Chapter 14

.:. Dorm Sweet Dorm .:.

"Thank you for coming out here here to meet us, Midoriya-san," Sir Nighteye said.

"Of course," she cupped the tea that he'd provided and took a sip, looking around the office. That was... a lot of All Might merchandise. And she said that as someone who shared a home with Izuku. He might rival Izuku's collection. "Um, is this something Izuku should be here for, or...?"

"No, no. As his guardian, we wanted—we thought you deserved to be kept in the loop, but we didn't want to worry him unnecessarily."

Well that certainly wasn't doing Inko's blood pressure any favors. "He's not in any danger, is he?" she asked frantically. I know you'd said he might be at risk of being a target if his secret got out, but we've been so careful—"

"No, he's not," All Might assured her, and waited until she calmed down a bit to continue, "but the appearance of your son's Quirk did cause us to do some additional digging. Before I begin, please understand that all this is technically classified information, so we'll ask that you not share it, including with your son."

"I understand," Inko promised, and he nodded.

All Might took a deep breath before continuing. "The man we told you about, who Izuku's Quirk reminded me of. We've... found evidence that his organization was engaged in illegal genetics research revolving around the manipulation, reproduction, and induced appearance of Quirks. On top of that, the sudden appearance of secondary Quirks happened very shortly after I defeated their leader."

Inko took a moment to digest that information. "I remember right after everything, there was a lot of speculation that some villain group was behind everything that was going on," she recalled. "Do you think they're connected, then?"

"We do," Sir Nighteye confirmed. "And with those pieces of information in mind, it's possible that the similarities between Izuku's Quirk and the leader's aren't entirely coincidental."

Inko's eyes widened as understanding struck. "You think they implanted Izuku with that villain's Quirk?"

"We suspect that it is indeed the same Quirk, or at least derived from it, though I doubt they specifically targeted him. They likely would have acted by now if they had, for one thing. For another, whatever the mechanism behind the spread of Quirks, it appears to have been out of their control once it got going." The sidekick shook his head. "In any case, the possibility does paint everything in a somewhat different light. We're going to have to be even more cautious going forward. To that end," he nodded to All Might, who shifted awkwardly in his chair.

"The Principal of UA is an old friend of mine, and he's been helping us with our investigation. He'd like to do whatever he can to assist and protect your family, especially in the event that Izuku is accepted into UA. As part of that, he'd like you to consider the possibility of the two of you staying at the on-campus dorms."

"Up until now, they've mostly been used for students with difficult Quirks who need additional training or accommodations," Nighteye added. "They're planning to advertise it as part of the normal resources they offer this year to all students, though. It would be more secure than staying at your apartment."

Inko frowned, thinking it over for a few moments. This was a lot of information to take in on such short notice. "That... makes sense for Izuku, but wouldn't my being there draw the wrong kind of attention?"

Sir Nighteye shook his head. "We've already considered that. As it so happens, the expansion of the dorm program means the school is in the market for someone to help handle the logistics of it all. I understand that you went to school for business management?"

She nodded, "I-I did, though my degree hasn't seen much use for a while..."

"Well, in any case, the principal asked me to pass this along to you." He fished out a business card and handed it to her. She glanced at it to see UA's logo and the name "Nedzu, Mr. Principal," along with a cartoonish drawing of beady eyes, a black dot for a nose, two rectangular ears and a triangular smile. "If you're interested in the position, he said he'd be happy to have you on board."

Walking through UA's gates for the second time to move in still left Izuku with the same sense of awe he'd felt at the entrance exam. He kept twisting his head every direction as he followed a robot to the dorms, drinking in the entirety of the campus. The dorms were a bit further from the main building, taking about ten minutes to reach while following a beautifully designed stone path.

"Dorms, dorms!" the robot announced, turning to face him and setting down his boxes. "Task complete. Goodbye!" Izuku didn't even respond as it hurried off, head tilting back to stare at the dorms in pure awe. They were even more magnificent than he could have imagined. The five-story building had been built with two towers connected by a two-story-tall central corridor, "HERO 1" emblazoned on the connecting corridor in white lettering nearly as tall as the wall itself.

