AN: I wanted to take a bit of extra time to consider a plot point of the chapter I'm currently writing, so I figured why not put out another chapter a bit ahead of schedule. There might be a bit more wait for the next one though since I'm off spring break as of Monday.
Enjoy.
Chapter 8
Filling in the Gaps
oooOo Izuku oOooo
"What the heck, Izuku-kun?! You didn't tell me you were so totally awesome!" Uraraka cried pumping a fist over her head. "You were all like," her voice deepened to a dramatic tenor "'Don't worry, I got this.' And the robot was all, 'hand over the girl and I'll spare your life!"
"Remind me when the robot talked agai—"
"And then pwushhh! Fwuaahh! Kshh!"
At this point Izuku didn't know weather to laugh or get her to the nearest hospital. He'd thought the girl was peppy before, but this was a bit much.
Recovery girl had said there would be minor side effects from her healing quirk.
Minor!
But Uraraka was acting positively loopy. It reminded him of that one time Kacchan had come back from the dentist a few years back. She'd been high as a kite on painkillers, and Izuku was still waiting for the perfect moment to reveal the videos.
Speaking of which, Katsumi should have been there by now. He and Uraraka had been waiting for nearly half an hour already and the blonde's absence was starting to weigh on his mind.
Yet another cluster of applicants came walking out of the auditorium, but once again, the familiar pale blonde hair was nowhere to be seen.
Izuku racked his brain, trying to recall what some his friend's fellow examinees looked like. Was this group from Kacchan's test site? The guy with bright crimson hair looked familiar, but Izuku couldn't remember if he had seen his friend in the same group.
The muscular redhead was gesturing wildly to his friends, seemingly regaling the group with tales of something that had happened at their test site. Izuku wasn't really surprised considering there was a zero-pointer rampaging for each group of applicants.
As the cluster of students walked past the spot where he and Uraraka were waiting, he happened to catch the tail end of their conversation.
"-Yeah, dude, I'm tellin' ya it was insane. This chick had to have had the most points out of all of us, but she just dove straight into the Zero-pointer like it was nothing. It was so fucking manly!"
Oh god, Kacchan, what did you get yourself into?
He'd been waiting just outside the auditorium where they'd started the day, and Uraraka had volunteered to keep him company. He peered over at the girl who he'd met only hours previously. She hummed happily under her breath, totally oblivious to his fretting. Her cheeks were possibly even more rosy than usual.
Yeesh, Recovery Girl sure did a number on her.
"Uraraka-san, you're sure I'm not keeping you from anything more important?"
The brunette paused for a moment, eternal smile dimming somewhat. She nodded slowly, "I'm actually new to the city, I'll been staying in a hotel near the campus until I know if I got in or not, then I'll hopefully be living at the dorms."
"Ah, that's right," he nodded, recalling having to break the news to his mother. UA had started offering boarding to students in the hero course as a matter of convenience. Izuku imagined that having around the clock access to state-of-the-art training facilities would be fantastic. Not to mention it would complement UA's already immersive hero course. He'd certainly miss his mother and her home cooking, but he was looking forward to taking the next step in his life.
"Oi, Deku, quit spacin out, nerd."
"Oh, Kacchan where have y— Kacchan!" Izuku's eyes widened in alarm, rushing over to the blonde girl. Her right arm was in a pale blue sling, propped at a right angle directly under her chest.
"Don't get your panties in a bunch, nerd, I'm fine," she said, shoving him away lightly with her good arm.
"What do you tell me when I say that!"
She didn't have an answer for that, choosing instead to scowl irritably.
"Katsumi-chan!" Uraraka sung, chocolate eyes shining with concern. "What happened?"
Katsumi paused, narrowing her eyes at the other girl. She turned back to him, "What's up with round face?"
Izuku peered curiously at the blonde, "It's a side-effect of Recovery-Girl's quirk." He grinned slightly, "I'm actually a bit disappointed that you're not as loopy as she is." He sidestepped the expected swipe from the shorter girl but frowned when she let out a hiss at the sudden movement. "Seriously, Kacchan, what happened?"
She met his eyes silently for a moment before answering in a gentle tone. "I really am fine, Deku, and to answer both of your questions," she said turning briefly to Uraraka. "Recovery girl checked me out already. The ligaments in my shoulders are bruised but she said it would be healthier to let it heal naturally." Her lips turned up slightly, "that's probably why I dodged round face's genki-syndrome."
