Midoriya felt his brow dripping with nervous sweat as Bakugou silently seethed with rage beside him, on the rising award podium. To the other side of him, Tokoyami shot him a concerned look.
A quiet angry Bakugou was much scarier than a feral Bakugou. Shaking his head, the greenette focused on the patterns in the ground.
Midnight had took the sports festival winner away from Momo and told him they had to have him and the second and third place students go somewhere specific, so they could essentially be presented to everyone
Steam rose out the ground and when it cleared students and spectators alike cheered and applauded the three students. Midoriya smiled nervously, but widely as his eyes swept over his friends and classmates, who all seemed to understand he wasn't exactly the best with crowds and giving him small gestures of encouragement such as thumbs up. Momo in particular seemed quite enthusiastic over it.
There were even fireworks exploding in the sky.
'If it isn't over the top, it isn't U.A.' Midoriya thought with a small laugh.
"Tenya Iida actually shared third place with Tokoyami, however he has had to leave early due to personal matters, that can't be disclosed at this time!" Midnight revealed to the camera people who had been let in to record the ceremony. Midoriya's smile faltered at that.
He still didn't know what had happened, and judging by the look on Uraraka in the crowd, it wasn't anything good. Momo and Kirishima seemed completely unaware however.
Before he could continue to ponder over that though, Midnight began to speak again.
"Now let's get down to what we all came here for! Of course, there's only one person worthy of distributing such rewards!" She said with a grin, throwing her hand towards the sky. As if summoned by her movements, a booming familiar laugh sounded out.
Midoriya thought it must have been recited…. For all of three seconds, before the two began speaking over one another.
"CITIZENS I AM HERE WITH THE MEDALS-"
"ALL MIGHT, THE NUMBER ONE HERO!-"
Silence rang out as the muscular pro landed, and the R-rated pro clapped her hands together apologetically. "Whoops, ruined that didn't i?"
Midoriya resisted the urge to make a sarcastic comment at his mentors expense in front of hundreds of people. Somehow. Shaking his head, he just smiled brighter.
The number one pro made his way forward, shaking with annoyance until he reached Tokoyami and his irritated eyes softened and his smile grew.
The blonde offered word's of advice and encouragement to the bird headed teen as he presented the medal, and even pulled him into a hug, which Tokoyami mostly just seemed confused about.
After that, All Might walked over to Midoriya, will giving a quick nod to Midoriya and the greenette had to resist the urge to snort when the number one pro actually baked away from Bakugou with a look of apprehension. He could of sworn he muttered something about the blonde teen being scary.
"Well um… young Bakugou!" All Might began, taking cautious steps forward and putting the medal around the boy's neck, to which the explosion teen just grunted angrily. "I'm sure you are aware but you must learn to reign in that temper of yours, and your need to run your mouth. I understand speaking to hid the fear-"
"FUCK YOU!" Bakugou snapped at the insinuation, and the pro jumped back like a startled cat.
"Yes of course, fuck me-"
Silence rang out again, and the blonde flushed as he realized his misstep.
"Apologies! Moving swiftly on! Anyways, whatever the case, to cause young Midoriya to explode as he did, rather quite literally, you must learn to contain it better. Anger is a decent fuel, but not a good state of mind to remain in. We will discuss that later but for now, enjoy the glory of-"
"Move. The fuck. On." The explosion teen snarled, and All Might shut up immediately, sweating.
"Yes right of course, I'll just be over here then!" He said, quickly hurrying over to his successor. He straightened up for a moment, before he met Midoriya's eyes and a mixture of pride and annoyance swam within them. Still, his smile grew somehow brighter as the Omnitrix bearer craned his neck to allow the medal to go on and the blonde pulled him into a tight embrace.
"Young Midoriya…. Trying to offer you advice with so many radically different styles of heroing is no easy feat, so for now I will simply congratulate you on your victory." He said loudly, before his voice quieted to a whisper so only the greenette could hear. "I don't know what caused you to become so reckless in that last fight, and I won't push you on it if you don't want to talk about it, please just be more careful with One for All in future."
"Yes sir!" Midoriya said, acting as though he'd been told any old compliment as the man pulled away.
"And for you Young Midoriya, I also went out of my way to have something special made in the event that you won." The blonde revealed as he reached into his belt, and pulled out a bracelet that was decorated with thirteen tiny gold medals. He handed it over to the teen and on closer inspection Midoriya realized it had his aliens likeness' imprinted on them. "Keep it safe!"
"Yes sir!" Midoriya said with a massive grin as the man finally pulled away, turning to the gathered crowd of students.
"And here they are, the winners of this years festival, but for those of you who haven't made it up here, don't despair! Anyone of you first years could have made it up here today. Think about what you have done today, you have challenged each other, learned from one another and have taken yet another step towards your goals of being pro's!" He said excitedly, as Midoriya looked out to the students. He smiled at his friends, who smiled back and his eyes continued to wander. For a moment, he met Shinsou's eyes and to the greenette's surprise, the brainwashing teen gave him a true genuine smile. All Might's fist went up into the air, as he made his final announcement. "I think our next generation of heroes are promising to be the most amazing one yet! So I have one more thing to say and I want to hear everyone yell it with me! You know what it is!-"
"PLUS ULTRA!" The stadium and students cheered, but All Might apparently had something different in mind
"-Thank you for your amazing work!"
