He's a kid at the most prestigious high school in Japan and he has no idea how the fuck he got there.
It's the first day of his first year and chaos becomes everyone's best friends. Wild and reckless, is the really the academy Izuku Midoriya was supposed to be attending? He crawls down the halls, heart beating fast (can anyone hear it? Can anyone feel his fear, taste it on their wicked tongues?). His eyes dart around the new environment, surveying everything, analyzing everyone. Are those the girls that would prove to be everyone's love interest? Are those the bullies that will bring hell upon this supposedly sacred place? Are they the ones that will kill him socially? Are they the ones that will kill him literally?
It's only seven-fifty in the morning and he already wants to drop out.
Izuku's throat burns and his hands become clammy because of course they fucking do, show the monsters that you are valuable prey. This school will devour him and he knows it. He's just a boy, God, show him mercy – give him the confidence to make a good impression on the first day of school. Make it so that he won't find himself face-to-face with a douchebag's fist. Make it so that he, for once in his life, can not be the target of crooked stares and destructive whispers.
He turns a corner – this school was made for those that can handle complexities – and looks at the map again. Room 1-A. Room 1-A. It plays in his mind like a broken record. Izuku scans door numbers like a scrawny squirrel desperate in its search for food. 1-D. 1-C. 1-B.
"1-A," he breathes. He places his hand on the door knob and, not surprisingly, the coldness does not sooth him. He is afraid, so afraid and frozen in time. Everything feels so large and incomprehensible and is it really too late to turn around and walk out this school forever?
Izuku closes his eyes and steels himself (or, at least, as best he can). It's only the first day and he's acting like an angsty little brat. He chastises himself, tells himself to get his shit together and be the big boy he is supposed to be, and turns the doorknob.
The doors open slowly, as if it is a portal to a new world. Izuku half-expects to be blinded by a white light and whisked away to a magical world.
All eyes fall upon as if he is the exhibition in a museum. Yellow eyes. Blue eyes. Brown eyes. The spotlight flashes on Izuku Midoriya, and he hates it.
He smiles as best as he can and gives a meek "Hi" (damnit Izuku, now they know you're scared) and starts to move his way to the back. People with eyes that sparkle like the ocean and people with smiles that shine bright like the sun greet him in return. His heart beat slows down back to the normal and he feels a bit more confident until his eyes land upon him, sitting alone in the very back of the class.
Crimson eyes peer at Izuku from underneath untamed ash blonde hair. Izuku feels that familiar hate and disgust radiate from the boy's body, boiling his bones and turning his body into mush. He's here, he's here, why is he fucking here, of all places?
Izuku closes his eyes and wonders if this is a bad dream. It has to be, it just has to be, because only horrible things like this happen in dreams.
But he opens them again and the boy is still there, anger flickering in his unnaturally colored eyes. That boy, Katsuki Bakugou, whose friendship he once cherished is now burning in a trash somewhere, is now at the same high school with him, the same damn class.
Fate despises Young Izuku and he wishes he could fade into nothingness.
"I can't believe it is you, little Deku." His voice is still rough and venomous, a dagger that stabs Izuku over and over and over. His heart screams, and Izuku feels the pain coursing through his veins. "Can't believe a dipshit like you ended up here."
Izuku feels the urge to run. Deku, short for Defenseless Izuku. A nickname given to him by Lord Katsuki himself, it is an eternal reminder of just how weak he is.
The class goes silent and the show begins. The audience waits for Izuku's reaction, waits to see what the actor will improvise next. Izuku gulps; he's sure everyone could hear the spit going down his throat.
"H-hey…" he starts, trying to defuse the situation and appease Katsuki because that's the only thing he could ever do. Submit to the king and pray he doesn't execute you. "It's, uh…it's good to see you, again, Kacchan…"
Kacchan. The nickname he has called Katsuki ever since they were six sticks in his throat like peanut butter and he has to cough it out.
"Even now, you act all fucking friendly?"
"Excuse me!" someone calls. Izuku turns to see a girl with chestnut hair and a voice that sounded soft even when she was visibly pissed. She approaches them delicately as a flower and gives Katsuki a stinging glare. Two figures appear behind her – a large boy with glasses and an intimidating aura, and a girl with an indifferent-looking face. They are a bunch of mismatched white knights and they'll regret taking on someone like Katsuki.
"You shouldn't be saying such things to him! Is that how you treat your friend?" She sounds like a stereotypical mom and Katsuki cackles in response.
"That little fucker isn't my friend."
"Please watch your choice of words." the boy says, adjusting his glasses. His voice is strong and commanding, and Izuku feels like he should be bowing before him. "Your crudeness and rudeness is uncalled for, especially on the first day of school. Act respectfully."
