Warning: mentioned peeping because Mineta, lots of fluff, and there's, like, one swear word.
1: The creaking of joints and squeaking of a grip strengthener, and when Jirō triangulates, it's almost always coming from Midoriya. Further observation reveals that ninety-nine percent of the time, Midoriya is discreetly working out in some way.
Sometimes, Jirō can appreciate Midoriya's work ethic, but a less flattering word has popped up in her head for his mildly dangerous (Aizawa-sensei could be fearsome if he found contraband in the classroom) actions - workaholic.
In a way, she can relate. Nobody wants another USJ. Another training camp invasion. Another Kamino Ward incident. Midoriya's just spreading his training out in the day. But Jirō is half-waiting for the day he collapses.
It hasn't come yet - Midoriya's more careful, now - but Jirō awaits the moment his body riots and says "No more!"
2: Popping and crackling. Bakugō, contrary to the popular belief that he would stink of sweat because of his Quirk, has a rather sweet scent. Jirō would know - she's assigned laundry duty more than she'd like.
But that sweet scent is nitroglycerin, and that nitroglycerin detonates far more often than people think - and people think Bakugō's palm blow up a lot.
It wouldn't be noticeable to anyone with normal hearing - but Jirō hears all the subtlest fireworks in Bakugō's hands. However, she'll take irritating crackling over desk-scorching rage any day, because Bakugō's Quirk mirrors his temper. The more he reins in his anger, the less major explosions causing property damage.
It's a good control exercise for the guy.
3: Faint meowing.
Jirō is by no means stupid. She got into the top hero school in Japan, and Yūei's no slouch in academics. She knows better than to laugh or even give out the slightest snicker when she hears Aizawa-sensei watching cat videos. It never gets any less funny, though.
The mighty underground hero, Eraserhead, watches cat videos in a beat-up, yellow sleeping bag while pretending to sleep.
To her, it's hilarious.
4: The subtle shink when Kirishima's Quirk activates. Jirō likens it to a sword rasping out of its sheath, and watching her spiky-haired classmate demolish a couple concrete dummies…
It's very apt, for a guy whose Quirk is not only a rock-hard defense, but also a halberd-like offense. Kirishima is both immovable object and unstoppable force.
(Looking at his unrelenting friendship with Bakugō despite the ash-blond's explosive personality, Jirō reaffirms her belief in that.)
5: The faint purring of engines coming from Īda's calves. No matter what the class rep says about staying quiet while the teacher's talking, his Quirk contradicts him by running quietly throughout the day. It can make for some nice ambient background, but it also gets annoying.
6: Rain from Tsuyu-chan's phone. The frog girl loves the sound of drops of water pitter-pattering down to earth. She'll also take the sound of waves in a pinch.
7: Upbeat, bubbly tunes from Uraraka's ancient Walkman. It's the only music-producing device the girl has, but she makes it work. Her music has a tendency to earworm their way into Jirō's head, and often, she'll catch herself tapping a beat that came from that dinged-up Walkman.
8: The BOOM of Yaomomo's created cannons.
… Jirō will admit that the girl has a bit of an obsession for things that explode. She wonders what it says about Yaomomo's tenuous comradeship with Bakugō. But eh. She's just imagining things.
Right?
9: The strumming of the guitar she brought from home. She likes sounding out popular lyrics on it, notes coming to life from her pick and frets. She's also a pretty decent singer, if she says so herself.
Sometimes, she goes down to the common area and lets the others try it out. Before Jirō had come around, most of them hadn't even touched a guitar. Bakugō, on the contrary, rips out an impressive riff on the strings, and shrugs when he saw the others staring.
"I'm much better at percussion," he merely says, a little smug.
10: The warbling notes of a shakuhachi bamboo flute.
Jirō isn't the only one who practices an instrument, after all. Bakugō took percussion and guitar lessons. Momo played the violin, Īda the cello. Jirō was pretty sure Mina had some experience with the triangle.
Todoroki played the shakuhachi.
(It was a little surprising, actually. Jirō hadn't taken the quiet boy for a musician. But then again, he didn't really talk about his home life and interests.)
Every evening, without fail, the strains of flute music would float through the dorm building for about fifteen minutes, twenty if Todoroki lost track of time. One time, the boys had dragged him and Jirō down to play the most awkward, off-balanced duet of all time.
It was off-key, Jirō too loud on her guitar and Todoroki too quiet on his flute, but everyone was laughing. Even the introverted Todoroki himself was smiling at the end of it.
11: The zwip-snik of Sero severing tape from his elbows. He found a lot of use for the stronger-than-normal cellophane when Satō accidentally wrecked the coffee table in the commons. It left him with dry skin afterwards, but the table was fixed and Aizawa-sensei's ire was averted.
12: The wet gurgle that preceded a fit of bloody coughing from All Might. By now, everyone caught Jirō's cue of twitching before All Might erupted into crimson hacking, and Īda was preemptively prepared with handkerchiefs. Everyone was equipped with a packet of tissues.
All Might was not only their hero, but also their sensei. Skeletal, buff, or otherwise, they would support him.
(Jirō kept the overheard conversation between All Might and Recovery Girl hush-hush, and tried to not to feel the grief and dread well up in her.)
