Izuku sat in the infirmary and felt more than a little awkward.

Because of what had happened the class schedule was pushed back in favor of taking measures to make sure everyone's quirks were accounted for to a greater degree.

Recovery Girl was thrilled and had apparently been pushing for this for years but it wasn't until he briefly died(?) on school grounds that she was able to force the school board to agree with her.

It just felt weird that everyone saw him like that and now it was his fault they were missing a few days of school. It was now day two of Aizawa and Recovery Girl having an extensive conversation with every student about their quirk and any anomalies they might not have accounted for.

He'd rested for that first day and honestly felt mostly fine now. That didn't change the fact that he still felt guilty for everything even though he knew that it technically wasn't his fault. Not to mention that fact that his teacher seemed hesitant to look in his direction anymore, let alone look him in the eyes.

So that was pretty uncomfortable.

"Oi, stop moping, we're coming up next and this isn't actually a bad thing."

He didn't say anything as Aoyama was in the room but nodded his head slightly to show he understood and was listening.

"Now, just relax and answer the questions truthfully when you can and act stupid when you can't. Force activated quirks are confusing so you can get away with playing the idiot card if they get too close to the truth."

Izuku nodded again, but neither were fooled and knew he was definitely panicking and didn't do great under pressure. It certainly didn't help that his body was trying to hyperventilate and Tanaka was definitely aware of that.

"Fuck it. Alright kid, we can't fuck this up or we'll either end up in prison or dead. So since we told them I'm a sentient quirk I'll answer as much as possible for you. All you'll have to do is not freak the fuck out and answer any questions I don't know about."

At this they were called in the Recovery Girl's office.

He sat down before Aizawa and the school nurse as he fidgeted nervously. Though it wasn't because of nerves, he began to sweat slime. Tanaka couldn't exactly help in a conversation if he was hidden away in his chest cavity.

"You don't need to be so nervous Midoriya, you aren't in any trouble. Aizawa and I simply want to go over your quirk and general health so that we know best how to keep our students healthy and safe."

"I know I've apologized already, but I'd like to do so again. I'm not sure I can ever make up for harming one of my students. If you ever want to be transferred to 1-B instead that will always be an option available to you. Though after speaking with your mother, it looks like you'll be transferred to 1-B at some point anyways."

"Oh, um. I guess as long as you don't plan on using your quirk in class I don't think it'll be a problem. And It's fine, it was an accident, you didn't have a way of knowing…."

He nodded, "Very well, let's move on to questions about quirks. From what I understand yours is very different compared to your family."

Izuku nodded, "Yeah, my father has fire breathing and my mom can attract small objects. Pretty much everyone on her side of the family has some sort of limited telekinesis quirk. My uncle's is nearly the same as hers, except he can pull the objects way faster and only from someone's hand."

Recovery Girl hummed in thought. "Perhaps that is where the control aspect of your quirk comes from, since the slime is capable of movement as well. Though force activated quirks in general tend to be more varied than your typical variety.

"Now, as we've been doing with everyone else, we want to go over any specific concerns that your quirk might create. Whether that is a weakness, a dietary need that we might not know about, or just anything else you'd like us to be aware of."

Tanaka expanded the slime that he had built up, creating a rudimentary slime head to talk from even if it came out slurred from the lack of teeth.

"Alright, let's get to it. Name's Tanaka, I'm his quirk and I can explain myself better than any other idiot would."

Aizawa seemed a bit surprised by the sudden entrance, but nodded to indicate he could continue. Izuku realized he wasn't sure if his file indicated this his sentient slime could talk.

"So, being mostly water means that electricity and ice are a big no-no and one of the few ways I can be seriously injured. Oh, and water is tricky too."

Recovery Girl looked up from her notes in interest. "Water?"

"Yep, too much water can make me diluted and weaker. If there's more than that I don't fuckin' know since I'm only a year old so whatever."

Aizawa nodded, "You're not the only student that is particularly vulnerable to the cold, so we'll talk to the support department about making sure you have the needed equipment. In your case in particular, there may be unexplored aspects to quirks, so we'll be going into that to make sure your full potential is met while keeping you safe."

Recovery Girl hummed in thought, "Would it be possible to take some of you as a sample to test in order to understand your new biology better?"

Tanaka quickly spoke up to shut that down. "Hell no, lady. Just because I'm a quirk doesn't mean you're allowed to chop bits off of me! Dark Shadow and I are down to unionize and go on strike for our rights."

