Izuku’s eyes widened at the tall building of UA. He almost wanted to cry. All his dreams were riding on this one day. If he doesn’t make it in, of course, he can always try for gen ed and transfer during the sports festival, but… He really, really wants this to work out. All his life people told him to give up, no one relieved he could be a hero. Not even his own mom.
Izuku shook his head, no, don’t think about that. Mom tries her best with a worthless son like me, but she’ll see his worth when he gets into the hero course. He thinks. I trained for years, I can do this! Even if the exam is something ridiculous like robots, I’ll at least be prepared to do my best!
Taking a deep breath he takes a step forwards and- trips over a loose brick in the walkway. “Wah- huh?” Izuku opens his eyes to see the bricks a foot away from his face. He wasn’t falling anymore? He went to reach out to touch the brick when he heard a nervous giggle.
“Sorry for using my quirk on you!” His eyes snap up to see a cute girl with brown hair and caramel eyes. She gently drifts him upright by her hand on his shoulder. “I just figured it would be bad luck to trip and fall on a day like this, you know?”
“T-thank you!” Izuku smiled, in awe at the weightlessness disappearing when she pressed her hands together.
“Anyways!” The girl smiled,”We better get going, it should start soon!”
“O-oh! Right!” Izuku stammered, following after her. “I’m Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you!”
“Nice to meet you Midoriya! I’m Ochako Uraraka!” Ochako replied. They made their way into the building entrance without any problems, whispering quietly about how nervous they were.
Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the familiar blonde hair of his childhood friend and hoped they wouldn’t be near one another. “Ooh! Let’s sit over here-” Ochako exclaimed quietly, dragging him over to sit next to her. He was grateful for that, because it looked like the only other seats available were around Kacchan.
They still had a few minutes before the written test started, so they continued to talk to ease eachother’s nerves. “Your quirk is Gravity manipulation, right?”
“Sort of! It’s called Zero Gravity, so I can negate something’s gravity if I touch it with all five fingers,” Ochako says.
“Woah! That’s so cool, and you can use it on objects and people right? Can you negate your own gravity? What’s your weight limit?” Izuku asks, fingers itching for a notebook to write everything down.
Ochako laughs lightly at the rapid-fire questions. “Yes, and I can use my quirk on myself but it makes me nauseous, and I think around two tons? I haven’t been able to test it all that much.”
Up ahead, people start to quiet down so Ochako lowers her voice. “Is that your quirk? Analysis or something?”
For a moment Izuku is afraid to look over at her. He doesn’t want to see the disgusted look everyone has when he mentions it. Ochako had been so kind to him, and he just ruined it. Izuku felt a familiar pressure from behind his eyes and wondered if it was too late to change seats. Surely she would be more comfortable wit-
“Woah! You must have trained a lot to take this test, huh?” Ochako smiles, and Izuku is so, so relieved she doesn’t hate him like everyone else. He ignores the thought that she could always change her mind later, and sends her a blinding smile of his own.
“Yeah!” He nods determinedly.
“Let’s do our best then!” Ochako exclaims quietly, and they both turn to the front where the pro Hero Midnight takes the stage.
------------
“No way! We’re in the same group!”
“Wha- really?” Izuku’s eyes widened, looking from his card to Ochako’s. “Youre right!”
“Thats so cool, maybe we’ll see each other!” Ochako said. Izuku nodded, that would be nice.
Moments later, Present mic entered the stage, and a bright spotlight shone right on him. Izuku shook with nervousness and excitement. “Alright!! Let’s start the introduction, can I get a YEAHHHH?!” Present Mic announced, using a bit of his quirk to anticipate the last word. Silence permeated through the auditorium. Izuku and Ochako exchanged glances, and she had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing. Izuku nudged her as Present Mic continued to explain everything on the pamphlet they were given.
“S-sorry-” Ochako whisper- laughed. “I just feel so bad- n-no one responded,” She breathed. Izuku bit his lip, trying to hold in his own laughter. Ochako was making it contagious. “I was too nervous, but I didn’t think no one would respond!”
Izuku nudged her quiet again, they were starting to get looks. “We can cheer next time?” Izuku offered hesitantly.
Ochako nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! We can cheer him on together and he won’t be sad!” She whispered back.
Their plans were ruined not even a minute later when a teenager with blue hair stood up. ”Excuse me!” He shouted, gaining the attention of the entire audience and interrupting the pro hero. “It says here there are four villains, but only three were mentioned! If this is an error then UA should be ashamed of such a misprint!” Ochako covered her mouth again to prevent her laughter from escaping when the blue-haired teen chopped his hands like a robot. Izuku tried and failed to keep his smile down at their actions.
“And you two! Green and Brown hair!” The boy called out, causing the two in question to exchange confused glances. “You two have been talking this whole time! If you are not here to take this exam seriously, then I must implore that you leave immediately!”
“You’re the one interrupting Present Mic!” Ochako exclaimed, her cheeks puffing out a bit at the boy’s rudeness.
“He was just about to explain the fourth robot too,” Izuku added,”It’s just an obstacle!”
The blue haired boy spluttered, but didn’t get a chance to respond before the pro hero took the spotlight again. “That’s right kiddos! The fourth robot is a zero-pointer!” He exclaimed, pointing to the screen dramatically. “They aren’t worth any points, so it’s best to avoid them!”
“Anyways, enough with all the rules, amiright?” Present mic said, posing dramatically. Ochako nudged Izuku in anticipation, and they both prepared for the cheer. “Get ready and get on out there listeners! YEAHH!!”
“Yeahh!!” Ochako and Izuku cheered along, as loudly as they could muster. Izuku almost regretted it when all the eyes turned to them, but he spotted Present Mic perk up and look toward them.
“That’s the spirit, listeners!” Present Mic gestured with his open palm to them,”I got my eye on you two, good luck!”
Ochako waved enthusiastically back at the hero. Izuku’s face reddened at the attention, but he was smiling softly. “That was fun!” She laughed, taking Izuku’s hand. He suddenly felt this warm feeling build up inside him as she pulled him out of the audience and towards their area sections.
The feeling disappeared when she let go, and Izuku realized they had reached the lockers. “Well, I’ll see you at the start line! Good luck!” Ochako waved.
“Y-you too!” Izuku waved, and she disappeared into the girls locker room. He looked down to the hand she was holding, rubbing it a little. What was that feeling? Am I getting sick? Noticing the time, he hurried to the locker room, shrugging it off as an effect of her quirk.
--------------------------------------------
At the start line, Izuku couldn’t see any signs of Uraraka. He frowned, cursing his short genes when he suddenly caught a glimpse of short brown hair. Izuku straightened up and started forward, only to be stopped by a giant hand chopping down next to his face.
“If you're going to bother that girl before the exam I suggest you refrain!” The boy declared. “You shouldn’t bother other examinees!”
“I- I um, she’s my friend-” Izuku stammered, backing up. The boy only pressed further into Izuku’s personal space. He tried to step back further but bumped into another kid.
The boy continued to rant, and Izuku looked for any way out of that conversation when suddenly he heard a familiar voice shout ”GO!” and he was off running. He took a deep breath and let it out. He felt a lot better away from the other boy, and slipped into hs familiar mindset of fighting.
Izuku had gone to one of the community gyms near his house for the past seven years, learning everything he could, from weapons and self defense to parkour. He even cleaned a whole beach full of trash over the summer. Which was why during Present Mic’s warning to the other students to get going, Izuku had already climbed one of the buildings, jumping roof to roof.
Izuku was aiming to get a good vantage point where no one would bother him and there’d be plenty of robots. He didn’t see any zero pointers yet, but he had a feeling they were saved til the end. He panted, leaning over a roof to get a good view of the street below. There was a line of robots- perfect. He’d found where the robots waited to be sent out into the city.
Pulling out a piece of pipe from the rooftop, he swung it a few times before nodding. Then he leaped off the roof, aiming for one of the robots in the middle of the pack. Just like that, three robots were down before any of them had registered what was going on. After the first three went down, many of the robots struck each other in their haste to get to him, and in close quarters they ended up falling a bit like dominos. Izuku laughed, turning back to make sure he got all the robots in his vicinity. He didn’t bother to count them, it would just waste time.
Climbing back onto the rooftops, Izuku kept his sturdy roof-pipe with him as he leapt to find another area like the one he’d found. It was exhilarating, leaping from roof to roof on his own. It was nice to not worry about bullies and his mom, instead just flying across buildings with nothing but adrenaine. He hoped this would be what his life would be like when he became a hero.
Grinning all the while, Izuku managed to take down four more spots full of robots before the ground started to shake. Turning, he could spot a giant robot with a big red zero painted onto it. He almost laughed. Of course the zero pointer would be a huge monster robot. Carefully, he made his way to where the robot was, just to make sure everyone could make it out okay.
Izuku was about four buildings away from the zero-pointer when he heard a call for help. Without thinking, he ran towards it. Thankfully, he was closer to the voice than the robot was, so he didn’t have to worry about them being crushed by the robot. Yet.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a blur of blue and frowned. Izuku put the thought into the back of his mind as he slid off the last roof and flipped off one of the dead robots, landing safely to the ground with a controlled roll. “Ah! Izuku!”
“Ochako?” Izuku’s eyes widened when he looked over to see his new fried trapped under some rubble. “I’m here to help, where are you hurt?”
“My hero!” Ochako laughed, then winced. “It’s just my ankle, I think.”
“Alright,”Izuku said, analyzing the situation. “I’m gonna try to move some of the debris, but yell if anything starts to hurt.”
“Okay!” Ochako called as he walked to the side, out of her eye-range. “I kinda over-used my quirk, sorry. I don’t think I can lift it just yet.”
“That’s okay,” Izuku said, shifting some pieces, and wedging his makeshift pipe staff into part of the heavier concrete piece. The ground under them started to shake, and Izuku made his way back to Uraraka. “Okay, I made a bit more room for you and stabilized it, so I’m gonna carefully slide you out if thats okay?”
“Yep!” Ochako grinned, holding up her hands for Izuku to take. He grasped her hands and the familiar warmth came back, tingling his skin.
Izuku thought nothing of it at the time, only focusing on getting his friend out of the rubble quickly before the robot got too close. “Three, two, one!” Izuku called, and pulled her as quickly and carefully as he could.
Just as suddenly as she was free, she was gone, and in the excitement, the two had fused together into a single person. “U-uraraka?” They asked hesitantly, looking around.
“Wait-” They stopped,”Wait wait wait-” They looked down at themselves, noting they were several inches taller than normal, and was their hair longer? “I thought you didn’t have a quirk??”
“I thought so too??” They exclaimed, looking at their outfit. It was a mix of Ochako’s plain black tanktop now with a teal stripe, and Izuku’s teal pants with one now gray pant leg. “Is this- Is this my quirk??”
They suddenly burst into laughter. Half of it was in joy and the other half a little bit hysterical at the suddenness at having a quirk after fourteen years of absolutely nothing. “Well?!”
“Well what?” They tilted their head, still amazed at themself. A sly grin formed on their flushed face, turning towards the giant robot. “Why don’t we test out what your quirk can do!”
“W-” They started to object, but really, with all the excitement ant the oncoming robot towering over them, they found a want to try something new with this crazy opportunity. “Okay!”
“Okay!” They exclaimed again, rushing towards the robot. They felt a slight twinge in their ankle, but it was faint. They continued to run, not even slowing after jumping from pile of rubble to dead robot to atop the roofs and toward the giant robot. Laughing, they leaped tapped themself, activating zero gravity on themself and floating steadily towards the robot. They landed on its shoulder gracefully, and released their gravity.
“Wait,” They started. “What?” They looked over to the robot’s head and out across the arena. “I have an idea,” They smiled, putting all five fingers onto the robot. After the robot was tapped, they jumped off the shoulder, slid down the arm and back to the rooftop, all in time to see gravity slowly increase on the robot.
“Oh my god,”They smiled, excitedly. “Oh my god, look! This is so cool! Can I do that by myself?? Can you??” They stood there and watched with awe as the robot crumpled to the ground like a soda can. They found themselves unable to stop smiling at the absolute chaos of what became of the day. “Something like zero gravity evolving under the other quirks influence- maybe call it fusion? Or think of a name later- into gravity manipulation, where we can increase or decrease gravity on something.”
They paused, pressing their hands together to release the robot as Present mIc yelled for the exam end. “Did I get enough points? I think so.. I’m sure you did great! You too!” They laughed. Suddenly tired, they sat down on the roof ledge. “Do you.. Know how to turn it off?”
“It’s my first time- Oh wait how would you know- oh my gosh what if we’re stuck like thi-”They exclaimed, only to be cut off when suddenly they were thrust part, both teens now sprawled out on the rooftop.
The two of them immediately got to their feet. “Oh my god!” They said in unison.
“You got a quirk!” Ochako squealed. “You can merge with people?!!”
“I- I don’t even know how??” Izuku freaked out,”Did you- are you sure it wasn’t your quirk??”
“Nope!” Ochako giggled,” But oh!!” She exclaimed,”Maybe we can ask one of the staff to help- maybe they can figure out what your quirk is!”
“But- School isn’t even in yet and I- I’m sure they’re busy-” izuku stammered, very much freaking out.
“Nonsense! Let’s go!”
“No- wait! We’re stopping by Recovery Girl first, you’re still hurt!”
“Fiine!”
-------------------------------
“And you’re saying.. His quirk just manifested?” Eraserhead squinted at the two teens in front of him, one practically vibrating with excitement and the other on the verge of a dissociative episode. “During the exam?”
“Yep!” The girl responded. “He just sort of- we kind of formed a whole new person? With a new quirk and everything?”
“I-I thought I was quirkless…” The boy- Izuku Midoriya, Aizawa’s brain supplied- stammered. “I- I really didn’t know, I promise!”
Aizawa sighed. “I’m aware. I was watching the exam, kid.”
That was also how Aizawa knew the boy had passed, it was just lucky for him the kid had come to the staff room after the test to ask for advice. The kid had gotten 45 villain points and assuming the rescue points for saving the girl only increased it, the kid was definitely getting in. It was only logical to start training him personally before the school year to catch him up on everything he needed to know about his quirk.
After telling the kid such, Midoriya thanked him profusely and vowed to do his best. Which was all Aizawa could ask for. Honestly, he was amazed to see such a late quirk manifest, and was a little more than worried about the kid suppressing a quirk for so long.
“Now go home, get some rest, and tell your parents about it,” Aizawa reminded. “Meet me here tomorrow, both of you, and try not to use your quirk in the meantime.” He said.
“Thank you!” Izuku bowed,” I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but I really appreciate it!”
The girl nodded along, and thanked him for helping her friend. Minutes later, phone numbers exchanged and more thanks, the teenagers waved goodbye. “Thank you again Eraserhead!”
Shouta huffed in amusement before walking back to the staff room.
“Problem child,” He grumbled fondly. He could already tell the kid was going to be a handful.
Minutes later, Shouta realized he never gave the kid his hero name.
Bakugo couldn’t believe it. Last night, his parents got a call from UA to come in early for a parent-teacher meeting to discuss his ‘behavior’. He scoffed. No doubt Deku came to them crying about him. But Katsuki didn’t have anything to worry about, he never did. None of the teachers cared about Deku anyway.
That was why he didn’t understand why his teacher was looking at him with disappointment and annoyance. Surely he could see that Katsuki was the strongest out of the whole class, that he deserved to be at UA more than any of those other shitty extras. This was infuriating.
“It has come to our attention that Bakugo has a record of bullying,”Aizawa-sensei stated, and Katsuki clenched his fists in indignation.
“I wouldn’t say bullying,”Mitsuki hedged,”Sure, he’s a little rough around the edges, but Katsuki wants to be a hero, there’s no way he’d hurt someone on purpose!”
Aizawa gave her a flat stare, before his eyes drifted over to Katsuki, and his blood ran cold. His teacher raised a brow, as if to ask Bakugo if he was going to tell his parents himself. “Tch. Whatever lies Deku’s been telling, it ain’t true,”Bakugo scoffed, but he could feel his palms getting sweatier with nerves.
“That’s funny,”Aizawa drawled, and Bakugo’s parents shared a look. “Because Midoriya hasn’t told me anything.”
Aizawa’s words left Bakugo confused, until he remembered the two extras in the hallway. The purple haired one and the scar-face. “Midoriya? You mean Izuku?” Mitsuki asked, shoulders slumping in relief. “They’ve been friends for ages, I’m sure this is just a misunderstanding,”She explained, and Aizawa turned his gaze to her.
“You think shoving Midoriya against a wall in an empty hallway and using your quirk to burn him is a misunderstanding?” The pro hero challenged, and Mitsuki paled.
