A month after the entrance exam, Izuku walked through the halls of UA, trying to find the classroom of Class 1-A. He had managed to find the Business Course classrooms, but he couldn't find the one room he needed , after ten minutes of searching, Izuku found it. The door was massive, likely to accommodate students with Mutant Type Quirks that they couldn't turn off, resulting in them being permanently bigger than most doors.
Izuku took a deep breath and opened the door, taking a step in as he did. He saw Bakugo, who simply glared at him in disbelief. He matched Bakugo's gaze confidently and walked toward him, totally unafraid to confront his old friend.
"Katsuki," Izuku simply addressed him.
"Izuku," Bakugo did the same.
"We've both made it. We're both Heroes in training," Izuku stated.
"We have. We are. If you're doing this just to spite me, you're not going to get a reaction out of me, so-" Bakugo was cut off.
"If you think I'm doing this just to spite you, then I know you aren't taking this seriously enough," Izuku said, taking his seat behind the blond.
The class watched in awe. Nobody had dared to talk to Bakugo, and this new guy had managed to call him by his given name and walk away unscathed. They were secretly applauding him, but didn't in reality out of fear of an outburst from Bakugo.
The next person to walk into class was Uraraka, who was running to her seat when Izuku spotted her. As she sat down, she gave an energetic wave to Izuku, which he returned in earnest.
"You made it!" Izuku said.
"I did, thanks to you!" Uraraka said, smiling brightly.
Izuku almost blushed, but got in control of himself before he did or said something embarrassing. Good thing, too, because a homeless looking man with a long, grey scarf carrying a sleeping bag walked in at that moment. Izuku didn't recognize him, which spoke volumes of the man's obscurity, since UA only hired qualified Pro Heroes. The man made his way to the podium and addressed the class.
"You're already seated. That's good; it means you know that time is precious. My name is Shota Aizawa, and I'll be your Homeroom teacher this year. Put these on and follow me," Aizawa introduced himself, pulling gym uniforms out of his sleeping bag as he spoke.
Izuku and Uraraka shared a look, but did as Aizawa said anyway. They went there separate ways and got changed into the uniforms their teacher had handed out, meeting back up again at an athletics field.
The class consisted of twenty students, and they all had such unique looks to them that Izuku couldn't help but want to write them all down in his notebook. He didn't have it with him, it was in his locker, so he settled for committing their appearances and possible Quirks to memory and writing it down later.
"What are we doing here? We're missing orientation," Uraraka asked, the only one brave enough to speak out against the teacher.
Izuku pulled Uraraka by the arm, getting a questioning look from her. He held strong, giving her the most determined look he could to let her know to not question him.
"We're here because ceremonies like that are illogical. They waste valuable time, and I'd like to get a solid grasp on your abilities before we start classes properly. Today, I'm conducting a Quirk apprehension test. I trust you've all done the seven standard fitness tests throughout middle school?" Aizawa explained, getting nods in response to his question.
"Good. In the past, you haven't been allowed to use your Quirks in these tests in the name of equality. That's illogical. You should be able to use your full powers to get the best result possible. That's what we're doing today. Midoriya," Aizawa said.
"Yes?" Izuku responded.
"You got first place in the entrance exam. Walk into the circle and throw this as hard as you can. Use your Quirk, just don't leave the circle," Aizawa instructed, throwing a baseball.
Izuku caught the baseball and headed over to a small circle beside Aizawa. He still hadn't placed where he had seen Aizawa before, but he was definitely a Pro Hero, and a highly ranking one at that. He wouldn't teach at UA if he wasn't.
As he stopped inside the circle, Izuku had decided it would be electrostatic repulsion that got him through this test. He squeezed the ball slightly, and got into a throwing stance. He collected a small bubble of static electricity in his palm and pushed, sending the ball high into the air. The ball's launch created a small shockwave, kicking up dust and dirt around him. Uraraka cheered for Izuku in the background. He could almost hear Bakugo's teeth grinding, but chose to ignore that fact in favor of the fact that the ball still hadn't landed. Aizawa had a small tablet that was tracking the ball, and the distance was still ticking.
Finally, after about thirty seconds, the ball landed. Aizawa simply turned it around to show the class the result, six hundred and fifty two metres. Izuku was astonished, as that had been a small amount of his power. He could've easily sent that ball a kilometre away!
