"Hey, you! Broccoli head!"

Just his luck.

Izuku took a deep breath, the yelling actually helping him in clearing his thoughts. He tried to look up and see who it was, but his shame made it hard to do anything expect shrink into himself.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

Suddenly, he was looking into two crimson eyes as his head was yanked upwards. He instantly recognized him as Katsuki Bakugo, the student who had scored first in the entrance exam.

Bakugo huffed at the lack of reaction he got and let go of his hair. "What? Still embarrassed that you completely failed at that test?"

The mocking tone that Bakugo used cut deep into Izuku. He looked away from the blonde's gaze, unable to meet those hate-filled eyes any longer. They reminded him too much of-

He stopped that thought before it could complete.

Bakugo apparently took his silence as and answer and grinned, "What, you gonna cry?" He laughed, "What a weakling!" His laughter died down and Izuku could hear how the rest of the students had started to gather around them. His thoughts and feelings from earlier had all but vanished, replaced with fear and a weird sense of morbid curiosity. Even though he had been surrounded by strange and not so sane people his entire life, he had never seen someone act so extremely to a stranger. He had never even met Bakugo before.

"That's enough." A stern but monotone voice interrupted Bakugo before he could say anything else.

Everyone turned to see their teacher standing there looking bored, everyone apparently having finished the standing long jumps already. Izuku sighed a breath of relief as Bakugo backed down, having enough sense to know not to get on the bad side of their teacher.

"Now if you're all done picking fights, it's time for the next test." With that he turned and made his way to where the track lines lined up next to each other. Izuku glanced over to where Bakugo was now walking away, his stiff posture showing everyone the anger he was still clearly feeling. He was honestly terrified of setting him off. Izuku may not have shown it at the time, but he had been scared for his life. Bakugo was unpredictable, and that's what scared him the most.

"Izuku!" He started at the use of his first name, not expecting anyone to ever use it, "are you alright? I wanted to stop him, but Mr. Aizawa beat me to it." Izuku turned to see Uraraka run up to him, Hagakure, Yaoyorozu, and Iida following after her.

"I-It's okay Uraraka. He didn't Hurt me or anything," Izuku said.

Uraraka frowned, "Are you sure? You looked pretty scared when he forced you to look at him."

Izuku winced at that, his fingers fiddling with the sleeve of his uniform. He hadn't been in a very good mindset when he had been interrupted, though it had been a nice distraction from the self deprecating thoughts that tended to consume him. The fog that had filled his mind was now in the back of his mind, never completely leaving but weak enough to where he could control and suppress it. Now that he thought about it, the fog had really been plaguing his mind for as long as he could remember. Was this a problem? Did he need to mention this to Tou-nii? Definitely not to sensai though, he wouldn't care. Though maybe-

"Umm, Izuku?" Uraraka's voice broke him from his thoughts, "Are you sure you're okay? You started mumbling all of a sudden and I'm kind of worried."

Izuku's face heated up as he realized he had been muttering his thoughts out loud, "O-of c-course I'm o-okay! R-really!" She didn't look convinced, but let it go in favor of dragging him to where the other students had gathered around Mr. Aizawa. Once they reached the group, he felt his friends swarm around him, creating a sort of protective wall between him and his other classmates. Embarrassment climbed up his face and he had to face himself to stop fidgeting and listen to what Mr. Aizawa was saying.

"The next test is line jumps. This is pretty simple, all you have to do is move between these two lines as many times as you can within the time limit."

Many of his classmates started whispering to each other about who would do the best, though one of the students stepped forward. He was small, probably the shortest in the class, and had strange purple balls in place of hair. Now that he thought about it, he had seen him hanging around the girls, staring way too weirdly at them for it to be normal.

The short student puffed out his chest, "Don't worry girls," all of the girls cringed, "I've got this." He then proceeded to throw the purple balls on the lines, creating a weird purple wall. Mr. Aizawa gave him the signal and he started bouncing himself rapidly between the lines.

The timer went off and the purple haired pervert somehow stopped himself. The purple balls were removed and it was time for the next student.