Bakugo scoffed. “The nerd deserved it, he was looking down on me- He had a quirk this whole time! That bastard was hiding it from me,”Bakugo sneered, letting off some sparks in his hands. Aizawa eyed his fists carefully, and he resisted the urge to wipe his hands on his pants.
Katsuk resolutely kept his gaze away from his parents, knowing neither of them would be pleased with him. He knew they had a soft spot for Deku, they just didn’t understand. Everyone knew he was better than Deku, and now, now with that stupid nerd hiding his quirk from him! That was just too much.
“Katsuki..”Mitsuki gasped, and covered her mouth with a hand. Katsuki kept his glare on his teacher, the man who should be expelling Deku for hiding his quirk for so long, and cheating to get into UA. It was no wonder he hid his quirk, he had to use other people for it to work.
Aizawa cleared his throat to get the parent’s attention. “Normally, this is enough to expel him from the hero course,”He said, but put up a hand when all three made some noise of protest,”But because of this incident, I looked into his school records and found some.. Discrepancies.” Before anyone could say anything, Aizawa continued with,”So I requested to take a look at some security footage from Aldera Middle school, and found multiple cases of assault with a quirk, bullying, and suicide-baiting, all directed towards Midoriya or kids with ‘weaker’ quirks.”
After those words, Katsuki couldn’t take it,”So what? None of that is on my record- you can’t fucking expell me over this shit!”
“Shut it, brat,”Mitsuki barked, and her fists curled on the arms of her chair. She turned to Aizawa. “I was unaware that this was going on, but I promise you he’ll accept any consequences you see fit. I thought,”She paused wiping her eyes. “I thought he was just like me, you know? Loud and brash, but.. I never thought he’d stoop so low. Poor Izuku..”
“I’ve expelled students for less,”Aizawa commented dryly,”But there’s no way Bakugo will be allowed to continue at UA. If any of his previous tendencies were shown on his record, he wouldn’t have been accepted in the first place.”
After hearing those words, Katsuki slumped in defeat. He was being expelled. From UA. He was being expelled from the number one hero school in Japan, and he was never going to be able to become a hero, much less the number one. His nails dug into his palms. It was all Deku’s fault. He set me up, Katsuki thought. He ignored the voice in the back of his head, asking if Deku made him hurt him for all those years.
Katsuki tuned out the rest of the conversation. He wasn’t dumb, he knew when arguing was a lost cause, and looking into his teachers eyes… he knew there was no way of getting out of this. He didn’t hear the three of them talking about therapy, and how if he manages to pass evaluation in a year, they can talk about enrolling into a different hero program. He misses the disappointed, brokenhearted looks from his parents as they agree, taking a list of psychiatrists freshly printed from his teacher. His ex-teacher now.
Katsuki barely paid any attention as the meeting ended. He held in a scoff when his parents bowed to the pro hero, and was the first one out the door. Bakugo stomped out the school, ears burning in humiliation as he caught sight of a few students on his way out. One curly haired fucker seemed to watch him eerily, and he popped a few sparks in his palms. Soon after that display, his usually quiet father put a stern hand on his shoulder, giving him a look of dismay so strong it made him want to cry. He didn’t though, not when all the nosy extras were milling about the place.
Tuning out his mom as she lectured, eventually they reached the car, and Katsuki couldn’t help but take one last look at UA as they drove off. He felt nothing but hot, boiling rage that Deku was stealing his dream of becoming a hero in every way possible.
----------------------------
Rain paused in their exploration, wondering why Bakugo was at school so early with his parents. Ultimately though, he was on a mission, and glanced away almost as soon as Katsuki met their gaze. Not that the blonde could see his eyes from beneath his curly hair.
Everything was so new and exciting, and he wanted to explore more of the school. Rain wondered if the school was always so bright as he stuck his head through the door to a random classroom. He hummed, noting its emptiness, but taking a moment to breathe in the chalky, pencil smell from the room.
Then he was off, going down the hall until he came across another classroom. He peeked his head in, only to come face to face with his- mentor? Dad? Teacher? He frowned, settling on teacher. Looking over, he could see Aizawa-sensei watching him with an amused expression. “Present Mic told me you might stop by. How are you feeling?”
Rain hummed, stepping into the classroom and taking a seat in the front. It was Izuku’s desk. “Good. My name’s Rain.”
Aizawa dipped his head in acknowledgement. “Nice to meet you. What’s the notebook for?”
Rain glanced down at the notebook they’d placed onto the desk. “Feelings.” They settled on, offering the notebook to Aizawa after a moment of hesitation. Tension left their shoulders when his teacher set a juicebox down on the desk and gently picked up the notebook.
Delighted, Rain took the juicebox while Aizawa tried to stifle a smile at the notes taken in the book. There was everything from what the floor felt like to impromptu interviews with a random student passing through in the hall. Looking down at the kid, he saw a content smile as they tapped the desk and sipped at the apple juice.
“Do you want to participate in class, or do you think Izuku will be too tired?” Aizawa asked, placing the notebook back on the desk.
Tilting his head in thought, Rain pursed his lips before saying,”Can I join class? Izuku can take a nap during lunch.”
“Yeah, that’s fine kiddo,”Aizawa said, leaning on Bakugo’s old desk. “If you need a break, you or the kids can hang out in the lounge for a bit. I can write you a pass.”
“Thank you,”Rain smiled softly before going back to the juice box. Aizawa hid a smile in his scarf as he made his way back to his desk to continue grading papers.
The two of them sat in comfortable silence until the rest of Rain’s friends came back from the gym, dressed in their regular uniforms. Aizawa mourned the silence at Kaminari’s boisterous laughter.
-------------------
“Ugh,”Izuku grumbled, curling further into the sleeping bag as he lay scrunched on the couch in the teachers lounge. At one end of the couch, Todoroki dozed in a light nap with Izuku’s sleeping bagged feet in his lap.
“Hey, don’t complain,”Uraraka whispered so she didn’t wake Todoroki,”You chose to stay as Rain for that long, you get consequences.”
Izuku didn’t dignify that with a response, only curling up further to press his face into the soft couch cushions. Uraraka snorted. They’d been able to have lunch in the teachers lounge because Izuku and Todoroki almost passed out when they unfused. Well, Izuku more so than Todoroki, but still. Aizawa had all but shoved them into the lounge for a nap.
Uraraka, Shinsou and Denki came with their lunches and sat around the couch, quietly eating while the two slept. Todoroki seemed to wake up perfectly fine halfway through lunch, if not a bit sleepy, but didn’t move from the couch as Shinsou passed him his lunch. Much to their amusement, Todoroki ate his bento with most of Izuku’s legs in his lap.
Eventually, Izuku stirred from slumber towards the end of lunch with a loud stomach growl. Sleepily he reached a hand out of the bright yellow sleeping bag and made grabby hands at Todoroki. While the others were snickering, Todoroki picked up a roll of sushi with his chopsticks and placed it gently in Izuku’s hand. It was then unceremoniously and sleepily shoved into Izuku’s mouth with a pleased hum.
“Is he still asleep?” Denki whispered, prompting Uraraka to spit out some of the water she was drinking in a burst of laughter.
“Oh my god what if he’s sleep-eating?” Uraraka laughed. Shinsou looked contemplative, passing Todoroki Izuku’s lunch box as well and Todoroki had just continued eating. “Will he wake up?”
“How long does he usually sleep?” Denki asked. Izuku’s sleepy hand came back out to make gestures at Todoroki, sending them all in a fit of poorly concealed quiet laughter. This time, Todoroki opened Izuku’s lunch and with his chopsticks, passed over a piece of chicken katsu to place in Izuku’s waiting hand. That too, was shoved into Izuku’s mouth with sleepy bites and a hum of content.
“So cute,”Denki complained. “But yeah, how long does he usually sleep for after using his quirk?”
“I dunno,”Uraraka shrugged. “Guess it depends on how much energy he used up. Usually when we trained it was later in the day so he could go to bed early and wake up in the morning fine.”
“Aizawa said if he needs more rest he can stay and skip english,”Shinsou reminded them. “After that, he’s on his own.”
“What? I’m sure Aizawa would let him sit out on other stuff- maybe even the whole day?”Denki thought aloud.
“I doubt it,”Uraraka snorted,”Plus we have hero training today. Izuku wouldn’t want to miss that.”
“Isn’t All Might teaching that?” Shinsou asked, watching Izuku make another grab for food.
Denki perked up,”Yeah! All Might’s the new heroics teacher, isn’t it cool?! I can’t believe the number one hero is gonna be teaching us. He’s probably really good at it, I bet he has lots of experience with training younger heroes, you know?”
“I dunno, he seems kind of.. dumb,”Shinsou grimaced, not finding a better word for it.
“Head empty,”Todoroki added sagely from the couch, and Denki clapped his hands together in quiet applause.
“I’m so glad I taught you memes,”Denki said, wiping a fake tear,”That was perfect.”
Shinsou made a face, looking over and seeing Todoroki oddly proud of whatever that was. “Alright but yeah, All Might isn’t the most proactive hero when it comes to public speaking or advocating for right or anything. I don’t think he’ll be that great of a teacher,”Shinsou drawled.
“What? But he’s number one! Surely they wouldn’t let him teach a bunch of kids if he wasn’t good at it?” Denki asked.
“We’ll just have to wait and see,”Uraraka shrugged nonchalantly, but inside she was thinking over what she’d heard from Izuku about All Might. Even thoughts during the times they’d fused were… complicated. She wondered if Izuku would tell her about it if she asked.
“Wanna make a bet?” Shinsou smirked, raising an eyebrow. “I bet you a dollar All Might sucks as a teacher.”
“You’re on! I bet he’s amazing,”Denki sniffed indignantly. He turned to Todoroki and Uraraka. What about you guys?”
“I think I’m on your side Denks,”Uraraka laughed. Despite what she felt from Izuku, it mostly came across as hero worship. Its not like Izuku had ever met All Might in person, right?
“Shinsou,”Todoroki added dryly. He didn’t have faith in any high ranked hero. All Might included.
Denki hummed. “Guess we’ll have to ask Izuku when he wakes up what side he’s on.”
“Damn,”Denki muttered softly, with feeling, as the class watched All Might fumble to answer the class’s barrage of questions and then pull out a stack of notecards. “You were right.”
Denki could feel Shinsou’s smug smile from under his purple face mask. “Pay up,”Shinsou said mercilessly, taking the dollar Denki pulled out of his pocket.
“Is this about the bet?” Todoroki asked, inching closer. “I think Shinsou and I won.”
“What bet?”Izuku asked, watching Uraraka huff and pay Todoroki a dollar. “Why are you guys keeping money in your hero suits?”
They turned to Izuku with varied expressions. “You don’t carry money in your hero suit?” Shinsou asked with a raised brow.
“Uh… no?”Izuku said, looking worried. “Should I? Why? How much do I need to have??”
Uraraka snorted. “Nah you’re fine. Maybe enough for a lunch or bus ride just in case you get stranded somewhere, or need to buy something for a pedestrian? You’re fine right now though.”
“Yeah, Uraraka and I just lost a bet,”Denki sighed dramatically.
Izuku tilted his head in a way that reminded Shinsou of a puppy. “What did you guys bet on?”
“If All Might was gonna be a good teacher or not,”Todoroki said. “He’s not.”
Izuku let out a mix between a laugh and a snort that made Denki’s heart flutter. “Man, woulda won then too. He’s kinda…”
“Dumb?” Shinsou added mercilessly, and he heard laughter from behind him from the purple haired girl.
“Head empty,”Todoroki nodded, and Denki gave him a high five.
“Yeah,”Izuku smiled, then frowned. “I met him before. It didn’t go so well.”
“What?!”Denki almost shouted, then quieted when he realized the class had turned their attention to him. When the class turned away he tried again, quieter this time. “What? How did you meet him??”
“Ah, he saved me from a villain,”Midoriya said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“How’d that turn into a bad experience?” Denki asked, confused.
“What, did he tell you you couldn’t be a hero or something?” Shinsou joked, but Izuku just glanced at his feet. “Wait what? Why-”
“I was uh, quirkless at the time,”Izuku muttered, and the other three took a breath of realization.
“Well if I knew that before I woulda won the bet,”Denki grumbled, and Izuku snorted.
“I mean, it’s fine. It was a while ago,”Izuku reassured. Uraraka’s eyes narrowed.
“How long ago?” Uraraka asked.
“Uh, end of junior high?” Izuku responded, and the rest of them winced. Except Todoroki, he was busy glaring at the number one hero. He wasn’t surprised the man was quirkist. Shouto had a theory that all high ranking heroes and high class people were.
Shinsou nudged Uraraka and Denki playfully,”Hey, want to play pranks on him?”
“Play pranks on All Might?” Denki exclaimed, while Uraraka responded with a resounding Hell yes.
“I agree,”Todoroki nodded, and Izuku looked on at his scheming friends in awe and a bit of fear.
“Alright, we can come up with ideas later, but for now just be as uncooperative as possible,”Shinsou instructed, and they all nodded in agreement. Even Izuku, who did indeed want to get back at All Might a bit while supporting his friends interests.
“Any questions?” All Might asked at the end of his speech. He pointed dramatically to Iida, whose hand was raised. “You there!”
“Why are we being partnered randomly, wouldn’t it be better to work with someone who is compatible to our quirks?” Iida asked, and Izuku had to restrain himself from piping up with the answer. He was pretty sure All Might had a different one anyway.
“Yes! You will all need to work with a variety of heroes when you graduate, not all of them will work well with your own quirk, but adapting to the challenge is what makes a hero!” All Might exclaimed, then pointed to Shinsou. “What is your question?”
“How come we’re not learning the basics of fighting instead of jumping straight to battle trials?” Shinsou drawled.
“Because I’ll need to see what level you all are at before anything can be improved upon!” All Might responded.
“Is this something Aizawa-sensei signed off on?” Jirou piped up. “Cuz when I asked him he said today would be quirkless fighting.”
“Haha,”All Might laughed nervously,”There was a change of plans! Besides, battle trials are a better way to gauge your skillset!”
“What if our costumes don’t fit? Aizawa-sensei said you were going to help us get them modified if there were any problems?” Uraraka chimed in.
“Well- Anyone who can’t participate with their costume can sit out for now,”All Might stammered, before turning away,”Right! First up is group C as the heroes versus group A as the villains!”
Izuku and Shinsou exchanged glances. It was them as heroes against Mina and Iida as villains. Ignoring All Might sputtering around the students and herding them into the viewing box, Shinsou and Izuku got together for planning.
“Are you okay with fusing with me?” Izuku asked earnestly, and Shinsou hesitated. Not missing a beat, he added,”That’s fine. I think All Might would hate to see me win quirkless anyway,”He said wryly.
Shinsou let out a breath. “Right. Yeah, any plans?”
“A few,”Izuku grinned.
Iida was excited. Sure he was playing a villain, which wasn’t ideal, but for the sake of the exercise he could act. His brother had taught him a bit about acting when he’d signed him up for a play once. Except, he knew Shinou was his opponent, and that meant he couldn’t speak. He wasn’t sure if Shinsou required a response or just any sound, but Iida wasn’t going to risk it.
Not long after the exercise started, he heard Mina through the comms. “I hear them! I’m going in for attack,”She said excitedly, and Iida confirmed with the plan. He would stay and guard the bomb while she attacked. It was the perfect plan.
However, when he didn’t hear back from Mina after a few minutes, he started to worry. Soon after, there were footsteps in the hall leading up to the bomb room where he was guarding. Much to his surprise, Shinsou strolled nonchalantly into view. His costume was a lot like Aizawa-Sensei’s, but purple and black. He didn’t have a scarf, but had a mask covering his nose and mouth and a hooded cape.
“Where’s Mina?”Iida blurted out before he could stop himself. Shinsou just laughed.
“Izuku’s taking care of her,”Shinsou said, jerking his thumb back down the hall. “Do you surrender?”
Iida kept quiet, knowing that if he responded the exercise was over. He couldn’t afford to get caught now that Mina was down. They’d both lose. Shinsou only tilted his head before removing his mask, revealing a chilling smile. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to respond to lose. I was only the distraction.”
Adrenaline shot down Iida’s spine at those words, and he panicked, whipping around to face the bomb. Much to Iida’s dismay, Izuku was grinning right back at him, hand on the bomb right next to an open window. “Checkmate,”Izuku called, and Iida fought back a smile.
“The hero team wins!” All Might called over the speakers. Iida marched towards Shinsou as Izuku followed, and Mina came running into the room a minute later.
“Your strategy was admirable! Your execution was outstanding,” Iida called, chopping his hand down as Shinsou’s face went red.
“It was Izuku’s plan,”Shinsou mumbled, but was bowled over by Mina’s hug.
