AN: this has been done for like a week now, but both my beta and I have been really busy this past week so it took a little longer to get out. But it is done, and it is here. :DD I hope you enjoy it!

"Oh, I don't know much of anything."

Today was the day. Today was his first day of highschool, his first day in the heroics class. He was nervous, a little more than nervous actually. He couldn't stop trembling as he attempted to tie his tie for the fifth time. It really shouldn't be this difficult… and yet, the tie just refused to work with him

He knew how to tie a tie, dammit… so, why was it being so difficult? "You know what," he gave up on his endeavor, "I give up. No one will care anyway," he reasoned.

He walked to his door and opened it, leaving the room before immediately going back in to grab his backpack. He left his room once again, only to return moments later because he forgot his house keys… he left again, and repeated the process, this time for his phone.

Finally, he had grabbed everything and was heading for the door to leave. His mom stopped him though and asked him if he had everything, which he was positive he did since he had gone back into his room three times to grab things he forgot. He figured if he forgot anything now then he was just meant to not have it.

He went to put his shoes on when his mom stopped him one last time, "Izuku," she was beaming with pride, "I am so proud of you." She let the words hang in the air for a moment before bringing him into a hug.

He smiled graciously at that—he knew his mom worried about him and it felt nice to know he hadn't screwed this up.

Yet, his mind supplied. No, he wasn't going to think like that. He had earned his spot here and he was going to prove it. The glass was half full.

"Have a good first day of school, honey. Love you." his mom said, a smile on her face.

He nodded, a bright smile adorning his own, "I will. Love you too, mom." With that, he opened the door and left. He made it to the stairs before he recalled something… sighing he turned heel and strode back up to the door. This was ridiculous, he thought as he opened the door.

"Back so soon? What'd you forget?" he could hear the smile in his mom's tone.

He bit back his frustartions as he replied, "My I.D…. for school. It's in my room." He knew he was prone to forgetting things, but this was getting absurd. It was the fourth time he was going back to his room for something. He rolled his eyes as he spotted the I.D. card on his desk—of course it was tauntingly out in the open.

Quickly, he grabbed it and headed out to leave… again. At this rate he was going to miss the train, which he could absolutely not afford to do. Yuuei was farther away than his middle school had been, he didn't know the route well enough to chance missing the train.

He said goodbye to his mom once again and left, closing the door a little harsher than necessary. He flinched at the sound, maybe he was a little peeved at the moment, but he needed to scale it back—he hadn't thought he closed the door that aggressively.

As he made his way down the stairs, managing to not trip, he thought about his new school. He wondered if they would be like his old classmates, once they knew his quirk.

Though… he thought, now he had two quirks… did he really need to tell them his other quirk? Everyone had bad luck every once in a while, would anyone even notice if their class had a little more bad luck than normal? Probably not, but the thought still disconcerted him. He didn't want to lie to his classmates… he just, he couldn't deal with it if yet another class shunned him for his quirk. This was his new start—this was his shot. He didn't want it all to go away because of his cursed quirk.

So lost in thought he didn't even notice there was a man on his cellphone until he ran into him. They both went down.

Izuku was quicker at pulling himself together than the man was and so he helped him up—or he tried to at least.

"I don't want your help, you damned brat." the man swatted at his oppered hand. "You've done this many time before," Izuku flinched at that, because he had, in fact, run into this man on many occasions.

It wasn't his fault that this man stood by the stairs everyday, reading the newspaper, drinking coffee, or talking on the cell phone… it was just his fault that he managed to trip, fall or run into him every other day…

"It's like you're cursed or something." The man finished, getting up—without Izuku's help—and walking away, his gait oozing annoyance.

Ouch. That… that hurt. He was used to kids calling him a curse, because of his quirk… and some adults were wary of his presence… but, he'd never had an adult spit in his face that he was cursed. He wasn't cursed, it was just his quirk… well, maybe he was cursed then. Cursed to have an unlucky quirk that would only ever cause him misfortune.

Before he could delve any deeper into self deprecating thoughts something rubbed against his leg. He looked down to see Shichi, purring and slinking herself in an infinite loop around his legs. Seeing Shichi here made him forget about the somewhat awful morning he's had.

