There's a lot more people than Izuku expected it to be.
He and Shouto are directed to a closed room with fifteen or so teenagers already sitting at a desk, pen in hand and waiting impatiently for the written section to be handed out. The tension makes the air thick and cold in Izuku's lungs.
It had been a long time since he'd been around other people save members of his family, but Izuku could see the stress lining their faces.
As he took his seat next to his brother, Izuku had to wonder if everyone here were children of Pro-Heroes. He hoped not. There had to be some people that were scouted, either by a Pro-Hero, a member of the Hero Commission or a staff of the school.
In all honesty, Izuku had no idea how the recommendation process worked -Endeavor did not care to waste time explaining things he did not need to explain to push them forward- but these would be students couldn't be all related to Pro-Heroes. That felt unfair. The Recommendation Exam had to be done by merit, right?
In a way, it made him somewhat guilty, to be here. He wasn't even able to use his Quirk on other people, not without leaving them with horrible disfigurations. Shouto deserved the recommendation more.
...but given the alternative would be going to the Entrance Exam, Izuku doesn't know what to think anymore about the topic.
He's...he's not sure he would have even tried getting into Yuuei, if that was the case. Too much danger.
It was a headache to think about.
The sound of the chair on his left moving and someone dropping on it startles him out of his revery. Surprised, he turns his head to look at the newcomer -and felt his eyes nearly pop out of his skull at what he found.
The boy was tall.
Not just tall and massive too, well on his way to match Endeavor's frame if he kept growing. His shoulders were broad, his hair cut short against his skin, his chin strong and his biceps almost as big as Izuku's head.
...he almost looks like a third year. I'm scared.
He watches the other boy, bug eyed. Eventually, the other starts to notice. He turns his head towards Izuku, dark eyes peering down at him curiously. The taller boy offers him the largest smile Izuku had ever seen on anyone's face.
"Heya, buddy! I'm Inasa!" The teenager says loud enough to rattle him, but somehow avoiding every head in the room from turning their way. He makes a thumbs up. "You feeling ready?"
Huh, no.
His smile was the most blinding, brilliant thing Izuku had seen in years, save All Might. Izuku tried to respond, his throat too tight for him to speak. His own smile feels more like a wavering grimace.
Inasa chuckles and looks away, picking up his pen and fiddling with it. His smile fades, expression turning more nervous, likely contemplating the task ahead. He looks like he's about to say something, but a loud yell startles them both and makes them look towards the front of the room.
"Good morning, listeners!"
Even after a long time of not listening to the radio, Izuku knows that voice, that signature call. And with that bright yellow, upright hair and leather clothes, the mounted speaker on the tall, slender man's chest -that was without a doubt Yamada Hizashi, Hero name Present Mic!
The tiny, restrained sound that left his lips sounded more like a repressed squeal. At his side, Shouto gave him a wary side glance. On his left, he hears Inasa let out a low chuckle.
Present Mic steals all of his attention once more, his loud voice effectively drowning out any of the candidates' attempts at talking to each other. Not that they even would, given the severity of the task they were about to undertake.
"Alright listen up kids, I won't say this twice! We got a big day head for all of you...!"
.
.
.
He could already feel the beginning of a headache forming, and it wasn't even noon yet.
"You alright there, Aizawa?" A voice next to him dragged him out of the black cloud, turning his attention to the small, white-furred animal sitting in the chair next to his. Nedzu was peering up at him with just a hint of worry in his tiny, dark eyes. "You seem kind of tired."
"I'm fine, Principal." He responds, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Just a long night."
Nedzu's tail gives a slow flick of interest. "Right, you had that thief bust last night, correct? That's why you returned late from your patrol."
"Hmm."
"Congratulations on that, by the way. I heard they had been making a mess out of Musutafu's jewelry stores for weeks!"
"It was nothing." Aizawa waves off the praise. Mumbling, he continues. "...just criminals who got swept up by their own ego. They barely knew how to use their Quirks at all."
"Oh. How boring."
The corner of his lips twitch upwards at the animal's polite, but slightly disappointed tone. For all Nedzu tried to make himself look like a reserved, polite person, the principal delighted in gossip just as badly as Midnight did. A wolf in sheep's clothing, so to speak.