He took a deep breath as he grabbed his boxes and walked through the doors, which had been left propped open for students moving in. Since his mom worked here as a dorm supervisor he knew he'd be one of the first ones here so she could help the other kids move in. Right now she was at the faculty dorm where she'd be staying with other on-site faculty members, making last-minute arrangements with them before heading over.

When he entered the building, he found the lobby mostly empty. The first floor seemed to be a common space, with several chairs and couches spread around one side of the room. A standing corkboard had been set up facing the door, with a large sign featuring a map of the building and several hooks holding keys on each side of it. When Izuku got closer he saw the map had been labeled to show boys on the left half of the building and girls on the other, with a sign below it:

"Students may select their rooms. Room assignments are subject to change as the year proceeds depending on student needs. Mark your room on the board below after taking the key!"

Beneath that was a smaller white board with a list of names Izuku mostly didn't recognize. The dorm had eight boys and six girls, so given they had four floors to choose from that meant there would probably be at least two kids to each floor.

Three of them had already checked in: two guys named Yoarashi Inasa and Rin Hiryuu, who both chose rooms on the second floor, and a girl named Tsunotori Pony on the third. Interestingly, it seemed a room on the fifth floor had already been reserved for someone named Mineta Minoru, since the key was taped by his name and the room number had been filled in with the same handwriting as the names.

One name, however, caught his eye and made him perk up. "Uraraka's here too?" he asked excitedly. They'd forgotten to exchange phone numbers after the exam (they were really tired, and had to rush for Uraraka to catch her train) so they hadn't been able to talk. He at least knew they both got in since he remembered seeing their scores in the chart of the top ten scores.

Unfortunately, Tsuburaba wasn't on the list of students staying in the dorms, so Izuku would have to wait until Monday to see what class he got in. Even if he wasn't in 1-A, from what his mom said the dorm had kids from both the hero classes here, so he could always ask some of the 1-B kids to get his number.

He shook off the thought and turned away, glancing at the stairs. Since he got here early he had his pick of the lot, so he might as well check out what the rooms looked like. With that in mind he headed upstairs for the third floor, leaving his boxes out of the way downstairs and trusting no one would steal them. Everyone in this dorm wanted to be heroes, so stealing stuff would go against their core values.

When he reached the third floor, he found all the doors were open, presumably so students could see them before choosing. They were all pretty spacious and plain with white walls, each containing one single bed, a desk, a dresser and a rolling chair. They also had balconies with curtains pulled aside to reveal the views.

Izuku paused as he stared through the glass sliding doors from the entrance of the room. From here, all he could see were the trees surrounding the building. They were pretty, but not exactly something he'd find that interesting. Since he was the first one here, he could afford to be picky. With that in mind he quickly jogged up to the other floors to check out the views from there.

After about ten minutes of deliberation he decided on the fourth floor. He could see over the tops of the trees there, but still see them so it didn't feel like he was staring over them. The treeline made the view from the balcony feel more natural. With that in mind he headed downstairs to grab his boxes, just in time to find someone else there.

Mainly because a box almost hit him in the head.

He yelped as he dodged out of the way, eyes bulging at the box that bobbed through the air. "Oh, my apologies," a female voice intoned dully nearby. A silver-haired girl stood near the stairs to the girls' area, her long bangs covering half her face and her exposed eye looking rather dull. She had one box in her arms, and two more floating towards her. "I did not realize someone else was here yet."

"Um, it's okay?" Izuku replied, coming out more like a question than he intended. "I mean, I should have paid more attention, too, so..." He trailed off awkwardly. The girl didn't respond, turning to the stairs to head up with the two boxes bobbing after her. Okay, so that had to be a telekinetic Quirk. So cool! He quickly darted to the sign, noting she'd already taken one of the girls' keys for the fourth floor.