"Fine. That little bitch isn't my friend. Is that weaker for you, sir? Why are you coming to his rescue anyway? Fuck off, all of you."
"You need to calm down," the other girl says, her expression still nonchalant. Her voice isn't loud nor soft, but it's enough to make one feel like they should shut up and listen. Her dark green hair frames her face, making her look like a witch. One wrong word and she may turn you into a frog.
The trio and Katsuki argue like cats and dogs and Izuku feels himself shaking. Heart beating fast, eyes turning glossy, hands clammy. He wants to scream at Katsuki. He wants to scream that he has done nothing wrong, that he isn't the reason everything between them went to hell. They were once friends and now they're not. Izuku doesn't know where the path diverged but it is not his fault, damnit.
But he doesn't. He doesn't because both he and Katsuki know that little Punching Bag Izuku would never, ever do such a thing. So Katsuki continues to laugh at their faces and treat them like bugs and there's commotion and chaos until the teacher comes in and everyone shuts the hell up.
Sitting in the only seat left (which is right in front of Katsuki because God really does hate him), Izuku reminds himself that this is only the first day of school.
"Hey, hey, Izuku!"
It's lunchtime and Izuku purposefully sits alone. He pretends that he hears no one calling his name, that he's back at home, underneath the sheets, completely isolated from this big, bad world.
But the voice gets closer and soon he finds his attempted saviors sitting in front of him. Izuku forces out a strangled "Hello." Politeness always hurts.
"We never got to properly introduce ourselves," the chestnut-haired girl says. "I'm Ochaco Uraraka."
The glasses-boy and the indifferent girl introduces themselves as Tenya Iida and Tsuyu Asui, respectively. Izuku takes the moment to really get a look at them, now that the storm has temporarily passed.
On the outside, Tenya looks like he crushes little bugs like Izuku all the time. Like, as if he can rule this world with an iron fist, and all will have to bow before him lest they wish to face his wrath. But thankfully, he's on the good guy's side – an intimidating giant with a pure heart. Admittedly, he talks and acts like the kid that places an apple on the teacher's desk every day, and every joke flew over his head. His square glasses, unbelievably neat hair, and perfect posture attests to his nature. His smile is extremely polite, formal, even. It's as if he is a commander, and he is overseeing the war that is school. He sticks out a hand, and Izuku takes it. The handshake is firm, admirable, and Izuku is reminded that he is terrible with handshakes. He turns to Tsuyu, who gives him a handshake as well. Her hands are unnaturally large, and it envelops Izuku's hand like flames.
Tsuyu's large eyes aren't expressive, but they aren't soulless, either. She seems unreadable, a book that can't be opened. She stands oddly, slightly hunchbacked, a posture that surely would bother Tenya. Izuku notices that her wicked green hair is long to the point that she has somehow tied it into a bow near the very end. Her hairstyle is weird, unusual – a mystery just like her – but yet, it makes look cute. It almost adds a bit of liveliness to her. Tsuyu seems to be like a puzzle whose pieces don't fit quite right, and Izuku finds it all a bit charming.
They all look at him with friendly smiles and sunny eyes and Izuku feels his souls shrivel up. He smiles sadly and apologizes for earlier.
"Don't apologize. That guy was so mean!" Ochaco exclaims. She pouts and asks the inevitable question. "Why are you friends with him?"
"We aren't…really friends anymore. I don't really think we are. He wasn't always like this," Izuku responds meekly. Shame burns his cheeks.
"I'll be your friend," Ochaco quickly says. Her voice is rainbows and sunshine and everything sweet. Izuku feels the warmth and finds himself genuinely smiling. He nods.
"Wow, my first high school friend! Ohmigosh." Ochaco presses her hands against her cheeks and giggles. Izuku briefly wonders if she really is a high school student.
"I would like to be friends as well." Tenya adds. Formality is laced in his voice, but his smile softens to a more natural, casual-looking one. Tsuyu nods in agreement and makes an affirmative noise. Izuku stops himself from chuckling at the fact that the noise sounded like a frog croaking.
"Yeah. Same here." Tsuyu holds a peace sign.
"Second and third high school friends. Ohmigosh."
"A-ah, I…appreciate it. Thank you."
His eyes go down and tears start to form. Fuck, not now, Izuku. Don't cry in front of them.
"Aww, you're adorable when you cry!" Ochaco says, and Tenya immediately scolds her on the inappropriate of that comment and Tsuyu disagrees, sparking a debate on the innocence of Ochaco's words. Izuku laughs (and wow, it's actually a true laugh) and Ochaco laughs and they all laugh during this first day of school.
Izuku Midoriya thinks this school year will be okay.
And perhaps, he'll be okay.