“That was awesome! Seriously, memes? That’s how you got me?” Mina moaned. “I bet Denki is laughing his ass off in the viewing room,”She pouted, making Shinsou and Izuku snort.
“Did you see his costume?” Izuku chimed in, apparently eager to show off Shinsou’s design, much to Shinsou’s surprise.
“Hell yeah! Dude, it’s badass!”Mina exclaimed as they walked back out of the building. “Purple is a hard color to pull off, but damn, you do it well.”
“Your costume is very stealthy as well, Midoriya!”Iida complimented, and Izuku shot him a smile. It was a bit more brightly colored than Aizawa’s but still had a plain greenish blue design surrounded by mostly black and bits of red.
“Thanks! It’s a bit plain, but that’s cause when I fuse with people their costumes get mixed into mine. Uraraka said it could look really bad if theres too many colors to mix.”Izuku rambled, and Iida could understand that. He absently wondered what Izuku and he would look like fused.
“Why did you guys not use Izuku’s quirk?” Mina asked, and Shinsou stiffened.
“No time to figure out a new fusion quirk, and sides’ we already had a good plan,”Izuku shrugged, and Shinsou sent him a grateful smile.
“It is true, you did not need to go to such lengths to defeat us,”Iida said, morosely.
“Hey, it’s just practice, that’s what makes it a learning experience,”Mina said cheerily. “Sure, I’m bummed we lost, but that just motivates me to kick their asses next time,”She said, shooting Shinsou a deadly grin, which he raised a not intimidated eyebrow at.
“Why did we have to come to the school so early?” Shinsou complained. Izuku felt bad for him, considering the dark marks under his eyes and the way he kept yawning and rubbing his eyes. He was pretty sure his tie was tied wrong too.
“That’s why I brought coffee!” Denki exclaimed, showing up behind the four of them. In his hands he had drinks with their names written on them in sharpie. How he knew what drinks to get, Izuku wouldn’t know, but when he took a sip he was pleasantly surprised to find it was hot chocolate.
“Marry me,”Shinsou sighed, clutching his coffee like a lifeline. He sipped it and practically melted. Denki just laughed, handing Todoroki his frappuccino.
“How’d you know what drinks to get?” Ochako asked as they made their way to the training gym. She had gotten some sort of sugary mocha.
“Ah I just guessed. We talked about coffee a bit in the chat so I knew Shinou was an addict and that Shouto hadn’t tried it,”Denki explained, and Izuku was in awe that he remembered all of it. Shinsou didn’t even protest about being called a coffee addict, only sipping his drink in bliss. “I figured a frap was a good beginner coffee drink. And hot chocolate for Izuku cuz he doesn’t like coffee.”
“Blasphemy,”Shinsou glared at Izuku with a look of disgust. Izuku waved his hand in distress.
“I-it’s fine, it just makes me really jittery,”Izuku hastened to explain. Shinsou just huffed and turned back to his coffee, so Izuku considered himself safe for the moment.
“How do you like yours?” Ochako asked, and Izuku turned to see she was talking to Shouto.
“I like it,” Shouto declared. Denki, who had gotten some sort of chocolate mocha, had offered Shouta to try some of his too. Uraraka then demanded to try some too, and they found that Shouta liked the frappuccino most, but liked the mochas too.
“Come on Shinsou, you gotta let him try,”Ochako pleaded.
“Yeah man, how will we know if he really likes coffee or just sugary drinks?” Denki cajoled.
Shinsou scoffed, hiding his coffee. “You keep your filthy hands away from my coffee.”
“I’ll give you some of mine!” Denki offered. Shinsou gave him a look.
“Izuku’ll make you some coffee tomorrow morning from Aizawa’s magic coffee beans,”Uraraka blurted, and Izuku startled.
“What?” He asked, and to his horror, Shinsou seemed to actually consider it.
“Sure,”Shinsou said, passing his coffee reluctantly to Shouto. He received the frap in return and gave it a disgusted look.
“Wait- what?” Izuku repeated. “Aizawa doesn’t let anyone use his coffee beans.”
“Think of it like hero training!” Ochako explained,”And besides, its for a good cause!”
“It’s for science!” Denki cheered. Shinsou shrugged, sipping the frap and immediately grimacing.
Shouto sipped Shinsou’s coffee and grimaced, giving a full-body shudder before passing the coffee back to Shinsou solemnly. “Don’t like it?” Shinsou teased, handing him back the frap. Shouto shook his head, mouth still downturned like he’d eaten a lemon.
Denki and Ochako, curious, held out grabby hands to Shinsou’s drink to try. With a sigh, Shinsou passed it to them too while Shouto coughed.
“I don’t like whatever that was,”Shouto managed to say. He took a big sip of the sugary monstrosity in his hands to rid himself of the taste. Izuku laughed, watching as Denki and Ochako tried Shinsou’s coffee only to dramatically gag and pass it back to him.
“Well I think it’s delicious,”Shinsou said pointedly, but Izuku could see his lips turned up into a small smile. It was cute.
Not long after that, they had arrived at the training gym, and Izuku and Uraraka led everyone through stretches before giving them a run down on Izuku’s quirk. Shinsou was the only one not so comfortable with fusing yet, so he opted out of that part. Ochako promised to show him some combat moves after demonstrating.
“Usually you just have to think about your feelings towards one another, and if they’re positive and you’re willing to fuse, it’ll just happen,”Ochako explained. “Movement and teamwork help a lot to activate his quirk though too.”
“It happens a lot by accident, but it doesn’t hurt and if you change your mind during any part of it, the quirk will deactivate,”Izuku explained. Shouto and Denki nodded enthusiastically.
“I like that your quirk has built-in consent,”Denki said thoughtfully, making Shinsou snort from his spot on the floor. He’d since finished his coffee and had confiscated Denki’s to drink.
“Alright, so Izuku and I are gonna fuse and then you guys can try it with him, okay?” Uraraka said, and gave a thumbs up to where Mic was grading papers on the bleachers. He returned the gesture and she turned to Izuku, offering a hand.
Izuku was nervous to have an audience this time, but laughed his worries away when Uraraka spun him around, and then suddenly they were one person. Denki clapped his hands, excited to see the process and to see Zura again.
“Ta da!” Zura posed, grinning. “Any questions?”
“Do you feel like one person or two?” Shouto asked.
“A bit of both,” Zura said. “I’m more of an experience,”They said thoughtfully. “I just feel like.. Love I guess. It’s hard to explain, sorry.”
“What’s your quirk?” Denki asked. “Gravity, right?”
Zura nodded. They were once again wearing an amalgamation of clothes from each other, but since they were mostly in UA gym clothes or workout gear, it wasn’t as chaotic as usual. “Uraraka has to touch things to make them float, but I can make anything float or get heavier.” As they said it, the empty cups around Shinsou floated upwards and then crashed to the ground. “No other questions?”
No one else had questions, so they unfused in a flash of light. “Who wants to go first?” Ochako exclaimed.
“It might be easier for Denki first, since we’ve already fused before,”Izuku pointed out, and Denki fistpumped. Shouto meanwhile sat down next to Shinsou to observe. Ochako stayed standing but backed away towards to two boys on the ground.
“Are you nervous? I’m kind of nervous but like also really excited,”Denki rambled, bouncing up to Izuku. “Do we.. we dance right?” Denki asked, extending a hand to Izuku.
“Um, yeah, if you want to?” Izuku smiled nervously, feeling a bit flushed from fusing already before. He took Denki’s hand and they awkwardly danced in small steps before Denki took the lead and hummed along to whatever song popped into his mind.
“You’re really good at dancing,”Izuku smiled as he was spun under Denki’s arm.
“Mina taught me,”Denki beamed. “She tried to get me to join the cheer team in middle school, but you know,” Denki shrugged, and Izuku felt little sparks through his hands.
Izuku hummed, and before he knew it, he was opening his eyes as Bolt. “O-oh woah,”He breathed. “I didn’t expect that to work so fast.”
“Woo!” Uraraka cheered. He turned to see her sitting down with Shouto and Shinsou, all who were smiling at Bolt’s excitement. “Try not to run into a wall this time!”
Bolt blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I.. how?? I don’t even know what I did last time,”He muttered. Tentatively, he took a small step forward. Nothing.
Bolt glanced over to Present Mic, who was watching them intently. He focused on a spot in front of him and- he hit the wall.
“I said don’t hit the wall!” Ochako’s voice rang out, much farther behind him than before.
“Ow,”Bolt whined dramatically, rubbing his nose. He turned, and squinted out at the group. “How do I stop going so fast?!” He called, a bit scared to move.
He wrinkled his nose, taking a step forward shakily. And then another. He kept focusing until he was a few feet away from the group. “You’re doing great!” Shinosu cheered, and Bolt’s concentration snapped. He immediately activated his quirk and tripped over his feet at the same time, landing flat on his face.
Barely concealed laughter rang out and Bolt groaned, pulling himself up off the floor. “Help?” He pleaded, looking at Shinsou in distress. Shinsou seemed surprised, but then shrugged.
“None of us have speed quirks, dude,”Shinsou said, and Bolt groaned again. “Maybe you can ask Iida. I bet he’s had the same issues.”
“That’s a great idea!” Ochako said, slyly putting away her phone from where she was filming.
“Hey-” Bolt started, trying to pick himself up off the floor before he activated his quirk again and suddenly crashed into the bleachers on the opposite side of the room, a few feet from where Mic was sitting. They hit awkwardly, unfusing at the same time and ending up sprawled half on the gym floor or on the bleachers.
Both of them groaned, and Mic asked how they were doing. “You okay?” Ochako called, and they held up a thumbs up from their spots. After a moment of stumbling, they made their way back to the group.
“Ouch,”Denki grumbled. “Coolest quirk, and 10/10 experience but maaan, why is it so hard to stop crashing into things?”
“Maybe you should call him Crash instead of Bolt,”Shinsou suggested, and Denki pouted.
“We should ask Iida,”Izuku thought aloud. Ochako passed him a water bottle and he sipped at it, then looked to Shinsou. “Weren’t you guys gonna train?”
“Bolt crashing into stuff would be too distracting. Plus it was fun to watch,”Shinsou smirked.
Izuku sighed amusedly, and turned to Todoroki. “You want to fuse now?”
“I… yeah,”Shouto murmured. He got up and pulled Izuku to his feet after offering his hand. “I don’t know how to dance though.”
“That’s okay,”Izuku smiled, “I was really bad at it before, but Uraraka’s been kind of teaching me. I can teach you if you want?”
“Sure,”Todoroki nodded, and Izuku offered his hands out for Shouto to take.
They took things slow, listening idly to the three chatting softly behind them. They did a box-like dance, Izuku leading as they got comfortable with each other. “Are you supposed to feel different.. Before?” Shouto asked uncertainly.
Izuku hummed. “Not really? There’s many ways to fuse, I guess dancing has just been the easiest to activate it. Is this okay?”
There was a pause before Shouto answered,”Yes,”and Izuku frowned, slowing down. “We can do something else if you want,”Izuku said, looking into Todoroki’s nervous eyes. He seemed to deflate at Izuku’s sentence.
“Sorry, I thought..”Shouto trailed off. “I don’t know.”
“That’s okay!” Izuku rushed to reassure. “I’m not going anywhere if you want to try another time. We can try when you’re ready, or not at all. It’s okay.”
Izuku let out a breath,”Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you have to try my quirk. I’m happy to just hang out with you, and I’m proud of you for telling me when you weren’t comfortable.”
“Oh,”Shouto responded, eyes suspiciously wet.
“Do you… do you want a hug?” Izuku asked, holding out his arms. Shouto hesitated, but nodded, and Izuku wrapped his arms around his friend.
“Thank you,”Shouto said, and Izuku hummed in response, reveling in his friends warmth and pressing his face into Shouto’s shoulder. They stayed like that for a while, and when they went to pull apart they found they had become one person.
“What-” They stammered. “I thought- you didn’t want- No it’s fine- this is- this is nice,”They said, humming to themself. They looked over their arms and clothes, finding themself taller than usual. Their clothes were a mesh between Izuku’s hoodie and the gym clothes they were wearing, and they had to brush their bangs out of their face to see it. They pulled some hair closer to see the colors but they weren’t sure up close. It reminded them of watercolors, with mixes of pink and red and green and white in all shades. They hummed quietly, thinking and feeling for a moment.
“Oh my god! Your hair!” Uraraka cheered. “Can you even see??”
To-Izu- they turned towards their friends and calmly walked over, sitting so they were all in a circle. “I can see fine,”They said, mind still occupied with new thoughts and feelings.
“Are you… okay?” Shinsou asked, tilting his head to the side. It was hard to tell what they’re feeling without being able to see their eyes.
“I am good. This is nice,”They said with a slight smile. It was nice to be around friends. Shinsou made a face.
“Have you decided on a name? Do you know your quirk yet?” Denki asked, bouncing in his seat. He looked like he was restraining himself from touching the fusions clothes or hair.
They took a moment, bringing their hands together in front of them. The others leaned forward from their spots, intrigued at what they were doing. After a moment, water began pooling into their hands and Denki gasped.
“It’s water! Maybe because Todoroki had fire and ice, so the middle ground is water?”Denki added, excited.
“Mn,”The fusion responded, and as more water pooled into their hands, it began to take shape as a bubble- like shape, floating off into the air.
“Aw, that’s so cute,”Uraraka gushed as more water bubbles floated into the air. Denki reached up to touch one and it jiggled but stayed intact.
“Can you control them?” Denki asked, poking another one.
The fusion didn’t respond, only moving their arms fluidly, and the water droplets came together to make a bigger, more fluid looking shape that circled around and through the group. The fusion hummed, smiling contently. “Rain.”
“Hm?”
“Rain? Is that the name you want?” Uraraka asked, taking out her phone. “Hey can I take a picture of you for Aizawa? He’s gonna be sad he missed another fusion.”
Rain nodded, an answer to both questions it seemed. The group didn’t let the silence of their new friend bother them, and went with the flow. It unnerved Shinsou a little, but with time everyone was relaxed. Uraraka and Denki filled the silence no problem, understanding that their fusion can be a lot of things to process at once, and they thought that maybe with two introverts, the silence made sense.
“What do you think about starting combat training then? We still have a little while before class starts,”Uraraka said, pointedly looking to Shinsou, who perked up.
“I’d be cool with that,”Shinsou nodded. Denki got to his feet with the rest of them, excited to start combat training too.
“I can show you some moves Aizawa taught me, but you’ll have to do other training on your own like running and weight lifting. It’s important to keep in shape,”Uraraka said, poking Shinsou’s noodle arms, and he jerked away from her and stuck his tongue out.
“I knowww, but that’s so boring,”Denki complained. “I wanna learn how to flip someone. But hey,”Denki said, turning to Shinsou,”Maybe we can train together, run to school or something.”
Shinsou gave him a look, already regretting the answer. “Fine,”He said reluctantly. “I don’t know weight training though.”
“That’s fine! I can teach you!” Uraraka but in, flexing her muscles. Shinsou was loathe to admit he was jealous.
“Oh my gosh you’re ripped! Can I feel your arm?!” Denki exclaimed, and Shinsou sighed, looking to Rain- only. Rain wasn’t there.
“Uh,”Shinsou stammered, when he caught sight of Rain talking to Present Mic, who gave the fusion a thumbs up and- Rain started walking towards the exit. “Uh guys- Rain’s leaving!”
“What?!” Uraraka and Denki exclaimed, turning to where Rain was nearly out the door. They let out a yelp and ran after them, Denki grabbing Shinou’s arm and pulling him along. “Rain! Where are you going?!”
Rain paused in their movements, waiting patiently for the group to skid to a stop in front of them. “Explore,”They explained. “New. Just looking.”
“Ah, everything’s new to you, right? I didn’t really get to look around much with Bolt being so fast,”Denki nodded like it made sense. Shinsou supposed it did.
“Oh!”Uraraka exclaimed, then ran to their bags, pulling out a notebook and running back. “If you want to write about things you see, you can use this! It’s Midoriyas, but he was gonna use it for fusion stuff anyways.”
Rain gently took it, and Shinsou realized just then how tall they were. “Thank you,”Rain said with a small smile. Then they turned a bit, pausing. “I go now.”
“Aw,”Denki sniffed, wiping a fake tear out of his eye. “They grow up so fast.”
“Is that.. Normal?” Shinsou asked, watching Rain walk down the hallway. At one point they stopped to touch the wall and then wrote something in the notebook before continuing on their path.
“Yeah,”Uraraka shrugged. “They’re their own person, you know? I think with Me and Izuku, Zura wanted to get stronger so we trained a bunch. Bolt wanted to control his quirk, but I think Rain just wants to explore. It’s.. It’s hard to explain but everything feels different and new,”Uraraka explained. And Shinsou could understand that.
