warnings: bakugou and izuku's fucked up interpersonal interactions, a panic attack, smoking and cigarettes, there's a scene in a bar while drinking is mentioned and alcoholism is alluded to, mentions and discussions of incredibly powerful corrupt government institutions

Izuku turns to face Bakugou, who is standing behind him, all but growling. There's a thrill, of deep-set reflexive fear, that Izuku grinds into metaphysical paste.

"What do you want?" he asks, channeling Aizawa's disaffectedness, Shinsou's sarcasm, Yamazaki's bite. The words come out of his mouth, sharp, cutting, cold.

It catches Bakugou up, for just a moment, his eyes widening almost imperceptibly.

"What the fuck was that?" he asks, his lips parting in a snarl. "Were you lying about being quirkless all those years?"

"Yes." No harm in telling the truth.

"Why the fuck would you do that?" Bakugou asks, stepping forward.

"Why would I tell you that?" Disaffected. Sarcastic. Biting. Cold. Can't let the other know how his heart is racing, how his hands are starting to shake and sweat is starting to gather.

"Maybe because you spent the last ten years lying to me!"

"So?" Izuku turns to walk away. "That doesn't mean I owe you anything."

Mistake.

Bakugou snarls. "Don't you turn away from me, shitnerd! I'm not finished with you yet!" The hairs on the back of Izuku's neck raise up as he starts walking. His hearing feels like it sharpens, every fiber of his body turning its attention to the boy behind him even as he leaves.

"Maybe so, but I'm finished with you."

He gets no warning except for the sound of Bakugou's boots against the floor. There's nothing driving him except for reflexes, and a fear almost ten years old, as he whips around, darts forward, and slaps Bakugou's cheek.

Bakugou's hand passes by his head, explosions fizzling out to nothing.

While Bakugou's stunned, Izuku turns and this time sprints away, through the hallways, down to the 1-C changing room. His heart is pounding, his breath comes in short gasps, and there's a hole where his stomach used to be. Oh, fuck, what did he just do? He's going to have to fucking share a class with Bakugou, oh shit, oh fuck—

He throws open the door to the changing room and darts in, slamming it shut behind him. He braces himself with both arms against the door, letting his head drop as he pants and struggles to regain control of his spiraling thoughts.

"…Midoriya?"

His head snaps up and he turns towards the voice, his right arm half-raised in a reflexive self-defense. It takes him a moment to find her, but the voice is Yamazaki's. She's standing a few feet away, wearing her regular uniform, phone in hand.

She's not a threat. She's a friend. He just needs to breathe, okay?

"Midoriya, you good?"

Yeah! Yeah, he is, just as soon as he remembers how to breathe—

Oh.

That's right.

This is a panic attack.

He shakes his head. "Just," he gasps, and then shakes his head again as he turns and puts his back against the door, sliding down it to the floor. Yamazaki, rather than approaching, imitates his movements, sitting down on the floor as well, her legs tucked beside her.

They sit there, the loudest noise in the room being the sound of Izuku's half-strangled breathing as he finally starts counting, finally brings his body back. It takes five or ten minutes, but that's a hell of an improvement from when it used to take half an hour to bring himself back.

His breathing has evened out when Yamazaki next speaks.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks. He glances over, looking at her through his bangs. She's still sitting there, legs tucked to the side, phone in her lap, and her eyes, normally half-lidded with disdain or apathy or something, are wide open as she looks at him. She tilts her head, a quiet push of her question.

"…I just. Saw someone. We didn't get along well in the past and, well, now it's looking like I'm going to be classmates with him again."

"Damn," Yamazaki shakes her head. "That sucks. What did he do to you to provoke that kind of reaction? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Izuku shrugs and starts drawing invisible designs on the floor with his index finger. The tile is cool, and he lays down and presses his face against it.

"A lot happened," he replies.

"Yeah. Seems like it. Just give me the word, anytime, and I'll come put the fear of me in him."

Izuku chuckles. It comes out a little strained. "Thanks."

There's a couple moments of quiet, and then he sits up, rubbing his eyes again.

"Hey," Yamazaki says, scooting closer. "Do you have your phone? So I can put my number in?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, it's still in the locker," he replies, jumping to his feet and running over to said locker. With a couple spins, he unlocks it and opens it, unlocking his phone and tossing it to Yamazaki, who barely manages to catch it.

"Hey! Do you want me to drop it and break it?"

