"Class 1-A...Class 1-A..." Izuku mumbled as he walked down the hallway. Sure, he'd already been in this school once for the entrance exam, but actually attending it was a different ballgame altogether.
To say that he was nervous was like saying All Might was his favourite hero.
The scale wasn't quantifiable.
It didn't help that the hallway seemed to stretch forever and ever. Each step he took felt like a gong was being struck and at this rate, he really doubted that his poor heart could handle all the building anxiety.
Ah! There it is!
With renewed vigour, Izuku powerwalked to the door like his life depended on it, eager to start the day.
I wonder who my classmates will be? He wondered as he slid the door open.
"You! Please put your feet down! It is improper to use the table in such an uncouth manner!"
"Suck my dick, four-eyes!"
Of course it's him.
Almost instinctively, Izuku moved over to where his childhood friend was sitting (read: monopolising the area), and promptly smacked him across the head. Shocked gasps echoed across the room as everyone present zeroed in on the two.
"Oi! Who the fu-" Bakugou snapped his head around.
"Kacchan, don't be an ass."
The blonde's eyes widened. "Deku! What the fuck are you doing here?!"
"Class, Kacchan." Izuku deadpanned. "You're not the only one who made it in."
The blonde retracted his legs from the table silently, shoving both hands into his pockets as he stood up to full height. The two became locked in a heated staredown, where crimson eyes met viridian as both sides refused to budge. The rest of 1-A continued to look on with bated breath, no doubt expecting a fight to break out.
What they didn't expect was for Bakugou to break the stalemate with a raised fist and a cocky smirk. "Get ready to be destroyed, Deku."
Izuku returned the gesture with a smile, though it lacked the usual cheer it had: this one was feral and competitive. "In your dreams, Kacchan."
As they bumped fists, Izuku could scarcely hear someone screaming about manliness in the background, though he paid it no mind.
His rival was here, and that was all that mattered.
"Ah! Midoriya-kun!"
But then the moment was gone and suddenly Izuku was face-to-face with the bubbly girl he saved in the exam.
"I can't believe we're in the same class! That's awesome! I hope we'll be great friends!" Uraraka busted a megawatt smile so bright Izuku thought he'd go blind. Arguments and fights with his best friend? He could deal with those and return fire just fine. Overly peppy girls that seemed to radiate sunshine and happiness?
Not so much.
And so the greenette had no choice but to avert his gaze. "Uhm...yeah. I'm sure we'll be good friends Uraraka-san." He shyly muttered.
He heard Bakugou snickering in the background.
He flipped him off.
"If you're here to make friends and have fun, then you can just go home." A voice from the door cut through the relaxed atmosphere like a hot knife through butter, drowning it within a sea of apprehension. Izuku shifted his gaze uneasily to the source, settling on a man who by all rights looked dead to the world.
Shaggy black hair fell from his face, contrasting starkly against his pale skin. Unkempt stubble decorated the lower half of his face, which along with his bloodshot and baggy eyes gave the impression of a man who had either given up on life, was a chronic workaholic, had no care for social norms, or was a combination of all three.
Oh, and he was also wrapped inside a bright fluorescent yellow sleeping bag.
Somehow that made everything make even less sense.
The ragged-looking man exited the sleeping bag with speed belying his half-dead demeanour, before balling it up and shuffling his way to the front of the class.
"My name is Aizawa Shouta, your homeroom teacher." He pulled the UA gym set out of seemingly nowhere.
"Put this on and meet me at the field. We're doing tests."
A girl with pink skin raised her hand. "Sensei! What about orientation?"
"We're skipping it."
The ensuing silence was deafening.
"Hurry up." He started walking out of the classroom. "You have five minutes."
Izuku tried to calm the gnawing sense of anxiety pooling within his stomach.
After everyone had hastily gathered at the field, Aizawa informed them that they would be conducting physical tests with their quirks.
So business as usual then. He sighed.
Then came the caveat.
The person ranked last would be expelled.
Considering that almost everyone here possessed a quirk that could assist them in some form, he definitely had his work cut out for him.
"What?! You can't do that! That's not fair!" A girl who was...transparent? exclaimed indignantly. The rest of the students around her seemed to murmur in agreement.