“Plus, they’re both introverts,”Denki added,”I think they just wanted some peace and quiet or something. Might be nice for them to do it together.”
“Huh,”Shinsou hummed. Maybe someday he’d want to try it. At least for Rain, they seemed happy to exist.
“Alright! Time to kick butt!” Uraraka clapped her hands together.
Soon, Shinsou would be regretting not going with Rain on their impromptu adventure.
Izuku’s eyes widened at the heated hand fisted into his uniform, no doubt scorching the fabric. He opened his mouth to protest, but Bakugo beat him to it, shoving him harder against the wall. “What the fuck Deku?” Bakugo seethed, and Izuku felt his breath freeze in his chest. “All this fucking time you had a quirk and you hid it from me?! You looking down on me hah?!”
“I wasn’t-”Izuku stammered, only to be cut off.
“Don’t fucking lie to me!” Bakugo roared,“You used that round faced bitch to get first place. That doesn’t make you fucking stronger than me, you hear?!”
“My quirk-” Izuku tried again, but this time when Bakugo shoved him again, his head hit the wall harshly. He winced from the pain, hoping it wasn’t bad enough to bruise.
“You were looking down on me this whole time huh? I bet it’s ‘cause your quirk is useless without taking advantage of someone else,”Bakugo sneered. Izuku braced himself for the oncoming rant, part of him hoping Aizawa was close by. Aizawa wasn’t like his old teachers, he’d do something, right? But oh, that’d get Bakugo in trouble. Izuku couldn’t tell if he wanted that or not. “Figures you’d hide such a villainous quirk.”
Izuku sucked in a breath at Bakugo’s words. Zura wasn’t villainous. They were a bond, an experience, an embodiment of friendship and understanding. Zura would never be a bad thing, he thought. Izuku took a breath, gearing up to defend himself as the anger inside him grew when two sets of footsteps creeped up on them.
“The fuck do you think you’re doing?” Someone asked harshly. Izuku tried to peer around Bakugo, but the blonde was so close it was stifling.
“None of your fucking b-”Bakugo snarled, only to stop halfway. There was a moment of silence and Izuku didn’t dare move when he heard a quiet sigh from behind them. Izuku’s eyes widened at the blank look in Bakugo’s eyes and the lack of strength behind his grip on Izuku’s shirt.
“Let him go and step back,”The voice continued, and to Izuku’s surprise, Katsuki did just that.
As Bakugo stepped away, Izuku turned his wide eyes to the voice, and saw the purple haired kid from class, and next to him was a boy with red and white hair. Both of them looked angry. “Are you okay?” Purple hair asked gently to Izuku, snapping him out of it and realizing that he was staring at them. Izuku blinked at them.
“Um, yeah,”Izuku stammered. He put a hand over his scorched uniform, feeling the heat and seeing that the damage wasn’t too bad. He’d be able to get the marks out in the washer most likely. Seeing his reaction, the peppermint haired boy scowled. “T-thanks.”
“Don’t worry about it. The names Shinsou,”The purple haired boy added with a glare towards Bakugo, who was standing blankly, awaiting orders.
“I-I’m Izuku Midoriya,”Izuku responded, looking to the peppermint haired kid while his mind raced about what kind of quirk Shinsou had. Was it some form of mind-control? Probably response based but Izuku wondered if there were other activation requirements.
“Shouto,” Shouto said flatly. He was still glaring at Bakugo and the scorch mark on Izuku’s uniform.
“N-nice to meet you, um. S-sorry about all that, Bakugo is just...”Izuku failed to find words,”He’s known me since we were kids and thought I was lying. A-about my quirk, I mean. I didn’t know I had one until a month ago, uh. It needed special activation requirements,”Izuku rambled. Shinsou and Shouto’s faces morphed into understanding and still a bit of anger as they no doubt realized that Bakugo bullied him for being quirkless. Maybe they wouldn’t care that he was quirkless? Izuku rushed to explain, his arms waving in front of himself,”I-it’s fine really, he just,”Izuku started, but stopped when his brain failed to explain it. Thankfully Shinsou interrupted that train wreck of a conversation.
“Go back to the classroom and grab your bag. Then go home,”Shinsou seethed at Bakugo, and the blonde wordlessly followed, walking down the hall to the classroom. Izuku watched him go, in awe of Shinsou’s quirk. The purple haired teen turned to him, glancing at Izuku’s ruined uniform. He opened his mouth, about to say something when Izuku’s brain rebelled against him.
“Was that your quirk? How long does it last? Is it just response based? That would be so useful for hero work, no wonder you’re in 1-A, I bet Aizawa sensei would be able to each you a lot about combat to supplement your quirk- or if you wanted to be an underground hero even better but you’d still be great as a twilight hero if you’d wanted like-”Izuku rambled, and the two looked on in confusion and in Shinsou’s case, surprise and embarrassment.
“Uh- yeah. My quirk’s called brainwashing,”Shinsou said, cutting Izuku off and rubbing the back of his neck. Izuku let out a breath at the conversation change. If he had to explain anything else about Bakugo and him he’d probably end up in tears. Izuku figured it was better to just not think about it. “I’d like to be an underground hero, like Aizawa-sensei.”
Izuku perked up, coming closer to the two in his excitement. Shouto on the other hand was watching the two of them with a bit of awe and confusion. “That’s awesome! I think I want to be a twilight hero, but since I’m usually quirkless it helps to have combat experience. We should spar sometime! Uraraka and I have been learning together and you could join- I mean, if you, if you want?”
Shinsou let out a light laugh. “I guess it’s kinda obvious that I don’t have much combat experience.” He said, walking down the hall back to their classroom with Izuku at his side. It took Shouto a moment but he followed too. Shinsou turned to Shouto nonchalantly. “What about you? Want to spar with us?”
Izuku saw a bit of surprise flash across Shouto’s face before returning to a blank expression. “Sure,”He responded, looking away towards the door ahead of them. Shinsou smirked.
“Well, count me and the ice prince in,”Shinsou grinned at Izuku, and he couldn’t help but grin back. They hashed out more details on their walk, and even exchanged numbers, much to Izuku’s excitement. He now had Mic, Shouta, Uraraka, and now Shouto and Shinsou! It was five more friends than he’s had his entire life, and if he kept thinking about it he’d start to cry again, so he settled for smiling like an idiot instead.
As they entered the classroom, Izuku was instantly bombarded by Uraraka and surprisingly, the yellow-haired boy who Izuku was pretty sure was named Denki. However, the two behind him frowned, looking at each other with determination and nodding towards the teacher. Shinsou glanced at Izuku to make sure he wasn’t paying attention before going to talk to Aizawa and asking to talk outside the classroom. Shouto followed the two out while Izuku was cheerfully chatting with his other friends.
“-And it’s got a bunch of books, so you can just sit there with the cats for hours,”Denki was explaining. Izuku, Uraraka, and Denki were crowded around their desks, Denki leaning back in his chair so far Izuku was afraid he’d fall, Izuku perched on Denki’s desk and Uraraka on another chair.
“But it’s not a cat cafe?” Uraraka asked, her cheek squished against her arm. Denki shook his head.
“Nah, it’s more like a library that just happens to have cats. They have four, and I’m pretty sure they’re all from the same litter,”Denki said, waving his arm. “They’re really cute though, Mina loves them. Two are all black, and the other two are black and white.”
“What are their names?” Uraraka asks. Izuku nods, leaning forward.
“The black ones are Shadow and Spooky, and the black and white ones are Moozley and Oreo,” Denki smiled, “Because Moozley is like moo, because she has spots that look like a cow.”
“Aw,”Izuku and Uraraka cooed.
“Actually I think I have pictures from last time Mina and I were there,”Denki said, reaching for his phone. It wouldn’t have been a problem, but Denki was also teetering his chair back, and with the sudden movement he lost his balance and started falling backwards with a yelp and wave of his arms.
Being the closest, Izuku reached for Denki’s hand to stabilize him, only for Denki to accidentally pull Izuku down with him. They both yelped as they crashed to the floor with a startled yelp and a flashing bright light.
Uraraka blinked away the spots in her eyes and looked down to where the two had crashed. Her eyes widened when she saw them fused together, with the same uniform but with bright yellow-green hair and wide eyes that seemed to glow.
“Holy shit,”Izuku-Denki breathed. “Wait- no, fuck- Sorry- no it’s fine- I didn’t mean to- you’re okay?” Denki-Izuku stammered, talking over themself in a stuttered conversation.
“You two fused!” Uraraka squealed, and the two of them turned and looked over at her surprise, obviously having forgotten she was there. “Do you feel okay? What should I call you?”
They seemed to think for a moment before nodding. “I’m okay. Yeah. I’m okay.” Turning eyes towards Uraraka they beamed. “I think I want to know what my quirk is before I decide on a name.”
“Ooh,”Uraraka leaned forward in excitement.”Do you know what your quirk is? Denki’s is lightning, and Izuku’s is touch and feeling based.”
“I… I don’t know!” They laughed, finally stumbling to get to their feet. “This is super cool though, I feel… I feel like I just ate a bunch of sugar. Energized maybe? I dunno but it’s exciting and I want to try it out.”
Before Uraraka could add on or say something like, hey maybe we should wait for Aizawa sensei before you try a possibly dangerous quirk, they took a stumbling step forward that turned into a lightning fast dash to the front of the classroom and smack into the chalkboard. At the impact, Izuku and Denki broke apart and fell to the floor, both holding their faces in varying levels of pain and excitement.
“We’re fast!” Denki exclaimed, and Izuku laughed lightly. “Oh my gosh this is so cool, we’re like lightning- like- like a bolt of lightning! That could be our name!”
“It describes our quirk and is like a normal nickname, or name, but also kind of a hero name?”Izuku rambled, still smiling like an idiot, “I like it.”
“Oh my gosh oh my gosh,”Uraraka ran up to them. “Are you guys okay?”
“Yeah! Bolt is just super fast and we accidentally ran into the wall,”Denki said sagely.
Uraraka snorted, then stood straighter. “Oh- If you’re like, lightning fast, do you think Bolt is faster than Iida?”
Izuku and Denki exchanged wide eyed glances before bursting out theories and bets. Izuku hardly even noticed that he’d forgotten about Bakugo completely, only focused on the two friends in the room with him. It was a nice feeling, and he couldn’t wait to have more days like this one.
“What do you need?’ Aizawa questioned, looking from the serious yet determined look in Shinsou’s eyes to the angry discolored eyes of Todoroki standing next to him.
“Bakugo attacked Midoriya outside the locker room,” Shinsou scowled. Aizawa’s eyes widened. He hadn’t noticed anything wrong with the two when they’d come into the classroom. “I used my quirk on Bakugo to grab his stuff and go home.”
Aizawa sighed. He’d noticed Bakugo glaring at Izuku all day, but apparently he misjudged the meaning behind it. “Thank you for telling me. I’ll take care of it.”
Shinsou’s shoulders relaxed minutely, but Shouto frowned. “What are you planning on doing?” Todoroki glared, and it occurred to Shouta that Todoroki didn’t think he’d do anything about it. That he’d sweep bullying under the rug. “Both of us saw Bakugo burn Midoriya’s uniform and pin him against a wall.”
“I believe you,”Shouta reassured, resisting the urge to punch everyone who hurt these kids and made them not trust adults. “I’ll be reviewing the footage of the event and looking into their schools. I’d been suspicious of Bakugo before since he’d gone to the same middle school as Midoriya, so reaching out to their previous school will help me determine if he should be expelled or if I need to get the police involved.” Aizawa said, and Todoroki seemed to relax at that.
“Midoriya was quirkless before, when he went to school with Bakugo,”Shinsou blurted. “I think Bakugo was bullying him because of that.”
“It seems that is the case,”Aizawa sighed, wishing he had a cup of coffee. Before he dismissed them, the hero turned to the shorter of the two. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Is that all, or do you need anything else? I’ll help however I can.” He said meaningfully, observing the way Todoroki shifted in surprise. He’d have to keep an eye out for the kid.
Todoroki glanced at Shinou, who gave him a slight encouraging look, but mostly looked confused. Right when Todoroki was about to say something, there was a loud thud from inside the classroom. All three of them turned, and Aizawa sighed when the two boys immediately went for the door.
Shouta was worried for a few seconds until he remembered that he’d left Izuku and Ochako in there with Kaminari. No doubt they were just horsing around, but Shouta figured maybe a desk or chair had fallen over. Peering over the two tall children blocking his way, he saw Izuku and Denki on the floor in front of the whiteboard, both holding their faces but smiling excitedly as they tried to talk over the laughter of Ochako, who was clutching her stomach.
Aizawa sighed as Izuku’s eyes caught sight of the three. “Aizawa! I used my quirk on Denki!” He beamed, only to realize how that might sound in front of Shinsou and Shouto, and hastily added,”On accident!”
Denki jumped up from the ground, pulling Izuku with him. “It was so cool! We named him Bolt, and he has super speed! Even faster than Iida!”
“You fused together?” Shouto asked, tilting his head in thought. Denki nodded, and went on trying to explain how it felt to fuse with Izuku while Izuku looked sheepishly at Aizawa.
While Shouta was happy that Izuku was making more friends, it seemed he might have trouble turning his quirk off when he touched people. Perhaps he could rope Denki into quirk training with them, the hero thought Denki already needed help on his own quirk anyways. “Super speed?” Aizawa raised an eyebrow. Izuku glanced over at Uraraka, who had just calmed down.
“They ran into the wall!” Uraraka burst out, giggling again.
“It was an accident! We just tried to take a step forward and then all of a sudden there was a wall!” Izuku groaned, covering his face in embarrassment. “I didn’t even mean to fuse, Denki was just about to fall off his chair and I just grabbed his hand and poof!” Izuku said, mimicking the poof with his hands. “I didn’t mean to.”
“I’m not worried about it,”Aizawa sighed, coming closer to rest a hand on his shoulder. “But maybe we should get you some gloves so it doesn’t happen in the classroom. You’ll have to train more so you’ll be able to only fuse when you want to.”
Izuku nodded, thinking. Uraraka bounced in excitement,”Does that mean Denki can join training?”
“If he wants to,”Aizawa nodded. At that, the other three boys turned to look at Shouta.
“Training?” Denki bounced with excitement, nose still a bit red. Beside him, Shinsou frowned.
“Izuku discovered his quirk during the entrance exam, so he’s having mandatory quirk counseling that doubles as training for anyone who is there to assist him. Because his quirk is so selective, the only person Izuku’s been able to practice with is Ochako and myself,”Aizawa stated. “You three are welcome to join.”
“Yes! More test subjects!” Ochako cheered, and the boys gave her a wary look.
“Will we have to have Izuku use his quirk on us if we come?” Shouto asked hesitantly, and Aizawa shook his head.
“You can try fusing with Izuku if you want to, but we’ll have other combat training in addition. Both are optional,”Shouta said. Todoroki and Denki seemed to brighten at the prospect of fusing with Izuku, while Shinsou had the opposite effect. “I’ll send you all the training schedule if you’d like to come.”
“Oh! Give me your numbers!” Ochako exclaimed, and Denki rushed to bring out his phone while Shouto and Shinsou did so a bit more slowly. “I made a group chat with all of us.” She explained, texting something on her phone. Izuku looked over to see her adding funny profile pictures to everyone’s numbers.
“Alright, now go home. You have school tomorrow and I doubt you want to be tired during your first heroics training,”Aizawa grumbled, making his way to his desk and packing up his things.
“Right!” Denki startled and got his backpack with the other kids. “You guys want to walk to the bus stop together?”
“Ah, Aizawa’s driving Ochako and I home,”Izuku stammered, hooking his backpack over his shoulder. The classroom went silent as the others looked at him and Uraraka.
“Dude, are you in trouble?” Denki whispered loudly.
“Aizawa’s Izuku’s dad, silly!” Uraraka blurted, and Aizawa resisted the urge to facepalm. Izuku hid in his arms in the meantime.
“Uraraka! He’s not- we’re not- I mean, it’s-,”Izuku stammered to explain, until Denki patted him on the back.
“No worries dude, we won’t tell anyone!” Denki reassured. “Heroes have to keep their families safe by hiding it, right?”
“I knew you were related,”Todorok nodded solemnly, making Izuku’s face even redder and Uraraka started laughing.
“If any of you need a ride home you can come with,”Aizawa called out. “If not, we’re leaving.”
The kids all protested riding with their teacher, but Shinsou stared for an uncomfortably long time before getting dragged to the bus stop by Denki, Todoroki trailing behind like a lost puppy. When they were all out of the classroom, Aizawa gave Ochako a look.
