Notes: I named Koda's rabbit Fuwa in this story, but I found out that her canonical name is Yuwai, so I changed it.
"Hey. You alright?" Shinsou asked, as Midoriya trudged into his room. Midoriya glanced at him, and nodded wearily, as they heard Iida's voice reverberating down the hallway, "Let's put all the mattresses neatly in one of the spare rooms! And the blankets! We don't want anyone to be tripping on them in the morning! Also, who left a soda here!? Ashido, you can't just leave your food here!"
"Just now... Kaminari's quirk... it reminded you of that, right? Being back there?"
Midoriya froze up, and didn't reply, and Shinsou asked, "Do you... want us to tell him? Tell him not to get near you?"
The green haired boy slowly turned around, facing Shinsou, before he shook his head.
"He doesn't have to know. They don't have to know. It's not his fault. It's mine."
"Midoriya, it's okay to be scared, you know. We're all scared of things sometimes. And it's going to take time to get over it." Shinsou replied, watching Midoriya's movements carefully. He didn't want to spook Midoriya any more than he already was.
"I... I still want to thank you. For what you did for me six years ago."
Midoriya shook slightly, clenching his fist as he bit his lip, "You... still remember... that?"
"Of course." Shinsou mumbled, "You were the first one to ever tell me that my quirk wasn't a villain's quirk. You're the first person that ever tried to help me, to encourage me, to even hold a conversation with me without being scared that I would brainwash you and make you do something bad. You got Dad to come and get me out of that place."
Midoriya reached out for his doorknob, and Shinsou continued, "Back then, you were the one that saved me. Not the heroes, not the police, not even Dad or Pops. You were the one that reached out, and offered me your hand."
Midoriya opened the door to his room, and Shinsou asked, "Midoriya, we just want to help you."
"Good night, Shinsou." Midoriya softly spoke up, before he walked into his room and quickly shut the door.
Shinsou stared at the door in front of him, and sighed.
"Good night, Midoriya."
"Sleepover!" Uraraka cheered, and Shinsou blinked, "But we all live in the same dorms... does even it matter that much? We had one last time at Yaoyorozu's house, and that was fun, but we weren't living in the dorms then."
"Mhm!" The brown haired girl grinned, "Asui, Yaomomo, Jiro, Hagakure, Mina and I had one just the other day. It was awesome!"
"And you're going to have another one? And since when did you give Yaoyorozu a nickname?" Iida asked, in mild confusion, and Uraraka excitedly nodded, "Hagakure started with the nickname, and Mina slipped up once. Yaomomo didn't really mind, though, and said we can call her that, and it just stuck!"
A loud bang reverberated from the common room, and Iida, Shinsou, Uraraka and Midoriya turned to the source of the noise in confusion. Apparently, Bakugou, Awase and Kirishima were playing some racing game on the Wii, and Bakugou's controller wasn't working too well. Kaminari and Yaoyorozu had already ensured that the controllers were quirk proof, and they had even added an extra layer of protection around the controller that Bakugou was using because of his quirk. The blonde had blasted the controller into the television in his frustration, and while the controller itself was fine, the television was also perfectly fine as well.
"Well... I guess the television can withstand whatever Bakugou throws at it." Awase joked as he blinked at the controller, before pausing the game and picking it up, "Looks like it's low on battery. Is Kaminari here? He can charge it up in a minute or two."
There was a ding as the elevator arrived on the first floor, and Kaminari walked out of the elevator, holding a box in his hands.
"Is that the box that was under your bed?" Ashido asked, and Kaminari grinned, "Yep! I was looking for my VR controllers and uh... I found this bunch of stuff that I packed."
Ashido peered inside the box, and pulled out what looked to be an action figure with multiple moving parts, "Transformers? I didn't know you liked them."
"Oh, yeah! I loved the cartoons and the movies and stuff!" Kaminari exclaimed, placing the box on the ground, "I wanted to display them on my table... except that they keep falling over in their robot forms. I wanted to put them back into vehicle form, except... I don't know how to do it. I lost the instructions a long time ago, and I tried to find them on the internet, but I still couldn't put them back. I was wondering if one of you could help."
"Kaminari, can you charge this?" Awase tossed Bakugou's Wii controller at the electric boy, and Kaminari caught it easily, laughing, "Sure."
It didn't take him too long to charge the remote, and Kaminari gave it back to Bakugou. Midoriya peered into the box curiously, trying his best not to get too near to Kaminari. He did know what Transformers were, he had seen the other children at his former foster home watching it on cartoon channels, but he didn't think that there were toys that could actually transform from a robot back to a car.
