them from hearing Ashido’s, Hagakure’s, and surprisingly Kendo’s squeals and a number of the boys’ teasing “oooh”s.

“That’s an interesting idea,” Kamimoto mused. “I always thought it was an homage to a certain useless goddess who literally does puke rainbows.”

‘That girl… she stopped my fall again.’ Midoriya looked up, anguish all over his face as the pain caught up to him now that the danger had passed. ‘It sure seemed to take a lot out of her.’

“Like her breakfast of Skittles and Lucky Charms,” Hatsume teased.

“I wonder what the rainbow tastes like when it comes back up?” Kirishima joked.

“It’s probably still magically delicious!” laughed Kaminari.

Sero chuckled. “Uravity: Hurl the rainbow!”

Still with her head buried under the blanket, Uraraka moaned. “You guys! I don’t actually barf rainbows!”

Jiro smirked. “Hide all you want, you’re never living this one down.” She looked at Midoriya. “Neither are you, broccoli boy. Uraraka’s your rainbow-spewing angel who saved your life only seconds after you saved hers, right? Yet your first thought was whether or not she was fine, even though you’re the dork who broke his legs and arm and all she did was barf.”

A frantic expression on his face, Midoriya started pulling himself forward with just his one unbroken arm. “I still have a chance to get at least one point before—!”

“And that’s it,” Mic said while looking at his watch. “Time’s up!”

“Oh man, that’s brutal,” Sato said. “All that and he still didn’t get anything.”

“This is making even less sense,” Sero agreed. “Ignoring the rainbow barf, Midoriya scored a giant goose egg for the practical. How did he even make it?”

“Yeah,” Ashido agreed as her voice became a bit more depressed, “and not to rag on Ochaco’s twenty-eight points, but that’s still something of a low score, wouldn’t you say?”

“True,” Yaoyorozu reluctantly agreed. “Though I wasn’t taking the same test as you, it does seem too low a point value to pass.”

Iida was about to raise his voice, but it was Bakugo who beat him to the punch. “You idiots.” All eyes turned to him. “None of you, none of us , understood was Snipe was really getting at when he flipped that switch on us.” Bakugo let his red eyes stray over Deku and Uraraka, now annoyingly in different seats because Round Face finally figured out she had a crush on the damn nerd. “This is the Hero Course entrance exam, numbskulls. We were told to crush villains so we did, aiming for high scores.” He narrowed his eyes. “But heroes don’t just beat the sh*t outta dumb villains, they save by winning, and win by saving. While everyone else was either running away from the giant villain or taking down the small fry, those idiots were too busy saving each other to even remember they were in a test. It wasn’t something we were told we’d be graded on, but they did it anyway without even thinking about it; that’s how those two dumbasses got into UA.” Bakugo turned around and looked All Might in the eye for the first time since the former Symbol of Peace had punched him in the jaw.

“Well, am I right, All Might?”

Over the past ninety minutes or so, All Might’s rage at what Bakugo had said to Young Midoriya had gone down from a roiling boil to a gentle simmer. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to forgive Young Bakugo for what he’d said to Young Midoriya when they were younger, but it was clear that the young man in front of him was a different person from the one who’d told Midoriya to take a swan dive from the roof of the building. His own words being thrown back in his face without Bakugo descending into a rage at how Midoriya had managed to enter UA without a single villain point was proof of that, and his deduction was spot-on.

“That’s correct, Young Bakugo,” All Might answered. “In fact, I’m sure that the show will explain it on its own by the end of the episode.”

“There’s no way he’s passing with a zero score like that,” one of the other examinees said, completely oblivious to the sad violin or the discussion the audience was having to the exact same thing.

“But you gotta admit,” said another, “that was a pretty amazing move.”

Iida watched silently throughout all the dissing of Midoriya as they wondered how such a boy with an amazing power didn’t do anything during the ten minutes of the test. ‘They’re all missing the point, don’t they see what he did?’

“Oh, so Iida recognized it too!” Kendo realized.

“So it’s not just Midoriya’s and All Might’s thoughts that will be presented,” 1-A’s class rep said, “the rest of us may have our thoughts revealed as well.” He glared at his class. “Hear that, everyone! Midoriya’s mind isn’t the only one that’ll be under scrutiny!”

A number of students tensed and gulped.

‘He sacrificed everything, just to save that girl.’

“Peak Midoriya,” Tokoyami agreed.

“Just to save that girl?” Shoji asked. “That’s putting it a little harsh, Iida.”

‘...putting his life on the line. But despite those concerns, he didn’t hesitate to jump.’ It showed Iida clenching his fist. His whole body was shaking in frustration as he remembered the moment he turned away and ran past the quaking Midoriya. ‘If this hadn’t been an exam… then of course,’ the camera showed Iida’s frustrated expression as he beat himself up for his unheroic action, ‘I would have done the same thing!’

“Iida,” Izuku tried to comfort his friend while some of the others laughed at the look on Iida’s face, “don’t beat yourself up about it. Like Kacchan said, none of us knew they were also giving us rescue points.”

‘Wait. The exam... the judges... they saw that!’

Iida smiled at his friend attempting to console him. “It’s all right, Midoriya. It just means that I have more to learn.”

Recovery Girl was walking into the exam area, praising them all on their good work and handing out gummies to the applicants. “Yes, yes, don’t eat them all at once, okay?”

“You know, I’ve been wondering about those gummy bears,” Jiro spoke up. “What were they?”

“The gummy bears Recovery Girl was giving out all had a little bit of her quirk’s power infused within them during the candy making process,” Principal Nezu explained. “They weren’t simply to help recover some of the lost energy from running around using your quirks for ten minutes without limit in an unfamiliar setting, their other purpose was to assist in healing any minor injuries that had been sustained in the practical, while more serious injuries like those young Midoriya or miss Uraraka sustained were attended to personally.”

Recovery Girl stood over Midoriya’s unconscious body with a worried look on her face. ‘It’s as though his own body isn’t used to handling his power at all.’

“You didn’t even tell the old lady?” Aizawa growled.

“I did tell her!” All Might refuted as Recovery Girl healed Midoriya’s broken body. “But only after he was accepted. There wasn’t time to let her know prior to the entrance exam, and if by some fluke Young Midoriya wasn’t accepted then she wouldn’t need to know.”

“All Might, that is the height of irrationality,” Aizawa declared.

Recovery Girl called for any other injuries and Iida placed his hand to his chin. ‘I wonder… what if the exam had other parameters I didn’t take into account?’ He looked back to Midoriya’s now healed, but still unconscious body. ‘It’s possible…’ The scene faded to black.

Izuku sighed. “Iida, you really were thinking too highly of me,” he said. “My body just started moving on its own. I just couldn’t let Uraraka get hurt, you know? Exam or not. Besides, I didn’t have a plan for what to do after I beat the villain. If it wasn’t for Uraraka, I might not have managed to stop my own fall, or I’d have hurt the other examinees from the crater my smash would have put into the road. I might have even ruptured a water main and caused a lot of damage.”

Now he realizes how reckless that plan of action would have been, Aizawa groaned internally.

A caption appeared as the camera panned down from a nighttime sky to the apartment complex Midoriya lived in, reading, “One week later”.

“Oh yeah,” Hagakure shivered. “That week of waiting was just the worst !”

“I was so nervous,” Ojiro agreed. “I’d also applied to general studies just in case, but…”

“I could barely sleep since the exam,” Kirishima admitted. “I was on pins and needles the whole time, wondering if I’d done well enough.”

“The hell are you talking about, sh*tty Hair?” Bakugo growled. “You’re not some semi-quirkless weakling like Deku was. You had that exam in the bag!”

Kirishima rubbed his head as Tetsutetsu punched him in the shoulder. “Yeah, and knowing us, you probably got the exact same score as I did.”

“Wouldn’t that be the truth?” Kirishima said. “Hey, if this show tells us what everyone’s scores were, a thousand yen says I actually scored better than you.”

Tetsutetsu grinned. “Getting co*cky, huh? Fine! And a thousand says we tied.”

“You’re on!” The two clasped their hands together and shook on it.

Midoriya looked up at his mom across the dinner table as he realized she was calling out to him. She was sweating in fearful anxiety with her chopsticks hovering above her bowl as she stared at her boy. “Why are you smiling at that fish? Should I be worried about you, honey?”

Uraraka pulled her head out of the blanket and sat up again. A small smile graced her lips again for the first time in a number of minutes. Your mom seems really nice, Deku.

Yaoyorozu sighed, her voice quivering with sympathy as Midoriya dragged himself down into despair from his own mental calculations. “Midoriya…”

“Yeah, it was hard for us,” Kendo agreed, “but getting zero villain points even after inheriting All Might’s quirk? I can’t imagine how hard that had to have been hitting him.”

“Midori…” Ashido whimpered.

“Ribbit…”

Hatsume grinned. “Remember, the Support Course is always open!”

Iida chopped his hand. “Not the time, Hatsume! And he did make it in, remember?”

“My point stands! C’mon, think of all the genius babies we could make with a quirk analyzing brain like his.”

“Miss Hatsume raises a good point,” Nezu stated. “Perhaps we should see about permitting the Hero Course students to join the same extra curricular clubs that the students in the other programs join. Having heroes that can help design their own support equipment or those of their peers may be invaluable.”

‘And ever since the exam, I haven’t been able to get in touch with All Might.’

Uraraka gasped. “You left him out to dry for a whole week!?”

All Might flinched. “Yes… well… I still had a lot of paperwork to do to make my position at UA official.”

“But to train him for ten months and then go completely silent after the exam?” Todoroki asked, frowning slightly. “Even for you, that’s negligent, All Might.”

To be called out on it by my own students, All Might grimaced, their words wounding him.

Aizawa covered his mouth with his capture scarf. He’d never been so proud. Kayama was giggling next to him.

Inko smiled from the kitchen as she looked in on the depressed son she had sitting on the couch. She tried to cheer him up with a peppy, “No matter what, I just want you to know I’m proud of you and I think you’re really cool, sweetie.”

Ashido smiled. “Aww… Mamadoriya’s so sweet!”

“Wha-what?” Izuku gasped.

“Mamadoriya,” Ashido repeated, grinning. “Because she’s you mama and she’s a Midoriya. Ergo, Mamadoriya.”

Izuku paled. Oh my gosh. She’ll never stop teasing me if she finds out a girl in my class has nicknamed her!

“I didn’t tell my mom about All Might or his secret,” Narrator Izuku stated. “I want him to continue being the Symbol of Peace for everyone, the Number One Hero. Besides, he trusted me, so I’ll keep my mouth shut.” He put down his phone on the coffee table and lifted up a dumbbell that had been next to the couch, beginning to do reps.

“Yeah, you work those muscles, Midoriya,” Hatsume egged him on.

“He hadn’t even told his mother?” Kayama questioned.

Aizawa frowned. “That’s going to have to change, as soon as we’re back. And Midoriya’s going to need to stop putting himself down so much.”

Kayama nodded. “True, but at least he resolved even in defeat to continue trying.”

His homeroom teacher sighed. “This kid just doesn’t know when to stop or slow down.”

The door opened, Inko Midoriya on her knees and scrambling in excitement. “A letter, Izuku. They came, Izuku, look! You got a letter! They’re here! Your test results, from UA!”

A smattering of chuckles stole through the room, dispelling the somewhat gloomy air Midoriya’s onscreen depression had spread. “Like mother like son,” Tokoyami declared with a soft smile across his beak.

“I’m glad Mrs. Midoriya’s like this,” Asui stated. “It explains a lot about Midoriya.” Numerous nods accompanied her statement.

Uraraka smiled softly as Inko paced worriedly outside of Deku’s bedroom, his name written on an All Might themed nameplate hanging on the door. She was worrying so much, it was almost like she was the one who’d taken the exam instead.

All the lights were off in Midoriya’s room, all except for his desk lamp as he sat in front of the letter that would tell him he hadn’t passed. He stared at it for a number of seconds before deciding to just rip off the bandage. Midoriya grabbed the envelope by the sides and tore it open right down the middle.

“You do know that’s not how you open a letter, right?” Iida asked.

Izuku chuckled in his throat. “I just didn’t care at the time.”

A silver disk dropped onto his desk, lighting up as soon as it came to a rest. All Might appeared on a holographic projection in front of him, declaring, “Boo-ya! I am here, as a projection, now!”

“Whoa, you got All Might in your letter?” Kirishima asked.

“Of course he would,” Sero said. “He is All Might’s Chosen One, after all.”

All Might’s theme kicked off as the man stood on a stage in his familiar yellow suit. “I know it’s been a while, but with great power comes a great amount of paperwork.” He bowed. “My apologies, young man.”

“See,” All Might told Uraraka and Todoroki, “I was busy!”

“The truth is, I didn’t come to this city just to fight villains. You’re looking at the newest UA faculty member!”

Midoriya leaned forward, the look of surprise still not gone from his face. “You’re seriously going to be working at UA?”

Aizawa glanced past Kayama at All Might. “I don’t know whether I should be impressed or not that you didn’t tell him.”

All Might nodded as a hand appeared in the corner, making circles. “Hm? Yes, what’s the matter? Who’s showboating? Oh, sorry, I’ll wrap it up but I have to show him something first. Wait, I need to do how many of these things?”

The class sighed. All Might…

“Right, so, moving on!” All Might cleared his throat. “Even though you passed the written test, you got zero combat points in the practical exam. Sorry.”

“Ouch,” Sero winced as Midoriya started to wallow in self-pity at the reminder.

“Yeah, laying it out like that was pretty harsh,” Shoji agreed.

“Harsh but true,” Aoyama said.

They way he’s looking, it makes me want to just give him a hug, Yaoyorozu thought, her own lip trembling.

“Fortunately,” All Might continued, “there were other factors.”

“See?” Bakugo stated. “What did I tell you?”

Midoriya looked back up at the projection. “But before we get to that, I have another surprise!” All Might gestured towards the screen that was to his right, pulling out a remote. “Here! Look! A short clip for your viewing pleasure!” He pressed a button on the remote, and the screen filled up with a doorway within UA, and entering that doorway was none other than Uraraka in her middle school sailor uniform.

“Ochaco!” Ashido gasped again.

Uraraka herself blushed as she saw what was happening. He saw that!?

“Um, do you have a sec?” the gravity girl asked with an anxious expression clouding her face. “Sorry to interrupt.”

Midoriya’s face turned into a somewhat confused, but also hopeful expression. “It’s that nice girl.”

Uraraka covered her face with her hands. It really shouldn’t have been embarrassing, but being constantly referred to as “that nice girl” was really getting to her, especially since she didn’t have anything noteworthy at the time to describe him back.

All Might had a teasing note in his voice as he announced, “She showed up after the exam to talk about you, young man.”

“Ooh,” Jiro grinned. “Your dad’s saying you’re in trouble, Midoriya.”

Izuku turned into a tomato. “Wha-what!?”

“What did she have to say?” The man’s grin was quite telling. “You’ll have to stay tuned to find out!”

“All Might really is a showman, isn’t he?” Kendo asked.

The clip changed to show Uraraka talking to Present Mic. “You know that boy with the really messy hair and all the freckles? It’s hard to describe his face.” Uraraka started to struggle as she tried to find the right words to describe him. “He’s kinda plain-looking. Uh, doesn’t really stand out or anything, you know?”

‘She’s means me!’ Midoriya mentally gasped.

Kaminari and Sero laughed. “Self-esteem, man. Get some.”

Ashido pursed her lips. Ochaco, we’re going to need to have words.

“I was wondering,” Uraraka continued, “would it be possible to give him some of the points I earned during the exam?”

That earned some gasps from around the room. “You wanted to give him your points?” Iida asked aloud.

“But…” Hagakure paused, turning to look back at the girl who was now sitting all alone, then you wouldn’t have passed.

“Uraraka,” Kirishima whispered, “You’d have given up your spot?”

Kayama did her very best to restrain herself from belting out the word, YOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUTTHHHH!!!!

“I heard him say something about wanting to get just one point in,” Uraraka said earnestly, clenching her fist in front of her heart as she thought back to it, “which just seems crazy. How could someone who took down that huge villain all by himself not have any points in the end?”

A flash of Bakugo’s words ages ago. “You’d never be able to hang with the best of the best!”

Uraraka wasn’t done. “He would’ve had a better score if he hadn’t stopped to help me!”

Death Arms scolding him after the sludge villain. “There was absolutely no reason for you to put yourself in danger like that!”

“He saved me!” Uraraka cried out. “I have to make it up to him! Please, sir, can’t you just… give him my points?”

Uraraka hid her face again under the blanket. It wasn’t just Deku who knew that she’d tried to give up her spot at UA for him, now everyone in class knew that she’d wanted him to pass even if it meant she failed. She hadn’t regretted the decision at all, and thankfully she managed to pass too so that she and Deku could be in the same class and grow closer as actual friends, but this was a whole pile of embarrassment she hadn’t realized she’d signed up for when she woke up this morning.

All Might stopped the video, his back turned as he watched the screen too. “You have a quirk now, yes, but it’s your actions that inspire others. And that’s why I am here. You see, the practical exam was not graded on combat alone.” He resumed the video.

Present Mic approached Uraraka and patted her on the head. “Thanks for showin’ up to the station with your request,” he comforted her, “but there’s no reason to give him your points. The kid’s chartin’ well on his own.”

“How could a hero course reject someone who is committed to saving others, no matter the consequences to himself?” All Might asked rhetorically.

“Because a dead hero can’t save anyone,” Aizawa muttered.

All Might turned to look at Midoriya through the projection. “After all, that is what makes a hero. And that’s what my alma mater is all about, training those who would risk their lives for the greater good. So we have Rescue Points!” The screen showed the observation room the teachers had been watching the exam from, each of them holding up signs with point values on them. “A panel of judges watches, and they award points for heroic acts beyond just fighting villains,” explained All Might before showing Midoriya’s score at seventh place, between Iida and Tetsutetu.

“Izuku Midoriya: sixty Rescue Points!”

It then showed Uraraka in third, placed between Kirishima and Shiozaki.

“And Ochaco Uraraka: forty-five Rescue Points!”

All Might smiled over his shoulder at the camera. “You both passed the exam.”

“Dammit!” Tetsutetsu complained.

“Second place,” Bakugo grinned. “Not bad, sh*tty Hair!”

Kirishima smiled. “Hey, thanks man.” They fist-bumped.

All Might stretched his hand out. “Welcome, Izuku. You have made it. You’re now a part of the hero academia.”

“Ah, the show’s title,” Sato said. “Now it makes sense.”

As Midoriya cried with joy and relief, the camera zoomed in on a collectable All Might figure on his desk in his Silver Age costume, and Narrator Midoriya said, “It took a lot of help, but my life has changed completely.” The camera changed to a view outside of the apartment building, and panned up into a starry sky with a crescent moon. “And now, I’m enrolling in the high school of my dreams.”

The outro began.

“Whoa…” Kaminari sighed, holding a hand to his heart. “I was on the edge of my seat there.”

“Yeah,” Shoji agreed. “What Midoriya went through was a lot more intense than I thought.”

“That just shows just how much Midori deserves to be here!” Ashido exclaimed, pumping her fists. “He went through Hell, and he made it through thanks to his guardian angel!”

The outro ended, showing the same sky.

“An after-credits scene?” Asui asked.

The camera zoomed though its pan back down to the apartment. Izuku’s door opened, and he came out to greet his worried mother. He smiled.

*click*

“Nailed it!” Hagakure shouted, triumphantly holding up her phone.

Inko teared up. “Oh, my baby!”

All Might’s theme started up as the preview began.

“Oh, who’s doing it this time?” Ashido gasped with excitement.

All Might’s heroic voice boomed out over the images they could expect to see after lunch. “Welcome, Young Midoriya! This is UA High, your hero academia!”

“I’ll do my best on the quirk assessment test today, All Might! I promise!” Midoriya promised.

“Your teacher shows no mercy,” All Might warned, “and expels students who do poorly, but no pressure!”

“Good thing it was all a logical deception,” Mineta laughed to himself.

Aizawa grinned maniacally beneath his scarf.

“Next time,” Midoriya announced, “What I Can Do For Now!”

“Oh no!” All Might gasped. “What the heck are you doing with your index finger?” He screamed, though whether it was in pain or something else, nobody could tell from the voiceover.

“Go beyond!” Midoriya began, with All Might joining in to say, “Plus Ultra!”

Kamimoto clapped her hands and started pressing buttons on her remote. The doors to the Maple Theatre unlocked, the lights returned to full brightness, and the same blue light from before flashed, ending the effect of the quirk suppressor. “All right, it’s now noon!” Kamimoto declared. “Head off for lunch and do what you’ve got to do, but be back here at one o’clock so we can go over the last two episodes for today. I hope you’ve enjoyed watching so far, because I know I have.” She hopped up off her chair and started to stroll towards the doors. “Man, I’m hungry.”

Kirishima grinned and placed his hands in his pockets. “All right, Tetsutetsu, pay up. I got a higher score than you in the entrance exam by a mile. Seventy-four over fifty-nine.”

“I beat you in villain points, though,” Tetustetsu argued. “Forty-nine over thirty-five. That proves I’ve got more guts than you.”

“Yeah? Well I got thirty-five rescue points to your ten, so suck on that and pay up.”

“Bakugo. Midoriya.”

The theatre went silent at the sound of Aizawa’s voice cutting through all conversation. The two named students looked to the four teachers, standing up and already by the doors. “I hope neither of you forgot, but we need to have a talk.”

As the two joined the staff and marched out of the theatre, Uraraka tried to quietly sneak away, but that proved to be in vain as a giant hand wrapped around her body. “Thank you, Kendo,” Ashido praised, the horned girl almost skipping up to the blushing one. “And I think that we need to have a talk too, Miss Uraraka.”

Why do I do things? Uraraka asked herself as Kendo easily carried her out.

Chapter 6: Rendezvous At Lunch

Chapter Text

Aizawa didn’t glance behind him as Bakugo quietly stomped along and Midoriya meekly followed. The rat had received directions to one of the few conference rooms in this resort place from Kamimoto; it wasn’t very far, but it was in the opposite direction as the buffet hall, so they knew they wouldn’t be followed by the rest of the students. They only had an hour, less than that, even, if they wanted to ensure that they had time to at least grab a lunch that they could then eat in the theatre; plus Nezu wanted to give the boys time so they could at least confer with their groups for the assignment he’d sprung on them.

To say that the last two hours had given Aizawa a lot to think about was a supreme understatement. Kamimoto was right, he did want a drink. After this talk, maybe he’d take her up on that and get something.

On the one hand, the Problem Child was even more of a special case than he’d thought. Not only had his initial impression of an arrogant boy who’d never bothered to try to learn control been completely off the mark, but he’d only just manifested his quirk the day of the exam. The boy had only ever used it once prior to his quirk assessment test on the first day of class, if he suspected correctly. That meant unlike all of his peers who had received quirk counselling in elementary school and had been getting assistance in learning about their powers and a small amount of practice in using them, Midoriya was starting with a roughly eleven year lag behind all of his classmates. They all knew how to run. He didn’t even know how to crawl. He should have been getting extra practice time, counselling with Hound Dog, and special lessons right from the start, damn all the secrecy surrounding the origin of his phenomenal power. On top of that, he’d been bullied and abused and been forced to live without positive interpersonal relationships with his peers since he was barely out of preschool, and the main source of that trauma was his classmate.

This country had a horrendous track record when it came to dealing with mental issues, the prevailing belief amongst those in positions of authority was to simply ignore them as if mental health problems didn’t exist. While that sort of cavalier attitude may have “worked” for other institutions, UA was a hero school, and these students were in the Department of Heroics. Not properly seeing to their mental health was simply inexcusable, especially considering the types of situations they would encounter in their internships and work studies. Hero work was a stressful, taxing job, not just on the body but on the mind as well.

And on the other hand… Bakugo. Where to even begin with him? So far all Aizawa had to work with was the knowledge that he’d bullied Midoriya since at least the age of four and had thought nothing of telling Problem Child to kill himself to try to get a quirk. Likely, the more they watched this show Kamimoto was tasked with making them view the more he would learn about Bakugo’s own past and whatever inciting incident it was that had sparked the decade of abuse and insults he’d hurled Midoriya’s way, but he didn’t have time for that.

They needed a plan to resolve this now.

“This looks like the room Kamimoto told me about,” Nezu announced, opening the door. It truly was a conference room, with a singular long maple wood board table dominating the room with five office chairs on either side of the table. “Now then…” Nezu moved one of the chairs from one side to the head of the table opposite them, sat down, and adjusted the seat to its highest setting. If Aizawa hadn’t been so used to the sight, he would have thought that Nezu looked like a child wearing a suit when he did that. But he was used to the sight, and he did still think that the principal looked like a child in a suit when he sat down like that. “Mr. Midoriya, Mr. Bakugo, if each of you would please take a seat at the end of the table there opposite each other, we may get started.”

Bakugo huffed, “Fine,” in direct contrast to Midoriya’s quiet, “Yes, sir,” as both boys took their seats. Aizawa sat down next to Kayama, who sat on Nezu’s right, opposite All Might’s position to Nezu’s left. Aizawa sat on Bakugo’s side of the table, while All Might was on Midoriya’s, as he expected.

“I do not believe we should mince words about this,” the principal began, placing his paws together in front of him. “This is a very serious issue. While it did happen many months before either of you boys were enrolled in UA, we still need to discuss the implications of it and how this is going to affect your futures here at our school.”

Aizawa saw both boys tense up.

“First off, Bakugo,” Nezu continued. “I just want to impress upon you the seriousness of your actions. Whether or not you believed young Midoriya would have actually followed through with your suggestion or not, incitement of suicide is punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment. Had Midoriya actually been suicidal and taken your suggestion, you would very likely be in a penitentiary at this very moment. Not only would you have been responsible for an innocent child taking his own life, you would have become a criminal. You would never have made it through our doors to even attempt the entrance exam.”

Bakugo froze. A good response, Aizawa thought.

“If… if Deku had… I’d be…”

Nezu nodded. “Yes. As All Might said earlier, in this instance, you are lucky. Midoriya did not take your words to heart and soldiered on in spite of the abuse he had clearly suffered through. It is also clear that, while the attitude you have exhibited so far today is somewhat different from what we have witnessed in the videos so far, that you don’t, or at least didn’t, have a very favourable relationship with Midoriya.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” All Might muttered under his breath.

“Bakugo,” Kayama raised with a soft voice, “I would just like to make it clear that we have no intention of expelling you at this time. However, while we don’t intend to do anything that drastic, your behaviour is a problem, especially for someone whose desire is to become a hero. But we cannot help you adjust the problem if we do not understand where your anger is coming from. Do you think you could enlighten us?”

Bakugo seemed to come back down from the momentary panic he’d had a few moments earlier as Midnight’s words reached him. He sent a slight glare her way. “What? You want to change me like Best Jeanist tried at that useless internship?”

Aizawa sighed. “Bakugo,” he began. “What is a hero to you?”

The boy sent a glare his way too, but just like the last, it didn’t hold the usual contempt and fire that Aizawa was accustomed to over these past several months. It was more measured, controlled. He was thinking behind those fierce red eyes. The boy opened his mouth and let out a big sigh that was almost a growl as he placed his elbows on the table and rested his mouth against his hands. “You know, a few days ago before Deku and I fought and you put us on house arrest, I would have had an answer for you.”

“Kacchan…”

“Shut up, Deku, they’re talking to me!” Bakugo retorted. “They’ll deal with your sh*t once they’ve figured out how to handle all the crap I put you through. So don’t even try to defend me, got it? I won’t accept it.”

Aizawa frowned slightly as he listened and saw Midoriya barely flinch. Even now Bakugo’s overwhelming pride was still heavily entrenched in him, but Midoriya wasn’t quite as jumpy anymore. Things really had changed in the past six months. The young blond sighed heavily again. “I used to think that being a hero meant kicking ass and beating the sh*t out of bad guys,” he answered. “To always win, no matter what, and to be strong enough to handle any villain who came at you without anyone’s help.” He looked up, eyes looking straight at All Might who watched him with a neutral expression. “Because that’s how the guy who was at the top always was. Untouchable, unbeatable, facing villains five to one and sending them packing without a scratch. Ever since we were kids, All Might could kick the crap out of any sh*tty villain who rode up to him without ever needing anybody’s help. That was my ideal. To be the strongest meant being able to handle yourself without taking help from anybody. Only useless weaklings like Deku needed help.”

He frowned and looked back at Midoriya. “Pretty sure that’s where it all started. Yeah, you were an annoying runt who tagged along all the time, but I only really started to f*cking hate you was that time I fell into the creek. I’ve had a lot of time to think things over during that dumb house arrest after our fight, and yeah, that’s where it started. I was bigger than you, stronger than you, and tougher than you. I fell off that log, but I was just fine. Yet still… still you… you, the quirkless blockhead who couldn’t do anything right, you came right up to me and asked me if I was hurt. It pissed me off!”

Aizawa stayed silent. He seemed to be going somewhere with this, even if it wasn’t answering his question. Midoriya was riveted.

“That one thing, that one stupid thing, I could never understand why it pissed me off so damn much until just recently, but I get it now. I feel like such an idiot for it taking us venting our sh*t during that fight and getting punched in the jaw by All Might to figure it out. Why it pissed me off so much, why I got so screwed up so that I figured that torching a quirkless wannabe every day was fine since nobody bothered to kick my ass and smack some sense into me to tell me it wasn’t.” Bakugo leveled that same glare that had no substance to it at Midoriya. “I was better than you in every way. I was bigger, stronger, tougher, faster, and had a quirk that everybody was shouting from the mountaintops would make me an awesome hero. You had nothing. I was number one. You were dead last. Yet you tried to help me. That brought me down to your level, below the floorboards of the cutting room floor. Seeing everything now and hearing what sh*t was going through your head I can actually f*cking understand somewhat. f*ck me for not realizing that’s just the kind of idiot you are. You’d have even asked All Might himself if he was okay if he so much as stubbed his toe.”

He looked back at Aizawa. “Oh right, you asked me what a hero was to me. I don’t have an answer to that anymore, but it’s not a sh*tty asshole who thinks only of winning like Endeavor and it’s not a little bitch like Deku who thinks only of saving people and can’t back it up without almost killing himself.” Bakugo turned his gaze upon All Might. “I don’t care if you think I’m worthy of being Deku’s rival or not, All Might, but I f*cking earned my spot at this school. You think I didn’t bust my ass off too to get my quirk to where it’s at? I will be the number one hero, and surpass Chosen One over there. Just watch me.”

All Might nodded once. “That drive will serve you well, and I know Young Midoriya’s competitive spirit won’t take that lying down.” The retired pro sighed and folded his arms. “Katsuki Bakugo, the way I acted when I heard the words that you said was in haste and in anger. It’s clear now that you are not the same young man you were when you told Young Midoriya to do that; as Young Tetsutetsu said, it’s been seventeen months since then, and the walls UA has thrown up in front of you and the struggles faced outside of school have forced you to grow and adapt.”

“That being said,” Aizawa interrupted, “your temper is still a problem. I want you to know that we’ll be keeping a close eye on you for as long as we’re in this place. If I deem it necessary, once we’re back in UA I’ll make you see Hound Dog for anger management, and depending on how things go I may ask for you to be transferred to 1-B.”

“What the hell!?” Bakugo demanded. “With those losers!?”

“That’s exactly my point,” Aizawa deadpanned. “Vlad King is a hot-blooded and more outwardly passionate man than me; he ultimately may be a better fit to wrangle you in. Even if I don’t ask for you to be put into Vlad’s class, I may also rescind my permission for you to take the Public Safety Commission’s Special Course to grant your provisional license, so I would like to see you make the most of this opportunity we’ve been granted to learn from the past and future and better yourself. You say you want to be the best, then prove that you deserve it to both yourself and your classmates. I’m not telling you to win a popularity contest, and you don’t have to turn into a darling little angel, that’s not who you are. I’m telling you to prove to yourself and your classmates that you’re not some thug who’ll shake down a puppy for its bone just because it looked at him.”

Midoriya looked like he was trying to hold back an outburst of laughter.

He failed.

“The hell are you laughing about, Deku?” Bakugo fired off.

“I’m sorry,” Midorya apologized, holding his sides, “it’s just… you, fighting with a puppy, when you’re already like an exploding Pomeranian all the time.”

“Huh? Are you mocking me, sh*thead? You don’t think I can do it, do you? I’ll become number one and explode your ass back into the ground every time you try to take it from me!”

“The day you become number one is the day you rescue a scared little kitten from a tree,” Midoriya countered, getting his giggles under control.

Bakugo grinned fiercely. He held up his right hand to his side and letting a few tiny beads of sweat explode. “If you don’t shut up in three seconds I’ll explode your hair into an evergreen Afro! See how Round Face reacts to that.”

Midoriya shut up, his cheeks tinged pink.

“Thought so.”

“Alright, that’s enough of that,” Aizawa sighed. “From the way you’re both acting this is nowhere close to how your relationship was at the start of the year. I’ll bet that fight you had the other night had something to do with it. Stay out of trouble and this’ll be the end of it. Now then, Problem Child.”

Midoriya gulped. Aizawa laid his eyes on him, fixing his stare on the boy so intensely that Midoriya wouldn’t even dare think of running away.

“You’re being put into therapy as soon as we’re back. This is non-negotiable. You will accept that you need counselling or I will forbid you from participating in the work study program.”

“But Mr. Aizawa—!”

“I agree,” Kayama interrupted Midoriya to agree with him. “Midoriya, you were a victim. While you’ve somehow managed to resolve some parts of your relationship and there has been no evidence of actual bullying while at UA, which I remind you we have a zero tolerance policy of, Bakugo is not your friend and does not desire your friendship. He is your classmate and, I suppose, your rival.”

“It’s clear from your past interactions since the fitness test through the final exams that Bakugo does not seem to desire a close personal relationship with you, Midoriya,” Nezu spoke up. “Competing with one another and raising each other up is fine, but it is not healthy to place your former abuser on a pedestal and idolize him as I’m sure we’ll be seeing as we continue to watch these videos. As Bakugo is now no longer the only student who knows of the connection between yourself and All Might and the nature of One For All, it is no longer necessary for you to keep him in such close confidence, though you may choose to do so if both you and Bakugo wish. Additionally, there is the matter of your conduct when using your power. While we unfortunately have been unable to provide you with a safe learning environment due to the interference of the League of Villains, you have continued to show no regard for your own well-being. Your fight against Todoroki during the Sports Festival was horrifying. I am sure we will learn why you went to such lengths when the videos reach that point in your story, however, we cannot condone your reckless behaviour. To be a hero is to put yourself in danger to save lives, yes, but your actions so far regardless of the consequences to yourself run the risk of zealotry. Therefore, I agree with Eraser Head. You will be attending counselling with Hound Dog.”

“But—!”

Now All Might wasn’t letting Midoriya get a word in edgewise as he interrupted his successor. “Young Midoriya, when I went to your home to speak to your mother about moving into the dorms, do you remember what happened? She no longer trusted UA to keep her precious only son safe after all the injuries you’ve sustained in the short time you’ve been with us. When you tried to tell her not to blame the school because you were the one not listening to your instructors she asked if the school shouldn’t take responsibility for our failure to properly educate you. We intend to do that. You promised your mother that you would not make her worry as a condition for your continued attendance at UA. So listen to your teachers and do as you’re told. Also...”

All Might leaned over in his chair and placed his hand on Midoriya’s shoulder. “...you’ve gotta stop putting yourself down, kid. I was reminded of that again earlier. You’re always thinking that you’re not worthy of everyone’s help and attention. We want to help you because we care about you Izuku, and so do your friends and classmates. None of them like you for your quirk, though that was certainly an eye-opener for them, they like you for you. Your intelligence, your drive, your enthusiasm, your smile, your desire to help others and to do your best every day. Your classmates see you for who you are, and they like who you are and want to support you just like you support them, weird hobbies, muttering, and all. Hound Dog will help you to see that you have to see the value in yourself that the rest of us can see, and not just the importance or power of your quirk.”

Midoriya’s eyes were starting to fill with tears again. “All Might…”

Aizawa wasn’t having that. Not now. He put some steel in his voice. “And speaking of your quirk…” both All Might and the boy froze. “Would you care to enlighten me as to why neither of you saw fit to tell me about it? Keeping the nature of One For All, how its a quirk that stockpiles power and is passed on from person to person, secret would have been fine at the time, but by not letting me know that Midoriya only used his quirk for the first time in the entrance exam you almost allowed me to expel him right off the bat. Favouritism is one thing, and I can understand Midoriya not wanting to be singled out or given special treatment, but this is a situation where special treatment was entirely warranted. Midoriya, you received no quirk counselling as a child because you never had a quirk, your classmates had over ten years’ advantage on you for their bodies to go through quirk adaptation and to develop their control and understand the fundamentals of how to use their powers, and your initial instruction on how to properly use your power was coming from a man who received his teaching license simply by asking for one. You allowed me to assume your lack of control was because of a combination of arrogance and negligence rather than a genuine total lack of experience due to never having even had a quirk until a month prior to classes starting. You should have been receiving extra lessons, supervised practice time, and quirk counselling all throughout the first term just to get you to the same level your classmates were already at.”

All Might had the decency to look guilty, while Midoriya looked down. “You pretty much hit the nail on the head, Mr. Aizawa. I didn’t want to receive any special treatment, and All Might didn’t want to be accused of showing favouritism. I didn’t want my classmates to think I was being treated differently because of my quirk. After how different I had been treated because I never had a quirk, I didn’t want to be treated differently now that I had one, even one I had no control over. I wanted to feel like a normal kid for once.”

Aizawa didn’t let the stab of pain in his heart show on his face. He could only barely hear Kayama gasp next to him. Damn this Problem Child, making him feel things.

“Fat load of good that did, idiot,” Bakugo grumbled. “If you’d just said some bullsh*t about your quirk finally coming in after that sludge bastard almost killed you but it was so powerful it’d knock you into the hospital every time you used it, I’d have just laughed my ass off at you for needing so much extra help just to not kill yourself. It would have been weird, but I would have bought it instead of thinking you’d been hiding it from me for years. Instead you had to go blabbing on about someone giving you your quirk and making that borrowed power your own. You’re damn lucky nobody found out about it until now when it was spelled out to their faces.”

“That wouldn’t have worked,” Nezu said. “You said it yourself, Bakugo, Midoriya cannot tell a lie to save his life. If he had fed such a line to Eraser Head, your teacher would likely have expelled Midoriya for not giving him the full truth at the time. While I knew of the situation, I stayed mum out of consideration for All Might’s wishes to keep information about One For All and his successor secret. Aizawa, Midoriya, my silence caused both of you undue hardship. You have my sincerest apologies.”

“Your apology is appreciated, Principal Nezu, but it doesn’t change the fact that it took a month and a half and an internship with another pro familiar with One For All to even get Midoriya to the point of being able to use even a small fraction of his power safely.” Aizawa returned his gaze to the emerald eyes beneath the mop of green hair. “Midoriya, none of us were able to properly instruct you in using your quirk beyond telling you that you needed to learn to control it and cautioning you not to break your bones. Even with my lack of understanding of your situation, as your teacher I should have recognized how much you were struggling with controlling your quirk, and I apologize for my failure to properly instruct you. I plan to make it up to you while we’re on this island. Extra training, should you want it. Now that everyone knows just how green you are to even having a quirk, there should be no issue with feeling you’re getting special treatment by the rest of the students.”

Midoriya nodded. “Yes sir! Thank you very much!”

Aizawa sighed. “You kids are gonna turn me grey before forty, I swear.”

Kaminari looked around the buffet hall, his plate covered with an eclectic mix of foods: fried chicken leg, fettuccine with mushroom sauce, and stir-fry beef and broccoli over rice. “Hey, did anyone see where all the girls went? Jiro’s my partner for the principal’s assignment, and I’m kinda freaking out. I was hoping we could talk about it over lunch.”

“I saw them dragging Uraraka away somewhere down the hall,” Iida offered. “It seemed they wanted to have a discussion with her. Something appeared to be bothering her towards the end of the last episode. I hope that they’ll be able to get to the bottom of it quickly. We don’t have that much time available to us to both eat and come up with a solution to the principal’s problem, and both of my teammates are now missing because of this.”

“Hey, I see them,” Mineta said, pointing to one of the large windows lining one wall of the dining hall. The girls were all standing some distance away by a fountain in the garden walkway heading towards the pool. “Wonder what it is they’re talking about.”

Ochaco was not having a good time. All the other girls had surrounded her, and Kyoka had her earphone jacks poised and ready to grab her should she attempt to float herself away. Mina was giving her a big frown with her hands on her hips.

“All right, I hereby call this interrogation to order, the honourable judge Mina Ashido presiding,” she declared with pompous flair. “Ochaco Uraraka, you stand accused of being in a sudden but serious depressive funk! How do you plead?”

“Wha-what?” Ochaco asked, feeling her stomach plummet. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m fine, you guys.”

Hatsume blew a raspberry. “Yeah, right, even I can tell that that’s a fat sack of crap.”

“I’m fine, honest!” Ochaco refuted, feeling sweat bead on her cheeks.

Tsu placed a finger to her chin. “Ochaco, you’ve never been really good at hiding things from us, and given the way you were acting in the theatre something’s bothering you.”

Mina nodded. “Yeah! At first I was just going to tease you because I figured out it was Midori you were crushing on, but then your mood just kept getting worse and worse. You were practically in tears when you left the couch and became a little green burrito! So spill it, girl! What’s eating you?”

Ochaco tensed. This wasn’t something she wanted to discuss, but surrounded as she was there was no way to escape from it. She looked to Momo, but the heiress was not giving her an out this time; she was looking at Ochaco with the same somewhat stern look as the other girls.

“I told you, Ochaco,” Toru said, invisible hand touching her shoulder. “You’re not getting away from it this time.”

“Did Midoriya say something to upset you?” Kyoka asked. “If he did, I’m more than willing to barge into his meeting with the teachers to teach him a lesson.”

Ochaco yelped and waved her hands around as her heart thumped. “No! It’s nothing like that! Deku didn’t do anything to upset me. He’d never intentionally… he’s just, too amazing.” She sighed, bringing her eyes down while clutching her tie in her fist. She could feel her throat constricting again as Deku’s face swam through her mind again, that look as he punched the zero-pointer, and the smile he gave his mom after he’d been accepted into UA. The feelings she’d tried to trap under a mountain were burrowing their way back up. “I can’t… I can’t do this anymore.”

“Ochaco!”

Tears leaked from her eyes and she rubbed at them with her wrist. “It hurts. Why does it hurt so much? You were right, Mina. I like him, but I can’t do anything about it. You see how driven Deku is, how hard he’s working to achieve his goal, everything he had to deal with just to make it to UA. I told myself during the licensing exam that I’d put these feelings away, that he didn’t have time for distractions. And I want to be a hero too, just like him, so I have to work even harder. But the more I learn about him, about the past he never told us about, how much he feels he’s undeserving of everything good that’s happened to him, the more I feel like I’m the one who doesn’t deserve to be his friend.”

Ochaco heard Momo sigh through the quiet sobs the gravity girl was trying to hold back. “Ochaco, I apologize in advance for this. But it’s time for a system shock.”

“Sys—”

Ochaco staggered as the taller young lady slapped her in the cheek.

“Get a hold of yourself. You’re Uravity! My God, woman, pull yourself together!”

“Yeah! What she said,” Mina agreed.

Ochaco whirled her attention between the numerous stern or sympathetic looks the other girls were giving her. “Wha—”

Not being given a moment to get a full word in edgewise, Kyoka interrupted her. “So you like Midoriya?”

Turning towards her, Ochaco stuttered for a moment, blushing, but meekly nodded her head and squeaked, “Yes.”

“Good!” Toru exclaimed. “Now we’re getting somewhere!”

“So what’s stopping you from telling him how you feel?” Mina asked. “Because to be honest, he’s starting to look pretty attractive to me.”

Heart beat intensifying, blood flooding to her cheeks, words yelped out of Ochaco’s mouth before she could stop them. “What!? No! Mina, you can’t!”

“Why not?” Mina whined. “If you’re not doing anything about it, why can’t we have a chance?”

“Mina’s correct,” Momo agreed. Pink was starting to tint her cheeks. “I even… maybe… feel like Midoriya…” she shook her head, clenching her hands together. “If you don’t, then I’m going to ask him out to dinner tonight!”

“Yaoyorozu!” Kendo gasped.

Kyoko smirked. “I didn’t know you felt that way for the green bean.”

Mina looked astounded. “What? No! I want a chance. I can’t tell yet if Kiri’s gay for Bakugo or not, but I know Midori’s available.”

“I… don’t know if I actually do feel that way,” Momo replied while Ochaco just looked at both her and Mina in shock. “But… Midoriya’s words and actions, they inspired me to help us pass the licensing exam, and seeing what his life was like before coming to UA and managing to overcome such obstacles… it’s making me admire him in a way I hadn’t before. While I don’t fully know or understand how I feel yet, I’d like to explore this if given the opportunity.” She looked to Ochaco. “So… while I can’t definitively say that I like Midoriya in that way as you do, and I don’t want our own friendship to be damaged by fighting over a boy, I’m going to give you an opportunity to at least tell Midoriya how you feel before I try to court him.”

As Mina gave Momo an angry pout, Ochaco felt her heart racing far too quickly as indignation bubbled in her chest. “What? No! Momo, you can’t!”

Their class vice-rep and the unofficial leader of the girls frowned and folded her arms in front of her. “And why can’t I? Because I don’t know if my admiration for him is just that or true affection yet?”

“No!” Ochaco retorted. “Because it doesn’t matter how I feel or how you or Mina or anyone else feels! Deku’s like a bullet train heading as fast as possible towards his dream of becoming a hero. He’s spent his whole life being beaten down and told it was an impossible dream, even All Might told him so. Now that he’s finally gotten his chance we can’t risk that for him.” Ochaco felt blood in her hand, her fingers so tight that her nails had pierced her palm. Her impassioned voice faltered and she couldn’t meet their eyes again. “How I feel about him isn’t so important to risk getting between him and his goal.”

“That’s kinda dumb, don’t you think?” Hatsume asked.

“Yeah, Ochaco, I don’t think you’ve thought this through,” Tsu added, some of the other girls nodding along.

She stared at Tsu dumbly, completely not following her as she tried to stutter a reply. What did she mean, not thinking this through? It was all she’d been able to think about for the last half-hour or so! Even if she admitted it to herself that she liked Deku, she couldn’t jeopardize his future by trying to force a relationship on him.

“Let me explain,” Tsu continued. “And I apologize if this sounds a little blunt, but you know how I am. Midoriya didn’t have the best life growing up, as we’ve seen. Though he has a really nice mom, Bakugo bullied him for years because he was quirkless and called him ‘Deku’ to emphasize that he was a useless person. Being called that for practically his whole childhood and throughout middle school by the playground bully pretty much ostracized him from all his classmates. Basically, Ochaco, you were the first girl his own age who’d ever talked to him or treated him nicely for as long as he could remember, which is adorable, by the way. And don’t think I haven’t noticed the way he looks at you sometimes or blushes whenever you suddenly get close to him. Don’t you think that after years of being abused by Bakugo, one of the reasons he hasn’t tried to initiate anything is because he’s never thought that he was deserving of being in a relationship?”

Ochaco felt her heart clench at Tsu’s words. “How can you say that? He’s more worthy of being happy with someone he loves than anyone!”

“And we agree on that,” Kyoka said. “But yeah, I think I get what Tsu’s saying, Ochaco. You can’t just tell us nobody can date Green just because you don’t have the guts to ask him out, regardless of whatever noble reason you’re deluding yourself into believing is why you can’t have him.”

“I agree,” Mina said. “You’re not being fair to Midori, Ochaco. If he wants to make time for a relationship and have a sizzling summer romance that’s his decision, not yours. And if you’re gonna keep holding yourself back and denying how you feel, we’re not going to wait forever to see if something happens on its own while that hot piece of abs and clenching butt cheeks is on the market.”

Ochaco looked back and forth around the girls. “Kendo…” she whined. “Toru, help me out here!”

“I told you, your punishment would be severe,” Toru said with a shrug.

“I’m not part of your class, so I can’t say anything,” Kendo replied. “Though I am in agreement. If I didn’t already kinda like Tetsu, little green definitely feels like boyfriend material. I hope he hits the gym later; I’d like to see what his workout routine’s like.”

“I know,” Hatsume giggled. “he’s really a lot more musclely under that uniform and costume than he appears, right?”

Ochaco snapped her head at Hatsume. “Back off, boobs! You don’t get to touch him anymore, all right!?”

Hatsume laughed as all the other girls stared at Ochaco. Realizing a moment too late what she’d said, she placed her hands to her face, the pads on her fingers lighting up. Weightlessness came to her as she tried to float away.

“Oh no you don’t,” Kyoka taunted, using her jacks to wrap around Ochaco’s tights-covered leg and pull her down. “You’re not getting away that easy.”

“And jealous Ochaco comes out at last,” Mina teased, elbowing her slightly in the side. “But seriously, though, how about we give you a deadline to tell Midori how you feel? At the very least you’ll feel better just getting it off your chest and letting him know. It’s not healthy to keep bottling it up like you’re trying to do. If he doesn’t feel that way and doesn’t want to try starting something, then that’s an injustice to love and we’ll go beat him up for you. But if he does want to date you, then we’ll be saying “I told you so” all the way to the bank.”

“And if you don’t meet the deadline and tell him, then it’s open season on Midoriya,” Toru declared.

The word “what” when exclaimed in surprise was quickly becoming Ochaco’s favourite word as she yelped it again. “What!? No! You can’t! It’s too soon! I can’t do that! I just acknowledged to myself that I even liked Deku that way!”

“I know I said earlier that I would ask him to dinner this evening,” Momo said, “but given the amount of time Kamimoto will likely have us here to watch this show and the current pacing, I’ll give you to the end of day of the day we finish the first season.” Ochaco blanched as Momo issued her ultimatum. “Shows like this typically have seasons which are usually twelve or thirteen to twenty-four or twenty-six episodes long, so that should give you until the end of day tomorrow or the day after at the earliest. If you haven’t gathered your courage to tell Midoriya how you feel by then, I’m going to ask him out.”

“And me!” Mina jumped in.

“You have Kirishima,” Toru reminded her.

“Debatable,” countered Mina.

“Let’s get some food,” Hatsume declared. “I’m hungry!”

Kyoka let Ochaco go and she started to float again. The others were walking away from her, the discussion seemingly over. Ochaco watched them leave and re-enter the building, her heart in even more knots now than when she’d left Deku and Iida sitting on the couch. She’d finally admitted to herself that she liked Deku, but now the girls were pressuring her into telling him!? There was no way she could do that! She couldn’t go from denying she had feelings for him to asking if he wanted to be her boyfriend just like that! Besides, they were best friends, it’d throw in a whole lot of awkward weirdness. Plus…

…as amazing as Deku was, there was no way he felt the same way about her, right?

“Oh, Uraraka! There you are!” Izuku smiled as he saw Uraraka walk into the dining hall a few minutes after all the other girls. He saw her look up, startled, as he waved at her. She must have been deep in thought. “Iida and I saved a seat for you!”

“You’d best hurry,” Iida commented, also smiling. “We need to come up with a suitable strategy to either rescue Bakugo or defeat the sludge villain, and we barely have thirty minutes to do it in.”

Uraraka looked at them in confusion for a moment before her expression became one of panic. “Oh right! The assignment! Hang on a sec, I need to grab somethin’ for lunch!”

“They have katsudon!” Izuku informed her. “Somehow it’s even better than mine!”

“Better than yours?” she gasped. “But you make the flippin’ best katsudon ever! This I’ve gotta try!”

She vanished from their sight as she went to grab a tray. Izuku could overhear a little of the conversations going on at other tables. Todoroki and As—Tsu would normally be at his table with himself and Uraraka, but given the context of Nezu’s assignment, it seemed that everyone grouped up along the lines of who they’d been sharing seating with while they had been in the theatre. Kacchan, no, Bakugo was sitting with Kirishima and Tetsutetsu, and they seemed to be having a passionate debate as to how best to handle the sludge villain while Bakugo tore into the fried chicken leg he’d picked up.

“But even if she can’t walk in there, she could at least reach down with those long arms of hers…” Ojiro suggested to Sero.

“What kind of support equipment do they carry anyway? You think Slugger had a bat?” Hatsume asked Hagakure through a mouthful of tempura shrimp.

“Does anyone even know what quirk The Hero Formerly Known As Prince even has? How useful is he going to be?” Mineta complained to Shoji.

Izuku smiled to himself as he overheard them. “Sounds like they’re all getting into it.”

“Midoriya.” He looked up at Iida, the taller young man giving him a concerned look before glancing back to where Uraraka was filling up her plate. “I’m concerned about Uraraka. She seemed to take finding out what you’d been going through all this time pretty hard.”

“Yeah,” Izuku agreed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this down, not since she lost to Bakugo at the Sports Festival.”

“Bakugo? Ah, I see you’ve stopped calling him by that old nickname of yours.”

Izuku nodded. He sighed. “Yeah. The talk we had with the teachers earlier was something else. And… they’re right. He’s not my friend, he hasn’t been for a long time, I guess. Mr. Aizawa said that when we get back to UA I’m going to be seeing Hound Dog for therapy about it.”

“Therapy?” Iida asked. “Well, that does make sense. Being bullied and abused for so long like you were, going to see a counsellor is only rational. I’m not going to pry into what all you discussed in that room with Mr. Aizawa and the other teachers, but I want you to know that as your friend, I am here for you. If you want to talk about anything, anything at all, just let me know. And we should also let Uraraka know that we’re here for her too. We don’t want another Hosu after all.”

“Thanks Iida.” Izuku felt a blush creep up his cheek. “Uh, actually, if you don’t mind, there is something I’d like your opinion on, as a friend.”

Iida seemed overjoyed that he was taking him up on his offer so soon. “Not at all. Lay it on me.”

“All right…” Izuku said quietly. He glanced back at Uraraka. She was currently stuck between deciding between three different desserts, though she seemed to be favouring the parfait. “Actually, it’s a bit of a spoiler, but it’s about the next couple of episodes.”

“Ah, yes. From the preview it seemed like the next one will focus on our first day at UA, with Mr. Aizawa’s quirk assessment test. The one after that would probably be our first lesson with All Might.” Iida nodded. “What about it?”

“Well…” Izuku felt embarrassed, but he felt like good, dutiful, responsible Iida would be able to give him the right advice. “It’s about Uraraka, actually.”

He didn’t see Ashido’s and Asui’s ears perk up at the next table over, or Yaoyorozu’s and Kendo’s at the table behind his and Iida’s.