"Awfully affectionate today, aren't we?" he noted as she preened. "Shichi, I appreciate the affection—I really do, but," he glanced at his phone, checking the time, "I really have to go."

Shichi stopped rubbing against his leg and regarded him with her immaculate golden eyes. She gave an inquisitive mrow.

Izuku just shook his head and started running in the direction of the train station. Unsurprisingly so, Shichi started running after him.

Izuku paced, waiting for the train to arrive—it was due any minute now. He had made it to the train station with time to spare, which caught him a little off guard. He wasn't used to being early for anything, unless of course, he wanted to be late.

Shichi was by his side, sitting regally as they waited for the train to arrive. He had, rather unsuccessfully, tried to shoo her away as she wouldn't be able to go on the train with him. She didn't seem to care as she just sat right next to him, tail flicking to and fro.

It was only a few minutes later when the train arrived and he tried to board it. Shichi followed him.

"Shichi," he looked down at her, "no, go home." He turned and took a step forward; Shichi followed him.

He turned to her and she meowed, "Shichi," he pointed towards the exit of the train station (come to think of it, he wasn't entirely sure how Shichi snuck into the station in the first place), "go home. I'm sure your owners are worried about you, you've been gone a lot lately."

Shichi regarded him with unbelieving eyes and mrowed again.

"No, you're not coming on the train with me."

Shichi remained where she was, tail twirling with defiance.

"Shichi," he sighed, "I can't take you on the train with me, it's against the rules."

Still, Shichi didn't budge.

Izuku huffed in annoyance, leaning down to her level, "Shichi… I know you want to follow me, but you can't. They don't allow animals on the train." he pointed to the exit, "You have to go home."

Izuku let out a long sigh as he stood on the train. He couldn't believe he had just snuck a cat on the train with him. He could feel Shichi writhing around in his backpack and shook his head solemnly. This was a mistake, with his luck, he was going to be caught.

He had snuck a cat on the train with him.

There were so many ways this could go wrong… and yet, everything was going smoothly. He wanted to keep it that way. He tried to keep his quirk in check, which came a little easier than he expected. Maybe it was because of his excitement, or maybe he was just getting better at control.

He was starting to think that he may even arrive to class early when the train lurched to a stop. He was thrown forward a little, not expecting the sudden stop.

He heard the intercom announce that there were some technical difficulties and his heart sank—leave it to his quirk to ruin a everything.

From within his backpack, Shichi grumbled. He whispered back to her as discreetly as possible, "You don't get to be snide. You're the one who just had to come with me."

There was soft mew in reply; Izuku took it as Shichi begrudgingly agreeing with him. Izuku smiled faintly at Shichi's relenting.

Someone tapped on his shoulder, causing him to jolt before he turned to see a man, "You go to Yuuei, kid?" he asked gruffly.

"Uh…" Izuku startled, "yeah…" he was a little perturbed by the man, if only because he wasn't sure why he was talking to him or how he knew he was a student at Yuuei.

"Your uniform," the man supplied easily, "it's the same one my kid wears-he's a third year though." there was a hint of pride in his voice.

Nervously, izuku nodded his head, "is that so…?"

The man nodded, "Yes…" he then regarded izuku with a disbelieving stare, "what happened to your tie?"

Izuku looked down at the crumpled mess that was his tie, "I umm…" he gave a nonchalant shrug, "ties just don't get along with me."

"I see, well then…" the train started to lurch forward and they began moving again, "well, I do hope your first day goes well."

Dumbly, Izuku nodded. That was… odd, he thought. He was a little miffed that the man commented on his tie tying abilities though, because as far as he was concerned, it didn't matter if he could tie a tie. It wasn't like it was a big deal.

He didn't let himself dwell on it any longer though, waiting for them to reach his destination. He took out his phone and checked the newsfeed, hoping to pass the time and ward off any potential conversationalist with his clear show of indifference.

Somehow, Izuku didn't end up being late. In fact, he arrived at Yuuei with a few minutes to spare. He let Shichi out of his backpack…. Only then realizing the predicament he was in.

He couldn't bring Shichi into the school with him… but he couldn't leave her here either. She didn't know this area, and she also was missing a leg… even if she had grown accustomed to living with only three legs, she was still at a disadvantage.

This was a conundrum… "Shichi…" he began, giving her a lost look, "you can't follow me in… you'll have to wait here."

