A.N.
I'm alive!
Sorry for the long break everyone. We had someone quit at my work place, so for a while I was doing the work of two people. As you can imagine that doesn't leave much time for things like fan fiction. So I ended up taking more time on this then I originally intended. Thanks for sticking with it and giving me encouragement while I was away!
Izuku was once again awoken by Iida the next 'morning'. Which, after he woke up fully and thought about it for a bit, felt strange. After everything that had been shown about Iida's brother yesterday he figured Iida would have been exhausted, since that's how he felt after that kind of cry, so Izuku figured he would sleep in a bit. Yet it seemed that Iida had once again been the first to wake up.
He had even gotten breakfast ready. As in, he'd made food rather than just set up and rearranged the ready to eat items that Truth had dropped into the kitchen.
"Take it easy, young Iida, you've already done plenty for one morning." Yagi had said at one point, gently guiding Iida out of the kitchen and to a seat. "You need to eat yourself at some point too."
"Says the man who looks like a skeleton." Aizawa grumbled from nearby. Present Mic pushed the coffee cup in Aizawa's hands to his lips and reminded him about some self imposed rule about not talking to anyone in the mornings before he's had his caffeine.
Iida had relented and sat among his classmates, which made many of them grow tenser or quieter. Because what exactly did one say to someone who had seen a possible future where a family member suffered brutal injuries?
"So, how are you doing Iida?" Kirishima asked.
"I am alright." Iida said, not looking away from arranging food onto his plate. "Did you sleep well?"
"Uh, yeah, pretty well."
"That is good to hear."
Given the bags under Iida's eyes, he probably couldn't say the same. No one could blame him though, so they didn't bring it up, and no one knew how to go on with the conversation from there. Eventually conversations resumed, but kids and adults alike would shoot worried looks at the class president up until everything was put away and the next episode started.
The episode stated off with Midoriya on the train to school, saying how they had gotten a day off after the festival but were now going back to school. Midoriya was surprised during the ride when people started to recognize him and comment on his performance in the sports festival and telling him to do his best. As this happened, the top festival results flashed across a screen on the train, including an unflattering picture of Bakugo.
Midoriya soon became just as flustered as his on screen counterpart with the sudden attention.
"Were you really that surprised to be recognized? Pretty much everyone watches the festival." Tsuyu pointed out.
"Apparently? I mean, I know I shouldn't be, because the festival is so popular, but at this point I've never really thought about being recognized, not until I became a pro or at least got my license or something...so I guess the other me didn't think about it either." The idea of sticking out in general was strange to him as well, since he'd gone through most of his life being described as 'plain' and not having a quirk to draw attention. That itself drew some attention to him sometimes, but nothing like the positive encouragement these people were giving him. "But I guess it's something I'll have to get used to."
"We all will." Uraraka agreed. She herself was wondering if her other self would get recognized on the way to school, and what kinds of things people would say. She hoped they talked like those surrounding Deku were, and not like some of the festival crowd did.
Kaminari snickered. "If anyone is gonna be getting attention now it's gonna be Bakugo. Did you see the photo they're showing of him?"
A couple other students laughed at that, and Bakugo yelled at them. The teachers grimaced though, as they were once again reminded why putting Bakugo in front of the cameras when he was in such a state was a bad idea.
'What in the world were any of us thinking? Of course the media would jump at a chance to use a shot like that.' Aizawa berated himself.
Izuku was then shown walking to school in the rain. As he walked, Iida suddenly ran up behind him and exuberantly declared that they needed to hurry if they didn't want to be late. Izuku pointed out they still had 5 min, but Iida said one should always be 10 minutes early to class.
The reactions to Iida's appearance were mixed. Some laughed and felt relieved at Iida apparently showing some of his usual self after everything he went through during the last episode, thinking he was now starting to handle it okay. Others, Izuku and Uraraka among them, felt uneasy, just as they had when Iida woke them up. It was understandable if he didn't want to wallow in what happened, but the normality of it all seemed forced, which was concerning for other reasons.
Recovery Girl shook her head. It seemed heroes and their students never knew when to take a break for their own good. If there was ever a time to take advantage of allowable school absences, this was it.
When they got inside Midoriya tried to say something to Iida. Iida cut him off, saying that if this was about his brother it was okay and he didn't mean to worry his friend so much. Then he left before Midoriya could say anything more.
Uraraka bit her lip, and glanced between the on screen Iida and the one sitting by her. "Um, you know, we'd get it if you don't want to talk about it yet, or at all. But, you don't have to act like it's all okay, just so we don't worry, you know? I'd rather be able to be there for you."
"Same here...and I look like I'm worrying either way." Midoriya agreed.
"I..." Iida looked torn, with his furrowed brow and his lips pressed together. "I will try to remember that here, but that won't change how my other self is acting."
"Right..." Uraraka sighed sadly.
In the classroom kids talked about getting recognized in various ways on the way to school. Hagakure was one of the ones who was pleased at being noticed, eliciting a comment from Ojiro, and Sero lamented that some kids had told him "Don't worry about it". Which prompted Tsuyu to say the same exact thing about the kids' words, much to Sero's dismay.
Sero let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Didn't know you had it in you Tsuyu."
"Yeah, nice one!" Kaminari laughed.
"I've mostly gone unappreciated in my time, kero."
"Yay! People actually did recognize me!" Hagakure cheered, then turned to Ojiro. "And I mean, yeah I do get looked at for being invisible sometimes, but I'm used to that so I bet I can tell the difference between the usual looks and fan looks."
"I guess that makes sense." The boy admitted. "I hope I can tell the difference between getting recognized for the festival and just getting looks for my tail."