“Since the show’s been showing my thoughts, this is going to be really embarrassing, and I hope it won’t affect our friendship in a negative way, but, the first time I saw that she was in the same class as me and I saw her in her uniform, I thought that she looked really good in it. And if the show’s going to reveal my thoughts on that, then Uraraka will find out.” He looked up at Iida, his face turning a cherry red as the blood rushed to his head. “And then in her hero costume, I couldn’t stop staring the first time. She just looked so cute. Everytime she’s in it I need to force myself to stop staring at her so much because she just looks so amazing in it! She’s like, the first girl I knew and I latched onto her like a baby bird! Iida, what am I gonna do? Is she going to start thinking I’m a creep for thinking about her appearance like that? How am I going to be able to handle Uraraka finding out?”

“Finding out what?”

Izuku yelped and nearly lost his precious katsudon as the person he’d just been talking about sat down next to him. “N-n-n-nothing! Nothing at all!”

“That’s right! We weren’t talking about anything that would interest you!” Iida added, a little too loudly. “Just important topics between men, right Midoriya!”

“R-right!”

“Hey! Midoriya, Iida! If you guys are talking about manly stuff, let me know next time!”

Grateful for the distraction, Izuku replied, “Sure thing, Kirishima!”

“No you idiot!” Bakugo retorted at Tetsutetsu. “Didn’t you see what happened to Death Arms when he tried that already? There’s no way that’ll work. Think of something else!”

Iida coughed, holding his hand to his mouth. “Anyway, now that we’re all assembled, we need to think of a strategy for the principal. I believe Backdraft and Kamui Woods should be the linchpins. Your thoughts, Midoriya?”

“Yeah, those two would definitely work,” Izuku began, his mind firmly grasping onto the reins and starting to run with those two pros at the centre.

Uraraka held up a piece of fried pork from the katsudon as she watched the two of them. Izuku didn’t notice the slightly troubled expression on her face. “You two are being weird right now,” she muttered before placing the pork in her mouth. She started to chew, eyes going slightly wider. “Hey, this really is amazing.”

Chapter 7: You've Gotta Break A Finger To Throw A Ball

Chapter Text

“With that strategy,” Kendo concluded, “we believe that the heroes on scene would have been able to manage the situation without waiting for another pro such as All Might to arrive to end the fight and save the hostage.”

A round of applause came from the assembled students as Kendo and Yaoyorozu finished presenting and Principal Nezu stepped forward in front of the screen. “Thank you very much Miss Yaoyorozu, Miss Kendo. And with that, the presentations have come to an end. I am proud of all of you. While some of you may have interpreted the goal of this exercise differently, take note that the true purpose was to expand your imaginations and creative thinking. Even if you were unable to come up with a strategy of your own that you believed would have a better chance of success than what the heroes did in reality, this was still valuable practice. Truthfully, I was quite fascinated by the ingenuity of Team Bakugo’s plan of having Mt. Lady perform a fastball special with Death Arms, as that would have been some spectacle, however I do believe the teams that devised strategies that fulfilled the assigned objectives were Team Class Rep A and Team Class Rep B. Prioritizing the rescue of the hostage by having Backdraft douse Kamui Woods with water and having the wooden hero assault the sludge villain’s weak points of his eyes and mouth to permit Death Arms to reach in and grab the hostage would get the boy out of danger. Since he would have no need to fight back, further explosions resulting in more fires and property damage would be avoided, and the heroes could then concentrate on rescue and containment. Congratulations to both teams. Job well done.”

Izuku smiled proudly at Nezu’s praise as he high-fived his teammates. Whatever slump Uraraka seemed to have been going through earlier didn’t appear to be present anymore, which was a good thing, though he still had no idea what he was going to do if his thoughts about her were revealed.

Hide. Yeah, probably hide.

Nezu looked up at the AV area where Kamimoto was sitting, the red-haired woman smiling and holding onto an open brown bottle with a fancy label on it for some kind of alcoholic beverage. “I do believe it is now one o’clock, Miss Kamimoto. Don’t you believe it is time to begin this afternoon’s pair of videos?”

“Right you are, Principal Nezu,” she replied with a grin and a raised arm. The woman took a gulp from the open bottle in her hand. “And you finished those off just in time, I was starting to get worried. Also, props to whoever thought of the fastball special idea. I hadn’t even thought of something that crazy when I was thinking about it. Alright kids, here we go. Midoriya and Class 1-A’s first day at UA. Take note, 1-B and 1-H.”

Everyone returned to their seats, some of the arrangements changing slightly, as Kamimoto started up their penultimate episode of the day. Tokoyami moved from the loveseat Ashido had squeezed herself into and sat down on the couch at the far end of the front row with Sato and Koda, and Izuku found himself at the far left of his couch with Iida next to him and Uraraka on the right end. This changed his left-handed neighbour to Ashido, who swapped seats with Asui.

The screen faded in with a list of the top ten rankings for the entrance exam practical that they had just watched.

“Hold up! Pause!” Kaminari cried out, grabbing his phone. He wasn’t the only one frantically trying to get a picture of the rankings.

Kamimoto groaned, but did pause it for a few seconds so those who wanted photographic evidence could collect it, Izuku included in that number. The rankings would be very handy to have. “Like I said, it’ll be on V.O.D. on your TVs, you can look it up later.”

“Wow, look at how many from our class are in the top ten,” Mineta said.

Shoji nodded. “I know, right?”

Ojiro groaned. “Aw man, I’m not up there.”

Asui placed a finger to her chin. “Only the top thirty-six got in and this is just the top ten. I guess Ochaco might have made it without the Rescue Points she got from saving Midoriya, but…”

“I don’t know,” Kendo replied. “Awase’s in tenth with fifty-six. I don’t see twenty-eight making the cut.”

“Yeah, it turned out better this way,” agreed Ashido.

“Okay, that’s enough!” Kamimoto declared, pressing the button to resume it.

“Check out the results from the exam,” a male voice said as the teachers presumably looked over the highest scores.

The students all looked at each other, faces revealing their confusion. “Anyone know who that is?” Kaminari asked. Heads shook all around.

“Wow…” Midnight’s voice commented, “the first place student didn’t even have Rescue Points.”

Bakugo grinned as Snipe started commenting while he saw clips of himself blasting apart the robots from the exam. “Damn straight, I didn’t need any Rescue Points to place higher than all of you.”

“… get in close and then counterattacking. That kid is tough,” Snipe praised.

The screen changed from Bakugo to showing Midoriya’s score. “On the opposite end, the seventh place student had zero Villain Points,” Midnight stated.

Izuku blushed a little as Ashido leaned over the armrest and elbowed him while Snipe started talking about him now. “Got all those sweet, sweet Rescue Points from one punch saving Uraraka, huh?”

“Ashido…” he whispered.

“You know, if you didn’t take out that robot with that super awesome punch you wouldn’t be here,” she continued quietly. “And if she didn’t save you with that super awesome slap to the face, you wouldn’t be here either.” She grinned at him. “Don’t ya think it was, like, destiny or something?”

Izuku’s blush came in full force at the word ‘destiny’ being bandied in front of him. “A-Ashido!”

“…body isn’t used to his quirk,” another male teacher’s voice that they didn’t recognize commented as the screen showed Aizawa, leaning back against the wall, listening to the other staff comment on the results while watching the screens with a seemingly bored stare.

“Looks like most of the teachers noticed that your body couldn’t handle your own power, Midoriya,” Asui pointed out as the intro started. “I’m somewhat surprised you weren’t given extra lessons to help you with that, ribbit.”

“That was my error,” Aizawa stated. “It’s already been discussed. At Midoriya’s discretion we’ll be conducting additional supervised quirk training for him while on this island.”

“If any of you wish to participate you may,” Principal Nezu decreed.

“Now move on and watch the intro,” Aizawa instructed with a bored tone. “Get excited about seeing All Might fight the villain to poprock music again.”

“Congrats Midoriya,” Kaminari said, giving him an eager smile.

“Yeah,” Sero added. “Even though you got over it already, I bet this’ll really help keep you from breaking bones again.” Izuku smiled and nodded.

“Mmhm. Thanks guys.”

“Man, I don’t think this’ll ever get old,” Sato said with a smile, watching All Might fight the Nomu from the USJ.

As the intro cut out from their group shot in front of UA, the camera panned over a now fully cleaned Dagobah beach at night. “The night after I opened my UA acceptance letter,” Narrator Midoriya stated as the scene showed All Might in his true form watching the waves lap against the shore, “he finally got in touch with me again.”

Midoriya ran to the beach, tears flowing as he approached All Might. “Hi, All Might!”

All Might gasped with blood bursting from his mouth. “Too loud, kid!” he quickly scolded Midoriya.

Underneath the gazebo at the end of the pier built upon the beach, a couple turned around at Midoriya’s shout. “All Might’s here?” asked the man.

“No way, what?!” exclaimed his date.

Izuku had the good sense to laugh at himself as his peers started giggling in a teasing manner while All Might winced and told him off.

In a panic, Midoriya waved his arms around to try to distract the couple. “I-I was just kidding! Nothing to see here!”

They heard the man mutter, “Lame,” while his date lamented in a disappointed sigh, “I wanted an autograph.” Midoriya and All Might sighed in relief that the two bought it.

Aizawa’s and Bakugo’s eyes twitched. “How the hell did you manage to keep it a secret this long?” Bakugo growled.

“People often don’t see what’s right in front of them if they’re not looking for it,” Yaoyorozu commented as Midoriya and All Might high-fived. “We saw All Might fight personally at the USJ, during Midoriya’s final exam, and at Camino, and we only noticed that Midoriya’s quirk was similar to All Might’s. Power augmenting quirks are a dime a dozen. We never would have suspected that they were one and the same.”

“I didn’t tell anyone at UA that I’ve been training you or anything,” All Might told Midoriya, who appeared surprised by the reveal. “Really,” he insisted. “I wasn’t one of the judges and I didn’t pull any strings for you. You earned that spot all on your own.”

Midoriya bowed in gratitude. “Wow, thanks for telling me, I’m glad to hear that. Oh yeah!” Midoriya looked back up at All Might, smiling with earnest excitement. “I was really surprised to hear you’re gonna be a teacher at UA this year. I was wondering what brought you here all of a sudden.” Midoriya closed his eyes and raised a finger as he began to fanboy. “After all, your agency is in Minato, Tokyo and everyone knows—”

“Yeah, can see why you ban him for Hero Trivia night,” Tetsutetsu agreed. “I sure as heck didn’t know where All Might’s agency was.”

“Yeah, Midoriya could probably give you the street address,” Sero chuckled.

As much as her heart was still feeling uneasy about what she’d discussed at lunch with the other girls, Uraraka couldn’t help but sigh a little at the sight of Deku’s smile and fanboying moment. It helped that she wasn’t sitting directly next to him.

“…telling anyone about the job until they made an official announcement,” All Might answered him. “It seemed like fortuitous timing, an easy way to find someone new to inherit One For All.”

Midoriya’s mind returned to the past, remembering what All Might had told him the day they met. “I was… on a long hunt for a successor.”

‘So that’s it,’ his successor reasoned. ‘He was originally planning to give it to a UA student.’ Midoriya looked down at his hands, thinking hard. ‘Someone who was strong. Who already had a quirk.’

“Don’t doubt yourself, man,” Kirishima said. “All Might made a great choice picking you.”

“Yeah,” Sero agreed as Midoriya talked about how he wrecked his body. “I mean, could you imagine any of us with that power instead? Like, what am I gonna do with super strength plus tape?”

“Not to mention the whole exploding limbs thing,” Mineta commented. “Hard pass.”

Izuku smiled. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. No, he was not already crying again. “Thanks! I won’t let you guys down!”

“You’ll learn to manage it in time,” All Might answered the onscreen Midoriya’s question of what he should do to combat the negative consequences of using his new power. “Hoping to master it right away is like asking a baby to run a marathon. You still have to go through the process of learning how to walk.”

“Yeah…” Midoriya sighed as he looked down. Recognizing what All Might had just said, he quickly brought his eyes back up to the hero in a panic. “Wait, you knew I was gonna get hurt that badly!?”

Almost everyone’s eyes pierced All Might.

“Well…” All Might scratched his forehead, “we were in a time crunch. But it turned out all right.”

“Deku breaking his legs and arm in an instant is not “turning out all right” All Might!” Uraraka yelped.

“He made it into UA didn’t he?” the retired pro asked.

"All Might…!" Izuku whined.

“Now I see where Problem Child gets his cavalier attitude from,” groaned Aizawa.

All Might was holding on to a couple of cans he’d just picked up. Already the beach was getting trash dropped onto it, and after Midoriya’d just finished cleaning it barely a week ago. “…you’ll learn how to control your output. Then you’ll be able to adjust exactly how much power you’re using.”

Midoriya smiled at him as he followed along. “I just need control?”

“Just isn’t a word I’d use lightly in this instance,” Aizawa commented.

"Though that is what is needed," Kayama stated as All Might continued to explain over the cracked wine glass comparison Midoriya's mind made after he broke himself. "Until the day he can harness all of his power like All Might."

The mighty meaty hand of All Might's muscle form crushed the two cans he was holding like tiny grapes. “Then it’s yours to command.” Midoriya’s awed expression shifted into a driven look as he nodded, prepared to head towards that future where he could use One For All freely.

The camera shifted to looking at the pier behind All Might, where the couple on their date were now looking in their direction. “Look, it really is All Might!” The man shouted.

“No way, where’d he come from?!” yelled the woman, clearly excited for the chance to get his autograph.

Yaoyorozu sighed heavily as All Might and Midoriya started to run down the beach, away from the couple. She then started to giggle. “I can’t help but feel let down in a way. To think All Might and Midoriya were such…”

“Dorks?” Uraraka giggled.

“D-dorks?” Izuku yelped, his face turning so very red.

“Yeah,” Ashido laughed. “Totally adorkable.”

Kayama purred and elbowed All Might. “They’re teasing you, old man.” He just laughed. Watching this scene again from a different perspective, yeah, they could call him a dork. He was fine with that.

As they ran, their bodies and the beach vanished to be represented by two torches, one being unlit and held by a thin arm, while the other had a roaring flame being carried by a thick and strong one. The second torch touched and lit the first as All Might thought, ‘The torch I passed on to you is but a small flame right now, in time, it will be kindled, until you wield a raging inferno!’ Returning to the beach, All Might looked ahead. ‘The more powerful you become, the more you’ll outshine me. Eventually I’ll retire, my job complete. Whew! Deep stuff, All Might.’

“That retirement came a bit sooner than you expected, didn’t it, sir?” Aoyama asked.

“That it did,” All Might answered, a faint chuckle in his voice. “It’s a good thing being the Number One Hero comes with an excellent retirement package.”

Episode 5: What I Can Do For Now

The title screen was replaced with an image of the apartment complex Midoriya lived in, with a caption reading that it was now April.

“First day of school,” Mineta said, slumping down. “If I’d known then how the first week would go, I would have wished spring break never ended.”

“Izuku,” Inko fussed as Midoriya was at the door, tying his red shoes while trying to leave for the train station, “you’re all set?”

“Yeah.” The tone of his voice was clear, that of every teenager tired of being fretted over by their mother for perceived trivial reasons.

“Are you sure? You didn’t just pack action figures, right?”

“Action figures?” Iida yelped. “Midoriya!”

“What are you? A kindergartener?” Kaminari chuckled.

Uraraka leaned forward slightly to get a clearer look at Izuku as the One For All holder tried to sink back into his seat, and accidentally caused it to pop out into recliner mode. Giggling, she teased, “I bet there’s a story there, isn’t there?”

“No there isn’t!” Izuku tried to defend himself, flailing about as he tried to get the couch seat back to normal. Was there a lever or something? Did he have to push the footrest back down? Actually… this feels pretty comfy like this. He shook his head. “My Mom’s just picking on me, I swear!”

Inko Midoriya looked up at her boy as he stood in the doorway, dressed in his new high school uniform. She was tearing up slightly, with a meaningful smile on her face. “...I’m really proud of you, son.”

“Aw… Mamadoriya’s the best,” Ashido cooed.

Izuku blushed just like his onscreen counterpart was. “Yeah… yeah, she is.”

“That day, I began my high school career.” Midoriya narrated as he told his mom he’d see her soon and left the apartment.

UA came into focus, the camera panning over the main building of the campus, the whole facility basically an acropolis as Narrator Midoriya discussed the statistics of how students were accepted into the Hero course. “The acceptance rate was just as small as it always had been, one in three hundred. Four people got in because of recommendations, and thirty-six through the regular exams. We were split into two classes of twenty students each.”

“You’re all by yourself, Midoriya,” Kirishima noticed. “Were you running late or something?”

“Oui,” Aoyama agreed. “Knowing how excited you were to get into UA, I would have thought you’d be the first one there.”

Izuku laughed to himself in embarrassment. “Yeah, you’d think that, but… I kinda didn’t end up getting much sleep because I was so excited and nervous. I ended up sleeping in and only barely caught the last train before I’d have been late.”

Stopped in front of the massive door to his classroom, now that he’d found it, Midoriya was staring up at it in shock. “Are there giants here?”

“Sometimes, yes,” Aizawa answered.

“You never know what kind of quirk a student may have,” Kayama pointed out.

“…waiting behind this door.” Briefly wondering who was in his class, Midoriya thought of Bakugo and Iida, neither of them having very flattering impressions in his mind.

Iida gasped. “You thought of me that way?” he asked, shocked, and turned to look at his friend. “I must apologize again Midoriya! I never intend—”

“I said it’s fine!”

“Maybe everyone in here is nice.”

He was immediately greeted to the sight of the two people he’d just been thinking of, Bakugo lazily sitting at his desk with his feet up and Iida standing in front of the co*cky Explosion user, already berating him.

“Guess the universe just hated you, huh, Midoriya?” Jiro asked, as Bakugo and Iida argued.

“It certainly seemed that way at the time,” Izuku laughed. “But Iida’s now one of my best friends, and Bakugo’s now something like my fated rival. Since he keeps saying that he’s going to win and go higher than me, I just have to keep going higher than him.”

Uraraka frowned slightly as she heard that. Despite everything Bakugo did, and the talk he’d had with the teachers, he was still…

Wait, did Deku say “Bakugo”? Not “Kacchan”?

Iida took a step back as Midoriya sarcastically praised his luck, and centred himself. “Let’s start over, I’m Tenya Iida from the Somei Private Academy,” he introduced himself, extending a hand to Bakugo.

The blond Pomeranian didn’t seem very impressed or interested in shaking his hand. “Somei, huh? So you must think you’re better than me.” Bakugo sneered at him and elicited in a menacing growl, “I’m gonna have fun tearing you a new one!”

“Too bad you were put on the same team for the first combat training,” Kaminari teased him.

Bakugo snarled but didn’t say anything.

Bakugo laughed at Iida before noticing Midoriya and frowning. Iida stopped, following his gaze, and also turned to look straight at the camera. “It’s him,” Iida said, causing the rest of their already seated classmates to turn and look at their green-haired new entry.

While a few people shouted out variations of, “It’s me!” as they caught sight of their debut in the show, Kendo winced. “Ouch, I would not have liked my introduction to the class to have been that attention grabbing.”

“Also, Iida,” Ashido brought up. ““It’s him”? Really? How were we supposed to know what you meant by that?”

“Yeah,” Sato agreed. “Soon as you said that, I thought Midoriya was some kind of big shot.”

All Might chuckled while Kaminari said, “I guess he was after all.”

“Right? Chosen One?” Jiro teased with a grin.

Iida laughed to himself as he saw himself compliment Midoriya, claiming that he understood the true nature of the exam. “I jumped to conclusions,” he admitted, smiling at his friend. “In truth, you hadn’t grasped anything. In that moment, you followed your heart instead of your head.” He placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder, even as Izuku was still reclining. “You’ll make an amazing hero one day, Midoriya, I guar—”

Uraraka’s joyous expression and big brown eyes took over the screen. “Hey, I recognize that messed-up hair! Falling Boy!”

Izuku squeaked and quickly covered his face with his hands. Iida’s eyes widened at the reaction of his friend and remembered what he’d been telling him at lunch. “Uraraka, please! Cover your ears!”

“Huh? Why?” she asked, hearing herself compliment Deku’s punch. Nothing bad was said now, right? Her memory wasn’t that bad.

As Iida went to place his hands over her, Ashido lunged at Iida, grabbing his arms and yanking them back. Izuku grunted as Ashido landed on his chest, before he started to freak out at the soft and squishy feeling of Ashido’s uniform-covered breasts pressed against his torso as she lay on him. The pink-haired girl was grinning and telling Iida she’d “have none of that” from him, but Izuku was honestly starting to freak out.

Did she overhear when I told Iida!? This is even worse than Uraraka knowing! Crap! I didn’t realize it, but the whole class is going to find out!

The camera, representing Midoriya’s frame of vision, panned up over Uraraka’s brown shoes, green tights, uniform skirt, shirt, and tie up to her face, where she was still pantomiming him punching the zero-pointer to save her. ‘Oh my gosh,’ his thoughts spilled out to the watching audience, unaware of how much trauma this was causing present-day him, ‘it’s that nice girl who talked to me! She looks good in that uniform.’

Uraraka froze. She didn’t hear the whoops, wolf-whistles, and teasing jabs sent Deku’s way. Her brain was currently digging through the filing cabinet of her memories, searching for any one time she could remember Deku saying anything about her appearance so that she could chalk it up to just a friendly compliment.

Mental files strewn everywhere in a whirlwind of messy investigation, a mental mini-Uravity threw up her arms and shouted with a frantic helium-squeak, “We got nuttin’ boss lady!”

Her head sloooowly turned to the left, seeking the spot where she knew the future greatest hero was sitting, but unable to catch sight of Deku’s emerald eyes, probably for the best. Deku… thinks I look good?

Uraraka had blushed a lot of times today, but this time the blood rushing to her face must have wanted to set a record for the fastest time to make her pass out from the heat. It happened even faster than when Mina has insinuated using sex to pass on One For All.

"... looks… good... I… what…?"

Kayama sighed. “They're so cute.”

Bakugo stared at Midoriya standing in the doorway, hate raging in his eyes.

“That look is unsettling,” Yaoyorozu muttered.

Like a violent beast, Tokoyami thought.

The scene changed to a flashback of Aldera Junior High, Bakugo and Midoriya both standing in the teachers’ prep room. “I can’t believe we have not one, but two students from our school heading off to UA,” their homeroom teacher congratulated the two boys. Bakugo didn’t seem excited to be there, but Midoriya was shivering with nervous embarrassment as he blushed. “And to think you’re one of them, Midoriya. It’s a miracle.” Bakugo scowled, glaring at his classmate.

No longer in the office, Midoriya was thrown against a wall.

“The hell, man?” Kirishima asked, frowning somewhat and looking sideways at Bakugo as his past self interrogated Midoriya.

“I was pissed, got it?” Bakugo retorted, scowling at his friend. “Seeing that nerd do anything pissed me off.”

“I’m supposed to be the first and only student from this crappy school to get into UA,” Bakugo screamed as he held up Midoriya against the wall with one hand, “but you had to go and screw that all up!”

Uraraka returned to the world and she glared up at Bakugo. "Ugh! You were such a jerk!"

Jiro scoffed. "Of course he was. Midoriya f*cked up his perfectly crafted backstory for being the number two hero."

Bakugo leapt to his feet. "The hell did you say!?"

"You heard me. Oh wait, you interned under Best Jeanist, right? So I guess that means you'll be number four."

Bakugo's face contorted into a sad*stic smile. "Oh I am so exploding your ass later. You're going to regret that."

"Hey calm down, man," Kaminari pleaded. "You know Jiro's only taunting you, right?"

"Bakugo." Aizawa's voice lanced through the theatre. "Kitty in the tree."

It looked like the blond started to suffer an aneurysm as his hands gripped the railing in front of him so tightly his knuckles turned white. The muscles in his arms and neck were twitching while tightening.

Midoriya looked Bakugou dead in the eye. Even though he appeared terrified, he had the courage to face him and declare, “Like it or not, you can’t stop me!”

"Dammit!!" Bakugo shouted as he got himself back under control, practically throwing himself back onto the couch next to Kirishima.

The 'present' Bakugou was still glaring at Midoriya. ‘I’m gonna ruin that little bastard. Right after I figure out how he got in.’

Yaoyorozu couldn't help but giggle along with Kendo at the sight of how Midoriya was still so embarrassed at the bright smile of a very close and very enthusiastically gushing Uraraka wondering about orientation. So I suppose Midoriya does like Ochaco, and may have started on the first day of class. In a way, I'm glad he has thoughts like that, and he doesn't let them control him like Mineta. Midoriya's a gentleman, yes. Perhaps this will nudge things along.

The camera cut away from the three at the door to an unflattering headshot of Mr. Aizawa, on the floor in his yellow sleeping bag. “If you’re just here to make friends then you can pack up your stuff now.”

Kayama sighed as the students, no longer as tense as they were on the first day of school started to laugh at how Aizawa introduced himself. "Really, Shota," she said, using his first name, "are you still wiggling your way to class on the first day like a worm in that bag?"

"At least I don't flirt with my students, Nemuri," Aizawa answered, picking a grape of the bundle of vines he'd brought with him from the lunch buffet.

"My flirting gives the students experience in dealing with overeager fans, media members trying to fluster them, and those who would try to seduce them once they become known," Kayama countered, not for the first time.

"While I show up in my sleeping bag to have them get used to the unexpected," Aizawa reminded her. "You never know exactly what you're going to encounter once you get your license and are working in the field."

“Right, let’s get to it.” Aizawa instructed in a bored drone as he reached into his sleeping bag and pulled out a UA PE tracksuit. “Put these on and head outside.”

“That still weirds me out,” Uraraka admitted. “We show up and are told to put on our gym clothes before anything else happens?”

All Might was reading the Teacher Directory in a staff room, thinking to himself. ‘UA’s hero course doesn’t follow the normal academic path.’ All Might sighed. ‘Get the wrong homeroom teacher and life is hell.’

Izuku frowned and craned his neck to try to spot All Might. He couldn’t, so he asked anyway. “Gran Torino?”

“Gran Torino,” All Might groaned.

Cutting to the athletic field, the assembled class asked, “What?! A quirk assessment test?!”

“You guys had something like that on the first day?” Kendo asked Yaoyorozu. The ponytailed girl sighed and placed a hand to her cheek.

“It caused a lot of confusion,” she answered. “Did Vlad King have your class perform anything like that?”

Kendo shook her head. “No. He took us to do normal first day orientation stuff.”

Lucky… 1-A thought.

The class tensed as Aizawa continued his explanation, getting an app on his phone ready. “You’ve been taking standardized tests for most of your lives, but you never got to use your quirks in physical exams before. The country’s still trying to pretend we’re all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel.”

“And Midoriya learned that that line wasn’t true when he was only four,” Iida mused.

Aizawa turned to Bakugo. “Bakugo, you managed to get the most points in the entrance exam. What was your farthest distance throw with a softball when you were in junior high?”

The youth gave him a small frown as he thought. “Sixty-seven metres, I think.”

Aizawa took a moment to remember that. “Right. Try doing it with your quirk.”

Tetsutetsu grinned. “This’ll be good, probably.”

Bakugo now stood in the throwing circle for track, an electric guitar riff starting as Aizawa continued. “Anything goes, just stay in the circle. Go on. You’re wasting our time.”

Stretching, Bakugo responded, “All right man, you asked for it.” Fixing his stance and winding up, he thought, ‘I’ll add a little heat to my pitch and drop their jaws.’ A huge explosion burst from his right hand as he threw a softball with a blue tracking device banded around it as hard as he could. “Die!!!”

Tetsutetsu whistled as he watched. “Oh yeah, that was good.”

Bakugo grinned. “Damn straight it was. I doubt you coulda pulled something like that off.”

“All of you need to know your maximum capabilities,” Aizawa explained as the ball finally landed. “It’s the most rational way of figuring out your potential as a pro hero.” He held up his phone, the app showing the distance calculated by the tracker on the ball to read ‘705.2m’.

“You know, I’m still surprised some of you guys can throw that thing almost a whole kilometre,” Kaminari said.

“Seventy percent of a kilometre does not a whole kilometre make,” Nezu politely reminded him, “though your admiration for your classmates’ abilities is well-founded.”

“Yeah,” Sero agreed. “Imagine what you could do by throwing something that far.”

“…think it’s all gonna be games and playtime?” Aizawa gave them a sad*stic grin. He was enjoying this. “Idiots. Today you’ll compete in eight physical tests to gauge your potential. Whoever comes in last has none, and will be expelled immediately.”

Kendo and Hatsume both gasped, while Tetsutetsu let out a crazed. “You’re kiddin’ me! After passing the entrance exam he would have expelled one of you right outta the gate!?”

“That’s totally unfair!” Hatsume shouted as All Might lamented Midoriya getting Aizawa as a homeroom teacher. “Mr. Power Loader may have threatened to ban me from the studio, but no matter how many of my babies explode he’s never once mentioned expulsion!” She gasped louder. “If I couldn’t make babies ever again, my life would be over!”

“Nobody got expelled right?” Kendo inquired. “Nobody was expelled and reinstated or something, right? We didn’t hear anything about this happening.”

Yaoyorozu shook her head. “No. The threat was just a logical deception of Mr. Aizawa’s to make sure all of us did our best.”

Kayama gave him a sly grin while Nezu bowed his head, making the same expression. “So you let them believe that, did you?” Nezu asked.

“Since you still have everyone they must have impressed you,” Kayama teased him, giving the scowling man an elbow. “You big softie.”

“None of them had zero potential,” he admitted.

“Understand?” Aizawa asked, hair pulled back to reveal a manic look on his face. “If that’s a problem, you can head home right now.”

Midoriya tensed as the intense pressure of the first wall UA would put in his way got to him. ‘A huge test on the first day of school! What the crap am I gonna do?’ Aizawa looked over his class of first years with a smug expression in direct contrast to their varied reactions.

“And since you’d only ever used it once before,” Aoyama spoke up, “it must have put you under a lot more pressure.”

“Yeah,” Izuku replied, looking up at his hand as he held it in front of him. “Since I had almost no control over One For All yet, I was practically competing quirkless.”

“Ooh,” Ashido complained as the transition screen came up at the end of the scene. “That was so mean, Mr. Aizawa.”

“Did you seriously have to threaten to expel one of us?” Kaminari whined. “Couldn’t you have offered the top student a prize or something?”

“Carrot and stick,” Tokoyami noted as the show returned with Uraraka protesting.

“Heroes don’t get rewarded for succeeding,” All Might addressed the kids, surprising Aizawa. “But the punishment for failure is often the injury or death of the person they’re trying to save or themselves. While Aizawa’s method is extreme, he was right to put the pressure on you all.”

“Mr. Aizawa, it’s your big line!” Asui pointed out.

“…hero’s job to try and combat that unfairness,” Aizawa was saying. “If you wanna be a pro you’re gonna have to push yourself to the brink. For the next three years, UA will throw one terrible hardship after another at you. So go beyond. ‘Plus Ultra’ style.” Aizawa grinned at his students while gesturing for them to come at him and show him what they’re made of. “Show me it’s no mistake that you’re here.”

As the other students seemed intimidated by their teacher’s aura, Iida took a sip from his water bottle to keep hydrated in preparation for the trials ahead. ‘I don’t approve of this kind of hazing, but UA’s the top hero program. I have no choice.’

“That’s right,” Aizawa replied with a grin. “You didn’t.”

Uraraka and Midoriya looked on towards Aizawa, screwing their courage to the sticking place to show him that they deserved to be here.

Ashido grinned at Midoriya like a cat, and Izuku covered his face with his hands. “Please stop looking at me like that, Ashido!”

“Whew baby,” Hatsume sighed in relief. “I sure am glad Mr. Power Loader didn’t have us do any of this crap.”

“Runners, on your mark!” A robotic voice from a testing device on a tripod spoke cheerfully as they got ready for the fifty-metre dash, Asui and Iida poised to begin. “Ready?”

“Go Iida!” Sato cheered.

A gunshot sounded, and Iida raced off of the starting block with a boost from his engines while Asui hopped after him. Iida wasn’t even at full speed when he reached the finish line, still accelerating as the robot cheerfully announced his time at “3.04 seconds!” Asui followed a few seconds behind him.

Skidding to a stop, Iida turned around and frowned in dissatisfaction. ‘At 50 metres I can only get up to third gear.’

Iida received a close-up sketch-shot, just like Midoriya and Bakugo had, as well as Death Arms, Backdraft, and Kamui Woods in the first episode. He even got a caption of his name. “Tenya Iida,” Present Mic’s voice announced, “his quirk: Engine.”

“Mic?” Aizawa asked. He turned to look at Kamimoto, who shrugged.

“Who better to announce the quirks of the characters in the show?” she asked rhetorically.

“That’s true,” Kayama admitted.

“As you can see, his legs are pretty dang fast.”

“Well, he’s definitely in his element. But speed won’t help him in every test.” Aizawa observed.

“That’s true,” Sato agreed as Asui didn’t get a close-up, but she did get a caption and her time of 5.58 seconds. “Not like the engines in his legs can help with the grip strength test.”

Uraraka smiled as she prepared for her own heat against Ojiro. “I’ll lighten up my clothes,” she told herself, activating her quirk with just a touch. “Oh, and my shoes too!” She got her own character shot as Present Mic hyped her up to the viewing audience.

“Ochaco Uraraka! Her quirk: Zero Gravity.”

“Do you think we’re all going to get one of those?” Hagakure asked excitedly.

Uraraka ran down the track as fast as she could, Ojiro clearly pulling ahead of her with a useful application of his tail. “She can nullify the gravitational pull of anything she touches,” Present Mic’s voice continued talking about her quirk before bringing the scene to a flashback of the previous episode just after Uraraka saved Midoriya. “But if she uses her power too much, she totally hurls!”

“She hurls the rai—”

“I do not puke rainbows, Sero!”

Hatsume giggled at Uraraka’s red face. “That’s not what Muscles thinks.”

Izuku covered his face with his hands again and tried to sink even lower into the recliner. He really wished he still had that blanket so he could cover himself up with it. “Someone tell me when it gets to my turn at the ball throw so I can come back from the dead. Thanks.”

Aoyama smiled for the camera, dazzling sparkles appearing near his face, as he prepared to race Ashido in the dash. “Nice attempts, mon amis,” he stated, Ashido looking up at him in confusion as he made no attempt to get into a running position, “but you’re just not showing enough panache!” As the gunshot echoed, he hopped into the air and let his laser blast him down the track. “Let your power shine!”

“Well, that’s creative,” Kayama commented.

Aoyama got a close-up for Present Mic too. “Yuga Aoyama, his quirk: Navel Laser.” He flew down the track, propelled by his quirk and seemingly ignoring how gravity still should have affected him. “That’s right, a belly button laser!”

Aoyama’s laser dropped off, letting gravity now add the downward acceleration he should have been experiencing all along. With a series of snapshots, Ashido skated past him, using her quirk to create acid from her feet to aid her mobility. Aoyama picked himself back up and used his quirk to shoot himself across the finish line… behind Ashido. “But he can’t shoot it forever.”

“5.51 seconds…” Even the robot seemed disappointed at the result.

“You know, you might have done better if you’d just run,” Sato said over Aoyama sparkling and mentioning his quirk’s weakness.

Sero, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Ashido were all looking at Aoyama, completely unimpressed with his explanation. ‘What a tool,’ all four of them thought.

“Oh crap!” Kaminari yelped. He placed his hands over his mouth. “This thing really is going to show off our thoughts.”

“Did you just figure that out?” Jiro asked, looking up from her phone. She’d been casually playing a game on it while half paying attention to the show in front of them.

“I thought it was just going to be Midoriya and his best buds,” Kaminari whined, still talking through his hands. Midoriya and Bakugo were starting to line up for the fifty-metre dash.

“You know putting your hands over your mouth won’t prevent the show from showing us what it wants to, right?”

“Hey,” Mineta spoke up. “If we were to do all these tests again, who do you think would come in first?”

“Well we know Midoriya won’t be in last place this time,” Sero stated. “Now that he’s not breaking his bones, Chosen One down there is gonna get a bunch better scores.”

“Yeah, but I still can’t fully use One For All,” Izuku replied. He removed his hands from his face and looked at his right hand again. “With how I messed up my hand when I fought Todoroki I’m not sure just how good I’ll do on the grip test, and Mineta’s likely still going to be the best at the side steps. Since I can only use five to eight percent of One For All reliably with my Full Cowling I won’t even be able to get the same score I got on the softball throw unless I break something again.” Izuku pressed his feet down on the footrest, returning his couch seat to its normal position. “Actually, seeing this all again, I’m getting frustrated for another reason.”

“Oh?” Yaoyorozu said. “Why’s that, Midoriya?”

“It’s about you, Iida.”

His friend looked at Izuku in surprise. “Me? What about me?”

Izuku frowned. “Well, Aizawa threatened us with expulsion if we didn’t do our best, but seeing the fifty-metre dash again, and hearing your thoughts on how you could only make it into third gear on your engines, it made me realize something.” He gave Iida a dissatisfied look. “You were sandbagging.”

“Sandbagging?” Kaminari asked.

“He means Young Iida was deliberately underperforming,” All Might answered.

Midoriya worked to catch his breath after his time of 7.02 seconds, thinking, ‘There are still seven tests. Everyone’s gonna be using their quirks on all of them and getting awesome results.’

“Uh, hello?” Hagakure piped up. “My quirk is being invisible, Midoriya! How’s that going to help me in any physical tests?”

Broken from his accusation of Iida sandbagging, Izuku looked over at Hagakure. “R-right! Sorry Hagakure!”

‘...use it once… and it’ll break me.’ Midoriya stared at the ground, a terrified expression on his face as he contemplated the disastrous results of using One For All. ‘Control! That’s what I need. Maybe I can focus like All Might suggested.’

“You can harness One for All, it’s simple.”

“Aw sweet!” Kirishima crowed. “What did he tell you?”

The show entered a flashback of Midoriya and All Might at the beach after having run away from the couple. “You have to feel it!”

“...I’m sorry, what?” Uraraka asked, looking at the screen with a blank expression. “Feel it?”

THAT’S USELESS! Thought almost all of the students.

“All Might!” Uraraka shouted, while Aizawa facepalmed, Nezu shook his head, and Kayama just sighed. The former top pro looked off to his right, whistling.

“So you already know what it’s like to fire on all cylinders,” All Might said in response to Midoriya’s ask of being more specific, now shadow boxing.

“Yeah, like a lot of broken bones!” Midoriya responded sarcastically.

“Not a good feeling!” Izuku reminded All Might.

“No! I’m talking about the rush inside!” his mentor insisted. “You must’ve felt itcoursingthrough you. What was it like?”

Midoriya looked like he was trying to think, starting to come up with nonsensical answers. “Hmm… A bzzt! Or no, like woosh! Or maybe kapow! Or, um…” There was a ‘ding!’ noise, like he’d just come across a suitable answer, and he hit his palm with his fist. “Ooh, I know! Like an egg about to explode in a microwave!”

“An egg in a microwave?” Hatsume laughed like a lot of the boy’s peers. “How pedestrian, Muscles. If you want to picture something exploding, why not an atomic bomb instead?”

“Young Hatsume, the idea was to get Young Midoriya to imagine the egg not exploding,” All Might quickly cautioned. “Changing that to a bomb wouldn’t help at all.”

“How about a power dam, then?” Hatsume asked. “The reservoir behind the dam would represent the total power of One For All, and opening or closing sluice gates could adjust the amount of power you’re letting in to run the turbines? Open ‘em up all the way and you’re going with max power! Just a little and you’re barely generating anything.”

Izuku stared at her for a few seconds. “HATSUME! THAT’S BRILLIANT! That’s much better than my egg in the microwave or my frozen taiyaki.” She grinned and gave him a thumbs-up.

“I can take payment for that later,” she promised.

“You’ve got three weeks until school,” All Might reminded him. “The more you concentrate, the faster you’ll learn.” His mentor tapped his forehead. “Control over One For All isn’t gonna happen overnight.”

“Is it really that simple?” Ojiro asked.

“Was it that simple to learn how to control your tail?” Izuku asked.

“Touché.”

“But anyway, I got distracted,” Izuku said. “Iida.”

“Yeah, you said he was sandbagging,” Kaminari said, “but I still don’t know what you’re talking about. Iida got the best score out of all of us on the fifty-metre dash.”

“Are you seriously forgetting, Kaminari?” Jiro asked. “Come on, you were on his team in the cavalry battle.”

Todoroki narrowed his eyes. “His Recipro.”

The other students’ eyes widened. “Hey, yeah, that’s right,” Sato said. “Iida didn’t use it until then.”

“Right,” Shoji agreed. “None of us knew about it at all.”

Izuku nodded. “That’s right. You were up first in the fifty-metre dash and the endurance run was the last event. Your quirk would have only been able to help you on those two events, so there would have been plenty of time to rest your engines after the dash. If you had been going all out on the first day, you would have used your Recipro Burst at the very beginning to amaze everyone. You probably would have made it in less than a second.

“But instead, you kept that a secret from everyone in the class. I may have kept the nature of One For All a secret, but I was still trying to find a way to use it without completely breaking myself. The rest of us were giving it our all, so why didn’t you?”

Iida gave him a hard look for a few moments before softening into a smile. It was about to show the ball throw. “I’ll tell you at the break, but know that I never intended to disrespect any of you by not using it that day. I’ll leave you with that for now.”

Test 5: Ball throw

Uraraka smiled as she held the ball and gave it a nice, gentle toss up and forward. It kept going, and going, and going, until it eventually disappeared. Aizawa held up his phone, the app presenting an infinity symbol.

“Infinity!?” Tetsutetsu gasped, same as the onscreen 1-A. “No way. Hey, Uraraka! Is that ball still up there?”

“Uh, no,” she answered. “As soon as I released my quirk, gravity’s effects on the ball would have returned. Given the speed and length of time I maintained it, though, the ball was probably in orbit for a little while, but it probably burned up in the upper atmosphere on reentry a long time ago.”

Midoriya’s situation looked bleak, emphasized by the visualization of darkness all around his frightened face. ‘This is bad. I’ve got to come up with some kind of a game plan. Everyone’s had at least one crazy-good score already.’

“Again!” Hagakure mentioned. “Invisible!”

“Yeah,” Ashido agreed. “And I secrete acid. The only thing I got to use my quirk with by then was the dash, and I was just a little better than five seconds.”

Uraraka blushed a little in embarrassment and looked down, placing her hands between her knees. “I’m sorry, Deku. I didn’t mean to make you feel down like that.”

Izuku quickly looked at her. “Oh, no! It’s not your fault!”

“That’s right,” Iida agreed. “Don’t apologize for doing your best at school, though after Midoriya called me out on not using my Recipro, I don’t have any right to talk about this event.”

Midoriya gripped the ball in his hand as though his life depended on it, because his school life certainly seemed to in that moment. ‘All that’s left is this, the distance run, sit-ups and the seated toe-touch. It’s now or never. This is my best chance to use One for All.’

Jiro looked up from her phone again. “Hey, that same music’s starting up again,” she said, and then frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. You totally biffed your first throw.”

“Huh?” Bakugo asked, responding to Iida’s comment of Midoriya going home if he didn’t shape up. “Of course he is. He’s a quirkless loser!”

“Not anymore he wasn’t,” Uraraka muttered.

“...not hear about what he did in the entrance exam?” Iida asked, offended at Bakugo’s tone and words.

“Huh?”

Aizawa blankly stared at Midoriya, the boy standing in the throwing circle with a complicated, anxious, expression on his face as he held the ball. ‘Here it comes.’ Aizawa thought.

“Izuku.” Inko’s voice flashed through his mind. “I’m really proud of you, son.”

“Young man,” All Might’s encouragement on the day they met, “you too can become a hero.”

“Stop giving us feels, Midoriya,” Kendo half-heartedly complained. “You’re such a cinnamon roll.”

“I’m a what ?” Izuku yelped.

His onscreen self gathered his courage, prepared for the pain of what he was about to do. He wound up, One For All coursing through his right arm as time slowed. ‘I won’t let them down!’

Aizawa blinked just before the music could ascend into the heroic medley it normally would reach, and the pro hero’s eye turned red as the music stopped cold.

Midoriya threw the ball, but instead of it blasting into the sky with a monumental display of power and the shattering of the bones in Midoriya’s arm, it flew only as far as he was able to normally throw it. Even with all the strength training he’d done over the past ten months with All Might, that still amounted to only a paltry forty-six metres. It wasn’t even close to what Bakugo stated he could do without using his quirk.

The students winced at the distraught look on Midoriya’s face accompanied by a discordant piano. “That’s gotta hurt,” Ojiro observed.

“Yeah,” Kendo agreed. “I mean, I’m glad he didn’t break his arm, but…”

“This would have only been the second time he used it,” Shoji said, “and to be denied just like that.”

“That must have felt awful, Deku,” Uraraka sympathized after Aizawa stated that he erased his quirk.

Aizawa’s capture scarf was floating around his body, the man’s eyes glowing a fierce red colour as he glared at Midoriya. “The judges for this exam… were not rational enough. Someone like you should never be allowed to enroll at this school.”

Midoriya seemed to bit back his fear. “Wait, you did what to my—” he gasped in recognition. “Those goggles! I know you!”

The show cut to a shot of Aizawa crouching on a rooftop, overlooking a nighttime cityscape underneath a crescent moon. “You can look at someone and cancel out their powers. The Erasure Hero: Eraser Head!”

Kayama whistled. “That image really sets the tone for you, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t stand for all the hype,” Aizawa replied. He smiled. “But I won’t deny that I want that image as my new desktop wallpaper.”

All Might chuckled. “So even Aizawa has the desire to look cool sometimes, huh?”

“Can it.”

“Oh hey, All Might!” Kirishima spoke up, seeing how the show was revealing that All Might was watching from around the corner. “You were checking us out?”

“More like he was checking to make sure Midoriya was okay, ribbit,” Asui theorized, receiving several nods.

‘Aizawa’s one of those guys who doesn’t like the media because he thinks they interfere with our work.’ All Might thought as he looked on worriedly.

“Because they do,” Aizawa stated.

‘And he judges celebrity heroes like me because I look good in the spotlight.’

“Because you do,” he said again.

Aizawa glared down at Midoriya. “You’re not ready. You don’t have control over your power.”

“It was the second time he’d ever used it!” Uraraka complained, standing up and trying to defend him. “Mr. Aiz—”

“None of us besides Midoriya and All Might hiding over there were aware of that, Uraraka,” Aizawa scolded before Izuku could even say anything. “Had I been made aware of Midoriya’s situation…” he glared intensely at All Might, the emaciated man attempting to hide behind Midnight, “...I may have acted differently. That being said, this was still one of UA’s walls Midoriya either needed to overcome or fall before, and wouldn’t you agree that he succeeded?”

Pouting, the brunette sighed and returned to her seat. “Yes sir…”

“It’s admirable for you to go to bat for your friends,” Aizawa reminded her, “but there are some battles that need to be fought alone.”

“Eraser Head is correct,” Nezu stated. “You cannot always rely on another’s power to help you. Once you are professionals you will be expected to stand on your own two feet. Even as sidekicks, there will be times when you are acting alone.”

“...with that drive, you’re worthless if you can only throw a single punch before breaking down,” Aizawa insisted, Midoriya held tight in his capture weapon after chastising him for how much he resembled All Might, without directly name-dropping the Number One. “Sorry, Midoriya, with your power there’s no way you can become a hero.”

“Kinda funny that you tell him that when the boy has All Might’s quirk,” Kayama teased.

“Yes,” Nezu agreed. “As the successor of One For All, and being the type of person he is, Midoriya is more or less destined to become a great hero.”

“So long as he doesn’t get himself killed before he gets there,” Aizawa muttered.”

The rest of the students were watching the exchange with interest as Aizawa walked away. “I wonder if our teacher gave him some advice,” Iida wondered.

“Probably told him to start packing,” Bakugou scoffed.

“You look so worried,” Aoyama attempted to comfort Uraraka, the girl standing next to him. She turned to the blond as he addressed her, and he placed his hand on her shoulder. “I’m here, chérie.”

Uraraka appeared completely bewildered by Aoyama. “Wait, who are you again?”

“Uh… thanks for trying to make me feel better, Aoyama,” Uraraka awkwardly said while onscreen Midoriya asked himself what to do.

Aizawa watched him, bored, and having already reached a decision. ‘Is he going to use his quirk and have to forfeit the rest of the events like a fool, or admit defeat and settle into last place?’ Their teacher applied eyedrops to moisturize his eyes after having used his quirk. Aizawa looked at Midoriya with judgmental eyes. ‘Either way, he doesn’t belong here.’

“You absolutely belong here, Deku,” Uraraka whispered, hands balled up into fists again as yet another person in the past attempted to drag Deku down, and this time it was their very own teacher. And if you don’t belong at UA, then neither do I!

Crap! Did I really just think that!?

‘A waste of a quirk…’ Aizawa mentally sighed as he recognized that Midoriya was going to use his quirk.

“So what did Midoriya do?” Kendo asked as the green-haired boy began his throw.

“Oh, you’ll see,” Yaoyorozu said. “Actually, it was quite brilliant.”

Time was barely crawling as Midoriya was in the midst of his throw. ‘Mr. Aizawa was right about what he said.’ Aizawa and All Might both perked up as they noticed him doing something different in that moment. ‘If I can’t control my quirk, there’s no way I’ll ever become a hero!’

“It’s the drums again!” Jiro exclaimed.

“Damn,” Kaminari said. “I wish I had awesome theme music like that.”

“Hey, hey is he for real?” All Might gasped.

‘I have to work way harder than everyone else here if I wanna succeed!’ Midoriya thought as the ball started to leave the grasp of his hand, millimetre by millimetre.

“And here he is, making the rest of us look bad again,” Sero chuckled.

“What’s he doing?” Tetsutetsu asked.

‘I’ll focus on what I can do right now!’ One For All’s power appeared right before the ball left his hand, but it appeared at the very last moment, only on the fingertip of Midoriya’s index finger. “SMAAAAASH!!!”

Midoriya flung the ball skyward with his fingertip. It kicked up dust and debris as it soared.

“Whoa!” Tetsutetsu gasped.

“With just his fingertip!?” Kendo shouted.

“Again,” Hagakure asked, “just how powerful are you, Midoriya?”

“Super powerful!” Uraraka cheered.

‘It hurts… but not as bad as before!’ Panning down from Midoriya’s twitching face as he kept himself from crying out in pain, the camera showed Midoriya’s broken finger.

“Now if only we can get Midoriya to the point where he can use that power without breaking his body,” Nezu said.

“Yes,” Kayama agreed. “Once he reaches that level, then technique and experience will be the key.”

“He’s only going on a work study if he can prove he’s not going to be so self-sacrificial and irrational,” Aizawa stated.

“Mr. Aizawa…” His teacher looked up from his phone, the tracker having recorded ‘705.3m’, just a decimetre farther than what Bakugo had managed. Midoriya turned around and clenched his fist, grimacing in pain but forcing a proud smile. “You see? I’m still standing!”

Aizawa grinned, a manic look of crazed excitement in his eyes. “This kid…”

“Whoa,” Sato said as All Might started to provide colour commentary. “I didn’t notice it before, but…”

“With one finger Midoriya was able to throw the ball ten centimetres farther than Bakugo did,” Sero stated.

“Imagine how far that would have gone if Mr. Aizawa didn’t cancel out his quirk on the first throw,” Kendo wondered.

‘...while maximizing the throw! ‘What the heck, Young Midoriya?! How did you go and get so cool?!’ All Might mentally squealed.

Izuku blushed as the outro began. “Oh my gosh, All Might is fanboying… over me? ”

“It looks like Uraraka wasn’t your only fan on the first day,” Kaminari teased him.

“And this just proves that both Midori and All Might are hero dorks!” Ashido giggled.

All Might coughed, fortunately not losing any blood. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far, Young Ashido, but Young Midoriya certainly did impress me.”

“Yes,” Todoroki calmly examined. “Like in the episode title, he did everything within his power at the time to score as well as he did.”

Tetsutetsu crashed his fists together. “Gotta say, that was a damn awesome throw, Midoriya. It takes a lot of guts to deliberately injure yourself like that, just for a stupid test.”

“I didn’t know it was just a ruse!” Izuku answered, panicking. “I seriously thought I’d get kicked out just as soon as I’d gotten in.”

“The preview’s starting,” Asui stated as All Might’s theme began to play.

“Hero Basic Training,” Narrator Midoriya said as clips from the next episode began to pop up, starting with him sitting at his desk and giving a bright smile, “a class only available in the UA hero course.”

“Deku,” it appeared Narrator Uraraka was with him again, “let’s do our best in this combat exercise, okay?”

“Hell yeah!” Bakugo shouted.

“Oh my gosh, I talked to a girl again!”

Uraraka couldn’t contain her blush and tried to hide her head between her knees as Narrator Midoriya made a very undignified squeal of joy. Meanwhile, Izuku rushed to the railing in front of his row of seating, grasped it with both hands, and only managed to get one solid WHACK in with his forehead before Iida and Asui pulled him away.

“Looks like we’re up against Team Iida and Bakugo,” Narrator Uraraka continued, blissfully unaware of the emotional turbulence Midoriya’s squeal had caused their real-life counterparts.

Narrator Midoriya sounded like he’d gulped. “You mean… I’m going to have to fight Kacchan?”

“Next time,” Narrator Midoriya continued, “Rage, You Damn Nerd!”

Narrator Uraraka began to gush. “Look at Deku’s bunny ears! Oh my goodness! They’re so cute!”

“Go Beyond!” Narrator Midoriya said, with Narrator Uraraka joining him as they belted out the school motto of, “Plus Ultra!”

“...tra!” the students had mostly joined in the cheer as well, smiling and giggling. Most of them, anyway. Izuku and Uraraka were both a little preoccupied with their own embarrassment.

“I never told him how cute I thought they looked,” Uraraka muttered to herself, still staring at the ground between her shoes while she steepled her fingers in front of her forehead. “I didn’t think Deku would find out how cute I thought his first costume looked.”

Izuku lay folded over the railing, his body like a limp noodle, his voice was barely a squeak as his soul started to leave his body. “She knows… Uraraka’s going to think I’m a total creep and won’t want to be friends with me anymore, and it’ll be even worse next time. Oh crap, we’re sharing a room, how am I going to survive this stupid island?”

Kirishima grinned. “I guess now we’ll hear what all you guys were talking about, huh?” he asked Bakugo.

“Probably,” the spiky blond replied. “But I’m just going to let you know, Shi—Kirishima, you’re probably not going to like it.”

His friend looked concerned. “Is it that bad?”

Bakugo shrugged. “I didn’t really care at the time. Still had my head up my ass. But, yeah, you could probably say that it was.”

“You kinda still do have your head up your ass, though,” Kaminari pointed out.

“Shut your trap you useless spark plug!”

Iida placed his hand on Izuku’s shoulder, snapping his friend’s attention back to him. “Midoriya, everyone, Midoriya had a good point when he questioned why I didn’t use my Recipro during the fitness test.”

“Oh yeah,” Hatsume said, leaning back, and folding one leg over the other.

“You did say you’d tell us during break,” Koda remembered.

