After the lunch bell rang, Izuku and Mei gathered their belongings and left 1-H for the cafeteria where they met up with Hitoshi. While in line for food, the greenet found himself geeking out over the fact that the Cook Hero Lunch Rush was the one in charge of the UA cafeteria. His muttering rant continued until they got to the front, earning flicks to both arms from his two friends to snap him out of it so he could order.
Of course, Izuku was embarrassed, face so red he looked like a strawberry. But the culinary Hero merely chuckled as he handed the fanboy his meal. After ordered their food, the three friends managed to find an empty table for them to sit and eat. The cafeteria was really filling up and open spots were dwindling. Students started sitting anywhere that was available.
"Excuse me, are these seats free?" A male voice asked. The trio looked up to see two students standing next to their table holding trays of food. The boy had red spiky hair and a shark-like smile while the girl had short brown hair and rosy cheeks. They both were smiling to seem friendly. "If you don't mind sitting with strangers, of course. It's just that everywhere else is full."
"Yeah, sure, whatever," Hitoshi said, gesturing towards the empty seats.
"Thanks!" the girl cheered, as the two newcomers sat down and began to eat.
Izuku immediately recognized the girl as the one who saved him from tripping before the entrance exam. The boy looked familiar to him too, but he couldn't place from where though. Izuku studied the boy with the red spiky hair who had taken the seat next to him.
Let's see…red hair? No. Scar over right eye? Maybe. Shark-like smile? Wait a minute…
"Lost boy?" Izuku questioned. The redhead teen stopped mid bite and slowly turned towards him. The other boy studied him for a minute before his face beamed with recognition.
"Midoriya?" Kirishima said, with his shark smile, holding out a fist to bump. "Hey, man. Nice to see you again! Guess we did get to see each other in UA."
"Kirishima-kun!" Izuku was so happy that he pulled the other into a hug instead. Kirishima was surprised at first but embraced the hug with a smile. The others watched the pair with expressions of confused amusement.
"It's been a while, hasn't it," Kirishima said, still hugging the other. "Dream still going strong?"
"You know it!" Izuku chirped, finally releasing the other. "Wow, look at your hair!" He reached out and carefully touched one of the sharp spikes. Crispy. "I almost didn't recognize you."
"Ha ha, yeah," Kirishima laughed with a slight blush. "After we spoke that day in the park, I got home and started looking through all of my Crimson Riot collection. I found this promotion disk in one of the books. I had never watched it before and it really inspired me. Like you did. So, I thought I needed to adopt a new attitude about being a Hero and I thought a new look would help me focus it. What do ya think?"
"It's great! Very you," Izuku grinned, approving of the change. "I'm guessing it's supposed to be like Crimson Riot's style?" The other boy nodded earnestly, proud that his homage to his idol was recognized.
"Wait, I remember you!" the brunette exclaimed, causing Izuku to turn his attention to her. "You're the boy who tripped before the entrance exam. Nice to see you again, Midoriya!"
Izuku blushed while Hitoshi did nothing to hide his laughter at his friend's embarrassment. "Oh, um, yeah, that was me," the greenet admitted, his face was red under his mop of green hair, making him look like a strawberry. "It's Uraraka-san, right? Thanks again for saving me."
"No worries," Uraraka giggled, waving dismissively. "I couldn't let someone trip if I could help out. After all, I am in UA to learn to be a Hero."
"Wait, you got into the Hero Course? That's so cool!" Izuku exclaimed, making the brunette blush. "What class are you in?"
"We're both in Class 1-A," Kirishima interjected, pride clear on his face. "We met during the Hero Practical. Uraraka used her Quirk to save me from being crushed by a three-pointer robot part way through the exam. Though I would have been just fine with my Hardening Quirk, but I appreciated her help none the less."
Uraraka gave him a smile and said, "It's what a Hero would do. And you returned the favor in the end."
"Not in time before the exam ended though," Kirishima commented with a small frown.
"Even if you didn't get anything from it, you still helped me, Kirishima," Uraraka said giving him a comforting smile.
"What did he do?" Izuku asked.
"Near the end of the exam I saw that Uraraka got trapped under some rubble," Kirishima replied. "That's also when the Zero Pointer came out. I ran to help her so she wouldn't get crushed, but Present Mic called time before I could get to her."