Shichi ever so gracefully replied by sitting down, ignoring him completely, and then began to bathe herself.

"Alrighty then…" Izuku huffed out, "I'll make sure to find you after class okay."

Shichi meowed offhandedly and Izuku wasn't sure, but he thought she was snickering at him.

He shook his head as he turned to enter the building, fear and anticipation taking hold of him.

He was really here, at Yuuei—someone like him had actually made it into the hero class. He had proved himself capable at the exams, but it wasn't enough, that was just one exam. If he wanted to be a true pro, he needed more than to pass some test, he needed to prove, everyday that he was cut out for the job.

As he walked through the halls, looking for his class (class 1-A), he wondered who would be in his class. He was kind of hoping that girl from the exam would be there. She had been nice, and he wanted to get to know her more, maybe even be friends with her.

It took some time to find the classroom as he didn't know exactly where he was going. He had gone into the wrong room a few times, chuckling nervously as he exited them, tripping on more than one occasions. At one point, he ended up in one of the storage room in the basement—he had no idea how that happened—but eventually, he did find the right classroom with just barely a few minutes to spare. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

He didn't know what he was expecting, but he should have guessed Bakugo would be there, yelling at… that same guy from the entrance exam, the one who had called him out. Yay… he thought unenthusiastically.

"Of all the classes in all the schools in all the world, he just had to be in mine…" Izuku mumbled, hoping no one would hear him.

"Hahh? Deku," Bakugo growled, anger sparking up in his voice, "what are you doing here?"

Izuku was about to answer, when the other guy cut him off, his tone curious, but stale "Is that-were you… did you just twist an iconic quote from a classic movie to fit circumstances?"

Izuku stopped, and stared at him. All he could do was nod. He couldn't believe someone actually got the reference—he had said this quote many a times… but no one had ever understood the reference, which saddened him because it was a classic quote from an iconic movie from ages ago. Then again, it was a movie from the west—western movies weren't as popular here; but then, this guy had recognized it. Maybe… maybe he had misjudged this guy. Izuku knew he didn't always give off the best first impression, so, perhaps he shouldn't be quite so hasty in his internal assessment of this guy.

He mentally shook those thoughts from his head as he replied, taking a chance by referencing this movie once again, "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

"My name isn't Louis, It's Iida Tenya," Izuku wilted a little bit, maybe he should have just stuck with the one reference, but then Iida continued, "but I can appreciate the reference. And also, I would like to apologize for my previous actions."

Now Izuku was confused, he furrowed his brow, "Umm… okay?" Was he referring to when he falsely accused him of trying to undermine that girl…

Iida continued, his voice and posture portraying nothing but seriousness, "I misjudged you, before the exam, but it seems as though you understood the true meaning of the exam, something, I myself, was blind to."

"I did?" Izuku did not know what he was talking about. True nature of the exam?

Bakugo seemed to grow restless at their conversation and interrupted before Iida could explain further, "Will you two nerds shut the hell up! It's bad enough I have to deal with Deku," he sent a heated glare at Izuku, "I don't want to have to deal with another shitty nerd!"

Iida turned to Bakugo, and using a wild hand gesture, he berated Bakugou for his behavior—it was something Izuku had never seen before. Someone was holding Bakugo accountable for his actions… that didn't happen. At least, Izuku had never seen anyone ever tell Bakugo he was wrong.

His thoughts were interrupted by someone tapping his shoulder—he jumped at the unexpected touch..

He turned to see the vibrant smile of the girl who had been kind to him at the exam, "Oh good, it is you!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.

His eyes went wide at her declaration. She seemed so enthused to see him—he wasn't used to that.

"I-I… umm," he stuttered.

She just smiled and nodded to herself—Izuku found it a little weird—before turning and responding, "I'm glad you got in too. I would have felt terrible if you didn't make it into the hero course."

A sudden voice, deadpan and flat, spoke up from behind them, "This is the department of heroics. If you're just here to chat, please do it elsewhere."

They both looked down to see a man, with tremendous bags under his eyes, lying on the floor in a yellow sleeping bag. Everyone in the room quieted whatever conversations they were in to look at the man. He did look rather… odd.

As the class settled down, the man got up and out of the sleeping bag, and walked to the center of the classroom. Izuku and the girl, whom he still didn't know the name of, turned and watched him, not daring to move.