Izuku smiled in agreement, and Uraraka's grin didn't falter in the slightest.
"Uraraku-san, you said you had some time to kill right? Join us for Dinner?"
"Mmm, Alright!"
Katsumi grumbled inaudibly for a moment but eventually relented, "Fine! Round face can come, but I'm picking the place."
oooOoOoOooo
Even with Kacchan claiming full control of the restaurant selection, she was indeed a benevolent dictator, taking suggestions for places to from both Izuku, and their new companion.
After wandering the area, they'd settled on Tatsumaki Ramen, a small, family owned noodle shop located reasonably close to Uraraka's hotel.
He left his quicksteel floating off to the side of the entrance, the tiny room feeling cramped enough without his quirk, now the size of a medium sized beach ball, taking up even more space. Luckily, not needing a bike lock was one benefit of traveling by skyboard.
The décor was traditional and welcoming, as was the server that greeted them at the door. She had straight, black hair pulled into a messy bun and looked to just a few years older than Izuku himself, maybe around mid-twenties? The shop's logo, a swirling vortex of noodles surrounding the characters in the name, was printed in a bright red over the woman's apron.
"Hello, sir!" she started with a bright smile. "Welcome to Tatsumaki Ramen!"
The fact that the woman only addressed Izuku while ignoring the two other girls was odd, but the server led them all to the bar regardless.
"Have you two been here before?" Uraraka said curiously. She peered around the small shop with a small smile.
Izuku shook his head. "Kacchan and I live on the east side of town, we took a train to get to UA today."
Uraraka's face lit up like a cherry, before the girl started stammering out a reply. "W-what?! You two already live together!?" She froze, rapidly waving her hands as she backtracked, "N-not that there's anything wrong with that or anything, its just that we're still so young and that's rushing things a bit and—"
"Round face, quit your damn rambling!" Katsumi cut in harshly. "I swear you're fuckin worse than this nerd used to be."
"I wasn't that ba—"
"Yes, you were," she snapped. "Half our fucking class used to copy your answers in first grade cus you couldn't stop muttering like a psycho during tests."
Izuku fell silent, pouting at her exaggeratedly. He wasn't that bad, right?
"That's what I thought, nerd," she said, smiling smugly."
He eyed her subtly, committing the rare expression to memory. A genuine smile really lit up the girl's fair features like nothing else. Her blonde hair looked almost golden in the dim lighting of the small ramen shop and her crimson eyes were expressive in a completely different way than many people described his own.
Intense.
That was a word that came to mind when he thought of his friend's ability to convey her thoughts through a simple stare.
"Why would you think I lived with Deku, anyway?"
Uraraka glanced away with a light flush, "Ah, um… well aren't you two like…" She held up an index finger from each hand and brought them flush with each other, "together?"
Katsumi spat out the large gulp of water she had just taken, sputtering incomprehensibly. "Me and Deku? Get fucking real, Round Face."
Ouch.
Uraraka looked genuinely surprised, large chocolate brown eyes widened to even more extreme proportions. "What?! Was I wrong? You two play off each other like some sort of quirked power couple! There's no waay you aren't together!"
Wow… she was really worked up about this. It was nice to have someone rooting for him, even if she didn't really know it. But did he and Katsumi really act like Uraraka had said?
"We've been friends for years, Round-face. Friends, got it?"
Izuku sighed… He understood the need to set Uraraka straight, he really did.
But… friend? That word just seemed so inadequate to describe what he felt for Katsumi. They'd known each other long enough to practically be siblings. His love for her was layered and complex, a familial bond just a small part. However, most of him yearned for her in a way that was about as far from brotherly as you could get.
"Have you decided what you'd like to order yet sir?"
He frowned. The waitress was back, and she was once again ignoring his company. "I don't know," he said slow, narrowing his eyes at the girl. "Uraraka-san? Kacchan? Go ahead, my treat," he said smiling softly.
Uraraka practically created a wind tunnel worthy of the shop's name with how fast she waved off his offer. "Oh, nonono, I couldn't do that." Her mouth said one thing, but with the way she was salivating at the menu…
"Just take the damn free food, round face," Katsumi bit out. "Deku wouldn't offer if he didn't mean it." She turned to the waitress, "Gimme a C set with spicy miso, no bean sprouts."
The brunette looked properly chastised but still hesitant to take what might be seen as charity. "You're sure?" she asked softly.