Izuku walked back to the group, still thinking about his result. Uraraka gave him a high five, but Izuku's heart wasn't in it. The two calmed back down as Aizawa pointed to the different sections of the field.
"Today, you'll participate in: The Fifty Metre Dash. The Grip Strength Test. The Standing Long Jump Test. Repeated Side Stepping. The Distance Run. The Seated Toe Touch. Sit Ups, and The Ball Throw. Let's hope you survive!" Aizawa said, an eerie smile creeping onto his face during the last part.
Izuku, after watching everybody else do the Ball Throw, was standing at the start line for the Fifty Metre Dash. He had been partnered up with Bakugo, who was breathing so hard Izuku thought that he was going to pass out.
Aizawa's start signal, a gun that fired blanks, went off, and the two boys shot off. Bakugo used his Explosion Quirk to hover, flying through the air. Izuku used electrostatic levitation to skim across the ground, slightly faster than Bakugo could fly, since the blond's attention was more on staying in the air and not speed.
Izuku crossed the finish line in three and a half seconds, with Bakugo passing a second later, at four and a half seconds. Bakugo, upon landing, walked up to Izuku and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him off the ground.
"What the fuck was that?" Bakugo asked, venom in his voice.
"That …" Izuku pushed Bakugo's hands off of him, letting himself land on the ground. "... is my power."
Izuku walked over to the main group, all of them watching in silence. When he joined the watching party, Izuku grabbed at the back of his neck, rubbing at it to soothe the soreness after Bakugo had held him up by it.
"Are you okay, Midoriya?" Uraraka asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Izuku said, smiling to ease Uraraka's worry.
The next participants lined up at the start. The blue haired boy from the entrance exam, Tenya Iida, and Tsuyu Asui, a frog-like person with large hands and bad posture. They lined up, and when the starting gun went off, both took off with the speed of a cheetah.
Iida used his Quirk, Engine, to run at super speed, while Asui used theirs, Frog, to leap at incredible speeds, both racing along the track. Iida came in at a time of three seconds and a small number that Izuku couldn't read, presumably a few milliseconds over three seconds flat. Asui's time was five and a half seconds.
"You're fast!" Iida complimented.
"Thanks, I've been working on it," Asui spoke with a strange croak.
"I can tell!" Iida said, and the two walked back together.
Iida and Asui's race was the only one of interest to Izuku, as well as the only Quirks being suited to speed, so Izuku kind of checked out for the rest of the races, zoning back in when Aizawa called out the next test; Grip Strength. Izuku watched as a large boy with multiple arms, who had also been at the same Battle Zone as Izuku during the entrance exam, Mezo Shoji, squeezed the gauge with all of his arms on one side, getting the result of five hundred and forty kilograms. Slightly intimidated, Izuku gave it his best shot, wondering if he could reverse the action of pushing when doing his electrostatic repulsion move to make it pull, becoming 'Electrostatic Attraction'.
Izuku tried this new move on the strength gauge, creating a small field of static electricity around his hand and pulling it together, making his grip get tighter and tighter until it started to hurt, at which point he had achieved a grip strength of four hundred kilograms.
Another interesting result to watch out for was Rikido Sato, a boy with a bodybuilder's frame that looked like he could easily match Shoji in strength. Izuku didn't know what score he got, but he was sure that it was impressive.
"Alright! Time for the Standing Long Jump!" Aizawa called out, and everybody moved over to the sandpit.
Bakugo was the first to do the long jump. He crouched down and jumped, using his Explosions to power his leap, flying far beyond the sandpit. Next, a boy named Yuuga Aoyama had his turn, and Izuku recognized him as the boy wearing the magnifying glass at the entrance exam. In fact, he was still wearing it, now. Aoyama fired off a powerful laser from the belt as he jumped, propelling him into the air and beyond the sandpit.
Next, it was Izuku's turn. He wasn't sure if him hovering over the pit with his electrostatic levitation still counted as 'touching' the pit, so he resorted to more extreme measures. Izuku had been tinkering with a new move, flight. If Izuku could get it right, he would be able to lift himself up with a more powerful form of his electrostatic levitation, and achieve flight.