"Alright everyone," the man started dully, posture slacked and eyes dull—he looked dead on his feet if Izuku was being honest. "I'm Aizawa Shouta, your homeroom teacher—"

He was interrupted by the scuffling coming from his sleeping bag. Almost lazily a cat dragged itself out of the sleeping bag, yawning contently.

"Is… is that a cat, sensei?" The girl beside Izuku said, pointing as the cat stretched its three legs.

Izuku glowered at the cat—leave it to Shichi to find a way into the school. He could have sworn Shichi gave him a cheeky grin as she lazily went to Aizawa, their sensei.

Aizawa glared at all of them, "Yes, I found her outside the building. I think I'm going to keep her. She's very affectionate for a stray."

"That's because she's not a stray," Izuku stated, crossing his arms and shaking his head at the cat.

"You know this cat?" There was judgement in his question, but Izuku was more concerned with Shichi's antics to notice.

He nodded, "Shichi lives a few blocks from me, but she's kinda… attached to me, you could say," he explained.

Shichi, loving all this attention, mrowed and hobbled up to Izuku, where she rubbed against his leg and purred. Izuku smiled sheepishly.

Aizawa stared at him, or maybe it was a glare—Izuku couldn't tell from his blank expression, "I see," he turned to the rest of the class, "Well, now that we've cleared up the mystery of the cat… Shichi." There was a drawl in his voice, as if speaking took more energy than he had. "All of you," he focused his gaze on everyone in the room, "put on your gym uniforms and meet me outside."

With that, Aizawa left the room. Shichi meowed in a manner that Izuku knew to be sassy and directed at him before she strutted out after the teacher. Izuku just shook his head as he went with the rest of the class to the changing rooms to put their uniform on.

Izuku nervously tugged at his gym uniform as he made his way outside with the rest of the class. Of course, his uniform didn't fit quite right; it wasn't like it was too big or too small, it more or less just felt… off, like the dimensions of it weren't correct. It was a small issue really, and it wasn't noticeable, just a small inconvenience, something he could easily live with.

Before anyone could ask anything about why they were out here, and not at the opening ceremony for first years, their sensei, Aizawa, started to speak. "I'll cut right to it, this is a quirk assessment test." He turned to meet everyone's gaze, and Shichi, in her true cat fashion, sat right next to his feet, ears poised and tail flicking in a judgmental manner. "You're in the hero course, and so that means it's my job to teach you how to achieve that goal. We don't have time for nonsense, so right now I will determine if you have what it takes to continue on this path."

There was a collective intake of breath as Aizawa said this.

"In middle school," Aizawa continued, walking towards the baseball pitch, "you all had standard tests… in them you weren't allowed to use your quirks, but now—" he stopped abruptly, a wicked gleam in his eyes "—Bakugo, how far could you throw a softball pitch in middle school?"

There was scoff from Bakugo. "Sixty seven meters," he replied dryly.

"Hmm," Aizawa took out a soft ball and tossed it to Bakugo, who caught it on reflex, "show me how far you can throw it now." He gestured to the the pitch he was standing on.

With a disgruntled 'hmph', Bakugo stalked forward until he was standing where Aizawa had instructed.

"Oh and… use your quirk this time." Aizawa mentioned in an off handed nature.

Bakugo smirked before throwing the ball, his explosive side coming full force when he initiated his quirk. The ball went flying through the air, a burning, flame riddenstreak that left a trail of smoke as it soared though the sky and landed far beyond their line of vision.

Aizawa held up his phone to display a number written on it, "See this, sixty seven meters… that was what you said you could do, but when you use your quirk… seven hundred and five point two meters," he paused for a moment, heightening the suspense, "In order to become a great hero, you need to know what you're capable of first; know your limits so that you can work on breaking them. I've set up multiple physical tests that you should know from middle school, but this time, I'm allowing you to use your quirks and show me the best you've got."

Beside him, Shichi purred, rubbing up against his leg. It kind of ruined the moment, Izuku thought, but it was definitely a Shichi thing to do; she was a very needy cat.

There were whispers from his classmates, talking about how they would finally be able to use their quirks. "This sounds like fun," he heard one person say in a cheery voice.