"Of course! We're all gonna be UA students after all," Izuku said in a rare show of confidence. He couldn't help it, after the ordeal with the zero pointer he had nearly forgotten about the reason they were all out there risking their lives that today. But after all that was dealt with, he had remembered that he had just taken perhaps the most important exam his life. Not only that, but he had killed it, just like he'd promised the blonde in front of him.
He peered at the girl, noting the familiar way her brow pinched as she traded barbs with their new acquaintance. Maybe Katsumi would finally have a girlfriend of her own to rely on. As close as they were, there were probably experiences she was missing having him as her only friend.
His eyes trailed down to the sling that she'd stubbornly flung to the floor after a mere two minutes of trying to use chopsticks with her left hand.
Katsumi hadn't said much about her own exam, had it gone well? How did she get hurt? He couldn't imagine any of the faux villains ever getting the drop on her. Maybe the Zero-pointer? That guy from before had said something about that. What was it again…?
"The hell you starin' at, nerd?"
The waitress had left their table in his brief moment of inattention and for some reason, didn't look very happy as she walked away. But wait! He hadn't given his ord—
"Shoyu with pork belly right?" Katsumi tilted her head in askance. "I ordered for you since you were so spaced out, what's up with that?" Her eyes narrowed in curiosity, and Izuku almost immediately felt compelled to give her what she wanted. Luckily, indulging his own curiosity was what he craved in the first place.
"How'd your exam go?"
She twitched, and Izuku latched onto the tell like a seasoned card shark. "More importantly, how did you get hurt?"
"Don't worry about it, nerd," she said, inspecting a print that hung on the closest wall with particular intensity.
"What? couldn't handle the three pointers huh?" Izuku said, nodding sagely.
He could barely contain his laughter at the sheer indignation that came over Katsumi's features.
" 'The hell do you think you're talkin' to, Deku? Huh? You wanna die?" Her voice dropped an octave lower and gained a bit of a growl.
Uraraka shrunk in her seat, practically shivering at the blonde's glare, but Izuku remained unphased. He'd known her his whole life and could tell when she was really pissed, this was just another Sunday to him.
"Then what happened?" He shrugged.
"Ill tell you what fuckin happened, I showed that shitty Zero-pointer who was boss!" She said, leaning aggressively over the tabletop, daring him to disagree.
"Oh… you too?" Uraraka said innocently.
A pause.
"The hell do you mean 'you too'? What the fuck?" Katsumi's gaze snapped between he and the brunette so quickly that for a moment, he feared for her spine.
Okay, that was a pretty good reaction too. Izuku grinned, before regaling her with the tales of his own exam, Uraraka chiming in her own perspective every few minutes.
…
"—so it went haywire when I flooded its circuitry," Izuku said, thinking back to the exam he'd taken barely three hours previously. "It took out another building before I locked it down for good, I shouldn't have hesitated," he said softly.
"The joints, right?" Katsumi said leadingly. "Don't worry about it, took me ages to bust through my scrapheap. They used some kind of heat-resistant metal or some shit." A grin exposed rows of white teeth, "But it died eventually."
He ignored the malice emanating from the girl, instead posing a question that had been on his mind all night. "Death of inanimate objects aside, how many points do you think you got?" He was genuinely curious how he'd compared to the girl.
"Wouldn't you like to know, nerd?" Katsumi said with a sly look.
Of course, she'd make him wait. She knew how much the tension of waiting got to him. "
So entranced was he with his conversation, Izuku never noticed Uraraka sitting with wide, attentive eyes, quietly slurping her noodles while the show unfolded before her.
oooOo Ochaco oOooo
Uraraka hadn't known exactly what exactly to expect when she had left her humble little Kansai town of Asahi for the big city. Her home town was quite literally the smallest in terms of actual size in the Mie Prefecture, and came in at an astounding population of just under ten thousand people. Adjusting to the literal millions of people who lived in Musutafu had certainly been a colossal undertaking for the bubbly girl, but she had to make her parents proud! The fact that someone from her modest community had even gotten a chance to take the UA entrance exams was cause for celebration. Such was the nature of a small town.
She'd heard rumors from her friends and family over the years about the kind of bizarre things she would see and experience in such a large city but had hoped to reserve judgement for when she'd actually made the move herself.
That was the whole point of such a huge change, right? New experiences? Well, that, and helping her family's construction business in the only way she could of course.