"It seems that most of the ones who spoke up about getting recognized were the ones who made it into the one on one battles." Momo observed. "Though I suppose that makes sense, given how the first two activities were more group based. It would be easier to recognize those that got more individual attention." 'I just hope I didn't get people saying "don't worry about it" to me like they did with Sero.' She already knew she didn't make the best showing, having strangers comment on it would just make her feel worse. She'd rather have people not comment at all than say something like that.
Aizawa walked through the door then, and Tsuyu commented on his lack of bandages. Aizawa said Recovery Girl went overboard.
"Congratulations sir!" The class said as a whole.
"Ah, that's why I suddenly feel so tired." Aizawa noted after saying a quick thanks.
"Hmph, you should be grateful, sonny. Looks like I finally made it so you can use your arms fully again, and that's after I refused to use my quirk on Midoriya." Recovery Girl sniffed.
"She makes a good point." Present Mic said, then sighed dramatically. "I think I'm gonna miss mummy man a bit."
"You technically haven't even interacted with 'mummy man' yet, and I'm gonna go back to being him once we get out of here."
"Oh yeah!"
"Don't sound so happy about that."
Aizawa then quickly changed the subject to talk about how they were having a special class. Some of the kids started to panic about the possibility of a pop quiz and such, but then he announced they were choosing code names. The kids got super excited then, and Aizawa turned on his quirk for a moment to get them to quiet back down.
The kids instantly fell into chatter about various hero names they'd considered and which ones were their favorite, too caught up in their excitement to be very put out by their teachers use of a quirk to quiet them on screen.
"If I didn't know any better, young Aizawa, I'd say you took those pauses on purpose just to build up tension." Yagi chuckled. When no one laughed with him, he frowned. "Did you do that on purpose?"
"It's the future so I can't say for-"
"Oh he totally did." Mic cut Aizawa off with a grin. "Shouta may deny it, but he's been hanging out with me long enough to appreciate a good dose of drama."
"I also see you didn't waste a chance to show off that you can still use your quirk now that you've recovered." Nedzu said.
"Which I'm sure had nothing to do with wanting to let your students know you truly were fully recovered, both for the reassurance and the authority that grants." Recovery Girl added.
"...why are you all ganging up on me?"
Aizawa went on to talk about the drafts, and how they got more common in 2nd and 3rd year but that getting selected now could be a boon so long as you managed to keep interest as the years go on, and confirmed that they'd have to make a good showing at the internships if they hoped to do that. Then he revealed which students had been given internship offers, with numbers in the thousands going to Todoroki and Bakugo and then going into the 100's and double digits for just seven others in the class.
"Oh come on! How can it be that skewed!?" Hagakure complained. "And here I was starting to feel noticed and everything..."
"I suppose it makes sense. Those top two certainly made a number of spectacles." Momo admitted. Honestly, she was just happy and relieved that she had made it onto the list of those specifically sought out. She'd had doubts any would reach out to her after her dismal showing in the one on one battles.
"That many made offers to me?" Uraraka asked in delighted surprise. She too had been worried about getting recognized as competent after losing to Bakugo in the first round.
"I guess your fight left an impression, which I'm not surprised by. Even if it didn't get you the win, your plan was still great." Izuku said. He was a little disheartened by the fact that he himself wasn't on the list. It seemed All Might would be setting something up for him, so he wasn't nervous about not having an internship at all, but it would have been nice to have gotten a couple of offers. He'd made it past the first round after all. Apparently breaking so many bones was a big turn off for a student intern...maybe that was it. The hero agencies might not want someone who was likely to get badly hurt under their watch.
"Dude I can't believe we both got offers!" Kaminari cheered and gave Sero a high five.
"Looks like I just managed to get on there, but still, I'm not gonna complain about 14 offers!" Sero agreed.
"Normally the numbers aren't that stacked, and there are internships open for those that didn't get an invitation, but I'm sure the other me will explain that." Aizawa said.
Aizawa did go on to explain that normally the numbers would be more spread out. The students started commenting on the big difference in the number of offers, and that Todoroki was offered more than Bakugo despite their placings in the festival. Sero pointed out that some agencies might not want the kid who had to be tied to the podium.
Bakugo ground his teeth, and started grumbling about 'stupid media' and 'dumb agencies'. He was somewhat regretting his future self's freak out, but he wasn't about to admit that out loud.
"I know we've said it once before, but I do apologize Bakugo for our future selves making the decision to force you onto the podium." Yagi said.
"Indeed, it shows a supreme lack of forethought." Nedzu admitted.
"I get it, I get it, just don't tie me to anything for real." Bakguo sighed.
"We'll be sure not to." Yagi assured. "As for those who didn't get any offers, I'd like to remind you that you still have 2nd and 3rd year to really 'build your brand' as they say."
"Yeah listeners, you definitely got time."
"Now is a good time to try and get an internship under the type of hero that you think you want to be, and then use the experience to decide if it's really what you want." Aizawa added.
Momo congratulated Todoroki on getting so many offers, and the boy said they were probably just because of who his dad was.
"Don't sell yourself short Todoroki, like I said you did some things that turned quite a few heads during the festival." Momo reminded him.
"Exaclty. Even if some of those offers are just because of your dad, or if they think your skill is because of him, it doesn't matter because it was still your power and skill that you showed off. You probably wouldn't have gotten nearly as many offers if you did a really bad job and got defeated early or something, you know?" Izuku said.
Todoroki frowned in thought as he took in their words. "I suppose you both have a point." And didn't that feel different? Having people around him actively acknowledge what he himself had done and chosen to do; it was very different...and also nice.
Uraraka shook Iida in her excitement over both of them getting offers. Mineta also shook Izuku to inform him that he didn't get offers due to his crazy fighting style.
Uraraka blushed. "Uh, sorry Iida, that probably wasn't helping...and I'm sorry you didn't get offers Deku."