He's right, though.
Patrol last night had been boring. And long.
The only thing he did was respond to a dispatch directing him to an isolated store stuck between a run down dinner and a hair salon. Somehow the thieves had managed to bypass the alarm, but the owner had set a secondary set of alarms independent of the first system that were tied to the closed cases full of jewelry after having caught wind of the string of robberies.
Expensive, but it allowed Aizwa to catch the villains red handed.
It wasn't even a difficult fight. Just idiots that merely relied on the strength of their Quirks instead of training or skill. Unfortunately for them and luckily for Aizawa's desire to go to sleep early, the trio had Emitter Quirks. The fight had barely lasted fifteen minutes, at most.
Processing them had taken close to two hours.
...paperwork was the bane of his life.
A large, bright object moving at the edge of his vision quickly reminds Aizawa of the other source of his headache. One that wasn't Hizashi, for once.
All Might looked sort of absurd, sitting in the assigned seat that was half the size it should be to hold such a massive person. Aizawa wasn't sure why the man was even in his hero form, given that everyone in the room knew his true one. It was energy wasted? Maybe he was attempting to look more impressive?
Either way, Aizawa could not be bothered.
Let him waste all of his energy if that's what he desired.
He peers at the obnoxiously loud blond suspiciously. All Might looked far too happy for it to be normal. His excitement was far more palpable than it was a few days ago for the Entrance Exam. Was it because of the Recommendation exam having a higher quality cut of candidates?
Maybe he knows one of them?
Aizawa's not even sure why Nedzu invited the man to come work at the school. It seemed like more trouble than it was worth.
Thankfully the news hadn't broken to the media yet, as Nedzu wanted to wait for the very last few days to announce it. Especially after the Entrance Exam, to avoid people flooding the test in a desperate attempt to get in and be taught by the current Number One Hero.
The Entrance Exam was over though, and after the Recommendation Exam the news would break. Aizawa could read the writing on the wall for that. There's no doubt this semester would be hell.
If he was lucky enough, he might get to kick out an entire class again.
Aizawa narrows his eyes as the television screens light up and Nedzu cheerfully announces that the physical examination would start soon. All Might straightens up so fast Aizawa nearly misses it. At his other side, Nemuri crosser her legs and gives him a sharp, elated grin. This was one part of their work that she enjoyed dearly.
Aizawa?
Not so much.
Half of the kids recommended were just brats. The other half thought they were god's gift to mankind. There was also a small amount of seats assigned for Recommendation examinees, so the fighting would be vicious.
Here's hoping there's something worthwhile in this lot.
.
.
.
As soon as the written aspect is cleared out and they are sent to change into workout clothing, they're quickly ushered out for the physical section. It's not a long walk, but it feels like forever. Izuku makes sure to twist his head around and look at everything he could see. Even the sight of lockers as they were pushed through a series of hallways had him peering at them curiously.
...when was the last time he'd even seen school lockers…? Izuku doesn't remember -and he doesn't really want to think about it. It was uncomfortable to think about.
He keeps to his brother's side, Shouto a silent presence in front of him. None of the other candidates were really talking; instead, they were eyeing each other, calculating, or were visibly nervous. The only stand outs were Shouto himself, a passive, unconcerned spire at Izuku's side, and Inasa, who led the group right behind Present Mic.
He wasn't talking either, but there was a small skip in his step. He was far cheerier than expected for a teenager of his stature. At least from what Izuku could understand, since he'd never really been around other people his age. Either way, Inasa was most certainly a standout.
Wonder if he will be in my class...
Soon, Present Mic kicks open a series of doors and calls out to them:
"Here we are, listeners!"
Sunlight waits for them outside. Izuku squints, eyesight adjusting to the sudden burst of light. When they do, he feels them widen at the sight stretched out in front of him.
A long, winding structure that seemed to have crawled out of the mind of someone who had one too many mushroom towered over his head, just past a white stone arch. Pillars, half-built structures, boulders and all sorts of other obstacles blocked their path, not letting Izuku see the end of the track, but he knew it had to be long. Really long.
Half of it was even in water, and it looked like deep water too.