Besides, there couldn't really be villain attacks every afternoon, right?
There were.
She'd just arrived in the city by bullet train, and in the short time between the train and her hotel, the entire block was held up by an actual bus-jacking orchestrated by a villain in a full-body wrestlers costume, mask and all.
A real-life Luchador! Ochako couldn't believe her eyes! It was too bad the guy was evil and all, the costume was really cool…
But just as the novelty of the situation began to wear off and Ochako began to genuinely worry for the safety of those involved, an actual Pro arrived on the scene!
Villain activity was a rarity in the agricultural flatlands of her home, and as a result, she rarely got to see heroes in action that wasn't through a computer monitor.
She was never particularly interested in Gunhead himself, besides of course the respect she held for heroes in general. But seeing him stop the runaway bus single-handedly was totally inspiring.
And the man's adorable demeanor in his interview after the incident had been resolved?
He was so freakin cute! What the heck!?
But it wasn't until the day of the exam that Musutafu really revealed what it had in store for her.
She had nearly made herself sick that morning with all the worrying. Would her preparation be enough? Would they hold her less-than-stellar test scores against her? The what-ifs of the exam were overwhelming, overriding any logical or clear thought in her mind.
That is, until she'd tried to help a stranger, and instead met two people who were just strange.
Izuku and Kacch-Katsumi, were the most amazing, dysfunctional, talented, absurd pair she had ever had the opportunity to meet.
They were nearly polar opposites in terms of personality. From what she could tell in the little time she had known him, Izuku was as kind as he was honest, while Katsumi was standoffish in her best moments and downright terrifying at her worst.
But it was obvious to Ochako, and anyone with half a brain really, that they adored each other, even if the green-haired boy showed it more overtly than his counterpart. They were the coupliest not-couple that she'd ever met, and Uraraka wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry as they danced around the subject, all while casually discussing how they'd taken on their zero-pointers.
Like it was freaking normal!
But if there was one thing she learned today, it was that Izuku was strong.
Like... really strong. Just from the first couple minutes of the exam, she'd realized he was stronger than anyone she'd ever met before, and from the way the two spoke to each other, Katsumi was just as powerful, if not more so.
The thought that she'd have to compete with people like this in her chosen career was a daunting prospect. But the fact that they would be her peers and not her enemy was a comforting consolation.
This became even more apparent when Izuku had practically eviscerated the rampaging Zero-pointer and saved her life in the process. She'd bet he'd still gotten the top score, even after taking the time to cover up for her screw-up.
Hopefully Iida-kun hadn't lost too many points either, he'd been quite gentle when carrying her to safety.
So here she sat, alone in a cheap hotel after her new friends had paid for her dinner and made sure she got to the door safely. For once, despite the uncertainty of it, she was quite looking forward to whatever the future had in store.
oooOo Izuku oOooo
They'd dropped Uraraka off without any hassle before deciding to pay a visit to Katsumi's place before he headed home himself. It had been a while since Izuku had last seen the girl's parents and he figured a visit was due.
The Bakugo family residence was a modest-sized home, especially for the kind of salary Kacchan's parents both raked in. Masaru worked as a fashion consultant for well-known TV personalities, and Mitsuki worked part time as a model for the same company.
Even now as he strode through the entrance to the small, two-story home, Mitsuki glided down the staircase in a blood red knee-length spaghetti strapped cocktail dress and a pair of strappy high heels.
"Well, well, who's the hunk that followed you home, brat?" The Bakugo mother drawled to her daughter as a broad grin stretched over perfect cupid bow lips.
"Kacchan?" He said turning to the girl with feigned confusion. "You didn't tell me you had a sister?
Izuku of course felt the familiar stirrings of embarrassment but shoved them to the wayside after a brief moment to center himself. Ever since he'd reached a certain age, aunty Mitsuki never missed an opportunity to playfully flirt with him.
The first time she'd done it a few years back he'd been out of commission for a good half hour. but putting up with all the shit Katsumi had given him after that had been a much more lasting punishment. Luckily, he'd gotten accustomed to the older woman's wiles with time.
Mitsuki barked out a laugh while Katsumi simply scowled as she usually did whenever her mother laid on the charm particularly thick. He wasn't sure why, it was all in good fun after all. The Bakugo mother took long, sensual strides towards him before pulling the boy into a tight hug. Izuku had no illusions about how she intentionally pulled his face to her body's assets.
