Izuku felt like he couldn't breathe. Today was the day he will be taking the UA entrance exams. All the time he spent training the past few months all comes down to this moment. He's about to find out if he's worthy of attending a prestigious school. Like All Might.
He felt like he was going to puke.
Izuku was actually fairly impressed that he hasn't puked yet. He could feel his anxiety sitting in his gut, coiling around his chest suppressing his breathing, and increasing his nausea. It was not something that made him feel comfortable, but it was something he would and could deal with. In his opinion anyways.
He shifted uncomfortably in his train seat and glanced at the time on his watch. It would be fifteen minutes until he reached his stop then he would walk for ten more minutes and he would be at UA's front gates. He shifted again and glanced at his watch. It would be fourteen minutes until he reached his stop… shift… thirteen minutes… shift… twelve minutes. His chest now felt tight, like someone was sitting on it, he anxiously sought out for Mr. Gooey and brought the blob to his lap.
Izuku took deep breathes, petting his blob in time with them. He slightly felt like a metronome, but whatever worked. He brought his breathing back to a more normal level.
He was fine. Fine.
He went to go check the time again but stopped himself. He would just make himself more anxious again. But not checking was making him anxious, but checking makes him anxious. He started absentmindedly scratching from his hand down to his exposed wrist.
'How will I know when I need to get up for my stop, what if I miss it? Wait am I even on the right train? Don't be silly of course I am, I checked 10 times before it got here. What time is it? Don't check. But I need to. Don't do it.' Izuku scratched his wrist harder, it was quickly turning red and the skin was swelling slightly from the irritation.
Check it, check it, checkitcheckitcheckit. You need to know. What if you miss your stop?
Izuku brought his watch up to his face and read the time. There were seven minutes until he reached his stop, then he would walk for ten minutes and he would be at UA's front gates. Izuku felt his eyes sting with small tears. He hated when he got caught in a loop like this, there was never a way out. He took a deep breathe trying to settle nausea that was quickly building up to his throat. He almost gagged.
It's fine, I'm fine, finefinefinefinefine check the time what if you miss your stop?
He brought his watch up to his face, he would reach his stop in five minutes, then he would walk… Breathe, breathe don't forget to breathe.
He heard someone giggle towards the other side of the train cart it was grating against his ears. He could feel his whole body flinch like he was slapped in the face. They're laughing at you. Pathetic.
Check the time. Don't. Check it. Don't. Check it. He brought the watch up to his face for the umpteenth time, there were two minutes until he would arrive at his stop, then he would walk… Izuku stood up, his legs were shaking he felt like a newborn baby deer. He walked towards the exit and tripped over his foot slightly. Oh god did anyone notice? He heard more giggles from the other side of the cart again, his cheeks reddened. He needed to get out of there.
Need to get out, need to get out. Calm your breathing your fine. Scratch scratch. Fine finefinefinefine. Get outoutoutoutout. Fine.
The train screeched to a halt, and the doors opened a few seconds later, Izuku all but leaped off the train. He took a big breath of fresh air and instantly felt better. God, he hated public transportation.
Hated it, hated it, hatehatehatehate. Stop you're fine now. Just. Breathe. In and out.
Izuku took a big inhale, and held it, then exhaled. It was fine, he was fine, just walk. So he did. Izuku spent the next ten minutes of walking trying to calm his screaming mind. He was just so anxious, it was easily pouring out of his body, his mind was yelling at him to run, run far far away.
Runrunrunrun. IT WAS FINE.
He would do this. He didn't train for month's only to let his anxiety stop him. He balled his hand into a fist and raised it into the air, and then swiftly brought it down to his thigh. Pain radiated through his leg. It would bruise for sure, but the pain distracted him from his anxious thoughts. It let him rest his mind for a bit.
He arrived at the front gates. Izuku felt all the air leave his lungs. The gates were bigger and more intimidating then he imagined. It took all his focus to move his legs rather than be frozen in place. He started to scratch his wrist again. He was walking towards the crowd that was gathered in the front when he tripped over his own feet again, but this time he wasn't able to catch himself.
'Well, this is it.' He thought. He was going to die from embarrassment before he even got to try. He closed his eyes in anticipation of the cold concrete smacking his face. It didn't come, he opened his eyes confused. He was… floating? What?