It was not a great thing to say, it seemed, as Aizawa turned on them, "Fun? This isn't some fun little activity that you can half ass. I'm training you to be future heroes, not babysitting you so you can have a 'grand ole' time'. If you're not going to take this seriously, then leave. This isn't a game, and if you're going to treat it like one then you shouldn't be here." His voice was cold and harsh as he spat out, "You should consider yourselves lucky to be here, but if you're all going to treat this like a game, then I guess I'll up the ante: the person who performs worst in these physical assessments will be expelled, effective immediately."

Everyone stopped laughing and joking around, but Izuku was gritting his teeth. He didn't care about the being expelled part—well he did care about that a lot—but that wasn't what upset him so much. He had worked so hard to prove he could do this, to show the world he was capable of being… something. Then Aizawa, his teacher, on the first day tells him everything he's worked so hard to achieve is just… luck.

It didn't sit right with him. If there was one thing Izuku knew, it was that he was not lucky. In fact, he fought against luck to be standing here right now. Luck had been against him, and he had denied it, again and again. He wasn't about to let anyone take that away from him.

He clenched his fists and bit his lip. "I'm not here because of luck," he bit it out bitterly, not registering that he was even voicing his thoughts aloud.

Everyone stilled when he said that. It had been shocking to hear that one of them was going to be expelled, but no one had dared speak out against their teacher, not when his tone had been so stern, his gaze so serious.

"What was that you said… Midoriya?" He shivered at the ice in his words, before steeling his convictions. He could just as easily back down on this, apologize and move on… but something stopped him. Sure he could do that, and it may be the easier and smarter option, but he couldn't do it. Luck was not the reason he was standing where he was today.

His quirk was bad luck, so in a sense, yes luck had played a role… but he wasn't by any means lucky to be here. He was here because he fought for it. There were things he couldn't control—things that people may call luck—and he knew that. Everyone dealt with these unforeseen circumstances, but Izuku couldn't stand the thought that all his hard work and training was going to be blown off as something as mundane as luck.

He held his conviction as he spoke, "I said I'm not here because I'm lucky." He glared at Aizawa who, in turn, sent a cold stare his way.

"Oh? So why are you here then?" It was a challenge.

Anger burned at Izuku's throat, wanting to escape, but he swallowed it, "I'm here because I worked hard to be here."

"And what about the other people… the ones who didn't get in? Did they not work just as hard as you? Were they not just as deserving as you to be here?"

Izuku stopped and thought about it. He wasn't as pompous to say that there weren't other people who took that exam who weren't just as deserving as him, but the difference between him and them was that he passed. It was crood, and a bit harsh, but the fact remained—he had passed that exam, and they hadn't.

"I'm not saying that. There were definitely people who took that exam who were worthy of being heros… but that's not the only thing there is to being a hero. You can't just want to be one… that's not enough…" He looked down, thinking back to that day on the roof, when he had asked All Might if he could be a hero. He swallowed, he was starting to understand why All Might had held his position... but he still felt it was wrong. Anyone could be a hero, but you had to work at it.

"Well…" Aizawa seemed intrigued, yet slightly annoyed by his monologue.

Izuku looked at him, determination set in his green eyes, "If you want to be a hero you have to work at it, and you have to push through every inconvenience. You can't let yourself stop because something goes wrong. I took that exam just as everyone else did… I was faced with my own inconveniences there, but you know why I passed?"

Izuku waited a second to let the tension build. "I passed," he continued, voice strong and steady, "because when I was faced with an obstacle I didn't run away. I ran straight at it. I did what I needed to do, not what I wanted to do."

No one said a word, but there was a collective intake of breath. Izuku let out a breath he hadn't even known he was holding.

Aizawa was grinning like a madman at him. "I see… well, if you're so confident in your abilities, then show me." He gestured to the baseball pitch and offered Izuku another softball. Izuku wondered how many softballs Aizawa had, and where he was getting them.

Izuku stepped up to the field and took the ball.

"Show me what you can do…"

Izuku got ready to throw the ball. He couldn't use his inborn quirk here… it wouldn't help him in the least. He would have to use One For All. He didn't have a choice. Sure, he would break his arm, but there wasn't anything else he could do. If he didn't use a quirk it would undermine everything he had just said—it would be him running away and giving up.

He wouldn't allow it.