“So tell us, Legs. What kind of dumb Hero reason did you have for not showing off your fabulous speed?”

Iida stood at the centre of the front row, facing everyone. “I must apologize for not going all out. As your classmate and future class representative, I should have respected you all and given it my very best. Mr. Aizawa, I also want to apologize to you. Keeping my special move from you also may have impacted your ability to instruct me properly. However, to be honest, the reason why I did not use it was because I was looking ahead to the Sports Festival.”

“You were already looking that far ahead?” Aoyama asked.

Iida nodded. “I know it was underhanded, but I wanted that move to be a surprise in case I needed to pull it out to succeed in the games. If my entire class already knew of it, then some of them could have developed countermeasures. I wasn’t sure what the quirks of everyone in class were, and some of them could have been used to take advantage of the enhanced speed my Recipro would give me.”

Iida looked at Izuku. “I’m sorry, Midoriya. I hope you don’t think less of me for it.”

“Oh, no, not at all,” Izuku replied, this topic successfully distracting him from the funk of feelings. “Actually I think that’s a really smart idea. Once we become pros, lots of information about us and our moves is going to become public knowledge.”

“Just like when everyone tried to crush us during the licensing exam,” Sato agreed. “They all knew about our quirks already.”

“Exactly,” Yaoyorozu agreed. “So keeping even the smallest bit of information secret to pull out when you were in a jam was an excellent strategy, Iida.”

“Even though it did seem kind of mean at the time,” Uraraka pouted. “Busting that out on us without any warning.”

Iida laughed. “I do admit, it was nice seeing the stunned expressions on your faces after I pulled it off, Uraraka. After seeing how Midoriya analyzed quirks and took notes on pro heroes, I was glad that I had kept that move secret. I was sure he could have developed a counter to it had he known about it.”

“Actually I doubt that,” Izuku replied. “Knowing about it is one thing, but being able to do anything about it is another. Even with Hatsume and her babies on the team, I don’t believe we could have done anything about that speed even if we could see it coming.”

“Yeah man,” Kaminari agreed. “Your Recipro makes you crazy fast. It felt like my arm was going to get yanked out just holding on.”

Kamimoto clapped loudly. “Okay everyone, back to your seats! Your final episode of the day is here! Also, Midoriya, Uraraka!” The two called-out teens stiffened. “Try not to knock yourselves out in embarrassment, okay?”

Blushing like mad amidst the cackles of their classmates, the pair sat down, continuing to remain on opposite sides of Iida, who smiled helplessly as they buried their heads in their hands.

Chapter 8: Deku Means Cutie Patootie, Right?

Chapter Text

The episode started off right with Midoriya starting his throw, the drums and strings kicking off the music that always seemed to play whenever the boy was doing something heroic. Time slowed, Midoriya’s thoughts being played again. ‘Even if I have a lot to learn, I’ll focus on what I can do right now!’

He sent One For All shooting through his fingertip, shouting out, “SMAAAAASH!!!” as he simultaneously blasted the ball into the sky and broke his finger.

“Okay, Miss Kamimoto,” Jiro spoke up as she turned to catch sight of the woman with all the AV equipment, “I’ve gotta ask. Is it possible to get the soundtrack for this show somehow? It’s got some killer music.”

“Sure!” Kamimoto said, cracking open another bottle of the blackberry cider she’d been drinking. “I’m sure we can set you up with something like that.”

“Oh hey that’s right,” Ashido exclaimed, bouncing in her seat. “Jiro, you’ve got a ton of instruments in your room, right? We could form a band or something, and then play this stuff!”

“The school culture festival is coming up in November,” Kayama reminded them. “If you darlings want to do a concert with the soundtrack of your own show, you’ll have to practice hard.”

Jiro’s cheeks turned pink as she whirled back around to face Ashido in the row in front of her. “Hey, I never said anything like that! I just think this track would be cool to play on a loop while studying or something.”

“Or we could play that song that happened during Midoriya’s training montage when working out,” Kirishima suggested. “Man, just thinking about it’s getting me pumped up. Hitting the gym once we’re done here’s going to be so manly.”

Aizawa was looking down at his phone, displaying the score at ‘705.3m’, just in case anyone forgot. ‘A throw like that requires a lot of force,’ he reasoned, revealing his thoughts from earlier. ‘Did he focus all that power into one finger?’

“Mr. Aizawa…” he looked up, seeing Midoriya clench a fist around his broken finger and giving him that proud smile through the pain. “You see? I’m still standing.”

Aizawa got that look in his eye again as he made a twisted smile. “This kid…”

“You impressed Eraser Head, Midoriya,” Nezu complimented as the intro began. “For it being your first day, and with him fully intending to expel you due to his well-founded grievances with the entrance exam, that is no small feat.”

“Yes,” Kayama agreed. “You should be proud. Once Aizawa has decided to expel a student, very little will change his mind.”

“Oh, uh, thanks Principal Nezu, Miss Midnight,” Izuku said. “But since it was just a ruse to get us all to do our best, I’m just glad that I was never in any danger of expulsion in the first place.”

“Mr. Aizawa wouldn’t truly have expelled anyone after all,” Yaoyorozu agreed. “He just wanted us to push ourselves to know what our limits were.”

The intro ended, cutting right back to the athletic field. Kaminari gasped, “He threw it over seven hundred metres!”

Uraraka threw her arms up in joy with a big smile on her face. “Nice! He’s finally showing us his true power!”

“But his finger appears to be broken now,” Iida noticed. “Just like in the entrance exam. This quirk is very odd.”

“It wasn’t a very pretty throw,” Aoyama agreed.

Bakugo, comparatively, had his jaw dropped and his facial muscles twitching.

“Who’s dropping whose jaws now, eh Bakugo?” Tetsutetsu smirked.

“Shut it, extra.”

‘What the hell was that!?’ he thought. ‘If he had a quirk he would have gotten it when we were kids! This is impossible!’

“Seeing their past and Bakugo’s assertion that Midoriya was quirkless, his reaction does seem reasonable,” Kendo sighed.

“True,” Yaoyorozu agreed, grimacing, “but his attitude at the time was completely deplorable.”

“I’m getting to the bottom of this,” Bakugo growled, setting off tiny explosions from his hand. He raced away from where Uraraka, Iida, and Aoyama were standing near him, making a beeline for Midoriya. “Hey! Deku, you bastard! Tell me how you did that or you’re dead!”

“See?” Yaoyorozu stated, as Midoriya started to scream in panic at the charging Explosion user making a tch noise and folding her arms. “Just deplorable.”

“Agreed,” Iida concurred. “That kind of behaviour has no place at a hero school.”

“Come on guys,” Izuku sighed. “I know he was bad, but Bakugo’s not like that anymore.”

Bakugo’s charge was completely arrested as Aizawa’s capture scarf wrapped around his forehead and upper body. Struggling against it, the blonde slowly turned his head back towards his teacher. “What? Why the hell is your damn scarf so strong?”

Aizawa was glaring at Bakugo, the full force of his quirk on display as he negated Bakugo’s powerful abilities while keeping him restrained with the scarf. “Because it’s a capture weapon made out of carbon fibre and a special metal alloy. Stand down.” Midoriya flinched at the authority in Aizawa’s order, and the rest of the class watched anxiously. “It’d be wise to avoid making me use my quirk so much. It gives me serious dry eye.”

“So he told you to stop actin’ like monkeys because it’s damn inconvenient?” Tetsutetsu asked.

“Peak Aizawa, amirit?” Kaminari chuckled.

“Class 1-A’s homeroom teacher: Shota Aizawa!” Present Mic’s voice announced at the pro hero got his own close-up. “He can erase the quirk of anyone he looks at, but the effect ends when he blinks.”

“Kaminari,” Aizawa ordered, the quiet snickers silencing immediately, “five laps around the island.”

The Electrification user’s jaw dropped. “B-but we haven’t explored it yet! We don’t know how big this island is, sir!”

“That sounds like a ‘you’ problem, Kaminari,” Aizawa stated. The boy groaned and hung his head in his hands. “Anyone else have any snappy comments about me?”

The students all shook their heads.

Uraraka’s voice could be heard offscreen as Bakugo stood still, trembling with rage. “Ouch, is your finger okay?”

“Sure, fine,” Midoriya distantly answered. Bakugo looked back. The damn nerd was holding his right arm close to his chest while Uraraka inched closer, a concerned expression on her face.

‘Until the exam, he was nothing,’ Bakugo forcibly declared to himself. ‘A little bug I could crush if I wanted to.’

The scene flashed to when they were kids.

“It’s baby Midori again!” Ashido whooped.

“Cutie pie! Cutie pie!” Hagakure cheered.

Izuku slumped down again and covered his face, trying desperately to get used to the girls in his class seeing what he looked like as a little kid and calling him cute.

“...quirk is amazing Kacchan!” Baby Midoriya blew smoke up Baby Bakugo’s butt as the blond boy marched ahead of him with a self-satisfied smug expression, BB carrying a net for catching bugs while BM carried a pair of green boxes on shoulder straps. “When I get mine I hope it’s just as cool!”

BB looked back at him. “Whatever, Deku, no matter what power you end up with, you’ll never be able to beat me.” It faded back to the present day, Bakugo’s face trembling in his wrath. ‘Just an annoying bug that I can smash into the ground!’

Episode 6: Rage, You Damn Nerd

“Sheesh,” Sero sighed with a bit of a frown as he rubbed his head. “Quirks aren’t a competition, yo.”

“You know, it’s still kinda weird,” Kaminari said as the show showed quick clips of the last three physical events. “Like, we’ve known Bakugo for a while now, and seeing what it was like in the early days, it’s disconcerting that the cool dude who can’t admit to anyone that he likes and stands up for his classmates like when we were facing off against that guy from Shiketsu really was a total dick at the start of the year.”

“I heard that, Sparky! Say that I like you again and I’ll kill you!”

“Yeah, like that,” Kaminari grinned, pointing a finger gun at Bakugo and giving him a smile. “You’re totally mean and bark a lot, but there’s no way you hate us.”

“Not anymore, at least,” Sero chuckled.

“Perhaps the show will provide evidence of how he changed,” Tokoyami observed. “Bakugo is intrinsically tied to Midoriya due to their history. We may be able to glean some answers.”

“I’ve ranked you all from best to worst,” Aizawa said to the gathered class before giving them their standings. “You should probably have a good idea of your standing already. I’ll just pull up the whole list; it’s not worth going over each individual’s score.”

Midoriya closed his eyes as he stood at the back with Uraraka, clenching his hand in both pain and worry. ‘The person ranked last is gonna be expelled, and the only test I was any good at was the softball throw! Can I squeak by on that score alone? I bombed the rest of the challenges!

Aizawa pressed a button on the remote he was holding on to and a hologram was projected into the air, displaying the rankings of the students. Yaoyorozu was first, followed by Todoroki, Bakugo, Iida, Tokoyami, Shoji, Ojiro, Kirishima, Ashido, Uraraka, Koda, Sato, Asui, Aoyama, Sero, Kaminari, Jiro, Hagakure, Mineta, and lastly, to Midoriya’s utter dismay, himself.

‘I’m in last place. I failed.’

“Mr. Aizawa, do you still have those results?” Hagakure asked, standing up and turning around. “I didn’t realize it at the time because I was just glad I wasn’t getting expelled, but I find it super hard to believe that Midoriya really got last.”

“Yeah,” Uraraka agreed. “Deku beat me in every event except the softball throw, the side-steps, and the sit-ups, but I still managed to get tenth place somehow. Can’t you tell us how you weighted it?”

“No,” Aizawa replied. “And it doesn’t matter anymore. If we were to do the tests again, I still wouldn’t give you my grading method. Besides…”

“And I was lying. No one’s going home.”

“There you have it,” Aizawa reminded them as almost the whole class gave him blank, stunned looks.

Aizawa gave them all a crazed grin. “That was just a rational deception to make sure you gave it your all in the tests.”

Hatsume started to laugh at the visual image that came up on screen in reaction to Aizawa’s confession. Iida’s glasses had broken, Uraraka looked mortified, and Midoriya appeared as though he’d just seen a ghost and his soul was leaving his body.

“I’m surprised the rest of you didn’t figure that out,” Yaoyorozu said with her left hand on her hip as she looked at Midoriya’s broken existence. Was that pity in her eyes? “I’m sorry. I guess I probably should have said something.”

Jiro, Mineta, and Kaminari gave her a sideways glare. ‘Yeah, you should have,’ they thought.

Yaoyorozu bowed her head. “I apologize again, everyone. I didn’t recognize the stress you all were under. Midoriya, if you want any help with that additional quirk training Mr. Aizawa and Principal Nezu mentioned, please don’t hesitate to ask for my assistance.”

“Oh, uh, sure!” Izuku agreed. “Thanks a lot Yaoyorozu! I appreciate it.”

Uraraka looked at Yaoyorozu and pouted.

“That’s it,” Aizawa said. “We’re done for the day. Pick up a syllabus in the classroom. Read it over before tomorrow morning.” He headed towards the last-place student. “Midoriya.” The boy looked up after sighing in relief. Aizawa was holding a note for the school nurse. “Take this and go have the old lady fix you up. Things are going to be tougher tomorrow when your actual training begins,” he warned him. “Make sure you’re prepared.”

“And so,” Bakugo declared like some kind of storyteller, “the hero nerd Deku, who was nothing but a weakling with a quirk he couldn’t use worth a crap at the time, was sent to his first of many visits to Recovery Girl.”

“More than a few times by you,” Uraraka shot back.

“Oh please,” Bakugo scoffed. “Deku sent himself to Recovery Girl more times than anyone else combined did. Hey, Deku! You got a list or something for how many visits you’ve had to the nurse’s office?”

Izuku slowly nodded his head. “Uh… yeah, I do.”

“How many times?”

“Including the Sports Festival and training camp, eighteen.”

“How many times did I send you there?”

“...Three.”

“And Todoroki?”

“...Twice. Sato and Kaminari once each too. When we fought All Might in the final, that had me going to see her too.”

“And all the rest?”

Izuku sighed. “Those were all my fault.”

Bakugo barked a gruff laugh. “Hear that, Round Face? Deku’s his own worst enemy, not me.”

“That’s a good point,” Ojiro conceded.

“Perhaps we should keep track of the number of times Midoriya either does something recklessly dangerous or puts himself in harm’s way?” Yaoyorozu suggested.

“Please don’t,” Izuku begged.

“I already have one,” Todoroki quietly offered.

“Aizawa, that was a rotten move.”

Everyone’s attention returned to the screen as All Might’s face took up the entire scene.

Aizawa stopped and turned towards All Might, the much bigger man in his yellow suit with his hands on his hips. “All Might. So you were watching.” He turned away, not bothering to look at the number one celebrity hero anymore. “No talk shows today?”

Kendo made a grimacing smile. “I did not realize how much they—”

“...but you’re not exactly known for being lighthearted,” All Might accused him. The camera flashed back to when All Might was in the office, reading the teacher’s directory. “I read your file. Last year you expelled an entire class of freshmen students.”

The sound of a falling pin could have been heard as everyone’s stomachs dropped hearing All Might’s words, while Aizawa gave them a crazed, excited grin that none of them dared to turn around to see. No stomachs dropped harder than Izuku’s, Uraraka’s, Yaoyorozu’s, and Mineta’s.

For Izuku it was the realization that Aizawa wasn’t saying those things to trick him, but he really was planning on kicking him out and would have done so if he hadn’t impressed him in how he used One For All.

Uraraka nearly lost it because her best friend, who she now finally admitted to herself she maybe sorta liked in that kind of way, had almost been booted to the curb just as he’d gotten the chance to strive towards his dream.

Yaoyorozu’s heart clenched and her body froze as she realized that on the very first test UA had given her, she’d been completely and utterly wrong, and had blazed through it with a false sense of self-confidence; smug in the belief that their teacher would never actually expel a student so flippantly.

Finally, Mineta’s crisis rose from the knowledge that he’d just barely managed to rank above Midoriya. If the test was redone, as he’d wondered earlier, with the same conditions, and Aizawa really didn’t have any qualms with expelling students who underperformed… then he’d be looking at a one-way ticket out of UA’s hero course.

“You have no problem kicking students out,” All Might continued as these thoughts whirled through the heads of the captive audience. “Anyone you deem unworthy.”

Bakugo flinched. There was that word again. “Unworthy.” I am worthy, dammit! Stop showing my all the stupid sh*t I did all over again, making me question myself! I’m going to be the number one, not Deku!

“You were planning to send last place home.” All Might made a finger gun, pointing it at Aizawa. “So that can only mean… you see the same kind of potential in Young Midoriya that I do.”

Aizawa turned back towards his new colleague. “What’s this about? It almost sounds like you’ve been in his corner the whole time.”

“And now I know why,” Aizawa sighed.

“All Might’s favouritism for the boy since school started certainly makes more sense now that we know he’s his chosen successor,” Kayama agreed.

Aizawa was walking away. “He doesn’t have zero potential, I admit. If that were the case, I would have sent him straight home after class without hesitation. It’s cruel to let a kid keep dreaming of something that will never come true.”

Izuku blinked, feeling the weight pitted in his core lessen. “Oh, I see,” he muttered. Mr. Aizawa was doing the same thing All Might did back when I first met him. If I hadn’t managed to grow at least a little, he was going to give me the same reality check All Might did when he told me I couldn’t be a hero. Can’t be one without a quirk, but also can’t be one with a self-destructive quirk. Maybe I couldn’t have continued at UA, but it may have been possible to go to another school like Shiketsu or Ketsubutsu, though that would have meant leaving home to go live on my own in another city.

“I would have gone with you, Deku.”

Izuku yelped in surprise. Of course. He’d been mutt—wait, what!?

Uraraka was looking at his shoes with a slight blush joining the permanent pink circles on her cheeks. “If Mr. Aizawa had expelled you, I think… I might’ve left UA too.” She awkwardly ran a hand through her hair, still avoiding eye contact.

Izuku could only stare at her as Iida smiled in the corner of his eye. “Uraraka…”

“I might have as well,” Iida offered. “UA may have the best hero program, but if they couldn’t see the value in you after what you did during the entrance exam, then, I just may have joined you at a different school too.”

Aizawa felt his phone buzz. That hadn’t happened since he got here. Retrieving it from his pocket, the Erasure Hero saw that he had a new text message… from the woman sitting on the couch next to him.

They Made This Woman A Teacher: So, tell me honestly, had you expelled Midoriya, would he still be back in class the next morning like last year’s class, or would he have been one of the few who actually never came back?

Aizawa gave her a deadpan stare. Kayama was staring back at him, but with an unassuming cheeky smile on her face as she held onto her phone in an awkward position, considering that Nezu was sitting on her lap again. He returned to his phone.

Me: Yes.

Midoriya was groaning as he walked away from the main campus building. “I’m so tired…” he groaned. A hand reached out from behind the youth, touching Midoriya on the shoulder. Midoriya stopped, looking back, and saw Iida standing there. Midoriya jolted in surprise. “H-hey there, Iida!”

“How’s the broken finger doing?” Iida asked him.

Midoriya appeared to calm down a little as he showed off his hand, his finger wrapped up in a bandage. “O-oh, it’s doing fine, thanks to Recovery Girl.”

Jiro smirked. “Midoriya, did you really used to scream at everything?”

A small laugh gurgled in Izuku’s throat as he looked back at the musically talented Jiro. “W-well, I hadn’t been conscious the last time Recovery Girl used her quirk on me, so I didn’t actually see the way her lips could stretch out about four feet to kiss someone, or that her quirk activated through her lips, so it kinda freaked me out a bit in the moment.”

“Yeah,” Shoji said, placing a hand up to his mask. “It was really surprising when we saw her use it on you at the end of the exam.”

“...but healing takes energy,” Recovery Girl explained as Midoriya thought of his visit to her office.

“Hey, you’re in your regular uniform,” Kaminari said. “Wait, did you seriously get changed while your finger was broken?”

“Get too many big injuries, your stamina will be shot, and you’ll die instead of healing,” Recovery Girl said with a chipper attitude as she retrieved a Kamui Woods Pez dispenser, “so be careful.”

“You mean this could kill me!?” Midoriya asked.

“I guess it’s a good thing you got One For All under control, then,” Sero said.

“Yes,” Uraraka added. “Please no more big injuries, Deku.”

Izuku nodded. “I’ll work harder, so that none of you worry.”

‘...hurry up and learn to control my power,’ Midoriya promised himself, the scene back to his walking home after school.

“I was a bit concerned by Mr. Aizawa’s approach to class,” Iida admitted as he walked next to Midoriya. “But I trust the school’s judgement. UA is the top program. Even so, lying is downright immoral.”

Midoriya smiled. ‘I thought he was scary, but that’s not it. He’s just really serious about school.’

Uraraka’s face took over the screen again as she called out to the two boys, running towards them. “Hey! Wait up you two! Are you going to the station? I’ll join you guys!”

‘It’s that girl again!’ Midoriya thought.

“Uh-huh,” Ashido uttered with a monster grin. “It definitely is ‘that girl’ again, Midori.”

“...the infinity girl,” Iida remembered as Uraraka reached them.

Uraraka stopped, giving both a bubbly smile. “I’m Ochaco Uraraka,” she introduced herself. “Let’s see. You are Tenya Iida, and your name is Deku, right? Midoriya?”

““Deku”?” Midoriya asked, recoiling back a smidge in surprise.

Uraraka looked at him, slightly confused. “Uh, yeah. Isn’t that what Bakugo called you? During the fitness test, he said…”

Uraraka pointed up, and the camera panned up and showed a cartoon caricature of Bakugo exploding his hand and shouting, “Deku, you bastard!”

Several people chuckled to themselves at the sight. “Well, she’s not wrong about that,” Kendo giggled.

“Uh, well, my name’s actually Izuku.” Midoriya explained with an anxious expression. This truly was the third time he’d talked to a girl, after all. “Deku is what Kacchan calls me to make fun of me.”

“That’s unsportsmanlike,” Iida replied, a slight frown on his face as he cupped his chin.

“Oh, I didn’t realize that! I’m sorry,” Uraraka apologized, before turning that around with an excited smile. “But you know what? I like “Deku.” It could make a great hero name! Plus I think it sounds kinda cute.”

“Deku it is!”

“WHAT!?” Izuku was surprised to hear Bakugo being the one to roar that question. He was standing, hands gripping the railing in front of him as he shouted at Izuku. “You let her call you Deku for months and you chose that as your damn hero name all because Uraraka said it sounded, “cute!?” You’re whipped, you damn nerd!”

Izuku couldn’t say anything in response, because he really had nothing he could say. Izuku didn’t even think it was possible to even be whipped without having a girlfriend, and ever since Bakugo and his other bullies had ground his self-esteem into the dirt, a girlfriend was a luxury he’d never dared dream about having. Even so, he couldn't ignore the burning sensation on his cheeks. “I’m, uh… I’m gonna goOo get some water,” he muttered to his seatmates, face overheating yet again, even more intensely because of the voice crack.

“Yeah, you get that water, Dekuuu,” Ashido teased as he moved away from his couch.

“You’re going to need it, Dekuuu,” Jiro joined in.

“The name suits you, Dekuuu, ‘cause you’re both so cuuute,” Hagakure added, wiggling back and forth as she emphasized her final word just as Izuku passed in front of her.

Mineta and Kaminari clenched their fists in jealousy. “Midoriya…!”

“Would all of you quit it?” Uraraka asked, screwing her eyes shut and beating her fists up and down in front of her. “Yer makin’ Deku feel uncomfortable.”

“Yes, ladies, please, stop harassing Midoriya in public like this,” Yaoyorozu insisted. “Such poor decorum is unbecoming of hero students.”

Nezu sighed. “Oh, isn’t it lovely to see the students having fun, Kayama?” She nodded her head and purred in agreement.

All Might was looking at his folded up hero costume from his silver age, holding up the red and white fabric in his bony hands. ‘You don’t have time to relax, Midoriya,’ he thought, in direct contrast to the easy way Midoriya had been narrating about surviving his first day at UA and making friends. ‘Not yet. The real test begins tomorrow.’

“Yeah,” Sato agreed as the screen faded to black. “Our first combat training was the first full day of classes.”

Tokoyami lowered his head slightly. “And the first match had Midoriya vs Bakugo.”

“I don’t really want to watch that again,” Koda said, starting to tremble. Sato patted him on the shoulder.

UA faded back in, Narrator Midoriya narrating over their classroom with Present Mic standing in front of the blackboard. “UA’s hero course curriculum. There are normal core classes like English, they meet in the mornings.”

Present Mic turned towards the students, four English sentences on the board behind him, “The man whom I respect most is my father,” “This is the house in which he lived,” “I well remember the day on which we both met,” and “Please tell me that all you know.” Opening his mouth while holding open the textbook in his hand, Present Mic asked, “Now, which of these four sentences contains a mistake?”

Aizawa shook his head as he heard the thoughts of his students. “Ashido, Kaminari, Jiro, Bakugo, I hope you haven’t forgotten that your regular classes are just as important as everything else.”

Ashido straightened up in her seat. “Ah! Yes, sir!”

“I wish we had more science classes,” Izuku muttered as he sat back down in his seat with his water while Mic tried to get them energized.

Hatsume giggled. “Heh heh heh, we do in the Support Course, Midoriya!”

Iida chopped his hand down. “Stop trying to poach him, Hatsume!”

‘The relative pronoun’s wrong in the last one,’ Midoriya recognized as Yaoyorozu raised her hand from her seat at the end of his column.

“Yaoyorozu, lay it on us!” Mic called on her.

Tetsutetsu placed his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Nerds!” Though with the manner in which he inflected his voice, even Izuku could tell he was only teasing the two and not insulting them the way Bakugo would have made it sound.

“We eat lunch in the main cafeteria,” Narrator Midoriya continued as the show presented the cafeteria for their viewing pleasure, “where we can buy pretty tasty stuff on the cheap.”

Lunch Rush got a stylistic intro, the Cook Hero giving a thumbs-up as he said, “White rice is the perfect comfort food, isn’t it?”

“So I’ve been meaning to ask,” Kamimoto inquired, putting her bottle of cider down as onscreen Midoriya fanboyed over the chef, “how does Lunch Rush talk?”

Nezu looked over at their caretaker. “Whatever do you mean, Miss Kamimoto?”

She pointed to her face. “Like, he doesn’t have a mouth, does he?” she asked. “Or a neck? I can’t tell. This is honestly one of the only times he shows up in the whole show.”

“That’s just his costume,” Aizawa replied. “That tube connects to Lunch Rush’s mouth. It’s a support item.”

“Okay, but then that chef’s hat of his covers his whole head,” Kamimoto continued. “How does he even see what he’s cooking? You know what? Forget it. I’ll talk about this later tonight when I’m properly drunk.” She folded her arms, then unfolded them to pick up her cider bottle and took a big pull.

Buff All Might’s chin dominated the screen, the camera slowly panning up to the rest of his face, as he declared, “I AM HERE…”

Midoriya gasped, smiling wide with big, bright eyes, as he turned to look at the door.

Someone snapped a picture.

All Might leaned through the opened door, finishing his introduction with, “...coming through the door like a hero!”

As All Might’s theme started up, the class getting excited to see that it was really true that All Might would be teaching them Hero Basic Training, Todoroki looked down at his green-haired friend in the front row. “Midoriya, you trained with All Might almost every day for ten months, right? How were you still so excited to see him?”

“Are you seriously asking that?” Kaminari piped up before Izuku could answer. “It’s freaking All Might, dude. You saw Midoriya’s room, right? It’s absolutely decked out in All Merch.”

“All Might’s shine is never-ending,” Aoyama agreed. “No matter how often you see it, it’s never tiring.”

I beg to differ, Aizawa grumbled to himself.

Asui placed a finger to her chin. “I agree, ribbit. I bet even if All Might became Midoriya’s step-father or something and he saw him every day Midoriya would still be excited.”

Both All Might and Izuku spat out their drinks.

“S-step-dad!?” Izuku cried.

“I have nothing but respect for Mrs. Midoriya, Young Asui,” All Might insisted. “She just happens to look like my mentor, that’s all! Besides, Midoriya’s mother is married if I remember correctly, and I’m far too old to even consider a relationship.”

Izuku started to whip around while Ashido cackled next to him, but Iida placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled gently at him. “No need to get worked up in the moment, Midoriya. I’m sure you’ll have the opportunity to talk about it with him later.”

“But wouldn’t having All Might as a dad be, like, super cool?” Uraraka asked with a bright grin.

Izuku looked down, eyes watering slightly as he imagined it. Sure, it was a fantasy he’d always had as a kid, and it had been in his thoughts in recent months due to Todoroki’s conspiracy theory of him being All Might’s secret love child. Having All Might as a dad would be super cool, especially since he’d sort of filled that role the past year a bit while he was training him, and it really didn’t help that Hisashi wasn’t in his life much at all these days. Izuku couldn’t even recall the last time he’d spoken to his father on the phone.

But still… All Might would have to go through him before he even considered asking his mom out on a date! Idol or not!

Unaware of his successor’s current thoughts on the prospects of him fostering a relationship with said boy’s mother, All Might announced to the class that, “Today’s lesson will pull no punches!” as he drew out a white card with big red letters spelling ‘BATTLE’ on it.

Bakugo grinned, eagerly looking forward to, “Fight training!”

Midoriya in the seat behind him had his expression drop into a worried gulp. “Real combat?”

All Might wasn’t done with the theatrics, continuing his announcement of today’s lesson with flair. “But one of the keys to being a hero is… looking good!” He nearly threw his whole body to the side, pointing to the wall of their classroom, where built-in racks started to come out, holding onto suitcases that were all adorned with the seat numbers of the students in bright green letters. “These were designed for you based on your quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started.”

“Oh yeah!” Ojiro exclaimed. “Our hero costumes!”

“A lot of us have had some upgrades and redesigns since the start of the year,” Iida said. “Seeing everyone in our original costumes again will be somewhat nostalgic.”

“You know, we haven’t actually seen you guys in costume yet,” Kendo said.

“That’s right, and not all of us have seen yours yet either,” Izuku replied. He quickly amended his statement. “Your class’ costumes, I mean. We’ve all kinda seen your qipao because of your commercial with Uwabami.”

“Does that hairspray actually work as advertised or was there lots of CG gussying you guys up?” Asui asked.

“Actually, the hairspray worked quite well,” Yaoyorozu said. “They exaggerated a bit for the commercial, but the product was effective.”

Maybe I should get some, Uraraka thought.

The same upbeat track that had played during Midoriya’s manly training montage kicked in as All Might stood in front of the tunnel entrance/exit of Ground Beta, the students of 1-A slowly appearing out of the darkness in front of him. Bakugo, Yaoyorozu, Iida, Shoji, Kaminari, Asui, and Uraraka’s forms in their hero costumes became visible as they took strides towards him.

All Might nodded. “They say that clothes make the pros young ladies and gentlemen, and behold, you are the proof!” The screen got a close-up on Bakugo’s grenade-shaped gauntlet, Uraraka’s belt, and the additional boosters on Iida’s legs as All Might continued. “Take this to heart. From now on, you are all…” A stylized shot panned up on the students, “heroes in training!” All Might grinned again, the camera doing a slow right to left pan over all of Midoriya’s classmates in their costumes.

“We look so awesome!” Ashido cheered, getting out her phone and taking pictures again.

“I’m with All Might,” Ojiro agreed, clenching his fist. “This is getting me pumped just watching.”

“Man, I wish we had this soundtrack follow us around in real life,” Kaminari sighed. “It really hypes things up.”

“Well Kendo?” Aoyama asked. “Isn’t my costume très stylish?”

The ginger looked at his outfit for the moment it was currently on screen. “Are those Kamina sunglasses?”

“No, they don’t have the right shape,” Kirishima softly countered. “Kamina sunglasses would be more like a star, those look like wings.”

“Todoroki, what the heck is your costume?” Tetsutetsu asked. “You trying to rival Gang Orca for the “Heroes Who Look Like Villains” list?”

“So that’s everyone but Midoriya,” Kendo said as the episode commercial break/transition occurred. “What did his first costume look like?”

“The clothing allowance,” Narrator Midoriya explained as a large envelope with the same words on it faded in over a blurry image of UA’s main campus building. “Before we enrolled at UA High, we submitted our quirk registration forms, which included physical measurements and any desired costume designs to an exclusive clothing company designated by the school.”

“Bureaucracy…” droned Jiro, hanging her head while the show revealed Iida’s, Bakugo’s, and Aoyama’s submissions. “Why does it exist?”

“Because it needs to for any system to function properly,” Yaoyorozu explained. “If there wasn’t a system set up, how else do you think we’d be obtaining our hero costumes by the first day of classes?”

“Even though dealing with bureaucrats can sometimes be a pain…” All Might grimaced.

“Politicians write the rules, bureaucrats get stuck with the crap job of figuring out how to enforce them,” Aizawa corrected him as the show presented Midoriya three weeks before school, going over the paperwork he’d need to do. “If you want to blame anyone, blame the politicians, not the bureaucracy.”

Midoriya jolted upright as he came to a realization. “But I’m already registered as having no quirk! Oh no, what should I do?”

“Hm… that would be a problem,” Iida agreed.

“Quirk registration?” All Might was on the phone in the staff room at UA, clearly speaking to Midoriya. “Yeah, you can update that, not a problem.”

“Wait, we can do that!?” Kaminari asked, shocked and surprised by that.

“Hush,” Hagakure said. “Midoriya’s dad is talking.”

“All Might is not my father!” Izuku exclaimed. Quietly, he mumbled to himself in a voice that probably only Iida or Ashido could hear, “Though that would be really cool.”

“…when they enter elementary school?” All Might asked. Midoriya’s nodding face was replaced by a graphic of a smiling woman holding up her hand with a fountain spraying up out of her raised index finger. Her quirk description was captioned as ‘Sends out the water from her body’. “Well, there are plenty of cases where people discover that their quirks aren’t exactly what they thought they were at first.” A buzzer sounded as a blue ‘X’ appeared over the description. It and the graphic changed to include little water bubbles swirling around her hand flowing towards her fingertip, the caption being altered to read ‘Turns moisture in the air into water’. “You’re allowed to revise your forms once or twice when you understand your powers better,” All Might explained as a red circle appeared over the description, accompanied by a ding.

“Huh, I never knew that,” Sero said, placing a hand to his chin.

Yaoyorozu also cupped her chin in her hand. “Maybe I should double-check my registration form with the government, just to be sure it’s correct.”

“…none before, I’m sure they’ll want you to update things. Look, just march in there and tell them you wanna—”

“Hi! I’m home!” Inko Midoriya said as she returned to the apartment, startling her son and causing him to accidentally hang up on All Might.

Ashido gasped. “Midori!” she scolded with fake outrage. “How could you?”

“Hanging up on All Might?” Jiro shook her head and clicked her tongue.

“You should be ashamed of yourself, Midoriya,” Iida chuckled.

Izuku laughed for a moment before he stopped himself. “Wait, did I ever apologize for that? I can’t remember. Sorry All Might!”

Uraraka giggled as the rest of the students and staff either stared or laughed. “Don’t every change, Deku.”

Inko Midoriya pulled out a green and white tracksuit from her bag with a big flourish and a bright smile. “Congratulations! I’m so proud you got into UA!”

“Hey, isn’t that your costume?” Mineta asked. “So your mom got it for you, huh?”

Izuku smiled and nodded, feeling warmth in his chest instead of the reams of embarrassment he’d already felt today. “Yeah. That’s why I haven’t changed the base much since we started. It may be for silly sentimental reasons, but I like it.”

Inko was explaining that she spotted a page open in his hero notebook, revealing the drawing that they’d all seen in the outro a number of times now, the words ‘Cool like All Might’ labeling the drawing. “...maaaaaybe happened to peek at your notebook.”

“Seriously?” Midoriya asked his mom, clearly embarrassed.

Inko looked down at the suit in her hands, a sad look coming to her face. “To be honest with you, I’ve been feeling really terrible lately, about something I said to you.” The scene jumped back to when she had been hugging little four-year-old Izuku, both of them crying the night he’d been diagnosed as quirkless. “I think you might’ve felt that I gave up on you a while back. But now look at you. You persevered and kept chasing your dream like a real champion!” His mom’s admission made Midoriya smile softly at her. “I’m sorry, Izuku,” Inko’s eyes were wet with fresh tears while she smiled at her boy and held up the costume, “and I promise I’ll support you with everything I’ve got from now on!”

Midoriya took the costume in his hands. ‘It’s a gift from my mom, so of course it’s what I’m gonna wear!’

Hatsume swung her legs back and forth a little as she leaned forward. “You know what, Muscles? That’s not a bad sentiment. Normally hero types have really stupid reasons for inane costume requests, but I like that one. I’ll be sure to keep it in mind for any future costume improvements you want!” She gave Izuku a thumbs-up and a nice grin.

Uraraka noticed Midoriya entering Ground Beta from the tunnel, all changed into his costume. “Hey, Deku!”

The boy noticed the girl too. “Uraraka!” She strode towards him, and a blush emerged on Midoriya’s face underneath his mask.

Iida once again tried to distract Uraraka, but Ashido again jumped onto Izuku and restrained her class rep’s arms. Izuku gasped, blushing as he felt Ashido’s boobs press into his lap, and tried not to pass out or scream.

He managed not to pass out, but only half-succeeded on not screaming. Uraraka looked at her two friends with a bemused expression, before realizing that Deku would only react like this again if something embarrassing was about to happen and he’d warned Iida about it.

Specifically, something embarrassing revolving around her.

“I love your costume!” Uraraka was saying. “Not too flashy, you know?”

Said girl turned her eyes back to the screen, and they widened while her lips grew very small. Both of her hands came up to her lips

The background changed from Ground Beta to a field of pink, with bubbles, shining sparkles, and twinkling stars decorating it as the camera panned up this field, Uraraka in her hero costume centred while the girl rubbed the back of her head, eyes closed and a faint blush underneath her eyes.

Uraraka didn’t even hear what she had said that day to him. The other students were cheering and hooting and whistling. Ashido and Hagakure were gushing, Jiro and Kaminari were both mercilessly teasing Deku, she couldn’t see Aoyama’s expression given where he was sitting, but she heard him say something like, “I knew it,” and Iida gave her a resigned look.

“I apologize,” he softly whispered to her. “Midoriya confided about this to me at lunch. He was concerned about what you’d think of him if you found out. He doesn’t want this to affect your friendship with him.”

Uraraka blinked. This was… more than she had been expecting to take in, to be honest. She needed to think about it. “No, it’s okay, Iida. And don’t worry, Deku,” she said, turning towards the cherry boy sitting at the other end of the couch, looking like a limp piece of broccoli with a maraschino cherry between the trees. “I’m not about to start thinking you’re a pervy creep or anything like that. I’m… flattered, actually. I had no idea you liked my costume that much.”

Yeah, liked her costume. Sure. That was a good way of putting it, right? There was no way he actually felt anything for her the same way she thought he was amazing and hot and cute and hot, right?

Right?

...Ochaco, his first reaction to seeing you in your skin-tight bodysuit costume was to blush up a storm, slap his hands over his mouth to keep from saying anything, and fill his vision with nothing but you an’ dizzying amounts of pink cuteness. Don’t delude yourself. Deku likes you.

HOW THE f*ck DIDN’T I SEE HIM LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT ALL THESE MONTHS!?

Maybe… just maybe… confessing before the end of season one wouldn’t turn out so bad?

The show continued on, ignorant of the feelings of two of the major players amongst the students. “Not quite!” All Might answered Iida’s question of if they’d be doing urban battles like their entrance exam again. “I’m going to move you two steps ahead! Most of the villain fights you see on the news take place outside. However, statistically speaking, run-ins with the most dastardly evil-doers take place indoors.”

“He’s got a point there,” Ojiro agreed, nodding his head. “We’ve learned more about that in class since then.”

“…secret underground lairs,” All Might continued. “Truly intelligent criminals stay hidden in the shadows. For this training exercise you’ll be split into teams of good guys and bad guys and fight two-on-two indoor battles!”

“You guys had this exercise first too?” Tetsutetsu asked Kirishima.

“Yeah,” the redhead said. “I was teamed up with Sero. We totally rocked it against Tokoyami and Asui.” He looked towards the screen. “Man, I hope it shows our fight.”

“It only shows the first two!” Kamimoto declared loud enough for them all to hear. “Sorry if that disappoints the rest of you.”

“Aw man…” Ashido whined.

“And I was looking forward to witnessing my sparkle in action,” Aoyama pouted.

“What happened in yours, Kendo?” Yaoyorozu asked.

“I was paired up with Setsuna,” she replied. “We were the hero team in our run, and it was kind of an unfair advantage, given how Setsuna’s quirk works. We beat Tetsutetsu and Awase pretty easily.”

“Setsuna Tokage…” Izuku muttered, flipping down the foldable table wedged between his and Iida’s cushions. He plopped the notebook he’d grabbed earlier for notetaking down and quickly began writing with the pen he’d picked up. “Her quirk is Lizard Tail Splitter, right? Being able to detach her body parts and fly around with them would be pretty effective. Did she detach one of her eyes and her hands so that she could find and touch the weapon?”

Kendo nodded her head. “Yeah. I just ran around and caused a ruckus, managing to distract both Awase and Tetsu, and then Setsuna placed one of her hands on the weapon to win.”

All Might was explaining the situation, the screen showing a 16-bit mock-up of the scenario for the training exercise. “...the good guys either have to catch the evildoers or recover the weapon. Likewise, the bad guys succeed if they protect their payload or capture the heroes.”

“At least you stuck to the script,” Aizawa said.

“How long did it take the two of you to teach classes without your lesson plans in front of you?” All Might asked. “I feel like this show’s going to knock on me a bit for my inexperience.”

“It takes some time,” Kayama assured him, patting All Might on the shoulder. “Nobody starts out an expert teacher in their first year, and this was one of your first classes, so don’t feel bad.”

“Sticking to your lesson plan when you’re just starting is perfectly fine,” Aizawa answered. “It’s when you’re green and you start trying to wing it that you run into trouble.”

Nezu nodded. “I quite agree. Your students may tease you for it, but you are just as much a novice to teaching as they are to being professional heroes. In time you’ll become a fine educator.”

The pink background with the bubbles and sparkles and twinkling stars appeared again as it showed Midoriya and Uraraka together after the teams decided by lot were all shown. Uraraka looked really excited that she and Midoriya were together as a team. “Wow, what are the chances? We’re a team!”

‘Oh my gosh!’ A madly blushing under his mask Midoriya thought in a panic. ‘I have to make a good impression on her!’

“A good impression, eh?” Ashido elbowed Izuku with that catlike grin on her face. More than half the students were giving both Izuku and Uraraka teasing grins, while the two students themselves were blushing and looking down at their shoes, fidgeting with their fingers and clearly doing everything possible to not look at each other.

“Is that what we’re calling it these days?” Ojiro asked.

“These kids are just too cute,” Kayama sighed, placing her hand to her cheek and smiling warmly down at them.

Midoriya was shaking after having caught sight of Bakugo glaring at him, intimidated and seemingly discouraged. But slowly, Midoriya clenched his fist and forced a determined look into his face and eyes beneath his mask and returned Bakugo’s glare, making the Explosion user flinch and growl.

“This fight is probably going to be more intense than I remember,” Sato said.

“It has been a few months,” Todoroki agreed.

Tokoyami nodded. “And this time, we know a bit more of the history between Bakugo and Midoriya.”

Bakugo clicked his tongue in irritation. All of this was old news. None of it mattered anymore, and if he remembered how it went right, he probably wasn’t going to come out of this looking pretty. However, he hadn’t come out of it looking pretty the first time, and that was when none of these extras even knew him at the time. They’d either get over it or they didn’t matter.

Besides, if this show was going to show everything Deku did, then before they got to “future” that he’d signed on to watch, they’d end up seeing the fight between himself and the nerd.

f*ck. He’d made himself weak and vulnerable to Deku. Everyone would see that.

All Might stood outside of the entrance to Battle Centre A as Bakugo and Iida filed in, giving the two young men a word of advice. “Young Iida. Young Bakugo. The key to being successful in this challenge is to embody villainy. Think from the perspective of an evildoer.” Bakugo turned to look at where Midoriya was standing, looking intently at his right hand and flexing his fingers.

“Got it!” Iida replied.

“If things go too far, I’ll step in,” All Might stated.

“Understood!”

Bakugo growled.

“Man, you certainly were frustrated,” Tetsutetsu noted.

“Of course I was, you idiot,” Bakugo replied. “Damn nerd never had a quirk all our lives, then suddenly gets a quirk and gets into UA and then explodes his finger with so much power? He’d always pissed me off before, but the whole damn mystery just took the f*cking cake.”

Iida had just rapped his fist against the fake nuclear weapon when Bakugo called out to him. “Hey! Do you really think Deku has a quirk?”

His teammate turned around to look at Bakugo. “You saw how he threw that ball,” he plainly answered. “Though I think his power hurts his body.” Bakugo scoffed. “Why is it that you seem to be especially angry when it comes to Midoriya?” The background surrounding Bakugo became a violent red in the place of the interior of the building.

“Because Midoriya’s nothing but a bug in his eyes,” Yaoyorozu commented with a scowl and folded arms. Uraraka almost mirrored her.

Bakugo’s shoulders were shaking. ‘Was he seriously just tricking me all these years?’ The blond questioned. A crazed smile appeared on his face. ‘I’m gonna roast that damn nerd today!’

“You always look so scary,” Kaminari whimpered. “Can you tone it down a notch?”

“Grow a spine, Dunce Face.”

“Wait,” Kirishima said, looking back towards his seatmate as the scene shifted focus back to Midoriya and Uraraka. “You thought Midoriya was tricking you into thinking he didn’t have a quirk?”

“Because that’s something that Midoriya would do,” Asui said with a roll of her eyes.

Todoroki looked to his left at Bakugo’s couch. “If you’ve known what Midoriya was like since you were little kids, how could you entertain such a dumb idea?”

“You can’t talk, Todoroki!” Izuku blurted out.

Todoroki shifted his stance and looked down at his friend. “What do you mean?”

“All Might is not my dad!” Izuku repeated.

“Jury’s out on that,” Todoroki replied.

“...threatening us with some kind of punishment like Mr. Aizawa,” Uraraka said cheerfully to Midoriya. “We can relax—Ah! You’re sweating through your costume!” she gasped, eyes almost popping out in surprise.

“Well… it’s just because we’re up against Kacchan…” Midoriya shakily answered.

“Wow Midoriya,” Hatsume said, smiling and seemingly excited. “You had like, no confidence at all despite how powerful you are! You’re almost like that third-year student I’ve heard about. What’s his name again? Uh… Amakitty?”

Uraraka’s constant smile had faded into a concerned frown. “Oh, right. Bakugo. He’s the one who’s always making fun of you.”

“And you’d better never do it again!” Uraraka growled.

Bakugo just clicked his tongue again, but didn’t give her an angry retort.

“And he’s amazing,” Midoriya stated.

“Hey, hey, is he defending Bakugo?” Mineta asked.

Shoji nodded. “Yeah, sounds like it.”

“Seems a bit odd, though,” Ojiro commented, “to admire the guy who beat the crap out of you as a kid.”

Aizawa grumbled into his scarf. “I’m glad we’ve established a plan to deal with this already.”

Kayama nodded, while Nezu said, “I agree. Allowing Midoriya to keep idolizing his former bully like this is not healthy for him.”

“But the image of victory in his mind is firmly entrenched around Young Bakugo,” All Might sighed. “It’ll be difficult for him to change that mindset.”

“Hey, did I hear that right, Midori?” Ashido asked. “Did you just put down One For All and say that Bakugo’s quirk was better than yours?” She growled in frustration. “You nincompoop! You destroyed one of those giant robots in the entrance exam with a single mega punch! No way Bakugo’s explosions could do that!”

Uraraka smiled a little at Midoriya’s declaration that he needed to do better and his refusal to lose. “So it’s a fated battle between rivals?”

Midoriya reacted with a bout of panic. “Oh, not that I’m trying to get you wrapped up in my fight or anything!”

“Are you kidding?” Uraraka asked him, jumping up in excitement. “We’re a team, right? Let’s win this!”

“You guys are adorable. How are you not dating?” Jiro asked, completely deadpan, mostly looking at Uraraka and completely aware of what they’d talked about at lunch.

Neither teen dared look one another in the eye.

“All right!” All Might announced from the observation room over speakers. “Let’s begin the indoor combat training! Team A and Team D, your time starts now!” The scene switched to the observation room, where All Might stood in front of the other students of 1-A as they watched through the monitors. “Pay attention, kids,” he instructed. “Think about what you would do.”

‘Young Midoriya,’ he thought to himself as he put in an earpiece and picked up his clipboard. ‘In this class, you’re just another student. I’ll grade you as I would anyone else, without playing favourites.”

Aizawa raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And were you able to do that? Not play favourites with your protégé on the first real day of classes?”

“For the most part, yes, Aizawa, I was,” All Might answered proudly.

Midoriya and Uraraka were walking through the narrow corridors of the building after their infiltration, keeping an eye out for their opponents and the weapon.

“Just watching this is making me tense,” Kendo said, “since I don’t know what’s coming. It’s kind of exciting.”

“The action should be starting soon,” Kirishima said. “Like Bakugo said earlier, he doesn’t come across as very heroic, but he’s playing the villain for the exercise.”

“Yeah, and he’s very convincing at that,” Kaminari teased.

‘I still have basically no control over One For All,’ Midoriya went over in his head as Uraraka followed closely behind him, keeping her own eyes peeled. ‘I can’t risk using it. If I did, I’d probably end up killing someone.’

“Oh yeah, that’s a good point,” Ashido remembered. “With that much power and no control, you’d turn anyone you punched into a pancake.”

Now she remembers, Aizawa mentally groaned.

“To go into the first battle trial handicapping yourself in order not to hurt yourself or your opponent,” Tetsutetsu muttered. “Not ideal, but that takes some serious guts, especially when you’re up against someone like Bakugo.”

Bakugo suddenly appeared, leaping from around a corner and charging at Midoriya. The green-costumed hero in training dove out of the way from the extended arm and explosion from Bakugo’s surprise attack, hooking Uraraka with his arm and getting her clear as well. “Uraraka! You okay?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” she said, pushing herself back up as he got off of her. She looked at him in concern, half of his face was visible as his mask was torn. “Oh! Deku!”

“It’s just my mask,” he assured her, crouched and getting ready to move.

Bakugo waved the dust from his explosion away, standing tall and looking down on the two heroes. A big gouge had been torn into the concrete wall from his quirk’s power. “What’s the matter, Deku?” he taunted. “Afraid to stand up and fight me?”

Midoriya rose to his feet. “I knew you’d come at me first. I figured you’d try to catch me by surprise.”

“It’s totally different, being able to hear what they’re talking about now,” Mineta said.

“But now that we have prior context, it’s not all that surprising,” Tokoyami noted.

“It’s a viable strategy,” All Might informed Kirishima in response to his disapproval of a sneak attack being unmanly. “He’s playing the part; acting like a true villain would.”

“It didn’t work!” Ashido said excitedly. “Midoriya dodged him!”

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” Ashido proudly commented. “You dodge good, Midori!”

“I won’t hurt you so bad they’ll have to stop the fight,” Bakugo told Midoriya as he closed in on him. “Just close!”

Uraraka smiled. And here’s that right hook that Deku’s talked about, she thought, watching her partner dodge into Bakugo’s swing and grab his arm instead.

“Midoriya, do you know martial arts?” Kendo asked in surprise as she watched him throw Bakugo over his shoulder.

“N-not really,” Izuku admitted. “I never really had the time or ability to go to a dojo or anything. I’ve just taken notes and tried to copy moves I’ve watched other heroes do.”

“If you want, I could teach you some karate in our spare time,” Kendo offered.

“And I could show you some of the Gunhead martial arts I learned at my internship,” Uraraka added.

Izuku felt a bit overwhelmed at the sudden offers of help from the two girls. “Uh, thanks! I’ll do my best!”

Kendo smirked at the other girl’s sudden eagerness. Too obvious.

“Kacchan,” Midoriya huffed as the music that really seemed to be Midoriya’s heroic theme rose to its crescendo, “you always use a big right hook to start a fight. I know because I’ve watched you for years. I analyzed every amazing hero, even you. I wanted to learn everything I could about them. It was all in the notebook you burned and threw away.”

Bakugo growled, scowling at Midoriya’s explanation, while the green-haired teen with only half a mask brought his face back up to defiantly face Bakugo in an uneasy fighting stance. “You can call me Deku, but I’m not the same helpless, defenseless kid anymore! You hear me? I’ve changed! From now on, Deku is the name of a hero!”

A few whoops and cheers came from Izuku’s peers at his declaration, All Might nodding at the sight. “So he both told Bakugo that he analyzed him because he thought he was worth learning from, while also telling him to his face that his insult had no power anymore,” Nezu surmised.

“That had to have crossed some wires and thrown Bakugo for a loop,” Kayama inferred.

Uraraka’s earlier comment was going through her head after she heard what Midoriya said. ‘...great hero name! Plus I think it sounds kinda cute.’

Bakugo stood back up and turned to fully face Midoriya. He held out his explosive hands, the word, “Deku,” dripping out of his mouth with unbridled malice. He flashed back to when they were kids, Midoriya trying to stand up to him for the sake of that other kid at the very beginning of the first episode, then fading back to the teenage Midoriya standing in front of him. He had that same trembling fighting stance as back then. He could see the fear all over his eyes and body language, plain as day. Every instinct in Midoriya’s body screamed at him to run away, yet his mind and heart forced him to face the overwhelming foe in front of him.

“You’re shaking in your boots, you’re so scared,” Bakugo declared. He ignited the sweat on his right palm into a number of tiny explosions as an intimidation tactic. “But you wanna fight me anyway.”

The camera panned over Bakugo’s shouting face, his fierce black mask and glaring red eyes, along with the animated action lines emphasizing the shot, making him look truly intimidating. “THAT’S WHY I HATE YOU!!!”

The outro began.

“It ends there!?” Kaminari shouted! “That’s not fair!”

“And that’s episode six!” Kamimoto announced, leaning back and stretching her arms. “No more episodes until tomorrow.”

“Aw, come on,” Kirishima complained. “It was just getting to the good part.”

“Nope,” Kamimoto replied. “Six episodes a day. That’s the rule.”

“Dammit,” Tetsutetsu grumbled. “I hate cliffhangers.”

“I’m actually glad it stopped here,” Asui said. “Our first class with All Might was kind of intense.” Koda nodded in agreement.

“At least the outro music is relaxing,” Izuku said with a sigh, his body trembling a little, still, after essentially reliving the start of his first real fight with Bakugo.

…and the reminder that Uraraka thought the name Deku sounded cute, and she’d been calling him that for months!

Oh crap, what am I going to do?

All Might’s theme started as the transition card for the next episode preview began. Narrator Iida’s voice was the first to speak. “Midoriya, even though this is just training I’m going to give it my all. One hundred percent. That’s the Iida way and I won’t tarnish my family’s heroic name.”