"Uhh sorry I didn't ask if I could use my quirk on you. But I couldn't just let you fall, you know?" A sweet girl voice said.
Izuku turned his head towards the voice and saw a girl with short brown hair. Wait… a girl… was talking to him?
"O-o-o-oh thank y-y-y-you! It's a-a-appreciated!" His voice came out louder then he wanted it too, and it cracked a bunch from his nervousness. His face reddened from the embarrassing display. He expected the girl to laugh at him, but she surprisingly didn't. She brought her two hands together and quietly muttered something, he then lightly fell back onto the ground.
"Well, I wish you luck on the exam!" she said before she walked away. Izuku didn't even get the chance to catch the nice girl's name.
It was the first kind interaction Izuku had in months. It helped quiet his anxious thoughts. It was fine, he could do this. He took a big breath before he started his way walking over towards the crowd. He was almost there when he spotted spikey blonde hair in the middle of the crowd that could only belong to Kacchan. Izuku was careful to avoid his direct line of sight. He doesn't think he is able to withstand the blonde's harsh treatment at the moment. So he waited for the blonde to disappear into the building before he walked up to the entrance.
'Ok, you can do this Izuku. It's now or never. Time to prove to yourself that you belong here.'
Izuku's inner pep talk was interrupted by someone heckling him. Oops, he was holding up the line. He muttered out a sorry and dashed down the hall towards another crowd of students. As he walked towards it he started to command any blobs he saw to follow him. He would need them for later. He entered a large auditorium and sat down in his assigned seat. Which was thankfully away from Bakugo, he doesn't even think the blonde has seen him yet much to his relief. The lights in the room dimmed and all the muttering that was around him quieted down to small hushes. Present Mic took the stage.
"What's up UA candidates? Thanks for tuning into me, your school DJ! Come on and let me hear ya!" The spiked haired hero brought his hand to his ear, waiting for cheers from the students. There was silence. The man didn't seem to be deterred by the student's silence as he continued on with his speech.
Izuku was internally screaming "It's the voice hero Present Mic! He's so cool!" he mumbled out loud barely containing his excitement.
The man continued on to explain how that practical exam would work. Izuku took note that his exam card read that his test location would be in 'Battle Center B'. He hoped Kacchan had a different test location, he really didn't want to run into him. He continued to listen to what Present Mic had to say about the practical exam. Apparently, there would be 3 different kinds of robots each worth different points: 1, 2, and 3. A boy with dark hair and glasses rose up to ask a question, Izuku wasn't really paying attention until said boy whipped around and pointed his finger towards Izuku.
"You with the unkempt hair, you've been muttering this entire time. Stop it, you're distracting the rest of us!" the glasses boy said firmly.
Izuku felt like he was punched in the gut and his hands flew up to cover his face. Everyone was laughing.
Ignore them ignore them ignoreignore. You're fine finefinefinefinefine. Just breathe.
Present Mic settled down the room of students and seemed to take a slight note of Izuku's panic. He went on to explain about the 0 pointer robot. Then they were dismissed. Everyone got up at once, but Izuku waited until most of the other kids left the room out of habit. He stood up and was about to exit the room when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Izuku flinched violently and turned his wide green eyes around. Present Mic was standing there.
"Hey kid, I couldn't help but notice that you seemed a little nervous. Just take a deep breath and you'll do fine. Plus Ultra!" the man said flashing a giant grin and a thumbs up.
Izuku did what he said and took a deep inhale and then exhaled trying to expel the anxiety from his system. "T-t-thank you." He stuttered out nervously.
"It's no problem, now quickly" the man made a shooing motion "you don't want to be late." Izuku seemed to take notice that he was the last person in the room at that moment. He then ran after the rest of the students.
Izuku had spent the trip towards his exam area gathering blobs. Every time their bus would pass one, he would silently command it to follow him. Izuku was lucky that the blobs were fast enough to keep up with the vehicle, otherwise, he would be in trouble. He now had a decent sized army of blobs behind him, waiting for his command. It always amused Izuku that he could turn around and see an inky black sea but nobody else could.
They had exited the bus and were now standing in front of a huge brown gate, everyone was stretching or talking to each other. He noticed the nice girl from earlier near the front of the crowd, his eyes widened as he saw 4 blobs on her legs.