While he grabbed a key for the fourth floor he heard a grunt from the entrance and turned to see someone stagger inside with several boxes piled high enough he couldn't see the person's face. He startled and ran over. "Hey, do you need any help?"

"No, I got it," the person grunted, setting the boxes on the ground. It was a bulky-looking guy with spiky dark brown hair and noticeably thick lips. He turned to Izuku with a smile and nod. "Thanks for the offer though! So are the dorms already pre-assigned?"

"Oh, no, we can choose them," Izuku replied, shaking his head. "I was just about to take my stuff up to the fourth floor. There's a map over there with all the unclaimed rooms, I think you're the fourth guy to arrive. I'm Midoriya Izuku, by the way."

"Satou Rikido, and thanks." Satou nodded and headed over to look at the board, while Izuku went to collect his boxes and head upstairs. He started unpacking right away, getting out his sheets and bedspread first so the mattress wouldn't be bare. He worked his way up from there, unpacking all his All Might and hero figurines and putting his clothes away. Of course, the Mighty Appendix got a spot of honor on his bed.

He didn't know how long he worked, but eventually Izuku decided he'd reached a good stopping point for the moment. Mainly because he didn't really feel like climbing onto the chair to hang up his curtains just then or hang up all the posters right now. He decided to go downstairs instead, see if anyone else had arrived.

Sure enough, plenty had. His mom had arrived while he'd been unpacking, taking control of the situation and helping direct people to rooms. She flashed him a smile and a brief wave when he came downstairs which he returned, before turning back to a girl with a poofy brown bob and... was that a Gothic lolita dress?

Izuku tried not to stare too hard, a bit startled to see that in a dorm. It was even harder when the silver-haired girl from before came down, paused to stare at her, and then promptly marched over to drag her away. Did I just witness a kidnapping? Izuku wondered as they disappeared up the stairs. He could hear a soft chuckle from his mother, and he walked over to her.

"I see you picked the fourth floor," she commented, and Izuku nodded.

"Yeah. I figured I'd choose a room with a kinda nice view." He glanced at the board, seeing some more keys were gone. He also noticed some more boxes sat around the floor, probably from someone else checking out the other floors. "How many people are here now?"

"I'm not sure off the top of my head, but there's been at least three since I arrived. I'm a bit embarrassed I took so long to get here," she added sheepishly. "I knew the exchange students would have settled in early, but I was hoping to beat everyone else."

"Exchange students?" Izuku perked up.

"There's a boy from China and a girl from America. I think she's half-Japanese, though she can't speak much Japanese from what I was told. She primarily speaks English. They're both in 1-B." Izuku nodded in understanding, and then paused.

"Wait, do you know the class assignments?" he asked excitedly, and his mother smiled.

"I know what classes the kids staying in the dorm are in, but I'm not telling you," she said, making him sag dejectedly. "If you want to know, you'll have to ask them yourself!"

"This is your way of making me make friends, isn't it." His mother's quiet laugh was answer enough.

"Wait, Deku-kun?" He perked up at another familiar voice, spinning with a wide smile to see Uraraka standing in the entrance with only two boxes.

"Uraraka-san! You're here!"

"And you are too!" she exclaimed, running inside with a beaming smile. She skidded to a halt, confusion flashing across her face. "But, wait, aren't you local?"

"I am, but mom got a job offer working as a dorm supervisor," Izuku explained, gesturing to his mom who smiled.

"So you're Uraraka?" she asked. "Izuku's told me so much about you!"

Oh sweet merciful All Might, no. Izuku froze and stared with dawning horror as he realized this was that "embarrassing mom" scenario he always saw on sitcoms. He hadn't had any friends to risk that with before besides Kacchan (who already knew her) and Hachinose (who never met her), so he hadn't realized this would be a threat.

Worse: Uraraka was a girl. He'd already been teased about it by Gran; if his mom joined in, he'd die of embarrassment! How did he not factor this possibility in when he agreed to his mom working here!?

