The day had finally arrived for moving into dorms. Izuku hadn't slept massive amounts the night before, as he'd occupied himself with packing up all his belongings, ready for the move, including but not limited to his excessive collection of All Might merchandise. The excitement of moving away to the U.A dorms was really setting in, and now it was merely a few minutes away, Izuku felt like he would be seeing his breakfast again quite soon.
He could see his mother was feeling equally as anxious as himself about this, and she had every right to. She was about to see her son, her only child off, and not see him again for a few months. It was just as big a step for her as it was for Izuku, and he had a lot of sympathy for his mother. The last thing he ever wanted was to leave her alone, but he didn't have a choice. He couldn't give up on everything he'd worked for after all the trouble it'd caused him, even so early on.
"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this Izuku?" Inko asked anxiously. The greenette nodded without thinking twice, staring at the Taxi which was parked just outside his apartment block. All his boxes and clothes had been packed into the large boot of this car, and all that was left for him to do was to climb in and start off towards the school.
"I want this more than anything." He replied, looking over his shoulder at his sort, portly mother, who was anxiously fiddling with the strings of her hoodie. Inko didn't say anything but quickly rushed over to him, wrapping her son in her arms.
"Oh... I don't know what I'm going to do without you." She complained, sounding like she was on the verge of tears as she hugged him. Izuku hugged her back tightly, resting her head on hers.
"You'll be alright. I'll come back and see you at every chance I have, I promise. I'll also definitely bring Mina along." Izuku said softly, tightening his hold on her before pulling away.
"I know, you really should, I can't wait to see her." Inko beamed warmed, before quickly stopping Izuku as he went to turn around.
"Please, be careful honey." She said softly. Izuku stood for a moment on the side of the road, looking at his mother with a somewhat painful feeling inside him. He had to do this, even though there was a part of him that didn't want to. It was okay to be selfish sometimes. Mina had taught him that when they met, and he had to remember it at crucial times like this.
"I love you mum. I'll see you as soon as I can." Izuku smiled, before turning, opening the door of the Taxi, climbing inside, and closing the door. The blacked-out windows made it hard for his mother to see inside, but she continued smiling in his direction. Watching as the Taxi pulled away and started off down the road.
The Lizard-Man driver inside hadn't said a word since Izuku had entered the taxi, and it was quite intimidating, not exactly what he needed with the current feeling of anxiety inside him.
Izuku continued watching, his eyes following her across his window and leading him to watch as she grew further and further away out the rear window. With a heavy heart, he let out a sigh and turned to face the front, resting his head in his hand and watching as he made his way nearer to U.A.
The weight of this decision compared to yesterday felt so much more serious today, but that was probably because it was actually happening. Something thinking at first it seems easy, but once that decision really affects you, it can set in, just how important it is.
He couldn't help but wonder whether he was really ready to be living away from his mother, or even if she was ready to live away from him. He'd never lived alone before, and it was scary that he'd have to do so this suddenly.
He wanted to call Mina, but he had a feeling she'd be busy moving all her things into her room since she left a few hours before he did. He just wanted to talk to her, or even anyone else. He just wanted a little reassurance from his friends that he'd be able to manage this. Izuku wondered if Todoroki would relate to this feeling. Living with his sister, Todoroki had once told Izuku how close the two of them were, so maybe Todoroki would understand how he was feeling.
Then again, almost every student in his class would probably understand this feeling. They were all leaving their families to better their education, after all. They just had to hope that this really was for the best, but that was now in the hands of the teachers. They were the ones in charge of protecting them in the first place, so hopefully moving all the students into dorms should make life easier on them.
Izuku took another deep breath and let it out with a sigh, lifting his phone from his lap and turning it on to see the lock screen. It was the photo he and Mina had taken together back at Casper's Waffle House. It was going to be okay no matter what because he knew, not only would his classmates, now housemates - his closest friends - be there with him, but so would Mina. Nothing could be bad if he had her with him.
