A/N: I'm so sorry it took so long to update this story! I've honestly been finding it harder to write chapters when it gets to writing more serious parts such as this. I didn't mean it to take so long and I wanted to do it sooner, but I've been pretty stuck so far. This, however, is where you guys come in! What would you want to see! Let me know in a review what you would like to see next and I'll see what I can do!
"Soo cuute." Toru sang. Her voice was slightly hazy in Izuku's ears, but it was clearly her.
"I never expected him to be so gutsy." Kirishima added. Slowly Izuku began to stir. Something soft and warm was pressed against him, soft hair under his chin and gentle breaths against his neck.
"Mmmm." He grumbled. There was no light creeping through his eyelids, so it must still be early.
"Is someone gonna wake him up?" Kaminari asked with a chuckle.
Then, the sound of someone taking a photo on their phone startled the greenette awake.
"Hey man, mornin'. You look comfortable." Kirishima commented with a smile. The entire class was awake now. Most of them were still in their pyjamas whilst Todoroki, Tokoyami and Iida were already in their uniforms.
"K-K-Kirishima! I-It's not what you think!" He exclaimed. A wild blush was developing on his cheeks and he pushed himself away from Mina, scaring her awake.
"Midori, are you alright? What happened?" She asked, quickly getting up with half-open eyes and messy bed hair.
"W-Were you taking pictures!" Izuku exclaimed at Toru.
"Yeah, sorry but it's too cute." She smiled invisibly, shaking her phone over her head.
"Really! Send them to me!" Mina exclaimed, turning to Toru with a beaming smile. Izuku was left a little speechless. He was hoping Mina would help him be the voice of reason when it came to taking such pictures, but he should've expected her to react this way.
"You chose a good time to wake up." Momo commented with a smile.
"We did?" Izuku asked as Toru crouched at Mina's side to show her the photos she'd taken of the couple sleeping together. Please tell me its something normal. This morning already feels too crazy. He muttered to himself.
"Breakfast is almost ready!" Rikido smiled, giving Izuku two enthusiastic thumbs up.
"Oh, awesome." Izuku replied quietly, smiling at his friend before carefully making his way out of his sleeping bag, and to his feet, stretching his arms above his head and yawning.
"How did you sleep Uraraka." He asked, turning to his Zero-Gravity Quirk friend whilst wiping tears from his eyes from yawning.
"Fine, just fine." She replied. Her expression looked blank and slightly disturbed.
"Are you okay? You look like you might've had a nightmare." Izuku asked, concern in his voice as he headed over to the soft rug where she'd slept.
"No, I'm alright. Sorry for worrying you Deku." She beamed, quickly shaking herself.
"O-Oh right..." He said awkwardly, stopping in his tracks and standing there looking a little out of place.
"Ahhhh, I don't wanna go into school today." Mina complained, sprawling out in Izuku's sleeping bag and rolling around.
"You must attend Ashido! It'd be improper of you not to, and it'd look bad for the school." Iida ordered sternly, shaking his hand at her with a stern expression.
"I will, obviously. I'm offended you'd assume I'd actually bunk off." Mina replied. Izuku had been in Iida's place many times; Mina's fake offended act was an easy one to believe, but he'd been on the receiving end of it one too many times to fool for it easily again. Iida however, was fooled completely.
"I'm sorry, I didn't intend to offend you in any way and I didn't assume that at all. I'm merely ensuring proper practices to benefit not only us as individuals but U.A as a whole." He replied, scalding himself before turning and addressing the rest of the class.
"Shut it four-eyes! Your too loud this early!" Bakugo yelled at him, pointing an angry finger before folding a pillow over his own head and hiding away. Iida looked a little miffed by this contradictory statement but said nothing.
"Says you..." Izuku muttered over at Kirishima, who laughed heartily.
"Damn, you're becoming more and more like each other, ya know that?" He chuckled, looking over to Mina.