Izuku stepped up to the starting platform and held his hands out. He started by making a small field around his hands and lifting it, slowly lifting himself off the ground. Next, he dissipated the fields, but formed two new ones around his feet, but his downward momentum was too great, making him fall into the sandpit, face first.
Having to pick himself back up and walk back to the group, Izuku groaned. He got up and made his way back, clearing the pit for one of his classmates to jump, ignoring the satisfied smile on Bakugo's face.
The rest of the tests followed a pattern. Izuku would either find a way to use his powers to enhance his results, or he would fall on his face, amusing Bakugo and causing Uraraka to fret over him like he was a child. If Izuku was being honest, something he made a point to be, he thought it was cute that Uraraka cared so much for people she hardly knew.
As the tests came to a close, Izuku was nervous. He had excelled in a lot of the tests, but also fallen onto the ground on more than one occasion. Uraraka had been there to help him up, every time, and that made him feel better about Bakugo's eyes on him constantly. The two were now standing together, waiting for their overall results.
"Who do you think came first?" Uraraka asked.
"That girl with the ponytail," Izuku said, pointing to their classmate with black hair in a spiky ponytail standing next to a boy with hair split down the middle; the right side of his hair being white, and the left being red.
"Oh. Why?" Uraraka asked again.
"Her Quirk is very versatile. It's some form of matter manipulation, and that's an extremely useful power to have as a Pro Hero. Did you see how she made a scooter for the distance run?" Izuku explained.
"Oh, yeah," Uraraka said, and looked back to Aizawa.
Aizawa stood before the group, holding the tablet with all of their results. He pressed a button and a holographic display activated, showing the class's scores. Aizawa blinked away his sleepiness.
"I'm not gonna go through how I got these results, so just look at them," Aizawa said.
Izuku looked through the list and found himself at fourth. He supposed that wasn't bad, but he wished he had made more of a splash on his first day. All Might had saved hundreds of people from a collapsed building as his debut as a Pro Hero, so Izuku had big boots to fill.
"Oh, man! I'm eleventh? That's a bummer!" Uraraka complained while keeping her bubbly attitude.
"Hey, that isn't bad! You're above nine people! That's pretty good, right?" Izuku tried to cheer her up.
"Indeed! You scored quite well, Uraraka. You, too, Midoriya," Iida said as he approached.
"I only got fourteenth," Asui said, their posture worsening and their hands dropping from their position.
"Well, we're here to improve," Izuku said, looking at everyone that had surrounded him.
"That is true," Iida said, stroking his chin. Izuku didn't think that people really did that, but here Iida was, doing it.
"Hi, I'm Tsuyu Asui, but my friends call me Tsu," Asui introduced themself.
"Hi, I'm-" Izuku went to introduce himself as well, but was cut off by Asui.
"I know," Asui said, and started walking away.
Izuku was stunned. People knew who he was before having to introduce himself. He had experienced the bad side of this before, but this was the good side, where he had an actual reputation that wasn't as a weirdo.
After Aizawa had handed out the reading packs for that semester, Izuku had walked out with Uraraka, Iida and Asui. The four walked down the trail to the main gates, before they stopped to go their separate ways. Izuku started to walk to the train when he looked back to see that Uraraka had stayed in place. He stopped, turning to look at her. He gave her a questioning look, and she smiled awkwardly.
"Um, do you guys wanna hang out?" Uraraka asked, her voice wavering.
Izuku realized that Uraraka hadn't said anything the whole walk down to the gates. She must have been working up the courage to ask them all to hang out with her. Izuku related to that on a few levels, and started walking towards her with a warm smile.
"Okay, let's hang out. Are you guys in?" he asked the others.
Iida and Asui were already walking back toward the two, giving their answer. Izuku looked to Uraraka, who looked like she was about to cry. She sprang a surprise hug on Izuku, who almost fell over from the unexpected weight on him. He laughed, though he didn't know what to do with his hands.
Uraraka released him, straightening her uniform when she did. She looked over the group and sighed.
"Thank you," she said, wiping her eyes.
The group, after some bickering, chose to go to a restaurant a block away. As they headed to the restaurant, they got to talking. Izuku learned that Iida's older brother was Ingenium, the latest in a long line, he learned that Asui had two younger siblings, and that Uraraka's parents ran a construction company in Tsu City.