Izuku laughs, shaking his head. "You can try. That's one of the sturdiest cases money can buy on there. I'm… a bit of a clumsy disaster, sometimes."

She shrugs and nods. "Okay." With a few quick motions, and then some tapping, she puts her number in his phone and walks back over, handing his phone and her own unlocked phone back to him. "Your turn, now."

He puts his contact information in before passing it back to her.

"I need to go now," she says. "My family's waiting for me. But you better not be a stranger now that you're in the Hero Course, alright? I'll come kick your ass, don't think I won't."

"Alright!" he replies, smiling. "I promise I'll keep in touch! There'll be no need to come kick my ass."

"Good." Yamazaki nods. "I'll see you around then." With that, she turns on her heel and walks out.

"See you!"

The door clicks shut behind her, and Izuku exhales, the sound soft in the now-lonely changing room. He pulls his things out of the locker, double checking to make sure he has everything, before heading back to the showers.

He emerges, half and hour later, the room steamed up, with his hair wet (and semi-flat, the only time it wasn't bush-like) and wearing his regular uniform again. He'll have to get a new blazer, actually, now that he's in the hero course.

Oh well. That's a problem for Future Izuku. Present Izuku just checks his phone.

There's a ton of messages and a few missed calls. One call is from Yonaga, quite a few from his mom, and one…

From Hisashi.

There's a message from him, too: You can call me back whenever you have time to! I'm sure you're busy celebrating with your friends!

He calls him back right there, holding his phone up to his ear as he shoulders his bag and leaves the changing room.

The stadium is mostly empty by this point, just leftover pros and school staff cleaning up. He waves back when waved at as he goes.

Hisashi picks up on the fifth ring.

"Izuku! That was amazing! My teammates won't shut up about it!"

There's another voice in the background that sounds something like "you're the one who won't shut up about it", but Izuku ignores it.

"Thanks," he says, smiling, small and sweet, to himself. "So you were watching?"

"Every moment! Ah, Present Mic was hyping your quirk up so much. I think you lived up to it, though! The way you used Uraraka's quirk against herself, and that final fight with Tokoyami? It had to have hurt, but I will admit, we all laughed a little when he bit you!"

"Yeah," Izuku laughs a little, himself, "it did hurt, but it's funny looking back on it! And Recovery Girl fixed it right up, so it barely even hurts anymore! I can't wait to get home and sleep for sixteen hours, though."

"Make sure you eat dinner with your mom! I'm sure she can't wait to congratulate you herself!"

"Mhm," Izuku nods. "I still… kinda can't believe it, honestly! I've made it into the Hero Course!"

"I know I sure can believe it! You've got this superstar potential in you, and if Japan's heroes somehow don't want you, I know the Unit would take you in a heartbeat."

Izuku laughs, small and breathy. "Thanks, Hisashi. I'll keep that in mind. So. Anything happen lately you can tell me about? I have a whole train ride home to fill."

"Well, let's see here, there was that job in Vancouver last month… I think I'm clear to tell you about that one!"

Hisashi can talk forever, if you let him, so he fills the space as Izuku returns home. They do say their good-byes just before Izuku reaches the apartment, so he's off the phone when he walks in.

"I'm home!" he calls, and his mother appears, looking just about as wrung out as he feels.

"Oh, Izuku," she says, and there's so much to her voice that he can't quite pin down. There's the pride, yes, the joy, but there's also worry, hurt, pain?

"Mom?" he asks, kicking his shoes off and setting his backpack down. "What happened?"

She takes a deep breath.

"Nemuri texted me," she says. "Tensei is in the hospital. He was attacked by the Hero Killer Stain while the tournament was happening. They're… confident he'll make it, but there was damage to his spine."

"Oh," Izuku whispers, coming to a stop for a moment. "Oh no. Oh… his brother."

Inko nods, and they step towards each other. Izuku is… quite a bit taller, now, but he still tucks his face into the junction where her shoulder meets her neck.

God, today has been A Day.

Shouta walks out of the hospital. Hizashi and Nemuri are still in there, still waiting for information, for Tensei to wake up, but he can't join them right now. The world doesn't stop turning just because one of his closest friends is injured, and the world is turning in a way that might just cause even more pain to him if he doesn't stay on top of it.

Yonaga Noeru is waiting for him in the parking lot, leaning against a car and smoking a cigarette. They're not the only one there: an average-sized woman stands next to them while a very small person sits perched on the hood, one leg drawn up to their chest and the other dangling off the front of the car. All three of them have black hair of varying lengths, and the person sitting on the car has dark teal skin.