“What?” She shrugged mischievously. “I didn’t lie.”
Izuku’s face remained beet red as he hid behind his bangs. Shouta, meanwhile, did not dignify it with a response, only mentioning that she’d have to run extra laps the next day.
The three of them picked up Hizashi at the teacher’s lounge and made their way to the car. The whole time Izuku and Uraraka told Hizashi everything about the quirk apprehension test as Zura, the new friends they met, and fusing with Denki. “Already? Wow kiddo, you’re making friends faster than Uraraka eats mochi!” Hizashi exclaimed, and Uraraka squawked in protest. “How did it feel? Is Denki joining us for training now?”
“It felt.. Fast. Our quirk was super speed, and it felt like we had soo much energy! Like I drank 10 cups of coffee,” Izuku explained, waving his hands in explanation. “And Denki’s really nice! I’m not really.. I’m not really sure why but it just feels a lot easier to fuse with people now, I don’t even mean to do it most of the time. I guess it’s cause no one wanted to be my friend before though, right?” Izuku asked, and the nonchalant way he said it broke everyone in the car’s hearts.
“Sweetie no,”Hizashi comforted. “You just hadn’t met the right people before us! Which just makes these new friendships even more special, considering finding the right friend can take forever!”
“Yeah!”Ochako nodded. “Just look at Aizawa, he only has like three friends and he’s got a quirk.” She said, making Hizashi snort. Aizawa gave her a betrayed look, resolutely making plans for the next training. He wondered why he ever thought having kids was a good idea. He’d like to return that one please.
“I guess,”Izuku laughed. “What’s with the group chat though? I’ve never been in one before.”
“Oh! I’ll show you,”Ochako perked up, leaning over with her phone. “Everyone gets fun usernames, mine is Uravity. I set up everyone else’s too, but they can be changed. Yours is Broccoli.” Izuku made a face at that and Hizashi let out a laugh from the front. “Shinsou is The BFG because he’s the tallest. Uh, Kaminari is Pikachu, and Shouto is Peppermint.”
Izuku hummed as she explained that they could chat all together or send memes, which Kaminari was already doing. He read a few messages until they got home, both kids amusing themselves with the conspiracies Denki and Shouto were trading back and forth. Shinsou only fueled their debate by adding on more and more ridiculous theories for them to debate.
When they got home, Shouta and Izuku made dinner while Hizashi taught Uraraka how to play a game involving dice. After dinner Ochako stayed the night, and they cajoled Hizashi into doing the same. He already had clothes at the house to stay over, and much to Izuku and Ochako’s satisfaction, the coach remained empty throughout the night. They’d gone to bed a bit early, but stayed up on their phones a bit to chat with the group chat.
Apparently, Aizawa had to go to the school early in the morning, so they decided to all arrive early to train. Denki and Shouto were the most excited to get Izuku to use his quirk on them, and came up with a fusion conspiracy board. They’d fill out fusions of the whole class as the year went on, but so far the only ones on the chart was Izuku, Denki, and Ochaco. Shouto theorized that if Izuku fused with him their quirk would be some kind of weather quirk. Denki was sure it would turn them into a lava/ice monster.
It was fun to just talk about anything with friends, and Izuku may have cried a little bit. Ochaco may or may not have heard him and cuddled him to death all night, but no one needed to know. He was just so happy to have friends.
--------------------------------
Meanwhile, Aizawa started looking into Bakugo’s past while the kids went to bed. He told Hizashi everything that had happened, and his suspicions. Hizashi ended up helping him gain access to Aldera’s security cameras while Aizawa requested a meeting with the Bakugo’s before school and let Nedzu know of the situation.
An hour later and the two pros were absolutely livid. Watching Izuku get bullied and burned and suicide-baited daily by students and teachers alike through the cameras made Shoua want to pull out his hair or cry. He was already compiling the evidence for both Nedzu and Tsukauchi.
Guaranteed, Bakugo would no longer be at UA after tomorrow, and Aizawa didn’t feel bad about it at all. That kind of quirkist behavior not only to Izuku, but to other kids with ‘weak’ quirks was unacceptable and unbecoming of a hero. Aizawa had to calm Hizashi down and prevent him from barging into Izuku’s room for hugs, considering it was late at night and the kids were asleep. Hizashi still demanded to be apart of the meeting, but conceded when Aizawa mentioned he’d need someone to watch the kids.
Aizawa had no doubt Nedzu was coming up with a suitable punishment for the boy, and he was just glad to get a bully out of his class. No one was hurting Aizawa’s son on his watch.
“Hurry up Izuku!” Uraraka called, banging on the bathroom door. She was dressed in her school uniform and bouncing on her toes.
“I’m c’mingh,”Izuku called back, mouth full of toothpaste. He had been expecting Mic and Ochaco to come by in the morning before class for breakfast and then carpool to school, but now he was regretting it. “You know school doesn’t start for another hour right?” He asked when he stepped out of the bathroom.
“I’m just so excited!” Uraraka bounced, then grabbed his arm and led him to the kitchen. “Shouta’s cooking strawberry waffles too.”
Izuku perked up at the mention of breakfast. It was rare for Shouta to cook sweets. Something about heroes and being healthy. Ochaco regularly ignored this though, and pestered Shouta for sweets and snacks as much as possible. It only got worse when Mic joined in. Alternatively, Shouta- and Izuku, surprisingly- were more savory people. Izuku was glad Aizawa found his spicy tea recipe almost as good as coffee. It was something Hizashi was grateful for until Izuku told him the tea had caffeine in it too.
“Good morning kiddos!” Mic greeted them from the kitchen counter. He was all but dressed in his hero suit minus the hair gel. If Izuku was being honest, he liked the man’s hair down better. It was kind of impractical as a hero to have it gelled, but Izuku wasn’t going to say anything.
“Morning!” Uraraka cheered, hopping up on the counter seat next to Mic.
“Morning,”Izuku yawned, rubbing his eye absentmindedly. He caught sight of Aizawa giving him a weird look and frowned, dropping his hand. “What?”
“What happened to your tie there, kiddo?” Aizawa said, amused. Izuku’s face went red, looking down at his tie.
“I don’t really know how to tie it,”Izuku muttered sheepishly. Aizawa sighed fondly and beckoned him over. He went over, trying to keep away from the other two gawking.
“I think it’s fine like that!” Mic said,”It adds character.” He added. Uraraka snorted from the seat next to him.
“You would, banana-hair,”Uraraka nudged him, and Hizashi squawked in protest.
Meanwhile, Aizawa steadily untied Izuku’s tie and re-did it slowly so Izuku could watch. Or he would have, but Izuku was too embarrassed to really pay attention. When the tie was tied, the correct way this time, Shouta gave Izuku a comforting pat on the shoulder and steered him towards the peanut gallery.
“Aw,”Mic cooed. “You two look so professional. We need photos!”
Izuku was hoping AIzawa would at least protest, but to his embarrassment, the man just said,”Later,” and placed some pancakes in front of each of them.
“Oh! I could send them to my mom and dad! They’ll be happy I’m not alone on my first day,”Uraraka smiled, grabbing syrup and whipped cream for her pancake stack. She passed them off to Hizashi after she was done.
“We’re glad to have you kiddo,”Aizawa added from where he was leaning against the opposite side of the counter.
Izuku smiled fondly at his new family, happiness warming his heart. He hoped they could do this more often. Especially since Ochako and Izuku made a ground-breaking discovery about Aizawa. Unbeknownst to the man, the two had realized Aizawa had certain… feelings for the blonde hero while they were fused together. They hadn’t been fused for long, but afterwards Ochako had talked to Izuku about it and they both agreed. Shouta had a crush.
Since then, the two of them had tried to rope Hizashi into any and every activity they could. Ochako liked to call it OGITD, or Operation Get Izuku Two Dads. Izuku was not very fond of the name, but agreed with the plans. He had to admit though, scheming with his friend about his foster parent’s love life was kind of fun. Especially after Ochako had forced him to watch the Parent Trap. It gave them some ideas.
Izuku took a bite of his pancakes, savoring the meal. He couldn’t imagine going back to how he ate when he was with his mom. Living on basically ramen and canned goods was not ideal, and he doesn’t think he can ever look at ramen again. It was weird. He didn’t think it was so bad when that was all he ate, but now cooking with Shouta he was happy to start getting used to the new flavors.
“You kids excited for your first day?” Mic asked, unbothered by the whipped cream on his mustache. Ochako and Izuku exchanged a look when Aizawa passed him a napkin, gesturing to his face.
“Yeah!” Ochako said through at least half a pancake in her mouth. “I can’t wait to meet our classmates.”
“Me too,”Izuku said, then paled at the thought of Kacchan going to UA. Aizawa gave him a look of concern, but Izuku looked away, avoiding his eyes. Izuku hadn’t told Aizawa everything about his school life. They’d really focused on home and future schooling, but Izuku had no doubt that Aizawa would ask sooner rather than later. He really didn’t want to think about Kacchan, and he hoped the explosive teen ended up in some other class.
“We have orientation today right?” Izuku asked. Mic snorted and Aizawa smacked his arm lightly.
“Orientation with the principal, and introducing the teachers and some.. New teachers this year,”Aizawa said. Uraraka frowned.
“That sound super boring,”She pouted. “But if we’re just sitting there we might be able to get to know our classmates better?” She asked hopefully.
“Ah, yeah,”Izuku mumbled. A thought struck him that he’d probably have no trouble making friends now that he wasn’t labeled quirkless. Would they still like him if they knew? Would they have been friends with him if he was still quirkless? Izuku’s mind was reeling. Did they count as friends if you knew they would hate you if you didnt have a quirk? How would he know which-
“I’m sure you’ll both make tons of friends!” Hizashi cheered. “Usually people in the hero courses become like a tight-knit group all throughout highschool and into their careers. That’s how I met Shouta, and Nemuri, and Tensei-”
“We get it,”Aizawa cut in, then looking to the teens with a serious face.”You don’t have to think of it like networking, but at least try to get along. You’ll be working with your classmates for a long time, so try to get to know everyone at least a little bit.”
“I bet Izuku’s gonna be super popular cuz of his quirk,”Uraraka hummed in thought. Izuku paled at her words, but relaxed a bit when she turned to look at him. “If people bother you about it let me know and I’ll punch them.”
“No punching where I or the cameras can see it,”Aizawa amended quietly, making Izuku turn to his guardian with wide eyes. He turned to Hizashi for support but only saw him nodding sagely.
“Uh, let’s not… do that,”Izuku stammered. After that enlightening conversation, the four of them were ushered into Hizashi’s car and to UA. It wasn’t so far away that they couldn’t walk, but it carried all of them and made it so Hizashi could drive somewhere after school if he needed to. Aizawa had a car but seldom used it. Mic says he shouldn’t drive it anyway though, because he is the worst driver in the world and probably shouldn’t have been given a license. Shouta grumbled that he was just taking advantage of the loopholes in traffic regulations. Hizashi was not amused.
Once at the school, Mic and Aizawa split off to the teacher’s lounge while Uraraka and Izuku made their way to the classroom. It took them a while to find it, and were able to catch a glimpse of other classrooms along the way. One such room had smoke coming out of it, and maniacal laughter could be heard from inside. The teens decided to value their lives and took a detour around that room.
“Woah! It’s huge!” Uraraka gasped at the giant 1-A door. It was a big red door that towered over the shorter than average kids.
“It’s probably to accommodate for any mutation or transformation quirks,”Izuku offered, keeping himself firmly behind Uraraka. He did not want to know who was yelling in the classroom, but he had a guess.
“Well, now or never I guess,”Uraraka said, taking a breath and pushing the surprisingly light door open.
Immediately, they were swarmed with noise from the two kids at the window. Izuku recognized Kacchan, tensing as he caught sight of the boy with his feet up on the desk. He was yelling with the taller blue haired boy who had called Izuku out for muttering at the start of the Entrance Exam. While the two were arguing, Izuku attempted to subtly stay behind Uraraka while meandering the two away and to their seats.
Izuku’s hopes and dreams were crushed, however, when he saw that his seat was right behind Bakugo. Then, his hopes and dreams were grinded into paste and tossed into a volcano when Bakugo’s eyes met his. Izuku could pinpoint the moment Kacchan registered him from the way his eyes went wide for a moment before narrowing in anger and resentment.
“Deku! What the hell are you doing here?!” He yelled, going from sitting to standing, his quirk popping menacingly. In front of him, Uraraka tensed and glanced back at her friend before facing the spiky-haired teen with determination.
In an act that nearly made Izuku laugh out loud, she turned to Iida. “Hi! I’m Uraraka Ochako, and this is Izuku Midoriya,”Uraraka gestured. Iida seemed conflicted with reprimanding Bakugo and introducing himself, but quickly chose the latter.
“I am Iida Tenya! It is nice to make your acquaintance,”Iida exclaimed, moving his hand in a chopping motion.
“Oi! Don’t fucking ignore me!” Bakugo yelled from behind Iida’s large stature. Izuku could barely make out the blonde tufts of hair over Iida’s shoulder.
They proceeded to ignore him. Seconds later, Izuku looked behind him to find Aizawa on the ground in a bright yellow sleeping bag. “Pfft-” Izuku nearly burst out with laughter but caught himself with a hand over his mouth. He reached over to tap Uraraka and pointed towards Aizawa subtly.
Turning with confusion, Uraraka promptly burst out with laughter at the sudden image of her best friend’s parent teaching their class in a butterfly cocoon on the floor. Scowling, Aizawa took his que to get up. “It took you all 8 minutes to quiet down once the bell rang, that is unacceptable,”Aizawa said. “Don’t waste my time and I won’t waste yours.”
Izuku and Uraraka made eye contact from their seats. They both see through the scariness of their teacher, but it was kind of funny to see the other kids react to it. One kid in particular had asked who the scary hobo was, and Uraraka nearly started cackling.
“Put these on and meet me outside,”Aizawa-sensei finished, and Izuku and Uraraka rushed to grab their uniforms and head to the locker rooms before anyone else. The rest of the class swiftly followed when they finally processed what was going on.
Uncomfortable changing in front of others, Izuku opted to use a stall. He quickly changed into the gym uniform, a little uncomfortable without sleeves, but he figured he could add a compression shirt later on. It would hide some of the scars on his arms from his time in middle school. Once changed he exited the locker rooms, only having to dodge around a few people to make it out and onto the field.
Taking in the course in front of him, Izuku’s excitement came back in full force. He bounded up to Aizawa, making the man grin fondly under his scarf. “3 minutes, good,”Aizawa commented.
“What are we going to be doing? Are we skipping orientation?” Izuku asked, taking in all of the different set ups on the field. It reminded him of the P.E. course in middle school, only he was never allowed to participate unless it was for some kind of punishment.
“You’ll see,”Aizawa responded cryptically. Seconds later, Uraraka bounded up to the two.
“Oh! Are we skipping orientation? What are we gonna be doing?” She asked, and Izuku snorted. Aziawa gave a tired sigh.
“I’ll explain when everyone gets here, now shoo,”Aizawa muttered, shooing his kids off to the sidelines where the kids were supposed to be waiting.
“Fiiine,”Uraraka drawled as the two of them joined a purple haired boy and a green haired girl on the sidelines. Soon enough, all of the students arrived. Izuku had to admit he was excited. He could see so many different potential quirks between his peers, and they were going to do a hero activity! Izuku’s heart nearly burst out of his chest, but he could see Uraraka was bouncing on her toes in excitement too. It just made him grin stupidly to have such a cool guardian and friend and to be at UA! Learning to be a hero!
Izuku couldn’t believe it. He was going to be a hero.
Until his eyes accidently met angry red. His smile disappeared in the face of Bakugo’s untapped rage. Unbeknownst to him, Aizawa noticed his change in demeanor, as did his friend next to him.
Izuku looked down at the grass, taking a deep breath. Shouta wouldn’t let Kacchan hurt him, he reminded himself. He has a quirk now, so he’s not worthless. Kacchan probably can’t do anything to him on UA grounds, he thought to himself. Though, looking back to where Bakugo was glaring a hole into the side of Izuku’s head, he was sure Bakugo’d find some way to hurt him here. He’d just have to keep an eye out. Keep his guard up.
It should be…fine, Izuku hoped.
After explaining that they’d be doing a quirk Apprehension test, the class started getting more excited. Izuku, on the other hand, just became more nervous. He was embarrassed to say that he had kind of forgotten about Kacchan the past few months. The blond had no idea Izuku had a quirk, and would most likely kill him when or if he showed it. Maybe he could just do the entire thing quirkles? He wondered. No, Bakugo would learn eventually, and it was better to get the reveal done while Aizawa was there. Probably. He hoped.