'Oh no, I should remove those as thanks for earlier.' He thought. He went to go walk towards her when he was stopped by a hand. He flinched and turned towards the hands' owner. It was the glasses boy.
"She looks like she's trying to focus. I hope you aren't going to go try and distract her." The boy ground out.
Izuku started to stutter out an explanation when he was interrupted by Mic.
"Alright kiddos, it's about time to start your exam! Remember Plus Ultra!" the man enthusiastically shouted out. The giant gates then opened. The crowd of students then took off and Izuku started to run with them.
As he was running through the gate he commanded a small portion of his blob army to coat his body. He now had a set of cold and slimy blob armour, protecting every part of his body except his face. sat on top of the place where his heart would be. Since the blobs weighed nothing he was completely protected at no cost.
He turned towards a 1 pointer, he whipped his hand in its direction and made a slashing motion. He had added a form of theatrics like All Might told him to do, it wasn't much but at least people could tell it was him destroying the robots. As he made the motion he told the blobs to attack the robot. They swiftly slimed their way on to it, oozing into its circuits, causing it to malfunction and shut down. This all happened in seconds, Izuku smiled at how easy it was.
A robot had sneaked behind him and shot bullets towards him. Izuku whipped around and watched in satisfaction as the bullets ran into the blobs only to be bounced back towards the robot, piercing its metal shell ultimately shutting it down. That was 3 points.
Izuku ran down the street and spotted two more robots and instructed the blobs to do the same as before. One after the other shut down. 5 points. 10 points. 15 points. 25 points. He kept raking in more and more points, in his hunt for more robots he excitedly turned the corner. He stopped in his tracks.
Shit.
There was a horror. It was tall, Izuku's eyes travelled up the morbid figure. It was probably the tallest one he's ever encountered. It stood at a height of about 25 feet. It had 4 long thin legs it almost looked like it was on stilts. Its body was fat and was covered in puss-filled welts and thick coarse black hair. Its head was small compared to its body and looked extremely disproportionate. It had two wide dark green fish-like eyes, and a mouth that was stuck opened drooling out black ooze. It had hair on its head that was dark green like its eyes, it looked greasy and filthy. This was probably the most disgusting horror Izuku has encountered.
'What was it doing here?' Izuku thought to himself. He knew that it was probably here feasting on all the destruction that their quirks were creating but it still unsettled him that it was there. It hadn't noticed him yet so he took that as a good sign and continued to destroy robots. He just had to stay out of the creatures view and he would be fine. He distantly heard Present Mic shout out one more minute. He had to pick up the pace. Panic started to slightly rise in his chest.
It's fine, don't think about it. Just keep going. Breathe
He glanced around for more robots but he couldn't find any. What was he going to do? Were they all gone? 25 points weren't bad, he soothed to himself. His thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash, dust flared up temporarily blinding Izuku. When it cleared it was revealed that the loud crash was caused by the zero-pointer. Izuku turned his body away from the giant robot, there was no point in fighting it. He started to run when he stopped at the sound of a familiar voice.
"Help." Izuku turned towards the direction of the sound. His eyes widened and his breath left his lungs. It was the nice girl, she was trapped under some rubble. There were blobs crawling on top of her feasting on her bad luck. He had to help her it's his fault that he didn't remove the blobs earlier. If she died, he would be responsible.
He commanded his army of blobs to attack the giant machine, they swiftly crawled into the machines crevasses eating away at its wires. But it wasn't enough it was too big and the blobs weren't eating fast enough. He looked around desperately for more blobs there wasn't any.
What was he going to do? There's no more. He needs to save her save her savesavesave. It's his fault.
The machine rolled closer to her prone form, they made eye contact. Her eyes were filled with fear but also acceptance. His were filled with terror and guilt. He glanced around for anything to help, that's when he made eye contact with the deep green eyes of the horror that wondered over towards the mass amounts of destruction.
Time seemed to slow down at that moment. The horror let out a large crooked grin as if beckoning Izuku to do something. Anything. He glanced back to the machine nearing the girl in slow motion, then he turned back to the smiling horror. He pointed towards the machine, eyes still locked on the horror.
"DESTROY IT. RIP IT TO SHREDS." He screamed out towards the beast, he was distantly surprised at the sound of his own voice.