“So now Iida’s doing them too, huh?” Sero asked.

“I want to know when it’ll be my turn!” Ashido whined as Narrator Midoriya asked if Iida could play the villain role.

Narrator Iida laughed like an over-the-top cartoon supervillain. “Of course! Didn’t you know I’m extremely evil?”

Iida dipped his head as the class around him burst out into laughter. “It was all in the name of my education!”

Narrator Midoriya yelped, but not entirely in fear, thanks to Iida’s bombastic acting chops. “Wah! He’s so in character!”

“Next time, Deku vs Kacchan!”

“Hold on,” Narrator Iida commented in shock, “I didn’t know Uraraka was a baseball player!”

“Go Beyond.”

“PLUS ULTRA!” all the students joined in with Narrator Midoriya and Narrator Iida belting out the school motto.

The screen darkened and the lights lit back up fully. The quirk suppressor came off, and the kids began to idly chat now that they were about to be released. “So, what do we do now?” Sero asked.

“Find and hit up the gym, I guess,” Ojiro replied. “We can’t have all of Midoriya’s hard work keep making us look bad, can we?”

“It’s not like it’s a competition, Ojiro,” Izuku tried to assuage him.

“Nah, it’s not about that,” Kaminari replied. “Seeing you work so hard just got all of us fired up to do our best too.”

“Like hell I’m gonna let your scrawny ass surpass me, Deku,” Bakugo added.

“Aw, don’t say it like that Bakugo,” Ashido teased. “Midoriya’s ass is anything but scrawny.”

“Yeah,” Sero joined in. “He’s gotta clench those cheeks every time he uses his quirk to throw a punch or kick.”

Izuku sighed. “And I was hoping you guys would have forgotten that already,” he grumbled.

Hagakure giggled. “And now everyone can know and appreciate that you’ve got the same buns of steel that All Might had.”

The poor greenhead sighed again. I don’t know whether I should be embarrassed or just take the compliment.

“I agree,” Iida concurred. “We must all strive to take advantage of this opportunity to improve ourselves as future heroes, and support engineers,” he added, cutting off Hatsume before she could interrupt him.

“Before you all go running off…”

Aizawa’s voice sliced through all their plans, silencing the UA students as he rose from his seat.

Oh crap! Kaminari remembered. He’s gonna make me do laps around the island!

“Since we only arrived this morning, I don’t have any training planned for today,” he stated, “so I’ll permit you all to play around and do self-training for this afternoon and evening. Iida, Yaoyorozu, Kendo, I expect the three of you as class representatives to keep your peers in line.”

“Yes sir!” Yaoyorozu said.

“You can count on us,” Iida and Kendo confirmed.

“Furthermore, I expect you all to be eating dinner and going to bed at an appropriate time. I’ll hold off on morning training until after tomorrow, but be prepared for the possibility of some lessons and lectures in the afternoon following tomorrow’s batch of videos. Now then, I’ll let Kamimoto go over the ground rules for when supper is served, and Kaminari, I hope you haven’t forgotten. Five laps.”

The Electrification user deflated. “Yes sir…”

Kamimoto stood from her chair and walked to the centre of the top of the theatre. “All right all right all right,” she said, peppy and perky with her hands on the hips of her black dress. “So! I’ll give you a quick rundown of meal times in case you forgot the schedule I gave you earlier today. Sunrise is at around six-twenty in the morning and sunset around six-forty-five in the evening, just so that you’re aware of the daylight hours. The breakfast buffet opens up at seven and runs until eight-thirty. Today was special because it’s your first day. Supper buffet opens at five-thirty and runs until seven. There are also themed restaurants for Mexican, Japanese, American Southern BBQ, Italian, Italian-American, British, and Hawaiian cuisine, as well as a sports bar with all the stuff you’d expect to find there. Karaage, chicken wings, cactus potatoes, nachos, whatever. Those places are open from six until ten, and since you’re not competing with hundreds of vacationers, you don’t need to make reservations. Just walk on in. The pool and beachfront are open at all hours, as well as any facilities, like our waterpark, quirk training facility, and gym.”

“Aw sweet, they do have a gym!” Kirishima crowed.

“And a waterpark!?” Hagakure gasped.

“The quirk training facility sounds interesting,” Izuku muttered. “I’ll probably be spending a lot of time there.”

“However, the workshop will only be open from eight in the morning until six in the evening, and again from seven until one in the morning, and will eject you when it’s time for viewing the episodes and when it closes, Hatsume.”

“Guess I’m not sleeping there, then,” the Support genius laughed.

“Miss Kamimoto?” Yaoyorozu raised her hand. “I understand the buffet hall is open only for certain hours, but how would we accommodate quirk training for myself and Sato, who require conversion of lipids or sugars within our body to utilize our quirks?”

“Don’t sweat it,” Kamimoto breezily blew off her concern. “The facility’s got you covered. Also, room service is available 24/7 for anything you want except alcohol. You name it, it’ll be delivered to your room, no questions asked. Menus are in the TV stand drawer if you want some ideas, and there’s V.O.D. for the episodes as far as we’ve watched on your TVs plus lots of other stuff. Um, the sports bar will be playing reruns and highlights of both post-quirk and pre-quirk era sports, which you’ll have access to adjust, and the Maple Theatre will be open starting tomorrow afternoon for you all to use to watch movies and such. Not today; need to get that hole All Might punched in the wall fixed. And… uh… yeah, that about covers things. If I think of anything else I’ll let you know.”

Her explanation complete, Kamimoto sighed. “Whew, that’s enough of that, and crap, it’s thirty-two degrees outside! So hot… I shouldn’t have worn a black dress. I’m gonna get changed and lounge by the pool with a never-ending stream of tequila sunrises. Come see me if you need anything. Bye.” The doors unlocked as she said that, and their redheaded caretaker sauntered out.

All Might watched her go before standing and addressing the students. “There you have it kids. As Aizawa said, apart from Young Kaminari and his laps around the island, you have free rein until we all return here to continue watching these episodes Kamimoto and her Upper Management want us to watch. So get out there and have fun.”

“YEAH!” Tetsutetsu shouted. “LET’S FIND THE GYM!”

“YEAH!” Kirishima agreed. “TIME TO TRAIN! PLUS ULTRA!”

“Nemuri, care to join me in the bar?” Aizawa asked as Kirishima and Tetsutetsu barrelled past, Bakugo not-quite being dragged along by Kirishima but still following them.

“You’re not going to supervise Kaminari?” she asked, surprised.

“He knows what’ll happen if I find out he didn’t do his laps,” Aizawa replied. “And I trust that Iida will make sure he does them even without me menacing over them.”

“H-hey, Kaminari!” Izuku called out, rushing up the steps to reach the slowly trudging student. “Mind if I join you?”

Tears started to form in Kaminari’s eyes. “Really, Midoriya? You want to run laps with me?”

“Yeah,” All Might’s successor answered with a smile and a nod of his head. “The exercise will help, and it helps to have a jogging buddy. Plus…” he looked down a little, thinking. “There’s a lot of stuff on my mind that I want to think about.”

“I’ll join you as well,” Iida said. “Midoriya’s right. The exercise will do us good.”

Uraraka watched quietly as a few of the other boys agreed to join in on Kaminari’s laps as a form of solidarity with him, her eyes not straying from Deku’s face or his back. Yeah, I’ve got some stuff to think about too…

Chapter 9: What is Love? Baby Don't Hurt Me. Don't Hurt Me. No More.

Chapter Text

The Future Briefing Island upon which the resort was built was not as large as any of the students were expecting. While it wasn’t exactly circular, the running track just in front of the beach that encompassed the whole island was barely five kilometres long. Once they had figured that out after one lap, Kaminari’s spirits rose, but only slightly. It still meant that Aizawa had sentenced him to a 25k run, in the sun, and humid thirty-degree tropical heat. Even Tenya had to admit that the conditions under which they were jogging were a little extreme as he drank from his bottle. Fortunately they had watering stations where they could fill their bottles with pure fresh water or electrolytes at the start and halfway point, but that still only helped so much. They were midway through lap three, and the heat was getting to the group. Besides himself and Midoriya, Todoroki, Sato, and Tokoyami had also joined Kaminari in running the five laps around the island, and the heat was sapping their energy.

“Come on men,” Tenya said, trying to pep them up. He wasn’t flagging yet, thanks to all the cardio training he did due to his quirk, but this heat would get to even him eventually, “we’re at the halfway point. Only two and a half more laps to go. We can do this!”

“I feel like I should have gone to the gym with the other guys,” Sato huffed, wiping the sweat from his head with a damp towel he’d wetted in the water from the station they’d just passed. “At least they’ve got ac in there. Hey, Todoroki, a little ice?”

“Yeah, sure,” the son of Endeavor replied, taking the towel from Sato into his right hand and freezing the moisture within it. “Will this do?”

“Yeah, thanks man.” Sato took it back and placed it around the back of his neck. He shivered for a moment and commented joyfully on how cold it was.

“Can you do that for me too?” Kaminari asked, sweat glistening all over the teen's body. “I’m dying over here.” He, like the other young men, had tossed aside his sweat-coated shirt after the first lap and was now in just a pair of exercise shorts. Even the pants of their gym tracksuits would have been too arduous to be wearing out here.

“Be grateful you don’t have feathers,” Tokoyami reminded him, the blackness of the crow feathers that covered his bird-like head absorbing the sunlight and heating him even more than his running mates. “And the intensity of the sunlight is making Dark Shadow uncomfortable. I will be grateful when the sun goes down.”

“Isn’t he harder to control in the dark?” Kaminari asked, getting his towel back from Todoroki. “OoOoh… cold!”

“I assure you, I will be able to handle him,” Tokoyami stated. “It will be just like back at the dorms. You won’t be in any danger.”

Todoroki looked at the young man with the bird-like head and sentient monster shadow quirk. “Here, give me your towel too,” he softly requested. “You too, Midoriya. It won’t be good for any of you to get heat stroke while we’re out here.” Tokoyami thanked him, offering up his wet towel as well, while Midoriya stayed silent, just jogging forward as if he hadn’t heard him. “Midoriya? Midoriya!”

“W-wha—!?” yelped the green-haired youth, looking over to Todoroki in surprise. “What is it, Todoroki?”

“…are you all right?” he asked, his heterochromatic eyes furrowing slightly in concern. “Would you like me to freeze your towel for you like the others?”

Midoriya blinked owlishly at him for a few seconds, not appearing to comprehend his question for a moment. “Oh, uh, sure! I’d like that, thanks!”

Tenya frowned slightly as he watched his best friend. “You’ve been awfully quiet, Midoriya,” he observed. “I take it it’s not solely from the act of building up a decent sweat.” Midoriya sighed as he replaced the towel around the back of his neck, not even reacting to the spike in cold temperatures touching his hot skin. “You know you can always talk to us if something is bothering you,” Tenya comforted him, changing his frown to a soft smile. “We are friends, after all.”

“I don’t really blame you if you’ve got stuff on your mind,” Sato said. “You’re the one who basically had all his secrets laid out for all of us to see. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all.”

“Yeah…” Midoriya answered, seeming down. “Hey… you guys, are still my friends, right?”

Tenya’s smile slipped. “Why wouldn’t we be?”

“It’s just, now all of you know that I used to be quirkless,” Midoriya answered. “And, well… before I came to UA, being quirkless meant that I wasn’t allowed to have friends. If I didn’t have a quirk, could you honestly say that you’d still be friends with me?”

“In what way?” Todoroki asked. Midoriya looked back at him. “Our circ*mstances are completely different, but if I understand how One For All works correctly, are you asking if we’d still be your friends if you passed it on to someone else and rendered yourself powerless like All Might, or if we’d still be your friends if you’d never gotten One For All in the first place?”

Midoriya seemed to falter for a moment. “Uh, both, I guess.”

“Of course we would,” Kaminari replied instantly. “You’re worrying about some pretty deep stuff, Midoriya. Just don’t think about it.”

“I don’t think it’s that simple to answer,” Tenya countered. “In response to the first, absolutely. Even if you were to give your power to another, we would absolutely remain your friends, Midoriya. Whether you have a quirk or not, you have the heroic heart to inspire others and bring pride to UA. You’re an inspiration to us all. You came to my aid in Hosu, even if we were saved by Endeavor in the end. I have a feeling you would have done the same even if you didn’t have a quirk to call upon. In fact, I feel like I’m more honoured that you call me your friend.”

“As for the other question, I don’t know if we would,” Todoroki replied. Midoriya looked horrified for a moment at his words.

“Dude!” Sato hissed.

“No, I agree with Todoroki,” Tokoyami stated. “However, Midoriya, it has nothing to do with your character, and is more a matter of circ*mstance.”

“Circ*mstance?” the one who prompted this discussion asked.

“Had you not received your quirk from All Might, the chances of you having taken the Entrance Exam and made it into UA substantially decrease,” Tokoyami stated. “The exam was difficult enough as it was. Given your state of mind from what we could examine from the show we watched earlier, while possible, it’s not likely that you would have come up with another way to pass the exam. Even with All Might’s quirk at your command after ten months of intensive training in order to receive it, you only succeeded due to rescuing Uraraka at the opportune moment. By not making it into the Hero course, it’s highly unlikely that we would have crossed paths in order to be given the opportunity to become friends.”

The bird boy smiled. “However, if given the chance, I am still sure that we would.”

“You would!?” Midoriya gasped.

“And I’m sure that even without the ability to break your fingers to stop my ice attacks during the Sports Festival,” Todoroki added, “you would have managed to find some way to become my friend. But what Tokoyami said is right. If you didn’t get into UA, we wouldn’t have been able to meet you, and then we wouldn’t have been able to become friends. In that way, and that way only , we wouldn’t be your friends if you were still quirkless.”

“Oh… I see,” Midoriya said. He sighed, seemingly satisfied with that answer. “Yeah, okay, I can see that.”

“Well, I’m sure there’s one of us you still would have been friends with no matter what,” Kaminari reassured him, giving him a grin. “I bet that if you failed the Hero course exam you still would have applied for General Studies so you could still go to UA, right? I bet you and her would have still been in the same class?”

“Her?” Midoriya asked. “Her who?”

“Oh, you know who he’s talking about,” Sato teased. “Bakugo and Ashido made it pretty clear.”

“U-Uraraka!?” yelped Midoriya. Tenya smiled, not sure if the extra red on Midoriya’s face was because of the heat or because he was embarrassed. Probably the latter.

“Exactly,” Tokoyami said with a nod. “Without you saving her, and without her saving you, both of you would have failed the exam. It’s more likely the two of you would have ended up in General Studies together and become friends. Misery loves company. You may have even bonded over failing together instead of passing together.”

“Yeah, you may just be right about that,” Midoriya replied while looking up at the sky. A small flock of terns were flying overhead, as well as a couple of brown pelicans. “Life would have still gone on after the sludge villain attacked, I guess. After All Might said I couldn’t be a hero without a quirk, and what happened that day, I honestly believed him. I didn’t think I’d made a difference at all. If he hadn’t come by at that moment, I just might have given up on my dream. Then I wouldn’t have met any of you, or… or Uraraka.”

Tenya watched him closely as Midoriya sighed again at the name of their mutual female friend. He’d confided in him in the event that the show revealed his initial thoughts about her, and his friend had honestly been a wreck of mortified embarrassment throughout a great deal of the last two episodes they had viewed post-lunch. There was a small, sad smile on his face at the mention of her, and he had lost his composure again when Sato and Kaminari teased him just a few moments ago. “Midoriya,” he opened up, “if you don’t want me to pry, I’ll stop, but I have a feeling that you and Uraraka are going to need to speak to each other in private relatively soon.”

“I-Iida! Not you too!” Midoriya’s flushed face was adorable, but Tenya couldn’t let himself think that now. Right now, those nerves were a detriment.

“I’m not insinuating anything,” Tenya reassured him with a smile. “Whether you have romantic feelings for Uraraka or if they’re purely ones of platonic friendship, that’s your business, not mine. I’m not going to attempt becoming a shipper or whatever it was that Ashido had called herself and force a relationship to happen purely for my own entertainment; though if you would like my assistance if that is your goal, I would be happy to offer it.” He couldn’t help sneaking in a tiny amount of teasing along with his supportive gesture. What else were friends for? “However, you’ve been quiet for most of this run. You haven’t only been thinking about whether or not we still like you, even knowing your past.”

“And for the record,” Kaminari piped up, “I don’t think you cheated to get into UA or anything by being given All Might’s quirk. We may have said some stuff before about you being lucky or whatever to have that kind of power, but you still heard us before, right? You busted your ass off getting here. You earned that power, Midoriya! You deserved to pass that exam. If anyone was lucky to make it in it was me. It’s like the god that was doling out the quirks knew that we’d be fighting robots for the practical, and my quirk’s made for that. If that’s not luck, then I don’t know what is.”

Tenya could see fresh tears in his friend’s eyes. “Kaminari… thanks! I won’t let you down.”

“Good!” the Electrification user said with a smile as he ran the cool towel over his sweaty torso for a moment before returning it back to his neck. “Now, back to what Iida was saying, what’s been bugging you?”

Midoriya was silent for a few seconds, the only sounds were those of their feet pounding the track, the sea, a nice breeze that stole over them whistling through their ears, and the distant calls of some birds. “Guys,” he said at last, “do you think it’s possible for a hero to have a relationship?”

“So you do like Uraraka!” Sato said with a grin.

“She is really cute,” Kaminari teased. “Man. Wish I’d saved her during the exam, then maybe I’d be in your shoes.”

“I meant hypothetically!” Midoriya blurted out, not admitting anything, Tenya noticed. “I just… All Might never had a family, and he’s the top hero. But then, there’s Kota’s parents, Water Hose. Both of them were killed by Muscular a few years ago, leaving him all alone. It made him hate not just the villains who took his parents from him, but also the entire concept of heroes. If his parents hadn’t been heroes, then they wouldn’t have fought Muscular and died. And also, if you’re in a relationship, what happens when you’re busy putting your own happiness above your duty as a hero to save people? Or when you’re presented with the Hero’s Dilemma, where you’re forced to choose between an innocent bystander and your loved one? Or just by even being a hero you’re putting that person in danger by getting too close to them? Villains could use that to their adv—”

“Midoriya!”

A karate chop to the back of his neck probably wasn’t the best thing to do, but it got the mad lad’s attention. “Iida!” he blurted out. “Whoa. Almost thought Kendo was here for a second.”

“Midoriya,” Tenya said again, a little more sternly this time. “You do realize who you’re talking to, right? Todoroki is the son of Endeavor, the current de facto first ranked hero, and my brother, father, and grandfather have all been great heroes.” He snorted a little, making a smile. “If you’re trying to argue that being a hero and having a life are mutually exclusive, you’re talking to living proof against that argument.”

“Your biggest concern was probably about keeping something like One For All a secret from the person you care about,” Todoroki deduced. “But now that the whole class knows about it, is that really an issue anymore? You won’t have to concern yourself with guilt.”

“It’s not… just that…” Midoriya said. The green-haired youth slowed down to a walk, prompting the others to do so as well. He took a deep breath, well, deeper than the ones he was already taking, turned around, and unloaded a tangled cosmos of uncertainty and self-esteem issues. “What if Uraraka doesn’t like me after this?” was his first question, immediately indirectly identifying that, yes , he did like 1-A’s sunshine girl. “I practically gushed about just talking to a girl! And I thought she looked good in her uniform and couldn’t stop staring at her in her hero costume! You saw it! That’s literally what I was thinking! I couldn’t take my eyes off her! She was just so cute! I mean, it’s Uraraka, so of course she’d look good in anything, but now she’s gonna think I’m a creep and not want to even speak to me anymore. I’m no good with girls. Girls never talked to me before because I was always so weird and now she knows just how weird I am and will never get closeortalktomeagain…”

The other boys lost track of what he was saying as Midoriya descended into a spiral of panic muttering. “Classic Midoriya,” Tokoyami chuckled with a hint of affection as he folded his arms.

“Yeah,” Sato agreed. “Good to know some things don’t change.”

“I’m kinda glad that Midoriya finally said something to someone,” Kaminari said. “Looking back on things, ‘cause I guess that’s what we’ll be doing for the next few days, it’s sort of obvious, but I was beginning to wonder if Mineta and I were the only ones who even looked at the girls that way.”

“Looked at them what way?” Todoroki asked.

Kaminari grinned. “You know, as girls. Mineta’s definitely more open about what he wants, but it helps to know that even Determination Deku over here likes the ladies.”

Midoriya seemed to snap out of his mumble storm. “What? Determination Deku!?”

“Yeah, man,” Kaminari explained. “You’re like, super hardcore with how driven you are to become a hero. It’s my dream too, but you’re honestly a few levels higher than me.”

“That’s not true, Kaminari!” Midoriya countered. “You guys, you’re all so much better than me, and you’ve had your quirks for years. I’ve only had mine since February.”

Tenya shook his head. “Midoriya, I think the fact that you’ve already got your Provisional License when you’ve only been in possession of a quirk, and one that can cause such immense self-destruction when not handled properly, in just over half a year is a testament to how amazing you are. Whenever you compliment us and put yourself down, honestly, it’s starting to make me a little frustrated. I understand that you want to stand at the top, to be the number one hero; it’s your ultimate goal to be like All Might just as mine is to be worthy of the name Ingenium and inherit my brother’s legacy. Darn it, now I’m beginning to ramble.” He chuckled to himself.

“Anyway, Midoriya, the point I am trying to make is this: Uraraka is not going to abandon you either because of your previous quirkless status or because she learned that you feel that she’s attractive. Things may be a little awkward for a bit, but your friendship will pull through without a problem.”

Midoriya smiled sincerely, looking up at him. “You really think so, Iida?”

“Without a doubt,” he replied. “And do you think so little of Uraraka that a compliment or two of yours would cause her to dislike you?” The young man glanced down, chuckling slightly to himself while rubbing the back of his head.

“I guess you’re right,” he answered Tenya, sighing. “But still…”

“Midoriya,” Todoroki began, folding his arms over his chest, “I know I’m not the best at these things, but why do you think you can’t have a relationship?”

“...Uraraka, and the other girls in our year,” Midoriya sighed, not meeting their eyes, “...all of them are just so amazing. I’m so lucky just to have them in my life. I don’t deserve to want anything more than that.”

“No dude, your old schools just sucked,” Sato said.

“I agree,” Tokoyami nodded his head. “The fact that you made it through to UA as you are is a testament to your fortitude.”

“Yeah,” Kaminari said. “I’m kinda jealous of you, Midoriya. Watching that show today, it’s like all of the girls were swooning over you.”

He turned bright red. “Wha-what!?”

“Even Miss Midnight was getting in on it,” Kaminari continued. “Seriously. I know that Uraraka was the only one who was really getting close to you before today, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the others start hanging out around you more.”

“N-no way!” Midoriya refuted, waving his arms around. “There’s no way! I mean, Uraraka, maybe, hopefully, maybe, but that’s just because she’s so kind and we work so well together. There’s no way that anyone else would like me. They were just having fun teasing me, that’s all, right?”

Sato blinked. “Wow, you really don’t see how awesome you are.”

Tenya clapped Midoriya on the shoulder as he made a strange noise at Sato’s words. “It’s fine. We don’t need to resolve this today. Anyway, we’ve rested enough. C’mon! Let’s finish those laps!”

Kaminari groaned at Tenya’s renewed enthusiasm as they started up again. “Oh, hey, Midoriya. If you get tongue-tied trying to talk to Uraraka, I’ve got a few lines you could use.”

“...seventy-two… seventy-three… seventy-four…” Katsuki pushed, his arms burning to get this final rep done, Kirishima urging him on. He pushed, forcing that bar up above him. “...seventy-five!”

Kirishima grasped the bar, assisting Katsuki, as much as he didn’t need the help, in putting it back onto its stand. Sucking in a breath, his body sweating, black muscle shirt plastered to his chest and his shorts uncomfortably wet, Katsuki sat back up on the bench. Kirishima passed him his towel, the cloth having been soaking in a bowl of water to help dilute the explosive sweat from his palms. “Kirishima…”

“Awesome job, Bakugo,” the redhead praised, passing him his water bottle, filled with one of the sports drinks that were on tap along with the watering stations. “I can’t believe you just did that! Three sets of twenty-five reps of two-hundred kilos! And you don’t even have a strength quirk! That’s so manly.”

“Insane is more like it,” Tape Arms commented from the side, whistling.

Katsuki gulped down the drink, draining half a litre of it in one go. He was f*cking thirsty, and his arms, which had been screaming at him mere minutes ago, felt like limp noodles at the moment. They were going to be an absolute bitch to him tomorrow, but f*ck it. Plus Ultra. That damn nerd had carried around a two-hundred and fifty kilo All Might on his back when he was working on just building his strength to inherit One For All. If he couldn’t manage to bench this much like that, then there was no way he was going to keep Deku from surpassing him again.

“Hey,” Katsuki growled, glancing at the two of them who were hanging around where he was. “Why are you guys still hanging around me?” The fake Kirishima from 1-B had drifted off somewhere else, and a bunch of the other guys were off in other spots in this gym, which was admittedly pretty sweet. The girls were here too, in a huddle over by a few rowing machines. The only ones not around were Dunce Face, Deku, Icy-Hot, and the three others who’d joined them in running laps around the island.

“Why wouldn’t we?” Kirishima asked. “You need a spotter when you’re at the bench press, man. It’s just how it is.”

“Not that you idiot,” Katsuki retorted, facial muscles twitching. Did he really not get it? “I mean why are you even here? Are you pitying me or something?”

Tape Arms placed his hands on his hips and gave him a weird look. “We’re here ‘cause we’re your friends, duh,” he answered bluntly.

“The hell?” Katsuki asked. “What the hell made you think I even wanted friends, Soy Sauce Face?”

Tape Arms folded them and made a scowl while sighing. “Whether you wanted us or not, we somehow like you enough to put up with your bullsh*t, so deal with it.”

Kirishima sat down next to him, the redhead not looking at him directly. Katsuki didn’t look at him either and just concentrated on his arms. He needed to lift them to get the water bottle back to his mouth, but they were already beginning to feel as heavy as tungsten. Lightweights who say their limbs felt like lead could suck his dick. Kirishima started to talk, and he tried to ignore him, but honestly, he did want to know what the redhead wanted to say. “Hey, Bakugo, I know you’re not the most social guy, and as a whole, our class doesn’t really like you all that much, and that prob… no, definitely took a hit after the stuff we saw today.”

Yeah, no sh*t, moron.

“But all the same, you’re not the same guy that we saw in the videos today anymore. Yeah, I’m upset that you told Midoriya to kill himself back in middle school. Saying sh*t like that isn’t manly at all, but I don’t feel like you deserved to get punched by All Might for it. It was over a year ago, and you’re a different person now than you were then. Like Tetsutetsu said, everyone’s a dick in junior high.”

“...Deku wasn’t a dick in junior high,” Katsuki muttered, letting his mostly empty water bottle slide from his limp fingers to hit the ground. “He was just that quirkless idiot with a dream that would never come true. Didn’t speak out, didn’t get in anyone’s way, didn’t do anything except mutter repeatedly and write notes on heroes. I was the asshole that beat down on him whenever he so much as got an inkling of trying to be the hero he’d never be.”

Katsuki growled again. Why were they still here!? Didn’t these idiots get it? “Don’t you morons get it? I tormented that f*cking nerd for years! All he ever wanted was to help people and be a hero, but I blew up his stuff, beat the sh*t out of him, exploded his lunch or took his lunch money! It’s because of me that he’s an awkward mess who freaked out just ‘cause a girl happened to speak a sentence to him that wasn’t insulting. I told that idiot to kill himself! Why are you still here like nothing’s happened? All Might chose him and not me because he saw something in Deku that I was too scared to recognize! I told you, I don’t need your goddamn pity! I’m going to be the best without you damn extras hanging off of me!”

“Get over yourself, Bakugo,” Soy Sauce Face scolded him. “Who do you think you are? Endeavor?”

The mention of the Emperor of sh*tty Dads made Katsuki freeze for a moment. Was he honestly being compared to Endeavor? That dumpster fire of a human crematorium that beat the sh*t out of his wife and made Icy-Hot’s life a living hell? “Like hell I’m like Endeavor,” he uttered back.

“Look, Bakugo,” Kirishima started again, but Katsuki didn’t want to hear it.

“f*ck off,” he broke in, grabbing his bottle and flinging his towel over his shoulder. “I’m gonna go shower.” He stormed away from the two, ignoring Kirishima’s and Tape Arms’ calls out to him. He kicked at the leg curl machine as he passed by, startling the extra whose quirk was just a f*cking tail, and scowled.

Dammit! Why can’t I just f*cking accept their help!?

This wasn’t helping him at all. He had hoped that by pumping iron until his arms were limp overcooked fettuccini he’d have been able to vent some of this aggression, but it hadn't worked. All Katsuki wanted to do was punch somebody, even with his arms like this, but that wouldn’t solve anything. Usually it was someone else who made him angry, and kicking their ass always helped. But how the hell was he supposed to kick his own ass?

“You’re shaking in your boots, you’re so scared. But you wanna fight me anyway. THAT’S WHY I HATE YOU!!!"

Damn that Deku. Even after they’d tried to resolve their sh*t he was still getting under his skin. Raising his arm as he reached the door, Katsuki slammed the side of his fist against the frame. He couldn’t build up a decent amount of force, but it still impacted with a solid thud that left a satisfying ache in his hand. f*ck! Why is courage so f*cking terrifying!? Do I still have no f*cking spine after all the sh*t I’ve been through? Even All Might gets scared! He said it himself!

“Bakugo.”

The sound of his name from a voice he was not expecting gave him pause. This was a surprise. He turned around slowly, coming face to face with his class’ vice-rep in all her ponytail glory. “What do you want, High Class?”

“Stay away from Midoriya.”

Those were not words he had anticipated coming out of the rich girl’s mouth. Her lips were set into a thin line, and she was not giving him the most pleasant of expressions. “The hell do you want with Deku, High Class?” he asked, narrowing his eyes. “Last I checked you weren’t like Round Face, crushing on that nerd. Did you decide to join that little Dekusquad he’s got around him after seeing all the sh*t I put him through? Planning on pitying him so you can feel better about yourself?”

She flinched, but she didn’t step back from him. Still, his accusation had put her on her back foot somewhat. “My emotions are secondary,” she replied after a moment. “As vice-rep of Class 1-A, it’s also my responsibility to ensure my classmates have what they need to succeed. Clearly, you cannot stand Midoriya. It would be beneficial to both your developments if you limited your interactions with one another.”

Katsuki looked closely at her attitude. She was rock solid, no quivering trembles to give away any fear or anxiety she might be feeling. Made sense, considering she’d passed the licensing exam and had run to Camino with the nerd, being that close to All For One. However intimidating he could be, that boss villain was f*cking terrifying .

Not that he’d ever tell anyone.

Come to think of it, she’d come to help Kirishima, Deku, Glasses, and the Icy-Hot Back Patch with their insane plan when even Round Face had stayed out of it. However, clearly, she didn’t like him, and he couldn’t remember ever having had a serious conversation with her in the past. Katsuki couldn’t even recall if they’d ever been paired up before in any of the Heroics exercises that All Might taught. So she hadn’t done that necessarily for him. It’s possible she did it for Deku, but he couldn’t remember her hanging around him much either.

Regarding her for just one more moment, while also thinking back on the talk he’d had earlier with Deku and the teachers, Katsuki clicked his teeth. “Fine, whatever. Since the rest of you know about One For All now I don’t have to be as uptight about keeping it secret from you all. I’ll stay out of that nerd’s way. But know this, even after all the sh*t I put Deku through, everything you watched, he’d already experienced it. He knew what I’d done to him. But after our fight the other night he and All Might still trusted me with that secret, before you, Glasses, Aizawa, even his mom and Round Face.” Katsuki turned around and started walking away into the hallway. “It’s not that I can’t stand him anymore,” he muttered, for once not giving a f*ck if someone heard him or not, “I’d just…rather not think about it.”

Oh sure, you can say sh*t to someone you don’t even know but you can’t talk to the only guys who still want to hang around with you? You’re a f*cking coward, Katsuki.

Momo clenched her fist as she watched Bakugo walk away from the gym. That had been… unexpected. She had expected Bakugo to fight that a lot more, or tell her to piss off or something equally crude. However, it appeared as though he had actually mellowed somewhat, or he’d just worked himself into a state of exhaustion to the point of not having the energy to be too combative. Whatever the reason, she’d told him what she’d wanted to tell him. Biting her lip, Momo turned on her heel and slowly made her way back to the other girls.

I hope Midoriya’s okay with me butting in like that, she thought. But, didn’t he once say that All Might told him that meddling where you don’t need to is the essence of heroism? The signs were all so obvious that Midoriya was a victim of abuse, and that he was blaming himself for everything and never once faulting Bakugo for his own actions. There was always an excuse; always something that Midoriya had done to set him off.

A fire grew in her eyes as she reached the others, returning with her water bottle refilled with electrolytes. Midoriya, you never intended to, but when we went to Camino together, you helped and inspired me more than you could possibly know. So now that we’re in this place to learn and better ourselves, let me help you.

Momo’s eyes met Ochaco’s as she stopped next to the shorter girl, the brunette watching her closely while she waited for her turn again on the rowing machine. Mina was really working her hardest on it. Momo gave her a confident smile. “I have no intention of stealing him from you, Ochaco, not unless you let me,” she stated. “And should you confess your feelings to him and he returns them, which I believe he does, given what we saw this afternoon, I want you to know that I’d still like to become an actual friend of Midoriya’s, not just classmates.”

Spotting her classmate’s blush, all Momo did was smile and fold her arms in front of her, choosing to watch Mina and Hatsume ‘race’ each other on the rowing machines, Hagakure eagerly calling out “Stroke!” over and over for the two of them. “Hey, Yaomomo?” She quirked her eyebrow and looked back at Ochaco. The brunette wasn’t exactly looking at her, but her voice was quiet enough that Momo was the only one who’d hear her. “What were you talking to Bakugo about?”

The mention of his name riled up something in the pit of her stomach, and Momo had to steel her expression into neutral to avoid scowling. “I simply told him to keep his distance from Midoriya, that’s all. It’s not healthy for the two of them to be together. Even if Midoriya wants to have a rivalry with him, he can do that after he’s gone through therapy and accepted that he was Bakugo’s abuse victim. It’s not smart for him to keep calling Bakugo amazing and idolizing him, even if he has the power and talent to potentially become a top hero.”

Ochaco nodded in seeming agreement. “Good. I’m glad someone else recognizes it. It just… makes me so mad. Seeing everything he did to Deku when they were growing up, it makes me want to do some very unheroic things to Bakugo.”

“I agree,” Momo stated simply. “That’s partially why I decided to warn him off. If I’m going to be spending more time around Midoriya, I’d rather not have an ever-present temptation to create a cannon just so I can show him what a real explosion looks like.”

Ochaco giggled, presumably at the mental imagery Momo had just provided her, before she became quiet again. “Hey, Yaomomo? Did you mean it? What you said back at lunch?” She was rubbing her bare arms with her hands, seemingly chilled despite the warmth of the gym.

She must be thinking about the ultimatum I gave her, Momo thought, eyelids drooping slightly. “You’re referring to what I said about asking Midoriya out to dinner, correct?” At Ochaco’s answering nod, though it took time for the girl to respond, Momo let out the breath she’d been holding. “Ochaco, it’s clear that you’re infatuated with Midoriya. The rest of us girls can see that. Honestly, I’m surprised it took watching a show about him for the rest of us to really start to see what you’d been seeing all along. I was even with him at Camino when we went to save Bakugo, and while he did inspire me that day, coming up with a strategy that would allow us to rescue him while also keeping clear of engaging in combat with the villains, and saying so firmly that he wanted to save him, I still didn’t see him the way that you do until this morning. So yes, I meant what I said. I think I… maybe… sort of… like Midoriya.”

What are you saying, Momo? You can’t just tell someone that you like the same guy as she does! Are you trying to make a declaration of war? What if the rest of the class joins in? Mina certainly seemed interested… How is that being fair to her or Midoriya at all?

“And you also heard what I said?” Ochaco asked quietly. Momo hadn’t quite realized it, but the two of them had slowly been moving off into a secluded corner away from prying ears. “About… not getting in the way of his future and his dream? He’s got One For All, Momo. He’s All Might’s successor, the next Symbol of Peace. Plus, being a hero is a stressful, dangerous job. Anything could happen, and villains could target the people you care about. Boyfriends, lovers, children… I can’t… I can’t take away his dream for a domestic fantasy.”

Ah, I see, Momo realized. She wasn’t just being silly earlier. She honestly believes that being a hero and having a relationship are two mutually exclusive things; that Midoriya’s been working so hard and has placed so much pressure on himself to succeed All Might that she can’t waste his time with romance. Even if it hurts her, even if it causes her pain, Ochaco wants to help Midoriya become the best hero he can be anyway she can; even by forcing herself not to get too close.

But she’s wrong.

“Ochaco,” Momo began, knowing that this was probably going to end up dooming her chances of becoming Midoriya’s girlfriend, “do you know how I got to take the recommendation exam into UA’s Hero course?”

The brunette seemed surprise by this sudden, and admittedly, seemingly unrelated question. “Huh? Isn’t it because your dad owns a huge support company? Y’know, because you’ve got connections through there?”

“You’d think that, but no,” Momo replied. “I was given the opportunity to prove myself in the recommendation exam through my mother.”

“Your mother?” Ochaco asked. “I don’t think you’ve talked about your mother much. She’s the one that got you the chance for a spot? Who is she?”

“Midnight.”

Very rare were the opportunities in which Momo was able to reveal who her mother was to people, at the woman’s own behest. While many pro heroes knew the connection between Momo and Midnight, as well as most of if not all of UA’s faculty, absolutely none of the students were in the know. So telling Ochaco that her mother was one of their teachers was a great show of trust in the other girl…

…that and seeing her dumbfounded expression as the wheels turned in her head was just adorable.

“Wha-wha-what? M-Miss Midnight is your… your…?”

“My mother, yes,” Momo answered, giggling faintly at the broken expression on Ochaco’s face. “My mother is a pro hero who is also a married woman and has a daughter. She and my father actually got married shortly after she graduated UA, and I came along not too long after that. And even with her familial and maternal obligations, she still fulfilled her duty as a pro hero on the front lines before receiving her teaching license and getting a position at UA about seven years ago.

“So, before you ask that question again, yes, I do believe that it’s entirely possible for a hero course student to not only have a relationship with someone, but that they can also make it work out and have a family in the long run.”

Ochaco just stared at her silently for a few seconds that dragged on and on before she let out a laugh that sounded like a snort, which quickly turned into quite a few outbursts of laughter. While Momo herself didn’t exactly see what was amusing, she couldn’t prevent some giggles from leaving her own mouth as well. “Why are we laughing?”

“Thanks Yaomomo,” Ochaco said, her laughter abating as she wiped a tear from each eye. “I needed that.”

“Needed what?” Momo asked, still confused as to how exactly she helped the other young woman. But at least she seemed happier now, so that was a good thing in her books.

“You just cleared up something I was being stupid about,” Ochaco replied, a fresh smile on her face. “Of course. It was so obvious it was right in front of me but I couldn’t see it.” She stood up fully and nodded her head. “I’m gonna tell Deku, right now before I get lost in my head again. Oh, and Yaomomo, don’t give up on him just yet just because I’m going on ahead. Something tells me I’m gonna need help keeping him in line.”

Before Momo could even comprehend what Ochaco was saying to her, the brunette was jogging out of the gym and off towards wherever she could find Midoriya.

Wh-what? What did Ochaco say? Don’t give… is she offering to share Midoriya!? Does that mean that we’d both…

An image came to her unbidden, of Midoriya’s shirtless body as shown earlier on the show, and then what she knew Ochaco to look like from their time spent in the locker rooms at school. Abs glistening with sweat, Ochaco, curvy and bare-chested, leaning against Midoriya’s pectoral muscles that bulged with hidden power, both of them smiling sweetly in her direction with Ochaco beckoning with an extended figure. The gravity girl’s legs that went on for days and magnificent thighs…

Momo’s face turned red and she slapped her hands to her cheeks.

What in the world am I thinking!?

Ochaco ran out into the bright sunlight of mid-afternoon, a sheen of sweat on her skin from the two hours she’d spent in the gym with the other girls, a bright smile on her face in contrast to the aches in her legs, back, shoulders, and arms from the workout. She was really feeling the burn; Hatsume and Kendo were unrelenting in the way they pushed everyone else in the group. She just had to feel bad for Hagakure. The poor invisible girl was barely able to do ten pull-ups before collapsing in a heap.

But those aches and pains didn’t matter now. Yaomomo had cleared up what she’d been grappling with since she’d seen this afternoon’s pair of episodes and found out that Deku maybe sort of actually did find her attractive. It had turned her entire outlook on its head, discovering that he had those thoughts too. Or, at least he did have those thoughts, months ago, when they first met. Whether he still had them was another question entirely, and one that would hopefully be answered by the end of the day.

I can’t believe I was being so dumb, Ochaco thought to herself. What was I even worrying about? These feelings I have, it’s not wrong for me to have them. Police have families. Firefighters have families. Iida’s from a long line of heroes! Of course heroes can have relationships, duh! Hero couples can work; I’ll make it work!

She was going to tell Deku. She was going to tell Deku how she felt. She was going to tell Deku she loved him and nothi—

Wait, LOVE!?

Ochaco screeched to a halt as she reached the winding multi-section pool that was between the main resort building and the beach. Heat flared up on her cheeks again as she reconsidered everything.

Hold on now, Ochaco. Don’t get ahead of yourself. You only ‘like’ Deku. You’re not in love with him or anything! Don’t go and make things weirder than they already are. He’s your best friend that you just like as more than a friend, that’s all. No need to go bringing the l-word into this like some kind of romance novel.

“No, you love him.”

Ochaco slapped her hands over her mouth, just managing to keep her pinkies out so that she didn’t start to float away again. Kamimoto was sitting out on a chair not five feet away from her, one of her drinks on a small plastic table next to her while she rested under an umbrella with a book. The older woman was giving her a warm smile from underneath her sunglasses, and dressed in only a black bikini patterned with pink sakura blossoms.

“W-who said anything about love?” Ochaco blurted out. “I sure didn’t! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Kamimoto laughed. “I think you’re starting to pick up mumbling your thoughts out loud from Deku,” she stated. “By the way, yeah, you totally love him. Some of my friends in Upper Management are betting that you’ll take those feelings out of storage and finally confess to him when he’s recovering in hospital from something that happens just before the start of your second year. Then we’ll all have our Green Tea goodness.”

Ochaco froze. She couldn’t feel the heat of the sun that was coming down on her. She felt cold, like the ice in that drink of Kamimoto’s had been poured down her neck and then Todoroki had frozen her in a glacier. “Deku… hospital…?”

“Yeah, he breaks himself again,” Kamimoto answered, her voice far too casual considering what she was saying. “Not surprising, considering he’ll keep dishing out one-hundred percent smashes when his body still can’t handle that kind of power load. Oh sh*t, was that a spoiler? Sorry! Forget I said anything! You’ll see it anyway later, but please, forget I even brought it up!”

Ochaco blinked. No… Deku wouldn’t. Not after the training ca—

Yes, he would break himself again.

Her hands shook, eyes losing focus as she gazed into the distance. Ochaco couldn’t see the sea, only the image of Deku, her Deku, lying in a hospital bed with his arms and chest bound heavily in blood-soaked bandages, dried blood coating his face and caking his wonderful messy green curls. “How… how bad?”

Kamimoto winced. “Dunno. The top guys in Upper Management who filter it on down the line every week haven't quite shared that far into the future with me, but from what I’ve already seen…” she sighed and gave Ochaco a look that nearly broke her heart. “Look, if you want him to hold you close in his arms and cuddle you, I’d suggest you get a move on and tell him. Perhaps change the future. Because if you don’t change it, well… he may not be able to use those big strong arms of his after Spring Break.”

The woman picked up her drink and started cursing at it, blaming it for having her spill the beans before it was time, but Ochaco didn’t really hear that. She was too dazed. Instead, she turned on her heel, and slowly started to make her way back to her room with a maelstrom of conflicting thoughts in her head.

By the end of Spring Break… Deku will...

Yaomomo’s words were supposed to have solidified her resolve to confess to Deku that she liked him.

Kamimoto’s drunken revelation made her question whether distracting him with her selfish desires would just cause him even more pain, or possibly…

Is Deku… going to become like Ingenium before we can even graduate?

She didn’t meet anyone on her trek back. No one was by the stairs. No one was in the halls to stop her and ask what she was up to. Nobody was able to see the tears in her eyes that she tried to hold back.

The lock beeped and flashed with green light as Ochaco held her key card against it, and the whirring of the locking mechanism sifted through her ears. She opened the door and entered, barely registering taking off her shoes and the sound of the door closing behind her. She moved towards the closest bed and dropped on it, then took hold of one of the big fluffy pillows and placed it over her face to soak her tears and sobs. Her heart wailed in agony as the thought of Deku lying broken and barely surviving through an oxygen mask consumed her.

What am I supposed to do?

Chapter 10: She Gives Love A Bad Name

Chapter Text

Ochaco wasn’t sure how long she stayed in her moping daze as she hugged the pillow close to her body. At some point she ran out of tears to cry, but her dilemma hadn’t changed one iota. Everything had been so much simpler before today. She’d buried her feelings for Deku deep down within herself, so that she didn’t have to acknowledge how she felt about him and could pretend that she didn’t have a crush. It was simple in theory. All she had to do was ignore any and all thoughts of romance and turn a blind eye to anything that set her off, like the memory of Hatsume’s ginormous fat boobs squishing against Deku’s chest, and focus one hundred percent on her hero training and the work studies that they could potentially be allowed to participate in.

Nice. Simple. Lock those pesky emotions up and dedicate herself to her training. Then nothing had to change.

Now though…

Ochaco turned to look at the blank T.V. screen. “Kamimoto said we had video on demand for all the episodes we’ve watched so far, right?” She got up from the bed, releasing the effects of her quirk from the pillow she’d grabbed so that it would stop floating now that she’d let go of it, and went to pick up the remote. Her expression was dull and lifeless, much like how her heart felt at present.

Turning on the television set, Ochaco was prepared for the channel to already be tuned to a T.V. guide or a weather channel or something bland so that she could listlessly search for the V.O.D. of the show they had been watching. Ochaco wasn’t fully sure why she wanted to watch it again so soon. The first two episodes had been terrible to sit through, seeing all of the trauma that Deku went through. Bakugo telling him to kill himself, all his classmates laughing at him, All Might saying that he couldn’t be a hero without a quirk, both of his encounters with the Sludge villain where Deku had nearly died…

But then All Might did say he could become a hero. And Deku worked really, really hard to receive One For All from him. It was all so inspiring, and there were plenty of heartwarming moments too. The cuteness of toddler Deku and his mom, for example.

However, Ochaco was not prepared for the channel that the television was already on to be an adult channel.

Steam escaped her ears as her cheeks practically caught fire at the sight of what the actress on screen was doing and Ochaco screamed, dropping the remote like it had seared her.

“WHAT THE f*ck!?”

She scrambled for the remote again, ears burning at the sounds coming from the T.V. and from the f-bomb she just dropped in her shock and panic. It was loud. Oh God, the television’s volume was loud! Those moans were too loud! She desperately hoped and prayed that nobody was in an adjacent room and that the walls were soundproof. With trembling hands Ochaco managed to get the remote under control and quickly changed the channel to something she was positive would be safe for work, and sighed in relief when it was proven correct. She’d switched it to the weather channel.

Heart racing, the girl sat back down on the edge of her bed. “Seriously?” she asked out loud. “We’re high school students. There’s lazy and then there’s this, Kamimoto. We shouldn’t… I mean… we do, but you shouldn’t just… oh God, what if everyone’s television’s default channel is set to that?”

Well, at least she wasn’t lifeless anymore. The sudden intrusion of p*rn into her day threw her completely off-balance. But still, the only person in class she could imagine being happy about their television being set to turn on to that was Mineta, and the less she thought of the pervy gremlin and the things he’d do when he found out, the better.

...actually, Mina and Toru would both probably settle down after a moment and watch it.

Ochaco pressed her palms into her eyeballs. C’mon, Ochaco, stop thinkin’ about it! Jus’ go an’ find the dumb show again and forget about who the last person who used the T.V. wa—

Ochaco’s brain froze.

The last person who used the television?

Barring anyone else that would have been brought to this Future Briefing Island and stayed in this room, the only other person who could have accessed this television set was Deku.

D-did Deku…?

Like a robot, Ochaco mechanically cranked her head back up to look at the television, still turned to displaying the weather for the area, which was being accompanied by graphics of attractive men and women in skimpy swimwear.

Swimwear like Deku’s school swim trunks, which had hugged his form pretty well…

Those toned biceps, chiselled pecs, abs that she could grate herself on...

“...screw this. I’m taking a shower.”

Izuku grabbed his shirt from where he and the other guys had dropped them in a pile at the “start” of the track, which for them was the watering station between the beach and the resort’s pool area. He had just finished gulping down the sports drink he had filled his bottle with. The run itself wasn’t that strenuous for him from a cardio perspective—All Might's Aim to Pass American Dream Plan had had him endure worse—but the tropical heat and humidity was absolute murder in comparison to Musutafu’s climate. 25km in such weather would tax just about anyone, even heroes in training.

It went without saying that by the time they had finished, all six young men were drenched in sweat. Their shorts clung to their legs and socks were soaked. “Hey, Iida,” Sato panted, laying flat on his back as he sucked in lungfuls of air, “how’d we do?”

“It’s shortly after five,” Iida replied, frowning. “To be honest, I was expecting better of us, but I did not take into consideration the effects of the heat and humidity. This is something we’ll need to keep an eye on in the future.”

“How about, “no,” Iida?” Kaminari asked. “I don’t… think… I can take another… run like this.”

“But what if after graduation you end up going to a place like Okinawa or a sudden heat wave strikes?” Izuku asked. “We’re going to need to handle working in all types of weather.”

“You can… handle that… mister… Chosen One,” Kaminari still laboured to get out. “I’ll stay where… the weather is… cooler.”

“Or you could try getting into better shape,” Todoroki offered.

“f*ck you… and your… ice powers…”

Tokoyami exhaled. “You were quite grateful for them while we were on the track,” he reminded his fellow classmate.

Kaminari released a shuddering breath as he forced himself to sit up. “That’s because his quirk helped cool us down a bit,” he whined. “But since Todoroki could just constantly keep himself cool, he’s the only one who’s not a total mess.”

Izuku got a closer look at his friend. Just like Kaminari said, Todoroki wasn’t actually showing the same amount of exhaustion that the rest of them were due to the physical effects of the heat. He just looked to be enduring the normal effects of running a few kilometres over a half-marathon.

“Anyway,” Iida commented, “now that we’re done, we should inform Mr. Aizawa that Kaminari has completed his five laps around the island; then we should all shower and have dinner. I believe Miss Kamimoto said that the supper buffet hall would open at five-thirty.”

“Yeah, she did say that,” Izuku agreed. He slung his shirt over his shoulder and felt in his pocket for his room key. Izuku tried to keep an expression of disgust from his face. The plastic felt all slimy from the sweat that had drenched his shorts and underwear. And don’t even get him started on his phone. Felt like that was going to need some special cleaning of its own. “If it’s all the same to you, Iida, I think I’ll just go back to my room and shower first. I don’t think Mr. Aizawa needs to see all of us.”

Iida nodded. “Very well then, Midoriya, I shall see you at dinner. Would you like to meet up beforehand?”

Izuku thought about it for a second. “I suppose so? Would a quarter to six in the entrance hall work? That’ll give plenty of time to shower, and still just over an hour to eat.”

“Agreed, but if you’re going to be running late for whatever reason, don’t hesitate to send me a message. It appears that our phones are still able to send messages between them, even if we cannot reach anyone outside of the island.”

Izuku nodded and started to walk away. “Of course. See you in a bit, Iida.” Sato and Tokoyami fell into step behind him.

“Man… that pool’s looking real good,” Sato commented. “Water’s probably pretty cool. Makes me think about just jumping in and splashing around for a few minutes.”

Izuku sighed. “I don’t really need to add chlorine to the list of things to wash off today,” he said, and headed off towards his room.

“Looking good, Midori.” Izuku paused as he heard Ashido’s voice, and saw her, Yaoyorozu, Jiro, and Hagakure seemingly loitering in the hall on a couple of couches. All four were in their PE clothes, and looked close to exhausted, though that didn’t stop them from smiling. “Did you boys have a good run with Kaminari?”

“He didn’t force you to slack off, did he?” Jiro asked.

“That run was pretty intense,” Sato answered. “Twenty-five k in heat like this is not something I’d trained for.”

“Indeed,” stated Tokoyami. “We were fortunate Todoroki was with us. His quirk was most helpful in getting us through it.”

“You guys just ran over a half marathon in this?” Hagakure gasped. “Even with Todoroki, there’s no way I could handle that.”

“What if he was shirtless?” Ashido asked. “I’m sure if these fine gentlemen were then Todoroki was too.”

Izuku nodded, feeling himself blush at the grin on Ashido's face. He definitely wasn’t used to girls looking at him like that. It brought a certain heat to his body as his heart quickened, but he couldn’t say that he disliked it. “Yeah, the heat was something else after we started. After the first lap we needed to sweat all we could to even try to keep cool.”

Izuku could see all the girls start to blush at his words. He’d never noticed before that Ashido blushed purple. It was honestly kind of cute. “W-well, then… maybe I could have done it,” Hagakure mumbled.

“Midoriya.” He turned his attention to Yaoyorozu. She was casting her gaze around and then her eyes settled on him, a curious expression clouding them. “Where’s Uraraka?”

“Yeah!” Ashido exclaimed. “I thought you two lovebirds would be joined at the hip by now.”

Izuku’s face turned into a pink beacon as blood flooded his cheeks again. “Lovebirds!? W-w-what are you talking a-about Ashido? Uraraka and I are j-just friends, at least right now…” he mumbled the last bit, hoping that they didn’t hear. “Besides, I haven’t seen her since we left the theatre. I thought she was going to be working out in the gym with all of you.”

The girls in front of him looked at each other and frowned. “Well, she was,” Jiro said. “But then she left a while ago to go find you.”

“Are you saying that Ochaco never caught you guys on your run?” Hagakure asked.

The three boys shook their heads. “No,” Sato answered. “It was just us, Kaminari, Iida, and Todoroki from start to finish.”

“If Uraraka had found us, she would definitely still be with us,” Tokoyami said.

Yaoyorozu dipped her head down and placed her chin in her hand. “That’s… worrying, then. She had something really important to discuss with you, Midoriya.”

Something really important? Did she… did she want to talk about what she saw in those episodes?