"Here. You can try!" Kaminari picked one figurine up, and passed it over to Midoriya, "Don't worry if you can't fix it. I've spent ages trying and I still can't get them back in vehicle form."
Midoriya reached out for the toy cautiously, hesitating slightly, but took it from Kaminari's hand when he saw Shinsou and Iida grab a figurine each from the box, trying his best not the flinch at the mild static shock he received from Kaminari's hand.
"Hmm... interesting..." Iida mumbled, as he analysed the toy, and Shinsou experimentally moved the robot's arms around, "Cool."
Midoriya fiddled with the toy, before he tucked one of the arms under the robot's chest, and pulled the wheel outwards.
It was just like a puzzle box, except that he was trying to change the entire shape of the box instead of unlocking something. It wasn't that hard, and with a few more minutes of fiddling, Midoriya managed to turn his robot back into a fancy yellow sports car.
Kaminari was chatting with Sero as he fiddled with another robot, and Midoriya hesitantly reached out, and tugged on Kaminari's sleeve hesitantly.
"Oh, Midoriya? Did you want something - You're done already?" Kaminari gawked, staring at the the car in Midoriya's hand, and squealed, "Oh my god! You're amazing, Midoriya!"
He was about the hug Midoriya, when Sero quickly wrapped Kaminari in tape and pulled him away from Midoriya, laughing sheepishly, "Ha ha ha... I guess you're still as energetic as usual, huh?"
Midoriya just stared at Kaminari in confusion. It was just like a puzzle; how was fixing a toy considered amazing?
He did appreciate the praise, but he wasn't too sure it was genuine.
Kaminari glanced curiously at the collar and the metal chain around Midoriya's neck as he passed Midoriya another figurine. He knew that the green haired boy had started wearing that dragon pendant that came in the box that the hero Basilisk had given him, but he had no idea why Midoriya wore the collar everywhere. It wasn't part of his hero costume, heck, the boy had been wearing it even before he had gotten into the hero course.
Kaminari asked, "Hey, Midoriya, I was wondering, why do you wear the collar? I know the necklace was in the gift you got, but what about the collar?"
Midoriya's face fell, and he just glared mildly at Kaminari, giving him a warning growl instead of his usual threatening growl, and Kaminari laughed sheepishly, "Alright, alright, touchy subject. Sorry!"
Midoriya just glared at him for a few more seconds, before turning his attention back to the toy, curiously fiddling around with it.
Iida yawned, and walked down to the common room, getting ready for his morning jog, only to find that there were some people in the common room.
He walked out, curious to see who it was, and found Midoriya sitting on the couch, holding up a piece of paper, with Nezu leaning on Midoriya's back, wrapping his arms around Midoriya's neck while leaning on Midoriya's shoulder, looking at whatever Midoriya was looking at, pointing at something scribbled on the paper.
It was honestly cute, though he wasn't going to say that to the principal's face. Iida had seen Nezu a few times in the past, mostly when Tensei was meeting up with several friends in UA while on his off days, but there wasn't anyone at home to babysit him, or when Tensei was called off for some emergency and he needed a teacher to take care of him for an hour or two. Nezu was nice, but even as a child, Iida could tell that Nezu was slightly awkward around kids and teenagers. He could see that Nezu found it hard to interact with the students; even if he was just in the cafeteria during lunch, there would be a tense atmosphere lingering in the air, and all the students would be somewhat subdued in their conversations.
It was nice to see that Nezu was comfortable around Midoriya, and vice versa.
Iida quietly tiptoed behind the couch, hoping that neither Nezu nor Midoriya would notice him. He quickly made his way to the door, and did his best to open the door as quietly as possible. He shot a look at Nezu and Midoriya on the couch, before Nezu turned to him, a cheeky smile on his face, and brought his paw to his mouth, shooting him a shush gesture.
Iida gulped, and hastily slipped outside.
Nezu grinned, and turned back to the paper that Midoriya was intently analyzing.
"You can keep it if you want; I know anything related to your parents is important to you. Power Loader already made a copy of it, and it's already been approved, so if you want to use it, the Support Course can start making it."
"I can... keep it?" Midoriya quietly asked, glancing at Nezu, "Thank you."
"Yep, don't worry about it." Nezu smiled, patting Midoriya on the head, as Reiko nuzzled Midoriya's arm and Ryuto shifted slightly, before going back to sleep.
Midoriya paused slightly, before turning to Nezu, "Can I make extra additions to my hero costume equipment?"