Finally, Izuku could see the dorms he'd anticipated. They were huge, modern-looking brick buildings with large windows where the common area would probably be, and countless, slightly smaller windows for each room. They looked much better than Izuku had imagined. Then again, he didn't really have a clear picture in his head for the dorms to begin with, and U.A had a habit of exceeding expectations, for better, or for worse.
Each dorm was surrounded by wall walls and heavy metal fences, spiked at the tops to prevent any outsiders from climbing in, and above the front door of the dorm buildings, were large bronze letters on white backgrounds reading the said classes year number and set letter. Although it was faint, Izuku could make out the dorm building closest the school, had '1-A' on it, with the words 'Alliance' written in gold on a maroon background.
"You gonna be alright takin' all those boxes in on your own? I don't mind giving you a hand." The taxi driver offered, turning down the new road that led towards the dorms.
"Oh, n-no that's alright!" Izuku said, flattered that the driver had offered. "I'm not too sure what room I've got yet, so I wouldn't want to trouble you." He added, smiling at the driver in the mirror before looking back up at his dorm, which drew ever nearer.
"Alright then. I'll help move your things inside at least." He offered, rubbing his scaly chin thoughtfully as he gently slowed the taxi and stopped at the gate of the 1-A dorm. It was even bigger than he'd anticipated, and they looked beautiful.
"How much is it for the trip?" Izuku asked, pulling his phone from his pocket and unlocking it.
"Five-hundred and eighty-three yen." The driver said, pulling a small, handheld card reader from his glove box and holding it between the front seats. Izuku quickly read over the amount he'd typed in to confirm it was right, before scanning his phone, and completing the transaction.
"Alright, let's get this stuff inside." The taxi driver said coolly, shutting off the engine and climbing out of the car, shortly followed by Izuku. As they walked around to the boot of the large estate car, both Uraraka and Iida came running out of the building.
"Deku! You made it!" Uraraka called with a beaming smile, waving her hand frantically above her head. Iida was doing the same following behind her with his usual, slightly rigid 'class-rep' walk.
"We were beginning to worry you weren't returning!" He added.
"Friends of yours? They wouldn't mind helping you, would they?" The driver asked, placing Izuku's four large boxes of possessions out of the boot and to the floor.
"We don't mind at all!" Iida beamed. "Thank you for offering to help our friend." He added. The taxi driver slowly nodded with a slightly perturbed expression but shook it off.
"Well, enjoy your time in dorms kid. If I could go back to when I was at school dorms, I would without a second thought." The driver smiled, patting Izuku shoulder before heading back to his car and climbing into the driver's seat.
"Thank you!" Izuku called he the driver, continued down the road to a nearby round-about to turn around.
"Well then, let's get you moved in. You're actually the last one of our class to arrive, so everyone is really worried about whether you were returning." Iida smiled, stacking two of Izuku's boxes on top of each other and lifting them up. Izuku did the same, swinging his bag on his shoulder, around to his back, and grabbing two of the boxes, leaving Uraraka with the large suitcase of clothing to pull.
"I've missed you guys over the weekend. I-I'm really sorry if I worried you." Izuku muttered, following Iida inside with Uraraka walking with him.
"Don't apologise, it's not your fault - what happened." Uraraka smiled, gently patting Izuku's shoulder with a kind smile on her rounded face.
"Thanks, Uraraka." Izuku smiled back as Iida pulled what seemed to be his room key and a scannable fob from his pocket, resting the two boxes on his right knee and holding the fob up to a scanner on the door. It blinked blue for about a second before turning green and letting out a small bleep. The clicking of a lock followed and Uraraka quickly rushed forwards and pushed the large wooden door open.
"Thank you." Iida grunted, proceeding to lead the two of them into the building. "Your key is on the small rack there." He spoke up, nodding to a small table he'd walked past. On this table was a plastic white key rack, a small pin below each name and the corresponding room number.