...how...how did they build all of this?
He tried to shake off his shock. It was just an obstacle track, that's all ...just, with a few more things added than Izuku thought was necessary.
Or sane.
Or safe.
I'm not helping myself.
"Alright, come on over!" Present Mic, enthusiastically waving them over to the left side of the track, right next to the arch marking the start. There's a table there, with a neat pile of what looks like...papers?
No, not papers, Izuku realizes as he watches the Pro-Hero pick the first one, showing the big black 1 stamped on it's white surface. Gesturing one of the candidates over, the man pulls off a thin film at the back of the paper and then presses the front on the teenager's jacket, where it stays. Oh. It was a sticker.
Izuku eyes the table with renewed interest.
"C'mon, we don't have all day, kiddos!" Present Mic says, waving them forward. Shouto steps up, as do more than half the candidates. "Slaps this on your clothes, make it reaaaal visible, otherwise it's on you if the judges don't recognize you!"
Izuku follows close to his brother, internally wincing at how the other candidates start that strange, competitive posturing. Side glances, lips curling into the faintest of smirks, raised brows and unimpressed tilts of the chin were plenty. He's pretty sure a few of them recognizes Shouto, and some take a pause when they look at Izuku -which is a telltale sign that they recognized him too.
Great.
At Present Mic's commands, they end up being split in groups of six. There was no real order to the way the Pro-Hero simply ushering them into small herds of fumbling teenagers. With Izuku standing next to his brother, they ended up in the same section.
Inasa was amongst their group, to Izuku's quiet delight. He had a big, confident grin on his face, the kind that made Izuku's shoulders relax and part of him feel at ease. Their eyes met, and despite the fact he said nothing, his grin widened. It's not the kind of smirk some of the other candidates had. It wasn't daring, wasn't trying to intimidate him.
It was a silent, cheerful we can do it.
In a way, it reminded him of All Might, Izuku thought as the taller boy's eyes then shifted over to Shouto, right on Izuku's other side.
The change was immediate.
His wide smile twisting into a scowl, and hostility radiated from the short-haired teenager. Without another word, he spins on his heels and walks away to stand on the other side of their group, a move that was so fast Izuku swears for a moment that he feels a harsh breeze brushing past him.
Izuku watches him go, feeling lost and intimidated at the sudden personality shift.
What was that?
"Izuku." Shouto's voice snaps him in attention. "Focus."
He exhales softly. Right.
Now's not the time to get lost in my head.
Styxfire churns in his chest. It was well fed for this occasion, but that didn't stop the flames from yearning, responding to his nervousness. He knew what to do, but there was a stark difference between planning something and actually executing it.
Especially since failing was not an option.
Almost as if to torture him, their group's turn comes quickly enough. Too quickly, at least for Izuku's frayed nerves.
"It's your turn, kiddos!" Present Mic declares five minutes after the third group leaves, gesturing towards them.
At the command, they step up to the starting line. Izuku keeps his eyes trailed on the track ahead, scanning the obstacles. His eyes lock onto a particular tall, spire-like metal structure halfway through the track. There.
Just what he needed.
Present Mic's voice sounded out like a thunderclap:
"Go!"
The crackle of Shouto's ice is muffled by the sudden sound of howling wind. Izuku 's eyes widen as the tall boy from before leaps into the sky, taking to the air with the grace and ease of a bird.
A wind user? That explained what happened before with his brother!
The rest of the candidates start running right after them, dodging as best as they could the trail of ice Shouto left in his wake.
Izuku is not one of them.
Instead, he patiently waits as the last of the hopefuls take off. His heart hammered in his chest wildly and he takes a slow, deep breath to keep it steady. Then he turns to Present Mic, who was watching him worriedly. Not an unexpected reaction, given he was being left in the dust by the other candidates.
At least for now.
Pulling at that well-fed pit of fuel within himself, Izuku bows as deeply as he can at the Pro-Hero as he feels Styxfire travel down his spine and pool at his feet, waiting impatiently like a starving dog tugging on a leash.
His apology comes out as a vaguely hearable mumble:
"I'm really, really sorry."