"You brought Kaga and Asakura," he says. Yonaga inclines their head, just a bit.

"Mhm," they say. "Sedzukiya insisted on coming, and I'm sure Asakura could have important input. Our boy caught a lot of attention, today."

Shouta sighs. "Yes, he did. I was expecting him to catch some, but It's safe to say no one saw the outcome of the cavalry battle coming."

"I knew the kid had to have some potential, from how you talk about him, but what he did today?" Asakura shakes her head. "That was something else."

"Let's wait to discuss it anymore until we're somewhere out of the way," Shouta replies, but inwardly, he agrees. Midoriya's charismatic, he knows this. It's obvious everywhere he looks: the way Ojiro and Isozaki train him, the way he's gained the undying loyalty of all his friends in the hero hopefuls group, the way he managed to draw Yonaga and Shouta themselves to him.

But to see the way he reached out to his opponents? The closeness he and the tired General Studies student –Shinsou—had, after only a month?

Aizawa shakes his head, dispelling those thoughts as Yonaga speaks.

"Let me finish this," they say, gesturing with their cigarette.

Kaga sneers from their spot on the car. "Honestly, I'd rather not."

"You don't get a say in it," Yonaga replies, taking a long drag. Kaga's sneer morphs into something more bitter.

"Yes, I know," they mutter.

It only takes Yonaga a little bit to finish their cigarette, the other three standing (or sitting, in Kaga's case) in silence as they do. Partway through, Kaga begins stress-braiding their hair, fingers flashing through the long, dark strands as they braided and unbraided the same lock, over and over.

"Finished," Yonaga says, snuffing the butt out and throwing it in the trash. "Let's go. Cy's expecting us."

"You're the one who delayed," Kaga snaps, sliding off the hood and walking to the driver's door. Yonaga takes shotgun while Asakura and Shouta slide into the back seats together.

Kaga is a careful driver, and sooner than Shouta's really expecting, they're parking and getting out. Their group garners a few glances from people, and, well, they probably make an interesting sight: Yonaga with their cane, Shouta with the fading bruises and fresh surgery scar on his face (he had just gotten the bandages and casts removed by Recovery Girl when he got the call about Tensei), Kaga with their messy, partially-braided hair, and Asakura, arguably the most normal-looking (for a given value of that word) out of all of them.

Their destination: a seedy bar. It's not actually as seedy on the inside as it looks on the outside, but the shady appearance is a strong deterrent to keep unwanted visitors out. The sign above the door reads "The Mole" in neon kanji, and Shouta finds himself once again shaking his head at that stupid pun.

Asakura holds the door open for the rest of the group, the other three thanking her quietly or acknowledging her with a nod. They're chronically tired PTSD-ridden underground heroes, not savages.

Once inside, Yonaga leads the other three to a table tucked in a back corner, where a chubby man with dark brown skin is already sitting, munching on a basket of fries. He looks up from his laptop as the four pull out chairs and sit down.

"Evening, Cy," Yonaga says. "How's the wife?"

Cy sighs. "Doing as well as she can be. Kotoji is… getting to that difficult age, and he's having some trouble in school, as well, with kids picking on him. But enough of that. I know you're all here for more than to just hear me talk about my wife and son." With that said, he closes his eyes for a moment, and when he opens them, they're no longer brown but a bright, acid green. "Talk freely."

"So, we can all agree that Noeru and Aizawa's trainee is going to have the HPSC all over him after his showing at the Sports Festival, huh?" Kaga says, crossing their arms and leaning back in their chair. "There's no way they'll be able to leave him alone, even if he has U.A.'s protection."

"We can expect some sort of Commission puppet to send him a draft pick. I'm sure they'll send multiple," Shouta says. "They'll have one or two obvious ones, to draw our attention, and slide in some subtle ones."

Asakura frowns. "Do you know if he's planning on going underground? Kaga and I could send him draft picks."

"You can," Shouta replies.

"But he doesn't know if he wants to go underground or do something else yet, so there's no guarantee he'll pick someone underground. We'll try and nudge him in your direction, though," Yonaga finishes.

"Why wouldn't he go underground?" Kaga asks. They snort and shake their head. "He'd be an imbecile not to."

"I'll thank you not to insult my student," Shouta snaps. He pauses, pinches the bridge of his nose, and then takes a deep breath. "He is the farthest thing from an imbecile. While he would be… a force, should he choose to go underground, he has what it takes to succeed wherever he chooses to go."