That pissed him off.
"Life isn't fair. Suck it up." Izuku cut through the murmurs with a razor sharp tone, once again drawing attention to himself. Even Aizawa seemed interested in what he had to say.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Look, heroes don't have the luxury of fairness. Our job is to stop any risk towards civilians in order to maintain peace and order. Sure, we're bound by rules and regulations, but what about villains? Natural disasters? This occupation isn't a casual joke, it's a responsibility we bear for the sake of society. The earlier we stop treating it as a game, the better heroes we'll become."
Aizawa snorted. "Would you look at that, the student who has the closest mindset to a hero is the one who lacks a quirk."
Eyes widened at the statement.
"He's right, you know. If you go into heroics with a lackluster mental state, you could compromise the situation and cause more harm than good. If you think we're going to coddle you and give everything to you on a silver platter then I'm afraid you're sorely mistaken. We're putting you through the wringer, and we won't stop even if you beg us."
Aizawa's eyes flashed red, and he busted out a bloodthirsty grin worthy of nightmares.
"Welcome to UA High's hero course. Let's see if you're worth the trouble."
Aizawa knew this kid was one to keep an eye on, but God damn.
The assessment test placed Midoriya at quite the severe disadvantage, and a small part of him did feel bad for the kid. Heck, he could even empathise. Erasure was an extremely useful quirk to have, sure, but it certainly didn't lend him any benefit in the physical aspect of Heroics. He had to bleed and sweat his way to his position as a respected underground hero, and it was hell.
But that's just how society works. Some are simply born with less advantages than their peers, and have to end up working twice as hard. And it was for this reason that Aizawa's larger, rational side, decided that no, he wouldn't give the kid any form of handicap. If he couldn't handle this, there was no way he'd survive in the real world.
Except Midoriya Izuku blew that headstart his classmates had right out of the water.
For the 50m Dash, he clocked in at 5.40s. While he definitely couldn't contend with the Iida kid (the guy has freaking exhausts for legs, no way in hell would he lose) and the loud blonde with an explosion quirk, he managed to best everyone else, even the frog girl and the boy with the tail.
He also had the strongest grip strength out of all students without a strength affecting quirk, cleared the sandbox easily in his jump, and in general placed himself comfortably above average on other tests.
Granted, his choice to kick the ball rather than actually throw it for the ball throw test was a dirty exploitation of his rules, but it at least showed that he was smarter than he let on, so he let that action slide.
Then came the sit ups.
Jesus Christ, this kid was a machine!
Somehow, the kid had managed to get the highest score of 89 sit ups in a minute! That was well above the national average for his age, and slightly above the average of those with strength quirks.
Sure, he certainly wasn't pro level just yet, but he was coming close.
It then came as no surprise that Midoriya Izuku placed 4th in the overall ranking. The fact that a quirkless kid managed to keep up with and even surpass a good majority of his students was definitely an interesting development.
This year certainly had potential.
"By the way, I lied about the expulsion."
"..."
"EHHH?!"
A girl with black ponytailed hair - Yaoyorozu Momo, the top scorer - seemed confused at the reactions of her classmates. "Of course it was a lie. The only reason he did that was to push us to do our best."
Yeah, Izuku wasn't buying that. He'd seen those eyes before, and Aizawa-sensei definitely wasn't lying.
What is it with teachers and psychological warfare? Ugh. He facepalmed internally.
As soon as Aizawa dismissed them, he noticed Uraraka ran towards him.
"Hey Deku-kun!"
"D-deku?!" Izuku blushed.
Shit, where did that come from?!
Uraraka frowned as she tilted her head. "Oh! Is it not okay to call you that? I just thought since Bakugou-kun did it too then it was fine..." The despondent look on her face tugged furiously at his heartstrings.
"It's...It's alright. You can call me that if you want to Uraraka-san."
The girl cheered up and beamed. "Really?! Awesome!"
Oh God I'm gonna die from embarrassment.
Uraraka didn't seem to notice his rapidly reddening face, continuing to speak. "You were really cool out there! You did so well!"
"Uhm, thanks." Izuku tentatively smiled. "I used to work out a lot before coming to UA, so that's probably why."