"Alright, we're going to be doing some training on how to fight without using your quirks, or any weapons. Pure hand to hand combat." Aizawa started. "There are going to be times in the future where your quirks are unsuitable for the situation at hand, or when a villain's quirk counters yours perfectly. You can't be reliant on your quirk all the time. Now, I want you to split into groups based on your quirks. Emitters on one side, and mutant and transformation on the other side."
Everyone quickly complied, and Midoriya just stood there, confused. He had a quirk, but he didn't want it, he wasn't supposed to have one, no one was supposed to know that he had one, what was he supposed to do -
"Midoriya, you're quirkless. Stay here for now. You have the most experience doing this out of everyone else." Aizawa ordered, and Midoriya remained still, internally relieved that Aizawa hadn't used that opportunity to reveal his quirk, and he wondered when Aizawa would do that.
Kirishima, Asui, Iida Ojiro, Jiro, Shoji, Sero, Mineta and Hagakure quickly assembled on one side of the gym, while Aoyama, Tokoyami, Ashido, Shinsou, Uraraka, Todoroki, Koda, Sato, Kaminari, Bakugou and Yaoyorozu assembled on the other side.
Aizawa glanced through the students, before calling out, "Jiro, Hagakure, Todoroki, one group. Asui, Ashido, Sero, you three are together. Kirishima, Iida, Bakugou, you three are another group. Aoyama, Koda, Yaoyorozu, you three. Kaminari, Mineta, Tokoyami, you're in a group. Sato, Shoji, Ojiro, group up. Uraraka, Shinsou, and Midoriya. That's it."
"Hey, Aizawa-sensei, if we're not supposed to use our quirks, doesn't that mean that Midoriya is at an advantage?" Hagakure asked, and Aizawa sighed, "I put you into groups taking your body shape, your current hand to hand combat levels, and your reliance on your quirks into consideration. I know this may be difficult, but try your best not to use your quirks in battle, even though you may feel a very strong urge to do what's natural to you. Everyone, I want you to remove anything that may be potentially used as a weapon. Shinsou, your capture weapon, Bakugou, your gauntlets, things like that. Just wear your normal hero costumes. Midoriya, no knives."
Midoriya promptly removed the ten knives hidden in his pockets, and on his belt.
Aizawa resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "And the ones up your sleeve."
The green haired boy took out the six small throwing knives that were up his sleeve, secured firmly with arm bands.
"And the ones in your shoes."
Midoriya removed those as well, adding them to the pile.
"And those switchblades in your pocket." Aizawa blinked, and scratched his neck. He didn't even know that Midoriya had blades hidden there; he had started off by joking with the boy with the blades up his sleeve, and he didn't actually think that Midoriya actually had so many knives. How on earth did he even get so many in the first place?!
"I am honestly... concerned at how many knives he has." Kaminari sweatdropped, staring at the ever growing pile of knives at the green haired boy's feet.
"Well, it's better to be over prepared, right?" Kirishima grinned.
"There's a thing called going overboard, you know." Jiro muttered.
"Now, find a spot and practice within a group." Aizawa ordered.
"Whew. Practice today was tough... I never thought I would have to fight without my quirk... I'm sore all over!" Kaminari groaned, rubbing his back where Tokoyami had accidentally summoned Dark Shadow, and the quirk had slammed the electric boy into the ground.
Yaoyorozu spoke up, "My quirk only allows me to make items, so I do know basic combat, but I've never done pure hand to hand before. My hands are sore."
Shoji muttered, "My extra limbs just get in the way when I'm trying not to use them."
"Tell me about it." Ojiro laughed sheepishly, "I've tripped over my tail way too many times."
"Well, there is that thing called quirk suppressants, right? Who knows, maybe there's a villain that can produce chemicals like that, and it renders our quirks useless." Yaoyorozu shrugged, "Anyways, it's good practice. It does make sense that we'll find ourselves in situations where our quirks aren't suitable for usage.
Midoriya just remained quiet, trailing behind the rest of his classmates as he followed them back to the dorms. Shinsou and Uraraka were fast learners, and they were decent in hand to hand combat, given that their quirks on their own didn't really give them many offensive options. But it didn't really help that Midoriya was leagues above them in terms of battle experience, and while he did try his best to bring himself down to their level to help them improve, he had thrown both Shinsou and Uraraka to the ground way too many times for him to be comfortable with.
They didn't seem to mind, and they kept telling him that it was okay, and they were just practicing. That was the only reason why he continued to participate in that training session, but it still made him uncomfortable. His classmates walked into the dorms, and he gently tugged on Uraraka and Shinsou's sleeves.