Yonaga sighs, their expression turning wistful. "I wish he'd choose to go underground. The changes he could make…"

Kaga hmphs, obviously not convinced. "Okay. Whatever. Well. If he doesn't choose Asakura or I, or any underground heroes, what do we do to keep him out of the HPSC's clutches? Any daylight hero he chooses is likely to see them as benevolent."

"There's a large chance that anyone low-profile, as a daylight hero, isn't going to have the Commission's attention on them," Asakura says. She glances over her shoulder at the bar. "You keep talking, I'm going to get something to drink."

"Get some food with that, too," Cy says—no, wait, that's an order. "And don't even try to talk Yasue into giving you anything alcoholic."

Asakura's expression tightens. "Yes, sir," she says as she stands up.

"I doubt he's actually going to get any draft picks from low-profile daylight heroes," Kaga grumbles. "Not many would be willing to take the risk on a kid whose quirk is so obviously suited to underground work."

"So he'll probably have an array of high-profile heroes and undergrounds, and any of them could be Commission puppets," Shouta grumbles, letting his head droop and his eyes drift closed. "Wonderful."

"Luckily," Yonaga says, gesturing at Kaga, who's still slumped in their chair, and Asakura, who's at the bar picking up a basket of fries and a glass of sparkling lemonade, "we know exactly who isn't an HPSC plant. Asakura and Sedzukiya could also speak with some of their common teammates, see if any of them would send picks to him."

"We sure could," Kaga drawls as Asakura walks back over and sits down.

"What did I miss?" she asks.

"You and Kaga can ask teammates to send draft picks to Izuku," Shouta responds, and she nods.

"I'll make it happen," she says.

There's a few moments where the five of them are quiet, only the sounds of Asakura eating her fries and the other people in the bar reaching them until Yonaga decides to speak.

"Hopefully this is the last time he does anything this high-profile."

"That's a useless hope and you should cull it now." Shouta's response is immediate. "He's going to be moving into Class 1-A. There's something different about this year's 1-A, and I doubt the USJ incident will be the only time they're involved in a high-profile event. We can prepare ourselves to respond, but it's useless to hope."

Yonaga sighs. "Fair enough, I suppose. Still. That's a rather… bleak way of looking at things."

"It's realistic," Shouta replies. He reaches up to card his left hand through his hair (not his right arm, the one that will never be the same again).

Kaga lets out a quiet "ha". "Yeah, I agree with you on that one. Better to spend all your energy on preparing for the worst rather than wasting any of it on a pipe dream."

Yonaga shakes their head. "You're both depressing." Asakura nods, too busy chomping on fries to say anything. "If nothing else, Izuku would be a breath of fresh air in an underground full of Sedzukiyas and Aizawas."

"Hey," Kaga snaps, pointing their finger at Yonaga. "This attitude keeps us alive."

"I know," Yonaga replies. And yes, Shouta does know that they know, very intimately, that the cynicism and pessimism is what keeps the whole underground running.

And maybe that's not the greatest thing, a traitorous little thought that sounds too much like Hizashi whispers. Shouta shakes his head and turns to Cy, whose eyes are still that acid green.

"I think we're done discussing Midoriya," he says. "How is Kotoji?"

Cy groans and shoves his laptop to the side to bury his face in his arms.

Izuku arrives at U.A. quite a bit early the morning after the Sports Festival is finished. He's wearing a beanie, and good thing he did, because there's Shiozaki, a small crowd of people around her. She seems… comfortable enough, he supposes, as he enters the gates and heads to the main building. He makes his way to the teachers' office, where he knocks on the door.

There's a scuffle, some muffled shouting, and then Cementoss opens the door.

"Ah, yes," he says. "Good morning, Midoriya." He turns, allowing Izuku a small glimpse into the office. There're papers everywhere, and he briefly wonders just what happened in there. "Aizawa," Cementoss continues, "your new student."

"He's not new," Aizawa grumbles. "He's been a nuisance to me for years now."

"I appreciate you too, Mr. Aizawa!" Izuku chirps, and he hears what sounds like a strangled laugh from somewhere in the room, while Yamada definitely cackles.

"What," Aizawa says, "was the one rule I gave you the other night."

"You only gave me that rule so I wouldn't inspire my classmates into cheekiness," Izuku replies. He looks around for a moment and then shrugs. "I don't see any of my classmates anywhere around here!"

More laughter, more grumbling, and a low, rough, "he has a point, you know".