“Midoriya, you got first at the entrance exam. What was your ball throw in middle school?” Aizawa called. Izuku jumped at the attention directed at him, but rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
“Um, I wasn’t allowed to take it in middle school,”Izuku stammered, still thinking about how the hell he’d gotten first in the entrance exam. No one told him that! However, in middle school, the school classified him as a liability, so he more often than not ended up doing chores while the other kids played sports or worked out. He winced at Aizawa’s frown and the curious stares from his classmates.
“Here, try it with your quirk then,”Aizawa grinned, tossing him a ball. Izuku caught it, surprised, but stood up straighter at the slight nod of encouragement he got from his guardian.
Izuku nodded determinedly, and before he approached the circle he turned to Uraraka. “Would you mind me using my quirk on you?” Izuku asked politely, outstretching his hand. Uraraka smiled to hide her laughter and took his hand with a nod.
“Of course,”Uraraka accepted, and tugged them towards the circle. On the way there Uraraka laughed, pulling Izuku into a twirl and they spun into a ball of light, forming the familiar form of Zura wearing their UA gym clothes. The fusion smiled brightly, laughing at the warm feelings of friendship and determination within them.
The crowd behind them gasped, a few muttering things like ‘is that allowed?’ and ‘so pretty!’ and one ‘wow she’s hot’, but one such exclamation had Zura frowning slightly. “Deku… that can’t be his quirk,that little cheater,”Bakugo growled, and Zura turned to address the crowd.
“Hiya! You can call me Zura, they/them pronouns please,”They bowed, a little nervous at the people staring. They thought it was best for an introduction to get out the misunderstandings first. “I’m Izuku’s quirk- fusion! And Uraraka’s quirk is zero gravity. Their combined attributes and personalities make me!”
Not waiting for anyone to add anything else, Zura turned to Aizawa and stepped into the circle. “Just stay inside the circle?”Zura confirmed, and Aizawa nodded. Taking a breath, Zura wound up an arm and tossed the ball a few feet, watching with a satisfied smile as it just floated up and up and away into the sky. It was quite an easy feat since Uraraka could have managed it on her own. Yet, both of them had a bit of a flair for the dramatics since hanging around Mic all the time.
“Infinity.” Aizawa reported, holding up a little device with the score in neon purple.
“Woah!” “Wow” ”Setting the bar really high, huh?” “No one’s gonna beat that!”
“Alright, enough chatter,”Aizawa called out. “This isn’t fun and games. It’s to measure your strengths and weaknesses. This will be your baseline for improvement, so you can see how far you improved at the end of the year and what you need to work on. If I see anyone slacking off then I’ll have to expel whoever gets last.”
The class immediately burst into outrage. “What?! That’s not fair!” One kid with bright yellow hair and a black lightning bolt complained.
“Life isn’t fair, you have two hours to finish,”Aizawa said sharply, and with that, the kids all split off to do the events.
Alternatively, Zura decided to stay fused, because handling the nervousness and pressure of the activity as two people instead of one was not very pleasant. Furthermore, they could feel a certain spiky-haired boy glaring a hole into the side of their head, so they automatically knew he’d try something with Izuku as soon as they unfused. Zura turned and met Bakugo’s gaze cooly, staring him down. Much to Zura’s glee, Bakugo looked away first with a ‘tch’, and started towards an event far away from the fusion.
They let out a breath and steeled themselves. It was time for a quirk assessment! Zura cheered internally. Their quirk wasn’t helpful with a lot of the events, but they were reminded during the pushup test of a few extra things they’d found out during their training with Aizawa. With their combined strength, Zura had easily gotten a high score on the grip test, pushups, and sit ups. It was also the same for any of the speed-related tests, as they were faster together.
They had to admit, watching Bakugo get progressively angrier as they beat him in many tests. One such test being the grip test, where he was watching her steadily increase their strength to overpower his own score, and then use their quirk to increase gravity and break the machine. They were a bit concerned for how Iuzku would handle everything after they unfused, but for now they settled for watching Bakugo rage with amusement.
“Your quirk is so cool!” Zura startled, turning to find a bright yellow haired boy with a lightning bolt and a girl in all pink. Zura blinked, casting a glance at Aizawa but lit up with a grin.
“Thanks! Your quirk is lightning right? And I’m not sure of yours, er,”Zura addess, looking at the two.
“It’s electricity, but you were close! All I gotta do is fry the machines and bam! Better scores,”Denki grinned. “You can call me Denki. And this is Mina,”He waved to the pink girl.
“My quirk is acid!,”Mina chimed in, showing off her quirk by holding up her hands melting goop. It fell to the ground in little puddles, melting the grass with a sickening ‘tsss’.
“That’s so cool!”Zura grinned, almost reaching out to touch the acid before they realized that would be a bad idea. “My quirk is gravity manipulation.”
Denki whistled,”Is that cuz of the.. Mix of the uh..” He trailed off, and Zura laughed.
“Izuku is the green haired one, his quirk is to fuse together with a person he has a bond with in order to create an entirely new person with a different but stronger quirk,”Zura explained nervously. They covered their neck with a hand, rubbing it sheepishly. “Uraraka’s quirk is a touch-based Zero gravity.”
“Dude, thats so cool! So you’re like, a lovechild of the two!”Denki concluded excitedly. Zura sputtered, turning red at the declaration. Mina elbowed Denki with an amused yet embarassed grin. “Ow! What? Maybe they’re dating, I don-”
Mina nudged him harder, cutting him off. “You can’t just say stuff like that!” Mina scolded.
Zura sighed in relief,”Um, no, they’re not dating. Izuku can fuse with anyone he has a bond with, like friendship, or a parental relationship for example,”They explained, still a bit red-faced. They tried not to think about Denki’s words too much or they might unfuse in embarrassment. Plus, Uraraka was pretty sure she- nope! Not thinking about it, they thought aggressively, shaking their head.
“So you’re single?” Mina turned with a smug smile, and all the blood rushed back to their cheeks. They felt betrayed.
“Hey-”Denki cut in, nudging Mina. “So, if you’re a fusion of both of them, do you have their memories or do they have yours after?”
“Yes to both,”Zura nodded. Was this how you made friends? Probably. They hoped.
“Do your clothes change too?” Mina asked, eying their mix-mathed shoes. They were the only piece of clothing different about the two teens’ outfits that day.
“Mhm! It turns out like our appearance, so sometimes a mix of it or one or the other,”Zura explained. “So if Mina and Izuku fused, they’d still have curly hair, but the color could be a mix, or it could be pink or green.”
“We could fuse??” Mina gaped. Denki looked between the two of them contemplatively.
“Well… yeah. You’d have to become friends with Izuku first, but that’s not very hard,”Zura snorted. Uraraka had only known them for a day before they were able to fuse. Then they frowned. Unless it was hard to form a bond and Uraraka was just special. But then Aizawa fused too and that took a while, they thought. But then, they hadn’t tried to fuse with Aizawa on purpose. “It could also happen on accident, so sorry in advance if you get spontaneously combined with Izuku. He’s still working on it.”
“It can happen by accident?” Denki asked, looking concerned.
“I mean, it activates through contact, so if you’re friends with Izuku, you could accidentally fuse with him at any time,”Zura stammered. Their face was getting red from trying to explain it and failing. “But it doesn’t hurt or anything! Uraraka and Izuku just accidentally fused during the entrance exam when he helped her, and it took practice to do it on purpose after that.” Zura wanted to facepalm. That still sounded super worrisome, they thought. Now they’ll all avoid Izuku.
“What?! You fused during the entrance exam?” Mina exclaimed. Then she shook her head with a rueful smile. “Man I wish I had some help like that at the exam, those robots were rough.”
“What quirk would the fusion get if I fused with Izuku?” Denki asked, looking thoughtful.
Zura shrugged, aiming for nonchalant but part of their brain was already going through a bunch of possibilities. “I dunno. Sometimes it’s a stronger quirk, or a mix of stuff, or it could be completely new and random. We aren’t really sure.”
“Awesome,”Denki breathed. “Mystery quirk!”
Zura laughed at his enthusiasm, but was cut off when Aizawa gave them a glare. They rushed back to their places and hurried to finish the rest of their events. Meanwhile, Zura couldn’t stop smiling. Sure, maybe Bakugo was in their class, but they’d already made two potential friends! The class seemed so friendly, they thought. Well, except Bakugou.
Zura unfused with a comical ‘pop’ and a poof of smoke at the end of the Quirk Apprehension test. The class, having forgotten about the two, jumped at the appearance of the two. Tired, but happy, Izuku stood somewhat behind Uraraka as the class started forward excitedly to ask about Zura. Uraraka nudged him a bit with a smile, and Izuku took a breath to try to relax.
Turns out, Izuku didn’t need to talk to his classmates at all, because Aizawa was calling their attention. “These are your results,”The man called, displaying everyone's rank from 1 to 19. Izuku’s face went red with embarrassment and dread when he saw the top spot showed Uraraka/Izuku for number one. The pit in his stomach only grew when he spotted Bakugou’s name at number 4, behind Yaoyorozu and Todoroki.
Izuku could feel Bakugou’s eyes burning a hole in the back of his head and fought the urge to turn. He had no doubt that if he looked at Bakugou the blonde would attack. He’d become an expert at dealing with Bakugou over the years, and one basic rule he followed was that much like an attack dog, you don’t want to look Bakugou in the eye.
Ignoring the exhaustion from using his quirk for so long, and the growling from behind him, Izuku listened to his guardian. “Hagakure, you’re last, which tells me you aren’t putting enough effort into your goals of becoming a hero,”He said. “Each and every one of you will need to push yourselves to work in different environments. I encouraged you to do whatever it took to get a good score, whether that be using your quirk, bending the rules, or using some creativity. Out in the real world you won’t always have the option to coast by. I want you all to be pushing your limits and thinking outside the box.”
Izuku nodded absentmindedly. He knew that for himself, he would need to work on quirkless fighting and some support items. His quirk relied on other people and it wouldn’t work if he was alone. He glanced over to the purple haired teen that had maybe ranked 16th, Hitoshi Shinsou. It was clear that the kid didn’t have a physical quirk and yet trained his body far more than Hagakure. Furthermore, Izuku had caught a glimpse as Zura of Shinsou using creative methods of passing each test in order to get an edge. If not for Uraraka, Izuku had no doubt he’d have been doing the same.
Looking towards the ground, Izuku couldn’t help but feel a bit self-conscious. It wasn’t like he did the test on his own, so did it really count? He wondered. Aizawa didn’t say anything about it but he could hear some whispers from his classmates. Of course, Uraraka had agreed to fuse, and Zura had decided to stay throughout the whole assessment, so it was both of their decisions. But the class didn’t know that. Did they just think he took advantage of Uraraka? He fretted.
Before Izuku could delve into a panic attack, he jolted at the friendly nudge Uraraka gave him. He gave her a grateful smile and turned back into what Aizawa was saying. He’d missed a bit of their teacher's monologue, but caught the last bit of “Get back to the classroom and you’ll find your schedule for the week on your desk. Class dismissed.”
Izuku breathed a sigh and walked quickly with Uraraka to the locker rooms. “We did awesome!” Uraraka fist-pumped. “I don’t think either of us would have gotten first on our own, but Zura kicks ass!”
“Language!” Izuku laughed. They definitely didn’t want Aizawa hearing them cuss. Something about cinnamon rolls, he’d grumbled the last time it happened. Hizashi would just look at them with sad puppy eyes, and that had led to both pseudo-parents declaring language if they ever slipped up. It was kind of funny because Izuku had caught Aizawa doing it over the phone sometimes to the police or coworkers.
“Har har,” Uraraka scrunched her nose at him. “How are you feeling though? Tired?”
Izuku nodded, running a hand through his sweaty hair. “Yeah, but it’s getting better. I’ll get a snack from my bag. Do you want anything?”
Uraraka hummed. “Did you bring mochi?”
“Duh,”Izuku laughed. “You’re the only one that really eats it so there’s always plenty. I think Shouta got some strawberry ice cream mochi yesterday.”
“He did??” Uraraka asked, bounding on her toes. Shouta is her favorite now, she thought.
“Just don’t tell him I told you, I think it was a surprise or something,”Izuku said conspiratorily.
“What’s a surprise?” Izuku jumped at the interruption, looking over his shoulder to find a familiar head of bright blonde hair.
“Denki! Um, just- snacks,”Izuku said lamely. Internally, he was berating himself for being unable to talk to someone who wasn’t Uraraka. How do you make friends again?? He didn’t know.
“Ah, I could use a snack,”Denki nodded sagely. Meanwhile Mina crept up on Ochako, and the girls soon separated from the group to head to their own locker rooms. “So, do you remember, um..” Denki trailed off, unsure how to finish his question.
“Y-yeah! I um, I remember everything from being Zura,”Izuku rushed to explain. “Your quirk is electricity, yeah?”
“Mhm! But yours is like, super rare, dude!” Denki exclaimed as they walked to the locker room. “Not to be like, pushy or anything but if you ever want to practice quirks, I’d totally be down.”
Izuku almost froze in shock,”Wha- really? Why? You don’t think it’s weird or, or creepy? A-and I’ve only ever fused with two people in the past month! Before that I- I didn’t even know I had a q-quirk,” Izuku blurted. His face immediately reddened, regretting the info-dump.
“No no!”Denki backtracked, waving his hands around. “It’s not creepy at all! If anything, it’s super cool. Especially since you haven’t used your quirk very much. Heck, I’ve had my quirk most of my life and I still can’t figure out how to not fry my brain.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,”Izuku cut in,”I mean- If you want I could help you brainstorm! I um, I like to analyze quirks, um. But you don’t need to h-help me with mine, I know it’s kid of a lot,”Izuku added.
“No way, that would be super fun!”Denki exclaimed. His enthusiasm was catching on, and Izuku found himself excited at the prospect of analysing quirks with a friend. Were they friends? He hoped so. “I think your quirk would be a great experience for hero-work too, you know? I’m not too good at the smarts stuff, so I was kinda hoping it would help me connect to myself or my quirk a bit more. You know, like maybe I could learn some stuff? I don’t know.”
“No, that makes sense! I had to learn a bunch of meditation techniques for my quirk, but I can send them to you if you want?” Izuku offered, and Denki nodded enthusiastically. “Though you do make a point, I don’t know any pro heroes that can modify their bodies or anyone else’s like mine can without side effects. I mean- it, it could be fun? I’d like to try fusing with more people, I think. I-if you, if you would want to?”
“Yeah man! We should try to find out if we can rent a gym or something,”Denki thought. They’d reached the locker room by that point, and Denki held the door open for him to walk through. Immediately, the room went quieter, and Izuku could probably attribute that to the fact that Kacchan was staring daggers at him. The red head next to him pouted, obviously trying to get the blonde’s attention.
It seemed like the room was still pretty crowded, most of them having conversations with each other and exchanging phone numbers. Taking a breath, and moving to his locker that was far away from Bakugous, he promised to meet up with Denki in the classroom and went to a stall to change. He passed Todoroki on the way, and let out a breath when he closed the stall door. He was still self-conscious of all the scars he had from Aldera, and preferred to change in private.
As Izuku changed, he couldn’t help but smile. Denki was his friend! He exclaimed in his head. And he wanted to practice quirks together! He wondered if Aizawa would help them find a place to train, or if he’d have to supervise. With how unstable Denki seemed to think his quirk was, Izuku thought maybe the blonde could benefit from some of Aizawa’s quirk counseling too.
Izuku passed most of his class on his way out, grabbing the rest of his things and stuffing his gym clothes into his locker. He let his mind wander with potential support tems Kaminari might need and what possible fusion outcomes they’d make, when suddenly he was grabbed from behind. Before he could make a sound, he was shoved against a wall and green eyes met burning red.
“Let’s take a break,”Aizawa instructed. The two teens had been fused for more than an hour now and the pro hero couldn’t see any viable signs of quirk exhaustion, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He didn’t know if there was a limit on how long Izuku could hold them together, but so far, they’d never gone past two hours at a time. “Then we’ll run through it again without quirks.”
Zura nodded, wild blueish brown hair bouncing and covering their eyes. They huffed and ran a hand through their hair. “We can work on kicks after, right?”
“If both of you manage to repeat what we just did alone, then sure,”Aizawa conceded.
“Yes!” Zura exclaimed, and promptly unfused. The two kids burst apart in a small cloud of dust and a comical ‘pop’. Uraraka managed to stay standing, but like last time, Izuku stumbled to the ground.
“You alright kiddo?” Aizawa asked, making his way over to the downed teenager.
Aizawa turned to Uraraka, analyzing for any injuries. “I’m good,” Uraraka waved,”Though I feel a bit more sore and tired than last time. Is it ‘cause we fused for longer?”