He let the golden fire burn through his veins, feeling One For All's power flowing through him he positioned himself to throw the ball. As he was throwing the ball, he felt all the power pour out of him, extending into his throw. It was as if a huge tension on his bones had suddenly been released, snapping his body back into place with harrowing force.

The ball left his hand and didn't go nearly as far as he had intended it to, in fact, as the ball sliced through the air, a strong gust of wind blew in the opposite direction and stopped the ball, carrying it backwards a good few meters before it landed a mere twenty meters out.

He stared at the ball, frozen in shock; this wasn't right. He had fired up One For All… so why… why didn't it work?

Slowly, he turned to see Aizawa staring at him intensely with his eyes wide and his hair sticking up as if gravity had stopped working. His eyes glowed a vicious red, and his scarf, once wrapped around his neck loosely, now flew out in all directions as if it were sentient. All former exhaustion had drained from his sensei's face, leaving a haggard, stone cold expression.

"How was it that you managed to pass the exams again? By overcoming adversity? By going for it when others faltered?" His voice stung like a wasp, leaving a lasting impression upon him. "All I've seen is an uncanny amount of strength and… a whole lot of luck."

Aizawa was throwing back everything he had just said in his face; Izuku gritted his teeth. He wasn't lucky. He refused to belittle his hard work by calling it luck, not when all his life, everything he's done, every accomplishment he's ever had, has been attributed to his quirk. Everytime something happened to him, without fail, his classmates or teacher or adults told him that he didn't actually earn it, that it only happened because his bad luck spread to everyone else.

Izuku was tired of luck being the determining factor for him.

It wasn't. His quirk may manifest luck, but that didn't mean that it held any sway over his achievements and downfalls.

Despite his internal thoughts swirling, Izuku remained quiet as Aizawa persisted, "I saw what happened to your arm in those exams. You spout on about how you don't stop when things get bad, but if you incapacitate yourself every time you use your quirk, you'll be useless. What happens when you're fighting an actual villain and you hurt yourself? What then? Because of your recklessness you would have endangered yourself and everyone else in the area. You can't be a hero with a quirk like that."

Izuku froze at those words—that wasn't… no. He refused. He had already decided that he was going to be a hero. He wasn't going to stop because yet another adult told him he couldn't.

Slowly, but without any hesitation, Izuku steadied his gaze on Aizawa, "It's not a matter of 'if I can become a hero', because it doesn't matter if you think I can be one, all that matters is that I will become one. I've decided that, and your jibes at me are nothing new," Izuku wasn't sure where all this confidence came from, but he was tired of being a coward, this was a chance for him to be something else, to be something better. "I've been told all my life what I can't be. Your insults are nothing special. Tell me what I can't be, and I'll show you that I can."

There was a joking playfulness laced within Aizawa's bitter tone, a challenge laiden deep within his words, "You haven't even done any of the other assessments yet. Do you think you can do them all with a broken hand or were all your pretty words just that: pretty words? Show me, Midoriya, what can you do?"

What can you do? That phrase has been thrown at him for years, ever since he first showed signs of his quirk. It had really hurt to hear it then, when he hadn't a clue how to control his quirk. Then…. He had screwed up, he had really screwed up, and he thought he'd never be able to be a hero with his quirk. Now though, now he had people who believed in him. He had a reason to prove everyone wrong.

He was given another softball to throw. He knew he couldn't use One For All recklessly like he had before… but he couldn't control it yet either. Bad luck wouldn't really help him here…. Unless he… he could try that.

He knew Aizawa was waiting to see if he had anything up his sleeve, or if he was truly all bark and no bite. If he didn't make this—if this didn't work—he had no doubt that he would be the one that Aizawa expelled.

He couldn't control One For All yet, but he could direct it—he could contain it so that his entire arm didn't break.

He concentrated on his quirks; trying to reign in One For All and halt his bad luck. He focused on pinpointing his quirk. He could feel the energy rush through him, racing to his hand before he threw the ball. He waited until the ball was about to leave his hand before activating One For All.

The ball streaked through the air; Izuku's finger exploded with agony. This hurt a lot more than breaking his arm did. He sucked in a breath and turned to see Aizawa staring at him in shock.