“I-I’ll go find her!” Izuku declared, rushing off. Knowing Uraraka, and thinking about what Iida had said earlier, she’d likely want to have whatever talk they were about to have in private. The most private place they could possibly be in this resort where there was no chance of being interrupted.

Izuku gulped as steam escaped from his ears.

Their room.

“Hey, Midoriya didn’t look like he was going to go looking for her,” Toru pointed out after a moment. “It looked like he already knew where she’d be.”

“Yeah…” Mina said slowly before turning to the others around her. They all stank of sweat, but this was far more important. “Wanna go spy on them?”

Izuku pulled his sticky sweat-coated key card from the pocket of his shorts and swiped the lock on the door. It let him in with a flash of green and a beep as the door unlocked. He could hear soft nondescript jazz music playing from somewhere, and the air inside was warm and humid, as if someone had been taking a shower and the steam had come into the room.

Because that’s exactly what he found as the door closed behind him.

Izuku found his eyes fixed on the sight in front of him, mind crashing in a state of complete shock and awe. Ochaco Uraraka, his best friend, his first female friend, the person he was sharing a room with, had just walked out of the bathroom only seconds before his unannounced entry wearing nothing but a white towel wrapped around her body.

They stared at each other, each of their brains having crashed completely at the unexpected situation. Izuku did everything he could to keep his eyes focused on hers, and to not stray down to look over the rest of her towel-clad body. Unfortunately, he did not succeed, and as the rebooting sections of his brain started to come back online he could only recognize that the silence that was dragging on between them was becoming more and more unbearable.

I have to say something! Anything!

One of the sections of his brain responded to his call to action.

“If you get tongue-tied trying to talk to Uraraka, I’ve got a few lines you could use.”

Izuku sharply inhaled and shut his eyes, quickly blurting out, “Nice asteroids!”

Just outside of the room, Kyoka had one of her earphone jacks plugged in to the wall beside the closed door, and the other into her phone to use as a speaker. Everyone who had been in that hallway was piled in close to listen, and each and every one of them was listening in confusion.

“Wait, what’d he just say?” Toru asked.

“That was one of the dumb lines Kaminari gave Midoriya to say to Uraraka to help him out if he got stuck,” Sato said.

“Does that mean that Uraraka’s in that room with him, then?” Tokoyami asked.

Before Kyoka could say anything, all of them winced as Ochaco screamed on the other side of the wall.

That answers that, Kyoka thought with a grimace.

I’m so stupid! Izuku thought, clapping his hands over his ears as Uraraka bent over, clutching the towel tightly as she did her best banshee imitation.

“I’m sorry!” Izuku shouted. “That was dumb!”

“DEKU WHAT THE HELL!?” Uraraka yelled. “WHY WOULD YOU EVEN SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT!?”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know what to say!”

“SO YOU WENT WITH “NICE ASTEROIDS”? Deku!”

Her volume had decreased, though whether that was because she was running out of air or she was calming down, Izuku had no idea. He slowly cracked open an eyelid while holding his hands above and in front of his face. Whether that was actually going to protect him from a blow to the head was irrelevant. He just needed to show Uraraka that he was sufficiently cowed. The gravity girl was still standing in front of him, hands wrapped around the fluffy white towel that covered her body from chest to just above her knees, hair and bangs practically floating while her face was the deepest shade of red he’d seen her reach today. Her thumbs were out, which was probably the best thing possible in order to prevent her from accidentally removing the towel’s gravity.

He didn’t need that kind of panic attack. Izuku was already suffering enough from the surprise show of a girl as cute as Uraraka in nothing but a towel and still damp from her shower.

“Keep your eyes shut while I get changed!” Uraraka ordered.

Izuku let out a meagre “eep!” like the mouse he was and turned around so that he was facing the door. “Yes ma’am!”

His heart was in his throat, pounding so loud he was positive everyone on the resort would be able to hear it. This is not the sort of situation he needed to be in right now. He was just supposed to come in here to find Uraraka since she’d supposedly been looking for him. And since he was here, and she was here, and they were alone, it would probably be a good idea to have that talk about what they’d seen today that Iida said they should have.

It was a good idea, until his ears heard Uraraka sigh and the soft rustling of the towel hitting the floor.

Sweat exploded on Izuku’s face. Oh God, Uraraka’s naked in the same room as me! He shut his eyes. That was a mistake. Now instead of the darkness of the back of his eyelids, he was treated to the feast of his imagination. Uraraka’s slender calves and thunder thighs that always looked amazing in the tights she always wore; the round shape of her a—her behind that was totally emphasized every time she put on her hero costume; her curvy waist that he just wanted to hold close; the smoothness of her gorgeous back and shoulders; slender neck; and the short brown waterfall of hair that always captivated him.

No! Don’t look! Don’t break Uraraka’s trust in you! Mom raised you better than this, Izuku! Don’t turn that head! Don’t open those eyes! Just stay right here facing the door until she tells you it’s fine to look! Whatever you do, don’t look!

Izuku repeated that mantra over and over in his head while he tried to wipe the fantasy from his mind for just over a painful minute amidst the rustling of fabric and soft grumbling of his roommate over the quiet jazz music coming from the television. Finally, Uraraka’s voice said, “Okay, you can look now,” and he sighed with sweet relief as he turned around. Uraraka was dressed, as she said, in a pink t-shirt with a cute mochi graphic on it and white shorts. She was still blushing, and frowning, but it wasn’t as bad as a minute ago.

But her bare legs looked fantastic.

“I’m sorry,” Izuku apologized again. “I should have knocked.”

Uraraka shook her head and grumbled. “No… it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have been so complacent. It’s your room too. I should have just gotten changed in the bathroom.”

“Are they sharing a room?” Mina gasped, beady yellow eyes alight with excitement. Momo had a hand over her mouth and was staring at the door while sound continued to come from Kyoka’s phone. It wasn’t entirely unexpected. She was sharing a room with Sero, after all, but still...

“M-maybe we should stop…” Momo suggested, seeing Kyoka blushing just as badly as she felt that she was.

“We’ve come this far,” the Hearing Hero said, making no move to pull out her jacks.

“So…” Uraraka opened, hands up and running through the hair on the back of her head. It was adorable, and she always seemed to do it when she had something on her mind. “I take it you’re back from your run, obviously.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” Izuku replied, nodding his head.

There was a beat.

“I guess it really was hot out,” Uraraka continued, weakly gesturing. “Since you’re… you know…”

Izuku glanced down, seeing that he was, in fact, still only wearing his shorts, shoes, and socks. His shirt and towel were both slung over his shoulder still, and at some point he’d dropped his bottle and it was now lying on its side. “Y-yeah. We weren’t exactly prepared for that.”

“I-I see…” Uraraka replied, looking down and seemingly trying not to meet his eyes, or devour his chest with them.

There was another awkward beat, but this time neither of them said anything as the awkward pause in conversation continued to stretch on and on.

Come on, Izuku, he thought to himself, clenching his fist. She looks so down about something. You left her alone when Uraraka was faking being fine once before, don’t do it again. Say something! Rip the bandage off and talk to her about the stuff she saw today. Tell her you like her!

“U-Uraraka!” Izuku yelped, surprising himself and her with the earnest volume of his voice.

She jolted. “Y-yes!?”

Mina held her fists close to her mouth. “Here it comes!” she whisper-squealed.

“Could you remove gravity on me? I need to go to heaven and see if they lost one of their angels.”

Uraraka tilted her head to the side and gave him a confused look. Just like this morning, Izuku could see the wheels in her head turning as she put together the words that had just escaped his mouth. Uraraka’s face began turning back to that same shade of red as when he’d walked in on her a few minutes ago. “Whaa…!”

“Wait! No! That’s not what I meant to say!” Izuku backpedalled. “What I meant to say was that… if your quirk is Zero Gravity, then why am I so drawn to you?”

“D-Deku, w-w-w-what are you saying!?”

Crap! Izuku grasped at his hair, towel and shirt sliding off his shoulder. Come on, say it properly! “Sorry! No! I mean, I think you would beat the moon in a beauty contest! Ah! That’s not it. D-did you touch me when I wasn’t looking? Because I think you stole my gravity! No! That’s weird. A-are you the vacuum of space? Because I think you took my breath away!”

Mina and Toru were both cackling as they rolled on the ground, hearing Midoriya curse Kaminari. “Oh my God, this is hilarious!” Toru giggled.

“I’m going to murder Kaminari,” Kyoka growled, a dead serious look on her face. “Making Midoriya subject Ochaco to this torture.”

“I think we’re gonna go now,” Sato mumbled, blushing, as he pulled on Tokoyami’s shoulder.

“Agreed,” Tokoyami said, placing a hand on his face. “As a man, this is just embarrassing to listen to.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Momo stated as the two boys made a quick exit, even though her own cheeks were tinged with pink. Just hearing it through the speakers of Kyoka’s phone… a part of her imagined that he was saying those corny lines to her, and they were honestly charming with the amount of desperate effort he was putting into them. “At least he’s trying.”

“Are you the moon? Because even when it’s dark you still seem to shine.” Izuku couldn’t stop himself. All of the corny pick-up lines Kaminari had fed him just kept tumbling out of his mouth one after another. Uraraka had stopped looking at him with a blush and confusion and simply had her head down, her shoulders trembling. He was digging himself a hole and he knew it, but his mouth wouldn’t freaking shut up!

“Deku, stop,” Uraraka’s voice mumbled it way into his ears.

“Who took the stars out of the sky and put them in your eyes?”

“Deku… please…” her shoulders were shaking even harder, but Izuku ignored that. He needed to tell her, to get his feelings through to her. Even if these stupid phrases were the only things he had the guts to say to her, he still had to say them!

Dammit, Uraraka, I like you! Please do something! Smile! Laugh! Tease me! Call me a dork! Anything!

“Your smile is like a supernova, brighter than anything in the universe.”

“I said stop!”

Izuku’s mouth hung open, the words on his lips finally dying out at his friend’s outburst. Her hands were clenched into fists, her entire body shaking, and her tear-stricken eyes looking at him with… anger. “Not another word, Deku. I don’t want to hear it!”

Izuku felt all the heat from his run evaporate. His world was becoming as frigid as the glaciers that still covered Antarctica. “But… Uraraka I—”

“No! Stop!” she shouted at him. Tears were running down her cheeks, but she seemed to pay them no mind. “Please, don’t say it. I can’t. I can’t accept it, Deku, so stop trying. It can’t be. I refuse.”

Mina’s jaw was on the floor. “What the f*ck is this bitch on about!? Momo! I thought you said she was gonna confess!”

Momo was just as stunned. “She… she was, but…”

Why, Ochaco? Why? Can’t you tell Midoriya’s heart is breaking?

Izuku’s feet were rooted to the spot as he stared at his friend, flat out denying what he was trying to say to her. Am I… being rejected? By Uraraka?

His own tears were starting to blur his vision.

But… but why?

Pain like none of the injuries he’d felt before ripped through his chest, tearing his heart out. He’d rather fight two Musculars again and face All For One than face this pain.

“Uraraka…” he whispered through gritted teeth, the crooked fingers of his right hand forming a tenuous fist. His nails bit into his palm, giving him a physical pain he could try to distract himself with. It didn’t work.

You were wrong, Iida. This is going to wreck our friendship.

“I won’t allow it,” she answered him, sniffing hard. “You’re going to be the greatest hero, Deku. There’s no time for any distractions. I’ll tell Yaomomo and the other girls that they can’t ask you out either.”

Yaoyorozu? The other girls? Izuku thought. Some of them might…??

Uraraka’s movement caught his eye as she started to come towards the door. The door that he was standing in front of. “Hey, that’s not fair…”

“It’s not about fair,” Uraraka replied. Her voice was frozen, and the tears appeared to have stopped trickling down from her tear ducts. “It’s necessary.” She stopped. “You’re in my way, Deku.”

“Being a hero… is about combating life’s unfairness,” Izuku answered her. His head dropped, looking down at his shoes but still able to somewhat see Uraraka in front of him. His own voice was hollow, but he could feel something beginning to stir in the frozen depths of the heart she’d just stomped on and shattered. Something fiery, like a volcano.

“I’ll float you away if I have to,” Uraraka threatened, frozen steel in her voice.

One For All, 8% Full Cowling!

Izuku’s body lit up as he let the power of his quirk flow through him. Little sparks of green lightning danced around his body. “Tell me why… Uraraka,” he said, his voice growing stronger as he recognized the emotion building in him. “Tell me why I’m not allowed to have nice things. Is it because I was quirkless? Is it because Bakugo was right and I can’t do anything right? Is it because I’m such a useless successor to All Might?” Her breath hitched as he looked up at her, and he could tell she was startled. Rage practically burned in his emerald eyes. A devastating emotional co*cktail of rage, grief, heartache, and confusion was consuming him, but wrath dominated them all.

“No, Deku!” Uraraka quickly said, clearly attempting to appease him. “That’s not it at all!”

“Then why!?” Izuku begged with furious intensity. “Tell me why, Uraraka! Why won’t you let me say it!?”

“Because I can’t,” Uraraka obstinately didn’t answer. “And nobody can! Now move, Deku!”

He firmed up his position in front of the door, feeling the strength of his quirk course through his muscles. Even tired as they were from the run, his legs were ready to go as he blocked Uraraka from the door. “Make me!”

“Deku, I don’t want to fight you!” Uraraka cried.

“Neither do I!” Izuku retorted. “But I will if you don’t help me understand! Why, Uraraka? Why are you doing this? Were you just stringing me along this whole time just so you could crush my heart like this? Was all the kindness you’ve shown everyone just an act? Was Kacchan right? Should I have just taken a swan dive off the roof after all!? Is that what you want?”

Uraraka froze. “Don’t… don’t even joke about that,” she said.

“Am I not strong enough? Is it because I haven’t said ‘I am here’ like All Might wanted me to yet? If you need me to prove I’m worthy I’ll do whatever it takes! I will work as hard as I have to, I’ll work until I break myself if that’s what you want!”

“You’re more than worthy!” Uraraka shouted. “It’s all I’ve been thinking about all day!”

“Then why won’t you let me be selfish just this once?” Izuku pleaded, trying to hold back the anger surging through his chest. “Why, Ochaco? Why can’t I say that I lo—”

“I SAID STOP!!!” Uraraka screamed, rushing towards him, head bowed down. Her hands were extended, finger pads ready to make contact. At this close range it would be difficult for Izuku to dodge her, and if he did she’d just run outside which could turn this into a huge scene. Thanks to her internship with Gunhead she had a number of martial arts moves available to her, while Izuku knew that he was just a self-taught brawler with power and speed thanks to One For All. In a straight-up fight without quirks, Uraraka had the advantage over him due to skill and technique that his stronger body couldn’t overcome. However, Uraraka’s emotional state was in disarray. She wasn’t thinking clearly; he wasn’t either, but in this moment and in these tight quarters he had three advantages over her.

One, despite their similar size, Izuku was taller than her, with slightly longer legs.

Two, he was faster. Uraraka had never seen the speed boost the extra 3% gave him.

Three, thanks to Iida and Hatsume, he’d created Shoot Style.

As Uraraka reached out towards him, Izuku whipped his right leg out in a vicious kick, catching his friend in her side. She cried out in pain as her breath left her, and Uraraka slammed into the wall just beside the bathroom door before falling onto her back. The gasp that left her mouth before she dropped to the ground, and Uraraka’s brief expression of pain on her face as her body crashed into the wall, made him blink. Izuku dropped his Full Cowling as he took a couple of steps towards her, reaching out his hand. “I’m sorry! Are you oka—?”

Uraraka slapped his hand away and screamed in rage as she shoulder-checked his gut. Izuku grunted, not prepared for her to pull off a move like that. “If you think I can’t take a hit, Deku, then you haven’t been watching me at all!” Uraraka roared at him.

He’d messed up. Uraraka’s fingers made contact with his chest, and Izuku could feel the effects of gravity being removed from him. Still, he wasn’t out of this yet. Even in a fight, Uraraka wouldn’t dare yeet him into orbit. So long as they stayed indoors he still had a shot. Gritting his teeth and mentally apologizing, Izuku raised his right arm and slammed his elbow down against Uraraka’s back. She gasped again, but made a guttural cry as she maintained her grip for a moment, twisting her body around and throwing him across the room.

Floating on his back, Izuku craned his neck up to keep looking at Uraraka. There was anger there, but it was different from what he’d been seeing before. Izuku’s offer for help a few seconds ago had probably done more than just tweak a nerve.

It didn’t change the fact that a part of his brain screamed, she’s hot when she’s angry.

She’s also terrifying!

Izuku’s ankles caught the marble-like stone that the bathtub was set into, and his horizontal trajectory was transformed into vertical as his body decided to swing in a circle with his ankles as the origin. Izuku’s head smashed into the stone on the other side of the porcelain, and as he grunted in pain his head began to float back up at the rebound from the impact.

“I wanted to vent all my frustrations from today in a rematch with Bakugo,” Uraraka told him, taking up her stance in front of the door, “but since we’re fighting now I guess I’ll do it on you instead, Deku!”

Izuku grinned, managing to place his feet on the rim of the stone as he engaged Full Cowling again. “Fine then,” he answered. “And when we’re done you’re going to tell me why we can’t be together, Ochaco!”

She may have taken away my weight, Izuku rationalized as he pushed off like a rocket. But I still have mass!

He barrelled into Uraraka’s chest, the gravity girl unable to get away from his momentum in time as his shoulder-check connected. Ochaco flew back a few feet from the force of the impact, her shoulder-blades crashing into the door. She hadn’t managed to absorb all of the force of Izuku’s forward motion, so he continued to float towards her, but more slowly now. Izuku got closer and he kicked with his right leg, with the toes of his red boots just managing to connect with Ochaco’s chin. The force of his own attack had the rest of him moving in the opposite direction, and Izuku felt his head crack into the floor. Growling, Ochaco managed to grab hold of the leg that he’d kicked her with while Izuku was still momentarily reeling from the pain of the blow to his noggin’. “While we’re at it,” she yelled, “why the hell are you still trying to be friends with Bakugo!?” Ochaco swung him like a bat into the wall beside the door.

She may have removed his weight, but he still had mass.

Shota nursed his vodka as he sat in the bar with Nemuri and Kamimoto. Iida, Todoroki, and Kaminari had just left them several minutes ago. “As I was saying,” Shota continued. “I want access to all the videos you have for myself, Midnight, the principal, and All Might,” he told Kamimoto. “I don’t want to be blindsided by information again like I was earlier today. It’d be beneficial to know what’s going to be shown beforehand.”

“But where’s the fun in that, Eraser?” Kamimoto snorted.

God, this woman…

“It’s only fun to see how you react to everything while all of your students are here.”

“I’m not here for fun and games,” Shota countered. “Apparently, the reason I’m here is to properly educate and train my class, not babysit them for a second summer vacation. If this is going to be an unexpected extension of their summer training camp, then I would like to treat it as such. Playtime ends tomorrow; it’s only rational that us teachers know what’s going on.”

“Relax, Eraser,” Kamimoto tried to wave him off again as she gulped down yet another tequila drink. “Everything is going to be fine. You can all learn about the past and future at the same pace as your students. That’s the whole point of this island. The only one who knows what your future would be is me, and if you’re going to be watching ahead of your students you’ll be spending too much time doing that instead of lesson planning for the next day.”

“If you think Aizawa and I can’t handle a few late nights binging shows then you’ve never met us before,” Nemuri countered. She took a sip from her rye.

Shota furrowed his brows as he glared at Kamimoto. “You’ve been dodging the point. Just say it plainly. Is it that you can’t give us access to all of the episodes, or that you won’t?”

Kamimoto lazily twirled her finger around. “And there you have it. The higher ups won’t let me. They’re saying that you need your beauty rest, Aizawa. If they just gave them all to you, you wouldn’t sleep a wink, so you’re being limited to six a day just like the students.”

“That’s highly irrational,” Shota countered. “I always make sure I have enough rest to function.”

“Being able to function and being properly rested are two different things, Shota,” Nemuri told him, not for the first time and certainly not for the last. “While I don’t necessarily approve of being forced to view these episodes at the same pace as the children, maybe you should do what she suggests. When was the last time you had a full night’s sleep?”

Shota had just opened his mouth to speak when the door to the sports bar opened. Shota made a slight noise of interest as he turned his head towards it. “Oh thank goodness!” Yaoyorozu, out of breath from apparently sprinting, exclaimed as she rushed into the room, closely followed by Jiro, Ashido, and Hagakure. They were still in their gym clothes. That was strange, they should have likely started eating by now. The buffet hall had just opened five minutes ago. “Mr. Aizawa! We need your help.”

He stiffened for a moment before raising his hand as the girls approached. They looked panicked. “Calm down. Tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s Midoriya!” Hagakure exclaimed.

Shota groaned. Of course. Of course the Problem Child would give him even more headaches today. “What’s going on?” Shota asked as he leaned back, placing his hand over his forehead. “Did he and Bakugo start fighting again?”

“No!” Yaoyorozu exclaimed. “He and Uraraka are fighting!”

That got his attention.

“They’re… fighting…?” Kamimoto asked. “But why would they—?” Shota noticed that she started to pale. “Uh-oh…”

Kayama frowned next to Shota. “Well, it certainly didn’t take long for their first lovers’ quarrel.”

Ashido shook her head. “No, it’s not that Miss Midnight! We were… well, we were spying on them in their room.”

“Their room?” Kayama asked.

“Not the time.”

“We were pretty certain that one or both of them had been planning to confess their feelings to the other after what we saw today,” Jiro answered. “So we were curious and went to listen.”

“But it didn’t happen like we thought,” Yaoyorozu continued. “When Midoriya tried, Uraraka flatly rejected him, and started saying that she wasn’t going to let anyone date him, not even herself.”

“It’s a rational line of thought,” Shota replied. “We work you to the bone at UA. While we’re not like Shiketsu and don’t have a “no dating classmates” policy, having a relationship can simply be a complication that distracts you from your training.”

“Or it raises you up so you do better,” Kayama swiftly countered, shooting him a glare. Shota noticed the twitch of Yaoyorozu’s lips into a brief smile. He grumbled. While he didn’t fully share her world view on the subject of student relationships, she wasn’t wrong.

However… they also caused whatever was going on right now.

Aizawa grabbed his vodka and quickly drained what was left of it. He was going to need the buzz for when he was done dealing with this sh*t. “All right. Let’s go. Where are they?”

“They should still be—”

A loud crash from outside the sports bar interrupted Ashido, quickly followed by the familiar screaming of one pained Izuku Midoriya.

They all left the bar immediately, finding the source of the noise to be in the entrance hall at the base of the grand staircase. It wasn’t nearly as pretty now as it was earlier in the day. The crystal chandelier that had hung from the ceiling had been what had crashed down, straight into the fountain and breaking the stone dolphins. Lights were bursting with fountains of sparks like popcorn kernels and the balusters on the railings split like toothpicks as black tendrils snapped everywhere. Several other students had arrived from various places due to the commotion, and all of them were staring at what was happening while trying to evade the black tendrils that kept lashing out.

Shota ducked under one as he tried to get a grasp of the situation. A quirk going rampage? No. No one in either Class A or B has a quirk like this!

“It can’t be!” He whipped around at Kamimoto’s gasp. “No, this is too soon! Much too soon! It shouldn’t be happening yet!”

Midoriya’s scream of pain attracted his attention for a moment. Shota looked for him and found the screaming teenager right where he’d feared he’d be. The green-haired boy was in the centre of the blackness, seemingly engulfed by it, floating in the middle of the room with Uraraka’s arms tightly around him as she called the boy’s first name and hysterically apologized.

“What the f*ck?” Bakugo was here now too. “Hey! What’s going on with Deku?”

“Stand down!” Shota ordered. “All of you, get back! Kamimoto! Explain! Now! Is this a quirk?”

She nodded. “Yes! It’s a quirk. Technically it’s a subset of One For All called Blackwhip, but this is too soon! It’s not supposed to manifest until December, not now! What the f*ck is going on!?”

“If it’s a quirk, then you can erase it,” Kayama insisted, pushing the panicking bikini-clad redhead away and placing herself between the swirling black energy surging out of Midoriya and the students who’d come to alert them of the fight.

“Bakugo!” Shota barked, glancing back at where he’d heard the student’s voice. “Get All Might and the Principal! That’s an order! Jiro, Ashido, Kirishima, go with him. Yaoyorozu, I need you to make a net. Iida, Koda, standby and wait for my signal.” The pro hero turned and cast his gaze on Midoriya and Uraraka, both still floating over twenty feet in the air.

Just hang in there a minute longer you two. We’ll get you out of this.

This was not Ochaco’s best day.

She’d learned far too many bad things all at once for it to be her best day, but she’d also learned a lot of good things that balanced it out so that it wasn’t her worst day either. However, it was such an unusual day that there was no way she could ever call it an average day.

So what kind of day did you call one where you went from trying to beat the tar out of your crush, because reasons, to cradling him in your arms as you floated twenty feet above the ground while darkness exploded out of him like a malignant sea urchin?

A what the f*ck is my life day! That’s what I’d call it!

After Deku had punched their room’s door from its hinges, their fight had gone into the balcony hallway, scrapping their way down until they’d reached the entrance hall. It hadn’t taken Deku very long to get used to the concept of fighting while under the effects of her zero-gravity. It was honestly impressive how quickly he began adapting to it, which made the entire reason why they were fighting all the harder to bear.

She’d despaired that Deku was stubbornly rushing forward to get what he wanted, no matter the consequences, like he always did. While it had thrilled her that he wanted her, that Deku wanted her, Ochaco believed that in this instance, in order to save him she had to deny both of their hearts with everything she had.

With both of them floating and twisting around in the air above the fountain in the entrance hall, Deku’s hands wrapped around her wrists while Ochaco had her legs hooked around his torso just under his armpits from behind him and squeezing for all she was worth, Deku had said again, “Tell me why, Ochaco!”

Doing everything she could to keep her stomach in check as they twisted and spun around in this strange hold while Deku’s iron grip brought her pain, Ochaco had fired back, “Because I just don’t want to be with you!”

Deku screamed, “I know that isn’t it! Don’t lie to me!!!” in a way that made Ochaco cry as she felt her own heart shatter at her rebuttal, then all hell broke loose.

Darkness surged out from Deku’s body, cutting thin gashes against her cheek, arms, and legs. The black energy struck down the crystal chandelier and started wrecking the opulent room all around them, tearing gouges into the floor, ceiling, stairs, and walls. All thoughts of their fight fled Ochaco’s mind as she still maintained her grip on Deku with her legs. “What… is this?”

“I don’t know!” Deku answered her, his face contorted in pain. “It just… came out!” He cried out again in agony, his hands letting go of her arms, and Ochaco disengaged her legs in order to wrap her arms around his chest from behind. “Stop it, One For All!”

She hugged him close, burying her face into his shoulder. I didn’t want this! Whatever’s going on, please, make it stop! He’s in pain. Please, make it stop! I can’t bear to see Izuku like this!

“Izuku, you have to calm down!” she begged. “I’m sorry! It’s my fault you’re upset, but you need to calm down!”

She could feel Izuku grit his teeth in agony, the black energy whipping all around them, as he shook his head. “No, get away, Ochaco! I can’t control it!”

“I’m not leaving you!” Ochaco cried, holding on even tighter. He roared in agony, trying and failing to contain this strange power. She noticed that the majority of the darkness was actually bursting out from Izuku’s arms. Was this part of what Kamimoto meant? Was this what she meant by Izuku breaking himself?

“I’m sorry, Izuku! This is all my fault! This is what I was trying to stop! I’m sorry! Forgive me!”

“I’d never… blame you… Ochaco,” Izuku laboured to get out through his tightly clenched teeth. “But you’ve got to—”

“Shut up!” Ochaco ordered. “Even if it’s my fault, I won’t leave you like this!”

“It’s not—”

“Yes it is!” Ochaco insisted. “If I hadn’t been so stupid and scared and just told you why, we wouldn’t be here right now!”

The darkness faded and their gravity returned without warning, both of their quirks being suddenly cancelled. Ochaco felt Izuku twist in her grasp to wrap his arms around her as they fell, and she held on tightly. Their landing was soft, being caught in a net that seemed to exist for some reason, but all Ochaco could recognize was the doleful look on Izuku’s face as he looked her over. “Ochaco, you’re hurt…”

The heartfelt concern in his voice destroyed her more than anything else in the past ten minutes. Parched tear ducts flooded again as she began to whimper. “Don’t make me…” her voice was quiet, the only sound in the room. The anger and rage from before was completely gone; she had nothing left in her. “I just finished putting these feelings away a second time. Don’t make me feel them again.”

Izuku gave her a look of pure bewilderment. “A second time? What? What is that supposed to mean?”

Ochaco sniffed, looking up into his eyes. They were shining emeralds, so pure and wonderful that she didn’t deserve them to be looking at her with such concern, not after the horrible things she’d just done. Ochaco bit her bottom lip, and her voice came out in hoarse, choking sobs. “I couldn’t stand it, even though deep down I knew Aoyama and Mina were right. I got jealous any time I saw you talking to another girl, when you spent time around Melissa at I-Island, or Hatsume in the design studio... or that blonde girl from Shiketsu. I didn’t like it at all. But I saw you working so hard towards your goal, your dream of being a hero… I knew I couldn’t get in the way of that. My feelings for you didn’t matter. They’d only be a distraction if I told you. So during the second half of the licensing exam I decided to put them away, bury them deep down and lock them up. We were in UA to train to become heroes, not to do the stuff normal high school kids do.

“But then today, I saw everything you went through just to get to UA, all the effort you put in so that you could receive One For All from All Might, and how the very first time you used it was to save me during the practical exam. I fell for you all over again, because that’s just how amazing you are, Izuku. You will be the greatest hero in the world. Then when I heard your thoughts, and saw the way you looked at me, those feelings broke free from where I’d chained them down.”

Izuku was rooted to the spot, seemingly unable to believe what he was hearing. She could hear him start to mutter through the lower lip he was biting as the hamster wheel between his ears ran furiously to process what she’d said. “But if she likes me like she’s saying, why did she so coldly reject me? It doesn’t make any sense!”

“No, I guess it doesn’t make sense,” Ochaco replied, faintly giggling at how even now he’d still mumble his heart out. “I was all ready to tell you. I’d initially wanted to ask you if you thought it was possible for heroes to have relationships, because the girls told me at lunch that I wasn’t being fair to you; that I was making your decision on having a relationship for you. But then, Yaomomo told me something that made me believe it was possible, so I was all ready to tell you how I felt, hoping that you could return those feelings. After that however… I ran into Kamimoto, and she told me something she probably shouldn’t have.”

The tears were in full force as they streamed down her face. Ochaco would be surprised if she had any tears left to cry for the rest of her life after this. After all of this crap she’d just put him through, and seeing him in such pain because of her, he deserved the full truth. “Izuku… she said that just before the start of our second year you’re going to get into a fight where you’ll break yourself with One For All again. Where you’ll hurt yourself so bad you may not be able to use your arms ever again! I don’t know if what just happened is the same thing or not, but the thought of you hurting yourself so badly scares me so much!

“Now do you see!?” she emphatically begged him, shaking her head back and forth as he still lay on top of her. “I can’t distract you with a relationship! No matter how much I want to. No matter how much you may want to. I can’t lose you like that! And if the only way I can do that is by pushing you away so that we all train harder than ever before, then I’ll do that! I’ll force all the girls away from you if I have to! No matter how much this hurts me, or hurts you, it’ll be worth it if we can all make it to second year together! I don’t care if I have to fight tooth and nail to prevent anyone and everyone from asking you out; or if I ruin every friendship I have. If it keeps you from getting hurt and making me see you broken and bleeding in a hospital bed again I’ll do it! So don’t say that you love me and please don’t make me say that I love you, Izuku! I can—”

Her words were stopped as Izuku pressed his lips to Ochaco’s, and she didn’t care anymore. All the similes and all the metaphors in all the literature in the world to describe how a kiss felt came up short.

But the ones that described it similarly to flying or floating were close.

After an eternity of her heart bursting with the staccato of a fireworks display soaring high above the clouds and Izuku’s lips the focal point of a surge of heat that extended to every part of her body, making her forget all the cuts, bruises, aches and pains from the gym and their fight; she opened her eyes as they parted. Izuku was smiling down at her. Ochaco’s lips trembled. She wanted this. She wanted this so much! She’d dreamed about having this, but… “You dummy,” she scolded in a quiet mumble. “We can’t do this. What about our dreams?”

He smiled at her, just a small, soft smile that made her blood flow with warmth. “My dream?” Izuku asked, wiping some of the blood on her cheek away with his thumb. “I always dreamed to be like All Might, to be a hero who saves everyone, but just now, I truly realized something. I’m not All Might. All Might stood at the top alone, but I was alone in my life for so long… I don’t want to be alone anymore. Even if I achieved my dream, it wouldn’t be complete without you in it.” Ochaco felt her blush grow deeper, and she couldn’t prevent herself from smiling at him as Izuku pressed his forehead against hers, looking down at her so tenderly with those gleaming emerald eyes. “And you’re already my hero, Ochaco. All Might may have helped me get into UA, but you’re the reason I’ve made it this far, and you’re why I’ll keep going. I’ll get stronger, and I’ll smash that future you’re scared of into a thousand pieces and take hold of the one we want with my own hands, but I can’t do that if you’re not beside me, encouraging me. I love you, Ochaco, and if I had a star for every time you brightened my day, I’d have a galaxy in my hand.”

Her heart went supernova again. She couldn’t fight it anymore, not after both of them had laid their feelings bare to one another. This was happening, future consequences be damned. “I love you too, Izuku,” she quietly confessed, and tilted her head up to initiate their second kiss. Izuku’s lips were warm; and his hands were gentle as they cradled her. There was no fiery need to go deeper and start involving tongues, not just yet. Right now this, this simple lip-on-lip action, was all that Ochaco needed.

A pained groan came from somewhere off to the side, and Ochaco felt every last drop of blood she possessed race to her head as she heard Mina whine, “Seriously?”

“Heck yeah!” Kaminari’s voice cheered, and Ochaco was absolutely sure he was making a thumbs-up sign. “I told you that line would work, Midoriya!”

Like a door that desperately needed oil, Ochaco creaked her neck and tore her eyes away from Izuku. The room around them was a wreck, but standing amongst that wreckage, all gathered in what somewhat resembled a semi-circle, stood everyone else on the island, including Kaminari and his cheeky grin and dumb thumbs-up and an absolutely livid Mr. Aizawa! She just managed to catch sight of Midnight winking at her as she threw her arm out, spreading a faint violet mist over the two.

Okay, God, you can kill me now.

“I think you deserve a nice nap time together.”

As Izuku conked out on top of her thanks to Midnight’s quirk, Ochaco did the only thing that made sense at this moment, and took a deep inhale of the sleeping pheromone to join her new boyfriend in peaceful oblivion.

Chapter 11: Unexpected Power and Pinky Leads a Committee

Chapter Text

When Izuku opened his eyes, he was surrounded by darkness. No, that wasn’t an apt description. It was more like he was in a place where light was being obscured due to a black mist that was constantly flowing through the sky above him, while he stood on a barren plain.

How am I standing? He thought. I can’t feel anything below my nose. I can’t even feel my hands. Where am I? What’s going on? Where’s Ochaco? The resort? Mr. Aizawa? All Might?

He heard a laugh, but didn’t have the ability to move his head to search for the location of the sound. “Calm down, Izuku, nothing bad has happened. Well, nothing terrible, at least.”

“Yeah, you say that, Nana, but the kid’s not doin’ it right!”

It was two voices, not just one! Izuku did all he could to move his eyes towards the sound, and surprisingly, his head tracked along with them. Standing in the mist in front of him was a gorgeous woman with a bright smile and black hair styled like his mother’s. Next to her was a bald man with a square jaw and a large, muscular build. He had goggles on his forehead, and was shirtless underneath a black leather jacket with iron pauldrons. A bandolier of bullets was slung from his right shoulder across his chest beneath the jacket. While the woman in her black costume and white cape was stunningly beautiful as she smiled, the funky man gave him a bit of a knowing grin.

All Might said that my mother’s hairstyle reminded him of his master. Is this woman Nana Shimura?

She nodded. “That’s right, Izuku. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Well, it would be nicer if we weren’t dead, but that’s life. Or unlife. Whatever. I’m glad to see Toshinori’s apprentice is doing well.”

The man glanced at her. “We don’t have a lot of time, Nana. First hasn’t even gotten a chance to talk to him yet. He’s going to be mad when he finds out you jumped the queue.”

Nana laughed. “Are you kidding? First loves me.”

“You think you’re so cute just because your protégé was the one to bust All For One’s head in and lock him up in Tartarus.”

“Cute? Bitch, I’m adorable.”

“Well I’m not going to take the fall for you getting ahead of yourself and wanting to talk to the kid first just because you happen to think he’s a cute green bunny.”

She sighed. “Fine, Daigoro, but didn’t you also want to congratulate him on sorting out his feelings and telling that sweet girl how he felt?”

The man, Daigoro, punched her in the shoulder, making Nana laughed. “Quit it! Yeah, I was happy the kid caught himself a cute girlfriend, but the bigger issue’s what happened while he was doin’ it.”

Izuku watched them chat in front of him, eyes darting back and forth like he was watching a tennis rally. What is going on?

The man turned his attention back to him, his and Nana’s legs slowly beginning to crumble like dust amidst the black mist flowing around all of them. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he gruffly apologized. “Congrats on Uraraka and all that. She’s a sweet kid; don’t let her go. Now then, I bet you want to know what happened back there. That power that exploded out of ya? That’s my quirk!”

If he had a mouth, Izuku would have surely gasped. His quirk? How’s that possible? One For All doesn’t have that kind of ability!

Daigoro smirked as he held out his hand, black tendrils of energy popping out of it. “Your mentor, Toshinori Yagi, or All Might, told you how One For All stockpiles and enhances power, right? For him and yourself, since you were both quirkless, all it did was boost your physical strength. But for the rest of us it also supercharges quirks.”

Nana held a hand to her heart. “Just like our spirits remain within One For All as vestiges, the quirks we had have also mingled with One For All, lying dormant inside of the core of its power.”

“And since One For All stockpiles, it grows stronger as each person does, with each new successor,” Daigoro continued. “That little core of power has been growing, and now, it seems you’re just strong enough to start using the powers that have been bundled up inside of it. Just now, all you could think of was having that girl with you, right? And holding on to her until she told you what was going on?”

Izuku tried to look away in embarrassment, but both past inheritors smiled kindly at him. “Not exactly the most heroic sentiment, but capturing someone is exactly what my quirk, Blackwhip, is perfect for,” Daigoro stated, using his quirk that was still flowing out of his hand to wrap around Nana and lift her up. She… giggled!?

“But you’ve got to remember this. My quirk has also been growing while inside of One For All. It’s gonna be a hell of a lot stronger than it was in my day, which means you’re going to need to be extra careful. You can’t just use this power casually while you’re distracted by something else.”

Daigoro and Nana were starting to fade, like they were being blown away by the wind, even faster now. Only their torsos and above were still visible, but they were beginning to crumble as well.

“Listen up, kid. My quirk will really start working for you if you use it out of anger, but what matters is controlling your heart.” He tapped where Izuku’s heart would have been with his fist. “It’s okay to be angry. Rage can be a source of strength, too, but you’ll need to control it better. Remember, One For All has gotten insanely strong thanks to the eight of us before you. The power Toshinori had was nothing compared to what you’re going to grasp; so get ready kiddo. You’re going to inherit all six of our quirks.”

“Make good use of us, Izuku,” Nana said as Daigoro let her go, but she continued to float above the ground of this quirkspace. “You told that girl that you didn’t want to be alone anymore, so remember this: all of us are right here with you, and we can’t wait to see what you do with this power.”

The two inheritors were down to just their heads now, and Izuku started to feel his presence here get weaker, like something was pulling him back. “Oh, by the way!” Nana called out to him. “Tell Toshi I said “hi”. I’m really proud of him; he picked a great successor in you. We’ll leave the couch open for him when it’s his time to join us in unlife in here.”

Amahi Kamimoto groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose while she stood in the medical room of her resort. Both sleeping teenagers had been brought in, gotten their injuries checked out, and were now patched up as they slept on beds. Fortunately none of them were all that bad, not even Deku after Blackwhip exploded out of his arms, so she didn’t have to break out the bacta tanks she had underground. Even without a quirk she had managed to shoo Eraser Head, Midnight, and the students out, and Nezu had willingly complied as well, but All Might in his deflated form had stubbornly stayed here, waiting for his successor to wake.

“One day,” she uttered. “One f*cking day. Six episodes into season one and you all are already giving me seasons five and six headaches. f*ck. Why did this have to happen? This was just supposed to be a fun little experiment. Blackwhip wasn’t supposed to show up for another three months and it’s here now? I never should have told Uraraka. What even is my life right now?”

“Kamimoto,” the sole other conscious occupant of the room opened up, “what Young Uraraka was saying, about Young Midoriya injuring himself again to the point of being unable to use his arms? Is that true?”

“I’ve said enough,” Amahi replied, shaking her head. “You’ll just have to wait.”

“Okay, what about this “Blackwhip”? Is it what came shooting out of Young Midoriya?”

Amahi looked at the retired pro for a long moment before sighing. “Well, since it’s you, and since Deku will probably tell you anyway, it’s the quirk of Daigoro Banjo, the fifth holder of One For All.”

She saw All Might’s beady eyes widen in the shadows of his face. “The quirk of the fifth?” he softly gasped. “B-but how?”

“One For All stockpiles power with each new holder, right? It also retains the spirits of those who came before, the vestiges. Within the vestiges are the quirk factors of their DNA, bundled up and fused with One For All. Or maybe it’s more fair to say that the quirk factors contain the spirits? With the ninth inheriting everything that came before and growing stronger himself, those dormant quirk factors are finally maturing into a state where he’ll be able to access them.” Amahi gave All Might a very serious look, doing her best to impress upon him the gravity of her statement. “That timid quirkless boy, you did not just give him your quirk. You passed on to him the powers of One For All and the six quirked heroes who held that power before you.”

“You mean Deku’s going to have seven quirks!?”

Amahi snapped her head sideways. Uraraka had woken up during her explanation and was sitting upright. She was looking at the conversing adults with a dumbfounded expression on her face. Groaning again, Amahi placed her hands on her head and rubbed at her eyes with the heels of her palms. “This is a major spoiler, Uraraka, so keep this to yourself until we get there in the show, all right? Yes, he’s going to manifest the quirks of the past holders of One For All. That black energy that surged out of him? That’s one of them: Blackwhip. It was supposed to manifest in early December, but I suppose something happened between you two that caused it to manifest early.”

Uraraka’s permanent blush marks on her cheeks darkened while the area around them grew rosy. She pushed her index fingers together and looked down towards her knees. “Uh, yeah… something like that…”

Amahi continued watching her for a few moments, seeing the nervous and embarrassed expression on the teenage girl’s face beneath the gauze patch on her cheek. Bringing a hand to the back of her head, she scratched just above her neck underneath her scarlet hair. “Hey, Uraraka, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything to you about that. That was my bad.”

“No! It’s okay!” the brunette blurted out. “If what you said is true, then it’s even more important for Deku to train really hard in order to control his power.”

Amahi shook her head. “While that’s true, you’re also going to be here for roughly three weeks,” she stated. “Plus once you’re out, no time will have passed back at UA, so you’ll still be just barely into the start of your second term. You’ll have almost a month of extra training and knowledge of the past and future at your command. And if you do nothing but train, train, train, you’re gonna suffer from burnout. That’s something you should avoid at all costs. So if me telling you about his future injuries caused you to hurt both him and yourself to try to protect Deku from himself, that’s my fault. I was just trying to push you into hurrying up and getting together so you could enjoy the time you do have, and maybe being in a relationship will give him the motivation to not be a reckless numbskull in the future.”

Uraraka quietly chewed on her lip, appearing to mull over the words she spoke. A soft groan came from the other occupied bed in the room.

“Deku!” “Young Midoriya!”

Both Uraraka and All Might had risen, Uraraka to her hands and knees on the bed as she changed position and All Might simply to his feet. Midoriya was just waking up, and he asked, “Where am I?” as he moved his head around.

“You’re in the medical station of the resort,” All Might said. “We were all really worried about you, young man.”

“All Might?” he asked, blinking. “All Might!” The boy shot up in bed, startling Amahi and the other two with how quickly he was suddenly awake. “I saw her! She spoke to me! Nana Shimura!”

“Hold on Youn—Nana?” All Might’s eyes grew wide as he fell back into his chair. “You… saw my master? My predecessor? She spoke to you?”

Amahi’s jaw dropped as she heard what Midoriya said. Nana Shimura talked to him!? Not the First? Holy crap! What in the hell am I gonna tell Chief? “Hi Chief! First day was great! We have confirmed Green Tea, but Midoriya also manifested Blackwhip already and had a chat with Shimura! By the way, I need repairs in the Maple Theatre, the front hall, and Midoriya and Uraraka’s room.” That’s going to go over so well…

“Yeah,” Midoriya said, completely not noticing the mini freak-out Amahi was going through as she started to sweat. “She and this funky bald guy in a leather jacket, Daigoro, I think, he was one of the past holders of One For All, and they said that that black stuff was his quirk, Blackwhip! It’s supposed to be really useful for capturing villains, so I think it’ll make a great support quirk, but they also said that it’s gotten stronger within One For All since One For All’s gotten stronger since Daigoro had it, so I’ll need to be careful when using it. I should probably ask Sero or Mr. Aizawa for pointers, since Mr. Aizawa’s capture weapon and Sero’s quirk are both excellent for capturing a target.”

“Breathe, Deku, breathe,” Uraraka giggled.

He didn’t seem to hear her as he blushed and looked down before looking back up at his mentor. “Also, All Might? Your master told me to tell you something.” All Might slowly nodded his head, his expression unreadable. “She said to tell you, “Hi”. Also, she’s really proud of you, and thinks you did a good job picking me to pass One For All on to. Oh, and that they’ll leave the couch open for you when it’s your time to join them?”

All Might smiled and placed a hand on Midoriya’s head. There were a few tears in his eyes. “Thanks, Young Midoriya. I… I look forward to it. If you should see her again later, tell her that I said “Hi” too.”

Midoriya nodded. “I will. Oh, and All Might? Your master… she was really pretty.”

All Might smiled and ruffled his hair. “Yeah. Yeah she was.”

Uraraka pouted, the dangerously cute look on her face bringing Amahi back to what was actually going on in the room. “Hey Midoriya, pro tip. Don’t call another woman pretty in front of your girlfriend right after you become a couple.”

“What?” he asked, before turning to notice Uraraka on the bed next to him, giving him a sour look. “H-Hi! Uraraka! Are you okay? You didn’t get hurt badly, did you?”

“Well you certainly seem to be lively,” she replied. Uraraka sighed. “No, I’m fine, Deku. It’s just a few bruises and scratches. We should spar more often, without the emotional baggage though. It was kinda fun. I don’t think All Might’s ever paired us against each other in class before.”

“Oh… yeah…” Midoriya replied, and Amahi could tell that he was beginning to blush. Uraraka watched his face and started blushing again too, and the air grew awkward.

Smirking, and glad that she could at least take some solace that something good happened today, Amahi got to her feet. “I’ve got a few calls to make, and I’m sure All Might wants to let your friends know that you’re both okay,” Amahi stated as she placed a hand on the retired pro’s shoulder. “When you’re feeling ready you can either head off for supper or go to your room and order room service. I’ll get the door fixed in a jiffy so you can have some privacy.”

All Might coughed as she dragged the frail man behind her. “Their room!? Young Midoriya and Young Uraraka are sharing a room?”

“Oh relax! They’re in different beds. It’s fine.” Amahi opened the door to her medical room and quickly walked out with the former Symbol of Peace grasped by the collar. She turned back quickly and gave the two teens a quick thumbs-up before closing the door again.

Izuku and Ochaco were now sitting on the sides of their beds, facing one another, but both looking down at their knees with their hands clenched into fists on top of them. Ochaco was blushing. Izuku was still as shirtless as he’d been when he’d entered their room, and it was honestly distracting. She didn’t want to come across as rude by ogling him or devouring him with her eyes, even though she had confessed and they’d kissed. Twice.

Oh God, we actually did that! That wasn’t part of the dream, was it?

“Hey, Deku…” she said quietly, flicking her eyes up a couple of times before forcing them to stay focused on his jewel-like eyes. “That… really happened, right? We k-k-kissed?”

Izuku’s face, what wasn’t covered by patches of gauze that mirrored hers, went crimson as he slowly nodded and tilted his head back up. “Y-yeah… looks like it. You, you meant it, right? That you l… l-l-l-loOve me?”

Ochaco giggled at Izuku’s cute stammer. It really wasn’t fair. He couldn’t possibly be this hot but still act in such a cute way. It was like Gunhead in that way. sh*t. Gunhead was going to f*cking squeal when he found out. Ochaco threw thoughts of Gunhead into the trash and nodded her head. “W-w-well, I don’t know if it’s l-love, exactly, since I don’t really know what that’s supposed to feel like, but I do, like, like-like you… Izuku.”

Ochaco felt her face heating up like a frying pan. She had just said his name again. Was that okay? Scratch that, was this really fine? He was trying so hard to catch up and be the best hero he could be. She couldn’t possibly get in his way and take up his precious time like this.

“Oh no, it’s spreading,” Izuku chuckled.

Ochaco slapped her hands to her cheeks. “Gosh, I said that out loud, didn’t I?” she asked as she felt the force of gravity vanish from her. Ochaco scrambled to return it back to herself before she could start floating away and hid her face in embarrassment.

“It’s fine! I want the distraction Ura—O-O-Ocha-aco,” Izuku stuttered. She glanced up at him hopefully, feeling her heart do cartwheels at the sound of Izuku’s voice speaking her given name. He slapped himself in the face before quickly yelping out. “I lo— I like-like you too, Ochaco. Please go out with me!”

“Yes!” she replied before her head could get in the way, possibly because she was startled by him suddenly striking himself. “And please, you can keep calling me Ochaco! I like hearing you say it!”

“Then you can call me Izuku!” the broccoli-haired boy rapidly answered. “I’m sorry for kissing you earlier without permission. May I kiss you again?”

“Please do!” Ochaco burst out, and leapt at Izuku.

Instead of being swiftly caught in his arms and swept into another kiss that made her feel like her quirk had activated without any nausea-inducing drawbacks, their foreheads painfully collided. Wincing and groaning, the pair of idiots hissed and rubbed at their foreheads before their eyes met and they devolved into a fit of giggles that took several minutes to abate. Neither could help it, they were both just so happy.

“So we’re dating now?” Izuku asked, smiling and looking so incredibly cute and hopeful.

“Yes, yes we are,” Ochaco replied, beaming at him. She felt free, weightless. Her heart was soaring above the clouds. “That was so easy!” she laughed. “I’m such an idiot! I should have told you how I felt weeks ago if I knew it’d make me feel this good!”

“Weeks?” Izuku chuckled. “If it was going to be this easy I should have asked you out months ago, after the Sports Festival!"

“I know! Why did something so easy turn out to be so hard?”

“Oh my God! We could have spent all summer together!”

"We are so stupid!"

"Then I guess we’ll need to make up for lost time.” He took initiative now that he had her express permission to kiss her, and did just that. Ochaco moaned into his lips, wrapping her arms around Izuku’s broad shoulders and pressing her fingers into his back, carefully keeping her pinkies extended so he didn’t float. Hearing that he’d been crushing on her too for that long had her heart doing barrel rolls through a peaceful moonlit starry sky, a good enough distraction to keep her mind from chastising herself for waiting so long, or for being so hung up on thinking that she’d be a distraction.

Her stomach could wait too. Right now, her body desperately needed lip-time with her boyfriend far more than it needed food.

Mina Ashido has created chat “There are WORDS that must be SAID”

Mina Ashido has invited Contact Group Class 1-A minus Midori and Ochaco to the chat

Mina Ashido has invited Itsuka Kendo, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, and Mei Hatsume to the chat

Mina Ashido has made Momo Yaoyorozu a chat admin

Mina Ashido has changed their name to Pinky Hero: Alien Queen!

Pinky Hero: Alien Queen!: So… that happened.

Pinky Hero: Alien Queen!: Looks like Midori and Ochaco are off the market!

Kyoka Jiro has changed their name to Jacks

Jacks: So are we going to ignore that black sh*t that was coming out of Midoriya?

Jacks: Also, Kaminari.

Jacks: I’m going to jab my jacks into you while you sleep.

Denki Kaminari has changed their name to Chargebolt

Chargebolt: What did I do?

Pinky Hero: Alien Queen!: You gave Midori all those horrible pick-up lines!

Chargebolt: But they worked, didn’t they!?

Chargebolt: I was pretty proud with some of them.

Chargebolt: Coming up with space-themed ones for Uraraka like he asked for was a bit of a challenge.

Chargebolt: But I’m glad he went with the “galaxy in my hand” line. That one was gold.

Katsuki Bakugo has changed their name to KING EXPLOSION MURDER

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: why am i here?

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: wait

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: dunce-face, you’re the one who made me listen to deku spout that sappy love crap?

Jacks: That wasn’t the line I was talking about, Kaminari. That one wasn’t that bad.

Jacks: The one I’m concerned about is the “nice asteroids” one, but the fifty other lines you let him subject Uraraka to demand compensation.

Minoru Mineta has changed their name to Grape Juice

Grape Juice: Midoriya said that to Uraraka & he’s not ded?

Grape Juice: (҂⌣̀_⌣́)

Toru Hagakure has changed their name to Invisible Girl

Invisible Girl: Don’t even think about it, Mineta!

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: if you created this chat just to talk about that nerd and round face hooking up i will explode you raccoon eyes

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: (╯°□°)ຈ҉̛༽̨҉҉ﾉ̨

Pinky Hero: Alien Queen!: Rude!

Pinky Hero: Alien Queen!: I’ve made a girls-only chat to talk about that.

Pinky Hero: Alien Queen!: No.

Pinky Hero: Alien Queen!: This chat is to talk about all the stuff we saw today.

Pinky Hero: Alien Queen!: And about the weird black stuff that came out of Midori.

Pinky Hero: Alien Queen!: Without Mr. Aizawa or Principal Nezu listening in.

Tsuyu Asui has changed their name to Froppy

Froppy: So safe space?

Invisible Girl: Safe space.

Froppy: Then how come Midoriya and Ochaco haven’t been invited to the chat?

Pinky Hero: Alien Queen!: …

Froppy: (☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: f*ck that i’m out

Ejiro Kirishima has changed their name to MANLY RED RIOT

MANLY RED RIOT: Don’t be like that Bakubro.

Momo Yaoyorozu has changed their name to Creati

Creati: Language, Bakugo!

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: ill write what i wanna write, high class!

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: thought this was a safe space or some sh*t

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: so since i was invited into this chat and you haven’t given me the ban hammer i take it you actually want something from me

Pinky Hero: Alien Queen!: Yeah, WTF Bakugo? You told Midori to kill himself in Jr. High?