"It's been too long, kid, why don't you ever come around anymore? How'd the exam go? Meet any girls?" she teased, wiggling her eyebrows.
"Okay! I'm outta here! You coming, nerd?" Katsumi cut into her mother's excited probing, much to the older woman's obvious amusement. Katsumi yanked his arm out of her mother's grip and pulled him none to gently up the stairs.
Izuku turned back to Mitsuki all while being manhandled up the stairs, "One, I was here last weekend and you know it. Two, we killed it, probably. And three, yes, Uraraka-san is quite nice, but uh…." His eyes flicked towards the girl behind him, and Mitsuki shot him a commiserating look in response. She'd probably known about Izuku's affection for her daughter even before he did.
"Yeah, well…" The Bakugo mother actually looked sheepish for a moment. "I guess time's moving a bit fast since the brat here will be leaving the roost pretty soon, good luck kid," she muttered under her breath.
He'd certainly need it.
At least if Kacchan's earlier opinion on a relationship between he two of them had been genuine. He had a feeling it wasn't the whole truth. She tended to blurt things out without thinking in tense situations.
But gah! How the hell was he supposed to ever muster the courage to take the plunge himself if he was constantly hearing stuff like that?!
They finally made it to Katsumi's room, which was significantly more spartan than his own. Granted, there was the odd hero poster hung up on her walls, Dragoon Hero: Ryukyu, and Rabbit hero: Miruko, were some of the most prominently featured.
Izuku grinned, it was no wonder Kacchan was drawn to those two. He imagined she'd turn out to be a hero just like them when she went pro. A badass chick who could kick the shit out of anyone they came up against.
Yeah, that sounded about right.
A punching bag hung in one corner of the room, its outer skin already having been replaced several times over the years. The latest of which, they'd had to custom order a special material that could withstand the girl's increasingly powerful blows.
That was around the time she'd adopted a training intensity to rival his own. That was back when he was still training with Chi-sensei. He should have known she wouldn't have let him get an edge over her, even if it meant busting her ass to an equivalent degree.
"Old hag doesn't know when to let up!" Katsumi bit out through a groan. She stripped off her hoodie and rolled her shoulder experimentally, wincing as the sore muscles protested the movement.
Katsumi only had a sports bra underneath, the shirt she'd worn to the exam had been discarded immediately, torn and singed as it was.
But now here she was, clad in only a pair of yoga pants and sports bra, looking positively divine, and somehow expected Izuku to hold a normal conversation.
Did she really not know how that lithe body of her's drove him absolutely crazy?!
Izuku surpressed a shiver and ambled over to where the girl sat perched on her bed. "Why'd you even take the sling off, Kacchan?"
She gave him a look as if he was being particularly dense. "My mom may not worry like yours, but you know she still woulda' given me shit about getting hurt."
"Fair enough," he said, shrugging. "But you know it just means she cares."
He hesitated a moment. Should he? Ah fuck it.
"C'mere," he said, scooting closer to the girl. "Turn around."
"The fuck are you doing?"
"Just do it, trust me."
She eyed him warily, but eventually turned her back to him.
Well, no turning back now.
He looked her over appreciatively. Katsumi's toned, but unmistakably feminine shoulders and back curved into a deceptively slender waist. The smooth, lightly tanned skin disguised the sheer power she could put out in a moment's notice.
But Izuku knew, which only made his next choice even more of a risk.
She tensed at his first touch but made no other protest other than glancing over her shoulder questioningly.
"Relax," he breathed, and gently applied more pressure to the girl's knotted muscles, all the while trying to follow his own advice. His heart pounded in his chest, threatening to burst through his ribcage any moment now.
This was for Kacchan. It was to help relax her sore shoulder. Just because he'd wanted to touch her like this for years didn't mean anything. He wasn't doing this just to be selfish.
He wasn't.
But she didn't seem to mind so much, letting out an appreciative groan that sent a tingling feeling straight to his lower gut. She had to be fucking with him, right? There's no way a noise like that would come out of his friend by accident, right?
But little by little, she seemed to relax under his ministrations, eventually laying flat on her stomach to allow him a better angle. He tried to ignore the way the elastic material of her yoga bottoms clung to her curvy rear, he really did. But straddling her legs as he was, there was absolutely nothing to hide how absolutely delectable it looked.