"It's fine, Uraraka, getting offers is indeed a good sign for both of us." Iida said, even though he had suspicions that he had already chosen what hero, or rather what area, he'd be doing his internship in.
"Y-yeah, plus, All Might is already setting me up with someone, so I would have to turn down anyone that offered anyway, you know?"
"Still, it can't feel good not to get any, or for Mineta to point it out like that, kero."
Mineta winced. "Uh, yeah, I guess that was kinda rude..."
"It's okay, you're probably right after all. I mean, I figure part of why I didn't get any was of how hurt I got during the festival. It just means that dedicating myself to learning control has become even more important!" Izuku declared. Yagi nodded.
"That's a good way of looking at it, my boy. I'm sure with some dedicated time to practice that you will make great strides!"
"Th-thanks All Might!"
Aizawa went on to explain that, regardless of whether or not they got offers, the students would participate in internships. Despite already having a taste of combat from the USJ, it would still benefit them to work with pros in person.
"Yeah, thankfully your typical hero patrol isn't as dangerous and crazy as the whole USJ thing." Mic said. "You guys deserve the chance to see what things are normally like too."
Tokoyami felt a slight shiver run up his spine. "I feel like one or more of us just got jinxed."
"Don't say that..." Koda murmured.
The students realized that they were choosing names for being out in the field and started to get excited again. This was when Midnight waltzed in to announce that she would be helping them choose names, since even the early ones had a way of sticking to you.
The teachers were not surprised by the appearance of Midnight, she always handled these things after all. What was surprising was some of the angles the camera had taken as she walked in. Numerous eyes went to Deku, some leering and others surprised. Given how he was usually the 'perspective' character for most things they couldn't help but think those shots had something to do with him.
"I, that wasn't, I mean-" Izuku took a deep breath and let it out. "Um, whatever just happened with those shots couldn't have been me, I mean, with how far away I'm sitting there's no way I could have seen her, um, her back like that!"
"Well, he does have a point there." Jirou admitted. "And Kaminari, Mineta, and Sero were the ones doing the most obvious staring there." she threw a glare at them, and the three instinctively drew back.
"Hey, with the way she walked in she clearly wanted to be stared at." Kaminari defended.
"There's nothing wrong with looking when a girl wants to be looked at, right?" Mineta asked.
"Yeah, I can tell you here and now that Midnight was definitely going for that kind of entrance." Mic said confidently. "She'd probably be more offended if she didn't get a few stares."
"Either way, if we are going by Midoriya's logic, then very few members of the class should have been able to see her from those angles." Momo reasoned. She looked up. "I don't suppose you have anything to say about this."
"Only that you are all choosing to fixate on something fairly inconsequential when you could be progressing with the story." Truth said blandly.
"Don't act like you have nothing to do with this." Jirou grumbled. But still, the show continued on.
Aizawa said Midnight would be helping them with names because he couldn't do that sort of thing, which was proven by a flashback to Aizawa's school days where a young Present Mic was the one to choose 'Eraserhead' because Aizawa couldn't be bothered to care.
It had been quiet a while since Aizawa had felt enough embarrassment to want to sink into the floor, but this came pretty darn close.
"Dawww, I forgot how young and innocent you used to look before you got all tired and grown up." Present Mic cooed.
"We're the same age." Aizawa grumbled.
"True, but unlike you I try to take care of my appearance."
"If that's what you want to call that style, then sure, you do that."
"So, Present Mic's hair really has always been like that, huh?" Sato mused.
"Seems like it." Shoji agreed. "So has Mr. Aizawa's."
"I didn't realize those two went that far back, but I guess it makes sense. I haven't seen a whole lot of the teachers interacting, but I always thought that Mr. Aizawa tolerated a lot more from Present Mic than he did from others. Plus we've seen how they can bicker in here." Ojiro said.
Ashido meanwhile was squeeing almost as much as she did when she saw the kid versions of her classmates, and explained it to Hagakure as 'being a sucker for such long lasting friendship'.
While he didn't assist them in choosing, Aizawa did make a quick speech about how important a good name could be in shaping their image and what kind of hero they wanted to be, and Izuku was shown to be thinking on it deeply.
Aizawa felt a little of his embarrassment die down when that happened. It was always satisfying to see a student take his words to heart. Though he did refuse to acknowledge how much using 'All Might' as an example for how names shape things had made Yagi smile.
A time skip later, long enough for Aizawa to now be napping, and Midnight called upon those who were ready to present their ideas. This made some students nervous.
"It's a good way to test it out really. After all, if you are too embarrassed to show the name to your classmates then it is hardly fit for being known by the public, now is it?" Nedzu said. This immediately quieted any protests, since they all knew he had an excellent point.
Aoyama went up first. His name turned out to be a whole sentence, in English. The other students were shocked when, after simplifying it a bit, Midnight allowed it.
"Why would it be so surprising? It is very accurate and unique." Aoyama declared proudly.
"Well, you won't get mixed up with any other hero, that's for sure." Hagakure admitted, her sleeve moving like she was scratching her head.
"Gotta be honest though, listener, I can't imagine many news anchors are gonna be happy with it. The longer the name the more likely they are to get tongue tied when talking about you." Present Mic pointed out.
Aoyama frowned. "I didn't think about that. Perhaps I'll have to give it some more thought."
Ashido was up next. She submitted 'Alien Queen' but Midnight sent her back to try again on account of the image being too scary. Others in the class started thinking that they felt pressure to make the names funny after those two.
"Aw man, no fair! Aoyama gets his whole twinkling thing but I can't have Alien Queen? It doesn't have to be a scary alien, aliens can be cool too!" Ashido complained.
"I think it sounds cooler than Aoyama's anyway." Jirou agreed.