In the restaurant, once they had booked a booth, Uraraka got an idea. She tapped the table with her fingers as she tried to articulate her idea, struggling to find the words. Izuku also knew how that felt, his brain being faster than his mouth sometimes. Uraraka got frustrated with her inability to find the right words, and Izuku put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a small smile.
"Take your time," he said, nodding as Uraraka took a deep breath.
"I have an idea. We should play Icebreaker!" Uraraka said.
"What's Icebreaker?" Izuku asked, making Uraraka spun around and looked at him like he was crazy.
"Only the greatest game ever! You basically just go around reading out a question from a list, and everybody answers. It helps you get to know people!" Uraraka explained.
"Alright," Izuku said.
While Uraraka pulled up the list on her phone, Izuku turned to Iida. He had red eyes, which contrasted nicely with his dark blue hair. His glasses seemed to be made of the same metal as Ingenium's armor, made to take damage.
"So, what's being Ingenium's little brother like?" Izuku asked.
"It's about what you'd expect. I look up to him so much, but sometimes I feel like I'll never measure up to him," Iida expressed his fear.
"From what we can see, you're already living up to the hype," Asui said, smiling at Iida.
"I got it!" Uraraka cheered.
"Alright, so we just read out the questions?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah. You just choose who you want to ask it to. Midoriya, what's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?" Uraraka asked.
Izuku had to think about it. He thought back to all the advice he'd been given by All Might, and he didn't need to say who gave the advice, so he guessed he was in the clear with an All Might quote.
"There's a difference between a gift and a reward. One is earned through hard work, and one is given by sheer luck. Never confuse the two," Izuku answered.
The table was silent. Izuku wondered if he had said something wrong, but he saw their expressions. They had really taken that to heart, each and every one of them. Izuku breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he hadn't upset anyone.
"Dang, that was a good one. Okay, your turn!" Uraraka said, passing her phone to Izuku. It was a little flip phone, but Izuku knew his way around one.
"Um, okay. Asui-" "Call me Tsu," "-, would you say that you have any hidden talents?" Izuku asked, getting talked over halfway through by Asui.
"I can spit up my stomach to clean it. Is that a talent?" Asui asked, looking to Iida for approval.
"I think that counts," Iida said, smiling at Asui.
Next, Asui was passed the phone, and they started scrolling. Uraraka poked Izuku on the arm, and he turned to see her blushing more than usual. He knew that something was wrong, but she didn't want to say. She had her scarf bundled up in her hands, covering her face slightly.
"What's up?" Izuku asked.
"I'm sorry for my little mix-up earlier," Uraraka asked, her voice small.
"Does it happen often?" Izuku asked, keeping his voice as kind as possible.
"More than I'd like. It's happened for as long as I've been able to talk," Uraraka admitted.
"That's fine. It happens to me a couple of times a week as well. It's nothing to be sorry for. You're just being you, and that's a good thing. Nobody will ever ask anything else of you," Izuku said, putting a hand on Uraraka's shoulder.
Uraraka looked up from her little safe haven, locking eyes with Izuku. They shared a moment, looking each other in the eyes, and it seemed like time stopped. Everything else fell away, and they smiled at each other in their own world.
"I found one," Asui said, snapping them back to reality.
"Go ahead, Asui," Iida said.
"Call me Tsu. Uraraka, If you had to sing karaoke, what song would you pick?" Asui asked.
Uraraka sucked air in through her teeth as she thought, not expecting that kind of question. She drummed on the table with her fingers, subconsciously falling into a beat of a popular song.
"Oh!" she snapped her fingers. "You're My Light, by Ito Watanabe!" Uraraka answered.
Izuku chuckled at Uraraka's actions. He looked out into the city through the window, seeing the Heroic Form of All Might flying through the sky, toward the city's central business district. He knew that the Hero had just gotten out of the campus, and he had chosen to go right into Heroics. That's why Izuku loved him as a Hero.
"Midoriya," Iida called out.
"Hmm?" Izuku hummed in response.
"If you could instantly become an expert in something, what would it be?" Iida asked.
"Easy. Karate, hands down," Izuku answered quickly.
"More like hands up!" Uraraka said, imitating a karate stance and giggling at her own joke along with Izuku and Asui.
Suddenly, Iida's phone buzzed, and he checked his notifications to see a message from his brother. He stood up, politely asking for Asui to move so that he could get out of the booth. They slid out and let him pass, sitting back down when he was out.