His cheeks burned at the thought. Cut it out man! How could he sit here and ogle his best friend under the pretense of helping her through her pain!?
oooOo Katsumi oOooo
Why hadn't anyone told her that Deku had magic fingers!?
Katsumi surreptitiously bit her pillow lest she let out another horribly embarrassing sound like she had earlier. She was already mortified enough as it was, no need to make the nerd's head any bigger that it already was.
Except… that wasn't true. That was the fuckin' anti-truth. Her best friend was a god damn teddy bear and could use some more ego. He was honest, doting, and most importantly of all knew when to fuck off if she was in one of her moods. Not to mention—
"Mmngghf—"
Shit! This was how it would all end. Not crushed under the overwhelming power of some maniacal villain in throes of battle. Nah, she'd be done in by her friend's killer fucking massage.
Aaaahh! Why the hell did she have to act like a blushing fucking schoolgirl when Round-face had sprung her absurd misunderstanding on them? She'd been trying to work towards making Deku hers, not away from it! It should have been easy! They already spent nearly every day together, with obvious exceptions, how hard could it be to say: 'Nerd, we should definitely smash.'
Well… she was still working on the delivery, but it was the root of the whole thing.
She shivered as his thumbs trailed slowly down her spine, dexterous fingers ghosting past her ribcage and sending tingles arcing throughout her body. Slowly but surely, Katsumi felt all the tension that had built up over the day, and quite possibly the year, fluidly wick out of her body.
"Ok, what the fuck, nerd?" she bit out. "You're sure we got your quirk right?" She couldn't help it, it felt really fucking good. Izuku was straddling her waist, and though he was careful to keep most of his body weight off her, she still felt his presence above, pinning her to the mattress.
She didn't dislike it.
"I'm afraid so, but I can use that too if you like?"
Before she could register that statement, Katsumi felt a sensation both incredibly familiar and curiously foreign.
She knew the touch of his quirk like the back of her hand. Its glossy, reflective and wonderfully cool surface was nothing new. But the feeling of having it mold to the planes of her back was both incredibly strange and wonderfully soothing to her overworked muscles. Izuku worked her lower back with powerful knuckles while his quirk soothed the areas he'd already passed by
She let out a sharp hiss, sucking in a large gulp of air. It felt good, but shit that was cold. Even more so given the situation.
"Sorry!" Izuku said softly.
"Shi— no its ok, don't stop," she said waving airily over her shoulder. "Just… a little heads up?"
"Yeah, no problem," he said after a moment. She couldn't see his face, facedown as she was, but the smile was clear as day in his voice.
Katsumi wasn't quite sure how long she laid there under the tender care of her best friend. But neither of them made any mention of the fact that the soles of her feet weren't really injured. Nor were her calves, and if Izuku got a little adventurous at the tail end of her lower back? Then maybe she still had a better chance than she thought.
A happy little grin tugged at her lips.
Bang! Bang! Bang! "Alright brat! Plenty of time to get busy when you move out! Inko's probably worrying herself to death waiting to hear how the exam went!"
…
Well… it was nice while it lasted.
oooOo Izuku oOooo
"One hundred ninety-eight…"
It had been a week since that night, and Izuku had hardly gone a moment where it wasn't on his mind.
"One hundred ninety-nine…"
He'd taken to training even more than his usual absurd regiment lest he start daydreaming again. The more exhausted he was, the less opportunity he had to think about Kacchan's piercing gaze, those athletic thighs and that a—
"Two hundred," he bit out with a bit more force. He flipped down from his single quivering arm, and the world was right-side up once more.
His training wasn't all distraction of course, that was just a convenient side-effect. Izuku was not happy about being knocked off his board during the exam and was working to remedy the oversight immediately.
The spill had been caused by being unable to stay focused while taking damage. While he was already quite practiced at fighting and gliding simultaneously, having to split his focus in a chaotic situation like the exam had proven too much. At least while being jolted by electricity.
So he was doing his usual sets of one-armed handstand pushups, only this time balancing on a plate of quicksteel. He was also using a smaller amount, separated from the main mass which drifted nearby. Hopefully doing so would strengthen his economy, and stop him from thinking about smooth skin an—
"Gah! Get it together man!"
Suddenly his door banged open, which was odd because his mother was usually extremely considerate of his privacy. But there she stood in his doorway, practically vibrating with excitement, and in her hands was—
"Izuku, honey, it's here!"