"Maybe it was the 'queen' part." Momo suggested. "It could put many into the mind of a hive of insects after all, which I think most people wouldn't consider the 'cool' type of alien."
"Mmm, I guess." Ashido admitted reluctantly. "Gotta say though, thinking ours were both weird? Rude."
This gained her a few apologies from around the room, a few were even sent to a now downtrodden looking Aoyama.
Tsuyu went up next, and came up with the name Froppy, which everyone loved.
"Wow, thanks guys." Tsuyu said, slightly stunned as the future class took to chanting her new hero name, which got some in the room doing it too.
"Still think I should have gotten Alien Queen, but I'll admit that Froppy is super cute!" Ashido said.
Kirishima was next with Red Riot, which Midnight correctly guessed was based off of Crimson Riot. A picture of said hero was shown behind Kirishima as he took responsibility for the weight the name would carry and treat it as a challenge.
"Hey, looks like I'm the one taking a page out of your book this time, making people put pressure on me early and all." Kirishima nudged Bakugo.
"Bout time I started to rub off on you a bit."
Izuku was shown thinking about his own hero name, which resulted in a flashback to toddler Izuku excited bouncing on the couch while his mom read off different hero names that were all based around All Might's name.
'Here we go again.' Izuku thought as he blushed so hard he wouldn't be surprised if Uraraka and Iida could feel the heat of it.
"Yes! We get to see baby Midoriya again!" Ashido cheered.
"And he's cuter than ever! Look at that big smile, oh I bet his mom misses him being little enough to 'fly around' like that!" Hagakure cooed.
Izuku sank in his seat, and Uraraka patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay, it's not that bad really. I bet every kid came up with silly hero names at that age. Mine were all variation of 'gravity girl'."
"Mine all had the word 'dark' or 'shadow' in them." Tokoyami admitted.
"I mean, when you think about it, mine isn't that different than what your kid ones were, Midoriya. I just used a less well known hero." Kirishima reminded.
Izuku was still embarrassed about the class seeing even more of his early childhood, but their words did lessen it enough so that he no longer felt like his face was on fire.
Teenage Midoriya knew he couldn't choose a name like that though, now that he had this same power and knew there was such a difference between him and All Might.
"It doesn't sound like the future you sees it that way, but I see that as a good thing." Yagi said. "I did choose you partially because you reminded me of myself as a young man, but also because I saw what your own skills would bring to the table. I know I am not a carbon copy of my own master, and I wouldn't want you to be one of me either."
"Yes, one of you is enough, I think." Recovery Girl joked. Izuku thought was getting teary eyed again.
"Thank you All Might!"
Kaminari tried to think of a name, and Jirou suggested one to him. He liked it at first, but got angry when she told him that part of it was inspired by his tendency to zap his own brain.
"Come on Jirou!" Kaminari complained as the girl giggled at her other self's joke.
"Honestly, it's not a bad name. It sounds cool if you don't know the exact context." Sero said "Just how Eraserhead sounded cooler before we knew that Present Mic thought of it."
Aizawa sighed.
"Plus, if Midoriya taught us anything it's that a name given to make fun can be used as a good one if you change how you think about it." Mineta pointed out.
Kaminari raised his eyebrows. "That's actually a good point."
"You don't have to sound so surprised..."
Names started coming faster after that, first Jriou, then Shoji, followed by Sero, Ojiro, and Sato, and were all approved. Ashido tried her hand again, and got approved this time. The rest of the class followed, all getting approved one by one. Todoroki insisted on just using his first name, and Bakugo was told he had to think of something else after coming up with 'King explosion murder'.
The room soon filled with compliments on each others choices and giggles over Bakugo's first attempt, which sent the boy into grumbling mode again.
"I still think Alien Queen sounded cooler than Pinky." Ashido said, to the agreement of several others.
"Pinky does sound cuter, kero."
"But I want to be cool more than cute!"
"May I ask, did you decide to just use your name because you want to find out more about what hero you want to be first?" Momo asked Todoroki.
"Probably, it would make sense." He'd just rediscovered his own innate desire to be a hero after all. Plus, his first name belonged to him, not to his parents, just like he now thought of his quirk.
Soon the only ones left were Bakugo's second submission and Midoriya and Iida's first tries. The camera focused on Iida before flashing back to Tensei's hospital room. Tensei revealed that he was paralyzed from the waist down, and couldn't continue to be Ingenium even after he recovered. Iida was very upset by this, and Tensei said he didn't want his career to end either, but that he wanted his brother to carry on his hero name.
A heavy silence filled the room. It had been bad enough when they all saw how badly the hero, their friend's brother, had been hurt. To hear that the injuries would have such permanent consequences made things even worse.
Iida made a strange noise in his throat. He wouldn't even know how to classify it, but he didn't care in that moment. Tensei, unable to continue being Ingenium, and asking him to take up the name instead. It...it just wasn't possible. He wasn't ready!
"Iida?" Izuku asked worriedly.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this." Iida croaked. "It wasn't-he wasn't-" Tensei wasn't supposed to be out of the game so soon. Tenya was supposed to do his internship under him and learn from him on the job!
"It won't be like this, not for real." Uraraka said, just as determined as before.
"This, this sucks but we're not gonna let it happen. We're gonna make sure your brother doesn't go out like this. We have a plan, remember?"
Iida took a few deep breaths. "You're right, we do. We'll keep watching, and find ways to perfect it." 'One way or another, we'll fix this.'
Iida started to writer out 'Ingenium' on his whiteboard, but couldn't finish it. In the end, he just wrote his first name too.
Somehow, despite feeling like he didn't deserve his brother's hero name, he still felt ashamed that he didn't submit it like Tensei had wanted.
"It's okay if you're not up for it yet kid, it's a really big step. You have a couple years to take it up, if you want to." Aizawa reminded, and some murmured in agreement.