Izuku was confused and shocked. "What? When did you even talk to him?"

"I haven't yet, but I bet he'd back me up."

"Calm down dearie, no one will do anything against your will. You have the right to deny any testing. However, I would like to at least talk about something with you."

"Yeah?"

"Well, as I'm sure you've noticed. There's no real difference from one cell of your body to the next, yet you are able to function as any organ in the body. This implies you might be able to do this purposefully, where you apply the attributes of whatever organ you need."

"Not sure how that'll be helpful. Not sure I can beat villains by turning into a giant liver."

"No, but said giant liver would make you highly resistant to poison. But I was thinking more along the lines of focusing the stomach acid or stomach lining that is normally in your abdomen into those tendrils of yours. You would now have acid and acid resistance, though it would take a bit of practice and focus."

Izuku spoke quietly with a tone of wonder, "I thought you were just the school nurse?"

She laughed in response. "I've been an active hero for over sixty years, you can bet I know my way around heroics and quirks. I'll let you off this time, but you underestimate this old lady again and I'll whack you upside the head." She pointed her cane at him threateningly.

Aizawa looked at a clock on the wall. "It looks like we went over into your lunch, but you should have enough time if you hurry."

As if to spite the teacher, alarms went off telling all students to evacuate.

"Ugh, just stay here so you don't end up in the stampede. I'll go deal with this, it's probably either the media or a student forgot their ID and thought they should jump the gate instead."

After both teachers left to investigate he just sat around and chatted with Tanaka until it was declared that there wasn't actually an emergency.

The next day ended up being their first real day with official introductions and the quirk apprehension test that got postponed for obvious reasons.

Izuku turned to Uraraka, the girl he'd saved at the entrance exam. "So, what did you guys actually end up doing on the first day?"

"Oh, All Might just brought us to orientation with the rest of the classes."

"Huh, well I'm glad I didn't miss too much."

"Yeah, about that… Well they were pretty vague when talking to us. What actually happened, if you don't mind sharing?"

He'd have to be an idiot to miss that nearly the entire class was giving this conversation a lot of their attention. It wasn't a surprise though that people would be curious.

Tanaka made himself known by ejecting himself out of Izuku's mouth, alarming many of their classmates as well as Izuku. "Well you see, teacher man with the glowy eyes can erase quirks by lookin' at you. And I have the real fuckin' important job of also being his organs as well as his quirk, and him usin' his quirk kept me from doing that job."

Dark Shadow shot across the room and seemed to inspect Tanaka with Tokoyami walking over after him. "It would appear that we share the gift and curse of eternal companionship."

Uraraka cut off the two bird headed teens before either could move the conversation. "Wait, we are not glossing over this. So you're a sentient quirk that actively keeps Izuku alive? That sounds kinda risky."

"Well, removing a quirk is not exactly easy, Eraser-Bitch is one of the only people who can do that."

"Hey! Watch the language. Even though you have your own consciousness I have no issue sending you and Izuku to detention together. Now, that you all know each other's names and whatever, go outside and get ready for the quirk assessment, it's still important to know where you're starting so we can keep track of your growth."

As they left the room a kid with weird ball hair chuckled rudely, "Try not to die this time, slime boy."

Wow, that was a quick way to make Izuku feel like shit again.

Little did they know, but while the hero students were testing their strength and quirks at the school a mob of villains stormed the USJ.

Shigaraki was ready for a fight and charged in with his Nomu only to find it was empty.

"What! Where is everyone! Did the NPCs not spawn? Where's the boss?!"

Kurogiri remained calm externally and did his best to make sure that no one instigated the already furious man-child. Internally he was jumping for joy. No one was here, which meant Aizawa wasn't here either and he wouldn't be forced to harm the man.

"Perhaps there was a change in schedule?"

"What point is there in having a spy if we can't even get the right info!?"

"Hm, that is a good point. Well, they might have been unable to reach us without breaking cover, or they could have simply been unaware of the shift?"

"Kurogiri, mute your dialogue box before I turn you to dust."

He simply nodded in response.

"You get in contact with that idiot spy and find out exactly when they'll actually be here!"

He nodded again, the order for silence not yet being lifted.

So they all travelled back in defeat and he watched in silence as Tomura destroyed the bar that he called home. He had no possessions or anything he could call his own, but since he was put in charge of the bar he cherished everything there. However, he could do nothing but stand still as Tomura turned most of it to dust in an aimless tantrum after 'Sensei' indicated his disappointment at the mistake.