"Eh?" Present Mic's face twists into a frown. Izuku doesn't blame him for the confusion. "...are you alright kiddo-?"
B O O M.
.
.
.
His first thought was that they all looked pretty much like last year's lot of hopefuls.
Conniving side glances, daring smirks, petulant glares -things Aizawa had long realized were normal. Especially amongst a group of teenagers that were competing for such a small amount of seats. Over half of them would be rejected by the end of the test.
Recommendation students were generally a bit better in terms of manners, given they were either scouted by Pro-Heroes or were raised by them, so they knew how things worked. But that also made the whole exam much more tense, since none of them wanted the disappoint the person who recommended them.
Every last one of them had a deep drive to win.
Unfortunately for these hopefuls, only a handful would be selected.
One by one, the groups went through the track. First, second, third set went as expected. Aizawa watched them intently, noting down the numbers of those he found interesting. So far nothing out of the ordinary.
Then the fourth group came.
As soon as Hizashi gave them the greenlight, things went wrong.
One of the brats -the short one with green hair- did not run out after the others, instead of staying back. It was one of Endeabor's kids, Aizawa realizes with a frown. Nerves, maybe? His brother did not even glance back before rushing out, ice pushing him forward at blinding speeds.
If he failed, Endeavor was going to be a mess to hound off.
All Might was staring intensely at that one screen still showing the start. Maybe he was thinking the same thing? His expression was more closed off than Aizawa would expect from the man, that infuriating smile of his still there but wavering. He seemed to be deep in his thoughts. There was a glimmer of confusion in his eyes.
Like he doesn't know what to think of the kid lingering at the start of the track.
It's not Aizawa problem though, and he wasn't here to access what the Symbol of Peace was thinking. He was here to evaluate, and that's what he turns his attention to.
Endeavor's other brat seemed to be doing fine, gliding on a sheet of ice towards the finish line. Right behind a kid that was manipulating what seemed like wind to fly across the track.
Now that was interesting, Aizawa remarked as he leaned to the side, propping his head up with a forearm. For all of his over energetic acting the boy seemed to have a good grasp on his Quirk, and if he kept his rhythm he would likely be the one to cross the -
B O O M.
Any ounce of fatigue leave his body as the speakers made the loudest, most ear-splitting static sound Shota ever had the dishonor of hearing in his life.
And he's been around Mic for years, so that was saying something.
It was horrible, to put it mildly. A screech of static mixed with a louder, low bass sound that rattled him down to his bones and had him grinding his teeth to the point of pain.
What the fuck was that?
A quick glance around the control room showed that everyone was thinking the same thing. He's not the only one to wince at the horrid sound.
"Look at screen fourteen." Nedzu's sharp voice sliced through the quiet murmuring amongst the teachers. "The sky drone. Look."
And so Aizawa did, focusing on one of the larger screen showing footage from a drone posted high above the track.
There was something blitzing through the track.
It was a ball of...black and purple...fire? It looked like fire, but it didn't move like one. There was no smoke trail either. Shota straightened up in his seat, eyes narrowed as he focused on the screen following the second Todoroki child.
The kid was flying.
Flames were coming out of his hands and feet, roaring loud enough that it nearly drowned out all other sounds the sky drone picked up. He was zooming through the track like a comet, high above the rest, utterly annihilating the second to last candidate, then another, then another, then another -up until he's nearly at the middle of the pack.
Still far from his brother's level and from the first spot, but he'd just crossed one third of the track within two second, so Aizawa was willing to give him that.
The kid landed with a tumble high up on one of the metal spires halfway through the course. He pauses, seemingly catching his breath before crouching low like he was about to leap.
Which he did.
Taking that metal spire with him in a blaze of obsidian fire.
The entire top half.
Just.
Gone.
Aizawa leans back on his seat.
Alright.
That...that happened.
"What an interesting development." Nedzu's smooth voice breaks the stunned silence hovering over the room. "Seems like a mutation of Endeavor's fire Quirk."
Nemuri snorted from her seat. "That's an understatement. I've never seen Endeavor's flames do something like that."
She was stating the obvious, needless to say. It was one hell of a mutation, if the way it incinerated the metal structure had anything to say. How hot where those flames, to be able to do that?
