Chapter Four
It was Izuku's first day at Yuuei, a literal dream come true, and he was already well on his way to a broken nose.
Because, in his excitement, he'd taken a step forward, tumbled, and started to fall.
As the ground rushed up to meet him, Izuku still couldn't keep the grin off of his face but, before the moment of impact – and he wasn't sure if he would have popped a wing if it had happened – a hand slapped into his shoulderblade and before long he was right way up again.
He toned down the smile when a face popped into his peripherals, followed by a body that strode in front of him. Inko had said sometimes his smiles had too many teeth. But, almost immediately, it was widening again, nearly splitting his face in two.
"You're okay!" Izuku exclaimed, and the girl opposite him grinned back. He remembered when he'd held her in his clawed hand, where she had been limp and unconscious.
"Yup," she declared, just as cheery as him. Izuku could see why his too wide smiles might be off putting, if this person opposite him was any indicator. She could smile just as wide.
Unaware of his revelation she continued.
"You saved me right! I'm so glad they let you into Yuuei! I was afraid you wouldn't have enough points because you side-tracked to save me, but when I tried to let them give you some of my points they were all stupidly cryptic and told me not to worry! I'm Uraraka, Uraraka Ochako. It's nice to meet you!"
She jabbed out a hand, still smiling.
Feeling a little steam-rolled by the abrupt introduction, Izuku took her hand, letting her shake it enough for the both of them, suddenly feeling a little overwhelmed and embarrassed.
"I'm Midoriya Izuku," he said shyly. "I'm glad you're okay. They took you away and wouldn't let me know if you were okay at first."
"Just fainted!" Uraraka confirmed, letting Izuku's hand go. "They told me you absolutely wrecked that robot! Wish I'd been awake to see it."
Something in Izuku giggled hysterically.
"Yeah. I just uh. Punched it. Broke my arm though!" he added, pulling memories of the day willy-nilly to add to the lie. "My Quirk is strength enhancement, and my arm wasn't quite ready for it."
"Neither was the robot," Uraraka ribbed, and then grabbed him by the arm, ignoring how flustered he got. Pulling insistently, she started to drag him towards the building, chattering all the while.
Compelled to answer at least one of her questions, Izuku mumbled, "I'm in 1-A too. I earned Rescue Points instead of Hero Points."
"Oh, I didn't know that was an option!" Uraraka gasped, and before Izuku could reply, someone else did.
"Neither did I," someone spoke from behind them and Izuku jumped near out of his skin (inside, he giggled hysterically because imagine, out of his skin), feeling decidedly ripply and determined not to pop.
Turning slowly, like a child caught with a hand in the cookie jar and not like a teenager about to blow up, Izuku came face to chest with a person. Looking up, it only took a few seconds to recognise the face.
He took a step back. Looking up for so long was only bound to give him a crick in the neck.
"I said some harsh words to you," the person said and bowed stiffly at the waist. Izuku hurriedly took another step back before their heads cracked together.
"Don't worry!" he stammered. "I mutter, I'm aware, I just – just sometimes don't catch myself in time."
"I made a poor judgement of you character," the person was still at an angle and Izuku desperately wished he'd just stand up again. It was making him feel awkward.
"It's okay, really," Izuku muttered, aware that people were starting to stare. "Really! Water under the bridge. I'm Midoriya Izuku."
"I am Iida Tenya," Iida barked out, still bent over in a bow.
"Oh my god," Izuku whispered. Louder, he said, "You can – you can get up now."
Iida shot up, like an unwound spring snapping back into shape. Abruptly, he adjusted his glasses and stuck out a hand.
This Izuku could deal with. Iida's handshake was firmer than Uraraka's but still just as warm. Izuku gave him a smile and Iida even gave one back.
All good. All was good. No one was staring anymore. Iida had moved on to introductions with Uraraka. Izuku's first day was going to plan and he'd interacted normally with two whole people.
See, Izuku was paranoid. He'd spent the previous evening huddled in the hallway with the phone, listening to his father's stern instructions. It was by no means a secret conversation, but he'd felt like a sleuth all the same as he'd listened.