"Midoriya?" Uraraka asked, turning around, "Are you okay?"
Midoriya paused, and looked at the ground nervously, before he spoke up, "I'm... sorry... for throwing you guys on the ground during practice. And hitting you. And -"
Shinsou gave a small laugh, "Seriously, Midoriya. It's fine. It's just training, no harm done. Don't worry about it."
"Mhm! We all need practice, and you're awesome at hand to hand!" Uraraka grinned, and punched the air excitedly, "You've got to teach me that move where you get down and sweep people's legs out from under them. That was so cool! Come on, don't think about it too much; Iida and Koda are probably waiting for us for our study session!"
Midoriya nodded, and the trio walked to Uraraka's room, where the study session was being hosted. They found Iida and Koda standing by the door, waiting.
"Ah. I didn't notice that you three lagged behind." Iida smiled, as Koda gave them a wave in greeting, and Uraraka pushed open the door to her room, before switching the fan on.
"Alright! Let's study!"
"Ahh..." Uraraka grinned, "Thanks so much! I had no idea what Midnight-sensei was talking about, but now I understand!"
"That's great!" Iida nodded, and Koda gave her a big smile and a thumbs up. Todoroki had joined them in the middle of the session, and was helping out in physics and chemistry.
Midoriya sighed, and rested against the cupboard, keeping a watchful eye on Uraraka as she gently ran her fingers through Ryuto's feathers.
Shinsou gave a small grin as he rested his head on the table, watching his friends chatting, signing and laughing as he pet Shirou, who was settled on his lap, purring.
"Thinking of something, Shinsou?" Iida asked, seeing Shinsou's smile as he turned away from his conversation with Todoroki, and Shinsou gave a small laugh, "It's nothing much. With a quirk like mine, I never had any friends. Before I came to UA, you were my only friend, Iida, and that was because Dad and Pops knew your brother. I honestly never expected that I'll have any, and here we are. I'm just... happy... I guess."
"Same here." Koda signed, "People find it weird that I don't talk, and because of my appearance, I also never really made any friends before coming to UA."
"I was homeschooled, so I also didn't have friends." Todoroki added.
"Can I say something stupid?" Shinsou asked, and Iida looked at him in confusion, "It can't be that stupid, but go ahead."
"Can you guys... call me Hitoshi? I know it's kind of silly... but you are all the first friends that I ever made... and -"
"You don't have to explain yourself." Iida nodded, "And of course. You can call me Tenya."
"Ochako is perfectly okay!" Uraraka gave Shinsou a thumbs up, grinning cheerily, as Koda smiled and signed, "You can call me Koji."
"Hmmm..." Todoroki mused, "Shouto is fine. I think I prefer it to you calling me by the last name that I share with my father."
Shinsou gave his friends a smile, "Thank you. For being so supportive."
"That's what friends are for, aren't they?" Uraraka laughed, patting Shinsou on the shoulder, before turning to Midoriya, "You can call us by our first names too!"
There was silence as Midoriya looked at her in confusion, before he lowered his gaze towards the ground.
"Izuku."
Uraraka blinked, not sure what was going on, as Midoriya continued, "You can call me Izuku. It's only fair."
Shinsou smiled, "Thank you. For trusting us at least this much."
Midoriya looked at Shinsou, looked at the rest of his friends smiling at him, not sure what to do about that weird tingly feeling inside his chest.
What was that? It felt nice... but what on earth was that?
"So, did Midoriya say anything about the bracers? And I'm assuming you let him keep the original blueprints." Maijma asked, and Nezu nodded, "Yup. He didn't have any problems with the design, and I'm letting him keep it. He... he's attached to anything from his parents. I'm not surprised. He was also asking about something else to add to his hero costume."
"Oh? He asked for something?" Maijima raise his eyebrow curiously, "What did he want?"
"Ceremic knives." Nezu scratched his head, "I'm not sure why he wants them, and he didn't really explain himself either, but he seems to be wary about something. He was thinking about regular knives as well as ceremic blades that could be shot out of the bracers."
"Ceremic knives, huh... It's better to be safe than sorry, I guess." Maijima mumbled, "Well, those are easy to make, compared to all the other kinds of Supoort Items. We just have to dry-press and fire some powdered zirconia. How many did he want?"
"Uh... five of each kind of blade." Nezu replied, and Maijima nodded, "Alright. That won't be too hard. The blades, along with the bracers, should all be ready by next week. That gives him around another week to get used to them before the provisional license exam."
