Hello readers! I hope you guys like this story. I know it's only the first chapter, but I hope you get a feel for the story and where I'm planning to take it from here. But I need your help! I need to know if this is interesting enough to continue. If your guys follow and especially REVIEW I'll know it's worth continuing and I'll keep writing for you. If I don't get any reviews I'll just move on to something else, so that's ok too.

Also please bear with me, I've never written for My Hero before. If there are any inconsistencies that bug you guys (knowing how each character refers to the other is obnoxiously difficult!) Please feel free to point it out to me and I'll be happy to change it! TIA!

"A transfer student? We don't have space for a transfer in Class A," the gruff teacher argued, completely ignoring my existence even as he sought to ruin my future. I tried not to let my bristling show. Pro heroes were such assholes, always assuming they were right and stomping on anyone who disagreed with them.

"I understand your concern, Aizawa, but this is an unusual scenario. There is no room in class B either, and I know you can handle one more. He has nowhere else to go and deserves a good education," the principal of the school (some sort of aardvark maybe?) responded kindly.

"He didn't go through the same tests as the other students- it seems hardly fair that he get in just because-"

"I saved three classmates in that fire," I cut in. "What would you grade that on your "test", a C- maybe?" I slammed my hands down on the table and stood up, clearly surprising the small principal. "Thanks for your time, but clearly I'm not wanted here." I made my way to the door of the office, not expecting either of them to stop me. Heroes never understood what being the underdog felt like, so why would they care about someone like me?

"Wait!" The principal called after me. I stopped. Maybe I had been wrong?

"Just let him go. If he wants to act like a petulant child, I don't want him in my class."

Couldn't I be wrong just once?

I didn't look behind me as I slammed the door shut.

"He's been through a lot..." Nezu said quietly, looking sadly at the now closed door of the office.

"And my students won't?" Aizawa replied tersely.

"He has no one to grieve with. First his parents and now his classmates... He was immediately moved out of his home city so that he could attend UA."

"He's acting like a child."

"He is a child!"

"Who wants to be a hero! You can't keep treating him like a child after what he's been through and what he wants to do. People's lives will be in our students' hands. If they can't handle it, it's fine, but we can't continue to keep putting them in those situations then. I'm not afraid to tell them to not come back if it's too much. They need to know what hero life will be like and we can't pretend it's going to be something else- it's just doing everyone a disservice." The principal sat in silence, reminded by this speech how much Aizawa cared for his students.

"He reminds me of Bakugo," the principal added quietly.

"I know."

"Will you accept him?"
"I'll drop him at a moment's notice if he can't keep up." The principal smiled knowingly.

"We are only a few weeks in to the semester, but I worry about how he'll fit in."

"If Bakugo can pull it off, anyone can."

I stretched out on the bench and growled in annoyance. Being technically homeless was such a pain in the ass. After my school and the dorms burned down, I had no stuff and no place to live. Well, as a "child of the state" I did technically have a place, but there were, like, a million kids in it and it wasn't even worth calling a place to live as much as a place to crash if I was feeling really desperate. For the most part I had lived my life in school dorms, so I didn't have to worry about that very often. I figured out early that adults only give a shit about kids that have "potential" and fortunately for me I had tons of that. I knew how to get good grades (with only some occasional cheating to make sure I stayed on top) and my quirk was worth my weight in gold as far as future hero work was concerned.

The ring of my cellphone snapped me out of my reverie. I sat up to check it, pausing in confusion at the caller ID.

"UA? What do they want?" I considered not answering. I wasn't really up for any more bad news this week, and if it was Aizawa I thought I might lose it. In the end though, my curiosity got the better of me, and before I could think any more of about what a stupid decision this was, I answered. "Hello?"

"Oh, Ito-kun, I'm so glad you took my call," the principal's calm and cheery voice echoed in my ear. "Would you be able to start classes tomorrow with class A? I know it's rather sudden, but I don't want you to get any more behind than you've had to already. Aizawa has even offered to procure you a tutor on Saturdays to help you catch up. What do you say?"

"Uhhh..." What did I say? The opportunity to go the best hero school in the country had just fallen in to my lap, albeit in the worst way possible, but even so, how could I turn something like that down? It did mean having to deal with that asshole Aizawa and pretending to care a lot more than I actually did, but once I graduated, no one would ever question me and that was worth almost any amount of suffering in the interim. "I'll be there."

"Damn this school is big," I muttered, already feeling lost as I looked up at the gates. My old school had been nice, but certainly not UA nice. My stomach flipped uncomfortably at the thought of my first day there, and I shoved the memory as deep in my subconscious as I could- today was not the day for wallowing.

I went to take my first step on to school grounds, but was instead knocked over the threshold by what felt like a ton of bricks. I barely managed to roll out of the fall, but I over-rotated and ended up on my face anyway.

"Oh my gosh I am so sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going! See I'm trying not to be late all the time and..." A short kid with green hair was jabbering at me a mile a minute as he offered me a hand up. He seemed like the typical hero type- too busy thinking about the "greater good" and himself to realize who he stepped on along the way. He couldn't be trusted.

