Izuku sits sandwiched between Yaoyorozu and Mashirao, with Uraraka, Jirou, Tsuyu, and, surprisingly, Todoroki joining them during dinner. They are, conveniently and by design, all the way across the pavilion from where Bakugou is sitting. The food is delicious, and afterwards, the class is sent to the baths.
Which is.
A minor issue.
All the boys are in their shared room, getting their stuff for the baths when Kirishima speaks up.
"I figure I should probably let all of you know now that I'm trans!" There is a distinct sigh of relief from three other people in the room. "I hope that won't be an issue for anyone!"
"If it is, then Dark Shadow and I will have a reckoning with them, for I am as well," Tokoyami says.
"I don't think anyone here has any issues," Mashirao says, glancing around. "And, well, I'm not trans myself but I will beat them up for you."
"He will," Izuku signs. "I've seen it happen before."
"You've beaten people up for being transphobes before?" Satou asks, leaning towards Mashirao.
"Yeah! I need to stick up for my friends, after all," Mashirao replies. Izuku picks his way through the room until he's standing next to Mashirao.
"Oh. Huh. I'd fight a transphobe, too, just. Not. In an ally capacity," Satou replies.
Izuku nudges the Mashirao's side with his elbow.
"I suppose now is as good a time as any to come out," he signs.
Mashirao raises his eyebrows. "Are you sure?" he signs, and Izuku nods.
He turns to face the rest of the group and then signs, "I'm trans." Mashirao translates.
Kirishima gasps. "Can you teach me to sign that?"
Izuku nods.
If they're a little late to the baths, well, an impromptu sign language lesson is as good a reason as any.
They wake up at the asscrack of dawn and eat breakfast in the pavilion.
The sun's not even up yet and they're dragging themselves out of bed and into the forest. Aizawa and the Pussycats are waiting for them, looking too chipper for this hour.
"Good morning!" Pixie-Bob calls, clapping her hands together. "You're all looking fresh and ready to face the world!"
Kaminari groans.
"Wonderful! Now: here's how today will work."
"We'll start this week with quirk strength training!" Mandalay continues the introduction.
"Bakugou," Aizawa says, producing a softball from within his jumpsuit. "Come here. Throw it, like in the quirk apprehension test at the beginning of the year."
Bakugou stomps over and snatches it from Aizawa's hand, walking over to the line in the dirt Pixie-Bob put there. Once he's there, he doesn't hesitate. He throws the ball with a scream of "DIE!" and an explosion, sending it flying over the trees. Izuku's flinch is reflexive, and he's not the only one: even after a whole term with Bakugou, Kouda, Jirou, and Shouji all still flinch.
"709.6 meters," Aizawa reads off his phone.
"What?" Kaminari exclaims, glancing between Aizawa and Bakugou. "That's-!"
"I thought he'd get 900, easily!" Sero adds. "That little improvement, after a whole term?"
Everyone seems to be startled at the… low? number. Izuku wasn't there for the quirk apprehension test, meaning he's missing a lot of context, apparently.
"You've gotten experience against real villains, yes," Aizawa says, glaring at the class and shutting everyone up. "But you haven't focused on strengthening your quirks. That is what this camp will be for. I've come up with plans for each of you to push your quirks beyond."
"Using our four quirks," Ragdoll says, pointing at herself and each of the Pussycats, "we can train all of you at once! With Search, I can keep track of all of you and your conditions."
"With Earth Flow, I can create the perfect training ground!" Pixie-Bob steps forward, posing briefly until Mandalay takes her place.
"I can disperse advice to anyone at once with Telepath."
"And with my Plia-body, I'm here to train anyone with power-type quirks!" Tiger goes last.
"But that's… no one in our class," Izuku signs small, surreptitious, to Mashirao, who's sitting right next to him.
"That may be, Midoriya," oh no Ragdoll caught him again, "but you're not the only first years here!"