Were they even flames?
Aizawa did not even want to think what would happen if a human got caught in the crossfire. At least the kid seemed aware of the danger. He must have stayed back to give himself room to work, and even now he was keeping high up in the sky, avoiding the main pack of candidates.
Movement on his side had him turning his attention away from the screen, even briefly. All Might has a small smile fixed on his lips but there was a frozen look on his face. Like he's unsure what he's seeing but his mind hadn't quite found what kind of reaction their owner wanted to make.
When he snapped his attention back to the screen just a second after, it was already over.
The wind user got through the gate first, the other Todoroki child passing in second. And right after, the green-haired passed in third place. Landing with a tuck and roll through the finish line in a manner that spoke of repetition and practice. When he stood up, it was with little discomfort or pain. He was even brushing his clothes off, utterly nonchalant in his movements.
There's silence in the control room. Aizawa takes all but a second to contemplate things before he turns to Nedzu. The principal was looking at him, already guessing.
"I'm taking him."
Behind him, Vlad huffed.
"He's all goddamn yours, Eraserhead."
.
.
.
He crosses through the finish line at Shouto's heels, Styxfire carving a path through dirt and leftover ice from his sibling's Quirk. The tuck and roll is easy, years of training allowing him to land with relative ease and little injury.
It's not his best landing, but he had to cut Styxfire off early. It was a race, yes, but he didn't want to leave a deep trench for the other candidates to climb through.
Across the finish line his brother stands, a silent statue turned away from him. He's silent -not an unusual thing, but Izuku recognizes the silence. It's the gloomy kind of silence, the one where Shouto's shoulders are drawn tight and his eyes are shifty. The kind of silence that wraps around his brother like a cold, icy blanket and wards off any attempt at warming him up.
It's the kind of silence Shouto slips into around Endeavor, and because of that Izuku finds himself at a loss for words when he walks towards his sibling carefully. Their father wasn't here -why would his older brother feel the need to be like this?
"What's wrong?" He asks, coming up to his brother's side. "What did you say to him?"
Shouto looks at him blandly. "Nothing. I said nothing." He repeats.
With that, he turns away and starts walking towards the main building, after Inasa. It leaves Izuku standing at the finish line, feeling a little bit lost, a little bit down, and with no real way of addressing it.
Already he could hear the rest of the candidates catching up, and with nothing else to do Izuku starts walking after his brother. He doesn't hurry to catch up. Shouto didn't seem like he wanted company, anyways.
Izuku is feeling similarly. Why would Inasa shut down like that?
He'd seemed like an upbeat person...
Izuku knew better than to think that it was unusual of the other boy. He'd only known Inasa for a total of three hours, two and a half of which was spent in complete silence working on their own exams. He could never claim to know the boy -and Izuku was far from silly enough to believe he could know a person's general disposition in such a short time span.
Still.
That's the fastest he'd seen a person ever drive away someone.
If Shouto hadn't said anything though…
...maybe sometimes just being was enough to provoke a reaction.
The more he thought about it, the more it fit. After all, Izuku knew better than anyone else how simply existing had consequences.
.
.
.
"An interview?!"
Izuku wanted to bury himself in a hole and die. He's not the one who shouted out that exclamation after Present Mic gathered them all up again to explain the last part of the exam, but if he had more courage he might have been. Or at the very least whispered it under his breath.
He was done for.
Social interaction was not is forthe. He knew that from day one. He was reminded of it every time his father brought him out of the house. He can't hold a conversation with a non-Todoroki or Midoriya member to save his life.
The interviewer was going to take one look at his spluttering face and send him on his way. Izuku could almost see it, like he had a foresight Quirk. And not for the first time, he wished he had one. Anything but Styxfire.
Relax, part of him thinks, the tiniest part of Izuku that wasn't shaking in its boots because if he messed this up then he didn't know what he was going to do with his life. You did well in the written exam, you know that. And you got third place in the physical. You'll pass.
Shouto shifts at his side, his brother sensing his inner turmoil as easily as he could sense heat. His brother's hand finds his own, larger, slender fingers wrapping around his securely. For all prying eyes his brother seemed unaffected, looking ahead like a stone statue, undaunted, but the small squeeze he gives Izuku's hand told another story.