"No worries," I cut in to his chattering and smiled breezily, hoping he would ignore the fact that I just ignored his outstretched hand. "I'm actually looking for class A for the hero class. Could you help me?" After all, I had to deal with his type my whole life, ingratiating myself to him wouldn't be difficult.

"Oh wow really? That's my class! Are you a transfer student? I didn't think UA did transfers-" he was off again, talking partially to me but mostly to himself. I guess this was a normal thing for him? It was definitely weird.

"Yeah I'm transferring in." I decided it was best to just cut him off. Otherwise the two of us would never get to class.

"Sorry, I get caught up in my head sometimes," he blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. He certainly had the endearing qualities needed to be a popular hero- I would give him that. "My name's Midoriya Izuku. What's your name?"

"Ito Ryuu."

"Wow what a cool name!" I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering if I needed to hit him for being cheeky with me, but he seemed completely genuine. "I've always wanted to be a dragon!" He beamed at me with a smile that was so child-like and so honest I couldn't help but laugh. "What?" he asked, pouting slightly at my reaction. "Dragons are cool!" I laughed even harder and couldn't help but wonder if my initial assessment of this future hero had been wrong. Maybe he wasn't like all the rest- in it for the money, fame, power, or their own ridiculous sense of justice. Or maybe he was still only a child, not yet corrupted by society's pressures. Could it be he was an even better faker than I was? Doubtful, but possible. Maybe I was wrong for once, but when was I ever wrong when I wanted to be? "Come on, Ito-kun, we'd better head to class."

Midoriya continued to chat with me as we walked into the massive building, but I didn't pay him much attention. I was too busy imagining class in UA. Everyone wondered what it was like, the best school for heroes in the country. It must be grueling- my school was close to the top and it was certainly not an easy program. The fact that we were caught in that fire... I shook that thought of my head. Not now.

"Are you okay?" Midoriya peered over at me. I must have looked like an idiot, suddenly shaking myself off in the middle of his conversation.

"Sorry. I get kind of caught up in my head sometimes too." I didn't have to fake the embarrassed look I was sure was on my face. I really needed to keep myself together if I was going to make it in this program, especially with Aizawa breathing down my neck like I knew he would be.

"That's okay! I understand!" Midoriya laughed. "Well, here we are!" He gestured to a large door that for some reason felt menacing to me. "I'll go in first and let Aizawa-sensei know you're here."

And suddenly I was left alone. Like I always was. For a moment I wondered how alone I would feel here, but the moment passed, as it was apt to do, and I was thrust into this new life that I hadn't asked for. A lot had been taken from me, but that didn't mean I hadn't been handed a lot of opportunities in return. I tried not to look my gift horse in the mouth as I stepped in to my new classroom.

Everyone stared at me as I walked in with the typical expressions I was used to seeing by now. I had been pushed through a lot of new schools growing up, so this scene was nothing new to me. There was the serious one with glasses in the front, probably class rep, eyeing me down as if trying to rip my GPA out of my skull. The girl with brown hair next to him looked with outright curiosity- this one is extremely typical in both genders. She was clearly in to someone else in the class. Girls who weren't interested in someone else had the expression worn by the pink one: interest and a flirtatious smile. One or two people were barely looking at me, and I glanced over them as I sought out Midoriya (purely out of curiosity, of course, not like I cared). I found him in the back, next to the only person in the room that seemed like he wanted to punch me out of this program. It was odd that child-like Midoriya would be sitting next to the class hot-head, but maybe that had been done on purpose to try and calm him down. He was definitely someone I needed to avoid if I wanted to keep a low profile.

My sweeping assessment of the class was done in a matter of moments as I walked up to Aizawa, my brain meticulously analyzing as much as it could about each of my new classmates so I could mitigate any potential problems before they began. Being a transfer was no picnic, no matter what the school, but in a hero school? Who knows what kind of trouble I could get into.

"Aizawa...sensei," I nearly forgot the nicety as I greeted the teacher. So much for avoiding unnecessary trouble. He glared at me for a moment before responding.

"Nice of you to finally show up. Go ahead," he gestured for me to speak.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ito Ryuu. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to be here. Please take care of me." I bowed to cover the heat the blush that I knew was crawling up my face. No matter how many times I did that or how fake it was I still hated it.

"Ito will be in our class from now on, so please treat him respectfully," Aizawa eyed me down obnoxiously as he said that last word, and I resisted the very strong urge to roll my eyes at him. "Your seat will be in the back." He motioned vaguely as he continued talking, so I started trekking over to the empty desk. "Today we'll be focusing on team building exercises. Pick groups of three, get your gear on, and meet me out by the baseball field. I'm going to take a nap in the sun while you all get yourselves together. Don't ask me any questions, Ida. I don't care."

I had just made it to the front of my desk when I was startled to see that there was something moving on the chair. I blinked a few times, convinced that I was seeing things. Was that a floating uniform?