"I'll just have to go around and help out the rest of you until Class B gets here, then," Tiger adds, a dangerous smile overcoming his features.
"Now, when I call your name, come up and receive your instructions," Aizawa says.
Izuku is one of the last students called up.
"Midoriya," Aizawa says, glancing him over. "You'll be over by Yaoyorozu and Satou. Pixie-Bob will be creating earthbeasts which you will then negate. There will be an additional aspect of your training tonight that will be seen to after dinner."
Izuku nods and turns to go, but Aizawa holds out a hand and stops him.
"I know the point of this camp is to go beyond," he drawls the school motto out, "but if you somehow manage to set your healing back, at all, I will not hesitate to make you sit out the rest of camp. Understand?"
Izuku nods, and Aizawa lets him go.
Class 1-B shows up at 0700, an hour and fifteen minutes after Class 1-A had started. The 1-A students barely pause in their training, just glancing over long enough to register that, oh, hey, 1-B is here, and then they return their attention to their training.
It's long, it's grueling, they sweat buckets, Izuku can hear Bakugou's screams the entire time even though they're quite a way away from each other. He can also hear Kouda screaming, and, really, does he want to damage his voice? Because that's how you damage your voice, and it doesn't seem like anyone's doing anything about it-?
Izuku calls for a break, holding a hand up, and the earthbeasts in front of him stop. There's a pounding growing behind his eyes, so it is just about time for him to. Not use his quirk for a bit. So anyways, he picks up a blue sports drink and jogs off to find Mandalay.
She's over observing the destruction zone that is Todoroki and Bakugou's area, standing next to Aizawa. Their homeroom teacher spares Izuku a glance as he jogs over, but Izuku ignores him and runs up to Mandalay to tap on her shoulder.
"Oh, hello Midoriya!" she says, turning to glance over at him, and oh, isn't it nice to be around a pro hero and teacher who's just about the same size as him. "What can I do for you?"
Izuku tucks his sports drink between his knees before signing, "I have a concern about Kouda. He's supposed to be doing vocal exercises, right? Well, I have to do vocal exercises as therapy for," he gestures at his throat, "and." He pauses. "You're not supposed to scream them. Or, really, scream for extended periods of time. I'm just concerned he might be straining his voice?"
"Thank you for letting me know," Mandalay replies. "I'll pass that along to him." Izuku nods to her and grabs his sports drink again before jogging back to his spot. He needs to dodge Uraraka at one point as she bounces around in her bubble of doom.
They break for lunch, sandwich supplies provided while each student is left to make their own.
"Hey, Midoriya!" Uraraka says, bounding over with a sandwich on her plate despite the fact she'll probably just end up puking it up later. "Some of us are thinking we'll go eat lunch under the trees, do you want to come with us?"
"Sure!" he nods. He waves at Mashirao as he and Uraraka walk past. Mashirao is already sitting with Kaminari, Ashido, and Sero, but he lifts his hands and signs to Izuku anyways.
"Do you want me to come with?"
"No," Izuku signs back. "But thank you!"
He can already see Yaoyorozu standing with the group Uraraka's leading him towards, so if he really needs a translator, he can ask her. But, well, he hasn't used up his speaking time for today yet.
"Miss Mandalay!" Uraraka calls out as they approach the pro. Mandalay turns towards them, a smile crossing her features.
"Uraraka, Midoriya! What can I do for you?"
"There's a group of us who want to go eat under the trees," Uraraka says, gesturing at said group. "May we?"
"Yes," Mandalay nods, "as long as you stay within sight of the pavilion at all times."
"Of course!" Uraraka replies as Izuku nods. "Thank you so much!" Izuku signs along as she speaks, and Mandalay barely has time to tell them 'you're welcome' before they're turning and running towards the group.
"She said yes!" Uraraka says, jumping and punching the air.
"That's great!" Hagakure agrees, jumping in place.