Aizawa inclined his head. “Could be that the longer you fuse the more tired you get. It could also affect Izuku more because it’s his quirk holding you two together, or that it takes his energy first and then yours. We’ll have to keep an eye on it.”
“Cool,”Izuku croaked from the floor, and Aizawa glanced over with a fond look. Despite the kids sweaty appearance, the hero could tell his harsh breathing had calmed down a bit.
“You’re sitting out of this next part,”Aizawa instructed, much to Izuku’s distaste. He ignored his foster kid’s grimace, adding,”We don’t want you wearing yourself out, and you can use the time to practice meditating.”
“Fine,”Izuku huffed, dragging out the word and managing to prop himself up to a sitting position. Aizawa frowned at the way his hands shook.
“Take a moment, then you two can get lunch,”Aizawa said, and Uraraka went to sit next to Izuku on the mats. “Uraraka, we’ll go through the same thing Zura just did and see how much of it you can remember on your own.”
“I think I remember it pretty well,”Uraraka said with a thoughtful expression. “It’s weird, like I remember muscle memory of doing it, but also learning it in a way. I think? Yeah.”
“Stuff our fusion learns becomes stuff we learned?” Izuku clarified, and Aizawa was happy to note his voice wasn’t as scratchy. Still, he tossed him a water bottle anyway.
“Yeah! That,” Uraraka nodded enthusiastically. “And ever since we used Zura’s quirk, I’ve noticed my quirk is like, different? I think I understand it a bit better I mean.”
“Wh- you think you can increase gravity with it too?” Izuku asked, perking up form his seat despite his previous exhaustion. Izuku fumbled with the cap tot he water bottle before opening it and taking a long sip.
“You can talk about quirk theory later, go head to lunch,”Aizawa said exasperatedly. He knew from experience now how long Izuku can go on tangents about quirks. It was useful information and fascinating to think about, but he didn’t want the two to miss lunch.
“Yes sir!” Ochako saluted, and helped Izuku up. They continued their conversation on the way, leaving Aizawa in the gym to prepare for the next task.
The pro hero smiled a rare smile as he heard Izuku’s laughter in the hall. Despite his rough exterior, Aizawa was happy he got to get to know the two kids. He didn’t realize how lonely his house had been until he actually had to take care of someone else who wasn’t a cat. On top of that, Izuku was a really great kid, and he couldn’t imagine going back to living alone now that most of his time was spent with him even after spending only a few days with him.
Of course, Uraraka was also a welcome guest. No matter how much pestering she did, he was glad Izuku had a friend like her. Aizawa wasn’t ashamed to say that he’d looked into Uraraka’s home life too and found she’d been living alone in an apartment rented by her parents. Aizawa saw nothing wrong with it since Uraraka was given enough money to take care of herself, and that her parents video called her every night. Still, he talked to Uraraka’s parents and offered to keep an eye out for her.
A week later, Uraraka often came over to Izuku and Aizawa’s house after training. She stayed the night so often Aizawa was considering just asking Uraraka’s parents to let her stay with them full time. Even so, it seemed a little too fast, since they’d all only known each other about a week, but Aizawa figured he’d bring it up next week if classes went okay.
Training had gone well, and they learned more about Izuku’s quirk, Zura’s quirk, and thanks to Hound dog and Recovery Girl they knew a lot more about mental health when it came to mind/body altering quirks. Aizawa had insisted on therapy for Izuku at least, given his behavior and past history as someone quirkless. The pro hero was learning more about helping the kid cope with nightmares, dissociation, and dealing with triggers in a healthy way. Aizawa had found out the hard way that the smell of burnt sugar or caramel made the kid shut down.
The pro hero had suspicions about the kid’s middle school, and made a note to talk with Nedzu to look into it. As of now, the two of them were still learning to live together. Both were more or less used to taking care of themselves, so he could admit it was a bit awkward at first. He could say he enjoyed cooking with the kid though, since they both were pretty good at it and got to share their recipes with each other. Aizawa ended up finding out that Izuku enjoyed casual head pats or hair ruffles, and hugs when he had a rough day.
Today though, was their last day of training, nearly two weeks after they’d all met at the entrance exam. Zura was stretching, getting ready to fight Aizawa one on one, or one on two depending on who you asked. “Woo! Kick his butt Zura!” Mic called from the sidelines.
Not one to be left out of the drama, Present Mic had ended up watching from the sidelines or helping instruct the past week. The man had caught wind of Aizawa fostering a kid, and upon learning said kid had had a new quirk develop demanded to help his new nephew. Aizawa agreed on the basis that Mic would not tell Midnight just yet.
Izuku and Uraraka adored Hizashi though, and after their first meeting Mic had not so subtly invited himself over to the Aizawa household most nights for dinner. Aizawa had the sneaking suspicion that he was also there for the food, since the blonde man couldn’t cook at all. Most nights now consisted of Shouta and Izuku cooking while Mic and Uraraka sat at the countertop, keeping running commentary of the two in the kitchen or just talking. It was the first time in Aizawa’s life that his house felt full, in a good way. It first surprised him how happy he was now that he had two kids to look after with his best friend. Not that he would tell them that.
“Thanks for the support,” Aizawa drawled. His hair was up in a half-bun and he had his capture weapon ready to face the two turned one.
“Oh come on,”Zura snarked,”You’ve never lost against us, we need more support than you!”
“You’ll need more than support to beat me,”Aizawa snarked back, and before they knew it the hero was snapping his capture weapon out at them.
Rolling away, Zura popped back up to the balls of their feet and ran towards their teacher, hoping to get in a hit up close when Aizawa dodged. He kicked towards their leg, but Zura slid and redirected to punch. Aizawa flipped out of their range, snapping out with the capture weapon as Mic booed in the background. Dodging, Zura ran to get close, sliding on their knees to avoid the scarf again and came up behind the man with a kick. Aizawa grabbed their leg but they spun out. They gritted their teeth and went in for a punch when suddenly their feet gave out on them, sending them backwards onto the ground with a yelp.
They’d forgotten about the capture weapon, Zura realized. They let out a groan as Aizawa let out a huff of laughter. “Forgot about the capture weapon again?”
“Yeah,”Zura laughed scarf with caution and annoyance. “It’s like a snake,” They grumbled, distantly hearing Mic call out a ‘good try!’.
“You’ve improved over the past two weeks, give it some time before you’re able to go longer than that against me,”Aizawa smirked, but bent down to untangle their feet from his weapon.
Zura sat up, reaching over to help untangle them but held back when they realized Aizawa was much better at it than them. “Do you think I’ll be able to beat anyone in class?”
Aizwa huffed,”If any of those brats have even learned a form of martial arts instead of practicing their quirk,”he grumbled. Zura grinned at the familiar rant. “You’ll be fine.”
Mic came bounding over to the group with excitement,”Alright!” He cheered,”Time for lunch kiddo!”
Before Mic could get to the two, the mat suddenly erupted into bright light, and the blonde hero froze at the sight of one person standing where the two- or three should have been. Hizashi stared slack-jawed at the long wavy black hair with purple undertones, a capture scarf in shifting colors, and what looked like a more stylish and colorful version of Aizawa’s hero suit. What really amazed the hero though, was that the person had four arms rather than two.
“Sorry!” The figure immediately blurted out, waving some of their hands erratically. One of the hands tugged at their hair while another hand directed it away from their hair and held it. Mic was still staring, but to be fair it was a lot to take in. “No, it’s- take a breath- it’s okay. “They took a few exaggerated breaths.
”We’re fine. We’re fine,”The figure repeated to themself. Once they seemed to calm down Mic broke out into a grin.
“Holey smokes!” Mic exclaimed when he’d finally gotten his bearings. The figure looked over at him with wide eyes, and he could see a multitude of colors, as well as two sets of eyes. “How do you guys feel? Everything alright?”
“We- I- It’s fi- good? Yeah,”They responded, getting the hang of talking while looking down at their multiple arms and stylish clothes. “I’m… I feel okay. Safe.” They smiled almost shyly. One of their hands came up to brush their bangs out of their face, and they turned to Mic with wide eyes. “Wh- Do we- I- Is this okay? Are you okay?”
“Of course I’m okay, what about you?” Mic said, bounding up to the three. He gently took hold of two hands, making a show of looking over the fusion. “Is three people okay? You don’t feel anything off? Izuku gets tired, right?”
At those words, the figure froze. “Izuku-”They gasped, pulling their hands back from Mic before a bright light shone in front of the hero, momentarily blinding Mic. The light faded with a sharp ‘pop’, and three bodies fell to the ground.
“Izuku!” Someone yelled- judging by the black blur and deeper voice Mic assumed it was Shouta. He was still blinking the spots away from his eyes, when he caught another blur heading for the third body.
“Is he okay?” Uraraka asked, her arms outstretched to where Izuku lay passed out on the ground in front of them. She didn’t touch him, but hovered her hands like she was afraid he’d disappear.
Aizawa let out a sigh of releif, sitting back. “He’ll be fine. He’s just exhausted, most likely from the strain of holding three people together.”
Uraraka and Mic let out matching sighs of relief, and they all crowded around the sleeping boy when Aizawa rearranged him to rest his head on the hero’s lap. “We didn’t mean to,”Uraraka began hesitantly.
“I know,”Aizawa returned softly. “It wasn’t bad, you’re not in trouble. In fact, this is what training is for. The only person Izuku had fused with before is you, and no one knew he could fuse with more than one person.”
“I mean, we talked about it before but,”Uraraka paused, biting her lower lip.”He said he can fuse with people who trust him, and who he trusts back. It’s like a.. Friendship? Like he can only fuse with friends.”
“I get it,”Mic chimed in,”Both parties have to have equal positive feelings towards each other in order to fuse. That way it can never be forced, and neither side can get hurt. So on some level both of you guys were willing to make that connection, it just happens when you make contact.”
“We just have to make sure it doen’t happen at any contact. Knowing who he can fuse with is important, but also controlling when the fuse happens so it won’t become an issue,”Aizawa added. He was looking down at Izuku, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully, and carding a hand through his hair. After a moment, it seemed like Izuku was starting to stir.
“Still, it’s awesome you three can fuse! What was it like? What are you gonna call them?” Mic asked, still a bit giddy about meeting an amalgamation of his pseudo-family in one person. He felt oddly excited to have the chance to fuse someday. It seemed like fun.
“We kinda freaked out when it first happened, but it was nice? Aizawa-sensei is very good at keeping us calm and thinking rationally,” Uraraka thought aloud. Aizawa ducked his head into his scarf to avoid the look he got from the other hero. “What about Aizura? Or Shurazu?”
“It doesn’t have to be a combination of your names,”Mic added.”You could be.. Akaizu?”
“That still sounds like a combination of names,”Aizawa pointed out. Uraraka stifled a laugh.
“Well, I don’t know what your quirk was, so I don’t have good ideas for a hero name,”Mic huffed. Aizawa pondered whether or not ‘Present Mic’ and ‘Eraserhead’ counted as good hero names.
“I like it! It’s cute,”Uraraka nodded vigorously. At that point Izuku had started shifting, and Aizawa watched cautiously as the kid’s eyes fluttered.
“Kid? You with me?” The hero asked gently. The other two watched on, hopeful that the kid was waking up and would be okay.
Izuku’s face scrunched up. “...‘Zawa?”He murmured, but relaxed when Aizawa continued petting his hair.
“You overdid your quirk a bit, kiddo, how are you feeling?” Shouta asked. Maybe if he was just tired he wouldn’t have to carry him to Recovery Girl’s office.
“T’red, head’che,”Izuku grumbled, pressing his eyes shut and cuddling closer to Aizawa. “Sore.” He added on, but it was muffled. Uraraka snorted.
“Alright, seems like just quirk exhaustion then,”Aizawa sighed. “Go back to sleep, I’ll wake you up when we get home.” He added, but Izuku had already drifted off.
‘Phew,”Uraraka exhaled. “I thought he was really hurt, but it’s just quirk exhaustion? So he can’t actually fuse with three people?”
“No, no he can,”Mic interjected. “Think about it like your quirk. If you use it too much or on heavy things you get nauseous, but the more you train your quirk the less nauseous you get.”
Uraraka brightened.”So he just has to train? Do you think he’d be able to fuse three people again?”
“Let’s wait until we know more about how two people work first,”Shouta said, giving her a knowing look. “Then we can try it again.”
“Yes!” Uraraka fist-pumped. She then frowned, looking over to Izuku. “Does this mean training is done for the day?”
“No way kiddo!’ Mic exclaimed, but quietly as to not wake up Izuku. “While these two take a nap, you and I can practice grappling!”
Aizawa sighed in exasperation at the two extroverts bounding away towards the mats. Shaking his head fondly, he lifted Izuku into his arms and stood, making his way to the door. He almost smiled when Izuku brought a hand up to clutch at his capture weapon and murmured softly. He was glad he knew how to handle quirk exhaustion like this, at least. Judging by the symptoms, it wasn’t too bad, but still the worst side effect they’d encountered with Izuku’s quirk so far. But it made sense, Aizawa thought, given that Iuzku’s quirk was so powerful.
Usually Izuku didn’t get too tired after an hour of fusing with one person, but after that he had to take a nap afterwards. Given that he’d already fused with Uraraka today for about two hours on top of attempting a three person fusion for as long as he did, Aizawa was glad the kid had only passed out with an additional headache. It could have easily gone worse, and he berated himself for not looking out for the kid more.
The hero walked with his kid towards the teachers lounge, grabbing his bright yellow sleeping bag and settling everything down on the teacher’s couch. If Hizashi and Uraraka came by an hour later with lunches, only to find Izuku snuggled on top of Aizawa while both of them were cocooned into the sleeping bag on the couch, then obviously a bunch of pictures were added to Mic’s ever-growing scrapbook.
After lunch, Izuku was still affected by quirk exhaustion, despite the protests he made. Uraraka, Aizawa and Recovery Girl had taken one disappointed look at him and he’d relented. Aizawa had Izuku focus on meditation and quirk questions for the time being.
Uraraka, on the other hand, was not as affected by the fusion as Izuku, and since she was so energetic, Aizawa ended up teaching her the basics of hand to hand combat. Surprisingly, she took to it like a fish in water.
Two hours later, the time for school to usually be let out arrived, and the two teens were reluctantly ready to leave. “You two have a ride home?” Aizawa asked, eyeing the two teens who were chatting quietly.
“I was gonna take the train,” Uraraka nodded, holding up her train pass. “I only live one stop away.”
Aizawa nodded to her, before turning to Izuku, who jumped a little at the stare. “I um, I was gonna walk home,” He pointed in the direction of his house more or less. He lived about a half hour away on foot, maybe 10 minutes by car. It was fine though, his mom was just busy and couldn’t waste money on hum for the train. Aizawa looked at him with a flat stare.
“I’ll drive you then,” Aizawa said, cutting off anything Izuku was going to say in protest. “My car is this way,” He said, walking off without another word. Izuku glanced at Uraraka, who shrugged and then waved goodbye. Izuku waved back to her before running after his teacher, who hadn’t gotten too far away.
Walking in step with one another, Izuku swallowed his nerves in an attempt to break the awkwardness. “I-I can walk home, you don’t need to waste your time-”
“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t okay with it, Midoriya,” Aizawa said, motioning towards his car. Izuku wasn’t familiar with car brands, but it was a dark gray color. “Besides, if your mom is home I can talk with her about quirk counseling for you.”Among other things, Aizawa thought darkly. Such as why no one has been able to get ahold of her, and why her son hadn’t developed his quirk sooner. He was leading towards a case of child neglect, but he needed proof
“O-oh,”Izuku said, then nodded like that made sense. He was secretly relieved not to be the one breaking the news to his mom in the case that when she was home Aizawa would want to meet her. He felt a flare of anxiety and anger that she keeps doing this to him. Disappearing for days and leaving him to come up with excuses to his teachers and school. “She might be home tonight.” Izuku lied, knowing that his mom probably wouldn’t be home until next week at the least. According to her note, it could be as soon as the next ten days, given what she thought counted as a week.
Probably sensing his lie, Aizawa only grunted and got into the car. Izuku followed, pulling his ratty yellow backpack in between his legs on the floor of the car. After giving Aizawa his address, they rode mostly in silence. Izuku was relieved, but anxious about everything. He was tired from earlier in the day, but still brimming with thoughts and ideas about his quirk o top of worries about having a teacher in his house alone.