"Anyways!" he said loudly, desperate to delay the potential embarrassment and sitcom shenanigans. "I grabbed a room on the fourth floor. We're all allowed to choose our rooms, so you can take your pick!" He all but dragged her over to the sign board, barely missing how his mom stifled a snicker as she clocked onto his thoughts.

Now that he looked at the list of students, he saw only two girls hadn't checked in besides Uraraka: Kodai Yui and Komori Kinoko. He assumed one of those was the girl from earlier. "Oh, so I can choose from any floor?" Uraraka asked. "What are the dorms like? They're the same on every floor, right?"

"Yeah. They're pretty average-sized, I think, and have some furniture like a bed, desk and dresser. They also have balconies and the view's different from each floor, which is why I chose the fourth floor so it wouldn't be blocked by trees, though come to think of it the girls' side of the dorm faces some other dorm buildings so a top-floor view might feel kinda awkward... So maybe the second or third floor, oh the girl already on the third floor is from America by the way and only speaks English, or that's what mom said, so maybe if you speak English or want to practice it..."

He trailed off as he realized what he was doing, and hung his head with a groan. "Sorry, I was rambling again."

"Pfft, don't be, it's kinda cute!" Uraraka giggled, and Izuku felt his face heat up. Thankfully he didn't have a chance to respond before the lolita girl from earlier popped out of the stairwell and skipped over to the sign. She briefly stuck out her tongue at them with a coy-looking grin as she swiped a key for the fourth floor.

"Mind if I cut in?" she asked, and they both stepped back so she could mark the space by the name Komori Kinoko. When she finished she bounced over to some of the boxes and picked them up to carry upstairs.

"Oh, let me help real quick!" Uraraka offered, jogging over. "My Quirk lets me make stuff have zero gravity!"

"Ooh, thanks!" Komori accepted the help easily, and the two agreed that Uraraka would release the effects of her Quirk within three minutes. In that time another person arrived, a notably diminutive boy with purple hair that looked like grapes. He dropped his boxes and looked at the board, groaning in dismay.

"Ah man, I'm all the way on the fifth floor?" he whined, and Izuku remembered that one of the rooms on that floor had been marked as claimed by Mineta Minoru.

"You didn't request that room in advance?" he asked.

"I did, but not on the fifth floor!" Mineta sagged with a groan. "I guess it makes sense because of the special accommodations junk, but I don't want to carry this stuff all the way upstairs!" Uraraka had returned by this point, just in time to catch his last remark.

"Oh, let me help make it lighter!" she offered. Mineta shrieked in response, jumping behind Izuku and covering his eyes. Okay, that was a weird reaction.

"How many layers is she wearing?" he cried to Izuku, and what the heck?

"What?" Uraraka asked, looking dumbfounded by the question.

"Please just tell me you're wearing at least two!" Mineta whined. She blinked and looked down at her t-shirt.

"Um, y-yes?" she said awkwardly, face starting to tint red as she realized just how weird the question was. Mineta lowered his hands with a relieved sigh.

"Thank goodness," he moaned, and then screamed and covered his eyes again when he saw her t-shirt. "I thought you said you were wearing two!"

"I-I'm wearing a camisole!" she responded, and her face grew even more red as she slapped her hands over her mouth. That seemed to satisfy Mineta though, because he all but collapsed with relief.

"Oh thank goodness," he almost sobbed. "Thank goodness." Izuku and Uraraka exchanged quizzical looks while his mom came over.

"You must be Mineta Minoru, right?" she asked. "I'm guessing it's a bad Quirk day?"

Mineta stared very deliberately at the ground under her feet, eyes haunted. He whispered something about 'muscles', voice strained and shaky, before turning his full attention to her. His voice became a bit more frantic as he whined, "I'm trying the anatomy poster trick, but it's not working today because everything keeps flickering in and out! I saw someone's breakfast on the way here!"

"Well, your room's already got the paint and curtains set up on the fifth floor," she said, handing him a key. "I'll have someone bring your stuff up later if you want to go now." She barely finished the sentence before Mineta bolted for the stairs, leaving a dumbfounded Izuku and Uraraka staring after him.