The terrifying creature let out a loud shriek that sent chills down Izuku's spine, causing his hairs to stand upright. The creature then reared its long crooked legs and with great speed and power, it tackled itself into the robot. It tilted the whole thing over into another building causing it to fall in the process. The horror then took its long legs and repeatedly stabbed the robot, ripping bits of it apart. Metal was flying in different directions and sparks were flying from the exposed wires. It let out another shriek as it continued tearing it apart piece by piece.
Izuku stared in awe of the sheer power the creature was displaying, its shriek snapped him out of his stupor. He ran towards the girl and pushed the rubble off her legs. He hooked his arm under her legs and his other arm under her back and lifted her up. He ran off with the smaller girl in his arms, away from the destruction. When they were a safe distance away he placed the girl down and turned back towards the creature. The robot was down, but the horror kept shredding it causing destruction all around it. Izuku knew he had to stop it, what if it caused rubble to fall on other students?
He ran back towards the horror and shouted "STOP! It's destroyed, you can stop!" It didn't listen and kept going. "STOP IT STOP IT! LISTEN TO ME!" the creature turned its head towards him and let out another shriek. It stopped. Izuku let out a breath of relief, it was short lived. The horror decided that he should be the next target and was starting its rampage towards him.
Shit shit shit shit shit.
He turned to run and was about to take a step forward when he was knocked back with such force he flew across the street. He smacked into a wall near where the examinees seemed to be gathering. He heard Present Mic shout out "Time's up!" but he was more concerned with the horror attacking him. Someone knelt by his form asking if he was alright, which he was the blob armour absorbed the force of his fall. He turned his body towards the person, it was the glasses boy.
"You all need to run. Run. Right. Now." He said it with such seriousness that the glasses boy didn't even question why. The taller boy stood up and demanded that everyone calmly evacuate the area. It surprisingly worked everyone started to run away. Izuku was relieved that nobody else would get hurt because of him.
The horror stalked its way over to Izuku who was pulling himself off the ground. It took its long leg and pressed it into the boy, forcing him back onto the ground. It leaned its fish-eyed face towards him and let out a smile, showing off its pointy teeth. Drool seeped out of its opened mouth and landed on Izuku's face, it smelt like sewage. He gagged.
Terror seeped under his skin as the horrors face got closer. Was it going to eat him? Is this what happened to mom? Was he going to die before he even got to prove his worth? Izuku braced himself as it opened its mouth wider seemingly ready to chomp him in one bite. Terror was pulsing through his body, his heart was pounding. He wasn't ready.
Then it was gone.
Shouta Aizawa was bored as hell. He let out a sigh, it was the same every year. He would watch kids show off their quirks, they would get assigned to his class. Then he would expel the useless ones. He didn't really think he needed to be here for the exam it was the same every time. He much rather be sleeping. But it was his duty as a UA teacher, so here he was.
He and the other UA teachers were watching the various screens that were focused on the many different examinees ready for the practical exam to begin. He watched All Might point out a small meek green haired boy.
"I know that kid!" the large man bellowed. "He is very heroic!"
Shouta hummed at the man. Heroic huh? He lazily brought his focus to the kid, he would watch the boy. If he attracted All Might's attention maybe he was worth watching.
The exam started and the gates opened, he watched as the kid quickly and efficiently destroyed robots, making a slashing motion with his arm and hand. It was curious since the motion didn't seem to coordinate with what happened. It wasn't like the robots split in half with the slashing motion. They just seemed to collapse and break in on themselves as if there was something wrong with the wiring. He watched as a robot snuck behind the green haired boy and shot at him. The bullets bounced back towards the robot, destroying it.
'Curious, what on earth is this boy's quirk?' Shouta turned himself towards the school's principal, Nezu. "Sir what is this boy's quirk?" He questioned, lazily pointing at the screen. He heard All Might's annoying joyous laughter in the background, happy that the boy gained Eraserhead's attention.
"Ah, examinee 2234. His name is Izuku Midoriya, and his quirk is called Planes of Existence. It's quite a unique quirk, the boy's body resides in two different realities at the same time. According to his quirk sheet, there are creatures in what he calls his 'quirk reality' that he can control." Nezu finished his brief explanation.
Shouta nodded towards the small animal. "I want him in my class." He stated in a bored tone.