MANLY RED RIOT: TBF, Ashido, Bakugo tells people to die like, every time he uses his quirk

MANLY RED RIOT: It’s an intimidation tactic

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: Kirishima gets it

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu has changed their name to Real Steel

Real Steel: Weren’t you saying something about it earlier?

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: don’t make it sound all heroic like i was keeping him from being a hero for his own protection or something

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: i stopped being his friend in kindergarten

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: i bullied that nerd because im strong and have an awesome quirk and he was a quirkless loser

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: him talking about heroes all the time and acting like he was going to become one when he was just a scrawny weakling without power really pissed me off

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: it made me think like that worthless f*ck was trying to be my equal or something, like i needed his help when i was so much stronger and better than him

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: heroes like All Might were awesome because they beat up bad guys and always won without getting help from anyone

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: i didn’t see the stuff in deku that All Might did at the time, or understand all that sh*t about saving people

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: and i don’t care if you forgive me or not im here to become the number one hero not play nice and make friends

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: now screw this chat im going for a walk invite me in again and i WILL explode you

KING EXPLOSION MURDER: (╯°□°)ຈ҉̛༽̨҉҉ﾉ̨

Tenya Iida has changed their name to Ingenium

KING EXPLOSION MURDER has left the chat

Ingenium: Bakugo, that behaviour is...!

Itsuka Kendo has changed their name to Battle Fist

Ingenium: ...he left!

Battle Fist: Well that was… something.

Creati: Something is right.

Mashirao Ojiro has changed their name to Tailman

Tailman: Would anyone mind telling me why we’re all on our phones when we’re all in the buffet hall? Couldn’t we just, you know, talk?

Mina looked up from her phone, seeing that Ojiro was right. Apart from Bakugo, who hadn’t bothered to eat dinner with the rest of them; Midori and Ochaco, since they were presumably still in the medical room; and the adults, as they’d all gone to the bar again to talk away from the students; all of them were currently in the buffet hall.

She slammed her hand down on her table, the loud noise from it attracting everyone’s attention. “Fine then! I hereby call this meeting to order! Secretary Yaomomo, please read the agenda!”

Momo looked up at her in slight surprise from her spot on the other side of the table. “I didn’t know we had an agenda. I’m sorry, Mina.”

“What sort of committee did you start without informing the class, Ashido?” Iida inquired.

“Enough of that!” Mina replied. “First order! How many of us are sharing rooms? If you are, raise your hands. I already know that Toru and I are.”

Tsu, Shoji, Kaminari, Mineta, Kirishima, Kyoka, Todoroki, Momo, and Sero all raised their hands. “Shoji and I are in the same room,” Tsu spoke up. “It was a little awkward waking up this morning, but I’m at least glad we have separate beds, ribbit.”

“Mineta and I are rooming together,” Kaminari declared.

“Same here with me and Bakugo,” Kirishima added.

“That’s not surprising at all,” Kyoka said. “Anyway, it looks like Todoroki and I are also sharing a room.”

“So are me and Yaoyorozu,” Sero said with a nod. “I was really nervous when I found that out this morning.”

Mineta slammed his fist down on the table. “Sero…! First Midnight, then the girl from Shiketsu, and now Yaoyorozu!” Tears of blood emerged from his eyes. “I will never forgive you!”

Completely ignoring that, Mina continued. “So that’s two boy-boy pairs, one girl-girl pair, and four boy-girl pairs,” she concluded. “Huh. Looks like none of the girls in our class are on their own. Hey, Kendo? Are you and Tetsutetsu sharing a room?”

Kendo shook her head. “No, we’re in rooms opposite one another,” she replied. “And Hatsume’s got her own room at the other end of the hall from us.”

“Hang on,” Iida spoke up. “Ashido, you said four boy-girl pairs. By process of elimination, that would mean that Midoriya and Uraraka are also paired together.”

She nodded. “That’s right.”

Tetsutetsu frowned. “Hey, didn’t we just watch them basically become a couple about a half hour ago?”

Mina grinned and giggled, placing her fingers up near her lips. “That’s also right.”

Steam seemed to escape from Iida’s nostrils as he leapt to his feet. “I must find Kamimoto and request a room change for them immediately!” he declared. “While I approve of their relationship, it would shame UA if they were to be fornicating!”

“Iida!” Momo gasped, also rising while more than a few giggles and snorts started from Iida uttering the word “fornicating” in reference to the sweet and innocently pure pair of Midoriya and Uraraka. “I don’t believe this! Intimate relationships between students are not forbidden in the UA student code of conduct!”

“I am only doing what is best for their futures,” Iida replied. “As first-year UA students who have achieved provisional hero licenses we are the best of the best. Engaging in such immoral behaviour on school grounds is against the rules.”

“But we’re not on school grounds,” Kendo reminded him. “And this isn’t a school event, Iida. They have the freedom to do what they want.”

He paused. “E-even so, they should at least be discouraged against it. As I said, I approve of their relationship status, but there are some activities that hero students just should not be partaking in when they have their studies to concern themselves with.”

Tetsutetsu glanced at his class rep. “Hey Kendo, don’t you think Iida and Shiozaki would make a nice couple?”

“Hey you’re right,” Kendo agreed, snapping her fingers and smiling. “And we’d know that neither of them would ever dream of drowning themselves in sin on school grounds.”

“I-I beg your pardon! What are you talking about? I don’t have time for a relationship with Miss Shiozaki, even if she is a rather nice girl.”

“You could always swing by the design studio, Legs,” Hatsume called, waving while she carried a piece of blueberry cheesecake back to her table. “I’d really like to examine those engines in closer detail.”

“The male to female ratio in our classes is messed up,” Mineta grumbled as Iida sputtered. “There aren’t enough beautiful babes to go around, and Midoriya’s already gotten the third hottest girl in 1-A to become his girlfriend.”

“That can’t possibly be all you’re taking from this, right?” Sato asked, giving Mineta a side-eye glance.

“Iida!” Momo sternly called him out again. “While I understand your desire to keep things civil and prevent anything…” Momo blushed slightly, “carnal occuring, I do not agree with your first action being deciding to separate Midoriya from Uraraka right after he’s found happiness. We all saw what his life was like before UA, right?” Momo cast her gaze around the buffet hall to all of their classmates. “He was bullied and tormented for years and made to feel subhuman due to being quirkless. He clearly had no good relationships amongst his peers. As I’m sure the rest of you have thought, Aldera sucked. That Midoriya was able to make it through such a setting and still be himself is astonishing and speaks wonders about his drive and character; however, this does give reason to believe that the very idea of him ever having a relationship as special as a girlfriend would have been pure fantasy to him.”

Tokoyami dipped his head and folded his arms in acknowledgement. “Stated like that, I concur. Separating Midoriya and Uraraka at this stage would be simply deplorable.”

“And they’ll have to go back to being in separate dorm rooms anyway once we’re done here, ribbit” Tsu pointed out. “So since this is like an extended summer vacation with some special lessons and training, maybe we should just let them enjoy it while it lasts.”

Shoji nodded. “Yeah, I agree.”

Ojiro rubbed the back of his head. “Are we sure nothing’s going to happen, though? I know it’s Midoriya and all, but, isn’t a tropical island resort setting like this a pretty iconic romance location.”

Momo folded her arms and swiftly surveyed the room. “Whether they get up to anything exceedingly romantic or not is their business, and so long as they’re smart about it, it won’t become our business either.”

“If something like that happens,” Mineta began under his breath, “I swear I’m gonna…”

“But that’s not to say we won’t tease them or anything,” Mina piped up. “Okay, first order concluded! Second order!” She slammed her hand down on the table again. “One For All!”

“Just how powerful is Midoriya!?” Toru exclaimed. “That’s what I really want to know!”

“Are you referring to how powerful is he when using his quirk safely, or at his maximum strength?” Todoroki asked.

“Both!” Toru responded with flailing sleeves.

Hatsume hummed while enjoying a bit of her cheesecake. “When he came by the studio for costume upgrades, he said he wanted arm braces to reduce the strain on his ligaments,” she said. “Seeing what happened to him in your entrance exam and fitness test, I’m guessing he broke his bones a lot.”

“Did you not see him in the quarterfinals against Todoroki?” Mina asked.

Hatsume blew her off. “Nah. Once I was done showing off my babies to the support company boxes I was finished so I skipped on outta there.”

Iida placed a hand to his chin. “Midoriya did say earlier that he can use between five to eight percent with his Full Cowling, that’s the move he came up with where he’s using One For All throughout his entire body that he learned how to do during his internship.”

“Has he said anything about how much he can use at once without breaking anything?” Kirishima asked.

“Since he’d been keeping the specifics of his quirk more or less a secret until today, no,” Iida answered with a sigh. “Given the nature of his past injuries, I’m sure that Midoriya has been hesitant to attempt much experimenting lest he experience more painful whacks to his shins courtesy of Recovery Girl.”

“Yeah, he’s only a couple stamps away from getting a free two-day Heroics suspension on his stamp card,” Sero snickered.

“That card’s real?” Tetsutetsu asked. “I’d heard rumours about it from upperclassmen, but I thought they were joking.”

“It’s real,” Todoroki replied. “I was with Midoriya the last time he saw Recovery Girl before finals and saw her stamp it. She was not happy with him.”

“However, while he is strong enough to help push Kirishima through a wall,” Iida continued, “I can probably say that Midoriya is nowhere near capable of crushing a fridge like an aluminum can with just his hand.”

“Darn it,” Toru complained. “That would be so cool.”

“I propose a series of experiments in the quirk training facility tomorrow, then,” Momo offered. “If possible, we may be able to ask Mr. Aizawa to administer the quirk assessment test again so long as he wasn’t already planning on doing so.”

“So are we doing all this to build up Midoriya?” Kyoka asked.

“We’ll be training ourselves too, of course,” Momo replied. “But it’s only fair. After all, we’ve all had our quirks for basically as long as we can remember. Midoriya’s only had his since February and he wasn’t given the opportunity to practice or develop it as much as we all were early in the year since every time he used it he’d break his bones.”

“But what about that black stuff that was shooting out of him earlier?” Kaminari asked worriedly. “That was pretty scary. Is that going to pop up again?”

Mina turned to look at Momo. Their ponytailed vice-rep had been doing a lot of the talking about training Midori’s quirk, after all, and she was the top student in the class. If anyone was going to have a plan for that, it’d be her. “Well… since we don’t know anything about that…” she stopped herself. “No, wait, we do. Miss Kamimoto said something to Mr. Aizawa about it being a subset of One For All, an extra power maybe? Perhaps it’s similar to Todoroki’s Half-Cold Half-Hot where it’s a combination?”

“I think there’s a problem with that suggestion,” Todoroki countered. “If One For All had that kind of power, don’t you think we would know about it?”

“We didn’t even know One For All was the name of Midori’s quirk until today,” Mina fired back. “We all thought it was called “Superpower” for months.”

Kendo shook her head. “That’s not what Todoroki’s getting at, Ashido. Remember, who did Midoriya receive his quirk from?”

“He got it from All Might, duh,” Sero answered. “We watched the scene with him swallowing the hair and then he punched that robot into smithereens. That’s definitely All Might’s power.”

“Exactly,” Kendo replied.

“If All Might gave Midoriya One For All, and One For All had that kind of black energy power,” Todoroki reasoned, “don’t you think we’d have seen All Might using it? He’s been active since our parents were our age at least. In all that time, he would have had to have used it at least once.”

“So what are you suggesting?” Aoyama inquired.

Todoroki narrowed his eyes. “I think Midoriya had a quirk all along, but since everyone around him said he didn’t he just never knew it existed.”

Mina’s eyes widened. “Hold up! You’re saying that Midori was never actually quirkless?”

“It makes sense,” Hatsume added. “Remember what I said? I’ve got a quirk and I’m like Midoriya with the extra joint in my pinkie toes. That doctor he saw probably took one look at the toe joint in the x-ray and went “sorry kid, it’s not going to happen” since that energy quirk looked like an emitter type. Since my Zoom is a mutation of my eyes it was a lot easier to prove that I had a quirk, extra joint or not.”

“True, emitter types are difficult to grasp if you don’t know you have them,” Momo commented. “But why would it only appear now?”

“A good question,” Tokoyami said. “Midoriya has been in stressful situations and exposed to danger throughout his life; from the abuse sent his way by Bakugo to the Sludge Villain incident last spring. Not to mention all of the times we have been in danger since enrolling in UA thanks to the League. If this Juuchi Yosamu of his was indeed his quirk, what could have caused it to arise when fighting with Uraraka?”

Mina tilted her head, and she wasn’t the only one who looked at Tokoyami blankly. “His what?” Sato asked.

Tokoyami looked around at his classmates. Not one of them seemed to grasp what he had said. “Juuchi Yosamu. Ten Thousand Cold Nights. A blade made by Muramasa in competition with Masamune that would cut indiscriminately. Since the darkness he was emitting also seemed to strike and harm Uraraka, I believed it was a fitting name. Do none of you know this?”

“Kuroiro and Kamakiri probably would have,” Kendo said, giving the crow-headed youth an awkward smile while all of Tokoyami’s classmates shook their heads, “but not me, sorry.”

“I apologize,” Iida remarked as Tokoyami scoffed. “I see now I did not pay enough attention to folklore and legends in middle school.”

“Let’s… put a pin in naming it until later,” Mina suggested. “And we can talk to Midori about it later tomorrow. I have a feeling we won’t be seeing him or Ochaco tonight unless we ambush them.”

Kaminari tapped his finger against his table. “But… wouldn’t Midoriya’s quirk still be something like his mom’s telekinesis or his dad’s fire breathing?”

“Could be a random mutation,” Ojiro suggested. “He’s already a statistical anomaly; might as well give Midoriya the full package of super rarity.”

“He is a diamond in the rough, I’ll give him that,” Momo agreed.

Mina grinned, but decided that it wouldn’t be prudent to tease Momo about that comment right now in front of the whole class. She could do that in the girls-only chat later tonight before bed. “Second order concluded! Third order!”

“There’s more?” Sato asked faintly.

“Who’s up for hitting the pool or checking out the waterpark? Let’s have fun tonight guys!”

Iida’s rebuttal of, “But we just ate!” was drowned out by the cheers that greeted Mina’s suggestion.

Chapter 12: Izuku and Ochaco Call Shenanigans!

Chapter Text

‘...and yell this from the depths of your heart! SMAAAAAASH!!!’

Ochaco snuggled in closer to Izuku, the two of them together on Izuku’s bed and watching the show again after having finished their dinner of matching bowls of tonkotsu ramen with green tea mochi ice cream for dessert brought up by room service. Their door had been fixed by the time they’d returned, along with all damages that had accidentally happened to their room during their fight. It was pretty amazing, actually, that the damage had already been repaired. Even the cracks in the stone and tub were gone as if they’d never been there at all.

Ochaco looked at her right hand as it was held in Izuku’s for just a moment while the giant zero-pointer robot exploded on screen in front of them for the second time that day due to his first big smash. Izuku had repeatedly denied that he was artistic at all; that his drawings in his hero notebooks were just a hobby for him and nothing serious. However, that hadn’t seemed to have stopped him from having artist gloves on hand to give to her with a brightly blushing face, telling her that she could wear them if she liked, so that they could hold hands without her quirk activating by accident.

Smiling at their entwined fingers, feeling her heart beating so warmly with affection for Izuku, Ochaco turned her gaze towards him instead of the screen. “You know… I never properly thanked you for saving me that day,” she said. Her boyfriend, her boyfriend, looked at her in confusion.

“What do you mean?” he asked. “You went to Present Mic and offered to give me your points. That’s plenty of thanks.”

Ochaco shook her head, still smiling, though a bit more of a blush started to creep up on her cheeks. “No, not like that,” she answered him. Ochaco leaned over, inching her head closer to Izuku’s and feeling delighted at the way he began flushing as she got close. “You saved my life I-zu-ku…” she stated, slowly savouring the way the syllables rolled off her tongue like delectable pieces of mochi. “You’re my hero, and heroes are supposed to be rewarded like this.”

Pressing forward and guiding his head with her left hand, Ochaco placed her lips against Izuku’s, giving the hero in training a rewarding smooch. Her body settled more comfortably on his as she leaned deeper into the kiss than she was originally planning, Ochaco’s left hand leaving the side of Izuku’s face and beginning to run through the messy curls of his hair. They were so soft, like a tangled jungle of green cashmere, not that she’d ever actually felt cashmere to make such a comparison. But if she was to compare Izuku’s hair to anything, cashmere would be the only worthy fabric.

Forget his hair, Ochaco! You’re kissing him!

Izuku’s lips gently massaged hers back as Ochaco quietly moaned into the act. A part of her still didn’t believe that this was real. They had done a lot of kissing back in the medical room, and a fair bit more once they had returned to their room. Honestly, they’d probably only actually watched a third of the episodes that they had played since they’d found the ‘My Hero Academia’ video-on-demand channel, since each of them kept taking breaks to give the other a soft peck on the cheek which quickly turned into another breathless instalment of Lip-Time. Some corner of her mind despaired that this was all a dream, and she’d wake up and this island had never existed, and Izuku and her wouldn’t be in a relationship.

But that corner could go and get rekt. Even if this were just a dream—a really long, really painful, really realistic dream—she’d mustered up the courage to tell him how she felt. If she did it here, she could do it back at UA.

Ochaco pulled her lips back from Izuku’s, giving him a sweet look while both of their cheeks were a rosy pink. “I hope my hero liked his reward.”

‘SMACK’

The two looked back towards the screen, seeing Ochaco’s past self save Izuku from cratering into the ground and becoming nothing more than a bloody smear on the street. Izuku chuckled in his throat, drawing Ochaco’s attention back to him. “You saved me too, hero,” he reminded her. “I never managed to thank you for the save properly either, my rainbow puking angel.”

Ochaco frowned as a bead of annoyance welled up in her. “Not you too Iz—” he silenced her with his lips. Ochaco let her irritation fade away for a moment, choosing instead to bask in the wondrous feeling coursing through her as she kissed him back. His right hand reached over and cupped the back of her head. Izuku’s fingers were gentle, but firm, rubbing against the roots of Ochaco’s hair in soft scritches that helped ease Ochaco deeper into the kissing mood. She closed her eyes, feeling time slip by as their lips caressed one another’s.

Their hands parted and Ochaco slipped her legs over Izuku’s abdomen. His hands traveled down from her head to tenderly hold her by her hips, and Ochaco pressed her fingers against the fabric of the t-shirt he’d put on. She could feel Izuku’s powerful muscles underneath it, strength and warmth radiating from his body and into her hands. Ochaco moaned into the kiss again, and she could feel Izuku’s lips part while his breath hitched.

A slight pain against her lip made her gasp, and Ochaco opened her eyes again, staring into Izuku’s startled orbs of emerald while a foreign sensation pooled in her chest. “I’m sorry!” Izuku apologized. “I didn’t mean to! You’re not hurt are you?”

Ochaco pressed a finger to her lower lip, touching the spot that the One For All inheritor had gently nibbled. “No, it’s okay Izuku,” she assured him. A grin took over her face and she pressed her body against his. Izuku’s face turned red like a tomato, and Ochaco felt her own heating up. His chest was firm beneath hers; she could feel her breasts pressing up against him beneath the fabric of their respective shirts, and Ochaco was not sure if she should scold herself or not for not having put on a bra before their fight earlier.

“In fact…” she leaned closer, and placed her lips close to his ear. “You can do it again if you want. I liked it. Can I… bite your lip too?”

Oh my gosh, what are you asking, Ochaco!?

Izuku squeaked, his eyes wide as saucers. It really helped ease Ochaco’s own embarrassment that he was madly blushing too. If he hadn’t also been so flustered by what she just said, she was sure that she might have aborted the mission right then and there. Izuku’s hands were still on her waist, so they couldn’t cover his face in an adorable display of bashfulness, but she could see Izuku gulp and delicately nod his head in affirmation to her request.

Feeling bold, Ochaco nodded. Okay. C’mon Uravity, you can do this. Her hands wrapped around her boyfriend’s shoulders and she kissed him again, waiting for the moment when his lips would part enough for her to try nibbling him herself.

It didn’t take long. The emotions they’d both been repressing for months had swelled and surged in the hours since they’d confessed that they liked one another and decided to date. Ochaco couldn’t keep herself back anymore. Her lips devoured Izuku’s, hungry for every square millimetre of his. She stole loving nips just as Izuku replied with tiny bites at her own lips. The slight bits of pain made her gasp in pleasure, forcibly reminding her that this was not a dream; that it was real, and Izuku’s answering groans lit a fire in her that was a raging inferno.

After everything he’d been through in his short life, Ochaco wanted nothing more than to give Izuku all the attention and affection he deserved that had been denied to him. Her fingers massaged his scalp as Ochaco’s lips moved away from his, pressing hard kisses against his chin and jaw. The green-haired hero hadn’t showered yet, leaving the remnants of salty dried sweat on his skin. The taste was delectable, driving Ochaco to pepper him with kisses. Her tongue darted out between the gaps in her lips, lapping up the trace amounts of his old sweat coupled with the sweat that was breaking out from the suddenness of her assault. Izuku’s hands moved to her back from her hips, pressing her closer, and he groaned, “Ochaco…”

“Is this okay?” she asked between kisses. “It’s not weird, is it?” It was certainly a thing she hadn’t expected to do, but she had snuck a glance at her phone fifteen minutes ago. Mina had set up a new girls-chat, and somewhere between the teasing in how she and Izuku had become a couple, the debates as to who was left between 1-A and 1-B that could be considered boyfriend material, questioning whether Mirio Togata was single, and the solidarity in their joint declaration to “kill a grape” if said grape tried to perv on Ochaco and Izuku, there had been an undercurrent of jokes about how “thirsty” they all were.

Those thirst comments had to be affecting her. There’s no way she was actually this thirsty for Izuku, was there?

Izuku shook his head. “It’s… unexpected, but fine. I’m… glad you like the taste?”

Ochaco giggled at the uncertain aspect to his reply. “Well, if it’s okay…” she smiled and placed another kiss under his jawline, “allow me to continue.”

Izuku’s breath hitched as Ochaco continued to kiss him in this new fashion, with the wetness of her tongue swiping across his skin to taste the salty sweat residue, and she could also detect a hint of… that was pork. Of course. From the ramen earlier. He had been a little sloppy with his chopsticks earlier from the stiff soreness in his arms, and she hadn’t been the cleanest either when she had attempted to feed him some of hers. An embarrassed mess was closer to the truth as she tried to immediately do couple things with Izuku.

Oh no, now she was thinking about covering Izuku in food and eating it off of him. That wonderfully masculine hot body beneath his neck. Drizzling chocolate syrup over his pectorals. Topping his nipples with whipped cream. Putting fresh pancakes over those magnificent abs and slathering them with butter and table syrup, and then when she was entirely a mess from having gorged herself without utensils or manners, Izuku would lick and kiss and clean every bit off of her.

She hadn’t even noticed that she’d brought her head around to the side of Izuku’s neck, and had increased the intensity of her kisses as she imagined eating pancakes off of his torso. Ochaco had pressed herself flush against Izuku’s body, her arms wrapped tightly around the young man’s back. His hands were suddenly on her butt, fingers squeezing as he lifted her a little, and the sudden sensation down there made Ochaco groan. She hadn’t realized that she had more or less been grinding against him as her lips smothered Izuku’s skin in kisses, and their next attack on his neck struck hard. His responding hiss turned into a soft moan, and the sound brought Ochaco back somewhat.

“De-Izuku?” she asked, pulling away from him so that she could look him in his eyes. “Did I, wait, where are your hands!?” She looked back down, feeling his digits cupping her ass. “D-don’t ya think tha-that’s a lil’ fast!?”

“S-sorry!” Izuku yelped. “It’s just that… you were moving your hips a lot and…” his voice trailed off into a mumble quiet enough that Ochaco couldn’t hear, his face getting progressively redder as his eyes darted around, doing everything but make contact with hers. She stared at him, not quite sure what Izuku was getting at, and his hands let go of her as he apologized again. He covered his face while Ochaco plopped down from where he’d been holding her up, apologizing again in an awkward shout. She stiffened. There was something there in his waist that she hadn’t felt before, something hard between his legs prodding her between the cheeks of her backside.

That’s… Ochaco gulped, not sure if blood was flooding her face or draining from it. …that’s an… Izuku’s hard. Oh God, Izuku’s hard! I did that!

“I’m sorry!” she hysterically apologized as she flung herself to the other bed. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable Izuku!” She turned around to face him, so that she was laying across the width of the fluffy king-sized bed she’d landed on. “I just got too into it that I let myself get carried away! I’m sorry!”

Ochaco glanced up from her dogeza atop the mattress, and her eyes widened and cheeks flushed again before immediately dropping her head back down to hide her blush. The tent in those black shorts was… bigger than she'd expected. Not that she'd ever actually fantasized about it or had any thoughts about Izuku's size before; because that'd be weird and she'd been trying to put those feelings away so friggin' herself to fantasies like that wouldn't have been at all proper an'...

"It's okay!" Izuku's voice burst from his lips. Ochaco looked up. He was facing her now, on his knees, hands down in front of his crotch to push his veiled reaction to her grinding down and even more out of sight. "It just… it means that I find you attractive, right? So… uh… it's proof that I like you." He sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ruin this."

"You didn't ruin anything, Izuku!" Ochaco insisted. "I was the one who was getting too thirsty…"

“Thirsty?” Izuku asked, blinking and co*cking his head to the side.

Ochaco blushed harder. f*ck! Why does he have to be so adorable!?

“Uh… yeah,” she answered, internally screaming at herself for needing to explain this term to Deku. “It’s uh… sort of a term we use when… uh…” Her courage failed her, and Ochaco quickly grabbed her phone from her pocket and tossed it to Izuku’s bed. “I can’t do it! Here! Look at the chat called “THIRST APPRECIATION” in all caps. You’ll figure it out. Oh, my passcode is one-four-nine-six-five-seven to unlock it.”

“Boo-yah! I am here, as a projection now!”

Ochaco turned away from the embarrassment that was this whole current situation with her boyfriend and tried to ignore both her racing heart and the heat pooling between her legs. She did not need this right now. Watching All Might’s acceptance letter projection video for Izuku again would be a fine enough distraction. It could help calm her down and hopefully put an end to the raging hunger for Izuku’s body. The moment where he confirmed that Izuku had passed and would be attending UA, and assured him that the girl he’d saved, her, had also passed, was much more pleasant to watch this time around now that her feelings had been sorted out.

It also helped that the outro theme was pretty calming to watch and listen to, with lots of Izuku simply running down a path towards his future under a sky with a bright star overhead.

“Um… Ura-Ochaco,” Izuku haltingly addressed her. “I uh, I think I read some things I wasn’t supposed to.” Ochaco turned her head towards him, spotting his face stuck between a few different expressions. She thought back to some of the messages.

“Oh no…” it was at that moment that Ochaco realized she f*cked up. “What all did you read?”

“Well I know what “thirst” means now,” Izuku replied, “and that Ashido and Hagakure are… very thirsty. Also a few things as to how you girls look at us guys.”

He was blushing and looking down at the floor between their beds. Worry thumped in Ochaco’s chest alongside her heartbeat. “Anything they said about you is just a compliment, I swear!”

A small smile graced his face. He was still looking down, but that smile eased the sudden anxiety that flared up. He nodded. “I know. It’s still taking me a bit to process, I guess. I lived for so long getting treated like crap because I was quirkless, so a not insignificant part of me feared that UA would be like Aldera and elementary school again after you all learned that I’d been quirkless before the entrance exam. But… nobody’s turned on me at all. You’ve all accepted me and supported me with open arms even after finding out the secret of my quirk, and now I’m even dating my dream girl.” He giggled, raising his head to make eye contact with her which scratching at his cheek, and Ochaco felt her heart swelling as it melted. “I feel so blessed, Ochaco.”

A slight sigh slipped past Ochaco’s lips as she gazed fondly at the smile on her boyfriend’s face. “Of course we’d accept and support you, Izuku. Our class is like a big family.”

“Does that include pressuring you to confess how you felt about me?” he asked. Ochaco jolted before rubbing the back of her head bashfully.

“I needed the push,” she admitted. “Even if it was our fight that ultimately got me to do it, I wouldn’t have gotten into the right mindset if they hadn’t pushed me to tell you how I felt.”

“I still don’t think it was right,” Izuku pouted.

“And I don’t think it was right for Bakugo to treat you how he did for years,” Ochaco countered. “And we never did resolve my question from earlier. Why are you still trying to be friends with him and defending him?”

“He’s a victim of circ*mstances,” Izuku argued. “He has the potential to be one of the greatest heroes there is! It’s just that ever since we were kids and he got his quirk, everybody praised him for how good it was and how great a hero he’d be. Nobody ever told him “no” or taught him that it was wrong to do what he did. I can’t fault him for our past teachers being terrible, but he’s got a lot of potential.”

“And Thirteen has the potential to be a terrible villain!” Ochaco countered. “You know her quirk. Black Hole lets her create miniature black holes from her fingertips, sucking up all matter and energy in front of her and reducing it to atoms in the singularity. She uses it for rescue and cleanup, but remember what she said at the USJ? Her power could very easily be used to kill. If she wanted to be a villain, she could have become a terrible one!”

Izuku looked about to open his mouth to counter her counter, but Ochaco wasn’t done. She needed to bring out the big guns, even if they’d hurt. “And what about Shigaraki?”

“What about him?” Izuku growled.

“He could have been a great hero too, don’t you think?” Ochaco pressed on, as much as the words she was saying made her want to vomit. “His Decay, where if he touches something with all five fingers it disintegrates? Don’t you think that could also be a super useful quirk for a rescue hero to have?”

“But Shigaraki has done such terrible things,” Izuku answered her. “He attacked our class again and again, he sent Nomu to Hosu, he had Bakugo taken from us, and there was the time at the mall, remember?”

Ochaco shook her head. “I’ll… I’ll never forget it. I was so scared I’d lose you, Izuku, when I saw you talking with him as his hand choked you… but… I stand by what I said. His quirk would have made him a great hero, and if you weren’t you, yours could also make you a horrible villain. Think of how much power you have and the destruction you could cause. All Might practically caused a tornado to form from his final punch in Camino, and you’re going to be stronger than him.”

“I’d never do that!” Izuku insisted.

She nodded, and scrunched her hands in front of her. “I know. I know you’d never become an evil villain like that, Izuku, but hearing you continue to stand up for Bakugo and defend him, think about how I feel. All I’ve really seen him do or be is be mean to yah or bully yah or attack yah. He told yah to kill yerself, and then insulted yah after yah rushed in tah save him. Sure he ignored yah afterwards, but after yah got inta UA alongside ‘im ‘e thought yah were a worthless bug that ‘e could smash whene’re ‘e wanted. ‘e tried to attack yah on our first day after ye’d broken yer finger fer gosh sakes! Ah can’t undahstand why ye’d still go tah bat fer ‘im aftah all ‘is actions were villainous, not heroic at all!”

Izuku was staring at her, and Ochaco took in deep breaths. That had worked her up, but she was glad that she finally got that off of her chest. If today was a day of laying things out in the open, then this was just one more. “Ochaco…” Izuku began, his mouth widening and his stare becoming something of wonder. “You… have an accent.”

“Eep!” the mouse known as Ochaco squeaked as she covered her face with her hands. “I’m sorry! I’ve tried to keep it hidden since I got here. I didn’t want anyone to think I was a country bumpkin ‘cause I was from Mie.”

“No, don’t,” Izuku quickly amended. “I wasn’t insulting it or anything. I was just surprised. And, well… it’s kind of cute, actually.” Ochaco uncovered her eyes. He was scratching his cheek again and looking at her bashfully, and the girl felt her heart squeeze. “You don’t have to hide it when we’re together if you don’t want to.”

He’s not makin’ fun o’ it! He thinks it’s cute! Ochaco, yah lucky girl!

“Uh, thanks, Izuku,” she answered, not expecting this sudden turn. “That means a lot tah me. But don’t think ye’ve escaped answerin’ wha’ Ah jus’ said now, yah hear?”

Izuku flinched and looked down. “I don’t want to admit it. But looking at things from an objective standpoint, you and the teachers are both right and I’m being a hypocrite. For years Bakugo hasn’t actually done anything necessarily heroic. We more or less made up when we had our fight the other night, and he’s been getting a lot better since then. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that we managed to reset our relationship. We got our secrets out in the open, so we could start again from a place of mutual respect.”

He wiped his nose on his arm as he sniffed, and Ochaco felt a small stab of pain pierce into her chest as Izuku continued. “I’m still coming to terms with what that means, especially since the meeting we had at lunch, but you’re absolutely right. Bakugo… is not my friend, and he hasn’t been for years. However, he wants to be number one, to surpass All Might. That’s my goal too, to become the greatest hero in the world, so as much as a part of me doesn’t want anything to do with him, I know that he’s still going to be a part of my life no matter what. He wants to surpass me, All Might’s chosen successor for One For All, and I want to go even higher and keep him from doing that. So while the stuff he did to me in the past makes me real mad and all, if we’re going to be rivals like that, I’d rather not… you know… be a dick about it.”

Ochaco gasped, trying to process what Izuku had just declared. However, all her mind could latch on to was that Izuku had, for the second time today, said a bad word. She started to laugh. Izuku protested, of course, but she couldn’t help it. It was just funny. Izuku was just so pure and full of sunshine that to hear him say he “didn’t want to be a dick” to anyone made her laugh.

Wiping a tear from her eye, Ochaco came down from her high. “Okay, okay. Yer not gonna be friends with ‘im anymore. Ah’ll take that. Still, Ah wanna get some kinda revenge fer ‘im treatin’ my boyfriend like sh*t. Whadda ya say to a prank or two?”

“Ochaco! I… he’d kill us!”

“Aw, c’mon Izuku! He’d never know it was us! Almost everyone was givin’ ‘im the stink eye earlier. He’d probably think it was Mina or Toru or Kaminari!”

Izuku placed his hand on his chin and started to mumble. He was a little too far away for Ochaco to properly hear him over the television, which was still on, and now well into the fifth episode as her past self gushed with dreams of orientation and normal high school stuff. “Okay,” he answered, nodding. “But! Only if we can also prank the girls. I don’t agree with how they pressured you earlier.”

“What do yah have in mind?” Ochaco asked.

“Would it be going too far to consider asking Midnight to use her quirk on Mineta, wrapping him in Sero’s tape, and then leave him hanging from a strand of it above Ashido’s and Hagakure’s door inside of their room?”

Ochaco frowned in thought. “Would that be a punishment for the girls or a reward for Mineta?”

“I guess that’ll depend entirely on Mineta,” Izuku replied. “He’s not bad, just an open pervert. Plus he was going to make a comment on my mom. Maybe this could be a learning opportunity?”

Ochaco sighed. “Well, we’ll need Sero anyway, and probably Momo so she can create somethin’ tah get past the locks on the doors. Why don’t we go to their room and ask for their thoughts?”

Nemuri was alone in the sports bar. Shota had left some time ago, frustrated at the lack of any forthcoming information from Kamimoto about the change to Midoriya’s quirk right in front of them, what Uraraka had said about Midoriya suffering horrible injury in the future, and her refusal to grant them access to episodes beyond the daily quota of six. For the hour and change that she had been with them in the bar again, the woman had stubbornly refused to humour him and instead ranted on how Manga f*ckidashi was even alive if his head and neck were just a speech bubble and the physical absurdities of other quirks.

Fortunately, being alone gave her control of the remote, which allowed her to nibble on a plate of karaage between sips of her seven-year scotch aged in a sherry cask while watching a pointless variety show that made her laugh. She took her pleasures when she could.

The door opened, attracting Nemuri’s attention, and for the second time today she saw Momo approaching her. Behind her were Midoriya, Uraraka, and Sero, but Momo turned around and said something to them Nemuri couldn’t quite hear and the other three backed out. Waiting until they were gone, Momo then turned, placed her hands behind her back, and approached Nemuri with a happy smile on her face. “Well you seem happy, Momo,” Nemuri stated, placing her chin on her hands. “Did something good happen?”

“You… might say that,” Momo answered, blushing slightly but seemingly trying to ignore that. “I have been approached to assist Midoriya and Uraraka in a project of theirs, with Midoriya stating that he’ll forgive me for my part in pushing Uraraka to confess her feelings to him earlier today.”

Nemuri raised her eyebrow. “Oh? That sounds interesting,” she purred. “You didn’t mention earlier that you pushed her to tell the boy how she felt. I would have thought he’d be thanking you instead of being upset. What did you do?”

Momo tittered and brought her fists up near her mouth, looking down into them so as not to meet her mother's eyes. “Well, I… um, I simply told Uraraka that if she didn’t tell Midoriya how she felt by the end of the first season of this show we’re watching, then I was going to ask Midoriya to dinner.”

Nemuri’s smile brightened. “My, my. It certainly took you long enough to realize the boy’s worth. You would come home and say very little about your classmates that was highly positive at the start of the year. I remember the day you picked class representatives you were in a depressed funk about having been picked second to Midoriya, and then Midoriya decided to replace himself with Iida, who had received zero votes.”

Momo sighed. “I jumped to conclusions. Midoriya’s like a rough gem; it took time and polish to see his shine. And please don’t tell anyone this, Mother, but I kind of wish that Midoriya had stayed as class rep.” Nemuri felt her smile grow even wider at that admission. “He has a very different energy from Iida and has a certain charisma that motivates all of us to better ourselves. It was also his leadership that got us out of Camino alive, not that I was there or anything!” Momo immediately panicked as Nemuri giggled softly.

Her daughter clutched her hand close to her chest. “Being his vice-rep probably would have turned out to be very fun. Iida’s an okay rep but he’s very authoritative and a little too by-the-book. Did you know that earlier in the buffet hall he proposed to have Midoriya and Uraraka placed in different rooms now that they’re dating? After all he’s been through Midoriya finally gets some happiness he’s been denied his whole life and Iida’s first instinct is to separate them? What’s with that?"

“That reminds me,” Nemuri purred, making her daughter flinch. “I should give a sexual education lecture tomorrow.”

“Please don’t!” Momo pleaded. “I don’t need my classmates to see your and father’s sextapes!”

Nemuri laughed at the panic on Momo’s face. It really was cute. “Anyway, you came here to ask me something, yes?”

The ponytailed girl in front of her collected herself and coughed into her fist. “Right. Yes. Mother? Would you care to assist us in Midoriya and Uraraka’s project? It involves pranking my classmates.”

Morning came, and when Izuku awoke he felt fresh and ready to take on the day. Except for his legs. Those ached a little bit from yesterday. Overall, though, he was feeling great. Eyes opening to see the ceiling of the resort room he was staying in, and then looking over to his left to spot Ochaco sleeping soundly in the second bed, Izuku couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t a dream. This was really happening.

Ochaco Uraraka had become his girlfriend.

He couldn’t suppress his joy, remembering all the moments of kissing and cuddling that they shared yesterday. This was really real. He’d really kissed her. She’d really kissed him. She’d really given him that hickey on his neck.

The hickey! Oh my gosh! What if All Might sees it?

Izuku’s mind quickly imagined a picture of All Might, giving him a wide smirk and a thumbs-up with a soft, “Atta boy.”

Chuckling, Izuku thought, Yeah, All Might would probably do something like that. He rose from the bed, after about five more minutes of staying in its soft, warm, embrace, and went to take a shower. He’d hold off on morning training, just for today. Maybe I should surprise Ochaco with breakfast in bed courtesy of room service, though it was really weird to see that our dinner last night was delivered by a catgirl in a maid outfit. Just what is this place?

Ochaco was still asleep in her bed when he finished his toilet business and shower and had redressed in his pajamas, which consisted of a light pair of grey flannel pants and a plain white t-shirt, so he contented himself with sitting on her bed next to her and just gently stroking her hair as he waited for breakfast to arrive. He shot Iida a text, letting him know of his plans and that they wouldn’t be joining the rest of the class for breakfast.

Which was a shame, because then they wouldn’t get to see the reactions to their activities last night.

Katsuki grumbled as he woke up. The sun was already shining through the windows of his and Kirishima’s room. He felt awesome, his arms being on fire notwithstanding, and rolled his ass over to the edge of his huge f*cking bed so he could swing his legs off and rise to face down the day. Kirishima wasn’t in his bed, and he didn’t hear any noise coming from the bathroom, so sh*tty Hair had probably already gone down for breakfast. The clock told him it was a little bit after the buffet had opened, so that’s where his friend had likely gone.

Tch, couldn’t have waited for me? Maybe he felt I needed the sleep, he thought, before immediately asserting to himself, not that I need him to look after me! He went towards the bathroom to take a morning piss and have a shower. He’d gotten sweaty overnight from the heat in this place and needed to cool off.

Katsuki froze as soon as he opened the door and flipped on the light.

Ducks.

There were ducks in the bathroom.

Not real mallards or anything, but small rubber yellow and orange bath toy ducks.

Like, a hundred of them, on the floor, all arranged in neat rectangles and all facing the same direction; all except for one. One of the ducks was facing all the others, sitting atop a podium that had been erected on the toilet seat, and this duck’s head looked like it had spiky hair resembling his as well as the black fins and mask of his hero costume.

If the situation wasn’t so freaking weird and creepy he would have called that one duck that was pretending to be him cool.

But it was weird and creepy. In the back of his mind it reminded him of those dumb history classes they took in middle school and some war that happened back in the twentieth century where a German villain he couldn’t be bothered to remember the name of had staged rallies of his supporters. What was it? Nurem-something?

“Who the f*ck…?” he thought, stepping back before glaring at all the ducks. “Kirishima wouldn’t do—Raccoon Eyes… I’m so going to lay into her at breakfast! That pink bitch is dead!” Katsuki angrily cleaned up the ducks that were in his way, surreptitiously placing Baku-duck on a shelf in the shower next to where he’d placed his shampoo (despite nobody being in the room with him), and quickly did his morning routine, fuming all the while at having wasted time because of all the damn ducks he needed to clean up.

Already seeing red and in a hurry, he didn’t notice how the soap suds from his shampoo weren’t as white as they were supposed to be.

Toru woke to the sound of Mina screaming. Her eyes burst open and the invisible girl nearly jumped out of her bed. “Mina! What’s wrong? What is it?”

“Um… hi ladies…” Toru turned her head and saw something she never wanted to see. Mina had her hands over her eyes and screamed bloody murder, but Toru’s ears blocked it out as all she could do at the moment was stare at what was in front of one of the wardrobes.

At who was in front of the wardrobe.

Mineta. Sitting. Arms bound above his head with tape. Hands handcuffed to the furniture’s doorknobs.

Naked.

No, not entirely naked, Toru realized. There was a pillow covering his hips and legs apart from his bare feet. It was possible that he was wearing shorts and she just couldn’t see, but still.

It was Mineta.

“What are you doing here you little perv!?” Toru shouted, throwing one of her pillows at him. It missed. Her arm was a limp noodle from working out yesterday. Damn Midoriya and his sexy muscle body making her go Plus Ultra in the gym yesterday.

“I don’t know!” Mineta wailed. “I just woke up here handcuffed to the wardrobe. Please don’t kill me!”

“Where are the keys to the cuffs so we can kick you out?” Mina shouted. “Dammit, Sero! This is your tape, I know it!”

Mineta broke out in a sweat. “Um, well… they’re under the pillow.”

Toru and Mina both stared at the grape. Even though their classmate had broken out into a cold sweat of anxiety, he was also drooling.

“Mina, I’ll blind him. Use your acid.”

Shota wanted to know who was responsible so he could string them up before having them drawn and quartered.

Breakfast this morning was absolute chaos as his students threw accusations left and right. A number of them appeared to have suffered from being pranked when they woke up this morning, and nobody seemed to know who was responsible for it. Bakugo came down screaming for Ashido’s head because of something about ducks, but as soon as he entered everyone broke into laughter because his blonde hair and the skin on his face had turned pink and he apparently hadn’t noticed. Asui had opened the door to come down for breakfast with Shoji and an avalanche of packing peanuts buried the two. Mineta had been found in Ashido’s and Hagakure’s room wearing nothing but his boxers and handcuffed to the doors of Ashido’s wardrobe with the keys to the cuffs beneath his testicl*s; he was still receiving acid burn treatment from Kamimoto. Kendo had woken up in Tetsutetsu’s bed, snuggled into his bare chest like he was her teddy bear. All of Hatsume’s wrenches and screwdrivers that she’d put in her room were suspended in jars filled with honey. Jiro’s wake-up alarm noise was hooked up to an amp hidden in her room’s shower and switched to a saxophone riff from a song from a twenty-first century song contest. Yaoyorozu and Sero, despite the circ*mstantial evidence that Sero had taken part in the prank blitz due to tape being used, had all of their toiletries replaced with whipped cream…

…and Nemuri was living for this sh*t. Nezu was also in far too good of a mood, and even Yagi seemed pleased when he learned that Problem Child and Problem Child’s girlfriend wouldn’t be down because Midoriya had ordered breakfast in bed to surprise Uraraka.

“Principal Nezu, if you know anything about this, please let me know so that I can properly punish the culprit,” Shota requested.

“I don’t see that being necessary, Aizawa,” Nezu replied, drinking his morning Yorkshire Tea. “After all, despite the coincidence that they are all UA students, this is not technically a school function and the students are not bound to the same rules as they are in the dorms.”

Shota’s eyes twitched. “Are you seriously telling me that I cannot punish whoever is causing chaos amongst my students simply because we’re not on UA property?”

“Let them blow off a little steam, Shota,” Nemuri teased him. “It was a stressful day for them too. We got to booze it up, so let them have their little pranks. Besides, they will be punished, they just don’t know it yet.”

Shota didn’t like the predatory look in her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“We have boys and girls sleeping in the same room together,” Nemuri said. She licked her lips. “And one of those pairs just became a couple. Once we’re done with today’s batch of episodes, I’m going to hold a mandatory sexual education seminar about the joys of youth.”

Shota shuddered and fell silent. He placed his hands together and made a small prayer to the gods. His class did not deserve such a fate, but there was no way he was going to sit in with them.

Chapter 13: When "Totally Useless" Became "Useless After One Punch"

Chapter Text

Kamimoto blinked as the students filed back into the Maple Theatre, lovingly refurbished with a new wall replacing the one All Might had miraculously punched his fist through. She yawned, thinking that her sleep-deprived mind was playing tricks on her. She’d been on the phone with Middle Management and then Upper Management for what had felt like hours (and probably was) last night explaining that things were already drastically different now than they were in canon, and it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours yet.

“Why is Bakugo pink?” she inquired, raising a finger and pointing at the former blond.

“Shut it, Babysitter!” he retorted. “And put some clothes on, dammit!”

“Well excuuuuuse me, Princess,” she muttered, folding her arms underneath her bust, partially covered by the triangle fabric of her black bikini top with stylized red fire, also in a pair of jean booty shorts. “But a pink Pomeranian with a bad hair job is not going to tell me that I can’t wear my Yoko Littner bikini just because he gets flustered.”

“I think it looks great,” Kaminari said, giving her a thumbs-up along with Mineta while Bakugo grit his teeth and growled. She returned their gesture with one of her own while some of the girls just sighed.

“Oh hey, Midoriya,” Kamimoto greeted. “Your tie actually looks nice for once. Did someone finally teach you how to properly put it on?”

He rubbed the back of his head bashfully. “Yeah… when we came down this morning after breakfast Yaoyorozu offered to help me with it.”

“Mine’s just a clip-on,” Uraraka admitted, pointing to her own, “so I’m not all that good at tying them myself, otherwise I totally would have helped him out.”

Kamimoto smiled and nodded. She was just going to ignore the hickey she saw on Midoriya’s neck, and the fresh-looking one on Uraraka’s. Their friends would tease them enough; they didn’t need some stranger doing so as well. Her gaze swept over the other students. Hatsume looked incredibly annoyed, while Kendo was keeping her distance from Tetsutetsu while getting an awkward, flustered, expression whenever she glanced at him. Something must have happened between them last night.

Kamimoto smiled. Perhaps Green Tea wasn’t the only ship to set sail last night? A little Iron Fist, maybe?

“Settle down and take your seats,” Aizawa instructed tiredly. “We’d best get through these so we can get to afternoon training, assuming you all aren’t too sore from going too hard at it yesterday after getting “inspired” by Midoriya’s recklessness during his ten months of hell.”

The students all got settled in generally the same groupings as yesterday, though Midoriya and Uraraka took over the loveseat that Ashido and Asui had been sitting in, allowing the front row to jumble around a bit. The door swung closed and locked, the lights dimmed, the blue quirk inhibitor light flared, and Kamimoto started the next video. “Here we go! Deku vs Kacchan! Enjoy reliving the rumble of the very first combat training!”

Bakugo was standing in the room where the fake nuclear missile was hidden, next to an oil drum, facing the door, with his back to Iida. “Hey! Do you really think Deku has a quirk?”

Iida turned away from the fake nuclear missile to regard his teammate. “You saw how he threw that ball.”

The background turned red and violent as Bakugo’s shoulders shook. ‘Was he seriously just tricking me all these years?’ he wondered.

“Ah yes, recaps,” Jiro groaned. “Hey, show of hands, who all watched these again last night?”

A bit more than half of the twenty-three students raised their hands. “Yeah, Miss Kamimoto, can we skip these?” Hagakure asked.

“No!” Kamimoto chipperly replied. “You shall all suffer the pain of binging! Watching the recaps of the last episode even though you just watched it instead of waiting a whole week for the next one!”

A few groans and grumbles came from the students, but Ochaco pressed her side closer to Izuku’s.

“I’m fine with it,” she giggled, “if it means I get to watch you be heroic over and over again.”

“But that just means that I have to do better,” Midoriya said before putting his smiling respirator on. “I refuse to lose today.”

“And there we have Determination Deku again,” Kaminari said with a grin. “You know, you really go all out when you set your mind to doing something.”

“Except he doesn’t know when to stop,” Aizawa butted in. “Going too far and breaking yourself in the process doesn’t help anyone except keeping EMTs, nurses, and doctors employed.”

“Also a fine profession that doesn’t get enough credit compared to professional heroes,” Nezu stated, not sitting on Kayama’s lap this time, but on a special seat that had somehow been installed on the topmost railing. He pressed a button on the armrest and a steaming teacup on a saucer emerged from within the armrest, carried by a robot hand that didn’t spill a single drop of the Yorkshire Gold.

“My offer to train you in karate still stands, Midoriya,” Kendo stated as they watched him throw Bakugo over his shoulder again. “Also, Uraraka, maybe we should spar sometime. I’d love to see how I hold up against your Gunhead Martial Arts.”

Uraraka rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. “I’ll try, but I’m pretty sure I’ll lose to you, Kendo. I only spent the week of my internship learning those. You’ve been studying karate a lot longer,”

“From now on, Deku is the name of a hero!”

“Even if it is a recap,” Ojiro commented as the intro started up, “it really sets the mood for the episode, right?”

“You’re right,” Tetsutetsu agreed. “This is an intense way to start the day.”

“I heard a lot of you had intense starts to your day today,” Uraraka pointed out. Tetsutetsu and Kendo both blushed, despite still being in different seats.

Ashido glared at her. “Don’t even start Miss “Breakfast in bed with my awesome boyfriend”. I am not in the mood to remember what awaited me this morning.”

“But I didn’t even do or see anything!” Mineta whined. “I’m a victim too y’know!”

“I sure hope every night is not going to be like that,” Iida stated. “I would hate to have to patrol the halls to ensure nobody is sneaking around pulling childish pranks like that, though as class representative I will if I must.”

“Don’t be such a killjoy, Iida,” Kaminari grinned. He pointed his thumb back at Bakugo. “Even you’ve got to admit, it’ll be fun seeing Bakugo with pink hair for a while.”

“It was you , wasn’t it, Spark Plug?”

“Let’s all calm down,” Koda spoke up, holding his hands out in front of him. “Nobody needs to get violent, right?”

After the intro faded out, Midoriya and Bakugo were shown standing next to one another against a grey background. Narrator Midoriya began to provide some helpful exposition about their background, “Kacchan and I grew up in the same neighborhood, so we’ve known each other since we were little kids.”

Baby Midoriya anxiously stood in front of a fence with two warning signs on it. One of them read “No Trespassing” while the other stated, “You can’t go in there!” along with a yellow blob resembling a child drowning in water shouting “Help!” in the hopes that they would actually deter trespassers.

Baby Bakugo brought his arm down, pointing forward as he smiled at the warning signs. “Come on!” he said as three other neighbourhood kids stood closer to him than Baby Midoriya. “Let’s fight bad guys!” The other boys cheered, which Midoriya joined in a moment.

Momo folded her arms over her chest, frowning. Why is it that even hellspawn like Bakugo are cute when they’re children?

Meanwhile, Iida chopped his hand in front of him as Bakugo led the other four boys past the entrance to the off-limits area. “But the signs say not to enter! Was I the only child who had any respect for the rules of this society?”

Baby Midoriya smiled in adoration after his narration talked up how Bakugo was always so confident. “I thought he was the coolest person I’d ever met.”

Ojiro folded his arms and tilted his head slightly. “I mean, I guess…”

Midoriya’s eyes lit up in awe as he chased after the blonde. A drop of sweat fell from Bakugo’s hand. “However… after his quirk manifested… he started to change.”

“Power corrupts,” Tokoyami stated as the show flashed back to Midoriya defending the other boy from Bakugo. “And Bakugo’s quirk is powerful. It’s not surprising.”

“But isn’t that why we’re in the hero course?” Kaminari asked, pointing at the feral Bakugo on screen. “So we don’t become Sparky Sparky Boom Pomeranian up there?”

Kamimoto laughed with uproarious mirth at Kaminari’s words as Bakugo shouted obscenities at the blond.

“That’d make a great hero name for you, Bakugo,” Jiro teased.

“Too long,” Kayama said with a shake of her head. “Explosive Pomeranian, maybe.”

“Shut up! That’s not going to be my damn code name!”

Episode 7: Deku vs. Kacchan

“Ooh! Ooh! I know!” Ashido piped up from the front row. “Short Fuse!”

“Hairtrigger?” Kaminari asked.

“What about Sociopathic Sparkler?” Tokoyami suggested, all of them completely ignoring how on-screen Iida and Bakugo were talking over the radio earpieces All Might had provided.

“Artillery Barrage?” Yaoyorozu chipped in.

“Mad Missile!” Ashido shouted.

Asui placed a finger to her chin. “What about something simple like Dynamite?”

Kamimoto laughed while Bakugo shouted. “f*ck no!”

“Maybe a different explosive, then,” Tetsutetsu wondered, “but with a twist. TNTornado?”

“Huh?” Bakugo said, jaw open and glaring at him. “What’s that supposed to be?”

Kirishima’s eyes lit up. “Oh, hey, I get it. Like that super move of yours, Howitzer Impact. You spin around like an explosive tornado or something.”