"I know, it's cause he loves me so much." Mina replied in a teasing manner. Izuku didn't respond, looking down at the floor and twiddling his thumbs with a blush on his cheeks.
"If everyone's feeling awake enough, breakfast is ready now." Momo addressed with a warm smile.
"Your parents really cooked for all twenty of us?" Jiro asked with a doubtful look.
"Oh no, our kitchen staff did." Momo replied coolly.
"K-Kitchen staff!" Kaminari gasped, jumping up from the sofa with a stunned look on his face. Momo didn't reply and left them all in the living room, stunned.
"She realises none of us live like her right?" Sero asked with an amused smile.
"Well, maybe not for you, but I live quite a splendid life! As you can no doubt see." Aoyama announced, pirouetting his way to the centre of the room and drawing as much attention to himself as possible. Izuku just about managed to avoid the tornado of sparkles and blonde hair, staring at him with a puzzled expression.
"Yeah. Unfortunately, though, blue silk pyjamas and a sleeping mask don't prove anything." Shoji said in response, a cheeky grin on one of his limbs as he made his way past the Naval-laser Quirk user, ruffling his hair as he did. Aoyama's face fell quickly after hearing this and the rest of the class followed after the tall teenager, laughing as they went.
"Don't worry Aoyama, I'm sure you do live a 'splendid life'." Izuku smiled, patting the flamboyant teen on the shoulder. He didn't like seeing anyone feeling or looking disheartened, but Aoyama was a very hard person to reassure considering he only ever talked or thought about himself.
"Ah! As expected of Midoriya! Recognising fabulosity!" Aoyama smiled, his enthusiasm instantly reimbursed as span to Izuku and put his arm around him.
"That isn't a word..." Izuku grumbled, almost inaudibly.
"Midori, let's go!" Mina called, waving him to follow her from the door.
"Oh, coming!" He called as she left the room. He jogged to catch up to his pink-haired girlfriend and once he had, she grabbed his hand quite firmly. The sudden grip caused him to lean in her direction slightly and let out a small whimper.
"Ouch! Hey, Mina, you're crushing my hand." He said, looking down to her with a pained expression.
"I am? Sorry, I didn't mean too." She replied, pushing her bottom lip out in a slightly childish manor. Izuku wasn't sure if she was seriously apologising or just apologising for a joke, but it was better than nothing. He was too tired to be thinking so hard about small things, he was more concerned with the upcoming final exam and the revision they were going to do during the build-up to the exam.
He knew the sorts of things he needed to cover, but it'd be more practical to cover things the entire class was struggling on. Doing his own thing at a group study session might come across as selfish and it'd just be wasting the others time. However, if he didn't focus on the things he knew he needed to work on, then he obviously wasn't going to make any progress.
"Yo Midoriya, you feeling alright there man?" Kirishima asked. He, Kaminari, and Shoji were all looking over their shoulders at him with concerned expressions. "You look like you've been told some really bad news." He added with a smile.
"N-No, sorry... I'm fine." He replied, slowly coming back to reality and giving them a half confident smile.
"Are you sure? You really don't look too happy." Shoji pressed on, a small frown on his face.
"I'm just thinking about the Final Exam. It's bothering me." He responded, his smile falling away and turning his gaze to the floor.
"Oh, that explains it." Kirishima laughed, holding the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, no your not alone with that feeling." He added.
"Why are you nervous? You're stronger than most of us, we should be the ones worrying." Mineta said sternly. Izuku was a little taken aback by this, but he did agree. It was understandable why Mineta would feel this way, and although the other members of the class who considered themselves 'weaker' than himself, Bakugo and Todoroki were thinking the same way, they just weren't being as verbal about it.
"I know, I'm sorry..." Izuku replied quietly. He wasn't really sure what else to say to the Pop-Off Quirk user. Izuku wasn't even sure why he was worried himself, he just couldn't seem to shake away the feeling.
"Lay-off. It's an exam, everyone's going to be nervous." Ojiro defended, looking down to the small teenager with a stern expression. Mineta gave the Tail Quirk user a sideways frown before scoffing and looking off into space.
