Chapter One: Meeting A Friend

Izuku sat on the bench in the playground, enjoying the shade the tree branches overhead provided. His father, a tall, muscular man sat with him, pondering why his son wouldn't just go and play with the other kids his age. Perhaps he thought that they would be intimidated by Toshinori?

He was physically intimidating, but he was a real softy if you knew him. But, being someone who fought crime on a regular basis meant that he had to be strong. Izuku himself had expressed interest in becoming a hero like him, but he was so young and impressionable that his opinion might change as he grew older.

Toshinori decided that Izuku sitting and watching the children play was a little too odd. "Why aren't you playing with them?" He asked with a gentle voice. Izuku was silent as he thought, as if he were trying to figure out the right way to word his predicament.

"Papa, it's not that I don't want to play, it's just that I'm too scared," he quietly said. Toshinori laughed and flashed him a smile.

"Son, if you're ever scared, do you know what to do?" He looked up at him in confusion and tilted his head like he was a dog. "You just gotta push through your fears and tell them who's boss!"

Izuku asked, "Is it really that simple?" Toshinori nodded and gave him a light pat on the back of encouragement.

"Now go get 'em, tiger!" Izuku smiled and the blonde man felt his heart melt. That smile could solve world peace and end world hunger at the same time in an instant. He had heard people talk about his smile inspiring hope in them, but his son's smile was the only thing that kept him running on the long, cold nights he would frequently find himself going through.

He hoped that Izuku would get some friends, though. He was five now, and his lack of social skills could prove to be a challenge if not fixed soon. Especially with his first year of school coming up soon. He should know, he never really had any friends until high school and that still effected him every now and then. It didn't help that he had to learn English in a hurry so he could understand what any of them had been saying once they had moved to New York when he was fifteen.

Izuku had that going for him. He'd never learned Japanese, but he had a Japanese name because his mother had wanted his name to be so as her last wish, and Toshinori frankly didn't have the heart to deny her.

Izuku walked up to the group of his fellow five-year-olds nervously, wondering how they would respond to his question. He was gonna ask, but then a darker skinned boy with black hair ran up to him, touched him on the shoulder and said, "You're it!" That was a lot easier than he thought it was going to be.

The boy ran off, leaving Izuku to chase after him. As the pair were running, the boy yelled, "Watch out for greenie! He's it!"

A boy standing on the top of a play set with a slide shouted, "Flash! He's gaining on you, better pick up the pace!" He tried to, but Izuku was pretty fast and managed to catch up to him in the end. He then turned around and ran away from the boy, Flash. As he did, he caught the eye of his dad sitting on the bench, who gave him a thumbs up.

He was able to find a decent enough place to hide so he could catch his breath. He was hiding behind a tree that was about six times his width, so he had plenty of wiggle room. Izuku was surprised when he bumped into someone behind him. With a panicked yelp, he jumped back before he saw it wasn't Flash. It was a boy with mud hair and eyes that he didn't recognize. "Sorry! I didn't mean to run into you. I just needed to hide!"

The boy nodded, "It's alright, I also ran into you. I'm hiding as well." After an uncomfortable silence, he asked, "What's your name?"

"Izuku Yagi!"

The boy tried to pronounce his name, which was a little weird in his opinion. "I - Izucu?" He said, pronouncing the 'k' like a 'c'. Izuku corrected him, and he got it on the second try. "I'm Peter," he said. "Peter Parker." Izuku smiled and the two both peeked out from behind the tree to look for Flash.

The both of them noticed him looking quite frustrated. Apparently he hadn't expected everyone to hide from him, but they had and now he was having difficulty finding anyone.

Peter glanced over and said, "Hey, Izuku - What are you doing?"

Izuku had began to run out from their hiding spot, feeling sad for Flash. He wouldn't find anyone at this rate, so he decided to sacrifice himself to him, just like Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America would've done. Izuku had idolized the super soldier ever since he had heard about him from his father. He was a soldier in the second world war who was injected with some sort of super serum that gave him incredible strength. He was apparently the one who inspired even his dad. Captain America didn't survive the war, but he died valiantly. He had sacrificed himself to take down the leader of an organization called 'Hydra' by crashing the plane the two were in into the icy depths of the Arctic. Izuku walked up to him and tapped him on his shoulder. Flash turned around and tagged him quickly. He laughed and said, "I was just waiting for you to come out, little goody two-shoes!"

Izuku felt awful, but he couldn't let that stop him. It wouldn't stop his father, so why would it stop him? Trick question - It wouldn't.