'Izuku Midoriya - Room 2F3'. Izuku frowned at the black number printed on the fob as Uraraka took it from the rack.
"What does 2F3 mean?" He asked, grabbing the Zero-Gravity Quirk user's attention.
"That means you're on the just above this one, third room from the lift. This is the common area, or ground floor, with the kitchen, toilets, bathrooms, and the laundry. Then there are four more floors above this which are all rooms for us. Girls are on the backside of the building, and boys are on the front. It sounds complicated but you'll get it." Uraraka explained.
Admittedly it was a lot to take in, but that was because he'd had quite a busy morning already, and his brain had yet to catch up. So, Izuku followed the two of them into the lift and waited as it slowly carried them up to the next floor.
"So, Midoriya, what sort of stuff did you bring from home?" Iida asked, smiling quite enthusiastically over his shoulder. Izuku fired a glance at the boxes he was holding and felt his heart drop a little.
"W-Well... Nothing really special... Just my computer and books... Some sentimental stuff too..." Izuku explained, his voice falling away as the lift slowly came to a stop, and the doors slid open to reveal quite a large hallway. Three people could comfortably walk side by side in this all way, and there were four doors on the right side of the building, from 2F1 to 2F4.
At the far end of the hall were large arch windows looking onto the next building around one hundred or so meters along, and the walls were all painted bright, cream-colour walls and circular lights sat in the ceiling, helping illuminate the hall.
"Here we goooo." Uraraka sang, skipping over to Izuku's door and sliding the key into the keyhole, unlocking it and strolling inside. The rooms were large and very cosy feeling. A large window, which doubled as a sliding door, sat at the opposite wall with a bare, large single bed on the right, and a desk on the left. Beside the door was a small round table with a plastic rose in a white vase, and the rest of the room was left up to their imagination.
"Wow, you've got such a crazy view, even from the second floor!" Uraraka exclaimed, leaving his suitcase at the foot of his bed and rushing over to the sliding door, pulling it over and leaning on the railing, looking over at U.A, which was visible with the bottom half slightly obstructed by the woodland.
"Maaaan, this is awesome." She sighed, holding out her arms and beaming over the space. Izuku and Iida placed down the boxes and made their way over to her, standing either side of the brunette girl.
"What floors are you two on?" Izuku asked curiously, folding his arms and leaning on the railing, looking over at his two friends.
"I'm the floor above you." Iida said.
"And I'm the floor above Iida." Uraraka added quickly after. Izuku nodded, looking back across to U.A. "How are you feeling anyway, Deku?" She asked. A question everyone had for him but hadn't had a chance to ask him.
"I'm fine. Recovery Girl managed to heal everything fine. The only permanent side-effect from the battle is this." He responded with a shrug, rolling up his hoodie sleeve to show them his compression sleeve. Uraraka back away a little, raising her hand to her chest before looking up to Iida.
"What happened to your elbow?" He asked. Izuku shrugged again.
"I'm not sure. When I woke up after surgery, most of that area was heavily scarred. Recover Girl said the compression sleeve is to stop my elbow giving out under strain." He explained. Uraraka and Iida stayed quiet. They weren't really sure what to say because they knew his injuries were bad, but not that one of them would be a permanent hindrance.
"Does it hurt you?" Uraraka asked, taking Izuku's right arm in her hands and running her fingers across the sleeve. It fit tightly to Izuku quite muscly bicep, and it was made from quite a soft, padded material.
"N-No... It doesn't hurt..." He stuttered, swallowing nervously as Uraraka stared at his arm intently.
"Well, I'm glad to see you're okay." Iida spoke up. Patting Izuku's left shoulder with a smile as Uraraka let go of him and let out a sigh.
"I suppose we should leave you to unpack now. Everyone is gathering in the common area at twelve, so try to be ready by then." Iida smiled widely, before turning and starting back towards the door. Uraraka stayed with Izuku for a little, looking at him as if she wanted to say or do something, but her words never left her mouth. Instead, she let out a sigh, smiled, and followed Iida through Izuku's room, and out the door.