He lets himself bathe in the warmth of his brother's body and those around him, sinking into his thermal senses and staying there. Closing his eyes made it even better. It's a comforting feeling. Centering. Calming.
"Todoroki Izuku!"
...which disappeared just about a second later when he hears his name. His eyes snap open.
He's being called.
Oh no.
Looking up to the front of the waiting room, he finds Present Mic watching him, clipboard in hand. The man gives him a blinding smile that fails at being reassuring. And he's not the only one looking -more than a few of the other candidates waiting around impatiently turned their heads to stare him down.
Only Shouto's hand tugging on his own reminded Izuku that moving was a thing and yeah, maybe he should do that.
He stands up. Hand slipping from his siblings, he strides as fast as he can through the room, avoiding the other candidates' stares in favor of looking at Present's Mic left shoulder. The man was wearing his Pro-Hero costume, and Izuku focused on the leather fabric and small metal studs of his jacket to keep himself centered.
"Hello there, kiddo." Present Mic tells him in a quieter voice once he reaches the front, gesturing at the doorway. "C'mon, right this way! Let's not waste time!"
Wordlessly, Izuku nods quickly.
Present Mic didn't seem to hold his muteness against him, instead ushering him forward through the door, down the hallway and towards an inconspicuous looking white door.
"Should I…?"
"Go right in, she's waiting for you. Best of luck, kid!" Present Mic informs him with a wink. Before any other word was exchanged, the Pro-Hero spun on his heel and rushed to go get another unfortunate victim to feed the other interviewers with.
Throat tight, Izuku turns his attention to the door.
She...?
Frowning, Izuku places his hand on the door and gently pushes it open. The moment he steps inside, his eyes lock onto a pair of bright blue ones. And then he notices the purple hair. And the red glasses. And the pale white suit with purple corset.
It's Midnight.
Guess I'll just die.
"Take a seat, Todoroki," The woman tells him with a small, polite smile, tilting her head to the side like she knows exactly what special brand of anxiety she was causing him.
There's only two seats in the room, facing one another. No desk or other furniture, just Midnight, two chairs and the pen and clipboard she held on her lap. Since she was using one of the chairs, Izuku does go to the other one. Exactly as he does most things in a public setting when there's someone else's attention on him.
Badly.
"It's okay, kid." Midnight tells him kindly, raising an eyebrow as he fumbles into his seat. Oh, why did the chair feel so uncomfortable?
"I'm n-not really good at this." Izuku confesses quietly.
The woman hums.
"I think you're doing quite fine."
"We barely started." Izuku pointed out not so helpful for himself, only to instantly regret it because getting snarky with his interviewer was a great way of beginning things.
Midnight shrugs, unbothered.
"You haven't stared at my chest once, so you're already a cut above most, kid."
Izuku squawks and nearly falls off his seat, so fast he tilts his body away from the Pro-Hero. Humiliation and embarrassment make his face burn. He probably looks like a tomato right now and that was bad because if there was one thing Endeavor's staff constantly say to him when they dress him up for gallas, is that red and green do not work well together.
I'm dead.
I'm going to crawl under a rock and die under there.
His spiralling train of thought is derailed by Midnight's loud, boisterous laugh. It takes hm far more time
Oh.
He'd just said that out loud.
"...let me just leave."
This time Midnight laughs. Izuku wilts even further into his seat.
Once she's done, Midnight takes a breath. She scoots closer, setting her chair justso their knees would be a feet or so away from each other. She rests her clipboard neatly on her lap and puts her pen on it. Now her attention is solely focused on him -but this time, Izuku doesn't feel nearly as nervous.
And the main reason was her smile.
Gentle. Comforting. Not pitying but rather understanding of how he was feeling. In a way, the small, patient grin she offers him kind of reminded him of his mother.
Izuku has to wonder if she'd ever had to deal with a nervous wreck like him during this test before.
"You're kind of nervous, aren't you boy?" Yeah, I kind of am. "Just take a breath. How about we start small?"
"Small?"