"All of you are insufferable and I hate you," Aizawa says, coming to take Cementoss's place in front of Izuku. The bandages and casts are off, and there's a fresh new scar underneath his right eye. "All the paperwork went through without challenge. There's some spare Hero Course blazers around here somewhere that will probably fit you, so let's go get that taken care of." Izuku steps to the side as Aizawa leaves the office, and he turns briefly to wave over his shoulder at Yamada and Kayama before following his mentor/new homeroom teacher down the hallway.

The blazer exchange goes smoothly, and Izuku's sent off to 1-A's classroom with a gruff "you're Seat 19". Izuku nods and heads there, walking in the door to the classroom without looking back.

"Wow!" someone says. "That was a quick transfer!" It's a boy with spiky red hair, sitting halfway back in the middle rows. He has a grin full of sharp teeth, and Izuku finds it easy to smile back at him.

"Yeah!" Izuku replies. "U.A.'s really quick at processing paperwork, I guess. I'm Midoriya Izuku!"

"Kirishima Eijirou!" the spiky red boy replies. "It's great to have you!"

"It's great to be here!"

"Oh no." That's Jirou's voice, and Izuku turns to see her walking in, her shoulders slumping. "The sunshine boys have met. We're all doomed."

"Sunshine boys?" Izuku asks, tilting his head as he walks back with Jirou towards their seats. Her seat is diagonally one up from his.

"Yeah," she says, and does not elaborate.

Shiozaki appears soon after, walking to the back, where Izuku's sitting, to introduce herself.

"I am disappointed that we did not get to face each other in the festival," she says. "But I am certain there will be many chances to rectify that in the future. It is good to have you with us."

"I'm sure he'll be a much better classmate than Mineta!" A girl with pink skin, introduced as Ashido Mina, pipes up from her desk.

"You mean grape boy?" Izuku corrects.

"I do mean grape boy!" Ashido agrees, her eyes lighting up and her voice reaching dog-whistle octaves.

The next student in is Todoroki, and—

Oh wow.

His eyes carry just as much anger as his father's.

Todoroki, unlike his father, does not acknowledge Izuku at all, and his classmates don't seem inclined to push him.

And something in Izuku, the same thing that pushed him to Shinsou, points at Todoroki and goes "I want that one".

So, Izuku stands up and walks up to Todoroki's desk at the front of the row.

"Hey, I don't think we've gotten a chance to meet yet," he says, perching himself on the desk next to Todoroki's, which just so happens to be Shiozaki's. She frowns at him for a moment before shrugging and going back to the book she was reading. It's not like he's really taking up much space on her desk.

"We haven't," Todoroki says. His voice is flat.

"I'm Midoriya Izuku."

"I know that."

"Well, yes, Present Mic was screaming my name fairly often yesterday," Izuku replies. "I just figured it was polite to introduce myself, rather than just assume everyone was paying attention yesterday."

"That's good, because I can guarantee you that Bakugou won't remember your name one bit!" That's Kaminari, sitting just in front of Kirishima.

"Oh," Izuku turns, the corners of his mouth twitching up, summoning Isozaki and Shinsou in his mind. "I promise, Kacchan already knows my name."

"What?" Kaminari shrieks.

Todoroki's looking at him now, something in his eyes other than his father's hatred.

"Todoroki Shouto," he says, and Izuku beams.

"It's nice to meet you, Todoroki!" he says, bouncing to his feet and heading back to his desk.

The rest of the class comes in the last couple minutes before class starts. Tokoyami sits diagonally back from Izuku, and he apologizes, again, for biting him, while Izuku reiterates, again, that there's no hard feelings and everything's okay. Mashirao's tail starts wagging when he sees Izuku in the back of the room, and Uraraka smiles and waves at him. Yaoyorozu is in the seat behind him, and she talks pleasantly with him for a few moments. Tsuyu, who sits behind Ashido, also waves at him as she sits down.

"Wow," Jirou says, blinking and looking around the room. "Did you make friends with everyone you fought?"

"Yeah?" Izuku replies, shrugging. "That's… People say that's how I bond?"

"By beating them up?" the boy in the desk next to Izuku, Sero, asks.

Izuku nods. "Yeah, I finally made friends with Shinsou after kicking his ass in a sparring session. Now, when I made friends with Mashirao, it was mostly him repeatedly kicking my ass."

Jirou shrugs. "If it works, it works, I guess."

The last two students to arrive are Iida and Bakugou. Iida looks frazzled, and is yelling something at Bakugou, who's ignoring him.