Aizawa on the other hand, was preparing. Preparing a rant for Izuku’s mother, a plan for if the kid was in danger, what he would tell the kid if his mom wasn’t home, etc. He could admit he was a little bit furious at the kids mom for making Izuku deal with all of this by himself. For crying out loud, the kid got a freaking quirk, stopped going to his usual school, made his first friend in ten years, and is going through quirk counceling with a pro hero. And Inko was missing all of it! Aizawa huffed. The kid went through like ten milestones in the past week and not a word from his mom. If she turned out to be the perfect mom, though, he’d still have many choice words for her.
Pulling onto the side of the street, Izuku perked up at the sight of his apartment building, and nervously scrambled after Aizawa to get out of the car. Upon entering the building, Aizawa let the kid lead, smiling softly when Midoriya waved to an older lady down the hall. She waved back fondly, but sent Aizawa a suspicious glance. He just nodded to her and followed the kid.
He stood behind as Midoriya dug through his sad looking backpack for his house key, and opened the door. “Mom! I’m home!” Izuku called, stepping through the entryway and turning on the light. Aizawa followed, eyeing the completely empty and dark apartment. Looks like his suspicions were right, he thought.
Noticing the kid sigh before toeing off his shoes, Aizawa followed the kid’s gaze to the empty looking house. From what he could tell, the house was devoid of personal objects and clutter, and the counter space he could see of the kitchen were devoid of food. The man held in a sigh, wishing that things were better for the kid. “Um,” The kid started, biting his lower lip,’I don’t think she’ll be home tonight. She works a lot, so.. um… thanks for driving me home.”
“Do you know when your mother will be back?” Aizawa hummed, taking note of what seemed to be a letter on the dining table. Next to him, Midoriya stiffened.
“Um,” Midoriya hesitated. “She has… work things all this week. So, I don’t know exactly. I can uh, call her?”
“Please do,”Aizawa nodded, following the kid to the kitchen as he unpacked what he’d brought in his backpack. It appeared to be a plastic water bottle, his wallet, and a few notebooks and pencils. Passing the dining table, the pro hero caught a glimpse of the notes contents while the kid fiddled with his phone, pressing it to his ear and moving to the kitchen to start on some tea.
Aizawa sighed at the note, and what that meant for him and Midoriya. Obviously he couldn’t let this go on, especially since the kid would be joining the hero course of all things. He’d need to eat more than what Aizawa suspected he was. Discretely, he took out his phone and sent a short but detailed message to his detective friend. He’d send one to Nedzu as well, but he was pretty sure the rat would read his message to Tsukauchi anyways. Ether way he’d probably end up sending one to the principal in the morning.
After Izuku’s phone call went to voicemail for the second time, the kid put the phone away and brought the hero a mug of tea instead. “S-she uh, isn’t answering right now, b-ut I’m sure she’ll call back l-later,” Izuku stammered, not meeting Aizawa’s eyes as his cheeks reddened.
The teacher thanked him for the tea, and gestured for the kid to take a seat at the counter. Aizawa soon followed, putting the, albeit delicious, tea onto the counter in favor of looking the kid in the eye. “Alright kiddo,” Aizawa started, voice low and what he hoped was gentle.”You know as well as I do that the fact that no one can contact your mom is an issue. As a hero, I can tell you that leaving you here alone isn’t going to happen. So, you’re going to pack a bag, and then we’re going to stay at my house until we can get ahold of your mother.”
Izuku opened his mouth to protest, only or Aizawa to continue.”I’ve already contacted a detective about it, and since I’m a certified foster parent as well as hero with the means to help you if you have issues with your newly manifested quirk, it’s most logical to stay with me, okay?” The hero waited until the kid nodded shakily before adding on,”You’re not in trouble, and if you have questions or need help at anytime, please come to me. I don’t think I need to tell you that your mom shouldn’t be leaving you alone like this, but I’m here to help you, so let me?” Aizawa asked sincerely.
At that, Izuku looked up at his teacher with misty eyes and nodded. Sniffling, the kid croaked out an,”Okay,”before rubbing his eyes and taking a breath to calm himself. Aizawa nudged Izuku’s tea closer to him and the teen gave it a sip, wrapping his shaking hands around it. “T-thanks,” Izuku said shakily. “I just… you don’t have to.. I-it’s not that bad.” He finished lamely. Aizawa noted that he’d figured out there was no way out of this.
“It’s no problem kiddo,” Aizawa nodded, sipping at his tea. “You’re not in any trouble, Izuku. If you’re going to be in the hero course you’re going to need support, and this,”He gestured to the cold, empty house. “Isn’t support. You deserve better than this kiddo.”
That last sentence seemed to be the last straw, and the shaking kid finally let his tears fall. Ten years of bottling up his pain took a lot out of the kid, and now with his quirk manifesting and receiving actual support for once in his life, it all seemed to be crashing down at once. Rubbing the kid’s back and handing over a yellow handkerchief, Aizawa sat with the emotional teen for a long time before the crying and mumbling about his mom stopped.
Throughout the hour, Aizawa reassured the hid that he’d be there for him the whole way, and that nothing was his fault. Through Izuku’s sniffles, he could tell it would be a big change for the previously quirkless kid to go from a life without any support or love to the opposite. It hurt his heart to realize that the kid had deep trust and self-worth issues. The pro hero wanted to be there for the kid. Izuku was smart, determined, and had potential to be a great hero. Aizawa was lucky to have met him, and besides, he has a spare guest room that he wasn’t using. Despite what most of his colleagues thought, he liked kids. At least, he liked the ones like Izuku, who weren’t entitled brats. He wouldn’t lie and say the kid didn’t remind him of himself when he was younger. Part of him was still in awe of the kid taking the entrance exam when he’d thought himself to be quirkless. Even if the kid’s quirk never activated at the end, he’d have made it into the hero course. It was more than Aizawa could say for himself when he took the test.
Trying not to seemtoo insensitive, he did his best to reassure the kid that everything would be alright. And he would be. The kid had already made it so far in life despite never having anyone to support him or care about him. Hell, the kid made his first friend in ten years, and that alone was cause for a breakdown, not to mention the new quirk, entry to hero course, and mentorship with a pro-hero.
The whole thing was a little too emotional for Aizawa to bear, but luckily for him he didn’t have feelings, so he was the only one in the dreary house not crying. He had no doubt that if Present Mic were here instead, the whole place would be flooded. Still, he tried his best to comfort the kid through dealing with what amounted to be the most stressful three days in this kids entire life. It seemed to have worked too, because the kid was finally calming down enough for Aizawa to coax him into his room to pack a bag.
From there, it took little time for Midoriya to put together a meager bag of clothes and school supplies. Sensing the kid’s exhaustion, both from training earlier in the day to the emotional exhaustion from an hour ago, Aizawa was quick to usher the kid into the car with a spare blanket he’d taken from the kid’s room. Barely a moment passed before Midoriya was out like a light as he drove to the pro heroes house.
Midoriya awoke slowly, blinking as his eyes were assaulted by a bright, warm light. He groaned, attempting to rub his eyes, only for his hand to brush against something warm and fuzzy. He yelped, sitting up quickly and unbeknownst to him, causing the cat lying on his chest to slide down onto his lap. Bewildered, Izuku stared down at the startled cat. It was a big gray and white cat with short hair and gentle looking green eyes. It blinked at him and moved to the other side of the bed to stretch before jumping down to the wooden floor.
Blinking slowly, Izuku took a moment to calm his racing heart. He didn’t have a cat. His eyes swept the room, surprised to find it utterly unfamiliar to him. Before he could panic however, he suddenly recalled the night before, grimacing at the memory of him crying pathetically onto his teacher and then passing out in his car.
Izuku groaned, flopping back onto the bed in embarrassment. What was going to happen now, he wondered. Would he stay with his teacher forever? Is the police going to get involved? Was his mom going to jail? He pondered. Izuku wasn’t sure f he really thought his mom deserved to go to jail. She still provided for him. It was… Izuku grimaced. Complicated.
Deep down, he knew she didn’t really love him. Even now, with the additional knowledge of how his quirk worked, he knew now that if Inko had loved him like he’d loved her back then, their connection would have activated his quirk. He sighed, willing himself not to cry again. The irony that she had a hand in preventing the manifestation of his quirk, despite despising him for it, hurt more than he thought it would.
Izuku startled at the sudden meow coming from the side of the room. He sat up, looking over to the door, where the gray and white cat was sitting patiently. It meowed again, and Izuku dragged himself out of the comfy blankets to stumble to the door. He faintly recognized he was wearing the same clothes he was yesterday minus the shoes, and he was very suddenly glad that no one changed his clothes.
Gently, he creaked the door open for the cat. Only when the door was a little more than halfway did the cat stand up and walk into what looked like a hallway. Biting back a yawn, Izuku silently followed the cat, who looked back periodically to make sure the child was following him.
The duo arrived shortly in a kitchen area, where Izuku could smell bacon and coffee. Unused to such scents, Izuku’s stomach immediately growled, and he couldn’t contain the bit of warmth he felt at the thought of an actual breakfast that wasn’t the cheap cereal or ramen he usually ate.
“Sleep well?” Izuku jumped, not noticing his teacher leaning on the counter with coffee in one hand and a spatula in the other. It was mildly discomforting to find his teacher wearing a pink shirt with gray pants that had matching pink pawprints on them.
The pajamas reminded Izuku of the cat he’d followed, so his sleep-addled mind blurted out,”Does your cat have a quirk?” before his mouth snapped shut and pink dusted his cheeks.
His teacher only seemed amused at the comment, shaking his head,”No, he doesn’t have one officially, but he might.”
“Oh, uh, yeah, I slept okay,” Izuku murmured, remembering the previous question. Aizawa gestured for him to take a seat and he followed. Sitting at the table, he noticed the gray cat was sitting patiently on the ground next to his feet. Absently, Izuku reached down to pet him. “What’s his name?”
“His name is Pants,” Aizawa said, and Izuku had to contain a snort. “There’s another cat here too, but she’s less polite, so she’s in my room at the moment. Her name is Star.”
Izuku nodded, then jolted in surprise when a full plate of eggs, bacon and toast was placed in front of him. Before he could say anything, his teacher continued,”Eat up, we have a busy day today.”
Not wanting to argue about getting food, Izuku started eating at what he hoped was a normal pace. It definitely tasted better than it smelled, and it smelled amazing. “I’ve already contacted Uraraka, but today we’re skipping training with your quirk. We’ll pick up tomorrow, but today you and I are going to file a case, get your quirk registered, and have you officially become my foster kid for the time being. That sound okay?”
At the mention of his situation, his appetite dwindled, but he continued to eat. “O-okay,”Izuku mumbled. He knew yesterday that once Aizawa had it figured out that his mom was leaving him for such a long time that there wouldn’t be any getting out of it. And part of him hoped things might get better, but he was mostly just anxious to get everything over with. “Is she… Is my mom going to jail?” He asked, looking up to where Azawa was sitting with his own identical meal.
Aizawa didn’t sigh, but Izuku appreciated that his mentor answered honestly. “It depends. She’ll most likely be charged with child neglect, and depending on what happens, could be more.”Aziawa said, looking into dull green eyes. “It’s not your fault, and after today you won’t have to worry as much about being involved in it. Just focus on you right now kiddo. You have school coming up and learning about your quirk,”Aizawa continued,”I’ll take care of everything else, alright? Just focus on adjusting at your own pace, and if you need anything let me know.”
Words failing him, Izuku bit back tears and managed a croaky,”Thanks.” Aizawa nodded, pretending he didn’t see Izuku wiping his face. Pants heatbutted his leg, and Izuku scratched at the gray cat’s head. He was strangely apathetic and like he was overwhelmed with emotions at the same time towards his situation. He felt embarrassed, guilty, but overall he felt grateful to Aizawa that he’d helped him so much, saw him when no one else had his whole life. He felt hope that maybe he wouldn’t be alone anymore. The hero seemed to actually care about him, right?
The day went on much longer than Izuku was hoping, but he couldn’t say that everything was bad. Aizawa had taken him to a police station where he got to meet and ask questions about how the police systems worked. Obviously, they were there for less than pleasant things, but Izuku was overjoyed that so many officers were willing to share stories and talk quirks with him that he mostly forgot about the fact that his mom was probably going to jail. Aizawa looked exasperated when he’d taken out his notebook, but they’d managed to get everything they had to do done at the station thanks to a detective Tsukauchi.
After that, they’d gone for lunch and Izuku got to pick out a few things for his room despite his protests that he was fine with how it looked already. In addition, he’d gotten new clothes for the first time in a few years. Much to his embarrassment, Aizawa saw him crying a bit on more than one occasion. Surprisingly, his stoic teacher was understanding about it, and actually talked him through logical points about why it was okay that he was feeling certain things and what they could do to help him adjust. It was nice, and Izuku felt like he was being listened to for the first time in forever.
The change in guardians was a huge switch, but despite all of Izuku’s emotions running havoc in himself, he felt like things were changing for the better. Of course he still worried about his mom, UA, hero training, moving, etc. but it was all pushed to the back of his head so he could get through the day. Izuku was sure he’d have another breakdown later on anyways. For now, he’d just focus on the task at hand.
“What?!” Ochako exclaimed, throwing her hands on Izuku’s shoulders and shaking him. “You’re telling me after training on monday Aizawa-sensei took you home and adopted you?!”
“T-there were a bit more steps than that,”Izuku stammered. He clenched his hands in his new yellow Present mic inspired shirt nervously. After the mall, he’d gotten brand new clothes, including the ones he was wearing. Still clad in red shoes, he had on black basketball shorts too. In comparison, Uraraka had on a pink shirt with space themed leggings.
“Still! How are you feeling? It’s only Wednesday after all, so much has happened for you, how are you adjusting?” Uraraka asked sincerely.
Izuku smiled softly at her concern, ruffling the hair by his neck with nervousness.”I guess it hasn’t really hit me yet? My uh, mom was found though and the police are dealing with that. Um. So far I like living with Sensei, he has a cat and he’s a really good cook,”Izuku insisted.
“Huh,”Ochako hummed, crossing her arms with a face,”I wouldn’t think he’d know how to cook…”
Startled, Izuku snorted out a laugh. “What?”
“He just- you know!” Ochako gestured to where their teacher was huddled on the floor in his sleeping bag. “He looks like he barely knows how to take care of himself, much less well- you, you know?”
“Uraraka! You can’t just say that!” Izuku rushed to quiet her, glancing over at his pseudo-parent to see if he’d heard. Sighing when he couldn’t spot any changes, Izuku continued to converse with his friend. “He’s actually really nice. I’ve never…”Izuku paused, trying to put his feelings into words. “I’ve never had someone care about me like that before.”
A sudden sniff had Izuku turning sharply to his friend, only to find her wiping her eyes. “Oh, Izu!” Uraraka suddenly wrapped him in a hug. “I’m sorry you went through that but I’m so so glad that you’re alright now and not alone.” Izuku smiled fondly, relaxing into the hug when she continued,”If I’d known you were all alone at home I’d have offered you to live with me too!”
Izuku huffed a laugh,”I appreciate it, Uraraka. I’m okay now though,”He reassured. In the back of his mind, he was reeling a bit about how in just two weeks he found himself a new quirk, his first friend, and suddenly a whole new guardian too. He was trying not to think about it. “Just… trying not to think about it too much.”
Uraraka nodded sagely,”Seems like you need a distraction.”
Izuku laughed at the sudden shift in atmosphere, and Uraraka pulled him out of his seat to follow her back towards the gym now that they were finished with lunch. “Fuse with me!” Uraraka exclaimed,”We learned a lot of combat moves this morning and I wanna see how much Zura would know!”
Given it was only their second time fusing on purpose, it took a while before they could figure out how to do it again. Uraraka laughed after they’d tumbled onto the mat in a heap of limbs. “Should we try dancing again?” She offered, standing up again.
Izuku huffed from where he lay on the mat. “Yeah.. I just wanted to see if there were other ways to activate it. I don’t think we’re able to stop and dance in the middle of a fight.”
“I guess. Maybe stick to what works first, and branch out from there?”Uraraka thought aloud. She reached over to Izuku, ready to pull him up. “When I was learning my quirk I kept trying to float my parents, but I couldn’t really handle big stuff yet so I had to stick with toys and smaller objects.”
“Okay,”Izuku agreed, grasping her hand. The moment she pulled him up they erupted in a blinding light, and where two short teenagers were stood a taller, dark bluish curly haired teen. Aizawa made his way over to the fusion on the mat, impressed with their ability to figure out Izuku’s new quirk so fast. He allowed himself to look over the teen’s new appearance, taking in the space themed pants and yellow and pink tye dye shirt and wondered if they decided what to wear as Zura subconsciously or not.
“Alright,”Aizawa called, gaining Zura’s attention from where they were snickering to themselves. “Let’s go over what we did this morning, and then we can see if you can handle learning a bit of parkour.”