"Small questions." Midnight tells him, adjusting her position on her chair. "Well, small-er. Not that they are any less important, though. The goal of this interview is to get to know you as a person and as a prospective student. We want to hear about your Quirk and all, what kind of training you have, but we also need to know about the important things."
Izuku frowns.
His confusion is evident, for Midnight clears her throat. The smile lessens to something more serious, yet still yielding.
"Your ambitions, kid. What do you want to do?" She crosses her arms and peers at him intently. "Why do you want to be a hero?"
Styxfire does a jump in his heart, sparkling like a firecracker.
Why do you want to be a hero?
What a loaded question. Maybe more loaded than she realized. Or maybe she knew what it meant. She was a Pro-Hero after all, and far from green. If anyone knew the importance of that question, it would be someone with her years of experience.
I feel like she's tricking me. That isn't a small question at all.
"I want to be a hero," He starts, hesitating, thoughts and ideas flowing through his brain faster than he can assemble them into a cohesive order. Thankfully, he had more than enough experience in keeping his facial expression blank. "...because I want to help."
Midnight purses her lips. "Don't you want to be a hero because of your father?"
Izuku could see the trick question a mile away. It's something he was expecting.
"To be honest, no." He admits, shaking his head. "I've wanted to be a hero before I met my father. Before I even knew who he was, or before I got my Quirk." Izuku pauses, considering. "And then…"
For a moment, he falters.
He still remembered ever so faintly that day. The jolt of Styxfire activating for the first time, the color of Kacchan's eyes, how the flames made his friend's skin shimmer a ghostly, ethereal silver. The way the sand grew twisted and blackened, turning into glass. The steam of Backdraft's water as it fought against the tiny, stubborn flames, so small and innocent back then.
Izuku remembered his own unease, from back then. Even as a child, he'd felt it -he'd known the danger.
And for the safety of everyone...
In a moment, he knows what he wants to say.
"I want to master my Quirk, too." Izuku finally says, looking up to meet Midnight in the eye. This time, he felt no fear or hesitation. Even to his own ears, his voice felt firmer than it had ever been before. "To use it to its fullest and protect those who need it. Yuuei is the best school in Japan. If there is a place that could help me reach my goals, it would be here."
He looks down at his hands, opening them, palms upwards.
"I don't want to be the Number One Hero, or the most popular one. I want to be the best hero I can be."
Silence.
"That's a bold answer." Midnight says after a long stretch of silence. "Realistic. More so than I was expecting."
Izuku ducks his head slightly lower before he can stop himself, barely fighting off the urge to look away from her eyes. "I've spent a lot of time thinking about it."
"Being a hero?"
"No. Why one is a hero."
Midnight's smile returns, and Izuku knows right there and then that she was satisfied by his answer.
.
.
.
They will receive their results in four to six days.
Izuku knows already the answer to it; he'd completed the track course and landed in third place. Shouto had gotten second and he'd completed it impeccable. Anyone else might feel miffed that their brother was ranked higher than them, but for Izuku it was expected.
The fact he completed the track was good enough for him.
Here's to hoping the Yuuei staff were more impressed than horrified by his Quirk. They would know how to handle it, no? Thinking back at the reaction his father's staff had when they first went to the agency, and the way they scurried around him every time he came back for training, a part of Izuku was starting to doubt. And it was a terrible feeling.
But then he remembers his interview with Midnight, and something settles in his chest. A soothing balm of cold that eases Styxfire back into slumber.
The creak of his bedroom door, ultimately forcing him to set his worries aside in favor of turning around and greet his guest. He finds his sister standing at the door frame, clutching the doorknob with one hand and the frame with another.
Eyes filled with familiar nervousness meet his. Izuku stands up from his desk. Part of him knows where this is going only ever got this anxious about one topic.
"Father wants you in his office."
Or rather, one person. Izuku swallows.
"Alright," He responds after far too much time passed, Styxfire sparking like firecrackers in his chest. It tickled the inside of his ribs and made the tight feeling in his throat all the more worse. "I'll go see him. Thank you."
Looking as resigned as Izuku felt, Fuyumi nods and scurries away. He follows after, and he watches his sister branch off towards the kitchen, likely to stay out of the way.