Bakugou, who looks like he wants to commit murder when he spots Izuku sitting in the seat behind his. This is the part where Bakugou storms over, sparks snapping on the palms of his hands, where he stands over Izuku Deku and throws him back to the hard ground with the heat and rage in his hands.

But that's not what happens.

Instead, Bakugou stalks over and slouches into his seat, sneering at Deku Izuku for a moment before turning and ignoring him, like he's not even there anymore.

There's a moment of silence, tension singing in the air.

"Oh my god you're that Gen Studies student who came in and chewed out Mr. Aizawa about coming to work right after the USJ!" Ashido slams her hands down on her desk as she stands and shouts that, startling Aoyama, who squeaks and covers his head.

"Yeah," Izuku says, ducking his head.

"Wait, so you know Mr. Aizawa outside of U.A.?" That's Sero, again.

"Yeah," Izuku agrees, not elaborating.

He's saved from any further interrogation as Aizawa walks in, shoulders slouched and face half-tucked in his capture weapon.

"Ashido, sit down," he says, and Ashido seems to snap to place in her seat as Aizawa drags his feet to the front of the room.

"Mr. Aizawa. Your bandages are gone," Tsuyu says. "I'm glad." Izuku can't help but echo her sentiments in his head—it's good to actually be able to see his mentor-slash-pseudo-uncle's face again.

"The old lady went overboard on her treatment." As he speaks, he reaches up to scratch under his left eye with his pinky, and Izuku can see bandages still wrapped around his wrist. "More importantly, we're having a special Hero Informatics Class today."

The tension that creates is almost immediate, and Izuku glances around. Do they think it's going to be some sort of test? It's just the first class back after the Sports Festival. Yamada and Kayama both told him what to expect.

"Wait, Mr. Aizawa. Aren't you going to introduce our new classmate?" Ashido asks.

"I'm sure you already know him," Aizawa replies. "The class's subject today? Codenames. You'll be choosing your hero names today."

Half the class bursts out in enthusiasm. "We're going to do something exciting!" Ashido's is the most prominent voice, but several other classmates yell things too.

All it takes is for a half-second Aizawa's quirk activated for everyone to sit down and shut up like they'd never burst out in the first place.

"This is related to pro hero draft picks," he says as his hair floats back down to rest. "The drafts begin in earnest in second and third years, after students have gained experience and can become immediate assets to the pros. In other words, for them to extend offers to first years like you, shows that they are interested in your future potential. These offers are often canceled if that interest dies down by graduation."

"So we'll have to prove ourselves once we get picked, huh?" Hagakure, the invisible girl in the desk behind Todoroki, asks.

"That's right," Aizawa replies, dipping his head in affirmation. "And here are the totals for those with offers." He pulls a remote out of his pocket and aims it behind him. A press of a button, and statistics start coming up, displayed on the blackboard behind him.

Tokoyami is the student in the class with the most offers, followed closely by Uraraka and then Izuku himself. These numbers are by a slim margin, though, and there's no one student who really stands out as having received way more offers than the rest.

"Keeping these results in mind, whether or not anyone asked for you, you will all be participating in internships with pros."

"Internships?" Jirou is the one to murmur this, sitting up a little straighter in her seat.

"Yes." Aizawa's sharp hearing, of course, picks up on this. "At the USJ, most of you experienced combat with real villains, but it will still be meaningful training for you to experience work with pros firsthand."

Ah, yes, technically, Izuku was behind his classmates here, not that he really wishes he had been involved in the USJ Incident. It's just… something between him and the rest of the class.

"So that explains the hero names!" It's a boy in the back of the room, Satou, Izuku recognizes. He sits next to Uraraka, who smiles.

"Things are suddenly getting a lot more fun!" she says.

"Well, those hero names are still temporary," Aizawa cuts the excitement off. "But if you're not serious about it…"

The door slides open.

"You'll have hell to pay later!"

There's Kayama, striding into the room like she owns it. A few of the boys perk up, and Izuku resists the urge to sigh and roll his eyes at that particular subset of student. Do they know she's a lesbian?

"Because a lot of hero names used by students are recognized by society," she says, "they end up becoming used as professional names!"

"Midnight," several boys seem to sigh, and this time, Izuku does roll his eyes.

"Well, that's how it is," Aizawa mutters, and Izuku can see his narrow-eyed gaze flicking towards the students who were more busy staring at Kayama than they were listening to her, "so Midnight will be making sure your hero names are okay. I can't do stuff like that." He bends over and pulls his sleeping bag out of the podium.