Midoriya was called up to present his name, and the result surprised everyone. They asked if he was sure, since he could end up being called that forever, and he said he was fine with it now that someone made him see the name differently. The name was revealed to be 'Deku'.
Bakugo gaped at the screen, and Uraraka's face lit up with a sunny smile.
"Reclaiming a name once used to keep you in darkness and using it to build yourself up, that is a very powerful move." Tokoyami nodded in approval.
"I think your choice was very wise." Iida praised.
"I'm so glad that what I said helped you so much." Uraraka said.
"I am too." Izuku said.
'What the fuck is this nerd doing?' Bakugo wondered.
The scene switched to the staff room, where Cementoss got Yagi's attention by telling him that Midoriya got a late offer. Yagi was shocked to see who it was.
"Did you...not set that up?" Izuku asked, now a bit wary. "I thought you sent that letter to your old teacher to do that."
"I thought so too. Apparently future me didn't think he would make it an official internship, assuming the offer was made by the person I'm thinking of."
The scene went back to the classroom, where Bakugo tried to submit 'Lord explosion murder' instead and was shot down again.
Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose. "You missed the point, Bakugo."
"What was the point then?!"
"Dude, if 'Alien Queen' got shot down for being too scary then why would Midnight approve a name with the word 'muder' in it?" Kirishima asked.
Bakugo opened his mouth, thought for a moment, then snapped it shut again and looked away.
After names were chosen, Aizawa got up to explain which internships would be available to who, and that different hero agencies would allow the students to focus on different aspects of hero work so they should choose carefully. The students got their options handed out to them, and they talked about what they'd like to do with their internships. Aizawa informed them they'd have two days to decide before he and Midnight left.
"That's a big decision for just two days..." Koda fretted. Tokoyami frowned in thought.
"That really doesn't leave us a lot of time to research. Especially when some of us have agencies in the hundreds or more to look through."
"Then just pick from the more popular ones, they gotta know their shit if they made it up there." Bakugo said.
"Hmm, I see your point, but an agency being popular does not necessarily mean that they will be the best at teaching you the things you need to know right now." Nedzu mused. "Perhaps in the future we should make more time for helping the students through this process. It can be hard to know what will be most beneficial for one to learn at this stage after all, or where to get it."
"You might have a point." Aizawa said slowly. He liked to think that the students had been through enough at this point that they could tell where their own shortcomings were, but they did have a point about how many options some of them had.
Todoroki was shown looking at his options, and noticed Endeavor's name on the list.
Aizawa's eyes narrowed at the screen, and he made sure to relax his face before looking over at Todoroki. "You don't have to intern at your father's agency, you have plenty of other options."
"If you are worried about Endeavor being upset about it, you could tell him we forced you to choose something different." Yagi said.
"Yeah, those of us here would have no problem taking the heat for that." Mic assured him.
Todoroki frowned. "You don't have to do that. It, hm, it might be better to choose his agency anyway. It's like Bakugo said, he has maintained the number two spot for a reason, so there would be plenty for me to learn."
Aizawa had to stop himself from wincing. When they got to this in real life, he was definitely going to get more involved in choosing internships. "That may be true, but you can learn a lot from other agencies too, and they aren't run by someone whose openly dedicated to treating you like less than a person."
"You already spent plenty of time learning how Endeavor does things. You said before that this would be your new starting line, so the internships could be another step in learning what kind of hero you want to be as opposed to the kind Endeavor wants you to be." Yagi reasoned, which made Todoroki look thoughtful.
"That's a good point. I'll try to remember that when we leave." he glanced at the screen. "He, the other me, won't see it that way though."
"Don't worry listener, we get it. The other you doesn't know he'd have our support, so we won't get mad about what he chooses to do."
Todoroki nodded his thanks.
Later that same day, the kids were talking among themselves about what internships they might choose. Mineta declared he was going to go with Mt. Lady and Tsuyu accused him of doing it for perverted reasons.
"Am I wrong, kero?"
"Probably not." Mineta glanced warily at Aizawa. "I'll choose one for better reasons when its for real." he promised.
"See that you do." Aizawa said. He noticed Nedzu sending him a look, and sighed. He held up his notebook to show the principle he'd already made a note to supervise their choices better and Nedzu nodded in satisfaction.
Ashido complained of not getting any offers when Ojiro brought it up. Uraraka tried asking what agency Midoriya was thinking of, only to find that the boy was in full on 'muttering analysis' mode.
"Heh, for those of us that didn't get offers we could probably just ask Midoriya what the best options would be for what we wanted to do." Sato said.
"Oh, well, I'd be happy to help-"
"It's your own internship, don't make Midoriya look into everything for you." Aizawa interrupted.
"Yes, sensei!" the class chimed, to varying degrees of enthusiasm.
As the students crowded around Midoriya's desk, Uraraka announced that she had already decided to go with the Gunhead hero agency. Izuku was surprised, since she'd expressed interest in 13 and being a rescue hero before, and Uraraka explained that her fight in the festival had made her realize the value of diversifying her abilities.
Aizawa nodded in approval. Good to see some of the students were putting some good thought into their choices, and it looked like her words were making some of the others think a bit more too. Excellent.
"That's really smart Uraraka! Branching out and being flexible is a great thing to focus on." Izuku said.
"Well, I guess I just took what Mr. Aizawa said to heart, your know? A good hero can't be a one trick pony."
"A wise decision, Uraraka." Iida agreed.
Uraraka brought up the fact that Izuku seemed to be trembling, and Izuku explained he was doing an exercises by not actually sitting in the chair, just holding a position that looked like it. This got a variety of reactions, some thinking it was a good way to train while others seemed to think it was going overboard.