Everyone was rendered silent once again before people started to boo and shout. "THAT WAS THE PERFECT TIME TO SAY PLUS ULTRA!"
Midoriya face palmed at his mentor, who just sheepishly apologized and tapped his fingers together.
"But everyone worked so hard…" he pouted, and the crowd glared.
"Well, the crowd leaving with such sour looks on their faces certainly won't be ideal." Midnight commented with a frown, before turning to Midoriya. "Well, I suppose we should give them a spectacle to make up for it. You still have one or two more aliens you haven't used right?"
"Uh yeah…." He nodded, and she grinned.
"Perfect, think you could give us a more suitable ending?"
"Wait why me?"
"Just do it, my boy! I don't like the glares I'm getting."
Midoriya just sighed, before addressing the other students. "Alright everyone stand right back! Unless you want to be crushed which i doubt!"
No one needed to be told twice, as the greenette pulled up his watch and slammed it in, green flash engulfing him for one final time in the sports festival. And if he was going to do something purely for show, he was going to do it right.
The green flash grew and grew until it took a massive humanoid shape standing way above the stadium.
"Goliath: super big, super strong, and has lasers." Aizawa supplied as quickly as he could from the commentator booth, still in the mindset of the fights while the alien let out a laugh to rival All Might's own.
"Seriously All Might, they were right though. There is only one way to end this!" He said with his massive grin, throwing a gargantuan fist into the air. "PLUS ULTRA!"
With the cry, the ground shook but no one cared, absolutely taken aback by the giant. Still, at his words they all followed suite, chants of Plus Ultra being echoes back.
"For someone with such big muscles-" He tapped the Omnitrix, and shrunk down back to his normal form, coming face to face with his successor at the front of the crowd of students. "You do manage to have a really small brain sometimes."
"HEY!"
Make a sarcastic comment about All Might in front of hundreds of people. Check.
After fixing the blunder his mentor had made, Midoriya and the rest of his class had returned to their usual classroom while the other classes did the same and the spectators left.
On their way back, Midoriya had spent the whole time talking almost exclusively with Momo, making plans for their date later and doing their best to avoid Mina's 'Subtle' attempts to eavesdrop on them. Considering the sudden squeal of joy she let out at one point and the lack of more attempts following, they probably failed.
Near the end of the walk, they had inquired with Uraraka over if she knew why Iida had left and what she revealed had certainly killed their light and happy mood quickly.
Ingenium, pro hero and Iida's older brother, had been viciously attacked by a villain. They didn't know yet if the hero would live. The rest of the walk following that had been quiet for Midoriya as he digested the news.
He only began registering the world properly again when Aizawa suddenly spoke up from the front of the room.
"Nice work." Their homeroom teacher complimented, a rarity the students did indulge in as their smiles grew. They only got bigger at the next two words. "You have the next two days of school off to recuperate."
"Yes!" Kaminari cheered under his breathe, fist pumping but immediately went back to sitting orderly at the glare he got from Aizawa.
"I'm sure pro's who watched the festival will want to recruit some of you." No one bothered to hide how they most definitely glanced at the Omnitrix bearer at the mention of that, who just grinned sheepishly. "We'll look over the draft form and update you when you return. Make sure to get some rest, you still have a lot of training."
"Yes sir!" The class chorused, as Midoriya took a glance over to Iida's seat. He frowned, hoping his friend was ok and waiting for Aizawa to announce that class was dismissed.
Instead however…. "Actually, there is one internship offer I want to talk about now, and I don't think it surprises anyone it involves Midoriya."
He blushed lightly as his head swivelled back to his teacher, and he swore he saw Jirou rolling his eyes at that. "Me?"
"Yes. If it had been a normal request that just came early we'd wait until the time we usually discuss it but… this isn't a normal request. In fact, it's not even been sent by pro heroes." The scruffy teen revealed, instantly grabbing everyone's attention. "We were just going to throw it out, presuming it was from someone who didn't understand that only pro's are supposed to send requests but… well, I'll simply read the message attached aloud."
The man pulled up a bit of paper from his desk, and began to read.
"'To whom it may concern, we are sending in this request despite our lack of pro status due to a genuine belief we may be able to help Izuku Midoriya in a way others simply won't be able to. We are an organization called the 'plumbers''-"
Bakugou snorted at that, and everyone else looked unimpressed but Aizawa's glare quickly quieted them down.