“Hey, I’ve got one,” Sero stated. “Bang Boy!”

“Or maybe Handmine,” Ojiro offered. “As a play on landmine, but Bakugo’s hands explode.”

“What about Cherry Popper?” Todoroki asked with his usual straight face. “You know, because of the pink hair?”

“REJECTED!” Kayama shouted, hands on the railing, while several students started cackling.

“Todoroki!” Iida chastised, chopping his hand through the air in front of him. “That name is highly inappropriate for a hero! Additionally, we should all be paying attention to the screen, not brainstorming hero names for Bakugo!”

The bichromatic-haired boy looked down at his class rep from his elevated seat. “What’s inappropriate about it? Should it be Cherry Burster instead?”

Aoyama flipped his hair with a flourish while even more uproarious laughter surged throughout the theatre, with even Aizawa chuckling. “Come on, mes amis, have some style. Bomb Voyage is the perfect hero name for our dear Bakugo.”

Kendo stifled a snort as she turned to Yaoyorozu, while on the loveseat next to them Uraraka had her face buried in Midoriya’s neck as she frantically attempted to hold back her giggles. The green-haired boy also had a hand over his mouth, his shoulders shaking something fierce. “Does Bakugo really not have a hero name yet?”

Yaoyorozu shook her head as on-screen All Might answered Ashido’s comment about the heroes being at a disadvantage. “No. Midnight rejected all of his suggestions for being too violent. His first one was “King Explosion Murder” and the others were all too similar to that.”

“I’m not burstin’ anyone’s cherries, you got that, Icy-Hot!?” Bakugo roared. “If anyone’s doing any of that here, it’s gonna be Deku and he’ll be so bad at it Uraraka’ll be crying afterwards from disappointment.”

“Uraraka! Go!”

Midoriya and Uraraka stopped their laughter as their faces went through six shades of red and their hands dropped to their knees. A chorus of “Oooohs” filled the room.

“Shots fired!” Sato teased.

Ashido grinned and elbowed Midoriya across their armrests. “Guess you’re gonna have to man up and prove him wrong there, Midori.”

“A-Ashido!”

“Don’t worry, Midoriya,” Asui attempted to cheer him up. “When the time comes, I’m sure you’ll do just fine.”

“You’re not helping, Tsu!” Uraraka whined.

Aizawa had stopped paying attention to his students’ banter and watched intently as on-screen Midoriya attempted to use the capture tape in the same manner as his scarf after having only seen him act in person once. The notebook he had been in was number ten, and the one Midoriya had been working on in his third year of middle school was notebook number thirteen. Aizawa was sure that he’d managed to stay out of the spotlight and media as much as possible. Usually he was completely unknown by first year students at UA, but Midoriya had known about him for years and had found ways to study him when he was likely still in elementary school.

And to top it off, Nezu was paying much closer attention since he had nothing else to do. Once the principal got his paws on the Problem Child and honed him even more, he’d become a real monster.

Unaware of the thoughts of his teacher, Todoroki frowned. “What do you mean, Bakugo?” he asked. “Does Uraraka have a bag of cherries with her, and why would Midoriya be bad at bursting them? He’s one of the strongest people in our class. Surely he can burst a cherry without any trouble?”

Midoriya and Uraraka both covered their faces with their hands as the laughter from Todoroki’s oblivious question reached a new peak not heard before. Yagi was laughing up so much blood that it was beginning to become worrisome, and even Koda was banging his fist against his knee and Iida was attempting to restrain himself. Aizawa couldn’t help but hear that one and turned to look at Kayama. “I take back every bad thought I had. Do what you want to them this afternoon.”

She licked her lips as a very impure chuckle tickled her throat.

A chill shot down Yaoyorozu’s spine, causing her to cease her laughter immediately. I just got a horrible premonition.

“He’s holding his own and he hasn’t even used his quirk yet!” Sero praised as he watched on the monitor.

“Ooh! How about Little Boy?” Hatsume proposed.

“Are you mocking me, Dreads!?” Bakugo shouted, getting out of his seat and glaring down at the Support girl.

“I mean the atomic bomb,” she answered with a roll of her eyes. “I could have always suggested Fat Man, but you probably wouldn’t get that either.”

“I don’t think our country needs a hero with names like those,” Kayama stated, waving her hand back and forth. “I can see the Americans doing something like that, but not here in Japan. So both of those are a hard no.”

“Atomic Blond?” Sero inquired.

“Atomic Betty!” Kamimoto gasped. She stood up and pointed right at Bakugo. “You should call yourself Atomic Betty.”

“But that’s a girl’s name!” he argued.

“She was a redhead, you now have pink hair. Plus, her theme song kinda fits you.”

“Her theme song ?” Tetsutetsu asked. Kamimoto grinned.

“Yeah, she’s a cartoon character from the early twenty-first century. I’ll show you a video of it later, but basically it was like she’s the toughest chick in the alien world, didn’t have time for pink and lace since she was built for outer space. Atomic Betty, I’m a fighting girl; Atomic Betty gonna rock your world. Atomic Betty I’m Galactic, girl; Atomic Betty, gonna save the world. Are you up to do your part? This ain’t work for the faint of heart. You can run, you can hide, but my choice is to stand and fight!” Kamimoto glanced at Jiro and Kaminari. “Actually, you might like the song; it’s pretty rocking. Wait,” Kamimoto placed a finger to her chin. “Now that I think about it, it won’t work. Atomic Betty was way cuter than Bakugo could ever hope to be.”

Bakugo’s veins were throbbing in his face. “Can we get off this dumb topic already?”

Bakugo’s voice was nothing but a faint echo as Midoriya ran through the hallways of the building away from the explosive blond. “So where’s that flashy power of yours now?!” Midoriya growled, glancing down in his half-mask with his teeth clenched in frustration. The camera cut back to Bakugo, adjusting his stance in anger. “Let’s see how it compares to mine.” Explosions burst from his gloved hands, and a cut in across the screen showed his fierce red eye beneath his black mask. “Quirk or no, you’ll never beat me, Deku!”

“False assertion,” Tokoyami stated, some of his classmates nodding.

The scene cut back to the observation room, where it was showing five different camera angles. One of the bomb, one of Bakugo exploding his hands in a rage, one of Midoriya running, one of Uraraka running, and one of an empty hallway at a t-intersection. “That guy has some real anger issues,” Kaminari stated, his voice becoming uneasy. “Kinda scary…”

‘Midoriya told me that Young Bakugo thinks very highly of himself,’ thought All Might. ‘But this level of pride is something else.’ On the monitor, Bakugo was searching for Midoriya in their cat-and-mouse game not like a lion or a leopard, but more like a rabid wild boar. ‘It may end up being his demise.’

Kirishima looked at his friend sitting silently beside him, stewing over the earlier conversation and All Might’s thoughts. He placed a hand on Bakugo’s shoulder. “It’s okay, man. You got better.”

Midoriya was hiding around a corner on the second floor, crouched down and catching his breath. He didn’t see Bakugo down the hall in front of him. ‘Good. He’s completely forgotten about my partner, just like I thought.’ The screen switched to Iida, waiting next to the weapon, tapping his fingers in presumed agitation at Bakugo’s behaviour. ‘If they wanted to send someone out to stop us here, it should have been Iida. He’s way faster, after all. That probably means Kacchan’s gone rogue. The two of them aren’t working together as a team.’

“I hope you all took and continue to take this lesson seriously,” Principal Nezu spoke up. “Even though your quirks and abilities are varied, teamwork to accomplish a common objective is essential.”

“Yes sir!”

As Midoriya went over the scenario in his head, a diagram and caricatures of the four participants appeared on-screen, superimposed over Midoriya’s recovering form. Midoriya and Uraraka were standing facing Bakugo on the ‘Current Location’ side on the left, with Iida and the bomb on the ‘Villain Hideout’ side on the right.

Midoriya and Uraraka’s caricatures moved past Bakugo to the right to confront Iida. ‘I can’t go after the weapon right now or Kacchan will follow me,’ he reasoned. Bakugo flipped around and came at the two from behind and an explosive ‘VS’ appeared, denoting an undesirable situation.

The image reset, this time including a rapidly ticking down timer as Midoriya and Uraraka faced Bakugo, unmoving. ‘And if we both tried to take him down we’d probably run out of time.’ A graphic of the words TIME UP covered his mental diagram.

The image reset again. ‘So we stay split up for now,’ Midoriya reasoned. ‘I have to trust Uraraka.’ Her caricature moved to the right on her own. ‘She’ll find the weapon and Iida, and then I’ll join her for a two-on-one fight! That’s how we’ll win.’ A large ‘WIN’ appeared on screen alongside a cheery ‘bing’ noise.

“I’m impressed,” Yaoyorozu stated. “Thinking back on this, it didn’t appear as though you had much of a strategy at the time, but you thought this through and planned well. If not for what happened at the end, you might have actually gotten MVP instead of Iida, Midoriya.”

Izuku smiled but shook his head. “True, but what happened at the end of the match did happen, so I’m glad Iida got the recognition he deserved.”

Midoriya rubbed his nose. ‘By the way, I’ve been meaning to tell you, Kacchan…’

The scene flashed back to the first episode, with Bakugo’s neck displayed at the odd angle and his palm smoking while they were in their classroom in Aldera. “You’re even worse than the rest of these rejects, you really think they’d let someone like you in when they could have me?”

Aldera Midoriya scrambled back away from Aldera Bakugo. “No, wait! I’m not trying to compete against you, you gotta believe me!”

The ‘present’ Midoriya in the battle trial held a determined glare as the music swelled. ‘I take back everything I said.’

Tetsutetsu clenched his fist as on-screen Bakugo silently walked down another corridor. “That’s what I’m talking about! You’ve got guts, Midoriya!”

That’s my boy, All Might thought, nodding his head.

“This is actually a lot more exciting than the first time,” Kaminari said with a smile.

Aizawa narrowed his eyes almost imperceptibly as on-screen Bakugo remembered Midoriya’s defiance after he learned that his green-haired classmate had also been accepted into UA. It looks like we’ll finally get a deeper look into his mind now.

‘He’s just a little bug,’ Bakugo thought with his teeth clenched in an open frown.

“Wow! You’re so awesome!”

“That was Baby Midoriya’s voice!” Hagakure shouted as the scene cut back into the past.

Midoriya and Bakugo were playing in a park as kids, Bakugo bouncing a yellow ball up over and over again with his feet, knees, and chest. Midoriya in a cute yellow hoodie clutched his own light blue ball to his chest while watching in excited awe.

“Whatever,” Bakugo replied with stratospheric levels of smug, “this is nothin’.”

The screen cut to the playground pavement, with Midoriya’s voice quickly saying, “Ow!” before his ball came into view, bouncing away. Midoriya was on the ground, hand on his head from where the ball had presumably hit him after he tried to replicate what Bakugo had done.

“Jeez, Izuku,” Bakugo sneered, looking down on him. “You really can’t do anything right, can you?”

“Harsh,” Ojiro commented.

“Well that was uncalled for,” Sero muttered.

Holding up a bucket that was labelled with Midoriya’s name, Bakugo pointed at the character on the far right. “Look, you can read the last part of Izuku’s name as ‘Deku’.”

“So that’s where it came from…” Ochaco mumbled as the other neighbourhood kids, including Midoriya, gasped in excited awe that Bakugo could read. She squeezed Izuku’s hand beneath the green blanket that she, again, had gotten to place over their laps. He had started to tense up again as the bad memories he may have forgotten about were replayed fresh for him to examine.

“Well, obviously,” Bakugo scoffed with pride at their praise. “Deku. That must be what you call a helpless loser who’s completely useless.”

“Ouch,” Kayama winced.

The other boys chuckled while Midoriya looked confused for a moment before recognizing that he’d just been insulted, again. “Why are you being so mean, Kacchan?”

“Kids are dicks,” Jiro grumbled.

Momentarily cutting to black, Kid Bakugo’s voice sounded over the darkness with a question, “Why don’t you understand?”

A circular white rock skipped along the calm waters of the river, skipping over eight times before the camera cut to the riverbank, showing the five neighbourhood boys together. Bakugo had been the one skipping the rock, while all four of the others had their mouths open in amazement at the number of times the rock had skipped along the surface. “Dude, that has to be a new record,” exclaimed the one who would later acquire the finger-extending quirk.

Bakugo placed his hands on his hips, vaingloriously stating, “I bet it is.”

Kaminari folded his arms together. “So he skipped a rock a bunch, big whoop.”

“Bet you couldn’t have done better,” Jiro teased.

“Where’s yours?” Bakugo glanced towards Midoriya, a knowing sneer on his face.

“Well, uh...” Midoriya’s posture fell before admitting, “it sank.”

“Of course it sank,” Ashido grumbled as the boys laughed and Midoriya’s lip trembled. “It’s a rock.”

The screen turned to black again. “Why can’t you do anything right?”

The show revealed their kindergarten class, Bakugo’s hands popping off small little firecrackers for the assembled children. Some of the others were already showing signs of their quirks, like the fingers kid and the other neighbourhood boy from the first scene of the show that had red draconic wings sprouting from his back. All of the kids were looking at Bakugo’s quick with amazement as he stood there with a small smile on his face as he observed his quirk.

“Impressive,” the male teacher of their class praised him. “I bet you that’s gonna grow into an amazing quirk.”

“Definitely,” his female co-worker agreed with a bright smile. “A flashy quirk for a future hero. It’s perfect.” They were both really sweet as they said those things, but...

The screen turned to black once more. “Yeah,” Kid Bakugo’s voiceover said, “you’re right.” It returned to the kindergarten class, zooming in on Bakugo’s wide smile. ‘I am amazing.’ Bakugo’s smile grew wider in realization of the one truth of his small world. ‘In fact, I bet there’s no one as great as I am!’

“That’s… certainly one way to view things,” Koda quietly mumbled.

“I’m surprised his head didn’t get caught in the door on his way in,” Yaoyorozu uttered.

“I wasn’t gonna say this, but you were pretty stuck-up the first couple days too, Yaomomo,” Jiro commented. The brunette flushed.

“M-maybe I did have an excess of pride,” she said, “But I surely wasn’t like that , was I?”

Midoriya and Uraraka both shook their heads, being the closest to her seat. “No, not at all,” Uraraka comforted her.

‘...bug for me to smash,’ Battle Trial Bakugo reminded himself as he began to ascend a flight of stairs.

“Hey, did you hear?” a child’s voiceover stated before the scene entered another flashback of the boys as children. “Deku doesn’t have a quirk! Like, none!”

Midoriya was sitting on the floor in his kindergarten, surrounded by his classmates and trembling. His eyes were wide as dinner plates, and a smile was frozen onto his face as his entire world was destroyed. The children around him quietly teased at first, before they all started laughing at him.

“What, really?”

“Yeah. It’s called being quirkless.”

“That’s dumb, he’s so lame!”

“What a loser.”

In the midst of the laughter, the female teacher of the group offered Midoriya a meagre, “Don’t worry about it, okay, Izuku?” Even Bakugo, grinning from the sidelines at Midoriya’s circ*mstances, could tell that she didn’t really mean what she said. Nobody was reprimanding the other kids for mocking Deku.

‘You’re a total failure, Deku.’

Ochaco let go of Izuku’s hand and instead snuggled closer into him, wrapping her right arm around his waist. She kissed him on the cheek and whispered, “You’re not a failure, Izuku. The word ‘Deku’ doesn’t mean that anymore.”

He turned and looked at her. There was a determined fire in her brown eyes, telling him that she wasn’t about to let him start listening to these ghosts of the past. The sensation of her lips on him was still fresh, giving Izuku a clear reminder of her feelings for him. He sighed, placing his forehead against hers and cradling Ochaco’s head in his left hand. Their noses were almost touching as he gazed into her eyes, the fire within melting into a gooey warmth his whole body could feel as he smiled. “I know,” his voice faintly tickled its way out of his throat.

Iida, Asui, Ashido, Kendo, Yaoyorozu, Kayama, Sato, and Koda, all watched over Midoriya and Uraraka with warm, soft smiles, peacefully observing Midoriya planting a sweet kiss upon Uraraka’s lips. Jiro chuckled and told them to, “Get a room.”

Still in the flashback zone, Bakugo was now leading the boys out of the forest they’d entered in the first flashback of the episode and across a log that spanned a creek. His right palm was turned forward in front of him, cracking off explosions as he demonstrated and practiced his amazing quirk in front of his followers while singing a marching tune.

“Forward march and here we go! Members of the agency Bakugo! Sound o-!” He stopped singing as his footing slipped and Bakugo fell off of the log, plummeting down into the water below.

Despite their current dislike for Bakugo given what the show had been presenting as his past behaviour, a good number of the students still gasped in shock. “Hey, were you okay, man?” Kirishima asked.

“Of course I was fine!” Bakugo retorted. “Why wouldn’t I be? That was barely anything.”

The teachers shared glances with one another, and returned to gazing intently at the screen. Was this the incident Bakugo had mentioned yesterday at their meeting?

“Oh, don’t worry,” the winged boy assured the other two, “Kacchan is super tough. See?”

Bakugo sat up out of the water, shaking himself off.

Some sighs of relief filtered through the watching students until they heard their teenage Bakugo’s voice emanate from the video.

‘I was just fine on my own, Deku.’

“Oh dear,” Yaoyorozu huffed. “What did Midoriya do this time, Bakugo?”

“Must be something awful to get his panties in a bunch,” Mineta said.

Smiling, Child Bakugo turned around and looked back up at the other boys still on the log. “Sure! Just give me one second!” He laughed, showing that he was just fine.

‘I didn’t need your stupid help.’

Jiro gasped. “Midoriya? Helping people!? What a shock!”

Bakugo stopped smiling as the sound of splashing water entered his ears. A hand reached out to him as Midoriya offered to help him up. The Baby Form of All Might’s future successor gave him a concerned look. “Are you alright?” he asked. “Are you hurt?”

“He wasn’t the only one asking if Bakugo was okay, but the only one who actually came down to check on him,” Tokoyami noted.

Bakugo’s smile slipped away as his eyes took in the worried expression on the other child’s face. “I was worried you might’ve hit your head or something.”

The blond’s face snapped, teeth clenching and glaring at Midoriya in wrath for even daring to suggest that he needed help or was injured in any way.

‘But you looked at me like I was some kind of weakling!’

The flashback changed to the tear and snot-covered face of Midoriya from the second episode after he’d run in to save Bakugo from the Sludge Villain, but the mood couldn’t be more different. “Kacchan, I couldn’t just stand there and watch you die.”

‘Like you!’ Bakugo in his hero costume stomped forward during the battle trial, the background around him stylized in darkness and purple with white cracks behind him like shattered glass, as if resembling the ego Deku had broken all those years ago. There was nothing but rage in his eyes and gritted teeth. ‘But I’m not! I’m so much better than you are!’

Aizawa nodded his head. “I guess that explains things, then.”

Tetsutetsu frowned and turned to look at his seatmate. “Are you serious? A kid asks if you’re okay and offers to help you up after a fall and you take it as a personal insult?”

“Shut up.”

“Hello, Mrs. Midoriya?” Kaminari asked, holding his locked phone up to his head. “Your kid’s a monster. He tried to help me.”

“Shut up!”

Uraraka had found Iida and the fake weapon and was about to contact Midoriya, but she heard Iida talking to himself and paused. “Bakugo definitely has a villainous side and that’s exactly what we need to succeed on this mission. Hmm. I need to temporarily devote myself to criminal intent.” He looked at his hands. “Yes. I won’t fail this trial and risk bringing shame down on the Iida family name.”

His voice became even more serious as he steeled himself. “That means… I must embrace evil… to become a hero!”

Iida’s entire being changed as the background became dark and twisted. Like a high school drama student doing his very best mustache-twirlingly evil caricature, Iida’s voice became one filled with pretentious indifference to the suffering of man. “Behold! I am the personification of villainy!” Iida’s twisted ‘evil’ persona smile faded into the background, with the words ‘Bwa-ha-ha-ha’ appearing.

The on-screen Uraraka wasn’t the only one who started to laugh. Izuku was among the students letting out a few chuckles as he turned to look at his friend. “Wow, you really got into the spirit of the exercise, didn’t you, Iida?”

“I determined that it was important for the sake of furthering my education,” Iida answered him. “Even though I lost in the end, I feel like the effort was worth it.”

“I would advise against embodying that persona in the future, Young Iida,” Yagi called down to him. “You’ll find very few villains in the world who deliberately engage in crime with the desire to be ‘evil’.”

“That’s correct,” Nezu said. “Quite often, in fact, the criminals and villains of the world are just those who have different values and desires that are in opposition to the peace and stability of the society in which we live. Rare is the villain who does evil for the sake of being evil.”

Iida pointed at Uraraka after revealing that he’d cleaned the entire room of anything she could use her quirk on. “My dastardly tricks have rendered you helpless!” Uraraka watched Iida in disbelief as he spouted his ‘evil’ plan in front of her. “You’ve blundered, hero!”

Iida started to perform his best mustache-twirlingly evil laugh as Uraraka practically sweat-dropped in surprise at her friend’s roleplaying antics. “He really is… playing the part.”

“Actually, I like this,” Kayama stated, placing a finger to the side of her lips. “We should encourage more roleplaying in our exercises like this. It could make things much more fun.”

“Hero work isn’t supposed to be fun , Nemuri,” Aizawa stated.

“But school should be,” she replied. “They’re only first years, after all.”

“We only have three years to turn them into pros,” Aizawa reminded her. “There are no hero colleges in this country, Nemuri. No Bachelors Degrees in Heroism. We don’t have time for fun and games.”

Midoriya looked up as he talked with Uraraka on the radios All Might had given the two of them. “Right above me. We probably don’t have much time left now.” The show showed the clock ticking down on the Powerful Timer. Less than six minutes left. “We have to finish this fast or they win.”

“Only about a third of their time left,” Kendo said.

“This is where things start getting dicey, right?” Mineta asked.

A bing sounded behind Midoriya as Bakugo’s left gauntlet flashed red on the black lines between the green sections. The noise alerted Midoriya to his presence, the hero turning around in surprise. The blond raised his fist. “I’m all loaded up,” he said as the training montage music started up.

“What does that mean?” Midoriya asked.

“Ew, gross,” Ashido cringed. “Could you maybe not have said it like that, Bakugo?”

“...underestimating me, Deku,” Bakugo taunted with an insane look in his eyes. “Get over here and show me what you’re really made of.”

“He’s not using his quirk because he’d kinda kill you with it, Bakugo,” Sato pointed out.

“Like I knew that at the time, Big Lips!”

Midoriya forced himself to stop trembling. “I’m not scared of you anymore!”

Ochaco kept her hug on Izuku tight while her face set into a thin line. “So this is what you were facin’ below me, huh?”

Izuku nodded, sighing out a simple, “Yeah.”

Bakugo controlled his anger at Midoriya’s defiance and brought his lips back into a superior smirk. “Since you’re such a stalker, by now you probably know how my quirk, Explosion, works.” Bakugo steadied his left arm and pointed his gauntlet at Midoriya.

“I secret nitroglycerin-like sweat from my hands and make it blow up. Imagine what I could do if I had a lot of it!”

“Those gauntlets must reek!” Hagakure whined.

“I’m glad I’m not the one cleaning those babies,” Hatsume agreed.

“...one monster blast!” Bakugo declared as he grabbed the pin, ready to unload on Midoriya.

All Might’s face jerked in realization as he watched from the observation room. ‘No, he’s going too far!’ He quickly spoke up. “Young Bakugo, don’t do it! You’ll kill him!”

Bakugo ignored the order of his instructor, looking straight forward with an insane expression on his face. “He’ll be fine as long as he dodges!” He pulled the pin.

The class blinked in amazement as they heard the words that Bakugo said right before a massive fireball roared out of the support gauntlet, tearing apart the walls of the corridor as it raced towards Midoriya. More than one gasped as he appeared to leap out of the way at the last possible moment.

“Well…” Ashido said, trying to get her tongue to work. “You were really good at dodging, Midori.”

Izuku chuckled to himself and rubbed his right hand against the back of his head while looking over at the pink-haired girl. “Thanks, Ashido. If I was any worse at it, I’m pretty sure I’d be even more injured than I was.”

“Or dead!” Mineta cried. “Seriously, why do we have guys with such crazy power in our class? My quirk’s got nothing on that.”

“Don’t say that, Mineta,” Izuku quickly tried to assure the short boy. “Your quirk’s really awesome in its own ways. It’s amazing both for capture, rescue, and general utility. Powerful quirks aren’t everything. I’m sure you’ll become an awesome pro with it.”

“Shut up!” Mineta retorted. “You’re the guy with All Might’s quirk and you’re the first guy in our class to get a girlfriend. I see you and Uraraka cocooned in your own little world. You don’t get to talk about being popular!”

Ashido quietly pulled out her phone to distract herself from the sight of Midori laying shell-shocked on the floor, his costume mask gone entirely and his right sleeve missing. She entered the Girls Chat she’d created last night, thumbs moving as she typed.

Horny: As much as Baka-go was a dick during the combat exercise and as a kid, I have a proposal.

Horny: All in favour of stealing his line for a future attack on Mineta when he’s being a perv?

Kyoka: You mean shouting, “You’ll be fine as long as you dodge” at the grape?

Momo: I approve. I’ll even make the cannon.

Bakugo continued to advance on the downed Midoriya who looked absolutely terrified. “Go ahead, use your stupid quirk on me, Deku!”

The class cringed. Bakugo looked completely unhinged as he loomed over Midoriya.

“Even if you give me everything you’ve got, you’ll never beat me.”

Aizawa looked at Yagi as the episode transition finally occurred. “You should have ended the exercise right there, All Might.”

“I understood that at the time too,” Yagi answered his colleague. “But, for Midoriya’s sake, I let it continue.”

“So he could land himself in Recovery Girl’s office?” Aizawa growled.

“So he could gain confidence in himself,” Yagi replied.

“Bakugo, answer me!” Iida gave up the roleplay to try to get some answers from Bakugo. “What is going on down there? Did you cause that blast? Give me a status update, now!”

‘Now’s my chance!’ Uraraka took off running as the same music from when the show highlighted her performance in the Entrance Exam started up. ‘If I can claim the weapon, that means we win!’

“Oh, so this is what you were up to above me,” Izuku gasped, eyes shining with excitement as a smile came to his face.

Ochaco blushed and looked away. “Yeah… I wasn’t very good, though. Iida still got ahead of me.”

“Wish I could have been there to help, though.” Ochaco shook her head at the soft tone in Izuku’s voice.

“No, you were busy keeping Bakugo occupied, even if he nearly killed you for it.” She kissed his cheek again. “You did amazin’ without even using your quirk, Izuku.” Izuku stared at her for a few seconds before smiling, a small huff of laughter coming from him, and nodding.

Iida looked up at Uraraka in surprise, as she floated past him. “Since when can she make herself float!?”

Sporting a confident grin, Uraraka touched her fingertips together. “Release!” The backside of Iida’s greaves popped open as Iida extended the exhaust pipes of his engines. He dashed forward to thwart Uraraka as she fell towards the weapon. She was almost there... ‘This special move is hard, but it’s worth it!’

Iida snatched it the moment before she could touch the weapon. With nothing in the way to block her fall, Uraraka hit the floor hard and wrong, somersaulting head over heels. Her helmet clattered off and the puffy pink belt slammed into the wall, arresting her movement with her head and shoulders on the floor, her butt in the air, and her ankles on either side of her head.

“Ouch,” Izuku muttered. “That didn’t look comfortable.” Ochaco giggled and shook her head.

“No it wasn’t,” she laughed.

Iida evilly monologued from the other side of the room, posturing with the weapon. “I could easily keep this weapon out of your reach until time runs out!”

Uraraka picked herself up from her embarrassing position and levelled Iida with a determined grimace. ‘It’s not over,’ she resolved herself. ‘I won’t let Deku down.’

“So even on day one you had the hots for him, huh Ocha?” Ashido teased.

“MINA!”

“Just ‘cause you’re dating now doesn’t mean you suddenly get a free pass from all the teasing,” Jiro chuckled.

Kaminari groaned. “Man, I never had a chance, did I?”

Sero shrugged. “Ah, don’t worry about it, man. Midoriya and Uraraka were basically a sure thing. We could all see it coming anyway.”

“I didn’t!” Mineta complained.

“Everyone calm down,” Iida protested. “We’ve gotten side-tracked too often today. Let’s just continue to watch the episode.”

In the observation room, Kirishima looked nervously at All Might. “Sir, isn’t this getting out of hand?” he asked. “That Bakugo is acting real crazy, he’s gonna kill him!”

“That Bakugo?” Bakugo asked him.

“It was like the second day, man,” Kirishima replied. “Cut me some slack. I’ve been cutting you a lot of slack so far.”

“I won’t hurt you so bad they’ll have to stop the fight, just close!”

“He’ll be fine as long as he dodges!”

‘Despite his fierce posturing, he’s not actually trying to kill Midoriya,’ All Might reasoned. ‘But still.’ He spoke into his microphone to Bakugo. “Bakugo. Use that stored-up power again and I’ll stop this fight. Your team will lose.”

Bakugo looked up in disbelief. “Huh?” he asked the air, while at the far end of the room Midoriya was still down, speaking to Uraraka over coms.

“To employ such a strong attack indoors is inviting the destruction of the stronghold you should be protecting! That’s a poor strategy, whether you’re a hero or a villain. The penalty would be a massive loss of points.”

Bakugo’s began to shake, seemingly enraged that All Might was telling him he couldn’t fight the way he wanted to. He needed to beat the sh*t out of that nerd to put Deku back in his place, and All Might was telling him, “No”.

All Might gripped his microphone tighter. ‘I know that as a teacher, I should stop this fight now, but…’

“You really should have stopped it, All Might,” Kayama said, agreeing with Aizawa. “That explosion should have cost Bakugo’s team the match for the reckless danger it posed. This was their first day of classes for first-year hero students. That was far too violent.”

Bakugo screamed in frustration as Midoriya got back to his feet and finished giving directions to Uraraka. “The pillar by the window, get there now!”

“Fine then!” Explosions burst from Bakugo’s hands as he rocketed towards Midoriya. “We’ll fight hand-to-hand!”

Tetsutetsu grinned. “All right! Lets see you grit those teeth!”

“I can’t watch,” Jiro said, covering her eyes with her hands as Midoriya lost his footing and Bakugo’s beat-down of Midoriya played in front of their eyes again, this time hearing every taunt that the explosive blond threw at their green-haired cinnamon roll.

“What’s that about me being an idiot, Icy-Hot?” Bakugo growled.

“If you paid attention I actually complimented you,” Todoroki replied. “Listen to what Yaoyorozu’s saying as she breaks down your move again. It’s impressive.”

“Ugh,” Kaminari groaned. “Bakugo is uber-talented. I hate it.”

“Then maybe you should train harder, Dunce-Face!”

Kaminari growled and turned around. “You could at least try to be nice to people for a change, Flamingo.”

“Hey, that’s a good one,” Asui said. “Flamingos are actually really vain, just like Bakugo. Now we just need him to keep his hair that colour and it’ll work.”

Kayama’s eyes brightened. “I like it. “Flamingo”. If you choose that code name, Bakugo, I see no reason not to approve it.”

“I thought I told you extras to stop pitching sh*tty hero name ideas!”

“This is hard to watch!” Ashido was near-tears as she begged All Might to stop it. “All he has to do is wrap tape around him, not kill him!”

Tokoyami scowled at the screen. “Bakugo’s certainly acting like a villain.”

“I’ve got to agree with them,” Tetsutetsu said with a nod of his head. “Even Kamakiri wasn’t this crazy in his first combat training. It’s like you were seriously trying to put Midoriya in the hospital. Why the hell were you even thinking what you were thinking?”

Bakugo tisked. “I don’t have to explain myself to you . I’ve just barely started figuring that sh*t out now got it? Besides, I already told you and Kirishima yesterday that this fight got dark.”

All Might’s hand trembled on his microphone. ‘I should end this! But…’ Midoriya got back to his feet. ‘For his sake, I’ll let it go on.’ Midoriya looked around, then turned tail and started to scramble on all fours towards the windows.

“He’s running away!” Ashido gasped.

Kendo looked past Yaoyorozu to the pair sitting on the loveseat next to them. “Did you have a plan?”

Izuku and Ochaco both nodded. “It was Izuku’s idea,” Ochaco explained. “And a crazy one, but that’s pretty much par for the course with him.”

“Usually my crazy ideas end up working out in the end,” Izuku admitted. “Now I just need to make them less self-destructive or Mr. Aizawa will choke me with his scarf while Recovery Girl breaks my kneecaps with her cane.”

Bakugo was not having any of Deku’s bullsh*t at not using his quirk. “You’ve been hiding your true power for years, what’s the deal, Deku?! Did you think you were better than me this entire time?!” His eyes were wild and incensed.

“Okay, wait, hang on,” Sato said. “You thought Midoriya purposefully victimized himself and let you bully him for years all as part of an elaborate long con to get into UA and spit in your face? That’s what you honestly thought?”

“You idiot,” Midoriya stated.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself, Midoriya,” Hagakure agreed with a nod.

“Yaomomo,” Jiro addressed. “I take back what I said earlier. You had a respectable amount of ego. Bakugo’s ego was the size of the freaking sun if he thought that.”

Midoriya had tears in his eyes as he looked Bakugo straight in the eye and glared in desperate determination at him. “I know you’re better than me!”

Bakugo glared right back, hissing through his teeth.

“Can’t you see?” Midoriya asked.

“Here it comes,” Kirishima said, starting to get excited again, “the final clash.”

“You weren’t that excited at the time,” Sero pointed out.

“I didn’t know what was coming then.”

“You’re even more of an idiot than I realized.” Bakugo’s manic grin practically exploded off his face as he shouted at Deku. “COME AT ME!”

“Oh, we’ve got the “Midoriya’s going to be awesome now” music again,” Jiro said. She elbowed Kaminari. “Pay up. I won the bet.”

‘The only other time I hear that much passion in his voice is when he talks about being a hero,’ All Might thought as Midoriya ran for Bakugo, drive and courage overcoming his terror. ‘In order to achieve his dream, he has to do this.’

The boys leapt at each other, each of them preparing their own attacks. Time seemed to slow down as the background faded away from them. ‘Not for me, but for himself.’

One For All surged through Midoriya’s right arm and fist, his muscles bulging as his skin glowed, with the final remnants of what was left of his costume on that arm tearing away.

“You can’t be serious!” Kendo exclaimed. “He used that punch to blow up one of those zero-pointers! Midoriya, how’s Bakugo still here if you used it on him?”

“Are you saying I couldn’t tank one of Deku’s sh*tty punches, extra?”

“Don’t call her an extra!” Tetsutetsu scolded him. “Her name is Kendo!”

Izuku smiled at the slight blush that formed on Kendo’s cheeks and nodded his head back at the screen as his past self called Uraraka’s name. “Because I didn’t punch Bakugo.”

“Right!” Uraraka hugged a pillar like a koala, with Iida looking at her like she’d lost her mind for a moment.

Midoriya’s tears had evaporated from the heat of the impending explosion on Bakugo’s right hand as the two boys closed on one another. ‘I can’t beat you, not in a one-on-one fight like this.’ He flipped his arm from a right straight to an uppercut. ‘But I can win!’

Kendo gasped. Seeing what he meant.

Midoriya stared down Bakugo’s impending blast while making the final motion of his own attack, not to put his old bully down, but to ensure his win.

“SMAAAAASH!!!”

The students gasped and cheered anew as Midoriya’s uppercut blew the air skyward with enough force to tear a massive hole through the concrete, piercing through every floor and going high into the sky, just like All Might’s punch to finally stop the Sludge Villain. Every window shattered, and bits of concrete and rebar scattered through the destruction of a good chunk of the building.

Iida clenched his hands around the fake weapon to keep his balance at the sudden impact from Midoriya’s punch, and the large amount of wind now buffeting through the room. He paused to let go and couldn’t believe his eyes at the destruction that had happened out of nowhere. “What’s happening?”

Uraraka activated her quirk on the pillar she had been hugging, now freestanding with its base crumbled away. “This is it! Sorry, Iida!” She swung the giant pillar back like a baseball bat. “Improvised special move: the Comet Home Run!”

“Nice one, Uraraka,” Sato complimented her.

“It’s far from elegant, though,” Aoyama critiqued.

“Hey, if it gets the job done, it gets the job done,” Sero shrugged.

She swung forward, the pillar striking floating debris with the sound of a major league slugger connecting with a fastball, and the bits of concrete flew towards Iida at terrifying speeds. Iida brought up his hands to shield his face. “In the name of villainy I demand that you stop this!”

Uraraka leapt across the hole in the floor while Iida was distracted by her improvised attack, flying over towards the bomb with her gravity already negated. She pressed her fingers together above her head and called out, “Release!”

Iida managed to look up right as Uraraka landed on the weapon, hugging it with a relieved smile. “I got it!”

“No! The weapon!” Iida’s eyes were wide in shock.

“Woo!” Ashido cheered. “You go guys!”

“It was certainly a hair-raising finale, I’ll say that much,” Kendo sighed, leaning back in her seat.

“Man, that was gutsy,” Tetsutetsu said with a grin. He turned to look at Bakugo as the on-screen Bakugo barked at Midoriya. “Bet you thought you had him, huh?”

“Shut your mouth Cloneshima.”

Tetsutetsu laughed.

“...going to use it...” Midoriya’s voice was weak and broken, wracked with pain as he held his broken right arm up. The smoke from Bakugo’s explosive attack began to clear away. “...because I can’t control it. My body just can’t handle the backlash of my power yet.”

Bakugo was trembling, looking like a strange crossroads between horrified and enraged. “Mr. Aizawa said I’d be useless…” Midoriya’s left arm had shielded his face from the majority of the blast, looking blackened and scorched; damaged almost as badly as his broken right arm. “...but this was all… that I… could think of.”

The blond gasped and his eyes widened as he saw the damage his attack did to Midoriya.

“And now he understands just how dangerous his quirk actually is,” Tokoyami stated. Asui nodded with an accompanying “Ribbet.”

“This is the only way… I had any chance at winning.”

Bakugo’s expression swiftly dropped the anger, showing nothing but terror.

The timer expired, with most of the rest of the class looking on in various states of shock and horror.

All Might clutched his microphone, hesitating. “You did it…” he whispered.

Midoriya collapsed, falling to his right onto the ground as the straps keeping his respirator attached finally broke apart, separating it from the rest of his costume. Bakugo could only stare as he was handed his first ever loss.

“The hero team… WIIIIIIINS!!!”

Ashido placed a hand to her heart as the outro started up. “Man, that was more intense than I remembered,” she said. “Y’know, sometimes having a soundtrack to accompany stuff feels a little overkill.”

“But you’ve gotta admit,” Kaminari pointed out, “for the context of a show, it’s hella entertaining, am I right?”

“Just because you find it entertaining doesn’t mean that all of us do,” Jiro answered. “I bet Midoriya’s not too happy about watching himself get wrecked on the first day of class again.”

“Oh yeah, did that leave any scars like the sports festival?” Hagakure asked. “That was a pretty wicked burn Bakugo did to your arm.”

Ochaco shook her head before Izuku could answer. “Nope. No scars from that at least. I can at least tell you that much.”

Nezu shared looks with the other teachers. Each of them nodded. They would need to have a discussion during this break, or possibly at lunch later.

Narrator All Might’s voice emanated from the screen moments after the man’s theme music started up to show the next episode preview. “You kids still have a lot to learn, but I’ll help you hero up!”

Narrator Midoriya didn’t seem to have anything interesting to say this time over the snapshots of what would soon await them, only offering a customary, “Next time, Bakugo’s Start Line!”

“So is it from this point on that you stopped being such an ass?” Tetsutetsu asked.

“Young Bakugo’s going to get all teary-eyed on us,” Narrator All Might teased.

“Go Beyond.”

“PLUS ULTRA!”

Kamimoto clapped her hands and pressed a button on her remote. A countdown timer appeared on the screen. “Five minutes!” she reminded them. “If you need to pee or get anything from me, now’s you chance.”

Chapter 14: Pridefall Pt. 1

Chapter Text

Toshinori glanced between Aizawa, Kayama, and Nezu as the four of them stood near the theatre doors at the top of the room. “I don’t know if five minutes is an adequate time frame to discuss what we witnessed during the combat training,” he put out.

“I agree,” Aizawa said. “We’ll need to discuss this further at lunch, but I feel we should at least have a preliminary discussion.”

Kayama nodded. “However, I don’t think it will be productive to bring Bakugo or Midoriya into the conference room to discuss this again,” she proposed. “We already talked about their relationship with them yesterday, and Bakugo mentioned this creek incident then.”

“Kayama is correct,” Nezu agreed. “While it is extremely useful that we now have full context of the inciting incidents behind Bakugo’s tormenting of Midoriya, having another chat with the two boys so soon after our last will not bring the desired results. We will simply have to observe and guide them to the best of our abilities while we are in this place.”

“It’s also good to see that while Midoriya’s support network has strengthened, Bakugo’s hasn’t degraded entirely and left him ostracized by his peers,” Toshinori observed. “Young Kirishima and Young Sero were both working out with him in the gym yesterday, and Young Tetsutetsu and Young Kirishima are both sitting with him again today. This is a good class; they may not all be friends with one another, but I don’t think any of them are truly alone.”

Aizawa nodded. “Despite their differences, Class 1-A is a unit. They all worked together to pass the first stage of the licensing exam, even if they went down to the wire and Todoroki and Bakugo failed the second stage. Given the change we’ve already seen in how Bakugo and Midoriya interact between the time of these episodes and now, I can say that they’ll all become upstanding heroes.”

“But we must not become complacent, Aizawa,” Nezu reminded him. “Seeing their pasts laid out like this and understanding the inner workings of our students’ minds, it is doubly clear that we did not previously understand just how prideful Bakugo truly was. To think that since childhood he believed that the simple act of being offered help equaled a declaration of weakness; and as he said yesterday to hear it come from Midoriya, a child he’d already written off as having no value, a wound to him like that may as well be a malignant tumor. A deeply-rooted belief like that that has been held for most of his life is not something that his pride will allow him to let go of so easily. While Midoriya’s newfound relationship with Uraraka may help to begin healing his deep-seated issues of inadequacy, we should still keep our eyes on both students for the time being.”

Toshinori nodded his head along with the other two, all three of them giving the principal a brief, “Yes, sir” in acknowledgement. The four returned to their seats.

“You were right,” Tetsutetsu commented, looking at his seatmate, “that fight really didn’t paint you in a good light.”

Bakugo bristled. “Shut u—”

“But at least you didn’t stab Tsunotori in the leg like Kamakiri did,” Tetsutetsu added.

Bakugo froze for a moment while Kirishima said, “Whoa, Kamakiri did what? ”

“He got more than a little heated in his match,” Tetsutetsu answered. “He was trying to lock down Tsunotori in a corridor in order to defend the weapon. Didn’t like how he had to keep defending himself against her horns as she controlled them in the tight space of the corridor, so he bashed through them and charged her. Now Tsunotori’s strong as a horse, no mistake about that, but his sudden move caught her off-guard. While she was slightly unbalanced from him slamming into her, Kamakiri used his blades to stab her in her right leg to limit her mobility. She… she started bleeding pretty bad as he wrapped the capture tape around her. Kendo says he had to have cut her femoral artery, because All Might called the match and she was close to passing out by the time he arrived.”

“Was she okay?” Kirishima asked.

“Oh yeah, she’s fine,” Tetsutetsu answered. “Recovery Girl took care of her real well, but still, if she hadn’t, Tsunotori might have died. Kamakiri was really shook up by it; at first we thought it was because he almost killed his classmate, but we all got really upset at him when the only thing we heard him chastise himself for getting too caught up in the fight and losing the exercise. He didn’t even seem to care that he almost killed Pony.” He looked over at Bakugo, who was gazing at him in shock. “What? Surprised that we have our own version of you? He’s gotten better since then, but still, seeing your fight reminded me of that.”

Katsuki turned away from Tetsutetsu, bringing his gaze down to the space between his knees. Deku’s arm after that final blast of his, the one he’d used to block the attack from hitting his face. It was blackened and scorched. If not for the old lady’s quirk it would have been a bitch to heal from. Fortunately it was just his arm, but if the nerd hadn’t predicted his move? If it had been anyone but Deku and they hadn’t seen the explosive right coming for their face?

Could I have… killed someone on my first day of real training?

Katsuki shook his head. No, that was impossible. He only got that way because he’d still been seeing Deku as that worthless wannabe who’d somehow cheated his way into UA and been hiding a quick behind his back in an elaborate long con to make him look like an idiot.

He would have been smarter against anyone else. He would have…

No, he couldn’t use hindsight. While he may have gotten pissed off at Deku for thinking he could stand on the same stage as him, once he decided to fight he would have fought the same way. He still would have used that right hook and he still would have aimed that final blast for the face. The only reason it didn’t work in the end was because Deku was such a nerd he’d anticipated it from having been on the receiving end so many times. He just hadn’t had the strength to fight back or defend himself before. But if it hadn’t been Deku, if it hadn’t been someone who could predict that and use their arm as a shield… if he’d been facing off against Round Face down there instead...

Oh sh*t. I really could have… a burn to the face like that… he could have lost an eye, or worse.

“Dammit!” he hissed to himself as he put his hands around his head. “Just how f*cked up was I back then?”

A hand touched his shoulder. “It’s okay, man,” Kirishima consoled him. “You’re not quite the same guy now that you were back then. Everyone makes mistakes, what matters is that we learn from them and move forward so we can live a life with no regrets. That’s what manly chivalry means to me.”

The countdown timer reached zero on the screen in front of them, and Kamimoto whooped as the next episode began to start.

“Wow! You’re so lucky.”

“We’re starting with a flashback of them bug hunting as kids again?” Mineta asked. He sighed and placed a hand on his cheek. “Yeah, yeah, we get it already.”

“This is still important background information,” Iida remarked as he wrote in his notebook. “We must pay close attention to it.”

“Do we really need to be taking notes on Midori and Bakugo’s relationship?” Ashido inquired as it shifted to a repeat of them running at each other, each using their quirks for their final attacks

“So where’s that flashy power of yours now!? Dammit! You were tricking me for years by acting weak! Bet you’ve been laughing behind my back, huh? Let’s see how your power compares to mine! Quirk or no, you’ll never beat me, Deku!”

“That’s still the dumbest long con conspiracy theory I’ve ever heard,” Jiro scoffed.

“Yeah,” Hatsume agreed. “It’s like Midoriya went, “I’ve got a brilliant idea! I’m gonna pretend to be quirkless for a decade and get beaten to a pulp every day for it, all so that I can laugh at Bakugo behind his back and then in his face when we both get into UA”. Because that’s exactly what Ten Million over there would think.”

Midoriya yelped as they talked about him and rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I mean, if it hadn’t been One For All, I probably would have told Ka—Bakugo right away, but I was supposed to keep it a secret.”

“Even then, you still couldn’t keep your damn mouth shut,” Bakugo growled, just loud enough for the front row to hear.

“What do you mean he couldn’t keep his mouth shut?” Kaminari asked. “We never heard a word about any of this stuff before yesterday!”

“Keep watching and you’ll see,” Bakugo continued to growl. “And stop thinking I look like a damn strawberry! You don’t have to say it, I can see it in your goddamn eyes!”

“Like it or not, you can’t stop me!” Midoriya’s voice from the past echoed as he fell unconscious following Bakugo’s blast.

“I’m so proud,” Ochaco said quietly, squeezing Izuku’s side. “It was only our first real day of class, but you stood up to him and we worked together to win the exercise.”

“But I broke my arm and needed to go to Recovery Girl,” Izuku reminded her. “I was the only one who got seriously injured in class.”

Ochaco shook her head and let it lie on his shoulder. “But you’ve gotten much better at that. You have enough control over One For All to not break yourself anymore.”

The intro started up and Asui turned to look at Bakugo’s couch. “I have to agree with Kyoka,” she said. “Midoriya’s the kind of guy who would ask All Might or Endeavor if they were catching a cold if they so much as sneezed, ribbit. You really thought that he was tricking you for years and thought that him asking if you were okay equated to Midoriya thinking you were weak?”

“Just call me an egomaniac and get it over with, Frog,” Bakugo grumbled. “Only weaklings need someone to help them; the strong don’t. A worthless screw-up like him, the weakest of weaklings, extending a hand to me ? It was a f*cking insult to my very identity as the best of the best.”

“Offering or accepting help isn’t a sign of weakness, Bakugo,” Shoji said.

“I know already, so shut up! Dammit!”

“We went to help All Might at the USJ,” Todoroki reminded him with a sideways look. “Does that make All Might weak?”

“That was different, and I already told all of you to shut up!”

Asui giggled quietly in the front row. “It’s kind of funny watching Bakugo go through an identity crisis, isn’t it?”

“So long as he becomes a better hero because of it,” Iida remarked. The turbo hero turned his attention to the green burrito that was Midoriya and Uraraka wrapped in the blanket. It had them covered completely from neck to thigh. They could be doing anything under there, but he knew his friends. They weren’t about to start doing anything immoral. Midoriya and Uraraka were both just too innocent. “I imagine that that fight the two of you had was part of Bakugo’s awakening to the truth of being a hero,” he reasoned, attracting Midoriya’s attention, “just as being saved from the Hero Killer in Hosu was mine.”

Izuku nodded. “I’m not going to pretend that it resolved everything, but yeah. Even with everything we went through here yesterday, I’m confident that Bakugo turned onto the right path after we hashed things out during our fight and house arrest.”

The intro ended, with the camera returning to the exterior of the building with the gaping hole Bakugo’s explosion had left in its side and all the cracks in the cement from the effects of Midoriya’s Detroit Smash. All Might’s voice came through the microphone. “Your indoor combat training… is over.”

Uraraka groaned as she slid down from where she had latched onto the fake weapon like a koala, Iida waving his hands frantically as he asked his new friend if she was okay.

Midoriya lay unconscious on the ground as All Might finished his declaration. “The Hero Team wiiiins!”

Back in the observation room, Ojiro, Kaminari, Asui, Tokoyami, Yaoyorozu, and Shoji were looking up at the monitor before the camera switched to showing all of the students from behind with the five camera feeds on the monitor, one of which showing Iida rubbing Uraraka’s back in an effort to soothe her nausea as she was on all fours, desperately trying not to puke. “What a weird way for this to end,” Kaminari pointed out in a hushed tone. “The losers are practically untouched, and the winners are both on the ground.”

“How does the old saying go?” Tokoyami wondered while lowering his head. “They may have lost the battle but they won the war.”

“This class is intense,” Asui stated.

“That sure was an understatement,” Ojiro commented. “I can’t believe how quickly my match was over compared to theirs.”

“Neither of us needed to go to Recovery Girl at least,” Hagakure piped up. “So that’s a good thing, right?”

“What happened?” Hatsume asked her invisible seat mate.

“Well our match is up next,” the invisible girl replied. “So you should see it pretty quick.”

Two recovery robots were carrying the unconscious Midoriya away on a stretcher, closely watched by All Might.

“To the nurse’s office,” said one of the robots.

“I know,” replied the other.

“The robots have sass?” Jiro asked.

“If they start smack-talking us during training I’m blowing every last one of them up,” Bakugo growled.

Bakugo was shaking, his red eyes shrunk down to mere pinpricks in shock. ‘My attacks,’ he thought, thinking back to the last moment before his final explosion, ‘Deku predicted them. He made me look like an idiot, and somehow managed to win the exercise.’

“Less idiotic, more bloodthirsty, I’d say,” Tokoyami countered. As Midoriya’s words cycled through Bakugo’s head again.

“Yeah,” Sato agreed with a nod. “Besides, Midoriya only knew what Bakugo would do because of experience. None of us would have figured out his moves like that.”

The students grimaced in surprise, while Aizawa narrowed his eyes and Yagi’s widened as the screen returned to showing Bakugo’s face. He was hyperventilating, and clearly in the throes of a panic attack.

‘Does this mean that if we really fought, if we didn’t hold back at all, Deku… would beat me with his quirk?’

“If Midori went all out you’d be nothing but a bloody smear on the wall!” Ashido cried out as All Might patted Bakugo on the shoulder. “Seriously! He punched the air with enough force for freaking wind pressure to rip through several floors of concrete!”

“Yeah, that power’s no joke,” Sero agreed. “Your explosions are pretty awesome, Bakugo, but one maxed out punch from him would probably smash you like a bug on a windshield.”

Mineta stood up. “Also, wait, hold on! All Might, your hand is, like, bigger than Bakugo’s entire torso!”

Hagakure seemed to place a finger to her lips as she shifted in her seat. “I wonder if Midoriya’s going to get that big when he’s older?”

Ochaco shivered against her boyfriend at the thought. Just being completely enveloped by Deku like that. Her entire body fitting beneath his chin. His strong arms wrapped around her, holding her up off the ground as he carried her around. Latching on to him just like she had the fake weapon in training, hugging Izuku like a koala.

She blushed as her thoughts strayed to some more… interesting places, and Ochaco shook her head to try to clear them. Not now. Not with everyone in class around!

Episode 8: Bakugo’s Start Line

“Well, despite the results,” All Might said as the three conscious members of the first group returned to the observation room with him for a review of the match, “the MVP of this exercise is Young Iida!”

Iida looked at All Might in surprise while Bakugo’s head was lowered, face hidden by his explosively spiky hair, and Uraraka looked down, still seemingly feeling nauseous from using her quirk on herself. “Huh!?” Iida gasped.

“Shouldn’t it be one of the heroes instead since they’re the winners?” Asui asked.

“Mm!” All Might hummed in approval at her critical thinking. “Valid question. Why didn’t I choose one of those two? Who has a guess?”

Yaoyorozu raised her hand. “Sir! I can tell you why.”

“Remember when I said you had an ego at the start Yaomomo?” Jiro asked. She pointed at the screen.

“...the only one who truly adapted to his assigned role. I’ll explain,” Yaoyorozu said as the screen showed Bakugo standing with his head down and face shadowed in front of them, followed by flashbacks to his actions in combat. “Bakugo’s judgement was clouded by a personal grudge against Midoriya. As you pointed out earlier, launching a large-scale attack indoors was a foolish move. It could have been disastrous.” The clips switched to showing Midoriya’s smash. “Similarly, Midoriya’s plan was also poorly thought out, considering the amount of damage that he received. He rendered himself helpless. Not smart…”

“I apologize for that, Midoriya,” Yaoyorozu said. “I realize now that you hadn’t planned for the end scenario to happen. The strategies that you thought up in the early and mid-exercise period were excellent.”

Izuku held up his free right hand, since his left arm was wrapped around Ochaco in their blanket. “No, no, it’s all right, Yaoyorozu,” he refuted. “It’s not like any of you could actually hear me or my thoughts before. Besides, no plan survives contact with Bakugo anyway. I was foolish to think that I really could win without using my quirk when I didn’t have any real combat training yet.”