He would give anything to be free, but that simply wasn't in the cards for him.

The class stood in front of the board that showed all of them their rankings, the threat of expulsion still floating in everyone's minds. Tanaka slowly compressed and pulled back into his body. He was trying to get used to the method of having Tanaka escape through his pores, but it took much longer and meant he always felt slimy afterwards.

However, he couldn't deny that their slime gauntlet move looked way cooler than just projectile vomiting Tanaka on his enemies.

Izuku found himself on the chart and was in fourth place for the class and felt pretty good about that. Everyone who had done better than him was an absolute powerhouse. Yaoyorozu was reasonable at first since she had god-like powers of creation. Shouto was in second place, again it made sense since he had a powerful ice quirk. And of course Bakugou was ahead of him as well, but once again it was by just a few of him hoped Bakugou was nervous with there being a new precedent for Izuku being just a few points behind him and gaining.

On the end of the chart, Mineta was in last place.

"The threat of expulsion was a logic ruse to make you do your best. However, if you continue to harass your classmates then you'll be kicked out regardless. I don't teach students without potential."

All in all, it was a good day even if people still stared at him a bit. But he figured that was a natural consequence of nearly dying on the first day of school. He did notice that Shoji and Jiro seemed to be staring a bit more than others, but he'd have to be a hypocrite to judge them for it. He may or may not have been staring at Shouto more than an acceptable amount over the course of the day.

Usually he wouldn't be creepy like that, but he just had too many thoughts to be a reasonable and respectful person. Thoughts about what kind of person Endeavor was, about what kind of life Shouto lived, how Shouto would feel about his mom, about if the person Rei knew ten years ago was still the person Endeavor was or if he had changed.

They were packing up from class when the consequences to his actions walked up to him in the form of Shouto Todoroki.

He paused for a moment and it quickly became only the two of them in the class. Ok, he just needed to stay calm. With any luck he'd be like Rei and she was fine to talk with.

"You've been staring at me."

Wow, ok, that's not false but very direct.

"Oh, ah, um, no. Well, maybe a little."

This response was completely ignored. "Many people stare, but they either look at me in anger or jealousy, some treat me like a celebrity. You just look confused and sad. I want to know why."

"Wow, ok, I guess I was less subtle than I meant to be."

"I see, my father sent you to spy on me but you were not as skilled as he expected."

"What?! No! Your father didn't send me!"

Ice began to form around his hand like a dagger and he fell into a defensive position. "But someone did? Was it villains?"

He pushed Izuku into a wall with the ice knife pointed at his neck, "Who sent you? Clearly you were not well trained in the art of deception. I have no issues with forcing you to tell me."

"Your mom asked me!"

Suddenly, all of the fight and aggression melted from his face and turned to pure shock, yet the knife remained unpleasantly close to his person. "What? My mother? Why on Earth would she send a spy?"

"I'm not a spy. I'm just friends with her and when she found out I'd be going to UA she asked that I watch out for you. Oh god, please don't stab me, she just wanted you to have a friend."

Finally the ice knife was discarded and left to become a puddle on the floor.

"She… she wanted me to have a friend?"

"Um, yeah. She was worried about you since she knows how shitty your dad can be."

Shouto looked like he was having at least three existential crises at once, so Izuku gave him all the time he needed to respond. "I see. I did not realize she still cared about me."

"What? She cares about you so much. I won't deny that she made some big mistakes but she definitely loves you a lot."

Tanaka decided to make himself known from inside Izuku's chest cavity. "Yeah man, she's super sorry about the whole face burning thing and is a great lady now."

"Tanaka!" He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Sorry about him, he's not exactly the most sensitive."

"I do not care what your quirk says. Though I must ask how you even met my mother since she is locked away in a mental hospital and not allowed to leave at all."

He sighed sadly. "Do I really need to spell it out for you? You saw my scars, heard Bakugou yelling about me having a forced activation quirk, and now you know I'm friends with your mom who's stuck in a mental hospital."

Shouto nodded slowly in response, piecing it together in his mind. "I see. You have given me much to think about." At that he walked away without another word.

After he had left and was out of hearing range Tanaka laughed loudly, "Man, that guy is kind of a douchebag, I like him."

I definitely enjoyed writing this chapter even if it was a little shorter than others, there was lots of fun foreshadowing, some more subtle than others.