He heard a collective gasp from the rest of the class and noticed that they weren't looking at him, rather at the sky. He turned to see a bird—a big raptor—had grabbed the ball he threw in mid-air and started to fly away—away from them.

He couldn't help it, he chuckled, then gasped as another pulse of pain rang through him.

Aizawa quipped up, voice flat, "It seems as though we won't know how far you threw the ball… as a… bird took it."

Izuku chuckled slightly, trying to stave off the pain a little, "Well… it's not like it's my fault a bird took the ball… I guess you could say it's a just a stroke of… bad luck.." He gave Aizawa a wily smile, though pain twisted it a little—his finger really did hurt.

Aizawa sighed exasperatedly at his jibe, but became more concerned when Izuku continued to wince, "Are you sure you're okay Midoriya?" His voice conveyed a hint of suspicion within it.

Izuku snapped his eyes open—this pain was nothing. It hurt, yes, but he could power through it. "This is nothing, I can still perform… besides," he wiped away the tears that had forced themselves from his eyes, "there's no crying in baseball."

"Oho," Aizawa smirked, before gesturing towards the rest of the class, "you may have shown that you can throw a ball, but let's see where you fair in the rest of the assessments," Izuku nodded his head and started to head back, "and one more thing Midoriya," Izuku turned a questioning gaze on him, "this isn't a baseball… it was a softball"

With an irritated sigh, Izuku rolled his eyes. "Why do I even bother?" he muttered darkly as he walked back to the rest of the group.

All through the rest of the assessments, Bakugo kept glaring at him, his eyes so intense Izuku could have sworn he saw actual smoke coming from them at one point. He knew Bakugo was mad at him for the ball throw—when he had finally gotten the distance his ball had gone seven hundred and fifty meters, breaking Bakugou's record by a solid forty two point eight meters.

Bakugo had complained to Aizawa about it, stating that he had cheated, because the bird had taken the ball and brought it farther along than it should have gone, but Aizawa just brushed him off, stating that there wasn't anything he could do.

In all honesty, Izuku knew there was plenty that Aizawa could do, it just appeared as though he didn't want to do anything about it; the thought made Izuku snicker.

Izuku worried though, that he hadn't done enough to evade expulsion. There really wasn't anything he could use his quirks for unless he wanted to sabotage his classmates with enough bad luck to counter his own, but there was no way he was going to do that. He was trying to be a hero and sabotaging his classmates would undermine his beliefs. He still felt bad about his stunt at the entrance exams. He hadn't really meant to trip everybody… it had just been a heat of the moment kind of thing, and he regretted it though there wasn't anything he could do about it now.

When the assessments had finished, Aizawa told them he would show them their scores. He waited a few minutes, calculating the final scores, before displaying them all on the board.

Izuku slowly looked at the scoreboard, cringing when he saw where his name was.

He had placed last.

Dead last.

He balled his hands into a fist—his right hand less so as the finger was still broken.

"Oh yeah," Aizawa added nonchalantly, as if it were an afterthought, "that whole expulsion thing… it was a logical ruse." He laughed unironically.

No one laughed with him.

Izuku let out a breath of relief. He wasn't going to be expelled. He could still continue on his journey to become a hero. He was a little miffed at Aizawa for lying to them, but his relief over not being expelled outweighed his strife over the lie.

After the shock had worn off, Aizawa told them to go back to the classroom. He stopped Izuku though as he was walking and told him to go to the nurse to heal his broken finger. He simply nodded and headed towards the building. It was only after he had made it into the building that he realized he had no idea where the nurses office was.

The end of the day had arrived, and Izuku just felt exhausted. He knew, in reality that it was because of the nurse's quirk, but he was mentally tired as well.

He sighed as he made his way out of the school, briefly wondering where Shichi had taken off to. He hadn't seen her since the assessment. He shook his head at the thought—Shichi would be fine. He immediately regretted the action as in his tired state it just made him dizzy.

So out of it, he didn't notice the person walking up behind him until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Instinctively, he jumped and turned to see it was Iida.

"Sorry if I scared you, I just wanted to ask if your finger had healed," he inquired diligently.

Izuku stuttered out a response, "O-oh, yeah, Recovery Girl… you know the nurse, she healed me all up." He wasn't used to classmates caring about his overall well being. He had to say, it was nice.

