Chapter 6 – New experiences
After having processed what he just heard Aizawa's shocked expression turned into a wide grin.
"Sooo, you gave me shit for losing to the kid when you Mr. 'Greatest hero in the world', Mr. 'Number 1' also took a beating from a 15 year old."
"I-I mean, I wouldn't say beating but-"
"I will get you back for this. Just you wait."
All Might had fought with countless terrifying villains during his carrier but Aizawa's grim scared him out of his mind.
"Is it too late for me to apologise?"
"Yep."
…
The day was over and Izuku was heading back to his dorm when he was approached by Ochaco and Ida.
"Hey Izuku."
"Wait a minute, Midorya!"
It seemed like they really wanted to talk to him.
"Oh, hey guys. What's up?"
Ochaco was the first to answer.
"Well, Mina, you know the pink girl, thought it would be cool if we did something together to get to know each other better since we will be expending the next 3 years together."
"That makes sense."
Izuku wasn't the brightest when it came to social interaction but he could see the logic in the idea.
"Yeah. So some of us are going to this karaoke place and I was wondering if-ugh- if you w-wanted to come."
Even though she wasn't asking him out Ochaco felt pretty nervous.
Izuku noticed that she was stuttering a bit and her face was a little red, but he thought it was just because she was tired.(Like I said not the brightest in social interaction)
"You are going too Ida? I didn't pictured you being the singing type."
"I am not! However I will not pass the opportunity to strengthen the bond with my classmates! Also if I am there I can guarantee that they won't do anything shameful that would tarnished the name of UA!"
"Yeah, that makes sense."
That was a very Ida thing to say.
"So Izuku, wanna come?"
"I don't know…"
He wasn't very comfortable in social events, besides he had training to do.
"Come on Izuku! You spent your whole life training yourself to get to this point. I know UA is just a stepping stone to your goal, but still you are already halfway there. Don't you think you deserve to relax a bit."
Ochaco may have come off a little forceful, but she really wanted him to go.
Izuku thought about it. He did promised his mom that he would try to make some friends here. And he did need to get over his social awkwardness sooner or later if he wanted to be a hero of the people.
That and the fact that Ochaco's puppy-eyes really did a number on him, made in come to a decision.
"Okay."
"Yes!"
"Excellent!"
Having finally convinced him they guided Izuku to the karaoke place, with Ida on the front. On the way there he realized that if a certain person was there the situation would become real violent real fast.
"Hey Uraraka, is Katsuki gonna be there."
"No. And that's good, because honestly I didn't want him to come in the first place."
That makes two of them.
"That red-haired guy, I think his name is Kirishima, invited him but he refused in a REALLY aggressive way."
"Let me guess, he said something like 'Why the fuck would I waste my time with extras like you'."
"Yeah that's exactly what he said. How did you know?"
"Years of reference, unfortunately."
"Oh Yeah. You guys knew each other before UA. Hey, there is something I've been meaning to ask."
"Shoot."
"Why does he keep calling you Deku all the time."
"It's a nickname he gave me, you know, because I was 'useless'."
"Oh! Sorry for bringing it up."
"It's okay I got over it."
They walked in silence for some time until Ochaco broke the silence.
"You know, even though you didn't get the best way I kinda like Deku."
"Really? Why?"
"Because it kind of sounds like 'You can do it'. So, in a way it really suits you."
"Ugh. I never thought about this way. Thanks Uraraka."
"You are welcome. And you can call me Ochaco."
"Okay… Ochaco."
When he said her name in such familiar way she turned her head so he wouldn't see her blush.
…
They arrived at the karaoke place and got in the VIP room where their class was at. Izuku entered the room and was received by a very energetic pink girl.
"Weeelll, if it isn't the man of the hour! You did quite the show on your first day Izu-kun and I loved it!"
"Ugh… Thanks."
The way Mina was talking so openly and closely to him really caught him off guard, since they didn't even exchanged a word to each other before today.
The next to greet him were Kirishima and a blond guy with a tail, whose name he didn't know.
"Yeah man, you were awesome! That was one of the manliest things I've seen in my life!"
"That was some crazy martial arts! I think even my dad couldn't have done it, and that is saying something! Could you teach me some moves and maybe spar sometime?"
"Ugh-I-I-I don't…"
To put what Izuku was feeling like into words, it would be like the feeling a person who is afraid of heights has when they parachuting down a plane. He couldn't think of anything to say.
Uraraka was about to jump to his rescue but someone else beat her to it.
"Guys, he barely entered the room and you are already on top of him like this. Can't you see he is unconfortable? Come on, give him some space."
