Disclaimer: You should know this by now...
AN: Heh...it's been a while...a long while. So welcome back and enjoy!
Chapter 13: Ordinary Organizations
Izuki had never been one to garner attention for long, at least of the positive kind. She'd been a normal kid until her father went missing. Then, she'd been a quirless, fatherless weirdo that was barely even tolerated by her own mother. At school, she'd had above average grades, but no friends, and no quirk. Her teachers hadn't even noticed her existence until she'd let it slip that she wanted to attend Yuuei. That had not ended well.
And so, when she was greeted with kindness, respect, and even admiration at her new school, she didn't know what to feel. At least the whole villain thing wasn't as bad as she thought.
Now, she was standing under the scrutiny of an entire crowd, a crowd filled with professional heroes, apprentices, and organizations. She was in the spotlight and Bakugou, the best friend she'd thought she'd never get back, was the one under fire. He was chained like a dog, muzzle over his face, leather straps around his legs, and a large pillar cementing him in place. He wasn't happy about receiving second place. Izuki, personally, was holding back her laughter.
All Might ignored it all, looping a bronze medal onto Tokoyami's neck, and staring down Bakugou like a sheep before slaughter. The blonde hero's grimace was hilarious as he practically threw the silver chain at Bakugou's snapping jaws. Then, he stopped in front of her.
She couldn't resist cringing a little when the number one hero went in for a hug. She thought she might've seen Bakugou smirk then. Izuki got a shock when All Might whispered something quick and concise in her ear.
"We have to talk." She watched warily as he pulled away and followed his gaze to a secluded spot behind the stadium. The reporters didn't give her a second to spare, throwing questions like dodgeballs at a nerd once All Might had disappeared. Izuki answered a few before nodding to her fellow place-holders and vanishing after him.
Izuki wondered if the whole thing was a set up to get her to clam up about what she'd seen at the USJ incident. She prepared herself for a speech about keeping secret identities secret. It was annoying how all adults seemed to forget they'd been teenagers before too. What she got was entirely different than what she'd expected.
"Young Midoriya, your performance was brilliant." Izuki was glad that she hadn't screamed or scittered away like a crab. "I have become rather impressed by you as you complete more and more difficult feats, and I want to give you an offer. But I'll need you to keep this a secret as you have my other form." She rolled her eyes. He always sounded so sickly heroic. She nodded in acceptance.
He glanced around briefly, and gave his pressing offer.
"How would you like to be my disciple?" Izuki quirked an eyebrow. She reached to message the bridge of her nose and gave him the look: the one that meant, 'are you being serious right now'. All Might's lip twitched, and he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I've been looking for someone to follow in my footsteps and become the next Symbol of Peace. I think you're that person Midoriya. Your strength and kindness are admirable, and they're wonderful traits for the number one hero." All Might must've been beginning to believe Izuki lost her voice again when she finally responded.
"So...you're saying that you want me to follow an egotistical american-loving straight-out liar as blindly as a newborn puppy when I already have a perfectly capable mentor? I may be a teenager All Might, but that doesn't make me ignorant of the world. I'm not going to dedicate my time to a person I know nothing about, no matter how blunt or noble their offer." Izuki couldn't help snickering at the blonde's half confused half shocked features. The burns she'd left were worse than Endeavor's. Izuki began to swagger away, turning smug.
"If you were wondering All Might, and this might be the first time you've heard it, that meant no." Izuki didn't need his little gift, or his pathetic attempt at mentor-ship. She already had everything.
...
Often times, Izuki found herself waking too early from a nightmare. Recently though, she'd begun channeling her early-bird ways into training. She either worked-out at Midnight's gym, swum at the beach, or just jogged until her legs felt like jelly. Today she chose the former, and Midnight hinted that today was name-picking day.
She entered the classroom with her head high, and her new-found confidence trailing behind. Midnight was there with Aizawa, standing with a haphazard bunch of whiteboards in her arms. Ignoring Mineta's fanboying, everyone got to work on their names.