(She wanted the class to spend as much time with their beloved sensei at much as possible, without the shadow of All Might's inevitable lung failure and subsequent death dogging them.)
13: The perpetual, faint hum around Kaminari. Again, imperceptible to normal eardrums, but Jirō has a sound Quirk and she puts it to good use.
That hum grows stronger when his skin dances with yellow electricity - or when he grips the end of a phone charger, complaining about being a glorified outlet, a wry grin on his face.
14: The depraved panting of Mineta that'd preceded the time when he tried to peep in the girl's bathroom and the changing room. It was how Jirō knew to stick him in the eye via the peephole all those weeks ago, and direct Tsuyu-chan to literally throw him out the door from the showers.
Grape-headed, hormone-driven perv. Jirō hopes he gets some sense knocked into him soon, because she's becoming tempted to drive a jack into his eye again.
15: Sounds of a spar, as a giggling Hagakure and determined Ojiro throw everyone around. Turns out the girl has a black belt in jūdō. Ojiro, as everyone already knew, was well-versed in taekwondo, only accentuated by his prehensile tail. Together, they make the Martial Arts Duo.
There's a bet going around the dorm about how long it'll take before Ojiro caves and asks Hagakure out on a date. Even All Might put down a thousand yen bill, for August of next year.
"These sorts of things take time," he explained almost cheekily (what the fuck, All Might), "and you should never underestimate the oblivious nature of two teenagers in love." He sighed nostalgically. "Ah, to be young."
That opens the table to exclamations of how he isn't old (which earns a slightly rasping laughing fit) and questions of if All Might ever had a high school crush (which the former Symbol Peace dodges very well, but Jirō isn't surprised at his slipperiness).
16: 'Aww'-ing as she plus the other girls flock around Kōda's white, cute, and so very fluffy rabbit. Jirō is of half the mind that the boy is a budding psychologist, with a specialty in animal therapy.
They definitely need it, what with the League of Villains. But Jirō doesn't say anything, even as Kōda offers her a bird to pet. It's just another class 1-A thing.
17: Faint music coming from a dozing Shinsō's earbuds.
Apparently, the guy's an orchestra geek. Who knew.
(Carefully, Jirō doesn't laugh at how he exchanges sympathizing glances with Aizawa-sensei when they catch the other watching cat videos. Jirō knows better than to think they're related or possibly father and son, even if they have the same sly smirk, exhausted 'why me' expression, flyaway hair - )
( … Well. Maybe she slips into father-son theories sometimes. Maybe.)
18: Praises of Satō's baking as the class chows down on his cookies, whether with milk or not (Tokoyami is ironically lactose intolerant, while Midoriya has a tragic allergy to cacao). Jirō watches amusedly as the Bakusquad collectively dares Kaminari to try Bakugō's ghost pepper powder as Satō practically glows from all the praise.
It all later turns into mild panic when their resident blond, classical literature buff vomits from capsaicin overdose, but Jirō wouldn't trade that evening for anything.
19: Click-flash, as the shutter of a camera goes off. 1-A is posing for their class photo, and the photographer lets them do a silly one, too. With an extremely serious mien, he asks if they want that printed, too.
Jirō sputtering with laughter at Kaminari's dumb-looking smile and thumbs-up is forever immortalized in the commons, now.
20: Silence pierced by snoring, as the entire class (prickly King of Explodo-Kills included, via extensive use of Kirishima's puppy-dog eyes) sleeps in the commons for a gigantic sleepover. Midoriya snuffles and smiles in his sleep, caught in the throes of a good dream. Todoroki curls up under his blanket like some kind of cat, shuffling around.
Mina moves her hand over her hand, splayed out starfish-style, and whaps Tsuyu-chan in the stomach, but both girls such deep sleepers than neither rouse themselves. Everyone is arranged on the floor in such a way that Jirō can't tell which person begins or ends, and she listens to the world contentedly go on by as her classmates and siblings-in-arms slumber.
This isn't so bad, she thinks, and falls asleep, her head cushioned on Kaminari's arm.
(He complains to her as he shakes said appendage about the next morning, trying to get rid of the pins and needles of cut-off circulation, and Jirō just has to smile at his adorable bedhead.)
Yeah, this life as a hero-in-training, as the budding Hearing Hero: Earphone Jack, as a Yūei first year trying to complete tomorrow's homework and stretch for next week's obstacle course… it isn't so bad at all.
I know what you're gonna say - I should be working on Renascent. I am, I swear! But my inspiration is currently a little dried up for it and this popped into my head. Well, technically, I've been thinking about it for months, now. Today, I had a burning inspiration for all the little things Jirō hears.
'Tokoyami is ironically lactose intolerant'. Funny thing is, birds are lactose-intolerant.
Another fun fact: it's actually really rare to seriously have an allergy to chocolate. Usually, it's just an allergy/sensitivity to a substance in it. Midoriya just has a sensitivity to cacao - not enough to warrant an EpiPen, but still a bad idea for him to consume chocolate. At least, that's my headcanon.
Another thing - I'm awfully fond of the theory that Aizawa and Shinsō are related. Sorry, can't help it.
Well, in favor of not having an AN longer than the story itself, that's it for today. For the ninety-some visitors and viewers to Renascent, I might have a new chapter up next week. Until then, Iggy OUT.