"Gee, alright. Sorry Momo-chan."
They backed off, looking like children who had just been scolded by their mom.
"Sorry about that. They are not bad people, just a little too informal."
"That's okay. Thanks. Yaorozuro right?"
"That's me. But you did made quite the entrance, fighting a teacher on your first day."
"I didn't mean to cause a scene, I just thought that it was pretty unfair. And isn't that one of the things a hero is supposed to do? Fight for fairness."
"You got a point. Man, that teacher was so rude."
"In his defense he wasn't gonna expel anyone in the first place. It was just a ruse to make us try our best."
"How do you know that?"
"If I were you I wouldn't ask. Trust me, it gets less complicated this way."
Less than trilled about how they were getting close Ochaco chimed in on the conversation.
"Okay. Ah! There're two extra seats in my table if you don't have one."
Not having a reason to say no they followed her to the table. In there they saw a girl with plug-like earphone jacks hanging from her ears in one of the seats. Uraraka already knew her but Izuku didn't so Momo introduced them.
"Midoryia this is Jiro."
"Hey Midoryia."
"Pleasure."
"So, tell me. Are you as good with a mic as you are in a fight?"
"I-I can't tell since I never sang in front of other before."
He sang a few times for his mom and she always said he had the voice of a angel but since it was his mom he assumed she would say that no matter how he sounded.
"Relax. I guarantee that at least 50% of the people here have terrible singing voices. But that's what karaoke is about: singing bad without a care. Just have fun."
"That's good advice."
"I know."
"I wanna be a super-staaaaarrrr!"
As if on cue Mina started singing in a really off-key tone, having the time of her life.
"See what I mean?"
"Ahaha. Yeah."
Time flew by as each of them sang at a time. Some were just awful, like Ida who just plain screamed the lyrics, most were just normal and one of them, Jiro, sang with a voice worthy of a rock-star. Unfortunately Izuku had to follow-up said rock-star.
Took him a while to find a music, but he decided on one that made him remember something Ochaco said sooner in the day.
He just stood still for some time after that. Too nervous to speak a word, let alone sing. The girls saw that he was struggling and each gave him a encouraging thumbs-up. When Izuku saw that he decided to do like Jiro said and just have fun, so he started the song.
(Halfway There from Big Time Rush)
"When the chips are down
Back against the wall
Got no more to give
'Cause we gave it all
Seems like going a distance is unrealistic
But we're too far from the start
So we take what comes, And we keep on going
Leaning on each other's shoulders
Then we turn around
And see we've come so far somehow
We're halfway there
We're looking good now
And nothing's gonna get in the way
We're halfway there
And looking back now
I never thought that I'd ever say
We're halfway there
We're halfway there"
At the beginning he was tense but as he sang he started to lose himself in the song and by the chorus he just simply didn't care and sang like no one was listening but there were people listening and boy did they like what they were hearing, Izuku's voice was just as good if not better than Jiro's. Looks like his mom wasn't being biased when she complimented his singing.
"If we never flew
We would never fall
If the world was ours
We would have it all
But the life we live
Isn't so simplistic
You just don't get what you want
So we take what comes
And we keep on going
Leaning on each other's shoulders
Then we turn around
And see we've come so far somehow
We're halfway there
We're looking good now
And nothing's gonna get in the way
We're halfway there
And looking back now
I never thought that I'd ever say
We're halfway there
We're halfway there"
At this point the class got up from their seas and started dancing to the song but he was too inmerced to notice.
"How you ever gonna reach the stars
If you never get off the ground
And you'll always be where you are
If you let life knock you down
We're halfway there
We're looking good now
And nothing's gonna get in the way
We're halfway there
And looking back now
I never thought that I'd ever say
We're halfway there
We're halfway there
We're halfway there
We're halfway there
We're halfway there
We're halfway there
We're halfway there
We're halfway there"
The song ended and Izuku got back from his trance to realized that everyone was applauding and cheering him.
This was the first social outing he went with people his age and his thought of it were basically:
'I could get used to this.'
(Hey guys. Me again. If you were disappointed that I didn't do the hero-villain exam, sorry. But I thought it would be nice to explore how Izuku would be like outside the hero world and show you that while he may be a badass ass-whooping machine he is still a socially awkward teenager. So I thought it'd be cool to explore this side of him a little bit on this chapter, but let me know what you think.
And just a heads-up but if you are hoping for bakugou to have a sort of redemption arc I wouldn't get my hopes up because a really really hate the guy, and when I started writing this fic one of my motivations was to make his life miserable, but if you guys really want to I might change my mind.
Peace out)