"Any idea what we might be doing in class today?" Mina asked Iida, changing the subject quite abruptly.
"I'm not sure, more Quirk training I imagine." The class-rep responded thoughtfully.
"I hope it's something new to do with our Quirks instead of just training them." Kaminari said hopefully. This was understandable; if One For All made Izuku lose brain functionality every time he used it too much, he wouldn't keep pushing it to get stronger.
"I guess, but if we keep learnin' new things about our Quirks, we won't be able to hone in the skills we already have." Mina pointed out letting go of Izuku and folding her arms with a thoughtful expression. "I don't know, I guess I can see both sides." She added.
Izuku agreed on both accounts; learning something new about his Quirk or a way to utilise it's power did sound like a lot of fun, and it would definitely benefit him by taking strain from his arms. However, if he didn't keep training his body to handle the power he already had, and more, then he would never make any progress, period. He'd just have to sit tight and wait until they got to school.
With their stomachs full, bodies awake and minds prepared for the day, class 1-A were making their way to U.A. Izuku still couldn't get his mind off the Final Exam that was slowly creeping closer and closer. Something as simple as holding Mina's had made him feel strangely at ease, but it still didn't distract him from the thought.
There were so many different aspects of their course that could tie into the Final Exam, but he couldn't help but feel like no matter what he thought it could be about or how hard he prepared, he still wouldn't be ready. If they were going to continue training Quirks again today, then it would put him at a disadvantage because of his bandages, which he wasn't able to remove until this evening. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't help but feel like he was underprepared going into the Exam.
Mina didn't seem as concerned about it, in fact, quite a lot of Class 1-A were saving themselves stress by just studying their weakest subjects until the Exam date arrived, but Izuku being Izuku couldn't help but think into something as important as the exam. He knew how essential it was to pass this exam and he couldn't afford to have to retake it.
"Midori, snap out of it." Mina barked, scaring her boyfriend from his thoughts.
"S-Sorry." He replied quickly, but only half presently.
"Is the exam really bothering you that much? It's just an exam. Obviously, your studies are important but you're letting it bother you too much." She replied, gently taking his hand and pulling him a little closer as U.A came into view.
"Sorry." He replied again. He didn't know what she was expecting him to say. "It's really important to me." He added with a passionate and stern expression.
"I know, it's important to me too..." She started, bring his hand up to her chest, trying to indicate her heart, although Izuku thought otherwise. "But you can't let it bring you down like this." She finished. Izuku was lightly blushing but turned his eyes to the floor. He didn't like the fact that he was so bothered by something like an exam, but he couldn't help but feel like it was the end of the world.
"I don't enjoy being this nervous about everything." Izuku responded, looking up to her with honest eyes. Mina looked a little shocked by this sudden passion but listened all the same.
"This whole course means everything to me... More than anyone will know... And I want to do the best in everything that's thrown at me, I have to stay at the top, because that's what he-... They expect of me." Izuku responded with a frown, falling on his words.
He wanted to tell Mina everything about All Might and himself. He wanted to tell her why he felt so entitled to succeed and stay above everybody, but he knew what All Might would think if he asked him to tell her.
They were dating now and Izuku wanted to trust her to keep his secret. He knew he could trust her with his secret because he'd trust her with his life. He didn't want to hide anything from her, but he knew he had no choice.
"Good morning 1-A! I am here and prepared to teach!" The overbearing voice of number one hero All Might announced, appearing before the class with a beaming smile on his face. Izuku froze and almost tripped Mina over.
"All Might! What are you doing here!" Uraraka exclaimed, stumbling back a little.
"I am here to assist you with Quirk training!" The former One For All Quirk user smiled, pointing down at the brunette with enthusiasm in his dark eyes.
"Quirk training?" Todoroki questioned, a little more seriously. Kaminari sounded like he was about to cry, and Mina brought him into a hug, pretending to comfort him like a mother would her child. Izuku chuckled lightly and smiled. It was nice that she still acted as close as usual with her friends, even now they were dating.