"Zero Pointer?" the greenet asked.
"It was this super big robot they brought out the last minute or so of the exam," Uraraka explained to the two confused looking Support students. Hitoshi merely grimaced at the memory of the one in his own failed exam. "Even though time was up, Kirishima used his Quirk to chisel enough away for me to get out. All the other students had run the other way as soon as they saw the Zero Pointer, so he was the only one who tried to help me. He didn't get any credit for it because the exam had ended but I'm still thankful he did."
"That was very heroic of you, Kirishima-kun!" Izuku said, smiling at his friend causing the redhead to blush.
"Wow, Izuku, way to replace us so fast," Hitoshi interjected, the smirk on his face showing he was joking.
The greenet rolled his eyes at his friend and snarked right back. "What can I say? A man does not live on bread alone." It was the purple haired teen's turn to roll his eyes as Izuku stuck his tongue out at him.
"Oh, are you all friends?" Uraraka asked.
"Yep!" Izuku chirped, popping the 'p'. "Kirishima-kun, Uraraka-san, these are my friends Hatsume Mei and Shinsou Hitoshi." Mei gave a wink and Hitoshi nodded his head in greeting. "Mei-chan, Hitoshi-kun, this is Kirishima Eijirou and Uraraka Ochako." The Hero students greeted in kind and started asking the other two about themselves.
Izuku smiled watching the exchange. Wow, I have two more friends. And in 1-A no less! They must have done really well in the practical. The best of the best. His thoughts suddenly paused as something occurred to him.
"Um, I have a question," he said, interrupting their small talk. "You're in 1-A, right? Do you have a certain explosive blonde in your class?"
The Hero students nodded their heads, confused but curious.
"If you could, please don't mention my name around him," the greenet requested. The two Heroes-to-be exchanged glances before looked back to him in confusion. "I've known Katsuki since we were kids. We don't…get along too well. Or rather he hates my guts and I try to ignore him for the most part. I'm not saying he's a bad guy or anything and if you want to be friends with him then by all means. But when it comes to anything dealing with me, he gets a little…prickly. Might be better to keep my name out of it for the time being."
"Ah," Uraraka responded. She understood. If someone with that temper went off whenever they heard her name, she would try to avoid it too. "Is there a particular reason why he hates you?"
"It's because I want to be a Hero and he hates that I ignore him when he tells me to give up," Izuku explained, shrugging. "He thinks I'm an idiot for pursuing my 'impossible' dream."
"So unmanly," the redhead said. He disapproved of anyone trying to stifle another's dream. Especially after Izuku helped inspire him to pursue his own. "Why does he think it's impossible? Is it the same reason you told me in the park about your school life? That you don't have a flashy Quirk?"
"You could say that," Izuku replied, rubbing his head nervously. He glanced at Hitoshi who gave an assuring nod while Mei lightly squeezed his shoulder in support. "You see, I, um…I don't have a Quirk at all."
He studied the Hero students, searching for any kind of negative reaction. At first the pair were stunned, definitely not expecting that kind of answer. But their expressions became friendly as they smiled warmly at him. He didn't see any disgust or pity, the kinds of reactions that he usually received when people found out. It made him hopeful that UA would be different from his previous schools.
"Anyway, whenever he hears my name, he tends to blurt out that I'm Quirkless, and I'd rather be the one to tell people about that myself."
"Hey, no worries, man," Kirishima said, holding out a fist bump which the other returned this time. "We got your back."
"Yeah, Mido! You can count on us!" Uraraka chimed in. Izuku blushed at the new nickname and smiled as his circle of friends grew by two more that day.
Once lunch ended, everyone returned to their homerooms for the end of day class meetings. Since it was the first day, there were no afternoon classes ending in a half day, and everyone was free to go once the meetings were done. Mei was still disappointed that the studio wouldn't be available to them until the next day, so she left early to go back to her own lab. The two Hero-hopefuls on the other hand stayed behind to begin their training.
...
(A/N: WolfSongGirl on AO3 pointed out a plot hole with how I originally had Kirishima and Uraraka meet during the exam. The way I had it before would have changed their points and placements but I wanted to keep those the same as canon. So I fixed it to reflect that. :) )
Blog name: ja0-s-blank-canvas-fic
Notes extension: post/626547981947142144/chapter-11-reunion