"Your dedication to your training is admirable Midoriya, but you need to allow yourself time to rest as well." Recovery Girl chided.
"I know, I know..."
The camera focused for a while on Iida making his choice of internship, but didn't show what his choice was.
"Why am I getting a bad feeling about that?" Kirishima questioned warily.
Uraraka and Izuku looked at Iida, and the boy shrugged. "I'm honestly not sure why my choice would warrant such attention." He can take a good guess, but he doesn't want to announce that he might be choosing an agency near where Stain was last sighted unless he knows for sure that's what he's doing.
"I guess...I just really hope you'll talk to us if you need it." Uraraka said softly. "I know we aren't exactly doing anything here, but I'm sure we'd drop whatever was going on in a heartbeat."
Iida's face softened. "I'm sure it's fine, and I wouldn't want to distract you from your own important decisions. I'm sure I can get things sorted out on my own."
"You don't have to though." Izuku reminded him quietly. Iida gave him a small smile, but didn't say anything.
At the end of the day Izuku and Uraraka agreed to go home together. They turned to invite Iida, but he'd already left.
Izuku and Uraraka gave each other a worried look. They couldn't do anything to help this future Iida, and they weren't sure if their Iida was fairing much better despite their plans to make sure nothing happened to Tensei.
Before they could think much more on it or leave, All Might suddenly appeared in a bowing position at the door. He asked Izuku to come with him.
The strange entrance earned a few giggles and snorts of laughter. All Might never did anything by halves when he was in his hero form.
Once they were alone, All Might told Izuku that he'd gotten a hero offer from Gran Torino, someone who had taught at UA for a single year. He had been All Might's home room teacher, and knew about OFA.
"He really does sound like the perfect person for Midoriya to intern with." Shoji said.
"He certainly has more qualifications than any other would for such a unique situation." Aoyama agreed.
Izuku was very excited at the prospect of working with someone who taught All Might, but was surprised to learn of someone else who knew about their strange quirk. All Might explained that he'd been a friend of the previous OFA holder, but that he'd retired so long ago that All Might forgot to count him among those who knew.
"Rude." Mic said teasingly. Yagi chuckled nervously.
As All Might continued to talk though, he started to mutter and shake, worrying that his teaching had been so inadequate that Gran Torino needed to step in. The fear came off in him waves so strong that Midoriya was terrified by the time All Might handed over the information.
"Well, now I'm just concerned." Shoji admitted. He wasn't the only one, at this point the whole class was fearfully wondering what kind of man could have All Might shaking in his shoes like that.
Yagi ducked his head, ashamed to show such a reaction to so many people, even unintentionally.
"Like I said, I know sending that letter must have been hard for you, but I'm sure things will turn out alright." Recovery Girl said.
'Huh, if just thinking about him gets this kind of reaction, maybe the man deserves more credit for contacting him.' Aizawa thought begrudgingly. 'I wonder if any of my students feel that way about me after graduating...'
In the teacher's lounge, Aizawa was shown to be looking over the internship decisions that had already been turned in. He came to Iida's and saw that he'd chosen an agency in Hosu, despite having better offers, which made Aizawa suspicious.
Izuku frowned. "Is Hosu...isn't Hosu where your brother was attacked?"
"I believe so." Iida said in a strangely detached way.
Uraraka looked at him in alarm. "Iida that's...are you sure that's a good idea?"
"I'm not the one making the actual decision you know." he reminded. Uraraka bit her lip.
"I know, I just..." How was she supposed to talk about this? How was she supposed to address a problem that both was and was not happening? She looked over at Izuku, and saw he looked just as stumped.
"You are both worrying over nothing." Iida told them.
Aizawa sighed. He was likely going to have to have a talk with Iida. Even if they managed to avoid this specific situation in the future, Iida needed to learn that running on revenge wouldn't do anyone any good.
As they got ready to go, Uraraka congratulated Izuku on getting an offer for an internship. Then they saw that Iida's shoes were already gone and he really had left before them. Izuku recalled how he learned about what happened to Ingenium on the news, and how the attack had been done by Stain, who had already killed many heroes and permanently injured even more.
Izuku felt like there were rivulets of dread flowing down his throat, and pooling in his stomach as he heard more about the villain responsible for hurting Ingenium. Iida couldn't possibly be thinking of trying to find such a man on his own, could he?
"Well, it seems they've managed to get a good picture of Stain by this point. Still we should try to remember it ourselves in case knowing more about his appearance sooner can help catch him." Nedzu said.
Izuku's voice over explained how he would be surprised to find out later where Iida's internship would be, and that Iida saying nothing to Izuku about the matter had made it so Izuku couldn't say anything to him either. So things would remain as they were until internships started.
"Okay, that sounded super ominous. Did anyone else think that sounded super ominous?" Hagakure asked in a high pitched voice.
"The tone and words strongly imply that there are dark days ahead." Tokoyami agreed.
The class was shown gathered together before everyone went their separate ways to their internships. Aizawa gave them some last minute warnings and instructions before the group dispersed. Iida started to leave without a word, but was stopped by Uraraka and Izuku. Izuku asked Iida to talk to them if he ever felt helpless, because they were his friends. Iida gave them a smile and agreed before walking away. Izuku's voice over stated that he should have been more empathetic, because he would eventually regret letting things happen this way. The camera turned to show how angry Iida looked now that he'd turned away.
"Like I said, you are worrying over nothing." Iida said before either Uraraka or Izuku could speak up. "This isn't going to happen for real, so you don't need to worry about me."
"But it did happen! In a way, I mean." Uraraka argued. Izuku was quick to join her.
"It would happen if all of this hadn't." Izuku gestured to the room around them. "If things had gone on as normal you wouldn't reach out to us and we failed in our attempts to reach you and I...I can't not be worried or upset about that!"