"Indeed! I have been informed by Principle Nezu that you are to be strengthening your Quirks! I have been planning the most efficient way to strengthen your bodies with strict training, all of which is accessible in USJ!" All might beamed, almost in a tone the same as Present Mic's as he pointed past them and to a coach.
"Do you think it's a good idea to go to USJ after the attack recently?" Iida asked sternly.
"I do! After USJ was repaired, we looked into getting automated security built into the place! Large guns for example!" The former One For All Quirk user smiled victoriously.
"G-Guns! That sounds like it's putting us in even more danger!" Izuku perked up. All Might let out an unsettlingly confident laugh before leaning down to his successor with a smile.
"Fear not young Midoriya!" He smiled simply, patting his shoulder.
"That's not reassuring..." Izuku muttered inaudibly.
"Now then! Your hero costumes have been loaded into the coach already, so board, and we'll begin class!" The hero ordered, drawing himself back up and pointing back towards the coach.
"Why do we need our hero costumes this time?" Momo asked as the class made their way towards the coach, all exchanging slightly confused mutters.
"Because this will be the perfect opportunity to find flaws and ways to improve your costumes to work better with your Quirk." All Might responded in a calmer tone. Momo slowly nodded and jogged to catch up with Mina and the other girls, leaving Izuku with All Might.
"Hey, All Might... Can I borrow you for a sec?" Izuku started, twiddling his thumbs and looking down at the pavement.
"Of course my boy! What is it you need of me?" His idol asked cheerily.
"Y-You know I'm dating Mina now... Right?" He asked timidly.
"Really? I didn't expect that of you young Midoriya! Congratulations!" All Might beamed, patting Izuku's shoulder hard.
"T-Thank you... But... I wanted to ask you if I can tell her... About me-... Us." Izuku stuttered, closing his eyes. All Might's expression fell slightly and he stopped in his tracks, gently holding onto Izuku shoulder.
"Young Midoriya, you know how important it is that we keep that a secret. I understand you are dating young Ashido now, but it must be our top priority that it stays hidden away." All Might said. He didn't sound angry or stern, but soft and understanding as he crouched down in front of the boy.
"I-I'd trust her with my life All Might! I mean... I don't feel comfortable hiding it from her any more... Please..." Izuku pleaded, looking up to All Might with passionate eyes. His face was thoughtful, chewing on his tongue and rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Let me think about it. You must understand how major of a question it is your asking." He responded calmly, drawing himself back up and putting his hands back on his hips.
"I do, of course! I'm sorry if I put you on the spot..." Izuku exclaimed, before lowing his voice and his head.
"Don't get your hopes up... But thank you for asking me first." All Might praised, patting the boys shoulder again before nodding for him to follow to the coach, which he did.
"Come along, put on a smile and get on that coach! We've got a big day ahead of us, you and I!" All Might beamed after a few moments of silence. Izuku couldn't help but smile after that, and shook his head subtly as he made his way up to the coach, the hulking former pro following close behind.
"Midori, there you are! I thought All Might was telling you you couldn't come cause of your injuries." Mina beamed, jumping up from the back seven seats at the sight of her boyfriend, stepping aside for him to take the window seat beside her.
"N-No, it was nothing like that." He smiled, his heartwarming at the sight of her smiling face.
"So, what were you talking about. You and All Might seem close." Tsuyu spoke up, looking over her chair at the couple.
"Eh... It was nothing important, don't worry about it." He smiled, keeping himself calm as his eyes fell on All Might, taking his seat at the very front of the bus. He must've been able to tell Izuku was looking at him, because he looked out from the seat once he sat down, and gave him an encouraging thumbs-up.
"So anyway, how do you think he plans on making our Quirks stronger?" Toru asked, leaning past Mina to Izuku.
"I'm not sure. All Might is quite physical minded, so probably something demanding." Izuku suggested with a shrug.