“Don’t put yourself down like that, Midoriya!” Yaoyorozu insisted. “I believe you did much better against Bakugo than many of our classmates could have done.”

“But you were still right in saying that I wasn’t MVP of the exercise,” Izuku countered. “Iida performed the best out of all of us for the purposes of training. I tried to fight an opponent who was too far above me in power and skill and injured myself in a reckless move. You’re right. We only won because we took advantage of this being training.”

“Just take the compliment, Midoriya,” Asui joined in. “All Yaoyorozu is doing is taking back her thoughts that your plan was poorly thought out, ribbit. It was a good plan.”

“Tsu is right,” Iida assured him. “I can understand why it was your absolute last resort plan, given the intense backlash One For All had on your body at the time. This was only your third ever usage of the power, too. Incidentally, how much can you use right now?”

A small smile returned to Izuku’s face. “Oh, my continuous full-body limit is at eight percent right now, but I’m still not used to it. I’ve mostly been keeping to five percent, so it’ll take some adjusting to get used to how much faster and stronger I’ve gotten with eight percent going.”

“...Young Iida could have relaxed a little bit in the exercise,” All Might added to Yaoyorozu’s explanation, off-kilter from the depth of her analysis, “but… otherwise, you nailed it!” He gave her a thumbs-up and a grin.

The show panned up from Yaoyorozu’s legs, showing her standing in front of a Japanese crane painting with the kanji for “Start with the basics to develop depth of learning” and “Devote oneself wholeheartedly” written on it in fine calligraphy.

“One should always start with the basics and devote themselves wholeheartedly to learning,” Yaoyorozu herself stated with confidence and pride in herself. “That’s the only real way to become a top hero.” The screen zoomed in on her, her form taking on the rough hue of the introductory sketches as her name appeared on the screen.

“Momo Yaoyorozu: one of the four students admitted to the hero course based on recommendations.”

Ashido beamed. “Yaomomo! You got your own Present Mic intro!”

“And that painting was so manly,” Kirishima added. “I wish I had that in my room.”

“Man, I can’t wait for my intro,” Kaminari said with a grin while clenching his fist. “I bet it’s gonna be awesome.”

Kayama glanced over at Yagi. “I wouldn’t have said that about Iida relaxing. His devotion to getting into character was to be admired. We should promote more of such things in our students.”

“Hero students don’t have time to join the theatre club,” Aizawa deadpanned.

“Actually… I think I’m on Midnight’s side on this one,” Yagi said as the camera slowly panned past Bakugo’s completely mind-broken, shell-shocked expression. “While a big component of our job is being a hero, there are times when us daylight heroes perform work outside of rescuing people and fighting villains, like when Young Yaoyorozu and Young Kendo appeared in that commercial with Uwabami. Allowing them to develop other skills and interests like acting would help them if they were to end up in such situations, or if they were cast in a film production.”

Aizawa glanced at him. “Are you suggesting we cut down on time needed to train our students to survive and rescue people so that they’ll be slightly more prepared in the off-chance they become a corporate shill?”

“Perhaps we should encourage some manner of personal skill development during their recovery periods?” Nezu suggested. “If any are interested, I could offer some of my time to aid in their development by serving as a Dungeon Master.”

“Oh yes, let’s do that!” Kayama said with bright eyes while all the colour in Aizawa’s and Yagi’s faces drained away. “Critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and emotional engagement could all be practiced along with their improv skills!”

Aizawa returned his gaze to the screen, the very thought of Nezu serving as a Dungeon Master in a roleplaying game for his students frightening him even more than Nemuri’s upcoming sexual education lesson after lunch.

Ojiro was stretching his arms as he stood in front of the fake nuclear bomb, All Might having declared Team I of himself and Hagakure to be the villains to Team B’s Shoji and Todoroki. A glove floated on screen, superimposed over Ojiro to show its closeness to the ‘camera’. “Hey, Ojiro.”

“I think that’s my first line!” Hagakure gasped excitedly.

“Let’s get serious,” she said as Ojiro looked in her direction. She started pulling her gloves off. “I’m going to take off all my clothes and totally disappear.”

Ojiro nodded. “Yeah, cool.” He looked off to the side, scratching his head. ‘Hagakure’s using her quirk to our advantage, but it’s kinda weird to know there’s a naked girl standing by me.’

“OJIRO!” Mineta screamed.

“What!?” Ojiro answered. “It was her idea! Besides, I didn’t see anything!”

Hagakure was holding up her gloves and shoes, the only other sign that she was there being the floating earpiece radio. “Uh… just don’t look, okay?” she asked, apparently just realizing what she’d just done.

“What’s the difference?” Ojiro asked.

Kendo shook her head. “Oh Ojiro…” she said as All Might shouted to “look alive”.

“What?” Ojiro asked. He swiveled his head around amongst his classmates. “Really, what’s the difference?”

Hatsume looked at her seatmate. “You know, he’s right. You’re always invisible. It’s way more perverted to stare at you when you’re wearing something because then your clothes show us the shape of her body.”

Shoji spread his tentacle-arms out at the sound of the buzzer, turning the tip from one of them into an ear. The show provided a shot of his masked face with his hair down in front, all stylized for his own Present Mic intro.

“Mezo Shoji, quirk: Dupli-Arms. He can replicate different body parts on the tips of his tentacles!” Mic announced as Todoroki walked into the building behind where Shoji silently stood, scouting. “Now that’s super strange!”

“I need to have a talk with Hizashi,” Aizawa grumbled.

The ear Shoji had formed morphed into a mouth. “One’s in the hall on the north side on the fourth floor,” the mouth told Todoroki. “And I think the other’s on the same level somewhere. Both are barefoot.” A second mouth came down from the tentacle tip above it. “I bet the invisible one plans to sneak up and surprise us.”

Todoroki stepped past Shoji. “For your own safety, go outside. I’m sure our opponents intend to fight a defensive battle.” He held up his right hand, frosty cold air starting to emanate from it as the water vapour around his hand froze. He placed his hand against the wall, ice beginning to form on it at his touch. The floor beneath his right foot also started to freeze. “But we’ve already won,” Todoroki declared, standing confidently in the hall.

Kendo and Tetsutetsu both had their eyes bulging out of their sockets as ice raced through the building, covering every single exposed surface both inside and outside. “Damn…” Tetsutetsu uttered. “He won that one in an instant.”

“This exercise was one perfectly suited to Todoroki’s skill set,” Izuku said, both of his hands now occupied with taking notes.

“Deku?” Ochaco asked. He didn’t even seem to hear her as he muttered, pencil scribbling away in his notebook.

“Ow, ow ow!” Hagakure exclaimed as the show revealed the icy floor with two footprints in it, clearly where she was standing. “My feet are stuck!”

Ojiro’s own legs were covered in ice from his boots up to his shins. “This quirk is insane!”

“Wait, didn’t Shoji say you were barefoot Ojiro?” Mineta asked. He pointed at the screen, even though it was now showing the door while Todoroki advanced out of sight. “But you were wearing boots?”

Ojiro raised his arms and tail in a fighting stance against the oncoming Todoroki, the dual-quirked boy coming on with a confident smirk that bordered on a sneer. The glowing red eyepiece he was wearing over his left eye in the centre of the amalgamation of ice that covered his left side just made him even more intimidating. “Pry yourself up if you want, but it might be hard to fight me with no skin on the bottom of your feet.”

“Shoji got it wrong,” Todoroki replied to Mineta’s question as his onscreen self walked past a motionless, defeated Ojiro. “His ears can only hear so much, Ojiro wasn’t barefoot but the soles of his boots were thin. Either way, I compensated by having the ice form over his boots and cover both their exterior and interior.”

“Yeah,” Ojiro sighed. “Not only did Todoroki freeze my boots to the floor, he froze my feet to my boots. As he said, I would have needed to tear the skin off my feet to fight him.”

Bakugo scoffed. “Tch! Wimp.”

“What did you say?” Ojiro snapped.

“What? Didn’t hear me the first time? I called you a wimp!” Bakugo thrust his finger out and pointed down at Ojiro. “How the hell are you supposed to fight real villains in the field if you’re too concerned with a little bit of pain?”

“This is just training, Bakugo!” Hagakure bit back.

“If you losers don’t take training as if it’s the real deal you’re never gonna be able to take down a villain when it counts,” Bakugo retorted. “Look at Deku!”

Eyes turned towards Midoriya, and he stopped his notetaking at the sudden calling out by Bakugo. “Huh!? Me!?”

“Yeah, you heard me, Deku,” Bakugo continued. “You’ve all been rooting for him since we got here, right? Take a look at what you already saw, posers. You’ve seen the nerd go and break his limbs three times now in order to pull out a win, and this is still the first full day of class! If you’re too busy worrying about a little ripped skin when he’s going and breaking his arms to keep me from executing him in the middle of combat training then you’re never going to be the best.”

“Bakugo,” Aizawa said, freezing the already silent class. “Don’t antagonize them. Ojiro’s non-violent surrender in the face of overwhelming power was the best course of action in this exercise. Remember the face you showed that day when you saw Todoroki’s quirk in action?”

Bakugo winced as Aizawa called him out on the terrified look that the students had just witnessed on screen only seconds ago. “...yeah, but I still would have tried to fight Icy-Hot, not given up like a coward!”

“It’s not your fault,” Todoroki said, left hand on the weapon and everything around them now wet and steaming as he sent out heat to melt and evaporate the ice. “We’re just playing on different levels.” The show zoomed in on the side profile of his face, giving Todoroki his own intro shot.

“Shoto Todoroki. Another of the four admitted to the hero course based on recommendations. Quirk: Half-Cold, Half-Hot! He freezes with his right side and burns up the charts with his left! The range of his abilities is unknown…!”

“Holy crap!” Sato exclaimed from the observation room as many of the class observed in awe.

Kaminari flinched. “That guy’s kind of intimidating.”

“He got in on a recommendation so he must be good,” Asui reasoned.

The show focused on Bakugo, his face hidden from perspective as he twitched, All Might talking over to the class. “Moving on! Time to gather ‘round for a review of the second match! After that, we’ll jet on over to our next battle!”

“Yes, sir!”

Bakugo bit his lip, hissing as he looked down while the training montage drumbeat kicked in.

“Aw man,” Kaminari whined as the show started a montage of the other matchups, without showing any actual action. “I thought we were gonna see how our fights went again.”

“I waaaarned youu!” Kamimoto reminded them from her perch with the AV equipment.

Ochaco bopped along with the beat, slightly dancing in her seat with Izuku as the montage played. He was watching with rapt attention at their classmates’ moves that the show did reveal, though since nothing major was shown, he didn’t get the chance to write down much in the form of notes except for Ashido’s acid splashing down on Aoyama’s cape and melting holes in the sparkling garment, and that it didn’t appear as though Mineta did anything except use his short size to perv on Yaoyorozu’s backside, which was almost eye-level for the gremlin.

The brunette felt her phone vibrate in her left pocket and reached in to grab it. She was annoyed but also so thankful that Yaomomo had given her and the other girls smartphones. She loved the flip phone her parents had gotten her years ago dearly, and still used it; it hadn’t steered her wrong yet; but there was just so much more that the smartphone could do, like group chats.

Momo: I meant what I said before. I *will* make a cannon.

Ochaco looked to her left. Yaomomo’s phone was in the girl’s hand, since she’d just finished typing the message after all. They shared a look and Yaomomo gave her a thumbs-up. “If he ever acts up, let me know,” she said. “He’ll be fine as long as he dodges.”

Izuku shivered next to Ochaco while the gravity girl giggled. He had no idea what they were talking about, and it was adorable. Ochaco wasn’t quite sure if she should comfort him to let Izuku know that they weren’t talking about him, or if she should let him keep thinking that.

Kamimoto managed to pick up the interesting comment of Yaoyorozu’s, and grinned widely while hiding her smile behind the monitor. If she was able to, she’d need to introduce the girls to a montage of someone lean, mean, and green shouting “DODGE!” Too bad none of them could actually create a beam cannon.

...unless ki was a real thing and they just didn’t know how to harness it! This was a shonen universe, so the rules of other shonen universes could apply, right? Ki? Chakra? These heroes in training could use those too if they learned how, right?

Kamimoto shook her head. She was getting ahead of herself. They had anime in this universe too, she was sure of it. If they could use stuff like that alongside quirks, they would already be doing so and Deku wouldn’t have had so much trouble being a quirkless person.

“Aw, I was hoping I’d get to see more of your quirks and fighting styles in action,” Hatsume moaned as All Might congratulated the class on the results of their first day of training. “I didn’t get enough data to come up with any new babies for any of you… not that I could make any right now with all my tools swimming in honey!”

“H-honey?” Midoriya yelped. “Wow, that sounds harsh, Hatsume. I wonder who would have thought that up.”

Sero suppressed a grin. Midoriya had suggested that they get Hatsume too last night, but he had been the one to put forward the idea of submerging her tools in something sticky. Midnight had suggested molasses, Uraraka maple sap, and Yaoyorozu had the idea of using honey, which they had ultimately gone with. He was still surprised that Midnight had joined them for the prank spree, but none of their class would ever suspect the perfectly benign excuse of being with a teacher to also equate to how they managed to prank everyone. Her quirk was no joke, and he knew that from firsthand experience.

“It’s nice to hear some encouraging words after our homeroom class,” Asui said.

Present Asui stiffened and gulped. She remembered what had happened to Kaminari yesterday. Her teacher still wasn’t in a good mood; in fact, his mood might even be worse today than it was yesterday.

Aizawa’s manic face with a purple background appeared front and centre on the screen with a burst of percussion before returning to the assembled class in front of the exit. “Mr. Aizawa was kind of a buzzkill,” Asui finished her thought, with about half of the class that was in the front with her nodding their heads.

Aizawa’s eyes flashed and most of the students froze. They could feel the chill emanating from their teacher’s stony expression. This was just like remembering their first homeroom period for orientation, after Ashido had unwisely blurted out that the quirk assessment test sounded fun.

Fortunately, that feeling vanished the moment Kayama slapped Aizawa on the shoulder. “See, Aizawa? You’ve traumatized the poor dears. My students love me.”

“That’s because your first year design students don’t know you,” Aizawa gave her a deadpan retort. “The third years are terrified of you.”

Kayama laughed, and none of the students found that laugh very reassuring.

“Um,” Aoyama mumbled while Kamimoto hummed “Merrily, We Roll Along” to herself at All Might’s mention of “That’s all for now, folks!”, “do we really want to know?”

“I think asking that question’s like tossing a rock at a hornet’s nest,” Tetsutetsu commented, to which several of the students nodded their heads.

“...like he’s got somewhere to be!” All Might declared as he dashed off, to the amazement of the class as he practically left a dust cloud behind him.

“Okay you guys, that is a hero!” Kaminari gushed.

“Aww…” Ojiro lamented. “I’ll never be that fast.”

“Don’t worry so much Ojiro,” Hagakure consoled him. “You’re not All Might. You don’t have to try to be as strong or as fast as him. Just be the best that you can be!”

The young man with the tail smiled slightly as he looked towards where Invisible Girl sat. “Thanks Hagakure.”

“Besides,” she continued as the All Might on screen thought about guiding Bakugo’s development, “Midoriya’s the one who needs to worry about filling All Might’s huge shoes.”

All Might slammed a meaty hand down on a button to close the staff only door behind him, the mighty pro panting in exertion as steam wafted up from his body. ‘I can’t hold this form any longer!’

A burst of steam erupted around his body when he fell back into his emaciated true form, gaunt and sunken eyes filled with frustration as he struggled to catch his breath. ‘I barely have time to teach a class, sh*t!’

The jaws dropped on all the fledgling heroes. “You were cutting it that close to all of us finding out with every class?” Sero wondered.

“You were okay, right sir?” Uraraka questioned, spinning around in her seat to look up at All Might. “We didn’t push you too hard, right?”

“It’s all right, Young Uraraka,” Yagi replied with a smile.

“To think he was that short on time,” Kendo uttered. “I mean, we’d thought about it yesterday, but… All Might, sir? If you only had enough time in your hero form to teach a single class a day, how did you manage to handle all the hero courses?”

“All Might is only teaching Foundational Heroics, Kendo,” Aizawa answered. “That’s the introductory practical class for first-year students. Second-years and third-years are taught by other instructors.”

“Although, now that it is no longer necessary to keep All Might’s weakened form a secret from the student body as he is now retired from performing hero work, it may be possible to see him expand in his duties in the future; assuming that he isn’t too preoccupied with training his successor, that is,” Nezu added.

“He’s too exhausted from his classes for my quirk,” Recovery Girl fumed at All Might in her office, looking over at Midoriya as he lay asleep in the bed with his right arms bandaged up and an IV hooked into his healed left arm. “I can’t treat his injuries all at once. I did some first aid, but after the IV is finished we’ll have to wait for his body to heal overnight.”

“D—Izuku…” Ochaco mumbled, her lip pouting. “I know we won, but did you really have to go so far?”

“If I didn’t, we would have lost,” he replied softly. “I’ll work harder, so I don’t worry you so much, okay?”

“...fine.”

“...you passed your powers on to this boy, but you can’t spoil him,” Recovery Girl chastised the pro.

“Recovery Girl knew!?” Mineta gasped.

“We were already told that she knew yesterday,” Yaoyorozu reminded him.

“And as the school nurse, it was the correct decision to keep at least her in the loop,” Iida added. “Given how frequently Midoriya sustained injuries, it was only natural that Recovery Girl would know.”

“She also patched me up a lot, back in the day,” Yagi stated for the students. “So it only made sense that she’d know about One For All before I ever passed it on to Young Midoriya.”

“He needed to see that he was capable of winning the exercise,” All Might tried to explain his rationale for letting the fight go on to the point of Midoriya’s injury.

“But winning by breaking himself?” Sato asked. “Yeah, it shows tenacity, but…”

“Like Mr. Aizawa said in the earlier episodes yesterday,” Aoyama agreed with a nod, “and like Yaoyorozu said in her post-battle analysis, it’s not stylish to turn yourself into a casualty after one attack, even if it does win you the fight.”

“Yeah,” Sero agreed. “What happens if you need to throw two punches?”

Izuku gulped at Sero’s words. This show is, uh… it’s not going to show the fight with Muscular, is it? Oh who am I kidding, of course it is.

Recovery Girl had her nose turned up at All Might. “Mr. Natural-Born Hero. Mr. Symbol of Peace.”

All Might sighed. “Several people know about my injury and this weak form. Like the UA faculty and a certain group of pro heroes, for example. However, only a select few people know the secret of One For All.” The background around All Might changed from being the nurse’s office to a darkened sky with blue, grey, and white illuminated clouds and lights streaking by as silhouettes of Recovery Girl, two darkened figures, and Midoriya appeared. It was a very cool visual effect. “There’s you, the principal, and a very close friend of mine. Young Midoriya, too, of course, but no one else knows the truth about my powers.”

“And now all of us know too!” Ashido cheered. She extended her arm out towards Midoriya, giving him a thumbs-up. “Thanks for being so awesome and being cool with sharing your big secret with us, Midori!”

He nodded. “Yeah. Thanks for being so kind and understanding Ashido, everyone. I’m really lucky to have classmates like you.”

“Hey man, we’re heroes,” Kaminari replied. “We’re not going to judge you based on your past or quirk like that.”

“That’s true,” Shoji agreed with a nod. “I admit, we’re kindred spirits in a way, Midoriya.”

Izuku blinked. “Huh? Why’s that, Shoji?”

The huge young man, who was the youngest of them all, actually, looked down at his hand. “You were bullied because you were quirkless throughout life, but you still look like a normal person. I was bullied because of the way my mutation quirk makes me appear.”

“But your quirk is so cool!” Midoriya countered, surprised.

Bakugo scoffed. “Tch. Idiot. You think every quirk is cool.”

“Because they are , Bakugo!”

“Does it really matter if you were born with your quirk or not? Do you have to be the “Symbol of Peace?” Is it that important?” Recovery Girl asked.

All Might levelled his head, the show providing a close-up of a side profile of his face. “If they knew I wasn’t, the temptation of this power could corrupt our society.” He looked down at his hand. “This quirk… those who wield it are responsible for mankind’s safety.”

Recovery Girl smiled and sighed. “Well, if that’s the case…” the camera slowly panned up on Midoriya’s unconscious body in the bed again. “It’s even more important for you to be a good guide.”

“You’re right,” All Might agreed.

“Which you’ve been phenomenal in so far,” Aizawa muttered as the scene faded out.

Yagi looked down. “I admit, I am still new to teaching and proper mentorship.”

“You had a year with him before the entrance exam and you didn’t teach him anything about his quirk before you gave it to him,” Aizawa stated while the show faded in again, flashing back to the moment All Might told Midoriya he could be a hero.

Yagi winced. He really couldn’t say anything to the contrary in that regard.

Yaoyorozu put down her pen and notebook. “I admit, I didn’t think about it as much yesterday, but All Might is right,” she said. “This information is dangerous. Even if they don’t know, as Midoriya said, that the power has to be willingly transferred, the knowledge that a super-strength quirk can be passed on from person to person would definitely be a temptation to villains.”

“Even then, they could try to force Midoriya to give them his power in a hostage situation,” Iida added.

“Cowardly, but I can see villains using that tactic,” Kirishima grimaced.

Izuku kept to himself as his peers conjectured around him. It wasn’t just super strength anymore. It was also Blackwhip, and the quirks of all the other past users of One For All. If villains knew that that kind of power was capable of being passed along… it would be incredibly dangerous.

Actually, he thought, I suppose one villain already knows. All For One. He created One For All, even if it was by accident. He would know that it can be passed along, and he likely told Shigaraki. Izuku sighed. I guess it’s fortunate that they don’t know that All Might passed it on to me, or we’d be in big trouble.

Midoriya looked tired and in pain as he opened his eyes, taking in the IV and that he was in bed in Recovery Girl’s office. He looked at the wall clock in front of him. Three-fifty-five. “It’s… late afternoon?” he wondered aloud.

Recovery Girl leaned over him, filling the boy’s vision. “Rise and shine, sonny.”

His classmates chuckled as Midoriya blinked and gasped in surprise.

The show cut to an image of the exterior of UA, bathed in the warm glow of evening light. “That’s all for today’s treatment,” Recovery Girl’s voiceover told Midoriya as he walked through the halls alone, his broken and bandaged right arm in a sling. “Come back tomorrow, okay?”

“I’m sorry you had to wake up alone, Izuku,” Ochaco apologized. “But the teachers wouldn’t let us skip class to wait for you.”

“It’s okay,” he replied with a smile as his onscreen self worried about Aizawa choking him with his scarf. “I know you would have come by if you could.”

Midoriya slowly opened the door to 1-A’s classroom. Kirishima turned around at the sound and grinned at the sight. “Hey, it’s Midoriya!” He and some other students converged on their classmate still in his mangled hero costume. “Good to see you back, super!”

Midoriya gasped as he suddenly found himself surrounded by a gaggle of his peers, all of them smiling encouragingly at him. Kirishima leaned forward, still not done, while Ashido excitedly bounced around beside him. “Ha! Man, I don’t know what you were saying during that match, but you were all fired up, huh?”

“And now that we know what was being said, it really did get you guys fired up,” Kirishima said.

“Damn straight. That fight was personal,” Bakugo growled.

“You did a great job dodging!” Ashido complimented Midoriya with a cute grin.

“You guys really turned up in the first match,” Sato said, “so none of us held back in our rounds, either!”

“Tch! If you really went all out Deku wouldn’t have been the only one to end up seeing Recovery Girl!”

Ashido cut off Aoyama’s attempt to speak as she hopped up and down again. “And the dodging was like, whoa!”

Midoriya gasped again, looking around at them all with a bewildered smile.

Asui smiled gently. “I guess now we know why you had that smile then, Midoriya, ribbit.”

“Yeah,” Sero agreed. “I know we’ve said it before but—”

“Your middle school classmates were garbage,” Jiro finished.

Ochaco smiled and looked past Izuku at Ashido. “Also, Mina, “Your dodging was like, whoa”? Really?”

“I didn’t have anything else to go off of,” Mina countered. “And his dodging was super awesome! I don’t know how many of us could have held their own against Bakugo like that at the start of the term.”

“I wonder how many of us have since picked up the art of the dodge?” Tokoyami inquired.

“Hey, Mr. Aizawa,” Kaminari asked. “How come we never play dodgeball in training?”

Aizawa looked down on him. “Kaminari… did you just ask me why I don’t have you play a children’s game for training?”

Kaminari paled. “Please, no more laps! And it’s not like it’s not just a kid’s game, it’s an important skill so we don’t get hit by an opponent’s quirk.”

“Yes,” Iida remarked. “The first stage of our hero licensing exam was reminiscent of a game of dodgeball.”

Todoroki glanced at his classmates before turning to Aoyama. “Am I missing something? What’s dodgeball?”

The students silently gazed at Todoroki before returning their attention to the screen.

“Tokoyami!” Iida declared as he strode towards the bird-headed boy with his arms making stiff motions. “Stop using that desk as a chair!” Iida reprimanded the other student as Jiro and Ojiro stood by him. “Get off of it this instant!”

Jiro placed her right hand on her hip, slightly turning towards Iida. “Dude, you need to chill.”

Iida jerked backwards while Ojiro pointed to his shoulder. “You’re carrying a lot of tension.”

Iida hunched inwards. “No one understands,” he muttered. “I cannot condone actions that disrespect these desks!” Iida declared, chopping his hand down at the trio. “Not when great men and women, our upperclassmen, once used them!”

“Also noisy,” Tokoyami grumbled.

‘Iida never relaxes, does he?’ Midoriya thought with an awkward smile as the other students around the door watched him with various looks of confusion, exasperation, resignation, or amusem*nt.

“That boy needs to loosen up, doesn’t he?” Kayama wondered, placing her cheek in her right palm.

The door on the other side of the classroom opened, Kaminari coming through, carrying a stack of books. “So, anyway,” he was saying to the person behind him, turning out to be Uraraka, helping him in carrying the classroom supplies, “wanna grab a bite sometime? Kinda stuff you like?”

Uraraka looked up in thought, eyes straying. “Anything sweet…” he brown eyes caught sight of Midoriya at the other door, and she dashed towards him. “Hey, Deku!” Kaminari sighed and looked dejected as his shoulders slumped.

“Ooh, shot down,” Mineta chuckled.

“Hey, lay off, man,” Kaminari replied.

“Not surprising,” Sero chuckled. “I mean, considering what just happened on screen, I guess last night really isn’t a surprise.”

“Yeah, it makes sense,” Sato agreed while Midoriya and Uraraka both blushed and looked shyly at each other. “Can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”

Kendo looked over at the electric-type with a sigh. “So you were asking girls out on the first day of classes, huh?”

“Swing and a miss,” Tokoyami stated. “Considering that it was Uraraka, however, he was doomed to failure.”

“Aw come on, guys,” Kaminari whined. “I didn’t know that Uraraka was crushing on Midoriya since the day of the entrance exam. If I’d known that she already had the hots for Mr. Breaks-His-Bones Chosen One over there, I wouldn’t have tried so hard.”

Uraraka blinked. “Wait, Kaminari, were you flirting with me?” she asked, cheeks steaming. “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry. I never noticed.”

Ashido let out a low whistle. “Wow… so I guess this whole “watching our class as a show” thing was a good thing after all. If we didn’t, who knows how long it would have taken for you both to clue in that you liked each other?”

How long indeed? Kamimoto thought with a hint of bitterness at her future knowledge.

Mineta chuckled, and Kaminari looked at his friend. “Hey, at least I try to be a smooth gentleman and ask girls out. You haven’t even tried to ask anyone out to lunch or something.”

“You? Smooth? Don’t make me laugh.”

Kaminari and Mineta glared at each other, grinding their hands into fists.

Morons, Jiro thought with a sigh before returning her attention to the screen. Midoriya had asked for Bakugo’s whereabouts, which she’d been only somewhat curious about at the time, and had caught up to him.

Yaoyorozu watched with heightened interest, her mouth slightly agape, as Midoriya began half spilling the beans to Bakugo, who was not taking his nonsense explanation well, given his reaction. Midoriya was so tied to Bakugo that he felt he owed him an explanation. He didn’t need to do that.

Izuku… thought Ochaco. She turned her attention to him. “You didn’t even tell your mom, but you told Bakugo?”

Izuku looked down. “We’d known each other for years, and he knew I didn’t have a quirk. I knew it was confusing him more than anyone, so… I felt like… I owed him at least some kind of explanation.”

“...full control of this borrowed quirk, and I’ll finally beat you with my own power!”

Bakugo stared at him and Midoriya blanched.

“Still waiting on that win of yours, Deku,” Bakugo called down to him, making him flinch.

Asui placed a finger to her lip. “Well, I guess this explains why Bakugo looked like he wanted to punch Midoriya, ribbit.”

Izuku yelped. “You were watching that?”

Ashido nodded. “Yeah, but we couldn’t hear anything.”

Bakugo turned around to face Midoriya. ““Borrowed Power?” Don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot,” he demanded, clearly not treating anything Midoriya had just said as dignifying belief. “You already made a fool outta me in that damn training exercise. So? Did you come here to rub it in? I lost. And to make matters worse it was to you.”

“Never thought I’d hear you admit defeat, Bakugo,” Kirishima said quietly. “That’s real manly of you.”

“Shut the f*ck up, sh*tty Hair,” Bakugo replied, voice just above a whispered growl.

The show flashed back to Todoroki’s freezing of the entire building. “When I was watching that ice guy…” the show returned to Bakugo, his arms out and shoulders bent forward in an emotive display, “I realized I couldn’t beat him in a head-to-head fight!”

Another flashback, this time to Yaoyorozu with her hand raised. “Launching a large-scale attack indoors was a foolish move.”

Bakugo placed his left hand over his face. “Crap!” he shouted. “I even agreed with what that girl said. My attack was so stupid!”

All of the students were watching, not a snarky comment to be found in their throats as Bakugo flexed his arms in the midst of another breakdown in front of the formerly quirkless kid he’d bullied, and had now lost to. Even if he’d been left standing at the end and Midoriya had gone down, Midoriya had still accomplished his objective, while Bakugo had failed.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” He clenched his fist, body shaking in indignant frustration at his own failings. “Enjoy that win, Deku.” The camera switched angles and cut up to his face, revealing a tortured, angry, look on Bakugo’s face as tears sat in the corners of his eyes, showing that even Bakugo was capable of being brought to tears. “You won’t get another! I’m just getting started! Got that!? I’m gonna end up the number-one hero, no matter what!”

“Whoa…” Jiro muttered.

“It’s angry, but oddly inspiring,” Koda mumbled. Several people who were able to hear his quiet voice nodded along.

Yaoyorozu sighed. “Well, he does have a goal and tenacity, I’ll give him that much.”

Bakugo wiped his eyes as he walked away. “You’ll never beat me again, you bastard. Don’t even try.”

“Hey, who’d win right now?” Mineta asked.

“Me!” Bakugo loudly answered. “Don’t you remember hearing about our fight after the exam? I’m the guy who ended up on top!”

“True, but there was that weird power that came from Midoriya’s arms yesterday,” Ojiro commented.

Before anyone could vocalize a response to that, the voice of All Might shouted over them.

“THERE YOU ARE!”

He whooshed past Midoriya in dramatic still images before placing his hands on the blond explosive child’s shoulders. “Ba-ku-go! I’ve found you!”

Aizawa sighed while Kayama giggled at the over dramatic theatrics of reaching his student while All Might’s theme music began to play.

“Just so you know, pride is an important attribute to have, but while you certainly have the abilities to become a pro hero, there’s still plenty you have to learn!”

“Let go of me, All Might,” Bakugo growled. “Right now!” He turned his head to look at the pro at the man’s inquiring grunt. “Save your speeches. I’ll be more famous than you, and I’ll do it without your help.”

Tetsutetsu whistled. “Now that takes guts. Telling All Might to shove off and you’ll be better than him without his help?”

“Wow,” Sero chuckled. “Now that is an ego.”

“You got something to say, Tape Arms?” Bakugo asked.

Sero shrugged. “Only that you might have your license if you actually listened to our teachers and toned down that attitude of yours.”

‘Man,’ All Might thought with a sweaty brow and a bit of a confused smile as the camera panned up and away from him towards the glass walls of UA, ‘being a teacher is hard.’

“Welcome to our world.” Kayama said with a teasing elbow ribbing.

Ashido, Uraraka, and Asui were pressed against the glass, looking down at the scene that had happened in front of the school. “Huh,” Ashido said, “I wonder what that was all about.”

Uraraka held her fists together and furrowed her brow. “The fated battle between rivals.”

“Whatever Midoriya was saying, it looked like Bakugo really wanted to punch him,” Asui replied, turning to look at the other two girls.

“Childhood friends turned enemies!” Uraraka added sagely to herself as she pressed her forehead against the glass.

Izuku sweatdropped. “I think you went at that a little too intensely, Ochaco.”

“I didn’t know anything else at the time,” Ochaco pouted. “All I knew was that you two had been childhood friends at one point and that he picked on you, so now you wanted to beat him to show you could stand up to him. It was totally a “fated battle between rivals” or a “battle between men” moment!”

“It might have been a battle between men,” Aoyama said, “but it was no elegant gentleman's duel.”

“But people die in gentlemen’s duels!” Izuku yelped.

“ You could have died if you didn’t dodge Bakugo’s explosion, Midori,” Ashido reminded him. “And Bakugo could have died if you’d punched him instead of the air.”

“Fortunately, neither of which happened,” Nezu remarked as the outro began to play. “However, you all must still take this as a learning opportunity, dear students.”

“Hey, hey, Muscles,” Hatsume spoke up. “I’m starting to get some ideas. Do you think it’d be possible to weaponize the air pressure like you did with that big punch, but without the whole broken arm thing?”

Izuku blinked. “I mean, I suppose, but I haven’t tried anything like that before. It’d definitely help my combat abilities if I’m able to use a ranged attack, but I’m fairly limited right now. The eight percent I can reliably use doesn’t generate any significant amount of wind pressure to use as a reliable attack. It’d put a candle out, I guess, if I can control it, but it’s not like it would be able to really buffet or knock around somebody…”

Yaoyorozu, Kendo, Uraraka, and Ashido all giggled as Midoriya descended into his muttering. There he goes again.

“Damn, that was more intense than I expected,” Sato commented.

Tokoyami nodded. “Yes. The frailty of Bakugo’s immense pride is, or at least was, something to keep in mind. Taking advantage of it could be either beneficial or disastrous.”

“What do you mean?” Kaminari wondered. “He flies into a rage, though.”

“Even so,” Tokoyami acknowledged, “Bakugo is a talented and intelligent fighter. Even in a rage, he’s strong and calculating. Making him angry isn’t going to slip him up like someone might hope.”

Bakugo grinned menacingly from his seat.

“Ribbit?” Asui croaked as the outro ended. “Is there a post-credits scene this time?”

It was night, in another city, signs, streetlights, and lit windows illuminating the streets as the camera panned down. Narrator Midoriya began to speak over the calm night background. “None of us were prepared for what was to come. All Might warned us about cunning villains.”

Yagi’s eyes widened and he gasped quietly as the show revealed a building, the exterior of which was familiar to him. “That bar…”

Some of the students gulped, already understanding what Narrator Midoriya was getting at. “Don’t tell me…” Mineta muttered.

“And a few days later, we learned firsthand how terrifying they could actually be.”

Iida gasped. “So we’re not just seeing our own perspectives!? We’re being sho—”

“Did you see this joke?” a voice asked, after tossing a paper onto the bar counter.

Izuku paled, Ochaco growing cold in the blanket next to him, as Iida’s words got caught in his throat. “That voice…” she whispered.

A cold drink was placed down on the paper over a picture of All Might in his civilian suit. The condensation soaked in, warping the newsprint. “It says he’s a teacher now.”

“That’s…” Izuku gasped.

The person called attention to another man standing behind the counter, wearing a dress shirt, vest, and tie, with a metal neck brace and a body made of flowing black vapour with a purple outline. Big, glowing, yellow eyes looked over at the speaker, a man in black with numerous severed hands grasping at his shoulders and neck.

“Not them…” Mineta shook his head.

“That warp bastard,” Bakugo growled.

“What do you think’ll happen...” the villain supposed, the camera now switching to show the man at the bar from a different angle, while in the front left of the shot it revealed a muscled mass of black with an exposed pink brain, beady eyes, and a beak-like face with rows of exposed teeth.

Aizawa tensed, trying not to flinch as his body remembered the strength of the beast.

“N-Nomu…” Kirishima whispered hoarsely.

“...when the mighty Symbol of Peace…” the camera showed part of the villain’s face. Beneath his unkempt mop of faded steel-blue hair was a white dismembered hand covering his face, showing only the dry, cracked skin around a single exposed red eye.

Izuku felt more than consciously moved his hand towards his throat, the phantom sensation of a hand with dry, rough skin, scratching against his neck. Four fingers clenching and choking him, one finger oh so close to joining the other four in making contact with him and disintegrating his windpipe first before the rest of his body could follow, ensuring that he would die before he could alert anyone in the mall to the villain’s presence.

Ochaco gripped his arm tightly.

“...is finally killed by the villains?”

“Shigaraki!” Izuku gasped.

The next episode preview started, but Ochaco couldn’t concentrate on it at all. Izuku started to double over, his breathing intensifying, and she could feel the bare skin of his arm beneath the short sleeves of his summer uniform grow chill. “Izuku? Izuku!” she gasped. Movement flurried around her as Iida quickly approached while she got on her knees in front of him, better to look up at his face.

Izuku’s green eyes had shrunk to pinpricks, and sweat was beading on his forehead. A hand touched Ochaco’s shoulder, but she didn’t pay any attention to it as she instead brought her hands up to her boyfriend’s cheeks. Iida placed a hand on the green-haired hero-in-training’s shoulder, calling out his name. Izuku blinked. “O—Ochaco?”

“Izuku, look at me,” she directed. His green eyes didn’t waver from hers. “You’re here, all right? You’re here; you’re safe with me. I won’t let him get you.”

“Uraraka’s right,” Iida agreed. “You’re our friend, Midoriya. On the Iida family name, I won’t let that villain lay a hand on you.”

“That’s right,” Yaoyorozu agreed.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Tetsutetsu asked. “Why’s Midoriya freaking out down there?”

Bakugo narrowed his eyes and placed a hand on his chin. “Not sure, but it seems like the others know what’s wrong with Deku…”

“It probably has to do with seeing Shigaraki up close like that in this theatre,” Kirishima said. “He seemed fine talking about him and when the adrenaline was pumping, but… I guess Uraraka and Midoriya could tell you it better, but the last time either of them saw Shigaraki up close like that, he had his hand around Midoriya’s neck and was choking him.” Tetsutetsu’s eyes and mouth went wide in horror. “All it would have taken is one more finger touch, and Midoriya wouldn’t be here right now, or his neck would have taken a ton of damage, at least. He wouldn’t be able to talk, or it’d be a big stretch for sure, and he’d probably be a quadriplegic or something.”

Bakugo felt something electric surge up his spine as he glanced back down at the nerd. He hadn’t been told about this meeting with the sub-boss villain before. As Round Face wrapped her arms around Deku, letting him rest his head on her shoulder while a bunch of the other extras folded him into a group hug, Bakugo shivered.

Deku’s got One For All, All Might’s quirk, inside of him. If that hand bastard could take him out just like that, then…

Bakugo shook his head. Forget that! You already know Chapstick’s weakness. He’s the same as Round Face. Just don’t let him f*cking touch you and you’re fine. If he ever comes after me again, I’ll blow his ass sky high!

A timer popped up on the screen in front of them, signifying their next five minute break.

Chapter 15: Expect the Unexpected

Chapter Text

Hatsume looked next to her at where she presumed Hagakure’s head to be based on her clothes. “Hey, hey, Invisible, what’s next?” she asked, her voice still peppy. “Midoriya and the others all seem to be really anxious about something.” Hagakure’s clothes trembled for a moment. “Oh! Is it that stuff in the intro where All Might and Eraser Head are fighting all those villains? Were you there for that? Was it scary?”

Hagakure gulped. She hadn’t been in too stressful a situation at the time, since she had gotten warped into the Landslide Zone with Todoroki and he unknowingly protected her with his powerful quirk. However, she had heard that other members of the class had had a far more difficult time of it, and Iida had had to leave all of them behind to run for help. That couldn’t have been easy for him. “The USJ incident is probably what’s next,” Hagakure answered the support prodigy. “I can’t remember anything else important happening in class between that first combat exercise and our trip to the USJ when the villains attacked our class.”

Kayama placed her hand on Aizawa’s shoulder. “Are you going to be fine, Shota?”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry about me,” he deadpanned. “Worry about the students. Seeing this again will likely hit them hard.”

Tetsutetsu looked down at where Kendo was standing with the group around Midoriya as he recovered from having seen the villain. His thoughts briefly strayed to this morning, where he woke up with Kendo’s red hair tickling his nose, the girl with the Big Fist quirk wearing a cute set of turquoise pyjamas, and Tetsutetsu had to force off a blush as he got up from his seat. “Be back in a minute,” he told Kirishima and Bakugo.

“Alright, but make it quick man,” Kirishima said, gesturing at the timer that had just ticked down to show only four minutes left before the next episode would start. Tetsutetsu waved casually as he hit the stairs and started to make his way down.

A few of the 1-A kids and Kendo seemed to notice his approach and looked up. “Hey Tetsutetsu,” Ashido greeted. “What’s up? Taking a break from Bakugo and Kiri?”

“Not quite,” he answered. His steel-grey eyes took in Midoriya’s face as the formerly quirkless young man recognized his approach. He was pale, but his cheeks looked like some colour was returning after having been calmed down by his girlfriend. Tetsutetsu moved his eyes away from Midoriya and found Kendo’s aquamarine eyes peering quizzically at him. “So… the USJ is next, isn’t it?” he asked.

1-A looked at him. Iida nodded his head. “That is what the show seems to be implying, yes.”

“So we’ll get to see what you guys went through, then,” he continued. “That was the point when our classes really started to diverge, when you guys began pulling ahead. You had an early look at what the world was like outside of a classroom, which we didn’t get until the training camp.”

Ashido grimaced. “It’s not like we asked to be attacked by villains in the first week.”

Kendo shook her head as Tetsutetsu flinched. “That’s not what he’s saying, Ashido. He’s not saying that he wishes our class could have traded places with yours or that both of our classes should have been on the bad end of a villain attack. Tetsu’s just pointing out that what’s coming up is where your class started to get the real-world experience that you shouldn’t normally be able to get in a classroom.”

“Well that’s good,” Kaminari sighed. “I was beginning to think that you were going to start boasting or something.”

Sero nodded his head. “Yeah. I can’t say enough how glad I am that it’s you and Kendo here with us instead of that jerk Monoma.”

Jiro scowled. “He’d probably be mocking us the entire time,” her scowl was replaced with a grin. “Or at least he’d be mocking you, Kaminari.”

He shot Jiro a look of betrayal. “Hey, come on,” he complained. “I was cool back then, wasn’t I?”

Kamimoto idly looked at her nails before pulling a phone out from the pocket in her jean booty shorts. “You know… I could always ask for Neito Monoma to be brought here as well,” she stated.

“Please no,” Kirishima answered instantly.

“I’d rather not,” Aoyama agreed. Koda nodded his head as well.

“But he’d provide an interesting perspective,” Kamimoto suggested. “And who knows, maybe having him see your hardships would help mellow him out, wouldn’t you say?”

“It would be interesting, ribbit,” Asui agreed. “But he’s never liked our class much and with the quirk inhibitor in place, Kendo wouldn’t be able to deal with him if he gets out of hand.”

She folded her arms. “Do you think I need my quirk to chop him out of consciousness?” Kendo asked. “You guys are all right. If he’s brought here and I need to keep him in line, I can handle him with or without my quirk.”

Izuku lowered his head down, thinking. Ochaco was still kneeling in front of him, and she kept pace with his eyes. “Izuku?”

Her voice was quiet, but all eyes turned towards the boy who the show they were watching was ultimately about. If Monoma was brought in, then just like all of the others, he would be learning Midoriya’s secrets; he’d be learning about the true nature of his quirk, about One For All.

“…Kendo, you’re the class rep of 1-B,” Izuku said, finally bringing his head up and turning to look the redhead in the eye. “Would you trust Monoma to keep One For All a secret?”

Now the attention diverted to her as Midoriya sought out her opinion and approval. It was a sound question for him to be asking, since she was the classroom representative of their sister class. “Well… we’re going to be here for a while, right?” she reasoned. “Since we’re only watching six episodes a day, and we haven’t even gotten to the end of the first week of classes yet, and I bet the Sports Festival is going to be something like a whole arc on its own since that’s how shows like this normally go, I feel like we’d be able to trust him. Especially since we’re going to be seeing the future as if we didn’t have this extra knowledge and practice. He may be overly competitive and make an ass of himself, but Monoma’s smart and knows discretion. He’ll be able to keep this a secret if we impress the importance of it on him.”

“Yeah, but he’s not gonna be happy about the show being about you and 1-A, Midoriya, that’s for sure,” Tetsutetsu grunted. “So you’re just going to have to put up with that.”

The boy nodded. “That’s fine,” he said confidently. “But you were right about the USJ being where our classes diverged. I’m sure that’s also the point when Monoma started stoking the rivalry between our classes too, after finding out that we fought the villains. I just want all of us to be the best heroes we can be, and while competition’s good for that, it’d be much better if we were all friendly rivals instead of despised rivals. The easiest way to change that relationship is by changing how Monoma sees us. If he can just see firsthand what it was that we went through, then maybe…”

“Done,” Kamimoto said. She pressed a button on her phone and held it to her ear. “Hey, Vladimir, it’s Amahi. Look, I need you to pop Neito Monoma here… yes, Monoma… no, I’m not crazy, Deku asked for it. Where are they? They’re about to start getting into the USJ… look, I know that’s still super early but… great! Thanks Vladimir, you’re the best! Bye.”

She put the phone down and a second later there was a flash of yellow light illuminating the empty couch in the centre of the uppermost row of the theatre. “Aw man,” Kirishima groaned. “We’re gonna have to deal with him now too?”

They could all hear a yawn as someone started to wake up from the couch. Nezu smiled. “Welcome, Mr. Monoma. I am excited that you could join us.”

The countdown timer wound down to zero, and immediately the episode began with the familiar guitar riffs and the shots of bright lights illuminating All Might standing heroically for the intro.

Momoma jolted upright, his eyes unfocused but alert at the sudden appearance of unfamiliar rock music in his ears. The blond was dressed in his pyjamas, a matching grey flannel button-up shirt and pants, chibi images of his homeroom teacher Seijiro Kan in his hero costume of Vlad King plastered all over them. “Huh!? What?” he yelped, eyes going wide as he worriedly glanced around the room. “Principal Nezu?”

“Calm down, Monoma,” Kendo sighed, standing up and moving up the stairs towards him as the intro continued playing on the screen behind her.

“Kendo!” Monoma shouted. “Where am I? Where’s my bed? Huh?” he took a closer look at his surroundings, taking note of who all was present in the couches and loveseats in the rows in front of him, and the images currently cycling through on the intro. “Why are all these 1-A losers here? Did you come up with a show in secret to hype up how great you are? That’s rich, considering that 1-B is such a superior class. Okay, whose idea was it to prank me like this? Kendo, I cannot believe you, fraternizing with 1-A to pull a stunt like this on me.”

“Monoma,” Kendo slowly explained, “you’re going to think this is crazy, but… we’re not at UA anymore. Here, sit down, and I’ll try to explain this as best as I can.”

The redhead sat down on the same couch as Monoma in his pyjamas and tried to give him a very brief and abridged summary of where they were and why while the rest of the intro played. Monoma scoffed and laughed when she finished.

“Ha! What a joke, Kendo! To think even you have been taken in by these fools. You honestly believe that watching some show about Midoriya and the pack of attention-loving hooligans that is 1-A is going to help us?”

Kendo grimaced. Monoma was not going to listen to simple reason here. As the show’s intro ended and the episode came in full swing, the screen showing some overzealous reporter trying to get a statement from Midoriya about having All Might as a teacher, Kendo got an idea. “Monoma… I know you don’t like the idea, but look at it this way.” She leaned in close to his ear and began to whisper. Fortunately the audio was loud enough to prevent the others from listening in. With the quirk inhibitor in place, not even Jiro or Shoji could eavesdrop.

“This show is about them, in detail. We’ve already seen what happened in some of their battle trials in All Might’s first class. You could use this as an opportunity to learn more about their quirks so our class can beat them in the joint training Mr. Kan told us about. You could learn their secrets so that 1-B can get the upper hand later.”

Monoma placed his hand on his chin, stroking it with his fingers. “You know, I know that you’re playing me, Kendo… but you’re right.”

“…attend the world’s most prestigious educational institution,” Iida was answering the reporter’s question about what he was learning from All Might. “Of course, he’s the personification of honour and integrity that one would expect, but he’s also not afraid to show his students a more humourous side.” The press crowd looked tired and bored as Iida continued on.

“Wow, Iida,” Jiro chuckled. “I’m actually not all that surprised that you launched into a speech.”

“Don’t see what they’re so upset about,” Sato commented. “They got what they asked for.”

“Exactly!” Iida remarked. “I provided them with the exact sort of comment that they were looking for, speaking every word truthfully. I do not understand why my praise for All Might’s teaching did not gain any publicity.”

Aizawa sent a shifty eye towards the retired pro, who was smiling fondly down at his class’ representative.

“…aren’t you that Sludge Villain kid?”

Bakugo froze, an angry scowl on his face as he didn’t even turn to face the reporter and her microphone. “Walk away.”

“Oh my, what’s this?” Monoma asked snidely, standing up and grasping the railing as he looked down and to his left at the couch Bakugo, Kirishima, and Tetsutetsu were at. “I heard that you wanted to be the top-ranked hero, Bakugo! But someone mentions your first claim to fame and you growl at them? Being Number One means being in the spotlight you know; nobody’s going to like a Number One who barks like a rabid dog! Wait a second! HAHAHAHAHA!!! Your hair! What’d you do? Did you decide to drop the tough guy act and turn into a Magical Girl Bakug—ug!”

Monoma slumped as Kendo chopped the back of his neck. Most of 1-A was looking up at where he was currently being held up by the scruff of his Vlad King pyjamas with varying looks of incredulity or exasperation.

Kamimoto winced. “Should have known that was going to happen…”

“I’m gonna kill him if he stays on this island,” Bakugo growled.

Sero grinned. “Hey, anyone want to bet on Monoma’s reaction when he finds out about One For All?”

“I bet his head’s going to explode,” Kaminari suggested.

“He’ll probably go catatonic learning that Midoriya inherited All Might’s quirk,” Jiro blithely offered her vote.

“Maybe we should go back and have him watch all of yesterday’s episodes first,” Shoji suggested. “Then we can see how he takes it while all of us know the story so far.”

“You mean us reacting to Monoma reacting to Midoriya’s origin story?” Ashido asked.

“I think that’s going a bit too far,” Asui pointed out. “He’ll figure things out as we go along, ribbit.”

‘How does All Might ever get anything done with this media circus stepping on his cape?’ Aizawa thought as he made his way through the school’s gate.

Aizawa’s eyes widened in a flash and he leaned forward ever so slightly. “I remember this day,” he said, bringing a hand to his stubbly chin. “This was the day of the press break-in.”

Yagi gasped. “I heard about that,” he said. “I apologize. My becoming a teacher made trouble for all of you.”

“There is always some media circus whenever a popular hero decides to take up a teaching position at a hero school,” Kayama consoled him as the UA Barrier sprang up. “We were prepared for some reporters and their hijinks.”

“…not enough, it seems,” Nezu calmly stated.

“Whoa! What is that?” Sato exclaimed, pointing up at the sheets of interlocking steel that had just slammed in front of the aggressive ponytailed female reporter, preventing her access to the campus.

“That would be the UA Barrier,” Yaoyorozu answered.

“Our school has something like that?” Koda asked.

Another member of the press came towards the woman as she collapsed on her knees. “Don’t you know about the school’s defenses? This gate is the UA Barrier.”

“Defenses!?” she snapped back. “It practically killed me!”

“…I guess the show will explain for us,” Yaoyorozu muttered quietly, the wind leaving her sails.

“Yeah, well, it’s designed to stop anyone who doesn’t have a student ID or special pass from entering the campus,” the cameraman replied. “Guess it works.” The camera panned out to show that the steel plates had sprung up in the wall all around the campus. “Apparently, there are security sensors like this all over the place.”

The first reporter’s voice came over in an annoyed huff. “Keeping the public out,” she clenched her free hand into a fist as she glared at the gate. “This school thinks it’s untouchable! The least they could do is grant me one interview!”

“Not with an attitude like that,” Aoyama commented. “I sure don’t want to have such an unpleasant reporter interview me.”

“Easy there, Young Aoyama,” Yagi calmed the fellow blond with a raised hand. “She’s just trying to do her job and is getting frustrated. That’s all.”

Monoma regained consciousness as the reporters were talking amongst themselves. With a stern look from the girl who assaulted him, he held his tongue and glared at the screen.

Really, what did she think he was supposed to believe? That watching the past and future of that attention-seeking adrenaline junkie Midoriya and the rest of his merry band of class A trouble magnets would help them? All it would do is inflame their egos and make them think they’re all hot sh*t that they have some stupid show revolving around them, which was exactly what these troublemakers needed. Wasn’t it because of that 1-A mongrel Bakugo that his class was targeted this past summer during the training camp in the first place? Almost no one else in his class seemed to feel that way, but he knew it was the truth.

So sure, he’d play Kendo’s game. He’d watch this dumb show about the braggarts of Class A, and use that knowledge to concoct bulletproof strategies against them for their joint training exercises this term.

The camera zoomed in on the weathered golden logo of UA adorning the top of the gate. Narrator Izuku’s voice spoke out to the audience. “The news that All Might had been hired as a faculty member at UA took the entire nation by surprise.” The camera slowly panned out over the parking lot and sidewalk in front of the gate, showing the crowd in front. “Naturally, the media swarmed the school in search of a story.”

A new image took over the centre of the screen, filling almost all of it as it showed the back of a head, covered in thick faded steel-blue hair gently blowing in the wind. “Everyone wanted to get their hands on All Might.”

Izuku froze again. The playful cheer he’d had when he saw his girlfriend call All Might “super muscle-y” was gone as if it had not existed. His mind went a million miles a minute, seeing the back of that head of hair.

“Ribbit…” Asui croaked, falling back into her seat in the couch.

Monoma looked at Kendo, furrowing his brow. She had let out a slight gasp at the sight of this strange man, and all of 1-A was acting odd too. Past Kendo, he saw the teachers glaring at the screen. He wasn’t sure of it, given the principal’s fur, but he could swear that the paw that held his teacup had turned white beneath his coat.

The camera dropped back, revealing the skinny, slender body of the man standing far behind the crowd gathered around the barricaded gate. “Yeah. Everyone.” The music swelled ominously as the show dropped the title card.