Izuki flicked right through choosing something like Deku or Uki-chan. Those were cheesy, simple, and far too personal. She paused on two possibles, Itami and Minerva, but even they weren't quite there. Finally, her marker joined the chaotic scratching, and the party began.
So...immature teenagers suck at naming things, who knew? Kirishima had apparently gotten frustrated enough to just write 'Shitty-Hair' in a bold, terrible scrawl that made the students squirm with laughter. Snickers ignited around the room as a trend was started. Each time a student went up, displayed worse handwriting than the one before, showed the nickname Bakugou had dubbed them, was refused by Midnight, and sat back down to a warm reception. Frustrated at children, life, and reality, Midnight finally broke it up after Koda's 'Treestump' jibe by pretending to accept it.
Iida, who'd been a tad off since his family outing, came up with the half-hearted name 'Busuto'. Aoyama's was as gaudy as ever, The Twinkle Hero: French Dazzle, but the best were Ashido's, Todoroki's, and Hagakure's: The Alien Hero: Acidic Rush, Freezerburn, and The Light Refraction Hero: Prism. At last, it was Izuki's turn, and she was quite proud. As was Midnight, if she was reading the hero's face right. She'd chosen something that was beautiful and deadly, with a little allusion to her favorite teacher, Nightshade.
After a bit of trouble with Bakugou, where for some reason everyone had rallied to get Midnight to accept Lord Explosion Murder, Aizawa was only too happy to dismiss the Sexy Hero and break down the Sport's Festival results. The internship offers were the greatest in number for Todoroki, who was powerful and famous. Then the list went on with Izuki in second, Yaoyorozu in third, and Bakugou placed, with only one slight explosion and two clearly misunderstood glares of murder, in fourth.
As the group split into sections to pick their poison, Izuki skimmed hers. She decided it'd be much more fun to tag along with one of her friends, so went to see what heroes overlapped. Unfortunately, General Studies did their internships with businesses rather than heroes, so Shinsou was out. Uraraka was interning to learn with Gunhead, but Izuki already had acrobatics, so that didn't work either. Todoroki, to her surprise, had chosen his dad, so she didn't want to interfere. Then, she noticed something that struck a memory chord deep within when she saw Iida's choice, Hosu.
Sometime during the Festival she'd overheard about an attack in Hosu that had something to do with the hero Ingenium, Iida's older brother. She felt a well of dread burst within when the thought of Herokiller came. He was ruthless, obsessed with All Might and purging the "bad" heroes. Izuki wasted only a second longer to mark Hosu as her choice. Iida didn't even know until the day they left for internships.
She trailed just an inch behind Iida, and he turned to her once they'd left everyone else behind.
"Where are you headed, Midoriya?" His tone edged demanding, but she didn't mind. She knew he was in his worst state of mind.
"Hosu of course." She grinned knowingly, swinging an arm around him.
"I heard there's been a bit of a party there, and I wanted to join the fun." Iida's brows raised, eyes blazing momentarily. Too soon? His features slowly softened into gratitude.
"I think my brother will like you."
...
Ingenium was almost the polar opposite of his little brother. Even though he was gravely injured, he greeted the younger Iida with enthusiastic joy and pride. Izuki held back the sudden burst of fangirl bliss when Ingenium held out his hand. He smirked playfully at his brother.
"So you've finally made some friends, that's good. What have I always told you?" Iida recited with a hand resting in his brother's lap. He seemed slightly embarrassed having to repeat the mantra in front of Izuki.
"The best thing about this world is the people in it and, even if your heart doubts that sometimes or thinks that humans have reached a dead end, then you can always prove it wrong too." Izuki smiled, leaning in to look at Iida's face. It was set in half annoyance and half fondness. She had no doubt that if he kept his brother's words close to his heart, he'd never stray from the right path.
AN: Lmao I'm such a lazy ass...anyway, here was a terrible sort-of filler chapter to get you back in the swing of things. Finally to the Herokiller arc...thanks for reading!