"You'll do better than most of us then." Toru replied in a disheartened tone.
"I don't think so, you guys are just as strong as me, and with my injuries from earlier I won't be able to go all out for very long." The greenette said with a smile.
Toru didn't say anything, but let out a little giggle before sitting back as the coach pulled away from the school. USJ raised a few flags to Izuku because of the sheer size of the building and the environments that had been recreated within it. This probably meant that the training All Might had planned for them would be a lot more rigorous than before, but for now it was a waiting game.
"Behold! The new and improved USJ!" All Might announced, opening his arms and indicating the interior of the large building. Not much inside had changed, but it looked more refined. The terrain was more complex and looked like opportunities for exploring how Quirks can be used more mobility had been greatly increased. Izuku actually felt quite excited looking at it now, not nearly as nervous as he'd felt earlier.
"Everything has been revamped to allow for maximum training opportunities, so I want to utilise it today!" He smiled, folding his arms and turning to the class.
"So... Are we all training together? Sparing?" Shoji asked, stepping forwards.
"Nope, that would just bottleneck your abilities. I've devised separate training regimes for each of you..." All Might smiled, before proceeding to send each of the students off to different parts of the facility leaving Izuku last.
"You'll be training with me, young Midoriya." The blonde-haired hero smiled, putting his large hand heavily on the bandaged teen's shoulder.
"What are we doing?" He asked nervously.
"Nothing that you should feel worried about." All Might said with his usual smile. Izuku wasn't sure whether he was actually trying to be reassuring or if he was being sarcastic, but he didn't really want to know.
"How are you feeling anyway? I forgot to ask you earlier." All Might asked, pointing at the bandaged part of Izuku's head.
"Oh, I feel fine. Recovery Girl said I can take the bandages off this evening." He replied as he and All Might made their way over to the most open part of the building.
"I see, I didn't expect young Bakugo to go so hard on you, I'm quite surprised he took it so far." The pro-hero said with a slightly troubled expression.
"It doesn't really bother me that much..." Izuku muttered quietly, rubbing his arm and looking down at the floor.
"You know, I've never said this before, but I think you're too tolerant." All Might said, only half-seriously.
"I've never thought of it as tolerance. I've always seen him as an old friend... Even now."Izuku responded as All Might came to a stop roughly in the centre of the space.
"Alright then, so long as you don't mind how violent he is, then I suppose I have no need for concern." All Might replied with a half accepting tone. "Now then, let's get back to your training." He said with a little more enthusiasm.
"I want you, to fight, these." He smiled, before turning and indicating some figures standing behind him, that Izuku hadn't noticed before.
They looked like the point bots from the Entrance Exam, but a little smaller and quite cheaply made. "Do not let these little bots deceive you, they are built from incredibly thick steel with tungsten reinforcements within, and if you're not careful, they will overpower you." He began.
Izuku didn't quite believe him. The small, track-based bots didn't even look like they could lift their arms, but there was something about their gormless expressions that made him feel uneasy.
"Are you sure about this All Might?" Izuku asked as the pro hero stepped aside and the group of about twenty robots began clattering their way towards the boy.
"Of course! They'll be perfect for strengthening your body and refining your fighting style." He beamed as one of the robots raised a clawed hand at Izuku. He sidestepped quite slowly from the bot and sent a low punch into its abdomen with a little power from his Quirk.
The robot skidded backwards and toppled over with a crash, but quickly picked itself back up again and continued pushing on him. Izuku hadn't really held back much against the robot, and the dent where he'd hit it was quite substantial, yet it seemed unfazed.
"See, quite the things aren't they." All Might smiled as Izuku hook punched two more bots to the floor.
"Y-Yeah... But it's fun." Izuku replied, half truthfully. He was feeling a little anxious with these machines staring him down, but he trusted One For All take them out for good.