It doesn't take him long to reach his father's office, but it certainly feels too short of a time. Shorter than Izuku needed it to be to get his thoughts in order. Speaking with Endeavor was ever a relaxing pastime.
What does he want with me?
Knocking on the office door, he waits for his father's permission. Never had he done otherwise.
"Come in."
Hand on the doorknob, he twists and walks inside.
The room is as he remembers it to be from the last time he'd been here, untouched save the documents on his father's desk. Always in a neat order, they left quite a bit of space open that his father, currently, was using to rest his crossed arms on.
"Sit down." Endeavor tells him without further pause, eyes never straying from his. Izuku holds his gaze out of habit as he walks over, carefully lowering himself into the chair, spine straight and hands on his lap like he'd been taught. "As school is about to start for you and Shoto, it has come to my attention that there is something I need to address."
Izuku digs his nails into his thighs. A loathsome feeling squirms in his guts. Still, he doesn't look away from his father's gaze.
"I'm sure you know what I am talking about."
Part of Izuku already knows what he's talking about. And there might as well be one reason why he would be taking some of his precious time to talk to Izuku instead of bringing up before or right after training. It meant that he needed Izuku for something.
"What would you like me to do, sir?"
The flames around Endeavor's head flickers more energetically. It's a tell -a confirmation.
"I want you to...bring down Shouto's inhibitions." His father continues, voice terrifyingly even and unconcerned. Like what he was saying was a done deal and Izuku would listen, because he always did. It was in his nature to and Izuku knew it. "He has to stop restraining himself. He won't go far without using his full power."
Izuku knows what he really meant.
My power.
Ego, he finds, is a terrible, terrible thing.
A ugly, twisted poison. Something Izuku wishes he could ignore and discard, leave behind like Endeavor made him leave almost all of his beloved belongings at his mother's house, all those years ago.
But he knows it's not possible.
If it was, he would have done it a long time ago.
If it was, maybe he and Shouto wouldn't exist at all.
"Why me?"
Endeavor's flames flare for a moment. "He listens to you." His father says in a voice that Izuku knows too well, a tone that had his heart clenching at it's calculated softness. "Out of everyone in this house, you have his ear. And you want him to succeed as much as I do, don't you?"
There's not a single lie in that statement -only that Izuku knew that his definition of success would be wildly different than his father's. Endeavor, for all of his brilliance, was blinded himself. Blinded by his own ego, yes, by his own goals and ambitions, but also by something else.
By All Might.
And the society the Number One Hero had built.
It was a truth that Izuku had come to a long, long time ago, when his feet and hands still ached from the biting cold of that lonely winter night, and it was a truth that never left him. Because it was something that was never said, a belief that never passed Izuku's lips but rang so true, more so than anything else in his life.
And with that knowledge -with the resignation that came with it, Izuku asks quietly, stomach twisting into knots inside his belly:
"...what do you want me to do, sir?"
His father's eyes narrow. The crown of flames over his head flickers. The walls of his office are painted orange and yellow; the metal frames and the smooth glass of his office furniture gleam gold with the shine of his fire.
"I need you to convince Shouto to use his fire this semester." Endeavor tells him plainly.
It's expected.
"If you succeed, I'll allow you to live with your mother."
...oh.
….told you guys that Endeavor boi was going to do something bad. I gotta find a way to put a wedge between Shouto and Izuku somehow, am I right?
Hehehe don't kill me.
Also I'm so proud of how I wrote Aizawa. That poor man thinking this was going to be a nice quiet year then BAM All Might, and then BAM again there's a kid that just set an entire track on fire and he gotta deal with that now.
-and meanwhile, there's All Might who finally sees some of Izuku's Quirk and is because that was NOT what he was expecting when he guessed tiny bean had a fire Quirk like dear daddy-o. So if you are wondering what he was thinking when watching Izuku he wasn't -he was screaming internally.
So much for the greatest hero in Japan.
Also to Izuku being a nervous wreck to anyone not a Todoroki or a Midoriya, give him a bit of time. He's gonna stop crashing his gpu soon enough. Uraraka is gonna help! Shouto's gonna be a bit iffy about sharing tho.
Oh, that reminds me!
Next Chapter:
Kacchan.