"We're your friends Iida! If you were hurting that bad I just don't understand why you wouldn't talk to us at all." The hurt was clear in her voice. Iida's jaw tensed stubbornly.
"Like I said, this isn't going to happen so it ultimately doesn't matter."
"But you can't face him on your own! It's-"
"You're hardly one to scold me for recklessness Midoriya."
Izuku drew back at the comment, and Uraraka's eyes widened. Iida felt regret immediately, but before he could decide what to say next they were interrupted by Aizawa.
"We need to talk, Iida. Come on."
"I should take some responsibility for this." Aizawa announced once they were alone in a side room.
"What?" Iida asked in surprise.
"In the future we saw, I found out where you were going for your internship, and likely put together why you wanted to go there, but I didn't convince you to change it or even attempt to by the looks of it. So this stupidity is partially on me."
Iida bristled at the word 'stupidity' and Aizawa glared at him.
"Don't try to pretend it's anything else. You heard that news broadcast. You know perfectly well how many heroes Stain had killed and injured, and I'm guessing your future self does too. So I believe that the label of 'stupid' applies very well to trying to seek out such a villain, especially since you don't seem keen on telling anyone else."
"You don't know that's what I'm planning to do." Iida argued. "I could just be trying to pick up in the area Tensei left off, he-" Iida swallowed "he did say he wanted me to take on his name after all."
"But you chose not to use it."
"Of course not, it's far too soon for me to take up such a mantle! And we'll change things so I won't have to!"
"So you can't take up his name, yet you think you can take on the man who nearly killed him."
"That's-"
"Tensei has a quirk very similar to yours, has years more experience than you, and he was still paralyzed in his attempt to fight Stain alone. You honestly think you're going to fair better if you put yourself in the exact same position?"
Iida let out a growl of frustration and his hand slashed through the air.. "I know! From now, from here, I can see that it's a terrible idea, but it- he's- you can't expect me to just sit back and do nothing either!"
"No one would ask you to do that, but if you talked to myself or others about this I'm willing to bet we could find some less deadly ways to channel your emotions, or at least get some of them out so they stop festering."
"Well, I'm already learning how to do that here. I've started making plans with Midoriya and Uraraka on how we can prevent all this from happening."
"That's not the same thing, and I think you know that."
"I'm not sure what you mean, sir."
Aizawa took in a deep breath and let it out. "What you are doing with them now is planning how to avoid grief and loss, not confiding in them about grief that is already happening. Can you honestly tell me that you wouldn't react as you did in the show if something like this happened in real life?"
Iida was silent for a long moment, then he quietly said. "I think that's part of the problem."
"Meaning?"
"Even if we stop this from happening to Tensei, I know it's a possibility now. I mean, I always knew that hero work was dangerous and you could get hurt but I never..."
"You never thought it would really happen, not to him and not to this extent."
Iida looked down, trying to hide his tears.
"It can be world shattering, to realize that someone we thought was untouchable isn't, and when we realize we can lose someone who has always been there."
Iida said nothing, but crossed his arms in a way that let him hug himself. Aizawa put a hand on his shoulder.
"But it's even harder to deal with that on your own."
"They wouldn't understand, their families are fine, and Mom and Dad would be suffering enough, and unloading family problems onto a teacher would be highly inappropriate...plus I'm sure future me knows that you'd try to stop me."
"That I would." Aizawa agreed. "As for the rest of it, you can't know your friends wouldn't understand until you tell them, and even if they don't they can still lend an ear. And I'm sure your parents would want to know about what's going through your head before they have another son in the hospital, or worse."
Iida sniffled, and Aizawa let out a small sigh. "As for 'inappropriate', it's my job to keep you safe. Any information that helps me in doing that is entirely appropriate to tell me, or any of the the other staff." Aizawa leaned down a bit so he could see Iida's face. "I've lost people to this job before, Iida. I know how much it tears you up inside and makes you feel useless. But I also know that running off on some revenge scheme isn't going to do anyone any good, no matter how right it might feel."
"What will do good then?" Iida whispered.
"Well, I think having a real talk with your friends would be a good start."
"...okay, I'll try."
"You want me to find them and send them in?"
Iida nodded. "Yes."
Aizawa took his hand off Iida's shoulder and headed for the door. Before he could leave, Iida's voice stopped him.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it kid. I'll be around if you need me."
Uraraka and Midoriya wasted no time in rushing to the room when Aizawa told them Iida wanted to talk. He would never know what all was said in that room, but when they all finally emerged Iida had lost that strange stiffness that had taken over ever since Tensei's attack had been shown. It had been replaced by something tired and sad, but at this point he figured that was a needed first step.
While Aizawa dealt with Iida's problem, Yagi decided to address another.
"Young Bakugo, may I have a word?"
The boy looked startled at first, and maybe a bit apprehensive, but his face quickly fell back to its usual look of mild annoyance.
"Sure."
The couches that the staff usually occupied had been abandoned for the sake of getting food and stretching legs, and the area was far enough away from any student group that Yagi felt it was a good a place to have this talk. He could take one of the bedrooms, but he figured that might make Bakugo feel he was in trouble and make him go on the defensive early.
"There's something I've been wondering about for a while. Since the first episodes really, but even more so over these last few episodes." He paused to gauge the boy's reaction. Young Bakugo looked more confused than angry. "You've expressed numerous times that you're aiming to be number one, quite loudly in fact. You've also talked about how you demand nothing but complete victory for you to feel like you've truly won or accomplished anything."
"Yeah? What about it?" Bakugo asked suspiciously. Yagi could almost hear his hackles starting to rise.
"I'm curious as to why you feel this way." he said. Young Bakugo looked at him like he'd just asked why the sky was blue.