Don't draw attention. Only use 'your' Quirk. Be normal. Stay human. Don't grow scales, or a tail, or horns. Don't give anything away that might lead to your classmates suspecting or knowing you are a dragon.
A hand clapped down on his shoulder out of nowhere.
"I'm human, really!" Izuku shrieked, high pitched, shoulders bunching and hunching protectively. He wasn't a dragon. Not him. No sirree.
Iida gave him a long, searching look, before he sighed and nodded.
"Yes, you are. We're all human, and all make mistakes. Truly, you are a better person than I for forgiving me."
Izuku didn't know where this saving grace had come from, but he just looked at Iida, feeling dumbfounded.
Uraraka looked equally as dumbfounded, eyes squinted suspiciously as she looked first at Izuku then at Iida.
"But perhaps," Iida continued, adjusting his glasses once more. "Perhaps we should make our way to class before we are late on our very first day!"
His glasses flashed, as if catching the sunlight.
Izuku looked up at the sky. It was still overcast, like it had been when he'd left his house that morning. Well. Not one to question weird things considering he was one, Izuku simply decided his best course of action was to agree, following Iida and Uraraka to the building that housed their classroom.
Iida encountered Bakugou. Bakugou encountered Izuku. Izuku wished the floor would swallow him up.
They were all saved by their teacher, doing his best impression of a caterpillar, entering the classroom.
When Izuku moved to greet him, he was given the most deadpan expression he'd witnessed in his life, a cold sweat running down his spine. The look he was given made it seem as if Aizawa wanted him murdered.
Aizawa just despaired that this was his life now and wondered how he'd make Toshinori suffer in the same vein for inflicting this upon him.
(Izuku liked Uraraka's interpretation of his name. It made his chest swell with pride and nothing more, no matter how Aizawa suspiciously eyed him like he'd turn into the human equivalent of a flamethrower because of one little compliment.)
"Oh, thank goodness," Izuku breathed as Aizawa finished lining out the requirements for the physical. Uraraka gave him the side-eye, obviously wondering why he'd be happy with such a brutal regime of physical fitness.
"I thought it might be something like the robots again," Izuku admitted, feeling pinned under the look. "I mean, this stuff I can do as me. Without, you know. Obliterating every bone in my body or accidentally launching myself into the atmosphere."
"I suppose that makes sense," Uraraka allowed.
"Besides, it's not that bad," Izuku added, "I've done way more than this."
"You're a teenager," Uraraka sounded affronted as if all he should have been doing was lazing about and playing games. Izuku flashed a nervous, too sharp smile and quickly darted away to the start of the running line when he was called.
"Being physically fit is my passion!" he hollered over his shoulder and startling the person next to him.
Iida dusted him, and everyone else for that matter, in the hundred metre dash. Izuku was too busy admiring to feel sorry he'd come in third place, second place eked out by someone with a tail, who abruptly introduced himself as Ojiro.
Izuku seriously debated asking him about the balancing issues of a tail and then remembered his father's words. Be human. No dragon or dragon features.
All of the other activities fell into the sort of same category. Izuku wasn't top of the class by any means and by the end of it all he was probably solidly in the middle range when compared to his peers. But, somehow, it didn't feel enough.
There was a buzzing under his skin, a restlessness, where he felt compelled to prove himself. It was a little embarrassing to admit it, but he wanted to show off.
The last test of the afternoon was a ball throw.
Izuku clenched his hand into a fist, felt the warm brush of One-For-All crackle over his knuckles like a faint ache. When he shook his hand back out, his knuckles were green and shiny. Bringing up his other hand, he was quick to rub the scales away with the bad of his thumb, feigning nervousness as Uraraka stepped up next to him.
"I just feel as if I haven't really shown myself," Izuku confessed, rubbing his knuckles again and again until he could feel smooth skin again. "And I kind of really want to show what I'm made of."
A pang resonated within him. He'd been passed over, dismissed for so long because he'd had no Quirk. Now he had one and the chance to use it. He couldn't pass that up.
"I get what you mean," Uraraka sighed, running her hands through her frazzled hair and looking more tired than Izuku, which wasn't that hard. Izuku had stamina for days now. He'd cleaned a whole beach with nothing but determination and grit. A few squats weren't going to throw him.