Everyone looked at each other, no one quite willing to try it out for themselves. Mr. Aizawa just blinked at this, before raising the clipboard in his hand, "Then I guess I'll just have to pick someone." He looked down at the clipboard before saying a name, "Izuku Midoriya."

Izuku blinked, then his nerves caught up to him and he broke out into a cold sweat. He hadn't been expecting to be picked, so he was completely unprepared.

He shuffled up to the lines and tried to steel his nerves. It didn't help much, but at least his slight shaking had gone away.

"Start."

He hopped as quickly as he could from foot to foot, making sure to stay on the lines as he did so. His training proved to be beneficial as he got quite a few passes in before Mr. Aizawa called time.

Izuku sighed in relief as he went to the other side to wait for his friends. Mr. Aizawa wrote something down on the clipboard and then looked back up, "Now, do I need to-"

"I'll go!"

Everyone turned to look in surprise at Yaoyorozu, who was now walking forward to the lines. She was wearing some type of spring on the soles of her feet which were causing her to bounce as she walked. Standing on the lines, she waited for Mr. Aizawa to call start before bouncing between the lines. It looked a little awkward, but she managed to make it work as she made many passes before time was called.

She was sweating a little bit as she took off the springs and walked over to him. He was concerned, but when he asked about it she just waved it off as being tired. "Don't worry! It's just that I've been making some things that are more complicated, so it takes a little more out of me. I'll be fine once I eat something." He nodded and once again added to the growing profile he had of her. Guilt still pooled in his gut, but he also found joy in collecting information on heroes. Er, well, future heroes in this case. It had always been a hobby of his, but he hated how something he loved doing so much was now being turned against people he admired.

Yaoyorozu and him watched as Hagakure and Uraraka volunteered next. Uraraka used her quirk to make herself lighter and Hagakure used the same method that Izuku did.

They chatted quietly to each other for the rest of the test, Izuku giving half of his attention to the conversation and half to his classmates. He evaluated how each of them used their quirks and what they could do. The information he had on his classmates steadily grew as he saw each and every strength and faulted each of them demonstrated. Some of them he still had trouble reading, like Kirishima or that one guy with huge lips, but he figured he could always ask them later.

Soon enough, Iida and even Kirishima joined them. He introduced them to another student named Kaminari and they told them about their quirks. Kirishima apologized for Bakugou's behavior and when questioned, he told them that him and Kaminari were trying to become Bakugou's friends. Izuku doubted that they would get very far, but he encouraged them anyways, hoping that they would be able tame the seemingly untamable beast that was Katsuki Bakugou.

Izuku smiles, he had never had a friend before and he was, gaining friends left and right. He had found out what Kirishima's and Kaminari's quirks were as well, so he now had solid information on 7 of his classmates. His smile faltered at that thought, but he shook it off, not wanting anything to ruin this perfect moment between his friends. He might not be talking much himself, but he was happy to sit back and listen to his friends talk about whatever. It felt nice. It felt normal.

It was too soon when Mr. Aizawa announced the end of the test. Their group was forced to stop talking as they went to the same baseball field they had been on earlier. The rules were clear and simple, just throw the ball and see how far you can get it. Everyone went in an orderly fashion once again, this time Izuku going near the end. He saw how Bakugo through the ball even further than he did before, and how Uraraka got infinity. Giving her a small smile, he went on next. He got in the ready position and threw it as hard as he could.

"74 meters."

Izuku grinned when Mr. Aizawa announced his score, feeling pride in his raw strength. He walked over to where Uraraka stood to wait for the rest of his friends. Hagakure, Kirishima, and Iida just threw the ball like he did, while Yaoyorozu made some sort of slingshot thingy and Kaminari somehow got his electricity to boost his ball.

Izuku smiled while his friends gathered around him again. He had never felt something like this before. This... this feeling of belonging. Of being wanted. It was the best feeling in the world!

For the rest of the tests he forgot about observing his classmates. He forgot about why he was there. For that small bit of time, he was just a normal school boy having fun with his friends.