Aside from Izuku and Uraraka, the group contains Yaoyorozu, Hagakure, Tsuyu, Aoyama, and Shiozaki. The seven of them walk over to the trees together, sitting on the ground in the shade.
"So," Hagakure says, and Izuku can hear the grin in her voice. "I never got my payment kiss! And, well, if we're over here… I don't think you have to worry about anyone here filming it for anything."
The other kids are all quick to give their affirmations, even Aoyama.
"Alright." Yaoyorozu is blushing, but she leans towards Hagakure. The invisible girl closes the rest of the distance herself.
It's a quick peck, but Aoyama still feigns fainting while Uraraka whoops. The rest of them clap, and Yaoyorozu is blushing even more.
"I'm still available if anyone wishes to have a payment kiss of their own," Aoyama says, stretching out across Uraraka's lap. Uraraka shoves him off, onto the ground, and he wails. "Oh! Mon amie! My clothes! They'll get dirty!"
"They're already soaked through with your own sweat," Tsuyu points out.
"That is beside the point," Aoyama replies, dramatically rolling around on the ground.
Izuku watches their antics, taking a bite of his sandwich. Shiozaki seems to have the same idea, and they meet each other's gazes for a moment. He doesn't know the girl that well, outside of class, but she seems nice and is serious about training so she's already in his good book.
The seven of them finish their lunches in time, thankfully, running back to the pavilion to wash their plates off before being sent back out to training.
Uraraka approaches him, again, during a time they happen to both be breaking together. She's carrying a bottle of green sports drink as she walks over, her hair tied back in a high ponytail.
"Hey, Midoriya," she says, a glint in her eyes and a smirk on her lips. "Wanna play a prank on the class?"
"I'm listening," he says, leaning closer to her.
They're instructed to make their own dinners. Izuku catches Ochako's eye—Ochako, now, because if we're gonna pull this prank together then you can call me Izuku and well, in that case, you can call me Ochako!—and she smiles and winks. It's still on.
At first, it's chaos. Everyone wants to do their own thing and no one's doing anything together. Bakugou is chopping all the vegetables, and doing a damn fine job of it (and he has a two meter circle of empty space around him because seriously, no one wants to be in his blood circle), but no one else is doing anything useful.
"Hey!" Shiozaki yells, climbing onto a table. "Everyone, stop!"
Everyone stops, quieting down, even Bakugou.
"Thank you," Shiozaki says, turning towards Yaoyorozu. "Now. Yaoyorozu, what are we doing?"
Yaoyorozu blushes. "I. Uh. I'm not the most experienced cook? Um." She seems to perk up. "Midoriya, do you know how to cook?"
He nods.
"Can you take charge?" she asks.
Oh.
Okay.
The familiar maw of anxiety fills him, for just a moment, before he feels Mashirao nudge him, and then he remembers the forest.
He remembers what Yaoyorozu said afterwards.
He nods. Shiozaki gestures to the space next to her as she steps down from the table, and Izuku takes a deep, steady breath before stepping up where she was.
Everyone's looking at him.
(Everyone was looking at him during the Sports Festival, and he won that.)
He takes a deep breath.
Just like the Sports Festival.
Okay.
He can do this.
He catches sight of Bakugou for just a moment, and if looks could kill, oh boy. Oh boy, he'd be dead.
Except.
Yaoyorozu thinks he can do this. Mashirao thinks he can do this.
His hands form the signs, Yaoyorozu the voice conveying his instructions to the class.
"If you're good at cooking, go over here," Izuku signs, pointing to a spot on his left. "If you've cooked some but aren't great, go here," he points to his right, "and if you've never cooked before, or you're the kind of cook who burns water, go here." The last spot is directly in front of him, and within moments, he has three groups of varying sizes. The smallest is definitely the one on his left. Bakugou is the only one not in a group, and he's returned to aggressively chopping vegetables.
Okay. He can do this.