"Ah, I shall see to it." Nezu nodded happily.
Yes, this boy interested him quite a bit. He enjoyed teaching those with unique quirks. They heard Present Mic's announcement that the exam was almost over, and they let the zero-pointer lose. They watched as it destroyed everything in its path like it was designed to do.
"Uh oh, looks like a girl is stuck." Shouta heard Midnight call out. Ah, indeed there was, it was alright though they would stop the machine before it ran over her. Nezu was about to press the stop button when there was a feral scream coming from the speakers.
"DESTROY IT. RIP IT TO SHREDS." The voice surprisingly came from the green haired kid 'Midoriya' Shouta reminded himself. He watched with an impressed expression as the giant robot was knocked to the ground and being torn to shreds by what seemed to be an invisible force. Debris was flying everywhere. The boy then helped the girl that was stuck to safety.
"HAHA see! I told you the boy was heroic!" All Might bellowed out.
Shouta rolled his eyes at the man, he was so loud. Midoriya ran back towards the fallen robot and started shouting at whatever invisible creature was there. He watched as fear filled the boy, Shouta's face twitched with slight concern. He turned to run but then he was flying across the street. Shouta stood up when he saw other students running away from the vicinity.
"Nezu I thin-" he started when he was interrupted by the small animal.
"Ah, Aizawa I think your quirk is required for this situation." Nezu said albeit solemnly.
Shouta ran down towards the exam area, they were lucky that they happened to be stationed in the correct testing area otherwise the kid would be screwed. He quickly spotted the kids green hair, he was lying on his back his face portraying a look of terror. He was letting out small yelps of fear. Just as it seemed the kid was about to let out a scream Aizawa activated his quirk, staring at the boy. His hair flew up and he let out a breath of relief as the terror fled from the boy's face.
Shouta jogged over and scooped up Midoriya, careful to not lose eye contact. Once he had a good hold on him he ran a few streets away from the area before he deactivated his quirk. The kid finally seemed to realize what just happened because his mouth fell open and his eyes lit up and he stuttered out.
"E-e-eraserhead?" Shouta smirked, so the kid knew who he was huh?
"E-e-eraserhead?" Izuku stuttered out. He couldn't believe his eyes, his second favourite hero had just saved him from the horror. He was definitely put into a temporary state of shock as the horror, cottons, and all the blobs disappeared from his view as if they weren't there to begin with. He would be lying if he said it didn't fill him slightly with panic.
Izuku noticed that most of the blobs he had under his control had disappeared in the short time his quirk was disabled. His body quickly filled with white-hot panic, where was Gooey? His hand shot towards his heart, and he was filled with relief when he found the smiley face paper that was stuck to.
'That was close.' He thought with relief.
"You ok there kid?" He heard Eraserhead ask. Right. He forgot the man was there.
"Y-yes I'm f-f-fine now, th-hanks to y-you." He stuttered out. The man lazily nodded and gently put the boy down.
"Well as long as you're ok, I'll escort you out of the exam area just in case whatever it was that you saw comes back." The man stated in a bored tone.
Izuku muttered out 'thanks' and was brought out of the exam area. He was told that he would get the exam results in a week's time, and to just relax until then. He could only nod at that but he knew he wouldn't be able to relax.
He released the remaining blobs that clung to his skin and trailed behind him, leaving on his shoulder as he made his way back home. It was going to be a long wait until he got his results if his anxiety had anything to do with it.
Like Eraserhead promised he got a letter exactly 1 week later. His hands anxiously clawed the letter opened. He wasn't sure if his brain was ready for the answer.
What if he was rejected?
He let out a nervous breath, only one way to find out. He pulled a small device out of the envelope it played a video. Apparently, All Might was chosen to give the good or bad news to the examinees. The large man's beaming smile played out in the video, announcing that Izuku had passed with: 25 Villain points and 50 Hero points. That gave him a total of 75 points placing him in second place, his eyes widened as he realized he was only two points behind Kacchan.
Tears welled up in his eyes and quickly travelled their way down his cheeks. He grabbed Mr. Gooey from his chest and brought it up towards his face.
"Here that Gooey? I'm going to UA!" He hugged the sticky mass and shouted out joyfully "I'm going to UA! I can be a hero!"
Izuku slept peacefully that night.