He pushed a little power into his legs and spinning kicked another to the side, following it up with a spinning back first and then a hook. Metal creaked and clattered as the greenette nerd pummelled the machines
"Use more power, young Midoriya! You'll never progress if you don't push yourself!" All Might exclaimed as Izuku punched another bot to the floor. He was right, Izuku hadn't tried pushing more power than he knew his body could handle into his limbs, so he hadn't really made much progress.
He focused harder, upping the power of One For All to five percent, the max his body could currently handle. Punching another robot with his new amount of power, the dummy was thrown backwards, slamming to the floor in a shower of sparks. Still though, after skidding nearly fifteen feet, it slowly picked itself back up. They were worryingly resilient, even after taking five percent of Full Cowling.
He knew he had to push himself through. He knew no progress would be made if he remained in his comfort zone. He visualised the bed of nails and the egg in the microwave. He knew how to summon up more power, but it was whether or not he wanted to risk damaging his body, even when it was already damaged. One For All, Full Cowling, six percent. He knew a mere six percent of his power was nowhere near enough, but he was too worried about causing himself more damage.
He would do it a percent at a time until he could feel his arms about to give out. He wasn't sure how much power he'd used against Melodyne, but that was the amount he wanted to reach today. He max limit was twenty, but he could only use that for around two hits before he ached all over, and had worn himself out. It was risky trying to reach that limit, but if he took it slowly, maybe he could ease himself into it.
Every one percent boost he gave himself, he targeted a fresh robot, that way his body would feel the full resistance of the titan armour these small machines were covered with.
seven percent.
eight percent.
nine percent.
The robots were taking quite harsh hits now. The dents were clearer, and although the already damaged bots took two to three hits from Izuku to go down, the uninjured robots tanked the punches just as easily as they had with ten percent of Full Cowling.
Single percent jumps weren't going to be enough. If he really wanted to make progress, then he'd just have to jump to the maximum power he could handle. Twenty percent.
All Might watched him with intrigue as Izuku focused on summoning up twenty percent power. The warm buzzing he felt was familiar to that of his fight with Melodyne, but it felt more focused than before. This was probably because he wasn't using the power out of panic, but because he knew he wanted to.
One of the machines laid a finger on Izuku's shoulder and he quickly wheeled around, slamming his fist into the head of the robot. The head of the machine flew clean off its shoulders and the body of the robot flew a few feet across the floor, clattering and screeching along the floor before bursting into flames.
"That's it young Midoriya!" All Might called encouragingly, clapping his large hands together as another robot was pounded to the floor in a shower of sparks. Izuku could feel his arms straining under the power, but he didn't ease off. He had to go all out if he had any chance of improving. Another robot. Then another, and another. Izuku didn't give himself any time to breathe, flawlessly throwing punch after punch around the machines like they were nothing.
It was becoming painful, and his head and it's wound felt like they were burning, but there were only three more bots left, and this would benefit him in the long run. All he had to do, was keep pushing himself.
Another robot grabbed him from behind and Izuku quickly grabbed it back. Grasping its wrists before throwing it over his head and slamming it into another as hard as he could. They exploded in a could of smoke, fire and shrapnel, and when the smoke cleared. Izuku was stood there with only one more robot left.
"Well done young Midoriya! I didn't honestly expect you to handle them all." All Might laughed as Izuku no-look punched the last robot to the floor, the glow in his pupils dying down a little.
"I'm glad... I exceeded... Your expectations... All Might..." The One For All user panted, falling to his knees. His whole body was sore, and his arms were throbbing, but even after that, he felt stronger.
"Indeed! Now then, onto task number two: Mobility!" All Might beamed, grabbing Izuku by the shoulder and pulling him up to his feet. His heart fell and little and he looked up to All Might with pleading eyes.
"Really? P-Please can I just... Take a quick... Breather?" The greenette breather, throwing his head back with a heavy sigh.
"AHAHA - Nope!" All Might laughed, before turning to the boy with a stern expression and proceeding to walk towards the next stage of his 'training' No peace for the wicked I suppose. Izuku sighed, picking himself up and jogging after the hero.