"When you give yourself a name," he says, still holding his sleeping bag, "you get a more concrete image of what you want to be like in the future, and you can get closer to it. This is what it means when they say names and natures do often agree. Take All Might, for example."

With that, he seals himself into his sleeping bag as whiteboards and markers are passed down the rows.

What he wants to be in the future, huh? Well, that's an issue, since he… hasn't quite decided, beyond the general 'be a hero and save everyone he possibly can'.

Well, Aizawa said these can be temporary, right? Just be prepared to accept them as permanent, in case they get recognized by society. And, honestly, Izuku has put a lot of thought into various ideas over the years. He could always go with the old standard of calling himself Negate or Negation after his quirk. Then there's the various different options he's thought about…

Maybe he'll stick with something on the safe side, though.

"Okay, let's present names, starting with those who are ready," Kayama says after fifteen minutes have passed. Several students look downright horrified at the thought, but Aoyama stands up and walks to the front of the class, his mouth curled into a little knowing smile.

"Here I go," he says, eyes closed, basking in their attention. A moment, and his eyes open. "I Can Not Stop Twinkling!" He raises the board high above his head. The words are written in English, with loopy, delicate handwriting. "Which means, you can't stop my sparkles!" And true enough, he sure is sparkling.

"It's a sentence?" Sero exclaims as Kayama walks over and pulls the whiteboard from Aoyama's hands.

"It'll be easier to use if you shorten it," she says, writing something. "Take out the I and contract the Can Not." She turns around the board, showing off the name "Can't Stop Twinkling".

"You're right, mademoiselle," Aoyama says.

"It's okay?" several students whisper to themselves. Izuku glances up and, no, Kayama looks dead serious.

"May we provide constructive criticism?" Shiozaki raises her hand and asks.

"Sure," Kayama says, shrugging. "As long as it's kind!"

"Why not try something similar, but still shorter, like Nova or Celestial?" Shiozaki asks.

"Nova has more punch to it," Mashirao agrees, "and Celestial is easier than Can't Stop Twinkling."

"Hm." Aoyama blinks. "Perhaps I shall. I think I like the feel of Nova! It has quite the similarity to nouveau, and I am, indeed, something new this world has never seen before!"

Kayama clicks her tongue. "O-kay. Nova it is, then."

"I'll go next!" Ashido volunteers, bounding to the front of the room as Aoyama returns to his seat. She reveals her whiteboard immediately. "Hero name: Alien Queen!"

"Are you trying for the thing with the acidic blood?" Kayama asks. "I wouldn't if I were you!"

Ashido sighs and returns to her seat. "Okay…"

"I dunno, I kinda liked Alien Queen!" Kaminari says. "It's intimidating!"

"There's a fine line between intimidating the villains and scaring the public," Kayama replies. "Please keep that in mind!"

Tsuyu raises her hand. "May I go next?"

"Go ahead, Tsuyu!" Kayama says.

"I've had this in mind ever since I was in elementary school," Tsuyu says, once she reaches the front of the room. She flips her board around: "Froppy."

"Oh, that's so cute!" Kayama gushes. "It seems friendly. I like it! It's a great example of a name everyone will love!"

No one can seem to disagree.

"Then I'll go next!" Kirishima exclaims, all but running to the front of the room and smacking his board down. Tsuyu eyes him as she passes behind him to return to her seat. "Red Riot!"

"Red Riot?" Kayama asks. "You're paying homage to Crimson Riot, eh?"

"Yes. It's pretty old-fashioned, but the hero image I'm going for is Crimson himself." Kirishima's hand comes up to rub the back of his head as he speaks.

"If you're bearing a name you admire, it'll come with that much more pressure," Kayama warns him.

"I'm prepared for that!" Kirishima replies, one hand coming up in front of him in a fist. He grins.

Wow. Izuku needs to stop meeting so many cool, amazing students because he is not prepared for the amount of admiration he needs to be dishing out to them, because they are all so neat and cool and awesome.

To be honest, he had thought of taking a legacy name before. His mentors were Eraserhead and Longnight, both respected heroes in the underground community. Most of his ideas actually were riffs off of Longnight's name, going until he spun through and came up with something completely different and yet still similar.

One row over, Kaminari is despairing. "I still haven't thought of a name…"

"I've got one," Jirou says. "Jamming-way!"

"Oh, that sounds smart! Like Hemingway, that English guy!"