Wow, had he really been that distracted this week? He'd nearly forgotten about the exam results!
After she handed off the package his mother quietly left him to open the message alone.
See, considerate.
Not seeing the point in delaying any longer, he tore open the letter.
Only for a round, metallic disk to drop out onto his desk. The lens on its side flickered to life, and a moment later a blue-tinted image appeared floating above the device.
"I am here, as a projection!"
Holy shit, it's All Might. Somehow… only he could pull of a suit like that.
"Yes, it is I, All Might, and considering who I'm speaking to, you'll soon know me by another name!" the man paused dramatically.
"Sensei!"
No…way… This… this was huge. Learning from the symbol of peace himself?
Holo-Might spread his arms grandly, his wingspan leaving the sides of the floating frame.
"Now! you're probably wondering about your exam results, Midoriya-shonen! I can say with utmost certainty that you will be a credit to this fine institution. You passed the written exam in the top twenty, but most importantly performed most prodigiously in the practical aspect of the exam! In fact, it would have been a record-breaking performance, if it wasn't for a young woman who you're probably quite familiar with! Behold!
1. Bakugo Katsumi 123
2. Midoriya Izuku 109
3. Iida Tenya 75
4. Yosetsu Awase 71
5. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu 69
6. Tokoyami Fumikage 67
7. Kirishima Eijiro 59
8. Shiozaki Ibara 56
9. Uraraka Ochako 48
10. Kendo Itsuka 45
One 'oh nine, that wasn't too bad. A slow smile came over his face. Kacchan finally got her number one. She deserved it.
"But wait, that's not all!" All Might's smiling head peeked over the floating numbers.
There's more?
"Indeed! This exam you see…! We weren't just watching for villain-based points!"
That was… a relief actually. The thought that such a prestigious institution would test its applicants with such a one-dimensional exam was… alarming to say the least.
"Think we are mere celebrities, only prancing around for the cameras? Think again! In this job, you risk your life and put your money where your mouth is."
Izuku knew that better than most. He'd had it beaten into him at a young age by his only friend's misguided actions, but that was all in the past.
"A hero course that rejects those who do the right thing…is no hero course at all! The addition of RESCUE POINTS, causes a significant shift in the standings you see!"
The symbol of peace swept a hand dramatically through the air, and the floating names and scores blurred briefly before they rearranged themselves accordingly.
"Congratulations, Midoriya-shonen! This is your hero academia!"
1. Bakugo Katsumi 153
2. Midoriya Izuku 153
3. Iida Tenya 110
4. Kendo Itsuka 99
5. Kirishima Eijiro 92
6. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu 92
7. Tokoyami Fumikage 89
8. Shiozaki Ibara 81
9. Yosetsu Awase 75
10. Uraraka Ochako 71
Izuku sat in stunned silence, barely registering his own hand as it reached for the phone buzzing in his pocket.
Kacchan [11:23 am]: This changes nothing, nerd!
Kacchan [11:24 am]: You can keep your fucking deus ex machina points, we'll settle this at UA!
He huffed out a breathy laugh before typing a short response.
You [11:24 am]: Never change, Kacchan
AN: Whew! So that's a thing… I wanted to explain my reasoning for how I placed the top ten, though you can skip it if you don't' really care, it really doesn't matter at the end of the day.
I've tweaked the canon top ten to account for an extra three years of physical and quirk-based development. Though this wouldn't be as significant a change as if those three years were spent in a hero course, I feel like it would be irresponsible to ignore the obvious physical changes we go through between ages 15 and 18, so the scores are inflated a bit. Katsumi, having been training as much as Izuku has the extra advantage of a quirk that lends itself well to hitting multiple opponents, and so will obviously have a score that reflects that.
Some of you might have noticed in the last chapter that she actually saved some other applicants, even if it was by accident. Also, Uraraka barely scrapes by the top ten in this situation, since she never has the chance to save Izuku herself, she misses out on those juicy rescue points. In fact, in canon, disregarding the threat to her life, Uraraka might have not even passed if Izuku didn't present that opportunity. We don't know if her 45 rescue points all came from that last scene or not, but without them she had 28, which, depending on how close the scores were, could quite possibly not be enough.
An Urarakaless UA… spooky.
On another note, this chapter gets a bit steamy but is obviously still well within a T rating…
So uh… how lewd are we getting with this one? Thoughts?