"Maybe we can both prove our worth now," Izuku murmured in reply, and shouted, "Good luck!" as Uraraka was called forward and handed a baseball, tracking device in place.
Any hopes that Izuku had of coming first in any category was shattered by one tap of Uraraka's Quirk.
The ball went up. And up. And up. And up. It turned into a dot in the distance and never returned.
"I'll…just put that down as 'infinity'," Aizawa muttered, disgruntled at the loss of a piece of equipment. He'd come prepared fully expecting that he'd lose a couple of balls at least considering who he was teaching but still hated the paperwork involved with loss and destruction of school facilities.
Izuku couldn't beat infinity, no matter how hard he threw the ball, even if he put his whole arm and shoulder into it, Quirk or no Quirk.
Uraraka hopped back to his side, fingertips pressed together and face bright and lit up in a smile.
"Thanks for the encouragement," she whispered, touching his wrist shyly. "I'd almost forgotten my Quirk could help I was so nervous, I thought I'd have to throw it with just me but…I'm more than me."
"You are," Izuku agreed, whispering back. When he was called forward, Uraraka's light touch turned into a loose grip on his wrist.
"Do your best," she said seriously, and let him go.
Izuku stepped forward, feeling confident again all of a sudden. Something in him was preening, like a peacock raising its tail and showing it off after being showered with praise.
Uraraka believed in him.
Aizawa did not.
Izuku looked at Aizawa, wounded, when the ball flew forward a few paltry metres and fell to the floor with a sad thump. A loud snort came from Bakugou's direction and Izuku felt his neck flush in embarrassment.
"You broke your arm," Aizawa said quietly, his voice a drawl. "I don't think you should be using your Quirk unless you can prove you won't break your arm just by throwing a ball."
Something angry reared in Izuku, his skin prickling. Slowly, he let a smile cross his face, widening to the point of no return.
"How about," he said, tilting his head and feeling fierce, "how about you give me a chance, as you've given everyone else here a chance."
Aizawa's expression soured, as if he'd swallowed a lemon, but an oppressiveness Izuku had felt fall over him during his attempted throw lessened and then disappeared entirely.
"If you break your arm," Aizawa warned, "I'm kicking you from this class and this school. If you can't take care of yourself, I'd hate to see what you'd accidentally do to your classmates."
The angry thing flailed, like a fish caught on land; no finesse, just twisting and turning, flopping and flipping. Izuku felt indignant, indescribable, that Aizawa would even suggest he'd hurt a classmate, or fail to protect them or…
This too was something his father had warned him about. Izuku was a dragon under thin, fragile skin. The dragon was Izuku, under hard, glittering scales. Even as he walked about human the dragon would lie dormant but still a part of him. There would be new feelings, new instincts, new responses.
A puberty within a puberty, except instead of strange emotions and possible acne, it was scalier, angrier, more instinctive.
Aizawa had hit a nail firmly on the head in Izuku's literal lizard brain and Izuku's lizard brain had responded with 'Fully-Offended'. It was less a matter of pride now. It would be a matter of proof. Izuku could and would show Aizawa what he could do, that he was not a danger.
Holding out his hand Izuku accepted the ball, still smiling.
Aizawa was starting to look unnerved.
Good, a part of Izuku thought, let me show him what he has to look forward to.
One-For-All crackled against his skin again, and Izuku was glad his back was to his gathered classmates, unsure if he'd be able to keep the growing patches of scales hidden from them had they faced one another.
Winding up like a baseball pitcher, Izuku grabbed that crackle of power, fed it down his body, filed it into the finest of points, a gathering of power in just his fingertip. A bomb, with a fuse waiting to be lit.
And as his arm reaching the peak of his throw, he let it go.
Uraraka's ball had exited the atmosphere.
Izuku's altered it, clouds parting like the wake following a boat.
And then he turned on his heel to face Aizawa who, instead of being pissed or recalcitrant at being defied, was smiling instead.
It was the scariest thing Izuku had ever faced, and he'd once broken his mother's favourite casserole dish.
I WROTE THIS IN AN HOUR IF THERE'S A MISTAKE OR MORE I'M NOT SURPRISED.