"-'A relic title, from when we couldn't let others know who we really were. We are a government sanctioned organization based around dealing with alien threats and situations.'" Aizawa then looked up, breaking away as he addressed Midoriya. "Nezu looked them up, they're legitimate. Or at least, they certainly have made it seem so. What truly grabbed our attention though was this. 'We have reason to suspect Midoriya has fought an alien known as Vilgax, and won. Vilgax is an intergalactic war criminal, and has previously brought our entire operation down to just a few men at one point. For this reason, we want to help train Midoriya to use his aliens effectively, teaching him their true capabilities and such as well as allowing him to be more effectively prepared in the event someone like Vilgax returns. Pro's may be able to arrest villains, but only plumbers have the legal ability to detain and charge aliens.
With regards, Magister Homura.'"
Silence rang out, as the students digested that. Midoriya especially felt a combination of excitement and worry. What was he supposed to say to that?
"WHY THE FUCK DID WE HAVE TO SIT THROUGH THAT SHIT?!" Bakugou snapped, already incredibly irritable due to the results of the sports festival. Aizawa's eyes glowed red for a moment out of caution, before he answered the question.
"Because they aren't licensed pro's. If Midoriya chooses to intern with them, he can as it would be invaluable to him if they are legitimate. We couldn't refuse, however as they aren't pro heroes we know almost nothing about them. It's risky and were it any other situation we likely wouldn't allow this at all." Aizawa explained, eyes sweeping over the class. "Of course, this only matter should Midoriya choose to attend, but I wanted to make sure this was absolutely clear in the event that he does."
'Could you maybe act like I'm in the room for a start? That would be nice…'
"All of you must make an effort to keep in contact with him. We don't know what he'll be going to, so we want to be sure nothing happens." Aizawa explained, and Midoriya paled. The scruffy teacher gave a glare to Bakugou, as his voice became a tad more threatening. "And I do mean ALL of you."
"Fucking whatever." The blonde muttered and finally Aizawa gave them all a passing glance.
"Class dismissed."
Initially, Momo and Midoriya had been planning to have their date the same day as the festival, in part to celebrate the boy's victory but after the reveal of what happened to Iida's brother the two had silently agreed to postpone until they had seen their friend and made sure he was ok first.
This did mean however, in conjunction with the surprising offer the greenette had got that the limo ride back to each person's house was quiet, filled with unanswered questions no one actually dared to ask.
The Omnitrix bearer watched the tree's roll by outside with a small frown. For what should have been a happy day, it was tainted now by worry. Sighing quietly and shaking his head, he turned back to his friends.
"Do you guys think I should take the offer?" He asked, the first person to speak during the entire ride so far.
"I don't know Deku." Uraraka shrugged with a frown, looking at him. "It's great if it's legitimate but Aizawa's speech made me a little nervous about it."
"I think you should go for it man." Kirishima put in next, giving him a thumbs up and a smile despite the mood. "If they're legit, then great! You get proper training no one else could offer AND learn about your transformations! If they're just some villains putting on a front, I know you'll kick their asses faster than they can blink!"
"… I'm conflicted but, if it were me I think I'd ultimately end up going." Momo put in, placing a hand on his knee to comfort him. "Whatever it turns out to be, we'll support you."
"Thanks guys." The greenette said with a small smile, before an idea struck him. "hey, do you think I have enough room to turn into Crystalize in here?"
"Barely." Momo supplied instantly, before narrowing her eyes. "Why?"
"I want to do something for Iida before we separate, and I'll need all of us to make it." The greenette explained cryptically as he selected the alien he wanted and pressed in the dial. A moment later the crystal alien sat crammed into his chair, and the others gave him unimpressed looks. "Ok, Momo, can you make a wire frame in the shape of Iida's leg? And one like Ingenium's arm?"
"Er.. yes, but why?" She questioned, as she began making the components.
"You'll see, just trust me." The transformed teen said, waiting until Momo finished. Once she did, he carefully encased the wire frames in his crystals, focusing on very specific spots. He then held them out to Uraraka. "Could you make them weightless please? It will make Kirishima's job a little easier."
Obeying, the brunette removed the gravity of both the tiny crystal statues and finally the alien turned to Kirishima, holding them tight. "Now, harden your fist and punch them as hard as you can."
"Uh… you sure?" He asked, and Midoriya nodded. "Well, Ok then…"
He threw a full force punch twice, hitting both crystals and a shattering noise was heard. However the whole statues didn't break, just very specific parts that Midoriya had purposefully made weak upon creation, and worsened the structural integrity of through Uraraka's quirk. Specific parts that formed holes.
"Now, Momo, some rope please that will fit through these." He asked and the tall girl complied quickly, catching onto what he was doing. He was given two different bits of rope, which he used to turn both the mini statues into necklaces. At Kirishima and Urararka's questioning stare, he turned back to normal and began to explain.
"They're twin necklaces. If… no, when Ingenium is revealed to still be alive, the leg part is for him and the arm is for Iida. It's not much but I hope it at least cheers him up a little."
The other three just smiled at him, and his ability to always surprise them with his kindness. Momo let out a sigh, as she finally admitted it properly to herself.
She didn't need a date to know she'd fallen for him, she never stood a chance really. Midoriya always won.