"Hey, shit for brains, that seat is taken." Oh geez, I had been noticed by the hot-head.

"What?" I asked, allowing my confusion to overtake my annoyance at his comment.

"I'm Hagakure Toru, it's nice to meet you!" The uniform politely stuck out it's (her?) arm towards me, and all at once I realized what was happening.

"Oh gosh I'm so sorry! I just assumed. There aren't any other empty desks in here so..." I trailed off, understanding dawning once again. Aizawa had done this on purpose! That bastard!

"Looks like Aizawa didn't make any room for you. Guess he didn't think you'd actually show," hot-head rolled his eyes and I couldn't help but mimic him. He was already getting on my nerves and it had only been a minute since we met.

"W-well I'm glad you're here, Ito-kun. Why don't we get you a desk and then I can show you were the locker rooms are?" Midoriya added, peeking around the blonde bully fearfully. Was Midoriya actually afraid of this punk? Maybe he had a quirk worth being afraid of... or maybe he was just easily swayed by others.

"You're not actually going to be in his group, are you?" Blondie asked Midoriya condescendingly. "Who knows what kind of loser he could be?" Some of the other students were starting to look towards the commotion that the bully was starting, but I noticed that none of them seemed particularly phased by his behavior.

"Now Bakugo-kun that is no way to be speaking about a new classmate," Glasses came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder as he spoke. I flinched badly, squirming out of his grip as quickly as I could. I didn't want anyone finding out what my quirk was too soon, especially not before an exercise. Plus I didn't want anyone to have to miss the class on my account. Unfortunately, my behavior had moved everyone's attention from Bakugo to me.

"I umm. I'm sorry. I..." I didn't really want to tell him it was quirk related just yet, but now I sounded really awkward. Other reasons for my behavior, while honest, were not something I was ever going to be willing to talk about.

"Oh no, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have overstepped my bounds," he bowed a lot lower than I was used to people bowing to me. "I'm Iida Tenya. It's very nice to meet you." I saw Bakugo roll his eyes again from behind Iida.

"If you're afraid of a hand on your shoulder you're in big trouble when my fist comes flying at your face later," he chided, his fist punching into his open palm as small sparks started pouring from it. I eyed his hands warily. It seemed that Midoriya had a good reason to be afraid of hot-head, as I had so aptly called him. "What's your quirk anyway? Since you barely squeaked in here it can't be that worthwhile." Ironically Bakugo was dead wrong, but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of telling him that now. It wasn't any exploding fists, but it certainly had value.

"Bakugo-kun, that's-"

"I don't see how that's any of your concern since you aren't on my team," I answered blithely, cutting off Iida. I knew I shouldn't be trying to set him off, but the urge was so intense I couldn't completely resist.

Bakugo got up suddenly and took a step towards me and I immediately stepped back. I had underestimated how quickly he would escalate things. Clearly I had made a mistake. Suddenly, he began to laugh.

"You're pretty twitchy for someone with such a big mouth. You better be worth my while on the field, or you're gonna regret the shit that's you've been talking." He turned around, grabbing his things in one smooth motion and left the room. Midoriya let out a loud sigh of relief.

"Sorry about that Ito-kun. Kacchan isn't a bad person, he's just a bit..."

"Of an asshole?" I suggested. Midoriya blushed but didn't respond.

"Language!" Iida scowled. "You're almost as bad as Bakugo-kun!" I couldn't help but laugh.

"Almost is good enough for me."

"Would you like to be on my team, Ito-kun?" Midoriya asked, giving me that childish smile that held way too many hopes and dreams in it to be fake.

"Thanks. I would. Who will our third be?" I looked past Iida and noted that the rest of the class was still loitering around the classroom, not doing a very good job of hiding the fact that they were eavesdropping on our conversation now that Bakugo was gone.

"Oh me!" the brown haired girl declared. "Anyone who makes Bakugo leave is a plus in my book!"

"Uraraka that's just mean!" Midoriya responded.

"Well he was mean to you first, so that's what he gets."

"I want to join!" Another voice chimed in.

"Yeah I wanna see what the new guy can do!" Suddenly it seemed like have the class was interested in having me as their partner. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many of them wanted to work with me. It was slightly risky for them to work with someone who wasn't admitting what their quirk was. I wondered how quickly their interest would die off when they found out what it was. Or maybe I would be a more advantageous partner in some situations so they would be willing to use me for their own ends. I would just have to wait and see at this point.

"Well, it seems like we have a lot of options..." Midoriya mused.

"You pick. You know them better than me." I quickly threw the pressure off myself. Not like I would be much help if I picked someone at random anyway. I had a feeling I knew who he would pick though, which was fine with me.

"Well you asked first, Uraraka-san, so let's go!" Midoriya declared after a moment's hesitation. Sure, that was the reason he picked her. "Come on guys, we had better hurry. We took longer than we should have picking groups, and we don't want to keep Aizawa-sensei waiting!"

"God forbid," I muttered as Uraraka and I raced after Midoriya. He was faster than I expected him to be for such a small kid.