"Nevertheless, that was extremely impressive!"
That didn't sound like Uraraka.
Indeed it wasn't, as a bespectacled boy sprung into view. "My name is Iida Tenya, pleasure to meet you!"
Izuku blinked, before reaching out to shake his hand. "Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet you too?"
"Yes! And I must say that that was an extremely good showing!" Iida vigorously shook his hand with no signs of stopping. "Despite being quirkless, you didn't let that stop you from pushing forwards! Truly, I am humbled to be beaten by you!"
"Ah...Iida-kun? I think Deku-kun is getting dizzy." Uraraka pointed out.
Iida quickly released his grip. "Ah! I apologise! I was caught up in the moment!"
"No no, it's fine Iida-san. You did pretty good too!" Izuku shook his hand mildly. "And your quirk is really cool! Can I ask how it works? It looks like your legs function similar to car exhausts, so do you also need a specific type of fuel? Are you-"
The other two could only stare blankly as the green-haired boy talked up a storm. His right hand seemed to twitch into the vague shape one would take when holding a pen, while his left cupped his chin with what seemed to be a vice grip.
"Should we...stop him?" Uraraka looked at Iida.
The boy blinked. "I..I'm not sure how..."
"Tch, the nerd will keep yapping unless you snap his dumb ass out of it." A loud voice drew them to look past Midoriya and towards the blonde walking up behind him.
"Bakugou-kun? What do you mean?" Uraraka asked.
Rather than answer, Bakugou slammed his hand into Izuku's shoulder.
"Oi, Deku!"
"GAGH! Huh? Kacchan?"
"You were doing the mumbling bullshit again." He scoffed.
"Ah...sorry guys, apparently I do that a lot." Izuku looked to the other two students sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. He then returned his gaze to his childhood friend. "What's up Kacchan?"
Bakugou's eyes lit up like fireworks as he grinned. "What's up is that I beat your ass in the test! How's that huh?! Looks like I'm gonna be the better Hero!"
Izuku rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. So what's our score again?"
"83 to 82, in my favour you loser!" The blonde cackled.
Uraraka watched the interaction confusedly. "Score? 83 to 82?"
"Are the two of you playing some kind of game?" Iida added.
Izuku smiled. "Something like that, we've been comparing everything we could get our hands on: school tests, spars, physical fitness and whatnot. It's like a competition."
"And I'm winning!" Bakugou boasted.
"Not for long you won't."
"What was that you shrimp?!"
"You heard me."
"I'll beat your ass flat!"
The other two's gazes ping ponged between Midoriya and Bakugou as they continued to fling jabs back and forth.
"Wow! Those two must be really good friends, huh!" Uraraka laughed brightly.
Iida frankly wasn't sure if that was the most appropriate term to use.
"I AM...COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"
Don't freak out don't freak out don't freak out don't freak out-
Midoriya Izuku freaked out.
"ALL MIGHT'S TEACHING US?!"
"HOLY SHIT!"
"I'VE DIED AND AM IN HEAVEN!"
All Might laughed heartily. "It is good to see you all in high spirits, Class 1A! I trust that you've all been adapting well to school?"
"Yes, All Might-sensei!" Everyone chorused.
"Splendid!" All Might raised a thumbs up. "This lesson is one that I trust you all have been waiting for, so let's get down to it!"
A placard with the word 'COMBAT' was slammed onto the teacher's desk, for all to see.
"Today will be the day we engage in an important aspect of Hero work: Combat!"
Class 1A cheered in their seats at varying degrees of excitement.
"Yes, yes. I'm sure you're all excited. But first!" All Might pressed a button on a nearby remote, causing numerous suitcases to jut out of the nearby locker.
A boy with blonde hair accented by a black zigzag - Kaminari Denki - jumped up from his seat. "All Might-sensei! Are those what I think they are?!"
The teacher grinned in response. "Why yes young Kaminari! These are indeed your hero costumes! Now everyone, suit up and assemble at Training Ground Beta!"
Class 1A didn't need to be told twice.