"Todoroki, can you light the stoves for us?"
"Oh, wow, this is actually really good," Sero says in a moment of downtime from shoving curry and rice in his mouth. "I wasn't expecting us to be able to come up with food this good!"
"What are you talking about?" Bakugou growls. "I fucking helped you make it, of course it's good."
"All you did was chop vegetables," Ashido points out.
"Not that they're not very even vegetables," Kaminari adds, and Ashido rolls her eyes while Bakugou grunts and looks away.
Izuku watches this exchange happen from several tables away. Yaoyorozu, sitting next to him, says his name.
"Are you okay?" she asks as he turns his face to her. Her grey eyes are soft, concerned.
"Just… thinking," he signs.
She nods. "You and Bakugou knew each other before U.A., didn't you?"
He nods and does not elaborate.
A few minutes later, he leaves to use the restroom, and it's on his way back that he notices a small form watching the two classes.
That's Kouta, he realizes, the Pussycats' nephew. He'd barely seen the boy around, but from what he has, he seems… angry. And hurt.
And he doesn't look like he's had any dinner yet.
Izuku's about to approach him when Kouta turns and leaves, vanishing into the forest. Unfortunately, Izuku can't really call out to him, considering everything, so he returns briefly to the pavilion, where Yaoyorozu's sitting, so he can explain what he's doing.
"I just saw Kouta," he signs. "I don't think he's had dinner, so I'm going to take him a bowl of curry."
"Don't forget to tell Mr. Aizawa," Yaoyorozu replies, and Izuku nods, going to get a bowl of curry. He stops by the table where the teachers are sitting on the way out, where Mandalay confirms his concerns.
"He said he wasn't hungry, though," she adds, and he shrugs.
"That doesn't mean I can't at least take him some," he replies, and she nods.
"Do you know where he is?" she asks.
He shakes his head, but signs an answer before she can say anything in reply. "I can track him, though."
"Alright," she says, and he turns to leave.
It's not difficult to follow Kouta. There's a worn path, little more than a deer trail, where Izuku saw Kouta vanish into the woods. He follows it, and sure enough, it leads him up to a ledge that overlooks the lodge.
He kicks a rock, and Kouta yelps, whirling around.
"What are you doing up here?" he spits, and Izuku points to the bowl of curry before he crouches and sets it down.
"I don't know sign yet," Kouta says as Izuku brings his hands up.
He shrugs and speaks. "That's okay. I didn't see you have anything for dinner, so I brought you some curry." He can see Kouta flinch at the sound of his voice. That's okay. (It has to be okay.)
"I didn't ask you to do this," Kouta snaps.
"You don't need to," Izuku replies. "I wanted to."
"Why?" Kouta asks, his face pulling into a glare, the sort of fury that five-year-olds shouldn't have yet.
"Because you looked like you needed it," Izuku replies. "Don't let it get too cold," he says before turning and walking away. He shouldn't be talking much more that day, not after lunch, and his planning session with Ochako.
He has plenty of time to think over the interaction as he walks back to the lodge. It's a solid five-minute walk, and he spends the entire time considering Kouta. What had happened to Kouta? Mandalay mentioned he was her nephew, of sorts, which implies something happening with his parents, but what? Why is he so… angry?
What can Izuku do to help?
He's pulled out of his thoughts as he approaches the pavilion and catches sight of Ochako. She smiles at him, reaches up, taps her ear once. He nods back at her, once, quick. He has a mission now, one that he must carry out to the best of his ability.
Ochako jumps out of her seat as he approaches, a grin spreading across her face. It's filled with excitement, anticipation, and a good deal of warmth, and he feels one of his own form in kind.
"Izuku!" she says. "You did a great job with everyone tonight!"
And then they're kissing. In front of god, Aizawa, and their entire class. It's clumsy, and definitely his first kiss, but he doesn't mind. He's sharing it with a friend, after all.