The greenette watched after them for a moment, the breeze flowing through his hair and cooling his flushed face. He felt so grateful to have friends like Iida, Uraraka, and the rest of his class. Sometimes he forgot just how much they would worry about him, and it made him feel happy and honoured to be blessed with friends like that, but it also made him feel quite heavy-hearted.
By the sounds of it, he'd made them all worry over the weekend, and they already had enough to worry about. Was he inconsiderate not messaging them all earlier, or was it for the best? He wasn't in the right mindset to be talking to people after learning of the extent of his injuries. His arms had been battered so much in such a short amount of time, that it would only get worse from here on out if he continued.
He'd been warned of this by Recovery Girl merely an hour after the Sports Festival, and yet he still went and got himself nearly killed. He didn't regret his actions up until this point, however. If he had the chance to go back and do things differently, he wouldn't take it. If it wasn't for his injuries and being a little slower to leave the class, he might never have gone home with Mina.
Sure, this had caused a lot of worry for his classmates and his teachers, All Might, Mina and his Mother especially, but these actions weren't meaningless. He'd saved a child's life. That, to Izuku, was worth all the risk.
When Izuku had finished, unpacking, organising everything, putting up his posters and choosing his favourite All Might figures so that he wouldn't clutter the place, it was five past twelve. He wasn't sure why, but the thought of seeing everyone again after such a major event as the training camp was extremely nerve-racking.
Maybe it was the nag in the back of his mind that told him they'd be angry at him for not saying a word to them since it happened, or maybe he was just overthinking the outcomes like he usually did.
Grabbing his room key fob from the bowl on the table beside the door, Izuku started making his way back down to the common room. It was nice not having classes today after all the stress of moving away from home when none of them were really ready to, and it was a good way to let them relax and settle with everything before getting back into the routine of studying.
Humming away to himself, Izuku left his room, locked the door and made his way down to the elevator, pushing the button that read 'common room' before leaning on the bar at the backside of the space. It was amazing, seeing just how much thought U.A had put into these buildings to make sure everyone would be comfortable. They were modern, spacious, bright and accessible for everyone in that class.
As he drew neared the common room, he could hear the hubbub from his class all talking in one go. It was oddly comforting, hearing the racket that was Class 1-A. It was like returning to your hometown after being abroad for a few months. He had his fingers crossed that they would be as excited to see him as he was to see them. All excluding Bakugo maybe.
As the humming of the lift slowed, and he arrived on the ground floor, he heard the commotion stop. Of course, for a time such as this, he would be the only one present, which meant everyone was going to be there staring at him when the doors opened unto the living area.
Slowly the doors slid open, and sure enough, he was met with the eyes of his entire class, looking in his direction. He wanted to say something, but what would he say? He felt like that was what everyone was expecting, but he didn't have any words to say. So, he stared back at them, awkwardly stepping out of the lift and into the room with them.
There was only one person who really stood out to him, and that was his pink-skinned girlfriend. Sitting one of the sofa's between Kirishima and Tokoyami, was Mina, staring at him with eyes the size of moons, almost like she'd seen something truly awe-inspiring.
"H-Hi..." He started quietly, before the entire class erupted in laughter, jumping up from their seats and rushing over to him. Mina led the way, throwing her arms around Izuku and burying her head in his neck.
"Good to see you up and at 'em!" Sero beamed as everyone crowded around him, patting his shoulders and ruffling his already somewhat messy green hair.
"I thought you weren't gonna come!" Toru yelled, her floating skimpy shorts, baggy hoodie and beanie floating beside him.
"Way to worry us, Midoriya." Todoroki smiled from over everyone's shoulder. Izuku smiled back at him, Iida and Uraraka standing at his sides before Mina pulled Izuku to look down at her.
"Please, please don't run off and leave me again. You got no idea how worried I was." She croaked, a mixture of sad and happy tears in her eyes and she quickly pulled him back into a tight hug. One that made him feel as though his ribs would crack.