Instead, he decided he would try and find the nearest person and tag them. He wasn't going to chase after Flash, and he wasn't going to try and find Peter, who had probably already moved because he had a full view of him being tagged.

The rest of the time he spent at the playground had been alright, but he hadn't met too many more people because he didn't have the time to introduce himself while running from whoever had been 'it' in that situation.

As they were leaving, his father commented, "You looked like you had fun." Izuku nodded with a big smile and his father laughed. "Was it as easy as I told you it would be?" Izuku nodded again.

"I didn't even have to ask to play... It just sorta happened. One second I wasn't playing and the next I was chasing someone to tag them." It was his dad's turn to nod now, who also made an affirmative noise.

"You'll find as you grow up that many things are simpler than they first appear. It took me a while to learn that, but I can teach you all about social interaction so you'll be prepared for tomorrow."

And so he did. For the rest of the day, he learned all about the do's and don't's he would need to know for kindergarten. He was taught a lot of things in a short period of time, such as the fact that if he burped, he should say, "Excuse me." He knew some of the stuff already, but his father wasn't the best teacher, which caused it to take a lot longer than it should've taken to learn it all.

Izuku felt confident when he walked into school the next morning with his father.

The doors of the school were big enough for his tall father to walk through, which was definitely good. He had a feeling there could've been a time where he would hit his head on it if he wasn't paying attention. He actually feared what would happen to the door more than his father. Izuku had seen firsthand how strong he was on multiple occasions.

He could see many parents staring at his father, probably recognizing him as the hero, All Might, but it made Izuku nervous. His confidence was melting every second he was in the building, but he was still excited for kindergarten. They walked down a staircase that led to the lower level of the school. It had three levels, the first floor was where the cafeteria, the custodian's room, the gymnasium, kindergarten, first, and second grade were. The second level had the principal's office, the nurse's office, the library, and the third grade on it. The highest floor had the fourth and fifth grade.

They turned a right down a hallway and Izuku noticed a sign that said: "Kindergartners this way!"

That was probably what was leading his dad down this way because he hadn't been here before. Hopefully this wasn't put up as a prank or else they'd be lost. But, it shouldn't take them long to find the room if that is the case.

Turns out, it wasn't. The sign led them to a room at the end of the hallway, where the homeroom was.

They walked in and he saw the rest of his class sitting on a big blue rug with their hands in their lap. Their teacher was standing in front of them all, a short woman with curly brown hair and blue eyes.

She saw them and said, "Here they are now! Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Izuku tried to talk, but he couldn't quite get the words to come out of his mouth. He was worried this might happen, but thankfully his father was ready. He put a massive hand on the head of Izuku and said, "This is my son, Izuku. He's really excited to be here, even if he doesn't look like it. He just gets shy in front of new people is all."

Izuku saw Peter sitting on the edge of the group and he decided to sit next to him. His father waved goodbye to him and he waved back as he left. Izuku felt better now that the attention wasn't solely on him. The teacher said, "Now, as I was saying... My name is Ms. Williams, and it's a pleasure to meet you all."

The class then introduced themselves once their teacher had instructed them to. Izuku didn't have to since his dad had already introduced himself for him, but he did get to know everyone else.

He honestly didn't pay too much attention, he was busy thinking about what he might learn this year. It'd be simple stuff for sure, but it would be interesting to learn nonetheless. He did catch Flash's name, Flash Thompson was his full name. He also heard that there was a girl named Michelle Jones. Beyond that, he didn't really hear much.

After all the introductions were finished, Ms. Williams said, "Today will be a day to get to know one another. So, enjoy your day! But, please clean up any mess you make so the custodian doesn't have as much work to do." The class all nodded and Izuku decided he would clean up any mess he found left on the ground so he could help out as much as possible. It seemed like something Captain America would do, so he would do the same.

Izuku noticed a small rubber ball in the corner of the room where hardly anything was around, the perfect place for a game of catch. Izuku said, "Hey, Peter, wanna play a game of catch?" Peter nodded with a smile and they both walked to that side of the room before anyone else noticed the bright red ball.

Izuku picked up the ball and Peter took a big step back and held out his hands, ready to catch the ball. Izuku threw it like a football and nailed his new friend right in the face, causing him to hit the ground. Izuku ran over to him and helped him up. "Sorry," he said sympathetically. Despite having a bright red spot on his forehead, he grinned.

"It's alright. Let's try that again."