"What just happened?" Izuku asked, feeling oddly dazed. His mom turned to them with a smile.

"That's Mineta Minoru. His second Quirk is See-Through Vision, and the focus on it is apparently rather finicky sometimes." That had them both wincing as they realized the implications. Five minutes ago Izuku would have thought that was cool and had many questions to ask, but given that "anatomy posters" and "breakfast" comment...

"I'm guessing it's hard to control," Izuku said.

"It's bad enough that they had to prepare his room specially. He would have been here even if the dorms weren't open to all students this year. It's on the fifth floor since we figured not many people would choose a room up there." Yep, that made sense. Maybe Izuku could set aside a few pages in his notebook for potential ways to work around his Quirk; he'd already planned to make notes on everyone's Quirks anyway. Helping Mineta was the least he could do, regardless of what class he might be in.

In the end, he ultimately volunteered to take up Mineta's stuff while Uraraka went to scope the remaining rooms. Delivering the boxes was... interesting, since Mineta had only opened his door long enough to snatch them inside before slamming it shut. When Izuku returned to the lobby he found Uraraka picked a room on the second floor. An orange-haired girl had come downstairs to help her take stuff up.

"We're floormates, so might as well get to know each other now!" she said as she hefted one of the boxes with a grin. Izuku smiled at that and waited in the stairwell until they went back upstairs, not wanting to cut in. When they left he went to check the sign, and startled as he saw her name was Kendo Itsuka, the same one who scored second on the exam.

Her comment about being floormates made him wonder about who would be on his own floor. When he checked the list, all that remained were Todoroki Shouto, Awase Yosetsu and Shinsou Hitoshi.

Well, no point hanging around to see who'd show up. Izuku would rather not creep out his prospective neighbors by skulking around the lobby. To that end he went upstairs to finish unpacking, hanging up the posters first since he could actually reach the wall to hang (most of) them up. Getting them just right took a bit of time, probably spending about half an hour before finally moving onto the curtains.

He was just about to step on the chair to unhook the blue ones that came with the dorm when he heard a thump and quiet curse from the hallway, making him perk up. A neighbor! He grinned as he all but bolted for the door, poking his head into the hall. A tall boy with purple hair had stopped in the middle of the hallway, leaning his boxes against the wall so he could balance them with one arm while rubbing his thigh. He must have bumped into the wall.

While he did that he happened to glance over and their eyes met, and Izuku took the opportunity to smile. "Hi, do you need any help?" he asked.

"Uh... yeah, sure." The other boy looked faintly surprised by the offer, but shifted his hold so he could bend down a bit for Izuku to grab the top box more easily. He held onto the other two, but it looked much easier to carry that way. "Thanks."

"No problem!" Izuku let him take the lead, going to the far end of the hallway. "I'm Midoriya Izuku, by the way."

"Shinsou Hitoshi." Izuku almost dropped the box at that, eyes going wide with recognition.

"Oh! You're the one who got third place—uh..." He trailed off as he noticed Shinsou cringe slightly. Okay, that seemed to be a touchy subject for some reason. Izuku quickly changed the topic as they entered Shinsou's dorm. "So I'm in Class 1-A! How about you?"

Shinsou relaxed slightly at that. "Me too." Izuku perked up.

"Really? Awesome! Who do you think will be our teacher? UA doesn't really post all its faculty online for security reasons, but we had Snipe in our exam site. And you probably saw at least one Ectoplasm."

"I had Cementoss in mine," Shinsou offered up, and Izuku's eyes shined.

"Really? I wondered if he'd be a fake villain! I knew he works here because he refereed some of the tournaments in the Sports Festival, but it's still cool to hear he was in the arenas. Come to think of it, I wonder if he made those cities..."

"Can he make buildings?" Shinsou asked, and Izuku shrugged.

"Probably? I mean, he doesn't use it like that in rescue work obviously, but—"

"Shoutooooo!" He stopped as a muffled scream sounded below them, making them both freeze and look at each other in confusion. What the heck was that?