"The hell do you mean? If it's not a total victory then what's the point? It doesn't show anything that way! And don't tell me I'm not going to be number one someday because I will surpass you one day!"
"I never said anything of the sort, and wasn't planning to. As I've said before, I find your ambition admirable. I'm just confused as to why you seem to only value being number one and consider anything else failure."
"If the goal is to be number one and I'm second then that's a failure, duh! And it has to be total because if I only get there because someone wasn't trying than it doesn't show I earned it! You should know that! You got to be number one by never losing!"
Yagi snorted. Bakugo looked downright offended at the reaction and that made him go into an actual laugh.
"I believe I already told you this once, but I'll do so again. I've lost many times in my life. My path to that debut video everyone loves so much was filled with failure. Oh, stop making that face, I wasn't laughing at you. I was laughing at how my old mentor would have reacted to the claim that I never lost. My teacher, the one that taught me while I was still mastering One for All, beat me so many times and in so many different ways that I lost count. I didn't win every fight during my own school events either."
"Yeah, well," Bakugo flounders for a minute "that's different. You were training, not fighting real bad guys."
"So are you. You may have faced real villains sooner than you were ever supposed to, but you are still a student. The Sports Festival is training as much as anything else, giving students their first taste of being in the spotlight and all."
Bakugo's expression wavers for a moment and he shifts in his seat when the Sports Festival is mentioned. That makes Yagi think about the root of this problem, but decides now is a bit too soon to bring it up so directly. He starts down another route instead.
"So, if even the Symbol of Peace has failed, then surely it is not the end of the world if you do so yourself sometimes. I'd even argue that failure is a necessary part of figuring out how to improve." Young Bakugo still looks doubtful, but seems a bit more accepting than the first time it was brought up, so he presses onward. "Then there's the issue of complete victory. I'm afraid such a thing doesn't translate cleanly over to real life villain fights."
"What do you mean? Either you beat the villain or you don't."
"Tell me, young Bakugo, if you were in a fight with a villain and there were civilians at risk in the area, would you prioritize the villain over the safety of the people?"
"Well obviously, if you defeat the villain than the extras won't be in danger anymore, so you should focus on that."
"That is true in some cases, but not always. Sometimes you can both defeat the villain and save those in danger, but there will also be times where you have to choose one over the other. Or times when the best way to subdue the villain and end the danger is to do something that doesn't count as 'complete victory', something underhanded or less flashy." He looks at the boy, making sure he knows this is a serious question. "If you had to choose between saving someone, and having complete victory over your opponent, which would you choose."
Young Bakugo doesn't answer right away, which Yagi interprets as a sign that he's actually thinking about this rather than just coming up with what All Might wants to hear. Finally he says: "I know it wouldn't be right to let someone die just so I could win. If I had to choose, I'd save whoever it was, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be pissed about not winning."
Yagi chuckles. "I suspect you would be, I also suspected and hoped that would be your answer."
Young Bakugo huffed. "I still don't get what this whole things is about. What do you want from me?"
"I want you to understand that going on with the mindset you've been showing is going to harm you more than help you in the future." Yagi explained. "You seem not to value anything but being number one when it comes to your own actions. Does that extend to others as well? Do you consider Aizawa or Nedzu to be sub par because they do not hold the title of 'number one'?"
Bakugo rolled his eyes. "I know not everyone can be number one." All Might gestured for him to continue. "And...that doesn't make every other hero bad, just not the best."
"And you find something distasteful about not being the best?" Young Bakugo didn't answer this time, and Yagi sighed. "My boy, no one person can be the best all of the time. Not even me, who everyone seems to think is the exception that proves the rule. Hell, the reason I look like this right now is because I failed during one of my most important fights. I didn't keep myself from getting a grievous injury that shortens the time I can use my quirk, and thus shortens the time I can spend saving people or defeating villains. On many occasions I find myself agonizing over the people that may have gotten hurt or killed because I couldn't be there as often as I would have been if I'd managed to avoid that injury." 'And now it sounds like I didn't even succeed in killing that villain like I thought I did.' He thought despondently.
"It's a hard thing to grasp for every hero, but sometimes you don't win and there's nothing to be done about it. Sometimes, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, something still goes wrong. Of course you should always aim to be your best, and always aim to try and do the right thing. But there will simply be times where you do everything exactly right and make the best decisions you could under the circumstances available, and still end up losing."
Now it was Young Bakugo's turn to look despondent. Yagi sighed. "I went off on that more than I really meant to. What I'm trying to say is, I want you to internalize some of the things you admitted. You admitted that not being number one doesn't make other heroes worthless, and that, during training at least, that sometimes you lose. I want you to spend some time considering that those things can apply to you as well. That you don't have to always win in order to do good and improve, and that not being first every time doesn't mean your actions didn't have value."
Young Bakugo's face was screwed up in an expression that made it look like he'd just eaten several bites of something that he's just realized had gone bad. Yagi huffed in amusement and asked again "Please, just promise me you'll give it some serious thought over these next episodes, alright?"
Bakugo nodded reluctantly, and Yagi decided he'd pushed enough for now. He left the boy to his thoughts, and went to enjoy the remainder of the break. Just a couple minutes later he saw Bakugo standing close to the wall and staring at it. He hoped that was a good sign.
A.N.
Ashido says platonic shipping is just as important as romantic shipping :P
Also, here we are with some Iida angst. I hope it wasn't too jarring. I figure even if this Iida has the knowledge that will hopefully be able to keep Tensei safe from Stain seeing his brother hurt so badly and realizing the same could happen at other times would still result in some heavy emotions.
And here's hoping we can get Bakugo to jump start some character development and learn to be less hard on himself and less of a jerk to others. Also shout out to Star Trek because the whole 'It's possible to do everything exactly right and still lose' is something I first heard from Captain Picard and it's stuck with me. :P