Huh, this is actually pretty neat. Izuku mused as he walked towards the training ground. His costume application form was detailed, sure, but he honestly didn't expect the Support Department to pull through as well as they did. Not only did they nail the look, the feel was equally as good.
He was clad in a dark green full-body jumpsuit that fit him snugly, accented by black lines that traced his figure. On the area over his left pectoral was a white circle outlined in black, with the kanji '久' within. That same symbol was also proudly displayed on his back, albeit much larger.
On his forearms were a pair of black rectangular braces held in place by two straps: one just behind the wrist and one just before the elbow.
The black gloves on his hands were outfitted with sharpened metal knuckles, whilst a red belt adorned his waist, which had pouches all around.
And of course, he was fitted in his signature red high-top shoes.
All in all, he felt pretty damn good.
"Hey, Midoriya! Looking awesome dude!" Kirishima praised as he fell in step with him, whereas Sero flanked Izuku's other side.
"Yeah, man!" Sero commented. "You look like some kind of urban martial artist!"
Izuku laughed lightly. "Thanks guys! You both look really cool as well!"
Kirishima flexed his guns. "Of course! How can villainy stand up to these bad boys, huh?"
"Anyone who mistakes you for a stripper and slips notes inside your pants!" Sero snickered.
"Aw, dude! My costume does not make me look like a stripper!" Kirishima looked to the greenette. "Midoriya! Tell him he's wrong!"
"Well I uh..."
"Come on! Not you too!" The redhead threw his hands up, much to the humour of the other two students.
"Well well well! They say the clothes maketh the man, and I must agree!" All Might's loud, booming voice drew everyone's attention in like a black hole. "All of you are looking like fine heroes-in-training, I say!" Indeed, as Izuku looked around he could only widen his eyes in awe at the wide array of costumes. Those that went for menacing looks like Tokoyami and Bakugou really pulled through on the intimidation factor, while those with more bright designs such as Uraraka, Aoyama and Ashido stood out in a brilliant way.
He wasn't exactly sure what was going on with Todoroki's costume though.
He kind of looks like a half-popsicle half-terminator. He thought.
"Now, since we're all here, allow me to brief you all on what we are doing today!" All Might picked up a big box that lay near his feet, pointing to it for emphasis.
"In this box are twenty balls, each printed with a letter ranging from A to J! You will each pick one ball, and pair up with the person who has the same letter!"
A hand was raised.
"Yes, Young Iida!"
Said boy stood ramrod straight. "All Might-sensei! May I inquire as to the reason why we are being grouped randomly? Please educate us!"
All Might grinned. "A good question! You see, in hero work you may sometimes be forced to work alongside other Heroes you do not know! Learning how to construct battle plans with limited time and synergy is a key component to success!"
"I see! Thank you All Might-sensei!"
"Now, if there aren't any questions, form up in a line!"
"Yes, All Might-sensei!"
HEROES VS VILLAINS
(A) Midoriya Izuku & Asui Tsuyu VS Tokoyami Fumikage & Uraraka Ochako (B)
(C) Bakugou Katsuki & Iida Tenya VS Kirishima Eijirou & Sero Hanta (D)
(E) Kaminari Denki & Jirou Kyouka VS Yaoyorozu Momo & Mineta Minoru (F)
(G) Aoyama Yuuga & Ashido Mina VS Sato Rikidou & Kouda Kouji (H)
(I) Todoroki Shouto & Shouji Mezou VS Ojiro Mashirao & Hagakure Tooru (J)
"Looks like we're teammates, Midoriya-chan." Asui blinked at him.
Izuku glanced at the letters on both of their balls, registering the large 'A' present, before turning to face her. "Looks like it, Asui-san. Let's do our best!"
"Lets. And call me Tsuyu." Asu-Tsuyu replied.
"All Right! Team B, please proceed into the building! Team A, proceed and stay outside the entrace! You all have 5 minutes to plan and prepare, so use them well!" All Might commanded.
Izuku took a deep breath.
Let's do this.
(A/N): Admittedly, I still have no idea what the hell I'm doing.
Previous Question Answer: Honestly, I think I'd go with Hawks'. His quirk's got some crazy versatility! I'd probably want to dye the feathers a different colour though!
Question: Who's your favourite villain and why?
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!