"I-I'm sorry I worried everyone..." Izuku chuckled nervously at her. This felt like a little too much racket for someone like him simply recovering from injuries. It wasn't the first time something like this had happened. Then again, it was probably the fact it nearly killed him that made this a bigger deal than usual.
"Give the damn nerd some space ass hats. He's not that special!" Bakugo barked from the beanbag closest the TV, his phone rested in his lap. Everyone went a little quieter, looking back at the blonde-haired teenager, before turning back to Izuku.
"We were just about to watch an old T.V show I found this weekend." Kirishima stated, quickly bringing things back to life as people backed away from the greenette.
"You're just in time." He smiled, before everyone quickly rushed back over to their seats. Mina, however, stuck to Izuku like glue, his hand clutched tightly in hers.
"Let's go sit down." Izuku smiled, leading her off towards the space beside Koda and Sero.
"Sero, shift your ass a bit!" Kaminari laughed. Sero chuckled to himself and scooted towards Koda, giving Izuku enough room to sit down, although his view was quickly obscured by Mina perching on his leg, cuddling into him again.
Izuku could feel his face going bright red as everyone could see this happen, and although he felt as though he should be comfortable with this sort of thing by now, it was still a little embarrassing.
"Can you see alright?" Mina asked, resting her head on his shoulder. Izuku nodded, swallowing saliva nervously.
"It's nice, having the whole class together again." Todoroki said, fiddling with the fold of his turtle-neck sweater as he spoke. There were a few muttered responses from the class as Kirishima pulled YouTube up on the large TV and searched for something called 'Takeshi's Castle'.
"Before we start that, Kirishima, I can go make tea for anyone who would like one." Momo offered, adjusting her long skirt as she got up from her chair. "Anyone who wants one, raise your hands!" She called. Everyone stuck up their hand, even quite a sheepish looking Bakugo, and Momo's face fell a little.
"Don't worry, I'll help." Todoroki offered, also getting up and walking off to the kitchen with Momo.
"I wanna go to!" Toru announced, quickly jumping up from the beanbag in front of the sofa Izuku was sat on and following the two more sensible class members towards the kitchen. Izuku watched them walking off towards the kitchen and smiled after them.
"It's a bit strange..." He started, grabbing people's attention. "I didn't realise how much I'd miss talking to you all until I realised I might not be allowed to return to U.A." He explained. Mineta nodded in agreement.
"I might be wrong, but I think I speak for everyone when I say we were worried we wouldn't see you again." The Pop-Off Quirk user admitted, looking around the class for anyone who disagreed, which no-one seemed to be doing.
"Again, I-I'm really sorry I caused you all to worry. That was never my intention-." Izuku started, before getting cut off by Bakugo.
"Who cares about that. You risked your life to save a kid. If you ask me, that's much more important than whether or not you're able to return to classes or not, dipshit." He grumbled, frowning over his shoulder as he spoke, before looking back down at his phone.
Izuku heard Mina let out a quiet but irritated sigh as the glared over at Bakugo, but Izuku was quite flattered by the comment. The others probably didn't see it, but the look in Bakugo's eyes wasn't as hateful as usual. There was a little admiration in how he spoke, and that was something Izuku genuinely respected from the one who apparently hated him more than anything.
"What do you think we'll be doing when classes start again?" Tsuyu pondered aloud, looking in Izuku's direction as if she expected him to know the answer.
"I-I'm not sure... I'm personally hoping it's more classroom work than practical work. I don't really feel like getting out there and training really hard will do me much good right now." He admitted.
"I wouldn't let you take part anyway if we were. You seem to have a nasty habit of getting yourself hurt." The greenette girl said with a mixture of warmth and sternness in her tone.
"Y-Yeah, you're right..." Izuku muttered in response, putting his arms around Mina's waist and resting his head on hers with a sigh. He missed this so much. The warm touch and comfortably familiar and sweet smell of his girlfriend. It was an odd thing, but how Mina smelled was always something that made him feel so much more at ease. Then again, everything about her made him feel that way.