"Ah, that's good," he walked up next to Izuku, walking in stride with him, "I must say though, that whole stunt Aizawa pulled, it really got me."

"Yeah, I was really nervous that I was gonna get expelled… especially with how I kinda ranted at him…" Izuku's nervous nature returned full force, causing him to wilt in on himself slightly.

Iida shook his head, "Quite the contrary, I think."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"While, yes, you were a bit directive, I think it just proved how driven you were, and how much you cared about being here." There was a note in his voice… something almost like jealousy. "And then you went and proved that you could adapt to situations quickly. There's no way he would have expelled you after that. You have proved, once again, that you have the qualities of a hero."

"Iida—"

He was cut off by the same girl from earlier, the one he really needed to get the name of. "Hey guys, are you going to the train station too?"

There was a soft mew that followed her sentence, and Izuku turned to see her holding Shichi, who was, surprisingly, letting her do so. Shichi loved attention, but hated to be held.

"You're that infinity girl," Iida exclaimed, shifting his glasses.

The girl blushed slightly, "My name is actually Uraraka Ochako… you're…. Iida Tenya, Right?" Iida nodded, and she continued looking at Izuku, "And you're... Midoriya… Deku?"

In her arms, he heard Shichi snicker, at least he took it as her snickering.

His face went red with embarrassment, "That's not actually my name… it's Izuku, not Deku. Bakugo just likes to call me that as a sort of insult…"

Her face went a little solemn at the mention of that, but quickly went back to her peppy, cheery mood, "Really? Cause I think Deku has a nice ring to it. Something like, 'I'll never give up' and after that speech you gave, I think that really fits."

Oh… this was… new. Deku had always been an insult, meant to tell him how worthless he was… but now someone was telling him it meant something different.

The last thing Izuku wanted was for things to be the same, to be the same deku as he had been in middle school… but now, maybe it could be different. Maybe he could still be deku, but not deku. He could change the meaning of it. It could mean something else now.

He smiled at the thought, "Yeah, I suppose it does." He nodded, assuring himself, "Yeah, you can call me Deku."

Shichi yawned, stretching as much as she could in Uraraka's hold.

"Oh, yeah, this was your cat right?" she asked.

Izuku nodded, "Well, yeah, kinda… it's weird. She's not mine, but she follows me around a lot."

"Interesting name, Shichi…" Iida remarked.

"I like it. It sounds cute!" Uraraka huffed. Shichi mrowed in agreement.

"Yes, well, for a black cat she is very… unlucky. Hence why I gave her a lucky name." Izuku sighed, taking a step forward, not noticing the divet in the sidewalk and face planting into the ground.

"And you seem to be a bit… unlucky as well," Iida noted.

Uraraka laughed, "He did the same thing at the entrance exam," she said as she went to help him up, "You seem to fall a lot."

Izuku couldn't help but smile, "Yes…" he trailed off. Part of him wanted to tell them about his quirk, his first one, but another part, a darker part, told him to keep it a secret. If they knew they would leave him, call him cursed… just as everyone else did.

"Sometimes it feels that way." They didn't need to know his actual quirk… not yet at least. It wasn't important, and besides, Izuku thought as Uraraka helped him up, he liked this feeling—having friends who he could have a casual conversation with. It was nice.

"Say, Midoriya," Iida started as they made their way to the train station, "earlier, on the pitch, was that a reference to a movie I heard?"

Izuku beamed, finally someone who understood all his references. "Yes!"

"A League of Their Own?"

"Yes! Finally, someone who knows of them. I know they're, like, ancient, but I used to watch those old movies all the time. They were basically my childhood, as well as heroes and such…" Izuku babbled on.

"Yes, I agree. I, too, have watched many of those old classics from the west. Not many people know of them these days, but every once in a while, I'll catch a reference or two."

Uraraka looked between the two of them, "Classic movies? I've never heard of 'A League of Their Own'..."

Both Iida and Izuku stopped and turned to her, "Well, you just have to see them now!"

Uraraka smiled at the prospect, and they continued their conversation all the way to the train station. Izuku was smiling and laughing the entire, time. Friends weren't something he had ever had before, but now… things were different.

It was a good different, a different he could get used to.

AN: I hope you enjoyed that chapter. :DD It was really fun to write out and I can't wait to finish the next chapter :DD

Until next time,

Vera~