"What's up, Iida?" Izuku asked.
"My older brother has come home. He's been gone for a few weeks, but he's back, now. I'm sorry to interrupt the game, but-" Iida tried to apologize.
"No, go to your brother. It was nice talking with you!" Uraraka said.
"Yeah!" Izuku agreed.
"Good night," Iida said, turning to leave.
While Iida walked to the exit, Izuku checked the time. He almost cursed out loud when he saw that it was already seven o'clock. He showed Uraraka the time, but she seemed unfazed.
"I can be home whenever," Uraraka said.
"Oh, cool!" Izuku said.
"I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow," Asui said, waving goodbye to the two.
"Bye!" they said in unison.
With them being the only ones left in the booth, Izuku slid over to the other side of the table. He looked over at Uraraka, looking at every random thing that happened. Izuku had suspicions, but tonight had proved them.
"When were you diagnosed with ADD?" Izuku asked.
Uraraka froze.
"How do you know?" she asked, tilting her head in the way that Izuku totally didn't think was the cutest thing ever.
"I'm basically made of pure energy at this point. I have similar troubles," Izuku explained.
"Oh. I was diagnosed when I was seven. I had trouble focusing at school, and I couldn't sit still for more than five minutes. I got stuck on certain words. I knew what I wanted to say, but I couldn't say it," Uraraka said, rubbing the back of her head.
"I suppose that ADD can be an advantage in many ways when acting as a Hero," Izuku thought out loud, making Uraraka's head shoot up to look at him.
"How?" she asked.
"You're constantly looking for stimuli; that can be equated to constantly being on the move when patrolling. You're energetic, meaning that you'll tire slower when in battle. When you get overwhelmed, it's like you can feel every little thing that's happening around you, right?" she nodded. "That's like battle awareness. It can be equated in many ways," Izuku explained.
Uraraka looked at him in awe. She smiled and chuckled to herself, shaking her head at Izuku's smarts.
"I should've known that you'd be super smart, too," Uraraka said.
"How do you mean?" Izuku asked.
"You figured that out after talking to me for more than two minutes three times. Usually, people as strong as you have the brains to back it up," Uraraka explained herself.
A light from outside shone on Uraraka's face, making her eyes twinkle as she laughed. Izuku had to stop himself from blushing yet again, wondering what the hell was wrong with him. You like her, a part of his mind whispered, but he shut that down as fast as he could.
The two fell into a comfortable silence, simply enjoying each other's company. This was the case for a few minutes, until Uraraka remembered something that had happened multiple times throughout the day.
"How do you know Bakugo?" she asked.
Izuku almost choked on his own saliva. Uraraka must have noticed this reaction to Bakugo's name, because she immediately backpedalled. She waved her hands in front of her, shaking her head furiously.
"You don't have to talk about him if you don't want to! I'm sorry for bringing him up, I was just curious!" Uraraka shouted.
"It's fine. It was just a little … unexpected," Izuku's voice cracked on the last word.
"Sorry," Uraraka said, a little slower than before.
"Again, it's fine. Bakugo and I have been friends for a long time. We grew up together, but we fell out about a year ago. We had different views on our future together," Izuku explained.
"That's a bummer. What do you think of Iida and Tsu?" Uraraka asked.
"I like them. It's a shame they had to leave, though," Izukun said.
"Yeah," Uraraka agreed.
Izuku checked the time again, deciding then was when he called it a night. Izuku slid out of the booth, Uraraka following him. They walked outside, discovering that it had started raining.
"Oh, dang it!" Uraraka cursed.
"It's fine. Watch this," Izuku said, stepping out into the rain.
Just as he was about to be rained on, Izuku put up a field of static electricity, creating a dome around himself to block the rain. He invited Uraraka to step into the field, extending his hand for her to take it.
Uraraka took Izuku's hand and stepped into the field, feeling a strange sensation as she crossed into it. She looked up, still half expecting the rain to fall on her. Uraraka looked at Izuku, and she felt a new feeling, unlike the static electricity around her. More like when she activated her Quirk; floaty.
Her blush deepened as he smiled, and she started giggling at nothing. Izuku started chuckling as well, and soon they were two weirdos standing in a bubble laughing at nothing. It was nice.