"I missed you, Midori." She muttered, almost silently. Izuku planted a tender kiss on her head and smiled to himself.
"I missed you too. Sorry I made you worry." He muttered back.
"Get a room." Sero commented loudly, hiding his mouth with his hand. Izuku instantly tensed up a little and laughed, although his face quickly began fading to a bright shade of red.
"Should we wait for them to come back before starting?" Kirishima asked, firing a glance past Izuku and Mina towards the kitchen.
"I think so yeah. We don't wanna get halfway through then have to start again." Mineta said, whilst tapping away on his phone, texting someone. Kirishima nodded and put the TV controller on the arm of the chair, pulling out his own phone.
"Hey, Midori..." Mina started, bringing the One For All Quirk users attention back to her. "Why do you think the villains attacked us?" She asked, leaning on the arm of the chair and looking up at him.
"I've been trying to figure that out myself." Izuku responded with a sigh. It's not like he had much else to do over the weekend between recovering from his injuries and packing his belongings to move to these dorms. This topic seemed to catch almost everyone's attention.
"What was it that Tomura said to you back in the mall?" She continued, shifting on Izuku's lap to see him better, an inquisitive expression on her face. Izuku thought for a moment. He didn't remember that particular event very well, but he'd forgotten intentionally, as it wasn't something he really wanted to remember.
"I don't remember... At least not very well. Something about how he and the Hero Killer shared ideals, and how he'd be a steppingstone to Shigaraki's success. It was something along those lines." He explained, not really trying that hard to remember.
"What does that mean? Was the Hero Killer similar to Shigaraki?" Mina asked. Izuku shook his head.
"No, he was nothing like Stain. Stain had justification for his actions, even though they were wrong. Shigaraki Tomura doesn't." The greenette replied, looking over to Iida, who was looking back at Izuku with a dark expression. Izuku fired him a smile before resting his head back on Minas.
"I think he was looking for some of us." Bakugo grumbled. This caught everyone's attention, and Izuku felt a wave of realisation come over him.
"Actually, Muscular said something like that too." He perked up. "He said that I was one of the people 'on the list' that he was meant to kill." He added. Mina sat up and looked at him with a shocked expression.
"People to... So, he really did intend to kill you?" She asked, staring at him. Everyone else looked at him now, tense expressions on their faces. Izuku hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath and sighing.
"Yeah, he did."
"Did he say who else was on this 'list'?" Jirou asked, looking around at everyone.
"I don't know, he didn't say." Izuku replied. Jirou looked at Mina, then at Tsuyu, before sitting back in the chair and sighing anxiously. "It's not the fact he wants to kill me that I find scariest. It's the fact he wanted to kill others in the class too. Even worse is that he isn't the only one looking for whoever was on that list. I know there were other villains there, and I know they'll be looking for us too." He explained.
He'd been thinking on this a lot over the weekend, but after everything that had happened over the space of a few hours today, those thoughts had completely slipped from his mind.
"Let's not worry about all that now." Todoroki spoke up, Momo and Toru following behind him, each of them with trays of everyone's mugs. "This is our first day as a class after the incident. We shouldn't waste it with those kinds of thoughts." He smiled, placing his tray down on the coffee table and handing Izuku and Mina's teas to them.
"Thanks, Todoroki." The greenette smiled as his half-half friend. Todoroki fired him a warm and reassuring smile before turning back to the table and seeing to everyone else. It was a hard thing to do, not dwelling on what had happened three days ago, but Todoroki really was right. It was hard being around negative people after a while, and the last thing he wanted to do was bring the mood down when everyone was so excited to see each other again.
Tomorrow, in class, these issues might be brought up by Aizawa again, but for now, it would be good for them to forget and enjoy each other's company. Izuku had wanted nothing more than to see everyone again after the long weekend he'd just had.