Meanwhile on the first floor, Todoroki Shouto was regretting his life decisions leading up to this moment. He could hear Fuyumi stifling a giggle as Yoarashi Inasa barrelled towards him, a giant grin practically splitting his face in half. "Shouto, you're finally here!" he boomed at a more reasonable volume. "I have to admit, I didn't think you'd pick to live at the dorms since your family is local!"

"...I felt like I needed the space," Shouto replied blandly. Fuyumi stifled another giggle, along with the green-haired woman who had greeted them.

"I absolutely understand!" Inasa said, bobbing his head with a serious expression. "I'd want to get away from your father too." He turned to Fuyumi and added, "No offense, Fuyumi-san!"

"None taken," Fuyumi replied with a light smile. "I already know you're not a big fan of dad, Inasa-kun. But I'm just glad Shouto won't be surrounded by only strangers here!"

"Me too!" Inasa replied, turning to Shouto with a grin. "Come on, I'm on the second floor! Another room has already been claimed there too, but there's no rule stating we can't have more than two people on each floor!" Shouto stared at him blankly before glancing at the sign with the building's floor plan. Specifically, the floors with only one occupant, floors three and five.

Three is way too close to two. He snatched up a key from the fifth floor, one spot away from the stairs since the furthest one was claimed, and went to grab his boxes. He knew he probably had more stuff than most of his prospective classmates, which was why Fuyumi had helped him carry them all the way to the dorm building.

"The fifth floor, hmm?" Inasa asked, jogging over to grab a few of them. "Let me help you take everything upstairs!"

"...Sure." If Shouto had learned anything in the past few years, it was that nothing could stop the force of Hurricane Inasa, as Natsuo liked to call it. "But you'll have to help me put down the tatami mats and install the shoji."

"Living in style, I see!" Inasa laughed, already heading to the door. "If we work together, we'll be done before dinner!" Shouto just hummed.

"Bye Fuyumi-nee," he said as he followed after Inasa.

"I'll see you next weekend, Shouto!" she said with a smile, turning to talk with the woman some more. As they headed up the stairs and Inasa's cheerful chatter echoed off the walls, Shouto could only think one word: Loud.

Most writers: "Mineta is dead. Or he's expelled like ASAP. Let's replace him with the better purple one from Gen-Ed!"

Us: "Mineta bashing is boring. Let's give him the most ironic second Quirk possible!"

Also, if you thought canon could still be salvaged: Inasa says "HELLO" on behalf of himself and his best friend Todoroki. Very loudly.

By the way, Aftershock is getting pretty popular over here on FFN! So as a reminder: I'm not the only one writing this. Aftershock is co-authored by CocoaNerd, who unfortunately doesn't use this site. You can find him on Tumblr under the name cocoa-nerd, which he uses to talk about his many, many, MANY AU ideas he probably won't ever have time to write. He is called "King of the Plot Bunnies" for good reason.

Cocoa writes a great fic over on AO3 called "Cut Off the Branches", where Izuku has a Quirk that lets him reset any decision at the cost of cutting off all future events from the original choice, with all the memories of what could have been and no way to take it back. The fun catch: it's not a fix-it where he's trying to prevent a specific horrible future, and this also isn't his first time resetting the timeline.

And on that note, I have a story you can read here called "Ignite to the Call". Best way to summarize it: six kids from UA wake up in a world where All Might died years ago and UA no longer exists, with no idea how they got there, who is caught up in this mess, or how to get home. Highlights include runaway Todoroki, Ashido teaching a still-timid Kirishima the meaning of manliness, Jirou and Kaminari deciding to become vigilantes, Uraraka being so reckless even Izuku lectures her, and Izuku living with the League of Villains as Shigaraki's adopted brother because of course he does.

If you enjoy Aftershock so far, chances are pretty high you'll enjoy those stories too! They both have dedicated channels in the Discord server, just like Aftershock does. (The Discord invite link ends in 6WWwTXU if you want to join! It was originally created for Ignite, but we love talking about any and all MHA fics there.)