Aoyama's gasp is the loudest, moments before Bakugou's "what the FUCK, Deku!?" and, oh, that is definitely the camera on someone's phone going off.
And then they separate. It was less than five seconds. But they're both blushing, all the way to the tips of their ears, and Ochako grins at him before turning.
"That," she says, pointing at Aoyama, "was for you, for sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong! You get one kiss, and if you ever stick your nose into my love life without permission again, I will throw you into the stratosphere!"
Aoyama gasps, a hand on his chest. "Moi?"
"Tu," Ochako agrees, nodding her head once, decisively. "No more meddling in classmates' love lives."
Aoyama huffs, crossing his arms and turning his nose up. "D'accord," he says. He's pouting, now.
"So, is this, what is this, exactly?" That's Shiozaki, a very confused expression on her face.
"A prank," Ochako says, grinning with glee and a certain bit of bloodlust in her eyes before marching back to the table, Izuku following her, his hand clamped tight over his mouth as he tries to hold his laughter in.
"So… you're not dating each other," Yaoyorozu says, and both of them nod.
"While we were doing our final," Ochako says, "Aoyama suggested that I have a crush on Izuku. Maybe I do, maybe I don't, but I don't want to be in a relationship right now, anyways. So this was our way of getting back at him, a little."
"What's a little platonic kissing among friends?" Izuku asks, grinning at Yaoyorozu as he does. A couple chuckles escape while he does, but a couple chuckles are better for his throat than full-bellied laughter. Yaoyorozu blushes and looks away in response.
"And you're still… first names?" Shiozaki asks, a baffled expression still on her face.
"We just kissed each other in front of the entire class, and also 1-B, and our homeroom teacher, and four pro heroes," Ochako replies. "If that's not a standard for first-name basis, then what is?"
Both classes are instructed to remain at the pavilion after they're finished with cleanup. Izuku and Kendou organize the classes for it, the Class B Rep surprisingly supportive of a random 1-A student standing in for Yaoyorozu.
Once all 39 teenagers are gathered, Aizawa calls Izuku to the front of the class. The carefully blank expression is there, but Izuku catches his right eye twitching as he approaches.
He can't suppress the small, pleased smile that sneaks its way onto his face upon seeing that.
"Everyone in my class knows Midoriya's quirk by now, and I'm sure everyone in Kan's class remembers seeing it in action during the Sports Festival. If you have a heteromorphic quirk, and only a heteromorphic quirk, you're dismissed now. Everyone else, if you don't feel comfortable allowing Midoriya to use his quirk on you, then you're also free to leave now."
That's Tsuyu and Shouji leaving, obviously, along with Mashirao, Jirou, Hagakure, and Sero. There are much fewer from 1-B who leave, just Tsunotori and Bondo. That leaves 31 students, since no one else leaves.
At Aizawa's nod, Izuku moves around the group, making brief skin-to-skin contact with each one until he has all 31 under the effects of his quirk and the pressure in his head is, uh, kind of concerning, to be honest.
He holds his quirk on all 31 for two minutes and twenty-seven seconds before he can feel something starting to go wrong, and he snaps his fingers before it can go any further.
Aizawa nods. "Have you ever held that many people under your quirk at once before?" Izuku shakes his head. Aizawa knows this already, but everyone else doesn't. "We'll be doing this after dinner every night for the whole camp. You're all dismissed—except," he says, capture weapon coming up and ensnaring Kirishima, Bakugou, Ashido, Kaminari, Sero, and Satou, "you six. You have remedial lessons starting now."
All of them except Bakugou (who's glaring a hole in the ground) groan.
Aoyama, rolling around on the ground: no, I'm not AVPM Draco Malfoy, why do you ask?
anyways, things are gonna start heating up next chapter :3
expected update day: Wednesday, 13 May 2020
Aoyama, rolling around on the ground: no, I'm not AVPM Draco Malfoy, why do you ask?