Jirou is laughing into her hand now. "No," she says. "Because you always get like that!"

Izuku lacks the context to know what that is, but Jirou gives Kaminari's shoulder one last shove before running to the front of the room. He calls for her to stop messing with him as she arrives at the podium.

"Beatdown!" she declares, setting the whiteboard on the podium, and Kayama declares it acceptable.

"Tentakole," Shouji presents next.

One by one, the students present theirs. Cellophane. Monkey King (the hero hopefuls, it seems, had succeeded in pushing Mashirao away from choosing Tailman, of all things, as his name). Sugar Rush. Pinky. Chargebolt. Prism. Infiniti (that one is, surprisingly, not Uraraka, instead belonging to Yaoyorozu). Shouto (yes, Todoroki walked up to the podium, said, 'I'm using my first name', and that was that). Tsukuyomi. Anima. De la Rosa.

And then Bakugou steps up there and declares "Bakusatsuo" and, okay, it's creative, Izuku will give him that, but King Explosion Murder is not the kind of name you really want to be using as a hero.

Uraraka is the one who walks up after him, presenting Uravity to the class with a smile.

"Choosing hero names is going more smoothly than I thought it would!" Kayama glances at the clock. "We only have three left: Bakugou, who needs to rethink his, Iida, and Midoriya!"

Iida is the first of the three to step up, presenting his first name, the same as Todoroki. Bakugou is writing furiously on his whiteboard, while Izuku stares at the word he's written on his.

"Midoriya, are you ready?" Kayama asks, and Izuku snaps his head up.

"Yeah," he says, standing up and walking to the front of the room. He's ready.

He stands at the podium and flips his whiteboard around, letting everyone read the Eclipse written in somewhat shaky katakana across the whiteboard.

(Somewhat shaky, since his dominant arm got broken a few days ago and still aches.)

"Oh, we are going for a space theme today, aren't we?" Aoyama asks, turning and smiling at Uraraka, who blinks and then grins, flashing Izuku a thumbs up.

Eclipse is a name drawn from a combination of factors. It's related to his quirk, in that he can eclipse others' powers. It's related to Longnight's name, if you think of it in terms of lunar eclipses occurring at night, of solar eclipses creating night of day.

(It's also related to a name his mother once used, a long time ago, a confession she had whispered to him on the nights when a young Izuku had asked, why did you fall in love with my father?)

(And by father, he did not mean Midoriya Hisashi.)

*holds up and shakes Kaga Sedzukiya* this is a GREMLIN and i LOVE them. i hope you like my OCs, because i am really fond of them and they WILL be showing up again.

fun fact: Kaga and Yonaga know each other because they're both non-binary underground heroes with night-themed names (Night Star and Longnight respectively) so they saw each other and went "we're friends now". they've gotten closer since Yonaga's retirement, taking on a bit of a big sibling/little sibling relationship

Midnight is never not a lesbian when i write her. i have a sketch of her redesigned costume, too, that i have shared on my twitter ( orkestrations) and might post again at some point.

i'm sticking with Pinky for Mina for the moment because reasons (i actually, do kinda like it? it's cute, and definitely more in line with Mina's overall aesthetic than Alien Queen is). i used De la Rosa as Shiozaki's hero name in a roleplay once and got asked if i was a Homestuck for it. no, i'm not, i've never read it and know barely anything about it. and i am forever pissed that Bakugou's actually very intelligent names were not portrayed that way in the dub? they're actually pretty damn smart!

anyways i was like "what in the hell is gonna be Izuku's alias here" and then Eclipse came to me and i was like "wow. perfect. amazing". there's also some symbolism in the concept of syzygy in this story...

some notes on Bakugou: i have a very complex relationship with him as a character. i'm going to try and do him justice, but ultimately, i am an Izuku stan first and a Bakugou stan, well, inot/i so that will undoubtedly come across in how i write him. i hope what i have planned is a good and satisfying take on Bakugou's arc. i doubt there will be any sort of close friendship develop between the two over the course of the story, and i refuse to handwave or ignore bakugou's treatment of izuku both in canon and this fic. regardless, i hope that anyone who likes Bakugou isn't turned away by this. again, i hope to do him and his development justice without turning him into a one-dimensional caricature or a target of bashing.

thank you to everyone who's read, reviewed, faved and followed. i love and appreciate all of you!

(x-posted on ao3, username: orkestrations)

(see you in like twenty minutes for the second chapter of tonight's update)